• Andy Whitfield of Spartacus has now completely left the project due to the return of his Stage 1 non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Kaley Cuoco of Big Bang Theory has fractured her leg after a horse riding incident and will miss a few episodes this season
• A short new “The Walking Dead” promo is out
• True Lies coming to ABC
• “Person of Interest” the JJ Abrams produced Jonathon Nolan crime series gets picked up by CBS
• Fox picks up new Ryan Murphy series, a supernatural procedural
• J.J. Abrams, Josh Appelbaum, and Andre Nemac have began pitching “Odd Jobs” a comedic drama that has former Lost co-stars Michael Emerson and Tery O’Quinn reuniting as former Black-ops agents

• FNL’s Kyle Chandler and Dakota’s little sis, Elle Fanning are the first two cast in Super 8
• True Blood headed to the big screen for a couple movies after “1 or 2 more seasons”
• Bryan Fuller writing a live action Pinocchio
• Joaquin Phoenix’s retirement and crazy rap career was all an act for faux doc “I’m Still Here”
• Comic writer Mark Millar currently shooting his directorial debut “Miracle Park”
• Sacha Baron Cohen to play Queen singer Freddie Mercury in a biopic
• Ian McKellen says he will be playing Gandalf in The Hobbit, and filming will “hopefully” start in Janurary
• John Williams will return to score Deathly Hallows, his first work on the series since Azkaban
• Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is still looking for its leading lady. Alfonso wants Natalie Portman, the studio reportedly wants Sandra Bullock
• Shyamalan’s next Night Chronicles film was previously “Twelve Strangers” but is now called “Reincarnate”
  
• MGM seems to be getting itself back together, Sam Mendes drops out of The Hunger Games to be ready for Bond preproduction
• Bill and Ted 3 in the works
  

• New Twitter Interface coming soon

Geek Jerk Reaction – Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,  Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and You Again

Sponsors: InStockTrades, DCBService, and Geek Boy Press

I realize we here at Geekshow haven’t really done much reporting on Kick-Ass, so allow me to reitterate the plot; the film is based on Mark Millar’s (Wanted, The Ultimates)comic book series about a geek who decides to become a masked crusader…and roundly gets his ass kicked. Aaron Johnson stars as the film’s title charecter (Yes, his superhero name is Kick-Ass.) and the film co-stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist, another wannabe crime-fighter; Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl, a bloodthirsty eleven year-old assassian; and Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy, Hit Girl’s father and boss.

The scene-stealing footage shown at the Con centered on Hit Girl brutally and efficiently taking out a roomful of grown men using a variey of swords and knives, ; inspiring a standing ovation from those in the screening. Vaugn is convinced that her performance as Hit Girl will turn Mortez into a star, telling SlashFilm “If we’re Star Wars, she’s our Han Solo.”

Kick-Ass was made independently and still lacks a distributor, but after the rousing feeback generated at the Con, I’ll be very surprised if the film isn’t bought by a Fox Searchlight-esque distributor.

I made this decision as I was leaving a sold out screening of Valkyrie, Singer’s first directorial effort since Superman Returns. I don’t want this to be a review of Valkyrie, mostly because Will and I are probably going to talk about it on the next Geekeasy (Episode 7 for guys, we recorded episode 6 right before we went to go see the flick.) but I will say that I had a blast watching the film and it reminded me what a fantastic filmmaker Singer is. There are shots in this film-little tricks with the camera and whatnot- that could only have been done by the guy that made The Usual Suspects and X2:X Men United. Singer has this really interesting visual style and imagination that I forgot how much I admired until watching Valkyrie. Now I’m fully aware that Warner Bros. has officially stated that they want to “reboot” the Superman franchise a la The Incredible Hulk. I think this is a great idea, even though I admired the hell out of Superman Returns. The movie was weird love letter to Richard Donnor’s Superman and even though it the franchise back a few years, I’m glad Singer made the film that he wanted to make, if only because he now has it out of his system.

Look, Singer’s a smart guy. He knows that the popular consensus with Superman Returns was that it was long, boring and “artsy”  (see, intelligent.) And when he says he wants to go Wrath of Kahn on the sequel, I believe him and I believe its what’s best for the franchise. What I don’t believe is good for the franchise is Mark Millar’s Lord of the Rings meets The Godfather saga. Don’t get me wrong, its a really cool concept….for a graphic novel. But if Warner Bros. thinks that Singer’s “Superman as Jesus” killed the franchise, wait ’till they get a load of “Superman as Michael Coreleone meets The Omega man in this epic three part saga that ends with the world dying.”  And this whole “top secret action director” bothers me as well. When I think “action director,” I think Paul W.S. Anderson, Louis Leterrier and those other guys that make unambitious, hyper-edited gun fight-a-thons that come out in August. (I dug The Incredible Hulk, btw) I don’t want an “action director” to handle Superman, I want a “filmmaker” which Singer is and always has been. I want someone who knows how to excite an audience with thrills and chills, but not the expense off story and character.

I believe in second chances, even when it comes to billion-dollar industry like film. And I think that Singer deserves a second crack at a badass, epic Superman movie with Brandon Routh back in     the costume that he was born to wear.  To me, we as moviegoers shouldn’t have to choose between action-packed or deep.  Look at Iron Man and The Dark Knight; guys, we can have both. And we know that Singer can deliver both, just look at X2. So as little as it matters, I’m letting my opinion known; I think Bryan Singer is the right man for the job. With him behind the camera, I can believe a man can fly.

Watch out at about the 23 minute mark, Scott and I were visited by some ghosts that brought along some white noise…

Check out the video here:

It’s 8.58am right now, my guys at CAA get into the office in about seven hours and my call will be waiting for them to talk about this. I want to revamp Superman like Hillary wants thin ankles. Revamping this franchise is what I as given fingers for and so, invited or not, I’m putting my plan together now. I’ve been asked to work on half a dozen screenplays lately, but this is the only one I have ever truly wanted.

Anyway, my treatment is being polished as we type. Wish me luck. I want to do that Superman movie we all want to see.

A few days later, Warner Bros. expressed that they had no interest in hiring a Marvel comic exclusive writer for a DC film, especially one based on such a well known DC character.

Now, Millar has told the Daily Record that he is taking his quest to be involved in a Superman relaunch a step farther:

But Mark’s big dream is making a Superman movie.

"But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime’s dream."

Millar clarified on his messageboard later:

"That Superman news is interesting, isn’t it? In the interests of clarity (because I’m sure this will be picked up somewhere) a very well known American action director heard about my love of Superman, approached my and asked me to team up with he and his producer to make a pitch for this. We’ve been talking for several weeks now and, if this is going to happen, we’ll know by Christmas. He has huge pull at WB so fingers crossed. But this is nothing more than a huge US name pulling me into his fold and making me part of a package."

Well Mark, I’m rooting for you. Here’s hoping…

Wanted, the film loosely based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and JG Jones, opened this weekend. What did you guys think? Let us know in the comments section below.