Everyone knows a rumor is just a rumor until it shows up in the trades. But let’s not forget that most of the news in the trades comes via publicists. So we can’t always buy what these reports say anyway. So, even though The Hollywood Reporter has announced what we’ve been hearing for a long, long time — that an Arrested Developmentmovie script is in the works — many of us remain skeptical.
Worse than skeptical, though, I’m also annoyed. I get over being teased very quickly, and I’m at the point where I really don’t even want there to be an Arrested Development movie. Honestly, I didn’t really care for one to begin with, but I would have at least been more interested in seeing it had it been made a couple years ago. But it’s been 3 and a half years since the final episode aired, and I’m seriously content with the Bluth’s story being over.
Unfortunately, Hollywood can’t ever let things end well; they have to overdo every good thing. I wish the short run of Arrested Development could just be accepted the way British TV shows are accepted, with few seasons (series). Sure, we Spacedfans would love to know what’s going on with Tim and Daisy ten years after they first became flatmates, but isn’t it actually enough, if not much better, that Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright were able to break out and give us other amazing things to watch them in/do (if only Jessica Hynes, nee Stevenson, was doing more films rather than being a domestic).
Isn’t anybody else sufficiently happy with seeing Jason Bateman have a career again? Isn’t anyone simply thankful that the show introduced us to Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale, each of whom is doing other enjoyable things these days? Can we just let go of the idea and remember Arrested Development as a classic show that we can continue to revisit on DVD? No movie is going to be good enough after so much anticipation anyway.
Check out what other film blogs are saying about this “news” after the jump: …Read more
Can the San Diego Comic-Con really make or break a movie? That’s a yearly question asked in the days leading up to the annual geekfest, and few experts ever provide a definite answer. Most people point to weak Con receptions of footage from ultimately failed films like The Spirit and Catwoman as proof of the event’s influence. Meanwhile, there’s the corresponding recognition that positive buzz at the Con for certain niche titles like Twilight and 300 led those films to boffo box office.
But despite the few times Con attendees have been on the same wavelength with the rest of the moviegoing public, it’s important to remember the many movies that had geeks excited in San Diego but which couldn’t garner much interest from mainstream audiences in theatrical release. After the jump, we take a look at ten such movies that buzzed well at Comic-Con only to fizzle at the box office. …Read more
Behold the latest episode of The Dr. Steel Show, about an evil doctor bent on taking over the world. Sound familiar? Apparently it’s been ripped off by the new Joss Whedon project, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which Karina commented on yesterday. And as early as Adam’s praise last week when Whedon’s series launched, SpoutBlog has been receiving comments from followers (known as the Army of Toy Soldiers) of the allegedly real-life Dr. Steel. Every other online acknowledgment of Whedon’s project also seems to be getting hit with similar allegations that Dr. Horrible is a copycat.
Personally, I can’t figure out the deal with Dr. Steel or his faithful subjects. It’s one of the many viral things on the web that confuse me and make me glad that I actually spend much of my non-blogging time away from a computer. Funny enough, in the past I’ve had the same issue with Browncoats (followers of Whedon’s series Firefly), who seem to be forever monitoring the internet for reasons to defend their beloved franchise. So far, I’ve only watched a few clips of Dr. Steel-related stuff and only some musical clips from Dr. Horrible. Just to be fair, I think I’ll avoid both, though I have to admit that I’m far more interested in a singing Doogie Howser.
Anyway, I await the flames from fans on both sides. I won’t mind the attacks if someone at least clues me into the stuff so I don’t have to spend my evening playing catch up.
Choices, choices. Download the three-part web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog over the next few days, or wait for the DVD release? Maybe both.
Dr. Horrible is Joss “man with the Midas touch” Whedon’s experimental comedy/sci-fi musical. If the trailer above doesn’t lie, the whole shoestring production will shine like B-grade gold.
The story: Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, MD) is Dr. Horrible, too shy to talk to his crush (Felicia Day from The Guild) and struggling to prove himself to the Evil Group of Evil. The doctor’s arch-enemy Captain Hammer is played by Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Slither), the coolest poor man’s action star around.
Dr. Horrible is like an awkward, flamboyant grandson of Vincent Price’s character in The Abominable Dr. Phibes. (By the way, that demented, carnival-esque revenge tragedy must have inspired Max Fisher to do a copycat crime in Rushmore. Remember the bees released into Mr. Bloom’s hotel room?)
A guy like Joss Whedon doesn’t need to experiment to get people to watch his stuff, which only increases my respect for him and my excitement for this project. I hope Dr. Horrible is a success mostly because it looks really, really cool, but also because it’ll show other bigwigs there’s a fanbase for freewheeling, unashamed, genre fun.
At the time of this writing the location of the first installment was switching servers, but hopefully it’ll start streaming for free again.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Everyone knows a rumor is just a rumor until it shows up in the trades. But let’s not forget that most of the news in the trades comes via publicists. So we can’t always buy what these reports say anyway. So, even though The Hollywood Reporter 
