Earlier this month, Sarah Ball at Newsweek’s Pop Vox blog took to dispelling the idea that zombies are the new vampires, arguing that they’ll never be as popular — basically because they’re not as sexually appealing. Jessica Barnes at Cinematical later responded with favor towards the living dead over the undead. But zombies are not a trend; they’ll always be around, at least in the background via low-budget horror cinema. The real question lately should be whether or not werewolves are the new vampires.

Werewolves do have some level of sex appeal, at least to those people who like hairy men (and/or women). And the fact that Twilight fans are divided over preference for bloodsucker Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) or lupine Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) proves there’s a debate to be had about which creature is better. More importantly, though, is the presence of cinematic werewolves on the web this week, first with a much-derided clip from the Twilight installment New Moon, followed by a new trailer for Universal’s new version of The Wolfman (which features part of Marilyn Manson’s “If I Was Your Vampire,” interestingly enough) — Ryan Adams at Awards Daily posts them side by side for comparison.

I’d even like to somehow qualify the trailer for Serious Moonlight, which in addition to having a werewolf-friendly title features Meg Ryan displaying plastic surgery that looks like something applied by make-up artist Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London; Wolf; Cursed; The Wolfman) for the transition effects used in werewolf movies.

S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline has already claimed this “Werewolf Week” as a result of all the lycanthropy. But here’s hoping the trend appropriately lasts at least a full lunar cycle. So come on MTV, you’ve got a month to get us at least some set photos ffrom your upcoming Teen Wolf TV series.

Check out what the other film blogs are saying about the werewolf invasion after the jump:

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In all likelihood, a new documentary about Robert Pattinson titled Robsessed is a total cash grab and a waste of time. But let’s not completely toss aside the potential of this film, which UK-based distributor Revolver Entertainment has acquired and will release to DVD in the U.S. around the time that The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens in theaters.

I’m reminded of all the late night commercials I used to see for Biggie & Tupac years ago. The way the film was being sold sure made it seem at the time to be as cheap and disregardable as any of those compilation CD sets advertised in the same late hours. I never would have guessed the film was made by such an interesting filmmaker as Nick Broomfield, who I now place within my top five favorite documentarians. If only I’d been a bigger hip hop enthusiast I might have discovered Broomfield earlier than I did.

Likewise, if I’d been a greater Nirvana fan I might have been turned onto the filmmaker through his prior doc Kurt and Courtney (it wasn’t until years later when I wrote a paper on first-person documentaries that I acquainted myself with Broomfield’s films). And speaking of Kurt Cobain, I’m sure some of his young fans rented Kurt Cobain About a Son only to wind up interested in non-traditional documentary and the further work of director A.J. Schnack.

Could Robsessed really have been directed by a true talent like Broomfield and Schnack? It’s hard to imagine, especially since neither the news release nor Revolver’s website reveals the filmmaker behind this documentary. But since the film may concentrate primarily on Pattinson’s obsessed fanbase, it could at least be as interesting as docs like Trekkies and We Are Wizards, which deal with devout followers of the Star Trek and Harry Potter franchises, respectively.

I wouldn’t write Robsessed off so much as I’d say to ignore the film’s DVD-set companion, a pre-Twilight RPattz movie titled The Haunted Airmen.

Check out what other film bloggers are saying about the documentary after the jump:

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Despite bombing at the box office this past weekend with Jennifer’s Body, Oscar-winner Diablo Cody has a new gig to announce today. Of course, it’s not an original story like Jennifer’s Body, which probably did so poorly — in Hollywood’s eyes — for not being based on a familiar property or previously filmed material. Fortunately for Cody, she’s apparently always wanted to adapt the Sweet Valley High books, so both she and Universal are happy.

But are the fans? Personally, I’m not too familiar with the books, but if there’s anything I’d dread more than a beloved property being mined by Hollywood it’s a beloved property being adapted by Cody with her widely derided, trademark Diablo Codyspeak.

Between this, the promise of a future Archie movie and now the news that Universal’s also tackling a Barbie movie, it seems a big week so far for projects involving properties popular among young girls. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cody wants the Archie adaptation, too, especially if she’s familiar with its minor inspiration on Heathers, which is an obvious influence on her “clever” dialogue.

Of the three, though, I’d actually like to see her script the Barbie film, though it would then have to be an ironic and negative take on the doll brand (obviously a reference to the infamous “math is tough” catchphrase is very necessary) and also Todd Haynes would have to direct it.

Check out what the other film blogs are saying about Cody’s new venture after the jump:

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While most water cooler discussions today focused completely on the Kanye West VMA controversy, the playground likely had room for another topic related to MTV’s award show: the new trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. But were the boys participating in that talk? Summit probably hopes so given that the spot seems to be trying harder to appeal to that young male demographic.

I don’t think the attempt will work, however. For the first Twilight film, after reaching out to the true, female-dominated fanbase, Summit released a trailer that admirably sold the thing as if it were a superhero movie. It came really close to getting me in the theater. This time they’ve got another more action-heavy trailer, which at times makes New Moon seem like The Matrix as directed by Stephen Sommers. Which I guess might seem cool to teenage boys. But there’s still enough obligatory beefcake shots and romantic fluff to overpower that idea.

Male moviegoers, feel free to prove me wrong. First, though, let’s see where the other film blogs stand on the issue after the jump:

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A few days ago, Erik Davis of Cinematical Tweeted that he was watching Rambo: First Blood Part II, and he made a comment about how if Robert Rodriguez’s Predators doesn’t work out, he’d get behind a Rambo vs. Predator film. I thought the idea was a little silly since that’s basically what the original Predator was, only with Arnold Schwarzenegger instead of Sylvester Stallone. Little did either of us know that Rambo V: The Savage Hunt would end up involving a half-human, half-beast adversary that does seem to be like what Davis had in mind.

One thing appears to be different, though. Apparently Rambo (Stallone) is going to the Arctic Circle to battle the creature, which aligns it more with the first Alien vs. Predator movie. Sure, it’s the wrong Pole but the same climate and terrain — superficially anyway. Oh, and here’s another thing that’s slightly different: the creature isn’t an alien; it’s a secret governement genetic experiment gone wrong. In the poster, made before the official synopsis was even revealed, it looks like a werewolf.

The only thing more ridiculous would be for Rambo to fight teenage vampires, though I think werewolves may actually be the hip new thing as dictated by Twilight, so that might not be any more silly or popular. Hey, going sci-fi worked for Indiana Jones, right? And Rambo is even getting a young “hunting partner” in this installment. Maybe it’s actually his son?

Check out what the other film blogs are saying about this crazy Rambo V scenario after the jump:

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Twitter hasn’t “verified” her account so it could be a fraud, but here’s hoping that this really is Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall mixing it up on the Twitters. It’s plausible — if you condensed the bitchy, dishy voice of her autobiography into 140 character missives, this Twitterstream is what it would look like. My ten favorite moments of her Twitter career thus far:

10. When she posted the Twitpic of her walking out of Max’s Kansas City en route to Studio 54 to meet “Mr.Warhol and Mr.Nureyev”.

9. Her response to people complaining about her lit cigarette in said picture, spread out over five tweets, including this commentary on the perks of old age: “The good thing about being 84 is that I can smoke as much as I want, If I was smoking 2 packs a day on the set of To Have and Have Not…..when I was 19 and I am still around 65 years later I can continue smoking as much as i want.”

8.  “in LA to discuss with Mr. Scorsese his Sinatra biopic in the works, I wonder who he is going to cast to play me.Who would you guys cast?”

7. Bacall says she’s been offered a role in Quentin Tarantino’s new film opposite Christina Ricci, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, in which she would play “the villainess.” “I have never been offered to play a schitzophrenic Russian heroin addicted Kidnapper’s mother before. haha.” Haha indeed.

6. Her first tweet: “I can’t get this God dam thing to work!”

5. Her bio, in which she plugs her autobiography and astutely namechecks her three best films: “Read my book By Myself and Then Some and watch my movies The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not and Written on the Wind”

4. When she admits that her granddaughter made her watch Twilight. “she said it was the greatest vampire film ever.After the “film” was over I wanted to..smack her accros her head with my shoe, but I do not want a book called Grannie Dearest written on me when I die…”

3. …”So instead I gave her a DVD of Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu and told her, now thats a vampire film! and that goes for all of you! watch Nosferatu instead!”

2. When she calls out her 19 year old, scotch-addled grandson for hitting on a cater waitress “with Jayne Mansfield size breast and Liz Taylor eyes, men do scumble into the female flesh temptation so fast.”

1. When she then posts a twitpic of said grandson, looking like a complete tool.

How else to explain the fact that the new New Moon trailer has debuted in France before America than to assume French Twilighters are considered better and more deserving than those in the U.S.? Or, is this just part of the continued teaserific marketing strategy from Summit? After yesterday’s trailer teaser ridiculousness, I wouldn’t put it past them, even if the thing was unofficial, recorded on video cam inside a theater and removed for copyright reasons later today. If Summit is really into teasing and whetting appetites, it was likely enough, considering any true Twilight fan would have been attentive enough to see the thing on any number of websites posting it this morning.

Anyway, since the trailer isn’t accessible anymore*, I’ve got nothing else to say about it — not that I know enough about the franchise to comment adequately anyway. I can at least share a screen capture of some bits that I found on a blog called My Twilife. So enjoy that little tease on the right there.

Let’s see what the film blogs are saying about this latest nibble for the impatient fans after the jump:
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I didn’t bother reading any of the premature Lovely Bones posts yesterday because I find the idea of a teaser for a trailer to be quite silly. But now that we’ve been able to see the whole spot (via Apple), let’s talk about it. Personally, I was really excited for Peter Jackson to return to something more Heavenly Creatures than LOTR with this adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best -seller, but I’m pretty disappointed with the afterlife stuff here.

Maybe it’s because of the Alice in Wonderland trailer. Maybe it’s because of the derivative premise of Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. Maybe it’s because it looks a lot like What Dreams May Come. But I enjoyed that movie, at least for the visuals, so perhaps I should just accept that Jackson was unfortunately not going to do more clay people, a la the fantasy sequences from Creatures, and focus more on the real-world stuff.

Well, aside from thinking these scenes also don’t look that original or interesting (is it a spoiler that we’re shown the murderer?), I’ll probably see the movie for Stanley Tucci alone. Others may be concentrating on Mark Wahlberg’s wig, but I’m all about Tucci’s appearance here. Sure, I’m all about any actor who does the comb-over/mustache combo, but we all have our things that draw us into a movie.

See what the other film blogs are saying about the trailer after the jump:

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Julia Child’s life is partially depicted in the new foodie film Julie & Julia, and while it’s as much fun to see Meryl Streep portray the famous chef as it was to watch Dan Aykroyd and Bill Cosby do her back in the day, we can’t help but wish the real Child had lived long enough to star in the film herself. We also wish the whole movie was based on her autobiography, My Life in France, rather than share-adapted from both that book and Julie Powell’s blog-turned-memoir Julie & Julia.

There’s a reason Child was a hugely popular TV personality and there’s a reason why Powell was an Internet writer. Just as you’d rather only watch Sean Penn as Gene Shalit in a movie and not bother with Michael Pitt’s portrayal of lowly film blogger Christopher Campbell, you could probably do without the Amy Adams as Powell stuff in Julie & Julia.

Outside of playing herself as a foodie heroine in a chick flick, what other kinds of movies could Child have acted in? Given her OSS background, we would have loved to see her fill in for Judi Dench in the Bond films as M. Alas, that will never happen, but if our gastronomical dreams come true, perhaps we might see one of the following TV personalities in his or her own blockbuster film someday:
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It seems impossible these days for a film franchise to keep its cast intact for a full run. This time it’s the Twilight series that has succumbed to the switcheroo game, as Bryce Dallas Howard was announced to be taking over Rachel Lefevre’s character, “Victoria,” as of the third film, Eclipse. This sort of thing nearly happened before for the Twilight series when Taylor Lautner came close to being fired from the part of “Jacob” after the first film, because he wasn’t seen as a strong or fit enough actor for the demands of the role in New Moon.

With this news, Howard cements herself as the official go-to actress for filling in vacated roles. In the past she has been a substitute in Lars von Trier’s USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy, taking on the lead role “Grace” originated by Nicole Kidman in Dogville for the sequel Manderlay, and she more recently filled in for a non-returning Claire Danes as “Kate” in the Terminator franchise (for which she also replaced the first-choice substitute, Charlotte Gainsbourg) Also, let’s not forget that she replaced Kirsten Dunst as the lead in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, when Dunst departed to make Elizabethtown.

With the way things are going for her, I predict she’ll be taking over as “Ginny Weasley” in the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, “Black Widow” in Iron Man 3 or The Avengers, “Rachel Dawson” in the next Batman film and “Kumar” in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.

Let’s take a look at what the rest of the film blogs are saying about the substitution after the jump:
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I would title this Bloggery “Comic-Con 2009 Day 2,” but I’m going to reach back a little to the second half of Day 1 since yesterday’s post went up before the Avatar panel, plus people are still talking about that New Moon presentation more than 24 hours later. Unfortunately, there’s so much news and hype coming out of the Con today (Gary Oldman spills Batman 3 beans! Saw VII is greenlit!) that I may ignore some the stuff I care less about, like all the “awesome!!” responses to movies that will more than likely be commercial failures (like the ten listed here). Unless they’re really hilarious or profound.

Without further ado (I have little to say in this intro because I’m not at the Con), check out my favorite coverage from San Diego from the last 24 hours after the jump:
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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.
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SpoutBlog is sitting out this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, but that doesn’t mean we’re not paying attention to the geek mecca from afar. In a way, we get to have a more sane perspective without all the screaming and crowdedness (between Twilight and Johnny Depp, it’s apparently madness). Plus, we’re checking out all of the direct coverage, and I do believe we’re getting a more comprehensive experience this way.

I’ve selected some of my favorite coverage from the last 24 hours so that you may share in the appreciation as a fellow outsider (or maybe you’re there and want to see what others have seen/heard). Check out all the best comments, videos and links after the jump:

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Warner Bros. has narrowed down the choices for the star of its Green Lantern movie, and considering the three candidates have been publicly named, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, I’m thinking the studio should let the fans decide. Put the screen tests up online, allow us to ask a few questions of each of the eligible bachelors actors and then permit us to pick our favorite as though it were some kind of movie-casting version of The Dating Game.

In a way, we, the moviegoers, will end up entering a long relationship with the person put in the role of Hal Jordan, aka Green Lantern, and we don’t want this to be the old-fashioned arranged-courtship sort of ritual we typically get from Hollywood. It didn’t work for the last Superman movie, and many of us aren’t even that happy with the current Batman. Warner Bros. needs to learn from its mistakes and embrace democracy.

So, who should it be? The runners-up are: Bradley Cooper; Ryan Reynolds; and Justin Timberlake.

If you need help making up your mind, check out what the film bloggers have to say after the jump. I’m sitting this one out due to my unfamiliarity with the superhero, but I’d be curious to see how Timberlake would do in such a role.

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