Let’s play a new game here at The Movie Blog. It will be called WILD SPECULATION where we will make an observation based on an internet rumour or information of our own that we just wildly speculate on with no basis in reality.

Why? Well just in case we randomly guess right, we want to be the first to say it, or at least chime in on it when we think its wrong! Its really just about bragging rights and more accolades that will never be useful in the real world.

So today, I tripped over a bit of news from /Film about some unrelated media hot shots all gathering for lunch. And we all know in Hollywood “lets do lunch” means “lets talk about something we can work on together”. But sometimes its just lunch.

George Clooney was spotted pre-holidays in Hollywood having a business meeting with director Ridley Scott, and Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel

So the speculation that was presented by /Film was that this might have something to do with the yet to be cast role of Doctor Strange.

Did someone say they overheard them talking about Strange? Nope. Did /Film claim thats what this meeting was about? Not at all.

Just wild speculation here.

That all being said, I would LOVE to see Clooney as Doctor Strange. I think he has the charm and presence that he could pull off the Sorcerer Supreme. So I for one would love it if this were in fact the case.

But then maybe they were all just hungry.

The Blood and IceCream Trilogy is not complete, but Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will once again be teaming up as the clumsy detectives Thompson and Thompson in the upcoming TinTin.

Coming Soon says:

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (the Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz duo) have landed the roles of Thomson and Thompson in director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson’s Tintin.

The movie will be animated with motion-capture technology and star Andy Serkis as Tintin’s friend Captain Haddock. Thomas Sangster was previously set to play Tintin but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts

As I mentioned before, I was never a big TinTin fan, and only vaguely aware of its existance. Obviously this is far more popular than I realized as the International Friends came to its defense.

However I grow concerned that Pegg and Frost might bring too much of their own chemistry to the roles of the twins Thompson - not to be confused with 80s pop group Thompson Twins named after the characters. These characters have their established roles in the cartoon, and with Pegg and Frost the characters may take on a different role.

The Shazam movie has seen some ups and downs, and currently is settling on down. The project is officially stalled.

Cinematical says:

August says the project is now dead in the water after several re-writes, most of which came about after the studio wanted him to take the film from a lighter action-comedy to something much darker (a la The Dark Knight). And regarding the recent news that Segal would be directing, August notes that “press releases often have little relationship to reality.” He does admit, though, that the movie may still happen … just not with him onboard and not anytime soon.

I can’t say that I have ever been much of a Captain Marvel fan, but I had thought that Johnson was the physical embodiment of Black Adam and I was looking forward to seeing him in the role.

However, the proposed plot was to make this more of a light hearted comedy. So as it stands, I am somewhat relieved to hear that they are not going to do a “kid turns into adult superhero” plot. The source material does have little Billy Batson transformed into Captain Marvel when he utters the word SHAZAM, thereby granting him the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. When he became Captain Marvel he did not have the mind of a child. But that is how they wanted to play out his story in August’s version.

This is not quite on the same level of relief knowing that Jack Black would no longer be Green Lantern. Not quite, but close.

We may someday see this project re-opened. But its not on the top of my list.

Remember that toy that was hot for Christmas called Robosapien? Of course you do. They made a new version every year. that spawned into other similar “robo” themed toys? No? Well trust me, it was big!

So big that they are basing a new movie around the toy. So while you are still trying to figure out what toy I am talking about and why they are making a movie, Quiet Earth has the plot synopsis:

An inventor working for Kinetech Labs has designed a robot for search and rescue missions that has the ability to mimic human actions and emotions. After discovering that the robot’s advanced microchip is actually going to be used by Kinetech for military applications, the inventor programs the robot to flee, whereupon it is damaged. Twelve year old Henry finds the broken robot, fixes him up and names him Cody. With no memory of his past, Cody becomes Henry’s best friend, helping him win over his love interest, battle bullies and partake in some crazy fun. Cody quickly becomes a valuable part of Henry’s family as he helps them forge better relationships with one another, and even surprises them by remodeling their home.

I kinda liked this story more when it was the quiet neighbour of Short Circuit and Small Soldiers.

But honestly what other story are you going to come with to share the vast lore and history behind the robotic toy that can dance and/or pick up small objects.

Simon Pegg and director Robert B. Weide made a little movie called How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, but the irony is that its the North American distributors of the film are giving a far better example of Alienating and losing friends. Pegg and Weide are not happy. In fact, they would prefer you DON’T buy their movie.

Seems that all the extra work they did for the bonus features will appear on the Region 2 release, but the Region 1 release? Not so much.

/Film says:

Weide in an official press release. “Simon and I worked very hard to make sure the DVD would be packed with bonus material. The British distributors (Paramount) solicited our input and included all of the extras. Sadly, the American distributors (MGM/Fox) locked us out of the process and managed to leave off most of the bonus material.”

I can really appreciate Pegg and Weide going public on this. This will have one of two results, if not both.

First, this elevates the two of them to Firefly cast status of fanservice. Their reaction seems to come directly from their desire for fans to enjoy their work as much as they did making it. They want to share with those who appreciate the film. They are steamed that it would be ok for the UK fans, but not the North American audience. Awesome of them to go to bat for the fans!

Secondly, this could rally into a fan back lashing against the distributor causing them to reconsider their efforts. The fans buy movies because they love them. And DVD’s contain stuff about the movies that are fun and interesting that you couldn’t experience in the theater therefore making it worthwhile to even bother picking up the damn thing to begin with!

Or not.

Just sayin.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. As many of you know Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor wrote a script for Jonah Hex and were set to direct it. It was a western/supernatural project based on the comic book character. Hex is a bounty hunter with a half disfigured face and wears a confederate uniform.

Anyway, then came word that Neveldine and Taylor left the project, which was really disappointing to hear, over creative differences with Warner Bros. Looks like WB is still going to use their script though. Ok, whatever… projects change directors all the time… no big deal I guess.

But who did they get to replace them? Jimmy Hayward. Director of such films as the animated “Horton Hears A Who” and… well… nothing else at all. He’s worked in the animation department for a few Pixar films, but that pretty much sums up his resume. The folks over at Movieweb give us this:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Josh Brolin is attached to star in the film, which previously had Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank) on board as directors. The duo, who also wrote the script, bowed out over creative differences in November. The studio, which hopes to put the movie into production in March or April, went on a fast-track search, putting together a short list that included such names as Andy Fickman and McG before narrowing it down to Hayward.

I think my interest in this movie just took a nose dive. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not say Hayward isn’t capable to doing a good job. I have no idea if he is or not. All I’m saying is that for a movie like Jonah Hex, I wasn’t wanting to hear the words “from the director of Horton Hears A Who” connected to it.

Imagine if we heard the next Batman film replaced Christopher Nolan with the director from Bolt? I loved Bolt, but I don’t want Batman to feel like Bolt, and I don’t want Jonah Hex to feel like a Pixar film. That’s all I’m saying here. Your thoughts?

I’ll admit it right up front. I saw the Sex and the City movie and I didn’t hate it. As a matter of fact I kinda liked it. I had never seen a single episode of the TV show, but they did the movie in such a way that I felt like I was caught up on what was going on in the first 5 minutes. My one major beef with the movie was that it was far too long for what it was. The thing should have been about 40 minutes shorter. But oh well.

Although the film didn’t make as much as early projections thought it would, it still made coin and is pretty much guaranteed to make more coin if another one is made. Ok, that means the studio will automatically be open to making another one. Then take into consideration that NONE of the Sex and the City stars have been able to generate any real career outside of the franchise, that pretty much means the cast will love to do another one… so it seems like a no brainer that another Sex and the City movie will eventually be on the way right?

Well… now even the stylist for Sex and the City is claiming another movie is on the way. The folks at MTV give us this:

Stylist Patricia Field singlehandedly changed the way women look on TV with her work on “Sex and the City.” She helped make Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte style icons and household names. She’s since worked on bringing her unique sense of urban style to the worlds of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Ugly Betty” and the upcoming “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” which opens on February 13.

But with six years of the “SATC” TV show under her belt, as well as the first installment of the movie franchise, Field can’t wait to get her hands on some more outrageous fashions if another “SATC” film production is made. “I do believe it will happen, because [creator] Michael Patrick King himself told me it’s gonna happen,”

So if you can’t believe the word of a stylist… who can you trust? Yeah, even without this little tid bit I think we’ve all known for a while that another SATC movie was inevitable. The only question is when.

Remakes remakes remakes! As most of you know by now, in principle I really don’t have a problem with remakes in general as long as they adhear to my 4 rules for making a remake. I think each film and project has to be judged on it’s own merits. A lot of people will say: “But John, 9 out of 10 remakes sucks”. Well… maybe that’s true… but 8.5 out of 10 movies in general suck… so it’s really not that far off is it?

Anyway, if you look at my 4 rules for remakes list, you’ll agree that a film like Bye Bye Birdie is a perfect candidate to be remade, and it looks like the director from Hairspray is the one who is going to do it. The folks over at MTV gives us this:

“Bedtime Stories” director Adam Shankman may do what no one in Hollywood has managed so far — bring back big screen musicals. With “Hairspray” under his belt and a deal to direct “Bob: The Musical,” Shankman is stepping in to help Columbia revive its remake of “Bye Bye Birdie.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, he’ll be producing and developing the film, but isn’t set to direct just yet.

“Birdie” debuted on Broadway in 1958, but probably is best known for the 1963 movie version that starred Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke. It centers on a popular singer named Conrad Birdie (who was loosely based on Elvis Presley) who is about to be shipped off to the army, but decides to give one lucky girl from his fan club a farewell kiss. Of course, love, mayhem, and musical numbers follow.

Apparently this is one they’ve been trying to get done for some time… even SNL’s Tina Fey has tried writing it to no avail.

I’m not really big on movie musicals. Having said that I must admit I really enjoyed Hairspray and as most of you know Moulin Rouge ranks up there in my conversations of favorite films of all time (somewhere in my top 50). So why not?

Oscar Buzz is wild about the Animated Feature category and the media is already calling it a battle between KungFu Panda and Wall-E. But there are three places in the contender’s list, so who would be the third?

Fourteen films were submitted for consideration. If two more films had sought a nomination, Oscar rules would have allowed for up to five films to make the final cut.

In addition to Wall-E and Kung-Fu Panda the following films were all hoping for consideration but only three will get to run in the final heat.

So aside from wanting to hit up some of the lesser known films on this list that escaped my notice, I have to lean personally towards Bolt just because it was such a surprise for me. I am also curious about Delgo being considered. Its only place in news so far has been its epic fail at the box office - but I hadn’t even heard if its even a good movie - or even worth a rental. Granted “considered” means the studio put forth their project. This isn’t an Oscar shortlist picked by the Academy, its just those who signed up.

If we are assuming Kung-Fu Panda and Wall-E already getting a place in the list, is there really any reason to introduce a third?

Its an honour just to be nominated?

So if not those two films, which would you think could give the cute robot and obnoxious bear a run for their money?

Ever ask yourself “Why does Hollywood do that?” Well it doesn’t matter what you were talking about, the answer is always the same.

Money.

So to hear that boxoffice receipts are coming in 2% higher this year is not a big surprise.

Yahoo Reports:

It was a photo finish, but North American movie-ticket sales hit the wire in a furious gallop to post an annual gain of almost 2%, with a record haul of $9.78 billion in estimated grosses.

Avid holiday moviegoing helped the industry rewrite the history books in the home stretch, though substantial ticket-price boosts helped pad the tally. Industry estimates put average U.S. ticket prices at about $7.20, or almost 4.7% higher than in 2007.

Now when they talk about the average ticket being $7.20 I imagine that is balancing out all the adult tickets against children’s and seniors rates as well as matinee and cheap night prices.

So mission accomplished. The big bad studios made money. Its so trendy to hate on the big labels, but honestly if they didn’t make money we wouldn’t have movies to go to.

If you build it, they will come.

The Expendables is being hailed as an action extravaganza that will bring back the old kickass genre with some old kickass stars, but it will also blend in the new generation. Now we hear that Forest Whitaker has been approached as well!

IESB says:

Sylvester Stallone is in talks with Academy Award winning actor Forst Whitaker to be in his newest film THE EXPENDABLES.

Whitaker is said to play a CIA liason for the group of mercenaries that includes Stallone, Jet Li, Randy Couture and Jason Statham.

This lineup just oozes of some hardcore action in the making.

Its not like the action genre has been forgotten, but the stand out stars that embodied action like VanDamme, Stallone and schwarzenegger just don’t exist anymore. So this next generation has no iconic action stars to fall back on and we are forced to endure professional wrestlers that call themselves actors. I am not saying that the action stars of old were master thespians, but I just don’t buy many pro wrestlers as “real” actors any more than I qualify most soap stars as big screen worth either (clearly there are exceptions). I don’t mind wrestlers in supporting roles or cameos, but not as the lead.

So not long ago we predicted that Jason Statham would rise to the challenge and be the next big action star and maybe Expendables will be passing the torch.

It is nice however to see them placing such popular and capable personalities like Randy Couture in a supporting role, but also to season out the film they will hopefully introduce an Oscar winning actor like Forest Whitaker too.

This is shaping up to be a well rounded piece and I hope this truly passes the torch to Statham to kick ass for another generation.

I loved Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon in the Tim Burton renditions of Batman. To me he was a wonderful mixture of the original TV show’s Commissioner Gordon and Police Chief O’Hara all wrapped up into one package.

We’d also see him appearing all over the place as a pretty busy character actor. Sadly, the news has come out that Hingle has passed away. CNN gives us this:

Hingle died Saturday evening at his home in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, after a two-year battle with the blood disorder myelodysplasia, his cousin, Lynn Heritage, told CNN. “He was awake one moment, and in the next breath, he was gone,” Heritage said. Hingle began his acting career in the 1950s, appearing in numerous television theater shows. His first movie role was an uncredited appearance in 1954’s “On the Waterfront,” which won eight Academy Awards; he played the by-the-book judge opposite Clint Eastwood’s vengeful marshal in 1968’s “Hang ‘Em High,” and appeared as Sally Field’s father in 1979’s “Norma Rae.”

Sad day for the Batman fan community.

A new poster for Streetfigher: The Legend of Chun-Li has been released and the graphic designer in me weeps.

After so many photoshopped floating head posters, you would think that every designer worth Hollywood’s note would dodge that cliche.

I like the direction they are going with the franchise (anything would be better than the VanDamme flick) But this poster is NOT inspiring me.

Via

Paul Soter and Jay Chandrasekhar, collectively known as Broken Lizard recently hung out with MovieWeb to talk about one movie and ran off chatting about their intention to at least write Super Troopers 2!

The big picture is that we are on the Canadian Border. And in reality, what has happened is that the government has found places where the markers were off, or wrong. And there are these areas of land that were thought to be Canada, but are actually part of the US. We are enlisted to patrol this area that was always thought to be Canadian soil. But no, it is actually the United States. We are enlisted because they have to send someone there to help make it part of the US territory now. We get recruited to be the highway patrolmen there. And we are surrounded by all of these Canadian people that aren’t happy about this. We essentially have to impose US law on a bunch of Canadians that aren’t at all happy about it.

The tangent they run off on in the interview is just a hoot. I would have liked to have seen the interview in video to watch these guys riff off each other.

Super Troopers is a cult hit and as people eventually discover this gem, it grows in popularity even more and more. In the interview they were supposed to be talking about their new film with Michael Clark Duncan called the Slammin Salmon and they end up chatting about Super Troopers 2 which might not even happen.

I hope that it does. They seem to have some sort of passion and direction for it and if the fans are behind it, we might get a taste of the crazy cops again.

Looks like they are turning up the advertising machine on Monsters Vs Aliens, starting with a 3-d commercial. Got your 3-d glasses?

There will also be a 3-d episode of Chuck coming up, so your 3-d glasses at the major retailers sporting the big pile of freebie glasses to watch the assorted 3-d commercials and tv episodes all using Intel’s new Tru 3-d Technology.

I have little to no interest in Monsters Vs Aliens, but the trailer did look alright just not enough to get me wound up. I found there was very little in the way of promoting this movie and now they might be catching up.

With 2008 now behind us it’s time to start looking forward to the films of 2009. There are a lot of good (and bad) looking flicks coming our way in the next 12 months.

Our good friends over at Cinematical put up a list of the Comedy, Horror and Family films slated to come our way. Take a look over them and then go into the comments section to talk about the ones you’re most looking forward to seeing.

The ones I’m most excited about are highlighted in red.

FAMILY FILMS

January: Hotel for Dogs, Inkheart.
February: Coraline, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
March: Race to Witch Mountain (Disney + The Rock = $$$), Monsters vs. Aliens.
April: Hannah Montana: The Movie.
May: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Up.
June: Imagine That (warning: contains Eddie Murphy).
July: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (is this a prequel? How are the dinosaurs dawning after the mammals?), G-Force, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
August: None
September: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
October: Toy Story (3D re-release), Where the Wild Things Are, Astro Boy.
November: A Christmas Carol (one of those crazy 3D motion-capture things, like Polar Express), The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Old Dogs (aka John Travolta and Robin Williams remake Daddy Day Care).
December: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, The Princess and the Frog.

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COMEDIES

January: Bride Wars, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, New in Town
February: Fanboys, He’s Just Not That Into You, Pink Panther 2, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Miss February, Fired Up, Youth in Revolt
March: All About Steve, I Love You, Man, This Side of the Truth, The Accidental Husband, Adventureland, The Janky Promoters, Monsters vs. Aliens
April: The Ugly Truth, Observe and Report, 17 Again
May: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, My Life in Ruins, Next Day Air, Bruno, Night at the Museum 2, Up
June: Land of the Lost, The Hangover, Year One
July: Ice Age 3, I Love You Beth Cooper, 500 Days of Summer, G-Force, Funny People, They Came from Upstairs
August: Julie & Julia, Shorts, Dance Flick, Post Grad, Max’s Mardi Gras
September: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
October: Toy Story (3-D), Zombieland
November: Tooth Fairy, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Three Stooges, Old Dogs
December: Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, The Princess and the Frog

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HORROR

January
9
Autopsy (After Dark) — Hospital-style hell. Often attempted, rarely well.
The Broken (After Dark) — Lena Headey. Richard Jenkins. Evil doppelganger. Slick flick.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (After Dark) — A theatrical-release sequel to a DTV sequel. Weird.
Dying Breed (After Dark) — Horror from down unda’. Familiar but effective. I dug it.
From Within (After Dark) — Also known as The Tribeca Nap.
Perkins’ 14 (After Dark) — A bunch of brainwashed folks go psycho. Sounds cool.
Slaughter (After Dark) — Chick moves to a huanted farm. Really?
The Unborn (Rogue) — David Goyer. Undead kid. Cloverfield hottie. PG-13.
Voices (After Dark) — Occult from Korea.
16
My Bloody Valentine 3-D (Lionsgate) — Good, goofy, gory fun. Find a 3-D theater.
23
Donkey Punch (Magnet) — Stylish, nasty, sexy, speedy.
The Lodger (Sony) — It was a book before Hitchcock got there. Solid cast, too.
Outlander (Third Rail) — Aliens, Vikings & Monsters. Oh my.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Screen Gems)
30
The Uninvited (Paramount) — Remake of the excellent Tale of Two Sisters. PG-13.

February
13
Friday the 13th (WB) — I’ve gone from bleah to hmm to yeah! (Still, fingers crossed.)

March
13
The Horsemen (Lionsgate) — Dennis Quaid, serial killers, and apocalyptic horror. Sign me up.
Race to Witch Mountain (Disney) — Included because I like kids.

April
24
Obsessed (Screen Gems) — Hottie stalker goes psycho. These just never get old.

May
15
Angels & Demons (Columbia) — With a title like that, it’s gotta be a horror movie. Right?
29
Drag Me to Hell (Universal) — Raimi’s first horror movie since Evil Dead 2. Woohoo!

June
19
The Haunting in Connecticut (Lionsgate) — The trailer is actually pretty solid!

July
24
Orphan (WB) — More evil kids! And Vera Farmiga, Nice.
Piranha 3-D (Dimension) — Should be the best movie of the whole year.

August
21
Final Destination 4: Death Trip 3-D — Yep, you read that right.
28
Halloween 2 (Dimension) — Zombie insisted he wouldn’t do the sequel, but guess what?

September
11
Daybreakers (Lionsgate) — Futuristic vampires and Willem Defoe. Awesome.
Whiteout (WB) — Kate Beckinsale and the Antarctic slasher, Double awesome.
18
Jennifer’s Body (Fox) — Diablo Cody, Megan Fox, possessed cheerleader. Yes, please.
25
The Crazies (Overture) — Has this even gone into production yet?

October
2
Sorority Row (Summit) — Wow, someone actually remade The House on Sorority Row. How odd.
9
Zombieland (Columbia) — Woody Harrelson horror comedy. But is it coming this year?
16
The Stepfather (Screen Gems) — Stop raiding my DVD stack!
23
Saw 6 (Lionsgate) — Yep. Six.

November
6
The Box (WB) — Richard Kelly doin’ Richard Matheson. Sounds good. Still … Cameron Diaz?
The Wolfman (Universal) — I dig the director (Joe Johnston) and the lead (Benicio Del Toro), so who knows?
20
New Moon (Summit) — aka Twilight 2.

It seems the Donald Blake from the Thor world has been added to the upcoming Thor movie. As some of you may already know, the original script for Thor had the entire story and movie taking place in Valhalla and not crossing into the “real world”. I thought this was a terrible idea right from the start.

But according to our friends over at IESB.Net some significant script changes have been made and the Donald Blake character has been added which obviously suggests that the Thunder God will, at least in part, be in our world. If you’re not familiar with who Donald Blake is:

“Thor’s father Odin decides his son needs to be taught humility and consequently places Thor (without memories of godhood) into the body and memories of an existing, partially disabled human medical student, Donald Blake. After becoming a doctor and thoroughly believing himself to be the young surgeon Blake, he later discovers Thor’s disguised hammer and learns to change back and forth into the Thunder God. The real Blake’s persona remains elsewhere until many years later, after Odin becomes satisfied of Thor’s humility and lifts the spell, thereby removing the need for a mortal alter ego. The mortal experience, however, shapes Thor into an honorable and courteous individual, who is loyal to all comrades.”

To me this is a much better idea. I’ve always said that the modern comic book movies work for non-comic and comic fans alike is the idea of the fantastic within the mundane. Extraordinary characters within the context of the ordinary world. A movie about the god of Thunder living in the land of the gods alone I think will lose much of its potential punch and lack appeal to the mainstream audience.

Then there’s the obvious fact that Thorn needs at the very least a segue into the Marvel world of Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America since they’re all appearing together in the forthcoming Avengers movie in 2011. If nothing else this alone necessitates at least part of the Thor story (I’d like to see at least half) take place in our mortal world.

So what do you think about the addition of the Donald Blake character to the Thor movie? Like it? Or would you rather see it all in Valhalla?

Stephen Chow has been busy doing more than fielding questions about Green Hornet.

I found this trailer for a movie out now on Bluray and DVD and it looked pretty cute, so I am going to share it with the International Friends:

I might have to get this.

With David Tennant announcing he will be leaving Doctor Who at the end of this makeshift season (consisting of 4 tv movies) the rumour mill has been wild with speculation over who could fill these very well traveled shoes next.

BBCOne’s Doctor Who Confidential that will air tomorrow night will reveal who will trip the light fantastic next as the Doctor and might even give us a hint towards how this Doctor’s personality will shape up.

BBC says:

Head Of Drama BBC Wales Piers Wenger said, “We are so pleased to have been able to cast this person as the new Doctor. We believe the actor is going to bring something very special to the role and will make it absolutely their own - I just can’t wait to tell everyone who it is - it has been a nail biting Christmas trying to keep this under wraps!”.

I have fallen deeply into a comfort zone with Tennant as the Doctor. It was only a matter of time before someone took over the role, but I wasn’t done with him yet.

I was happy however to see the fella in this most recent Christmas special will not be the next Doctor. It was a great idea for a story, but I just wasn’t buying him as a long term Doctor.

But that just might be because of my comfort with Tennant.

The top rumour contender seems to be Paterson Joseph, but he played a minor role as Rodrick in two episodes of Doctor Who already. If he did get the gig would they write in that Rodrick was the Doctor tripping over himself in the past? Could be interesting.

So who would you like to see as the next Doctor?

I’ve mentioned a few times that there are only 2 movie moments that have ever made me cry… yes I’m man enough to admit it. I’ve never gotten choked up at the normal things that get others emotional over. Romance scenes or scenes of sadness never get to me… don’t get me wrong, I like and appreciate those scenes when they work for the movies they’re in, but on an emotional level they don’t actually get me choked up.

No, the things that get me choked up, or even make me cry (remember, just two times ever… grrrrrr… I’m a manly man) are the scenes in films that effectively portray or show amazing acts of kindness. Yeah, i know that sounds weird, but it’s true.

For example, one of the movie scenes that made me actually cry (grrrrr… manly man) was one of the last scenes in “My Best Friend’s Wedding”. No, it wasn’t the wedding that got to me. No it wasn’t the fact that Julia Roberts didn’t get to marry the man she loved. It was the scene where Roberts is at the wedding and is on the phone with her gay best friend (played brilliantly by Rupert Everett) who lives across the country because she’s hurting a bit and needs to talk to him. The catch is she realizes that he was there at the wedding too. He traveled across the country to be there just in case she needed him. Yes international friends, a friend flying across the country to be there for his friend made me cry. Shut up.

What can I say. The things that really get to me are acts that show the capacity of humanity to show beauty and kindness. Not romance. Not sadness. Not puppies.

The reason this sort of came up today is because last night I was up late and flipping through the TV stations when I came across a TV show called “Extreme Home Makeover”. You know the show? It’s the one where Ty Pennington (used to be on that “Trading Spaces” show) and a team of people find a needy family, tear down their house and build them a brand new one.

Ok, here’s the story of the episode last night. This family of a mom and 4 kids had their father suddenly die 6 months earlier unexpectedly. Apparently the whole community just loved this guy and he was a great husband and father. The thing is, the house was terrible and ready to fall apart, and with the dad suddenly gone, the family was also in a bit of a financial crisis. You had a mom at her wits end who was trying to support, raise and comfort her kids all while still dealing with the grief of losing her husband and trying to make ends meet at the same time. It was a moving story.

So in comes the “home makeover” team, send her and her kids on a week long vacation, tear down her house, get hundreds of volunteers together, tear down their house and build a completely brand new BEAUTIFUL house fully furnished with sentimental pieces from the old house scattered throughout the new house including a big portrait of the family when the dad was still alive. When the family was brought back “home” and shown their new house, they all just broke down into tears. Not the stupid annoying happy dance that people with money do when they win some game show… real tears. Tears from a family that had been though so much, struggled so much, lost so much… and suddenly out of nowhere where shown an incredible act of kindness that was really going to change their lives.

I won’t lie to you… I cried like a freaking chick watching Leo sink at the end of Titanic. I hated myself for crying… but I cried (shut up, I’ll punch you in the face).

Now here’s the thing. There are a lot of movies with heroes. Movies with characters showing acts of bravery or heroism or doing good. But where are the films that show the random acts of kindness that display the best in humanity? I for one would like to see more movies that center around these types of things. Granted, it’s not as exciting as Iron Man taking out tanks or the Joker pushing a guy’s face down on a pencil (which are both awesome by the way), but it’s still something that I think there is a lack of in movies today.

Off the top of my head (and I’ve only thought about this for a few minutes) I can only really think of one example of this sort of thing in a movie. In “As Good As It Gets” Helen Hunt plays a mom with a sick son who can’t afford to get him the sort of medical attention he needs and his condition seems to just get worse and worse. Then, along comes Jack Nicholson who arranges for a top notch doctor to personally go and care for her son and cure him. Now granted, Jack had an ulterior motive because he wanted Hunt to be at work to serve him breakfast (he has a mental illness that makes him NEED routine), but still it was sweet. A woman trapped who was set free by an act of unexpected kindness. I love it.

So where are these movies? I’m sure there are SOME others out there that have this type of theme that just aren’t coming to me off the top of my head. So tell me folks… what are some other movies that have this type of theme or scenes in them that you think might choke me up (Grrrrrr).