The frenzy for The Avengers is being stirred more and more by the sheer number of film set pictures that are flooding the internet. This is highly unusual if you’d go by how other high profile movies that were being shot handled these kinds of leaks. For example, updates on the Dark Knight Rises have been quite few and almost very miserly compared to the amount of images we’re seeing from the Avengers set. At this point, I think this is deliberate. The movie studio is already creating the hype even though the movie’s months away from being released — heck, it’s still filming right now. But the comicbook fanboys won’t be complaining. The leaked pictures will be fueling their daydreams – some of them may even be using the pictures in lieu of internet porn.

The leaked pictures do generate a lot of excitement and if the goal for releasing such a relatively huge number of pictures  is to ramp up anticipation for the movie then they have succeeded. The Avengers will be released summer of 2012. It will star Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and a slew of other big name actors. Joss Whedon directs.

But Solomon Kane is neither of these fictional characters. Based on the character created by pulp writer Robert E. Howard, Solomon Kane is a wandering puritan who lived in the 17th century and whose goal is to vanquish evil wherever he encounters it. The character appeared in many stories in Weird Tales, the seminal title that brought many high quality pulp horror stories.

I am not thoroughly familiar with Solomon Kane as a character so I’ll base this review solely on what I have seen in the movie and based on what I have just seen, Solomon Kane is a character that should really be given as much focus as the other comic book characters enjoying the adoration of the public.

Solomon Kane revisits the same familiar tropes of faith and repentance but given a deliberate Hollywood polish of expansive cinematography and special effects. Michael J. Bassett, who both wrote and directed the movie, tried to do his best to cram as much of Solomon Kane’s origins in order to give the audience a heftier idea of why he seeks redemption. As “origin” movies go, Bassett also had to contend with trying to cram in as much background story as he could without eating up too much of his available screen time. It’s a worthwhile effort and I feel that even though he has not fully achieved his goal, it was still a passable effort that gave us a good glimpse of Solomon Kane before he repented and began his quest for the deliverance of his soul.

Luckily, Bassett had a very capable actor in James Purefoy who injected just enough pathos in his performance that by the middle of the movie, the audience really roots for him. It is quite easy to ham it up in a movie like this but Purefoy managed to evade this easy trap. His Kane is fractured, conflicted and tortured but there is a nobility that shines through and a goodness that emerges naturally in his performance. Speaking of actors, I was quite happy to see the great Pete Postlethwaite as the well-meaning William Crowthorn. Actors like him always give any movie a worthwhile sheen and as always he delivers here. I feel that Jason Flemyng is thoroughly underused as the villain Malachai. His screen time is just not enough.

The cinematography was a bit hit and miss. I don’t know if it was the copy that I was viewing but there were some scenes that were a bit too poorly lighted. But it’s undeniable that Bassett has a great eye. There were some gorgeous scenes that would put to shame most of the hacks in Hollywood — which makes me wonder why Bassett is not being given more high profile projects. Solomon Kane is loads better than the very poorly made Van Helsing. To compare him to Stephen Sommers is an insult to Bassett.

I am also a bit underwhelmed by the movie’s ending. You get this feeling of wanting more but from the looks of it, it seems that the people behind the movie are hoping to make a franchise out of it. Hopefully, the movie has performed well enough to actually merit a sequel.

All in all, Solomon Kane is one of those action/fantasy movies that are not being noticed because it doesn’t have the pull of an A-list actor. But I think the beauty of this movie is precisely the fact that it is not totally consumed by Hollywood’s touch. Fantasy/action fans would be well advised to check this movie out.

Rating: B+

The second movie introduced many Transformers characters. I loved Sideswipe but I feel his screen time was extremely limited. In fact, I would’ve much preferred to see him more instead of Mudflap and Skids, who are the most annoying CG characters to appear in a movie since Jar Jar Binks.

Fortunately, the people behind Transformers are heeding the clamor of fans to torpedo those two characters. Reports indicate that the two annoying Autobots won’t be returning for the third Transformers movie. Bay himself revealed the news on Twitter by simply posting a tweet that “the twins are not back in T3.”

Thank God for these little triumphs. Now if they can only give the franchise to another director — preferably a Japanese one.

Director Michael Bay says that Skids and Mudflap, which caused some controversy for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, will not be back for next summer’s Transformers 3. Bay posted a simple message on his forums stating that “The Twins are not back in T3.”

In related news, actress/comedienne Kym Whitley posted on Twitter yesterday that she’s part of the cast. “Working on Transformers 3 today, a little nervous…always when starting a new project. I have said the Lords prayer 12 times,” she said.

Transformers 3 is scheduled for a July 1, 2011 release.

According to various tracking surveys, there is a strong chance that Iron Man 2 could go past the $158.4 million opening record set by the Dark Knight.

The growing buzz from viewers is being largely attributed to star Robert Downey Jr. A lot of women, especially those with ages from their 20s to 30s are very interested in seeing Downey in the big screen once again. Also, males are expected to troop to the theaters in order to watch Iron Man and the various action sequences promised by the movie. Even the demographic that is least interested in the movie, the teen girls, are showing some rumblings of interest, too.

If Iron Man’s record is any indication then the sequel is going to explode in a big way. The original movie had a $98.6 million opening and eventually grossed $318.4 million. With an international gross of $266.7 million, the movie’s worldwide take was $585.1 million.

As for me, I am definitely going to watch this. This is the movie that will finally make me go to a theater again this year.

But with nary a sign of the Red Sonja project moving there are doubts that it will push through. Recently, Rose McGowan was announced to have snagged a role in the Conan remake and she won’t be playing Red Sonja in this movie. She will reportedly play the role of a witch.

Now there are rumors that the Red Sonja role and movie is being offered to Megan Fox. I think she is a worthy choice for the role. She definitely has the femme fatale looks that is needed to give justice to Red Sonja. All she needs to do is to put on some muscles and a little weight and she’s all set to go.

Hopefully, this project pushes through. I know that millions of men will be waiting for Fox to don the Red Sonja outfit.

In addition to McGowan, Aarniokoski is apparently off the project as well and they are looking for another writer to take a pass at David N. White’s script.

Pajiba says that an offer has now been made to “Transformers” star Megan Fox to play the mythical flame-haired comic-book vixen with a sword. Will she take the role? We’ll have to wait and see.

In June ’08, the project was described as follows:

In her return we find Red Sonja, a young girl risen from the ashes of tragedy to become the most feared woman warrior of all time. The mythical red-head blindly seeks vengeance on those who destroyed her family. In her path of destruction she discovers a larger purpose for her unearthly powers: to save all Hyrkania from the villainous Kulan Gath.

Now he is reportedly rumored to be near bagging a role that could catapult him to official movie stardom.

According to reports, he is getting closer to landing the role of Captain America in Marvel Studios’ The First Avenger: Captain America.

Krasinski has reportedly been meeting with the producers since the start of 2010 and  has read for the role and even done some screen tests. He allegedly read for the role four times and has done two screen tests.

He is reportedly also reading with different actresses who are up for the female leads. The final decision for the casting might be announced in a just a few weeks.

Newly appointed Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns, gave some relatively cool news about the new superhero movie. First, he confirmed that actor Mark Strong is going to play GL’s nemesis Sinestro. Strong was last seen in Sherlock Holmes and is also a part of the cast of another comicbook adaptation, Kick Ass.

AMong the other Green Lantern staples that you can also expect in the movie, based on Johns’ information are the Guardians, Oa, and fan favorite Kilowog.

Green Lantern will be directed by Martin Campbell and will star Ryan Reynolds in the titular role. Also starring in the movie are Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins. The movie will be released on June 17, 2011.

But his recent project has caught my attention once again. Les Aventures Extraordinaires D’Adele Blanc-Sec is a movie that is as strange as they come. The movie, which will star Louise Bourgoin, is set in 1912 and tells the story of a young reporter, Adele Blanc-Sec, who is like an Indiana Jones archetype who battles with corrupt politicians, crooks, scientists and devil worshippers. In this movie, she battles what may probably be her biggest nemesis, a pterodactyl that sows terror on Paris. Yes, you read it right, a pterodactyl.

I am so watching this movie.

Now, more than a decade later, the Sgt. Rock movie has been revived. According to producer Joel Silver, the project has been given new life at Warner Bros. Pictures. Silver revealed that for this planned adaptation, the setting won’t be during World War II. The new plan is for Sgt. Rock to perform his call of duty in a war in the “not too distant future.” Silver further revealed that they want it to be a movie where the direction for the character is “where it’s going” and not “where it’s been.” The whole vision for the movie is for a futuristic war where Sgt. Rock will figure prominently. The scrtip is already finished and director Francis Lawrence is helping in the development of the movie. There is still no go signal from Warner that would officially mean the project is officially in production but hopefully 2010 is the magic year when we will finally see Sgt. Rock being made into a movie.

With Zebraman’s popularity, it’s not surprising to know that a sequel is already made, after all, there’s a big clamor from fans of the movie for a continuation of the story presented in the first Zebraman.

What’s unusual is having a spin-off that will serve to “complement” the upcoming sequel. But it’s there and it’s real. The straight to DVD spinoff is directed by Miike’s assistant director Nishiumi Kenichiro. The sequel, with the title “Revenge of teh Zebra Miniskirt Police” will feature three pretty women who will be the members of the police squad. Their role in the sequel are bodyguards to the main character . They will all be wearing Zebra miniskirts, which just brings the weirdness factor up a notch.

The star turning power of Conan is the reason why it is such a coveted role. With talks that a Conan remake is already being developed, actors left and right are being touted as the perfect Conan. You would, of course, expect to see familiar names and established stars vying for the role of Conan. But th announcement of Lionsgate and Millennium Films about the new Conan has caught quite a few people by surprise. The role was announced to have been given to Jason Momoa. Yes, I don’t know who he is either.

The 30 year old Momoa is a virtual unknown. His most prominent work before Conan was in the sci-fi TV show Stargate Atlantis. He’s also set to appear in the new HBO mini series, Game of Thrones. I’m not familiar with Momoa’s work but from his pictures, he does look like he could be perfect for the role. I’ll hold off judgement on the guy’s acting skills because a) I haven’t seen his work and b) Conan is not really going to win anyone an Oscar — if you can grunt and look good doing it then you’ll perfect for the role.

Oh, and speaking of grunts and Oscars, Mickey Rourke has been offered the role of Corin, Conan’s father.

Conan will begin filming this March 15.

Almost five years after The King… Lee Jun-Ik is returning to period movies, this time in a more action oriented fashion. Lee’s new movie, entitled Gureumeul Beoseonan Dalcheoreom or roughly “Like The Moon That Escaped the Cloud,” features Cha Seung Won as a revolutionary and Hwang Jun-Min, who will play a “legendary blind swordsman.”

Say what?

Doesn’t “legendary blind swordsman” describe a very famous character in Japanese legend and film? Based on a promo shot of the blind swordsman, it does look like Lee has taken inspiration from the legendary Zatoichi. I won’t be surprised if Lee’s movie will also borrow some elements and plot points from the Zatoichi story.

I still look forward to the movie though.

I’m on a one-man mission to tell anyone who would listen that GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra sucked. It sucked ass so majestically that I’m using the DVD (Bluray’s too good for this movie) as a pooper scooper for my dog. Seriously. GI Joe was such a major disaster that even my five year old son, who loves his fair share of whiz-bang special effects blockbusters (he adored Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen), would rather tend to his virtual farm in Harvest Moon. It was that bad. And I whimper everytime I say this because Christopher Eccleston — my fave actor — is in this insult to good taste.

I really hoped that Stephen Sommer’s suckfest was the last we’ve seen of it. But apparently, the decent $300 million take GI Joe got was enough to actually merit a sequel (barf bag please).

According to rumors, a scriptwriter was already hired to write the script for the sequel, which signifies Paramount Studio’s serious intent for a sequel. The scriptwriter will be working on what Sommers and his team have already thought up for a sequel, which was already available even before the first movie was released.

I’m pretty sure a lot of people will be excited about news of a GI Joe sequel. Count me out though.

A case in point is the James Bond series. The James Bond movies is now more than twenty movies old and it’s still the same old grizzled character that Hollywood is trying to milk. Okay, I think the “reboot” of the character with Casino Royale seems a little inspired but really, aside from the more chiseled body of Daniel Craig, we’ve seen it all before, right?

What the James Bond franchise really needs is a change in vision. And if there’s any kind of left-field kind of change happening to the franchise it would be the news that Sam Mendes is in negotiations to direct the next Bond sequel.

The director, who made a mark with American Beauty, and followed it with such works as Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road, is an intriguing choice. Although Mendes directed Jarhead, he hasn’t really made an action movie. I, for one, will eagerly anticipate this new Bond installment if Mendes does get to direct it — the first time I’m actually excited about a Bond movie.

Then a case opens, and Holmes tries to woo back his partner. So starts this comedy adventure. It’s your usual winning formula of villain on the quest for world domination + lovable hero + loyal sidekick + romantic sideplots. The movie also tops into the latest trend of witch craft and magic. Hmm. Sherlock meets Lord Voldemort.

The fight scenes are decent, with moments of genius. Watch for the scene at the shipyard. Unfortunately, Director Guy Ritchie tends to overedit some of the best sequences. Even the musical score has some great moments. Nothing to win an Oscar, but quite good for an action movie.

You get the feeling, after watching the movie, that the producers are gearing you up for a sequel. It may actually be a good idea. Robert Downey Jr. does a pretty good job of giving the Sherlock Holmes of classic lit a modern, sorta-sexy/sorta-funny vibe (the way Johnny Depp made being a pirate cool). And considering the Holmes-Watson tradition, there’s a deep well of possible story lines and a deep fan base who’ll follow the pair in whatever crazy adventure they get themselves into. (It may also turn the new generation towards the classics, and help them rediscover Sherlock Holmes and actually read the book!)

With plans for a fourth Bourne movie underway, everything was running smoothly, until news came out that Greengrass has reportedly “walked away” from the sequel. This will put the production of the fourth movie in jeopardy because Matt Damon is extremely close to Greengrass and this could make Damon decide to leave the production as well as a show of solidarity with his friend.

The problem seems to have originated from the producers’ decision to hire another writer to work on another script when the first script by George Nolfi (who wrote Bourne Ultimatum) was not universally liked. Greengrass seems to have taken exception for not being consulted in hiring the new new writer.

With the new Bourne movie looking like it’s in limbo, it will be a few more years before we see another intelligent action movie coming out of Hollywood. Believe me, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables, one of the hotly anticipated action movies in production, won’t win any awards for cinematic intelligence.

The Playlist does add that walking away might be a “typical Paul move” and that he possibly could be back on the project in a few months.

According to him, the story about hunting “the man/beast” will now be told through another character. Rambo, in the main story, will be going “across the border” to go to a violent city and speculations are rife that he will be battling human traffickers this time.

What’s interesting about this latest development is the fact that the original sequel storyline was actually the one with the human traffickers. It was changed at some point, but it looks like its back to the original concept again. I kinda get why the original storyline was chosen. Human traffickers as the bad guys would mean the body count will be so much bigger — and that’s what action fans want.

Chris Pine is reportedly in talks with Paramount Pictures to play Jack Ryan, the popular CIA analyst character in Tom Clancy’s novels.

A script is currently being written for the planned reboot. Although the movie’s title wasn’t revealed yet, I’m guessing they’ll restart the franchise with the first novel, The Hunt for Red October.

If Pine accepts, he will be the fourth actor to assume the role of Ryan. Alec Baldwin starred in The Hunt for Red October. Then Harrison Ford assumed the role when Baldwin decided to do The Shadow instead of Patriot Games. The last actor to play Ryan was Ben Affleck.

Robert Rodriguez’s reboot of Predator has finally completed its cast. The list of actors will be headed by Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody. Another rumored addition is Topher Grace, who will play the role of an accountant who is actually a lethal serial killer.

Other actors confirmed to be included in Predators include Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Alice Braga, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, and Louiz Ozawa.

Predators will be directed by Hungarian director Nimrod Antal, who directed last year’s Vacancy.

In his official web site he revealed that a story has now been developed for the Transformers sequel and the release date is slated for July 1, 2011, a year earlier from the speculated 2012 release date.

Bay revealed that he had a meeting with Industrial Light and Magic and that he will be going to Hasbro’s headquarters with writer Ehren Kruger to talk about new characters for the movie.

Oh, and he also left a little note for Megan Fox, who has been badmouthing the Michael Bay and the Transformers franchise.

“P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.”

Hilarious, and just slightly upped Bay’s cred for me.

According to Bay’s official website, he will be meeting with Steven Spielberg and Ehren Kruger (producers of the franchise) to discuss the sequel. The plan is to release the third installment in Summer 2011 or 2012.

Bay has also indicated that he will possibly be directing two movies before he puts Transformers 3 on his schedule. One of these movies will be another sequel, Bad Boys 3.

Harrison Ford himself has revealed that the story for the new Indiana Jones movies is already being written. In an interview with the French publication Le Figaro, Ford said that he, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have already agreed about what the fifth adventure will be about.

Hopefully, this plan doesn’t push through.

“Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” was a fact-paced action-filled movie with such loud booms that my seat vibrated time and again. It was definitely entertaining and did deliver on the promise that it will provide plenty of action and lots of visual effects. My problem with the movie though was that I actually found the action scenes a bit too much. There were way too many action scenes that the storyline, though an interesting one, seemed like an excuse just to make a blockbuster action movie at times. Not only were there too many action scenes but the action scenes though they really looked great, were often too confusing. Half the time I couldn’t distinguish whether the Decepticons or the Autobots were getting blasted.

I did like the concept because it was great to learn more about the Primes and the history of the Transformers. The problem was that I would have liked the movie to be a bit more cerebral giving us more insight to the history and not coming up with lame symbols that looked senseless when Sam (Shia LeBouf) explained why Einstein’s theory was all wrong.

As for the actors the ones that did entertain were mostly the CG twins and the Decepticon that fell in love with Mikaela (Megan Fox). I liked Sam and Mikaela’s characters in the first Transformers movie but this time their characters seemed a bit lacking in substance this time. Megan Fox managed to be as sexy as ever but this time around it just fell flat, like they were just shooting scenes to show how sexy she was, it wasn’t funny, cool, nor significant, like in the first movie when her sexiness underlined the reason why Sam had the hots for her. Sam’s character also managed to seem a little shallow with his wanting to be normal problems. The Sam before meeting the Transformers is permitted to be shallow but who would still be totally wrapped up in oneself after such experiences? The characters I did like this time around were Agent Simmons (John Turturro), Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), and of course Sam’s mom (Julie White), who provided the laughs in the movie.

With all my criticism about the movie would I say that it wasn’t worth watching on the big screen? Definitely, not. It just didn’t deliver for me but it was still entertaining. If you plan on watching it at least watch it on the big screen to be able to enjoy the visual and sound effects, because it is the kind of movie where you can do without watching it at all if not for that. Watch it because of the CGI. Watch it because the first movie just compels you to watch this one. But don’t expect to be blown away by this film.

With the movie premier no more than a few days away Denzel Washington and his other co-stars are busy promoting the movie. John Travolta, who takes over the role of Shaw, is notably absent from all the promotional hoopla. He’s taking time to grieve with his family for the loss of his teenage son, Jett, who died last January. In Travolta’s official website he thanked his co-stars and the production team saying, “Tony, Denzel, Luis, John, James and Sony Pictures stepped up without hesitation to help promote this wonderful film, and their unselfish efforts have allowed my family the additional time to reconcile our loss.” And though he couldn’t be physically present he has done his part by encouraging his fans in his letter to watch and enjoy the movie.

As for the plot of the story there isn’t much you can say about it because there’s really not much of a story beyond Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) running around, in, and under the Smithsonian trying to save his wax friends and the world from Kahmunrah. The attempt to add depth to the story by giving us a lesson on doing what we love was more like an afterthought just so we can say that the movie had a story beyond trying to get some good laughs out of the audience. The ending was fun but ruined by the oh so corny appearance of the reincarnation/complete opposite of Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams).

All in all the movie was funny enough but I could have lived without seeing it on the big screen.