Columbia Pictures has released the official synopsis for The Amazing Spider-Man, and … yeah, it isn’t good news.

Not only did we not need a reboot of the Spider-Man series this soon, but we especially didn’t need it if it means they’re going to play with all sorts of aspects of the character’s past.

One of the world’s most popular characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy is revealed in “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Focusing on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story, the new film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theaters everywhere in 3D on July 3, 2012.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance  leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

His parents left him? (yes, there is one version of the comics where it turned out they were spies) A briefcase? Connors worked with his dad at Oscorp?

There are times where some changes to the core story work (i.e. X-Men First Class didn’t make me cringe in terror for the most part), but some of these “tweaks” are just outrageously wrong.  His parents, the origin of Dr. Connors and so on just make me already completely turned off to this latest installment of the film series.

Come on, Hollywood.  The comics have years and years of history, that have worked on, why can’t you just pick a part that works and leave it mostly alone?

Leave it to The CW to screw up a show before they even film it.

The TV Addict got ahold of the casting breakdowns for the upcoming Arrow series which will be based on the DC Comics character of Green Arrow.  From these listings its pretty obvious that just like the network did with Smallville the comics background doesn’t matter.

Oliver Queen
A 27 year old reformed bad boy, who after having spent five years shipwrecked on a tiny, brutally dangerous island in the South China Sea returns to town a different man. Or to be more specific, a tortured, thoughtful master of the bow with a ferocious determination to make a difference.

Dinah “Laurel” Lance
28 years old, smart sexy, Laurel is a legal aid attorney determined to use her life as a one-woman war against the 1% following the death of her younger sister Sara. A sister, who as luck would have it, just so happened to have died aboard Oliver’s yacht.

Tommy Merlyn
28 years old and devil-smooth, Tommy is a trustafarian like Oliver, a spectacularly rich young man whose life revolves around parties, clubs, liquor and lots of anonymous sex. Unlike Oliver, he can’t seem to understand his former best friend’s sudden change of lifestyle and direction.

Moira Queen
48 years old, a beautiful woman, Oliver’s mother Moira is a very wealthy woman who is not used to being shaken. Having remarried during the five years that former husband Robert and Oliver were both presumed dead, Moira has had free rein over the Queen billions. Not surprisingly, she’s deeply interested in learning whether or not Robert will also return unexpectedly, to ruin her present marriage and go over the books with a fine-tooth comb.

John Diggle
35 years old, African-American, Diggle is really, really big, a former military man who served with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan, and has been a bodyguard for hire for the last four years. Hired by Moira to be Oliver’s chauffeur and protector, Diggle soon finds he is trapped in a battle of wits, as Oliver repeatedly eludes his protection. But in fact, Diggle’s primary conflict is one of loyalty — he has to show that he’s working for Oliver, not Moira, before Oliver will give him a smidgen of trust.

Thea Queen
17 years old (suggest 17-22 years), Oliver’s Lolita-esque sister, Thea was a 12 year old girl when he went on his infamous yachting voyage — but now she’s a celebutante who’s testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Thea loved her big brother with all her heart, and is delighted to have him back in her life — but she’s spreading her wings, and is unprepared for Oliver to become the Bad Cop in the family, restricting her access to boys and drugs.

Thea Queen?  Well that’s a totally new character.  And imagine that, a bratty teenage girl character on The CW.  I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!  And Dinah “Laurel” Lance?  You mean the Black Canary, Green Arrow’s long time girlfriend?  Well, no mention of her being her super heroine alter ego, but perhaps they’ll add that down the road?  Who knows, it’s The CW, they could decided this is the “wrong” Dinah Lance or some other crazy idea.

Just once I’d like to see The CW do something faithful to a comic, but I guess that’s just too much to hope for.

[via The TV Addict]

The nominees for the 84th annual Academy Awards have been announced.

The awards show will air Sunday, Feb. 26th, hosted by Billy Crystal.

Some of the films with the most nominations are:

• Hugo – 11
• The Artist – 10
• Moneyball – 6
• War Horse – 6
• The Descendants – 5
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 5
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – 3
• Midnight in Paris – 3
• The Help – 3
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – 3
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 3
• The Tree of Life – 3

Full list after the jump.

Continue Reading ->

It seems there is still some life in the Underworld series as the fourth film took the number one spot at the box office this weekend.

Underworld Awakening brought in $25.4 million this weekend to win the top spot.  The last installment of the series to star Kate Beckinsale was Underworld: Evolution which opened to $26.9 million, and when you factor in the higher average ticket price of today, and adding in the higher price for 3D tickets, attendance was down significantly from that 2006 film.  We’ll have to see how it performs in the coming weeks.

Second place went to the new George Lucas-produced film, Red Tails.  The latest film to take on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen brought in a respectable $19.1 million.  I’m honestly not sure how it will end up doing, but seeing as it cost $58 million to make it should end up recouping Lucas his investment.

Contraband fell 49.9% from last weekend to bring in $12.2 million. While not a huge dollar amount, it’s actually doing well for a Mark Whalberg movie … which actually isn’t saying a whole lot.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close went in to wide release this weekend, increasing from 6 screens to 2,630, meaning it saw a financial take increase of +11,484.2%.  This translated to $10.54 million, but it’s just really fun to write it out as a percentage

Rounding out the top five was Haywire with a $9 million opening weekend.  Considering the extremely poor reviews, it’s unlikely that this female action thriller is going to have a whole lot of life to it.

Next week sees the debuts of The Grey, bank heist thriller Man on a Ledge and One For the Money.

At long last, someone has finally explained to me why in the world I keep ending up with an American Airlines group 4 ticket!

For those who aren’t familiar with flying American Airlines, the planes are loaded by group starting with first class, uniformed military and so on, then they move on to Group 2, Group 3 and finally Group 4. So, it is not unusual for me to get on the plane and find no overhead storage left for my rolling carry-on.  This leads to me “gate checking” that bag quite often, which always makes me nervous as thats usually my “emergency” clothing and so on, but sometimes I simply have no choice.

I found myself in this situation yesterday at the Santa Ana airport in California.  As they announced the flight was nearly sold out, they needed people to hand over whatever bags they could, so I went ahead and opted to turn mine over as I was on my way home.  While getting the bag processed I made an off-handed comment about how I always seem to end up in Group 4.  ”That’s because you checked-in with an agent,” the airline agent told me.  After I asked her what she meant, she told me that online check-in gets you in Group 2, checking-in at a self-help kiosk would get you Group 3 and checking in with an agent got you into Group 4.

See, I’m almost always in a hotel the night before I fly, so I normally don’t check-in online as it’s a pain in the butt.  As for self check-in, I just figured I was right next to the agents, just use an agent.  Little did I know it was actually causing me issues with my position of getting on the flight.  Perhaps if American Airlines publicized this a bit more I would have seen a reason sooner to not use an agent, but if you don’t see any real line, with them, why not use them?

I have no issues with the group idea, but at least explain to your customers how the heck they work!

Due for release on May 11 of this year, the early promotional work for Dark Shadows has been nearly non-existent. Beyond a cast photo released a few months ago, there hasn’t been anything else in the realm of official promotion.  No posters, commercials or trailers, but at least we now have a few still images of scenes to take a look at.

The first shot shows Johnny Depp as the vampire Barnabas Collins apparently saying something unsettling to Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

And a solo shot of Depp as Barnabas.

Hopefully there will be some sort of larger publicity push in the not too distant future so we know exactly where this film is going in terms of style … you know, besides just being a Tim Burton film.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

After relaunching its entire comic book line, DC Comics has also decided that perhaps it was also time to give its logo a fresh coat of paint … or more like a whole lot of coats of paint.

DC Comics has unveiled a totally new version of its logo that can be customized to the property it is being used on.  I.E. It’ll be one color on Superman books, but look totally different on Batman.

The idea is that the new logo represents peeling back to reveal the story, and if you’re reading on a computer, tablet or smartphone you’ll actually be able to peel it back to reveal the character.

While I can see what they’re going for, and I’m certainly no graphic artist, I think it’d be nice if you could actually figure out that the peeling part is supposed to represent a “D.”  As it is it looks like a C … with a vinyl covering?  Who knows, perhaps they should concentrate on making more good movies than just the current run of Batman.

… Just sayin’.

The CW has placed orders for three new pilots for the Fall 2012 season, and not a one of them has a spark of originality to them.

Deadline is reporting that The CW has placed some pilot orders that are a bit surprising.  First up is Arrow, a new take on DC Comics classic Green Arrow character.  I reported that this show was in development last week, and while a pilot is never a guarantee of a show making it to air, this one probably has a good shot at it as they really want to fill the void left by Smallville coming to an end.  As of right now it does not appear that the show has any sort of connection to the character that appeared on that series, but my guess is The CW is seeing this as a chance to have a Batman-like character on the air since they can’t touch that property due to the movies.

Second up is the Carrie Diaries, based on the book of the same name that was written by Candace Bushnel as a prequel to Sex and the City.  This series, should it make it to air, will tell the story of a teenage Carrie Bradshaw and how she formed her opinions on love, sex and men that became so well known in the HBO series.  Currently it is slated to follow her through high school and her first adventures in New York City.

Lastly, just what the world didn’t need, is a remake of the 1980′s TV series Beauty & the Beast.  Apparently this new version will be “loosely” based on the original which translates more than likely to, “The shows have the same name!”  Do yourself a favor, if you’ve never seen the original, locate the DVDs and watch them, you’ll be hooked in a heartbeat.

As with all pilots, none of these are a “sure thing” to go to a series order, but all of them sound pretty definite to me as they will fill very specific holes that The CW needs to work on.

[via Deadline]

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are just the latest two examples that the United States government are either a)totally ignorant to how the Internet works or b)they truly are in the back pocket of the media conglomerates.

Have you ever used an image you found on Google without asking permission?  You would be in violation of SOPA & PIPA and could have your site shut down.  Your hosting provider could be shut down.  Any site that links to you could be shut down.  And all of this could happen because a company, with little proof, filing a complaint against you.

If all this sounds serious, you would be correct, and that is why a large portion of the Internet is going dark today.  We can not, and will not, stand for the U.S. government crippling the Internet and causing those of us who have spent years building this fantastical resource to be gagged due to the concerns of someone being worried that someone MIGHT pirate a copy of Fast Five.

Yes, piracy is wrong.  Yes, it should be stopped.  But doing so with over reaching laws that will hand the keys to the Internet over to the likes of the RIAA and MPAA is not the solution.

SeanPAune.com will be joining the blackout today.

Considering the number of television shows on the air these days, it’s easy to overlook the occasional great series, but thanks to DVDs, digital downloads and streaming video, you can now catch up on just about anything.  So why not give Modern Family a go?

Despite many people telling me how wonderful Modern Family was, I just didn’t have the time to give it a go.  When planning my trip to England, and knowing I had a ton of time to kill in airports and planes, I figured I’d download the first two seasons and see if it took.

… I am now so hooked that it’s sickening.

Having now blown through the first two seasons, and now working on the third season, I can see why this series has won so much praise and awards.  It mixes some of the best representations I’ve ever seen of families on television, but then adds in humor that reminds me of Arrested Development. (and we all know about my love for that series.)  There is something for just about everyone in this show, and even the parts you don’t think you’ll like, you’ll probably end up loving.

Am I late to the party?  Yes.  Are you probably all aware of the show and/or already watching it?  Too bad.  I’m still going to tell you how good it is and that you need to be watching it.  Sitcoms have been on a downward spiral for years, so it’s nice to see one that actually is not only amusing, but of real quality.

Give ti a try, you won’t regret it.

The weekend box office results got hijacked this weekend by a new comer, but the numbers weren’t exactly huge.

Mark Whalberg was back with his film Contraband as both the lead and producer.  The heist film brought in $24.1 million, ranking seventh in the Whalberg filmography … perhaps it’s time that he should reunite the Funky Bunch?

Beauty and the Beast, one of the biggest hits ever for Disney, has been rereleased after the success of The Lion King 3D.  This weekend saw the film bring in $18.4 million, so it isn’t hard to predict we’ll see more of these films coming back in 3D releases.  We’ll know they’re abusing this concept when they get back to Pete’s Dragon.

Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol is (mysteriously) still pulling them in with another $11.5 million.  The worldwide gross now stands at $506.7 million, so I’m guessing we can expect a fifth film in this series at some point.

The new Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah film, Joyful Noise had a weak opening with $11.3, but considering I’ve seen next to no advertising on this film, I can’t say I’m surprised.

Round out the top five was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which, despite a weak initial opening, has held on stronger than most people suspected it might and has brought in another $8.4 million. It now stands at just over $170 million domestic, so it is actually turning in to a decent performing film.

Of interesting note is the sixth place finisher, The Devil Inside. Having been the top film last week, this film has a new credit it to its name with one of the largest percentage drops ever for a film, falling 76.6 percent week over week. Considering the reviews I’ve heard, I can’t say I’m surprised.

next weeks releases include Haywire, Red Tails, Underworld Awakening and a wide release for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

The Golden Globe winners for 2012 have been announced.

The Golden Globes is one of the few awards that acknowledges excellence in both television and film, and tends to be more relaxed than the Academy Awards. However, even in the relaxed attitude, the awards are considered a precursor to some of the things we will see from the Oscars.

Here is the full list of winners for the 2012 Golden Globes.

MOTION PICTURES

• Picture, Drama: The Descendants
• Picture, Musical or Comedy: The Artist
• Actor, Drama: George Clooney – The Descendants
• Actress, Drama: Meryl Streep – Iron Lady
• Director: Martin Scorsese – Hugo
• Actress, Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
• Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jean Dujardin – The Artist
• Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer – Beginners
• Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help
• Foreign Language: A Separation (Iran)
• Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin
• Screenplay: Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
• Original Score: Ludovic Bource – The Artist
• Original Song: “Masterpiece” — W.E. (Music & Lyrics by: Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry)

TELEVISION

• Series, Drama: Homeland (Showtime)
• Actor, Drama: Kelsey Grammer – Boss (Showtime)
• Actress, Drama: Claire Danes – Homeland (Showtime)
• Series, Musical or Comedy: Modern Family (ABC)
• Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt LeBlanc – Episodes (Showtime)
• Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Dern – Enlightened (HBO)
• Miniseries or Movie: Downton Abbey (PBS)
• Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce (HBO)
• Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Idris Elba – Luther (BBC)
• Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange – American Horror Story (FX)
• Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Morgan Freeman.