People who have seen The Avengers are saying that the Hulk comes off as one of the best characters. With this in mind, Marvel is ready to roll him out once again as a headlining character.

… Can we please stop this before it gets started?

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Hulk for the roll he’s played in the history of comics, and he makes a fabulous supporting character, but quite often he can go terribly off the rails when he is the lead.  Yes, the comic has gone on for hundreds of issues now, but the only time I truly enjoyed him was when Marvel handed him over to Peter David to write, and the only reason that decision was made was because the publisher felt he could do no harm working on a character no one cared about.  David took him in wild and fantastical directions – he became a mob enforcer in Las Vegas for a time known as Mr. Fixit as an example – but in general the character has just never been that engaging.

According to Deadline, the reaction to the Hulk in The Avengers is making them ponder what to do with the property next.  Paul Gitter, President of Consumer Products for Marvel, recently told Forbes, “[Marvel] will spin him off to a stand-alone program next year.”   Forbes went on to say that this will “presumably [be] supported by another big budget franchise movie in 2015. The entertainment studio is also exploring ways to promote Hulk as a ‘corporate icon’ similar to MetLife’s usage of Peanuts’ Snoopy, with Hulk’s image conveying a message about channeling strength to overcome workplace challenges.”

Yes, because using a character that turns in to a mindless machine of destruction is the perfect way to show strength in the workplace.

I have yet to see The Avengers, but I am already willing to bet there are three reasons the character worked: Mark Ruffalo’s performance, Joss Whedon’s writing and the fact that he is a supporting character.  If Marvel/Disney was smart, they would realize that two first two aspects of that could be recreated in a stand-alone film, but not the third.  There is also some talk of Guillermo del Toro working on producing a TV series over at ABC (which is also owned by Disney) that would bring the character back to the small screen.  This I could potentially get behind as you have to dig deeper into Bruce Banner to understand the Hulk and a serialized format allows that where a two-hour film doesn’t.

In one way or another the Hulk will be hanging around again, but lets just hope Marvel has learned its lessons from the first two films.  (side note, yes, I know Marvel didn’t do the first film by Ang Lee, but people still remember it and associated it with the property)

[via Deadline]

I’ll say this for the new version of Total Recall, at least it’s visually interesting.

If you’ve seen the 1990 version of Total Recall, then I really can’t see why you need to see this one.  You know the story and it doesn’t look like a whole lot is going to change this time around.  Once again Hollywood is remaking things just to remake them, and I simply can’t be bothered to care about the majority of them any more.  This is a prime example of that to be sure.

And the funny part?  I am seeing so little online chatter on this movie that I think I am most definitely not alone in my feelings on it.  Check out the trailers for yourself and see what you think.

The U.S. trailer from about a month ago.

And the international version released this week.

There is so much wrong with this new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man that I don’t even know where to begin.

I have not been excited about The Amazing Spider-Man from day one, and I have to say with the more I see, the more justified I feel in that.  From Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) sounding like she knows Peter Parker’s (Andrew Garfield) secret, to hints in the trailer that his being bitten by the spider wasn’t an accident, this film is just hitting all the wrong notes for me.  Of course, not that any of this really matter as Sony has already announced a release date for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

If this new trailer proved anything to me, it’s that Marvel has to find some way, any way, to regain the film rights to the characters it signed off on ages ago.  All of the contracts read that so long as the studios keep doing something new with the characters every so often, they can continue to hold on to them.

… Please, Marvel … get your legal team on this.

Who needs to wait for the home video release of a movie anymore to get a commentary track? Now you can just do it on clips as well!

While on the press junket leading up the U.S. release of The Avengers, Yahoo Movies got director and writer Joss Whedon to do a commentary track for a clip of the movie that had already been released.  The clip shows off the fight between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), with Whedon letting you know he didn’t want it to just be a throw away fight and how it came about.

You know, I enjoy a good commentary track from time to time, but doing it to clips?  Seriously?  Are we going to do it to trailers next?  Promotional stills?

The latest trailer from the upcoming Dark Knight Rises promises a whole lot more than just action from the final installment of the Christopher Nolan Batman saga.

Beyond the confirmation that Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) is definitely teaming up with Batman (Christian Bale), we finally get a bit more of a look at John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). It’s obvious he’s a cop, but we see what appears to be him talking with Selina, and we see him drawing chalk bat symbols on wallas along with apparently lamenting the fact that Batman is gone. My suspicions that he is taken on as a protege by Batman are growing, but I still won’t go as far as to say that he becomes Robin.

Thankfully it also appears Bane (Tom Hardy) will be a bit easier to understand.  Yay!

Nolan has a lot to live up to following on the brilliance of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but the atmospheric nature of this trailer leads me to believe he will once again succeed.  It’s just sad knowing this is the end of this brilliant run of films.

The Dark Knight Rises opens in theaters on July 20.

A new international trailer for Prometheus has arrived, and it’s by far the most plot heavy footage we’ve seen by a long shot.

From the first teaser trailer for Prometheus it has been obvious that this film will serve as a prequel to 1979′s Alien.  Then came the full trailer and there was just no question at that point we were going to get a slew of answers some of us have been waiting 30 years for.  This extended international trailer tells us more about how the humans came to find the moon, what happens once they get there and then … a whole lot of things happen that remind you of Alien.  Melting masks?  Screaming about “get it out of me!”  Hiding in a closet like room and watching things through a little window?

June 8 can’t get here fast enough.

Romance won the last weekend before the onslaught of the summer blockbusters.

For the second weekend in a row, Think Like a Man took the top spot at the box office. The romantic comedy brought in $18 million to bring its cumulative total of $60.8 million. Seeing as it was made for $12 million, this one is well into the black even with marketing and distribution costs.

The kid-friendly The Pirates! Band of Misfits came in second with $11.4 million, a fairly weak showing in the kid demographic. It’s the only film in this genre for a while, so it might make it up, but off of a $55 million budget, it’s got a long way to go.

The Lucky One fell to third place with $11.3 million, representing a 49.7% drop. This is very much in line with second weekends, so not a bad showing for the film.

Coming in fourth was the moster hit The Hunger Games with another $11.2 million. Domestically it has $372.4 million and a worldwide total of $600.9 million.  Seeing as film series of this type do more as they go on, we could easily be looking at $1 billion worldwide by the last installment, Mockingjay.

Rounding out the top five was The Five-Year Engagement with $11.1 million. Seeing as number three through five were so tight, it won’t be too surprising to see them change positions when the actual numbers come out.

Two other new releases didn’t fare so well with Safe landing in sixth place with $7.7 million and the John Cusack Edgar Allen Poe thriller The Raven coming in seventh with $7.25 million.

There’s only one major release next weekend, some little film called The Avengers. Current tracking polls are targeting a $150 million opening for this latest film from Marvel. The film has already racked up $178.4 million overseas, so it looks like this film is well on its way to being a monster for the rest of the movies coming out to deal with.

A Stafford Middle School teacher in Stafford, TX was arrested this past week over accusations he had inappropriate communications with students.

Paul Roberts, 53, was arrested this past week for accusations of sending inappropriate texts and social networking messages to two students at the school.  He has also been charged with an improper relationship with a student, a second-degree felony in Texas, but there is no word on what that may have entailed.

In a letter to parents at the school issued last Wednesday, SMSD Superintendent Lance Hindt said:

After a thorough investigation, it has been determined that the teacher did engage in inappropriate conduct as outlined by district policy.

[...]

There have been unsubstantiated reports that this inappropriate conduct may have involved additional students, however, I want to assure you that we will continue to investigate these reports.

According to the Houston Chronicle blog, Roberts began teaching at the school last year and was named “Teacher of the Year,” he also won a Crystal Award in 2011 which recognizes outstanding teachers who go “beyond the norm.”

Roberts has been relieved of his math teaching duties at the school and has been released from the Fort Bend country jail on a $7,500 bond.

While the evidence has not been provided to the public, it sounds like it is fairly solid.  This does make me wonder if social media contact between teachers and students should just be banned outright.  While I am all for teachers being mentors to their students as well as their educators, it seems that we are seeing social networks and texting popping up in these cases more and more.  There has been contact amongst teachers and students outside of school for as long as there has been phones, but for some reason these two forms of communication seem to be the ones abused the most.

[thanks to Jo for the tip]

As we head into the time for the network upfront presentations, it’s time to start wondering what is going to be renewed and what’s canceled for the 2012/2013 television season. While not all decisions are final, we already know a good chunk of which ones have been renewed. It sure doesn’t like much room has been left for new shows this year.

Just a brief description here:

• Renewed for 2012/2013 Season – Means just that, it’s already locked.
• Likely to be Renewed for 2012/2013 Season – Not official yet, but looking good.
• On the Bubble for 2012/2013 Season – Could go either way.
• Likely to be Canceled for 2012/2013 Season – Not official yet, but things are pretty bleak.
• Canceled for 2012/2013 Season – Confirmed to not be coming back.

I will be updating this list as changes are announced by the networks, so be sure to bookmark it if you don’t see a decision as of yet on a show you care about.  The network upfronts where the final decisions are announced are scheduled for the week of May 14.

Renewed for 2012/2013 Season

• 2 Broke Girls (CBS)
• 30 Rock (NBC) (UPDATED – Abbreviated final season)
• 48 Hours Mystery (CBS)
• 60 Minutes (CBS)
• 90210 (CW) (UPDATED)
• The Amazing Race (CBS)
• America’s Next Top Model (CW)
• American Dad (Fox)
• Bachelor Pad (ABC)
• The Bachelor (ABC)
• The Bachelorette (ABC)
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
• Big Brother (CBS)
• The Biggest Loser (NBC)
• Blue Bloods (CBS)
• Body of Proof (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Bones (Fox)
• Castle (ABC) (UPDATED)
• The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) (UPDATED)
• The Cleveland Show (Fox)
• Community (NBC) (UPDATED – Only 13 episodes)
• Cougar Town (ABC) UPDATED – Moving to TBS
• Criminal Minds(CBS)
• CSI (CBS) (UPDATED)
• CSI: New York (CBS)
• Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
• Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Family Guy (Fox)
• Fringe (Fox)
• Glee (Fox)
• The Good Wife (CBS)
• Gossip Girl (CW) (UPDATED – Abbreviated final season)
• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Grimm (NBC)
• Happy Endings (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Hart Of Dixie (CW) (UPDATED)
• Hawaii Five-0 (CBS)
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
• Kitchen Nightmares (Fox)
• Last Man Standing (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Law & Order: SVU (NBC) (UPDATED)
• The Mentalist (CBS)
• The Middle (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Mike & Molly (CBS)
• Modern Family (ABC)
• NCIS (CBS)
• NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
• New Girl (Fox)
• Nikita (CW) (UPDATED)
• The Office (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Once Upon A Time (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Parenthood (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Parks and Recreation (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Person of Interest (CBS)
• Private Practice (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Raising Hope (Fox)
• Revenge (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Scandal (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Secret Millionaire (ABC)
• Shark Tank (ABC)
• The Simpsons (Fox)
• Smash (NBC)
• So You Think You can Dance (Fox)
• Suburgatory (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Supernatural (CW) (UPDATED)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Touch (Fox) (UPDATED)
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) (UPDATED)
• Undercover Boss (CBS)
• Up All Night (NBC) (UPDATED – Only 13 episodes)
• The Vampire Diaries (CW) (UPDATED)
• The Voice (NBC)
• Whitney (NBC)
• Wife Swap (ABC)
• Wipeout (ABC) (UPDATED)
• The X Factor (Fox)

Likely to be Renewed for 2012/2013 Season

• 30 Rock (NBC) RENEWED!
• American Idol (Fox)
• Castle (ABC) RENEWED!
• The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) RENEWED!
• Gossip Girl (CW) RENEWED!
• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) RENEWED!
• Last Man Standing (ABC) RENEWED!
• Law & Order: SVU (NBC) RENEWED!
• The Office (NBC) RENEWED!
• Once Upon A Time (ABC) RENEWED!
• Revenge (ABC) RENEWED!
• Suburgatory (ABC) RENEWED!
• Supernatural (CW) RENEWED!
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) RENEWED!
• The Vampire Diaries (CW) RENEWED!

On the Bubble for 2012/2013 Season

• 90210 (CW) RENEWED!
• Alcatraz (Fox) CANCELED!
• Bob’s Burgers (Fox)
• Community (NBC) RENEWED!
• CSI: Miami (CBS)CANCELED!
• Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 (ABC) RENEWED!
• GCB (ABC) CANCELED!
• Happy Endings (ABC) RENEWED!
• Hart Of Dixie (CW) RENEWED!
• The Middle (ABC) RENEWED!
• Nikita (CW) RENEWED!
• Parenthood (NBC) RENEWED!
• Parks and Recreation (NBC) RENEWED!
• Private Practice (ABC) RENEWED!
• Rules of Engagement (CBS)
• Scandal (ABC) RENEWED!
• The Secret Circle (CW) CANCELED!
• Touch (Fox) RENEWED!
• Up All Night (NBC) RENEWED!
• You Deserve It (ABC)

Likely to be Canceled for 2012/2013 Season

• A Gifted Man (CBS) CANCELED!
• Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC) CANCELED!
• Awake (NBC) CANCELED!
• Bent (NBC) CANCELED!
• Best Friends Forever (NBC)  CANCELED!
• Body of Proof (ABC) RENEWED!
• Breaking In (Fox) CANCELED!
• Cougar Town (ABC) UPDATED – Moving to TBS
• CSI: New York (CBS) RENEWED!
• The Finder (Fox) CANCELED!
• Harry’s Law (NBC) CANCELED!
• I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) CANCELED!
• Missing (ABC) CANCELED!
• Napoleon Dynamite (Fox)
• NYC 22 (CBS)  CANCELED!
• Pan Am (ABC) CANCELED!
• Ringer (CW) CANCELED!
• The River (ABC) CANCELED!
• Rob (CBS) CANCELED!
• Unforgettable (CBS) CANCELED!
• Whitney (NBC) RENEWED!

Canceled for 2012/2013 Season

• A Gifted Man (CBS) (UPDATED)
• Alcatraz (Fox) (UPDATED)
• Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Awake (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Bent (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Best Friends Forever (NBC) (UPDATED)
• Breaking In (Fox) (UPDATED)
• Charlie’s Angels (ABC)
• Chuck (NBC)
• CSI: Miami (CBS) (UPDATED)
• Desperate Housewives (ABC)
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
• The Finder (Fox) (UPDATED)
• The Firm (NBC)
• Free Agents (NBC)
• GCB (ABC) (UPDATED)
• H8R (CW)
• Harry’s Law (NBC) (UPDATED)
• House (Fox)
• How to Be a Gentleman (CBS)
• I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) (UPDATED)
• Man Up! (ABC)
• Missing (ABC) (UPDATED)
• The Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABC)
• NYC 22 (CBS) (UPDATED)
• One Tree Hill (CW)
• Pan Am (ABC) (UPDATED)
• The Playboy Club (NBC)
• Prime Suspect (NBC)
• Ringer (CW) (UPDATED)
• The River (ABC) (UPDATED)
• Rob (CBS) (UPDATED)
• The Secret Circle (CW) (UPDATED)
• Terra Nova (Fox)
• Unforgettable (CBS) (UPDATED)
• Work It (ABC)

Are you ready to go back to alien worlds with director Ridley Scott? I know I am.

Almost as exciting as the idea that Prometheus will answer many questions about Alien is the idea that Ridley Scott will once again be going into science fiction.  The man delivered two of the quintessential science films of my childhood: The aforementioned Alien and Blade Runner.  To see him return to the genre that made people sit back and take notice is just thrilling.  There are very few directors that you can use the term “visionary” for and not come off as sounding pompous, but he definitely falls into that category.

Eagle-eyed viewers will spot a few new shots in the featurette below (I do believe this is the first we’ve seen of the individual escape pod launching), but in general just enjoy a quick glimpse of Scott doing what he does best.

Prometheus opens on June 8 in the United States.

I have been a long time fan of PayPal – the online payment service owned by eBay – but all of that came to a screeching halt today.

Curious as to what my current balance was in PayPal, I logged into the site to see if all my bills for the month had been paid.  Due to the type of account I have, I also have a debit card with them that I love using as I receive a 1.5% cashback bonus.  My balance was healthy, but as I glanced through my transactions there was one that leaped out at me.  Somehow it claimed I had charged $88.29 to a Domino’s Pizza in Flushing, NY.  There are two immediate issues with this: I have never been to Flushing, NY and I never, ever eat Domino’s.

I called up PayPal immediately and was connected to an operator.  I told her the situation and she transferred me to the right department.  I went through the situation again and I will say they were very quick to assist with me putting the charge into contention.  As I feared they wanted me to cancel my card so they could issue me a new one, and while not thrilling, it was totally understandable.

And here is where we hit the snag: I was informed that it would take two to four weeks to issue me a replacement debit card.

Now, I don’t know about you, but in general I expect to get a new card in this type of situation in no more than 48 hours.  I told the gentleman assisting me that the length of time was unacceptable, but he assured me it is usually closer to the two week estimate.  I told him, again, that it was unacceptable in this day and age and that most card companies can get a replacement to you in no more than 48 hours.  He said there was nothing he could do to speed up the process.  I went ahead and canceled my card so that a new one could be issued, but that was when I decided I couldn’t just let this pass by.

If you think about it, I would need to contact everyone I pay with that card and tell them to use a different form of payment for the next month, and then I’d have to go through that all over again when the new PayPal card arrived.  This is far from an optimal solution as I’m sure anyone can see.

With this in mind I decided to turn to Twitter, my favorite mode of communication in situations like this.  After a particularly frustrating situation with FedEx, I used Twitter to finally get some results, so there was no reason to think that I wouldn’t get similar results this time.  I sent my first tweet around 1 PM CST and here I am several hours later without a peep out of them.  Some of my 3,000+ followers joined in as well by re-tweeting me and adding their own comments, and that didn’t seem to motivate them either.

At 2:32 PM CST I informed them via Twitter that I was pulling all of the money out of my account.

I have long loved PayPal, and though there have been many stories of issues with the firm, I have always stood by them as I had never encountered any problems.  While this is the company policy as opposed to a problem, in 2012, taking two to four weeks to issue me a card that gives me immediate access to my money is inexcusable.  Yes, you can pay online without the card, but that doesn’t work quite as well when you’re at the gas pump.  It doesn’t work so well when you use the card to pay for the very server this site is on, or the Interner subscription I access my blog with.  I need a card to pay for things with that money and informing me that it could take up to a month to get me a new card?  No thank you.

So, after years of using my card for more transactions than I care to think about, my PayPal debit card and I are going to have to part ways.  From the sloth like speed with which new cards are issued to the complete non-acknowledgement of a customer complaining loudly, it’s time for us to break up.

And by the way, it is most definitely you and not me that caused the problems.

(screenshot of the offending transaction after the break)

Continue Reading ->

If there is one thing you can say about Johnny Depp, it is that he certainly does his research.

When the first image for The Lone Ranger movie came out, about all anyone could comment on was how odd Johnny Depp looked as Tonto.

Well, some time has passed, and now Depp has explained he took his inspiration from this painting.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he explained his thought process:

I’d actually seen a painting by an artist named Kirby Sattler, and looked at the face of this warrior and thought: That’s it. The stripes down the face and across the eyes … it seemed to me like you could almost see the separate sections of the individual, if you know what I mean.

No, I’m not sure we totally know what you mean, Mr. Depp, but it does make some sense. Luckily he added more.

There’s this very wise quarter, a very tortured and hurt section, an angry and rageful section, and a very understanding and unique side. I saw these parts, almost like dissecting a brain, these slivers of the individual. That makeup inspired me.

As for the crow, I now see what he was going for and it makes a ton of sense.

It just so happened Sattler had painted a bird flying directly behind the warrior’s head. It looked to me like it was sitting on top,” Depp said, which led him to another eureka moment. “I thought: Tonto’s got a bird on his head. It’s his spirit guide in a way. It’s dead to others, but it’s not dead to him. It’s very much alive.

And speaking on why he chose to play Tonto, Depp had this to say.

The whole reason I wanted to play Tonto is to try to [mess] around with the stereotype of the American Indian that has been laid out through history, or the history of cinema at the very least — especially Tonto as the sidekick, The Lone Ranger’s assistant. As you’ll see, it’s most definitely not that.

You would think after as many Johnny Depp movies as I’ve watched over the years I would have known there was a reason for every choice he made. So, color me impressed.

The Lone Ranger is being directed by Gore Verbinski (The Pirates of the Carribbean), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and will hit theaters on May 31, 2013.

[via Entertainment Weekly]