In the next three years, we have a Jason Bourne sequel, a 300 prequel, a National Treasure three-quel and another shot of Star Trek, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, James Bond, The Transformers, John Conner, the Madagascar critters, the Toy Story action figures, the Ice Age dinos, Inspector Clouseau, Wolverine, Harry Potter, the Hobbits, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Robin Hood AND The Wolf Man in store for moviegoers. I’m all for Iron Man II, but do we really need another Night at the Museum? Dwayne Johnson in Race to Witch Mountain could be fun, and maybe Hoodwinked 2 will be better than the original, but do we really need Anchorman 2 or another round of those dull Narnia kids being upstaged by CGI creatures? Why would we sit through Jumper II or Wild Hogs Ride Again when the originals were, to be polite, less than classics? Here are ten sequels that AREN’T being made, but dangit, they should be!

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I’ve really made a point of not bringing video games to ScreenGeeks too often just because it isn’t our focus.  This news, however relates directly to movies, tv, and home viewing.  I first read about this over at Major Nelson’s Twitter page and it’s been posted officially by XBox 360 Fanboy that Netflix is partnering with Microsoft to bring content to XBox Live.

This is HUGE news for those of us who have both XBox Live and Netflix.  Details haven’t come out about how it’ll be downloaded, download limits, etc., but my guess would be that you’ll be able to access a good chunk (if not all) of the current Netflix Watch It Now library, which has titles that number well over 10,000.  And now it’s becoming official why Microsoft has been dragging their feet on putting out a Bluray drive.  It’s never been a secret that Microsoft wants to work toward digital downloads as opposed to an HD media, and this just shows that they’re ready to start working down that path.  Oh, and I’m psyched for it!

Carlin had always been my favorite comedian. And as someone who’s trying to break into the world of comedy, I always kept his work in mind when writing. Only one day could I hope to be as funny, dirty and relevant as he was.

Carlin was a genius of comedy that had a strong influence over everyone who followed him. His views on religion, politics, censorship and many other things were always biting funny but also true. If you’ve never heard his “Seven Dirty Words” bit, then do yourself a favor now.

Last August, Screen Geek Josh and I were wandering the endless corridors of Comic Con and we ran into Stan Winston. This was my first time at Comic Con and, in fact, it was during my first couple of hours there that, after growing glassy-eyed with geeky overkill, endless booths, movie promos and fanboy paraphernalia galore, Josh and I happened to spot the Skinwalkers promotion. In front of a tall booth (hidden by a black curtain and containing a mock-up of the film’s monster, for the brave who peeked inside) sat a friendly, older man with a lean, white beard and unassuming glasses. I said to Josh, “That’s Stan Winston!” I immediately began to bore Josh with everything I knew about Winston and Josh, keeping his cool, matter of factly asked me, “are you going to talk to him?” I said, “I can’t!” I was so taken aback by seeing him, I told Josh I needed a minute to come up with something to say, perhaps buy something for him to sign, and maybe ask him what the status of Jurassic Park IV was. We walked around the convention, came back a few minutes later and found Mr. Winston swamped with fans. I thought, oh well, I’ll get a chance to talk to him later. I never did.

Four years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Lance Henriksen. I told him that I loved his performance in Pumpkinhead; his eyes lit up and he said, “Thanks! You know, that was Stan Winston’s first film as a director!” It’s very telling that, of all the things he could have said about that film, the first thing that came to mind was Stan Winston.

Winston had that effect on actors, filmmakers and his countless fans. They LOVED him. He had a reputation as an approachable, kind and effortlessly inventive genius who loved movies as much as the work he put into them.

This was a man who made movie magic, time and time again. His work as a visual effects creator, designer and make-up artist are among the most iconic and convincing in film history. His contributions to The Terminator, Jurassic Park, Aliens, Batman Returns, A.I., Terminator 2 and Interview With the Vampire are classic and astonishing. Even the work he did on bad films, like The Island of Dr. Moreau, Heartbeeps, The Wiz, Invaders From Mars and Pearl Harbor, is so incredible, it makes the films worth seeing, if only to view his work (particularly Dr. Moreau, which has some of the best make-up I’ve ever seen).

Winston’s extensive filmography has titles that make you feel like you’re a kid and cause one to smile sheepishly: Galaxy Quest, Edward Scissorhands, Congo, Starman, Mousehunt, and The Monster Squad- all have Stan Winston’s fingerprints on them.

I now know exactly what I should have said to Mr. Winston; I simply should have walked up to him, shook his hand and said, “Thank You”.

Today is truly a sad day for me in particular. We have lost a true comedy legend in Harvey Korman. Mr. Korman had a spectacular sense of timing and was able to be moustache-twirling evil while being hysterical at the same time. He’s known best to movie geeks for his portrayal as Hedley Lamar in Mel Brooks’ classic Blazing Saddles. He’s also loved for his parts in High Anxiety and History of the World:  Part 1. Some people even know him as the voice of The Great Gazoo in the Flinstones cartoons. I appreciate him in all of those roles as well, but my appreciation for the man started with The Carol Burnett Show.

Harvey is best known for cracking up at what Tim Conway did to him. Unlike what you see on Saturday Night Live, this was a case of genuine and glorious sabotage. Tim was notorious for going through rehersals according to the script, but then doing something completely different when the shows were taped. In light of that fact, I think it’s remarkable that he kept it together as long as he did. That’s not to say that what Tim Conway did wasn’t funny, but it explains all the crackups. His take on Gone With the Wind is the stuff of legends and he was the ultimate straight man to Tim Conway. I’m very disappointed that I didn’t get to see these two live when they came through town years ago, and now we’ve lost this legend.

I’ll continue to get great enjoyment from Mr. Korman’s work and share his special brand of humor with as many people as I can. You will be missed, Mr. Korman. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Korman’s friends and family.

After the jump, I’ve embedded a scene from Blazing Saddles and part 1 of an interview done with the Archive of American Television.

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In case you didn’t know that already. Here are the wieners (see what I did there?) of this year’s “ceremony”.  Actually I don’t really feel like going through that so here’s the highlights. Best Movie went to Barry’s favorite film of 2007, Transformers. Best Kiss went to Barry’s favorite film of ever, Step Up 2 The Streets. Best Fight went to NEVAH BACK DOWN!!!!!! Breakthrough performance went to his douchiness, Zac Efron. And Best Comedic Performance went to Johnny Depp in POTC 3. I personally thought he was funnier in Sweeney Todd.

Sadly, we lost one of the great ones yesterday, a warm, extraordinarily talented and accomplished filmmaker and actor in Sydney Pollack.

Following a solid career as a theater and television actor (including parts on Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone), Pollack became an ambitious film director who was always attentive to his actors and picked projects that were diverse, large scale and layered in their portrayals of human nature. While they had big name actors in the leads, his early films were anything but fluffy star vehicles:  They Shoot Horses Don’t They (starring Jane Fonda), Jeremiah Johnson (starring Robert Redford), The Yakuza (starring Robert Mitchum), Three Days of Condor (starring Redford and Faye Dunaway), Absence of Malice (starring Paul Newman), and The Electric Horseman (starring Redford and Fonda) were all richly acted, socially relevant, mature and smartly directed films. The only blemishes on his early track record were The Way We Were (starring Redford and Barbara Streisand), which many tossed off as fluff, despite being a huge hit and Bobby Deerfield, a race car drama that it’s star, Al Pacino, has said was something of a miscalculation.

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There are so many blockbuster films coming out this summer that it’s really hard to pick which one you could be excited for the most. However one of the biggest films coming out this summer seems to be receiving a lot of trash talk from critics and Internet bloggers. That film would be Speed Racer.

While the majority of staff here at screengeeks.com seem to agree that the film looks like “visual vomit”, I appear to stand alone in the opinion that I think this film is going to be a real treat. I watched the television series when I was a little kid, through various re-runs on cartoon network. While I wasn’t a die-hard fan, there was always something catchy about the show that I loved. Maybe it was the stylized races or the over the top characters. Either way, I always tuned in with a smile on my face.

 We are living in the age where almost anything can be turned into a motion picture with a blink of an executive producer’s eye. While I frowned on made television show themed movies—Underdog, The Dukes of Hazard, Scooby Doo to name a few—I think Speed Racer is really going to set a high bar for these types of films.

The last time we saw a Wachowski film was 2003’s Matrix Revolutions. A film that, while didn’t live up to the first one still managed to be a visually stunning film and a solid sequel. It’s obvious that these directors are heavily influenced by the Japanese culture and style of filmmaking, and that’s why I feel like these guys are perfect for Speed Racer.

It’s really hard for me to make an argument that Speed Racer is going to be a good film based on the lackluster trailers. However, I can argue that for as much of a sugar rush as this film looks, I think it’s going to be a fun time and a spectacular visual achievement. Even if I’m the only one look forward to Speed Racer, I will still be there opening day ready to go…..get the pun?

In one night, the trailers to two of the most curiously anticipated films of the year unveil to varying responses. I wrote “curiously anticipated”, because most seem to want a glimpse at “The Incredible Hulk” and “Lost Boys- The Tribe” simply to asses how good or bad they may turn out. The former is a lavish redux of a would-be comic book movie franchise that never went past one movie, as the mild box office and audience displeasure with “Hulk” put the brakes on the series in 2003. The latter is a long-dreamed of sequel to a mid-size 1987 horror film that, over time, has proved to be both influential and widely loved. Instant response on the Internet has been mixed-to-negative for both of these trailers, though, in all fairness, both of these could turn out to be really good, right? As a big fan of The Incredible Hulk (both the comic book character and Ang Lee’s mixed but daring film) and “The Lost Boys”, here’s a brief recap of what we saw. (more…)

Today, we lost one of the great actors of this generation in Heath Ledger.  Never to be nailed down in one genre playing one character, variety defined Mr. Ledger’s career.

The role the launched him into stardom in 10 Things I Hate About You could have set the tone for the rest of Ledger’s career, keeping him in roles as the brooding love interest.  The fact that his next big role was in Mel Gibson’s The Patriot would establish that he would not be shoehorned into one particular kind of role.

Where many would be content to coast on a couple of good roles and retire on middle-of-the-road roles the rest of his career, Ledger pushed himself to take on more challenging roles.  Even in films that weren’t box office smashes like The Brothers Grimm, he exuded a confidence and still inhabited his roles.  His role as Skip in Lords of Dogtown brought us a man who just wanted to be accepted and idolized by everyone but still fought his personal demons in a very haunting fashion.

Heath Ledger’s next role as The Joker in The Dark Knight has generated buzz and excitement from those in the film community as well as the geek community.  Ledger started a great legacy and we will miss him and will always wonder just how great an actor he would have become.

Heath Ledger was 28 years years old and leaves behind a daughter.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.