Spider-Man go bye-bye

Spider-Man 4 epic clusterfuck action
Wow. Well, I guess that was one way to go with it, Sony. Most would have gone the "we want to make truckfuls of money AND a good movie" route, but I guess siding on the "fail-arity ensues" tip is something, too. While one might now segue to this story about Tobey Maguire's extracuricular hobbies involving the Spidey suit and mock, I think this is pretty awesome.

Yvonne S. talks Mass Effect 2
Chuck actor Yvonne Strahovski talks a bit about her (chunky) role in the upcoming BioWare extravaganza.

Conan, Leno, Letterman, the Incredible Hulk
It seems everyone has an opinion on this Leno-Conan-NBC thing. Seriously. Everyone. David Letterman? He has an opinion. The Incredible Hulk? He, too, has an opinion. Me? Do I have an opinion? Sure. I guess I think NBC are stupid poopy faces and Leno is a jerky man. Conan is ok, though. I think he should quit the network and it should go something like this.

Transformers
Even before Michael Bay and all that shizz, I was never much of a Transformers guy. I was more of a G.I. Joe guy, so, really, this isn't about being cooler than anyone, it's just a matter of taste. And, really, the use of that word to describe it all is tenuous at its most tenuous. Regardless, the new Transformers: War for Cybertron game is starting to look and sound pretty tasty. It's not up there with the Mass Effects and Dragon Ages of the gaming universe for me, but I'm looking forward to checking it out, definitely.

Fringe
I like Fringe. I've become a fan of the show and its paranormal shenanigans. Dunham is intense. Peter is Pacey with a gun. And Walter is one of the coolest characters on TV right now. I watch it on a regular basis and watch when it is airing so I get my Anna Torv the way she was meant to be seen: in HD. Fox moved the show -- somewhat controversially -- from Tuesday to Thursday this season, where it goes up against, like, every popular show on TV at the moment. Still, it's apparently doing well, according to Fox, and it looks good that it will get a third season. I like how Fox is all obtuse about it. But still, good news, I guess? And producer J.J. Abrams seems enthusiastic enough to talk about looking into the show's future, too.

And finally…
If you watch Lost, or ever have, you'll probably get a kick out of this.

Dragon Age, Zelda, Spider-Man 4 and more

(Thanks, Gamma Squad for the image)

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening
The whole Dragon Age: Origins expansion pack gumbo -- called: Awakening, if you remember -- is getting spicy and tasty sounding. BioWare has released a pretty sweet trailer and other assets for the package and, if you've played some of the fantastic RPG, it'll probably get the juices flowing. It's late. Sorry.

Zelda
Say what you want about Nintendo Wii. Say its your grandma's favorite console. Say its for chumps and wankers. Stick your tongue out at it. Whatever. Still, when I tell you a new Zelda game is set for this year (!) you're gonna head over to your grandma's and get on her good side.

Spider-Man 4…delayed!
Yep. The next Spidey film is having trouble getting off the ground as director Sam Raimi and Sony execs are squabbling over the script and villains and whatnot.

Call of Duty
The Call of Duty franchise is so damn huge it needs two developers working on it. Massaging it. Minding its mineral bath. Growing it in vats. Etc. That way, businessmen and frat dudes get to pwn each other online 24/7/365 (are we still saying that?) every year. One year, Infinity Ward puts out their crazy popular Modern Warfare version of the title; the next year, Treyarch heads back to World War II for some Nazi-shooting fun. Or do they? While Treyarch's last installment had a secret Nazi zombie level, it was also met with a lot of meh when it was released. Well, this time around the team is looking to shake things up. Large. We're talking venue change large. Scratch that! We're talking potentially controversial venue change large. Rumors are starting up that the next Call of Duty may take place during the Vietnam War. Edgy, right? I think this could be awesome or a total shit show, so I'm kind of bullish on the idea but we'll see. Regardless, y'all should probably leave out the zombies this time around.

YES!!! (but no)
Saruman Christopher Lee has recorded a heavy metal album. Do I need to go on? Listen.

Seanbaby + Steven Seagal = awesome
Gold!

And finally…
Have y'all seen that 70-minute review of The Phantom Menace that's floating around? It's awesome and spot on. Here's an interview with the dude who made it and you can see the video there, too, if you haven't. Then, when you remember how bad the movie/prequels were, you can head here and you'll know what to do...

My Spider sense is tingling (Maybe some other parts, too)

Black Cat
Some big rumors afoot in Spidey-ville. Here's the breakdown: it looks like one of the Wall Crawler's adversaries in the fourth film is going to be Black Cat. Sure, she's basically a Catwoman rip off, but a lot has been done and a lot could be done with her. As a character, too. (And I thank you...) Anyway, let's set our mood organs to "positive" for this, so far. The rumors get more specific with actress Romola Garai (allegedly) auditioning and (wait for it) Rachel McAdams as well. I don't know, Rachel McAdams as a femme fatale feline anti-hero? Meh. Not seeing it but maybe? At least she can act. And is cute as a button, of course. (I think my Canadian citizenship gets revoked if I don't put that in there -- it's bad enough I use US spelling.) Remember though, these are all rumors -- including Black Cat even being in the film. Still, as a love interest of Spidey's, 'Cat has the potential of impacting his personal and super-heroic life. That's the sort of stuff Sam Raimi liked using in the first two movies. Oh, all right, I guess he tried to do that in the third one, too.

Good.
Steven Spielberg and Will Smith's planned remake of awesome Korean film Oldboy has (thankfully) been shitcanned. I'm not being a typical bloggy hater dude who's cheering because some obscure thing I like is not being made into a bloated Hollywood abortion. I do that sometimes but not now. Promise. I like Spielberg and have been known to like Smith on occasion, but there's just no way they would have been able to do this film. Sorry. They just couldn't. There's just too much over-the-top stuff -- and the twist at the end? Come on. No way. Let 'em do some other kind of fancy movie magic together. Some sci-fi or something like that maybe.

Mad Men
Did you watch the season finale of Mad Men this week? What did y'all think? Some huge stuff going on, right? Looks like next season is shaping up to be a doozy. Ambiguous enough for all you spoiler-free types? Good. Here's an interview/season 3 post-mortem with series creator Matthew Weiner. There's spoilers, by the way.

Fringe
So, J.J. Abrams is all cheery about Fringe taking some ratings hits thanks to being placed in a hyper-competitive timeslot, huh? Not sure I would be. Especially now that EW's Michael Ausiello is circling it and dropping the C word. Considering Fox moved the show to a night and timeslot that is killing it, I would say maybe they should take responsibility and move it back or somewhere better, no? Although, the almost-assured cancellation of Dollhouse is a good thing if you're a Fringe fan, I guess. After all, Fox does need to have at least one sci-fi show to hold up when everyone is crying over Firefly Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Dollhouse, right?

Oh my.
What happens when Sir Ian McKellan drops in on the ladies from The View? Wow. Just wow.

Saboteur
Upcoming WWII open world game The Saboteur looks like a lot of fun. Instead of your usual one man v. the Nazis you... well... sure, you're still one man v. the Nazis, but this time you're Irish! And a saboteur! And you wear a leather jacket and a cool hat! Plus, you get to whore around Paris. Slap Nazis in the face. Shoot zeppelins out of the air. All that shit. And you get to do it whenevs and howevs you want. The game is launching before Christmas, which gives me some hope that it just might be awesome. Oh well, at the very least it'll be the best Irish WWII saboteur video game of the year -- and that's something, right?

And finally…
Did you want X-Men 3? Yes, yes you did. Did you like the X-Men 3 you got? No, not one bit. But really, why was that? In a nutshell, the dudes who had made the first two films weren't involved in the third one. But what if they were? How would it all have turned out? Curious? Hmmm? (sorry) Well, X2 writer Michael Dougherty has revealed the direction in which he and original X-Men series director Bryan Singer were headed. Gotta say, I like it.

"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

Oddworld
Did you ever play the series of Oddworld games (primarily on the PS1 and (eventually) Xbox, but also Gameboy and for PCs as well)? If not, you could again -- well, if you have access to the Playstation Network, that is. On Thursday, you'll be able to download a couple of the games (Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus) on PSN. Sweet!

Bronson Pinchot?
Yes, Bronson Pinchot. He gives a (really) candid interview to the AV Club. Going off about Tom Cruise's (alleged) homophobia and Denzel Washington's (alleged) ass-clownery among other Hollywood tidbits.

Bruce Campbell
Sam Raimi has been talking about Spider-Man 4 quite a bit lately. Sam Raimi has been talking about Spider-Man 4 quite a bit to MTV lately, to be exact. The director has been understandably cagey with details, basically saying he'd like to keep things simple, get back to basics and probably just do one villain this time around. High fives! Also, he revealed that he'll have a meatier role for longtime pal Bruce Campbell. Most people are going to assume that means Campbell will be the villain (popular rumor: Mysterio), but I'm thinking no.

Sucky heroes
Cracked brings you six movie heroes (who sucked at their jobs) -- and they're right.

The Box
I don't know what to feel about upcoming thriller The Box. First off, the title makes me giggle. Then there's the whole Cameron Diaz being in it thing (i..e. I am so not a fan. But I like this.) And then there's Cyclops, who I can take or leave. But the movie is directed by Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame. That makes me kinda want to see it. He talks a bit about the movie here. And you can watch a trailer here, if you'd like.

And finally…
I had no idea this was an outtake they kept in the movie. That's some funny shit.