Cinematical

It didn't take Obama supporters long to jump on the whole Star Wars-themed bandwagon, and so in the spirit of t-shirts like this Luke Skywalker one, comes a new t-shirt created by Barack Obama supporters. On the front of this one (see above), you get Obama and R2-D2 (shoulda been R2-Biden) in an X-wing being chased by a few tie fighters, and then on the back you have a drawing of the Death Star ... but if it was run by John McCain and Darth Vader. (Check out both images enlarged in the gallery below). They're telling us that all proceeds for this particular shirt -- which runs at $19.95 -- will go directly to the Obama campaign.

Who's behind it all? From the website (where you can purchase the shirt): We're a group of people based in Santa Cruz, CA and New York City who desperately want to see Obama prevail. We've created this t-shirt because we think it captures how so many of us feel about the upcoming election and the way the other side operates. Our goal is to unite people all across the country around this sentiment and to raise as much money as we can to defeat this Empire that's been running our country for the last 8 years."

Personally, I'm still waiting for someone to doctor-up an image of Obama as Lando ... (ahem, creative readers ...)

Here's a question: Should any studio greenlight a sequel based on advanced buzz and before the original even hits theaters? Sure, if you're a fan of the Twilight novels, I suspect you'd want the studio to greenlight, like, a billion Twilight sequels, like, right this second -- but wouldn't it be a risky move? Nikki Finke over at Deadline Hollywood claims Summit's already prepping the sequel (New Moon), though that's about as far as she goes with it. Finke, however, does state the obvious: that even though the first Twilight film isn't due out until November 21, the latest trailer was viewed over 3.5 million times in 48 hours, the Twilight soundtrack has already hit the Top 5 Best-Selling Albums on Amazon (despite the fact that it doesn't come out until November 4th) and the merchandise for this sucker rivals that of the boy wizard, Harry Potter.

Okay, so obviously there's an audience for not one film, but two -- yet what if that audience doesn't like the first installment? Is that even possible? Is this the sort of film fans will love no matter what the final product looks like? And do you really take a chance greenlighting a sequel with a film whose audience is not comprised of the oh-so-lucrative teen male population. Are teen and pre-teen girls (and their moms) enough to carry this entire franchise?

And for you Twilight fans out there: While early, is there anything different you'd like to see from the sequel?

Here's a round-up of some stuff (and things) currently causing waves online:

-- Moviefone has launched the latest installment of Unscripted, featuring stars Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks discussing their new film W. using reader questions and some of their own. Additionally, above you'll find some newly-released art for the film. Heh.

-- After breaking up with Paramount, Dreamworks has officially found a new f*ck buddy in Universal, so says Variety. The two signed a seven-year worldwide distribution deal.

-- Darren Aronofsky's The Fighter looks to be in trouble. Now that the writer-director is working hard on that Robocop remake, seems this other flick is being neglected. Brad Pitt has apparently dropped out, and Mark Wahlberg -- who's been training for the role for over a year -- doesn't seem to know the film's current status. All that being said, Slashfilm claims their scouting locations in Mass.

-- A few photos of Mel Gibson on the set of Edge of Darkness have appeared online, most of which show the man going full-Diddy, forcing some woman to hold an umbrella so the sun doesn't, ya know, shine on the poor man. In case you forgot, this film marks Gibson's return to acting as a homicide detective investigating the death of his daughter. See image to the right, click to see enlarge. [via Crabbies Hollywood]

-- A theme park in the UK is actually moving forward with a ride based on the Saw films, called Saw - The Ride. I bet folks will just kill to get on it. HAR! Apparently, we're looking at a ride with "beyond vertical drop of 100-degree from a height of 100ft, as well as a rather sinister sounding "three inversions" to add to the fun." Who's down? [via IGN]

Guillaume Depardieu, the 37-year-old son of Gerard Depardieu, died today in Paris from a bout of acute pneumonia. Depardieu, who's starred in upwards of 20 films, struggled with drugs and drinking over the years.

A few new images of Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac in the new film Soul Men have arrived in the Cinematical inbox. Check them out in the gallery below.

But was he ever considering it in the first place? Not long ago it seemed a Lethal Weapon 5 was all but a lock, what with Shane Black writing the script and Columbus Short supposedly in talks to play Danny Glover's son -- but now, according to a recent interview with Richard Donner in the LA Times, it looks like the whole thing might just go away. Thank God. That's because, in Donner's world, Mel Gibson has already passed on the project. (And here we thought Glover passed over a year ago.) The director notes, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be."

Though "Gibson's people" refused to comment, the LA Times is pretty confident in their findings. Donner, who directed all four previous Lethal Weapon films, seems a bit "I toldja so" in the interview, regarding Warners decision to follow Joel Silver's lead: "It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, and myself and Derek [Hoffman, an associate at The Donner Company] had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with Joel Silver." He later adds, "Yes, the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."

Of course, Donner could be talking out his rear end ... though, on the surface, it seems like a reach for both Gibson and Glover to agree to a fifth film, especially one without Donner behind the camera. But what do you think? Would you actually be down for a Lethal Weapin 5? Or are these guys just too old for this sh*t?

Back when The Incredible Hulk hit movie theaters -- and because of Nick Fury's appearance in Iron Man -- folks were itching for more Avengers references with their summer movie watching. Thus, fans went bat-sh*t (excuse the DC reference) over a rumor that Captain America popped up in a scene during Incredible Hulk, which was fueled by a sorta confirmation from director Louis Leterrier ... but then the flick hit theaters and nada. Now, with the DVD due out on October 21st, it seems there's a little easter egg awaiting fans. A number of different sites have reported that a shot of Captain America frozen in ice exists within the alternate opening scene -- one that follows Bruce Banner to the arctic circle in search of a very random way to kill himself (see photo above, courtesy of Slashfilm). So there ya go. And seeing as the upcoming Captain America film will be set during WWII, we now know how they'll make that work for the Avengers movie. He was frozen in ice! Hopefully we won't get any corny lines like "What's an iPod" when the good old Captain shows up in theaters in 2011.

Oh, and speaking of Hulk, the Iron Man writers would love to see him play villain in the aforementioned Avengers movie. Mark Fergus tells MTV: "You don't want like 10 super-badass good guys fighting together. Where's the fun in that? Let's break it off a little. Friends or colleagues who become enemies is always an interesting thing because you know it's based on love and friendship and that's always the worst thing to have turn bad - is someone you actually care about and someone you actually believe in."

What do you think? Should Hulk become the villain in Avengers? If not him, then who?

Late last week, a new well-edited, well-scored Twilight trailer arrived online and folks went nutty for it. Having been away in the middle of the woods for the past few days, I just checked it out a few minutes ago for the first time, and I'll say they definitely did a bang-up job teasing in the adolescent boys looking for a little fight in their vampire flicks. Yeah, there's a love story somewhere inside this 90210-with-fangs, but it sure as heck doesn't drown our latest piece of sizzle. (Note: We were just told Twilight will have a final run time of 120 minutes and will be rated PG-13.)

Look, whether you want to admit it or not, young females and their moms are the predominant audience for Twilight. They're buying the books, they're running the giant Twilight fan sites and it's their opinion that really matters. (Note: I'm aware there are male fans of Twilight -- and more power to them -- but understand I'm just pointing out the fact that they're in the minority here.) So I'm wondering a few things after checking out the latest trailer -- like, did it bring in any new fans, male or female? Was Twilight's core female audience turned off by the new trailer because it didn't feature more of the love story? Did the score make it seem too creepy and horror movie-ish? Is that the tone you want?

This puppy gets two polls below (feel free to watch the trailer again after the jump), and don't be afraid to spill your feeling over into the comments section.

I'll never get tired of a successful trailer mash-up, and this has to be one of my favorites of the year so far. Folks have had a lot of fun with The Dark Knight in 2008 (this scene mash-up featuring President Bush's speech is just tops), and the good times continue with Toy Story 2. Yes, I know there's a Toy Story 2 in realz life, but this Toy Story 2 is set to creepy and works surprisingly well alongside the trailer for The Dark Knight -- so much so that I'm kinda scared of Woody right now. See, in this version Woody plays the villain (aka Joker) and Buzz plays Batman (not to mention that Alfred is played by the green dinosaur, Rex). If it sounds strange, wait till you watch the thing.

Speaking of ...



[via Neatorama]

Welcome back to another installment of Insert Caption -- the game President Bush would love to play ... if only he knew how to find the internet. Zing! Last week we asked you to "go long" for a photo from the new movie The Express, and score you did. Congrats to the three sports who managed to cross into our funny zone. (Get it -- instead of end zone, I said funny zone? Heh ... wait, why aren't you laughing?)

1. "Staring Contest? This is no Staring Contest....This is FOOTBALL!" -- Darren C.

2. 'Coach: Why aren't you playing up to your obvious potential yet?
Player: Because we haven't had the requisite training montage yet!" -- Matt B.

3. "Damn ... Did you hear about O.J.?" -- Chaz K.

See full image and all captions


I'm a little afraid of the captions we'll be receiving this week, in honor of the new Oliver Stone flick W. (in theaters October 17), though I'm sure our readers will show a little {cough} respect with their captions. Based on the life and times of our current president (who'll be leaving office in just a few months), W. stars Josh Brolin (as W.) and a whole slew of all stars as some of our most favorite political heroes. The candidates behind our three favorite captions will spin away with one W. poster, one W. t-shirt and a set of six W. shot glasses. Sound off below ...



Read the official rules for this contest

Pictured: Ian Fleming in his study with a copy of For Your Eyes Only (April 1960). (Photo by Evening Standard / Getty Images)

Last month, Cinematical was lucky enough to join a few other select outlets on a trip to London for something called The James Bond Experience. One of the cooler activities we took part in (aside from driving an Aston Martin at 150mph and chatting with both Daniel Craig and Marc Forster) was our field trip to the Imperial War Museum London where, to celebrate Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, they're currently housing an exhibit dedicated to the man called For Your Eyes Only.

If you're a James Bond fan or an Ian Fleming fan or both, then I seriously recommend boarding a plane to London in order to check out this exhibit because you'll see so much -- some of which is on display for the very first time. I'm talking a slew of original manuscripts (from Casino Royale to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), props from some of your favorite James Bond films, personal letters, photographs, notes -- essentially Fleming's entire life right there before your eyes.

While there's no photography allowed inside the exhibit, Cinematical managed to snag a bunch of photos showing only a fraction of what's on display across the pond. So, instead of writing a thousand words describing what I saw, I present these two packed galleries full of images from the Imperial War Museum and the For Your Eyes Only exhibit. Show, don't tell ... right?





For a little more info on the exhibit (which runs through March 1, 2009), head after the jump. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.

Not too long ago we featured a group of Steampunk Star Wars figures created by Sillof's Workshop. Well, yesterday Cinematical reader Jeff pointed out that Sillof had finished a Return of the Jedi line of figures, and, well, as you can see they're pretty damn cool. Above you'll find figures for Jabba the Hutt, slave Princess Leia, Salacious Crumb and Bib Fortuna. (Is it just me, or does this Jabba look straight out of a Guillermo del Toro flick?) Other characters in this set include an Ewok (who kinda looks like a smaller Wookiee -- which is funny since, originally, the forest full of Ewoks was supposed to be full of Wookiees), the Emperor, Imperial guards, Admiral Ackbar and a pimped-out Luke Skywalker. Check out a few images, along with other Steampunk Star Wars figures and drawings, in the gallery below.