I Am Link

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--- Big & Friendly - This broke a couple of days ago so surely you've all heard it already but this is very very very big news to the Little JA sitting inside my heart so bear with me - Steven Spielberg is probably going to direct a movie version of Roald Dahl's book The BFG. I've expressed my childhood (and beyond) adoration for Dahl here before; The BFG was one of my tip top faves. This gives me tingles in places I didn't know could tingle. Now all I need is Mike White or Todd Solondz to direct The Twits.

--- Days of Future TV - X-Men Days of Future Past writer Simon Kinberg says that they're looking at the X-Men's potential for a TV series, and he's right with what he says about the comic book format lending itself to episodic storytelling well. The only problem you run into (which SHIELD is dealing with) is the show's inability to deal with the big characters or to mess up anything too large, since that stuff's the domain if the money-making movies.

--- Spot The Fassy - I posted an edited lo-fi version of this picture of Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender in their upcoming MacBeth movie last week, but now there's a much nicer quality copy over here, thank goodness. We need to feel as if we're sniffing Fassy's pores, if ever possible.

--- Wet N Wild - Hopefully you read my review of the horror film The Canal out of Tribeca; the movie's pretty darn terrific. I thought it had already been picked up for distribution here but I guess I got my wires crossed (not hard when seeing a thousand movies a day) because here's news via STYD that they've picked up the movie through their distribution wing and will be releasing it. No word on a date yet, but they say it'll be the whole online-on-demand-theaters thing.

--- And Speaking of Tribeca, I hope you guys have been reading up everybody's reviews over at The Film Experience, we've been tearing that fest a new one - like here's Andrew on Starred Up, the prison drama with Jack O'Connell (seen to the left) which I am really sad to have missed (it'll definitely be getting a proper release in the US this year, so patience) and here's Glenn on Courteney Cox's debut film Just Before I Go, which stars Seann William Scott as a suicide-case visiting the people who wronged him, and which I had the misfortune of not missing - it is every ounce as awful as Glenn says it is. And here's Nat on three gay films including Der Samurai, the incredibly strange German movie which I also saw and need to write something about.

--- Stupor Man - So apparently Warner Brothers has just flung up their arms and said, "Fine, you do it! We don't even care anymore!" to Zack Snyder, and now on top of directing Man of Steel and Batman Vs. Superman he will also be directing the Justice League movie. I was pro-Zack for a long time, longer than most even, but the one-two punch of the loathsome Man of Steel and his casting fuck-ups for the new stuff (Ben Affleck was bad enough, but nothing I've seen so far regarding that woman he cast for their Wonder-Woman-to-be has instilled any confidence) has turned me sour.

--- Space Invaders - This is the sort of story that sets every geek's spidey-sense a'tingling - a bunker filled with Atari cartridges of the supposedly epically-awful E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial video-game has been discovered by a documentary crew. They will be able to sell those things for so much money, if they decide to do such a thing.

--- New Beginning -  Friday the 13th fever is kind of hanging in the air right now, what with the TV series being announced, so I don't blame Final Girl for taking this moment to express some love for an under-rated chapter in the movie series with a couple of quick but hilarious stabs at its delicious ridiculousness. I really like that movie too, but a lot of that has to do with John Robert Dixon, one of my favorite of all the Friday Fellas.

--- And Finally, it was the last fuller trailer for Sam Mendes' Showtime horror show Penny Dreadful that finally got us appropriately excited for such a thing as can be described as "Sam Mendes' horror show" (appropriately being very), so we've been looking forward to its May 11th premiere... only now we don't have to look ahead, it has been found! The entire pilot's been released online, you can watch it right here! I know what I am doing tonight.

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