sandwichjohnfilms

We have another great article by our guest writer Jonathan Cyfer . Make sure to check out his blog and follow him on twitter . No, I'm not asking if Tom Welling should portray Clark Kent/Superman in the upcoming Superman: Man of Steel (2012) film. Henry Cavill already won that role. Let it go, rabid Tom Welling/Smallville fans. Let it go. I mean, should Tom Welling actually portray the Man of Steel in full Superman costume in the last reel of the two-hour Smallville series finale scheduled to air on May 13th? In other words, should Tom Welling actually be Superman on the small screen for any length of time at the end of the series? My answer is " no ". OK, here's my take. The entire series is based on the audience watching Clark develop his abilities and his personality, from a 15 year old kid who, at the start of the series, is just beginning to become aware of his powers, who he is, and (gasp) where he really comes from ("You mean you're no...

Splitting Heroes Down the Middle By: Jonathan Cyfer  It's not completely unheard of to have a particular character appear both in a TV series and in films. After all, Clark Kent has enjoyed a robust lifetime on the silver screen and in the Smallville TV series. 2012 will bring us the latest Superman film , but it's presumed that the Smallville series will end after the conclusion of the current 2010/2011 season. This avoids confusion among the fans between the different incarnations and storylines involving the same character, however that isn't going to be the case with all superhero franchises. I'm sure you're all aware of the latest Incredible Hulk (2008) film and the fact that this character (with a change of actors playing Bruce Banner ) will be appearing in the upcoming Avengers (2012) film. I just found out that a new, live action Incredible Hulk TV show is being developed for ABC. Many Hulk fans fondly remember the Hulk TV series (1978-1982) sta...

The Dark Knight Rises Against Who? By: Jonathan Cyfer Chris Nolan recently released the name of the third Batman film he will direct and also specifically stated that the Riddler will not be the villain . Early buzz targeted Johnny Depp for the Riddler role in the third Batman film but now we see this is not going to happen. So who will be the main bad guy or bad gal? We also recently learned that Nolan is looking for a female lead for this film, which immediately brings Catwoman to mind, but that's hardly a foregone conclusion, since Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn are equally (or almost) compelling choices. Also, the female lead doesn't have to be a villain, since there have been a number of "good girls" to work opposite Batman over the years such as Vicki Vale and Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon. Let me knock a few possibilities out of the running right away. Bringing in Harley without the Joker would be a total waste (and without Heath Ledger, there is no Joker a...

The Original Avengers vs. The New Avengers By:Jonathan Cyfer The Avengers is a unique superhero team because, from the very beginning, they were never meant to have a permanent roster. If you recall the comic book origin from way back in 1963, The evil Loki , half-brother to the heroic Thunder God, was planning a trap for Thor by tricking the powerful but hapless Hulk into destroying a railroad trestle. At the last second, the Hulk was able to save the train, including passengers and crew, from falling into a canyon, but it was too late to keep him from being branded a "killer". Loki was hoping to trick Thor into going after the Hulk, then springing whatever trap he had in mind, but he goofed. When he diverted a radio message about the Hulk's attack that was intended for the Fantastic Four , so that it could be heard on an ordinary radio in the office of Dr. Don Blake (Thor's alter ego), he didn't count on it also being picked up by Tony Stark ( ...

 Next Terminator Film To Be Animated:Terminator 3000 The next Terminator film will be in the form of animation from  Hannover House. Hannover House C.E.O. Eric Parkinson handled the distribution of the original "Terminator" feature will develop a 3D animated $70 million dollar budgeted film production called Terminator 3000. The film will stay true to the Terminator franchise and will take place some time around the original film. Also make sure you read this great article by guest By Jonathan Cyfer Check out the full Press Release below for more details: NEW YORK, NY, Aug 12, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Hannover House, the entertainment distribution division of Target Development Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: TDGI) (www.HannoverHouse.com), has entered into a feature film development venture with Vancouver-based Red Bear Entertainment, for "Terminator 3000," envisioned as a $70-million dollar budgeted, 3-D animated feature film based on the characters and s...

Quantum Leap Into Film By: Jonathan Cyfer I learned this morning that the television show Quantum Leap (1989-1993) is going to be made into a film . I have mixed feelings about this. I'm a fan of the original show, primarily because of the "buddy chemistry" between the show's two stars, Scott Bakula (as Dr. Sam Beckett) and Dean Stockwell (as Al Calavicci). Of course, I'm also a sucker for a good time travel story and Donald Bellisario's creation managed to hold its quality for the four years the show was on the air. On the other hand, I don't think that every single television show ever made must be made into a film, either because film producers think it would be a good way to make money or because they lack any sort of creative vision and thus have to recycle the ideas of others. My first inclination is to say, if Quantum Leap needs to be remade, remake it as a TV show. However, since nobody listens to me anyway, I might as well accept Quantu...

Smallville And The Rebirth of Superman By Jonathan Cyfer As just about all the superhero loving world knows, this coming Season of Smallville will be the last season. Depending on your level of Smallville "fanhood", your response to this news probably ranges from some minor sadness to virtually suicidal depression. The silver lining in the cloud of Kryptonite is that Chris Nolan ( The Dark Knight ) is at the helm of the Superman reboot film: Superman: The Man of Steel . So Smallville will end in Spring 2011 and the new Superman film will be released the following year. This begs the question of just how connected the two projects are. If you've watched the Smallville series and the Christopher Reeve Superman films, you know that a lot of the elements from the films made their way into the Smallville mythos. For instance, crystals seem to play an important role, and the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic continues to ring with the voice of Jor-El. There's still...

No Termination By Jonathan Cyfer Terminate: coming to an end or capable of ending - Merriam-Webster Dictionary 25 years have elapsed between the dawning of Skynet in the original Terminator film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as everyone's favorite T-101 and Terminator Salvation starring Christian Bale as the once and future Messiah John Connor . The first three films revolved around a series of beings (one human and the rest terminators) being sent back in time to prevent John Connor from becoming the leader of the human resistance in the 21st century and destroying Skynet. Of course, Skynet's plan never worked. Even though Reese (in the original film) states that only he and the terminator were sent to the past before the time machine was destroyed, somehow, other time machines kept turning up and Skynet kept developing more advanced prototypes to send back in time to try and off Connor. After Reese bought the farm in the first film, the best the resistance could do w...

Reboot: Fantastic Voyage  By: Jonathan Cyfer If you have never heard of Fantastic Voyage it's probably because you aren't into vintage science fiction. Released in 1966, this is one of a long series of cold war thrillers pitting Americans and Soviets in a race against time to gain a technological advantage that could be used as a weapon. In this case, the weapon is miniaturization; the ability to shrink people and objects down to microscopic size. The plot goes thus. A Soviet scientist named Jan Benes defects and is smuggled out of the Soviet Union to America by a U.S Agent named Grant, heroically played by Stephen Boyd . On the way from the airport, Soviet agents make a desperate attempt to assassinate Benes by crashing a vehicle into the car transporting him. There's a subsequent gun fight but the Soviets are beaten back. Unfortunately, Benes is injured in the crash. There's a blood clot in his brain that has put him into a coma. It's inoperable through conve...

Reboot: Dirty Harry By Jonathan Cyfer We've seen a variety of franchises that have been "rebooted" lately or are soon to be rebooted, from Star Trek to Spider-Man , but there are a number of films that are generally ignored (perhaps a great number) and should be considered for a significant facelift. This isn't to say that every film or TV series that's 30 years old or older should be given new life and there are some idea s that should have never seen the light of day the first time. For instance, it's been suggested that a remake of the Don Knotts 1964 film The Incredible Mr Limpet be released, but having seen the original, I'd like to see this particular product given a pass. And while I'm sure many of you will enjoy the new Smurfs film out of a sense of nostalgia, the little blue guys (and one girl) really need to stay on the small screen (just look how horribly the very wonderful Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons were translated into film ). ...

Tomorrow, Our Heroes Will Be Digital By Jonathan Cyfer I've just read several announcements such as DC Comics Brings Batman and Pals to iPad, PSP , saying that our superhero comic books have now gone digital. In addition to Wired.com, DC has issued it's own press release on this monumental event. With the launching of Kindle by Amazon some time ago, there was a collective groan among bibliophiles that the hard copy text book was dying and only the digital incarnation would remain. Now it seems this is happening in the comic book world as well. You can already access comic books online such as the Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited collection. Free samples are even available from a wide span of Marvel comic history spanning the 1940s to the present. I find myself wondering how high the value of older hard copy comic books will be when they are no longer produced. But what does this have to do with films? Nothing and everything. It's widely believed that the modern comi...