The Random - Watchmen court case, The Devil's Commandos, Shoot out at Benjamin Button screening, Green Hornet, Eartha Kitt has passed away, Hairspray

Will Fox be distributing Warner's "Watchmen"? A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that Rothman's crowd owns the distribution rights to the superhero picture, representing a setback for WB's plans to release the pic in March. Variety has more on this surprising story..

Disney has bailed out of co-financing the third movie in Walden Media's "Chronicles of Narnia" series, according to published reports.

Twentieth Century Fox's Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson starrer "Marley and Me" led the crowded pack of Christmas Day openers, grossing an estimated $14.8 million from 3,480 playdates to become the best opening ever for Dec. 25.

Kam Heskin will reprise her role as Paige Morgan - a part she's played since Julia Stiles hung up the glass slippers after the first film - in a fourth "Prince and Me" film. The new film, set to lens Feb 9, will be directed by Catherine Cyran.

Tony Todd ("Candyman"), Christopher Showerman ("Big Game") and Ethan Phillips (TVs "Star Trek : Voyager") and will star in director Tim 'Voyager' Russ's "A Night at the Bijou". The film tells of a rock band and group of friends who work at a movie theater who race to find a replacement for their injured drummer in time for their “Big Break” show.

The creators of the "Gilligan's Island" TV series want to see Michael Cera ("Superbad", "Juno") play the title character in a film version.

Thomas Jane ("The Mist") is set to star in a World War II action horror film called ''The Devil's Commandos''. Its rumoured that Jane will also direct the film.

A man enraged because a family was talking during a Christmas showing of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" dealt with the situation by shooting the father and pelting the son with popcorn.

Shawn Levy tells MTV he nixed a couple of characters from the upcoming "Night at the Museum 2" at the last minute. “We actually had a whole Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong thing, where we were going to have them get into a wrestling match at the door of the capsule, like who goes first,” Levy said of a planned cameo from the lunar trotting pair. “But we thought it would be historically blasphemous!”

"The Punisher : War Zone" will be skipping theaters altogether in Australia. Rumour has it it's going direct-to-DVD in April.

Adam Shankman tells Collider that the "Hairspray" sequel won't be happening anytime soon. ''That certainly will not happen this year. There’s only an outline and we’re out to writers.'' Shankman also said the "Topper" remake, something he planned to do with Steve Martin, is "kind of in lame duck land" right now.

Teresa Palmer is planning to reunite with "2:37" director Murali K.Thalluri on a film. "When I did 2:37, I had never acted before. It was such a lucky break. He picked me off the street and said come and be in a movie. He'd never done a movie before either. Now we've both had a bit more on-set experience, and matured, I think there could be a great collaboration between us."

The legendary Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer at the age of 81. The African-American actress and singer with one of the most 'purrr-fect' voices to ever grace the screen or stage starred in such films as "The Mark of the Hawk," "Erik the Viking," "Boomerang," "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Holes". Her most memorable work though lies in her renditions of songs like "Santa Baby", and her role as Catwoman in three episodes of the classic 1960's "Batman" TV series.

Last week it was announced that Stephen Chow had abandoned his position as director on upcoming film adaptation of "The Green Hornet" - but was still set to co-star in the film as the Hornet's sidekick, Kato. Well, Apparently Chow's considering not playing Kato now. He's blaming it on scheduling (saying he wants to film some Jack Black-Superhero film)

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Punisher: War Zone, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Lexi Alexander
Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison, Wayne Knight
Running Time: 103 / 107 minutes
Score: 6 / 10

This review by Joestank15.

The Punisher - Frank Castle aka "The Punisher" (Ray Stevenson) continues his one man war against the scum of New York. I am unsure as to whether this is a reboot or a sequel to the 2004 Thomas Jane movie, and about ten minutes into this stopped caring. It's just the Punisher punishing criminals, beginning and end. You either like this sort of brainless action or you don't.

I'm a sucker for comic book films and loved Ray Stevenson on the amazing HBO mini-series "Rome". He's a big stocky brute of a man, and looks believable as a killer. I applaud his decent American accent.

Unfortunately Stevenson's got maybe 50 lines in the entire film. It's two action scenes into the film before he says anything. The Punisher has one scene where he visits his families' collective grave site, and one scene where he talks with a preacher about what the repercussions Frank's style of street justice might return to him. That's all the introspect we get.

It is nice to see Wayne Knight doing work again. Lets hope he picks some better movies in the future. Julie Benz plays a supporting part, which is fitting as what my friends kept saying of this year's "Rambo" (which she also co-starred in) kept running through my head. I love her in "Dexter" but she too needs to find better films. Ones that don't require an on off again New York accent. It's fascinating to see actors I like in a really stupid film.

It's about half of a good movie thanks partly to a script that cripples the proceedings every step of the way with characters named "Loony Bin Jim" and writers ("Prison Break" writer Nick Santora, and Art Marcum and Matt Halloway) that don't know how to make believable original villains or deal with what might be going on in Frank's head. The latter two guys helped write "Iron Man", so you'd think some greatness would've rubbed off on them from that venture. C'mon guys! Marvel kept The Punisher going for 40 years! You'd think somewhere down the line they had issues where he talked to people about what he was thinking, the effect killing has on a man's soul, and all of that.

The violence is ridiculous. Equal parts stupid, funny, and awesome. As such, it lends a "Grindhouse" air to the film. It's brutal, even if director Lexi Anderson doesn't always know how to film it. Speaking of "Rambo", Frank also kills a man with a punch to the head in this one. Yes horror movie physics are strangely in play here, where anything that can kill, does kill in increasingly silly ways.

I'd like to say that the film is self aware of the unintentional humor, but it starts off so somber. When we follow Frank around the film takes itself seriously, with gritty tones and grays and greens. When the villains (Dominic West and Doug Hitchison), and the general supporting cast for that matter, pop up the quality changes to some 80's Steven Seagal film. The villains are a plunge back to the guys who killed in comically easy ways, chewed scenery like there's no tomorrow, and laughed for absolutely no reason at all. Dominic West talks like a New Yorker from the 1930's and just leers at everything. Doug Hitcherson snickers like it's his job and is so far beyond the top it's not even funny. It actually is, but quite, I think, unintentionally. The damn near parodying of villainy in this film kind of makes Frank's burden and vendetta into a mockery. The film is impossible to take seriously, so Stevenson, the only one who seems to take it seriously, is left in the dust. Shame. He's such a fine actor. For what it's worth though, it is fun, and I kept watching.

For those who loved 2008's Rambo, Die-hard fans of The Punisher and action junkies. For everyone else, you could do better.

The word camp seems to be being used an awful lot to describe this film around the web. For a Punisher movie that is not a good word to use! Have you seen it? What did you think of it?

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Final Punisher: War Zone Poster

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The Punisher is after The Book of Eli

Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone, TV's Rome) has joined Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis in Warner Bros. Pictures The Book of Eli reports Variety.

Stevenson will play an enforcer dispatched to kill Eli (Washington) as he fights his way across the American wasteland, protecting a sacred book that may hold the key to saving humanity.

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The Spirit v Punisher: War Zone v Transporter 3 Mashup

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Punisher: War Zone - Featurette on Jigsaw

Lionsgate has released another behind-the-scenes featurette for Punisher: War Zone — this time, focusing on the film’s stitched-up villain, Jigsaw.

IGN has the video in both standard and high-definition versions, which provide an up-close look at Dominic West getting into costume — and into action — as mob boss Billy Russoti, who ends up on the wrong end of a glass-crushing machine during an encounter with the Punisher, but survives to become the horribly disfigured villain known as Jigsaw.

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UPDATED: Punisher: War Zone - Photos of Jigsaw

Here is a first look at the villain, Jigsaw, from the new Punisher: War Zone movie. Playing the pieced-together villain is actor Dominic West, who seems barely recognizable behind the stitches and staples holding his character’s face together. In the “Punisher” comic book series, Jigsaw is one of the Marvel vigilante’s few recurring enemies, as most of the villains who cross his path tend to end up on the wrong end of bullet or, as the comics-version of Jigsaw discovered, a plate glass window. Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.

Punisher: War Zone stars Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchinson, Wayne Knight, Dash Mihok, Colin Salmon and Julie Benz, and was directed by Lexi Alexander. The film opens on December 5, 2008.

UPDATE 22/11/08: There is now a featurette out showing Jigsaw in action. Have a look at it here.

Still not sure whether this Punisher movie will be any good. Do you think it will be cool Punisher or Dolph Lundgren Punisher? Does Jigsaw look bad ass to you?

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Cool Punisher Noir Style Poster

I posted some other cool noir style posters (Watchmen, Spider-Man, The Dark Knight and Transformers) by Ninjaink a few days ago and this is another cool one for the Punisher.
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Posters - Punisher: War Zone, Frost / Nixon, Stranded, The Ugly Truth, Twilight, The Uninvited

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The Random

Today it was announced that Dominic Monaghan (Lost) and Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under) have been cast in a horror thriller called Fortuna which sounds a bit like The Running Man meets Children of Men. Set in the year 2100, where “a collapsed economy and climate crises have eliminated the middle class” leaving a divide between the really rich and extremely poor. To avoid a revolt from the masses, the rich elite create a game called Fortuna, where one out of every thousand players will win a chance to join the upper class. Contestants are never seen from again.

Someone is selling a restored Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 which was used in Universal Studios Florida for over fifteen years.

Warner Bros. Pictures is developing "Thumb," a comedy-adventure film featuring 16th century mischievous shrunken folklore character Tom Thumb says the trades.

David Cronenberg is in talks to helm The Matarese Circle, a global conspiracy thriller based on the 1979 book by the late author Robert Ludlum (the Bourne franchise). Denzel Washington is already attached to play one of the leads in the MGM production.

David Goyer, one of The Dark Knight screenwriters confirms that all the recent rumours are untrue. “It’s all B.S. ALL of it,” Goyer told MTV. “Chris and I haven’t even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself.”

Matt Lucas has joined the cast of Imagi Studios' CG-animated motion picture "Astro Boy"..." (full details)

Marvel Studios will film their next four films at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, CA. [ComingSoon]

Entertainment Weekly lists the 25 Best and Worst Star Wars Moments. “Luke I Am Your Father” was #1 best, Greedo shooting first is the worst.

Lionsgate has launched the official website for Punisher: War Zone at PunisherWarZoneMovie.com.

FirstShowing lists 5 reasons why fans will love a Green Lantern movie.

A new edition of Watchmen motion comics has been released on iTunes.

Bond girl Gemma Arterton is concerned her appearance in Quantum Of Solace may spell the end of her Hollywood career.

20th Century Fox has launched the full official site for the upcoming film based on the "Max Payne" video game series.

Kevin Smith's has begun showing off a behind-the-scenes video journal from the set of his comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" opening later this month.

"Jodie Foster hasn't heard anything about the upcoming 'Inside Man' sequel that Spike Lee is set on doing but would be keen on reprising her role of no-nonsense "fixer" Madeleine White - "Sure. From your mouth to his ears, of course I would love to"..." (full details)

"Steven E. de Souza, the director of the original "Street Fighter", says the new film has to be better than his version - "That has to make for a better picture. When we were making the original one, they insisted that all of the characters be in the movie... And if you do the math, that gives you about 7 minutes per character if you split it up equally"..." (full details)

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Punisher will be R rated after all

Thanks to Frank for leaving a comment on the previous article which led to this on Film School Rejects. Cheers Frank:

There is a rumor that has started circulating around this little thing called “the internet” that Lionsgate is pushing for the next installment of The Punisher to be rated PG-13. Given all we know of the franchise, this immediately smelled foul. Not being without charms and fully utilizing our ruggedly handsome looks, we tracked down our own source who is, of course, “close to the production.” Their word? “Bullshit.”

We could add some words in front of that, like “complete,” “total,” or “utter,” but it throws off the feng-shui of the post, but they would be appropriate. It looks like this originated over at Latino Review, who indicate that they have their own source. Now, I love those Latino Review guys, but I have no idea who they’re talking to. I do, however, definitely know our source and know that I trust them completely. Punisher: War Zone will be Rated R for Rambo-Levels of violence. Which is a good thing, because the kill count of Rambo (another Lionsgate release) was 236 and featured some of the best gore violence in years.

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Punisher: War Zone to be PG-13?

Punisher: War Zone is slowly being destroyed by Lionsgate. First, Lexi Alexander, director of movie was apparantly removed from the project. It is still not clear as to what happened about that. Then today, Latino Review hears that Lionsgate might edit the film for a PG-13 rating. The site speculates that The Dark Knight’s success has influenced this.

Yet another example of a studio destroying something which had the potential to at least be good. The Punisher is by his nature extremely violent and the best run on it lately has been Garth Ennis' take on Frank Castle in Punisher Max (pick up the collected editions when you get the chance) which were ultra violent, and amazing stories.

They need to go all out on The Punisher. They'll make a ton of money if they do, but instead they want to make Frank kiddie friendly? Why? 300 was R rated and made money. Why are the studios so scared of making movies for adults? They are the ones with all the money anyway. This makes no sense. Chewbacca was a Wookie. Look at the monkey..look at the monkey. I rest my case.

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New Punisher War Zone Poster from Comic Con

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Punisher: War Zone footage from Comic Con 08

IGN have the footage from the 2008 Comic Con for the new Punisher movie. It escaped onto You Tube a few hours ago so here it is. Be warned it is a tad violent so make sure the younglings are away from the computer when you look at it. What do you think? Is the movie going to be good or bad? Anyone want to do a review on the Thomas Jane Punisher movie?

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Punisher: War Zone - Poster

I've just been reading and enjoying the superb Punisher MAX stories by Garth Ennis. Apparantly, the director, Lexi Alexander, based bits of the movie on them. Not seen the script so I can't say how much is from the comic. Ray Stevenson stars as Frank. I'm liking the look of the posters and the trailer a lot.

More posters for the film are here.