who's doing what and with who

They tell me it's been a week since I've updated the site. Well, here's a weeks worth of news:

Over at Yahoo Movie News they're reporting that two off my favorite directors will be working on new projects soon. Wes Anderson will start filming his latest flick The Darjeeling Limited in India starting at the end of this year. The film is yet another Anderson/Owen Wilson writing collaboration (I'm a little tired of Owen Wilson but these two do write good screenplays together). Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody play three brothers on a spiritual trip to India after their father dies. Ah, another family dramedy from Anderson, I can't wait.

Also reported, Tim Burton will bring the musical Sweeney Todd to the big screen and guess who's playing the title character? Burton's go-to guy for off-the-wall characters, Johnny Depp. This should be weird and visually appealing, but we wont know if it's good until it's seen.

I've read that there will be a film adaptation of the children's book "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". I personally remember that one well and as a child had a fear of being squashed by giant meatballs whenever it rained. This fits well with the slowly developing screen version of "Where the Wild Things Are", another of my boyhood favorites. Spike Jonze was attached to the project last I heard but it seems to be in development limbo, they don't even know if it will be CGI or live-action yet.

A short comment about another project that I would love to see actually happen. Apparently there is a Metal Gear Solid movie slated for release in 2008 by Universal Pictures. We need to write some letters because I want Universal to make this movie happen. The video games this film would be based on are more finely crafted than half of what Hollywood puts out each year. The plots, the action, the cut-scenes are flawless and on top of that the lead hero is the ultimate one-man army. And you know who would be perfect to play Solid Snake?... Hugh Jackman. I know, it would be nice to get the guy who does the voice acting for the games but you need to have a star to get something obscure like this moving. If you haven't play the games, go rent Metal Gear Solid for the playstation or Twisted Snakes for the Gamecube and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Finally, here's a story that just made me angry reading it. I wish that Bryan Singer would just have stayed on and did X-men 3, it could have been so much better than what we got this summer. I'll admit I was excited to see what he would do with Superman, but after seeing both films I was doubly disappointed. Granted, Fox could have waited a couple years and let Singer complete the trilogy after his work on Superman, but they had to get the movie out to compete with Supes. Enter Brett Ratner, the man who brought us the Rush Hour movies and a sub-par adaptation of Red Dragon (saved only by the phenomenal cast). Ratner, combined with the fact that Fox rushed through every step of the filmmaking process, directed a lack-luster, stale action movie. I don't even care if they continue the series. If they try, it won't have Singer's vision and it will be minus most of our favorite mutants. I'd rather see another Singer-directed Superman film before I watch any more X-men movies, and I don't even like Superman that much. Read the whole story and you too will be as depressed as I am right now.