"Doctor Who" returned to BBC America this past Saturday with a jaw dropping episode, and that's saying a lot considering the jaw dropping episode they ended with before they went on summer hiatus. Talk about a show not only living up to the hype, but far exceeding it. I highly recommend keeping up with this show that skillfully manages to combine humor, action, horror, sci-fi, and a whole lot of brilliantly written dialogue. This coming Saturday following the new episode, a special will be aired called "Best of the Doctor" which has Matt Smith reviewing his best "Doctor Who" moments and celebrity fans sharing their favorite moments.

                                                                               

    As the countdown to director Christopher Nolan's final episode in his Dark Knight trilogy nears, we get more teasers to entice us. The latest enticement is a photo of Anne Hathaway in full Catwoman costume, which makes you wonder how the character will be interpreted in this franchise. The other big tease has been images of Tom Hardy as Bane facing off against Christian Bale as Batman. We know that this version of Bane will be highly intelligent much like the comic book character. However, the biggest question about the character Bane is whether he will be able to increase his muscle mass like his comic book and animated counterparts. Only time will tell.

 

 

     

 

      The weekend box office took a hit due to Hurricane Irene, but despite the stormy weekend causing a 15 to 20 percent drop in attendance, the top three movies still had a strong showing at the box office. "The Help" was number one with 14.3 million, "Columbiana" an action/adventure movie starring Zoe Saldana ("Avatar", "The Losers") that opened in second place with 10.3 million which exceeded the studio expectations, and coming in third with 8.7 million "Don't Be Afraid of The Dark" from producer Guillermo Del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth"), a remake of a 1970s TV movie frightfest. This version stars Katie Holmes ("Batman Begins, "The Kennedys") and Guy Pearce ("The Time Machine", "Momento").

 

 

                                                                             

  

     Marvel Knights Animation's "Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers" adapted from the story by creators Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic arrives on DVD on Sept.13. Here is the trailer for the movie produced by Shout! Factory.

 

 

                                                                              

                                                                    

                                                                                                

    Kate Beckinsale returns to her role as Selene in " Underworld: Awakening" set for release Jan.20, 2012. I haven't heard any details about the script and quite frankly who cares? Kevin Grevioux who wrote the previous "Underworld" movies is one of the writers and Kate Beckinsale stars as the most kickass female vampire ever. Enough said.

                                                                               

    Nicholas Cages returns as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance". The movie due out February 17, 2012 was written by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Flash Forward) and finds Johnny Blaze hiding out in Central Europe and is called upon to stop the devil who is trying to take human form.

                                                                                                                                                                              

       Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige introduces the cast of "The Avengers" at Disney D23 Expo in Anaheim, Ca. They also showed footage from the movie that features Loki on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in an exchange with Nick Fury and Tony Stark. Hopefully, the studio will release some of the footage and we'll get to see some more trailers. In the meantime, here's the footage of the cast being introduced.

 

 

 

                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                 

      Although I'm still less than thrilled with NBC, I'm giving credit where credit is due where the "Wonder Woman" series is concerned. I saw the pilot episode and was less than awed, to say the least. Instead of trying to change the character into a superhero version of Ally McBeal, David E. Kelley should have remained true to the comic book or even the previous television incarnation of the character. The action scences were great! However, the plot and dialogue was completely forgettable and/or dismissable,whichever you choose. There is no origin story and you find out that everyone knows who Wonder Woman is and I mean that literally. Here are the questions I would ask. Wonder Woman a corporate CEO? No secret identity? No invisible plane? No lasso of truth? Really, are you freaking kidding me? This venture was doomed to failure because it was in no way the Wonder Woman anyone wanted to see. The best thing about it was the actress Adrianne Palicki in the costume actually fighting and doing the classic bullets and bracelets blocking move.

        

 

 

 

      "Rise of the Planet of The Apes" topped the weekend box office for a second week in a row with 27.5 million dollars. "The Help" came in number two with 25.6 million dollars. "Final Destination 5" came in third with 18.6 million dollars. Ironically, "The Help" stars Emma Stone who plays Gwen Stacy in next year's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and Bryce Dallas Howard who played Gwen Stacy in 2007 in "Spider-Man 3".

        Now to turn my ire to SyFy and to their cancellation of one of the best series on television and one of my favorite shows, Eureka. That show is one of the very few reasons I watch that misnomer of a channel. I used to have high hopes for that channel and what a disappointment they turned out to be. They have very few shows that even qualify. Eureka is a clever and quirky show about a secret town of geniuses thhat work on top secret government projects. Naturally, things constantly go awry and often with a combination of potentially disasterous and hilarious results. A brilliant and well-written sci-fi show the likes of which is still rarely seen on television. Syfy intially renewed the series for a sixth season and then turned , around an announced that they decided to cancel it instead. And then they turned around and decided they want to add just one more episode.Pehaps, they will also grace us with a "Eureka" t.v. movie.

 

 

   

                                                                                   

                                                                     

      Marvel has plans to do more supehero movies in additon to sequels "Iron Man 3" and "Thor 2", but they are being so super secretive about what movies they have planned that this has the rumor mill going wild. Personally, I would love them to finally make a "Black Panther" movie, which would be great since it could tie in to a potential sequel to "The Avengers". There is talk of a "S.H.I.E.L.D." movie featuring Samuel L.Jackson as super spy Nick Fury, a possible "Dr. Strange " feature film, and "Runaways" based on the Marvel comic book title that tells the story of group of teens who find out that their parents are all a part of a group of supervillians. In complete defiance, the teens decide to atone for their parents behavior and take action by taking on any bad guys they encounter. These are the three frontrunners based on all the media scuttlebutt. I eagerly look forward to seeing which movie projects they actually choose to greenlight.

      Speaking of movie projects that got the greenlight, Universal 's upcoming action adventure "Battleship" based on the Hasbro board game of the same name is due for release May 18, 2012. Before you say "Really, Are you freakin' kidding me?!?" The movie boasts a great cast and a very talented director. The movie directed by Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Hancock) features a cast that includes Tyler Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, John Carter), Brooklyn Decker (Just Go With It, What to Expect When You're Expecting), Liam Neeson (A-Team, Unknown), Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood, Straw Dogs), Peter MacNicol ( Ghostbusters 2, Numbers), and Rhianna, in her feature film debut. Apparently, Universal believes in this movie to the tune of 200 million dollars. That's a lot of belief! That's definitely the kind of belief I want to experience.

 

 

                                                                            

                                                                               

                                                                           

 

                                                                            

                                                                

                                                                                

 

                                                                                                 

      

       Warner Bros has released details about "The Man of Steel", The new Superman movie directed by Zack Snyder. Superman will be facing two other surviving Kryptonians, the villianous General Zod, played by Michael Shannon, and Faora, Zod's evil partner, played by Antje Traue. The film also stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Julia Ormond as Lara Lor-Van, Harry Lennix as U.S. General Swanwick, and Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy. The movie is being produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan, and Deborah Snyder. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, from a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.The movie is scheduled for release June 14, 2013. Here is a first look at Superman star Henry Cavill in the costume.

     In related news, Warner Bros has released an image of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/ Catwoman in "The Dark Knight Rises". The movie directed by Christopher Nolan is scheduled for July 20, 2012 release.

 

 

 

      "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" topped the weekend box office earning $54 million."The Smurfs" came in number two making $21 million. "Cowboys and Aliens" came in third with 15.8 million.

 

                                                                    

 

       Apparently,"The Amazing Spider-Man" not due for release until July 3, 2012 already has sequel in the works. The sequel is tentatively scheduled for May 2, 2014. The screenplay is being written by James Vandebilt.

 

                                                                    

      The trailer for The Avengers debuted online courtesy of Marvel Studios, Disney, and Yahoo. The trailer which includes a part of a scene that was in the movie "Captain America: The First Avenger" The movie due for release May 2012 is probably the most anticipated movie of due out next year.

                                                             

    "Fright Night" with Colin Farrel is due out this month and on his recent appearance on "Live with Regis and Kelly" he discused how he was a fan of the original movie and how the script for this remake attracted him with its clever blend of comedy and horror, something he feels has been missing from horror movies of late. Kelly Ripa told him he was so scary as a vampire that she had to leave the room whenever the trailer came on.

                                                                                 

                                                                               

                                                                          

      In related news, Colin Farrel is currently filming a remake of "Total Recall" which promises to remain more true to the story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by author Phillip K. Dick than its predecessor. The movie directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld) features Colin Farrel in the roll once portrayed by Arnold Schartzenegger and Kate Beckinsale in the Sharon Stone role. The cast includes Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad), Jessica Biel (Blade: Trinity, The A-Team), Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Underworld), Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Daybreakers), John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Star Trek), Bokeem Woodbine (The Rock, Devil), Will Yun Lee (Elektra, Hawaii Five-O), and Currie Graham (Assault on Precinct 13, Boston Legal).

        G4 Network debuted their new shows from Marvel anime versions "Iron Man" and "Wolverine" animated by Madhouse. The shows in true anime fashion are definitely more grownup and not for the little kiddies. "Iron Man" follows Tony Stark and his ongoing battle with the criminal organization The Zodiac. "Wolverine" seems to follow a version of the storyline in the "Wolverine" comic book mini-series written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller. Madhouse also animated the "Supernatural: The Animated Series" currently available on DVD. The teaser trailer shows the other two Marvel anime shows include "Blade" and "The X-Men" and when they will air has not yet been announced.