…even though they’re still afraid of his fucking mask. Holy. Shit.

One thing, though – I thought the “international” release was using “First Avenger” as the main title – did they finally abandon that? (Knowing Marvel Studios, it’d be more about not paying for seperate prints than anything ideological, but still…)

It’s unsurprising but still sad that many people still haven’t given Mike Judge’s ambitious “Idiocracy” – best described as a dramatically less-optimistic cousin to “Futurama” – a shot. Whether you’ve already seen it or not, this opening sequence remains one of the funniest yet most terrifyingly-plausible visions of an unconventional-apocalypse ever put to film. It’s not at all hard to imagine looking at this film a decade from now and thinking “It’s too late. This guy tried to warn us. We didn’t listen. Now it’s too late…”

Another new episode of the new show.

Here’s the first teaser for Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” an adaptation of the 1982 Michael Morpurgo children’s book that more-recently inspired a stage play. The story: A horse “drafted” into the Cavalry during World War I suffers mightily as he tries to survive the war and ultimately get back to it’s owner, a young English boy – who is also searching for him. Wow. Might as well have titled it, “Please make a movie out of me, Steven Spielberg.”

As I see it, there’s only two ways this can concievably go: Either it’s “Amistad” again (i.e. well-meaning, well-made but ultimately uninvolving stuff) OR we’re about to add another title to the “movies it’s okay for men to cry at” list.

Trailer for Pixar’s “Brave,” featuring the studio’s first female solo-protagonist. I think she’s also a “princess” of some sort, which will probably make her the first Pixar character to join the ranks of the Disney Princess brand.

Stop asking me if I’ve read this Hollywood Reporter story about Warner Bros. still being hot to make a “Green Lantern” sequel. Just stop.

Does this even rate the need for an explanation? No one “badmouths” their own movie while it’s still in theaters with money (theoretically) still to be made; and in today’s Hollywood where EVERY genre film is presumed to be the start of a franchise NOT immediately talking sequels is as bad as mouthing can get. They (and the cast/crew) will be saying “Oh, yeah. Sequel. Definitely.” for at least another year or two, but the writing is almost-certainly on the wall: The film is a major money-loser and industry-wide joke. Reboot in five or six years with an entirely new cast/crew? Maybe. Sequel? Almost-certainly no.

If you REALLY want to gauge how big a dent “Green Lantern” has put into WB’s enthusiasm, watch and see what (if any) kind of movement gets made on his buddies. Warners is still angling for the DC Universe to replace “Harry Potter” as their yearly cash-cow franchise, and “Lantern” was supposed to kick-off a wave of (possibly-connected) DC superhero movies – potentially including an already-mentioned “new” Batman unrelated to the soon-to-conclude “Dark Knight” version and the (for now) one-off “Superman.” There’s supposedly a completed “Flash” script – they wanted Shawn Levy to direct for awhile – and even freaking “Hawkman” (HAWKMAN!??) is “in development.”

Of course, only three months ago Warner’s movie group president Jeff Robinov was talking about a “Justice League” movie hitting by 2013 – a logical response to “The Avengers” in 2012. At the time, the “plan” was to spin-out new versions of certain characters (Wonder Woman specifically, as the now-aborted TV show was still happening at that point) introduced therein in their own movies. It’s not a bad plan – fans and followers had been suggesting as much since before “Avengers” was even a possibility – but it’s concievable that “Lantern” could end up killing any enthusiasm for second-tier characters.

NBC passed on David E. Kelley’s “Wonder Woman” show. Now you can watch a clip and see why…

http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf

I dunno about you, but seeing the pitch-perfect recreation of nighttime/orange-interior/blue-exterior/generic-location TV action shooting like this on “Eagleheart” has pretty-much ruined my ability to take it seriously. Pallicki certainly looks stunning, but the outfit still looks like a Halloween costume and she’s not really selling the “I’m a badass” thing (dig the lazy floppy arm-swing business after she opens the door, like she’s halfheartedly opening up a mall security door for her morning shift.)

RiffTrax is coming back to theaters in August, and bringing along a significantly more ‘high profile’ movie than usual: The 1962 Harryhausen-wannabe kiddie fantasy “Jack The Giant Killer.”

And for a better look at what they’re up against, here’s “Jack’s” original trailer:

In all seriousness, congratulations to the Empire State for electing to enter the 21st Century. FUN FACT: This one state legalizing Same-Sex Marriage actually doubles the number of Americans in total who live in a marriage-equality state – an object lesson in why those red/blue map breakdowns are essentially worthless.

P.S. Does anyone have footage of JUST Sen. Ruben Diaz’s apparently instant-douchebag-classic “this will destroy the world!!!” speech from the Senate vote they’d like to post for the lulz?