“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” — Mark Twain.

Hey… why WAS Warner Bros. in such a hurry to get a picture of Superman looking more-or-less like himself (big shield, big cape, shadows keeping the “briefs or no briefs” discussion for another day) out into the fanboy-blogosphere when the movie isn’t due out until 2013? Well, maybe because they didn’t want the ONLY conversation about their increasingly-trouble DC Universe movies this weekend to be “Where are her ears???”

Well, now we know who bought up all the nondistinct black scuba-gear now that the X-Men aren’t using it anymore…

Yeah, yeah, first picture, no context, trust Nolan, blah blah blah…

The costume (or lack thereof) designs in pretty-much all of the Nolan Batman movies read like some kind of personal filmmaking challenge: Now they have to make the script/acting/direction SO GOOD that people won’t care how boring everybody looks. For my part, I’m not exactly sure why anyone is surprised – what did you expect the result to be when a character built entirely around sexuality and an visually-absurd costume-gimmick is reimagined by a filmmaker thus far singularly-disinterested in sexuality and visually absurd costume-gimmicks? Not bad, not terribly exciting, get ready to not be surprised when she’s never actually reffered to as “Catwoman.” I’m sure the movie will still be fine.

Look, everybody knows I loved “Begins” and “TDK,” and I expect to like this one much the same. But yeah, with this being the last one, I hope “Rises” is also the death knell of this particular era/aesthetic in superhero movies. As far as I’m concerned ‘realism to a fault’ has been dead since Robert Downey Jr. told his computer to paint his outfit red for no particular reason, and at this point watching Batman and company still going through these motions is kinda like seeing someone still walking around in acid-washed jeans and a popped-collar.

It’s monkey-tastic! For more monkey movies, check out “Intermission.”

Ironically enough, the ONLY place (other than reality, as it turns out…) you could expect to hear a confluence of “somethings” this random would be a “remember that time…” cutaway on “Family Guy.” Seth MacFarlane is so insanely powerful at the Fox network that he has the “pull” to get pretty-much anything he wants greenlit, made and run in a cushy slot. He’s already flexed that muscle to set up one coming-soon project, a modern (stone age) revamp of “The Flintstones;” and now we know that the next one is yet another classic-TV callback: A new incarnation of “Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos.'”

…Really. And no, it’s not a “spoof” or a “takeoff.” It’s a ‘continuation’ of “Cosmos” – in which Sagan explained ‘big idea’ science about the universe – to be hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The creator of “Family Guy” is using his clout to get Fox to run an educational science documentary on PRIME TIME TELEVISION. WTF!?Granted, the “line” of MacFarlane has always been that he’s a much more intelligent, thoughtful (to say nothing of nice) guy than a lot of his material might suggest… but you’ve got to admit this is waaaay the fuck out of left field. Fox (of all networks) opting to run a show where an astrophysicist explains how scientific phenomena works as a prime-time series is unbelievable in and of itself; but coming from MacFarlane? Never would’ve called that.

Just to give you an idea of how unlike anything you’d ever expect to run on a network today this is, here’s how the original looked/sounded:

Now, granted – I wouldn’t be surprised if the final version of this new one DOES end up having some kind of more humorous or “energetic” angle to it, a science-based cousin to The Daily Show, something like that. But still… holy shit. A billion Freshmen frat-pledges bulk-buying (and watching to the point of memorization) the first three seasons of a canceled “Simpsons” stepchild almost a decade ago results in the return of “Cosmos” to TV.

What’s next? Is Michael Bay going to donate a trillion dollars and personally re-start the American Space Program? Larry The Cable Guy gonna personally install an American interstate bullet-train system?

“Short Circuit” is one of those not-bad little movies that kids in the 80s tended to grow up with on heavy VHS rotation; which helpfully explains why news that it’s landed on the reboot list has half the web reporting this as dire news (director is Tim Hill, late of the live-action “Chipmunks” movies) and the other half reporting it in the context of being snarky about people having an opinion about kitschy 80s reboots.
The original film was about a prototype military combat-robot (one of a set) that attained sentience after being struck by lightning and went on the run to avoid being disassembled (“killed”) for research. Supposedly it was concieved as a killer-robot-rampage movie, but eventually became a comedy (“Johnny Five” communicates almost-exclusively in childish jokes and pop-culture references.) It’s somewhat noteworthy in being a “wacky nonhuman buddy” movie that was otherwise cast exclusively with adults as opposed to precocious kids… and somewhat notorious for Fisher Stevens’ (now an Oscar Winner as producer of “The Cove!”) eh, “broad” portrayal of an Indian computer wiz.

At one point the “reboot” script was a psuedo-sequel with a little kid meeting the original(?) Johnny Five, not sure if that’s still the case. Part of me would like to see this be a “pretend-this-is-something-people-have-been-waiting-for” deal, possibly with NOVA running the drone/armed-robot stuff in Afghanistan. Johnny Five versus his “modern” counterparts? I’d pay to see that, sure.

Warner Bros releases the first official image of Henry Cavill as Superman in Zack Snyder’s “The Man of Steel,” which is still shooting despite having it’s release date moved ahead a year to 2013:

I like it. The textured-look is a little much, but I like the big heavy cape and the “shield” taking up damn near his whole chest (and being way up to his neckline, so it almost looks like part of the cape a’la the “Last Son” outfit from the “Reign” arc.)

The closest thing to a “big” change is that he appears to be wearing just the red belt instead of the traditional yellow belt/red briefs ; which if so makes this more-or-less a live-action translation of the new outfit from the recent DC Universe “reboot.” If so… I’m for it. It’s a better look overall, and the original purpose of the briefs – to make superheroes look less-naked when depicted in black-and-white – isn’t as big an issue in live action.

This is a “press release” image, which means it’s wholly appropriate to pick it apart and try to discern what they want it to “say” to audiences. In that respect, the overall aesthetic – action scene, imposing “Superman-is-gonna-kick-your-ass” pose/expression, high-contrast lighting, etc – seems to be “this is NOT ‘Superman Returns.'” I liked “Returns,” but I’m fine with this. It’ll be nice to see “tears shit apart with his bare hands” Superman for the first time since “Superman II.”

This is gradually turning into a much more interesting prospect of a film. Initially set up as something WB had to make to shore up legal claims, the notion of holding it up a year to (supposedly) work on the script’s third act intrigues me. It’s almost certainly a reaction to the ongoing “Green Lantern” disaster; but to what end? Are they just looking to make sure “this one” doesn’t suck? Is this going to be reworked into the “launch film” for a DC Movieverse like “Lantern” was at one point supposed to be?

Hat-tip: BAD

“Darkest Hour” sounds like pure schlock halfway through it’s premise-description – it’s “EuroTrip” meets “Battle: L.A.” as American teens vacationing in Russia find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion – but attains a kind of brazenly dopey brilliance when you get to the big hook: The electricity-devouring aliens… are INVISIBLE!!!!

That’s right – our heroes are running-from, shooting-at and getting blown-up by NOTHING!!!!

The aliens. Are. INVISIBLE.

How can you NOT stand in dumbstruck AWE of any filmmaker (in this case Timur Bekmembatov) having the sheer BALLS to play the “invisible monster” card in a 2011 theatrical(?) release!?

TGO: Episode 55 is now LIVE on ScrewAttack and on The Other Blog.

I don’t know that there was a real person whom I never actually met who had more of an effect on my development than Fred Rogers; so while it’s obviously not “aimed” anywhere near me (which is as it should be) I’m curious to see where/how this works out: PBS has announced the development of a spin-off “sequel” series to “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” – the first new series to be produced by the Fred Rogers Company since Rogers himself passed away a decade ago.

The new series is animated, and will be called “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” The premise is that the “Land of Make-Believe” puppet characters from the original series have since grown up and now have children of their own; with the “Daniel” of the title being the four year-old son of the original Daniel Striped Tiger (Rogers’ “first” puppet). The first production still from the series appears to show the character (will he have his father’s watch?) in what looks like an animated version of the original series’ house set – traffic light, fish tank and Trolley all accounted for.

I feel like someone should say something snarky about the idea of even Mister Rogers now having continuity… but the words won’t come. I’ll say this: Children’s entertainment needs Mister Rogers’ influence now more than ever; and if the people behind this intend on continuing in his spirit then I wish them all the luck in the world. And, since I can’t post this often enough – here’s Fred Rogers himself testifying on behalf of keeping Public Broadcasting funded before Congress. I suggest sending it along to your Congressman:

NOTE: I’m not putting a spoiler-tag on this because Marvel clearly has no interest in it being a secret or surprise. It was in USA Today, even.

The thing that always bothered me about Marvel’s “Ultimate” side-universe is that it never lived up to it’s supposed intention of not only dropping the continuity-burden but also doing new and gutsy things with the established characters. “Ultimate” Spider-Man was probably the worst offender, segueing almost-immediately from telling “new” stories to basically being a “remixed” version of Spidey-continuity’s Greatest Hits.

Well, maybe that’s changed.

Revealed to news outlets today (and to readers of “Ultimate Fallout #4” tomorrow) the new “Ultimate” Spider-Man (“Ultimate” Peter Parker’s time ran out in a “Death Of…” story last month) is a half-black, half-hispanic teenager named Mike Morales. Let the “I’m-not-racist-I’m-just-racially-conscious” gnashing of teeth begin.

Amusingly, writer Brian Michael Bendis cites the infamous incident last year – where “Community” star Donald Glover launched a joke Twitter campaign to be cast as the new Spidey and was met with a ridiculous “I’m-not-racist-but” backlash from (some) fans who thought Glover (who is black) was actually up for the part.

Immediate reaction: Interesting choice, I like it. Will it be enough to get me back interested in the “Ultimate” line? Probably not, but you never know. I don’t know that I’m digging the outfit, but that’s a whole other minor thing.