Twitter has EXPLODED with Los Angeles area film geeks gushing over “Attack the Block,” the British ghetto-kids versus aliens actioner that blew up at SXSW. Here’s the trailer, in case you missed it before:

The movie-nerd buzz for this is now SO enthusiastic that you can actually FEEL Michael Bay’s America gearing up to completely ignore it if and when it’s released ;(

Leonard Nimoy will be voicing one of the robots in “Transformers: Dark of The Moon.” In addition to having previously voiced Galvatron in the original animated movie and being a living, breathing fanboy-reference in and of himself; Nimoy is Michael Bay’s cousin and previously worked with writers Orci and Kurtzman on the “Star Trek” reboot. So… about four or five levels of reference/in-joke/shout-out casting right here.

In any case, he’s voicing “Sentinel Prime,” the bearded “old man” Autobot you saw in the TF3 teaser trailer. Supposedly he’s Optimus’ “father” (how does that work?) in this version, and his vehicle form is a firetruck. I didn’t know they made pimped-out, douche-appeal “custom” firetrucks; though I’m sure Bay and company will find a way. I’m hoping that Optimus – in a hugely-unlikely coincidence – stumbles on him living in a cave, where he explains that he’s actually from an alternate universe and that his being here is what’s responsible for ALL of the hugely-unlikely coincidences, gigantic plot-holes and generally shitty writing up to this point…

(This gets a little loooooong, so hit the jump if you want to read it)
…So! The new guy in charge of Warner Bros. said that he wants a “Justice League” movie, surprising nobody, and that the studio firmly intends to keep making “Batman” movies even after the current Christopher Nolan-helmed version of the franchise ends next year – ALSO not a huge surprise.

Everyone knew that Team nolan was zealously opposed to broader DC-Universe weirdness seeping into their hyper-realistic vision of Batman (it’s widely believed that Nolan’s extreme displeasure at having “another” Batman conflicting with “his” helped scuttle George Miller’s in-production “JLA: Mortal” movie back 2007); but everyone also knew that Warners/DC was going to be champing at the bit to pull the trigger on “Justice League” as Marvel Studios “Avengers” got closer to reality; and with “Green Lantern” and a new “Superman” both on the way people were connecting the logical dots…

…and then Zack Snyder, director of the soon-to-lens “Superman” movie, “clarified” that despite the timing, HIS “Man of Steel” was still being set up as it’s own seperate thing a’la Nolan’s Batman – if Superman appears in “League,” he’ll be a different guy. Confused? Let me throw some light educated-conjecture on it for you…

Here’s the #1, all-important, explains-it-all Rosetta Stone for understanding EVERY SINGLE DAMN THING you will hear or read the studio, filmmakers and P.R. people say about “Superman” from now until the day it comes out: WARNER BROS. IS ONLY MAKING *THIS* MOVIE BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO.

That’s not to say that they don’t want to make Superman movies EVER – though it’s been obvious for more than a little while that the folks in charge of the WB greenlight don’t really have a burning desire to be in the superhero business – but the reason they’re making this one right now, with a script that was still being finished at the time it was announced (and is allegedly still being “worked on) and with a presuambly expensive fanboy-proof-shield in the form of Christopher Nolan’s “producer” credit is because they are staring down the barrel of a gun: If they don’t make a “Superman” movie NOW, they risk losing a shit-ton of money in the near future. (This is also probably why Snyder, well-regarded among the Warner suits for his skill at bringing genre films under budget and on an efficient schedule, got the offer.)

Short Version: For the last few DECADES, Warners/DC has been in a legendarily-contentious ongoing legal battle with lawyers representing the estates of Seigel and Schuster, the original creators of Superman, over the rights to both the character himself and also various portions of the mythos (re: Lois Lane, Daily Planet, Krypton, etc.) Though Warners has recently set up a legal stalling-tactic, right now they’re playing defense: Back in 2009, it was determined that WB had to get a Superman movie into production by this year (2011) or they’d owe subsantial fees to the creators’ estates – hence their urgent desire to get this thing going. And even then, in 2013 they stand to lose between half and ALL rights to the character, and will have to renegotiate the whole bloody thing.

In other words, they’re rushing to make “Superman” because they have no choice, and they’re not going to tie it in to anything else because it’s still “up in the air” as to how much (if any) of him they’ll still be able to use afterwards. Notice you aren’t hearing about any of the actors signing on for the new movie singing any contracts for sequels, for example…

Meanwhile, have you noticed that NO ONE on either the fan or filmmaker side is even raising the issue of the “Green Lantern” movie? Granted, that’s mostly an indicator of how far the lackluster trailer and promotion has blown it off the pop-culture radar… but y’know what’s interesting? “Lantern” was supposed to be WB’s first toe-dip into continuity-land back before they (briefly, it would seem) backed-off from that course: A cameo by a major non-GL DC character got cut from the script just prior to shooting.

How this game is played now:

Step 1: Release prototype/screentest version of something you know fans will nitpick no matter what, let them tear it apart.

Step 2: Shoot actual show with final version, as it will now look “better” no matter what.

Step 3: Cancel poorly-concieved show after half a season anyway because this was still a terrible, terrible idea.

See more at GotCeleb

…and THAT little piece of Movie-Executive-to-English translation is really all anyone can reasonably take away from this Hero Complex piece on Warner Bros. honcho Jeff Robinovs vague, non-commital intimations of a “Justice League” movie. In fact, from now on you can use THIS as your “Avengers” indicator-light: If people from Warner Bros. are tossing “JLA” non-news to the fanboy-press, it means the insider-buzz is good for Marvel’s big-scale team-up experiment and they’re makng ready to hit the ground running on their logical “me-too.” If they slip back into the “our characters are bigger, they have to stay seperate” party-line, that means they’re thinking “Avengers” is an overreach.

The fact of the matter is, Warner Bros. is in a state of outright PANIC as far as their “tentpole” positioning goes. The annual gaurantee of a “Harry Potter” cash-deluge has been carrying the studio for the last decade – that’s an ETERNITY in executive years – comes to an end a few months from now. The year after that, the other cash-cow, Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” movies, wraps up with what Nolan’s camp has openly called a “definitive” ending. And after that… they’ve got NOTHING in the way of garaunteed, reliable income.

Robinov and others have been saying for a year now that the plan is for a string of non-Batman DC superhero movies to take Potter’s place, but thus far either WB are the best secret-keepers in the studio system (spoiler: they aren’t) OR the “we don’t know what to do with anyone who isn’t Batman” rule remains firmly in place: The buzz on “Green Lantern” has been iffy-to-negative from day one, and the ONLY reason “Superman” is coming together so fast and attracting so much name talent is that Warners is working/spending like MAD to get the thing made before a big chunk of the rights switch over to Siegel & Schuster’s estates after the most recent court decision.

The article also mentions “rebooting” Batman after “Dark Knight Rises,” which is sort of a given – though one hopes they just mean getting a new actor/director/style and not a full on “let’s make the origin story AGAIN” like Sony is doing for Spider-Man.

Don’t get me wrong – a JL movie is a fine idea: Far and away the best move WB coluld make, both in terms of their (probable) need for an answer to “Avengers” and also as a kind of proving-ground for future franchises: “People seemed to like runs-fast-man, give him a movie!” I just don’t expect them to actually go through with it anytime soon… unless people come out of “Captain America” RAVING about the innevitable “Avengers” tease; in which case it’ll have a green light before Sunday’s numbers even come in.

In which I explain Captain Marvel. Both of him.

http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.5.swf

Here’s what’s happening on the other blog:

http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4

EXTREMELY pleased with how this came out – the “meat” part in the middle came together pretty cohesively, the improved greenscreen worked out and that whole final “bit” cut together better than I was expecting it to.

Trailer for “Future X-Cops,” which doesn’t seem to be (officially) available on U.S. DVD yet. Evidently, Hong Kong has decided it’s time to start kicking our ass at superhero movies…

The director is Wong Jing, who also did an infamous unlicensed “Street Fighter” movie called “Future Cops” back in the 90s. Incredibly, the films seem to share the same basic plot AND star Andy Lau!

So says Hero Complex.

Unless director Zack Snyder suddenly decides to his literalist-translation leanings off for this one – i.e. the new “Superman” movie doesn’t look like a Superman comic beamed, unfiltered, from page to screen – it would seem Adams is carving out an interesting niche for herself as a living embodiment of female pop-mythology icons (re: The Disney Princess in “Enchanted,” the “Iconic” version of Emilia Earhart in “Night at the Museum 2,” now this.)

I’m given to point out that this is VERY good casting, ditto the earlier announcements of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Johnathan and Martha Kent – though I anxiously await The Internet correcting me on that point given the irrefutable evidence that Zack Snyder is Satan because there wasn’t an octopus in “Watchmen” 😉

Takeshi Miike – ’nuff said. Bow your heads, mortals…