Finally, we have some on-set footage of actors and sets for “Thor”… unfortunately, it’s from “Entertainment Tonight,” so the “interview” is more interested in Chris Hemsworth’s appearance on “Dancing With The Stars.” Though it IS mildly amusing to watch Hemsworth and Portman doing what appears to be either a really good impression of actors who hooked-up while making a movie OR a really bad impression of actors who didn’t hook-up while making a movie.

In any case, we’ve got our first look at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and – at about 3:56 – Idris Elba as Heimdall. Hopkins looks about like you’d expect, but Heimdall…. holy SHIT! Dig that crazy Kirby-esque armor, complete with the bright red and gold finish and the HUGE horns (wings?) on the helmet. Set rumors have been saying that Thor’s “Asgard” stuff is shockingly faithful to the 60s to 80s comic designs, and this seems to agree with that. Crom… does this means Loki is going to have the gold/green outfit and the big curled horns? I hope so…

http://www.etonline.com/media/flash/FlowPlayerDark224.swf?config=

Here’s what REALLY intrigues me, though (Iron Man 2 SPOILER WARNING): Right near the start, we see Thor in what I guess are his “street clothes” (or maybe it’s a rehersal?) beating up some uniformed guards (soldiers?) in what looks like a temporary military installation. Other “Earth” scenes seem to be set in an American desert locale. Remember Nick Fury complaining about his “trouble in the Southwest” in Iron Man 2? Is THIS what he was talking about? Are those military-looking guys S.H.I.E.L.D.? Is that part of the story here, S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to contain or “cover up” Asgardians or whatnot on Earth?

This is really happening.

Fresh from the runup to E3 comes this week’s SECOND big video on the subject of Mortal Kombat reboots, in this case a “back to formula” 3D-graphics/2D-gameplay entry very likely inspired by the success of “Street Fighter IV.”

Contained therein: Magic powers, fantastical realms, transdimensional ninjas who look like transdimensional ninjas doing things you’d expect transdimensional ninjas to do and colors found in locations other than a scrap metal yard. What a novel idea…

Mortal Kombat Video Game, E3 2010: Debut Trailer Game Trailers & Videos GameTrailers.com

Yeah, THAT would all look soooo much better if they were all in jeans and hoodies…

Yes, I’ve seen this. You can stop asking now, alright?

This has been all the rage this week, mostly thanks to it showing up without any indication as to what it was “selling.” Now we know: It’s a “professional fan-film” made by a guy trying to sell a “reboot” pitch to the rights holders. With professional-looking shorts getting easier to produce, we’ll probably end up seeing a lot more of these for “genre” franchises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MqZn7E-mk

Honestly… I think it looks like crap. Not that the other “Kombat” movies were any great shakes, and the guy certainly has the technical chops for spot-on recreating the Saw/Hostel “house style” to saying nothing of the ability to aquire the aid of Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White.

But the “angle” he’s pitching, a “realistic” gritty revamp of the series with the various supernatural Kombatants reworked as psychos with skin conditions or body-mod fetishes? BLEGH. No, thank you.

Y’know… we’re coming up on the 35th Anniversary of “Jaws” next week. Whole books have been written making the case that, even though they stand up as great films in their own right, “Jaws” and “Star Wars” ultimately had a negative impact on moviemaking by creating the blockbuster mentality. I dunno how much truth there’s ever been in that thesis, but I’m starting to feel like one day I’ll be feeling something similar about Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” movies… loving them as films but HATING the impact they’re having on genre film, i.e. making this kind of grim-and-gritty, “realistic,” suck-the-weird-out-of-everything reimagining the order of the day.

To hell with “grounded,” and fuck “realism.” I can’t wait to see the “realistic” version of Superman, where instead of Krypton he’s from Canada or something, and instead of flying he’s just a pretty good helicopter pilot.

CONSERVATIVE: “The Government should be as small an uninvolved in everyday life as possible. Umm… except in matters of art, expression and personal morality – particularly as it pertains to sex – THERE it should be as involved as possible. Oh, and that part of Government that’s The Army? That can be as big and involved as it wants, because tanks are wicked-awesome.”

LIBERAL: “The Government should be as big an involved in everyday life as possible. Umm… Except in matters of art, expression and personal morality – particularly as it pertains to sex – THERE it should have nothing to say whatsoever. Oh, and that part of Government that’s The Army? That part can take a hike, because guns are mean and scary.”

LIBERTARIAN: “The Government should be small, period. If that smallness means some of us ‘don’t make it?’ Well, that’s too bad, but I’m not giving up my freedom for their security.”

OBJECTIVIST: “The Government should be small, period. If that smallness means some of us ‘don’t make it?’ Heh! I shall take fetishistic joy in witnessing the fall of the inferior.”

SOCIALIST: “The economic castes of human society are unjust and corrupt, and must be equalized… to the degree that “equalization” will allow me to still have a decent apartment.”

COMMUNIST: “I am a Socialist (see above) and I am also desperately needy for attention. Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!”

ANARCHIST: “I am trying to pursue a sexual relationship with a woman who calls herself an Anarchist.”

If there’s ONE reason to see “Get Him To The Greek,” it’s to be dumbstruck by just how strong Puff Daddy’s (or whatever it is now) comedy chops are. Seriously. Granted, he’s doing self-parody, but it’s a very particular sort that also calls for him to play a slow-burning nutcase. However you feel about him (I’ve never been a fan, myself) it’s a remarkable turn, considering he steals whole scenes out from under professional comedians.

The movie itself is a mixed bag. It’s funny, because Jonah Hill and Russell Brand are funny, but it’s too schizophrenic to hold together as anything other than a series of sketches – though it tries to “excuse” this scattershot storytelling by leaning heavily on the device of Brand’s Aldous Snow being an unstable drug addict.

Snow, we’re expected to recall, was the “wild card” supporting player in Jason Segel’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” – a pop-musician who was the subject of a “fan-crush” by Jonah Hill’s schlubby hotel employee. “Greek” is meant to be a reprise of this chemistry, blown up to feature status. Hill is technically playing an entirely DIFFERENT character this time, but mostly for reasons of plot – otherwise it’s the same idea: He’s an overeager music geek with a particular appreciation for Aldous Snow, trying to rise through the ranks of junior music executive at Diddy’s label. He pitches an anniversary concert to mark the public return of Snow, who’s descended into a walking joke after a disasterous concept album and a bad breakup. He (Hill) ultimately gets sadled with the responsibility of shepherding the famous-erratic singer from London to L.A.

So, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” meets “Cheech & Chong,” is the idea, and there’ve certainly been worse ones. Oddly, what ultimately derails it is it’s connection to “Sarah Marshall.” It’s trying hard to work as a buddy picture, which means it has to be “affecting” at times and develop Snow as a well-rounded character – which it pulls off, and Brand has an impressive range – but since Snow was concieved as a broad satire it’s undercut every time we see or hear him performing one of his songs, which are obviously spoofs. Twice we’re treated to sincere scenes in which Snow is “ressurected” onstage by the joy of performing and the affection of his fans, and both times the effect is blown because he’s singing jokey tunes about venereal disease and British snackfood double-entendres.

Short version: GO SEE IT.

http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.1.5.swf

Also, the film’s director Vincenzo Natali gets interviewed in this week’s “Intermisson”: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/7636-Nice-Splice

Following AICN’s debut of the “official design” for Captain America’s movie-look, Collider has the same basic thing for “Thor.” This is slightly less “big” of a deal, since we’ve already more or less seen a set pic, but this is the first full-body look: http://www.collider.com/2010/06/02/thor-chris-hemsworth-new-images-concept-art/

Can I just say how INCREDIBLY glad I am that he’s NOT just wearing the damn black tank-top thing from “Ultimates?” That he has a big, flowing red CAPE? That Mjolnir looks EXACTLY like it’s supposed to? Yeah, I know, capes are silly and impractical; I saw “The Incredibles,” too. Know what else is impractical? Every single solitary thing any superhero has ever been depicted doing. Ever. Practicality doesn’t belong anywhere nearer to the superhero subgenre than it already is.

That said, the image is way over photoshopped, especially since the earlier production still plainly showed more naturalistic fabrics and armor are in the “real” film. But my main concern is that I can immediately look at this and say “Oh, it’s The Mighty Thor.” It definately jibes with everything I’ve heard from people with real access, i.e. that the level of fidelity in this to some of the more “offbeat” elements of Marvel’s Asgard is going to take people by surprise. (I’ve seen at least one thing that, if real, is up there with Spider-Man in terms of literal page to screen translation.) I seriously can’t wait to see this guy standing next to Iron Man and Captain America. And Hulk, hopefully.

This is really happening.

AICN has the first officially-confirmed images of Captain America’s uniform – not live shots but renders of what Chris Evans will look like in the final product: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45326

I put my two immediate favorites below.

Bob approves.

Naturally, I miss even the suggestion of the wings on the mask/helmet for iconography’s sake, and I’ve always thought the “Ultimates” extra stars on the shoulders made it look too much like a football jersey, but those are quibbles. This is a lot better than anyone could’ve reasonably expected it to look.

Little late on this (long weekend,) but Mike Sampson at JoBlo scooped… well, the planet, as these things go… by posting a description (no photo) of Captain America’s movie costume. Read his report, plus see some pretty accurate (according to Sampson) fan art mockups, HERE: http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=32378

From Sampson’s description, it sounds like they’re using the “Ultimates” version of the WWII-era outfit (“present day” Ultimate Cap pretty-much looks like regular Cap) i.e. the “cap-colored” fatigues, but with the “Reborn”-style helmet/mask. Sounds manageable. Given this, I’d posit a 70-80% chance he’ll wind up wearing a more “familiar” outfit in “Avengers.”

What I’d like to know is if he’ll also have “Ultimate Cap’s” triangle-shield the whole time, or the round one. (In “Ultimates” he doesn’t get the round one until unfreezing.)

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck good fucking God I can already hear Jeffrey Wells being a fucking prick about this fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking shit fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK! fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck jesus titty-fucking Christ on a crutch fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking hell fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck mother fucking shit fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckballs fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck i need a fucking drink now fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck frelling fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking damn it fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking phoque fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking bullshit fuck fuck FUCK! fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck my luck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck frak fuck fuck motherfucker fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucker fuck a duck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking MGM fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK! fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck off fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck god fucking damn it all to fucking hell!

Details HERE: http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/05/30/36920-guillermo-del-toro-departs-the-hobbit/