Matt Charman, the man who wrote Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (my review), has just sold a pitch to Paramount for a film called Battle For Alcatraz, which is based on a real escape attempt from San Francisco's island prison that took place in the 1940s. Charman will executive produce and Neil Widener and Gavin James will write the screenplay, which THR says tells "the true story of the failed 1946 escape attempt from Alcatraz Prison by six inmates that incited a full-blown military response — turning the world’s most notorious prison into a war-torn battlefield." The real story is fascinating (you can read all about it here), and it's easy to see this being a nice ensemble-driven piece with tons of meaty roles for actors and plenty of drama to take advantage of.

Paramount reportedly beat out five other studios to gain the rights to this movie, so they clearly see some big potential with this one. It's familiar territory for the studio, who distributed Clint Eastwood's 1979 classic Escape From Alcatraz, a film about another infamous real-life breakout from the prison. No word yet on who will direct this project, but we'll keep you posted with more when we hear it.

Along with Blade and Bryan Singer's X-Men, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was among the first major comic book movies of the modern era, and it was a terrific example of the now-formulaic origin story done correctly. A couple of years later, he returned for a sequel, and I'd still put the excellent Spider-Man 2 pretty high on the list of best comic book movies ever made. Things took a downward turn, however, with Raimi's Spider-Man 3, which experienced some well-publicized studio interference (add Venom!) and distracting story choices (hey there, emo Peter Parker) that audiences just couldn't get past.

While promoting his new movie Truth, actor Topher Grace — who played the character of Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3 — defended the film, citing Raimi's directorial skills and the movie's financial success:

I know the movie did well for Sony, but I also know a lot of people weren't happy with it. I think Sam is so talented. I remember one time I was on ninth unit. (Laughs.) Ninth unit? It's like he's running a small country. This summer, there was a movie like that where people are just slamming a big studio movie. I would love to see anyone who's slamming one of those movies try to fit in Sam Raimi's position. He was like the president of a small country — by the way, it had the gross national income of a small country, too. I have huge respect for him. I think, on a whole, he did such a fantastic job [on that trilogy].

Nice not-too-thinly-veiled Fantastic Four reference in there. Extolling Raimi's organization is one thing, but I don't know how much validity I can put in Grace talking about how much money the film made at the box office. We all know that financial success doesn't always coincide with creative success (ahem, Transformers franchise), so bringing up how much money something made won't ever be a deciding factor for me about whether or not a movie is any good; it'll just be a factor in whether or not that director is considered bankable enough to make another movie. Luckily, Raimi's still going strong: he directed the pilot for Ash vs. Evil Dead, which arrives on Starz this Halloween night.

I am beside myself with excitement when it comes to J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I already have plans in place to order tickets tonight when they go on sale and see it with a group of friends. 

Unfortunately, not everyone shares this excitement, and now there's a group of idiotic racist people who are who have started a movement to try and boycott the film. There's a social media movement that is asking fans to #BoycottStarWarsVII. 

Why are they doing this, you ask? Because the one of the lead characters is black and the other lead character is a woman. The people behind the boycott accuse the movie of pushing an evil multicultural agenda. Ugh. 

There are a ton of tweets out there that are just plain ugly and horrific. I honestly can't believe some of the stuff that people are saying. Just when you think the world is getting better, people like this come into play and set it back again. It's absurd, and it seriously makes me so freakin' sad. This is not the world I want my girls to grow up in.

It's ridiculous to see what lengths people will go to just to get attention. It's complete racist bullshit. Here's one of the tweets that I came across. I don't want to post any more than that because many of them are just too damn awful. Of course, if you're really interested in seeing the kind of hate that still resides in this world, you can read the tweets here.

#BoycottStarWarsVII because it is anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide.

— End Cultural Marxism (@genophilia) October 19, 2015

It's shocking that this is actually going on. I would have never expected this kind of nonsense. Did these people forget that James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader through the entire saga and that Billy Dee Williams played the badass Lando Calrissian? Or that Samuel L. Jackson played Mace Windu in the prequel films? They were all main characters, and now all of a sudden casting a black man in these films is an issue? Good grief.

This seriously makes me hurt inside. This is Star Wars, for cryin' out loud! This is something that has always brought fans together, not tear them apart. It's a sad day. But it will get better when that new trailer is released later tonight!

Last year, artist Nicolas Delort created a beautiful illustration inspired by Charles M. Schultz's 1966 Halloween animated classic, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I tried to get myself one but I was too late. Luckily Dark Hall Mansion is releasing two new prints to celebrate the Halloween special. This first one you see here was a collaboration piece between artists Tim Doyle and Ridge Rooms. The second one was created by Aussie artist Florey. Both of them are great, but I really do love what Doyle and Rooms came up with.

I don't think that a year has gone by in my entire life where I haven't watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. That's kind of cool to think about. Here are the details from Dark Hall Mansion:

Dark Hall Mansion, under license from Peanuts Worldwide, will release Tim Doyle & Ridge Room's beautiful, quiet meditative piece that invites us to sit with Charlie as he considers events that transpired just a short while earlier on one most memorable trick or treat Halloween outing. Beautifully composed with Charlie's cut-up ghost costume lying at his feet, along with a most undeserved bag of rocks, we join Charlie as he reflects on the evening, his tender yet unflinching expression not so much one of sadness as reflection at what life tosses our way, his pensive look underscoring his resilience and his spirit's refusal to break. That faithfulness in something greater further brought home to the viewer courtesy of one charmingly snuggled Linus, 'Great Pumpkin' sign close by. Tim's work is well known, and we trust some fans will recognize Ridge's name as she worked right at the Charles M. Schulz offices of Peanuts' Creative Associates in northern California, her work so respected that she was called upon to design the Peanuts' 'Google Doodle' for Thanksgiving one year. Their screen print will of course be offered via one exclusive printing only with a Standard edition, a moody Variant edition with silver metallic ink highlights, and a small select run of just 25 Halloween glow-in-the-dark editions.

As a surprise, and serving as a lively counterpoint to Tim & Ridge's piece is Australian artist Florey's celebratory print that, for the first time, showcases the Peanuts Halloween party scene as principal imagery. With brights colors and Florey's distinctive style we see the gang at their happiest, candy and costumes strewn about, a classic Schulz Lucy-Snoopy moment captured, and, to counter those 'rocks,' a most joyous Charlie Brown, all ringing in the night together while one dedicated little boy (and a soon to be demanding 'restitution' little girl!) wait diligently for the arrival of the beloved 'Great Pumpkin' to their patch.

These "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" limited edition prints go on sale this Thursday, October 22nd on Dark Hall Mansion's store page at 9:30 AM PST. The standard edition of Doyle and Rooms' piece is shown above. It comes in an edition of 280 and will cost you $65. I've included the information on the other art prints below.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Tim Doyle & Ridge Room Variant Edition of 50 $100

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Tim Doyle & Ridge Room Glow-in-the-Dark (GID) Edition of 25 $12

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Florey Standard Edition of 280 $65

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Florey Variant Edition of 50 $65

Disney and Lucasfilm have unveiled a brand new full trailer for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and you can watch it now in the player below:

So many cool moments to talk about:

Daisy Ridley's Rey looks like she has an Arya Stark moment in the beginning ("Who are you?" "No one."), and I love the shot of her angrily firing that blaster. She's going to be epic.

It's such a small moment, but that should touch between Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron and John Boyega's Finn conveys so much of their camaraderie in this movie.

I love the ideas of the young actors being so young that they aren't even sure if things like The Dark Side and Jedi are actually real, and Han has such gravitas as he's telling them that all of those stories are true.

Kylo Ren talking to Darth Vader's mask = holy crap. Actually, everything having to do with him: that moment where he's face to face with Poe, and the lightsaber battle against Finn...man, what a badass.

The action looks incredible, clear and crisp and wide and easy to follow. This is going to be a film that looks completely stunning, despite whatever else may come to pass.

That music! Chills!

Whose female voice is that, talking about The Force "calling to you," saying to "let it in?" Is that Lupita Nyong'o, maybe?

For the past few years, I’ve tried to avoid watching trailers for movies I’m really looking forward to, and generally, it’s been a pretty great experience that I’d recommend for people who value a pure theatrical experience. But with Star Wars, the movie is just too big for me to reasonably expect to stay unspoiled. I haven’t sought out any spoilers about the story or script leaks or anything like that, but I knew that even if I didn’t end up watching the trailers, practically every frame would be spoiled for me as either a screenshot or a GIF on social media. So I decided to embrace it and watch the trailers for this film. It’s cool to be able to share in the excitement with fans for what is probably the most anticipated movie of all time, and while I’ll definitely go back to avoiding trailers for smaller movies, after seeing the awesomeness contained in today’s trailer, I’m happy with my decision.

What's your favorite moment here? Sound off in the comments!

Fox released a new promo for The X-Files last night, and it kind of got buried in the Star Wars excitement. But here it is for you to watch now! We also have a new poster for the X-Files revival features the ominous silhouette of none other than The Cigarette Smoking Man. Yeah, he was seemingly killed off in season nine of the series, but this is The X-Files, and you should have known that there was a good chance that he didn’t really die. The poster also includes the familiar tagline, “Trust No One.”

William B. Davis reprises his role as the Cigarette Smoking, Man a.k.a. Cancer Man, a.k.a C.G.B. Spender. I’m curious to learn how exactly this character actually did survive a rocket that blew up the helicopter he was in. Maybe it will be explained in the upcoming six episodes or maybe it won’t. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

To catch up on all of the trailers and news for The X-Files, click here.

Thirteen years after the original series run, the next mind-bending chapter of THE X-FILES will be a thrilling, six-episode event series helmed by creator/executive producer Chris Carter, with stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson re-inhabiting their roles as iconic FBI Agents FOX MULDER and DANA SCULLY. This marks the momentous return of the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning pop culture phenomenon, which remains one of the longest-running sci-fi series in network television history. Production on THE X-FILES event series is set to begin in summer 2015.

THE X-FILES originally premiered in September 1993. Over the course of its nine-season run, the influential series went from breakout sci-fi favorite to massive global hit, and became one of the most successful television dramas of all time. The show, which earned 16 Emmy Awards, five Golden Globes and a Peabody Award, follows FBI special agents Scully (Anderson) and Mulder (Duchovny), as they investigate unexplained cases – “X-Files” – for which the only answers involve paranormal phenomena.

The X-Files returns to FOX with a special two-night event beginning Sunday, January 24th, 2016, following the NFC Championship Game, and continuing with its time period premiere on Monday, January 25th.

Written by: Chris Warner - Pencils by: Patrick Olliffe

Inks by: Tom Nguyen - Colors by: Gabe Eltaeb

In Barb Wire's first issue there was a pervading sense of empathy. In issue two, it seems Dark Horse now has its version of old school, down on his luck Peter Parker. It isn’t lack of skills, as she is fully capable, and she does her job well. Regardless of how skilled she is, a person can only take on so much. Being stuck in between two warring gangs with an oh so fragile truce isn’t helping things, especially when said gangs use her bar as a place to get into scuffles, often damaging it in the process. She’s in debt up to her ears and isn’t even sure she can keep her bar, and now on top of that, she has some sort of Norse warrior in a perpetual state of drunkenness out there causing all sorts of problems every time she stops to breathe.

It's all a bit much if you ask me. Bartender! Pour me a scotch.

Who am I kidding, pour me an amaretto sour. I just love those things.

In any case, the thing I find most fascinating with this book is how grounded writer Chris Warner keeps the main character. Barb is just trying to make a living and stay alive, two things that pretty much anyone can understand and relate to. Honestly, it's what keeps me coming back. Also of note is how Charlie (Barb’s brother) is being worked into Barb’s bounty work more. He’s got a fun personality, and his lightheartedness is needed amongst all the combat and the general dourness of Steel Harbour. On the art front, Patrick Olliffe is able to fit so much detail into even the smallest panel, and one in particular describes Barb’s world just so perfectly. On page 19, Mace makes a not so subtle threat, taking out part of Barb’s bar as a clear message. The thing is, the panel is one of several on the page, so it isn’t huge, and yet Olliffe fits so much debris, other character reactions, random spouts of water, etc., in said panel, that it just makes everything immediately after, Barb’s reaction specifically, hit so well.

I'm still enjoying the book, so catch you back here for Barb Wire Issue #3 soon.

Baron Zemo is one character that we know is going to be in Captain America: Civil War, but he’s also a character not a lot of people are talking about. Most of the news and rumors revolve around the main Avengers who will be appearing in the film, as well as the conflict between Iron Man and Captain America. Thanks to actor Daniel Brühl, though, we now have a bit of new information regarding the villain that he’ll be playing in the story. 

Brühl’s Baron Zemo could very well be the main villain of the story, but he’s going to be presented in a way that is different than we’ve come to know in the comics. One of the main things is that he won’t be wearing the purple mask. In an interview with Business Insider, the actor explains:

"He does not wear the mask. You would be surprised, it's different than what you'd think. It's loosely connected to this character. But that's what I like about the Marvel guys, some of the characters and things they're dealing with always reference to current events so my character is from a different area than you would think."

I’m not worried about any changes that Marvel plans on making with the character. They seem to have a solid handle on what they are doing with their movies and the characters in them. So this version of Baron Zemo that they have developed for Brühl is sure to fit right in with the cinematic universe that they’ve created.

There's a chance that Baron Zemo could also be a villain that pops up in future Marvel films. When asked if he would return, the actor said:

”There's a possibility. That's the way it's written."

It's good to know that Zemo might not be one of those villains that pop up and never return like most of the Marvel movie villains. For those of you not familiar with Baron Zemo, I included a video breakdown that we posted a couple of months ago, which was put together by THINKAboutTheINK. You should check it out below if you haven’t seen it yet. 

What do you think about what Brühl had to say about his character? Are you bummed that he won't be sporting the hood? Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6th, 2016.

Marvel's three Spider-Women are getting their own crossover, appropriately titled Spider-Women. Starting in issue #1, the trio of Silk, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Woman will be forced to work together to survive and get back to their own worlds, but according to Jason Latour (writer of Spider-Gwen), that isn't going to be so easy at first.

“I think what’s intriguing about the three of them is that they’re really just getting to know one another. But as far as the initial dynamic—Jessica is definitely the big sister who’s a little frustrated by how much these girls don’t know about being superheroes.”

In her solo book, Jessica Drew is a tad on the impatient side, and doesn't have a great deal of patience for people who don't know what they are doing (as her adventures with The Porcupine have shown us), so this makes sense. I'm really intrigued to see how Gwen and Silk interact with her, especially Silk, since that is the character I am least familiar with. Also of note is how all three writers are involved: Robbie Thompson of Silk, Dennis Hopeless of Spider-Woman, and Jason Latour of Spider-Gwen. Having all three involved should help keep the characters consistent with what readers and followers of their solo books are used to. 

With Spider-Man getting so much focus lately, I'm glad Marvel is also exploring these other corners of the Spider-Man family, and isn't just leaving them by the wayside. 

Spider-Women #1 releases next year.

Director Mel Gibson started shooting his new film, Hacksaw Ridge, a couple of weeks ago, and even released a photo featuring the film's stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, and Sam Worthington.

Variety is reporting that Huge Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings) has now joined the cast of the World War II drama. Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of the "307th Infantry, 77th Army Division, 1st Battalion, Company B as they train for battle. The story begins at a base camp in South Carolina and follows the recruits as they learn basic wartime survival skills before being deployed to Japan where they come face to face with the action at the Battle of Okinawa."

Garfield plays Desmond T. Doss in the story. He was the first conscientious objector to receive the US congressional Medal of Honor after acts of bravery and sacrifice, saving 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa. Weaving will be playing his father, Tom Doss.

The site also reports that Australian actor Ryan Corr has also joined the cast in the movie and that he will be playing a character named Lt. Manville. 

The last feature film that Gibson directed was Apocalypto back in 2006. He's managed to get a great cast together for his latest project, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. 

As you know, Lucasfilm released the full trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night, and it was easily one of the greatest things ever! I loved what I saw in that trailer, and I wish I could just watch this movie right now! I had so many emotions while watching that trailer, but I can tell you that I was filled with pure joy and excitement. I've already pre-ordered my tickets for two different days! I'm going with some friends on Thursday, December 17th at Arclight Cinemas and then I'm taking my kids to see it on Saturday, December 19th at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. 

Anyway, I've been seeing a lot of reaction videos online of people watching the trailer, and I've included two of them below for you to watch. They feature the film's two lead stars — Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, and John Boyega, who plays Finn. Their reactions are both pretty priceless.

It's gotta be an amazing experience to see yourself in a film like this, and see the finished product with all the special effects and stuff for the first time. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18th, 2015.

Staying in a little b'n'b with my friend... Set an alarm to watch the trailer... My friend filmed my reaction. Totally emotional seeing it for the first time and so so so incredibly awed to be part of this incredible legacy #starwars #theforceawakens

A video posted by @daisyridley on Oct 19, 2015 at 8:06pm PDT

THE TRAILER IS JUST EEEEPPPPPPPIIIIICCCCCCC! Star Wars is back! gaaaaaad laaaaard! You know what! Let me just relax because this kind God oooo! Lmao! Seriously congrats to everyone ! December 18th!

A video posted by @john_boyega on Oct 20, 2015 at 12:02am PDT

The first photos from the set of Legendary Pictures' Kong: Skull Island have surfaced, and as you will see below, they feature a giant ape skull. I assume it belongs to one of Kong's humongous ancestors. The movie is currently in production in Hawaii, and the photos were posted by Reel Tours Hawaii.

The story follows Tom Hiddleston as he and his team of explorers venture to the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes. The adventure will take them deep inside the treacherous, primordial island. According to Legendary, the "story honors the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but places it in an entirely new, distinct timeline." It's said to be set in 1971. Part of the film will take place in Detroit while the other part will take place on Skull Island. 

The movie is being directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer), and the cast also includes Brie Larson, Toby Kebbell, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Wilkinson.

I'm excited for this movie, and it will hit theaters on March 10th, 2017. To catch up on all of the previous news involving this movie, click here.

They're not calling it Skull Island for nothing. pic.twitter.com/1Zmd0K82Te

— Reel Tours Hawaii (@reeltourshawaii) October 11, 2015

Dug up another "Kong: Skull Island" set pic. Filming starts Monday! pic.twitter.com/Lcmc2xMA2e

— Reel Tours Hawaii (@reeltourshawaii) October 16, 2015

Before Sam Raimi jumped on board to make a live-action Spider-Man film for Sony Pictures, James Cameron was working on a version in the 1990s. It would have been a grittier, more adult version of the web slinger. The movie would have featured the villains Electro, Sandman, and Doctor Octopus. Leonardo DiCaprio would have taken the role of Spider-Man and Arnold Schwarzenegger would have played Doctor Octopus.

Thanks to YouTube user Mindd Kidzag, we have a fun, fan-edited "what if/leaked VHS copy" trailer for the canceled project. The trailer was inspired by Cameron's 47-page script treatment, and it uses footage from several different films, which I included a list of below the embed. The trailer turned out to be pretty fun. This definitely would have made for an interesting movie.

List of footage that was used:

Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) – Pre-Vis Animation
Japanese Spider-Man – Trailer
Spider-Man CGI Screen-Test
Spider-Man – ShoWest Teaser
Spider-Man – World Trade Center Trailer
Spider-Man – Web Sizzle Trailer
Spider-Man 3 – Leaked Trailer
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Deep Red
The Mummy (1999)
Daredevil (2003)
American Dragons
Se7en
Hard Target
Birdman Returns – Trailer
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
The Basketball Diaries
My So-Called Life
X-Men – Teaser Trailer
Jingle All The Way – Teaser Trailer
Baby’s Day Out – Teaser Trailer
Flame Beer – Commercial
Junior
True Lies
Watchmen
The Terminator
Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan
Ghostbusters 2
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie – 35mm Trailer

It's hard to quell expectations for the upcoming Star Wars after that phenomenal trailer dropped yesterday, and it's showing in businesses worldwide. After the trailer's release, there has been a surge of traffic to advance ticket services for fans wishing to be the first to see The Force Awakens. According to Deadline, this caused many sites such as AMC, Fandango, and Alamo Drafthouse to have difficulties on their site.

In Fandango's case, the surge was so great it crashed the entire website and made it inaccessible!

Anyone affected by this? Hearing about this surge makes me kind of nervous...maybe I should pick up my ticket now before it's too late?!

I've got a couple of spectacular new pieces of fan art by artist Tim Odland for you to check out today. They are both 24″ x 36″ long form prints featuring Batman and Spider-Man. The print above is called “The New Guy in Town,” and you can buy it here. The second print is called “Not in my Neighborhood,” which you can by here.

We've features a lot of Odland's work before, but I've gotta say that these are two of my favorites. I talked to the artist about these at Salt Lake City Comic Con, and he said he was going to try and do more of these featuring other superheroes. I hope he does because it would sure make a great collection of geek art to hang on the walls or your home or office.

Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill creator, Hideo Kojima's separation from Konami has been a slow one... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

I don't imagine hype for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to die down anytime soon. The full and final trailer was released last night and fans are still riding off the high that it gave us. Now AMC Theaters has unveiled an exclusive poster for the film that is part of their “Star Wars Sundays” promotion.

Every Sunday, from December 20th to January 10th, guests who purchase a ticket to see the film in IMAX 3D at AMC theaters will receive an exclusive Star Wars print from artist Dan Mumford. This is the first of these prints, and a new one will be revealed every week. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released in theaters on the night of December 17th, and I've already got my tickets! Do you?

The time machine was once conceived as a refrigerator. Einstein was envisioned as a chimpanzee named Shemp. The 1.21 gigawatt reaction that sent Marty through time was originally going to be caused by a nuclear explosion.

These are the kinds of pieces of trivia that most diehard Back to the Future fans have known about for years. I thought I knew a lot about the making of the trilogy, but it wasn't until I read Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History that I realized I had just scratched the surface. Written by the second and third film's production publicist Michael Klastorin along with Randal Atamaniuk, this book is the most exhaustive behind-the-scenes making-of account I've ever read, and it's full of incredible anecdotes from the cast and crew, never-before-seen photos, dazzling concept art, and painstakingly detailed reports about every single week of the production of all three movies in the trilogy.

Before you even get into the meat of the book, there's a foreword by Michael J. Fox, a preface by Christopher Lloyd, and an introduction by writer/producer Bob Gale. (Writer/director Robert Zemeckis handles the afterword.) The fact that all of these guys have endorsed this book should tell you something about how awesome it is; they, along with countless other cast members (Lea Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Elijah Wood, etc.) recount stories and memories of what it was like filming every step of the way as the authors take us from the writers coming up with the concept for the original movie to the tough process of actually finding a studio to get it made, all the way through the back-to-back production of both sequels. Plus, there are tons of interviews and details about the Universal Studios ride and the short-lived animated series (did you know Ant-Man director Peyton Reed directed Christopher Lloyd's live-action segments of the animated series? He talks about that experience in here, too). Zemeckis and Gale offered the authors access to their personal records as well as access to the Universal Studios archives to make sure everything is completely accurate and as detailed as possible.

Not only does it have everything you could possibly want to know about the trilogy as it currently exists, it also takes us through versions that never happened, detailing every plot development of every draft of all three movies, some of which are pretty incredible. One of my favorite aspects of the book are all of the scans of letters, faxes, and memos sent back and forth between executive producer Steven Spielberg, the two Bobs (Gale and Zemeckis), and the various department heads. There's a casting call sheet listing Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, John Cleese, Robin Williams, Mandy Patinkin, Mickey Rourke, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, Randy Quad, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy, Eddie Murphy, and — get this — Bill Cosby as potential candidates to play Doc Brown. Now that's heavy. And a memo from Amblin Entertainment reveals that Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen both read for the part of Marty.

Additionally, there are a bunch of photos of Eric Stoltz on the set as Marty McFly, many of which have never been seen publicly before. His entire time on the project is laid out here, as well as exactly what happened when Fox was brought on to replace him.

But hands down the coolest aspect of this book are all of the extras that come along with it. As you turn the pages, you'll come across awesome recreations of the props from the franchise, including:

• Hill Valley High School Tardy Slip
• Back to the Future The Ride security pass
• Save the Clocktower leaflet (complete with Jennifer's phone number on the back!)
• Sepia photograph of Marty and Doc from Part III
• Marty’s note to Doc from the first film with the "Do Not Open Until 1985" envelope
• George McFly’s book (with a plot description written by Gale specifically for this book!)
• Jaws 19 movie poster
• George and Lorraine’s prom photo
• Doc’s flux capacitor sketch from the first film
• Doc’s note to Marty from 1885
• Biff one dollar bill from Part II
• Blast from the Past receipt from Part II
• Lenticular version of the iconic McFly family photo from the first film

These items alone are worth the cover price; you can hang them on your walls and by the time you hit the last page, you'll have enough for an entire BTTF-themed room (or at least a small shrine). 

This book will change the way you watch these movies forever. If you're a BTTF fan — and let's face it, I've never heard of anyone who's seen the movie and thinks it's only OK — Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History is a must-buy. You can purchase it right here starting today, just in time for tomorrow's Back to the Future Day: October 21st, 2015, the date Marty and Doc traveled to in Part II.

I just rewatched Skyfall this past weekend in preparation for the new James Bond movie Spectre, and man, that movie looks fantastic. I'm excited to see if Interstellar and Her cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema can live up to the standard the legendary Roger Deakins set on the last movie. 

This morning, Sony and MGM have released the newest in their ongoing series of video blogs from the movie, and while we've seen in-depth videos about the movie's action, the Bond women, a race through Rome, a talk with director Sam Mendes, and the opening Day of the Dead sequence, this one concentrates on Sam Smith's new song, "Writing's On The Wall." Check it out below:

I made the mistake as a child watching an episode of Tales From The Crypt late at night. What followed after that night was years of nightmares of balding skeletons laughing and spinning their heads. I think since then, at least subconsciously, I've avoided watching the series for that reason. Now, with Halloween coming up, I've skipped around on a few episodes and happened to find one starring a very young Daniel Craig! Noticing not a lot of people are up on this, nor would anyone have made a big deal of his appearance back in the day, I figured I'd post the video for us all to enjoy together! For those who need to know what they're getting into watching a full episode online, here's a synopsis via IMBD:

A young man with a strange device is hired onto an advertising company by an esteemed executive--but what the exec doesn't know is that the young man is in cahoots with her enraged ex-partner who is out for revenge.