It's been confirmed that director Paul Thomas Anderson's next film project will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice, and that Robert Downey Jr. will star in it. The news comes from Showbiz411 who also says that Charlize Theron might end up joining the film production as well. 

I'm a fan of Anderson's work, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. He hoped this would be his next film, and it's cool that he's going to be able to do it. The story follows a character name Larry "Doc" Sportello, a private eye with a penchant for pot who wanders 1969 Los Angeles during the summer of love. In the story he helps an ex-girlfriend with an intriguingly complicated case that involves infidelity, mental institutions and policemen called "Bigfoot".

The Master didn't do very well at the box office, and apparently he's hoping that this will be a more successful film for him. An inside source says the author of the book only wants Anderson to make this movie, and that “it’s closer to Boogie Nights than any of his other films."

Here's a description of the story:

Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon— private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog

It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists.

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren't there . . . or . . . if you were there, then you . . . or, wait, is it . . .

We're gearing up for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which begins next week in Park City, Utah. I'd put Sundance as my single favorite film-related event of the year, and GeekTyrant is going to be there in full force this year bringing you written and video reviews, video blogs, and all sorts of coverage of the best the fest has to offer.

One of the movies that is playing there is a documentary called Google and the World Brain, and it's about Google's quest to archive every piece of learned information that humanity has achieved. They began scanning millions of books, but copyright issues forced this quiet attempt into the limelight. Check it out below:

Here's the official synopsis, from the Sundance 2013 website:

The goal of accumulating all human knowledge in one repository has been a dream since ancient times. Only recently, however, has that dream become a reality. Quietly and behind closed doors, Google has been executing a project to scan and digitize every printed word on the planet. Working with the world’s most prestigious libraries, the webmasters are reinventing the limits of copyright in the name of free access to anyone, anywhere. What can possibly be wrong with this picture?

As Google and the World Brain reveals, a whole lot. Some argue that Google’s actions represent aggressive theft on an enormous scale, others see them as an attempt to monopolize our shared cultural heritage, and still others view the project as an attempt to flatten our minds by consolidating complex ideas into searchable “extra-long tweets.” At first slowly, and then with intensifying conviction, a diverse coalition mobilizes to stop the fulfillment of this ambitious dream. Incisive and riveting as it uncovers a high-stakes multinational heist, Ben Lewis’s film voices an important alternative to the technological utopianism of our time.

It looks like Tina Fey is going to star in The Muppets sequel along side her Invention of Lying co-star Ricky Gervais. She's in final negotiations to play the female lead, who is a Russian gulag prison guard. 

Fey is another great choice for the world of the Muppets, she's the type of comedic actress that can easily blend in with the fuzzy puppet cast. She also joins Modern Family's Ty Burrell, who was previously cast in the role of a lazy Interpol inspector. The director of the first film, James Bobin, is back to direct the movie from a script he co-wrote with Nicholas Stoller. All we really know about the film's story so far is that it will follow the Muppets on a European adventure.

What do you think about Fey being cast in the film? She's next set to star alongside Paul Rudd in the comedy Admission.

Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) and Will Forte (SNL, MacGruber) have been cast in writer and director Dan Schechter's Jackie Brown prequel, The Switch. 

Variety reports that the actors will replace the previously-announced Ty Burrell and Dennis Quaid, and they will join Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey, and Isla Fisher. I'm actually not a very big fan of the first movie. It's been years since I've seen it, so maybe I should watch it and see if it's better the second time around. The Switch really does have a great cast, it will be interesting to see if it turns out better than the first movie. 

The film is based on the 1978 novel by Elmore Leonard, and it will serve as a prequel of sorts to Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, which was based on the book Rum Punch. Here's the official description of the book:

Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara have lots in common—time in the same slammer, convictions for grand theft auto, and a plan for a big score. They’re going to snatch the wife of a Detroit developer and collect some easy ransom money. They don’t figure on a bum of a husband who has a secret mistress and no desire to get his wife back. Or on his crazy, beautiful broad of a housewife who’s going to join Ordell and Louis in the slickest, saviest crime of all.

Did you like Jackie Brown and are you excited for the prequel?

Here's our first official look at Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Finnick (Sam Claflin) in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I hope the movies get better as they go along, because the books certainly didn't. I liked the series, I just felt the two last books weren't as strong as the first one. They have the opportunity to make things better when adapting this story to film, so hopefully they do that.

It opens up in conventional theaters and IMAX on November 22nd. Are you excited for the sequel, and do you think it has the potential to be better than the first film? 

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour' of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever. 

The sequel is being directed by Francis Lawrence, and it also stars Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen, Patrick St. Esprit, Meta Golding, Bruno Gunn, Alan Ritchson, E. Roger Mitchell, Maria Howell, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, and Jeffrey Wright.

Disney has released another TV spot for OZ The Great and Powerful featuring a few bits of great new footage from the fantasy adventure. It looks to me like director Sam Raimi made an awesome movie, and I really love that shot of the Wicked Witch engulfed in fire. That just looks like a signature Raimi movie moment. 

The film stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams, and it will be released in theaters on March 8th, 2013.

Disney’s fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (JamesFranco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. 

When small-time magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pulls one flimflam too many, he finds himself hurled into the fantastical Land of Oz where he must somehow transform himself into the great and powerful Wizard—and just maybe into a better man as well.

The wait is finally over folks. Official Xbox Magazine (February Edition) has hit stands with its exclusive look at Tomb Raider's multiplayer, and as a bonus we also have a new video from the team at Crystal Dynamics spotlighting some of those newly revealed details. Both contain plenty of additional information and are definitely worth a read and/or watch, so make sure to give them a look when you get the chance. For those who haven't had time to catch up on all of this however, I figured a small breakdown on all the new information wouldn't exactly hurt.

You can find The Final Hours #4: Surviving Together video journal below, and in it the team at C.D. goes into some of the thinking behind their decision to give this entry a multiplayer mode. You also get a look at some of it in action. One of the features they heavily highlight is the use of traps and hazards in the environment. You can manipulate these traps, such as lightning rods and cave spikes (and bear traps I believe) to maim or completely take out other players.

Modes

So far there are two confirmed modes, one of which is a traditional team deathmatch mode (which seems to be the one highlighted in the video). The other is called rescue. Rescue revolves around one team (the ship's crew) trying to get 5 healthpacks to different locations around the map, while the other team (called the savages) attempts to stop them. The premise itself isn't exactly original, but the environments, with their hazards as well as the verticality they offer, should go a long way to keeping matches varied and fresh, at least in theory.

Available Characters

Players won't be able to control Lara, at least initially. OXM gave the impression that players won't have access to her at all, but in the video there is a shot of a select screen where it seems she might be available, at least at some point. Lara or not, you will at least be able to customize your character of choice, and if customized names are available I'm warning you now. At some point or another you will probably be shot by someone (i.e. me) named buddy the elf, so just come to terms with it now.

Combat

As for the combat, at least from the video it seems chaotic and rather fun, but there is a sort of jerkiness to how the characters move about. The game is still being fine tuned, so that might be different upon final release, but it is something to keep an eye on. Hopefully the weapons have some weight to them, and if so Crystal D. might have really hit this one out of the park.

Tomb Raider's will always be known for their solo experience, but having something to kill time between individual playthroughs that's actually fun couldn't hurt, so here's hoping they get it right.

Reach way back in your memory banks to the year 2003. Remember watching Comedy Central and coming across a Jewish exploitation film called The Hebrew Hammer? Adam Goldberg starred as Mordechai Jefferson Carver, a "Shaft"-type character who battled Santa Claus' son to save Hanukkah.

Now THR says a sequel is in development, and this time around, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman is having The Hebrew Hammer take on the Jewish people's biggest adversary: Adolf Hitler himself. The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler is being crowdsourced through a website called Jewcer.com, and Goldberg and co-star Judy Greer are signed on to return. Also along for the ride this time? Jesus Christ himself...or at least the character, anyway. The Hammer heads out, with Jesus as his sidekick, to take down freaking Adolf Hitler. Sounds like this could be some really interesting viewing. Production starts this spring, and you can check out the pitch video below:

Comic writer Mark Millar is now immersed in the world of comic book movies as he's been hired by FOX as a creative consultant to help build up their Marvel comic book properties. In a recent interview with SciFiNow he talks about Chronicle director Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot, saying that it will include stuff we've never seen in a superhero movie before.

From what I’ve seen and from talking to him – he and I have had dinner a couple of times and we talk quite regularly as well – he’s contemporarising it. I think he’s just making it work for the screen – he’s a great storyteller.

Chronicle, if you think about it, was similar to Fantastic Four in that it was a bunch of people who were transformed into something more than human – that turned out almost his calling card to come and do something like Fantastic Four.

What I wasn’t expecting actually was just how funny and likeable he could make this as well as getting the more awesome moments on screen – I use awesome in the traditional British sense and not the California sense awesome, you know? The Ridley Scott moments, and the Fantastic Four really are jaw-dropping in the same way you feel when you saw Alien for the first time. There’s some moments in this – not to be specific – that are actually gonna be phenomenal on screen and stuff you haven’t seen in a superhero movie before.

I'm excited to see what Trank's vision for this film will be. I'm always up for new and different stuff, and it would be amazing if he could give us a badass Fantastic Four film that included stuff we've never seen in a superhero movie before! Do you think Trank has what it takes to pull this movie off? 

I don't know about you, but I've been loving these honest trailers that Screen Junkies has been pumping out! Their latest honest trailer takes some great shots at Christopher Nolan's Inception. It's hard for me to see some of the ridiculousness of the movies I enjoy watching, but these guys have no problem at all pointing that kind of stuff out, and making a great film like Inception look kind of silly. Enjoy!

We have something great for all of you Tomb Raider, Skyrim and Mass Effect fans out there!

Check out this amazing artwork done by Tansy Appleby on DeviantArt. It features some of gaming’s favorite female characters posing and ready for action. Appleby has truly captured the essence of each character, meanwhile bringing a touch of realism to them.

While looking at this I couldn’t help but think once again that we need more female leads. Yeah, yeah, I know that gaming is a predominately male area. But still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little variety. I mean heck, look at Tomb Raider, who ISN’T amped up for the upcoming game?! It just goes to show you, with the right character development, it could work.

Who’s your favorite female gaming character?

"We're not just telling the story of a monster, we're telling the story of a very human emotion that is now monstrously out of proportion."

A couple of days ago we shared four film clips with you from Guillermo del Toro's Mama, and today we bring you a great new featurette for the film. It includes interviews with the cast and crew talking about the story, and some new footage from the film. I love the concept, it's terrifyingly nightmarish, the success of the movie depends on how that concept is executed though.  

The horror film stars Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game Of Thrones), and it was directed by Andy Muschietti who was also the director of the short film, which is pretty cool as well. Mama hits theaters on January 18th, 2013.

Five years ago, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished from their suburban neighborhood without a trace. Since then, their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (JessicaChastain), have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home.

As Annabel tries to introduce the children to a normal life, she grows convinced of an evil presence in their house. Are the sisters experiencing traumatic stress, or is a ghost coming to visit them? How did the broken girls survive those years all alone? As she answers these disturbing questions, the new mother will find that the whispers she hears at bedtime are coming from the lips of a deadly presence.

AMC has released the official poster for the return of The Walking Dead season 3, which is set to premiere on Sunday February 10th! I can't wait to see the series return, and it's going to be awesome to see how they conclude it. The series was recently greenlit for a fourth season, but showrunner Glen Mazzara will not be returning. There's actually been a little drama surrounding that.

It seems like comic book writer and producer Robert Kirkman is being blamed for Mazzara's firing. He was called out by name by showrunners Shawn Ryan (Last Resort) and Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) on Twitter. Ryan tweeted, "It's a real question now why good showrunners should sell to AMC," and Sutter followed that up with a tweet saying that AMC sent him "a gift basket filled with … broken promises and the marinated tongue used to lick Kirkman's ass."

According to THR Sutter then went on to denounce AMC "for departing from a cable culture that generally allows showrunners more creative freedom than do the broadcast networks. Kirkman, he added, 'is an amazing visual artist and a graphic artist [but] knows very little about TV, and the reins keep going back to him in this process, and he doesn't know how to run a show.'"

Insiders confirm that Kirkman, is "very proprietary," and that "I believe Robert wants to maintain a certain amount of his control, and AMC needs Robert for the fan base." They also say he had issues with the direction that Mazzara wanted to take the show. Kirkman has responded to Sutter tweeting, "@sutterink is brilliant and Sons is my favorite show on TV. Still, it's upsetting to see him ranting about things he knows nothing about."

Doesn't the entertainment business sound like fun?! Here's the press release that came along with the poster above.

With his group in tatters, his sanity in question, and his own son questioning his every move, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) must somehow pull everyone together to face their greatest challenge -- the Governor (David Morrissey). In order to survive, he must risk everything, including the group's very humanity.

Season three's mid-season finale aired December 2, making "The Walking Dead" the first cable series in television history to reign as the biggest show of the fall season among Adults 18-49, beating out all broadcast and cable entertainment series. The episode totaled 15.2 million viewers for the night.

Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, “The Walking Dead” tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home. The series stars Andrew Lincoln, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Melissa McBride, David Morrissey and Danai Gurira.

A few months ago it was reported that author Brian Selznick's young adult novel The Houdini Box was acquired by Chernin Entertainment and would be adapted into a feature film. This is the same writer who gave us  The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was adapted by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese won't be directing this one though.

Variety reports that the writing and directing job has gone to a young Irish filmmaker named Kealan O'Rourke. This would be his first feature film. Prior to this he directed a bunch of short films, and I've included a showreel below showing off several clips from these films which are a mix of live-action and animation. The guy certainly has a creative and imaginative eye, and it looks like he could do a great job of bringing this book to life. 

The book was published in 1991, and the story "centers on a boy who's trying unsuccessfully to perform Houdini's magic tricks when he meets his idol at a train station and begs Houdini to explain himself, eliciting a promise from Houdini to write. The boy finally receives a letter inviting him to Houdini's house -- only to discover that Houdini died that day and left him a mysterious, locked box."

Here's the official book describtion: 

Victor is forever trying to escape from locked trunks, to walk through walls, and to perform any number of Houdini's astonishing magic tricks...without success. Then -- amazingly -- he meets his idol and begs Houdini to explain himself. A mysterious, locked box is the only answer, and Victor is left to wonder: Does the box contain the secrets of the most famous magic tricks ever performed?

Check out the showreel and let us know if you think he''ll do a good job with The Houdini Box! 

Kealan O'Rourke Showreel 2010 from Kealan O'Rourke on Vimeo.

Here's a fantastic new set of 1950s Batman Rockabilly badassery from artist Denis Medri. This time around he shows off some new character designs for Killer Croc, Bane, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Robin. There's some pretty rad art in this new set, and I still want to see this concept brought to life at some point. To check out some of the previous character designs for Rockabilly Batman, click here and here. What's your favorite piece in the set?

If you’re a retro game lover (like myself) then you will simply love this. Maya Pixelskaya, an artist that specializes in retro games, was commissioned to make these lovely NES Converse sneakers. Oh boy, did they ever come out great!

Take a  look at how she includes almost every part from the controllers and the system itself, it all looks fantastic. What I love the most about these sneakers is the fact that it doesn’t look heavily painted on, unlike how many other custom Converse kicks tend to look.

Only problem is, Maya only made one pair of these. But I'm sure if you search around places like Etsy or Ebay, you could find some other variations.

Even though I know we can play retro NES games on the Wii consoles or various emulators, I kind of wish Nintendo would do a custom “retro” line of consoles. Let’s say, a limited special edition of the NES console. I’m sure many enthusiasts would hop on that.

For those of you wondering what's been going on with those Independence Day sequels we've been hearing about, Bill Pullman comes to the rescue with an update for us! In a recent interview with Crave Online to talk about his new series 1600 Penn, he was asked about the status of the two sequels being developed by director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin.

Within a year, yeah, something like that I guess. I worried about taking this part because it’s heating up. I thought, ‘I don’t know if I should do the comedy’ and I talked to Dean [Devlin] and Roland [Emmerich] and they said, “No, do it. We’ll work around it. If it goes, we’ll work around it.”

So it looks like they could actually start shooting in a year or so. He goes on to talk about Will Smith, explaining that if he doesn't end up coming back for the sequels there's a back-up plan.

The Will Smith part of it may be ongoing but I think there’s strategies for both. I like what I have to do in both of them. I’m not in an old age home in a wheelchair being wheeled out for one more moment. It’s a very interesting conception of what happens to Whitmore between then and when it picks back up.

Now even though the project is being developed it doesn't mean the sequels are going to get made. Pullman relizes this and says,

Nobody’s holding their breath because it’s been continually plagued.

Emmerich previously revealed that the titles of the next two films would be ID Forever - Part 1 and ID Forever - Part 2. As a fan of the original movie, I'm actually kind of excited for these new fims, and I hope they end up getting made. 

I've got another freakin' awesome short film for you to watch! It's a Viking film called TUMULT directed by Johnny Barrington, and I think a lot of you are going to love it! The short is a very well made film that is violent, bloody, and fun. I don't want to say a lot about it because I don't want to ruin the amazingly fun journey. It starts out great, and it just gets better and better. Here's the synopsis...

A tribe of Norse warriors traipse across a barren land after battle. Bloodied and wounded, their chief is near death. He is about to hand over power to his son when an army of a completely different kind descends upon them.

Let us know what you think after you watch the short! Enjoy the show!

T U M U L T from johnny barrington on Vimeo.

A new full trailer has been released for the Luc Besson produced heist thriller Möbius. I enjoy watching heist films, and this looks like it's going to be a good one. The story takes place in Monaco, is set in the world of high finance, and follows an FSB officer who falls in love with his agent, an American woman who works as a trader in a Russian bank. The movie stars Jean Dujardin (The Artist) as "an experienced spy tracking a powerful Russian oligarch," Tim Roth plays a man "suspected of laundering money through his bank," and Cécile de France takes on the role of "a bright young trader."  

The film was written and directed by Eric Rochant (Love Without Pity, Long Live the Republic, "Mafiosa"). Mobius definitely looks like an intriguing film that I'd enjoy watching. There's no release date set yet for the U.S., but it arrives in international cinemas this February. There's some fun and mind bending ideas that have been included in the story like the Möbius strip. There's an Inception type feel to it, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Here's a couple of new posters for a new film called Spring Breakers that features Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Vanessa Hudgens running around in bikinis. The film also star James Franco as a ridiculous looking thug. The poster above features the entire main cast, and the other one features a masked Hudgens. I really have no idea how this movie is going to turn out, but watching these young Disney actresses trying to be sexy just seems wrong. 

The movie was directed by Harmony Korine (Kids) and it "tells the story of four sexy college girls as they plan to fund their spring break getaway by burglarizing a fast food shack. But that's only the beginning... At a motel room rager, fun reaches its legal limit and the girls are arrested and taken to jail. Hungover and clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge but are bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local thug who takes them under his wing and leads them on the wildest Spring Break trip in history. Rough on the outside but with a soft spot inside, Alien wins over the hearts of the young Spring Breakers, and leads them on a Spring Break they never could have imagined."

The movie is set to be released on March 22, 2013. 

Here's a previously released clip from the film: