Johnny Depp To Revive ‘The Night Stalker’

As a child, there were a lot of shows that my mom watched that I had to suffer through whilst being in the same room: Columbo, Perry Mason, In the Heat of the Night and a whole slew of others. Normally I would have tried to understand what was going on in the court room during Perry Mason or wondered why Columbo always played dumb, but I would quickly lose interest and continue playing with my Transformers and He-man action figures. But one show that always caught my interest, and I still watch whenever it is on SyFy channel was Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Sure it looks cheesy as hell now, but some of the shit on that show used to scare me as a kid. I always thought about how cool it would be to be Carl Kolchak as he investigated cases that would run him afoul of creatures such as Zombies and Vampires. Plus he had a really awesome camera he always carried with him. (Even though with the shoulder strap it always looked like he was carrying a purse.)

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Now, the late Darren McGavin (The dad from ‘A Christmas Story’) will pass the torch posthumously to none other than Johnny Depp. According to IGN, Depp will show more love to the 70’s by taking on the role of my favorite tabloid-supernatural-investigative reporter Carl Kolchak. Check out more below:

Deadline reports that Depp is reteaming with Disney (the studio behind his billion-dollar blockbusters Pirates of the Caribbean and Alice in Wonderland) to bring the ABC series The Night Stalker to the big screen. The site claims “The Night Stalker will push the boundaries of the family film formula that Disney is following (under current management).”

Depp will produce via his Infinitum Nihil company and will star as tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak, a role first made famous by the late Darren McGavin. Kolchak’s intrepid investigations often entangled him with various ghouls and creatures of the night.

 

Now there might be those of you out there who are just plain sick and tired of seeing Depp in movies, but if that’s the case just ignore certain movies you know will suck such as The Tourist and Alice in Wonderland.

I think Depp will play the role of Carl Kolchak pretty well, which will be sort of a hybrid of his characters from the Secret Window and The Ninth Gate. Then again they may go a whole different direction with the story and the era it is set in, but personally I would like to see it take place in the 70’s when the TV show was released.

So are there any other fellow Night Stalkers out there who can’t wait for this movie to get underway? (Unfortunately there was no tentative release date) Anyone not liking Depp in the role?

WWE Monday Night Raw Review: July 18, 2011

In case anybody reading this article didn’t watch, “Money in the Bank,” last night, all I can say is that you missed out big time. The main event between John Cena and CM Punk was an epic battle that long time WWE fans have been waiting for, for quite some time. The crowd was explosive in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago and he emerged victorious, blew Vince McMahon a kiss goodbye and took off through the crowd with the prized WWE title.

Only later to go on twitter and put a picture on his account of the belt sitting in his refrigerator. Raw is sure to be an awesome show tonight!

The show starts with Vince McMahon coming out to the ring with John Laurinaitis, unfortunately he is not strutting to the ring. Vince starts off by telling the crowd that CM Punk walked out on the WWE universe and the superstars alike. Vince announces that there will be an 8 man elimination tournament for the WWE championship tonight. Vince does say that he will address John Cena tonight, and that it will be a night that nobody will ever forget. And we’ve never heard that one before.

The Miz vs. Alex Riley Continue reading WWE Monday Night Raw Review: July 18, 2011

Hero Express – ‘The Avengers’ Teaser Trailer, Kick-Ass 2, and Another Actor Wants ‘Luke Cage’

Welcome to Hero Express, your one-stop shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.

This is the Hero Express for July 18, 2011:

Continue reading Hero Express – ‘The Avengers’ Teaser Trailer, Kick-Ass 2, and Another Actor Wants ‘Luke Cage’

Judge Dredd Returns to the Silver Screen – Led By Karl Urban & Lena Headey

Judge Dredd – Old Stoneyface; the law man of the future – is coming back to the silver screen. For those of you who don’t know who Dredd is (do you live on the moon or something?) here is a quick history lesson:

Judge Joseph Dredd first appeared in the second issue of the British SF anthology comic 2000AD – dated the 5th of March 1977. He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra – with some input from then editor Pat Mills.

Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a massive, violent city – Mega City One – in the distant future. The government of the city is the Judges. Judges are police, judge and jury. And, in the overpopulated city – where city ‘blocks’ are enormous sky scrapers housing thousands of, mostly unemployed, citizens – are all that stands between order and outright chaos. Dredd is – as he puts itThe Law.


The current Judge Dredd film is being shot in Cape Town, South Africa. It isn’t the first however. Back in 1995 Sylvester Stallone stared as Dredd in a film that also featured Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante and Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist, Strange Brew).

The plot saw Dredd framed by his clone ‘brother’ Rico (Assante) after the latter was released from prison by corrupt Judge Griffen (Jurgen Prochnow). Chief Judge Fargo (Von Sydow) – Dredd’s former mentor – blames himself for Dredd’s apparent failure, resigns his post and takes ‘The Long Walk‘ in to the wasteland outside the city. Griffen takes his place as Chief Judge – his plan all along.

Dredd is sent to prison in the wastelands, but, due to a huge coincidence, escapes and heads back to the city – after learning, from Fargo (who he – coincidently – bumped into) that he and Rico are clones.

Meanwhile Rico – on Griffen’s orders – has been causing chaos so that Griffen can reopen the cloning project that created Dredd and Rico, and take full control of the whole city. Dredd arrives back and saves the day, with Rico falling to his death from atop the Statue of Liberty. And if you want to know more details you’ll have to go and watch it yourself.

Whilst it is not a truly terrible action film – there are far worse – it’s just not Judge Dredd.

One thing that many fans complained about at the time – and still do – is that, for most of the film, Dredd doesn’t wear his helmet. While this doesn’t seem like a big thing – and in a sense it’s not – Dredd, in the comics is never seen without his helmet on – a conscious decision to help show the facelessness of the law.

A much larger problem with the film was its lackadaisical plot and use of elements from the comics – some of which just feel stuffed-in in an attempt to woe fans. For example, in the film the ‘Angel gang‘ attacks Dredd in the wastelands. They are an important part of the Judge Dredd mythology, but here they are reduced to cannibal rednecks – with only Mean Machine coming close to the comics – and are all dispatched in the space of 10 minutes. Pointless.

The film was a wasted opportunity, and quite disappointing. Hopefully the new film will help to erase at least some of it from the memory. So far there has only been a trickle of news about the film – a few photos of the sets, which remind me more of Robocop than the 2000AD comics (not that that is a bad thing). So it’s nice to see a new picture of Karl Urban as Dredd (via Bleeding Cool), and it looks really good.

The new film is being directed by Pete Travis and will feature, along with Urban, Olivia Thirlby as Psi Judge Anderson, and Cersei Lannister Lena Headey as the films villain Madeline ‘Ma-Ma’ Madrigal.

It’s slightly disappointing that the Dark Judges don’t appear to be in the film, but the word is that Dredd will keep his helmet on for the entire film. Fan boys can breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s rumored for release in the U.K. on the 1st of December 2011 – yup, this year. Odds are it will actually be 2012, so far no word on an official release date for the U.S. (or anywhere else).

Falling Skies: Episode 6 – “Sanctuary Part 1” Review

If you missed any past episodes: Click Here.

We open up this weeks episode with the good doctor getting rolled for medical supplies by a family wishing to leave the protection of the 2nd Mass. They fear things are not safe after the death of Dr. Coward and the arrival of the harnessed kids last week. What a bunch of ungrateful bitches. Needless to say, they are able to leave, but a soldier stops them and confiscates the stolen medicine. Who was this mystery man you ask??? Well he turns out to be the Lieutenant Clayton, one of the few survivors of the 7th Mass, and he comes bearing bad news. Not only was a majority of the 7th Mass killed and their children taken, but a skidder attack is soon approaching. Don don dooooooon.

The Good Doctor. Before the invasion.

Continue reading Falling Skies: Episode 6 – “Sanctuary Part 1” Review

Review: HBO’s True Blood 4.04 – “I’m Alive and on Fire”

In case you’ve missed anything – Click Here

Though I thought this season had easily the weakest premiere of any season to date, the episodes since then however, have been some of the most entertaining ever. And that’s saying something consider how little I care about most of the storylines. 

After Eric hilariously tragically killed Sookie’s fairy godmother he becomes extremely inebriated (read: drunk off his ass) and funnier than ever. He pinches Sookie’s butt and then takes off into the woods…just prior to sunrise. Now all this makes for a mighty fun watch. Sookie and the wolf track Eric down in the water, as the fairy blood in his system is starting to wear off. Lucky timing.

Outside of the Sookie/Eric story, which encompasses the werewolf as well, the next best section tonight was surprisingly the ‘Jason vs. the Hillbilly Panthers’ part. He escapes – finally – and kills Felton, delivering a favor to the entire viewing audience. This is the section that normally bores me, but when Jason drove that stake through the Panther Felton, I actually cared for a minute.

Bill finds out that the crazy chick from Dexter that he banged last week is his great great ect. ect. granddaughter. Ewww. But hey, at least Mona Robinson is her’s and Andy’s grandmother.

Jason later collapses by the road where luckily some friends are driving by – Jessica and Hoyt. The young couple is barely in this one, but Hoyt’s adopted replacement – Tommy seeks out his mother only to be predictably betrayed again. Sam will no doubt eventually free Tommy from his newly restored prison, but for the time being, I’m not worried about him. The whole shifter collective is pretty lame right now, I mean really, you can be any animal and none of them choose a bear? Pathetic.

The other story picked up tonight was the witches, or more accurately, how they dealt with Pam. Marnie once again channeled the witch that we saw in the premiere (and in an earlier flashback) and triggers Pam’s face to begin rotting. It was awesome. Growing up in the 80’s (pre-Twilight) this is the kind of thing you’d expect from a show or movie about vampires and werewolves and witches and demons.

Face Rotting Off > Sparkly Vampires

Aside from Pam and Eric, my other favorite part has to be the development of Terry and Arlene’s baby…and IT’S CREEPY DOLL!!!

Overall, good – not great. I’d give it 3.5 Bears. Might’ve been lower because of so little Jessica, but the baby, the drunk Eric, and Pam’s face rotting off, those all count big in my book…


And just because…