Warner to remake Enter the Dragon

I know this is old news to most of you, but I was out in Washington, DC locked in a hotel basement for the past week. According to Variety, on August 9th, Warner Independent Pictures has selected "The Shield" executive producer Kurt Sutter to direct a re-envisioning of the Bruce Lee classic martial arts extravaganza.

This is pretty exciting, and pretty worrisome, news. While Five Fingers of Death was likely the first real experience Western audiences had with the martial arts film, and it certainly set the tropes for most American kung fu films, it was Enter the Dragon starring the legendary Bruce Lee that guaranteed that US audiences would be watching martial arts films for years. I am excited to see what Kurt and crew can do with the picture, but as I mentioned I am also worried.

As I read the Variety article, it became increasingly clear that the "hero" of the film (or at least the narrative focus) is likely to be as white as I am. The "noir" potential of the piece appeals to me, but the "lone FBI agent who pursues a rogue Shaolin monk into the bloody world of underground martial arts fight clubs"? Not so much.

A "lone FBI agent? A "rogue Shaolin monk"?

Does it take place in "a world gone mad"? Or even "beneath our noses"?

It's a little cliché. Maybe Kurt Sutter can incorporate some of the narrative of how the Triads and the Southern Shaolin Temple are related. Now that has noir potential.

Last Night the Geeks and I Discussed Alien Invasions

Hollywood loves alien invasion stories, and so do we. Whether they are special effects extravaganza's like War of the Worlds or powerful social commentary like Invasion of the Body Snatchers there is something about alien invasion stories that deeply resonates with the human condition.

What are your favorite alien invasion stories? The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs? Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Independence Day?

We discussed all these and more last night on Geekerati.

New Iron Man Suit

Picture by Pat Ditton.

While at Comic Con, our intrepid reporter Patrick Ditton attended the Iron Man movie panel. Here are his thoughts:

It takes guts to screen a trailer made from raw footage (no special effects) for a film that will eventually be thick with special effects - but that's just what Jon Favreau did for 20,000 howling Comic Con fans.

Can we say "blockbuster" yet?

If the few minutes of IRON MAN screened for the San Diego crowd are any true indication of what audiences can expect from the film in 2008, then all of us are in for an incredible movie experience. Favreau clipped together a humorous, yet serious, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark -- the billionaire inventor of military hardware -- and then blew the audience away with action sequences featuring a "nuts and bolts" Iron Man armor that definitely puts the IRON in Iron Man.

To cap it all off, the one shot Favreau gave the crowd that had finished special effects was that of the "updated" Iron Man 2.0 (red and gold) armor flying maneuvers alongside two F-18s only to suddenly kick in the jet-boot after burners and streak off beyond the horizon, leaving the F-18s as if they were sitting still - fade to black and to the roar of cheers from 20,000 thrilled fans.

This could be Marvel's best comic-to-film production yet.

Sounds exciting to me, and looking at the armor it appears that Favreau is once again using models and costumes supplemented with computer graphics rather than "mere" computer rendering on the effects. Both Zathura and Elf used model work in their effects adding wonderful verisimilitude to the fictional worlds that Favreau was presenting to audiences.

Photos from Comic Con

Pre-Comic Con Geekerati Radio Show

Your friendly panelists at Geekerati will be attending the San Diego Comic Con this week. Listen as we discuss the conference events we plan to attend and who we hope to recruit as future guests on the show.

While the name Comic Con immediately brings to mind DC, Marvel, and various independent comic book companies, the convention has become a broad popular culture experience in recent years. Yes, the comic powerhouses are all present, but so are the SciFi Channel and numerous film and television companies who use the con as a place to promote their movies and shows. This year that list includes the BBC's Torchwood series, Zack Snyder's upcoming Watchmen movie, a screening of the new TV show Chuck and a lot more.

Listen in tonight at 7pm to hear what panels we plan on attending and call in to let us know if you will be attending. Is there an interview you would like us to attempt to attain? A particular "exclusive" you would like us to acquire as a give-away on a future episode of Geekerati Radio? Let us know.

William Shatner is Getting His Own Interview Show on Biography

For those fans who where told by William Shatner to "get a life," it might not surprise them that Bill has a "Raw Nerve" or two. But I bet they never would have guessed that "Shatner's Raw Nerve" would be the title of a celebrity interview show on the Biography channel.

As everyone who reads this knows, I am a big William Shatner fan. One of the reasons I am such a big fan is that Shatner is willing to try anything once to entertain his fans. He has "written" books, "sung" on cds, starred in movies and tv shows, done streaming online videos for his myspace "friends." He'll even make fun of himself like he did in Free Enterprise.

It looks like Bill has found a new way to entertain his fans, an interview show. According to Variety (hat tip to Kate at Fishbowl LA), the show will be 30 minutes long and "producers will make an effort to book guests separately from their movie and other junkets." When was the last time that happened? I would love to see conversations with actors and politicians during a time when they aren't promoting a product or running for office. If anyone can pull that one off, it will be the Shatner.

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