Author: Brandon Undead
Dark Knight, Anthony Michael Hall’s character revealed? (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)
An interesting little tidbit from Batman-On-Film Chicago filming spy:
“Anthony Michael Hall is not someone created for the film (like ‘Rachel Dawes’). His character is from the comic books and is rather well known. I know you don’t do spoilers, so let’s just say he seems to be good, but is really bad, or it could be the other way around — it’s quite the ‘mystery.’ The fans will definately [sic] get a kick out of his appearance in the film!”
Sounds like Vernon Field, a character from “The Long Halloween” series of Batman comics. Here’s a short description of the character from Wikipedia.
“Vernon appears to be meek, unassuming and harmless-looking. In reality, however, he is cunning and extremely corrupt, a tool of Gotham City’s gangsters.”
In “The Long Halloween”, Field was indirectly responsible for the creation of Two-Face, supplying an associate with a disguised bottle of acid, which is sprayed in Harvey Dent’s face during a court testimony, mutilating Dent and triggering his downward spiral into a psychotic killer. Say, “Hello,” to Internet Sherlock!
[Props Feldman!] [Via IGN]
Sony makes nice with the church, sort of
Some of you may remember the mess between Sony and the Church of England in June. A particular scene in Resistance: Fall of Man featured a photo-realistic representation of Manchester Cathedral in northwest England. There a bloody firefight ensued in which the player slaughtered hordes of of alien scumbags, and the Church was all in a tizzy because they found it disrespectful to use a church for a bloody gun battle at all, but particularly one located in an area with a serious gun problem, as they claim Manchester does.
Sony finally apologized in the Friday edition of The Manchester Evening News after a month or so of playing it tough. In the apology they state that they met with church leaders and acknowledged that the game had caused offense.
“It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game, and we would like to apologize unreservedly to them for causing that offense, and to all parts of the wider community who we might also have offended,” -Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President David A. Reeves
Reeves also promised Manchester Cathedral in particular would never be used in future Sony games.
Sony refused to comment on the Church’s outstanding demands, which included having the game pulled from store shelves, and some dollar bills donated the the Church’s education department, which educates against gun violence in Manchester. However, Sony released a seperate statement.
“We now consider the matter closed, and will not be making any further comment.”
Sounds like that’s all she wrote to me.
While it’s always heartwarming for things like this to be resolved with a sincere apology, like all things that happen around E3 you have to question Sony’s timing. They’re slashing PS3 prices by $100 dollars today, and although they say it’s because they’ve corrected production issues that were driving up their costs, we all know it’s because they can’t move the things. This apology is clearly a disingenuous attempt to expand their potential customer base because they can no longer afford the hard nosed stance of an entertainment superpower. In other words, “What a bunch of jerks.”
[Via CNN.com]
Super Mario Galaxy MIA
Ah, E3 and Internetz, spilling the beans for as long as I can remember. Seems like Nintendo may have some big announcements in store for Super Mario Galaxy.
Our very own David Rodriguez discovered today that Super Mario Galaxy has mysteriously vanished from Nintendo’s master list of games on their company website. You can go check it out yourself right here. I would have just posted a screen shot for you guys, but this worthless PC I’m borrowing doesn’t have MS Paint, let alone a photo editing app. Thanks for nothing, Danny!
This is suspicious news in and of itself, but considering that video game mega-con E3 is just around the corner, we here at SWL are willing to bet they’re planning to drop a bomb or two. Perhaps a street date, maybe even a new name? Wasn’t Super Mario Galaxy a working title?
[Update]
Now even Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is missing in action…
Favreau talks “Iron Man”, I get excited
Director John Favreau (via his Myspace) apologizes to us fans for not having an Iron Man teaser trailer nestled in before Transformers, but he promises to “reveal something very cool very soon”. With Iron Man sharing an hour block with Marvel and their other upcoming film, Hulk, later this month at San Diego ComicCon, it seems something very cool will be revealed very soon, indeed.
“We’ve secured a prime slot Saturday afternoon [July 28] in the big room at SDCC. We will split an hour with Marvel and Hulk and plan to cut something together to reward the fans for their interest, support and patience. In addition to our Saturday afternoon presentation, we will be doing a signing and poster giveaway at the Marvel booth on Saturday. Paramount is also doing a rundown of its slate on Thursday which I will do my best to attend as well.”
“Cut together”? Hmm, I’m no Hollywood film linguist, but it sounds like he’s talking about revealing the first Iron Man trailer! If that is the case, well, I just feel like a little school girl again!
Favreau drops a few more little nuggets, stating that they “are essentially using the books to inspire our story”. He also reiterates that this movie is being told as Iron Man’s origin story, and that while it stands on its own as a movie, it definitely leaves more to be told. I smell box office sequel revenue!
Finally he takes a moment to respond to some rumors suggesting Samuel L. Jackson, Hillary Swank, and Favreau himself all play roles in the film. I had previously told you of hushed reports of Sam Jackson playing Col. Nick Fury, but there have also been whispers of Hillary Swank playing a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and Favreau as a Vegas security guard. Favreau says, “There is no truth to any of these rumors,” but then adds, “(Well, maybe one is true.)”
Ahhh!! Leave ’em wantin’ more, eh, John? I declare this story’s comments an official “fanboy forum” for uninformed opinion hurling as to which of these rumors may be true. I say Sam Jackson’s in the movie, because I’ve never wanted anything more in my whole life, except that pony on my sixteenth birthday, which I never got. Don’t you hurt me, too, John Favreau!
[Via Cinematical]
Transformers, Cheaper than the movie
For the three of you out there in Interwebz land who have not yet seen Transformers (I’m with ya), either because you’re worried Michael Bay will destroy your fond childhood memories of G1 Transformers, or because you’re just too broke, I come to you with the solution.
I submit now, for your viewing pleasure, what Transformers could have been if given to a classy, independent director that cared for the integrity of the Transformers brand. You don’t need flashy CGI effects and multi-million dollar budgets to produce compelling cinema. They’ve cut out all the garbage and got down to what fans really want: awesome Transformer action. Brace yourselves, ladies and gentleman, it’s an intense ride.