Uh-oh, Mankind's In Trouble...

It's time to button down the hatches and stock up on Evian because word on the street is that the saviour of mankind might not be around for the final showdown. Of course when I say the saviour of mankind, I mean John Connor, and when I say John Connor, I am talking about Christian Bale, who this week announced that there are no plans for the fifth installment in the Terminator franchise and that he and the director McG have had no talks or discussions about it. A surprising revelation don't you think, considering the box office and critical success of the recent Terminator Salvation, not to mention Hollywood's penchant for making the moolah.

What do you reckon? Can it really be possible that talks of a second trilogy were a lie and Salvation will indeed be the end of the Terminator saga? How will we know what becomes of Marcus Wright, or if man triumphs over machine, or whether John's wife has a boy or a girl? However, my guess would be that Christian and (insert McG's first name here) have just been too busy soaking up all the cinematic glory over the last couple of months to actually get together over a cuppa and get down to the nitty gritty of Terminator 5 business... and I have a sneaking suspicion that Salvation won't be the last we hear from John Connor.

Have you checked out the first poster of Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 yet? Well you really should (and you can, just look up)... not only is it just lovely to see Mickey back after his fine performance in the mighty Wrestler but it's just so good that the hype train is starting to pull in for the Iron Man sequel - there's only so many times I can watch Robert Downey Jr coolly and casually transform himself into a bloomin' badass superhero (and granted, that's quite a lot of times) before I'll be clawing the walls for a follow-up. Iron Man 2 is currently scheduled for a summer 2010 release, so we've still got a bit of a wait yet, but with a cast like Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Sam L Jackson, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson coming onboard with Mr Downey Jr, it is sure to be worth it.

True Love For New Moon

The trailer for New Moon, the next installment in the Twilight Saga, went up on Screenrush today (click here to view) and I for one am choosing to be disproportionately optimistic about the upcoming event, despite my natural predisposition when it comes to adaptations and the fact that I probably surpassed the target audience bracket quite a few birthdays ago.
Big screen adaptations of novels never usually fare too well in my mind - I can be a bit of a literary snob - but for some reason the vampire saga is winning me over. Maybe it's because the sun is shining, maybe it's because I'm finally starting to understand what my friends see and adore in Robert Pattinson, but whatever it is, the teaser trailer of lusty clinches, toothy vampires and excellent looking birthday cake has got me all in a flutter and really quite excited for the film's November release.

How are you feeling about the film?

Desperate For Friends

I miss Friends. I do. I know it's a little pathetic to admit in a kind of 'it's been 5 years get over it already' way, but I can't help myself. I miss watching a brand new episode and laughing at the witty quips for the very first time, I long for the days of being the first to get a new Friends quote into everyday conversations and feeling that glowing sense of pride. But most of all I miss my friends - Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe... guys, it's been too long.

That's why I'm a little bolstered by the news that Monica (aka Courteney Cox, but she'll always be Monica to me) is returning to our screens after a significant absence to star in Cougar Town, a new ABC show about a newly-single mother to a 17 year-old son. The third best actor of the Friends clan (after Ross and Rachel), it's about time we had Monica back on our screens and in our hearts where she rightfully belongs. Sure we only need to open a magazine to get a glimpse of our dear Rachel, and there's always re-runs of that below par spin-off when we want to capture the essence of Joey, but there has been a severe lack of Monica in our lives (Dirt never really got off the ground now did it?).

So I welcome this Cougar Town news wholeheartedly, and have wildly optimistic expectations that it is going to be wildly successful.

Now all we need to do is get David Schwimmer out from behind the camera...

Too Much Kung Fu?

I can't decide whether to be overjoyed or down in the dumps on hearing the news that Kung Fu Panda is to be turned into a TV series. I already had my doubts when I heard about the (inevitable) sequel - could Disney/Pixar really improve on perfection?? Could they really come up with a line more quotable than 'But he's a panda, you're a panda!'?? I'm just not sure... and now with the news that it's to be a 26 episode series as well, the cynic in me just fears that Po will pay the price for over-exposure. But then as we all know, there is no charge for awesomeness...or attractiveness.