Indiana Jones 4 

Well, according to what I read in several accounts,  it appears that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will have to do without Sean Connery for next year’s fourth 'Indiana Jones' film.

The two filmmakers have spoken before of their desire to have Sean Connery reprise his role as Indiana's dad Henry Jones.  

Sean Connery is quoted as saying

"I thought long and hard about it and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an Indiana Jones film. I love working with Steven and George, and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son. But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun."

So it looks like Steven and George will have  Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Shia La Beouf and John Hurt plus an extras cast of hundreds to direct. It's a shame Sean won't be in it, but I am looking forward to viewing Indiana Jones 4 when it opens in theaters in May 2008!

For those interested in other Indiana Jones formats, we have several comic books about Indiana Jones in our eBay Featured Store ! 

'Our Take' On FF 2:

Rise of the Silver Surfer ! !

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" caught the nationwide wave of moviegoers  to the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office.

Before we get to 'Our Take' on the movie itself, I wanted to show those that were disappointed in the 'clouds' being the threat called 'Galactus' in the movie the 'real' Galactus.

To the left is the cover of issue #75 of the Fantastic Four comic book. The Silver Surfer is at the bottom right of the cover.  Above him is the giant head of 'Galactus' who was personified as being a god-like being in the comics.   Galactus was a few hundred feet tall and not a 'cloud-like' being in the comics. Sometimes the producers or directors or writers of the movie just don't get it right!

    And Now....

 Our Take On the New FF 2 Movie !

That's right, we took it in this past Sunday for our Father's Day outing !!

Here's our thoughts on the movie with a  SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!  

If You have NOT yet seen the movie & Don't Want to Know the Plot or Ending, DON'T READ BELOW THIS LINE ! :

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The above are our thoughts on this new Fantastic Four  comic book Film! 

Thank you for reading this popular culture / comics - comic books blog post, and feel free to post your comments below. We do want to hear from you!

John Travolta Was The Cover Feature On Parade Magazine This Past Sunday

Which reminded me of a blog post I published at the end of February about the movies he was involved in:

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John Travolta.... Trading A Dress For A Stetson???

Imagine my surprise after writing a blog post on John Travolta in comics earier last week and then to see the above mentioned in this past Sunday's Parade Magazine !

John Travolta just recently finished his role in the upcoming 'Hairspray" musical film which is due out July 20th.

So the mention about 'trading a dress for a Stetson' was about his going from the 'Hairspray' role to the J.R. Ewing role in the film version of the 1980's TV Series 'Dallas'.

According to 'Parade' Magazine, the casting for that updated movie version of Dallas is in 'flux', with only John Travolta remaining attached!

Others rumored to have been in the cast were: Jennifer Lopez, Meg Ryan, Luke Wilson, Brad Pitt and Shirley MacLaine!

Dallas was a very popular, long-running  primetime television soap opera about the Ewings, who were a very wealthy Texas oil family. The show initially aired on the CBS network for 13 seasons, from April 2, 1978 to May 3, 1991.

Dallas was broadcast around the world and is still considered today to be the most successful drama series in TV history!

The Dallas TV series is probably best-known for the central character of J.R. Ewing.    J.R. was the vain, scheming, crass oil baron played by the Fort Worth Texas native Larry Hagman for the TV show's entire run.

Ironically, J.R. was only meant to be a supporting character when the show first premiered! The show was originally to be based around the life of J.R.'s brother Bobby and his new bride Pam. However, with Larry Hagman playing the J.R. role, the popularity of J.R. took off and he became the focus of the series. 

In my mind John Travolta, who looks really distinguished in a suit, (see top right pic), could play the J.R. role convincingly.  Too bad the film pre-production is in a state of flux. 

Then again, most of the remakes I have seen of my favorite TV shows have been really messed with, sometimes with no real link to what the film was originally based on! Or the characters are so changed they aren't like what made the TV show a hit!

For those interested in seeing more TV Show & Movie Comic Books, we have several comics listed in our Featured Store and eBay Pro Store!  Thanks for reading this comic book blog post!

Michael

John Travolta's role as 'Vinnie' in the Comic Books  based on 'Welcome Back, Kotter!'

Or Soon Will Be On August 3rd At Your Local Movie Theater!

With all the Comic Book Movies that are being released this year, they remind me that for years super-heroes were already on TV in the mid 1960's due to the 'Batmania' craze!

For instance, Underdog was one of several cartoon characters created to help General Mills sell breakfast cereals to kids on TV!  Really!!  

Underdog shows ran in two part and four part serial episodes.  There were about 124 episodes that ran from 1964 to 1973.

Underdog became part of other shows in syndication since and has lasted into the 21st Century.  However those shows are a compilation of several shows co-mingled together and are not the true first showings of Underdog's TV show.

Today, most of the mainstream public knows him because of the Underdog Balloon in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

Underdog of course had his own comic books... what self-respecting superhero wouldn't??!

Charlton comics printed 10 issues that were published from 1970 - 1972. Gold Key Comics published Underdog for 23 issues from 1975  - 1979.  Then Spotlight Comics had 3 issues in 1987, and Harvey Comics had a one shot in 1993.  Underdog has made the comic books publishing rounds all right!!

For those interested in seeing more TV Show & Movie comic books, we have several comics listed in our eBay Featured Store !  Thanks for reading this comic book / popular culture blog post!

Michael

 

Have No Fear.... Underdog is Here! August 3rd!  Underdog is a real beagle in this live action movie film, but CGI effects will be used for the super-heroics!

This is probably how YOU best know him, as Underdog!  His alter ego was 'Shoeshine Boy'... both characters were voiced by Wally Cox!

Local Reactions To The Movie!

Fantastic Four 2:

Rise of the Silver Surfer!

 ( According to Informal Poll taken 06-18-07 in San Diego North County ) 

Made my rounds yesterday afternoon, the local USPS office for shipping, the BlockBuster video store for returns, local supermarket and the bank for business.

The newly released "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" comic book movie definitely was watched here in the North County San Diego area this past weekend, as all those that know me had their opinions on the movie!

For those wondering, the newest FF movie was the No. 1 seen movie at this past weekend's box office, according to Reuters.

There was an outcry that there was not enough of the Silver Surfer being seen onscreen, even though Roeper, of Ebert & Roeper thought that the Surfer spoke too much!  When I brought that to the attention of one of the people telling me about lack of the Surfer on the screen, he asked me if Roeper was watching the same movie that we did??!! LOL....

Another person wondered why the movie was called Rise of the Silver Surfer, when the Surfer was not seen very much at all... I had no explanation for that one!  Another person enjoyed the voice of the Surfer and would have enjoyed more of a speaking part for the Surfer.

There seemed to be a consensus that the 'cloud' (who was supposed to be Galactus) didn't come over right.  What kind of 'bad guy' was that I was asked. I explained that the Galactus wasn't personified in this movie, that actually he was cast a giant being in the comics, close to god-like.  The non-comic book viewers just didn't understand what the cloud was all about and felt let down by this ending...

The majority of viewers had seen the first FF movie, and felt this was not as 'comic-booky' as the first one was with the big battle of the FF versus Doctor Doom at the end of the first movie.

I was asked what I thought of the movie, and in the brief time in line at each of the above named facilities I told them what I thought, and told them to check out our blog later that day.

Which reminds me.... Take a look at 'Our Take' of the movie when you get a chance!

Michael