(Gamespot) – Though the Royal Wedding in the UK will dominate the airwaves on April 29, the day will also mark another significant event in the television realm. Following several days of rumors, Microsoft has confirmed that Hulu Plus will launch on Xbox Live starting tomorrow.

To use Hulu Plus, gamers must be Xbox Live Gold members, at a cost of $60 a year, and also subscribe to Hulu Plus, which costs $10 per month. The service allows users to stream shows and select films from a range of networks, including NBC, Fox, ABC, FX, PBS, Bravo, SyFy, and the Sundance Channel. The free version of Hulu, available on PCs, only lets players watch the most recent episodes of select shows gratis.

Hulu Plus joins such other services as Netflix and ESPN on Xbox Live, along with the Zune video marketplace, which allows for high-definition streaming of films and TV shows. Last November, Hulu Plus became available on the PlayStation Network, where it is accessible at no additional charge from Sony.

Can WB and Facebook > Netflix?

(Reuters) – Warner Bros is making some of its films available on Facebook, opening up a new revenue source for the Internet social network and signaling new competition for online entertainment companies.

Consumers can pay for the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used mainly in social games on the site, according to Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc, on Tuesday.

Facebook, which makes money mostly through online advertising, takes 30 percent of the revenue from sales by third parties on the website using Credits.

The service will initially be available in the United States, the company said.

The streaming of full-length Hollywood films on Facebook creates a new role for the 500-million-plus member social network, which has grown into one of the most powerful Web players by making it easy to share photos, videos and other content with friends.

In a note to investors on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung said Facebook represents a long-term threat to online rental service Netflix Inc that caught Wall Street investors by surprise.

“The ‘wisdom of friends’ could be a bigger driver of movie viewership than the ‘wisdom of crowds,’” wrote Chung.

[Full article at Reuters.com]

Amy Adams for Elena Fisher? We vote yes.

Amy Adams possible pick for the role of journalist/love interest Elena Fisher in big-screen adaptation

(Gamespot) – David O. Russell’s The Fighter has been nominated for seven Oscars, but the Hollywood man isn’t just talking about his boxing film. In an interview with Empire Online, Russell discussed his next project, the big-screen adaptation of Naughty Dog’s action adventure Uncharted. He said he is currently mulling over ideas for the character of journalist/love interest Elena Fisher, who first appeared in the original Uncharted title.

“Ah, Elena. I’ve cultivated her quite a bit, and I think I’ve added a lot of dimension to her so that’s all I’m going to say,” he said. “I love the women characters and the more robust they are, the more robust the movie.”

Russell was also posed a question concerning his interest in having Amy Adams (Enchanted, Julie & Julia), the female lead of The Fighter, play Elena in the Uncharted film.

“Oh I would love that too; I love Amy [Adams],” he said. “I also love Scarlett Johansson (The Prestige, The Island); there’s a lot of great actors I think might suit. Hopefully, we’ll see how it works out with everybody who are being scoped to do that role.”

[Full article at Gamespot.com]

‘Mad Men’s’ January Jones Joins the Cast of ‘X-Men: First Class’

(Yahoo.com) – It’s official, January Jones will be playing a mutant in “X-Men: First Class” who, unlike her character Betty Draper from “Mad Men,” isn’t afraid to wear white after Labor Day.

As Deadline first reported (and a source has confirmed to Yahoo!), Jones will be stepping into the role of Emma Frost. In the comic series, Frost was a onetime foe of the X-Men who eventually joined the team of uncanny mutants. The telepathic Frost, always dressed in white, can read minds, alter memories, and turn her skin into diamonds, granting her incredible strength.

Also joining the cast is Zoe Kravitz, daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz, as Angel Salvadore (not to be confused with the majestically winged, original X-Man named Angel), a relatively new character who debuted in 2001. In the comic books, this newer Angel, whose housefly-like physiology allows her to fly, doesn’t particularly get along with her fellow X-Men, especially Emma Frost.

Jones and Kravitz are being added to an already impressive line-up. They will join Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Professor Xavier, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Rose Byrne (reportedly still in negotiations for the part) as Moria MacTaggart and Oliver Platt as The Man in Black.

Kevin Bacon has been cast as the film’s main villain. Rumors persist that he will be playing the role of Sebastian Shaw, leader of the New York branch of the underground society, the Hellfire Club, whose membership once included Emma Frost.

To date, there is still no casting information concerning two staples of the earlier X-Men films, Cyclops and Jean Grey, furthering speculation that these two original members of the mutant team may not be a part of “X-Men: First Class.”

“X-Men: First Class,” which is set before the first “X-Men” film, is scheduled to start production on August 23. It’s being produced by the director of the well-received first two “X-Men” films, Bryan Singer. Matthew Vaughn, best known for helming “Layer Cake” and “Kick-Ass,” will be directing, with the film set for a June, 2011, release.

From Blastr.com

“As part of the announcement that Star Wars would finally be coming to Blu-ray, George Lucas screened a never-before-seen clip from Return of the Jedi over the weekend, showing Luke Skywalker building his own lightsaber in a cave on Tatooine. But according to Mark Hamill, he never filmed that scene.

The deleted scene debuted at Star War Celebration V and shows Darth Vader telepathically urging Luke to join the Dark Side, while Luke construct, and ignite, his own lightsaber.”

Either way, we think it’s rad.

Great Odin's raven!

He may be the God of thunder… but he needs a new agent.
Marvel was really excited to release a picture for their upcoming THOR movie… which for the fist time showed Thor, Odin, and Loki in full costume. So when I clicked to look on it… I got… well…. this picture.

Don’t get me wrong… this looks fine… if I was going to see a movie called “X-men” (which by the way sucked) and I’m only tolerating it because The X-men are little more than a boy band of Superhero teams, and don’t try to sugarcoat it either… they guest in more comics than Jay-Z does songs two years ago. The movie always looked a little cheesy. I always just blamed the fact that Marvel sold their rights away to another movie house and that’s why X-men looked like… well… crap. I mean, I guess if I liked my superheroes in generic sportcycle leather hugging outfits with no personality it would be fine… but c’mon man… I READ comics… I’m not Joe Dumbass. (Right now Wolverine fans are fluffing up their muttonchops to write me a bunch of hate mail… feel free suckers..)

So where was I? Oh right… so now Marvel comes and puts out Iron Man.. which was amazing.. and it looks like things are going ok. Then they put out The Incredible Hulk… which was a little lacking, but still not too bad… then they put out Iron Man 2 which was like that girl in high school… just a big tease, all hype and no follow through. So Marvel has slowly been letting me down….

Then THIS picture comes out. And instead of a cool movie about a Thunder God living among mortals… I have visions of… Well Odin with a golden eyepatch (that better be real bling.. he’s freakin Odin) and a suit of armor that looks… plastic.

Sure it’s only a picture. I know I may be overreacting, but c’mon… you can’t tell me from this picture alone, this looks to be on par with Iron Man.

By far, one of the best shots in the film.

So like most fan boys, I was pretty rearing to go to see the new Iron Man movie. Now don’t get me wrong, even though I am a cynical jerk and really bash a lot of the movies I watch… I was actually looking foward to seeing Iron Man 2. The first one was better than I expected, and I really wanted to see the bar raised for this one.

If the bar was raised… someone forgot to tell Marvel because they made a movie that reminds me of that girl in the tourist bar you always see. All hype… no follow through. You know the type, just out to score free drinks. In this sense.. the free drink is a 13 dollar movie ticket, and we all got taken for a ride.

Now don’t get me wrong. The movie is visually stunning. (Like said girl in a bar). It’s pretty to look at, there are scenes that are kind of cool if they lasted long enough. It’s just well… I think I saw more of Tony OUT of the suit than in it. They tried to tackle this plot of Tony Stark dying, but we didn’t care, we wanted some action. The story was a bastardized version of the comic (will we ever learn Marvel… it didn’t go down like that) and we comic fans have to put up with it so Joe Dumbass who never read a comic in his life can approve it…

That’s just it Marvel movie studio… if I NEVER read a comic book before, I guess I’d be impressed (ahem.. wanted anyone?)

On the cool though, Scarlett Johansson’s fine Tom Waits’ lovin’ self was damn gorgeous. They could have casted better, but at least she was something to look at.

SPOILER ALERT:
(more…)

Hard Drives now loaded with flicks?

Need a new hard drive? Been looking to expand your movie collection? Want to kill two birds with one stone? Paramount is teaming up with Seagate Technology with a new offer in the hopes that you answered yes to all of the above questions.

The two companies will be offering a one month special where 500 GB hard drives will be offered with copies of the latest Star Trek offering as well as 20 other films from Paramount’s recent release list. And they’re offering the drive for $100.

Considering Seagate’s 500GB drives typically sell for $140 or higher (I personally have two in the BG Reckon Rig, they’re great drives), this may seem like a deal when taking the movies into consideration. Hell, without the movies, it’s a deal. But, there’s a slight “gotcha??? in regards to the movies.

All of the movies that are loaded on the hard drive will require a digital “key??? that can be purchased and downloaded to unlock them. Each movie will cost between $10 to $15 to unlock and the drive is preloaded with Digital Rights Management software in order to prevent file sharing. No word yet on whether the DRM software would prevent copying the movies to a DVD on a one time basis in order to be able to watch them on your home theatre system.

This is obviously an attempt by Hollywood to overcome failing DVD sales, the most recent attempt being deals made with companies like Netflix and Redbox that, while increasing their catalogues from each production company, prevents the companies from renting newly released titles for 28 days after their launch.

My problem with deals like the Paramount/Seagate team up is this: Why would I pay $10-$15 per movie when I’m not getting a DVD? I understand pricing on movies sold on DVD. There’s the box art, the DVDs themselves to be emblazoned with the title of the movie, and the price of producing the DVDs for each region. However, if I am to be presented with a digital copy, preloaded on a hard drive, why would I pay nearly the same price as I would for a copy I could hold in my hands.

While I appreciate the attempt on Paramount’s part, it is my belief that the studios need to take a long hard look at the current pricing structure in place for newly released movies. Release several movies on flash drives or even set up in house websites allowing consumers to download movies to their hard drives. Place the DVD production costs in the hands of the consumers in order to lower overhead.

I’m not nay-saying the offering. It’s an exceptional price for a 500GB hard drive. But if I were to purchase one, I may just end up wiping the movies off of it in order to have a cheap new drive.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

So they say this movie is gonna change the way we watch movies?

Let me take you back, kids… To a Galaxy far far away, Err, wait a minute, that’s not right. Umm, so there’s this spaceship, right? And its mission is to boldly go where… umm, no, that’s not right either. Uh, ok… I got it! There’s this race of alien blue creatures, right? They reject technology, live off the land and are harmonious with the forest. And they don’t like humans… and we call them… Smurfs.

Well, in my day we called blue creatures hiding from humanity Smurfs, but in your day, we make them 10 feet tall and call them Na’vi. This is all part of the latest film by James Cameron. The movie, because of it’s technology and way it was made, not to mention the 3D effects, is being touted by the powers that be as a movie that will “change the way we watch movies???. That’s what THEY tell ya. But folks, Timmy Danger is here to tell you that we have to take Cameron with a grain of salt. After all, he DID give us Titanic. You remember Titanic, don’t you? Yeah… It was Star Wars for dumb girls.

Not that the movie is all bad. Actually it’s pretty damn good visually. It’s a lot of fun to look at but at the end of the day, it’s like Megan Fox in Transformers. Remember that scene where she’s lookin’ under the hood? Man, nothing looked quite so good as that scene. Then you know, she started talking and nothing messes up a pretty girl more than dumb words coming out of her mouth. I mean seriously, chick needs to read a book (and not Twilight).

It’s a harsh analogy but Avatar is like that hot chick with nothing to say. Scratch that, the movie has something to say… it’s just been said a billion times over already. The one thing Crutchboy (BG’s Creative Director) wanted me to NOT do was give away any spoilers… but folks, the movie’s pretty predictable. If you can’t predict what’s coming, maybe you should just rent Titanic, again.

The movie is a cross of Fern Gully, Pocahontas, and Dances With Wolves. Sad thing is, all those movies pretty much stand on their own. So all we have left to offer you, mainstream America, is this new technology that creates a digital world. Sounds impressive, but also expensive. I don’t think we will have much to worry about in the way movies are made. While it’s nice to watch, there is something to be said about traditional movies.

A common misconception is that I hated this movie. Nah, I rather liked it and I actually plan on seeing it again. I am a fan of the sci fi genre in general and it’s a beautiful film. I just think some stuff wasn’t well thought out. (Giant robot pulls a giant combat knife out. Man, that was so ridiculous I had to laugh out loud in the theater).

But seriously, man, making a claim like that will get you a punch in the neck. So far there are very few movies that have changed the industry. The only one coming to mind takes place in a galaxy, far far away.

Jigsaw at it again...

(Reuters) – What do Jigsaw from “Saw,” Freddy Krueger, and Jason from “Friday the 13th” all have in common, besides serial killing? Videogames, if the horror stars’ latest round of promotions are to be believed.

Horror videogames are having a record year as zombies, monsters, demons, and chain-saw wielding psychos fight against the consoles, making videogames the new home of horror for some.

Michael Pachter, video-game analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, said about $147 million worth of horror videogames have sold in the United States alone this year through September compared to $131 million in total for all of 2008.

Actor Kane Hodder, best known as the man behind Jason’s mask in the “Friday the 13th” movies, believes scary games have an advantage over horror movies as disillusionment sets in with horror movie remakes and recycling old horror themes.

“Whenever horror movies do well, Hollywood always rushes more into theaters and people get a little burned out on them,” said Hodder, who has worked in the videogame industry.

“But with games, there are fewer choices in the genre and they tend to be spaced out better.”

With Halloween this week, movies like “Saw VI,” “Paranormal Activity” and “Zombieland” are luring audiences seeking a scare to the movie theaters.

Haunted attractions have also risen across the United States, with these increasingly high-tech venues doing everything possible to make a scary scenario seem real, which includes hiring actors to jump out at people and using theatrical sets.