Kids ran home after school to see the next segment of Star Blazers.  They watched the wave motion gun. It was the most powerful weapon in the universe, obliterating everything that came in its path.

Happily, those kids, who are now grownups, will see the wave motion gun at work again. The movie is scheduled for a December 2010 release date.  Space Battleship Yamato is launching Japanese style!

The trailer has no sub-titles, but it’s cool anyway.

Channing Tatum has attached himself to star in Ion. a science fiction romantic epic, with Ridley and Tony Scott attached to produce.

The plot revolves around a man who travels to different Earths and dimensions in order to find his reincarnated lover. Producers are using the magic word — “Avatar” — to describe the scope and otherworldly elements of the script.

(Source)

Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) sees the ships of the Fire Nation approaching.  It looks like they are in big trouble.

The special effects are pretty cool.  I bet all those tough looking men with armor are computer men.

By far this is the best trailer for Predators. The movie looks wicked with an intensity that cracks my spine straight. 

There are so many different movies coming out this summer. It’s hard to predict which will stand out the most and make the most money.  From the looks of this trailer, it could be Predators.

Despite the critical slamming of the Wolverine film, and the probably scrapping of a Magneto movie, things are looking up for the next feature film involving the world of the X-Men. The inital announcement of prequel X-Men: First Class prompted many to see it as a tired cash-in on a franchise that failed to deliver the goods, but now casting is underway and looking impressive. The latest rumour to the line-up is Michael Fassbender.

According to Deadline, Fassbender had a reading last night with some other known acting names (Aaron Johnson, Andrew Garfield), and has been offered the part of Magneto, the metal-controlling villain of the franchise. Fassbender was offered the role as the villain in the Spiderman reboot but the rumour mill has him leaning to the ensemble prequel instead. This is great news, not only for the film, but also for the blossoming career of the gifted actor. He has proven his ability as the lead in Hunger, as well as delivering great performances in Inglourious Basterds and Fish Tank.

What’s most heartening about the film is that Matthew Vaughn has taken the reins as director. Vaughn was responsible for bringing Kick-Ass to life, and despite its disappointing box office intake, it was nevertheless a worthy comic book adaptation. James McAvoy (Wanted, Atonement) is also being rumoured to play Professor Xavier.

As you watch Never Let Me Go, you may be surprised to find out that the story is a thriller-science fiction movie. I don’t want to say any more because there is a twist to the story that is based on the book of the same name.

The story is penned by the same author who wrote The Remains of the Day, a very different genre than science fiction. Yet, the story takes place at an idyllic boarding school for children and seems so innocent.

The story does have a love triangle, and is told in flash backs, which you can see in the trailer. The movie stars Carey Mulligan, Kiera Knightley and Andrew Garfield and opens October 1, 2010.

DreamWorks sent me another photo from the set of Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Kevin Durand and Anthony Mackie. The movie is directed by Shawn Levy with Bob Zemeckis executive producing.

A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future, where the sport of boxing has gone hi-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring.

Now, he is nothing but a small-time promoter. Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

Photo by Greg Williams ©DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC.

USA Today visited the set of Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman. Shawn Levy is directing and he began shooting live-action scenes Monday of this week.  

The story is pretty simple with a science fiction twist to boxing.  “Human boxing is non-existent, replaced by leagues of mechanized pugilists. It’s expected to arrive in theaters in November 2011.”

Here is another poster for the fourth installment of the hugely successful Resident Evil franchise.  Resident Evil: Afterlife is based on the wildly popular video game series. This time the movie will be presented in 3-D.  Shoot them up girlfriend! 

When is the trailer coming out?  I want to see the trailer.

Of all the genres out there, there are a lot of great mixes.  And there are plenty of mixes that are downright disastrous by comparison.  Perhaps one of the harder mixes out there are trying to intermingle science fiction with the romantic comedy.  It’s only been done once that I can see, in a great movie called Run Robot Run! that I saw a couple years back.

And now, someone will try a second run at that particular brass ring with the movie TiMER, a movie that the folks at Tribeca sent that asks the question, what would you do if you knew when your soulmate would show up?  TiMERs, you see, are devices that are implanted in the skin of the “dominant hand”, a development that freaks some people out to no end.  And once the device is in place, a four-entry countdown clock starts–months, days, hours, minutes–to show you how long you’ve got until you meet that special someone.  However, if your TiMER is blank, it means that one special someone doesn’t have a TiMER of their own.  And that’s the dilemma our heroine Oona is facing–her “one” as they’re called has no TiMER.  So while Oona is hunting for TiMERless men to get them patched into the network, she has an unexpected meeting with a supermarket clerk much younger than her…who also has a TiMER.  And his TiMER is four months away.  So will Oona deliberately pursue a man not her one?  Or is there a possibility of a mistake?

You are, effectively, looking at a sci-fi rom-com here. People are out looking for love, finding it, sometimes in the wrong places, and are doing so with the help of implanted biomechanical implements.

This intermingling of genres is wildly unexpected, and thus, wholly unique to the marketplace.  As I’ve said, I’ve only seen one other title like this, and that was a small-scale indie release.

Okay, so we’ve established it’s unique, but how is it?  I’ll call it all right, mostly because I’m not a huge fan of the romantic comedy to begin with.  I’ve held my nose and crammed a few down before, but I’ve generally not enjoyed them. And this one, in grand romantic comedy fashion, will ignore countless plot holes.  What if your “one” is on the other side of the planet?  Is it conceivable that one could never actually MEET their “one”?  What about people whose “ones” died early?  Why don’t people just advertise somewhere “Hey!  I just zeroed out! Have you met me lately?  Show up for a free engagement ring!”?

All these questions and more will never be answered.  But what we do get is a decent romantic comedy with a little sci-fi edge.  Rom-com fans will eat this up with spoons and those forced to watch along might well enjoy the mechanics of it, even if they’ll likely be too focused on the holes.

The Screenhead Ten Scale hands this impressive, if lacking, mix of genres a seven out of ten for sheer ambition.  It’s far from perfect but it’s got some great points.