Simply crazy comic book news

Before you read too much into that title, please remember that in my rather twisted view of the world crazy is rarely not a compliment.

In the case of the "Wolverine" movie, what it apparently means is an instant injection of class. I have to say, of all the characters they could have spun off from the "X-Men" universe, Wolverine is the one I'm least excited about.

Now, don't get me wrong. On paper, Wolverine has a fascinating backstory which would make for a great summer action flick. But on screen, Hugh Jackman and those who write for him have turned him into simply a smirking one-liner machine, and certainly not the kind of character I'd like to see a movie built around.

With this good news, however, I'm gonna have to at least be cautiously optomistic. In an instant leap to the big leagues, "Tsotsi" director Gavin Hood has been tapped by Twentieth Century Fox to work with the script by David Benoiff.

If you haven't seen "Tsotsi," which managed to snag a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a thoroughly touching tale of redemption set in South Africa and based on a novel by Athol Fugard. Before he gets to have fun with "Wolverine," Hood will be making the rounds with "Rendition," his new flick which is sure to catch a lot of buzz.

That flick, starring Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin and J.K. Simmons (huzzah!) is about the CIA's methods of interrogation of an Egyptian terrorism suspect, and his wife's mission to rescue him. I smell at least few Oscars cooking here.

And it's apparently his work on this movie, set to be released in the U.S. in October, that won Hood the right to play around with "Wolverine." To which I can now say bring it on.

Seth Rogen, super hero?

Just in case you can't tell in print, I'm more than a little skeptical about this one. Encouraged, mind you, being a rather portly gentleman myself, but skeptical nonetheless.

It seems that king freak Seth Rogen is finalizing a deal to write and most likely star in Columbia's big-screen adapatation of "Green Hornet." I'll pause to let you ingest that one for a sec. ...

Given Rogen's ability to make fun of himself, I could actually see this working pretty well, if it ever really happens. Rogen would play Brit Reid, the millionaire publisher-turned-masked crime fighter. "The Green Hornet" started as a radio serial before being turned into a comic book, film and TV series by the 1960s. The TV show was apparently notable for the presence of the late Bruce Lee as sidekick Kato, a kung fu expert with a killer car.

You can, of course, look for Mr. Rogen very soon in another movie he wrote, the upcoming "Superbad," which Variety says he originally intended to star in before it took a long time to get off the ground and he simply became too old to play a believable high school student (which hasn't stopped too many people from trying to do it anyway!)

Can he really make the leap to action hero? I have my doubts, but I'll definitely be cheering him on.

A "Bottle Shock" update

In my "fresh faces" plug for the great Freddy Rodriguez I noted that, as far as I can tell, he's set to star in the upcoming "Bottle Shock," a flick about the rise of the Napa Valley wine industry.

Well, not so fast, apparently. A report on the flick this morning listed pretty good cast additions: Chris Pine, Rachael Taylor, Eliza Dushku (today's gratuitous beautiful woman pic), Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman (huzzah!) Nowhere in the list, however, was Mr. Rodriguez.

Set in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of the Montelena Winery, which won an international wine-tasting competition and put the California region on the vino map. Pine portrays the son of the vineyard owner who saves the winery and represents Napa in the French tasting, while Taylor plays a university student who interns at the winery.

Dushku acts as a local bartender, and Pullman is the owner of the run-down winery who clashes with his son. Rickman is an Englishman who runs L'Academie du Vin in Paris and is the chief architect of the blind-tasting challenge that results in an upset victory for the American vintages.

Whether Freddy's involved or not (and the IMDB still says he is), this is still shaping up to be an interesting flick worth keeping our eyes on.

Che flicks finally get rolling

The AP reported as news this morning that Benicio (not Guillermo, a mistake I somehow manage to make quite often) Del Toro is playing Che Guevara in director Steven Soderbergh's back-to-back flicks about the revolutionary leader. I thought that was pretty common knowledge, but maybe not.

The real news is that Soderbergh is gonna start serious filming on the flicks Wednesday across Spain. In honor of this good news, here's a pic of Benicio as Che cribbed directly from the actor's rather bizarre Web site. It's definitely worth a visit here.

"Darjeeling Limited" gets supercool poster

Until stumbling upon this rather nice poster for Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited," I was beginning to doubt the flick really existed. It's just been so long since Mr. Anderson has managed to complete a movie, but I can only say welcome back.

The flick stars Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman as three estranged brother who use a trip across India to reforge their bonds after the death of their father. It's set to be the opening night flick at the New York Film Festival Sept. 28 (and why not: There have been very few better valentines to the city of New York than Anderson's "Royal Tenenbaums.")

The poster has an odd, almost "Steve Zissou" kind of look to it, and only makes me want to see the flick right away, which I guess movie posters are meant to do. Anyways, I still have to work for a living, so I have to quit now and get ready. Peace out.