Disney has been waging a media blitz, a John Carter-palooza if you will, lately. Today we have three new banners as well as six new character images from the upcoming film, John Carter, directed by Andrew Stanton, making his live-action debut.  The film tells the story of a former Confederate soldier who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he finds himself in the middle of an epic war between the planet’s inhabitants. The latest trailer has gotten me excited for this again. (This thing has been in the works for so long there have been periods of news-drought that went on too long to sustain my excitement for a CGI heavy sci-fi flick.)

The new banners focus on star Taylor Kitsch and the creatures he encounters on his journey. The character images are even better. I’m warming to Kitsch as Carter, if ya know what I mean. The other pics give us a better look at Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) and Tars Tarkas (a motion-captured Willem Dafoe).

Once again, here’s the official synopsis for John Carter:

From Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”–a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter, who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas  and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris. In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

The film also stars Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Samantha Morton, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, and Thomas Hayden Church. John Carter opens in 3D on March 9^th almost everywhere on Earth.

Jack Bauer is coming back into my delusional dreams biatches. Kiefer Sutherland said 24 will hit the movie theatres and true to his word it's happening. Finally. Now that it's winter it's getting a little cold in this line up for movie tickets to a movie that hasn't been made yet. Nyuk nyuk.

Twentieth Century Fox has given the green light for the movie to go ahead and it is in pre-production! Mark Bomback has to submit a revised screenplay and once it gets final approval shooting will begin a few months later.

So far it just has a release date of 2013 (nothing more specific) and only has Kiefer as the only actor in the movie which suits me fine.  24 hours will be jam-packed into a 2 hour movie, so there will not be time constraints like there were in the TV series:

"This will be different – it will be very feasible to get from Eastern Europe to England in the course of 24 hours! And the crisis can be more personal – it doesn't have to be a huge bomb, it doesn't have to take out the rest of the world. It's very exciting."

Yes, it is very exciting. I'm very excited. Hump Day excited. Heavy emphasis on le hump.

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It’s been a couple of weeks since we had a glimpse of Daniel Craig on the set of Skyfall, or Bond 23. Those pics we got of him running around Trafalgar Square in London wearing that well-cut (presumably) Tom Ford top coat can only hold me for so long, ya know? Well…guess what? For your Humpday viewing pleasure this morning, we have some new pics of Craig as well as a first look at our new Miss Moneypenny, Naomi Harris. They’re on a very cold rooftop filming what looks like “James Bond and the Mystery of the Black Box”.

We still don’t know much, other than the very brief studio sponsored synopsis: In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Other than that, there’ve only been the hints that Ralph Fiennes has dropped, more than once, while making the promotional rounds for Coriolanus; that he may be playing a version of great Bond villain, Ernst Blofeld. He hasn’t denied it when asked, aside from emphatically repudiating any suggestion he’d be stroking a white cat.  As for what kind of villain Javier Bardem will be playing (if indeed his character is a villain) and who Albert Finney’s character is at all, your guess is as good as mine.

Enjoy the pics. We’ll keep you posted. There will be more in the coming months since Sam Mendes’ Skyfall with a cast that includes Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem, is still shooting, (it will eventually leave London for Scotland, Turkey  and China) and won’t fall into theaters until 26th October in the UK and November 9, 2012 in the US.

This year will mark the first Christmas Prince William and Kate Middleton (The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) will as husband and wife and to commemorate this blessed event, a one-of-a-kind tree ornament has been designed by June Branscombe and is based on the china pattern the royal couple had the final say in:

The 11cm porcelain oval displays the ornately intertwined initials of Catherine and William on the front, with the inscription 'Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 29th April 2011.'  It is hand-finished in 22ct gold 

The Royal Crown Derby is selling this decoration for £85 (about $133 USD) and there will only be 1500 made available! I may try to get one but it will look a little out of place beside the Homer Simpson straddling a beer bottle decoration on my tree.

What do you think of the decoration, lovely, or boring? Would you buy it? 

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Earlier this week it was reported that Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kim Richards was admitted to rehab. If you watch the show you will recall the end of last season saw a massive melt down between her and her sister Kyle Richards in which Kyle had had ENOUGH of Kim's drinking problem. In Season 2 it is very clear Kim is either on something or has some serious issues.

Last week she went into rehab for alcohol and 'other' problems and a source tells People that everyone has their fingers crossed:

"Kim has been to rehab more than once before," "but every time is a new time, and everyone just hopes this sticks and that she gets the help she needs. It's serious." 

As for this dude she was supposed to have been secretly dating for a year, he's not part of the recovery process and he's not around. On top of that Kim is apparently homeless and stays with different friends. That part doesn't make a whole lot of sense given they film her at a 'house'.

We wish Kim all the best and hope that she seeks the help she needs to be healthy and happy.

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Byzantium is  director Neil Jordan’s latest take on the vampire mythos in which Gemma Arterton plays a blood sucker with an air of mystery around her when she moves to a small seaside town. She also plays Saoirse Ronan’s mother…or is it her sister? (Mother/sister/mother/sister…I’m getting shades of Faye Dunaway in Chinatown.) Actually the imdb page gives it away with their synopsis: A mother and daughter vampire duo form a deadly pact.  Which is about as vague as vague can be except for that one detail. In any case, Arterton and Ronan play two seemingly young woman (who happen to be vampires) who move to a small British town and mystery and intrigue immediately surround the pair.

In the play, “A Vampire Story”, the eldest, Claire (Arterton), takes a job in a pub while the younger girl Eleanor (Ronan), goes to school and during a truth exercise in her drama class, she confesses that she is over 200 years old and has survived on human blood. Her classmates think she’s crazy, but she makes a friend, Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), who has been home schooled and is considered an outsider.

Arterton (The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Tamara Drewe, Quantum of Solace) was spotted on the beach in Hastings, south east England in costume for the gothic film. She looked like she was in danger of freezing her ample bosom off. Love the red dress though! (She was flashing her gams for a reason. There was trouble with her battery pack, secreted high on her thigh.)

I’ve long been a fan of Neil Jordan’s films. His credits are too numerous to mention, but this is a revisit to the vampire genre after 1994’s Interview with the Vampire. I’m looking forward to what he’ll do with this one, especially in light of sexy, bloody "The Borgias". The screenwriter, Moira Buffini, is adapting her own play. She was responsible for the script for Cary Fukunaga’s beautiful adaptation of Jane Eyre.  In the immortal words of Gene Wilder as Viktor Frankenstein, “IT. COULD. WORK!”

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