Warner Bros. 2015 Justice League movie may not have a director yet, but it looks like it has a villain. Latino Review is reporting that Batman , Superman , Wonder Woman and their super colleagues will be throwing down against a major baddie, Darkseid from the subtly named planet, Apokolips, when the summer of 2015 rolls around. If Darkseid, who was created by the legendary comic artist Jack Kirby , is indeed the villain who will be wreaking havoc in the DC movie universe, it’s an interesting choice, given that Marvel plans to feature the villain Thanos in Avengers 2 , which it plans to release that same summer. Justice League ‘s Darkseid vs. Avengers 2 ‘s Thanos As Comic Book Legends Revealed points out, Thanos was “roughly based on Darkseid” (although the character’s creator Jim Starlin didn’t originally envision him as such.) The connection between the two characters could help ratchet up the competitive tension between the rival movies as release time grows closer. (It’s only, like, years away.) DC could also do some “our super-villain can kick your super-villain’s ass” sassing based on IGN’s Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time , in which Darkseid ranks sixth and Thanos is 47th. If you ask me, these two dudes do look alike. That’s Darkseid on the left. Thanos is on the right. What do you think? Sound off in the comments section. By the way, the unforgiving mug of the late actor Jack Palance inspired Darkseid’s face. Kirby based the villain’s evil nature on Adolf Hitler. [ Latino Review , Comic Book Legends Revealed , IGN] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Newcomers Killing Them Softly and The Collection bowed soft over the weekend, with the latter barely making it into the top ten. Holdovers including Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 , Skyfall and Lincoln remained the top three pics domestically. The Weinstein Company’s Silver Linings Playbook , meanwhile, placed just outside the top ten over the weekend, though the Oscar hopeful played in comparatively far fewer locations and is showing strength as it continues to roll out slowly. 1. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Gross: $17,410,000 (Cume: $254.6 million) Screens: 4008 (PSA: $4,344) Week: 3 (Change: – 60%) Number one for three weeks, the final Twilight scored the top spot after a weak showing from newcomers. The feature dropped 62 locations from its second weekend and its $4,344 average was significantly lower than its $10,723 showing in week 2. Still, it is a bit better off than its previous installments and is within $1 million from matching New Moon . 2. Skyfall Gross: $17 million (Cume: $246 million) Screens: 3,463 (PSA: $4,909) Week: 4 (Change: – 52%) The highest grossing Bond film continues to show strength one month into its U.S. run. The pic averaged a solid $4,909, compared to Twilight ‘s $4,344 average in its third week, though it is in 545 fewer theaters. Globally, Skyfall has grossed over $869 million, a good return for its $200 million budget. A $300 million domestic run is not out of the question. 3. Lincoln Gross: $13,509,000 (Cume: $83,698,000) Screens: 2,018 (PSA: $6,694) Week: 4 (Change: – 47%) Steven Spielberg’s big Oscar contender remained in the same number of theaters in its third weekend, though its per screen average was almost halved from the previous weekend’s $12,724. Still, it had the highest PSA in the top 10 for the weekend. Its nearly $83.7 million gross is outpacing the filmmaker’s 2011 movies The Adventures of Tintin ($77.6 million) and War Horse ($79.9 million). 4. Rise of the Guardians Gross: $13,500,000 (Cume: $48,947,253) Screens: 3,672 (PSA: $3,676) Week: 2 (Change: – 43%) The Paramount/Dreamworks animation added 19 theaters and remained fourth in the overall top ten. Still, it will struggle to reach $100 million. 5. Life of Pi Gross: $12 million (Cume: $48,361,141) Screens: 2,018 (PSA: $4,098) Week: 2 (Change: -46.6%) The Ang Lee 3-D feature added just one location over the weekend, rounding out the top 5, though. Globally, it has grossed nearly $109 million ($60,500,000) abroad and is said to be performing well. 6. Wreck-It Ralph Gross: $7,020,000 (Cume: $158,257,000) Screens: 3,087 (PSA: $2,274) Week: 5 (Change: – 57.6%) The animated feature remained at the sixth position, though dropped 172 locations and had a fairly steep 57-plus percent drop from the week prior. Its $2,274 average compares to $5,085 last week and $5,131 the week before that. Still, it’s had a good run and combined with foreign box office of $44 million, it topped the $200 million mark over the weekend. 7. Killing Them Softly Gross: $7 million Screens: 2,424 (PSA: $2,888) Week: 1 The Cannes 2012 feature is one of Brad Pitt’s worse performing openings ever, though not as bad as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which only made $3.9 million. The pic should fade from theaters soon. 8. Red Dawn Gross: $6,550,000 (Cume: $31,322,708) Screens: 2,781 (PSA: $2,355) Week: 2 (Change: – 54%) The film had a relatively steep 54% decline in gross compared to its first weekend, though it added 57 more venues. Its $2,355 average compares to its $5,241 opening. It may struggle to match its $65 million production budget domestically. 9. Flight Gross: $4,540,000 (Cume: $81,526,836) Screens: 2,603 (PSA: $1,744) Week: 5 (Change: – 46.3%) Flight shed 35 theaters in its fifth week after adding locations over the past month. Still, the Denzel Washington-starrer has performed well at the box office with a domestic come over $81.5 million vs its $31 million production budget. It may be a reach to hit the $100 million mark. 10. The Collection Gross: $3,409,224 Screens: 1,403 (PSA: $2,430) Week: 1 In its debut, The Collection barely made it into the top ten and its nearly $3.41 million opening is slightly off from its predecessor, The Collector ‘s 2009 $3.57 million bow. 11. Silver Linings Playbook Gross: $3,341,000 (Cume: $10,990,981) Screens: 371 (PSA: $9,005) Week: 3 (Change: – 23.8%) Though not in the top ten, The Weinstein Company’s Oscar hopeful Silver Linings Playbook has continued to gain traction after an opening that was a bit of a disappointment. It ranked 11th for the weekend, though it is in far fewer theaters than titles in the top ten and its $9,005 average was far better than any in the top ten. Word-of-mouth is clearly driving the title.
As ads for pharmaceuticals go, this clip for the anti-depression drug Ablixa is textbook perfect. Wooden actors progress from sad to happy with the help of digital dark clouds, sun rays, and, presumably, the being advertised. And there’s the de rigueur reading of possible side effects. Ablixa is not an actual prescription drug, however, and the video, which I’ve posted below is actually a viral ad for Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Side Effects , in which Rooney Mara plays a woman who turns to prescription drugs to battle her anxiety when her husband ( Channing Tatum ) is released from prison. The weird thing is that the Ablixa ad is so pitch perfect that I’m not sure why I should be watching it. As far as I can tell, the spot leaves nothing in the way of clues to the movie other than that Ablixa will probably figure into the plot and that some of the more serious side effects that the drug can cause may come into play. If you follow the prompt at the end of the ad and head to the Ablixa website , things do become more amusing. You can participate in a video analysis with Dr. Jonathan Banks, who’s played by Jude Law, and is a character in the movie. Even if you answer ‘No’ to Banks’ questions about whether you suffer from feelings of helplessness, suicidal thoughts and a lack of appetite or sex drive, the good doctor still suggests you may be a candidate for Ablixa. Somehow, I don’t think that’s a good thing, but we’ll find out when the movie opens on Feb. 8 Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Hugh Jackman is in talks for the role in the film that is looking like an X-Men: First Class sequel. Also in the news, Angela Bassett is joining Gregg Araki’s latest; Plans are in the works for a Humphrey Bogart Film Festival; China’s box office set to surge to number one; And the Hamptons International Film Festival gets new leadership. Hugh Jackman Eyes Reprising Wolverine in New X-Men Movie Jackman is in negotiations to reprise the role in the movie with is shaping up as a sequel to X-Men: First Class , featuring actors from the first X-Men trilogy – the first two of which were directed by Bryan Singer. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult are also on board, THR reports . George Clooney, Paul Greengrass Plot Crime Thriller Greengrass will direct and produce the project along with Clooney and Grant Heslov, with writer Chris Terrio. Clooney will star in the project which re-teams some of the main figures behind Argo , Variety reports . Angela Bassett Joins Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard She joins Gabourey Sidibe and will play Dr. Thaler in the indie drama about a young woman whose life spins out control when her mother disappears, Deadline reports . Humphrey Bogart Film Festival to Host Film Noir And, of course, a parade of Humphrey Bogart films are also on tap for the event taking place – naturally – in Key Largo, FL. The inaugural edition will be held on May 2-5, 2013. The festival will be hosted by Stephen Humphrey Bogart, the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and will feature preeminent film historian and critic Leonard Maltin. China Box Office Expected to Surpass U.S. by 2020 China has already surpassed Japan as the number 2 movie market. It’s media and entertainment industry is expected to grow 17% annually through 2015, Deadline reports . Hamptons International Film Festival Appoints New Head Longtime advisor Anne Chaisson has been named the festival’s new Executive Director. She has been an advisory co-chair since 2003. Director of Programming David Nugent, meanwhile, has been promoted to Artistic Director at the organization.
With this season’s Les Misérables mania in swing, many a moviegoer has been obsessing over those familiar songs and weepy French revolutionary dramatics in anticipation of the Christmas Oscar pic. I’ve been thinking a lot about the classic Les Mis tune “On My Own,” about one girl’s unrequited love for a boy who loves another — but not as sung by Eponine about Marius and his beloved little songbird Cosette. I’m talking Joey Potter’s Miss Windjammer rendition from season one of Dawson’s Creek . If you were a teenage girl growing up in the late ’90s, chances are you watched the seminal WB series. And if you had any sense at all, you identified not with wannabe Spielberg Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), adorably feckless Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson), or the hot-but-troubled new girl in town Jen Lindley ( Michelle Williams ), but with the tomboyish girl-next-door, Joey Potter ( Katie Holmes ). So when Joey reluctantly entered the local Miss Windjammer beauty contest (for college tuition money!) and warbled the Les Miserables ballad “On My Own” — prompting stupid Dawson to see past Jen and notice Joey for the first time ever — you LOVED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT. Joey was the Eponine of Capeside, Massachusetts, and Dawson was her Marius, and this Eponine was finally getting her man. I’ll admit with no small shred of embarrassment: I’ve probably seen Joey sing “On My Own” dozens of times in my life. As soon the Internet invented YouTube, I found it and watched it again. (There was that one lost evening when I fell down a k-hole of Joey-Pacey YouTube videos, but that’s another story.) I’d never seen Les Miserables onstage, so Dawson’s Creek marked my introduction to the soulful, wistful “On My Own” — and in the hazy euphoria of nostalgia, despite Dawson’s terrible ’90s mane and Joey’s reedy baby voice, I still think back on it fondly. Clearly Holmes doesn’t hold a candle to a performer like Samantha Barks, the professional West End veteran who plays Eponine and absolutely slays “On My Own” in Tom Hooper’s film adaptation. But the reason why both versions work — Barks as Eponine in the familiar Les Mis tradition, and Holmes as Joey singing to Capeside’s finest — is that they both hit that Some Kind of Wonderful sweet spot. Les Mis the musical was written over a decade before Dawson’s Creek and the John Hughes gem, and Victor Hugo’s novel 130 years before, but they share the same essential DNA: The overlooked girl-next-door pining for the boy who’s too blind to see, who loves him so much she’ll help him woo the girl of his dreams — even if it kills her. This is, incidentally, why Some Kind Of Wonderful is so great; Watts gets her happy ending . And a pair of diamond earrings. Read more on Les Misérables , in theaters December 25 : Early Reaction: Oscar Race Heats Up As NYC Screening Of ‘Les Miserables’ Prompts Cheers & Tears Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
There’s nothing like a good bit of alternate “What if?” casting to make you appreciate a movie whose stars’ chemistry works, so picture what might have been if David O. Russell had made his Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook a few years back… with Vince Vaughn and Zooey Deschanel . “I wrote this five years ago and I rewrote it 20 times,” Russell told The Huffington Post . “And I thought I was going to make it with Vince Vaughn and Zooey Deschanel before The Fighter . And then it didn’t happen, for any number of reasons that were out of my hands.” Head here to read the full Silver Linings chat, in which Russell big ups stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and offers little hope that we’ll ever see the infamously stalled Nailed . Meanwhile, as awards pundit Anne Thompson notes , Silver Linings is flagging in the crowded Oscar race after enjoying a burst of momentum in previous weeks. Maybe a celebrity endorsement from Oscar-winner Charlize Theron will help? Here’s Theron waxing enthusiastic over Lawrence in EW’s Entertainers of the Year cover story: “How is it that she can just stand there, not saying a word, and make us feel so much? Her talent is undeniable, and she is a force to be reckoned with.” Theron should know; she starred as the older version of a pre-fame, pre- Hunger Games Lawrence (or vice versa — Lawrence starred as the young Theron, opposite Revolution ‘s J.D. Pardo) in 2008’s The Burning Plain . [ Huffington Post , EW , Thompson on Hollywood ]
Spike Lee ‘s Oldboy is getting some bad ass company in the Park Chan-Wook remake business, as the Korean director’s ultraviolent femme-fronted Sympathy For Lady Vengeance , the third pic in Park’s Vengeance trilogy, will be remade into a Charlize Theron -fronted Americanized adaptation by Departed writer William Monahan. Theron (who will star and produce under her Denver & Delilah Films banner) joins forces with Oscar-winning screenwriter Monahan and superproducer Megan Ellison, arguably the ballsiest financier around; the actress has been trying to make Lady Vengeance for a few years now, but this update indicates it’s finally coming together. “This will be very American — and very unexpected,” Monahan said as the project was announced. “Park is a genius; it’s the Everest of adaptations and I’ve got blood in my teeth to do it.” I’ve got blood in my teeth to do it, Monahan says. IN A PRESS RELEASE. I’m usually skeptical when it comes to remakes — especially remakes of movies that are pretty awesome and bold in their original versions — but I can’t wait to see what he puts on the page. Watch the trailers for the original Lady Vengeance (English version and Korean version both below): Thoughts, Vengeance -lovers?
One of the biggest days in the indie film calendar arrived Wednesday with the unveiling of the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic and Documentary Competition slate along with the premiere event’s World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary lineups and titles screening in the fest’s NEXT section. Hit the jump for the line-ups! Sixteen titles each will compete in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and U.S. Documentary. The festival’s NEXT section which it styles as a “new wave” of filmmaking includes 10 titles. In all, 113 features from 32 countries were selected for the 2013 Sundance, a number consistent with other years. The 11-day event will host 51 first-time filmmakers, with 27 titles in competition. Selections were then from 12,146 submissions (4,044 features and 8,102 shorts), 429 more than last year, according to Sundance. The festival will roll out its lineups in its Midnight, New Frontier, Premiere and Documentary Premieres and Short sections in the coming days. Sundance Film Festival 2013 — Director John Cooper: ‘Fearlessness’ Distinguishes This Year’s Slate “Every great film starts with an idea, and it is a testament to artists that they continually find new ideas, new stories, new points of view and new ways of sharing them, year after year,” said Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford in a statement. “We look forward to hearing from these artists not just through their words and images onscreen but also through the larger dialogue they create with audiences at our Festival and beyond.” U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films. Afternoon Delight / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jill Soloway) — In this sexy, dark comedy, a lost L.A. housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny. Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Lowery) — The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine. Austenland / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Jerusha Hess, Screenwriters: Jerusha Hess, Shannon Hale) — Thirtysomething, single Jane is obsessed with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. On a trip to an English resort, her fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman become more real than she ever imagined. Cast: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis. C.O.G. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kyle Patrick Alvarez) — In the first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris’ work, a cocky young man travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm. Out of his element, he finds his lifestyle and notions being picked apart by everyone who crosses his path. Cast: Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario. Concussion / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Stacie Passon) — After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can’t do it anymore. Her life just can’t be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor. Cast: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins. Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Francesca Gregorini) — Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper. Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O’Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard. Fruitvale / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ryan Coogler) — The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray. In a World… / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell) — An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation. Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed. Kill Your Darlings / U.S.A. (Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas) — An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen. The Lifeguard / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia) — A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager. Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, David Lambert. May in the Summer / U.S.A., Qatar, Jordan (Director and screenwriter: Cherien Dabis) — A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. Cast: Cherien Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, Alexander Siddig. Mother of George / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Dosunmu, Screenwriter: Darci Picoult) — A story about a woman willing to do anything and risk everything for her marriage. Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Anthony Okungbowa, Yaya Alafia, Bukky Ajayi. The Spectacular Now / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber) — Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to “save.” As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and “saving” and corrupting become inextricably blurred. Cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler. Touchy Feely / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton) — A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother’s foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.” Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page, Josh Pais. Toy’s House / U.S.A. (Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Screenwriter: Chris Galletta) — Three unhappy teenage boys flee to the wilderness where they build a makeshift house and live off the land as masters of their own destiny. Or at least that’s the plan. Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie. Upstream Color / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Shane Carruth) — A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins. Next: U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION titles
There aren’t many more clues to be had about Quentin Tarantino ‘s Django Unchained in this exclusive Yahoo! Movies trailer , or in the director’s latest interview with The Hollywood Reporter. But he does share a nifty story about a young fan who wrote herself into a third chapter of Kill Bill . Tarantino took part in a THR roundtable that also featured Ben Affleck ( Argo ) Gus Van Sant ( Promised Land ), David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) and Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ) . how the final cut of his hotly anticipated slavery-era story is different from the movie he originally envisioned, Tarantino replied, “It’s shorter.” But he does recount an interesting anecdote involving a fan. The director says that a “14-year-old girl wrote a little synopsis for Kill Bill Vol. 3,” explaining: “She wanted to play the daughter grown up, or at least at her age.” Tarantino says he read the synopsis and called the fan to thank her. “I thought it was just so sweet that this little girl liked the movie so much that she continued the story herself,” he said. “I always really hope that people take the story on themselves and take it to a different place and fill in the blanks that I didn’t tell them about.” Based on this Django Unchained trailer, I say — I say — I foresee some of Tarantino’s more computer-savvy fans remaking this trailer with Foghorn Leghorn playing plantation owner Calvin Candie instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. Check it out below. [ The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo! Movies ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
I’m starting to think the execs over at Syfy may be a bunch of secret geniuses. When I first read Forbes ‘ report that the NBC Universal -owned cable network is considering giving the lifeguard’s kiss to Waterworld as either a film for its new theatrical division or, more likely, a TV series for its prime-time schedule, I almost choked on my coffee. Just hearing the title of the $235-million 1995 stink bomb — until Titanic , reportedly the most expensive movie made — makes me simultaneously think of mildew and bacon. The first, because of the movie’s stagnant, waterlogged plot; the second, because Dennis Hopper’s performance is so damn hammy. The late actor, who played Deacon, the leader of the pirates known as Smokers, actually says at one point in the movie: “Dry land is not just our destination, it is our destiny!” And the more I think about it, a Waterworld reboot is Syfy’s destiny. As the Forbes post notes, the movie does well every time it runs on the network, but with a little Syfy-style goosing, a TV series could become destination programming for B-movie nerds everywhere. Waterworld is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the polar icecaps have melted and land is sparse. First of all, in a post-Katrina-Irene-Sandy world, the concept doesn’t seem all that farfetched anymore. Better yet, that extremely moist setting makes an ideal universe for Syfy to populate with all of the mutated monsters that have starred in its cheese-tastic original TV movies. The movie’s protagonist, the Mariner — who was played by Kevin Costner — is, after all, a mutant, too. He sports gills and webbed feet. So, as long as we’re suspending disbelief for him, why not have him face down such inspired Syfy abominations as Sharktopus , Mega-Python, Mega-Piranha, Piranhaconda — and, from above, Mansquito! — on a weekly basis. I see parts for Barry Williams, Tiffany , Debbie Gibson and Kevin Sorbo. And if Universal hasn’t settled its suit with mockbuster production house The Asylum , which produced some of the most successful and preposterous creature films to air on Syfy, maybe they can make nice and make waves. (Ba-dum-bump!) Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
