By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Art from MentalFloss.com.

A live-action adaptation of Scott Adams’ popular comic strip Dilbert is in the works. 

The film is being developed by Phoenix Entertainment, with Ken Kwapis is attached as a director. Kwapis recently directed He’s Just Not That Into You, and has also done a dozen episodes of The Office.

The comic strip features the title character working as an engineer in a white-collar office environment. Since 1989, the strip has primarily focused on work or office-based humor. But when Dilbert goes home, the anthropomorphic Dogbert serves as a cynical foil for him. 

The strip was adapted into an animated series on UPN in 1999, with Daniel Stern providing Dilbert’s voice, and Chris Elloit voicing Dogbert.

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Photo from ScrapeTV.com.

Oclumencia.com has published photos from the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, in which the actors are filming the story’s epilogue.

Obviously, the post contains spoilers for those who have not read the book by J.K. Rowling.

Two of the film’s young actors can be seen wearing heavy makeup, at a familiar setting in the Harry Potter series. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 is scheduled for a November 19 release, followed by Part 2 on July 15, 2011.

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Photo from Broadway.tv.

SuperHeroHype reports today that Dominic Cooper will play Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger.

In the Iron Man films, Howard Stark has been built up as a technological mastermind, who becomes the father of Tony Stark, Iron Man.

Cooper’s previous screen credits include Band of Brothers, The Escapist and Mama Mia!.

In Iron Man 2, an older version of the character appeared when Tony Stark began watching old videos of him. Cooper’s version will obviously be younger, as Captain America takes place mostly during World War II.

In Iron Man, viewers watching closely noticed that Captain America’s shield was in Tony Stark’s lab. This was directly referenced in Iron Man 2. Howard Stark’s inclusion in the Captain America film may bring to light how that shield got there.

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Image from RottenTomatoes.com.

ComingSoon.net reports 20th Century Fox has signed Daniel Benmayor to direct Hitman 2.

At this point it’s not clear whether Timothy Olyphant will return for the sequel, but production is scheduled to begin this fall.

The script was reportedly written by Kyle Ward, and includes elements from the game Hitman 5.

The first film, based on the hit Eidos video game of the same name, made $99.7 million in 2007. It was made for about $30 million. It also starred Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko and Robert Knepper.

TITLE: Shrek Forever After
STARRING: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews
DIRECTOR: Mike Mitchell
STUDIO: Dreamworks
RATED: PG
RUN TIME: 93 min
RELEASE DATE: May 21

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

In this fourth installment in the Shrek franchise, Shrek is feeling a bit over-domesticated, what with being married and raising triplets. Shrek used to be a very scary character, roaring, and having the towns people come after him with pitchforks. But now they just want him to sign the pitchforks.

To regain the ogre mojo that he once fully enjoyed, he strikes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to “give a day to get a day.” The pact goes wrong and he ends up living life as if he never existed, i.e. he never married Fiona, met Donkey, etc.

The first three Shrek films were pretty entertaining, though none were better than the original. This latest installment did not deliver the laughs as easily and as often as before, and the storyline was pretty unoriginal. Think It’s A Wonderful Life meets Shrek, and you have the plot. Shrek’s entire life and all his relationships turn out completely different and much sadder.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

Another major drawback is that the other major characters, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) are severely under-utilized in this film. This is a big disappointment because all of these characters bring a lot of the laughs and funny situations that made the other movies so funny. In terms of the actors’ performances, this felt more like a paycheck than a creative endeavor.

Still, the movie makes for a good family outing with the kids. But I don’t know if I’ll be buying this one.

RATING: 7.5/10

TITLE: MacGruber
STARRING: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe
DIRECTOR: Jorma Taccone
STUDIO: Universal
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 99 min
RELEASE DATE: May 21

When a movie comes out based on a sketch from Saturday Night Live there is a good chance it will be bad. Does MacGruber break this trend? Kind of. It’s certainly not the best comedy ever, but it does have its moments that will make the audience laugh.

What makes this film funny is the fact that it does not take try a 90 second sketch and stretch it out for a two-hour movie. They use the character to parody 80’s action movies.The result is a movie that has a number of jokes that range from played-out to laughing out loud.

The plot is a recycled version of the most clichéd parts of action movies and this works for it. MacGruber (Will Forte) is called out of retirement to track down Val Kilmer’s villain who has stolen a nuclear warhead and killed MacGruber’s wife; he recruits a team consisting of Ryan Phillippe and Kristen Wiig.

The film plays to its strengths most of the time, which are Forte’s MacGruber character and the parodies of cheesy action movies. MacGruber is not some hero who has the skills necessary to save the world; he is the world’s stupidest asshole who somehow beats the bad guys in the end. His ignorance about how much of a dick he is, and his arrogance about how badass he is supply most of the jokes and they are hit or miss.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

What keeps the film going is the constant spoofing of action movie clichés. The two characters who hate each other but become best friends, cheesy sex scenes, bad foreshadowing, the final fight between the villain and the hero, etc. MacGruber does a good job of making fun of these concepts and helps keep the film funny for the audience

The problem is that film fails to maintain momentum and most of the jokes fall flat or are done to death. When it tries to make a joke that is clearly not going to work, it keeps trying to push it on the audience.

Overall, this is pretty funny movie, but just wait until it comes out on DVD.

RATING: 6.5/10

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Photo from zimbio.com.

James Franco, famous for his roles in the Spider-man films and Pineapple Express, has reportedly been cast as the lead in 20th Century Fox’s Rise of the Apes, a prequel to the classic Planet of the Apes.

FirstShowing.net reports Franco will play a young scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the coming war between humans and apes. Reportedly, Franco’s character develops a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, which he tests on an ape. The ape’s intelligence increases exponentially, and Franco takes him home to live with him, and protect him from other cruel doctors.

The film has a June 24, 2011 release date. The movie will be set in San Francisco, but will be shot in Vancouver. British director Rupert Wyatt is at the helm.

TITLE: Transylmania
STARRING: Oren Skoog, Paul H. Kim, Irena A. Hoffman, Patrick Cavanaugh, Natalie Garza, Nicole Garza, Tony Denman, Jennifer Lyons, Patrick Casey, Worm Miller
DIRECTOR: David and Scott Hillenbrand
STUDIO: Film Rock
RATED: R
RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2009 (Theatrical) April 26, 2010 (DVD)
RUN TIME: 92 min

I never thought I would pine for a parody film such as Date Movie, but that’s how I felt after watching Transylmania. It isn’t that Date Movie is particularly good in any aspect so much as it is at least attempts to parody specific movies and the genre in general. Transylmania doesn’t even attempt to parody the horror movie genre or vampires in general.

The movie opens simple enough, a group of college friends are traveling to Romania to spend a semester studying overseas. While on the train, we learn the back story of the school, Razvan University, where hundreds of years ago the vampire, Radu (Oren Skoog), lost his love, the sorceress Stephanie. A vampire hunter trapped her soul in a music box and Radu swore to return to his castle only when the box has been found.

While on the train we also learn about the group friends and who they are. There’s Danni (Natalie Garza) and Lia (Nicole Garza), the twin sisters. Lia is dating Pete (Patrick Cavanaugh), who loves to smoke pot with Wang (Paul H. Kim), and Newmar (Tony Denman) is a jock that can’t last in bed, ironically dating the nympho cheerleader Lynne (Jennifer Lyons).  Rusty (Oren Skoog) is dating Draguta (Irena A. Hoffman) online as she is from Romania.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

That is as interesting as the characters get which isn’t terrible, if they were going to parody the horror genre and vampires.  All the archetypal characters are there and during the train ride I was already trying to pick out who would die.  Unfortunately, none of this happens.  What seems like a horror parody is really just a low brow frat comedy that happens to take place in Romania with some vampires running around, and worst of all, nobody dies.

The comedy in this movie is horrid and amounts to things like horses that fart whenever the school name is said, the predictably ditzy blonde that can’t figure out what is happening, and outdated jokes about the greatness of American denim jeans in the old soviet bloc. The gluttony of sex jokes range from the guy who lasts two seconds  to making fun of a guy that accidently made out with a transsexual. The most horrific thing that happens is  some Looney Tunes-esque humor, such as pulling an arrow out of your leg to only have a fountain of blood spray out.

None of the humor works and the story is devoid of any creativity.  Before the potheads do anything, they seem to smoke and this adds nothing to movie.  It isn’t played off as funny; they act the same and it does little create characters of any interest.  Before they do anything they could have put on sunglasses and it would have accomplished the same feat.

And just as the potheads elicit the same acting whether high or not, the acting is bad overall.  I wouldn’t necessarily blame the the actors though, as the script and directing leave a lot to be desired.  But that is really the main problem with this movie, it seems like everyone involved either doesn’t know what they are doing or they simply phoned it in.  It doesn’t matter which way it is, as the film is barely watchable.

RATING: 0/10

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Art from ObsessedWithFilm.com

Oddly enough, principal photography for Captain America: The First Avenger will be based in London.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the film, which starts shooting this July, was originally scheduled to be shot in Los Angeles. But studio execs thought it made more economic sense to shoot overseas, as scenes in the movie will take place in England anyway. Thus, it wouldn’t be economically feasible to do stage work in Los Angeles, then shoot separately in England.

The Times reports this news comes as a blow to Los Angeles, as hundreds of crew members would have found work on such a large-scale project.

Louis D’Esposito, co-President of Marvel Studios, said Britain’s 20 to 25 percent payable tax credit on qualified expenditures was another factor in the move.

That being said, D’Esposito said Marvel plans to shoot the majority of its future film projects in the United States. The company’s next movie, Thor, was shot in Los Angeles, as well as New Mexico.

Captain America will star Chris Evans in the title role, with Samuel L. Jackson reprising his part as Nick Fury. Hugo Weaving will play the villain, Red Skull, and Sebastian Stan will play Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky Barns.