I thought since the world’s most watched TV event is on tonight, we should enjoy one of the most classic teams celebrating their prowess.

Shooting begins next month and so now we have some of the final pieces in the puzzle of who will play the leads in GIJOE.
Irish actor David Murray has been cast as James McCullen Destro XXIV, primary villain. He’s largely known for stage work, but he’s been in a few movies too. The character Destro infamously wears a silver mask over his face, so its not known how much of Murray we’ll really see.Read more about Murray, and Destro.
Duke, the leader of GIJOE on the ground, will be played by Channing Tatum, an actor/model/dancer. I sure hope he’s tough on screen, because that photo I plucked for this story makes him look like a real sissy. Read up on Tatum and Duke.
Finally, Zartan, the master of disguise in COBRA, will be Arnold Vosloo, Vosloo is a South African best known as The Mummy from the film of the same name, also directed by GIJOE director Stephen Sommers. Read more about the actor here, and Zartan here.

Just to recap the cast so far: Dennis Quaid (Hawk), Sienna Miller (The Baroness), Ray Park (Snake Eyes), Rachel Nichols (Scarlett), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Heavy Duty), Said Taghmaoui (Breaker), Marlon Wayans (Ripcord), and Byung-hun Lee (Storm Shadow).

This isn’t the only casting I’m aware of right now. I know who is playing Cobra Commander, but its a major plot spoiler to even say who it is, so I’m putting it after the jump so only those who are serious about wanting to know see it. You’ve been warned.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

No official comment, but insiders say its true: Guillermo del Toro will direct the 2 new movies based on the The Hobbit and other works by author JRR Tolkien.

We first heard this would happen a month ago, and since then names like Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) and Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Army Of Darkness) have made the rounds. Now it seems the del Toro, who’s pulp and fantasy epics Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth were so enjoyable, is going to bring about his vision of Middle Earth.

Expect an official announcement soon that Peter Jackson’s Mexican Doppleganger will pick up one of the great film series ever.

Source: Eonline

Be aware that both the following movie and link contain unannounced characters returning to Brawl.

North America has to wait for March 9 to get a mouthful of Brawls, but the release is mere moments away in Japan. And so the intro movie from their version of Brawl has floated on to the web.

Also, Kotaku has scans of several pages of the manual which you can see here.

After exhaustingly re-creating and lampooning famous TV title sequences, the good people at Fatal Farm have set their sights on Garfield.

The videos are surreal enough at first glance, with actors playing the roles of the comic strip characters, paying careful attention to the original and having the 3 panels executed flawlessly. Then something stranger happens… a music video tribute to Garfield creator Jim Davis.

These really have to be seen to be understood. Lasagna Cat is truly strange and often hilarious.

Heath Ledger, star of Brokeback Mountain and the forthcoming The Dark Knight has died.

According to the New York City Police Department, Heath Ledger was found dead from a drug overdose in his apartment in downtown Manhattan. Foul play is not suspected. Not much information is currently available, CNN is following the story.

Much has been said of the decision to cast Ledger as the Joker and recent clips and photos have had fans of Batman overwhelmingly excited. As this will likely be his final finished screen performance, I hope the role does the character and actor justice.

We’re also going through this on our forum, join the ongoing discussion here.

Epic Games masterful horror shooter Gears Of War will make its way to plastic in April with the first wave of action figures.
Shown above are a Locust Drone, protagonist Marcus Fenix, and Augustus “Cole Train” Cole. From NECA, each figure comes with its own weapon and is detailed to faithfully represent the in game characters. The Train is at home on the rails.
More pictures are available at Action Figure Xpress, though you can only order these by the case of 14 right now. Retail prices should land in the $15 to $20 range, and will go nicely against McFarlane’s Halo 3 figures…

There’s a lot of stuff happening in the world of Transformers. Too much for us to report on, so we have to pick the best and coolest news a let our friends at TFW2005 tackle the rest. News on a Masterpiece figure counts as the best news.
A posting at ACToys includes and image of original Dinobot Grimlock’s figure with the implication that he will be the basis for the next in the Masterpiece line. Previous figures include Optimus Prime (recolored to Ultra Magnus), Starscream (recolored to Skywarp), and Megatron. Real images of the figure can’t be far off from this teaser, and we’ll deliver them to you as soon as we see them.

Grimlock has long been one of the most popular Transformers chracters, appearing in the 1986 movie and taking a lead role in several comic series. He’s also a favorite for inclusion in the sequel to the 2007 Transformers movie. Learn more on Teletraan 1.