REACTION: Jim Halpert, Dwight Schrute at the front of the line to resign from Dunder Mifflin with Michael Scott

L.A. Times writer Jon Caramanica sort of got what he wanted last night during the 18th, season five episode of "The Office."

NBC did not fire Steve Carell or dump his character Michael Scott from the sitcom, but the regional manager of the Scranton, Pa. branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company quit his job in "New Boss," and online buzz indicates that someone "major" from the office might be coming with him "Jerry Maguire" style.

Anyone caught up with more recent episodes would bet their money on Jim Halpert (John Krasinki), whose teasing of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) landed him in trouble with the company's new vice president, Charles Miner (Idris Elba). He might just preempt his possible termination by quitting as well.

If someone is going to leave with Michael Scott, investing time in setting up Jim Halpert's demise might just be a clever way to deviate attention from the more obvious suspect, the primarily loyal Dwight Schrute. It was only one episode prior that Michael Scott's No. 3 was willing to be terminated to cover up his boss' golden ticket idea that could have lost Dunder Mifflin a lot of money.

Someone else "major' on the Scranton office's payroll that might leave with Michael Scott is Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) because she has developed a painstakingly sympathetic brother-sister dynamic with her boss, not to mention that Jerry Maguire was joined in his own professional meltdown by a similar low-level office employee.

A fair assumption to make is that Michael Scott has seen the 1996 film and might very well try to act out the famous "Who's coming with me?" scene before saying goodbye.

No one else from the usual cast of characters has developed as close of a relationship with Michael Scott to risk losing a steady job during a shaky economic time that has been acknowledged as also occurring in this fictional world.

Something else to consider other than who might join the ranks of the unemployed with Michael Scott, if this comes to pass, is why the TV sitcom would bother to have him walk away from coworkers he values as a surrogate family. It might not simply be to spice things up during what might very well be the midpoint of the run of "The Office."

An important point to remember is that Charles Miner was initially set up as liking Michael Scott. Dunder Mifflin's new vice president genuinely seems to want to maintain a level of professionalism commensurate with performing the duties required of his job.

Easily forgotten is that David Wallace (Andy Buckley) is the bad guy in this situation because now that he no longer undervalues Michael Scott as a manager, he is trying to control someone whose effective leadership he cannot understand. Having Michael Scott gather information about the Prince Family Paper company alone speaks volumes about the chief financial officer's priorities.

Maybe Michael Scott quits until Elba's Charles Miner, who is set to appear in only six episodes, exposes the skeletons in David Wallace's corporate closet.

Whatever happens next week, "Two Weeks" is sure to make for entertainment riveting enough to include in the lineup for "Movie Mondays" in the Scranton, Pa. branch's conference room.

Show more!

REACTION: L.A. Times writer nitpicks the comedic existence of Steve Carell's Michael Scott on NBC's 'The Office'

Imagine trying to enjoy "Seinfeld" without Jerry Seinfeld, "Frasier" without Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Krane, or even "I Love Lucy" without Lucille Ball.

This is what Los Angeles Times writer Jon Caramanica argues would breathe life into NBC's "The Office."

Caramanica not only suggests that Michael Scott should be fired from the sitcom, but that NBC should also hand Steve Carell, the actor who portrays the character, his walking papers maybe because it was a slow day in entertainment news.

One can only remember how such a creative shift worked wonders for "Spin City," "Stargate SG-1" and "Sliders" when these series' title characters were recast or replaced.

Driving this argument is the assertion that Michael Scott has become boring just because the sitcom's writers did something that increasingly fewer TV writers do nowadays, that is, they provided their tweaked creation with a sense of character development.

Maybe Caramanica is one of the fans of the British version of "The Office," which was unable to have its viewers love David Brent (Ricky Gervais), the character that inspired Michael Scott, because of its limited 14-episode run.

Carell's take on the character has evolved beyond the inappropriate managerial actions of his predecessor, and it only stands to reason that British viewers would have tired of David Brent if he somehow was able to appear on the BBC for 76 more episodes without learning that there is rhyme to his seemingly absurd reason.

Though it could be argued that some comedy depends on offending social norms, Michael Scott is not exactly the one-dimensional title character of "When The Whistle Blows." Naive arrogance demonstrated by Michael Scott and David Brent comes from some place deeper than a need to get TV viewers to have a laugh, after all.

Just because Michael Scott no longer overtly subverts his own bad behavior does not necessarily mean that he can no longer be wacky. It simply means that the manager of the Scranton, Pa. branch of Dunder Mifflin has cemented his role as the sitcom's protagonist, not its villain.

Do not forget that a lot of offensive things still come out of Michael Scott's mouth that serve to offset how sad the character can be at times. Not to mention his inability to accept the oftentimes loyal Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) as anything more than sycophantic coworker, that racism still exists, that fat people are not gross, or keep a girlfriend.

Remember that Michael Scott has a penchant for inappropriateness when it comes to dating. He used to pine for his then boss Jan Levinson-Gould (Melora Hardin) the same way he now pines for Holly Flax (Amy Ryan), who was the human resources representative for the Scranton office when they dated.

Yes, Michael Scott's shoulder's are more squared and his hair is fuller, but Steve Carell should not be fired because he now has more of an income with which to take better care of himself.

Less questionable about what Caramanica suggested is that Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Dwight be fired from their jobs for a few episodes because it would allow viewers to miss them and other supporting characters such as Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), Creed Bratton, or Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) to evolve.

But at the same time Jim Halpert is no longer simply a hapless bystander because he has necessarily become more integrated into the office's unprofessional dynamic. He and his coworkers have all naturally become more of a family after what will soon be five complete seasons.

Because without Jim Halpert's involvement in what are primarily Michael Scott's exploits, he would come off as someone who enjoys seeing or helping his sympathetic boss get what he deserves. That would not be the quintessential Jim Halpert, who more than makes up for his collusion with his boss by teasing Dwight Schrute as an older brother would do.

And Dwight Schrute is simply Dwight Schrute, a character whose strange sense of reality is only strengthened by confidently believing such things as the possibility of bear attacks in Pennsylvania or that superheroes walk the Earth.

What seems off is how "The Office" no longer utilizes the proven TV dynamic of following an on-again, off-again relationship between Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) the way "Cheers" did with Sam and Diane. Still, one cannot fault writers for trying something new. 

Perhaps it is too early to judge the creative direction of a TV sitcom that might simply be suffering from being at a traditionally lackluster midpoint, especially if this is done just to have something about which to write. That is just unprofessional.

READ CARAMANICA'S STORY!

Show more!

REACTION: New 'Terminator Salvation' trailer exhilaratingly rallies interest in the fight for humanity's survival

Although not entirely new, the latest "Terminator Salvation" trailer has plenty of fresh footage, riveting action sequences, cool tag lines and appropriate background rock music to make anyone excited about its May 21 release.

Most revealing about the trailer is footage that shows that Sam Worthington's Marcus Wright's body is not only made up of replicated human tissue over metal endoskeleton, but that he - it would be more accurate to say "it" - for some reason believes himself to be human and the only hope for the human resistance. 

Could Marcus Wright be an all-too-human reconnaissance cyborg that the resistance can turn against SkyNet? If the machine proves himself to be as loyal as Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) believes him to be, perhaps he is the one that provides the know-how of how to reprogram Terminators to serve the human resistance.

New cuts of footage also show John Connor (Christian Bale) attempting to contact via a radio the members of the human resistance presumably from the Crystal Peak military complex moviegoers last saw him in toward the end of 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

John Connor likely has his own battalion, but is looking for new recruits or to join forces with Michael Ironside's General Ashdown's unit. One has to wonder if John Connor saying "If we stay the course, we are all dead!" refers to a difference in the battle strategies of both leaders. 

  

More of Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard) is shown in her role as a veterinarian-turned-battle-physician, discovering that Marcus Wright is more than just a run-of-the-mill human and something she and John have never before seen.

This indicates that his cyborg physiology is either entirely different from known T-600 and T-800 models or something else entirely. 

A bulk of the trailer's footage reveals nothing new so much as it shows new footage of what has already been seen such as a Moto Terminator motorcycle performing an awesome evasive maneuver, T-600 Terminator models being worked on by someone in some unknown production line and one on the floor with his head having been blown open, a clearer look at The Harvester, more shots of HK-aerial planes and hydrobots, many humans standing around in cattle-like enclosures. 

Not to mention the human resistance combating a combination of SkyNet's metal cronies on a bridge that apparently survived Judgement Day in tact, but might not be left standing by the end of this 130-minute-long film. 

Has humanity begun rebuilding society or does the war take place somewhere outside of the immediate blast radius of the nuclear war?

WATCH THE TRAILER IN HD!

Show more!

REACTION: Storm's cameo in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' lands on the cutting room floor

Nitpicking promotional multimedia at times pays off because some fan apparently spotted a young Storm in the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" trailer, and WIDESCREEN VISION has found out that it is merely a future DVD extra.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner on Feb. 10 confirmed that Storm was in the film in a village that Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and his Weapon X team visit, but that this scene will no longer be included in the May 1 theatrical release. She also said the scene will be featured on the DVD as one of a few others that were cut.

Another future member of the X-Men has also long since been confirmed to appear in the film as a Weapon X captive, a young Cyclops (Tim Pocock). He might be in one of those cages Wolverine nicks with his claws in the trailer.

Maybe the young Storm scene was cut to keep fans from pointing out the major age disparity between she and the actor who portrays Cyclops. They appear to be close in age in 2000's "X-Men."

The extent of interaction between Wolverine and Cyclops remains unclear given that they do not remember each another in "X-Men." Yet, this might not be relevant inasmuch as he does not remember anything about the Weapon X project at this point.

In case anyone missed it, William Stryker's son Jason is also featured in the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" trailer frozen in a block of ice. This is probably because his father knows no other way to handle his mind-controlling mutant son.

But does this photo still take place before or after Stryker consults Charles Xavier in order to find a cure for Jason's mutation?

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW!

Show more!

REACTION: McG sizes up 'Terminator Salvation' as an origin movie ... that seems more like a prequel?

Director Joseph McGinty Nichol elaborated on known "Terminator Salvation" plot details on Feb. 8 at the New York City ComicCon, saying that it is essentially an origin movie for most of the lead characters.

Christian Bale's John Connor progresses into the human resistance leader he is destined to become, SkyNet develops the famed Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 model and Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese feels as though he has to volunteer, but not yet go back in time to do his part to save humanity after seeing so many of his comrades' sacrifices.

Is this more of a prequel to "The Terminator" than it is an origin movie? Is it both?

Five minutes of footage later showed that John Connor went into hiding after the nuclear holocaust in 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines," later trying to contact members of the human resistance via a radio broadcast. He realizes about 15 years have passed when meeting a young Kyle Reese.

The footage also showed that John Connor's claims about the future cause him to come into conflict with the human resistance's official leader, Michael Ironside's skeptical General Ashdown.

Imagine an intense Bale-interpreted John Connor channeling his mother's behavior while in an insane asylum going up against a hardened military officer portrayed by the actor who was once General Sam Lane on "Smallville" and voiced Darkseid in "Superman: The Animated Series."

McG further revealed how close "Terminator Salvation" might be to its 1984 predecessor, saying Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor and Schwarzenegger could yet be in the movie in some form and that he has been in contact with Robert Patrick, who portrayed a T-1000 model in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," and Michael Biehn, who portrayed an adult Kyle Reese in "The Terminator."

Biehn would not necessarily fit in any capacity.

A fews shots in the dark are that McG wants the film to begin with a Sarah Connor voice-over, Schwarzenegger's face to be superimposed on Roland Kickinger's body and Patrick to be a random resistance fighter caught by SkyNet harvesters.

WATCH io9's EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!

Show more!

REACTION: Marvel Comics EIC geeks out again at NY ComicCon about 'Thor' meeting with Kenneth Branagh

Imagine two Hulk movies. One is about the origin of the green beast and the other is about how he bonds to Bruce Banner. That is what Director Kenneth Branagh allegedly has planned for "Thor."

Though this rumor is old news, it is mentioned again because of a few geeky Tweets exchanged between Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and a "Avengers" comic book writer Michael Bendis after the former and two other bigwigs met with the Shakespearean actor for about eight hours last week.

A six-Tweet conversation between the two Marvel Comics insiders and a fan indicates that Branagh, who is set to direct the film, was quoting from several past Thor comic book stories at the meeting, which caused Quesada to rush home and geek-out on Twitter.

Quesada later said at New York ComicCon that the director essentially acted out the entire film at that meeting of the minds.

What remains in question is whether 2010's "Thor" will be about the title character's fall from Asgard grace, being forced to live as a mortal man named Dr. Donald Blake. Quesada's following interview with MTV indicates the film might primarily focus on Odin and his two sons, Thor and Loki.

Branagh said last December that the film is "a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario,” whatever that specifically means.

If this rumor ends up being true, "Thor" would be a fresh change of pace from other comic book movies in which the title character acquires super powers and then adapts heroic qualities 90 minutes later. It would also be cool if the author of the following video's claim ends up being true.

Show more!

REACTION: Christian Bale suggests he invokes Linda Hamilton's crazy Sarah Connor in 'Terminator Salvation'

Christian Bale said on Feb. 6 that he was tapping into Linda Hamilton's interpretation of Sarah Connor while shooting a "Terminator Salvation" scene during which he confronted the film's director of photography.

Specifically, Bale said he was trying to recreate the "blood craziness" of Hamilton's performance when her character is being held in an insane asylum in 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" and that somehow he took the performance too far when it was translated into a verbal reprimand. 

His explanation seemingly makes sense in that Hamilton's portrayal as Sarah Connor during the insane asylum sequences is more violent and intense than what would be required for what has been described as a very emotional scene between Bale's John Connor and Bryce Dallas Howard's Kate Connor in "Terminator Salvation."

Cuts from the film's trailer teases that at some point John Connor leaves a pregnant Kate Connor right before he is about to engage in a dangerous mission that could result in the end of the war between the human resistance and SkyNet. One cut in particular suggests John Connor is killed.

Was Bale tapping into the all-or-nothing feeling Sarah Connor character must feel in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" knowing that her escape from the asylum could affect the fate of the human race, which will require a leader to rally them against the machines in the future?

Maybe the prospect of becoming a father changes John Connor the way it changed Sarah Connor when she became a mother in that he finally has a reason to care whether human kind survives annihilation beyond saving his own neck. 

This would make sense given that an Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 model tells the future military leader in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" that his days are numbered, and that would make anyone crazy.

LISTEN TO BALE'S APOLOGY!

Show more!

REACTION REVERIE: Robert Downey Jr.'s vague allusion to Iron Man 2 plot could mean several things

Robert Downey Jr. says a sequel to 2008's "Iron Man" might explore the character Tony Stark's responsibility of having adopted a superhero identity, having revealed his secret identity to the world, or something else entirely.

At this point, Downey cannot do anything more than drop vague hints to keep the entertainment news media and fanboys speculating about the film at least until early 2010. But what his comments could mean for the plot of the highly anticipated sequel has potential.

One responsibility Downey's character might have to face is that every ambitious supervillain and terrorist in the world could start targeting Stark Industries given that its billionaire owner accidentally alluded on national TV to where the Iron Man hardware was developed. It would become his responsibility to make sure the armor and other similar technology does not fall into the wrong hands.

Another responsibility Tony Stark could face for adopting the superhero identity of Iron Man is that he interfered with a U.S. military operation and essentially engaged in cowboy diplomacy by stopping the members of The Ten Rings from terrorizing a small village in the Middle East. 

Stark's revelation that he is the man behind the armor might cause the American government to investigate his company and spark an international incident between the U.S. and critical nations.

Because as Tony Stark and Iron Man he decided to protect the people his weapons put in harm's way, this means someone else such as Justin Hammer would have to pick up the slack in terms of rearming the standing militaries of nations, terrorist organizations and any other shadowy entities with which Stark Industries was in bed.

In terms of his inner demons, Tony Stark might have to come to terms with the prospect that Iron Man is his way of making up for his past sins. The armored guise is not necessarily a heroic one, and that means he might have to explore what should define him as a genuine hero.

Show more!

REACTION: Christian Bale's outburst on 'Terminator Salvation' set sign of character-driven film lacking one key scene?

All that will be posted about Christian Bale's incident with a "Terminator Salvation" director of photography is that he must be determined to portray a very deep and intense John Connor.

It is worth mentioning that Bale was initially not interested in portraying the character unless Director Joseph McGinty Nichol could show the Welsh actor a script that could metaphorically hold an audience's interest if it were read by two naked actors for two hours. He set a level of professionalism for the film's production that was allegedly not adhered to on the set many times.

One has to agree with Harry Knowles from "Ain't It Cool News" that Bale's outburst is not news.

Not only did the incident occur two months ago, but it has very little to do with the film except that maybe what has been called the most emotional scene between Bale's character and Bryce Dallas Howard's Kate Brewster will not be as natural as it could have been given that the actor's concentration was interrupted and thus had to be reshot.

But self-censorship is another matter altogether for a news Web site, though it could be argued that the released audio of Bale verbally reprimanding Shane Hurlbut is accessible anywhere on the Web. 

If anything, moviegoers should hear the recording of what happened to reassure themselves that Bale takes portraying the man whose very existence means the difference between the survival of the human race and its extinction at the hands of cybernetic organisms very seriously. 

"Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines" left a lot for John Connor to prove in terms of his worthiness to accomplish this task. "I am" will not secure his place as leader of the human resistance, but Bale is evidently charged up and ready for the challenge in "Terminator Salvation."

READ STORY! 

LISTEN TO AUDIO!

Show more!

REACTION: McG hints at what will happen in third act of 'Terminator Salvation'

Director Joseph McGinty Nichol posed two questions on Jan. 30 that might be the basis of the third act of "Terminator Salvation," saying that it is likely to make moviegoers both mad and think.

"Is Skynet smart enough to use the best parts of ourselves against ourselves? Can we trust the machine?" McG said.

McG refers to the artificial intelligence that is SkyNet abducting human beings to use as guinea pigs in trying to develop the T-800 Arnold Schwarzenegger model that is sent back in time to kill Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese in 1984's "The Terminator." He portrays its development in "Terminator Salvation" as the beginning of the end for the human race. 

Striking about this part of the director's interview with Wired is the prospect that this berserk defense network so often mentioned as an unstoppable force in past Terminator films has its own limitations that the human resistance might exploit. 

Especially shocking about what McG said is that it might be possible to trust SkyNet or its Terminator assassins.

This bodes well for a film that McG indicates is as much character-driven and philosophical in terms of its overall plot as it is jam-packed with action as it relates to human resistance fighters making machines wish they had never been assembled.

Likening the aim of the script to be something with which Christian Bale would be willing to be involved, McG said "The Dark Knight" star wanted to read a script that two naked actors could portray and that it remain compelling for two hours. He also referenced in talking about the film an affinity for stories guided by the saying, "That which makes us great will be our undoing."

All the aforementioned parts of McG's interview suggest that perhaps SkyNet will be portrayed as using organic body parts in a quest to improve itself as a defensive network the same way that human beings use technology to make fighting wars more efficient. 

Lacking in perspective from the battle-hardened protagonists in the past Terminator films is that SkyNet triggered, but did not cause an arms exchange between the U.S. and Russia because it deemed the latter nation's nuclear stockpile as threatening.

What if SkyNet simply did not understand the human concept of Mutually Assured Destruction? Could an attempt to destroy the defense network lead to this revelation?

READ STORY!

Show more!

REACTION: Did Jon Favreau aim too high in trying to cast actors for Iron Man 2?

Spider-Man fans say they can relate to the web slinger as opposed to The Batman because the former deals with real-life problems when not wearing his mask such as struggling to pay the bills.

Perhaps this is because Marvel Studios, the creative force behind the web slinger on the silver screen, has its own financial difficulties that are creating a nightmare in terms of casting actors who differ on whether they are willing to work for a paycheck below their usual quota in the sequel to 2005's "Iron Man."

Marvel Studios indicates Terrence Howard asked for too much to reprise his role as Lt. James Rhodes, Samuel L. Jackson implies he was almost lowballed when negotiating to portray Nick Fury and Mickey Rourke will be wearing The Crimson Dynamo armor for one-quarter of $1 million. READ STORY!

No one except the people of interest themselves seem to know what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

Yes, the economy is in a recession, but one has to wonder if the news about the casting of progressively lesser known actors has anything to do with the creative ambition of a director who is not used to balancing the budget of a major summer blockbuster. 

It is a fair question considering that Jon Favreau overpaid Howard for a supporting role in "Iron Man" and initially wanted the very bankable Jackson cast as another side character in the sequel, but ended up considering Emily Blunt and maybe John Cho for equally as important roles as The Black Widow and The Mandarin, respectively. READ STORY!

Also worth noting is that this is the first time that a Marvel Comics movie adaptation has experienced so many casting problems.

Could there be a communication gap between Favreau's creativity and the studio's accounting office?

Show more!

REACTION REVERIE: Liam Neeson talks about the prospect of reviving Ra's Al Ghul for Batman 3

Liam Neeson's comments in passing about "The Dark Knight" at Sundance will likely spark debate about whether his Ra's Al Ghul character will return as the primary villain in a third Batman movie. 

Though there is plenty left to explore with the BruceWayne/Batman character and his inner demons, Christopher Nolan, his brother and David Goyer have few other options in terms of villains that are mainstream enough to attract a broad range of audiences to watch a third installment. 

Every other villain does not fit into the director's grounded-in-reality Gotham City, Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Two-Face is dead, recasting The Joker would be a slight against Heath Ledger's performance and at best a poor imitation. READ RELATED POST! 

Clever digital editing with shots of Ledger's Joker in "The Dark Knight" that never made it past the cutting room floor could perhaps provide a sense of brief continuity in a sequel, but that cannot carry an entire movie.

Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul can. 

In "Batman Begins," the last time Ra's is seen alive is aboard the city-spanning rail train right before it crashes into a Wayne Tower parking lot. He curiously does not panic or try to find an exit, instead closing his eyes as though in a meditative state. What if he entered into a deep ninja mantra that would null the pain in case the crash was not fatal? 

No one ever really dies in a movie, after all.

DC Comics' envisioning of the character as a mostly immortal eco-terrorist who uses mysterious green chemicals to rejuvenate his body would have excluded him from inclusion in the Nolan Batman movie series. This was changed in "Batman Begins" to Ra's using "cheap parlor tricks" such as having a loyal servant pose as him.

What if the reputation of Ra's Al Ghul in the movie as being immortal or employing supernatural methods is that of several men throughout the centuries who have taken on the mantle of leader of The League of Shadows? 

It can be inferred that the man staking claim to the name itself is not so much important as the organization's directive of possessing a willingness to do what is necessary, and that at some point one of its members replaced by force a leader who failed to do so. 

"The Dark Knight" introduced the concept of one defender of justice taking up another's mantle that lends itself to the father/son dynamic between Bruce Wayne and Ra's, who could use the billionaire's penchant for the power that comes with being The Batman with the vast resources of The League of Shadows. Bruce as The Batman did prove he could best his old friend in "Batman Begins," and if anyone could chillingly express the comparison between the two men in regard to their lust for more power it is Neeson.

Neeson is an actor who expresses frustration with not being able to find challenging roles. Returning as Ra's would satisfy this need by asking him to change the character from the self-righteous, megalomaniacal leader of a terrorist organization to a man humbled by the threat of his former adherents, who perceive his failure to destroy Gotham as blood in the water. His urgent, yet false plea for help would appeal to Bruce Wayne's more compassionate sensibilities.

Show more!

REACTION: McG reveals extended 'Terminator Salvation' sequences of John Connor water wrestling, Kyle Reese at gas station

Remember Christian Bale's John Connor manhandling a metal water slug and Sam Worthington's puzzled Marcus Wright walking into a dilapidated gas station in the "Terminator Salvation" trailer? 

Director Joseph McGinty Nichol showed footage from the film as part of his roadshow at the Los Angeles-based Directors Guild of America building on Jan. 14 that put these two cuts from the trailer into perspective.

Part of the footage provided an explanation as to why John Connor ends up fighting a snake-like machine called a hydrobot, which yanks the character's helicopter out of the sky and into a body of water.

John Connor then fights off a hydrobot and makes his way ashore before Marcus Wright, whose metal endoskeleton is exposed, tackles more incoming opponents as the first sequence continues. 

Subsequent dialogue between the two characters indicates that they are on their way to save Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese from being used by SkyNet to create cyborgs.

Another part of the footage shows that a jumbo Terminator called a Harvester snatches up raggedy human beings including Kyle Reese that are scavenging through the gas station's remains.

After a gun battle on a stretch of road in the second sequence, The Harvester unleashes from its leg compartments two Moto-Terminator motorcycles, which chase after Kyle Reese, Marcus Wright and a little girl in a tow truck. They are inevitably caught underneath an incoming fireball.

Show more!

REACTION: 'Stargate Atlantis' producer implies the team will become even more like SG-1 in DVD movie

Where does "Stargate Atlantis" go in terms of its upcoming straight-to-DVD incarnation if The City of The Ancients is back on Earth? 

Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi says that they will go even further back to "Stargate SG-1" basics.

"With Atlantis back on Earth, why the hell would the I.O.A. ever let it go?” Mallozzi said. “Also, with a permanent station in the Milky Way, wouldn‘t Atlantis, logically, cease to be a launch point for gate travel and, instead, become a research center for Ancient technology?” SHOW STORY!

When gate travel continues, Sheppard and his exploration team will likely do so from Stargate Command, with Atlantis substituting for The Wraith-destroyed Area 51. Sound familiar? 

Does anyone else sense an SG-1/Atlantis team-up on the horizon?

Had the series continued, a better idea would have been to have Colonel John Sheppard, Ronon Dex and the rest of the Atlantis crew hijack Atlantis back to The Pegasus Galaxy to which it is responsible instead of giving into bureaucratic pressure from The I.O.A.

Completely cutting off Atlantis from Earth would have let the series stand on its own legs.

More upsetting than this uninspired, albeit rudimentary premise for the movie are the interesting ideas for episodes that would have seen production if the series had been renewed for a sixth season.

The Pegasus Galaxy Replicators and Asgard would have returned to substantiate the hefty fiscal cost and loss of man-power that comes with running the Stargate program.

Aside from the return of familiar alien menaces, the "Stargate Atlantis" writing staff intended to have Sheppard and his team disappear for months and then replaced by a new one when they are presumed dead, launch a daring rescue of one of the so often expendable other members of the expedition and go up against creepy pod kids with the ability to control space ships with their minds.

To have kids as enemies would have been an apropos idea to explore given that one of the ongoing themes of "Stargate SG-1" was Earth having been portrayed by advanced alien cultures as naive in terms of how prepared humans were to use technology beyond their level of intellectual and moral development. 

What a nightmare it would have been for The Atlantis Expedition to go up against literal children irrationally using immense fire power.

Show more!

REACTION REVERIE: 'Stargate Atlantis' failed to live up to the heart, high stakes of surviving in the Pegasus Galaxy

What ended the highly-rated Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy during its fifth season was not SG-1's unexpectedly profitable straight-to-DVD adventures. It was the failed promise of "Stargate Atlantis" itself.

One of the many reasons the show was cancelled was because the main characters lacked the heart that made "Stargate SG-1," its predecessor, more than just a run-of-the-mill science fiction series. 

Joe Flanigan's John Sheppard, for instance, started off as a misunderstood soldier with a track record for doing what he knew was right rather than following orders. He was essentially a rebel without a cause, which eventually became taking charge of defending his people in a savage galaxy from the onslaught of a powerful alien race, The Wraith. 

Early on, Sheppard proved the willingness to do what was necessary toward that end in mercifully killing a commanding officer before a Wraith queen finished feeding on him. 

To boot, hints of an intimate relationship with Atlantis' leader Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Tori Higginson), and his unwillingness to disappoint her, gradually changed Sheperd's usually nonchalant demeanor. 

It is worth mentioning that Higginson's Weir, the effectively charming and stalwart leader of the expedition, provided the show with a strong sense of command that has yet to be duplicated. What seemed to detract from "Stargate Atlantis" was the writers killing off endearing characters such as Weir and Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion).

Sheppard's character thereafter stagnated, especially when Weir was killed off, leaving him as a wise-cracking hero type who let his P90 do all his talking. 

Jason Momoa's Ronin Dex character started off and ended up the same way. 

Rachel Luttrel's Teyla Emmagan wore out her usefulness as tour guide of The Pegasus Galaxy very soon.

Most of the heartfelt character-based episodes began to focus on David Hewlett's Rodney McKay character, who intially allowed the massive ego that came with being a genius scientist to prevent him from developing close, meaningful relationships with his peers and estranged sister.

Once some galactic calamity forced McKay to move beyond his arrogant tendencies to find common ground with the people around him, the character would return to being a self-centered jackass in the next episode. 

Some of the show's best episodes seemed to depend on this formula.

As an ensemble, the characters were at times ruthless in how they chose to combat the latest threat. Questionable tactics were employed such as biologically turning and conditioning Wraith into human beings or feeding a human to a Wraith ally. 

Noticeably missing from the show was SG-1's hallmark of acquiring and using advanced technology with a sense of moral caution. 

Anything, including a superpower-imbued McKay lifting Beckett in the air, introducing Replicator nanites into Weir's body or him literally playing with people's lives, was fair game.

Exploration of The Wraith queens also fell short in that they lacked any distinctive personality traits that made The Goa'uld System Lords such compelling characters. They were just hungry and pissed off.

"Stargate Atlantis" also failed because the expedition team struggled to find a substantial number of allies with technology equally or more advanced than their own, making their last-minute defeats of major alien bad guys less than believable, though the Travelers were a notable exception. 

Whereas SG-1 had The Asgard, The Ancients, The Tolan, The Nox and The Tok'ra, the Atlantis Expedition was more or less on its own going up against every major race of bad guys, and sometimes, some bitter allies.

The team's mandate to defend Atlantis from The Wraith fizzled away when the Pegasus Galaxy Replicators, an idea borrowed from "SG-1," eliminated most of the life-sucking aliens. 

Later, The Replicators were also vanquished, leaving the show with no legs.

Yes, Wraith such as Todd and Michael remained to cause mischief, but the sense of overwhelming adversity caused by the reawakening of The Wraith toward the beginning of the show disappeared.

Another shortcoming of "Stargate Atlantis" was that shooting locations in a lot of episodes began to run together. There is only so many times forestry Canadian backdrop can be used to portray an alien planet. After a while, it looked like Sheppard and his team were out in the forest playing a game of Paintball with The Wraith. 

Shifting the format of the Atlantis Expedition from a cable series to DVD movies might fit its inevitable transition from a heartfelt, character-driven story to a series of shallow, action-packed space battles. 

But it does not pay justice to the many fans who initially made the Stargate franchise a success.

Show more!

REACTION REVERIE: Christopher Nolan postpones naming Harvey Two-Face's victims during 'The Dark Knight DB Live Screening'

What does not make sense to fans of "The Dark Knight," and what is probably sparingly mentioned because of their love for the movie, are the identities of the five people Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Two-Face killed.

"Five dead? Two of them cops?" Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon says toward the end of the movie, even though the character's math is a bit fuzzy to anyone who kept count. This might be a screenplay snafu that director Christopher Nolan did not deny or confirm during The "The Dark Knight BD Live Screening" on December 18, saying that he would clarify the identity of the five bodies at another time.

Harvey Two-Face's first confirmed victim in the movie is Detective Michael Wuertz (Ron Dean), who is the Gotham City police officer that drives the soon-to-be-crazed district attorney to the warehouse where his face is scarred.

That is one of the two mentioned cops.

Next on Harvey Two-Face's hit list is the man driving Eric Robert's Sal Maroni, whose murder causes the car they are in to swerve out of control and then flip over. What is not seen in "The Dark Knight" is Maroni's fate after the crash, the death of which could be included in Jim Gordon's five-man body count. That would make three.

Before Harvey Two-Face shoots Maroni's driver, the mobster out of fear for his life shares that Detective Anna Ramirez is the police officer that drove Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to the warehouse where she was killed in an explosion. But when Harvey Two-Face confronts Ramirez, the result of a coin flip dictates that he simply knock her out with his gun. Maybe his gun fatally hit Ramirez in the temple.

That leaves a generous body count of four people, with one person accounted for in Jim Gordon's estimate.

Could the last murder, or other murders, be explained in a sequel to "The Dark Knight"?

Such a revelation about Harvey Two-Face would be in accordance with Nolan's style of making movies about complex characters, and a physical deformity or a personal tragedy is too simple of an explanation as to why someone so altruistic snapped.

Maybe he snapped earlier than fans of "The Dark Knight" think.

It is also not unprecedented in terms of past DC Comics storylines to have Harvey Dent whacking people before his face is scarred.

Show more!

REACTION: New 'Terminator Salvation' trailer reveals the revved up fate of the human race

There is no fate except that which the main characters in the past three Terminator movies make. At least that is what is indicated in the new "Terminator Salvation" trailer.

Which starts off with Sam Worthington's Marcus Wright walking toward the remains of a post-Judgment Day gas station similar to the one at which Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor declared that a storm was coming at the end of 1984's "The Terminator."

Trailer dialogue indicates Marcus Wright is a Terminator, but it is not clear whether the machine is friend or foe. This is one way that the movie stands out from its predecessors.

What makes this future different from that which Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese told Sarah Connor about before knocking her up and from the couple of war scenes at the start of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine" is that some of the Terminators now have arms equipped with machine gun turrets, others look like motorcycles straight out of hell and one in particular comes in jumbo size.

How the new 2018 post-Judgement Day future differs from the one established as having come to be in 2018 is that the human resistance, though Christian Bale's John Connor says in the new trailer that they are losing, is equipped with more than just guns and Terminator-sniffing dogs this time around. They now have Road-Warrior-like mack trucks, helicopters and wear not-so-rag-tag looking military garb. In other words, it seems as though they are all dressed up with nowhere to go in terms of an effective battle strategy.

Of course, it stands to reason and should be no surprise that the future would be different in a movie series that started with the premise of traveling back in time to change the past. But what clips from the latest trailer reveal about the plot of "Terminator Salvation" is that these efforts only served to intensify the war John Connor was destined to wage.

Kyle Reese was partly right in "The Terminator" when he told Sarah Connor that the future had no yet been written, though he must have meant that the details of the war were yet to be determined. Maybe he was just trying to make her comfortable enough for some passion that might some day lead the human race to victory against cybernetic organisms.

Show more!