Movie News Madness, 1-31-2014

What a week it's been. So much stuff has been coming out of Hollywood that I've been having a hard time keeping up with it all. But, needless to say, it's all been really exciting. Here are a few of the bigger stories that I've seen this past week.

New Ninja Turtles Design
You may have seen this already (and if you haven't, where ya been?) as it's been the biggest story of the week. New images from the set of Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles film hit the internet showing the design and detail of the turtles and Shredder. Because Paramount has been sending out Cease and Desist letters like Christmas cards to sites that have posted the images, I'm not putting them up here, but here's a link to the The Hollywood News which has all of the photos.

So far, I like the design. I think the turtles themselves are a little clunky and ridiculously top-heavy, but they look pretty badass. What I think I really like about them is the way they blended a turtle's face with a human's, making them look like a good mixture of both.

I also like the costume designs. They seem to be taking a range of Asian influenced garb and mixing it with American flavor, like the Nike arm pads Leonardo is wearing and the sweater tied around Michelangelo's waist. It's pretty unique and I'm excited to see them pull this off on screen.

But I really think my favorite is Shredder. This design has been getting a lot of flak from fans on the internet, claiming that he's too "pointy" but isn't that what Shredder is supposed to be? There's a lot of intricate detail in the design and I hope that it gets fully realized for the film. One thing that I'm noticing is the mid-abdomen flap on his suit, which kind of makes me think of the Utrom-controlled Shredder from the 2003 TMNT cartoon series. Michael Bay originally stated that the Turtles would have an alien-based origin, which he then recanted, but could we be seeing something alien in the film, such as the Utrom? That would be pretty cool.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Character Posters
This one seemed to have slipped under the radar thanks to the hullabaloo over the Ninja Turtles designs but it's damn worthy of mention. Marvel just released new posters for the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie featuring Cap, Nick Fury and Black Widow. Check 'em out.

It also appears that the movie got an updated release date. Originally, The Winter Soldier was supposed to hit theaters on April 4, 2014 but these new posters feature the date of March 26. Not having to wait an extra week to see the movie? That's pretty cool.

Ghostbusters gets Lego-fied
OK, so as far as movie news goes, this one is iffy as it counts as toy news too, but whatever. Ghostbusters turns 30 this year and Lego is celebrating as best they can; by making a Ghostbusters Lego set. I'm not sure if I can be more excited about this than I already am.

The set was submitted through their Cuusoo site, a user-based community that allows fans to vote on their favorite designs and the one with the most votes gets made. (This is also how we got the Back to the Future DeLorean last year.) The set includes an awesomely detained Ecto-1 and four mini-figures of each of the Ghostbusters. The header image on the site shows a model of the firehouse but so far, that's not part of the release. Hopefully, Ecto-1 sells ridiculously well and Lego decides to add the firehouse to the collection. I would be all over that.

UPDATE: Jesse Eisenberg cast as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred in Man of Steel Sequel
Not gonna lie; this one threw me for a loop. Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, has been cast as the genius mastermind Lex Luthor in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel. It's certainly inspired, to cast such a young Lex Luthor. It's possible that they plan to make him a child prodigy to really hammer home the character's genius, which I guess is a unique way to play it. If nothing else it's certainly interesting and I can see Eisenberg doing well with the role.

Jeremy Irons, on the other hand... That's got my interest really piqued. Irons as Alfred... Hmmm... I guess I can see that. Even though Irons is not nearly as old as some other actors that have played the role, or even how he's portrayed in the comics, it could work. Alfred is usually meant to be a subdued badass in the comics, being an ex-British Secret Service with medical training. Perhaps they plan on utilizing this side of Alfred in the upcoming movie? If so, that would be pretty awesome.

Either way, we'll find out in a few years with the film hits theaters.