NEWSCHUNKS for 05.01.09

FIRST TITANS SET PHOTOS ONLINE: The Spanish-language website Loquepasaentenerife.com has posted the first photos from the set of the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake. It's a good-looking set, but for sheer spectacle they'll have a ways to go to compete with the actual temple ruins used in the original Harryhausen film.

EARLY RAVE FOR GILLIAM'S IMAGINARIUM: Aintitcoolnews.com's honcho Harry Knowles has seen Terry Gilliam's upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and declares that it's a return to form for the director of such genre classics as Brazil and Time Bandits: "THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS is the very first full fledged unfettered Terry Gilliam fantasy since the advent of digital effects – and folks… Gilliam is about to blow your mind."

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE: Yes, a movie with that title is in the works, and the premise is... Well, exactly what it sounds like. A group of thirtysomething friends returns to the ski lodge where they used to go as teens back in the '80s, and the titular device transports them back to 1987. It's a silly yet undeniably charming premise, and the cast is great: '80s icons John Cusack and Crispin Glover, with underrated Daily Show alum Rob Corddry and Lizzy Caplan as Cusack's love interest. Sebastian Stan will play Corddry's ski-jock rival. (Hmm. If John Cusack from 2009 goes back to the '80s and goes skiing, what are the chances he'll run into the teenage John Cuscack from Better Off Dead?)

DEMETER SETS SAIL AGAIN: I'm having deja vu. Way back in the Darkworlds.com days, I remember writing about the upcoming movie The Last Voyage of Demeter. The horror film would expand on a chapter in Bram Stoker's original Dracula novel, following Dracula as he picked off the crew of the Demeter during his voyage to England. That version of the project apparently ran aground, but now Variety is reporting that Friday the 13th remake director Marcus Nispiel is in talks to take the helm.

ONLINE GAMES FOR THE LAND OF THE LOST MOVIE - PROOF THAT OURS IS A GODLESS COSMOS: The site for the Land of the Lost movie has a couple of games. The 1:45 seconds I spent playing the Chaka one left me feeling like I needed to spend the next three hours showering with a brillo pad and that weird, gritty soap they used to make you use in elementary school. As we have previously established, Will Ferrell is evil. (The only ray of sunshine in this whole mess? Apparently the movie people weren't able to pursuade the webmaster of the funky old Land of the Lost site to give up the url! He's still sitting on the dot com, while the big-time Hollywood jerkwads are stuck with the lowly dot net. They had to be throwing buckets of cash at the guy, trying to convince him to sell. And he actually said no. For that, he is our Geek of the Week.)

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Technocrati tags: [Demeter][Hot Tub Time Machine][Titans][The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus]