For reasons not entirely known or understandable, the classic movie The Thing From Another World, which in turn was remade into The Thing, another classic by John Carpenter, is once again getting the remake treatment, though it’s being billed as a prequel.  The cast is coming together now, with Joel Edgerton assuming the lead role and the recently announced Mary Elizabeth Winstead playing a “Ph.D candidate who joins the research team in Antarctica after it discovers a ship in ice.”

While all of this sounds moderately alarming, one can take a little solace in the fact the script was written by Ronald D. Moore, perhaps best known for rebooting Battlestar Galactica for the SyFy network.

If nothing else, Mary Elizabeth Winstead will be bringing the hotness, something missing in the first two version of The Thing…and probably for good reason.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan releases this week, which should make fans going through withdrawal quite happy. The Plan, directed James Olmos, attempts to fill in fill in gaps as it relates to the Cylons, specifically the story of Kavil. Unfortunately, The Plan is not a strong movie, lacking a central narrative thread. It plays out like a retrospective of key Battlestar events, doesn’t really shed light on anything, is disjointed and without purpose. Not a great review, sorry to say. On the upside, the special-effects have never been better, easily the best technical work of the series.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Buy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on DVD

Buy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Blu-Ray

Monty Python: Almost The Truth is the best documentary ever created about the British comedy group Monty Python. Stretching six glorious hours, every member is interviewed, memories are recalled and tons of things you never new are revealed. This documentary, made by the son of Terry Jones, goes in-depth on how the group formed, what their lives were like prior to Monty Python, their inspirations, battles with the BBC, how George Harrison of the Beatles financed The Holy Grail because he wanted to see the movie, and on and on and on. No Monty Python fan should be without this great documentary in their library.

Buy Monty Python: Almost the Truth on DVD

Buy Monty Python: Almost the Truth on Blu-Ray

Being a bit of a Sci-Fi nerd (or is it Sy-Fy now?) , the few friends I have managed to accumulate over the years tend to have similar interests, and whenever a few of us get together one area of disagreement tends to rear it’s ugly head more often then others — Which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars?

While I haven’t discovered anything that gives a definitive answer to which is better, I have come across the answer to which is bigger.  Someone named Dan Carlson went to the trouble of compiling an image that features ships from both universes to scale with 1 pixel = 10 meters. Apparently with little else to do in his life, he also added ships from almost every other Science Fiction property that made its way into television and film including things as obscure Lexx and Space: Above and Beyond.

So if size matters (and all Carlson’s distances are accurate), it looks like the Star Wars fans have something to brag about due to the incredible length of the Executor class Destroyer. (Star Trek fans can salvage some pride however, if they point to the Earth Spacedock and try to make an arguement for girth.) Unfortunately this area of comparison may only start up another bitter debate, especially if one subscribes to the theory that guys with big trucks (or space ships) are only trying to compensate for a deficiency somewhere else.

So what are you trying to draw attention away from, Star Wars fans? Perhaps you’re suffering from a little Light Saber performance anxiety?

Bryan Singer is turning into a Hollywood stooge, abandoning any and all promise he once showed early in his career. When his rookie effort The Usual Suspects rejuvenated a slumbering independent cinema scene, Mr. Singer was held aloft as the second-coming of film-making. It was an original, creative film that sparked hope for more to follow.

‘Twas not to be.

He struck paydirt with X-Men, which was a fine movie for the genre, and then began a downward spiral into big-budget nonsense, squandering his talents on a sequel and failing in his task of bringing a good Superman movie to screens with Superman Returns. His next movie, Valkyrie, would probably have been better if it wasn’t hamstrung with Tom Cruise’s laughably-bad performance.

Now Bryan Singer is orbiting several remake projects, including Battlestar Galactica and (I can barely bring myself to say this) Excalibur.

I’ve already riffed on why remaking Battlestar Galactica is a brain-dead idea at this point in time, which you can find here.

But Excalibur? Now you’re pissing me off, Singer. Excalibur was my fantasy equivalent of Star Wars when it first opened in 1981. I adored that movie. Still do. It holds up great as it never relied on effects so there isn’t a hell of a lot to update. But why….why, Singer? You have nothing better to do than pilfer the work of others? Is your imagination so barren that you cannot find a single original story to tell anymore?

I have an idea for you: why don’t you go visit a bookstore and take a little stroll down the Science-Fiction and Fantasy aisle. There you will find thousands of great books that can be turned into fantastic movies. You won’t need to tarnish the work of John Boorman, who is three times the director you’ll ever be.

You had so much potential. Now you are slop. A hack. A thief. Barren in mind, void of integrity.

Source: Variety