Collider reported a while back (sue me, my kids were sick and now I’m painting my fucking house!) that someone is determined to make another Highlander movie. Not a sequel, a remake.

Call it whatever you want. There can be only one, so piss off.

Let’s be frank, while a heck of a good time, Highlander is not a great movie. It simply isn’t. I mean, I love it. I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve watched it. It’s not a guilty pleasure, because I feel no guilt about loving it. Still, it isn’t a great movie. It’s entertaining.

The press release talks about a “re-imagining” and an expansion of the mythology. Listen, guys, someone else tried to do that. There was this movie called the Quickening (there has only been one Highlander movie . . . though I might, MIGHT, accept that there was possibly a TV series). It sucked 18 different kinds of ass.

I would tell them to walk away, but someone obviously thinks there’s money to be made.

Seriously, Hollywood, stop remaking, reimagining, reusing, and recycling. Try something new. Create something different. I mean, go ahead and get inspired (Raiders of the Lost Ark recycled without being completely creatively bankrupt), but stop stealing other people’s stuff, okay?

Because apparently someone thought the last Ghost Rider movie was an artistic achievement, they’re making another one. Well, let’s be honest, it’s because the last one made money. A movie doesn’t need to make a lot of money to be sequel worthy, especially comic book movies these days. Haven’t you heard, they’re all the rage!

And so the slightly disturbing (and incredibly disturbed) Nicholas Cage is apparently going to be involved in the Ghost Rider sequel, according to Variety. David Goyer, who has done some good comic book adaptations, is in talks to create the story.

We shall see.

Actually, you might, but I likely won’t. I still haven’t seen the original. I was a fan of the 90s Ghost Rider comic for about 10 issues. That’s the extent of my fandom. And the movie didn’t have a lot of good press. Eva Mendes was about the only thing that piqued my interest, but there’s plenty of other places to see her.

I am actually in pain, across my back, from a day of painting. I have many more to look forward to, at least two more. Woe is me, indeed. Anyway, the good thing is that all of the other stuff that has been taking over my life has receded. Somewhat. Still another trip to Brantford to see my dad for Thanksgiving, then I’m back to work (parental leave over), and things should settle down.

Even though in pain, I have a moment, so—blog entry!

I’ve been thinking and dreaming about playing, rather than doing any. We haven’t got a third wheel for our regular group (The Ottawa Warband, and a sidenote, I really, really need to get more content up there, but as we aren’t playing, I don’t find myself motivated to edit and add it), so no gaming for this cat.

The thing I’ve been thinking and dreaming about playing . . . well, actually running, ’cause that’s what I tend to do, is either ancient Greece—specifically Mycenean, post Trojan War—or Roman style sword & sorcery. My biggest problem pulling off S&S is that my favoured system right now is True20, and the magic system, while less flash than D&D, is a little quick and uber for S&S. Savage Worlds is pretty much the same.

So I went through a few of my books, thinking there might be something I could use. BAM! Conan.

Now, I played Conan before, but we never really used the magic system. None of the players were spell-casters. Looking at the spells, though, and the rules governing spell-casting, this would totally work. Makes sense, given that Conan is really a pillar of S&S.

The sweet thing is that Conan was a d20/OGL product, that means I can slot it into True20 with minimal adjustment. I haven’t gone over the spell specifics, and I won’t unless there’s an actual chance I might be running this, but a quick look gives me hope.

I want the system to feel really gritty, and by that I mean dangerous. I would use a modified Toughness saving throw, with failures that run through the non-lethal and into the lethal, meaning that if the character misses by enough, casting spells could harm or even kill him. The Conan magic system uses power points. I figure I can use the power point cost as an adjustment to the Toughness save target number—so if a spell as a PP cost of 5, the Toughness save would be against 20 (15+5).

Man, I hope I get to use this. I want to see how it works in practice.

Oh when, when will I run a game again?

It’s late, but this little thing was bouncing around in my head, so I got it down on virtual paper. Nothing else to do with it but throw it out there. Inspired by not much at all.

I tried to get out of the life, get free of it. That’s what brought me to Everthorn. I thought I could get lost in the city. So many people. Could I drown in the humanity, that which I had lost so long ago?

Those streets—cobblestone or dirt, rough or level—my feet didn’t know them. I knew nothing of this place and no one knew me. The past was beyond those walls, those mementoes of a long gone day. There, where nothing reminded me of all for which I would answer, I thought I could hide.

That’s not how it works.

So I find myself with three feet of steel between me and those who need to die. I just don’t want to kill them. I don’t want to kill anyone.

It all smells of coal smoke and fear. The fogs, clinging to me like gossamer tar, leave us as shadows, circling, watching, waiting. I try to remove myself from the fight, I try a subtle withdrawal. No. I am surrounded.

I reached Everthorn with one small speck of my soul unblemished. It should’ve meant more to me than my life. They proved the lie in that.

Twelve men. They sent so many. Did they know me? Had they heard my name, heard my story, knew that damn piece of death I held in my hand?

It didn’t matter. It ended like it always ended: someone moved.

This time, it started with a drawn gun. Maybe he thought I couldn’t face bullets. We’ll never know.

Twelve more dead and the dark metal of my blade just that much darker. So much blood. It’s gone well beyond too much.

Some day, the City of Chimneys will swallow me. Some day, the blade will drink my blood.

Some day.

Not today.

Damn.

Here’s an image for the Losers posted by Idris Elba on his twitter account, and caught by Collider.

I have to say, my concerns for Chris Evans as Jensen have been somewhat lessened because he does look the part—and I do believe he can deliver on the motor-mouth humour aspect. I like what I can see of the rest of the team, especially Cougar.

This doesn’t mean that Sylvain White is going to deliver an awesome adaptation, it just means the guys look the parts.

And yes, of course I’m going to see this, just probably not in the theatre.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting on new additions to the Thor movie. It looks like Colm Feore and Jaimie Alexander will be part of the movie. Ms. Alexander will play Sif. I don’t know who the heck she is, but her photos look like she’s got the right basic look for Sif.

As for Feore, he is absolutely awesome in everything he does. It doesn’t matter if the movie he is in sucks, he’s still great. Let’s hope this movie doesn’t suck. That’d be a pretty amazing trick, given Kenneth Branagh is directing, and he is as close to a god as is possible outside of the Marvel universe.

IGN now has a trailer for Solomon Kane, the movie about the eponymous Robert E Howard character.

While this is way more Lord of the Rings than the stories, I’m willing to accept that as the price to see a Solomon Kane movie. What gives me pause, though, is James Purefoy’s accent. That doesn’t sound like Mark Anthony! It is possible that’s a Devonshire accent, given that Kane is supposed to be from there. I wouldn’t know.

Still, it looks pretty cool. Cool enough to get me into a theatre? Well, if Solomon Kane promises to babysit the kids, maybe.

. . .’s career.

Not the person, of course. I would never condone homicide.

Still, Paul W. S. Anderson, complete moron behind such pieces of steaming crap as Alien vs. Predator, is tempting me. He’s now about to push a version of the Three Musketeers through his bowels and past his sphincter.

It was bad enough when Disney gave this classic a shot. At least their’s had the redoubtable Oliver Platt as Porthos. What will Paul “the Dumper” Anderson bring to the table? He’s making it more modern. Yes, because that’s what the classic needs.

Honestly, it can be done and done well—bringing a classic to the screen in modern-mode that is. I point to Richard III as an example. I also once saw an amazing production of Hamlet that had been moved forward closer to modern time with Brent Carver in the lead. But given Mr. Anderson’s body of work, “done well” doesn’t seem to be in his dictionary.

Maybe someone needs to buy him a new one.

And, honestly, after Richard Lester’s the Three Musketeers and the Four Musketeers, further versions of the novel brought to screen should have been outlawed. If there is one strong argument for the New World Order and global government, stopping further screen versions of this classic is it.

I didn’t exactly hate the Fantastic Four movie, but I wasn’t a huge fan. Same for the next installment. Now, according to Variety, Fox is planning a Fantastic Four reboot.

It seems to me, this is let about trying to craft a better movie (considering the first one made a truckload of money) then trying to get a cheaper cast and locking them into a multi-picture deal.

Still, there is the chance that we’ll get a better movie this tine around. There’s a better chance we’ll get another critical failure that is entertaining but totally screws with the canon in entirely unnecessary ways. Seriously, there’s a reason the FF have been around for so long, and have remained popular.

I asked Fox not to mess up with Wolverine, but they ignored me. I figure they owe me one.

So, Fox, don’t mess up the FF again. Please.