So one day you’re walking along when you find an alien pod where a strange watch-like machine attaches itself to you – giving you the power of 10 different extraterrestrials. These things happen. At least they happen to Ben 10 – the hit animated show that spawned several spin-off shows and a lot of merchandise. It’s no wonder Joel Silver has taken a liking to it. The producer has even found an interesting screenwriter to build the project for the big screen. According to Variety, Silver has hired Henry Poole is Here writer Albert Torres to bring the alien master to life. Henry Poole was definitely an underappreciated dramedy, but the real writing audition for Torres came in the form of a rewrite on the Akira remake. A bit more in the Ben 10 wheelhouse. What’s interesting is that Torres also wrote the script for the Chuck Palahniuk book adaptation Survivor back when Francis Lawrence was attached to direct. This guy sounds particularly versatile. What’s doubly interesting is that there have already been two live-action Ben 10 movies – both made for television, directed by Bill and Ted alum Alex Winter. It’s undoubtedly different, but does anyone else get the Green Lantern vibe off this? Aliens, a magic device on the hand, the color green everywhere. It feels awfully similar.

The Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows junket included a massive press conference that featured so much talent from the sequel to Guy Ritchie‘s 2009 film that they needed to be arranged in stadium seating, including stars Robert Downey Jr., Noomi Rapace, and Jared Harris, director Ritchie, producers Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, and Susan Downey, screenwriters Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney, and composer Hans Zimmer. Jude Law couldn’t make it because, as RDJ put it, “his son had a soccer game.” For forty-five minutes, the group fielded questions from the Los Angeles press (let’s be honest, Downey fielded questions from the press, frequently begging for someone to toss a query at one of the nine other people sitting around and behind him), and all the microphone-grabbing and cracks at banter did yield some interesting tidbits. Mainly, a story about Hans Zimmer essentially kidnapping thirteen gypsies, but that’s for later. After the break, break out your steampunk-inspired magnifying glasses and try to follow along, Watson, as we investigate the case of the eleven things we learned at the Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows press conference.

We packed the truck that would travel to location in Palenque, Mexico a few days before we traveled via airplane. The set crew: Steve Wang, Matt Rose, Shane Mahan, Brian Simpson, Richard Landon and me. Stan Winston would be with us, supervising the set work, understanding that we would only be gone for two weeks. At least that is what our work visas indicated. Palenque, Mexico was not a location easily reached. It required one flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City, another to Villa Hermosa, and finally a long ride in a Volkswagen bus through miles of rough country until we reached our hotel that was, from what we were told, the best in the area. It sat in a large clearing, surrounded by trees; two wings of rooms branched out from a central building that housed a restaurant/bar. Later, we discovered that Arnold Schwarzenegger had taken over the entire upper conference room and had turned it into a gymnasium that was open to anyone on the crew. As we settled into our rooms we were told that there would be screening of the film the next day for the cast and crew. My understanding was that this was for the benefit of the new crew members to get a chance to catch up and understand the shots needed to complete the film. A screen and projectors were set up in Arnold’s gym.

There are events that define one’s existence that go beyond being learning or growing experiences. They become scars. Battle scars. They may fade in time, but they don’t go away. They persist. The memories of the events may become blurry, but every now and then, you run your fingertips along the raised, healed wound and remember. It all comes back like a punch in the nose. I had been on movie sets before and believed that I had been trained. The snarky ADs , the disinterested teamsters, the hustling, the waiting, they were all nearly second-nature to me, especially with the close of my on-set involvement with Monster Squad. However, nothing could prepare me for what I was going to face. My first location experience. My first time out of the country. My first time working set on a big budget film. My first time supervising a team. Predator would be all of those things and it would change my life forever.

Ben Affleck dipped his toe in the directing game by sticking to subject matter that he knew well, life in south Boston. After Gone Baby Gone and The Town did well with audiences and critics, Affleck seemed to get a bit of confidence in his new role. His next film Argo isn’t going to have anything to do with his life experiences at all. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of a globe-hopping tale about the CIA, undercover operatives, and hostages in Tehran. How’s work going on that project? I’d say pretty well, because THR is reporting that Affleck is already in negotiations to direct his next film, and this time he’s going to make the commitment to both direct and star. Unfortunately, the description of the film leads me to believe that Affleck is so comfortable as a director that he’s ready to stop doing things that interest him and start cashing checks to make crap. The film is called Line of Sight, and it’s an action movie that Joel Silver and Andrew Rona are putting together with Warner Bros. The concept is that the film will be about a team of elite commandos who have to transport some sort of precious cargo while a threat to world safety is happening and, get this, the film will be constructed of all point of view shots so that it looks like a first person shooter video game. How’s that for a twist? You know what I would have liked [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Speed Racer is the young, hotshot kid that’s going to shake up the world of racing. With the help of his loving family and hot girlfriend (?), he’ll be able to stop the stock scheme of some villain and change the face of race car driving forever. Will Speed find the will to defeat some evil corporate schmuck? Since this is intended to be a kid’s movie, yes, you bet he will! Why We Love It: Dick Tracy + Sin City + The Matrix + The Wizard of Oz + Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory + Wall Street (yes, that Wall Street) + whatever visually eye-titillating movie you can think of = Speed Racer. This film is totally “cool beans,” and that, while featuring flavors of those movies listed, is its own colorfully bombastic beast.

Cartoon Network has a show called Ben 10 that’s ridiculously popular with young boys at the moment. I’ve never heard of it before, but I imagine that some of our readers with children are all too familiar with shelling out big bucks to their grubby little offspring so they can buy all of the latest Ben 10 whosits and whatsits. I mean, when they made a live-action special based on this character, four million people watched. I didn’t even know that many people still watched cable TV in total; this thing has to be huge. And you know what happens any time something becomes a well-known brand name in the world of anything. Hollywood looks to make it the next big summertime franchise. This time it’s legendary producer Joel Silver looking to help Ben 10’s jump from small to big screen happen. I’m sure you’ve heard of him, he produced pretty much every amazing thing ever, like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Predator, The Matrix, and Hudson Hawk. Okay, so maybe Hudson Hawk isn’t awesome, but point is: Silver has been around the block. For the people behind Ben 10, having him on board to put this project together must be seen as a real coup. As a matter of fact, I have a quote from the chief operating officer of Turner animation Stu Snyder that says as much right here, “I cannot think of anyone better suited than Joel Silver to develop a theatrical action-driven adventure based on our franchise [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

I was fortunate enough to sit down with the director on the day he locked picture on the film to talk about dance battles, getting lost in the jungle, and one of the best Birthday gifts he’s ever gotten – the chance to shoot a project he’s loved since he was a kid.

Borys Kit over at Heat Vision is reporting today that the long-gestating Sgt. Rock movie is being given to a new creative team by producer Joel Silver.

Right in advance of day one of Comic-Con, the folks at Warner Bros. have released the first trailer and teaser poster for their upcoming action film Ninja Assassin.

In 1986, “Watchmen” was published as a limited series comic book. Twenty-three years later, it’s finally being released as a film. Here’s a look at what it took to get here.

Warners is moving forward with Masters of the Universe and John Stevenson at the helm for his first live-action flick.

Guy Ritchie and members of the cast of his upcoming film Sherlock Holmes were on hand in London today for a press conference to confirm casting and mark the start of principal photography on the film, which is set for release in 2010.

Yes, the web is filled with rumors, and while we sometimes get them right, they are for the most part, all worth nothing more than the paper upon which they are printed. That said, lets talk about a few of these.

Go ahead and get all of your “too old for this shit” comments in now, I’ll wait.

Dark Castle unleashes trailers for Ninja Assassin and The Hills Run Red on the unwitting masses at Comic-Con, sending horror fans and teenage Korean-Pop-Singing fans into paroxysms of joy. At the same time.

It appears that a scooper from the land of Weissbier and Schnitzel sent in word that Joel Silver laid down some details on the radio in Berlin about The Wachowskis long in development film Plastic Man.

Right away, we’re told that Grayskull is “Lord of the Rings meets The Matrix and a little Batman Begins thrown in for good measure.” That’s a bold comparison.

A wise dude once said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” But in Hollywood, the saying goes “If at first you don’t succeed, produce.”

Joel Silver has named Guy Ritchie as the director of the planned Sgt. Rock feature.