Mark Wahlberg Says Max Payne > The Dark Knight

Another morning on Slashfilm, another Kid Icarus in Hollywood. Previously, Robert Downey Jr. used the web to hawk an Iron loogie at The Dark Knight and DC Comics, and now Mark Wahlberg—who enjoys lighting cigarettes in the rain—says he’d pummel The Caped Crusader. Put down the Pop Tarts and take a deep breath, fanboys.

“I’m not talking about financial box office, I’m talking about one-on-one with these [puts up fists],” Wahlberg squealed to MTV while flexing in front of a mirror.

We interrupt this quote to bring you a witty message from ODB. And we’re back. Moreover, Wahlberg offered a direct and slightly ‘mo challenge to Bruce Wayne…

“Take off the suit and if you want to go one-on-one, two-on-one, and put a couple of you guys together—they all like to put the comic book characters together—come at me.”

Who is he calling “they”?! Of course, this braggadocio is in reference to October’s Max Payne, the PG-13 adaptation of Rockstar Games‘ framed cop-shoot ‘em up franchise.

“I guarantee you there’s not a badder dude in a movie this year than Max Payne. This is like my characters from The Departed, Fear, Four Brothers, all mixed into one, times ten.”

Wait a second, Fear? Mebbs he has a point.

Discuss: Should Christian Bale bother retorting in front of a mirror? Chris O’Donnell?

/Film reader, Jones Johnson, says, “Nobody’s badder than Michael Jackson. …I have doubts.”

/Film reader, Reggie, nicely references Walhberg as “a white dwarf heading for a black hole.”

Dragonball Trailer in October

ComingSoon is reporting that 20th Century Fox will released the first trailer for the big screen adaptation of Dragonball attached to Max Payne, on October 17th. Meanwhile, rumors that Fox isn’t happy with the final film have been debunked on a variety of different websites. In fact, SuperheroFlix’s sources claim that “everyone involved seems to think they have a hit on their hands” and that the studio has already been talking about sequel possibilities. While I never expected Fox to cancel the release of the film (how do these rumors get started anyways?) I’m not sure if I believe that the executives are jumping for joy over the results.

Quinto Gives Star Trek Hint?

In a recent interview with CreationTV (video after the jump), Zachary Quinto made a possibly revealing statement about his role in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.

When asked “How did it inform your character, knowing what he would become?” Quinto responded that while Leonard Nimoy’s performance affected him to a degree, “Although, When you see this movie, you’ll understand that this story happens irrespective of where the Spock we’ve come to know ends up.”

Now, Irrespective means “Without consideration of; regardless of”. This to me means that Quinto’s Spock will not be the same Spock that Nimoy portrayed in the series or at least that one doesn’t affect the other. Fans are speculating that it may confirm rumors that the story will branch off from the original series, onto an alternative time-line. Or maybe it’s nothing. What do you think?

Fast and Furious Movie Trailer

The teaser trailer for Fast and Furious was attached to Death Race, and is now available online. We also have some new production photos above and after the jump. Original cast members Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster return, allowing Universal to use the tagline “New Model, Original Parts”. I think the truck hijacking is a clever but totally unbelievable callback to the original film. The montage that follows however, looks like more of the same. As always, tell me what you think in the comments below.

Official Plot Synopsis:

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed—Fast & Furious. Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker).

But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him.

And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.

Two Riddick Sequels Still In The Works

Vin Diesel revealed to MTV that screenwriter David Twowy is writing the scripts for two Riddick sequels. And for Diesel, the question isn’t if another Riddick movie will go into production it is if they will attempt to “shoot the two chapters at the same time” ala Lord of the Rings or The Matrix sequels. Diesel has been talking up a third Riddick film for some time now. In March 2006 he sad a storyline had already been written for a third film in which Riddick would enter The Underverse. The fourth Riddick film would then conclude the “Chronicles” trilogy, with a return to Furya.

The character of Riddick first appeared in Pitch Black. The Furyan warrior went on to appear in one big screen sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, and two video games The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and the upcoming The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Last we heard, Universal was not interested in producing the films, and that they had planned to fund a sequel independently.

Discuss: Does anyone still care about Riddick?

Watchmen SET Magazine Covers

The September issue of the Brazilian movie magazine SET features four collectable Watchmen covers. Head on over to blogdosadovski for the high res cover scans.

Nolan Begins - Christopher Nolan to Screen Following in LA

Before he was the director of the second biggest film in box office history, and even before he garnered acclaim by telling a story of memory loss in reverse, Christopher Nolan broke onto the scene with Following. The multi-layered black and white crime noir thriller tells the story of Bill (Jeremy Theobald), an unemployed aspiring writer turned burglar, who becomes interested in one of the woman house owners he robs. He begins following her, and eventually begins seeing her. But things are not as they seem.

Nolan’s debut film, which screened at Slamdance in 1999, is being included as part of Slamdance’s 15 year anniversary celebration. A special screening will be held in Los Angeles at LACMA’s Bing Theater (5905 Wilshire) on Friday, September 5th at 8:00pm. The screening will include a question and answer session with Christopher Nolan, moderated by Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, and hosted reception for ticket holders to follow screening. Tickets are available for $20 through slamdance.com. No tickets will be available at the door.

Comparing Harry Potter and Twilight

When I first discovered Twilight, I wrote a post called “Is Twilight the New Harry Potter?”. I was bashed by all kinds of angry Twilight fans, Twilight Moms and even Twilight Dads for trying to compare the two series. But now that Twilight has moved into the release date that was once occupied by Harry Potter, it’s becoming clear to em that the marketing department id definitely trying to emulate Potter’s marketing. Check out this Blogwartz comparison between the poster for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, side by side with the cast photo from Twilight.