Sin City is the series that just can't catch a break. Last week, IESB.net was reporting that the Weinstein Company / Dimension had lost the rights to Sin City, and that the franchise was being quietly shopped around. The rumors were hotly denied by the Weinsteins ... but now The Hollywood Reporter is saying the same darn thing.

While the Weinsteins continue to maintain that they hold the rights, producers all around town are saying that Frank Miller's "estate" has been shopping around those same rights. It's unclear if they have lapsed due to the failure to renew or move on the property, but it seems strange that they could have expired so soon.

This is a rumor that I think we all hope comes true. I'd like to see Sin City land at a studio willing to actually put A Dame to Kill For into production instead of just talking about it. It's been four (count 'em, four) years since Sin City, with "production starting in a matter of weeks!" reports being issued every three months or so. The talent remains enthusiastic and attached. Fans are clamoring for the rest of the sleazy series. It's a no brainer for any other studio, but the Weinstein Company seems to believe delaying films until the end of the world is a sound business principle.

What would you like to see ultimately happen with the next Sin City movie, and who do you think would take the best care of it?

Okay, that's not entirely fair -- in reality, the video below has nothing to do with Frank Miller. It's not test footage, it's not an early short film of his and the man has probably never even seen this ... although he might take a quick look now that we've posted it. What we have for you today is a short film inspired by the Buck Rogers character created by a student (Patrick De Leon) for his editing class at the Art Institute of Colorado where he's majoring in Visual Effects. The short, which took four weeks to complete, is based on the way Buck appeared wayyy back in the day when he first arrived on the scene in the late 20's -- and it blends live action with campy sci-fi and a futuristic cityscape.

We mention Frank Miller, though, because news recently hit that Odd Lot was trying to purchase the rights to Buck Rogers off Nu Image/Millennium so that they could give Miller the chance to direct a new live-action version of the classic space hero. Seeing as how The Spirit crashed its way into the Crap Hall of Fame last month, some folks aren't crazy about Miller taking on such a beloved character for fear he'd ruin the Buck Rogers image. Me? I just don't think "camp" works with today's multiplex audience, no matter what the original source material is. But if Miller does get his hands on Rogers, should we expect something similar to this (which, I'd like to point out, is certainly impressive ... for an art student) ...



[via TheAwesomer]

Last Monday, yours truly was invited to help a friend of a friend out by offering to review Frost/Nixon on their podcast. As it turns out, it was the /Filmcast we were talking about, and it happened to be the same night that head honcho here Erik Davis was due to join in. Small world, eh?

So we tag-teamed our film chatter with the cool guys over at /Film -- David Chen, Adam Quigley, and Devindra Hardawar, to be specific -- and you can listen to that episode right about here. When Erik isn't twirling his hair around his finger and gushing about MTV's episodes of True Life, he and the gang manage to get around to discussing all the latest film news from Terminator: Salvation to the potential Suck Rogers with Frank Miller at the wheel.

I also took part in the /Film After Dark podcast and a recent year-end horror wrap-up extravaganza with just about everyone over at Bloody Disgusting, so with any luck and nearly no shame, we hope to share those as well. For those of you wishing to listen to David, Devindra and Adam record their next /Filmcast live, they'll be looking back on 2008 in film this coming Monday at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST.

With all due respect to the monumentally talented Frank Miller, I'm just going to lay it out clear: I don't think the man is cut out to direct movies. At all. I've always suspected that Mr. Miller earned a co-director credit on Sin City because A) it's his baby, B) having Miller involved helps the film come release time, and C) Robert Rodriguez is a classy dude. But have you ever wondered what Sin City would look like if Rodriguez was out of the picture? Wonder no more, comic fans: Frank Miller has directed a film all by himself ... and it really isn't good.

Looking for slick-looking white-on-black panorama shots of a square-jawed hero as he leaps across the city rooftops? Anxious to get a lot of hot young actresses into sexy outfits? Into highly-stylized pulp dialog that sounds like outtakes from a Dick Tracy comic? Then apparently Frank Miller is your man. Taken as a series of unrelated sequences that sure LOOK cool, The Spirit might just float your boat. If, however, you like your films to include stuff like good sense, character development, internal logic, and a smooth-flowing story ... well, all I can say is that someone should have gotten Robert Rodriguez on the phone.

The Greatest American Hero ... Now Buck Rogers. If someone cooks up a re-do of Danger Mouse, all of my childhood superheroes will be accounted for.

Yes folks -- Buck Rogers is getting another reboot, and this time, Frank Miller is the man in charge. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Odd Lot is trying to buy Buck's rights off of Nu Image/Millennium, so that Miller can write and direct his own take on the burly space explorer. But it won't be the Buck we all know and love -- "while the creator has only begun to sketch ideas, it's expected to be a darker take, with many of Miller's signature visual elements and themes, such as corruption and redemption."

Rogers could fall into a wicked coma that has him wake up in the 25th century, get frozen in space, or something completely different, but he will have one heck of a dark future to look forward to, being in the hands of Miller. While it makes sense, I'm not so sure about Miller taking on Buck, and the ill feelings surrounding The Spirit make me all the more apprehensive.

Buck's my guy -- in all his '80s beefcake glory with ridiculously tight and spandexy outfits and billowing chest hair. I just can't imagine Rogers without Gil and Erin, let alone the late and splendid Wildfrid Hyde-White, or wonderfully birdy Thom Christopher. Thrust into a dark and creepy world -- that I can imagine even less. Now Jon Favreau taking it on, and bringing Dennis Haysbert back and promoting him from Communication-Probe Officer to co-star, that I could handle.

Cinematical has received three (count 'em three!) exclusive Christmas-related TV spots for The Spirit, directed by Frank Miller (300, Sin City), and starring a whole crop of pretty faces like Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson, Jaime King and Samuel L. Jackson. Each of these TV spots look the same, except a different character is featured. One puts Sand Sarif (Mendes) front and center, one focuses more on The Octopus (Jackson), and one teases us with a little Ellen Doran (Paulson). Check out the first spot below, and the other two after the jump.

The Spirit slides its way down your chimney on Christmas Day.

I cringe a little whenever Sin City 2 hits my RSS feed, because the news is generally vague and rarely good. Last week, I noted in passing that Mickey Rourke and Frank Miller were ready for the sequel, and that it could shoot as early as next April. Rosario Dawson also confirmed all of the above to ISEB.net, and added that she was on board too.

Well, it seems Rourke wasn't ready -- in fact, he may not return at all. ComingSoon caught up with him at a junket for The Wrestler, and Rourke abruptly denied all of the above. "No, I'm not interested in that right now. That's not a reality right now. It's pissing in the wind. There's different factions going different directions there. I don't know. That's three hours of make up and I'm claustrophobic, so I'm going to have to work something out."

This is probably just Rourke being Rourke -- tomorrow he could be on board again, and tomorrow all Sin City 2 talk could vanish anyway. However, if he means it (and the make-up is something he brought up with MTV as well), that's not to say that Sin City 2 would be impossible to do without Marv. Any sequel was supposed to revolve around A Dame to Kill For anyway, where pre-Hard Goodbye Marv disappears about halfway in, so it is possible to comfortably write him out. Still, it would have been kind of fun to see a "midquel" onscreen, wouldn't it?

Every bit of X-Men Origins: Wolverine news erodes my dignity a little bit more. Okay, I don't actually have any dignity ... but I really should be more patient before posting. Just a few days ago, I wound myself up over Jeff Katz's "last time I talked to Hugh Jackman, this is the Wolverine sequel he wanted" quote.

And now, Jackman himself sat down with MTV and confirmed that he really would love to take Wolverine to Japan. "The most intriguing thing to me was the Japan story. I love the Japan story. I wanted to do the Japan story from around X-Men 2. Can you just picture Wolverine in Japan with the triads and the samurai? It's just genius."

Now, I used to mock Wolverine's Japan adventures as being a way to cash in on Karate Kid fever (mostly to annoy other comic devotees), but Frank Miller's vision of him as a ronin is genius. With a single book (which you need to read if you haven't already), Miller and Chris Claremont deepened Wolverine from a beer guzzling thug to the poetic badass we all know and love today. Of course, now every Wolverine comic writer gives him a doomed Japanese bride, but there was a time when it was novel, romantic, and tragic.

So, why didn't Jackman & Co. do that story instead of the mutant extravaganza that Origin is rumored to be? "How can you do that before you explain his origins? If we tried to mix the origin and Japan together, it wouldn't do justice to either. So you can tell by the answer where I'd like it to go." Darn you, Jackman. You're right, of course, but this just means I have to wait that much longer, and hope that Wolverine is good enough for it to happen.

Oh, and check out yet another new Empire photo after the jump. Looks like he fills out his jeans as nicely as his tanktops.