OK, so it's not like Roland Emmerich is known for making the best movies. But one thing is for sure, he does know how to make the most of his FX budgets. ComingSoon.net has the new poster for Emmerich's prehistoric adventure flick, 10,000 B.C. If nothing else, at least this latest poster is a step up from the last one . Sure, it might be similar (and borrowing heavily from 300), but at least this one definitely has a little more style to it. As Scott had pointed out last week, there is definitely the potential for some truly cheesy moments, and after that trailer you can't blame him for coming to that particular conclusion. But who knows? Maybe Emmerich is going to surprise us all with this one. But if you're considering the fact that the film's release date has already been pushed back twice, it's not likely this movie is going to be anything other than a guilty pleasure for most audiences.

10,000 B.C stars Steven Strait as D'Leh, a young hunter and favored son of a tribe on the brink of extinction. Our hero is on a mission to save his girlfriend (Camilla Belle) from a warlord, all the while battling Mammoths and other prehistoric beasties. ComingSoon also has a pretty impressive photo you can check out of a face off between our fearless mammoth hunter and a sabre-toothed tiger. Like I said, you can't fault Emmerich when it comes to the spectacle of movie making. But for those of you out there (myself included) who had the misfortune of sitting through The Day after Tomorrow, then you know just how lame an Emmerich film can get. So keep your fingers crossed until March 7th, 2008 when 10,000 B.C. hits theaters.

Can Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. survive if it doesn't feature New York City either under water, under ice or being attacked by aliens and/or giant lizards? That's the question I had after watching the first teaser trailer for 10,000 B.C. -- Emmerich's latest epic, effects-laced extravaganza. From the guy who brought us Independence Day, the updated Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow comes a film that ... I don't even know what to say. It's like Apocalypto, but extremely Hollywood-ized. Once you get past all the running and animal-fighting, the first question you'll probably have is ... what language will this film be in? I can't answer that for sure, but since it's coming from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures (300), I assume everyone spoke English back in 10,000 B.C. I mean, the Spartans did, so why wouldn't these prehistoric mammoth hunters?

It's a no-brainer; I really can't see a major studio like Warners taking a chance on a big-budgeted flick that either doesn't have dialogue or is in a different language. It just wouldn't make sense. But we're used to seeing the historical facts smudged a whole lot when it comes to huge Hollywood flicks, so I won't hold that against the film. That being said, this is only a teaser. Does it look cool? Yeah. But that's as far as I can go. All of Emmerich's films "look" cool, but I've always found the stories are told on a third grade level. Hopefully this one will carry a bit more substance, instead of two hours worth of half-naked men chasing mammoths around with spears. I have no problem checking my brain at the door for certain things, but I'm getting tired of people using that excuse for every other film that gets released. But perhaps I'm in the minority on that one. Who knows. 10,000 B.C. arrives in theaters on March 7, 2008.

Who knew that the laughable disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow would be one of the most influential blockbusters of the decade? Sure, this might not have been the case were it not for the success of An Inconvenient Truth, but nonetheless, we are about to see a bunch more eco-disaster pics. I already alerted you about Otherworld, which features demons that are unleashed against humanity because of global warming. Now, producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis have announced their adaptation of Frank Schätzing's German novel The Swarm, which features aliens that are unleashed against humanity because of global warming. The De Laurentiises will partner with German producers Ica and Michael Souvignier and Till Grönemeyer, who have been linked to the project for awhile now.

Unlike most alien invasion movies, the aliens of The Swarm come from the bottom of the ocean. And unlike the underwater dwellers of The Abyss, these aliens are ticked off by pollution rather than nuclear weapons. Besides having to compete with the similar-sounding Otherworld, The Swarm will also have to follow in the footsteps of the badly titled eco-disaster movie from M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening, which features nature unleashed against humanity because of global warming. One thing The Swarm has going for it is Oscar-winning screenwriter Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs), who will hopefully keep the movie from being as silly as the rest. The latest report on the adaptation doesn't mention anything about Uma Thurman, who last year was said to have bought the rights to Schätzing's book with the Souvigniers.

Here's an idea that seem a bit late: a disaster movie spoof. Not only would it have been more fitting nearly a decade ago, when Armageddon and Deep Impact faced off at the box office, and when we'd already seen Independence Day, Twister, Titanic and the dueling volcano movies, but we hardly need a parody of these movies after seeing unintentional spoofs like The Core, The Day After Tomorrow and Poseidon. Still, the cheaply made cheap laughs of the modern spoof trend need something to make fun of now that scary movies, date movies and epic movies have been taken care of. So, thanks to Screen Gems, we are about to get Armageddagain: The Day Before Tomorrow from director Robert Moniot, who co-wrote the movie with voice-actor Travis Oates.

Moniot apparently already has experience spoofing Armageddon -- or at least its title -- having previously directed a short film called Pearl Harbor II: Pearlmageddon. That 11 minute short seems to have been popular enough (based on the IMDb user ratings), but then again shorts and skits are much more tolerable when it comes to silly spoofs. The current model of spoof features is unfortunately like a bunch of these shorts linked together by some forced, incoherent plot. Interestingly, Armageddagain is being produced by actor Noah Emmerich, though as far as I know, he isn't related to Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. In addition to spoofing the long-passed disaster movies of the 1990s, the movie will reportedly feature parodies of upcoming pics like Transformers and The Bourne Ultimatum.

I hate thinking about the apocalypse. I used to have recurring nightmares about the end of the world, and despite world events seeming hopeless these days I'd like to think the end is not actually nigh. Other people, however, are happy to discuss the apparently inevitable apocalypse, as well as how it will happen and when. According to Whitley Strieber, author and alien abductee, the end of the world will come in 2012, and he has a book about it coming out in September. TMZ has the scoop that Warner Bros. already has plans to turn the book into a movie and Michael Bay has been set up to produce.

It isn't definite if Bay will also direct, but Transformers screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have apparently been hired to adapt it for the screen. I'll admit that I was once a big UFO buff and I even went to a Strieber book signing, but after awhile my fascination died, partially because everything was getting so depressing. Strieber, for instance, is not just now becoming apocalyptic; he was a co-author of the book that The Day After Tomorrow was based on (he also wrote the film's novelization). I know that one had nothing to do with aliens, but Strieber isn't solely known for his abduction books. He also wrote the horror novels that became Wolfen and The Hunger. There is no synopsis given for his new book, which is called 2012: The War for Souls, but supposedly some UFO theorists believe aliens will invade Earth in 2012.

However, Strieber has previously written an article about the year and our fate in it that has nothing to do with aliens. Instead it references a famous Mayan prophecy and discusses more environmental catastrophes a la The Day After Tomorrow. Whatever the plot of the book and movie, though, it is sure to make me nervous, especially if I think too much about it.

[via Hollywood Wiretap]

As much as I complain about CGI in movies, I do recognize and respect the few films that have used computer effects well. The truth is, some bad movies have great digital effects that go under-appreciated, which is far more tragic than the so-so movies that are ruined by weak CGI. Sure, Tron is a guilty pleasure for me and many others, but its only real worth is in its place in film history. Other movies that are important for their advancement of digital effects include Forrest Gump, Cliffhanger and The Perfect Storm -- none of which needs to be thought of for any other reason.

Popular Mechanics has listed these four films with six other (better) milestones. Many of them are not surprises; everybody thinks of Terminator 2: Judgment Day when thinking of significant digital effects, even though it wasn't even the first movie to feature morphing (Willow is not included in the ten, but it is referenced). Jurassic Park is also obvious, but then, this isn't really an opinion-based list. It is a chronological top ten based on real, monumental breakthroughs. There are a few on the list, such as Cliffhanger, that I didn't even know were of importance. Did you know it was the first film to use digital effects as an eraser?

So, I may have to take a look at this list whenever I'm about to curse the existence of computer effects. A lot of the worst effects are appropriately featured in movies that are already terrible, anyway (personally, I think The Lord of the Rings and its CGI fall into this worst/terrible category, but I probably shouldn't be admitting this, especially since it is on the list).

What do you think was the most important advancement in special effects history (pre-digital era included)?

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A silly disaster movie released in 2004 was probably the single worst thing to happen to the global warming campaign in America. Yes, movies have more power than any one dissenting member of the Right (though perhaps not all of them together), and that fictional movie, The Day After Tomorrow, did an amazing job of getting the global warming debate into the minds of the people. Unfortunately, the subject was accepted as such a joke from its depiction in the movie, more harm was probably done than good.

In theaters right now, however, is the single best thing to happen to the cause. Yes, another movie, a documentary called An Inconvenient Truth. Not since the summer of 2004, when The Day After Tomorrow was in theaters, has the subject of global warming been given so much attention and sparked so much discussion. Luckily for the campaign, this time a film presents the topic seriously. Why do so many Americans get their information from, or at least because of, movies? I would suggest it has more to do with the news media than Hollywood, but that is a debate for another time.

On the heels of An Inconvenient Truth is another new documentary called Who Killed the Electric Car? It only touches on the threat of global warming for a minute or two -- enough to show its side on the issue, of course -- but it presents a subject directly linked to it, and therefore it provides an interesting footnote to the much better An Inconvenient Truth.