Up there you have uber geeks Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith (who is now, believe it or not, a professor) trying to make the perfect woman in Weird Science. They give their perfect woman a handful of boob (because the rest would be a waste), and a mixture of Albert Einstein and Diamond Dave to fill her brain. (What could be more well-rounded?!) The result -- out pops Kelly LeBrock.

Now, in a podcast with SciFi Wire about artificial intelligence, geek hero Joss Whedon discusses his dislike for the film: "I hate Weird Science not a little. I find it offensive, the boy fantasy of building a girl. Obviously, we were doing the nasty version of it [in Buffy the Vampire Slayer], because I find it grotesque."

But what do you think?

An added bonus for Whedon fans: He's working on a film script with Drew Goddard -- that writer from Buffy who recently penned Cloverfield.

Talk about a guy who could use a hug (or three), Joss Whedon is doing his best to glue back together his broken heart following the severe beat-down his ego has received over the course of the past year. After opting not to replace Bryan Singer as director on X-Men 3 in order to dive head first into the shallow puddle that was Wonder Woman, Whedon now finds himself no longer attached to a comic adaptation, and content with moving forward on his next project -- an original flick called Goners, which he will write and direct.

In speaking with Wizard Universe, Whedon immediately addressed those rumors that pegged him as the leading contender to helm an X-Men 4. He says, "I haven't heard the rumor, but there is no rumor that is not swirling. I don't even know, are they even going to have an X4? I had been talking with [Marvel Studios] about X3, but the dates didn't line up. So I took on Wonder Woman, and that worked out great! Oh, no wait, I remember now, not so much." He goes on to admit that he "wouldn't say never," but seems more interested in telling his own stories right now, rather than "doing someone else's thing." After reading the interview (which, might I add, is quite good), you can't help but feel for the guy; prior to his work on Wonder Woman, Whedon had also pitched his own big-screen version of Batman, only to lose out to Christopher Nolan. He notes: "I still stay up late at night thinking how cool my Batman movie could have been, and I liked Batman Begins a lot. I thought it had some awesome stuff I would never have come up with, but I still think about what I could have done. That's the problem when you throw your heart into those things; it just stays there." [Cue Lisa Loeb's Stay -- Fade Out on lone tear sliding down Whedon's cheek.]

Even though I've never found myself attracted to his Firefly/Serenity/Buffy stuff, Whedon's original voice has landed him a pretty massive fanbase. You can sense he's passionate about the stories he wants to tell, if only someone, somewhere finally gives him the opportunity. For much more from Whedon on the Wonder Woman debacle and his new flick Goners, as well his thoughts on the big-screen Marvel vs. DC battle, check out the Wizard Universe interview here.

Probably best remembered as Faith the rogue Slayer and sultry kicker of many butts from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series (though Tru Calling was pretty good too), Eliza Dushku is set to star in Mamba alongside Mike Vogel of Poseidon and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) fame. Joining them will be German actress Naike Rivelli and Spanish thespians Gary Piquer , Alex O'Dogherty, and Martxelo Rubio. The film will shoot for eight weeks in Northern Spain and will be helmed by first-time Spanish director Alvaro de Arminan, with a screenplay written by Roderick and Bruce Taylor (scripters of the upcoming Jodie Foster vehicle The Brave One) and Antonio Cuadri (writer and director of The Heart of The Earth). Juan Carlos Orihuela, Billy Dietrich, and Cuadri will produce.

Mamba is a teen thriller about a group of young surfers who discover an old satanic board game called Mamba, though I'm already tempted to call it Parcheesi of the Damned. Players who die in the game also die in real life.The story is said to be a cross between I Know What You Did Last Summer and Final Destination, though it sounds like there's a smattering of Jumanji and the dashiest dash of Stay Alive in there as well.

Via Coming Soon

• Date Movie - Nowhere in the formula "Comedy = Tragedy + Time" does "Cruelty" figure in, something that this caca-palooza -- "from 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie" -- sets out to correct from the very first scene. When they introduce us to morbidly obese Julia Jones (Alyson Hannigan), it is with ridicule as they paint her as a hideous beast that makes men vomit and turn gay. Of course, when we remember that 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie were Wayans Brothers, whose stock in trade is that kind of cruelty, it makes sense (even if these are another two writers.)

A parody of romantic comedies like Bridget Jones's Diary, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Hitch, this lame spoof goes for the easy laugh almost every time, beating to death with a golf club every gag with the subtlety of, well ... someone who beats someone else to death with a golf club. The "13" in the movie's "PG-13" rating would seem to be either a limit for either I.Q. or emotional age, as the movie's show pieces are either juvenile blue bits or have something to do with either poop, pee, puke or pus (the dreaded "4 P's"). Putting gifted comic actors like Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge in this stinky mess makes them both stinky by association, though as time goes by, the whole lot of them will only be guilty of contributing to a vast background of white noise that we will have learned to filter out when we grow up. Presently #64 on the IMDB's Bottom 100 of all time.
 

You'd think doing the whole writing-a-movie-script thing (in addition to planning for the film because you're also going to direct it) would keep a man and his pen pretty busy. Not so Joss Whedon, however -- one or six projects is not enough to occupy the ever-active mind of one of geekdom's favorite kings. While writing and prepping for the much discussed Wonder Woman film project, Joss Whedon has also made plans to return to his roots and reconnect with his fan base by going back to the still very popular Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe. Whedon is writing an all-new comic book mini-series for Dark Horse Comics with the first book due as early as October of this year.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: while I may not be a huge fan of Joss Whedon's body of work, I absolutely love the man for the way he treats his fans. The man is well aware of who is responsible for his success, and you'd be hard pressed to find a guy who works harder to give his fans what they want. He's also obviously desperately infatuated with the worlds he has created, and that's always fun to see. As long as Whedon continues to treat his fans like royalty he deserves every ounce of the rabid devotion they bestow upon him.

• Doogal - A saccharine, cheap-looking CGI import from Britain about a lazy, cowardly, sugar-addicted pooch (with a mullet cut) who must find a way to save the world from an icy death is not the follow-up to Hoodwinked that Disney escapees Bob and Harvey Weinstein hoped for...or we asked for. At least they've got the swell Over The Hedge in theaters this week. Formerly titled The Magic Roundabout and re-dubbed (Doogal, that is. Not Over The Hedge.)

• Duma - With most arthouse films rated "R", it is always a pleasure when one comes along that culture mavens can take their kids to, and The Black Stallion director Carroll Ballard's latest nature trek -- a visually lovely adventure -- certainly does fit that bill. It is about a 12-year-old South African boy (Alexander Michaletos) who must return his pet cheetah to the wild, encountering and overcoming a number of obstacles along the way, the biggest one being our initial reluctance to accept its premise.
 

A few days ago, the increasingly scary Lindsay Lohan announced that she'd like to play the title character in Joss Whedon's upcoming Wonder Woman project. While this indubitably made a few of you out there excited, most of us were on our knees, praying that any god who might listen would keep her far, far away from the project. Recently, another actress expressed interest in the part - an this one is probably much more palatable for the geek world. Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel told TV Guide that she'd love to play the part. When TV Guide suggested the match, Carpenter excitedly responded "I know! From your lips to God's ears... or Joss'. "

Regular readers know that I've never been an avid Buffy fan. I don't think it was a bad show by any means - I just never watched much of it. However, Carpenter is already leagues ahead in my mind based on the simple fact that she is not Lindsay Lohan. I don't know how talented she is - some of you who've seen her on TV should chime in here and let me know - but I suppose she does at least have the look for the part. And she's probably got a good angle, having worked with Joss for several years on his most beloved project.

In a recent interview with Empire Online, Joss Whedon shelled out some more details about Wonder Woman...and I'm just so not excited about this film. Since, according to Whedon, "[the script] is very awesome, but incredibly unfinished," we still don't have any idea who he's going to cast in the role. Recent rumors claim he may go the Brandon Routh route and cast an unknown. Hey, as long as I can say, "Damn, that girl is Da Bomb," then that's all that counts, right?

As far as story goes, Whedon explains, "I can tell you that the film will be about introducing you to Wonder Woman. She'll be wearing the outfit and there will be the bracelets, the golden lasso and Greek gods. She comes from a civilization where she's rather perfect, so she's the opposite to Buffy in many ways, but she's going through an adolescent rite of passage because she's new to the world".

Hmm, seems like my imaginary ex-girlfriend who left me after realizing that I was not the most amazing man on the face of the earth. Okay, so what if it was five minutes after she arrived on the planet - the girl was a quick learner. Whedon also says that he's working hard on a Buffy movie for Spike, and that he'll know soon whether or not that will actually happen. 

[via Dark Horizons]