I'm sure you've all heard about the upcoming Ghostbusters video game (we've talked about it here and here), and how this was as close as we were going to get to a Ghostbusters III since, well, it was an all new story and all four Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson) were reprising their roles (in voice form) for the game. Not only that, but Annie Potts, William Atherton and Brian Doyle-Murray lent their voices too. Sadly, both Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis did not join the party. The script for the game was written by Ramis and Aykroyd (who wrote both Ghostbusters live-action movies), and, well, a lot of your favorite ghosts (like Slimer, Gozer, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Vigo) will make an appearance, along with a brand new enemy.

All that being said, the game's trailer can be seen up top -- and it features that totally retro '80s trailer voice with scenes from the live-action movies alongside those same scenes in the video game. Very cool stuff. The game itself (which I believe hits stores on October 14th) looks pretty damn cool, and if this is the only sequel we're going to get, then, well, I'm game. How about you?

[via Spout]

The completely deranged practice of watching movies on cell phones just got a boost. The Hollywood Reporter has a story on Sony's recent deal to put some of its classics catalog on AT&T's "Mobile TV" network starting this May. Soon, subscribers will be able to watch movies such as Philadelphia, Stand By Me and Ghostbusters while on the subway or in the dentist's waiting room. Whether or not they will want to is an open question.

To their credit, the honchos behind this seem to recognize that people aren't going to sit there and stare into a tiny cell phone screen for two hours. According to a Sony exec, the objective isn't to get people to watch the whole movie, and they don't expect too many customers to watch Ghostbusters for the first time on a two-inch display. Rather, this is intended for those who've already seen the films and want to rewatch certain scenes on a whim.

Sony, of course, was responsible for the fleeting phenomenon of watching movies on your PSP (portable Playstation), and they don't seem to be giving up on "mobile entertainment." I guess there's been some traction; I have friends who keep up with their favorite TV shows on their commutes. My mind still boggles at the concept of this actually being a viable business model -- Don't your arms get tired? What do you even see in there? -- but I suppose people are starting to embrace anything they can carry with them on their gadgets. I'll leave you with David Lynch's immortal -- and entirely correct -- words on the subject, after the jump.

In a forthcoming interview with Premiere conducted by yours truly, Sigourney Weaver talks at length about all her various franchises, and even has a few words to say about the recently resurrected hoopla over a possible Ghostbusters III. When I pointed out that the film industry's renewed focus on next-gen 3D imagery and CG-rendered worlds means that perhaps a third Ghostbusters adventure is still feasible, Weaver looked at me a bit like I had just given her a toothache. She then took a big breath and said "Well, I just saw Ivan Reitman at this dinner, this lunch for his son, and, ummm, there's no way." Perhaps responding to the look of sadness on my face, she quickly added "You could 3D Ghostbusters. You could pay for that. I think they're fantastic movies for that time, and I think, if anything, Be Kind, Rewind is kind of a Ghostbusters for this time." Since I haven't seen Be Kind, Rewind, I have no clue what that last part is supposed to mean. Does Slimer make an appearance in Be Kind, Rewind or something?

It's not like any of this is a great surprise -- to my knowledge, Weaver has never expressed any enthusiasm for returning to the franchise and rumor has it she declined to participate in the upcoming video game that will feature voices from the main Ghostbusters and will cannibalize Dan Aykroyd's never-in-development Ghostbusters III: Ghostbusters Go to Hell script. Most of the recent GIII talk stems from Ernie Hudson, who was quoted as saying that he hoped the success of that particular game would renew interest in creating a third film, and that Ramis and Aykroyd still wanted a third film, too. That would be fine with me as long as it starts with a fresh concept, as opposed to the whole 'Manhellton' crap. I've heard Aykroyd describe his 'hell' script at length -- to a radio DJ on a country music station, no less -- and, frankly, it's the opposite of impressive. It sounds like a recipe for a studio-killing flop with a $300 million budget. But with Murray and Weaver and (apparently) Ivan Reitman not even down for a third go-round, don't hold your breath. To read the interview, which mostly centers on Avatar, check out Premiere.com on Thursday.

Growing up, I always knew weekend warriors to be guys like my dad who would work through the week, seemingly normal, and then go action-hero wild on the weekend. Rationale went out the window as men everywhere would hand in their work attire for parasails, jetskis, and anything other device they could play hard with while disregarding their own safety. Now the tune is getting shifted just a little bit. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Dean Parisot, the guy who helmed the geek-loved Galaxy Quest, is in final negotiations to direct the upcoming film Weekend Warrior for Warner Brothers.

This project is said to be in the tone of Ghostbusters, but it just sounds like The Greatest American Hero to me. The film "follows a high school teacher and armchair home repair enthusiast who unwittingly becomes a superhero." See? All you need to add make it a match are some aliens, a goofy suit, a sarcastic FBI man, and a classroom full of rebels that he's molding into good citizens. Since it's in the tone of Ghostbusters, however, I imagine it'll have much more bite and less real-life hero feel to it. And presumably much less painful-looking crashes. The script comes from Bill Birch, an actor who has had a ton of television stints on shows from The Young and the Restless to Sleeper Cell (he's also the pen behind The Pre-Astronauts). It's too early to decide much about the picture, but it looks like it could have promise.

The boys are officially back ... but, sadly, they'll only be in videogame form for now. According to Variety, Vivendi Games has struck a deal to turn Ghostbusters into a videogame franchise, with the first title set to hit streets in the fall of 2008. All four Ghostbusters -- Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis -- have signed off their voice and likeness rights, while Aykroyd and Ramis will write a story for the game that takes place in the early '90s, following Ghostbusters II. For fans of the movie franchise (and, seriously, who's not a fan?), this could potentially be very cool. Aykroyd has been trying to get a Ghostbusters III off the ground for a long time now; at one point, he was considering a CGI flick to continue the story without having to ask a bunch of old timers to strap on the proton packs for another live-action go-round.

With a videogame version, we'll still see the story Aykroyd had planned for a third installment (I believe one version involved NYC opening up to reveal a hell-ish underground), only we'll get to play along too. Apart from the four original cast members, William Atherton, Brian Doyle and Annie Potts will also be involved. No word on Rick Moranis or Sigourney Weaver just yet. I know some of you will be bummed out by this, but I'm totally up for it -- so long as they create a cool multi-player gaming experience. Just last night, my friend and I were talking about how much fun those old multi-player games were; the kind where you and a friend could sit down in the same space, control different characters and fight your way through a universe together. The last great multi-player game, in my opinion, was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. If they can create something on par with that (only add a whole lot of Bill Murray dialogue), then they've already sold one game ... to me. What do you think?

Over the weekend I watched the last half of the World War II home front drama Since You Went Away in the background while I did some work. There's a sequence in a train station that is so stunningly dramatic it fills in the narrative gaps -- the black and white photography tells the story -- and it made me stop what I was doing and watch it again.

Cinematographer László Kovács worked at the opposite end of the spectrum. His most memorable work from the late 1960s through the 1970s (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Shampoo, F.I.S.T.) doesn't steal attention from the narrative or make you gasp at its unusual beauty. Instead, Kovács gracefully grappled with reality, using what other photographers would call "mistakes" (lens flares and the like) as a means to integrate the imperfections of life into the varied cinematic visions of the many directors with whom he collaborated. Even when the film as a whole falls short, the art of Kovács is consistent.

The latter part of his career (1980 to 2006) is filled with more populist fare (Ghostbusters, Say Anything..., My Best Friend's Wedding), but Kovács never treated any film as a "cash for hire" proposition, as a 2002 interview with ICG Magazine revealed. He was a consummate professional, always putting the aim of the story ahead of the art of the camera. He passed away on July 21 of this year; Jette Kernion wrote a lovely appreciation of his work.

Kovács will be honored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Hungary in Los Angeles today. Ray Pride at Movie City Indie has all the details. Kovács' friend and fellow cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond is scheduled to speak. Kovács will also be honored with a screening at AFI Fest next month. Torn From the Flag, on which he and Zsigmond served as executive producers, documents Hungary's struggle for national identity.

When it comes to picking "scary movie" fare for kids, you want to walk that line between "just scary enough to be fun" versus "gives them nightmares for weeks." Of course, the appropriateness of any of these picks depends on your particular child and their tolerance for all things spooky, but here's a list of picks that I think my own brood (ages 10, 8, 6 and 4) would enjoy. Best of all, they're all available on DVD, so you can rent (or buy) them and watch them over and over again!

Ghostbusters -- My husband and I realized recently that our kids had never seen Ghostbusters, and set out to remedy that with a stop at the video store. I wondered how the film, now 23 years old, would play to kids raised on spectacular CGI special effects; I needn't have worried, as they were enthralled from start to finish. They laughed hysterically at the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and even loved the Ray Parker, Jr. theme song -- they sang and danced along with the song sequence, gleefully shouting "Ghostbusters!" at the appropriate times. Thankfully, none of them have (yet) asked to be the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man for Halloween -- not that that wouldn't be a cool costume, I just don't have time to make one -- though I suppose if I was really lazy I could just bungee-cord some pillows to their arms and legs, slap on a sailor collar and hat, and call it good.

It can be hard to pick scary movies for a group of adults to enjoy -- unless you go the family film route, and who wants that? Some people can watch an eye be plucked form a skull, or a slow, terrifying scene scored with creepy music and be in heaven; others will squeeze their eyes shut and plug their ears to escape what they consider hell. While brainstorming ideas for Cinematical's month-long tribute to all things creepy, scary, and gory, I had the bright idea to cover scary flicks for the wimpy -- those people who squeeze, plug, and hate to be scared.

I didn't quite think about how antithetical this idea was. If it's scary, the wimpy won't like it, and if it is too watered down, it isn't scary any more. To make things even more difficult, everyone has different ideas about what is scary. For example, I consider Psycho to be scary for its time and not-so-scary now. Chilling, yes. Nail-biting or hair-raising? No. My friend, however, just looked at me like I was insane for including it on this list. Where in the heck do you go from there?

Comedy always works. The funnier the gore, the less scary it is. But this isn't a comedy list, so there has to be some sort of variety, and this is how it will work: the following is a list of movies you can watch with your more wimpy friends, but still have those ever-loved Halloween themes, and at least a little gore or a few jumps. They are listed from wimpiest to least-wimpy -- all of which should fall well below the truly scary films out there. If anyone finds the lower-rated ones too much to bear, you should probably stay away from anything scary, the evening news, and the absolutely frightening Showgirls.

While hanging out with a couple of friends last night, somehow our conversation organically transformed into a debate over Bill Murray's best all-time performances. Don't ask me how we got there (I think it's because I had watched What About Bob on cable earlier in the day, and so the film was on my mind), but we began with our top three. That is until I mentioned how this would make a good Cinematical Seven -- and since the guys (who both help run two prominent film festivals here in NYC) love reading our Cine Sevens -- we took about a half hour and finally agreed upon the man's seven best performances. Now, keep in mind these aren't necessarily the best Bill Murray films -- these are simply his seven best performances, in our opinion.

1. Arthur Denton, Little Shop of Horrors -- Coming up with our seven favorite Bill Murray performances was difficult to say the least, but deciding on an overall favorite was fairly easy. Murray's cameo as a patient who's just itching to be manhandled by an insane, over-the-top macho dentist (Steve Martin) in this big-screen adaptation of the staged musical takes the cake. The scene itself is short, and Murray's performance is almost all improv, but it's quite possibly the funniest character he's ever played. In fact, I'd love to see an entire movie about that guy -- who's with me? Additionally, for those who may have missed it (or would love to watch it again), here's the clip on YouTube.

2. Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters -- Who else would get into the business of hunting down ghosts purely for the women? While supporting players like Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis (who I feel is right there with Murray in this film) and Sigourney Weaver do a fine job in the flick, it's Murray's Venkman character that truly breathes life into one of the great comedies of my generation. Overly confident, yet insecure in a lot of ways, Venkman also provided all of the most memorable lines of dialogue in the movie -- most notably, "He slimed me!" and "We came, we saw and we kicked its ass!" It's funny, it's scary and till this day I still hum the title song from time to time. Who you gonna call ... when you're in the mood to laugh? Bill Murray!

Although it looks like Ghostbusters 3 won't be happening anytime soon, Warner Bros. is looking to tap into some of the same themes of that classic franchise by moving ahead and acquiring a new comedy pitch called Weekend Warrior. Pic, which will be produced by Andrew Lazar (Get Smart), looks to be a special effects-heavy laffer that centers on an "armchair home-repair enthusiast with no construction skills" who's forced to become a superhero and battle the supernatural forces that are hell-bent on destroying the world. I imagine the tag line will go something like, "He can't fix a leak, but he sure as hell can save the world!"

Script will be penned by Bill Burch; all we know about the guy is that he's attached to star in another Warner Bros. pic, Pre-Astronauts. No cast or director has signed on yet, but right off the bat I'm not crazy about the name. With a film like Ghostbusters, you immediately know what to expect; in that case, it will most likely revolve around a group of people fighting ghosts. What the hell is Weekend Warrior? It sounds more like a made-for-TV drama about a guy who fights crime on the weekend. Then again, a quick internet search brought me to the page for an HGTV show called Weekend Warriors. That series follows a bunch of folks who take on do-it-yourself home improvement projects. Since I don't own a home (or know how to use a hammer), I assume "Weekend Warrior" is inside lingo for folks who attempt to fix things around the house? Still, what does that have to do with fighting ghosts? And will Tim Allen's name find its way to the top of the casting director's dream list? I need answers here people! Who should I call?