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It might seem to be strange to love a scene in a movie that frankly you are not all that attached to. But for today's Scenes We Love, I decided to pick one of my 'bittersweet favorites': the opening from Blade. Now why is it bittersweet? Well, because as much as I love this scene, when it comes to the rest of the movie, I kind of felt like it was all downhill from here. This is just my personal taste, but Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) was never all that scary as the bad guy in the story, and, well, that chick kind of got on my nerves (hey, just my two cents!). But, I'm going to stand by the fact that despite a heck of an opening, the rest of the movie never quite lived up to this set up. I guess that's the problem with a great entrance -- it isn't easy to keep up the pace.

But this is called Scenes We Love after all, so let's not dwell on the negative. Because as opening scenes go, this one is a winner, with a pumping soundtrack, some pretty cool fighting moves, and last but not least -- the chance to see Traci Lords explode into a pile of ember and ash.

After the jump: Blade fun facts, and the number one reason you should never go to a rave in a slaughterhouse...

Marvel's Blade universe is a fairly extensive one, with the character crossing paths with such branded standbys as SHIELD and Doctor Strange. Naturally, very little of this was ever used in the Blade film trilogy, and if you longed to see a touch more of the comic series on the big screen, there might be hope. According to Comics2Film, Steven Norrington is returning to the franchise, and spinning a Blade-less, Wesley Snipes-less spinoff.

Norrington and Stephen Dorff have apparently been talking about a Deacon Frost spinoff for some time. Dorff initially broke the news via The Sunday Mail. "It will be a prequel to the Blade movies, Deacon's story. It's a new trilogy the director has created. It will [be] cool. We hope to shoot the first film next year. Frost is a character I have never been able to shake." Norrington confirmed the story, but quickly added that the movie wasn't exactly what the Mail described before crediting Dorff with the idea.

More on Horror Squad!

Cinematical spoke with Brooklyn's Finest director Antoine Fuqua on a sunny Saturday afternoon; within hours, Fuqua's gritty police drama would have sold to Senator Entertainment, the first distribution deal made at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Of course, as Fuqua talked with Cinematical about his exemplary cast, how exactly you make a cops-and-crooks film in the wake of The Wire and the challenges of shooting in New York, the film's sale was in the future. Fuqua also defended the film's controversial final shot, even as he noted he was willing to entertain discussions about changing it; "The whole point of the movie is that they don't have the proper help in the police force, and there's a huge piece in The New York Times about more police killing themselves than dying in the line of duty that just came out a few months ago ... and when you read that, it's so sad and heartbreaking, and you go "You gotta show that. ..."

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I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that was a pretty exceptional summer, as far as good, entertaining movies went. I've seen summers in which almost every movie seemed mediocre and not one standout ever emerged (2000 and 2006, for example). But this year, there were at least five standouts and at least five more really good movies. Call me crazy, but I caught up with Speed Racer on DVD this week, and even that one didn't seem so bad. (Sure, it's no Iron Man. I think it probably plays better on the small screen, although I did have trouble with the length and with the annoying Spritle character.) And, of course, we saw a lot of stars at their best this summer: Robert Downey Jr., Heath Ledger, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Ben Stiller, James Franco, Meryl Streep, Penelope Cruz, etc. Good times! It was all so exciting that I nearly forgot about some of my other favorite stars.

It's weird. You can get caught up in the ebb and flow of this business and it may not occur to you that, say, Neve Campbell hasn't been around lately. I miss her. I interviewed her in early 2004, just after Robert Altman's The Company came out. That was a masterful film, a great piece of work, on which Neve had writing and producing credits. It looked like she was really going places: from there, she was poised to play the great silent film star Louise Brooks in a biopic. I saw her again in James Toback's twisted When Will I Be Loved, which I liked more than just about anyone else.

That wiley tax evader otherwise known as Wesley Snipes will get a few last hurrahs!

You might have heard the actor was pushing to be allowed to leave the country so that he could complete work on a few different features. E!Online/Yahoo recently reported that the guy is getting his wish. A federal judge approved Snipes' request, and the actor will be allowed to go to London this month to finish post-work on the horror flick Gallowwalker, and then he'll hit Bangkok in September to shoot Chasing the Dragon. (Any bets on whether the chase will turn on him if they try to bring him back?) Not surprisingly, prosecutors weren't too happy to hear that the actor was given permission with an open-ended return date.

Talk about luck. The guy might have been sentenced to three years in prison this April, but now he gets to travel the world while his lawyers appeal. Do you think he'll ever get put behind bars?

This just in: Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison and fined up to $5 million for evading federal income taxes. Snipes was given the maximum penalty under the law. From the government's sentencing recommendation: "The fact that Snipes was acquitted on two felony charges and convicted 'only' on three misdemeanor counts has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes. The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has 'gotten away with it.' In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light."

The ruling comes despite the fact that fellow actors like Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington sent letters to the judge on behalf of Snipes. I imagine the judge briefly entertained the thought of letting Snipes off the hook based on the fact that he really liked The Great Debaters, but then came to his senses and did the right thing. Personally, I have nothing against Snipes (except for the fact that he's made me suffer through so many bad films), but if he doesn't file taxes for three years and tries to be all shady about things, while the rest of us do what we have to do, then he deserves some kind of punishment. Perhaps he can use these three years in prison to help train for Blade 4.

Thoughts? Should he get three years for not paying taxes, or is there a more fair punishment?

Sony Pictures has just launched Stage 6 Films, "a label that will acquire and produce films for theatrical and straight-to-DVD release." The Variety announcement reports that Stage 6 will focus mostly on the DVD market, and on films budgeted at $1 to $10 million dollars. They've got a lot of movies on the horizon, with some pretty big stars involved. Conspiracy is an action flick starring Val "Iceman" Kilmer, Gary "Lumbergh" Cole, and Jennifer "Hot" Esposito. Thomas Jane is acting in and directing Dark Country (hope it's not a punisher!). The Stone House is a horror film starring Shane West and JK "Schillinger" Simmons. The Lodger stars Alfred Molina, whom I always picture in his underwear singing "Sister Christian." And Felon brings us even more Kilmer thrills, with Stephen Dorff and Harold Perrineau in tow.

And you know when you're talking direct-to-DVD, you're talking about some really random sequels. Stage 6 has announced a prequel (a prequel?) to this year's pretty cool horror flick Vacancy. There will also be a second Starship Troopers sequel -- Starship Troopers: Marauder, with Casper "Van Dien" Van Dien, Boris Kodjoe, and Jolene Blalock. Wesley Snipes will star in a sequel to the absolutely terrible action movie The Art of War, which I will refer to as The Art of War 2: Seriously? And Center Stage 2 will capitalize on the public's love of melodramatic teen dance dramas. I must confess a special place in my heart for the original Stage, because it led to a memorable high school back seat rendezvous. Put that quote on your poster, Sony! "Stage 6 will also continue to leverage our vast library of studio films, as we have done with Daddy Day Camp and the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise," threatens a Stage 6 executive.

Last week, I posted that Wesley Snipes had backed out of Spike Lee's upcoming period drama Miracle at St. Anna, due to his legal woes and international travel issues. (The young Derek Luke was surprisingly tapped to take his place.) While Snipes can't head to Europe for a big, Lee dramatic production, he was somehow able to head north and cross the border into Canada for other work, it seems. Moviehole reports that he "has spent the majority of October [sic] filming The Art of War 2" in BC." Since we're only a week into October, and the original is in DC, methinks there are a few typos. Or, even though there has been lots of warnings lately about border control, Snipes' tax woes weren't enough to keep him from heading north.

At first, they say, he wasn't going to star in the sequel, but maybe money problems and traveling issues inspired him to reconsider. Snipes starred in The Art of War in 2000; it was a mid-range, generally-forgotten action movie that starred him as UN covert op that uses questionable means to keep the peace. However, then he's framed for the murder of a bunch of Vietnamese refugees, and he has to find the answers in the typical wrongly-accused film fashion. The film isn't quite the blockbuster that is itching for a sequel (although that's never stopped filmmakers before), but I wonder if we'll now see Snipes revisiting more of his lesser-known roles to get a good payroll going to help his tax woes. If not, he might want to try to break up Pam and Rick and get in on his sex-for-money offers.

Let the following story be either a cautionary tale, or a story of hope, one that carries the message: always pay your taxes. As you know, Wesley Snipes got into a wee bit of tax trouble last year. He was indicted last October, and arrested last December. Well, the thing is, he was supposed to star in Spike Lee's upcoming World War II drama, Miracle at St. Anna. According to Variety, he's withdrawn from the project "because it became too difficult for him to leave the U.S. and shoot in Italy while he fights federal tax-fraud charges." Gee, what a surprise!

This scenario is, however, probably the only one where it might be beneficial to ignore the rules. I mean, if he's found guilty (he pleaded not guilty), how else is he going to pay back the money? He'll have to dip into his piggy banks, or find work in the states, because Derek Luke has replaced him. (That's good for Luke, but there is a 12-year age difference between them... I'm not sure what the rationale is here.) The actor just played an Army Ranger in Lions for Lambs, and now he's going back in time to play one of four members of the U.S. Army's all-black 92nd Division -- who found themselves without their squad behind enemy lines. "The soldiers, bitter about racism and the feeling that their own government treats its enemy better than it does them, finds humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna."

If you were a little apprehensive about the last casting announcement, the other ensemble players should sweeten the deal. Joining Luke are John Turturro, James Gandolfini, Michael Ealy (Barbershop 2: Back in Business), and two actors from Get Rich or Die Tryin', Omar Benson, and Tory Kittles. Considering the fact that the last three are young black men, I imagine they might be the other three soldiers.

The last time we heard about Luke Cage, back in February, director John Singleton (Boys n the Hood) said the comic adaptation is developing slowly because of the main character's skin color. Sure, such a statement makes little sense after the popularity of the Blade franchise, but then again, for every Blade movie, there's a Spawn or Steel or Meteor Man to make studios wary about black superheroes. Apparently, though, it may be even worse for a black superhero movie that also deals with black issues. Black Panther, which for years was said to be in the works with Wesley Snipes (before he became Blade), is another project that couldn't seem to get the greenlight, possibly because its main character deals with problems in Africa.

The person most rumored to play Luke Cage in Singleton's pic is Tyrese Gibson, and in a new interview to promote Transformers, the actor has confirmed that he's set to fill the character's shoes. He also says the movie is continuing development, with the script (by Ben Ramsey) currently in a rewrite stage. Gibson will be meeting with Singleton and others soon, though, to present the project to Sony and see if they can move forward. Personally I was hoping the project would add Cage's old partner Iron Fist in order to widen the appeal, but otherwise I'm excited about the progress, and I hope Sony is into what they have. Between his Shaft remake and 2 Fast 2 Furious, Singleton is losing a lot of credit as a good filmmaker, but if he can at least make a hit with Luke Cage, if not a great film, then he might be able to save himself from becoming a hero director for hire in the future.