geekosystem

Our buddies over at Slacktory recut the 1971 Steven Spielberg movie Duel, replacing most of the audio with that of a driver's ed filmstrip from 1949. The result is pure genius, as well as a great way to watch pretty much all the important parts of the movie in just under four minutes.

Just when you thought our five-year nerd rage over the cinematic garbage that was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was finally beginning to simmer down, the avid film aficionados over at Screen Junkies have to reopen old wounds and throw in the salt with their latest Honest Trailer tearing apart the aforementioned rubbish blockbuster. Pointing out every single flaw -- which is a tad redundant since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as a whole is a major flaw -- with keen observations that lay down the snark in spades, we're finding it difficult to laugh and control our seething anger at the same time. Damn that cheesy scene of Shia LeBeouf swinging with the monkeys to Hades! Damn it all!

Here's a timeless adage for you that all of Hollywood swears by: When in doubt, just reboot a cinematic classic from the 1980s. It's happened before countless times in the past with the end result always being a malformed abomination of what it once was. Having run the well of novel ideas dry years ago, film executives are already on the prowl in their reboot creeper van scoping out unsuspecting '80s flicks they've convinced themselves are in desperate need of a modern makeover. The latest victim they've set their money-hungry eyes on: The 1984 horror comedy Gremlins. Run, Gizmo! Run far away and don't look back!

Everybody loves E.T. The alien. The kid. The bike. What's not to love? Even though it seems like a simple enough concept, I don't think that Hollywood could produce a movie like E.T. today. There's too much focus-testing, generalization, and reliance on stereotypes. You know who agrees with me? The guys and gals from Above Average Productions. If E.T. were pitched to film studio executives today, they'd call him a turd, and demand he get shot. Just typing that is making me kind of sad right now.

This amazing image, horrifically titled "Pedal Faster, Elliot," is the work of artist Andy Hunter and posits what would happen if there were a zombie outbreak in the midst of the film E.T.. The work is part of a series over at the pop culture mashup site Draw2D2 that features the work of numerous artists re-imagining classic Steven Spielberg films with zombies. Will there be zombie sharks, zombie dinosaurs, and zombie aliens? Yes. Yes, indeed. See more after the break.

After the eh-ness that was the Green Lantern official trailer which leaked last night, the trailer for Cowboys & Aliens is refreshing in at least one way: It actually makes you want to see the film. The Jon Favreau-directed, Stephen Spielberg- and Ron Howard-produced film stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia "I'm in House, in case you don't remember who I am" Wilde and is based on a short graphic novel of the same name, and is due in theaters on July 29, 2011. (via Yahoo Movies)

Today in hypotheticals: As the geek world gears up for the international theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on November 18th, the Los Angeles Times informs us that none other than Steven Spielberg wanted to direct the Harry Potter films way back in 2001. Spielberg was even offered the director's chair by Warner Bros., but one notion of his caused the studio to pass on him, ultimately settling on middling Home Alone director Chris Columbus for the first film: Spielberg wanted the Harry Potter films to be animated by DreamWorks.

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are in Secret of the Unicorn? As Thomson and Thompson?

Excuse us as we get out the 10-foot pole and raise our expectations. Remind us again why we were ever worried about Steven Spielberg making an all-ages period action movie?

Oh yeah... motion capture.

Video with charming anecdotes below.

This is the question posed by The Hollywood Reporter. Terra Nova, if you don't know (we certainly didn't) is Spielberg's latest green-lit television series (he's producing). It's going to be about a family from about 2110 that goes back in time 150 million years to the time of dinosaurs, in order to save the human race. Or something. Who cares! It's Steven Spielberg and dinosaurs. But does it look like Avatar?

Right now, you could argue that we're in a new age in filmic storytelling, and that science fiction has been brought into the limelight in way that it hasn't enjoyed in years. One of the people who brought that shift toward mainstream is J.J. Abrams. A director who took on Star Trek in 2009, effectively retconned it, and made it a good movie with widespread appeal. Well, it looks like Abrams might be up to something new and with a little help. Sources are telling New York Magazine's Vulture blog that Abrams is currently working on a project that will, in some way, shape, or form, involve a certain Steven Spielberg and pay homage to his early work.