Kiss Me, I’m IrVsh.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a road downhill all the way to home.

A very happy St. PaVtrick’s Day to you and yours. I expect my own holiday will involve some permutation of NCAA basketball, slightly too much Guinness, and a vicinal viewing of Vendetta (which is getting mixed reviews thus far — Still, as far as Alan Moore adaptations go, it has to be better than LXG, and I’d only be moderately disappointed if it’s comparable to the Hughes Brothers’ take on From Hell.) At any rate, have a good one…and be sure to don some green!

Two for III.

In today’s movie bin, the full trailer for Brett Ratner’s X3: The Last Stand shows up online. Hmm, I’m still not feeling it. To quote an AICN talkbacker, “Too much wire fu makes Homer go something something“…although I did kinda dig the scene with Juggernaut chasing Kitty Pryde. (Insert your own I’m the Juggernaut, b***ch joke if you’d like.) Also out today is the new Japanese M:I:III trailer, now with considerably less Philip Seymour Hoffman.

V for Vindicated.

V for Vendetta may be–why hedge? is–the most subversive cinematic deed of the Bush-Blair era, a dagger poised in midair. Unlike the other movies dubbed ‘controversial’ (Fahrenheit 9-11, The Passion, Munich, Syriana), it doesn’t play to a particular constituency or polarized culture bloc, it’s working on a deeper, Edgar Allan Poe-ish witch’s brew substrata of pop myth.Vanity Fair‘s James Wolcott seems to really like V for Vendetta. (Via Blivet.)

Back in Black.

Superhero Hype! procures an impressive new pic from Spiderman III, and it’s official: Peter Parker is donning the black garb…which means the long-swirling rumors that Topher Grace is playing Venom seem to be on the money. Hmmm. Even with the Sandman involved, I’d have preferred to see more of Spidey’s classic rogues’ gallery before Raimi & co. got to the peeved symbiote in question. Update: As a keen-eyed AICN fanboy noted, is Parker asleep in this pic? That’d dovetail nicely with the comics, when, pre-Venom, the costume started getting a mind of its own.

Steelers’ Reels / Capt. Cromwell.

Another Superbowl has come and gone (Congrats to the Steelers, some of the calls notwithstanding), and — while I personallly preferred the FedEx cavemen and Hummer monsters — some new movie ads were scattered throughout the game, including new looks at V for Vendetta, MI:III, Poseidon, and Pirates of the Caribbean. (And, also in movie news, the increasingly over-stuffed Spiderman 3 picks up another marquee name with James Cromwell as Capt. Stacy, Gwen’s father.)

Skekses and Spiders.

Clone Wars and Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky will helm The Power of the Dark Crystal. And, in other fanboy news, Bryce Dallas Howard shows off the Gwen Stacey tresses while promoting Manderlay, and Dark Horizons obtains a pretty large spoiler about James Franco’s role in Spiderman 3.

The Night Gwen Stacy…Returned?

Curiouser and curiouser…The Village‘s Bryce Dallas Howard joins Spiderman 3 as none other than Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s doomed childhood sweetheart. I find this somewhat strange, since they’d basically turned Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson into Gwen Stacy in the first film (#6). (Plus, they’ve switched hair-colors, but ah well.)