Sir Ian McKellen back as Gandalf

Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed he will reprise his role as Gandalf in the film remake of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.

"Yes, it's true," he told Empire magazine. "It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf."

Two Hobbit films are planned for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson.

Guillermo del Toro has been named as the director of the movies, to be made back-to-back in New Zealand.

"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role," Sir Ian said.

He also said del Toro would be starting the script in about six weeks after he has finished filming current project, Hellboy 2.

According to studio New Line, the first film will be an adaptation of The Hobbit and the second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.

"As to how it's going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you it's going to be amazing though," Sir Ian said.

* Pinched from BBC Entertainment News, 30/04/2008

Snipes Sentenced to Three Years

Hollywood star Wesley Snipes has been sentenced to serve three years in jail for tax evasion.

In February the Blade actor was convicted of failing to file his taxes for five years. The star was acquitted of tax fraud and filing a false claim, as well as three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file a tax return. But on Thursday in Florida, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges sentenced Snipes to three years imprisonment.

Earlier this week, Snipes' famous friends, like actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington, sent letters to the judge as character references. The actor's attorneys argued that Snipes' crimes did not warrant a prison sentence, and that the star should be given probation. Details of when Snipes will have to surrender to prison, and where he will serve his sentence have not been released.

* Pinched from IMDb, 25/04/2008

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Its nice to see Marvel haven't given up on previous comic-to-movie failures. As well as the new Incredible Hulk film a second Punisher film will also be released later this year.

Tom Jane has stepped down from the lead to be replaced by the relatively unknown Ray Stevenson in Punisher: War Zone.

Lets wait and see if this'll be a 'hit' or a 'miss'.

Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)

'Resident Evil: Degeneration' (aka. Biohazard: Degeneration) is a new film based on the popular survival horror video games, created in glorious CGI. Judging from the above trailer this looks set to be the first movie adaption in the history of Resident Evil to actually be... good!

As its made by the Japanese company Capcom (creators of the series) this will be totally authentic to the games and a huge step away from the crap (sorry Ned!) live action versions starring Milla Jovovich.


Its going straight to DVD in the states soon so warm up your internet connection as I'm sure the amazing NinjaVideo.net will have it afterwards to view/download.

Zombie Strippers (2008)

Jumping on the Grindhouse band wagon heres the latest budget horror 'Zombie Strippers'.

Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson star. Could this be as "great" as last years 'Flight of the Living Dead'? There's only one way to find out...

"...to the DVD bargain bin!"