The 168 Turnaround: Darabont Fired, Kills Batman…In 3D!

A&E NEWS: August 7 – August 13, 2011

DEAD DARABONT:  Though it’s first season sported a meagre six episodes, I really did love the hell out of The Walking Dead.  A TV show about zombies can go wrong in any number of ways, but The Walking Dead managed to hit almost all the right notes in just the way I wanted them to be hit.  That, no doubt, is thanks largely to The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont, who is best known for directing such films as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.  Unfortunately, Darabont has been canned.  That’s right—AMC fired Darabont from the show.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the specifics of the firing are not being made public—even the cast and crew have been largely left in the dark.  Apparently, Darabont was unhappy with the cuts to the show’s budget, and made sure the AMC executives knew it.  Personally, this seems like a silly move for AMC to make, given that The Walking Dead is its highest rated show and Darabont was the man pulling most of the strings.  But that’s show business for you.

HAROLD & KUMAR:  I love going to the movies, but I’ve lately found myself avoiding anything being shown in 3D.  As someone who wears glasses all the time, I truly hate having to put those clunky 3D specs overtop of my regular glasses.  It makes for a horrible viewing experience.  And, personally, I’ve yet to be impressed with 3D—it just doesn’t do anything for me.  And yet, judging from this trailer for A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, I may have finally found a film where I will actually enjoy the 3D experience.  Mind you, I really enjoyed the first two Harold & Kumar movies, so I’m a little biased.  And the fact that they treat 3D as the joke it (largely) is doesn’t hurt either.  What do you think?

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BATMAN FOOTAGE:  I know—I rarely have anything good to say about Christopher Nolan.  He’s a talented filmmaker, but his films often leave me unsatisfied.  Even still, I’d be flat out lying if I said I wasn’t getting a little excited for his next film, The Dark Knight Rises.  From what little I’ve seen, I have my doubts about just how good the film will be.  With that said, however, it’s still a Batman movie—that’s reason enough to get excited.  Lately, there’s been a lot of leaked video footage of the film’s shooting, including a huge riot and fight scene, Anne Hathaway’s stunt double crashing the Batpod into a camera, and Bane’s stadium scene (where you can hear his voice for the first time):

Batman and Bane Fight Scene

Catwoman  Crashes Into Camera

The Voice Of Bane

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Rymdreglage – Insert Coin
I had my doubts these guys actually used coins for all of the animation—I suspected cheating of some sort.  But then I watched the “Making Of” at the end of the video.  Man oh man—these guys have a lot of time to kill.  Pretty impressive, though.

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The 168 Turnaround is a week-in-review column, a place for me to reflect on the week’s most interesting pop culture news items.  If it mattered to me or I think it might matter to you, then it will be here.  If I’ve overlooked an important news item, or if you have a comment or question, please leave a response below.  Thank you for reading.