X-Men Origins: Wolverine will tell the backstory of Wolverine, one of the most popular X-Men characters, played by Hugh Jackman. The plot of the movie:

Wolverine lives a mutant life, seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabertooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program.

The cast is pretty sweet for this one: Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schreiber, Dominic Monaghan, Danny Huston and more.

The film is scheduled to arrive on May 1st, 2009. Enjoy the photo!

[SuperHeroHype]

That feeling of pride stems from what our fore-fathers did to bring freedom to this country and how much they sacrificed to make it happen. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to live in that time, but if anything can make it a bit more real, this series on HBO is doing it.

John Adams started on Sunday night and I was completely glued to the screen, totally enamored by the acting done by everyone on screen. Paul Giamatti was brilliant…just brilliant as Adams himself, and Laura Linney provided a strong supporting job as Adams’ wife, Abigail. Danny Huston (below) also gave a great performance as Samuel Adams, John’s cousin.

I loved the portrayal of their marriage. I think that many a wise and important man in history has had a wife who stood silently behind him, supporting him and giving him confidence to accomplish the things that made him great.

A lawyer first, Adams was trying to defend some British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre. In trying to write his final argument, Mrs. Adams read his script with a critical eye, helping him narrow his focus on what was important to say about his clients, not himself.

But the first hour of the series itself was powerfully moving. It was also shocking in some scenes, like the tar-and-feathering of a British man blocking the import of tea other than his own. It was brutal as they stripped him naked, poured hot tar over his body and covered him in feathers.

I think many people believe that our fight was provoked solely by England, and while their laws and disregard for our desire for freedom led to the Revolution, we helped make it happen in places that tend to be glanced over.

The case Adams was defending is another example. Five Americans were killed by British muskets, but only after they were provoked into defending themselves. Yet we wanted nothing more than to hang them and use it as a motive for rebelling.

The second part was also shown last night and focused almost entirely on the forming of the Declaration of Independence, which was breathtaking I thought. The process by which the 13 colonies came together to finally agree to proclaim our independence from Great Britain was fascinating and difficult.

Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin was superb, but the real impressive role was David Morse as George Washington, who looks almost like he just walked off the dollar bill itself.

What I like about the first two episodes is that you don’t see everything that is happening in the war, you only see it all through John and Abigail’s eyes. So while I would have LOVED to see what was happening in Concord and Lexington, it was in a way better to see it as they did.

Especially when you get to Philadelphia and the first meetings of Congress. They couldn’t sense what was happening in Boston, and from their vantage point, an urgent declaration of independence wasn’t necessary…yet.

I loved the realism and authenticity that came through each scene. This didn’t feel like some cheesy reenactment of a period in our history. The sets, the dialog and scenes felt as if they could have actually happened.

The only downside I find is that I wish there were dates displayed for each scene, because in the first two hours you jumped around 5 years and it would have been nice to know what point in time you were watching.

If you love history and have a chance to watch this, I suggest you try to find the repeats of Sunday’s two-part premiere. This is a great mini-series, one that pulls you right into the situation and you will feel that period of our history like never before. It’s almost a show that NEEDS to be seen by people.

Rating: 9.5/10

I’ve been following the production of the movie a bit, obviously from the first day I heard it was going to be made into a movie and that Viggo Mortensen would play the lead character of the father. I can’t tell you how fantastic a choice it was to pick Viggo for this movie…he’ll do an amazing job. He has that ability to play a tired, weary, hard-luck guy and that’s what is needed here.

It’s now being reported that Charlize Theron will be joining Viggo in the film, which is good news considering what a great actress she is, but also puzzling news in the way the book goes.

Without giving too much away, the story is mainly about a father and his son trying to survive in a world around 2-4 years after a nuclear holocaust in the United States. You never get their names and the story is bleak, dark and dreary. There is hardly any food left, nothing growing, no power, nothing but desolation. Yet while it sounds like a slow moving book, it’s really a page-turning masterpiece.

The fact of the matter is that the only woman who appears in the story of any significance is the father’s wife, but it’s only done in short flashbacks.

So either Theron will be in the film for just a few short flashbacks, or else they are changing the story a bit.

Some other interesting news on this is that according to IMDB.com, Guy Pearce is in talks to also be in the film, as well as Danny Huston. Again, it’s going to be weird to see how additional actors fare in this film because of the main focus being on just two people and a desolate landscape.

I can see some of these guys turning up along the way, sort of like cameo appearances while they journey towards hope.

And as far as the son goes, it looks like (according to Production Charts) that he’ll be played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.

If you haven’t read the book yet, I strongly suggest you pick up a copy today and make sure you are all set for the movie’s release sometime in September of 2008.