Treknobabble is a continuing series of columns written by uber-Trekkie Reed Farrington in anticipation of the upcoming J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie.

Who is Christopher Pine? I thought I would answer that question by doing some Internet detective work. Maybe I can make an educated guess as to how well I think Mr. Pine will do in capturing the essence of Captain Kirk. (Oh, in case you didn’t know, he’s the actor portraying Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie coming out next summer.)

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Directed by: Julian Schnabel
Written by: Ronald Harwood, Jean-Dominique Bauby
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze

Although many of us didn’t get a chance to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly during its limited theatrical run last year, the critically-acclaimed French film has finally arrived on DVD for all to enjoy. While it certainly makes sense that a movie like this would struggle to fill seats in multiplexes, I can now say that it is a definite must-see for all fans of film as an art form and admirers of inspirational storytelling in general.

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Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be in NYC and Boston over the next three days, so don’t be surprised if you see no posts from me. In other words, Film Junk will be exactly the same. Also, this week has been insanely hectic for both Gregory and myself, so we didn’t get a chance to record an episode of the Film Junk podcast. So for all of you Film Junkies jonzin’ for your fix, make sure to stay tuned for our triumphant return this Sunday. (Or Monday.) We’ll have lots to discuss and it will be a joyous occasion. Make sure to send in your Junk Mail. I’d like to see the next show really heavy in listener mail. CIAO DARLINGS!

Hey guys, Sean here, checking in from California. At the moment I’m in Santa Cruz, after spending a few days in San Francisco. All the hotels here seem to have free wi-fi access, which incidentally, allows me to catch up on all of the movie gossip that I’ve been missing out on! Here are some of the earth-shattering headlines that have transpired over the past few days. Feel free to discuss as you see fit.

Headlines
Wesley Snipes Sentenced to Three Years in Jail!
Ewan McGregor Signs on for Angels & Demons
Speed 3: Ignition is Fake (Unfortunately)
Eli Roth’s Next Film Will Be PG-13 Sci-Fi Blockbuster
Austin Powers 4 is a No Go
Ang Lee’s Next Gay-Themed Movie: Taking Woodstock
Enchanted Sequel In The Works?
Mein Kampf: The Comedy
Catherine Hardwicke to Direct Twilight
WGA To Hold Strikebreakers Accountable

New Trailers
Towelhead
Disney’s Earth
Savage Grace
Henry Poole is Here
College
Young People Fucking
Sea of Dust

Seeing as Sean’s away for the week, I thought it’d be fun to try something out that I’ve been meaning to do for a while now. Me and Reed Farrington got together and laid down a commentary track for one of our favourite Star Trek films, Wrath of Khan. That’s right, nearly two hours of Reed Farrington talking about his beloved Star Trek! Just make sure you’ve got your DVD ready to go and be sure to follow our complicated synchronization instructions and let the magic wash over you. Enjoy!

Right click and ’save as’ to download our Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan commentary track.

So kill me. Sean left for Cali-ghey-nia and I was busy covering Hot Docs all day yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to post this week’s weird web wednesday videos. However, I’m a man of my word, so today I give you this better late than never edition of…Weird Web THURSDAY! Sean sent me an email with a bunch of links to what are most likely lame to moderately humourous videos. I haven’t watched any yet, but based on the names I’m sure ‘treadmill owns girl 3 times’ will be good. (4 times would be better though.) I hate parodies and sketches, so i’ll skip that crap. (It’s a growing trend here on weird web wednesdays that I’m simply not a fan of.) I’m more into the videos of people getting hurt and publicly embarrassing themselves. ENJOY!

- girl gets owned by treadmill
- Uwe Boll on Fox News
- Robocop anti-drug PSA
- Montreal Beat Down
- High Tech High Noon
- Surgeons Cheer After Removing Can from Rectum
- Coen Brothers Mash-Up
- Expelled parody
- Elevator Hell
- laugh without smiling
- Bush on Deal or No Deal
- Clinton and Obama on WWE Raw
- Bush Dance Moves

Hey guys, just a quick heads up that I’m going to be away for the next week and a half, soaking up some rays down in California (okay, so it’s actually about the same weather there as it is here in Canada right now… whatever). Anyway, there probably won’t be as much posting going on for the next little while, but with Jay, Greg and Reed Farrington looking out for you guys, I’m sure there will be at least a few things to discuss in my absence. Jay and Greg are still planning to record a podcast next weekend as well, so be sure to check that out. I may post a couple things while I’m on the go if I get to do some writing on the plane (or possibly some quick updates on my personal blog). Other than that, see you in about 10 days!

A couple of weeks ago it was announced that Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch was working on a documentary about college basketball prospects called Gunnin’ For That No. 1 Spot (due out June 27th). While it seems unlikely that this movie could become the next Hoop Dreams, I was interested in the story if for no other reason then because MCA had seemingly been bitten by the filmmaking bug. After directing some of the band’s music videos over the years under the alias Nathaniel Hornblower, last year he directed the full-length Beastie Boys concert film Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That, which was edited together from footage shot by a bunch of fans who were given camcorders to capture the show in any way they wanted.

So then I got to thinking… whatever became of the Beastie Boys comedy that was supposedly in the works around the time that Ill Communication came out? They had mentioned it numerous times in interviews around that period, and Spike Jonze was supposedly going to direct it, but like many B-Boys projects, it never actually happened. Now, with Yauch suddenly intent on doing some directing of his own, some people seem to think that a fictional Beastie Boys movie might be back on the table again. While there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of strong evidence to support this, Beastie Boys fansite Mic to Mic points out that the New York Times and Hollywood.com both recently listed the movie (originally called We Can Do This) as a project in development under Spike Jonze’s filmography.

Now, if anything, I would think Jonze is too busy nowadays to work on something like this, and with the Beastie Boys somewhat past their prime they might not have the same draw that they used to. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Yauch himself decided to take on the project after his basketball doc, and given the creativity of many of their past music videos, I’d definitely love to see what they come up with. Would you be interested in seeing a Beastie Boys movie?

As HBO fans are no doubt aware, the cable network is currently in the midst of a rebuilding phase. Almost all of their major shows have wrapped up, and they are now looking for fresh new programming to keep their subscribers happy. Among the new shows they are developing is a biker gang drama called 1%, unfortunately they seem to have run into a roadblock in the form of a lawsuit… from one of the founders of the Hells Angels!

Sonny Barger claims he had originally pitched the series to HBO together with writer/executive producer Michael Tolkin (they began working together when Tolkin was hired by Fox to adapt Barger’s autobiography for the screen). After Barger objected to some elements of the pilot episode, he was essentially cut out of the project. Now he has filed a lawsuit against HBO claiming that some parts of the show are too close to real-life people and events (including the character of “Chief”, a known nickname for Barger himself). Essentially, he either wants in on the deal, or he wants his contributions to be pulled.

I guess the bottom line in this case is don’t mess with the Hells Angels, although it’s kind of funny to think that they are now threatening people with lawsuits rather than violence. I guess when people say that the organization has become a full-fledged business in recent years, they really aren’t kidding. I just hope the show still gets made because I think this could be pretty awesome.

We all know that movie studios are going trilogy-crazy right now, greenlighting just about any project that has a possibility of multiple installments if the first does well. But what about franchises that have more than three parts to draw from? Does that translate to an even bigger potential cash cow, or is three the magic number beyond which public interest tends to decline?

If you look at the Harry Potter franchise, they don’t seem to be showing any signs of dropping off, as the fifth installment Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is still one of the highest grossing in the series (although I will say that I personally am growing a bit tired of them). However, there’s also the issue of signing on a cast for a long period of time; many actors don’t want to commit to anything more than a trilogy. Perhaps this explains why the Chronicles of Narnia series, as it stands right now, is being planned strictly as a trilogy.

After Prince Caspian is released next month, they will conclude with Voyage of the Dawn Treader, potentially leaving the other four books without big screen adaptations of their own. Of course, it stands to reason that if there’s money to be made, the other books will find their way to theatres anyway. Since many of them involve different characters, they could end up being done after the fact (like The Hobbit), with only a few overlapping characters and probably a different director at the helm. What do you think, do these other books deserve to be made, or would you be happy with only three Narnia flicks?