In this weekend's well-meaning docudrama, Flash of Genius, Greg Kinnear portrays an inventor who struggled for years to sue car manufacturing behemoth Ford and get them to admit that they helped themselves to his patent on the intermittent windshield wiper. (Eugene reviewed it back at Telluride, and I basically agree with his assessment.)

Despite the real-life case being settled a couple of decades ago, Ford has taken this current opportunity to point out the factual inaccuracies in the movie that they've taken issue with, doing so in the form of this handy timeline, without causing any sort of formal stir, as covered in this accompanying text. Especially considering that the film's subject, Robert Kearns, passed away over three years ago, I doubt it would (and hope it won't) come to any sort of renewed head.

Maybe in thirty years or so, we'll get a movie about a blogger battling impossible odds to get all the facts straight on either side of a movie in which an inventor battled impossible odds to get just some facts straight. Now, to just work the word 'Genius' back into the title...

I'm finally writing a post here that my sister will read. You see, she adores Russell Brand almost as much as Brand adores Cinematical and Scott Weinberg (see image above as proof of this fact). Maybe even more, because unlike most Americans, she was avidly following his British career via his podcast and BBC America. There have been many humbling moments in my Cinematical salad days, but none quite so humiliating as when I told her Brand was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "I know. I followed the filming on his podcast." At least Weinberg promptly humiliated her by getting all cozy with her favorite Englishman.

As my sister wasn't one of the casting directors for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand had to make an audition tape to convince them of his weirdly-coiffed worthiness. In honor of its DVD release, MTV has the exclusive, and I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. And if you're like my sibling and can't get enough, I've also included the karaoke version of his in-film music video, Infant Sorrow.

5-1 my sister writes "I've already seen both of those videos" in the comments. Hopefully, you'll be more appreciative.

The wires (yes, I still think of them like that) were buzzing all weekend with MTV's big scoop -- that while Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott were out promoting Body of Lies, the network cornered them about the long-delayed Nottingham, Scott's revisionist Robin Hood story. There have been a lot of names attached to the role of Robin Hood, ranging from Christian Bale to newcomer Sam Riley.

Forget all of that because now, from Scott himself, comes the announcement that Crowe will be playing both roles. Mum on the details, the director would only say it was "a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes." I would take that to mean that the Sheriff of Nottingham becomes Robin Hood after having to steal from the poor one too many times ... or they're twins, which would be pretty lame, especially for Scott and Crowe.

But wait -- there's more! CHUD points out that in reading the original screenplay, they noticed the Sheriff was caught between a tyrant king and a less-than-heroic Robin Hood. Nothing in this script indicated the Sheriff and Robin Hood could be played by the same actor. Now, Brian Helgeland came in and did a rewrite, and much depends on that.

The medievalist in me suspects this is less shockingly revisionist than a return to the old medieval legends, where Robin Hood was merely an outlaw who beheaded people from time to time, not the Robin of Locksley we all know and love. It's a pretty flexible legend, and I'm very anxious to see what Scott does with it ... when it finally heads into production, that is.

Click poster to enlarge

The last time Angelina Jolie received an Oscar nod was for playing a mental patient in 1999's Girl, Interrupted, for which she took home the statue for Best Supporting Actress. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, consider this: Winona Ryder -- and not Jolie -- was a box-office draw back then.

Now, after years of strong and sometimes overlooked performances (ahem, A Mighty Heart), Jolie is once again receiving battalions of Oscar buzz, this time for her role in Clint Eastwood's Changeling (get your exclusive first look at the poster above).

Based on real events that transpired in 1920s Los Angeles, Changeling is the tale of a mother (Jolie) whose abducted son is seemingly returned to her by the LAPD. Turns out the boy is not her flesh and blood, however -- or so she adamantly claims -- and thus Mama Jolie sets out to wring the truth from a corrupt police department unwilling to listen to her.

Changeling opens in limited release Oct. 24 and expands wide on Oct. 31.

I would be a huge dork if I began this post with the sentence, "This is the best news ever," but it kind of is. One of my favorite (and yours too) scriptwriters is making a return to the big screen -- and may it be a triumphant one. According to Variety, Shane Black is directing Cold Warrior for Universal Pictures from a script penned by Chuck Mondry. This will be his second outing as a director -- his first was, of course, the fantastic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

And frankly, Warrior sounds like a film from the heyday of 80's action. It centers on a spy from the Cold War era who comes out of retirement and teams up with a younger agent to thwart a Russian domestic terrorism plot. It couldn't be more timely given how icy relations are with our Eastern neighbors. (The Russians didn't get to take much of a break from big-screen villainy, did they? I thought their comeback would just arrive via the Russian Mafia, not as terrorists again.)

This is going to be a blast to watch -- from the description, I want to believe it's old-school Black, but it could just as easily go into dark and serious Breach territory. Obviously, my fondness for macho men, snappy one-liners, and heavy gunfire hope it's the former. That's the kind of movie that can cure all ills and make you forget your economic woes, isn't it?

This may be the oddest mix of director and material that you might read all year. According to Variety, Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) will be directing an adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick for Universal, who made a big pre-emptive buy of this revisionist take. Not surprisingly, it won't be the "Call me Ishmael" version that you remember from school. In fact, Ishmael probably won't even be in it.

Adam Cooper and Ben Collage are penning the screenplay, and taking what they call "a graphic novel approach" to a book considered to be one of the best in the English language. (In Hollywood talk nowadays, this means "It will look like 300.") Moby Dick becomes a kind of Jaws in this version, where we will see him wreaking havoc on the seas long before he encounters Captain Ahab and the Pequod. Ahab won't become the obsessive and destructive captain, but a brave and charismatic leader. (Yeah, there was a moral there, but who needs that nowadays?) Bekmambetov is looking to apply his frenetic visual flair to the story of the great white whale. I think we all know what the style is, and what this will look like. Moby's white body will look terrific splattered with blood as he drags ships down to the depths at high speed.

Honestly, Moby Dick is not one of my favorite books, and it's only an academic snarkiness that balks at a Bekmambetov version. Besides, it's going to be pretty funny when audience members rush to Borders to buy a copy of the book, imagining it to be packed with gore and brawny heroes, not "to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!"

It looks like another quiet week in the land of the geek -- particularly since all my friends are off at Fantastic Fest. If you're one of the lucky people attending, eat a Wild at Artichoke Hearts pizza for me at the Alamo Drafthouse. I lie awake at night thinking about it, and wishing for the skill to replicate it.

• The biggest news of the weekend was a story that hit Variety late Friday night: Stephen Chow has landed the role of Kato in The Green Hornet and the director's chair. Rumors and Seth Rogen's wishes have attached him for some time, but now it's official, and definitely shows that the project is going to be heavy on the comedy. (Incidentally, I never realized before now what huge Green Hornet fans my geek parents were -- let's just say Rogen's ears must be burning.) The movie is scheduled to be released June 25th, 2010.
  

• Tintin has run into some major financial problems. According to the LA Times, Universal has passed on the film, leaving Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to scramble for a new studio to financially back them. It's as embarrassing as you can imagine -- not only because its two of the biggest names in the business, but because Spielberg may have to make nice with Paramount (who's financing half the film) just as he and David Geffen are trying to extricate themselves from it. It also leaves Spielberg without a project to direct, as Tintin was supposed to be next in line, and it delays the whole thing even longer. But hey, at least struggling directors the world over can now do something they never thought possible -- feel just like Spielberg!
  

The Geek Beat is taking a late-September vacation to Middle Earth -- but it will be back next month and those of you suffering withdrawels can always check the archives. In the meantime, you can relax with a daily round-up of nerdy news bites. (They taste like coconut!) This is relaxing for me, too -- I get to catch up on my reading, my Halloween shopping, and my yoga. I can stay up all night re-reading Preacher (you know I will) and not waiting for an X-Men Origins: Wolverine story. A good way to end summer!

Now, onto today's news ...

• According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeffery Erb and Robert Robinson Jr. have launched Framelight Productions with an eye to producing edgy comic and graphic novel adaptations. They already have options on Larry Hama's Dr. Death with Kip and Muffy, Gary Reed's Deadworld, Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler's Sins of the Fallen, as well as their 1001 Arabian Nights. (Clicking on any of those links will take you to previews of the books.) All of their productions aim to do one thing in particular -- involve the creator in all aspects of movie making. "We weren't the only producers wanting to make movies based on these creators' babies, but we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers," says Erb.

• Edward Norton told MTV News that he's uncertain about the future of The Incredible Hulk and his role in it. There's been no word on whether they will be a solo sequel, or if Norton will be playing the Hulk in The Avengers. "The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque. I won't say [they're] obtuse, but I don't have any idea what they want to do." Perhaps they're considering Matthew McConaughey, who had no idea he was rumored for Captain America -- but revealed to MTV that Hulk is really the only Marvel character he would like to play. (They could save on the budget -- all they have to do is dye that muscled dude green.)
  

Whether you like it or not, the success of Sex and the City has breathed new life into the so-called 'chick flick' landscape (heck, it even gave The Women another shot at the multiplex). So get ready for more 'Ya-Ya Sisterhood' on the big screen, because Hollywood is finally starting to figure out that women like to go to the movies. Next up, according to Variety, is Lauren Weisberger's novel Chasing Harry Winston for Universal and Mandalay Pictures. You might recognize Weisberger as the author of the best-selling novel, The Devil Wears Prada, and Winston is her latest book to spend some time on the NYT's best-seller list.

Winston "revolves around three young women who each vow to change their entire lives for the better in the course of the next year" -- and you can probably guess how each of them is going to 'change' their lives. One glance at the cover art gives this gal a quick education in what this book probably has in store for its readers. Gina Wendkos (The Princess Diaries) has already been signed to write the script, and Andy Tennant will direct.

The addition of Tennant is probably where the last of any desire I might have had to watch this movie disappears all together. Call me judgmental if you must, but Tennant was the director behind films like Sweet Home Alabama, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Fools Gold; so I doubt this film is going to deviate from form. Plus, if you are anything like me (and I know there has to be some of you out there) this current crop of 'movies for girls' is starting to get a little insulting. I like shopping as much as the next girl, but there is more to our gender than marriage-mania and rampant consumerism; isn't there?

I have many vague and silly memories regarding the TV shows produced by The Krofft Brothers. Viewed through an adult's eyes, programs like Land of the Lost (43 episodes), H.R. Pufnstuf (17 episodes), and Far Out Space Nuts (16 episodes) might seem like the pinnacle of stupidity -- and that's because most adults are smart. (OK, Land of the Lost was pretty cool, fine, and I could see it turning into a half-decent adventure-comedy flick, but we won't know for sure until next summer.) But while Lost and Pufnstuf flicks are already in the works, we have a new Krofft Superstar who's about to make his silver screen debut.

Even as a kid I couldn't stomach Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (29 episodes). It was about a creature (who looked like a giant plate of fried matzo) who lived in the beach house of two moronic brothers. Each week Sigmund would be ALMOST discovered by someone, only to have the surfer bros save the day somehow. There was also a pair of nasty sea monster brothers, which begs the question: Why was the show called "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters," when ALL of 'em were sea monsters? Perhaps "Beach Dummies and the Sea Monsters" would have made more sense, but at this point I'm digressing for two whole paragraphs.

Anyway, Universal just wrote the Kroffts a check and hired Dana Gould to write the Sigmund screenplay. According to Variety, "The Kroffts said they hope to follow with the remaining properties originated on The Krofft Supershow, which include Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (8 episodes), Lidsville (17 episodes), The Bugaloos (17 episodes), Dr. Shrinker (16 episodes), Bigfoot and Wildboy (20 episodes) and Wonderbug (22 episodes)" -- to which I can only respond ... "please, don't."