Dan Dare, a British Sci Fi Pilot, looks to be heading to Warner Bros. so that the chief can get his turn on the big screen. Variety reports that the rights for the feature film are close to being theirs and that Sam Worthington is set to be the chief pilot hero of the Interplanet Space Fleet.

“Dan Dare,” created by Frank Hampson, first appeared as a comic in 1950 and centered on a gallant chief pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet.  Time frame was the 1990s and the complex adventures were set on planets presumed to have extraterrestrial life.

Dare, described as the British equivalent of Buck Rogers, also appeared in radio programs and a TV series, “Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future.”

Rights were obtained from Dan Dare Inc. through Colin Frewin, who exec produces along with Dan Lin.

Basil Iwanyk, the guy who produced Clash of the Titans, is set to produce the film under Thunder Road which will be overseen by Kent Cubena.  The Warner Bros. executives are Sarah Schechter, Ollie Madden, and Matt Milam.

So for those of you that get excited over crazy stellar aviation, brace yourself for a whole new type of space adventure when it comes time for Dan Dare to take his maiden voyage onto the silver screen.

We are big fans of Kick-Ass here at HeyUGuys and in particular Chloe Moretz’s fantastic performance as Hit Girl. You can read my review of the film here and a round up of our extensive coverage here.

Thanks to MTV we now have the details on the US DVD and Blu-Ray release and a wonderful behind the scenes clip. The US DVD and Blu-Ray will be released on the 3rd of August, with the UK version undoubtedly following much later.

There are a decent amount of extras on both the Blu-Ray and DVD, including a commentary by Matthew Vaughn and the cast and crew. You can watch a taster from the extras in a clip below that shows some behind the scenes footage focusing on Chloe Moretz. The clip ends with Moretz showing off a particular skill she acquired for the film and even though we see her do it in Kick-Ass, seeing her do it here so casually still left me speechless.

Check out the clip and below that the full details on the DVD and Blu-Ray.

KICK-ASS

Street Date: 8/3/10
Blu-ray Disc Combo Pack (Blu-ray Disc, DVD & Digital Copy) SRP: $39.99
DVD SRP: $29.95

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
I can’t read your mind. But I can kick your ass. This summer, prepare for a wild action film unlike any you’ve ever seen as Lionsgate releases Kick-Ass to Blu-ray Disc Combo Pack (three discs – including Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy). The film will also be available on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand. Co-written and directed by Matthew Vaughn (upcoming X-Men: First Class), the ass-kicking adventure about unlikely real-life crime fighters stars Aaron Johnson (Nowhere Boy), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) and Mark Strong (Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes), along with the dynamic father-daughter duo played by Chloë Grace Moretz (upcoming Let Me In), and Nicolas Cage (National Treasure series). Based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita JR, “Hit Girl,”, “Big Daddy” and the do-it-yourself superheroes make their way to your home with super DVD special features, including audio commentary, art archives and the featurette “It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass.” The Blu-ray Disc Combo Pack kicks even harder with the same DVD special features plus a documentary length “making-of,” and a feature-length Ass-Kicking Bonus View mode. In addition, the Metamenu Remote powered by BD Touch, another Blu-ray exclusive, will allow for iPhone OS and Android users to personalize their experience with this state-of-the-art free app. Once connected through BD-Live, viewers can select menus using intuitive gestures, find scenes by dialogue, discover details about the actors, and more. With headphones, they can select to listen in alternate language tracks, or enjoy other synchronized content including portions of the Ass-Kicking Bonus View (which users can take “to go” on their mobile device). The high-octane phenomenon invades shelves and homes on August 3rd for the suggested retail price of $39.99 for the Blu-ray Combo Pack and $29.95 on DVD.

Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is an ordinary teenager who goes unnoticed in high school until he takes a chance to “do something” and dons a mask and becomes “Kick-Ass” to fight real-life crime. Bruised and beaten and without any real super powers, he is saved by a father-daughter duo (Cage as “Big Daddy”, Moretz as “Hit-Girl”) who know all the right moves and have a vendetta against a vicious crime-lord, D’Amico (Strong). After a fiery internet storm of publicity for Kick-Ass, D’Amico wants to meet the masked man, and his son (Mintz-Plasse) dons a costume of his own and becomes “Red Mist” to befriend him and get in his father’s good graces. The story comes to a head when D’Amico succeeds in luring the crime-fighters to his home and ass-kicking destruction ensues.

BLU-RAY DISC SPECIAL FEATURES*
DISC ONE
• Ass-Kicking Bonus View Mode (Blu-ray Disc Exclusive) – Synchronous with the feature film, this innovative multi-media presentation incorporates video and audio commentary, behind-the-scenes clips and illustrative graphics with Co-Writer/Producer/Director Matthew Vaughn, plus cast and crew providing an all-access perspective on Kick-Ass
• “A New Kind of Superhero: The Making of Kick-Ass “ documentary (Blu-ray Disc Exclusive)
• “It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass” featurette
• Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Matthew Vaughn
• “The Art of Kick-Ass” gallery
• Marketing Archive
• BD Touch and Metamenu Remote
• Lionsgate Live™ enabled, featuring extra content for Internet-connected players
• Enhanced for D-Box™ Motion Control Systems
*Subject to change

DISC TWO
• Standard Definition DVD Copy of the feature film

DISC THREE
• Standard Definition Digital Copy of the feature film

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES*
• Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Matthew Vaughn
• “It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass” featurette
• “The Art of Kick-Ass” gallery
• Marketing Archive
*Subject to change

CAST
Aaron Johnson Nowhere Boy, Chat Room, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Christopher Mintz-Plasse How To Train Your Dragon, Year One, Role Models, Superbad
Mark Strong upcoming Green Lantern, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Syriana
Chloë Grace Moretz upcoming Let Me In, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, (500) Days of Summer, Bolt
and Nicolas Cage upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, National Treasure series, Bangkok Dangerous, Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock
Clark Duke Hot Tub Time Machine, Sex Drive, TV’s “Greek,” Superbad

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2009
Title Copyright: © 2009 KA Films LP. All Rights Reserved.
Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use – some involving children
Genre: Action / Comedy
Closed Captioned: Blu-ray Combo Pack – English SDH, DVD – English
Subtitles: English and Spanish
Blu-Ray Format: 1080P High Definition 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
DVD Format: 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
Feature Running Time: 118 minutes
Blu-ray Audio Status: 7.1 DTS-HD and French 5.1 Dolby Digital
DVD Audio Status: 5.1 EX Dolby Digital

When I heard that Jonathan Ross was writing a comic I was sceptical. I’ve never been a fan of Ross (although I did like The Incredibly Strange Film Show) and even though he has impressive credentials as a comic book fan (his documentary, In Search of Steve Ditko, made that clear) that does not mean he would automatically make a good comic writer.

It was therefore with trepidation that I picked up and read his comic, Turf, last week. I am happy to report though that I was pleasantly surprised. Ross has come up with the goods, Turf is a really enjoyable and well written comic.

Aided by excellent artwork from Tommy Lee Edwards, the fist issue of Turf has an engrossing story, interesting characters and an intriguing premise.

In case you haven’t picked it up, here is the description of Turf from the publishers, Image Comics:

Set in Prohibition-era New York, TURF offers a twist on the hard boiled crime thriller, adds vampires and aliens to the traditional mix of booze, broads and bullets as it chronicles the eruption of a vengeful gang war between booze-smuggling mobsters and the blood thirsty Dragonmir Family. As an ancient prophecy unfolds amidst the maelstrom of violence, the entire city is engulfed by the brutal conflict and the only glimmer of hope is an unlikely alliance between tough guy Eddie Falco and a stranger from another world.

In a recent interview with the Guardian Ross stated that the director of Kick Ass (which was co-written by Ross’ wife Jane Goldman), Matthew Vaughn, may be in line to make a film version of Turf. The Guardian reported it as follows,

There will be five further issues, a hardback collection and – if all goes to plan – a Turf movie made by Matthew Vaughn

With Vaughn’s Kick Ass most likely bound for worldwide box office success this month, and with the help of Ross, Vaughn would probably not find it hard to raise the budget needed to bring Turf to the big screen.

Addmittedly my opinion is based solely on the first issue but I think Turf could make for a really interesting film as the first issue definitely has real potential.

Let us know in the comments what you think of the comic, if you’ve read it, and also of the news that Vaughn may be in line to make a film version?

**Please note that although I do discuss the plot of Kick-Ass in this review I have avoided giving away any spoilers for major plot points or anything that was not featured in the trailers**

Kick-Ass, like many classic superhero stories, is about an ordinary guy who becomes something more, something extraordinary. The difference is that Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) doesn’t have Batman’s money, he’s not bitten by a radioactive spider and he’s not exposed to cosmic rays, he’s just an ordinary teenager who is a little deluded. This lack of an extraordinary ability or easy availability to a large quantity of expensive gadgets doesn’t stop him from fantasizing; like Dave says “At some point in our lives, we all wanted to be a superhero”.

Dave decides to try and make this dream a reality, ordering a wet suit off the internet, customising it and begins training in the art of being a superhero. You know, learning to jump between buildings and striking cool poses, stuff like that. As Dave says though, any serial killer will tell you – there’s a point where fantasizing just isn’t enough. His first foray into costumed vigilantism isn’t particularly successful, he’s stabbed, hit by car and ends up in hospital. Following a series of operations Dave is returned to good health but is unable to feel pain after his nerve endings are severed. Although this isn’t quite a superpower and it doesn’t add to his fighting abilities, it does mean he has a better chance at being the last man standing in a fight.

Although swearing he won’t go back on the streets, the desire to assume his alter ego is too great and he goes out looking for wrongs to right. Whilst trying to rescue a cat he accidentally knocks down a guy who is running away from a group of thugs. Despite not being particularly successful in beating them up and chasing them away, he doesn’t give up and it doesn’t matter how many times they hit him he won’t go down. A group of people gather to watch from inside a diner, one kid recording the fight on his phone, everyone else just watching in disbelief. When the fight is over and the thugs have finally given up and run away the kid rushes over to ask the masked vigilante his name; Kick-Ass! Dave replies. The video is uploaded to YouTube and Kick-Ass becomes an overnight sensation. Dave also sets up a Kick-Ass Myspace page where he ends up with thousands of ‘friends’. Dave is a pretty geeky guy though, with just a couple of close friends, and in his regular life he experience nothing like the adoration he gets as Kick-Ass. The three friends mostly hang out together, making inappropriate jokes, reading comics and generally repelling attractive girls. As Dave spends more and more time as Kick Ass though his real life gradually changes and there are even romantic possibilities for Dave, a guy we are introduced to really early on masturbating in his bedroom, a lot.

As the story progresses the supporting cast becomes more key as the film is more about a collection of great characters, rather than just a film about Dave/Kick-Ass. Dave Lizewski does provide the centre for the audience though as he is probably the character that is relatable in a group that is mostly very strange and pretty demented. Other characters include Nicholas Cage as Damon/Big Daddy, Chloe Moretz as his daughter/side kick Mindy/Hit Girl, Mark Strong as crime boss Frank D’Amico and his son Chris played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Part of the way through the film Chris also adopts an alter ego becoming Red Mist. Dave and Chris are similar in many ways but where Dave has his close friends and a relatively simple ‘real life’, Chris is the son of a large crime lord and therefore has everything money can buy but due to his privileged lifestyle he is also a lonely figure. The dynamic between the two and Chris’ eventual character arc didn’t really work for me actually as Chris’ motivations seemed a little muddled but I think this might be less of an issue on subsequent viewings.

Although did like the characters of Dave and Chris and the other school kids are engaging, this film for me was about two characters who, unsurprisingly to anyone else who has read the comic, totally steal the film. Big Daddy and Hit Girl. Just writing those five words makes me want to watch the film again right now. I tend to try and avoid film criticism that lapses into simple fanboyism but it is so hard to write about Kick-Ass, and in particular Big Daddy and Hit Girl, without slipping into fanboy hyperbolism. If I saw this film when I was 15 (thanks to a generous ruling from the BBFC, the film is released in the UK as a 15) it could well have been my favourite film. There are large sequences of insanely violent action, there are endless comic book references, from the obvious down to details such as a background shot of a cinema playing The Spirit 3, there is a protagonist who is around the age of 15, a little girl who swears like a sailor and slices off limbs, a plethora of amusing pop culture references and a visual style that is ridiculous and excessive in an unbelievably fun way. Don’t misunderstand me though, this is not a film just for teenagers, I am around double that age and I still had an absolute blast watching Kick-Ass.

Nicholas Cage as Big Daddy had me in stitches and with this and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans I have slightly fallen in love with Nicholas Cage this year. Cage plays the father part with a strange but appropriate sincerity and when he is Big Daddy he channels Adam West with really funny results. And so to Hit Girl, Daily Mail baiting, foul mouthed, John Woo loving, weapons expert, tiny killer psychopath Hit Girl. Every moment Hit Girl is on screen is a joy and Vaughn clearly understands the point of Hit Girl in the original comics. Hit Girl is there for extreme action and shock value but every now and again, especially towards the end, she is there for emotional engagement. The sentimentality in a few scenes could jar and come across as clumsy but Moretz’s performance is pitch perfect and she mixes so well the elements of her character, she is both a monstrous mass murderer and a sweet little girl. Chloe Moretz is only 13 (12 when she made the film) but she is already clearly a talented actress, her performance is very impressive for someone so young and despite the pulpy subject matter she delivers a genuinely engaging and layered performance, both extravagant and nuanced. It is hard not to just gush about Moretz’s performance but it is seriously that good. Although the idea of seeing a Let The Right One In Hollywood remake holds little appeal to me, hearing that Moretz is going to play the role of Abby (Eli in the original) is enough to spark my interest. Hopefully she can build on such a memorable performance and not pull a Culkin.

Also surprisingly good in Kick-Ass is Mark Strong. I say surprisingly because although I know he has his fans I have yet to see him anything where he has impressed me; I was particularly underwhelmed by his performance in Sherlock Holmes. In Kick-Ass Strong plays Chris’ father and crime boss Frank and he is pretty funny in the role and plays the exaggerated cartoon crime boss bad guy with great panache. I’m now really looking forward to seeing what Strong can do with the character of Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern film.

Kick-Ass is also a great film to look at, not something I was necessarily expecting, with super-saturated colours and flashy but not ridiculous camera flourishes. The editing is also pretty tight throughout ramping up the pace in all the right places but still giving space to dialogue heavy scenes and emotional moments without rushing past them to get to the action. One criticism I do have though is that there is a sag in the pace part way through the film and the film could have been much tighter if the editing had been a bit more ruthless. Also there were moments where the action sequences felt a little like self-contained set-pieces and not significantly intergrated into the rest of the film. That said these two points are minor criticisms and overall the pacing and editing is pretty tight.

This film is mostly action and comedy and it delivers so well in both areas. The action and comedy are both vulgar but this vulgarity never seems forced. The film is just so much fun it’s hard not to just get swept up in it. At the press screening I attended there was even applause at some of the more outrageous moments and there was raucous laughter throughout. Not just relying solely on the shock factor that much of the film has, Kick-Ass has characters you actually grow to care about and it also benefits from an engaging story.

Kick-Ass is so audacious in every way possible and a film that after seeing I immediately wanted to both see it again and tell people to go and see it.

Kick-Ass opens in the UK on 26th March and embedded below is the Red Band Trailer which focuses on the foul mouthed, scene stealing Hit Girl.

British comics have not been well served in their Hollywood adaptations. Transatlantic transitions from page to screen result in either being too faithful, as Zack Synder’s Watchmen arguably was, or too loose with the essence of the source material, resulting in a genre bound snooze fest – Judge Dredd please stand up (and don’t remove your helmet!).

While the golden age of American comics have lit up the screen in this last decade, with visionary directors taking the basic elements of  these iconic characters to their own conclusions, British comics have not garnered such attention. Nolan’s Batman, Raimi’s Spiderman and the Supermen of Donner and Singer have their own unique identity; the depth of the mythology of these superheroes allows numerous interpretations, and some of the most interesting re-imaginings of our own myths and legends have occurred on the screen as well as on the page.

It is arguable that only Dan Dare and  Mega City One’s lawman Judge Dredd have the same global recognition as their transatlantic cousins, and while the Pilot of the Future has been relaunched and rejuvenated the oft promised movie has yet to surface and the mid 90s Dredd movie was a disappointment in the box office and the realm of the fans (Helmet! Come on!)

I do not claim to be an expert on UK comics, nor am I entirely serious in my list below, but hopefully this will allow the often overlooked UK comics industry to shoulder up to its US counterpart. After all, it’s Sunday and we can allow a little dalliance with the fantastic, can’t we?

So, here are my top 5 UK comic strip movies I’d like to see.

Dennis the Meance

I’d love to have seen the much missed Charlotte Coleman take on Minnie the Minx (Dennis’s partner in menace from The Beano), and I shall ignore the US version of Dennis the Menace (although it is hard to disagree with the perfect casting of Walter Matthau at his most grumpy, self parodic self), and instead hope for a scheming dynamo of mischief and menace from the kid who made red and black striped jumpers a symbol of fear long before Freddy first sharpened his clawfingers.

Dennis and his rabid and faithful hound Gnasher have long been favourites in the D.C. Thompson & Co. stable, and since they replaced the oddity of Biffo the Bear in 1951 the covers of The Beano have portrayed one moment of menace or another, and kids every where took Dennis to their hearts. It’s an incredibly simple premise.

If you could have behaved as you wanted to when you were a kid – you would have been Dennis. His unruly attitude and penchant for the more devious elements of bad behaviour made him an iconic figure in 70s and 80s Britain, and if you heard the satisfying slap of The Beano on the carpet in your hall every Saturday morning the chances are you loved him most of all.

Not only is the nostalgia factor a prime selling point here but as the UK comics industry has the benefit and curse of being a prime source of well known ‘properties’ to market we are facing a time when the it needs to branch out to survive.

I can’t imagine getting Duncan Jones to ‘Do a Dark Knight’ with Dennis, but keep it catapults, bullied softies and Gnasher biting people and you’ve got a hit.

The Bash Street Kids

I love Alan Bennett’s work and I have great respect for the man, but I feel he missed a trick when he came to pen his story of a group of school boys looking to gain University entrance in their last year. The History Boys could so easily have been The Bash Street Kids, all that was required with a hauling out of the subtle character play and unrequited, confused sexual longings and throw in a few more custard pies and Carry On humour and the mortar boards and canes would have been flying with the chalk dust of one of the most beloved comic strips from The Beano.

Ok, so maybe the world can live with both films, but I’d love to see a big screen outing for Plug, Fatty, Smiffy and co as they take their suffering Teacher (played by Hugh Grant) to task with stink bombs on the chair, school outings to the zoo resulting in a herd of escaping wild animals, and of course the celebrated playground scraps – it’s a British institution.

And while all of the Beano characters suffered from the modernisation of the late 80s and 90s that saw tracksuits, sunglasses and skateboards infiltrate the strips, let this be a throwback to the Son of Rambow days – when PC was a muffin shaped local bobby and cellphones were tin cans with a piece of string connecting them. This is not the updated OMG of St. Trinians, let the kids have bangers and mash fights and set fire to the teacher’s moustache. I’d pay to go and see it.

Roy of the Rovers
While Football has never translated with great success to the big screen it is the dramatic narratives of the game, and the players  on and off the pitch that often makes a memorable film.

Sean Bean’s When Saturday Comes and Bend It Like Beckham have their dramatic roots in the hope and euphoria of a young player getting their chance at (as Goal 2′s subtitle has it) Living the Dream, or the beautiful game is used as a backdrop to greater dramas – Escape to Victory (if you can buy Sly as a goalie) is a fantastic film, Green Street paints a depressing and vicious look at the hooligan culture forever orbiting the football fields, and the recent Damned United had a powerhouse of a character to base itself around in Michael Sheen’s Brian Clough.

Drama is inherent in football, as it is in most competitive sports. What makes a Roy of the Rovers movie less likely is the fact that Roy Race is so good, and his team Melchester Rovers are so competent on the field that only a long storyline (such as would be allowed in a week-by-week serial) could bring out the necessary twists and turns. A two hour movie would have to etablish so much in such a short time before taking us on the emotional journey.

Plus – Roy Race is a good guy. Scandal hit the comic strip in the late 70s and early 80s when soap opera inspired plotlines led to Race’s faithful puppy of a wife, Penny, leaving him (she came back – it was fine) or the more notorious Who Shot Roy Race (with its black edged cover) saga. Until he lost his foot in a helicopter crash in the 90s Roy Race could do no wrong, and that makes for a dull film.

Personally I’d like to see an all-star team from the comic strips accompanying the tales of Roy Race. I’d pay to see Ray Winstone as Johnny Dexter, John Goodman as Hot-shot Hamish and Ronnie Corbett as Mighty Mouse. There’s more than enough soap suds and sunset beach about Roy of the Rovers and maybe that’s the angle that would work?

Dan Dare

Seeminlgy an obvious choice for a Sky Captain ascension to the silver screen is the square jaw of Dan Dare his galaxy crossing fight with the Mekon. Part Space Biggles, Part Captain UK, Dan Dare has everything you could need from a hero – looks, cunning, bravery, an enemy with a forehead the size of a bullock.

He has survived reinvention and enjoyed his renaissance in the 1980s and now in the 21st century, with Garth Ennis’s Dan Dare for Virgin comics and it is this version that is most likely to find a home on the big screen. Morally upright and with a fist that could take down a Treen army faster than you can say Ace Rimmer, Dare’s currency lies in taking the absolute division of good and evil and the range of evil schemes the Mekon undertakes to destroy Dare and the Earth.

With the thoroughly British attitude and its relatively uncomplicated characters I’m pretty sure we’ll see a Dan Dare film coming our way sooner rather than later.

Doomlord
Bit of a curio this one, it may have passed many people by, but for those who cared to look past the revitalised Dan Dare on the front cover of the relaunced Eagle comic in 1982, Doomlord was a comic strip dificult to forget.

Created by 2000AD luminaries Alan Grant and Judge Dredd creator John Wagner, Doomlord told the story of an alien race (the suitable ominous Doomlords of Nox) sending one of their charges to Earth, tasked with judging Mankind’s right to exist. Capable of draining the personalities and memories of their victims and then shape-shifting into them, Doomlord was able to walk the Earth as one of us, involving himself in society as a businessman, politician and scientist to gather his evidence. Several humans suspected his plans and tried, often in vain, to stop Doomlord’s work and usually ended up on the disintegration end of his energiser ring. The strip, in photonovel style, was unrelentingly bleak and the Doomlords themselves were nasty enough to spawn more than a few nightmares in innocent minds.

As a movie it’s underplayed slow burn of stealth and intrigue would more than likely be replaced with a V-like conspiracy narrative, emulating a They Live device of having a host of Doomlords walking the Earth, and, as it turned out in the comic strip, one of the Doomlords would fail to carry out the execution of mankind and champion the human race. There was a dallinace with an environmental message towards the end of the series which could work in its favour.

But I’d pay to see a shapeshifting, morally ambigious Doomlord disintegrating suspcious and nasty characters, while musing on the fate of the world. Think Hannibal Lecter as a T-1000 in 80s Midlands and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

So, that’s my take on British comics on the big screen, let me know yours.