Holy Amazing Shit Batman It's a Lime: And his name is Harry and he was one of the greatest characters ever created on film in the movie The Third Man. Unfortunately for Harry just being a great character who was portrayed by one of Hollywood's greatest actors and directors Orson Welles doesn't mean you are off limits for a remake. CHUD reported a story earlier in the week that The Third Man is up for a remake which will see Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire in the starring roles of Harry Lime and Holly Martins, although who will play who was not disclosed, and Eastern Promises scripter Steven Knight writing. If this remake goes ahead it will require a big director who can handle serious drama, like Polanski, or a maybe an up and comer like Joe Wright who has been developing nicely as a director. Knight as the writer gives me images of grisly fight scenes, can anyone imagine the sewer chase ala Eastern Promises? Colour me sceptical all the same.

Unleash the Fury: Mad Max is one of the few Australian films that actually makes me proud to be Australian. The bloody, violent and downright action packed film series about an apocalyptic future where oil is in short supply making it the most sought after commodity in the world shot Mel Gibson to fame as the titular hero Mad Max. It spawned three films but now director George Miller is heading back out on the road to revisit Max and hopefully revive the Australian film industry along the way. The fourth film, titled Mad Max: Fury Road, will see Miller spending a year building the iconic cars which will no doubt steal the show as much as the lead actor. Filming will begin in August 2010 and with that rumours have already surfaced over who will be cast, there is speculation over whether Gibson will return or if someone like Aussie it guy Sam Worthington might take the reigns. Meanwhile Charlize Theron is also being tipped to land a role. I think if they could get Theron and Worthington it would be great, both are becoming rather well known actors/actresses and would give the film some star power while Worthington's inclusion would help show its Australian roots.

Pure Preposterone: Preposterous amounts of testosterone were recorded this week when Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger rocked up on the set of The Expendables to film some scenes with Sylvester Stallone. The film has been getting some major press these past weeks with the release of the trailer and now with the news of the action movie holy trinity filming together in a Church nonetheless. The scene and roles of Willis and Arnie will probably be small but the manliness that will be on show will be extreme. This movie is shaping up to be every action fans fantasy brought to life and I for one am excited. Is Sly's goal for this film to make everything in this movie and the audience explode from pure awesomeness? I think so. Also quick update over the weekend apparently Stallone isn't done with Rocky. Over the weekend he spoke to Tele 5 in Germany about his desire to make Rocky 7. He talks about his wife and kids saying he shouldn't do it but apparently Sly just can't let the character go. I never even saw the latest Rocky, I never really got into the series but the idea of a 7th, regardless of Stallone's shape (he looks fit at the moment), just seems wrong. Where can the character go? His story has been completed unless he becomes a coach or something.

That's No Movie, That's Bullshit: This is a story I've already covered this week but it involves Star Wars and that's reason enough to give it a second run. There was a rumour floating around earlier this week that George Lucas, creating of Star Wars and Geek Master, was planning on releasing a NEW trilogy of Star Wars films. The reasoning behind this was Lucas is afraid of James Cameron's Avatar taking over as the premier sci fi series due to its creation of a new sci fi universe. Lucas was going to use the success of Avatar's 3D release to create a new trilogy of 3D Star Wars which close friends Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola would direct and produce. The story has since been denied by Lucasfilm just as every sci fi fans inner fanboy started to get excited. Lucas already has an animated series and live action series to worry about and what stories he would exactly tell in a new trilogy are unknown and would further divide the fan base.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened: That was how many people in Australia felt this past week as the Classification Board refused to classify Valve's unedited version of Left 4 Dead 2. That means that Australians will be stuck with playing an edited version of the game, which it is believed is now less violent than the original. Apparently the infected looked too much like humans resulting in the extreme violence having a higher impact. Really, this just sucks and I am now questioning whether I will buy the new Left 4 Dead. Also the Australian Censorship I mean Classification Board is also seeking to get its grubby lil mits on iPhone apps and mobile games. They are worried about the amount of content which is released on the iPhone and other mobile devices which are not getting a rating. It is a similar move to what the US board has done, requiring Apple to apply its ratings system to their games and apps and while I would have no problem with this if Australia had an R 18 rating I can't help but wonder if this will result in more swings of the ban hammer.

Do the Robot: Really this piece of news should come as no surprise. At the BAFTA's perennial hype machine Peter Molyneux, director of Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Games, said that his next game Fable III would be getting full Project Natal support. Now if you aren't already aware of Project Natal it is a motion camera which will allow players to interact with the game. Molyneux has been one of the people to really talk up Microsoft's next big thing and for a long time it has been assumed that Fable III would support it. There was also something about microtransactions in Fable III but I hate the idea so I'm really not going to give it any thought, the only good thing is Molyneux said the idea may not make it into the retail version of the game.

Show Me The Money!!: That appears to be Microsoft's motto at the moment as rumours fly about the Internet that Microsoft are looking to rape raise the price of Xbox Live membership. This first started with analyst Michael Pachter stating that he could see Microsoft implementing a pricing scheme similar to Cable TV where the top tier of Xbox Live could cost you US$100. For your $100 membership Pachter thinks this may get you discounts off downloadable content or access to different multiplayer, obviously it would have to give you something otherwise who would pay that much? Microsoft responded with a denial that they will raise the price within the next few moths but did not rule out a price rise altogether. Microsoft is already the face of online hate due to the fact that you must pay a subcription fee which the PlayStation Network and Wii do not require. Raising that price would undoubtedly piss off fans even more and could see many people switch their online preference away from Live if Microsoft do not build an attractive package to warrant the rise. I'm against the subscription fee to begin with and am skeptical of any price rise. It would be interesting to know what developers think of subscription fees and whether they think an increase in Live would see a decrease in their online players. They are the sort of people who might be able to persuade Microsoft to not raise the price.

Sources: Edge, Kotaku, IGN, Aint It Cool News, ABC, Collider, Screen Rant, Me