It would appear the NES/PC hit video game Rampage is getting adapted to a live–action film (albeit one that probably has a ton of CGI). For those young pups out there, Rampage was a simplistic, one-screen video game in the late-80′s that allowed the player to take on the role of Godzilla and destroy cities, swat down helicopters, and eat people. That was it. There was no greater good, and your reward for doing it well was getting to do it again, but this at night.

Simpler times.

This immediately appeals to me in a way that Starship Troopers appeals to me. Easy on the plot, just show some giant animals (that in the game are actually mutated humans) messing stuff up. There’s also a great opportunity here for celebrities to cameo for a second or two before they get eaten.

My only stipulation is that Elijah Wood and Ed Harris both get eaten while naked. It’s a fantasy I have.

Fox has a scheduling conflict with his prior commitment to try to kill Madea in I, Alex Cross. Harris didn’t provide a reason for exit from the film but let’s just assume it also involves trying to kill Madea. Someone needs to step up and do it. (Vulture)

Harris’s role is unspecified and Fox is credited for the role of “Parajumper.” I’m not sure how closely the film will stick to Max Brooks‘ source material (it seems to have weaved away somewhat already) but there is a vignette in the book that follows a female pilot crash-landed in a zombie infested jungle. Could this role now belong to Fox? Dude is the go-to actor for getting stranded in jungles. (via Deadline and Bloody Disgusting)

In Salvation Boulevard, Pierce Brosnan plays the charismatic head of a super crazy mega church, who kills an atheist professor (Ed Harris) in front of a deadhead-turned-church-goer Greg Kinnear. This puts Kinnear in great danger – even Jim Gaffigan‘s character tries to kill him. Normally, Gaffigan’s a pretty cool guy, but witness the wrong murder and Gaffigan will take you apart like a hot pocket.

Based on a novel by Larry Beinhart, Salvation Boulevard is directed by George Ratliff.

Screen Junkies already posted a picture of Julianne Moore after going through the HockeyMomulator 9000 to become Sarah Palin. Now get a peak at McCain below, wincing in front of his supporters, looking like a maverick. Fact: mavericks dress in ties and have up-tight posture. That’s what makes a man a maverick, friends. Also, let’s give a hand to hair and make-up. They did some good hair and make-upping here.

Game Change is directed by Jay Roach. Ron Livingston and Woody Harrelson also star. (EW)

“In the 1970s-set story, two crooks (Eckhart and Harris) flee to Baja, Mexico, after a robbery in a San Diego convenience store goes bad. There they encounter several American women, and they find themselves torn between the impulse to grift the ladies and romance them.”

The script was written by LaBute years ago, and definitely seems to be classic LaBute. Now it’s time for an obligatory reference to LaBute’s Wicker Man remake: Wouldn’t it be funny if The Geography of Hope featured Aaron Eckhart getting attacked by bees? (LA Times)

It opens with Mr. Simon (Ed Harris) reading “Joan of Arc” to his eighth grade class! He assigns Andy Nichol (Chase Ellison) a project with Big G (Alexander Walters) to teach him about tolerance. Big G (real name Stanley) teaches Andy a lesson right away about pacifism by refusing to retaliate against bullies, despite his own strength.

That’s What I Am has the tone of A Christmas Story, or maybe the first season of “The Wonder Years” before it got all Vietnam-y. It’s obviously younger than Stand By Me, but a kids movie you can watch at any age. There’s a sincere intensity to the kids’ problems and they have names like nobody I ever grew up with. Bruce Modak (Brett Lapeyrose), Jason Freel (Camille E. Bourgeois III), Norman Gunmeyer (Daniel Yelsky), Jimmy Tadlock (Sean Michael Cunningham)… honestly, this narrator is making that up.

Bullying and self-preservation is their life, not in a self-important way but it’s just necessary for now. At the same time there are fears of cooties, Jason Freel goes to the awful extreme of whipping social outcast Karen Connor (Sarah Celano). That’s an accurate portrayal of kids, a little bit whimsical with the capacity for horror.

Eventually, students start a rumor that Mr. Simon is gay, only this is 1965 so they keep calling him a “homo.” Jason tells his parents, and his dad Ed (Randy Orton) leads a charge to get Simon fired. This is also handled sensitively, with supportive characters like the school principal and fearful ignorant parents. Even Andy’s dad isn’t quite educated enough to tolerate gays in 1965.

It gets heavy. Andy has to answer questions like “Did you ever see Mr. Simon touch anyone?” So children are forced to see how intolerant life can be and choose their own path. Simon is teaching his students about human dignity and compassion, so this is the WWE’s take on Gandhi!

The story is also heartwarming with Andy trying to go steady with Mary Clear (Mia Rose Frampton). It’s truly touching, which is something I could not say about 12 Rounds or The Condemned.

The important message of the title, That’s What I Am, means to find what you are and be that. It’s not even a Hollywood fantasy about being an amazing talent, rather just the act of doing it is what defines you. That’s deep, WWE.

Though he so totally would have made our prediction list if we knew his character existed, Harrelson will play McCain’s senior adviser, Steve Schmidt. Producers should note that if there are any roles available for a guy who dresses like Ted Nugent and yells a lot, he’s really good at those too. (Deadline)

Harris’s McCain is joining Julianne Moore‘s Sarah Palin in the political jambaroo known as Game Change. Game Change tells the story of McCain’s political campaign and how everything changed once he brought on a lady that could see Russia from her house. The film is directed by Jay Roach, who flexed his political-retelling muscle with Recount, the story of the 2000 election fiasco.

Congrats to Ed Harris for taking on a role that actually requires him to look balder. Big ups, Eddie. (The Wrap)

So, given all that, here’s a movie I know I’m not gonna see. The Look Of Love stars Ed Harris (Apollo 13) and Diane Keaton (good Woody Allen movies) in a romance about a woman who falls in love with a man that looks just like her dead husband. Awesome. Glad that General Hummel and Nina Banks from Father of the Bride have found each other. I will happily buy this on DVD for my mom as a Christmas present, as long as she doesn’t expect us all to watch it. (TheWrap)

Personally, I don’t even like walking to the TV when I can’t find the remote, let alone across a tundra, desert, and over mountains. But I guess that’s what seperates me from the Ed Harrises and Jim Sturgesses of the world. In this new trailer for Peter Weir‘s The Way Back, we follow a group of soldiers imprisoned in Siberia.

Deciding that prison sucks because it’s too cold and they’re tired of watching one another sh*t, they team up to escape. And then they walk really far. Through the Arctic, the Gobi desert, and over the Himilayas. Why though? Was the prison really looking that hard for them after a few days of searching? They probably could have just moved a few towns over and grown mustaches. Dummies.

Walk it out after the jump…

Director Peter Weir is back with The Way Back, another tale of epic proportions. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, and Ed Harris, and tells of prisoners escaping from a Soviet gulag who have to brave the harsh elements to get back home.

We’ve seen survival stories such as this dozens of times, but Weir usually never disappoints. I’m big fan of The Truman Show, Master and Commander, and of course Dead Poets Society. The Way Back doesn’t feature a bearded and dramatic Robin Williams, mind you, but I’ll check it out anyway.

The Way Back opens December 29th in Los Angeles to make the Oscar cut, and then rolls out across the rest of the country in January.

Check out the trailer below.

The Way Back – Trailer
Uploaded by ThePlaylist. – Classic TV and last night’s shows, online.

(ThePlaylist)

Director: Peter Weir

Cast: Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Saorise Ronan

Synopsis: A fact-based story centered on soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940.

Release Date: December 29, 2010