‘Alien Nation,’ ‘Lex Luthor’ headline week’s movie news

For movie fans, it’s been a full week of rumors, releases and brilliant YouTube videos.

Beginning with rumors, we’ll go ahead and break this down into the three biggest stories making the rounds this week.

Alien Nation Remake

Remember back in 1988 when aliens were settling in Los Angeles and James Caan was just a detective trying to get to the bottom of his partner’s murder? If not, maybe you remember weekly television episodes where male aliens got pregnant and ultimately taught us about the dangers of racism.

Well, those good times are coming back to the big screen thanks to “Iron Man” writers Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. 20th Century Fox has hired the scribes to give the “Alien Nation” franchise a complete makeover, and strangely, it’s the first reboot I’ve heard about in years that actually sounds like a good idea.

Lex Luthor gets a face

I’ve been a pretty big Jesse-Eisenberg-as-Lex-Luthor skeptic as of late, but I have to admit, the new picture scatter bombing the web has me intrigued.

Eisenberg has proven he can play a young, wealthy genius in “The Social Network,” but the leap between Mark Zuckerberg and an evil, power-driven sociopath is not a small one. At least, I thought it wasn’t until I typed that out. Why have I been skeptical about this again?

Regardless, the picture looks like the mug shot of a very mean, very driven, very bald Luthor, and it’s getting fans excited. But, let’s keep things in perspective. Zack Snyder always manages exciting visuals. It’s his plots, character development, and total inability to pace a story that has most people worried about our cinematic “Justice League.”

Ready Player One

Fans of Ernie Cline’s novel, “Ready Player One,” have been waiting almost five years to hear who would be directing the big screen version of their favorite New York Times bestseller. This week, Warner Bros. announced Steven Spielberg has signed on, and that’s pretty great news for everyone involved.

Spielberg plans to begin working on “Player” as soon as he wraps up production on Roald Dahl’s “The BFG.”

Releases

If you’re hoping to hit the theaters this week, the family friendly “Home” is opening alongside the Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart comedy, “Get Hard.” Both have received pretty terrible reviews from critics, making them feel right at home with the Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper drama, “Serena.” If you don’t feel like actually going out, “Serena” is also streaming on most VOD (video on demand) services as well.

The one movie actually getting favorable reviews and opening this week is Ben Stiller’s “While We’re Young.” The story focuses on a mid-forty couple trying to recapture their younger years. Sitting at 80 percent on RottenTomatoes.com, the film is rated R for language.

Brilliant YouTube Videos

Someone sent me a link to this earlier in the week and after reading the description, I expected to make it through maybe 20 seconds. However, there’s just something about music, dancing and classic movie moments that had me smiling for all 3 minutes and 19 seconds.Enjoy the magic of “Walk the Moon — Shut Up and Dance.”

Travis has been covering movie news, film reviews and live events for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010 and co-hosts the FlixJunkies podcast. You can contact Travis at travis@flixjunkies.com.