(1) That despite Harry's love of hyperbole, this movie really IS as awesome as he says it is, and

(2) That we get more and more SOLOMON KANE movies. This is the movie VAN HELSING should have been!

Great review Harry, and loving the detail o the DPs, the cinematography and the like. All great news for a die-hard REH fan like myself!

NOW WHEN IS THIS OPENING IN THE UK?!?!?

Van Helsing was a kitchen sink type film where they really should have just stuck to some of the basic plumbing (DRACULA) and perhaps the faucet (WOLFMAN).

I kept waiting for Kate Beckinsale to be asked rudely for an amulet.

Harry, my man, that was one of your best reviews in a long time. Sounds like a very cool film, right up my alley.

The VAN HELSING loveletter... oh deary, deary me! (note to Headgeek you might want to 'accidentally' lose a few pages from the archive).

And now we have Harry's review, which has given me yet another dash of added hope that, yes, indeed all those ingredients that looked good on their own may in fact be great together, and we do in fact have some special brand alchemy going on here that will be worthy of note. Of course Harry's opinion isn't one that I'd ever take to the bank, but it's good to hear his enthusiasm for this one none the less, and Solomon Kane is very definitely high on my personal radar whenever it gets a release, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Now, where's Bran Mak Morn (which, along with the non Howard Red Sonja, and the Conan reboot, is also supposedly in the works)...

Oh, and Purefoy is, quite simply, the shit. That guy should be a MAJOR movie star by now. If you want to know how good he is, go watch "George and the Dragon" and see how he actually manages, completely through the power of his own awesomeness, to make that movie watchable.

You remind me of Indiana Jones at the end of Crystal Skull.

Their treasure was knowledge. Knowledge was their treasure!

I would however love to never hear Harry bash Ratner again, it's so pathetic it just hurts now. I'm in the camp that thinks that at very worst, his Conan would have been 1000 times better than the cinematic abortion that was The Destroyer.

Jeez Ratner is becoming the new David Fincher around her, getting attached to everything.

But then, when he remembers that (spoilers) HE's the bad guy, his character totally changes. Accent, tone, mannerisms-he becomes a completely different character. I'm pretty stoked for this. I know next to nothing about the literary roots of Kane, but Purefoy and Harry's review (for once) won me over.

Yes I know I'm being infantile, but Jesus Christ, what sort of an amateur strings everyone along until the second he's supposed to be on location for pre, and simply doesn't turn up/alight from the plane? For a 200 million dollar project?!

2: Ratner-hate by Harold. Gee what a surprise. I hope he fuckin' directs Thin Shitty Too just to spite ya Harold. Come off it. He's a director for hire, average ability who makes hits. So?? What'd he ever do to you? Besides that-

3: Needs Giant Robots.

Very entertaining read all about color timing and transfers, etc. He seems very passionate. I'm going opening day and I had no idea who Solomon Kane was. It just sounds that good.

BTW, unless I'm mistaken, Rachel Hurd Wood is on the IMDB board asking about Solomon Kane updates. Apparently she had a peter pan website she made and she gave a fake email address.

To me having the devil involved with Kane reasons for being good seems to undercut what the character is about.

Competent director? Also yes.

He made "X3" as good as he could given the circumstances and it was still better than Singer's "Superman Lifts."

Sw ing by and give him some encouragement. We need more directors like him handling our favorite fiction.

Oh, and ban that asshat Kevin Sorbo from going anywhere near it. Thomas Ian Griffith is very welcome, though.

After Purefoy's turn as Marc Antony that Professional motherfucker gets my attention.

Am looking forward to this version, but... Richard Stanley. That would have been AWESOME.

The two directors I think who could capture that feel would be John Hillcoat (who did The Proposition) and George Miller (what is the Road Warrior but Conan in a post-apocalyptic future?).

Sounds like the making of that movie was much more interesting than the movie itself turned out. Shame, really...

The clue was in the name all along.

MOST Hollywood directors thru history be it Curtiz or John Ford or Dwan or Hitchcock or Hawks-were assholes, okay? So what?

Ratner may very well be a bastard. But using that to color your opinion of his every movie is just your cherry picking his stuff and amounts to hypocrisy at the very least.

Good fuckin' christ, these guys didn't get where they were because they were NICE PEOPLE. Not nec. part of the job description. Terry Francona is the exception to the rule.

Brett Ratner prob is another Mikey Bay type arrogant, self-indulgent, screw gobs of coked up starlets and piss all over his crew type douche's the likes of which Harry Cohn happily hired by the truckload back when.

So? He makes movies. So what if Rush Hour or X3 weren't perfect? they're what they are-good, solid, average quality hit movies. And there's nada wrong w/ that.

On topic...glad Ratner is no longer involved with Conan, by Crom! I know a certain Ozzie Hyborean is happy {[:^)

I like any of these ideas.

NEIL MARSHALL - Probably the weakest of the three choices for me, but still damn fine. DOOMSDAY and DOG SOLDIERS were a blast, and he wouldn't shy away from the blood-and-tits nature of the piece.

CHRISTOPHE GANS - Well, he does do the supernatural well - I loved SILENT HILL, and he managed to put martial arts in an 18th century werewolf movie in BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, so kudos. Could we see some awesome and original supernatural creatures in CONAN? And NINJAS?!?!?

MARCUS NISPEL - Great visualist. PATHFINDER is majorly fucking under-rated (and had Clancy Brown as a Viking warlord! THE FUCKING KURGAN!) and looked spectacular - so if we're going to get a CONAN that looks as beautiful as PATHFIDER did (but lose that Zack Snyder slo-mo addiction, mmmkay?) then I'm looking forward to this.

As long as one of these three DO get the chance to make CONAN, my ass is in a seat, by Crom and Mitra!