‘The Cryptos Conundrum’ review: spies, lies, and veiled threats

Silver Screen Saucers

Guest Review
By Shepherd Johnson

I've read The Cryptos Conundrum, it makes L. Ron Hubbard look like Hemingway; it really is that bad. The book glorifies the CIA. It's very tedious. Chase Brandon goes into a history of the CIA against a backdrop of alien visitation with some New Age theosophy thrown in. He also crams just about every conspiracy theory he can think of into the book: JFK assassination, Loch Ness Monster, the mystery of how the pyramids were built, etc. The book is clearly a public relations effort used to promote the CIA while exploiting the popularity of UFOs and aliens.

This is the first time the CIA has overtly expanded into using literature as a propaganda tool. Note that I said "overtly". Of course the CIA has acknowledged that they have cooperated with some movie productions, but this is the first time for a book. On the first page there is a disclaimer saying that the book was submitted to the CIA's review board so no classified information was leaked to the public. The CIA often does this when former employees write books, but in this instance, this is clearly a ploy to make the book more mysterious. Of course the CIA probably did review the book, but this is what is known as a limited hangout, which is essentially hiding the truth in a wrapper of lies. 

Chase Brandon

Of course there is no classified information leaked in the book, but the CIA and Brandon want people to think that there is a possibility that there could have been. It is interesting that Brandon chose Coast to Coast AM to launch his book promotion. So that says that the target audience is the conspiracy/UFO community. Chase Brandon was the CIA's Hollywood liaison officer. That meant that when a TV/movie production company wanted to shoot a scene in the lobby of CIA HQ they had to go through him and if a production company wanted CIA cooperation in return the CIA expected input into the script, production, etc. I'm willing to bet that this book has already been optioned for a movie, probably before the ink was dry on the last chapter. Chase Brandon is a CIA propagandist; any foray that such a person might take into the public sphere should always be looked at with suspicion.

Note from Silver Screen Saucers Editor Robbie Graham:

Brandon's fictional book -- which he has repeatedly insisted should be read “between the lines” because, he says, it contains a great deal of “truth” -- features a fleeting but intriguing sub-plot about a nosey journalist who begins investigating the activities of the book's protagonist, Chalmers (clearly modelled on Chase Brandon himself). The journalist is intent on blowing the lid off a conspiracy involving Chalmers. In his book, Brandon writes that the journalist “had run across the name of Jonathan Chalmers, a ‘senior government official’ who seemed to be a thread of continuity throughout whatever mysterious activity the federal government and the CIA seemed to be up to.”

Chalmers doesn't take kindly to the journalist's snooping and duly arranges to have him assassinated.

The name of the journalist... "Robert Graham".

Alford (left) and Graham (right)

My colleague Dr Matthew Alford and I are among only a very small handful of writers in the world to have published articles about Brandon since he left the Agency’s Entertainment Liaison Office in 2007. In 2008, we co-authored a major article on CIA involvement in Hollywood for The Guardian newspaper. The feature -- which was published as a cover story for the paper’s “Arts” section and which is now one of the most widely read articles of its kind on the Internet (Google “CIA and Hollywood”) -- discussed Brandon’s ties to the Hollywood screenwriter Gary Devore, who disappeared in suspicious circumstances in 1997. In 2010, we wrote another cover story, this time for Fortean Times magazine and with a much tighter focus on Brandon. That same year, we co-presented our research into Brandon at the University of Westminster at the Fortean Unconvention. We also spoke about him on BBC radio’s Movie Cafe show.

Brandon suggests that people read his book “between the lines”. Well, reading between the lines, it seems a certain former CIA operative is a little peeved at a certain British writer or writers. Anyway, moving on...

In addition to the above book review, Shepherd Johnson has also drawn my attention to a related photo essay he compiled in 2009, the subject of which is the CIA’s Camp Peary, “which figures prominently in Chase Brandon's book,” says Shepherd, “only he calls it “Camp McLeary” and locates it in “Virginia's Tidewater Peninsula area” and near Williamsburg, Va.”

Shepherd notes that “this is the actual location of the CIA's trade-craft school which he [Brandon] reveals in the book. The CIA uses the cover of the Defense Department and the site is officially called "Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity”. It's the site of the “underground Area 51” in the book [The Cryptos Conundrum] where they have taken the dead aliens.” 

I have posted three of Shepherd’s Camp Peary photos below. For the full photo essay, see here.

Shepherd Johnson's articles and photographs have appeared on various websites including, CBS News, Coast to Coast AM, Prison Planet and Cryptome. Print articles include Fate Magazine. Living in Virginia in close proximity to Washington D.C., he has covered many issues involving politics and national security. He is currently researching the various aspects of the U.S. government's involvement with UFOs.

CIA, UFO Disclosure & Hollywood: Robbie Graham interview

Silver Screen Saucers

UFO Think Tank interview with Robbie Graham, July 24, 2012, with host Alejandro Rojas...

LISTEN HERE

Hollywood stars step out of the 'UFO closet'

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

More and more, it seems, Hollywood stars are coming out of the ‘UFO closet’ to express to the world their interest in, or experiences with, Unidentified Flying Objects. 

“Another celebrity UFO tweet has hit the twittersphere,” reports Alejandro Rojas. “[This] tweet comes from Thomas Jane [Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Killshot] and is regarding an upcoming UFO conference in Las Vegas.”

Jane’s tweet reads:  

Space Geeks! : A conference on Science and #UFOs, check it out: cosmic-exploration.com

Thomas Jane

Rojas notes that he met Jane last summer at the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Symposium in Irvine, California, where the movie star “mentioned how he thought there should be a UFO conference with more scientists and academics.”

Jane also sought Rojas’ and colleague Jason McClellan’s opinions “regarding various UFO topics and notable cases.”

Jane’s recent UFO tweet was in reference to an upcoming UFO conferenceorganised by Rojas, which will feature – as Jane had been hoping for – an impressive line-up scientists, academics, journalists, and retired high-ranking military officers.

Jane’s Hollywood’s career brought him face-to-face with otherworldly creatures in 2003 in Dreamcatcher (alien invasion) and 2007 in The Mist (interdimensional monsters). Both movies feature sinister black-ops military shenanigans. Check out the trailers here...

“Tom isn't the only celebrity interested in the topic of UFOs,” adds Rojas. Last year alone, celebs who publicly discussed UFOs and/or extraterrestrial life included Aaron Eckhart, Christie Brinkley, Sammy Hagar, Katy Perry, Sigourney Weaver, Demi Lovato, Billy Ray Cyrus, Victoria Beckham, Tom Delonge, Kiefer Sutherland,  Roberto Orci and Ridley Scott. This year, Rihanna was added to the list.

Related:

UFOs and Aliens Were Hot Topics for Celebrities in 2011

President Obama tells Will Smith's son: "I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of extraterrestrials"!

Roswell, Chase Brandon, and the law

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Billy Cox of the Herald Tribune has a very interesting post on his De Void blog right now. Taking his cue from political activist Stephen Basset, Cox points out that the recent allegation made by former CIA Entertainment Liaison Officer Chase Brandon concerning the ‘Roswell incident’ directly contradicts the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy’s official position that “The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race.”

Since June 23 of this year, Brandon has repeatedly made public statements to the effect that the wreckage recovered near Roswell by US military personnel in July 1947 was, in fact, extraterrestrial in origin and that alien beings were also recovered from the crash site/s.

Chase Brandon

In his latest blog post Cox draws our attention to Bassett’s “investigate-Brandon petition,” which requires 25,000 signatures to elicit a formal response from the Obama Administration. Filed on the White House website on July 10, the petition has, to date, garnered around 350 signatures, “so it doesn’t stand a chance of getting the administration on record again,” writes Cox, who also adds, quite rightly, that even if Brandon’s Roswell story is baloney – indeed, especiallyif it’s baloney – his claims raise serious questions -- questions the CIA and the White House have thus far shown no interest in addressing:

“Why did the CIA enlist such a loose cannon to protect its image in Hollywood? When is it OK for a high-ranking intelligence official to make up stories involving national security? Disinformation is obviously an age-old tactic to protect state secrets. Is it in play this time?”

Brandon – a 35 year Agency veteran – is sticking to his Roswell story, despite the Agency having already brushed aside his unequivocal claims. “Were this a more conventional security issue,” notes Cox, “Brandon would likely be telling his story under oath by now. And nobody would be waiting for 25,000 names to make it happen.”

In short, Cox is calling for the government to subpoena the Roswell ‘whistle-blower’.

'Last Days On Mars': first picture

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Liev Schreiber in Last Days on Mars (2013)

The shoot for Ruairi Robinson’s Last Days On Mars wrapped last week at Elstree Studios in England. Here’s the official blurb for the British-produced sci-fi:

"As their last day on Mars draws to a close, the astronaut crew is on the verge of a major breakthrough – collected rock specimens reveal microscopic evidence of life. Meanwhile, communication is underway with AURORA, the approaching spacecraft that will relieve the crew of their operations. In their last hours on the planet, two astronauts go back to SITE 9, a cavernous valley on the surface of Mars, to collect further evidence of their discovery. But a routine excavation turns deadly when one of them falls to his death and his body taken host and re-animated by the very life form they sought to discover."

Last Days On Mars stars Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Johnny Harris and Liev Schreiber (pictured). All those involved will no doubt be hoping that, being British, the movie will be unaffected by Hollywood’s dreaded Martian curse! We’ll find out when it opens in 2013.

'Thor 2' villains revealed?

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers
 

Malekith the Accursed

It seems we now know who’ll be feeling the thud of Thor’s hammer in Marvel’s upcoming sequel. In an interview with I Review Too, stuntman James Grogan spilled a few choice beans about his experience of working on Thor: The Dark World...

“I had a load of stunt guys in and the director came in and he said ‘Look, we want you all to be elves,’ and I was like ‘What the hell is an elf anyway?’ and he said ‘I want you all to walk around like these supernatural animals,’ honestly it was the most ridiculous thing ever but you just have to not be self aware and get on with it.”

The Marvel Universe features both good and bad elves, but it seems a fair guess that Thor: The Dark World will be more interested in the latter variety. There has also been speculation that Mads Mikkelsen will play the Dark Elf leader Malekith the Accursed, who is gifted with the powers of teleportation, energy projection and shape-shifting.

The Dark Elves of the Marvel Universe are native to Svartalfheim– the seventh world of Asgard. It exists on an extradimensional plane that consists of major land masses which can be reached via nexus portals.

Thor: The Dark World is currently in pre-production. The script has been penned by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan). Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) is on directing duties. The movie is slated for release on November 2013.

Silver Screen Sci-Fi Synchronicities!

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Discerning blogger Mike Clelland has drawn my attention to a fascinating ‘flow-of-consciousness’ article he wrote last year for his very excellent Hidden Experience blog. If you’ve not yet read it, you’re missing out.

Here’s a short intro to Mike’s mind-bending article written specially for Silver Screen Saucers by the man himself...

“This blog post had a life of its own. I started by simply comparing and contrasting 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with PLANET OF THE APES, two movies I’ve always loved. It seemed like this would make for a tidy little essay. I mean, both movies are from 1968 and have astronauts and cool ape make-up, right? Well, as soon as I started writing, the floor dropped out from under me. I was suddenly seeing a flood of really strange synchronistic connections and it felt like the essay was writing itself. I am not exaggerating, it was as if some outside force was feeding me clue after clue.

What emerged was something entirely different to what I expected. I was struck by how this is very much a modern composition and how it needed to be on the web because of an almost frenetic use of imagery and hyperlinks.

After I posted it on my blog, I immediately experienced a weird set of synchronicities all intertwined with this essay. That confirmed that I had tapped into an elusive something. What that something might be, I have no idea...”

And with that, read on!

'Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens' about "genocide and indigenous revolt"

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Image credit: Wired.com

Comic book writer Grant Morrison has revealed yet more details about his upcoming multi-platform collaboration with Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld, Dominion: Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens. Speaking to Wired recently, Morrison dismissed the notion that his comic/movie project is lacking in the brain cell department, describing it as “a philosophical treatise on manifest destiny, genocide and indigenous revolt.” Morrison said that “instead of another popcorny blockbuster thrown onto Hollywood's disposable entertainment pile,” Dinos Vs. Aliens is “a pointed critique of overreaching civilization at the edge of oblivion.”

Of the dinosaurs themselves, Morrison tells Wired:

“The dinosaurs don't speak and what they do tells us who they are. Every dinosaur scene had to be constructed like a silent movie to ensure that "characters" of the various dinosaur heroes would come through clearly. So although the dinosaurs don't talk, they're fairly expressive physically and it was obvious that audiences would immediately root for the reptiles as the underdogs. We were trying to avoid the trap of "good" dinosaurs versus "evil" alien monsters, and we wanted to be able to shift the allegiance of the audience from one side to another as the story progressed. Which made it important to flesh out our aliens' motivations and personalities, too.”

The aliens will also be relatable, says Morrison:

“As we know from watching animated movies like Wall-E, it's possible to create relatable characters who look barely human at all. So we decided to provide contrast to the buglike appearance of our aliens by making them very human in the way they talk and interact with one another. They're not just rapacious monsters from another world, as they might have been in a less ambitious movie. These aliens are conflicted, brave, frightened, hopeful and poised on the edge of extinction themselves. Establishing a new home on Earth is their last chance for survival." 

Image credit: Wired.com

Read the rest of the interview here. Dominion: Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens will premiere as a web-based motion comic on July 23 of this year, while the feature film itself – the first in a proposed trilogy directed by Barry Sonnenfeld – is unlikely to hit cinemas until the end of next year at the earliest.

Chase Brandon & Roswell: let your thoughts be known!

Silver Screen Saucers

Grant Cameron of PresidentialUFO.com has created an opinion poll in response to the ongoing ‘Chase Brandon & Roswell’ story...

Vote now!

'After Earth' viral taps UFO mythology

Silver Screen Saucers

In After Earth, one thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind’s new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige (played by Will Smith) returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai (played by Jaden Smith). When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance...

After Earth hits cinemas June 2013.

Chase Brandon & Roswell: the story continues

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Exclusive artwork courtesy of David Sankey

On July 6 of this year, Silver Screen Saucers published the world’s first in-depth article examining statements made June 23 on Coast to Coast AM by former CIA operative Chase Brandon concerning the Roswell incident of 1947. The story was picked up by the mainstream media two days later and has since become a major talking point within and beyond the UFO community. You can read our original article here. Brandon’s statements and the media’s response to them are also summarised in the opening 15 minutes of this recent Mysterious Universe podcast and in the latest episode of Open Minds’ Spacing Out...

On July 8, I was interviewed as a guest on The Conspiracy Show with Richard Syrett, along with Grant Cameron and Victor Viggiani. We discussed Brandon’s Roswell statements for around an hour and we each had chance to clarify our individual positions on why this former CIA man said what he said in the way that he said it. The interview begins at 55:07 here (NOTE: my grainy audio is cleaned up after the first commercial break).

On July 11, Silver Screen Saucers published an official statement by the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs denying Brandon’s Roswell claims. The CIA was responding to a written enquiry submitted by this author and co-signed by Dr Matthew Alford, Grant Cameron, and Victor Viggiani. Read the CIA’s response here.

The following night, on July 12, Chase Brandon again appeared on Coast to Coast AM, this time being interviewed by George Noory (his original host was John B. Wells). This new interview is every bit as fascinating (and frustrating) as the first. Grant Cameron of PresidentialUFO.com has begun the task of transcribing the most salient points made by Brandon in this new interview and has already published a brief summary on his website.

You can listen to the new Chase Brandon interview in full right here (begins at 38:20)...

Of particular note in this interview, host George Noory asks Brandon if the CIA has ever used Hollywood – and specifically filmmaker Steven Spielberg – as a conduit for delivering to the public factual UFO information disguised as fiction. In this short audio clip (simply click ‘download the file’ to stream the audio) courtesy of Giuliano Marinkovic, Brandon’s uncharacteristically long pause before he essentially dodges the question speaks volumes.

On his website, Grant Cameron notes: “If Brandon is the new CIA Falcon every word he says should be studied very carefully.” I agree. And if you’re unfamiliar with the story of the Falcon, you can put that to rights over at PresidentialUFO.com.

For ongoing developments on the Chase Brandon-Roswell story and further analysis of his statements, watch this space.

Marvel's 'Item 47' justifies official suppression of alien technology

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

A short Avengersspin-off film will be screened this Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con. Titled Item 47, the short will also appear on the Blu-ray/DVD for The Avengers when it is released on September 25 of this year.

The premise for Item 47(July, 1947, anyone?) reads as follows:

“Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford star as a down-on-their-luck couple who find one of the discarded alien guns from the finale to The Avengers and proceed to make some incredibly bad decisions.

Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Maximiliano Hernandez, returning from Thor and The Avengers, and Lost’s Man in Black Titus Welliver, making his Marvel debut) are given the job of cleaning up the mess and stopping this modern Bonnie and Clyde (not coincidentally named Benny and Claire).”

Yes, thank goodness the heroic Men in Black of S.H.I.E.L.D. are on call to snatch the matches from the babies’ hands. God forbid extraterrestrial technologies should ever be made available for utilization by the public. Please, officialdom, keep this stuff locked safely in your vault where it belongs!

'Skies' to fall a third time

Silver Screen Saucers

TNT announced yesterday it has ordered a third season of Steven Spielberg’s alien invasion drama, Falling Skies.

TNT says its second series of Falling Skiesis currently averaging 5.9 million viewers and that “the series ranks as basic cable’s #1 summer drama with adults 18-49.” TNT has ordered 10 episodes for Falling Skies’ third season, which is slated to air in 2013.

This from the TNT press release:

“Falling Skies, which currently airs on TNT Sundays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), chronicles the devastating aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the months since the initial invasion, the few remaining survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force, whose nature and purpose remains a mystery.

In its debut season last summer, TNT’s Falling Skies topped the charts as basic cable’s #1 new series of 2011. This year, the show is off to a strong start, averaging 5.9 million viewers in Live + 7. It has also scored 2.7 million adults 18-49 (L+7) and ranks as basic cable’s #1 drama for the summer-to-date in that key demo. The show has brought in 3.1 million adults 25-54, ranking it behind TNT’s Dallas as basic cable’s #2 summer drama. On the international front, Falling Skies premiered in more than 115 global markets last year, achieving hit status in the United Kingdom, Australia and Latin America, among others. Last year’s launch of Falling Skies also ranked as the biggest series premiere ever for TNT networks in Spain, Germany and Austria.”

CIA Responds to Ex-Official’s “Roswell Happened” Claim: Not True

By Matthew Alford, PhD

After a tense wait, the CIA has finally stated its position on the explosive “Roswell Happened” comments made by their former Entertainment Liaison Officer Chase Brandon. Jennifer Youngblood of the Agency's Office of Public Affairs said that official historians have checked their files but “found nothing in the Agency’s holdings to corroborate Mr. Brandon’s specific claims.”

Brandon ignited an ongoing media furore following his appearance on Coast to Coast AM on June 23 of this year when he announced that he had seen evidence in a box marked ‘Roswell’ at the CIA’s Historical Intelligence Collection (HIC) which confirmed “100%” his belief that the government had recovered an extraterrestrial craft and its occupants near Roswell, New Mexico in July of 1947.

The CIA was responding by email to a detailed series of questions sent by a group of British and Canadian researchers: Robbie Graham, doctoral candidate at the University of Bristol and editor of silverscreensaucers.blogspot.com, Matthew Alford, Grant Cameron, and Victor Viggiani. The group’s email requested information about Brandon, specifically: his current relationship with the CIA; the possibility of researchers checking his claims; the vetting of his comments by the Publications Review Board, and whether his utterances disclosed classified information in any way.

Robbie Graham commented: “The CIA have done exactly what we expected they would do.  They’ve refused to address our questions and they’ve brushed aside Brandon’s claims without directly calling him a liar.” He added: “It’s interesting that they say they actually checked their archives for the ‘Roswell box’ Brandon described -- that must have been a weird library trip.”

The purpose of Brandon's statements remains unclear, with some pointing to him promoting his new book, The Cryptos Conundrum, and others speculating it could be part of a more sophisticated UFO disinformation or disclosure strategy.

Youngblood also pointed the researchers towards the Agency's 1997 supposedly definitive account of its role in UFO studies, which appears on its website.

UFO movie news round-up (10 July, 2012)

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Independence Day and Stargate sequels

Independence Day producer Dean Devlin has revealed that a sequel to his and director Roland Emmerich’s iconic 1996 alien invasion movie is now in early stages of development: “I can tell you that Roland and I have been working together for the first time in 11 years and we’re very excited about the idea of doing it,” Devlin told The Hollywood Reporter, but stressed that bringing their concept to the big screen will certainly pose a challenge:

“Whether or not we can make this happen, if we can get all the pieces to come together, that’s gonna be challenging. But creatively, for the very first time since we did the original, I feel we have a worthy concept, a worthy path to go.”

Asked why the sequel has taken 16 years to get off the ground, Devlin said “we only wanted to do it when we had an idea and a concept that creatively felt like it honored the first one--that it felt like an organic sequel as opposed to ‘let's just go make some more money.’”

“I feel like we got it,” said Devlin, “I think it took a long time, but I feel like we finally got something that really feels like, ‘that's worth seeing as a sequel to Independence Day.’”

For now, though, the concept is strictly under wraps.

Meanwhile Devlin and Emmerich’s other alien-themed epic, Stargate (1994) may also yet spawn a movie sequel. Asked by THR what other title from his filmography he would most like to revisit, Devlin said: “Stargate has always had this empty hole. When we made the first one, we always intended on doing part two and three, and we were prevented for years. And our hope is that we can get another chance at Stargate and tell the entire story we wanted to tell.”

Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens teaser

A teaser trailer for the motion comic of Barry Sonnenfeld and Gran Morrison’s Dominion: Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens is now online at Yahoo Screen. Sonnenfeld (Men in Black 3) and Morrison (All-Star Superman) announced their collaboration last year, promising a graphic novel that would lead to a movie.

The graphic novel is yet to emerge, but the web-based motion comic will debut on July 23, while the movie itself – the first in a proposed trilogy – is unlikely to hit cinemas until the end of next year at the earliest. For now, though, check out the teaser, as well as interviews with the creators.

Starship Troopers reboot

Yes, a Starship Troopers reboot is in the works, and no, it won’t be as splatterifically violent as Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 alien carnage classic. In fact, by the sounds of it, it will be tame as a fuzzy lapdog by comparison. “The more expensive a film is, the harder it is now to make it that violent,” the film’s producer Toby Jaffe told Empire. Jaffe, who is also part of the team behind the upcoming Total Recall remake (again, the original was an ultra-violent Verhoeven project) added:  “With [Total] Recall in particular, we made a conscious choice to keep it tonally closer to something like Minority Report. It gives the studio, and us as producers, the opportunity to reintroduce it in a new way.” Yes, in a way that is far more profitable. A PG-13 will likely gross twice as much as an ‘R’ rated movie.

Interestingly, and perhaps slightly worryingly, Jaffe also noted that: “Verhoeven made his movie a critique of fascism, whereas Heinlein [author of the source material] was writing from the perspective of someone who had served in World War II. Y' know, one man's fascism is another man’s patriotism...” Let’s hope that doesn’t signal a Battleship-style propaganda fest.

Storage 24

Check out this trailer for what looks like a shockingly amateurish UK alien flick currently in international cinemas. Doctor Who’s Noel Clarke plays Charlie, a bloke who finds himself trapped inside a warehouse with a carnivorous extraterrestrial. Must try harder, Britain...

Guardians of the Galaxy 

Apparently, the appearance of the alien Thanos during the end credits of The Avengers was intended to signal not an Avengers sequel, but a spin-off into another (though not entirely unrelated) Marvel narrative: Guardians of the Galaxy. A well-regarded script has been penned by Nicole Perlman and is now eagerly awaiting a director. For more on this story, head on over to ComingSoon.net.