Science fiction writer and advocate A.C. Crispin, who contributed greatly to the Star Wars Expanded Universe, passed away today after a long battle with cancer. She was 63.

Crispin, who began her writing career in 1983, had 23 published novels, including her own original science fiction series called Starbridge. Along with her editions to the Star Wars universe, which included the well-received Han Solo Trilogy, the best-selling author also wrote the Star Trek novels Yesterday’s Son, Sarek, and Time for Yesterday. There were also the novelizations for the V miniseries and Alien Resurrection, as well as the adventure novel Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom that she did as a prequel for the Disney films which provided a backstory for Captain Jack Sparrow, popularized on screen by Johnny Depp.

When it comes to both Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston, either being cast in just about anything is enough to excite people. So when one exits a project, replacing them with the other is not a bad idea. Not at all.

Cumberbatch was attached to star in Crimson Peak, the haunted house thriller from Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro, but unfortunately had to leave the project. Some thought that it was so he could star in J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: Episode VII, but those rumors have since been denied.

Now comes word that del Toro has grabbed Hiddleston to step in and replace him.

Dredd
Netflix | Amazon | Epix | iTunes | Vudu
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Pete Travis
Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
Lionsgate
Originally Released: July 11, 2012

Dredd, the most recent adaptation of the hero/antihero Judge Dredd, who made 2000 AD the amazing comic book it was, was easily my favorite movie of 2012. Dredd is above and beyond that of the appalling version featuring Stallone in the 1990s, and though it has some faults, it comes with some of the most stunning cinematography effects and visuals, along with an exciting action chronicle that keeps your attention.

For those unfamiliar with the lore of Judge Dredd, sometime in the distant future, the human race is recovering from some kind of apocalyptic event involving radiation. The surviving society in the remains of the United States gather together in megacities, originally established to remain sequestered from radiation, but since expanded to gigantic proportions with a massive population density.

Rewind This!
Directed by Josh Johnson
Starring Frank Henenlotter, Drew McWeeny, and Charles Band
FilmBuff
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Available on iTunes
Official Site

Videotapes once played a huge role in my life. I grew up in a family that never had much money to splurge on weekend excursions to the local cinema, except on rare occasions. Therefore, we were reliant on home video to keep us up to date on the most popular movie releases of the day. In the beginning we had to not only rent the videos, but also the VCR to play them, and a neighborhood store called Video Circus carried the early model “top loaders” that were big enough to build the pyramids of Egypt with. For years my younger siblings and I were fixated on certain movies and every time my mother offered to rent us a movie for the weekend, we were always crowing for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol or The Princess Bride. As I got older, I started to build my own collection of films on tape; my library officially kicked off on Christmas Day 1993 when my late grandmother Betty gifted me Batman Returns, Beetlejuice, and The Rocketeer.

Once I got my first job and suddenly felt the rush of having real money in my pocket for once, I purchased more tapes and even my first VCR, which I picked up dirt cheap at a thrift store. When I was 20, I started working for a Tower Records and Video in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia and took great advantage of an amazing employee discount to build my movie collection into a literal library of cinema. Having a VCR and access to digital cable movie channels precipitated the purchase of blank video tapes that could three to four movies depending on their length and how much storage space was on each tape. Within a few years, I had more movies than I had time to watch them.

This week, Edward Snowden strikes again, this time with the U.S. spy “Black Budget,” a new Kindle, Samsung‘s watch, Microsoft buys Nokia, Tosin’s Pax Prime experience, and more…