Movie news: Scream, Flash Gordon update, John Barrowman, Avatar, oscars news

A collection of stories you might have missed, including some fresh details of the next planned Flash Gordon movie...

* Oscar nominations are out, and to no one's surprise, Avatar is dominating. But we're very pleased to see our fave SF film of last year, District 9, get a Best Picture and Best Adaptation nod, as well as a technical nomination or two. But we don't hold much hope for the Academy's taste.

* Writer Kevin Williamson has confirmed that the upcoming Scream 4, which is shortly to start production, will be one of the few horror movies that's not in 3D. In a recent interview with the film's director, Breck Eisner, he also made it clear that his remake of George A Romero's The Crazies won't be in 3D, either. You probably knew that by now, though.

* Talking of director Breck Eisner, though, he confirmed that he plans to shoot Flash Gordon next. He'll be ridding the film of the campy elements of the 1980s version - but we did suggest to him to include Brian Blessed anyway - and he does plan to shoot that film in 3D. He did hint that there were some hurdles the film had to get over first, but it's very much the next movie on his planned slate. It's going to be very expensive to make, too.

* Luc Besson has finished the script to Taken 2, the follow-up to the huge surprise hit with Liam Neeson centre stage. Neeson will be returning for the sequel with his special set of skills, we'd expect, although that's not been confirmed yet. Details of the story are yet to surface either. Expect news in due course.

* We can't think where else to put this story, as we don't like writing about Desperate Housewives. So we'll be quick: John Barrowman (he of the wonderful arse and Torchwood fame) will be joining the cast for several episodes of the next season. Sheesh. We'll be telling you about Sex & The City movies next.

* Remember the YouTube hit video of the guy who tore apart The Phantom Menace in one of the most damning reviews we've ever seen? It ran for 70 minutes, and seems to have already gone down in online folklore. Anyway, said reviewer is back, and he's now turned his ire to James Cameron's Avatar. Sit back and enjoy this spoiler-filled rant of what he calls "the worst blue movie I've ever seen... and I've seen a lot".

Part One:

Part two: