A replacement for Cowell still needs to be named. Deadline says the producer’s first pick, Elton John, is asking for too much money and that there are reports an offer has been made to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.

- Jemal Countess/Getty Images Entertainment

She’s still Jenny from the block!

Original story on Ellen DeGeneres leaving the show follows:

“I told them I wouldn’t leave them in a bind and that I would hold off on doing anything until they were able to figure out where they wanted to take the panel next,” DeGeneres said in a statement. “It was a difficult decision to make, but my work schedule became more than I bargained for. I also realized this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings. I loved the experience working on Idol and I am very grateful for the year I had. I am a huge fan of the show and will continue to be.”

The press release continues with quotes from executives and producers praising Ellen and the humor, energy and nurturing skills she brought to the show. DeGeneres follows fellow departing judge Simon Cowell, who announced earlier this year that he’d be leaving the show after the ninth season. No replacements have been announced yet, though auditions for Season 10 contestants are currently underway.

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While we knew that retro stars like Johnson and rival Larry Bird were going to feature in the game, this is the first we’ve seen any of them in screenshots, and is the first we’ve seen or heard of Rodman’s inclusion in the game.

Rodman? EA, you got your old Bulls wrong. I said I wanted Horace Grant, not Dennis Rodman!

Luckily, they more than make amends with some of the other legends making an appearance, with Hakeem Olajuwon, James Worthy, Kevin McHale, Detlef Schremph, Spud Webb, and the sadly recently-deceased Manute Bol joining Johnson, Bird and Rodman in the reboot of Midway’s 1993 arcade classic.

Those wondering why there’s no Horace Grant, or Dominique Wikins, or Muggsy Bogues or Clyde Drexler or Larry Johnson on that list, EA say there are over thirty legends in the game, so there’s plenty more space on the roster for at least one of your old-time favourites to turn up.

These former greats will show up in boss battles, where they’ll have special powers and abilities; Magic Johnson, for example, can teleport around the court.

‘NBA Jam’ gets a Magic remix [ESPN]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.

www.gizmodo.com

As it is always easier to give the bad news first: it was reported at this panel that the remaining 13 episodes of the second season will be the show’s last. [Update: Sorry guys, we somewhat misheard this. The show is indeed ending, but they still have the second half of Season 2 to air. There will then there will be a 13-episode Season 3, which will be the final one. Season 1 and 2 each consisted of 26 episodes each.]

Fans of the series were vocally upset at the end of this loved program, with those sentiments being shared by the talent on the panel – especially by the voice of Batman, Diedrich Bader,  who called it the best gig of his career. Fortunately for the panel, everybody has future projects to go to, so nobody will be left without a job – this announcement included a hint James Tucker was working on an all new Batman series.

To liven the mood, we were immediately treated with an impromptu session between Batman and Aquaman discussing the end of the series. This funny bit went a long way in bringing the crowd back, and opened up for a brief Q&A session. With the basic questions out of the way, two bits of information did surface. For one, with the popularity and Emmy nomination of the musical episode “Mayhem of the Music Meister!”, we were told that the final 13 episodes would include the occasional song and dance number. Another piece of interesting info, was that two of DC’s heaviest hitters, Superman and Wonder Woman, have been cleared to be used in upcoming episodes. While we were given no confirmation on what episodes would feature musical numbers or the appearance of two of DC’s super trinity, this is exciting information for series’ fans bummed out by the cancellation news.

To end The Brave and the Bold’s portion of the panel, we were treated to a screening of the future episode “Emperor Joker.” Straying away from spoilers, we can tell you that the episode features an opening which pays homage to Detective Comics #241 and the rainbow Batman suit, while the episode itself brings back fan favorite Bat-Mite who desperately wants to see his favorite hero go up against his arch-nemesis The Joker. With plenty of humor, a musical number and the possible death of Batman at the hands of the Clown Prince of Crime, this episode had everything that fans of the series want from The Brave and the Bold. Unfortunately no air date was given for the episode, but you can expect to see it when the remaining 13 episodes air starting in August.

For the full review of “Emperor Joker” and more news on the end of the show, check back to IGN TV in the future for further updates.

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According to Deadline, del Toro will shoot Madness in 3D for Universal, with pre-production to commence in the coming weeks and filming finally set to begin next summer.

So what convinced the studio to finally commit to making the long-in-development horror film? Deadline claims it was the involvement of Oscar winner James Cameron, who has lent his name to the project and whose background in 3D will serve del Toro well on the film.

Del Toro will produce along with Don Murphy and Susan Montford, his longtime partners on the project who have been with it since it was first set-up at DreamWorks in 2004.

Del Toro also penned the screenplay adaptation with Matthew Robbins, with whom he has also collaborated on Mimic and the forthcoming Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. They’re also developing The Haunted Mansion and Pinocchio together.

Revolving around an expedition into Antarctica that soon turns creepy, the story is considered the distillation of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos that ran through a number of his stories, and has influenced numerous filmmakers, authors and artists. The thing Mountains has always had going for it is that Guillermo del Toro is obsessed with the book. However, not even a director as bankable or with a such a passionate following as him has been able to get it made … until now, apparently. Del Toro himself once summed up why it’s such a gamble for studios: “It’s R-rated and it’s expensive and it doesn’t have a happy ending.”

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www.traileraddict.com

www.traileraddict.com

The moves, coming four days after the completion of the team’s minicamp in Las Vegas, come two weeks before the opening of training camp in New York, beginning Aug. 9.

More cuts are ahead, as the U.S. federation must submit a 12-man roster Aug. 26 — two days before the Americans open pool play against Croatia in Istanbul, Turkey, at the World Championship.

The cuts left the team with six guards (Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Stephen Curry and Eric Gordon); four wingmen (Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay and Danny Granger); three power forwards (Lamar Odom, Kevin Love and Jeff Green); and two centers (Tyson Chandler and Brook Lopez).

“Certain players were told that they are right on the bubble and New York is important to them in terms of making the final roster,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said.

Evans, the NBA rookie of the year last season for the Sacramento Kings, was the most likely to be cut from the roster after missing the final two days of practice and the team’s public intrasquad scrimmage Saturday night.

Wallace played poorly in the scrimmage — no rebounds, no steals, 0-for-4 on 3-pointers in 12½ minutes of playing time — and his deletion from the roster reduced some of the glut at the wing positions.

Mayo, after what was described by team insiders as a sluggish four days of practice, played well in the scrimmage with 18 points and seven rebounds, making 3-of-6 3-pointers.

McGee brought a unique skill set to the team with his ability to play above the rim, block shots and convert around the basket, but he did not survive the cut.

“We really did have some difficult decisions,” Colangelo said, adding that the team may head to Europe with 13 or 14 players for a stretch of exhibition games in Madrid from Aug. 21-22 (against Lithuania and Spain) and Athens (against Greece) on Aug. 25.

Team USA opens its exhibition schedule with a game against France Aug. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Chris Sheridan is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

The premise of this episode has our intrepid warehouse staff entering the dangerous world of fashion. The story starts right off with a sassy runway show, complete with a whip and heroin chic makeup. An old woman causes a stir at the show before she collapses, then the scene switches to a sword fight of all things. Pete and Myka capture the legendary Excalibur before heading off to Italy, then New York, to investigate mysterious model disappearances. This is one of the best intros the series has produced. It’s a great “in media res” start that sets the tone for the rest of the story.

Warehouse 13 is often referred to as a “thrilleramedy”, with elements of a thriller, drama, and comedy show all thrown together haphazardly. Most of the time, one of those ingredients ends up dominating the mix, and other elements of the show get neglected. But this episode truly demonstrates how the series can combine all these different aspects in a formula that produces some fantastic results.

- Syfy

There are some great awkward, father-like moments between Artie and Claudia as Claudia’s geek love story with Todd continues, with disastrous results. Meanwhile, with Myka posing as a fashion model, we learn much about her insecurities over never being “the pretty one”, along with some great support from Pete. With Claudia and Myka both going outside their normal comfort zones, we’ve got a theme of growth and maturation. It all works well, with both Joanne Kelly and Allison Scagliotti delivering the artful script with skill and grace.

That grace was necessary for this episode to work in the fabulous fashion setting. This episode has perfect atmosphere for the theme, including a nice choice of music with Akon’s “Sexy Bitch” (yes, listen carefully, that’s not the “sexy chick” version), and some Lady Gaga too. I never thought I’d hear “Bad Romance” in an episode of Warehouse 13, but here we are. Somebody must have really pushed the budget for this installment to get the licensing rights for these songs – perhaps creating a reduction in special effects shots in the process – and that’s quite okay with me.

The episode’s setting is further developed with snarky models, diva designers, and slightly creepy photographers — and all of them are suspects in this week’s mystery. The show loves using red herrings to throw us off, and there are plenty here. Was the culprit the mistreated personal assistant? The smarmy looking photographer? The vengeful rival model? The seemingly innocuous freelance photographer who was perhaps a little too charming? All this misdirection adds a lot to the episode, and as Pete states so well, “it’s like a game of gay Clue”. When the true villain is revealed, the final retribution is poetic justice at its finest.

Even though it doesn’t have a lot of supernatural stuff going on, this story is still very entertaining. We got to see a lot of new sides of our main cast, and the character development here is impressive. The story is exciting, fun, and touching all at the same time. I loved this episode. I haven’t been the show’s biggest fan up until this point, but this is one of those occasions where the series really lived up to its potential. The only real complaint I have is that the story did dabble in a few annoying stereotypes. Beyond that, this was about as good as an episode of Warehouse 13 could be, and I do hope this level of execution and creativity will hold up through the rest of the season.

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The movie comes out March 2011. It needs to come out now.

It’s as if Zack Snyder polled all of geekdom and put everything we like into one movie: Hot, young Hollywood actresses, Carla Guigino in crazy corsets, dragons!, mech suits vertical leaping to attack WWI biplanes and – our personal favorite – a 20-foot cave troll thingy unloading a Gatling gun.

It’s so hard to do the footage justice in words, but we’re going to try.

The footage opens with a slick drum riff from Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” as Baby Doll, played by Emily Browning, is driven to an insane asylum during a severe rain storm. Her mother has just died and instead of taking care of her himself, daddy decides to wash his hands of her and put her in a rubber room. Once there, Baby Doll finds solace with five other patients who somehow turn the joint into a brothel/dance review – and that looks much cooler than it sounds.

- WB

Baby Doll gets into an Airbender crouch before kicking ass in Sucker Punch.

On our way to this scene in the footage, as the car pushes through the asylum’s gates, we see the title “Sucker Punch” form in the rain running off the backseat car window, and the aesthetic is very Sin City here, almost to a fault.

But then that changes, for the better. Then someone thought it would be a cool idea to put Sin City, Moulin Rouge, lots of corsets and broadswords and trolls and robot things in a blender to make what could be the most visually intense genre movie Snyder’s ever tackled, or we have ever seen.

Here are ten cool beats from the footage. If you need to be convinced that this movie is one of the best ideas known to nerds, then you are lost, sir. Lost!

1. Carla Guigino plays Madame Gorsky, AKA the ward’s lead doctor, who kinda sorta inspires Baby Doll to use her imagination to escape the white-walled hell she’s in.

Guigino goes from labcoat plain to German S & M gear pretty quickly as – wait for it – Baby Doll and her fellow inmates (lead by Jena Malone’s Rocket) do a little dance number to escape the doldrums, one of many dance numbers the girls do to take them into fantasy worlds that mirror some of their real world conflicts.

Which is a nice way to say they find cooler and cooler reasons to fill the movie with more things that carry guns and wield swords. Woot!

- WB

This can’t end well…

2. Scott Glenn with a samurai sword. A dojo surrounded by snowy peaks and invaded by bad guys in samurai armor. A snowflake falls on Babydoll’s eyelash and the fast-paced montage of all of the girls’ fantasy worlds begins.

3. In bullet-time, we glide down the blade of Baby Doll’s katana as she engages in WWI trench warfare with Nazis and monsters wearing Nazi clothes.

4. A dragon. Yes, a dragon. In WWI?! It proceeds to perch upon a castle wall and lay waste to everything with its fire.

- WB

Dragonheart‘s biggest fan.

5. A zeppelin crashes in a fiery explosion as biplanes swoop down from the sky and machine gun various targets.

Then a mech suit joins the WWI battle and vertical leaps to take out one of the planes. The crowd loses their sh!@ for the second time.

6. A crazy CQC fight with Malone’s character and another girl versus a few Cylon and Tron-inspired robots. This particular action sequence took up a lot of the reel’s running time, and featured lots of robot heads getting punched and smashed against a very sleek, very neon-blue world.

- WB

“Dodge this.”

7. More mech warrior action, a bigger, better shot of the dragon spreading its wings as an army of soldiers try to defend the castle from the dragon’s attack.

8. On an alien world that calls Saturn its neighbor, we’re high and above a landing pad with a earth-bound Huey on it.

- WB

9. Don Draper?! Yes, John Hamm appears, wearing Creep-O glasses and looking like a john for the brothel that seems to run within the bowels of the asylum. He says the line: “Did you see the way she looked at me?” before the action moves on to our favorite shot:

10. A cave troll, wearing a mix of Shredder and samurai armor, while unloading his mini-gun on a gravity-defying Baby Doll. (Just check it out for yourself).

- WB

Mind = blown.

This is Zack Snyder’s first movie based on original material. So all of the above comes from his mind. We can’t wait to see more, amirites? Sucker Punch hits theatres and blows minds March 2011.

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