Bird with his second Oscar for "Ratatouille"

geek
Slang.
1. A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest.

2. a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.

3. A carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

Geek Round Up is a Filmdogs column celebrating the best geeky filmic news. Basically anything that incites us geeks to push our glasses up the bridge of our nose, and lean closer to our computer screens with excitement. So, let’s do just that.

Brad Bird is one of my favorite directors. Period. His films The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille transcend animation in such a way that the word “cartoon” never enters your mind. Now, it seems as if the director is finally taking the leap into the live action world. According to Vulture Bird is in final talks to helm the fourth installment in one of the most diverse franchises in existence. The Mission Impossible series.

Star Tom Cruise and Mi3 director J.J. Arbams

What I’ve always loved about that string of Tom Cruise films is that each one is radically different from the next. The results may vary from great (J.J Arbams’ Mi3) to very bad (John Woo’s MI2), with Brian De Palma’s original falling somewhere in the middle. Well, who better than a animated director to help change things up a bit. After all The Incredibles had a heavy influence from the spy genre. Added to this awesome news is that J.J Arbams is still on board as Executive Producer. What could be better?

I love the fact that Pixar directors are branching out. Finding Nemo and Wall-e creator Andrew Stanton’s adaptation if John Carter of Mars sounds like it may give Avatar a run for it’s money. Hopefully these kind of transitions will be successful and continue to allow directors from any medium to cross over without many studio issues. I for one can’t wait to see the results.