For our final Toy Fair image article, we’re doing a huge roundup of NECA toy images.  While they’re making figures/toys for all the regular movies and TV shows you’d expect, the highlight of NECA’s 2013 lineup is the 60′s Batman featuring Adam West!  The reason it’s taken so long to get an Adam West Batman is lawyers.  From what I’ve been told, Warner Bros. owns Batman, while 20th Century Fox owns the show.  For years the two companies have been trying to work out an agreement to release DVDs/Blu-rays and new merchandise with little success.  However, late last year, the two companies finally worked out a deal and 2013 should see a lot of new toys and hopefully a home video release.  Which is great news for the fans.

In addition to checking out the first 60′s Batman toy in quite some time, you can also see new toys for Aliens, A Christmas Story, Captain America, Michael Keaton’s Batman, Carrie, Gremlins, E.T., Harry Potter, Hulk, Iron Man, Pacific Rim, Predator, Prometheus, Scarface, Rambo, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, Thor, and a lot more.

Tomorrow, Gangster Squad hits theaters (click here for my review).  The crime flick takes place in 1949 Los Angeles during mobster Mickey Cohen’s rise to power in the City of Angels.  America has had a fascination with the gangster throughout cinema history.  They’ve been seen as folk heroes and the scourge of society.  In the era of the Production Code, Hollywood tried to have it both ways with mandated-warnings paired with exhilarating, charismatic characters.  Gangsters may always fall, but it’s a thrilling, infamous ride.

I’ve compiled a list of five gangster movies worth checking out.  To stay in line with Gangster Squad, all of these films were made before 1950, so they lived in the era of the glamorous underworld and all the seedy, ruthless behavior it entailed.  Hit the jump to check out the list.

The script for the Scarface remake that was recently turned in by David Ayer (Training Day) is now undergoing a rewrite by Oscar-nominated writer, Paul Attanasio (Donnie Brasco).  The story is expected to be a blend of director Howard Hawks’ 1932 version and Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic starring Al Pacino.  Deadline reports that Universal Pictures has yet to release the central character’s ethnic and geographic origin, characteristics which were central to past iterations.  Keep an eye out for more developments on the new imagining Scarface and click here to get caught up on our previous coverage.

Universal Pictures has announced a 25-film Blu-ray collection to commemorate the studio’s 100th anniversary, and it’s a genuinely great box set.  The “Universal 100th Anniversary Collection” includes 25 of the studio’s finest films, a 15-track music CD chock full of iconic film scores, a “100 Years of Universal” 72-page collector’s book and more.  Though the inclusion of HD versions of films like Dracula, Jurassic Park, The Sting, Back to the Future, Jaws, Do the Right Thing, and To Kill a Mockingbird alone would have been worth the purchase, the box set includes a number of vintage cartoons and shorts as well as a collection of featurettes covering the studio’s entire history.

The 25-disc Blu-ray set and 26-disc DVD collection (Schindler’s List is included in the DVD set only) will be available for a limited time starting November 6th.  A price has yet to be announced, but I don’t expect it’ll be cheap.  Hit the jump to read the full rundown of films and special features.

When last we reported on the third iteration of Scarface, Universal was still courting writers to tackle the script. The studio has downplayed talk of the new film as a “remake,” calling it a blending of the elements present in director Howard Hawks’ 1932 version and Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic starring Al Pacino. It looks like David Ayer (Training Day) will be the man to bring the variations on the theme together to make a Scarface that is hopefully greater than the sum of its parts.

While the 1932 version featured Paul Muni as an Italian gangster who climbed the criminal ranks in Chicago and the Pacino version centers on a Cuban immigrant seizing control of Miami, the new Scarface will have the flavors of the old with a contemporary twist. The story will focus on an immigrant who brings his own brand of ruthless violence to upset the criminal order and establish himself as the kingpin. Hit the jump to see what Ayer has to say about all three versions of Scarface.

A third version of Scarface is on its way. Universal is currently developing a new version of the gangster film. The first iteration was the Howard Hughes-produced 1932 classic that was based on the life of Al Capone. Brian De Palma put his own spin on the story in 1983, this time with Al Pacino playing a Cuban immigrant who rises to prominence in the Miami cocaine world. Now, Deadline reports that Universal is taking another go at the title. The report is quick to point out that Universal does not intend for the new film to be a remake or sequel to either previous films, but hopes to infuse the basic elements of the other Scarfaces into a new version (read: they want name recognition).

Martin Bregman, who produced De Palma’s Scarface, is producing the new version alongside Marc Shmugar. Scarface ’83 is far from perfect, and Universal is really only taking the title, so this news doesn’t necessarily come off as offensive. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of approach the studio will take. I’d be shocked if the new version goes the R route, as that puts a ceiling on the gross. It’s possible they could target the teen audience with a young lead, but at this point their approach is anyone’s guess. The studio is currently meeting with writers to get a script going.

Brian De Palma’s Scarface is one of the most entertaining bad movies ever made. Overwrought, overacted (by Al Pacino, Michelle Pfieffer and Robert Loggia, among others), overlong, its indulgences make it the definitive 80′s movie par excellence. I kinda love it. Paul Greengrass’s United 93 dramatizes one of the most traumatic episodes in American history. What do they have in common? Violence, and the fact that Universal has issued both on Blu-ray. Check out our reviews for both on Blu-ray after the jump.

Mega Producer Robert Evans likes to tell stories about Hollywood parties with mountains of white powder spread across mirrored coffee tables. Tuesday night at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, I finally saw one myself. Except this mountain of powder was just sugar, part of the set dressing for a Q&A celebrating the 25^th anniversary Blu-Ray of Brian De Palma’s 1983 gangster opus, Scarface.

The Q&A, with Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Robert Loggia, F. Murray Abraham and producer Martin Bregman covered the whole of the film’s history, ranging from discussion of the original 1932 Howard Hawks film, to the poor critical reception upon release, through to the film’s rebirth as required viewing for hip-hop heads everywhere.  Read on for a description of the night and key quotes.  The new Blu-ray of Scarface hits stores on September 6th.

“See what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?”  This is the type of incomprehensible sentence that results when Broadcast Standards and Practices decide that a particular piece of dialogue is too salty for television.  The above example is from the edited-for-TV version of The Big Lebowski, which is included in a clip alongside similar instances from Snakes on a Plane, The Usual Suspects, The Departed, Scarface, Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, Basic Instinct, There’s Something About Mary, Beverly Hills Cop, Casino, Goodfellas, and Wild Things.  Check it out after the jump; be warned of NSFW language.