Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 21, 2007 in Comic Books
Daredevil #97: Gladiator is on the loose, running for his life, and Daredevil is the only one who can stop him from – on never mind that! Take another look at that great cover art by Marko Djurdjevic (go ahead, click on the image to see it larger in full detail). The upside down composition of that illustration reminds me of an old movie poster or the cover of an old pulp magazine – you can taste the action (and maybe the rainwater too)! Marko Djurdjevic blog and website is also worth taking some time to gawk at some nice artwork (it looks like he has a DVD on the way too).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 21, 2007 in Comic Books
Above: Spiderman goes to the disco!
The concept of a Spiderman musical sounds like the plot of a bad Bollywood film, except I’d expect that film to be more interesting to watch than this:
“He’s conquered the big screen and now Spider-Man could be swinging onto a Broadway stage. According to published reports, the popular comic book franchise is being turned into a musical — and there’s word organizers have already assembled a star-studded team behind the scenes.
Bono and The Edge of U2 reportedly would be in charge of the music, while “The Lion King” director Julie Taymor would lead the production. The musical could cost about $15 million to produce. Auditions will begin in July.”
…yup! Nothing like Bono teaming with up some Lion King lamers to get me unexcited about a project.
Meow! Seen above is the Catwoman vinyl statue designed by the Japanese manufacturer Kotobukiya. For all the full details check out this article at Toy News International.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 20, 2007 in Comic Books
I was looking though a batch of Marvel covers and came across the gem above, illustrated by Ricardo Tercio (click on the image to see it at a larger size). What I love about this cover is the sense of whimsy and drama, along with Tercio’s bold use of contrasting bold with muted color choices. And I admit it, I like seeing a cartoony take on Marvel characters every now and then (it’s a nice contrast to all of the steroid realism that we tend to see all the time). I’d urge you to check out Ricardo Tercio’s website here.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 19, 2007 in Animation
Twenty years ago today on April 19, 1987 the Tracey Ullman Show aired a two-minute animated short by Matt Groening that introduced the world to the Simpsons, a family from Springfield, USA. Here’s a well done interview with Al Jean on the subject that’s worth a read for any true Simpsons fanboy:
“As Homer and his family were being fleshed out in the first season, the show’s creators also began building the menagerie of side characters who inhabit Springfield. Despite the many smaller players he has helped create, Jean identifies his favorite without hesitation: “Comic Book Guy.”
“When we first came up with that character, I could not believe we were doing it,” he said. “A comic book guy as a featured character was unheard of. But everyone knew a guy just like him growing up.”
Obnoxious and condescending, “Comic Book Guy” mocks everyone—and everything—that crosses his path. Simpsons veteran Hank Azaria reached into his own past and found the perfect voice for one of the show’s most mimicked characters.”
“The idea of creating a balloon symbolizing the SW saga has been on my mind for a long time. But I was too shy to ask George Lucas (Lucasfilm) permission to do it.
Then I met with FanWars in 2005. They wanted me to make a Death Star – shaped PVC helium balloon. While discussing with FanWars leader Nicolas Lelong aka TK-9999, I spoke of my idea of a Darth Vader – shaped hot air balloon. For me, it was more of a joke and a fantasy, but Nicolas took it seriously and found the idea wonderful. He took contact with LucasFilm in order to try to get their agreement.
As soon as we got Lucasfilm’s approval, we made contact with the world largest manufacturer of hot-air balloons, specialized in special shapes and based in the United Kingdom. A Darth Vader helmet replica was sent to their engineers to help them recreate every detail. A vectorial file representing the Vader helmet in 3D was also sent to the engineers.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2007 in Animation
I just discovered this interesting animated film via Drawn, what’s interesting is that it’s not from Japan but from Korea and it came out last year (so it slipped under my radar some how). It looks like it’s got some nice quality character design and animation directed by Jo Beom-jin. By doing a bit of research I found that you can buy it on DVD at yesasia.com. Here’s the trailer from the film:
And here’s a quick plot summary from the New York Times:
“A futuristic city that is literally fueled by excrement provides the setting for this animated comedy concerning two dangerous delinquents who become inexorably tied to a deadly power struggle within the methane-laden metropolis. Soon after it’s discovered just how much power can be generated by fecal waste, the government installs special sensors on citizen’s anuses as a means of monitoring the production of the valuable natural resource.
Meanwhile, as the public becomes addicted to hallucinogenic and highly-addictive popsicles designed to keep them in line and stimulate even greater bowel movements, street thugs Aachi and Ssipak cross paths with a tough-talking porno star and incur the wrath of a dreaded group of outcasts known as The Diaper Gang.”
…and here’s the official website for the film (in Korean of course):
If this new film is good or bad will ride on the script and then the director, but I think Beckinsale has a good shot at making the role her own as long as they try to do something new (i.e. by going back to comic books rather than the film).
My favorite film with Beckinsale is Haunted from 1995, which i think is an under rated gem of a film, and one of the best haunted house movies that I’ve watched in a long time.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2007 in Comic Books
I’m sad to say that Wizard of Id co-creator Brant Parker has passed away. As a kid growing up in the 70s I always loved his work because it was very approachable, and yet the humor had a nice sophistication to it. Sadly Parker joins his Id co-creator Johnny Hart who passed away recently. Although I think both gentlemen would be pleased to know that their kids have taken up the torch for a shabby beloved medieval kingdom called Id:
“Brant Parker, the co-creator of the comic “The Wizard of Id,” who portrayed medieval kingdom for more than 30 years, died in Lynchburg, Va. He was 86. Parker, who died Sunday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease and a previous stroke, passed away eight days after longtime “Wizard” collaborator Johnny Hart died of a stroke, the Los Angeles Times said Tuesday. “Id” and its quirky inhabitants appears in more than 1,000 newspapers worldwide since its launch in 1964.
Hart was drawing the Stone Age strip “B.C.” when he sought out Parker, whom he’d known for several years, to help coax humor from the Middle Ages. The collaboration lasted until 1997, when Parker turned over “Wizard” drawing duties to his son, Jeff.
Creators Syndicate, the strip’s distributor, said “The Wizard of Id” would continue as a collaboration between the Parker and Hart families. Parker said a two-year stint at Walt Disney Studios in the late 1940s was his main cartoon-drawing classroom. He worked on several Donald Duck shorts and the 30-minute “Mickey and the Beanstalk”.”
Above are two new posters for 28 Weeks Later, the first one is for the domestic market while the second one is aimed at an international market. I don’t know how good this follow up film can be, but let the hype begin…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 17, 2007 in Pulp Fiction
Shown above is an editorial spread (click to see at full size) from ‘The Science Fiction Book: An Illustrated History’ by Franz Rottensteiner, published in 1975. The book went into great detail on almost every major theme that could be found in science fiction, including sex (or a lack there of). I love caption they have in the lower right hand corner:
“SF authors may generally avoid sex in their plots, but the details on these pages make it clear that science fiction illustrators do not feel the same reticence.”
I love this silly short film, in it the director has a plastic Godzilla model roaming the halls of a school making Beavis and Buttheadesque comments:
So after watching this mini Godilla epic, I had to do a quickie interview with the director!
First question, who are you?
Well, I’m Jeremy Eugene Jones, you may also remember me from my really bad Elimidate appearance or, more likely, as one of the writers and voice actors of “Zinwrath: the Movie.” (I wrote the dialogue for the Burakubuu character and also the crazy gnome speech in the middle, and did the voice for Burakubuu, along with some general script editing) I’m currently going to film school in San Francisco and working on film sets whenever I can.
…and what inspired you to make this short film?
Well, that’s an odd question. I started making Godzilla videos when I was bored one night and wanted to re-enact the death of two of my friends who weren’t, in fact, dead. But there was a banana, and a toy tractor, and some GI Joes and then, Godzilla. Given my lack of social wazoo, I later used Godzilla as a personal spokesperson to say to girls what I could not, myself, being a simple sterile ninja.
“Edward Norton has been set by Marvel Studios to play Bruce Banner in “The Incredible Hulk.” The Louis Leterrier-directed drama will be distributed by Universal Pictures, with an opening set for June 13, 2008.
It is a decided return to the mainstream for Norton, who recently has starred in such indies as “Down in the Valley,” “The Painted Veil,” and “The Illusionist.” Pic will shoot this summer in Toronto. Norton takes over a role played in the Ang Lee-directed “Hulk” by Eric Bana. Though that film opened strongly, it didn’t fare as well as other Marvel efforts, including “Spider-Man,” “X-Men,” “Fantastic Four” and, most recently, “Ghost Rider.”
Marvel Studios, which has a $525 million credit facility obtained through Merrill Lynch, made “The Incredible Hulk” its second film under that arrangement, and seeks to make a sequel that is less self-serious and more in line with the comic series and TV show. Leterrier directed the action-filled “Transporter 2,” and “Unleashed.” The new pic begins with Banner on the run, trying to avoid capture long enough to cure the condition that turns him into a misunderstood green menace.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 16, 2007 in Pulp Fiction
Shown above is the cover (click to see at full size) of ‘The Science Fiction Book: An Illustrated History’ by Franz Rottensteiner, featuring an illustrated layout by Thames and Hudson. In the mid-70s I was very much a Star Trek fanboy (and later a Space: 1999 fanboy), so my parents purchased this little treasure for me.
The book was published in 1975 and gives a detailed look at every theme to be found in science fiction from that era, however it doesn’t have the Star Wars photos since the film hadn’t come out yet.
Now that I live in the 21st Century the book cover looks rather charming and dated with it’s disco typography. And the irony is that the book explores what it views as the charming retro look of 1950s pulp magazines and the like. I find it somewhat ironic that in the year 2007 I loving look back at my dog eared version of a book about the future I live in. Now that I live in the 21st Century my only regret that I have is the fact that manned space exploration hasn’t advanced much since the 70s.
A side note on Franz Rottensteiner: I did a quick google and Mr. Rottensteiner is still very much alive and kicking in Austria. He did another book on Fantasy in 1978 and is the publisher of a liteary magazine.
What do you get when you take two of the greatest writer/directors in the world and let them do whatever the hell they want? You get the movie Grindhouse. Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, From Dusk Til Dawn, The El Miriachi Trilogy) join forces once more to take you through a tour de force of the classic Grindhouse exploitation movies of the Seventies. The film features two full length movies back to back that include evrerything you would find in an old seventies exploitation flick. Noise pops, scratches on the film even missing reels and skips.
Things start out with a ‘fake’ trailer for the movie Machete. Danny Trejo stars as the mad Mexican killer Machete and in joined by his priest/brother Cheech Marrin (Cheech and Chong). After the two minute trailer the first movie, Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror begins.
Set in Texas Planet Terror is an over the top gorefest that slaps you in the face with it’s rediculous plot and stereotyping of women as sluts and lesbians…Except for Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan). She’s got a chip on her shoulder and doesn’t like much of anyone. Our Heroine set we meet the rest of the cast. Freddy Rodriguez as El Wray, Micheal Biehn as the Sheriff and Jeff Fahey as his brother J.T.
The story really cranks when Naveen Andrews (TV’s LOST) and Bruce Willis (Do I even need to mention what HE’s been in?) Show the audiance that there’s a mysterious gas that turns people into flesh eating zombies. Without giving too much of the plot away things go sideways and the gas is released. Mayhem ensuses (Including Fergie getting eaten by Zombies). Things spin quickly out of control and people are attacked left and right as the gas spreads. It all comes down to El Wray and Cherrie Darling to save the day and yes this does include Cherry sporting a new leg that happens to be a machine gun. It sounds corny as hell but while you watch it everything just seems to make sense.
With roles from actors of past and present by the likes of Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead), Josh Brolin and Marlie Shelton Planet Terror was an in your face visceral blow shit up fest that keeps you bouncing back and forth from lauging to going COOOOOL!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 15, 2007 in Animation
If you’re an anime fanboy like me you’ll want to set your DVR to catch Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winning film Spirited Away on June 3rd at 9:45 p.m. ET playing on Turner Classic Movies.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 14, 2007 in Animation
I guess to me Corinne Orr wil always be the true voice of Trixie! That said Christina Ricci has done some nice work, but I hope they cast Trixie more in a cute light than make her too sexy:
“Christina Ricci is joining Larry and Andy Wachowski’s live-action adaptation of the 1960s cartoon “Speed Racer” for Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Joel Silver. Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman already have boarded the high-octane project, which is based on the anime series created by Tatsuo Yoshida for Japanese audiences and later imported to the U.S.
“Speed” centers on a young race car driver, Speed (Hirsch), and his quest for glory in his thundering, gadget-laden vehicle Mach 5. Ricci will star as Speed’s girlfriend Trixie, his formidable ally on and off the track. The show revolved around Speed’s family. In the big-screen adaptation, Goodman will play Pops, a race car owner and builder. Sarandon is on board as Pops’ wife, the backbone of the family as well as the Mach 5 Go Racing Team. The Wachowskis, who are writing and directing, are eyeing a summer shoot in Berlin with a summer 2008 release.”
…you know it would show some class if the brothers Wachowski gave bit parts to Corinne Orr and Peter Fernandez. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they keep the fanboys like myself happy.
Update: Here’s a video interview with Christina talking about playing Trixie:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 13, 2007 in Animation
I admit it, I’m a huge fan when it comes to Star Blazers also known as Space Cruiser Yamato for your hardcore anime fanboys. Tonight I was very surprised while channel surfing to see that Nova on PBS did an amazing special on the final voyage of World War II battleship Yamato. The special showed some footage of the ruins of the Yamato underwater, along with some nice computer animation and some very touching interviews with actual survivors. The website for the show is well worth checking out:
“The final phase of the Pacific war during World War II saw a terrible new tactic: massed kamikaze attacks on American ships by Japanese planes. But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. In this program, NOVA joins an international team exploring the grave of this magnificent vessel to learn the secrets of her design, her final mission, and the violent events that brought her down.
Yamato lies on the floor of the East China Sea, 200 miles north of Okinawa, blown apart by one of the most massive explosions ever to occur at sea. Altogether, more than 2,700 men went down with the ship or drowned after it sank, making the loss of the Yamato one of the greatest naval disasters of all time. Despite the destruction, the majesty of the ship is unmistakable, symbolized by a six-foot-wide chrysanthemum crest, icon of the Japanese imperial family, still gracing Yamato’s prow like a figurehead.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 13, 2007 in Television
Setting to prove that there is no intelligent life in the universe (or no new ideas) the Sci Fi channel will be doing it’s take on Flash Gordon. Now let me be clear on something, Flash Gordon has has always been a silly pulp concept. However the orginal film serials from the 1930s starring Buster Crabbe are beloved classics in their own campy way.
The last time someone tried to update the series was with the 1980 film which was produced by Dino De Laurentiis. I was never a big fan of this film, but in many ways it was sort of so bad it was good! The acting was slightly worse than a porno movie, but the costumes and theme song by Queen made up for it.
But now I’ve just read that the Scoi Fi channel filled with their Galactica gusto is set to ruin Flash Gordon:
“Smallville alum Eric Johnson has landed the title role in Sci Fi Channel’s upcoming series “Flash Gordon.” The 22-hour series, a contemporary take on the popular comic strip franchise, is slated for an August premiere. It will feature Johnson as space traveler Flash Gordon embarking on all-new adventures.
Peter Hume penned the first two episodes, which will be directed by Rick Rosenthal (“Smallville”). Production is to begin May 1 in Vancouver. “Flash” is being produced by Reunion Pictures under an agreement with property owner King Features Syndicate. RHI Entertainment is distributing the series internationally. RHI’s Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr., who recently worked with Sci Fi on the miniseries “Legend of Earthsea,” are executive producing, with Hume also expected to exec produce. Casting is under way for the other roles, including Flash Gordon’s fellow space travelers Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov.”
…well to bring you campers back to the good old days of the early 80s here’s a neat poster I found that’s from the Japanese release of the Dino De Laurentiis film:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 12, 2007 in Pulp Fiction
I owned that paperback copy of “Sirens of Titan” above, what was great about Kurt Vonnegut was that he played a role in making science fiction respectable:
“Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.
Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.
His novels — 14 in all — were alternate universes, filled with topsy-turvy images and populated by races of his own creation, like the Tralfamadorians and the Mercurian Harmoniums. He invented phenomena like chrono-synclastic infundibula (places in the universe where all truths fit neatly together) as well as religions, like the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent and Bokononism (based on the books of a black British Episcopalian from Tobago “filled with bittersweet lies,” a narrator says).”
