No, no– it’s not about Batman raping hicks. Or hicks raping Batman. It’s a French fan-made film about a Batman getting on in his years but still suiting up for one last fight…against Wolverine.
Yeah. I said Wolverine.
Seriously, who cares about Superman versus Batman? Watch the epicness after the jump– the important part starts up at about 4, 4:30. Before that is introspection in French, which is apparently a requirement of all French cinema. Read more…
There’s no hiding the fact that Sony has been dealing with quite a bit of bad press as of late. As many of you may already be aware, the company has been suffering from numerous attempts to hack their servers and subsequent fallout. Many outlets have been quick to criticize the company for their inability to react in what they’ve deemed a timely manner, while others have applauded Sony’s attempts to rectify the situation for both developers and consumers alike. Did Sony’s E3 conference do anything to restore our faith in their brand? Or, was it just another in a long line of missteps?
Earlier today, Microsoft held their Xbox 360 press conference. Many of you were probably expecting a slew of new and exciting titles, and while Microsoft had a number of multi-platform, and console exclusives that may have impressed some, many of you may have left underwhelmed. I have to admit that I joined many of you in yawning through-out and while I applaud Microsoft for once again abandoning the sales statistics in favor of announcing new products, most of them failed to appeal to my tastes. Aside from the handful of you who live for Gears of War and Halo, I have a feeling you may have felt the same.
The first time I believe I heard about Ed Sizemore was on the Manga Movable Feast for Mushishi, then on Twitter, and subsequently on the con scene. Of course from those interactions, I started to pay attention to his activity on the internet, and he is pretty busy, involved with ComicsWorth Reading and other sites. As I was tapped to interview anime/manga bloggers on the web, I definitely wanted to included Ed in the schedule, so here via an email interview are his thoughts to my questions. Read more…
Starting on june 6th if you’re luck enough to live in Japan you can get your hands on dozens of different Dragonball canned coffees by Pokka. The “black line” of coffee series has no sugar and thus isn’t for kids — but the original line will make those of us who haven’t grown up who have a sweet tooth happy: Read more…
I’m going to give you a rough review of X-Men: First Class, but before I do that I’m going to give you the highlights:
1. It’s better than it looks.
2. That’s mostly not due to special effects.
3. Michael Fassbender completely works as Erik.
4. January Jones completely works as Emma Frost…as written in this film.
5. Xavier is kind of a dick Read more…
Nerds love the Muppets, nerds love Firefly; it was only a matter of time before someone took those two great tastes and made them taste great together. Artist James Hance is creating an entire series of Muppet-fied Firefly images (with some Fraggles to round out the cast) on his website, with proceeds from his upcoming prints to be donated to the Can’t Stop the Serenity charity. Read more…
Fans can exist not just in the United States, but just about anywhere in the world. Take for instance this week’s blogger interview with Lissa Pattillo, our neighbor up north in friendly Canada! Okay corny geography jokes aside, Lissa runs a very nice guide to manga news and reviews via Kuriosity. She is involved in way more websites than Kuriosity, and I will leave it for you to read under the cut. So I have notice/lurked her site from her interaction with the defunct Boys on Boys on Film website. She provides the fact that irregardless of geography, reading and love for manga has no boarders! Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 4, 2011 in Comic Books
Webcomicker Kate Beaton is known for her hilarious takes on historical figures, but she’s no stranger to superheroes either. She’s done riffs on Superman and Wonder Woman before, and she even did a Spider-Man piece for Marvel’s 2010 Strange Talesanthology (wherein Kraven needed a prom date). This time, she’s imagined what would happen if Peter Parker was bitten by a slightly different spider: specifically, the bothersome brown recluse.
Sony, after fighting a prolonged battle with hackers and leaving users of the PlayStation Network without access for 44 days, finally flipped the “on” switch on all of its online services yesterday. Unfortunately for Sony (and its customers), it looks like their security war is hardly over. The Sony Pictures website was hacked by a simple SQL injection, with a million usernames and passwords stolen. Worse, the information was apparently stored plaintext — that is, completely unencrypted. The hackers who perpetrated the attack, who call themselves “LulzSec,” say that the lack of security on Sony customers’ personal information was shameful and that they were asking for an attack. At this point, it’s difficult to feel bad for Sony anymore, though I definitely do feel bad for the tens of thousands of people who had their information posted online by the hackers.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 3, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s impending relaunch of 52 monthlies — a significant portion of their comic line — may be the ballsiest move yet made in comics, or it may be nothing more than a publicity stunt. It’s hard to say until we’ve seen the products of the relaunch. But to show that they mean business, DC announced a handful of the creative teams working on the new titles. Wonder Woman’s new team looks pretty interesting, with 100 Bullets‘ Brian Azzarello writing and Cliff Chiang on art duty, but then you have some stuff that looks considerably less compelling. Like, say, Firestorm, which looks … let’s just say “a little silly.” DC hasn’t revealed all of the teams quite yet, so we haven’t heard about heavy hitters like Batman or Superman, but maybe they’re saving the best for last. Maybe a Morrison Superman run? Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 3, 2011 in Television
Well, not the real one, given that he’s dead and all, but SyFy’s upcoming kinda-sorta-superhero team dramadoes star James Strathairn, who made a splash playing Murrow in Goodnight and Good Luck. Strathairn was easily my favorite part of that movie, and it’s admittedly a little surprising that SyFy managed to nab someone of his caliber to headline their show. If you don’t like good films or TV (which incidentally makes you SyFy’s target audience), then you’ll probably recognize Bones‘ Mr. Nigel-Murray himself, Ryan Cartwright, in the show’s cast. Check out the first promo art for Alphas right up there.
They missed the self-imposed deadline of “by the end of the month,” but Sony has finally restored access to the Playstation Network Store. For weeks, developers have been reporting losses, and many customers who’ve recently purchased games have been denied access to their downloadable content. Worst yet, several games have required the use of a key for online play which could only be unlocked via the online store — the move finally provides a bit of relief. Due to the length of downtime, much of the content that had been previously scheduled for release will be rolled out in waves in order to play catch up. For a full list of new content, head on over to the Playstation blog, just don’t be surprised if you have a little trouble logging in, seeing as everyone else will likely be flooding the store over the course of the next two days.
As Jabba would tell you, nothing says you’re the boss like your very own smuggler frozen in carbonite. Sure, you could just mount him on the wall of your pleasure palace, but why not find a more practical use for it? The guys at Tom Spina Designs did when they created their own custom Han Solo carbonite desk. It’s truly an amazing piece of functional fanboy art, I just wonder how much they’d charge us for one of our own. I wasn’t able to find a price quote on their official site, but they do have plenty of other great props, and furniture you can browse. After all, why wouldn’t you want your own galactic throne.
It’s been several months since the magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake devastated Northeastern Japan, and while the subject no longer dominates our headlines, the entire region remains in need. To help support the relief efforts, a group of relatively well-known cosplayers have gotten together to create a cosplay calender for charity with 100% of the proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross society. The full sized calender will open to 11″ x 22″ with the actual photos measuring at 11″ x 17″.
A few weeks back, Columbia Pictures released the first trailer for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s upcoming theatrical adaptation of Georges Rémi’s classic comic, The Adventures of Tintin. The film will boast some jaw-dropping 3d, using some of the latest in motion capture technology. Indeed, the visuals can be quite stunning, but I’ve seen more than a few complaints from fans who feel the new visuals aren’t faithful enough. Still, with both Spielberg and Jackson on board, how can we go wrong? Read more…
Regardless of how you feel about Harmony Gold, or Robotech, one thing I’ve never seen were complaints about the music. Ulpio Minucci and Arlon Ober did fantastic job scoring the series, creating a memorable soundtrack that’s managed to strike a chord with fans worldwide. Recently I stumbled across this video of a group of fans from Chile performing a live medley. I love that they kept it real with the electric drum kit — the lazer toms were dead on. It’s worth a listen, and you’ll get goosebumps from the nostalgia alone.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 31, 2011 in Cinema, Tech
There are so many drinking/bartending apps on the app store . So many in fact, that I’ve had a hard time picking one — that was until this little gem caught my eye. Have you ever wanted to drink like a spy? Never had the time to write 007’s recipes down in the middle of a film? The Bond Mixology iPhone app has you covered. Every recipe from every film, complete with recommended brands and scene notes. On top of that, they’ve even thrown in imdb profiles for the actors to add a smidge of authenticity. They even offer up proper alternatives for the mixers that are no longer being produced, and for only $1.99, it’s a steal. For more information, check out their official website.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this question asked in recent months, be it on Facebook, Twitter, or in real life: “what is the deal with all my friends getting into My Little Pony all of a sudden?!” So I thought I’d save you fan-persons a bit of trouble and trot out an explanation (get it?). I’ve split it into two sections: first, how adults come to the new animated series from Hasbro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and second, why they tend to fall in love with it. Read more…
So, Lenny Kravitz is set to play the role of Cinna, a serious (if small) role in the upcoming adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ kinda-sci-fi young adult novel The Hunger Games— a role that would become bigger if the second book, Catching Fire, were to be adapted. In the first book, Cinna serves as the remarkably sedate fashion designer for the series’ protagonist, archer Katniss Everdeen. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 29, 2011 in Comic Books
Yes, it looks like Deadpool’s efforts to break the fourth wall actually succeeded in destroying the damn thing altogether — he’s now patrolling the streets of Wanatchee, WA. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite the real Deadpool (Wade Wilson is a little more muscular, I think), but a mystery man is using Deadpool’s outfit and name and going around helping those in need. You can even email him if you have a situation that you think would merit the help of a psychopathic mercenary. Whether or not this particular Deadpool is mentally ill still remains to be seen, though, admittedly, when you’re dealing with Deadpool, sanity is relative. Read more…
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a scifi staple, and its unique look continues to be an inspiration for other genre works. But it’s just a movie, made by real people, which is easy to forget. Periodically we’ll get some behind-the-scenes footage or photos that help us put film production into perspective, though, like these Blade Runner set Polaroids from actress Sean Young, who played Rachel in the film. If you want to see Harrison Ford making googly eyes at a camera, or just want to see Sean looking particularly glamorous, her collection is definitely worth a look. Read more…
Peter Jackson’s in-production film adaptation of The Hobbit has a largely new cast, including Martin Freeman as a young Bilbo Baggins, but given the film’s nature as a prequel to the events of Lord of the Rings, there’s also a cadre of returning characters. And that means a cadre of returning actors, too! According to Peter Jackson’s Facebook page, you can now count on Orlando Bloom to return as Legolas, the fan-favorite elf from the original trilogy. Bloom joins Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, and Elijah Wood in reprising his role. Read more…
