No, not Val Kilmer, the other guy. Shane Black, who directed RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is said to be helming the third Iron Man film after Jon Favreau was booted from the director’s spot. Downey ultimately has choice of director in that he is allowed to leave the project if he doesn’t approve of the director, so Paramount and Marvel Studios have reason to keep him happy. Black and Downey have a long history and a good friendship — in fact, much of the original Iron Man‘s dialogue was cribbed from discussions between the two in Downey’s trailer even while filming was ongoing. Black is a great choice for director, and he may even be writing the film as well, so let’s hope that the third film in the series fares better script-wise than the second did. Read more…
Director Matthew Vaughn isn’t even done with X-Men: First Class yet, but that isn’t stopping him from planning his next venture, which he says a major studio is ready to fund. It’s called The Golden Age, and it’s based on an unreleased comic book written by UK TV personality Jonathan Ross, and Vaughn likens it to “The Expendables with superheroes.” The comic book follows several retired superheroes who have to team up one last time to fix the problems their superhero children have caused in the world. Vaughn says that he’d love to have Jack Nicholson or Warren Beatty in lead roles, or any other former big-time star who’s now relegated to side roles. Sounds like a neat concept, but I’ll have to wait until the comic is released to make a real judgement on the film’s prospects. Read more…
The last few Thor trailers haven’t really had a lot to say in terms of Thor the character, just how people around him react to him. We haven’t gotten a chance to see the oblivious oaf side of the Odinson, a necessary counterpart to his more stalwart and heroic side. Well, in this latest trailer, we get a little more action and a little more oaf. And Kat Dennings taking out the depowered god of thunder with a taser. This I like. We even get the indication that Loki is the villain of the film, not just a side character! Not that followers of the film didn’t already know that, but at least the trailer is making it obvious to the average viewer. It’s a big summer for comic book movies — let’s hope Thor makes an impact. Read more…
Various outlets are reporting that Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has been cast as Diana Prince in NBC’s upcoming Wonder Woman television series. The joint venture between writer David E. Kelley and Jeffrey Reiner had a bumpy start, but after being passed on by a number of networks, NBC finally came to the rescue. Unfortunately, like rival network Fox, NBC is often quick to pull the plug if a show doesn’t hit the ground running. We’ll just have to hope that Palicki has the skills to match her striking looks — after all, anyone can dye their hair black, but handling that Lasso of Truth? Well, that remains to be seen.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 17, 2011 in Videogames
Xbox 360 owners are in for a bit of treat when they pre-order Larin Studios’ upcoming expansion for their hit RPG Divinity II, entitled The Dragon Knight Saga. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to own the previous title for your console may be happy to know that this upcoming release will feature a remastered version, complete with new content, an improved engine and support for the Flames of Vengeance add-on. On top of that, Atlus, the game’s North American publisher has decided to sell it for the low price of $39.99, and those of you who pre-order will recieve an art book and soundtrack to boot.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
You know how when you go to a really popular anime convention that there might be say a 100 people waiting on line to get their badge? Well back in the 80s those 100 people would be pretty much the sum total of anime fandom in New York City! Thanks to Saul Trabal (show in the photo above) we have a wonderful little photo essay from that era when anime was limited to getting VHS tapes from friends of friends who had pen pals in Japan: Read more…
Check out this fantastic little mash-up by writer & graphic designer Ben Huber. Anyone who’s a fan of Baccano! will recognize the characters but the image is quite clearly paying homage to a certain poster from Christopher Nolan’s box office hit, Inception. On top of that, you’ll really appreciate the attention to detail, as while you may be unable to see the text without enlarging the image, those credits are completely accurate. It sort of blows my mind that he had time to do that, but it’s certainly cool that he did.
Last week, fellow fanboy Mike Sacco posted the X-Men: First Class trailer that premiered on the film’s official facebook. Like most of you, I was pretty excited about the new direction the series will be taking with this prequel of sorts. The trailer itself did a great job of selling us on the premise — the young Charles Xavier befriends Erik Lensherr and forms the original X-Men, amidst what we came to know as the cold war. Recently, IGN broke down the trailer piece by piece to show us all the little easter eggs we missed the first time around, and if you’re big on Marvel lore, or some hints about the plot, you’ll want to give it a watch. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 15, 2011 in Videogames
If you’re a Playstation Plus user — and I know most of you aren’t — you’re in for a treat today. Sony passed along a free copy of the PS3/PSP mini The Flying Hamster as their gift to you — just check your PS3 message box for a note containing an attachment that’ll allow you to download it for free.I have to admit, I wasn’t very optimistic with the initial offerings for Playstation Plus subscribers. For a paid subscription service, Xbox Live! looked far more attractive, with a plethora of content fuled by the seemingly endless stream of income generated by the enormous user base.
Visitors from all around flocked to San Francisco’s Union Square Park yesterday to catch a glimpse of Lawrence Noble’s giant fiber glass Yoda heart. The attraction is part of San Francisco’s Heroes and Hearts fundraiser to benefit San Francisco General’s Hospital Foundation — an independent NPO that supports patient care at the city’s largest hospital. I’m glad they finished it just in time for Valentine’s Day, but I really wish they had gotten to word out sooner. As you can see from the video above, people have been posing for pictures with it all day. No word on how long this temporary attraction will be on display, but if you do visit, don’t be that guy who has to throw up the Vulcan salute. It’s just not cool.
In hindsight over 40 years later Star Trek is clearly the most successful science fiction television series of all time — but that wasn’t always the case. In the early 70s (before Star Wars) it was looking like Star Trek was pretty much dead. The only sign of life the series was in 1974 when Filmation ran a well done but poorly rated Saturday morning animated series. But then on September 13th, 1975 sci fi fans had a new option, and for this fanboy Space:1999 captured my heart for the next two years that it ran. Here are nine reasons why I think the show deserves some respect in the 21st Century: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 14, 2011 in Comic Books
Above: “Hurry up Green Arrow: It’s our turn to kiss Lois Lane NOW!”
Most of us know Superman thanks to his many appearances in movies and television shows — but once upon a time the man of steel was mostly a creature of print. And in that tradition DC Comics had to expand the franchise as much as they could: And one of the results was Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane a comic book series that lasted from 1958 until 1974. The cover art and content of each issue was quite silly by today’s standards — in fact after a while you almost feel sorry for poor Superman: Read more…
Idris Elba plays Heimdall in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor movie, and like any good superhero movie, Thor has its fair share of merchandising. At its Toy Fair yesterday, Hasbro showed off its line of Thor figures, including Elba’s Heimdall, which brings back a feature action figures have really been missing since the 80s — strategically-placed loincloths. That’s not even bringing up the figure’s Captain Morgan pose. It must be strange to have action figures made of you for a film; when Jeff Goldblum was asked about his Jurassic Park action figure, he said “Well, the main difference is the muscles. Mine are much bigger in real life.” Read more…
Licensed games, especially those based on kids’ properties, tend not to be so great, and Transformers games are no exception. Thankfully, Hasbro had the gumption to let High Moon Studios release a non-tie-in, fully canon Transformers game — War for Cybertron — in 2010, and that gamble paid off in the form of a fun, beautiful game. Now it seems Hasbro is banking on High Moon to produce another Transformers title, but this time it’s a tie-in for the upcoming movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon. High Moon’s Sean Miller assured IGN that they got the franchise because they’re all big Transformers fans, and that since the game acts as a prequel to the film, they’re not beholden to a particular script or scenario for their set pieces and gameplay. Can High Moon one-up themselves and make not only another good Transformers game, but a good Transformers movie game? Time will tell. Read more…
Sure, one crew travels in Starfleet’s best ship, and the other travels in a phone booth, but they’re both credited for saving the universe several times over. And now, here they are, together at last: Kirk, Spock, the Doctor, and Amy Pond, ready to kick some Klingon tail! And Dalek tail, and Cyberman tail, and Romulan tail. What, only four evil races? Against these guys? The bad guys don’t stand a chance. Great work from Summerset over at DeviantArt. Read more…
We had heard a rumor several months back that the forces behind the American live-action Akira remake wanted Zac Efron, of all people, to star as Kaneda. It’s bad enough that they’re remaking Akira with no Japanese people, but Zac Efron? Let’s get real, people. Apparently the original rumor was or is now false, because the newest rumor says that James Franco is being courted for the role of Tetsuo’s biker pal. Well, it’s better than Zac Efron, and dude looks good in a leather jacket, though, you know, still not an Asian person. Maybe we can hope for a sequel, Akira 2: Tokyo Drift. Read more…
Finally, the first trailer for X-Men: First Class has been released. Apparently filming is still ongoing, or was up until recently, even though the film has a release date of just four months from now. You wouldn’t know that from the trailer, though, which actually looks pretty good! We see Magneto and Xavier being pals, Azazel bamfing around, Emma Frost going all diamond on us, and some short shots of other X-Men like Beast and Havok (the latter mysteriously present in the 1960s). The movie’s plot seems to revolve around the Cuban Missile Crisis, which would definitely be a compelling point in history for mutants to reveal themselves. Here’s hoping the movie can be completed in a satisfactory manner before June. Read more…
Last weekend marked Tokyo’s 2011 Winter Wonder Festival, a show dedicated specifically Japan’s booming toy market. There, skilled artisans are allowed to sell their custom garage kit models while companies like Kotobukiya and Max Factory show off their upcoming product lines. One of the more popular lines would be Max Factory’s Figmas. The big selling point on these figures, in addition to being incredibly affordable, is their small joint sizes, allowing for good amount of articulation. They also tend to come with interchangable parts — such as heads, or arms — and accessories to match each figure.
I know a lot of you are probably excited for X-Men First Class due out in theaters later this year. For those of you who haven’t heard much about the project, the film covers the beginning of the X-Men saga, when Magneto and Charles Xavier first learn of their powers, working together in an effort to better life for mutant-kind. No doubt the story leads up to the formation of the original X-Men we’ve come to know and love. So far, the official facebook page only has this teaser logo, but according to the guys over at Collider, we can expect a trailer to be posted on the facebook page sometime tomorrow — so keep your eyes peeled. Read more…
I’ve been a big fan of NBC’s primetime programming — at least, what’s left of it — for awhile now, but Community hasn’t exactly been on my list of must-see programming. Perhaps it was last season’s slow start or the fact that I adore 30 Rock so much that I hold everything to that standard. To be honest, I probably shouldn’t. There’s probably plenty of reasons the network has been trailing, and until last week I felt Community might be one of them. Boy, was I wrong.
I’m not big on collecting bobble heads, but these are really adorable. Funko’s releasing a line of Star Wars-themed bobble heads with our favorite characters from a galaxy far far away. In addition to Lord Vader, pictured above, the series will also feature Leia, Han Solo, Chewie, Yoda, Greedo and an Imperial trooper. Interestingly enough, I don’t believe they have plans for either a Luke or Obi-wan bobble head. Personally, I’m not too sad about that. If I’m going to buy one, it may as well be the badest sith in the galaxy, right?
The final piece of the current Trek miniseries, Typhon Pact, finally hit book stores late last month and I’ve been loving every minute of it. These novels have been dark, and full of gloom with just a glimmer of hope. It’s definitely not the Star Trek universe we’ve come to expect, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Some readers have expressed concern over the direction of the series. Specifically, that it doesn’t seem to know where it’s going — and it’s true, it doesn’t, but it’s that very same uncertainty it instills that makes me want more. Read more…
Rob Pratt, a veteran animator and storyboard artist who has worked on numerous projects including Disney’s Pocahontas and, more recently, Kim Possible, has put together this amazing tribute to the Superman of old, simply titled Superman Classic. The character designs are very reminiscent a mid-90’s Disney film, but Pratt made sure to include a number of features we’ve come to identify with the Man of Steel, such as his signature hair style and Clark Kent’s mild-mannered demeanor. I don’t expect the upcoming film to retain any of those features, but seeing this hand-drawn short was definitely a welcome change. Now if only Warner Brothers would option this instead.
For well over a year now, there have been rumors of a Playstation phone. While most Sony kept their lips sealed, journalists had been left in the dark, wondering if there was an ounce of truth to it. A few months back, a video was leaked that showed a playstation one title being launched from a phone. Many journalists viewed that video with skepticisim and others ignored it completely. Now, it looks like the Playstation phone is quite real. Sony Ericsson recently confirmed its existence via their facebook, posting this image and encouraging us to keep an eye on their Facebook for the official announcement on February 13th. Read more…
In hindsight over 40 years later Star Trek is clearly the most successful science fiction television series of all time — but that wasn’t always the case. In the early 70s (before Star Wars) it was looking like Star Trek was pretty much dead. The only sign of life the series was in 1974 when Filmation ran a well done but poorly rated Saturday morning animated series. But then on September 13th, 1975 sci fi fans had a new option, and for this fanboy Space:1999 captured my heart for the next two years that it ran. Here are nine reasons why I think the show deserves some respect in the 21st Century: 
