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Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 18, 2015 in Television 
Last June, PlayStation announced their plans to enter the non-TV TV market occupied by companies like Netflix (House of Cards) and Amazon (Transparent). Their first offering is Powers, an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’s superhero procedural comic. The ten episode series is produced by Sony Pictures, which previously did Breaking Bad. Of course, since this is a new market for Sony, it’s not a bad idea that they finally put out this behind the scenes overview of the series before its March 10 premiere. Three episodes will go up on the PlayStation Store, with a new episode following each Tuesday. Powers has caught my interest, so I might as well check it out with my PlayStation Plus account. Read more…
Tags: Powers, PS3, PS4, Sony, Superheroes
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 10, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Superhero or superhero-esque stories are very popular right now, and in the last two years, we’ve seen a bunch of shows start airing on network TV, of all things. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Gotham may not be pulling in the usual network TV ratings, but they’re succeeding in their intended demographic and keeping pace with the CW’s Arrow and Flash. But NBC’s Constantine is not doing so hot, partially because of what they’re allowed to get away with on network TV, and partially because Friday night is a horrible night for new TV. As the future of the show is uncertain, a rumor has surfaced that NBC may move it to another one of its networks: SyFy. Read more…
Tags: Constantine, DC Comics, NBC
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 9, 2015 in Television 
The DVD and Blu-ray release of Game of Thrones season 4 isn’t far away now (February 17th to be exact), so we’re getting some glimpses of the special features on the disc set. Here are two deleted scenes, one from episode 2, featuring Bronn and Shae, and another from episode 8, with Dany and Missandei. It’s always fun to see what didn’t make the cut to the final product and (sad to say) this time around, you can tell why these scenes were cut. (Unlike season 3, which featured that great cut scene between Tywin and Pycelle.) Still, check them out below! Maybe it’ll get your hype flowing for season 5. Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 5, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Many Marvel films go for a slightly more light-hearted tone, adding an endearing mix of humor and optimism to potentially dark events. Trailers may seem dark, but it’s usually just marketing for otherwise PG-13 adventure material, like Ant-Man‘s overly serious trailer for a film that’s actually described as a comedy. But on Netflix, they can play with more expectations, and the first of four upcoming series is Daredevil, which finally released a trailer for its April 10 premiere. With the Netflix series focusing more on vigilantes cleaning up New York (specifically Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil), it’s not just visually darker, but tonally darker. I think we’re going to see a lot more blood in this series than any other Marvel movie to date. Take a look yourself! Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 3, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Marvel has quite a nice cast shaping up for A.K.A. Jessica Jones so far. Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), David Tennant (Kilgrave), and Mike Colter (Luke Cage) were all previously confirmed, and last week Rachael Taylor (Patricia “Trish” Walker) joined. Now we’ve got Trinity from The Matrix stepping in. Marvel declined to reveal what character Moss would be playing, only saying that she was “a no-nonsense woman who could prove a powerful ally to Jessica…if Jessica doesn’t completely alienate her first.” That doesn’t really narrow it down, but she could easily be an original character too. Either way, it’ll be worth watching this great cast when A.K.A. Jessica Jones premieres on Netflix in early 2016, or if we’re lucky, late 2015. Read more…
Tags: Jessica Jones, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 3, 2015 in Television, Videogames 
By this point, we as a culture have produced approximately 999,999 variations on the iconic opening to The Simpsons. So what’s one more? This one is by Paul Robertson and Ivan Dixon, who recreated the intro with chunky pixels. You may have seen Paul Robertson’s work in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and Mercenary Kings; if you have, then you’ll be pleased to see things get very weird during the couch gag. Also of note is the chiptune version of the theme song by Jeremy Dower. Check it out, even if you’re not a Simpsons fan, just for the wonderful art! Read more…
Tags: Pixel Art, The Simpsons
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 31, 2015 in Television 
You might recall that there was an Imax showing for Game of Thrones season 4, episodes 9 and 10, the other day. There was a season 5 trailer attached to it, and HBO initially didn’t upload to their YouTube channel, leaving fans to do it on their own. Come on, HBO, don’t you want all those sweet, sweet views for your own channel? Anyway, they have now uploaded it in HD to their Facebook page, so you can check it out there clearly. The trailer is fairly lengthy and definitely gives a good picture of where the season is headed, so as usual, watch at your own risk. And if you’re a book reader, beware the powerful urge to complain about all the changes the showrunners are making to the story! Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones, HBO
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 27, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Part of my enjoyment of all these new Marvel movies and TV series is getting to know characters I never knew of before. The Netflix series fit that bill pretty well, because non-comic fans likely have no idea who Jessica Jones is. But A.K.A. Jessica Jones is the second Netflix series in production (after this April’s Daredevil), telling the story of a retired superhero who becomes a detective. We’ve learned that Krysten Ritter is the titular hero, while Mike Colter is potential love-interest Luke Cage (with his own Netflix series at least a year out). Now Marvel has cast their villain: David Tennant. Read more…
Tags: Jessica Jones, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 20, 2015 in Television 
Rumors have swirled about an upcoming Game of Thrones special airing on HBO on February 8. Called “A Day in the Life,” fans speculated about what it could be. Now it’s been revealed that it’s a half-hour documentary about one day of production of season 5. The special is set to highlight “the epic sets, renowned cast and global scale of Thrones, as well as the more intimate and individual challenges of our subjects.” Viewers will see one day of production at three different locations around the globe: Belfast, Northern Ireland; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Sevilla and Osuna; Spain. Besides showing how they pull off such a complex show, it may give hints to the fifth season, which won’t air until April, which is a great reason to watch. Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 18, 2015 in Television 
Top Gear and Lego bricks are one of the more unlikely combinations I thought I’d see, but here we are! Lego has a new line of licensed cars toys titled Speed Champions. It features car brands like Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche, and others. To promote it, they created a CGI trailer for the new season of Top Gear, featuring the crew messing around backstage as they try to put the Stig back together. The new cars themselves are nice looking, but feature lots of stickers, which makes the Lego fan in me go “blegh!” This isn’t too awful of a crossover, though! I wonder if we’ll ever see official Top Gear Lego sets? Read more…
Tags: Lego, Top Gear
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 17, 2015 in Television 
Game of Thrones in coming to the big screen… the biggest screen, actually. Starting January 29th, for one week Imax theaters will have several Game of Thrones showings, which will be episodes 9 and 10 of season 4, followed by a new trailer for season 5. These two episodes (“The Watchers on the Wall” and “The Children”) are some of the biggest showpieces for Game of Thrones, and will probably be pretty neat to see on the big screen. Obviously this is really meant for the hardcore fans, and as such they’ll also be giving out two posters at the screenings: one (“The Watchers on the Wall”) at all AMC theaters, and another (“The Children”) at all other theaters. I’ve included the posters below, but be warned: they feature major spoilers! Tickets are on sale now here. Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones, IMAX
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 13, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Unlike the shaky future of DC’s shared movie universe, DC’s shared TV universe is doing great. Arrow is getting a fourth season, while Flash is getting a second. But that’s not enough, because at least one more spin-off is coming, with the possibility of another in the wings. First is Vixen, an animated series to be streamed on CW Seed. Vixen was intended to be DC’s first African female superhero with her own comic series, but after that was aborted, she showed up later, becoming a member of the Justice League and Suicide Squad. Meanwhile, Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer, a.k.a. the Atom may see his own show, which seemed obvious once he appeared in Arrow‘s third season. Nothing is confirmed yet, but Arrow execs and WB’s president have a “general concept,” as long as there isn’t “audience fatigue.” I’m just happy to see that Routh isn’t on Hollywood’s crap-list like he was after Superman Returns. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Green Arrow, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 8, 2015 in Cinema, Television 
I thought for sure that we wouldn’t see Marvel’s Daredevil series until May at the earliest, or more likely sometime this summer. But no, Marvel has announced that all thirteen hour-long episodes will be available on Netflix starting on April 10. That’s soon! Knowing Marvel, they’ll probably be starting to slowly drop more teasers for the show until we finally start seeing some trailers and promotion, maybe as soon as February. I’m curious to see how this may fit in with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which will still be airing at that time, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which releases less than a month later. But as usual, I’m most interested to see Marvel introduce a character I don’t know much about, having steered clear of the poorly-rated Ben Affleck film. Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 25, 2014 in Tech, Television, Videogames 
Sony and Samsung may be rivals in the TV business, but apparently that won’t stop them from trying to make more profit together. PlayStation Now is coming to Samsung Smart TVs in the US and Canada. The service, which allows streaming rentals of PS3 games (and hopefully PS1 and PS2 games down the line), will be made available in the first half of 2015. Samsung TVs don’t have the horsepower to render PS3 games, but that doesn’t matter, because all the processing is done on Sony’s side and streamed to the TV. All Samsung owners need to buy is a DualShock 4 controller (since, you know, TVs don’t normally come with controllers). Now if only Sony would adjust PlayStation Now prices to be more attractive, because I’d rather buy the game for cheap than bother with the overpriced rentals. Read more…
Tags: PlayStation 3, Samsung, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 23, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
While fans may have been asking for Isaiah Mustafa or Terry Crews — both coincidentally Old Spice spokesmen — to play Luke Cage in Marvel’s multiple upcoming Netflix series, Marvel had someone else in mind. Mike Colter (Halo: Nightfall) had chemistry with Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter, so he will co-star as Luke Cage in her series. In the comics, the two characters eventually marry. After that series ends, Cage will later show up in his own self-titled Netflix series, before teaming up with Jones, Daredevil (Charlie Cox), and an uncast Iron Fist for a Defenders mini-series about street-level vigilantes. Naturally, this is all set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it’s always possible some of these characters could appear somehow in the movies, which is certainly what many fans would love to see. Read more…
Tags: Luke Cage, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 18, 2014 in Cinema, Television 
Cookie Monster may have already parodied The Lord of the Rings, but has he really confronted the temptation of the One Ring? Sir Ian McKellen joins him in a new video to help explain the word “resist.” But when McKellen shows Cookie Monster the One Ring, he doesn’t see the appeal, since he’s “not much of a jewelry guy.” But a cookie? That could easily be his precious… Read more…
Tags: Lord of the Rings, Sesame Street, Sir Ian McKellen
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 9, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
I love in-jokey meta references in TV series, and The Flash has a cool one coming up. Not content to cast John Wesley Snipp, the star of the 1990 one-season live-action adaptation Flash, as the father to the new show’s Flash, the producers are bringing back Mark Hamill as James Jesse, the Trickster. Hamill played the character in a Joker-like fashion, and ended up voicing the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. But in this series, the Trickster is an “anarchist terrorist con man” in jail for life; he ends up helping the Flash to stop the attacks of a Trickster copycat, a possible reference to the second Trickster from the original comics. I have a feeling Mark Hamill will play this version much straighter, but I’d love if they snuck in a glimpse of that comical clashing costume from the old series. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Flash
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 5, 2014 in Television 
Yes, Preacher fans, after much waiting and agonizing, AMC has finally ordered a Preacher pilot. They struck the deal with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who had been pushing for this for a long time, and will begin filming the pilot in summer 2015. Rogen and Goldberg released a statement regarding the announcement, saying, “Garth Ennis is one of our idols and it’s an incredible honor to be working on this. We promise we won’t make too many dick jokes and ruin it.” Good to know! Now, you’re finally much much closer to having a Preacher TV series. It’s still not final, but aside from ordering the show itself, this was the final hurdle. Let’s hope the pilot turns out well! Read more…
Tags: AMC, Preacher
Posted by Ben Huber on Nov 29, 2014 in Television 
We’re still a ways off from Game of Thrones season 5 (it’ll be coming late March/early April of 2015), but you can never start teasing things too early! The Game of Thrones Twitter account recently tweeted out a short video featuring Arya, along with the hashtag #TheSight. If you visit their new website, ThreeEyedRaven.com, you can sign up to receive “visions of the future” via Twitter’s direct message feature, or text message. I assume this is just a way to get new images and trailers out to fans as quickly as possible, but who knows, maybe they’ll be doing something more interesting with it (and possibly more “in-universe” too). Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 11, 2014 in Cinema, Horror, Television 
Okay, so they’re not making Army of Darkness 2, but that doesn’t mean we’re not getting any follow-up. Starz has ordered ten half-hour episodes of Ash vs. Evil Dead, a sequel that gets the gang back together. Sam Raimi has reunited with producer Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell; though Raimi is only directing the first episode, he co-wrote the series with Ivan Raimi (who will co-executive produce) and Tom Spezialy. It sounds like it’s set in the same continuity, not the new reboot continuity, and will see Campbell’s Ash once again fighting the Deadite menace to save mankind. I am always up for seeing Ash kill more things, so I’ll be looking forward to it! Read more…
Tags: bruce campbell, Evil Dead
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 5, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
The Batman live-action TV series that ran from 1966-1968 (hence the nickname Batman ’66) may be quite a bit campier than the more popular dark, gritty Batman characterization that’s popular today. But it’s still a classic, and now it’s finally getting released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 11. Naturally, there’s a new restoration to make the HD version worth it, but I doubted how much better an old TV series like this could look. Was it worth bragging about the restoration? After watching this split-screen comparison Warner Brothers put out, I’ve had to eat my words. Actors are crisp instead of blurry shapes, and the color isn’t blown out anymore. Of course, not everyone will spring for the limited edition Blu-ray set, as $269.97 is pricey even if you’re getting 120 episodes and a bunch of extras. At least there are some other cheaper options, especially if you settle for DVD. After all, it’s not like the producers expected viewers to be able to watch this in HD back when it was made! Read more…
Tags: Batman, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 4, 2014 in Animation, Television 
Archer got a sort of reboot with season 5, Archer: Vice, as the employees of spy agency ISIS went into the drug business. It worked because it’s ultimately the characters that make the show work, and since the creators seemed tired of writing about spies, it gave the show a new direction. But apparently the creators found more to say, because this season 6 trailer shows the crew going back to work at ISIS — er, the CIA. (Due to Islamic extremists using the ISIS acronym, the show will see ISIS merged into the CIA, as Archer will not use the word going forward to avoid confusion.) The trailer shows the crew reuniting and going back to work. I’m looking forward to the new episodes, but in future seasons, I wouldn’t mind another plot shift for the hell of it. Read more…
Tags: Archer
Posted by Bob Muir on Nov 4, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books, Television 
Alongside a young Howard Stark, Hayley Atwell’s character Peggy Carter is becoming synonymous with the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D., at least in Marvel’s movies and TV series. After first appearing as Captain America’s girlfriend in Cap’s first film, she has appeared as an old woman in the sequel, garnered her own short film Agent Carter, and now has an Agent Carter TV series airing this January based on the prior short. She even cameos in the first episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s second season, as well as a flashback in Avengers: Age of Ultron. So where is she showing up next? Supposedly Ant-Man, which raises a few questions. Read more…
Tags: Agent Carter, ant-man, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 26, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
I mean, uh, what? First, an Archie TV series, titled Riverdale, has been put into production by Archie’s Chief Creative Officer and pilot writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. He’s hyping it up big time, as you might expect. He recently say down and was interviewed by Comic Book Resources, and there was a lot of stuff going on. He sells the series by describing it as “Riverdale is Archie Meets ‘Twin Peaks. You know how we’re doing Archie Meets Predator? This is Archie Meets David Lynch.” He then goes on to say, “…if, god willing, this works out the way we all want it to work out, every Halloween we’ll be doing an Afterlife episode of Riverdale.” And this series hasn’t even been picked up yet! Aim for the stars, dude! Read more…
Tags: Archie Comics
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