Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 21, 2011 in Television
I could’ve sworn we already had one of these like six or seven years ago, but it looks like there’s a paranormal drama theme hitting network TV again. The last time, shows like Supernatural did well enough to continue, but others weren’t so lucky. This time, we’ve got shows like Grimm and Once Upon a Time and probably at least two others dealing with the whole supernatural thing. Honestly, I haven’t been following the buzz for either, but if you want to give the latter a shot, the Once Upon a Time pilot is currently available on IMDB to watch in its entirety for free. Hey, isn’t that the guy from Stargate Universe? How bad could it be? Wait, wait, don’t tell me. Read more…
You know, my parents never bought me any of the Boo Berry family of monster-themed cereals when I was a kid, but even just seeing them in the grocery store colored my perception of the classic Hollywood monsters they riffed on. Artist Jason Edmiston took that one step further with this Universal Monsters mashup with their cereal incarnations. It’s pretty weird to see Count Chocula’s big ol’ schnozz on a “real” human being; somehow, though, that goofy pressure valve on Frankenberry just seems to fit. Read more…
Yikes! Now that’s a super man. In case anyone was wondering whether Henry Cavill was packing some muscle padding under that blue-and-red suit, well, I think you can see for yourself that that’s definitely not the case. These photos snapped from the set of The Man of Steel show a particularly grizzled-looking Clark Kent with his clothes all torn up. You know, are we absolutely positive this isn’t just a viral campaign? Because if I was a woman or a gay man who had no interest in seeing a Superman movie, I certainly would now. Read more…
It’s October, the spookiest month of the year! And what better way to celebrate that than with some good old-fashion gorey zombie-killin’ TV? Despite numerous odd behind-the-scenes changes to the show, the uber-popular Walking Dead is definitely coming back for a second season. In fact, it starts tomorrow night at 9 on AMC, with a 90-minute premiere to kick off the new season. Get the answers to your burning questions! For example, will Rick kill zombies? Probably! That’s sort of the point of the show! Read more…
Yeah, you read that right. Apparently George Lucas is bringing back our old demon-faced Sith pal for another go in the Clone Wars TV series. Now, I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that Darth Maul was very recently dead, so there’ll have to be some downright Lucasian story leaps to make this happen. But hey, after how much of a wasted opportunity he was in The Phantom Menace, maybe he’ll do better this time around. Just kidding. That dude’s definitely gonna die by season’s end. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 14, 2011 in Animation
If you’re not familiar with Adventure Time, well, here’s a short primer: it airs on the Cartoon Network, it’s hilarious, and it’s probably the best animated show on TV right now regardless of your age. That’s why the world at large should be super excited to hear that 12 episodes of the hit show are now available on DVD as “Adventure Time: My Two Favorite People.” Now, this isn’t a full season, but rather a collection of “good” random episodes. I imagine that Cartoon Network took this route to make sure that kids would inevitably have to buy more DVDs. Oh well. Take my money, Cartoon Network. It’s worth it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 9, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
I’m a big fan of literary mashups, and also a big weird fiction fan, so obviously a combination of Dr. Seuss and H.P. Lovecraft is right up my alley. Not only did DeviantArt user DrFaustus take up Seuss’ artistic style, he also turned Lovecraft’s famous story The Call of Cthulhu into Seuss-style rhyming couplets! It’s some kind of adorable eldritch gift from beyond time and space. Can’t wait to see more of these pages as they’re released. He should tackle At the Mountains of Madness next; imagine Elder Things drawn all Seussically. Read more…
Somewhere in Hollywood, a dark assembly of producers, directors, studio heads, and other figures cloaked in shadow gather. One, older and more wizened than the rest, relays the grave news he’s been reluctant to surrender. “Gentleman,” he croaks, “we have run out of Ideas.” A younger man, handsome, speaks up over the uproar. “No! That can’t be true. We had enough Ideas to last through at least 2014. We did the math.” Lifting his hood, a gray-haired man solemnly shakes his head. “That whole Pauly Shore revival thing ended up not working out.” The old man lifts a hand, gesturing for silence from the cabal. “We have no choice,” he says, his voice quivering. “Drastic measures must be taken. We must make two Snow White movies in the same year. And one of them will star Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen for some reason.” Read more…
Persona 4 was practically an anime to begin with, just like all Persona games before it, but if you’re anything like my JRPG-playing friends, you probably want to watch the new Persona 4 anime anyway. The bad news? It just premiered in Japan. The good news? You can watch it subtitled right now. The Anime Network offers you a heaping helping of streaming Persona animation almost unreasonably soon after it airs in Japan, so get on it! You don’t even need to go to A/V club or flirt with that mousy girl to make it happen. Read more…
China recently unveiled the logo for its version of NASA, the Chinese National Space Administration, and it looks… let’s say it looks a little familiar. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel like it looks a lot like what would happen if you mixed the logos for, say, a united federation of planets and a fleet that traveled through the stars. Admittedly, if you have to design a logo for a space program you want to be successful, you could do worse than drawing inspiration from sci-fi’s most beloved space program. Just be sure to give NASA a call when you discover warp technology because, let’s face it, the US space program sure isn’t going to do it. Read more…
Director Kevin Tancharoen put the internet into an uproar when he released a proof-of-concept trailer for a rebooted, more “realistic” Mortal Kombat film he called Mortal Kombat Rebirth. Attention from the trailer got him a gig directing a new web series, Mortal Kombat Legacy, using the actors and themes from the trailer, and fans seemed to dig it. Now, with the success of the web series, Warner Bros. has officially signed off on a new Mortal Kombat movie with Tancharoen as director. None of the actors from the web series, like Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan, are signed on yet, but given that the project was only just announced, we can probably wait a while before worrying about casting. I’m not big into Mortal Kombat at all, but Tancharoen’s bootstraps approach to getting to work on a property he loved is pretty impressive and I hope he continues to do well for himself. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 25, 2011 in Animation, Cinema
Regardless of how you feel about the whole My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic thing, you have to admit that this scene from a recent episode, a parody of Star Wars’ ending scene, is pretty much pitch-perfect. Perhaps the world doesn’t need yet another Star Wars parody/homage/reference/whatever, but hey, if you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it right, and it looks like that’s what happened here. Side note: I feel like Vader probably would have made being a “brony” against Imperial law. That’s at least one thing he and I would agree on. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 24, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s “New 52” initiative, which rebooted/relaunched 52 ongoing comic series starting this month, is a great opportunity to challenge or completely destroy conventions that have been present in Big Two comics for a long time. As someone who’s purchased nearly half of said 52 books, I’ve actually been really pleased with the ones I picked up, but I’ve been choosy about which I purchase. I have a confession, though — I love female superheroes, so I bought every book that had one in it. Laura Hudson of Comics Alliance wrote a great piece about the unfortunate depictions of DC mainstay ladies Catwoman and Starfire (in Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws, respectively). Basically, Catwoman is offensively bad cheesecake — it looks and reads like fanfiction, with Selina walking around with half her bra showing and ending the book with a two-page spread of Selina riding Batman on a rooftop — and Starfire in Outlaws is some twisted male vision of what a “sexually liberated female” would be (read: a sex doll). It’s disheartening to see books coming out with content like that, because the relaunch was such a great opportunity to build some bridges with female readers rather than burn them down. But I’m here to tell you that the rest of the ladies in the new DCU don’t have it as bad. In fact, most of them seem to be doing pretty well for themselves. This week, I came home with Birds of Prey, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman, all of which star female characters, and I walked away really pleasantly surprised. Read more…
Some day in the future, when you open up a book about the top ten greatest innovators in filmmaking, you’ll see one name at the top of the list: one Mr. Tim Burton, the filmmaker responsible for classics like Edward Scissorhands. Why, you ask? This man has done what previously the world thought impossible, a feat that will undoubtedly be imitated for years — nay, decades — to come. The feat? Casting Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in a Tim Burton movie. You can see from the above promotional still that there is indeed one (1) Johnny Depp (center) and one (1) Helena Bonham Carter (far left) in this film, which is directed by Tim Burton. The movie is Dark Shadows. But you’ll remember. You’ll remember. Read more…
A few days ago, Gameforge uploaded the trailer for their upcoming browser-based Star Trek title, Star Trek: Infinite Space. Set during the third season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the game lets you take control of either Federation of Klingon forces during the brief conflict that followed the dissolution of the Khitomer Accords. From the looks of it, it’ll be primarily a starship combat simulator. Those of you who were turned off by Star Trek Online‘s subscription-based platform might be interested to know that Infinite Space will be free-to-play and should feature multiplayer co-op. In addition, the game’s scenarios have been scripted by series writer Lee Sheldon, and both Denise and Michael Okuda will be serving as consultants on the project. The game is set for release later this year, so keep checking the official site for more information.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 18, 2011 in Comic Books
Superhero costumes are in the public eye lately, with the summer blockbuster season being filled with superhero movies and DC relaunching almost all of their superhero books. Colour Lovers examined a huge number of hero and villain costumes and analyzed the colors used in them to develop a really neat infographic. It’s way too long to post the whole thing here, so check out the mammoth image over at Colour Lovers. I think the reason why green is often used for “unnatural” or evil character is that it’s often a complementary color to skin tone, by the way. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 17, 2011 in Television
Duncan Jones’ second sci-fi film, the actually-excellent Source Code, was a sleeper hit in theaters this year. Now, it appears that CBS is trying to bring some of that appeal to the small screen with a TV series based on the film. The series will reportedly follow three former federal agents who take advantage of “Source Code” tech to try to unravel the mysteries behind tragic events by jumping into the consciousness of people caught in them. Mark Gordon will serve as producer, and Lie to Me and Lost scribe Steve Maeda is set to write the pilot. I get the feeling we’ll be hearing the phrase “I liked this show better when it was called Quantum Leap” a lot in the next year or so. Read more…
Besides Sam Raimi’s increasingly bizarre direction, the main thing people watch Evil Dead for is its star, Ash, played by the inimitable Bruce Campbell. But the long-rumored Evil Dead remake (which I guess technically isn’t a rumor anymore), written by Juno‘s Diablo Cody, apparently won’t have Ash in it at all! Slashfilm broke the news with tweets from Campbell that Ash would not be featured in the film but that everyone involved was quite happy with how the film was shaping up. A different direction, no doubt. But what king will we hail now?! Read more…
My Little Pony is miraculously en vogue again. It’s almost like we’ve … traveled back in time, much like Amy and the Doctor routinely do! Clearly DeviantArt user EatToast has the right idea on how to celebrate such an amazing coincidence — by converting My Little Pony toys to horrific recreations of Doctor Who villains. This particular model is an Ood-pony, an ungulate version of the creepy aliens from that weird space-Hell episode from the tenth doctor’s run. He’s done a few more, too, including a Cyberman-pony and a Silence-pony. You know, come to think of it, doesn’t “brony” sound like the name of an alien race? Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 10, 2011 in Star Trek
45 years ago today, the very first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC! And what better way to celebrate four and a half decades of classic sci-fi than with ridiculously cute sugar cookies? Daria over at Bakingdom cooked these cookie crewmates up, and provided easy directions (and drool-worthy photos) for anyone who wants to play along at home. Too bad you can’t beam them into your kitchen! Just send a shuttlecraft to the grocery store. Star Trek joke. Happy anniversary, Star Trek. Read more…
If you’ve seen Back to the Future, and I don’t want to speak to you if you haven’t, then you must be acutely aware of Marty’s awesome Nikes from the future. Well, Nike agrees that they’re awesome, and they manufactured a pair of shoes identical to the ones featured in the movie, replete with lights and some sort of device to help your laces tighten. They’re called Nike Air MAGs, and they’re not available in your local Foot Locker — Nike has put them up for auction to raise money for Parkinson’s research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation. A total of 1500 pairs will hit eBay at 88 miles per hour over the next ten days, so if you want them, you’d better be prepared to sell everything but your Calvin Kleins to do it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 9, 2011 in Television
I know! It’s crazy, right? But we have definitive proof that Syfy has actually not cancelled a science-fiction television show. In fact, the news is even better — they’ve gone so far as to renew said science-fiction television show! The show in question is newcomer Alphas, which I’ve never seen but like anyway due to the presence of master actor David Strathairn. Perhaps this could be the dawn of a new era for Syfy, a programming era of unprecedented not-wrestling. We’ll see. Read more…
Nobody should be surprised, but it looks as though Warner Brothers is currently considering a reboot Tim Burton’s comedy cult-classic, Beetlejuice — it’s like they’re not even trying anymore. The studio recently signed a two-year deal with the KatzSmith production house and may be floating the film their way. Should that happen, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter author and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith would likely end up penning the script. I still can’t imagine why they would want to reboot the franchise instead of writing a sequel, or even a prequel — it’s not as if the original wasn’t any good. Besides, it just wouldn’t be the same without Michael Keaton. The man did an amazing job selling the character and delivering a truly memorable performance. We already took Batman from him, do we really need to take Beetlejuice too?
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 4, 2011 in Comic Books
Of the 52 initial titles in DC’s enormous brand-wide reboot/relaunch, only Justice League #1 has actually been released yet, but several other titles are already sold out through Diamond, DC’s distributor. Action Comics, Batgirl, Hawk & Dove, Justice League International, and Batman & Robin, along with Justice League #1, have all sold completely out of their first printing, well on their way to second printing each. This is great news for DC, but there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is that these are copies sold to stores, not to individuals. The second is that all 52 titles are fully returnable, making what might otherwise be a sizeable and difficult investment for a small store a little less of a risk. Some stores could be ordering more copies than they normally would to anticipate demand, or there could just be such a massive interest in DC books because of the relaunch. Either way, the next few weeks will see whether DC’s gamble paid off. Just wake me up when Demon Knights #1 ships. Read more…
