When July 2013 rolls around, it will have been five years since a new Guillermo del Toro-directed movie has played in theaters. After doing extensive preparation work for both The Hobbit and At The Mountains of Madness, del Toro was left high and dry thanks to situational circumstances and was searching for a new movie to make. That's when Legendary Pictures entered the mix, and gave him the opportunity to direct Pacific Rim, a movie about giant monsters vs. giant robots, which is perfect for the Mexican director considering his love for great stories with impressive visual effects.

Geoff Boucher at the L.A. Times' Hero Complex (in partnership with Nerdist) sat down with del Toro before he wowed the crowd with the debut of the film's first footage at Comic-Con 2012 (watch the panel here) and spoke in detail about the project and specifically the world-building that went into it that we only get hints of in the final movie.

What is your favorite Guillermo del Toro film so far? Are you looking forward to Pacific Rim?

In much the same vein as SNL's fake auditions tapes, which offers the right ground to just throw out a slew of impressions that you'd normally never see otherwise, here's a hilarious video of fake auditions for The Dark Knight Rises. The most dead on impression (and possibly the most random) is Bam Margera. I think the funniest is Colin Farrell, who he plays as an overly dedicated idiot. Check out the video and let us know which impression is your favorite, and which actors you think might actually have worked in those roles.

Source: via: Blastr (http://blastr.com/2012/08/hilariously-fake-tdkr-aud.php)

"Face your past, fight your future"

Here's the latest poster for Rian Johnson's incredible looking sci-fi, time travel, hitman, mob, action movie Looper. Johnson is going to give audiences yet another incredibly unique movie that is going to blow audiences' minds. 

The movie stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, and Jeff Daniels. It hits theaters on September 28th. 

Here's The Official Synopsis:

In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market.  When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up.  Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.  The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and also stars Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, and Jeff Daniels.  Ram Bergman and James D. Stern produce.

Source: Yahoo! (http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-editors/exclusive-looper-poster-artwork-145344927.html)

Star Wars custom anything is usually worth a look. This is a custom Han Solo in Carbonite guitar created by Travis Stevens. The custom 6 string was crafted for Evanescence's Ben Moody (pictured below). As much as I love me some Star Wars, I don't think I would really want something like this. I own more than half a dozen guitars, and my favorites to play are the ones that just feel the most comfortable. And this frozen piece of human body looks like a pain to hold, especially with all the tone controls at the top. Then again, if I had money to blow, I would in all honesty, probably own some crazy guitars and just hang 'em up! 'See, still got the old tagger on it... never even played it.'

Feel free to shred, but keep in mind that if you throw down some face melting licks, you may also melt the carbonite. Hmmm, design flaw?

In case you missed 'em, be sure to check out guitaR2D2, and the Millenium Falcon bass.

Source: bitRebels (http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/han-solo-guitar-build/)
Source: via: NerdApproved (http://nerdapproved.com/approved-products/the-han-solo-frozen-in-carbonite-guitar/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NerdApproved-NewsAndReviews+%28Nerd+Approved+-+Gadgets+and+Gizmos%29)

Screen Gems has releases a fun video featurette for Resident Evil: Retribution, which gives us a short recap of the entire story of Milla Jovovich's Alice from the Resident Evil movie franchise. Like I've said before, I've had a fun time watching this franchise over the years, regardless of how bad the movies have been.

In the fifth installment, the Umbrella Corporation’s deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race’s last and only hope, Alice (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.

The movie hits theaters in IMAX 3D on September 14th. Will you be seeing it?

Source: Yahoo! (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/resident-evil-retribution/trailers/resident-evil-retribution-featurette-alice-s-story-30175111.html)

Indomina Entertainment has released a badass new trailer for their exciting looking martial arts film Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. The movie was directed by Tsui Hark (Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame), and stars Jet Li. This was actually inspired by the films Dragon Gate Inn (1966) and New Dragon Gate Inn (1992). This time around they've created an epic looking film that puts a major focus on its 3D element. If you're a fan of martial arts movies, then this is a film for you. 

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picks up three years after the infamous Dragon Inn was burnt down in the desert when its innkeeper JADE vanished. A new gang of marauders had taken over: innkeepers by day, and treasure hunters by night. The inn is the rumored location of a lost city buried under the desert, and its hidden treasure would only be revealed by a gigantic storm every sixty years. The gang used the inn as a front to locate the lost treasure. The storm is arriving. But the situation becomes more complicated when a pregnant concubine who escaped from the palace came to the inn. The concubine was saved by a mysterious woman WEN, and the two fled to the Dragon Inn in hiding. Hot on their trail were the Imperial Assassins led by the powerful eunuch YU, followed by the righteous general ZHAO who was determined to take down Yu to restore order in the palace. As the gigantic storm loomed in the horizon, ready to wipe out everything in sight, the cat-and-mouse game inside Dragon Inn grew fiercer. Everyone was trapped, and there’s nowhere to go. Fortune, love and vengeance, could very well be gone with the wind… 

The movie is scheduled to be released in IMAX 3D on August 31st. Watch the trailer, and let us know if it gets you pumped up to see this movie. 

While shooting The Avengers director Joss Whedon took a two week vacation in which he secretly shot a micro-budget feature film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The movie is set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month, and a small set of new photos have been released. The photos feature some of the cast of the film that includes Whedon's usual suspects Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Sean Maher, Riki Lindholme, and Clark Gregg. 

The movie basically puts a modern-day spin on the classic story while keeping the original dialogue from the play. Whedon explained at Comic-Con that... "It’s kind of a dark movie. There’s a lot of lying and ultimately, there’s a real deconstruction of our notions of how love is supposed to operate and how courtship is supposed to operate. Shakespeare looks at it with a very cold eye, and manages to find redemptive romance in it anyway."

When he first talked about the movie, he described it as a “love letter, to the text, to the cast, even to the house it’s shot in. All [involved are] dedicated to the idea that this story bears retelling, that this dialogue is as fresh and intoxicating as any being written, and that the joy of working on a passion project surrounded by dear friends, admired colleagues and an atmosphere of unabashed rapture far outweighs their hilariously miniature paychecks.”

As a long time fan of Whedon, I'm looking forward to seeing how this movie turns out. Whedon can basically make any project he wants to make right now, and I'm excited about what he ends up bringing his fans in the near future. 

Check out the photos below and let us know if you're excited about his Shakespeare project!

Source: The Film Stage (http://thefilmstage.com/news/first-look-nathan-fillion-does-shakespeare-in-joss-whedons-much-ado-about-nothing/)

Here's another collection of photos to hit the net from the set of James Mangold's (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma) The Wolverine, featuring a few pics of Hugh Jackman. The photos come from AICN and here's a note that came with them,

They are filming parts of the new Wolverine film here in Sydney and it's surrounds at the moment. Today they were in the small town of Picton, just south of Sydney, Australia. . They have done the street up to look like a snowy American town, complete with cars etc. Local people were asked to be used as extras also.

Mangold is a solid director, and I believe that he has what it takes to bring us the Wolverine movie we've all been waiting for. 

This film is based on the first solo Wolverine mini-series from 1982 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller that sent Logan to Japan in a story involving the ninja clan, The Hand. The Wolverine is scheduled to hit theaters on July 26th, 2013. 

Then there's this picture that's been making its way around the internet featuring Jackman's new hair style for the movie.

Source: AICN (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57421)

I'm sure some of you might recognize the Spider-Man design above. If not, we posted it last year, and it comes from one of my favorite comic artists, Skottie Young. Young's art style is so unique, and I love seeing the new stuff that he creates. CG artist Duncan Fraser has taken this image to a whole new level of greatness by recreating it as a CG model which you can see below. I think it turned out pretty darn cool! Do you like the CG recreation of Spider-Man? 

Source: Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzp7XVB-jQs&feature=plcp)

Yeah, we know it's been awhile since Fargo came out, but Slashfilm clued us into this neat documentary that you fans of the Coen's will be interested in. This documentary takes you inside the making of the film, and can be found on the Blu-Ray edition of the film. Got a favorite part from the movie? Share it below while you watch!

Email Me: MickJoest@Geektyrant.com Twitter: @MickJoest

Source: Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2Z_Q3Fm-AII)

According to executive producer Marc Guggenheim, we might actually see Green Arrow team up with Batman in the new CW series Arrow! This would be extremely cool! This is something that we never were able to see happen in Smallville because of Christopher Nolan's batman franchise. Now that Nolan's Dark Knight franchise is over, the CW might be able to use the character in their TV series. 

Here's what Guggenheim had to say in a recent interview with IGN when asked about seeing any DC universe allies in the series,

I would say, “Probably.” One of the things we want to do is roll the show out at the right pace. For the most part, I think we’ve taken the philosophy that things are happening sooner rather than later. I always feel like every time we get the note from the network, “Is this happening too soon?,” I feel like we’re on the right track. I know as a viewer myself, I’m impatient. I want to see stuff. We’re not going to make the audience wait to see characters, plot twists, revelations. I think running out of great characters and great moments is a quality problem to have, and I just want to have them.

He's then asked specifically about Bruce Wayne/Batman making an appearance in the series to which he replied,

Oh, my hope is that we can use him at some point. I think that plagued the Smallville showrunners more than it plagues us because, obviously, the Dark Knight Trilogy is over. They’re not available to us yet. My hope is that they’ll be available to us at some point. That would be awesome. No question, that would be absolutely awesome. But I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade.

It would be so cool to see something like this happen. I don't see why they wouldn't do it as it would most likely give the show major boost in ratings. Fans would love to see Batman team up with Green Arrow! 

It was also recently reported that Green Arrow villains China White (played by Kelly Hu) would appear in episode 2 and Deadshot (played by Michael Rowe) would appear in episode 3.  

I've been looking forward to seeing what Hot Toys' Avengers Hulk collectible action figure would look like, and it doesn't disappoint! These photos were taken by Hot Toys at the Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong 2012. The Hulk was such a badass character in The Avengers and hopefully we get a new movie soon, he should at least show up in some of the other Marvel movies in Phase 2. What do you think of the action figure? 

Source: Facebook Hot Toys (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150970870812344.407018.58690437343&type=3)

Here's a hilarious video that comes to us from Crave Online called The Dark Knight Rages. Robin asks Batman man to join him in a game of Halo, Batman can't figure out the buttons on the game and ends up beating the living hell out of Robin because of it. It's actually kind of fun watching Batman repeatedly punching Robin in the face. Enjoy!

I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest Jimmy Fallon fan, I never really found his sense of humor that funny. But that's just me, I know he's got his devoted followers and fans. According to the L.A. Times, Fallon is currently in talks to host the Oscars, which in my opinion is a terrible idea. I would seriously hate to sit through a few hours of Fallon mumbling his way through the show. If they want a late night host why not go for Conan? They can't have Jimmy Kimmel because he's already set to host the Emmy Awards, and is contractually bound from hosting the Oscars.

Apparently Tom Sherak, who recently left as President of the Motion Picture Academy, thought Fallon was the best candidate to host, and SNL producer Lorne Michaels was chosen to produce. Hawk Koch replaced Sherak as president, and according to the report Fallon and Michaels are still in talks, but nothing is set in stone. But it's something that could happen. 

There is a little problem with this whole thing though, ABC doesn't want Fallon to host the Oscars because he works for the rival NBC network.

ABC is owned by Disney, and Disney chief executive Bob Iger is said to be unhappy with the idea of showcasing Fallon, whose show competes with ABC's late-night show featuring Jimmy Kimmel. Fallon and Kimmel are in a neck-and-neck competition for viewers.

It doesn't really matter what ABC thinks though because but they have no authority to veto the choice of host. Would you like to see Fallon host the Oscars? If not, who would be your top choice? 

Lionsgate has released this awesome new banner for The Expendables 2 parodying Leonardo Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper," which comes from Collider.

The action movie was directed by Simon West, and the poster features Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins and Yu Nan. How awesome is it that they were able to bring together this badass action hero cast for a second time, and even add in a few more legends.

The movie opens up in theaters on August 17th. Do you think we'll see an Expendables 3?

Synopsis:

The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way…

I love Disney movies, and am continually amazed by the quality of art that fans make. Here is a piece by Caleb Kerr for Disney's The Lion King thanks to Film School Rejects.  

Some more of Kerr's art can be seen here. Even thought I am not a fan of Lion King, I do love this piece. I also loce the Rear Window piece.

Which is your favorite Disney movie?

Learn more about Jim Napier here

Source: FSR (http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/movie-news-after-dark-game-of-thrones-of-fish-epic-lion-king-art-and-bourne-to-be-alive.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FilmSchoolRejects+%28Film+School+Rejects%29)

M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense) and Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fright Night remake) have been given a pilot order on their new drama project. Deadline reports that SyFy has picked up Proof. The show is about "the son of a billionaire tech genius who, after the tragic accident and sudden death of his parents, offers a large reward for anyone who can find proof of life after death."

Shyamalan and Noxon are set to co-write the story. Shyamalan, Noxon and Ashwin Rajan executive produce for Universal Cable Prods, with Shyamalan intended to direct the potential pilot. 

I am looking forward to seeing Shyamalan's next film, After Earth, which stars Will and Jaden Smith. With Noxon and Shyamalan teaming on the writing, this could be a great TV series. The fact that it is on SyFy does not bode well in my mind. What are your thoughts on the concept? Do you think Shyamalan will have better luck on the small screen?

Follow Jim on Twitter

Source: Deadline (http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/syfy-teams-with-m-night-shyamalan-and-marti-noxon-for-proof-drama-project/)

Here are some amazing velvet paintings by artist Bruce White depicting characters from movies, television and documentaries. If these don't help you geek out I don't know what will. 

These pics look great, but I'm sure the paintings are even more stunning in person with the nice velvet background. They range from around $300-600 dollars, and you can order them at nineteeneightyeight.com. If you want to get your geek on, you better act quick because these are selling out fast!

You could probably name the tv show or movie these characters are from, but can you name each of these characters?

Here is a some of the grooviest Star Trek pop art that I have seen. The art was designed by Juan Ortiz and you can buy a set of four 18 x 24 inch posters for $34.95 at Quantum Mechanix. These pieces have truly captured the wonderful colors represented in the original TV series. 

The posters and descriptions follow:

Description:

Episode 9: Dagger of the Mind. "The image is a stylized version of the patch worn by the doctor in the episode," says Ortiz. "I tried to give this poster an old Playbill look."

Description:

Episode 28: The City on the Edge of Forever. In drawing the character Edith Keeler, Ortiz went with "a '70s/'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' approach." The Beatles' Yellow Submarine was and still is a big influence in much of his work.

Description:

Episode 53: The Ultimate Computer. Ortiz wanted to be sure to credit not just the lead actors, but the writers and director as well. He says, "They are, after all, the creators. I'm just interpreting their words and visuals in a different format."

Description:

Episode 75: The Way to Eden. The look here is Grateful Dead-esque. "I knew that I wanted to create a black-light poster for this series, and naturally, "The Way to Eden," with its hippie theme, seemed perfect," says the artist.

I love the poster for Episode 28 the best, which is your favoirte poster? Have you watched the original Star Trek series?

Follow Jim on Twitter Here

Source: io9 (http://io9.com/5931423/pop-art-star-trek-posters-make-the-original-series-groovy-again)