If you would've told me ten years ago that the late night show on Cartoon Network, the one that I watched un-edited versions of Gundam Wing on, would become one of the best places to find new indie games, I would've... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

Pop culture constantly shapes our world. It forms the jokes on our lips, the passions that we pursue, and the things that we buy. Although the ideas and concepts aren't our own, we adopt and transform them in a way that shapes our personality. That blending creates something entirely new and incredible, which then (hopefully) will go on to inspire and shape someone else.

Maybe I'm just watching too much Black Mirror.

I think I'm onto something, though. How often have we seen the technology of today be compared to the same technology its creators saw on Star Trek 50 years ago? Tablets, Face Time, Virtual Reality...it's not entirely unfair to say a lot of those concepts started there.

Watching Black Mirror, episode after episode I am entranced by the ingenuity of the show runners and their ability to make technology that I REALLY want. Not only do I want it, but it seems feasible and something that I would legitimately be using ten years from now.

Then they turn around and show me EVERYTHING. I see how this tech will change my life, how it could inevitably ruin it, and get a first person perspective into the raw human emotion behind it. Each episode I find myself weighing the moral consequences behind life-changing technology and whether or not the concept presented is actually worth becoming a reality. 

It's a mind f***.

And while I think it's fair to say this show does in some ways parallel to The Twilight Zone, I think Black Mirror in all honesty is something much bigger than that. This show will make you think and really pull you in without doing anything more than just telling you a story. It's incredible and far and away has become one of my favorite sci-fi shows of the past ten years.

If you haven't seen it yet, give it a shot on Netflix. Each episode has a different premise with different characters, so if the first episode isn't your cup of tea (not my favorite episode personally, but interesting)...you can go ahead and skip right to the Jon Hamm one and revisit the older ones. I can't recommend this show enough. Fans, back me up.

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Marvel Comics artist Brian Kesinger was inspired by Star Wars: The Force Awakens to create a series of fantastic fan art based on the style of Bill Watterson's classic Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. He's been posting this art on his Twitter account, so if you like what you see you might want to follow him. He has a lot of great work worth checking out.

Charlize Theron's Furiosa was one of my favorite characters in Mad Max: Fury Road. I really hope that won't be the last we see of her. After the success of the first film, we all knew that one day we'd get another sequel, but will that sequel include Furiosa? We know George Miller would like to include her, and it sounds like he's taking steps toward making it happen.

Miller was recent a guest on Entertainment Weekly's Sirius satellite radio program, and while on the show he talked about the popularity of Theron's character and whether or not he'll revisit the character in future Mad Max films. The director confirmed that he's currently in talks with the studio. When asked about a sequel, he said:

"Certainly [I'm] having conversations about it. But I’m not sure if it’s the very next movie I want to do. I’ve got something a bit smaller before we go back out into the wasteland — something that’s contemporary that we can get through fairly quickly. And something with not too much technical difficulty. Something more performance-based and so on, just to clear the exhaust."

This isn't the first time we've heard that Miller was looking to do something on a smaller scale, so it seems like were going to have to wait a bit longer before we see him rev the engines again. I hope he doesn't wait too long! As far as Furiosa goes, when asked if he would include her in the story, he said:

"Yeah, she’s a pretty compelling character so it would be great to tell her story.  Her backstory is really interesting.  We only allude to it in this movie because this movie is on the run; people don’t have much time for recreational talk. But you pick up, you have a sense of her having gone through stuff. That’s what the film is trying to do. You’re trying to put a lot of iceberg under the tip, I like saying. One of the things that’s really gratifying, people are reading the film more than just the surface — the events of the movie, and just picking up a lot of stuff underneath it, which is very deliberate......So in many ways, the audience is picking up a lot about Furiosa — or enough to intrigue. And she’s got an interesting story."

He goes on to talk about the other characters in the story, saying that each one of them could basically have their own movie, and then focuses his attention on the Doof Warrior:

“I could tell the stories of every character in the story. I could tell the story of the guitar and the Doof Warrior. I can tell you the story of how his guitar was made, and how he survived, effectively a blind guitarist who only can speak through the guitar really and how he survived the apocalypse. And how he got to be basically working for Immortan’s army and so on. So everything has to have a backstory.”

I wish we wouldn't have to wait so long for another Mad Max film, but it very well could be another five years or so before we see another one. I'd love to know what exactly Miller is cooking up for it!

I haven't seen the 1993 action comedy Surf Ninjas for since I was a kid, but I absolutely loved that movie and watched it all the time when I was growing up. A lot of kids my age grew up with 3 Ninjas, but I never bothered to see any of the movies in that series — I just rewatched Surf Ninjas for the twentieth time instead. (I'm well aware it probably doesn't hold up very well, but I don't have any plans to rewatch it again any time soon.)

Anyway, I just found out that Nic Cowan, the actor who played the youngest brother, Adam (the kid who could see the future in a Sega Game Gear), is an artist now. Not only that, but he's created a piece of Surf Ninjas art that's being sold by Los Angeles' Gallery 1988. Check this out:

Take a look at the newest print from artist @undeadguy who did more than just create a print, he lived it. His art was influenced by the Surf Ninjas video game, which makes sense since he was one of the stars of the movie! For real. So pick this print up and he'll include a cast shot, which he signed!! It's the best. You can buy the pieces by going to gallery1988.com and searching "Nic Cowan"

A photo posted by Gallery 1988 (@galleries1988) on Jan 6, 2016 at 3:49pm PST

Here's a better look at the piece, entitled "I thought I was playing Shinobi (how very meta of me)":

And here's a look at Cowan then (below, far right) and now:

a #newlook for a #newyear.

A photo posted by @undeadguy on Dec 16, 2015 at 10:57am PST

This is the first time I can think of an actor creating a modern print depicting themselves in one of their own movies. (I'm sure Sylvester Stallone has painted a self-portrait of him as Rambo or Rocky or something, but I don't know if anyone has used more modern digital techniques like this.) Has it happened before? I'm sure a few of you art fanatics out there can set me straight in the comments. Anyway, I thought it was cool enough to share with you all. Kwantzu!

Guillermo del Toro is on the hunt for a new project to jump on now that Pacific Rim 2 seems to have been shelved for the time being. The director is currently in talks to take on the big screen remake of the 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage.

The movie is set up at Twentieth Century Fox and is being produced by James Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment production company. Cameron and del Toro have worked together before on developing a big screen adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness, which unfortunately never happened. The Fantastic Voyage remake also re-teams the director with writer David Goyer, who is scripting the film. They worked together on Blade II.

Fantastic Voyage was set during the Cold War and centered on a team of scientists who are shrunk to atomic size and sent in a miniature submarine inside the blood stream of a scientist to save his life. The scientist was a defector who was in a coma after an assassination attempt.

This could be an awesome project for del Toro to take on, and I'd love to see what his vision of this story would be — especially with the stunning visuals he always manages to come up with. The last movie he made was the gothic horror thriller Crimson Peak, which was met with mixed reviews. What do you all think about the possibility of del Toro directing Fantastic Voyage?

Outlast is one of the single most terrifying games I've ever picked up and played. By played, I mean got about 20 minutes into, and for the safety of the pants I was wearing, set it down again. (I'm a giant wimp when it comes to... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

I haven't paid a ton of attention to the online reaction surrounding the trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but I do know that when I watched the trailer myself, I was sort of stunned that it seemingly gave away so many huge moments from the film.

But director Zack Snyder doesn't seem too concerned about that. In an interview with MTV, he said:

“I have the benefit of seeing the movie. It’s cool that they think it’s too much and I appreciate people not wanting to know, but there’s plenty that they don’t know. There’s a lot of movie that’s not in the trailer.”

I hope he's right about that, otherwise I'll just regret having made the decision to watch the trailer before I see the movie. But while some people have been actively trying to hunt down spoilers online (including a recent Reddit "review" of the movie that Snyder referred to as "hilarious"), I'm trying to stay away from them as much as possible. Snyder doesn't like spoilers much either:

“Of course I hate it when any spoilers come out!” he said. “You design the movie as a story that evolves as you watch it, so moment-to-moment [you’re thinking], ‘Oh my god, what’s going to happen next? Are they gonna live? Are they gonna die?’ So you want that experience for the audience, as much as you can. If you’re, as an audience member, exploring these articles, looking for answers to questions that you have, maybe you’re okay with knowing before you go. It’s like an individual taste. But like I said, I want people to see the movie without knowing.”

Considering all of Warner Bros. and DC's plans for a Justice League movie (and beyond), it stands to reason that none of these main characters are going to die in this movie, so you can pretty much just take that off the table right now. (Unless they "kill" Superman at the end, but if that happens he'll be resurrected, just like in the '90s comic books.)

Snyder also spoke a bit about how they tried to handle Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman in the film:

“We kind of tried to just listen to Wonder Woman… to preserve her mystery but understand her as much as we can, in the way that we see her in the movie,” he said. “You’ve got to listen to Wonder Woman because what Wonder Woman wants, Wonder Woman gets, that’s just how it is.”

“I think that Gal [Gadot] is amazing, an amazing Wonder Woman and really – I feel like there’s an atmosphere out in the world where [with] this giant iconographic strong female superhero, it’s time. It’s time for that. It’s long overdue.”

I thought Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor looked pretty awful in that trailer, with his goofy voice and spazzy demeanor, but Snyder says that isn't a good representation of the character:

“In the trailer, of course he comes across in a very specific way,” said Snyder. He and “Argo” screenwriter Chris Terrio had a lot of conversations about the sort of Lex they wanted to write before letting Eisenberg take the reins. “In the movie, he’s like a million times more sophisticated than what you get in 30 seconds. But that’s also the fun of it. That’s why you go to the movies, so you can actually see the context and understand the depth.”

I don't know how much I trust Snyder here, but it'll be interesting to look back on these statements after we've all seen the movie and see if this is B.S. or if he's making legitimate points. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will hit theaters on March 25th.

James Wan's 2013 film The Conjuring was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen in a theater. It's a true modern horror classic, and The Conjuring 2 looks just as terrifying as the original. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are back as real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren, and this time they travel to London to help a single mother whose daughters are being plagued by malicious spirits.

I think the reason these movies freak me out so much is because most of the events depicted actually happened. I'm sure they take some dramatic license with the material to make it a better movie, but it's all based in truth, and that's horrifying to contemplate. Check out the trailer below, along with some new images from the movie. The Conjuring 2 hits theaters on June 10th.

Tom Hiddleston seems to be struggling a little when it comes to movies that aren't in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His Hank Williams biopic I Saw The Light hasn't received very good reviews, and while his other new movie, High-Rise, has fared better so far on the festival circuit, it's been very divisive from the reactions I've seen among critics online. Following the first viral video for High-Rise a few weeks ago, which doubled as a sort of teaser trailer of its own, StudioCanal has released the official teaser trailer for the movie, and I'm very intrigued.

This is the newest film from director Ben Wheatley, a visionary filmmaker whose movie Kill List rocked my world when I saw it a few years ago. High-Rise hits U.K. theaters on March 18th, and Magnolia will release it in the U.S. sometime in 2016. Side note: I love the score in this trailer — I hope it makes it into the movie.

Depending on your feelings toward M. Night Shyamalan, this could be either really good or really bad news: according to Deadline, the director is rebooting the classic HBO horror series Tales From The Crypt, but this new version of the show will air on TNT. I didn't have HBO when I was growing up, so I never watched any of the original series or read any of the comics on which it was based, but I know this show has a fond place in a lot of people's hearts.

Tales From The Crypt will be the centerpiece of a new two-hour programming block on TNT that Shyamalan is responsible for once a week, which will also include short and long form horror and suspense content. The show will debut this coming fall, and apparently will include classic adaptations of the EC Comics material and some brand new stories as well.

A new version of the show was in the works a few years ago, but I don't think anything ended up happening with that. I'm not convinced that this iteration will work because it's going to be on TNT, which has far more restrictions about things like gore, violence, and nudity than HBO. What do you think about Shyamalan, who is executive producing the series, resurrecting the Cryptkeeper?

Update: It looks like this fan theory has been more or less proven correct, as information about the character has just been officially confirmed by StarWars.com. Original article follows.

It’s been less than a month since the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the buzz is still going. Actually, it is gathering "Force" more intensely than ever before. More and more questions seem to be arising each day, speculation keeps coming from all directions, and fan theories rain down like money on Wall Street. Every now and then, we come across Star Wars threads which can be traced back to another storyline or character, and this is what stimulates us to dig deeper the next time we go see the movie.

Recently I read a Star Wars theory which, this time, is related to Finn and the Stormtrooper that's become an Internet star over the last couple of weeks: TR-8R. It suggested that there might be some sort of a deeper connection between these two characters. Even though, at first glance, The First Order fighter seemed to have a short and rather insignificant appearance, his importance somehow escalated, indicating that there is a whole lot more to the character and his role in the movie.

You may probably remember him as the riot control Stormtrooper who encounters Finn and calls him a traitor and, interestingly enough, this is exactly how he got his name. TR-8R is not the real name of the Stormtrooper, but a code for “Traitor” made up by fans. The lightsaber battle in which both Finn and his former comrade are engaged lasts only a few minutes, but it had a major impact on segments of the geek community.

We don’t know the real identity of TR-8R, but according to the theory in question, he might have served together with Finn. A lot of people refer back to Greg Rucka's novel Before the Awakening in order to support this thesis. Another intriguing fact revealed in the book is about a member of the same squad named Slip who was killed on Jakku. He is considered to be the Stormtrooper who smeared blood on Finn's helmet.

But let’s go back to the fight between TR-8R and Finn. Taking into consideration the backstory mentioned above, it now makes sense why the riot control Stormtrooper managed to identify Finn so quickly. The coolest part about all this is the realization that there are sort of brotherly feelings and shared emotions. And lastly, the moment of conflict between the two characters could be said to mirror the battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. What do you think?

Christina Hendricks is certainly building an interesting post-Mad Men resume. On the TV side, she's appeared in the Comedy Central series Another Period (I find it kind of fascinating that both she and Mad Men co-star January Jones would quickly join comedies, with Jones starring in The Last Man on Earth), on Rick and Morty. On the film side, she's completed work on both Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon and the Ice Cube/Charlie Day comedy Fist Fight, and now she's adding another comedy to the mix. Deadline reports that Hendricks has joined the cast of Bad Santa 2.

Billy Bob Thornton is returning to reprise his role as drunken mall Santa Willie Soke, and when we last checked in on the project, we heard that both Tony Cox (Willie's partner Marcus) and Brett Kelly (The Kid) were on board as well. Lauren Graham, who played the female lead in the first film, wasn't mentioned in the casting report, and producers were searching for a female lead. It looks like Hendricks will be replacing her in that capacity, though she'll be playing a brand new character. Variety says:

Plot details are vague, but Hendricks will play an Ivy League-educated, upper-class woman who runs a charity that is targeted by Thornton’s mall Santa and his foul-mouthed, tough-as-nails mother. Hendricks will also play Thornton’s love interest.

Shooting begins next week, and the intention is for the movie to be in theaters in time for this year's holiday season. What do you think about the newest addition to the Bad Santa universe?

No doubt, id Software teaming up with Bethesda vastly improved the shooting mechanics in Fallout 4. Bringing in the guys that basically invented the first person shooter genre will do that. Well, now we're getting a new entry... View Full Post on GameTyrant

Permalink

A live-action show based on the young superhero team Teen Titans was in the works at TNT, and there was even a report last February about which members of the team were supposed to appear in the pilot. Things have been very quiet since then, and now EW has learned that's for good reason: the show is no longer in development at the network.

As for the reason why it's been cancelled, TNT president Kevin Reilly simply told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour that "We just decided it wasn’t quite where we wanted to go." That's probably a good thing. TNT isn't a network that anyone takes very seriously anyway, and maybe this will open the door for The CW to jump on the idea and either incorporate those characters into their DC-based live-action shows in some capacity (a few guest arcs on Legends of Tomorrow might be a good fit) or to create a new take on the show of their own that they then might be able to crossover with things like The Flash and Arrow.

What do you think? Are you happy this show is no longer happening, or would you have been excited to see it on TNT?

There are a ton of people who are legitimately excited about seeing Fuller House, the revival of the popular '80s and '90s sitcom Full House, pop up on Netflix next month. And while I don't harbor a lot of love or nostalgic feelings for that show (it was a little too cheesy for me even when I was a kid), I can understand the hope people are holding onto that this continuation will be good.

Netflix has revealed four new photos from the show (via Variety), which "follows the recently widowed D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure) as she moves back into her old family home to take care of her three boys — Jackson, Max and Tommy Jr. She is joined by her sister Stephanie Tanner, played by Jodie Sweetin, D.J.’s long-time best friend Kimmy Gibbler, played by Andrea Barber, and Kimmy’s daughter Ramona." From this picture, it sure looks like they did a good job casting Kimmy's daughter because that little girl has a crazy resemblance to what Barber looked like when she was young. Will you be watching this when it comes to the streaming service on February 26th?

Jalopnik has put together a cool little video featuring the animation of artist Scott Park as they count down the 50 most famous cars to appear in film and television over the past five decades. They even toss in a few bonus choices at the end. I wish Dom Toretto's Dodge Charger from the Fast & Furious movies had made the cut, but that's OK — there's already a whole infographic dedicated to that. If you'd like to check out still images of most of these vehicles, click right here.

Via: Geeksaresexy

HBO has announced that the sixth season of the epic fantasy series Game of Thrones will premiere on April 24th, 2016! This series has been such a fun and crazy ride, and we won't have to wait much longer before we see how this incredible story plays out. 

The series is based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and what makes this next season so interesting is the fact that it will include stuff that from Martin's unpublished novel, The Winds of Winter, which Martin has confirmed will not be released before season six premieres. 

One thing that fans are waiting to find out is the real fate of Jon Snow. Last time we saw him he was betrayed and stabbed by members of the Night's Watch over, over, and over again. The last we saw of Daenerys Targaryen, she was surrounded by an army of Dothraki warriors, with her dragon Drogon. As for Bran Stark, he found himself in the care of a tree wizard who will teach the boy how to perfect his skills as a body-hopping "warg." Then there's Arya, who was punished with blindness because she killed Ser Meryn Trant and took a face from the House of Black and White without permission.

It looks like the answer to everyone's questions regarding the characters in the book and series will be answered in about four months! 

Deadline also reveals that HBO is in discussions series’ creators/executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss, for seasons seven and eight. Of course, they're going to work it all out. Last year HBO president Michael Lombardo said:

“David and Dan are feeling there’s probably two more years after Season 6, that’s what we’re looking at right now. We hope that they would change their mind, but that’s how they are feeling now.” 

So there's a good chance that season eight could be Game of Thrones' last. It has to end sometime. Hopefully it ends in a way that will make fans happy.

Ant-Man was a fun movie, and it had a different tone from any of the marvel films that were made prior to it. It not only had more of a comedic tone, but it also introduced us to a whole new side of the Marvel Universe. As much as I loved the film, it wasn’t without its flaws.

CinemaSins has released a new video that points out everything wrong in the film. These guys tend to get pretty nitpicky, but sometimes they’re fun to watch. So without further ado, here are 137 things they found wrong with Ant-Man.

For those of you waiting to find out who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents in Gotham — like Bruce Wayne — well, we’ll all find out later this season! In TV Guide's spring preview roundup, showrunner Bruno Heller teased:

"Bruce Wayne will finally find out who killed his parents!"

He went on to talk about what else we’ll see in the upcoming episodes in regards to Jim Gordon, who just killed Galavan, which sounds like something that’s going to haunt him and there will be consequences. Heller said:

"He's certainly compromised. He's stepped over that moral line. Jim Gordon has made a terrible mistake, which he's going to pay for." 

He explained:

"The biggest price he will pay is in his relationship with Lee Tompkins. Jim's essentially an honest man, so the need to have honest relationships does betray him in the end." 

He also discussed Penguin and how his rise to the top will once again be challenged by familiar characters and some new faces.

"Dr. Hugo Strange [guest star B.D. Wong] has a profound effect on Penguin. He makes a new man of him in many ways.” 

If you’re a fan of Gotham, it sounds like there’s a lot of interesting stuff to look forward to during the final half of the season.