I wasn't my fully developed geek self at the ripe old age of 4, but something tells me that the Russell Mulcahy's telling of The Shadow sent fanboys heads spinning. That is, if DC psychic The Shadow had a large fanbase to begin with. Starting out as a radio series and later developed into a pulp comic, The Shadow was writer Bob Kane's inspiration for Batman.

While there have been many great interpretations of the hero who destroys his enemies psyche... this is not one of them. In fact it's so off-base with its plotline, total lack of respect for history, and flat out ridiculousness, I'm surprised DC hasn't shoved this one in a dark closet. 

Yet at the same time Alec Baldwin gives to The Shadow what Adam West gave to The Batman, an unintentional campiness that makes it strangely funny despite its flaws. How? Lucky for you no one cares about this movie enough to take it off Youtube so you can watch alongside!

5. Origins Destroyed!

In the radio interpretation of The Shadow, Lamont Cranston is a wealthy businessman who happens to have psychic powers that help him fight crime. In the comic and movie adaptations leading up to this, he was portrayed as a war veteran who faked his death and returned to America using his ability to cloud minds to conceal his identity as he fights crime...

In this movie he's a Chinese drug lord whose name translates quite literally to "Eagle's Beak" or "Dark Eagle" (conflicting translations). His motive for changing his ways? He's captured by a holy man and forced. All of this training to become The Shadow is not in the film by the way. Apparently filmmakers thought you would find footage of Baldwin in an opium den looking like a shut-in more appealing.

4. Where's Your Powers Bro?

Cranston has the ability to change his identity, phase in and out of existence, and drive his enemies to madness. Yet despite all of this, he only uses his powers to their fullest extent at the beginning and ending of the film, despite them coming in handy for literally every situation he finds himself in. Why? My only reasoning is the movie would be too short if he merely phased out of every trap that was sprung for him.

3. Watch From 4:00 In Above Video To The End.

In case you missed all of that basically the sequence of events went as follows. Man who the Shadow rescued asked how he knows his name, cab driver and the Shadow laugh hysterically, the Shadow gives a smart ass response, cab driver and the Shadow laugh hysterically again. The cab driver drops the man off and returns to see Cranston in a cold sweat. When asked if he is all right--he doesn't look it--he requests to go to a nightclub. There he downs three martinis in the course of five minutes, mind-rapes his uncle, then tries to twist a woman's mind (unsuccessfully) to sleep with him.

This may have outdone James Franco's pie scene in Spiderman 3.

2. Genghis Khan's Last Living Descendent Is Here! He Has A Weakness For American Bourbon And Brooks Brothers Suits.

If you're a cynic you'd say there's no way the Mongolian Warlord still has descendants, even in the 1940's. If you're a realist you'd say there's no way this guy is the last descendent as Khan was a serial rapist and likely had children in the hundreds. Whichever option you go with is not good, yet the beat goes on.

This is probably the most confusing part of the film. It is here you learn that mummies only come from Egypt (wrong), man can survive several years in an enclosed space (wrong), and that despite living your entire life in Asia in the early 20th century, it's still possible to aquire a taste for American bourbon (nope).

After collaborating with Tim Curry to create an atomic bomb to blow up the city, his plans are thwarted when he is stabbed with the same screaming knife you see in the opening sequence. Looks like a flesh wound but apparently it tears out his soul or some s***. That really wasn't explained either.

1. The Final Song

Doesn't mesh with the movie, not a popular song by the band, still the best way to cap off this film. Honestly though, when this started playing I could not help but clap. This movie was so ridiculously offensive to everything that was The Shadow that it was perfect. If you want to see the film in question in non Youtube format it's available on Netflix for instant streaming. You will be disappointed, but you won't care.

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

Check out this incredibly badass Geek Art image called Slayer. This was awesomely created by CGHUB artist artsunshine. I freakin love this piece, it's just utterly hardcore. 

Here's a comment from the artist,

I want to make a cg work full of explosive force. I named this work "slayer". This is the end of a story of fighting. The hard part is designing his pose and expression, hope you like it.

What are your thoughts?

Liam Neeson's new film The Grey opens this Friday, and we have a new Red Band trailer, thanks to Break (via Comingsoon). Joe Carnahan directed the thriller that also stars Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale, and Nonso Anozie.

Synopsis:

The Grey unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements – and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt – before their time runs out.

The Grey arrives in theaters on Friday. Watch the trailer below and share your thoughts.

The Grey: Redband Trailer - Watch more Movie Trailers

Everytime I see a trailer or TV spot for this film, I can't help but shiver even if I am in a warm room. The Grey will do a good job of transporting audiences into a cold bleak universe full of wolves and the environment. Mother nature truly looks like a bitch in this film. What are your thoughts?

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Here's a film clip from Stacy Peralta's (Riding Giants, Dog Town and the Z Boys) new documentary Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which is one of the best films that I've seen up at the Sundance Film Festival so far. It's a documentary that follows the 1980's skateboarding team the Bones Brigade, who changed the sport forever. This was a team of young unknown skaters who were brought together by Peralta in the early 80's to kick skateboarding's ass. 

The video below is listed as a trailer, but it's actually a film clip from the movie showing Tony Hawk going against his rival Christian Hosoi, and goes into detail about the fans and their rivalry. I absolutely loved this movie, and it's one you have to watch! Even if you're not into skating, it's still just a great documentary. 

Check out the clip and tell us what you think!

Here's the Synopsis:

Today skateboarding is omnipresent. Take a walk down any street in any town, and you are destined to see someone riding a skateboard. Well, it wasn’t always like that. In the early ’80s, skateboarding was fading away until Stacy Peralta brought a profoundly talented group of outsiders together and dubbed them the Bones Brigade. This documentary chronicles their epic rise, using awesome archival footage and moving first-person accounts from Brigade members Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen, among others. Through passion, drive, creativity, and a surprising sense of teamwork, they revitalized the sport and influenced generations to come. 

Peralta brings his fourth documentary to the Festival and continues to display an uncanny knack for fusing style and substance in his films. BONES BRIGADE works on a number of levels and will blow the minds of anyone who grew up emulating these guys, but it also resonates for anyone who ever found a family or a purpose in an unexpected place.

HBO's Boardwalk Empire is one of my favorite shows on TV. I love the story, characters, and production design. One thing that is often overlooked is the amount of visual effects that goes into making the show so compelling. 

Thanks to our friends at Gizmodo we have a video from Brainstorm Digital that gives a run-through of all of the VFX used in season 2. Check it out below and share your thoughts:

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If you're familar with Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, or the academy award winning short film Creature Comforts, then you are familiar with Aardman Animations. According to Blastr, their claymation styling and snarky British humor is back in this block of shorts they are doing for Cartoon Network's upcoming block of programming, DC Nation. Watch it below.

 
DC Nation - Aardman by redruger

If you have children or aren't above watching cartoons (I'm not) DC Nation is slated to have chibi style Teen Titans, Green Lantern, Beware of The Batman, Young Justice, and a Live Action Blue Beetle?! Sounds like I won't be doing anything those nights! Check out the teaser trailer below.

The song by the way is Skrillex's "Kill Everybody In The World".

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

Warner Bros. first announced plans for an Elfquest movie in 2008, and nothing has happened since then. The film was to be based on Wendy and Richard Pini's comics, which have been published since the '70s. We finally have some word on that thanks to Blastr, who say that Peter Jackson's The Hobbit is to blame.

After close to four years of suspense—and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support—the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is 'no.' Their simple explanation is that they don't want to compete with The Hobbit. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.

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Earlier we shared an image of the Hulk toy from The Avengers. Now we have some images of DC Direct's upcoming toy line for The Dark Knight Rises, thanks to Idle Hands (via Comingsoon). The images come from the U.K. Toy Fair, and show off Batman, Bane and Catwoman. These are prototypes for 6-inch action figures, 12 inch statues and busts of Christian Bale's Batman, Tom Hardy's Bane, and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman.

Check out the images below and share your thoughts.

These look pretty damn cool if you ask me. I can't wait to see Bane and Batman on screen together. What are your thoughts? Which do you like the best?

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Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance blazes its way into theaters next month. Thanks to our friends at SuperHeroHype, we have a cool  behind-the-scenes featurette for you to check out. 

Here is a description of the film, which looks insanely badass:

Director Spike Lee returns to Brooklyn with his new indie film Red Hook Summer, which takes place in the same world as Do The Right Thing. It even includes the character Mookie from that film, although he's only in a couple of scenes. I hoped the movie would actually focus on that character a little more and continue his story.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the film. Lee's movies are hit and miss for me, and I didn't like Red Hook Summer at all. The story basically follows a young boy who goes to live with his grandfather, played by The Wire's Clarke Peters, in Brooklyn for the summer. This is the first time he's ever met his grandpa who is the preacher of the local church.

Watching is movie was like sitting through a two hour church sermon. The preacher is on a mission to get his grandson to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and that's something the audience has to endure. I don't have a problem with religion, but listening to this preaching go on for as long as it did just got annoying. Going into a Spike Lee joint you know you're going to get a lot of political talk and rants about how bad America is right now with everything going on. Unfortunately, the script was terrible, and the filmmaking was simply lazy. This was not Lee's best work.

That wasn't the worst part of the film though. The worst part of Red Hook Summer were the two kids that Lee cast. I know they're just children, but I also know that there are children that can act. These kids gave very wooden performances, like they were reading their dialogue right off the page for the first time. I'm sure they did they best they could, but I wasn't drawn in, and they had to deliver some deep heavy dialogue that I just didn't find believable. Clarke Peters' performance was actually the best part of the movie; he was great!

It's hard to get into details about the movie without spoiling anything, but like Do The Right Thing everything that happens and is said in this film leads to a shocking ending, and it's the ending that made this story somewhat interesting. I don't think it's worth watching though. If you're a Spike Lee fan then I'm sure you'll go out and see the movie anyway, I just don't think you'll be happy with the outcome. So far it doesn't seem like anyone else I've talked to has liked the movie either.

For me, Red Hook Summer was simply a waste of time.

Here's the synopsis:

When his mom deposits him at the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn to spend the summer with the grandfather he’s never met, young Flik may as well have landed on Mars. Fresh from his cushy life in Atlanta, he’s bored and friendless, and his strict grandfather, Enoch, a firebrand preacher, is bent on getting him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Only Chazz, the feisty girl from church, provides a diversion from the drudgery. As hot summer simmers and Sunday mornings brim with Enoch’s operatic sermons, things turn anything but dull as people’s conflicting agendas collide.

Playfully ironic, heightened, yet grounded, Spike Lee’s bold new movie returns him to his roots, where lovable, larger-than-life characters form the tinderbox of a tight-knit community. A story about the coexistence of altruism and corruption, Red Hook Summer toys with expectations, seducing us with the promise of moral and spiritual transcendence. Spike is back in the ’hood.

Here is the newest poster for The Raven, thanks to Entertainment Weekly (via Comingsoon). James McTiegue directed the period thriller that stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

Here is the synopsis:

In the film, Edgar Allen Poe (Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who's using Poe's own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders.

Relativity Media announced yesterday that the release date has been pushed back from March 9th to April 27th. The concept is pretty cool for this film, but I can't help but think we have seen it done before. I do like the dark tone and the period costumes, but for now I am just kind of meh on The Raven. At least the poster above is pretty cool.

What are your thoughts?

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Source: Comingsoon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86271)

Lego fans have spoken! According to Lego Cusuoo (via Gizmodo), the company has just announced they will be making Lego Minecraft after 10,000 fans voted for it.

We're happy to announce that the Minecraft project on LEGO CUUSOO has passed the LEGO review and we are now developing a concept that celebrates the best aspects of building with the LEGO system and in Minecraft. We can't wait to show it to you-but it isn't ready just yet. These things take time, so we appreciate your patience. More details are to come.

Source: Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/5878844/official-lego-minecraft-is-happening)

Two of the latest films to be picked up at Sundance are The Surrogate and Celeste & Jesse Forever. Fox Searchlight Pictures announced today at the Sundance Film Festival that the studio has acquired Ben Lewin's The Surrogate for distribution:

Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula announced today that the company has acquired worldwide rights to the inspirational true story THE SURROGATE. Directed and written by Ben Lewin, THE SURROGATE stars John Hawkes as Mark O’Brien, Helen Hunt as Cheryl Cohen Greene and William H. Macy as Father Brendan. The film was produced by Judi Levine of Suchmuch Films and Stephen Nemeth of Rhino Films and is scheduled to be released in 2012.

“Ben Lewin has created a touching, uplifting look at one man’s desire to experience life to the fullest. The brave and indelible performances by John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy left us floored,” said Gilula and Utley. 

“We're very happy to have found a home at Fox Searchlight for this film,” said director Ben Lewin. “We have worked hard to evoke the spirit of Mark O'Brien and his writing, and feel that the Searchlight team can help bring his unique and touching story to as wide of an audience as possible.”

“We look forward to working with Searchlight to broaden the conversation of topics that were once considered taboo and that represent what's going on in society in a much more open way,” said Levine. 

“Their work on films as diverse as 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' show their resources and passion can translate emotionally compelling material to a mainstream audience,” added producer Nemeth.

Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California–based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, THE SURROGATE tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined - at age 38 - to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality.

The deal was brokered by Fox Searchlight’s Executive Vice President of Worldwide Acquisitions Tony Safford, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs Megan O’Brien and Vice President of Acquisitions & Co-Productions Ray Strache with CAA and attorney Craig Emanuel on behalf of the filmmakers.

Fox Searchlight Pictures is a specialty film company that both finances and acquires motion pictures. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.

Celeste & Jesse Forever was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics. The film stars Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor, Will McCormack, Emma Roberts, and Elijah Wood:

Here is the official press release:

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all North American, Latin American and Eastern European rights to the film CELESTE & JESSE FOREVER. The film, directed by Lee Toland Krieger (THE VICIOUS KIND) and co-written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, is produced by Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd of Team Todd and Lee Nelson of Envision Media Arts, who also financed the film. The deal was negotiated by UTA's Independent Film Group.

CELESTE & JESSE FOREVER was one of the most talked about films at the festival and debuted in the Premiere Section of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor, Will McCormack, Emma Roberts, and Elijah Wood.

CELESTE & JESSE FOREVER is about two people who met in high school, married young and are growing apart. Now thirty, they decide to get divorced and attempt to stay best friends while pursuing other relationships. This plan is not as simple as they had imagined.

Celeste—imperious, successful and driven-- is convinced that divorcing the boyish Jesse is the right thing to do. Jesse passively accepts this transition into friendship, even though he still is in love with her. As the reality of their separation sets in, Celeste slowly and painfully realizes she has been cavalier about their relationship. But her timing with Jesse is less than fortuitous. While navigating the turbulent changes in their lives and in their hearts, these two learn that in order to truly love someone, you may have to let them go. The film is a humorous and honest examination of a broken heart and the long, hard road it takes to heal it.

"No recent movie is more current, more perceptive, or more fun than CELESTE & JESSE FOREVER. Lee Toland Krieger has made a major film. The cast is superlative and it is an obvious labor of love for Rashida Jones and Will McCormack that delivers on all levels. We are excited to be in business with Jennifer Todd, Lee Nelson and our friends at UTA," said Sony Pictures Classics.

Producers Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd and Lee Nelson add, "We are thrilled our film has found a home with Sony Pictures Classics and are incredibly excited to work with Michael, Tom and Dylan. Their track record is unparalleled and we feel very lucky to have our film with them.”

Source: Comingsoon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/sundancenews.php?id=86256)
Source: Comingsoon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/sundancenews.php?id=86258)

The multi-talented Katie Aselton (The League) unveiled her newest film Black Rock at the Sundance 2012 Film Festival. Though the screenplay was written by frequent collaborator Mark Duplass, Asleton came up with the idea for the movie, directed it, and stars alongside Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell. It's a contained thriller, well-acted, and suspenseful in all the right moments. To me, this is the perfect VOD movie: small in scope, character-driven, violent, and sparse.

The movie begins with Sarah (Bosworth) luring her two childhood friends Lou (Bell) and Abby (Aselton) to a small, abandoned island off the coast of Maine for a camping trip. Sarah wants the girls to reconnect - the gang hasn't been together in years due to some personal issues between Lou and Abby - and to track down a time capsule they buried there years before (hmm...I wonder if that will come up later?). But an encounter with three hunters on the island turns south quickly when a flirty Abby gets a little too drunk and one of the men doesn't take kindly to rejection. In an instant, the women go from being on vacation to fighting for their lives.

Early on, we discover that the men were dishonorably discharged from the military a few weeks prior, which is one of my few complaints with the film - it feels like a lazy screenwriting tactic. Ex-military oftentimes get a bad wrap in movies, many times playing unhinged characters incapable of reintegrating themselves into normal society. They're demonized so often in fiction that they've become a cliche, but considering the setting, I guess the filmmakers had to decide between ex-military, hillbillies, or escaped convicts to give an explanation as to what they were doing on that remote island. While I'm mentioning problems with the movie, I'll add that at times it feels a bit by-the-numbers, and those of you who watch these kinds of genre flicks a lot may have more problems with it than I do as someone who doesn't watch those kinds of movies regularly.

As with many survival/stalker thrillers, the main characters commit a multitude of mistakes that would make no sense in a real world scenario but must be done to continue the drama of the story. The movie isn't interested in answering questions like, "Why wouldn't he just shoot them in the face right now?" Instead it focuses on getting the main characters into more and more trouble and keeping the audience wondering how many of them, if any, will make it out alive. Black Rock can be conventional at times, but if it's executed well, sometimes that's not a bad thing.

The third TV spot for the upcoming sci-fi supervillain film, Chronicle, has been released by Twentieth Century Fox. The film arrives in theaters on February 3rd. Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell, and Michael Kelly star. The film follows three high school students  who make an incredible discovery, leading to them developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.

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Source: Comingsoon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86261)

James Wan's The Conjuring has found two more cast members. Last week we reported that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson were set to star. THR reports (via Comingsoon) that Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor have joined the cast as well.

According to the article, the title may have changed, so we will let you know as that story progresses. The story "takes place in the 1970's and is based on the book House of Darkness, House of Light: The True Story by Andrea Perron. In the 1970s, the Perrons lived in a Rhode Island home that was claimed to have been a portal for friendly and evil spirits."

Livingston and Taylor will play "a couple living in the house, which comes under investigation by Farmiga and Wilson's supernatural investigators, Lorraine and Ed Warren." Chad and Carey Hayes (Whiteout, House of Wax, The Reaping) wrote the script, which was originally set up in 2009 at Summit Entertainment, but is now at New Line. 

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Source: Comingsoon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86274%20Ron%20Livingtson)
Source: THR (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ron-livingston-lili-taylor-conjuring-284502)

Compliance was one hell of a jacked up movie, involving incredibly stupid people that were obviously born without common sense. The worst part about it is the fact that it's based on a true story. The film was incredibly frustrating to watch because of how ignorant the characters are, but it was still solidly good. 

The story follows a young girl that works at a fast food restaurant who is accused of stealing money from a customer's purse. Basically what happens is a man calls claiming to be a police officer investigating the young girl and the theft, and he orders the restaurant manager to detain her until the police come to pick her up. The man on the phone convinces the manager and several other people to help him in the investigation before the police arrive, ordering them to look for the money by stripping her down naked, touching her, doing a full body cavity search, and then moves into stuff like spanking her for being bad. It just gets worse from there. It's insane! You can tell right off the bat that the guy on the other end of the phone is full of shit. It took me less than five minutes to figure out that this guy was doing this for his own arousal. 

The fact that this is based on a true story and that this kind of thing happens all the time scares the hell out of me. Are people really this gullible? Why does no one doublecheck to make sure this guy is legit? There just comes a point where you know something is off, and it should be questioned. The film comes off as being completely unbelievable, and at the same time, it actually happened! That's what's so annoyingly frustrating. I just wanted to scream at the characters in the film the whole time because they did absolutely everything wrong. All they needed to do was hang up the damn phone. 

The movie was good. I liked it. The acting was solid, so it's not like the movie was bad. It was the subject matter that made it hard to watch. The film starred Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, and Bill Camp. It was written and directed by Craig Zobel.

The movie is hard to recommend because it's not for everyone. I think people will watch it just to satisfy their curiosity. 

Here's the synopsis:

Becky and Sandra aren’t the best of friends. Sandra is a middle-aged manager at a fast-food restaurant; Becky is a teenaged counter girl who really needs the job. One stressful day (too many customers and too little bacon), a police officer calls, accusing Becky of stealing money from a customer’s purse, which she vehemently denies. Sandra, overwhelmed by her managerial responsibilities, complies with the officer’s orders to detain Becky. This choice begins a nightmare that tragically blurs the lines between expedience and prudence, legality and reason.

Craig Zobel (his The Great World of Sound appeared at the Festival in 2007) returns with this riveting film, based on a true story. The cast delivers hauntingly authentic performances that make the appalling events unfolding onscreen all the more difficult to watch, but impossible to turn away from. Delving into the complex psychology of the real-life story under its sensationalized surface, COMPLIANCE proves that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

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Source: Cinemablend (http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Simon-Pegg-Edgar-Wright-Hard-Work-World-End-29021.html)

Blastr presented this image without comment. I'll just say that it's good to see someone other than King Kong showing chivalry nowadays. Gojira's got him beat though as he also takes his son out for play days when he isn't womanizing.

Source: Blastr (http://blastr.com/2012/01/image-of-the-day-pic-prov.php)