I love Avalanche Studios, so when they announced that they were making a Mad Max game my heart skipped a beat. I love Mad Max. He is the epitome of a badass. So it makes sense that this game is badass. 

Two developers showed us gameplay set in the barren wasteland. The map is massive with multiple areas. When I asked how big it was in relation to Just Cause 2 (one of the biggest game worlds created by Avalance Studios), they told me it was too early to tell. But I have a feeling it'll at least be on par. One of the big things they talked about was your ability to create your own iconic car. One of the coolest things they showcased was how realistic the physics were when driving the car. Just Cause is not known for its realistic physics, actually quite the opposite. But Mad Max shows weight distribution when adding a bigger grill, and suspension plays a big part in the rocky landscape. You can also customize the engine and turbo. 

In the first part of the game you are tasked with destroying a convoy via vehicular combat. I will be surprised if this game doesn't have multiplayer; the car combat seemed like something that would be incredibly fun with friends. Bandits jump on your car, and you take out your iconic sawed off shotgun and shoot them off. You can also use the car's inertia to throw them off. Your mechanic is in the back and has a harpoon gun that is capable of ripping off enemy tires or pulling an enemy driver out of the windshield of their car. 

Mad Max's story is said to be stand alone. That being said, the character model for Max looks closer to a rugged Tom Hardy then a young Mel Gibson. 

The combat in the game is very brutal via Thundersticks (spears that blow up), shotguns through the gut, and other crazy melee moves. 

I am very excited for the upcoming game releasing on current and next gen platforms next year.

GET MAD!

Follow Me @Ltt2P

Check out this incredibly fun short film called How To Train Your Robot, which features a boxing trainer teaching a robot how to fight. I'm sure many of you will compare this to Hugh Jackman's Real Steel, which is fine, because I think this two minute short is better than that whole film. There's a grittier style to it, the visual effects are impressive, and it has an unexpected comedy element. 

The film was created by a group of students from an Animation and VFX course organised by Platige Image and CD Projekt RED. I hope you enjoy the short! 

In a recent interview with Animation Magazine, Brave co-director Brenda Chapman revealed that she just finished working on an animated movie at Lucasfilm. That movie is being directed by Gary Rydstrom, who directed the Toy Story short Hawaiian Vacation. He was also directing the animated movie Newt at one point, which ended up being shut down. Most of his career has been as an Oscar winning movie sound designer though. Looks like he's moved on to bigger and better things! Here's what Chapman had to say about the new Lucasfilm project in development:

I have been working on a project with Lucas for quite some time — about six months. When Lucasfilm was handed over to Kathleen Kennedy, she asked me to consult on the film to help solve its story problems. It was an opportunity for me to work with her. I felt honored to be asked by her, after what happened at Pixar. DreamWorks was very generous to me in postponing my start date with them so that I could work with Kathleen, also. My work on the project is done. My good friend, Gary Rydstrom, is directing it now.

So what's this animated movie that Lucasfilm is working on? Of course, many people are thinking that maybe it's a Star Wars movie, but they have so many other Star Wars projects in development that I doubt this project has anything to do with that universe. Years ago there was a rumor that Lucasfilm was developing a Fairy movie with TMNT director Kevin Munroebut, but nothing ever came of that. So that could be a possibility, but who knows other than the people working on it? It'll be a surprise when some information on this project is finally revealed, and I like surprises. Hopefully it's cool!

Source: Bleeding Cool (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/11/pixar-alum-gary-rydstrom-directing-animated-film-at-lucasfilm/)

Time definitely moves backwards in the Splinter Cell universe. Sam Fisher looks younger and is much more agile, and Grim looks even younger! While playing a demo of Blacklist I pointed this out to one of the developers. He said this is basically a reboot of the series, we're just not calling it that.

From what I played I really enjoyed it, although I desperately want them to get Michael Ironside back. The game does an incredible job of combining stealth and action. Most levels give you the option of bypassing every enemy, you just have to be careful and be smart. 

Points are currency used to buy upgraded tech and weaponry. A non-lethal approach gets you more points. There will be segments, the developer told me, called exotic stages, where you'll be on a turret or go full confrontation mode, but the demo I played had the exact opposite. Towards the end of the demo I had to get from point A to point B without being detected AND without killing/knocking out any enemies. I only failed once... I'm pretty proud of myself. 

The mark and execute feature from Conviction is back, although I didn't rely on it as much as I did in the previous installment. The graphics are nice, but I felt they could have been better. Hopefully that will change in the final product.

I am looking forward to Blacklist. Splinter Cell has changed, there is no denying it. Some say for the better, others for the worse, but I had fun regardless, and I plan on getting it on release on August 20, 2013.

Follow Me @Ltt2P

It looks like Les Miserables co-star Eddie Redmayne is going to play physicist Stephen Hawking in a film called Theory of Everything. 

According to Deadline, the film will focus "on the relationship between Hawking and his wife." The film is set up at Working Title, and it's being directed by James Marsh, who worked on the Oscar winning documentary Man of Wire. 

Redmayne is also up for a lead role in a film called Far From the Madding Crowd, in which he would star alongside Carey Mulligan. It sounds like he can only choose one or the other, but according to the report, the actor is more interested in playing Hawking. Why wouldn't he be? This would be a great role for any actor, and Redmayne is a talented one. I think this kind of role will take his career to a whole new level. 

The report suggests that this role "opens the opportunity for the kind of work Daniel Day-Lewis turned in in My Left Foot and Mathieu Amalric in The Diving Bell And The Butterfly." The actor is currently shooting Lana and Andy Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending for Warner Bros.

What do you think about Redmayne playing Hawking?

Source: Deadline (http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/eddie-redmayne-to-play-stephen-hawking-in-working-titles-theory-of-everything/)

I'm really liking the new cars for Transformers 4. I hope the robot bodies have been simplified, because the current designs are a bit of a mess. Michael Bay is currently shooting the film in Texas, and some pyrotechnics got out of control and burned the attic of a 100 year old house.

TMZ reports:

A rep for the Pflugerville Fire Department tells us ... the fire started in the attic ... but emergency responders sprung into action and were able to extinguish the blaze before it had a chance to damage the rest of the home.

Unfortunately, the FD says the attic suffered "substantial damage."

The rep says, "There was one injury to a civilian who was transported to the hospital by Austin Travis County EMS. We have no other information on this person or their injury. "

We're told ... officials believe burning embers from pyrotechnics may have caused the blaze, but they're not sure at this point.

Let's hope the rest of the shooting goes more smoothly. There are lots of photos and a couple videos that have leaking out of the Texas shoot, mostly of Mark Wahlberg and the cars. One vehicle that looks like a rusted out Optimus Prime could be from early in the movie.

Source: Michael Bay (http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelbay/9023147255/sizes/o/)
Source: CBM (http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=81442)
Source: Coming Soon (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=105441)

The gang behind the hilarious film This is the End did this great parody, mashing their recent film with MTV's The Real World. The short is very funny and extremely vulgar, so be careful where you watch it.

The This Is The End cast gets cabin fever with Real World: Portland roommates Averey-Lee Jane and Joi Niemeyer, while the world unravels outside their apartment.

This Is The End is currently out in theaters, and make sure to check it out when you get a chance. It's easily one of the funniest films I've seen this year. If you have a sick and twisted sense of humor like I do, you'll really enjoy it. 

Welcome to the GeekTyrant Shopping Network. Today, we're excited to bring you a brand new product that is strong enough for a superhero, but made for mere mortals. 

From JADS International, makers of the Avengers-inspired fragrances you know and love, comes 'Nuff Said, a fragrance inspired by the man, the myth, the mustachioed comic book legend, Stan Lee!

We know what you're thinking, "Finally! Ever since I was a child I've wanted to smell like a 90-year old man." Well, the wait is over, true believers. Until now, the smell of gray chest hair, rusty sunglasses, and sunblock slathered on 50 years too late was only possible with the passing of many years spent unwilling to take a respectable step out of the spotlight.

According to JADS, the fragrance "possesses crisp blends of bergamot, ginger, white pepper, basil, and violet layered in with accords of cedar, vetiver, and musk." Translation: The smell is so repugnant that your human torch won't be making any cameo appearances any time soon. 

'Nuff Said will be available through JADS' website and at Comic-Con International and Wizard World shows for the low, low price of $24.99. It's hard to put a price on something you just absolutely don't need. 

Oh my gosh! I can't believe we're doing this, we must be out of our minds. If you order in the next thirty minutes, we'll murder your uncle, blast you with gamma radiation, and throw radioactive waste in your eyes… absolutely free. Act now!

Source: ComicBookResources (http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/get-a-whiff-of-this-true-believers-stan-lee-signature-cologne/)
Source: via: io9 (http://io9.com/now-you-can-smell-just-like-stan-lee-on-purpose-512984283)

The long awaited Ryse is here, or at least coming soon, now with the subtitle Son of Rome, and it looks absolutely amazing. Coming from Crytek (the reason for the weird spelling) this could be Microsoft's answer to Sony's God of War franchise.

What intriguied me about Ryse was it played sort of like a squad based shooter although the game and setting is entirely different. The game is brutal, with arms and legs going everywhere, but it also has a sense of strategy that is blatantly absent from games like God of War. It also seemed to combine a parry/counter attack system with a quicktime event system, much like the Batman: Arkham series. It also reminded me quite a bit of the Playstation exclusive Heavenly Sword due to the massive amount of quicktime events. It got a bit repetitive, and yet there was pandemonium on the battlefield. Multiple enemies will approach from the front, sides, and back, and the camera is closer to the player than in Batman, so you don't realize they're gunning for you until the camera zooms out a bit. I noticed this and used that as my proximity alarm.

The controls are fairly simple. Y is shield attack, X is sword attack, A is your parry/counter which you will probably be mashing, and B is your action/execution. RT was used to throw javelin/spears at archers in the distance and LB was used as my commands. I also sprinted a bit by pressing LS. 

Overall, Ryse seems promising. There is a lot more I would have liked to see, but I'll take what I can get. 

Follow Me @Ltt2P

Bleeding Cool is telling us there is a strong possibility that BBC has obtained a collection of episodes that have been missing since the '60s, which means that we will be seeing them for the first time since they were taken. For those who have watched a classic "reconfigured" episode of Doctor Who, you know what I'm talking about. For those that are still in the dark, there were several episodes in the classic series that were "taken for safe keeping" after their first airing, and since then have been lost for use in reissues of the series. Creators have tried to rectify this by combining frozen salvaged frames from remaining episodes with audio tracks from the episode to make a less than low quality substitute.

Rumor has it that among the episodes recovered is the absolute full version of William Hartnell's regeneration. It's also said that the entirety of "Evil Of The Daleks" has been found as well. For someone who is currently trying to work his way through the Classic series, this is excellent news. Are you excited to see some of these old episodes in their entirety? 

Disney has released a set of release dates for their upcoming films, which includes two untitled Marvel film projects. Some of the release dates of these films have been rescheduled. 

Here's the information from the Press Release we were provided with. Look over all of the information and let us know what you think these two mystery Marvel projects are! I'm hoping one of them is Doctor Strange. I imagine they will be announced at Comic-Con this year, so we don't have to wait very long to find out.

UNTITLED MARVEL FILMS

We’ve also announced dates for two UNTITLED MARVEL films (5/6/16 and 5/5/17), in line with Marvel’s successful tradition of opening films in early May, including the billion-dollar hits MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS and Marvel’s IRON MAN 3. We look forward to announcing more details about these films as well as the sequel to THE AVENGERS (opening 5/1/15) at a later date.

SAVING MR. BANKS (Disney)

Now opens 12/13/13 limited. The previously announced 12/20/13 wide playdate is unchanged.

Inspired by true events, SAVING MR. BANKS is the extraordinary, untold story of how Disney’s classic MARY POPPINS made it to the screen—and the testy relationship that the legendary Walt Disney had with author P.L. Travers that almost derailed it.

MUPPETS MOST WANTED (Disney)

MUPPETS MOST WANTED is the final title of the follow-up to 2011’s THE MUPPETS. The previously announced 3/21/14 wide playdate is unchanged.

Starring Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey, Disney’s MUPPETS MOST WANTED takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour where they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper. 

PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE (Disney)

Now dated on 7/18/14 wide in 3D.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (Disney)

Now dated on 10/10/14 wide.

Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner have been cast.

21 Laps and The Jim Henson Company are producing.

Miguel Arteta is directing.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, based on the award-winning children’s book by Judith Viorst, follows young Alexander through the mishaps of a terrible day for his family after he wishes they all would experience the same troubles he does.

TOMORROWLAND (Disney)

Moves to 12/12/14 wide (from 12/19/14 wide).

The film is being directed by Brad Bird and written and produced by Bird and Damon Lindelof.

George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy and Thomas Robinson have been cast. 

INTO THE WOODS (Disney)

Now dated on Thursday, 12/25/14 wide.

Rob Marshall is directing.

INTO THE WOODS, based on the Tony-winning original musical by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, surrounds a baker and his wife’s quest to break a witch’s curse in order to start a family.  Along the way, they encounter several well-known fairy tale characters, and together they learn what happens after “happily ever after”. 

THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (DreamWorks)

Now dated on 8/8/14 wide.

Lasse Hallstrom is directing.

Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake producing.

THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, based on the international best-selling book by Richard C. Morais, tells the story of an Indian boy living in France who becomes the culinary apprentice to his father's rival.

Universal Pictures has released a new international trailer for the action-packed supernatural film R.I.P.D. that features Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as two undead lawmen trying to save the world from the bad souls that have escaped justice. The new trailer features a bit of new footage, and it looks like a lot of fun!

Nick is dead -- at least, that's how he remembers it -- and teams up with another deceased detective, a gunslinger from the Old West (played by Jeff Bridges), to work for the elite task force, the Rest In Peace Department (hence the title), to track down the dead on Earth. (Due to overpopulation, some unsettled spirits haven't gone where they're supposed to, and are hiding out). Technically, R.I.P.D. officers (who are overseen by (Mary-Louise Parker) aren't allowed to kill anyone living, and aren't supposed to interact with anyone from their previous lives, but Nick is haunted by the fact that he was murdered by another cop (played by Kevin Bacon), and can't let it go.

The movie also stars James Hong, Mary-Louise Parker, Robert Knepper, and Kevin Bacon. It opens in theaters in 3D on July 19th, 2013. 

Sony Pictures has released another awesome full trailer for Neil Blomkamp's highly anticipated sci-fi film Elysium. The trailer has got some cool new footage that you're going to want to see. It also gives us more details on the story. Blomkamp is going to make us geeks very happy with this movie, and I'm sure he'll be making us happy with his films for years to come.

The movie opens on August 9th. Check out the newest trailer! 

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet’s crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium – but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens’ luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

I found most of the presentations at E3 this year pretty dull. Yeah, the games are cool, but they are presented and introduced to us in the most boring monotone way possible. That all changed when Peggle 2 was announced, though, it was the most exciting and hilariously awkward announcement at the video game expo. Unfortunately, nobody cared. There's dead silence after the game is excitedly announced with a jumping ground punch. This is great!

Thanks to our new writers Jacob and Christian for the heads up on this! 

Magic Magic was one of the more unsettling/crazy films that I saw at Sundance earlier this year. It stars Juno Temple, Emily Browning, and Michael Cera, who gives one of the strangest performances of his career. This film shows us a side of Cera you've never seen before. This trailer is weird because it makes him out to be some kind of psychopath. In a way he is, but not in the way he's being portrayed in the trailer. He's more of a nut that might have a mental handicap. You can read my review for the film here.

If Alicia could just get some sleep, everything would be all right. As she and her cousin Sarah make their way through rural Chile with Sarah’s boyfriend, his sister, and their strange American friend Brink, Alicia’s insomnia slowly takes control. The difference between what is happening in reality and what is happening in her own mind becomes less and less clear to her. After she takes a stab at hypnosis to help solve the problem, things only get worse. As her waking nightmare continues, will her “friends” be her salvation or her downfall?

Magic Magic hits DVD and VOD on August 6th. Check out the trailer.

Here's a funny series of posters for some of Disney's classic animated films that gives us a brutally honest title based on the themes of the story. They highlight the content, stereotypes, and tropes of the films. The posters come from Christine Gritmon and Nick Nadel of TheFW.

The site makes a note that "beneath the saccharine surfaces of these fluffy romances lies some truly disturbing content." Check them out...

Source: NeatOrama (http://www.neatorama.com/2013/06/09/Honest-Disney-Movie-Titles/)

I'm looking forward to watching Man of Steel tonight. If you haven't read my enthusiastic full review, make sure to check it out. A few sites have written about the following story, but we've got the actors talking about their pre-Man of Steel connection. I don't want to spoil it other than saying Russell Crowe is one badass nice guy.

Henry's Side of the story

I've found 13 interviews with just about every member of the cast, plus the producers, and Zack.

Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/ Superman)

Amy Adams (Lois Lane)

Michael Shannon (General Zod)

Zack Snyder (Director)

Russell Crowe (Jor-El)

Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent)

Antje Traue (Faora)

Diane Lane (Martha Kent)

Laurence Fishburne (Perry White)

Christopher Meloni (Col. Hardy)

Deborah Snyder (Producer)

Ayelet Zurer (Lara Lor-Van)

Charles Roven (Producer)

Source: HoneyBeeeeez (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9QU53wptjE)
Source: Facebook - Superman: Man of Steel (https://www.facebook.com/Superman.in.2013)

Go behind the scenes of Ron Howard's great looking Formula One film Rush in this new featurette. Howard is an incredible filmmaker, and this looks like it's going to be one of the better films he's made over the years. I'm really excited about this, and I'm not even a Formula One fan. I've never watched the sport, but this story they're telling is sure to make a fantastic movie. The featurette includes new footage from the film, and the talent involved with bringing the movie to life discuss the story and characters. 

It's based on a true story that focuses on the intense rivalry of two drivers, James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). As you'll see, it's going to be incredibly exciting! 

Rush opens up in theaters on September 20th, 2013. 

RUSH is an upcoming biographical action-drama film directed by two-time Oscar winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon), who teams once again with fellow two-time Oscar nominee, writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen), about the 1976 Formula One season and the rivalry between drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) as the charismatic Englishman James Hunt and Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) as the disciplined Austrian perfectionist Niki Lauda, whose clashes on the Grand Prix racetrack epitomized the contrast between these two extraordinary characters, a distinction reflected in their private lives. Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy) and Alexandra Maria Lara (The Reader) also star in the film.

Source: MSN (http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-trailers/?videoId=e6cf1e5c-fd26-4b77-9258-198851098f4c&from=sharepermalink&from=en-us_msnhp&gt1=42010%20%20?ocid=mohfpS1RL2&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:)

Ever since Thanos and Guardians of the Galaxy came into play in the Marvel cinematic universe, a lot of fans have been speculating that we might see a massive team-up of the two worlds in The Avengers 2. If you were hoping that would happen, Joss Whedon has just crushed your dreams. It doesn't look like the Guardians will be included in the sequel. Here's what the director had to say when talking to Bleeding Cool,

We’re following Guardians at Shepperton [Studios, with Avengers 2], but we won’t be swapping cast members. Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft… and I’m not ruling that out.

I think that's a pretty clear statement that he isn't including the Guardians of the Galaxy in the script he's writing. As of right now all we know about the sequel is that the original Avengers team will be back with the addition Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Maybe somewhere down the line in phase three or four the Guardians will team up with some other Marvel characters, it's just not going to be the next Avengers movie, which is fine! In the end both movies are likely to be awesome, and fans will be completely satisfied. 

For anyone who is a Star Wars fan, here's a must watch 50-minute documentary called George Lucas: Flying Solo from BBC Omnibus. It focuses on the Star Wars films and includes interviews with people and friends that Lucas has worked with in his career such as Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Francis Ford Coppola, and more. It also features clips from some of Lucas' earlier short films. It's interesting to listen to Coppola talk about the path that Lucas might have taken had the original Star Wars trilogy not changed the trajectory of his filmmaking career path. There's a lot of great and interesting stuff included in this doc, so I suggest you check it out when you get a chance.

Source: First Showing (http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/watch-1997-profile-on-george-lucas-with-harrison-ford-and-more/)