Via: CBM

Here's a series of short clips featuring some awesome-looking new footage from 300: Rise of an Empire. The clips come from the film's official website. There's no sound, but they are still really cool and worth watching.

I really enjoyed the first movie, and this sequel looks like it's even grittier. The style, vibe, and visuals are pretty spectacular.

Noam Murro directed the film from a screenplay written by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad. It's based on the graphic novel Xerxes by Frank Miller, and it's set to be released on August 2nd, 2013. 

Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel Xerxes, and told in the breathtaking visual style of the blockbuster “300,” this new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield—on the sea—as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war. 

300: Rise of an Empire pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. 

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures present, a Cruel and Unusual Films/Mark Canton/Gianni Nunnari Production, “300: Rise of an Empire.” The action adventure stars Sullivan Stapleton (Gangster Squad) as Themistokles and Eva Green (Dark Shadows, Casino Royale) as Artemisia. Lena Headey reprises her starring role from 300 as the Spartan Queen, Gorgo; Hans Matheson (Clash of the Titans) stars as Aeskylos; David Wenham returns as Dilios, and Rodrigo Santoro stars again as the Persian King, Xerxes. 

Now here's a great twist on Disney princess fan art! Here we have a couple of inked princesses tattooing some well-known DC superheroes. Snow White is working on Batman, and Ariel is giving one to Superman. The art was created by Miklós Felvidéki, and I hope we see more of these fun illustrations.

Here at GeekTyrant we love movies. Old, new, sci-fi, drama, we love them all. So why not remind you geeks of some awesome past films and maybe some not so great ones as well?

Today's Rewind Review looks at Sinister. For those of you who don't know, Sinister is about a true crime writer, played by Ethan Hawke, who moves into a new home with his family. There he finds a box of 8mm home movies in the attic, films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a murderer whose killings dates back to the 1960s.

Sinister isn’t a bad movie, but it isn’t a good movie either. It also really wasn’t that terrifying. The title fits. The things that happen on the screen, these unspeakable murders presented as found footage are troubling, but not scary. A mystery begins within the first five seconds of screen time, and the audience is drawn in, but in the end it was all for naught.

Ethan Hawke gives one of his best performances in recent memory, but it shouldn’t be on him to carry this overly long mystery with an unsatisfying payoff. As the movie continues we believe that this is not just another horror movie. The unique blend of cinema and found footage are crafted and edited pretty well into this creepy movie but the incredibly weak story drags the entire film down a couple pegs.

Too many times midway through the movie does this “unique” take become just another cliché. If there's one thing I have learned from horror films it's that demons really love children. However, what used to be freaky and unsettling has now become a tired, overused trope that audiences everywhere have seen plenty of times before.

The story also treats the audience as if they can’t assume or make out the solution themselves. Therefore, towards the end, we have a great deal of time spent explaining the twists, but the audience most likely saw them coming if they were actually watching the movie.

Ethan Hawke used to be a household name, and yes, he is a great actor, but an actor that needs to find better movies with better storylines.

One redeeming factor was the editing. It was temendous. If you want see editing done right, look no further. It outshines every other aspect except for, as stated above, Hawke’s performance.

Lastly, one aspect of the film which I found pretty neat was that most of the movie takes place within a one story house and its attic. Yes, characters come and go, but we the audience (and usually the character) that stayed behind feel somewhat trapped inside this sinister place.

Overall the movie was riddled with clichés and tired tropes that need to become a thing of the past, but the editing and acting somewhat make up for it.

We have seen plenty of kids with demons inside of them, how about an old man gets possessed for once?

Via: Magnolia Hotel & Spa, Victoria / io9

With the holidays upon us, we're going to be seeing a lot of festive geekery! This is a photo of an awesomely made, Star Wars-inspired, red-nosed, gingerbread AT-AT. It was created by Chef Aaron Lawrence of Victoria, British Columbia's Catalano Restaurant, and it was made for Canada's National Gingerbread Showcase. This thing has a lot of great little details in it for a gingerbread sculpture. 

Michael Bay previously revealed that the robot characters in Transformers: Age of Extinction are going to have a new look this time around. The latest cover for Empire Magazine gives us our first look at Optimus Prime and his slick new design with a bigass sword. 

He just looks more like a regular robot. I'm not really seeing any of the truck details on him, so it will be interesting to see what the actual transformation ends up looking like. One thing is for sure... he definitely looks pissed. 

The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing, T.J. Miller, Han Geng, and Titus Welliver. As of now there are still no official plot details, and the movie hits theaters on June 27th, 2014.

Via: Twitch

We've got a great short film today called Meat Me In Plainville. The story is set in a world where cannibalism is legal in America after all of the livestock in the country die off. 

The movie was written and directed by Greg Hanson and Casey Regan, and it was done in the style of a low budget B-horror movie. It's been making the film festival rounds since 2012 and is finally online for all of you to watch! 

A father tries to reconnect with his daughter as they escape their small town before their dream home descends into a nightmare of crazed cannibalism.

The movie is 27 minutes long, but it's a good one that's worth watching. Enjoy!

AMC has released a trailer and clip for the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead, called "Too Far Gone." It's been described as follows,

After things begin to calm at the prison, Rick and the group face imminent danger.

The trailer below will give you a good look at what that imminent danger will entail. I've enjoyed seeing the Governor back on the series, and seeing his journey back into power and murdering madness. It looks like we're in for one hell of an intense mid-season finale! 

Here's a fun photo featuring some Army of Darkness street art that was tweeted by Bruce Campbell with the caption, "Banksy strikes again!" I don't think this is actually a Banksy piece, but it's awesome. 

Fandango

Paramount Pictures has released a couple of new posters for Martin Scorsese's next film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

The movie looks like it's gonna be great, and the story follows a young New York stockbroker named Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, "who refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration."

The rest of the amazing cast that includes Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernthal, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, and Spike Jonze. 

The movie is set to be released on December 25th, 2013! 

Hitfix

Check out these very different, alternative Spider-Man suit designs for Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I have to say that I'm very happy none of these suit designs made it into the film. They come from Film Paint, and I don't really like them. I'm glad they went with the more classic suit design in the film. The new trailer for the film will be unleashed on December 5th, and the movie comes out on May 2nd, 2014.

Via: JoBlo

I actually watched the first couple of Lethal Weapon films over the the weekend. It had been awhile, and they were just as awesome as I remembered. Here's a great piece of art for the film created by artist Joe Vetoe for Planet Pulp's Besties Show.

We've already known for awhile that Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have been cast in Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron. But today Marvel made it official with a press release announcing that they will be playing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, respectively. Johnson and Olsen are both great actors, and I think they are going to be fantastic in the movie! I wonder how many films they signed on for.

Here's the press release:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have officially joined the Avengers family as the brother-sister duo of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the highly-anticipated sequel to 2012's smash-hit "Marvel's The Avengers"! "Avengers: Age of Ultron" arrives in theaters May 1, 2015. 

Taylor-Johnson broke out with his roles as Dave Lizewski in the "Kick-Ass" franchise and with his portrayal of a young John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy," for which he won an Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Since then, Taylor Johnson has starred in 2012's critically-acclaimed "Anna Karenina" and director Oliver Stone's "Savages." 

Since making her big screen debut in 2011 with "Silent House" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene," for which the actress garnered a number of awards and nominations, Olsen has gone on to star alongside the likes of Robert DeNiro and Sigourney Weaver in "Red Lights," Josh Brolin and Samuel L. Jackson in director Spike Lee's "Oldboy." 

Taylor-Johnson and Olsen will share the screen as leads in the highly anticipated "Godzilla" remake scheduled for a May 2014 release. 

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" will bring the Marvel Universe's biggest heroes together again to face one of their biggest villains, with "Marvel's The Avengers" director Joss Whedon returning to write and direct the sequel. 

"Marvel's The Avengers" was released in 2012 and went on to earn $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third-largest grossing movie of all time. 

In addition to "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" on April 4, 2014; "Guardians of the Galaxy" on August 1, 2014; and "Ant-Man" on July 31, 2015.

Written by: Jim Zub

Art by: Kevin Stokes

To say I enjoyed the Pathfinder Special #1 is an understatement. I loved it, but maybe I’m bias. I’ll admit I have affection for the lovingly crafted world Paizo has created, and Zub and Stokes bring that world to life while giving the characters that look so damn cool on the DM screen well developed personalities that don’t just consist of brooding and anger.

This one shot special is a fun, if not complicated, tale of revenge, but it's the camaraderie of Kyra and Merisiel that makes it so entertaining. Actually, scratch that. Their burgeoning friendship is a big part of that entertainment, and as important is the wonderful art by Kevin Stokes. The style he employs doesn't fit every type of story, but it fits this one like a glove. No one has to even say a word for us to get the gist of their personalities since their faces are so expressive, and his action scenes are full of motion and, as cheesy as I am for admitting this, reminds me of the unbridled fun of an old Hercules episode -- man I loved that show.

The story itself isn't something that’s going to shock you, but I don’t believe it's meant to. There is room for fun and adventure in books, and I think that description fits this book perfectly. Its a nice introduction to these two, but above all to a universe that is full of possibilities, and I look forward to seeing more of that potential realized down the road.

Here's a great CG animated short film adventure for you to watch called "Tuurngait." It was directed Paul-Emile Boucher, and it's a very fun, imaginative, and beautiful film. 

The story follows an Inuit child who "wanders away from his village, fascinated by a wild bird. His father follow his trail, determined to find him before he gets lost on the ice floe..." Here's some more information on the film,

We worked as a group of five students during one year and a half to create our graduation film, Tuurngait, at Supinfocom Arles, south of France. It was screened in more than 50 film festivals around the world during the past two years, earning 9 awards in the process.

Enjoy the short! 

J.J. Abrams is deep in pre-production on Star Wars: Episode VII. The set are being built, actors are being cast, and Abrams is currently polishing up the script with Empire Strikes Back scribe Lawrence Kasdan. In a recent interview with Total Film the director talks about working with Kasdan, saying,

“Working with Larry has been one of the most surreal joys of my life. We've had a lot of fun working together. He's an incredible guy and an inspiring and spectacular writer."  

Abrams then goes on to talk about shooting the film in London, and why he was hesitant to take on the project in the first place.

"It's something that I've always intended to do. But I'm torn because I have done everything I can to keep the production of my projects in Los Angeles. Yet the opportunity to work with UK crews is something that has always been a dream of mine.

"Of course, that dream existed prior to me being married and having a family, so the reality of making a movie like that for any period of time becomes much more difficult when there are other people that you desperately love and care for involved."

I imagine that is the main reason he only plans on directing one Star Wars film. I'm confident that the one he does work on is going to be amazing, and I can't wait! The movie is set to be released on December 18th, 2015.

Check out this video of the first time Tom Baker (4th Doctor) was interviewed about his role as "the Doctor" in Doctor Who! For fans familiar and unfamiliar with Baker, this will be a treat. The beginning starts off with the reporter foolishly walking around asking for "Doctor Who" until he mistakenly runs into Tom himself who does his trademarked bug eyed look and agrees to an interview. At one point in the interview Baker offers the reporter a "jelly belly" and brilliantly sums up what it means when a new actor comes on as the Doctor. The whole thing is worth a watch for fans of the show, if for no other reason than the confused old man when he sees Cybermen making their way into the pub.

The remake of George A. Romero's cult zombie film Day Of The Dead is moving forward at Millennium Films. The studio hired Mark Tonderai to direct a modern-day retelling of the zombie movie. Tonderai is best known for directing House At The End of the Street.

According to Deadline, the new version takes place "years after the zombie plague has wiped out most of Earth’s population, [when] a group of scientists and survivors attempt to find a cure, and instead open Pandora’s box."

They’ll start casting the film soon, and the studio is looking to get the film in production by 2014. Zombies are very popular right now, and I doubt they are going to go away anytime soon. 

Killer Instinct seemed dead for quite awhile, but thanks to developer Double Helix and the XBox One, the franchise is getting a true renaissance. For a game that is largely considered a tier below the Street Fighters and Virtual Fighters of the world, it contained a roster of fondly remembered characters. I almost completely missed out on the franchise in its heyday, yet I still know who Jago, Glacius, and Fulgore are. Boss Logic has some love for them too, as he's put together some shiny new wallpapers to commemorate KI's release, so hit the gallery to catch the rest of them, and you can head here for the mobile versions. 

Check out this funny trailer for Jean-Claude Van Damme's comedy Welcome to the Jungle. The movie was directed by Rob Meltzer and also stars Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Kristen Schaal, and Dennis Haysbert. 

The story follows "a group of unsuspecting office workers who find themselves stranded on a desert island when a corporate retreat led by unhinged former Marine Storm Rothchild (Van Damme) goes horribly wrong. Now Chris (Brody) and his co-workers must battle nature -- and each other -- to survive!"

The movie will get a limited release on February 7th, 2014. I'll be checking it out! 

We've got another trailer for Ben Stiller's fantastic looking film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The trailer includes some more footage from the film and gives us a better look at what we can expect to see from the story and characters. 

The movie follows "a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined."

The movie comes out on December 25th, 2013! Thanks to IMDb for the trailer!