I think everyone has decided to agree that Comic-Con was a little bit disappointing this year, and I am jumping on that bandwagon. Of all the disappointing disappointments, the Marvel Television panel was the disappointingest. Last year the panel was called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this year it was titled "Marvel Television Presentation," which meant I was hoping that there would be casting announcements for any of the Defenders, or maybe a sneak peek at some early Daredevil footage. The random people sitting near me in Ballroom 20 shared my high hopes, which were cruelly dashed by Jeph Loeb (Marvel Television President) and his lanyards.

Look, it’s not like Loeb was eating babies on the dais, it’s just that last year’s surprise screening of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot set the bar higher than a blooper reel, which is what they showed. Nothing wrong with that, I just wanted some Marvel Razzle Dazzle. Hayley Atwell is lovely, and I hope that Agent Carter is good, but they haven’t even written a single episode yet. When the most interesting thing to come out of your panel is news that the Russo Brothers are directing episodes 3 and 4 of Agent Carter when you know that they only do TV shows if they can shoot the pilot, then you didn’t put on a great show (especially when you consider that DC Entertainment killed it with their superpanel in Hall H). The low point came when Loeb prodded executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen to announce that Lucy Lawless would join the show’s second season, news that had hit the web three days earlier.

Alright, enough whining. The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. blooper reel previously screened at Comic-Con is on the web for you to enjoy. Like most blooper reels, it is probably funnier for the people who made it than for the audience, but there are a few really great moments, with the best stuff coming from Ming-Na Wen, although a botched exchange between Clark Gregg and Cobie Smulders is pretty fun as well.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to your TV or illegal streaming device on September 23. The series also stars Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge.

Photo via One Tiny Hand

Is GeekTyrant above fart jokes? The obvious answer is no, it is not. I didn't feel like posting a Disney princess mashup today, so I thought, why not go in the opposite cultural direction? "Fartzenegger" is a 4 minute video that takes classic Arnold Schwarzenegger films and adds fart noises, lots and lots of fart noises. The video is tasteless, low class, and good for a chuckle.

Bonus: checkout Schwarzenegger's right hand in the photo above.

I am pretty sure that 2007’s Hitman is the first movie to cause controversy by maybe having visible labia on its poster. That is about the only superlative I can hand to that movie, however. Even Timothy Olyphant, who made even Catch and Release watchable, couldn’t save that one. Fortunately, those who have seen the first trailer for Hitman: Agent 47 — sure to be online any day now — say that it is a definite improvement. The reboot stars Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, and Hannah Ware, and it looks like a B movie worth watching. 20th Century Fox has released a few images from the film to pique your interest before the trailer comes out. Friend plays the titular Hitman, Quinto is the chief antagonist, and Ware is a woman who is caught between them somehow. Rumor has it she is a human MacGuffin.

Directed by Aleksander Bach, Hitman: Agent 47 opens in theaters on February 27, 2015.

Source: Screen Rant

Roads? Where we’re going we… well, we still need roads. Sorry guys. I know it doesn’t have the same ring to it, but this is just a USB car charger. The 2.1 Amps this Back to the Future-themed charger pumps out may be a far cry from 1.21 gigawatts, but hey! It comes with two USB ports so you can charge a couple devices at the same time. And if you think a lack of plutonium is gonna stop people from being tempted to take their vehicles up to 88mph while they have this plugged in, you’re wrong. Who would be that immature you ask? Answer: Everyone.

The product is available for $24.99 at ThinkGeek. You’ll have to forgive the crudeness of this model though, it doesn’t look like they had time to put the stickers on it or build it to scale.

Source: THR

Elle Fanning has been cast as Mary Shelley in A Storm in the Stars. This movie is an indie production which is smaller than Fanning's recent films like Maleficent and Super 8. A Storm in the Stars is based on the author Mary Shelley's life before and after writing Frankenstein. Shelley was in many ways a woman ahead of her time and helped invent the science fiction genre.

Producer Amy Baer said of Fanning:

"Elle is amazingly smart and talented and very much relates to Mary as a young woman," said Baer. "She is going to do something extraordinary in this role that will transition her from a compelling young adult to a formidable leading lady." 

Fanning is great casting and I'm excited to see her performance as Shelley. 

Art by Peter-v-Nguyen

I have to admit I've never read a Doctor Strange comic. My knowledge of him is based purely off of Marvel collectible trading cards and the animated movie. If you're like me and know little to nothing about Doctor Strange, then we've got the video for you. Mr. Sunday Movies has created a 6.5 minute crash course on the Sorcerer Supreme.

While promoting Guardians of the Galaxy, Vin Diesel spoke to IGN about wrapping Fast & Furious 7 and how the film will pay tribute to the late Paul Walker while also moving the franchise forward. When asked about striking that delicate balance, and if the relationship between his character, Dominic Toretto, and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) would evolve to help lead into the next movie, Diesel said:

“The whole magic and the whole objective is that we were able to pay homage to one of the greats in our saga and simultaneously stay consistent with that continuation that we always promise in each movie. But it’s tricky on this one. It’s taken many a sleepless nights to think about.

“While I was doing the press for Fast & Furious 6, I was talking about the fact that I mapped out the stories for Fast 7, Fast 8, and Fast 9 already. After something this heavy, this challenging, after something like this happens, you really need a second to process it all and to make sure that everything that you’re doing is the right thing.”

Walker tragically passed away late last year during a break from production on the action sequel. In a statement announcing that Walker’s brothers Caleb and Cody would be stepping in to help complete unfinished scenes, the filmmakers made it clear that the plan is to allow Walker’s character to “live on and let us celebrate Paul in his most defining role.”

During the last part of the video interview, which you can watch below, Diesel became emotional when talking about filming those final scenes without Walker:

“I was acting since I was 7 years old, and I had never thought that I would have to prepare for the day that I would have to both mourn and simultaneously pretend that the person is beside me.”

Fast & Furious 7 will be released in theaters April 3rd, 2015.

Previous to Comic-Con, my expectations for director George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road were pretty low. But after seeing the long preview and amazing trailer they screened during the panel for the film, I'm completely sold on it. The movie's scope just looks massive. I can't imagine how expensive the movie was, but It's gotta be costly. We've got a couple new photos via CBM that show Tom Hardy looking tough and dirty.

Mad Max: Fury Road races into theaters May 15th, 2015 (USA).

Not much has been released about Into The Woods until a set of photos yesterday. Today we now have a trailer that gives us a tease of the movie. Into The Woods is a musical but we don't have any singing in this first trailer, sadly. The movie stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and Johnny Depp. The story is several classic fairy tales all  connected together by a baker and his wife.

Into The Woods will hit theaters December 25th (USA).

Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock - 1960

I read and owned something like 55-60 Goosebumps books growing up. I probably would have only made it though a few of them, though, had the stories been as jacked up as these classic horror films that have been reimagined as books from R.L. Stine’s popular children's book series. The covers and blurbs from designer Theodore Holmstead-Scott and writer Jude Deluca do a perfect job of making these stories seem much tamer than they really are.

We’ve included some of our favorites below, but be sure to check out the many more covers they’ve created on their Tumblr, If It Were Stine. They also reimagine modern horror films and TV shows, and even model video games on the choose-your-own-adventure-type books from the Goosebumps series.

By the time the television series based on these books came out, I had already outgrown them. I wasn’t too excited about the movie coming out, which stars Jack Black as Stine, but everyone we talked to who saw the panel at Comic-Con was surprised by how good the movie looked. To check out the latest photos from that film, click here.

The Shining - Stanley Kubrick - 1980

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Tobe Hooper - 1974

Carrie - Brian De Palma - 1976

Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero - 1968

Halloween - John Carpenter - 1978

Fright Night - Tom Holland - 1985

The Thing - John Carpenter - 1982

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror - F. W. Murnau - 1922

The Fog - John Carpenter - 1980

In perhaps the most bizarre Star Wars rumor so far, WWE Superstar Sheamus is being heavily rumored to be playing Darth Vader in Episode VII. Wait Darth Vader is going to appear in Episode VII? That has yet to be confirmed or even hinted to be the case. Yet the Irish born “Celtic Warrior” sent a cryptic tweet to a newspaper yesterday when asked about it.

I cant confirm that i wont not be reprising role of Darth Vader in #StarWars ... I hope that's clear @IrishMirror ;) pic.twitter.com/hj0JNigkYm

— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) July 30, 2014

So why is there even a hint that this could be happening you ask? According to sources in the know, Sheamus has donned the costume for Star Wars promotional events before. He also took a brief break from his role as United States Champion in the WWE to appear back in his home country in the exact same location Star Wars is currently being filmed. It could just all be a coincidence, but considering the superstar's demanding schedule, a very extreme one.

I, for one, think it would be awesome. If the rumor does pan out to be true, I can almost guarantee he’ll just be the guy in the body suit. If you shave his head and facial hair he’s already just as pale as Vader was in Return of the Jedi, so maybe they’re shooting for a quick flashback of the Dark Lord in his middle age? If Sheamus comes back bald and clean shaven next Monday night on RAW, it would be hard to deny... or he might not need to remove the helmet for the role at all so he'd keep his hair and we’d be none the wiser. Whatever the case, the only one speaking right now is Sheamus, and no one associated with Star Wars has either confirmed or denied the rumor.

The previous trailers for the dark comedy Birdman have been a bit quirky and funny. This newest one is a full on mindtrip. Michael Keaton plays an actor who is famous for being Birdman, so basically it's a mirror to Keaton's real life connection to Batman only way more twisted and weird. Keaton's character is experiencing a mental breakdown and hearing Birdman in his head. He's also lost touch with reality to the point of delusions and hallucinations.

Birdman takes flight October 17th (USA).

These great art pieces of Batgirl and Power Girl were created by Stanley Lau as concept art for Sideshow Collectibles. Lau's art style translates well to sculpture because his subjects always feel fully dimensionalized, and his posing is also more natural than the extreme posing of other artists. 

There are a few photos out there of the finished statues, but I didn't like the quality of the images so I did not include any. The official photos always look better anyway. Via: xombiedirge.

The statue you see above, featuring none other than Metroid leading lady Samus, is pretty slick all by itself, but like Ronco's informercials, it only gets better.

Clap Clap

BOOMSHAKALAKA!

First 4 Figures wants to illuminate your gaming shelf with its new Light Suit Exclusive Samus Statue, and since Nintendo isn't really doing anything with the license at the moment (no, Smash does not count), Metroid fans at least have this to look forward to. The statue will be released early next year, and scale wise is a pretty impressive 20 inches tall. This is the suit from Metroid Prime 2, but it is just the first in a new series from First 4, so that should make Samus fans happy. The statue will cost around $365, but it can be split up into 3 payments. You can scroll down to see some additional pics of the statue, and you can head here to put in your preorder now. 

With only a handful of exceptions, many of the panels at San Diego Comic-Con this year were a little underwhelming. On the bright side, the outdoor festivities and cosplay were on point as usual. The good folks at Sneaky Zebra were there to capture all the costumed craziness and gender-bending greatness. Look for cameos from panel moderator extraordinaire Chris Hardwick, David Yost and Walter Jones (the original Blue and Black Power Rangers), director Freddie Wong, actor Sam Witwer, and more.

In celebration of recently hitting 100 videos and over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, Sneaky Zebra is also giving away a couple SDCC exclusive Firefly action figures. To enter to win, tweet @The_SneakyZebra ideas for who you like to see Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin cosplay.

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most overloaded movies I have ever seen. There are too many characters, too many strange alien locations, too many colors, too many jokes, too many villains. Luckily, director James Gunn does too much really well, and the film is chockfull of everything without being bloated. It is also the most fun I have had in a movie theater since I don’t even know when.

The movie opens with a young single mother dying of cancer. Her son, Peter, runs away from the hospital and is immediately abducted by a spaceship. The next time we see Peter he is on an abandoned alien planet dancing to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” and stealing a powerful artifact. He isn’t sure what it is, but he knows a lot of people want it and he’s quick to pick up on its importance, asking if it’s a Maltese Falcon kind of thing. Pretty soon everyone is after him, including Gamora and Rocket Raccoon and Groot. They all form a loose alliance of mutual interest in prison, and Drax the Destroyer tags along for the chance to kill Ronan the Accuser, Gamora’s former boss. With the band together, things start happening.

The script by Nicole Perlman and James Gunn flings the band of misfits across the galaxy, from planet to spaceship to giant ancient space head, and each world is bright and colorful and full of interesting creatures. One of the joys of Guardians is that while it doesn’t shy away from darkness, it doesn’t feel the need to bludgeon us over the head with dark shadows and solemn colors we’ve become accustomed to. The movie is sincere and hopeful, more than any of the more conventional Marvel films. The characters all have tragic pasts, but they don’t spend all their time brooding. Peter Quill especially is open to joy and wonder in a really lovely way, inspired by his bizarre understanding of Footloose and the mix tape he carries everywhere, his only remembrance of home. 

Chris Pratt plays Quill (although he prefers to be called Star-Lord), the leader of the unlikely heroes, and it is his movie from start to finish. We’ve seen him steal scenes as a supporting actor in Parks & Recreation and Deliveryman, but given a star vehicle of his own he rises to the occasion. He has the devil-may-care swagger of someone who has been surviving by his wits since he was a child, confident that he can take his way out of anything. And while he’s not had the greatest influences after he left Earth, he also has the heart of boy far from home who misses his mom. He may be a somewhat amoral, womanizing thief, but he is also boyishly open and sincere, with a deeply ingrained heroism.

That through line of decency leaves him open to the ministrations of Gamora,, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, who has a new conscience and serves as the film's moral compass. Zoe Saldana plays her like a recovering child soldier, extraordinarily tough, but with an unspoken vulnerability, equal parts prideful and ashamed. Star-Lord saves her life in prison, and rather than grateful deference, she is unyielding in her demands of him. Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer is one those cases where a part and an actor are made for each other. Drax is a hulking brute whose brutism is a mask for unbearable, inarticulate grief, inarticulate because he has no capacity for figurative language or metaphor. It leads to a sometimes childlike honesty and also an unexpectedly fierce devotion.

The last two-fifths of the team are fully CG. Rocket, misanthropic (does misanthropic apply to alien races or just humans?), foul-mouthed, violent, anthropomorphic raccoon, is one the highlights of the film. Bradley Cooper’s voice work is funny and biting and hints at a heart buried underneath the bluster, but just barely. Rocket has great chemistry with Pratt’s Star-Lord, and for that I think the credit goes to Sean Gunn, who appears onscreen as Yondu’s sidekick Kraglin, but also served as Rocket’s stand in on-set, acting opposite the other cast members. As for Groot, well, Groot is a sentient tree who only speaks 3 words (SPOILER! 5 words, actually) the entire movie, and yet, he is a fully present, developed character. I don’t know if that is owing to the CG artists or to Vin Diesel’s voice, but it is an achievement.

As for the rest of the massive cast, Gunn deftly handles the various antagonists, giving them all screen time without shoehorning anyone in. The caliber of the actors he brought on to play small roles is a little bit astonishing, especially given the reportedly onerous demands of a Marvel contract. How did he get Benicio del Toro to sign on for 6-9 films as the Collector? Thanos is barely in the movie (although there is speculation that he will be the major villain in Avengers 3, years down the road), but Gunn talked Josh Brolin into a motion capture suit. In a film with such uniquely strange heroes, everyone who isn’t on the team is an antagonist, but the real villain of the piece is Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser and his haughtiness suits the part well.. Ronan wants to destroy a planet that the thinks disrespects the culture of the Kree. The challenge for the Guardians isn’t just coming up with a plan to stop Ronan, it is to overcome their own selfishness, work together, and convince enough of their enemies that it serves their own interests to join the fight. Of course, this is a superhero movie, so they succeed, and their foes are vanquished for now. But it happens in ways that will surprise you.

It's that time of year when the aisles of big box stores are full of extra-long twin sheets, bean bag chairs, and desk lamps. Teens are gearing up to head to college, and teens, you are going to want this glowing Borg Cube mini fridge, because if you have roommates, the food sharing/stealing situation can be a little intense. The very small refrigerator also has a warm setting, which, I don’t even know what you’d use that for. Maybe if you are rewarding yourself for memorizing conjugations with sips of warm soup?

Anyway, it looks like a Borg Cube, and it glows. The Borg Cube is an obscure enough reference that it won’t make you a target for the backward few who haven’t heard that Star Trek is actually cool now, while signaling your fandom to your like-minded comrades. It is basically a social dog-whistle in refrigerator form. As an added bonus, the product photos feature a Bawls energy drink, my beverage of choice on the best, wildest night of my collegiate career. Clearly everyone with this fridge is destined for greatness. 

The Borg Cube Fridge holds 9 cans of soda (or a lot of bacon). It’s a Think Geek exclusive that will run you $150, but it’s $150 well spent if it keeps your roommate from drinking all your soy milk.

Source: Oh Gizmo

Marvel’s latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy, hits theaters tomorrow. To help lead us into the studio’s intergalactic space adventure, MTV has put together a video pointing out and explaining every Easter Egg that has been worked into the rich cinematic universe so far — except for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which doesn’t hit shelves until September 9th, and GOTG for obvious reasons. I consider myself a sharp-eyed viewer, but I missed many of the ones they featured. If you learn some new facts too, don’t take it as a blow to your geek ego, just welcome it as further proof of the forethought and detail the studio is putting into each of their movies. Take note, DC!

Be sure to read our full review for Guardians of the Galaxy here.

We all grew up reading Little Golden Books, and the classic stories shaped us and became part of who we are. Now artist Joey Spiotto has turned some of your favorite movies and TV shows into Little Golden Books style book covers. There’s something a little bit subversive about taking a movie with dark, adult themes and transposing it onto something innocent and bright. Dark stories are all the more disturbing when they’re flooded with light.

Spiotto opens up another level of analysis by drawing the adult characters as children. Look at Little Hugo, fat and happy, eating his favorite snacks. Now think about everything we saw him go through — the institution, the lottery, everything on the island, and think about that happening to sweet little Hugo. Good hell, it’s depressing.

On top of all that, the detail and illustrations are fantastic. I especially love that the symbols on the spine are specific to each piece. The covers pay tribute to the effect stories can have on us, transporting us back to the openness of childhood. These are part of an art show called Storytime: A Little Gallery Show, which includes over 50 properties reinterpreted by Spiotto. It opens tomorrow, August 1, at LA’s Gallery 1988 East, 7021 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles CA. It will run through August 16. Prints will go on sale here on August 2.

Thanks to /Film for the tip.

Attention All SpongeBob SquarePants Fans: I’ve got some big news. The Bun Taco at Del Taco is back! Wait, did I say SpongeBob SquarePants fans? I meant stoners. Sorry about that. Well, there’s enough of a crossover. Let’s just roll with it.

Sh*t is about to get real for long time fans of Nickelodeon’s anthropomorphic sea creature and the sedated alike. Here’s the first trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. It’s hard to believe that the first SpongeBob SquarePants movie came out 10 years ago. Ya know, before 3D was a strict studio mandate, and back when the 35-year-olds who are too old to be watching a kid’s show were 25-year-olds who were too old to be watching a kid’s show? Those were the days.

So with a proper amount of time having passed and a concept that takes the beloved 2D animated characters into a live-action and 3D animated hybrid world, it looks like Paramount could have a sure-fire moneymaker on their hands (they need it). Directed by Paul Tibbit, the movie brings back Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, and welcomes Antonio Banderas as Alameda Jack. This trailer is a bit shorter than what they showed us at Comic-Con last weekend and features much more of the pirate character played by Banderas.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is due out next year on February 6th, 2015.