After a 5 month absence, the team at 1A4 Studio have created a new "speedrun" which uses crude humor, a touch of unintelligible foul language, and a unique animation style to summarize Steven Spielberg's classic film Jaws in 60 seconds.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to watch the pilot for Fox’s Batman prequel, Gotham. It was one of the best pilot episodes I’ve seen in recent memory. They really have created a rich, expansive world that begs to be explored further. Every member of the cast remained faithful and familiar to those beloved and infamous characters while, at the same time, bringing something new and exciting. Even though the many unknown actors were most entrancing (Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot is a revelation!), the more well-known actors also disappeared into their new roles.

The casting choices have been perfect so far, so I fully trust they’ll make good use of Dexter’s David Zayas, who has been cast as mafia boss Salvatore Maroni. The character was previously featured in The Dark Knight, and was played by Eric Roberts.

Deadline, who broke the news, also provided a little more background on the character:

Maroni is a street operator who clawed his way into the city’s drug trade and unions. He is second only to Carmine Falcone in power and reach, and second to none in his appetite for violence. In time, Maroni will develop into one of Batman’s first enemies and become infamous as the man responsible for disfiguring DA Harvey Dent, leading to his transformation into Two-Face. But for now, as he strives to gain more territory in Gotham, he’ll find himself on a crash course with his rival Falcone (John Doman) for control of the city.

Zayas, a former New York police officer, played the head of a Latino prison gang on HBO’s Oz, and is most known for playing detective Angel Batista for 8 seasons on Showtime’s Dexter. It’ll be interesting to see Zayas back on the other side of the law and how his role will expand as this show goes on. 

Gotham premieres on Fox this fall on September 22, 2014.

Bill Murray has been cast as Baloo the bear in Disney's The Jungle Book. Murray is great casting because he has a distinctive voice and great comedy timing. He will join Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Christopher Walken as King Louie, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, and newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli. The live-action and animation blended movie is helmed by director Jon Favreau. The Jungle Book swaggers its way into theaters October 9th, 2015 (USA). 

Transformers have got to be the best at posing for portraits. They’re perfectly comfortable lying dormant, disguised as vehicles and whatnot. So if they have to stare off into the sunset or into deep space for a portrait, you know they can keep that head tilted and won’t do any nose scratching. Optimus Prime and Megatron strike a pose and remain stoic for these pieces by Jason Edmiston. Limited edition prints are on sale at Acid Free Gallery.

Artist Babrus Khan created a sketch of the Man of Steel with red eyes aglow, about to fly into battle. There is very strong posing in this piece, you can really tell Superman is both strong and flying. We rarely get to see a work-in-progress (WIP) on the art we post to GeekTyrant; but we have an initial sketch, masking, and shading passes of Khan's work.

I haven’t watched a full season of The Simpsons for quite a few years now, but my I’ll dip my toe in every now and then to see if it’s worth taking the plunge and keeping up with the show again. Unfortunately, I just haven't felt the magic of seasons past when I tune in to watch new episodes. The show has piqued my interest recently, though, with the 5-minutes of footage Fox released for their upcoming Family Guy crossover. And there is yet another crossover coming this season that is too irresistible to pass up.

The Wrap reports that this November The Simpsons will have a Futurama crossover that will feature voice actors Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, and Tress MacNeille. There’s no word on how their characters will cross paths with the Simpson clan, but we’re just excited to see Matt Groening’s other creations brought back to life in some capacity. Maybe it could spark yet another comeback for the show that was cancelled by Fox but came back with straight to DVD films that were split up as episodes for Comedy Central. Fingers crossed.

Simpsons producer Al Jean also said that a character will die this season, offering the clue that the title for that episode will be “Clown in the Dumps,” and added that the actor who voices that character won an Emmy for his portrayal of the character. Most of the main cast have won Emmys for their work on the show, but if you look at the list of the show’s Emmy wins, it narrows the possibilities down quite a bit. 

The season will also feature guest voices from Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman, David Hyde Pierce, Jeffrey Ross, Matthew Sweet, Jane Fonda, and Willem Dafoe.

The new season of The Simpsons premieres on September 28th.

Via: Neatorama / io9

Artists Fernando Mendonça and Anderson Mahanski have created a "Walt Disney Pictures Game of Thrones" art series. Most of Disney's animated movies are based on books, so why not ones by George R. R. Martin? The team of Mendonça and Mahanski have really captured the essence of each respective actor and character. Some of these are super high-res and would make for great desktops. Thanks for the art hookup Geek X Girls. 

EmDrive - illustration by Elvis Popovic

NASA has published their findings that microwave thrusters, generally believed to be impossible, actually work in spite of the fact that they violate the law of conservation of momentum. British scientist Roger Shawyer invented the EmDrive several years ago, and Chinese scientists confirmed its functionality last year in a test that produced 720mN of thrust, which is enough to power a satellite, but the West didn’t pay much attention. The NASA team tested a slightly different model built by US scientist Guido Fetta, and were able to produce 30-50 mN, significantly less than the Chinese team, but enough to prove the theory. So how does it work? NASA isn’t claiming to know.

"Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma."

“Interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma” means that the thruster may work by pushing against the electromagnetism and particles that pop in and out of existence in empty space. So it makes total sense that no one understands why this engine works. No one understands why quantum particles do anything. Mostly. Or maybe The End of Mr. Y’s hypothesis is correct, and Shawyer has a mind powerful enough to think universal law into existence. Who knows.

The real prototype

But for now, why it works is less important than that it works. The implications of these findings are huge, because microwave thrusters don’t require any propellent and can be powered by solar energy, so they can operate in perpetuity unless the hardware malfunctions. This could change space travel forever. Propellent (like rocket fuel) is expensive and makes up the majority of the weight of any launch, and when it runs out, the engines stop. With a microwave thruster, the trip to Mars would take weeks rather than months. Deep space exploration would be possible. Basically, start filling out your Starfleet application. 

Obviously, the experiment will be scrutinized and replicated before the results are totally accepted. But this is exciting. Something new is happening in physics, and it has cracked the ceiling wide open. Our science fiction future awaits.

Source: Wired via Sploid. If you're a geek and a nerd you can read NASA's paper here.

I didn't even realize the Fantastic Four movie was already shooting, let alone finished. Kate Mara, who plays the Invisible Woman, tweeted a photo celebrating the end of filming. It features Mara with fellow cast members Miles Teller (Mr. Fantastic), Michael B. Jordan (Human Torch), and Jamie Bell (The Thing).

The film has had some controversy due the cast's age and Jordan's casting as Johnny Storm. But the newest controversy is Miles Teller hamming it up with a duck-face in this photo. He was just in GQ Magazine looking suave, now duck-face. 

Fantastic Four explodes on screens June 19th, 2015 (USA).

I’m pretty sure no one is excited about the new Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The character design, casting decisions, rumored changes to the origin story, even recent posters have elicited jeers from fans, especially those of us who grew up reading the comics and/or watching the original series and movies (Like, why did they change Irma’s* name to “Taylor” and cast Abby Elliott? Fuck that noise). Cinema Blend reports that at a press conference last Friday, Megan Fox, who plays April O’Neil for some reason known only to God, responded to a a question about the backlash and had some choice words for fanboys (and girls):

"Let me tell you something about those people. How much money did Transformers 4 make? Exactly. Those people can complain – they all go to the theater. They're gonna love it – and if they don't love it, they can fuck off, and that's the end of that."

I kind of get where Fox is coming from. Fans have never been kind to her, especially when she was cast in TMNT. She has expressed frustration with this, feeling that this kind of backlash has hurt her career. “[April] is an ambitious journalist that's not making it the way that she wants to be because people underestimate her,"  she told HitFix. Adding sarcastically, "I couldn't possibly relate to that." If she didn’t have a “fuck the haters” outlook, she would probably spend all of her time crying on the bathroom floor. But at the same time, I feel like it is a point of honor that none of us pay to see this movie now.

What she’s really saying is that it doesn’t matter what kind of crap she and Bay** throw on the wall, we’re still going to shell out for it. She says we can fuck off after we’ve paid to see the movie and hated it. Well, sorry, Megan, I think this time I’m not going to watch you guys throw a bunch of explosions on top of my childhood memories.

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also stars Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Noel Fisher, Whoopi Goldberg, K. Todd Freeman, Danny Woodburn, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson, and Minae Noji. It opens this Friday, August 8, and I think I’ll be washing my hair.

In news that has enraged depressed male Internet commenters the world over, Variety reports that Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) is in talks to direct a reboot of Ghostbusters that will feature an all-female ghost busting team. A new script will be written from scratch. I know that some of you were still holding out hope for Ghostbusters 3, but that seems less and less likely all the time. Bill Murray is never going to sign on, and Harold Ramis died earlier this year, which is most likely what prompted director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2) to leave the project in March. That doesn’t leave much of a band to get back together (sorry, Dan Aykroyd).

Sony has been looking for a new director for the project since Reitman’s departure, and now it sounds like they’ve settled on this idea instead. THR originally reported that Feig was in talks to direct Ghostbusters 3, but have updated their article to state that this is a new project. Apparently the talks are very preliminary, and no formal negotiations have taken place, so nothing is set in stone. The director is already set to shoot Spy with Melissa McCarthy, due out next year, and he reportedly has several scripts in development at Fox, so this new lady Ghostbusters is, at best, third in line.

I know everyone complains about reboots, and a lot of them are terrible and unnecessary. The first two Ghostbusters don’t require updating, but if Sony is intent on squeezing more money out of the franchise, wouldn’t you rather see a fresh start with some really funny comediennes than one out of three original Ghostbusters handing things off to Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, and Zac Efron? I can get behind complaints that Sony is messing with the Ghostbusters, but I don’t understand complaints that girls ruin everything. Feig hasn’t directly commented on the news, but he did send out this sort of subtweet:

Interesting how making a movie with men in the lead roles is normal but making a movie with women in the lead roles is a "gimmick." #its2014

— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) August 3, 2014

I feel ya, Paul Feig.

Which funny actresses would you like to see suit up? Which funny actors would you like to see as the damsel in distress? Put your suggestions in the comments.

Star Wars and Mr. Potato Head make the perfect office desk accessory. If you buy multiple sets you can cross swap body parts for some really odd combos. Mr. Potato Head R2-D2, Darth Vader, and Storm Trooper are available on Amazon. Yoda is available on eBay and seems to be the rarest of the four.

Thanks to USA Today we have our first look at Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in Tim Burton's upcoming film project Big Eyes. 

The film is based on the true story of Walter Keane (Waltz), "who was one of the most successful painters 1950s and early 1960s. The artist earned staggering notoriety by revolutionizing the commercialization and accessibility of popular art with his enigmatic paintings of waifs with big eyes. The truth would eventually be discovered though: Keane's were actually not created by him at all, but by his wife, Margaret (Adams). The Keanes, it seemed, had been living a lie that had grown to gigantic proportions."

Waltz said in an interview:

I remember the pictures from the 1960s, they were everywhere. We train ourselves to look for drama, to go for conflict because those are the stories worth telling. It would be expected that this (situation) too would be something extraordinary.

Adams added:

"Margaret really believed that as a woman, people would not buy her art. Walter convinced her the life they were able to lead was because the artist was a man, who could sell more art at a higher price than a woman.  This all seems so theatrical, like something you would design for a film. But that actually happened. Living the lie was something that weighed heavy on Margaret. But she won her name back."

As a fan of Burton's film work, I'm really looking forward to seeing him take on such a different project. This has the potential to be a great movie, like most of his earlier work. The movie also stars Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, and Terence Stamp. It's set to be released in theaters on December 25th. 

So Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy kind of blew up at the box office over the weekend! If you haven't seen it yet… shame on you. In my opinion this is the best movie the studio has made so far, and it deserves to be successful. Marvel commissioned Forrest Whaley and Sean Willets to create a LEGO trailer for the film, which you can watch below. I also included a LEGO-style poster that you can check out above. It's always fun to see these kinds of movies transformed into animated LEGO awesomeness! 

I've got some good news for all you Attack on Titan fans out there! Last week director Shinji Higuchi announced that the live-action adaptation he's working on will be split into two feature films! He also revealed that with the help of manga creator Hajime Isayama, they will introduce some new characters and new, more dangerous villains. As a fan of the franchise, I'm completely okay with new characters being added to the story. I'm sure the movie will end up being just as badass as the anime.

23 year-old actor Haruma Miura was previously announced as the film’s star, and he is taking on role of Eren Jaeger. We now have a list of actors who will be Joining Miura in Attack on Titan, and they consist of Hiroki Hasegawa (Jellyfish Princess), Kiko Mizuhara (Norwegian Wood), Kanata Hongō (Prince of Tennis), Takahiro Miura (Space Battleship Yamato), Nanami Sakuraba (Twin Spica), Satoru Matsuo (Themae Romae), Satomi Ishihara (Sadako 3D), Pierre Taki (Linda Linda Linda), Jun Kunimura (Audition), Shu Watanabe (Kamen Rider OOO), Ayame Misaki (Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters), and Rina Takeda (High Kick Girl).

The script was co-written by Yuusuke Watanabe (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Gantz) and film critic Tomohiro Machiyama. I think this adaptation is in good hands, and I can't wait to see how this movie turns out! The fan base for this franchise is huge. There were a ton of great cosplayers representing characters from the series at San Diego Comic-Con this year. 

Here's a description of the story that the movie is based on:

The story of Attack on Titan takes place in a world where the remnants of humanity live inside a series of connected cities, isolated by enormous walls. These walls exists to keep the Titans out, gigantic humanoid creatures who devour humans seemingly without reason. These Titans have reduced the world's population to staggeringly low numbers. The 3 main protagonists of Isayama's manga are Eren Jaeger, his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armin Arlert. Their lives are changed forever when a "Colossal Titan" breaches the wall protecting their town, leading to thee death of Eren's mother. Vowing revenge and to reclaim the world from the Titans, Eren, Mikasa and Armin join the Survey Corps, an elite group of soldiers who fight Titans outside the walls.

Source: Anime News Network, Crunchy Roll

We have a really cool fan-made poster design for Avengers: Age of Ultron for you to check out. It was created by Eddie Holly, and it features Ultron with his crazy legion of robots who will cleanse the world of evil... by killing everyone. The artist also did one for Thanos, which you can check out below. It's going to be a glorious day when we get to see the Avengers team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle the Mad Titan. 

Guardians of the Galaxy completely exploded at the box office this weekend, and everyone that has seen it seems to have enjoyed the hell out of it. The movie is an instant classic, and takes the whole Marvel universe to a whole new level of brilliance. 

Writer and director James Gunn took time over the weekend to write a passionate thank you letter to the crew, producers, and fans of the movie. In it he also revealed that while we were all enjoying his movie over the weekend, he was working on the sequel. 

Here's the letter that he posted on his Facebook fan page:

Thanks to all of you who saw (and are seeing) Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend, from the bottom of my heart. The Guardians are a group of oddballs, outcasts, and geeks. The movie is for anyone who ever felt cast aside, left out, or different. It's for all of us who don't belong. This movie belongs to you. And, today, I think we're doing okay.

I am of course happy with all the film has accomplished box-office-wise. But what touches me the most is that the film I told the folks at Marvel I wanted to make two years ago is the film that you're seeing in theaters today - it's that so many of you seem to be directly EXPERIENCING the film I INTENDED. The cast, the producers, the crew, and I felt like we were making something special while we were making it. But it is very rare that a director's INTENTIONS in creating a film, or a scene, or a character, or a line of dialogue are, seemingly, specifically what is experienced by an audience (not to mention critics!), and that seems to be what has happened here. You have allowed a talking raccoon - for a moment, a minute, or a day - to make you a little more human. And for that, I am profoundly grateful.

If I relied on myself to implement these intentions, the film would be a shambling mess. But instead, I had a wonderful cast, genius producers, an incredibly brave studio, sublimely talented visual effects artists, great editors, and the best damn crew of mostly-British bastards to actually implement these intentions for me. Where I had a good idea they would, through alchemy, transform it into a great one. Many of you involved are friends of mine on Facebook. Many of you will read this somewhere else. I love you all.

You may remember me posting here a couple weeks ago how sad I was to be finishing up the film, that I was having trouble letting go of Rocket, and that I was going to miss him. But seeing him (and Groot, and the rest of the team) embraced by the world like they have been, to be UNDERSTOOD, makes it a wonderful letting go. It's like giving a foster pet up for adoption to the most wonderful parents in the world.

And, of course, I'm not really saying goodbye as, while many of you have been enjoying the film, I've spent this weekend hard at work on the sequel. I couldn't help myself! The results are nice but it's really the creative process I love and that keeps me going. I'm on fire with this thing! The Guardians have so many hardships and heartaches and triumphs ahead of them, and I can't wait to share them with all of you.

Onto week two...

Love, James

This guy is awesome. 

This Harry Potter trailer cut in the style Scott Pilgrim is my favorite mashup trailer of all time. The team at The Unusual Suspect went over the 20 hours of Harry Potter footage to bring us a tightly cut two and a half minute trailer. Beyond the editing, they have added motion graphic animation that will soon become a requirement for all future Scott Pilgrim mashups. This is perfection in the art of mashup trailers. It must be watched, perhaps even taught in schools. I now wish this were a real movie. Thanks to io9 for their great find.

Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff has been tweeting some clues that clearly tease a superhero she will be playing as part of a "super secret job." There's a photo that shows her having a cast made for her face, and then a little glimpse of a red costume. 

There have been a lot of rumors and speculation regarding what superhero or villain Sackhoff could play. She's already expressed interest in Captain Marvel and Harley Quinn. We do know that at one point Marvel was discussing a potential project with her. 

On July 29th she said the following:

"I'm wearing red leather to my meeting with @TheRealStanLee today, sorta just seemed appropriate."

A few days later these two photos popped up:

"Headed out for day one of a super secret job....I will send photo clues throughout the next 3 days! Clue #1"

"Clue 2"

Who knows exactly what this could all mean? She's definitely got some kind of superhero project brewing with Marvel. The red and black colors would suggest Captain Marvel. It's not clear on if this is for a movie, TV show or some other form of entertainment, but if Sackhoff belongs in the Marvel cinematic universe, it would be pretty damn cool if she was going to play Captain Marvel. 

Princess Leia rocks David Bowie's iconic lightning bolt face paint from the album Aladdin Sane. Artist Leka also takes the "Rebel Rebel" single cover and gives it a Star Wars twist. I've included the original art pieces for reference. Via: xombiedirge.