It's no secret that Stephen King isn't a big fan of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining. He has voiced his opinion in the past, and after all these years he continues to talk about how much he doesn't like the classic horror film. King is my favorite author and The Shining is one of my favorite books. Kubrick's adaptation is also one of my favorite horror films. I appreciate each of them for what they are. King just can't stand it, and he sat down with Rolling Stone for an interview recently where they started discussing the 1980 classic. King made his hatred for Kubrick's Shining very clear, saying,

"I don't get it. But there are a lot of things that I don't get. But obviously people absolutely love it, and they don't understand why I don't. The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice. In the book, there's an actual arc where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he's crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene. I had to keep my mouth shut at the time. It was a screening, and Nicholson was there. But I'm thinking to myself the minute he's on the screen, 'Oh, I know this guy. I've seen him in five motorcycle movies, where Jack Nicholson played the same part.' And it's so misogynistic. I mean, Wendy Torrance is just presented as this sort of screaming dishrag. But that's just me, that's the way I am."

Damn. That last statement about the character Wendy is similar to a previous statement he made saying, "Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about." I can see his point there.

Then when asked asked if he could recognize that even though the movie wasn't the best adaptation of his book,  but a good film regardless, he replied, 

No. I never saw it that way at all. And I never see any of the movies that way. The movies have never been a big deal to me. The movies are the movies. They just make them. If they're good, that's terrific. If they're not, they're not. But I see them as a lesser medium than fiction, than literature, and a more ephemeral medium."

I enjoy books and movies all the same, but I probably don't read as much as I should these days. As for what his favorite film adaptation of one of his books is, he says,

"Probably Stand by Me. I thought it was true to the book, and because it had the emotional gradient of the story. It was moving. I think I scared the shit out of Rob Reiner. He showed it to me in the screening room at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I was out there for something else, and he said, 'Can I come over and show you this movie?' And you have to remember that the movie was made on a shoestring. It was supposed to be one of those things that opened in six theaters and then maybe disappeared. And instead it went viral. When the movie was over, I hugged him because I was moved to tears, because it was so autobiographical."

I don't think anyone will ever be able to convince King that The Shining is good movie. But at least he's a fan of another classic that we all love. 

For those of you who have enjoyed engulfing yourselves in Peter Jackson's Middle Earth films, we have 27-minutes of extended footage for you to watch from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. All of these scenes are included in the Extended Edition Blu-ray and DVD release of the film which is currently available. But if you don't want to spend the money, and you're still curious to see what these extra scenes involve, you can watch them in the video below. 

Since the six-film saga is coming to a close with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on December 17th, I will soak in whatever I can get from what Jackson has created for us. 

Now we can go camping dressed as Marvel superheroes! Selk'bag has released a line of wearable superhero sleeping bags for characters such as Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Captain America, and Hulk. These things are both absolutely ridiculous and extremely cool. Here's the description:

Marvel by Selk’bag allows you to suit up and enjoy any adventure as your favorite Marvel super hero! An excellent choice for spring and summer camping as well as fun around the home, Marvel by Selk’bag features • Four heroes: Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk and Captain America • Removable booties for use virtually anywhere • Four sizes to fit fans from 4’6” up to 6’4” • A 45 degree temperature rating • Award-winning Selk’bag design!

If you want to purchase one you can get one here for around $140. For that much money these things better freakin' keep you warm! 

The first official photo from Kevin Smith's film project Yoga Hosers has been released, and it features his daughter Harley Quinn Smith alongside Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp. It has also been revealed that the film is a spin-off of Smith's horror movie Tusk.

The movie stars Depp, who plays the same Quebec police detective that he played in Tusk, and in the story he enlists two convenience store clerks, who are played by his and Smith's daughters. All the actors from Tusk are reprising their roles in the film. Those cast members include Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, Ralph Garman and Harley Morenstein. New cast members include Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Austin Butler, Adam Brody, Tyler Posey, and Jason Mewes.

The story centers on "two teenage yoga nuts who have an after-school job at a Manitoba convenience store called Eh-2-Zed. When an ancient evil rises from beneath Canada’s crust and threatens their big invitation to a 12th-grade party, the Colleens join forces with a legendary man hunter from Montreal named Guy Lapointe (Depp) to fight for their lives with 'all seven chakras, one Warrior Pose at a time.'"

This sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Smith discussed the relationship between Harley and Lily-Rose saying,

"Their onscreen chemistry comes courtesy of a lifelong friendship: Harley and Lily have known each other since first grade. Acting is a job of making choices, and Harley and Lily were making their own character and delivery choices from day one on the flick. At one point, I pulled them both aside to ask, 'You are making excellent choices without me saying anything. What adult is telling you to do these things behind my back?' The girls said they'd simply learned to act from watching movies and TV shows their whole lives. But in their case, acting and goofing around is in their blood. And it was thrilling to watch them both take their first steps in what's bound to be a lifelong passion for performance."  

The movie is currently shooting in Los Angeles, and it will be great to see how it turns out.

Via: THR

Here's a wonderful piece of fan art created by artist Scott Park called "Hall of Heroes." The illustration pays tribute to 80 female characters from movies and genre TV shows. Park is the same artist who brought us art featuring Star Cars, Movie Cars, and  Robot & Cyborgs. The guy always comes up with fun and nostalgic art. I hope you like this one.

The Hobbit movies released in a High Frame Rate (HFR) of 48fps were met with a lot of hate. Having seen the Hobbit films in both 24fps and 48fps, I can easily say HFR is a much better experience, especially so for 3D.

As an avid movie watcher I really do like 24fps, but in terms of visual fidelity HFR wins. From silent to sound, black and white to color, and from SD to HD the superior tech and viewing experience always wins out overtime. With video games leading the charge, more people will become accustomed to the aesthetic quality of HFR.

I really do think HFR will be the way we view and create content in the future and it's exciting to see that YouTube has now added support for 48fps and 60fps video. If you want to see what 60fps looks like you will need to be using Chrome or Safari browsers in 720p or 1080p. You will also need a computer fast enough deal with the increased frame rate.

I've got two videos that are the best examples of what this buttery smooth footage looks like. I haven't found a movie trailer in HFR and ones I did find were mostly mislabeled.

Have you ever wondered what Batman would look like as a buccaneer pirate? Well, here you go! This character illustration was done by Stephen Zavala. It's called "Continental Batman," and it definitely gives The Dark Knight a cool look. There was a Batman pirate comic book, but I personally like this look a lot better. Someone needs to cosplay this awesomeness! 

Earlier today Universal Pictures released a trailer for the Despicable Me spin-off film Minions. Now is looks like DreamWorks Animation has jumped in on the CG Animated movie trailer action, as they've released a third trailer for their own spin-off movie, Penguins of Madagascar. I love what I've seen from the movie so far. It looks like it's going to be very funny and something that both kids and adults could equally enjoy.

Super spy teams aren’t born…they’re hatched.  Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private.  These elitists of the elite are joining forces with a chic undercover organization, The North Wind.  Led by handsome and husky Agent Classified (we could tell you his name, but then…you know), voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Together, they must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, voiced by John Malkovich, from destroying the world as we know it. 

The movie comes out on November 26th, and it also stars the voices of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, and Peter Stormare.

Having voiced Bruce Wayne in the animated version of Batman: Year One, Ben McKenzie already had some fan cred when he took the role of Detective James Gordon on FOX’s Gotham. This past weekend, McKenzie earned more brownie points with Batman fans by dressing up as an aged Commissioner Gordon, complete with gray hair, thick framed glasses, and an even thicker mustache. McKenzie previously joked that his version of the character would probably have to wait 20 years before he earned the mustache. Thanks for not making us wait that long, Ben! Although, if we get more nail biters like last night’s episode of Gotham, both the audience and young Detective Gordon will have some premature gray hairs.

Thanks to io9!

With the way things leak for big geek movies these days, spoilers have just become a part of geek culture. Some people don't mind the spoilers, and some people seem like they want to kill the person reporting the spoilers. The thing is, it's not going to stop. It's just the world of information that we live in, and more and more spoilers are going to spill out online. Sometimes you can avoid them, other times you can't.

I'm one of those guys that reads just about everything. It kind of goes with the territory writing for a movie blog, but there are a few spoilers that I know are out there that I have avoided. Some things I just don't want to know. For the most part, though, fans crave information on the big exciting films coming out. Especially when it concerns Marvel, DC, or Lucasfilm. It's all just a part of the blockbuster movie industry.

Some recent information that leaked came from actor Idris Elba, and it involved two characters that will appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Internet ran with it, and I didn't see a lot of backlash from readers regarding it. In a interview with Vulture, writer and director Joss Whedon was asked about this specific bit of news that the actor leaked, and he went on to discuss his feelings on spoilers, saying they are both expected and still disappointing. 

"Yeah, when you have a cast of 19,000 people, inevitably, once every month, you pick up [a story] and you're like, 'Awww.'"

The kind of spoilers I try my best to avoid are the ones that deal with the ending of a film, or anything that deals with a big plot twist. Knowing something like that sucks the suspense out of the story, but certain plot points and character information don't bug me. I think those kinds of spoilers only help build buzz for the film, and they get fans engaged by talking and speculating. I like that kind of stuff because it's fun for me. That's actually a benefit of spoilers that Whedon understands, and he even kind of encourages it. When asked if he ever reads fan reactions and speculation, he replied,

"Sometimes. Sometimes it's depressing, sometimes it's enlightening. Every now and then, you definitely learn something from some random person on the Internet who sees your work in a way you didn't, who sees truth in it, that's worth it."

I think it's kind of cool that we can help influence the filmmakers on the movies they make. What kind of movie geek are you? Do you search out spoilers online to try to soak in as much information as you can? Or are you the kind of person that avoids spoilers like the plague? Or is there a middle ground for you? 

Unless you’re consistently playing old games, there is no practical reason to keep your old consoles out on display, especially when there are emulators and iOS versions that allow you access to many of the classic games out there. But what if that old console out on your desk wasn’t a console at all? What if, there was more than meets the eye? TakaraTomy will soon be releasing Transformers that are just that, consoles in disguise. Optimus Prime transforms into the Sony PlayStation, complete with a memory card and a controller, and Megatron transforms into the Sega Mega Drive (the name of the Genesis outside of North America), complete with a game cartridge and controller. I can’t quite tell, but I’m hoping they are the exact same size as the original game consoles. Regardless, TakaraTomy did a fantastic job with these.

H/T: The Awesomer via Geekologie

The GeekTyrant mobile app is finally here, and it's awesome.

Mobile devices are responsible for a whopping 51% of traffic on GeekTyrant, and that share is growing. A lot of this is due to our responsive site design. If you're on desktop or laptop, resize your browsers width to see what I'm talking about (cool, right?). If you are on a mobile device, rotate it, and the content should now change to the new width.

On twitter, facebook, via email, and in our reader surveys all of you have been asking us at GeekTyrant to make a mobile app for years. The biggest thing that kept us from doing it was development cost. To offset that expense we would have had to charge for the app, which we thought was a nonstarter.

We were contacted by DWNLD a few months ago to enter their beta and help make the GeekTyrant app a reality.

Important things to know:

• Android app is coming in 1-2 months
• There are ads, but not a lot. Gotta pay the team of writers who fill the app with content.
• By the end of the year you can subscribe to make those ads go away.
• Some video posts won't have working videos, pretty much anything with flash. There will be a fix or workaround for that soon.
• The app updates every 15-30min so it's not real time to the website.
• News and content do not preload so you need an active internet connection.

The team at DWNLD did an incredible job with the app. It's fast, and you can go through a lot of news very quickly. There are still improvements being made, and we hope to see those roll out over the next year.

ABC has released an extended sneak peek at Marvel's Agent Carter. It features a scene between Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), and it's good to see Howard again! It also introduces us to Stark's butler, Jarvis, who is played by James D'Arcy. The clip aired during Marvel's little self-promoting documentary, Marvel: 75 Years, From Pulp To Pop! So far everything I've seen from the show looks great, and I think this even has potential to be better than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but we'll just have to wait and see. You can find the full, detailed synopsis of the series under the clip.

The series will premiere sometime in early 2015.

Years before Agent Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team swore to protect those who cannot protect themselves from threats they cannot conceive, there was Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell, Marvel's "Captain America: The First Avenger," Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), who pledged the same oath but lived in a different time when women weren’t recognized as being as smart or as tough as their male counterparts.
But no one should ever underestimate Peggy.

It's 1946 and peace has dealt Peggy a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy finds herself stuck doing administrative work when she would rather be back out in the field; putting her vast skills into play and taking down the bad guys. But she is also trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life, Steve Rogers – aka Captain America.

When old acquaintance Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, Marvel's "Captain America: The First Avenger”) finds himself being framed for unleashing his deadliest weapons to anyone willing to pony up the cash, he contacts Peggy - the only person he can trust - to track down those responsible, dispose of the weapons and clear his name. He empowers his butler, Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy, “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”), to be at her beck and call when needed to help assist her as she investigates and tracks down those responsible for releasing these weapons of mass destruction. But Jarvis, who is a creature of habit and sticks to a rigid daily routine, is going to have to make some major life changes if he’s going to be able to keep up with Peggy.

If caught going on these secret missions for Stark, Peggy could be targeted as a traitor and spend the rest of her days in prison – or worse. And as she delves deeper into her investigation, she may find that those she works for are not who they seem, and she might even begin to question whether Stark is as innocent as he claims.

Hey! Check this out. The team over that CineFix released their latest episode of "8-Bit Cinema," and this time they take on the wonderful Wes Anderson adventure film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I never thought I'd see them make one of these based on an Anderson film, but they did, and it's fantastically amusing. If you enjoyed this movie, you're going to love this video. The Life Aquatic would have made an great video game! 

CineFix presents The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou retold via old-school game tech. Okay, this one’s mostly 16-Bit, but there were so many colors and textures to show! 

I don't know about you, but I was pretty pumped up about seeing Christian Bale play Steve Jobs in the upcoming Danny Boyle-directed film. I was more excited for him to do it than I was for Leonardo DiCaprio, but now neither one of them is playing the part, and Sony Pictures is going back to the drawing board. I'm not sure what the deal is with these big name talented actors coming and going, but the studio will eventually land someone, and maybe that someone will be X-Men star Michael Fassbender. 

According to THR, Boyle will be in Los Angeles this week to meet with actors and actresses for the film. Seth Rogen is currently in negotiations to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, but an official offer has yet to be made. So who knows, maybe Rogen will be next actor to drop out of the project. Maybe they should just bring him on to play Steve Jobs! Of course, I'm joking, but crazier things have happened in Hollywood. 

Apparently, Bale simply felt that he wasn't right for the part, so he withdrew himself. Now the studio and director are looking at casting Fassbender in the role. According to Variety, the actor is in early talks to join the project, but who knows at this point if it will pan out or not. Fassbender could be great as Jobs. I think he could easily pull it off. 

The script comes from Aaron Sorkin, and the story will be divided into three acts that detail Jobs preparing for three presentations that came to define his life and the life of the company he co-founded, lost, and came back to.

Funko's Pop! toy figures have become insanely popular over the years, and they flood every toy story and convention that I go to. There's a big market out there of people that love to collect these things. Firefly fans and collectors will be happy to learn that the toy company is releasing a series of Pop! figures based on the characters in Joss Whedon's classic sci-fi series. Here's the short press release:

"You can never have enough Firefly in your life! In follow up to our ReAction Figures Firefly line - we bring you the beloved sci-fi gang as a Pop! series. These Pop!'s are a darling take on the classic Serenity crew! Shiny! Available in December!"

I included an image of those Firefly ReAction figure mentioned below in case you missed them. 

Via: Toysrevil

A lot of fans were incredibly excited to hear that Black Panther was finally going to get his solo film. The character will be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War before he flies solo. The character will be played by Chadwick Boseman (42, Get on Up), and he's the perfect actor to take on the challenge of brining this hero to life. Comic Book Resources had the opportunity to talk to the actor, and he talked about the big Marvel movie announcement event.

"The reaction on stage at the El Capitan Theater was, like, amazing. Just to be there — the way that Marvel set it up and wanted to surprise people with it, it was one of the best surprises that I’ve ever been a part of….I’ve heard from a lot of my friends, and a lot of people I don’t know have congratulated me — but I’ve actually not heard a lot from other people because I went away. I tried to get away from everything just to ground myself. But it’s been amazing. I’m so excited! I’m ready to start right now, and they’re telling me, ‘Slow down a little bit!’"

He then goes on to talk about Black Panther, saying that a movie like this has never been done the way they are planning to do it.

"It’s been done before in different ways, but it’s never been done exactly like this. Wesley Snipes also had his own franchise — you have to acknowledge that. You have to acknowledge what [Anthony] Mackie’s doing [with the Falcon]. But this is a little different in the way that Marvel is presenting it, so it’s amazing."

I'm really curious to see how Marvel is planning on presenting the character, and how it will be different than what has already been done. I'm sure over time more details will find their way into the light. From a previous report regarding Doctor Strange we leaned that Marvel isn't interested in telling anymore origin stories, so there's a chance they might skip it for Black Panther as well. Whatever they do, Black Panther is a badass character that is going to make a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

"You pathetic pair of pitiful pinheads!" 

Here's a hilarious supercut of the greatest insults that the evil villain Skeletor spit out during his time on He-Man and The Masters of the Universe. I don't know why anyone would want to work for this guy, as he ridiculed his team of villains and made them feel like shit. I'm surprised they didn't rise up against him and assassinate his ass. I don't remember Skeletor being so mean to the other villains! It's been awhile since I've watch the show, though. The writers for this series seemed to have a lot of fun with the abusive dialogue though. They definitely had me laughing. The video comes from DreamWorksTV, and it came with the following caption:

Skeletor hasn't just mastered evil, he's also mastered the art of the BURN! Watch some of skeletor's funniest, punniest, most rediculous insults in the history of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!

Via: Kotaku

Last night ABC aired an hour-long Marvel documentary called Marvel: 75 Years, From Pulp to Pop!, and near the end they showed off some cool behind the scenes footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. I was expecting to see a little bit more, but as a hardcore fan, I'll take what I can get! In case you missed it, or you want to watch it again, we have that BTS video footage for you to watch below.

It does provide the first footage of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym together. Then, of course, it also shows the costume that Rudd will be sporting in the movie. 

The footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron features some pretty awesome stuff, including what looks to be a glimpse of the Vision. You can see him in the image above in the red to the left of Scarlett Witch. 

Via: CBM

Artist Stephen Byrne created this amusing piece of fan art that features Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past and Quicksilver from Avengers: Age of Ultron, and it seems as if they're ready to race. The piece is called "You Gotta Be Fast in This Business." 

I loved the portrayal of this character in Days of Future Past by actor Evan Peters. He was my favorite character in the movie. We've only has a little glimpse of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver in Age of Ultron, but from what I've seen he looks cool! 

Do you think director Joss Whedon's version of the character will be better than Bryan Singer's?