by Sebastian Suchecki, Apr 13 2010 // 8:00 AM
While half of the geek community is ranting about Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and the other half is gushing about Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, there seems to be a third fictional hero victorious in getting the first release. That hero? Paper Man.
In a plot that conjoins Superman with Drop Dead Fred, Paper Man is about a boy (Jeff Daniels) who’s best friend is a superhero (Reynolds) he created in his mind. The boy grows up to become a failed writer who can’t let his childhood go. Along the way he meets a girl (Emma Stone), who shows him that being an adult isn’t all that bad.
The script comes from Kieran and Michelle Mulroney, brother and sister-in-law of actor Durmot Mulroney. While we still may be months off before we get to see Reynolds’ CG Green Lantern costume, we do get to check him out in a faux-Superman suit with bleached blonde hair.
Check out the first trailer for the film after the jump, and be sure to catch Paper Man in select theaters starting April 23rd.
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Posted in: Action · Casting · Comics · Drama · Filmmaking · Indie · Movies · News · Trailers · Video
Tagged: Deadpool, Durmot Mulroney, emma stone, Green Lantern, Jeff Daniels, Kieran Mulroney, Michelle Mulroney, Paper Man, Ryan Reynolds
by John Carle, Apr 13 2010 // 7:00 AM
As we draw closer to its late May release date, UFC Undisputed 2010 is posed to dominate the video game fighting market. After showcasing Brock Lesner as its cover athlete and showing us a promotional video with BJ Penn, THQ has just released two new trailers to help everyone get ready for this highly anticipated release.
The first features undefeated UFC Heavyweight Cain Velasquez while the second is an interview discussing the different fighting styles already in and added to the UFC Undispured series. Cain Velasquez, a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler, is an expert in both kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, holding a purple belt. He currently holds a professional MMA record of 8-0, with seven of his wins by knockout.
Much like Penn’s video, Velasquez shows his intense training regime and in ring style spliced with him game footage of him in action. The techniques video actually acts somewhat of a tutorial for those unfamiliar with or new to the MMA world. In addition to last year’s six styles of boxing, kickboxing, Muay Tai, judo, freestyle wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, UFC Undisputed 2010 adds Greco-Roman wrestling, Sambo and Karate.
The video takes the time to explain the differences in some of these styles as well as gives an introduction to just what Sambo is as it isn’t widely practiced in America. After the jump, take a look and two brand new trailers for UFC Undisputed 2010.
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Posted in: Action · News · Playstation 3 · THQ · Trailers · Video · Video Games · Xbox 360
Tagged: BJ Penn, Brock Lesner, Cain Velasquez, THQ, Trailers, UFC, UFC Undisputed, UFC Undisputed 2010
by John Carle, Apr 12 2010 // 4:00 PM
One of the best things about Machinima is the almost limitless possibilities. In addition to seeing your favorite characters given new personalities, Machinima gives the possibility of seeing them in different surroundings as well. Skilled programmers are able to rip sprites from old school games and animate them in new and exciting ways.
Mortal Kombat vs. Oregon Trail is exactly what its title says. Taking the Apple computer lab classic Oregon Trail and its best minigame of hunting and adds Mortal Kombat’s two top ninjas Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Let the fatalities on the poor defenseless animals ensure.
Make sure to also check out other mashup Machinimas like R-Type vs. Space Invaders and Grand Theft Auto vs. Frogger too if you enjoy this one. As always, keep it here for new Machinima every Monday.
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Posted in: Classics · Games · Geek · Machinima Mondays · Video · Video Games
Tagged: Machinima, Machinima Monday, Midway, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat vs. Oregon Trail, Oregon Trail, Video Games
by Joe Gillis, Apr 12 2010 // 3:00 PM
This week finds Marvel out with another bunch of new comics and other goodies. Of the ones dropping this week we’re particularly interested in Iron Man Noir #1, Powers #4, Punishermax # 6 and the debut of Black Widow #1.
Remember, comics go on sale this Wednesday so get to your favorite comics store early for best selection. Don’t know where your nearest comic store is? Use this handy guide to find one.
Comics On-Sale:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: JACKPOT #3
BLACK WIDOW #1 (HA)
BLACK WIDOW #1 FOREMAN VARIANT (HA)
BLACK WIDOW #1 MOVIE VARIANT (HA)
BLACK WIDOW #1 WOMEN OF MARVEL VARIANT (HA)
DAREDEVIL #506
DAREDEVIL #506 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #894
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #894 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT
ENDER’S GAME: THE LEAGUE WAR #1
HULK MGC #1
IRON MAN LEGACY #1 LARROCA COVER
IRON MAN LEGACY #1 MEINERDING VARIANT
IRON MAN LEGACY #1 MOVIE VARIANT WRAPAROUND COVER
IRON MAN NOIR #1
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Posted in: Comic Previews · Comics · Marvel · News · Press Releases
Tagged: Black Widow, Comics, Daredevil, Iron Man, Marvel, Powers, Punishermax, Siege
by Shannon Hood, Apr 12 2010 // 2:00 PM
Fair warning: heavy spoilers ahead. This weeks’ episode was a little lighter on the action, but heavy on the character development. Front and center were Walt and Hank, who are both starting to crack mentally, in different ways and for different reasons. I really liked jumping between the two, knowing how tightly their fates are bound together, and watching it all slowly unravel.
The episode began with Jesse fueling up his enormous RV at an isolated gas station. When he goes in to pay, he reveals to the young female clerk that he has no money, and after copping a few lame pleas he pulls out a bag of the blue meth, trying to entice her into a trade (the gas came to $79.) He bats his baby blues and she explains that she would, but her father owns the station and is a major hard-ass who served in Fallujah, and he checks all the books.
Did anyone else think that fact might be foreshadowing? Why make such a point to say he served in Fallujah? I just wonder if that is going to come back into play. Anyway, right when she appears to be taking the bait, a law officer walks into the store. Amazingly, Jesse stands there cool as a cucumber, and passes off the baggie right under the officer’s nose. A ballsy move on Jesse’s part.
Walt goes to confront Ted about Skylar at the Beneke building. Of course the receptionist tells him Ted is not available, but Walt becomes enraged when he sees Ted peeking out of his office like a coward. Walt (hilariously) attempts to pick up a super-heavy potted plant and tries to hoist it through Ted’s window, but it bounces right off.
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Posted in: AMC · Drama · TV · TV Recaps
Tagged: Aaron Paul, AMC, Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad recaps, Bryan Cranston, Drama, TV, TV Recaps, Vince Gilligan
by Matt Raub, Apr 12 2010 // 1:00 PM
A few months back, when Ryan Reynolds was first cast as the lead in DC and Warner’s upcoming Green Lantern flick, the discussion was raised over at The Flickcast offices on what the suit would look like. It’s a question that has had comic and film fans at each other’s necks since Adam West donned the black and gray spandex for Batman back in 1966.
There have been some film costumes that did their comics justice, such as Favreau’s Iron Man or Nolan’s Batman. On the other hand, there were some flops such as the black leather costumes in the X-Men films or the horrible look of Halle Berry’s Catwoman outfit (as well as the rest of the film).
With those bad costumes in mind, director Martin Campbell reportedly asked costume designer Ngila Dickson to come up with something that audiences have never seen before when making the titular character’s attire. Not only did Dickson come up with something never seen, but she created a costume that can only be visualized through the use of computer generated imaging.
According to a report from Slashfilm, the suit is supposed to have an “otherworldly” look, which could only be done using CG. Jason Palmer, who does concept art for Warner Bros., was able to upload one of the pieces that he didn’t submit to the studio.
Take a look at the full image after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more news on the upcoming Green Lantern film.
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Posted in: Action · Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Movies · News · Sci-Fi · Warner Bros
Tagged: Batman, DC, DC Entertainment, Green Lantern, Jason Palmer, Martin Campbell, Ngila Dickson, Ryan Reynolds, Warner Bros
by Douglas Barnett, Apr 12 2010 // 12:00 PM
This week’s pick is Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far (1977) which was based on the Cornelius Ryan novel about the Allied airborne invasion of Holland in September 1944. A Bridge Too Far is a sprawling Hollywood epic, filmed in the same tradition as Ryan’s earlier adaptation The Longest Day (1962) which was based on the D-Day invasion in France. A Bridge Too Far has over thirty of the most acclaimed international stars of the seventies, and even today, as the military and civilian individuals involved in what was known as “Operation Market Garden.”
By September 1944, the German army was in full retreat from France and the low countries (Belgium & The Netherlands) as the allied push from Normandy and Belgium began advancing East towards the German frontier. Due to supply shortages having to be driven from the Normandy beach head, to over five hundred miles away, made the advances come to a screeching halt due to Patton and British General Montgomery needing supplies for both their armies in order for the assault into Germany.
Montgomery proposed an idea to American General Eisenhower (Supreme Commander of the allied expeditionary force in Europe) to invade Holland with over 35,000 paratroopers, and seize a series of bridges over the Rhine, and then advance into Germany to capture industrial factories in the Ruhr, which was the industrial heart of Germany, and where most of their war manufacturing plants were located. Like all battles in the middle of long wars, it was hoped that this bold plan was to end the fighting by Christmas. General Browning (Bogarde) was quoted in a meeting with General Montgomery that they might be going “A bridge too far” with such a plan.
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Posted in: Blu-Ray · Drama · DVD · DVD Reviews · MGM · Movies · War · War Movie Mondays
Tagged: Anthony Hopkins, Blu-Ray, Dirk Bogarde, DVD, Edward Fox, Gene Hackman, Hardy Kruger, James Caan, Laurence Olivier, Maximillian Schell, MGM/UA, Michael Caine, Netflix, Richard Attenborough, Robert Redford, Ryan O' Neal, Sean Connery
by Sebastian Suchecki, Apr 12 2010 // 11:00 AM
Will Farrell and Adam McKay have been an unstoppable force in comedy for nearly a decade now. They first started getting audiences to split sides together with the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and have been keeping us laughing ever since. In that time, they’ve also revolutionized time-wasting with their video streaming site Funny or Die, which has brought us some great internet hits, and is now a weekly HBO anthology show.
It seems like the dynamic duo of comedy is back at it again, with their upcoming film The Other Guys. The film starts off as any modern buddy cop film would, two badass detectives (played none other than Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) are taken out of the game, so it’s up to the two pencil pushers in the squad (Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg) to step up and get into the action.
The trailer already looks this film is going to be worth the price of admission. The fact that actors like Jackson, The Rock, and Whalberg are able to mock their stereotypical roles means that this will be a no-holds-barred comedy.
Check out the first trailer after the jump, and catch Ferrel’s Other Guys in theaters on August 6th.
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Posted in: Action · Casting · Comedy · Movies · News · Trailers · Video
Tagged: Adam McKay, Anchorman, Dwayne Johnson, Funny or Die, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L. Jackson, The Other Guys, Will Ferrell
by Shannon Hood, Apr 12 2010 // 10:00 AM
At the time of this writing, the Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy Date Night is reported to have narrowly won the box office. However, The Clash of the Titans was so close behind that it is possible adjusted totals may flip the positions of the two movies. Box Office Mojo is reporting that Date Night made around $27.1 Million, while Clash made $26.7 Million, a tight margin of victory, to be sure.
This was the biggest opening weekend of Tina Fey’s career thus far, although Carell has had larger openings before. The $27 Million take is quite good for a comedy.
Clash of the Titans dropped about 56% from opening weekend, which is higher than usual. Most films see about a 30% drop. The larger drop signals that interest for the movie may be waning quickly.
Good thing the flick had a big opening weekend. Clash has now made a total of $110 Million after two weekends, and looks like it will recoup its $125 Million budget. Incidentally, it looks like about 40% of that total was from 3D screens, meaning more than half came from 2D screenings.
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Posted in: Box Office · Movies · News
Tagged: Box Office, Clash of the Titans, Date Night, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, How to Train Your Dragon, Letters to God, The Last Song, Why Did I Get Married Too
by John Carle, Apr 12 2010 // 9:00 AM
As we reported last month, DJ Hero received a three pack of downloadable mixes and they sure didn’t hold back. For it, they got series icons Jay-Z and Eminem and took some of the most popular songs of each artist to make these mixes. You’ll notice that I am referring to them as mixes and not mashups.
Taking a slightly different step from the traditional DJ Hero song formula where one song’s lyrics are used over another song’s background, these three mixes showcase both sets of lyrics.
The three mixes featured in the pack are “Can I Get A…” by Jay-Z with “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, “Shake That” by Eminem with “Show Me What You Got” by Jay-Z, and “Without Me” by Eminem with “Encore” by Jay-Z. All of the mixes fall into the High intensity category.
If you have opened up other songs in this category then these should be reasonably playable for you but if it wouldn’t be recommended to play them without working your way up to High intensity. Even at medium, these songs feature some fast track switches as well as simultaneous scratching and crossfading.
The “Without Me/Encore” mix is a very unique mix as it takes a rather fast paced Eminem song and combines it was a background that sounds like it would have been the theme song of a 1970s TV show. But it works. One thing that no one can dispute about DJ Hero is the level of quality brought by the unique and expertly done mixes in the game. Without a doubt, it is leaps and bounds from the original cover songs that used to be featured in the Guitar Hero series.
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Posted in: Activision · Games · News · Playstation 3 · Reviews · Video Games · Wii · Xbox 360
Tagged: Activision, DJ Hero, DJ Hero: Renegade Edition, DLC, Eminem, Jay Z
by Matt Raub, Apr 12 2010 // 8:00 AM
The term “adaptation” has gotten a bad reputation lately. When it’s thrown into the same sentence as “E*Trade baby” or “Battleship” or “Stretch Armstrong”, the last thing we want to hear about is yet another unnecessary movie property.
Luckily, this isn’t one of those cases, as producer Adrian Askarieh, who’s currently working on other comic-to-film properties such as Hack/Slash and Leonardo da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever, is currently planning a Danger Girl movie. The LA Times recently got a chance to sit down with Askarieh and ask him about about the progress of the project, and it seems like they even have a director signed.
It is the story of a lost girl who, through this incredibly kick-ass adventure, finds her destiny, comes of age and helps save the world. What’s interesting is that our director, Todd Lincoln, who will also be executive producer on the project, my producing partner on this, Daniel Alter and myself were all independently huge fans of the book. When the opportunity arose to do this together and to work closely with creator J. Scott Campbell, we couldn’t resist because of that “tip of the hat” sensibility the book so effectively embodies.
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Posted in: Action · Adaptation · Announcements · Comic-Con · Comics · Movies · News
Tagged: Adrian Askarieh, Avatar, Comic-Con, Danger Girl, Daniel Altar, Hack/Slash, J. Scott Campbell, Leonardo da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever, Todd Lincoln
by Cortney Zamm, Apr 12 2010 // 7:00 AM
Everyone assumed that Epic design director Cliff Bleszinski’s appearance on The Jimmy Fallon Show Wednesday night was to announce a third installment to the Gears of War franchise. But when he canceled and Justin Bieber had to take his spot, suspicions arose.
Today, however, Kotaku reported that this advertisement showed up on the Xbox 360 Dashboard, stating that Gears of War 3 will be released sometime in April 2011. Oopsies, Microsoft!
The third installment is a follow up to 2008′s Gears of War 2, which broke sales records by selling over 2 million unites in it’s opening weekend. The game also set online records, as they clocked over 1.5 million players logging on to play the game at one time.
While the game hasn’t officially been announced by any other sources, rumors of the game have been abound for some time, including some new features like underwater combat and mech suits. Whatever the case, we’re sure to hear something when Bleszinski appears on Jimmy Fallon on April 12th.
Posted in: Games · Geek · News · Rumor · Talk Shows · TV · Video Games
Tagged: Epic, Gears of War 3, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber