by Matt Raub, May 5 2011 // 7:00 AM
There’s no denying that zombies are hot right now. Of course, with that kind of burning press, you’d expect to see the undead walk in just about every form of mass media. But would you expect to see an entire film about zombies as a 3D animated film?
That’s what Focus Features and Laika is hoping for, as the team that brought us Coraline is getting back together for their newest film, ParaNorman. Here’s the breakdown from a Focus press release.
Currently in production, ParaNorman is being directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, from Mr. Butler’s original screenplay. Mr. Fell was director of The Tale of Despereaux and Flushed Away. Mr. Butler was storyboard supervisor on Coraline and storyboard artist on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. The voice cast includes Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Tempestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show), Jeff Garlin (Toy Story 3), John Goodman (Monsters, Inc.), Bernard Hill (Titanic), Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Leslie Mann (Rio), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (How to Train Your Dragon), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), and Tony and Emmy Award winner Elaine Stritch (30 Rock).
If that star-studded voice cast isn’t enough to whet your appetite, what if we told you it was about a young boy who could speak with the dead? Here’s the synopsis.
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Posted in: 3-D · Animation · Announcements · Horror · Kids · Movies · News · Sci-Fi
Tagged: Anna Kendrick, Bernard Hill, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Coraline, Focus Features, John Goodman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, LAIKA, Leslie Mann, Zombies
by Joe Gillis, May 4 2011 // 4:29 PM
This week, Chris and Matt tackle the hot-button subject of Nerd Girls and Matt explains his editorial from earlier this week in which he calls out top-level models and actresses for pandering to the ever-loving nerd community.
Click here to see the editorial rant that started it all.
Also, the duo discuss a uninspiring episode of Smallville from last week, get ready for the upcoming finale of next week’s Smallville, and gush about how excited they are for the Paintball finale of Community this week.
As for their picks, the boys went a little more obscure this week. Matt dug deep into his knowledge of Ozploitation films to pick the 1984 Philippe Mora classic The Return of Captain Invincible, a musical comedy starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. Chris also went old school and picked the first season from the original Twilight Zone series, which is currently available on Instant Netflix.
Take a listen to the podcast below, and don’t forget to comment and subscribe on iTunes!
Posted in: Drama · News · Podcasts · TV
Tagged: Community, Nerd Girls, Olivia Munn, Philippe Mora, Podcast, Podcasts, Smallville, The Flickcast, The Return of Captain Invincible, Twilight Zone
by Chris Ullrich, May 4 2011 // 2:00 PM
You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right? Well, not exactly — at least in this case. Warner Bros. has released a brand new trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the title character.
In this new one we get a much more complete picture of what the movie is trying to accomplish both visually and story-wise. More Reynolds, more bad guys, more Oa and more action are, with each new trailer, making this look like one of the films to beat this Summer.
I don’t know about you but this is really starting to look darn good. Having not seen it yet we can only guess how it compares with Thor, Captain America and more but if the movie holds up as well as the trailers seem to indicate it will, we’ve got a real fight for comic book movie supremacy this Summer.
This Summer seems like a great time to be a nerd, geek or fanboy/girl.
Check out the new trailer after the jump. Green Lantern hits theaters on June 17th.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Trailers · Video · Warner Bros
Tagged: Comics, DC, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Movies, Peter Saarsgard, Ryan Reynolds, Temura Morrison, Trailers
by Eric Medina, May 4 2011 // 12:30 PM
You may know her best as Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, or recently as the neurotic publicist in Scream 4, but for fans of NBC’s Community she will always been Annie Edison. Taking time out of her busy schedule shooting a movie, Alison was kind enough to sit down for a press interview to give us the scoop on what we can expect from the upcoming two-part Community season finale.
The episode centers around an end-of-the-year picnic where the dean announces plans for a “small, quick, safe, game of paintball.” What follows is an epic battle in which alliances are formed and broken, and friendships are put to the test.
The finale will include a very special cameo from Josh Holloway, most famous for his role as Sawyer on Lost, who arrives as a mysterious character in the game. TV spots and online clips have already begun to hint at a certain chemistry that will form between Holloway’s character and Annie.
Alison herself confirmed that there were sparks on set that the writers wanted to play up in the final episode. And yes, she also hinted that there were to be a few Sawyer-esq lines for the Lost fans.
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Posted in: Comedy · Interviews · NBC
Tagged: Alison Brie, Annie Edison, Chevy Chase, Community, Dan Harmon, Interview, Josh Holloway, Lost, Mad Men, NBC, Paintball, Sawyer, TV
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, May 4 2011 // 11:30 AM

Trey Parker has always been vocal about his love of musicals. Dating back to his time in college and his first feature film, Parker has shown a consistent appreciation of the musical experience. So it was only a natural that he would parlay that success into an actual Broadway show.
After the mega success of South Park and several feature films, Trey Parker and Matt Stone invaded Broadway with their brand of irreverent humor and sharp social commentary with The Book of Mormon. It premiered to critical acclaim, and sold out shows, igniting a new found passion for musicals amongst fans who would otherwise avoid Broadway.
That success has not gone unnoticed by the theater community, The Book of Mormon has recently received 14 Tony nominations. This puts Trey and Matt that much closer to the elusive “EGOT,” the quintuple victory that nets the recipient an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
Trey and Matt have already won multiple Emmy’s and have been nominated for Grammy’s and an Oscar. Of all the current entertainers working today, Matt and Trey hold a unique position as champions of alternative forms of entertainment.
The Book of Mormon is currently playing on Broadway, and the 15th season of South Park can be seen on Comedy Central Wednesdays at 10/9C.
Posted in: Academy Awards · Animation · Awards · Comedy · Comedy Central · Musicals · News · TV
Tagged: Awards, Book of Mormon, Broadway, Matt Stone, Musicals, New York, Nominations, play, South Park, Tonys, Trey Parker, TV
by Matt Raub, May 4 2011 // 10:30 AM
Machinima’s Mortal Kombat: Legacy, the live action web series rebooting the epic fighting game and it’s universe, has really taken off. Each week, we’re getting more of our favorite characters broken down and retold in new and innovative ways.
Yesterday marked the brand new, fourth episode, and it’s an epic two-parter about the deadly twinsKitana and Mileena. Here’s the synopsis.
Beautiful, athletic, and trained as highly skilled assassins, Kitana and Mileena have grown up thinking that they are sisters. Shao Kahn, Emperor of the Outworld, has tricked Shang Tsung into becoming his servant for Mortal Kombat by making him clone Mileena as a Tarkatan clone of Kitana, out of Shao Kahn’s fear that Kitana wouldn’t love him enough if she ever found out the truth about her Mother and Father.
This may be the first episode where the budget was a bit obvious, as half of the story is told using a classic “storybook” style with animated imagery and a God of War-style voiceover.
Take a look at the new episode after the jump, and try not to get too angry at the cliffhanger, we only have to wait six days for the next episode.
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Posted in: Action · Drama · Fantasy · News · Trailers · Video · Video Games
Tagged: Kitana, Legacy, Machinima, Mileena, Mortal Kombat, Reboot, Shao Kahn
by Matt Raub, May 4 2011 // 9:30 AM
By geek-Santa’s beard, this may be one of the best, marketable ideas ever created. For those who love NBC’s Community as much as we do, you’re going to love this batch of imaginary action figures made by our new super genius, online artist and animator Yehudi Mercado.
The idea? Just your regular, run of the mill action figure mock-ups, except they are of our favorite Community characters (with the exception of Starburns and the Dean) done up in some classic season 1 and season 2 episode’s outfits.
We don’t have much else to say, except that you should go to Yehudi’s site (cleverly titled ActionFigurology.com) and show him as much love as possible so we can get these figures made!
Take a look at the full-sized images of each figure after the jump.
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Posted in: Comedy · Fandom · Geek · NBC · Networks · News · Toys · TV
Tagged: Allison Brie, Chavy Chase, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, Joel McHale, Ken Jeong, Yvette Nicole Brown
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, May 4 2011 // 8:30 AM
In what will come as no surprise to anyone, except maybe my mom, the MTV Movie Award nominations have been released and the most popular and creatively vacant film franchise this side of middle earth leads the pack. That’s right, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is on top with eight nominations.
The news is not all bad though as both Inception and Harry Potter are also lead contenders. In fact, aside from the obvious Twilight nominations, most of the nominations are not so bad. Many of the better films from 2010 are represented, including Kick-Ass, which has gone mostly forgotten in the retrospective hoopla.
Aside from the traditional Best Movie and Best Kiss, this year also brings a brilliant new category to the world of cinematic awards: “Best Line From A Movie.” This is not only a genius category for the shallow festivities of MTV, but it is something that all award shows should consider in the future.
In the world of cinema fandom movie quotes are often a defining factor in the quality of a film. The more quotable the movie, the more likely it will find a home in the hearts of film geeks the world over.
The nominations for Twilight are to be expected from MTV, but the nominations for Harry Potter are a little more of a surprise. Up to this point in time the Harry Potter movies didn’t really make a dent in the target audience of MTV.
Of course the franchise remains popular the world over, but for MTV, known for immature, shallow drama and sex appeal, to acknowledge the penultimate Potter film in so many categories shows that the Potter is still relevant to pop culture in general.
Check out the full list of nominations after the jump.
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Posted in: Action · Awards · Comedy · Drama · Harry Potter · Movies · MTV · News · Sci-Fi · TV · Twilight
Tagged: Eclipse, Harry Potter, Kick-Ass, Movie Awards, MTV, News, Nominations, TV, Twilight
by Sebastian Suchecki, May 4 2011 // 7:30 AM
What happens when you take some of the minds attached to Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Universe and Torchwood and place them in the world based on the popular game franchise Red Faction? Pure amazement.
Introducing the brand new Syfy film Red Faction: Origins. For those diehards out there, this story takes place between Red Faction: Guerrilla and the upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon games. Here’s the premise.
Twenty-five years have passed since Alec Mason (Robert Patrick) led the Martian Colonies to freedom …and 12 years since vengeful enemies killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter Lyra (Tamzin Merchant), and left a broken hero in their wake.
Jake Mason (Brian J. Smith), Alec’s last surviving son and an officer in the Red Faction Militia, has his world turned inside out when he discovers that now, 12 years after her kidnapping, his sister is still alive. As a powerful new enemy swarms across the planet, Jake goes out to find her, only to learn that his lost sister is one of them…a cold-blooded soldier sworn to destroy the Red Faction.
Jake must now battle the relentless regime and somehow reunite a family torn apart by war. Kate Vernon portrays The Matriarch, leader of the tribal Marauders sect.
Directed by Peabody-Award winner Michael Nankin (Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), the film is set to make its premiere on Saturday, June 4th at 9pm ET/PT.
Take a look at the very first trailer after the jump.
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Posted in: Action · Drama · Movies · News · Sci-Fi · SyFy · Trailers · TV · Video · Video Games
Tagged: Brian J. Smith, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kate Vernon, Michael Nankin, Red Faction, Red Faction: Armaggedon, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Red Faction: Origins, Robert Patrick, SyFy
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, May 3 2011 // 3:00 PM

“…and one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence, you just raised an army against yourself!”
-The Doctor
‘Day of the Moon,’ the second part of the season opening two-parter, plays just as much as a season premiere as it does a season finale. There are more answers, more closure, more lose ends connected in these episodes than most of the season finales up to this point. Where this story excels though is where it seamlessly asks new questions and begins new arcs. It is the perfect episode for those wanting answers from season five and for those wanting new puzzles for season six.
Of course had Moffat decided to use these episodes to close season five I, like many others, would have demanded his head. This episode ends on not one, but two (and a half) cliffhangers, and one of them is the most mind meltingly tantalizing Doctor Who twist yet. Having a two-parter end on such a note is telling for the direction Moffat is taking his Doctor. The emotional depth of these characters keeps growing and growing, and it is obvious that something major is about to happen.
Reader beware, after the jump I will spoil the episode for the purposes of review, so if you care at all about the good Doctor and his companions I implore you, see the episode first.
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Posted in: Action · BBC · Comedy · Reviews · Sci-Fi · TV
Tagged: Amy Pond, BBC, BBC America, Day of the Moon, Doctor Who, Matt Smith, review, River Song, Rory, Stephen Moffat, TV
by Chris Ullrich, May 3 2011 // 2:00 PM
As one of those people who still reads a newspaper every day, the thought of an inside look at how a giant daily works makes me pretty excited. As a fan of movies like The Philadelphia Story, All the President’s Men and The Paper, I’ve always hoped for more of a documentary approach to the subject matter that tells the real, inside story.
It looks like my wish is coming true in the form of a documentary called Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times. Making its debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the Andrew Rossi-directed doc gives audiences unprecedented access to the most powerful newspaper in the world.
It tells the story of a once dominating media force now grappling with the implications of the web and digital content as well as questions of its very relevancy in a changing world. It looks pretty fascinating and to get you interested in the film as much as I am, we’ve got the new trailer for it to share today.
The film will be released by Magnolia Pictures later this year. Check out the trailer after the jump.
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Posted in: Documentary · Movies · News · Trailers
Tagged: All the president's men, Andrew Rossi, Documentary, New York Times, Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times, Sundance Film Festival, The Paper
by Chris Ullrich, May 3 2011 // 1:00 PM
The Call of Duty: Black Ops map expansion, called “Escalation,” is now available to Xbox Live subscribers. Escalation adds five new maps, including four that are available in multiplayer mode.
As we told you back when the expansion map pack was first announced, the new maps include a Russian Zoo, a Cuban hotel and casino, a weapons of mass destruction stockpile, and “convoy.” If you still haven’t had your fill slaying the living dead, the update also includes a new zombie experience called “Call of the Dead.”
The update is available for $15, 0r 1200 MS points. What are you waiting for, get to downloading! Those damn zombies aren’t going to kill themselves. And while you’re waiting for it to download, check out the cool poster for the “Call of the Dead” maps after the jump.
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Posted in: Activision · Games · News · Video Games
Tagged: Activision, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation, Call of the Dead, Danny Trejo, Games, George A. Romero, Michael Rooker, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Xbox 360, XBox Live