I’m still anxiously awaiting the day I get to see Kick-Ass, and be as cool as our SXSW team that caught its Austin premiere. (Be sure to check out Shannon Hood’s review.)   But at least I could content myself with Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie which the gang at Titan Books was kind enough to let me review.

Anyone who viewed the trailer knows that Kick-Ass is going to be a unique movie. One look at Chloe Moretz’s Hit Girl can tell you that much. But I hadn’t realized just how unusual its page-to-screen transition was. Millar was still in the process of sketching the book out when he approached Matthew Vaughn (licking his wounds after leaving Thor) about directing.

The movie took shape as the comic did, with Millar running back and forth between the production offices and his own keyboard, incorporating ideas from Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman as he went. Characters who were meant to be minor players such as Red Mist took on a life of their own after they were cast, and ended up becoming major players in Kick-Ass’ story arc. If there’s a sequel to Kick-Ass, it may be entirely due to Christopher Mintz-Plasse single-handedly rewriting his character.

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As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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I used to hate Westerns.  I live in the wide and rugged expanse of Colorado, grew up in the shadow of the Rockies, and see cowboy boots on a daily basis. Heck, I even did a volunteer stint at a western museum. I couldn’t stand watching films that were basically set in my own backyard, even if the days of gunslingers and posses were long gone.

Later, I finally came around. I can’t say when this shift happened — probably upon my first adult viewing of Lonesome Dove, or maybe even as recent as James Mangold’s remake of 3:10 to Yuma. But I suddenly found Westerns to be a lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed going back and watching all John Wayne and John Ford offerings that I’ve missed due to my snobbery.

Because I’m the type of girl who overshares everything, I thought it would be fun to chronicle this obsession, and encourage others to ride along with me. Thus, Wednesday Westerns was born. Every Wednesday, I’m going to explore this dusty and acrid genre, finding the good, the bad, and the ugly examples along the way. I hope you’ll watch and discuss along with me — and I’m going to try and make as many selections from online streaming options to prevent you from putting off the ride.

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For the most part, the Internet is used for fun, games and occasionally for news. A highly trafficked source of that fun can be found at Penny Arcade. A webcomic starring creators Gabe and Tycho, Penny Arcade’s focus lies in video game nerd humor with a clever and satirical take on the woes and missteps of the video game industry. Often filled with off-color remarks and foul language, not many would have expected this site to start what would become one of the largest gamer-based holiday charities.

Started in 2003, Child’s Play has contributed over five million dollars in video games, toys and money to children’s hospitals across the country. Last year alone, in the face of one of the worst financial situations on record, they broke their goal of over $1,000,000 in donations.

Using Amazon.com’s “Wish List” feature and Paypal, donations can be made either in the form of money or by selecting various toys, video games and dvd’s requested by various children’s hospitals around the country. Any denomination is accepted and there are participating hospitals all over the country and other parts of the world.

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While most folks like to sleep in after consuming mass quantities of tryptophan and sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving day, some crazies (myself included) are up at the crack of dawn the next day, waiting in line at the local electronics and DVD store to fight the masses and get the best deals.

Luckily, with the invention of the Internet comes some sly dogs who have posted most of the great Black Friday deals online, mere days before the epic sales. Thanks to sites like BlackFriday.info and GottaDeal.com, we can now sit back in the luxury of our homes to check out some of the great deals we plan on taking advantage of this Friday.

Of the many, many deals going on that day, we’ve decided to break down a few of our favorite picks for the holiday sale, just for you, our loyal readers. One of the best picks, by far, is Best Buy’s Samsung Blu-Ray Player with Netflix and Pandora support for $149.99. If you’re looking to finally upgrade to Blu-ray, that would be the machine to start with.

Once you’ve got the Blu-ray player out of the way, why not grab some good Blu-ray discs? If you don’t want to leave the house, Amazon has got some great deals including Chuck: The Complete First Season for $20.99, the Batman Anthology for $51.99, and even Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve for $9.99.

Switching over to video games, Best Buy seems to have some of the better deals (even the “best”), but only if you’re able to get to the store before noon on Friday. You can pick up Brutal Legend, Left 4 Dead 2, and Dragon Age for the Next Gen systems for only $34.99.

These are just some of the great deals going on Friday, and we hope you’re able to get out to the stores (or not) and take advantage of some of these great sales. Happy Thanksgiving!

A few months ago, legendary actor known for playing himself (and a certain starship Captain), William Shatner, made a special appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien to read Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s resignation speech. It was pretty epic, and you can relive it over here.

Last night, Shatner returned to the show, this time to read the impossibly intelligent tweets of Levi Johnston, the 19 year old baby daddy to Palin’s granddaughter — a development that may have been one of the reasons why she and McCain lost the Presidential election. His tweets are pretty painful, but given his accidental celebrity status, that makes them all the more funny.

Shatner made sure that everybody knew just how poetic Johnston could be, in a tribute poem. Check out the video after the jump, and long live Shatner!

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We have been a bit hard around here on 2012, the new Roland Emmerich film about the end of the world, but given the director’s track record and the fact that the trailer doesn’t look like anything we haven’t seen dozens of times before on the big screen, we think we probably have just cause.

It looks like we aren’t the only people making fun of it, as a new fan film has popped up online using the first five minutes of the film. The edit proves that this film can become two things without it’s overblown special effects: quite pointless and outrageously funny.

For those interested in the film itself, it stars a cornucopia of celebrities from John Cusack to Woody Harrelson and Amanda Peet and is about a prophecy where the world comes to an end in December of 2012. Roland Emmerich is also the director that brought us gems like 10,000 BC and The Day After Tomorrow.

Check out the fan film after the jump. Catch 2012 in theaters everywhere this November.

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Following John Travolta’s film career is like watching a screaming child on a roller coaster. He looks like he’s having a lot of fun, but after a while, you begin to realize he’s just screaming to get your attention. We all remember when he was having fun in Grease, and then years later when he wasn’t in Battlefield Earth.

On that note, a new trailer for From Paris With Love has hit the webs and looks to be a bit of everything. There’s the girl-candy Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, there’s fight scenes for the dudes, explosions for the kids, and lots of innuendo for people who like that kind of thing. And then there’s John Travolta, who for some reason looks quite a lot like Denzel Washington. Could it be that this role was originally meant for Denzel and Travolta has that good of an agent? Or is he that good of an actor to make us believe that he, in fact, is Denzel Washington.

Check out the trailer after the jump and be the judge. From Paris with Love, written by Luc Besson (The Transporter) and directed by Pierre Morel (Taken), hits theaters in all of it’s almost-Denzel glory on February 9th, 2010.

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Back in Guitar Hero 3, video game developer Activision began including various well known guitarists, both living and passed on, as unlockable characters within the franchise. In the series’ most recent iteration, Guitar Hero 5, which was just released on September 1st, deceased rock legends Johnny Cash and Kurt Cobain were including alongside living rockers Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson, and Matt Bellamy. Now while those still with us had complete control over their likeness being used in the game, Cash and Cobain’s legacies, both real life and digital, are in control of their respective estates.

Tabloid darling Courtney Love was left in control of Cobain’s estate and with that came his digital likeness. Recently, someone brought to Courtney’s attention this video that has been floating around YouTube of her deceased husband in what she and others consider a less than flattering light singing and dancing in the roles of various other musicians like Bon Jovi and Public Enemy.

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This is not breaking news exactly, and had been rumored for some time, but I just can’t let it go without comment. For me, the revelation and subsequent confirmation that Bryan Singer, director of such films as X-Men, The Usual Suspects and Superman Returns, is now attached to direct a Battlestar Galactica movie for Universal comes directly from the ‘WTF?’ department.

Just in case you don’t know what’s happening, yesterday, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Singer signed on the line that is dotted and will direct and produce a “re-imagining” of the classic series created by Glen Larson. I’m just curious what makes him think the best use of his time is to direct a completely new Battlestar Galactica movie?

Before I go on, let me just say that I was a fan of Glen Larson and Universal’s answer to Star Wars when it first hit the air. Heck, I even gave them another chance after the first BSG series was canceled and watched Galactica 1980. That’s how far I go back. Sure, the shows were cheesy and campy, but as a kid I didn’t really care. But now, they seem extremely dated and lightweight  — especially when compared to the updated SyFy series.

I’m also a fan of Singer and many of his films — The Usual Suspects and X2 in particular. His work shows a great deal of maturity and polish and he usually knows how to tell a story — especially one that’s written by the very talented Christopher McQuarrie. However, I was also looking far more forward to Singer taking on an updated version of Logan’s Run or even getting back in the chair for another go at X-Men or a Wolverine sequel than to him doing a BSG movie.

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