Evangeline Lilly and Dame Edna Join the Cast of ‘The Hobbit’

Peter Jackson announced yesterday on his Facebook page that The Hobbit cast will be joined by Evangeline Lilly (Lost) and Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage). Besides a couple of no-name people playing rinky-dink parts, I think that about rounds out the casting for this movie.  Phew!  What a whirlwind it has been.

 It appears that Evangeline Lilly will be playing a “new character” named Tauriel (which apparently means ‘daughter of Mirkwood’).  Continue reading Evangeline Lilly and Dame Edna Join the Cast of ‘The Hobbit’

Hero Express – Video Games: Green Lantern, Captain America, X-Men and Spider-Man!

What’s a summer blockbuster without its prerequisite movie tie-in video game? Well, its still a summer blockbuster but it… hmmm… I don’t really know where I was going with that but it doesn’t matter. So yes, we are here to talk about Superhero video games, but we’ll start with the movie tie-ins.

Continue reading Hero Express – Video Games: Green Lantern, Captain America, X-Men and Spider-Man!

TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ – Review: Series Premiere

TNT’s new original series Falling Skies kicked off last night with a two-hour premiere. The new sci-fi drama is executive produced by none other than Mr. Steven Spielberg, and stars Noah Wyle of ER fame. The show picks up 6 months in to a hostile alien invasion in Boston, and everything has already gone to hell in a hand basket. We learn from the opening children’s drawings that the invaders are killing off all adults, and capturing and enslaving the children they come across, referred to as ‘harnessing’. To underscore how bad things are truly going the show opens with the destruction of Boston and the retreating of all Massachusetts Resistance Forces and survivors.

Porter, the leader of the resistance fighters, decides to break up the remaining fighters and civilians into three separate groups, and send them into retreat in 3 separate directions to rendezvous later. It is here where we learn that our main man Tom Mason, a former history professor turned resistance fighter, (Wyle) is assigned to be second in command in the 2nd Massachusetts Resistance, led by Captain Weaver (Will Patton), and that his middle child Ben has been harnessed by the aliens.  We also learn from the meeting with Porter that while they are trying, there is no way to remove the harness from captured children without killing them. At the conclusion of the meeting, Tom is left with explicit instructions to do whatever it takes to protect the civilians assigned to them, which foreshadows the impending conflict he will inevitably have with Captain Weaver.

Continue reading TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ – Review: Series Premiere

Star Wars: The Old Republic Trailer – Return

It would seem George Lucas has set a precedent on doing things in the galaxy far far away backwards, because the latest Old Republic cinematic takes place before the previous two. Satele Shan is not a master yet nor is Darth Malgus. Also the Sith Empire has not returned yet…until the cinematic kicks off of course.

Darth Malgus and Satele Shan in their second duel on Alderaan

The trailers have showed us just about every character class that you can use in the MMORPG and this one introduces us to the smuggler class, portrayed by a smart mouth human Cad Bane wannabe, who also likes to check out Twi’lek behinds. Check out the trailer below to enjoy the goodness. And be good to yourself by watching it in 720p:

Let’s touch on some interesting points: Malgus and Satele certainly end up having quite a history, fighting for the first time here and Satele being the one to injure him so badly on Alderaan that he needs Darth Vader style life support. I can’t wait to see their next confrontation which will no doubt occur during the Old Republic game. (If it ever finally releases.)

Satele’s master

Malgus himself shows that he is quite the skilled fighter, as if that wasn’t apparent with his destruction of the Jedi Temple and concurrent conquering of Coruscant later. (That was a lot of c’s.) He also proves to be a true sith after striking down his wounded master after their fight against the Jedi. It was interesting to see a Sith Lord of the same species of Naga Sadow in action, something I can’t recall seeing before in any video. The red skinned Sith claim to be pure blooded Sith because they share the bloodline of the initially conquered Sith species.

Satele’s master also proved to be quite formidable, taking on both Malgus and his own master with plenty of finesse as he wielded his own lightsaber with Satele’s own double bladed weapon. It’s a shame that he bit the dust because he seemed interesting enough. Given Star Wars penchant for prequel material perhaps we will see him in something in future media.

I’ve told myself and told myself not to waste time playing the MMORPG when it finally does release but the more I see of it the more I know that just won’t happen. From all of the trailers, gameplay and books this portion of the Star Wars expanded universe has shown us so far, the Old Republic era still has plenty for us. Either way I need a new Star Wars game to play because I’m still reeling from the disappointment that was The Force Unleashed 2.

HBO’s True Blood – First 8 Minutes of Season Four

Tonight after the season finale of Game of Thrones, we were given an extended sneak peek of the upcoming season of True Blood!  This was the first 8 minutes (we had previously seen the first three) of the premiere, which will air next week on HBO.  Here’s the video if you missed it:

SPOILERS AHEAD…

THANK GOD we got the rest of this preview.  I don’t know how ‘Grandpa Lumbergh’ lasted 20 years in fairy land, I could hardly stomach three minutes.

Anyway, after Sookie and her grandfather get reunited, Sookie starts to get glimpses of her surroundings that lead her to believe that things are not all that they seem.  She uses her mind to tell her grandfather that they need to escape, that they are not safe there.  This is always a neat little trick on Earth, where 1 in 2,542,698 people is a telepath.  Sookie forgets, however, that she is in fairy land where mind reading is something everyone can do; so naturally, everyone hears her.  We are then introduced to what I assume to be the Queen of the Fairies, who appears less than thrilled with Sookie and her refusal to take anything at face value.

By now, we’ve deduced along with Sookie that this fairy land is not all that it seems, and that this light fruit is responsible for making everything more beautiful.  This Fairy Queen informs Sookie that because Bill came to the fairy land allegedly searching for more fairy blood to drink, the fairy race is no longer safe.  As a result, all the fairies and humans with fairy descendants must be sealed off in this other realm, which looks a lot less appealing when you’re not tripping on fairy fruit.

Naturally, Sookie tries to escape; but is chased down by the fairies, who now look like trolls and can shoot purple lasers from their hands.  The brother of Sookie’s “fairy godmother” (I guess that would make him her “fairy goduncle“) helps her and Lumbergh escape by talking them off a cliff, which is a portal that will take them home if they jump in before the crazy Fairy Queen seals it off.

Pretty weird.  I’m honestly still on the fence about all this.  Some of the previews of the new season get me really excited.  Others tend to make me really nervous.  Naturally, the scenes that get me the most excited are the ones that focus on the vampires, which I think are the lifeblood (pun intended) of the show.  I would like to see more focus on the vampires, considering they are the center of the premise of the series.  All this nonsense with fairies and witches and werewolves and shapeshifters gets stale.

Again, only time will tell what’s in store on True Blood.  As long as there’s gore and intrigue, I’m on board.  HBO doesn’t usually disappoint!

Tell us your thoughts in the comments – what are you most looking forward to, or dreading in the upcoming season?

AMC’s ‘The Killing’: Episode 13 – “Orpheus Descending” (Season Finale)

As the first season of The Killing comes to an end, and we’re about to be given the answer to a mystery that’s lasted thorough the first 12 episodes. At the start of tonight’s episode, AMC’s Suspect Tracker still had Darren Richmond as the most likely culprit, but he was down from 39% to only 27%. A lot of people apparently believe last week was simply another red herring. Tonight, we’ll see if Richmond can ‘Rocketeer‘ his way out of this one…

The finale begins where the last episode left off – with Linden in Darren’s office, and the incriminating e-mails glaring. This seems as damning a situation as you could be in, outside of holding the bloody knife in your hand. That’s when Holder calls and gives Sarah the out she needs. This is quite the ominous exchange between the veteran Detective and the Mayoral candidate.

When the episode gets moving we see the Larsens struggling just to hold it together. Terry bailed Stan out last episode, but tonight, when he gets home he doesn’t go in. Instead, with Mitch in the window, Stan gets in the car and drives to Rosie’s grave, where he spends the night. Mitch meanwhile goes through some old photo albums and scrapbooks, looking back on a life of regret, and all the places she never visited. This chick is a real downer.

As good as things look for the Richmond campaign, it looks just as bad for Darren himself. Evidence and opportunity are abundant, and even his girlfriend Gwen looks like she may  come out against him. Holder and Linden are convinced that they know the route he took and can find the proof they need.

Stan goes to the hospital to see Bennett, but can’t go in when he sees the wife. He does help her at the vending machine though, and he tells her he has 3 kids. It’s clear that Stan is only concerned with the family. He visits the new house he bought the family, but Mitch seems in no position restart in a new place. So when they finally talk, he doesn’t bring it up. He doesn’t explain where their savings has gone. He does however explain how he needs her, she already has a bag packed though. It seems like the family is past saving, perhaps there can be no happy ending for the Larsens…

 Holder maps out the supposed route Richmond would’ve taken based on mileage, and once he and Linden make the trek, they find the gas station where Rosie escaped and fled into the woods. Linden sees it in her head, sees Rosie run though the woods and she loses it. When they get back to town she confronts Richmond, loses her shit, and shows her hand. It’s after this exchange that Gwen comes forward, and debunks Darren’s alibi.

Gwen’s condemning him isn’t enough for an arrest however. It takes the photo from Toll Booth Camera to place him there. This gets our detectives the permission they need to make an arrest…at his rally. In front of everyone.

We see Belko then, disheartened and cleaning his gun. Richmond is now one TV and the media is making him out to already be guilty, much like Bennett. With the case coming to a close Linden finally gets on the plane out-of-town. As has been clear from the start however is, Linden can never leave. Once on the plane she receives a call and learns that the cameras have been out at the Toll Booth for months. That means the picture was a fake. That implies 2 things. 1 – Richmond could be innocent after all. And 2 – Holder could be dirty after all.


After this we see Det. Holder get into a car. The driver of the car is never shown, but Holder utters the following line: “The photo worked. He’s going down.” Now who is in the car is anybody’s guess (I think it’s Gwen’s Dad) but it’s clear Holder hasn’t been on the level for some time. This may be why so many people suspected him earlier on in the season, and how quickly we forgot about his envelopes of cash.

As the episode is coming to a close, and Darren Richmond is being put into the back of a cop car, Belko emerges from the crowd and sticks a gun in Richmond’s face. It would now appear that Belko has been responsible for seriously damaging to suspects in the case that will ultimately be proven innocent. Bennett is in the Hospital, and Richmond for all we know could be dead.


The screen goes black.

I know this is gonna piss some people off. As the episode ends we are left with new questions. Who was Holder with? Does Belko kill Darren? Will is ever stop raining? And we are also left with an old one: Who killed Rosie Larsen?

I’d give the episode a 3.5 and say last week’s was better…

 I liked the show, and had no issue with the end, though I don’t expect everyone to feel the same. How did you feel? Who do you think did it? Are you gonna watch season 2?