Assassin’s Creed: Lineage

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago I reported on the Assassin’s Creed movie deal that had been announced. I admit that I was a little concerned about the amount of control that Ubisoft demanded as part of their deal, that was until I saw Assassin’s Creed Lineage today.

“The story is a prequel to the video game Assassin’s Creed II. It centres around the father of the game’s main character Ezio Auditore de Firenze. Giovanni is an assassin living during the Renaissance in 15th century Italy. At this dawn of a new era, a conspiracy is being plotted by one corrupt family to overthrow the powerful Medici family and destroy a unified Italy. As an assassin, Giovanni must face this threat and bring justice. The story introduces the situation before Assassin’s Creed II, and the enemies of both characters.”

Thanks Wikipedia!

I had stumbled upon this little gem while browsing the video store on my way to rent Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

It was a really well made film and the environments in it were surprisingly good considering it was almost entirely done in green screen. It really says something for Ubisoft that I was able to recognize all the characters from the game and remember what roles they played in the story. I for one now have complete faith in their ability to make a kick ass movie.

Now because I am such a nice guy I will save you all the rental fee. Assassin’s Creed Lineage was posted on Ubisoft’s YouTube channel long ago, I just didn’t know about it… Enjoy!

South Park: Season 15, Episode 14 – “The Poor Kid”

Yesterday, Comedy Central aired the South Park Season 15 Finale. For those of you who may have missed it, here is a little recap:

In the beginning of this episode, Kenny’s family is fighting while he is watching an episode of “White Trash in Trouble”. He sees that his house is being raided by the TV show. Kenny’s parents are taken to jail, and the kids interviewed by Child Protective Services, who puts them with a foster family. Kenny and his brother and sister get sent to a strict agnostic home full of other foster children.

Butters and Cartman investigate into who is the poorest kid in school is now that Kenny is gone, which turns out to be Cartman.

The agnostic man of the house is absolutely hilarious. They are not to take the lord’s name in vein just in case he exists, and their house motto is full of uncertainties. It had me cracking up.The prayer at the dinner table was my favorite part. Another favorite part is that while in the agnostic household, all they drink is Dr. Pepper, because there is no certainty of what it actually is. Not quite root beer… not quite cola.

Cartman and Kenny begin attending a new school. Cartman did an extremely long song and dance number, with over 40 yo’ mama jokes in it, to make fun of the poorest kid in school.

Continue reading South Park: Season 15, Episode 14 – “The Poor Kid”

The Concept Art for ‘The Crow’ Remake Looks Lame

The Crow is a movie that, like its protagonist, managed to find a second life for itself long after its release in 1994. It continues to hold a cult status today for its dark theme and pioneering of the gritty superhero story arc, but of course it bears even more recognition as the film which resulted in the tragic death of its lead, Brandon Lee.

Much like the recent passing of Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight (Nobody saw ‘Imaginarium‘ so it doesn’t count, before you jump down my throat), The Crow stands as the final showcase of Lee’s promising talent, so it carries an almost memorial-like status for fans. It’s a delicate thing to steamroll over, but that’s just what Relativity Media are trying to do.


In April, Relativity was interested in Bradley Cooper to star, but he had to drop out for ‘scheduling reasons’ and while the studio looked at replacing him with Channing Tatum or Mark Wahlberg, the project inevitably was put on hold (hopefully to beat the casting director with a chair), as quoted here by Hollywood Reporter:

Bradley Cooper was to have played the title character but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he has now exited due to scheduling conflicts. Cooper has David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook shooting this fall and then dives straight into Legendary’s Paradise Lost, which shoots first quarter next year…the exact time Relativity plans on making the high-priority Crow […] But akin to the project’s rock musician who is killed and resurrected, two new names have surfaced as possible replacements: Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg.

 

With Cooper out and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo following suit, the production seems to be dead in the water, but we are now able to check out a slew of just-released concept art by Diego Latorre, courtesy Shock Till You Drop, which gives us a look at the general tone and direction the remake would have followed:


From Latorre himself: “‘The Crow’ images published are very early production sketches and are based in my own visual interpretation of the character and not necessarily in Apaches Entertainment and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s vision.

For all the concept art, click here. To reminisce on the days before they tried to give The Crow cornrows, click here.

The RZA and Sacha Baron Cohen Join the Cast of Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’

Quentin Tarantino’s newest project, Django Unchained, which is set to release on Christmas Day 2012, has gone through some cast changes (most notably Kevin Costner to Kurt Russell which I’m extremely thankful for), as well as some unexpected casting (Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, and James Remar are also names seen in the cast list, but the newest additions are by far the most surprising.

Former Wu-Tang member Robert Diggs, better known as RZA, has been cast as Thaddeus, a role that hasn’t had much news released about it. As well as that, Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast as Scotty, a role that also hasn’t had much disclosure. In fact, the entire film itself has thus far been kept under wraps relatively well, considering you haven’t read the PDF version of the script floating around the internet.

Be as skeptical as you want, but The RZA can act. Surprisingly well, I might add. Besides doing some of the soundtrack for the Kill Bill films, RZA’s face has been popping up in numerous projects like Coffee and Cigarettes, Funny People, American Gangster, Repo Men, Due Date, The Next Three Days, and most recently, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. He’s known for being a scene-stealer, and there’s a good chance he’ll fulfill that duty in Django.

As far as Sacha Baron Cohen, we all know and love him from films like Borat, Bruno, Talladega Nights, the Madagascar movies, and Sweeney Todd. He’ll soon be starring in a new film called The Dictator (not to be confused as a remake of the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film, The Great Dictator), which will be directed by Borat/Bruno director, Larry Charles. Cohen will also be portraying Freddie Mercury in an upcoming and unnamed Queen biopic.

 

 

 

As for participating in Django, Cohen is a special kind of actor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if he’s in a movie, the role was most likely written for him, so seeing him in a Tarantino film leads me to think that his role will be not only extremely interesting, but hovering around genius. I trust both Cohen and Tarantino when it comes to successfully making great films, so there’s no reason that a collaboration between the two won’t be explosive.

Tarantino is known for his offbeat but almost always-successful casting, and with stars of this caliber, there’s no doubt in my mind that Django Unchained will be one of the best films of 2012.

 

The Griz Bin – Mutant Puberty, Crazy Crossovers and Tom Selleck’s Moustache

Welcome to The Griz Bin, a weekly look at the wide world of comic related nonsense that we all know and love.

The X-Men Guide To Puberty: If you have to ask ‘how many penises is normal?’ this pamphlet is for you – [CollegeHumor]

The 6 Creepiest Comic Book Characters of All Time: Not creepy as in that weird guy is looking at you, more like this horse just fondled you and now wants cab fare – [Cracked]

Gorgeous Gwen & MJ Pin-Ups: I shouldn’t need to say anything else – [ComicsAlliance]

Continue reading The Griz Bin – Mutant Puberty, Crazy Crossovers and Tom Selleck’s Moustache

Green Lantern: TAS Review – Episode 1 & 2 ‘Beware My Power’

DC Comics track record when it comes to animation has been great. They continually blow the competition out of the water, and it goes back a long time. Marvel has had a few successes, but its rare for a Marvel show to last more than 2 seasons, where its rare for a DC show to be canceled before 4. Everybody remembers Super Friends, and Batman: The Animated Series is widely considered to be the definitive Batman series.

So with the new Green Lantern cartoon sharing the title of The Animated Series, it shows a certain confidence by the DC Universe team in their newest show. And it couldn’t happen at a better time. Green Lantern has been reaching new levels of popularity recently, but has never had an animated series devoted strictly to him. When the CG series was announced there was a lot of debate over the animation, but more were cautiously optimistic than negatively opposed. Well, the wait is over.

Continue reading Green Lantern: TAS Review – Episode 1 & 2 ‘Beware My Power’