Monthly Archives: February 2012

TV

Star Wars: The Clone Wars 4.19 -‘Massacre’ Review

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The Clone Wars is wrapping up its fourth season with a bang as the first of the last four episodes airs in the form of “Massacre“. We see Ventress making her return to Dathomir and swearing full allegiance to the Night Sisters of Dathomir, forsaking the Sith. Count Dooku in the meantime has ordered General Grievous to strike hard at the planet and rid the galaxy of the witches. These rich Sith types just tend to hold a major grudge ya know?

https://youtu.be/zFcZd2502ik

It was actually kind of hard to decide which group of scumbags to root for. I mean, Grievous and the Separatists are a no brainer, they suck. But the Night Sisters are equally as shady, with the hairless harpy leading the charge of laser bow-wielding Night Sisters and even a contingent of zombie Night Sisters. Yes, you heard me…. zombie Night Sisters. They were definitely creepy as hell, but nowhere near as creepy as the wrinkled old Night Sister who is even older than Mother Talzin. I thought Talzin’s double-layered voice was unnerving enough but the oldest Night Sister blew it away with all of her crazy chanting.

So, even though the battle itself was pretty awesome there was no indication of why it would be best if one side or the other was to win. I’m actually a little sick of Grievous being bested over and over again in combat, but even as he lost to Ventress after a short spar he went on quite the killing spree and savagely killed the super old Night Sister and her guards. One might wonder what happened to Mother Talzin but I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of her.

Clone Wars - Zombies

The force magic of the Night Sisters was an interesting thing to see, albeit some was a little ridiculous. I find it curious how Talzin was able to procure a lock of Dooku’s hair, but it’s a minute detail. The episode certainly did live up to its name. It truly did turn into a massacre as not one Night Sister except Ventress was left alive by the episode’s end. Again, I’m not too broken up about this and I can’t feel much sympathy for Ventress being left all alone. We’ll certainly see where she lands next episode as it appears she may be taking on the role of a bounty hunter!

Stayed tuned next week for the continuation of the Clone Wars ending arc. I give the episode 2 out of 5 grizzlies, great visuals but I just couldn’t find myself caring who won this round on the Clone Wars. Bring on the Maul Bros in a couple weeks!

TV

Spartacus Season 2: Vengeance – Episode 5 “Libertus”

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*FULL SPOILERS FOLLOW*

This episode of Spartacus reminded me a whole lot of the finale of season one, Blood and Sand. It starts off with Oenomaus, Crixus and Rashko facing death in the arena Ad-Gladium…. at the hands of Gannicus and several other gladiators. Yes Gannicus is back and the episode begins with him and Oenomaus exchanging sword blows and then the screen cutting away to days earlier as the Blood and Sand finale started with Spartacus and Crixus fighting before it showed us events of the day previous. I always thought that was a very cool aspect of that season and I am glad to see they brought it back in this season. However let’s not see that it gets overused or anything.

One storyline that I thought wouldn’t come to a head so soon was that of the game being played by Illythia against her husband Glaber. Thanks to the crafty machinations of Lucretia and Ashur, Glaber comes to find out that Illythia’s plans to abort their child and her further plans of dissolving marriage to get with Verinius soon follows. It’s clear that Glaber isn’t going to let this pass and it would seem even with Lucretia playing both sides, for the moment she will help Glaber out to somehow get back at Illythia. I still think that Glaber is going to get with Seppia after sufficiently humiliating Illythia and Verinius. Glaber is actually becoming a proper villain thanks to his “loving” wife after what he did to her father. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the moment when Glaber told him that he wasn’t the fool that him and his daughter believe him to be. I believe this leaves Illythia in a bit of a tight spot after revealing her plans to Glaber. TOO BAD!

The plan of Spartacus and the others to infiltrate the arena to save Crixus and the others was predictable, yet awesomely done. I love the arena scenes in the show. The music combined with the visuals of the crowd and the frantic camera work make for quite the adrenaline rush while watching. There was plenty of suspense and tension during the rescue scene too and poor Rashkos was a casualty. Sure the guy was a savage bastard but I was starting to get used to him in this season, but someone was bound to buy it in that scene. The best part besides all of the arena action was most definitely Gannicus being back in the show. Gods of the Arena was a great fill in for our wait for Season 2, and Dustin Clare was definitely a big part of how great that mini season was. Gannicus is by far not the same laughing warrior we saw in Gods of the Arena. Sure, he still loves drink and whores but he is clearly haunted to this very day by what happened to Melitta in the house of Batiatus. He certainly was a little thrown and the tension was palpable in the arena when Oenomaus confronted him about it. One would wonder how they’ll get along in the next episode. If they survived! But come on, they had to survive.

This was an excellent follow up to the awesomeness of episode 3 and I give it a 5 out of 5 bears for sure. I can’t wait to tune in next week and see where Spartacus and the boys stand in their road to war with the Romans. And not to mention the preview for next week showed Gannicus fighting Spartacus! Madness!
TV

The Walking Dead Finds a Governor!

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For those of you wondering which actor is going to be playing that sicko bastard The Governor in the Walking Dead TV series, then wonder no more as he has been cast!

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

David Morrissey has most recently been in the movies Centurion and the Jason Statham cop thriller Blitz. Morrisey also has quite an extensive TV career, but nothing of which I’ve heard of, but feel free to check out his resume’ at IMDB.

For those of you not familiar with the good ole’ Governor, he is the leader of another group of zombie survivors in the town of Woodbury. Now this guy is completely freakin’ nuts. Reading the issues of Walking Dead with him in it were some of the most sadistic and gruesome things I’ve read in comics. Of course now a bunch of comics follow suit with the gruesomness in The Walking Dead, but at the time there wasn’t a whole lot besides The Punisher MAX and maybe Preacher that were as graphic as the Governor issues. Just know that this guy will most definitely change the face of the show if they even remotely stick to the comics. Lord knows they’ve taken plenty of liberties with the show thus far not having it follow the comics exactly, and I agree that the show is better of for it.

I’m not the biggest fan of the Walking Dead TV series, but I may have to jump back on board just to see how they handle a lot of scenes with the Governor and what kind of spirit that David Morrissey brings to the role. I’d love to see the picture below play out on screen.

TV

Star Wars – The Clone Wars: The Return of Darth Maul Trailer

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It’s been pretty official by now that Darth Maul is returning, and kudos to Lucasfilm for their clever re-release of the Phantom Menace and his simultaneous Clone Wars appearance which is sheer marketing genius. It seems like I can’t go into any store where there are toys or books without seeing that ugly Sith bastard adorned on something. Even my McDonald’s Happy Meal toy was a top spinner with him on it! But anyways….

Maul is back and whether you like it or not you have to admit the trailer for his return in the final season’s arc looks pretty excellent. Not to mention the fact that he is being voiced by none other than Sam Witwer who is a sort of sci-fi superstar at the moment. Witwer has done extensive work with the Star Wars franchise, starting off with the Force Unleashed video games as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice Starkiller who kicked major ass with his uber force abilities. Some may not know that he also voiced the Emperor in the Force Unleashed and did a damn fine job. This is also not his first appearance on the Clone Wars as he also played the Dark Side being “The Son” in the Mortis Trilogy. He also played a large part in the 8th season of Smallville as Davis Bloome A.K.A. Doomsday and is currently playing the vampire Aidan on the American version of Being Human. Being Human was recently renewed by SyFy for it’s third season. And all of that on top of a missed chance to be featured in an entire flashback episode of the Walking Dead in a storyline that was set up by show creator Frank Darabont, but was ultimately discarded after his “leaving” the show. The guy is a talented actor no doubt, but his voice acting sure packs a punch too. Check out the video below to see how intense Witwer gets when he is slipping into his crazy Darth Maul persona:

Freaky ain’t it? For more of the half Sith Lord, check out the FULL trailer below the bump and prepare to change your underpants afterwards:

So it would look as if Ventress is choosing to side with the Night Sisters of Dathomir and that Dooku may be getting some payback for their attempted assassination of him: Grievous style. I’m interested to see the Night Sisters in combat, particularly Mother Talzin who is seen in the trailer unleashing some crazy witch powers on the Separatist forces. But let’s face it, that’s all bantha poodoo compared to what I think may be the best part of the episode arc and that’s Obi-Wan v.s. Maul…. the rematch! This has potential to be one of the best moments on the Clone Wars, overshadowing even the awesomeness that was Savage Oppress’s debut last season. But then again I thought that with the return of Boba Fett and I was left quite crestfallen. But this has to be way better than the little half pint bounty hunter. The part where Maul emit’s a harsh “Jedi!” and his mechanical leg steps on the ground before Obi-Wan was chilling and gave me a case of the goosbumps. What’s everyone’s thought on the whole deal? Expanded Universe blasphemy or totally awesome? I for one am glad they stuck with the Star Wars Visionaries robo-legs concept. It wouldn’t have done to see a Darth Maul walking on his hands and using the lightsaber with his mouth.

Movie News & Opinions

Die Hard 5: The Hunt for the Son of McClane Ends!

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Out of all the names being tossed around to play the Holy role of the son of John McLane in the latest Die Hard movie, I was hardly expecting that it would be…. Jai Courtney. Puzzled by the name? Me too. The face however is certainly familiar as Jai Courtney played the role of Varro on Starz Movie Channel’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Varro as you may or may not know was the best friend of Spartacus on the show and the two were indeed an enjoyable duo to watch. It will be hard to see Courtney without his trademark blonde curls that he had in the show, (not to mention the accent.) but I’m sure he’ll be better off without them as he is firing multiple rounds into bad guys side by side with Bruce Willis.

Here’s an official confirmation of the story from the forthcoming A Good Day to Die Hard from Fox:

[box_light]”A Good Day to Die Hard puts McClane on an international stage — truly a NYC fish out of water in Moscow — and introduces his estranged son Jack. An apple that has not fallen far from the tree, Jack may even be more of a hardass than his father. Despite their differences, they must work together to keep each other alive — and the world safe for democracy.” [/box_light]

This sounds good to me as long as Justin Long stays out of the picture this round. I wouldn’t mind another cameo from Kevin Smith and even one from Mary Elizabeth Winestead though. The plot I’m sure will turn out to be a little more in depth as production gets rolling, but at this point there is excitement enough that movie is now going to be on the fast track into theaters. And it’s needless to say that Jai Courtney has an opportunity to send his career into the stratosphere with this gig. After all he is starring next to one of the most recognizable stars in Hollywood for the past twenty years and one of the best, if not THE best action movie franchise. Now all that is needed is a villain…

Let’s hear some comments below! Not what anyone was expecting or better that a relatively unknown actor will be playing the role of Jack McClane? (Or will it be Gennaro?)

Movie News & Opinions

In the Blood: Gina Carano to star in ‘Miss-Taken’. Get It? No? Whatever.

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First, I have not seen Haywire, so I do not know how good Gina Carano translates to the big screen, but people seem to like her. Secondly, I think it’s ridiculous, but someone ordered an action script from the writers of Dumb & Dumber. Third off, John Stockwell, the director of this movie, just loves tropical vacation environments. Put these three together, and you have the next action movie starring the next big thing Gina Carano – likely in a bikini.

Continue reading In the Blood: Gina Carano to star in ‘Miss-Taken’. Get It? No? Whatever. →