New Images for ‘Machete Kills’: Lady Gaga & Alexa Vega

Robert Rodriguez is currently in the middle of making Machete Kills, the sequel to Machete – starring Danny Trejo as the machete wielding Machete (…aaah! Too many machetes!).

It will also see the acting debut of Lady Gaga. Both she and Rodriguez are excited by this, if their tweets are anything to go by (as reported by The Hollywood Reporter). So here is her character poster, as ‘La Chameleon’ (image via I Watch Stuff).

It’s subtle and understated for her. Only the one dead animal wrapped around her.

Machete Kills is the second in a planned trilogy – and, technically, a spin-off from the Spy Kids films. It picks up from the first film with the title character mourning his lost love – so says the films website – then he is recruited by the US president to take down a cartel leader before he fires a missile at America.

It will star – along side Trejo – Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Vanessa Hudgens, Sofia Vergara, Mel Gibson (as the cartel leader), Charlie Sheen (as the US president) and Alexa Vega as Killjoy.

Vega was, of course, in the Spy Kids movies (the first of which was 11 years ago). And now here she is – all grown up – in costume for this new movie.  The picture was posted to Instagram and Twitter, and is now all over the internet (image via Starburst).

I’ve posted this at the end because, quite frankly, I knew nothing else I wrote would be read otherwise. You’re not even reading this are you? And who can blame you. Look boobs.

Trailer Roundup: Bachelorette, For a Good Time Call…, and MORE!!

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In this disturbing but intriguing story, writer/director Craig Zobel tells the true story of a fast food clerk who is the subject of a vicious and tragic prank call that leaves no victim unchanged. I find this trailer fascinating because, according to the filmmaker and the people who have been following the film closely, the events depicted in the movie were all true to life. This is a movie that illustrates the horrors of people who were just “following orders”.

The controversy surrounding this movie has been pretty huge, with many audience members claiming that there’s no way the stuff in this movie really happened. But, you know what they say, the truth is stranger than fiction.

Stars: Ann Dowd, Pat Healy, Dreama Walker, Bill Camp, and Philip Ettinger.

Release Date: August 17th, 2012

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The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper’s son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean. Allow me to opine for just a moment. I’ve never liked Ang Lee as a director. I thought Taking Woodstock was great, but Hulk is awful and Brokeback Mountain is overrated. This movie….this frigging movie. Why? Just…why? That is all.

Stars: Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, and Tobey Maguire (as Yann Martel, the author of the novel that served as the inspiration for this film…yeah, not sure how that’s going to work)

Release Date: November 21st, 2012

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Jack and Diane. Jack and Diane. Jack. Diane. Diane and Jack. Jack……and Diane. I’ll be honest I don’t even know what the hell this movie is about. The trailer, which stars Juno Temple (with hair as frizzy as ever), making out with a girl named Jack and then Jack is not really a girl she’s this thing and there was this awful trailer music and Kylie Minogue is in it and it just looks awful. But I mean…the possibility of Juno Temple getting naked and having hot lesbian sex and then getting eaten by her lover does have an appealing ring to it. Oh yeah, and Dane DeHaan (who’s awesome) and Leo Fitzpatrick (who’s even more awesome) are both in it. If there’s one way to explain it, it’s like Beastly meets Twilight meets Skinemax – with more bloody entrails.

Stars: Juno Temple, Riley Keough, Dane DeHaan, Leo Fitzpatrick, Haviland Morris, and yes…..Kylie Minogue

Release Date: November 2nd, 2012

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In this winner, we’ve got Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan playing Bridesmaids to their old friend, Becky, played by Rebel Wilson. On the night before her wedding to Dale (Hayes MacArthur), the three girls rip the dress apart and end up spending the rest of the night trying to fix it. After watching this trailer, I remember liking this movie a lot more when it was called Bridesmaids. Rebel Wilson, who can’t seem to score a leading role, is billed as a supporting character IN A MOVIE ABOUT HER! And Adam Scott’s involvement in this movie, while slightly reassuring, is looking like another Our Idiot Brother. He’ll probably have, like, two scenes which is unfortunate because re-teaming him and Lizzy Caplan after “Party Down” would’ve made a great movie on its own. 

Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Scott, James Marsden, Rebel Wilson, and Hayes MacArthur.

Release Date: September 6th, 2012

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V/H/S is a POV, found footage horror film from the perspective of America’s top genre filmmakers. In ‘V/H/S’, a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. Upon searching the house, the guys are confronted with a dead body, a hub of old televisions and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger and more inexplicable than the last. I can’t even explain the sheer terror I felt while watching this preview. Directed as a series of shorts by ten of horror’s most prominent filmmakers, V/H/S looks and feels…revolutionary. Let’s hope the film lives up to it’s awesome preview.

Directed by (the stars are all no-names and this list is much more interesting): Ti West, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard, Chad Villella, Glenn McQuaid, Justin Martinez, and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Release Date: August 31st OnDemand, October 5th in Theaters

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The trailer for this movie defines “on the fence”. Director Paul Schrader (who is responsible for writing Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, American Gigolo, but also directing Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist so it can really go either way), and writer by Bret Easton Ellis, one of the most important and imaginative writers of all time, are making a movie about a group of 20-somethings in LA that stars….Lindsay Lohan and some guy named (I shit you not) James Deen who is (again, no shit being shitted) a porn star. I love this trailer because it sets up the location very well and gives literally nothing away. Bret Easton Ellis understands the mind of a troubled 20-something, and I feel like this film will assess that accurately. Paul Schrader is awesome and this could be a great comeback for him. I’m definitely excited for this movie but I’m also very skeptical. The reason there’s no footage of the actual film in the trailer is because the teaser was released just as production started. There’s no release date, no set photos, no nothing. Just some stock footage of LA. Go figure.

Release Date: 2013

Stars: Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Gerard Funk, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston, and Jim Boeven

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After vomiting in her car, Katie (Ari Graynor) is forced to room with Lauren (Lauren Miller) to pay for a fabulous Gramercy Park apartment, and in order to make ends meet, the unlikely pair start a phone sex line together. Shenanigans undoubtedly occur in this hilarious trailer for what could be this year’s only truly unisex comedy. Cameos by Seth Rogen ensure some comedy for the guys but with a crew compiled mostly of women (the film was written but not directed by women), the raunchy subject matter seems to be a front for what is essentially a comedy aimed at the ladies.

Stars: Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller, Justin Long, Mark Webber, and Seth Rogen

Release Date: August 31st, 2012

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Cinemax’s Femme Fatales: 210 – One Man’s Death

Man, it sucks to be an assistant district attorney in Cuesta Verde. That’s the impression I got when I viewed One Man’s Death. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it means you will have unrealistic sexual relations with the female population of the city, all of who were apparently models in their past life, but it will probably mean you are a corrupt son of a bitch and will face certain death, hence the title of the episode. So, someone’s love dies and it’s up to the lady friend to get to the bottom of what seems to be foul play. But how do you punch up that classic story a little? You involve two lady friends, duh.

Continue reading Cinemax’s Femme Fatales: 210 – One Man’s Death

WoW: Mist of Pandaria Announces Release Date, Nerds in Basements Rejoice

So according to multiple news sources, the ones I used being Gamespot and WoW Insider, it looks like we finally got a release date on the new expansion for World of Warcraft. Mists of Pandaria is going to be hitting store shelves on September 25th. Which means you need to start requesting that day off. The 4th expansion of the series will come with a new level cap of 90, a whole new playable race (The Pandaren) with new starting zones and the such, a new race (Monk), and something called scenarios which is a cooperative PvE trial where you get to brag about accomplishing certain tasks in dungeons and prove that you are better than your average WoW player. Of course there will be new zones and more raids and rewards as well but that goes without saying.

The reason this is a full blown article and not just a news item in a sea of news items? There’s an opportunity to win some beta keys. Of course I have to make sure that you had the opportunity to win some. On Battle.Net, Blizzard released some details that they are giving out 2,000 keys each week starting on July 31st, and every other winner will get a friend key as well so they can share the fun. All it requires is that you sign up via Facebook so if you still play WoW (and I imagine a bunch of you still do), this should be something you need to do.

For those that are going to wait until September 25th, you can pre-order them online at Battle.Net with the retail version being $39.99, the Digital Deluxe version for $59.99 and the Collector’s Edition at $79.99. Differences you ask? Retail is just the simple copy you get with no frills, the Digital Deluxe gets you a special in-game mount and pet, along with banners and sigils for Diablo III and some Starcraft II Battle.Net portraits. The Collector’s edition scores you the same stuff along with a Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-Ray, a soundtrack CD, mouse pad and art book. So you have options. Looks like it’s time to throw some free time out the window. Especially with no BlizzCon, you now have more time to grind to 90 and hit some raids. Or bitch about the class balancing and out of control rewards system but whatever, details, details I guess. Also, how awesome is the dragon turtle mount?

Bomb Droppers Rise! Let’s Talk ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

The Dark Knight Rises is obviously one of the, if not the most, anticipated movies to come out this summer. Everyone is talking about their thoughts on it, and similar to what we did with the group Avengers review, we here at Grizzly Bomb wanted to give this movie the same justice and have a bunch of us review it. Of course, if you haven’t seen the movie, *SPOILER ALERT* so don’t say we did not warn you. You should have watched it anyways so shame on you. If you have not read my review, you can of course click here to check it out, but let’s see what the other authors of the site think of this flick:

Dr. Kronner:

Upon initial viewing I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. As it turns out though, it’s only because The Dark Knight Rises was not the single greatest film of all time like I expected, but simply just ‘great’. Upon my second viewing I found myself amazed at how much more enjoyable it seemed. It was the same movie I’d seen just 2 nights prior, but without the weight of my lofty expectations heaped on it, the film just seemed more fluid. The issues I had the first time though (Alfred coming off cheesy, Gordon being underused, an unnatural progression between Selina and Bruce) all melted away as I was able to simply enjoy the film.

Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was just how much I liked JGL and how they handled the boy wonder. He seemed an amalgam of all the Robins. Tim Drake’s detective work, Jason Todd’s aggressiveness, and the wisecracking wisdom of a Dick Grayson. And while he never traveled with the circus, he was an orphan, and he proved us all wrong – Robin, when done correctly, can exist in Nolan’s Gotham. The other thing I really enjoyed that most people disagree with me on is Bane’s voice. I thought it added to his inherent creepiness and really cemented him as a great villain.

The movie on a whole, while still not as strong as The Dark Knight, ultimately did not disappoint, and I have a third trip to the theater planned tomorrow. In hindsight, I’d say this probably edges out The Avengers as my favorite movie of the summer.

SupaScoot:

The Dark Knight Rises was good. But it wasn’t great. Let me rephrase that. TDKR wasn’t the best Batman movie, but it was a hell of great Christopher Nolan film. While I have a few complaints and feel like there were just a few too many leaps of the imagination intended for the audience to take, it was a beautifully filmed and epic undertaking that Nolan pulled off.

Weaving in a ton of different plot points from not only the previous movies but TDKR itself was a monstrous task that required a keen eye and an open mind, but it didn’t pan out fully at the conclusion. However, the one thing I can say about the film without any doubt is that it IS a definite conclusion. A conclusion to the trilogy, to Nolan’s bat-verse, and to Bale’s Bruce Wayne.

Are there things I would change? Absolutely. Are there things I didn’t quite get after my first viewing that were more evident after the second? Absolutely. Is The Dark Knight still the better Batman movie? ABSOLUTELY. Walking out of the theater after both movies were two entirely different feelings of awe. TDK was an excited and passionate victory dance for any Batman fan, while TDKR was a contemplative and cerebral appreciation for a great filmmaker.

Watch TDKR twice. That is my ultimate advice/review. Because everything changes that second time when you realize just exactly what the movie is about, who it’s about, and what The Dark Knight Rises really means.

The Wozz:

Christopher Nolan stepped away from 2008’s insurmountable The Dark Knight for the finale of his Batman saga, and in doing so The Dark Knight Rises feels a lot more like a sequel to Batman Begins than anything else. It’s a wise move because while much focus will be laid on Bane and a handful of contentious twists and plot points, this shift is the necessary fulcrum that bridges two very disparate films into a fluid trilogy. It also brings the story around full circle – The Joker nearly dismantled the idea of ‘the batman’ when he terrorized Gotham eight years ago, and Rises is all about reaffirming the ideals that led to Bruce Wayne’s creation of the batman.

In short, The Dark Knight Rises serves a very precise, mechanical function for Nolan’s Batman legend. It’s just all the more impressive that Nolan layers such a thrilling finale on top of it.

joey123mo:

It all started with Batman Begins, a film that, while not an instant classic, was the beginning of what is now the most significant comic book trilogy in film history. Begins was followed by the now legendary The Dark Knight, which featured a life-altering performance by the late, great Heath Ledger.

What started in 2005 is now finishing in 2012 with The Dark Knight Rises, a film that improves on both of its predecessors that ends up being director Christopher Nolan’s true epic masterpiece. The entire cast returns with an entirely new set of faces including the fantastic Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, one of the last wholly pure cops in Gotham City.

The villain here is Bane, played perfectly by Tom Hardy, utilizing his eyes and his voice as strengths. The constricting facial mask may be a problem for some, but I thought he was as menacing and terrific as he was in the previews. On top of all that, The Dark Knight Rises is an emotionally resonating story that ends up being the most perfect conclusion to an already near perfect trilogy. There will probably be no superhero trilogy as absolutely amazing as this one. The Dark Knight Rises is the high-point in a trilogy that defied expectations in every way possible.

Tim the Film Guy:

Christopher Nolan really doesn’t make bad films. The Dark Knight Rises was a great film to end the epic trilogy Nolan started with Batman Begins and then made better with The Dark Knight. This film really brings the old school epics such as Ben-Hur with thousands of extras running around on giant sets to the modern era of films. But sadly it was the last of this superhero trilogy and possibly the best adaptation of a comic hero we will ever see.

What I liked about the way Nolan made this film was that it felt like he created a great new story but then merged the tone and feel of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight so that it would feel very much connected with those films which worked as the finale to a great trilogy (If you didn’t get that I liked the Nolan trilogy yet). I will like to see how Nolan’s involvement in the new superman film Man of Steel will impact its realism and more modern retelling of the superman story. Might just go on about Bane’s amazing ability to take control of a room just with the way he stands with confidence, nah you’ll just have to see the film. Finally I would like to say that even though I am sure we will miss Nolan’s Batman I think that it’s great that a superhero franchise can start off as strong as it finishes where so many have failed before and for that I thank Christopher Nolan for his dedication to making all the films himself with such detailed film making.

Woman Friday:

My brain is still trying to wrap around the story, as usual with most of Nolan’s films. I’m either less intelligent than I thought, or he really is that good at weaving together multiple peoples’ stories in one film. On the whole, I quite enjoyed it, but I cannot say it was my favorite out of his trilogy. It didn’t seem quite Batman-y like before. However, I will say this was the first time in quite a while that a film actually caught me off guard (SPOILER!); Miranda Tate’s character development blew my mind, and when I looked at my husband during the final scenes, I realized the same thing was happening in his (and he is a hard one to surprise). Overall, cheers again to Nolan and the ENTIRE film crew and cast for a valid and appreciated interpretation of the Batman legacy.

Cheesebadger:

Christopher Nolan has permanently changed the face of Superhero films forever. While Batman Begins was the start of a trend of reboots, it has more or less been beneficial to the superhero movie genre, reaching it’s apex with 2008’s The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight was the first time we got to see a beloved comic character in a movie that was GREAT on its own merit, without any added buffer or forgiveness for its comic book pedigree.

This theme is continued with The Dark Knight Rises, however trying to follow such a dramatic change in quality from The Dark Knight’s prequel to sequel jump, inevitably will lead some to find Dark Knight Rises to be disappointing. That being said, DKR is a very good wrap up of the themes from all the other Nolan Batman movies. By no means as mindblowing as Dark Knight, mostly because of some pacing issues, and the lack of a seminal, game changing character interpretation such as Ledger’s Joker, DKR is nonetheless, a very fitting end for the Nolanverse Batman character.

How anyone will attempt to replicate the fascinating, consistently entertaining, and most of all cerebral and intriguing story told throughout this trilogy of movies is baffling. Whoever reboots the new Batman best find a wholly new direction to go in, because the bar is set impossibly high. This is how you end a trilogy, all other Threequels take notice.

Jason.Da.Psycho:

I ain’t no film critic. I don’t judge cinema techniques or shit like that. All I care about is whether if I’m entertained by a movie, and I can gladly report that I was thoroughly entertained.

For TDKR, you get a few action sequences and absolutely phenomenal character developments. Some lines are indeed corny, but 99% of them are great. The twists are there and they can be shocking (though not uncalled for). If there’s any complaint, the story isn’t so “Batman-ish”. Rather, it feels like a conclusion to Nolan’s trilogy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s fantastic, and since I am not a comic book fan in the first place, I don’t really care for that flaw.

It’s not better than the second one, but TDKR is undoubtedly one of the best threequels out there. (Note to Bioware: That’s how you setup a potentially depressing and ambiguous ending.)

93 Grizzly Bombs explode out of the 100 possible.

So there you have it. It seems like we all really enjoyed this movie and have a consensus that it was an excellent end. Granted, most, if not all, thought that The Dark Knight was the best of the trilogy, but that should not take away how great this film truly was. Of course we want to know what you guys thought so feel free to comment below your thoughts on whether this film cements this trilogy as one of the best ever or not.

ITGS: Yale Stewart, Creator of ‘JL8’

Welcome back to Inside the Grizzly Studio. We’ve been lucky enough to sit down with some great guests during our time together, and today is no different. I read a lot of comics, whether they are print, digital, web, cave inscriptions. So when the opportunity presented itself to talk with the creator of one of my favorite comic strips on the whole damned web I jumped at the chance. So in studio today we are lucky to sit down with Yale Stewart; the creator, writer, and artist of JL8.

Continue reading ITGS: Yale Stewart, Creator of ‘JL8’