Yearly Archives: 2012

Movie News & Opinions

James Bond Will Return in “Daniel Craig is Swimming in Money”

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It looks like we’ll have to get used to a blond Bond for a little while longer. According to EmpireOnline and Deadline, Daniel Craig will be donning the tux and Walther PPK for the foreseeable future. Craig, James Bond since the fantastic 2006 Casino Royale, has signed on to be in at least two more 007 movies. This will take him into the 25th (official) film of the Ian Fleming character franchise. He will have done five Bond films by the end of his contract.

Sony Pictures also is involved in the deal with making the deal with the newly restructured MGM to co-produce the next couple of films. This is of no shock to no one because they definitely made a lot of money backing Daniel Craig as the spy since Casino Royale. Their plan is still to get a Bond film out every two years to capitalize on the money train they have been riding on since they had to wait for the new 007 film Skyfall for the last four years because Quantum of Solace arrived in theaters in late 2008.

This is a great decision of course. As much as Quantum of Solace blew open ass (Dr. Kronner and our group of friends almost got into a fight with a punk teen wearing a skullcap…probably would’ve been more entertaining in hindsight), Craig definitely offered a newer insight as the “blunt instrument” Bond, ready to take on all comers and still inhabit a dark side and brooding that would make Timothy Dalton jealous. Casino Royale remains a great “reboot” of the franchise and by the looks of it, Skyfall looks AMAZING. I am actually glad they took their time with this flick because Quantum felt rushed and lacked purpose. I hope the filmmakers took note of this. Of course, the cinematography in the trailer is just gorgeous and while that should be an obvious statement in a big budget flick, there seems to be a higher focus on the imagery that surrounds our favorite MI6 agent. Basically, I’m saying I’m geeked and Daniel Craig is able to jump back into the role and happy to see what other layers he can bring to James Bond. now that’s out-of-the-way, cue the Bond girls (including Eva Green for the Doc)!

Movie News & Opinions

Star Trek 2 Gets New Title: Into Darkness.

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Star Trek is a thing that is near and dear to my heart. Granted, there was a time, when I was young and foolish, and didn’t get it. I remember seeing my Mom watch the movies, liking the ships, but not understanding the story and thinking it was boring, especially compared to Star Wars. Only as I got older, and found myself appreciating the original series, did I REALLY start getting into it. I even started catching episodes of The Next Generation from time to time, following the story when I could, in between bouts of Goldeneye 64 matches, or Wrestlemania 2000. I even got into the movies, and, found that the original series movies were way more awesome than I remembered, and First Contact was probably the best space/cyborg/zombie film of all time. So unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t born a Trekkie, I slowly became one. Bit by bit, won over by its charm, writing, characterization, and social commentary.

Jonathan Frakes’ gorgeous beard helped as well.

I have a feeling that that’s how a lot of the populace felt in 2009, after JJ.Abrams took the concepts and characters of Star Trek, and made them accessible to a new audience, not pre-conditioned to Sci-Fi fandom. Despite the film having some plot holes, inconsistencies, and weird “What’s canon? What’s a reboot? What’s ret-conned?” issues, managed to be massively entertaining to an entire new generation of fans, who might have never given Star Trek a chance otherwise. Factor in the advent of Netflix bringing all 5 live action series being readily available, and it seemed like the dawn of a new era of fandom for Star Trek. I personally know several people who only are fans of the movies, or are fans of the shows, or both, or one particular show and not another, and multiple combinations of all. Star Trek is unique in that it really does have something for everybody, and the newer fans from 2009 have been waiting for a sequel pretty patiently for 3 years now, along with all the other die-hard Trekkies.

So after 3 years, with only set photos, and the occasionally purposely leaked screenshot, we’ve gotten yet another tasty morsel of information from the project, and this time, it’s the alleged  confirmed title of the film:

Star Trek Into Darkness

My first thoughts on the title? I’m not really impressed. It’s actually kind of corny, and borders on almost being a pun. But, I suppose the attempt to make a title that’s memorable has succeeded, because everyone expected the typical STAR TREK 2 COLON SUBTITLE style of title instead. In that way, it goes along with the previous movie’s intentions to subvert our expectations and help keep things new and fresh. Will the second sequel continue in this fashion? Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before? Actually, holy shit, they could totally use that for the next movie if they wanted. This whole title sets up a precedent. Here, I’ll come up with some more for them.

Potential future Star Trek Titles:

Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before

Star Trek Across The Universe

Star Trek Back Home

Star Trekkin’

Star Trekkin’ AGAIN

Star Trek to Electric Boogaloo

Star Trek Over To Bennigans, I Hear Their Broccoli Bites Are Amazing

All jokes aside, the actual movie does sound pretty awesome. What little we know of its plot, is mostly due to Karl Urban, who plays Doc McCoy. During an interview, he made one revealing comment about Benedict Cumberbatch’s role in the film.

via [SFX]

At a promotional junket for Dredd, Karl Urban looks to have let slip to SFX who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. When asked what it was like having the Sherlock actor on set, Urban said:

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Gary Mitchell was a pretty big deal back in The Original Series. Basically he was an officer who came into contact with an energy barrier, and it gave him godlike psionic abilities.

Bad ass silver eyes too!

He started using them in increasingly dangerous ways, until he was stopped by Kirk and Company, as is to be expected. What was fascinating about the episode, was seeing an everyday man, transcend past humanity, into figurative Godhood, into believing he was actually above all of humanity entirely. It’s one of the best episodes from the original series, and I always thought that his character was intriguing. Hopefully, we’ll get to see an interpretation of his character, now with a much larger budget, and modern special effects crew to really demonstrate what a powerful, godlike being he is/became. I know a lot of fans were a bit disappointed we won’t get to see the new continuity’s version of Khan in this movie, but he’s coming. We all know he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few mentions of the “Eugenics Wars”, or whatnot, in the background of this film. Khan is a role that was pretty solidly Ricardo Montalban’s, and casting that role is just as hard, if not harder than casting the entire crew of the Enterprise. Factor in that Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan is by far the most popular Original Trek film, and I really don’t blame JJ for trying to hold off on that for a while. If I had to cast Khan right now? Benicio Del Toro. The guy has the unique look, voice, and acting skills to make you forget all about Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, and would work tremendously. I have a feeling he’d be a bit too old for the role though, and my back up would be Jason Momoa, known most widely as Khal Drogo, from Game Of Thrones fame.

It goes without saying that I’m stoked for the film to come out already, and I’m really looking forward to seeing JJ Abrams’ new interpretation of all the original series concepts that were so wildly imaginative, but limited 47 years ago by technological and budgetary restraints of the time. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more and more of those ideas re-imagined for the big screen, where they can be appreciated by a wider audience. I’m always supportive of Science Fiction being more readily accepted and viewed by the mainstream public, because in my opinion, it’s the best genre out there, and Star Trek, is, has been, and always will be the best example of it around.

…Except for this news that Worf is getting his own series. Worf was the worst Lieutenant ever.

Ever.

Movie News & Opinions

‘Thor: The Dark World’ Set Photos & Rumor Report

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With the announcement from CCI about Marvel’s Phase 2 of movies, the Thor sequel was kind of left in the dust behind some of the more enticing movies Marvel was planning. Captain America dropped the Winter Soldier bomb, along with the announcements of Ant Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, so it’s pretty easy for Thor to get left behind.

But out of all the announcements, Thor: The Dark World is still left with the most mystery. We know which characters are coming back (pretty much all of them), and we know a villain will be Malekith the Accursed, played by Christopher Eccleston. What we don’t know is what the title references, general story ideas, or anything else really. Sure there is a lot of speculation out there, but the only concrete thing we know right now is that they are currently filming in Bourne Wood, England and have started constructing some sets.

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TV

G4 to Change Format: Resemble Something Like GQ

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In some of the saddest geek news of the year, G4, which has already been on the decline for the past few years, has finally decided to change the format completely by 2013. NBC Universal, which owns the channel, has decided to go the direction of GQ, slowly pulling themselves away from the TV/Music/Movies/Video Game format the channel was known for. Debuting in 2002, G4 was one of the few places nerds could go watch TV and actually enjoy what was going on.

Then came along Olivia Munn. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Munn-ster, but, as one of my fellow Grizzly Bomb writers pointed out, she once said X-Cube 360….yeah. Speaking of said Grizzly Bomb writer, who happens to be none other than Cheesebadger himself, we began talking about this in detail when he first heard about the change. He brought up some really great points and you can read those below:

They used to have long blocks of a show called Cinematech, which was the cutscenes from games, edited together in a theme. It was interesting. There was also a terrible game show called Game On, where two unfunny comedians tried to play games competitively against each other, to win some inane prize. Sadly that show is probably leagues ahead of the bullshit they’re showing now. It really so gradually became less and less about games I didn’t notice until they hired some no name model to start hosting in place of sarah lane, an actual tech tv senior who was leaving, along with all of the other actual game/tech related people. That no name model? Olivia Munn. In a way, she was the beginning of the end for G4. As likeable as I find her, she’s the epitome of what was wrong, and what is wrong with that channel. A pretty face hired to read lines and pretend they’re interested in geek subjects, and to pander to a geek audience. When she started out, she clearly, CLEARLY had no idea what the hell she was talking about. She called it a “Xcube 360” once. She’s clearly a gifted comedic actress, who carefully and skillfully manipulated a geek audience to gain a fanbase to build her reputation and recognition on, to jump ship and pursue her true intents all along. I don’t blame her, she’s a good actress, but her whole “geek goddess” thing is so goddamn fake.

There you have it, folks. The Badger has spoken. Regardless of the possibly interesting direction G4 could go in, I’m definitely going to miss Attack of the Show, even if it was, as Cheesy said, the beginning of the end. But, seeing that there are literally thousands of channels on TV, it’s hard to imagine a world where a G4 spawn or spin-off isn’t possible. It seems that only time will tell.

This is for hardcore gamers looking for serious media reports…

TV

Batman: the Animated Series Turns 20

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Yesterday marked 20 years since the first episode of Batman: The Animated Series aired on Fox. It kicked off with The Cat and the Claw, introducing this version of Catwoman as an environmentalist and animal rights activist. It was an epic start to one of the greatest cartoons ever created, and set a tone that would help redefine the entire Gotham universe. Following Burton’s first Batman movie, this was the next step in the wide-spread re-branding of the Dark Knight. Despite a plethora of great comic book stories in the ’70s and ’80s, the general public still associated Batman with the Adam West show that saved the dynamic duo in the 1960s, but turned them into a joke at the same time. The 1989 movie helped put the Dark back in the Dark Knight, but it was the excellent animated series that cemented the revised character for the minds of a new generation, one which included me.

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