The Return of the Hot Tub Time Machine?

Are you yearning for more time traveling tales, but found films like Looper a little bit too serious for your liking? Then you may be happy to hear that MGM (right back after almost suffering bankruptcy) have a sequel planned to their 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine. Hollywood Reporter had this to say about the proposed film.

[box_light]The company is in what insiders characterize as “exploratory talks” with Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke to reprise their roles for the follow-up. Corddry could end up being involved in fashioning a script with Steve Pink, the director of the original who is in talks to return to direct the sequel. John Cusack, who also starred in the original, is not involved at this point.[/box_light]

While not much to go on at the moment, we do know that almost all the creators and stars of the first movie will be involved, meaning that the sequel will still have that nice mix of tragedy, tears, comedy and vomit we all loved seeing before. A shame about John Cusack’s supposed lack of involvement, but it is incredibly early and there is plenty of time for things to change. We do not even know yet if any of the supporting cast will return like Chevy Chase’s quirky handyman character.

010HTM_John_Cusack_015

The main question that needs to be asked is “Do we need a sequel at all?”  The film did make a profit at the box office, with 50 million dollars made on a 36M budget, so it certainly has its fans. But the film was very self contained as it is and you may be wondering where is the tale going to go from here? Well, I have some ideas. The script could pull a Back to the Future 2 on us and have the guys travel forward in time to check to see if their lives are still great or to help out their kids in the future and then they find out that something is amiss. Alternatively they could go back to the 80’s, because of their actions in the first film they could have changed the present so much that it is on the verge of collapse and needs to be set straight again. At this point it could be anything. Though I am still not convinced that a sequel is actually needed, it is not going to stop me going to the cinema if it comes about. The original was a nice, quirky comedy that mixed adult humor with a glamorized view of the ’80s we all wish were true and had a great cast of characters that harked back to the days of Animal House and Police Academy. You never know, they may even get to pop Motley Crue in the film again which is never a bad thing.

We’ll keep you updated as the story develops.

Trailer Roundup: Danny Boyle, Halle Berry, and Jackie Robinson…

42

42 is sure to deliver the amazing true story of the first African American to play Major League Baseball during our modern era, Jackie Robinson.  Typically, I find these films to be depressing because they uncover some of the filth our nation has been responsible for in the past.  However, it should also be incredibly triumphant demonstrating a first hand occurrence of when segregation began to deteriorate in this country.

Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) receives guidance from Brooklyn Dodgers Team Executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) as he breaks the color barrier of Major League Baseball.

Director:  Brian Helgeland

Stars:  Harrison Ford, Alan Tudyk, Chadwick Boseman, Kelley Jakle, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, and T.R. Knight.

Release Date:  April 12, 2013

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A Love Letter to Fringe and a Look at Tonight’s Finale

For a lot of people, Fringe is that weird show that the guy who made Lost did a few years ago, and maybe it got canceled? I’m not sure? Oh it’s still on? Weird.

Well those people are ignorant, or hate risky, great sci-fi that took chances with its audience’s expectations by having characters die, come back, re-die, be erased from existence, will themselves back into existence, change existence, change reality, and then die again but in a different universe where they’re not themselves until they suddenly are because of love. It’s a complex show in the best of ways, and while a lot of fans have said this last season has been uneven, I’ve loved every single minute of it so far. What may not make a lick of sense to most people I often find intriguing and worthy of speculation rather than anger and confusion, and Fringe is like crack for addicts of confusion like me. Even thinking about the nature of time-lines and who is who or what events actually literally transpired according to the shows multiple time-lines is a fascinating discussion to me, and is something I will continue to do long after the show ends.

Some may argue that the show is disjointed, poorly written, or relies to heavily on deus ex machina, but it does it in such a way where the frame of reference is inherently based on the fundamentally shifting nature of reality in the show, rather than relying on a previously unexplained or introduced macguffin to solve all the narrative problems and wrap up the story, (ala Battlestar Galactica’s “God” ending), Fringe embraces the idea that all of reality in every plane of existence is constantly in a state of flux, and that applies to the narrative as well. You could say that’s a half assed explanation for what some could see as sloppy writing, but I find it all intentional. It’s a show that has balls. It does things differently, and it did it all on its own terms and told the story it wanted to tell and lasted longer then it every should have while doing so. Watching the preview of the series finale is as intriguing as it is heartbreaking for me, because holy hell, when are we going to get another show like this?

http://youtu.be/x4jptm7Yedo

I remember when Lost ended, ABC went on a nutso search for any kind of sci-fi/fantasy show to replace it to retain its audience, but failed miserably and now we’re stuck with also-ran shows like Once Upon A Time in its wake. What will the dregs of Fringe be? Will we end up with a bunch of lame, piss-poor sci-fi shows to fill the void made by Fringe’s departure? How will it end anyway? Will we get another Lost, (Brilliant and perfect, F the haters) or a miserable failure on every level? (the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica)

Considering its pedigree, I’d bet on the former. I’ll miss you Fringe. You crazy, amazing, ridiculous, silly, funny, heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, wonderful show, you.

A Love Letter To Fringe- Finale Poster

 

Animated ‘Axe Cop’ to Premiere July 27th!

Comic Alliance has released another animated gem. Back in November we told you about the upcoming Fox show starring Axe Cop, but since we’ve had no further news. That was until last week when the official broadcast date for the show was revealed to be July 27th. For those unaware of Axe Cop, he is the creation of Ethan Nicolle (artist) and his five-year old brother Malachai (writer), and it is quite a surreal trip. But instead of trying to explain the premise of the character why not look below at the new footage that has Axe Cop as the President.

For fans of the comic this clip must be a joy to behold. It has the same crazy energy and sense of fun that the comic book has, and now it has Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman – of Parks and Recreation fame) who is spot on. I have watched the previous Halloween clip a few times now to get a handle on the voice, which I was unsure about. But after seeing this clip, I am sure Ron is the right man for the job. The animation is also fantastic, looking like it flew straight off the comic book page.

Standout scenes have to be the cheeky cameos of Axe Cop’s dinosaur and Flute Cop as his security chief. Also the way Axe Cop slaps the money on the tramps head, and the entire scene involving blowing up the bad guys. This had me howling with laughter and that is perhaps the best part of the clip. It is a humor that can be appreciated by anyone who enjoys a silly laugh and because of this I can see this show doing well. July 27th seems a long way away so lets hope more footage is released of Axe Cops antics soon.

axe cop animated axe

Arrow Returns With New Cast Members, Returning Heroes & Even More Villians!

After what seems to be the longest hiatus ever (I think I say this every year) Arrow returns tonight and with it they are bringing on some new faces, and some returning ones as well.

Huntress and Oliver Queen

Who’s returning? Well, unfortunately it’s not Deadshot (seriously, dude can not be gone forever, that would be a crime) but it is Helena/Huntress! Let’s all gather in prayer and hope that they don’t try to revive the love interest angle because that was just slightly more annoying than the Thea swooning over Tommy bit. However, I do like the character of Huntress and think she has a lot of potential, so I’m glad to see her back.

As if Huntress wasn’t enough, there are quite a few new faces showing up in this second part of the season. Right off the bat with last night’s episode titled ‘Burned’, we meet Firefly, or as Marc Guggenheim (for some reason) calls him, Firebug.

Burned

Not gonna lie, that looks awesome (check the coming review to see more on that!) but even more exciting (for me at least) is it looks like we return to the island which means there’s a chance for a Yao Fei sighting! Yay! I’m still taking applications for the Yao Fei fan club if you are interested.

Burned

All the fun wasn’t limited to last night’s return episode however, because as we reported a few months back, Count Vertigo (Seth Gabel) is coming to Arrow. Well, a Starling City version of Count Vertigo at least. The CW people have released pictures and we’ve gotten our first glimpse of what this pill-making villain looks like.

Seth Gabel as Vertigo

Seth Gabel and Stephen Amell

In that episode, coming January 30th, it appears as if we get to meet Roy Harper/Speedy/Red Arrow as well. Marc Guggenheim has said that Roy will end up being a love interest for Thea. And in case you were wondering, they’ve also said that Thea is going to be less annoying going forward. Music to my ears.

There haven’t been any official pictures released of Roy Harper, but there is always someone around with a camera, so here is Colton Haynes as Roy Harper.

Colton Haynes as Roy Harper

All that really tells us is he is going to wear a red hood. I hope they fully explain why Thea is called Speedy rather quickly because that has bothered me since the beginning of the show.

Even with all these new people, I think there are a lot of people, myself included, who just really want to know what is going on with Moira and Malcolm Merlyn. Not to mention Walter. Oh, and Felicity!

Moira Queen and Merlyn, Susanna Thompson and John Barrowman

Thankfully we’ve got seven straight weeks of Arrow episodes to learn more! Tune in tonight to the CW at 8/7 central and come back here tomorrow and we’ll discuss. Until then!

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand: New Trailer and Interviews

Back in August we talked about Arnold’s big 2013 comeback, starting with The Last Stand – out this Friday. It’s been since 2003 since Arnold’s last lead role in the epically disappointing Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now while I imagine this new one will be more T3 than T2, I still plan to visit the theater this weekend. It is Schwarzenegger after all. The basic idea is that Sheriff Arnold is too old and the FBI is too slow, and the bad guys are super fast and good. Here is the 2nd trailer for it…

Continue reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand: New Trailer and Interviews