All posts by Adam Popovich

I once shot a man named JR. Incidentally it was in Reno, but it wasn't frivolous, it was for many deeply personal, guarded reasons I shall not share.
Movie News & Opinions

Terminator 5 In The Works, Now With More Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Leave a comment

I’m probably one of the few hundred or so people who actually quite enjoyed Terminator: Salvation. While it wasn’t the thrilling all out war that was promised from the opening scenes of Terminator 2, it still whetted my appetite pretty thoroughly for more Terminator movies and I was pretty ready for the franchise to come back strong. Unfortunately like I previously said, I was one of the very few who liked that movie, and what with the infamous Christian Bale blowout on set, it seemed like the Terminator franchise was doomed.

Fortunately it seems like the rights to the franchise were picked up by Skydance Productions, and progress is being made on the five-quel.

via [Deadline]

[quote] Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures have set Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier to script the next installment of The Terminator franchise.[/quote]

The good news about this is that #1) We’ll be getting a new Terminator movie, and in the spectrum of things, that’s something I’ll always be thankful for, and #2.) the talent involved is interesting to say the least. Patrick Lussier is a name known to genre fans, who most recently unleashed the wonderfully insane Drive Angry on the unsuspecting public. Laeta Kalogridis wrote Shutter Island, which I found to be pretty enjoyable. But the last bit of REAL good news, is that the ol’ Governator himself will be returning to the franchise!

via [BleedingCool]

[quote]Briefly: our man Patrick Dane is down at the London junket for The Last Stand and he reports back, in short, that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be appearing in the next Terminator movie. Arnold said so himself.[/quote]

My real point of contention here is going to be where exactly the movie will take place in the Terminator timeline? I think the only logical place to take it would be to show us the time machines actually being invented, and The Resistance trying to stop Skynet from building the time machine to go back into time, so the Terminator’s remains won’t be found by Cyberdyne, so there will be no Skynet in the first place. The problem with that would be with no Skynet there’d be no Resistance to stop Skynet, so then Judgement Day would still happen and there’d be The Resistance who’d stop the time machines and…

Well now my nose is bleeding so I’m gonna stop there. But a Terminator movie that delves into the mythology of the chicken/egg time travel situation when it comes to how Skynet came to be sounds great. Really have it go into detail about time travel, explain how it works and iron out some of the kinks/plotholes from T2 and forward. Plus have an aged Michael Biehn in there somehow, along with aged Arnie, (presumably from the alterna-future?), and you’d have the beginnings of a time travel story that’d really be something.

I'm sure he could use the work too.
I’m sure he could use the work too.

I’m basing this on nothing but pure speculation, since there’s really no story or script details at all at the moment, but you can bet when there is, my weird mind will be racing with possibilities. At this point there’s so many places they could go with the story, and I’m really hoping they don’t screw it up monumentally.

Of course, that’s if the movie ever actually gets made. Clearly you can see I hope it does.

Oh if only...
Oh if only…
Uncategorized

Comic Rack! Details On The New JLA, Thanos Rises & Constantine Dies?

Leave a comment

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

Geoff Johns Finally Spills The Beans About The New JLA

It’s been a fairly well established trope that DC likes to have multiple Justice League titles running at the same time, because let’s face it, superhero teams are money makers. It’s a pretty simple formula, you grab a couple of heroes, announce they’re on a team together or tease a new team and who the possible members could be, and rake in the cash as people buy your book to find out. Marvel did the same thing with the new Thunderbolts not too long ago. “Why is Punisher a Thunderbolt?”, isn’t damn near the same question as “Why is Catwoman in the JLA?”, and the answer to both is always, “Buy the book and see!”

Comic Rack- 1:23:13- Geoff-Johns-New-JLA

Does that sound cynical? Perhaps it is, but I can’t help but feel cynical when it comes to groups of superheroes banded together eclectically for reasons X, Y and Z. Yes, Mr. Johns I’m sure you have a wonderful story to tell, and there’s a specific reason for each one of them and blah blah blah. Listen, we know you were pitched the idea by DC execs and made lemonade out of lemons for yourself. Good on you. Let’s just stop all the arbitrary team making for the sake of team making, okay Comics Industry? Thanks.

Find out more here.

Francesco Francavilla Joins Fraction’s Hawkeye

Easily one of the best new series Marvel is putting out right now, Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkguy Hawkeye has continued to wow me since the first issue with its enjoyable and down to earth look at the mainstay Avenger. Not to be forgotten is Javier Pulido’s issues that contribute greatly to the overall aesthetic of the series that follows Clint Barton when he’s not being the superhero Avenger everyone is used to. Francavilla joins as Hawkeye embarks on a brand new story line, which serves as a great jumping on point for readers, and faces Hakeye against his deadliest opponent yet.

comic-rack-012413-hawkeye

[box_light]“On Hawkeye we’ve been blessed with not only one of the biggest writers in comics with Matt Fraction, but also some of the best artists like David Aja, Javier Pulido and now Francesco Francavilla,” said Stephen Wacker, Senior Editor, Marvel Entertainment. “Though he’s only on the series for issues #10 & #12, Francesco is going to leave his mark on Clint with some of the most beautiful art you’ll see all year!”[/box_light]

The story starts in April with Hawkeye #10!

Thanos Rising Will Be Jason Aaron’s Next Big Book

Mark my words, in the next coming years, Thanos is gonna get huge. The guy’s long been held back by the stigma of being a thinly veiled rip-off of Darkseid, but let’s face the facts: The guy showed up in the movies first. Nowadays, that’s all that really matters with major audiences. The movies are almost more canon than the comics for the average fan, and the introduction of Thanos at the (post credits) end of last years The Avengers, is gonna cement him as the go-to face of evil for future comics movie watchers. In a way this could be construed as a pre-emptive strike to get existing and new Marvel readers re-acquainted with Thanos. In the movies we know all about the Cosmic Cube but the Infinity Gauntlet was only hinted at, and understood by those already in the know. This new series by Jason Aaron (whose work on Scalped I really need to catch up on) will introduce everyone who’s unfamiliar to Thanos in a way that will get them pumped to see him depicted as the Big Bad on the silver screen. When The Avengers 2 ( or Guardians of the Galaxy depending on where he appears) c firstomes out in theaters, trust me, you’ll be hearing about Thanos everywhere.

Comic Rack- 1:23:13-Jason-Aaron-Thanos

Find out more here.

Constantine’s Death Teased In The Second To Last Hellblazer Ever

Hellblazer is a book near and dear to my heart. It’s one of the earliest series I ever remember buying, as many trades I could find, and reading in a flurry. Constantine is a fascinating character in every conceivable way, and my love for him knows no bounds. It saddened me pretty greatly to find out that Hellblazer will be ending soon, and while I’m wary of the New 52’s Constantine title starting relatively soon, I’m at least thankful I’ll still get to enjoy a title with my favorite con artist/magician in it as lead. The thing here is, what if John Constantine dies? What if somehow, someway, the New 52 Constantine isn’t actually Constantine? I’m not saying they’re going off on a ridiculous Superior Spider-Man style death switch… Although I suppose that would be technically interesting.

Comic Rack- 1:23:13- Hellblazer #299

Anyhow, I’m getting ahead of myself. What I mean to say is that this is probably like any other comics death in that it’s more metaphorical than literal. Sure the cover of this penultimate issue shows Constantine leaning up against a grave that may or may not be his, and if the log line for the issue is to be believed then it is, but this is the comics world. We all know he’s not staying dead. I’m hoping that what they’ll do is have this be his actual, final, meaningful death, and have this New 52 Constantine comic retroactively take place loosely within the timeline of his Hellblazer run. In between fighting off lonely ghosts and The Devil and lung cancer. Somewhere in there.

Find out more here.  

Kirkman & Ottley Celebrate Invincible #100

Oh, Invincible. You’re a book that just won’t quit. From being a great mash up of Spider-Man and Superman, to becoming a genuinely awesome superhero comic on its own, to launching an entirely new superhero universe, you’re the little book that could. I’d say that of the big Kirkman two, while The Walking Dead is consistently the most gripping, Invincible is by far more entertaining. I’m a sucker for big bloody action set pieces, and ginormous feats of ridiculous strength, and will generally take that over intense, seething, paranoid human drama any day of the week. While all the mainstream attention has been on The Walking Dead lately, I feel that Invincible has gone by the wayside a bit. It makes sense, Kirkman is focusing on his cash cow, and If I was in the same place I would probably do the same. I can’t blame him for putting more focus into TWD when it’s clearly made him a very rich, famous man. Which is great, because any guy who can make a comic like Battle Pope and still have a successful career just proves what a great country America is.

comic-rack-012413-invincible

So if you’re over in the Sherman Oaks area of California on February 2nd, I highly implore you to grab a copy of Battle Pope, stroll on over to Earth-2 Comics and get it signed by Kirkman. Hopefully he’ll chuckle and be reminded of his roots, rather than have you dragged away by his money dogs who live and breath money and eat money, and kill you with money poisoning. Which is a real disease I just made up.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!

TV

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

Leave a comment

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

 

POP CULTURE

Game Of Thrones: Bad News & Some Cool Stuff.

Leave a comment

Because there’s so little to really report on about Game Of Thrones these days, what with the books being spoilers out there for anyone who wants them, and the show taking it’s long, horrible time to come back on tv, sometimes you have to make due with the little things that are out there, as you collect them bit by bit. Unfortunately sometimes those little things are really terrible and suck a big one, like the recent news that Wilko Johnson, the actor who plays Ser Illyn Payne has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Game Of Thrones Bad News + Cool Stuff- Ser Ilyn Payne-Wilko Johnson

You may remember Mr. Johnson as the guy who beheaded Ned Stark near the end of season 1, or as that guy in the background in the King’s castle who never talks, and just glowers menacingly. In the books his tongue was ripped out with burning pinchers by The Mad King, so whenever you see him he’s always silently staring. The guy did a great job emoting with the character and telling a story using just his facial expressions. As lousy and unfitting it is to such a talented actor, stupid goddamned cancer seems to go and ruin everything for everyone once again.

via [WinterIsComing]

[quote] “I am very sad to announce that Wilko has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas. He has chosen not to receive any chemotherapy. He is currently in good spirits, is not yet suffering any physical effects and can expect to enjoy at least another few months of reasonable health and activity. He has just set off on a trip to Japan; on his return we plan to complete a new CD, make a short tour of France, then give a series of farewell gigs in the UK. There is also a live DVD in the pipeline, filmed on the last UK tour.

“Wilko wishes to offer his sincere thanks for all the support he has had over his long career, from those who have worked with him to, above all, those devoted fans and admirers who have attended his live gigs, bought his recordings and generally made his life such an extraordinarily full and eventful experience. Thank you.” [/quote]

Well that just bloody stinks. Fortunately, there is a lot of other community created content out there to cheer us up from that terrible news, and to help hold us over until March 31st, when the show finally returns.

Firstly, there’s the kids who play the Stark children all beatboxing the Game Of Thrones theme song:

As much fun as they’re having, british people trying to rap just makes me ill. It sounds awful always, even when it’s meant as a joke, but I hope it entertained you. Secondly, there’s a video showing what it would have been like of Game Of Thrones was a show on The CW, which is… horrifying:

Then here’s a handy dandy list of all the characters referred to by their colloquial nicknames as opposed to their character names. There’s so many, I can understand the average viewer getting confused and just calling them these in response:

Game Of Thrones Bad News+ Cool Stuff- Nicknames

This amusing collection of fake OkCupid quotes edited into pictures of GoT characters works surprisingly well. Lastly, here’s some great gifs of Tyrion being as quotable as ever:

Game Of Thrones Bad News + Cool Stuff- Tyrion 2 Game Of Thrones Bad News + Cool Stuff- Tyrion 3 Game Of Thrones Bad News + Cool Stuff- Tyrion1 Game Of Thrones Bad News + Cool Stuff-Tyrion4

Oh how I’d love to bro out with Tyrion. Man there’s no way this is making the wait until March 31st any easier. DAMN IT ALL!

Uncategorized

Comic Rack: Guillermo del Toro’s DC Movie, Marvel’s New Teasers & More!

Leave a comment

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

 Guillermo del Toro IS Working On A DC Movie

After a bunch of flip floppy wish wash from PR executives that we’ve previously touched on, lots of rumors and hearsay, it’s finally been confirmed that Guillermo del Toro is actually working on a DC Comics film. Or plans to anyway, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to come out. Not that I wouldn’t love it, because his idea of a dark supernaturally themed DC movie with Constantine (Pronounced Constan- TYNE), sounds totally awesome and something right up his alley.

[box_light]“The movement for this happened before [The Avengers],” del Toro adds about DC building its own cinematic universe. “They were already galvanized to launch ‘Justice League’ and they were galvanized to make their universe cohesive… They are really, really, with ‘Superman’, very, very confident with what they have. They are now feeling they have two pillars. Batman and Superman… There’s a foundation that now they can build on.”[/box_light]

I’ve long been a fan of Guillermo’s, and think he’s one of the most creative and crafty directors out there that knows how to tell supernatural stories in a way that’s neither cheap nor boring. If Man of Steel is a big hit and the Justice League movie does in fact get made, you better believe I’ll be counting down the days until this project comes to fruition.

Find out more here.

Jeff Lemire Is Doubling Down On DC Projects

Comic Rack 1:9:13- Lemire-Projects

I’m such a huge fan of Jeff Lemire that simple, quick news like this can get my imagination running in a thousand different ways. The news is basically that he’s hinted at bringing some old school DC characters back into the modern fray. Which ones you ask? Well, they would consist of Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth, Jemm: Son Of Saturn, Red Tornado, and even The Spectre. Right now it’s all conjecture based on some images he tweeted, so It could all be for naught. I’m sure there’s always the possibility he was being a comics nerd and sharing some cool pictures with his fans, in the same way I share pictures of my cats with my fans. All zero of them. Regardless of my pathetic nature, if Lemire does end up doing something with these projects, you’ll definitely be informed right here the moment it does.

Find out more here.

Marvel Teaser Season Is Back, And One Features Brian Wood!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Brian Wood-XX-Marvel-Now!

In yet another teaser released by Marvel to make us all speculate endlessly until we don’t, we’ve got the vague hint at some new book that will be possibly related to X-women. The teaser released shows a picture of two X’s, with a DNA double hellix behind them, along with Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel’s names. It’s a bit obvious it’s referring to women in some way, what with the XX chromosome being referenced, but the question is who exactly? We all know Brian Wood is pretty familiar with writing women so it’s a question of who he’ll be writing about, rather than if. A solid speculation could be that the DNA helix hints at the genetic code that leads to mutants, and along with the X being such a famously mutant related letter at Marvel it’s a safe bet to make that it’s gonna be an X-Men related title. Some say it could even be called X-Women? I personally think that’s a corny title, but I’m positive it’ll be an interesting book nonetheless.

Along with that came another teaser announcing Phil Noto’s arrival as artist of the new Thunderbolts series. It’s titled Explosive and the image is certainly that:comic-rack-marvel-teasers-explosive

As always there are more teasers from Marvel, some of which are utterly baffling, like this “Birth” one:

Comic-Rack-1:9:13-marvel-Birth-teaser

And this trio of obvious ones for Hulk, Deadpool, and Spider-Man, respectively:

Comic Rack-1:9:13-Hulk Teaser Comic Rack 1:9:13-Deadpool-Teaser Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Spiderman-teaser

Find out more here, here, here, here and here.

Dan Slott Keeps Pumping Out The Spider-Man Craziness By Bringing In Spider-Man 2099

Comic Rack-1:9:13-Spiderman-2099

Listen, I haven’t read a Spider-Man book in years. I think the last time I did was when they switched Amazing to 3 times a week. I decided that was way more BS than I could handle at any given time, along with all of the One More Day nonsense that was going on. It pretty much put me off of Spider-Man forever, which hasn’t been remedied by the terrible movies and it’s subsequent reboots and forced sequels. He’s by far always been my least favorite character, and seeing all the wacky stuff Dan Slott has been doing to Spider-Man has done little to raise my interest in that book. Sometimes something is done when it’s done for you, and that’s that. That being said, I do find it interesting he’s bringing back Miguel O’Hara into the current continuity. That’s right, Spider-Man 2099 is going to be integrated into The Superior Spider-Man somehow. I remember reading issues of Spider-Man 2099 in the late nineties and being really stoked when I found his action figure because I thought it was rare. Regardless, the amount of novel things Dan Slott seems to be trying with Spider-Man these days, without getting into spoiler territory, is pretty interesting. It almost makes me wish somebody as gutsy and ballsy as him would try something like that with Batman or Superman, but he’s already gotten death threats and whatnot for stinkin’ Spider-Man, so I wouldn’t blame him for avoiding any other superhero properties for a while.

Find out more here.

Titan Comics Launches A Creator-Owned Based Imprint!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Titan Comics

I’m a pretty huge fan of creator owned comics. They’re by far what I read the most of nowadays, and to me are always the more personally rewarding stories. I love me a good superhero book, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing like a perfectly made mini-series that takes chances with its story and uses the medium of comics itself to tell a more effective story than any of the Big Two could. While I’m not very familiar with Titan, I always applaud another indie publisher throwing their hat into the ring and I’m especially fond of the plan to focus on creator owned content. It’d be pretty great if we got another big creative owned hit from them the way Image did with The Walking Dead or Invincible. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!

Movie News & Opinions

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Update! New Pictures, More Guns!

Leave a comment

Since it’s still months away from Star Trek Into Darkness‘ release, and we’ve done plenty of speculation on what little we know, it’s always a treat whenever a tasty morsel of information or update is given to us from the Abram’s scrap table. That is to say, I’m pretty sick of speculating endlessly of who Cumberbatch’s character may be, or what the plot of the film could allude to, and just wanna see the stinkin’ movie already. However, to quell the voracious appetite I and I’m sure many of you have for any and all Star Trek Into Darkness news, there’s been a couple of interesting photos published by Empire Magazine, showcasing the cast in a variety of situations, but mostly just holding guns. While there are a couple of more interesting ones, like the one with Spock in what looks like some sort of fire suit straight out of the Mass Effect game series.

While the pictures themselves may not be terribly mind shattering, it paints this movie definitely as even more action packed than the 2009′ Abrams Star Trek film. Everyone has guns! Everyone is running around! Benedict Cumberbatch is Benedict Cumberbatching! How exciting!  Now to turn into a slightly more serious note, as much as I desperately want to see the movie, I have to go and count my blessings. I have to remind myself that I will actually be able to wait for the movie to come out, and I’ll be able to enjoy it in theaters the way it was meant to be seen. Which is unfortunately not the case for everyone, including one Trekkie who is diagnosed with terminal cancer, who thankfully managed to get in contact with J.J Abrams, and will actually get to see the movie before he dies. In a case of the internet using its powers for good, it’s a pretty moving story.

via [Uproxx]

[quote]

Hello Reddit. I’ve seen some amazingly kind and generous stuff happen on here. I’m hoping there’s room for another amazing act of generosity and kindness for a friend of mine who is really sick. I couldn’t begin to put into words what he has gone through. Luckily his wife did it for me… “My amazing healthy film buff husband diagnosed with leukemia (CML) at 38 had to endure 3 rounds of chemo before they found a bone marrow donor match had a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was MORE chemo, full body radiation & lots of other horrific things….then endured/survived 3 major infections + a massive GI bleed that put him in the hospital 10+ times over 3 1/2 years not to mention 100′s of doctors visits…. he is my hero; I am his caregiver – I would do anything to help him…. he is now ravaged by a new TOTALLY UNRELATED cancer, (isn’t that a f*cker?) an aggressive and EXTREMELY rare vascular tumor that is crowding out his healthy liver tissue… they grew under treatment; there is nothing left to do but make him comfortable, at 41, he is jaundice & his liver is enlarged, his body has had enough, he has weeks to live, He was hospitalized and had to exchange our HOBBITT tickets (where the 10 min Star Trek preview was supposed to be shown) we were able to put him in a car and get over to the HOBBITT but NO PREVIEW???? we, his friends and family, the love of my life – WOULD LOVE him to be able to see the Star Trek movie but even the 10 minutes of the trailer would be AMAZING.” If there is anything any one of you or anyone you know could do to make this happen that would be an amazing, kind and generous thing. Please help. Thanks.

TLDR; My friend is dying. Would like to see the new Star Trek movie. Please help. At the least, upvote to get to front page for someone else to see. Please.

[/quote]

(Via)

I usually pretty much hate Reddit, and generally I think it’s a terrible community of the worst the internet has to offer, but occasionally something good will come along from it like this. The good news is that this fan will get to see the movie before he passes. Times like this make me think there’s hope for the internet yet, as we all aspire to exemplify the wonderful standard of humanity that is set as a precedent for us to follow in the Star Trek universe. Things like this, make it so. (sorry).

Anyhow, while there isn’t much new to mention about Star Trek Into Darkness, there’s still plenty of hilariously edited videos on youtube, compiling hours and hours of TNG footage to create… Well, here. Take a look:

http://youtu.be/jk7eyqY4bbQ

Such pure, wonderful insanity. Live long and prosper folks.