Josh Brolin is Thanos?

According to Variety, former Goonie, Josh Brolin has been cast to play Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy. Say Wha??? The film opens in 2 months. Does that mean he filmed his scenes already? It's probably just a cameo right? Brolin has the grizzled face for the role, but he'll probably either be in heavy prosthetics or providing motion capture for the character. I think he's certainly a good enough actor to pull it off and this isn't his first comic book role having been in Jonah Hex, Men in Black 3, and the upcoming Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. What do you think?

He's Back, And He's Old!

Credit: The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail managed to get their hands on some on set pics from Terminator: Genesis, the "reboot" of the Terminator film franchise. It stars Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones as the new Sarah Connor and Jai Courtney from Spartacus & A Good Day to Die Hard as the new Kyle Reese. The film also stars Jason Clarke as the new John Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger who returns to the franchise as an aging Terminator. In an interview with MTV, Arnold explained why the Terminator looks older.

“The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath.  It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.”

Who knows where this movie will fit in the already convoluted Terminator timeline. Sarah & Kyle are both at a relatively young age. John Connor is being played by a 44 year old actor. And you have a grey haired Terminator in the mix. All signs point to some form of time travel within the movie that gets all of them together.

The franchise is batting .500 with the last two which had no James Cameron involvement being pretty bad. Where is this one going to land? Terminator: Genesis is directed by Alan Taylor who has directed multiple episodes of Game of Thrones (no wonder Emilia Clarke was cast!) and Thor: The Dark World, and will hit theaters on July 1, 2015.

The Book of Life Trailer

The Book of Life is an upcoming animated film produced by visual movie master Guillermo del Toro. And this movie definitely has a unique visual style to it. It reminds me a lot of the old LucasArts game Grim Fandango, which incidentally was also about Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.

From the iTunes description:

"THE BOOK OF LIFE is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, THE BOOK OF LIFE encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future."

The movie stars the voice talents of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, and Christina Applegate. And it opens October 17th just in time for Halloween.



And for reference, here's a trailer for Grim Fandango.

Underdogs

With Prince Oberyn Martell facing off against the Mountain in the next episode of Game of Thrones, it marks another in a long line of underdog fights in TV and movie history. And why not? Everybody loves a good underdog fight, except maybe for Barney Stinson.



But underdog fights are great. It's good vs evil, small vs big, right vs wrong. In many cases, good prevails because that's what the audience likes. In some cases, the good guy loses but has some kind of moral victory. In the movies, the bad guy rarely wins. George R.R. Martin isn't one to follow convention so the Oberyn/Mountain fight may have a quick and painful end for us, but who knows. Actually, book readers know so no spoilers! So Barney not withstanding, let's take a look at some of the more entertaining underdog fights in pop culture history.

Evolution of Godzilla

The original 1954 Godzilla film was a very serious take on the fallout of nuclear weapons. With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than a decade prior, the idea of nuclear war was still fresh in the minds of the Japanese. Godzilla was a representation of nature's revenge for the atomic bomb, and man's utter futility in dealing with it. This version of Godzilla was all about destruction and he was definitely the enemy of mankind. For the next 10 years, Godzilla would rise from the sea in three more movies to lay waste to Japan for no apparent reason. Humans even enlisted the help of King Kong and Mothra to help defeat the big guy. But the following decade marked a big change in direction for the Godzilla franchise.

Mark Wahlberg Shows His Acting Range

Okay, it's not really Mark Wahlberg, but in this animated clip from FOX's Animation Domination, Wahlberg meets Optimus Prime and I'd imagine the exchange is going to be very similar to what it's like in the movie.



And because I still find it extremely hilarious:

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the latest game in the War for Cybertron series. While I played the first game, I never finished it due to its difficulty. Or maybe it was my general ineptitude with these kinds of games. Anyway, I love the robot designs in these games as they are very G1 inspired. And if there's anything I love more than robots it's robots that combine to form bigger robots. From Voltron to Devastator to even the Power Rangers, it always awakens that wide-eyed inner child in me. So here's a trailer of Bruticus combining!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Just Made Me Feel Old

I fear I'm no longer the target audience for the Amazing Spider-Man franchise. The nicest thing I can say about the latest film is that it didn't put me to sleep. While the action sequences were okay, the majority of the movie consisted of the on again, off again relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. This continues the teen angst trend started in the first movie. With Marc Webb, directing, I guess that should be no surprise considering his previous film, 500 Days of Summer, told the story of a young man reminiscing about a failed relationship. While that movie was well received, I simply have no interest in seeing teenagers or young adults dealing with relationship woes.

And that's exactly what Amazing Spider-Man 2 focused on. I understand that Peter Parker is supposed to have problems. He's juggling a girlfriend with fighting crime. Being a broke college student doesn't help and having a low paying photography job helps even less. But a lot of those elements are ignored for unneeded conspiracy theories of Peter's father's involvement at OsCorp, an especially hammy performance by Jamie Foxx as Electro, and the relationship drama I mentioned before.

When I see a superhero movie, I want to see the extraordinary. I want to see them do super things. I'm not above seeing just how much they're like normal people with normal problems, but when it's presented the way it was in ASM2, I felt like I got tricked into seeing a Twilight movie. With Webb signed on for the third installment due in 2016, you young people might enjoy it, but I'll probably be the grumpy old man talking about the gold ole days of Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi.

Game of Thrones: Mockingbird

In Mockingbird, things have come to a screeching halt at the Wall and in Slaver's Bay. But the ball keeps rolling (and falling) in King's Landing and the Eyrie.

Note: I haven't read the books so any commentary I make is completely based on the show.

Tyrion's Champions

With Jaime unable to fight for Tyrion because of his hand, Tyrion turned to Bronn. Unfortunately, Cersei got to him first and paid him off with some fancy new clothes and the promise of a castle. But it really didn't matter how much more Tyrion offered Bronn. There was no way he was going to fight the Mountain, let alone defeat him. He'd be dead and Tyrion would be dead too. What good is that?

After my debacle of trying to figure out who killed Joffrey, I finally guessed something right! Oberyn straight up volunteered to be Tyrion's champion. Part of it seems like he's genuinely sorry this little guy has been shat on all his life. But his real motivation is to avenge his sister's death. And Tywin is probably next on his list. But you know if Cersei had just chosen someone else, this never would have happened.

Conan O'Brien Reviews Watch Dogs

As part of his Clueless Gamer series, Conan O'Brien "reviews" Watch Dogs which doesn't come out till May 27th. And it's pretty hilarious how absolutely clueless Conan is.

Dawn of Justice

According to The Wrap, the Man of Steel sequel finally has a name. And it's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which obviously implies the beginnings of the Justice League. What do you think? I'm still miffed that Superman doesn't get top billing in his own sequel. But as far as subtitles go, it's pretty good.

The film is scheduled to be released May 6, 2016.

J.J. Abrams Wants YOU To Be In Star Wars

Star Wars: Episode VII has started filming, and J.J. Abrams decided to release a video from the set in Abu Dhabi which managed to accomplish three things:

1. One lucky fan will have the opportunity to be in a Star Wars movie. It's probably going to be some kind of background extra, but still. That fan gets to say he/she was in a Star Wars film!
2. It revealed one of the non-CGI characters who looks like he stepped straight out of Jim Henson's Creature Workshop.
3. It promotes Star Wars: Force for Change which is a charitable initiative dedicated to finding creative solutions to some of the world's biggest problems.

I really like the direction this is taking. Giving someone an opportunity to be in the movie while at the same time raising money for charity is a great idea. And the non-CGI characters are going to greatly impact the acting because the actors will finally have something to act with instead of tennis balls or green screen markers. Plus, if done correctly, a physical entity will always trump CGI.

For more information and a chance to enter the contest, you can go here.

Arkham Knight Gameplay Trailer

Batman's back! And this "gameplay" trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight just released, although it looks like more cut-scenes save for some Batmobile action. It drives upside down! But it's a cool trailer and you should check it out nonetheless.

Weird Movie Tie-Ins

Lately I've noticed a very disturbing trend of really weird movie advertising tie-ins. It's one thing to have toys from your movie in a McDonald's Happy Meal. It's entirely something else when your movie is promoting something it has no business being connected with. I first noticed it in 2012 when The Hobbit was being promoted by Denny's.

Law and Order: Game of Thrones

I've been a little busy and I'm still working on my recap of Mockingbird, but in the meantime, here's a little Game of Thrones fun remixed with a little Law and Order to tide you over.

Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer 2

The latest trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy just came out and it's got tons of new footage. It really does seem like they're trying to reintroduce these characters to us again. But if you haven't seen the previous trailer or the mini character bios, the direction of the trailer makes a lot of sense. Star Lord gets a lot of screen time as he seems to be the leader who brings everyone together, but everyone gets a chance to shine, and there's a definite group vibe with plenty of team shots.

Guardians of the Galaxy Teaser

Are we really at the point where we're getting trailers for trailers?!? I guess so because here's a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy for a trailer that's being released on Monday May 19th. So stay tuned for a trailer breakdown on Monday. ;)

Halo 5: Guardians

The next game in the Halo franchise finally has a name, Halo 5: Guardians, and it's set to be released in the Fall of 2015 for Xbox One as reported by Xbox Wire. It's 343 Studios second crack at the franchise after Bungie stopped developing Halo games in 2010.

While I enjoyed playing Halo 4, it was probably my least favorite multiplayer experience of the series. Matchmaking issues, constant lag, and a continuing trend towards the Call of Duty style of play turned me off the game. I watched the multiplayer audience literally drop off a cliff which of course didn't help in finding other gamers to play with. Here's hoping Halo 5 revitalizes the franchise and 343 Studios fixes their online issues, and maybe this will be the game that gets me to buy an Xbox One. It is 18 months away after all.

But until then, I might just go home, pop in Halo 4 and see just how bad I've gotten, assuming there's anybody left to play with of course.

And here's the Halo on Xbox One tease from E3 last year.

Interstellar Trailer

Here's your first full trailer to Interstellar. I'm a huge Christopher Nolan fan. He's made some of the most awesomely entertaining films in the last 15 years from the Dark Knight trilogy to The Prestige, Inception, and Memento. He rarely misses so this latest flick is one to keep your radar on. It stars Matthew McConaughey fresh off his Oscar win, and Nolan good luck charm Michael Caine who's done SIX of his movies. The plot is still heavily under wraps but from the trailer it seems the Earth ran out of natural resources, so in order to save humanity, McConaughey's character must travel across the universe and possibly find a new home for us. And the point the trailer keeps driving home is his promise to his daughter that he's coming back. I expect nothing less than high emotions and complicated storytelling.

Interstellar opens November 7th.

We Need A New Army

It's been more than two months since we've had a trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction. Last night, we finally got a new one, and here it is!

Game of Thrones: The Laws of Gods and Men

Is it just me or ever since Joffrey's death, has Game of Thrones kind of stalled? I understand the chess pieces have to be put in their proper place, but it's been taking so long to move those pieces. Stannis is still broken and broke, Dany's still in the East, the Hound and Arya are still travelling, Theon is still a captive, and things have calmed down a lot in King's Landing. Dare I say, things were a little more interesting with the little bastard around? But thankfully, in The Laws of Gods and Men, those chess pieces are finally getting some major movement.

Note: I haven't read the books so any commentary I make is completely based on the show.

Braavosi Money Mutual

Ah, Braavos. How douchy of a place are you if you make everyone who comes to your city go between the legs of a giant statue? It's like you're getting tea-bagged every time you sail there. Anyway, ever since the Battle of Blackwater Bay, it's been all Stannis whining and Davos taking community college language classes. But now they're finally taking a step foward. Thanks to Davos and his brilliant skills of persuasion, the Iron Bank of Braavos loaned them the money despite being short on men and resources to feed them. Seriously. He just convinced the bank that the House whose unofficial motto is "A Lannister always pays his debts," wouldn't pay their debts. Davos just sold refrigerators to Eskimos.

Batman and the Affleck-Mobile

Zack Snyder just tweeted out a picture of Ben Affleck dressed as Batman standing in front of the Batmobile.

I shot this with my @Leica_Camera M Monochrom. #Batman #Batmobile #Gotham http://t.co/WPHKLxgBLM pic.twitter.com/p5DEf6fLzJ
— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) May 13, 2014

I know it's just a picture, and it's black and white, but this is way better than I thought it would be. The design is very reminiscent of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which is one of Snyder's favorite works. I wonder if Ben Affleck actually beefed up for this role or if that's a body armor suit.

 

Transformers 4 and Imagine Dragons

The new TV spot for Transformers 4 features the band Imagine Dragons and their new single Battle Cry. According to the trailer, they will also be performing the single live on June 19th for the Hong Kong premiere of Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. This "new" trailer rehashes a lot of old footage, but there are new shots of Grimlock breathing fire, Hound, & Optimus actually riding Grimlock. You can check out the the trailer below.

Channing Over Your Gambit

When asked point blank by Total Film, Lauren Schuler Donner, the producer of the X-Men films confirmed that Channing Tatum would indeed be playing Gambit in a future X-Men movie. I gotta say I understand the casting. Tatum is a hot commodity and he was actually really good in Magic Mike, the one good film I've seen him in. (The G.I.Joe movies should not count.) But am I the lone person who thought Taylor Kitsch did a pretty good job playing the mutant in the first Wolverine movie? He sounded right, but then again my experience with the Cajun accent is limited to Adam Sandler's Cajun Man, so what do I know.

24: Live Another Day Season Premiere

Jack is Back!

The last time we saw Jack Bauer, he was thanking Chloe and going on the run while on a CTU drone's fuzzy camera feed. Now Jack is back, and it's a nice dovetail that the first time we see him is on a CIA operative's fuzzy camera feed. So what's been going on these past four years?

Watch Dogs: Meet the Characters

The latest Watch Dogs trailer introduces you to some of the game's colorful array of characters that you'll be dealing with. Check it out!

War Has Already Begun

The first full trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes just came out and it looks pretty good. In the first movie, I was openly rooting for the apes and against humanity because the all the humans just seemed like dicks. In this trailer, it's now an ominous, post-virus world, and the humans look to be led by an un-Jim Gordon-like Gary Oldman as they fight for their planet. But Caesar and the apes have built a nice world for themselves until a few humans come by to screw stuff up. The war between men and apes didn't work out too well for men in the first movie. Looks like I'll be rooting for the apes again.

Game of Thrones: First of His Name

Since I'm still in a Star Wars mood, I decided to compare Game of Thrones and Star Wars characters from the latest episode, First of His Name. While they have wildly different audiences, there are very similar themes. Admittedly, some of these are a stretch, but I had an idea and I ran with it. ;)

Note: I haven't read the books so any commentary I make is completely based on the show.

Sober Cersei

Cersei has spent so much time on the dark side, it's a little weird seeing her acting nicely towards anybody. And she did just that to Margaery. I thought she was going over to give her a piece of her mind, but instead she extended an olive branch, recognizing that Joffrey did horrible things, and acknowledging that Tommen would need more help than she could give.

LEGO Ghostbusters June 1st

Ahhh!!! Finally some updates on the much anticipated LEGO Ghostbusters set! First, it will be released on June 1st for $49.99 here in the USA. And these gentlemen, Brent Waller, the man who submitted the original design for the prototype LEGO ECTO-1 and Cade, the man who convinced Brent to submit the idea to LEGO, got their hands on the LEGO set and provide a review for it below.

You can also check out more pics comparing the prototype to the released version on the LEGO Ghostbusters Facebook page. June 1st, why are you not here yet?!?

Gotham TV Series

If you were watching 24 last night, and by all means you should have been, you may have seen the trailer to Gotham, a new FOX series set to debut in the fall detailing the life of a prepubescent Bruce Wayne, a young Jim Gordon, and a bunch of Batman's villains before they become villains. Think of it as Batman Really Begins. I guess if you can't make a TV series about Batman, the best way to get around it is to tell a story about the people around him. The trailer looks pretty slick, but will it survive long on the cancel-trigger-happy FOX network?

Godzilla: Let Them Fight

It's more Godzilla! And in this latest clip that flying monster from the previous trailer is "buzzing the tower" and in response Godzilla rises up and looks ready to fight that flying beast. It's a really clear look at Godzilla and his adversary.

Star Wars Memories

June 1980

My mom and I rush to Northern Blvd & 83rd Street in Jackson Heights, New York. We go through the lobby doors and I wait around anxiously as my mom purchases something. We then go through another set of doors into a darkened room lit only by a giant screen in front of us. As we're walking down the aisle, I'm clutching my mom's hand, and there it is on the screen; Imperial Walkers trudging through snow and annihilating Rebel scum. My earliest memory just happens to be my mother and I seeing my first ever movie in a theater, The Empire Strikes Back. And thus a nerd was born.

LIX 3D Pen

Credit: www.kickstarter.com

File this under tech I don't understand but must absolutely have. The LIX 3D pen is the latest in the world of 3D printing pens which I had no idea was a thing. It's powered by USB and it works a lot like a hot glue gun melting plastic which is fed from behind. When the melted plastic is extruded from the tip, it cools and you can literally draw on air. You can learn more at their kickstarter page which has already been extremely funded. Looks like I'm not the only person impressed by this. And you really have to see it to believe it.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

A very stiffly animated Kevin Spacey

Call of Duty first started out as a World War II first person shooter. Then it got updated to the present day with Modern Warfare, which was followed by Black Ops. Now the franchise is launching into the future with Advanced Warfare. The game looks pretty much the same save for the additions of futuristic tech like jetpacks, exo-suits, and hover bikes. And Kevin Spacey is in it... And he looks kinda horrible... It kind of reminds me of how bad the Jeff Bridges CGI was in Tron: Legacy. I don't generally play these games because I'm exceptionally bad at them, but the Modern Warfare series had a great campaign story so I'm hopeful I'll someday make a return to the franchise. Of course, with new developer Sledgehammer Games at the sole helm, who knows how this game will turn out.

Game of Thrones: Oathkeeper

This week's episode of Game of Thrones, Oathkeeper gave us motivational speeches, conspiracies, and a supernatural ritual that really ticked off some book readers.

Note: I haven't read the books so any commentary I make is completely based on the show.

Justice League of Unsullied

Between Davos learning to read, and Grey Worm learning the common tongue, when did Game of Thrones turn into Sesame Street? Anyway, this was just a precursor for Grey Worm and his Delta Force Unsullied to sneak into Meereen and convince the slaves to rise up and "kill the masters." And by convince I mean give them swords. A little A-Team montage of them getting ready would have worked nicely. It's a genius move actually. Get the slaves to do the dirty work and you don't risk losing any of your Unsullied. So the slaves went out to kill the masters, well at least one of them. And just to drive the point home even further, Dany had the remaining masters crucified. Now before you think this is too cruel like Ser Barristan Selmy did and she should have shown some mercy, remember the masters crucified 163 children. Justice indeed.