I hate writing movie reviews sometimes. I’m not quite sure why anyone would read them ahead of seeing a movie other than a simple “yes see it” or “no don’t,” because they just give you preconceived notions of what to expect, and warp your perception before the film even starts.

Rather, I think reviews are much more useless after you’ve seen a film so you can really discuss it. In my Star Trek review yesterday, I simply had to say “there were some questionable and unclear aspects of the plot,” rather than “the plot sucked because of X, Y and Z scenes.”

Well, I’m doing that today. Into the Darkness is a film I’m liking less and less the more I think about it. Yes, the original Star Trek had its share of issues and plot holes, but Darkness is much, much worse to me, and I don’t understand how it’s racked up such positive reviews.

I sat down and wrote out all the frustrating, confusing or ridiculous moments that bothered me in the film. See if they match up with any of your own. Continue Reading »

My issues and concerns with DC’s decision to reboot their entire continuity are significant enough that I literally boycotted the entire comic line. The scrapping of fan favorites, the rebrandings and redesigns, the fact that Amanda “The Wall” Waller -a rare strong female comic character who wasn’t meant to be overtly sexy, just intimidating- now looked like typical eye candy and Barbara Gordon was Oracle no more; I was neither pleased nor impressed with any of this. So much so that I didn’t even subscribe to Batwoman in spite of the fact that Elegy was one of the better comics of the last decade. Such was my wrath.

In my article of favorite under-the-radar superteams, I mentioned writer Gail Simone more than once. This is because she is one of the best in the business. When she was suddenly fired from Batgirl, the internet comic community exploded with such fury that DC was forced to rehire her for the job within days. After that display of fan passion, not only did Simone get to keep her current job, but she got a rare opportunity to create an entirely new property within the DC Universe, and make a statement about the power of the masses while doing it.  That new property is The Movement, the first issue just hit stands this month, and it’s the very first comic from the New 52 I have purchased.

Simone calls The Movement “a book about power — who owns it, who uses it, who suffers from its abuse.” It’s an entirely new aspect of the DCU that combines elements of V for Vendetta and Runaways with a little Sin City thrown in for good measure and draws inspiration from real world events like the Occupy Movement and the operations of hacktivist groups like Anonymous. At this point you’re likely either shouting “hell yeah!” or you’re raging at the audacity of these spoiled punk kids who dare suggest our corporate government is bleeding us dry for anything but our own good. Continue Reading »

Tags: DC, Gail Simone, New 52, The Movement

The idea of a magical, mystical object that’s bigger on the inside did not start or end with Doctor Who’s TARDIS, though it’s known for being associated with that phrase the most. Dern and O Abnormal hunted through pop culture history to remind us all the other times such objects have existed.

The only one I thought I’d find here that I didn’t see what the lamp from I Dream of Jeannie, but I guess that just shrinks people down to get inside of it, right? But doesn’t the Pokeball do that too? And do ghosts need all that much room? Oh, the confusing problems of imaginary science. So silly.

[Hello With Cheese via NerdApproved]

Well, this is exactly what it sounds like. Ryan Humphrey is getting a bunch of artists together to rewrite (and redraw) Akira starring Simpsons characters. Bart is Tetsuo, Milhouse is Kaneda, and a whole host of other familiar faces join in on the action.

I’ve pulled a few over the most completed art (mean colored), and a few of the panels when it actually turns into a graphic novel of sorts. The art, for the most part, isn’t exactly top notch, but that’s sort of the appeal.

This is wacky, and fantastic, and you should check out more of it below: Continue Reading »

“Nothing on Arrested Development was accidental. Every line, every background poster, every blue smudge was meant to be there. It was a show for the Internet before we realized that the Internet could be used to track Tobias’s homoerotic comments. ”

Go here to see the list.

Go here to see the dark sides of cartoon universes.

“Cartoons are are fun for kids and quality entertainment the whole family can get behind, right? Fact is, though, we only get to see 20 minutes of these cartoon worlds at a time. What’s going on after the credits roll?”

The Countdown

A new Star Wars animated series coming – [GammaSquad]

Microsoft answers Xbox One used games questions – [Insert Coin]

Spielberg making a Halo series – [TVOvermind]

Amazon is monetizing fan fiction – [GeeksAreSexy]

Pick up lines that only work for rappers – [GuyCode]

A gallery of animals with human hair – [WWIW]

Photos taken at a weird angle – [Izismile]

10 movies that should have starred Anna Kendrick – [Pajiba]

How much money do license plates raise? – [Pedal]

Brazilian police art? – [TheChive]

Inventing a shoe that generates electricity – [Neatorama]

Today’s girl is Claire Bowen – [Maxim]

100 of the best Arrested Development quotes – [BroBible]

When Juggalos go on OKCupid – [Caveman]

One of the quote “gayest” things I’ve ever said is when I remarked that it must be pretty fun to be a girl because they get to wear a lot of different, colorful pieces of clothing, along with accessories and jewelry and cool shoes. Being a guy means your choices are a lot more limited, and it becomes “which sort of collared shirt do I want to wear out tonight” or “should I wear my dark jeans or my really dark jeans?”

Do you understand what I’m saying here? It’s not that I want to dress up in girl clothes as a guy, nor do I long to have ladyparts, but buying clothes as a male is just a drag, and girls can have a lot more fun with it. I think that’s why they like shopping so much. Now you all are probably questioning my sexuality, so I’ll have my fiancee make a post later explaining that I am indeed straight despite my propensity to raise issues like this one.

ANYWAY, case in point, I can never wear Street Fighter leggings in a socially appropriate way, and that is sad.

We’ve all seen kung-fu fighting in slow motion across countless films ever since such cameras were invented, but rarely do we see such fighting skills recording at this high of speeds without the aid of special effects.

For Earth Unplugged, they took their hi-speed camera to a bunch of Shaolin Monks who were more than pleased to demonstrate some of their best athletic and fighting movies. At first it’s mostly a lot of backflips (which is still cool), but my favorite moments occurred at the end once the weapons come out.

I like slo-mo in movies, but unassisted, non-CGI slo-mo is increasingly hard to find these days, which is why this is so cool to watch.

Lars von Trier is one crazy motherf***er, which you would probably know if you’ve seen any of his movies. The man loves his graphic sex, and it should hardly shock anyone that his next (assuredly NC-17) movie, Nymphomaniac, is full of it.

But how exactly do you do graphic sex when your actors are A-listers like Shia LaBeouf or Uma Thurman? For as much as they want to push the envelope by BEING in a Lars von Trier movies, they’re not actually going to f*** onscreen for his and our amusement. Enter special effects:

Nymphomaniac producer Louise Vesth provided a sneak peak into what we can expect. Vesth confirmed that the doubled-barreled feature will include graphic sex scenes between the members of the all-star cast including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf and Uma Thurman.

For the truly hard core elements of the film von Trier used body doubles for the stars. But, Vesth revealed, the Danish director will use digital technology to superimpose the actor’s non-explicit displays with the pornographic performance of the doubles.

“We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles who really did have sex and in post we will digital impose the two,” Vesth explained. “So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.”

With media getting more and more permissive as time goes on, I only see this becoming more commonplace as actual sex scenes enter movies. Someday we might be SO permissive, that most actors have no problem doing scenes like this themselves, and then the line between actor and porn star becomes quite a bit blurrier. This feels like a strange look at the future to me, and I haven’t even seen the film yet.

2.5 out of 5 stars

In 2009, JJ Abrams took on perhaps his greatest challenge to date, a reboot of a sci-fi franchise more beloved than (almost) any other, Star Trek. In his film, he fashioned a parallel timeline to the original universe as a rather clever way to not upset longtime fans by changing the story, and assembled one hell of a talented young cast that few took issue with.

The new Star Trek film was everything the Star Wars prequels were not. It was well-filmed, fast-paced, charmingly funny and it paid respect to the original without being slavishly devoted to it. Star Trek was a hit, and a film that I personally demanded be turned into a franchise, something I’ve rarely said about a movie before.

Star Trek Into the Darkness is the answer to my request, a continuation of the reboot and a depiction of the further adventures of the cast. It’s everything I said I wanted, but I didn’t expect it to feel so…ordinary, by the time it was over. Continue Reading »

To say Jim Henson was a magical human being is an understatement. He is one of those humans I hold in the highest regard for the way they selflessly benefited society with their own immutable imaginations. I was lucky enough to meet Jerry Nelson (Henson’s right hand man) as a kid and that was a life-changer for me, as he was exactly as sweet as you would imagine any muppeteer to be, and it had a huge impact on me. The imagination that seeped from Henson and the cavalcade of amazing artists he kept around him at all times, was utterly astounding. And nowhere was this unbridled creativity more on display than when Henson and his crew helped to create the fantastic universes from some of the following films, which dared to step beyond the usual puppet tropes we were all used to.

While I adore all his muppet films, this list is about the movies he made without his core of beloved characters, and how “far out” and remarkable some of those films were. Note that Jim Henson had his hands in most of these films, creatively speaking, but only in the example of Labyrinth did he actually direct any of these, and in the case of The Dark Crystal, Henson co-directed with good friend and fellow puppeteer, Frank Oz. And though he may not have had anything to do with the final film on the list, personally, his legacy is clearly on display in it, earning it the final spot on this list. A hero, a father, and a husband, let’s take a moment to explore some of Henson’s non-muppet movies, shall we?

Continue Reading »