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Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 24, 2014 in Animation 
Last year, it was reported that French animation studio Normaal Animation would be making a massive 500 90-second animated shorts based on Peanuts. Here’s two looks at the shorts, in both French and English (off-camera). Sadly, they appear to be sluggishly done. I’m not a Flash hater, but when it has that stereotypical “Flash” look, it turns me off. I’m sure these’ll be popular, though, and they’ve definitely caught Charles Schulz’s style in still images. The series will premiere in France on France 3 on November 9th, and will slowly have an international roll out through the next year. No word on when they’ll come the US, though! Check out the videos below. Read more…
Tags: Charles Schulz, Peanuts
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 24, 2014 in Videogames 
Titanfall is a game that I found very fun, but also fairly slim on content. Developer Respawn has added a lot since release, and they just announced a new update with several new features. The leading item is a new game mode called Frontier Defense. It’s a four-player co-op mode in which you defend towers from waves of AI enemies. As you might expect from a tower defense mode, you can set up titans, turrets, and more to defend the area. Along with this update, they’ll also be including a “floor is lava” game mode (which sounds amazing), and Marked for Death Pro. You can download the update now! Check out their Twitch stream featuring video of the new modes here! Read more…
Tags: Titanfall
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 20, 2014 in Anime 
It’s time for more Lupin III! A brand new Lupin III series will be coming in 2015 to Japan… and Italy! The series will actually premiere first on Italy’s RTI channel in spring of 2015, then Japan next. It’s still early, so no news yet on where it’ll stream or air in other countries. The story of the series itself will take place in Italy and San Marino, featuring a blue-jacketed Lupin. Veteran director Kazuhide Tomonaga will be the chief director (he’s done incredible work in the past, including the iconic car chase scene in Castle of Cagliostro), Yuichiro Yano will be series director, Yuuya Takahashi will write the scripts, and production will be done by Telecom Animation Film. That’s an impressive staff, so I’m pretty excited about this new series! Read more…
Tags: Lupin the 3rd
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 20, 2014 in Hobbies and Collections 
Moko is one of the best LEGO builders out of Japan — if you follow him on Twitter, you can get some glimpses at his massive collection of parts and pieces. He’s an expert at building mecha, in particular. His latest build is a chibi-styled Gundam with tons of little details and an incredible amount of poseability. Moko also built a varied collection of all the weapons you’d want to see the original Gundam wield. Check out more images below, and if you haven’t seen Moko’s work before, check out his Flickr page with an enormous collection of amazing mecha and anime characters. It’s great stuff! Read more…
Tags: Lego, Mobile Suit Gundam
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 19, 2014 in Cinema 
Most folks know Maisie Williams as Arya in Game of Thrones, but she’s been starting to expand and do more roles. She recently did an interview with Flicks in the City, talking about several projects. One is the long-gestating The Last of Us movie, which has essentially offered up the role of Ellie to Williams freely. Sadly, nothing is set in stone yet, she says. She goes on to talk about a personal project, a superhero series with her in the lead role. It sounds very far off, but she sounds passionate about it: “It was kind of inspired just from walking around Comic-Con and seeing so many woman dressed as all these sexualized female superheroes and just thinking if I was a superhero, I would just want to wear a hoodie and jeans, and taking that and making it into a superhero that isn’t wearing spandex and isn’t a sexy Catwoman or that sort of thing.” Read more…
Tags: Maisie Williams, Superheroes
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 19, 2014 in Cinema 
Guillermo del Toro is now hard at work on Pacific Rim 2, a film many thought might never get made. But movies studios love franchises, and they especially love trilogies, so it’s not surprise that del Toro also confirms that Pacific Rim 2 will segue directly into a Pacific Rim 3 (which is not yet officially confirmed). Talking with Collider, del Toro said, “We got the first draft of the movie now, and we are going to spend another 4-5 months on the screenplay before we start pre-production.” He adds, “Some of your favorite characters come back, some others don’t because we have decided that we’re going to shoot ambitiously and say ‘Let’s hope we have three movies.’ So some characters come in at the end of the second, hoping that it will ramp up on the third one.” Optimistic indeed! Let’s hope it works out. Read more…
Tags: guillermo del toro, Pacific Rim
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 18, 2014 in Animation 
A new Disney film means it’s time for another Disney short too! Big Hero 6 debuts on November 7th, and in front of it there’ll be a new short by Paperman‘s head of animation, Patrick Osborne. This is his first time directing a short, and it looks like it’ll utilize a lot of the skills he put to work in Paperman, including the “Meander” process they use to make give the CGI that unique look. Feast follows an adorable puppy snacking on everything in sight, and the preview gives a peak at him growing up around food, living a happy life with a full belly. I’m not sure where the short will be headed though — will it end up being happy or end of a sadder note? No one better die in this! Read more…
Tags: Disney
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 18, 2014 in Anime, Cinema 
The live-action Ghost in the Shell adaption is moving forward, now that they have a director (Rupert Sanders), producers, and script. Time to start casting! Earlier in the week Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street) was offered the lead role, but it fell through. Dreamworks then extended an offer to Scarlett Johansson, where it now sits. Deadline reports that offer was $10 million, Johansson’s price after her success in Lucy and as Black Widow. Sadly we’re not getting an Asian actress like Rinko Kikuchi, it seems. It’d like to see the script to see how much they’re altering the story and concept. I’m not sure if this could be good, right now. Read more…
Tags: Ghost in the Shell
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 17, 2014 in Tech 
Apple’s latest event wasn’t particularly mind-blowing (for the most part). A new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 are on the way, both slightly upgraded (iPad Air 2 gets thinner, better specs, and Touch ID while the Mini 3 simply gets the fingerprint sensor). They’re now available in the space grey, gold, and white/silver colors, too. OS X Yosemite has a fair amount of new features, and that is available now for free. But we all expected this. The most interesting news is that the iMac is finally being upgraded to a Retina display: 5K, 5120 x 2880 pixels, leading Apple to proclaim it the “world’s highest resolution display.” It’s pretty impressive! I want to see one in person. Check out some images below and a full rundown from the Verge here. Read more…
Tags: Apple, iPad
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 17, 2014 in Television 
Yes, after a long period of begging, HBO has finally decided to open up HBO Go, its streaming service, to folks other than cable subscribers. Before, you had to have cable service and an HBO subscription before you could stream anything like Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire. Now, HBO has announced that in 2015, they’ll have HBO Go head mainstream, allowing anyone to sign up for the monthly service. HBO Go currently costs $15 to $20 for cable subscribers, so I imagine it’ll be a similar price for new customers. Possibly more? Details are scarce, and HBO promises more news in the future. 2015 isn’t too far away! Read more…
Tags: HBO
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 13, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
The Daredevil Netflix series will be coming out next year, and at NYCC 2014 we got our first look at his costume, above. It’s mostly cloth, rather than the rubber or featuring the padding most of Marvel’s other heroes have gotten, and it’s heavily inspired by his outfit in Man Without Fear. It’s fairly Zorro-esque! Man Without Fear is apparently also a big story influence on this series, according to the series creators. All in all, it looks like they’re steering the series in the right direction, so with any luck it’ll turn Check out a description of the teaser trailer that was shown here. Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 13, 2014 in Videogames 
Citizen Con 2014 happened recently — yes, a con for Star Citizen — and they debuted new footage from the game, featuring a pilot flying in space all the way down to a planet’s surface. Chris Roberts shows off the ship, then demonstrates flying down through the atmosphere to a landing platform. He even goes through customs! They also show some of the shops and stores, albeit in a very limited fashion. You can definitely see the ambition, and I continue to hope that the full game pays off. (If the video footage below is a little choppy, that’s actually due to the recording software, not the game.) Read more…
Tags: Star Citizen
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 12, 2014 in Videogames 
Continuing with their new mission of adding bizarre and unique characters to LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, WB announced at NYCC that Duck Dodgers would be joining the playable cast, along with Conan O’Brien and Jim Lee. Yeah, that Jim Lee. I am definitely curious how this whole shtick will play out in the end. It’s a great news bit to say “Hey, look at these crazy characters in our game!” but will it end up actually meaning anything to the final game? Next year will people be talking about how great it was to play as Duck Dodgers or Conan? I don’t know! Check out more images below! Read more…
Tags: Batman, Lego
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 12, 2014 in Animation, Comic Books 
Back at San Diego Comic-Con we heard that the Guardians of the Galaxy would be getting an animated TV show on Disney XD. All it takes is one blockbuster and suddenly a crew who were referred to as “Who?” are now getting a sequel and spin-offs galore! This new animated series will be taking off in 2015, and Marvel released the SDCC test footage online at New York Comic-Con, along with the first art for the TV show. Thanos will also apparently feature in the show, along with other characters, as part of Marvel’s growing universe. Check out the full poster and test footage below the jump. Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 11, 2014 in Videogames 
Phoenix Wright and crew will be returning to the Nintendo 3DS this winter. We had heard about the updated trilogy a while ago, which will include the first three games in the Ace Attorney series, remastered with updated visuals; but now we’ve got a release date: December 9th in the US and December 11th in Europe. In case you’re wondering, this also includes the bonus case that was added to the first game. The trilogy will be available exclusively on the eShop, which seems to be Capcom’s favorite way to release the Ace Attorney games these days. It’ll run you $29.99, and if you haven’t played them yet, this is a great way to experience these three classic games. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 11, 2014 in Cinema, Hobbies and Collections 
Yes, Warner Bros. is taking notice of how much you all loved Batman in the LEGO Movie, and are fast-tracking a LEGO Batman movie. Chris McKay, the animation supervisor on The LEGO Movie, was previously slated to direct the sequel, but now has been switched over to the Batman film. In fact, it appears that the Batman movie will take the 2017 release date of the LEGO Movie sequel entirely, pushing the latter back to another year. Will Arnett is also returning to voice Batman. This means that Will Arnett will get a solo Batman film before even Ben Affleck. Neato! Read more…
Tags: Batman, Lego, The LEGO Movie
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 10, 2014 in Cinema 
Oh, I know we were just talking about Tomorrowland, but I’m sure Disney doesn’t mind. The first teaser trailer for the film has finally surfaced, and I must say, it’s a really well-done teaser. Rather than showing too little or too much, it simply introduces the main plot point and leaves you wondering where it’ll lead. Good job! I’m a big fan of Brad Bird’s work (but I think most people are), and I can’t wait to see how this will turn out, given that he basically gets to create a whole new world. Oh, and throw a little George Clooney in there to grab the mainstream audiences. Check out the teaser right here! Read more…
Tags: Brad Bird, Tomorrowland
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 10, 2014 in Cinema 
After rumors swirling for the past month, it has officially been confirmed: Bridesmaids director Paul Feig will direct a new Ghostbusters film, it’ll be scripted by Katie Dippold (who wrote The Heat), and will reportedly feature an all-female leading cast. If we’re going to have to make a new Ghostbusters film, I think this is a great direction to take it. Feig has a great interview over at EW where he goes into detail about his ideas regarding the film as a reboot, as well as addressing some internet complainers about the cast: “When people accuse it of being a gimmick I go, why is a movie starring women considered a gimmick and a movie starring men is just a normal movie?” Good question, Paul! I doubt the internet commenters have a satisfactory answer to that retort, though. Read the full interview here. Read more…
Tags: Ghostbusters
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 6, 2014 in Television 
Marvel wants you to come and meet the cast of their new Daredevil series! The Netflix show won’t be starting until next year, but you’ll be able to meet the actors and actresses at New York Comic-Con this coming weekend, on October 11th. Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), and Vincent D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk) will all be there. In addition, Marvel released the logo for the series, which looks pretty similar to the usual Daredevil logo, a few minor tweaks aside. I wonder if the emblem will show up anywhere, too? Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 6, 2014 in Videogames 
After a long and illustrious career, Satoru Okada has retired from his job at Nintendo. If you don’t know Okada, here’s a few things he’s worked on that you might know: he was the director of Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Land. He also designed the Game Boy with the legendary Gunpei Yokoi. After Yokoi left, Okada headed up Nintendo’s Research & Engineering department, leading the design work on the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. Basically, while not quite as famous as some of the other Nintendo staff, he did a ton of impressive work. Okada has now retired. He has also written the foreword for the upcoming book Before Mario, which chronicles the exploits of Nintendo before they jumped into the home console business. Read more…
Tags: Nintendo
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 5, 2014 in Design, Hobbies and Collections 
Florey has been doing some really cool art recently, but I simply had to mention these great Transformers shirts that he made from 80sTees.com. Available in Autobot and Decepticon varieties (of course), it features a multitude of Transformers in vehicle form. It has enough of them to satisfy any fan, I would imagine. These are screen printed, too, and look pretty awesome as far as quality goes. They’re available now and you can pick it up in Autobots flavor here, and Decpticon flavor here. Then check out Florey’s blog for more cool pop culture art!
Tags: T-Shirts, Transformers
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 5, 2014 in Star Wars 
The new Lucasfilm under Disney has done a lot of work on rebooting the the Expanded Universe and ensuring that all future Star Wars media fits into the canon. The Wall Street Journal recently did a profile of Kiri Hart, the vice president of development, who’s responsible for making sure that everything lines up nicely. There’s an interesting note, though, that SlashFilm points out: all the spinoff films and any spinoff story ideas are formulated inside Lucasfilm, and then they find artists, directors, and writers who they feel fit the concept. The old rumors of Zack Snyder pitching a Seven Samurai-styled Star Wars film weren’t exactly correct. It’s interesting how closely they’re holding their cards. Read more…
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 4, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
After spending a while in development, Pixar’s next film, Inside Out, has gotten a teaser trailer. Sadly, like most teaser trailers, it doesn’t show much. In fact, most of the trailer is footage from previous Pixar films, reminding you how good they were. It feels like Disney’s marketing department said, “Hey guys, we know this isn’t a sequel, so we’ve got to sell people on it by showing them characters they DO know!” Maybe that’ll be successful — I don’t know. Still, I’m interested, as this film is from Pete Docter, the fellow behind Up and Monsters Inc., so there is a skilled craftsman at the helm, at least. The last few Pixar films didn’t really blow me away, so I’m hoping this will be a return to form. Check out the teaser below! Read more…
Tags: Inside Out, Pixar
Posted by Ben Huber on Oct 4, 2014 in Cinema 
John Landis, the director of Michael Jackson’s iconic music video, Thriller, has been stuck in a legal dispute with the singer’s estate for several years (it started prior to Jackson’s death), over the video itself. Now that the dispute has finally been resolved, Landis says he plans on re-releasing the music video on Blu-ray as well as in theaters — in 3D. He hasn’t elaborated too much, aside from saying, “It is going to reappear in a highly polished and three-dimensional way that is very exciting on the big screen.” I wonder if this will be on its own, or as part of a larger compilation of music videos. Although, Thriller on Blu-ray, restored, will be a sight to see. Read more…
Tags: Michael Jackson
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