Hot Toys, perhaps one of my favorite Hollywood toy manufacturers next to Sideshow Collectibles, has managed to secure some of the hottest licenses this summer. Some of those titles include Silvester Stallone’s upcoming film The Expendables, Spider-Man 3, Tron Legacy and Resident Evil: Afterlife — you know that strange looking 3D Resident Evil film that they’re working on. I really wish they already had some of these figures to show off, but one look at their current offerings, and you can pretty much know what to expect in terms of quality. In fact, I’ve had some people mistake some of the high resolution photos of their Joker figure for Heath Ledger himself. Not too bad if you ask me. The only draw back is that these figures can be a bit pricey. We’re talking in the upwards of $150 or more — on the 0ther hand, the quality honestly justifies the price. Check out their official website for more of their current products and keep an eye out for these new lines in the months ahead. Read more…
I’m sure a lot of you probably don’t know the company very well, but I’m almost positive that all of you have probably seen their work. Weta, believe it or not, is responsible for a significant portion of the props, conceptual designs and effects that you’ve seen in so many recent blockbusters like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, District 9, and more. So, when I received an e-mail about their upcoming presence at San Diego’s Comic Con International, my it perked my interest. Read more…
Moguera (モゲラ) made his debut in The Mysterians which was released in 1957 — in the film he’s a mole robot used by the Mysterians to attack humanity with his drills. Revoltech is celebrating this magnificent mole mecha creature in their Sci-Fi Revoltech Series, and he’s available for pre-order now and will then be shipping in September. Read more…
Like most of you I’ve been watching in horror as Mel Gibson goes into full self-destruct mode, which is a tragic ending for Mad Max to say the least. And making things worse rumor had it that the beaver film that Mel was working on was suppose to be great (as in Oscar material), but will now be shelved. I think this video by talented puppeteer Loren Feldman sums up this situation the best with an exclusive interview with the beaver!
With the upcoming release of Tron Legacy, so many companies are rushing to create toys and games to hype the new film. Fortunately for fans of the original, there are a few new products designed specifically to pay homage to the original film, such as this one here. This Tron “Vintage Figure” will be exclusive to San Diego’s upcoming Comic Con International, and apparently comes with some neat little features, such as a case that lights up, and special arcade cabinet packaging. In addition to looking fantastic, they’ll only cost $40 each and will be limited to only 1,500 units, so you’ll need to pick one up while supplies last. Read more…
Upcoming villain-as-hero CG flick Despicable Me is opening this week, starring Steve Carell as supervillain Gru who is forced to care for three not-always-adorable children. But while Carell might be better known for sweet guys like his Andy Stitzer in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he’s spent plenty of time being despicable– like in the following Even Step(v)hen bits alongisde his then-colleague at the Daily Show, Stephen Colbert. Read more…
The above video (and the ones below) tell the amazing story of the Cinema Arts Centre. Back in my art school days I met Dylan Skolnick who was then a film major at School of Visual Arts — and one of the first things I knew about him was that his parents ran an art house movie theater in Long Island. Now I didn’t think much of this as movie theaters that ran classic and art films could be found all over the nation by the 80s — but what I didn’t know was that Dylan’s parents didn’t just run the theater, but in fact were pioneers of a entire movement. Back the early 70s Dylan’s parents Vic Skolnick and Charlotte Sky started the theater as they were unhappy with the films they found in suburbia so on their own they started the theater as a non-profit and as the years went by many other theaters across the nation copied their template and we’re all the richer for it today. Read more…
How sad is it that I found the Japanese TV spot for Robert Rodriguez’s Predators more enticing than the TV spot airing here in the states. Sure, Japan edited the spot to feature the Yakuza character a bit more, but that’s not really the point. I tried to put finger on it and finally I think I’ve figured out why — the edits they did make feature some actual action. While our own TV isn’t exactly boring, we’re given a number of second-long clips that feature explosions and gun fire. The Japanese TV spot, on the other hand, shows off the slightly longer initial clash between a Predator hunter, and the katana-wielding Yakuza. Needless to say, it was enough to seal the deal for me — I’ll be buying ticket opening day. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jun 29, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
With the upcoming release of Robert Rodriguez’s Predators a little over a week away, many of us have been scouring the net for as much information as we could find regarding the upcoming sequel. It’s a shame that we had to wait so long for a proper sequel to the franchise, but whether or not it’s actually good remains to be seen. I have yet to see any marketing stunts for the film stateside. In Japan, on the other hand, marketing stunts seem to be a near daily ritual, so I wasn’t too surprised when I heard that former sumo grand champion Akinori Asashoryu showed up on stage dressed as a predator to promote the film. In my opinion, he looks pretty awesome, and ridiculous at the same time — I can’t even imagine what Dutch would have done if he was confronted by that. Read more…
Having managed to run the most popular X-Men characters into the ground in a mere four films (“mere” given the sheer volume of characters to make use of), Fox’s X-Men: First Class is starting to look like one of those movies that’s the fourth or fifth flick in a popular movie franchise, where the movie gets released directly to DVD and stars an entirely different (and cheaper) cast than the original. Read more…
Apparently tired of their own boring and ubiquitous banner ads, Ancestry.com decided to try a more novel approach to publicity, more in the time-honored tradition of tabloids and Perez Hilton: release interesting information about celebrities. Rather than go about peeping in windows, however, Ancestry.com used its own database to discover that Robert Pattinson, aka “that guy who plays the vampire in Twilight, the book/movie franchise designed to sexually arouse 13-year-old girls,” is in fact related to Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler, aka Bram Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula.
The funny part, of course, being that anyone who has the slightest understanding of genealogy or of how long ago ol’ Vladdie lived knows that you might be too! Read more…
I’ve been thinking a lot about those often (and not unfairly) maligned films known collectively as the Star Wars prequels– episode I (The Phantom Menace), episode II (Attack of the Clones), and episode III (Revenge of the Sith) –due to the subject coming up in a couple of interviews, and I’ve been thinking about the anger and hatred George Lucas receives from a particular set of Star Wars fans. Here’s why he doesn’t deserve it…kind of. Read more…
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Raiders of the Lost Ark, after all, it was the film that introduced us all to one of the most beloved action heroes of all time. I have to admit, it’s been some time since I’ve seen the film but several of the scenes have stuck with me to this day. Of course, there was the swapping of the golden idol for a bag of sand, and the pit of snakes, but more than anything, the image of a nazi’s face melting upon gazing at the contents of one very swank looking ark. It might not be the full-sized model, but this 1/4th scale replica of the Ark of the Covenant looks just as swank as the prop from the film. It’s a bit expensive, coming in at a hefty $249.99, but the details on the ark itself are immaculate. Sideshow Collectibles started taking pre-orders today through their official newsletter, but I can only imagine that they’ll be opening the pre-orders up to everyone else in due time. You’ll want to keep an eye on their website for additional information. In the meantime, you can sign up for the newsletter here.
I haven’t watched Toy Story 3 yet, so I don’t know what all of the little cameo toy appearances are– but here are some of my favorite childhood toys (which may date me as a child born in the mid-’80s) that definitely deserve some Toy Story screen time. Read more…
I really feel for Lord Of The Rings, here they are waiting for the Hobbit film to come out in 2012 and the director then quits! That means that if Tolkien fanboys (and fangurls!) are lucky they will only have waited nine years since The Return of the King came out in 2003. Well if it’s any consolation prize sad Rings enthusiasts can cuddle up with these official Lord of the Rings plushies which are now available for pre-order: Included are Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas and Orc. Read more…
I’m a journalism major, not a design major, but I have to say that the logos for the upcoming film adaptations of Marvel comics’ Thor and Captain America are…less than thrilling. And I mean that in the literal sense. They’re pretty boring. Let’s have a look-see. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jun 10, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
I absolutely love Japanese action films — more often than not, they’re a total tongue-and-cheek gore-fest filled with over-the-top acting and ridiculous special effects. While I admit that some of them can be a bit exploitative, I’m remarkably good at stomaching it and trying to enjoy the films for what they are. Needless to say, Go Ohara’s upcoming film looks to be no exception. Gothic and Lolita Psycho features the beautiful Rina Akiyama, popular gravure model, who plays a young woman who finds her mother murdered by assassins, and exacts revenge while dressed in gothic lolita fashion. There’s plenty of blood, women and a parasol loaded with bullets ala The Penguin in Batman Returns. Sounds awesome right? Watch the trailer and see for yourself. Read more…
Here’s the first full trailer for the latest addition to the Resident Evil film franchise, Resident Evil: Afterlife. I’m sure some of you might be cringing after reading that headline, after all, Resident Evil: Extinction — the last entry in the series — failed on so many levels. After its predecessor ended with so much promise — at least, as much promise as a Hollywood video game adaption could — Extinction simply delivered more of the same, and as a result, many people, myself included, weren’t exactly looking forward to a fourth. Read more…
You don’t need us to tell you that Prince of Persia was a mildly entertaining action-adventure film. You either know that already or don’t care. But I CAN tell you a few things that you may or may not know about the loosely game-based Jake Gyllenhaal feature and the world behind it that might surprise you…unless Hollywood’s poor choices don’t surprise you anymore. Read more…
When I first looked at this very silly low budget trailer for Alien vs. Ninja my first thought was “this isn’t a bad fan video, but they could have spent some more time on the alien!” Little did I realize that this is very much a real film directed by Seiji Chiba. My only major critique is that these are most damn lazy ninjas that I have seen in my entire life — they seem to have a bit too much spare time on their hands to be so caught off guard by a guy in a second rate giger rubber suit. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 20, 2010 in Cinema, Fandom
I’m not one for flash mobs, but when it comes to paying cinematic homage to a classic like 1984’s Ghostbusters, then I think I can make an exception. The guys over at Improv Everywhere recently decided to cause a bit of a scene in the New York Public Library on 42nd street, near Bryant Park. As some of you may recall, the library itself was used during the opening sequence of the film. Dressed in bed sheets and off-color Ghostbuster uniforms, the actors managed to score plenty of laughs and a decent applause, though you can tell from the video that a few people weren’t too pleased. I, for one, thought it was pretty funny. Read more…
There are a lot of things to enjoy about the recently-released film Robin Hood, including Cate Blanchett threatening to castrate Russell Crowe. But as far as Blanchett’s Marian of Locksley goes, that’s about the extent of what there is to enjoy. Read more…
Her name may not be Mary, but one Jennifer Jhonson (if that’s a typo, I can blame it on TechEye) claims to have conceived a child in a fashion that could be called…”immaculate”? Or perhaps just “desperate.”
See, when her hubby Erick came home from a tour in Iraq he found his wife pregnant– but according to her, there was no earthly father. But rather than laying the child at the feet of a holy deity, Jennifer claimed to have been impregnated as the result of watching a 3D porno flick.
Perhaps even more amazingly, Erick has proven as willing to take this explanation was as Joseph a couple thousand years ago. But let’s face it– 3D films have been around longer than the current trend. In fact, many of the following films are old enough that they could theoretically have “fathered” you and me. So without further ado: five 3D flicks that might impregnate a female viewer! Read more…
