Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Ten Films I'm Anticipating In 2015


With 2014 coming to a close, I've already covered the most popular stories of 2014 here on nerdy views. So now let's look ahead and talk about the movies I'm anticipating most in 2015. Chances are good you'll be seeing a lot about these films on nerdy views over the next year.

10. Mad Max: Fury Road

What's it about?: George Miller, the writer and director of the first three Mad Max films continues his franchise with Fury Road. In it, Tom Hardy replaces Mel Gibson as Max, and encounters a woman named Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who wants to cross the desert.

Why I'm excited: I've never seen a single Mad Max film all the way through. And my only real memory of the franchise is Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero." But this trailer alone has me excited. It has awesome looking vehicles, crazy stunts, and a car exploding in midair in a sandstorm. Plus, Tom Hardy is good in everything.

When it opens: May 15th



Thursday, December 25, 2014

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Stop Takin' Liam Neeson's Sh*t!!!


Watching this music video advertisement for Taken 3, it becomes really clear why people keep taking Liam Neeson's shit. Because he has the attention span of a gnat and it's easy! It's fun to see Neeson kick ass, but it's even more fun when he pokes fun at himself. Liam Neeson's shit gets taken again on January 9th.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Game of Thrones 2015 Promo


HBO released an end of year video which basically ran through the highlights of 2014 which included True Detective, True Blood, Veep, Boardwalk Empire, and of course Game of Thrones. At the end of the video was a promo for shows coming in 2015, and Game of Thrones got a whopping 5 seconds showing some scenes from the upcoming season! It's hard to get excited about 5 seconds of footage, but any Game of Thrones I can get that's not some blurry three-eyed raven vision is good enough for me. In it you see Cersei walking angrily (when is she NOT angry?!?), Jon Snow turning dramatically, Tyrion in a hoodie, and Arya in what I'm assuming is Braavos. Here's the Game of Thrones portion of the promo.



And here's the full promo from HBO. In addition to Game of Thrones, I'm looking forward to the return of Veep, Silicon Valley, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Marvel vs DC Epic Fan Made Trailer


YouTube user Alex Luthor pulled some video from Marvel and DC movies, TV, and video games and even some fan made superhero videos to put together this mashup trailer of epic proportions. The video starts off with Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill (I'm totally wrong on this. It's Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter from Stargate SG-1. But it sounds so much like Smulders!) narrating about multi-verses, the existence of an infinite number of parallel dimensions. Doctor Doom is tinkering with the Tesseract until it explodes causing their universes to collide and all hell breaks loose. It has Superman squaring off against Thor, Batman and Iron Man pitting their techie, billionaire personas against each other, and Wonder Woman and the Hulk hurtling towards each other among other superhero appearances. The thing I love most is how well this trailer is edited. Reaction shots, fighting shots, it all looks great and actually makes sense. Just goes to show with good vision and some creative editing, an idea can turn into something epic.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Farewell to The Colbert Report


After nine years, Thursday night was the final episode of The Colbert Report as Stephen Colbert will be replacing David Letterman on CBS next year. The wonderful sendoff of an episode began with a segment about Syria, and ended with Colbert riding off into the night sky with Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, and Alex Trebek. Yes that sounds absurd, but if you've watched The Colbert Report over the years, you'll know this is par for the course.

But before he signed off, Colbert assured the Nation that this wasn't goodbye, and began singing Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again." He was eventually joined by a cavalcade of guests that stopped by to serenade him off the air, among them Bryan Cranston, Willie Nelson, Tom Brokaw, Jeff Daniels, Big Bird, Keith Olbermann, Katie Couric, Michael Stipe, James Franco, Cookie Monster, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Barry Manilow, Patrick Stewart, George Lucas, and of course good buddy Jon Stewart among dozens of other actors, singers, musicians, journalists, and political figures. It was a touching tribute, and I think even out of character, CBS late night will be in good hands.


Thursday, December 18, 2014

2014 nerdy views in Review


2014 went by so quickly! Now that nerdy views is a year and a month old, I wanted to see what stories you guys were interested in the most this year. So here are the top ten stories you looked at and interacted with most on nerdy views in 2014.

10. Indiana Jones Reboot/Recast?!?


Way back in March, a rumor circulated that Bradley Cooper was at the top of the list to replace Harrison Ford in a reboot of the Indiana Jones franchise. And just like a toddler who doesn't get what he wants, the Internet lost its mind. I took a very neutral approach to the rumor, and at this point it was still very much a rumor. Indy's last outing, Kingdom of the Crystal was not well received but it was still a money maker. Although I'm astonished to find out it carries a 78% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I'm arguably a bigger fan of Star Trek than the Indiana Jones franchise and I didn't mind when that reboot hit theaters, so why should a new Indy incense me any more? Ultimately the rumors were debunked, while the studio still has interest in making a new Indy movie. Meanwhile Bradley Cooper stuck with Disney (they own LucasFilm & Marvel) and starred as the voice of Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Harrison Ford will be seen in next year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 



It's the trial of Tyrion Lannister! Accused of poisoning his nephew, King Joffrey, the episode was kind of a mish-mash until the trial began. There was Davos and Stannis trying to get money for an army, the attempted rescue of Theon Greyjoy, and Dany trying to make reparations for her dragon's burnish behavior. But when it came time for the trial, the episode finally got moving. The testimony was damning, even though it was all lies. And then a surprise witness shattered Tyrion's core. When Peter Dinklage took the stand, (he was nominated for an Emmy for this episode) he was electric. He told off the courtroom and demanded a trial by combat. And we all know how well that went for his champion...

Monday, December 15, 2014

The Office: Middle Earth


Martin Freeman, star of The Hobbit trilogy hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend so you knew there had to be a sketch related to that. But who knew the mashup would be with Freeman's first series, The Office in this brilliant parody. Joining Freeman are Bobby Moynihan's Gandalf which trends more towards David Brent, and Taran Killam as Gollum is as spot on as you can get. And kudos for using The Office UK theme! Makes me want to rewatch the series!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Terminator: Genisys Trailer Breakdown


The fact that I'm finally getting to my breakdown of Terminator: Genisys four days after the premiere of the trailer should give you an indication of the enthusiasm level I have for this film. The first two films in the series written and directed by James Cameron are science-fiction masterpieces and that legacy is the only reason I'm giving this reboot a shot. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was pretty much a lazy rehash of Judgment Day, but still worth watching if only to see Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Terminator again. Salvation unfortunately was a complete train wreck. Eschewing the time-travel aspect of the previous films, Salvation took place in the future during the war with the machines. The lack of Schwarzenegger as well as any resemblance to any other movie in the franchise made it the lowest rated of the series as well as the least profitable. Now with Genisys, according to the trailer, the "rules have been reset." They've brought back Arnold, and "rebooted" the franchise making this one an alternate timeline combining elements from the first two films in the series. You know, the good ones...



As if this series could get any more complicated. Try to wrap your brain around my breakdown of this trailer.

The trailer starts in the future with John Connor (Jason Clarke) addressing his men, one of whom is Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney).


Thursday, December 4, 2014

Terminator: Genisys Official Trailer


Here it is, the first official trailer for Terminator: Genisys. And I can hear the collective nerd population rolling their eyes.



Click here for my trailer breakdown!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Terminator: Genisys Tease


Yup, it's a tease for the Terminator: Genisys trailer that's coming out tomorrow, and the biggest surprise is that it looks like the T-1000 is in it. My interest level just ticked up a very slight notch.

Update: According to the cast list, Lee Byung-hun is playing the T-1000. You may remember him as Storm Shadow from the G.I.Joe live action movies.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

It's a Menage a Sabre!


Last week, The Force Awakens trailer debuted and the Internet collectively lost its freaking mind. There was a black Stormtrooper, the Millenium Falcon soaring majestically through the sky, and a hooded figure with a new badass looking lightsaber. And the Internet lost its mind once again over how impractical such a weapon would be. Memes came out of the woodwork making fun of it, and nerds had something brand new to complain about. Well Stephen Colbert, allegedly the FIRST ever Star Wars fan by two weeks has his explanation complete with a diagram and he sums it up perfectly. Nerds, you've just been owned. Now just enjoy the trailer for god's sake...

Monday, December 1, 2014

Better Call Saul Sneak Peek


Up until now, all the previews of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff/prequel have been little clips that didn't really tease too much, so I didn't find them worth talking about. But now, AMC has released a one minute scene featuring Saul Goodman and all around badass Mike Ehrmantraut in a clip titled "No Parking." It's a funny confrontation which might indicate the light-hearted tone of the series, especially when you compare it to its big brother. I consider the last season of Breaking Bad to be one of the best in television history, and hopefully Better Call Saul will be worth watching considering the people involved.



Better Call Saul premieres Sunday February 8th, 2015 on AMC.