Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "New" Trailer


There's a "new" trailer out for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The reason I say "new" is because 90% of it is footage from the old trailer. The only new parts are slightly clearer close-up shots of all the Turtles and a silhouette of the Shredder. The buzz on these Turtles has ranged from sorta bad to oh my god, Michael Bay has ruined my childhood. My excitement level remains pretty low. Right now I'm scratching my head wondering what they did to Donatello?!? But they're the Turtles and even if I'm not psyched for the movie, I'm glad the franchise is still alive, even if this movie does end up killing it off. So check out the trailer, and wonder what the character designers were smoking when they created this.

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes


Disney Infinity is a video game where you use physical figures to interact with the game where you go on adventures or just build and explore your environment. The game featured characters from Pixar movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen among others. Now in a completely synergistic move, Marvel characters like the Avengers and Spider-Man are going to show up in the game. Heck, they even got the Guardians of the Galaxy in there! Normally I don't play games like this, but the character designs were too cool not to share. And maybe in a universe bending move, Nick Fury will someday meet up with Frozone. Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes will come out later this year.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Star Wars Casting: Who Are These People?!?


The Internet went bonkers when this picture of the cast of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII came out. And now we have an idea of who's going to be in the film, but outside of the original cast, we don't know who anyone is playing. We all know Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker are returning. But who the hell are those other people?!?

LEGO Serenity is Awesome!


Watch Adrian Drake build a giant 7-foot Serenity made out of about 70,000 pieces of LEGO. It's a time-lapse of about 14 months compressed into 9 minutes. And you can check out more pics of this shiny LEGO beast over at his blog, brickfrenzy.com.

What's That Flying Thing?



Why are the international trailers almost always better than the American ones? In the latest Godzilla trailer, we see some quick shots of the other monsters. Namely one with a bunch of legs and another one that flies. And those suckers look like they're fighting the big guy! And of course you have the obligatory Godzilla roar. Enjoy as Godzilla comes out May 16th.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Justice League in 2018?

Left to right: Henry Cavill (Superman), Ben Affleck (Batman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg)

Wait, aren't we technically getting a Justice League movie in 2016 with Batman vs. Superman?!? I mean it's already jam packed with the actors above. In an article at the Wall Street Journal Speakeasy Blog, Warner Bros. president of worldwide production Greg Silverman said there are plans for a Justice League movie which won't hit theaters before 2018. And Zack Snyder will be back to direct it.

So that makes 3, count em THREE movies in the DC universe in 6 years? Meanwhile, Marvel will have had at least double that. At the snail's pace DC movies are coming out, maybe they need to get the Flash involved somehow to speed up production.

With Zack Snyder returning to direct, there will at least be some continuity in the visual style which was actually pretty good in Man of Steel. But if the storytelling remains in its disjointed flashback style, and maintains its heavy handed feel, what good is a beautiful movie if it's simply no fun to watch?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Game of Thrones: Breaker of Chains

My nerdy views on the Game of Thrones episode Breaker of Chains.

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

I'm Off the CSI Team


Breaker of Chains wasted no time poking holes in all of my theories as it picked up right where it left off last week, with Cersei calling for Tyrion's arrest and Ser Dontos fleeing with Sansa. As they fled to the Black Pearl, I half thought Captain Jack Sparrow would show up. Instead, it was Littlefinger!

I'll admit, I totally goofed not including Lord Petyr Baelish in my list of suspects. He's been absent for about 6 episodes so I just completely forgot about him. I thought I was thinking outside the box when I threw Stannis and Melisandre's names into the suspect ring. I apparently was not outside the box enough.

So was Baelish's plan to kill Joffrey and get Sansa out of there? It seems really extreme, and I'm still not entirely sure this is the case. We know Littlefinger's involved, and Dontos was a patsy. But I'm still not sure someone else isn't involved. And whomever that person is, are they in danger now too? And the rest of the episode did nothing but raise my suspicions on everyone.

And one last note. Baelish had this long standing crush on Lady Catelyn Stark. So with her dead, does he think Sansa is the next best thing? Creepy.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Art Show Recap

I got to meet Slimer!
This past Sunday I paid a visit to Gallery 69 which is where the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary traveling art show is currently being held in New York City. It has about 70 different pieces of Ghostbusters related art, from paintings to sculptures to this guy up here who greets you when you walk into the gallery. I picked up 4 prints which you can see below. If you happen to be in the area, go check out the show. And if you can't make it or don't have the means to go, you can check out the rest of the photos I took at the nerdy views Facebook page, because oddly enough, Facebook does a better job at managing photo albums. The exhibit will be there all week from 11am-7pm.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Whodunnit? Let's Play CSI GoT


With the violent passing of King Joffrey on Game of Thrones, one has to wonder, whodunnit? I speculated in my recap of The Lion and the Rose that it was Ser Dontos, the court fool. But what if it's not him? Or what if it was him but he didn't act alone? It's time for some wild speculation.

Note: I haven't read any of the books so I truly have no idea who killed Joffrey. If you've read the books and know, I'd ask you not to spoil any of that here. If you did, I'd hate to have to go all Sheldon Cooper on you and find something beloved of yours and destroy it. 

Double Dose of Batman


First up, the trailer to Batman: Assault on Arkham, a direct to video film that's part of the Batman: Arkham video game universe. Kevin Conroy returns as the voice of the Dark Knight and has to fight off the Joker who's hidden a dirty bomb in the city. He also has to contend with the Suicide Squad, called Task Force X here. Looks good!



For Batman's 75th Anniversary, Darwyn Cooke brings us a Batman Beyond short that reunites Kevin Conroy & Will Friedle and has their respective Batmen facing off against some familiar figures. Totally looking forward to way more of these shorts.



And just in case you wanted a better look at all the Batmen...

Friday, April 18, 2014

Godzilla - Nature Has An Order Trailer


It seems with every trailer, you see a little more of Godzilla and that's certainly the case in this latest trailer. It doesn't offer up much that's new. It just expands slightly on the relationship between Bryan Cranston's character and his wife and the relationship between Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, I mean Kick-Ass and the other Olsen sibling, I mean Aaron Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. Plus there's the whole top half of Godzilla.

The big guy devastates on May 16th.

Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Art Show

Artist: Joshua Budich

Are you a Ghostbusters fan? Of course you are, that's a silly question.

In a previous post I told you about the 30th Anniversary of the Ghostbusters and that there would be a traveling art show. Well that show run by Gallery 1988 will be hitting Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego Comic-Con and starting this weekend, it's coming to New York. You can check out the tour dates and more information here.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

So You Wanna Be Spider-Man?


You know the one thing keeping you from being Spider-Man, aside from getting bitten by a radioactive spider, is that pesky webshooter technology. Well thanks to Patrick Priebe, YouTube user AnselmoFanZero, we're just a bit closer. They're not exactly webshooters as it fires a mini-harpoon that can be retracted, but it's damn innovative. With a laser sight for aim, and a winch to retract the cable, you gotta love that German engineering. Patrick wins the Internet today.

His YouTube site also features other comic book inspired paraphernalia like Cyclops' goggles and Iron Man's gauntlet. You can check out his creations over at his site: www.laser-gadgets.com. And remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.

Lucasfilm and the Future of Filmmaking


Are you ready for the future? In this video, you see people wearing motion capture suits, and they have camera rigs strapped to their heads, and all the information is sent to computers where it gets rendered in real time. Real time! The results are droids and Stormtroopers doing exactly what they're doing, and at the same time! They play with the lighting, interact with their environments, and even show how accurate the facial movements are. And it's all done right at the same time. This is an incredible piece of technology. Now why the hell is my Kinect still so slow?!?

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Captain America 2: Everything Changes


You don't need me to tell you to go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Let the 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, the 70 on Metacritic, the 8.3 on imdb.com, and the $95 million record opening weekend it had tell you.

It's not often I go into a film with high expectations and that film exceeds those expectations, but Captain America: TWS did just that. If you're a fan of the Marvel Universe, it's a must see. If you like action thrillers, you should probably check it out as well. It's well written, suspenseful, and had extremely well done action sequences.

Warning: Below there will be extensive spoilers about Captain America: The Winter Soldier as well as other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. You have been warned!

Game of Thrones: The Lion and the Rose

When you get an episode of Game of Thrones written by George R.R. Martin, it tends to be really, really good. The Lion and the Rose definitely did not disappoint.

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

Warning: There are major spoilers from the episode below!

It's a Barbecue!


And infidels are on the menu, marshmallows not included. Over in Dragonstone, Melisandre really has Stannis by the cojones as anybody who doesn't pledge allegiance to the Lord of Light gets burned at the stake. And Stannis' brother-in-law, Ser Axell Florent, the dude that provided Stannis a crap ton of ships paid the price.

Monday, April 14, 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past Clip


I've made it no secret that I'm pretty apathetic about the next X-Men film. This clip which aired during the MTV Movie Awards last night doesn't exactly change my mind, but it does show off some nifty effects. In it you see Sentinels being deployed, Blink opening portals, Colossus going metal, Sunspot firing up, and Iceman icing out. Iceman was one of my favorite characters growing up thanks to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, so seeing him ice out and actually doing the slides is a real treat for me. X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23rd.

Friday, April 11, 2014

24: Live Another Day: Movie Trailer


While I'm completely psyched for the return of 24, FOX's latest trailer for the show reveals a lot of details about the series. Hopefully, these events happen early on and don't spoil too much, but if you're a stickler for spoilers, I'd stay away from this trailer. For the rest of you who can't get enough of Jack, here it is!

Friday April 11, 2014 Catchup

The latest trailer for How To Train Your Dragon 2 just came out and it does reveal a major plot point teased in previous trailers so beware of spoilers! The first movie really surprised me with how entertaining it was, and this one doesn't look to disappoint either. Anyway, here it is! Useless trivia; the song used in the trailer is one of my faves, Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars, fronted by recent Oscar winner Jared Leto, in case you didn't know.



Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Game of Thrones: Two Swords

It's Game of Thrones time kiddies! Here are my nerdy views on the season 4 premiere, Two Swords.

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

Become Who You Were Born To Be



As if the Starks haven't been kicked to the curb enough, Lord Elrond, ahem Tywin Lannister had Ice, Ned Stark's sword melted down, and then presented the reforged blade to his son Jaime. With Jaime's "disability" it's entirely logical for Tywin to order his son back to Casterly Rock to rule in his stead, but Jaime isn't Aragorn. Jaime just wants to stay in King's Landing and protect the King, and more likely keep screwing his sister/lover. Just remember his last words in the pilot episode, "The things I do for love." Jaime's ego is writing checks his body can't cash.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Godzilla: Extended Trailer Mini-Breakdown

You probably spent this weekend seeing Captain America 2 or catching up on your Game of Thrones or you actually went outside and enjoyed the weather. Well while you were out, another Godzilla trailer came out and it gives away a major plot point, which probably happens in the first 15 minutes of the movie but if you're a stickler for spoilers, don't watch this trailer or my subsequent commentary. Although I really appreciate you coming to my site! :P



Friday, April 4, 2014

Game of Thrones Season 3 Recap


It feels like season 3 of Game of Thrones happened so long ago. Well it has been almost a year! If you don't have the 10 hours to re-watch it to reacquaint yourself before the season 4 premiere on Sunday at 9pm, how about a 25 minute Cliff Notes version?



And if you don't have 25 minutes, check out Screen Junkies guide which clocks in at 8 and a half minutes. But honestly, at this point you're just being lazy.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

24: Live Another Day: One Way Promo


With 32 days left till the premiere of 24: Live Another Day, FOX has released another trailer which reveals a little more detail on how Chloe O'Brian is involved. Apparently Jack intercepts some intelligence regarding the assassination attempt on President Heller and has traced it back to Chloe's organization. Hmmm, conflict of interest? Anyway, check it out.

Review the How I Met Your Mother Finale? Challenge Accepted!


At the end of the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother, future Ted Mosby tells his kids, "It's a long story." Who knew it would take 9 seasons and 200+ episodes to finally get to how Ted met their mother.

Warning: There be spoilers below (obviously)

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Carnegie Hall Does Cartoons


Ready for a blast from the past orchestra style? Here we have the Carnegie Hall Ensemble Orchestra performing a mashup of 43 different cartoon theme songs. How many can you recognize and name? I may have to turn in my nerd card as I was only able to identify 28 of the 43, and that was with the help of some of the cleverly placed visual clues. Even if you don't know all the themes, it's a very fun video and is a great walk down memory lane. Just try to listen to this and not be compelled to go down the YouTube rabbit hole of cartoon themes.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Don't Be A Fool Today

You can be a fool any other day in your life, just don't be one today! Because so many of us are aware of April Fools' now and have no reason to believe anybody or anything on this day, companies have turned April Fools' Day into a marketing opportunity designed not to fool us, but to entertain us. Here are three of today's nerdiest "pranks."

You've hopefully already heard about Google's April Fool's joke this year, and it involves catching Pokemon! If you've got a lot of time to kill, just head to Google Maps on your iPhone or Android device, click search, hit start, and then you gotta catch em all! I've got about 50!



Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Is that language Klingon? Well you do know that Shakespeare can only be truly experienced in the original Klingon. Now you can as Rosetta Stone has finally released a language pack for when you want to propose in the most aggressive manner possible. The thing I learned most from the video? "Dad" in Klingon is "Dad."



And something you have to see to believe, it's Optimus Prime in Titanfall.