Category: Movies
My Vote Goes for a Paul Rudd Ant-Man!
I had to get this in before the final verdict on the casting of Ant-Man was officially chosen, anyway it seems we have two choices for the role, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Paul Rudd. First I’ve gotta say I hope whoever they chose they dye their hair blonde! Call me a comic purist, but it’d make it feel more like Hank Pym as he’s always been a blonde even in The Ultimates.
So to me, of these two choices I feel like the role should be Rudd’s, as he’d fit nicely with Edgar Wright’s version of the hero or at least what I imagine. Also though Gordon Levitt should be a superhero-he SHOULD be Batman dammit, he doesn’t at all resonate as a Hank Pym to me.
Rudd is a good choice, he can play cocky asshole and frankly he’d be a breath of fresh air in the role and to The Avengers. I say whatever, just get Giant-Man up on the big screen already-Ant-Man is cool but Giant-Man really rounds out the Avengers and is quite honestly one of the most cinematic things about The Ultimates!!
![giant_man_[ultimate]_8](https://universaldork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/giant_man_ultimate_8.jpg)
The Inspiration Behind “Big Trouble in Little China”!
It’s pretty much common fact this day and age that ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ is one of the coolest movies ever made. Anyone wanna disagree with me here? It pretty much stands alone as one of the best, most original movies that John Carpenter has ever done and defies any real genre. Carpenter must be a genius right?!
Most likely that’s true, but even genius minds get inspired to create awesome things often from some other source. Sometimes though these brilliant minds can unintentionally take full credit for something great. So I wanted to take a quick minute to address just what movie was indeed the inspiration behind ‘Big Trouble’. Ever heard of “Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain“? I didn’t think so!
This rad Hong Kong flick from from 1983 was indeed the inspiration for Carpenter’s masterpiece! John Carpenter has gone on record several times citing this movie as his inspiration for his 1986 feature film. Yep this little known special effects driven flick was what got Carpenter’s mind reelin’ to eventually compose “Big Trouble in Little China”. This one is an unknown gem, at least here in the United States where it’s extremely hard to find. Director Tsui Hark, who was attempting to break out a s a superstar, attempted to mix the kind of mythological adventures that were popular at the time, with a more Hollywood approach and more western stylized special effects work.
Even more impressive was that he brought in the people behind Star Wars for technical special effects assistance. Add in my favorite chinese actor Sammo Hung and you’ve got quite a stellar movie! So go check it for yourself but keep in mind that there was a remake (which wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as the original) and if you loved ‘Big Trouble’ eat your heart out with this one! Hong Kong cinema in the 1980’s was a ton of fun!
Here is the FULL movie uploaded to Youtube!!
“Curse of Chucky” is the Ultimate Franchise Sequel!
I saw “Curse of Chucky” last night, the sixth installment to the franchise and the second BEST movie of the series! I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this one, except that it was reffered to as some what of a reboot and that it was going to bring back a more frightening version of ol’ Chuck than the last two movies which to be quite honest I wasn’t much of a fan of. Really for me the first two are the only ones I’d ever, up to this point, I have any desire of watching again at all. That being said I was fairly certain I’d be in some way disappointed here with Chucky in 2013. I really couldn’t have been more wrong, as ‘Curse’ not only delivered the goods but exceeded my expectations and packed a punch full of surprises to boot!
This one once again, helmed by Don Mancini, who wrote all six films (but only directed my two least favorites) brought the story back to basics. I wouldn’t be lying if I said this one felt like a straight up reboot when it started out, but believe me this one’s got more to it than meets the eye. The story starts out relatively simple, handicapped Nica (Fiona Dourif, Brad’s daughter!) lives alone with her mother in an old creepy mansion and receives a strange package in the mail-guess what’s inside? Yep-A Good Guy Doll!!
Shortly thereafter Nica’s mother is found dead and soon the rest of the family arrive to meet up for the funeral and stay the weekend at the old creepy house. Nica’s young niece Alice takes a liking to the Good Guy doll and then as you might guess mayhem ensues. Now that’s about all I really need to tell you plot wise, it’s really best if you don’t know much more than that. What I can tell you is that it’s the perfect film to bring the franchise back to what it’s best known for which is some good scares like only Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) can deliver. This installment brings back the horror that has been missing for so long but neatly serves as the perfect end to the franchise while also opening the door to possibly one more movie?
Now onto what people had been fearing since the preview hit for this a couple months back, that Chucky was going to be CGI in ‘Curse’. Well fear not, he’s still fully done with puppetry and animatronics as Fiona Dourif tried to set the record straight back in July on her twitter page. There are a couple very short sequences that may or may not have been CG animated to some degree, but 99% of the FX you see are hands on puppetry, fake blood, latex, castings, old school 80’s style gore. The proof there lies in the special features which are definitely worth watching. So what we have here is a great direct to dvd release, which I feel should have made the theaters.
Curse of Chucky fully connects to the original 80’s Child’s Play, I’d like to call it the “Rocky Balboa” (meaning Stallone’s last Rocky movie he made in 2006) of the series. If they never made another Chucky or Child’s Play film ever again this one would be the perfect stopping point. But if you stick around til after the credits, for the awesome yet somewhat confusing(?) finale you might agree there could be one more story to tell here! This Halloween Chucky is back on TOP!!
The History of D&D!
I am a huge D&D nerd, I pretty much play every week and I’ve spent many years in the Dungeon Master’s chair. I’ve been checking out this neat-o little documentary called “The Dungeons & Dragons Experience” on Youtube piece by piece. It will give you some cool history on its origins and it will also take you into different peoples games and styles, revealing the legendary secrets shrouded in mystery for years by the taboo table top role playing experience.
It’s a cool little obscure film that gives that will give you everything you ever wanted to know about the world’s most popular RPG. Check it out if you play or if you’re one of those people who are always asking me what it’s all about! I posted all seven segments below..
The Wolverine Movie Gets a Second Chance?!
It appears us Wolverine fans might just get exactly what we were hoping for with the upcoming release of “The Wolverine: Unleashed Extended Edition” come November 19th digitally and December 3rd for Blu-Ray Dvd. So what the hell does this really mean? Well the new version of the film boasts an extended, unrated cut that’s “more violent and hardcore than ever before”.
I was mostly a fan of the theatrical cut and was actually hoping for something like this to be announced. Could it be we may actually see blood in a Wolverine movie? A few severed limbs thrown about? Perhaps a glimpse into what an R-Rated Wolverine flick might look like? Could the unrated cut be the holy grail of the onscreen movie Wolverine? My guess is probably not. But it still intrigues me. now what is even more exciting is the addition of the “Alternate Ending” added. I have already read fans betting that they’ll drop the final inner fortress battle sequence and instead have something that fits more with the rest of the movies tone.
The ending/final battle was really my only problem with the movie, aside from say the last 10-15 minutes I loved the movie. It made it hard for me review it, because 90% of the movie was a home run. So what is this alternate ending really all about? I’m willing to bet that we won’t be getting a rid of the giant Silver Samurai robot battle thingy. We’re most likely going to get a sequence after that, where Wolverine stays in Japan with Mariko rather than getting on the plane with Yukio. One that leaves Wolverine more at peace with life for once. I think replacing an expensive final battle sequence would just too much wishful thinking. Either way I’m on board to see if Wolverine is really “unleashed” in this new cut of the film!
Modok Exposed! Sexy Comic Book Cover of the Week!!
Modok is easily one of my fave Marvel villains of all time and that’s why I had to add this awesome cover for Captain America #313 from 1986 by probably my fave comic book artist of all time Mr. John Byrne! This one always kinda gave me the creeps because it showed Modok who’s easily one of the strangest Marvel villains with his pants down! By that I mean we see the guy without his armor chair which normally covers most of his body. This story was titled “Mission: Murder Modok!” and it featured one of my personal fave super villain teams the “Serpent Society” as they attempted to assasinate him! Seeing Modok on the cover laying on his back like a big cryin’ baby with his little body(he can’t walk because his head is too big) was kinda like when as a kid I’d see my pet hermit crab walking around at night without his shell searching for a larger one. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a hermit crab without it’s shell, but it’s pretty weird, It freaked me the fuck out! This is a cool cover and a rare glimpse of Modok “undressed”!!!
I really hope that Modok makes it into the Marvel cinematic universe-he’d be such a fun villain to see on the big screen! Hopefully they would go with animatronics and puppetry rather than CG, it’d be quite a site! If hadn’t already noticed someone did indeed put a Modok inspired character into a movie already – the 1996 flick “Head of the Family” !
Total Modok rip-off!!! But you can see how cool of a villain he would be on the big screen!!
Oh yeah and then there’s THIS!
BIG Action Hero News: The Expendables Recruit……….Kelsey Grammer?!
Hmmmm…this is NOT exciting news no matter what the entertainment news sources are trying to tell you!! Yeah Yahoo News, Ain’t it Cool ect are really trying to get us all pumped up into being stoked on the fact that Kelsey Grammer is playing a bad ass mercenary in the next installment of The Expendables. Seriously this less than mediocre news in the casting of this next film, but wait, Grammer did play the Beast in the worst installment of the X-men films!
Now just too be clear I really did like him as The Beast, I just thought the movie was a crap shoot. If they really wanted a mercenary that’d impress us 80’s action fans they had a hell of a lot more choices than Grammer! Here’s a few for Hollywood to think about off the top of my head- Mr. T, Roddy Piper, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Michael Dudikoff, Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lambert, Bill Duke…but seriously Kelsey?! Not impressive when guys like these two still exist!!
Now while his role in the film might be the most bad ass shit we’re ever gonna see this kind of news bums me out a bit when I think of all the other possibilities of legit 80’s action stars around his age who could have added to the fun and nostalgia that this series promises. I was hoping for a real genre shifting plot this time around like they had promised but it seems like this one might be more standard Expendables fare. This is also a disappointment when it’s now looking like Jackie, Milla Jovovich and Nicholas Cage WON’T be appearing in this film after all. This was not a good way to try and make it up to us. Sly and the boys you could have done more for the true action fans!!
Jackie who cares if there are too many actors!!!! GET OVER IT DUDE!!
Step Aside Jason “Saturday The 14th” is Here!
What? You never heard of the 1981 movie “Saturday the 14th”? Well I thought I’d give it a shout out today as it’s indeed Saturday the 14th! This little long forgotten horror comedy, produced by Julie Corman, wife of Roger Corman! it’s a fun little low budget horror spoof starring Richard Benjamin whom most people remember as the main character from Westworld.
This one though is jam packed with a ton ridiculous man in rubber suit monsters, schlocky 80’s effects galore and full on corny humor, it’s the perfect movie to follow up everyone’s Friday The 13th parties! It’s streaming on Netflix too so check it out already!! It’s been many years since I’ve seen it, hmmmm….Saturday The 14th party anyone?! Could be a new trend in the making!
The Turkish “Exorcist”: Demonically Terrible FX!!!
Turkey had a reputation of remaking American hit films back in the day and that’s a damn good thing because most often these movies were jam packed with some of the most ridiculous shit you’re likely to see on screen! We had movies like the Turkish Rambo, the Turkish E.T. and the Turkish Star Wars and upon viewing this little 4 min video from FX Hell about the Turkish “Exorcist” or otherwise titled “Seytan” released in 1974 a year after it’s American counterpart hit the screen, well I just couldn’t resist posting it here!!
Yeah that girl in the above photo is the “Linda Blair” character from this one-I gotta admit she’s damn pretty frightening! Check this shit out-this is some funny ass possession going here in this household! Maybe the demon in this case suffered from some brain damage?!
Listen Up Hollywood! The Dark Night Returns: Starring Michael Keaton!
So I’m just not that pumped on the whole Ben Affleck Batman scenario. I get that he probably just landed his dream job and that they want Batman and Superman to appear in a movie together but I think we could shoot higher! Let’s think about another more exciting movie sequel, a live action “Dark Knight Returns” starring Michael Keaton once again as Batman!!
I was watching Keaton in a movie recently and it dawned on me that he’s the perfect age to play Batman again, in the role from the legendary Frank Miller story. Seriously. I think this is something that they need to make happen. It would make for quite a treat to all Batman fans and maybe, just maybe we could get Tim Burton to direct. I really don’t trust Burton with anything these days, I suppose he’d need to somehow insert Johnny Depp into the equation, hell maybe he could play Robin?! That’d be if we changed the sex of Robin for the movie but hey it could work if that’s what burton really needed to make himself happy! But if we could get Burton to go back to his roots with this one it’d be quite an experience!
So what about the Joker you ask? Well…no brainer, Jack Nicholson of course as an old Joker would be absolutely fantastic! Because guess what? The Joker didn’t die in the original Burton movie! Nope! Because we’ve seen it happen in the comics many times, we all know he never truly dies nor do any valuable characters. However they better jump on this idea quick as we’ve heard rumors of Nicholson possibly retiring. How great would this be as his last hurrah?! The movie could show a recap of what happened throughout the years between them, with Keaton’s Batman and we could stick to the same visual style of the first movies.
To me that sounds like a good time. Far far better than Ben Affleck jumping into the next Superman flick. I mean the first Superman was sufficient but it really didn’t captivate audiences in the way they’d anticipated. But that means that we would hypothetically need a Superman for this Burton version, so who’d fit the bill? I wouldn’t be opposed to Cavill returning, though this universe may be to Burton-esque for him, I’d be ok more so with Brandon Routh returning to the role as he has that Christopher Reeve vibe and ultimately his Superman would have fit pretty good into the 1989 Batman’s universe quite nicely. So there you have it Hollywood! Make this shit happen! This would truly be an exciting venture I’d pay to see more than once!
What do YOU think?
Universal Dork 