What Would Wolverine’s Costume Really Look Like on the Big Screen?!

We’ve all been teased with the alternate ending of The Wolverine movie soon to be released on the unleashed extended cut of the movie which shows Hugh Jackman opening a briefcase containing his “classic” yellow costume. However it seems people in Hollywood still doubt that they could make his comic book costume look good on the big screen.

wolv-bigcostume3

I however disagree, I say bring it on and this little episode of Super Power Beat Down(which I just first saw now) looks pretty damn cool as we see Wolverine in his yellow costume take on the Predator! Skip to the 4 minute mark in the video if you wanna skip over the the “geek” questioning on the issue of who would win between Wolverine and The Predator. It’s obvious to me Wolverine would destroy the  Predator-I mean Danny Glover, Arnold and Adrien Brody did it!

Rise of The Machines!! Real Life Robots are Preparing Take Over!!

I’m pretty amazed by these real life robot DARPA has been designing and a little bit frightened at the same time. DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. They design some pretty weird things for the military that often times look and sound as if they were pulled from a science fiction movie.

darpa

Much of this agencies inventions are shrouded in secrecy but some of this stuff is making it’s way to the public today showing off the future of our military with weird robots seemingly pulled from a Terminator flick! Check out a few of these videos as they show off some of their robotic technology that’s still being developed! Watch out first we had the NSA and now we’ve gotta worry about killer government robots-anyone know where I can get a hold of Kyle Reese?!

Audrey 2: Still One of the Best On Screen Aliens Ever!

Just the other evening I decided to watch “The Little Shop of Horrors” a movie I haven’t seen since the 1980’s and boy was it a treat to behold! I remember I saw this movie in the theaters when it came out in 1986, my mom was cool enough to take me! I had fond memories of the movie as a kid and for some reason hadn’t revisited it in it’s entirety since. Well low and behold this movie was even better now than it was back then! If you’ve not seen this flick I highly recommend you check it out, it’s one of the few musicals that I actually truly love and it’s a remake that’s light years better than the original!

little-shop-of-horrors1

For one I had totally forgotten it had amazing cameos by Steve Martin AND Bill Murray, and their parts in the movie are simply hilarious. It also reminded me that Rick Moranis starred in some amazing 1980’s films I hold dear to my heart like Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Ghostbusters and  Strange Brew. It’s a shame we haven’t seen Moranis in a movie since 1996! I’ve heard rumors he may appear in Ghostbusters 3 though(that is if the movie ever really gets made).

little-shop-of-horrors-remake

What had amazed me most though was “Audrey 2” the carnivorous talking alien flytrap! It was amazing to see this movie monster come to life once again. It’s easily one of the coolest movie monsters I’ve ever seen and in the special features we see just how complex it was to bring it to life for the camera. How they created this creature’s mouth movements was beyond amazing. It wasn’t just a simple puppet. As Audrey 2 grows even larger and becomes more hungry the effects become even more incredible. By the finale of the movie it’s a hulking behemoth that’s a pure wonder to observe. Everything about the movie blew me away, from the sets, to the effects, to it’s awesome songs and it’s charming wit. This film has aged incredibly well, do yourself a favor and check it out again and if you’ve never seen it you’re missing out big time on some 80’s gold!

Oh yeah and the Dentist song is amazing still-they don’t make em’ like this anymore!

The Shaolin Cowboy deliver’s the Ultimate Zombie Massacre!

I just recently started reading The Shaolin Cowboy from Dark Horse Comics and so far it’s a blast. I’ve been familiar with the title and years ago browsed through the comic thinking that for the art alone, that it looked like something that I’d love to read. Well about six years ago was when the seventh and at that time the last issue was released. I forgot about the book, and honestly with comic books being around four bucks a pop it sometimes isn’t a matter of wanting to read a title, but choosing what I can afford. If it were up to me I’d be reading or trying out dozens of titles weekly.

ShaolinCowboy_2

Well last month I saw The Shaolin Cowboy was back in a new mini series and this time I decided to give it a shot as honestly I’ve had a hard time getting into my favorite superhero books lately for whatever reason. Well I’m happy to say the book is delivering on a different level than I’m used to. Shaolin Cowboy doesn’t really seem to have a real plot, I could tell this by the weird “the story so far” section that preceded issue #1. The comic book is a strange dream like tale that is a real feast for the eyes! It’s artist Geoff Darrow is hands down one of the best, if not the best in the industry.

SHAO

Issue #2 was a surreal treat, it featured thirty three straight pages of zombie carnage as the Shaolin Cowboy hacks, slashes, punches and kicks his way through a horde of undead, swinging a bo staff rigged with two chainsaws on each end. It’s a beautiful massacre and not a word is spoken in all thirty three pages. Darrow has claimed this book is his excuse to “draw whatever he wants” and the character “does whatever he wants”, I say that’s more than ok with me, I’ll be back for issue 3 and hopefully the last seven issues will be released in a trade soon.

geof-darrow-promises-zombie-massacre-in-new-shaolin-cowboy-724x248

Lastly, while reading the recent issue I’ve decided that they should consider making a movie based on this book. It’s clearly evident that The Shaolin Cowboy should be played by Sammo Hung. He’s the perfect age and look for the part, and I can only imagine him choreographing these bizarre fight scenes. From Sammo’s back catalog of weird ass movies I’d say he’d be perfect for the part and hell maybe even as director. I said it here first!

sammohungshaolincowboy

 

Comic Book Cover of the Week! Bill Sienkiewicz & The New Mutants!

Here’s on of my fave covers from the 1980’s era New Mutants. Issue number 19  from 1984 always stuck in my head clearly because of the incredible skills of Mr. Bill Sienkiewicz! Seriously, this guy’s artwork is some of the most unforgettable in comic book history. The comic master of the abstract, you always know you’re getting something special when his name’s attached. Back in the mid 1980’s he did some incredible artwork for The New Mutants, most of which was very dark, jagged and gritty. It further set the tone of the mutant based books in the 80’s as just that. Something a little more hard edged than the regular superhero books. This is one of my faves from that era of the New Mutants but believe me all of his cover artwork for the title is breathtaking. He’s a true comic book legend in every way….

newmutants

The Wolverine Sequel: Top 5 Classic Comic Storylines for the Next Movie!

So today we got the news that Hugh Jackman and James Mangold will be back for another solo Wolverine adventure. I say this is good news overall as “The Wolverine” was actually pretty decent until it’s out of place cartoony finale. It was a solid PG-13 attempt at telling a classic yet highly altered Wolverine movie comic book adaptation taken from the legendary Chris Claremont / Frank Miller limited series from 1982. They almost pulled it off too, until in the film’s final act when Mangold suddenly remembered he was making a Hollywood blockbuster and shoved a giant robot version of The Silver Samurai down our throats….uggh…Hollywood can really be the pits sometimes.

The-Wolverine-teaser-poster-690x1024

So anyway I’ve put together five classic Wolverine stories from the comic books that should be contenders for the next movie. At this point it’s common knowledge they’ll butcher some part of the story, but hey a guy can dream right? So listen up all you Hollywood numbskulls cause here at Universal Dork you’ll get my guidance toward making a movie that Wolverine flick fans deserve. Before I start the list though let me set up a few rules for the next flick.

First make this damn installment “Rated R”! The fans have spoken, we want some blood and guts in the next film. I wanna see him slice some people’s arms off, cut people in half ect ect. There’s no way a guy with adamantium claws wouldn’t cause a complete bloodbath while in battle. So give us some realism this time. Second let’s keep the story and visuals consistent if it’s gonna be cartoony then keep the whole flick that way, don’t insert some cartoon bullshit into an otherwise serious storyline. Keep with the tone of the movie. Lastly lets keep it character driven, keep it personal and let’s not get too many other characters or mutants in the mix, the last film was good in this way. Wolverine wasn’t saving the world, he was on a personal mission. These stories are where he works best, as a loner, when he’s out in the real world, drinkin’ at the bar and some serious shit goes down. Ok now onto my plot suggestions:

#5. Old Man Logan- This was quite an interesting modern Wolverine storyline and since Jackman is getting a bit older this might be a great one to make into a movie. However there could be some problems as The Hulk and Hawkeye are owned now by Disney. Perhaps they could settle on something that’d make it possible for these characters to cross over? Or Maybe this movie could be filmed in 10 years from now when Jackman is truly age appropriate for the story line. A futuristic Wolverine story with Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye would be pretty awesome and of course seeing Logan take on The Hulk would be quite a treat as well!!

oldmanlogan

#4. Kitty Pryde and Wolverine:  Movie based on the 1984 mini-series could be a great sequel to “The Wolverine” as it takes Logan and Kitty Pryde who would of course be played by Ellen Page, who’s already stated she wants to make a solo film of her character from the movies, on an adventure together. So what better way to do this than add Jackman into the mix and kill two birds with one stone? Continue reading

The Best Halloween Costume of 2013?! A True Marvel Two in One!

It’s no secret how much I LOVE The Incredible Hulk! So when I saw my friend’s Halloween costume this year my mind was officially blown! She decided that going as The Hulk just wasn’t good enough and decided to go as the 1970’s/80’s Hulk/David Banner split screen two in one combo costume! Yeah, Banner and The Hulk together as one! Check this shit out, she made this by hand and it’s genius-my vote for best Halloween Costume of 2013! Take this one to Comic Ceon Already!

besthalloweencostumeof2013

The Grinch’s Halloween Special Prequel?!

Call me severely uninformed, but I just discovered today that Dr.  The Suess’ The Grinch had a holiday special before the classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”! Yep-The Grinch was grumpy as hell in the 1977 prequel “Halloween is Grinch Night”. Maybe this is common knowledge for most people but I had no idea the Grinch had a Halloween special-that won an Emmy!

Halloween_Grinch

The Grinch is once again a total dick to the people of Whoville and this gives us all a little more insight to his back story-so if you, like me, never knew the Grinch first “celebrated” Halloween then feast your eyes on this cool little forgotten cartoon….I still can’t believe I never saw this one!

“Army of Darkness 2” Confirmed! But is That Really a Good Thing?

So it’s been confirmed it seems by several sites that not only is Bruce Campbell set to reprise his role as Ash in “Army of Darkness 2” but now that Sam Raimi will indeed be directing it and is now hard at work on completing writing it’s script with his brother. So this is all WONDERFUL news right?! Another adventure with Ash is something I’ve really only ever dreamed would happen. So now that it that it’s going to happen let’s  figure out what it really means. First, when was the last really good Sam Raimi movie? Personally I’d say it’d maybe have to be “The Gift” way back from 2000 or maybe “A Simple Plan” from 1998. Anything since then to me really either hasn’t aged well, was very mediocre or just plain sucked!

header-bruce-campbell-and-fede-alvarez-discuss-evil-dead-sequels

So really let’s be honest here, is Raimi really that awesome? Or did he happen to get lucky a few times and land a dream job directing the Spider-man movies? He tried to prove himself to his Evil Dead fans with “Drag Me to Hell” but an honest comparison to other more legitimately awesome current horror/ horror comedies revealed it really wasn’t anything  that special. A decent attempt but still a flawed one. So what are the chances that we’re going to get the Evil Dead / Army of Darkness sequel we have all been waiting for? What are the chances it’ll be “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” of the Evil Dead franchise? I’m gonna say 50/50.

One of the problems is that Raimi seems way too far removed from that the genre he basically created that so many others have tried to copy. He’s a bit out of touch, as he’s so used to cranking out big glittery CG stuffed blockbusters I’m not sure he’d really know what to do with Ash this time around. Hopefully he keeps it old school-perhaps this recent Evil Dead reboot will give him a basic outline to follow of what he should do to give the fans what they want as he’s stated that this next Army of Darkness is really for the fans. I think a good sign is that Bruce Campbell seems to understand more than anyone what made the movies all so fun. So perhaps he can guide Raimi into not making a total pile of shit. Perhaps Fede Alvarez who directed the reboot can also talk some sense into the guy.

The fans want Ash plain and simple at least in Army of Darkness 2. Not some young hip side kick to accompany him. He’s the star and he doesn’t need anyone else there trying to make the movie more accessible to the teen or tween masses. The fans want to return to that old school vibe, they don’t want the movie to look like Ash green screening around Oz the Great & Powerful. Give the fans some ridiculous gore and DON’T resort to anymore wretchedly bad CG anvil scenes like we saw in Drag Me to Hell. That was fucking pathetic.

Army-of-Darkness

Do it right and don’t try to score a giant Hollywood hit with this movie, show everyone that deep down inside you’re still that hungry independent film maker of the 80’s. Set the new standard for all those newer directors who think they’ve one upped you at your own game. You’ve seen other big film makers try and revive their franchises and fail miserably, pissing off their fans and eternally tarnishing their greatest bodies of work. Let’s do this shit the right way this time! What do you think? Does Raimi still have it?!

Unlikely Star Trek Guest Stars: Mick Fleetwood?!

What the hell! First Iggy Pop and now Mick Fleetwood guest starred on Star Trek the Next Generation?! Yep believe it! Mick Fleetwood guested in the episode “Manhunt” all the way back from 1989! So who exactly was our favorite legendary rock star drummer in the episode? An alien fish man!!

fleetwood

Yep he starred as an Antedean, and alien fish humanoid. Apparently Mick wanted to be on star trek so badly that he agreed to shave off his legendary beard to play the alien fish man! So keep that in your head for some obscure trivia in the future! Here’s a little clip of him on the episode!