• 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….

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  • 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.

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    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!!

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    #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? (more…)

  • 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!

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  • 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!

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    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!

  • 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!

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    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?!

  • 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!!

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    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!

  • It’s always interesting to see an unlikely guest star in one of your favorite tv shows pop up out of the blue and blow your mind! Which brings me to today’s unlikely Star Trek guest star, none other than punk rock legend Iggy Pop! Yep that’s god damn right Iggy Pop appeared for some odd reason on a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Alien negotiator Yelgrun in the episode “The Magnificent Ferengi”.

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    So what was this all about? Here’s what Star Trek wiki had to say: “The DS9 writers had actually wanted Pop to play the role of Grady in the third season episode “Past Tense, Part II“, but he was unavailable due to a music tour he was undertaking in Spain. Ira Steven Behr is an Iggy Pop fan and pushed for his casting as Yelgrun three years later. A few days before filming his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine role, he was injured in a mosh pit during one of his concerts. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)”. Here’s a clip of him the  role!

  • Ever get pissed off because of all of the stupid shitty decisions that people make in horror flicks?! Don’t you just wish they’d do the right thing for once and think like a rational human being?! Well your wishes have been granted in this viral trailer for the fictitious movie Hell No: The Sensible Horror Movie.

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    This is probably one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen and honestly it’d make for a great full movie if it was done right! Check this out:

  • 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.

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    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.

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    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!!

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  • 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?!

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    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!

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    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.

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    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!!