Tagged: film
Fan-Made AKIRA Trailer Should Not Be Missed!!
Akira was an amazing comic book and one of the best animated feature films of all time hands down. If you have never seen the movie or read the book you’re missing out big time and maybe have been living in a cave for your entire life! So we’ve been hearing for years that a live action Akira movie is on the plate for Hollywood and we all know there’s a fifty fifty chance that the movie could be totally butchered in this day and age, paying little attention to fans or the source material.
What we have got today is a completed fan made trailer made by The Akira Project. Here’s a little more info on how this came to be and what this really is:
“The Akira Project is a crowd-sourced, non-profit project meant to create a live action fan trailer of AKIRA, the renowned manga-turned-anime film from the late 1980′s; a stunning example of both mediums as art forms. While Hollywood has been working on a live-action Akira movie for a few years now, we, as fans, wanted to take a shot at making our own adaptation. A chance to stick as close to the source material as possible. A chance to do Akira Justice.
We launched an Indiegogo campaign in July 2012 as part of a crowd sourcing effort to make this project come to life. Many people contributed not just financially but offered their time and talent to help the production that was shot in Montreal, Quebec from November 2-5th 2012. What started out as a simple idea between two guys having a beer (Hey! It’d be cool to see Kaneda ride his bike around Neo-Tokyo!), became a global endeavour, filled with adventures and hurdles, involving more than 40 artists in 12 different countries.
After a year and a half in post-production, we are proud to present the project to Akira fans the world over. We hope to have done justice to the timeless work of Katsuhiro Otomo and look forward to, someday, seeing the full scope of the Akira story translated to the big screen as a live-action.”
I say these guys should do the real movie! Check out the trailer!
What If The Spider-man Movie had Real Stunts? Check This Out!
The Amazing Spider-man 2 is coming at us this weekend and though I’m going to see it I wouldn’t say so it looks like anything truly amazing. Another shiny Hollywood Blockbuster overflowing with glittery video game style CGI and extremely limited real life stunt work.
This pic really has nothing to do with this post-I just think it’s rad seeing 1970’s Spidey on a skateboard.
But what if suddenly Hollywood wised up a bit? What if they decided to use CGI only where necessary to enhance imagery and went with some actual real choreography to put together the action sequences for everyone’s favorite webhead? Well this recent video of parkour master Ronnie Shalvis will certainly prove that Spider-man doesn’t need to be a largely CG character in his action sequences. Of course you’ll never see something this cool in a Spider-man flick these days, check out what Spider-man might really look like in a real world setting doing real stunts…it’s breathtaking!
Check out the behind the scenes video-normally I’m not a fan of drones, but I’m totally cool with them being utilized this way!
“Stage Fright” Will Be the Best Scream Flick of the Year!
Just saw this awesome trailer today for “Stage Fright”, nope it’s not a remake of the Hitchcock movie of the 1950’s. This one looks more like it owes more to Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ and I mean that in the best way possible! The trailer looks incredibly fun, packed full of action & plenty of thrills. I remember the first time I saw ‘Scream’ in the theater way back in 1996, it was like going to Disneyland-I mean it really felt like I was on roller coaster ride and the audience ate it up. It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had in an actual theater. The movie had just the right amount of comedy, a cool unique concept and ton of scares but it wasn’t a sickening torture flick either. I’d go as far to say it was a perfect horror flick.
Now watching the trailer to Stage Fright is giving me that same feeling again, one which I think is most often missed these days in horror cinema. This is the first full feature from director Jerome Sable, but it looks like it’s going to re-energize the slasher film in a big way. For me a slasher movie has got to have something special going for it for me to even give it a chance. This one takes place at an upscale musical theater camp and involves a masked maniac who truly hate the genre-check this shit out! Oh yeah it also stars Minnie Driver & Meatloaf!
Also this is not to be confused with the 1980’s “Stage Fright” also known as “Deliria” or “Aquarius” with the killer with the Owl Head! But that one was pretty cool too!
Step Aside Hank Pym, Cuz Here comes Antboy!
Just saw this neat little trailer for Denmark’s first superhero film – Antboy! This actually looks like a ton of fun, sure in the trailer it looks a little bit Spider-man-y as far as the origin story goes but this one is bound to be more fun than The Amazing Spider-man 2! This one is set for release in April 2014 and if anything it’ll be a neat little comedy.
I’d love to see some smaller studios bring to life some original or smaller scale comic book heroes, it’d be a great thing to start getting some good indie comic book based movies. I like a lot of the superhero movies, but I don’t love really any of them except for maybe The Avengers and the two Hellboy movies. Maybe this next string of movies will change my mind? In the mean time here’s a superhero movie that won’t piss off any fanboys…
Bryan Singer’s X-Men: In Need of a Serious Makeover!
Somebody call the Oprah-cuz we need to get these Bryan Singer Mutants in for an Extreme Makeover! Now I’m sure that I’m going to enjoy Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. I’m fully confident that it’s going to be maybe one of the best superhero flicks we’ve yet to see. I have good faith in Singer’s ability to bring some magic to the franchise he started. A reunion of sorts is almost always very exciting!
One thing though I’ve been noticing with all of these recently released photo stills from the upcoming movie is that their costumes are really starting to look…well….stupid. Frumpy maybe is the word? I’ve never been a huge fan of the whole slick cool guy black leather X-Men movie look but I’ve tolerated it. I will even say it worked for a while. However some of these costumes just look plain sad.
Maybe it’s just me? These costumes just don’t make the cut! At this point I’d really love to see a more classic look attempted. What would be the harm? It is a fictional comic book based movie. So why can’t we get a little more of the comic book in the look? I mean the costume’s colors could be way toned down. It doesn’t have to look all early 90’s Jim Lee or anything. I mean really this is the BEST they could come up with for Quicksilver? This is some wretched bullshit. He looks like a total tool. Somebody slap this guy now!
If this is the type of shit that we’re getting at this point in time I don’t see what the harm would be to try and give the X-Men their actual comic book costumes! It surely couldn’t get any worse than this! This is where The Avengers and the Marvel movies have gotten it right, The Avengers actually look like The Avengers! It worked! So why the hell can’t Fox get this shit dialed in? I think it’s time that we see the X-Men the way they were meant to be. At this point what’s there to lose? One of the main reasons I love comic books super heroes is because of their costumes.
I honestly can picture something like this being done today tastefully. So get with it Hollywood because your X-Men are in need of a serious makeover….
The Doppelganger Genre Gets a Good Solid Entry with “+1”!
Really now who does’t love a good doppelganger movie? Forget about that crappy 90’s Drew Barrymoore movie because last night I had the pleasure of watching “+1” and to my surprise it was pretty neat little flick. At first I was about to write this one off as another crappy teen horror movie but I’m glad I gave this one a chance to get it’s engine heated. The story revolves around around a few college kids who hit the party of the century one summer. Jam packed with irritating party goers, things get twilight zone-y pretty quickly as a meteor hits nearby and they begin to see duplicates of themselves roaming the party.
It gets a little confusing at times but really feels like a good extended episode of the Twilight Zone. It explores some interesting revelations as well by all who have attended the odd bash. Without giving to much away I’d say this a bit of a new, fresh spin on the whole doppelganger idea and it’s really best if you know as little as possible about the plot.
The movie was directed by Dennis Iliadis who also helmed the remake of “Last House on the Left” (which I haven’t seen and really have no interest to) yet “+1” is pretty mild on the blood and guts. The movie does have it’s shortcomings though as most of the characters look like they walked out of a Justin Beiber video and the party seems a little bit too “Mtv choreographed” at times. But hell, I haven’t been to a full on rager these days in quite some time, so as far as I know this could be how the kids are doing it these days. Either way this one was a neat little self contained sci-fi movie with some truly intriguing plot twists and turns. Check out +1 if you’re in dire need of a good ol’ fashioned doppelganger flick!
Dead Weight: A Zombie Apocalypse in America’s Dairyland!
I had the pleasure yesterday of watching ‘Dead Weight‘ a great little indie horror gem all the way from my home state of Wisconsin. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this one and to be honest, I haven’t really seen too much in the way of cinema coming out of “America’s Dairyland”. I’d have to say that Dead Weight is much less of a horror movie than it is a drama set in an apocalyptic wasteland.
I could draw some comparisons obviously to The Walking Dead, as I’m fairly certain that writers and directors Adam Bartlett and John Pata are big fans (I’ve heard the DVD will feature artwork by original Walking Dead artist Tony Moore!) but this plays out as something much more than a mere carbon copy. Sure the story revolves around a small band of survivors of some sort of viral outbreak traveling a barren landscape and yeah they meet some ultra sketchy people along the way. What we are really witnessing is one man’s psychological breakdown as he desperately travels by foot to reunite with his lover in a small northern Wisconsin city.
The movie shows flashbacks of Charlie (Joe Belknap) and his girlfriend Samantha (Mary Lindberg) before tragedy struck while at the same time following him on his journey to reunite with her after these events. I really loved the contrast between the warm colorful flashbacks and the cold, grey, dismal look of Charlie’s journey in the aftermath. Who would’ve known that Wisconsin would make such a convincing setting for a zombie wasteland?
The film really looks great too, the locations chosen really give you a feeling of dread and isolation which makes it that much more tense when other survivors enter the equation. What also grabbed me was the tightly woven story, which I might add has it’s fair share of twists and turns, something I truly appreciate in my cinematic viewing when done effectively. The short explanation for what may have caused this tragedy was also an interesting addition to the plot as it unfolded.
Dead Weight is pretty light on the violence and we barely see a “zombie” in sight anywhere throughout the movie. To me that’s great, as I’m quite honestly pretty burnt out on the zombie genre at this point. It seems people are still cranking out zombie movies by the boatloads these days, jam packed with, shoddy gore, CG blood and weak ass plot lines. That’s exactly why Dead Weight succeeds, its unique character study plays out quite differently than most zombie flicks.
Without giving too much away, I’d say this is a pretty true to life tale of how people might actually act in this type of situation. Sometimes there are no real heroes and people act simply off of their own emotions and selfish motivations, making the idea of a situation like this much more hopeless and bleak. Something this movie did a great job of portraying. That’s not to say the movie was flawless, the flashbacks were well put together but I really wasn’t fully convinced of the love and emotion Charlie and Samantha had for each other. In fact the two of them together felt a bit off at points. It would have been nice to really feel exactly what made Charlie go against all odds to try and reunite with her.
Plain and simple Dead Weight is a great slice of cinema from Wisconsin! An intriguing story and solid acting by all involved. This was a true independent film and the first for Adam Bartlett and John Pata. I was truly impressed that they pulled off a horror drama, I consider it quite daring as most people on a small budget in this genre go for the tired “over the top” zombie comedy. So kudos for putting some real heart and emotion into a memorable zombie film. That alone is an incredibly tough thing to accomplish in the sea of undead movies flowing onto the shelves these days! I’m pumped to see what these guys do next, I’d say they’re going to be putting the cheese state on the map of movie making in a big way in the near future….
Dead Weight will be released nationally on DVD and VOD January 21st, 2014. Look for it here soon on Netflix too. Check out the trailer:
Filmage – The Story of DESCENDENTS/ALL: Delivers True Nerd Rage!
I was lucky enough to see the new documentary “Filmage” over the holidays, a movie I felt like I’d waited my whole life to see! Yeah it was that good and it chronicles the story of the legendary pop-punk godfathers the DESCENDENTS / ALL from their start in the late 1970’s. It’s about time that these guys get the recognition they deserve and it seems as if these days they are more popular than they’ve ever been.
If you don’t know who the Descendents are then this is the perfect place to start as Filmage is premiering now all over the USA. But plain and simple The Descendents are the BEST pop punk band of all time. They’ve influenced countless bands and if it it wasn’t for them It be a safe bet to say that a band like Green Day would have never existed. I pretty much sum them up as the ultimate in real teen angst. The true spirit of what it was like to be a nerdy teen with raging hormones. Growing up in the 80’s I loved punk rock but it wasn’t until I heard them the first time that I really found a band that truly spoke to me as a teen.
The Descendents said all of the shit that you were really feeling growing up, something a lot of the punk bands lyrically were maybe too macho to sing about. Yeah they were most definitely not politically correct, at times even sexist, incredibly sappy, often crude and totally immature but at their core just a band of heartbroken nerds with no punk rock image. They covered the spectrum of hardcore punk while at the same time ripping into shameless love songs simultaneously. How many bands can even pull that off today much less back in 1982?!
Well Filmage gives us the full scoop into the minds of these guys, their lives, their struggles and transitioning from the Descendents into the much less popular outfit ALL back in 1987. The movie was made by true Dents fans and it shows by how much care was put into this documentary. Filled with amazing vintage footage of the band, incredibly personal interviews, hilarious animated sequences and interviews with the likes of Dave Grohl, Mike Watt, Mark Hoppus, Keith Morris amongst many others whom cite the band as having a huge influence on them.
It’s funny, sonically awesome and emotional as we follow the struggles of the band members lives up to current times. The movie in the end is really the full story of Bill Stevenson, the bands only constant member throughout Descendents and ALL while also filling us in on his time as drummer for Black Flag from 1982-1985.
It’s his journey as the band leader and all of the friends along the way that helped make his dream a reality. It tells us exactly why the band is finally getting the attention they deserved all these years. While watching it I was almost glad they never hit the big time, as the band always stayed true to their signature sound til this day. We also get a great glimpse into ALL’s struggle to fill the shoes of the bands most valuable musical weapon, Milo Aukerman, the ultimate nerd front man.
I don’t wanna give away to much of the story but I put this up there on the same level as “A Band Called Death” one of the years best rockumentaries. So check this out if you’re jones’n for the full story of the greatest melodic hardcore band of all time-you won’t be disappointed!
Check out the trailer:
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Universal Dork 