Star Wars Parody That I Used To Know

Just when song of the season "Someone That I Used To Know" by Gotye was winding down and moving out of our brain pans, comes this fun Star Wars-inspired take on the piece.

(originally found at Huffington Post)

Avenge This Birthday!

It's Joss Whedon's birthday today.

Perhaps you're familiar with the man.  He's done some stuff you may have heard of - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, "Serenity," Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, the comic book series "Fray," "Cabin in the Woods" and some little movie called "The Avengers" which came and went at the theaters.

Whedon's work has a lot of heart in it.  The characters feel real and they resonate with you long after the shows have left the airwaves (I've watched the series Firefly about a million times now, and it never gets old).  He also has a sense of humor that is much loved by this blog.

So, Happy birthday, Joss Whedon.  I hope you get some shiny presents.

The Enterprise Plays Trojan Horse

 So I thought I'd reviewed/fumettied all 79 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, but lo and behold, I seem to have missed a couple, including this little turd season, I mean third season, gem, "Elaan of Troyius."

It featured a pretty girl (the hubba hubba France Nuyen), a green guy (played by no less than Dr. Shrinker!), some big dudes wearing flame-colored place-mats as tunics, and a war/intergalactic tussle between a couple planets.

It's got a knife fight, enough wardrobe changes for France Nuyen to make Queen Amidala jealous, some phaser blasts, a chicken is choked, and the Klingons even manage to crash the party, so it's all good.

LADY GAGA, TIM TEBOW, MARTHA STEWART, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, LOUIS GOSSETT JR., KIM KARDASHIAN, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, HOMETOWN BUFFET.

 

Star Trek is Copyright 2012 and a Registered Trademark of CBS Studios, Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. Screencaps from Trekcore.com.

With Great Mental Power Comes Great Teen Angst

Spider-Man Meets Carrie By Way Of The Blair Witch Project might serve to sum up Chronicle, a new film in the found footage genre but the first to feature superhero powers.

Three high school kids - the popular Steve, Matt and Matt's shy cousin Andrew (ably played by Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell and Dane DeHaan, respectively) - are exposed to something they find underground after discovering a hole in the forest floor.  That something is never explained or seen again (it looks a bit like Superman's crystal ship from Superman: The Movie).

The boys soon start to develop nosebleeds and then telekinetic powers.  They move Lego blocks around and skip stones over the water with just the power of their minds.  Soon they are doing much, much more than that.

At the center of the movie is Andrew who is bullied both at school and at home by his alcoholic father.  His dad lost his firefighter's job and stays home taking care of Andrew's terminally ill mother (when he isn't out drinking).  The father constantly takes his frustrations out on Andrew both verbally and physically.  When Andrew gets his powers he decides to do something about the abuse.

Chronicle - written by Max Landis, based on a story by Landis and director Josh Trank - feels right.  The actors all give terrific performances and the mid-20s Trank and Landis still recall the high school experience well.  Soon after getting their abilities, the guys do, well, guy stuff:  throwing baseballs at each other's faces,  using an unmanned leaf blower to blow up the skirts of some girls, goofing off in a parking lot where they move a woman's car into another parking spot 30 feet from where she parked.

At 84 minutes long, the movie does not overstay its welcome like so many of the overlong blockbusters of the last several years.  For example, there's no unnecessary love story - as in the bloated mess that was Green Lantern - to slow things down.  Chronicle is lean and the story is well-told with no waste or filler.

The visual effects are first rate - the climactic battle at the end recalls Superman II and in some ways puts the Avengers movie's similar final battle to shame.  Between Chronicle and District 9 - the former with a budget of $15 million, the latter at $30 million - you wonder where and what the $200 million for these big budget effects movies goes into.

The only real quibble is with the found footage aspect.  This movie would have played just as well without that now-tired and overused method.  We start with Andrew's single camera, then a bit later Matt's lady friend comes in shooting video for her blog, so we have a second camera's pov, but then we move on to police dashboard cams, ATM cameras, hospital CCTs, bystander's iPhones and such.  It really just got silly trying to maintain the found footage illusion.  Simply shooting the film in a documentary format with lots of handheld camerawork would have do the job just as well.

Old Time Saturday Morning Goofiness

Because every work week should end with a little Bigfoot and Wildboy.

Conan the Barbarian's Behind the Scenes Battles

It's the movie Conan the Barbarian's birthday - it was first released to theaters on May 14, 1982.

Indie Wire's The Playlist has some facts you might not know about this fantasy film (writer/then-coke-fiend Oliver Stone originally set the story in a post-apocalyptic future where Conan would battle mutants! You read that right.  Always remember, don't do drugs, kids!).

So put on Conan's soundtrack and read up about the days of high adventure.

Odds and Ends for a Saturday

The Avengers movie rawked. Maybe it was the large Coke, M&Ms and the Reese's Pieces I had during the flick, but the movie really worked for me. Kudos to Joss Whedon and company.

Who is that dude in the end credits of The Avengers?  Well, Vulture fills you in.

Spidey sense...tingling!  Have they gone too far with the upcoming Spider-Man reboot?  According to this piece from Badass Digest, they've seriously monkeyed with Spidey's origin, which causes major upheavals in the character's basic foundations. Not good.

And lastly, Vulture uses the game of "F--k. Marry. Kill" to determine which of the summer movies you should see this season.

Set Phasers to Awesome

Some dude put a real laser into a Star Trek phaser, complete with the phaser sound effects.

Yes, this does indeed rawk. 

from blastr.com

A Salute to The Monster Squad at 25

"Wolfman's got nards!"

If you're a true lover of great genre movies of the 1980s - and hey, who isn't - then you will fondly remember the line above. It's from one of the coolest movies of 1987: The Monster Squad.

Deftly written by Shane (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) Black and lovingly directed by Fred Dekker, The Monster Squad turns 25 this year.

Much more fun than The Goonies, at least in my opinion, The Monster Squad's group of misfit kids were lead by the underrated Andre Gower, and took on half the Universal's Monster army of undead things, including the likes of Dracula (well acted by Duncan Regehr), the Mummy and the Gill Man (subbing for the more well known Creature From the Black Lagoon).

PopMatters has a nice write up of the movie.

Who Knows What Evil Lurks...

...In The Hearts Of This Year's Blockbuster Movies?


The Shadow may know, but even HE was severely disappointed by the recent dull, bloated non-event John Carter and, quite frankly, by The Hunger Games as well - while the latter featured a fine performance by lead Jennifer Lawrence, the movie's avoidance of its core story (children hunting and killing children for sport) left nothing to anchor her performance to. The Hunger Games leaves your mind by the time you get back to your car.

The Shadow hopes to watch the shit out of The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.

As for the other big-budget movies, remember, The Weed Of Crime Bears Bitter Fruit. And the Shadow carries a serious fucking Weedwhacker.


The Shadow is Copyright 2012 by its respective rights holder. No infringement of those rights is intended with this posting. Original artwork by Michael Fleming.

Wrath of Cardboard

Oh, holy crap, but extremely-bland-actor Sam Worthington has ANOTHER movie coming out tomorrow, Wrath of the Titans, his SECOND film released this year after Man on a Ledge was dumped into cineplexes in January.

Yes, I'll grant you that Worthington is handsome and has impressive muscles, but he has made NO IMPRESSION on me in any of the films in which he's starred, including Terminator: Salvation, Avatar, and Clash of the Titans. (Avatar may be his best performance because every frame of his acting was literally manipulated by computer!)

No impression - zero, zip, nada.

Why does this man have a career? Weird.

Adam Goes (Lady) Gaga

Star Trek is a Registered Trademark and Copyright 2012 by CBS Studios, Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. Screencaps from Trekcore.com.

Coming Attractions and Distractions

It's a movie trailer extravaganza today.

Here is the newest, and even more awesome, look at Ridley Scott's return to science fiction, PROMETHEUS. This movie has really and truly got my interest. Please, Sir Ridley, let this be on par with Alien and Blade Runner, if, you know, that's not too much to ask. (Trailer from collider.com.)

Producer Tim Burton teams with kinetic director Timur (Wanted, Night Watch, Day Watch) Bekmambetov on ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. Honest Abe drives stakes into the unbeating hearts of evil bloodsuckers. Looks like good, Karo syrup-tinged fun. (Trailer from AintItCool.com.)

From producer/co-writer Oren (Paranormal Activity, The River) Peli comes an interesting looking film called CHERNOBYL DIARIES, about extreme vacationers who visit the abandoned Ukrainian city of Chernobyl, near the site of the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. But they soon find all is not what it seems, and the city may not be as abandoned as they thought. Fun creepy, jump out of your seat times. (Trailer from collider.com.)

And finally, a totally whack-a-doo look at the new DARK SHADOWS. It appears that director Tim Burton is aping Barry (Addams Family) Sonnenfeld in this goofy 1970s-set comedy. Johnny Depp looks like he's wearing makeup! Seriously, wtf? (Trailer from collider.com.)

Seeing GREEN

For St. Patrick's Day today, ME-TV is airing a four hour marathon of episodes of The Green Hornet tv series from the 1960s.

Holy Clover, Batman! I have only ever seen Green Hornet and his trusty chauffeur/kung fu sidekick Kato (played by none other the legendary Bruce Lee himself!) on that "crossover" episode of the Adam West Batman series (both shows produced by William Dozier).

Batman was played campy, while the Green Hornet was played straight. So, for tonight only, it's move over Batmobile, make room for the Black Beauty.

Tonto Get Updated Look, Kemo Sabe

When Johnny Depp plays dress-up on film - the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland - the movies do ginormous box-office.

Get ready for another Depp blockbuster, because here's the first pic of him all made up as Tonto in the now filming Lone Ranger movie. (from Collider.com)

Depp famously channeled Keith Richards and Pepe LePew for the character of Jack Sparrow (sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow). Since Tonto is the Lone Ranger's mentor, perhaps Depp will be inspired by famous egghead-leader-types, like Albert Einstein and Flavor Flav.

Ralph McQuarrie: 1929 - 2012

Ralph McQuarrie, the soft-spoken visionary designer/artist whose concept artwork for the original Star Wars sold that movie to the studio after the script was passed over time after time, has died. He was 82.

Star Wars was created by George Lucas, but his right arm was Mr. McQuarrie, who took Lucas's various concepts, notes and details and breathed life into them. Mr. McQuarrie's art showed that this weird world of Star Wars - a mishmash of pulp scifi, Flash Gordon, cowboy western and samurai film homages, comic books and more - could work. (Mr. McQuarrie put the helmet and faceplate on Darth Vader as he thought he would require a breathing apparatus to move between ships; Lucas liked the look and kept it. If Mr. McQuarrie hadn't thought of that, would Darth Vader had become the menacing, mechanical-breathing bad guy known the world over?)

Mr. McQuarrie also worked on Battlestar Galactica, Close Encounters, Star Trek (both pre-TMP and on ST IV), Cocoon, and E.T., among other films.

His was a talent that helped define a universe, and more. He will be sorely missed.

Here is a sampling of his work, from Aint It Cool News.

This Election Year, Watch Out For The Red Lectroids!

Any Buckaroo Banzai fans out there?

What a great fun kooky hip cult flick that was, amIright? With the success of shows like Spartacus, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead on various cable channels, the time is right to bring back Buckaroo and the Hong Kong Cavaliers and see them in all those incredible adventures we've dreamed about for nearly 30 (!) years.

Remember the movie's cool end titles number, with the cast all coming together to strut down the Sepulveda Basin of the L.A. River. Turn up your speakers.

Blu in the Face for TNG

With the recent release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level Blu-ray "teaser" set that includes a sampling of TNG episodes ("Encounter at Farpoint," "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light") transferred to HD, here's some TNG-related silliness.





Star Trek: The Next Generation is Copyright 2012 and a Registered Trademark of CBS Studios Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. Screencaps from Trekcore.com.

It's the End of the World as Abel Ferrara Knows It

End of the world movies don't always have to have big budgets and enormous special effects (e.g., Armageddon and much of Roland Emmerich's career). Don't get me wrong, these movies can still be fun, but more often than not, their stories are pretty stupid and the characters paper thin.

Writer/director Abel Ferrara (Driller Killer, Ms. 45, Crime Story (tv series) and The Bad Lieutenant -- wow, how's that for an eclectic and eccentric resume!) has a new film coming out called 4:44 - Last Day On Earth (trailer at collider.com). There's no rocketship/space ark being built, no time machine to escape to the past. Nope. none of that. In the story set during the final night on earth, we know the world's going to end at 4:44 am the next day; we follow Willem Dafoe, his girlfriend and a handful of other people as the curtain comes down on our human existence.

While the story sounds similar to Last Night, a 1998 end of the world movie from writer/director Don McKellar, Ferrara is a different kind of animal, so I can't wait to see what he does with this tale.

Stalking The Night On The Big Screen

If you're like me, when you hear the name "Kolchak" you get shivers running up and down your spine. (Just listen to the opening theme!)

Kolchak, aka "The Night Stalker", was an investigative reporter in a rumpled suit and a pork pie hat with a nose for the supernatural. He first appeared in a pair of successful TV movies, which paved the way for a hasty first and only season. "The X-Files" TV show creator Chris Carter has long acknowledged the creepy and creative "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" as a major inspiration for his own creepy and creative series.

Last year it was reported Johnny Depp wanted to play Kolchak in a feature film. Now, according to slashfilm.com that movie appears to finally have a director: Shaun of the Dead's own Edgar Wright.

Darren McGavin - who was in his early 50s at the time - created one of the most memorable TV characters in his portrayal of the harried, put upon, and often-fired, Kolchak. I wonder what sort of take Depp has on the role -- will he do a sort of Darren McGavin "impression" or just go off in his own direction?

Whatever Wright and Depp do, they gotta keep the pork pie hat.

The Walking CGI Dead

The Walking Dead on AMC is my favorite show on TV right now. This zombie-packed series has me on the edge of my seat each week.

The special make-up effects created and supervised by Greg Nicotero are first rate, but as this clip found on Topless Robot shows, there are a lot of amazing digital effects involving the "walkers" of which we viewers are not aware.

Just makes me love this series even more.

Bat-Questions

What happens when a dude dressed as Batman prowls the streets of Toronto and growls out in his best Christian Bale-like rasp, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"

Why vigilante-fueled hilarity, of course!

from io9.com.

Another Spin

Even though I still think the new costume design sucks donkey balls, this brand new second trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man actually got my attention.

I may wanna see this in theaters after all.

The Little Bloodthirsty (Sorta Blind) Bounty Hunter That Could

Remember when Pitch Black was just this cool little (only a $23 mil budget!) cult scifi movie that came outta nowhere and basically made gym bunny Vin Diesel a star?

It was a fun, tension-filled, visually imaginative action story. Writer/director David Twohy overreached a bit with the sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, which, in a strange way, is right up there with Highlander II for throwing together a massive story that really didn't have anything to do with the first film. I mean they changed EVERYTHING in Highlander II, while Riddick was still a convicted murderer/fugitive in C of R.

Anywho, after yarons of speculation, Twohy and Diesel have reunited for another adventure involving the man with the shiny eyes, Richard B. Riddick.

According to a post on Aint It Cool News, Diesel has uploaded several pics of the untitled sequel to his Facebook page. Check 'em out.

Riddick returns to the big screen some time in 2013.

Odds n Ends for the Odd Wednesday

From the Popcandy blog, these two bits caught our optics:

Asian Cinema's 20 Greatest Fight Scenes. You can bet the hallway fight from OldBoy is in there.

And since we're a fan of comic strip art, this article about an extremely rare piece of Calvin and Hobbes artwork going up for sale made us all misty-eyed and nostalgic for that tuna-loving tiger and his boy.

Get Out The Vote

Well, the Presidential Debates for 2012 are in full swing, but it really doesn't matter. Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal - as this behind the scenes photo clearly shows, they're ALL aliens.




Screencaps from Trekcore.com. Star Trek is a Registered Trademark and Copyright 2012 by CBS Studios, Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody.

Soap, Shampoo and Motor Oil

Droid showers.


They're not something for human eyes to witness. Ever.


Star Trek is Copyright 2012 and a Registered Trademark of CBS Studios Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. Screencaps from Trekcore.com

Avengers Assemble...My Desk!

This bit from MTV Geek is fun, and totally for those of us who remember what it's like to be a 10 year old kid.

It's an Avengers-inspired desk from Tom Spina Design! And by the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, it rocks, with nods to Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Thor and even S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho Nick Fury encased within.

Play spot 'em all if you can!

Ride On Past Rango

Star Trek is Copyright 2012 and Registered Trademark of CBS Studios, Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. Screencaps from Trekcore.com

The Game of Villainy Is Afoot

Trekmovie.com is reporting that they have finally cast the lead villain in the upcoming and much-anticipated Star Trek sequel.

Director J.J. Abrams has selected the talented and impressively named Benedict Cumberbatch for the role of the man who antagonizes Capt. Kirk and the Enterprise in the summer 2013 release.

Cumberbatch is a real up and comer. I watched the recent three-episode BBC series Sherlock, where he plays Holmes in contemporary London, and he was mesmerizing.

Here's hoping J.J. and company knocks this one out of the galactic park.