Review: Hot Toys TrueType Regular Body! Plus Surprise Stark! Sort of.

What’s this that I have from Hong Kong today? Why it’s the new Hot Toys Truetype regular body, i.e. a naked, headless, 12 inch man. What is it for? How will it prove essential to my eerily expanding high end Hot Toys collection? And what does billionaire industrialist Tony Stark have to do with all this?

I’m going to answer all these highly pertinent questions and more... after the jump!

El Professore Movie Reviews Karate, The Hand of Death

1961
Director: Joel Holt
Starring: Joel Holt, Frank Blaine, Akira Shiga
* 1/2

An important, pioneering effort in the development of the martial arts film. It's also pretty dreadful...

Full review after the jump.

Spaceballs: The Breakfast Cereal: The T-Shirt!

The merchandising scene in Spaceballs was one of the best (Spaceballs: The Flamethrower!). And although I think it would be awesome to see some official parody merchandise from the classic film.... it never really happened. Could you imagine a line of 3 3/4" action figures or even better, highly detailed figures to match the new Star Wars 6" line? Or an official Lego series like my custom Eagle 5? Everything else in the world has been revisited and ruined over and over, yet Spaceballs merchandise remains a product of Mel Brooks' imagination.

Well, Spaceballs merchandise scavengers.... today is your lucky day. Our friends at TeeFury are featuring "Barf's Space Balls", a t-shirt that essentially combines two forms of merchandise into one! It's such a great nod to the film and an awesome t-shirt as well.

Barf's Space Balls by harebrained. $10. Only available for 24 hours.
http://www.teefury.com/

Detailed image after the jump.

Friday Night Movie Reviews

After a lengthy hiatus, the Friday Night Movie Reviews are back to delight and entertain. Join us on the first Friday of every month to see the best and worst of what we've been watching. Without further ado, on to the movies!

Review: Silver Linings Playbook

The worst thing about living in Australia at this time of year (apart from the poisonous animals, the oppressive heat, and the inability to go in the ocean due to all the things in there that want to eat you) is watching the coverage of the Golden Globes and other such award shows, and having no idea what half the films up for ‘Best Movie’ are. By the time they eventually trickle into our cinemas, the rest of the world has moved on and genuinely doesn't give a crap what we think about ‘Django Unchained’, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘Madagascar 36: Still Not In New York’.

Luckily, a late January release for Silver Linings Playbook has kept us somewhat in the loop. The hype for this new Bradley Cooper/Jennifer Lawrence flick had been building not only through the awards season machine, but also through the far more reliable word of mouth avenue. I wasn't that floored by the trailer, but I do like a bit of Bradley Cooper, so I decided to check it out.

Join me below the cut for the verdict.

First Look: Man of Steel Lego!

The world is bracing for the Man of Steel marketing and merchandising deluge that will accompany the release of the upcoming film. It’s reassuring to know that our ingenious Danish friends at Lego are leading the charge with, I assume, at least a couple of sets based on Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Superman. Here’s our first official images of one of the smaller ones.

We get to see inside that alluring box... after the jump!

Thank GIF it's Friday!

This GIF I first saw in it's original form on a news broadcast. I cried real tears. Goes to show that there's no inappropriate time for Gangnam Style.

Iron Man 3 Poster Turns Everything Upside Down!

Tony Stark is going to get the shit knocked out of him. The last thing you want to do is piss off a Mandarin - they have evil moustaches and magic rings - but it looked like Tony has done just that and now it’s time to pay the price. Everything we’ve seen so far from Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 seems to be about stripping Tony of everything he has and dumping him in the middle of nowhere. This freshly revealed poster definitely reinforces that.

The world is TOPSY TURVY! Everything you think you know has been turned upside down!

Actually Marvel President Kevin Feige was recently quoted as saying, “Much of the movie is Tony in the middle of the country without his tools”. What?! That’s a weird choice. That would be like a Batman movie where Batman spent most of it stripped of his Batman costume while stuck in a hole on the other side of the world. And that would never happen, right? Guess we’ll find out soon!

Book Review: Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton

This was a good reminder that I really need to get back into reading more non-dystopian science fiction.

Peter F. Hamilton is responsible for what may be my favorite science fiction books, Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. Two great novels about a faraway star and an evil alien existence, it was completely engrossing. I've been meaning to read more of his stuff ever since, and I've just put it off. Finally, Great North Road comes out, and I make sure I scoop it up. I'm glad I did.

Paperman Is 6 Minutes Of Animated Perfection

Paperman is a beautifully written story about chance, love, and fate... all packed into a quick 6 minute Disney animated short film. It was featured in the prime slot just before Wreck-It Ralph during it's theater run, and before Wreck-It Ralph even had a chance to win us over, Paperman blew us away.

This is such an uplifting little film. Even if you've seen it before, it's bound to brighten your day a little.

Hasbro's Star Wars "Black Series" is For Distinguished Manchildren!

I may have been too quick to judge the toy-making elves at Hasbro who I’ve accused many times recently of abandoning manchild Star Wars collectors to focus on simpler, cheaper toys aimed at kids. This reckless assumption was mostly derived from the obvious scaling back of the classic 3 3/4” action figure line although a fresh reveal shows that Hasbro is in fact still doing their part for collectors - just not in the familiar scale.

Check out this first image (cribbed from USA Today) of the newly announced Star Wars Black Series which features super articulated detailed figures, now in a bigger 6” scale. It’s a pretty nifty Luke Skywalker in X-Wing pilot gear and I have to say that the young Mark Hamill likeness looks to be lightyears ahead of anything we’ve seen in the smaller line...

Classy box too. I love the idea of a premium “black label” edition. You know, like whiskey. Or Penthouse.

We’re not going to see these until around August though and the first wave is expected to be Luke, a sandtrooper, R2D2 and Darth Maul. Only eight figures are planned for 2013 which means that it will probably take around 40 years to get through all the major characters. Plenty of room to move, huh, Hasbro? I’m especially looking forward to seeing more actor likenesses.

These will be $20 in the US, which means they’ll probably be at least $30 here in Australia, even though our dollar is mighty and could totally beat the crap out of your puny dollar. There’s always online stores but shipping will be a bitch. These guys look heavy.

Good move, Hasbro! I’m excited about these - you did well! All is forgiven.Hug it out with me, bro!

Stryder's Favourite Comics - 1/23/2013

Hey folks!  Well, January's speeding along quite nicely, and the folks at DC must know it, as they gave me 10 comics this week!  That's a lot, even for me!  Let's take a look!

Justice League #16 - "We are done fearing the surface,  We are done living in terror.  It is time for WAR."

Part three of "Throne of Atlantis" shows the Justice League just how tough the warriors of Atlantis really are!  Aquaman's attempt to reason with his brother Orm, the Ocean Master, has failed and Atlantis is ready to attack.  First goal?  Defeat Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and yes, of course, Aquaman!  There's a battle even an army of underwater warriors may have some difficulty with! 

Meanwhile, Cyborg is working behind the scenes gathering allies and assistance to try and end this war before it starts...but what will the youngest and least experienced member of the League do if he's the last hero standing?  Might he be forced to call for reinforcements??

We also get another Shazam back-up this month!  Black Adam has caught up with Shazam and proceeds to KICK HIS BUTT!!  Seems experience beats youth in this battle!!  Not to mention that the weird magic-eye dude that freed Black Adam is still going around awakening the personifications of the seven deadly sins!  Last month was Sloth, this month...Pride!  What's THAT all about??

Of course there's TONS more going on in the DCU...check it out after the JUMP!!

3D Star Wars Postponed! Episode VII Postponed? Postponed!

Weird things are happening to Star Wars as it begins to slowly metamorphosize into something new. Distancing itself from the lumbering caterpillar of the prequels, now Star Wars appears to be weaving itself into a tight cocoon, shutting out extraneous forces so it can grow its new wings in peace. What am I even talking about? Well...

According to the official Star Wars site:

“Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall's scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date.”

What does this all mean? I have some wild speculation... after the jump!

The Book Was Better Podcast - Teaser for Episode 35!

In this teaser mini episode of The Book Was Better podcast I reveal which ridiculous movie novelization we’ll be reading, debating and lambasting next week, plus I reveal the first very talented and special guest host that will be joining me for that episode while Jess prepares to pop out a human baby! Plus I respond to your sparse feedback and talk really, really fast!

Next week’s novel is a rare gem which, would you believe, is about 95% different from the actual film! It’s madness! What could it be!? There’s only one way to find out!

You can download it at the official site or why not subscribe to The Book Was Better on iTunes and we’ll cram a new podcast in your lughole every single damn week!

Wayne Dorrington Leads The Way In Our Ghostbusters Fan Art Gallery

A few weeks back we featured The Art of Wayne Dorrington; a showcase of Wayne's variety of pop culture influenced art in varying styles and mediums (illustration, papercraft, iconoscope and more).

Now, Wayne is back with another superb movie poster... this time tackling the fan favorite Ghostbusters.

For close up detail shots (there are lots of wonderful details), visit: http://www.waynedorrington.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/80s-movies-ghostbusters.html

And if we've got you in the ghost busting mood, click through the jump for a whole lot of Ghostbusters (and Real Ghostbusters) fan art. It ranges from amazing to cute to just plain weird.

Fan art bustin' makes me feel good! (No, seriously, I love this stuff.)

Kickstart the Week: Monster Moos!

My wife and I have a spawnling on the way in a few months, and the eventual "how do I introduce the rugrat to some of my favorite hobbies" is already going through my mind. Obviously I can't play Cards Against Humanity with them, so what other option is there? Monster Moos hopes to change that:

Looking around we find very limited options when it comes to good tactical board games that parents and their kids can play together, and be on equal footing.

...

In Monster Moos! players take on the role of inter-dimensional cowboys riding the range in a limbo plane called "The Field". The Field is populated by monstrous cows (called Moos) that have escaped from their home dimensions. Your goal is to try to wrangle as many Dragon Moos, Ghost Moos, Cyborg Moos, and/or Zombie Moos as you can before the other cowboys.

I love the idea behind this, as well as the concept itself. With a $25 entry level price point for the game itself as well, it's not going to break the bank.

Tim Burton's Superman Lives Would Have Been the Most Insane Superman Ever! Help Get the Documentary Made!

Of all the films that never came to fruition, one of the ones that piques my interest the most is Tim Burton's ill-fated and allegedly batshit insane Superman Lives, starring Nicolas Cage in the title role and based on a draft by Kevin Smith. In recent years we've begun to see costume designs/tests and production art leak from the doomed project including bizarre, transparent rainbow coloured costumes and a giant skull-shaped ship. Well now director and producer Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse, Grimm Fairy Tales) is hoping to bring all this material together to create the definitive documentary, The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, hopefully including cast and crew interviews and, budget permitting, even recreating a couple of key scenes via contemporary special effects.

Say what you will about the odd-casting and blatant diversions from Superman's history, but this film at least would have had Braniac, Doomsday and all sorts of large scale, crazy science fiction shenanigans unlike anything we've seen in the films that were released. All Superman Returns had was a real estate scam and a bastard kid! Superman Lives would have really made an impact.

You should, at the very least, watch the four minute video below which contains a pretty mind-blowing montage of Superman Lives production art and tests. It's wacky and lurid and I guarantee it will win you over. It kills me that we never got to see this...

You can help make this project happen by pledging to Jon's Kickstarter campaign. It's an ambitious project and he still has a way to go, but I would love to see this one succeed!

Game of Thrones Season 3 character shots!

HOLY CRAP team, Game of Thrones S3 is so close I can almost taste the boobs and leather. HBO have kindly deigned to bestow upon us some truly badass images - some of known characters, some of unknowns, all of them awesome and costumed to within an inch of their lives.

Join me after the break for a character walkthrough! (I'm not spoilering S3, but there will be S1 and S2 references). Also if you're like me and reading everything you can get your hands on Throne-wise, you should totally compare this article (me with my not-having-read-the-books) versus Vanessa's far more informed one (having read the books).