http://youtu.be/CviEeDRBr6w
One of my most looked forward to shows in 2014 is Helix. Ronald D. Moore returns with a new sci-fi show on SyFy (I still hate typing that) which sees a team of CDC scientists traveling to the Arctic to investigate a possible outbreak only to get caught up in something bigger.
SyFy has made the first 15 minutes available to watch before the show’s premiere on January 10th. Take a look and see if it piques your interest.
Can anything stop Frozen? Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones seemed primed to when it opened on Friday but even the yearly horror franchise fell victim to Disney’s juggernaut. Frozen took in $20.7 million in its sixth week and will cross $300 million domestically this week.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones had the lowest opening for any film in the franchise with $18.2 million but it can hardly be called a disappointment seeing as the budget for the found footage movie was only $5 million. If you love the series, don’t worry, Paranormal Activity 5 will release in October of this year. If you hate the series, try and convince people to stop going, because as long as they make money, they will keep getting made.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug held strong in third with $16.2 million. Even though it is still tracking behind last year’s An Unexpected Journey, the second film in Peter Jackson’s trilogy has brought in over $750 million worldwide. That’s a total even Smaug would relish.
Finally, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will do something big this week: it will surpass the gross of its predecessor and put Tony Stark in its rearview, becoming the top grossing movie of the year domestically over Iron Man 3.
1. Frozen- $20.7 million/ $297.8 million
2. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones- $18.2/ $18.2
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $16.2/ $229.6
4. The Wolf of Wall Street- $13.4/ $63.3
5. American Hustle- $13.2/ $88.7
6. Anchorman 2- $11.1/ $109.2
7. Saving Mr. Banks- $9.0/ $59.3
8. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty- $8.2/ $45.7
9. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $7.4/ $407.5
10. Grudge Match- $5.4/ $25.0
http://youtu.be/kvhgd9T86Gk
Mac! Logan! Wallace! Piz! Dick being a….well, dick.
Veronica Mars is back with the movie that was funded entirely by Kickstarter. She has left her sleuth days behind her and has become a lawyer with a new life until her ex, Logan, comes under suspicion for murder. Veronica is off to Neptune to investigate with her ten year high school reunion also in the works.
The movie reached its Kickstarter goal of $2 million in only ten hours. It ended with a total of $5.7 million which is a Kickstarter record.
Veronica Mars releases on March 14.
Dearly beloved, we will gather together in Deadpool #27 to join together Deadpool, lover of alternate realities and Mexican food to a woman yet to be named.
Official invitation can be seen below and guesses will be taken as to who the lucky(?) woman will be. Glad to see that Cable will be the best man.
A new year is here and so is Mega64 to give their Best of 2013 Awards.
As always, it is never what you would expect, unless you are talking about Game of the Year then you should have a pretty good idea of what it will be if you are a fan.
If you watched the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead then chances are you are still traumatized by the events that happened, and if you are a comic fan, then you are happy that finally, in the show’s fourth season, it is beginning to get the feel of the comic down. Give you a taste of normalcy then bash your face in with pain.
The new poster for the second half of Season 4 shows Carl and Rick out on their own after being run out of the prison. How long will it be before they meet up with Michonne? Will we see Carol sooner rather than later? How much more of a man crush can some people (meaning me) have for Norman Reedus? We will find out on February 9th.
Now this is more like it. I am tired of looking at concept shots for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Time for the real thing.
First off, let’s get the rundown: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Groot (Vin Diesel).
Second, holy balls is this movie going to be insane in the best possible way. James Gunn being hired by Marvel to direct this is going to be the perfect fit. Now if we can just get Chris Pratt to make a Mouse Rat joke in the movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy releases on August 1st.
Empire Magazine has released some new pictures from next year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier giving us the best looks yet at Cap’s new costume and The Winter Soldier that looks like he jumped straight off the comic page.
Needless to say if you do not know the identity of The Winter Soldier then stop scrolling to look at the shots.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier releases on April 4, 2014.
Christmas time is family time as well as movie time. There were almost too many things to choose from with hobbits, ronin, princesses, aging boxers and Amy Adams making out with Jennifer Lawrence.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug barely beat Frozen to be number one for the third week in a row. The second film in the trilogy has passed $500 million worldwide. Frozen continues to defy the odds and rake in cash taking in $28.8 million in its sixth week of release and is about to cross $250 million domestically.
Among the new releases The Wolf of Wall Street took in $18.5 million and $34.3 million since Christmas Day. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and 47 Ronin disappointed. Combined the two movies made $48 million since Christmas with both having a combined budget of $290 million.
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $29.8 million/ $190.3 million
2. Frozen- $28.8/ $248.3
3. Anchorman- $20.1/ $83.6
4. American Hustle- $19.5/ $60.0
5. The Wolf of Wall Street- $18.5/ $34.3
6. Saving Mr. Banks- $14.0/ $37.8
7. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty- $13.0/ $25.5
8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $10.2/ $391.1
9. 47 Ronin- $9.8/ $20.5
10. A Madea Christmas- $7.4/ $43.7
Last year, Peter Jackson returned to Middle-Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and some were disappointed by the lack of movement and story pacing. I enjoyed it thoroughly as you can tell if you clink the link to my review above. After watching the movie last year I began to wonder how they would break up Tolkien’s 300 page novel into a trilogy of three hour films. Upon finishing The Desolation of Smaug it is clear that Jackson has added enough elements to make three films a necessity. Even more so than An Unexpected Journey, liberal changes from the book are here and I am sure that it will upset Tolkien purists, and to them I say: have some fun once in a while.
Desolation of Smaug opens up with a look at Thorin Oakenshield as he enters The Prancing Pony in the town of Bree. He is joined by Gandalf who begins to hatch his plan for the dwarves to take back their home of Erebor from the dragon Smaug. It is a good way to get audiences acclimated with the story of The Hobbit again before jumping back into the adventure.
From then on anyone worried about the slow pacing of the first movie are in for a surprise as we meet Bilbo, Thorin and the company of dwarves still on the run from Azog the Defiler. Desolation does not slow down for the next 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The company makes their way to refuge with Beorn, the skinchanger whose hatred for dwarves is only exceeded by his hatred of orcs and he gives them supplies for their journey ahead which includes the haunted forest of Mirkwood where Bilbo and the dwarves begin to hallucinate and lose their way before they are attacked by giant spiders which will be a good reminder of Shelob for Lord of the Rings fans. Here we see our first glimpses of the ring asserting its power over Bilbo making him more aggressive when a spider comes between him and the shiny, gold piece of evil.
Suddenly, like a rhinestone cowboy, the elves are there to save the day including the new character Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) that many are up in arms about. She wasn’t in the book! Blah, blah, blah. I understand where fans are coming from but I also understand Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens wanting to bring a strong female character into the story (of which there are none in the book). Guess what? It works. I, a fan of the book, am completely fine with Tauriel. In fact, she is one of the best things about the movie. Her scenes with Legolas are some great Elven banter and not once did I scoff at the screen because she was not in the original story.
Yep, that right. Legolas is in The Hobbit as well now. No, he was not in the book but he is the son of Thranduil (Lee Pace), king of Woodland Realm, so he has been added in as a bit of fan service to Lord of the Rings movie fans by making the connection that, even though he was not mentioned in The Hobbit, he may have been involved being the son of an Elven king who was. As with Tauriel, he does add to the movie and even though some may wonder why he is there, it is fun to see him make quips as he dispatches orcs as only he can.
After a thrilling escape from Mirkwood in barrels down a rapid river we meet Bard (Luke Evans) who smuggles the party into Laketown. They are soon discovered and Thorin uses his lineage to convince the Master of Laketown (Stephen Fry) to give him a boat to make their way to the Lonely Mountain. Here is where the party is split up with Fili, Oin and Bofur staying behind to tend to a wounded Kili. The rest of the dwarves and Bilbo make their way to the Lonely Mountain where they find the secret door into their lost home.
Where is Gandalf during all of this fun? Well he is off to Dol Goldur to investigate the mystery of the Necromancer. He discovers that the Nazgul have been released from their prison and an orc army led by Azog has been gathering at the long-dead castle. He is confronted by the Necromancer, who reveals his true self and imprisons Gandalf as the orcs make their march toward the Lonely Mountain.
Easily the best part of the film comes when Bilbo is sent into the heart of the mountain to find the Arkenstone in the ocean of dwarven treasure and awakens Smaug. This leads to a wonderful back and forth between Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch which, for this Sherlock fan, was so much of a good thing. Cumberbatch proves he owns anything he is in with his portrayal of Smuag which is way more than a voice over. He was motion captured for facial features and is a wonder to behold. How amazing Andy Serkis was as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy ten years ago, it is the same here with Cumberbatch.
We are left with a cliffhanger ending that had audible gasps in the theater I was in. That is how quickly Deolation of Smaug went. No one wanted it to end even after almost three hours. We still have so much more to cover with Bard’s confrontation with Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies. Where I was once worried about The Hobbit being stretched into three movies, I am now glad it has been. Peter Jackson has made a lot of changes and adjustments including bringing in new characters and adding from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings but it all adds up to a win here. I completely understand if some can not get past the altercations (of which there were many in The Lord of the Rings as well, let’s not forget). I can and actually welcome some of them with open arms and am more than ready to go There and Back Again next year.