Tag: Dredd

This One Time, On The Internet- February 25, 2014

Our new feature will give you the quick hits from the world of the interwebs in movies, games, TV, ballroom dancing, lighting fixtures, whatever catches our eye.

Movies

Star Wars Episode VII

There are reports from multiple sites and sources that both Benedict Cumberbatch AND Gary Oldman are set for the next Star Wars directed by J.J. Abrams. If this is true, the force is strong with this movie. As long as the name Hayden Christensen is nowhere to be found.

The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Marc Webb will come back to direct the third (sixth) Spider-Man movie. They will be wasting no time. It is planned for release on June 10, 2016.

Dredd 2

While in Germany at a Star Trek convention, Karl Urban said that conversations had started with Lionsgate and writer Alex Garland about a follow-up to 2012’s amazing Dredd. The film bombed at the box office but since has picked up a lot of ground in DVD and Blu-Ray sales.

Indiana Jones

It looks like Harrison Ford is on his way to donning his whip and fedora two more times. The price for getting him back to do Star Wars may have been a commitment by Disney (who bought the rights to Indy as well) to make two more Dr. Jones tales. What will they do about Indy’s kid since Shia is not famous anymore (his words, not mine)?

Console Wars

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are keeping busy with their work to bring Preacher to AMC and now they are wanting to make a film version of Blake Harris’ Console Wars which tells of Nintendo and Sega’s fight for supremacy in the 90’s.

Independence Day 2

Will Smith has officially said no to the sequel because he is too busy riding the wave of money made by After Earth last year. He won’t be in the sequel to the one sci-fi movie people want to see him in but he will make garbage with Shyamalan?

TV

Heroes

Did you hear the big news? NBC is pulling a 24 and bringing back Heroes for a 13 episode mini-series in 2015. The run will feature all-new characters although they say that some people from the original run may return. They were doing so well until they said that.

http://youtu.be/xXUjpHHfTLY

Games

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

The next-gen version of the prequel to The Phantom Pain has been dropped in price by 25% to $29.99. Likewise, I am now 25% more likely to buy the game.

Titanfall

The shooter will require up to 40GB of space on your Xbox One. Damn next-gen, you take up space.

World of Warcraft

If you want more than one of your WOW characters to level up to 90 it is going to cost you. The new expansion, Warlords of Draenor, will allow you to level one character up to 90 but other characters will run you $60. For a game that has been taking $15 a month from around ten million people for a decade, that’s harsh.

February 25, 2014
Sign The Dredd Sequel Petition. Make Your Voice Heard

Dredd was one of my favorite movies of 2012 (click here for our review), but it failed to make an impact at the box office. That is a shame because the movie is as close to a perfect translation of the character as you will get.

Do not despair! Not all is lost!

2000 AD is pushing for a sequel and they want you to get involved. They have an online petition going to show your support for a sequel to the film. All you have to do is click here and in a few easy steps you will have signed your name to a worthy cause-the cause of Judge Dredd taking law to the lawless.

July 25, 2013
Top 10 Movies Of 2012

With the announcement of the Academy Award nominations I figured it would be a good time to post our top ten movie list for the year. Now unlike the Academy, you won’t find Beasts of the Southern Wild or Amour on here. All we can do is go by the movies we have seen this year and whittle that down to the ten that we had the most fun with. What you will find is a whole lot of explosions, bad puns, dwarves and ex-slave bounty hunters. So let’s get started shall we?

10. [amazon_link id=”B005LAIGPU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Chronicle[/amazon_link]

Max Landis, son of film legend John Landis and creator of the hilarious Death and Return of Superman video, wrote this smart found footage film about three teens that discover something in a cave and find themselves developing powers. Please don’t let the tag word “found footage” scare you off. This movie is witty and snap quick in its dialogue and then add to it a believable tale of heroes and villains and you have a winner.

9. [amazon_link id=”B008G33O0G” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Cabin in the Woods[/amazon_link]

I can not reiterate enough that if are planning on seeing this movie do not let someone tell you the ending. Now when the movie begins you think that they are giving away a big piece of it right off the bat but you really have no idea. It takes everything we thought we knew about the rules of a horror movie and turns it on its head. I wish it had been a bigger hit because it should be considered the Scream of this generation. The most unique horror film since the first Saw.

8. [amazon_link id=”B0084IG7KC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Hunger Games[/amazon_link]

Despite the books being in the polarizing “young adult” category, The Hunger Games was filled with unflinching violence. The movie did a great job of taking a concept as off base as children being forced to kill each other to ensure government control and made it work in a PG-13 environment. I hope no one simply did not watch this because of what I call the “Twilight syndrome”, where some movies are lumped into the same category as Twilight when they really should not be. This movie is is visually arresting in places and tense.

7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit can not equal The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think we should all admit that. The source material is a completely different animal but Peter Jackson crafted a very good and enjoyable return to Middle-Earth this year that set up the return of Smaug and showed that Martin Freeman may have been born to play Bilbo Baggins. It was good to see Ian McKellan as Gandalf again and each of the dwarves were represented well with Richard Armitage stealing the show as Thorin.

6. [amazon_link id=”B005LAII80″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dredd[/amazon_link]

Movies are a funny business sometimes. The Avengers became the third biggest movie of all time (deservedly so) and Dredd was a certified flop at the box office which is, as I said, a funny thing since people may have overlooked the best straight up action movie of the year and the most faithful comic to film translation ever. Karl Urban’s scowl should get an award by itself. This movie is unapologetic in it’s violence, as it should be, and it should have propelled Dredd into the minds of “normal” moviegoers, but now let’s just hope it becomes a cult hit. For a better idea of what to expect check out our review.

5. Django Unchained

Some people may think that Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction may be Tarantino’s best and it would be hard to argue, but how many film makers could truly say that they are hitting their stride 20 years into their career? Inglourious Basterds and now Django Unchained have brought the director into the rare trifecta of great artists. Where their movies are critically loved, successful at the box office and yet do not compromise the director’s vision. Django is as close to a comedy as I think Tarantino will ever make and is a great look at our country’s bleak past seen through the eyes of a rare director.

4. [amazon_link id=”B0085Z8F4A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Prometheus[/amazon_link]

Look, the easiest way to explain this is that I am a sucker for Ridley Scott being involved with anything sci-fi. Does the movie have plot holes? Yes, but I am pretty sure most movies do. I appreciate this film for not taking the easy way out for a prequel to my favorite film franchise ever. It seemed like people wanted to be spoon-fed information instead of trying to look for themselves and enjoy the adventure. Sounds a lot like LOST huh? Guess Damon Lindelof will never get away from that.

3. [amazon_link id=”B004LWZWGK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Dark Knight Rises[/amazon_link]

There was really no way that Christopher Nolan could top The Dark Knight. The movie was a cultural phenomenon anchored by the Academy Award winning performance of Heath Ledger. So for The Dark Knight Rises he took the character to the depths of defeat and closed up his Batman story by weaving together the stories of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in a way that proved Nolan’s point that he set forth in Begins. That Batman should be a symbol, not just a man. Oh and I personally thought Tom Hardy owned the role of Bane.

2. [amazon_link id=”B007REV4YI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Skyfall[/amazon_link]

As I said in my review, Skyfall is the greatest Bond movie ever made so the fact this is almost at the top of this list is a no brainer. Director Sam Mendes brought Bond into the new age and simultaneously took Craig’s version of the character back in time (the classic Aston Martin, Moneypenny, Q). It moves at a quick pace despite being over two hours. And finally, for the first time in his Bond tenure, Craig got to match wits with a villain worthy of the franchise in Javier Bardem’s Silva. The fact Bardem did not get a supporting actor nod is beyond me. Just thinking about Skyfall makes me ecstatic to know that we have Daniel Craig for at least two more movies.

1. [amazon_link id=”B0083SBJXS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Avengers[/amazon_link]

I have to admit I went back and forth for a few days between this and Skyfall for the top spot but in the end it had to be this. While Skyfall may be the best Bond ever, it may someday be surpassed by another Bond movie. The Avengers was something different and only people that grew up tried and true nerds, geeks, fanboys etc. know what I am talking about. When you were growing up reading comics (for me in the 80’s & 90’s) you always imagined what it would be like to have a movie like The Avengers come out but knew it could never be. It wasn’t possible. But then something happened. Comic book movies became popular, raking in heaps upon heaps of cash and now the characters that you grew up loving and getting made fun of for liking became normal in pop culture. It was cool to go see Iron Man. Everyone loved Thor…..THOR! Imagine that internally as your ten year old self. Still seems weird right? Then Marvel did the near impossible. They built a film franchise out of separate movies, gambling that each would be successful enough to warrant them teaming up and making an Avengers movie. And guess what? It paid off. By trusting nerd god Joss Whedon to write and direct, The Avengers gave Marvel a 1.5 billion dollar reward for their risk. And not just that, the movie lived up to a lot of people’s lifetime expectations, mine included.

January 11, 2013
Review: Dredd

Karl Urban Brings New Life To The Man Of The Law

First off let’s go ahead and get the blasphemy out of the way. I liked Sylvester Stallone’s Judge Dredd. It is a guilty pleasure for me. Like Demolition Man or Cobra, it was a big dumb action movie that promised a lot of explosions and Stallone overacting and it’s exactly what you got. It doesn’t apologize for it’s shallowness and it really doesn’t need to for an action movie. Now that we have that out of the way how does the 2012 version stand up to the mostly reviled 1995 flick? Dredd takes it’s predecessor out back and judges it guilty then puts one clean in the head.

The judges are the police force in Mega City One, a massive concrete jungle with a population of almost a billion people. After a brief introduction to Judge Dredd complete with motorcycle chase and harsh judgment of a trio of criminals, Dredd is called back to the Hall of Justice where he is given a rookie to give his assessment on in the field. But this rookie is unlike any others because she is a psychic and despite being on the low end of testing is believed to be worth a badge because of her abilities. The two go to investigate a murder call at Peachtrees which is a “megablock”, a huge building that houses thousands of people and here is where you spend the rest of the movie.

Dredd Hard?

Peachtrees is under control of Ma Ma, a woman who controls the manufacturing of the newest hit drug on the street known as Slow-Mo. Not wanting to let the judges leave nice and quietly Ma Ma has the building locked down and sends all of her men hunting after them. One of the reasons Dredd works is that it keeps the action confined to enclosed spaces. In essence, it goes Die Hard with the action. Dredd and his partner are on a track to mow through every criminal from floor one all the way to two hundred. If this movie had tried to be a spawling sci-fi, futuristic epic it would have lost some of it’s appeal.

I think I would define the shootouts in the film as beautifully gory. Blood flows freely and often complete with exploding heads and visceral slow motion bullet piercings. It easily earns it’s R rating and some folks may find it gratuitous but I felt it holds true to the character’s comic roots. Anything less would have seemed like a cop out by the film makers and thankfully there were no compromises made.

One problem many had with the Stallone version was he spent half the movie sans helmet in an attempt to humanize Judge Dredd. Karl Urban had gone on record while they were filming that you would never and should never see Dredd without his headwear and they have stuck to their guns here. All you see is a black visor and Urban’s grisled mug scowling the whole movie. Urban, over the past ten years has carved a niche by taking over roles and making them completely his. From Eomer in The Lord of the Rings to his amazing turn as Dr. McCoy in Star Trek and even to lesser extent as “Reaper” in Doom and now with Dredd Urban keeps adding to his bada** character profile. Hearing him say “I am the law” should put a devilish smile on any fans face.

Olivia Thirlby plays Dredd’s rookie psychic partner Anderson with an emotional strength that shows a few cracks but never breaks and Lena Headey is almost unrecognizable as the scarred up drug queen Ma Ma. Past that the rest of the cast should be filed under gun fodder, simply there for our twisted viewing pleasure.

Dredd is a dirty, bloody and borderline NC-17 violent movie that keeps the spirit of the almost 40 year old character alive and well. Fans of the character, comics in general and utter gruesome violence should go and see this. And see it quickly.

Nerd Rating- 8.5/10

September 24, 2012
Greatest Thing Ever- 9/20/12

Dredd Mondo Poster Should Be Framed Above My Mantle

Artist Jock, who has drawn the man of the law before as well as The Losers and his amazing run with Scott Snyder on Detective Comics, has drawn this masterpiece of comic goodness.

If you are like me then you have been waiting on Dredd to open for over a year now and the time is almost upon us. So for the next day or so let’s just all salivate over this poster and while we wait take another look at the Dredd preview.

September 20, 2012