AMC’s “The Walking Dead” trailer is creeping me out
AMC will premiere “The Walking Dead,” based on Robert Kirkman’s comic-book series, on Halloween, and it looks like it’s going to be done right, judging from this extended trailer. Thanks to Staticblog’s George Lang for giving me the head’s up that it was online.
Description from AMC: The Walking Dead tells the story of life following a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back) will portray the lead role of Rick Grimes while actor Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) will portray the character Shane, who worked with Rick in the police department before the zombie disaster. Other cast includes Laurie Holden (The Shield), who plays Andrea, one of two sisters who join the survivors of the zombie plague, Steven Yeun as Glenn, an expert scavenger and Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), who plays Rick’s wife Lori.
Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season [Blu-ray] review
Lost: The Final Season
A mystical hidden island featuring the castaways of the crashed flight Oceanic 815 is the setting for one of the most acclaimed modern television dramas.
In the final season of “Lost,” the castaways were featured both on the island, and in a “flash-sideways” world, in which the characters we knew were in different situations back home. The ultimate conclusion of the series tied the sideways world together with the world of the island.
With some truly fantastic episodes (“Ab Aeterno,” “Everybody Loves Hugo”) and only a few clunkers, “Season 6” isn’t the best season of “Lost,” but it is a satisfying final season, something that’s tough to accomplish on television.
What may draw many fans to the collection is “The New Man in Charge,” a 12-minute epilogue to the series that answers some of the most-asked questions about “Lost.” This and the other extras provide incentive for fans that have already seen the episodes to buy the set.
Despite some fan disappointment, the stories of season 6 are strong enough to hold viewers’ attention, and are worth re-watching in the Blu-ray format. The Blu-ray features 1080p video, and looks and sounds outstanding.
There are audio commentaries on four episodes: LA X, Dr. Linus, Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea.
A mini-featurette called “Lost in 8:15 – A Crash Course” gives a “previously on ‘Lost’” update for seasons 1-5.
The 38-minute documentary “Crafting a Final Season” talks about how “Lost” came to a close, and talks to other showrunners about ending a popular series.
Two other documentaries discuss the influence of Joseph Campbell; and the meaning of the flash-sideways. Behind-the-scenes shorts and deleted scenes and bloopers are also included.
- Matthew Price
Monday movie quote challenge #93
“Blane? His name is Blane? … That’s a major appliance, that’s not a name!”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
Garbage Moguls make treasure out of trash; marathon to air Saturday
A scene from "Garbage Moguls."
I’ve never watched “Jersey Shore,” but I think if I were going to watch a trashy show set in New Jersey, I’d go with “Garbage Moguls.”
Trenton, NJ’s TerraCycle tries to save the planet one discarded item at a time, making new products completely out of trash. This Saturday, National Geographic will air three all-new episodes of “Garbage Moguls.”
From the TerraCycle news release: “Led by Princeton University drop-out and worm poop connoisseur Tom Szaky, the show follows TerraCycle’s team of young ‘eco-capitalists’ as they brainstorm, argue over, go dumpster diving for, and eventually create new products that help solve America’s waste problem.”
The pilot re-airs at 6:00pm CST, followed by the three all-new new episodes at 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00pm CST.
Want to know what Szaky’s thinking as the shows air? You can follow the TerraCycle crew live on twitter during the marathon @TerraCycle and #garbagemoguls. Facebook fans can win prizes by answering trivia questions during each episode. Visit www.facebook.com/terracycle for more info.
- Matt Price
Iron Man vs. Batman stop-motion exhibit to open at Toy & Action Figure Museum
Iron Man vs. Batman from Kyle Roberts' stop-motion animation
A battle between two superhero billionaires comes to life in a new exhibit at the Toy and Action Figure Museum, 111 S. Chickasaw in Pauls Valley.
The “Iron Man vs. Batman” exhibit will officially open at 11 a.m. Saturday, and writer/director Kyle Roberts will be on hand to talk about his video and sign autographs. Special commemorative posters will be given away.
Roberts, a videographer with NewsOK, created the stop-motion animation using Batman and Iron Man action figures in battle. The mix of action and parody-style humor has led to nearly 75,000 views on the video. The Toy and Action Figure Museum sponsored the video, and now want to give people an even closer look, said museum curator Kevin Stark.
“After Kyle did the stop-motion film, we decided we wanted to showcase that here at the museum, and give people a behind-the-scenes look at how it was created, and let them look at the actual figures from Hot Toys,” said Stark.
The exhibit also explains more about the process of stop-motion filmmaking.
Roberts shot more than 1,200 photos before putting it together in a motion picture. Each step had to be individually captured, and then edited into the Oklahoma City backdrop.
- Matt Price
Shadowland: Ghost Rider #1 first look from Marvel
Marvel Comics has provided a preview of “Shadowland: Ghost Rider” featuring the return of artist Clayton Crain to the popular supernatural character. The series is written by Rob Williams.
According to Marvel, the Spirit of Vengeance makes his debut in “Shadowland” after being summoned by the Kingpin. In an attempt to change the tides of war, Ghost Rider must travel to Japan and take on the unrelenting might of the secret ninja organization known as The Hand. Can Ghost Rider storm into the belly of the beast and make it out in one piece?
Click past the cut for the full preview.
- Matt Price
“Reefer Madness” is latest live theater event for Rifftrax crew
From left, Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Mike Nelson of Rifftrax
On Thursday, the movie-watching wisecrackers behind Rifftrax will bring their mocking to theatergoers live, as part of the Fathom Events presentation of “Reefer Madness.”
Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, formerly of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” will present live humorous commentary with the film as it is presented across the country. This is the third nationwide live theater event for the Rifftrax crew.
“The thing I like the most about it is that we are able to get this show, live, to places in the country that otherwise would not be able to see anything like this,” Murphy said. “You don’t have to live in a big city in order to enjoy us live on screen.”
“Reefer Madness” originally was released in 1938 and had been intended as a morality tale showing the dangers of marijuana use. However, the over-the-top acting and low budget made the film an unintentional comedy, with the film becoming a cult classic in the 1970s.
The Rifftrax crew said the way films were made in the 1930s often allows for successful riffing.
“‘Reefer Madness’ gives us that heavily late ’30s, early ’40s, where everybody’s wearing suits, no matter what they do, even if they’re 10 years old,” Murphy said. “And everybody looks and talks exactly the same. I can barely tell any of the characters apart from one another.”
Also, the performances can lead to humorous interpretations.
“It might have been because they were mostly all stage actors, and the soundstages weren’t miked very well, but everybody seems to be yelling at each other all the time, which amuses me,” Corbett said.
Locally, the film will be shown at AMC Quail Springs 24, 2501 W Memorial Road; Tinseltown USA, 6001 N Martin Luther King Ave.; and Spotlight 14, 1100 N Interstate Drive in Norman. In Tulsa, the film will be shown at Cinemark Tulsa 17, 10802 E 71st St.
The event also will feature three brand-new riffs on three short films.
“We’re doing our first animated (short) … it’s really, really old and terrifying animation, and the story itself is sort of impenetrable,” Nelson said. “And of course, everyone bobs up and down at all times.”
Another short is about making crafts.
“I think it’s from the ’70s, but it seems to be from some world of madness,” Nelson said. “It’s just these kids that are supposed to be making crafts with grasses, and it ends up being — truly, it is the most astonishing thing.”
Murphy interjected his theory.
“I think it came through a hole in a parallel universe, Mike.”
Nelson responded, “Yeah, it’s one of those things. We used to do that with movies, where you try to figure out, ‘OK, what, who made this? What possible motive? What?’ and it ended up being your obsession, like, ‘How did this happen?’ and this is one of those shorts.”
Tickets are on sale at www.FathomEvents.com. For more information, go to www.Rifftrax.com.
- By Matthew Price
From Wednesday’s The Oklahoman
Titan Maximum wallet and DVD giveaway!
Titan Maximum Wallet
Want to win a swank Titan Maximum wallet, or a DVD of the first season?
You can win these cool prizes from Nerdage by e-mailing mprice at opubco.com with what kind of robot you’d like to pilot! Funniest and/or most original answers will be selected by a panel of experts at Nerdage HQ. Must be 18 or over! Want to avoid creative writing and buy your own? Wallet available at the Adult Swim shop here and the DVD is available at this link.
Titan Maximum Season One DVD
Here’s the show description: The team that brought you Robot Chicken is ready to transport you to the far-flung future and beyond the stars with the first season of Titan Maximum on DVD! Marvel as the reunited members of Titan Force Five slam evil with their giant robotic powerhouse, Titan Maximum, and valiantly generally combat the heinous machinations of their former teammate-turned-villain, Gibbs, in his attempts to conquer the entire Solar System. This nine-episode set delivers plenty of alien monsters, Titan Power Punches, and skintight-jumpsuit-clad, catfight-prone female lieutenants.
The show was created by Robot Chicken executive producer/co-creator/writer/director Matthew Senreich and Robot Chicken co-executive producer/head writer/director Tom Root. The stop-motion, 1980s adventure recalls shows like “Thunderbirds” and “Voltron,” but with an Adult Swim twist. Set 100 years in the future, the Titan Force Five protect the Solar System as the pilots of the spaceships that combine to form the robot Titan Maximum. Robot Chicken executive producer/co-creator/writer/director Seth Green serves as the show’s executive producer along with Senreich and Root, and also voices the show’s villain, Gibbs. Robot Chicken veterans Breckin Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Dan Milano, Eden Espinosa and Billy Dee Williams serve as voice actors for the series.
- Matt Price
Norm Breyfogle discusses “Life With Archie: The Married Life”
The first issue of "Life With Archie: The Married Life."
Norm Breyfogle broke into comics in the early 1980s, and was a popular Batman artist for six years, on “Detective Comics,” “Batman” and “Shadow of the Bat.” Now, he’s drawing another iconic character — Archie Andrews, the most popular teen humor character in comic-book history. Breyfogle is drawing the follow-up to the popular Archie “wedding” series, “Life With Archie: The Married Life,” in which Archie’s possible wedded future is
Norm Breyfogle
explored. Half of the magazine’s comic stories look at Archie and Betty’s potential future; the other half, Archie and Veronica. Breyfogle answered some questions for Nerdage about the new magazine; issue No. 1 is on sale now.
Matt Price: Norm, thanks for agreeing to do an interview. I’ve enjoyed your work for years, and found the first issue of “LIFE WITH ARCHIE” to be a lot of fun!
Norm Breyfogle: Thanks, Matt. I’m enjoying the experience, too!
MP: The Archie wedding series was a monster hit – does that make it more exciting to come on and do the official continuation of the story?
Norm Breyfogle: Certainly! But then, I’d enjoy it, regardless; I just like to draw. Yes, the publicity revolving around the Archie wedding was definitely a good thing for sales, and it looks like that’s rubbing of on our series, too.
MP: How did Archie come to seek you out for this series?
Norm Breyfogle: After meeting Archie President Mike Pellerito at a New York convention in 2009 (or was it 2008?), I’d drawn one of their “New Look” stories and Victor Gorelick (Archie Comics co-president, Editor-in-Chief) afterward asked me if I’d like to do some Archie work in a more traditional drawing style. I was game, but first they requested I draw a few pages of a sample script they provided, which I did. They liked it, so here I am!
MP: You were known for action with your long association with Batman – do you expect Archie to be facing storylines that cause him to become a man of action?
Life with Archie issue 2
Norm Breyfogle: Haven’t thought much about that. Although I’ve suggested to Archie Comics some springboard ideas (not particularly “action-oriented,” by the way), I’m drawing whatever they want me to draw. I’m really enjoying the writing from Michael Uslan (he wrote a two-year outline and the first two scripts) and Paul Kupperberg (he’s writing all the scripts after the first two, based upon Michael’s outline).
MP: Tell me about bringing your artistic style to the well-known look of the Archie character, and melding both together.
Norm Breyfogle: I was a little worried about how that would work out, since I’d never drawn in such a style before, but once I realized that all that’s really required for a “traditional” Archie drawing style is to follow the formula for the faces and to keep the body proportions at 5-6 heads tall (instead of the 7-9 heads tall used for most all other mainstream adventure stories, especially super-heroes), it came quite naturally to me; I’ve discovered that everything else can be more or less my own established, dramatic drawing style.
MP: You’re drawing two different alternate takes on Archie as a 20-something; as the series progresses, do you anticipate a greater visual distance between Betty’s Archie and Veronica’s?
Norm Breyfogle: I wouldn’t say I’m anticipating that, but I suppose it could happen. Whatever is decided is probably going to be fine with me. It all depends on how much of a change Archie Comics wants to explore, I suppose.
Right now, the biggest changes are happening in the circumstances surrounding Archie, not so much in Archie himself. As a character, I’d say that Archie himself has a pretty stable psychology. He’s got a very strong sense of right and wrong, and I’d think that will keep him more or less on an even keel. It’s one of the main qualities and strengths of the character, and I don’t see that changing. Lots of other things can change, though,
Life with Archie issue 3
and already have.
MP: Although you’re the artist of both series, I have to ask – do you have a Betty or Veronica preference?
Maybe because I’m not from a wealthy or privileged background, I favor Betty. She seems to be the one that’s sweeter, easier to get along with.
MP: Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about the series?
Norm Breyfogle: Since I’m not the writer or editor, I should limit my comments to the artwork (I wouldn’t want to give away too much about what’s coming up, story-wise). I really like the higher quality paper, the coloring, and the two-stories-in-one magazine format, all of which gives it all more a prestigious sense than I’d expected back when it was originally planned as two separate, traditionally formatted monthly titles.
And, the two artists who are inking my pencils, Joe Rubinstein and Andrew Pepoy, are wonderful! BTW, I personally requested Rubinstein as an inker because I’ve always liked his inks on my pencils, ever since our collaboration on DC Comics’ title “ANARKY.”
“Life With Archie” is available at comic shops and newsstands, as well as via ArchieComics.com and at Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and Toys R Us.
- Matt Price
Click past the cut for more “Life With Archie” art.
Monday movie quote challenge #92
“Nothing. No matches on prints, DNA, dental. Clothing is custom, no labels. Nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. No name, no other alias.”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
