George L. Cook III's Blog, page 44

Max Brooks chimes in on fast moving zombies

Zombie fans have been having the fast vs slow moving zombies debate for years. It has been rekindled anew after the trailers for World war Z appeared. Now none other than Max Brooks himself has chimed in on the "fast vs slow" debate. Listen to his comments below.We at The Dead War Series do not condone his response we are just putting it out there for zombie fans who may appreciate his input in the zombie debate.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Zombie School: Inside The Walking Dead

Executive Producer Greg Nicotero gives you a look inside Zombie School, where extras learn how to become undead. The Walking Dead returns this Fall.

World War Z predicted to have 40 million dollar opening weekend.

Boxoffice.com is predicting the Brad Pitt film World War Z will have a 40 million dollar opening weekend. The site also predicts the film will have a total gross of $105 million.



Here are the reasons they give for those predictions:





* Brad Pitt typically delivers at the box office in high profile roles.




* There is a history of live-action alternatives being able to co-exist with high profile computer animated films in the summer (i.e., 2008's Wanted, 2011's Bad Teacher and last year's Prometheus).




* Being adapted from a pre-existing novel should help.




* With the zombie genre currently at a new zenith in entertainment, could this be for Pitt what I Am Legend and vampires were for Will Smith in 2007?







Do you think that Boxofficecom is correct in their predictions?

Writer explains the reshoots of World War Z

In a new interview with Vanity Fair,Damon Lindelof opens up about how he was brought in after the fact to help rework the final act, which resulted in a massive reshoot and a full rewrite of the ending and several other late scenes. Lindelof described the original cut as “abrupt and incoherent” and said it was “missing a large chunk of footage.” Well, that’s not good.



That’s why star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster brought Lindelof in to have a fresh set of eyes. Here’s Lindelof’s recollection of what Pitt told him when he was hired:





 “‘But when we started working on the script, a lot of that stuff had to fall away for the story to come together. We started shooting the thing before we locked down how it was going to end up, and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. The thing we really need right now is someone who is not burdened by all the history that this thing is inheriting, who can see what we’ve got and tell us how to get to where we need to get.”



 After watching a rough cut of the film, Lindelof said he had two ideas to make it better: try to write around what’s already there, to give it context, or scrap a whole chunk of the movie and try something else. Turns out the film was in such a mess that they went with the second route, cutting 12+ minutes and reshooting approximately 40 minutes of footage while dropping a huge Russian battle scene:



 “I said to them, There are two roads to go down here. Is there material that can be written to make that stuff work better? To have it make sense? To have it have emotional stakes? And plot logic and all that? And Road Two, which I think is the long-shot road, is that everything changes after Brad leaves Israel. I didn’t think anyone was going to say, ‘Let’s throw it out and try something else.’ So when I gave them those two roads and they sounded more interested in Road B, I was like, ‘To be honest with you, good luck selling that to Paramount.’”

OMG! Check out this new trailer for Pacific Rim!

Check out this trailer for Pacific Rim which Guillermo del Toro debuted at last month's WonderCon. All I can say is OMG! I want to see this movie!

I don't often fight zombies but when I do...

Dark Horse Comics releasing Halo mini series. Halo: Initiation

CHICAGO, IL, APRIL 26–Dark Horse continues in the tradition of bringing only the biggest and best characters and story lines to comics with the announcement of the Halo: Initiation miniseries, launching in August! This exciting new miniseries will be written by Halo 4 writer and comics veteran Brian Reed, with art by Marco Castiello (Secret Invasion: Front Line, Star Wars: Purge)!

Before she was a supersoldier defending humanity as part of the Spartan-IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST—Orbital Drop Shock Trooper—carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines! See how she became the first Spartan-IV commander in this must-read series for fans of Halo 4 and the Halo franchise!

“A rich science fiction universe driven by compelling characters, Halo has all the makings for show-stopping comics, ” said Dave Marshall, Dark Horse Editor. “In Initiation, Brian and Marco are delivering an action-packed thrill-ride with a beating heart of authentic human drama.”

“It’s really exciting to work with Dark Horse in continuing the Halo story in comics. After Halo 4 and Spartan Ops, fans wanted to know more about the origins of the Spartan-IV program and Sarah Palmer in particular. So it’s great fun to be able to grant those wishes with a partner like Dark Horse,” said writer Brian Reed.

New Dead War Trilogy Cover

Here is the new cover for my book The Dead War Trilogy! Thanks to all of those who gave input on the cover and the book's title. It made a lot of sense that I should not use both series and trilogy in the title.

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. Joins the Cast of The Walking Dead Season 4

The Walking Dead has made its first major Season 4 hire.



Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (The Wire, Army Wives) has officially signed on to play the series regular role of Bob Stookie , a former army medic who is deeply haunted by his past (both before and after the zombie apocalypse). He has a charming, self-deprecating-but-confident public face, despite how troubled he is.

My Zombieland series pilot review.

It took awhile but after Amazon fixed whatever glitches they had with Zombieland's launch I finally got to watch the pilot episode today.



To be honest I wish Amazon had never fixed that glitch.



The pilot starts off great. The first two minutes are the best of the entire episode. Sadly they feature characters we never see again.



From there it's all down hill. The cast is okay and the acting is on par but the writing is horrible. The show goes for slapstick and juvenile jokes. One such juvenile joke is about a girl named Ragina, like vagina with an R. That's what passes for humor on this show.





For a show titled Zombieland that takes place during a zombie apocalypse there don't seem to be many zombies walking the streets. One character blows up a store selling fireworks which makes enough noise to raise the dead and no zombies show up. They walk the zombie free streets and zombies seem to only show up as punchlines.





There are a few amusing bits and on that front there may be hope as this is only a pilot. There is still time for a change of direction. But if you are going to charge people to watch episodes it's going to have to get better real quick.





George L. Cook. III. The Dead War Series