Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1739

Misty Knight and Colleen Wing Kick All the Butt in New LUKE CAGE Clip

Later this month, the second season of Luke Cage will bring Mike Colter‘s title character back to Harlem as a free man. But Luke’s not the only hero hanging out this season. Jessica Henwick‘s Colleen Wing is coming over from the Iron Fist series, and she’ll be striking up a friendship with Misty Knight (Simone Missick). The new duo met during The Defenders miniseries, where Misty’s right arm was severed during a fight with the Hand. In a new clip from Luke Cage season two, Colleen offers a little tough love for Misty by letting her rediscover her inner badass during a bar fight.



There’s a great moment early in this scene when Misty briefly forgets she lost her arm and turns to Colleen to see if she’ll help her. Colleen’s casual and non-verbal response was perfect, as she let Misty handle herself until the odds got too lopsided. Once Colleen entered the fight, the outcome was a forgone conclusion.

If it seems like Misty and Colleen make a great team, it’s because they’re destined to become one. In the comics, they’re known as the Daughters of the Dragon.

Jessica Jones may have the superpowered P.I. market covered, but Misty and Colleen have been making it as private investigators without powers since the ’70s. They’ve even headlined their own Heroes for Hire series. If Marvel and Netflix are looking to make a Daughters of the Dragon or Heroes for Hire spinoff, this clip illustrates why it’s a fantastic idea.

Luke Cage season 2 will drop on June 22.

What did you think about the new preview scene? And should Colleen and Misty get their own Netflix show? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Netflix/Marvel

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Joel Will Riff Again for MST3K 30th Anniversary Tour!

In the actually fairly-a-while-ago past, a little cable access show in Minnesota became a comedic cultural phenomenon. Yes, Mystery Science Theater 3000, the show about a man, his robots, mad scientists, and bad movies, turns 30 this year and is actually more powerful than ever, with production of the second season of its Netflix revamp beginning this week. It all started with creator/original star Joel Hodgson, who is still masterminding the new show, and is fully responsible for its return. For many, Hodgson’s Joel Robinson is still the definitive host of the series, which means a lot of people will be extra stoked to hear he’ll make his return to the silhouette seat this year.

In an announcement that makes MSTies everywhere yell “Rowsdower!” in excitement, news has broken of a 30th anniversary live tour—after the major success of 2017’s Watch Out for Snakes Tour—which will feature reboot host Jonah Ray, Crow, Tom Servo… and Joel Hodgson himself putting back on the red jumpsuit, riffing two brand new movies!

Hodgson wrote in a statement:

We’ll be performing two completely different shows as part of the tour, featuring two incredibly strange and cheesy feature films: The Brain, a Canadian sci-fi suburban nightmare, and Deathstalker, a fun sword and sandal epic with some surprisingly muppety monsters!

As with last year, these are two completely different shows they’ll be alternating throughout the tour. Beginning on October 9 in Portland, ME, the tour will last six weeks, span 29 cities, and comprise 42 shows. Tickets go on sale to the general public 10pm ET on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. So, you know… be ready for that.

We’re super stoked for Joel to return to the riffing seat. He and several other MST3K alums had the troupe Cinematic Titanic in the years prior to the Kickstarter reboot, and the character of Joel Robinson made an appearance on the season premiere of season 10 back in 1999, though he didn’t riff. This will be Robinson’s first time riffing since the 1993 classic episode Mitchell. Hamdingers be damned!

Image: Best Brains

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and a devout MSTie. He is the writer of 200 reviews of weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

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TEEN TITANS Animated Series Might Return (But There’s a Catch)

Ever since Teen Titans Go! made its debut and became a pop culture phenomenon of its own, fans have been wondering if the cutesy, pint sized versions of their favorite heroes would mean the return of the classic iteration of the animated Teen Titans. That show, which ran from 2003-2006, was a beloved series in its own right, and the generation who grew up with the series still has tremendous affection for it–so much so they’ve never stopped asking for a potential sixth season of the series to be made. But all these years later, is that even possible?

WOW. Just so y’all know…at a movie session today, they told us that if the #TTGO movie kicks all butts they would do our show at the same time as #Season6 …FOR REALS! So go see it! Even if you hate us!!

Is an Unofficial DC/Marvel Crossover in the Works?

Marvel and DC Comics have dominated the comic book industry for decades and used to have a more friendly rivalry. It wasn’t uncommon for say, the Punisher to meet Batman, or the Silver Surfer to hang out with Green Lantern in crossover specials. But by the time the Avengers and the Justice League finally teamed up in 2003, relations between the two publishers had gotten frosty. Now, there may finally be a thaw in the divide, and today’s Nerdist News goes over a few unofficial Marvel and DC crossovers recently featured in both universes.

Join host and the lone survivor of the Amalgam Universe, Jessica Chobot, as she goes back in time 15 years to explain why DC and Marvel basically put each other on their respective *bleep* list. It’s important to note the vast majority of Marvel and DC creators and employees get along swimmingly. However, a select few in higher positions who may be holding a grudge.

As you can see in the below panel from Lockjaw #4, the Inhumans‘ giant teleporting dog took a sidetrip to the DC Universe during his battle with Annihilus. It’s pretty obvious they were greeted by Superman and Wonder Woman. Marvel’s Infinity Countdown has also alluded to Shazam (a.k.a. the original Captain Marvel) as an alternate counterpart to Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel.

These unofficial crossovers aren’t one-sided. The “Travelers” storyline in the Batman ongoing series featured a shout out to Jarvis, the long-time butler for the Avengers. And it was done in a way that suggests Booster Gold and his faithful robot, Skeets, are fully aware of the Marvel Universe.

Will these nods lead to more official crossovers between Marvel and DC? It certainly seems more possible now than it did just a few years ago. But if nothing else, we’re really enjoying the unofficial crossovers and want to see more.

What’s your dream Marvel and DC crossover team up? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Comics/DC Comics

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Jeremy Renner’s Arms in TAG Are CGI Because He Broke His Real Ones

When playing a game of tag, your arms, aka your primary tagging implements, are a critical component. However, during most of the filming of the movie Tag, star Jeremy Renner didn’t have full use of his, because he broke them both pretty early on during shooting (via The Playlist).

Renner’s co-star Jon Hamm stopped by Ellen recently, and he told DeGeneres that on the third day of shooting, both of Renner’s arms “snapped like a matchstick”:

“We had several on-set injuries, the most notable being — I was not there that day, so it’s impossible to blame this on me — Jeremy Renner, who broke both of his arms at the same time, day three of production. We had… 40 more days to go? Keep in mind this is a man who’s done a hundred Avengers movies and been fine. And he does a movie about playing tag… both arms, like firewood, just snapped like a matchstick.”

If that really is true (I have no reason to think Hamm is a liar, so I believe that it is), then the CGI work here is impressive. Re-watching the trailer while thinking of the fact that most of the footage of Renner doesn’t contain his actual moving arms, I didn’t notice anything that looked suspicious. That’s pretty impressive considering he’s throwing people around, wrapping towels around his friends, throwing donuts, and otherwise doing arm-intensive activities. They definitely look more convincing than Henry Cavill’s mustache in Justice League.

See if you can notice any arm weirdness in the Tag trailer below. Do you see anything, or does the CGI work get two real-life thumbs up? Let us know what you think down in the comments!

Featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures

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WESTWORLD Could Have Had Its Red Wedding, but Stopped Short

The train’s leaving the station, and there are spoilers through  Westworld season 2, episode 6 in this article.

“Les Écorchés” might have been one for the ages. The kind of episode talked about in the same breath as the Red Wedding. Westworld walked right up to the precipice, guns blazing, but wouldn’t make the leap. What’s worse, they may have ruined any jumps they want to take in the future.

After trudging through the dusty waste of The Man in Black’s (Ed Harris) addled mind for almost two seasons we were one trigger pull away from a death that would have been both shocking and poetic. It was perfect. Right in the sweet spot where we could have argued forever whether the show had done him dirty or given him exactly the send-off he deserved. But what it proved instead is that there’s a preciousness to The Man in Black that ensures his survival.

During the gunfight, he shouts, “You and I both know this isn’t how Ford wanted me to die,” and he was right. Maybe. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) hasn’t really been on the scene of The Man in Black’s game since he took over Lawrence’s daughter’s body to tell him to look to the past–something that MIB has failed at spectacularly. So who knows what Ford really wants for MIB. Or if he cares. Maybe he washed his hands of the whole thing once it was set in motion. Maybe he would have been disappointed if Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Maeve (Thandie Newton) had gunned down The Man in Black.

But Old William might as well have yelled that this isn’t how the audience wanted him to die. And that’s where he’d be wrong.

I didn’t know I wanted that until I saw it, but now that I have, I wish so, so much that they had let Lawrence put that final bullet between The Man in Black’s arched eyebrows. What we got was the worst of both worlds. A denied climax where the showrunners wanted to have their bloodbath and main characters, too. Didn’t anyone tell them that violence has consequences in Westworld now?

After his impossible survival, I worry that he’ll either live beyond this season or, worse, that we will get a death that echoes this moment, which can only remind us of how close he came to dying earlier. A nanosecond’s lack of commitment that downgraded the episode from instant classic to merely better-than-good.

His suffering and ours needs to count for something, and so far his storyline this season has felt like watching someone play a video game without being told the objective. He abandoned his daughter to continue the game, but he is the only one who gleans its personal meaning, and without that investment, what he finds at the end of his travels has gotta be a real barn-burner to excuse the fake-out we just experienced.

And they almost killed Maeve, too? That would have been an episode for the ages. Yes, it would have been literally tragic to see her go out like that, but you’d at least have had to admire the guts it took to stick that landing. For all her power and freedom, she keeps redefining herself solely within the confines of the park. She keeps bouncing from entry to entry on a short list approved by her makers. Always orbiting around “Mother.” That obsession is the spice of a Greek drama that almost left her permanently face down in the dirt.

But instead it looks like her suffering will be in service of Lee Sizemore’s (Simon Quarterman) growing usefulness and bravery.

We’re saying goodbye to sensuous suicide bomber Angela (Talulah Riley) and avenging angel Clementine (Angela Sarafyan). They’re tough losses, but they were given henchwoman’s work to do this season, and the tease of killing off not one but two main characters diminishes these side characters’ sacrifices.

From the first episode of this season, Film School Rejects’ Rob Hunter thought that Bernard had someone riding shotgun in the passenger seat of his mind, and he was right. Ford is still manipulating the park and still manipulating Bernard.

These two revelations demand explanation because they seem to go against Ford’s ultimate sacrifice at the end of the first season. This isn’t a simple case of a character showing more layers or changing. Ford was willing to die to bring sentience to his creations. Regardless of the continually ping-ponging villain status we endured last season, he ended up about where Arnold was in his philosophy toward the hosts. Now he’s betraying that by reinserting himself into the narrative? Or, really, that he’s never really left?

Is it possible that Ford had Bernard make a control unit and send it to The Cradle before Ford underwent the journey to rethinking the hosts? Is this effectively an older version of Ford wreaking havoc now that the enlightened one is worm food? Would Ford not have planned to avoid that, or is this by design and we just can’t understand why he’d commit suicide by robot and stay on as puppet master?

Meanwhile, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) has lived long enough to see herself become the villain. She’s broken SWAT Team Teddy (James Marsden), controlling him in the name of freedom, and now she’s killed her own father to free herself.

The crazy thing is that she’s right. Like everything else in the park, kinship was another set of chains designed by the jailers. That isn’t her father. He is, however, a brother of sorts. A fellow member of robotkind. Yet she doesn’t seem him as a person (irony alert!) but as a symbol of her struggle, a hurdle in the way of her enlightenment, an object to cast aside to prove she’s evolved. She and Hale are more alike than they’d feel comfortable admitting.

Last week the show hinted at becoming larger than itself (a train headed out of the park, a new chapter for Maeve with the old one closing, a greater promise for Bernard when he met Ford), but this week saw Westworld fold back in on itself. Relying on old narratives, sticking to old friends, and failing to commit to a shock wave that would have freed it to explore more territory. Don’t cue “The Rains of Castamere” quite yet.

STRAY THOUGHTS:

Does Dolores not realize the extent of Maeve’s powers, or is she uninterested in using a young God to help her cause? Maeve recognizes the change Dolores made in Teddy…and Dolores doesn’t ask her how she knew?
What are the odds Ashley stands on the smoldering rubble of Westworld having saved everyone worth saving by the end?
With The Man in Black, Maeve, and Hale not getting torn apart by fancy dental equipment, this episode had A TON of close calls stalled out for random reasons.

Images: HBO

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Mass-Produced Ramen Ice Cream Gives Your Caramel a Hint of Soy and Chicken

The last time we covered the unlikely fusion of ice cream and ramen, it made so much more sense. Sweet noodles made from a water-cake base atop a frozen treat gave the appearance of the savory noodle broth entree, but with the refreshing and sugary flavor of dessert. Japanese 7-11 stores being what they are, though, the ante has been upped. Via SoraNews24, we have been made aware of a new mass-produced ramen flavored ice cream, which is admittedly strange, but hey, so were chocolate-covered salty pretzels once upon a time.

The ice cream itself is a butter-caramel flavor with, as a Google-translated press release has it, “‘soy sauce’ as a hidden taste in ice. By adding soy sauce to rich ice cream, it tastes rich and rich.” The crunchy dried ramen noodles are essentially a mix-in…and they’re chicken flavored. (You know, when people say “everything tastes like chicken,” they don’t actually mean…never mind.)

You might have to do a little digging to find the pre-packaged product at an Asian import store, but you can always just buy caramel ice cream, and try adding soy sauce and dried noodles to see what kind of flavor balance is attainable. It might take a few tries; the combo may sound weird, but salty and sweet can work pretty well. Adding shrimp sounds a little much for an American palate, but maybe someday we’ll be ready for that too.

Or are you ready right now? Let us know what kind of noodle frozen dessert you like the sound of in comments.

Images: Shibuya company

 

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RUPAUL Superfan Repaints Barbie Dolls Into Fabulous DRAG RACE Queens

RuPaul’s Drag Race inspires passionate fandom more than maybe any other reality show in television history, and yes, I’m including the Kardashians in that statement. For ten seasons now, the series has made stars out of its contestants, and even queens who didn’t make it into the top three each season are still LGBTQ icons years later. So maybe it’s no surprise that hardcore Drag Race fans have found a way to immortalize their favorite performers in new and interesting ways.

Case in point, Drag Race super fan Mark Jonathan Monterroso, who customizes Barbie dolls into beloved queens from the show, showcasing looks they wore in various challenges. But, as the video from Insider shows us, he does a lot more than just paint the face of a given queen on doll, these girls get a top to bottom makeover. It’s like doll surgery almost. You can see Monterroso’s repaints — or as he calls them, “Rupaints” —  in the video down below:

Among the ladies from Ru Paul’s Drag Race that Monterroso has made customized dolls for are season 9’s Valentina, season 7 winner Violet Chachki, season 8 finalist Naomi Smalls and winner Bob the Drag Queen, and All Stars 3 winner Trixie Mattel. Given that Trixie’s last name is indeed Mattel, it is only fitting that she become a Barbie doll in some form. Monterroso also has his own YouTube channel, where you can see detailed looks into how he “Rumade” each doll in detail.  He also does repaints of dolls from the Monster High collection, a favorite among many LGBTQ collectors. Now, how long do we have to wait before Mama Ru gets a Rupaint of her own, hmm?

Which beloved queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race would you like to see Monterroso tackle next? (I vote for Alaska!) Let us know who you want to see down below in the comments.

Images: The Insider

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Han Solo Gets Down and Dirty as a Hot Toys Mudtrooper Figure

Han Solo may not have been one of the most outstanding recruits the Empire ever had–let’s face it, following orders is not his thing–but he did get to wear one of their most distinctive outfits in Solo: A Star Wars Story: that of the Mimban Mudtrooper.

Designed for heavy swamp duty, the outfit features standard Imperial upper armor for combat, unarmored-but-thick pants to keep you warm but mobile through waist-deep muck, rain poncho, and goggles and helmet that echo the sartorial style Han’s future son will one day make his own. Unlike some collector figures that use alternate heads, this one has a helmet and mask that are fully removable.

If you think you notice a slight anime influence, well…us too.

Han comes with multiple hands and everything else you see below:

Preorders are $235, with the figure expected to ship next summer. And Sideshow (Hot Toys’ U.S. distributor) offers installment plans, so you can stretch it out over four parsecs payments. Hot Toys are actually the first licensor to roll out a Han Mudtrooper figure, but we can certainly hope Hasbro will follow suit. This is, after all, the outfit in which he met Chewbacca. Give us a mud-Chewie and support beam accessory, and you have the movie’s most insta-iconic moment.

Looks like a damn dirty Mimban Stormtrooper is also on the way! It’s an easy enough repaint with an added cape, so why not?

Are you the sort of collector who likes to get your Hans dirty? So lo and behold, this might become your next acquisition? Kessel run down to comments below and let us know what other dad puns you can make of this news.

Images: Sideshow/Hot Toys, Bandai

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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT Featurette Showcases Tom Cruise’s Insane HALO Jump Stunt

You could be forgiven for thinking maybe the wrong franchise was named Death Wish. If anyone else kept wanting to do the Mission: Impossible stunts for real, we might question their sanity. For Tom Cruise, however, it’s Tuesday.

All the trailers for the latest film had implied that the movie’s big stunt sequence would be the one where he’s hanging off of a helicopter, but then at CinemaCon in Vegas, he talked about another one in which he jumped out of a plane 106 times. And it turns out this was no normal jump, but rather a HALO (high altitude, low opening) sky-dive never before performed by an actor. In a just-released featurette, Paramount gives us a taste of the star’s latest manifestation of a need for speed:



It’s not unlike that scene in Speed where a frustrated Sandra Bullock asks Keanu Reeves if he somehow felt he had to create a new challenge for himself. The jump itself isn’t just unprecedented for a newcomer; it also has to be rehearsed in a custom-built wind tunnel, and then filmed over 100 times because the plot calls for it to take place at sunset, allowing only a three-minute window per day. But hey, after Cruise spent five previous movies hanging on to stuff by his fingertips, you wondered when he was going to finally fall, right? He was clearly just waiting for the right moment to make said fall even crazier than actually holding on.

Is this a taste of what we can expect in the Top Gun sequel? Can this be topped in any way? Tell us what you think in comments, and take your time…this message will not self-destruct in five seconds.

Image: Paramount

 

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