Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2015

Hot Toys’ GHOST RIDER Shows AGENTS OF SHIELD Some Action Figure Love

Although Agents of SHIELD was the first live-action series to spin-off from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it has given onscreen life to characters we never thought we’d see–Lash, Quake, Yo-Yo, Mr. Hyde, and the list goes on–it has never gotten much merchandise love. The only Marvel Legends action figures made to tie-in with the show were of characters seen in the movies first: Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, and Maria Hill.

In the most recent season, however, the show got its highest-profile guest star from the Marvel roster yet: Ghost Rider. And neither toy companies nor collectors can resist the siren call of a character who has a flaming skull for a head.

The Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider who appeared on the show took the curse upon himself in order to save his disabled brother, and through the course of the show he briefly passed it to others, including Agent Coulson. But in the end Reyes took it back, helping his onetime adversaries in SHIELD to defeat the dangerous Life Model Decoy Aida.

Hot Toys’ version features an LED light-up head, articulated jaw, and chains in both metallic and “red hot” color schemes. He’s also battle-ready with multiple hands and flames. While he is notably missing a Reyes head, astute fans have noticed that his neck post is also orange and translucent, and Hot Toys are too attentive to detail to display a human head on that.

It’s not clear which toy fairs he’ll be exclusive to, but we should find out very soon if San Diego Comic Con is one of them. And maybe if he sells well, we can finally get some more figures from the show: Agent May and Skye need to join our toy teams, like, yesterday.

Check out more images in the gallery below, and don’t ghost us–let us know your thoughts in comments.

Images: Hot Toys

Diamond Select Introduces THOR: RAGNAROK and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING PVC Dioramas (Exclusive)

When you want the dynamic pose and detail of a statue, but can’t afford the high-end prices, Diamond Select‘s PVC dioramas make a nice middle-ground. In 9-inch scale, which makes them bigger than the average action figure, these characters get thematic bases (of the sort action figures used to come with before the market priced them out) and dynamic poses, with authentic movie and TV detail.

While Gladiator Hulk will have his own action figure in the Marvel Legends line, you’ll have to buy six other figures to build him–if you just want Hulk by himself, this foot-tall rage monster will run you just $50 (that’s $5 more than the other two, for the extra size). If you’re a fan of the USC Trojans, spray-paint him cardinal and gold for a unique, personal mascot.

Valkyrie is but the latest in what we hope is a never-ending stream of Tessa Thompson merchandise. Seriously, she’s awesome.

And then there’s Spider-Man, who’s…well…he’s Spider-Man. Classic pose, bright colors–imagining his inner anxieties, however, is up to you. Spidey is sculpted by Gentle Giant, while the more facial-detail heavy Hulk and Valkyrie were done by Diamond Select mainstay Rocco Tartamella. Also, we can confirm that Valkyrie’s base is meant to represent the Grandmaster’s planet.

Look for these diorama figures to hit shelves in late fall/early winter. And take a look at some additional angles in our gallery below.

Do you find these new collectibles to Ragna-rokkin’? Will they get a Homecoming with you? Let us know below!

Images: Diamond Select Toys

R.I.P. George A. Romero, Father of the Modern Movie Zombie

George A. Romero never meant to change the pop culture landscape.

According to Romero himself, when he and his small nine-person production company (called Image Ten Productions) were conceiving and shooting his first feature film in 1968—a little, low-budget monster movie called Night of the Living Dead—they were only interested in making an efficient horror cheapie and, it was hoped, a quick buck.

There was no way Romero or any of the cast or crew could have predicted the eventual cultural enormity of Night of the Living Dead. Although he never used the word “zombie” in his film, the iconography and the rules of the on-screen “ghouls” immediately codified a new genre of zombie-based horror. If you’ve ever seen The Walking Dead, or indeed have talked about zombies in any capacity, or seen any film or game that had a zombie in it (that was made after 1968), it is a direct descendant of George A. Romero’s creative tinkering all those years ago.

As a filmmaker, Romero was always more of a journeyman than an aesthete. He wanted to tell stories as efficiently as possible, make movies for as much money as he could get, and maybe frighten people along the way. His overriding aesthetic was one of mechanics. His films feel very direct and frills-free; he was not one to add flourish for the sake of it. He didn’t mean to make any sort of racial commentary by casting a black lead (Duane Jones) in Night of the Living Dead; he simply lucked into a good actor. He was a director who merely sought interesting ideas and played them out as well as he could.

And indeed, some of those ideas were quite good, some were bad, and some were just outright weird. After Night of the Living Dead, Romero tried to make a low-budget romantic comedy called There’s Always Vanilla, which is rarely remembered, and even Romero himself has noted that this was perhaps his worst film. He parlayed romance back into horror with 1971’s Season of the Witch (a.k.a. Jack’s Wife, a.k.a. Hungry Wives) about magical dissatisfied housewives who practice black magic, and slipped back into more zombie-like horror with 1973’s The Crazies (which was remade in 2010).

From 1978 until 1985, Romero produced what is perhaps his best work, having churned out numerable legitimate horror classics. He made a vampire film called Martin, and that film remains Romero’s favorite. In 1981, he made a very strange motorcycle jousting film called Knightriders about a traveling Ren Faire troupe that is wholly devoted to the code of chivalry, despite living in a cynical America. It also stages jousting tourneys when bored. In 1982, Romero made the Stephen King-based anthology horror film Creepshow, which remains one of the scariest anthology horror films ever made; the cockroach segment alone is worth the price of admission.

It was during this period that he also returned to zombies, making Dawn of the Dead in 1978. Although its mall setting was in fact the only place that Romero could find to shoot, the location has inspired generations of critics to see Dawn of the Dead as a sharp satire of consumer culture, the dead returning to the only place they knew comfort: The place where they used to shop. Dawn of the Dead is often celebrated as one of the best horror films of all time, and was famously remade by Zack Snyder in 2004. For my money, however, the superior film is 1985’s Day of the Dead, perhaps Romero’s most robust, most visually interesting, and richest film. Set underground, Day of the Dead is about a conflict between civilians and military jerks as they try to fend off the above-ground zombies who slowly encroach. A scientist is also attempting to domesticate zombies.

Other films in the Dead series included the pointed Land of the Dead, released in 2005, about a wealthy class of non-undead humans boarded up in a luxury high-rise (the commentary is both intentional this time, and also pretty obvious), 2007’s Diary of the Dead, a found-footage reboot of the original, and 2009’s Survival of the Dead, a super low-budget zombie film with a bizarre Hatfields vs. McCoys story.

Romero also made two notable big-budget Hollywood horror films in Monkey Shines and The Dark Half, the latter based on a novel by Stephen King. In these two films, one can see Romero at his most comfortable, breathing easy with manageable budgets, happy with interesting ideas, and pleased to be working within the Hollywood system. Although Romero could work as an outsider, he was often just as adept as an insider.

Thanks to a notorious flub in paperwork, Night of the Living Dead lapsed into the public domain immediately upon its release, and Romero famously never got much money directly from the film (please, please, please don’t buy those crappy-looking, cheap-ass DVDs from the drugstore; they suck and they support no one). Its place in the public domain, however, allowed grindhouses and late-night movie theaters to book Night with relative ease, pushing the film to make more and more money over the course of several years. It was made of $114,000, and netted about $15 million in its first decade. Along with films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, El Topo, Pink Flamingos, and Eraserhead, Night of the Living Dead is one of the most popular of all midnight movies.

Romero was a gadfly of horror conventions, and he often lent his blessing to the films of up-and-comers in the horror community. With his large, dark-rimmed glasses and easy smile, he was an approachable dude, happy to talk about zombie and horror with a laidback ease.

Romero died of lung cancer this morning at the age of 77. The man’s legacy will continue to inspire and frighten us for generations.

Image Credits: The Walter Reade Organization/Continental Distributing, Orion Pictures, United Film Distribution Company

 Featured Image Credit: Flickr/Gage Skidmore

BIG HERO 6: THE SERIES Opening Credits Leave Us Satisfied With Our Care

The news out of D23 Expo may have been dominated by Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, theme park expansions, and an amazing slate of upcoming animated movies, but there was still good news for San Fransokyo’s greatest protectors, Big Hero 6! DisneyXD dropped the first look at the opening credit sequence from Big Hero 6: The Series, and it’s coming to television very soon!

Naturally, Baymax, the breakout character from the movie, gets most of the play in this video. Baymax’s bond with Hiro Hamada is also touched upon as Big Hero 6 swings into action. It’s a little bit jarring to see the 3D characters as in 2D animation, but so far, it looks good!

Almost the entire cast from the film are reprising their roles for television, including Ryan Potter as Hiro, Scott Adsit as Baymax, Jamie Chung as GoGo Tomago, Génesis Rodríguez as Honey Lemon, Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass, and Stan Lee as Fred’s Dad. Khary Payton is taking over the role of Wasabi from Damon Wayans, Jr., while Brooks Wheelan is stepping into T.J. Miller’s role as Fred.

The first season of Big Hero 6: The Series will have 21 episodes and it will reportedly take place shortly after the first film, as Hiro returns to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and protects the city from scientifically enhanced villains alongside his new friends. The series is debuting this fall on DisneyXD, and it has already been renewed for a second season.

What do you think about the opening credits from Big Hero 6: The Series? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: DisneyXD

Funko Adds Some Frightening Faces to Their Horror Collections

Listen, we know that you run the risk of pulling a muscle reaching for your wallets with all the glorious collectibles being announced as we’re in the midst of convention season. There’s already so much to look at with the D23 Expo happening this weekend, and we’re only a few short days away from San Diego Comic Con. So, consider this post of new Funkos an intermediate workout to keep you limber. After all, you’ll want to stay on your toes in the presence of some of these horror characters.

The gallery below has a whole bunch of new Dorbz and Pops that were just announced on a Funko blog post. The collection features quite a few characters and a decent chunk of variants to keep any collector’s violent and murderous rage completely normal fandom for collectibles at bay. A few that we particularly love are the black and white Norman Bates with his askew mama Bates murder wig on, and the plaid shirt Alec Baldwin cosplay Beetlejuice Dorb (is that the singular of “Dorbz?”) that’ll be an exclusive for Books-A-Million stores.

Along with the ones above, there’s also figures from Bride of Chucky, Stephen King’s IT, The Conjuring, Gremlins and a few Jack Torrances to round out the bunch. But if we had to choose a favorite (we don’t but we’re going to anyways because that’s how these articles sometimes go) it’d be the menacing Carrie that’s just itching to get her psychokinetic prom rampage on!

Take a look at the gallery below for more pictures of Funko’s new horror additions and let’s discuss your favorite in the comments below!

Images: Funko

The Best Cast Interviews From the GAME OF THRONES Season 7 Red Carpet

We had a whole lot of fun at the Game of Thrones season seven red carpet premiere in Hollywood last week, even if our own Editor of Dragons Alicia Lutes had more questions than the cast was willing to answer. (At least we learned you can take a rowboat to Southern California!)

But we weren’t the only ones enjoying ourselves while trying to get the cast to slip up with some juicy info, so we’ve complied some of the best interviews from the rest of the internet, to help us get ready for tonight’s long (LONG!) awaited new season.

At Mashable they had the cast members ask a magic dragon egg-ball questions about what fates await their characters. We don’t know how many of their questions were intentional attempts at misdirection, but that’s okay because our favorite part was seeing Beric Dondarrion actor Richard Dormer, and Conleth Hill who plays Varys, looking completely normal.

HBO’s own video team asked the cast what their toughest acting challenges were this season. Grey Worm actor Jacob Anderson’s answers about having to be vulnerable and Gwendoline Christie’s nugget about a new physical challenge Brienne faces already have us thinking of a million possibilities for what that might mean.

And if you thought the death of Ned Stark was a huge moment in your life, Entertainment Weekly discovered the same is true for the people on the show.

You know there’s a good reason it’s hard to get answers out of these folks: they know how to avoid them, as Conleth Hill, John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), and Hannah Murray (Gilly) told Access Hollywood.

IGN might have had the smartest plan for interviewing the cast though–letting the actors do their job for them. That’s because they let one of our favorite duos, Jaime and Brienne, question one another, as Christie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau sat in the hot seat of both sides.

But as much fun as it is to joke around with the cast, we do need some real insights from them, the kind that can help feed our insatiable desire to predict what will next. Fortunately TVLine did that by asking the actors about some huge potential showdowns we could see this season.

But what about the biggest question of them all: who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne? You’d think the Mother of Dragon’s entire crew would bet on their queen, but not everyone is convinced.

“The Scary Snowman.”

That’s it. That’s the best answer we heard. And it might be the best thing the people of Westeros can do to make the Night King a lot less scary and intimidating?

Think about it: how imposing would Daenerys be if people called her “The Lady With the Big Lizards?”

Did you see a fun interview we missed? Share it with us in the comments below.

Featured Image: HBO

JAPANESE GIRLS NEVER DIE Delivers a Funky Feminist Fairytale (Fantasia Review)

Blending magic realism, pop art moxie, and humane storytelling, director Daigo Matsui delivers a dreamy feminist critique of modern Japanese culture with the Fantasia International Film Festival selection Japanese Girls Never Die.

Based on a 2013 novel by Mariko Yamauchi called Haruko Azumi is Missing, Japanese Girls Never Die follows two simultaneously told stories of young women doomed to heartbreak. At 27, demure office worker Haruko (Yû Aoi) is on the brink of being considered a spinster. Her male co-workers casually sexually harass her, suggesting she be more flirtatious, wear skirts, and find a man before she’s too old to bear children. So when a former classmate takes the faintest interest in her, Haruko pins her hopes to him, earnestly trying to squeeze happiness out of dismal booty calls. However, before we know much about Haruko, the non-linear narrative warns us she will go missing.

The story of 20-year-old Aina (Mitsuki Takahata) picks up with Haruko mysteriously gone, her only mark on their Japanese town an overlooked “missing persons” poster. That is until a pair of reckless young men, Manabu (Shôno Hayama) and Yukio (Taiga), turn her picture into a graffiti stencil, splashing her forlorn face across walls, bridges, and post office boxes, and sparking a sensation of speculation about the subject, the meaning, and the mysterious artists. Aina is their third wheel, a giddy and girly extrovert who giggles loudly, skips, flirts, fucks, and is always adorned with sparkles and bright, bubbly colors. She thinks she’s dating Yukio, but suffers a cruel reality check when he essentially passes her off to his pal while seeking out a younger girl to share his bed.

Japanese Girls Never Die offers a stinging critique of Japanese culture through revealing the lives of these two very different girls, who can’t seem to escape being treated like things easily discarded. It doesn’t matter how forgiving you are, how enthusiastic, how ready to love and be loved. Men and boys both still act as if there’s an endless sea of pretty young things lining up for their attention, whether it’s Haruko’s misogynistic office mates drooling a pretty new hire, or a pair of reckless graffiti artists passing off Aina with all the casualness of passing a joint. And having no goal beyond fame, Manabu and Yukio yowl and cackle with glee that the missing girl can be so easily transformed into a seemingly political symbol provocative enough to draw attention. Even the assumption that Haruko is dead earns her no respect, no decency.

Matsui lyrically weaves together Haruko and Anai’s tales of tragedy, revealing a cage of expectations from which no girl could seem to escape. But then a dreamy thread about a vicious band of high school girls who attack lone men at night creates an unexpected loophole for release. Wearing the school girl uniforms of knee socks, pleated skirts, button down blouses, and blazers that have long been fetishized for the male gaze, these wild children tear through the night, cartwheeling, giggling, and then roundhouse kicking random men in the teeth. Their refusal to be ogled is revolutionary. News reports warn men to follow police advice, and never walk alone at night. It’s tenacious table-turning that’s as shocking and exhilarating as tasting blood in your mouth. Accented with pink hoodies and hair accessories, these girls are adorable and ruthless, imagining a world where they won’t be subjected to the tired sexism of their elders. They riot and revel, scaring and enticing both Haruko and Anai. But there’s something untouchable about them, like they’re not real girls, but vengeance sprites born from the collective frustration of Japanese women forced to play a game in which they can never win.

Yet at Anai’s lowest point, it’s not this subversive girl gang that plays savior, but a vision of slightly smiling Haruko. In a dreamy and poignant scene, the missing girl appears like a guardian angel, assuring Anai that she does live, because if every girl on a missing person poster weren’t off somewhere have a great time, “it would be too unfair.” In this riveting moment of surreal sisterhood, Haruko as a symbol is reclaimed in a small but important victory for both heroines.

Bounding forward and back in time and to and fro from wannabe wives to wild girls, Japanese Girls Never Die is a bit perplexing. But even the moments where I scrambled to make sense of its jumbled time jumps felt masterfully designed, forcing me to share in the anxiety fluttering in the hearts of its heroines. While they scrape together the tiniest signs of affection trying to piece together a puzzle of love, I was grasping at visual cues to make sense of how their stories interlock. Piece by piece it all comes together. Matsui has constructed a story that is charged with emotion, rich in its understanding of female experience, visually vibrant, and genuinely politically provocative. Watching it, I found Japanese Girls Never Die exhilarating and dizzying. But its greatest rewards have come in the hours and days since, where my mind lingers on its unrepentant girly imagery, my heart thumps for its lost girls, and my thoughts tangle again and again over its haunting yet hopeful message of female empowerment and revolt.

4 out of 5 burritos. 

Images: Phantom Film 

Kristy Puchko is a freelance entertainment reporter and film critic. You can find more of her reviews here. Follow her on Twitter! 

New DOCTOR WHO Star Jodie Whittaker Breaks Her Silence

“Is the future going to be all-girl?“ Why yes, it is! Doctor Who has been laying the groundwork for a female doctor for the past few seasons, and she finally arrived today when Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor. Apparently this news is a secret that Whittaker has been carrying for some time, and now she can finally talk about her upcoming stint as Doctor Who‘s first Time Lady in the title role.

While speaking with BBC, Whittaker described keeping the news secret as “very nerve-racking,” before adding that “it feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you’re told you can and can’t be. It feels incredible.”

According to Whittaker, it didn’t even occur to her that the next Doctor could be a woman when she spoke with her Broadchurch boss, Chris Chibnall about a potential role on the series. “We had a strange chat earlier this year where he tricked me into thinking we were talking about Broadchurch,” related Whittaker. “And I started to quiz him about his new job in Wales, and asked him if I could be a baddie! And he quickly diverted the conversation to suggest I should consider auditioning to be the 13th [Doctor]. It was the most incredible chat because I asked every question under the sun, and I said I’d take a few weeks to decide whether I was going to audition. He got a phone call within 24 hours. He would’ve got a phone call sooner, but my husband was away and there was a time difference!”

Whittaker also had a message for Doctor Who fans: ‘I want to tell the fans not to be scared by my gender. Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that’s exciting about change. The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.”

You can read the rest of Whittaker’s first Doctor q&a at this link. She will make her first appearance on the series during the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special on December 25th.

Are you excited to see Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor in action? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: BBC

 

Many Questions, Some Answers From the GAME OF THRONES Press Line

So you have a lot of questions about the new season of Game of Thrones. We do too. And amazingly enough, we were actually in a position to ask some of them, though if you expected anyone to spill major spoilers…ehhh, not so much.

Unless the presence of Gendry counts! But we weren’t allowed to talk to him. So maybe he’ll still be rowing on the show. Such mysteries.

Take a look at what else our own Alicia Lutes was able to extract from some of the players:

So it seems that there is no Dana Bran, only Zuul Three-Eyed Raven, which is interesting. And that flaming swords really are cool (our hearts would truly have been broken if reliable sources had revealed they actually suck). But what will the Sand Snakes have to do with anything? Is somebody else getting poisoned? (Probably; that happens a lot.) When will Sansa finally realize that Littlefinger needs to go? How drunk will Tyrion get? (We mean on power, but the other way works too.)

Alicia will be recapping tomorrow night’s big premiere here on Nerdist in case you miss anything, or just want to figure out what details you might have missed that she didn’t. While it may be a hot, hot summer outside, winter will be here within…and by “here,” let’s assume we mean whatever room your TV is in.

Are you ready for more Game of Thrones? Will it be a battle for the remote with the Twin Peaks fan in your house? Can you say “G-d bless DVRs”? Have at it in our comments section.

Image: HBO

New STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Character Posters From D23

With D23 here, the Star Wars news is rolling in thick and fast. After an astounding behind the scenes look at The Last Jedi, the official Star Wars Twitter account released teaser posters for Episode VIII. They’re instantly iconic and very, very cool. Well done, Lucasfilm PR. Well done.

Showcasing our main cast both old and new in red, the posters have an ominous yet classic look to them and are incredibly pleasing to the eye. General Leia’s looking regal as hell in a high-collared cape, Luke’s rocking a classic Jedi cloak, Finn’s STILL WEARING POE’S JACKET *eye emoji*, Poe’s rocking an entirely new ensemble with a Rebel insignia on the arm, Kylo’s still channeling baby Vader, and Rey’s looking like she very may well be the Last Jedi in a cloak incredibly reminiscent of both Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

So far Lucasfilm has released six posters and we, of course, have collected them for your viewing pleasure.

 

The red hue instantly speaks to the Dark Side, so could our beloved space heroes be struggling to find balance in the Force in this newest installment of the franchise? What’s that in Luke’s hand? Could it be his father’s lightsaber, the very one which Rey returned to him on Atch-to at the end of The Force Awakens?

Check out the rest of the the character posters in our gallery below and let us know what you think. Too minimal? Effortlessly cool? Do you just want to know WHERE THE HELL IS KELLY MARIE TRAN’S POSTER? Jump in the comments and let us know!

Images: Lucasfilm, Disney