Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2115

Bottleneck Gallery’s New THE FORCE AWAKENS Poster is Calling to You

You know how a wizard is never late and arrives precisely when he means to? That saying also applies to Star Wars collectibles. The galaxy far, far away has been in fashion since 1977, so new releases can land whenever they damn well please and fans will line up or click to purchase them. Case in point, I bet fans will happily fork over dollar bills for Bottleneck Gallery’s new and arresting Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster. The officially licensed design is by Grzegorz Domaradzki, a.k.a. Gabz, and features some key elements from Episode VII, plus the third Death Star, er, I mean Starkiller Base.

I love the use of color in this 24” x 36” image, especially the shining glow around Rey. Do you see how heroic she looks? Get an up close and personal look at the art in this teaser video:

Hearing Han say, “Chewie, we’re home,” still gives me a case of feelings.

If the 24 inch by 36 inch poster strikes your fancy, it’s currently on sale as a timed edition at Bottleneck Gallery’s website through April 9 at 11:59p.m. EST. That means as long as you place your order by the end time, you’ll get a print. The edition number will equal the number of orders placed. Gabz did a more subdued variant too, but as those posters were limited to 250, they’re already sold out. But go ahead and torture yourself by taking a look:

Is this The Force Awakens poster you’ve been looking for? Steer your ship to the comments and tell me if you’ll be adding this art to your walls.

 

Images: Bottleneck Gallery

Let’s talk about Kylo Ren’s new look!

Go Back to the ’80s with New Netflix Wrestling Series G.L.O.W.

The modern obsession with professional wrestling began in earnest during the 1980s, in the heyday of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan. But during that ’80s wrestling craze, there was also room for women, at least for a bright shining period. From 1986 till 1992, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, also known as G.L.O.W., ruled TV with their over-the-top style and characters, making famous wrestlers like Brunhilda, Matilda the Hun, Babe the Farmer’s Daughter, and Big Bad Mamma, who was a “witch” who would “cast spells” on her opponents. Who needed Saturday Morning cartoons when you had G.L.O.W.??

Now the saga of those badass ladies is becoming its own fictionalized series thanks to Netflix. G.L.O.W. is set to become a new comedy-drama, created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and will revolve around all the crazy drama and lives of the characters of the still-beloved and fondly remembered series. The first season will consist of 10 episodes, and will be released this summer. Alison Brie, known to fans for her roles on Mad Men, Community and Bojack Horseman, will star. Below is the official synopsis from Netflix:

“Inspired by the real story of the 1980’s female wrestling league, the series — set in Los Angeles and showcasing big hair and body slams — will be the fictionalized story of an out of work actress who finds one last attempt to live her dreams in the form of a weekly series about female wrestlers. Jenji Kohan and Tara Herrmann (Orange is the New Black) are executive producers, and the series was co-created by Liz Flahive (Homeland) and Carly Mensch (Orange is the New Black), who will serve as showrunners.”

You can check out the first official images from G.L.O.W. down below in our gallery. The series debuts on June 23, 2017.

Are you excited for the ladies of G.L.O.W. to get their due? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Image Credit: Netflix / Erica Parise

What about huge fighting monster things, though?

This OVERWATCH Widowmaker Gown Can Assassinate in Style

I know Overwatch‘s Widowmaker is ruthless, cold, and exceptional at eliminating her targets without a second thought. However, I can’t help but imagine her clapping her hands and making high-pitched noises upon seeing this custom masquerade gown by Firefly Path. The elaborate design is based on Widowmaker’s look, and it kills.

The detailed patterns, colors, and spider touches (look at the black widow spider on the back!) clearly tie the dress to the Overwatch assassin. I think the most subtle touch takes form in the side pieces on the gown that match Widowmaker’s leggings.

This sort of intricacy is what Firefly Path is known for. The company makes fantastical dresses that look like they’re from another realm. This masquerade gown fits the bill. JoEllen Elam from Firefly Path shared some details about the Widowmaker commission with us. “Her bodice features a filigree ‘W’ at her neckline,” Elam says. “Her armor had been replaced with a puff sleeve and lace gloves, mimicking her original silhouette. The back of her bolero sports a faux leather black widow spider wrapping around her shoulders. Her metal filigree mask is made in two parts. She [The client] has the option of wearing it together or separately.”

Because I’m sure you’re itching to see more of what JoEllen and her team does, you can follow along with her commissions at Instagram and Facebook. If you’re imagining a gown of your own, visit the Firefly Path website. They’re closed for commissions for the year, but you can gather intel.

Which video game character would you like to see in a magical ball gown? Share your picks in the comments.

Images: Firefly Path

The science behind why the Widowmaker has blue skin

This CASTLE IN THE SKY Robot Figure is an Essential Studio Ghibli Collectible

Remember the scene from Studio Ghibli’s Castle In The Sky when the giant Laputan robot, who was dormant not that long before, basically destroys the castle by itself despite heavy enemy fire? That scene alone solidifies the robot as perhaps the most badass Ghibli character of all time (feel free to fight us on that in the comments). For all the times you’ve watched the movie and dreamed about how cool it would be to have one of those for yourself, today is your lucky day, because Bandai has you covered (via Kotaku).

The Japanese toymaker has created a fully poseable figure, and it looks absolutely true to what we’ve watched on screen so many times, but, you know, smaller. It stands at about 4.5 inches tall, and while 7,560 yen (about $68) might seem steep for a model of this size, it’s diminutive stature doesn’t mean that any details were overlooked. We mean, just look at how dang poseable this thing is:

That’s 57 points of articulation in action, meaning that you can put this thing in pretty much any position you want to. It also comes with replaceable arms, so you can put this guy in winged mode and let him soar (please don’t actually throw this beautiful robot). The figure is set to ship in October, but you can go ahead and pre-order now.

Assuming Bandai will ship these figures outside of Japan, are you planning on scooping one up? Do you have any other impressive Ghibli figures you want to show off? Hit us up on Twitter and let’s talk.

Images: Bandai

What Kylo Ren’s New Look Means for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Next week at Star Wars Celebration, we may finally see the first trailer for The Last Jedi. Thanks to the Star Wars merchandise machine, we’ve already gotten a glimpse of the new looks for Rey, Finn, and Poe, but what about Kylo Ren? The First Order’s perpetually angry darksider is also due for an upgrade, and today’s Nerdist News is examining the implications of Kylo Ren’s new look in The Last Jedi.

Fair warning, there are potential spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This your last chance to turn back before Kylo unleashes his lightsaber on a defenseless control console.

Join host and chronicler of the Sith, Jessica Chobot, as she breaks down the latest word from Making Star Wars. Those usually reliable rumor mavens have released more info about Kylo’s appearance in the sequel, as well as some mock-up art based on those descriptions. The most immediate change is that Kylo’s half cape is out, and he’s taking his Darth Vader cosplay to the next level with a full length cape. Who knows? It may even be Darth Vader’s actual cape, if it didn’t burn up on the forest moon of Endor.

Kylo’s facial scarring from his battle with Rey is also rumored to be prominently featured, and he is also said to have a new helmet in the film. Now that he’s killed his father and firmly chosen a dark path, we’re thinking that redemption is off the table for General Leia’s only son.

But Kylo Ren isn’t the only member of the First Order rockin’ the upgrades. The current report from Making Star Wars also features artwork of the Executioner Stormtroopers who will be accompanying Captain Phasma on her search for the Rebels. We’ve already seen Stormtroopers carry out orders to kill innocent civilians in The Force Awakens. Executioner Stormtroopers sound like a dangerous escalation of violence against the First Order’s subjects, which suggests that it may become an even darker version of the Empire it sought to emulate.

What do you think about the latest word on Kyle Ren and the First Order? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Gorillaz Share “Let Me Out,” Featuring Mavis Staples and Pusha T

We’ve been in a state of Gorillaz-mania for the past few months now, and it’s ramped up recently now that the group has finally announced its fifth studio album, Humanz. The record is only scheduled to drop on April 28, but we’ve already gotten a pretty good look at it. So far, the band has shared five songs from the album (“Hallelujah Money,” “Saturnz Barz (Spirit House),” “Ascension,” “We Got The Power” and “Andromeda”) and now we have a sixth (via Uproxx).

“Let Me Out” premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Radio show today, and now it’s made its way online. It’s a hip-hop leaning cut featuring verses from Pusha T and Damon Albarn, with a hook sung by Mavis Staples. These three voices work in tandem with the synth-heavy and slightly dark instrumentation. There’s a real strong groove at work here, and to be frank, it’s one of the better Gorillaz tracks we’ve heard in years. Yes, we know they haven’t put out an album since 2011, but still.

By the way, folks who live near Brooklyn, Berlin and Amsterdam are in luck: In case you haven’t heard, the band is bringing an experience they call Gorillaz Spirit Houses to those locations. Fans will get to hang out in a real-life version of Murdoc, 2D, Russel and Noodle’s house while listening to the new album. The experience will be in Brooklyn from April 21st to 23rd, in Germany from April 28th to 30th, and Amsterdam on May 6. It’s free, so register to attend here.

What do you think of the song? Is it your favorite of the new ones, or does one of the other five capture your imagination more? Give us a shout in the comments and let us know what you think!

Featured Image: Gorillaz

6 Things Hasbro’s G.I. JOE Movie Reboot Needs to Get Right

Hasbro Studios wants to reboot G.I. Joe… again.

As we’ve known for a while, Hasbro is aiming to get into the cinematic universe game. A big part of those plans is G.I. Joe. The only problem: the G.I. Joe movies can’t seem to get things quite right, and Hasbro and Paramount are already talking about another reboot to the military superhero franchise. As Simon Waters, Hasbro Studios’ supervisor of consumer products, told the L.A. Times, the company wants to shoot for “a more millennial approach.” Waters said, “The world has changed, and I think you’re going to see G.I. Joe changing with it,” adding, “There’s going to be a much more contemporary approach to the whole franchise, and that will allow us to develop different characters.”

There are plenty of ways to go about such an open-ended plan. My immediate thought is that they’ll make Cobra into cyber-terrorists, and the Joe team younger, maybe even teens recruited Power Ranger/X-Men style for their unique gifts. And that’d be one way to do it. I personally would be into a Brady Bunch Movie style comedic take on the ’80s stylings, but there’s little chance of that happening. (Besides, Robot Chicken may have had the definitive take on the Joes as anachronisms.)

So what does a decent G.I. Joe movie need? I’m glad, I asked, rhetorically, because I have some answers. Were I to have Hasbro’s ear, the following would be my suggestions:

Destro and Cobra Commander together at the same time

In The Rise of Cobra, Destro is the villain, although he doesn’t become the Destro we know until the end. In Retaliation, Destro is left in suspended-animation prison, and Cobra Commander is the villain. Switching off these two baddieshas kept us from the best dynamic on the cartoon; let’s call it a hate-bromance. Both were relative equals as arch-villains–Cobra Commander led the terrorist organization called Cobra, but Destro supplied the weapons. And each was willing to blame or outright betray the other at a moment’s notice.

The absence of this dynamic in the prior movies can be partly blamed on the special-effects approach to Destro. To make his metal mask move fluidly like in the cartoon, it became a budget-busting CGI effect. But it doesn’t have to. The mask could be redesigned so that the eyes and mouth are visible, not unlike Klytus in 1980’s Flash Gordon. And if they use the existing continuity, it doesn’t have to be the same Destro. The McCullen clan have been established as inheritors of the mask; all we’d need is a relative that Christopher Eccleston didn’t know about to fill the costume and the role.

Dreadnoks

Back in the ’80s, the Dreadnoks–the English and Australian-accented biker characters armed with power-tool weapons–seemed like the closest Hasbro could get to Mad Max-themed vehicles, since the actual Mad Max franchise wouldn’t license toys. In today’s world, they seem more relevant than ever, as a gang of outlaws used to carry out the evil organization’s dirty work. Think about the accusations today of paid protesters at political rallies, or of Russian soldiers going undercover in places like Ukraine and claiming to be a grassroots independence movement. G.I. Joe is best if it doesn’t mirror politics too closely, but a slightly sanitized version of this concept could make the Dreadnok idea really work.

Bring the base back home

Modern G.I. Joe lore stems from a storyline and concept subtitled “A Real American Hero,” so it was a massive facepalm moment in The Rise of Cobra when they were revealed to be an international organization headquartered in Egypt. It’s understandable that Hasbro and Paramount might be sensitive about how a movie featuring American military types might play elsewhere in the world, but I dunno, Captain America seems to be doing just fine, movie-wise.

Of course, this doesn’t mean excluding non-American characters from the team; the Joe team has had international members, and worked with other, similar elite teams from other countries. There’s the Oktober Guard in Russia, Action Force in Europe, and various ninja clans in the far East. If you want to be inclusive of other countries, have consultants from those forces join up with your key Joe characters.

Keep enough of it familiar

G.I. Joe as a toy concept has gone through reboots before. “Real American Hero” is technically a reboot, albeit one that retroactively incorporated the older toys into its canon. But every version since hasn’t fared as well. Remember G.I. Joe Extreme?

Or maybe Sergeant Savage?

Yeah, not so much.

Don’t betray the Baroness

While many a lustful youngster had feelings stirred by the Cobra villainess’ hybrid dominatrix/librarian look, she was a strong and complex character in the comics as well. A European far-leftist whose rage at American policy led her to terrorism, the Baroness was a master of disguise, sabotage, and intelligence, and had a sometimes complicated romance with Destro. The Rise of Cobra not only reduced her signature look to generic black clothes and sunglasses, but more devastatingly, it took away her agency when it was revealed that her evil deeds were all due to mind-control nanomites, controlled (of course) by a man.

Baroness is still popular as the subject of both collectibles and cosplay. Do right by the fans who love those.

Lean into the absurd.

G.I. Joe (mostly) hasn’t been based on realistic military since the mid-’80s. It succeeded as well as it did after that by incorporating the appeal of properties like Star Wars and becoming a kid’s fantasy idea of what the perfect military would be, adding sci-fi elements and larger-than-life, WWE-style characters (including a literal one in Sgt. Slaughter). Being embarrassed by that fact is not doing the property justice.

Just as the Transformers movies falter when they get away from the core concept of robots that transform, G.I. Joe will falter if its colorful, larger-than-life aspects are ignored. And there’s plenty of precedent. Take The Avengers, replace their super powers with expert military specialties, and you’d have G.I. Joe. Every human character in a Michael Bay movie, from Sean Connery in The Rock to Mark Wahlberg in Pain and Gain, would fit in perfectly. And what are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s freeze guns if not the actualization of the Joe cartoon’s laser stun guns?

And then you’re ready for the inevitable Transformers crossover.

How would you want Hasbro to proceed with G.I. Joe? Leave your thoughts in comments, or talk toys with me on Twitter @LYTrules.

Featured image: Paramount

Baroness image: Sideshow Toys

Is a Squirrel Girl TV show a mistake for Marvel?

Puck Soup #45: Jamie Hersch and Olympic Debate!

Greg and Dave welcome NHL and MLB Network host Jamie Hersch for a fun conversation about Minnesota life, hockey vs. baseball, Game of Thrones and reliving the most awkward interview she ever had with a gossip columnist. Plus, it’s the First Ever Puck Soup NHL Olympic Participation Debate, as Greg blames the IOC and Dave targets the NHL; looking at the Stanley Cup playoff matchups; if a Canadian team will win the Cup; how lit Dave’s millennial brand knowledge is; and reader mail that spans from burgers to best coaches to people thinking they can jinx athletes through a television. Sponsored by Helix Sleep and Blue Apron!

Follow @wyshynski, @davelozo and @PuckSoupPodcast on Twitter!

ROGUE ONE’s Ending Used to Be Way More Complicated

Perhaps more than any modern blockbuster (except maybe Suicide Squad) the speculation about what and how much was different in the initial cut of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been rampant and omnipresent. Just watching the final film versus the trailers will show you that things changed significantly, but nobody really knew how or why. The recently released Blu-ray (which I reviewed here) offers nothing in the way of deleted scenes, so the curiosity of Star Wars viewers seemed destined to remain unquenched, but a recent video by the YouTube channel Star Wars Explained opened my eyes to several things.

Using various bits of evidence including cumulative interviews with director Gareth Edwards and on-set photos, Star Wars Explained has posited much of what we wondered about Jyn Erso and her friends in Rogue One‘s third act. We saw several things in the initial trailers that got us excited, including the famous action shot of the heroes running on the beach and avoiding blasts from the gargantuan walkers. Why would they cut out such a cool and iconic shot? Well, it turns out, as with most things in movies, the reason had to do with making the plot more streamlined.

Initially, when the Rogue One group leads their assault on Scarif, Jyn and company had to break into two separate buildings: the citadel where the Death Star plans were kept, and the radio tower where they could broadcast it. The journey from the first building to the second is where the running-on-the-beach scenes would have happened, but for pacing purposes, this was changed to be all happening in the same building. Because of this, new death scenes for K-2SO and Cassian Andor had to be written and filmed, since they were at one point going to be killed by Director Krennic himself while defending the entrance to the tower. This, by the way, was the same building Chirrut and Baze are fighting near during their still-intact death scenes.

Krennic also at one point had a different death scene, in which he managed to escape Scarif only to be caught and murdered by Vader for his cowardice and failure. Instead, he confronts Jyn and is wounded by Cassian only to die in the Death Star blast, watching his life’s work kill him. But, as cool as Vader Force-choking Krennic to death would have been as the end of the movie, this change led to the now-infamous Vader hallway scene which has become a favorite among fans.

There are other changes listed in the video as well, but these were the main ones to me. And ultimately, I think these were good and positive changes. No reason to over-complicate the end of your movie just for the sake of some cool shots.

Do you agree? Do you think Rogue One would have been better the other way? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Lucasfilm

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

Let’s talk about Snoke, baby

Schlock & Awe: FIRESTARTER

In my interview last week with the excellent Mick Garris, we talked a lot about the relative difficulty of adapting a Stephen King novel effectively. Garris had, of course, made several films and TV movies based on King novels, and he even brought up examples of very effective versions, such as Cronenberg‘s The Dead Zone. Evidently, the main thing to do is just–gasp–be true to the source novel, and one of the most faithful adaptations also feels tailor-made for ’80s horror, the best John Carpenter movie he never actually made, 1984’s Firestarter.

The whole time I was watching Firestarter–which I’d never actually seen until the recently released Scream Factory special edition Blu-ray–I kept thinking it felt like a John Carpenter movie, in everything from tone to look, to even the electronic score, here provided by Tangerine Dream. So it was particularly interesting to learn that Carpenter was indeed originally attached to direct, and write the screenplay. According to eventual director Mark Lester (who directed the surprisingly great Class of 1984), Carpenter wanted to change practically the whole story, much to the chagrin of producer Dino de Laurentiis. Even though King approved of this script, the failure of Carpenter’s The Thing led to Universal firing him. Lester, when he was brought in, essentially had writer Stanley Mann follow the novel exactly, attesting that de Laurentiis paid a high price for the book rights, they ought to use it.

The movie starts out with Andy McGee (David Keith) and his daughter Charlie (Drew Barrymore) on the run from some shady government types. In order to get away, the get in a cab and Andy somehow makes the driver believe the $1 bill he hands him is actually a $500 bill. During a series of flashbacks we learn that Andy was a college student who signed up to take part in a study on the effects of hallucinogens. It’s there he met Vicky Tomlinson (Heather Locklear) who would soon become his wife. The drug, however, is not a hallucinogen and is actually a way for a shady government organization called “the Shop” and it gives the user telepathic powers (Andy can manipulate thoughts while Vicky can read minds). Their daughter, several years later, begins to exhibit intense telekinetic abilities, including pyrokinesis. This is what the Shop wants.

There are some real bad people who work for the Shop, including their leader, Captain Hollister (Martin Sheen), who greedily wants to use Charlie’s powers as a weapon (naturally), and his hired enforcer, Agent John Rainbird (George C. Scott), who carries out assassinations by stealthily breaking in to his target’s house while they’re asleep and giving them a single, swift karate chop to the bridge of the nose, shattering their skull and sending it into their brain. It’s pretty grotty. Despite their best efforts, Andy and Charlie get caught–following Rainbird shooting them in the throats with tranquilizer darts!–and he then pretends to be a friendly orderly and convince Charlie that it’s worth doing what the doctors want her to do if they’ll let her see her father again.

Most of this movie is a road movie, with the backstory told in flashback. We get to see that when Charlie gets angry at a person, they tend to burst into flames. Charlie believes it was this action that led to her mother dying, however we see that it was actually the Shop, and specifically Rainbird. A few times throughout the movie, Charlie gets REALLY mad–usually at the onslaught of Shop agents with guns–and cars explode and people’s arms catch fire. The effects are fairly hokey when they aren’t just flames suddenly appearing on people, but overall it works really well. Especially the ending. Holy shit, is that ever violent and flame-full.

Stephen King was clearly transfixed by the idea of telepathy and telekinesis. Firestarter was his sixth book (published in 1980) but was his fifth already to feature people with some kind of psychic ability, clairvoyance, or other such mental powers. I’d love to know if he was one day hoping to put together a terrifying team of Scanner-type people made up of Charlie, Carrie White, Danny Torrance, that weird old lady from The Stand, and Johnny Smith. I’m fascinated by his consistency in this arena. Seriously, if you guys can remember a telepath in ‘Salem’s Lot, let me know. King moved away from people with mental powers pretty resolutely after this, but Firestarter feels like a great culmination of this self-imposed trope.

De Laurentiis made a point of populating the movie with as many respected actors as possible. Art Carney and Louise Fletcher even feature in incredibly tiny roles as a farmer and his wife who befriend the McGees briefly, and their yard is the setting for the first major fiery showdown. Sheen is a great choice to play the insane leader of the Shop, but I was particularly blown away by the performance of George C. Scott, an actor I’ve always loved. The character of Rainbird was the head mercenary in the novel, but they gave all the scenes of his cronies committing murders to the character himself, utilizing Scott while they had him around. He’s terrifying and cold and is made even more so by pretending to be the cowardly friend to Charlie while she’s at the Shop compound. He’d just as soon kill this girl as look at her, but makes her trust him to get what he wants first. It’s tremendous.

Not all the acting in the movie is as good as Scott’s, and I have to say the young Barrymore doesn’t quite have what it takes, but the movie ultimately works, I think–even with some not-awesome effects–because of its commitment to the material. If this movie had been made by John Carpenter, I feel like we’d all be talking about it as one of the better King adaptations. As it happens, however, the movie didn’t do great at the box office, and became little more than a movie shown on cable a lot.

But you can’t argue with a finale where Drew Barrymore shoots fireballs at evil henchmen and completely immolates George C. Scott the point of melting the flesh from his bones while he screams “I love you, Charlie.” I mean, you can’t argue. Don’t even try. You will lose that argument. It’s the coolest ending to a movie I’ve ever seen.

Firestarter is now available from Scream Factory with a gorgeous 4K remaster and a smattering of extras. It’s definitely in the top 10 of good King adaptations. Check it out!

Images: Universal/Scream Factory

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!