Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2248

New CONAN EXILES Trailer Sends Gamers to an Open-World Hyborian Age

As 2016 winds down, it’s time to look back on a happier time…like the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard‘s Conan the Barbarian. Who among us hasn’t longed for a world of monsters and magic? And who hasn’t missed the giant serpent gods and the massive stone statues that come to life? Starting next year, you’ll be able to revisit that era in a new Conan game from Funcom.

Earlier this past week, Funcom unveiled the new trailer for Conan Exiles, an upcoming first-person, open-world adventure game. However, it doesn’t appear that we’ll get to play as Conan himself. Instead, the game places you in the role of an outcast who can rise from nothing to become a conqueror while traveling the ruins of ancient civilizations and uncovering their darkest secrets. For example, you have the option of sacrificing your enemies to your gods for power, or you can use the Wheel of Pain to break enemies to your will as you create an empire of your own.

But that’s just the world-building stuff. If you’ve come for the swordplay and the action, you’ll have plenty of chances to get your barbarian on. It also appears that the game has a single-player campaign as well as a multiplayer experience.

PC gamers will get an early access preview to Conan Exiles on January 31, 2017. The Xbox One preview will drop in spring 2017, but the final release date has not yet been announced.

What did you think about the trailer for Conan Exiles? By Crom, leave a comment below!

Image: Funcom

Yoda Sings About Seagulls and Backpacks in New Bad Lip Reading Video

Sure, The Empire Strikes Back might be the greatest Star Wars film, but you may have missed its biggest contribution to the canon: a song sung by Yoda about getting besieged by seagulls and serving as a backpack while other people do calisthenics.

The good folks from Bad Lip Reading went back to review George Lucas’ footage and unearthed a shockingly informative ditty from the Jedi Master which needs to be seen to be believed. While it sucks that Yoda had to be attacked by those seagulls and suffered the indignity of being laughed at by children, his cowbell style beat-up break-down on R2-D2 is something that even LCD Soundsystem would be on board with.

Bad Lip Reading has been doing some incredible work this year, especially throughout the election, which makes sense because politicians have always been their bread and butter. These videos are still the product of a Texan anonymous video creator, and someday, Great One, when we know your name, we want to give you all the high-fives.

Also, check out Bad Lip Reading’s The Empire Strikes Back video from last year, which features a quick glimpse at this song — and also makes us want to see a lot of other bits from this expanded into full songs.

So check out this “Blurred Lines”-style addition to a galaxy far, far away but still full of seagulls with “Seagulls! (Stop It Now)” and tell us whether this is as funny as we think it is or if this is just too weird for anyone to adore. Is Yoda a fantastic storyteller/backpack or should Bad Lip Reading folks stick to bringing down the Empire?

Image: YouTube/Bad Lip Reading and LucasFilm

Will we see Yoda on the big screen again?

Kneel Before this Realistic GAME OF THRONES Daenerys Figure

There are a lot of geeky pop culture events I’m super stoked about that are coming in 2017. For starters, Wonder Woman is finally getting a movie that looks kick ass and amazing, and Twin Peaks returns from a 25-year hiatus. But high among these nerdy milestones is that it looks like after six long seasons of Game of Thrones, that Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen–Breaker of Chains, Khaleesi of the Dothraki, and Mother of Dragons–is finally arriving in Westeros, y’all. And you just know she and her three giant babies are gonna lay the smackdown. And I. Can’t. Wait.

To celebrate what is sure to be a momentous day in the Seven Kingdoms, Threezero, one of Hong Kong’s premiere high-end toy makers, have revealed a first look at their new Game of Thrones Daenerys Targaryen 1/6 scale collectible figure, and she’s quite a beauty. In fact, upon first quick glance, you might actually think it was a real photo of actress Emilia Clarke. That’s how realistic and lifelike the sculpt on her face is. Threezero have posted the first image of the new collectible figure on their Facebook page, which you can see down below:

The new figure doesn’t have a release date yet, and any other accessories Dany is supposed to come with are still being kept under wraps for the moment. Still, one would imagine she would come with three baby dragons. Or, at the very least, three baby dragon eggs. It’s also possible that there will be exclusive variations on this figure when it is finally released. For more information and updates, be sure to follow ThreezeroHK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Are you planning on buying this amazing looking toy? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: HBO / Threezero Toys

But will she sunburn?

Marc Guggenheim Picks His Ideal ARROW-Verse Spinoff

First, the CW had only Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) on Arrow. Then came Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) on Arrow before he got his own series, The Flash. Then Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) were so beloved on Arrow and Dr. Stein (Victor Garber), Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) were such a hit on The Flash that the CW spun them all off into their own series, Legends of Tomorrow.

It’s clear that the network knows that it has a gold mine when it comes to executive producer Greg Berlanti’s “Arrow-verse” of characters and shows, so it’s not hard to imagine yet another spinoff series getting green lit. But which character from Arrow, The Flash or Legends of Tomorrow should get their own spinoff show next? When Nerdist asked executive producer Marc Guggenheim at the red carpet celebration for Arrow‘s 100th episode in Vancouver, he revealed that this was something he’d already been thinking about.

“It’s funny, I was actually talking with Dominic Purcell last night about Rory getting his own show, Mick Rory,” Guggenheim told Nerdist. “The more we talked about it, the more I started thinking about it. It would be so crazy and I’m always drawn to the crazy.”

Rory was first introduced as one-half of the villain duo Captain Cold and Heatwave on The Flash before following his partner-in-crime Snart onto the Waverider to be a part of the team on Legends of Tomorrow, regardless of the fact that he was a villain and not a hero. But after Snart’s death in season one, he’s gone on a journey of his own in season two discovering who he is without Snart and whether he’s a true villain or if he has the capacity to be a hero in his own right.

While Guggenheim and the rest of the Legends of Tomorrow producers “always loved the dynamic between Snart and Rory,” the idea of exploring who Rory is without Snart as his leader/partner creatively excited them.

“One of the things that we’re really trying for in Legends season two is there’s something really fun about seeing Rory have to develop his own identity apart from his partner,” Guggenheim said. “That’s opened up a lot of story opportunity for us that we wouldn’t have otherwise had. It’s exciting to think about. We’re exploring that much more now. It’s pretty fun.”

The fact that Guggenheim is even able to think about spinning off a fourth show from one he helped create five years ago is a rare privilege in the TV industry, and he knows it.

“Not a lot of shows make it to episode 22!” Guggenheim said while discussing Arrow making it to 100 episodes. “You know, it’s really the fans. We are very, very blessed. We have the most passionate fanbase. There’s always a lot of controversy surrounding the show because everyone is so passionate.”

Guggenheim is proud to inspire such passion in Arrow viewers, regardless of whether that passion is positive or negative. “I remember during the directing of the pilot, David Nutter, in an incredibly prescient statement, almost predicting what the Twitterverse’s responses to Arrow over the years, said, ‘You know, the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy,'” he said. “We are incredibly blessed to have the most passionate fans out there. The people who tweet about Arrow and Reddit and Snapchat and all the different ways that people express their frustrations with Arrow and their love for Arrow, they are the ones who have kept us afloat.”

Would you be interested in seeing a Mick Rory/Heatwave spinoff series next on The CW? Tweet me your thoughts at @SydneyBucksbaum!

Images: The CW

Hey, ‘member when we talked to the Legends of Tomorrow at Comic-Con last year?

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Vol. 2 Trailer in LEGO Re-Hooks Us on Feelings

What we really want is a LEGO version of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 reel with Kurt Russell that was shown at Comic-Con, but since that hasn’t been officially released yet, we’ll take the teaser. Shared by  director James Gunn on Facebook, who declared, “Nothing truly matters until it’s done in LEGO,” this re-creation by Huxley Berg Studios proves one thing definitively: it is really, really hard for LEGO minifigs to hug. Without special effects cheats, that is.

Another takeaway is that Dave Bautista is actually a pretty good voice-over actor. Generally cast because of his physique–heck, in Spectre he barely uttered a word–Big Dave has had his talking skills underrated for years, in part because they only got really good towards the end of his WWE tenure. Here, his words coming from the mouth of a LEGO toy stand on their own as the heartfelt-yet-dunderheaded sentiments of Drax.

Now, can we talk about the Baby Groot minifig? LEGO’s going to have to figure out how to do one, and Huxley Berg’s template here sets a standard we sure hope they’ll meet in the official sets. Yondu’s mohawk as unicorn horn is perhaps not a literal solution, but we think Princess Unikitty might not find it to be the opposite of happy. And if we do end up getting a minifig of Kurt Russell, get your Hateful 8 and Tombstone customizing skills ready.

What did you think of the Guardians sequel trailer in LEGO? Is everything awesome? Build your response in comments below.

Image: Huxley Berg Studios

Did you miss a thing or two in the live-action version?

GILMORE GIRLS: A YEAR IN THE LIFE Recap: “Spring”

Warning: Spoilers are ahead for the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life episode “Spring.” If you haven’t watched it yet, get back into Luke’s Diner and have more coffee.

Netflix’s Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life gave me something I never knew I wanted: a second film by Kirk. One glimpse into his murky, creative mind wasn’t enough. Plus his follow-up piece had Petal, a.k.a. the cutest pet to ever be seen in Gilmore Girls (sorry/not sorry, Paul Anka).

The second installment of the Gilmore Girls revival, “Spring,” was about much more than Kirk’s filmmaking. With hour and a half episodes, there’s a ton to review and unpack just in the categories of familiar faces and events. Let’s breeze through some highlights before we look back on the topics directly related to our Gilmores, okay? Stars Hollow’s spring food festival brought a Jackson cameo, the return of the picnic basket auction (one of my favorite festivals in the original series), and the long-awaited Mr. Kim sighting. It’s hard to believe he’s never appeared in the show before. Mitchum Huntzberger stopped in, Rachael Ray took a turn in the Dragonfly’s kitchen armed with sammies, Mae Whitman made a brief appearance, and Danny Strong showed up as Doyle. Whew. Plus, Alex Kingston killed it as the habitually drunk and wacky Naomi.

Whew.

That was the icing on the cake. The trouble is, they (meaning the Palladinos) have to be very careful about not drowning the cake in icing. They have a lot of cameos and callbacks to work into the whole “progressing the story of the Gilmores” business, and I can already sense the temptation to get lost in the weeds. The story’s arms are so numerous they’re feeling a bit stretched.

Emily and Lorelai’s relationship is a cornerstone piece of Gilmore Girls, and they’re slowly working on things. To be fair, they didn’t make a ton of progress in seven seasons, so I shouldn’t expect any sort of dramatic turnarounds now. Emily expressed strong disapproval of Lorelai’s lack of being wed. Lorelai’s been with Luke nine years–presumably since their kiss in the season seven finale. I’m glad the therapist pointed out marriage wasn’t necessary for a strong emotional connection. Emily seems to be coming from a place of not wanting Lorelai to miss out on what she had with Richard, but she doesn’t understand such a relationship is possible without a contract and rings. To me, it was a reminder of her being traditional and a little old-fashioned.

Of course, everything Emily’s bringing up to Lorelai is making Lorelai wonder if she’s hit her peak with Luke and with the Dragonfly. It’s a similar theme for Rory. All the Gilmores are on unsteady ground, but of them all, Lorelai should be on terra firma. She has what she’s dreamed of with the inn and Luke, but as she talked to the therapist, she seemed to be more convincing herself it was all okay rather than speaking the truth. I can’t quite tell what she’s doubtful about or what she thinks she’s missing.

Rory also kept repeating things as if to convince herself she’s fine. Before I dig into that, why is everyone so freaked out about her being “here and there?” It could be out of character, but we haven’t been around Rory in nine years; we don’t know her as well anymore. Being freelance isn’t as bad as people in this show seem to think it is (says a freelancer). Also, can we maybe not glamorize spec work? Especially for someone who’s had the career Rory has. I know they’re having her do the piece on lines for GQ to communicate her desperation and how she’s flailing (we got the desperation message with her asking for Mitchum’s help), but working for free isn’t cool.

In some ways, Rory’s sense of freewheeling is probably amplified by those around her being concerned about her rootlessness. Headmaster Charleston offered her a future job at Chilton if she got a master’s degree, and it seemed to make Rory stop and pause. But as much as she seemed to falter, she hasn’t been humble about any of this. Though Sandee Says wasn’t the type of job Rory was looking for or even wanted, it was rude of her to go in unprepared and acting like the position was beneath her. Arrogance isn’t becoming on anyone, but especially not Rory. It’s also less than awesome she is once again sleeping with a taken, almost-married man. I don’t care how attractive Logan is.

You know who is shining in the revival? Paris Geller. When she ran into Francie at the Chilton event, her rival rattled off a list of Paris’ accomplishments. She’s qualified to be a doctor, a lawyer, and a dental hygienist. She has two cute kids. The Doyle thing isn’t working out, but Paris is fierce. She’ll bounce back. Oh! And do you think Paris is pregnant again?

We’re two episodes in. On one hand, I can appreciate how they’re letting Rory make mistakes–even if she’s made some of them before–but she’s acting like a brat. And hey, plenty of women like dudes who wear Wookiee suits. No need to be so snobby, Rory. What do you think? Tell me in the comments.

Images: Netflix

THE ROCK Reveals His Secret to His Melodic MOANA Tones

From the looks of it, Disney has another hit on its hands with the animated Moana. With songs written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, how could it NOT be successful? Well, maybe if they hadn’t been nicely sung, but that was never likely. Recently, the two stars of the film, Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Maui), sat down with USA Today, and the Rock let it be known how he prepares his vocal chords for all that singing.

To the surprise of his co-star, Rock revealed that along with the normal vocal ranges he also has a sip of tequila before he starts crooning out songs like “You’re Welcome.” After being in front of thousands and thousands of people in the wrestling ring, it wouldn’t seem like he would need something to take the edge off. However, if he does this before EVERY time he sings, it would definitely explain how completely off the chain his WWE “Rock Concerts” would get, as they would go from family friendly to NSFW fairly quickly.

Based on his performance in the movie, it looks like whatever he really did works since he and the movie are both fantastic. This once again brings about the age-old question, “What CAN’T the Rock do?”

Moana, also starring Rachel House and Jemaine Clement, is in theaters now.

So what do you think? Do you think that tequila adds to the Rock’s singing chops? What should he have tried instead? Will we ever see the Rock as Black Adam? Let me know on Twitter or sound off in the comments below.

Image: Disney

Here’s more on Moana with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

DIRK GENTLY Recap: “Fix Everything” Got Things Back on Track

Warning: Dirk Gently spoilers follow. Only read on if you don’t mind knowing what happened on the latest episode!

For the first ten minutes of this week’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency from BBC America, it looked like the show was heading towards its third straight disappointing installment, where the action and excitement of the story took a back seat to needlessly rehashing previous events and offering up already established characterization. However–and fittingly considering its title, “Fix Everything”–the episode quickly recovered and ended up being lots of fun.

After the pre-credits scene that finally introduced the time travel element of the story we knew was coming ever since the first episode when Todd saw a second version of himself from the hotel elevator, we were treated to back-to-back scenes of Todd explaining in-depth events that we already know all about. First, to Farrah, he recapped what happened to him last week; and then he again confessed all of his past lies, but this time to his sister Amanda.

In both cases the scenes could have just been joined in the middle, with the two women reacting to what he had said, and it would have spared us rehearing things we just saw in the last episode. Both scenes felt like they were done for the benefit of the audience and not because they were actually needed, but none of what Todd said was required for us to continue following along. Yes, the plot is all over the place and there are numerous moving parts, but the confusion of what is happening is more fun than knowing what is happening. They didn’t trust the audience to be engaged enough to move forward without another step back, and it resulted in a tedious opening.

Embracing the ever-growing madness is when the show is at its best, and retelling is when it is at it’s worst.

Which was proven true later in the episode, when Dirk anticipated that Gordon was going to be able to answer all of the questions Dirk and Todd themselves have, but instead all Gordon had were more questions. It was the show’s funniest scene yet, and it was especially the best meta-joke the show is fond of telling. This mystery is absurd madness, and the ending was the complete opposite of the start. It was exciting, insane, and loads of fun, everything we have liked about it.

But there was also lots to enjoy in-between the start and finish, like an emotionally damaged Estevez putting together the illogical pieces of this nutso puzzle and running amok with the dog/Lydia Springs, and also of Bart and Ken (finally!) taking the next step in their story. It was hard to believe that Bart was ever going to kill Dirk, but her failing spectacularly and having something totally new and unexplainable happened to her was an interesting development those two characters needed to keep them engaging.

As for their “connection,” the backstory of both Bart and Dirk, as well as the Rowdy 3, is what it is at this point. We’d love our Dirk to be unique and different unto himself, but there’s no point in continuing to complain about the inclusion of that story strand. We just hope it will be a minor factor as we head to the finale and not a major one.

There are only two episodes left and there are still, fortunately, lots of questions to be answered. We have no idea just how important Amanda is to everything, or what made Bart screw up and go after Dirk. Also, we know that at some point Todd, with that tank top and fur coat, is going to end up back in time at the hotel with Dirk on the day that Patrick Spring was killed (and also that Patrick Spring was in two places at the same time). Plus we still have Lydia inside a dog, a kitten/hammerhead shark on the loose, and some original souls causing all of these problems.

We know all of these things, and if the show doesn’t worry about making sure that we do, and instead just worries about what we don’t know, it could make for a great ending.

But what did you think of this week’s episode? Head into our comments below and let us know.

Images: BBC America

STAR WARS REBELS Recap: Hondo Returns in “The Wynkahthu Job”

Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “The Wynkahthu Job.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

I can’t help but look forward to Star Wars Rebels more than usual when I know Hondo Ohnaka is going to be in an episode. Jim Cummings is a powerhouse, and Hondo always brings an extra helping of humor to the table. He was in top form in “The Wynkahthu Job,” especially when it came to unintentional cracks about Kanan’s loss of sight. “Don’t be blind to this business opportunity,” Hondo quipped before apologizing. I don’t know if I should have laughed, but I did.

Hondo came back into the picture because he needed help with a job, and it just so happened some of the loot scored on said job would be beneficial to the Rebellion: proton bombs. Though I’m a tad frustrated to go into another episode without Thrawn or Maul, this diversion fit in with the overall theme of the season so far: the Rebels are desperate and they’re rallying.

We’ve watched the Ghost crew recruit basically anyone they can get their hands on: young Imperial defectors, Mandalorians, the kids of the Iron Squadron–you get the idea. They’re also amassing as many supplies and weapons as possible. This is what I’d call the less glamorous but exceedingly important part of building the organization. We’re getting a firsthand look at how the Rebels are pulling together a little of this and a little of that to come up with their own ragtag fleets and squadrons. It’s no wonder a large part of the Empire dismisses the Rebellion. They wouldn’t see the Rebels’ imprecise methods as a threat.

All that is to say I can see how episodes like “The Wynkahthu Job” and last week’s “Iron Squadron” are fitting into the bigger arc.

Now, the job. Hondo found an Imperial ship trapped in an atmospheric storm above the planet Wynkahthu; its cargo included precious metal and artifacts along with the proton bombs. You can guess what Hondo’s interested in. Because Hondo’s involved, there were catches. First of all, he was working with Azmorigan (remember how Hera introduced the character to a tray in season one?), and second of all, Hondo had already been on the ship and left one of his crew, Melch, there to die. The Ugnaught was less than pleased with Hondo.

AP-5 came up with a plan to salvage the ship, and geez, it’s about time we see the droid again. He’s been mentioned, but he hasn’t appeared since the end of season two and it’s a shame. His dry humor is a delight. Anyway, AP-5 worked out logistics and Zeb took charge of the mission–something Ezra got bratty about. I know he’s a teen. I know he’s going through a lot. I can recognize those things and still be annoyed by him, though. Yikes.

Once aboard the Imperial ship, the plan didn’t unfold seamlessly. It rarely does. Hondo came clean about what happened. He had brought his crew to the ship earlier, but Imperials attacked and disabled the ship with ion mines. That’s how it drifted into the atmospheric storm and lost all power. Oops. But Chopper took care of the power problem, and the team found the cargo bay and started offloading.

Zeb, of course, prioritized getting the proton bombs off the ship first. They used a pulley system of sorts to get the material over to the Ghost. The whole sequence emphasized Hera’s skills under pressure. Relatedly, the crew did especially nuanced and fantastic work on Hera’s expressions in this episode. The look on her face when she saw Azmorigan was priceless. Anyway, the operation seemed to be moving along with ease until the Imperial ship lost its stabilizers and started to fall towards the planet.

The loss of stabilizers wasn’t the only problem Zeb, Ezra, Hondo, and the others faced: they encountered a sentry droid. AP-5 forgot to account for the droids in his planning, and then forgot to immediately tell the Rebels not to engage them. Before he could communicate his cautionary words, Azmorigan lost his noodle and took Ezra’s weapon in order to shoot the droid. I don’t know if he could be a more obnoxious character. His unnecessary action made the other sentry droids on the ship activate and put them all in more serious danger.

They scrambled back to the cargo hold ahead of the sentry droids. Hondo didn’t want to leave without the treasure, so he managed to get one crate across in the nick of time. In fact, the whole team made it back to the Ghost in the nick of time. The cables in the pulley system snapped and Zeb and Ezra almost fell to their deaths. The animation in these scenes is dynamic, but my favorite part was Chopper using his jetpack to fly off while telling Ezra, “It’s every man for himself.”

The Rebels won the day because they ended up with a stash of proton bombs. I was convinced something was going to happen to their newly acquired weapons to render them useless, but they actually scored a small victory for once. Hondo, however, wasn’t so lucky. His “treasure” was Melch in a box; the Ugnaught wanted to ensure he wouldn’t be left behind again.

Controversial question for you: do you think Hondo is being overused in Rebels? Or is Hondo one of those characters you can’t get enough of seeing? Sound off in the comments.

Images: Disney XD

Meanwhile, in a parallel galaxy far, far away…

Comic Book Club: Louie Pearlman

 Writer Louie Pearlman joins the show to talk about mixing comics with music, and comics with Muppets! Plus reviews of BPRD: Hell on Earth #147, Thanos #1 and Doctor Strange #14.

Check out the website at comicbookclublive.com to find out how to watch the show live! And follow the show on Twitter: @comicbooklive, @azalben, @jtsizzle, and @realpetelepage