Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2289

Jim Carrey Improvises as Count Olaf in A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Outtakes

The 2004 incarnation of A Series of Unfortunate Events may not have been the huge blockbuster that the studio hoped for, but it did give us Jim Carrey‘s delightfully unhinged take on the film’s nemesis, Count Olaf. Next year, Neil Patrick Harris is taking over the role of in Netflix’s adaptation of the Lemony Snicket novels. But in honor of Carrey’s performance, it’s time to take a look back at some of the excellent lost footage from his outtakes.

YouTube user Heglin has uploaded nearly 40 minutes of footage from the A Series of Unfortunate Events DVD that feature Carrey in full makeup and wardrobe as Count Olaf, while seemingly riffing his way into the character. It’s been making the rounds again this weekend, and it’s a very fun way to kill the better part of an hour!

It should be noted that in the home video release, these clips were initially released as four split-screens with switchable audio. Heglin basically zoomed in on each screen with the appropriate audio, which makes the videos a little easier to enjoy. The picture quality isn’t great, but the performance shines through.

Carrey really threw himself into the role and he even shaved his head for the part. He’s clearly having a lot of fun in this footage, and the laughter of the director and the crew is frequently heard in the background. As much as we’re eager to see Harris in this role, he’s got a lot to live up to.

What did you think about Carrey’s Count Olaf outtakes? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Paramount Pictures

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Became a Hot Toys Action Figure, but You Can’t Buy It

Kevin Feige wasn’t the first president of Marvel Studios, but he has gotten a lot of credit for the company’s long string of blockbuster hits. And deservedly so, as Feige has helped Marvel stay relatively true to its source material while catering to casual movie fans as well. Now, Feige has received one of the ultimate honors from Hot Toys: his own Marvel action figure!

Recently, Feige was  at Hot Toys’ headquarters in Hong Kong to get a first-hand look at some of the upcoming Marvel statues and figures, including a life-sized Doctor Strange. As part of the occasion, Hot Toys presented Feige with a one-of-a-kind 1/6 action figure of himself, complete with its own packaging!

We’re not sure if Feige intends to leave himself “mint in the package,” but if he is so inclined, his action figure does come with a few accessories. There are apparently some inter-changeable hands, as well as a producers chair from Avengers: Age of Ultron, a clapperboard, and an Avengers stand.

According to Hot Toys’ Facebook page, “Mr. Feige was incredibly amazed and happy to receive this figure of him and was in awe of its stunning likeness and phenomenal details!” It is quite an impressive gesture from Hot Toys, and Feige definitely seems to be enthusiastic about it.

There may not be plans to make another copy of this figure, but we have to wonder if there would be fan interest in seeing it made alongside other important figures from Marvel’s film history, including Joss Whedon and Stan Lee. But if Hot Toys ever went that route, we’d suggest that legendary Marvel artists like Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby would also be deserving of being immortalized as action figures.

What did you think about Feige’s action figure? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Hot Toys

SPIDER-MAN RE-ANIMATE Gives a New Take on the Classic Cartoon

With the NYCC announcement that 2017 will see a brand new Spider-Man animated series, it’s easy to get nostalgic about the classic 1967 cartoon that started it all. From the awesome theme song to psychedelic backgrounds, this show set the standard for future Spidey series to come (except for the 15-minute web-swinging montages. Those were a little excessive. And excessive is an understatement).

Thanks to Vimeo user Rob Doucet, Spider-Fans can now look at the episode “Vulture’s Prey” from that classic series through a fresh set of eyes.

 

Spider-Man Re-Animate is a short originally presented at the “Nocturne at Night” arts festival in Canada. Animators throughout Nova Scotia took the episode and recreated it in their own style. Then it was edited all together with some amazing and hilarious results.

The diversity in the animation styles within the piece is nothing short of impressive. You have Pixar influences,

To classic Disney:

To what looks like the drawings of a 3-year-old:

This 12-minute video is an exercise in how people can be given the same source material and interpret it in totally different ways. To take those results and create a great collaboration like this is astounding.

You can check out more of Ron’s videos on his Vimeo channel here.

So what do you think? Does this add or take away from the original version? What other classics would you like to see get the “re-aminate” treatment? Should Spider-Man: Homecoming  be this insane? Let me know on Twitter or web-swing on down into the comments below.

Image: Ron Doucet

Speaking of Spider-Man: Homecoming…

See How A.I. Was Spielberg’s Ultimate Tribute to Kubrick With Side-by-Side Video

Without a doubt, two of the greatest film directors of the last half century are the late Stanley Kubrick, and Steven Spielberg. Together, these two giants have created some of the memorable movie moments of all time, and also happened to be great friends and huge admirers of one another’s work.

Nevertheless, their styles couldn’t have been more different from each other. One could describe Kubrick’s aesthetic as cerebral and maybe even cold, while Spielberg’s films are usually warm and full of emotion. Kubrick would also labor for years on one single film, whereas Spielberg has practically been a moviemaking factory since hitting it big with Jaws 40 years ago. (It seems crazy, but remember Spielberg reelased Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List both in the same year.)

When Stanley Kubrick passed away in 1999, Spielberg decided to honor his late friend by completing one of the films he never got to make, the sci-fi tale A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Although the final film received mixed responses from fans and critics, one thing was for sure–almost every frame of that film is a tribute to the style and filmography of Kubrick.

Thanks to the folks at Gizmodo, we’ve learned of a Vimeo user named Candice Drouet, who has put together a series of shots from A.I. Artificial Intelligence side-by-side with films by Kubrick so you can see the obvious influences from A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and even Kubrick’s most often overlooked film, Barry Lyndon. You can watch the video in its entirety down below.

Had you noticed the similarities between Kubrick’s films and AI before now? Let us know down below in the comments.

Image: Warner Brothers

RICK AND MORTY Explore the Meaning of Existence in New Fan Video

Rick and Morty may be one of the most hilariously cynical and bleak animated comedies on TV, but it has a few uplifting moments that offer a brighter view of the multiverse and existence itself…although Rick Sanchez would probably not openly acknowledge that. However, a new fan-created video has suggested that as a whole, Rick and Morty offers some real meaning in an otherwise random and insane reality.

Via Laughing Squid, filmmaker Will Schoder posted a video about the underlying philosophy of Rick and Morty, and how that show creates its own meaning of life. “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s gonna die.” That’s where Schoder starts making his argument, and it actually came from one of the few moments in the show that was born out of real love between the characters. It was Morty’s way of telling his sister, Summer, that her situation wasn’t unique. Considering that Morty had just confessed to Summer that he was from another reality, and that he buried his own counterpart from her world, the revelation that she was an unplanned pregnancy didn’t seem quite as daunting.

Using that moment as a jumping off point, Schoder argues that there is no existential meaning in Rick and Morty. And this is something that Rick realized a long time ago, which may account for his constant desire to get wasted. But Rick uses science to create his own meaning, and the series has demonstrated that he’s actually at his most happy when he’s having adventures with his grandchildren. Schoder’s video holds up pretty well under scrutiny, and it’s an intriguing lens through which to view the events of the first two seasons.

Rick and Morty season 3 is still expected to drop later this year, and we’re still very eager to see it. “Wub a lub a dub dub!”

What do you think about Schoder’s video? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Adult Swim

Remember when Rick and Morty went full-Gumby?

Let WWE Show You How to Become THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR

If you were a wrestling fan in the ’80s, then the Ultimate Warrior was probably at the top of your favorites list. Before the superhero TV boom of today, the Warrior was the closest thing we had to a superhero come to life, and I remember many a Halloween costume with ripped up jeans, arm tassels, and makeup that would only last an hour before running down kids’ faces. Thanks to the WWE’s YouTube channel, we can do better today, as we now know exactly how to channel the Warrior with 100% accuracy.

Teaming up with Jackie from the WWE makeup team, RAW Superstar Bayley is transformed into the greatest wrestler to ever come out of Parts Unknown. This step-by-step tutorial shows us how the WWE is able to create the Ultimate Warrior’s signature look. Watch to learn what supplies to get, how to apply them, and anyone who is thinking about going as the Warrior for Nerdoween this year is definitely in luck. I am hoping there will be a follow-up tutorial about how to put on the arm tassels without losing all circulation in the extremities.

The Ultimate Warrior was my first favorite wrestler. Now that I know how to put his makeup on the right way, my costume ideas just got a bit more interesting.

This wasn’t the only makeup mashup the WWE has done. Here is New Day member Xavier Woods being turned into the infamous, worm-eating Boogeyman.

So what do you think? Are you prepared to transform yourself into the Ultimate Warrior? What other makeup tutorials would you like to see from WWE? Let me know on Twitter or face the ultimate challenge in the comments below.

Images: WWE

Nooo! Great White Shark Breaks Through Cage with Diver Inside

We know Quint didn’t make it back to shore alive and Hooper did, but Quint still ended up being right about the whole shark cage thing in Jaws. The water is where the sharks live, and putting up a little steel cage as a barrier against them, in their own home, doesn’t seem all that safe to those of us that find the ocean terrifying.

BECAUSE IT ISN’T! THE CAGE! IT DOES NOTHING!

Oh god we’re sorry to even bring you this video of a great white shark breaking right through a cage with a scuba diver inside, because it is a real life horror flick, one that we first saw at Sploid (posted to YouTube by the channel Gabe and Garrett), but somehow it feels like we must, since all we can think about while watching it is Quint’s smirk at Hooper’s plan.

We know that despite how they are portrayed in movies, that humans pose a far, far, far greater risk to sharks than they do to us, but being locked under water in a cage with a great white seems like a fairly bad situation for our species.

Fortunately for the diver inside, who was experienced enough to stay calm (HOW!) during the entire awful encounter, the people on the boat quickly sprung into action, opening the top of the cage so the shark could get out. Because if they hadn’t, it might be a little song that Quint sang that we’d be thinking about right now instead.

Farewell and adieu

to you fair Spanish ladies.

Farewell and adieu,

you ladies of Spain.

For we’ve received orders for to sail back to Boston.

And so nevermore shall we see you again.”

Is this the scariest video you’ve ever seen? Or the scariest video anyone has ever seen? Swim into the comments below to tell us what you thought of this horror movie.

Images: Gabe and Garrett

Vince Vaughn and Ed Helms Are “Pokemon” in Maroon 5’s New Video

When Pokémon Go arrived earlier this year, the world was turned on to the strange intrigue of augmented reality. We read about people walking off cliffs with their heads in their phones. And then the many others that had made new friends at Pokémon breeding areas, waiting to catch the most prized pocket monsters. The Niantic app swiftly became a cultural phenomenon, residing somewhere between our current reality and the looming seduction of VR technology. Celebrities, too, were enamored of the game, and a brand new Maroon 5 video riffs on the game’s themes; this time, though, the celebrities themselves are the bait.

The video for “Don’t Wanna Know,” as Gizmodo reports, portrays a skewed, BoJack Horseman-esque Los Angeles in which celebrities are dressed in giant animal costumes: turtles, dogs, bears, and even oranges. Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, while pining for his love interest, Sarah Silverman, is followed around by fans waving their phones at him, firing blue AR lasers intended to capture him and his celebrity friends. Ed Helms and Vince Vaughn also star in the clip.

En masse, the video is a lighthearted commentary on both our paparazzi fetishization of celebrities and the strange realm of technology that we’ve begun to embrace. Everywhere we go we lead with our phones, just in case there’s a little monster in our augmented path or a snapshot opportunity with a celebrity. There’s no arguing that phones have become an integral part of the way we live in this world, but maybe we should put them down every once in a while and just chill out. Unless of course there is a Pikachu to catch.

Check out the video above and share your take on it in the comments.

Image: Interscope

The Todd Glass Show #268: Blake Weller!

He’s your favorite, he’s our favorite. Its Blake Wexler back on the show!

Like The Todd Glass Show on Facebook, follow @ToddGlass, Eric Ohlsen and Lyricist Joe on Twitter, buy his album Thin Pig and buy his book The Todd Glass Situation!

Fan Art Friday #94 – It’s Time for Inktober

Ah, October. The month brings the arrival of a cooler, crisper climate to many parts of the world and Halloween, a.k.a. pretty much the best holiday. But that’s not all! October is also Inktober. Chances are you’ve seen the hashtag around social media, or maybe you remember my post about Inktober from last year. Started by Jake Parker in 2009, the annual event challenges artists to draw something with traditional media every day of the month. It’s a fun way to practice your craft and do it with hundreds of other artists.

As usual, I’ve been keeping tabs on Inktober posts. The event means I get to see the artistic side of friends and drool over their work. Case in point: Eric Kwun. He’s been posting Star Wars-inspired art for the challenge. I’m into his style and the fact that he’s not sticking only to characters from the films. Plus, bonus: Eric’s posting videos of his sketches in progress at Instagram. Look:

A video posted by E.V. Kwun (@xgeektrooperx) on Oct 14, 2016 at 8:40am PDT

Kwun participates in Inktober because he loves any event that promotes art–especially for the younglings. He said, “Inktober is a great month long event where artists of all skill levels can participate together with no fear of judgment or criticism and just celebrate the art of putting ink on paper and creating some beautiful.”

Look at his Bib Fortuna:

Head to the gallery to see a few more Inktober pieces featuring Star Wars and Final Fantasy.

Have you been participating in Inktober? If so, head to Twitter and share your art with us at @Nerdist. We want to see your illustrations. And if you’ve been thinking about trying Inktober, it’s not too late. You still have two weeks to stretch your skills and stack up some art. It doesn’t have to be about fan art either; you can totally use the exercise to develop original characters and stories. And for non-artists, follow the #Inktober hashtag on places like Twitter and Instagram to fill your eyes with beautiful creations.