Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2311

Pumpkin Chocolate Fries Make a Spooky Debut at McDonald’s Japan

“Pumpkin flavored things is why we wake up in the morning,” is a direct quote from Shakespeare—I’m sure of it. For some of us, pumpkin season is the best season and where else would pumpkin food be taken to the extreme, but Japan.

Japan has fallen in love with Halloween, and in doing so—a.k.a. doing what they always do best—are creating some of the most excessively over-the-top items and running with it. This year McDonald’s Japan has next-leveled pumpkin with a spookalicious side dish or dessert (I’m not sure which) by creating pumpkin and chocolate fries for the holiday.

Back in January McDonald’s Japan unleashed McChoco Potato, the chocolate-drizzled fries that set the internet on fire. Turns out, however: they didn’t even taste bad! So naturally they’ve doubled down by combining it with pumpkin to make the Halloween Voltron of side dishes. You can’t be mad at them for this—by pushing the envelope McDonald’s Japan is only trying to make us better people.

2016年に1月に大人気だったマックチョコポテトが、進化して帰ってきます！！……なんと今回はハロウィンバージョン

These STAR WARS, PAC-MAN and Other Nerdy Suits are Stylish, Silly, and We Need Them

“Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.”

Those words have stuck with me ever since I heard them as a small child, and that’s why I still dress like an astronaut every day. But what if the job you want is as a Lucasfilm executive? Or maybe you yearn to be employed by Namco so you can develop a new Pac-Man game. Then what? How do you convey to the higher ups that you are to be taken seriously as an applicant, but also that you are a fun person to have around the office. Not. A. Problem.

Not with these ridiculous/awesome/stylish/silly suits inspired by some of our favorite nerdy things.

Oppo Suits say they like to “do things differently,” which is why their fine clothing options are “the exact opposite of regular boring business suits.” And they aren’t kidding, because besides Star Wars and Pac-Man they have suits based on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, America itself, Mardi Gras, Braveheart, lumberjacks, the Union Jack, mustaches, zombies, Dia De Los Muertos, and Christmas.

Yes, loyal Nerdist reader, we had the same thought: this company looks like something that was created from a Dan Casey fever dream. (Which is probably why he wore them on Slo-Mo Destructo.)

I mean, where else would you find suits with names like “Gangstaclaus” (a combo of Christmas and a ’20s gangster) and “Badaboom” (a suit covered with the word “badaboom” written all over it in Adam West era Batman style)?

We have some of our other favorites in the gallery below, but make sure you head over to see all of them. Even their collection of brightly colored suits is worth your time and money (all suits are priced between $100 and $110), especially when so many of them come with the option of shorts instead of pants.

Because sometimes the job you want requires you to work in the summer. Or in a cartoon. Or as a Nerdist editor.

Which one of these suits do you most want to wear? Tell us in the comments below.

Images: Oppo Suits

GHOST IN THE SHELL Fan Teaser is Beyond Perfect

On Wednesday night, we were treated to five very weird, very stark teaser clips for Paramount’s upcoming live action adaptation of the highly influential manga and anime, Ghost in the Shell. The clips showed everything from star Scarlett Johansson‘s now-nameless Major, the synthetic body housing a real mind (somewhere), waking up, finding a group of cybernetic monks, and being caressed by someone who clearly doesn’t know what she is. Also included were Takeshi Kitano’s white-haired policeman, and a super creepy-faced lady. On their own, we thought “Okay, cool.” But put together by YouTuber Tim Gonzales, they’re an amazing teaser trailer.

Most teaser trailers nowadays, especially ones for sci-fi movies, are disconnected moments anyway, so putting them together intercut with titles about the film’s director, Rupert Sanders, and the project being a highly acclaimed manga, was completely in keeping with Hollywood standards. What really makes this standout (originally shared by Polygon) though, is the use of the main theme music from the original 1995 anime, which created a haunting beginning to the contemplative action to follow.

For those not in the know, the original film Ghost in the Shell is the story of a cyborg policewoman in the near future who goes on the hunt for a powerful hacker called the Puppet Master who gets control over synthetic beings. Perhaps there’s something more to the Puppet Master’s plot than simply causing trouble. The manga that spawned the film also spawned a media franchise full of TV series and further original video anime. There’s no exact word on what the plot of this film will be, but if it captures the tone of the original film, we think it’s got the visuals down.

Let us know what you think of this cyberpunk awesomeness in the comments below!

Image: Paramount

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

POWER RANGERS Reboot Casts Bill Hader as Alpha 5

During Comic-Con, Power Rangers director Dean Israelite dropped by our Camp Conival and confirmed that the Rangers’ original robot helper, Alpha 5, will be in the big screen reboot of the ’90s TV series. Today, the film’s producers revealed that Saturday Night Live veteran Bill Hader is lending his voice to Alpha 5.

The official announcement came on the Power Rangers‘ social media accounts, including this post on Instagram:

Aye-yi-yi! Welcome #BillHader as #Alpha5 to the #PowerRangersMovie – Coming in 2017!

A photo posted by Power Rangers (@powerrangersmovie) on Sep 22, 2016 at 4:15pm PDT

For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t alive when the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was on TV, “Aye-yi-yi” was Alpha 5’s signature line on the show. So it’s a pretty safe bet that we’ll hear it a few times in the movie as well.

As it happens, Hader does have a lot of experience performing voices in film. He was a “vocal consultant” for BB-8 on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he has also been a featured voice over artist in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Inside Out. In this year alone, Hader’s voice can be heard in Sausage Party, The Angry Birds Movie, The BFG, and Finding Dory.

Power Rangers already lined Bryan Cranston to play Zordon, the leader of the Rangers and Alpha 5; which means that Hader and Cranston should have a lot of scenes playing off of each other in the film.

Lionsgate will release Power Rangers on March 24, 2017.

Are you excited to hear that Hader is joining the Power Rangers movie? Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude and share your thoughts below!

Image: NBC

New Video Explores the Symmetry of SHERLOCK

Since its debut in 2010, new seasons of Sherlock have been a rarity. But fans endure the long wait between seasons because each feature length installment of this show easily rivals some of Sherlock Holmes‘ incarnations on the big screen. And while the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman get the majority of the attention, it’s time to throw the spotlight on another aspect of the series: the cinematography!

On Vimeo, Celia Gómez has posted a video called Sherlock: The Art of Symmetry; which features a montage of the cinematography techniques used to achieve those moments of symmetry within the show. Gómez doesn’t speak over the footage. Instead, she simply placed a graph over the clips and let the scenes speak for themselves.

SHERLOCK: The Art of Symmetry from Celia Gómez on Vimeo.

There is something hauntingly beautiful about seeing the footage assembled together in this way. Most fans wouldn’t even notice the recurring symmetry that appears to be favored by the creative team behind this series. None of these sequences were accidents. It takes meticulous planning to continually pull off these shots, especially the more complex scenes with multiple performers.

As amazing as these clips are, we’re eager to see what showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have in store for us in the long-awaited Sherlock season 4. The new season was filmed earlier this year, and it’s expected to hit our telly screens in the first quarter of 2017.

What did you think about this video? Unleash your thoughts in the comment section below!

The Sherlock team had some season four insight for us!

Image: BBC

STRANGER THINGS’ Will Byers Gets Tortured in Panic! at the Disco’s New Video

It has not been an easy go for Noah Schnapp over the past couple months. Sure, his character Will Byers was the focus of the breakout hit Stranger Things, but he wasn’t really in the show all that much (since he was trapped in the Upside Down and whatnot), and his castmates are off having fun at the Emmys and going on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and enjoying the fame. In what could have been a bit of redemption, Schnapp stars in Panic! at the Disco’s new music video for “LA Devotee,” but it’s just more heartache.

In the clip, Schnapp finds himself in another less-than-desirable situation: He appears to have been kidnapped (again) and he’s tied to a chair in a creepy room, as he’s filmed and poked and prodded and given electroshock therapy, probably the least desirable type of therapy.

Still, not all hope is lost for Schnapp: Stranger Things has officially been renewed for a second season, and since it will focus on the events following the first season, that should mean that Schnapp should play a much more important role in the show from here on out. This is especially true since his fate was so uncertain in the first season finale: He was back and safe and happy, sure, but he’s still coughing up bits of gross tentacle and he has intense visions of the Upside Down. Will Byers is set to become a complicated and nuanced character, and we’re looking forward to Schnapp’s performance.

Does the Upside Down really exist?

Featured image: Panic! at the Disco; Warner Music Group

LUKE CAGE Stands Tall in New Photos From Netflix

In just over a week, Marvel’s Luke Cage is getting his own series on Netflix. But he won’t be alone. Several of Cage’s comic book adversaries and supporting cast members are making their Marvel Cinematic Universe debuts on the show. And now we’ve received our best look yet at some of the heroes and villains from Luke Cage, as Netflix has released over 20 new photos from the series which put the titular hero in the spotlight alongside several of the other leading players in his orbit.

In the above image, it looks like the hoodie will be Cage’s preferred means of concealing his identity when using his powers in public. As far as superhero costumes go, it’s not great. But we suppose it’s better the yellow shirt and tiara that Cage’s comic book counterpart wore in the ’70s and ’80s.

Judging from Cage’s confrontational stance in this pic, we’d guess that Cottonmouth sent some of his men to harass Cage. That’s probably not going to work out well for them.

This was a moment that was briefly glimpsed in the most recent trailer: a face-to-face showdown between Cage and Cottonmouth. As we’ve noted before, Cottonmouth doesn’t seem to understand that Cage doesn’t want his “crown.” He just wants to free the people of Harlem from Cottonmouth’s influence.

Meet your new favorite heroine, Misty Knight! In this series, Misty is still a police detective and on somewhat friendly terms with Cage. If her character trajectory mirrors the comics, Misty may face a significant personal loss this season on her way to becoming one of the Daughters of the Dragon. We’d also say it’s a pretty safe bet that she’ll show up in either Iron Fist or The Defenders, if not both.

There aren’t a lot of images of “Shades” Alvarez that have been released yet, but this poster sums up his character nicely. Shades was once one of Luke’s closest friends, but they’re on opposite sides as the Luke Cage series begins.

You can find the rest of the pictures in our gallery below. All 13 episodes of Luke Cage will be available on Friday, September 30 on Netflix.

What do you think about the latest pics from Luke Cage? Let us know in the comment section below!

Wanna know all there is to know about Luke Cage? Look yonder!

Images: Marvel TV/Netflix

Syfy’s VAN HELSING is Halfway Between THE WALKING DEAD and THE STRAIN (Review)

Editor’s Note: this review contains minor spoilers for the Van Helsing premiere. You’ve been warned!

As part of an extremely small group willing to admit enjoying Stephen Sommers’ 2004 videogame-like Universal Monster shooting gallery that was Van Helsing the movie, I’d have been just fine with a TV spin-off. Fortunately for the rest of you, that’s not what this new Syfy show is: It credits the Zenescope comic book Helsing for inspiration, though it isn’t that either—the only thing the show seems to have in common with the steampunk cheesecake book is that its title character is female; I assume that the credit is simply to avoid a lawsuit over who did that first.

What Van Helsing the show is, is even more bizarre: A vampire apocalypse show from executive producer/showrunner Neil LaBute, a man generally known for scathing battle-of-the-sexes drama, and of course this cinematic gem, which I unabashedly enjoy…

Given his prior output, you’d imagine that if LaBute were to make an apocalypse tale, it would involve women rising up against men and castrating them. Instead, his end of the world is only metaphorically phallic, in that it involves the Yellowstone supervolcano erupting and spewing darkness into the air, allowing vampires free reign to operate during the daytime. In the first three episodes, there appears to be two distinct types of vampires: the smart ones (who’ve been at it for a long time and all boast Eastern European names like “Dmitiri”) and the newly turned, who are basically the Walking Dead with slightly more intelligence.

The show opens three years after things have all gone to hell, in 2019. We’re in an abandoned hospital occupied by just three people: Axel (Jonathan Scarfe), a Marine Doc (Rukiya Bernard), a recently bitten vampire locked in a cage whom Axel keeps alive by letting her sip his blood through an IV; and Vanessa (Kelly Overton), a sort-of comatose woman (it’s tough to explain, so just roll with it) whose awakening will be the catalyst for the main storyline to begin. Though some press releases have given away a few more details, I shall say only that she has powers, and so far we don’t know how she obtained them. Try to avoid spoilers on the specifics, because the moments when they are revealed are perfectly pulled off. You’ve probably guessed by now that Vanessa is “Van” Helsing, though she’s referred to as Vanessa Seward at least once, a Bram Stoker in-joke that’s presumably her character’s married name.

The first episode, written by LaBute, deals with what happens when a group of newcomers (among them some faces familiar to Axel) arrive at the hospital, threatening to derail the careful sense of order he’s maintained. With Vanessa waking up and wanting to find her daughter (who would most likely have been killed three years ago), yet another wrench is thrown into the works, and LaBute is in his comfort zone for a while as Axel and Vanessa engage in hostile banter. Both are, in their way, classic LaBute archetypes: he’s a blond, blustery dude while she’s a raven-haired schemer. and while they soften to each other in subsequent episodes not written by the showrunner, LaBute does not do cute. This battle of the sexes is a legit battle, and does not play like a precursor to flirtation (though other writers may well take it in that direction later).

The second episode, which will air directly after the first this Friday, takes us back to 2016 and a pre-apocalypse Seattle—wherein we see Vanessa and her daughter—and begin to get the sense that her daughter is important enough to the show to be alive somewhere after all. It’s a jarring change of scenery, and presumably the reason the first two episodes will air back-to-back, to cushion the contrast. This flashback, however, seems to do its job fully; there’s no sense that this will be a recurring device a la Lost. Episode three is back in 2019 full-time.

I get why the show is called Van Helsing, as it’s a familiar branding that gets across a vampire premise right away, but the connection to existing lore is the least interesting aspect of the show. I presume that at some point, we’ll learn that Vanessa is descended from the original Abraham Van Helsing who fought Dracula (going out on a limb here, I’m guessing Hugh Jackman’s “Gabriel Van Helsing” will not be mentioned).  To me, at least, this is a lot less interesting than Vanessa just being an original character with mutant abilities. What we see of the vampire world thus far is a different enough take that going all-different seems more appealing than forcibly tying it in to Bram Stoker’s novel, but I’ll remain optimistic that it is just a gimmick and not something that will be too constraining on the narrative.

There’s vampire gore aplenty, though certain things must remain offscreen–the murder of a child, for example, happens after a fade to black, but with terrifyingly evocative audio. And LaBute pushes profanity boundaries to a point where things seem almost arbitary; one character says, “what the fuh?” while another invites Axel to “Go fffk yourself.” It’s like how we all knew (but agreed not to say) what “frak” meant on Battlestar Galactica; there’s plausible deniability to pretend it’s still network-acceptable even though it’s an obvious cheat.

If you like The Walking Dead and/or The Strain, Van Helsing is worth checking out. If it gets more LaBute-y, it’ll be even more worth checking out. If it gets too tied down to existing vampire lore…well, let’s just hope it doesn’t.

Three burritos so far with room left for a potential fourth:

 

Van Helsing debuts Sept. 23rd at 10pm on Syfy.

Images: Syfy

Luke Y. Thompson is Nerdist’s weekend editor, and would totally be down for Neil LaBute’s Wicker Man: The Series.

Crazy ’80s Horror Movie THE PIT Gets Re-Release and Trailer

As many weird old horror movies as I watch, I will never run out. None of us will ever run out. Horror movies, especially from the hallowed decade of the 1980s, are the gift that just won’t stop giving. You hear the premise of some of these flicks and you think “Jeez, who’d make this? I HAVE to see it!” In the case of 1981’s The Pit, a movie where a seemingly normal kid gets messages from his teddy bear that tell him to toss victims in to a giant sinkhole full of monsters, the answer to who made it is “Canada.”

Described as a mix of Grindhouse horror and After School Special, The Pit was directed by Lew Lehman in his sole directorial outing. It’s a bit of Canuxploitation and is absolutely bonkers. You’ve got a weird kid, which is already a great start. Then his little teddy bear talks to him–in a voice that sounds a lot like an emotionless version of his own–and tells him to take revenge on people who mistreat and harass him. We’re on board still. But he kills them not by normal slasher methods or even psychic powers: he literally throws them into a massive whole in the forest that just happens to have tons of carnivorous hellbeasts at the bottom of it. This looks like it could be as awesome as Death Bed: The Bed That Eats.

The good people at Kino Lorber, who release all manner of great movies, are re-releasing The Pit with a brand new 2K transfer and giving it a Blu-ray release thereafter in celebration of its 35th anniversary. It’s playing in select cities in the next month or so (which you can find info about here) and then will be getting a Blu-ray release on October 18.

Let us know your thoughts on this ridonculous horror gem in the comments below!

Want more weird old movies? Well here’s one!

Image: Kino Lorber

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!

Schlock & Awe: RAISING CAIN is De Palma’s Forgotten Gem

When I was in college, it seemed like one out of every one other person I knew had a poster of Scarface in their dorm room or apartment. I saw it; it ain’t all that. That was the beginning of my watching films by Brian De Palma and not really liking them. All he did was ripoff Alfred Hitchcock! However, with filmmakers of a singular point of view, someone like a David Lynch or a Stanley Kubrick for example, sometimes you need a little extra time to marinate. Not all of De Palma’s movies are good, but 1992’s Raising Cain is one of them that’s mostly good.

I feel like, much like Lynch, Brian De Palma is at his best when he’s given close to free reign. He’d had enough successes by the early ’90s that he could make the kinds of movies he wanted without much hindrance. Raising Cain is a twisty, creepy, rather confusing psychological thriller that keeps the audience engaged and guessing for the bulk of the short runtime. At times, it detours in to full-out horror and we’re left guessing what sort of movie we’re watching. It’s schlocky to its very core.

John Lithgow plays Dr. Carter Nix, an irritatingly nice child psychologist who has an almost unhealthy interest in studying his little daughter. At the beginning of the film, the mother of another child, presumably Carter’s friend, drives them all home from the park, whereupon Carter discusses his plan for a sort of facility to study the behavioral patterns in children. He’s going to have his own daughter be a test case, and he thinks his friend will want her son to join. She’s aghast, and while the kids are sleeping in the back seat, Carter knocks her out. He’s terrified by what he’s done, and suddenly he’s joined by his “twin brother” Cain who is usually in some kind of lockup somewhere. Cain is an evil sort, telling Carter he’ll handle the woman (he kills her and dumps her body in the river).

Meanwhile, Carter’s wife Jenny (Lolita Davidovich), a doctor herself, begins having an affair with Jack Dante (Steven Bauer), the widower of a former patient. She plans to leave Carter for Jack, and Jenny has increasingly weird nightmares about it, and about Carter finding out. Carter does find out, and Cain decides he needs to help his brother out, amid their spree of murdering mothers and kidnapping children for scientific study. It’s all in aid of their father, Dr. Nix (also played by Lithgow), an apparently dead and disgraced child psychologist; Carter is continuing the family legacy. Cain decides to pin all of the murders on Jack, but it’s soon evident from the police speaking to Dr. Lynn Waldheim (Frances Sternhagen), who is Dr. Nix’s former associate, that Carter isn’t who he says he is. It’s very likely he was the subject of Dr. Nix’s cruel tests, and that Cain is one of many alternate personalities that Carter was given through torturous mind studies.

If that sounds confusing, believe me, it’s meant to be. There’s also a whole section where Cain/Carter tries to kill Jenny but she doesn’t die and then comes back for revenge only to have her daughter kidnapped by Dr. Nix who may also just be an alternate personality of Carter’s. I mean, I think De Palma knew what he was doing. He does a really ingenious thing visually of having Lithgow, which ever character he’s being, talking directly to camera when he’s talking to “himself,” meaning whole conversations are had with Lithgow looking right down the barrel of the camera lens and then flipping to show Lithgow’s other character doing the same. It’s a great way to make the audience feel very uneasy, to keep costs low by never needing Lithgow in a shot with himself, and to ensure we never know who’s real and who’s just his other personality.

De Palma is known for rather extreme camera movements and exceedingly lengthy and complicated takes, and Raising Cain is no exception. There are lots of ghastly shock moments involving people’s dead bodies lying with their eyes open to a sting on the soundtrack and a zoom. There’s also a very, very long scene of exposition in which Dr. Waldheim explains to the two police detectives (Gregg Henry and Tom Bower) everything about Dr. Nix and the experiments, and about Carter’s whole mentality. But they aren’t just sitting in chairs; they’re walking from upstairs in the police building all the way down to the ground floor and then the basement in an elevator and ending up in the morgue where the scene ends with a sheet being pulled off of Cain’s first victim, with her eyes wide open. All in one take, this happens. Not to mention a finale all done in slow-motion. De Palma got real De Palma-y with this one.

Not everything about this movie works, but the stuff that does is almost totally because of John Lithgow’s performance(s). He’s totally able to change himself physically and vocally when he plays the five different characters he plays. Carter has a different way of speaking than Cain, who is markedly different from the 7-year-old personality, Josh, who’s deathly afraid of the nanny personality, Margo, who doesn’t have any dialogue but is incredibly dangerous in her own way. He’s a physical chameleon which is impressive given his height and large build. You wouldn’t think he could be that nimble, but he is.

Raising Cain is far from perfect. A good portion of the middle drags and the plot is convoluted to the point of absurdity. Still, if you like De Palma, or even think you might after seeing movies like Blow Out, Dressed to Kill, and Sisters, you might do well to watch this one. And thanks to Scream Factory’s new Blu-ray, you not only get to watch the theatrical cut, but also a “director’s cut” which places Jenny’s affair storyline at the beginning of the film where it was originally intended and most of Carter’s storyline being shown in flashback. It’s interesting to compare and contrast. Neither works perfectly, but it makes a lot of sense for a movie like this to have two fractured points of view.

Images: Universal Pictures

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!