Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2373

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER Gets a Second Season on Netflix

This past year, Netflix and Dreamworks released the first season of Voltron: Legendary Defender to critical acclaim. Not only was this a fresh take on Voltron’s origin but on the Voltron Force (now the Paladins) as well. While the original series had all the awesome action, this one added a bit more character development, a character TWIST, and some laugh-out-loud humor. Those are just a few of the obvious reasons Dreamworks was able to announce at their SDCC panel that Voltron: Legendary Defender would be returning for a second season.

Executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos, co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery, and writer Tim Hedrick were joined by surprise guest Steven Yeun (Keith, the red lion) to bring the great news to fans. Not only that, if you are a fan of the show’s soundtrack, it is now available on iTunes!

The second season will pick up right where the first season left off, with the team being sent through the wormhole and sent who knows where across the universe. Along with the SDCC poster shown above, they also released this teaser image:

Either Shiro and his black lion are catching a “cat nap” (apologies to all our long time readers) or the team is in for a lot of trouble in the second season.

Voltron: Legendary Defender, also starring Kimberly Brooks, Rhys Darby, Josh Keaton, Tyler Labine, Jeremy Shada, and Bex Taylor-Klaus will return at the end of 2016.

So what do you think? Are you excited to see what’s next for Voltron and the Paladins? Do you think they’ll be transported to the “Voltron is 25 different vehicles dimension”? Let me know on Twitter or sound off in the comments below.

Image: Dreamworks

Going Hands-on with DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED

Very few games are able to successfully pair a deep narrative along with an engrossing gameplay experience quite like the Deus Ex series. Those who played Deus Ex: Human Revolution found themselves instantly falling in love with the conspiracy-soaked story, open mission structures, and of course, the versatility of augments (mechanical enhancements that give humans special capabilities). Deus Ex: Mankind Divided looks to further explore the mystery that unraveled in the previous installment, all while still emphasizing the player’s choices. Square Enix was nice enough to invite us to go hands-on with the upcoming title, so here is what we learned:

Mankind Divided

20 years after a madman decided to turn all augmented humans into killing machines, the world is now, as the title suggests, divided. Covert operative Adam Jensen now lives in a world where he is no longer accepted. Anybody who has augments installed is viewed as an imminent danger. Thus, you’ll get questioned wherever you go—our protagonist must deal with all of the animosity that comes with being an aug. Every security checkpoint throughout Prague (the game’s setting) includes a sly remark from anyone within shouting distance.

As you can imagine, it’s made a bit more difficult to completely expose an illuminati conspiracy when the whole world treats you like a second class citizen. While I didn’t get to see all of the consequences from this divide, the story will surely revolve around this point, with all of your choices being even more heavily scrutinized than they were before.

Choice

As previously mentioned, your choices matter in this series. So much so that choosing to complete a side-quest during the tutorial level had a significant impact on the final outcome of the mission. Whether you’re having a conversation, choosing to go stealth on a mission, or even ignoring a side-quest, everything you do feels like it has an impact on the world. This was prevalent in Human Revolution, so many will find pleasure in knowing that this gameplay mechanic will continue to live on in this sequel. It’s worth noting that with this fictional world being in such a fragile state, it does seem like your choices could potentially shift the paradigm between augs and normal humans.

With all that said, what was most important was the ability to tackle missions the way I wanted to. One of the early quests I had was to save a friend who pissed off a gang. This buddy was stuck in a library with thugs searching the whole building for him. The first time I dived into the rescue mission, I chose to go in hot. While unloading every weapon I had, I soon found nothing but failure as I was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the opposite combatants. And that’s when I decided to find a vent outside that led me to the center of the building. You guessed it—I found a lot more success from there on by sneaking my way through the library. This level of choice was readily available for basically every quest I could embark on, which was something we really loved about Human Revolution. It’s liberating.

Augment Your Life

Without going too far into spoiler territory, know that Adam Jensen finds himself adding quite a few new augments to his already impressive arsenal. From the new Icarus Dash that lets you escape sticky situations to the shockingly effective Tesla Arm, which electrifies baddies, you can completely change your experience depending on what augments you choose to focus on. This time around though, you’ll have to make sure that Adam’s system can handle it. Active too many augs at once and you run the risk of frying your systems. It’s a great way of making sure you don’t become too powerful. Though, there was a side-quest that fixed this problem, but I’ll let you figure that out when the game launches.

Most of the new augments shown off like the two mentioned above can be adapted in different situations. Another personal favorite of mine was the Titan Shield, which turns Jensen into a bullet sponge. It was useful when I chose to ditch the stealth route.

Let’s Talk

There will be a whole lot of dialogue for you to check out here. You’ll be able to have a lot of conversations that aren’t just tied to main quests. While walking around the world, I found myself in several talks that had no consequence in my quest, but definitely revealed more about the world I was exploring. Within these ongoing discussions, there are plenty of opportunities to change the conversation with your dialogue choices. This aspect of the game definitely feels like an improvement from the last title, and could lead to an even more engrossing experience.

Smooth Ride

As I explored three major locations of the game, I didn’t run into a single issue. Everything ran buttery smooth. What we played was close to the final build of the game, so I was happy that it seems to be ready to go. Even the gameplay (weapons, running, augs, etc.) is much tighter than it was in Human Revolution.

Another important note before I move on: This is still not a completely open-world game. Instead, there are several open explorable locations that are connected through a subway system. You still can’t veer off too far, but there’s enough to check out in the spots that it gives the illusion of being open.

Breach

While my high expectations were met on the campaign mode, what really took me by surprise was the Breach mode. Selectable from the main menu, Breach takes the action of Adam Jensen’s adventure and turns it into arcade-y goodness. Looking like something straight out of a pink-filled Tron world, you’ll be taking on the role of a random hacker who must jump into different servers to steal data. You’ll have to utilize your skills with gunplay, stealth, and even some platforming to complete each level.

While there is no initial time limit when starting a mission, you are still timed. You must find your way through these white/pink rooms to find the data-filled servers to hack. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, a timer will start counting down as you have to race back to the beginning. You’re definitely incentivized to race through each level, which will certainly be a change of pace for those who’ve taken the stealth route in the campaign. What was most surprising was just how well the main gameplay that we’ve all come to enjoy translates into this fast-paced mode.

As you progress through missions, you’ll gather points that allow you to improve your character. This, obviously, means you get to unlock all sorts of augments! This progression could be enough of a carrot to keep most going forward with this mode.

While this isn’t a multiplayer mode, it’s still connected. Leaderboards will be available on launch, just so you can compete with friends.  Again, this mode impressed the hell out of me. It’s great fun, and a nice change of pace.

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Are you guys planning on picking this game up when it finally launches on August 23, 2016? What are you most looking forward to checking out? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Square Enix

DAREDEVIL Gets a Season 3 on Netflix!

Daredevil wrapped its second season with the insinuation—and that’s putting it mildly—that its story was far from finished, so the announcement that Marvel and Netflix’s eldest collaboration would be returning for a third string of episodes wasn’t exactly a shocker. You could, however, call it a relief. After the premature loss of Agent Carter earlier this year, it’s hard to get too confident in the enduring power of some of our favorite comic book series. As such, we heave a deep, delighted sigh at the news that Daredevil will indeed return for season three, as announced during the San Diego Comic-Con panel for Luke Cage, another collaboration of Marvel and Netflix.

Daredevil’s first season premiered at just the right time to jumpstart the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s thus far middling small screen branch. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was two seasons in and failing to accrue much more than frustration from the viewing community. Though Agent Carter warranted a good deal more buzz, the limitations of network television were still very present in its execution. Netflix would prove a perfect venue for the MCU, as exhibited first in Daredevil and then in Jessica Jones. Now, we’ve got Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders series on the way, in addition to this third season of Daredevil and a previously announced spin-off series for its fan favorite villain, the Punisher.

We don’t yet know where a third season will take titular hero Matt Murdock and his varied allies and enemies, nor which new characters from the source material might make their way to the screen for this new round of eps. But now we know we’ll have the opportunity to find out!

What do you want to see in Daredevil season three? Let us know!

Featured Image: Netflix/Disney/Marvel Studios

POKÉMON Look Gorgeous in Mayan Art Style

Pokémon has been hugely popular since the ’90s, and fan art based on the series is nothing new… as the over 3.6 million DeviantArt search results can attest to. Still, it’s rare to find drawings based on the classic games that are as visually engaging as those of Mexican artist Mona Robles, whose series of “Pokemayans” depicts Pokémon in a style that emulates ancient Mayan art.

Above is Blaziken, and the drawing is a perfect example of what makes Robles’ works so great: It feels distinctly Mayan with its profile views, flat colors, and bold-yet-intricate outlines, but it also doesn’t lose sight of its source material, as its still easy to tell which Pokémon is being depicted.

Here are the Generation 1 starters:

http://monarobot.tumblr.com/post/142422930565/saveroomminibar-pokemayans-by-monarobot-on

This Gyarados and Magikarp look amazing:

http://monarobot.tumblr.com/post/133555546393/gyaradospokemayan

And there are a ton more fascinating visuals on Robles’ tumblr.

“I’m from Chiapas, Mexico, so I’m very familiar with the Maya culture, I find it really appealing and aesthetically interesting, and I love learning new things about it,” Robles said in 2014. “When I first started doing the Pokemayans I had been wondering why no one seemed to draw inspiration from this culture, around that time plenty of artists I know were drawing their versions of Pokémon so I decided to give it a go with this new idea.”

Robles has a Patreon as well, so those wanting to play patron to her future artistic endeavors, which would hopefully include more of these wonderful drawings, can do so here.

Images: Mona Robles/Tumblr

JUSTICE LEAGUE Brings the ACTION to SDCC

It’s been a decade since we’ve had a Justice League cartoon series. Yes, there are the DC animated features, as well as Young Justice, but nothing that featured the JLA on a regular basis.

Luckily, that will change this fall with the premiere of Justice League Action on Cartoon Network and Thursday’s SDCC panel shed some light on how this show is different from the ones that came before. The panel was moderated by IGN’s Eric Goldman and included producers Butch Lukic, Alan Burnett, and Jim Krieg. Also on the panel were character designer Shane Glines and cast members Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Diedrich Bader (Booster Gold).

Fans were treated to an episode to start off the panel, with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Cyborg taking on the Toyman, played by Ken Jeong. Just like Teen Titans Go!, each episode of Justice League Action will have 11 minutes of content. According to Krieg, “We basically cut out the first act of the story, that slow build, so we could start right off with the action.”

Another similarity the show has to Titans is the use of humor, which doesn’t seem to mesh with Kevin Conroy’s Batman, but that’s exactly what Kevin likes about this show. “After 24 years of playing Batman, the challenge has always been to keep it consistent and fresh at the same time.” This show has been able to show that putting his version of Batman in these funny situations can make for some hilarious results. Diedrich also added “When I played Batman on Brave and the Bold, I was always the one setting up the jokes. Now I get to say the punchline [as Booster Gold]. As a comedic actor, that’s fun for me. That doesn’t mean this show is going to be the Justice League version of Teen Titans Go! There will be a good balance between the humor and the action. “The writers don’t sacrifice one for the sake of the other,” Conroy said.

Since this IS a Justice League cartoon, we will NOT be short of fellow heroes joining our DC Trinity. Green Arrow, Green Lantern (voiced by Lantern vet Josh Keaton), Star Girl, and Swamp Thing (voiced by Mark Hamill, who is also returning as, of course, the Joker) are among the plethora of characters you will see this season. The villains will be in full force too, as Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, and Lex Luthor (voiced by James Woods) will give the League a run for their money.

From what I saw, we are in for something fresh in a Justice League cartoon. According to Lukic, the 11-minute format helps the writers combine characters without having to “really think about it.” Since there is no need to set up a backstory, they can just have fun with the different combinations.

With Super Friends, it was cool just to see our heroes on TV at all, even if there wasn’t a whole lot there. With Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, we got to see them really jump off the screen for the first time, defending the planet from threats all across the universe. Justice League Action does that as well, but guarantees we will have a little fun along the way.

So what do you think? Are you excited for this new iteration of the animated JLA? How do you think it will stack up against its predecessors? Let me know on Twitter or sound off in the comments below.

Image: Warner Brothers

Jack White Is Planning Something That Involves Carl Sagan

Time and time again, Jack White’s Third Man Records has reinvented vinyl, spearheading the medium’s resurgence in an otherwise digital landscape. Now, in a teaser video posted to the TMR website, the label has promised to “make vinyl history again.”

The video (above), spotted first by Billboard, is really vague, but it does give a couple clues to what TMR’s intentions might be. After the message—“July 30, Third Man Records is going to make vinyl history again”—appears in Star Wars-esque scroll, we see the infamous Golden Record flipping through the air. The LP was famously launched aboard Voyager 1 in 1977 to introduce our way of life to whoever stumbled across the ship. A NASA committee, chaired by Carl Sagan, selected its contents, choosing to include various terrestrial noises and a selection of earth’s music, from Mozart to Chuck Berry.

In the video, one track can be read on the LP’s label: “A Glorious Dawn” by Carl Sagan, an arrangement of wise words culled from the original Cosmos and rendered alongside music in glorious, glorious vocoder. Incidentally, Third Man Records released the track as a 7” record back in 2009 (it’s currently out of print). So, considering all of this, just what is happening on July 30?

This must be more than just a reprinting of the Sagan 7”, right? We know Jack White to be both a man of genius and a man of many, many convictions. Maybe he’s planning a mission to update the Golden Record? Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode” is the most recent track on the traveling disc, after all; maybe White doesn’t feel that’s indicative of who we’ve become since 1977. With the advent of faster space travel technology, it wouldn’t be infeasible to imagine that we could catch Voyager 1 and add to it. Maybe a giant white stripe across the front? Or a bit of adhesive and some store bought bones, now that we better understand DNA sequencing? Or could it be that Jack White is finally going to admit that he’s an alien from the future that once intercepted the Golden Record, learned our ways, and then came to earth to rise to fame and power? He’s finally announcing his bid for world domination? That’s probably it.

What do you think Jack White is up to? Let us know in the comments.

Image: David James Swanson

Will the POWER RANGERS Movie Include Alpha Five, the Zords, and the Theme Song?

When we first heard the great Bryan Cranston compare the forthcoming Power Rangers movie, a big screen reboot of the bright and zany ‘90s action series, to Christopher Nolan’s famously nihilistic The Dark Knight, we were… well, intrigued for sure. But also a bit vexed. How on Earth could the Mighty Morphin’ teens of yore take proper form in such a dark ambiance? Would they still sport their after school-friendly positive attitudes and delightfully corny dialogue? Would they still ride with pride within the sort of Zords whose animal shapes delighted us as preteens? And, most importantly, would they still hang out with he who was perhaps the least grimdark character in pop culture history: Alpha Five?

Such was the big question that Nerdist brought to San Diego Comic-Con, where we caught up with the Power Rangers movie’s director, Dean Israelite, as well as with his metal-suited stars. Ranking high in importance among the handful of Qs we asked the filmmaker and cast was whether or not we’d be seeing the nasal voiced, UFO-headed, well-meaning goofball of a robot sidekick take form in the new movie.

The answer? Well, you’ll find out definitively in today’s Nerdist News!

Of course, Alpha Five was only one (admittedly severely important) topic of conversation between our own Dan Casey and the Power Rangers gang. They also discussed the presence of Zords in the new film, the significantly harder science fiction vibe the movie will be adopting, and whether or not the series’ impossibly catchy theme song would be gracing the reboot’s soundtrack.

As it turns out, there will be plenty of what we loved from the old Power Rangers show, but there will indeed also be a good deal of changes. Watch Nerdist News to get a better feel of how that balance will form, and catch Power Rangers in theaters on March 24, 2017.

190-Foot Statue of Chinese War God Demands Your Attention

Watch out, Kratos, there’s a new-old god of war in town! As reported in Shanghalist, China spared no expense for its latest god-like homage to its decorated past in the form of Chinese general, warrior, and overall badass, Guan Yu. He’s has been immortalized in the form of a 190-foot tall, 1,320-ton sculpture. Have a look at our gallery below for the completed photos.

Fans of the Dynasty Warriors franchise might recognize him, although he’s mostly famous for being glorified in the 14th century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Boldly standing atop a warship-like base, Guan Yu holds in his right hand the “Green Dragon Crescent Blade,” a revered weapon that surely defeated many foes during his legendary lifetime. The huge weapon had to be crafted on the ground then hoisted up and bolted into place because it weighed so much!

And this isn’t even the first statue depicting his epicness — he’s worshipped in many areas of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as a god of war, brotherhood, and loyalty. Designed by Beijing’s 2008 Olympic architect, Han Meilin, this Guan Yu statue is housed in Jingzhou’s Guan Yu Park along the southern tip of China. The entire park was built to pay tribute to the concept of righteousness, with Guan Yu’s statue figuratively representing the X-shaped Chinese character for the virtue. There’s also a huge museum inside of the statue dedicated to Guan Yu and the overall righteousness of China’s history.

Now, we know what some of you are thinking; how much did this colossal colossus cost? Probably more than we can imagine, but in the name of art and culture, this statue of Guan Yu is sure to attract many visitors near and far, maybe even spreading some history lessons along the way. What do you think about this mega Guan Yu statue? Let us know below!

Images: Shanghalist

TOTALLY ACCURATE BATTLE SIMULATOR Is Indeed Totally Accurate and Totally Hilarious

We’ve been talking a lot about Pokémon Go lately, but the team at Landfall Games have a bit of a dark horse up their sleeve. Forget about catching ’em all, because it is now the age of the Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. As you can see from the video, the physics—while pretty accurate—make the game nothing short of hilarious.

This simulator is brilliant in its simplicity. Take a blue team of human-adjacent characters and a red team of human-adjacent creatures, and hurl them into battle with one another. You can either have the opposing teams go at one another with just their fists (or stumps, really, since they don’t have actual hands), or equip them with weapons ranging from swords, shields, bow and arrow, and even cannons. Even better, you can also employ the use of battle-chickens to help you win the fight and be the very best. Finally, amirite?

Can we just take a moment to celebrate the Red Guy in the video above who came storming in with nothing but chickens and a jacket? I mean, nothing says fierce warrior like a soldier storming the battle field with a horde of chickens and wearing nothing but a brown jacket.

This outstanding game is still in development, but you can sign up to be a part of the alpha testing. From the sign-up site, it looks like the game will be available for Mac, PC, PS4, and XBox One, and Linux—something for just about everyone. Once you sign up, Landfall will send out builds to randomly selected testers once the alpha starts.

What do you think of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator? Are you going to sign up for the alpha? What do you hope to see in the game? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

Featured Image: Landfall Games/Youtube

Schlock & Awe: SUSPIRIA Is Horror’s Perfect Cacophony

I have no idea how this happened, but this week marks my 150th Schlock & Awe. (Truly; I had an intern count them all.) I have watched a ton of weird, obscure, kitschy, and just plain bad movies in the past three-ish years, and if one thing can be gleaned from these essays it’s that my tastes have changed over time. Not for love of genre pictures, surely, but my desire to watch the crappier stuff has waned significantly. I’ll never stop watching the batshit, but let’s appreciate the greats with the not-greats. To that end, I thought 150 was a perfect time to talk about one of the most interesting and baffling movies in the canon: Dario Argento‘s 1977 masterpiece, Suspiria.

Ah, like so many ’70s horror films—especially the Italian ones released in the U.S.—the English language trailer is a pale comparison to the actual movie. The whole skeleton gal thing doesn’t feature in the movie one bit, nor does that nursery rhyme she cackles. But it’s all in keeping with the strange and sometimes off-putting nature of Suspiria, a movie that almost dares you to keep watching with its intense and horrific visuals and pounding industrial score, but makes it impossible to look away. It’s a film that revolting and beautiful in equal measure, often at the same time.

Famously one of the last movies made with three-strip Technicolor, Suspiria is as vibrant today as it was at the time, with each frame art directed to within an inch of its life, cementing Argento as one of the most visually inventive directors of the Italian horror cycle. Beginning his career as a screenwriter, Argento began directing with the giallo classic The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, continuing on with a string of well-respected entries in the incomprehensibly plotted slasher predecessor of the early ’70s. In those films, Argento had mastered suspense and honed his taste for graphically violent murders as high art, but with Suspiria, he put his foot into the supernatural, adding another layer to the hard-to-understand gloved-knife-wielder movies.

The story begins with Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) arriving in Germany to attend a fancy ballet academy. It’s a rainy night when she arrives and as she enters the castle-set school, she sees a girl yell something and then run off into the night. We then cut to that girl, terrified, going to her friend’s place to stay, only to have an apparently floating aggressor attack her through the upstairs window and kill her. This opening sequence, which features this stab wounds, crashing stained glass impaling someone, being hanged by electrical cord, and as much Day-Glo red blood as it’s possible to have, is one of Argento’s most brutal and brilliantly choreographed death scenes.

The girl who died was a student at the dance academy and her death causes much whispering among the other girls. Suzy soon finds that they’re particularly catty and would rather stay in another girl’s apartment rather than in the dorms. However, she’s quickly and suddenly taken ill for no good reason, something which the headmistresses believe is best cured by staying in the school and taking much medicine. But clearly the medicine is what’s making her ill, and soon Suzy and her friend Sara (Stefania Casini) begin suspecting there’s something sinister going on. After a particularly grotty event in which an infestation of maggots is discovered, all of the girls and teachers have to sleep on cots in the gym, and Sara and Suzy hear the deep snoring of a person they’ve never meet, nor even seen…possibly the true head mistress.

After many more strange occurrences and unexplained deaths, Sara is killed for snooping (in the movie’s second most memorable and elaborate death, involving a room full of razor wire). Suzy begins to discover the history of the school and its possible ties to witchcraft, specifically to Helena Markos, the first headmistress from long ago. If she’s still around, she’d be ancient. The coven of witches who may be in control of the school do not want to be found out, but if Suzy is to get out alive, she’ll have to come face to face with Mater Suspiriorum, a.k.a. the Mother of Sighs.

Argento has often said this movie is like a horror version of a Disney cartoon, and in some ways you can see it; the lone girl entering a dark and foreboding place, meeting strange characters, facing an evil witch, and attempting to live happily ever after. This is, of course, turned on its head by all the murder, but the bones are there. This movie isn’t one that makes a ton of narrative sense; it’s hard to follow on first viewing and lots of elements don’t add up. Like, why would witches need to manifest their evil in the form of a black gloved killer with a knife and a razor? But that adds to the trippiness of the whole thing.

The other thing that truly adds to the experience is the oppressive, cacophonous score by the industrial band Goblin (they’d go on to score Romero’s Dawn of the Dead as well, since Argento produced that picture). The main title theme (above) is melodic and repetitive, with chimes and whispers, but it quickly begins searing with fuzzy metal guitars, clanging drums and percussion, and synth sounds out of a nightmare. Another track, fittingly called “Witch,” is straight up loud and abrasive, but it is always used in conjunction with the most horrific of elements. Argento pumped the score through loud speakers on the set while filming to put the cast and crew on edge. It worked, evidently, and it works on the audience just as well.

But truly, what makes Suspiria a classic is the deft way Argento is able to merge all of these elements that on their own would be irritating or disturbing and creates a sort of punk macabre explosion that may as well be an experimental film. Never again would Argento have such a mastery of every single element of a picture and a film of his was never so successful as a work of art. There were two sequels made to this—1980’s Inferno and 2007’s Mother of Tears—but they can’t hold a candle to this. While 1975’s Deep Red is arguably his best film, Suspiria is the one people remember, and will likely remember for all of horror time to come.

And there we have it, friends. 150 film essays about films both strange and sublime. Please, if you feel so inclined, go peruse my back catalog of Schlock & Awe, and I hope you join me for 150 more, perhaps.

Images: Produzioni Atlas

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