The Legend Of Zelda - The Lost Oracle

No, this is not a trailer for a new game for the upcoming Wii U, but a brilliant fan-made animation from Joel Furtado. To be honest, I would love to see an animated spin off series like this. Make it so Nintendo!

via Topless Robot

Matthew's Day Off!

After last week's 10 second teaser, here's the full ad featuring Matthew Broderick in a Ferris Bueller style day off.

The blurb:
To celebrate the launch of the all-new 2012 CR-V, Honda brought Ferris Bueller's Day Off back in a big game commercial. We cast Matthew Broderick as himself, skipping out on a day of acting work and living it up in his all-new CR-V. Relive movie history with Honda's fresh twist and wonderful homage to this '80s classic.

Think you're a true fan of Ferris Bueller's Day Off? We hid over two dozen references to the movie throughout the commercial. Some are obvious, some are VERY subtle. See how many you can find. #dayoff

New Trailer for new Game of Thrones series

Not long to go until it's back on our screens, so here is the new trailer to whet your appetites!

Season 2: Preview - You Win or You Die

Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailer

Love this trailer for the new Aliens: Colonial Marines video game. The music of Clint Mansell from the film Moon, as the acid for blood melts through the floors, works well with this.


via IGN

What If The Walking Dead Was An 80's Sitcom?

The Walking Dead in 80's style sitcom opening credits.

via Geek Tyrant

New Mass Effect 3 Trailer

Bioware have released a new trailer for Mass Effect 3. This trailer includes details about the races and classes you'll be able to play in the multiplayer mode.

For more information about Mass Effect 3, check out http://www.masseffect.com

Read the accompanying BioWare blog, "So Your Friend is a Vanguard" here:
http://bit.ly/yPc7RR


The demo for Mass Effect 3 is released on February 14 and the full game is released in March.

New Lockout Trailer

I like the look of this, and Guy Pearce seems to do a mean impression of Snake Plissken, in what sounds like a kind of remake of Escape From New York!

Plot: A man is wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. He's offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates.

So, that's another Sci-Fi flick popping up on my watchlist for this year!

Fan-made Opening Credits To The Dark Knight Rises

Love it! Check out this fan-made opening credits for The Dark Knight Rises by Doğan Can Gündoğdu and Günışığı Cihangir. Very much in the dark and gritty style of David Fincher's Se7en opening credits.

Created and composited by Doğan Can Gündoğdu dogancangundogdu.com
Animation and modeling by Günışığı Cihangir gunisigicihangir.com
Music by Massive Attack - Suck Me Up Dub
The Dark Knight Rises opening credits has been made for a video lesson.

New TV Spot for John Carter

Disney have released a new TV spot for John Carter featuring Dejah Thoris (the Princess of Mars) wielding a sword against the Zodangans! Really looking forward to this film. Can't wait until March 9th!

Planet Of The Apes Posters by Mondo

I love the various pop culture and cult classic poster designs from Mondo, and they've announced the release of a poster set based on the classic Planet of the Apes films.

“Tomorrow, we will release our poster series for one of the best science fiction franchises of all time…. PLANET OF THE APES. We are GIGANTIC fans of the series and worked with Sideshow Collectibles for almost a year on making it happen. Artists in the series include Martin Ansin, Ken Taylor, Rich Kelly, Phantom City Creative and Florian Bertmer. If you purchase the entire set of five, you will also receieve the GO APE! poster painted by Jason Edmiston!

Please follow us on Twitter for the on sale announcement. These posters will be available online at a random time AS A SET on Thursday, January 26th and INDIVIDUALLY at a random time on Friday, January 27th.”

Mondo posters always sell out quickly, so you have to be REALLY QUICK to bag a copy once they go on sale. Follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mondonews to find out when they are available.

UPDATE: The posters sold out in a couple of minutes!!!! Always have to be quick with the limited edition Mondo posters, but they do seem to end up on ebay, so if you don't mind paying the scalpers....

Full set of posters after the jump.
via Daily Dead

Falcon Girl

Nice. Loving this Tank Girl / Princess Leia mash up from James Hance!

Design is available as a T Shirt at RedBubble
via FashionablyGeek

Oscar 2012 Nominations Announced

And so the nominations for this years Oscars have now been announced, with 10 noms for 'The Artist' and 11 for 'Hugo' the main recipients. Lots of what you'd think are glaring omissions, like no noms for 'Drive', only in the Music (Score) for 'Tintin'!

The 'Best Animated Feature' and 'Music (Score)' are my main areas of interest. A bit surprised that there's no nom for Tintin in the Animated Feature category though, hoping 'Rango' pulls it out of the bag, one of my favourite films of last year!

All in all, it looks like this year's Oscars are playing safe! No staying up late to watch this, next month. Meh!

Full list after the jump.

Cool Art: 'Alien' by Matt Ferguson

A minimal poster of 'Alien' by Matt Ferguson.
Check his blog for more quality artwork!

Indiana Jones Posters by Maxime Pécourt

A set of quality minimal Indiana Jones posters by Maxime Pécourt. Nice!
Check out the rest of the posters here

Full Completed Edition Of Star Wars Uncut Now Online

"In 2009, thousands of Internet users were asked to remake “Star Wars: A New Hope” into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable.

SWU has been featured in documentaries, news features and conferences around the world for its unique appeal. In 2010 we won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media."


via Star Wars Uncut

Keep Calm And Think Of Ibiza

There's been a version of this floating around the web today. I thought, hmmm, why don't I recreate a version with a photo I took of Ibiza myself, and voila! Here it is:

And so with these dark and cold nights still here, keep calm and think of Ibiza! Roll on the summer!!!!

Currently Reading: The Master Mind Of Mars

Cover art by Gino D'Achille

I was going to read something else, take a break from the Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, but something just drew me back into the series!

After enjoying the books so far, I've moved onto book six; 'The Master Mind Of Mars'.

Instead of focusing on John Carter, Dejah Thoris and their children like the previous five books, this time we switch to Ulysses Paxton, who after becoming injured in the trenches during the first World War finds himself transported to Mars and taken under the wing of 'mad scientist' Ras Thavas.

So far I'm enjoying this book, and it's good to see a fresh perspective of Barsoom too, with a new and unrelated character introduced and what appears to be a new region too.

At this rate, I'll probably have finished reading the 11 book series by the time the John Carter film is released on March 9!

UPDATE: Finished it, and loved it. As mentioned, good to follow a different character in this series, but we do get an appearance from John Carter at the end. Had a big ol' smile on my face when I finished it too. Really loving the style of writing from Edgar Rice Burroughs as well. Onto the next book 'A Fighting Man Of Mars'.

For more information on 'The Master Mind Of Mars' check out the Wikipedia link

Kerry Conran's pitch to Paramount for 'John Carter'

The journey of getting John Carter to the big screen has been very long and varied, going through many hands and the rights passing between different studios. Back in 2004 when Paramount had the rights, Kerry Conran was attached to direct the film. This is his project pitch to Paramount.

I really like this, featuring artwork and some CGI work - liking the CGI swordfight between what would be Carter and a Thark!

Enjoy!


via The John Carter Files

In other news, Disney have released a new TV Spot for John Carter, check it out. Can't wait to see this!

It's The Apocalypse, But Hey, Let's Surf!

Using a GoPro Surf camera and then creating the special effects using Maya and After Effects on his iMac, Keef70 created this video of people surfing while the world explodes around them. Cool!
'Apocalypse Later, Surf Now'

via Geeks Are Sexy

Hello...

Movie mashup video with the lyrics of Lionel Ritchie's Hello made by Matthijs Vlot. Nice!

via Vimeo

Game Of Thrones returns to UK TV on April 2

Sky Atlantic HD has announced that the ten-episode second season of Game Of Thrones will return to the UK on Monday 2 April at 9pm, less than 24 hours after airing in the US.

Based on George RR Martin’s best-selling book series A Song Of Ice And Fire, award-winning drama chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.

Joining the show for this season are Rose Leslie (Downton Abbey) as Ygritte, Hannah Murray (Skins) as Gilly, Natalie Dormer (The Tudors) as Margaery Tyrell, Carice van Houten (Valkyrie) as Melisandre, Liam Cunningham (Clash Of The Titans) as Davos Seaworth, Michael McElhatton (Fifty Dead Men Walking) as Roose Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort, Stephen Dillane (The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall) as Stannis Baratheon and Tom Wlaschiha (Enemy At The Gates) as Jagen H’ghar.

With the first season remaining true to the harsh and brutal world created by Martin, and the revelations in the finale, which hinted at the dangers lying beyond the great wall, the second season is set to be a season of exploration, danger and death this time round. The cold winds are rising across Westeros, as the bloody battle for the Iron Throne continues…

via Sky Atlantic HD

2012 BAFTA nominees announced

Now that the Golden Globes have kicked off the Movie Awards season, the nominees for the BAFTAs for 2012 have now been announced.

Check out the full list of nominees after the jump:

The 50 Greatest Geek Movies

Ask 10 different geeks what their top 10 favourite movies are, and you’ll get ten different answers, and wildly differing opinions on every film stating why they are so beloved and highly rated! Yes, there will be certain titles that feature in everyone’s lists, and in this list I've seen virtually all of them and they would definitely appear in my list of favourites too. But there are also some omissions as well - no Back To The Future trilogy for a start! No films from Kevin Smith - Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma etc! No Studio Ghibli! That's the thing with these type of lists, they will always miss out on some that others will say that should be on there.

Have a look and see for yourself!

Masters In It - The 50 Greatest Geek Movies

The Dark Knight Rises, in the style of The Animated Series

Another couple of mashup videos, this time it's The Dark Knight Rises turn with a mashup of both the teaser and full trailers in the style of the classic Batman: The Animated Series. Enjoy!

Teaser Trailer Mashup


Full Trailer Mashup


via Geek Tyrant

Jaaam! Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Mashup

Another audio/visual mashup from Nick Bertke, better known as Pogo!

"Here's my mashup of voices and beats from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Samples were recorded in Audition through the loopback of a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14. 
Sequenced in Ableton Live on an iMac. Enjoy, kids."

Download the MP3 in 320kbps at http://www.pogomix.net/
Check out his Youtube channel too for more quality mashups!

Do Movies & TV Inspire People To Read?

I was reading another blog asking the same type of question and I have to say, at least in my personal experience, it's a yes.

For example, when I heard that Guillermo Del Toro (one of my favourite film directors) was going to direct 'At The Mountains Of Madness', I went and picked up the original book by HP Lovecraft and the graphic novel by INJ Culbard, I enjoyed both.

Although he's one of my favourite writers from his days doing the Sandman comic books, I'd not read any of his novels, but when I heard that the Neil Gaiman novel 'American Gods' was possibly going to be turned into a TV series, I read that as well. Again, I'm glad that I did.

The same has happened for George RR Martin's first book in the Song of Fire And Ice series 'A Game Of Thrones', Edgar Rice Burroughs 'A Princess Of Mars' which is being made into Disney's John Carter (I've since read the first five books of the eleven book series and wholly recommend them) and JRR Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'. Add to that re-reading the 'Watchmen', 'V For Vendetta', '300' and 'Sin City' graphic novels when the films were out, picking up and enjoying Robert Kirkman's comic book series 'The Walking Dead' before the TV series started and the whole series of Bryan Lee O'Malley's 'Scott Pilgrim' after the film was released.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you would want to read the original source material, if you enjoyed the film or not and perhaps want to see what is different from page to screen. The success of the Harry Potter series, in both literary and film form, for example, would suggest that people are, a whole new generation picking up books (actual or ebook format these days - that's another discussion) and enjoying them! Long may that continue!

New Posters For Star Wars The Phantom Menace 3D

Yes, it could be said that I'm not a big fan (or fan at all for that matter) of The Phantom Menace, a weak script, wooden acting and annoying characters among the reasons (even after rewatching the bluray), but Lucasfilm has released some new posters to promote the 3D release as it returns to the cinemas next month.

I do like the posters! Although promoting a minor character who doesn't get much screen time, albeit in one maybe two kick-ass scenes, is a bit like using Boba Fett to promote The Empire Strikes Back or Return Of The Jedi!
(via Kino)

More posters after the jump

Skyrim 2012

What shopping in Skyrim could be like in 2012!

via Grosjean Brother Productions

Wall-etheus Trailer

First there was the original Alien film in the style of the Prometheus trailer, now there's Wall-E.

via Aggregate

Currently Reading: The Chessmen Of Mars

Book Art by Gino D'Achille

With the John Carter film being released by Disney on March 9, I'm slowly working my way through the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs on my eReader.

I've loved the series so far, and I would really recommend anyone to pick up the first three books - 'A Princess Of Mars', 'The Gods Of Mars' and 'The Warlord Of Mars' - as an introduction to the world of Barsoom before they go to see the film, and as they kind of carry on after each other too.

I'm now up to book 5, 'The Chessmen Of Mars', and after what I thought was initially a slow start and not feeling much sympathy towards the main character, Tara of Helium, as the action gets going, I'm getting dragged into the story and start to enjoy it a lot more.

In this book, the focus this time switches from John Carter and Dejah Thoris, the main protagonists of the first three books, to their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, after a strange storm sweeps her far away from her native Helium. Over the course of her journey, she is repeatedly in danger, first in the strange land of Bantoom, where she is captured and studied by the Kaldanes, a highly intelligent but narrow focused race, and then in the city of Manator, where she is the prize in a giant game of jetan, a form of Martian chess.

For more information on 'The Chessmen Of Mars' check out the Wikipedia link
Or check out the book yourself from the Project Gutenberg

John Carter - The First 100 Years

This video traces the 100 year visual history of John Carter from its first publication as a serial in 1912 under the original title 'Under The Moons Of Mars' (later retitled 'A Princess Of Mars when the serial was published as a novel), and the art of Frank Frazetta, to the 2012 Disney film directed by Andrew Stanton and starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Haden Church, and Willem Dafoe.


(via John Carter Files)

And for those uninitiated with the books, here's the better Japanese trailer (partially in English so no worries understanding it and introduced by director Andrew Stanton) that reveals a bit more of the back story pre Carter's appearance on Mars.

Droids Have Feelings Too!

A series of cool illustrations by artist Chris Gerringer (Paperbeatsscissors) with droids sharing their feelings. More after the jump.
 (via Geek-Art.net)

John Carter Q & A

© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

As the release date draws ever nearer, the John Carter PR machine is now in full effect.

Following on from an in depth Q & A session from director Andrew Stanton, there's more! This time from Taylor Kitsch, who plays John Carter, as well as from Lynn Collins who play Dejah Thoris, Princess Of Mars and Willem DaFoe who plays the Martian, Tars Tarkas.

Did I say I'm looking forward to watching this!!!! ;)
(via Adventures By Daddy)

Darth Maul vs Yoda!

The first ever showdown between Darth Maul and Yoda! An advert from Brisk to coincide with the 3D release of The Phantom Menace in February.

(via CBM)

Hilarious rejected Doritos ad

Awesome + hilarious = win!


(via Reddit)

'A Frail Old Man Lost In Space And Time'

"A frail old man lost in space and time. They give him this name because they don't know who he is. He seems not to remember where he has come from; he is suspicious and capable of sudden malignance; he seems to have some undefined enemy; he is searching for something as well as fleeing from something. He has a "machine" which enables them to travel together through time, through space, and through matter."

So say the background notes on The Doctor from the original 1963 Doctor Who series bible. Interesting reading perhaps, when comparing the full set of notes from the original series bible (plus critiques from Sydney Newman) and the current Steve Moffatt / Matt Smith run.


Background Notes
Audience Research Report on the 1963 pilot episode 'Unearthly Child'


Also amongst the notes are the BBC's reports and follow up report on Science Fiction;
BBC 1962 report on Science Fiction
BBC 1962 follow up report on Science Fiction 
BBC 1963 concept notes for new Science Fiction drama

(via TV Writing)

Pingu's The Thing

John Carpenter's The Thing in claymation starring Pingu by Lee Hardcastle


(via Lee Hardcastle)

Finding Jaws

Jaws trailer recut in 'Finding Nemo' style by Kenny Moscinski.

The Lion King Rises!

Awesome Lion King / The Dark Knight Rises mash up trailer. That is all!


(via The Mary Sue)

Mondo Top 10 Posters of 2011

 I always love the poster masterpieces that the guys at Mondo seem to produce - one of my favourites is 'Pan's Labyrinth' by Aaron Horkey (left). Never been quick enough to snag one myself though as they always sellout in double quick time!

On their blog, they've listed their own favourites over the past year. I'd have to say, it would be a very difficult choice as they all look pretty damn good!

Mondo Blog

(Follow them on Twitter @Mondonews to keep up to date when they're about to release a new poster - 'Dracula' by Martin Ansin is the latest poster to sell out!)

In depth interview with Andrew Stanton

It's safe to say I'm really stoked up for the film John Carter! So much so, I've now read the first four books of the 11 book 'Barsoom' series (of which the film is based on the first - A Princess Of Mars) and really enjoyed them.

And I love the films from Pixar too, and with Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) on his first live action directorial duties, this is definitely a good combination, right?

Here is an in depth interview with Stanton about his love of the Edgar Rice Burroughs series and the making of the John Carter film.

Andrew Stanton Interview

(via Barsoomia.org)

2012 and all it brings!

Well, that's another year done and dusted. Time to keep moving forward as we head into 2012.

And lots to look forward to as well. Some really big films are out this year; John Carter, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit amongst others (see my previous post for the trailers - 'My Movie Watchlist for 2012'), and hopefully some good comics, games, books and TV too.

I don't make New Year Resolutions but prefer to get inspired. And so whilst on my usual news sweep of the internets I saw these two posters, and they incapsulate my hopes, dreams and inspiration for 2012!

 ('More Love' by The Love Shop via Etsy)

('Holstee Manifesto' by Holstee via Holstee)

A happy New Year to you all and I hope they inspire you too!