All posts by Stephen Sanchez

TV

Game of Thrones Season 2 Casting: Jeyne… But Which One?

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Apparently Charlie Chaplin had a granddaughter who is into acting. I never knew that but Oona Chaplin has been cast in the latest season of A Game of Thrones as a character named Jeyne according to Access Hollywood. Now as fans of the books will realize this could mean one of two characters. The first is Jenye Poole, the daughter of a steward of Winterfell that accompanied the Starks to King’s Landing and was held captive after the slaughter of the Northmen. Jeyne Poole makes a lot more sense in the long run since she plays a pretty big role in the fifth book ‘A Dance With Dragons’.

**Spoilers Below**

The other character that she could possibly play is that of Jeyne Westerling, but it wouldn’t make much sense because she doesn’t show up until book 3 ‘A Storm of Swords‘. But it wouldn’t be unheard of for them to add the character in early to move things along. They put in an Arya scene at the end of season 1 that was from book 2 so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did something similar in season 2. Jeyne is a very important character because Robb Stark marries her after she tends to his wounds in book 3. This proves problematic since he had a marriage agreement with Lord Walder Frey that is now null and void. The whole ordeal leads to one of the most shocking scenes I’ve read in the George R.R. Martin books aside from Ned’s beheading.

I’m betting on her being Jeyne Poole, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how everything unfolds as filming continues. As always, stay tuned for more casting news!

Movie News & Opinions

The Return of Austin Powers…. Yeah Baby!

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Well it had to happen. One franchise, thought dead long ago, is on the track to return to our movie screens once more. It’s been about nine years since the last Austin Powers movie came out in the form of ‘Gold Member‘ and I’m sure I’m’ not the first one to admit that it sucked pretty hard. I think at that point Austin had just become annoying along with the rest of his multiple characters. The formula just got outdated, but now there is a whole other generation of people who dig the raunchy sex and fecal jokes that so many found appealing back in 1997. Check out the news below via IGN:

HitFix is reporting that Mike Myers has signed on to return to his biggest movie role ever — the titular inept spy — for Austin Powers 4. (Yes, AP was even bigger than Wayne.)

Okay, so it’s not much to go on. There is no mention of who would be signing on besides Mike Myers (who else do you need?) or what the story is, but let’s face it: Austin Powers movies could probably be written by a duo of teenagers just entering puberty. They definitely need to bring Seth Green back in as Scott Evil or I won’t even go see the damned movie.

What’s everyone think about this news? Is it too late to bring Austin Powers back into our lives? Will he be as groovy as we once remembered? Myers tried to play another goofy character in the Love Guru if you can remember that soggy piece of scum-crust. I’ve actually tried to suppress the memory of it completely.

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Marvel Comics Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #667 – Spider Island Part 1

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The excitement of Spider Island continues in full force in this issue of Spidey! The Jackal and his cohorts are hosting a meeting with all of the major crime families of New York to distribute a little something to the now spider-powered thugs. Spider suits. Almost every Spiderman costume there has been, and he has also given them orders to terrorize the city in every way possible. Not good! Peter in the meantime can’t get over the fact that his gal pal Carlie has spider-powers as well now. What makes it worse is that she flat-out told him instead of keeping it a secret. What a jerk that makes you Mr. Parker! Or it just makes her look like a gossipy woman who can’t keep anything to herself. I’ll let you the readers decide on that one.

Mayor J. Jonah Jameson as you can imagine is happier than a pig in its own excrement due to the fact that his idiotic Aniti Spider Patrol is somewhat relevant for the moment. After all the guy did spend 30 percent of the city budget on it…. good call JJ. A group of folks not so happy are the Avengers who show up in the issue to perform some spider control. I get the feeling that the spider powered criminals may be in over their heads because you have the likes of Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Red Hulk and the Thing whooping their web-clad asses in the issue.

I have to say one of the best moments for me was when Peter showed up in his spider suit to help out and was rewarded by getting pummeled by his comrades. Something tells me that he should have just thought that one over a few minutes longer before jumping into the fray. Overall I give the issue 4 out of 5 grizzlies.

The issue was a bit on the light-hearted side even as all hell breaks loose in New York. I have to say it kind of annoys me continuity wise when an event like this happens during the same time as another event, that one being Fear Itself. How can all of this crap be happening at once?! Regardless, Spider Island is just too much fun for me to care at this point. I hope Dan Slott keeps it up throughout the arc because I am thoroughly entertained. I may be one of the few but I still enjoyed the issue even when I’m not a huge fan of Humberto Ramos’ art. I’ve grown to accept it over the years but not enough to hope he’s drawing one of the books I read.

Movie News & Opinions

The Phantom Menace in 3D….Oh Boy.

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Rarely do movies get re-released in theaters, and even more rarely in 3D. It’s even more rare when a bad movie gets re-released, let alone in 3D. Yes, according to a brief report over at Bleeding Cool, the Phantom Menace 3D transition is all but complete and Jar Jar Binks will soon be annoying you in more than two dimensions come February of 2012. Check out the report below:

I’ve just had a quick chat with Matt Bristowe, Head of Production at stereo house Prime Focus after the “big” 3D debate at Empire Big Screen. He’s confirmed for me that all work is complete on the 3D version of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace.

As well you know, the film is hitting cinemas next February. To hear Prime Focus talk about the film, they certainly seem to have done a lot of hard work on this one, considering the artistic implications of another dimension carefully.

Had only the first two dimensions been totally up to snuff, eh?

I’m not going to defend The Phantom Menace at all. People who hated it are completely justified in the way they feel about it, especially the die hard fans who waited a very long time for a new Star Wars movie only to get something woefully mediocre. I for one will be seeing the movie in 3D, trying every step of the way trying to not be annoyed to tears by Jar Jar’s antics and Jake Lloyd’s art form of shitty-acting. It’s really all a means to an end to see the epic lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. That fight scene was worth the price of admission even back in 1999.

Lucas’ plan is to release one Star Wars film in 3D each year so it looks like we’re looking towards 2016 and 2017 for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi… Well maybe just Empire Strikes Back because the notion of 3D Ewoks both sickens me and creeps me out.

I would also like to ask everyone to comment after reading this article to inspire Dr. Kronner to see this when it returns to theater next year. He’s stubbornly refused to ever watch The Phantom Menace again or even open a Christmas present containing the DVD. So your comments can act as a petition of sorts to break his spirit and force him to see Jar Jar again… in 3D!

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Marvel Comics Review: Fear Itself Book 5

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After a hugely disappointing Book 4, Fear Itself picks up the pace a little bit in this issue. It does however still suffer from the lack of character and emotion that makes Flashpoint so much better. Things just move so fast in Fear Itself and there’s really not a whole lot to it. There’s an evil Asgardian named the Serpent who is the anti-thesis of Odin who gives special hammers to his minions. Annnnnd he feeds off fear. Simple, right? Not to say I don’t like it but Fear Itself is lacking plenty of substance. But let’s get to the meat of this steak.

After Thor confronts the Serpent and fails, it’s a knock-em out, no holds barred, slug-fest between Thor and two of the Worthy: Nul (Hulk) and Angrir (Thing). Not good odds. This fight was easily the best part of the book, with Thor proving that he is one of the major powerhouses of the Marvel Universe, comparable to Superman in the DC Universe. His only equal is Bruce Banner in his Hulk form and Thor was even able to withstand an assault against him in this issue, but not without a price. It was awesome to hear Thor telling Hulk what a pain in the ass he always was and how he could never beat him. I think Thor is selling himself short on that one because those two seemed pretty evenly matched and this is Hulk in Worthy mode with a giant effin’ magical hammer!

Aside from the Thor triple brawl, Stark is in the process of trying to convince Odin to let him use Asgard’s workshop to make his own weapons to use against the Serpent and his forces. It makes sense, they need magical weapons to fight back against the Serpents magical weapons. That might be where the Mighty come in, which we have yet to see.

***Spoilers Below! ***

Here’s a little teaser of what Stark’s new weapons will look like. Who do we have in this line up? It looks like Iron Man, Spiderman, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Dr. Strange and Ms. Marvel. Who might the others be? Perhaps that’s Valkyrie with the gigantic sword….

Overall I give this issue a 2 out of 5 bears. Not much happened aside from more build up to the climax of the arc, but the fight with Thor, Thing and Hulk definitely helped. Immonen’s art is still pretty decent throughout the book. At first I thought he was the wrong fit for a story of this caliber and I never was crazy about his art to begin with, but I’ve definitely taken a liking to it in Fear Itself.

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Thor out of a Job? – Meet Tanarus ‘New God of Thunder’

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Things don’t look too great for the Asgardians during the mega-event that is Fear Itself in the Marvel Universe right now. So it would make sense that a few people won’t make it through the arc unscathed. Take Thor for instance, after his epic throw down with the worthy versions of Hulk and Thing as Nul and Angrir respectively, he’s not looking too good. Does that mean after fear itself there could possibly be a new god of thunder? According to the following teaser from Marvel via IGN, that’s exactly what it means.

I have no idea who Tanarus is either, because I know you’re all scratching your heads the same as me. That, or you’re vomiting uncontrollably because you think this is a terrible idea. I don’t mind it because I don’t know where the hell they could possibly be going with this. Thor has disappeared so many times in the last several years that I’m sort of used to it at this point. And either way you know it will be on a strictly temporary basis and even more temporary if sales take a nose dive. Also I don’t have one clue who Tanarus is, other than the two teasers above. I’m hoping for entertainment’s sake he doesn’t suck hind wind, but I suppose we’ll see in November when he makes his debut in ‘The Mighty Thor #8‘ written by none other than Matt Fraction. (Fear Itself and most things Thor.)