I really feel like playing Resident Evil 4 sometimes, but I don’t because hooking up my relic of a Gamecube is too much of a hassle, and I don’t own a Nintendo Wii. And if I want to play Code Veronica, forget about it, the last copy I have of that is on the Sega Dreamcast, and there is no way that sucker is going to work. But now, people like me can now breathe a sigh of relief…then inhale and let out a ‘Howard Dean-esque’ Yell of Joy!
According to IGN, both of these chapters in the Resident Evil zombie fest are returning to us via X-Box Live and the Playstation Network this fall.
And not only are they being re-released to us, but they will be getting an HD and visual overhaul. So yes… double awesome.
I can hardly wait for these games to be available again, though I will have to wait (in great anticipation) to see if they release a revamped Resident Evil 1 or Resident Evil: Zero to us in the near future.
But that’s not all, fans of Resident Evil have plenty in development to look forward to. Along with the revamped games coming up for download, Resident Evil: Damnation is to be released next year, which is a sequel to the computer animated Resident Evil: Degeneration.
Also Milla Jovovich and Sienna Guillory will return in 2012 as Alice and Jill Valentine respectively for the fifth Resident Evil movie.
The next big question then becomes: Where is the Resident Evil 6 game?
It appears time for the Akira live action movie to be moving ahead, with SuperHero Hype’s report of the front-runners for the two main characters; Kaneda and Tetsuo. The villain of the story is Tetsuo, a young man with a big chip on his shoulder who begins to manifest immense psychic powers, and then use them with extreme prejudice. This guy was a total psycho in the animated movie and equally so in the graphic novels that movie was based on. He was a part of the same biker gang as his friend and rival of sorts, Kaneda. Kaneda is a bit of a jackass, but he’s a loveable jackass and the closest thing we get to a hero.
That being said let’s have a look at the contenders for the role of Tetsuo. It’s between Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy. Right off the bat I need to discount McAvoy because he seems a little too old for the role. If they’re following the story of the graphic novel, the two characters are teenagers and McAvoy is about to hit 32 in a month.
Maybe they’re going a different direction with the characters’ ages, but if not I don’t see a 32-year-old guy playing a kid still in a “home for boys”. This leaves Pattinson and Garfield. I think either one of them could pull it off, but it would be more refreshing to see Garfield in the role than having the Twilight star Pattinson thrown in our faces once again. If you can’t tell I’m a little burned out on Twilight.
Picture courtesy of Gamma Squad
On the Kaneda side of things we have a few more options. Up for the role are Garret Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake, and Joaquin Phoenix. I’m going to immediately discount Phoenix because of his age, and the fact that his moronic shenanigans over the past two years made me care less and less about him ever being in another movie. Fassbender, like McAvoy, is too old though it would be interesting to see them both in the roles of hero and villain this time in reverse. In case you haven’t heard Fassbender and McAvoy are both in X-men: First Class this year, starring as Magneto and Charles Xavier respectively.
Justin Timberlake: No. That’s all I can say about that one.
The role of Kaneda for me boils down to either Garrett Hedlund or Chris Pine.
They both have experience playing the troublesome, act without thinking young gun type. Pine’s James T. Kirk persona from the excellent Star Trek reboot is almost exactly how Kaneda acts in the Akira animated movie and graphic novel; overconfident, quick thinking and totally unable to impress the girl with his bravado. Garrett Hedlund played the mischievous young motorcyclist in the recent Tron: Legacy, and the light cycle he tore it up on definitely had a likeness to the bike Kaneda rides in Akira.
What other credentials do ya need? I really enjoy both actors and would be happy with either one, but I tend to lean toward Chris Pine on this one. He has the sort of charisma and humor needed to play Kaneda. And he rode a motorcycle in Star Trek and that’s the most important thing… right?
In case you didn’t notice, none of the actors are Asian like their character’s namesakes, but I’m trying to look past that. I’ll be satisfied as long as they yell one and others name as they try to kill each other. (Watch the Akira animated movie for more on that.)
I hope this movie is done right, because being based off of the six graphic novels it’s going to need at least two or three movies to do the story justice. I’d recommend the Akira animated movie and graphic novels to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi or cyber punk stories. The graphic novels are definitely better than the movie, but it’s still quite a ride either way.
Aside from Batman, I was formerly unable to read most DC comics due to a lack of interest. I thought the heroes were too clean-cut, boring and flashy. That was until I was introduced to a little storyline called Blackest Night. I most definitely had never read a Green Lantern comic prior, but a friend told me how great Blackest Night was because heroes and villains were coming back from the dead killing everything in their path.
Click to Enlarge
I thought- “Hmmm… zombie heroes and villains basically? I’m in.” Even though they weren’t exactly zombies, that is still the concept that got me interested. I was not disappointed. The story had much more to it than just super powered zombies, and as a first time Lantern reader I had to piece together who the Guardians were, where the other colored lanterns came from, what each light/emotion meant on the spectrum, where Oa was, and what the Blackest Night meant. I had a great time after reading it, going back and reading everything that lead up to it. This included The Sinestro Corps War, Agent Orange, and Rage of the Red Lanterns. I had a better understanding of the Green Lantern universe after reading so much, and graciously appreciated the exciting new world made great by comic writing superstar Geoff Johns.
After Blackest Night I knew that Brightest Day had to be just as good, so that was the next big story for me. I was wrong, and shame on me for believing that Brightest Day was going to be another Green Lantern centered storyline, because it wasn’t. It instead focused on the 12 resurrected heroes and villains, and the reasoning behind their returns during the Blackest Night.
I’m not saying that Brightest Day is in any way a bad series, I’ve actually heard quite the contrary from fellow readers, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Fortunately for me the upcoming War of the Green Lanternsstory arc will help satisfy my GL cravings when it’s first two parts release today. My review for those will be forthcoming.
Aside from Hal Jordan having a big DC moment to shine in Blackest Night, the Flash also stood out to me as a primary character during the arc. It was rare to see a page where the two heroes weren’t working together, and it was truly awesome to see Flash as a temporary member of the Blue Lantern Corps, because as you know…. he had the ability to instill great hope. I’ve always liked the ‘Barry Allen’ Flash, but I’ve never actually had the desire to pick up a title starring only him. I’m hoping the upcoming Flashpoint event will do for me with the Flash, what Blackest Night did for me with Green Lantern, which is actually have a desire to read a DC character’s comic that isn’t named Batman.
See the Superman jail in the background?
Flashpoint will begin this May, being composed of five issues along with many tie-in books and one shots. However, it was announced at C2E2 that the Flashpoint tie-ins will be self-contained, and not necessary to follow the main story. Personally I like it better when you don’t have to pick up seven titles a week, for six months just to be in the loop which seems to be the trend nowadays with comic events.
Below is an official description of the upcoming arc from ComicVine:
Flashpoint is an event focusing on Barry Allen and the rest of the Flash Family’s efforts to fix the fissures in time, made by unknown forces. It was first mentioned in the sixth issue of Geoff Johns’The Flash, and will later be seen in a five issue mini series written by Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert starting in May 2011. As with Blackest Night, Flashpoint will be accompanied by a fifteen three-issue mini series, as well as a number of one shots, starring characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and more, showing how the event affects their lives.
The series seems very interesting indeed, with these fissures in time having direct effects on many of the main DC heroes. I’m hoping to see a few alternate realities in the spin-off issues, seeing as how time itself is being manipulated, and it appears to be the case according to the promo below:
Oh my….
Bruce Wayne running casinos? Aquaman and Wonderwoman married? Superman detained? Hal Jordan is not the Green Lantern because Abin Sur never died?
Awesome! It has a very Age of Apocalypsevibe running through it, and I assume that Flash and the other speedsters who use the ‘Speed Force’ will be hot on the trail of exactly whatever the Flashpoint is. I cannot wait to get into this story, especially with Geoff Johns writing and Andy Kubert doing the art. Johns has proven himself a genius in breathing new life into characters and making them relevant again, and I have liked Andy Kubert’s art since he was doing X-Men in the 90’s. This seems like a great jumping on point for any passive reader of the Flash looking to expand their comic horizons. (Like me.)
Flashpoint will be speeding to your local comic store in May!
Thanks to ComingSoon.net, glorious news has reached my ears that the newest Planet of the Apes movie, entitled Rise of the Apes, will be released even sooner than realized. Instead of the Thanksgiving release that was last announced, the rampaging apes will be flooding the screens this summer on August 5th.
Why such glorious news you might ask? Well, if you’re a classic Planet of the Apes film fan (Remember the ones with Roddy McDowall?) then you’ll feel as cheated and disgusted as I was with Tim Burton’s horrendous reboot of the beloved franchise. It had a great cast, costumes, sets, and budget to match, yet failed in its execution. Especially the ending with our friend Ape Lincoln. I would almost compare the cast of Planet of the Apes to that of the Phantom Menace, both movies had everything necessary to not suck and they inevitably did.
Rise of the Apes is a new origin story, chronicling how the primates war against the humans came into being, the result of genetic experimentation. Even though there has not been a trailer yet, I think it’s safe to assume that James Franco will be able to hold his own as the scientist performing genetic experiments in the movie, and we all know that Andy Serkis can handle playing a primate after King Kong.
The movie will also feature veteran actor Brian Cox and relative newcomer Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire). Also, still relatively fresh off of the 4th season of Dexter, the Trinity Killer himself – John Lithgow.
More on Rise of the Apes as it develops. UPDATE!!! – TRAILER RELEASED – CLICK THE LINK!
There has been plenty of comic news coming out of C2E2, the Chicago Comic Convention, over the weekend. And even though the following snippet via IGN is not big news, it’s something that we’ve all come to anticipate from a comic book death; a comic book resurrection! The character in question is Nightcrawler who died at the hands of Bastion saving Hope during the Second Coming story arc.
The panel’s response to if he would return was a bit muddled:
“We’ve talked about it within the X-Men office,” noted X-Editor Daniel Ketchum. “It’s always a card on the table. I guess I’ll leave it up to you to figure out, ‘Well, are we going to play to type or go against the grain?'”
I would imagine that means they are conflicted about whether they should bring him back like every other character, or actually try to keep him dead. As we all know, no comic character ever stays dead, but I think their death and inevitable return means more the longer they are gone. So as much as I wish that Nightcrawler would grace us with a return it would be the same old crap with him returning after only a year of being gone.
Below is a small list of X-men who have died and the circumstances of both their deaths and returns. Some of the reasoning behind their resurrections are quite amusing if not completely ridiculous.
Colossus
– Death: Injected himself with the cure to the mutant killing legacy Virus with the full knowledge that in order to spread antibodies the cure would kill the first user. Ballsy. – Return: Turns out he didn’t die, and an alien named Ord switched bodies with a duplicate. Rrrrright.
Psylocke
– Death: Killed in combat by the loser villain Vargas. – Return:Her brother Jamie Braddock reached back in time to stop her spirit from reaching the afterlife. Wow.
Cyclops
– Death:Merges with the spirit of Apocalypse to save his son. – Return: Jean and Cable track down CyPocalypse and separate their two spirits. Sounds like a cheap rip off of The Exorcist.
Professor X
– Death: Accidentally killed by his son when he went back in time to kill Magneto. – Return: Death is undone when Bishop travels back in time and stops Legion. Time travel is super nifty.
Jean Grey/Phoenix
– Death(s): Committed suicide to stop the Dark Phoenix and was also killed by John Sublime…posing as Magneto…posing as Xorn. That’s a crapload of retcons there. – Return(s): Retcon with the Phoenix Force being a copy of Jean, while the real Jean is in a healing cocoon. Yes… a healing cocoon. Brought back to life by the Phoenix Force after the Sublime kill, now living on a higher plane of existence.
And the list goes on – Cannonball, Havok, Storm, Warpath, Archangel, Rachel Summers, Emma Frost, and of couse, Wolverine. This isn’t even all of them either…
With very few exceptions, Comic Book Deaths are a very fickle thing…
After months and months of lawsuits, broke ass studios, a Guillermo del Toro bailout, boycotts, and ulcers, the Hobbit will finally begin filming according to Yahoo! Movies!
After writing several articles about the upcoming duology on BamKapow, all talk of it seemed to cease after it was announced that Peter Jackson would be the one to direct it. Aside from the minor casting calls of people we obviously know will be starring in it there was no announcement worthy of a hobbit feet picture… until now.
Boom!
It’s about time Jackson and company got a move on because the first movie is set for a December 2012 release.
I’m a bit puzzled as to how Frodo would be in the movie since he wasn’t even born at the time The Hobbit events take place. I’m assuming it will be an introduction with Frodo looking over notes of Bilbo’s old travels.
Bilbo himself will be played by Martin Freeman who is well-known to those in the U.K., but a relatively unknown actor to us here in the States. I particularly enjoyed his small role at the beginning and end of Hot Fuzz.
Martin Freeman inherits Ian Holm’s role
Now, for those of you who do not know what The Hobbit is, the two films take place approximately 55 years before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The one ring is in the possession of Gollum in the Misty Mountains at this time, and you don’t even realize that it is indeed the ‘one ring’, it’s simply a magical ring that helps Bilbo disappear. In The Hobbit, Gandalf and Bilbo are just meeting for the first time, in which the wizard puts Bilbo in the midst of an adventure he never asked for. Throughout the story we are treated to trolls, goblins, the dragon Smaug, and much more to keep any avid watcher or reader of fantasy entertained. So mark your calendars and hope the world doesn’t end in 2012 because the Hobbit draws near!
Ian Holm driven mad from a glimpse at my Hobbit feet
The next big question then becomes: Where is the Resident Evil 6 game?
Grizzly Bomb 