All posts by Stephen Sanchez

Movie News & Opinions

“Thor 2: The Dark World” Finds a Villain in Doctor Who

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If you didn’t get enough of the Frost Giants in the first Thor movie, then never fear! Now we are getting elves! But don’t worry, it’s not the fair-haired Orlando Bloom type, but dark elves who enjoy killing people and causing problems. None love this chaos more than the leader of said dark elves; Malekith the Accursed – who will be the new baddie in the Thor franchise! Check out this malevolent bastard below:

Okay so he looks a little ridiculous but have no fear, has Marvel Studios steered us wrong since starting to introduce the Avengers in their movies? I think not! Not only has the villain been announced but the actor set to portray him has as well. Christopher Eccleston of Doctor Who fame is set to play the Accursed of Svartalfheim. For those ignorant savages who don’t know, Svartalfheim is the seventh of the nine Asgardian realms and honestly I only know that because I googled it. Check out the article below from IGN on the casting of Eccleston:

Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has been cast as the primary villain Thor: The Dark World.

Deadline claims the 28 Days Later and Shallow Grave actor will play Malekith the Accursed in the Marvel sequel. Eccleston is no stranger to comic book-oriented fare having played Destro in G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and having a stint on the TV series Heroes.

Malekith the Accursed is the leader of the dark elves of Svartalfheim, who in the comics stole the Casket of Ancient Winters. (The casket can be seen in the first Thor movie.) Malekith also had a badass servant, Kurse, who ultimately turned on Malekith and killed him. The Malekith and Casket of Ancient Winters storyline was adapted for an episode of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

To me, Eccleston has played enough over the top villains to get this right. Those include Destro in that movie that claimed to be G.I. Joe, a sociopathic furniture lover Calitri in Gone in Sixty Seconds and the crazy ass Major in 28 Days Later. Eccleston is best known over in the great nation of the United Kingdom for his stint as the 9th Doctor on the MEGA-popular show Doctor Who. I for one am glad to see him added to the cast, and can’t wait to see what he brings to the table – But a lame villain like Malekith. Bring it on Marvel!

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‘Spartacus: War of the Damned’ Will be Final Season

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I’m not sure it should come as a surprise to anyone that Spartacus couldn’t last forever. I mean how many Romans can really come at Spartacus and get killed in such creative fashion? And here’s a huge spoiler from the history books, Spartacus and the other slaves do eventually end up losing. Sure, the show isn’t all that historically accurate so I wouldn’t put it past them to do something uniquely different with the ending, but honestly there’s not a whole lot more to squeeze from the lauded Starz original series. Oh yes, all of that accompanies the fact that we had about half the cast bite the dust in just the second season.

After season 2 a couple things are now official. The third season of Spartacus will be known as “War of the Damned”, and this third season will be it’s final season. It seems crazy to think that Starz would cancel it’s most widely watched show at the peak of it’s glory, but one has to respect them for not just milking the ever loving shit out of their project until it dies a meek death with less than half the original viewers it started with, as most TV shows love to do. Check out the article here at THR for an extensive interview with showrunner Steven S. DeKnight to get a grip on his reasoning for the ending of the show.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the last ten episodes of Spartacus will hold for the characters we know and love including Spartacus, Crixus and Gannicus. It’s evident that anyone at this point will be up for an epic death scene, more than likely not in the arena. It was almost inevitable that Spartacus would be facing off against Crassus at some point, having heard his name over the past two seasons more than once.

Also of note is the inclusion of the man himself, Julius Caesar into the world of Spartacus. DeKnight even spoke of a possible spin-off involving Caesar. I’m not quite sure how that would work out, or if it would even be entertaining, but I’m sure if it’s the same team running the show it couldn’t be that bad. Usually I’m shocked and upset about a show ending, especially when it’s at it’s absolute best. However, something just feels right about them ending Spartacus. The show has been consistently good even with many tribulations it has faced with the untimely death of it’s main actor Andy Whitfield. Hopefully they will end it on a high note in honor of him. Time will tell.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 5 Trailer

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The Clone Wars ended on a bit of a high note last season. Darth Maul is back, apparently stronger than ever, shirtless and sporting a nice robotic torso and matching legs. Our hero Obi-Wan Kenobi couldn’t stand up to him and even had to resort to teaming up with bald broad Assaj Ventress to survive. And at the end of this ordeal? Maul is still on the loose along with his equally dangerous brother Savage Oppress. This team up gave a bit to think about as in who will be in Maul’s path when he inevitably begins cutting a swath of mayhem throughout the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Now, from the first trailer from the upcoming season 5 we know a little more.

It was fully expected that Maul will continue to pursue Kenobi. I mean, I would totally be after someone for separating me from the favorite half of my body. Then of course there is the question of Sidious. Would he have known that Maul still lived or would he have just left the poor bastard for dead either way? It appears that Maul will be focusing that part of his rage against Count Dooku, whom he proclaims to be a Sith pretender. So not only will there be a big emphasis on the Maul brothers in season 5, but the Death Watch seem to be returning in a big way. The last time we saw them it was a brief skirmish with Ahsoka that showed us how merciless the Death Watch can be. Jon Favreau returns to voice the slimy Pre Viszla and looks to be leading the Death Watch into persuading the Mandalorians to re-don their warrior ways.

I really can’t agree with this more and truly hope that the show clears up the whole Mandalorian pacifists angle by maybe….killing Satine and her Mandalorians? I know that sounds harsh but in all of the other expanded universe material the Mandalorians were always warriors and bounty hunters with the Death Watch being the worst of them. It doesn’t mean all Mandalorians were murdering scum, but there definitely weren’t pacifists amongst them. Something that would really be welcome is a team up between Darth Maul, Savage Oppress and the Death Watch as is possibly hinted at by Darth Maul’s dialogue in the trailer. It would seem they all have mutual beef not only with the Jedi and the Republic but with Dooku and his Separatists as well. One of the most interesting parts of the Clone Wars may now be a third faction joining the war in the form of the Sith and Death Watch. I wonder if Sidious foresaw that whole thing. Then again this is all up for speculation and I’m sure we’ll find out more after Star Wars Celebration and the summer comic conventions.

Also of note in the trailer is the healthy amount of beloved bounty hunter Embo… and his hat. The hat still shows itself to be useful as a shield and now as a snowboard too! Pirate Hondo Ohnaka appears to be back in action as well, helping Ahsoka out on the planet Onderon. Onderon as you may or may not know plays an integral part in the Tales of the Jedi stories from way back, taking place thousands of years before the Clone Wars and even years before the Old Republic MMORPG. It will be interesting to see if they touch on the stories of ancient Jedi and Sith Lords Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun.

It looks as if the Clone Wars will continue to get better as each season goes on and I can’t wait for fall to start! If you’re interested there is a leaked clip of Embo doing his snowboarding thing below. The quality is so so, but excellent nonetheless.

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Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 1 – ‘The North Remembers’

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Things have picked up almost right where they left off in Westeros… except now there are a few different kings running around the lands culminating into the conflict that is known as the ‘War of the Five Kings’. If you’re wondering who the fifth is, you’ll find out soon enough as the show moves on. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the next episode to come.

Obviously…SPOILERS

Our first king is Joffrey who is just the same old little shit head throughout this first episode. He is reveling in his newfound rule and doing whatever he wants to despite his mother’s guiding hand. To complicate things for Joffrey and Cersei, Tyrion has arrived in King’s Landing to execute his father Tywin’s command to be Hand of the King in his absence. Although it was good to see Tyrion back in the show, there wasn’t a whole lot of time spent in the royal capital, which is where the majority of the action and intrigue will take place this season. The same could be said of Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch who are making their way beyond the wall to investigate what the Wildlings are up to. Besides Jon getting reprimanded by Commander Mormont not much happens aside from the character of Craster being introduced. He is the same piss pot many of us know and love from the books, having a pretty liberal brain-mouth filter due to knowing that the Night’s Watch needs him. Even though you know it won’t happen you can’t help but wish Jon Snow would just go and punch him in the mouth.

Robb Stark is still doing a good job of being a bad ass, as he confronts Jaime Lannister in his cell along with his dire wolf Grey Wind. That scene was probably one of the best as Robb set the direwolf loose on Jaime, and I have to commend the crew of Game of Thrones for making the dog look about as big as dire wolf is supposed to be. Robb’s strategy at this point while he is still winning is of course to gain some allies. Theon urges Robb to allow him to go to his father Balon on the Iron Islands, and convince to join with Robb, who sends his mother to the Storm Lands in order to ally with King Renly Baratheon who we don’t get to see in this episode.

The newest portion of the story involves Robert Baratheon’s other brother Stannis, who is portrayed as a very stoic and cold man just as he was in the book. Things with Stannis are black and white and by the book. He doesn’t mess around with words or people as we’ll find out through the season. More interesting is his current advisor in the form of Melisandre, played perfectly by Carice van Houten. Stannis has taken a new god, the Lord of Light, and Melisandre is his priestess. As you’ll see, many of Stannis’s followers aren’t too fond of her, including Maester Cressen who makes the ultimate sacrifice to no avail. Unlike Robb, Stannis doesn’t want or need any allies. His philosophy is “they’ll bend the knee or I’ll destroy them.”, and this includes his little brother Renly. The confrontation between the remaining two Baratheon brothers is something I can’t wait to see play out on screen.

This picture doesn’t really fit in here, but we wanted to use it anyhow.

Daenerys (along with Drogon.) had about six minutes of screen time and her remaining Khalasar is not doing too well. They are short on horses and there is barren wasteland aplenty, into which she sends her blood riders into in order to find a safe haven for them. I expect that the following episodes won’t be so broken up into so many pieces. The show may have to focus on two or three storylines at a time as all of the characters are so scattered at the moment. At one point, the author George R.R. Martin had to write two different books that took place concurrently because there were so many different characters in different locations. It will be interesting to see how they handle that on the show in future seasons. Regardless, this season is off to a great start thus far and looks to only get better from the looks of the preview at the end. Hopefully the next episode deals more with Arya who is still on the road with Yoren and Gendry because she had wayyyyyyyyyyy less screen time with Daenerys. I give the episode 4 out of 5 bears. Even though the whole episode was show of putting the pieces into place for us viewers, it was still excellent and the pay off will be even better starting next week.

And not to mention another Joffrey bitch slap!

Stay tuned!

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Star Wars – The Clone Wars Season 4, Episode 22 : ‘Revenge’ Review

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*FULL SPOILERS*

The Clone Wars finale wasn’t what I expected in the first half, but it was still pretty excellent. This is episode was ALL Darth Maul, and only a little bit of it being “crazy” Darth Maul. Witwer turned that character off to give us the cold and calculating Darth Maul who kept his rage in check for the most part… until his first confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi since the bisection he dealt out to the horned Sith Lord on Naboo.

The first half of the episode involved Savage taking his twisted, spider-legged brother Maul to see Mother Talzin on Dathomir in order to “fix” him. Not only does Talzin repair Maul’s damaged mind to help give him some focus but she also fashions him some new sturdy legs that are far superior to the rickety old spider ones he had. After appearing in about five episodes at this point, Talzin remains to be a mystery to me. She obviously wouldn’t mind seeing Dooku dead, could care less about the Jedi being killed, and she helps Ventress and the Maul/Savage siblings without either one being aware of it. So it remains to be seen just who’s side she is on. She’s obviously on her own side, but to what end is uncertain. It will be interesting to see next season what all of her plans finally culminate into.

It was very interesting to hear a couple of things that Maul had to say after his enlightenment by Mother Talzin. He stated that the Clone Wars had began without him, which makes it clear that the plan to use the clones was known to him through Sidious far in advance. Also involving Sidious was Maul’s statement that he was apprentice to the most powerful being in the galaxy once and that he had a greater destiny than the one that befell him on Naboo. That has me thinking that Maul not only has business with the Jedi, but perhaps with Dooku and Sidious as well. It makes me wonder what the future has in store for us. Possibly some sort of future confrontation between Sidious and Maul? Personally I’d like to see a clash between Maul and Dooku sometime also. I can’t wait if those things actually end up happening next season!

After Talzin departs we are treated to some mercilessness from Maul as he lands on a planet to lure Kenobi to him. I felt a little chilled as children gathered outside of their spaceship, under the impression that it was a routine supply ship and Maul calmly declared to his brother- “In a galaxy at war Savage, there is only one way to get the attention of the Jedi…. Slaughter of the innocent, mercilessly and without compromise.” After a decapitation by lightsaber ridden hologram message to the Jedi council, Obi-Wan is off to a date with destiny… and one pissed off half Sith Lord.

The four way lightsaber fight between Ventress and Obi-Wan v.s. Savage and Maul was pretty darn spectacular. It couldn’t top Dooku v.s. Ventress v.s. Savage, but to be able to see Kenobi and Maul throwdown was enough to put it damn close. I’m a huge fan of trash talk during lightsaber fights, as a Sith Lord tries to lure the Jedi into using the Dark Side. Maul tried accomplishing this by throwing Qui-Gon’s death in Obi-Wan’s face which had the Jedi more than a little angry. In the end it was curious to see how outgunned even Ventress and Obi-Wan were up against the brothers. Maybe if Obi-Wan could fight without having the tar beat out of him previously, then that might have tipped the scales in their favor.

As welcome a sight as it was seeing Obi-Wan and Ventress fighting side by side, I still don’t know how I feel about seeing Ventress as even a reluctant hero. And it’s not because this current path she is on screws up EU continuity. She has been an agent of Dooku and killer of many for far too long for me to accept her as anything more than a villain. True, they’ve done a lot with her character in this season and the last but that doesn’t mean she should be the redeemable bad guy at this point. But then again, if Anakin could be redeemed by the end of Return of the Jedi, then why not Ventress.

It was an interesting way to see the season end, with Maul and Savage being credible threats in store for season 5 and Ventress on a ship with Obi-Wan. Maul is not only anticipating Jedi coming after him and Savage, but he is actually wanting it to happen. I sense there might be more than a few Jedi deaths next season.

I knew after the first ten minutes that there wouldn’t be enough time to expand on the story as much, but the Clone Wars team did a great job with the time that they did have. I give the episode four out of five grizzlies and eagerly await the next season. Usually we get a preview of the next season via one of the comic conventions, so stay tuned!

Movie News & Opinions

‘Chronicle’ Director in Talks for ‘Venom’ Movie

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Amongst the greatest movie atrocities ever committed, aside from Jar Jar Binks and all of George Lucas’ terrible Star Wars alterations, Spiderman 3 stands alone from many others. I don’t remember being quite so disappointed by a movie in my life as Peter Parker went Emo, Sandman was just a “guy trying to get his kid back” and Venom? Venom was saved as the closing act jobber played by That 70’s Show’s ‘Eric Foreman’ – Topher Grace.

What happened? Where was the Venom from the comics who was cold, calculating and basically a mountain of muscle? Instead, we get possibly the most whiny Eddie Brock imaginable, and a Venom who sounds like a velociraptor and has to peel back his face to show us Topher Grace with sharp teeth every time he wants to talk. It was a complete and utter betrayal, and nauseating display of a studio grabbing for the almighty buck right out of our pockets. Sam Raimi himself even let everyone in on the secret that this wasn’t even his vision of Venom at all, but the studio wanted him in there because he was sooooooo cool to the fans. Nevermind story or any of that kind of shit Sony, just fit him into your already horrible movie during the last fifteen minutes because, ya know… it’d be cool. UNCOOL!

But anyways, onward to the subject at hand.

Even after the debacle that was Venom in Spiderman 3, the powers that be have decided to give our favorite symbiote a second chance and are even attempting to place it in very capable hands. Josh Trank, the director of the newly successful movie Chronicle, has reportedly been tapped to take on directing duties for the newest Venom movie. Chronicle was a found footage approach movie that let us have a look at three young fellas who stumble upon telekinetic powers and then proceed to use them to dick around. There’s a tad bit more to it, but in the long run the movie cost 12 million to make and ended up grossing over 100 million. So, there’s definitely no reason a Venom movie should be terribly hard to make on a modest budget and still be profitable because let’s face it; the days of big budget films that don’t already have a huge fan base may be pretty much over. John Carter and Green Lantern are prime examples of that. Why not start off small and see where the box office revenue takes you before you determine whether or not there will be a sequel.

Next is the question of whether or not the Venom movie will tie into the forthcoming The Amazing Spider-Man movie and what Venom’s origin will be. In the other Spidey movies, they didn’t even bother utilizing the space shuttle angle, even though they had already used John Jameson in Spiderman 2. Instead, filmmakers decided that it would be a good idea to just have it fall from the sky like a meteor in the general vicinity of Peter Parker. In the new Venom, I’d think it would be a better idea to follow the Ultimate Spiderman comic book link of Peter and Eddie Brock being old childhood friends and Venom being a creation of both their parents. Of course they can change it up a little more but that seems like a simple, yet better way than a blob of black good falling from the sky. Only time will tell what direction the Venom movie will take, or if Josh Trank will indeed helm the movie. Rest assured, we will bring you news as soon as it hits!