SDCC 2013 Rumor Mill: J.J. Abrams May Quit Star Wars?

July 24, 2013 Stephen Sanchez Leave a comment

Here’s some news that may cause massive system shock to Star Wars fans everywhere: Rumors that J.J. Abrams may be contemplating dropping out of Star Wars Episode 7! Dun Dun Dun! It’s pretty much just a rumor floating around the San Diego Comic Con, but still that would be dreadful news from the viewpoint of a geek like me, who thought there would never be another Star Wars movie ever! Then to find out that not only were there more coming, but they weren’t being directed by George Lucas! I love the J.J. Abrams choice for the man in charge simply based off the success of the Star Trek franchise these past 4 years. If he could turn a Star Wars fan like me (who hated Star Trek since first seeing it as a child) into a believer then just imagine what he can do with the galaxy far far away! Check out the rumor from over at IGN below:

[box_dark]Badass Digest‘s Devin Faraci claims that while at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, he kept “hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars”.

Faraci added, “This has been something I’ve heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for [Star] Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else? I’m expecting Star Wars news out of the German Star Wars Celebration at the end of the month – if there is some sort of announcement of a title or casting and Abrams isn’t there, start wondering.”[/box_dark]

To sort of calm the nerves of Jed-Heads everywhere, Lucasfilm has denied any of these rumors thus far. However much comfort that provides everyone I’m not so sure, because of course they’re not going to admit to any problems with Disney’s newest milking of one of the most profitable franchises ever. Would Abrams departing be the end of Star Wars? No, of course not. Although, they would have been off to a great start to only settle for something mediocre with some of the talent out there nowadays. Here are my three worst case scenarios if J.J. Abrams jets from the project:

1.) Star Wars, Directed by Brett Ratner

2.) Star Wars, Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

3.) Star Wars, Directed by Stephen Sommers

Please, Disney (and essentially Lucasfilm), spare me any of the above heartbreak or I just may explode into oblivion. I suppose we’ll see in the coming months after the D23 Expo from Disney and the German Star Wars: Celebration if these rumors bear any fruit. Fans are expecting some sort of casting news by the time these geek gatherings occur…. me included.

Dexter: 8.04 – “Scar Tissue”

July 22, 2013 Michelle L. Mattock Leave a comment

“Scar Tissue” began very strangely because suddenly with no explanation, Deb and Vogel have a relationship. I don’t really like that we didn’t get to see that part, but I understand that time is of the essence in this final season. Vogel is trying to get through to Deb, seemingly using tough love but she also could just be trying to push Deb over the edge by making her feel guilty. She seems very manipulative. Vogel also accidentally shows Dexter the notes she has been keeping on her activities with him, leading him to kick her out of his life!

In this episode, we also got to see the actual brain surgeon whose name is A.J. Yates. Apparently he was a patient of Vogel. She recommended that he get brain surgery to affect his behavior. Why the hell was he not the first person she thought of? Or, like I said last week, maybe she is controlling the brain surgeon too!

Deb is struggling with what Vogel described as making “the best of a difficult situation”. She said that she should have shot Dexter instead of LaGuerta. Vogel explains to her that Dexter doesn’t know any better but that Deb shot someone in cold blood even though she knew it was wrong.

Because of this struggle, we saw one of the most dramatic endings to a Dexter episode to date! Deb asks Dexter if Harry killed himself after she saw the tape from her father’s last session with Dr. Vogel. Dexter said yes and explained that Harry couldn’t handle what he created, meaning Deter. Deb told her brother that she knows how Harry felt but he only had it half right. SHE GRABBED THE STEERING WHEEL AND STEERED THE CAR WITH DEXTER AND HERSELF IN IT AND DROVE IT INTO THE LAKE! Holy sh*t! I was actually legitimately surprised. But in usual Deb fashion, after she was saved by a local man, she swam out and saved her brother.

There is so much going on right now in this show! Masuka just found out that he has a 20 year old daughter who has the same awesomely ridiculous laugh as him. He did get all disgustingly pervy with her before he knew who she was though… which was uncomfortable. But that’s just Masuka being Masuka.

Quinn and Jamie are fighting, but at least Jamie is naked for it this time!

And I know I said this last week but I feel compelled to say it again…. I will RIOT if Quinn is the one who finds Dexter out! I have been re-watching season 4 and that is when Quinn began to develop suspicions about Dexter as a person. He has always had a feeling about Dexter and in season 5, he even has Dexter followed by a private investigator named Liddy! Imagine what he may put together now that he may become sergeant and with Deb as messed up as she is! Yikes! So many questions…. I do not want to wait a week! However, since I must, join me back here next week to read my rants and raves!

Overall I would say this episode was about a 4. To be very clear, the 4 is mostly because of how amazing the ending was. The back story is great, but I am glad we are finally getting back to the action!

Movie News & Opinions, POP CULTURE

‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’: Joss Whedon Discusses Hank Pym & Ultron’s New Origin

July 22, 2013 Stephen Sanchez Leave a comment

From the Marvel Studios panel at Comic-Con come some small tidbits of information from the man, Joss Whedon himself, in regards to his now titled film Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tidbit one: Hank Pym will not be in Avengers 2, hence the second tidbit that Ultron’s origin may be a little different. As you may or may not know, Hank Pym is one of the foremost scientists in the Marvel Universe, able to create such things as a helmet that can control ants and a chemical substance that can shrink someone down to the size of said ants. He also created one crazy ass robot named Ultron (who has quite the Oedipus Complex for ole daddy Pym) seeking to eradicate him, the Avengers and pretty much all mankind.

Since the Ant-Man film won’t be released until November 2015, after Avengers: Age of Ultron, I guess it will stand to reason that Ultron’s creator may be Tony Stark. Shocker, I know, like every geek in geekdom didn’t see that one coming after the announcement of Pym not having a part in Avengers 2. I could be wrong but it would appear that Stark may be done with playing superhero after Iron Man 3. This may lead him into making something similar to Iron Man to do the fighting for him, and once that creation becomes self-aware and threatens the world, Tony may have to don the armor again to take down Ultron with the combined might of the Avengers. Or we could all be wrong and Ultron is a weapon that S.H.I.E.L.D. may have built modeled off the Tesseract technology.

Whatever the case may be, everyone is wondering just how much source material the movie will cull from the actual Age of Ultron storyline that debuted earlier this year. Is it just a cool name or will there be actual time travel stuff involved? Seems like 20^th Century Fox is doing the time travel gig and gathering all of their stars to catch up with the Avengers in the cinema, is this Marvel’s counter to that? The answer is no. Whedon has said that they would not be using the recent story and that in the movie they will be doing their own version of Ultron’s origin story. Perhaps they are just trying to usurp the name recognition from Age of Apocalypse since there are rumors that Fox is attempting to make Apocalypse to be their answer to Thanos in their cinematic-comic universe. Time will tell as 2015 approaches and we are treated to the automaton menace of Ultron.

As a quick side note it sounds like Hawkeye will be back, but with a bigger part to play since he won’t be a mind controlled bad guy for more than half of the movie. No news on whether or not Jeremy Renner will be filling the boots of Hawkeye this time around, but we imagine he will stay with the role. Check out Whedon discussing the finer points of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

SDCC 2013: Game of Thrones Panel Discussion and Memoriam…

July 22, 2013 Michelle L. Mattock Leave a comment

On Friday afternoon, July 19th, in Hall H, some of the Game of Thrones cast gathered for a panel at the SDCC. Cast members Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, John Bradley, Kit Harington, Rose Leslie and Richard Madden, and author George R.R. Martin joined executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for the event.

The Game of Thrones panel began with an “In Memoriam” video played with Boys II Men’s “Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”. Such a horribly sad video, remembering all of those amazing characters that we won’t get to see again.

Here is a video that shows the entire panel: (Special Guest star at about 14:40)

Game of Thrones will return in the Spring of 2014.

Movie News & Opinions

SDCC 2013: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Panel!

July 21, 2013 Scoot Allan Leave a comment

X-Men: Days of Future Past has already had a somewhat impressive showing in San Diego this year. Early on we got our first look at the head of a Sentinel, and then later new character portraits featuring Bishop, which was another first look. While no panel was on the schedule, fans were hopeful for something during Fox’s time at SDCC.

Not that unexpectedly, Fox did indeed have a secret panel yesterday for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Rather unexpectedly, The entire cast from the film appeared on stage, an then held a panel. It was pretty extraordinary to see that many people on stage, and there is no doubt the fans were surprised.

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POP CULTURE

SDCC 2013: DC Comics “Con Away From Con”

July 21, 2013 Amanda Broyles Leave a comment

Are you a DC Comics fan who couldn’t make it to San Diego for Comic-Con this year? Well DC feels your pain and have done what they can to make you (us, as I’m sitting at home as well) to feel as if we were there. Think of “Con Away From Con” as a modern age “Wish You Were Here” postcard.

They’ve got a bit of everything – chats with directors and stars, tours of DC booths, interviews, “DC University” highlights… pretty much everything you might check out it you were actually there.

Enough chit-chat, let’s get to the videos!

First a look at the upcoming Flashpoint Paradox. Of course with the new Flash movie being announced this weekend (along with the Man of Steel sequel featuring Batman), all eyes are on “The Fastest Man Alive”. This new animated movie features Justin Chambers as Barry Allen, C. Thomas Howell as Reverse-Flash, and Michael B. Jordan as Cyborg. Incidentally, we have Jordan in the Cyborg role in our Justice League cast.

How about a few on the upcoming documentary on DC Comics Rogues Gallery? Necessary Evil will be released on October 25th.

You can check out the full trailer here!

Of course, DC Comics wouldn’t be much without the incredible artists that work for them. With “DC Universe” Comic-Con attendees got the chance to see these artists as work, including Amanda Conner who, with her husband and partner Jimmy Palmiotti, will be writing a Harley Quinn solo book in the New 52.

One of the biggest things at a convention of San Diego’s Comic-Con magnitude, are the booths on the convention floor. This year DC Comics had a display of Superman costumes through the years.

I think it’s written in some writer’s code somewhere that if a Neil Gaiman interview exists and relates at all to what you are doing, you must include it. So… Neil Gaiman talks Sandman: Overture as well as artist J.H. Williams III.

For more Comic Con coverage check here!

Grizzly Bomb