Author Archives: Leo Choy

About Leo Choy

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Leo Choy stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Leo can see and hear. And so, Leo finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

Warlord of Mars Sued. John Carter Movie is Still a Go!

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More clothed than other images in question.

Dynamite Entertainment and Dynamic Forces, have been sued by ERB.

So who are they and why is this so important? Well Dynamite Entertainment is responsible for the Warlord of Mars graphic novel series and Lord of the Jungle, while Dynamic forces produces collectibles based on the same works. What’s this to the ERB? Well it stands for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. You see, he’s the one who originally created Tarzan and the Mars adventurer known as John Carter back in the day which both comic series and products seem to base their work off of. So the family-owned company which holds the existing rights to the works filed a lawsuit last week Thursday in federal court. This was first reported by The Wall Street Journal

ERB accuses the publisher and merch producer of trademark infringement and unfair competition with the release of the two aforementioned comic series. ERB further claim that the comics were published without authorization.

Apparently ERB already told Dynamite Entertainment President, Nick Barrucci back in 2007 that Dark Horse held the licenses for the John Carter of Mars and Tarzan novels. Dynamite Entertainment had approached ERB originally about the possibility of publishing comics based on John Carter and Tarzan.

This was the same year that ERB licensed Disney to make the film John Carter, and also a toy company to come out with 12-inch John Carter action figures.

So the complaint is that the comics released by Dynamite Entertainment, compounded by the fact that there are other titles officially licensed out there, is likely to “Deceive, mislead and confuse the public” about who exactly is legitimately supported by ERB as these comics are “confusingly similar”.

Which titles are in question exactly?

  • Lord of the Jungle
  • Warlord of Mars
  • Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris
  • Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom

If that was the intent, then yes, it would be confusing. That would be like if Disney ripped off the Harry Potter series and made a show about magical humans going to school. It is said the confusion may cause, “irreparable injury” to ERB Inc.

The comic has been in publication since 2010, so why all the commotion now? Is it a coincidence that this happened two weeks before the official release of the Disney movie in two weeks time? As convenient as this is; marketing wise; the case raises questions about public domain and the boundaries between copyright and trademark law.

The copyright term has since run its course in the states as it begins at the time of publication to a fixed number of years. Burroughs, an American author, wrote the first John Carter story back in 1912, in America. Even with the fixed number of years which I believe maxes out at 70, we’re well cleared 1982; who said those math classes were useless. This means that the works is part of public domain. This however might all be side stepped if this goes to copyright law outside of the states. In most parts of the world, the copyright length lasts the life of the author plus 50 to 70 years. So Burroughs died in 1950 which means the copyright could potentially last up to the year 2021 outside of the United States. This is exactly the angle that ERB is approaching as they attempt to get a New York federal judge to enforce UK copyright law. Did I already mention the author is American?

To top it all off, ERB also claims trademarks over John Carter and Tarzan. If successful, it would mean that ERB could possibly get perpetual copyright. Before you know it, they’ll be sandblasting images of comic book version John Carter off of elementary school murals. Hmmm… I see a pattern here.

Wait a tic. Didn’t I write about this public domain for John Carter nonsense back on February 1st?

An excerpt about the John Carter movie from one of my earliest articles:

“When I first saw the trailer for John Carter in theaters, my mind immediately went to the graphic novel, “Warlord of Mars” from Dynamite comics, which I saw similarities in costume; for the men because they actually wore clothes unlike the women. I thought this was a theatrical adaptation of the comic book and wondered why they would go to the trouble of changing the name.

As it turns out, after nearly a hundred years in print, the copyright for this story has since expired and is considered public domain. So both the movie and the comic book can be treated as separate entities, which is a good thing since the comic book version is rather risqué; strippers tend to wear more then the females depicted in the graphic novel.”

I did write about this. So it’s also not a surprise that ERB is also harping about the comic’s costume design like I did; to me at least.  I’m always mostly right.

The official complaint states that the content for Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris “border on (and in some cases are) pornographic”

“In each issue, [the female character] Dejah Thoris appears with greatly exaggerated feminine features”

“On some covers – covers which defendants refer to as ‘Risque Nude’ exclusive covers – Dejah Thoris appears topless.”

I’d like to be the first to welcome ERB to the wonderful world of comic books. Aimed at boys with a lowered chance at copulation, the comic book industry has been ‘cheesecake’ for a number of decades.  Empires have been built on this collective hormonal drive.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify any damages, but it does seek to recall all the comics distributed in the United Kingdom. Oh, and also the complete and utter surrendering of profits made by these works forthwith.

I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if ERB went after DC comics for Martian Manhunter, which is very similar to the martians in the John Carter series.  Heh.  “No man escapes the Manhunters.”  I know. I know.  Wrong manhunter.

Almost a hundred years in the making, the theatrical adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs classic sci-fi novel is due to hit theaters March 9.

The Secret World of Arrietty Makes Waves in Japan With $8.1 Million U.S. Opening

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The Secret World of Arrietty did the unexpected and gained $8.1 million on it’s opening weekend in the States. This is the biggest take for the animators Studio Ghibli to date for a stateside release, making headlines in Japan.

This is impressive because when compared to Spirited Away; another animation by Studio Ghibli; the film only took home half a million stateside on its opening three day bow. While the film itself had earned a record breaking $230 million in Japan, it only ended up with $10 million in America.

Studio Ghibli attributes their success in the united states to Disney, who released the dubbed version. This was openly communicated on the official website for Studio Ghibli in Japan.

The Secret World of Arrietty, which is known as Karigurashi no Arrietty in Japan, opened on over 1500 screens and finished the weekend in eighth spot. The film was first released in Japan, July 2010 and took $115 million home, the highest grossing domestic film that year. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the inspiration for the film was drawn from The Borrowers, written by English author Mary Norton; the creator of Disney classic Bedknobs & Broomsticks!

The Borrowers which was first published in 1952, is the first in a series of children fantasy novels. The stories are about tiny people who infest the homes of normal people, often scavenging for supplies. According to the books, they “borrow” things to survive while ensuring that the world stays ignorant of their existence. We have that too in the real world, the little people are often just the homeless that are cracked out on drugs they bought pawning “borrowed” goods.

The story goes on to tell a story about Arrietty Clock, the spirited teenager of the tiny people variety. From what I can see in the movie adaptation, she becomes friends with a human who’s discovered her existence. Instead of being sentenced to death for violating the masquerade, they carry on their friendship despite the cultural hurdles they face; size does matter.  I believe they made a live action movie in 1997 starring John Goodman also called “The Borrowers.”

Now that I think of it, I remember an animation on television which also became a movie. It was called The Littles. It too was adapted from a series of children’s novels written by John Peterson, this time an American author in 1967. Hmmmm… Curiouser and curiouser. The Littles were also a family of tiny people; with mouse like features such as tails, teeth and ears; that infested the home of the Bigg family; har har. They built wacky contraptions from household items to aid in their survival. Having been discovered by one of the Bigg children, they form a trusting relationship which allows them to mooch off the humans more efficiently. Wow. Someone’s been doing some borrowing themselves writing this.

What is it with these remakes of British entertainment? Do people somehow believe that things seen in the UK will be seen as fresh and new ideas in the states? They take great ideas and make these bastardizations that make me cringe. How do people get away with this? It’s not like I can go and pitch an idea about angst filled teens on probation with superpowers and not get caught!

Gah! It’s like my mind refuses to accept this.  Watch the trailer for The Secret World of Arrietty below:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Viral Marketing

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So the marketing department has fired off a few viral things of their own for the upcoming film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I’m sure the 16th president wasn’t much of a social gamer on Facebook, or much into online ciphers with GPS caching scavenger hunts. What was more within his reach however were parcels delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

Bound in rope and wrapped in really good stock paper, various websites like Coming Soon and Crave Online received packages containing what seems to be a preserved journal from what we can presume at this point is the late former president of the United States. At least that’s what we hope, and that Lincoln doesn’t stalk the night, living in the hollowed out statue of himself. Included with the monogrammed leather bound journal was a photo of Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Todd Lincoln, and a silver bullet USB drive; possibly made with steampunk technology, everything is powered by steam! When I first saw these images, my immediate reaction was to go, “Who’s Al?” and be annoying about it. It’s got to be a good life when marketing peeps send you free swag like that.

On this stylish USB drive; manufactured in the past but popularized in the coming future where everyone will want one; contains a featurette for the upcoming movie. So it’s a trailer with interspersed commentary from the production crew.

The one thing that really caught my attention was when director Timur Bekmambetov explains that Lincoln was the Batman of his time. I didn’t think of that until now. It all makes sense. Lincoln has a parent he loved dearly, die before his eyes. Check. Lincoln knows that this is a direct result of underworldly elements that believe themselves to be above the law; and humanity. Check. Goes over the edge with control issues by training himself physically and mentally to be the best. Check. Finds specialists to teach him how to be better at it. Check! Vows to rid the world of anymore suffering due to the element that killed his parent. Check! Iconic costume and trappings that everyone can immediately identify. Stovepipe hat on. Axe sharpened. Double check! The white house even has a secret underground bunker, just like the Bat Cave!

The portion then that annoys me is how Tim Burton, producer of this film can say, “It’s an amazing story. I just felt like it’s something I haven’t seen before.” When in fact he has, having directed The Dark Knight himself.

It all ends with the cute joke, “Are you a Patriot or a Vampire?” encouraging viewers to go to the movie’s official Facebook page.  Which reminds me a lot of “You’re either with us, or against us.” No, not said by a unreasonable bully with psychological problems or control issues, but by a former President of the United States of America.

The featurette actually looked better than the official movie trailer itself. I was actually amped watching this and can’t wait to finish reading the book; half-way through right now.

The film is set for release by Twentieth Century Fox on June 22nd, based on the novel of the same name by Seth Grahame-Smith.

You can go to Coming Soon and look at images of their official Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter propaganda here.

Check out the new featurette below.

The Walking Dead Continues to Kill in the Ratings

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After the huge success of the mid-season premiere for “The Walking Dead”, the show continues to garner high ratings. The mid-season premiere was the most watched show in the history of cable television with 11 million viewers combined; from both time slots. The next episode, number 9 of season 2, didn’t yield as many viewers, but still nothing to laugh at with 8.5 million viewers combined. Again, this doesn’t even begin to count the ones that found online alternatives to watching the show.

Already “The Walking Dead” has been signed for a third season. With things moving as slowly as they are, I’m sure the cast will be almost off the farm by then. Gah!

The episode begins with a little flashback of Lori learning her lesson for being an idiot. Ignoring the conventional wisdom of the buddy system, she left last episode to find Rick who’s in town finding Hershel; who in turn is finding solace at the bottom of a bottle. Lori decides that the best way to navigate her way to town is to drive fast while looking down at a road map. Was she that confident in a world where there are no other drivers around? She’s surprised by a slow walking zombie in the middle of the road. Instead of driving through it, she brakes and swerves, totalling the car.

To outline how stupid she really was and to send a message to the rest of the world, I was hoping that they’d show her driving again, but this time looking down to text message.

So the scene begins with what appears to be night time and a zombie scratching at the car windshield, trying to get at an unconscious Lori. Coming too, Lori gives a little scream realizing how much danger she’s in. The scream resonated in me and made me go, “Good. I hope you die.”

The television adaptation has so far been a source of irritation for me. It depicts the cast from comics which I complete enjoy, but have churned out something that I can’t stand but won’t look away either. Is it good writing or am I just that faithful to the source material? The characters portrayed on television want to do so much to live, yet they’re not willing to think anything through.

Robert Kirkman, creator and writer of The Walking Dead comic, and executive producer for the AMC show went on to comment on the episode. This was in an interview with Entertainment Weekly who lead off with, “No one could say that this episode was not action-packed.”

Kirkman replied saying, “That’s true. I mean, look, there’s all that tension in the bar with those people outside and we barely even see them. It was a really cool move on [the part of showrunner] Glen Mazzera working with David Leslie Johnson on this script. They’re this strange outside threat and I think it makes them more scary because everything is played inside and it’s all done off the looks of Scott Wilson and Steven Yeun and Andrew Lincoln. I think the performances in that scene are tremendous.”

The performance of the scene may have been tremendous, but that’s only thanks to the actors doing their best to go along with the faulty writing.

We then go back to Rick, Glenn and Hershel. Having killed two interlopers who had clearly escalated their threat potential. Rick in a sweeping badass movie kill both of them where they stood. That was smart thinking that was completely on instinct. Somewhere a writer must have said, “We can’t have that! Quick! Make him an idiot again!”

With the new threats around them, Hershel somehow mans up and maybe realizes the people he’s taken in are complete idiots. Why are they idiots?

When more outsiders who come looking for their recently shot friends walk towards the bar, Glenn’s first reaction is to push his back against the door as it opens. He had all the time in the world to get in front of it. Was he trying to simulate a locked door? Doesn’t matter because they now know that someone is in there. I think Rick gives Glenn the face of, “You just got in my way. They were going to walk in and I would have had the element of surprise and clearly killed them.” Yes, this is what I’ve interpreted and read into. Bite me.

They all had guns, element of surprise and could have avoided any of them getting in any real danger.

“Yo, someone in there? If someone’s in there, we want no trouble. We’re just looking for our friends.”

Rick who’s just shot Glenn the, “You screwed this up for us look.” Lapses back into his moral and narrative ways; the annoying way he speaks into the radio; first beginning with, “They drew on us.” Then goes on to explain how he’s killed their friends and that they should be reasonable; unlike their dead friends; and go their separate ways. I’m sure Rick would have understood if it was the other way around, right? “You killed Shane? Awwww. Bye.”

The episode, entitled ‘Triggerfinger’ then turns into a gun fight. Let’s speed this up. Outsiders die or abandon their friend who’s impaled himself on a fence. Rick and the gang save him and bring him back to the farm. The show then slows down and turns into something else entirely. I believe it can be boiled down to Office Politics. Why didn’t they shoot this portion of the show like a fake documentary the way they do with The Office.

Shane doesn’t like Rick making all these decisions that he believes are wrong. If he was in charge, he’d do things differently and better. Less taxes and all that rot. Andrea and some others back Shane. Meanwhile Shane secretly confesses his stalker like love for Lori and how she belongs to him.

The show now is setting up into camps. Team Rick and Team Shane. Screw that noise. If they’re so interested in fighting for the zombie matrix of leadership, then I’m voting Team Zombie. Where the Hades is the horde?

Justice League: Doom, Where Are Your Heroes Now?

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As fans of the superhero genre have learned, Marvel might crank out a good live action movie, but it’s Detective Comics that makes a great animation. With the upcoming release of the 13th animation in the Justice League series, we wait in eager anticipation for Justice League: Doom. Until then, let’s do what comic book nerds do best and nitpick.

Justice League: Doom at first doesn’t sound like a proper title. It sounds like a file name that writer Dwayne McDuffie came up with when he started with this piece and never got around to correcting before he passed away last year. For a while I even assumed it was the code name that Batman kept all his Justice Leaguer information under. I do know that for the longest time I couldn’t even see the colon in the title and thought it was just a merger of Justice League of America and Legion of Doom.

Justice League: Doom is based on the comic book series JLA: Tower of Babel, an epic storyline heralded as one of Mark Waid’s best works. Dwayne McDuffie was hired to adapt the storyline for animation, which required many changes and may have lost some of the impact felt in the original.

The first change I saw was the cast. The roster for the Justice League constantly changes but there are some comic book archetypes that need to be seen. So there’s the big three: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Their story hardly ever changes. Then there’s a Green Lantern and The Flash. These two can be interchanged with other incarnations that wear their mantle.

Green Lantern can be switched out with any member of the Green Lantern Corp, but the Justice League tends to use the human ones. This leaves John Stewart, Guy Gardener, Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan; Alan Scott doesn’t count. The Flash is also narrowed down to Barry Allen, Wally West or Bart Allen.

In the original comic, it was Kyle Rayner who wore the ultimate weapon in the universe, while he was still the inexperienced Last-of-the-Green-Lanterns. The speed force was wielded by Wally West, the former Kid Flash who was forever trying to outrun the shadow of his mentor.

For Justice League: Doom, the storyline follows the rest of the Justice League series and uses Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to play the Faster Friends; yeah, they used to have a comic title together with that tag line.

This leaves Martian Manhunter who this time has gone through a slight reboot. The Manhunter now wears more complete clothing that doesn’t match the chest baring Barsoom novel series. This doesn’t change the fact that his real physical appearance and inspiration is a direct lift from that book series. If you see the live action movie called John Carter, then you’ll have a very good idea of what I’m referring to.

So what about the seventh member? The Justice League is usually comprised of several key members. In tower of babel however we saw Aquaman, the worlds most useless superhero, and Plasticman, the shape changing unitard wearing sight gag; didn’t he get the memo to wear the underwear on the outside? Both were replaced with Cyborg, the affirmative action, token superhero.

The Justice League cartoon series had John Stewart who was lord of the green lantern ring, which worked out fine as there was perfect continuity for it. This matched later on with the JLA comics switching out Rayner for Stewart as well. Again, proper as Rayner had to go out and play intergalactic cop in the Green Lantern title. So why Cyborg? Let’s forget that he’s a visible minority with disabilities and the best HMO in the world. I also want to forget that he was originally a thirty something adult that spent a lot of time with adolescent Teen Titans. This brings us to The New 52.

The New 52 is a revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing superhero books. All of its existing titles were canceled, and in it’s place 52 new series debuted starting at issue #1. Nothing more than a large publishing event that came after the Flashpoint crossover storyline. Apparently the Flash’s time traveling screwed up continuity so badly it affected the real world. So while titles restarted at issue #1, rebooting all the characters to allow them to be reintroduced in a contemporary manner; for a new generation of readership; the only title that somewhat survived was Green Lantern. They poured a lot of time into the storyline over the last five years, having been the focal point for two big crossovers; Blackest Night, and War of Light. They’d be stupid to abandon that goldmine now, reboot be damned.

While the New 52 is not being received well by older fans, it’s understandable why DC would want to cut ties with a complex continuity that has been in place since the 1930s. Without the reboot, the next logical step would have been to add footnotes to each comic rather than flashbacks and editor notes.

The entire Justice League series of animation that have gone direct-to-DVD seems to support the New 52 as well, as it also neatly ignores a lot of back story. Almost like a game of red rover, Cyborg from the New 52 Justice League was called over.

The best way to describe the current state of things in the DC comic universe right now is to compare it to a lie. Almost as if older nerds were hazing a lesser nerd, trying to convince them that all they held dear would be destroyed. A lot of fast talking would have to be done, based on an inch of truth called back story. So just like such a hypothetical joke, a lot of work had to be done to fill in the gaps of this lie called the New 52.

Hence, why Cyborg is a member of the Justice League now. Aside from the more sinister reasons of his membership, Cyborg is also the bridge between children raised on the Teen Titan cartoons, which is why I wasn’t surprised at the anime influence for The Justice League: Doom.

So there you have it, the current roster for the Justice League. Everyone is annoyed and feels betrayed because Batman essentially could back stab them at any point when he wanted. You can read more on what happened in Final Countdown to Justice League Doom, here. This wasn’t a back stab, it’s what I will now refer to as a Bat stab. Unlike villains, middle-management and high school bullies, Batman never needs to lord this over anyone. As far as anyone else was concerned, they didn’t need to know how screwed they were until he dropped the bat hammer on them. In addition, back stabbing sounds like a last ditch ploy to win, while every plan that Batman has come up with were winning moves, not moves of desperation.

So was this all a good movie by DC? Yes, I wanted to see more of their animation. No, because I felt cheated out of a better storyline. Will I ever watch DC Animations again? It can’t be helped, I’m an addicted comic book nerd. Think of it as solidarity. I’ll be with them no matter what.

So where are the villains and what exactly did Batman do?  Stay tuned next time.  Same Bat Time.  Same Bat Channel.

Will Smith’s I Am Legend Continues

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That’s right, on February 17, Warner Bros. finally closed a deal with the film’s producer Akiva Goldsman and Overbrook Entertainment to do another installment to the 2007 hit film, I Am Legend reports Deadline.

So will this be a prequel? “Oh Hells no!” Why show the raw clash of humanity, people versus people struggling to survive, cutting into each other like so many rose thorns? Why would anyone want to watch the trouble that the Last-Man-on-Earth-to-be has to go through, surviving other idiots and super zombie/vampire proofing his home? That would be like watching an epic version of “The Walking Dead.”

Instead it looks like I Am Legend will turn into a Monty Python sketch. While everyone is bringing out their dead, Will Smith’s portrayal of the last man on Earth, Robert Neville, isn’t done yet. “I’m still alive!” The film will serve as the next installment; sigh… sequel; to I Am Legend.

Arash Amel who wrote the screenplay to Grace of Monaco, has been signed to write for the new I Am Legend movie. Amel will have his work cut out for him, as he’ll have to explain how Smith didn’t die at the end of the last movie. I believe he died giving the super vampires a Falcon Punch using live grenades in a last ditch attempt to save the girl. They were in his hands when the room went boom.

It was reported that there was an alternate ending where Smith survived but it was not used in the final version. Will Smith is expected to reprise the role as Neville, but reportedly is not committing until the script is finished.

That’s not so bad, and I’m happy that Smith is hesitant until seeing a script and prehaps researching online what reactions might be. He might have had to learn this the hard way. Originally it was rumored that Smith was going to play as the main character in a Hollywood version of Oldboy, based on the manga. Fans of the original Park Chan-wook film were probably relieved to to hear that the project has since died. It was reported that DreamWorks and Mandate Films couldn’t reach an agreement getting the rights to the original manga.

As awesome as Oldboy is, it’s violent, envelope-pushing film that was to star a guy who doesn’t know how to be mean on camera. Hancock was the most annoyed I’ve ever seen Smith. To be Oldboy, not only would he have to be vicious and crazy, but he’d have to do some things to his daughter that I don’t think North America audiences are prepared to see. Not publicly that is. So Smith was being attached to that imagery before plans for the movie were even ironed out.

Official description of the film, I Am Legend:

“Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague — The Infected — lurk in the shadows… watching Neville’s every move… waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind’s last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered… and quickly running out of time.”

The 2007 film, I Am Legend was adapted from a book of the same name. Written by Richard Matheson, the horror fiction novel was seminal to the development of the zombie genre that we know and love today. The novel also popularized and the concept of worldwide apocalypse due to disease; yes it’s popular. How many movies of this kind and fear based news have you been exposed to in the last ten years?

The novel which was written in 1954 became a success and was adapted for many films. There was The Last Man on Earth in 1964, The Omega Man in 1971; starring the gun toting Charlton Heston, and as I Am Legend in December 2007. There was also a direct to video production called I Am Omega, released November 2007. The novel was also the inspiration behind the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. It’s like each film bit another film and started this whole chain of events that lead to the zombie apocalypse genre.

I originally thought that I Am Legend was a well funded production and adaptation of I Am Omega. I Am Omega was such a poor budgeted production, laughable in quality and starred the current chairman of the Iron Chef shows, Mark Dacasos. It was fun to watch Dacasos as Neville going stir crazy, living alone, then using martial arts on zombies.

So far none of the film adaptations have remained true to the book. In the book version, it turns out that all the infected are getting over their monstrous tendencies and becoming civilized. As Neville is the only human on Earth, he’s public enemy number one as he’s been slaughtering them all that time. They actually capture him, imprison him and sentence him to be executed. This is where Neville finally realizes that even though the infected appear to be the boogeymen of horror stories, it’s him who’s become their nightmare as the last human. Too bad Hollywood tends to change this ending; it’s as if we’re not allowed to see ourselves as the problem. There can be a lot to learn from endings like this.

The last words spoken by Neville in the book, “Full circle. A new terror born in death. A new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I Am Legend”

More Actors Come to Play in Ender’s Game

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The film which may already be in production, continues to grow in numbers as they add another familiar actor to the ranks. Nonso Anozie joins the jeesh, playing the part of Sergeant Dap in the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game, Deadline reports.

One of the best novels of its’ time, it is a science-fiction masterpiece in which children are pitted against one another to save the human race from extinction. The cast for Gavin Hood’s adaptation of this book has been coming together quickly and the movie has built a lot of momentum; if not close fanatic attention.

Anozie was last seen in Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller The Grey, but the British actor could be seen everywhere from Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla to Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky to last year’s Conan the Barbarian. Anozie will also show up in the second season of “Game of Thrones”, where he plays Xaro Xhoan Daxos.

In addition, Anonzie will also be joined by Stevie Ray Dallimore; Joyful Noise; and Andrea Powell; “One Tree Hil”l; as the parents of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, John and Theresa Wiggin. The original story of Ender’s Game doesn’t flat out say this, but because the three Wiggin children are extraordinarily gifted it’s assumed that the parents of the children are just as intelligent. It’s later addressed in a prequel short stories by Orson Scott Card titled “The Polish Boy” and “Teacher’s Pest.” Ender who is going to be played by Hugo star Asa Butterfield, is the greater sum of his parents constituent parts, excelling in intelligence, leadership and empathy.

An excerpt from my previous article, Viola Davis Joins the Jeesh in Ender’s Game:

“Andrew Wiggin is the third child of a family in a world that only allows two per household. Specially licensed to exist, Ender; a nickname which he has grown to think of himself as; is sent to Battle School.”

“This school is for the brightest geniuses on Earth who have the character traits to lead and to win. ”

I think Lionsgate caught on to a formula that works. They bought Summit Entertainment which is producing this film. Combined they have produced movies such as the Twilight Saga films and the upcoming film The Hunger Games. Could it be that Lionsgate is focusing on optioning titles that already have a large following? Well I hope they’re prepared for backlash if the movie adaptation remains true to the novel and shows Ender killing other children. We’re not even talking teenagers here. For decency, I’m sure they won’t be that stupid. However I hope they shoot a scene of Ender giving a Stilson the bully a good thrashing. Just so I can hear him say to the bully’s remaining friends:

“You might be having some idea of ganging up on me. You could probably beat me up pretty bad. But just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me. From then on you’d be wondering when I’d get you, and how bad it would be.” – Excerpt from Ender’s Game

The large ensemble cast for the Summit Entertainment production, currently includes Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin. The film is expected to be released March 15, 2013. Filming begins in New Orleans this month.

Final Countdown to Justice League Doom!

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The latest of DC’s projects gets released this February 28th on DVD and Blu-Ray and it’s the 13th animated movie of the Justice League series is ominously titled Justice League Doom, from writer Dwayne McDuffie.

So what’s so awesome about this? Aside from premieres in Beverly Hills and a little bit of coverage, this almost feels like a straight to video deal. Meanwhile Marvel has The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers coming out soon, while Nicholas Cage is currently doing his crazy hair thing as Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, right now in theaters. What’s there to celebrate with an animation that’s not in 3D or worth an overpriced ticket to see?

What fans of the superhero genre have learned is that Marvel might turn out a great live action feature film but Detective Comics crafts an awesome animation combined with memorable stories; with recent Batman movies as the exception of course.  How many times do I need to be surprised by a radioactive spider before I realize it’s just not enough.

Justice League Doom is based on the comic book series JLA: Tower of Babel storyline by Mark Waid. Waid has been a long time writer in the comic book industry, having notable work with titles such as the Flash, Captain America, Kingdom Come; almost the epic era of comics. Waid is also the creator of two titles, Irredeemable and Incorruptible, which tell a story not unlike a What if… or Elseworld series. If they were to describe Irredeemable as anything, it’d be, “What if Superman went evil?” Not in the Superman Rex storyline where he attempts to control earth, but kill and destroy anything that annoys him evil and laugh about it. That is the kind of storytelling that Mark Waid has brought to the table.

That’s right, Justice League Doom is not a rehash of an origin story, but a… adaptation of an epic story that’s only been done once; so far. To point out how this is different from the movie reboots happening right now, let say this: Statistically in the world, Thomas and Margret Wayne must die every twenty minutes in a retelling of Batman.

JLA: Tower of Babel runs a dark storyline about how each member of the Justice League of America is picked off one by one. Not by throwing their evil counterparts of the day at them, but incapacitated with calculated hits that maximize their weaknesses, physically and psychologically. Ra’s al Ghul, a near immortal villain of the Batman franchise is the one that makes these things happen, but it’s the Batman who’s to blame.

So who gets hit?  The JLA at the time consisted of Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern; Kyle Rayner; and wait for it… Plastic Man.

The comic book version of Batman is nearly infallible. If he gets hit, it gets corrected quickly, otherwise he’s a paragon of all that is awesome that’s prepared for everything. The comic book version also paints a picture of a psychopath who’s a mixture of indomitable will, paranoia, and control issues. What does this mean? It means that Batman has studied every superhero that’s a potential threat, and has created contingency plans on how to put them down if he ever needs to. Given enough time, resources and preparation, Batman has laid the smack down on Gods. So what happens when a villain steals all of these plans?

So this storyline has been re-imagined and adapted by writer Dwayne McDuffie. The Justice League roster will change; no doubt to be in line with DC’s The New 52 reboot atrocity; so will the villains and so will the methods of how the heroes are put down. The original story was darker and inferred a lot more pain and death, but I won’t hold it against DC. Especially in light that Nathan Fillion; Firefly, Castle, Slither; will be voicing the part of Green Lantern again!

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper Caught On Film: Again!

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Jennifer Lawrence, the 21 year old star of the upcoming film, The Hunger Games is in full demand from Hollywood.

Lawrence who has just completed filming the House at the End of the Street, starring in The Silver Lining Playbook; which is in post-production; is now slated to play the female lead in upcoming adaptation of the period drama novel Serena. I’m not sure how she has the time to do this when she heads back into training for The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire in July.

Which means that Lawrence is set to reunite with Bradley Cooper on Serena, reports the Hollywood Reporter. This will be their second movie together as they just costarred in The Silver Lining Playbook. It’s good to know that Cooper and Lawrence are rounding out their acting chops, committing to films that should have a higher challenge rating in the ways of acting.

This may be the start of a new Hollywood screen couple. The last pairing I remember was Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. Yes, that long ago. Since then I haven’t really paid attention.

Bradley Cooper, The Hangover star is also known for the movie Limitless; I didn’t care he was in the Hangover until I saw Limitless. Intelligence enhancer in an addictive pill? It sounds awesome! Cooper also has a full plate in acting. He’s expected to film The Hangover 3 later this year.

Darren Aronofsky was previously attached to helm the film Serena as director. This was to be alongside Angelina Jolie as the evil wife. It is now reported that Susanne Bier, director of In a Better World is also to direct Serena. Bier who is known for movies that tell tales about damaged people, appears to be a better fit to bring this tale of woe to life.

Here is a synopsis for the novel Serena, written by Ron Rash, published in 2008:

“The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains–but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.”

So in the film Silver Lining Playbook, Cooper and Lawrence become a couple in what I suppose will be a feel good romance movie about enjoying life. In Serena, they act like the ultimate married couple out to destroy one another, running through the woods in a Hunger Games, killer lumberjack fashion. Hopefully if they have a third movie, it’ll be about a couple that pit their children against one another like in a pokemon battle.  That’s what my parents did.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man Has a New HD Game Trailer

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A new HD trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man video game has been released. The tie-in to the upcoming movie already had a trailer back in December, but this one contains new footage. Not unlike a new Malibu Stacey doll; except she has a new hat; this has caught the attention of fans and haters alike.

The game which takes place after the events of the movie seems to be based on robotic insects created by Oscorp. This is a rehash of the Spider-Slayers, robots that were commissioned to seek out and exterminate Spider-Man; as long as they didn’t actually do it in the printed pages as per the comic code authority. J. Jonah Jameson was that rich that he could have scientists whip him up that kind of technology on the fly, but he couldn’t pay for Peter Parkers photos full price. The first appearance of cheesy bipedal spider-slayers occurred in Amazing Spider-Man issue 25. The story has long since been upgraded and re-imagined to be slightly more realistic. Now more of a high tech mass produced robot workforce gone awry than steam punk accident. As ill conceived as the original idea appeared to be, the storyline of spider-slayers has been reused continuously. So far they’ve appeared as plots in games for SNES, Sega and Game Boy, Spider-Man cartoons, and alternate Marvel comic universes. Nick Fury even had spider-slayers built as contingencies in case Spider-Man ever went rogue.

It’s unclear if the new trailer is called the “Rhino” trailer as a code name, or someone had confused a mammoth screaming spider robot as the Rhino. Some video game related websites such as Gamestop have clearly labeled it as such. While some websites have gone so far as to say, “webslinging his way across New York to take on Rhino.”

This is where I descend slightly into madness.

Is the giant spider like robot in the end of the trailer called Rhino? If so, then someone in the writing department must have not read any Spider-Man comics or watched any of the cartoons. The Rhino is a Spider-Man villain who’s a muscle bound guy in a Rhino outfit; sometimes enhanced by tech, drugs or breeding. How can this be though? The narrative was crafted by Hollywood writer Seamus Kevin Fahey. The only reason I know that he’s got the writing chops is because he did episodes of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena; no I don’t watch “Battlestar Galactica”, so no points there.

Next, why does the robot spider scream at the end? Yes, it sounds like a Godzilla era monster ready to rumble which is awesome for game play tone, but it’s still a robot spider. I know I’m suppose to suspend my belief as Spider-Man swings on a thread in his new official Spider-Man shoes, but unless the robot is using echo location; or it’s a oversized prototype of a sonic screwdriver; there’s no reason for it to scream.

So it leaves me with two realistic options. Either the trailer is coded named Rhino to throw people off the sent or inspire this exact type of chatter. Or someone plain didn’t understand what was happening and is making the game out to be Spider-Man versus the Rhino.

Also the shoes that Spider-Man wears in the movies, which are probably designed to work with his spider powers of sticking to things, seem to be really focused on. Trailers, viral treasure hunts, video games, they all want you to see the shoes. Is there a line of official Spider-Man novelty shoes coming out?

The HD trailer is almost the same as the VGA quality trailer that came out before it. It contains hower 8 seconds of new footage of Spider-Man going down a zip cord and 20 new seconds of credits. The game which is in development by game studio Beenox features free-roaming web-slinging across the city of Manhattan which looks more crisp than other Spider-Man video games I’ve seen; trailer wise that is. Too bad this qualifies as a superhero based video game, so it’s going to be compared to Batman: Arkham Asylum. No contest. Nothing beats Batman. Not even future Batman; yes, it’s cannon.

Check out the new HD trailer below; now with a new hat!