The God of Thuner Doth Smolder

Meet Loki

And here we have out Loki, Tom Hiddleston , a relative unknown i the U.S. who currently acts alongside Kenneth Branagh in the BBC’s Wallander.

So there you have it, two relative unknowns (in the US at least) leading he cast so far, possibly along with Natalie Portman, whose gotta be either Lady Sif or Enchantress – oooh, but maybe she’s Hela?

Exciting to see this come together.  I know a lot of people aren’t crazy about Thor, but he’s been one of my favorites for years, especially with the latest Strazinski relaunch.  Just remember, Iron man was a second tier Marvel character until quite recently, and the movie had a lot to do with it.  I have high hopes for Branagh’s Thor.

Principle photography starts in January.

Our Rumored Female Lead

And his name is Chris Hemsworth.

Perhaps best known as the late father of James T. Kirk in Paramount’s slam dunk of a reboot, Star Trek, Chris Hemsworth seems to be making his mark, starring in MGM’s upcoming “Cabin in the Woods,”as well as playing Jed Eckert, (Patrick Swayze’s character) in an upcoming  remake of Red Dawn.

How about one of you photoshop wizards slap some golden locks and a winged helmet on this handsome devil and see what we get?

It seems wise to me, casting relative newcomers into some of these iconic Marvel roles as to bring less baggage to the character. I’d call it a wise choice and I can’t imagine second guessing an actor/director as esteemed as Kenneth  Branagh while charged with one of the more challenging adaptations the Marvel Universe has to offer, though I’m sure if anybody knows better than he, it would be some blog trolling douche fanboy, so let’s hear it you bunch of geniuses.

I can only judge Mr. Hemsorth’s chops from the first 10 minutes of Star Trek, which had me holding back tears to be completely frank, so I’m just crossing my finger’s that he, or any living actor for that matter won’t sound like a complete fool uttering phrases like, “By Fafnir’s Teeth!” and all those wonderful Thorism’s that Walt Simonson forced me to love.

Check out the Variety article for more info, including a smattering of plot news that I was previously unaware of.

FOR ASGARD!

Get Thee Back Foul Beast !

The creator of Family Guy, and American dad is back at it again! But really he is. With, “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” which was just barely released May 12th.

I’m going to get this out of the way right now, if you don’t like fart jokes this is not for you. I have never been so heavily marauded with fart jokes in all my years It isn’t necessarily a bad thing it just needs to be your type of thing.

Next, If you like family guy, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t like this. It is essentially the cut too’s from the show with a wider variety of characters, that are not inhibited by television broadcast standards of vulgarity. To be honest though, I think I am a fan of the censorship. I think it keeps them on their toes looking for ways to push the envelope, but when it isn’t there it turns into jokes that are geared even more to shock value. I was surprised to see how many jokes reverted to people shitting on the screen.

The biggest problem with shock value is it’s so much a matter of taste. Whereas I don’t think fart jokes are all that funny, I find religious lasciviousness to be the bee’s knees, and there was plenty of that going around as well. Which is one thing I will give this cavalcade of comedy credit for, which is that it crossed a lot of different lines, so you are likely to find something that will fit your sense of humor in it. Plus, I don’t think beer would hurt. You should be drinking before you start it though because it isn’t long enough to get drunk during.

It feels kind of like watching a comic strip. All of the jokes are self contained in 50 different segments, and some of them are pretty funny. I particularly liked a segment called, “Things You Never Hear”, and there was another segment that was called “Sex with” that had a few really funny moments in them as well. There were some segments that were recurring throughout the show that I thought were leading somewhere but didn’t have a payoff, but other then that it didn’t feel like a total waste of time. Conceptually I think this piece was sound, I like the idea of compiling 50 one liners into a movie, that doesn’t have any sort of narrative whatsoever.

On a scale of one to ten, it isn’t worth my time to rate it, it was fun and that’s all it needed to be. I personally watched the blu-ray of this movie, but the disc is bare-bones, and it’s just a cartoon so I wouldn’t really demand you spend extra money on the blu-ray, but since the blu-ray is selling for nearly the same price you might as well splurge. If you are a fan of Robot Chicken, Family Guy, and American Dad, I don’t think you will be disappointed with purchasing this. I have a feeling that I have some robot friends that are going to enjoy this ten times more then I did.

“There’s a red moon risin’ on the Cuyahoga River.”

The only time I’ve loved and memorized a Randy Newman song. Arguably, the best baseball movie in known existence in all universes and nearest dimensions, Major League is out on Blu-Ray to be watched repeatedly in all its comedic glory. This movie is where I learned colorful obscenities that would plague my vocabulary from 9 years old to now. I still throw out some of the insults in this movie, not only that but it taught me to be creative with my dissing; I was very popular in elementary school.

Some may be under some horrible illusion that because this film is based around baseball it must be as boring as watching a game on tv, those pitiful poor souls. Some may ask “But P-Bot, wtf does Major League have anything to do with geek and nerd type things?”, the answer is simple; not a goddamned thing, however, it’s a great comedy. That, and it showed up at the BSR offices the other day.

Special features on the disc are fairly good too, you got a couple of retrospectives by the creators and cast, one about Bob Uecker. It’s got commentary, an alternative ending that lives up to the name and a tour of Cerranos locker. The movie sports some early work of Wesley Snipes (Passenger 54, White Men Can’t Jump) and Dennis Haybert (the true first black President on 24, Allstate Commercials) as well as known actors like Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger (Platoon) working nicely together this time ’round.

One could say this movie is… pitch perfect and a definite home run. It’ll have you saying “I look like a banker in this.” Pencilbot recommends to the highest extent of recommendations.

Surprisingly, none of us robots have jumped on reviewing Star Trek. I finally saw it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Star Trek has never been one of my interests, but this movie might have changed that. Our friend Ben Fuller is in a similar situation, and well… I’ll let him speak for himself. Here’s his review:

Movie Review: Star Trek

To preface, let me be clear – I am not a big fan of JJ Abrams. I have maybe seen 15 minutes tops of Alias across three episodes, and for Lost you could safely add another 10 minutes to that total. I loathed Star Trek: The Next Generation and had no use for the movies. I cannot speak intelligently about any of the other Next Generation series other than crack Borg Jokes about self-important looking status climbers sporting their latest blue tooth ear pieces or an occasional completely out of context sexist Seven of Nine comment. I liked the original series (which is apparently now referred to TOS) well enough as a child, but that was mainly because my brother loved it and anything he dug must have been worthwhile.

So, that was, in a roundabout sort of a way, just me trying to establish my relatively lame bonafides when it comes to reviewing this movie. In addition, the very fact that it was so hotly anticipated only made me want it to fail even more.

Having said all of that, I am very disappointed to say that Star Trek was a surprisingly good movie. Maybe even a great one. Abrams and company were able to walk that fine thin line between making it feel like a real piece of the whole Universe that has been slowly dying under the weight if its own ludicrous self-importance and also, feel like it is something completely new and unrelated to all of that silliness. It is basically a Star Trek movie without having to kowtow to the pansy cultural imperialism that has been foisted upon us over the last approximately 45 years (but mostly the last 24 or so since Next Generation came along).

Ok, that is probably a bit harsh, and to be honest, there is a slight possibility a lot of that is just exaggeration for exaggeration’s sake, but the fact remains that nothing really new has happened in that franchise in forever – it has just been a very extended and boring faux intellectual circle jerk (which is an unpleasant term referring to groups of horny boys masturbating together in Scout camp – which is really about as an apt description as I can possibly come up with for the whole series of TV Shows as a whole…).

But this movie is a real game changer. First off, it has action. Real honest to goodness action. There is a visceral quality to the weaponry that has never been there before. And the ships almost act like real war ships. War ships going to war.

And there is some inter character conflict. Not as much as you would get in an episode of Saved by the Bell maybe, but for a Star Trek movie, it feels like a long stewing fight is finally ready to be served up.

And the actors are all uniformly charismatic. They bring real energy to their roles, and they aren’t delivering their lines like they are performing Shakespeare in a High School play. I cannot express how refreshing it is to not feel “Portent™” with every phrase that is uttered for once.

And finally, the thing that I probably have taken away the most from this is that I am a surprisingly nostalgic closet fan of TOS (the original series). I was truly surprised at how many of the in jokes and references I got – even to some crew members that were reminiscent of the short lived cartoon.

Star Trek was quite simply a fun ride with little to no preachiness and a healthy sense of humor about its own self. I happily recommend it and urge us all to move on from our former animosities and put the ugliness that was the last 7 or so Star Trek movies behind us. Let’s use this as our common ground and never speak of the past again.

You can follow Ben on Twitter.

People magazine has posted a new photo of Robert Downey, Jr. in all his Iron Man glory! So, yeah… not much else to say about it… Enjoy!

He's suited up and ready to save the world! Back in action on the Iron Man 2 set, Robert Downey Jr. shoots a scene for the action film Wednesday in Los Angeles. The Jon Favreau-directed movie also stars Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson.

DC has been pumping out the animated direct-to-DVD feature films and it’s safe to say that they are producing some quality work, and it’s looking like the fifth movie in the series is going to be no different.

The next DC Universe feature animated film coming to DVD is Green Lantern: First Flight and it drops on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009. Leading up to it’s release Warner Bros. is releasing several Q&A sessions with the voice talent, producers, and writers from this fifth movie in the DC Animated movie series.

The first of these Q&A sessions was with the voice of Sinestro, Victor Garber (Titanic, Milk, Alias). You can check out what Garber had to say about playing the villain and his first experience as a voice actor in the full Q&A here.

And be sure to check out the trailer for Green Lantern: First Flight at the official website!

Hitfix.com is reporting that they have confirmed that Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers, Alias, the upcoming The Hangover) is the front runner to play the lead role in the Martin Campbell directed Green Lantern movie.

But his biggest role yet is the one he may be playing for Warner Bros. later this summer.  I’ve just spent the last hour or so on the phones, tracking down a rumor I heard, and HitFix can exclusively report that Bradley Cooper is now one of the guys most likely to don the suit and slip on the power ring as The Green Lantern for director Martin Campbell.

Let’s be clear:  they have not hired him yet.  But the process is far enough along that this is more than just a meeting or some spot on a wish list.  Keep in mind that Campbell likes to see a lot of people when he’s casting… and even when he’s screen-testing, he seems willing to explore as many options as possible… but with the film set to shoot later this summer, they’ve got to start making their choices, and now’s the time to put people in front of the camera and see who really works in the suit.

I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I would bet that Cooper’s going to be the guy, and I’m going to also bet that the next time someone has that conversation about casting a movie, and they’re running down a list of names, no one is going to have to ask “Who the hell is Bradley Cooper?” because they’ll know.

How do all you Green Lantern fans feel about this?

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting:

Fresh off the muscular performance of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” at the boxoffice, Fox has thrown into development a spinoff featuring Deadpool, the wise-cracking mercenary played in the film by Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds is attached to reprise the character for what for now is simply being called “Deadpool.” Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel Studios would act as producers.

Deadpool is known as “the merc with a mouth,” a character that under Reynolds lived up to his billing in “Wolverine” until the end, when the movie deviated from the comic book persona, imbuing him with several superpowers and sewing his mouth shut.

It is understood that Reynolds would regain the ability to mouth off, with the movie going back to the roots of the character known for his slapstick tone and propensity to break the fourth wall. The character also was disfigured in “Wolverine,” though it’s unclear at this time how much the studio would want to mess with Reynolds’ handsome mug.

The project is out to writers.

Fox considered a “Deadpool” spinoff early in “Wolverine’s” development process, which is why it cast Reynolds. The actor was brought back in the month before the movie’s release to shoot one of two “Easter egg” scenes that appeared after the end credits. The scene showed Deadpool alive, though when last audiences saw him, he appeared to be dead.

A few days ago I applauded Fox for casting Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as the Merc With a Mouth, Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool; and then spent the rest of the time bitching about what they did wrong with the character. So to hear that they have started to move forward with a Deadpool spinoff gives me mixed emotions. I would love to see Wade on the bigscreen in his own movie with ample screen time and breaking the fourth wall throughout the film, but the project is at Fox, so I am 10% fanboy excited, 90% terrified to see what Fox will do with the character and how far they will deviate.

Much like in the X-Movies where Hugh Jackman makes a great Wolverine but has fallen victim to bad scripts and story telling, I fear the same will happen to Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in his own movie. I am not going to go the way of an overly whiney pretentious fanboy and write this movie off before it even has a script. Because for some reason no matter how many times I feel I got screwed on some superhero movies, I still have cautious optimism for the ones following (yes, even from Fox).

So, you can be sure that this bot will be bringing you all the developments of this spinoff as they happen!

Scifiwire.com had some great news today about the Thor and Avengers films that makes me pretty optimistic about the plans for the movies:

Kevin Feige, the president of production at Marvel Studios, spelled out in an interview when we can expect to hear further details about upcoming Marvel films such as Thor and The Avengers.

“We will probably be having cast announcements in the next month or so on Thor,” Feige said to Empire Online. “We’re looking to cast Loki and Odin soon, and the main female role. And we’ll also hopefully have lockdown shortly, gearing towards the beginning of production, which will be early next year. So I think there will be a lot of announcements between now and then.

“But [director Kenneth] Branagh’s here, we’re prepping, and he’s put together some spectacular animatics already for our first action scene. We’re digging into the second and third now, and we are just embarking on a rewrite of the draft.”

As for The Avengers, Feige added that “Zak Penn is already on board The Avengers [as writer], and he’s spending a lot of his time looking into what we’re doing with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, seeing how we’re tying it all together. And he’s beginning to outline the script now—he’ll be doing that over the summer.”

From the sounds of things, these movies are all going to be tied together very nicely. I’m pretty excited about the shape of Marvel movies to come.

I just got back from an experience what can only be called the criterion of not only X-Pictures and superhero movies, but rivals timeless classics the likes of Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, The Godfather, One Flew over the Cukoo’s Nest, Citizen Kane and of course, Casablanca. It’s perplexing to imagine where Gavin Hood can go from this, the pinnacle of his career. America agrees with me; $87 million over the weekend at the box offices downloading and naysaying bitches!!

I don’t understand what everyone has against this movie when it was leaked, it was far superior to X3 and Spider-Man 3, by proxy monumentally better than the other X movies. Don’t listen to the other robo-weenies on this site that didn’t like it either, they just don’t like 20th Century Fox and are trying to push their communist propaganda. The story, down at its core, is a love story; a love that spans time, a love that knows no boundaries, that knows no limits… except for one, SAB-ER-TOOTH!! I know what you’re thinking but seriously, the way it’s executed is flawless. I don’t want to spoil this piece of… work, but let’s just say it has to do with a little ‘sibling rivalry’. I’m going to go into spoilers in a moment, but you have to understand, any spoilers you read about it don’t mean anything because it’s the way in which it’s done that is amazing.

Ryan Reynolds was incredible as Deadpool, not only that but they added whole new dimensions to the character I would have never thought possible. Deadpool is a regular chatty-cathy in the comics that has brought out some of the best comedic lines during fighting ever produced in the literary form, but in this movie they TAKE AWAY HIS ABILITY TO TALK!! WOAH!! Bet you didn’t see that one coming!!!
Whoever wrote this script clearly has no fear in tackling such a character who is so dialogue rich and subverting his main line of appeal. The creators do this by adding a whole lot more; teleportation, Baraka swords coming out of his wrists and, my favorite, the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes!!! WHAT!?!?! Yeah, dude, that’s how good it gets. Why he is fighting with Wolverine one would think there is no dramatic purpose… or so it may seem, however, if you pay attention, you can tell that the writer and director added layers of subtext where Deadpool and Wolverine were actually secret lovers. Yes, that’s right. Watch it again with that in mind and feel the revelation come over you. It’s true what people are saying, Dosdoyevsky this movie is not, I would liken it more to a Shakespearean drama.

See everybody thinks this is some mindless action movie, just to rape people out of money by using a highly profitable franchise and character without caring about story or characters therein; these people are wrong. They fail to see all these hidden layers; Victor and Logan being molested by their ‘father’ before running away and starting a new life together (when really it wasn’t their father after all), the sisterly love and “bond” between SilverFox and Emma Frost, the Blob can still get his feelings hurt no matter how many layers of fat between the outside world and his inner heart. My only guess is that people don’t like the non-Hollywood ending; because of the surprising twist, lazy viewers get upset when Logan and SilverFox don’t walk off into the sunset just when you think they are. The moment she says “I’m so cold.”, I tried to hold back those flood gates, but I could not.

Pencilbot can’t wait until they make the sequel where Logan is a low-priced geisha, I hear they’re starting to talk about it. It will be hard to top this one, but if the same creative team is on the prowl, they’re sure to do some berserker damage.