Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves suggesting that The Dark Knight Rises is at the heart of a potential liberal conspiracy to upset Mittens Romney’s chances of winning the election. You see, one of the biggest things Romney is being attacked for is his ties to a company called Bain Capital. They would buy up companies (including an abortion waste disposal company) run them for a while, make a profit, take out tons of loans in the name of the companies, then downsize them all to hell into bankruptcy. It’s how Romney made a good chunk of his hidden fortune.

Well, Rush Limbaugh seems to think that Christopher Nolan’s new film is a plot to remind everyone of it constantly and tie Romney with the villain in the new Batman movie. Because the villain is Bane.

Nevermind the fact that Bane as a villain has been around for twenty-plus years, never mind the fact that this film has been in production long before Mitt Romney was a candidate, let alone the Bain Capital issue being in the public spotlight, Limbaugh thinks this is Hollywood Liberalism at its worst.

This movie, the audience is gonna be huge. A lot of people are gonna see the movie, and it’s a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop culture crowd, and they’re gonna hear Bane in the movie and they’re gonna associate Bain. The thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie, “Oh, yeah, I know who that is.” (laughing) There are some people who think it’ll work. Others think you’re really underestimating the American people to think that will work.

I’ve seen the movie. I think it has a more conservative message than a liberal one, to be honest. You’ve all seen the trailers, Bane comes to Gotham and gives it back to the down-trodden and poor, attacking the rich. Then a rich guy in a bat suit saves the day and redelivers the city to the status quo of the rich getting richer. (You can read my full review of it tomorrow.) But my point is this: This is most superficial and preposterous reasoning to be pissed off about this film.

Rush Limbaugh has officially deemed himself irrelevant.

I wonder if we can sic the Rotten Tomatoes commenters on him…

But Batman, at his heart, really is a liberal superhero. A populist, a man searching for justice for everyone. You can read more about my take on What Batman Can Teach Conservatives over at The Huffington Post.

Sure, it’s a fan film. But I still think Thomas Jane was the best pick for Frank Castle, even if the movie he was in wasn’t that good.

Marvel would be smart to bring him back and make a REAL Punisher movie with him….

And even Ron Perlman is in it.

It’s brutal and is what a Punisher film should be like…

The Marvel Studios panel opened with a video showing their presence at San Diego from 2007 until now. It ended saying that phase one is over and phase two begins NOW!

Kevin Feige came out and announced the following movies and release dates:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4/4/14 Guardians of the Galaxy 8/1/14

The Guardians of the Galaxy team will consist of Star Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket Racoon and Groot

We were then introduced to Edgar Wright who says he “Always thought that a great film was to be made of Ant-Man.” He then showed us the very bad ass rumored test footage that he filmed.The scene starts with a tiny Ant-Man in an air duct looking at two guards guarding an elevator. He starts running down the hallway and grows to normal size until the guards pull their guns. He then shrinks back down and we see him on the barrel of one of the guards pistols running down it. Punches the guard in the face with a nice ripple effect and proceeds to jump over the other guard grabbing his tie. He flips the guard backwards through a glass window and proceeds to get on the elevator while “It’s a Small World” plays as the elevator music. This test footage was pretty amazing! Wright told us that “Ant-Man will kick your ass, one inch at a time!” and proceeded to leave.

The Iron Man 3 portion of the panel then started. Kevin Feige was inturrupted by music as Robert Downey Jr ran from the back of the hall down to the stage decked out in a Tony Stark suit and Iron Man Glove.

He then asked three questions. “How much do I love you? How much do you love me? Then why aren’t we watching any footage yet?” After which we were treated to the first footage of Iron Man 3.

The trailer starts with Tony Stark talking to his hall of armor about introducing their new baby brother. He holds out his hand and the armor which is in pieces starts flying to him attaching itself. I believe this is our version of Extremis.The pieces of armor start knocking him around all over the place. After the armor completes itself we cut to a scene with a returning Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. He goes on about about how he quit because people knew him as being the bodyguard for Iron Man and goes on about his new “super friends.” We see Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow returning. The Stark estate then gets bombed and falls into the ocean. The trailer ends as we see the 10 Rings of power and our first shot of Ben Kingsly as the Manderin saying “As you cry out for mercy, you will be silenced.”

RDJ then introduced Shane Black, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau to the panel. “This guy IS the Manderin,” Shane Black said of Ben Kingsly.

Marvel surely brought their A game this year as far as bombshells dropped! I can’t wait for phase two of the Marvel Studios projects to commence!

It was revealed this morning (via Variety) that Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Prometheus) will be starring in, and co-producing via his DMC Film, the now-confirmed Assassin’s Creed movie adaptation. The games’ production company, Ubisoft, will be at the helm, which makes this a very exciting announcement in a realm that has so far failed to impress. Video game movie adaptations are rarely, if ever, phenomenal, but the AC franchise is one of the biggest in Ubisoft’s roster, so you can bet they’re going to make sure the project is up to their creative standards. Ubisoft has proven their ability to create a fantastic, and highly cinematic product over and over with every installment of the Assassin’s Creed games, we can only hope their production savvy will transfer well to the film.

There are no details on where, or more importantly when, the AC movie will take place, but I wouldn’t necessarily put money on any of the settings we’ve already seen. It is by no means beyond the realm of possibility that Fassbender will step into the role of Altair, Ezio, or Connor—it’s probably quite likely—but the world and mythology of Assassin’s Creed spans most of human history. So the film really could take place anywhere, and anywhen.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on here besides the excitement of seeing Fassbender take up the role of Assassin on the big screen, like Ubisoft launching their brand new Ubisoft Motion Pictures production company. As recently as last October, Ubisoft was in talks with Sony to create the AC picture, but they decided to found UMP and direct the production themselves to maintain creative control. Sony may still end up as the distributor, but at present it sounds like UMP and Fassbender’s production company DMC Film will be securely at the wheel for this one. The AC movie will be Ubisoft Motion Picture’s first big, big production, so it may be make-or-break for the fledgling venture. I’m rooting for them.

(via Variety, Den of Geek, and ComicBookMovie.com)

My former filmmaking partner and former Big Shiny Robot!, Steven Greenstreet (Neotron), came up with this fan cut of a Dark Knight Rises trailer in the mode of the trailer for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

It’s a very effectively cut piece and if I didn’t know better, I’d’ve assumed it was the real deal.

The Dark Knight Rises comes out July 20th. I really can’t wait to see it.

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

The Whisperer in Darkness

Directed by Sean Branney

Starring Matt Foyer and Barry Lynch

The Whisperer in Darkness is everything you would expect from a movie produced by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. This movie is a fairly faithful adaptation from the short story, which can be both a benefit and an occasional hindrance. The small sections of new, original material help to pad out what would have been a short, unsatisfying film.

Like so many Lovecraft stories, Whisperer is narrated by our hero, Albert Wilmarth, college professor and milquetoast nerd. Wilmarth has been receiving unbelievable accounts of strange creatures harassing a farmer and his family in backwoods Vermont. The farmer’s son crashes Wilmarth’s party and gives him equally questionable photographs. Being a shy widower with nothing better to do, Wilmarth decides to visit the farmer, but the farmer receives him with suspicious reservations and hints of things to come.

Wilmarth soon discovers that large, mechanical crustaceans from outer space are removing people’s brains and keeping them alive in jars full of magic brain Gatorade! The cosmic crabs also want to open a door between our world and theirs. Wilmarth is scared of bodily harm and physical activity, but he must un-bunch his panties in order to save a young girl from her violently pessimistic father and put the kibosh on the space crab séance.

For all of the places this film could have stumbled, it more often than not stays on its feet. The creative team behind this film knew what makes Lovecraft fun and they did a nice job of interpreting his extravagantly baroque, obtuse style. I actually liked the addition of a biplane dogfight with the sea creatures from the stars.

Had H.P. Lovecraft been extroverted enough to work in Hollywood instead of dying in frustrated poverty, he would have written this film.

This week’s Friday ‘Flix Pick was submitted by Nick Burke. Be sure to check him out over at Paper Wasp!

It is my pleasure to report that The Amazing Spider-Man isn’t a bad movie.

It’s fun, it’s true to the characters, it works generally well. Some parts work better than others and what it gets right, it gets very right. What it misses on, it misses widely.

The story is exactly the same one we got in the trailers. It’s the origin story of Peter Parker and how he got his powers, only this time his parents are vaguely kind of involved. He’s abandoned with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May and his selfishness costs him everything and his drive for vengeance turns him into a hero.

The broad strokes are the same as you’ve seen a hundred times. The details are different. Some of them work remarkably well. I think Martin Sheen did as well as anybody could following up Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben and sold the part with a heart and resonance that you need out of the character. Andrew Garfield, for his part, worked very well both as Peter and as Spider-Man. I really liked Tobey Maguire’s dopey Peter act, Garfield is much more wry, witty, and slightly more self-assure.

I’m not trying to compare the Raimi and Webb Spider-Man movies. I’m really not. I did everything I could to banish them from my head before I went into the theatre, but they’re just too fresh in the lexicon of superhero films. It was hard to divorce myself completely from making comparisons.

As for the villain, The Lizard works well enough. His best moments were the most comic-booky, from his sewer lair.

Emma Stone and Dennis Leary as Gwen Stacy and her father Captain Stacy are probably the aspect of this film I like the most. She works better as a love interest for Spider-Man than anyone has and Captain Stacy is so perfect to his comic iterations and his place in the story that it’s impossible to dislike him. And it’s the story of the Stacy family I want to see continued into the sequel. I will instantly forgive all the complaints about this film I’ve had if it is, indeed, setting the stage for a dramatic film version of The Death of Gwen Stacy.

For me, this movie easily surpassed Raimi’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3, but it just didn’t have the runway space to fly above Spider-Man 2, which is hailed in most competent circles as a masterpiece of superhero cinema. There is no single moment in The Amazing Spider-Man that is better than the fight on the subway or Peter inadvertently revealing his identity to Mary Jane in the boat house. But I think moments that powerful take time. And if Marc Webb and the cast stays on, and there’s minimal interference from Sony, and the writers do their job well, we’ll have a sequel full of those moments to look forward to.

More than anything, that’s what I’m excited to see. Past the origin, I want the sequel. I suppose that’s as high of praise as you can give a movie.

ALSO: Do NOT see this movie in 3D. I don’t easily get headaches, but this film in 3D gave me one. And the colors were so much more rich and vivid when I took the glasses off. And since so much of the film was set at night, it was impossible to see what was happening with the 3D glasses. Even when it was bright it was hard to make out finer details. At one point, Flash Thompson arrives in a Spider-Man shirt and I couldn’t even tell with the glasses on.

The Amazing Spider-Man
7/10 on the Big Shiny Superhero Scale

Bryan Young is the author of Operation: Montauk.

This weekend is going to be huge for anime fans. Every year, Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California, brings us some of the biggest announcements in Japanese animation coming to North America. Why? Because with a partnership with the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) and big names like Danny Choo (www.dannychoo.com) in attendance, this is a convention that attracts a ton of attention and preparation from all the big companies. I’ll be here all weekend bringing you news and updates from the convention, so stay tuned fellow Anime and Manga fans!

First up: (and probably the biggest news so far) – Viz Media has announced a new 24-hour anime channel called “Neon Alley” that will premier this fall.

VIZ Media is excited to unveil the plans for Neon Alley, a new 24-hour programmed channel featuring the world’s best anime, debuting on a major game console this fall for the U.S. and Canada! Neon Alley will be studio agnostic, featuring not only VIZ Media titles, but ones from other producers and distributors!

Neon Alley will feature dubbed & uncut content, with exclusive debuts each week! Programming will include blockbusters like NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, and DEATH NOTE. Fans will also be able to discover new titles like TIGER & BUNNY, BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC, ZETMAN, and more!

San Francisco, CA, June 27, 2012 – VIZ Media, the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga, graphic novels and anime in North America, unveiled plans for Neon Alley, a 24-hour anime channel featuring the world’s best titles set to debut on game consoles this fall. The service will be available in the United States and Canada.

Neon Alley’s schedule will include a mix of action, adventure, science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, and horror anime, all uncut and dubbed in English, and presented in HD (when available). Programming will include blockbuster anime titles like NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, and DEATH NOTE, and will allow fans to discover new titles such as TIGER & BUNNY, BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC, ZETMAN, and NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, along with original content that provides news and behind-the-scenes access for fans of anime and manga.

“We created Neon Alley for fans to watch the best anime titles in the world right on their TV,” said Ken Sasaki, President and Chief Executive Officer for VIZ Media. “Neon Alley will have weekly exclusive premieres of the hit titles they love, along with a mix of new, cutting-edge titles they didn’t know they were missing.”

Neon Alley will be a subscription-based service, subsidized with limited commercial advertising, to keep the launch price to consumers at a low $6.99 per month. Anime fans can register online at NeonAlley.com for news, updates on the service’s launch, and to find out how to get a sneak preview of the series debuting during the first season. Neon Alley is the first platform designed to be studio agnostic, featuring titles from other anime producers and distributors, and will unveil its programming lineup, special introductory offers, new acquisitions and other partnerships throughout the next several months.

For more information on Neon Alley, please visit www.NeonAlley.com.

For more information on VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

Second: eigoMANGA Heads To Anime Expo 2012

(San Francisco, Los Angeles) – June 26, 2012: San Francisco based comic book publisher, eigoMANGA announces its participation at Anime Expo 2012 which is held on June 29 to July 2, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. eigoMANGA will be exhibiting at Booth #1149.

Special Guest:

eigoMANGA Welcomes MinoMiyabi

We are proud to invite acclaimed animator, MinoMiyabi as our special guest. At Anime Expo, he will kick off the launching of his new cartoon studio in Los Angeles, California!

MinoMiyabi is conducting eigoMANGA’s annual How To Draw Manga & Portfolio Review workshop as well exhibiting his work at eigoMANGA’s Booth #1149 on Saturday and Sunday!

Animation Screening – ‘Padak’ is an award-winning full-length animated film directed by Lee Dae Hee. The film is about the lives of fish in captivity in a Korean seafood restaurant. Some fish accept their fate while others fight to change it.

This is the North American advance screening premier of ‘Padak’. The ‘Padak’ screening is scheduled for Monday, 10am – 1:00pm and located at Video 2 (LACC 404).

Panel Schedule –

eigoMANGA In 2012 Panel

Come join us at our panel discussion where we will announce and showcase releases of our mass-market publications, games, and animation. Come For The Free Giveaways!

eigoMANGA In 2012 panel is scheduled for Saturday, 10am – 11am at LP 2 (LACC 502AB).

How To Draw Manga And Portfolio Review Workshop

MinoMiyabi holds a workshop tutorial to teach the fundamentals of manga illustration and storytelling! He will also be on hand to critique portfolios from up-and-coming artists. Don’t Miss It!

The How To Draw Manga And Portfolio Review workshop is scheduled for Sunday, 11am – 12pm at WS2 (LACC 501).

Exhibition Booth:

Check Out Our Latest Work At eigoMANGA’s Booth

Come check out our latest releases in comic books, animations, and games. And celebrate with us the inaugural release of Vanguard Princess which is set to hit the gaming market in the late summer!

eigoMANGA’s Exhibition Booth is located at Booth #1149.

Advance Screening:

North American Advance Screening of ‘Padak’

You’re invited to view the North American advance screening of ‘Padak’ at Anime Expo!

The award-winning film directed by Lee Dae Hee is about about the lives of fish in captivity in a Korean seafood restaurant. Some fish accept their fate while others fight to change it.

The‘Padak’ advance screening is scheduled for Monday, 10am – 1:00pm and located at Video 2 (LACC 404).

Media Appearance:

eigoMANGA Appearing On Crunchyroll’s AX stage

eigoMANGA’s team is set to make a live interview appearance on Crunchyroll’s Live Stage for their live-streaming show. We would love our fans to join us in-person or watch the live web-stream on Crunchyroll’s website.

Crunchyroll interview appearance is scheduled on Sunday starting at 5:30pm at Crunchyroll’s Live Stage Booth #701.

If any of you saw the cover to Operation: Montauk (you should enter to win a free copy here), you’ll know that I really love old pulp covers. An artist (please help me find the name, I can’t seem to dig it up and I found these on Reddit) put these together and I find them very breathtaking.

Even the one from The Matrix. And you all know how much I loathe The Matrix….

Below you’ll find a cover for Alien, The Matrix, and Blade Runner. All very well done.

Paramount got us a couple of HD scenes from the new Jaws Blu-ray.

It hits your Blu-ray player on August 14th. Preorder now.