In the new Sony Pictures film Priest Sci Fi monster vampires lay waste to feeble humans in a post apocalyptic western wasteland. As the most recent addition to the strange Sci Fi sub genre that IS “Vampire Western” Priest doesn’t exactly deliver anything revolutionary. It also doesn’t push too hard to find it’s own place outside of the staples of post apocalyptic cinema period. The world is dead. People live in horribly polluted and over populated city enclaves surrounded by nothingness. Threats loom in the token wasteland beyond the token cities giant token walls.

Paul Bettany plays the hero (if you can call him that) of the film; As a supernaturally skilled warrior of a totalitarian theocratic society and a church that rules over the lives of all surviving humans. Stephen Moyer makes what at best can be called a cameo roll as our titular Priest’s brother. Taking a small break from True Blood to play a victim of vampires rather than a vamp himself (If you are looking to see Priest because you are on “Team Bill” – you will be disappointed). Cam Gigandet at his best as teen girl bait plays a local sheriff with all the emotional maturity of a teenage boy. Curiously if not humorously he broods and snivels through out the story all while talking rather like a flunky from Firefly . Not like that’s a bad thing. If anything it adds an air of off kilter cheesy likability which is sorrowfully lacking in the feature. It is hard to really like or route for Bettany’s dogged clergy come vampire slayer. While you are never really given a reason to like Cam or his beloved -the kidnapped niece of Bettany’s Priest (as played by Lily Collins ), young love is left the only thing to “get behind”. Maggie Q makes an interesting addition as well to the cast as the serene yet apparently deeply emotionally frustrated fellow Priest, and ally to Bettany’s character. Between Bettany, Gigandet, and Q – this film is as Emo as one giant deep sigh. The fun in the cast comes with Karl Urban who joyfully saunters through his scenes, enjoying every moment of his villainous plan. Because he is the only character having any fun he is the only character who is likewise any fun to watch. Subsequently it becomes difficult NOT to route for HIM. Rather than the “good guys”.

As a side note: If you are a fan of the Manga the film is based on you may find the choice to marginalize the western imagery a disappointment. But it may have been done to abate the probability of the movie’s audience from asking the question “Didn’t I play this as a video game?!?” as the story is eerily similar to the 2005 video game Darkwatch, and the look of the Manga is very much in a similar vein.

Peter Jackson will be prefacing a nationwide theatrical release of the Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings films. Fathom Events, who put together one night events across the country, set this up.

Jackson’s introductions will be filmed on the set of The Hobbit, which leads me to believe that we’ll be getting a sneak peak at the new films as well.

From their press release:

Return to Middle-earth as the most magical epic adventure in motion picture history comes to the big screen this June for a three-night theatrical event series. NCM Fathom and Warner Home Video are bringing all three The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition films to movie theaters nationwide so that you an experience them the way they were meant to be seen – on the big screen!

The events will begin with a new and personal introduction for each film from The Lord of the Rings™ director Peter Jackson captured from the set of his current film, and The Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, and will be immediately followed by the Extended Edition feature presentations which altogether include nearly three hours of additional feature footage carefully selected by Peter Jackson.

The Academy Award®-winning trilogy will be featured in an exclusive series of three in-theater events including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring™ on June 14, 2011; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers™ on June 21, 2011; and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™ on June 28, 2011. Each event will begin at 7:00 p.m. local time.

It’s pretty soon, but I’d really love to check these out. They’re Tuesday nights so I might not be able to go personally, but I’d love to see them on the big screen again. It would have been much nicer to see them in at least week long engagements.

You can buy tickets and find participating theatres here.

Hey everybody. I’ve got 3 pieces of news for you in this weeks Update: the Trigun Movie Announcement, free epsiodes of Monster now online, and 20% off Dragon Ball on Viz’s Digital Manga App! (Bonus video from Japan this week: Cat Weightlifting.)

First up: Trigun fans rejoice! The big news this week is that the film Badlands Rumble is coming to theaters in North America this summer. Badlands Rumble released on April 24th of last year in Japan, nearly twelve years after the series first launched on TV Tokyo, and Madhouse Animation worked hard to produce a film that would be able to follow the success of the series.

Fans of the dub will be ecstatic to know that Johnny Yong Bosch is reprising his role as Vash the Stampede.

They may be less excited, however, to know that no other voice actors from the original dub will be returning for this film. I’m not too worried, though, because we’ve got some great voice talent up for this film including Colleen Clinkenbeard (Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball, Romeo X Juliet) as Amelia and Luci Christian (Soul Eater, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club) as Meryl Strife.

Funimation has only released this about the plot so far:

TRIGUN: popular sci-fi action anime series with the original storyline created by Yasuhiro Naito. The setting takes place in a remote planet of the near future. It portrays the life and actions of a wanted man named Vash, an extreme pacifist by nature bizarrely nicknamed as the “human typhoon”. Story and designs have been renovated for this animated film, so that not only fans, but people who haven’t read the original manga or seen the animated TV series could enjoy the work.

Since this is incredibly vague, allow me to fill you in as to what Trigun is all about! Vash the Stampede finds out that he has a huge bounty on his head, for 60,000,000,000 double dollars! Unfortunately, Vash cannot remember his alleged destruction of the city of July or anything surrounding the events that led to his being pursued by bounty hunters. Though armed to the teeth, Vash generally uses non-violence to save the innocent as he works his way towards finding out why he’s become a wanted man. It’s not the deepest story out there, but it’s a fun Sci-fi Western series, and the movie will probably be just as good (if not better for removing filler from the main story).

I’ll let you know more about the film as soon as Funimation releases more details. Until then, here’s the Japanese trailer for the film from last year. It basically introduces Vash as the wanted man with the 60 Billion Double Dollar bounty on his head, and lets us know that he’s back with all our favorite characters to face off against the criminal of the century:

Up next in this week’s Anime Update: catch free episodes of Naoki Urasawa’s MONSTER online at vizanime.com!

What if doing the right thing cost you everything? What would you do if a child you once saved grows up to become a monster! Dr. Kenzo Tenma’s selfless act changes his life forever when the young boy he once saved reappears nine years later amid a string of unusual serial murders… Tenma now must go on the run to clear his name, and stop the monster he set loose upon the world!

Let me just say that Monster is an awesome show. The story is extremely well written and you truly root for Dr. Tenma as he tries to clear his name and his conscience. I’ve already watched through the first ten episodes and am really pleased with the plot and the characters.

The best news about this series coming to Viz Anime’s website is that they’re going to be putting up new episodes each Friday, and they’ll be uploading all the way to the series finale on June 3rd. I’m psyched because this means I’ll finally get to see what happens to Tenma! Definitely check this series out if you like a suspenseful story.

Finally on this week’s Update: Viz Manga is offering readers 20% off each of the $3.99 volumes of Dragon Ball for their Digital Manga App. Remember, it’s free to download the app, and you can find out more at Viz Manga’s website.  Dragon Ball is a classic that defines the medium! If you haven’t read it, it’s absolutely a must-read!

That’s all for this week’s update. For more anime news, updates and geek news from around the world, Stay Surfing on Big Shiny Robot!

I leave you this week with another obscure video from Japan: a television show that pits cats against each other to see who can carry the biggest fish – it’s Cat Weightlifting! You don’t need any Japanese language skills to enjoy this video. Just fast forward to a few minutes in and check out one of the most ridiculous shows I ever saw on television in Japan.

The Disney Parks Blog is giving away 1200 tickets (each with a plus one) to be one of the first to ride the new Star Tours at Disneyland, Anaheim. The best part of this event is that it takes place May 20th to coincide with Florida’s opening of the ride.

I’ve entered. I’m getting everyone I know to enter. And if you win, you should bring me.

But this is the last day to enter, so get over there and do it!

Here’s there announcement.

Now through Monday, May 9, at 11:59 p.m. (PDT), you can enter for a chance to attend the “Star Tours Early Departure” at Disneyland park. We will randomly select 1,200 entries, and those selected will be able to bring one guest to experience Star Tours at Disneyland park on May 20. (Please see official rules for eligibility requirements. We will notify you via email if you are selected.)

Enter now. I’d wish you luck, but as Obi-Wan Kenobi so famously said, “…in my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.”

The Force will be with you.  Always.

When we last left “Captain America” he was in an all out brawl, taking on all comers left and right! Say what you will about movie serials, but they have some well-choreographed fight scenes, Republic’s in particular! Anyway, as the battle ended, it looks like the Sentinel of Liberty was about to be put in tract(or)ion! Will Grant Gardner be able to overcome a vehicle traveling upwards of 5 mph? Watch and see!

Another exciting episode, right? Here are this week’s extras. First, a bit of trivia. While this serial really took some *ahem* liberties with the concept of Captain America, it made its mark on the comics. In the Ultimates, Steve Rogers has a gal-pal named Gail Richards, just like his secretary in this film! Our second item this week is a nice high-red picture of Dick Purcell as Captain America! Until next Saturday, Keep ’em flying!

I’ve been stewing over the movie version of Thor for almost a week and I’m still having a hard time catching my breath.

I’m a big Thor fan and I have been for as long as I can remember loving comic books. There’s something about the rich Norse mythology that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (and later Walt Simonson and others) adapted into comics form that made them like drugs to me.

They’re beautiful tales and the characters and adventures are so exciting and Lee and Kirby did such an incredible job letting Thor straddle the world of the Marvel Universe and the world of Asgard. It’s this balance that might be what director Kenneth Branagh spent the most time fine tuning because he pulled it off flawlessly. The balance between the turmoil on Earth and the adventuring spirit of Asgard is stunning. He’s walked a tight rope blindfolded and crossed over the chasm with ease.

This is a pretty basic Thor movie: Thor is cast out of Asgard for his foolishness (that was egged on by his brother Loki) and Odin falls into the Odinsleep. Using this advantage, Loki tries to take over Asgard and keep Thor stuck on Earth. It’s a story we’ve seen before in the Thor universe, but seeing it rendered so carefully on film in such breathtaking beauty is just… wow….

Perhaps my biggest complaint about this film was that it was too short. I wanted an hour more of this adventure. I wanted an hour and a half more of this adventure. We got a mere taste of what this character can do on screen (as well as his entourage) and it’s just not enough. But in a good way. Isn’t that the best thing to do in show business? Leave them wanting more.

The side characters of this film are all incredibly appropriate and never dominate the movie. I was worried about Natalie Portman’s friend from the trailers but she worked beautifully. And I was worried that the Warriors Three would be either a cameo or a distraction, but Branagh balanced them into the film to perfection. They’re vital but not overbearing, hilarious and charming but not annoying. In fact, I’d kill to see a spinoff movie of these characters adventuring through the nine realms.

I’ve heard complaints that there wasn’t enough time on Earth and there wasn’t enough time with the Destroyer, but I think those people aren’t communicating their criticism well. They fit into the story exactly as they should have. They served the story, but it comes back to just wanting more of everything.

And I cannot say enough about how much each of the actors brought their A game to the table. Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, and Idris Elba are all incredibly superb, but it’s hard to say they stood out because the entire cast was so pitch perfect.

And can I point out how beautiful Asgard was? And the costumes? (Loki’s horns were perfect AND they didn’t look stupid, something I never thought could be pulled off.) But the highlight of the scenery was hands down The Rainbow Bridge. It was just a joy to look at.

Which reminds me. They packed a lot of great Thor mythology into this and didn’t dumb it down at all. I was surprised that they used things like Sleipnir (Odin’s horse) or the Odinsleep and got away with using them so cavalierly. They treated the world as it existed and didn’t bat an eyelash.

Maybe that’s what I loved about it. It wasn’t a Thor origin story. It was Thor’s introduction to the Marvel Universe. And it was perfect.

I loved it. I think it’s the best of the Marvel Studios bunch.

Yes.

That includes Iron Man.

My only worry is that this raises the bar too high for Captain America, coming in just two months. He has a lot to live up to.

It seems that on any given day some website out there has a new set of pictures from the set of The Amazing Spider-Man. Some are more exciting and better than others, but this most recent round really caught my eye.

Below are some really cool pictures of Spidey doing some web-slinging around Harlem. I’m sure there is going to be plenty of CG in this film, but it looks like they are trying to do a lot of practical-effect shots of Spider-Man swinging around New York as well. I imagine this is a hard effect to achieve and have look right and fluid using cables and a stunt man, but from these stills it looks as though they are doing a very decent job at it!

At this point I have a lot of faith in what Marc Webb seems to be doing with the Spider-Man franchise, but that is only a judgement from what I have seen from the slew of set pics that have flooded the internet. I’m sold on the costume, I think Andrew Garfield looks like Peter Parker, and Emma Stone has the Gwen Stacy look down! In fact, I included some additional non-action pictures of the two of them just because I’m so pleased with the looks!

The Amazing Spider-Man opens on July 3, 2012, is directed by Marc Webb, and stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen and Sally Field.

You can check out plenty more set pictures at Splash News Online, and Daily Mail!

I have to be honest, I’m not the biggest Green Lantern fan in the world. I’ve never not like him, but he’s always just been a background character in my mind. What little I know about him are from the WB/DC Animated films that have been released and from trades such as Justice League: The New Frontier. So, my interest in this film to begin with on a scale from “This Looks Horrid” to “I Must See This at Least 3 Times in Theaters” was right around “Meh, looks pretty fun”. But the more I see of this film from trailers and TV spots, the more excited I get about it.

This most recent trailer literally gave me chills, especially towards the end with the reciting of the infamous oath! Perhaps my lack of familiarity with this character is raising my hopes about this film, but as of right now I will be at my local cinema opening weekend!

Green Lantern hits theaters on June 17, is directed by Martin Campbell and stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, Temuera Morrison, Jay O. Sanders, Taika Waititi, Jon Tenney, Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan.

All you Green Lantern fans who are much more familiar with the character than me, weigh in with your thoughts on this latest trailer in the comments below!

UPDATE: Here we have the box art for the sets:

For May the Fourth, Lucasfilm and Fox Home Video announced the details of the coming Star Wars Blu-ray set.

It’s chock full of goodness, to be sure, but there are some rather shocking omissions.

For what will probably be the best deal on this, I would pre-order on Amazon, they’ll guarantee you the best price on it and have it to you the day of release.

Here’s the list of specs:

Special Features:

STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY is presented in widescreen with 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Special features include:

DISC ONE — STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC TWO — STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC THREE — STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC FOUR — STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC FIVE — STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC SIX — STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI

* Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
* Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC SEVEN — NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III

* Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; a flythrough of the Lucasfilm Archives and more

DISC EIGHT — NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES IV-VI

* Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and more

DISC NINE — THE STAR WARS DOCUMENTARIES

* NEW! Star Warriors (2007, Color, Apx. 84 Minutes) — Some Star Wars fans want to collect action figures…these fans want to be action figures! A tribute to the 501st Legion, a global organization of Star Wars costume enthusiasts, this insightful documentary shows how the super-fan club promotes interest in the films through charity and volunteer work at fundraisers and high-profile special events around the world.
* NEW! A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2010, Color, Apx. 25 Minutes) — George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back on the making of The Empire Strikes Back in this in-depth retrospective from Lucasfilm created to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie. The masters discuss and reminisce about one of the most beloved films of all time.
* NEW! Star Wars Spoofs (2011, Color, Apx. 91 Minutes) — The farce is strong with this one! Enjoy a hilarious collection of Star Wars spoofs and parodies that have been created over the years, including outrageous clips from Family Guy, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother and more — and don’t miss “Weird Al” Yankovic’s one-of-a-kind music video tribute to The Phantom Menace!
* The Making of Star Wars (1977, Color, Apx. 49 Minutes) — Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
* The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX (1980, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) — Learn the secrets of making movies in a galaxy far, far away. Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas’ vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!
* Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) — Go behind the scenes — and into the costumes — as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film. Hosted and narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Dee Williams.
* Anatomy of a Dewback (1997, Color, Apx. 26 Minutes) — See how some of the special effects in Star Wars became even more special two decades later! George Lucas explains and demonstrates how his team transformed the original dewback creatures from immovable rubber puppets (in the original 1977 release) to seemingly living, breathing creatures for the Star Wars 1997 Special Edition update.
* Star Wars Tech (2007, Color, Apx. 46 Minutes) — Exploring the technical aspects of Star Wars vehicles, weapons and gadgetry, Star Wars Tech consults leading scientists in the fields of physics, prosthetics, lasers, engineering and astronomy to examine the plausibility of Star Wars technology based on science as we know it today.

Feel The Force of the Star Wars Infinite Saga Site!

This September, the Star Wars Saga comes to Blu-ray for the very first time. Now you can be part of this groundbreaking release, through the magic of “infinite zoom” technology.
When you share this site with your friends, exclusive imagery from the release will be revealed. And the more the site is shared around the world, the more the world will see.
So spread the word today and “zoom” into the the ultimate insider’s view of Star Wars on Blu-ray!

I was hoping that with this much pomp and circumstance, the announcement would be big enough to include the pre-Special Edition versions of the films in as high a quality as possible. Not because I need them, per se, but because it would shut up a lot of fans.

But the biggest thing I’m curious about is the absence of “From Star Wars to Jedi”. It’s clear it looks like they picked one documentary from each classic film, and “From Star Wars to Jedi” seems to be the most iconic and much beloved. But I still have my copy, so I won’t worry too much about it.

Will you be picking up this collection?

Obviously I will, but is this worth it for you?

Here are some new stills from the upcoming first part of the final chapter of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.

Now, if you are a frequent reader of this site, you probably know that hardly any of us bots here care for Twilight, especially me. So, you may be asking yourself, “Arse-bot – if that is your real name (spoiler alert: it’s not.) – why do you continue to post this stuff if you have so much hatred for this series and everything to do with it?” Well, the answer is simple: I find pleasure in belittling this travesty of a “vampire”/”werewolf”/mopey girl love story and quenching myself on the tears of those who try to defend it.

That being said, if I were to ever see an installment of this series in theaters, it would be this one. If for no other reason than to see how the studio handles Edward *&$#ing Bella into a sex-coma and knocking her up, giving her a c-section with his teeth, and then having Jacob turn into a pedophile and falling in love with their child (a transformation that, if you ask me, is much more convincing).

By now, if you’re reading this and are a Twilight fan, I’m sure you’re worked up into a frenzy and are about to leave a comment about how “dumb” I am and that you will never be coming back to Big Shiny Robot and that Twilight is an epic love story and blah blah blah blah blah. If you wouldn’t mind doing me one favor before you leave this site forever and erase it from your cache and history just to ensure there was no evidence you were ever even here: Please explain to me why two supernatural beings that could probably have any woman in the world are wasting their time fighting over a mopey 17 year old girl? I mean, if I was a 100+ year old vampire I think my taste in women may have grown past, “You know what I look for in a woman? I want her to be young, immature, super clingy and depressed as all hell with a shit-ton of emotional baggage.”

Anyway, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 comes out sometime this year – I’m not sure. I know it’s not this weekend because a good movie comes out this weekend. THOR!

Feel free to leave your hatred in text-form below.