Earlier today we brought you a whopping 6 second trailer that Disney released for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now we have a longer trailer that shows a little more. Now we get a trailer that is 5 times as long. Granted it’s only 30 seconds, it gives us a better idea of what kinds of things to expect in the show.

Just remember, “Don’t touch Lola!”

With the release of this trailer Disney has also launched a viral website to promote the show called “We Are The Rising Tide.” (wearetherisingtide.com)The only things here at the moment are the trailer, and a bunch of videos that look like a group of people, presumably called the Rising Tide, have S.H.I.E.L.D. and various super human events under surveillance. Keep checking back on their website, they will be posting more videos.  It seems as though this group is looking to expose S.H.I.E.L.D. based on the tagline at the top of their website.

“Who is S.H.I.E.L.D.? What are they hiding? Super-Powers are real. Aliens exist. What else is out there. We will uncover the truth. We will not remain silent any longer.”

Also the more you use the hashtag #CoulsonLives on twitter the closer we’ll get to unlocking a full length trailer for the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8H11PaLUGc&feature=player_embedded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bf_Gg0vgFI&feature=player_embedded

This review will contain spoilers, anything going beyond the scope of the episode will be done in white text and will be preceded by *Spoiler*, episode spoilers will not be prefaced.

Last week may not have been the most action packed but was still great, and gave a strong ending and an intense speech by Littlefinger. I feel like this week may just be some movements before we go down the homestretch.

The Good

• The Blackfish is a constant bad ass. Every scene he appears in he owns.
• Wolf puppies in the Volantine belly. More Starks, more heirs. Even though half the Stark cubs left are presumed dead.
• Can we get a weekly sex advice with Tormund Giantsbane? 
• Sansa’s face at the thought of boning Tyrion is great. The fact that Sophie Tuner is damn near as tall as Hodor now just adds to this.
• Charles Dance has the best “I will fucking end you” look. I can’t imagine anyone else playing Twyin Lannister.
• Speaking of looks…Daenerys has the best “Are you gonna talk shit while I have 3 dragons ready to melt your face?”
• *Spoiler* “The Lannisters send their regards.” Ugh Red Wedding is going to be so brutal.
• Hodor is the greatest. Conveys more with a “Hodor” than so many other actors can.
  
• Well there’s the bear and the maiden fair! Solid ending!

The “Bad”

• The charm is going out of Ygritte. Everything is “pfff you southnahs don’t know anythin about anythin! I’m so awesome.” She’s been overdone.
• Arya is one angry young wolf. Can’t say that I blame her. It really sucks to see her go from one shitstorm to another even when it’s compelling. 
• Stop making me feel bad for Theon! The little fucker!
• I’ve been wondering why Osha was so against the Reeds and it makes perfect sense now. They are explaining her run from beyond the wall, the wights and everything else. Seems like an odd way to do it to me but I guess they can’t really just send her back without a fight.

After news that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. officially got picked up this week, we now get a very brief first look at the show. There isn’t really much here for me to form an opinion on, except that I’m excited!

UPDATE:  Brave’s director, Brenda Chapman, has weighed in. And she is, shall we say, not happy:

“I think it’s atrocious what they have done to Merida,” Chapman said in a letter to her local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal.

“When little girls say they like it because it’s more sparkly, that’s all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy ‘come hither’ look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It’s horrible!

“Merida was created to break that mould – to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.”

h/t to Bizzarobot who just posted this on Facebook.

UPDATE 2: And then this happened. . .  Sexy Merida has been replaced.

***

And it’s official. Merida from Pixar’s Brave is officially the 11th of the Disney Princesses. In a ceremony at Walt Disney World in Orlando earlier today, Saturday, May 11, Merida officially became part of the Disney Princess line. (h/t to InsidetheMagic.net for some awesome coverage fo the event, including tons of pictures and video.) However, not all is right in the house that Walt built.

Somehow, in order to join the ranks of Cinderella, Ariel, and Belle, Merida had to get a little makeover:

So, obviously Merida had to lose a few pounds from her waist, gain them back in her chest and hips, get a new hairdo, put on more makeup, lose her iconic bow and arrow, and wear the dress that she hated in the movie Brave.

And because this is unsettling to oh so many, a petition to Bob Iger, CEO of Disney and future supervillain sprang up on Change.org, asking for Disney to please return Merida to her original body and image.  Already nearly 100,000 people have signed the petition called Disney: Say No to the Merida Makeover, Keep Our Hero Brave!

Does this matter? In a word, yes. For those unfamiliar with a feminist critique of Disney Princesses, it was fairly simple: most of them were nitwits, waiting for a prince to come and save them or somehow complete their existence. Merida was the exact opposite of that. She had no interest in her boy suitors, preferring  the woods, her bow and arrows, and adventure. She took charge, and when her mother was cursed, she took action herself to set things right.

One of the petition signers,  Kris Dorman of Utah, wrote: “Merida was the anti-princess for all of us who don’t wear makeup, let our hair rampage free, and prefer to wear real clothes that let us hike, climb mountains, and ride horses. Please allow Merida to remain the fiercely confident young woman who doesn’t need glitter or skin to know she is of incredible strength and worth.”

Peggy Orenstein, author of the book Cinderella Ate My Daughter, described the changes on her blog: “There’s the hot hair, the coy expression. Also the obligatory exposed shoulders (moms tell me all the time that their preschool daughters are pitching fits and destroying their t-shirts because “princesses don’t cover their shoulders), slimmer waist, and the bow and arrow replaced by…what is that, a low-slung belt? And she has what appear to be high-heeled shoes. Or at least slimmer, pointier feet. . .Because, in the end, it wasn’t about being brave after all. It was about being pretty.”

As a focus-group of 1, I had my 7 year old daughter look at the pictures of Merida and ask her what she thought. “Dad, I like the new one better. She’s prettier,” she told me very matter-of-factly.

 And yes, that’s her, dressed as Merida for her last birthday party. So, she has some affinity for the character. When I pointed out that Merida was missing her bow and arrows, that they made her skinnier, my little girl didn’t see any of that. The merchandising-lust welling up in her eyes, I could see those Disney marketing geniuses knew their stuff, issues of feminism or body image be damned!

That is, perhaps, what is so damaging here. It’s not that they’re changing Merida in ways that sexualize her, or remove the bits that make her a strong heroine, it’s that the target demographic doesn’t get the subconscious signals being sent their way.

In case you were wondering, it’s not only Merida who’s been given a makeover:

At least in this one, Merida still has her bow.  So, for comparison, before:

and after:

And yes, the subreddit r/Disneyporn just exploded in underage semi-porn ecstasy, and the folks on DeviantArt making Disney Princess sexy pics are going to have to shutdown for “copyright infringement.”  I kid. But I’m kidding on the square.

It’s not that we at BSR are prudes, nor are we generally uptight over these sorts of things. If I go to Dragon*Con and see a sexy Merida cosplay, that is one thing. Because that is for adults. But when you take a girl, and tell her that to be “pretty” means losing weight, gaining a cup size, wearing makeup and a strapless dress, and batting some sexy eyes, that’s another thing entirely.

Of course, the best way to send a message to Disney is with your wallet. If sales dip with this redesign, they’ll know why. Unfortunately, I fear that whatever the Disney version of a Brony is will more than make up for loss of sales from parents like me.

But backing down from doing the right thing is not what Merida would do.

A bit of a divider in the Star Trek community, Generations brought my favorite Star Trek characters onto the big screen and did some pretty major…things that are highly controversial. Before I get started, let’s watch a really dated trailer.

When I started reviewing this, I thought to myself, where exactly do I rank Generations on my list of Trek movies from best to worst? To be honest, this is the most difficult movie for me to rate because there are some parts I enjoyed and, overall, I really wanted to love this movie… but that’s why it’s even more disappointing that Generations face-plants hard into the realm of the odd-numbered Trek movies. I can hear myself saying to those that ask, “Eh, it was ok.” It’s not the worst, certainly not “good” by any stretch of the imagination – it just holds a rather underwhelming place in Trek continuity.

So, since you’re reading this and you’ve presumably seen the movie, I’m just going to dive in and talk about the things that could have made this a great movie for those of us that adore the Next Gen Cast. Spoilers ahead!

Kirk’s Death – Might as well start with the point everybody brings up when you ask them about this movie. Generations opens in the past, and in the beginning it demonstrates that it had the opportunity to provide some closure around Kirk’s death. If this was how Kirk had died, I think most of us would have been totally on board. Why? Because he would have been taken out saving the Enterprise B and a whole crew full of people.

Instead, we got one of the most frustrating and unsatisfying death scenes a captain of the Enterprise has ever (and hopefully will ever) experience. For those of you that don’t know, Kirk’s death (in which he was shot/stabbed by Soren instead of dying via cascading bridge) was re-written at the last minute due to a leak. This serves as yet another example of an internet leak scaring writers into making a knee-jerk decision that greatly hurt overall story.

Data – there are some points where we start to see Data’s character explored on a deeper level as he continues his quest to become human (since his emotion chip is re-installed and becomes a bit of a plot point when he can’t stop Geordi’s kidnapping). As an anthropologist, I’ve always been fascinated by how Data learns and grows based on what he observes to be the most significant (and often perplexing) qualities that make us human. In many ways, it should say a lot to us about who we are while we’re watching. Unfortunately, there are also points in Generations where they don’t explore this as much as they should or simply use Data as a bit of comic relief while he’s dealing with his emotions (“Oh shit,” as they are crashing into the planet, for instance). Don’t get me wrong, though, I love the “Tiny little life-forms” bit. /no-shame

Soren – Malcolm Mcdowell is an incredible actor, and he does a pretty good job of at least making sure Generations‘ main villain is sufficiently threatening, but would it have hurt them to maybe have him get a little more screen-time? The Nexus was a cool concept and had great “unexplained” elements to it. As viewers we could completely understand why Soren wanted to go back to the Nexus so badly.

Lursa and B’Etor – Soren really didn’t need these bumbling Klingon sisters to achieve his goals. Couldn’t they at least given him some badass Klingons that appeared a bit more threatening? At times they crossed from ‘silly and useless’ into ‘completely inept.’ I always liked the portrayal of the Klingons in Star Trek VI and wished that, like the Klingons in that film, the sisters had posed a much more serious threat. I get that we’re trying to show two Klingons that have been failures in the empire as a whole, but did this really need to happen?

This part was pretty cool, though. Can’t go wrong with a badass Riker moment!

How could it be that these poor excuses for Klingons took down the Enterprise D?!? I’ll never forget seeing the saucer section crash sequence in theaters – at least they did a good job of making the crash epic given the special effects at the time. They also did a good job of reminding everyone in the audience that this was a Galaxy Class Starship that carried civilians. When I picked up the Bluray, I noticed that they had added back in the full crash sequence I saw in the theaters, whereas the VHS and DVD versions I had owned much earlier had cut it significantly. Here you can see a bit of the edited (shorter) sequence in action:

Guinan – My long standing theory on Guinan is that she’s a Q or some other being that has observed the happenings in the universe for hundreds (maybe even thousands) of years – explaining both her holistic knowledge, tendency to give plot-driving advice, and her overall calm in the face of serious danger. I realize she’s an El-Aurian (a race of listeners), but since the Q we know and love from Next Gen once said there was much more to her “than could be imagined” I’m pretty certain my Q theory could hold some weight. Here, we see Guinan giving advice in the Nexus, and her overall part in the film is actually relatively solid, but I could have seen her showing up a bit more if we wanted to make her character a driving point in the film.

Picard and Kirk – So, the two captains are eventually united in the Nexus (a Holodeck like setting where we could have seen any number of interesting writing choices) and instead we see poor Picard chase Kirk around while he makes eggs and rides a horse. Picard finally snaps Kirk out of the Nexus and he’s ready to go back and make a difference. Every Trek fan in the universe got excited here because we thought to ourselves, “Yes! Soren is a decent villain, and Kirk is a much better fighter than Picard ever was (I think we’ve seen him punch enough aliens to trust that he’s better at hand-to-hand combat). So, we’re going to see Kirk and Picard team up and kick Soren’s ass!” Unfortunately, we were wrong, and we end up at my first point (in which we get a rather anti-climactic fight and Kirk plummets to his death). Couldn’t he have just gotten a sufficiently epic fight ending with Kirk being shot (or stabbed, per the original plan) when he delivered the line “Actually I am familiar with history Captain, and if I’m not too much mistaken, you’re dead.”

To steal one of my friend’s phrases, this movie makes me feel “surround sound disappointment.”  In summary – I’m not the biggest fan of Generations. I wish I could say more positive things about it, but the enjoyable moments just don’t outweigh the rest, particularly due to the treatment around Kirk’s death.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments below!

I honestly can’t do it. No matter how hard it try to be cautiously optimistic about the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, I can’t do it. I just get the feeling that this team couldn’t give a shit less about the history of the TMNT and see this as nothing but a cash-grab. I realize that’s just how Hollywood operates these days, and Michael Bay is no more guilty of this than a bunch of other directors and producers, but still.

It appears that filming has begun on this film, and so expect to see probably quite a few set photos and videos across the web over the next few months. The first ones to come through the door, courtesy of Collider, are of Megan Fox in a yellow jacket as April O’Neil, and a shot of the logo for the film from the back of a chair:

The logo somewhat resembles logos for TMNT I have seen in the past, and I am happy that they have kept the full “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” title.

Megan Fox as April O’Neil. I just can’t get on board with this. I’m fine with the yellow jacket, it’s an update that makes sense as opposed to having her run around in a yellow jump suit, but it’s still Megan Fox. Granted, she’s nice to look at, but her acting ability isn’t . . . great. It just seems like a “Who’s HOTT right now?!” casting choice, but I guess we will see how the character is actually portrayed on screen.

I realize I come across as nothing but an angry fanboy when it comes to this film, and I’ll happily wear that badge. Literally nothing about this film has me excited, and I assure you, nobody would love for Bay and Liebsman to prove me wrong more than I.

You can check out a bunch more set photos over at Collider, including one of Megan Fox’s stunt double riding a bike – because some stunts are just too dangerous.

Wolfenstein trailer, EA gets exclusive on Star Wars Games, Triscut is going to rage out about it, because he rages about everything. Leigh George Kade aka Vagabond Prime teaches Tom and Rich about D and D. Tom zaps stuff and trolls unfortunate souls on the server.

Watch live video from bigshinyrobot on TwitchTV

A few weeks back we learned that the film rights to Daredevil have reverted back to Marvel/Disney, meaning he could now possibly be folded into the proper Marvel cinematic universe at some point and in some way. This is great news for fans, and now a handful of other characters have come home to Marvel as well!

The rights to Ghost Rider, The Punisher, Blade, and Power Man (Luke Cage) have all been re-acquired by Marvel Studios, news that should make fans very happy!

As I noted in the post about Daredevil, the likelihood that any of these characters’ could see a reboot of their franchises any time soon is probably pretty slim as Marvel has their movie slate pretty packed through 2015 – but the mere fact that Marvel now owns the rights to these characters and they could eventually receive their own titles again is pretty exciting, and these titles would reside in a world with Iron Man, Captain America, and the rest of the Avengers. Perhaps the blind lawyer Matt Murdock pops up in a future Marvel film? Maybe Luke Cage and Iron Fist lends a hand to Ant Man? The possibilities are out there, and it will be interesting to see how and when these characters get utilized.

One idea that was brought up on our Facebook page was for Daredevil to make appearances on the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. television series – which I think is a genius idea. I realize this show will mostly focus on the agents, but what better way to fold things into the fantastical world of Marvel superheroes while introducing some of these “lower-tier” characters at the same time than have some interactions with the likes of Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist? Frankly, to me this makes sense as these heroes are less “big threat” guys and more “crime fighters” out on the front lines taking down muggers, mobsters and thugs. The possibilities are pretty exciting.

[Sources: THR, Comic Book Movie]

How would you like to see these newly acquired characters utilized and folded in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Sound off in the comments below!

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, Entertainment Weekly held a day of screenings at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and we’ve got the coverage of Mark Hamill and more: (more…)

This review will contain spoilers, anything going beyond the scope of the episode will be done in white text and will be preceded by *Spoiler*, episode spoilers will not be prefaced.

• Poor Samwell Tarly, you’d think a guy stuck in the freezing cold would have figured out fires by now. Still love the guy. You can’t help but feel for him. He really shines this episode. *Spoiler* I have a feeling Sam the Slayer is making an appearance soon!! 
• It is really hard to pick a favorite group but I love the Reeds. Meera doesn’t take any shit off of the crazy wildilng woman. Also they really have helped introduce a lot of the more mystical elements like warging and being a green seer.
• “I’m Jon Snow I’ve killed dead men and Qorin Halfhead but I’m scared of naked girls.” Ygritte is ridiculous and I love it. Plus she gives Jon the opportunity to not just be pouty.
• I could easily stand a spinoff series of Arya and The Brotherhood. Also what the fuck is Melisandre doing in the Riverlands?! *Spoiler* Either she’s come for Gendry or she’s coming to learn about resurrecting people…possibly for a future death.
• At first I disliked what they’d done to Thoros but I’m loving it now. The Brotherhood really shows that the writers understand the books and how to make things work for the screen. I’m very impressed.
  
• A bit of poking fun at people watching from Theon’s tormenter. Who is he and why is her such a psychotic freak? Iwan Rhoen is amazing at this though.
• “The laws of my fist are about to compel your teeth!” Oh my Seven I love the Blackfish. The Tully family are a shit show but they are awesome. Edmure is a lovable fuck-up.
• I’m going to have to agree with Jaime, don’t trust the non-drinkers.
• I’ve been waiting for a scene with Twyin and the Queen of Thornes! Witty arrows slung across the table. I pronounce Lady Olena the winner!
• Oh Sansa. She’s so happy that life is getting better, she forgets her family would be slaughtered if they walked into King’s Landing. Every time something good happens the rug gets pulled out from under her. 
• Holy. Fucking. Shit. They killed Ros. I was sure they were going to put her to a better use but wow. Making her just some bit of fuckery for Joffrey was brutal. 

The “Bad”

• Tormund Giantsbane has lost his humor transferring over from the books. Still a great character, you can’t dislike a man with a beard that glorious.
• Trusting the writers still but what the fuck are they doing with Gendry??
• *Spoiler* I think they’ll be using Gendry as Edric which I think is odd considering the directions of the books. I also didn’t much care for a very much shortened prophecy from Melisandre towards Arya taking the place of the Child of the Forest.
• I always dislike the fall saved by a rope tied around the waste…sorry Ygritte your back is broken and you’re dead now. 
• Shorter Tyrion and Cersei: I’m the best Lannister – No I am! 
• I don’t really like Varys and Littlefinger talking about their plays in The Game. I much prefer seeing them cutting at each other from afar not actively talking shit and telling each other what they do.

Well this episode was a bit interesting, not as strong as the previous to but still gave us some great scenes. Jon and Ygritte sitting atop the Wall looking out across either side was pretty powerful. You could see she was a bit afraid of the other side. Ros strung up for target practice was startling. I was positive that she was going to take the place of another character but her sudden death was a shock. I’m really interested in what will be happening to Gendry now that he is on his way to Stannis. This continues to be the shortest hour of the week. We have just gotten small hints of what is going on with Bran and Sam that I’m really hoping we get a bit more next episode. I’m loving the misery of Theon, they are keeping a lot of mystery while dropping hints like crazy. I think the episodes will just continue to build from here on out. We know from past seasons that 9 will be a big plot point and I cannot wait.