Phase 2 of Marvel’s cinematic universe is about to kick off with Iron Man 3 next month, followed by Thor: The Dark World later this year. Next year, we have Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Guardians of the Galaxy to look forward to, and GeekZenith has gotten their hands on some pretty awesome pre-production art work for the latter two – including one featuring a fight between Cap and Bucky/The Winter Soldier!
For those concerned about spoilers, there doesn’t seem to be anything terribly spoilery about the images in the gallery below – so check them out!
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‘Finding Nemo’ Getting A Sequel With ‘Finding Dory’
Walt Disney Studios has announced that the popular Pixar film, Finding Nemo, will be getting a big-screen sequel centered around everyone’s blue tang fish, Dory. Finding Dory is slated to hit cinemas on November 25, 2015.
Ellen DeGeneres is already on board to reprise her role as the forgetful fish, and had this to say about the new film:
“I’m not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating ‘Toy Story 16.’ But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It’s got a lot of heart, it’s really funny, and the best part is—it’s got a lot more Dory.” [WSJ]
Andrew Stanton is set to direct, he noted that the sequel will take place about a year after the events of the first film, will take place along the California coastline, and Nemo, Marlin, and other characters from the first film will appear along with some new additions.
“There is no Dory without Ellen,” he said. “She won the hearts of moviegoers all over the world—not to mention our team here at Pixar. One thing we couldn’t stop thinking about was why she was all alone in the ocean on the day she met Marlin. In ‘Finding Dory,’ she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few things about the meaning of family along the way.” [IGN]
When I heard this announcement today, I was ecstatic, especially with the news that Stanton will be directing. Of course, there’s no “need” for this sequel, but unlike Cars 2, I think this will be a welcomed one. It’s not a stretch given Dory’s knack for forgetfulness that she would somehow become lost – and I’d imagine Nemo and Marlin will have to head out on an adventure to find her. I could be wrong there, but either way, I am very pleased to see this announcement and will be looking forward to November 2013.
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Original 1974 draft screenplay of Star Wars to be made into comic
At WonderCon, Dark Horse announced that the rough draft screenplay of Star Wars will be adapted into The Star Wars, by J. W. Rinzler (of The Making Of Star Wars books) and Mike Mayhew. (more…)
STAR WARS VII: Karen Gillan Reportedly Joining Cast
This seems to be the most rumour-y, but Karen Gillan, Amy Pond of Doctor Who fame and self-professed Star Wars fan got cornered by a reporter at an event. After asking, inevitably, about her involvement with the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special (which she denied involvement in), he set his sights to Star Wars, asking if she would take a part in the new trilogy.
To which she responded in the most vaguely positive way she could:
“Actually,” Gillan told The HypeMachine, “I’m not sure how much I can say about that at this point or not. I’m in talks, but the official word is no comment, I think.”
I can’t tell what part EU fans are going to assume she’d be playing first: Mara Jade or Jaina Solo.
I’m still doubtful that we’re getting any EU characters in the sequel trilogy, but I’ll admit, if they brought Karen Gillan in to play either of those parts I’d be extremely happy.
She did fantastic work on Doctor Who and is as adorable as they come, I think Star Wars fans would accept her in the fandom with open arms. And it wouldn’t be the first Doctor Who/Star Wars cross over, either. Julian “General Veers” Glover was in an excellent arc of episodes as a badguy facing off against Tom Baker and David Tenant, the 10th Doctor himself, played a droid on The Clone Wars.
And with JJ Abrams at the helm, anything is possible.
Star Wars: Episode VII hits movie theatre screens in 2015.
Readers of Big Shiny Robot! will hit their screens (or slap their foreheads) when they realize the date of this post.
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.
Oh how I’ve missed this show. I just went back and read the books again to make sure I was caught up and could see the differences. Not because I care but because I like to think of how the show writers are going to continue with the small changes they’ve made. So let’s see where we are.
We got some good and some bad this episode. A decent amount was changed from the books and I’m sure we will see why it had to be done. *Spoilers* Specifically Harrenhal, odd that they had Robb show up and imprison his mom there…We met the King-Beyond-The-Wall and caught up with what happened to the Nights Watch. We got some Tyrion and Tywin action and plenty more down in King’s Landing. Littlefinger might get Sansa out of her hell. We also got to see Dragonstone, if only for a moment. This felt a lot like a catch up episode, reminding us where everyone is and what’s happening throughout Westeros and Essos. What felt like the biggest step forward in the story was Dany shopping for an army and Barristan Selmy showing up. Mostly this episode was all good, my bad list is really nitpicky. I give it 4 out of 5 mostly because not a hell of a lot happened.
The Good:
Lord Commander Mormont is a bad ass, he and Ghost take down wights like champs.
A giant is one of the first things we see at the wildling camp, they did an awesome job making them odd and just non-human enough.
Tormund and Mance: God damn they picked the right actors for these two. Absolutely perfect.
*Spoiler* A nod to Tyrion still having his nose.
Bronn and Tyrion banter is always a good time.
Davos and his rescue and loyalty. The Onion Knight is a bad ass.
Tywin is also a bad ass, and a dick.
Ahh Sansa “The truth is always either terrible or boring.” Kid is basically a teenager in the worst possible high school.
What I’m sure everyone was waiting for…Dragons! They fly. They hunt, and they are big and creepy looking.
Joffrey squirming. Seriously fuck that guy.
Dany almost dies again and is saved by the bad ass Baristan Selmy
The Bad
We missed the battle with the White Walkers, damn you expensive CGI!
*Spoiler* Ghost/Mormont: The hell is he doing with the Mormont?
*Spoiler* Rattleshirt/Lord of Bones: Not really bad but just so normal…not a yellow little unibrow.
Really don’t need to see nipples removed. I knew it was coming and still cringed.
What the hell with that little kid? Is she supposed to be from the House of the Undying.
*Spoiler* Seriously? no Arstan just straight to Baristan? Hmph!
Well folks what’d you think? Awesome? Awful? Let us know
If you’ve been on the internet for any length of time, you’re familiar with memes. Everything from creepy girlfriends to various feline shenanigans are available for us to peruse and laugh along with. One of our favorite meme themes here at BSR are the ones that showcase the fondly remembered (but also poorly animated and sometimes completely crazy) 1967 Spider-Man cartoon. It was quite a treat then to randomly find a YouTube video where Josh Keaton, the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man from the excellent, cancelled before its time Spectacular Spider-Man. We just had to share it. While it could be considered NSFW, all naughty language is bleeped out, so no worries.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX8MOSAkLsI
I don’t care who you are, that’s pretty great right there. Our only hope is that the Vol. 1 in the title means there is more of this to come, because this is gold. Now, if we can convince the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Dan Gilvezan, and Rino Romano to follow suit, we can have a Spidey voice actor meme showdown! Stranger things have happened, right?
Experience Tony Stark’s ‘Hall of Armor’ at Disneyland
If you’re tired of just looking at pictures or Tony Stark’s awesome Iron Man armor, then I suggest you get to Disneyland between April and September this year!
It has just been announced via the Disney Parks Blog that a new exhibit will be coming to Innoventions at Disneyland in California on April 13. The exhibit is called Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries, and will give visitors the chance to go inside Tony Stark’s Hall of Armor and much more.
Beginning April 13, Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries will give Disneyland park guests the chance to see Tony Stark’s Hall of Armor, featuring Iron Man suits Mark I-VII – the same suits featured in “Iron Man 3.” And you will even be able to virtually “suit up,” yourself! Through simulation technology, guests will be able to see what it’s like to operate the latest pieces of the Mark 42 Iron Man armor, even getting the chance to test out its infamous repulsor blasts.
I’m not sure what is meant by “virtually suiting up through simulation technology”, but you can count me in. Literally. Lucky for me, the soon-to-be-Mrs. Arse-bot and I will be going to Disneyland in May for our honeymoon, and you can bet your ass I’ll be checking this out. I will be starting a Kickstarter in the next few days to preemptively start raising money to make bail for when I get arrested for trying to don a suit of armor and fly out of the park.
For those of you that may not be able to make the journey to Disneyland during this time frame, check back at the end of May as I plan to have a full report and plenty of pictures from this hopefully-awesome display!
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Six Suits From Tony Stark’s Hall of Armor Revealed
Way back when the Iron Man suit for Iron Man 3 was revealed – you know, the “mostly gold” one – it was noted that is was actually Tony’s Mark XLVII (47) armor. The suit that Iron Man jumps into at the end of The Avengers is the Mark VII (7), so speculation began as to how Tony has arrived at Mark XLVII in Iron Man 3. One rumor was that the Mark XLVII controlled 39 other identical suits of armor, but with the reveal of each new trailer for Iron Man 3, it’s apparent Tony has just been quite busy since the events in The Avengers.
Before we get into the six of these sets of armor that have been revealed, I have a theory about this – nothing too crazy, and I’m sure I’m not the only one to come to this conclusion. Judging by the trailers, I think the events of The Avengers spooked Stark a bit, and now add this to the fact that he is in a relationship with Pepper Potts with the feeling that he must always protect the woman he loves from those who would wish to destroy him, the “bad guys” out there have gotten in his head. So, in the time span since The Avengersto Iron Man 3 (however long that proves to be) Stark has become a bit obsessive about creating all types of armor to be prepared for any and all foreseeable threat that could materialize, creating his “Hall of Armor” – or as it has been reported that he lovingly refers to it as, “The Wine Cellar”.
Personally, if this proves to be somewhat true, I like this direction. Tony Stark being knocked down a few pegs seems like the appropriate response following just barely saving the world.
In any case, we now know for a fact that Tony Start now has several different versions of armor at his disposal, and the official Iron Man facebook page has spent the last week or so revealing up-close looks at a few of these. They all look pretty awesome to me, and I like the idea of Tony having several different suits at his disposal in the films now since those of us who have ever read an Iron Man comic know, he’s never been just a one woman suit of armor kind of guy. And he can call the Mark XXXVIII “Igor” all he wants, but I’m still maintaining it’s the “Hulk Buster”.
Check out the pictures below and let us know what you think of Tony’s new armor!
You can follow Arse-bot and all the pointless thoughts he puts out into the interwebs on Twitter @Arse_bot
It’s official folks, it looks like we will be getting a new Battlefield game from EA this year! Of course, pending any delays . . .
EA has officially revealed 17 minutes of single-player gameplay footage, along with initial details about Battlefield 4.
So here is what we know so far:
Of course, DICE is heading up the sequel, and unlike rumors to the contrary, they are not making a jump to the not-so-distant future like Call of Duty: Black Ops II – it will remain in present time. The game will run on the Frostbite 3 engine, and it is sounding like the single player campaign will have open environments, meaning there will be multiple ways to handle an objective. This was a big feature in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but was for some reason done away with for Battlefield 3 – which instead was more or less “on rails” much like the Call of Duty single player campaigns.
Of course, the game will be released on PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. There has been no word yet on a Playstation 4 release for the game (in fact, you can’t even pre-order it for the PS4 yet, but can for all previously mentioned platforms), which to me is a bit surprising since the PS4 has actually been unveiled and has a release date that will most likely closely coinside with this game. Less surprising is that there is also no mention of the next-gen Xbox release.
Also going live this Fall is a Multiplayer Beta for the game. If you purchased Medal of Honor: Warfighter, you are all set to be part of this Beta. If you did not purchase MoH, then you still have an opportunity be a part of the PC Beta by pre-ordering the PC-only Digital Deluxe version. You can do this over at the Origin website.
That’s pretty much all we know so far, but I suspect we will hear much more at E3 in June. Having spent countless hours playing Battlefield 3, I am pretty stoked for the next game. DICE has done a great job keeping the fresh content coming for Battlefield 3, with their final expansion dropping just a few days ago which I think is great timing; plenty of time to enjoy the new multiplayer content before the next game comes out. I’ll be looking forward to more details surrounding multiplayer, as that’s my bread and butter, and report on them as they come in.
In the mean time, here is 17 minutes of PC gameplay footage for you to chew on!
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Speaking to SciFi Now, Ian McDiarmid reiterated his desire to return to the screen as Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine.
He’s love to see a tragic arc for Palpatine and see him in his own solo film or returning to the small screen:
“Yes, I’m sort of interested in any future development he might have,” admits McDiarmid. “Unfortunately, as you probably know, he died at the end of Episode VI, Vader sent him to cosmic hell so he’s not going to feature in any of the new Disney ones, I don’t think.
“On the other hand they’ve got lots of exciting ideas for spin-offs about separate characters and so on, and then there is the television series which George has talked about and decided to make into being for a number of years, and that takes place between Episodes III and IV when the Emperor is very much alive. So I think he probably does have a future.”
This news shouldn’t be surprising to any longtime readers of this space. Back in August we brought you a report about blatant intimations McDiarmid made during Star Wars Celebration VI.
I love the idea of Palpatine coming back with Ian McDiarmid reprising his role. I love the idea of the live action TV series and further exploring the purge of the Jedi. I love the idea of a Palpatine spin-off film.
Quite frankly, I just love the idea of more Star Wars, and if this is one way we get it and McDiarmid is on board, it’s to all of our benefit. I’m generally bored by the Sith, but McDiarmid’s Palpatine is a character I could watch reading the phone book.
