David E. Kelly, the man who brought you Ally McBeal and Boston Legal will be adapting geekdoms favorite Amazon for the small screen.

From The HeatVision Blog:

Warner Bros. Television is developing a modern-day reboot of the classic DC comic book heroine and is lassoing an unlikely talent to potentially write and produce the superhero project: David E. Kelley, the showrunner behind legal dramas such as “Ally McBeal,” “Boston Legal” and “The Practice.”

Personally, I’d rather see her on the big screen (shame on Warner Brothers for letting Joss Whedon get away from that one.  They’ll be kicking themselves after Avengers comes out.)  And I’d still rather see a cop drama set in the GCPD on the small scren.

I suppose it doesn’t matter.  Us comic fans need to take what we can get.

Let’s hope it’s better than Smallville, which isn’t asking much.  And let’s hope that if it’s the same calibre as Smallville, that it will be much shorter lived.

The Warrior’s Way, a visually-stunning modern martial arts western starring Korean actor Dong-gun Jang who plays an Asian warrior assassin forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Oscar®-winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Danny Huston (The Kingdom), and Tony Cox (The Hustle).The fantasy action film was written and directed by newcomer Sngmoo Lee, and is being produced by Barrie M. Osborne (Lord of the Rings), Jooick Lee (Seven Swords) and Michael Peyser (Hackers)

I’ll start by saying that I really like it when a synopsis tells me absolutely nothing about the film… yea, I don’t usually read the synopsis- but sometimes, I do. This is the rare time- and all it says is there is a ” target=”_blank”>Samurai living in the American badlands… (interesting fact, I was actually in the movie i just linked when I was about 10 years old…)

Here is the visually exciting and somewhat off-putting trailer for The Warrior’s Way:

Did I like this trailer? YES!  Do I want to see this movie?  Uh… YES!  Why?  Well- When it started- the only thought that was going through my mind was “Oh- Another japanese made film that was then ported for limited (most likely DVD release in the U.S. of A.)  But then, and without warning, a character spoke in clear, non-dubbed, accented, American English… this aforementioned stat is what was so off-putting to me about the trailer!  Apparently, this was produced for an English speaking audience… weird. But- then as it progressed, and the visuals became progressively more and more epic and ridiculous, I became more and more intrigued by this product they are going to be selling to a (majority) audience who could barely stomach Crouching Tiger, or Hero… I started to fall in love with the astonishingly blatant statement of: “I wanna make the movie I wanna make, and if that only fits a very tight knit demographic- then the rest o’ya be damned!”

At this point, Geoffrey Rush popped onto the screen as a plague ridden, dirty ol’prospectin’ coot… and I was sold. Aside from floating Ninja armies… this movie can’t get any more awesome. Speaking from a strictly trailer review stand-point, this looks like what every- over the top, stylization based film is striving to be. It is ridiculous and it knows it… hell- it EMBRACES it!

…in short, all I have to say about this movie is: “Ninjas…? Damn.”

I lucked out Wednesday night and was able to see a screening of Let Me In. I was a fan of Let The Right One In (the Swedish version) and was pretty wary of seeing the Americanized version because we usually fuck things up. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the adaptation was.

Let Me In is the story of Owen, an almost 13 kid in 1983 Los Alamos, New Mexico. Hes a scrawny weird kid who appears to have no friends. His parents are getting divorced and his mom is a drunk who usually passes out with a bottle of wine every night. He is bullied at school and is a bit obsessed with trying to find a way to get back at the bullies. One night while being a creepy ass kid and practicing to stab his bully and spying on his neighbors he sees a small girl and old man move into the apartment next door. He later meets the girl, Abby, and despite her warning that they can’t be friends, they become friends. Abby helps Owen feel better about his shitty life, and urges him to fight back when the bullies bother him. Owen notices some very strange things about Abby but looks past them and is happy to have a friend. And thats where I stop telling you about the movie and tell you to go see it.

If you’ve seen the Swedish version I would probably wait until this comes out on DVD and rent it because it is very much the same. The differences are minimal and I can’t see paying money to go see it again in English. However, if you haven’t seen the original I recommend going with a few friends so you can talk about how strange it is after.

The movie left me with a strange feeling, I want to like Owen because hes had a shitty time at life but hes just so damn creepy and weird that I have a hard time sympathizing. Chloe Moretz (Hit-Girl from Kick Ass) does a really good job and is the highlight of the film, even after she rips someones throat out I still feel for her more than Owen. The filming of the movie was great as well, Matt Reeves has stepped up his game from the shaky cam bullshit in Cloverfield and had a lot of great shots. One scene with a fire fell short though. In fact the whole audience laughed at the cheesy feel of it.

All in all I’d say its a good movie but I wouldn’t throw 8 bucks at it, Id wait for a smaller theater and maybe a flask or a beer. 3 out of 5 stars.

I can’t imagine anyone who made it through their childhood without wanting to build a treehouse and spend extended amounts of time in it.  Sure, the Swiss Family Robinson’s home was much more practical, but it was the Ewok village that inspired me most to want a treehouse.

I was pretty floored when I found this article about the Hogan’s over at ABC.

They moved from Colorado to Costa Rica to build their very own green living space, inspired directly by the Ewok village.

After taking a tour of a lot of secondary-growth rainforest in the mountainous Southern Zone of Costa Rica, advertised for potential timber logging, Erica Hogan suggested using the jungle to build an Ewok village in the trees, similar to the one on the moon of Endor in the film “Return of the Jedi”.

The conversation could have ended there, but her husband liked the idea.

“It’s funny, the Ewok village was only featured for a split second in ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,’ but it left such a lasting impression there are few people who don’t know what the Ewok village is,” he says.

And he’s right.  I’ve included one photo, but you’ll have to hit the ABC’s slideshow to see more.

It’s pretty breathtaking.

The house is also completely green with solar panels and it’s own green grid for water, power, wi-fi, etc.  And the best part is, this is turning into an actual village:

“It’s a win-win; we’re protecting the environment and creating ‘green’ jobs building the infrastructure,” Hogan says of what’s billed as the world’s first modern, planned, sustainable tree house community.

It consists of about two dozen sky-high structures, with more than 40 other properties sold and planned for development. All told, there are about 80 two-acre lots, which have been selling fast, the founders say.

The first stage of “pre-infrastructure” lots is sold out, they say, and there are six more in Phase Two, starting at $55,000 for a lot.

And these guys are telecommuting to their jobs.  From the Ewok village.

How cool is that?

AllPosters.com has launched a brand line of 30×40 Marvel Giclees today, and they will be giving one away this week through Big Shiny Robot! They asked us to make this video to accompany the contest.

The giclees are gorgeous and worth about $100.

In order to win one of these, we want you to let us know in the comments below what it is you love about Marvel comics. (You can get a second chance of winning by joining in on the discussion in our forums and our facebook.)

The contest will run through October 1st, and a winner will be announced on October 4th. In the meantime, browse and drool over which one you’d love to have hanging in your house.

And be sure to spread the word!

Yes, it’s crowded.  Yes, the lines are long.  Yes, Hall H is a madhouse and you’re more likely to be run over by angry Twi-Hards trying to get into their panel than getting into the panel you REALLY wanted.

But you know, there’s nothing like Comic-Con, and that’s why we keep going back.

Many have suggested that San Diego is too small and they ought to move to the HUGE convention centers in Anaheim, LA, or Vegas when their contract ends with the SDCC in 2012.  But I love San Diego.  Granted, it is my home town and it’s nice to see family while geeking out, and damn but you can’t beat the weather, and areas like the Gaslamp just don’t exist close to most other convention centers.

But San Diego CC just announced via their website that they extended their contract through 2015.

What do you all think?

Oh, and by the way, 4-day tickets for 2011’s Comic Con have already sold out, suckas.

Clang! Boom! Steam! took up writing duties for the Big Shiny Robot! column in IN This Week (aptly titled This Week IN Comics) to tell us about the Walking Dead event that Big Shiny Robot! is hosting at the end of October.

You can pick up IN Magazine at newsstands all over the greater Salt Lake area.

You can read the online version of the article here, or click to enlarge the laid out, image-based version below.

As far as details: The Walking Dead premieres on Halloween night and in the Mountain Standard timezone it begins at 10:00pm.  We’ll be presenting it along with the Geek Show Podcast at Brewvies Cinema Pub right after a costume contest and a special screening of 28 Days Later at 6:00pm.

It’s any wonder that MTV used to be the voice of a generation, because they have missed the mark once again in trying to take the pulse of the popular culture.

They failed yesterday with their list of of 10 scenes they wanted to see in 3D, a quick rush job they threw together that I had to counter with my own list.  (You can read that here).

Today, they ran an article about overwhelming anger by “nerds” about the announcement of Star Wars in 3D.   Here’s the lead in for their article:

There are two types of people in this world, those who care that all six “Star Wars” films are going to be re-released in 3-D and those who don’t. We’re concerned with those who do for one reason: they’re way funnier. You see, people who like “Star Wars,” as a general rule, did not like news of this 3D conversion. “George Lucas sucks and he’s always ruining everything,” was the general sentiment.

Aside from their broad, over-generalizations about Star Wars fans, they proceeded to quote specific examples from the same hyper-vocal minority that bashes on the Prequels at every turn.  I get letters on a weekly basis from Star Wars fans who feel too bullied by the anonymous hordes on the internet to speak out in a positive manner for being shouted down by these blowhards.  I’m able to largely ignore them, but they are getting quite out of hand.

The Star Wars fans I’ve talked to are all incredibly excited about seeing the Star Wars films on the big screen again.  A lot of the backlash coming from these “prequel haters” come from the idea that this re-release is two things.  First, they think for some reason, despite all the evidence and facts to the contrary, that this is going to be a quick and rushed sterescopic 3D upconversion.  They’ve already spent almost a decade working on it, and are still more than a year away from seeing even the first installment on it.  The bad 3D they’re used to is almost always converted in a matter of months.  Secondly, they see this as some evil cash-grab by George Lucas (a man who’s given half his fortune away to charity).  But they all miss the obvious point: They don’t have to see it if they don’t want to.

Additionally, this is a technological investment that will have been made for almost a decade at a loss to Lucasfilm.  This is very much the same situation that brought us Pixar.  If ILM spends all of these man hours on the technology with no payoff, and then we get Star Wars in 3D out of it and the technology takes a quantum leap forward, we all win.  People were angry with Jar Jar, but off the back of Jar Jar, Gollum was built.  This bodes well for all of us.

Actual Star Wars fans, and not disgruntled and anonymous internet trolls are excited for the opportunity to see these films again.  My son has only seen Revenge of the Sith on the big screen, and I’m more excited than you can imagine to share the entire saga with him the way it’s meant to be seen.  And by and large Star Wars fans feel the same way.

You can read the full MTV article here. But my advice is to ignore the hype of the “outrage”.  Like I said, they’re just a hyper-vocal minority.

You might also want to read my article, “Why your childhood wasn’t ‘raped’ by Star Wars”

I would also like to hear from the readers of Big Shiny Robot! in the comments below.  Are you angry about this?  Excited?  We might do a more formal poll, but I’m curious to get an actual gauge of response below.

Sometimes, a movie trailer hits the internet and just absolutely tears me in two. One side of me is thinking “MAN! That looks bas ass!” the other side is saying, “Whoa there, Tiger, this looks like it could suck pretty bad, too. Let’s be cautious here.” Yes, I refer to myself as “Tiger”.

The latest trailer to cause this split in me is for the sci-fi alien invasion flick, Skyline. The film stars Eric Balfour (various TV shows), Scottie Thompson (who bears a striking resemblence to Evangeline Lilly), David Zayas (Dexter, The Expendables), Donald Faison (Scrubs), and the always sexy, Brittany Daniel (Joe Dirt). There hasn’t been a whole lot released about this film, and I’m sure there are other sub-plots that aren’t being revealed, but you can check out the official synopsis below.

I for one think this looks like it can be a great, November alien invasion popcorn movie! But while the alien invasion movie-loving side of me is excited about this, and cautious side of me is in the back of my head whispering, “You’ve been burned before . . .” Check out the trailer for yourself in HD via the link below and sound off on what you think!

In the sci-fi thriller Skyline, strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.

Visit Apple.com for the trailer in HD!

Last night at their conference in Chiba, Japan. Nintendo dropped the final details on their newest handheld the 3DS. As seen on Kotaku the 3DS will hit Japan on February 26, 2011 at the price of 25,000 yen ($300 U.S.). It will then release to the west right around March 2011 (kinda feels like Nintendo digs Spring handheld launches.) The kit will come bundled with: a 2GB SD card, 6 augmented reality cartridges, the 3DS touch pen, and a charger stand(shown below).

The 3DS will support streaming TV, have a slew of software available at launch, and much to the relief of gamers consistently burned through Nintendo upgrades, unlike the DSI and DSI XL It will allow you to import your digital game library. For those new to the DS world, this means that DLC purchases will be able to transfer when you buy a new system for whatever reason. Aaaaaand….wait for it…… The Virtual Console for 3DS will have Gameboy Advance support! Apparently it only took 2-3 years of us bitching to get that, this announcement has me giddy as a school-girl. Hopefully the titles for the 3DS will be as strong as its looking so far.

Here are the technical specs:

According to Nintendo, the new functions include a slide pad, a motion sensor and a gyro-sensor.

The portable will have parental controls like the Nintendo DSi and the DSi XL portables before it.

It is possible to play games downloaded off the 3DS’s Virtual Console as well as games downloaded onto a Nintendo DSi and DSi XL. The Nintendo 3DS works with game cartridges in the Nintendo DS series.

The Nintendo 3DS is 134mm by 74mm. It is 21mm thick and weighs 230 grams.

The top screen is 3.53 inches and with an liquid crystal display of 800 x 240 pixels. The button screen is 3.02 inches with a liquid crystal display of 320 x 240 pixels.

It has two outer 0.3 megapixel cameras and one inside the portable’s clamshell.

The Nintendo 3DS has WiFi functionality.

There is a game cartridge slot, an SD card slot, an slot for the AC adaptor and headphones jack. Stereo speakers are on the right and left of the portable’s upper shell. It has a mic, too.

Cartridges for the Nintendo 3DS are the same size as cartridges in the Nintendo DS line.

As with the DS line, the Nintendo 3DS is powered by a lithium ion battery.