I’m at Comic-Con and was given a chance to see the world-premiere of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World tonight.  I’ve just arrived back to my hotel sort of in awe.

For those who don’t know, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is about a guy who finds the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and has to fight her 7 Evil Exes in order to date her.

As far as the film goes, I’m wondering what I can say about it.  There’s almost not much too say about it.  If you’ve read the graphic novels (though I actually saw the film before I was able to read Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour), there didn’t really seem to be any surprises other than the fact that they actually pulled the tone of the book straight off of the page and filmed it.

Edgar Wright, the director, is a master of this sort of tone and tight storytelling, but I was pretty worried about how he would adapt such a unique property.  I’d read the script quite a while ago (and even posted a raving review of it), and I was pretty confident that he understood the source material, but I was dying to see how it could come off in moving pictures.  I shouldn’t have worried.  He pulled it off pretty flawlessly.  It was one of the most charming films I’ve seen in recent memory and all of the actors really owned their parts.

With a cast of standouts, it was surprising to see that there were stars that shone just a little brighter than the rest.  First of those was Kieran Culkin.  He completely stole every scene he was in.  He place Wallace, Scott’s Gay roomate and every time he’s on screen, you’re guaranteed a laugh.  Then you’ve got Michael Cera, who found a part he was literally born to play.  I haven’t really seen him in all that much, so all of the overexposure to him that people keep talking about has just passed me by.  He owned the part of Scott Pilgrim so much that I literally forgot his name halfway through the film.

Thomas Jane also has one of the single best cameos in film history.  And I think Brandon Routh needs to play Superman again.  (After the film the entire cast came out on stage and he was like a head and a half taller than everybody and built like Superman still.  He needs to carry on that legacy.)

I laughed so hard watching this film throughout that time blazed by.  When the “Would you like to continue?” countdown ended and the credits rolled, I wished that I had more credits to put into the movie because I wanted more.  For the videogame generation this film is going to be a mega-hit, and no one will even see it coming.

The film is laid out like a video game, with Scott fighting each of the exes until he finally makes it to a boss battle at the end of the game…er…movie.  Along the way, Scott collects points and coins until he gains a level and gets an extra life, which he’ll need to win the day.

It made me wish we really did get extra lives in real life.  It would help.

And the way the film ended was different from how the script that I read ended.  And my guess is that it’s probably different from how the series of graphic novels ended.  It was a pretty satisfying ending, though, and it was certainly a crowd pleaser.  There was a moment where I thought it would have been cool for Scott to have his cake and eat it, too, and Scott, Ramona, and Knives could all end up together simultaneously, but in the end he had to choose.  It was nice being able to second-guess who he could have ended up with, though, since I truly had no idea.  Now I REALLY have to get back to the book and see which one he ends up with there, to see if there’s going to be a whole bunch of pissed off purists.

This movie is going to do very well.  It’s fun, charming, full of heart, and above-all of those things, it’s hilarious.  The fight scenes are extremely well put together, the style never gets in the way of the story, and the ending builds up to a “Fuck yeah” moment that is worth the price of admission alone.  The crowd was so into the film by the end that I wondered if they were going to explode into candy.  (Granted this was an audience of people who sprinted 8 city blocks to get in line to catch it first after being told about the Secret screening just minutes before the film started, but still…)

Edgar Wright and his cast did the impossible with Bryan Lee O’Malley’s source material and they should all be pretty proud.  Now he needs to get to work on either Ant-Man, or another film with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Oh, and after the movie, Metric, the band who played The Clash at Demonhead in the film came, and played a set after the cast came out and took a very well deserved bow.  It was the perfect end to the evening.  Now I’ve got to get to sleep so I can write up all the other stuff that I got today, as well as blow your minds with what’s coming tomorrow.

A few months back on the Big Shiny Podcast, regular guest and super best friend of BSR!, Kiley, introduced a comic he is currently enjoying quite a bit: Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory from Image.

Well, it looks like he wasn’t the only one that enjoyed it. Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Stephen Hopkins, the director of Predator 2 has come on board to direct the cable television adaptation of the series. Circle of Confusion, which is close to releasing it’s first production on AMC, The Walking Dead, also adapted from a comic book series, is producing the series (and on a side note, they are also working on adapting Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers comic book series into a television series on FX as well). No word yet on if any station is interested in picking it up, but I imagine that will come a bit later down the road.

“There are a lot of superhero comic books but there are not many food comic books,” Layman said. “Food turned out to be a very universal theme embraced by readers.” For Layman, who has been writing comic books since 1995, this marks his first original creation and his first success. “It only took 15 years,” he quipped. Layman is celebrating another anniversary this year – he is heading to Comic-Con for the 20th consecutive year, and this time, he will have a table for Chew following the success of the series’ first two volumes.

Chew follows the story of Detective Tony Chu who is a “cibopath” – meaning he gets psychic impressions from anything he eats – which means he mostly sticks to a diet of canned beets. His psychic skills come in handy in solving murders, but this of course means he has to gnaw on the victims to be effective.

While I personally haven’t read Chew, Kiley had great things to say about the comic. It’s great to see Circle of Confusion and television companies jumping on board and adapting some great comic book titles to TV series. Powers, The Walking Dead, and from what I hear about it, Chew, could possibly all make for great television. We will find out this October when the first of these series, The Walking Dead, hit the airwaves on AMC.

Head on over to the BSR! Forums to talk Chew, The Walking Dead, Powers, and anything else your geektacular heart desires!

First Showing (.net) are reporting that a reliable insider source has all but confirmed that the Riddler will be the villain for the third Batman film – and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the now fan-favorite – is listed as “Interested” for the role:

We’ve gotten word from a reliable inside source with a studio casting grid that The Riddler is listed as a character for Chris Nolan’s highly anticipated to the sequel to The Dark Knight, which is still called Batman 3 at Warner Bros. Even more interesting, the actor currently listed in the same grid to play the assumed villain is none other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose status is just listed as “interested.”

So, what the hell is a casting grid?

A casting grid is used in the industry to keep production companies, agencies, etc. in the loop on a project’s progress and the roles available for actors to potentially take. These documents are used for business planning in the industry and by no means would use internet speculation to list a character that may not even appear in the film. But when it comes to listing actors, this is info that can change at anytime, and just because an actor or studio is interested in one or the other, does not mean it will actually happen.

So, it seems this may be some pretty reliable news that the Riddler will be the villain in the third film, but you can never be sure until the studio makes an official announcement. Coming off of just seeing Inception over the weekend I am even more all for Joseph Gordon-Levitt taking on the role. I think he’s got more than enough acting chops and he’s a bold actor not afraid to try new directions; similar to Heath Ledger’s Joker. I’m sure I’m not the only one pulling for him to land the role, so let’s keep fingers crossed!

Talk Batman 3 villains over at the BSR! Forum!

Synopsis: Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part viglante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotahm with the effciency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when the Joke falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

Featuring the voices of Bruce Greenwood as Batman, John DiMaggio as The Joker, Jensen Ackles as Red Hood, Jason Isaccs as Ra’s Al Ghul, and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing.

Swank-mo-tron: My perspective on “Under the Red Hood” I’m sure varies greatly from Arse-bots. I’m a giant Batman nerd, almost as big as I am a Star Wars nerd, and when I read the comics this story was based on I was less than pleased. It’s no secret that Jason Todd, the Robin that Batman lost at the hands of the Joker, is the Red Hood, but my reaction was always, “Why?” It seemed pointless and counter productive to bring back Jason Todd from death, since his death was probably the single most defining event in Bruce Wayne’s life after his choice to put on the cape and cowl. The whole enterprise was lame and left a bad taste in my mouth, especially the issue where they actually bring him back to life and it’s basically the “Crisis” that regenerated his corpse in his coffin because he wasn’t supposed to die. Yawn.

When I heard they were making a movie of this storyline, I was pretty skeptical. After I did an interview with Scott Snyder about American Vampire (and who will soon be taking over the reigns of Detective Comics), we spent about 40 minutes afterwards geeking out about Batman and he recommended that I go back and re-read the Red Hood story since it was the best story Winick could have made under the constraints of having to bring Todd back. I re-read it under that lens, and I agreed with Snyder. But there was just too much continuity in the comics thrown out for me to really love it.

Then it comes to this release on Blu-ray and I’m wanting to hate it. But I can’t. Because it’s in its own little isolated animated universe, they’re able to throw out all of those continuity problems that made me hate the story in the first place and stripped it down to its purest form. This was actually a great movie.

Without all of the baggage I attached to it from the comics this was probably one of the most enjoyable and well-written Batman animated movies since the Return of the Joker, and Mask of the Phantasm before that. This is one you’re going to want to watch a lot. And I would like to point out Neil Patrick Harris’ standout performance as Dick Grayson. It was pitch perfect for the character.

And I’m usually not a fan of people other than Kevin Conroy stepping in to Batman’s shoes, but Bruce Greenwood did a really great job. I still want Conroy, but Greenwood would be an appropriate succesor.

And pay particularly close attention to the fight with Amazo and pretty much everything with The Black Mask. It was some of the most fun I’ve had in one of these movies in a long time.

Arse-bot: Unlike Swank, going into this movie I had next to no exposure to this story line in the Batman universe. I knew the overall plot, but nothing about the details. I have seen every DC Animated film released and have yet to be disappointed – the quality, stories, and for the most part the voice acting, are all always top notch. So, going into this I had some pretty high expectations.

Needless to say, they were met, and then some.

The story is compelling as hell, with the film starting off with the infamous death of Jason Todd – the second kid to don the Robin domino mask – at the hand of the Joker you know you are in for a great, emotional, action-packed ride. Right from the start the emotion is there, which says a lot since this is an animated film. Jason’s death has profoundly affected Bruce and this is portrayed in a great way with his interactions with Dick Grayson who is now NightWing. Batman wants to work alone, and despite NightWing’s kick-ass efforts to help him out even with a “simple” heist, Batman keeps his distance and goes it alone. Bruce and Dick’s interactions serve as what you may normally have conveyed to you via thought bubbles in the pages of a comic book. It was a very creative and effective way to give you insight to Bruce’s head.

As the story goes on and Red Hood comes on the scene, things obviously get complicated. Bruce slowly starts to put together who’s under that mask. While I was disappointed at NightWing’s departure just before the middle of the film, it was replaced by Bruce’s interactions with the resurrected Jason Todd. Obviously, this being an animated feature geared towards older teens and up, there is plenty of action to keep the pace moving, including a great showdown between Red Hood and Batman versus five assassins. The action sequences are brutal, and surprisingly bloody, but work with the overall tone of this DC Animated outing.

Everything really came to a head for me in Batman: Under the Red Hood in the finale. Jason Todd has finally gotten a crack at The Joker, and Batman is frantically coming after him to try to “save” his former protege. After a knock-down drag-out fight, Bruce and Jason have a few words. Standing in a seemingly empty room, Jason tells Bruce that he forgives him for not being able to save him, but then kicks open a closet and out falls the Joker tied to a chair. And in an emotionally charged and great piece of voice-acting it screams at Bruce demanding to know why after the Joker killed him why he was still alive. It’s a powerful scene that I rewound and watch a few times.

I’m with Swank in that Bruce Greenwood makes a great Batman, falling just short of effectiveness of that of the great Kevin Conroy. If Conroy were to ever retire as the voice of Batman, and Greenwood stepped up to start voicing him semi-regularly I would be very pleased. Jensen Ackles does a fantastic job as Red Hood as well and he and Greenwood play off each other very well in the emotionally climactic scenes. DiMaggio does a solid Joker – kind of seemed like it was DiMaggio doing an impression of Mark Hamill doing the voice of the Joker, and while I would have liked to see him do a completely original version of his Joker, this worked well in making the character very familiar with enough new takes to keep the personality fresh. And, again, Swank is right, NPH is just perfect as Dick Grayson.

This animated film is exciting, gripping, and full of action – all riding on the heels of a great story. If you aren’t new to these DC Animated films, then I don’t think you will need much convincing to check out Batman: Under the Red Hood. If you have never taken the time to check one out, this is just a great one to check out and I highly recommend it.

You can pick up a copy of Batman: Under the Red Hood next Tuesday, July 27, as always, from Amazon.com

USA Today has released a new photo of Chris Hemsworth as Thor! The shot coincides with a story they did on Thor coming to Comic-Con that you can check out at the link above.

So far, of all the pictures released (and there have been quite a few as of late) this is my favorite. It just looks pretty epic, and Hemsworth is all buffed up and Thor-looking!

Head on over to the BSR! Forum to talk Thor!

MTV has revealed the tease “trailer” for footage that will be shown at Comic-Con!

Based on the cult comic from Dark Horse Entertainment, created by Eric Powell in 1999, the comic follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and “skunk apes.”

My exposure to “The Goon” is pretty limited, but from this clip the animation looks amazing to me. They really captured the artistic style of the comic, but I’ll leave it up to you Goon fans to debate with the “feel” of the comic is there in this short teaser!

The screenplay for ‘The Goon’ is by Eric Powell and stars the voice of Paul Giamatti as Frankie. No release date has been set.

Come weigh in on your first impressions of ‘The Goon’ in the BSR! Forum!

Playdead Studios located in Copenhagen, Denmark created this wonderfully dark dramatic game. In the same vein as 2008’s Braid, the entire game is up for your own interpretation. The only story given to you explains that you’ve lost your sister, and you are trying to find her.

LIMBO‘s color scheme is black and white with shades of grey, creating an eerie atmosphere. Very quickly you realize this world you are in is extraordinarily dangerous, every puzzle having a very gruesome consequence for not completing it correctly.

Depending on your skill set, its about a 5 – 6 hour game with lots of secrets for repeat play throughs. There are also some avatar rewards that seem pretty easy to unlock. I got one for completing the game, and another for a secret white orb to the left at the very start of the game.

The controls are very simple. Jump and action. Action being used for pushing or pulling items. In the options menu, you can turn off the gore if you’d prefer it. To be completely honest, the gruesome nature of the game can be startling. Especially considering the protagonist is a young boy.

I would highly recommend anyone with the ability to do so to check out this game. Anyone that labels themselves as a gamer, even a casual one, needs to experience it. LIMBO will be available for download July 21st.

And please, share your thoughts and interpretations on our forum thread.

I just wanted to drop a quick line to everyone who reads the site and has been wondering what we’ve got planned for San Diego.  Androidika and I will be attending and we’re going to be covering as much Con material as we can.  I’ll be focusing on movies, Star Wars, and some surprise interviews we’ll lay on you in the coming weeks, and Androidika will be focusing on comics and other things he finds interesting.

We’ve got quite a lot locked in already, and some really cool things planned, so be sure to stay tuned.

We’ll have tons of pictures, video and audio, as well as regular reports as often as we can find internet connections.

We’ll also both be tweeting from @bigshinyrobot, @swankmotron, and @mrmiah.  That’s your best bet for up to the minute news.

If there’s anything specific you want us to cover, be sure to let us know.

If you’re going to be in San Diego, and are interested in being a deputized Big Shiny Robot! and write some reports for us, please let us know.

It’s that time again. And what more fitting time than just after our one millionth visitor! Lots of upgrades including our brand new forum. Just to get an idea of how far we’ve come, let’s take a little trip down memory lane back to versions 1 and 1.5:

Before you judge, to be fair, revision 1 was something we slapped together to get the site running. Shortly thereafter we saw how many people were looking at the site and decided to do something a little more custom, insert 1.5:

With any revision, there can be hiccups. If anyone notices a problem with the site feel free to contact us. We’ll fix the problem as soon as we can. Now to get started on 3.5…

This is a very special week for our column in IN Magazine because not only did we do our regular column, but we also got the cover story.

The cover story is six or seven pages long, so I won’t post all of it here.  You can read it online, but it looks much, much cooler laid out, so I would advise picking up a copy or two off the newsstands.

Here’s the cover:

And for this week’s comics article, I decided to try introducing new readers to the wonders of Bone. You can read the online version here. (Another staff writer at IN also had an interview with some SLC comic book artists debuting their stuff at SDCC, so you should check that out, too.)

Be sure to pick the issue up on stands.  But in the meantime, check out the Bone article below: