io9 has revealed the first official cast photo for AMC’s upcoming series, The Walking Dead, based on the acclaimed ongoing comic series penned by Robert Kirkman!

Any fans of the comic book series I’d imagine are pretty pleased right now as it seems AMC has nailed the look of the characters!

The Walking Dead follows the story(ies) and struggles of a group of survivors after a zombie-apocolypse. The comic series has great character stories peppered with zombie pummeling adventures and, if AMC does this right, will make for one hell of a television series. So many zombie stories stop after a group of survivors make it to some safe haven, this story takes it further and follows their survival for months beyond. If you haven’t been reading The Walking Dead series, there are more than enough collected volumes out there right now to get you started, so go hit up your local comic shop!

I am incredibly excited for this series, and this photo has pretty much given me a full-blown nerdgasm!

Come talk The Walking Dead in the BSR Forum!

Well folks here it is! Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern.  I don’t really have an opinion on it yet. I can’t tell if I like it or hate it, but this is what we’re getting. What is your opinion? Please leave a comment or two. Or you could even go to our spiffy new forums and chat it up about it!

Discuss Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern Costume over in the BSR Forum!

Substance Dii from the BSR! Forum brought this little bit of Superman rumor to the table earlier today, so I thought I’d do some poking around about it.

Geek Tyrant is the one who initially broke the story/rumor that Chris Nolan’s little brother Jonathan may be the unannounced director of the Superman reboot.

According to our sources, Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan is currently the unannounced director of the Superman reboot film. Word on the lot is that he is attached to direct the film, and has been on the studio lot working on pre-development stuff.

Of course, this actually makes a lot of sense, because even though this would be the first film Jonathan Nolan has ever directed -and Superman is a big one to come in on- the studio is probably comforted by the fact that Christopher Nolan will be there “mentoring” him throughout as reported earlier this year.

The Geek Tyrant story also mentions that the studio has already started auditioning actors for the film, and it sounds like NBC’s Chuck star, Zachary Levi (below) auditioned for “a role” – but he looks awfully Clark Kent-ish to me. There’s nothing to be said about him being a front-runner or anything like that.

Of course, WB has not come forward and confirmed any of this, so for now this stays a rumor – but it will be interesting to see if they have anything to announce at the upcoming Comic-Con. . .

Head on over to the BSR! Forum to discuss!

The LA Times has posted an article on their site confirming that (sigh) Thor and Captain America will be being released in 3D along side the standard not-3D. But, more importantly, as you can see above, they released a pretty sweet picture featuring Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor!

As far as the 3D goes, Marvel seems to be pretty excited about it, but neither Thor nor Captain America were/are shot using 3D cameras – which means they will be using that shitty “post-conversion” technique used in recent films such as The Last Airbender. If you are familiar with the post-conversion style of 3D compared to that of a film actually shot with 3D cameras, the difference is significant – and I am definitely not a fan of 3D in general really, let alone the post-conversion style.

But alas, Marvel and the Directors will do what they want, and those of us not as excited as others to see these movies in after-the-fact 3D can be comforted in knowing everything gets released in standard format as well, so we won’t be forced to see it in “3D”!

Here’s a little of what Branagh had to say about Thor coming to theaters in 3D:

“We came to feel that in our case 3-D could be the very good friend of story and character for a different kind of experience,” Branagh said, taking a break from post-production. The filmmaker said the terminology of the 3-D process initially made him cringe — at first, it was “math and physics and way over my head,” he said with a chuckle — but then he started to pulse with the unexpected artistic opportunities.

“It’s another draft of the story that can reveal itself in a different way,” he said. “I had a healthy degree of skepticism up front … I’ve become somebody extremely excited about working with possibilities of doing it this way.”

You can check out the full article over at the LA Times to see what else Branagh had to say about the process and get Captain America director, Joe Johnston’s take on “gimmicky” 3D as well!

So Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger will be coming at you in (post-conversion) 3D! Will you check them out in 3D, or will you opt for standard format? Discuss it in the Big Shiny Robot Forum or leave a comment below!

This is the first picture of Loki (Tom Hiddleston)  from the Thor movie. Here he is with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Odin (Anthony Hopkins). The more I see of this movie, the more I really can’t wait for it to come out next May!

On June 24, I officially became one of those guys. As an owner of an iPhone 3G, I was itching for an iPhone upgrade, and from the second information about the iPhone 4 was leaked due to some dude leaving it in the bar, I was licking my chops to get my hands on one. So, I played the game. On reserve day I was able to finally, late in the day, reserve an iPhone 4 online for pick-up on Launch Day at my local Apple Store in down town Salt Lake City, Utah. I didn’t go as far to camp out overnight to get mine – I had one reserved, why trade hours of good sleep just to get my phone an extra hour earlier? – but I did get up and get in line at 6:00am. After 3 and a half hours of shuffling in the line with the rest of the Apple Zombies, I finally got my hands on the much anticipated iPhone 4. . .

Now, the honeymoon is over. I’ve had the iPhone 4 for almost three weeks now. No doubt, you’ve heard the reports of antennae/reception issues, manufacturing faults, etc. This article is not meant to argue the iPhone is better than any Android/Droid/Windows Mobile phone out there. The fact is I like the iPhone and I don’t feel the need to push it on people like an over-zealous preacher. I just simply want to share my experience with the iPhone 4 for those interested (specifically the antenna issue), for those maybe considering buying one, and for those curious about all these “defects” and wanting to know about them from someone who was actually dumb enough to go wait in line to shell out $300 for a phone.

There’s a lot to love about the iPhone 4. It’s fast as hell, has a back-lit 5MP camera that takes some pretty amazing photos, has a front and rear camera, and the operating system is getting better and better with each update (though, admittedly still behind the curve in a few aspects). But for all that’s great about the iPhone 4, it has been plagued with some issues – and one major one. If you have been living under a rock, I’ll briefly explain.

Essentially, the metal bands encasing the outer rim of the iPhone 4 are actually the antennas for wi-fi, 3G, cell phone data, etc. There are little gaps separating these antennas and if you put a finger/palm over the gap on the lower left corner some people can watch their signal bars plummet – sometimes all the way down to “No Service”.

So, essentially, if you cover that gap with your hand in anyway, you are going to suffer signal-loss, which can really suck for a lefty:

Now, from what I’ve read, essentially what’s going on is your hand is conducting interference by creating a connection between the different antennas and causing a significant loss of cell phone signal. So, what’s my experience with this antenna problem? I can confirm it’s real. If I cover that gap with my palm like the picture above, I can watch the signal bars drop from full bars all the way down to one or two, so it does exist. But, the caveat is that I’m right handed, and when I hold my phone with my right hand I don’t grip it like a baseball bat – so I don’t cover that gap, even with a finger. And that’s by habit, not by necessity with this issue, I hold the iPhone 4 just like I always held my iPhone 3G. You couple that with the fact that I hate talking on the phone so I rarely use it as such in the first place, my bad experiences with this design flaw are slim to none.

But that doesn’t make it not a flaw. Apple is faced with a PR nightmare right now. When this issue first came up, Steve Jobs actually responded with “Don’t hold it that way.” Now, while many of us Apple consumers are used to – and find somewhat endearing – Mr. Jobs’ blunt nature, this probably wasn’t the best response for something that is blowing up into a huge issue. How huge? A judge just deemed a lawsuit against Apple for these reception problems (and their lack of response) acceptable and it will go to court; Consumer Reports just reviewed the iPhone 4 and had incredibly positive things to say about it, but in the end, the antenna issues were a deal breaker and they said the could not recommend the iPhone 4; and now, in the media, the word “recall” is being tossed around.

I like Apple. I think they make incredibly high-quality products, but, even though I have had no issues with the antenna, they missed the mark. The iPhone does so much, part of me wonders if Apple kind of . . . forgot about the phone functionality aspect of it all. Remember, Apple? Your product is called the iPHONE. Apple needs to step up, admit it’s mistake and fix it for its customers. SO many people loyally buy Apple products, and it’s disappointing when they make a major mistake with a product we get the “Don’t hold it that way” answer. There are couple of approaches to fixing this:

1. Apple can provide one of their rubber “bumpers” for the iPhone 4 to everyone, for free. This bumper actually insulates the antenna and has been proven over and over again by multiple tech websites to mitigate the antenna reception problems – no matter how you hold the phone.
2. Recall. It would suck, and it might be even be worse PR right off the bat for Apple, but in the long run, it would be the right thing to do. Fix the problem for all iPhone 4’s that haven’t shipped yet, and allow current owners to come trade theirs in at the Apple store.

Perhaps there are other options here, but Apple needs to own up to a faulty design and fix it.

At the end of the day, I love my iPhone 4. I use it a lot throughout the day for everything from Facebook to Twitter, texting and IMing, and gaming to multimedia. It does everything I want it to do, and more. I would still recommend it to anyone – but I would tell them about the antenna issue and encourage them to either wait until Apple fixes the problem, or buy a bumper with it – which unfortunately cost the ridiculous amount of $30 . . . for a strip of rubber to go around the edge of your iPhone. So, on second thought, maybe just wait until Apple is forced to come around, and come up with a better solution for an issue that is hindering such a potentially great product.

How do you think Apple should handle this antenna issue with the iPhone 4? Do you own an iPhone 4 (or any other incarnation) – if so, what’s your experience been? Share your thoughts in the Big Shiny Robot Forum, or in the comments below!

Big Shiny Robot is proud to announce the creation of the Big Shiny Robot Forum! Now all of you guy-bots and girl-bots out there have a place to go to discuss and share your thoughts on stories we post here on BSR! as well as any other topic you damn well please! We created this forum for YOU the readers, it’s YOUR community so make of it what you will; we here at BSR! are along for the ride just like you.

Of course, to make the forum a pleasant experience for everyone participating, Kill-Tacular-Tron has set some basic ground rules that I think are pretty solid:

• Profanity is fucking cool.
• Nudity should be kept to PG-13.
• You can troll, but don’t overdo it.

The most important thing to remember, though, is this: It’s the interwebs, don’t take anything too seriously.

The BSR Forum is just the very first step in a long list of exciting changes and additions coming to BSR!, and we will be tweaking, improving, and making it overall better for you over the next few weeks. In the coming days, weeks, and months we will be introducing changes to give our readers a better user experience and, most importantly, a voice in our growing community of kick-ass geeks and nerds. Some of these changes will come sooner than others, but we hope once they roll out you will be as excited as we are about them and take full advantage!

So, go! Be free! Express yourself in the Big Shiny Robot Forum! Discuss geek news stories, ask questions of the community, rant, share, complain, debate, befriend!

We’ll see you over there!

– The BSR! Staff (and by “Staff”, we mean group of assholes. . .)

There will NOT be spoilers in this review.

I lucked out. Big time. Thanks to twitter (yes its good for something) I got to attend the pre-screening of Inception in Salt Lake. I just got home and I’ve still got a smile plastered on my face.  We all know that Christopher Nolan is a god-damned genius. Name one movie hes made that sucks. Do it right now, I’ll wait. Yes you can google it….

So what’d you find? Nothing? Of course nothing, because the man is amazing. He made The Dark Knight for Christ’s sake.

Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb a man who is hired to extract information from a persons subconscious by infiltrating their dreams. He’s aided by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur who is his right hand man and is aware of Cobb’s demons and limitations. They get a job to place an idea in a man’s mind instead of extract one. Something supposedly impossible or at the very least very difficult. This is where Ellen Page comes in and makes me remember how much I love her. Ellen plays Ariadne (yes I spelled that right) who is the architect for the created dreams. Along for the ride are a “forger” and a “chemist” to help with the dream. The Forger played by Tom Hardy steals pretty much every scene hes in and he and Gordon-Levitt play off each other really well. The movie is long but never feels its full 148 minutes. There is enough action to keep you interested and I was biting my nails half the time.

I really can’t say much more without giving plot points away. The movie is part heist, part action gun fight, part mind fuck and I loved every minute of it. In fact I’m ready to go see it again and see how much more I notice and understand.

UPDATE #2: Norton has issues an official statement on the matter on his Facebook page:

UPDATE: Let the battle begin! Brian Swardstrom, who represents Norton, issued the following statement regarding Norton’s departure:

This offensive statement from Kevin Feige at Marvel is a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light. Here are the facts: two months ago, Kevin called me and said he wanted Edward to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers. He told me it would be his fantasy to bring Edward on stage with the rest of the cast at ComiCon and make it the event of the convention. When I said that Edward was definitely open to this idea, Kevin was very excited and we agreed that Edward should meet with Joss Whedon to discuss the project. Edward and Joss had a very good meeting (confirmed by Feige to me) at which Edward said he was enthusiastic at the prospect of being a part of the ensemble cast. Marvel subsequently made him a financial offer to be in the film and both sides started negotiating in good faith. This past Wednesday, after several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions, but before we had come to terms on a deal, a representative from Marvel called to say they had decided to go in another direction with the part. This seemed to us to be a financial decision but, whatever the case, it is completely their prerogative, and we accepted their decision with no hard feelings.

We know a lot of fans have voiced their public disappointment with this result, but this is no excuse for Feige’s mean spirited, accusatory comments. Counter to what Kevin implies here, Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with Joss and the other actors in the Avengers cast, many of whom are personal friends of his. Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton talent, tireless work ethic and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans.

ORIGINAL: It appears Marvel will be moving in a different direction – again – with the role of Bruce Banner/Hulk. Hitfix.com reported over the weekend that an inside Marvel source has broken the story that Marvel has chosen to recast the role for the Avengers film coming in 2012. Of course, this is normally something for me that would be thrown right to the “Rumor File”, but they also claim to have received confirmation from Marvel’s Kevin Feige himself:

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”

Ever since talk of the Avengers movie started there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not The Hulk would be in the film, and whether or not Ed Norton would reprise the role – especially after all the rumors of turmoil on The Incredible Hulk set between Norton and the writers, Norton and the director, Norton and Marvel, Norton and the coffee guy, etc. . .  Of course, all these conflicts were denied by both, the studio and Norton – but who really knows? So, now it looks like after all the speculation, the Hulk will appear in the Avengers film, but it won’t be Norton playing his human counter-part. Why? Well, we have Marvel’s official statement above, but could there be other reasons? Norton is a pretty outspoken guy, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we perhaps get an “official statement” from him in the coming days.

I think it’s too bad they are recasting the role of Bruce Banner, especially since last time he was asked about it Norton seemed to be pretty interested in reprising the role with the ensemble cast that will be making up the Avengers. It’s a pretty major role to be recasting with perhaps an unknown instead of Edward Norton. But, all well?

What are your thoughts on no Ed Norton in the Avengers movie as the Hulk? Does this make you less excited for the film?

Digital Spy got the chance to speak to Alfred himself at last night’s London premier of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Sir Michael Caine sounded confident in saying that the third Batman film under Nolan’s direction will start filming in April 2011 – aiming for a July 20, 2012 release!

So. . . yeah, that’s it for that bit of news.