IGN has posted the four new character posters from the upcoming Kick-Ass movie set to open on April 16 from Lionsgate Studios! You can check out all four of the posters by clicking the picture below!

In the world of Kick-Ass, superheroes only exist in comic books. That is, until high-school student Dave Lizewski puts on a costume and takes to patrolling the streets at night to right the wrongs that no one else can. So it is in Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.’s hugely popular comic series, which will soon be a Lionsgate film starring Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and directed by Layer Cake’s Matthew Vaughn.

Marcus (NBC’s Last Comic Standing) and I got together and made this parody trailer for Paranormal Activity.

I hope you like it and I hope you pass it along.

In the meantime, you should follow Marcus and I (Swankmotron) on Twitter.

UPDATE: We have the full-res 100mb version available to download here.

UPDATE 2: Please, vote us up on Funny or Die.

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron for the DS to review and I was quite excited to play.  I’ve never played a Battlefront game, but I’ve heard nothing but great things about this series and I had very, very high hopes.

There are three different types of gameplay in this title.  The first is a third person shooter where most of the action takes place.  Next is the starship mode, where you are “piloting” a ship (either a land vehicle or a star ship) and you basically dodge obstacles with your control pad and hold down the fire button.  The third is the capital ship mode.  In this mode, you’re basically a turret gunner on a track, firing at another capital ship.  As far as gameplay was concerned, I didn’t find anything very groundbreaking.  It seemed like pretty standard fare, if not a little boring.

Story wise, you’re a pair of brother clones, X1 and X2 who are fighting through the wars for whatever reason.  I’ve only been able to put a few hours into the game, so it could get cooler, but the story wasn’t really that big of a deal and, to be honest, I didn’t care too much for it.

The problem with the story, for me, came in with the writing.  There is dialogue from established characters (Palpatine, Anakin, Obi-wan, etc.) and none of it seems like it was written for the character.  It seems like it was written for the game as directions or exposition and after the fact they decided that they wanted to assign the bits of dialogue to specific characters.  It was terribly written.  The part that annoyed me the most on this front was the opening space battle from Revenge of the Sith.  You’re fighting as a pilot escorting Anakin and Obi-wan to General Grievous’ ship.  Anakin has a series of dialogue where he is derisively ordering you around and literally calling you “Clone.”  It would go something like, “Clone, go shoot at that ship over there.”  It didn’t fit with Anakin’s character for that scene of the movie at all…  It was very poorly done.

Overall, I’m going to have to say that, while I was pretty bored with this game, the repetition of action and challenge level was perfect for my son and he seems to be enjoying it very much.  This seemed very counter-intuitive to me.  I usually give things with the Star Wars brand, music and associated content most of a pass on the boredom factor, but this game I just couldn’t abide.  And usually with my son it’s the other way around.
Score

• Audio – 10 This was fine for a Star Wars game. It had all the right sounds.
• Controls – 7 They were repetitive and boring, but it’s a handheld game
• Story and Writing – 4 Jeez…
• Replay – 5
• Graphics – 8 Fine for a DS game

• Overall – 6

If you’re going to grab Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron for a kid, please click the link to do so on Amazon.

And be sure to keep up with Swank on all the latest Star Wars news over at the Examiner.

I had the good fortune of attending a virtual roundtable with Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson, the director and co-director of Pixar’s latest film, UP.

Up comes out on DVD and Blu-ray November 10. You can pre-order it here on Amazon.com.

Below is the question and answers from our round table.  This is provided without editing, exactly as it appeared:

Q: One of the most amazing things in “Up”, I think, it’s the treatment of the love story between Karl and Ellie, this is a true love beyond death. Could you explain us the development of this cruzial storyline?

Bob Peterson: Great question. This love story was the spine of who movie. When we develop these films we look for themes that guide us in how we tell the story. As the process of writing progressed, we realized that our main theme was “How does a person define adventure?” Is adventure out there in great deeds, or can it also be between people in the small moments that make up a life. Karl and Ellie’s love story helped us tell that theme – that small moments lead to a life’s adventure.

Q: What was your favourite sequence in the film, and why?

Pete Docter: I personally like the part we call “Married Life” — the wordless section showing Carl and Ellie’s life together. I think it plays to the strengths of film and animation in general, letting the visuals tell the story. And it seems to hit home for people. The bookend to this sequence is also one of my favorites — where Carl looks through Ellie’s adventure book (towards the end of the film).

Q: Bob, Dug is definitely an interesting character. Do you have fun voicing him? His characterizations are very engaging and likable. Do you ever see a feature film around Dug?

Bob Peterson: Thanks!! It was a thrill for me to voice him, mainly because I have been a dog owner/lover for my entire life. This dog collar idea let us animate Dug with true dog behaviors. I crafted Dug’s voice around how I talk to me dogs. “Hiii you dawgs,” I’ll say with that Dug like voice. I also love how my dogs are interested in the simple things in life – balls, treats, SQUIRRELS!! Dogs to me have a soul – they’re very emotional and I’m happy to pay homage to dogs with this character!

Q: Where did the character of Dug come from? What inspired that character?

Bob Peterson: The reason for Dug being in the film is that we wanted to give Carl a new family after his wife passes on. We essentially gave him a family dog, a grandson…and a 12 foot flightless bird. You know, a family! It is up to Carl to accept this new family in the body of the film, thus doing what his wife would have wanted – to move on and forge new relationships. Originally Dug and Kevin were with Carl alone (before Russell was created). Carl had noone to talk with so we invented the talking dog collars! Thanks, Dominic.

Q: Which character from UP do you find that you most relate to?

Pete Docter: I relate most to Carl. I find myself griping about how they changed this or that, or how music these days is a bunch of noise. I’m going to make an excellent old man.

Q: Of all the exotic locales in the world, why did you choose South America as the place of Carl and Russell’s big adventure?

Bob Peterson: We wanted our locale to reflect and resonate with Carl’s emotional state in the film. The Tepuis, or table top mountains, of South America are old, isolated, rugged, dangerous but with a soulful beauty – a pretty good description of Carl! Going there gave us a good sense of what it would be like for Carl and his friends to be up there. In the film, we used a great many plants and rock shapes that we saw from the Tepui.

Q: I’ve read a lot about the character of Carl as inspired by actor Spencer Tracy, but not so much about the source of Charles Muntz. Could you confirm if, in some way, it is inspired by actors as Errol Flynn or Clark Gable, funny adventurers?

Pete Docter: Yeah, we looked at Spencer Tracy, Walter Matthau, James Whitmore… as well as our own grandparents. For Muntz we modeled him on strong, 30’s era adventurous types — Errol Flynn and Walt Disney were two inspirations, as well as real life adventurers like Roald Amundsen and Percy Faucett.

Q: Is there anything about the movie that you’re still not satisfied with? If you could go back and change one thing about the movie after the fact, what would it be?

Pete Docter: Hey Folks, Pete here. We’ve trained ourselves to look for ways to improve our films at every turn. As John Lasseter says, we never actually finish our films, we just release them. So yes, every time I watch UP I see things I would change… cut out two frames here for better timing, add another gag there… but overall I am happy with it. (I’d better be after 5 years of work).

Q: Watching one of the special features titled “Adventure Is Out There”, I was surprised to find out that six of the crew were left behind until a helicopter could return after weather conditions cleared up. Curious, were you guys scared out of your wits having to stay huddled inside the “Lou” during the storm, or did you all embrace the weather conditions and think “how are we going to incorporate this into our film”?

Pete Docter: Bob and I were lucky enough to be in the first two helicopter trips, so we were already down when the storm closed in. I was in the last copter shuttle, and when we flew out we saw huge storm clouds closing in. The pilot said, “That’s going to be the last trip up here for today.” Uh oh… Once down, someone got us food, but we felt too guilty to eat, knowing our pals were still up there. I had stood in the Lou during an earlier downpour and it was pretty cramped quarters. I can’t imagine anyone would have slept at all had they been stuck there — neither the group on the mountain nor the group back on the ground! All part of the adventure I guess.

Q: With “Up” being a film that is so adventurous and exciting, if there was a ride or attraction for “Up” at Disneyland or Disneyworld, what would you both like to see?

Bob Peterson: Pete Docter is so tall, that I think we could build a ride around him! Just string a gondola or ski lift up over his head, and you’ve got a great ride!! So far no plans for an UP ride, but of all of our films, with its adventurous flying and travel, UP seems like it would be a natural. As the voice of Dug, I’d love to have Dug appear in the theme parks somehow!

Q: Was there a draft of the script before you took this research trip, or was it more of a treatment/outline, which was shaped by the locations?

Bob Peterson: We had a few drafts under our belt before we headed South. We workshop all of our stories until right before the film comes out, so we had some key elements of the story that were still in flux – mainly Charles Muntz. We hadn’t figured out why he would go to South America and stay there for so long – the idea of Kevin the bird therefore was still being developed. We wondered about making Kevin more magical – the bird who lays golden eggs, or contained the secret to eternal life. In the end, we went with a more “conventional” primitive bird who’s bones cause Muntz’ Geographic society to doubt his credibility.

Q: It isn’t the first time Pixar chooses an old man as first character in a plot, I remember the wonderful short “Geri’s Game”. But could you talk us about the challenge of the conception of a character like Carl, an lonely old man, in this film?

Pete Docter: Yeah, Geri’s Game was great — I got to animate a shot on it and was surprised by the challenge of animating an older guy. One of the biggest problems was to break habits we have as animators; we generally try to loosen up movement with things like overlapping action and nice fluid movements. Watching real old men, we noticed there is a stiffness that comes with age — your bones fuse and you tend to be less flexible. So we came up with some rules for ourselves: Carl can’t turn his head beyond 15-20 degrees without turning his upper torso, for example. He can’t raise his arms too high. Then we also wanted to have him grow more flexible at the end, so he transforms into an action hero and rejoins life.

Q: Did you consider using other animals than dogs as companions for Muntz?

Bob Peterson: Not really. We felt that dogs could play a wide variety of roles in the film just as dogs do in our lives – from loveable companion to enforcers. Ulitimately a dog’s unquestioning love fit well with what Carl needed in the film – to accept new relationships in his life. And simply…DOGS ARE THE BEST!!!

Q: In an earlier interview, Pete Docter said he modeled Russell after Pixar’s Pete Sohn and a boy in his son’s Boy Scout troop. Has the “real” Russell seen the movie, and if so, what does he think of it?

Pete Docter: Hey Edward. Russell’s namesake, my son’s friend, was happy with the film but told me we should add dinosaurs and a spy subplot to the story. (This is why I didn’t show it to him until we were finished.) Jordan seemed to like it as well, though said he didn’t really recognize his own voice.

Q: In the Up Blu-Ray, you talk about being inspired by a drawing of a grumpy old man holding balloons. At what point did you realize you had a movie, and not just a premise?

Bob Peterson: I think the first pitch to John Lasseter when we made him cry (with no visuals!) did we think we had the emotional underpinnings of the story!! Storywise we had finally cracked Carl’s motivation for escaping life – that he had lived an amazing relationship with his life that ended in something not quite completed. It’s a good feeling when you find that nugget of truth in your story. Humor and characters will come in and out of a story, but that nugget will remain.

Q: In conversations with Ronnie del Carmen and Peter Sohn, they both talked about the advantages of collaboration: animators adding stuff you wouldn’t have thought of. Are there any scenes in particular where somebody gave you an idea that was better than you originally intended?

Pete Docter: ALL of the scenes got better in animation! But there were certain parts that really came to life once we started in animation — like where Russell climbs up Carl in an attempt to scramble up to the house. All the business of him stepping on Carl’s nose and stomach was stuff we added in animation. The Bird was another one that was fun to animate. Tony Rosenast was the story board artist, and he came up with really funny stuff for that scene where they meet Kevin, but pantomime characters like Kevin just come to life once you get them moving.

Q: What do you think it is the most important adventure in life?

Bob Peterson: The great thing about this film and any film we work on is that it contains truths taken from our lives. Pixar lets the directors create an “autobiography.” in other words, things that are important to us make it into the film. I do believe that the greatest adventures happen between me and my kids, my wife, and in small moments. A morning around the kitchen table eating breakfast is an adventure in my house!!!!

Q: Hello! I´d like to know, from both of you, how does your children feel about your job…I believe they think it´s great to have a father animator.

Pete Docter: My kids don’t seem to think it’s unusual or unique. They probably think EVERYBODY works at a company where they ride scooters and eat candy. They’re going to have a rude awakening when they graduate…

Bob Peterson: I have 3 kids who each feel differently about my job. My 14 year old has now grown up with 10 pixar films. She loves what I do but doesn’t want to brag to her friends – she wants to keep it “cool.” At the same time she is taken by the glamour of Cannes, and the Oscars and wants to go with me to these events! My 7 year old is a good story sounding board for what is funny to kids. He loves to analyze the humor in our films. My 4 year old is confused when she hears my voice coming out of dogs and monster slugs!!!

Q: To Bob Peterson – did you model Dug’s character after any real dogs you know?

Bob Peterson: Of course! I’ve owned a lot of dogs in my life – Marcela, Rusty, Petey Pup, Precious, Rosy and Ava. Each were in love with life’s simple pleasures, but being people in dog suits, as they seem to be, they each had a defined personality! Rosy, my present dog is very interested in squirrels!!

Variety.com is reporting the Sir Anthony Hopkins has officially been cast in Kenneth Brannagh’s Thor, due out in March 2011!  This adds to the already existing cast of  Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman playing Thor, Loki, and Jane Foster respectively.

The pic was scripted by Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz & Ashley Miller. The Mighty Thor is a powerful but arrogant warrior of Asgard, but after his reckless actions reignite an ancient war, his father banishes him to Earth to live among humans. He learns the meaning of heroism when he stands tall as his arch enemy from home sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

I think this is damn good casting and it can only help to promote this film about what is arguably a lesser-known hero in the Marvel Universe. I’m sure we will be hearing more casting news as the starting production date in January draws closer.

Jared Hess, the director of “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Nacho Libre”, and the soon to be in theaters, “Gentlemen Broncos” is clearly one of us.  Complete with horn-rim glasses, nervous tics, a penchant for poopie jokes and hilariously dry wit, I think Jared Hess could easily be called a geeks director.  His movies are filled with characters like us, awkward, clumsy, and full of unwarranted confidence.  So it shouldn’t be surprising that I jumped at the chance to go to an advanced screening of the film last night.

Living in Salt Lake City, where the production of the film took place, I knew a few things about the movie to begin with; and it seemed like I was in for one helluva ride.  The opening credits came on, and in classic Hess fashion we were treated to various close-ups of kitschy sci-fi book covers with the actors and key crew members names as their titles.  “So far, so good” I thought.  Sadly, this is where the “good” ended, and for the rest of the movie (what seriously seemed like 3 hours or more) I was forced to sit through what felt like a high school students take on a Jared Hess movie.

This movie was absolutely terrible!  From the trailer, one would guess that “Gentlemen Broncos” is a film about a boy who gets his story stolen by reputable sci-fi (pardon me, syfy) writer, and then seeks revenge on his former literary idol.  And although that story is indeed told, Jared Hess has filled his movie with so many “oddball characters” and “hilarious” vignettes that I couldn’t help but wonder why he felt that making us watch the wacky hometown filmmaker Lonnie Donaho (clearly based on TERRIBLE local fimmaker Steven Groo), the go-nowhere love story between the main character and “some girl”, or the Mom’s wacky lingerie designs were more important than the main story.

I understand (and appreciate) that Jared Hess likes his wacky characters, but each character took so long for him to introduce and set up in the world of Gentlemen Broncos that he failed to make time in the movie to actually let the viewer care about any of them.  Sigh…I really am trying to write a professional review of this thing, but it is growing more and more difficult as this post goes on to not just scream “This movie was a total wreck of a film that I can’t believe didn’t go straight to DVD!”  Seriously, when your movie is “about” a kid and his (actually entertaining) short story “Yeast Lords” getting stolen by another writer, and you only devote a small portion of the film to scenes that actually develop your story…the viewer is only left to wonder “WTF”?!

Gentlemen Broncos is a film that is too boring to invest any more time thinking about, after exiting the theater I couldn’t help but feel completely frustrated and confused by what I had just seen.  “How did he make such a terrible mess?”  The concept was intriguing and the promise of seeing Sam Rockwell as a science fiction hero in the sci-fi sequences of the film was exciting, but this movie fails to deliver on every conceivable level.  The story went nowhere, the characters did nothing to drive the plot forward, and worst of all, I was bored to to death the entire time.  Not once did I feel entertained or amused during the course of the film.  I am definitely a fan of Jared Hess’ first two films and even went so far as to buy “Napoleon Dynamite” on DVD (my name is BUDGETron for a reason), but even I was left wondering who greenlit this mess of a movie.

Don’t go see Gentlemen Bronco’s.  Not even on DVD.

At Dragon*Con, I had the good fortune to be able to interview bestselling novelist and mainstay in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Aaron Allston.

We spoke of many things including his work in the Star Wars universe, but I think by far and away the most interesting and impacting thing we talked about was how to make it as a writer, how he did it and how you can do it, too.

It was an incredibly inspiring interview and certainly made me want to get off of my duff to get some more writing done.

To listen to the interview in its entirety, click here.

And be sure to leave comments about what you thought and what your favorite parts were.

To visit Aaron Allston on the web, please check him out here.

And for my reviews of his books in the Legacy of the Force series, check those out here.

Look At The Birdie is a collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories penned by Kurt Vonnegut himself. They vary in content from sentimental pieces to Science fiction and, as always, are extremely well written. Another nice feature about this volume, which isn’t a new concept but one I like, is that there are various drawings from Kurt Vonnegut scattered throughout giving it a very nice feel.

Just like Tupac and Nororius B.I.G., Kurt Vonnegut is still releasing books posthumously long after his departure to heaven, the only difference is that Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories weren’t unreleased because they weren’t up to par with the rest of his work. In fact some of the short stories collected in this volume were some of the best I’ve read.

I particularly enjoyed “Hall of Mirrors”, where a hypnotist is approached by two police detectives that suspect him of murder, during the telling, all parties come in and out of control of the situation leaving you guessing who you believe or don’t, finally ending in beautiful irony. These stories go to great lengths in showing you how precise, and how much care Kurt Vonnegut put into writing stories. Especially considering with how good these were, Kurt Vonnegut didn’t seem to think they were perfect yet.

The science fiction elements of his stories have always been well thought out and dug deep into the surface of reality. “The Petrified Ants” did this wonderfully, using the rules of life we know to be true and painting a picture from his imagination that might as well be true as well. This is my favorite type of story telling. Smart.

The introduction is written by Sidney Offit, a novelist that I had never heard of before reading this introduction. That was well written, but maybe too revealing for an introduction. I would just recommend reading it after you’ve read the book.

If you are eager to read some of this before its late October release, than you could go out and pick up the September issue of Playboy, where they published the first story from the book, “Confido” that tells the story of an inventor that stumbles upon an invention that’s bound to make him a millionaire, but his morals get in the way when he finds out what his invention really is.

Kurt Vonnegut is quite simply my favorite author. When I read his work I get a sense of morality that actually makes me think humans are tremendous creatures. When he died I felt that the world lost an abundance of goodness, luckily, that goodness lives on in his works. Pick up this new book by Kurt Vonnegut, and any of his old stuff you haven’t happened to read yet. You might learn something.

Look at the Birdie out today! Buy it here!

(Swank’s review of the book is available here on The Huffington Post)

The Salt Lake City performance of Star Wars in Concert Friday night was quite a thing to see.  Taking place at the major Arena in Salt Lake City, the one that houses a professional basketball team of some manner, the mood was one of excitement when I arrived, along with Anakin, my son.

When we arrived, we were directed instantly to the museum area of the arena where we were greeted by four original costumes from the movies, some backdrops and a display of some blasters.  It made me wonder if the size of the travelling exhibit was based on the size of the venue, the crowd, and the length of the visit.  In any case, it was thrilling to see Darth Vader and a Queen Amidala costume, which were the centerpieces of the collection.  I’ve seen a few different Amidala costumes and the more I see them the more I marvel at the craftsmanship involved in making costumes for a film.

Once we got our over-priced popcorn and Dippin’ Dots, we dispensed with the pleasantries and got to our seats.  We were reasonably close to the orchestra, but up the right side and let me assure you, we had pretty good seats.  But seeing the way the show was designed, you want to spring for the floor seats front row and center.  The stage is designed so that there are pyrotechnics closest to the audience.  Beyond that is the area where the narrator (Anthony Daniels, whom I interviewed about this here) walks back and forth.  Immediately behind him is the orchestra, with the choir standing behind and slightly above that.  And then above and behind all of that is the screen.  From front row-center, you have to look through each element to see the element beyond it.  From the side, I was forced to split my attention between the elements, as though I were looking at a cross section.  I liked my seats, to be sure, and I loved the show, I’m just saying that if you haven’t seen it yet, understand that the show is designed for the center-floor seats and it’s worth paying extra for them.

The show began with the familiar chord of THX certification and the Fox Fanfare.  There was a pause and with a rush, the curtain snapped open  and the Star Wars Symphony Orchestra launched right into the main theme from A New Hope.  We were treated to images across the films and a light show that got progressively more complicated as the show went on.

The Orchestra was spot on in their performance.  In fact, the only thing I could say about them was that they were too perfect and performed the songs (with very few exceptions) exactly how we remember them from the movies or the accompanying soundtrack CD.

The music was varied from both the newer scores and older and played most of the strongest pieces in Williams’ portfolio, including three of my favorites, Across the Stars from Attack of the Clones, and Princess Leia’s Theme and Binary Sunset from A New Hope.  The fourth runner-up there was Battle of the Heroes from Revenge of the Sith.

Largely, the images matched the visuals in a way that made me connect with the story and the way they threaded the pieces together made a lot of sense.  They tried to tie the narrative in a very economical way and to tell the story in sweeping musical movements that were incredibly emotionally charged.

It’s a truly amazing thing to see an Orchestra playing any composers music for two-plus hours, but it’s doubly so to see an Orchestra dedicated to the music that John Williams contributed to Star Wars in front of the largest LCD screen I have ever seen in my entire life.

This is the sort of thing I’d go to see over and over again if it weren’t a travelling show.

Though they aren’t the best, I took some pictures from the event with my iPhone, in case you’re interested to see the set-up in the slideshow over at my Examiner page.

MTV seems to be breaking a LOT of Marvel movie news lately!

The latest is an interview with Iron Man/Iron Man 2 Director, Jon Favreau, in which he states that he will not be directing the Avengers movie like many had previously thought (see: hoped for):

“They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available,” he explained. “It’s something I’m being the executive producer on, so I’ll definitely have input and a say.”

“It’s going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with ‘Avengers’ you’re going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor,” he continued. “How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it’s going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we’ve created.”

Also, during the conversation, Favreau confirmed that Ed Norton will not be making an appearance in Iron Man 2… however, that doesn’t mean Hulk won’t! I know, I know… I’m just trying to start my own rumors now.

In this bot’s humble opinion, I would really like to see Marvel maybe start moving forward with an Avengers movie pretty soon. I know there is a lot of focus right now on getting the Captain America and Thor movies off the ground, but at some point, everyone is going to have to start working together towards a common goal to bring a difficult project like this together.

You can check out the rest of the interview over at MTV.