Geektress.com

Wonder Woman Movie Still Not Done

2008-07-16T06:39:57Z

For those of you that listen to our podcast, you've heard us mention the direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman movie that is set for release next year. It stars Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion as Diana and Steve Trevor (respectively). As I just saw the two in Waitress and can attest to their smokin' on-screen chemistry, I'm going to bet that their cartoon counterparts will be delightful to watch, as well. If you rented / purchased the Batman: Gotham Knight DVD, there was a preview on it (much like the Gotham Knight preview on The New Frontier) for the Wonder Woman movie. There was not much by way of completed scenes, or even colored-in frames. It was mostly interviews with the stars/producers/director set against a few animatics and sketches. Since it clocked in at ten minutes, and roughly half of that was explaining who Wonder Woman is (yawn), I cut it down quite a bit to feature all the bits with drawings. Available after the jump.]]>

More Dr. Horrible

2008-06-30T18:19:20Z

Whedonesque has posted a flurry of "Dr. Horrible" news in the last few days. First, the official site went live on Saturday. Then Joss Whedon posted the information about when the webisodes would appear on-line:

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT! "Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically: ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th. ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th. ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th. All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

Other information revealed in the post included the fact that, following July 20th, the musical would be available for download at a "nominal fee," to be followed by a DVD at some point, with, what Whedon describes as, "the finest and bravest extras in all the land." More details about those will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con. If you can't wait that long, TV Guide's Matt Roush has some information about them in an article that I will not be reading because it also contains spoilers about the plot. (OK...fine...I skimmed, and the one DVD extra I saw mentioned sounded AWESOME!)]]> comic for Dark Horse Presents. Like all Dark Horse Presents comics, it will initially be found on Myspace. Presumably, it will eventually be available in a print collection, like "Sugarshock," the seriously fun Dark Horse Presents comic Whedon wrote last year. UPDATE: The comic, which was not supposed to be available until tomorrow (new comic book day), is actually up now. Read it here. ("Pass me the science ingredient!" Hee!) I don't know about anyone else, but I'm probably more excited about this than I am about Whedon's upcoming TV series, "The Dollhouse." Crazy, I know, but this is a musical. Eliza Dushku is cool and all, but she's not going to be spontaneously bursting out into song. OK, she probably will at some point, if the show lasts more than a few episodes.

I SAW WALL-E ZOMG

2008-06-27T07:15:45Z

If, in February of this year, you had told me that I'd not only go to see Wall-E on opening day, but that I would be anxiously awaiting its release -- up to the point of counting down the hours till I could catch the first midnight showing -- I would not have only laughed in your face, I probably would have pushed you. Of course, you would've been right, and I would've been wrong (and kind of a dickhead.)]]> Battlestar Galactica panel was to begin. We caught an hour's worth of Disney promotion, which included thirty minutes of me rolling my eyes at the Prince Caspian fans, and thirty minutes of clips from Wall-E. Up until then I had remained largely indifferent to the latest effort from Pixar. (Basically, if I'm going to see a cartoon on opening weekend, it better be R-rated, or else I'm not going to bother to fight the throngs of children and teenagers.) Much to my surprise, I was blown away by the footage that producer Jim Morris introduced. So much so that I bought tickets to the Thursday midnight opening showing a week in advance. I annoyed the hell out of my friends and family for almost a month, relaying my love of robots, and my anticipation of Wall-E's debut. Let's be honest: I've got a thing about robots. I root for the Cylons. I root for the Terminators, even the "bad" ones. (There's an episode of Sarah Connor Chronicles where a woman unwittingly marries a killer cyborg... I'd do it voluntarily.) If I had $3000, I would buy this DVD Projector / Ipod Dock / Droid, because it moves around on its own and makes R2D2 sounds. It's about as good as having a real R2D2, and I can plug my video game consoles into it. So, honestly, I don't know why I ever doubted I'd love Wall-E. It could be the unfavorable comparisons to Johnny-5. But where Short Circuit went wrong is: it gave a full vocabulary to a robot with the social skill set of an eight year old. Annoying. Wall-E and almost all the other robots in the film have limited speech capabilities but communicate as well as R2D2 ever did through a wide range of beeps, clicks, and whistles. Wall-E is the electronic equivalent of Boo from Monsters, Inc. He knows only a few words, and he's cute -- which makes him more precocious than retarded. Before we went to the screening, I'd read a few reviews that said the last half of the film wasn't nearly as great as the first 45 minutes. Since I'd seen about a third of the movie at the Comic Con screening, I was fearful that I'd be let down -- I'd hyped myself up for this thing like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully, the second half was just as good (if not better) than the scenes with Wall-E on Earth, if only for one reason: Even More Cute Robots. Director Andrew Stanton had a lot to live up to after his last Pixar film, Finding Nemo (which, personally, is still my favorite Pixar flick.) Wall-E is not quite as good as Nemo, but it definitely has its moments (moments worth paying $9 for.) Essentially, if it's a Pixar movie, you can bet that it's not going to disappoint. Like every Pixar film, Wall-E has heart, and a great story accessible to all ages. And, you know. Robots.

For Every Hero There Is This Guy

2008-06-26T17:54:38Z

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo. Courtesy of the official fansite, here's the teaser for Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. I have so got to get me a pair of goggles like that.]]> Whedon confirmed that the internet short musical film, or whatever the hell it is, will be premiering at a San Diego Comic Con panel which will be attended by all the writers and stars. After seeing this, I am even more jealous of all the lucky people who will get to go to that panel than I was before. Hopefully, there will be an announcement soon about when and where those of us not going o SDCC will be able to see it. Until then, we will have to content ourselves with this teaser and some nifty behind the scenes photos on Facebook.

I Heart Electronic Clutter

2008-06-15T02:22:24Z

Last month, Netflix released a set-top box to accompany the "Watch Instantly" section of their website. It's called Netflix Roku... and it's awesome. ]]> Despite my crappy digital photo, the video quality of both the menu and the movies are better than standard broadcast quality. On a regular tv, you won't be able to tell it's not from a real DVD. It may take a few seconds longer to load a file than it did with digital cable's On Demand, but not so much that you'd take notice. And I approve of the "thumbnail timeline" that appears when you rewind or fast-forward. In the end, I looked at it this way: Do I like watching tv on my computer? No. I frakkin' hate it. Is $9 a month for classics like Blade Runner and all the documentaries I've been missing since I canceled Netflix worth more than the extra $38 I was spending for Starz On Demand? Yes, seeing as I can watch those movies as much as I want with no expiration date. (I just have to leave them on my Netflix Watch Instantly Queue.) Can I still get newer stuff that isn't available yet through the box? Yes, because I still get Netflix DVDs with the program. So, it eventually adds up to win. It remains to be seen how much Netflix will start to add to their coffers or whether the Roku will be a hit with mainstream America the way it was in my house. For the price tag of $99, it's cheaper than other set-top boxes being offered, and there was money left over from my stimulus check to do something responsible, like pay the bills. What scares the crap out of me is this article from the New York Times. Apparently Time Warner (the cable provider we switched to, to save money) is beta testing in Texas a "pay as you go" sort of system for their broadband service. The lowest "plan" is 5 gigs. That means with the new Roku box, on the cheapest Netflix plan and the cheapest per-byte internet service, you could watch maybe one movie... per month. Boo. Their highest plan has a 40-gig cap (per month), and then you're paying a dollar a gig after that. Basically, if you're surfing the net, blogging, checking email, maybe downloading some music from iTunes, and you're trying to stream videos (even from a free site like NBC.com), you're going to be paying monthly overage charges. Time Warner claims that only 5% of their customer base is hogging up over 50% of their available capacity -- is there really so few people catching up with their tv shows on their laptops? They try to make it sound like this new system will punish the EVIL ILLEGAL DOWNLOADERS and will barely affect normal, law-abiding surfers. Really? Because these days the number of people I know who not only don't have land-telephone-lines, but don't even use their televisions to watch television, is increasing. If I had to guess at a reason why, I'd say people not only enjoy portability, they like setting their own schedules. I predict extra charges for extra bytes will be about as popular as unexpectedly seeing an extra $70 on your cel phone bill because people have been sending you text messages like the world is on fire and they're unable to speak. And, as someone who works nights and does most of her tv viewing at 2 am, I don't feel like I'm unfairly burdening Time Warner's broadband service. Let's just hope their beta test fails miserably, so I can fully enjoy my Roku for at least long enough that it pays itself off.

You Stay Classy, Planet Earth

2008-05-31T23:28:06Z

At first, I thought maybe the IO9 editors were having an off-day when they suggested that Cillian Murphy would make a better Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire. Now, let me be honest: Do I like Cillian more than Tobey? Yes. Do I care much about Spider-Man or Spider-Man movies? No. (That's Laura's department.) But do I think Cillian Murphy would be a good replacement as Peter Parker for the Spidey 4 movie? Uh, no. Because I don't smoke crack for a living.]]> Best UFO Religion Ever", and I really have to wonder if somehow exhaust fumes haven't accidentally leaked into IO9 headquarters. (Do they have headquarters? We don't. It's mostly just us sneaking a few news items in during our day jobs.) (So my center of operations looks suspiciously like a newsroom bullpen.) (I guess that sounds cooler than I intended.) Aside from the whole suicide/castration thing, I guess Heaven's Gate may have been a "cool" cult. They certainly didn't make a huge fuss about what they were doing in their spare time (unlike, as the article notes, Scientologists who can't STFU.) They were just a bunch of nerdy internet geeks with a website and a love of Star Trek. What the IO9 article really misses, however, is the fact that the Heaven's Gate website is still up and running at all. This fact fascinates me to no end. The group offed themselves in March 1997, over eleven years ago. And yet their domain registration is still valid; their website -- dated as it is by its lack of annoying flash animation -- is still functional, no broken links to be found. How does that happen? How long did they pay to hold on to heavensgate.com? Obviously longer than ten years -- was it 20 years? 30? Did someone stick around to make sure the website was still running? Who's paying the new ICANN fees on the domain name? Anyway, thinking about the whole thing just bums me out. I certainly wouldn't call it the "best UFO religion ever," but at least it can be said that the Heaven's Gate crew died happily, going somewhere they thought they'd be better off. To cheer me up, I dug out my old SNL tapes and found this sketch from April '97:

Marvel to Bring Self-Cutters and Nazi Beat-Downs to the Big Screen

2008-05-22T20:46:12Z

Some pretty awesome news coming from Marvel Entertainment today. First of all, it has been announced that "Runaways," which started in 2002, is being developed for a feature film. The script is being written by the comic's co-creator, Brian K. Vaughn. (via The Hollywood Reporter) For those who don't know, "Runaways" is about a group of teens in LA who find out their parents are a group of supervillains called The Pride, and proceed to do exactly what the what the name implies. Among others, the team includes a lesbian alien, a dinosaur, a goth-gil who has to cut herself in order to access her magical staff, and the cutest little mutant girl you ever did see. The second bit of news is that Marvel Entertainment exec Kevin Feige has spoken to sever sources, including IESB, and has revealed the Captain America movie set for 2011 release will be a period piece set, obviously, during World War II. He also put to rest that horrid casting rumor from a couple of weeks ago, but confirmed that the film will in fact have the very unfortunate title of "The First Avenger: Captain America."]]> I have to say that it's kind of like Marvel read my mind with this stuff. Since the first time I read "Runaways" I thought it was th perfect candidate for adaptation. I still think it would be better as a television series, but I think the first couple of story arcs could be adapted pretty seamlessly into a motion picture. And with Brian K. Vaughn writing the script, I have all the hope in the world that it will be done right. Maybe Vaughn, who also writes for "Lost," can use his influence there to get JJ Abrams to direct. The man created "Felicity," so he obviously knows a thing or two about teen girls an angst. Joss Whedon would be a good choice too, since he's a big fan of the series and has even written the most recent story arc. I just haven't forgiven him for all the delays on those issues yet. I have also always thought that the first Captain America movie, assuming they are shooting for a franchise, should be set entirely during WWII. It would be something completely different from the rest of the superhero movies, and it would also solve the problem of selling a character with America in his name to foreign audiences. Other countries may hate America, but everyone likes watching Nazis getting their asses kicked. Just think about that. We're talking roughly two hours of Nazis getting a big shield thrown at their heads. There is nothing that is not awesome about that. It'd be worth double the ticket price if Cap gets to punch out Hitler.

They Just Won't Be the Same Without Queen

2008-05-22T03:34:51Z

We have news on yet more remakes of 80s cult classics. First up, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit Entertainment has acquired the rights to remake "Highlander" with a script from "Iron Man" writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. The article points out that "Highlander" is a franchise recognized worldwide, having spawned 4 sequels and three (three? really?) television series. "There can be only one" my ass! Next up, Variety reports that Sony has won a bidding war over the rights to "Flash Gordon," which will be directed by "Sahara" helmer, Breck Eisner. The article does not mention whether the film will remain faithful to the 1980s classic, but one can only hope it recreates the classic football fight. What is clear is that the soundtracks of both films will be significantly less awesome than the originals.]]> I'm not going to go on a rant here about how they dare not remake such classics, or whatever. I actually think both stories are solid, but dated and prime for retelling. I just don't how how these remakes could possibly overcome certain aspects of the originals that make them both ridiculous and beloved. Is anyone ever going to think "Flash Gordon" without thinking of the Queen theme? Isn't a huge part of what makes "Highlander" so great the fact that Sean Connery is playing an Egyptian with a Spanish name an a Scottish accent opposite a French guy playing a Scotsman with a French accent? And how exactly is any actor who takes on the role of the Kurgan going to be so good that the audience forgets he is playing a role originated by Clancy Brown? I guess what I'm saying is that if they are going to make these movies, they don't really have the luxury of just being entertaining to be good enough, they have to be truly great movies in their own right, and they certainly won't be able to just coast on nostalgia. They're going to have to actively avoid nostalgia in order to be any kind of success at all. It's possible. "Flash Gordon" was serious sci fi long before it was a camp classic, and I would actually really love to see it restored to that. I kind of love the old cartoons. I just don't trust that anyone is going to be able to pull it off, especially after Sci Fi Channel television series just crashed and burned. On the plus side, that "Ladyhawke" remake should happen any day now. I'm telling you, get Viggo and we're golden.

More Bad Ideas From Hollywoodland

2008-05-20T04:06:08Z

According to the Hollywood Reporter, MGM is looking to remake "Red Dawn" and "RoboCop." True fact: About halfway through "Iron Man," I started getting this strange desire to watch "RoboCop." Maybe the MGM executives aren't as dumb as they seem...except for the whole remaking "Red Dawn" thing. There's no way to make that a good idea.]]> Alex Proyas to direct it. Then MGM needs to get out of his way so the movie ends up more "Dark City" than "I, Robot." They should just keep Peter Weller as RoboCop too. Remember the third movie, and how it sucked? Peter Weller wasn't in it. I don't think that's a coincidence. Also, they probably shouldn't let Frank Miller have anything to do with the movie, because the second one wasn't all that good either. Of course, the movie will probably be directed by McG or Brett Ratner, which is how these things work. What is clear is that now is obviously the perfect time to pitch my idea for a "Ladyhawke" remake. Viggo Mortensen would have to star. It's Viggo or no one. And Rutger Hauer could play the Bishop. That's be pretty awesome, right?

It's Like Christmas, But You Have to Leave the House

2008-05-02T05:04:01Z

Just a reminder to everyone that this Saturday, May 3rd, is Free Comic Book Day. How awesome is that? If you follow the link, you will find a store locator for participating shops. Unfortunately, it is for the U.S. and Canada only, but Free Comic Book Day is international. There's also a list of the comics that will be available, several of which I would buy if they weren't free. I'm most excited about getting my hands on Tiny Titans #1, since I missed out on it when it first came out, and the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. comic. The Marvel Adventures Iron Man issue is written by Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin, so that one is definitely going to be good. If you didn't buy All Star Superman #1 when it came out, you really want to get that one. Trust me. There's a lot to be excited about this year, so go check it out. Get free stuff. Bring the kids. If you don't have kids, pick one or two up at the local playground. They won't mind. They're getting free comics. Unless you reach your limit on the free comics you can get, but there are others you want. Then you might want to take the kids' comics.

Those Other Comic Book Movies

2008-05-02T02:34:53Z

Apparently, some movie with a lot of hype starring some famous former drug addict comes out this week. People seem to like it, and are excited about it. Whatever. I'm not disappointed at all that I'm not going to get to see it until next week. I don't like the Fascist douchebag anyway. I'll just watch this Incredible Hulk trailer over at the Apple website. Then maybe get a better glimpse of how awful Hulk and Abomination look in the trailer images at Blog@Newsarama. Aside from the fact that I think Edward Norton is absolutely perfect casting for Bruce Banner, this reboot seems like more of a downgrade from the 2003 film. The trailer barely even utilizes the theme music from the TV show, which is the only thing to be really excited about in this adaptation.]]> I didn't comment on the movie poster when it was released, because there was nothing to say that hadn't been said by everyone on the internet. It's the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #50, (it would have been more appropriate for Incredible Hulk if the Hulk was facing the same direction as Banner), but looking at it now, it mostly just looks like it should be a Levi's ad. So much denim. Blog@ also has some new images from Batman Gotham Knight. I still don't know what I think about Batman anime, but Deadshot is always cool. I also don't think anyone would ever argue that a Batman animated project that involves Bruce Timm could ever be a bad thing, especially since Kevin Conroy, the one true Batman, is going to be providing the voice for the main character. Sadly, I don't think Deadshot is going to be voiced by Michael Rosenbaum doing his Kevin Spacey impersonation, but we can't have everything.

I haven't blogged about Hellboy II: The Golden Army before, but I am as excited for it as I am for any other comic book movie this summer, if not more. The first movie was pretty awesome, and it got me reading all the all the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics (of which there are a ton of great ones coming out regularly now). Comic Book Resources has a new interview with Guillermo del Toro in which he talks up the sequel and mentions his and, Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola's plans for a third film. Considering del Toro is moving to New Zealand for four years to make The Hobbit, I have no idea when he would get around to making a third film, but considering I have all the faith in the world that this sequel will be as good, if not better than the first movie (mostly on the basis that he's Guillermo del Toro), I really hope it happens. Also, from what Mignola said in his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con, the third movie would have Lobster Johnson in it, and del Toro wants Bruce Campbell to play Lobster Johnson. Lobster Johnson is awesome. Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell. The combination of the two could make the third movie the greatest film of all time. Well, that about wraps it up. Nothing else to mention. Oh, except, if you do go see that movie. What's it called? Iron something? Well, if you go see it, you might want to stick around until after the end credits. According to the star of that movie, the same goes for Incredible Hulk. Just don't ask him about it. (Spoilers for both films in the links.)

Now Calibrating... The Nozzle...

2008-04-24T19:56:17Z

Finally, Quick Stop Entertainment brings you the non-shakey-cam version of the Venture Brothers Season Three preview, making it okay that we had seats right in front of the screen, but couldn't get our camera to work. More exciting video after the jump.]]> our take on the panel. That's because we don't really have much of a recollection, having the memories of goldfish. Anything other than "The nozzle... is calibrating" has been lost to the greater impression of the aforementioned Dr. Girlfriend / Monarch couple that wants Doc Hammer to wed them. (Interview with Peat and Gina to arrive later next week.) Also, Rania seemed to be obsessed with Doc Hammer's hair, for some reason. And there is still time to get Stephen Colbert back to voice his Dr. Impossible character, as that episode hasn't finished post-production yet. Anyway, actor James Urbaniak was challenged to say a pickup line in the voice of Dr. Venture: We have other shakey-cam videos, but they aren't as good. Mostly because all you can see from where we were sitting was the tops of everyone's heads.

Cylon-tastic Saturday

2008-04-24T19:33:01Z

On Saturday, Rania and myself had the joy of sitting through a few major panels in the New York Comic Con screening theater. One of the showings was Disney related, and thus had many clips of Wall-E and the new Prince Caspian / Narnia flick. Wall-E didn't really capture my imagination before, but after seeing the previews of it, I'm definitely going to try and catch it when it opens in theaters. (On June 27th.) The other panel was Battlestar Galactica related, and as you can see, I could actually be bothered to dig my camera out of my bag to snap some pictures. Originally, the panel description was to have stars Tahmoh Penikett and Grace Park, but to the surprise of everyone, convention virgins Rekha Sharma (Tory, Roslin's Aide) and Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh) appeared with Michael Trucco (Sam Anders). They didn't have much to say by way of spoilers for the final season, but they did have some interesting comments about discovering they were Cylons (video after the jump.) ]]> Entertainment Weekly, Katee Sackhoff had mentioned that "Michael Hogan still hasn't come to terms with the revelation," so most "How does it feel to be a Cylon?" questions were aimed at him. Though, at one point, while searching for the proper metaphor, he compared finding out you're a robot to "following a child," I did manage to catch one of his many other answers on shakey-cam video:

Simiantics

2008-04-22T03:11:27Z

Geektress is still recovering from the New York Comic Con, and despite the fact that three of us were there, we have to catch up on all the news and announcements just like everyone else. (What can I say? We just don't care all that much about Skrull invasions, the umpteenth DC Crisis, or movies directed by Frank Miller.) However, this little piece of news begged our immediate attention. In the vein of Marvel Zombies, Marvel Comics has now announced Marvel Apes to be written by Karl Kesel with Ramon Bachs on art.]]> Let me just get this off my chest first: Everyone in that picture besides Captain America is a monkey. Monkeys are not apes. Get it right, people. Now, if they are trying to make some sort of statement that all the other characters are somehow less evolved than Captain America, I can understand, but that doesn't make the title any less accurate. I have to admit, despite my love of monkeys and apes, this is a bit lame. Talking primates are traditionally DC's territory (with a handful of exceptions, most notably Gorilla Man from the Eisner nominated Agents of Atlas),* and they already turned all their characters into apes back in 1999. Also, I don't want Marvel to make me hate monkeys and apes by driving the concept into the ground like they did with Marvel Zombies. I can't lie though. I'll be checking this out. I mean, it is monkeys. How can I say no to monkeys? And the fact that the whole project stems from a fan suggestions at a convention panel a couple of years back gives me hope that one day my dream of seeing a shot for shot remake of Remains of the Day with gorillas will one day come true. *I fully admit to seizing any opportunity to plug one of my favorite books, no matter how loose the relevance.

Fox All Set To Cancel New Series

2008-04-15T00:06:40Z

Pilot season seems to be shifting in to high gear. The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica only began two weeks ago, and already creator Ron D. Moore has made plans for his next project. "Virtuality" is a series about bored NASA astronauts on Earth's first intergalactic spaceship, and how they use "virtual reality modules" to keep themselves occupied. Of course, as there always is with these things, there is a "bug" in the system that I can only imagine causes shenanigans. ]]> Hollywood Reporter is saying that Martin Campbell is "in talks to direct," and I'm wondering if they really mean the same Martin Campbell that directed Casino Royale. There's gotta be more than one Martin Campbell at the DGA, right? [They can pair it with Dollhouse and Fox can cancel them both in one fell swoop -- Laura] Source: Hollywood Reporter