Gotta Have a Copy of Batman: Gotham Knight

You remember The Animatrix from 2003? When Warner Brothers and the same team that gave us The Matrix came up with a collection of nine animated short films set in The Matrix universe, and set in between the first 2 Matrix movies? That was totally kick-ass.

Now, what if you had the Animatrix all over again, but this time, it's all about Batman? Should be pretty awesome, I say.

Batman: Gotham Knight is due out on July 8 this year, just before The Dark Knight hits cinemas. It features six animated short stories set in between 2005's Batman Begins and this summer's highly-anticipated Batman movie.

Just like The Animatrix, the powers-that-be behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have collaborated once again with top anime directors and animators to come up with yet more Gotham City action and kickassery.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for "Batman: The Animated Series", "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" comes back to reprise his role as the Dark Knight.

Check out this video posted by WarnerBrothersOnline on YouTube:

Now check out the trailer posted by Georgem2789, and a preview/sneak peek shared by Lowekinder, both also shared over YouTube.

Batman: Gotham Knight is the third animated direct-to-DVD project of Warner Premiere and Warner Brothers Animation, the first two releases being Superman: Doomsday and Justice League: The New Frontier. A fourth project, this one on Wonder Woman, is due out either later this year or early next- another DVD worth watching out for.

Picture of The Dark Knight courtesy of Wikipedia.

Cheers, everyone!

Marvel Announces Lineup Til 2011

With the huge success of Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment has officially announced four other Marvel films after 2009, and had even gone so far as to spill a little bit on each one.

As you all know, we have two other Marvel films coming out this year: The Incredible Hulk in a few months and another Punisher movie much later this year- Punisher: War Zone, which has no connection with the last Punisher flick that came out in 2004.

And then in the summer of 2009, we shall have X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and then nothing after that until now.

Here are the other Marvel Entertainment projects in the works after the summer of 2009:

Iron Man 2. Set for release on 30 April 2010. The first Iron Man made an impressive US$200 million on its opening weekend worldwide. Marvel naturally OK'd its sequel, as soon as the official sales figures came in.

We already know that we'll be seeing more of Gen. Nick Fury and Rhodey (probably as War Machine this time) in the sequel, and that Tony Stark/Iron Man is rumored to be making a cameo in the upcoming Hulk movie. I just wonder how it's all going to play out and tie in with everything else.

The Mighty Thor. Set for release on 04 June 2010. FirstShowing.net actually has an article on Brad Pitt being in the running for the Norse God of Thunder. Nothing official yet, just some online buzz, really.

According to Wikipedia, screenwriter Mark Protosevich (of I am Legend and Poseidon) has been hired to write a script for the live-action Thor film and stated that "It's going to be like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential."

Marvel got Matthew Vaughn (of Stardust, Snatch, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) to direct the project. Currently, he's trying to whittle down the budget to a more manageable amount.

We do know this though: Marvel Studio's David Maisel said that Thor will actually be introduced in Iron Man 2, just before his own movie. Again, it's a great tip guaranteed to fire up the message boards on how it's all going to work out.

The First Avenger: Captain America. Set for release on 06 May 2011. We've seen some really horrendous Captain America movies in the past, so we hope this one turns out to be so much better.

However, there are rumors going around that Matthew McConaughey is being considered for the title role. Oh say it ain't so!

Regardless, here's what we know so far: the Captain America movie will lead directly into The Avengers. According to FirstShowing.net, whoever is cast as Steve Rogers/ Captain America will actually be making two movies at once - since the character will be introduced in the first movie and head straight into The Avengers.

Also, according to Wikipedia, in The Incredible Hulk (coming out in a couple of months), General Ross mentions a World War II program that created a super soldier formula to Emil Blonsky, who leaps at this chance to defeat the Hulk. Viewers see this as a nod to Captain America.

Has anyone confirmed this? Rumor has it that Captain America's shield can be seen in this last Iron Man movie during the scene in which Jarvis is attempting to remove Tony's suit. No idea what the adamantium shield is doing in Stark's workshop, but there's another reason to watch Iron Man all over again.

Finally, The Avengers. Set for release on July 2011, just a couple of months after the Captain America movie. We've been talking about how Marvel would like to tie in all these superheroes for a big-ass movie, given their current direction. With all the right pieces in place, they finally have it. Word is, Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man, wants in on the project.

Now here's more from FirstShowing.net:

Regarding more Hulk movies, Maisel's response was "we definitely plan on continuing." But we all know that depends on how well Edward Norton's reimagining does this June. In addition, Maisel gave this last update, "I can't give any other updates other than to say it's in development and everybody's excited about Spider-Man 4."

So as far as we can tell, we might actually have more Marvel movies coming up, depending on the success of The Incredible Hulk. So mark your calendars, true believers, and troop to the cinemas to support the next few Marvel movies. If the execution on Iron Man was any indication on how Marvel makes their flicks now, then we can all expect more than our money's worth when they hit the box offices.

Pictures from Wikipedia. Care for a trip? Check out the opening themes from the old 60's Marvel Superhero cartoons here on my other blog, "Too Much TV: Renzie on TV".

Cheers, everyone!

First Look: Pics from G.I. Joe The Movie!

In case you haven't heard just yet, Paramount Pictures is coming up with the live-action adaptation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Hasbro action-figure toy franchise.

G.I. Joe: The Movie is due out on August 2009. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers (the dude who gave us The Mummy series of flicks and Van Helsing), and written by Stuart Beattie (who was involved in 30 Days of Night, The Messengers and Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl).

Just last week, several movie blogs have posted pictures of G.I. Joe: The Movie's ensemble cast. Without further ado, let's get on with it.

Dennis Quaid is General Hawk. General Clayton Abernathy, or Hawk, is G.I. Joe's team leader. Quaid described Hawk as "a cross between Chuck Yeager and Sgt. Rock and maybe a naïve Hugh Hefner". News is, not only has he filmed all his scenes within the first two months of production, but Quaid is signed on for two sequels.

Collider.com has a larger picture of Hawk, which you can check out here.

Channing Tatum is Duke. First Sergeant Conrad Hauser, or Duke, is the team's field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk.

Duke was usually regarded as the G.I. Joe poster boy; he was at the top of his class at Fort Benning, has undergone Special Forces training and worked with South Vietnamese Tribesmen. He was also an instructor in four different Special Forces schools. Despite his accomplishments, he has repeatedly turned down any officer commissions offered to him. He believes a commander's place is with his troops, not behind the battle lines.

Trivia: the role of Duke was originally offered to Mark Wahlberg. Check out the high resolution picture of Duke on the MTV Movies Blog.

Rachel Nichols plays the role of Master Sergeant Shana O'Hara, or Scarlett, G.I. Joe's resident Counter-Intelligence Specialist. You probably best remember her playing the role of C.I.A. Special Agent Rachel Gibson on the later seasons of the ABC Television series Alias, as Sydney Bristow's (played by Jennifer Garner) protege.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Heavy Ordnance Expert Lamont A. Morris, or Heavy Duty. You probably best remember him as Ecko on the ABC Television series Lost.

Heavy Duty's G.I. Joe file card says he also has a passion for classical guitars and Bach. He is described as being unafraid of any situation despite heavy enemy fire.

Check out the high resolution Heavy Duty pic here on ComingSoon.net.

Marlon Wayans is Wallace W. Weems, or Ripcord.

Marlon doesn't appear with brother Shawn on this movie. Some of his past projects included White Chicks, Little Man, and the first two Scary Movie flicks.

A fan of the franchise, Wayans was cast on the strength of his performance in Requiem for a Dream, according to Wikipedia.

Check out the exclusive high-res image of Ripcord on Chud.com.

Ray Park is the bad-ass G.I. Joe Commando, Snake Eyes. The mysterious Snake Eyes has always been a fan favorite. He's not only an expert in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, according to the Marvel comic book, Snake Eyes is also a ninja master. His face was disfigured in a helicopter accident, which also left him completely mute.

Snake Eyes will be brought to life by Ray Park, who you probably best remember as the Sith Lord Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, and as Toad in the first X-Men movie. Ray Park has a second degree black belt in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, and is also well-versed in wushu and gymnastics.

Saïd Taghmaoui is Alvin R. Kibbey, codenamed Breaker, the team's communications specialist. Breaker is supposedly familiar with practically every bit of communication gear on the planet, and has a habit of chewing gum in any situation.

You can probably remember Saïd from his previous projects Vantage Point, Hidalgo, and The Kite Runner.

Check out the exclusive high-res photo of Breaker on Dark Horizons.

Our main villain in the movie is weapons dealer and warmonger Destro, played by English stage, television and film actor, Christopher Eccleston, well-known for his roles in Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, and the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the most recent Doctor Who.

Yes, he still gets to wear the familiar Destro mask. This time, he is the man behind the Military Armaments Research System, or M.A.R.S., a global manufacturer of hi-tech weaponry.

Check out the write-up on Destro, as well as the high-resolution pic, here on IESB.net.

Siena Miller plays the European aristocrat Anastasia DeCobray, more notoriously known as The Baroness, Cobra's Intelligence Officer and supposedly, Destro's partner.

As the story goes, Siena Miller prepared with four months of weight training, boxing sessions and learned to fire live ammunition, in the end, gaining five pounds of muscle. Check out the high-resolution pic of The Baroness on IGN.com Movies.

Lastly, we have a shot of Snake-Eyes' arch-nemesis, the equally bad-ass ninja bodyguard Storm Shadow. Played by South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun.

Storm Shadow is supposedly Cobra Commander's yojimbo and assassin. In the comic book storyline, he and Snake-Eyes come from the same ninja clan.

You can see the full picture on LatinoReview.com.

G.I. Joe: The Movie also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (formerly of the TV comedy, Third Rock From The Sun) as Cobra Commander, supermodel Karolína Kurková as Cover Girl, Hawk's aide-de-camp, and the Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo as the mercenary Zartan. Brendan Fraser supposedly makes a cameo in the movie, with a still un-named role.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Cheers, everyone!

The Latest Dark Knight Trailer

Just thought you'd like to check out the new Dark Knight trailer here, which came out just this week, and shared by Xxjalaldevilxx on YouTube. Enjoy.

I've also put the other two trailers here, this one was played right before the I Am Legend screenings. Shared by wmdeez on YouTube.

And here's the very first teaser that came out, shared by aprupp, also on YouTube.

Looking forward to catching The Dark Knight on the big screen this summer. The sequel to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) comes out in late July, this one based on the storyline of Batman: The Long Halloween- which you should grab a copy of, if you haven't yet.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 2.

This is the second part of our continuing series on "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man". If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can check it out here.

More About Iron Man in the Comics

In September 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby thought it might be a good idea to feature multiple Marvel heroes in one comic- so they put together The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, The Wasp together with Iron Man in what is now known as the very first publication of The Avengers.

As a founding member of The Avengers, Iron Man is involved with dealing with foes no single superhero can withstand. But in his own comic series, he has to deal with anything from Communist threats (with villains like The Black Widow, Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man), threats to his company, Stark Industries (with villains like Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger and Justin Hammer), and more recently, threats to National Security.

In the comics, Stark has been portrayed as an arrogant billionaire playboy more than a level-headed businessman. He's also had to deal with issues like alcoholism on top of his deteriorating health.

He seems to be managing well, however- Stark Enterprises (which had gone through several name changes in the comic book series- Stark Industries, Stark International, Stark Innovations, Stark Solutions and just before this one, Stark/Fujikawa) has always been the leader in cutting-edge technologies, not just weapon systems- in fact, Stark constantly supplies governments and organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers and even the X-Men with the latest in armaments and gear.

For the longest time, however, and only until recently, the cover for Iron Man was that he was Tony Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. Occasionally, James Rhodes would don the Iron Man armor when both Stark and Iron Man would have to make an appearance together.

In a storyline from the 90's, Rhodes would see more time as Iron Man, and later wear a more heavily-armed version of the armor known as War Machine. He'd even go as far as running Stark's company while Tony takes time out due to his deteriorating health.

After some drama between him and Stark, Rhodey eventually goes solo, taking the power suit with him. In time, he and Stark would reconcile, and their friendship continues- with Stark as Iron Man, and Rhodey doing his own thing as War Machine.

When the Marvel Universe did a darker, grittier, modernized re-imagining of The Avengers in a totally separate comic book title, The Ultimates, Tony Stark was re-written as having a brain tumor, instead of having bits of shrapnel threatening to tear his heart apart.

Also, his identity as Iron Man is publicly known- one of the reasons why General Nick Fury asked him to join The Ultimates (or the re-written Avengers) in the first place: to give the superhero team some much-needed publicity and likability.

What Now For Iron Man?

I walked out of the cinema extremely satisfied. Not only was Iron Man a kick-ass movie, the clip they showed right after the credits looks very promising- not only are we expecting to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but the producers let it slip that for the sequel, we might see The Avengers as well.

According to FirstShowing.net,

The buzz and performance of Iron Man so far has convinced Marvel to already start work on the sequel.

It seems that we might actually see the second Iron Man movie by April or May 2010. You can read the rest of the article here.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 1.

No doubt about it, it's one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Iron Man is Marvel Entertainment's latest blockbuster offering. The movie has enjoyed a stupendous amount of buzz, and fans only hope that Iron Man lives up to the hype.

I've seen the Iron Man earlier today. And it was awesome. Oh, and don't forget to stick around until after the end credits- a lot of people left the theater without seeing the kick-ass Samuel L. Jackson epilogue.

In any case, just like any good motion picture, it had spurred a lot of post-movie discussions. So I've been asked several questions about it- usually along the lines of: "Was that how it really happened in the comics?"

I must confess, I am no comic book geek, but I do know enough about Iron Man (I am a RPG geek though, and we did play a lot of Marvel Superheroes back in high school and college). So for everyone who needs a little brushing up on Marvel's Golden Avenger, here we go:

Iron Man the Marvel Comic

The idea of Iron Man first came about in 1963, and it was the brainchild of Stan Lee, together with Jack Kirby, along with writers Larry Leiber and Don Heck. It was Stan Lee who fleshed out the Tony Stark character, apparently drawing inspiration from Howard Hughes- a real-life multi-billionaire, inventor, adventurer and ladies' man.

Iron Man didn't have his own comic at first; his first appearance was on Tales of Suspense #39- a sci-fi and supernatural anthology title.

Interestingly enough, he started out with the clunky dull grey armor. By the next issue, his armor was now golden, and then another redesign happened by issue #48- this time with the more familiar red-and-gold body armor.

He finally had his own comic in May 1968 with The Invincible Iron Man #1.

Origins of Iron Man

Unlike many of the superheroes at the time, Tony Stark wasn't bombarded with radiation. Instead, he's a natural when it comes to machines, supposedly a boy genius of sorts. Plus he's independently wealthy, having inherited his father's multi-billion dollar company, upon his parents' untimely and accidental death (they died in a car crash).

The circumstances regarding the creation of Iron Man has been generally the same: Stark, as head of Stark Industries, goes off to check out the American war effort (in Vietnam in the original 1963 story, and then in Afghanistan in the 90's, and finally in the Middle East in the 2008 movie). He gets injured in an explosion, and the enemy captures him, ordering him to design weapons for them.

His injuries are pretty bad though, with shrapnel bits threatening to tear up his heart. A fellow prisoner (Yin Sen) constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from moving, thereby saving Stark's life. They then design a suit of powered armor in an effort to escape their captors. Stark uses the armor to escape, but Yin Sen dies in the attempt. So Stark uses the Mark I armor to blow up the enemy encampment, and flies off to rejoin the US forces, where he meets pilot James "Rhodey" Rhodes along the way.

The Iron Man Armor

Tony Stark has a workshop full of power suits, variants of the original Iron Man Armor as he constantly upgrades them, or creates one to fulfill a particular mission.

By default though, the Iron Man Armor gives Tony Stark protection against physical attack (i.e. most small arms fire) and energy attacks (via a force field), enhanced strength, the power of flight, life support, and an array of sensors and high-tech weaponry.

His main weapons are his repulsor rays (coming from his gloves), and the chestplate-mounted unibeam (which was originally just a spotlight, but in time has become a light-based weapon).

If you want more information on all the Iron Man armors, you can read up on Wikipedia here.

We continue our discussions on our favorite armored superhero with "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man, Part 2", which you can read all about right here.

Cheers, everyone!

Denny Duquette is The Comedian!

Forgive me for not getting the connection so much earlier, even if the photos had been out for almost a month already.

If you're a fan of Grey's Anatomy, you probably remember Denny Duquette, right? The dude who managed to snag Dr. Stevens' heart and left her with eight million dollars in Season Two/Three?

Well that dude is Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who incidentally, also plays John Winchester, demon-hunting dad of our two leads- Sam and Dean- on Supernatural. Yep, that's him on the right.

Right after I read Alan Moore's graphic novel all over again, I felt compelled to do some research about it online, and thus made the connection. Morgan plays the role of The Comedian in Zack Snyder's (same dude who directed "300") take on "The Watchmen". The movie is coming out about a year from now (in March 2009), but from what we heard, most of the footage has been shot, and the project is on post-production right now.

Now, as far as I know, The Comedian (the dude with the cigar in the pic to the left) doesn't really have super-powers- he's really a down-to-earth badass, almost like Marvel's Nick Fury. Even as superheroes had been outlawed in an alternate reality, The Comedian had continued to serve the US Government as a commando/special ops guy, touring global hot spots like Vietnam, Iran and pretty much wherever there was conflict- even helping quell some civilian riots at home.

Check out Morgan as The Comedian right here:

Now doesn't he look totally badass? Even if that just looks like regular Kevlar armor (I'm assuming) with a bandoleer of grenades + a standard army-issue grenade launcher, he looks rather menacing enough. Definitely worth watching out for.

According to FirstShowing.net, the movie arrives in theaters everywhere on March 6th, 2009. Stay tuned for even more Watchmen coverage, photos, and more exclusives on First Showing's official website.

Cheers, everyone!

This post originally came out in another blog of mine, "Renzie's Rants and Raves". I moved it to this blog shortly after creating it in March 2008.