As with all movies, good or bad, there has to be some related memorabilia for sale, and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is no exception. Luckily, Hot Toys doesn’t disappoint with their series of highly-detailed scaled models of Batman, Bane, and the camouflage Tumbler/Batmobile. Aside from being completely badass looking, the camouflage tumbler features a roof panel that slides open and functioning headlights, requiring 3 AAA batteries. The good news? It’s available for pre-order! The bad news? It’s not being released until September 2013! By that point, The Dark Knight trilogy will already be available as a 3+ disk special edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in a collector’s box most likely shaped like the Tumbler. Then again, you can’t rush perfection.
This only confirms that Batman is the only superhero that could exist in real life, provided one had the millions upon millions of dollars necessary to create and maintain the various required assets. I’m also curious as to how they came up with some of these numbers. $500,000 for “special firearms training”, which he wouldn’t need since Batman doesn’t use guns anyway? Whatever.
How could UD Replicas possibly top the awesomeness that was the Stormtrooper motorcycle suit? By making a motorcycle Batsuit, that’s how! This Batsuit replica features a motorcycle-grade mesh Cordura base and is made from Grade A cowhide leather with highly-detailed leather molding and form molded hard and soft shell Kevlar details. The jacket sleeves feature fully adjustable leather gauntlets while the gloves feature anti-skid Kevlar. CE Approved Body Armor in forearms/elbow, shoulder and back spine protector is completely removable, as is the lightweight interior lining.
The run on this fantastic motorcycle suit is even more limited then previous Stormtrooper offering, with only 350 sets available for sale and a price to match: $1564.00 CDN. Note that this is for the entire set; individual components can be purchased as the jacket, pants, gloves, and boots. Sales close August 31st, so those interested better hurry. Even at the price, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these sell out quick.
UD Replicas – The Dark Knight Rises Motorcycle Suit
It’s a Punisher fan-film. In fact, it’s a brilliant Punisher fan-film that shows just how perfect Thomas Jane is for the role of Frank Castle. Add in Ron Perlman in a cameo role and plenty of that classic Punisher-style ultra-violence justice, and you’ve got a winner of a video.
Oh, and a fair bit of warning: between the language and the bone breaking, head smashing, gunshots, and leg biting, this video definitely earns its place in the NSFW category.
As far as a mindless action video game based on a mindless action movie this one actually looks pretty decent, and it’s a downloadable title which means it’ll be pretty cheap to boot.
The Expendables 2 Video Game drops July 31st (PSN), August 17 (Xbox Live and PC).
‘G.I. Joe Retaliation’ is coming out soon, and with the release of a movie based on a toy property comes the toy line of the movie based on a toy line. One of the more interesting items to be released is the Battle-Kata Blaster. What makes it so interesting is the grip and trigger can be removed from the blaster and a blade hidden in the forward grip can be attached to it, so the toy functions as a 2-in-1 gun/knife combo. It also comes with 3 blaster bolts, but the blaster uses a psuedo-bolt action that doesn’t launch them very far, so.. eh.
This video from Cracked.com, my second-favorite internet time-sink only behind tvtropes, explains exactly why Boba Fett is honestly the worst bounty hunter in the galaxy. While I’m a huge proponent of the Fett, it’s hard to argue against anything pointed out in this video, at least in the films; the Expanded Universe does some amazing things for Boba. Having said that, it’s still the EU, and therefore is completely invalid in any serious Star Wars argument by property of essentially being one ginormous grouping of fan fiction, no matter how ‘canon’ it all is.
So, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) single handedly killed a whole bunch of very deserving men in a variety of very kick-ass ways all to save his daughter from a very horrible fate. Granted, they’re somewhat blinded by revenge, but what did the new villains honestly think was going to happen if they kidnapped both his ex-wife and daughter? Well, a lot of shooting, free running, and if we’re lucky, a Hell of a lot more throat punching!
I’m a big fan of 2000 A.D., and by extension Judge Dredd, so when I found out Hollywood is making a second attempt at a Dredd movie, I was quite a bit skeptical. After all, the last movie, staring Sylvester Stallone, isn’t exactly known as the greatest comic-book-to-big-screen conversion ever (Sly took the helmet off, dammit! Dredd never takes off the helmet!). While we can only wait until the movie is released in theaters, a bit of cheesy dialogue and a look that’s quite a bit different than the source material, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing, isn’t raising my hope that this movie will be anything but bad. On the plus side, there’s plenty of action and Dredd (Played by Karl Urban; YYMV on this choice) doesn’t take the helmet off!
Here’s an AP pic from the set of ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’, the fifth movie in the ‘Die Hard’ series, which features the Maxpedition Sovereign Load-Out Duffel; other Maxpedition gear will be featured in the movie. In regards to the title of the upcoming ‘Die Hard’ sequel: yeah, the title’s a bit of a groaner, but hopefully it’ll be better than the last one.
The American action movie is back in the form of ‘The Expendables 2’! At least, according to this fan made trailer it is. So do away with the tights and copious amounts of CGI, and instead watch ever major American action star of the past 40-odd years shoot and stab their way through a testosterone-packed orgy of violence and explosions that will satisfy even the most wanting action junkie!
The Expendables 2 drops in theaters August 17th, 2012.
Etsy shop VikingProps has this highly detailed Proton Backpack Prop for sale, based on those seen in the Ghostbusters movies. It’s constructed from unspecified metal, wood, and plastic with weathered paint and decals and is true to scale. What really caught my eye, however, is that it’s built using an A.L.I.C.E. pack frame. As the video below shows, the Proton Pack can also be upgraded with full lights and sounds, making it quite possibly the ultimate Ghostbusters Cosplay accessory.
This video by YouTuber FirstManOnTheSpoon demonstrates flaws in the lightsaber fight choreography in The Phantom Menace in the form of a humorous Jedi training video.
Check out this video of Meg Turney cosplaying as Pricness Leia for a shoot at Gentle Giant Studios. FYI, there’s a bit of crass language and suggestive dialogue, so this one’s probably better off not seen while at work.
http://www.megturney.com/
A creation of Stephen Sanderson on redbubble, this Alderaan Mission Patch is a Star Wars themed parody of the NASA Mission Patches. Available for printing on apparel such as t-shirts and hoodies and as a sticker.
For the record, I’m more of a fan of the original Earth-616, Howling Commandos Fury than I am of the Ultimates Fury that Samuel Jackson’s character in the upcoming ‘The Avengers’ is clearly based on. Having said that, this is one pretty bad ass action figure. Aside from a highly-detailed 1/6th scale (approximately 30 cm tall) sculpt, the figure also features over 30 points of articulation. Accessories include a labeled stand, multiple interchangeable hands, an RPG, pistol, and suitcase with light-up tesseract (Cosmic Cube for the purists) and patterns.
If you’re not familiar with WETA’s line of Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators, then they’re a line of super-detailed collectable Steampunk model weapons that each are equal to or greater than the price of a similarly-sized real steel gun.
This short film by Media Design School, based in Auckland, New Zealand, explores the Dr. Grordbort universe as Lord Broadforce hunts the local wildlife on an alien planet. The movie is a mix of CGI and live action and took 11 students over 22 weeks to complete. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
EA has released Battlefield 3: Aftershock, a free game app on the iTunes store inspired by the upcoming movie ‘Act of Valor’. It’s a multiplayer game with four weapons (five, with an unlock) and “leading edge graphics”. Not bad for something free.
Check out the latest trailer for the upcoming ‘Aliens: Colonial Marines’. It’s Kick-ass Space Marines fighting terrifying Xenomorphs, all gloriously pre-rendered. Sure, there’s no actual new gameplay footage, but it already looks a lot better than ‘Alien 3’ could ever hope to be. It’s a shame this game got pushed back to Fall.
Under the Radar ran a review by the Mad Duo today, covering the recent extended Blu-ray version of Real Steel. Not sure why they’re doing more there and on other sites than their own, but if you haven’t seen that movie (or even if you have) you might get a laugh out of the write-up. Or not.
Tell you one thing they’re right about for sure. Having some of those robots cammied up and equipped for a mission with USSOCOM would be a bad ass sequel.
First, take the beloved classic ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’. Next, cut it up into 15 second increments. Then, have a bunch of fans choose the clip of their choice, and refilm it in any style of their choosing. Finally, splice the fan-clips together into a complete movie and show it on the internet. That’s the idea behind Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut.
Sneaky Studios has designed a line of Star Wars themed target range posters. Characters include the Rancor, Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper taking Princess Leia as a hostage, and of course the man himself, Boba Fett. Each poster is a high-quality digital print on 220gsm premium paper stock, is signed by the artist, and will run you $35 a piece, so you might not want to plug holes in the originals. Luckily, this is exactly what local print shops (or office supply stores) exist for, right?
If you’ve been watching TV recently, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen this commercial about the upcoming film ‘Red Tails’:
Pardon me if I’m wrong, but is that a dubstep “song” (the term “song” is used loosely here) playing over images of WWII fighter planes? I don’t know about you, but I had to rewind my cable (thank you, DVR!) when I first saw this just to make sure I wasn’t crazy. Don’t get me wrong, from the other trailers I’ve seen this current iteration of ‘Red Tails’ looks decent with lots of pretty special effects, but dubstep seems, I dunno, kinda out of place in a WWII movie. Well, I guess that’s what you get when the beast that spawned Episodes 1 through 3 handles the Tuskegee Airmen.
*sigh* George 'Freaking' Lucas
Red Tails releases in theaters January 20th, 2012.
