Victor Frankenstein | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

This looks really interesting. I love movies set in the late 19th-early 20th century. For bonus XP see if you can catch the "Young Frankenstein" reference in the trailer.  From what I have read some of the folks involved in the movie worked on the Sherlock Holmes movies, which I enjoyed.

Now I get it (sort of...)

I knew that back in the day Marvel sold off a bunch of movies rights to several studios, but I never completely knew who got what. I found this today and it helps simplify things a bit. Also take into account the various studios got not only the heroes in those titles but also the villains (like Doctor Doom), titles (like Mutant), and associated non-super characters (Franklin "Foggy" Nelson).  and ,as with everything in life,  there are notable exceptions to these rules (like Quicksilver, who is a Mutant and an Avenger).

An online friend just sent me a more updated graphic.

Is that a "redband" trailer in your pants? Or are you just glad to see me?

Here comes Drogo!

Err..uhh,,I mean CONAN!

More Conan the Barbarian in 3D Videos

The Black Death

I ran across this gem the other day on Netflix.  It had all the necessary ingredients to pique my curiosity- swords, soldiers, sorcery, and Sean Bean.  Much like "Season of the Witch" which I wrote about in January, Black Death takes place in the dark ages and involves hunting for witches in one of the darkest periods in human history. Unlike Season of the Witch, Black Death is more of a historical thriller than an out and out horror movie. There are few CGI effects, But it turns out that we don't need leaping flames and crawling demons to experience horror.

The actions of the characters in Black Death are pretty graphic and horrific without needing a green screen.  That said, the movie makes several intelligent statements about religion and morality.
Of note to gamer's- there are well choreographed skirkishes and nice depictions of weapons, armor, torture devices, and tips on playing a witch-hunter without all of the stylized anime inspired posing and coolness normally attributed to these very brutish men.

The Evil DM gives Black Death two thumbs up (now put away the thumbscrews).

Watch Game of Thrones online

If you don't have HBO check it out here before they take it down.

There are a few annoying ads to deal with at first, but thats to be expected.

Season of the Witch

I have to be very forgiving with most of the "genre" movies I watch, otherwise I wouldn’t get through three-quarters of them. Fortunately, all of the movies I watched while researching Legends of Steel helped to build my tolerance of B and C -grade movies.  So, despite no local reviews of Season of the Witch (it's almost always a bad sign when the movie doesn't even warrant a critics screening) I went to check it out.

The story is about a pair of disillusioned soldiers, who after a senseless massacre of women and children in the Holy Land (in one of the cheesiest battle montages I have ever seen), decide to leave the crusade and return home. One is a knight played by Nicholas Cage. The other, is a mercenary played by Ron Perlman.  On their way home they become involved in a witch trial at a village suffering from a plague.  The two men are drafted into transporting the girl accused of witchcraft, by wagon to a distant abbey where she can be properly tried and executed by an order of Monks who specialize in the handling of witches.  

Our two anti-heroes are accompanied on their quest by another soldier, a fanatical  priest, a thief, and an altar boy- all they need now is a gruff Dwarf and a Elven Wizard.

From that point it becomes the all too familiar linear adventure, with a few surprises.   For me the film fluctuated from lame to not so bad. I’ve never been a fan of Cage, but if I can sit through Kevin Costner as Robin Hood, I can sit through this.  

Ron Perlman does the big, gruff, badass guy that he always does, so no new ground there.   If you catch a matinée, Season of the Witch isn't a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon, but I'm sure it will be out of theaters before you can blink twice, which means you'll probably have to wait for it to show up on USA network. 

It all just keeps getting better and better! Thor - Trailer (OFFICIAL)

The minions shook the hold of Nintendo DS and actually learned something this weekend

We had a stay-in -Lair day yesterday, thanks to heavy rains in the area. I looked out amongst my throng of Minions and noticed that their eyes were all glued to little tiny screens. I thought this would be a perfect time for a forced learning experience. I ordered all electronics turned off and then told them all that their would be a block of instruction on the a facet of the American West.  I started with a brief lecture on ranching, the cattle industry, and the logistics  of getting beef from the rural ranches to the cities in 19th century America. I then wrapped up the lecture with a showing of John Wayne's western classic: The Cowboys.  

For those of you bereft of a classical education, The Cowboys is the story of a rancher who is forced to use schoolboys to help move his cattle 400 miles from his ranch to the rail lines. The movie is a wonderful coming of age tale and one of "The Dukes" best performances. 


The Minions enjoyed the movie and at Sunday breakfast they regaled  "She who must be obeyed" with a review of the movie and how folk in the big cities got their beef.  So all in all, the lesson stuck.


Next week we'll be taking a look at the tensions between Norman and Saxon in Merrie Old England with a showing of Errol Flynn's - The Adventures of Robin Hood.

God I love action figures!

Flashback from 06/2/2006 - Kingdom of Heaven revisited yet again...

Back in April I posted that Kingdom of Heaven will be re-released as an expanded directors cut with tons of additional footage. I saw it the other day, and believe me it’s like watching a whole other movie. So much was explained and made clear, there were whole story arcs that were abandoned by the studio that Ridley Scott felt were necessary to the story (and they were) the story is richer for all the added material. Just to give you a glimpse: I just couldn’t get my head around the fact that this village blacksmith could arrive in Jerusalem and suddenly know how to build trebuchets and fight off a siege. Well in the extended version we find out that Balian the blacksmith is not only an accomplished smith but also a veteran soldier who served as an engineer and sapper. That little nugget of info took like 5 seconds to convey but was left out of the theatrical version- talk about missing important plot points! If you are a fan of epic motion pictures you really owe it to yourself to see the extended cut of this movie. It’s a definite must have!

Manly Monday at the Movies -The Outpost on DVD

I picked this up over at Biglots for $3.00 a few months ago because it had Ray Stevenson (Pullo from the HBO series Rome) in it. It had sat on my shelves since then without a glance. I popped it open today to watch just because I noticed it was still in the wrapper.  Boy am I glad I did. The Outpost was one of the best popcorn munching good times I’ve had in a while. Bad ass mercenaries, hidden bunkers, Nazis, Zombies, and the only chick in the movie was a stripper in the bar at the start of the movie. This was a total testosterone charged, shoot em up military/horror fest.  Pick it up, gather some of the guys, pop open a few cold ones and let the gore-fest begin.  Great Fun!

Not too bad. I wish I'd thought of it.

A Conan for the new Millennium - What do you guys think?

What kind of conditioner do you think Conan uses? His hair doesn't seem to have a lot of "bounce".

 This is some really bad "green screen" work

 Not too bad here but his sword looks like he just took it out of the package. And he needs many more scars.

 Okay, this one is a bit more "Conanish"

Manly Monday

The Russians are coming (well actually, they left already).

The whole Russian spy thing got me thinking.
So here is my rough pitch-ripped from the headlines:


There is this typical american family. husband, wife and daughter. The Daughter is 19 and  is named Ann, though her family calls her Anna.


One day a man arrives. his name is Nick and he's an old friend of Ann's father from college. 


Nick is charming and handsome. Ann's father is nervous. Ann's mother appears very happy.


eventually Ann observes her mother and nick talking, they think they are alone and suddenly her mother and nick kiss.


At dinner Ann sneaks into the guest room and quickly go through nicks suitcase where she finds a hidden compartment with a gun, passport and a whole wad of cash.


not sure what to do she turns to her grandparent and tells them what happened. the grandparents become concerned.  but tell her to forget about it and let them talk to their daughter.


the next day Ann returns from class early and finds hears her grandfather arguing with Nick in the cellar . they begin to yell and her grandfather says something to nick in a foreign language. Nick snaps out his hand and stabs the grandfather in the throat. Ann screams. she runs upstairs just as her parents and grandmother arrive.
chased by nick Ann runs into her fathers arms, all is chaos everyone is yelling. and suddenly Nick strikes Ann and knocks her out.


when she comes to she is in her bed  her grandmother is in the room with her and she can hear everyone talking downstairs in a foreign language.


The adults are all Russian spies. The Grandparents are from the old Soviet era, placed during the height of the Cold War and the parents placed in the U.S. in the 90's.  They had all but thought they were deactivated. Especially the grandparents. Nicholas is a current Russian agent sent on an assassination mission in the U.S.
the family is supposed to serve him as a "Safe House".


The Mother still considers herself an active agent, and in fact was a lover of the assassin many years ago.
The father and grandfather have basically tried to put the whole spy thing behind them.
The Grandmother is an old school communist and still serves.


So. Will Anna escape? and if she does who will she tell? Who will believe her?
Everything she knew about her family was a intricately crafted lie. 


So there's my pitch. If any of you Hollywood types are interested, drop me a line.

The Last Airbender breaks wind

 I cant recommend The Last Airbender as a movie worth shelling out $8 bucks or more to see. It just isn't that great. The movie looks nice- the costumes and the martial arts choreography are up to snuff. But the acting was wooden, it was way too dark of a film, there was no humor, and it was just plain boring. 

There wasn't a single belly laugh or a "hell yeah!"moment in the whole movie. Shyamalan was the wrong director for an adaption of a children's anime adventure film. 

Manly Monday - Jonah Hex

Bittersweet Serenity

Every year I get my DVD collection of Firefly and Serenity and watch the whole saga. Today was that day. And as always it was a bittersweet experience for me. I love everything about this series from the haunting melody of the theme to the "Grrr, Arrgh" at the end. Its safe to say its my favorite TV show of all time. And as much as I enjoy watching it, I also get mad when I think of its too short life. When I think of all the crap that gets renewed season after season- ah there I go again. 


 I suppose all fans feel that way. I'm sure there are "Model Latina" fans out there campaigning for a new season who could care less for Captain Mal and his crew.
I can at least take comfort in the fact that I have the DVD set and the movie to console me (There are fans of the High Chaparral and Thundarr the Barbarian who don't even have that).

Manly Monday - South of the border, down Mexico way

 I spent today writing. In the background I have three of my favorite westerns playing.
 I love westerns set in Mexico. Once Simon is done with Guns of Laredo" I'm coming out with a source-book dealing with  western characters adventuring outside of traditional settings. I'm calling it "Beyond Laredo". 

THIS TV

I stumbled across this cool cable network the other day. It's called THIS TV . It's a free movie channel that specializes in MGM and UA movies mostly from a pre-1986 catalog. From what I've seen there are quite a few low budget B-movie efforts and "grindhouse" as well as legitimate classics. There are also quite a few of the lesser-known movies from  names like Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster and more. 
They also have a nice collection of movies that just don't appear that much anymore like Cannon for Cordoba, Vigilante Force or Dillinger.


The movies are edited for length, nudity, and language -but with the older movies that not so much an issue. For me it's trove of spaghetti westerns, war movies, and low budget Sc Fi- with a few actual classics thrown in there- and the commercials allow me to grab a sandwich or work on a blog post.  Here are a few of the movies playing this month...