AMC Is Geeking Out With Kevin Smith

AMC struck gold when they decided to sign on for The Walking Dead, and it's been such a huge hit that they even developed a talk show that just talks about that one program called The Talking Dead.  It brings on actors from the show, as well as other guests to talk about each episode that airs, and it's a hit in it's own right.  Seeing how people are willing to tune into a show to watch people talk about the show and give their opinions and thoughts on it gave AMC another idea...what if we did something similar that expanded the topics to everything that geeks and fanboys love?  Not only that, but who could they possibly get to host something like that?

The answer to the first question is easy.  Geeks and fanboys would love to have their own show!  When it came to choosing a host, that may have been even easier to answer!  Enter Kevin Smith, a writer/director/producer/actor/comic book writer/podcast king....the list goes on and on!  So when AMC approached Smith about the idea of hosting the show, he jumped at the chance.  Don't believe me?  Here's what the King of the Geeks had to say about it:

“I can’t wait to lose fluids on the airwaves of my favorite channel over the genre gems we’re gonna get insider access to due to gregarious Greg’s bonafides! And to make it even more of a family affair, Geeking Out lets me work with the Weinsteins again — the two guys who started my career 22 years ago! I’m lucky to be working at all, let alone working with friends and family on a dream show where all we do is talk about all the media that makes us moist!”

Kevin Smith won't be alone on hosting duties, though.  He'll be joined by another geek and fanboy Greg Grunberg.  Don't know him?  You should.  He's been in shows like Heroes, Heroes Reborn, Masters of Sex, Criminal Minds, and The Mysteries of Laura.  In fact, he most recently appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  He had an actual acting role in the film, and Smith did some voice work for the film, so these two are probably completely geeking out over their contributions to a Star Wars film.  That's like every geeks dream!  Still don't know who Grunberg is? Ugh.  Fine.  Here's a picture of him:



Can't tell me you don't know him now.  So how does he feel about doing a show with Smith?  He's geeking out just as much as Smith.  Here's what he had to say about the show:

“I am going to get every single genre-based writer, director and actor I know to come on our show and geek out with us. And they’re going to thank me for it. I love how Kevin Smith smells and we fit together like two hibernating fan-bears. Thanks to AMC and the Weinsteins, the rest of the world is going to get to see what’s inside our dark, dank geek cave. It’s going to be a fun 30 minutes, if I can just get Kevin to stop talking and smoking.”

Geeking Out is supposed to premier with a special San Diego Comic Con episode in late July, with eight more episodes to air weekly after that, running through late summer on AMC.

Best Comic Book Based Movie Made So Far!

In honor of the after the credits scene in Deadpool I give you the following line…"Ryan Reynolds, you're my hero!"  Yes, Ryan Reynolds finally gave fanboys the movie that they've been waiting for…and it was great!  In fact, this was quite possibly the best comic book adaptation that has been made so far.  The hard R-rating told us that they were serious about being true to the comic book character, and they nailed it.  Not only did they capture the humor of the anti-hero, but they broke through the 4th wall, just like they do in the comic book.  In fact, they broke through the 4th wall while breaking through the 4th wall, so they broke through the…what, 16th wall?  Okay, you have to go see the movie to get that one.

Reynolds shines as Wade Wilson, thanks to an incredible script and I'm sure a lot of ad libbing.  But as good of a job as he did playing the Merc with a Mouth, the supporting cast were amazing as well.  Colossus does a great job of playing the hero who tries to push Deadpool onto the path of righteousness and do gooding, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead rocks as the moody teenager that Colossus is tasked with training.  Ajax is the perfect villain and Vanessa plays the perfect compliment to Wilson's smart ass character.  TJ Miller plays Weasel, who does a great job (as always) as playing Wilson's best friend.  He manages to steal a bit of the spotlight every time he shows up, but not enough to outshine Reynolds, who again, was perfect in this movie.

This isn't a comic book movie for everyone, though.  There is blood, guts, and nudity throughout the whole film.  In short…the perfect movie.  In fact, Stan Lee's cameo in the film is that of a DJ in a strip club.  I know, right?  Who saw that one coming?  Even having said this, though, it should be noted that it pulled in over $47 million on opening day.  Not bad for a movie that was put together for $58 million.  Early projections had the film only pulling in $60-$70 million the entire weekend, but now they've changed those projections to close to $130 million, doubling in one weekend what it cost to make.  

So in short, go see this movie!  If you're a fan of the comic book, you will love this movie!  Let me know what your thoughts are after you go see it.  You can leave your comments in the section below, you can email me at comconocave@gmail.com, or you can leave the at the Comconoclast Facebook page.  Let me know what your favorite scene from the film is, or what made you laugh the loudest, and trust me, you will be laughing out loud!

The "Expendables" Of Horror Movies

                          

So Freddy, Jason, and Pinhead walk into a bar…

Okay, it's not necessarily that simple of a joke.  In fact, it's not a joke at all.  It's a new movie that will be coming out some time next year, brought about by the evil genius of the late Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen.   They won't be playing their iconic characters (from what it sounds like) but how cool would it be to see these actors all on the same screen at the same time?  Here's what IMDB.com has to say about the upcoming film:

"The Four Horsemen are the most notorious serial killers of all time. Robert Englund’s weapon of choice is fire; Gunnar Hansen has an unquenchable thirst for human flesh; Bill Moseley is a surgeon, and tends to focus on mutilation and torture; and Doug Bradley shares a bond with spiders, particularly the Brown Recluse Spider, whose poison Bradley is happy to dispense among those unfortunate enough to meet him.

All four killers are safely housed in a maximum security wing in the basement of the infamous Dodhoff Prison, aka THE DEATH HOUSE.

The newest inmate to the prison is Sid Haig, a Hitler-wannabe with a cult following, whose right-hand man Jeff is almost as sadistic as him.

Also arriving at the prison is a college field trip, led by Professor Dee Wallace. She brings her Psychology class every year to observe, from a safe distance of course, the four horsemen in their prison habitat.

The students include Anna, a no-nonsense passionate student; Nick, who’s taking the class for a glorified credit,; Harold, the geek who could have majored in anything and been successful,; and Suzie, the slut of the group. Michael, the Professor’s Assistant, keeps everything on track for Wallace.

During the tour of the prison by Warden Danny Trejo, Jeff and the cultists invade, staging a prison break to free their god-like leader- and they are shooting to kill. The assault is successful, as they free Sid, but the Warden, locks down the prison to keep Sid from escaping, and contain the prison break. The warden directs the students down a back passage to the boiler room to save their lives. Unfortunately, that is the Warden’s last move, as he is gunned down by the infiltrating mob.

Anna hits the button to release the four horsemen from their cells, knowing they are the only option to take down the mob, and save their own lives in the process. But blood is universal, and soon the students find themselves navigating a brutal and gruesome labyrinth to survive, as the Four Horsemen, in their quest for freedom, unleash holy hell."

Think of this as a mix between The Expendables and The Suicide Squad.  Mayhem ensues.  Can't wait.  Now, I'm going to go see the new Deadpool movie.  I'll let you know how it is in tomorrow's blog!  

I Hope This Rumor About Star Wars: Episode VIII Isn't True...

At a meeting the other day, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII has started it's principal photography.  With the success of The Force Awakens and the upcoming Rogue One, Disney is wanting to forward fast so they can capitalize on the excitement that has been building for the franchise.  Thanks to writer/director Rian Johnson, they are now able to do just that.

But what's it going to be about and in what direction are they going to be taking the franchise?  It's way too early to know anything like that, but there was one bit of news that popped up over the last couple of days that has me shaking my head.  Apparently Ewan McGregor is in talks to return to the Star Wars universe as Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost.  This bothers me on a number of levels.  Let me explain.

Okay.  When Return of the Jedi was first released, the end of the movie showed the ghosts of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin.  Obi-Wan was played by Sir Alec Guinness and Anakin was played by Sebastian Shaw.  It was the perfect scene, showing Luke that he was able to save his father from the Dark Side.  Then when the movies were re-released, George Lucas mucked things up and replaced Sebastian Shaw's ghost with that of a younger Anakin, played by Hayden Christiansen, but they left Obi-Wan's ghost as Sir Alec Guinness.  Now they want to bring in Ewan McGregor to play a younger version of Obi-Wan's ghost for Episode VIII?  I don't like it.

During one scene in The Force Awakens, Rey is kind of flipping out because Luke's lightsaber is showing her all sorts of images and sounds, and she doesn't know what's going on.  One of those sounds was the actual voice Sir Alec Guinness calling out Rey's name.  What they did was take an actual line of his from the previous films where he says something like "Afraid", I don't remember the actual word, and then shortened it to say just "Rai", or more to the point, "Rey".  Why go through all of this trouble to use Sir Alec's voice if you are just going to replace him with McGregor?

Lastly, it's being reported that in the upcoming Rogue One film, they are going to be doing some impressive movie magic and bring Peter Cushing back to the screen as Grand Moff Tarkin.  They are doing this because he's instrumental to the story, and also because...well, they can.  So if you're going to do this for a stand alone movie that takes place in the Star Wars universe, why not do the same for the actual storied franchise?  It makes no sense to me.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.  Think I'm over reacting?  Probably, but it still bothers me to no end.  It just reminds everyone that the prequels actually happened, and that they are still apart of the storyline, whether we like it or not.

Cable Is Coming To Deadpool 2

Yesterday I brought you news that 20th Century Fox has signed on for a sequel to Deadpool.  Now we're hearing that Cable will be joining him this time around.  It makes sense to bring Nathan Summers into the Deadpool movies, especially if Fox is wanting to do an X-Force movie, seeing as he was the founder and leader of the team.  Plus, there have been some great Deadpool/Cable comics that have been published, and seeing them on the screen together would be epic!

So what kind of role is he going to have in the film?  If it's comparable to the role Colossus has in Deadpool, then it should be a pretty big one, and not just a cameo appearance.

Cable (a.k.a. Nathan Christopher Charles Summer) was first introduced to the Marvel universe in New Mutants #87 and is the son of Scott Summers (a.k.a. Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor (a.k.a. Red Queen).  He came about when Mr. Sinister discovered that a child between Scott Summers and Jean Grey would produce a "powerful genetically superior mutant" that he hoped to use to defeat Apocalypse, his immortal enemy.  The only problem was that by the time he figured this out, Jean Grey had been consumed by the "Pheonix Force" and was thought to be dead.  Not letting that get in his way, Mr. Sinister created a clone of Jean Grey and named her Madelyne Pryor.  He was able to get the two to meet and they had the child he'd been plotting for.

While Nathan was still a baby, a mutant by the name of Cable showed up and ended up taking command of the New Mutants.  What the the X-Men didn't know was that Cable was actually the future version of Nathan.  That's the very, very, short version of who Cable is.  No actor has been chosen to play the role of Cable yet, but when I hear something, I'll let you know.

Deadpool hits theaters tomorrow.

A Deadpool 2 Has Already Got A Green Light

Deadpool hits theaters this Friday, and he's got everyone talking!  With an incredible ad campaign and having Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 100% likability from the early screenings, 20th Century Fox has already given the go ahead for a sequel to the film.  In the early stages of it's creation, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick made it clear that they wanted to make more than just one film for the beloved comic book character, and that they already had ideas in mind for the follow up.  Director Tim Miller and actor Ryan Reynolds are both on board for the sequel, too.

This movie has had to overcome some pretty big obstacles in order to get made, though, so the fact that a sequel is already in the works is pretty impressive.  First introduced to the X-Men cinematic universe in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds played Wade Wilson pretty convincingly in the movies first 10 minutes or so, but when he came back at the end with no mouth and no personality, fans turned their backs on the character and the movie.  I mean, what were they thinking taking away the Merc with a Mouth's mouth?  Idiots.  Before it's disastrous debut, 20th Century Fox was already planning to make a stand alone Deadpool movie, but when Origins tanked, it got shelved.  That was seven years ago.  But Reynolds never gave up on the movie and kept pushing to get it made.  Then, last year some test footage that had been done "leaked" online, and fans went nuts!  Who leaked it?  No one knows.  20th Century Fox said they were investigating it, but I'm pretty sure that if they ever find out who did it, they'll get a bonus check, and not fired.  The leaked footage stole all of the attention at SDCC and was fast tracked into production.

The second hurdle that it had to make was a question of what sort of rating should it get?  Fans were afraid that it would get a PG-13 rating so the studio could reach a wider audience, but anything less than an R wouldn't be true to the comic book character.  The fans won out, and we got our R rating.  Now, after months and months of waiting, we'll get to see just how good a job they've done with the character.  It's success is important for the company, too, and they've got a lot riding on it.  Not just in in dollars, but in keeping the X-Men cinematic universe going as well.  With this summer's X-Men: Apocalypse ending this second trilogy of the famed mutants, 20th Century Fox needs Deadpool to do well so they can keep their X-Men franchise going.  If Deadpool does as well as everyone is saying, not only are we getting a Deadpool 2, but expect to see spinoff movies like X-Force and The New Mutants making their way to the screen in the coming years.

I have to say, after seeing Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he pissed me off.  Now seeing him as Deadpool, I can't think of anyone else who could ever play the guy.  Let's hope he's around for the ride as long as Hugh Jackman was as Wolverine.  Way to redeem yourself, Reynolds!

How One Avenger May Die In Captain America: Civil War

What team will you choose?  That was the question asked in the preview for Captain America: Civil War that was shown during the Super Bowl this past Sunday night.  As you can see in the above picture, Captain America has Falcon, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, the Scarlett Witch, and the Winter Soldier.  That last one mentioned will be playing a big part in the movie's storyline.  Just to get this out of the way, ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!*** ahead!

So Geek.com is reporting that there were two endings that were written for Captain America: Civil War.  In one of them, Steve Rogers survives, and in the other one, he dies.  I've talked about this in previous posts.  It's been rumored that after the war between the heroes, Captain America strikes a deal with the government that grants immunity for everyone who sided with him during the battle.  After reaching this deal, he's paraded out onto the steps of the Capital Building to announce his "surrender".  Then he's shot dead.  Geek.com is reporting that it's at the hands of Crossbones.  This is unusual because Frank Grillo (the guy playing Crossbones) specifically said in an interview that he doesn't get to kill Captain America.  Sure, he could be lying and trying to misdirect, but that's unusual for an actor to do, I mean, to straight out lie about something.  They might dance around the question, but that's usually it.  So take this bit of news with a grain of salt.

They are also reporting that Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes (a.k.a. the Winter Soldier) has been fitted for a Captain America costume.  It's been teased that one of three people could be taking over the role of Captain America after Rogers' death, Falcon, Sharon Carter (Agent 13), or Bucky Barnes.  If the news about Stan being fitted for the costume is true, however, then this little dilemma seems to have been answered.  Makes sense, though, considering that he took over for Cap after he died in the comic book version of Civil War.

It should also be noted that Chris Evans has signed on to appear in at least one of the Infinity Wars movies, so he might not stay dead long.  Either that, or he'll just appear in flash backs or something.  We won't find that out for another couple of years.

Captain America: Civil War comes out May 5, 2016.