RE:View: The Cabin in The Woods

*SPOILER FREE* (Which is essential for this!)

The funny thing about current horror movies - or torture porn, as they're often referred to - is the sheer emptiness of them. You pay, you sit down, you watch 90 minutes of kids getting murdered as gruesomely as possible and then you leave. There's no meaning or investment needed, and when truly thought about is a very nihilistic view of morals. Which is where The Cabin in The Woods comes in, to set the records straight and turn the horror flick on its head; but not in the ways you might think...

  Naturally, a bunch of teenagers visit a cabin and realise that all may not be what it seems, but in a sense far detached from your simple supernatural occurrences. Because in this Cabin in The Woods, lies something perhaps even darker than your average slasher tale, as these five are going to find out, at quite a cost.

The affectionate nods and references to
 the classics are a welcome sight.
 For us, anyway...

Why yes, even with that undertone, what I have just described may still sound generic, but believe me when I say this: IT IS NOT. There's this unique counter-perspective to the proceedings that remarkably puts the entire genre in a new light; a spin that melds sweetly and should certainly be kept secret until you've seen the film. Half the enjoyment of Cabin comes with the surprise of this one-of-a-kind story, which isn't even held over you up to the end: just straight up, first scene twist to get the ball rolling (albeit rolling upwards).

The deliberateness of this never feels forced, thanks to the handy work of Drew Goddard (Director/Co-Writer) and Joss Whedon (Writer), who instead throw the loop at a steady, well kept pace. Both sides of the narrative are balanced, allowing enough investment into each set of characters and worlds, despite one half of these being the morbidly optimistic villains and the other a group of familiar yet updated archetypes of teenagers.

And by updated, I mean believable. Because seriously, do you really think teenagers are that dumb to always split up? No, see these guys are smart, forward thinking kids who don't lack the common sense that apparently every other cabin-bound teen does (unless that becomes induced on them, of course...). Such maturity is then reflected with their relatively newbie cast, with Chris Hemsworth as probably the most recognisable due to his whole Thor gig. However, the true standout of these is Fran Kranz as the magnetically charming "Fool", Marty. From this side of the ride, Kranz steals the show with his stoner-yet-wisdom strewn persona, nailing all the damn-right delicious one-liners thrown his way (courtesy of Whedon, I've no doubt). This could well be his star-maker...

On the super-secret flip side, you've got an abundance of unexpected laughs. Again, the undeclared shape of The Cabin in The Woods still surprises with its multi-genre bending ingenuity. While the genuine scares remain ever scarce (sorry fear-fans, this isn't quite the scream fest you're looking for), you can expect plenty of humourous gags and set-ups that may as well have been in a straight-up comedy. Which in fact works better throughout to help detail the subtext lurking underneath the 95 minutes of pure entertainment.

The thing is with Cabin, you don't just walk out with a smile on your face; you're imparted with something overwhelming to ponder upon - How is watching people die fun? How did the genre get to the point where its main selling point was to watch human mutilation? So it takes these ideas and throws them back at the audience. Sure there are some gruesome deaths in here, but they've got weight to them: you've warmed to the character, you don't want to see them die, you feel their loss. In this sense, it isn't so much poking fun at those immoral conventions as it is ripping its stale heart out and presenting it for all to see, via a string of self-aware, mind-screwing metaness.

It may not be to everyone's taste, to be thrust upon with the truth that what you might have wanted from this film (torture porn) is ultimately not right. Though that's what makes it so good, the bluntness of this point, yet the subtlety of its delivery. Some may not even notice it, but still thoroughly love the film, whilst those who totally get it will totally get it AND thoroughly love the film.

So when The Cabin in The Woods reaches its converging third act of bizarre havoc and satisfying plot turn-arounds, and you've come to terms with the fact that this was not necessarily the film you paid for, I'd say you'll be pretty damn glad you were mislead into this soon-to-be classic genre-buster.

Change is good. But an entire overhaul of expectation? Now that's amazing.

5 Stars

ATR

         

2012: The Year of The Web Show?

When the internet started way back in the 90s, they had one goal in mind: to connect people. Plain and simple. Now, fast forward almost 20 years, and that goal has been surpassed in every way possible. I need not remind you all the ways in which this happens, because we live it everyday, nearly every moment of our lives, thanks to the implications of Internet technology.

     And every so often, it evolves, absorbing elements of physical being and rebooting them with far greater capabilities. Radio Shows became Podcasts, allowing anyone with a mic and PC to make their own, Journals and Articles became Blogs, enabling an easy way to get writing and get your name heard (believe me, I know), and now our good friend TV, having served for 8 decades, is slowly succumbing to the ways of the Web.

The Guild's even moved on
 to it's very own
line of comic books

  But I'm not talking about streaming sites like Hulu, iPlayer or Netflix, although they do dabble in the creative aspect of which this is focused. For my point here is that this year just may well see a real overhaul in terms of the way shows get made, produced and distributed among the masses (that's us!). Sure, plenty of web series' have been made and released up until this point, such as The Guild (which I'll be coming back to) and animated comedy/sadistic slaughter show, Happy Tree Friends, to name but a mere ounce of their slice in the internet market

 Because what's really happening now is individual platforms are being created for the sole purpose of providing original web content - like networks and studios in their own, un-messed-with right. Basically, it's what every creative type dreams of, finally coming to a reality near you.

   Specifically, this comes on the news that two giant geek personalities, made famous largely thanks to the web, are launching such platforms. Felicia Day, creator and star of The Guild as well as tons of other internetty stuff, has lifted the veil on the much anticipated Geek & Sundry, which will play host to a number of indie-geek-culture shows, ranging from Felicia and her buds doing awesome things in "The Flog", to the one and only Wil Wheaton doing his own show where he and special guests play classic board and card games in "TableTop", and there's even kids ad libbing their own stories to get brought to life by a slew of directors in "Written by a Kid". Here's a trailerific overview:



Meanwhile, stand-up comedian and founder of The Nerdist site and podcast-network, Chris Hardwick, has announced The Nerdist Channel - taking his nerd-branded sensibilities to the next level with the proposed menagerie of crazawesome shows on offer. Want Chris bowling with famous people? Check. Want an entire Weird Al show? Check. Want Neil Patrick Harris playing with puppets? Check. Whatever your unearthly desire, it's sure to be addressed in what these guys have in store:




But this is not just a bunch of new shows coming. This is not just an exercise in the entertainment business "branching out". And although awesome, this is not just  Nerd culture being fully realised and implemented. Because this is more. This an opportunity. And this, my friends, is the future.

  Imagine it; a world where the majority of the things we love to watch exist purely on the web - made exclusively for the web with platforms like this to get it out there. Originality levels are going to sky-rocket, as we get to see things just as the creators intended, as well as tsunami of newbies emerging who've never had the big-budget chances of network and production institutes.

A Brand New Day for Dr Horrible

  And even those who have made it big realise the potential, and I mean REALLY BIG. Take Joss Whedon, who's work on Dr Horrible 2 begins tantalisingly soon, with a possible release of this Summer. Would you ever see a Superhero musical, with the villain as protagonist, featuring stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion AND Felicia Day on traditional network schedules? And further more, would you see a sequel of that there? Plus remember that Joss is literally going to be fresh off The Avengers; possibly the biggest superhero movie to date, and yet he goes straight back into a humbling, low budget web project.

   Or how about a show about Gay Marriage Equality in Brad Bell and Jane Espenson's Husbands, also heading toward a second outing for a season 2 later this year. I need not remind how I've supported the show before, and now they even have their own KickStarter to help fund the new episodes, which in itself is extraordinary seeing how they've reached the $50,000 goal in merely a week. You can still donate yourself here (regardless of location) and walk away with some nifty incentive rewards and the feeling that you've just contributed to the world of tomorrow (and we may even see some of these come to fruition) . Because the world is ready for this stuff, even laying down money for external web-content to feed their needs of innovation and revitalisation.

  In years to come we could see that the greatest actors/writers/directors of that future generation did in fact have a breakthrough via the web, a la Neill Blomkamp of District 9 fame. What does this mean? More deserving talents coming forward, previously unheard and unnoticed stars getting an opportunity to break in and become something amazing. And it all starts here, 2012, where the web-ground will be pushed to new heights and be recognised as being just as big a market for entertainment as TV and Film.

So, are you ready?

ATR

Trailer Tuesday: The Avengers Super Bowl Trailer

Not an official poster, but still a sweet fan attempt. 

It's that time of the year again, when America celebrates its national, irrelevantly named sport in the annual football play-offs. While I may be scratching my head at the sheer hype around this (coming from a purely British point of view), I struggle to deny the awesomeness of the many trailers that get rolled out through the ad-breaks. Last year I covered the Captain America Super-Bowl spot, and this year I guess it's only fitting if I do the same for its "OMGWTFTHISISGOINGTOBESOAMAZING" predecessor, in the shape of The Avengers. 


   It may only be a minute in length, but by-jove it's SO tantalising for the ol' Nerd Glands (is that or thing, or does it just sound dirty?). Anyway, let's get on with this:

• 0:11 - After a brief into featuring the usual "Citizens running from explosions" and a lead in from Captain America, we're treated to the brief appearance of the Quinn-Jet (or at least something along those lines). This may or may not be on the mighty Helicarrier (a flying aircraft carrier)...
• 0:14 - More of NY getting bombed, but this time we can see the secret aliens behind it; flying bike things, eh? More on them later.
• 0:17 - The Chrysler Building as an electric conductor for Thor (supposedly)? That's some powerful voltage...
•  0:26 - Thor also gets to ride a jet himself, Norse style (which involves surfing it like a frigging bad-ass).

• 0:30 - Whoa, whoa, whoa: pause your players a second! That right there is our currently unknown alien force that allies with main villain, Loki. So, Bipedal: Check; Greyishly Skinned: Check; Lightly Armoured: Check; Tribal-Looking: Check; and 3 Toes: Check. Conclusion: Uncertain (still). While producer, Kevin Feige, has said that the alien menace have been in the comics, it's hard to determine exactly which ones from this. Feige also stated that their actual identity isn't going to be "impactful", teasing perhaps a lesser known race (no Skrulls for sure, then). My money is on the Badoon, a race of war-hungry, reptilian creatures with no superpowers to speak of, but a high disregard for the female gender. Now this is where my theory comes into play; the Badoon look like they have their spines on their front, and if you look at the armour of the aliens at this point, they look like they have a part running down that area. Also, the Badoon despise and enslave the females of their planet, and Writer/Director/My God, Joss Whedon is renown for his strong, female characters (just don't ask him why). For him, who better to write in as villains, than a race that opposes the very things he stands for? Of course that's just one idea, and there are dozens of other speculative thoughts out there (the name Thanos has been thrown around a lot...)

• 0:36 - Iron Man's little battle here looks to be one of the film's finest action sequences, with some beautifully colourful CGI in play, as well as some realistically shaky camera work (not unlike Whedon's Serenity flight sequences).
• 0:42 - Oooh, the money shot. Our six heroes in a badass, surround pan - yep even the Hulk's there. Have I mentioned yet that I'm rather excited for this movie?
• 0:50 - Ah, time for some Tony "Snark", courtesy of Whedon's Wit: "Earth's Mightiest Heroes, type thing" and "We have a Hulk" are certain to become quote classics. And may I say that Loki looks lusciously dapper in that Green/Black outfit of his, while Stark's Black Sabbath T-Shirt is another great example of Whedon's work; pop-cult references all the way, baby!
• 0:56 - And SMASH time. Hulk's new CGI upgrade and Motion Capture system sure does show here, in a great Jump'n'Smash example of rage. 
• 1:00 - Le fin... for now. Note: For Americans, that May 4th is correct, but here in the UK we have been blessed with an April 27th release. Midnight launch, anyone?

                                                                                                                                               

This is in fact the third trailer for The Avengers that I've broken down so far, but what can I say? April 27th, hurry the heck up! For more on The Avengers, as well as Trailers, Reviews and other kinds of Entertainment Awesome, make sure you stick with me, right here, at Dude Meister Blogs.

ATR

HULK SMASH OTHER PUNY TRAILERS!

The Sunday Supdate: 29/01/12 (TV Special)

These are more or less becoming monthly now, aren't they?

After a month of intense school exams and all that jazz, I've finally decided to do a Supdate. Tonight's agenda includes a lot of TV... pretty much all of it is, in fact.

TeleReligion
After listening to more and more of The Nerdist Writers Panel podcasts, I've had a strange epiphany; why the hell am I not watching some of the most acclaimed shows that have ever been on TV? If I ever want to write for television myself, I think it's time I delved into some more TV (as if I don't watch enough already), especially those nitty-gritty, deep drama programmes. So, here's my list of shows to watch (because I'm struggling for talking points here):

The Wire (I've started watching via Sky Go)
Mad Men (been drooling over it ever since I saw this clip. Just looks awesome)
Game Of Thrones (I know, it's a crime I haven't watched it)
Breaking Bad
Arrested Development
Fringe
Luther
Lost (embarrassing, and I hate myself for not seeing it)
Dexter (maybe)
Warehouse 13
Buffy
Angel
Dollhouse (I loves me some Whedon)
Peep Show (maybe)
Jericho
American Horror Story (darned that I missed it)

And then I'm looking forward to catching some of these when they hit UK screens:

Grimm
Alcatraz
Once Upon A Time

 I know, I know... I'm not going to see the light of day am I? Especially once I get Netflix up and running, which'll save me a ton in boxsets. Just waiting until they get a more comprehensive library, and then it's all systems go for the internet-streaming service. Goodbye life...

At the moment, (in the pre-Netflix stage), I'm enjoying The Flight of The Conchords boxset, which is rip-roaring hilarious fun, check it out:



And while we're on the subject and to say goodbye, here's the "alternate", family-sitcom style intro theme for The Walking Dead (which returns on FX, 17th February). SQUEEEEEEEEEE!



Not too sure why no women are credited, but it's still awesome.

Oh and 2000 hits in a single month; good going guys.

And yes, I lied: there really wasn't anything that special about this "TV Special". Just a bog-standard list of shows. Meh.

ATR

RE:View: Firefly: The Complete Series Blu-Ray

Ah Firefly, the gleaming gem in a forest of blackened crystals, whose searing brilliance was extinguished long before its time. Often considered the greatest sci-fi television series ever, and often true in that statement, Firefly become a pop-culture phenomenon after its premature cancellation in 2003, and set itself deeply into every geek guy and girl's hearts who were lucky enough to glance upon it.

    So when I first picked up the series (of which there are but 14 episodes) on DVD back in April of this year, I had some high hopes. Now, 8 months later, I don't think a day goes by where I don't spare at least one thought to the show. It is that amazing. So when the Blu-Ray was finally released in the UK, I was lucky enough to win myself a copy.

The Show

Created by TV legend Joss Whedon, Firefly is a genre-bending experience, blending that of the classic sci-fi conventions with a scruffy Western feel to bring us something entirely unique. It takes place five hundred years in the future, where a totalitarian regime known as the Alliance rules the systems as a combination of both America and China. The show follows the escapades of the crew of Serenity, a Firefly-class vessel as they drift through space looking for work (legal or not) to keep food on the table and fuel in their engines.

    Scattered with layered and deep characters (some of which are the best I've ever seen), choc-full of witty dialogue and intelligent scripting, yet still shiny in the special effects, Firefly presents you with a realistic science fiction world, in which our "Big Damn Heroes" aren't always winning. It's this honesty and relatability that gives the show its edge that has carried it in such high regard after all these years. It kick-started literally everyone in the extremely talented cast into pretty big careers, namely Nathan Fillion, who's now regarded as a God of Geekdom.

So without further a-do, I obviously present the show with:

5/5 Stars

The Quality

Of course, this is a Blu-Ray upgrade, and so I must also cast an eye on how the new and improved picture and sound matches up. Putting the show in 1080p was always a bit risky with the fan base, who adored the classic roughness the show had pertained with its grains and flares. Luckily though, this charm still remains, but the whole thing just looks a lot crisper. We don't peer at all into what I like to call "Mexican-Soap-Opera" territory (whereby the HD makes the program look cheap), and instead are rewarded with a sharp, detailed and colour popping viewing experience of Captain Mal and his Crew. And those shots of Serenity - in 1080p - are to die for. The only issue I had with the picture was when there were really dark scenes (namely the battle of Serenity, in the first episode), and it became almost squint worthy to get what was going on.

   The sound, now in 5.1 audio is obviously a vast improvement on the DVD's tinned noise. While volume may be a problem with this (i.e. effects too loud over voice), and some SFX still sounding cheesy as hell (*Kapow!* for punch!), the thing that makes up for it most is Greg Edmonson's rich and culturally bizarre score. The stuff is like gold dust to the ears - banjos, violins, big round drum thingys - you name it, it's in there, and it sounds great.

All in all, I'd give the quality:

4/5 Stars


The Extras


A blu re-release always means one thing for sure, and that's new special features. Building upon the DVD's bonuses (which included a few short featurettes, 4 deleted scenes, gag reel, 7 commentaries and a few goodies), is a new commentary track (on Our Mrs Reynolds) featuring Joss and literally half the cast (it's mostly them laughing for 40 minutes, but still fun) and a half hour "Reunion Lunch" with Joss, Nathan, Ron and Alan. Both new features are worth the watch, almost purely because they were recorded over 5 years after the show's original 2003 run, so there's a lot of hindsight and reminisce. They also talk about Monster Cows and how there should have been an episode where someone's hands expand...

More Firefly stuff obviously equals more awesome, but only 2 added things is slightly lacking compared to how some re-releases work. Paired with the original extras, this is easily 5 Star (mostly down to the insightful commentaries alone), but as the bonuses on top alone I'm only going to say...:

3.5/5 Stars

If you own a Blu-Ray and are a Firefly fan (or Browncoat), then it is literally your duty to go out and buy this, even if it's for the picture upgrade alone. Fans without a Blu-Player, I'd say that this isn't your sole reason to get one, because even though the new stuff is cool, it's not quite worth that much, especially if you're not too interested in commentaries or behind-the-scenes stuff. And those who've never seen Firefly, well shame on you! Go out and at least pick up the DVD and experience this most tasty of TV shows. 

Show: 5 Star

Quality: 4 Star

Extras: 3.5 Star

Stand-Out Episodes: "Serenity", "Shindig", "Out of Gas", "Ariel", "The Message" and "Objects in Space".

ATR

Trailer Tuesday: The Cabin in The Woods

You think you know the trailer...

A mind bending poster of cabin-rubix cube!

Why of course, a cabin in the woods, a group of young people looking for fun and then some gruesome, violent and meaningless deaths, right? Well, with this new Horror film, we might just see those cheesy conventions be ripped apart in the genre bending (and aptly named) The Cabin in The Woods. 

"A group of friends at a cabin retreat scratch the surface of something so massive and horrific that they can only begin to fathom it as time quickly runs out." - IMDb

Starring Thor's Chris Hemsworth and a cast of "I recognise but can't name 'ems", Cabin is set to be the freaky film for 2012, with Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard directing, and co-writing with the almighty force that is Joss Whedon. Enjoy/Pee your Pants:  





So as we can see, it starts off in some pretty familiar territory for the slasher/horror setup ("Yeah, road trip!", Creepy Old Man, derelict cabin etc.) until we get to about 1:00 when we see something else in play here. I'm sensing some Sci-Fi elements getting involved, with this mysterious force field malarkey. Then there's a lot of thriller type stuff with those surveillance rigs and lever-pulls, suggesting  somewhat of a conspiracy going on.

   To me it looks like someone behind all this crazy stuff is pulling the strings and essentially building their own horror movie. Gas is being sent in to make them resort to stereotypical (and illogical) decisions (Let's split up!) and freaks are coming out of nowhere with lots of slice and slash. Could this be a Jigsaw type of deal, a la Saw, but on a larger and more intellectual scale? Those masked people, the swat teams, a facet of flowing blood; what the hell is going on here!?

Guess the only way to find out is see the god-damn movie when it kicks off in the UK on Friday the 13th (Yikes!) of April, 2012. Now I'm not usually a horror guy, but this is definitely a must watch for me: partly because of Whedon's involvement and partly because of the inevitable genre-deconstructions in place. Here's wishing for a 15 rating!


ATR

MORE TRAILERS

Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' Announced

Late Sunday night, Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) tweeted a link to the site muchadothemovie.com, announcing the new Joss Whedon project, an adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. And the amazing part? It has already been written, cast and filmed, with the principal photography being completed within 12 days in Santa Monica.

   The cast includes a huge array of actors from Whedon's expansive library, with stars from his previous shows, Angel, Dollhouse and Firefly, as well as The Avengers' Clark Gregg and, obviously, Nathan Fillion. As a modern take on Shakespeare's "Romance Deconstruction" (as Whedon says), the film will be a "fancy" piece, premiering at film festivals once it's finished  in early Spring, and shall boast a "DIY" sense of film making and fresh dialogue, directly from the House of Whedon.

The whole thing's been shot in black and white, giving it an indie-type feel and dramatic over-tone. But if we see splashes of colour like on the title image, I reckon we can expect a very tight example of some beautiful cinematography  to accompany the quirkiness that the whole "cocktail and scuba" style portrays.

What's more, Whedon has set up his very own independent film company (which will produce the film) with wife, Kai Cole, called Bellwether. The "micro-studio" vowes to create "small, independent narratives" for all and any media, meaning Cinema, Web, TV, Page and beyond. Does this mean his further web projects, (like Wastelanders, a post-apocalyptic web series colaboration with comics/novel legend, Warren Ellis or even a Dr Horrible sequel) could be produced under the company?

I'm pretty excited about this, because I know Whedon's a pretty big Shakespeare buff, so his work will be nicely dedicated to the story, as well as offering up his own comedic flair to it all, and the super-impressive cast is sure to knock it out of the park. My one question is where does the time come from? Literally only just getting off of the set of The Avengers, with his directing duties there, Whedon couldn't have stopped working. Theory: Time Lord, definitely Time Lord.

You can read the whole press release here, with further details into casting and so forth.

ATR

Trailer Wednesday: The Avengers

HELL-FRIGGIN-YES! The OFFICIAL trailer for The Avengers has arrived and is jam packed with awesome. I think I can skip the synopsis, so shall we begin?
(Full screen please. It deserves it!)



Breakdown, anyone? Hit the jump for it!

Lookie What I Won!

The fansite, whedonesque.com(devoted to all things Joss Whedon), recently held a competition to win a copy of Firefly on Blu-Ray with the simple of question of "Why do you love Firefly?". Me - being the writing sort that I am - dived into it with a lengthy entry from the heart, about the greatest Sci-Fi show that ever was. And it won. So, YIPEEE! HD quality perfection is on its way now, courtesy of Amazon. Here's the "award-winning" entry:


I love Firefly because it was what it was.
It was a hybrid of two genres, that had been dying to meet in a passionate lock of love for generations.
It was shaky and unpolished - it had that homely charm of not-perfect to it, something that it mirrored in its characters and its tales, through its use of lighting, camera and sound.
It had a great cast, that were willing to take these unique and quirky characters to new and exciting places.
It told us yarns of great prose, combining that of humour, action and drama into pieces that were as much about humanity as they were about the crew.
It was inviting and fuzzy, yet deep and dark when it needed to be.
It was made by a man who loved it dear and was making it for himself and his fans, not money or fame.
It was, in summary, the Shiniest show in the 'Verse, and something that will remain in the hearts of those who were lucky enough to glance at its beauty before its sudden but inevitable defeat.
When we think of Firefly, we feel a sense of... Serenity about the memories and places it takes us to.
I guess you could say it was a unique and lonely leaf on a burst of unrelenting and cruel wind, letting us watch as it soared from its tragic struggle into our lives, our minds and our hearts.
It was Firefly.
And it was great.


Dramatic? Yes. Pretentious? Perhaps. But did it save me £25? You betcha!


What can I say? The words just kind of flowed out my fingers into something I'm pretty proud of, considering it was just for a small competition. So I guess it's time to re-live all my favourite moments, listen to all new commentaries (yes, I actually watch those...) and experience the Big Damn Heroes in stunning 1080p quality. Shiny - that's all I'm saying...


ATR

The Sunday Supdate: 11/09/11

Wassup home dogs!? Would you like me to start over in a less douchey way? Well touch luck, cause I'm sticking with it! Late night Sunday = tired blogger = rough post (?), so try to stick with me for this.

In Remembrance
We all know what the date at the top says and we all know it's been 10 years. That fateful day of heartache and destruction, immortalised by this haunting date. So let's all spare a thought to those who lost loved ones and have since as a result of the tragic events that took place that day. When people say it was one of those "where were you?" moments, they're really not wrong. Even me, as a 5 year old can remember my Dad's urgency to get home after picking me up from school, and then seeing all this stuff on the TV. It was as if an image of two burning towers had been etched into every screen for the next few weeks. And then being there, in New York itself a couple years ago, I could still sense this feeling of tragedy around the Ground Zero site, despite the fact it was mostly blocked off for construction purposes. RIP Victims and Heroes of 9/11.

A Photo of Epic Proportions (and Questions?)
Anyone on Twitter earlier today may have noticed a whole load of Nerdgasm coming from one image tweeted by Nathan Fillion:

For those not in the know, that's (from left to right) Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity), Felicia Day (The Guild), Simon Pegg (Shaun of The Dead, Paul), Edgar Wright (Writer/Director of Shaun, Hot Fuzz) and Anthony Head (Buffy, Merlin, Little Britain). And they're in Joss-Freakin'-Whedon's house! So much awesome in one place!

     It's no surprise then that my head (along with many others out there) has been buzzing about what this meet up could mean. My theory? Well, Edgar Wright has recently finished writing the script (along with Attack The Block creator, Joe Cornish) for a movie adaptation of Marvel hero, Ant Man. This links into the rumours that Nathan Fillion could be the one to play him (YES PLEASE), and that Joss is writing and directing The Avengers, another Marvel property. So, could this be a meeting to discuss plans on working Ant-Man into the Marvel Cinematic continuity, with possibly the other actors involved. Pegg as villain, perhaps?

Or maybe something else from the many Whedon properties? Dr Horrible related? Buffy? Dare I say, Firefly!? Or something new entirely? If it was any of these, I don't think I'd really care what because the thought of seeing all these guys working together makes my head explode. Fillion and Pegg, two of my favourite actors teamed up with Wright and Whedon, two of my favourite writers/directors, with some Felicia thrown in: I don't think I could take the amount of happiness that it would fill me with.

  But this kind of wild speculation always gets me kind of depressed when it turns out not to be nought but that. So for now let's just assume that it's a bunch of Hollywood (and Geekdom) A-listers hanging out together just for the sake of awesomeness. (Ah but come on, that "Shhh" expression from Edgar's gotta count for something?) Still the sweetest thing I saw today!

School's Back

Of course, this being September, the old school routine had kicked back in and is live and swinging. Final year of secondary school, GCSE's and all that. Big year ahead, or so I've heard (from pretty much EVERYONE). Will it all affect the blog? Hopefully not, if I can effectively maximise my time management (working on it!) then we may see a rise in some enjoyable writing. RE:Views incoming, and maybe a new "RE:Commend" section, devoted to suggesting some great things in life. Be it a TV show, book series, food, activities, websites or whatever, RE:Commend could be like a mini review feature, minus all the hard hitting critique, and a place with me just trying to introduce you to something I believe is awesome. Cool beans, eh?

So until next time, my intrepid viewers. Stay safe, stay smart, stay reading and most importantly, stay awesome. Over and Snout.

ATR

         More Marvel              More Supdates    

Trailer Tuesday: The Avengers

Do I have a treat for you! Obtained through an undisclosed source, I present to you the first ever The Avengers teaser trailer, exclusive to Dude Meister Blogs! It's not great quality (sound or visual), but boy does it still look sweet! Try and keep it on the down-low though, as this might not be completely "okay", so to speak, and it's on a private YouTube link. So if it doesn't stay up forever, don't be too surprised... Anyway, enough jibber-jabber, here it is:




Alright, so I'm not going to break it down, because the shots are so quick that it'd be written like 0:15.23 to get it all in. So if you want to see it all, just quick pause throughout the whole thing to get each piece of footage of the new team, assembling next May 4th. There's new costumes (a lot borrowed from the Ultimates it seems) and locales shown, and also a great deal on Loki, Thor's devious brother. If the Thor post-credits scene is anything to go by, the plot might be revolving around him along with Captain America's Tesseract cube.

  Anyway, no matter what the plot is, I'm sure writer/director Joss Whedon will make one hell of a superhero movie. Full stop. Now go forth, and replay the trailer over and over until your hearts content! And remember, shhhhhhh!

ATR

The Sunday Supdate: 29/05/11

The Return.

Yes, I'm back after a week of un-supdated-ness. Apologies if you missed me, but don't be too worried because you're in luck with this considerably monster-sized update! (Assuming that I can find enough things to talk about - I do make this up as I go along, after all.)

  Okay, so "WHERE THE CHEESE BALLING THUMPER CATS HAVE I BEEN!?!?!"?. In short, nowhere. The lack of a Supdate last week was in fact wholly unnecessary, and should be blamed solely on my shoddy, uninterested brain. In even shorter terms: CBA. No matter, comrades; I will work harder!

  Anyway, here's the first picture of Tom Hardy (Inception, Bronson) as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises:

Pretty sweet, huh? The mask design looks very contemporary and thankfully non-camp (ala Batman and Robin)and director Nolan's style is flawless, as ever. I know it's a bit old now, but absence is absence, and I really wanted to include it; especially for those of you who's eyes haven't graced its presence as of yet.

           On the topic of movies, I saw Pirates 4 (after a bit of a Hangover 2 cuffufle)  today and was pleasantly surprised by it.  Depp was as good as ever, and there was a great showcase of  recognisable faces on screen (Richard Griffiths, Stephen Graham). In all honesty, it was far more enjoyable than I had expected and reminded me a lot of Indy's The Last Crusade, what with the "hunting down of a mythical object" angle of the plot line. RE:View? Stay tuned...

  I also seem to be getting really into Joss Whedon's works at the moment. As you know, I expressed interest in his sci-fi/western series, Firefly, a couple of weeks ago (of which I am now in love with) and have since expanded into some of his other stuff. Namely: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Possibly the only good thing to come out of the writer strike of 2008, this delightful tragi-comedy musical web-series has been stuck in my head for the last two days. Here's a taster: 

Yep, it's the openly awesome Neil Patrick Harris!

You can actually find the whole thing on YouTube if you want to check it out in its entirety, which I implore you to. Seriously, you'll thank me. You may even want to buy this after:
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: The Book 

          Now I know the hits have dived this month, and you can't blame really blame the little guys. There's been very little activity and nothing new has flourished yet. But hold onto your savoury snacks, because I'd like to (try to) introduce the new WTF (What The Fridge) weekly feature. It could be a picture, video, track or generally anything that makes no sense and just makes you question humanity, the world or even yourself. Suggestions would be nice too, if you ever have anything in mind. And the best thing; it's not going to be restricted to a certain day of the week! It could be anytime! Okay, so maybe that's not the best thing, but it certainly helps me out having no commitment deadlines (Tuesdays can be a tough squeeze).

Stuff like this? I think so.

  That's all for now, so come back in the week for the first WTF, a new trailer, maybe an RE:View and if you're really lucky, perhaps a special feature. Stay safe now.