HBO has had enough with the hacks and leaks that the company is willing to spend millions of dollars filming different endings to the series finale of ‘Game of Thrones.’
“I know in ‘Game of Thrones,’ the ending, they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that nobody really know what happens. You have to do that on a long show. Because when you’re shooting something, people know. So they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that there’s no real definitive answer until the end.” said HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys to The Morning Call.
The report also states that not even the actors will know what the correct ending is. HBO spent $100 million for season six, and about the same for season seven with only 7 episodes instead of the previous season’s 10. Since, the show films on location, has a massive crew and cast, is building up to an insane war, this will cost HBO big bucks to keep the final episode a secret. Look for season eight to cost $16 million per episode.
The final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ will be six episodes that begin filming in October with a possibility of a an 11-month shoot. The current production schedule would mean the show will not return till 2019. HBO has yet to make an official announcement.
Do you think HBO can keep the ending a secret? Comment below.
Genre legend Joe Dante, B-movie legend Mick Garris, David Slade, Ryuhei Kitamura and Alejandro Brugues are teaming up for Nightmare Cinema, a new horror anthology film.
It gets better. It seems Mickey Rourke will play a sort of ringleader to the whole film. Here’s Deadline explaining what that means:
The anthology will center on a series of down-on-their-luck individuals who enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist (Rourke) – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings. By the time our patrons realize the truth, escape is no longer an option.
Sounds like a perfect premise. Dante and Harris are icons to a certain swath of pop culture geeks out there, and David Slade is best known for Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, and one of those Twilight movies but let’s not worry about all that. You have Ryuhei Kitamura to thank for Midnight Meat Train, and Alejandro Brugues oversaw the From Dusk Til Dawn TV series.
They may also turn this into a TV series, a la Twilight Zone and Tales From the Crypt, if the maiden voyage of Nightmare Cinema is a success. Stay tuned for updates and release dates.
Is Code Geass R2 the greatest anime of all time? After you have been a part of Manga and Anime culture long enough you are able look at the trends, the history, and form an understanding of what happened at a deeper level. This results in an abstract idea, a thought which doesn’t have a physical existence but can be speculated. Welcome to Anime Abstract.
The simple answer to the question is No. Code Geass R2 is an above-average anime with a lot of great moments, some interesting characters, and a jaw dropping final episode. The animation kept up with its consistency between the first second season. The music by Orange Range, FLOW, and Ali Project are catchy and deserve to be on anyone’s anime playlist.
You’re probably asking if the answer is so simple, why write a whole article bringing it up? Because despite giving it high marks, many think it needs to much higher. Code Geass R2 at the time of this article sits at #16 of all time on Myanimelist and #6 on Anime News Network. This means the show is beating Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Cowboy Bebop on both lists. Despite how good Code Geass R2 those three titles are essential viewing for anyone who wants to be more than a casual fan of the media. This brings us to the real inquiry and reason for this article, which is to discover why Code Geass R2 has such a high rating.
One of the main reasons for fans of the show insisting it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread is how it makes use of the trope known as “The Ending Changes Everything.” Through the final episode, the actions and plot of Lelouch and Suzaku are revealed and the reason for their extreme behavior starting at episode 21 is explained. This plus the shocking presentation of this information does make for a perfect episode. Unfortunately, one perfect 10 does not retroactively make the rest of the series perfect. This is the same show which featured an episode called “Love Attack” and another where the cast tried to make a giant pizza in a school festival for a second time. The show is hardly without its faults. Also, the “Ending Changes Everything” trope doesn’t automatically mean a series is good. The same ideal was employed in Panty and Stocking, and all it did was leave the audience demand a sequel.
It does find a way to to pull off the The “War To End All Wars” plot to some extent. which has been employed many times in animes previously (usually other shows created by Sunrise) but these don’t often yield positive results. Again though, just because this was the one show which successfully pulled off the formula of “I’m going to have the war to end all wars so people have no choice but to embrace peace” doesn’t mean the show is perfect. In fact, points should be taken away from it because of how many series had to come before it with the same plot to finally get all the details to align properly.
So, what happened? Why does the show have such a high placement on different lists? Basically a lot of overzealous fans thought it was the best show ever and voted it as such. A similar incident occurred involving GameFAQs and a vote to find the greatest game ever. The polling was overrun with Undertale fans and the game ending up beating out others which had a long history of being necessary gaming experiences. Such overzealous behavior has resulted in many individuals not wanting to approach the fandom because of the over the top way the fans reacted.
So what can be done to fix this error? Not much really. Clearing the show’s score won’t fix anything as a multitude of individuals will probably forget to recast their vote. A similar situation could just as easily occur and the voting would be so overwhelmed by bias fans, the show could end up being voted the greatest of all time. For now, the incident with Code Geass R2 must instead serve as a warning about the problem of bias scoring on websites and hopefully in the future fans won’t make the same mistake. Unfortunately, knowing what happens when fans get too eager, this situation is almost destined to happen again.
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What are your thoughts on Code Geass R2? Leave a comment below and let us know.
The inevitable conclusion to what could potentially be Keanu Reeves’ greatest trilogy (@ me), John Wick: Chapter Three, has an official release date.
The continuing adventures of the most reluctant badass in modern movies will hit theaters May 17, 2019. Keanu Reeves is back, and I would imagine Ian McShane will stop by in some capacity. There are no other details at this point, of course, but this release date is the most audacious of the three.
The original John Wick quietly opened in October 2014, and Chapter Two was a massive hit this past February. To be fair, however, February is in the middle of a business model reboot, where studios see the benefits of opening big movies when it’s cold outside and people don’t have as much going on.
It will be interesting to see how Wick navigates a world where he has no protection and about half of this bizarro world’s population is a trained assassin. I picture Wick chopping wood in a remote cabin in the woods, fighting off killers as they try a sneak attack…
Anyway, John Wick: Chapter Three. 2019. I’ll probably go check it out, will you?
Post-apocalyptic fantasy comic, The Realm, debuts its introductory issue. Created by Jeremy Haun and Seth M. Peck, the series gets off to a very promising start. This is another Image title you should pay attention to.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
The Realm introduces us to an interesting cast of characters, each one unique. From the ballsy bounty hunter to the soul stealing dark lord, this world immediately comes to life through the people in it. The quality of details in each line of dialogue allows us to firmly grasp an initial understanding of each character and the vast world around them.
Right out of the gate, this dark and mysterious landscape is somewhere readers will want to stay a while. With the focus on the cast, every peek at the environment they inhabit is a tantalizing tease. By the issue’s end, we barely scratch the surface of how this world works, but you can be damn sure we’ll be back next issue to find out.
Despite a dark and cloudy atmosphere, every panel is visually stunning. The gory violence of the action sequences makes you want to rip your shirt off and run through the woods. The Realm is a ruthless and peculiar world that grand and immediately established a vast landscape for readers to explore with these characters.
The aesthetic and attitude is reminiscent of The Walking Dead initially, but quickly leaves that feeling behind. Perfectly blending elements of both fantasy and a post-apocalyptic terrain, The Realm is uncharted territory with tasteful splashes of familiarity.
Some genre mashing comic books stumble out of the gate, mostly due to the clashing ideas. In this case, the blending of style and variety of themes go hand-in-hand naturally. The balancing act is handled flawlessly, taking no time at all to hook readers in.
Hop onto this book now, we’re about to go on a treacherous journey through a world full of scoundrels, monsters, and sorcerers. It’s beautifully violent, brilliantly crafted, and could easily be one of the best new books of 2017.
Transdimensional is a new four-issue science fiction and horror comic book from UK publisher TPub Comics and up-and-coming writer Michael Gordon. TPub features a catalog of thriller, horror, noir stories told in a gritty, realistic style. You won’t find spandex in a TPub book unless it’s a deranged psycho who likes the feel of it against his skin while he or she torment victims. Titles like Twisted Dark and Theatrics make it clear what TPub aims to do as a publisher focused on telling stories like those found in Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. Transdimensional continues this trend by offering a mix of Alien, The Abyss, and the dangers of the multiverse.
As the story goes, underwater archeologist Deacon Price is seeking to fund a journey down to a sunken sub. Meanwhile, Deacon is haunted by nightmares regarding his estranged wife, Grace, and disabled daughter, Evie. Deacon receives his funding, and his pal Coop is along for the ride down below the sea. Also on the team is Grace who adds several dimensions of real word tension to this genre story.
In issue one, Michael Gordon packs a lot of character development and set ups. Monkeys Fighting Robots caught up with the writer to ask him more about Transdimensional as the Kickstarter campaign for Issue #2 comes to a close.
We started with a basic question regarding the influences behind Transdimensional.
“The main influence and initial inspiration for Transdimensional are actually pretty predictable; I wanted to write my own version of Alien. But, considering that in the last four decades, imitations of Alien or stories that are inspired by Alien have become pretty damn commonplace, it was a stroke of genius that my lovely wife actually suggested setting the story underwater, as opposed to space!”
Reading through issue one, the influence of The Abyss is evident. Gordon also mentions the 1998 horror feature Sphere. “I love how those stories, if they’re told well, build and build in suspense and tension until it’s almost unbearable for the reader/audience.”
Issue one also doesn’t start off with a bang. Transdimensional is patient, and it builds a lot of character throughout the first chapter. Pub and Gordon both share a love for character. “Characters are the most important element of any story. You could have the coolest plot, with the most badass action and the best production values in the world, but without characters that people genuinely connect with, it will just feel hollow and forgettable. In fact, interesting and compelling character work should make all those other elements even better, as the readers will care about what happens to the characters they like, or love, or love to hate. “
The Kickstarter for Transdimensional #1 ended in April fully-funded. Gordon received plenty of feedback from readers. Asked about the comments effect on the scripts moving forward, Gordan says “I do like the idea of being able to adjust some things here and there due to reader feedback if the ideas make the story better. It’s certainly not something I’d be against, so I welcome readers telling me exactly what they think!”
The scale of the story begins small, focused on several characters and this one job. However, Gordon alludes to a bigger story. I compared it to the difference between The Abyss’ theatrical release versus the much grander ending of the Special Edition. “There’s an escalation of tension and scale in each issue, which is how I feel a good horror story should be structured. Start small and intimate, draw the reader into the lives of the characters; that way whenever everything goes to hell in the final act, the reader is attached to the characters and is more accepting of some of the more heightened story elements.” And Gordon is happy to say “the ending is closer to the scale of The Abyss’ special edition.”
We here at MFR are no strangers to science, and Transdimensional makes use of theoretical ideas such as the multiverse. Both Gordon and Neil Gibson, TPub’s Editor, wanted to use as much inspiration from real-world science as possible. “The title is definitely a hint at the direction the story will go. I’d say it gets pretty sci-fi as it develops, but there is always a very strong horror vibe as well. Think along the lines of Event Horizon, which was a sci-fi movie through and through…but a gory, terrifying one!”
All good stories extend from a core truth in the writer’s soul. For Gordon, “…the idea of actually going deep beneath the waves gives me the willies.” However, Gordon’s own daughter is disabled and inspired parts of the story regarding Deacon and Evie.
As the Kickstarter comes to a close, the plan is “#3 could then see print in December, and #4 in February 2018.” Later, a graphic novel from TPub will collect the whole story in one edition.
Gordon isn’t done telling stories, particularly with TPub “There IS another story in the works through TPub, as a matter of fact. I can’t say too much, other than that it’s a mystery thriller.” Transdimensional is just the start, Gordon hopes, “I’d love to forge a career where I can split my time between my own projects and working with established characters and properties.” If Transdimensional is a sign of stories to come, Gordon will get his wish and the comic book industry will gain a new, solid storyteller.
With the new SNES classic in the process of being released in the United States, many of us are drawn back to the nostalgia of an amazing era where graphics were two-dimensional and the games were fun and intriguing. Indeed, the SNES classic taps deeply into the root of nostalgia and is pretty much sold out wherever it has been available to pre-order. This SNES shows just how much American culture has been influenced by video games on such a wide scale, so much so that we often forget just how much of an impact games have made on things like television, movies, and even comic books.
When the original Super Nintendo first came out, society wasn’t particularly interested in things considered to be geeky. Things like Dungeons and Dragons, comic books and fantasy were usually relegated to a special area that some adults looked down upon. Children, the outcasts, and misfits were the only people who would openly enjoy gaming, and these older geeks were often isolated from the rest of their community. But as the medium evolved, so too did its complexity. As the internet became more mainstream, communities began to form around these hobbies, creating the geek culture that we know and celebrate today – namely things like comic books.
But gaming itself wasn’t widely accepted until the technology began to grow more complex on a technological level. Over the years, with the advent of 3D technology, action games, first person shooters and triple A titles, video games shifted from being perceived as being simple child’s play to something more. Film companies started to take advantage of this advanced special effects technology and directors started to look to games for visual inspiration in their work. Filmmakers began to implement things that they enjoyed from games and even camera work started to take notes from first person shooters.
As the technology and accessibility of games improved, so too did its reputation. Casual games and online casinos started to draw in regular people and companies like Microsoft were able to target the mainstream audience with games like Call of Duty. These elements broke through the social barriers, moving gaming from being a type of subculture to a widely accepted type of hobby.
Of course, there are still a group of holdouts who look down on gaming, considering it to be lesser than television or films, but these holdouts are shrinking by the year, especially with the arrival of E-sports and Twitch, which has shown that you can make a legitimate career out of playing video games. With each passing year, the stigma of being a “gamer” fades further and further from memory.
But for those of us who started at the very beginning, back when we were young and a SNES was cutting edge, we will always have our nostalgia to provide warmth when we boot up Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario or Donkey Kong. For many of us, those were the first games that we played and they influenced our pop culture tastes and desires for the rest of our lives. And Nintendo is well aware of that, which is why they released the SNES classic which comes preloaded with 21 classic games, games you probably loved to play when you were a child. There’s a reason the product is off the shelves before it has even been released: games were really good back then and they will forever shape nerd culture and the way we consume entertainment.
Outlander Season 3 premiered with lots of action and the birth of a character that viewers met during the finale of Season 2. Written by Ronald D. Moore, who developed Outlander for television and previously wrote for such science-fiction favourites as Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, “The Battle Joined” didn’t answer many questions about what direction the show will take, but it did show viewers Jamie’s return to Lallybroch and added some tantalizing layers to Frank and Claire’s often tense relationship.
Rather than recapping “The Battle Joined,” I’ll talk about my impressions of this episode and how things might unfold over the next eleven. So grab yer shield and sword, lads and lassies. It’s time fer battle, ye ken?!
“The Battle Joined” – The Never-ending Sword Fight
This episode bordered on poetic: the parallelism of Jamie’s meeting Black Jack Randall in combat at the Battle of Culloden while Claire struggles to reclaim her 20th century life with Frank worked to great effect. That both Jack and Frank are played by the talented Tobias Menzies made these parallel struggles plain enough for even the most casual of Outlander fans. Claire and Jamie may be separated by a couple centuries but their struggle is practically identical. Both must stave off their insatiable hunger for each other during their respective battles with Jack and Frank. But playing against expectations, although Frank is a decent man who loves Claire and Jack is a homicidal maniac, it might just be Claire who has the harder fight ahead of her.
In the 18th century, we see Jack and Jamie doing battle for what seems like hours: they grapple with and slice at each other long after the battle and its other combatants have died down. Having both scored crippling blows to each other early on in their combat, they eventually collapse on a heap of corpses in a macabre lovers’ embrace. But even though viewers last see Black Jack lying face down in a corpse pile after Rupert rescues a weakened but very much alive Jamie from the battlefield, one can’t help but wonder if the interminable psychopath will come sneering back into Jamie’s life at some future inopportune moment. Let’s hope!
“The Battle Joined” – Time to Buy A New Ashtray
Back in Boston in 1948, Claire has difficulty adjusting to modern life. The workings of her gas stove confound her and the prospects of her social life seem pretty grim. Her only companionship throughout the days promises to be limited to infrequent visits from a nosy neighbour who seems to loathe her own husband. And, trying to make an impression on the dean of Frank’s department at Harvard, Claire is reprimanded for reading The Boston Globe.
For his part, Frank is relatively patient with Claire as she adjusts to the chauvinistic customs of the ‘40s but Claire’s somewhat withdrawn habits and the couple’s complete lack of marital intimacy weighs heavily on Frank. A few ill-considered words about Claire’s 18th-century infidelity wins Frank nothing and terminates the functionality of a perfectly good ashtray when Claire hurls it at his face — luckily, he dodged it.
“The Battle Joined” – A New Beginning … ?
At least Claire didn’t travel to the 21st century. There’s no telling who she could’ve ended up with …
Viewers are treated to a faint ray of hope for Claire and Frank after giving birth to Brianna. Although Claire has to put up with a lot more chauvinism and a forced sedation from the doctor delivering her baby, Brianna is born healthy and the unfortunate couple has a rare moment of bliss. The two resolve to put aside their differences and begin again. But like many similar promises made by many couples throughout time, the saying is easier than the doing.
A nurse walks into the Randalls’ hospital room to ooh and ahh over the newborn. The proud parents, especially Frank, are happy to oblige but Frank’s happy countenance clouds over perceptibly when the nurse, admiring the happy brown-haired couple, asks where their daughter got her red hair from. Oops. Let’s just hope the Randalls have a lot of ashtrays.
All The Money In The World is something different from Ridley Scott, a true story about the famous J. Paul Getty grandson kidnapping case back in the early 70s. Scott is stepping away from swords, sandals, and aliens to head back into American Gangster territory.
Sounds like an awesome plan. Check out this trailer:
For anyone unfamiliar with the story, here’s an excerpt from Empire magazine about the back story after J. Paul Getty’s hard-partying teenage grandson is taken one night outside a nightclub:
Unfortunately for the younger Getty, his grandfather didn’t think much of his father or his party lifestyle, and, initially believing the teenager might have staged the whole thing himself, at first refused to pay. He was also unmoved by the pleas of Paul’s mother, as Gail Harris (Williams) had divorced his son and snubbed his money to raise her children alone. One of Paul’s ears was posted to the family, and eventually a $2.9 million sum was stumped up. It affected Paul for the rest of his life and he died aged 54. Nine of the kidnappers were arrested, and two were sent to prison.
Kevin Spacey looks wild as Getty. In there with Spacey is Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and young Charlie Plummer as the teen grandson, Getty III.
These are the Ridley Scott movies we need more of, as much as I unapologetically enjoyed Alien: Covenant.
Thank you for listening – hope you and your family are safe.
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Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
