Author: Eric Francisco

Eric is a graduate of Rutgers University and is working to become a filmmaker/producer, but he really just wants to be a Power Ranger. He likes his sugar with coffee and cream.

James Horner, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Star Trek II’ Film Composer, Dies in Plane Crash

by Eric Francisco

James Horner has tragically passed away. He was 61.

Reported on Monday by his assistant Sylvia Patrycja on Facebook, the Oscar-winning film composer was piloting a plane 60 miles north of Santa Barbara. The plane was reported down by police, but it was unknown what happened to its pilot until now. (Source.)

Not much is known beyond that, including what happened during his flight, but I personally think that stuff is irrelevant right now. We’ll know that when we’re told, let’s not speculate. We lost a great artist, and that’s what’s important.

To say James Horner had a stellar career is an understatement. In his short 61 years on Earth, Horner earned himself immortality by leaving his mark in the world of cinema. He scored countless of iconic movies we’ll remember until our civilization is dust.

You can scroll through the long list yourself, but some key works you’ll probably be most interested in include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Aliens, A Beautiful Mind, An American Tail (which he earned an Oscar nom for), Field of Dreams (another Oscar nomination), Apollo 13 (yet another Oscar nom), and Titanic (an Oscar WIN). His career certainly doesn’t end there, not when there are more Oscars to get nominated for, but to list them all would be a chore. The upcoming Southpaw will be his latest work.

James Horner was just one of the best. There is comparison, but that’s not the time or place for that now.

There’s one work in particular of his I’d like to highlight: Casper.

Let’s be clear: Casper is kind of a shitty movie. It’s sweet but tonally confusing, with numbingly slow pacing and flawed direction. But if there’s one saving grace, it’s James Horner’s score. Fusing together an ethereal, angelic mystique over a sleepy northeastern harbor town resulted in a beautiful, utterly haunting score that deserves both adjectives. Puns be damned. Most of the soundtrack takes on a whimsical flair — with some tweaking it could score a romantic comedy set in Manhattan — but Horner hits his stride on the Casper soundtrack with “Casper’s Lullaby.” I guarantee that if you play this song to anyone who had any kind of memory with Casper, this is the one that will trigger every sensation and memory.

I thought I’d share this one with you today. It may be tasteless, given that it’s a movie about ghosts and it plays at every scene that tugs so hard on your heartstrings it feels disingenuous, but I really think it’s one of Horner’s best and most under appreciated compositions. Whatever memories you attach to this or to any of Horner’s other work, I hope they are pleasant enough to make you smile when the day is difficult. And not to drag in the ugly outside world right now, but for many of us the very recent times have been testing our patience and tolerance. We still don’t know how to live with each other peacefully, but if art makes life worth living then I hope there’s some art in Horner’s work that inspires you to keep on going. This one is mine.

E3 2015: ‘Unchartered 4: A Thief’s End’ Wows Despite Minor Hiccup

by Eric Francisco

First, this is worth noting: This was the last thing Sony showed off at their E3 presentation, and for a hot second everyone believed it was going to be Kingdom Hearts. There was a minor deflation when it wasn’t, but expect Kingdom Hearts III during Square Enix’s presentation tomorrow.

Anyway. It’s widely known that E3 conference demos aren’t actually played live. Except for the very few times that they are.

This shouldn’t have been one of those times.

During Sony’s live demo of Unchartered 4: A Thief’s End, it began with Drake and Sully in a (Brazilian?) village. As Sully moves ahead, Drake… just stands there. For a solid thirty to forty-five seconds. While the crowd in front of him moved — quite naturally and gorgeously, I might add.

Expect this video to get taken down soon, so enjoy it while you can.

 

Since Twitter happens at the same speed The Flash runs, it instantly became a meme before Sony embarrassingly had to restart the whole demo in front of everyone.

But the game itself stunned everyone, with its gorgeous rendering, destructible environments, and beautiful presentation. It regained whatever minuscule coolness Sony lost in the thirty seconds of Unchartered 4: A Thief’s Paralysis.

These games are supposed to make you live out an adventure movie. In the eight minutes this demo lasts, it’s like watching a Hollywood blockbuster. Sold.

Obviously Unchartered 4 will be a PlayStation exclusive and will be released sometime in 2016.

If the above video is already taken down by Sony because it’s as embarrassing as an old high school graduation picture, you can watch the unglued-feet version below.

E3 2015: ‘Shenmue III’ Kickstarter is Already Halfway Funded

by Eric Francisco

Shenmue lives. I cried in front of my computer screen.

In one of the most stunning announcements at Sony’s E3 — an E3 that includes The Last Guardian and a remake of Final Fantasy VII — Yu Suzuki took to the stage of Sony’s conference to announce Shenmue III is in development!

With a Kickstarter.

The shock of legitimate evidence of Shenmue III presenting itself to my eyeballs is still clouding me, but there are some muddy ownership stuff going on here. Shenmue was originally released for the Sega Dreamcast and Shenmue II was released for the original Xbox (North America).

And here I thought Suzuki’s tweet from a few days ago was just a cruel tease.

I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, Shenmue III is fucking happening and the Kickstarter, live for maybe less than the runtime of all three Hobbit movies by now, is already more than halfway to its $2 million goal (there are 31 days total for the Kickstarter to run).

But Sony’s involvement confuses me. Did Sony buy the IP? Why let them announce a hotly-anticipated title has entered development with a Kickstarter, a plea to give us goddamn money, on an E3 stage if they didn’t have such exclusivity? Even if Shenmue III is funded with enough money to end poverty in a third-world nation, the game is still set to launch on the PlayStation 4 and the PC with zero mention of any other console, Xbox or otherwise, anywhere.

At this point I’ll take Shenmue III on a LeapFrog, but I would like to know exactly what happened between creator Yu Suzuki and any relationship he had, if at all, with the folks at Microsoft.

You Can Stop Hoping Now, ‘Constantine’ is Absolutely Dead

by Eric Francisco

When The CW head Mark Pedowitz waved off rumors about Constantine on his network with a really bizarre comment about the NBA or something, I considered the show was finished. No one is dumb enough to build buzz for a hot property on their network with a confusing metaphor. I went on my mourning period before I enjoyed the rest of this current TV golden age. I think this was around the time Daredevil premiered.

But some held on hope. Sadly, those who did can now exert their energy elsewhere: Constantine is totally, 100% finished. No Netflix. No CW. No whatever thing Big Lots has. Executive producer Daniel Cerone confirmed that much today in a genuinely moving, heartfelt letter:

His letter is reproduced below. From Daniel Cerone:

I promised I’d share news when I had it — sadly, that news is not good. The cast and writers of Constantine are being released from their contracts. The studio tried to find a new home for the show, for which we’re forever grateful, but those efforts didn’t pan out. I’m sorry, I wasn’t provided any information on the attempts to sell the show elsewhere. All I can report is that the show is over.

 

Many ingredients went into this TV series. From the dedicated cast that breathed these characters to life, led by Matt Ryan as the comic-made-flesh embodiment of John Constantine, to the exceptionality talented crew that put unreal images on screen, to the original Hellblazer writers and artists who gifted us a universe.
As a general principle, writers don’t choose a writing career to achieve stardom. Whatever demons or insecurities drove them to find freedom of expression through written words generally keeps writers comfortably obscure behind their words. Nor do people choose writing as a means to financial freedom. I’d venture to guess that most who set out to write professionally never receive a paycheck for their hopeful scribbles or key strokes.

 

In fact, nobody I know ever chose a writing career — it chose them. You write because that’s what you do. Like breathing, it just happens and you have to do it and you just hope that someday somebody out there notices what you’re trying to say.

 

If that’s the dream of writers, than [sic] the writers of Constantine lived the dream, because we’re leaving behind wild and passionate fans who believe in and were moved by what we tried to do. To leave such a significant, dedicated and active fan base on the table — that’s the real sadness. You all deserve many years of the series we set out to make, and we’re disappointed that we couldn’t deliver that to you. The good news is that Constantine will live on for years in many more forms. But our time as caretakers has ended.

 

Thanks for letting us in.

 

Daniel Cerone

What hurts more than the confirmation of the series’ end, is how right Cerone is. First, about writing: This job kind of sucks. Whether it’s journalism or fiction and entertainment writing, it kind of sucks. The benefits are great: you meet amazing people, you travel, and it’s absolutely rewarding whenever people tell you they read your stuff. The whole reason to write is for people to read it, so when people actually do it’s wonderful. And when they tell you, you feel like you’re qualified for a Nobel Prize. Never mind that all you’ve really done is write a funny joke about the Hulk’s schlong or something.

But writers aren’t sexy. Not in the way athletes, models, or rockstars are. Writers aren’t granted VIP access to clubs. Writers aren’t given free swag. Books signed by incredibly significant writers who have passed on are easier to buy than something Kanye West scribbled on with a Sharpie. We can hate this broken celebrity culture all we want, but we need to accept it if we want to maintain sanity. (Not that any writer is sane anyway.)

Secondly, Cerone is right: Constantine may not have more episodes, but it still exists. Maybe at some point NBC or the studio can release the show on home media and fans can enjoy it whenever they want. Firefly had nearly the same amount of episodes but that show has never felt like it’s gone away. While Constantine may never get Hellblazer: The Movie three years from now, they can still enjoy what was made, appreciate it, and move on to whenever the next reinterpretation of this character happens. Because this show seriously demonstrated that a non-superhero series can work, it just didn’t work the way anyone hoped.

I have faith we haven’t seen the last of John Constantine and his world. Maybe now just isn’t the right time.

You Guys, Patrick Stewart Snorts Coke in ‘Blunt Talk’ Featurette

by Eric Francisco

 

I can’t embed Facebook videos so this YouTube video from what I think is ScreenRant’s channel will have to do. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the characters of the upcoming Blunt Talk, a new comedy series on Starz starring the one and only Patrick Stewart.

As a pop culture journalist it’s my job to stay ahead of trends and shows as much as possible. So it’s embarrassing I let something like this slide right under me. The teaser featuring Stewart in his coke-snorting glory has been up for two months, but this featurette has been up for a little over an hour on Stewart’s Facebook page. So I’m seizing the opportunity.

It should be noted that yes, Sir Patrick Stewart is a renowned actor with a range as wide as… something wide. (Your mom.) So his comedic talents as a vice-indulging cable journalist shouldn’t be surprising, but come on. Admit it. It’s totally surprising. And it’s wonderful that he can do it so well.

James Wan is Going to Rock on ‘Aquaman’ and ‘Robotech’

by Eric Francisco

James Wan has been given Aquaman and Robotech. Oh boy.

Could James Wan actually change what we think about big genre movies? Maybe, maybe not. But he might change how we think about Aquaman and giant robots in pop culture.

Before Mad Max introduced the world to wild stunts on cars and badass women, Furious 7 showed the world wild stunts on cars and badass women. James Wan’s direction of the film elevated what would have been another typical Hollywood movie into a master class in precise, action filmmaking. It was a boy genius being given a fully-equipped lab to go nuts.

This is what makes James Wan an excellent choice to helm these projects. For starters, I’m already stoked about Aquaman because the casting directors made the smartest move in the history of comic book casting: Jason Mamoa. Besides being an actual savage, Mamoa is a proud Pacific Islander. What other cultures are so attached to the ocean than they? This is why people made fun of Aquaman: He looked like a rich preppy guy from Connecticut that had one trip to the Caribbean and suddenly thinks he’s cultured. Tapping into the Greek roots of Atlantis just couldn’t work in the modern eye.

But Wan had nothing to do with that. It’s just one reason to pay attention to Aquaman, because let’s acknowledge it: It’s the toughest superhero movie Warner Bros. has to make. Aquaman has had the worst PR team while somehow a psychopath in a bat costume is world-renowned. But under Wan’s eye, Aquaman might single-handedly change the paradigm.

Just try to imagine what an ocean dweller who could summon sharks and whales could look like if it was directed like this:

I’m glad Warner Bros. acknowledges this, and they’ve made two of the smartest decisions they could ever make. While the Justice League movie is awkwardly coming together, at least there’s Aquaman to look forward to.

Then there’s Robotech.

There’s the obvious out of the way: It’s vehicular warfare. Recruiting a director who just sold the world on cars going boom is a no-brainer.

But remember, this isn’t just any director of the Fast series. It’s Wan. This is the guy who masterfully showed off a car jumping in between Abu Dhabi. If Wan can bring that sensibility into a scale as big as Robotech, it could actually change what we think about giant robot movies. I’m sick of people always bringing up Transformers as you are — it’s because of that narrative that people domestically didn’t really dig the modern masterpiece Pacific Rim.

Not to ride Wan’s dick too much, but I’m a legitimate fan of his vision and his helming over Aquaman and Robotech could be actual paradigm shifters in pop culture. We may no longer scoff at Aquaman or think giant robots are dumb movies.

We might actually think they’re pretty cool.

Geekscape’s Book Report: BookCon 2015!

by Eric Francisco

This weekend was the second BookCon in New York City, and probably the last one for now. The convention just announced a few hours ago it will be moving to Chicago in May 2016. That’s one less convention I’ll be at in the Javits Center.

Like Comic-Con, BookCon is a celebration — a slightly controversial one, but still a gathering place for fandom to gush about stuff.

Unlike Comic-Con, it’s quiet.

https://instagram.com/p/3aGfhkgNxd/?taken-by=ericthedragon

The largest difference of course is BookCon’s attention towards books. That includes all kinds of books: literature, young adult, cooking, comic books, autobiographies, memoirs, how-tos, parenting, all books! And that’s great, and makes me wonder why something like BookCon didn’t take off sooner. Books formed the first fandoms after all.

But because of that, there’s a notable — and refreshing — exclusion of “everything else” that Comic-Con has come to include. Video games, movies, TV, they were next to absent. There was maybe one movie that was being promoted the whole time. Any TV guest, like Aziz Ansari, Khloe Kardashian, and Mindy Kaling, were actually there to promote books.

And as much as I love cosplay, you can always expect foot traffic to slow down because someone is a god damn t-rex or Transformer. Almost everyone attended in casual, normal attire.

Maybe there’s just something in its nature, but New York Comic-Con can be best described as overwhelming. There’s just so much going on at once, it can be hard to do something as simple as talk to somebody. There’s always music, some douchebag on a microphone, live game demos with surround sound, screaming and yelling and lights and colors and sound and more sound. It’s an ADD nightmare.

BookCon was exactly the opposite. Books are a naturally quiet activity unlike video games, but there were no d-bags on a microphone telling people to tweet with a hashtag, no booming music, nothing. Just publishers with nice displays and authors with tables with copies of books ready to sign. It’s easy. There’s room to walk. Room to breathe. I could do a jumping roundhouse kick and not hit anybody.

https://instagram.com/p/3aF7RWgNwj/?taken-by=ericthedragon

I didn’t think much about how different of a breed book nerds are versus the typical, mainstream image we know today. I was accompanied by friends who have been to Comic-Con or are regulars, but they too noted how easy BookCon felt.

New York Comic-Con raised some ire this year due to complications with their ticket registration. BookCon — simply because there’s less people — was about as simple as it can be. I waltzed right into the Javits Center, walked up to press, and was on the floor in seconds.

https://instagram.com/p/3aGoO-ANxt/?taken-by=ericthedragon

That’s not to say BookCon isn’t hassle-free. The largely volunteer staff is still uninformed of important, basic questions, like “Where can I go for ___?” I noticed a lot of people getting frustrated at autograph panels simply due to logistical cross overs.

But it wasn’t bad. If you’re used to the pandemonium that is Comic-Con, BookCon was a breeze. But since BookCon is attracting a generally non-Comic-Con crowd, those guys might be in for a rude awakening.

But it’s important to remember that BookCon is still a convention. It’s laid out exactly like you come to expect Comic-Con to be: There are the big publishers, like Macmillan and Penguin, and some offer free books if you sign up for newsletters, or just for shits and giggles. The smaller publishers are off to the side, and the self-publishers have their own tables. There were some comic book publishers there, and there was a significant Marvel presence, but nothing on the scale they would be at for Comic-Con. IDW was there. DC wasn’t.

https://instagram.com/p/3UjJmIAN89/?taken-by=ericthedragon

I didn’t meet a lot of the celebrity guests in attendance, nor did I attend any of the panels. I only had one day and I had meetings with publishers and friends, couldn’t spend a lot of time to sit and listen. But I did notice a few things: For one thing, one of their main panel rooms was right on the floor, something New York Comic-Con had to ditch entirely. If you remember the 2011 NYCC when the cast of The Avengers were there, it was like that but with, again, less people. It could seat maybe fifty people max. And despite the generally chill atmosphere of BookCon, it was still difficult to clearly hear the panel (in the five or so minutes I hung around it).

I didn’t bother with panels for guys like Nick Offerman or Mindy Kaling. I had friends who attended and had fun, but I wanted to see the convention and their wait times were too long.

There’s really not a whole lot else about BookCon I can say except that it was a wonderful, fun convention that produces less stress and feels far less overwhelming than any Comic-Con I’ve been to. Even the smaller, lesser-known conventions I’ve been to had more foot traffic and business than BookCon, and the whole thing was honestly refreshing.

The Internet got a little mad at Simon Pegg awhile back when he lamented how “geek culture” is making us a little childish. Perhaps he didn’t word it right, but there’s merit to his words. BookCon was a nice palette cleanser to the exhausting, commercializing, totally bombastic geekiness that has surrounded us. Yes, I love comic books, and yes, book nerds are still nerds. I have no doubt anyone who was at this con wouldn’t be willing to talk about X-Men or Doctor Who or Mass Effect.

It was just nice to be in a place where it wasn’t expected for once.

https://instagram.com/p/3VOKvpgN83/?taken-by=ericthedragon

Geekscape Interviews: Orlando Jones Recreates History, Talks ‘High School 51’ on Machinima

by Eric Francisco

Almost a month ago at the Machinima upfronts in New York City, I sat in a swanky, modern backroom of a swanky, modern bar with Orlando Jones.

Two glasses of Jack and Coke sat in my stomach while finger foods I pigged on began to break down internally. I’m not Hunter S. Thompson, so I’ll never recklessly intoxicate myself before I do my job. But between the booming club music outside and Orlando Jones’ incredibly friendly, laid-back demeanor, I didn’t even think I was working at all.

We were supposed to talk about High School 51, but can we just talk about superheroes and 7-Up commercials?

“What superhero movies would you want to do?” I asked him. “Speaking as a fan.”

He pauses for a minute. “I wanna do X-Men.”

“You wanna do X-Men?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he confirms. “And I want to redo Blade. Even though I know Wesley and love him.” Then Jones tells me his final wish: “Black Lightning.”

As tempting as it was to ask him about his voice over work in Halo, I chose to focus the rest of the interview on his life after Sleepy Hollow and the exciting new projects he has coming up, as well as the overall state of geek culture. I couldn’t quite shake off the man who told me to “Make 7-Up Yours” when I was an impressionable 8 year-old, but just talking to the passionate man that sat next to me made me put carbonated soft drinks going up my rectum to the back of my head.

This actually wasn’t the first time I interviewed Jones. Back in October I spoke to him at the press rounds of New York Comic-Con when he promoted Sleepy Hollow. Months later he recognizes me here at Machinima, somehow. Does this make us best friends? It does, right? I’m going with “does.”

A half hour prior, Jones was on stage to announce a partnership with franchise producer Roberto Orci (who was not in attendance) a new project set to be distributed on Machinima in the coming year: High School 51. Described as a sci-fi teen drama, the series follows a normal teenager transferred to a high school populated by aliens who live among us.

I shouldn’t be surprised it was a Roberto Orci project, given his noted penchant for conspiracy theories. But Orlando Jones? I wanted to know everything about it. So I asked.

https://instagram.com/p/2R4e30AN8p/?taken-by=ericthedragon

Before we get into the big news about High School 51, I want to talk about Sleepy Hollow. I actually had no idea you were leaving until you said it on the Machinima stage. What can you tell me about leaving and your overall experience on the show?

Orlando: I had such an incredible time on the show. Amazing show, amazing cast, amazing producers, and it was one of the greatest times I ever had working on any show. And [High School 51] this was an opportunity to work with one of the same people who put me on the show, Roberto Orci, and work as a writer and producer and sort of create a new world. I think Cliff Cash is gonna kill it on Sleepy Hollow. I think they’re gonna have an awesome season, and I’m excited to work with Bob on something fresh and new. So for me, it’s all good news. I have no shade in my heart, it’s really been a great experience.

High School 51 is of course your newest project. What can you tell me about your particular involvement?

Orlando: I’m obviously one of the writer/producers. I’m not one of the co-creators, other guys and I sort of fell in love with it.

I would describe the world to you like this: We keep hearing about Area 51, we keep hearing there were aliens there, since the ’40s. But we never think about [things like], well, do they procreate? Did they give us technology we never had access to? Do some of them want to go home? Do some want to get rid of us? And what that ecosystem looks like if you have children. And when you’re trying to contain that level of secrets, that kind of information, over that period of time. It just seemed like a crazy world that was sort of untapped.

I always joked that Hollywood is like high school with money, and Washington is like high school with power. [laughs]

That’s an amazing way to put that!

Orlando: So [High School 51] is like high school that has both of those things at their disposal. Who do you trust in a world like that?

During their presentation, Machinima touted that they cross so many different genres, from comedy to horror. High School 51 sounds like a teen drama mixed with science-fiction. Can we expect both or one lead towards the other?

Orlando: I think it will lean in both directions. I think it’s really about building a credible world, and building stakes and elements that make sense in real world terms. So, in my mind, I think we would expect it to be the same way Sleepy Hollow was very much like. It was biblical, it had a little history in it, a comedy, it had suspense, it had this whole mythology. I think we’re definitely looking to build a world that is equal parts of all things as are required in the real world. And I think that means it will be a mish-mosh, but hopefully a crazy, suspenseful ride.

From Sleepy Hollow to Area 51, you seem attracted to projects that take history and play with it. What do you find fulfilling about playing with history?

Orlando: People of color are often not represented at all. And when they are represented, it’s in a way that sort of denies them any acknowledgment of the culture they’re a part of. I really like the idea of being able to tell a story and integrate those elements organically into the story, and I really like exploding tropes. Things that I feel like we’ve seen a thousand times — a damsel in distress for the female character, the Asian guy is always the smart guy, or the badass, those sort of elements that are like, really?

I’m tired of that too.

Orlando: Yeah! It’s like at a certain point you go, “There’s more to that community and culture, and it’s not even based on the real tenets of what that culture is all about. So the idea to tell stories and incorporate these different people in different ways so everyone is represented, and it’s still a story of science-fiction and espionage! [laughs]

All the fun stuff!

Orlando: Yeah, all the fun stuff! And it’s not necessarily about their culture per se, but also they’re not indivisible in the world. And that was exciting about Sleepy Hollow, getting to work with John Cho, and Tom Mison who’s English, and Nicole Beharie, Lyndie Greenwood, and John Noble, and myself, and Amanda Stenberg, Jill Marie Jones… It was such a multi-cultural show. I think it was the most multi-cultural show in history.

I spoke to you about that at New York Comic-Con. As a person of color, it means a lot to see people just be people.

Orlando: Exactly! To continue down that road, to me, is what attracts me to these things. I often like to do it in a place that’s sort of wilder and supernatural that gives me more room because I don’t want to tell — no shade on Gran Torino, but that’s not a story I want to tell. I want to tell a story that puts that kid in a different universe and allows us to talk about other things.

I assume that kind of parable will be in High School 51?

Orlando: Often. Yes. I think lone human, but you’re also looking at different species within the alien world as well. So it’s not just aliens and humans, it’s different people and I’m sure there are cases where people whose allegiances are to both because their parents are both. The idea to me is to build a world that has all the intricacies in it where there isn’t anything that is black and white. It’s got a lot of gray.

Speaking of these species, you have to build entire alien races and societies from the ground up. Was that exhausting at all? 

Orlando: [laughs] It can be. But I think rather than species, we thought of it as character. And then we chose to make those characters be different species. Some of them have the ability to be multiple. It was really just focusing about the characters and how they fit into that world.

Cinematically speaking, because we only saw glimpses of the series, what can we expect High School 51 to look like? Are we talking teen drama on a network, or a docu-reality kind of deal?

Orlando: I don’t think a teen drama [like on a network] is an exact match to Machinima’s core audience. I think you can expect something more in keeping with superhero/espionage-like. One of the ways you do this type of show and one of the ways we’re looking at is putting fans in the show. We’ll make an announcement in the next couple of weeks, “xxArray,” which is a machine that will allow us to put fans in the show, in 3D reality.

Really?

Orlando: We basically create a photo-real version of you and we put you in the show. But [it’s] just another way again to look at fan interaction and storytelling that isn’t about just telling a linear story. It’s about trying to create an engagement, and a nuance that often doesn’t exist.

Why do you think this kind of engagement is so — it’s obvious why it’s popular, but why is it just now catching on?

Orlando: I think it’s always been there, it’s just Hollywood is now interested because they’re trying to monetize it. I get it, that’s the kind of business they’re in. But what’s most exciting to me is about, I’ve met people in fandom who I’m not friends with. To me it’s the communication, the engagement. If we’re being honest, there are two kinds of communication in history: one to one, one to many. Twitter is many to many communication. That’s an exciting new form of communication that hasn’t happened existed in any part of human history, and it’s a fourth grader. It’s nine years old. No one knows where it’s going. So, the idea that we can connect and be doing theatre on our phone is shocking. It’s incredible.

That has actually happened, people have done Shakespeare on Twitter.

Orlando: Exactly. So to me, connecting to some kid in Germany is like, insane. And realizing he’s a fan of this and I’m a fan of this, and she’s a fan of that, and now you’ve made a connection for the rest of your life.

Machinima touted their millennial audience onstage and High School 51 is in some way giving them a fictional story about them. What do you think of the show — different from the rest of Machinima’s lineup — going after them directly? 

Orlando: To me, you tell a compelling story. Game of Thrones is not trying to appeal to millennials. They’re just telling a really badass, kick-ass story that people want to engage in and people want to see. Our job is to tell a really badass, kickass story. That’s not [in anyway] demo-stereotyping … so I don’t really see it that way. I see it as, “Here’s an interesting story world, here are some interesting characters, let’s tell the most compelling story we can.”

About that story. We don’t know too much about the meat of High School 51‘s story. What can you tell me about the central character and his journey that we’re in for?

Orlando: The most about his journey that I can tell you right now is that his life gets sort of uprooted, he finds himself in a place where he’s a lone species in an ecosystem of various types of species. He’s lived in a world where he’s been the majority, [and now] he’s entering a world where he’s the minority. And he’ll have to make the adjustments that go along with that. I think the problem is, how did he get there? And what role does everyone who put him there play?

What’s the most exciting thing about this particular project that is getting you amped?

Orlando: I get to tell stories for a living, and the opportunity to put those stories in front of people is a really difficult thing, particularly with a machine  like Machinima pumping it out and pushing it out. These opportunities don’t come that often, there’s a long arduous process to get to the point where you’re launching your new show with a network or studio.

So for me, when I get to this point and I’m not excited then I don’t want to do the show. That’s like showing up to the Super Bowl and you don’t want to play. [laughs] I’m hyped because this is the game, this is a big opportunity to work on a really big platform with a huge audience and turn out some content that doesn’t look like anything else out there. If that doesn’t excite you as a performer or a storyteller, then you dead. [laughs]

And Orlando Jones is alive.

Orlando: Exactly, I’m super alive, and I’m super excited.

We’re talking about audiences and geek culture on the rise, that’s why Machinima is doing what they’re doing. As someone who has seen this culture rise, what do you think of it in its current state now?

Orlando: It’s always going to be messy. It’s no different than sports culture. Sports culture is messy, there’s a lot of voices, there’s always yelling. There’s a lot of passion. Guys get dressed in green and yellow paint, thirty below zero and yell for their Green Bay Packers. What I want to see is fan culture no longer ostracized for their passion. Because we don’t ostracize sports culture for its passion. We don’t treat them as weird for dressing up like wild people because they love their team.

So cosplay should be totally normal, and geek culture and fan culture should be totally normal. I hate the fact that that happens to people, and I think it’s disgusting. I’m a proud member of this culture, I’ve been doing crazy shit since I was a kid. For me, I had the hurtful things said, I know what that feels like. So an opportunity for this culture to explode and really take ownership of what it is, because these are the people that love entertainment. These are the hardcore storytelling fans, and I have been one of these fans my entire life.

As one of those fans, what are you most excited about? Besides High School 51, of course.

Orlando: I’m so excited about Tainted Love, the next iteration of that we’re doing. I’m excited about the Ted Patrick story, that we’re getting ready to do about the father of cult deprogramming. Crazy, crazy, amazing story. Google Ted Patrick, you’ll see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJ0oLahGDg

 

I’m excited about the show I’m about to do on the History Channel where I ask the crazy questions nobody wants to ask about crazy points in history. So I’ll give you an example: Richmond, Virginia. 1849. Guy puts himself in a box, ships himself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pays $89 to do it. The company, Addams Express Company. First FedEx of this country in 1849. This guy comes out of the box and he is free. He is in the box for 27 hours, if he makes a noise, they kill him. All he has is a beef bladder. He travels New Zealand, Australia, and the UK telling his story being shipped to freedom.

I went to Richmond, Virginia. I asked somebody to put me in a box, and I shipped myself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You already did that?

Orlando: I did that.

What was that like?

Orlando: It was crazy. I’ll be releasing the show I’m doing with History about it in the next couple of weeks where I’ll be able to get into a bit more detail. But I’m excited, and I’m going to do a big special. I recreate the shit you’ve never heard of where somebody back then did something crazy and I just go into it. A guy says to me when I ask him about Henry Brown, “Henry Brown was a very successful slave.” And I ask him, “How do you become a successful slave?!” [laughs] So the question is, how do you become a successful slave? The answer, Henry Brown. That’s how you become a “successful slave.”

I’m still trying to wrap my head around you being in a box.

Orlando: Six and a half hours I was in this box. They had a camera on me. I had to use three modes of transportation just like he did. So I get on a train, then I get on a boat, and then I get on a pickup truck.

And you mimic the same time that he was in that box?

Orlando: I did it shorter than him because transportation was different. He had a train, a steamboat, and a horse and carriage. It was 1849, there was no Uber then. [laughs] So yeah, it took him 27 hours, it took me six and a half.

High School 51 is set to premiere on Machinima later this year.

BookCon Moving to Chicago in 2016

by Eric Francisco

This weekend’s BookCon is winding down, but already they’ve announced some big news. Next year, the convention will be moving from New York City to Chicago, and for what appears to be one day only.

https://instagram.com/p/3XGabqSqO5/?taken-by=thebookcon

Some people are naturally expressing disappointment, but I think a change of scenery could do some good. It’s nice to know that fan enthusiasm can be applied anywhere, beyond comic books and movies.

When I told people I was going “to a BookCon,” I had to tell them it’s basically Comic-Con but, you know, not. This is how we break stereotypes, people. By expanding.

My full post-con report from this past BookCon is coming shortly, and I had a blast. It’s a different atmosphere than Comic-Con. It’s far more relaxed and low-key, but the enthusiasm is the same and you meet the same kind of people. They’re just not in Doctor Who cosplay.

Did you go to BookCon this weekend too? Or are you in Chicago and marking the date on your calendar? Let us know.

Tom Hardy Gives Awesome Answer to Dumb ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Question

by Eric Francisco

Mad Max: Fury Road is now everybody’s favorite action movie of the summer even though it’s not even June. Much ado has been made of its uniquely pro-women story and acclaimed female characters, but that hasn’t stopped dumb people from wondering where all the men are.

During this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Tom Hardy was asked by a journalist if he wondered why there were so many women “in a man’s movie.” Watch here at the 9:45 mark.

The Cannes Film Festival ended a few weeks back but this video is now gaining traction.

I genuinely wonder where these people are coming from. We’re at a point when geek culture is finally being more inclusionary, yet there’s pushback to keep this stuff for dudes-only. Maybe the “journalist” didn’t have ill-intentions and really wondered what the film’s star thought about the film’s characters, but what a shitty way to word it.

Danny Trejo Looks Like a BAMF in ‘From Dusk ‘Till Dawn’ Season Two Preview

by Eric Francisco

From Dusk ‘Till Dawn: The Series returns later this summer in an all new season, and making his debut as a new character is From Dusk ‘Till Dawn movie alum Danny Trejo as the goofy-looking-but-I-still-wouldn’t-mess-with-him, The Regulator.

The Regulator is a new character, and the press release describes him as an “agent of evil” in the middle of a “deadly errand.” Most of my errands are boring. I think I’ll take boring over deadly. Better for my conscience.

From the press release:

El Rey Network and Miramax released a first-look image of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series featuring Danny Trejo (Machete, Machete Kills) in his new role as”The Regulator,” a horrifying agent of evil who is summoned to perform a deadly errand. Trejo appeared in the From Dusk Till Dawn film franchise as “Razor Charlie.”  Currently in production on its sophomore season, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series is slated to return late Summer 2015.

Excited? Of course you are, and tell us your favorite Danny Trejo role in the comments. (Who are we kidding, it’s Machete.)

Watch Alison Haislip Get Fired Up in “Right Now” Music Video From Never Let This Go!

by Eric Francisco

I had the biggest crush on Alison Haislip when she was on G4TV. She was probably the most fun, and the only one who I conceivably believed was actually passionate about the things she talked about. Gamers and viewers thought G4TV lacked cred, but right there on Attack of the Show! was someone who legit had it and they blew it by not using her nearly enough.

Despite the fact that I have never met her before, I’m still jealous of Banks Boutte (Match) who gets to fall in love with her in the brand new, super-powered music video “Right Now” from Never Let This Go.

You lucky bastard!

It’s a cute video with a superhero/X-Men slant, which explains why it has been uploaded on Stan Lee’s World of Heroes YouTube network. I like to think Stan Lee is secretly super into indie/pop punk and has been to Warped Tour once or twice.

I’ll think about Stan Lee crowd surfing as I add this song to my jogging playlist.

‘Supergirl’ Preview: It Look Like a Superhero Rom-Com Done Amazingly Well

by Eric Francisco

Right away, I ask that you forgive me for describing Supergirl, the first major superhero TV starring a woman show since — well, a long time, as a “romantic comedy.” It may come off as sexist and I apologize for it, but believe me when I say that as a legitimate compliment in regards to its cinematic styling as well as its premise. A 20-something quirky girl working for a ruthless woman in a trendy city office? That’s straight-up The Devil Wears Prada.

But where My Superhero Ex-Girlfriend failed, Supergirl does right and I’m SO EXCITED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=23&v=Lm46-envrHo

It’s reminding me of The Flash by just how much fun the show seems to be. It’s like someone went to the set of Arrow and slapped a few smiley face bumper stickers.

Forgetting the troubling closet lesbian line, Supergirl looks like a genuinely cheerful series that the modern, Hollywood Superman seems to be ashamed of being. I’m also torn if I want this series to cross over with the Arrow universe. Supergirl deserves to stand on her own in her own right, but how fucking awesome would it be to see Oliver Queen and Barry looking up at a soaring Kara? And John Constantine in the corner smoking? Can this please happen?

Allow me to still be amazed at the wonders we’re reaping from the mainstreaming of geek culture. We’re getting a fucking incedible-looking Supergirl series aimed for everybody, but with a clear intention at attracting women — all women, both geeks and non-geeks in mind. My sister is absolutely disinterested in superheroes, and Supergirl looks like something we’re going to be watching over the phone together like we do with Scandal.

The geeks have inherited the Earth. We’ve won.

The ‘Crimson Peak’ Trailer is Beautifully Bone-Chilling

by Eric Francisco

I think we’re on the brink of another horror film renaissance. After the genre was largely declared dead during the mid-2000’s, a string of genuinely terrifying modern masterpieces have become more commonplace. From mainstream fare like Insidious, The Conjuring to indie hits like The Babadook and It Follows, and even underappreciated gems like As Above/So Below have proven that horror is back.

While Guillermo del Toro hasn’t necessarily made true horror since arguably The Devil’s Backbone, he’s still a master of the macabre and his newest film Crimson Peak appears to be a return to his roots.

Yes ladies and gentleman, that’s Tom Hiddelston. This movie is partially responsible for his unavailability for Age of Ultron, and frankly I think it seems worth it.

As a massive fan of del Toro, I really cannot wait for this movie.

 

‘The Muppets’ Return to ABC With a Wonderful Trailer

by Eric Francisco

Anything great about Jim Henson’s creations have already been said, especially with the incredible The Muppets film from 2011. But now the gang is returning to television with a brand new series coming this fall to ABC, along with a trailer you’ll have on repeat until the premiere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfJkusicBa4

I admit I didn’t keep up on the developments of this show, but did they change Kermit’s voice? It doesn’t sound like Steve Whitmire.

The iconic The Muppet Show was always a show about putting on a variety show, but the visual language in TV has evolved since the Muppets were last on air. The faux-documentary style of The Office and Parks & Recreation are the new norm in serial comedy, and it’s clear that The Muppets, in using this language, are aiming for an older audience. It looks almost like Modern Family.

I’m not sure how much of that is a good or bad thing, and kids can and totally will watch this show. But barely a minute into this trailer and already they’ve made jokes about having sex with a sock puppet that looks like a bear.

I know it’s bad to admit this, but I’m excited. They poke fun at the documentary style in the cheapest way and actually saying you’re aiming for adults is a little off-putting, but that it’s all coming from the flapping mouths of sock puppets makes me smile. It may feel like your grandpa is making internet memes, but he spent a lot of time researching this stuff just to make you laugh and like him. There’s a charm to this show, no matter how much posturing it might come off as. I do hope this show will ensure these characters will stay fresh for the generations to come, and not become dated relics that even our parents find corny.

Are you excited for The Muppets too? Tell us in the comments below.

Kevin Smith’s ‘Mallrats’ Sequel Has a Title

by Eric Francisco

Regardless of his actual filmmaking skill in his later years, I remain loyal to Kevin Smith. He lived out his wildest dreams with nothing but a couple cameras and maxed out credit cards. He was my age when he made Clerks. If that isn’t inspiring to young filmmakers, I don’t know what is.

Still, I have to bring up when the emperor isn’t wearing clothes. One of his naked moments, of which there are many: returning to Mallrats, and the sequel has a new title. Enter Mallbrats.

https://instagram.com/p/2i4qLQxy4R/?taken-by=thatkevinsmith

The reason I feel hesitant about seeing a Mallrats sequel? Because there’s no such thing as a mallrat anymore.

Mallrats lived in the ’90s and died in the mid-aughts. They were born as grungy, flannel-wearing outcasts that evolved into scene kids who rocked to Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy in their iPods. Scene kids grew up and graduated community college years ago, and their successors are teens too busy making dumb Vines.

And teens are making Vines because malls have undergone a gentrification not seen since Brooklyn, thus exiling teenagers. Menlo Mall, my hometown mall (that was even mentioned by Jason Lee in the original Mallrats) morphed from a typical, suburban mall to an upscale shopping center with stores like Banana Republic and J. Crew, stuff no teen on an after-school paycheck can afford.

During my teen years, Menlo had this gathering place between the arcade and the movie theater. It was like the Babylon 5 station but with way more weed and drugs trafficked by high schoolers. Everyone hung out at that spot on Friday and Saturday nights, a time you could see your crush from algebra mingle with your friend from middle school who you drifted away from after graduation. It was a society straight out of a sci-fi, but also naive and juvenile. It was ours.

In my freshman year of college the arcade was torn down and the theatre upgraded to a dine-in (read: more expensive) joint, and the teens disappeared. The few times I’ve walked by since, it’s become an empty lot. The citadel has been reduced to a way station, now sparsely populated by families and adults on awkward group dates. The ghosts of my teen years haunt that spot, and it’s bittersweet.

Not every mall is the same and I’m sure there are leftover mallrats who still walk among the tombstones, but the mallrat archetype is gone. I’ve actually asked teens and people younger than me if they had ever heard of the term, and they haven’t.

None of this would be a big deal but despite having his own teenage daughter to learn from, Smith failed to make an impression with millennials and Gen Z’ers. Mallrats, along with the rest of his early filmography, expertly captured Gen X at their youthful apex. Using his films and podcasts as a measuring stick, it is easy to see that Smith aged; he hasn’t grown.

But I’m not going to be a hater either. If I were a betting man, I’d wager this to be the theme of Mallbrats: aged youth. There is a whole generation who thinks young, but upon looking in the mirror they see aged skin and hair they never thought would season. That’s been a big theme in some of Kevin Smith’s work — particularly Clerks II — and despite my hesitance of Mallbrats, it’s a story I’m very much looking forward to see as I approach a quarter-life crisis.

NBC Cancels ‘Constantine,’ For Real This Time

by Eric Francisco

Hard as they tried, fans couldn’t save the Hellblazer. NBC has passed on a season two of Constantine.

But true to the character of John Constantine, that clever bastard, hope still isn’t lost. The producers are working to find a new home for the series.

In this current golden age of television, an option like a move to cable TV or subscription streaming like Netflix or Hulu just doesn’t seem like that big of a leap anymore. With a rabid fanbase, no show ever completely dies. One need only look at Arrested Development.

Purely guessing from my point of view, I see a pickup by Netflix (or someone else) totally within the realm of possibility. And I hope they do: as much as I loved the show, Constantine just couldn’t live up to its potential on broadcast television. I hope the show finds a home with a big audience and little adherence to broadcast standards, and that they find it soon.

DC Comics, RoboCop, Clive Barker and More Coming to Machinima

by Eric Francisco

I grew up in high school watching Machinima. Not just actual short movies made from game movies — the genre known as “machinima” — but the actual brand. I spent entire summer afternoons watching Red vs. Blue like any respectable teenager growing up in the mid-aughts, and Arby ‘n the Chief which was nothing more than a dude playing with Halo figures and making them talk with automated voices. I didn’t have a lot of sex in high school, clearly.

With the massive growth in streaming games and free-to-play MMO tournaments and gamer/geek culture as a whole, I shouldn’t be shocked at how much of a viable brand Machinima has actually become. Yet, I totally am.

Yesterday I attended their upfronts in midtown Manhattan. The booming music, the attractive part-time models serving finger foods, the open bar and the attendance of men and women who looked like they leaped off the pages of GQ and Details legitimately astounded me. It was a complete 180 from what I imagined the collective brand to actually be when I spent those lazy, adolescent days of mine on YouTube. I thought Machinima was just a really professional group of guys operating in a basement, with someone’s mom cooking spaghetti in the kitchen above. I couldn’t be more wrong.

Machinima is still barely second, maybe even third or fourth fiddle to the bigger online networks like Netflix or Hulu, but they have a targeted audience that neither of those major players have: the younger, gamer-centric millenial. While Netflix and Hulu attract a wider range demographic, Machinima are zeroed in on the gaming 16-25 year olds. There’s actually a small overlap with Generation Z, who are just now getting their first jobs at Dairy Queens everywhere.

Such major growth over the last ten years, combined with the current, Twitch-zeitgeist ripe for conquering via shorter, snappier content that is easier to consume than even Netflix (you can’t exactly watch House of Cards riding on a bus, but you can watch Super Power Beat Down), Machinima’s newest slate of orginal and returning programming will most certainly make stuffy, older industry leaders take notice.

The full press release is below, and I go a little in-depth with my impressions.

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 4, 2015 – Machinima’s debut at the Digital Content Newfronts was nothing short of “heroic.” The first global many2many programming service focused on fandom and gamer culture, Machinima unveiled a programming slate designed to elevate and celebrate a global community of gamer, comic and hero fans through the most innovative content on the Internet. Partnerships with Blue Ribbon Content and DC Entertainment,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Clive Barker, Roberto Orci and Bunim/Murray Productions, along with some of Machinima’s leading creator talent, showcase Machinima’s commitment to developing content across all genres, formats and platforms.

 

“Fandom and gaming engenders so much passion and engagement; it’s a cultural shift uniquely connecting with the most valuable millennials,” said Chad Gutstein, Machinima’s CEO.  “It’s this deep connection to our audience that has made Machinima the ninth largest video entertainment platform in the United States, and the second most watched programmer on YouTube.  With our new slate, we are reminding our fans and our clients of one very important fact: Machinima is back!”

 

Machinima’s programming slate includes:

 

Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles Season 2

 

From visionary producer and animator Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series), Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles turns the DC Universe upside-down. In this dark, alternate world, telling the good guys from the bad guys is never easy: Superman is not the son of Jor-El, he’s the son of General Zod; Wonder Woman is not from peaceful Themyscira, but rather the warring nation of Ares; and Batman is more vampire-bat than man…and he’s not Bruce Wayne. It is unclear if our greatest heroes are here to protect us…or to rule us. With Season 1 set to launch in June, Machinima, Blue Ribbon Content and DC Entertainment have already begun development on Season 2, a 10-episode follow-up to the initial limited series.

This is probably the one project I’m most excited about. It’s a genuine Bruce Timm series that takes Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman in entirely new directions. Speaking to Timm (interview coming soon), he told me that the online distribution means they don’t have to abide by any broadcast standards and practices, and that Timm had more final say over these characters than even DC. Stay tuned for our interview later this week.

DC’s Hero Project

 

Machinima, Blue Ribbon Content, and DC Entertainment are setting out to discover the next great creator for the world of DC Comics.  Eight contestants compete in elimination challenges to develop a live-action short video based on their own interpretations of characters from DC Comics’ Starman comic book series. Well-known guest judges and celebrity special guests will join bestselling writer and DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and a panel of esteemed judges to oversee the entire competition.

They chose the semi-obscure Starman. With the proliferation of fan film projects hitting the web, it’s nice to DC actually embracing fan-creation culture and actually giving the OK for people to make expensive fanfiction.

#4Hero

 

A modern adaptation of DC Comics’ cult-favorite classic “Dial H For Hero”, #4Hero is a live-action, VFX-heavy action-comedy about a young woman named Nellie Tribble who is quietly desperate to make her mark on the world, but wholly unprepared to do so. Nellie stumbles upon a life-altering smartphone app that allows her to instantly become a Super Hero for a short amount of time. The problem is her super powers are dictated by whatever is trending on social media at that moment, and they are always only semi-useful.

Dial H For Hero is indeed a classic amongst a certain group of comic fans, but this one is so of the time I’m afraid at how dated it could actually become. The preview video referenced Katy Perry’s sharks from the Super Bowl, as an example.

Clive Barker’s Creepy Pasta

 

For the first time, horror legend Clive Barker is stepping away from the creatures of his own imagination and entering into the world of Internet horror fan fiction, affectionately known as Creepy Pasta.  Starting with viral urban legends (e.g. Jeff the Killer, Slender Man and Ben Drowned), Clive Barker’s Creepy Pasta is an original series of live-action, blood-curdling short films.  These new tales will be curated and adapted by Barker from submissions obtained through the creepypasta community, and produced by Machinima to scare you to your core.

The second thing I’m most excited about, and if it weren’t for Bruce Timm this would probably be my number one. I’ve always been fascinated with folklore, even in the age of the internet such stories survive and thrive in ways even sages around the campfire couldn’t imagine. They definitely highlighted Slenderman but he wasn’t the only story. I question the legalities of this, but no one really questions the legality of the Jersey Devil or Bloody Mary either. The logo looked a little cheap, but it also had the DIY aesthetic that these stories were bred from anyway, so not a big deal. Can’t wait.

RoboCop

 

“Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” OCP’s Security Concepts Division’s RoboCop program is back in an all-new, short-form limited web series, based on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1987 classic action film. RoboCop returns to Delta City where viewers ride along with the now standard-issue RoboCop officers as they respond to calls from dispatch. Tapping into current themes of the surveillance state, the series is shot from the first person point of view of the RoboCop officers’ heads up display, along with security cameras, dash-cams, and drones.

 Literally COPS but with RoboCop officers.

Happy Wheels

 

“Choose your inadequately prepared racer, and ignore severe consequences in your desperate search for victory!”

 

                                                                        – Happy Wheels

 

Machinima will bring audiences an all-new original animated series based on Jim Bonacci’s hit online game Happy Wheels and produced by BMP Digital, the digital division of Bunim/Murray Productions (‘The Real World’, ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’). This must-see 10-episode short form series, which will feature fan-favorites such as Wheelchair Guy, Irresponsible Dad and Lawnmower Man, will expand upon the game that has more than 8 million players a month and showcase its notorious dark humor and penchant for blood and gore. Additionally, with over 3.1 billion video views amassed, BMP Digital is looking to leverage the voiceover talents of YouTube influencers such as Toby Turner (15.2M YouTube Subscribers, Cartoon Network’s The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange) and others who have made this game so iconic.

This is where Machinima began to lose me, despite being their target demo. The promo video was funny enough, but I didn’t play Happy Wheels and it’s supposed to be a dark satire cartoon. They didn’t show too much beyond actual game footage, so I’m still kind of confused as to what the final product will look like.

Jerome ASF’s The Baka Chronicles

 

Adding to the gaming fervor, Machinima’s iconic Minecrafter Jerome ASF (3.6M YouTube Subscribers), will be teaming with N00b Adventure creator Jim Schwerfeger for an all-new series – The Baka Chronicles. Featuring Jerome ASF’s most beloved character, Baka, the series follows two unlikely server admins who problem-solve the hilarious antics of griefers, trolls, and kids who wreak havoc across their favorite multiplayer Minecraft server. Little do our heroes realize this job is a massive headache.

Out of all the projects announced by Machinima, this one is actually machinima. Can’t say I’m too interested, and the title reeks of weeaboo (which is the point, I guess). It’s a Minecraft series in the same sense that Red vs. Blue was a Halo show. There is an untapped market for kids and Minecraft, and while The Baka Chronicles could skew older, they’re missing out on a lucrative 9-12 year-old demo on broadcast.

Also, the presentation made it clear that their audience totally gets it. These upfronts are attended by much older, wealthy executives who totally don’t understand young gamers who are much like their own nieces and nephews. During a brief preview of an episode, one character literally stopped to jump in front of the character and (in a goofy, dumb bear voice) told the brand execs that while you don’t understand these jokes, our fans do. “So give us your money,” he told them, and everyone laughed semi-uncomfortably.

 High School 51

 

Created and produced by Roberto Orci (Transformers, Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek, Sleepy Hollow, Lost, Fringe) and Legion of Creatives, and starring Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, Tainted Love, Drumline, MADtv), High School 51 is as out of this world as the name implies.

 

Hidden away in the heart of Area 51, Dream Lake High School is filled with mind-blowing technology, top-secret government programs and a student body that is cool, quirky, attractive, and…well, alien.  No one from the outside has ever been allowed into the school and no human has ever attended…until now.

 

For 16-year old Alex Valencia, the first and only human ever to attend Dream Lake, high school is going to be tough. Fitting in will be one thing but his biggest challenge just might be saving the human race!

I spoke to Orlando Jones about this series so be prepared for the interview later this week. I can’t get too excited at the name Roberto Orci (during the announcement, Power Rangers was curiously mentioned amongst Orci’s credits) but the brief preview we saw looked intriguing and fun enough. It’s evocative of Roswell and Smallville, but for a very current audience that’s fully tapping in to the mainstream geek culture in ways that Roswell only accidentally attracted.

It’s definitely an Orci product though, as that man can’t get enough of government conspiracies.

 Returning Series

 

Additionally, Machinima is announcing the return of some of its most popular shows including AFK, Chasing The Cup, Realm, Battlefield Friends, Sanity Not Included, Deck Wars, and ETC.

Stay tuned for the interviews with Bruce Timm and Orlando Jones later this week.

 

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Will Have a ‘Rogue Cut’ To Include Some Random Mutant

by Eric Francisco

Earlier today, X-Men director Bryan Singer announced on the set of X-Men: Apocalypse via the Periscope app, which I genuinely still don’t understand, a new “Rogue Cut” of X-Men: Days of Future Past to include a mystery, fan-favorite mutant! Who could it be?

unnamed

Kidding. It’s Rogue. Anna Paquin’s role in Days of Future Past was left on the cutting room floor, but now in a home video rerelease diehard Rogue (and I guess Anna Paquin) fans will get to see their favorite do some mind stuff to Wolverine.

There’s still more to learn, but all we know is that the cut will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD on July 14.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with El Rey and Win the ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ Prize Package Giveaway!

by Eric Francisco

This Tuesday is Cinco de Mayo! Commonly known as that one day in May to get shit-faced while wearing a cartoonish sombrero, the holiday is actually a celebration for Mexican-Americans to commemorate the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla that took place on May 5th, 1862.

Try to remember that as you drown yourself in tequila. Also take off the sombrero, you look ridiculous.

Our friends at El Rey are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a day-long marathon of From Dusk Till Dawn on El Rey Network, starting at dusk (6 PM ET) until dawn (4 AM ET).

Adding to the fiesta, El Rey Network founder/chairman and director of the original From Dusk ‘Till Dawn Robert Rodriguez will release the season one rock soundtrack of From Dusk Till Dawn along with a special Spanish version of “After Dark,” the amazing Tito & Tarantula track heard in the iconic snake dance scene from the original 1995 film.

We at Geekscape are holding a contest to giveaway five (5) sets of From Dusk Till Dawn posters, soundtrack, and signed season one DVD sets!

Here’s how to win:

Invite FIVE (5) friends that you “ride with” (like you ride with El Rey) to like the Geekscape and El Rey Facebook fan pages. Then, starting Tuesday (May 5) at 12 PM ET, comment on the Geekscape status with those five friends tagged and tell us why you’ll always ride with them from dusk ’till dawn. We’ll pick the winners at random and we will ONLY pick those who comment.

That’s it! So get your friends to like those pages and you can win a kick-ass, badass From Dusk Till Dawn prize pack all to yourself.

Don’t forget: Tune-in to El Rey for the Cinco de Mayo marathon of From Dusk Till Dawn starting at 6 PM ET and ending at 4 AM ET. You totally need something to watch when you’re drunk on tequila, so ride with El Rey.

Season two of From Dusk Till Dawn is currently in production and will premiere this summer at the ATX Television Festival this June.

Introducing Task Force X: First Cast Photo of ‘Suicide Squad’!

by Eric Francisco

On the weekend that Marvel Studios seems poised to take over with the massively successful Avengers: Age of Ultron, one surefire way to steal some thunder as their biggest competitor is to show what you’ve got cooking. Suicide Squad director David Ayer just served up a nice, hot appetizer, so dig in. (By the way, I’m kind of hungry, can anyone make me something?)

David Ayer tweeted the first official cast photo, seen below.

If you’re darting your eyes looking for Jared Leto as The Joker, you can lean back in your chair. He’s not in it. While this is from Suicide Squad, it’s a photo of the assembled Task Force X, and rumors of Joker playing more of a villain than anti-hero protagonist seem to be true.

But if you want to know who makes up Task Force X, here’s the breakdown:

Adam Beach (Slipknot), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Cara Delevinge (Enchantress), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Will Smith (Deadshot), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), and Jay Hernandez (Diablo).

Out the gate, I can say one thing: I like it! If any of the upcoming DC movies has me the most excited it’s Suicide Squad, and this first look hasn’t disappointed me. Yeah, it’s erring on the comically gritty tone that DC seems to be aiming for that I’ve had quite enough of, but this is nice. I’m picking up what they’re putting down (or, uploading online).

One of the most crucial elements to nail down for Suicide Squad is Harley Quinn, a tall order as she’s been a longtime fan favorite that hasn’t had her day in the cinematic sun. Margot Robbie looks amazing so far, so consider expectations for Suicide Squad raised. It’s certainly a 180 from how I felt about Jared Leto’s Juggalo-on-meth Joker.

That’s not all though. Here’s a clearer look at Will Smith as Deadshot in full costume that Ayer tweeted shortly after.

Excited? You’ve still got over a year to go, so just relax. Suicide Squad is set for August 5, 2016.

‘Power Rangers’ Delayed to 2017

by Eric Francisco

Ouch.

With the original theatrical release of July 22, 2016 fast approaching without so much of a confirmed director or cast, it seems Saban realized how much work it actually takes to make a successful Power Rangers movie franchise. Like a slacker student going to college on his rich daddy’s money, he’s asked the professor for an extension. To January 13, 2017.

From The Hollywood Reporter writer and head of nerd blog Heat Vision Borys Kit:

Instead of gunning for the summer release, it seems they’re trying for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend moviegoers. But has that ever worked before? No, and I don’t see Power Rangers being any different.

Expectations for this film are low, especially with Joseph Kahn and his POWER/RANGERS showing off a product that (arguably) the majority publicly have expressed actually wanting to see. While personally I didn’t like Kahn’s vision of the Power Rangers (I enjoyed the film just fine), I’m not exactly ecstatic over what we’ve heard about 2016/now 2017’s Power Rangers either — which is to say, we haven’t heard jack.

With no sources to back me up, I’m going to go on a hunch and predict Saban actually aiming for the summer 2017 release in the end. January just isn’t a good month for movies, and Power Rangers is Saban’s only viable franchise. It’s their baby, which is an honest-to-goodness accurate metaphor because they haven’t allowed their baby to grow for two decades. January is when studios take their ill-bred to shoot behind the barn, which Saban just wouldn’t allow. After Power Rangers, the next big movie is The Lego Batman Movie, which would be embarrassing if it actually beats Power Rangers.

As of now, 2017 is loaded with Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars VIII, Furious 8 (expect this to change, there’s not even a script yet), Marvel’s Spider-Man, Toy Story 4, Despicable Me 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Wonder Woman, and Pacific Rim 2 as the lone wolf in August.

Maybe Saban should bet their kaiju vs. robots movie against the other one?

El Rey’s ‘MonstroCity’ Movie Marathon Starts Tomorrow!

by Eric Francisco

El Rey Network never fails to provide pop culture geeks exactly the kind of entertainment they crave. Tomorrow (Saturday, April 25), the house Robert Rodriguez programmed will deliver its “MonstroCity” movie marathon, featuring the monsters of your nightmares that terrorize the urban jungle.

Get ready to sit back tomorrow with Curandero, Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead and Zombie, and C.H.U.D.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3uUJE8RwEQ&feature=youtu.be

The full schedule is below:

A marathon dedicated to celebrating the monsters that are worthy of your nightmares, MonstroCity will take over your evening with cannibals, zombies, and demons as they overtake cities from above and below ground! You have been warned, this marathon is not for the faint of heart. There will be gore, there will be violence, and most importantly, people will be eaten!

SATURDAY, April 25th

 

CURANDERO (12PM EST & 8:15PM EST)

Director: Eduardo Rodriguez

A journey that takes one man into the bowels of black magic in Mexico City

 

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (2:15PM EST & 10:30PM EST)

Director: Lucio Fulci

A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from the grave.

 

ZOMBIE (4:15PM EST & 12:30AM EST)

Director: Lucio Fulci

Strangers looking for a woman’s father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.

 

C.H.U.D. (6:15PM EST & 2:30AM EST)

Director: Douglas Cheek

A bizarre series of murders in New York City seems to point toward the existence of a race of mutant cannibals living under the streets.

For America, cities were and still are a symbol of opportunity and hope. At the turn of the 20th century and well into the roaring twenties, the young and old flocked to make something of themselves… while the monsters dwelled outside the city limits.

The remarkable similarity that the majority of American horror films share is that they physically take place in remote or suburban locations. They almost never happen in cities. To know why, we only look at our own history.

When European settlers began to colonize the Americas in the late 15th century, conflict with indigenous tribes were, well, brutal. And bloody. You kind of expect now that every Thanksgiving your college roommate will bring up how much the pilgrims like, totally screwed over the Native Americans in terrifying fashion, man.

Well, your roommate isn’t wrong. America lost its humanity in the outskirts of society, in the total lawless wilderness. From murdering and grave robbing Native Americans and forcing them onto the Trail of Tears, to the slavery on the cotton fields and farms that built our nation, America’s worst sins happened beyond the roads.

Our folklore contain figures and spirits that lived beyond the cities. Bloody Mary, the Headless Horseman, the Jersey Devil and more. Seriously, peruse these tales yourself. How many of these tragic figures are said to haunt the most remote areas of our land?

Tomorrow, El Rey will prove that some monsters lurk just around the city block. Tune in at 12 PM ET and for an encore at 8:15 PM ET, as the MonstroCity marathon kicks off with Robert Rodriguez-executive produced Curandero!

Frank Miller Returns to DC For ‘Dark Knight Returns III: The Master Race’

by Eric Francisco

Batman is rich. Even though he owns all the major consoles, he has a murdered-out PC because he is PC Master Race.

That’s what I’m assuming Dark Knight Returns III: The Master Race will be about. I’d totally read a graphic novel about Batman playing Telltale Games’s Game of Thrones and trolling console subreddits.

The legendary Frank Miller will return to DC Comics to grit-up modern comics once again when he concludes his seminal work with its final installment, Dark Knight Returns III: The Master Race. Get your quality, colorful Batgirl out of here! Comics are dark!

Details are scarce, but the news was announced, amongst other platforms, on Frank Miller’s previously inactive Twitter account. Because that’s what you announce the final installment to the landmark series that have influenced the maturation of the graphic novel medium: on a platform with a baby blue bird as its logo.

From Comic Book Resources:

The series will run for eight issues, with installments scheduled to be released twice a month starting in late fall 2015.

 

“For the past six months, I’ve been working with Frank Miller to bring the next chapter in the ‘Dark Knight’ to light,” he said. It’s been humbling. I’ve learned a lot, and I call him sensei. It’s a really, really big project.”

 

Miller confirmed the news himself via Twitter … releasing promotional art from the story and stating, “I hope that by now my silence is deafening.” In the official press release, DC Comics billed the story as “the epic conclusion of the celebrated ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ saga.”

 

“Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting,” Miller said in a statement. “But we’ll do our best.”

I’m not going to bother filling you in on how much The Dark Knight Returns meant to comic book fans, but I can tell you that this can go really well or really, really terribly. Frank Miller is/was a phenomenal artist and storyteller, but there’s something about his attitudes that are distinctly late ’80s/early ’90s that hasn’t — ironic to say, matured — well.

While The Dark Knight Returns is frequently cited amongst the best comics have had to offer, The Dark Knight Strikes Again was universally reviled. This was roughly the same era of Frank Miller’s career where he became something of a self-parody of himself, where he penned the greatest and most awful lines written in the English language that spawned endless jokes and memes everywhere.

asbr-02-0101

Let’s not trash art before it’s even finished, but I simply can’t bring myself to be enthused about this. Frank Miller hasn’t demonstrated growth past his prime, relying on an aesthetic that hasn’t aged well. Although The Dark Knight Strikes Again was well almost fifteen years ago, it still seems Frank Miller hasn’t gotten past 1991.

But what about you? Are you excited? Let us know.

 

Want to Watch ‘Constantine’? NBC Will Stream It All Tomorrow

by Eric Francisco

It’s difficult being a Constantine fan. Cancellation is like an impending death sentence, a swinging pendulum swinging too close to comfort. Not all hope is lost, but how much did we lose?

After the emotional rollercoaster from a short while ago, now it looks like there’s still a fighting chance. On NBC starting tomorrow, Friday (April 24), all thirteen episodes of the entire series first season will be available to stream for free — unless you count watching two minutes of State Farm ads and Undateable spots a form of existential payment — and for a limited time.

https://twitter.com/KitMoxie/status/591303399653699584

Meanwhile, as you watch the Hellblazer do his thing, the executive producers will be going up to bat to swing for the fences as they pitch* the second season to NBC bigwigs.

I’m not sure how much these streaming numbers actually count, but this gesture speak volumes. Now it’s time to take advantage. We want more Constantine gosh darn it, so stream it! You don’t even need to actually watch it, just open it up and hit play then go back to your Excel sheets at work like you should be doing. And forward it to your friends who haven’t seen the show yet. The more the merrier!

You heard the man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fYYWMtj1Ag

*I didn’t mean to use so many contradictory baseball metaphors.

‘Avengers’ Fans Angry at Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner “Slut” Jokes, For Good Reason

by Eric Francisco

With Avengers: Age of Ultron set to premiere in the United States in just over a week, the press tour has gone into overdrive, and the headlining stories have been… unfortunate. They’re anything but the movie, for one thing.

Yesterday, Robert Downey Jr. suffered an extremely uncomfortable interview that prompted him to awkwardly walk out with tears in his eyes. It was a heartbreaking, sobering moment for a man we’ve seen as a titan in armor. Today, stars Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner are facing backlash for some questionable comments.

By questionable, I mean totally random and kind of bad.

“She’s a slut,” Jeremy Renner refers to fictional character Black Widow, the lone woman of the blockbuster super team.

“She has a prosthetic leg anyway,” says Chris Evans. (We’ll get to this one in a little bit.)

Let’s get this on the table first: They were jokes. Coming off an exhaustive shoot for a multi-million dollar movie, going on endless press tours answering the same, numbing, corporate-approved questions over and over again while struggling just to stay awake thanks to jet lag and constant media attention, Renner and Evans probably were just looking to have some fun and kick back.

However, that doesn’t excuse it from being bad jokes.

First, they’re a bit out of context. Defenders of these comments will argue that we’re taking their remarks out of context, but I question whether they actually have the ability to follow a conversation.The subject that prompted the remarks was about shipping Black Widow with some of the other Avengers (which I’d normally also stamp as sexist, but it’s such a popular topic amongst fans, particularly the female fans, there isn’t much negative baggage associated with it), and it would have just been harmless, if pointless babble.

Then Jeremy Renner called Black Widow a slut.

I mean, it’s jarring. Yeah, it’s about a fictional character, and that’s just what I’d even point out: she’s a fictional character. What the fuck is the point even mentioning her sex life? This isn’t Nymphomaniac either where sex is a major theme. This is Avengers where the goal is to sell t-shirts and toys.

It’s unfortunate this had to happen the same week Marvel — often the exemplars of progressive, inclusive storytelling and representation — are still reflecting some dumb boy’s club attitudes. In one major example, they’ve come under fire for not selling Black Widow merchandise at the same volume of her male counterparts. Being sold and marketed to isn’t exactly the pinnacle of diversity in my eyes, but it’s certainly reflective of larger attitudes at work.

More toys means more kids can grow up enjoying this stuff. It ensures the things you loved will live on for generations long after you’re rotting in the ground. Besides, pretend you’re a kid again and think about it: You don’t want others to play toys with? I was pretty lonely playing Power Rangers toys by myself as a kid, I would have been happy if anyone else, whoever they were, wanted to join me.

Black Widow, however problematic her character may be (not sure if a cold-hearted killer is a great role model for anybody) has become something of a spirit animal for much of the female Marvel fans, who are literally half the movie-going audience. The slut-shaming comments by two of the film’s stars against the one female character has caused quite the dissonance and vitriol from fans — and defenders of comedy or some kind of bullshit alike.

https://twitter.com/julietaube/status/591121136240431104

https://twitter.com/TrancewithMe/status/591111886999048192

https://twitter.com/ItsAshRush/status/590893729243734016

(I only pulled these four tweets just to illustrate, you can find far more with a simple search on Twitter or any comment on every article about this story on every other online outlet. Go nuts.)

I can’t quite subscribe to the “she’s a fictional character” argument. Not only are we in this kinda fucked up era where weirdos in Japan try to marry anime characters and you can’t surf Tumblr without readiNG CAPS-LOCK LADEN POSTS ABOUT THE FEELS AND REALNESS OF fiction, but we also project pieces of ourselves onto the inanimate figures who live only on paper and binary codes. How we treat and view those characters can be telling, because in some weird way it’s kind of how we treat ourselves. Ever took up martial arts because of your favorite Power Ranger? There’s a whole sect of ’90s kids who did.

If I really wanted to push buttons I’d say there’s a whole population of people who worship fictional characters and that I attended school for eighteen years devoted to said fictional characters, but I’m not in that kind of mood right now.

All of this is just unfortunate. Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner are humans and they deserve to fuck up, whether they think they were or not.

But they’ve also demonstrated themselves to be exemplary role models, and their fame in portraying superheroes have elevated them into a unique position where once only sports athletes occupied. They literally act out acts of heroism, and to an 8-year-old kid it doesn’t matter how much CGI and rendering it took because Captain America just saved people from falling wreckage! We can debate the merits and responsibilities of celebrities as a whole all day, but that won’t change the fact that people like Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner do have young eyes watching their every move and will imitate them in every way they can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEgzt9FP9gI

I’m happy “slut-shaming” and other types of body-shaming actually have names and that more and more people are speaking out against them. It’s insidious discrimination, to categorize people as lesser than you without actually assigning them a specific water fountain they can drink from. It’s blatant sexism, and I can’t defend that kind of casual hate speech — and make no mistake, casual, everyday, “we’re just joking” speech does as much damage as any major protest or discriminatory law can. I can speak from experience.

These are jokes, but they’re bad jokes and they shouldn’t just be “let go.” Let’s not crucify Renner and Evans and acknowledge that we’re all hella stoked for Avengers: Age of Ultron next week. But after this and Trevor Noah,* can we finally talk about what actually constitutes as comedy and what doesn’t? Can we finally accept that “harmless” sexism is anything but harmless?

Can we just not accept people being a bunch of fucking douchebags for once?

As far as the “she’s got a prosthetic leg” comment goes, allow me to dip a toe into the misogyny pool and introduce you to someone who I’d totally take in a manly fashion.

If there’s one thing sexier than a nice pair of legs, it’s strength.

*Not sure where this belongs, but it’s necessary that we not forget that unlike Trevor Noah neither Evans or Renner have earned a paycheck doing stand-up. Arguments about defending comedy go out the window in this situation.

EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK: Tonight on ‘Lucha Underground,’ It’s Sexy Star vs. Pentagon Jr.!

by Eric Francisco

Once again, our friends at El Rey have hooked us up with another exciting sneak peek at this week’s Lucha Underground, featuring the one and only Sexy Star stepping up against Pentagon Jr.!

We’ve got exclusive stills from the episode at the bottom of this post, along with the clip right below.

Following the awesome Mask vs. Mask match against Super Fly, Sexy Star finds herself pitted against the monstrous Pentagon Jr. — with poor Melissa, the beautiful ring announcer of Lucha Underground still recovering from an attack sitting ringside. You can see the stress in her eyes.

This isn’t the first time it’s ever been done, and definitely not the first time on Lucha Underground, but you’ll notice that this particular match features a woman up against a man — an awful man, Pentagon Jr.

But I wouldn’t worry. Besides the fact that Sexy Star is more than capable of standing on her own, intergender wrestling has had a long and varied history.

Although rare, intergender wrestling became something of a novelty in the 1970s. It wasn’t mainstream because, I mean, obviously, but legendary funny man Andy Kaufman adopted intergender pro wrestling as one of his comedy gimmicks and became the “Intergender Champion,” a title he gave himself. After a string of staged segments where he’d wrestle women, Kaufman would go on to the now-classic feud against the Memphis legend, Jerry “The King” Lawler. You can find these segments on YouTube if you care to look.

For reasons I shouldn’t even have to flat out state, intergender pro wrestling never took off and became a part of the mainstream. They happened, but usually in extreme, absurd or chaotic storylines. It’s really not hard to see why either, the image of an intergender match can be extremely jarring and visually uncomfortable when taken too far — and this is wrestling, where everything is a few steps from too far.

But that’s what makes Lucha Underground so damn incredible. I reiterate, intergender matches have happened to varying degrees of seriousness, but in this week of Lucha Undergound it is entirely refreshing to see an honest-to-goodness battle between two stars no matter their genetics. This isn’t a trashy storyline involving baby mamas or infidelity. This is a blood feud, something that is truly inherit to pro wrestling and lucha libre.

I’ll never advocate violence against women, but in this week’s episode we see Sexy Star combat Pentagon Jr. in a genuine struggle of good versus evil. This is a contest of moral one-upmanship, the heart and soul of all of lucha libre. I can’t wait to see it.

Enjoy the exclusive gallery below and tune in to Lucha Underground tonight at 8:00 PM ET/PT on El Rey Network. Check your local listings.

Oh, and as a bonus, here’s Johnny Mundo getting a talking-to from a certain Alberto El Patron. I saw these guys wrestle at Madison Square Garden in 2011. I’m so excited to see them flourish in Lucha Underground!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OOgCMhY_00&feature=youtu.be

Geekscape Interviews: Subway Cinema on Ninjas, MORE Ninjas and Old School Kung-Fu Fest 2015!

by Eric Francisco

Ninjas are cool.

Sure, they killed people. But they were primarily spies that used incredibly intricate tactics that not even agents of shadowy, 21st-century governments have the patience or discipline to employ. Their mystery and danger have mythified them in pop culture as they have become heroes of lore, defeating demons and dragons and all kinds of bizarre creatures of fiction. Surely they would be great subjects for cinema, right?

Well, they are! But they aren’t celebrated nearly enough. Unlike samurai and kung-fu films, ninja movies tend to be clustered within “grind house” circles. While that’s perfectly fine, it also means their merits are dismissed. Film snobs grossly turn their nose up. Mention it in a film class and your professor’s eyes will glaze over. It’s hard to see a particular genre of cinema seriously when their titles evoke a Super Nintendo game than a film.

Bring up samurai in film and you’re given Akira Kurosawa, Zatoichi, or Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins. Discuss kung-fu and you’re directed to Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan circa ’80s and ’90s. Oh, and a guy named Bruce Lee.

But when it comes to ninjas, can you name even one movie?

This weekend in New York City will be the Old School Kung-Fu Fest held by Subway Cinema, the badass nonprofit that promotes and exhibits Asian pop culture with year-round festivals and events that bridge both sides of the Pacific. This year’s festival theme? The badass, brutal killers of an era long gone by, the ninja.

While they are most notable for the New York Asian Film Festival every year, in the last few years they have unleashed the Old School Kung-Fu Festival to the delight of all action film enthusiasts living in the world’s greatest city. I recently spoke to Subway Cinema founder and Executive Director Goran Toplavoic, Co-director Samuel Jamier and Director of Operations/Associate Programmer Rufus de Rham about their upcoming festival this weekend and just what it is we find so cool about ninjas.

Old School Kung Fu Fest 2015 - Teaser Poster by Jerry Ma

Let’s start from the beginning. How did the Old School Kung-Fu fest begin? What is its origin story?

Goran: The basic idea for the Old School Kung Fu Fest was to share some of our favorite classic Hong Kong martial arts films, screened from the original 35mm prints whenever possible, with an equally appreciative audience, and to bring back the grindhouse experience reminiscent of the old 42nd Street and Chinatown theaters. The first edition was held in December of 2000 at Anthology Film Archives, right after our very first official event as Subway Cinema (Expect the Unexpected: Johnnie To Retrospective in September 2000). We sourced the prints from private collectors, and ended up with an eclectic program that included Sammo Hung’s

We sourced the prints from private collectors, and ended up with an eclectic program that included Sammo Hung’s The Victim (1980), Chang Cheh’s Crippled Avengers (1978), and Lau Kar-leung’s Martial Arts of Shaolin (1985) featuring Jet Li in one of his early roles. We did another edition in 2001, but at that point our attention was shifting towards more contemporary Asian genre films, which resulted in When Korean Cinema Attacks! (the first New York Korean Film Festival) in 2001, and the launch of the first annual New York Asian Film Festival in 2002. For the next 12 years, we have been primarily working on growing NYAFF, and there wasn’t going to be another Old School Kung Fu Fest until 2013.

Rufus: So three years ago we wanted to bring back some of the fun and focus again on what got us into Asian film in general. As NYAFF was focused more and more on the best and brightest in recent and contemporary Asian films, we needed a place to showcase our favorite classic films. Old School Kung Fu Festival was resurrected at the place where it all began: Anthology Film Archives.

Seventeen Ninja

This year will be the fifth year of the festival. In what ways has the Old School Kung-Fu fest surpassed your expectations from when you started five years ago?

Goran: There’s never been any grand ambition with respect to the Old School Kung Fu Fest. The very fact that we’re able to find these old films and show them again in a movie theater with an audience – the way they were always meant to be seen –  is already a success.In what ways has it fallen short, if at all?

In what ways has it fallen short if at all?

Goran: While the event hasn’t fallen short in any respect, we increasingly want to venture beyond just the martial arts cinema, and to explore other genres in the future editions of the fest, such as Hong Kong’s infamous Category III films, Asian action movies featuring Western actors, Indonesian exploitation, Girls with Guns, and so on.

Samuel: Yes. So maybe a move from Old School Kung Fu, to Old School Asian in general.

Revenge of the Ninja 001

This year’s theme is ninjas. How did you decide to showcase this particular genre this year?

Rufus: I was arguing for ninjas since we decided to reboot Old School. Mostly so we could showcase Five Element Ninjas (aka Chinese Super Ninjas), which has been a favorite film since I was a kid. Also ninjas are just cool. Of course they don’t quite fit in with the Old School Kung Fu label but we’ll likely be transitioning the title to plain Old School Fest, so that, as Goran mentioned, we can expand and show more classic genre films from all over Asia.

What is it about the ninja genre that you wanted to show audiences at this year’s festival? What did you want them to know about it versus other subgenres of martial arts movies? Any stereotypes you hope to shatter?

Goran: This has nothing to do with shattering stereotypes. Most of it is simply nostalgia – being able to watch again on the big screen all the fun films that we grew up with, regardless of how accurate their portrayal of ninjutsu was, and how laughable some of them may look now from the contemporary perspective. However, we also wanted to show our audience some of the more serious depictions of ninjas in the rarely seen Japanese films from the 1960s.

Five Element Ninjas 001

Ninjas in cinema certainly haven’t been shown in any historically accurate way, almost ever. Why do you think ninjas have such a mythical power in pop culture?

Rufus: Ninja clans cultivated a lot of these myths themselves, and this has been maintained through the history of art, theater, literature and film. Who doesn’t love clandestine warriors? They have become part of the national Japanese folklore, and much of the exaggeration is in the same vein as any national myth building (the US and cowboys, for example).

Samuel: The appearance, the outfit, the mask, the esoteric martial arts practice certainly contributed to their mythical power. Visually it’s quite striking.

Why do you think ninjas are not as prevalent in the cinema the way other genres are? Samurai movies are hailed by critics and kung-fu smashes the box office. Why then are ninjas a part of the “grind house” culture?

Rufus: I think they are extremely prevalent, but maybe not as critically lauded. Why? One word. Cannon. This is really where the ninjas and grindhouse came from. Also I suppose Godfrey Ho did his noble part in the ninja grindhouse experience. Also you have to take into account Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles (1990) which was, for a long time, the most successful independent film ever made. The four heroes in a half-shell exploded ninja culture in a way that it became super successful, but it was also seen maybe as a juvenile fantasy. Anime took off at the same time and it was filled with ninjas and now we live in an age where one of the best selling series of all time is Naruto.

Enter the Ninja 002

What movies are you most excited about this year? Any personal favorites?

Rufus: I’m most excited to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen. Also Five Element Ninjas is going to be great. I’m very much looking forward to the rarities like Seventeen Ninjas and the Shinobi no Mono films.

Samuel: Seventeen Ninja, Shinobi no Mono, and Shinobi no Mono 2. These are pretty realistic ninja films, rarely theatrically screened, and are actually incredible films. So for those that want a break from elemental powers and the supernatural these are the films for you!

Goran: Definitely Five Element Ninjas, which is arguable director Chang Cheh’s masterpiece – we got a nice looking 35mm print from Dan Halstead, who’s a programmer and print collector at Hollywood Theater in Portland. Also Duel to the Death, which features giant ninjas! – it was the first film from one of Hong Kong’s great action directors, Ching Siu-tung, who later went on to work on A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman II, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers.

Ninja III poster

What was the hardest movie to secure for screening?

Samuel: Seventeen Ninja!

Goran: We also tried hard to find Corey Yuen’s Ninja in the Dragon’s Den (1982), starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Conan Lee, but we had to give up in the end. One trail lead us to the Brussels Film Archive, but the print they had was in too poor of a condition to be screened.

Samuel: And speaking of films we didn’t get: Ninja Scroll. It was too expensive.

I cannot for the life of me guess the movie that is the “Super Special Secret Screening.” Can you drop us any more hints? Pretty please?

That’s why it’s called Super Special Secret Screening!

Revenge of the Ninja poster

The full schedule of films can be found on Subway Cinema’s website here. I can’t wait to see all you New York ninja freaks this weekend and next! Count me in for Five Element Ninjas, Ninja Turtles, and Seventeen Ninja.

Any guesses as to what the secret screening will be?

NBC Has Cancelled ‘Constantine’ [UPDATED]

by Eric Francisco

UPDATE: If there’s ever a character you shouldn’t count out early, it’s John fucking Constantine. Apparently the show is still awaiting its final fate from the higher-ups at NBC. It’s not cancelled yet!

The original article is intact below.

—

Bollocks.

Despite rabid fan passion campaigning for a second season, NBC has opted not to renew Constantine. The news has been first reported by BuzzFeed entertainment writer Kate Authur.

More surprising than the cancellation is how quickly we’ve found out. Showrunner Daniel Cerone had tweeted several times that the producers would pitch the second season to NBC — who, according to Cerone via Twitter, wanted the show to succeed and acknowledged the feverish fan support — in late spring. I’ve just started leaving my house without my winter jacket and already we know the fate of one John Constantine.

It wasn’t a great show, but I loved it. Warts and all. It had a world to explore and frankly, it was quite a lot unlike a lot of genre television. This news will seriously hit me like a ton of bricks in due time. I’ll be at the DMV next week and I’ll just start tearing up.

I had a wonderful time meeting the showrunners and stars at this past New York Comic-Con, and I’m bummed I won’t see them again this year.

There were rumors circulating that the series would be rebranded as Hellblazer and broadcast on Syfy, and while many fans agreed that would be a spectacular idea Syfy it was basically bullshit.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Sorry, Hellblazers. Maybe some other day. Like the Justice League Dark movie in a few years.

Finally! The ‘Ant-Man’ Trailer is Here!

by Eric Francisco

Believe it or not, I can’t provide any insight to this trailer. I’m currently having audio issues with my computer, so I can’t dish out any snark or praise because I can’t hear a single damn thing.

But hey, Ant-Man looks good at least! Watching it without the sound it looks like a pretty serious movie despite the title being, you know, Ant-Man. And then there are shots with giant bugs and all of that goes away.

Paul Rudd is Ant-Man and you can see him crawl his way on screen July 17th!