May 2008 Archives

Buffy's old watcher is getting on a bit, but he's wittier than ever.

On Friday Night with Jonathon Ross, Anthony Head spoke briefly about the much talked about Buffy spin-off series, Ripper.

When asked if he would reprise old roles he said: "Yeah absolutely."

"Joss Whedon and I have talked about doing this perennial question of are you going to do Ripper?"

"It would start of as a one-off, but we've talked about it perennially, every sort of 3 years."

"Every 3 years it pops up, so I'll probably be too old by the time I get to do it," he added jokingly.

"Buffy Lasted seven years. At the end of five years I was like 'I want to go home now please'."

"I was away for 8-and-a-half months of the year while my family were in England. Every holiday was spent in L.A and we put the kids through school their twice."

While Buffy Season 8 has experienced huge success in comic book form, it would be nice to see Buffy or Angel come back to our Television sets.

So your Monday question of the day is:

If you had the choice to see Buffy, Angel or Ripper make some sort of new TV series, what would it be and why?

Comment below and keep it clean.

Anyone who grew up the late 80s or the early 90s will surely remember this that theme song.

Coming home after school and watching this was a treat I used to enjoy on a weekly basis. I used to wonder how Racer X could always show up in the nick of time and I always wondered if my dad's old Ford Fiesta could flip itself if it were racing.

The show, the characters, the style of animation and the story were some of the first anime I had experienced. It really cracked open my imagination. As I grew older I began to appreciate the original 60s series more as nothing could quite match what it essentially was: one of the primary reasons that anime and manga is so popular in western pop culture today.

So fast forward from the early 90s to 2008. What good driving movies have we had?

Or rather, since well put together driving scenes are such a rarity, which movies have we had that truly put pedal to the metal?

Fast and the Furious, Matrix Reloaded, The Italian Job, Deathproof, Ronin, Batman Begins, The Bourne trilogy, Casiona Royale and maybe a few more. Comment below if you disagree with my choices.

Speed Racer takes what these movies have done, rips them to shreds and blasts by them in a pace of colourful wonderness.

Produced by Wachowski Bros, this is one movie that strives to stay true too the original anime and it does it brilliantly. From the moody, post conversation style glares, to the delightfully mixed array of characters and all that lovely hi-def colour.

Emile Hirsch fits the bill perfectly as Speed. He looks just like Speed, seriously, from his hair too his mannerisms, Hirsch pulls of the act very well.

But it's not just Hirsch- the entire cast is fantastic. Notable perfomances by John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Pops and Mom are a treat to watch. Matthew Fox is also a joy as Racer X.

While the story is simple, good versus evil and cheaters never win being the two main themes, it is carried well enough by the actors for the audience to really get behind Speed.

This is not the Matrix and this is definitely not V for Vendetta, it is a family movie for everyone to watch.

Extremely colourful, a feast to watch and great fun for all the family Speed Racer is out in cinemas nationwide.

Just don't try and flip your car after seeing it....

Having seen the new trailer for the Dark Knight animated prequel, Batman: Gotham Knight, my jaw literally hut the floor.

Batman: Gotham Knight bridges the story between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight through six animated short films.

The animation is done in an anime style, with several Japanese animation directors coming on board to direct the shorts.

Batman Gotham Knight is due out on DVD and Blu Ray, one week before the release of The Dark Knight.

A full preview will follow next week, but for now sit back and watch this.

And did I mention Batman legend Kevin Conroy returns to voice the caped crusader?

These are very good times for Batman fans.

Your friday question of the day is, who is your favourtie Alfred and why? Animated or film.

The latest Hulk movie looks set to destroy box offices nationwide.

Getting Fight Club star Ed Norton to play Bruce Banner was a stroke of genius on Marvel's part, as he has both the right amount of wit and trudging, self-redemption to pull of the man with Marvel's worst temper.

Some highlights of the new trailer include scenes of Bruce transforming into the Hulk and then taking on the military, some new shots of Abomination's origin and very radical footage of Hulk trashing the place....using car bonnets as boxing gloves.

With this we also see more of Bruce Banner's back story- there are several clips showing him moving to and from different environments in the world.

From the outset, little can be said about the plot however we do know that it's going to lead to a climactic, all-out, brawl between The Hulk and Abomination.

You can check out the full trailer below

So your Thursday Question of the day is...who would win in a fight, Hulk or Iron Man?

Remember the days when you could get away with making a wishy washy, sub-par super hero movie?

No neither do, I.

Long gone are the rubber nipple, camp days of Batman and Robin with the new millennium bringing along a plethora of, mostly, well done comic book adaptations.

Iron Man continues this trend and looks set to rival Spider-Man as Marvel's most successful comic-book-to-movie super hero. That's a huge statement I know, but before Spidey fan boys pull out their pitch forks and come for my head, let me explain.

Iron Man isn't the most popular super hero, the masses never really heard of him until the massive hype for the movie began. So how exactly do Marvel promote one of their generally unknown super hero franchises?

They do it themselves.

Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the Iron Man movie franchise from 20th Century Fox in 2006. From here they poured $135 million into it and brought in an all-star cast to really bring the comic book alive.

Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark and is brilliant in the role. Tom Cruise was originally rumoured too play the billionaire industrialist but after Downey Jr. as Stark, you wouldn't be able to imagine anyone else.

He's cocky, enigmatic and determined in his performance. I cannot emphasise this enough, Downey Jr. makes this movie what it is, without him it would have probably flopped.

Terrence Howard plays Lieutenant James Rupert Rhodes, who comic book fans will know as Iron Man's ally War Machine. While he doesn't become War Machine in Iron Man, there is a very subtle hint that he will dawn the War Machine armour in the inevitable sequel.

What Iron Man begins is a universe of comic book movies that will all interlink. The Hulk follows next, with Robert Downey Jr. rumoured to make a cameo appearance as Tony Stark. Already linking between these is the existence of the agency SHIELD and with that we'll soon see a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Following this there will be a Captain America movie and then an Avengers movie, all set within the same universe and allowing huge potential for crossovers.

So why is the Iron Man more important than the Spider-Man franchise?

It has set the ball in motion for what could be the coolest super hero movies ever made.

And without giving too much away about Iron Man. The ending is superb, a definite thumbs up and I would tell anyone, comic book fan or otherwise to go see this movie.