Hikari Friday Giveaway: Funko’s Got Two Stay Pufts Who’d Like to Stay Put In Your Collection!

Posted on October 24, 2014 by geelw

It’s that time of the week again and as Halloween is rolling up like a spooky candy-filled fog next Friday, Funko is giving two of you out there a chance to win.

This time out it’s a double dose of the not so friendly Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in two different paint schemes. Get lucky here and you’ll soon be a winner of either this cool Stay Puft Premium Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 of 1500):

Or this Entertainment Earth exclusive Pink Glitter Stay-Puft Figure(#1 of 1000):

Of course, you need to do a little digital legwork and pop over to one of Funko’s social media channels:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

If you’re NOT a winner, the first figure is available in December and the other can be pre-ordered at Entertainment Earth using that link above. As always, Good Luck!

2001: A Space Odyssey Gets a New Trailer. Time Travel Seems To Work After All!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by geelw

Well, if you’re a very lucky resident of the UK with an interest in the classics, you get to see Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece as it NEEDS to be seen – in a nice theater with a huge screen for a short run starting November 28. This trailer is quite nice even though it sort of gives away a lot of stuff to people who’ve seen this one many times. On the other hand, it’s also mysterious and unsettling in a “What the heck is this film about?” manner that may pull in a few younger viewers yet to experience this ultimate trip. Fat chance of this coming out here, as I have no idea who would go see this other than people like me who don’t mind hoofing it out to a theater just to see something already viewed multiple times (to the point of knowing certain lines of dialog and timing almost perfectly. “Ham, ham, ham, ham…”) Eh, given that I’d have to travel far to see this anyway (we’re down to two faraway theaters of questionable quality in this borough, boooo!), in a goofball way, it’s almost worth the airfare to London. But that’s not going to happen, ladies and gents…

Frankenstein Pumpkins? I Bet They’ll Have Universal Appeal…

Posted on October 13, 2014 by geelw

Oh, it’s a holiday today (a now controversial one to some folks), it’s gloomy out and I’m staring at a pile of stuff to do. Horrors! Anyway, between me ignoring all the big “important” gaming stories the internet is abuzz about these past few weeks (Corruption in “journalism”! TMI Sex stories! Entitled jerks wanting the impossible.. or else!) and me having way too much to do (which is why I ignore the internet), my brain is upside down and needing a rest. Trust me, I had three cups of coffee already today and it’s not even firing a spark plug upstairs.

(thanks, Movieclips Classic Trailers!)

That said, THIS story got me smiling for a bit this morning… to a point. California farmer Tony Dighera is probably going to become a very wealthy man in a short time thanks to a little ingenuity. I won’t bore you with a rewrite, just click here if you haven’t see what he’s whipped up. I just hope to heck Universal Studios or whomever owns the rights to that famous face knows this and is a good sport, or Mr. Dighera’s going to be supplying some lawyers or all of Universal Studios’ theme parks with those Pumpkins forever anda day (and a half). If they’re cool, they should pay him to make all the rest of the classic Universal monster lineup, I say. Although, at that current price point of at least $75 per pumpkin, only those set to leave the planet for Mars at some point will be able to afford one of these babies…

Random Film of the Week(end): When Worlds Collide

Posted on October 12, 2014 by geelw

You know we’re screwed as a species when the wealthy ones start talking about packing up and moving to Mars with increasing fervor while failing to mention that, oh yeah – the poor people aren’t getting up there at all with their crime and diseases and lack of money and such. While it’s a wonderful idea to pick up and leave an old house and hoof it over to a new one if you can afford it, the truth of the matter is it’s not quite that simple. EVERYTHING on any planet that’s not Earth-like will need to be paid for and shipped from air to water to food to people to get things up and running so all of those things required for living can be manufactured on that new old planet. Relying on shipments from Earth once one is on Mars is pretty much the worst idea ever (well, next to thinking a trip to Mars isn’t going to cost a lot more money, time and lives than anyone can imagine should a single thing go wrong in transit), but I don’t expect to change the minds of those committed to this expensive errand.

Instead, I’d highly recommend those people determined to go (and those of us headed for the history books) to watch Rudolph Maté’s When Worlds Collide, the classic 1951 sci-fi drama produced by George Pal and based on the book by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer that’s somewhat dated on many fronts, but still packs quite a wallop in terms of its visual effects that probably sent plenty of paranoid theater-goers home to cower under the covers for a while despite the somewhat hopeful ending (well, for SOME lucky space travelers)… Continue reading →

ALIEN 35th Anniversary Blu-Ray/DVD: If You’re NEW to This Flick, It’s A Must-Buy…

Posted on October 5, 2014 by geelw

Hmmmm. I’m not sure I need another version of ALIEN for my library, but this 35th anniversary limited edition features a a reprint of the excellent Alien: The Illustrated Story comic and all-new, collectible art cards along with the 1979 original cut and 2001 director’s cut of the film. As this is one of my favorite films of any genre, I’ll probably cave in and pick this up at some point once there’s a price drop just to add it to the other sets I have here.

Yeah, Fox is pretty much jabbing us in the wallet with this one, but the price isn’t bad if you shop around and at least the new extras are different and worth checking out if you have to have EVERY bit of memorabilia. Between this and Alien Isolation arriving on the same day, I have the feeling that a whole new set of fans will be made for this absolute classic sci-fi/horror hybrid. The cranky older fans who think this one’s a double dip with a few bonuses surely won’t be buying this re-re-re-re-release, if my poking around on a few film boards is any indication. Those geezers are just too smug to see that somewhere in the world, someone STILL hasn’t seen ALIEN and yeah, they might be wanting to get this because it’ll be their first time experiencing this still near-perfect film…

Hikari Friday: Funko Frees Funky Frankensteins For Fortunate Few!

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

Oh, these two Funko Hikari giveaways this week are pretty cool-looking takes on the Universal version of Frankenstein’s Monster. First up, that Glitter Shock Frankenstein Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 0f 1200) looks as if he fell out of a passing UFo and landed on is flat head, doesn’t he? Those eerie black eyes, that almost glowing green complexion… yeah, he’s Space Frankenstein’s Monster for sure:

Meanwhile, poor Premium Distressed Frankenstein Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 of 600 and an Entertainment Earth EXCLUSIVE, by the way) looks pretty pissed off because he’s just woken up and there’s not a cup of coffee or Egg McMutton to be found anywhere and everyone knows you HAVE to feed the monster or else he gets cranky. Either that, or he’s already had breakfast and is all ready to head out and play. Um, I’d get any little flower-picking girls away from any bodies of water, folks.

As usual, you know the drill – hit up one of Funko’s social network spots:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

Enter and get to the crossing of fingers and wearing of assorted good luck charms in order to bring some lucky luck your merry way. If you lose this time out (again?), you can always hit up your favorite Funko retailer for Glitter Shock Frankie in November and Entertainment Earth in December for that Premium Distressed Frankie. Good luck otherwise!

TCM Reminds Us That War Is (And Always Will Be) Hell…

Posted on September 25, 2014 by geelw

Ah, there’s nothing like the darkly comic insanity of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) to remind us that painting oneself into a corner before deciding to spray a few cans of Raid around the house, then light up a cigarette to relax is always a terrible idea. Anyway, if you’re up late tonight and into Friday morning, you can catch this classic on TCM at 1am (eastern time – dip backwards on that clock according to your own time zone). I tend to watch this one a few times a year because it’s both hilarious and bracing while showing not much has changed over time except news (and bombs) can travel a hell of a lot faster. While the film is perhaps the bleakest of black comedies, according to one New Yorker article from earlier this year… a good deal of what happened in the film was (and perhaps still is) entirely plausible to some extent. Eeeeek. Um, sleep well, ladies and gents… sleep well…

Mail’s In, I’m Out!

Posted on September 23, 2014 by geelw

Thanks to the mail deities delivering nearly everything at once yesterday evening because of a slight delay from a few states and faster than expected international shipping (hoo-ray!), I’m taking today off to tackle a couple of entertainment options. For the upcoming Fairy Tale Blogathon at Movies, Silently I had to import Ray Harryhausen The Early Years Collection from the UK, as it’s not available in a Region 1 format DVD (why?). I was deciding between writing that 2-disc set up when I came across the complete 2-disc set of Fractured Fairy Tales and snapped it up because it was dirt cheap and had free shipping. Of course, someone claimed that review, but I didn’t mind because I grew up watching The Bullwinkle Show reruns and those FFT segments were always hilarious.

For a crazed change of pace, I HAD to bug Clint over at MVD Visual about The Sex Pistols on TV, a DVD documentary of the band’s outrageous live interviews and other footage that I’ve wanted to see for some time. Yep, I have pretty varied musical tastes, folks. Finally, time to give the devil his due, as Diablo III Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition is in the house! While the PS4 is getting all the online ink, I’ve only seen two reviews of the PS3 version, so my review will let those of you curious about this who don’t yet own that new console know if it’s worth a buy. I did play a few hours last night and here’s a spoiler: It’s a buy for a ton of reasons. You get the original game with some BIG changes (as in your copy of plain DII is now obsolete to some extent) and the Reaper of Souls content that adds even more new stuff.

Hmmm… okay, enough procrastinating – I need to go dip myself into some diversions, people. Back in a bit…

And Who Wouldn’t Want To Spend the Evening With Miss Bardot?

Posted on September 22, 2014 by geelw

Well, I have no idea what I’d say or do once I popped out of that time machine and found myself in the presence of the lady, but I’d probably faint dead away from surprise that my time travel experiment worked and wake up a few seconds before I was to be zapped back to the present. Oh well. I guess staying safe at home with these five films is a safer bet:

8PM: And God Created Woman (1956)

9:45PM: Une Parisienne (1957)

11:30PM: Plucking the Daisy (1956)

1:30 AM: The Night Heaven Fell (1958)

3:15 AM: Contempt (1963)

The good thing for me is I’ve only seen two of these films, so the rest will be my first time. Um… er… (*beet!*) you know what I mean! Get your mind out of the gutter, you. I need all that space for mine to float around in later! ;^P

Good, Housekeeping!

Posted on September 14, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, dirtyworkUK!)

Well, maybe this is actually more of a generic post to say Sunday will be slow for them. Posts, that is. I’m doing some away team stuff today (playing Destiny at a friend’s place for a review using his speedy connection and PSN account) and generally keeping a low profile because it’s a busy week ahead and I want to expend as little energy as possible today. “But what about Destiny?” you ask? “Isn’t it EXCITING?!” You ask? Um… welll… it’s FUN, don’t get me wrong, folks. Oh, you’ll see in my review later this week. I do like it so far, but to quote a certain fake Harry: “A man’s got to know his limitations…” Anyway, back in a bit. Maybe I’ll even get in another post today if I get back early enough to ramble about something.