Interstellar 60-Second Trailer: Hold Onto Your Seats (Again) For A Minute…

As noted previously, Interstellar promises to be another “deep thought” film experience from Christopher Nolan, so I’m looking forward to those conversations with people who didn’t “get” something in the film or were hoping for a typical Hollywood ending and didn’t get that and think they wasted whatever it cost to buy a ticket. *Sigh*, yeah… opinions and the internet can be a pain in the rear end sometimes. Anyway, I’m predicting big things for this one even if it’s not a box-office buster like less cerebral movies turn out to be. It’ll certainly be something to keep in mind as a future home video purchase as I think it’ll be a film worth watching a few times…

As usual, we shall see…

Interstellar Trailer #3: Brainy Blockbuster Alert…

Chris Nolan’s upcoming sci-fi drama Interstellar certainly looks as if will be quite the ride, but not of the many explosions per second and impossible close calls galore variety. Although, amusingly enough some of that stuff seems to be in this new trailer (out of proper context, I’m gathering). Already, some of the film is telegraphing itself (this looks like a one way trip and the fate of humanity depends on this mission’s success), but par for the course here, I’m not going to let a trailer decide whether or not I like an entire film. I’m kind of immune to most trailers these days, no matter how cool they look or sound thanks to some films being less enjoyable to sit through for longer than the running time of the average trailer. Or am I just being a cranky cynic here? Again.

Anyway, November will tell all about this one and I can certainly wait until then. Heck, my plate is pretty full as it is, so a little suspense will do me good.

Funko’s Hikari Friday Giveaway Offers A Triple Treat (Or Is It Threat?) For Sci-Fi Fans!

Hikari logo 
Three Hikari Sofubi Vinyl Figures are up for grabs this week, including two really great looking Premium Transformers figures. Funko is doing these up right and as you can see below, even one of Universal Studios’ classic monsters is getting the Japanese vinyl treatment. Check out the Apocalypse Creature Hikari Sofubi Figure (the lucky winner gets #1 of only 750 made, the rest of you need to fly into your local Funko retailer and hope they’re not sold out):

Apocalypse Creature Hikari Sofubi Figure 

And for you Transformers fans, Funko has introduced its Hikari Premium line that features over 75 paint applications applied to each figure, making for a supremely detailed collectible. Both limited to 1000 pieces, they’ll be EXCLUSIVELY available in September on the Entertainment Earth website. First up for grabs is the Battle Ready Optimus Prime Hikari Premium Sofubi Figure (#1 of 1000):

Battle Ready Optimus Prime Hikari Premium 

And here’s the Battle Ready Bumblebee Hikari Premium Sofubi Figure:

Battle Ready Bumblebee Hikari Premium 

As usual, entering is a SNAP. Just boogie on over to one of Funko’s social media pages:

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

Do what you need to do and keep those fingers crossed and an eyeball on your email inbox next Thursday when the winners are announced. As always, good luck!

This Funko Hikari Friday Giveaway Is More Than Meets The Eye!

Hikari logoThis week’s Funko Hikari Vinyl Figure giveaway is a double shot for you to win one of two really cool licensed classic Transformers vinyls! Oh, here’s a little note to you big Mr. Bay-haters out there: these aren’t the ones from that new movie at all, so you can enter with pride and confidence that your shelves won’t be cluttered with that you call “inferior” product at all. Anyway, if you’re now feeling even better at that news, why not try to win?

Go hit up one of Funko’s social network channels NOW:

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

Enter and keep your digital ear to the ground next Thursday, as you might just be the lucky winner of this cool Limited Edition Optimus Prime Clear Glitter Hikari Sofubi Figure:

Limited Edition Optimus Prime Clear Glitter Or this equally cool Limited Edition Bumblebee Clear Glitter Hikari Sofubi Figure:

LE Bumblebee Clear Glitter Hikari Sofubi FigureEach is #1 of 3000 and if you’re not one of the two lucky ones who snag these, you can still run like heck down to that favorite Funko emporium in August to BUY one of these babies. So, what are you waiting for? Go get your chance-o-meter revved up and get lucky!

Interstellar Trailer: Nolan’s Next Will Be Even More Of A Trip…

interstellar_xlgWhen I first heard that Chris Nolan was making an honest to goodness science fiction picture, I knew it would be packed with a fine cast and at the very least worth a look for its visual effects, I didn’t expect to be as impressed as I was with this first actual trailer. Interstellar poses some interesting questions that look as if they’re going to be answered in a few ways before those credits roll. That, or it’ll be one of those great and very re-watchable “debate” movies as to what it all means.

Interestingly enough, Matthew McConaughey was also in another sci-fi flick that posed some deep questions that got answered, Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, released in 1997 by Warner Bros. to primarily positive reviews. Nolan seems to be looking to go deeper in his film, but we’ll see how it all turns out on November 7, 2014.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Gets The Funko Pop! Treatment

Optimus Pop

funko logoWhile Transfomers: Age of Extinction may not be my big summer film at all this year (or ever!), leave it to Funko to get my interest piqued in more of their Pop! vinyl figure line with these three new pieces coming this month at a retailer near you that stocks this cool collectible stuff.

Check out Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Autobot Drift here and then make room somewhere for them in your collection. I wonder if anyone has just run out of room entirely in their place and had to knock a hole in a wall somewhere, pick up a new cabinet or shelf or pull off some other shenanigans to get MORE of these figures in their space.

Bumblebee Pop Autobot Drift Pop

Of course, you KNOW what happens when you buy or build a new place to store stuff, right? That new “solution” will look SO empty with just one, two or three of these vinyls on it… which means you just HAVE to fill it up, right? Yeah, I know how that goes, people…

Part Of My Weekend Plans Are Set…

Black Saturday of the Lost ArkYeah, yeah, yeah… TCM shows this a few times a year, but sometimes it’s just nice to own a movie if you happen to not want to rely on a channel (or worse, a streaming video service) to deliver the goods. There’s just something lovely and delicious about popping a disc into a player, sitting back and letting the film in question do its stuff and Bava’s horror classic certainly has PLENTY of stuff. I just find it amusing that as absolutely gorgeous as Barbara Steele was (and is, as she’s still with us, last I checked), in a number of her films, she’s buried under makeup that makes her look pretty horrific. But hey, that’s one reason she’s loved by many fans of classic horror flicks I guess.

As for Raiders, it was $2.50 new, I needed another copy and didn’t care if it was on Blu-Ray or not. I actually hadn’t seen it in a while and HATE watching it on AMC because of all those dumb interruptions and the picture quality is terrible to my eyes. One actually needs NO excuse to own this film, as it’s something you can pop on and loop all day as background noise while you’re doing stuff around the house. “I dunno, I’m making this up as I go!” may become your mantra after a day of this film, that’s for sure…

Doctor Jones, I Presume? Writers, Here’s How To Introduce Your Hero (#3 Of A Bunch)…

(thanks, jackpmoore!) 

Thanks to George Lucas, Philp Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan with a grand assist from director Steven Spielberg (and of course, the great Harrison Ford’s performance), this one’s easy to fall into and get hooked on right from the moment the Paramount logo fades into that mountain and a big grin spreads on your face. I also find this intro hilarious because those old serials the film was derived from were divided into chapters only a few minutes long, so this would have never been allowed. Anyway, this is one of the most perfect film openings that sets the tone for what’s to come a few minutes later in that trap-packed cave and later, the wilder globe-hopping adventure to come that’s still one of the most re-watchable films ever. I saw Raiders on day one of its release here in NYC and many times since because while it’s far from flawless, it just never fails to entertain in every respect. That’s one part of what makes a true classic movie hero, I’d say…

I’ve Got The Power (Back)! Or: Be Careful What You Wish For…

Ha and double ha. So, my replacement laptop power supply arrived this afternoon and works fine (it’s not OEM, but it’s getting the job done), but I’m now faced with the hi-larious dilemma of catching up to a ton of stuff I haven’t been able to do until now. My brain and overstuffed inbox just let me know what’s in store for me:

(thanks, davstern1500!) 

Ouch. Let’s see now… I’ve a bunch of games to download, some articles to complete a digital stack of email to answer and a few other things that have my head spinning a bit. Oh well, no use complaining about it – there’s work to do so let’s get to it. Er, you might want to stay back a few feet… this could get messy.

Random Film of the Week(end): Nights of Cabiria

(thanks, TrailerItaliano!) 

Nights of Cabiria_MPThe first time I saw Nights of Cabiria, I was wide awake and it was the middle of the afternoon, but I was so wrapped up in watching Giulietta Masina’s spectacular performance that I’d stopped reading the subtitles and missed a chink of the story. Of course, this being a Fellini film, the visuals and expressive acting spelled out most of what happened and Masina’s work as a happy go lucky hooker with a head of stone and dreams of finding love kept me entranced until the ending.

I’ve seen the film quite a few times since and have introduced it to friends with no explanation because how do you properly describe a film about prostitutes that manages to be funny and sad and human all at the same time without getting wrapped up in someone’s “Uh, so… it’s a movie about what?” eyebrow. Granted, you can always take the easy way out and make it a double feature night with Fellini’s La Strada first, as like this film, it won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and has Giulietta Masina giving another performance for the ages. That SHOULD wipe away any smudgy thoughts about pedigree and content.

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