Manimal lives again…again!

Manimal Dr. Jonathan Chase

A future where apes have evolved from Manimals???


[adrotate banner=”1″] Looks like that long-rumored Manimal movie has become a reality thanks to Will Ferrell and Adam McKay adopting it as their own! As a long-time Manimal fan (I have vivid memories of watching it as a small child and then being saddened when it vanished forever), I look forward to this news with great joy in my heart. You might say I am an Manimaniac!

If you need some quick Manimal facts, read on: Professor Jonathan Chase has learned the secret technique of transforming into any animal he wants, and uses this power to fight crime. He most often transforms from man to a hawk or a panther (as those were the two makeup effects they did full transformation work with), but would often become other animals. I remember one episode he became a bull just so he could knock a door open. Manimal lasted 8 whole episodes and then vanished into the night, never to be seen again except via jokes on MST3K. Oh, and also the episode of Night Man that Manimal guest starred on. Which was awesome! Because: Manimal!

Another fact about Night Man – the show had a tie-in Marvel comic, which resulted in Night Man wandering around in the Marvel Universe. Which since he met Manimal means Manimal is part of the Marvel Universe! Maybe Manimal can join the Avengers! Even more awesome, Manimal and Automan take place in the same universe, because Manimal and Automan each had an identical scene take place in one of their episodes, and both were Glen A. Larson productions! Could Night Man and Automan show up in Manimal? What about other Glen A. Larson productions, like Knight Rider or B. J. and the Bear? Manimal could even become the Bear (who is a chimp!)

Needless to say, there is a whole world of potential here, and it will be hilarious, so I give this the Manimaniac Seal of Approval, which means I turn into an actual seal.

via Deadline

The Lego Movie (Review)

The Lego Movie

Lego Movie
2014
Story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenplay by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Lego Movie
The Lego Movie constantly refrains the song “Everything is Awesome!” throughout the film, and though the song is presented as a joke because things aren’t awesome, it best describes The Lego Movie. Because everything is awesome. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller took a toy commercial and traditional hero’s journey narrative and turned it into a celebration of tossing out instructions and a collectivist uniting against conformity and conservatism. Also it’s fun and hilarious.

The unlikely group of heroes unite against President Business, who controls the entire world and wants things to stay just the way they are. He gets incensed when things are built that don’t follow the rules or are weird. His reign has seen the Lego city become a virtual police state where everyone follows a huge list of rules and destroys anything out of the ordinary to be replaced with construction that follows the rules. The people are lulled into accepting their reality with glee, thanks to control of television and music, where every show is Where’s My Pants? and every song is the aforementioned “Everything is Awesome!”
Lego Movie
The resistance becomes a celebration of individuality vs marching to the same drum beat. The Lego Movie encourages you to build what you want, and not worry about if your projects conflict with what someone expects you to do. While President Business seeks his stagnant perfection, the real progress and fun comes from the chaos of creation.
Lego Movie

Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt) – Emmet is the most average man who ever averaged, and even when he follows all the rules (and there are a lot of rules), no one seems to remember him much at all. But things change when suddenly the Piece of Resistance is stuck to his back, and it looks like he has a prophesy to fulfill. If he can just be interesting!
Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) – A Master Builder who searches for the Piece of Resistance and finds it on Emmet. She mistakenly thinks he’s much more powerful than he actually is. But despite her disappointment, she becomes part of the inspiration for Emmet to rise up beyond his lot in life. Is dating Batman.
Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) – Wise sage who prophesies the downfall of Lord Business and the Piece of Resistance. He’s blinded, and later begins training Emmet, though there is little time for actual training. Has trouble telling Gandalf and Dumbledore apart.
Batman (Will Arnett) – The best movie Batman since Adam West. The caped crusader joins the mission to save the universe because he’s Batman and that’s what Batman does. He’s dark. Also he’s dating Wyldstyle, in between making his music. FYI, people in the audience cheered when Batman showed up.
Lord/President Business (Will Ferrell) – Lord Business is President of the Lego city and controls all aspects of it, in a creepy Big Brother way. He’s also a super villain, who has stolen an artifact that he plans to use to end the world (which involves freezing it in place.) That is, unless he’s stopped by The Piece of Resistance!

Lego Movie
Minor spoilers below the fold!
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[adrotate banner=”1″]More news and links and fun for the whole family!

**Anchorman 2 will drop in theaters December 20, 2013. I hope someone is there to catch it! Adam McKay directs and Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate return.

**The Raid 2 (aka Berandal) is filming soon and has some new cast members: Julie Estelle as Hammer Girl, Alex Abbad, Marsha Timothy, Mathias Muchus, Tio Pakusadewu, and noted silat master Cecep Arif Rahman.

**Summit Entertainment has picked up Revoc, a pitch from Olaf de Fleur that is a “post-alien invasion thriller.” We’ll keep an eye open to see whatever the heck that is.

**The YA scifi novel Unwind has been optioned for a flick by Constantin Film. Written by Neal Shusterman, it is yet another dystopian future book that takes place after an American civil war about abortion, where kids 13-17 can be harvested for organs if their parents want. The synopsis is filled with all sorts of book specific terms and I would probably never read it, but The Hunger Games made a lot of money, so prepare for dozens of dystopian futures!

**Hugh Jackman is officially in X-Men: Days of Future Past

**Angeilina Jolie will direct Unbroken, a World War II POW flick about Louis Zamperini, who was an Olympic athlete before becoming a pilot and then a POW in Japan. It’s based on the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.

**The Cue Dot Confessions explores The Life of Pi!

**She Blogged by Night has 10 Laps to Go!

**Can’t Stop the Movies meets Love in the Afternoon!

**Cultural Gutter lists the top 10 Romance Novels of 2012!

**Monster Island Resort Podcast #91: Halloween for Christmas with Justin Beahm! Could he have gotten a Secret Santa present from yours truly? Click the link and find out!

**Photo from the last day of shooting for The Huntresses:
Huntresses

**George Lucas and the first mockup of R2D2:
George Lucas first R2D2

Until next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lego films are going to be damn awesome!!

Lego Batman
[adrotate banner=”1″]The Lego film seems like it will be amaza-tastic! Also damn awesome, since that’s what I wrote in the headline. Co-directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) and featuring voices of many a talented actor: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie.

There will be largely animated with a few live-action components. Lego: The Piece of Resistance will also feature Superman and Batman in the same film, showing that a cartoon can do in theaters what Warner Brothers is too stupid to pull off themselves for decades! Other rumored licensed Lego properties for cameos include Yoda and Indiana Jones. The film is tracking so well they’ve bumped up the release date, from February 28, 2014, to February 7, 2014. That’s still way too long for impatient me.

Regular Lego figure Emmet (Chris Pratt) is mistakenly identified as the key to saving the Lego world and he’s forced to go on a quest to stop an evil tyrant. President Business (Will Ferrell) is the evil CEO who is too evil to manage his personal life correctly, and Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) is his henchman.

If you can’t get enough of Lego Superman and Lego Batman, then you are in luck, as there is also going to be a Lego Batman DTV flick with Superman guest starring! The trailer released is pretty much just cut scenes from the video game, but the story so far is there will be new animation in addition to these cut scenes to make a full film. So we will see. Even the cast list for LEGO Batman: The Movie is the same for the rumored voices in the Lego: The Piece of Resistance – Will Arnett as Batman and Channing Tatum as Superman. This is like synergy or something. I hope they make Lego films for those awesome monster hunters sets I see at the stores.

via
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Lego Joker

The Campaign

The Campaign


2012
Written by Shawn Harwell and Chris Henchy
Directed by Jay Roach

Meeting of the International Brotherhood of Serious Men

Arriving early enough we aren’t sick to death of political commercials yet, The Campaign delivers solid laughs as it carpet bombs the political process. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis pull no punches in the dirtiest campaign ever, but sadly what might just be a glimpse at the future. As the battle gets increasingly fierce, the antics get increasingly wild. And just you watch, some idiot candidate will copy something from this film. It will happen.

What happens when you eat too much Curves cereal!

Money rules politics, now more than ever. The Campaign does more to show the problems with the Citizens United verdict than any documentary. Comedians are one of the few brave enough to spit truth in the face of grand power, and the only ones to do it in a way people will listen. The Campaign uses actual political parties, which I thought would hut the film, but actually makes it a stronger piece. It manages to hit all sides of political excess and holds no punches. Director Jay Roach was fresh off of Game Change, a serious look at the 2008 presidential election and the Sarah Palin decision, giving him added insight that helped sharpen the knives here.

Basic political speak is taken to the woodshed, and you realize just how stupid some of the buzzwords sound when outside of the political framework. Dogs are declared unAmerican, the Chinese become scary words as the current job-taking enemy du jour, and everyone under the sun becomes the backbone of America.

And once again Tars has sold out, as this was a pre-release free screening that I scored tickets to.

Snakes on a Campaign!

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) – Your typical Bill Clinton Democrat, saying broad platitudes that even he knows are useless, all while banging any piece of tail that heads his way. His wife is there just because she likes to ride with winners, and Cam Brady is so caught up in being Congressman Cam Brady that he begins to make some fatal mistakes.
Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) – Noted community weird guy, Marty Huggins shows up out of nowhere to be the candidate on the Republican ticket. His innocent ways are soon steered into the mud thanks to a campaign runner provided by the Motchs (Tim Wattley) who teaches Marty how to fight dirty. Marty can become the candidate needed to defeat Cam Brady, but is he still Marty Huggins? The North Carolina setting is like coming home for Galifianakis, as his uncle was North Carolina Congressman Nick Galifianakis.
Do it. DO IT!!!!

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