Two Codies

Cody vs. Cody

In the early 1950s, Republic Pictures produced a black and white film serial featuring the character named Commando Cody. Cody was featured in two serials, namely Radar Men from the Moon and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe. His costume included a helmet and a rocket pack, which allows him to fly. During this time, a young man watched these serials at the cinema. More than fifty years later, as part of a movie serial he himself created, that man developed a supporting character named Commander Cody who wears a helmet and sometimes a rocket pack, obviously inspired by and a homage to the former character. Here’s what happens when the heavens open up and they meet. Click here to view a larger version of the image.

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Andy's toys are faced with the terrible concept of mortality

Latest Movie With Totoro Reviewed – Toy Story 3

One might be tempted to review Toy Story 3 as such: “The toys from Andy’s room return in the third installment of Toy Story for another wondrous adventure for the children, reuniting the voice talents of Tom Hanks as Sheriff Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, the Grand Nagus Vizzini as Rex the Tyrannosaur, Major Derlin as Hamm and the ghost of Jim Varney as Slinky Dog”. But movie is far more than that. It’s a perfect bookend for the trilogy, dramatically and visually. It’s been 10 years since the first movie and Andy’s all grown up and is ready to move out to college. All his belongings are going to be either stored in the attic or thrown away. Andy has decided to store his remaining toys in the attic, much to everyone’s relief. It wouldn’t be the great and fun life they […]

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suitcase-armor01

Do They Sell This Suitcase Anywhere?

This nifty suitcase appears to be pretty cool, and seem to be good to have with you all the time. When you need to use it, all you have to do is activate it at your feet, like so: Then you wait for it to quickly unfold and show a pair of handgrips. You grab on to the handgrips and twist them, like so: Then you bring it up to your chest, like so: Then you stretch your arms outwards still holding the handgrips, exposing the arc reactor and automatically causing all the other parts to glide and snap into position all around your body, like so: Then you wait for the headpiece to pivot and slide over your head and form a helmet, like so: Finally, profit! Coming soon May 7, 2010.

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Where the hell is my live-action Robotech movie

Prawn-flavoured Keropok: A District 9 review

A gigantic spaceship appears in the skies above Johannesburg 28 years ago. A million starving insectoid sapients are found in the ship, and ferried ground-side. Now, a guarded slum area called District 9 exists in Johannesburg that tries to keep these alien “prawns” away from humans, while the Multinational United (MNU) administrates District 9 as it attempts to pry secrets of alien technology from the dumb prawns for profit. The movie District 9 doesn’t have a particularly original storyline. In fact its premise is largely based on and a commentary on the apartheid in South Africa. It’s not really very hard sci-fi, with a lot of the science relegated to background. We see and marvel at alien technology and its effect but we don’t go into details. Its hand-held shakycam effects are not as motion sickness-inducing as say The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, but it does have some jitter […]

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T-800

Walking Through A-Deh-Deh-Deh Like That – A Terminator Salvation Review

In the first Terminator movie, if time travel convention is to be adhered to, just before John Connor’s troops stormed Skynet and was on the verge of destroying it in Timeline A, the human resistance is screwed the moment the T-800 Model 101 went back in time moments before Kyle Reese did. What actually did happen? Was that Skynet destroyed in Timeline A even as the T-800 terminated Sarah Connor in a new divergent timeline (Timeline B) in which case John Connor never existed and Skynet was triumphant? From Timeline A, Kyle Reese went back and stopped the Terminator creating Timeline C. Do all these three timelines exist simultaneously? If you didn’t stop to think about it all however, thanks to the superb direction, story and visual effects – if you are sufficiently entertained – then Terminator was a flawless movie. Similarly with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the movie was […]

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Graveyard of starships

I’m Just Gonna Title This Entry “A Star Trek Review” Okay?

Doctor Who. Yes. You always have at least one scene (and usually more) in every episode of the show. You know the kind of scene they have: “Run!” “Doctor?” “I said, run!” “Did you say…” “RUN!!!” And then present company goes tearing down a corridor or a hallway or an alien cave at top speed being chased by a monster or an alien or both, usually lethal. That’s the kind of energy I found in almost every other scene in the new Star Trek movie which is entitled, uh… Star Trek. When I heard this project being announced I didn’t feel any apprehension or outrage or elation over it. I was all Star Trekked out. Younger actors portraying the Original Series’ characters. Young Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Trek 90210. Yeah, whatever. But closer I got to the release, the closer I got excited about information that leaked out of the […]

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Dog Carcass In Alley This Morning, Tire Tread On Burst Stomach

[[image:200903-watchmen1.jpg:L-R Peacemaker, Nightshade, Captain Atom, Thunderbolt, Blue Beetle and The Question:center:0]]The limited series comic book Watchmen was released by DC Comics more than 20 years ago. Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, this comic was the start of a new age in the medium. Along with its contemporary, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, it deconstructs the superhero genre by showing us what extreme conditions can produce costumed crimefighters, what kind of personalities they have and what happens to them when they are considered illegal… all existing in an alternate 1985 timeline where Nixon is still the president of the United States and the world is living in the shadow of imminent nuclear war. Because of the very rich and detailed storylinetold within the space of 12 issues and several fictional documents per issue, such as book exceprt, interviews, letters, news and magazine clippings to support the […]

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PUNCH Gunalan?

The Year the Hasbro Toys Invaded In Tandem

Preview of the upcoming giant robot mayhem movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has been released. In fact, it was shown on TV during the superbowl, and not long afterward the trailers can be viewed in their high definition Quicktime glory at the Apple Trailers site. Let’s have a look at some of the highlights, shall we. Above: Autobot leader Optimus Prime receives a blow to the face, shattering his mouth guard in slow motion. One hopes that he turns around and stabs his assailant in the face with a big ass extendable energon sword as he is wont to do. I have no idea who punches Prime. Above:You wouldn’t want Ravage to bite you, cause after he’s bitten you he’ll probably also fire that big ass cannon in his mouth. Which usually hurts. I wonder if this Ravage can speak, and if he does will he speak in a […]

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Who is the Fallen? Find out after the break

The ‘Tronians Are Back With Friends And Then Some

Check it out: June 2009 will see the release of the sequel to 2007’s Transformers, a movie about cute and cuddly giant robots. Apparently, its full title will be Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The Fallen? That’s a relatively recent addition to the Transformers mythology from 2003 Transformers: The War Within comic book from Dreamwave Productions, which takes place during the Cybertronian War a long, long time before their arrival on Earth. According to his wikipedia entry: One of the original thirteen Transformers created by Primus, the robot who would become the Fallen betrayed his creator by siding with Primus’s dark twin, the malevolent planet-eater, Unicron. In the final battle between Primus and Unicron, the Fallen fell victim to the same fate as his master, sucked through a black hole into another dimension. However, while Unicron emerged into another universe, the Fallen was not so fortunate, finding himself trapped in […]

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An Array of Questions Concerning Youth

Is this young Remy LeBeau, the Ragin’ Cajun? [[image:weaponx01.jpg:Gambit:center:0]] Is this a young Victor Creed? [[image:weaponx02.jpg:Sabretooth:center:0]] Is this a young Fred Dukes? [[image:weaponx03.jpg:Blob:center:0]] Is this a young pre-cancer scarred Wade Wilson? [[image:weaponx04.jpg:Deadpool:center:0]] Is this a teenaged diamond-skinned Emma Frost? [[image:weaponx05.jpg:White Queen:center:0]] Is this a very young Ororo Munroe? [[image:weaponx06.jpg:Storm:center:0]] and finally, bringing it all together in his new movie out next May, is this a young, pre-Logan, pre-adamantium skeleton James Howlett himself? [[image:weaponx07.jpg:Weapon X:center:0]]  Snikt.

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Crew

Bridge Crew of the NCC-1701

….”No bloody -A, -B, -C or -D.” Paramount has been releasing a number of images from the new Star Trek movie, directed by J.J. Abrams the past 24 hours or so. The shooting of the movie has been kept top secret that production photos from it has been scant. This new batch of pictures have now circulated to half a dozen different sites on my RSS watch list and forums. The first I read of it was here, at AICN. Here are two photos from the deluge: Above: “I have a hunger, Jim. I want what’s inside your brain.” Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Above: “Jim, I’m a doctor… not a Rohirrim. And why do I smell weed coming from Sulu?” I’m not much of a Trekkie since Deep Space Nice ended, but my interest is piqued because the movie will be directed by J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Fringe – […]

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Ghosts of Alec Guiness and Ewan McGregor

Shenanigans on Christophsis and Teth – A Clone Wars Review

I finally saw Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The short version of it is this: I went in expecting three episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon series jury-rigged and strung together to form a 90 minute movie. And I got what I want and a bit more. I loved it. If you didn’t already know, the movie is actually that: three episodes of the cartoon spliced together for a theatrical showing after George Lucas saw the episodes on the big screen during meetings with the production team. And I can’t wait for further episodes. The story is nothing heavy or dramatic. Amongst the many battles of the the Clone Wars, Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s infant son has been abducted and the Jedi assigns Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to investigate, pick up the trail and return the Huttlet back to its parent. In return, the Grand Army of the […]

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Consumer. Citizen. Tomayto. Tomahto

Burtt At His Best – A WALL-E Review

WALL-E, directed by Finding Nemo‘s Andrew Stanton, is indeed according to Ben Burtt, “R2-D2 the movie “. And as any Star Wars fan knows, Burtt has been the Academy Award sound designer for all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, as well as a writer for the Droids cartoon TV movie The Great Heep which featured R2-D2 and C-3P0. So, there is no one more skilled than him in crafting mechanical sounds that elicit emotions in viewers. WALL-E is the acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth-class, a trash management robot designed to clear the immense volume of garbage from an uninhabitable Earth, and left behind when all Humans have evacuated into ships in space. We also see two WALL-As – Axiom-class robots later in the movie. However, it’s been seven hundred years since he first started his job and all the other WALL-Es are damaged beyond repair […]

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The Clown Prince of Chaos – The Dark Knight Review

[[image:darkknight01.jpg:Dunno why’s called the Batpod, but it’s hella cool:left:0]]No. The Joker is not the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the sequel to his 2005 movie Batman Begins. Crime is just a tool and a means to an end. And that end is a total breakdown in the order of Gotham City. Not just anarchy, but absolute chaos. Heath Ledger is for me now the best Joker actor around (or not any more, as the case may be), edging out Mark Hamill’s performance who was previously in my top spot. He is a frightening character, not because he’s creepy or insane, but he seems to be the one most in control of everything, did the best planning, execute his plans, keeping everyone on their toes by constantly hitting them with his machinations left and right at the same time Even if he aims to create chaos, […]

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