My thoughts on The Avengers movie

The second half of  The Avengers is filled with such fantastic action, it indeed has more action than all Marvel movies combined. Joss Whedon crafted the team conflict so well and balanced it out with such brilliant humour.

And though some characters managed to steal the show, Whedon and writer Zak Penn showed the importance of every character and gave them their moment to shine on multiple occasions. As a comic fan there were times while watching Avengers I couldn't believe I am getting to see these comic characters come to life all together like that.

And one of the best things about opening day is the enthusiastic crowd, who cheered right from the title sequence and during every character's intro scene.

There is a moment in the film where Alan Silvestri's awesome main Assemble theme music kicks in during that surround shot of the Avengers, I had almost tears of joy during that brief moment. Also the audience really cheered at that scene (among many others).

And the 3D for The Avengers was really impressive, also maybe it was cause of the proper bright light conditions. It is one of the best live action 3D experience I had.

"Back to the Future remake talk was a joke. Quotes taken out of context."

Moviehole.net reported earlier today about the possibility of a Back to the future remake by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (creators of the Harold & Kumar movies and directors of American Reunion).

Jon Hurwitz confirmed on Twitter that their quotes were taken out of context for that article and it was intended as a joke.

Here are few of his tweets addressing the remake talks.

Contrary to some Internet rumors, @McSchlossberg & I are not trying to remake Back to the Future. Quote taken out of context. That is all.

@JimothyDullton I'd kill us too. We were joking about it in the context of hating the idea of the Karate Kid remake. Would never go there.

@GeekTyrant @JoeyPaur We do NOT want to remake Back to the Future. Joked about it. I'd want to punch anyone in the throat who remade it.

Still seeing stories popping up claiming Hayden & I want to remake Back to the Future. Think I'd prefer to be accused of murder. #sacrilege

@JeffYorkes It's totally bumming me out. We were joking around about it in an interview and its been taken out of context. So lame.

@slashfilm LIke your article, but the truth is, we were joking around and it was taken out of context. Nobody respects BTTF more than us.

Hurwitz then responded to this Slashfilm article with additional quotes through Twitter.

"It all started with us talking about how as diehard Karate Kid fans, we were furious when KK was being remade. Then it got into a conversation about the business of remakes. And we talked about how KK proved that nerds like us make up such a small portion of the public and people embraced KK. Then we talked about how for business reasons all classics will one day be remade. We speculate BTTF will one day be remade, because its so fucking awesome the world needs those stories. But if it were to be remade, we hope its WAAAAAY in the future. We were totally joking when saying we wanted it. Joking about remaking BTTF is like when Larry David jokes about Hodgkin’s or Trey & Matt joke about AIDS. One of the few truly taboo topics."

My 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

My 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012 in release date order.

Director Rian Johnson's (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) sci-fi film Looper is my #1 anticipated film of 2012, really looking forward to the trailer and the movie release in September.

Click on the release date to view the trailers.

1. John Carter 

March 9

2. The Raid: Redemption

March 23

3. Iron Sky

 April 4

4. Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

April 6
 

5. The Cabin in the Woods 

April 13

6. Lockout 

April 13

7. Sound of My Voice 

April 27

8. Marvel's The Avengers 

May 4

9. Battleship

May 18

10. Men in Black 3 

May 25

11. Moonrise Kingdom 

May 25

12. Prometheus 

June 8

13. Brave 

June 22

14. G.I. Joe: Retaliation 

June 29

15. The Amazing Spider-Man 

July 3

16. The Dark Knight Rises 

July 20

17. The Bourne Legacy

August 3

18. Total Recall 

 August 3

19. Premium Rush 

 August 24

20. Argo 

September 14

21. Dredd 

 September 21

22. Looper 

September 28 

23. Skyfall

November 9

24. 47 Ronin 

 November 21

25. Gravity 
November 21


26. Rise of the Guardians

 November 21
 

27. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 

 December 14

28. World War Z 
December 21

29. Django Unchained 

December 25

30. The Great Gatsby 

December 25

My Top Favourite Movies of 2011

1. Drive
2. Captain America: The First Avenger
3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
4. X-Men: First Class
5. Moneyball

Honorable mention: The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris, Contagion, Source Code, Super, Bridesmaids, Hanna, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Movies that I've yet to see and which probably might have made my list: Hugo, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Back to the Future poster THE SCIENTIST by artist James White

If you love movie posters and BTTF, it's been an exciting time in the last few days. Last week we had the Mondo Back to the Future posters by Phantom City Creative (Justin Erickson & Paige Reynolds).

And today artist James White (who like PCC is also from Canada) has showcased his poster for Back to the Future with this fantastic and sleek design for Doc Brown titled THE SCIENTIST.

From his blog:
Here’s a poster design of everyone’s favorite scientist, Dr. Emmett L. Brown. In between doing full movie posters I like to do practice pieces to improve on some skills and techniques I’m exploring. This one started that way, as did THE SMUGGLER. 

I’d like to think this was the expression Doc had on his face right before that lightning struck the DeLorean at the end of Part II. Stone cold determination, bravery and curiosity toward the unknown. But lets face it, he was probably screaming like a loon. His character was always my favorite from the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy. So here he is, heroic, immortalized in blue and purple. 

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” 

Artist James White also did this cool poster for Drive as a fun project, which was then officially released in a limited run back in January.

But the week prior to the Drive poster release, James did an interview with Burlesque Design where he listed Drew Struzan's BTTF poster as one of his top 5 favourite movie posters. Since then I've been wondering if James would ever consider making his own BTTF poster.

I have been following him on Twitter in the last couple of months and his following tweet from last week is when I realized things were about to get heavy.

 "Was hoping to get this fun poster done today, but ran out of time. Which is ironic considering what I'm creating ..."

And this was from yesterday.

 "Finalized tomorrow's poster launch, regular and variant versions. Science, you are in my crosshairs. #88mph"

Mondo to release Back to the Future poster

Dreams do come true. And one of mine certainly has, thanks to Mondo.

Back to the Future is the new license acquired by Mondo and they will be releasing their first BTTF poster. I speculated this possibility in my previous article.

The Mondo BTTF posters will be representing all three movies. When framed together the posters form the DeLorean and show the time periods from the trilogy. There will also be a variant poster with all 3 posters combined.

These posters will be available online at a random time on Friday, March 2nd. Follow Mondo on Twitter and Facebook to know when the sale goes live. It will mostly likely be SOLD OUT within 2 minutes. So have your mobile notifications enabled to know when the tweet with the sale link goes online.

Back to the Future Poster by Phantom City Creative. 18"x24" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 420. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. Sold as a set with Back to the Future Part 2 and Part 3. $88/set

Back to the Future Part 2 Poster by Phantom City Creative. 18"x24" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 420. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. Sold as a set with Back to the Future Part 1 and Part 3. $88/set

Back to the Future Part 3 Poster by Phantom City Creative. 18"x24" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 420. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. Sold as a set with Back to the Future Part 1 and Part 2. $88/set

Back to the Future variant poster by Phantom City Creative. 16"x36" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 115. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $120

The 2012 Time Travel Calendar - Don't leave your 'present' without it

Finally got myself the 2012 Time Travel Calendar from designer Alex Griendling.

This geeky calendar chronicles time travel events from various films, TV shows, comics and video games. This calendar is a follow up to the 2011 calendar with more new additions, including the events from the Back to the Future: The Game accompanying the existing events from the BTTF movies.

Anyone who loves time travel and sci-fi needs to have one of these. You can buy it from this store page.

Read more how this calendar was funded via Kickstarter.

Mondo hints at the possibility of a BTTF and Ghostbusters poster

Back in November 2011, I posted about the Marty McFly art print by Tyler Stout and was hoping that Mondo would someday release a BTTF poster.

Mondo Creative Director Justin Ishmael Interview
Yesterday Scott Wampler from Collider.com posted a great in-depth interview with Mondo Creative Director Justin Ishmael. They talked about the 2011 poster releases, Mondo Mystery Movie Series, things we can expect from Mondo in 2012 and much more. Click on the above link to watch the whole interview.

During the interview Justin answered questions pertaining to Mondo's most requested prints that included Back to the Future, Ghostbusters and Attack the Block. Watch the clip below for Justin's response.



With two new BTTF books already in the pipeline and now with the Mondo BTTF poster, looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a great year for Back to the Future fans and collectors.

Hasslein Books to release two new BTTF books

For years I've been waiting for someone to publish a new Back to the Future book which would offer a comprehensive look at the BTTF Universe. Now thanks to Hasslein Books that wish is going to come true in 2012. The two BTTF books are currently titled "A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon" by Rich Handley and "Back in Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Chronology" by Greg Mitchell.

Visit the Hasslein Books website, like the Hasslein Books Facebook page, follow them on Twitter @HassleinBooks to get more updates on the BTTF books and their other releases.

I have stressed this many times in the past that whenever a company decides to release a BTTF product, the one person they need to get on board as a consultant is Stephen Clark. And I am glad to see that Hasslein Books is taking this right approach with their BTTF books.

"I'm pleased to announce that Stephen Clark, who runs BTTF.com, the official Back to the Future Web site, and is one of the main voices of BTTF fandom, will be writing the foreword to my next book, A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon, due out in 2012. Welcome aboard, Stephen--it's my honor to have you involved with this project."
Rich Handley (Editor, Co-founder) - Posted on December 6, 2011

Also they will be donating $1 per sale from every Back to the Future book they sell to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which is another great initiative from the folks at Hasslein Books.

"Exciting news from Hasslein Books! We're currently in talks with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to discuss plans to donate $1 from the proceeds of every Back to the Future book we sell, including "A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon" and "Back in Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Chronology" both due out late 2012/early 2013. Stay tuned for more info on these and other upcoming books! "
Paul Giachetti (Art Director, Co-founder) - Posted on December 10, 2011

"Paul and I had a great conversation today with the folks at the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and it's official--we'll be donating one dollar per sale from every Back to the Future book we sell."
Rich Handley - Posted on December 17, 2011


If you're a fan of the Planet of the Apes movies, be sure to get your copies of the two Planet of the Apes books by Rich Handley.

Timeline Of The Planet Of The Apes: The Definitive Chronology




















Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia

The original Planet of the Apes film is one my favourite sci-fi films and the recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes film rekindled my love for the franchise. And I was quite ecstatic to find out about this neat connection between the BTTF and POTA franchises, thanks to Charles Bocock who unearthed this unique piece of detail.

Vote for LEGO BTTF DeLorean

Back to the Future and LEGO fan Masashi Togami has built these awesome LEGO BTTF DeLoreans from BTTF Part 1 and 2, along with Marty & Doc mini figures.





http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/96
You can vote, check more pics and details in the above link. After crossing the mark of 1,000 votes, Masashi got the following official message from the LEGO CUUSOO Team.

Congratulations on crossing over 1,000 votes! We usually give this message at 500, so this is coming a bit late. Better late than never!

Our team is impressed with the detail in your DeLorean model and the Doc and Marty minifigs. Given the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future is coming up in 2015 we see the potential of some BTTF commemorative LEGO models. Keep the ideas and the supporters coming! Best of luck in your journey to 10,000 supporters.

The LEGO CUUSOO Team

http://gizmodo.com/5850882/please-help-make-these-awesome-lego-fantasies-come-true/gallery/1
Click on the above page to know more about the LEGO Cuusoo platform and the reason for wanting 10,000 votes.

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/96
Currently the LEGO BTTF DeLorean page has about 1545 votes. Now we need your help to get to 10,000 votes. Please register and support the page, you can even use your Facebook login id.

Once you have voted please share the above link on Facebook, Twitter and across other websites. Masashi will be donating part of the sales cut received from LEGO towards the The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Vote, share and let's make this LEGO BTTF DeLorean a reality.