Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: First Pic of Bebop & Rocksteady

     The sequel to the Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been on a casting frenzy.  With Brian Tee taking over for Tohoru Masamune as the Shredder, Brittany Ishibashi replacing Minae Noji as Shredder's daughter Karai (both seen wearing much different armor than the samurai-esque traditional Shredder look), Laura Linney, Arrow's Stephen Amell as Casey Jones, and Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman, and even the original April O'Neil Judith Hoag.  Heck, there's even been rumors of Krang appearing in the film.

     But the big news here is the picture of pre-warthog Bebop, and presumably a pre-rhino Rocksteady, played by Gary Anthony Williams and WWE's Sheamus (Stephen Farrelly).  I must say they definitely have the right look.

     Most of the rest of the original 2014 film's cast will return, including all four of the actors playing the TMNT themselves as well as both Megan Fox and Will Arnett.

     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 will arrive in theaters on June 3rd, 2016.

     Source [ Daily Mail ]


     For more Turtles posts [ TMNT ]

Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars Rebels Leak

     With the massive resurgence of Star Wars and the wonderful world of Disney INfinity there are no shortage of leaks and new information arriving daily as we inch towards the fall release of 3.0.  This time, it's reported that the same retailer that leaked the base set for Disney INfinity 3.0- and they've leaked the names of 4 more characters that will be playable.

     The 4 characters named are all from the television show Star Wars Rebels.  It's said that Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios, and Sabine Wren will all be individually listed as purchasable.  It makes sense, but I find it odd that both Hera Syndulla and her cantankerous astromech C1-10P droid ("Chopper") are missing.  Which further makes me wonder if there may be an older Ahsoka Tano costume Power Disc.  Anyways, it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that the Rebels characters would be added with the show being so popular.

     So far we know the Playsets that are listed are Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic, Rise Against the Empire, and The Force Awakens.  One set for each of the trilogies.  So presumably the Rebels characters will be playable in at least the Twilight set.

     Disney Infinity 3.0 is rumored to be released on August 15th.

     Source [ Infinity Inquirer ]

Batman: Arkham Knight: Time to go to War Trailer & Thoughts

     Another new Batman: Arkham Knight video arrived today, and this one shows the seemless transitions in the game.  From cutscene to car, to fight, to into buildings and another cutscene.  We also get some great shots of Batmobile combat and Poison Ivy.

     My only qualms are actually about Poison Ivy.  First, does she own any pants?  Because with each Arkham game she wears smaller bottoms.  And secondly, what is with her weird arm yoga?  She is always doing strange stretching movements.  On the other hand, they did fix her ridiculous hair, and the model looks incredible.  So overall it is a huge improvement.

     Batman: Arkham Knight will be released June 23.

Armello Teaser Trailer: A Digital Board Game for PS4

     Armello is being touted as the "first digital board game" and it looks very intriguing.  I can't say it'll be truly the first, as their are plenty of others out there- Magic: The Gathering has numerous games, Horde is a tabletop type game, and even Hitman GO is quite board game-y.
     What Armello has going for it is sheer beauty.  Everything in the trailer looks amazing- like a strange amalgam of Game of Thrones and the Richard Adams novel Watership Down.

     "Set in a vibrant magical world with a tinge of darkness, our game, Armello, is a multiplayer digital board game that thrusts players into a Game of Thrones-esque struggle for power. You’ll select one of eight unique Heroes from the animal clans of Armello, and compete for the crown while the mad lion king terrorizes the Kingdom from the seeming safety of his Royal Palace."

     After a successful Kickstarter and better Early Access runs, creators League of Geeks have announced that Armello will release this September on the PS4.  Inspired by tabletop gaming it looks as if they will be able to bring the feel of true tabletop gaming to the Playstation console with great ability.

     Source [ Playstation Blog ]

Batman: Arkham Knight Trailer Shows Off Nice Scarecrow Nightmare Footage (PS4 Exclusive Content)

     Playstation has released their exclusive content trailer for the upcoming release of Batman: Arkham Knight.  It features both futuristic and classic skins from Justice League 3000 and the old Adam West Batman television show respectively.

     What caught my attention, however, was the new footage from the Scarecrow's Nightmare Missions.  It looks trippy as ever as Gotham burns under a giant Scarecrow and Batman inhales loads of Fear Toxin.

     Batman: Arkham Knight will be released on June 23.

What Remains of Edith Finch: House Intro Trailer & Thoughts

     The Unfinished Swan's creators, Giant Sparrow, have finally released a wonderful trailer for their next game What Remains of Edith Finch.  It's been about half a year since Sony's PSX show that gave us a small taste of what was to come, but it didn't do the justice that this new trailer does.

     The story is that of the Finch family and the way they've lived and died in their home, with each generation adding it's own unique bits over the last century to make the house into almost its own entity.  The game overall will be comprised of many of the Finch's stories and each chapter ends with the character's death.

     "What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of short stories about a cursed family in Washington state. 

     Each story offers a chance to experience the life of a different family member with stories ranging from the early 1900s to the present day. The gameplay and tone of the stories are as varied as the family members themselves. The only constants are that each is played from a first-person perspective and that each story ends with that family member's death. It's a game about what it feels like to be humbled and astonished by the vast and unknowable world around us. 

     You'll follow Edith Finch as she explores the history of her family and tries to figure out why she's the last one in her family left alive."

     From the sounds of it the house itself will have gained a sort of life of its own.  A kind of personality and has been described as "crazy."  The house as a whole will provide each distinct room as a place influenced by the particular family member that lived in it, thus creating a massive architectural artifact through its surreal life.

     Players, as Edith, will explore the rooms, each on acting as a photo album or diary into the other Finch's lives.  It gives us the familial fallout through the ages and the records left behind, a domino effect cascading through the decades, all left in this fantastic monument of a home.  A legacy of life and death being displayed in a strange form of experienced architecture for players, and it leaves me feeling that What Remains of Edith Finch to be a dark, but brilliant, combination of Gone Home and a haunted house.

     Later this year Giant Sparrow will be demo-ing the game at E3 with the whole first chapter.

     What Remains of Edith Finch is coming exclusively to PS4 in 2016.

     Source [ Playstation Blog EU ]

Netflix Daredevil: A Short & Belated Review

     I wanted to wait to really review this show after binge watching it the first weekend it was released.  To start, I was genuinely impressed by how much better it was than the way Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was.  I really thought S.H.I.E.L.D. started very, VERY poorly, but after going back and watching from episode 8 on, it did get much better, and I'll be doing a write up on that as well.
     I even believe Agent Carter was a vast improvement over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and likewise have a draft almost done for a review for it, but back to Daredevil.  What Netflix has done with this show is give Marvel a true standing on television.  Taking the grit and realism of heroes on the streets and making it happen. 

     Daredevil doesn't have huge powers like Hulk, no godlike hammer of Thor, or a steady stream of technological suits like Iron Man- he has minor powers and uses them as best he can on the streets of Hell's Kitchen.  Daredevil takes the little guy and has him helping clean up the mess of things the Avengers has helped make.  A city on the way to ruin.  Dealing with the fallout of an alien invasion and those that would profit from the negative aspects of it.  And he suffers both physically and mentally from overexertion.

     What the show has done goes one step further, and gives the villain the same motivation as the hero, he just has a different method of accomplishing that goal.  This has, at least to me, given the bad guy a far more interesting story than the hero.  Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk was a perfect casting choice.  He almost holds the entire season up by his scenes alone.  I mean don't get me wrong, everyone is cast so damn well- Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple- each and every one of them is great in their roles.  Each one of them feels like an individual with their own real life.  That's something that feels lacking in some other shows in general.  But really, Wilson Fisk was the star of this show.  He was a man that may have been a hero under other circumstances, and he even believes himself to actually be a hero.

     Fisk is such an amazing character here that the show could almost be his own.  I look forward to a future episode that might be solely his- something like the comic book issue of Spider-Man: Tangled Web #4: Severance Package.  It shows Fisk to be truly ruthless, but he also is very fair and a man of his word.  That single story alone could do wonders on television with D'Onofrio's nuanced portrayal.

This was my favorite Fisk scene: "I'd like to have a conversation..."

     The fight scenes were brilliantly handled, particularly the long hallway battle, with my only issues really being during the final battle between Daredevil and Kingpin.  It seemed to be filmed in a cheesier way, and was more akin to something from the WWF than the other fights throughout the season.  Fisk is a downright brawler, but I think it should've been handled a little more subtlety.  It lacked the dark aspects of combat and were replaced with flair and spectacle- with the flips and wall-jumps.  It felt like too large a change from the entire rest of the series' build up of fighting.

     My only other real complaint is with Daredevil's mask/helmet on the final suit.  It looks clunky and too low set so he has to constantly tip his head back "to see."  I get that the helmet is necessary, just adjust it a bit so he doesn't look like a child wearing their parents' headgear.  Other than that, they did an awesome job of making the suit useful.

     Overall, this is a tremendous start to the Netflix and Marvel shows, and I fully look forward to the rest of them.  In fact, I really enjoyed the way Daredevil's early suit in this show were essentially a black version of Iron Fist's costume from the comics- a very nice touch.  The combined effort of the two companies on this show have given Marvel's characters a great base to move forward from.

Josh News: The Huh? Passes 250K Visits!!!

     I've been extra busy lately, I had school finals, a surgery, a large amount of editorial work as an intern for Poetry City, USA, got married, and I am still working full time at a hospital with wonderful events like this [ Blood Squirt... Not the awesome Valiant Comics one though ] - so I have been a little behind in posting here.  Although I have been drafting like a madman, and have been prepping to start doing video reviews and a bunch of other small goodies to share here on the blog in the coming months.

     So finally breaking the 250K visits mark is a little bit of an achievement for me.  As someone that doesn't consider himself a writer or artist or any such thing, but simply as "just a guy," I think it's a wonderful thing that I've had so many visits in the last couple years, and want to thank all of you readers for that.  Sure, it isn't anything truly special, but for essentially being a nobody, to me it is a small kind of achievement.

     Thank you all again.

Asa Butterfield: The New Spider-Man?

     I've been seeing rumors of Asa Butterfield being listed as one of the final contenders for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man for the future films and I really hope he gets it.  If you've seen Ender's Game, he displays an amazing range of acting ability, most notably in the final scene with Col. Graff (Harrison Ford).  The raw emotion during his "I will be remembered" speech is downright amazing.

     Spider-Man could use someone of this young and talented variety.  Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were at least in their mid-20's for the role- and while they were decent for the time, we could really use a high-caliber actor of a much younger age.  If Marvel hires him, I'll be fully enjoying seeing his version of the character, though I'm still a little sad they aren't introducing Miles Morales.

     Although I do have one complaint...

     ...as one of my friends said, "If they re-tell his origin story, I'm gonna shoot Uncle Ben myself."

     Source [ Screenrant ] 

Supergirl: First Trailer and Some Thoughts

     After watching and waiting to comment on CBS's first Supergirl trailer, I am both impressed and a little put off by it.  The trailer overall is good, but it has such a Devil Wears Prada, model and looks focused vibe that feels strange to see.  Granted, they are probably aiming for the less gritty and more young women audience so it does make sense.

     I'm definitely not the first to think it reeks of the SNL parody of the Age of Ultron film- Black Widow's spoof skit, and rightfully so.  This Supergirl has an Ugly Betty with super powers feel- the archetypal story of a girl trying to both fit in and finally accept herself- only this time she has extraordinary abilities.

     One great thing to note is they aren't pulling a Smallville and having her slowly reach for or grow into her powers, but rather having her have them right at the start.  At least it seems to be she has many of them immediately.  Thus avoiding the annoyance of waiting and waiting for the good stuff to happen.

     With Kara's potential fashion based job, we might have some explanation to her choice of wardrobe.  I personally think she should be wearing a suit more like Superman's from Man of Steel, but alas, she appears to want to look good as well as help people.
     It also seems weird that she has the typical avoidance of dating and stay home mentality that I see in a lot of teenage outsider shows that I really hope gets explained.  My only real issue so far is actually first, the fact that we already have 3 people that know who she is, and second, with photography and modern media, who isn't going to know that Kara Danvers is Supergirl?  Especially because she makes no real effort to look different- sort of like the Clark Kent/Superman thing.

     I do highly appreciate the special effects, the decent nods to the rest of the DC universe (like the "Not an 'S,' photographer Jimmy "James" Olsen, Kal-El's cape, etc), and most especially I liked the inclusion of the conversation about using the name with girl.  "What do you think is so bad about 'girl'?"  That is a very good moment to include in the trailer.
     So I'll give Supergirl a try once it hits tv even though it appears to be an semi-teen-angsty show.  There at least is an underlying message that will get to young women, that they should ignore the bad and focus on the good, the idea that sometimes it's yourself perceiving the bad where there really isn't anything.

     One last thing, I find it extra amusing that Kara's Earth parents are being played by former Supergirl Helen Slater, and former Superman Dean Cain.  Awesome.