Top Hat Sasquatch

I don’t think it’s too far off-base to say that no one really expected 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes to be any good.  Did we really need a prequel to the other films?  Wasn’t Tim Burton’s remake bad enough?  But when the film hit theaters, we were all pleasantly surprised to find it was actually quite good, and left us wanting more.  Because the film was a hit, bringing in nearly $500 million at the box office, a sequel was quickly put into production and is set to be released in July.  If you’ve seen the trailer, it appears that this next film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, is set some ways into the future, deep into the war that will decide who has dominion over the earth – man or beast (Spoiler Alert! The monkeys win.)  But that means there’s quite a bit of story left untold.  Luckily, Titan Books has released Firestorm, the sequel to the prequel that’s a prequel to the sequel, to help fill in the gaps.

If you didn’t follow my prequel-sequel description there, essentially Firestorm is a bridge novel, that tells the story of what happens in between Rise and Dawn.  It mainly deals with the spread of the virus, the breakdown of civilization, and the survival of the apes that went on a rampage at the end of the first film.  The story follows a handful of people – a doctor, a journalist, a couple of primatologists, a mayoral candidate, and a band of mercenaries – in the final days of humanity.

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Confession: I haven’t played Disney Infinity since I wrote my initial review of it a few months ago. I really enjoyed it, but getting the game base and figures out every time I wanted to play was enough to keep me away (combined with the fact that I pretty much abandoned my Xbox 360). However, Disney recently accounted the 2.0 version of Disney Infinity which is all about Marvel Superheroes, and I think I’ll definitely be checking this out.

My favorite part of the first Disney Infinity was the Incredibles playset and how they perfectly captured the superhero feeling in a cute and simplified way. I think playing as Marvel characters in this style will be a lot of fun, not to mention mixing Marvel and Disney characters in the toy box mode. Just think, maybe the 3.0 version will be Star Wars, and then we can finally mash up Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars characters in the same game.

Disney Infinity 2.0 hits shelves in the fall for current and next-gen systems. Will you be picking it up?

Have you seen the awesome new trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy? If not, take a moment and watch it below. Wasn’t that great? We know that Star Lord (Chris Pratt) is a half-human/half-alien who was taken from Earth in the early 80s. It looks like his nostalgia for Earth and the 80s in general will extend further than the Walkman he carries around in the film. Check out this still from the trailer. ALF trading cards and puffy stickers? A Troll Doll? Scratch-and-Sniff stickers? Awesome.

If Star Lord had been taken from Earth in the early 90s instead, there would totally be a He’s back, in POG form! joke in there somewhere.
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After teasing us with a shot of the Batmobile yesterday, Superman vs. Batman director Zack Snyder has just unveiled a black and white shot of Ben Affleck as Batman, standing next to the Batmobile. It’s hard to see all the detail in this monotone shot (even after I adjusted the brightness/contrast), but I love the direction they’re going.

The short ears are awesome, I was actually worried they were going to go with really long ears that would have looked strange. I love these. Also, Batman is huge. I love how thick he looks. I always felt that (even though he was buff) Christian Bale looked tiny in his batsuit.

I totally dig the big Dark Knight Returns bat-symbol, and I love the 90s utility belt filled with pouches. The big thing I’m waiting to see is the color(s) of the suit. I’m really hoping for some gray and not just all-black, but we’ll see.

What do you guys think?

Nick Stoller Says the Muppet People Are Working on a New TV Show
It kills me that Muppets Most Wanted tanked at the box office. I loved it, but I think it just didn’t stand a chance going up against Divergent or whatever it’s called. I hope Stoller is right about Disney working on a new TV show, I’d hate for Disney to abandon the Muppets.

‘Power Rangers’ Getting a Reboot Feature Film by Lionsgate
This doesn’t surprise me, and actually it’s not the most far-fetched thing to reboot. It’s basically superheroes, giant robots, and Kaiju. If they leave out the goofier aspects (or embrace them) from the show, it could make a decent movie.

Charlton Heston being photographed by an ape on the set of Planet of the Apes
Great photo.

This guy collected 75,000 McDonald’s items over 50 years
I can’t imagine having the dedication to collect only one thing, let alone the money, time, and space it would take to have as large of a collection as this guy. His house looks like a McDonald’s museum. Crazy.

Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Baxter Stockman Fly Version Figure
I’m not sure what to think about this. In face, I’m almost losing the will to keep up with the Nick figures. There are some cool ones out that I don’t have, it’s just time and money consuming to hunt them all down, and I’ve got too much junk as it is. What do you guys think about the new Baxter Stockman?