Blog Archives

The legality of Power/Rangers dark reboot and the gray area of fan films

2/27/2015

Earlier this week the internet was treated to a dark and gritty remake of the long running Power Franchise staring James Van Der Beek, Katee Sackhoff and some less than child friendly action and language. While the reboot, titled "Power/Ranger," exploded on the net, it was met with some swift pressure from the company that owns the rights to the series, Saban Brands. Producer of the fan film responded largely on twitter, stating that "Saban is trying to shut Power/Rangers down. If you’d like to keep watching, tell them to stop harassing me [...] Every image in Power/Rangers is original footage. Nothing was pre-existing. There is no copyrighted footage in the short. I am not making any money on it and I refuse to accept any from anyone. It was not even Kickstarted, I paid for it myself. This was made to be given away for free. It is just as if I drew a pic of Power Rangers on a napkin and I gave it to my friend. Is it illegal to give pic I drew of a character on a napkin to someone for free? No." Aside from the possible legal controversy, former Green Ranger, Jason David Frank, posted a video about the fan film expressing his disinterest in the dark take on the franchise. The big question to be asked here is just how far is 'too far,' when it comes to fan films? Kahn's fan film was, by his account, a self funded project that didn't profit from the intellectual property as well as could be protected under the fair use doctrine. Unfortunately, Vimeo and Youtube have pulled the video down amid pressure from the parent company so you might have to do some digging around to see it if you haven't already. You can also hear from the man himself during his reddit AMA 2PM PST later today. Could we see a change in how we're able to produce and share our own fan films and will this blow up or blow over?

Don't expect another light Arkham game

2/24/2015

After the T for Teen rated Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, everyone was surprised when the news broke that the highly anticipated Arkham Knight has been given an M for Mature, rating from the ESRB. This even surprised Rocksteady studio and the game director of Arkham Knight, stating that "the team didn't specifically aim for it." Either way, an already great looking title looks like it's going to be heading into some dark scenarios for our caped crusader. Get ready for this title to launch June 2nd on the Xbox One, Pc and PS4.

Archie Vs. Predator is real and it's coming

2/19/2015

Archie and gang are in for some serious trouble come this April from one of the deadliest hunters, ever.. Archie Vs. Predator (yes, it's a real thing), is scheduled to be released April 15th, and it'll pit the classic gang against Predators set out to slaughter them all. Archie artist, Fernando Ruiz, will draw the art for this four issue miniseries that sees Archie and his gang of friends in serious danger while on a trip to Costa Rica. You can check out some of the other variant covers here and get ready for the bloody mayhem coming this April.

A new Final Fantasy title is coming to Japan

2/16/2015

Long time Final Fantasy fans might remember the brawler titled, Dissidia, that hit the PSP back in 2009 and is now getting a big update and allowing gamers to have fun with all their favorite Final Fantasy heroes in a new way. Final Fantasy: Dissidia will be heading off to the arcades featuring some updates graphics and a handful of brand new characters that you will be able to fight with, including Final Fantasy 13's Lightening. Be sure to look out for more information about this title April 10th and take a look at the brand new game play trailer below.

To go or not to go? 50 Shades of Grey

2/13/2015

The highly successful, fairly controversial BDSM book series based on a fan fiction of another series, 50 Shades of Grey, opens this weekend but is it worth your Valentines day date? Dakota Johnson plays Anastasia Steele, a girl who meets the mysterious Christian Grey, played by Jamie Dornan, by favor of a friend. As you watch Steele go through her quest of discovering herself sexually, you can't help but feel a brooding sense a danger, that emulates a climax in it's own right. The first half hour of the film is actually quite fun, with Johnson's believable portrayal of a woman being chased around by a billionaire saying, and proposing, quite ridiculous things. As she begins to learn more about Grey and his complicated past, his proposals graduate to demands that offer little to no personal gain for Steele, leading to a lot of broken rules and negotiations. Unfortunately, the reason behind Grey's sexual favors stems from a horrific incident that happened in his teen years, that seemed like a negative cop out for a community that already carries a heavy stigma. It also doesn't help the case that people have been talking about 50 Shades negative portrayal of the BDSM community for year and its possible repercussions. The other main problem with this film is there is a lot of sex scenes but nothing that takes the film too far, especially when you draw comparison with Lars Von Trier sex epic, Nymphomaniac, that featured a BDSM far more grueling and gut wrenching than anything feature in 50 Shades of Grey. The movie, surprisingly ended on a high note, regardless of the lack luster chemistry between the films stars. Well, whether we like it or not, 50 Shades of Grey is here to stay. `

The good, the bad, and the ugly: Marvel and Sony's Spider Man deal

2/12/2015

Spider Man might be in good hands, but if Marvel doesn't tread carefully, there could be a lot of issues in the near future. As we all know, Sony and Marvel struck a deal for the iconic character to appear along side other heroes in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, this also lead to a big schedule change as well as the announcement of a brand new Spider Man film come 2017. With this, the rumor circulating around the net is that Teen Wolf and Maze Runner star, Dylan O'Brien as well as Percy Jackson and Fury star, Logan Lerman as both being eyed for the role of the next reboot, the problem, Marvel need's to do something different. The Amazing Spider Man film series two biggest deviations from what you'd normally expect in the Spider Man films, were the relationship with Gwen Stacy as well as Peter Parkers father, Richard Parkers, history. (although that didn't come out quite as planned) In all honestly, the last thing anyone wants to see is the same Peter Parker-Mary Jane-uncle Ben's death-Norman Osbournes death-breeding hate between the films main characters. However, there could be a way that Marvel could keep Spiderman and give his origin story the spin to make it feel fresh. Considering as much chatter as there was prior to the last set of Spider Man films, it is a possibility but I wouldn't hold my breath on it happening.

This leads us to our second problem. Marvel's original plan for the Civil War Story line was to include Black Panther in place of Spider Man to ensure certain actions would happen according to plan. Now that Spider Mans in the mix and has effectively pushed back every Marvel film with the exception of Avengers part 3 and 4, there is some talk that Black Panther could potentially be dropped from the mix. Hopefully, we'll get a more standalone title for Black Panther and won't lose a potentially awesome Marvel film. They've already cast the part so hopefully it stays that way.

Last, but not least, our most recent Spider Man has truly lost on on this deal. Andrew Garfield is indeed out and Marvel and Sony's deal has effectively put him out of the job. Granted, I really don't feel like he did a bad job at all, but given that they're looking to reboot the story in a high school setting, Garfield at the age of 32, would be hard to manage. There would also be a lot of unanswered questions, considering The Amazing Spider Man 2 left a lot of doors open. All in all, we'll see more of him in the future but lets hope the next Spider Man film is worth seeing, until then, enjoy this clip of Garfield dressed as Spider Man at comic con a few years back.

New Spider Man and some big changes happening at Marvel

2/10/2015

It looks like the fans are getting the Marvel Civil War film they deserve! The announcement was made earlier today that Sony and Marvel have agreed to a partner ship deal, allowing the web-slinger to appear along side future and current Marvel super heroes. This also opens the door for X Men characters and the current roster of the Fantastic 4 team to possibility appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well but, with all these changes comes some bad news. Early reports are stating that this current deal will move ahead without The Amazing Spider Man actor, Andrew Garfield, which doesn't leave much hope for the already rocky planned series for the Spider Man films. We also know that four of Marvel's upcoming films are being pushed back to make way for a new Spider Man film. Thor:Ragnarok will be release November 3rd, 2017 (moved from July 28th), Black Panther will be released July 6th 2018 (moved from November 3rd 2017), Captain Marvel has been moved to November 2nd 2018 (from July 6th 2018) and Inhumans will hit theaters July 12th, 2019 (moved from November 2nd, 2018). Marvel also stated that Spider Man would appear in an upcoming Marvel film before starring in his own, new solo project, July 28th, 2017. A lot of big changes are coming to the Marvel universe, are you excited?

Netflix is looking to bring Hyrule to its streaming service

2/6/2015

For the second time, Hyrule's hero is getting his own TV but it'll be quite different from the 1989 animated one.
The Wall Street Journal broke news today that Netflix is in talks to develop a live action version of the iconic video game series, that will be a "Game of Thrones," fantasy epic viewable for the entire family. Interestingly enough, this announcement is made ahead of the planned release for Netflix in Japan this fall. To be frank, creating a series who's protagonist actually doesn't speak and spends a fair amount of the game adventuring and solving puzzles doesn't sound like it would translate well to a live action TV show. It's also vaguely been described as the story of "an ordinary boy named Link who must rescue a princess named Zelda and save a fantasy world called Hyrule," which poses the question, which one? Seeing as that can possibly follow multiple video game story lines or, maybe none at all, we can't be really sure what to expect especially since the WSJ also states that Netlifx does not have a writer lined up. Early skepticism aside, this could prove to be a huge hit for Nintendo, Netflix and fans of one of gaming most recognizable characters.

Say hello to your new Avengers team

2/6/2015

Marvel is undergoing some huge changes for it's comic series and A-Force is looking for a fresh spin on the classic avengers roster. The A-Force is an all female lead team, featuring plenty of famous comic heroes like She Hulk, Spider Woman, Storm, Pheonix and even a new character by the name of Singularity. The comic will debut this spring after Marvel ends its 3 year Secret Wars series and begins the brand new

Here's the first look at Marvels Netflix series, Daredevil!

2/4/2015

It's been a long wait for an official look at Marvel's Netflix series, Daredevil, coming this year and we finally have a full trailer for the series! Take a look at the dark and action packed preview below and get ready for the whole season to drop on April 10th on the streaming service!