Chalk up another win for director Michael Bay and another Jake Gyllenhaal that doesn’t steer us wrong. It’s the new action blockbuster Ambulance, which arrived in theaters last month, and is now streaming on Peacock. Part revved-up first responder celebration in the vein of Backdraft, part heist in the lane of the original Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and part ticking clock race to the end like Unstoppable, it will keep you hanging on for two hours. A certain artistry of its own is required to get this genre just right, and Bay’s pacing, kinetic sense, and thrilling use of camera angles should have you comparing this to your favorite race and chase movies. It doesn’t have the humor of The Blues Brothers, the grit of The French Connection, or the sci-fi of Terminator 2, but it has a compelling two-hour chase through Los Angeles that’s worth your time.
Raya and the Last Dragon is the first animated movie created during the pandemic, with 900 creators working together to make a full-scale feature film from home. The result is the best Disney animated film to date, filled with a great story combining all sorts of fantasy tropes, great visual action, exciting characters, good humor, blending historic themes with modern ideas and characters. The entirely computer animated film also sports three strong female lead characters and is backed by an all female technical leadership team. The result is a movie blending elements of Asian culture on par with Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind with the action of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the fantastical elements of The Lord of the Rings. Count Raya and the Last Dragon among the creative works that shine brightly despite the adverse conditions of 2020.
Last year Titan Comics took fans of the Blade Runner movie franchise back to the future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019(reviewed here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel toBlade Runner 2049, the series expanded the franchise based on characters and settings created by Philip K. Dick. Then the series went back 20 years before the theatrical sequel in Blade Runner 2029. Now for the first time writers K. Perkins, Mellow Brown, and Mike Johnson, and artists Fernando Dagnino and Marco Lesko are taking the entire franchise–the canon stories and timeline–back before the original Ridley Scott movie in the series Blade Runner Origins. Dick’s universe is one of borgs called Replicants and those who hunt them, called Blade Runners. This is the story of the first Blade Runner, and we assume we’ll see another prequel one day about the creation of the first Replicants.
Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Issue #1 of Blade Runner Origins and 18 series variant covers below.
Coming in at about the same price as the actor’s screen-used prop blaster from Return of the Jedi this summer (discussed here at borg), Harrison Ford proved again he is #1 among pop culture and entertainment memorabilia collectors. At Prop Store‘s entertainment memorabilia live auction in London yesterday, called Treasures from Film and Television (which we previewed from San Diego Comic-Con here in July), one of the fedoras worn by ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark brought record bids for a prop from the franchise, taking in an estimate of between $522,500 and $558,000, including fees and taxes. Ford’s Han Solo blaster sold in June for $550,000 (before tax). The hammer price for the hat was £320,000 when the winning bid was placed and the hammer struck, or about $424,755. Provenance for this hat was not provided by Prop Store in its catalog, but the company said it could be screen-matched through identifying marks to several key scenes in the movie. An Indy bullwhip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sold for $74,460, including buyer’s premium, at the auction.
One of the other auction lots worn by Ford was supposed to be the crown jewel of the auction, a simple stylized blue jacket worn in The Empire Strikes Back said to have been screen-matched to the film’s Cloud City scenes. Although it was expected to garner $660,000 to $1.3 million, bidders were just not willing to push bids past the $600,000 mark and the seller’s minimum reserve price. The jacket was one of the only hero costume pieces from the original trilogy to be offered at public auction.
This week’s big star prop of the Prop Store auction was crowded among other Hollywood props on display at San Diego Comic-Con this past July.
Several other key props from the four corners of genredom sold in excess of six figures (including buyer’s premium and net of taxes) in yesterday’s auction. A light-up T-800 endoskeleton from Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991) fetched a massive price of $326,500. A Christopher Reeve costume from Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) sold for $212,200. A Hayden Christensen Anakin Skywalker lightsaber from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) sold for $180,000 and an Ian McDiarmid Emperor lightsaber from the film sold for $114,000. A background First Order Stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars: The Last Jedi surprised everyone, selling for a whopping $180,000. A Johnny Depp costume from Edward Scissorhands (1990) sold for $106,100. Of several original comic book art pages that sold, the star was Page 15 from The Amazing Spider-Man (1966), Issue #32, by artist Steve Ditko, which fetched $155,000.
More than two dozen other memorable props and costumes from sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and horror classics fared well (prices quoted include pre-tax conversion from British pound, including buyer’s premium): Continue reading →
Joey Spiotto is an artist whose works are immediately recognizable. He has his own whimsical take on characters fans know and love–unique, but much like comic book cover artist Skottie Young he makes popular characters his own. Spiotto is well known for his parody covers for Little Golden Books–his Storytime series takes sci-fi, fantasy, and other pop culture favorites and uses a Muppet Babies-type change-up to show us characters as wee ones on the cover of their own little kids’ book. He’s taken on every franchise from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator 2, Robocop, and Lost, to the Hamilton musical, from Mad Max: Fury Road, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, They Live, and Tron, to Donnie Darko. How often do you see one series of anything include homages to both Mr. Rogers and Donnie Darko? Individual prints of his Storytime series can be bought here and many have been compiled in his book available here at the artist’s Etsy store.
Now in stores is Spiotto’s latest book, Firefly–Back From the Black, a look at the characters of the fan favorite sci-fi series in the artist’s style and brand of humor. A latecomer to the Firefly series, Spiotto counts himself a fan, and he shows it through his many obscure references in page after page of single panel drawings. This is one where those who aren’t Firefly fans probably won’t understand what’s going on, but for those who are fans all the key characters are covered–spoofed, parodied, and maybe poked fun at more than a little bit. You’ll find plenty of images of Jayne sporting his cunning hat, including one of his Mom sewing his hat for him–an off-screen scene every Firefly fan has imagined. Fans of Spiotto’s first movie tie-in, 2015’s lovable look at Ridley Scott’s Aliens, Alien Next Door, will also like what the artist does here with the Firefly crew. The kind of book you’d see getting as a Christmas stocking stuffer for those dreaming of a return of Firefly, or a nice add-in to a future Firefly Cargo Crate, Firefly–Back From the Black is now available here from Amazon.
Spiotto fans also have just under a day left to take advantage of the artist’s Kickstarter campaign to launch a compilation book of his High Fidelity series of prints–it’s fully funded, but some great deals and incentives are still available. In this series he takes a similar twist on popular films and series as with his Storytime prints, but with High Fidelity the format is vintage 33 1/3 vinyl LP record album covers, and the characters become bands.
The 3D movie is here to stay and it’s as big as it’s ever been. Not only new movies continue to hit the big screen and impress us with newer ways to turn a movie visit into an amusement park ride, whether in 3D or IMAX 3D. Old films continue to get the 3D treatment, too. An entire branch of films and home video releases are devoted to this category, with films that weren’t originally filmed in 3D like Titanic, Jurassic Park, Top Gun, I, Robot, and Beauty and the Beast among the films getting the upgrade–the best results coming from the incredible 3D work done to The Wizard of Oz (reviewed here) and Predator (reviewed here). But a music video getting a 3D upgrade? That’s new.
This year the 1980s are coming back in a big way. Michael Jackson’s Thriller knocked our socks off as part of the latest trailer for Stranger Things season 2 last month. The powerhouse music video (which even made the National Film Registry) has been given a complete 3D and sound upgrade for a premiere at the Venice Film Festival this summer followed by a return to the theaters for the first time since a limited run in Los Angeles when it debuted back in 1983. Thriller is truly a one-of-a-kind film, directed by John Landis (The Twilight Zone, The Blue Brothers, Animal House, Trading Places) and co-written by Landis and Michael Jackson, the film was a dream project for Jackson, who was a fan of Landis’s fang-filled An American Werewolf in London. Jackson spared no expense, pulling in monster maker Rick Baker for prosthetics and Michael Peters for choreography input. It’s a little bit meta–Vincent Price’s Thriller was the (fake) monster movie Michael and his girlfriend watched in the theater in the video, with a great shot of the marquee as they emerge from the theater. Fans of a new generation will be able to see Thriller in real life on their local theater marquee.
A fan of 3D, Michael Jackson pioneered the re-launch of 3D films in 1986, starring in his sci-fi film Captain EO, a 3D musical with executive producer George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, scored by James Horner and co-starring Dick Shawn (It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Producers, The Year Without a Santa Claus) and Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor, The Addams Family, The Grifters, The Watcher in the Woods) as an incredibly designed borg villain (an inspiration for Star Trek First Contact’s Borg Queen). John Napier (Broadway’s Cats) created the costumes, Rick Baker returned for makeup and monster creations, and Tom Burman (Planet of the Apes, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Goonies, Dead Again) created Huston’s makeup. A Disney theme park exclusive, Captain EO was shown up until 2015 in the parks’ 3D theaters, but has not been released in a home version. The Captain EO 3D comic book is regularly still available here at Amazon.
Michael Jackson’s first (and then, presumably only) 3D film featured Anjelica Huston as this spectacular borg creation, the Supreme Leader.
Michael Landis returned to lead the 3D, music, and sound effects upgrades for the new 3D release of Jackson’s film/video Thriller, saying, “I am so happy to have had the chance not only to restore but enhance Michael Jackson’s Thriller! We took full advantage of the remarkable advances in technology to add new dimensions to both the visual and the audio bringing it to a whole new level. Even though Thriller was shot traditionally, I was able to use the 3D creatively. Let me just warn you, there is a rather shocking surprise in there!”
If you’re not familiar with 3D movie releases and 3D Blu-rays, one thing to be aware of is that some films are produced originally with 3D technology and others are not, but still can be “upconverted” in various ways to a form of 3D viewing. Some movie watchers dismiss the entire notion of 3D, others live for it. When done right, a film can be produced and displayed brilliantly in 3D. A film can also have a successful upconversion. One of the best we’ve seen so far is the upconversion of Predator, reviewed previously here at borg.com. Predator 3D was directed by John McTiernan, the brilliant director of films like Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, back in 1987, long before the new renaissance of 21st century 3D entertainment.
Lucky for us, McTiernan had an eye for texture and layering, and filmed most of Predator in a jungle setting, one of the best locales to demonstrate the most effective imagery of 3D technology. So despite the original film not being shot in 3D, the Blu-ray release of the upconversion is like a different film. The result is a stunningly layered experience that, when watched on quality 3D home entertainment equipment, is as completely immersive as technology allows.
This week we learned that Terminator 2 is finally being upconverted for a 2017 release in 3D. Along with his movie Aliens, Terminator 2 is at the top of James Cameron’s best work, so it stands to reason that it is a superb candidate for the 3D treatment. To cement the project, Paramount released a new poster (above) for the 3D release, via the T2 Facebook page.
Back in February we revealed here at borg.com the latest in Funko’s more than 20 licensed films and TV series in its 2015 ReAction action figure line first discussed at borg.comhere and here, and now we have images of the carded figures and sculpts for many more new figures. We also have links to allow readers to be among the first to pre-order them all from online collectibles store Entertainment Earth. We’re still waiting for final images for Jaws, Gremlins, Scarface, and Fight Club, but we have pre-order information plus images and links to pre-order the new ReAction line for CW’s The Flash, The Karate Kid, Disney’s Tomorrowland, and the second wave of original series Star Trek figures. We shared links for the first figures in the new Star Trek original series line last month here.
Better yet, you can now pre-order two new exclusive Funko ReAction figures, available only from Entertainment Earth. Order the two exclusive liquid chrome “metallic” T1000 Terminator 2 figures (above, top) by clicking on the above images.
Word from Funko’s blog is that Phoebe Cates is not authorizing a likeness for the Gremlins line. Here’s the prototype from Toy Fair 2015:
This may mean both the Gremlins and Fast Times at Ridgemont High lines will be hindered by missing her key characters from these films. Even though her figure looked nothing like the actress (as with most figures in the retro line) she apparently has some control of over not only her image but reproductions based on her characters.
Click on the images below to see full-sized images of figures and cards and to pre-order each from Entertainment Earth.
Still yet to be revealed are figures from The Dark Crystal, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Big Lebowski, Scarface (although Al Pacino’s figure was previewed at Toy Fair 2015), V for Vendetta, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, The A-Team, The Munsters, and Aliens.
This weekend we revealed the latest in Funko’s more than 20 licensed films and TV series in its 2015 ReAction action figure line first discussed at borg.comhere and here, and now we have images of the carded figures and sculpts for most of the new figures. We also have links to allow readers to be among the first to pre-order them all from online collectibles store Entertainment Earth. We’re still waiting for final images for Jaws, Gremlins, Fight Club, and CW’s The Flash, but we have pre-order information for all of those plus images and links to pre-order the new ReAction line for CW’s Arrow, The Fifth Element, Terminator 2, The Boondock Saints, Taxi Driver, and Breaking Bad. We shared links for the first figures in the new Star Trek original series line last week here.
Click on the images below to see full-sized images of figures and cards and to pre-order each from Entertainment Earth.
And after the break check out an exclusive new Predator figure.
Still yet to be revealed are figures from The Dark Crystal, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Big Lebowski, Scarface (although Al Pacino’s figure was previewed this weekend on the showroom floor at Toy Fair 2015), V for Vendetta, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, The A-Team, The Munsters, Tomorrowland (also previewed at Toy Fair), and Aliens.
The Funko booth at Toy Fair 2015 is packed full of new action figures today. Their ReAction and Legacy lines have taken off to the point that it’s hard to keep track of it all. Coverage of Star Trek has been the biggest news, in addition to the four figures we previewed here at borg.com Friday, Funko revealed figures and cards for the Kirk, Scotty, the Gorn, and the Orion animal woman. Also on display are Breaking Bad, an Al Pacino line including Taxi Driver and Scarface, Tomorrow Land, The Karate Kid,The Fifth Element, and some incredible Legacy figures for Firefly.
Our first Quint sighting. We’re going to need a bigger shelf.
For those that don’t appreciate the retro-style likenesses in the ReAction line, we think you’ll be impressed with Funko’s Legacy line, which is similar to the higher end Star Wars Black series. We think you’ll also love the Terminator 2 line, including two sculpts of Sarah Connor, the metallic T-1000, and new Arnold figures.
Funko really nailed it with their choice of figures for their line for The Fifth Element.
But we think the most eagerly awaited reveal, and most talked about figures since the Funko announcement in December, is for the Jaws line. Perched atop the display at today’s show, there’s a Brody, Hooper, and Quint, and a nicely rendered shark.
