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Tag Archive: Wonder Woman


The borg.com Best of 2017–The Year’s Best Movies

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café — Leave a comment
December 27, 2017

When we created last year’s preview of 2017 movies we were pretty sure we were going to have some great movies this year, but we were surprised by what ended up being the best.  All year we tried to keep up with what Hollywood had to offer and honed in on the genre content we thought was worth examining. We went back and looked at it all and pulled together our picks for our borg.com annual Best Movies of 2017.

As always, we’re after the best genre content of 2017–with our top categories from the Best in Movies.  There are thousands of other places that cover plain vanilla dramas and the rest, but here we’re looking for movies we want to watch.  What do all of this year’s selections have in common?  In addition to those elements that define each genre, each has a good story.  Special effects without a good story is not good entertainment, and we saw plenty of films this year that missed that crucial element.

Come back later this week for our TV and print media picks, and our annual borg.com Hall of Fame inductees.  Wait no further, here are our picks for 2017:

Best Sci-Fi Fix, Best Sci-fi Movie, Best Costume Design – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.  The Valerian and Laureline comic books turned 50 and brought a big-screen adaptation to theaters.  Director Luc Besson handled the material as a labor of love, and that could be marveled at in every scene, and each nook and cranny of the gigantic visual spectacle he created.  More new wonders, more futuristic ideas that had never been seen on film before, bold otherworldly costumes, and incredible special effects made this film a masterpiece science fiction fans will stumble upon in the future and wonder how it was so overlooked by audiences this summer.  Epic space battles, aliens, and loads of sci-fi technology, while all the other science fiction of the year kept to their familiar territories.  A gripping story about a team just doing their job, but that job is saving an entire race of a doomed planet.  Besson was going for something like Avatar, but he far surpassed it.  Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was everything a sci-fi fan could want.

Best Fantasy Fix, Best Fantasy Movie, Best Comedy Movie – Thor: Ragnarok.  As much as Thor: Ragnarok was a natural progression for Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, it was amazing how much the film busted genres, becoming more of a Flash Gordon space fantasy like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies than the rest of the Avengers series.   Just like watching classic Flash Gordon and Conan movies, we saw superheroes on a legendary hero’s journey rise and encounter obstacles and make sacrifices, across a landscape of fabulous worlds and colorful characters, and scenes that looked like they were ripped out of your favorite Jack Kirby comic pages.  Another film about family, it incorporated that always fun plot device of having good guy and bad guy join forces, as Tom Hiddleston’s Loki redeemed himself with his brother and their people, if only temporarily.  We met one of the fiercest warriors in Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and they all faced off against a trio of well-developed villains.  A great superhero story, too, this was the ultimate fantasy fix.

Best Superhero Fix, Best Superhero Movie, Best Easter Eggs – The LEGO Batman Movie.  Even as a spoof of superhero movies and the DC Universe, The LEGO Batman Movie created a genuine story full of heart that any fan of comic books could love.  Will Arnett became our second favorite Batman actor this year behind Michael Keaton, and his Batman reminded us why we can’t wait for the DC Universe to get fun and exciting again.  Hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny with a smart script, full of derring-do and super-powered heroics, and better than this year’s and the last decade of live-action DC at the movies, the animated The LEGO Batman Movie proved more good DC movies are out there just waiting to be made.  Honorable mention: Spider-man: Homecoming.

Best Retro Fix – Classic Genre Films Return to Theaters.  With all the new releases in 2017 we were lucky enough to witness the 90th anniversary of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, while Disney’s The Jungle Book, The Dirty Dozen, and the original Casino Royale turned 50.  Along with Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind turned 40.  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, Tron, and The Dark Crystal turned 35.  Predator, The Princess Bride, and Robocop turned 30.  Many of these made it back into theaters this year, giving us the best Retro Fix we could hope for all year long.  But E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (we even interviewed the best Star Trek director of them all here this year), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Princess Bride, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, on the big screen over only a few weeks?  We can only hope for more in 2018!

Check out the rest of the year’s Best Film and the rest of our picks for the year’s best movies, after the cut…

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The borg.com Best of 2017–Kick-Ass Genre Heroines

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Movies, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes, TV — Leave a comment
December 26, 2017

It’s time for borg.com‘s annual look at the year’s Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines in film and television.  Again the studios gave us more to cheer about than ever.  We’re highlighting the very best from a slate of fantastic heroines, with characteristics to learn from and cheer on.  Determined, decisive, loyal, brave, smart, fierce, strong (and, okay, sometimes evil), you’ll find no one here timid or weepy, but all rely on their individual skills to beat the odds and overcome any obstacle that comes their way.  Some may be frazzled, put-upon, war-weary, or human, but all have fought, some against difficult circumstances, others against personal demons, and some against gun and laser fire.  And they all showed what a tough, kick-ass character is about.

In 2017 these characters broke new ground, and unlike last year’s great list, this year’s selections would not have worked had the characters been swapped for males.  We had a pregnant gunfighter, a mutant mental patient, a double agent, a space pilot, an alien security officer, a pregnant former psychopathic killing machine, a cyborg assassin, a mythic warrior, a maverick mercenary, a warrior, a commander of armies, an alien slave turned teacher, an angry young mutant, and a teenage high school reporter.

These are the Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines of 2017:

Wynonna Earp (Wynonna Earp).  Melanie Scrofano not only played Wynonna Earp as pregnant in this year’s second season, she actually was.  And that didn’t slow her down, defeating all the evil Revenants in the town of Purgatory, and incorporating the discomfort of pregnancy made for great comic release all season long.  Who had the tougher task, Earp or Scrofano?  Either way, the series showed it’s a keeper and Earp the sharp-tongued, swaggering, tough-as-nails gunfighter we continue to love.

Valkyrie (Thor: Ragnarok).  As cool and powerful as Cate Blanchett’s Hela was in this year’s pinnacle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the real scene stealer in Thor: Ragnarok was Tessa Thompson’s surprising new tough heroine, Valkyrie.  Cocky?  Yep.  And she backed up that confidence with mad fighting skills and brains–enough of a combination to help Thor & Co. save the people of Asgard and get some revenge for the Valkyries who lost the original battle against Hela.  As much as any other character, we’re looking forward to more of Valkyrie in next year’s ultimate team-up Avengers: Infinity War.

Luv (Blade Runner 2049).  If Blade Runner 2049 is remembered for anything, it should be Sylvia Hoeks’ badass Replicant oddly (ironically?) named Luv.  First unassuming, polished, and pristine in her mannerisms, she later reveals she can be the next best thing since Sarah Connor and the Terminators.  Luv is a fierce, brutal borg whose villainy became the high point of the film.

After the cut, the rest of the list…

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New book looks behind the scenes at the art and design of the Wonder Woman movie

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Movies, Superheroes — Leave a comment
September 17, 2017

Perhaps the best part of the film Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice were the two behind the scenes books that provided superb coverage of the costumes, props, and vehicles from the film: the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Tech Manual reviewed here, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice: The Art of the Film, reviewed here.  These books demonstrate that despite the negative reception of a film by audiences, fans of the beloved characters have some resources to find inspiration for their next cosplay or prop-building project.  The next in the line of books probing behind the scenes of the DC Comics universe created for the big screen is this summer’s Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film by Sharon Gosling (author of Planet of the Apes: The Art of the Films Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of Planet of the Apes).  Anyone needing good source photographs of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and the Amazon warriors of her origin story for their next cosplay project will find some great references here, including photos of the greatest of the Amazon warriors, Robin Wright’s badass general Antiope, plus swords and shields of key characters developed for the film.

The best section of the book provides interviews with two-time Academy Award-nominated production designer Aline Bonetto (Amélie) and Academy Award-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (Topsy-Turvy) as they discuss the planning and development of audiences’ first look at Themyscira on film.  Both worked together closely coordinating design elements between their departments as concepts were developed.  You’ll find 192 pages of artwork, marketing images, on-location photographs, and costumes as they were sketched and later finalized for wear, all in quality color photographs on thick paper stock.  Costume designer Lemming notes that the entirety of the Amazon warrior costume components were prepared by hand, without 3-D printers or similar modern techniques, intending for the resulting products to look as the characters themselves might have made them.  Although Gadot’s costume was already set prior to Hemming’s involvement due to Wonder Woman’s introduction in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice–the costume was designed by Academy Award-nominated designer Michael Wilkinson (American Hustle, Tron: Legacy)–Hemming discusses re-designing the boots and attempting to make the rest of the costume more comfortable for Gadot, and this was an element for the other costume designs as well, many of which would be used for stunt and action scenes requiring significant movement.

Two-time Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer (The Golden Compass, The Life of Pi) managed the film’s significant use of CGI along with practical effects where possible.  Westenhofer discusses stunt sequences (including the end of film fight scenes) and points out where the film required digital rendering to illustrate the story’s grand environments.

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Mattel adapts Wonder Woman heroines for Barbie collector line

Filed under: Movies, Superheroes — Leave a comment
June 8, 2017

Not since the Marx Toys line of accessory-laden “Noble Knights” action figures in the late 1960s and early 1970s have we seen a toy line that looks this much fun.  It’s the new Mattel Barbie line of Wonder Woman collector line “dolls,” but let’s call them what they are, action figures that measure up to any mid-range price-point doll or action figure on the market.  Even more fun, these Amazon warriors will stand tall over your other 12-inch action figures.

Sure, Mattel is targeting this new line at the “adult collector” (although the figures are listed as recommended for 10 and up).  But what girl or boy isn’t going to appreciate the great armor designs, and the attention to detail in the shields and swords?  No doubt with the critical acclaim and popularity of the new film–already netting more than $103 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. and $223 million internationally–this series is poised to be the toy line of the summer.

 

Each individual figure–Diana, Antiope, and Hippolyta–includes headdress, boots, armored gauntlets, shield, and sword.  Diana and Hippolyta also include capes and Antiope includes bow, arrows, and quiver.  A two-pack is also available, featuring Diana in a different design and Steve Trevor.  Designer Bill Greening blended the face designs to keep the classic Barbie and Ken look while also reflecting the images of actors Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, and Chris Pine.  All figures include fully articulated sculpts.

Check out these images of the full designs, plus click on each image below for more information on each and to purchase these new Barbie figures while they are still available (Wonder Woman is sold out on many sites):

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Trailer Park–The “It’s a Wrap” Summer Edition

Filed under: Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes — Leave a comment
May 17, 2017

Hollywood captures hundreds of movies each year in its talk of the Summer Blockbuster, with as many films arriving at screens before summer actually begins as after.  With Guardians of the Galaxy 2 the 2017 “summer” blockbusters are already on their way.  This week 20th Century Fox revealed the first glimpse of Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll, not only the star of the new reboot of The Mummy, but said to be the lynchpin behind all the new Universal Monster movies.  The new previews reveal a lot about this new monster flick.

The final movie trailers are now out for Alien: Covenant, War for the Planet of the Apes, Wonder Woman, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.  No doubt we’ll be seeing more trailers soon for other big movies hitting the theater this year like Transformers: The Last Knight, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and Spider-man: Homecoming. 

Which movies are on your much-watch list?  For now, check out these latest trailers, as Hollywood wraps the final marketing push for this year’s first summer blockbusters: Continue reading →

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Wonder Woman 100 project showcases everyone’s favorite superheroine

Filed under: Comics & Books, Con Culture, Superheroes — Leave a comment
May 14, 2017

Happy Mother’s Day!

More than 100 comic book artists came together over the past year to create what is one of the best joint art projects featuring superheroes that has come out of the industry.  And it’s all about the biggest superheroine of all.  Some of the best-known names in the world of comics volunteered an original work of art featuring Wonder Woman, penciled, inked, painted, or otherwise colored on a 75th Anniversary DC Comics Wonder Woman blank comic book cover.  It’s all for a good cause that gives back to, and in effect pays forward comic book creators that came before them.

It’s called the Wonder Woman 100 Project.  All proceeds of the auction of the original artwork will go to the Hero Initiative, an organization that helps out the comic book industry by contributing funds to individuals and their families in the event of medical and financial crises.  Most of the comic creators the fund helps were piecemeal workers in their careers over the past decades or those without any kind of retirement program.

    

And for those who can’t afford the original artwork, the Hero Initiative is creating a hardcover and softcover edition compiling all the covers that will be for sale in June 2017, with proceeds of those books also going to the Hero Initiative.

You’ll see some of the very best Wonder Woman images you’ll ever find.  Many are from well-known artists, but some of the finest works are showcased by more recent artists entering the industry.

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Warner Bros. launches final Wonder Woman trailer

Filed under: Comics & Books, Movies, Superheroes — Leave a comment
May 8, 2017

About two months since Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment released its third trailer  for this summer’s big screen Wonder Woman movie, they finally have released another full-length trailer.  Many fans have commented on the seemingly scant marketing for the movie in its final months.  With Monster director Patty Jenkins leading the first big-screen film featuring the most popular superheroine of all–and no Christopher Nolan or Zack Snyder–much is at stake for DC’s latest adaptation.

What is expected to fair well at the box office will also probably be one of the biggest moneymakers for a movie set during World War I.  Taking a cue from the Marvel Universe’s first golden age adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger, DC’s first Wonder Woman solo effort ties back not to World War II but WWI, “the Great War.”

Gal Gadot returns from last year’s Batman v Superman as Wonder Woman with Star Trek’s Chris Pine as the first man the Amazon warrior meets, Colonel Steve Trevor.

The new trailer seems to show a bit of everything.  Check out the latest trailer, trailer #4, for Wonder Woman:

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Preview–Free Comic Book Day returns this Saturday, May 6

Filed under: Comics & Books, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes — Leave a comment
May 1, 2017

   

If you love comics and especially if you haven’t read a comic book in years then this Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day is all about you.  See what you have been missing out on at comic book stores across the United States as shops hand out free issues of new comic books from your favorite franchises and publishers Marvel, DC Comics, IDW, Archie Comics, Dark Horse, BOOM!, Titan Comics, and more.

Star Trek fans won’t want to miss out on the first ever view of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew in the mirror universe story Mirror Broken! with incredible artwork by the incomparable J.K. Woodward.  Doctor Who fans will find an all-new story assembling the last four Doctors and companion Bill’s first appearance in comics.

Dozens of new FCBD stories will be available.  Check out the great covers above and below, plus previews of Avatar, Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Attack on Titan.

   

If you’re in the Kansas City area check out Elite Comics, and if not, use this comic book store locator to find your nearest participating shop.  Below, check out more comic books you will find Saturday (get there early if you don’t want to miss anything!), plus some videos about the event.

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Retro Watch–1970s Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman fend off fembots in crossover series

Filed under: Comics & Books, Retro Fix, Superheroes — Leave a comment
March 15, 2017

After two meet-up issues, Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman are back in their 1970s TV action mode in the DC Comics/Dynamite Entertainment crossover series Wonder Woman ’77 Meets The Bionic Woman, Issue #3, hitting comic book shops today.  And Max, the bionic German Shepherd, joins the team.

Writer Andy Mangels (Star Trek & Star Wars) and artist Judit Tondora (Grimm Fairy Tales) have at last tapped into that 1970s nostalgia fans of classic superhero TV shows have been looking for.  Today the duo takes on fembots, and the series reintroduces characters and plot points footnoted to specific episodes of the original TV shows.

   

The series features great covers and variants by artist Cat Staggs, Alex Ross, and others.  Check out some past and future covers from the series above and after the break, followed by a preview of Issue #3:

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DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. release new trailer for Wonder Woman

Filed under: Movies, Superheroes — Leave a comment
March 12, 2017

About three months out and the marketing for the 2017 superhero film Wonder Woman continues as DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. released a third trailer this weekend.  What will likely fair quite well at the box office will also probably be one of the biggest moneymakers for a movie set during World War I.  Taking a cue from the Marvel Universe’s first golden age adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger, DC’s first Wonder Woman solo effort ties back not to World War II but “the Great War.”  With Monster director Patty Jenkins leading the first big-screen film featuring the most popular superheroine of all–and no Christopher Nolan or Zack Snyder–we have much hope for this film, even if the glimpses at its cinematography, camera angles, and action sequences borrow plenty from Snyder’s 300.

Gal Gadot returns from last year’s Batman v Superman as Wonder Woman with Star Trek’s Chris Pine as the first man the Amazon warrior meets, Colonel Steve Trevor.  Gadot tweeted a new poster for the movie Saturday:

The new trailer shows some scenes from the film’s version of Wonder Woman’s origin story.  More humor is infused this time around, too.  Both Gadot and Pine look promising as these classic comic book characters.

Check out the latest trailer, trailer #3, for Wonder Woman:

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