Appearing on American Ninja Warrior’s Season 8 premiere, Jessie Graff became the first woman to complete the course. Graff is a stunt performer on DC’s Supergirl, but kicked the qualifier’s ass in full Wonder Woman swag.
As hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila pointed out, Graff had competed on the series before but looked much stronger on her second try. Well, duh.
Graff is black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a black sash in Kung Fu, and also a former pole vaulter. Her stunt resume is very impressive, including blockbusters like X-Men: First Class, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Live Free or Die Hard.
You can also see her on Supergirl as Season 2 premieres this Fall on the CW, joining the established DC weekly lineup of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. When they do the 4-show week-long crossover event, just keep in mind that there was a badass American Ninja Warrior on set…who also starred in a live-action Family Guy “Chicken Fight” video? Oh yeah.
Deadpool is well known for breaking the fourth wall, practically taking a seat with the audience or joining the comic book reader to comment on what is going on in his own story. Thanks to this week’s release of the Deadpool on DVD, that means more Ryan Reynolds promotion to sell fans on something we already know is awesome.
Cue the Honest Trailer for Deadpool, featuring commentary from…Deadpool
Screen Junkies have made a good name for themselves from the Honest Trailers. From The Avengers to Game of Thrones, they like to have fun and make fun of all your favorite things. The collaboration seems pretty perfect, as all the ads leading up to Deadpool’s theater release had the same humor. Reynolds even comments on how the film “borrowed” their ‘honest names’ bit. I actually love the “youtube comments” readings at the VERY end. Hang on before you move on, like it’s a Marvel movie or something.
Deadpool on Blu-Ray and DVD hit store shelves May, 10th. The sequel is due out in 2017 and you can imagine they’ll be working with a bigger budget after the R-Rated superhero flick made 13 times more than the $58 million they spent to make it.
Last night, Ryan Reynolds brought the Deadpool Red Band Trailer to CONAN on TBS and premiered it for all…of course after giving Conan O’Brien a massage with Panda tears.
Yep. Panda tears.
If you were on the internet while watching the interview, you probably caught the trailer already…but when isn’t Ryan Reynolds entertaining (outside of Green Lantern)? Unless you were at Comic-Con or like me and eager for bad bootleg copies of the San Diego screening, last night was your first chance to see “The Merc with a Mouth”. Before introducing the trailer, Reynolds took one more shot at Green Lantern, just to let the you know he thinks it sucked too. Then he let it roll…
“And please don’t make the super suit green…or animated.”
Fans have waited for this thing to become a reality for a long time. We were teased by the X-Men Origins version, also portrayed by Reynolds, that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths…because they took his away.
The 2 minutes and 54 seconds we’ve been provided is already better for the geek’s pallet. And thank Stan Lee/God they made this an R-Rated movie. I don’t need Deadpool to be marketed with Burger King collectibles or the Toys aisle at Target. I need a gory and explicit flick, that’s already proven to work with the Daredevil Netflix series.
I am also excited by the ties to the X-Men universe. In the trailer, we get a good look at Piotr Rasputin, aka Colossus…
But there’s also a shot of another “must-be important” character as well. After a quick glance at IMDB, we can identify her as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, named after the Monster Magnet song. She’s a telepath who receives premonitions and precognitive nightmares.
What I’d love to see is an X-Men: First Class style Wolverine cameo. You may have hated the Origins flick, and maybe that would give you shell shock, but I didn’t. I personally loved the back-and-fourth between Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber’s Sabertooth. He was one of the more underrated Marvel cinematic villains that I want to be reprised in future X-Men Universe films. Give me one of these Logan quips and I’ll be good with that too…
Makes sense considering Deadpool the same way that Wolverine was, and Reynolds brought that up twice in his interview with Conan.
Lastly, TJ F’n Miller…
“You look like an avocado had sex with an older avocado.”
Your R-rated comedy action movie gets a significant bump when you add TJ Miller to the equation. He has the perfect combination of appropriate inappropriateness that works well with Reynolds’s brand of humor.
Are you as pumped for Deadpool as I am? Sure you are. Lets talk about it some more on Facebook and Twitter.
I envy everyone who attended San Diego Comic-Con 2015 this past weekend. Attendees were lucky enough to witness first looks at upcoming Star Wars, DC, and Marvel films. Fortunately, those of us who couldn’t attend have the internet and access to the streaming of panels, and releases of footage (official or leaked). Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice finally gave us their first full trailer. Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Suicide Squad headlined with panels and trailer presentations that made their way to the internet shortly after. Even THE MUPPETS made their presence felt, discussing their mockumentary series that will air on ABC later this year. The biggest takeaway from the SDCC weekend may have been exactly what all of us young (and old) padawans have been waiting for…Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens coming to life.
If you’re like me, you salivated at the idea of “real sets” and “practical effects”, which were missing from Episodes I-III…and Jurassic World for that matter. (CGI takes the magic away from things, but that’s a discussion for another day.)
This past weekend, overall, was an excellent reminder of how good it is to be a geek these days. A generation that grew up on comic books, video games, and Superhero cartoons are now being treated to a Hollywood that appreciates those mediums. Before the first Iron Man movie, did you expect to see a full timeline of Avengers/Marvel films scheduled through May 3rd, 2019? Following Revenge of the Sith, Did you imagine Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford would team up again as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo? You’re lying if say you did…Or have a time-traveling DeLorean in your garage.
While we have new Superhero films hitting theaters every 3-4 months now, television has caught up to the big screen as an excellent resource for geek entertainment (and distraction). What Marvel has accomplished with feature films and creating an epic universe for the Avengers, DC has done on the CW network with Arrow, The Flash and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow…
Fox’s Gotham and ABC’s Agents of Shield series are fun, but not nearly as compelling as the stories presented in the Arrow/Flash universe (which I wish the DC film division took notice of). Meanwhile, Netflix has entered the ring with excellent original programming. The first season of Daredevil cleansed the pallet of a fans who were left with a bad taste after the previous adaptation, starring Ben Affleck. It also opened the door to a universe that will involve 4 other Marvel series on Netflix, including Jessica Jones later this year, then Luke Cage, The Iron Fist, and then The Defenders.
Recently, I’ve noticed a contrarian and trendy narrative in TV shows, such as Community and Mr. Robot, that suggest people are suckers for enjoying Superhero films. In the writers’ opinion, we’re all lemmings for going to the movie theater and paying money for these films, and that’s just simply wrong. Just about every one of the Marvel films consist of better stories and dialogue than you’ll find in any of other franchises getting recent installments (looking at you Jurassic World,Terminator: Genisys and ALL of the Transformers films). I also think those are counter-culture comments being made for the sake of being counter-culture. Consider that a win, Geeks. You are today’s “culture”, and it’s wonderful.
Have you ever Googled the definition of “Geek”? The definition isn’t particularly flattering and may have been written by Biff from “Back To The Future”…
Yep. straight from Google. (Google is a jerk sometimes). Those who believe in the “unfashionable” and “carnival performer” assumptions are the same people who made fun of you to feel better about themselves and are probably looking forward to their high school reunions way more than the average person should.
The truth lies somewhere in the sub-definitions. “A knowledgeable enthusiast” (obsessive is a bit strong) or one who “becomes extremely excited about a subject” sounds more like a typical fan than a “socially inept person”. It also applies to more than comic books, video games, and superheroes. If you are amped up for next seasons for The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, or even less fantasy-driven shows like House of Cards or Empire, you are indeed a geek. If you are checking every new beer you try on the Untappd app, you are a geek. If you are over-preparing for your upcoming fantasy football draft or really looking forward to when Blackhawks tickets go on sale, you are a geek…not a freak.
Geek is fun. Geek is chic. Geek is “normal”…I use the term “normal” very loosely because I don’t think there is such thing as normal. We all have different backgrounds, different interests, different hobbies, and different experiences. When we can bond on any of those different things, then maybe we start to feel “normal”. Being a geek is sort of like that.
I love that I can discuss the things I get excited about on this website like movies, music, TV, sports and food, because I know there are many who share these same interests…many of whom, are in fact geeks (whether they identify as such or not). It’s a community that grows everyday thanks to social media and the ever-evolving entertainment culture, one that can be both appealing but sometimes over-critical.
For now, it’s just simply good. I mean, who ISN’T geeking out about Star Wars returning this Winter?
[Update]
Of course as soon as I mention it in this post, Warner Bros releases the Suicide Squadtrailer. Enjoy!
Have something to add? Continue the conversation on Twitter @Mike_PiFF03.
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