Part 2 - Is 2013 the year for nerd cinema?

Continuing our round up of this years must see Nerd films we take a look at the upcoming movies for the rest of this year

Despicable Me 2 (July 2013) - Steve Carell

The LONG overdue sequel to the amazing 2010 Chris Meledandri movie starring Steve Carell as villian Gru who adopts 3 young girls in an effort to fulfill his plan to steal the moon.  Gru eventually realises that family is what matters and becomes a good guy - aided by his little yellow Minions who steal the film so much that they even have their own spin off due out Christmas 2014.

Monsters University (July 2013) - John Goodman, Billy Crystal
The sequel that's actually a prequel explores the beginning of the relationship between the best scare team in the history of Monsters Incorporated - Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan.

It's great to see that the whole team are back for the sequel and are joined by Nathan Fillion in the role of Johnny Worthington, president of the Roar Omega Roar fraternity.



The Worlds End (July 2013) - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost

The third installment of Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy looks set to storm the box office when it opens next month with many cinemas showing the previous two films back to back before a midnight premiere.  Blending equal parts Shaun of the Dead and Falling Skies the story starts with five friends attempting to re-enact a pub crawl from over 20 years earlier and unwittingly becoming the possible saviours of the entire human race!

  

The Wolverine (July 2013) - Hugh Jackman

Hopefully this X-Men spin off will prove to be far better than that god awful Wolverine Origin movie that was released in 2009, the only good part of that film was the genius casting of Liev Schrieber as Sabretooth (although it was still a shame not to see Tyler Mane return to the role).  Early photo's look promising and the fact that this is a 15 instead of a family friendly PG-13 like it's predecessor indicate we'll see a darker story and a meaner Wolverine.  Drawing from Wolverine's Japanese saga storyline, which I'm a big fan of, I'm looking forward to seeing if this Wolverine wants to shred your face or simply sleep on your lap.

Pacific Rim (July 2013) - Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba

There are three things that make this film awesome -

• ~ Guillermo Del Toro
• ~ Big fucking monsters
• ~ Big ass robots

If that doesn't give you a little wood already then you're dead from the waist down and may as well go euthanize yourself right now before you waste more oxygen.

R.I.P.D (August 2013) - Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon

Adapted from the Dark Horse comic book of the same name Reynolds plays cop Nick Cruz who joins the supernatural Rest In Peace Department after his murder.  Teamed with Bridges veteran agent Roy Pulsipher the pair protect the living from supernatural entities who refuse to pass on to the afterlife whilst attempting to track down Cruz's killer.

Kick-Ass 2 (August 2013) - Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Taylor-Johnson returns in the titular role joining forces with Colonel Stars and Stripes (played by Jim Carrey) to patrol the city and protect the innocent.  Meanwhile Hit-Girl (Moretz) has 'retired' and is trying to enjoy a normal life and supervillian Red Mist (Mintz-Plasse) reinvents himself as The Mother Fucker and attempts to exact revenge on Kick-Ass for killing his father.

RED 2 (August 2013) - Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren
Following on from the previous film Frank Moses (Willis) is trying to lead a normal life, again, when he's notified that Interpol are hunting for him.  In the process of trying to clear his name he has to disarm a nuclear device in Russia, fend off the amorous advances of an old flame, and avoid being assassinated... all in a days work apparently.

Elysium (August 2013) - Matt Damon, Jodie Foster
Neill Blomkamp's follow up film to 2009's hugely successful District 9 this sci-fi actioner will follow similiar themes to those explored in D9 such as immigration, health care, and class separation.  Set in a not too distant dystopian future the rich live on a crime free floating city called Elysium whilst everyone else struggles to survive on a dirty, crowded, Earth far below.

Riddick - Rule the Dark (September 2013) - Vin Diesel
Back to an 'R' rating in the states the new Riddick movie looks alot like a re-hash of the original Pitch Black with Riddick fighting nasty alien beasties in the dark.  Set after Chronicles Diesel's third outing see's him betrayed and left for dead on a desolate planet fighting off bounty hunters attracted by the price on his head.  Karl Urban has been confirmed to reprise his role as Vaako from Chronicles so it will be interesting to see how Twohy and Diesel rounded off the Necromonger's story arc from the last movie.

Machete Kills (September 2013 (US)) - Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Mel Gibson

Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale Machete in Robert Rodriguez second Mexploitation flick which features more over the top action and an equally over the top plot.  Mel Gibson joins the cast as the billionaire arms dealer hell bent on starting World War 3 that Machete is sent to stop by the American president (played by Charlie Sheen).  Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles from the original film and there's even a place for Sofia Vergara, Alexa Vega, and Lady Gaga?!?

Oldboy (October 2013 (US)) - Josh Brolin
Spike Lee's remake of the cult Korean film and Manga of the same name has received positive feedback from viewings of an early rough cut.  Josh Brolin plays the lead role of an executive who is incarcerated in solitary confinement for 20 years with no reason given and is then, just as suddenly, released.

Hopefully this remake will be better than the terrible remakes of other cult asian cinema classics like Ringu, Ju-on, and The Eye.

Thor: The Dark World (October 2013) - Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston
Hemsworth reprises the role of Thor for his third outing as the God of thunder.  Set approximately one year after the end of The Avengers movie Thor must battle Malekith the Accursed (played by Christopher Eccleston) and his army of Dark Elves in order to save the Nine Realms.  Hiddleston returns as Thor's adopted brother Loki, Portman returns as the love interest Jane Foster and we get to discover more of Asgard and it's inhabitants.

Ender's Game (October 2013) - Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford

Never having read the books I've not been caught up in the hype of this one but considering the following for the series it seems only right to include it here.

The series follows Ender Wiggin, a shy but brilliant boy as he's recruited by the military to help defeat a race of aliens called the Formics who have attacked Earth.  The trailer looks stunning and, considering the wealth of source material, this could be another Harry Potter franchise.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 2013) - Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson
The second film in the series continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark after their victory at the 74th Annual Hunger Games when they must embark on a victory tour as rebellion stirs in the districts.

I enjoyed the first film but didn't understand why everyone raved about it so much, it pretty much stole the idea of kids fighting each other in a TV show from Battle Royale and didn't manage to do it with quite so much style.  I hope Catching Fire is better than the first film but I won't be rushing out to see it.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 2013) - Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen

I'm going to make an admission here... I still haven't seen The Hobbit yet.  I want to see it but, with a baby, finding three hours of time to watch a film is pretty difficult, in addition to that I'm unsure how Peter Jackson can take a book considerably smaller than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and make it into a series of 3 films of nearly 3 hours each.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (December 2013) - Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate
I don't know how to put this but... this films kind of a big deal.

Set 10 years after the original Anchorman this film finds the news team disbanded and at rock bottom until they are recruited for a 24 hour cable news show in New York City.  Prepare for the triumphant return of Ron, Brian, Champ, and Brick (not forgetting Baxter of course) - News Team Assemble!!!!

An honourable mention goes to Sin City: A Dame to Kill For which was due for release in October 2013 but was pushed back to August 2014 whilst this post was being written which sucks but does give us more to look forward to next year.

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Part 1 - Is 2013 the year for nerd cinema?

This is a massive year for nerd film lovers everywhere with a whole glut of awesome looking movies due for release and no fewer than NINE comic book adaptations being released over the course of the year.  In addition to these comic book adaptations there's some rebooted franchises, re-imaginings of cult movies, and  some long awaited sequels.

Bullet to the Head (Feb 2013) - Sylvester Stallone
Based on the graphic novel Headshot (Du Plomb Dans La Tête) by French writer Alexis Nolent, 2012's Bullet to the Head stars Stallone as a hitman who joins forces with a police detective to take down a common enemy when their respective partners are killed.  

It received a score of 48/100 on Metacritic with it's generic plot and back-to-the-80's action, it's the action movie equivelant of Marmite - you either love it or hate it.



Warm Bodies (February 2013) - Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer
Starring Nicholas Hoult (the awkward duck killing Marcus Brewer from About a Boy) Warm Bodies is adapted from the novel of the same name.  Zombie, R, spends his days wandering around an abandoned airport with his fellow zombies until one day he sees Julie and is drawn to her.

Billed as a zombie romance and with a Metacritic score of 59/100 it received mixed, but mostly positive, reviews and I'm including it here cos I'm a sucker for a good zombie flick.

-,

A Good Day to Die Hard (February 2013) - Bruce Willis

The return of everyone's favourite vest wearing supercop the fifth outing for John McClane moved the action from the US to Russia in a bid to breathe new life into the franchise.  Focusing more on family, relationships and attempting to develop the characters of McClane and his son the film swings from (almost) hallmark moments between the pair to overly long chase scenes and by the book gun fights.  A disappointing part of a franchise I dearly love but I guess Hans Gruber can only have so many brothers... To be fair though I did only watch half of it, the rest I was asleep for - not surprising considering the Metacritic score of 28/100 with only one positive review.

Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 2013) - James Franco

A re-imagining (and a prequel of sorts) to the much loved classic The Wizard of Oz tells the story of small time magician Oscar Diggs who finds himself transported to the land of Oz.  Passing himself off as a great Wizard he's soon drawn into a power struggle between three rival witches.

With a Metacritic score of 44/100 it received many mixed reviews from critics but favourable reviews from cinemagoers.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 2013) - Channing Tatum, The Rock, Bruce Willis

Another comic book movie and a sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which, suprisingly, wasn't that terrible but neither was it anything outstanding either.  The forever delayed sequel adds the star power of The Rock and Bruce Willis to try to make it bigger and better than it's predecessor which it appears to have achieved as it managed to score a Metacritic rating of 41 compared to the first films 32.  G.I. Joe is a dearly loved and very major franchise in the US and any attempt to bring it to the screen was always going to get met with some fairly harsh criticism by the fans but at the end of the day this film does exactly what it promises to do - it blows shit up and doesn't take itself too seriously whilst it's doing it.

Evil Dead (April 2013) - Jessica Lucas

I'm a HUGE fan of Sam Raimis original Evil Dead series so an attempt to remake any them was always going to be met with a massive amount of skepticism from yours truly.  At the moment I've not seen it, partly because I love the original so much I don't want this one to foul the experience of watching one of my favourite horror movies and partly because it's Metacritic reviews vary so wildly from 'It's everything a horror movie should be' to 'starts well but soon degenerates into tiresome shock gore'

Iron Man 3 (May 2013) - Robert Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey Juniors third solo outing as the man in the iron suit, I've yet to see this film but am really looking forward to it as I've heard good things about it and can't wait to see Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.  Whether it's the script or Downey Junior as the smug yet charismatic Tony Stark I'm not sure but this is one of my favourite Marvel franchises even though I was never a huge fan of the comic books when I was growing up preferring Spiderman over Iron Man.

Star Trek Into Darkness (May 2013) - Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch

Writing this has got me realising just how many films I've missed this year so far and the new Star Trek is one of those, JJ Abrams sequel to 2009's amazing franchise reboot promises more of the same but with the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch (who seems to be everywhere at the moment).  I'm looking forward to seeing how Abram's continues the new alternate universe he created with the time travelling Romulan planet killers from the first film.

Man of Steel (June 2013) - Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
The trailer for Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise promises all sorts of awesomeness with Henry Cavill donning the red cape to battle Michael Shannon's Kryptonian uber-baddie General Zod.  Going on Snyder's previous comic book adaptations (Watchmen, 300) you can expect the visuals to be jaw droppingly awesome and for the story to stick pretty close to it's source material.

I was never a big fan of Superman as I prefer my heroes to have a bit of a dark side (like Batman) but I'm pretty excited about this one!!!

World War Z (June 2013) - Brad Pitt
I really enjoyed the source novel when I read it so am looking forward to seeing how it's been adapted into a movie considering the book was written as a collection of individual accounts and records of a ten year battle against the zombies which seemed pretty difficult to adapt.

The film stars Pitt as Gerry Lane a retired UN employee who travels the world trying to find a cure to the zombie pandemic sweeping the earth.

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Gifts for the Nerd Dad

Whilst it seems unlikely, some of us do actually manage to find a member of the opposite sex (or same sex - whatever floats your boat) who is actually enamoured by our nerdiness... in my case my wife tolerates it (mostly cos I fix her laptop and spreadsheets for work).   Sometimes we're even lucky enough that we spawn offspring that may end up being as nerdy as us and in recognition of those lucky few here's some gifts that might go down well with the Nerd Dad on Fathers Day.

The 8-bit Tie

Because Dad's have day jobs and sometimes pocket protectors aren't quite enough to demonstrate just how big a nerd you are.  This tie comes in a pixelated 8-bit style in either red or blue and can be found at ThinkGeek

Can also be teamed with the 8-bit Sunglasses for the full retro effect.




Jedi Bath Robe
Allow Dad to act out his Star Wars dreams with this luxurious Jedi Bath Robe styled like the one worn by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (the original with Sir Alec Guinness not Ewan McGregor).

Available from ThinkGeek it also comes in Sith style for the Dad with a bit of a dark side.





GeekDad Book

This 272 page tome of awesomeness comes filled to the brim with a host of activities and projects for you and your Nerd Dad so he can share his love of all stuff nerdy with you and you can learn something (cos we all know the school system nowadays isn't quite what it used to be).

Worth picking up if only for the Cyborg Jack-O-Lanterns and the 'Best Slip and Slide Ever' from Amazon.

If you enjoy this consider picking up the companion books in the series.

Sex Panther Aftershave

Your Nerd Dad probably has plenty of aftershave but none quite like Sex Panther from Firebox.com!!!  It's illegal in nine countries*, it's made with bits of real panther**, and 60% of the time it works every time***

It's probably best that you don't buy your Dad this unless you seriously want a little brother or sister and you don't mind early bed times with your head buried under the pillow.
*This is made up
** I hope this is made up
*** It's like Old Spice on steroids so this is probably true (and no-one needs to be on a horse)

Gourmet Coffee

Not just any gourmet coffee, this is Civet Coffee (or Kopi Luwak) which is guaranteed not to taste like shit despite the fact it's made from beans extracted from the poop of the Sumatran Civet.  Responsibly sourced from free range Civet's (that's right - someone gets paid to go searching through cat crap for these beans) and then delicately roasted this is one of the most expensive coffee blends in the world.

Make Dad's day, give him a cup of shit coffee from Firebox.com


Zombie Experience Day

If your Dad's one of those who never misses an episode of The Walking Dead (and who would to be fair... it's an awesome show!) but mutters his way through it about being able to survive a zombie apocalypse?  Then give him a chance to prove it with a Zombie Experience Day from Wish.co.uk

Send him to Zombie Bootcamp to learn how to fight the undead horde then relax safe in the knowledge that should the dead rise and start snacking on your nearest and dearest Dad will be well equipped to save you from becoming a Happy Meal with legs.

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Dead Formats - a retrospective

Before we start lets get this straight - this article has nothing to do with the Essex based band The Dead Formats... If this isn't what you want to hear then you might as well quit reading now otherwise carry on...

Whilst clearing out a butt load of paper files in the archive room at work (my predecessor was something of a hoarder) I came across something I hadn't seen, or even thought about for a long time... this -

For those of you too young to remember what this is it's NOT a coaster (although it may as well be for all the use it gets for it's intended purpose), it's a 3.5" Floppy disk, this is what fits into that pointless slot on the front of older model PC's... the one called the A drive.  This got me thinking about all those old and disused physical formats, not only for computers but also for music and video...

HD-DVD

Toshiba's contender for the HD video industry was short lived lasting only from 2006 until 2008 when they finally gave up the battle against Sony's Blu-ray format which was always going to win the format war based on 3 things -

• * Firstly it was the format offering superior storage capacity (50gb maximum against the HD-DVD's 30gb maximum)
• * Secondly it was the disc format Sony were using for their upcoming PlayStation 3 console
• * Lastly it was the disc format of choice for the American porn industry which churns out more films per month than Hollywood do in a year

CD-ROM

Not really a dead format yet but certainly one that's going the way of the dinosaur.  Up until recently it was the preferred media of choice for pirates everywhere to get their latest 'bangin choons' from their porn riddled PC's in to their ridiculously modified cars so they could cruise down the local high street at five miles an hour with their windows open impressing the 'girls' hanging around outside the local supermarket.  Nowadays they just download it onto their iPod, iPhone, or other MP3 player and plug it in via the AUX port on their overpriced car stereos - this is the only thing that's changed in this scenario.

MINIDISC 

The bastard offspring of the 3.5" Floppy Disc and the CD-ROM the Minidisc felt like it was here one day and gone the next but MD players were still being manufactured up until March 2013.  The Minidisc failed to gain the popularity of the CD and low initial uptake meant many artists weren't releasing their albums in this format and stereos containing Minidisc units remained prohibitively expensive forcing many adopters to hook their MD Walkman up to their stereo in order to record music to listen to.  It's popularity declined further in the late 90's when the first MP3 players appeared and many users began to migrate to digital format instead of hard format.

LASERDISC
The precursor to the modern day DVD, this was a movie on a CD the size of an LP.  The first Laserdiscs were actually made in 1978 and offered superior video quality to VHS and could also handle analog and digital audio whilst VHS was mostly analog only.  Laserdiscs were initially cheaper to manufacture than VHS but by the end of the 1980's the cost of disc pressing was nearly 5 times the cost of VHS due to the amount of plastic and the expensive glass mastering process.  In 1984 Pioneer produced the first commercial Laserdisc player but unfortunately it never took off due to cost and a lack of popularity outside of the US.

VHS / BETAMAX 

Back in the mid 1970's Sony developed the Betamax format which they pitched to the industry as a standard format for the good of everyone.  JVC shocked Sony when they refused to back this format and developed their own rival format known as VHS kicking of the videotape format war of the 80's.  Betamax eventually lost the format war despite offering a superior product due to the perceived benefits of the longer recording times offered by the VHS format and, like the Blu-ray, being chosen as the format of choice by the porn industry.

COMPACT CASSETTE

The compact cassette was originally designed for use with dictaphones but following improvements in sound quality this format eventually replaced 8-Track and Reel-to-Reel tape recording for most domestic applications.  Pre-recorded music cassettes first appeared on the market in the mid 60's and their popularity continued to grow through the 80's with the advent of 'hi-fi' and the Sony Walkman.  In addition to pre-recorded music, cassettes were also used for home recording (with many youngsters using them to record the Top 40 from their radios on a Sunday night in a primitive form of piracy) and for games and data storage on early computers.  Sales of cassette's were over taken by those of CD's in the early 90's and steadily continued to decline dropping from 442 million units sold in 1990 to only 34,000 in 2009.

VINYL (LP & SINGLE)

Introduced in 1948 by Columbia Records the Long Play was adopted as the industry standard for all phonographic recordings and, despite a few minor refinements and a the addition of stereophonic sound capability, has remained the standard format for the last 65 years.  Despite it's decline over recent years there are still labels that release albums on Vinyl for record enthusiasts and for use by DJ's in clubs.

FLOPPY DISKS

Originally developed in the late 60's Floppy disks were originally manufactured as an 8" format then later 5.25" and finally 3.5" formats.  Floppy's became popular in the 80's and 90's to transfer data, store backups, and distribute software for home computers.  By the early 90's increasing software size meant that more and more disks were needed for the distribution of software packages (Beneath a Steel Sky on the Amiga A500 needed 11 disks!!!) and in 1996 it was estimated that there were approximately 5 billion Floppy disks in use worldwide.

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