Geek of Oz

Hi-yo Silver, AWAAAAAY! Walt Disney Studios have announced that the long planned Lone Ranger film has officially commenced production and will reunite Pirates allumni Depp, Verbinski and Bruckheimer while adding The Social Network's Armie Hammer into the masked mans... err... mask. Check out the full press release after the jump!

There is everything to love about Marvel's John Carter books. Not only are they based upon one of the greatest adventure series of all time, but they also have Roman Perez on art... RAMON PEREZ! His beautiful art style is the perfect match for the storytelling of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sam Humphries' adaptation. Check out your first sneak peek after the jump!

I hate to tease, but I'm lucky enough to have seen John Carter in its entirety although you'll just have to wait until March to read my thoughts on the film. "From Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”—a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands."

Who doesn't love Pixar films? Honestly, leave your name and address in a comment below so that I can set a bag of dog poop ablaze on your porch. Their newest film is getting closer by the day and in anticipation, Disney have sent us the newest Brave trailer for your viewing pleasure and as an extra bonus we also get a sneak peek at the Academy Award nominated short, La Luna. Check it out after the jump!

Contraband is the latest film by Baltasar Kormakur (of 101 Reykjavik fame) which follows a few days in the life of reformed smuggler, Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), as he is drawn back into the game following his brother-in-law Andy’s (Caleb Landry Jones) bungled job for drug lord Tim Briggs, played by the ever-menacing Giovanni Ribisi. Chris reunites with his old crew and heads to Panama for the traditional ‘one last job’ in order to placate a disquieted Briggs and protect his family from his punitive fury. Whilst Chris is away he entrusts the welfare of his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and two children to his best friend Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster).

Do you want to choke folks from a distance or power your Chevy Volt for free? Have you ever wanted to cut down those annoying little burlap sacked Jawas? I mean honestly, who sells R2 units with bad motivators? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're well on your way to becoming a dark lord. Luckily for you Dan Wallace is back with all you need to know to fast track your path to the dark side in his new book, Book of Sith. Check out our interview, images of the book and an EXCLUSIVE page on Sith Warbeasts!

Released in October 2011 to widespread critical acclaim, The Hunter has become an international sensation. There are so many reasons to love this film: the cast is magnificent, the score beautiful and the cinematography mind boggling. All of this is for nought unless you have a talented director and producer to lead the pack, drawing each of these elements together into a seemless work. Such is The Hunter.  Recently I had the absolute pleasure if speaking with the director of The Hunter Daniel Nettheim and Producer Vincent Sheehan. Check it out after the jump!

Sure, Australia had it's own film... apparently (I never saw it). So too do other great cities in the world in the guise of Paris, je'taime and New York, I Love You. But SYDNEY UNPLUGGED is set to unite a dozen of Australia's best and brightest to create a film to highlight the culture and character of Australia's first city. Hey Melbourne, where's your star studded film?

YAR! Here be the latest trailer from the swashbucklin' land lubbers at Aardman... etc etc. If you're anything like me (if you're a regular here then you probably are) then you'll undoubtedly be a fan of Aardman Animation's work such as Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Flushed Away. Luckily for you Sony Pictures have sent through this brand new clip of The Pirates! Band of Misfits fresh from the azure waters of YouTube. Watch it, if ye dare!

Safe House has come along at a great time. It is in a completely different space to The Artist , The Descendants and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . While the latter are all serious Oscar contenders which may feel stuffy to some of the viewing public, Safe House is a fun if not by the numbers spy action/thriller. Matt Weston (Reynolds) has spent the last twelve months posted as the housekeeper of a CIA safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. In this time he has seen no action at all. This all changes when Tobin Frost (Washington), a rogue CIA agent, is brought in for "questioning". A loyal company man, Weston must decide whether he stays true to the Agency or trusts in a man who is wanted on 4 continents, a master manipulator and the best damn agent the CIA has ever seen. Let the black-bagging and water boarding commence.

In just under 2 months we will potentially witness the biggest smack down in comic book history. Captain America VS Cyclops, Iron Man VS Wolverine and The Hulk VS whoever is close. Just to whet your appetite, check out a few pages from the upcoming first issue before putting it on your pull list.

The Superbowl is THE advertising opportunity of the year and as such, all of the big films were there but none were quite as big as Marvel's The Avengers! This is the holy grail of super team films, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk etcetera, etcetera. In this one minute clip we get our first good look at The Hulk in action, flying through the air with the greatest of ease. We also get a look at The Hulk standing back to back with his cohorts, showing that he really will be fighting alongside Thor, Iron Man and Cap and not just a proxy villain. Perhaps in order to tame the beast a little Hulkbuster is in order... one can only hope. Check out the official Superbowl trailer after the jump!

Check out the new John Carter trailer below. This trailer debuted yesterday during the Superbowl (go Giants!) and at 1 minute long it would have cost The House of Mouse a cool $7 million US dollars. Odin's Raven! That's nearly as much as I earn in an entire week!  In all seriousness, this is shaping up to be a sleeper hit. It is in the perfect situation to surprise audiences with its slick styling and action that is off the chain. I still remember how Pirates of the Caribbean snuck up on us all and blew everyone out of the water (pun entirely intended). Check out the trailer after the jump!

At 5:00pm this afternoon I had the absolute pleasure of joining a cinema chock full of my fellow geeks for an exclusive preview of The Amazing Spider-Man. This wasn't just any preview, this was the WORLD PREMIERE of the preview. It's no secret that I'm a massive geek and Spider-Man is by far my childhood favourite. I enjoyed the recent Sam Raimi helmed films but after seeing this all new trailer and some footage that is still in post production, there is no comparison. I'll put it this way. Tobey Maguire is to Andrew Garfield as Val Kilmer is to Christian Bale. No, really. Director Marc Webb (his surname is Webb, how can this go wrong?) blew my mind with 500 Days of Summer and it looks as though he brings his mastery of the human element to The Amazing Spider-Man. In the 20 minutes of footage that I saw, I was reassured that this is going to something special. Marc Webb has created the Spider-Man that I had always imagined. Please, follow on after the jump for the off

Fairy Tail is one of those series that isn't particularly well known here in Australia, but those who do know about it think it is brilliant. Hiro Mashima (Rave Master) writes and illustrates the manga series of the same name, a series that was the 4th best selling title in Japan last year, won the Kodansha Manga Award in the Shonen category in 2009 and was listed as the best shonen manga of 2008 by Deb Aoki of About.com . This series is without a doubt one of my favourite ongoing manga series but does the animated series live up to my expectations? Find out after the jump!

Hopefully right now a board meeting is underway in a Hollywood studio, in which executives are discussing the types of films they wish to be remembered for making. These misguided pompous executives bandying around terms such as legacy and dynasty, attempting to liken the studio to the Greek or Roman empires. Debate raging on as to which 80’s or 90’s television show needs to brought to the big screen for a ‘reimagining’ for another film the public is not demanding to see. Personal assistants with their hands cupped over the mouth piece of their mobile phones scurrying around informing their masters that the latest High School Musical spin off has just grossed a million billion dollars. Amongst all the chaos I pray that at least one high powered person has seen Michel Hazanavicius’s beautiful film The Artist , for this is a film which may have serious ramifications within Hollywood.

The first thing you'll realise about Ninja Nonsense is just how nonsensical it really is. In fact, it would have been just as apt if they had have called the series "Ninja Absurdly Nonsensical Nincompoopery". That said, it is nothing short of hilarious. "Take one totally cute ninja-girl trainee; add a ninja horde under the tutelage of a perverse headmaster (a strange, yellow, spherical, pudgy...creature...named Onsokumaru) and you get the kind of super-explosive ninja insanity that can only be found in what's been called "the runaway nuclear reactor of anime comedies! " So, is it too nonsensical? Do the gags land? Will I ever finish this Adam West style Batman monologue? The answers to all of these questions and more can be found after the jump!

After his role in 11 time Oscar nominated Hugo, Sasha Baron Cohen is back in classic fashion and he's not alone! He's even joined by his Hugo co-star, Sir Ben Kingsley. The writer and star of Ali G, Borat and Bruno is back to his "shockumentary" roots as he plays General Aladeen, the suspiciously familiar dictator of the Republic of Wadiya. For a taste of things to come check out the website for the Republic of Wadiya  and the official trailer after the jump.

Madman Entertainment have sent out a press release in realtion to Snowtown absolutely KILLING it (blame me for that pun, not them) at the Australian Academy of Ceinam and Television Arts (AACTA) last night. Not only did Snowtown clean up, but a number of other Madman titles such as The Hunter, Offspring and Mrs. Carey's Concert also tasted success. I can't say whether or not Madman were the most successful distributor or not but I will certainly say that their list of gongs is mighty impressive. From The Geek of Oz, we salute you. Follow on after the jump for the official press release.