Geek of Oz

You know how it goes. Man invents robots. Robots help man accomplish menial tasks. Man makes robots more intelligent to do slightly less menial tasks. Robots become too intelligent. Intelligent robots go out and massacre the humans they were built to serve. Welcome to the post-human world of D4VE, by writer Ryan Ferrier and artist Valentin Ramon. Ferrier and Ramon serve us up a future in which robots have not only eradicated all the squishy humans, they have also wiped out every other living species in the galaxy. If you think this all sounds a bit bleak and melancholy you would be very wrong indeed. D4VE is a hilarious and lighthearted romp that handles the genocide of humanity with about the same level of reverence South Park gave Scientology, and contains about as much foul language and fart jokes to boot. To say I'm a fan would be an understatement. D4VE opens with our hero, who goes by the name of D4VE surprisingly enough, working a boring desk job. Although once a...

Sword Art Online, SAO for short, is something of a phenomenon. Following its inception in 2009 as a light novel series, it has spawned manga releases, a swathe of merchandise, an anime series and even an art exhibition which is being brought to Australia by Madman. But does this necessarily mean that the anime series will be good? Thankfully in this case, yes it does. Set in the near future, Sword Art Online is a MMORPG with a twist. Instead of being played with a keyboard and mouse it uses a virtual reality helmet which effectively connects the player with the game directly. In a cruel twist of human induced fate, players find themselves stuck in the game with the threat that if they die in the game world, so too will there mind in the real world unless the final level is cleared. All the while, their bodies remain in the real world, unable to be removed from the system. The first thing that strikes you about SAO is the sheer beauty of it. The animation quality of A-1 Pict...

Non-Stop is the perfect example of a film which takes off strongly, soars for forty minutes or so, hits some turbulence and eventually performs a crash landing into the evergreen pastures of cliche, to the point that it could be renamed Please-Stop. Despite marketing to the contrary this is not an unofficial Taken 3. The premise of the film feels like something that Hitchcock would have been interested in, given the moral implications of certain decisions and a setting which has inherent suspense. Unfortunately the writers of this film do not posses the third act skills to rescue it. Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is a grizzled burnt-out-former-cop who has taken a job as an Air Marshall. Although he hates flying, he’s a functioning alcoholic and chronically in debt. Bill’s day starts with pre-flight cocktails in his car, gulping down equal parts whiskey and regret before lurching his way through the terminal to take his fateful flight. Once on board little does he know that this ...

The greatest news team to team up to tell the news is back and they're backer than ever. If you were a fan of the absurdity of ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, you're in for a real treat with over 4 HOURS of bonus features and 763 NEW JOKES included on the Blu Ray super-sized version. That's an increase of 5.33 jokes per minute, one of the highest JPM averages ever! Being heralded as "funny" by SMH and "a sequel" by FilmInk, ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES will be released on DVD and Blu Ray on the 9th of April and through digital channels on the 26th of March (Australian time).  Check out the full list of special features below and word to the wise, Blu Ray is where it's at. ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES – BLU-RAY SUPER-SIZED VERSION  (2 Discs) Super-Sized Version in High Definition Blu-ray widescreen enhanced for 16:9TV’s Running Time Feature Film: 118mins Bonus Disc with Supersized Version: 143mins Special Features ...

Let's be honest, feature films based on hit shonen series can sometimes be a little bit lackluster in both appearance and story. They can feel like a cheap cash-grab doing little to further the storyline or flesh out characters. Strong World, the 10th film in the One Piece franchise changes that. 20 years after his escape from Impel Down, the legendary pirate Shiki "the Golden Lion" reappears causing massive upheaval to the Marines. During his long seclusion, he was able to come up with a scheme to bring the World Government to his knees. On his way to execute the plan, Shiki crosses paths with the Straw Hat Pirates and becomes so impressed with Nami's knowledge of meteorology that he abducts her to forcedly enlist her into his crew. Luffy and the gang end up on a strange land populated with monstrous beasts as they desperately search for Shiki and Nami. - Madman Created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the blockbuster anime series, One Piece: St...

Nebraska, the latest film from Alexander Payne ( Sideways, The Descendants ), is akin to wandering around a quiet art gallery, sipping a coffee and just letting the pieces wash over you. It’s a beautifully crafted tale that left me quite moved by its simplistic good-natured themes and realistic down-to-earth performances. This is a special little film that I really hope you’ll make time to go out and see. Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is a millionaire, or so says the letter he has just received from a sweepstakes company. All he has to do is head a few thousand miles across the country to pick up his winnings and come hell or highwater he’s getting his money. Woody’s family are more than a little concerned about his mental wellbeing because they know the sweeps are a scam preying on the gullible. Woody’s wife Kate (June Squib) is at her wits' end, since every time she turns her back, Woody takes off on foot to claim his prize. Eventually Woody’s son David (Will Forte) dec...

Before I jump into this review I feel I should come clean; I'm no TopCow fan. Although I've dabbled with some of their titles from time to time, their roster of characters have never really resonated with me. I blame this almost exclusively on my personal taste although the intimidating continuity of the TopCow universe has always been a turn off. This probably begs the question as to why on earth I am here reviewing Artifacts #34. The answer is twofold; for starters it's a one-shot so is free from the entanglement of continuity but more importantly it's written by Eugene Ward and illustrated by Martin Gimenez, both of whom have never been professionally published before. It's always a real thrill to see new talent, something the incestuous comic book industry could always use more of. Artifacts #34 is a self-enclosed tale starring Ian Nottingham, the bearer of the mystical artifact known as the Blood Sword. This 22 page thrill ride sees Ian c...

Endless Love starring Alex Pettyfer (I am Number 4, Magic Mike) and Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers, Carrie) is one of this year’s Valentine’s Day releases, along with Are We Officially Dating? (Zac Efron and Imogen Poots) and Winter’s Tale (Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe and Jessica Brown Findlay). Chances are a lot of you guys out there might end up seeing one of these films, and perhaps not by choice ....and you had better hope it is not Endless Love. Endless Love is something like a romantic fantasy for teen girls with Everest level heights of drama. The story follows the bumpy romance of pretty-lovelorn simple-dreamer, David Elliott (Pettyfer who shall henceforth be called Prettyfer) and lonely, studious, also very pretty rich-girl Jade Butterfield (Wilde). Both have recently graduated from the same high school, with David looking to help his father in their Garage and Jade destined for a prestigious medical education at Brown University, obsessively encouraged by h...

Lone Survivor, the latest film from Peter Berg (Welcome to the Jungle, Battleship), plays more like a recruitment video for the U.S Army than a film with any real depth. The film is an adaptation of former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s account of the 2005 Operation Red Wing, a bungled covert operation in Afghanistan that sees four U.S soldiers are grossly outnumbered by a hostile enemy. Despite the jingoistic flavour, excessive torture porn and overly simplistic script, Lone Survivor has enough thrills to scrap through with a pass mark. The film opens with a montage of actual Navy SEAL hopefuls being put through their paces. We see their fatigue, their determination, their will to be the best … yeah, yeah we get it, these aren’t normal every day soldiers. The sequence tells you all you need to know about the film: it’s an unabashed love letter to the military. The plot is kept pretty straightforward and the characters even more so. We meet each of Navy SEALs and get given a li...

Thanks to our friends at STUDIOCANAL we've got a handful of double in-season passes to the adrenalin pumping, Liam Neeson action adventure, NON-STOP. Liam Neeson kicked all sorts of arse in Taken but this tim he's kicking it at 40,000 feet. A weathered veteran Air Marshall, Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a number of text messages mid-flight demanding a ransom be paid or else one passenger will be killed every 20 minutes. The mystery unfolds leaving just one question to be answered "why did he have his phone on in-flight?". All you have to do is fill out the form below and you're in the running to win yourself an in-season double pass. Don't forget, you can get yourself a bonus entry just by  following us on Twitter  or  liking us on Facebook! NON-STOP is in Cinemas from February 27 THIS COMPETITION IS CLOSED E ntries close 11:59pm on Monday 25th February 2014. Your details will not be used in any way other than for the delivery of your pr...

Thanks to our friends at Roadshow we've got 5 copies of THE FAMILY on DVD to give away.  In the dark action comedy The Family, a Mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the Witness Protection Program after snitching on the mob. Despite Agent Stansfield’s (Tommy Lee Jones) best efforts to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children, Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo), can’t help resorting to old habits by handling their problems the “family” way. Chaos ensues as their former Mafia cronies try to track them down and scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings, in this subversively funny film by Luc Besson. All you have to do is fill out the form below and you're in the running to win one of these awesome DVDs. Don't forget, you can get yourself a bonus entry just by  following us on Twitter  or  liking us on Facebook! THIS COMPETITION IS CLO...

BTOOOM! is very much an anime version of The Hunger Games, which itself is an American version Battle Royale. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this series is like a cross between Battle Royale and Bomberman because not only are the protagonists stuck on an island of certain death, but they only have a variety of bombs at their disposal. Based upon the manga series of the same name by Junya Inoue (available in English from Yen Press ), it follows the source material pretty well to the letter, albeit out of order. That said, I'm currently only up to volume 5 of the manga. Be careful what you wish for. Ryouta Sakamoto has suddenly been transferred in to a deadly high stakes game. A game he is all too familiar with. Left on a mysterious island with a set of provisions, a bag of bombs and a strange crystal embedded into his left hand – this is the world of Btooom realized. Beautifully replicated, this game of Btooom is an all out dog eat dog world, where to e...