A Little Holiday Cheer: Silver Bells

Here at Grizzly Bomb we bring you the latest in news, reviews and gossip about everything that interests us from movies to comics to television. The Grizz tends to be slanted towards all things superhero/comic book inspired, but we have broadened our horizons into more varied genres, music and dashes of sports analysis here and there as of late. With that in mind I’d like to introduce a little bit of holiday cheer for all the bomb droppers and Grizzly readers out there.

I live in Boston Massachusetts, and there are a lot of good reasons that the term “Masshole” has become part of the common vernacular, especially to those uninitiated to the experience of driving in our fair city. The term is clearly not a characterization of all of Boston’s inhabitants and one great example of that is my friend Peter. Peter A. Cancilla, as he is professionally known, runs a small video production company called Vaudeville Pictures and is the type of guy who wears a three-piece suit to take out the trash with an appropriate “taking out the trash” hat to accompany the trip. Peter wears many hats in fact, literally and figuratively, but one of his most interesting passions is puppetry. It is in that endeavor I was recently able to help with the production of his latest Christmas masterpiece.

In order to coordinate all the action in this video the cast and crew of friends and acquaintances numbered in the 20’s and everything was shot over a handful of long cold evenings. The results are a spectacular example of what Peter loves most: bringing people together to enjoy each others company and making people smile through the art of song and goofy puppets. Although this is definitely a Christmas song I think there’s enough whimsy and joy in there for anybody celebrating the December Holidays to appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

Does Justice League Have a Director? Hint: He Was the Bomb in Phantoms, Yo.

According to Variety via Fandango, it looks like Warner Bros. has approached Ben Affleck to direct the Justice League movie. Affleck is a hot property in the directing pool due to his critical and commercial successes with Gone Baby Gone and The Town. Argo is also shaping up to be a film to be reckoned with considering the early buzz, and since he has made Warner Bros. some money with his films, they have sent him the Will Beale (Gangster Squad) script to see if he’d be willing to guide DC’s finest to the promised land achieved by The Avengers, aka, a vault full of cash.

The movie is scheduled to be launched at the earliest around 2015 so that would put it into direct competition with The Avengers 2 movie, which just announced Joss Whedon returning as director and writer. Ben Affleck apparently makes it known that he wants to act in the films that he directs so you might also see him don a costume if this comes true. He has been circling another project called Replay, which is also being developed by Warner as well, but they have been working on that for the last decade so this might be his next project. Only thing that might get in the way would be his long-term commitment because 2015 is a long ways away and he would be tied up until then most likely developing the story and filming. I don’t know how he can get the time off from Fashionable Male during this time.

He’s come a long way from the back of a Volkswagon

I can understand the misgivings of Ben Affleck as the director of this movie. First off, he’s not Christopher Nolan, let’s get that out of the way. Second, it’s Ben freakin’ Affleck. He was the dominatrix Daredevil and that might ruin any street cred with the comic book crowd. The reputation might not be there for him to tackle this movie with that awkward fight scene with Elektra (Jennifer Garner) on people’s minds. Third, this would only be his fourth movie and unlike Joss Whedon, he does not appear to have a deep understanding of fanboys and the comic book universe. Can he handle the massive size of this project when he is considered a neophyte to the directing game? He is basically one of the more random choices out there to grab on to. However, I liked Gone Baby Gone and I loved The Town (partially because the Boston accent is fun to imitate) and I feel that he can definitely handle the characters and the scope of this movie based off of those flicks. Now, I absolutely do NOT want him to act in it but not because I think he is a bad actor (quite the opposite actually), but he should concentrate on delivering on all the characters and not just his own. I think he would be a great choice but I honestly don’t think he’ll do it. 3 years is a long time for someone to dedicate for the movie. Granted, I don’t know who else would at this point but just for discussion purposes, maybe Looper director Rian Johnson? He has about the same experience as Affleck behind the camera and handled Bruce Willis and potential DC staple Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper. Granted, as I wrote that, he also did Brick, which I loved and also with JGL so maybe he should revive that detective feel and go with Batman. Boom. Discuss.

‘Dredd’ 10 Sec Preview – His first words!

“Negotiations over!” Then I am guessing a bullet in the face?

Finally, Thanks to MACHINIMA we get some real footage of ‘Dredd’ even if it is just a 10 second preview, it shows a great deal. Plus we don’t have to wait much longer for a full trailer, as we are getting it tomorrow. Now if this preview doesn’t get you hooked on the new Dredd then maybe tomorrows trailer will, so please enjoy. What did you think of the preview? Well I think it is action packed greatness, because we get the only footage yet that hasn’t been a split second leak. Now in just 10 seconds you can’t really get much of a feel, but we do get a good showing of some of the action at play in this film. And from this preview it appears there’s a lot of action based around guns (and lots of them). We see car crashes, gatling guns, Butt loads of bullets, Dredd shooting his machine hand gun, a lot of slow motion shots and best yet Dredd Speaks his first words. Looking pretty sharp all suited up. Full SynopsisNow we also have the full Dredd Synopsis, which came out with this preview.

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan’s inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound’s control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival.

Guess you think he is guilty then.

So finally whats your thoughts? Do you think it’s looking great? Can you not wait until tomorrow’s trailer? Or are you still not impressed? Please comment below.

NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Game 7 Preview

When trying to come up with the words to describe the play of the Vancouver Canucks, after games one of two, all that comes to mind is the words from one of the greatest Detroit Lions coaches of all time – Bobby Ross.

What the hell happened to the heavy favorites? Sure you can put some of the blame on Luongo. He certainly deserves it giving up 15 goals, and being chased out of the net twice in 4 games, but everyone knew how easily rattled he can get when things start to fall apart.

  No, most of the blame has to put squarely on the highly touted offense/power play that has disappeared for the majority of these finals, scoring only 4 goals in the past four games, and on the coaching staff for not doing enough line adjustments in time to generate a spark. Rather than focus on the pitiful play of the Canucks, lets pay tribute to the efforts of the underdogs…

2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Finals Preview

Finally, after 82 regular season games and 14 playoff series we have finally reached the promised land. THE STANLEY CUP FINALS BITCHES!! Whose pumped besides this guy?!?!? …and Canada???  This year we have the pleasure of watching the ‘President’s Trophy’ winning Vancouver Canucks vs. the defensive minded Boston Bruins battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Looking at how the two teams arrived to the promised land, it’s hard to make an argument for the Boston Bruins to win this series.  With the exception of their round 2 series (which is more telling of the Flyers than the Bruins), Boston has just been lucky enough to survive seven game series against far less talented teams in Montreal and Tampa Bay when compared to Vancouver.  Their offense has been anemic at best and their special teams are just flat-out terrible. Boston’s power play unit is about as useful as nipples on the Bat-suit. Thanks Joel Schumacher!!

Anyways, Boston’s only saving grace is that they have two of the best at their positions protecting the net, big bad Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas. I know the plus/minus stat is garbage in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll go ahead and inform you Chara is boasting a +11 in the playoffs. Tim Thomas is certainly doing his fair share in carrying the team with a 2.29 GAA and .929 save percent average. If Boston is going to have a shot at this, they are going to need to have Tim Thomas stand on his head and get a shut-out or two.

So, with that all said, I’m going with Vancouver in 5 for their first Stanley Cup win.  The Sedin twins are just unstoppable and showed it in the conference finals against San Jose. Ryan Kesler appeared to find his game at the end of the series, so I would expect for him to carry that over to the finals.  Not to be forgotten is Roberto Luongo, who will be the toughest goaltender the Bruins have faced in the playoffs. Sorry Boston, maybe next year it will be your turn……… after 40 years of coming up short.

So Canucks in 5, and Henrik Sedin wins the Conn Smythe.

"Hey Girl."

2011 NHL Playoffs: Eastern Conference Finals Update

Ok this is going to be a quick one, since I am juggling a new-born baby, a recovering wife, and my want to share my hockey opinion with you all. God, I am so generous. You’re welcome! Anyways, let’s do this….

After overcoming a dismal Game 1 start, it appeared Boston was set to take the Eastern Conference Title with the games 2 and 3 wins…but then game 4 happened. Wow, what a meltdown. Allowing 5 unanswered goals after securing a 3 goal lead in the first period, embarrassing.

So now we have a best of 3 series with Home Ice advantage currently with the Bruins, but the momentum is clearly with Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay’s offensive domination has been simply amazing, minus the game 3 hiccup, scoring 15 GOALS IN 4 GAMES with St. Louis and Lecavalier leading the charge with 17 playoff points each! While I expect Tampa to come out firing in game 5, and continue their game 4 domination, one thing that can’t be forgotten is Tim Thomas’s ability to bounce back from a shelling and win a game for his team (unlike the goaltenders in the Bestern, I mean Western Conference, who can get easily rattled after poor performances).

If Boston is going to make it out of this series alive, it’s going to have to be on the shoulders of Thomas and hope he puts on his Vezina hat and pull off more game 3 shut-out performances.

Prediction: Tampa Bay in 7 and Steve Yzerman GM of the Year…Ride the Lightning baby!!