Grizzly Bomb is proud to continue our partnership with the No Redeeming Qualities Podcast! So now Bob and Zipp are in their pre-New Year’s Eve mode and talking about the college football playoffs (Go Spartans!), the best and worst moments of 2015, and how many feet of meat Bob can choke down his gullet.
Continue reading No Redeeming Qualities: Pope Benedict Vs. Darth Vader
We’re going to take a look at one of the earlier novels in the new official Star Wars canon, Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp. The story takes place about 14 years prior to the beginning of the original story, and is mostly focused on Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader and their relationship as master and apprentice respectively. The majority of the novel takes place on the twi’lek home world of Ryloth.
*The following will contain some spoilers*
Continue reading Star Wars: Lords of the Sith Delivers on the Evil…And It’s So Good
That’s right! It’s finally returned! Star Wars Rebels Season 2 is making it’s Season 2 premiere tonight on Disney XD and you’re not going to want to miss it.
** The following contains spoilers if you have yet to see the first season of Star War Rebels or the “Siege of Lothal” mini movie event that aired in June. You’ve been warned, read at your own discretion**
Continue reading Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Premieres TONIGHT!
Over the weekend Star Wars fans and gamers were treated with the open Beta for Star Wars Battlefront, and so far it absolutely lives up to the hype of being one of the year’s most anticipated games. The beta went live on October 8 and has been extended through October 13. Even though there are only 3 game modes and maps available in the beta, it didn’t really feel too samey during the time I was playing it, and I played it fairly extensively on my PS4.
Continue reading Star Wars Battlefront: Our Thoughts on the Beta
With Star Wars fervor at an all time high Halloween presents itself as the perfect opportunity to dress up as your favorite character. The best part? There are so many options out there to chose from.
You may have done a double take to make sure you read that headline right, and it’s exactly what it sounds like…sort of. No, we’re not getting an actual feature length film pitting the Dark Knight against the Dark Lord of the Sith, but Aaron Schoenke and Bat In The Sun Studios have created an epic video that does just that.
The video is part of the video series called Super Power Beatdown that features various hypothetical fights between characters we’ll never see duke it out on the silver screen. Before actually getting to the fight, they have a light debate and ask various people and personalities who they think would win and why, so we thought we would do the same. I’ll be taking up the fight for Darth Vader while the esteemed and venerable Brian Kronner will tell us why the Batman wins this fight.
Continue reading Super Power Beatdown: Batman vs. Darth Vader? Yes please.
Between Jack Reacher and Oblivion, it looks like it’s quickly becoming a pattern that Tom Cruise shall from now on only play characters named Jack. It’s actually another Sci-Fi outing from Tom Cruise, who likes to star in a science fiction movie every couple of years, probably because he’s living one, but I digress from that easy joke. Despite being a huge fan of Sci-Fi, I found myself guessing as to what this movie was an adaptation or remake of, and upon viewing the trailer found myself surprised that it seemed to be an original story! Generic as hell, but still, original! Well my hopes were dashed after researching the movie a bit further, as it IS an adaptation. It’s apparently adapted from an eponymous graphic novel by Joseph Kosinki. If you’ve never heard that name before, don’t worry because neither have I, although you might be familiar with his work. He did that relatively famous Gears Of War video game commercial, set to “Mad World” by Gary Jules. Oh, he also did Tron: Legacy, which I haven’t seen but I’ve heard was good.
The trailer for Oblivion however, looks… Well here, take a look for yourself:
Here’s where I have to emphasize just what a huge fan of Sci-Fi I am, so you don’t misunderstand me when I say this looks like the most derivative, unoriginal, and ultimately boring Sci-Fi film to come along in recent years. I kept watching it and waiting for it to bring in an interesting hook or storyline that would make me excited to actually see the film, and it kinda-sorta got close with the brief allusions to lost memories or whatever near the end there. I’m guessing that Earth isn’t as wiped out as the Evil Totalitarian Government wants poor Jack to think, and there’s a pocket of survivors/resistance on Earth, who are hellbent on rebelling against the Evil Totalitarian Government. They have a cause to expose whatever dark secret they’re hiding, and meanwhile they’re being led by Morgan Freeman and some kind of Darth Vader creature.
Overall I’m very underwhelmed by the movie, and find myself disappointed that the whole thing wasn’t some super secret adaptation of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion instead. This just looks… disappointing.
If you haven’t been keeping up with all the news about the upcoming Star Wars films, we’re not sure where you’ve been the last few weeks, but we have you covered. Quite a bit has been leaked about the films since Disney bought Lucasfilm, enough to possibly fill the hidden cargo holds on the Millenium Falcon.
For one, rumors started going around that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn would be hired to direct the upcoming Star Wars VII, and shortly thereafter the fan base exploded in excitement when Harrison Ford said he was open to the idea of reprising his role as the iconic Han Solo, despite his continual avoidance of the franchise and surrounding events. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had already been informed of the new films, and both have also expressed interest in reprising their respective roles as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.
Now one rumor in particular that has surfaced is causing the fan base to explode in pseudo-excitement again: several media companies are claiming that the infamous Darth Vader will appear in Star Wars VII. How, no one really seems to know yet, and details are limited if not entirely fictitious. The unidentified source involved in the film’s production merely said that the creative team considers Vader “integral” and that “the plan is for [Darth Vader] to return and play a significant role in the new films” [Screenrant].
Vader returning like a Jedi (or Sith, technically) worries many fans, who over the past few weeks have claimed that if Disney tries to physically resurrect the asthmatic villain through some sort of technological cloning process, they will lose faith in Disney’s ability to properly stay true to the Star Wars universe. Others have said that it’s only logical that Vader should reappear as long as he is shown in flashbacks and memories. No further news has been reported on this issue as of now.
The newest information about the upcoming Star Wars films has been predominantly focused around the writing and producing. The Hollywood Reporter said that Michael Arndt, screenwriter for Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3, was brought on board to write the script for Star Wars VII even before the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm. StarWars.com confirmed this is still the plan for the 2015 movie. Considering Arndt recently penned the script to the upcoming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, his script for Star Wars VII should hopefully have good balance of drama, comedy, and action.
Finally, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi writer Lawrence Kasdan has come on the scene in addition to the writer of the new X-Men movie, Simon Kinberg. Though it’s been confirmed that the two will help produce Star Wars VIII and IX, their exact writing roles are not yet decided. The news of Kasdan returning is positive indeed; having a veteran to the Star Wars franchise should help keep it true to its roots, and Kinberg’s credentials are nothing to balk at, either.
Star Wars news is sure to keep spilling over the next few months and years. The Grizzly Bomb will do our best to act like Bothan spies and get the information out to you as quickly as possible, so keep watching for updates!
I’m proud to bring everyone a new weekly post that I prefer to call “Know Your Sith”. And yes that is a play on the words ‘know your shit’. Just like Sith Happens and Sith-head. Basically we will feature a new Sith Lord every week and a brief bio including their claim to fame and some pivotal moments for them in the Star Wars universe. And just so everyone knows, we won’t be covering well known Sith Lords such as Darth Vader, Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus. This is a chance for the Star Wars fans out there to have a little back story on Sith Lords from some of the expanded universe work out there including comics, games and novels.
At one point George Lucas issued an edict to the expanded universe writers and figure heads: No Sith and No Galaxy Spanning Wars. Also I think he said no more Wookie Jedi, which is a damn shame. But once the New Jedi Order series started the whole galaxy spanning war thing sort of went out the window. With the completion of the NJO series the no Sith rule also went out the window and now we have Old Republic Sith, post NJO Sith and Legacy era Sith. To the layman, those are several of the different time eras in the Star Wars expanded universe.
And now for this week’s Sith Lord:
Race: Human (Home Planet Unknown)
Claim to fame: Almost took out the Emperor Roan Fel
Moment of Shame: Dying by blaster bolt. I mean seriously, you’re a Sith.
Sith Affiliation: The Order of the One Sith
Darth Kruhl definitely didn’t have much face time, but definitely made an impact and proved that he was pretty bad ass. Showing up in the widely loved Legacy comic line written John Ostrander, Darth Kruhl was one of the One Sith Order’s best assassins and intelligence operatives. We were able to watch him single handedly manipulate and ultimately bind the planet of Munto Codru to the will of his Sith Emperor, Darth Krayt, but it is Kruhl’s assignment following that which makes him stand out.
Darth Kruhl is charged with assassinating the exiled Emperor Roan Fel who at this point is the second most powerful being in the galaxy behind Darth Krayt. (Politically, not in terms of force use, though Fel was definitely no push over) After infiltrating the heavily fortified Imperial capital of Bastion Kruhl finds Fel meditating in his garden when he springs to attack. Unfortunately Fel was waiting for such an assassin. Kruhl fights valiantly, nearly killing the Emperor at one point, even without a lightsaber. But Fel finally gains the upper hand finishing Kruhl off with a blaster bolt to the guts.
The fight itself was one of the best in the Legacy comics, like a fight between two lone samurai in a bamboo thicket. Many of the fights in Legacy involve groups of force users and tons of limbs and heads flying to and fro, but this one felt more personal and the stakes were quite high. Kruhl more than likely would have never left the planet alive after killing Roan Fel but would have been regarded very highly by his Sith bretheren for sacrificing himself to eliminate Darth Krayt’s competition to the throne. Even failing in his mission I have to say… that Sith had balls.
Stay tuned next week for another installment of Know Your Sith!
Michael Bay really does have a way to entice the masses in two separate ways. He has either pulled in several hundred millions of dollars and packed the theaters with his visual style, or he has enraged a fanboy base that asks for their childhood to not be destroyed in a sweeping camera move. As much of a giant douche bag that he is, the guy is a great visual artist and moviemaker that knows exactly how to draw people in and make them ‘Ooo’ and ‘Awe’ despite the fact he has no clue how to do a stationary camera shot. His next conquest/debate maker? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Or actually, just Ninja Turtles. Because he’s changing the name. And the origin. And your childhood memory. Why can he do this? Because he’s the producer dammit and bathes in Victoria’s Secret model’s tears.
Continue reading Michael Bay’s ‘Ninja Turtles’ – 1, Nostalgic 20-Somethings – 0?
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