Pearl Jam was the musical guest on last night’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Jude Law, and now video from their performance is online.

The band played two songs — “Just Breathe” and “Unthought Known” — and also appeared in one of the skits. All three videos are here below.

I was hoping the writers would find a way to fit Pearl Jam into one of their sketches, like they’ve done with so many musical guests before. While their appearance was cool and definitely worth watching, I wish they could have gotten more screen time. The skit they were in was a take on the classic monster on the wing episode of The Twilight Zone.

While I love Pearl Jam and the two songs they performed, I think they were poor choices to play on SNL. They were very Eddie Vedder centric and are some of their slower, quieter sections. I’m not that that’s a bad thing, but with only two selections I’d expect them to perform something where every band member had plenty to do and where at least one song was more hard rock. It was still good, though, I’m just saying I thought it strange. Both tunes are from their latest album Backspacer [...]

If you’re like me, you have fond memories of running home from school, flying into the house, and landing on your favorite spot in front of the TV to watch the Disney Afternoon. What a wonderful block of programming that was in the early 1990s.

At the time I was a huge superhero fan and the show that stuck out to me from the moment it debuted was Darkwing Duck. I loved everything about the show as a kid and still keep the theme song on my iPod at all times, just in case I need a pick-me-up.

Imagine my delight when BOOM! Studios announced yesterday that they’re bringing us all back to those weekday afternoons spent in front of the TV. The only difference is that this time we will be enjoying the Masked Mallard’s adventures in comic form.

Writer Ian Brill (Zombie Tales) and artist James Silvani (Muppet King Arthur) will be bringing us a four issue mini-series this June titled Darkwing Duck: The Duck Night Returns. We’ll see the return of Darkwing Duck, Lanchpad McQuack, Gosalyn Mallard, and the fiercest of Darkwing’s rogue gallery [...]

Fresh on the heels of their fifth studio album and prose novel entitled Year of the Black Rainbow set to release April 13, 2010, Coheed and Cambria and Evil Ink comics, in conjunction with BOOM! Studios, bring a visual interpretation of two of their most popular albums.

The albums of Coheed and Cambria tell a very complicated sci-fi story entitled The Amory Wars, a tale about a young man named Claudio Kilgannon, son of Coheed and Cambria, and his journey of self-discovery in the face of a galaxy, called the Keywork, in turmoil at the hands of Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan. The first story told, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, released previously on Image Comics, was well received by both fans and critics alike and is getting the Ultimate treatment with a full series hardcover release through BOOM! at a low cover price of $29.99 in May to coincide with the release of the next installment of The Amory Wars [...]

Clash Of The Titans (1981)
Blu-ray Book Edition
Directed by Desmond Davis
Starring Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Burgess Meredith, Neil McCarthy
Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Release date: March 2, 2010

Perseus (Harry Hamlin), the half-human mortal son of the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), lives a contented, sheltered life on the island of Seriphos, as his father watches over him from Mount Olympus. While his father shows favoritism towards him from on high, we learn right away that the god of thunder has no tolerance for wicked deeds when he severely punishes Calibos (Neil McCarthy), son of the goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith). He transforms the handsome Calibos, who’s betrothed to the Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) of the city of Joppa, into a hideous creature condemned to live in the swamps and marshes.

Angered by the fate of her son, Thetis vows that if her son can’t have Andromeda, then no man can, thereby putting a curse on the city and any suitor that comes to court the princess. To spite Zeus, she also transports Perseus out of his safe haven and into the city of Joppa where he’ll get a major dose of reality and face mortal danger.

While Perseus is confused upon arrival in a new strange place, his adventurous spirit prompts him to go explore the city of Joppa. With the help of some powerful gifts from the gods, as well as guided wisdom from an old playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith), Perseus sets out to win the hand of Andromeda and break Thetis’s curse over the city [...]

Witchblade #134 & #135
Almost Human: Parts 1 & 2 (of 3)
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Stjepan Sejic
Letters by Troy Peteri
Top Cow
Price: $2.99; Release date: March 03, 2010 [#135]

I came to Witchblade armed with nothing but Wikipedia and an open mind, and as such, I concede that great chunks of the story probably went over my head. But long-running series like this one can’t do well unless new readers can come in a hundred issues in and still find something to appreciate. While I didn’t find the experience unpleasant, there wasn’t much that compelled me to explore further, either.

A quick summary for the other noobs out there: Witchblade centers around Sara Pezzini, an NYPD detective and the current wielder of said Witchblade, a powerful supernatural weapon that can shift its shape to protect and aid the user. These two issues in particular, #134 and #135, are the first two books of a three-part arc about Sara tracking down the green-haired cyborg assassin called Aphrodite IV, who works for the shadowy, uncreatively named organization Cyberdata [...]

One of the biggest disappointments of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, was the fact that Rush, the country’s greatest musical achievement, was not part of the opening or closing ceremonies. Yes, William Shatner and Neil Young were there, but c’mon, where the hell was Rush?! Bad move, Canada, [I love you, but] bad move.

The next Olympics will be the Summer games in London, England, in 2012. The options for musical choices is massive, but music fans are already voicing their opinions on which act should be part of the ceremonies. One in particular are Iron Maiden fans (and I happen to be one of them), who are joining the Facebook group IRON MAIDEN to open the 2012 London Olympic Games in hopes of getting the British heavy metal band to open the games. As of this writing, there’s already over 36,000 people who’ve joined the group. There’s also a FB download group requesting that fans download Iron Maiden’s “Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner,” with lyrics fitting for Summer Olympics, on July 19, 2010 in support of getting the band to open the games..

And check out the image that was created for the groups of the band’s mascot Eddie, taken from the classic “Trooper” art, holding the Olympic torch against the backdrop of an Olympic track. (That’s the image here at top.) Just think of having something like that on a T-shirt!!! [...]

A sneak peek of the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators that was shown last night at the South by Southwest Film Festival is now online.

Watch the two-minute clip here below.

20th Century Fox has also launched the official site for the Predators, which is a sequel to the 1987 film Predator.

The site has the sneak peek video, which contains movie clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews; a photo gallery, which so far has four pieces of concept art with captions by Rodriguez; and the official synopsis. (On the official site, scroll over the red alien symbols above the tile treatment to see the categories.)

Predators hits theaters July 9 [...]

Our good friend Vic over at Screenrant had the cool idea of taking the two previously released trailers for Iron Man 2 and mashing them together into one extended mega-trailer!

Watch this new extended nearly 4-minute trailer here below.

Now, this is an unofficial version, but it’s absolutely worth watching and I think Vic did a great job of stringing all footage from the two trailers together.

The first trailer for Iron Man 2 was released in December, with the second trailer debuting right after the Academy Awards ceremony last Sunday.

Iron Man 2 hits theaters May 7, 2010 [...]

The Ghost Writer
Directed by Roman Polanski
Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall
PG-13
Release date: February 19, 2010

“I’ve been having this nightmare. A real swinger of a nightmare, too.”
— Major Bennett Marco from The Manchurian Candidate

“Have you ever heard the expression “Let sleeping dogs lie”? Sometimes you’re better off not knowing.”
– Jake Gittes from Chinatown

“Sorry, I’ve just got one question: Whose map is Britain using when it completely ignores the United Nations and decides to invade Iraq? Or do you think it’s more diplomatic to bend the will of a superpower and politely take part in Vietnam the Sequel?”
–Tessa Quayle from The Constant Gardner

The Ghost Writer: Prisoner Of Convictions

The consequences of our transgressions are the stains that cannot be cleansed away. The past is the vessel that we cherish and regret with equal measure. Art can be the ultimate catharsis when dealing with the past or attempting to get through the present depending on what one’s situation is. Imagine what life would be like if we could write are our memoirs with the aid of a ghost writer who believes everything we say. Unfortunately, what would happen if the ghost writer goes to check all the information you provide? Your life would take on different meaning — more honesty might expose you to disgrace or more ridicule.

The gray skies of Martha’s Vineyard that permeate throughout Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer serve as an indicator of the slippery slope between black and white. Under those foreboding skies, the past and the present are jostling for the right tone to ensure the future of one man’s legacy. The Ghost of the film’s title, superbly played by Ewan McGregor, is never named [...]

Cyberforce: Hunter-Killer #5
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Kenneth Rocafort
Top Cow
Release date: March 10, 2010

I was never much of a fan of CyberForce during the late nineties. I found that most of the comics put out in that era looked the same and the characters tended to run together. So naturally I was surprised to read CyberForce/Hunter-Killer #5 and find it so much fun.

CyberForce/Hunter-Killer follows Cyberforce, the underground cybernetic resistance force fighting against the world-dominating CyberData Corporation, and their partnership with Hunter-Killer, an elite force commissioned to hunt down and destroy the rogue Ultra-Sapiens created in the 1940s by mad scientist Morningstar. Cyberdata has produced a modern mobile phone system called JETT that activates the latent abilities in Ultra-Sapiens in order to take the government contract for hunting with their S.H.O.C. troops. In the end, team member Network and Damper are forced to sacrifice themselves in order to shut down the spread of the Ultra-Sapien activation [...]

It’s been a while since we’ve covered Joel Coen and Ethan Coen‘s adaptation of Charles Portis‘s 1968 novel, True Grit. It was a year ago that the project was announced, and about six months ago that recent Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges joined the cast.

At some point along the line, superstars Matt Damon and Josh Brolin also joined the cast, and just a few weeks ago 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld grabbed the all-important lead role of Mattie Ross after an intense audition process that saw the likes of 15,000 or so teenage girls trying their luck.

Now, according to the trades, Barry Pepper is the latest to join in on the party. The actor has been cast as “Lucky” Ned Pepper. Pepper hasn’t been around very often lately, but he has certainly made his mark appearing previously as a talented sniper in Saving Private Ryan and as a prison guard in The Green Mile. Ryan director Steven Spielberg will act as an executive producer on this project as well. [...]

Rumors have been dancing around for a month or so now that Conan O’Brien would be going on a big tour in his time off before choosing which network will be the lucky one chosen to pay O’Brien a ton of money to host a late-night show for them (Read: Conan O’Brien To Go On Tour For His Fans Before Choosing New Job?).

This exciting possibility has now in fact been confirmed by Conan via his Twitter account. The tour is called the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour, and it will span 30 different cities, with many of the cities such as Boston, Chicago, and New York having second shows added already. You can find all of the dates and details over at TeamCoco.com!

The original rumors included that a lot of the dates would be colleges, and that there could even be a run in Europe, but neither of these two aspects seem to be in play here. [...]

It’s all just part of life as we know it: people enter into relationships, and every single day, many of those relationships hit a wall causing said people to go their separate ways. But what do you do when you realize that the bond you share with another is wearing thin and that it might be time to break up, but neither of you can bare the thought of being apart completely?

Breaking Upwards tells the story of a real-life couple named Daryl (Daryl Wein) and Zoe (Zoe Lister-Jones) who are living in New York. When they enter into the 4-year range of their relationship, they begin to realize certain cracks that simply just can’t be repaired. Another realization that they come to, is that they also can’t be apart from each other long enough to quit their relationship cold turkey, so they need to come up with a plan to make their breakup happen.

The plan? Slowly-but-surely wean themselves away from each other by taking “days off,” doing things much more independently, and even opening up themselves to romantic and sexual situations with others. [...]

We’ve been waiting a long time to find out who exactly would be playing Captain America in Joe Johnston‘s Marvel film, The First Avenger: Captain America. Thankfully the same mess doesn’t apply to other characters, including the movie’s villain, Red Skull.

It’s being reported that Hugo Weaving is currently in negotiations to star as the literally red-headed baddie in the movie. Red Skull was the right-hand man to ultimate real-life villain, Adolf Hitler, in the comics when he and Captain America first became enemies during World War II. This storyline also saw both characters end up in a suspended animation that would bring them to modern days, which is how Captain America will likely fit into the Avengers film. Depending on the dirty details of the contract, it’s probably not completely out of the question to think Weaving could return as one of the villains in The Avengers as well. [...]

Director Christopher Nolan spoke to Hero Complex recently and shared some thoughts on all things superhero, including his part as Warner Brothers new “Godfather” to the reboot of Superman, and of course the third film in his reboot of the Batman franchise.

When it comes to Superman, Nolan says “It’s very exciting; we have a fantastic story, and we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.” This is clearly a good sign for fans of the Man of Steel, and also a sign that Nolan has a fairly significant say in what goes and what dies. It will be really interesting to see how things go when there’s a director, and who will have the final choice there. They could always avoid this by hiring someone close to Nolan to captain the film, but who knows how it will all play out. [...]

April 3 cannot arrive soon enough for Apple and comic book fanboys alike. Forbes is reporting the e-book application of Apple’s much-anticipated iPad will feature a “Comics & Graphic Novels” section among its top-tier categories.

Citing findings by the Busted Loop mobile media research firm, the website states that Apple’s iBookstore will designate about 20 main categories, including “Fiction & Literature,” “Reference,” and “Cookbooks.” Below those will be more than 150 sub-categories; “Manga” will fall under the comics section.

The iBookstore content sales and delivery system is viewed as a major selling point of the iPad, but until today it had been uncertain how much an emphasis might be placed on comic books.

When the iPad was unveiled in January, Apple announced it had partnered with five publishers to produce content for the iBookstore: HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster [...]

Eagle Rock Entertainment has announced that it will release Get Your Buzz On LIVE, a home video concert from rock supergroup Chickenfoot, in the UK on April 26, 2010. EMI will release it in the United States on April 20, 2010.

Available on DVD and Blu-ray, Get Your Buzz On LIVE features the full live show from the group filmed at The Dodge Theater in Phoenix, AZ, last September 23, along with footage from the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA and The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, OH. The disc will also host a documentary, backstage footage, photo gallery, interviews with the band, and other bonus content. There’s also special guest appearances from Adam Corolla, Bob Weir, and Christopher Guest aka “Nigel Tufnel” of Spinal Tap.

Just to recap, Chickenfoot is made up of rock heavyweights Sammy Hagar (Montrose/Van Halen), Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony (Van Halen), and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). The self-titled debut album was released last summer to very positive critical and rock fans’ reviews [...]

Director Breck Eisner sat down to answer some questions about his latest film The Crazies, which tells the story of what happens to a small Iowa town that is suddenly turned to anarchy and death after a mysterious toxin contaminates the water supply.

We asked him about George Romero, the film’s political message, and why it isn’t a zombie flick.

Horror fans should note: if this film isn’t on your radar, the Q&A after the jump may convince you to head down to the theater for a viewing.

Geeks of Doom: Are you a fan of George Romero and how (if at all) did his previous films influence how you did The Crazies?

Breck Eisner: Of course I’m a big fan of Romero. As a kid I watched a lot of movies. before I knew anything about making movies I just knew that I liked watching his. The Crazies I had seen when a friend had brought over a beta max tape when I was 15 and we watched this bizarre movie (called The Crazies) [...]

Harmonix has just revealed that Green Day: Rock Band will be available for all you American Idiots out there, June 8 on Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Up to 6 players (3 mics; 3 instruments) will progress through the career of the trio, unlocking collectible images (more than 100), and some 40 minutes of “rare and unreleased” footage from interviews, outtakes and performances along the way.

The game will also have the same vocal harmonizing feature that made The Beatles: Rock Band such a treat for group singers and comes loaded with 47 Green Day tracks, including “Brain Stew,” “Jaded”, “Hitchin’ a Ride,” “American Idiot,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

If you’re looking to export these songs, fear not: all 47 tracks are fully exportable to a console hard drive and playable in Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and the recently announced Rock Band 3. The export fee is $9.99 via Xbox Live or PSN. The export features is not available for the Wii system. Additionally, if you’ve picked up the six Green Day tunes already available as DLC, you can play them in the new game with added harmonies, “unique” visuals and more “exclusive archival material.” [...]

In just a few days, the digital download version of the official soundtrack album for The Runaways will be available. Some of the Runaways songs on the album are performed by the film’s stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, with one of the tracks — “Cherry Bomb” — already streaming online [Read: Listen Now: Dakota Fanning Sings ‘Cherry Bomb’ On ‘Runaways’ Soundtrack].

Now, a music video for “Cherry Bomb,” featuring vocals by Fanning and Stewart, has been posted online. Watch the video here below.

I haven’t seen The Runaways yet, but I’ve watched enough previews and seen enough images to deduce that this video is compiled from footage from the film. It looks like a combination of on- and off-stage performances from the film, and for the on-stage clips, the movie band is playing the song [...]