The very first images of Johnny Depp on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides have surfaced courtesy of PopSugar.

Now, these aren’t the most exciting images on the planet due to the fact that everyone side for Eskimos and Amish know exactly what Depp’s classic Jack Sparrow character looks like. Nevertheless, it is quite nice to seem him back in full Sparrow gear. Who needs frizzy-haired Hatters and malicious barbers when we have Captain Jack?

Also in the images you’ll see Kevin McNally, who plays Gibbs. This may mean nothing to most folks, but for fans such as myself, it’s good to see him back and at it as well.

Be sure to click on over to the other side to check out Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow filming the brand new Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on location on the shores of Hawaii. [...]

We’ve only heard a few big announcements over the past couple of years in regards to a movie adaptation of the immensely popular video game title, BioShock. It’s been almost a year since the last update, but producer Gore Verbinski is back to remind us that the movie is still very real, and slowly making its way toward our eyes.

It all started in May of 2008 when we found out that Verbinski, best known for helming the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, would be directing the BioShock movie. The news was pretty exciting when considering how much experience Verbinski has with water-heavy productions — water being a crucial element to the underwater world of Rapture. Unfortunately, the cost of making BioShock into a movie was starting to balloon (around $160 million), and filming overseas to cut costs became the new gameplan. Verbinski, with other projects in the works including his animated film Rango, decided that this schedule would not work and had to drop out of the film. [...]

Last week saw the release of the third Twilight film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which, not surprisingly, turned up huge numbers at the box office. Yes, the fans are loyal, but there’s one thing that divides them: which side they are on, Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Recently, I was invited by Geekosystem to participate in a feature where they asked prominent geeks [their words] to chose a side — Team Edward or Team Jacob — and explain why. There was also the option to remain neutral, but I took that to mean that you were unable to decide, not that you didn’t want to decide. So, I picked a side.

Unlike some of my fellow participants [I'm talking to you, Warren Ellis], I took my assignment quite seriously, even though I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of the Twilight series (although, I’m not a ‘hater’ — I, of all people, can appreciate obsession [hello, Star Wars/Star Trek]). Since this issue is being debating worldwide and has been popping up all over the news (no, seriously, look), I thought it time that I address it.

I can’t imagine there’s anyone left on the planet that doesn’t already know the story of Twilight and what Team Edward/Jacob means, but for the five of you out there, before I delve into my argument, here’s the deal (oh, and SPOILERS) so far…

You probably noticed that we’ve been posting Back To The Future-related articles all this week in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release. We officially wrapped up our Week of Geek yesterday — the actual release date — with a podcast episode devoted to Back To The Future, and here at GoD headquarters, I’ve spent the weekend introducing my 13-year-old nephew to the entire trilogy (he loved it!).

So, you can imagine that Back To The Future has been on my radar for quite some time now, and it’s moments like these that I really miss the ride at Universal Studios and just really wish there was more BTTF out there for me.

That’s why I fell totally in love with a new piece of artwork by Eric Tan made up to look like a 1950′s-style magazine ad for Hill Valley, California, the town in Back To The Future.

As Tan mentions in his blog post, there’s two items in the artwork that show that Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox’s character in the trilogy) influence — one is obvious, another you have to look a little harder for (see the image here at right and click for the full, large view) [...]

I’ve spent the majority of the holiday today watching Spike TV’s marathon of all six Star Wars movies, so I have Star Wars on the brain. (I know, I know, why am I watching these movies on TV with commercials — especially since the original trilogy is the Special Editions — when I own the DVDs? It makes no real sense, I understand, but it’s just one of those things — if it’s on TV, I’m compelled to watch).

Anyhow, it reminded me that a week or so ago I saw a bunch of really cool Star Wars character portraits by artist Greg Peltz that I wanted to share with you all. There’s Victorian-era steampunk versions of Boba Fett, C-3PO, and Chewbacca, as well as Civil War-era Darth Vader. Peltz also put up a new Civil War-style portrait yesterday of Luke and Leia called ‘Siblings’.

See all five images here below and be sure to check out Peltz’s blog for more of his work [...]

In honor of Independence Day here in the United States today, the Amazon MP3 album deal of the day is Happy Defiance Day Everyday, a compilation album by rocker Ted Nugent.

The insane part is that this 30-song double album is only 76 cents!

Did you catch that? Do I even have to do Math Time for you? No, but I will: 30 tunes divided by 76 cents equals 0.0253 per song — unheard of!!!!!

If you’re unfamiliar with The Nuge or for some reason can’t manage to part with 76 cents, you can download Nugent’s version of “Star Spangled Banner“ from the album for FREE today only.

But, if you can spare with 76 cents, you’ll get some classics like “Free For All,” “Stranglehold,” “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang,” and of course his famous hit “Cat Scratch Fever.” [...]

This is heavy!

25 years ago to the day, my favorite movie of all time was released upon the world. That faithful day — July 3, 1985 — was the day Back To The Future opened to the public, and here at Geeks of Doom we’ve been celebrating this anniversary all week long.

Geeks Of Doomers Guy_Jen and Vactor couldn’t think of a better way to wrap of the BTTF Week of Geeks and also kick off the first episode of the new official Geeks of Doom film podcast, Flix of Doom, than to talk about Back To The Future!

Check out our first mini-episode here below (running time is approximately 25 minutes). Your ears will thank you later [...]

What would it be like to have an AT-AT from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as a pet you ask? Well, allow us the opportunity to show you this!

The video is created by Patrick Boivin, who decided to make a short showing exactly what it would be like to have this little robotic pet, and it’s actually quite adorable. The AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) from the Star Wars universe are incredibly massive and would make horrible pets — imagine the cost of food alone — but a much smaller, puppy-sized AT-AT is just right.

The movie is pretty short, but well worth watching. Just the waste clean-up bit at the end makes the whole thing worth your time, I promise this.

Pick a cuddly name, purchase a Jedi chew toy for your new companion, and head on over to the other side to see the pet AT-AT video immediately! [...]

Make no mistake about it: when we first heard that Fight Club, Se7en, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button director David Fincher was making a movie about Facebook of all things, we scratched our heads. At that time, however, many of us probably had visions of a live-action Tron-esq Facebook world with farm animals and Mafioso running about, upwards thumbs flying through the skies, and everyone poking the ever-loving hell out of each other 24-hours a day.

That of course is not the case at all. Fincher’s movie, called The Social Network, is actually based on the Ben Mizrich book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal.

To add to what’s sure to be a compelling tale, it’s now been officially announced that Trent Reznor, frontman of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, will be handling the film’s musical score along with composer Atticus Ross.

Click over to read Reznor’s announcement and to check out the first teaser trailer for The Social Network, if you’ve yet to see it, of course. [...]

There are simply millions of hobbies you can spend your time on in the world like comics, movies, video games, oh yeah, and building your own Delorean Time Machine. That is right, I said it, you can build your own Delorean Time Machine. I remember a while back I was wondering what it would take to build your own Back To The Future Delorean and how much something like that would cost. Well one of the hardest parts is finding the actual vehicle itself. If you did happen to run across one and wanted to make yourself a replica, it is definitely possible.

Just in time for the 25th Anniversary of the first Back To The Future film, a great utility for those with this fun hobby is back online. BTTFParts.com has advice and videos on how to convert a normal Delorean into a Back To The Future time machine.

Enjoy the video of their conversion below [...]

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Directed by David Slade
Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Rated PG-13
Release date: June 30, 2010

Hailing The Twilight Saga: Eclipse the best of the series isn’t the ringing endorsement it sounds. Hearing that won’t change the minds of any non-believers and if you are already among the following, you aren’t one that needs converting. It most certainly is, but it’s a pretty relative statement.

I have always taken the stance of non-participation in the popular recreation of Twilight bashing. Attacking the mob mentality of these zealots is a bandwagon that would be easy to jump on, but Lord knows I liked some awful movies when I was younger, so I’ve always given the series a fair shake. They haven’t been great, in fact they have been downright ugly at times, but I can see why so many fans like them. A little.

Eclipse starts off pretty promising. Dark and raining in Seattle, a young man is being chased and hunted by something. This is the first time in this series I got the sense that vampires are dangerous and anything but sparkly and cuddly. It turns out to be Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is still hellbent on exacting revenge on Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) for killing her boyfriend James in the first film. Her plan is to find and kill Bella (Kristen Stewart), presumably so Edward can feel what she felt when her boyfriend died. The young man ends up being a college student from Forks, Riley Biers (Xavier Samuel), who is turned and tricked by Victoria into helping her assemble an army of newborn vampires to help take down Bella and the Cullen vampire clan [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is The Three Stooges Collection, Volumes 1-8 for $83.99 (that’s 58% off the list price of $199.68).

This deal is only for today until midnight PST while supplies last.

This 8-volume DVD collection, spanning from 1934 to 1959, contains 181 shorts remastered with improved picture and sound, and star the famous comedy team of Moe, Larry, and Curly (and at times Shemp) [...]

I remember the first time I saw Back To The Future. When the movie was first broadcast on television on a Friday night in November 1989, the release of its long-awaited sequel Back To The Future Part II was about a week or so away and the premiere airing on NBC was also structured to be a first look at the sequel. Many of the details of that Friday I have forgotten in the more-than-two decades since, but I do remember having cut myself bad while playing with my friends after school and my mom had to patch up my wounds fast because we had been planning to watch Back To The Future and didn’t want to miss a minute of it, not even the commercials. By the time the end credits rolled and the 11 o’clock local news began, my family and I had become fans of Robert Zemeckis’ time-tripping comic fantasy, so when the sequel was released that Thanksgiving we made sure to catch it on opening night. Then when we got home from that movie, we fired up the ol’ VCR and popped in the standard-setting blockbuster of 1989, Batman. Two great movies in one day, that was truly a Thanksgiving to remember.

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the theatrical release of the original and still best Back To The Future, and in the quarter-century since, the movie has become a modern-day classic film whose memorable characters, quotable dialogue, and bravura performances have elevated it to the status of a cultural touchstone. Magazine articles are still written about it, films (Hot Tub Time Machine is an incredibly funny riff on Zemeckis‘ movie) and television shows (Family Guy has mined Back To The Future for a few good jokes and even devoted an entire episode to spoofing the movie) pay tribute to the film’s enduring influence, and even former president Ronald Reagan quoted the movie in one of the many movie-quoting speeches he gave during his time in the Oval Office [...]

Just a few days ago, it sounded as if Sony Pictures had decided to cast Josh Hutcherson in their new reboot of Spider-Man. Sadly, every time someone hears something from a “source” these days, it ends up changing a couple of days later, and that’s exactly what’s happening here.

Sony is now officially announcing that Andrew Garfield has been cast in the lead role of Peter Parker. The announcement showed up on Sony’s official Twitter page, which a is bit strange, but nevertheless, that’s the news!

This is a really odd announcement not only because of the Twitter reveal, but because of the actor cast. Garfield is almost 27-years-old, making ALL those reasons that Josh Hutcherson was a good choice disappear. It’s been no secret that this was to be an origins story starting with Peter Parker in high school, so the casting of a guy pushing 30 doesn’t exactly bring a whole hell of a lot of logic to the table. [...]

The first trailer for the U.S. remake of hit Swedish horror film Let the Right One In has been released online.The movie, titled Let Me In, is directed by Cloverfield helmer Matt Reeves and stars Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Richard Jenkins. The story originates from the novel Låt den rätte komma in by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Let Me In takes place in the early 1980s and tells the story of a young boy (Smit-McPhee) who becomes friend with a young girl (Moretz), who also happens to be a multi-century-old vampire. The two become close when she helps the boy take care of some bullies that have been harassing him. Ultimately, the movie is about nothing more than the relationship between these two young children, whose bond grows as the story moves forward.

Click on over to the other side to check out the first trailer from Let Me In. [...]

This, my friends, may just be the most brilliant thing that anyone in the history of the universe has ever created. Okay, so that may be a tad hyperbole. Still, this is pretty fantastic and you all must check it out immediately. Basically, someone on YouTube called The Station posted a new Choose Your Own Adventure-style game based on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Better yet, the game plays out with a good old Nintendo 8-Bit presentation.

8-Bit has been pretty popular lately with things like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog getting their own old school remakes. All are a lot of fun, but the interactive element here probably makes this one the best we’ve seen so far. That and the fact that it makes fun of a Twilight movie, of course. That will always win you some major cupcake points…with me, anyway.

Be sure to click on over to the other side to begin your very own adventure in the realms of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse! [...]

Warner Brothers has chosen a duo to write and direct a new feature-length movie set around the universally popular building block toys, LEGO.

The studio has set Phil Lord and Chris Miller to handle the duties after they impressed both WB and LEGO, who has to approve of all decisions to ensure that they’re name remains untarnished, with their pitch for the movie. One of the concerns was whether to make the movie an animated one or to go live-action with it. Considering how often it is done these days with current CGI and motion capture technologies, it would seem that the best bet would be to mix animations and live-action, and that’s exactly the pitch that was made by Lord and Miller.

The team recently scored a hit with the animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Aside from that, they have wrote a couple of episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and are currently set as the directors of the 21 Jump Street movie, if it ever gets made. [...]

Joker’s Asylum II: The Riddler
Written by: Peter Calloway
Art by: Clayton Henry
Cover by: Ethan Van Sciver
DC Comics
Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 3, 2010

As comic reader, a lot of times we get fed tons of these useless one-shots and we write them off as the big publishers trying to rake in more money. Well, every once in a while there is a gem mixed in amongst these one-shots that goes under the radar and that is what I’ve brought to the table now. Joker’s Asylum II: The Riddler is a story about the Riddler, obviously, as told by the Joker while he is seemingly incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. Of course, any story told by the Joker will be insanely interesting, no pun intended.

Peter Calloway seems to capture the essence of both the Joker, through his narration, and the Riddler, through his actions in the story. The Joker has just enough crazy to pull off the story making his own riddles along the way, leaving you guessing throughout the entire story. Can the Riddler actually love? That’s the crux of the story and it is definitely interesting to explore the riddle of love. My favorite part is the open-ended completion of the story by the Joker [...]

Paranormal Activity was one of the major successes of last year. The little independent horror movie was written and directed by Oren Peli, and only cost around $15,000 to make before Paramount Pictures acquired it and jazzed it up a bit for mass release. With the movie going on to make almost $200 million worldwide, a sequel was guaranteed before it was even spoken about.

Since then no time has been wasted, the movie is in production, and the first teaser trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 is now online for the world to see.

Click on over to the other side to check out the first teaser trailer for now.

The sequel is being directed by Kip Williams, who previously directed The Door in the Floor. Peli, who will be producing, is currently working on his next project, which will be called Area 51 and is supposedly going to use the same hand held home video-style that has made movies like Paranormal, The Blair Witch Project, and Cloverfield so popular and intriguing to audiences. [...]

The latest installment in the highly-popular Prince of Persia franchise comes along with the recently released summer blockbuster movie adaptation, but they are not the same. The best decision that Ubisoft could have been made with this new game is to pass over the opportunity to use the star-power of Jake Gyllenhaal, and stand strong in the world and stories that they’ve created.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands isn’t a prequel or a sequel but an interquel, taking place in between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The story follows our nimble prince as he heads to the palace of his brother, Malik. When he arrives, he sees that the palace is under attack by some treasure-seeking enemies. After meeting up with Malik, the prince discovers his brothers intent to unleash the mystical Solomon’s army to help him in defeating his palace’s attackers and save his people. The prince insists this is not a good idea considering the uncertainty of a force such as Solomon’s army, but Malik proceeds with confidence. [...]