Harry Potter: Spells & Spells Free
iPhone, iPod Touch App
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
Price: $2.99; Free

Even with the book series concluded and the two-part final film adaptation on the horizon, the Harry Potter multimedia franchise shows no signs of slowing down as evident with the new Spells and Spells Free apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Spells definitely focuses on giving those who download it a full Harry Potter experience, by signing your admissions letter to Hogwarts, choosing the correct wand, and having the Sorting Hat tell you which house you’re assigned. Only after completing all of this can you actually start exploring the menu.

Predictably, the app allows fans to learn 17 different spells taught to wizards of Hogwarts, including Serpensortia, Stupefy, Incendio, and the Unforgivable Curse Avada Kedavra. The advantage of getting the paid app is that it comes with the first four spell packs ($0.99-each, total of $4), so you’re essentially getting a deal. After finishing the 7-year curriculum, users can then challenge the CPU to a duel or face real-life opponents online or right next to you [...]

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have unveiled the new logo and title for the sequel to the immensely popular Rocksteady Studios video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The logo you can clearly see it in all of its glory above (click for high-quality version for those of you itching for a new desktop background!). As for the title, it will officially be called Batman: Arkham City. The game will take place in a ruthless maximum security district of Gotham City where all of the most evil villains reside.

The Arkham Asylum follow-up will be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, and will be released sometime in the fall of 2011.

Click over to the other side for a brief description of Batman: Arkham City.

As you’ll recall, we recently found out that fan-favorite Mark Hamill would be returning as the infamous Joker, but that it would be the last time he did the voice. He also shared that it was the script and how good it was that drew him back one last time, so hopefully this means another great game is on the way. [...]

Back in March we found out that the producing duo on Shane Acker’s 9, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, would be uniting once again for a movie based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith‘s new novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

At the time, it was unclear who would direct the movie, which tells an alternate history tale of Abraham Lincoln who also happened to battle supernatural evil in addition to his political accomplishments. Now, after a little chat with Empire Magazine, Bekmambetov has revealed that it is he who plans on directing the movie, and is preparing it at this very moment.

You can click over to read a description of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, as well as to see the trailer for the book.

Here’s what Bekmambetov had to say about his Lincoln adaptation:

That one I’m prepping to direct myself. It is not a comedy at all – it is a very entertaining, epic history lesson for millions and millions of teenagers. If you remember Nightwatch, it is maybe in the vein of that kind of movie. [...]

A couple of days ago, comic book writer and talent behind many Green Lantern books announced via his Twitter account that filming of the movie adaption starring Ryan Reynolds had officially wrapped.

Despite the fact that the movie has yet to prove its worth at the box office, that’s not preventing Warner Brothers from taking steps toward setting up the potential sequel. A couple of months ago the studio hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim to begin work on a treatment of the script, and now Michael Goldenberg has been brought in to write as well. Goldberg performed a rewrite on the script for the first movie from a treatment by Berlanti, Guggenheim, and Green, so this appears to be their way of doing things.

Goldenberg has previously penned Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as well as Peter Pan (2003), Contact, and Bed of Roses.

Click over to the other side to read the full synopsis. [...]

The trades are reporting that Inception and Batman Begins star Cillian Murphy is in the final stages of negotiation to take on a role in New Regency and 20th Century Fox’s new science fiction drama, I’m.mortal.

Murphy will be joining Alpha Dog co-stars Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake (also working out an agreement) on the title. The movie is set in a future where we’ve figured out how to combat aging and live forever, but to control the world from a suffocating over-population crisis, time has been turned into currency. This allows the rich to live as long as they want to, and the poor to figure out a way to keep living or die off trying.

The story revolves around a homeless man (Timberlake) who can’t afford his immortality, but unexpectedly acquires a massive amount of wealth. Hand-in-hand with his new-found financial improvement, the man is targeted in a murder investigation and ends up on the run, kidnapping an heiress (Seyfried) in the process. Murphy would be playing one of the officers in pursuit of Timberlake, part of an organization known as the Timekeepers. [...]

If you’ve ever watched Family Guy, you know that creator Seth MacFarlane has a soft spot for a good Broadway tunes. Many episodes include classic covers or original songs performed in an old school style, usually will comedic elements mixed in.

Whether you love or hate Family Guy or MacFarlane’s other shows, American Dad and The Cleveland Show, there’s no denying that the man has tremendous vocal talents. He’s even branched out his talents to feature films with a role in Hellboy II. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that MacFarlane has signed a new music deal with Universal Republic Records.

The deal will see MacFarlane recording an album of his own renditions of Broadway classics from the 1940s and 1950s, including covers of Rogers and Hammerstein as well as Lerner and Loewe. And despite what you’re thinking, no, there will not be comedy involved in the album — these will be serious covers of beloved showtunes. [...]

Stargate: Daniel Jackson #1
Written by Doug Murray
Art by John Watson
Cover by Chasen Grieshop
Dynamite Entertainment
Price: $3.99
Release date: July 14, 2010

Well everyone’s favorite space traveling archaeologist is back in Stargate: Daniel Jackson. This is the first issue in a 3-issue miniseries in which good ol’ Dr. Jackson takes a front seat in all the action.

The story starts with Jackson, Mitchell, and Vala getting back from a mission in which they took fire. When they are back on Earth, Dr. Jackson runs into an Iraq war vet who presents him with a stone from the Iraqi antiquities museum. The stone has Ancient writing on it, but it appears to be Babylonian or Sumerian. It becomes Dr. Jackson’s theory that the Ancients were involved in the cradle of civilization. Dr. Jackson sets off to Iraq to find the person who originally had the stones with the Ancient writing on them. It turns out that the stones combine to be a gate address to a planet in which a rumored “island of treasure” resides [...]

It seems like everyone’s favorite killer aliens are back, but this time they are coming in high def!

The Alien Anthology will be released on Blu-ray on October 26, 2010 with all four films from the franchise: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection. The special features on this set are amazing and every film comes with their own bonus material. This set is a must-have for any science fiction fan or any fan of film in general.

This was one of the most ground-breaking series and I am so happy to see it coming to Blu-ray and I look forward to seeing Space Marines in high def.

There are two versions of the packaging currently available for pre-order: Alien Anthology Blu-ray regular packing or for a few more bucks there’s Alien Anthology Comicon (Egg Package) Blu-ray package.

See below for a detailed list of bonus features [...]

Many people have questioned some of the decisions that 20th Century Fox has made over the years, but when it came to Avatar, figuring out whether to make sequels or not was about as simple a choice as they come.

The movie did cost around $250 million to make — an astounding price tag leading some to fear certain failure — but when it stormed box offices en route to record $749 million domestic and $1.9 billion foreign totals to equal an unheard of total of almost $3 billion, the sequels went ahead and gave themselves the greenlight.

The only trouble with the next chapters in director James Cameron epic blockbuster saga is just how long it took to make the first movie. Cameron worked on the idea for nearly two decades before the technology even existed to begin the multi-year production. Clearly the sequels won’t take quite so long with all technologies and production foundations well in-place, but they won’t come easy, either.

This makes one strategy seem like the optimum approach: filming the two movies back-to-back. And it sounds like this might just be the plan once things actually get moving. [...]

Revolver
Hardcover
By Matt Kindt
Vertigo Comics
Release Date July 14, 2010

Are you looking for the next Asterios Polyp, I Kill Giants, or Essex County to enjoy? Well I found that book for you and it’s called Revolver. Revolver comes to you from the acclaimed author of 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man and Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers, Matt Kindt. If you haven’t read anything by Kindt, then you should definitely check something out. Kindt is one of my favorite authors and is great with creator-owned material.

Revolver is an original graphic novel about a character named Sam whose life is somehow split into two different realities. One life is normal and filled with routine, while the other is set in a post-apocalyptic world where he has to fight to survive. One of the most interesting parts of the story is how Sam deals with the worlds and how his psyche deals with it as well. The story definitely has a lot of twists and turns and I definitely don’t want to spoil the book for anyone by revealing any further details [...]

With Star Wars Celebration V around the corner and this being the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, we here at Geeks of Doom were looking for something on the web that celebrated one of our favorite film franchises of all time. What we found was a video that shows every lightsaber being powered up and powered down throughout the six main Star Wars films.

Watch the video “Every Lightsaber Ignition & Retraction” here below!

The video starts off with the lightsaber ignitions from the original trilogy and moves on to the prequel trilogy, the video does the same thing when it comes to the lightsaber retractions except in reverse order (prequels first).

The video’s creator stated that it took 6 hours to compile this video, which is only clips where you can see the lightsaber ignite/retract (not just hear it), and also where the lightsaber is intentionally ignited/retracted [...]

Recorded August 2, 2010. Your hosts for this episode include: Justin Vactor, Jen Abrams, Willie Gillis, Chris McDavid, Hunter Camp, and the lovely Eve of Doom.

Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Full Episode Guide is here below, along with player.

Listen now! [...]

Contest time! We got our hands on some Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World goodies just in time for the film’s release next week. One lucky winner will receive a Scott Pilgrim prize pack!

One (1) winner will receive:

– One (1) Scott Pilgrim Vs The World prize pack

Prize Pack contains:

– (1) Red Scott Pilgrim T-shirt with full Scott Pilgrim logo on front and “An epic of epic epicness” tagline on back
– (1) Black ladies t-shirt with lighting Bomb logo on the front and Scott Pilgrim logo on back nape of neck
– (1) Scott Pilgrim hat (white hat with red logo)
– (1) Removable sticker to put on back of most cell phones

Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob-omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams…literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him. Genre-smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) tells the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. [...]

In a message via his Twitter account, Mark Millar announced that Tony Scott would be taking the captain’s chair for a feature film adaptation of he and Steven McNiven‘s graphic novel, Nemesis for 20th Century Fox.

Never to shy away from potentially controversial content with other titles such as Wanted and Kick-Ass on his resume, Millar’s Nemesis is not like the superhero stories we’re used to. It follows Matt Anderson, a genius and billionaire who also happens to be one of the world’s greatest fighters. Anderson uses his many resources to set off on a quest for revenge against those who murdered his parents — parents who just so happened to also be super-villains. This makes Anderson something of a villain as well, hunting down cops left and right on his way to facing off against the police chief responsible for the capture of his parents.

Millar talked about the deal on his official site in-depth. You can read the whole thing below! [...]

As you’re all aware, the series finale for LOST was met with a battle of opinions; many loved it and many loathed it and the debate was on in full-effect. As answers and more information was shared (Read: Did You Hate The ‘Lost’ Finale? Read This & May You Discover Enlightenment) people began to warm up to how one of the greatest TV shows ever made was wrapped up, but it was a little promise that had us all excited for just a little bit more Lost on the horizon.

Not long after the show’s conclusion, it was announced that a 12-minute epilogue called The New Man in Charge would be included on the DVD and Blu-ray (which can both be pre-ordered right now) releases of the complete series as a special feature. This epilogue was said to show us a little peek into the island after Hurley took over with Ben as his right hand man, and maybe even offer up answers to some questions that might still be lingering. [...]

The first trailer for Jackass 3D has been released and it is something to see. The trailer proves that the movie is absolutely selling the product on their use of 3D, and that they’re set to push the limits even further than they ever have before.

The whole crew — including Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, and Wee-Man — are all back to inflict massive amounts of pain on themselves and each other. Also returning are director Jeff Tremaine and producer Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are). The movie is set to be released everywhere and in almost full 3D on October 15, 2010.

Make sure that all safety precautions including helmets, knee pads, and Pepto-Bismol are at the ready before clicking over to check out the first trailer for Jackass 3D!

If you’ll recall, the first image from the movie was released last month and showed Knoxville riding a wave-runner through the air and toward the 3D camera. In the new trailer, you’ll get to see this stunt in action a bit, along with many more hilarious bits. Just a taste is all you need. [...]

I was reminded of singer/actor Rick Springfield yesterday when I read about what’s apparently an annual Rick Springfield Cruise, with this year’s voyage taking off in November to the Caribbean. Now, I’m not even gonna front, I would totally go on this cruise if I wasn’t prone to seasickness, especially since I have about ten girlfriends who I know would go with me.

If you don’t know who Rick Springfield is, he was a popular chart-topping music artist here in the United States in the 1980s and is most famous for his hit song “Jessie’s Girl” (you totally know it). But before Springfield wished that he had Jessie’s girl back in 1981, did you know he was in the original 1970s television series Battlestar Galactica? That’s right, in 1978, he appeared in an episode called “Saga of a Star World” as Commander Adama’s younger son Lieutenant Zac Adama, a Viper pilot with the Galactica (BSG fans of all eras know the deal with Zac, right?).

Springfield’s foray into the world of sci-fi didn’t stop with his short stint on BSG. Matter of fact, the musician/actor has accumulated quite a bit of geektastic cred in his over 40-year career.

In 1983 (after leaving the soap opera General Hospital), he went back to focusing on his music, experimenting with the synth-heavy pop style of the time on songs like “Human Touch.” To go with the song was a music video — also on the rise back then thanks to the birth of MTV (back when they actually played videos). A sci-fi setting was chosen for this video, of which Springfield was front and center [...]

Shelter
DVD
Directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein
Starring Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brooklynn Proulx, Jeffrey DeMunn, Nathan Corddry
ICON Entertainment
Released August 2, 2010 (UK)

Forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Cara Jessop (Julianne Moore), is presented with an unusual patient. She has been asked to see Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an abrupt and able-bodied young man who experiences periodic black-outs. He suffers from multiple personality disorder and his other personality is David, softly-spoken and a wheelchair user. Cara soon discovers that David died over twenty years before, the victim of murder. As Cara searches on, people who have been in contact with Adam begin to die gruesome deaths and Adam takes on the personalities of the deceased. As she works to uncover what happened to David/Adam, Cara unravels the secrets of a dark mystery.

Shelter is a supernatural thriller which spectacularly fails to thrill. The script feels lumbered and gets too bogged down in exposition when little is needed, and not enough when it is necessary. Nothing about this movie feels original and Michael Cooney’s script lumbers along, occasionally stumbling over its own clumsiness. Cooney also brought us the tricky and tense John Cusack-starring Identity — a solidly entertaining thriller with satisfying twists. But Shelter is more akin to another Cooney-penned thriller, The I Inside, which similarly failed to find its own footing. Neal Edelstien and Mike Macari, two of the producers of The Ring remake, are on hand with their production expertise. Like The Ring, a feeling of slow-burning brooding and terror is shot for, but the actual target is somewhere between boredom and tedium [...]

In honor of Geek Appreciation Month, we here at Geeks of Doom would like to direct your attention to a really cool video compiled by the good folks over at Elder Geek which shows every video game console ever made!

You can watch it below.

This video is a great piece that has not only pictures of every console, but video game music as well from music from 8-bit games all the way up to today’s video game music.

I have to tell you I fell in love with this video, because it is such a great tribute to all the great and not so great consoles of the past and current day. I hope you enjoy this video, which runs about 23 minutes. I saw the first console I ever owned in this video, it was the SEGA Genesis.

Leave a comment here below telling us what your first gaming console was. Did you spot it in this video? [...]

Magnolia Pictures has released a brand new poster for Neil Marshall‘s Centurion, and they reached out to famed British comic book artist Simon Bisley to create the unique and original work.

The movie stars 300 actors Michael Fassbender and Dominic West, as well as Hitman and Quantum of Solace star Olga Kurylenko. It tells the story of a Roman Centurion soldier who gets caught behind enemy lines with a small band of troops after their Ninth Legion was ambushed and their leader taken. So far we’ve seen a few images and trailers (Read: Neil Marshall’s ‘Centurion’ Gets A Red Band Trailer & New Poster ), but this new poster certainly gets points for uniqueness. It’s not often you see a full-on comic book illustration created for a live-action film, and it works well.

The movie will be released on August 27, 2010, and is already available on available VOD, VUDU, Playstation Network, Xbox Marketplace, and Amazon. Click on over to the other side now to check out the new poster by Simon Bisley! [...]