The Call of Duty franchise is a massive name in the video game industry. The war-time first person shooter has made massive waves with World War II games, and their Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 titles were juggernauts in the industry.

The Call of Duty franchise has been split between two developers: Infinity Ward, who created the original title and also handled the two Modern Warfare games, and Treyarch, who made Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World At War. The next game set for release comes from Treyarch, and it is called Call of Duty: Black Ops.

To help add a little more buzz to the game, two top-tier actors have been announced as voice talents in Black Ops. One is Gary Oldman, who will be reprising the role of Viktor Reznov, which he played in World At War. The other is four-time Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, who will be one of the main characters in the game, a CIA Operative named Jason Hudson. [...]

Back in July the first teaser trailer for Saw VII, now known as Saw 3D, was released, but didn’t show a whole lot. Now fans of the franchise have their first real look with the arrival of the first full trailer.

At the time, the movie was said to be called Saw 3D: The Traps Come Alive, but thankfully it looks like the sub-title was demoted to a tagline. It was also revealed back in April that Carey Elwes would finally be returning to the world of the Jigsaw killer after his mysterious exit from the original film, and you do get a little glimpse of him in this new trailer.

Click on over to check out the trailer yourself, and judge as you see fit in the comments below!

Apart from that, being someone who’s not nearly caught up with the Saw movies (I stopped after Saw II), I can’t say I really know what’s going on here. [...]

If you’ve ever seen Tommy Wiseau‘s now legendary cult classic, The Room, then this post is for you. The movie, for those who are unaware, is easily the worst movie ever made. Seriously, in the history of cinema, nothing even comes close…not even Troll 2, some might argue. Your mind is blown over and over and over at what you’re seeing, and you sometimes can’t even help but wonder if this is real. Wiseau himself has even said it was meant to be like that, but deep down we all have trouble believing that.

Even so, the movie has an amazing fan base who find so much to love in all of its failings. There’s something so immensely entertaining about the movie, the story, the characters, and all of the random things they do and say for no reason whatsoever. The Room has special screenings where fans flock to scream and react to certain scenes, there’s countless drinking games at the click of a Google search, and the joy just never really ends. [...]

Since their revival of Darkwing Duck was such a huge success, BOOM! Studios announced that they will be bringing back another beloved kids show when they launch Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers in December. The ongoing series features the two chipmunk adventurers and all their friends and if the Darkwing Duck series is any indication, this series should be a lot of fun.

For those too young to remember, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers launched in 1989 and follows the adventures of the titular rodents; Australian Mouse Monterey Jack; pilot, inventor, and love interest Gadget; and Zipper the housefly. They travel around the world, solving cases, and you know, get into shenanigans. During its run, it was the most popular of Disney afternoon shows, and it still has legions of fans who can sing that theme song all these years later [...]

In a recent interview, master filmmaker Ridley Scott talked his career, his life, movies, and eventually got around to that little two-part prequel to his classic 1979 horror, Alien.

Looking back, it’s clear that Scott has rarely failed, and that he likes a good challenge. The 72-year-old director has been going strong for many years, but some wonder if even he can pull off a critically and financially successful new take on his own great mythos. The Alien prequels have been in the news quite a bit since whispers first began, but Ridley was able to share just a tiny bit of detail on where he may go with it.

First of all, James Cameron’s Avatar was brought up, and how it set a new mark for “alien” or other-worldly blockbusters. Scott joked by saying “Jim’s raised the bar and I’ve got to jump to it. He’s not going to get away with it.” For those excited about a new Alien, this means Avatar may have moved it ahead of one or two of the director’s many potential projects. [...]

Rockabilly musician and voice of proudly ignorant Georgia squid Early Cuyler, Unknown Hinson returned to Dragon*Con this year for a performance during the Adult Swim Squidbillies panel.

Hinson, who shaved his iconic sideburns much to the dismay of those in the audience, played a three-song set for the crowd before joining the entire cast of Squidbillies in an unrehearsed reading of a script for a future episode of the show.

While we didn’t record the cast reading, we did manage to get coverage of Hinson’s performance, which we’ve embedded in the three videos below [...]

Just recently we found out that Dwayne Johnson would be replacing Brendan Fraser in the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth, currently being called Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

Johnson will be playing the boyfriend of returning star Josh Hutcherson‘s mother, who accompanies the young explorer on his journey to a mysterious island to find his missing grandfather…a grandfather who at the time was not yet cast. Today that has changed. We now know who will be joining the cast to play this missing grandfather, and that man is Sir Michael Caine.

Many would think that this new role would be a brief one for Caine, but fear not, the knighted actor will have his share of screen time and action sequences. According to reports, he’ll be involved in a few chase scenes, including one with a swarm of massive bees. If he can help take down a shark, he can handle a few bees says this observer.

The 77-year-old Caine joins the cast and director Brad Peyton, whose previous films include Cats & Dogs 2: Revenge of Kitty Galore and a collection of short titles. [...]

The American
***1/2
Directed by: Anton Corbijn
Starring: George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund, Johan Leysen, Paolo Bonacelli, The American, Violante Placido
Focus Features
Release Date: September 4, 2010

The cold and austere snow covered landscape that is immediately placed before us in Anton Corbijn’s “The American” is an opening that grabs our attention and also becomes a metaphor for representing the inner-being of our ruthless and cold-blooded killer, Jack (George Clooney), or does he go by Edward? It is this kind of ambiguity, uncertainty of past events that makes the film an exquisite think-piece. It is a thriller but does not have the same mission other thrillers have. The American possesses a mission that is essential to existentialism: It desires to find the soul of an unbalanced man.

Clooney embodies the indistinct killer, urging even more so the film toward a more mysterious atmosphere. Clooney is situated in a role that requires him to look vulnerable; to wear a countenance that is demoralized. This side of Mr. Clooney has been foreign to movie going audiences. We see his withered, worried face and we automatically begin to think – what is this man concealing? What are his motives? What does he believe in? [...]

Amazon is offering up the complete first season of Mad Men for purchase for only $9.99 through their Video On Demand service. This includes all 13 episodes of the AMC drama starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, and January Jones.

This digital deal is only for today, Thursday, August 9, so grab it while you can. The digital version is regularly $19.99, and sold separately, each episode is $1.99. (The HD version is $23.99 or $2.99 each episode.)

Visit the Mad Men Season 1 product page to purchase the entire season in standard definition for only $9.99 [...]

Seasoned veteran actor Liam Neeson has joined the cast of Battleship, the movie based on the popular board game of the same name that sees players calling out locations in hopes of striking and sinking their opponents strategically placed fleet.

Neeson will play a Naval officer named Admiral Shane, whose daughter (played by model Brooklyn Decker) is engaged to a young officer played by lead Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, John Carter of Mars). Also starring in the film is Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, Zoolander), who will play Kitsch’s brother, and pop star Rihanna.

The movie is directed by Peter Berg, who also brought us The Rundown and The Kingdom. It will tell the story of a naval fleet who finds themselves having to deal with an invading alien race who plans to mine Earth of its resources for their own use.

Battleship just started filming this week in Hawaii with plans currently set for a release on June 18, 2012. [...]

Here we have some news that’s so massive, it almost seems made up; like there’s no possible way the whole plan will come together as they want it to. In any case, if this announcement even partially plays out, it could be one of the most exciting book-to-film/TV adaptations we’ve ever seen.

It’s been announced that Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television have closed a juggernaut of a deal that will see them backing an adaptation of Stephen King‘s seven-book series and prequel comic book, The Dark Tower, into not only a movie but a whole trilogy of films and a full TV series. Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard will direct and Akiva Goldsman will write the first film and first season of the series.

The deal is unheard of, and the strategy to produce it is even more unheard of. Their current plan is to film a lot of it at the same time, much like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first film will be released, and will be followed by the first season of the TV series which will bridge to the second film. [...]

Recorded September 6, 2010.

Our September Doom Of The Month will be Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s All Star Superman! If you want to read along with us, head on over to Instocktrades.com or DCBService.com to pick up volumes 1 and 2 for some super prices! Be sure to check back at the end of September for our special episode.

Check out Episode 16 of Comics of Doom, the official comics podcast of Geeks of Doom. Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Podcast player is here below.

Listen now!

E-mail us at comicsofdoom [at] gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter – @ComicsOfDoom
Subscribe to the Podcast: RSS | iTunes [...]

Whenever Adult Swim hosts a panel at Dragon*Con, it’s safe to assume they’ve brought their “A” games — and by that I mean those in attendance will get an exclusive performance and most likely will leave laughing their asses off.

Specifically, I’m referring to the team behind Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies, who’s panel opened with show creator and voice actor Dave Willis taking stage to recite a monologue performed by a puppet version of Carl. Soon there after, voice talent Dana Snyder joined with a Master Shake puppet.

The puppets — presumably from the ATHF live action show tour Willis and Snyder did earlier in the year — were actually a genius idea to associate the voices with the characters (since voice actors aren’t always easy to identify) [...]

We’ve been hearing quite a bit about the brand new Judge Dredd lately, starting with the news that Karl Urban would be starring in the lead once filled by Sylvester Stallone and the recent announcement that Juno star Olivia Thirlby was joining him as Cassandra Anderson.

The latest bit of news is a minor title change. Instead of going with the name Judge Dredd, and risking more association with the 1995 movie they’re trying so hard to separate themselves from, this new take will now simply be called Dredd.

The movie will be a dark and gritty R-rated new take on the original comic series, which debuted in the late ’70s as part of the UK’s 2000 AD magazine.

SYNOPSIS
DREDD takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary. [...]

We all love comics, right? I mean, you wouldn’t even be reading this if you didn’t enjoy the unique experience of the pairing of words with pictures that comics offer. It’s a form of storytelling unlike any other. The juxtaposition of the action on the page with the dialog. The power of a caption box giving us insight into a characters thoughts. The raw imagination we display (without even realizing it) to fill in the blank spaces between the panels.

Yeah, we love comics.

But saying we love comics is very different from proving we love comics. Sure, we all use the internet as our forum to discuss the books and characters we love. We feel a sense of ownership over them. We feel our opinions should matter, dammit! And we’re furious when it appears that the comic companies blatantly ignore those opinions. It hurts.

If you REALLY want to prove that you love comics, and that your opinion should matter, then you’ll listen to me now and help out a dear friend of mine.

There’s a comic shop called Comic Evolution in Puyallup, Washington (that’s just outside of Seattle) that is owned and operated by Chuck Messinger. Chuck is one of us. He loves comics. And not just tights and capes. All comics. He champions the indie creator. He gets it. He takes the time to know his clientele to the point where a recommendation from him is pretty much a guarantee that you’re going to enjoy whatever he’s telling you to read. His shop is free of the stereotypical comic store pretension. It’s a place for comic lovers to go and let their geek flag fly with pride. He gives back to the community and the surrounding businesses [...]

Just when I thought the vapor ware watch was over, Duke Nukem Forever is actually going to be released!

Announced Friday at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), Duke Nukem Forever will be released in calendar year 2011 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC.

The game has been switched to game developer Gearbox, makers of the game Borderlands. The new Duke Nukem had been in development hell since first being announced in 1997, which for those bad at math was a long time ago. The original developer 3D Realms was sued over the LONG development period for the game, which never came out. Gearbox now flat out owns the Duke Nukem IP, so they are free to make lots of other Duke games, should Forever sell well [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon today is The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus 16 Ton Megaset for only $34.99 (that’s 65% off the list price of $99.95).

Note, this sale is only for today, Wednesday September 8, until midnight PST while supplies last.

This 16-disc DVD box set contains all 45 episodes of the 1960s British television sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which starred John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam, along with the two-disc 1982 concert film Monty Python Live, all in a slim casing.

The set also includes plenty of bonus features: Meet the Chaps, Pythonisms Glossary, Gillianimations, Art Gallery, Troupe Career Highlights, Trivial Quest, Useless Tidbits, Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus: German Episode #1, Post-Python Troupe Highlights, Pythonisms, Bleeding Critics, and Confusing Musings [...]

In a recent chit-chat, cult superstar Bruce Campbell touched briefly on a sequel to his movie, My Name is Bruce, which told the story of a small town that mistakes Campbell for his popular Evil Dead trilogy character, Ash, and asks him to help save their town from the evil monsters that terrorize them.

Most of the conversation was about his time working on the Evil Dead movies and the many stories that came from his experiences with director Sam Raimi, as well as whether the long-rumored new sequel would ever get made. As for that, Campbell said they’d all like to make another Evil Dead but no one has the time right now. He joked that Raimi puts out fake statements from time to time to get people excited, but with his blockbuster movie projects piling up and Campbell’s TV show, Burn Notice, it just isn’t happening soon.

When the topic switched to the My Name is Bruce sequel, which will be called Bruce vs. Frankenstein, Campbell made things interesting with an idea he has. His hope is to not only make the sequel, but to make it in the same vein as The Expendables with as many horror stars as humanly possible. [...]

Ever since Marvel Entertainment confirmed that Joss Whedon had been chosen to direct their big budget Avengers film, the fan community has vocalized their support or distaste of the decision.

The point being? There is a renewed interest in all things Avengers.

For proof, one need only look to the attendees of Dragon*Con 2010, who showed off a plethora of well crafted costumes this year that featured Avengers both new and old.

We’ve attempted to capture a handful of what we saw while covering the event this past weekend in the photo gallery embedded below.

It’s also worth noting that Geeks of Doom photographer Derek Deweese let his fanboyism run wild in some of these photos by attempting to mirror popular comic book covers. (Neither of us remember the issue of The Ultimates where Captain America points to the “A” on his helmet. If you know the cover we’re talking about then by all means educate us in the Comments section below.) [...]

Coming on September 24, 2010, the new movie from Watchmen director Zack Snyder, Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, will hit theaters. The animated film is based on the first three books of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky, and we here at Geeks of Doom have some related prizes for some lucky winners!

One (1) winner will receive:

– One (1) Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture Book
– One (1) $25 Fandango Bucks

Two (2) winners will receive:

– One (1) Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture Book

Guardians of Ga’hoole: The Capture is the first book in Kathryn Lasky’s 15-book series.

When Soren, a young owlet, mysteriously falls from his nest one evening, he’s plucked up and taken to the sinister St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Once there, he must use his wits and bravery to escape his captors. If Soren can learn to fly, he might just be able to take refuge with a group of brave owls he’d thought only to be a legend—the Guardians of Ga’Hoole![…]