Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected].

80’s Villains by Dusty Abell

Barbenheimer by Rux Dardiror

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm by John Dunn

Full Metal Jacket by Aleksey Rico

Jimi Hendrix by Fresh Doodle

McDonalds by Chiara

Mission Impossible by Javier Hueto

Scarface by RYVE Creative

The Sopranos by Sorin Ilie

Spider-Man by Kevin Tiernan

We review The CW’s four part documentary series Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982, revisiting classic genre films from that year.

PLOT: A deep dive into all the great movies that came out in 1982.

REVIEW: Everyone has their own take on the greatest year ever for cinema. Scholars tend to cite 1939, as that’s the year Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Gunga Din, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and several other seminal classics came out. Modern film fans tend to cite 1999, thanks to The Matrix, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia and many more. I’d make a strong case for 2007 myself, with Into the Wild, The Assassination of Jesse James, Gone Baby Gone, Zodiac, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, and others. But, if you’re a movie geek, one year stands above them all, and it’s 1982.

Think about it. E.T., The Thing, Star Trek II, Rocky III, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, the list goes on and on. And now, 1982 is getting a documentary series of its own from Mark A. Altman (Free Enterprise), Roger Lay Jr and more. Now, one name you’ll see in the credits is JoBlo Founder Berge Garabedian, who’s the executive producer. The fact that JoBlo had a hand in the documentary is why we didn’t initially review it, but I must admit that I pushed for a review just because I finally sat down and watched all four episodes and loved it. I have no involvement in the film whatsoever and wasn’t asked to tackle it, but I like what I like, and to me, this was so much fun that it’s worth shining a light on it.

Each episode focuses on a few movies, with many of the folks involved with the films giving interviews. While you may not see Spielberg talking about E.T. or Stallone going on about First Blood or Rocky III, you do get William Shatner discussing both Star Trek II and Airplane 2: The Sequel and Ron Howard discussing Night Shift as well as revealing that he was initially up for the job to direct Star Trek II. The best interview of all is Barry Bostwick, who lets it all hang out and comes across as super charming as he remembers making MegaForce, a movie he says he was terrible in (I disagree). Bostwick is great here, with him saying the schedule was a mess and that one day he went out, got super stoned by the pool, but then discovered to his dismay, that he had to film that day.

The documentary is packed with gems like this from all the talking heads, with a favourite story of mine coming from Menace II Society producer Darin Scott, who remembers being the one black guy in the theatre-going nuts when Mr. T’s Clubber Lang defeats Rocky Balboa early in Rocky III and also notes that The Road Warrior was the movie that first made him aware of surround sound. Everyone involved clearly loves the stuff being discussed, and the doc makes it a point to not only focus on genre, with movies like Missing and The Verdict also getting a spotlight.

If I have any issues with the documentary, it’s that some of the stories have been told before. I’m not sure they needed to go into the sucky video game E.T. spawned, as that already got a cool documentary of its own (Atari: Game Over), and the “who directed Poltergeist” debate has been done to death. Then again, I wonder if a documentary about those movies is complete without those older stories, so I can’t judge them too harshly. As a seasoned fan, I couldn’t get enough of the stories I didn’t know, such as Orson Wells being drunk and surly when they recorded the trailer for Conan the Barbarian (they even have the outtakes).

Overall, Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 is a nostalgic blast. The third of four episodes airs tonight on the C.W., but if you missed the last two episodes, you can download the C.W.’s app and watch them there. If you’re an eighties movie enthusiast, you’ll love it.

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Season two of Invincible will come to Amazon Prime Video on November 3rd, continuing the adventures of Mark Grayson.

There’s only one way this kid goes back out…and that’s on Amazon Prime. After major anticipation following the success and acclaim of the first season, a release date has finally been unveiled for season two of Invincible. The first part of season two of the animated series will fly back to Amazon Prime Video on November 3rd, while the second half will drop in the early part of 2024.

Invincible had a strong showing at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, as there were multiple panels for the property that focused not only on season two but the source material, with one devoted to the 20th anniversary of the comic book, which was written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, all of whom appeared. There was also another nice surprise for fans of the show, with the release of an hour-long “special prequel episode” that focused on Atom Eve aka Samantha Eve Wilkins (voiced by Gillian Jacobs), in which she “discovers her superpowers as a young girl – and must come to terms with her own sinister origins as she discovers a family she never knew she had.”

As per the Comic-Con write-up of Invincible ahead of the season two announcement, “The story revolves around 18-year-old Mark Grayson, who’s just like every other guy his age—except his father is (or was) the most powerful superhero on the planet.” In addition to the aforementioned Jacobs, the voice cast includes Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, and more. The trailer also teases a stacked group of newcomers including Rob Delaney, Lea Thompson, Sterling K. Brown, Ben Schwartz, and Peter Cullen.

Invincible fans have had to wait a long time for season two, as the first concluded back in April 2021. Even though a follow-up season was announced around that time, setbacks related to the pandemic and a legal issue between Kirkman and comic book artist William Crabtree forced delays. Now, how long before we get any word on a third…?

Are you looking forward to season two of Invincible? How do you think it will stack up against the first season? Let us know below!

The double bill of Barbie and Oppenheimer, dubbed Barbenheimer, is proving to be an historic event.

It would seem for once the hype and anticipation was not overblown as the epic event known as Barbenheimer has come and is proving to be a massive success. Right now (Per Deadline) the box office is looking to have nearly $310 million in receipts, which would be the best weekend of the post-pandemic world and would be the fourth highest weekend in the history of the box office. This will also mark the first weekend where a movie opened to over $100 million with a second opening to over $50 million.

We all knew Barbie would take the top of the charts, but no one knew exactly how high it could get. Warner Bros was being modest when they said they thought the film get get to $75 million for the weekend, it appears that is right around where the film got to in one day! Right now tracking has the film hitting $150 million, which would beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie opening of $146.3 million for best opening weekend of the year, but others see the film going even higher and hitting closer to $170 million, which is entirely possible as this movie doesn’t seem like just a movie, but an event. 

Not only is the film garnering strong reviews, currently at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, those reviews are equally matched by the fans as the audience score is also at 90%. The film has unexpectedly become a bit of a lightning rod on the internet with the vocal minority taking issue with some of the films themes. I saw the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it, I got what I expected from a tongue in cheek style story about a doll I personally knew very little about. And for my money, the “I’m Just Ken” musical number is worth the price of admission alone! You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review here.

Everyone knew Barbie would be huge, so the fact that it is over-performing is no huge surprise. What may be a surprise is the numbers Oppenheimer is putting up, as that film is currently looking at a $77 million start. That puts it over $17 million where I saw it hitting and is an insane number for a three hour long film that has only one action scene surrounded by a bunch of dialogue! But the music by Academy Award winner Ludwig Göransson accompanies the film so beautifully that those scenes of dialogue play out like intense action scenes. And all of that is before we get to the final hour of the film which is one of the most gripping court room dramas I have ever seen. As I was not familiar with the full story of what happened to Mr. Oppenheimer, that final hour had me on the edge of my seat with its twists and turns. And the acting in this film is pitch perfect. I would be surprised if we don’t see Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt as Oscar Nominees at next year’s ceremony.

We all know Christopher Nolan, and most of us love him. I personally count three of his films in my top 20 of all time (Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Inception) and own all of his scripts because I love dissecting them (already have the Oppenheimer script pre-ordered, it comes out August 2nd). So it is safe to say that I am one of those “Nolan fan boys” that you hear about. If Nolan released a film I didn’t like, I would be the first to say so, luckily that isn’t the case here. Oppenheimer is a near masterpiece of story telling. I may now count four of Nolan’s films in my top 20 of all time! Much like Barbie, Oppenheimer is pulling in stellar reviews (currently at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes) with even better audience scores (currently at a 94%).You can check out Eric Walkuski’s 8/10 review here.

Third place will go to Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One which is looking to drop over 50% for a second weekend in the $25 million range. It isn’t a horrible drop and I think we will see this number even out in the weeks to come as the thrill of this Barbenheimer event dies down and people say “oh yeah, I haven’t seen Mission: Impossible yet, let’s go check that out tonight!” Fourth place will go to the unexpected blockbuster of the summer Sound of Freedom which is looking to take in an additional $20 million while fifth place will go to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with what is looking like a $7 million weekend.

Have you seen Barbie or Oppenheimer yet? If so, let us know your thoughts in the comments section and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full run down on this weekend’s historic box office.