The much-talked-about G.I. Joe fan film has finally arrived.

2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a soul-sucking train-wreck that made Trey Parker and Matt Stone's 2004 action film satire, Team America: World Police, a true blue epic. While we await the Jon Chu-helmed sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, set to be released in 2012 with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sharing the spotlight with returning actor Channing Tatum as Roadblock, here's a little something to quench your thirst for some all-American action.

Operation: Red Retrieval is a G.I. Joe fan film written and directed by Mark Cheng, a self-confessed G.I. Joe fan that got tired of waiting for that one true G.I. Joe film and decided to make one himself.

Given the budget constraints, Operation: Red Retrieval is a relatively cool action-packed film that remarkably surpassed the Stephen Sommers-helmed rip-off in its 21-minute run. As for the plot, the short film followed the no-nonsense action film premise of the regular G.I. Joe animated series with a short synopsis: "Scarlett must be found."

With no further ado, hit the jump to check out the film.



Message from the director:

This is not the GI Joe movie you've all been dying to see.

This is not the GI Joe movie you're dying to unsee.

This is the GI Joe movie I saw in my head more than 25 years ago. I watched the cartoons, read the comics, and collected the toys when I was a kid. Eventually I moved on from GI Joe but from that franchise came my love for war movies - Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Band of Brothers - and my deep respect for the armed services and the men and women who serve.

Through working on this film - a process that took a year and a half - I realized the significance that GI Joe played in my childhood. Batman works alone, X-men was about strength in diversity, Transformers was pure awesome robots. But GI Joe was about a team of heroes working together, taking care of one another, never giving up, and staying until the fight was won. That's what I saw in my head, kept in my heart, and what I've tried to put into this film. As adults we've lost some of our innocence and, tragically, some of our idealism. We know heroes don't dodge bullets by doing cartwheels. Sometimes they get hurt, sometimes they don't come home. But under layers of dirt, grime, and blood, the hero is still there and he still sacrifices. And it's under those same layers of dirt and blood, that the spirit of GI Joe will always live.

The other thing I wanted to capture is that feeling from when I was 8 years old lying the floor with my action figures. I'd line up my GI Joe figures next to my Star Wars figures next to my He-Man figures and next to my Autobot Transformers. It didn't matter that the toys were of a different scale, possessed inexplicable powers, came from different brands, or lived in different universes. The ONLY things that mattered was that Good was about to defeat Evil, and that it was going to be SOOOO AWESOMEEEE.

So in a way, this is not the GI Joe movie I saw in my head 25 years ago. The film started that way, grew up like I did, got dirty like the world around us, but finds itself once again like the inner kid we all have within us.

Thanks for letting me share.

Source: YouTube via Topless Robot

Tony Stark is in his element in this cool 3D piece conjured by CG Artist Victor Hugo Queiroz.

Billionaire. Philanthropist. Superhero. Genius. Businessman. Tony Stark may be a lot of things, but he can only be his one true self in his lab working on his next invention.

Conjured by CG Artist Victor Hugo Queiroz (AKA vitorugo [CGHUB]), check out "What are you building, Stark?" for some pretty obvious Easter egg referencing a cool video game.

In the artist's own words:

Ahoy!

So, I can't believe that I've finished this one! hahaha! The original idea was to reproduce one of the "Armor Wars" cover, but it looks that I've changed a little my mind during the project. This one was a awesome challenge, because I've never modeled a car and neither an Iron Man armor (ok, I didn't modeled exactly the movie armor, but something, ahn... "between"). Another good challenge was to give some tries on 3ds max Hair and Fur - and damn, it is quite impressive! =)

I would like to thanks to my friends at TechnoImage for the tips, and for my beloved wife for helping me with some tips too and of course, for her pacience! =D

Soon I'll share some details and WIPs!
Hope you all like it!








Source: "What are you building, Stark?" by Victor Hugo Queiroz (AKA vitorugo [CGHUB]

Have a better look at Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises with the release of these high resolution scans frrom the latest issue of Empire magazine.

With shooting of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's magnum opus to his well-received Batman trilogy, finally wrapping up last week, Christian Bale has once again confirmed the end of the Christopher Nolan / Christian Bale cinematic Batman era in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

"I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I'm taking that cowl off. ... I believe that the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it's all done. Everything's finished. It's me and Chris – that will be the end of that Batman era."

Last week, we have featured some of the first-ever official set photos from The Dark Knight Rises. And now the high resolution versions of these images have been released online. Hit the jump to check out an awesome face-off between Christopher Bale's Batman and the new villain for the big screen, Tom Hardy's Bane, as well as some other images from the much-anticipated film slated to hit the theaters on July 20th come next year.






And here are some of the posters created by resourceful fans who make do with what they have and utilized the images released from the magazine.

From Shockya.

The Bane poster and an image of the new Batwing and the Camo Tumbler from Twitter user @RIMBreaks.



Source: Empire via Collider

They say "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Well, not when it's imitated poorly.

The opening title sequence of Game of Thrones, HBO's critically acclaimed live-action adaptation of George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, is easily among one of the very best opening title sequences in television history, enhanced by the incredible aesthetics and suitably epic opening theme. So we can probably mark this in "inevitable" department for a pirated attempt on the winner of the Main Title Design honor at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Though we would have admit our surprise that the attempt came from a kung fu drama series produced by the local television monopoly, Mediacorp.

Spotted by sharp-eyed readers at iO9, the award-winning intro was blatantly ripped off by Code of Honor, who clumsily replaced the intricate clockwork sequences with sabers and spears from Chinese martial arts.

Both clips are embedded below for your comparison.

First up, the promotional sequence for Code of Honor, followed by the epic opening title sequence for Game of Thrones.

Two of the most iconic pop culture forces in geek-fandom collide in Dean Fraser's Star Wars: Empire of the Bat!

Here at The Daily Zombies, we have seen our fair share of awesome fan-made mash-up art. With Star Wars and Batman, easily two of the most recognized properties in pop culture, artist Dean Fraser took on the ambitious task of creating "Star Wars: Empire of the Bat", a mash-up project of an epic proportion, and came out triumphant in his efforts. Mashing the characters of both Star Wars and Batman together in the style of classic Batman: The Animated Series, witness strangely fitting hybrid characters like Darth Bat (Batman X Darth Vader), Emperor Joker (Emperor Palpatine X The Joker), Luke Nightwalker (Luke Skywalker X Nightwing), and some really questionable ones like Harley Yoda (Harley Quinn X Yoda? What's up with that?).

Hit the jump to check out these awesome mash-up characters in their entirety.

Darth Bat
Emperor Joker
Luke Nightwalker
Robin-2D2
C3P-Alfred
Obi-Wan Gordon
Rene Mon-Solo
Chew-Bullock
Princess Bat-Leia
Harley Yoda
Penguin the Hutt
From the artist's own words:

When I came up with this idea for mashing up Batman and Star Wars, I thought it would be a fun project, and it really was. To create these I used my own art, some templates, and the work of others and put it all together for Star Wars : Empire of the Bat.

Source: Dean Fraser via iO9

Japan's iconic earless robotic cat gets a live-action update in this quirky advertisement for Toyota that hilariously cast Jean Reno as Doraemon!

It's the "same old, same old" set-up that readers of the iconic manga series Doraemon are terribly used to:

Ever the loser, Nobita Nobi was again humiliated by Takeshi Goda and Suneo Honekawa in front of his sweetheart Shizuka Minamoto. Crying for help, the earless robotic cat Doraemon emerges.

Except this time, everyone has grown up to be thirty-year-old adults and Doraemon is a middle-age Frenchman!

In this quirky Japanese advertisement series for Toyota's ReBorn, heartthrob Japanese idol Satoshi Tsumabuki (妻夫木聰) is Nobita Nobi, still a loser at thirty while the iconic robotic cat Doraemon is portrayed by none other than Jean Reno, the renowned French actor acclaimed for his role as the eponymous character in Luc Besson's 1994 French thriller film, Léon: The Professional. Once again lending his likeness in Japan since his involvement in Capcom's 2007 video game Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, Besson made his surprise appearance only at the ending of episode 2 of the advertisement series to unveil an unexpected resolution (or the lack thereof).

Hit the jump to check out both episodes. Do note that both clips are Chinese-subtitled with no English sub.

Episode 1


Episode 2


And here are some of the promotional images from the campaign.













Source: J.ME. via Super Punch

Fans of awesome skull graphics? This Undead Monday, you are in for a treat with the cool poster series of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

While Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider is unfortunately unable to enjoy the sublime bliss of being thankful of not being Nicholas Cage like his fellow superhero, Superman, he might probably seek consolation with the fact that his next live-action film (yes, once again starring Cage as the eponymous character with a flaming skull) is shaping up to be an awesome one.

We have earlier saw the first trailer of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and remained impressed by the much-needed reboot. And now JoBlo has released the cool poster set of the film that we have previously took a sneak peek at San Diego Comic-Con.

Hit the jump to check out all four posters.




Here’s the official synopsis:

Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures’ and Hyde Park Entertainment’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny – still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy – and possibly rid himself of his curse forever. Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Screenplay by Scott M. Gimple & Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer. Story by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comic. Produced by Steven Paul, Ashok Amritraj, Michael De Luca, Avi Arad, and Ari Arad.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is currently scheduled to open in 3D on February 17th, 2012.