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Welcome to the latest edition of the Pre-Weekend Recap, One of Us’ attempt to help you catch up with the features that debuted on the site this week. Our podcast hosts, writers, and bloggers have been diligently working to produce great content for your consumption and it would be a shame if you missed any of it, so the Recap is here to help prevent that. Below you’ll a selection of some of the stuff we published this week, complete with description and links. All you have to do is kick back and enjoy the content! Let’s not waste any more time, check out what we have to offer!

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Digital Noise Episode 32: The Returned Korean Haunters at the Summit

This week’s episode is a long and varied as its completely nonsensical title. Chris and Brian have watched and reviewed 18 different home release titles for your listening pleasure, some of which include Fantastic Mr Fox, Chicago, the third series of Sherlock, the first season of The Americans, and Darkman. While these are the more well-known titles on the list, the guys really enjoyed some of the more obscure films and chances are you will as well. As you might have suspected, there is also a giveaway that you win for yourself: Haunter, starring Abigail Breslin. It’s another loaded and pun-packed episode, just the way you like it, so give it a listen!

Big Finishing Move: Doctor Who: White Ghosts

John Eckes has returned with another edition of Big Finishing Move, the feature where he reviews Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish. This time, he’s continuing his exploration of the Fourth Doctor’s adventures and has written about White Ghosts, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson. When the Doctor and his companion Leela find themselves on a planet under siege by killer plants, the duo must find a way to save themselves and a group of scientists who are researching the planet’s hidden secrets. Is this a tale worth your time and money? John’s got the answer to that question, so give it a look and find out!

The Gravity of Regular Adventure Shows: A Look at the Best in Modern Children’s Entertainment

These days, there are some pretty incredible cartoons on television that have widespread appeal with a broad audience of both children and adults. Shows such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gravity Falls are clearly not just for kids, but what factors make these programs as popular as they are? Thomas of the INTERN-Net team has delved into this issue and has a few ideas about how this phenomenon developed. He has a number of great observations worth mulling over, so take a look at his thoughts and share your own in the comments!

ITL Movie Elimination Tournament: Remakes

If you’ve been reluctant to listen to Inside The Locker because you’re not a huge sports fan, you’ll want to reconsider your position for the next few weeks. This episode of ITL is the first of several movie elimination tournaments during which the locker rats will finally determine which movies are the very best in their genres using a completely accurate and 100% scientifically legitimate rating metric. Movie remakes are in contention this time, so 16 of the best in this category will face off against each other in a March Madness-style showdown! Of course, there is also plenty of time for some sports related news as well, so this is a episode for everyone!

Check Out This Video of the Criterion Collection Clean Up Process

If you’re an ardent film fanatic, chances are you’ve viewed a film that has been restored by The Criterion Collection. The people at Criterion use an incredibly taxing process to remaster classic movies and release them on Blu-Ray and DVD. The good people at Gizmodo recently made a trip to Criterion’s New York office to see the restoration method firsthand and they made a short video about how it works. Anyone who is passionate about the art of film should definitely give this video a look.

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Another great week of content, I’d say. If you like what you’ve seen here, please be sure to share our stuff with others who might enjoy it! There’s always room for this site to grow, so help us do it! Have a great weekend!

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Kevin Costner is making 2014 his year to play tired old spies. In this latest outing, he’s plays a dying CIA agent, determined to mend fences with his daughter, played here by Hailee Steinfeld. Unfortunately, he’s got more on his plate than familial friendliness, as he has to agree to one last mission in order to retire and possibly even obtain a cure.

Amber Heard and Connie Nielsen also star in this McG (uh-oh) led thriller that may not have actually been all that thrilling. What did our intrepid team of Unusual Suspects think? Martin, JC, Elliot and our newest member, William Goss, deliver the intel.

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Kit Harrington (you know him as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones) gets his Conan on in this historical disaster film from Paul W.S. Anderson. No, not the Boogie Nights Paul Anderson. The Resident Evil/Death Race Paul Anderson. So, fair warning.

Sadly, Brian and Chris heeded not this warning and plunged into the caldera of cinema. They died a little inside so that all of you could laugh. Laugh at their pain. Or was it giddy joy? I mean, it did have the amazing Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (just don’t ask them to say his name out loud), the accomplished Jared Harris, and the beautiful Emily Browning….oh wait, it also has Keifer Sutherland. Never mind.

Check your minds at the door for this review by the Unusual Suspects. Warning: Puns ahead. We really had no choice.

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Welcome to the dawn of the Inside the Locker Totally Accurate, Desperately Important Movie Elimination Tournament!

It’s here, the first of our ongoing series of March Madness style cinematic tournaments to settle once and for all (for the week) which movies reign supreme in various genres and subgenres. This week’s tourney is not the first we’ve attempted, but rather a second pass with many of the same elements. A tourney remake if you will. So for this tourney remake, we decided to hold a remake tourney.

We took the Sweet 16 of movie remakes (according to science and also don’t worry about it), and pitted them head to head as we whittle things down to the ultimate champion. It was left to our impartial special guest judge (FirstShowing.Net’s Jeremy Kirk) to determine from round to round whose game was stronger, but much like the real NCAA tournament, the better film on paper may not necessarily be the one that advances.

The movie elimination tournaments will be our focus for the next several weeks, but we still managed to briefly cover a few sports news stories AND…declare the winner of our ITL Fantasy Football Challenge. It sure is a great episode, but you don’t have to take my word for it…

Show Breakdown…

Fantasy Football Challenge Winner Announced! (3:05 )

Congratulations to our Fantasy Football Challenge champion: David Harkens (Elliott’s league)

–2nd Place: Blake Salisbury (Brian’s league)

–3rd Place: Bryan Carney (Adam’s league)

–4th Place: Scott Smidlein (J.C.’s league)

Brief News Rundown (4:55)

We talk about Team USA Hockey’s epic victory over Russia (too bad it wasn’t those bastards from Team Iceland), the defenseless spectacle of the NBA All-Star game, and why there may be a Final Destination and/or Paranormal Activity sequel in the works at Indiana University.

REMAKE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT (18:12)

The starting bracket is pictured below. If you want to see the results (and spoil the fun before you even listen to the show…for shame), click on the image to reveal a filled-in version of the bracket.

Were there any glaring omissions from the Sweet 16? Disagree with the grand champ? Let us know in the comments.

Next week’s tournament: Die-Hard Rip-offs!

Follow us on Twitter. Being the only person not following us would be as embarrassing as missing an easy dunk at the NBA All-Star Game.

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Jeremy Kirk–@JeremyKKirk

This year marks the 35th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s Alien and Twentieth Century Fox is marking the occasion with multimedia and merchandising blitz. Earlier this week, the studio announced that it was working with Bandai, Dark Horse Comics, SEGA, Titan Books, National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), and other collaborators to release a plethora of Alien-themed material, such as books, graphic novels, a video game, and, for the first time ever, action figures of the movie’s protagonist, Ellen Ripley.

In its February 18, 2014 press release, Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products made public its plans to roll out a worldwide deluge of Alien merchandise to celebrate the film’s 1979 release. The first and most notable items on the list are at least two action figures of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley:

“National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), an entertainment conglomerate and global leader in licensed consumer goods, in association with Fox Consumer Products, announces today the first-ever action figures of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley that feature the likeness of actress Sigourney Weaver, who was nominated for an Oscar® and Golden Globe® for ALIENS in 1987. The officially licensed Ripley action figures from NECA will span multiple movies within the ALIEN saga: initial plans include a figure of Ripley in her Nostromo jumpsuit from the original 1979 film, to be followed later by a Ripley figure based on the 1986 movie ALIENS, directed by James Cameron.”

In addition to NECA’s action figures, the press release also announced several other companies and projects participating in the 35th anniversary merchandising effort, including:

“– Bandai – Bandai’s premium collectors label ‘Tamashii Nations’ will release super-articulated S.H.MonsterArts figures featuring diecast material. S.H.MonsterArts ALIEN Big Chap will be available May 2014.

– Dark Horse Comics – A new comics program will debut later this year which includes Alien, Prometheus, Predator and Aliens vs. Predator.

– Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles – New collectibles including MiniMates block figures, vinyl banks, bottle openers and a reproduction of the original 18-inch Alien figure, available this summer/fall.

– Insight Editions will produce a highly-illustrated and a detailed guidebook to the Alien creature.

– NECA – Figures, board games, bobbleheads, plush and toys will hit major retail stores beginning in March 2014. Prototypes of the Ripley figures will debut later this summer at San Diego Comic-Con.

– SEGA – The highly-anticipated first person survival horror game Alien: Isolation will be available on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in late 2014.

– Sideshow Collectibles – High end, limited edition Alien franchise products, including an immense bust of the Big Chap Alien design, available for pre-order in April 2014! Check out www.SideshowCollectibles.com for Alien Franchise products, and more!

– Super7 x Funko – Glasses and retro ReAction Figures currently available online.

– Titan Books will release all-new canon fiction novels based on the film franchise, followed by a 35^th anniversary retrospective called ‘ALIEN: Archives’ which will be the most comprehensive book ever created about the ALIEN franchise with new exclusive interviews with Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver and content that has never been released.”

You can see images of some of the merchandise, including the concept drawing for a Ripley action figure, the cover of SEGA’s Alien: Isolation, digital sculpts of the APC and Power Loader, and the action figures of a Xenomorph, Kane, and Bishop, by click on the thumbnails below. Let’s hope that the video game can avoid the fate of the disastrous Alien: Colonial Marines! Will you be picking up any of this merchandise? Let us know in the comments!

Earlier today, word broke about the failure of NBC Universal and World Wrestling Entertainment to come to an agreement, thus the future of Raw (currently on USA Monday nights) and SmackDown (currently on SyFy on Friday nights) is now up in the air. The WWE was looking for a better deal, as their most recent deal is just shy of $140 million.

Some might scoff at the “Fed” for asking for such a high number. But given the ratings of Raw alone, they in all fairness deserve that kind of compensation, if not more. With the deal coming to an end in the next seven months, WWE only had this to say:

“WWE’s exclusive negotiating period with NBCU for our flagship television programs, ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown,’ has now expired. While we were unable to reach an agreement with NBCU during this period, we have certainly appreciated our long and productive partnership. With year-round, live programming that is highly coveted by programmers, distributors and advertisers, we are extremely excited about our future. We look forward to engaging with potential partners who recognize the value of having the #1 show on cable and live content delivered 52 weeks a year.”

While there are networks that are willing to fork over the cash that Vince McMahon and company are looking for, I can’t say I feel confident that any network would embrace Raw, or a wrestling product in general as their flagship show. Even if they do leave NBC Universal, there’s nothing that says they can’t eventually go back. To quote another great piece of programming under the NBC Universal umbrella: “All of this has happened before…and all of this will happen again.”

Time once again for Big Finishing Move. If you’re new here, this is where I get to review Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish and let you know if they are worth your hard earned dollars. Today we’re focusing on the second installment of the Fourth Doctor Adventures for the year, Doctor Who: White Ghosts.

TARDIS Team: Fourth Doctor and Leela

The Doctor and Leela haven’t spoken to each other for days because their disagreement about their last adventure (covered in last month’s The King of Sontar) has caused a wedge to form between the two. The Doctor has been reflecting on his role as mentor and guide, while Leela, in an attempt to please him and pass the time, has taken to reading books, in particular a book of fables. After a little heart to heart conversation, they patch things up and decide to move forward, just in time to notice there is a missile headed straight for them. Seems that the Time Lords aren’t done messing with the Doctor yet.

Narrowly escaping the missile, the Doctor plots a course for the missile’s intended target, a tiny little planet cloaked in what seems like perpetual darkness. The Doctor wants to make sure there isn’t anybody in need of rescue, but of course there is. The duo finds a group of scientists who end up saving the Doctor and Leela from killer plants known as White Ghosts who grow like crazy in the light of the Doctor’s lantern. Unable to evacuate before the missile’s arrival, they find the missile was sent not to destroy them but to bathe the entire planet in light. It is now a race against time to try and get off the planet before the plants or the secrets the science expedition get them killed.

What really struck me about this story is how much it felt like it felt like Seventh Doctor story in terms of the plot, structure, and the rather dark (no pun intended) resolution . Everything is plans within plans. This isn’t a knock on the story; in fact I found it rather refreshing. Tom Baker shines in this one. The script allows him to bounce between the clown and the commander with every turn of a phrase and Baker runs with that for all he’s worth.

Leela is given plenty to do as well. She has a whole bunch of fables fresh in her head which curiously relate to the events around her, often with even greater acuteness than she intends. We also get to crawl inside Leela’s head during one of the attacks, giving us some perspective on how her brain operates in battle. The section runs a bit long, but it is an interesting thing to add to this story.

The base-under-siege plot is a staple of Doctor Who, but White Ghosts ratchets up the tension while throwing enough curve balls to keep the whole affair feeling fresh and exciting. Nothing is wasted here, everything said and done has weight and meaning. I’m stopping myself from going deeper into the plot as I really don’t want to spoil one bit of this one. If I do have one criticism, it is that sometimes we don’t have time enough for the dread of what is going to happen to completely settle in before it is topped by something worse happening. This is, of course, a very minor complaint. The supporting cast all do a fine job, and Farscape fans will enjoy hearing Virginia Hey in her very first part of Doctor Who media ever. With a clever script by Alan Barnes that was supremely executed by the cast, White Ghosts is a great entry to the Fourth Doctor Adventures, so don’t do yourself the disservice of not picking it up.

Purchase Doctor Who: White Ghosts Here:

Remember to check out our own little audio drama here by the name of Infinite Variations, and be sure to be back here for next time when we tackle:

Check out my previous reviews of Doctor Who releases from Big Finish:

Phantasmagoria

The Fearmonger

The Light At The End

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor

Storm Warning

Blood of the Daleks

The Chimes of Midnight

Seasons of Fear

The King of Sontar

I expected a lot from the world premiere of the full trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. I anticipated cool special effects, some action-heavy visuals, and a bunch of oddball characters putting their personal stamps on intergalactic chaos. Of course, as you can see below, the trailer delivers on all of my preconceived notions.

However, I did not foresee just how funny would be as well.

Those of you who stayed up to see the trailer’s reveal last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live were likely just as pleasantly surprised as I was when the trailer made it clear that this was going to be an action comedy. As John C. Reilly identifies each of the Guardians, we find out that this is a group of irreverent, foul-mouthed, and lethal space criminals that I’m sure we’ll all grow to love in time. I was sold the very moment when Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) gave his jailers my personal favorite variant on the middle finger, The Drawbridge. I’d say it was almost worth sitting through Kimmel’s interview with Bill O’Reilly. Almost. You can watch the full trailer below and judge for yourself:

But wait, there’s more! We also have some photos from the trailer, directly from the studio itself. Yeah, we got you covered. Click on the thumbnail for the full size image.

How does the full trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy impact your feelings toward the film? Are you more or less inclined to see it, now that you know it will be more light-hearted in tone? Speak your mind in the comments!

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Oh lawdy, do we have an awful lot of noise for you this week. A mountain of titles fell on Chris and Brian and they do their best to dig through them, and fortunately for their sanity, come up with some can’t miss entertainment, both stuff you know, and stuff we’re pretty sure you don’t. From Criterion’s release of “Fantastic Mr Fox” to Season 3 of “Sherlock” to the Diamond Edition of “Chicago” we’ve got some amazing big titles for ya. But the real surprise is in some of the lesser known stuff, like the French supernatural drama “The Returners”, the Korean animated film “Aachi and Ssipak”, or the British idyllic apocalypse film (yes, that’s a thing) “How I Live Now”, we’ve got some real gems you’re gonna want to hear about. So what are you still reading this for? Press play already. And get your amazon button clicking finger tensed and ready, ’cause there’s a lot of gold at the end of this rainbow…

Follow Digital Noise on Twitter and make sure to review us on iTunes.

In the months since Marvel Studios announced that Guardians of the Galaxy would be the last film before the sequel to The Avengers, it seems as if fan reaction has gone from “Who the hell are the Guardians of the Galaxy?” to “I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!!!” A good number of the people invested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have spent time learning about the various members of this intergalactic defense force and they’ve liked what they’ve seen. It is likely that after seeing this teaser video (released today on Marvel’s YouTube page) and its associated trailer, that interest will only continue to grow.

Though this video is less than twenty seconds long, there’s enough in here to entice the ardent Marvel fanbase. This is our first look at each of the team’s members in motion and despite the brevity of some appearances (blink and you’ll miss Rocket Raccoon), each one of them looks pretty great. Given that one of the Guardians is a living space tree, that’s quite the feat! Give the teaser a look here:

The entire trailer debuts tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live, so I guess many of us (myself included) will be staying up and tuning into ABC. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro and debuts in theaters on August 1, 2014.

What are your thoughts about this teaser? Do you have any predictions about what might happen in Guardians of the Galaxy and how it will tie in to the rest of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe? Share your ideas in the comments!

Via Marvel Entertainment’s YouTube Page

The Pre-Weekend Recap: February 21, 2014

Movie Review: ‘3 Days to Kill’

Movie Review: ‘Pompeii’

ITL Movie Elimination Tournament: Remakes

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Jeremy Kirk–@JeremyKKirk

Fox Announces Merchandising Blitz to Mark 35th Anniversary of ‘Alien’

SMARK COUNTRY: WWE Needs A New Home, Any Takers?

Big Finishing Move: ‘Doctor Who: White Ghosts’

The Full ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Trailer is a Pleasant Surprise

Digital Noise Episode 32: The Returned Korean Haunters at the Summit

Whet Your Appetite for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ with This Teaser Video

The Show Account–@ITLCast Brian–@BriguySalisbury J.C.–@jcdeleon1 Elliott–@ITLElliott Adam–@the_beef Jeremy Kirk–@JeremyKKirk

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Jeremy Kirk–@JeremyKKirk