In Defense Of

Welcome to a brand new, fun filled series entitled “In Defense of”. Where I (Chris H) defend something considered awful in popular culture as quickly as possible. It’s unscripted, it’s fun and the more awful it is, the more hilarious it is to defend it. And you can get involved too ; got something you want to see defended? Comment below or tweet your suggestion to @oneofusnet

Catch up on the past three episodes and get your suggestions in!

Help Kickstart Tim Buel & Cody Rhyse’s First Feature Length Film!

One of the most important things we do here at One of Us is highlight the work of talented individuals who are actively pursuing ambitious projects. We previously featured work by Tim Buel and Cody Rhyse when they premiered 15 Seconds of Horror, the horror anthology film they created using Instagram, on our site. Tim and Cody have returned with another film, but this time, they need your help to get it to its full potential. The duo’s first feature length film, In Residence, has a few days left on its Kickstarter and needs a bit of a boost to reach its goal.

Drawing from the influence of low-budget horror films of the past, In Residence does not have an enormous budget and Tim and Cody have expressed their interest on using practical effects rather than CGI. The Kickstarter page describes the plot of the film as this:

After the mysterious death of his mother, Caleb Wright returns to his estranged childhood home to deal with his family’s affairs. Little does he realize that the house has become residence to unexpected visitors; dissatisfied by the sudden interruption in the property’s vacancy.

A terrifying game of cat and mouse unfolds, along with the truth behind his mom’s untimely death and the fates of everyone who walks through the home’s front door.

Tim and Cody want to use the funding from Kickstarter primarily to take the movie on the festival circuit and cover the costs of various incidentals, such as makeup and props. Of course, rather than prattle on about the film myself, it’s probably better to let the talent do the talking.

 

If anyone can make a compelling horror film on a limited budget, it’s these two guys. They have extensive experience making movies under various limitations. If you have the ability to contribute to this Kickstarter, please consider doing so. You’ll be helping two incredible filmmakers take a huge step forward in their careers, and that’s a worthy cause in and of itself!

Via Kickstarter

The Original Gentlemen Episode 10: Fairytale of Austin

Everything was so crazy! Everyone going out of town! Buying gifts for their families! Making elaborate plans! How in the world were we to get one more episode of “The Original Gentlemen” in the can in amongst all this craziness??

Easy. By bringing in the time-honored LEOG tradition of having an all-questions episode.(that’s what you do when you didn’t have time to plan out a normal show)

So that’s what Beau, Chris and Martin did: an entire show dedicated to answering fan questions, pointedly towards that (second) most wonderful of all the holidays: Christmas!

But don’t worry, some things are the same as always….we drank a LOT of beer.

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Pogues SOTW                Pogues AOTW

 

And don’t forget to make The Original Gentlemen’s season that much brighter by purchasing something, anything from Amazon via OneOfUs’ link. Just click the picture to buy yourself (or someone on your holiday list) any item you choose. You will be supporting the site and we greatly appreciate it.

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Digital Noise Episode 25: Invasion of the Brian Snatchers

It was the day before Christmas and in the One of Us House,

Chris was looking for Brian to rouse.

The blu-rays were stacked by the microphones with care,

In hopes that his partner would soon get there.

When over by the scotch bar there arose such a clatter

Chris had to go over to see what was the matter.

“Here I come to save the day!” said the mysterious stranger

but in an accent so soothing, Chris never felt danger.

“My name is Richard and I’m here to assist,”

“although Brian is away, he’ll not be missed.”

Well Chris was quick to judge the situation

and with that he began Digital Noise’s narration.

“On ‘The Family’, “Kick-Ass”, “Elysium”, and “Raiders”,

with these titles and more we will be the graders!”

With Richard’s help, Christmas was saved all right,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Thinking of purchasing any of the titles we discussed? Or anything from Amazon in general? Please access Amazon via our links to help support the site. We really appreciate it

Raiders w time   Kick-Ass 2 w time   Ain't Them Bodies Saints w time

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Justified S4 w time   Elysium w time   Crawlspace w time

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The Beast Within w time   Berberian Sound Studio w time   The Rooftop w time

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Adore w time   The Family w time

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

 

Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

While Martin Scorsese’s newest film may end up on the best of year lists for a lot of folks, it’s not sounding like the Academy is going to give it much love; reportedly one member went up to him after the screening and said, “Shame on you!”

But I’ll bet most of you will enjoy the hell out of this crazy black comedy starring Leo DiCaprio as a Wall Street guy who doesn’t have time to do things the easy way (re: the legal way). He’s gotta get rich biatch! With supporting roles from Jonah Hill, Matthew McConnaughey, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, and pretty much everyone in Hollywood, it’s hard to see how the Unusual Suspects, this time around Chris, Martin, and JC,  could have anything to say about this but ‘masterpiece’.

…….

Unless…..

All I Want For Geekmas: TV, Animation, & Animated TV

Well, we’ve done it. We’ve come to the end of our All I Want for Geekmas holiday gift guides.

With only a couple of days left before Christmas, the guys offer you this last installment that should provide plenty of ideas for last minute gift ideas. Chris and Brian cover their favorite 2013 Blu-ray & DVD releases in the television and animation category…as well as animated television. Chris also absconds with the mic to laud his favorite BBC home releases of the year. You can almost bet a certain Doctor will be featured.

We want to thank you guys for listening to this gift guide series, and especially for using our Amazon links below to make purchases. Remember, even if you don’t buy the item we have featured, as long as you get to Amazon via our links, any of your purchases support the site.

Here’s wishing you and yours a very Merry Geekmas!

 

TV…

Mad Men w time  Star Trek season 3 w time  Star Trek season 4 w time

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Star Trek season 5 w time   Boarwalk Empire w time   American Horror Story w time

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Game of Thrones w time   Hannibal w time   New Girl w time

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Banshee w time   Community w time

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BBC…

Dr Who vol 1 w time   Dr Who vol 2 w time   Dr Who vol 3 w time

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Dr Who Shada w time   Dr Who Zygons w time   House of Cards w time

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Orphan Black w time

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Animated TV…

Robot Chicken w time   Legend of Korra w time   Futurama w time

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Adventure Time 1 w time   Adventure Time 2 w time   Archer w time

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TV Movie…

Game Change w time

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Animated Film…

Roger Rabbit w time   The Painting w time   Rise of the Guardians w time

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Justice League w time   Wreck It Ralph w time

 

Vin Diesel And Marvel Finally Confirm ‘Guardians’ Role

After months of less-than-subtle hinting from a number of people close to the production, Marvel Studios has finally confirmed that Vin Diesel would be voicing the character Groot in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film. The studio made the announcement in a press release on its website after Diesel posted a photo of himself posing with a model of Groot.

Back in October, Diesel released a video of himself gallivanting about on a pair of stilts (presumably for motion capture purposes) and telling a group of people that he would be playing “a seven-and-a-half-foot tree” with “one line in the movie.” Marvel aficionados and anyone with the most basic Google skills knew immediately that Groot was the role in question, but the studio and Guardians of the Galaxy‘s director, James Gunn, refused to come out and say it. Furthermore, some fans continued to believe that Diesel would be portraying the villain Thanos, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Finally, Diesel released a photo of himself next to a model of the character on his Facebook page this weekend, which was soon followed by a statement of confirmation from Marvel. You can see the picture and read Marvel’s announcement below:

 

 

Vin Diesel is Groot!

The star of the Fast and the Furious and Riddick franchises will lend his voice to Groot in Marvel’s live-action “Guardians of the Galaxy,” rounding out the team that includes Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista).

Featured in four of the six movies in the fan-favorite “Fast & Furious” franchise, Diesel has helped the series gross over $2 billion at the box office; and will reprise his role in “Fast & Furious 7.” Diesel’s most recent film, “Riddick,” the third film in the franchise that has so far earned a cumulative $267.3 million across the globe, debuted this year at the top of the box office. In addition to lending his voice to several video games, Diesel’s received great acclaim for his voice work in the celebrated animated film “The Iron Giant,” directed by Brad Bird.

In the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an unlikely cast of characters including Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Groot and Rocket Raccoon must join forces to defeat a cosmic force of epic proportions. Directed by James Gunn, the live-action “Guardians of the Galaxy” will take fans to new corners of the Marvel Universe when it hits theaters August 1, 2014, but in the meantime stay tuned to Marvel.com for the latest news as it breaks, including official casting, first looks and more!

This entire series of events reminds me of a Christmas from my childhood. I saw a wrapped present under the tree that was obviously the bike I’d asked for, but my parents simply refused to say what the bicycle-shaped thing was, no matter how much I asked them to just admit it.

Much like my parents, Marvel, Diesel, and James Gunn knew that we knew, but just felt the need to withhold the knowledge from us. Just like how I was still grateful for the bike, I am pleased to know that Diesel is, without a doubt, Groot, even if I had to wait far too long for the truth. His voice is perfect for the role and he seems to genuinely enjoy the character. He did go out of his way to make the same face as the model in the picture, after all. Hopefully the next Guardians of the Galaxy news piece is more of revelation and less of an obvious confession.

What would you like Marvel to reveal about Guardians of the Galaxy? What are your predictions and expectations for the movie? Whatever your opinion, let us know in the comments!

Via The Hollywood Reporter and Marvel Studios

 

chirstmas

 

‘I Saw the Devil’ American Remake in Talks

REVENGAAA! There is nothing more classic in cinema, or in all of human nature as a matter of fact, than revenge. And nobody does revenge like Korean filmmakers. Films like Oldboy and Lady Vengeance are so twisted that they loop back around to becoming brilliant and poetic.

So when The Wrap wrap-orted that Adi Shankar (producer of Dredd) & Spencer Silna (producer of The Grey) have acquired the rights to make an English remake of I Saw The Devil, I was a mixed bag of emotions. If you are unfamiliar with the film, it’s a very basic premise. The pregnant wife of a secret agent gets murdered and chopped to bits by a serial killer. The agent hunts down the serial killer and tortures him to the point of near death, and then lets him go. Rinse and repeat through the whole film. Just like a predator playing with his food.

So in terms of remaking this film, sure, I can get behind that. Of course, with the recent Oldboy remake meeting a lukewarm reception amongst critics, it makes me kind of worried about this film. This is what Shankar told The Wrap:

“Kim Jee-Woon’s ’I Saw the Devil’ is perfect in so many ways. The intention is not to remake the film per se, but rather to ‘port’ it for international audiences.”

That statement seems a little absurd to be honest. If you’re just going to port it, then port it. Why go through a whole production for an adaptation, if you’re not going to take some artistic liberties with it? Normally, I would say this is a cash grab, but I Saw The Devil isn’t widely known among the average movie goers. They obviously found a lot of potential there, but instead of going in to a different direction with it, they’re just playing the same song with a different band. But hey, I always like to point out whenever I write about remakes of international films being in the talks, the main argument to me will always be Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Even though that is a remake on the masterpiece Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, they both were phenomenal in their own right. But then again… not everyone is Martin Scorsese.

So fellow OOUies, where do you stand on this issue? Whatever it is, comment below, and let One of Us know!

Via The Wrap

chirstmas

Big Finishing Move: ‘Doctor Who: The Chimes Of Midnight’

Welcome brothers, sisters, friends, family, and everything in between to Big Finishing Move, where we take a look at Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio dramas to see if they are worth your money and time. Doctor Who and Christmas have enjoyed a long history with one another. Even before the Christmas specials that have become such a staple of modern Who, the series went out of its way to mark the holiday. For example, the time when the First Doctor stopped for a moment to wish his companions and the audience a happy Christmas and the short skit Doug Who?, a Christmas gag for the people on the show during Tom Baker’s run:

 

 

When Big Finish got around to the idea of making a proper Christmas adventure for the Doctor, they decided that the Eighth Doctor would fit the bill. This was likely because his companion, Charley Pollard, was from an era where the traditional British Christmas so often depicted in classic literature was still observed. Let us then get into the meat and potatoes, or I suppose in this case should say the turkey and plum pudding of The Chimes of Midnight.

TARDIS Team: Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard

Right as the theme music ends, instead of going straight to some establishing scene, we are treated to a brief musical interlude. The interlude itself starts as an enchanting little diddy, but as it continues, it morphs something more haunting and sinister. This interlude is more than a fun piece of audio design to set the tone. This bit of music is full of audio foreshadowing. Once you get through the story and understand all of what happened, going back to listen to that interlude is an eye-opener.

The whole first episode is an interesting case; it is almost entirely world-building and character introduction with little to nothing actually going on. We are given two groups of people: the Doctor and Charley caught in some weird form of limbo and a group of Edwardian servants going about their duties during Christmas time. The servants all prove to be gloriously horrible people save for Edith, the lowly uneducated scullery maid who all the other staff seem to revel in abusing. Each ascribes to the position, especially in regards to Edith, that they are nobody, they are nothing, reflecting on the real life classism that had been such a staple of British culture and the entire western world for centuries.

At first it seems as if the two groups are entirely separate, but as the episode progresses we see that this is very much the same story. The Doctor, finally realizing just how dangerously out of sorts this situation is tries to make a beeline for the TARDIS, but whatever force is at hand here sweeps in to make them fully a part of the story.

Some may call this entire first part padding and filler, but I do not see it that way. What we have here is a story so complex that if we were just dropped right into it we would most likely find it incomprehensible. Instead the writer of the tale, Robert Shearman, eases us into the story in a way that allows us to follow along until those mysteries are solved, even though we don’t know what is going on and why immediately.

Speaking of mysteries, with the Doctor and Charley now pulled into the story, they are tasked with solving a series of murders, starting with Edith’s.  Except of course for the parts where she isn’t dead… and those where she is outright forgotten by the staff. If that last sentence doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s because some force is playing fast and loose with these people’s lives and the very rules of time and space.

Having Charley as the Doctor’s  companion is very important to the story. This is part of the larger payoff I spoke of when reviewing Storm Warning. Furthermore, to make this story work you need someone born slightly after the time this story takes place, but grew up with many of the same cultural ideas of that time. When Charley first sees the scullery maid, she is hypercritical of Edith without even having met her. As she begins to learn more about who Edith is and why they are connected, Charley’s view of the girl changes drastically. The final words Charley says to Edith show great sensitivity and maturity on Charley’s part, having gained some perspective on the value of others. Who and what Charley is are of the utmost importance here. To say anymore would trip into the realm of spoilers and I’d much rather let you experience those revelations yourself. 

All the actors turn in fantastic performances. Both McGann and Fisher are on the top of their game because of each other. The way they feed off one other and always seem to bring out the best in each other are delights to hear. I also must commend all the actors playing the staff. They have to play characters that are quite honestly stereotypes bordering on the outright cartoonish. Despite this, they all have moments they have to inject some real humanity into their roles and they all do so beautifully. They also have the task of repeating lines over and over again and keep them interesting. One weak performance from the staff here could thrown the whole thing off, but each actor brings just what is needed to make their role work.

The Chimes of Midnight is one of the best things Big Finish ever managed to pull off and is a personal favorite of mine. The story is full of wit and charm, it is a fascinating piece of science fiction/fantasy writing as well as being a period piece, and it manages to throw in some Christmas-appropriate social commentary and character development for the lovely Ms. Pollard. With that much content this story should be a bloated mess, yet somehow it does more than just pull it off, it makes it look easy. This is the best piece of Christmas related material the franchise has EVER done and it comes with my highest recommendation. Even the most casual of fans will find enjoyment here, and for the low price of $2.99, you’re doing yourself a disservice not checking it out.

Buy Doctor Who: The Chimes Of Midnight Here:

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Remember folks, we here at One of Us have our own audio drama series Infinite Variations, so go check that out if for whatever silly reason you haven’t already. For more Doctor Who and Big Finish goodness  you can check out my previous revews on Phantasmagoria,The Fearmonger, The Light At The End, The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, Storm Warning, and Blood of the Daleks.

For next time, we go ahead and round out the year and our just over a month long focus on the Eighth Doctor with another entry with a bit of a holiday twist. I’ll be back for:

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Happy Holidays!

 chirstmas

 

OneOfUs – Your Website wishlist

Christmas is all about giving gifts, so here at OneOfUs we want to know what you want from us. As we move into the new year we’ve got tons of great content heading your way; more movie reviews, more articles, more of the podcasts you know and love and so much more. But what makes OneOfUs unique is you. Without you there is no us and we want to ask you, What kind of content do you want to see more of? Less of? What kind of video content would you like? What kind of articles interest you?

 

This is your choice to create a wish list of content. We want you to tell us what you want to see because we want to create content that your going to love. So comment below and help shape the next year of the site.