Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Fanpeeps. You feelin’ that holiday cheer yet? Yeah, me neither. Bah, humbug? At least the doomsday apocalyzin’ didn’t happen. We’re still here. Suck it, Mayans! Welcome to the 43rd Edition of the Pop Culture Roundup. It’s our gift from us to y’all. Sharing is caring. Giving is living.

Paramount has released the Star Trek Into Darkness official teaser video, as seen at the header. It’s an extended version of what we previously saw two weeks ago; there’s a considerable amount of extra footage in this one. Below, Benedict Cumberbatch (villain John Harrison) and Alice Eve (Dr. Carol Marcus) talk about the complexity of their characters they portray.

 


Here’s the second trailer for The Great Gatsby (movie site); Baz Luhrmann‘s needlessly over-the-top adaptation of the classic novel and cautionary tale. I dunno, I am back and forth on this one. The look and tone of this epic is too much for me. It’s as if it was updated and specifically catered to this short attention span generation. Hopefully, the narrative and acting (by a stellar cast) can overcome and rise above the cheesy, saturated visuals. A fair amount of people seem to be excited for this one; I remain dubious and am not succumbing to the hype. Hater gonna hate.

      
film posters via IMP Awards

 

 

TRAILERS, TEASERS and FEATURETTES 


Django Unchained is here in a couple of days, Christmas Day, in fact. We will be there with bells on. Here are some links to reel you in if you have been late to the bus.

 

Stream the Official Soundtrack

 

Zero Dark Thirty is one of the few recent films that I am genuinely anticipating. Check out some of these highly informative companion pieces. The film of the true story of the Navy SEALs takedown of Osama bin Laden debuts January 11, 2013.


Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler and Jennifer Ehle talk Zero Dark Thirty.

 

Director Joseph Kosinski sits down with IGN to analyze the first trailer for his science fiction action film Oblivion.

 


Disney released this poster for Oz: The Great and Powerful withholding the identity of the character and actress. Mila Kunis is Theodora, the Wicked Witch of the West, Rachel Weisz is Evanora, the Wicked Witch of the East. Look at the eyes, I’m thinking it’s Mila. via

 


Speaking of teaser imagery, here’s one from Iron Man 3 of a battle-damaged Tony Stark. via

 


No joke, we are looking forward to Michael Bay‘s next vehicle. Based on a true story, Pain & Gain follows a group of bodybuilders who engaged in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida, first told in an article from the Miami New Times (Parts 1, 2, and 3). The movie stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. YouTube

 

More Marky Mark! Mark Wahlberg plays an ex-cop who becomes the pawn of a corrupt mayor played by Russell Crowe in Broken City.

 


I have no doubt that this will bring some hilarity. While attending a party at James Franco‘s house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities (Jonah Hill, Emma Watson, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson) are faced with the apocalypse. The doomsday meta-comedy, This Is the End is directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.

 

Identity Thief (Official Trailer 2) – Unlimited funds have allowed Diana to live it up on the outskirts of Miami, where the queen of retail buys whatever strikes her fancy. There’s only one glitch: The ID she’s using to finance these sprees reads “Sandy Bigelow Patterson”… and it belongs to an accounts rep who lives halfway across the U.S. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before his world implodes, the real Sandy Bigelow Patterson heads south to confront the woman with an all-access pass to his life. And as he attempts to bribe, coax and wrangle her the 2,000 miles to Denver, one easy target will discover just how tough it is to get your name back.

 


Storage 24 (Official Trailer) – London is in chaos. A military cargo plane has crashed leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware London is in lockdown, Charlie (Noel Clarke) and Shelley (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), accompanied by best friends Mark (Colin O’Donoghue) and Nikki (Laura Haddock), are at Storage 24 dividing up their possessions after a recent break-up. Suddenly, the power goes off. Trapped in a dark maze of endless corridors, a mystery predator is hunting them one by one. In a place designed to keep things in, how do you get out?

 

David Chase, the creator and showrunner of The Sopranos, makes his debut as a film director. Not Fade Away takes place in 1964; The Rolling Stones appear on television and three best friends from the suburbs of New Jersey decide to form a rock band. Not Fade Away hits select theaters today, December 21st.

 

I thought The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a dud. But here’s a last offering for those who are devoted fans. The Sound of The Hobbit from SoundWorks Collection.

 

 

MASHUPS and SUPERCUTS

The Future by Eclectic Method

THE FUTURE IS TOMORROW

Psst. Hey you, come a little closer. I want to tell you something about the future. It will either be: A mind-bendingly awesome; utopian landscape where all of Earth’s problems have been resolved and technology and humanity have evolved to create harmony.

Or it might be a fucked-up dystopian nightmare. Where artificial intelligence has surpassed that of it’s creators. Or perhaps humans have ravaged the Earth to such a degree that it has gone into full revolt. Or A scarcity of resources has humans warring over water. It depends on which film you watch or what time of day you might have asked Stanley Kubrick’s opinion.

Eclectic Method has supercut some of our favorite scenes from movies that turn a predictive eye to the future. Blade Runner’s Megacities alongside A.I.’s flooded New York and Idiocracy’s run down shanty towns. Some technology predictions in these films have already proven to be accurate and some are still a ways off – or not! … cameras on every corner, oil shortages, massive cultural uprisings in the middle east, retinal scans, X-Rays, flying cars and hoverboards, hybrid humans, robots, A.I., teleportation and so on. Who really watches Sci-Fi for the plot anyway, you wanna see the goodness condensed.

Rest assured though, in the future, as in the present, there will be both Coke and Pepsi!


 

A Remix-mas Story by Eclectic Method)

 

More comical and health-conscious Bane wishing Christmas cheer by Auralnauts.

 

CollegeHumor sucks, their hallmark is tired, lazy, obvious humor for dumb people, but this garnered a smirk outta of us. Batman Can’t Stop Thinking About Sex:

 

Star Trek Into Darkness x Toy Story

 

Pacific Rim x Power Rangers

 

The Hobbit x The Hunger Games

 

The Walking Dead x Dumb Ways to Die = The Walking Dumb

 

The Walking Dead Christmas Special

 

The Glitch by Corridor Digital

 

X-Men 1992 Cartoon Intro: Stop Motion

After the release of the TMNT stop motion tribute, the team at Reckless Abandonment Pictures are back at it again!

With the 20th anniversary approaching of Director Kyle Roberts’ favorite cartoon growing up, he wanted to see if his team could re-create the 1992 X-Men cartoon animated intro using action figures and stop motion! With over 4,000 individual pictures taken, Roberts spent two months rotoscoping and animating all of the special effects.

Art director Nathan Poppe drew over 60 background images used in this project with his “doodle” style rad artwork.

 

Very Bad Santas by Flavorwire

 

The Best Action Scenes of 2012 – LIST OF MOVIES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE: Red Tails, Red Dawn, The Avengers, Dredd 3D, Resident Evil: Retribution, Wrath of the Titans, Chronicle, Wreck-It-Ralph, Underworld: Awakening, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Raid: Redemption, The Man With The Iron Fists, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, Looper, John Carter, Alex Cross, Lockout, Looper, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Amazing Spider-Man, Django Unchained, Prometheus, Taken 2, The Hunger Games, Haywire, The Bourne Legacy, Skyfall, The Expendables II, This Means War, Step Up: Revolution, Wrath of the Titans, Cloud Atlas, Red Tails, The Avengers, Battleship

 

50 Heartbreaking Movie Moments

 

 

TELEROUNDUP

Here’s The Simpsons: The Day the Earth Stood Cool episode we previously referenced. It’s a classic. You’re a hipster if you hated it, you’re a hipster if you loved it, Hipster.

 

LMAO: Weekend Update: Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party – Christmas. Cecily Strong is so fucking funny. We just love her.

 

Whoa. After two stinker episodes in a row, Homeland is baaaaack. That finale cray. Some postmortem links. SPOILERS:

 

                                 

Last night was the finale of the second season of Homeland. To say that I am a huge fan would be an understatement! As a personal project, I set out to create a series of designs to celebrate the award-winning show. Playing off of the subtle theme of jazz that appears the storyline, I designed 12 vintage record covers inspired by the TV series.

 

Girls Season 2: Guys On Girls Featurette

 


Game of Thrones brew?

It is true…Winter is Coming to Ommegang. (Cooperstown, New York-based brewery) Here is the first look at Iron Throne, which will be launching in tandem with the season three debut of Game of Thrones on HBO on March 31st. Iron Throne is the inaugural beer in the series and is a blonde ale brewed with grains of paradise and lemon peel. via

We’ll see you next week with some our 2012 Best-of and End-of-Year lists; in the meantime, check in with our Facebook page for some random holiday cheer and links. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Folks. Enjoy your break and soak in the good vibes, while you can. Peace, Love and Joy…

–@teemunny

Santa Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Comments

comments

Pop Culture Roundup 43 Thread

More Pop Culture