Pop Culture Roundup 28

It’s Pop Culture Roundup 28, My People. Let’s get down to the business.

Bond, Shame Bond. That would be my line if I was a super spy/agent. Anyway, they dropped the trailers for Skyfall, the next Bond installment. Like most, I thought Quantum Solace was a weak departure from the exciting and fresh Casino Royale. With Skyfall, I see a return, I hope, to the tone and look that was so appealing and present with the first Bond film starring Daniel Craig. Peep the international trailer at the header, the domestic and television spot below.

I said a couple posts ago that we would be slowing down on The Dark Knight Rises content. I lied. Watch SoundWorks Collection‘s piece on the film, The Sound and Music of The Dark Knight Rises.

Aurora is a composition from Hans Zimmer dedicated to those who lost their lives and were affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Aurora Victim Relief organization through GivingFirst.org.

Before the film was released there was a light controversy concerning the lack of clarity of Bane’s voice. Luckily, the studio, who were in the right for once, urged Nolan to make Bane’s speech more understandable and legible. Here’s an interesting comparison between Bane’s voice, before and after, from The Dark Knight Rises; observe the stark contrast between the IMAX prologue teaser versus the final cut of the film.

Here’s Tom Hardy‘s (Bane) screen-test versus the actual scene in Star Trek: Nemesis. Tom Hardy played the adversary Shinzon, the imperfect clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Not the greatest movie.

Was Heath Ledger‘s Joker in The Dark Knight inspired by this Tom Waits interview from 1979?

Sweet. Batman: Dark Knightfall is a fan-made stop motion Batman animation directed by Derek Kwok and Henri Wong of Parabucks Co. using 1:6 scale action figures.

LOL!

Some cool Breaking Bad swag. Have you picked up your The Superslice x Breaking Bad t-shirt yet? We have them in green and black. Breaking GIFs has been pumping out the prints like crazy, now they’re rolling out some fine gear. Here’s a collaboration with LRG, a snapback hat that draws inspiration from Walter and Skylar’s money laundering operation, the A1A Car Wash.

There’s also this limited edition Breaking Bad inspired watch from Vannen Watches (it was available in limited quantities and that shit sold out yesterday), designed by artist Tristan Eaton and inspired by the show’s memorable bottle episode, Fly.

Two more killer prints from Breaking GIFs. The first is The White Residence by Mark Englert and the second is a super print for The Superlab by Kevin Tong.

That dastardly dysfunctional duo has made the cover of Rolling Stone!

Vulture calls out one of the bigger references to Vince Gilligan‘s old show The X-Files from last Sunday’s episode.

Some stuff from The Avengers. The Easter egg credits scene with Thanos from the blockbuster which teases the sequel, Captain America’s new look, and a cool fan-made banners of the Avengers crew and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Belated: The Buzz: Game Of Thrones at Comic-Con 2012

TRAILERS and FEATURETTES

Total Recall

The Paperboy

Wreck-It Ralph

via GeekTyrant: Wreck-It Ralph Development of Character Art

Beauty is Embarrassing: The Wayne White Story (documentary)

Team Spirit by Errol Morris (entire short film)

About Cherry, A drama centered on a troubled young woman who moves to San Francisco, where she gets involved in pornography and aligns herself with a cocaine-addicted lawyer.

Chasing Mavericks, Surfer Jay Moriarity sets out to ride the Northern California break known as Mavericks. Directed by Michael Apted and Curtis Hanson.

Middle of Nowhere, follows Ruby, a bright medical student who sets aside her dreams and suspends her career when her husband is incarcerated. As the committed couple stares into the hollow end of an eight-year prison sentence, Ruby must learn to live another life, one marked by shame and separation. But through a chance encounter and a stunning betrayal that shakes her to her core, this steadfast wife is soon propelled in new and often shocking directions of self-discovery – caught between two worlds and two men in the search for herself. In theaters beginning October 12, 2012.