Dagon
Directed by: Stuart Gordon
Screenplay by: Dennis Paoli
Story by: H.P. Lovecraft (short stories “Dagon” and “Shadow Over Innsmouth”)
Starring: Ezra Godden, Raquel Meroño, Macarena Gomez, Francisco Rabal, Brendan Price, Uxia Blanco, Birgit Bofurull, Ferran Lahoz
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated: R
Release Date: 2001
DVD Release: 2002

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”

Anyone familiar with me at all knows I am an absolutely monster H.P. Lovecraft fan.  I was introduced to his writing back in the late 80s and it has stuck with me through the years.  He was a master of atmosphere and mood, and there are few who have been able to match his ability in the horror-genre.  In fact, the nature of his stories makes them very difficult to film.  There isn’t a lot of action or big scares.  Everything he does is in the building of terror and hopelessness, and a film based on someone slowly being driven insane really isn’t the most exciting thing to an audience raised on slasher or heavy-gore flicks.

That being said, a lot of people have tried to adapt his work in the past to varying degrees of success.  Which brings us to Stuart Gordon and his film, Dagon.  Gordon is best known for his Re-Animator and From Beyond films, also loosely based on Lovecraft tales.  The Dagon adaptation, originally named “Shadow Over Innsmouth” after the inspiration for the movie, was originally to be Gordon’s third film after Re-Animator and From Beyond, but he was never able to raise a large enough budget to do the film justice.  After 15-years, Gordon hooked up with friend Brian Yuzna and was able to get the cash to shoot Dagon.  Read More »

When I first met and started dating my wife a few years ago, she and her friends introduced me to what would eventually become one of the banes of our relationship.  That trouble spot, one of the only we have, was a little game called “Scene It? The Movie Trivia Game.”  As a hybrid DVD-board game, my wife and her friends absolutely loved to play Scene It and would do so at all hours of the day or not, and a lot of times they were doing it while a bit drunk…I’d say “high” but I don’t want to rat anyone out just in case her parents are reading this.

What Scene It? revealed to me about my wife, her friends and her family, was how insanely competitive they all are.  I swear their games of Monopoly have broken down in to physical altercations on a number of occassions.  Since they loved Scene It? so much, and knowing that I had spent a lot of time working in film and television in a number of roles since the early 90s, they all wanted to play against me so they could show how badass they were at the game.

Unfortunately for them, I am a professional nerd and proceeded to obliterate them at every turn, no matter how many of them teamed up against me.  We played at holidays, family gatherings, whenever I came over to my wife’s place to hang out.  They brought in what they thought to be ringers (including a cousin who wanted to go to film school), but they couldn’t defeat me. Read More »

“Life is just blocks…trying to fit together to make lines. And that’s who we are.”

You know, as much as the G4TV Cable Channel really annoys me these days, the Feed section of their website is something I hit every day. It has a lot of good information for the Nerd-On-The-Go — and I totally love the MMO Report. Blair Butler, on the other hand, is terrible.

Anyway, today the Feed a little tidbit popped up that put a big ol’ smile on the Nifty Nerd’s face. The article contained a link to the “Tetris the Movie” trailer over on Black20.com’s website and I have to say it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. In spite of the moron’s leaving messages over on the Feed article, the trailer was in fact done for fun by Thomas Seymour and Mike O’Gorman. You can tell from watching the trailer that these guys had an absolute BLAST doing the “Tetris the Movie” trailer. Good stuff and good times. Check out the high quality Tetris the Movie trailer or view the lower res version below.

A brother dies. A hero is born. Get in line for adventure. Tetris is here.

The guys did a great job and I look forward to seeing more from them in the future.

-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.TheNiftyNerd.com

Ok, I’ve been a follower of G4TV forever — since TechTV and, before that ZDTV.  As a professional nerd I spend a lot of time with it playing in the background as I work.  And, as a longtime fan, I’ve turned a blind eye when they started playing Fastlane and Star Trek reruns…I pretended not to notice when they cancelled all of the TechTV shows in favor of the Man Show, Cops and Cheaters.  Heck, I even put up with countless re-airings of Ninja Warrior, x-Play and Attack of the Show. 

But tonight I have reached my limit.  You see, tonight G4TV is airing (and multiple times) “Lost In Translation.”  Read More »

Welcome to the first “Nerd Week in Review.” Every Sunday I’ll be coming to you and going over all of the top Nerd stories for the past week. Let’s jump right in this week with the man genre fans love to hate…

200,000 Fans Hate Uwe Boll…Boll Claims It Isn’t Enough

After an interview with FearNet.com, director Uwe Boll has stated he will no longer direct movies if an online petition reaches one million signatures. When told a petition at www.petitiononline.com had more than 18,000 signatures requesting Boll no longer make movies, the director responded by saying 18,000 wasn’t enough to convince him and that one million would do it.

Well, fans seem to be rallying behind the “one million” battlecry and nearly 200,000 fans have now signed the petition asking Boll to “stop directing, producing, or taking any part in the creation of feature films.” Read More »

As any kid in the 80s, I was a cartoon fanatic.  And, to be perfectly honest, I think we had the best cartoons of any decade.  Yes, I will challenge anyone who disagrees with me to a Filipino knife fight. 

Silverhawks was produced by Rankin/Bass for Lorimar television, the same people that brought us one of the most loved cartoons of the 80s, the Thundercats…oh, and the less successful Tigersharks cartoon.  I guess the head honchos at Rankin/Bass wanted a cartoon for each element — air, water and land…the only one they missed was fire.  It’s too bad their fourth series, Flaming Hairdressers, never made it on air. Read More »

Even in my jaded old-age, there is still nothing better than new comic day and a weekly trip down to my local comic shop.  The only real difference between now and when I was younger is my tendency to hit the shop later in the day in order to avoid the inane chatter that goes on Comic Book Guy style fans and counter clerks.  If I see one more overweight comic geek with a fedora and a vest or trenchcoat, I may wind up on a killing spree.

This week’s damage came to a bit over $35 and I walked a way with a big ol’ stack of stuff.  Some good, some bad and some just kind of so-so.  Here’s the list:

1. FX #2 by Wayne Osborne and John Byrne
2. Titans #1 by Judd Winick and Ian Churchill
3. Number of the Beast #1 by Scott Beatty and Chris Sprouse
4. Justice Society of America #14 by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham
5. Wild Cards: The Hard Call #1 by Daniel Abraham and Eric Battle
6. Justice League Unlimited “Ties that Bind” trade paperback by Adam Beechen, Paul D. Storrie and a host of artists Read More »
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City of Violence
Directed by: Seung-wan Ryoo
Screenplay by: Jeong-min Kim, Won-jae Lee and Seung-wan Ryoo
Starring: Doo-hong Jung, Seung-wan Ryoo, Kil-Kang Ahn, Beom-su Lee
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rated: Not Rated
Release Date: 2006
DVD Release: 2007

To me, almost nothing is better than a good martial arts movie…well, except for a good musical, but they really are the same thing.  As a kid growing up in Hawaii in the 70s and 80s, I was exposed to more martial arts movies than anyone has a right to.  That love continues till today and my collection of martial arts movies on DVDs stands now at more than 400.

When I first started hearing rumors about an over the top action flick from Korea and by the director of Arahan, Seung-wan Ryoo, I knew I had to see it.  I was able to track down the Korean release in early 2007 and was simply blown away.  And now, thanks to the fine folks of Dragon Dynasty, you too can experience this martial arts epic in the form of a 2-disc “ultimate edition” release.

Read More »

As a true Nerd, I have been a fan of the Star Wars franchise since the release of the original movie in 1977 - which I refuse to this day to call “A New Hope.” I was 4 when it came out and it is the second movie I remember ever going to see with my parents (the first was Earthquake with its “Sensurround” feature).

Since that fateful day in 1977, I have seen every single Star Wars film release on or before opening day…as any proper Nerd should. As is the typical story of my kind, I owned (and still own) every Star Wars toy through the end of Return of the Jedi. And, like a proper Nerd, I stopped collecting when the travesties of the Ewoks and Droids spin-offs were born.

In the period between Return of the Jedi and the release of the Phantom Menace (what we Star Wars junkies refer to as the “Time of Great Darkness”), I kept myself sustained through periodic injections of Star Wars novels, comic books and video games, continually prostrating myself towards Skywalker Ranch in prayer for an eventual return to that Galaxy Far, Far AWay.

With the release of the final installments of the Star Wars films in the form of “Revenge of the Sith,” I was faced with the realization that my next good Star Wars fix might never come. Fortunately for Nerds everywhere, Uncle Lucas and his team have come through just when our Star Wars jones was starting to hurt real bad. Read More »

They may be  closer to Old Cogers than New Kids but they are back.  After 14 years, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie and Danny are back together and the creative dynamo once known as the “New Kids on the Block” lives once more.

The Modern New Kids.

And by “creative dynamo” I mean former teen heart throbs who, during the height of their popularity, were known to score more underage vag than R Kelly ever landed.  And they did it all without ever peeing on anyone. Read More »