Access Week In Geek (July 29, 2011)

By Jim KiernanNEW YORK., N.Y. -- The Access Week In Geek shines the TV spotlight on the return of ThunderCats and the movie spotlight on Attack The Block Harrison Ford chews out Chewbacca on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Conan OBrien reveals what Lord Voldemort is doing with his post-Harry Potter down time And, The Avengers assemble in a new online teaser WEEK IN GEEK TV PICK: THUNDERCATS - Once again, its time to feel the magic and hear the roar, the ThunderCats are loose! Cartoon Network launches its updated version of ThunderCats tonight with an hour-long, two-part premiere. As a fan who grew up with the 80s show about a group of super-powered felines, Im happy to report that the new creative team leaves nearly no stone unturned when it comes to paying homage to the original animated hit. Familiar heroic characters like Lion-O, Cheetara and Panthro are once again fighting Mumm-Ra and other old school villains like the reptilian Slithe, and turncoat ThunderCat Grune. Snarf still says Snarf, but that is now the extent of his vocabulary. And ThunderCats Ho! accompanied by the Eye Of Thunderas glowing red beacon in the sky still summons the cats into action. While the science fiction layered lore of the original show has been streamlined into a more mythological themed legend, it intergrates and updates the best of the classic aspects to forge a smart new story arc. The two-part premiere has plenty of quick cutting action and an edgy anime look that separates it from your standard kiddie fare. Emmanuelle Chriqui provides the voice of Cheetara, the fastest ThunderCat on Third Earth with the unparalleled speed of a Cheetah and she talked to Access about taking on the part. Its been awesome, the Entourage stunner told Access in NYC at the premiere of her HBO series. Its actually a really fantastic cartoon. I saw the first two episodes and they are great, she said regarding tonights series premiere, which was also screened to eager ThunderCats fans who attended Comic-Con last weekend. Chriqui, who made her first trip to the massive convention with original Lion-O voice actor Larry Kenney (who cameos as Claudus, Lion-Os father in the new show), participated in a post-screening Q&A in addition to an autograph session. Chriqui also revealed that getting into the mindset of her superhero alter ego in the voiceover room merely involved digging down into her animal instincts. Cheetara is not that far from my normal voice. Shes just a little more fierce, she laughed. ThunderCats, which is sure to impress old fans and newer fans alike, roars onto Cartoon Network tonight at 8 PM. WEEK IN GEEK MOVIE PICK: ATTACK THE BLOCK - A runaway hit at this years SXSW Festival, Attack The Block is a tense, thrilling new take on the tried and true alien invasion theme written and directed by Joe Cornish. The sole familiar face in the film (with a small role) is Nick Frost, best know for co-starring with Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz, Paul, and Shaun of the Dead. But with the absence of any big-name celebs in the cast, the nobody is safe rule is in full effect and the aliens are free to pick off anyone at any given moment (as opposed to lets say, 2006s Poseidon, where the stars pretty much die in order of reverse billing). This low budget indie has been gaining steady buzz and finally sees a limited theatrical release this weekend. Set in Londons inner city where young hooligans roam and rob, characters you typically want to see offed by the aliens are the ones you end up rooting for. Dire circumstances make unlikely heroes out of, in this case, common street thugs. The simple but effectively designed aliens are terrifying in both concept and on-screen execution as pitch-black creatures with luminous razor-like teeth, and these vicious aliens hunt down their human prey without mercy. Low budget production sometimes brings out the best in filmmakers, and that is where director Joe Cornish succeeds here. He does not rely on lavish special effects to compensate for what is not physically shot on set, or let them serve as faux frights that force tension where there is none. Attack The Block is definitely a fun, tense, thrill ride you wont soon forget. HARRISON FORDS FEUD WITH CHEWBACCA REVEALED - Despite numerous on-screen heroics that include making the Kessel Run together in the Millennium Falcon, and helping the Rebel Alliance free the galaxy from the Empire, it appears that Harrison Ford and Chewbacca didnt part ways as the best of friends after Return of the Jedi. Their rarely talked about, but long-standing feud comes to a hilarious boiling point in this clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live! THE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE IN NEW TEASER - Yahoo! Movies has posted a new clip online that combines parts of the final scene from Marvel Studios Captain America (Spoiler Alert: It doesnt take place in the 1940s), and the films post credits teaser for next summers The Avengers. Check out these live action glimpses of Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) assembled together for the first time. ELIZA DUSHKU GUEST STARS ON WHITE COLLAR - Fan boy fav Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse, Angel, Tru Calling) guest stars on USAs White Collar next Tuesday. The Hollywood Reporter has an exclusive preview clip from the episode. Eliza can also be heard as the voice of Catwoman in the animated adaptation of Batman: Year One coming this fall to Blu-ray and DVD. VOLDEMORT ADJUSTS TO A POST-POTTER LIFE - Ever wonder what an evil wizard does when he finds himself in between mayhem-inducing gigs and no longer has Harry Potter to harass? Wonder no more, as Conan OBrien has been keeping tabs on what Lord Voldemort has been up to when trying to pass the time since wrapping the final Harry Potter film. Check out this revealing clip from Conan here. SUPERMAN RETURNS $10 MILLION CUT OPENING SCENE SURFACES - The original opening to director Bryan Singers Superman Returns starring Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel has been released online. It is included in the new Superman Anthology Blu-ray box set of all the Superman movies released from 1978-2006. In the scene, at a reported cost of $10 million, Superman takes to the stars in the spaceship that brought him to Earth and re-visits the shattered remains of his home world of Krypton. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tom Sturdy compares Dark Dark night Increases to Local cafe

 Hardy, who plays villain Bane in Christopher Nolan&rsquos upcoming The Dark Dark night Increases, has in comparison focusing on the film to employed in Local cafe.'These movies are huge automobiles to create lots of money&hellip making a large audience happy. Now you&rsquore towards the top degree of attempting to bring character operate in a boutique method to something that's, you realize, Local cafe,&rsquo he stated.It may sound like Sturdy may be hankering after more indie roles for example Bronson, however the Dark Dark night Increases, and Mad Max: Fury Road continue to be not even close to complete.He stated of Warrior, his new, comparatively low quality MMA (Mma) drama, it, &lsquois such as the top finish of making something from nothing,&rsquo unlike Mad Max then, that they likens to employed in an airport terminal duty free.&ldquoYou cope with something similar to Dark Dark night &ndash or &lsquoMad Max,&rsquo or &lsquoSuperman&rsquo or &lsquoSpider-guy,&rsquo whatever &ndash it&rsquos like likely to operate in an airport terminal on and on, &lsquoHi I&rsquom right here!&rsquo after which everyone goes &lsquoOh here&rsquos that, that&rsquos the villain from the piece.&rsquo It&rsquos a 1000 people likely to Duty-Free. Like, [shouting] &lsquoI AM THE VILLAIN!&rsquo making a large amount of noise."There&rsquos an equation here, you are able to&rsquot muck around by using it. There&rsquos lots of rules, you&rsquore restrained in lots of ways being an artist. However you&rsquore also grateful due to the large exposure and also the salary."While we&rsquore not adverse with a Local cafe action at TF, we&rsquore sincerely wishing the Dark Dark night Increases causes us to be a good deal more happy than the usual nice Americano. 

The Orphanage

In Spain, Laura (Belén Rueda) returns to the dilapidated orphanage where she grew up, accompanied by her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and their seven-year-old adopted son, Simón (Roger Príncep). Her plan is to reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. Once there, Simón claims to see a boy named Tomás, whom he befriends and draws as a child wearing a sack mask. A social worker, Benigna Escobeda (Montserrat Carulla), visits the orphanage, telling Laura that she has Simón's adoption file, which includes the fact that Simón is HIV-positive. Incensed at Benigna's intrusion, Laura sends her away. That night, Laura finds Benigna snooping around her coal shed, but Benigna escapes before Laura can confront her. Later, Simón teaches Laura a type of scavenger hunt game that Tomás taught him. The game involves hiding a person's possessions, with the player who recovers his final possession winning a wish. While playing the game, the clues lead to Simón's adoption file with an angry Simón saying his new friends told him that Laura is not his real mother and that he knows he is going to die.

During a children's party at the orphanage, Laura and Simón argue, and Simón hides from her. While searching for him, Laura is confronted by a boy in a sack mask with the name "Tomás" embroidered onto his shirt. The boy traps her in a bathroom, and when she escapes she finds that Simón is missing, and searches for him throughout the house and outside. The hunt leads her to a cave where she trips and injures herself. At a medical center, the police psychologist, Pilar, suggests to Laura and Carlos that Benigna may have abducted Simón. That night at home, a bedridden Laura hears unexplained banging in the walls.

Six months later, while searching in a snowy city in Northern Spain, Laura and Carlos spot Benigna pushing a baby carriage downtown. As Laura calls out to her, Benigna is suddenly hit and killed by a speeding bus. Laura rushes to Benigna's carriage, but finds only a doll wearing Tomás' sack mask. The police search Benigna's home and find evidence revealing that Benigna worked at the orphanage long ago and that she had a son named Tomás who was at the orphanage. He wore a sack-like mask over his head due to his deformity and was housed away from the other children in a separate room. Tomás was accidentally killed by the children of the orphanage who stole his mask near a beach cave, which is accessible at low tide. Embarrassed, Tomás hid in the cave, resulting in his death by drowning. In desperation, Laura goes to a medium named Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin), seeking clues to her son's disappearance. With clues from the medium, Laura searches the orphanage grounds and discovers the remains of the orphans she grew up with who were killed by Benigna and stored in sacks of bone and ashes that were hidden inside the coal storage outside the house.

Unable to cope with the situation, Carlos leaves the orphanage as Laura promises him she will be done in two days. Laura recreates the original orphanage layout and attempts to contact the ghost children. She soon begins to see them around her when she initiates a game of "Uno, Dos, Tres, Toca la Pared" [One, Two, Three, Knock on the Wall; similar to Red Light, Green Light in America], which she used to play while growing up at the orphanage. The ghosts lead her to a hidden door within a cupboard under the stairs (La Casita de Tomas; Tomás' "little house" which Simón referred to just before his disappearance). This door leads to a hidden basement room. In the room, she sees (in her head) Simón alive and hugs him in a blanket. As the ghost children vanish, Laura finds that the blanket is empty and the body of the deceased Simón, wearing Tomás' mask, lies behind her. She realizes that she had inadvertently caused Simón's death (she had accidentally blocked the hidden door to the basement where he was playing, trapping him inside), and that the unexplained noises she had heard were Simón trying to get out. At one point Laura had heard a loud crash which had been Simon falling through the stair railing, and onto the ground below, breaking his neck. Laura carries Simón's body upstairs and swallows many handfuls of Trankimazin capsules, begging to be with Simón again. Laura's wish is granted as the ghosts of the dead children appear and Simón returns to life in Laura's arms. Simón then tells Laura that his wish was for her to stay and take care of all the orphans. Later, Carlos walks alone over to the memorial for Laura, Simón, and the orphans which stand outside the orphanage. Carlos returns to the orphans' old bedroom and finds a St. Anthony medallion, that he had given to Laura. He hears the door opening; as he looks up he slowly smiles.