Like a Hollywood actor that spent too much time in the sun, the Waterfield Atlas is leathery and wrinkled. Photo: SF Bags
WaterField Designs, maker of some of our favorite bags here at Cult of Mac, is back with the Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall. It’s a sports bag that, as the name suggests, holds it all — including your MacBook and iPad.
First Twin Peaks, and now this. Fox is bringing back its seminal monster-of-the-week series The X-Files for a six-episode run, complete with original stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
We don’t know yet what former agents Mulder and Scully have been up to since we left them floating in the middle of the ocean at the end of 2008 film I Want to Believe (they had a raft; don’t worry). But I imagine it will involve aliens, conspiracies and perhaps an alien conspiracy or two.
If you’re excited about these series making their returns, here are five ’90s cult TV shows to take you back to the world of crappy computer effects and even worse pants. And be sure to let us know more of your favorites in the comments.
Neil Blomkamp will direct the next Alien film. Photo: Neil Blomkamp
Despite attracting the absolute best talent, the Aliens franchise has been on a bit of a rough patch for the last, oh, 30 years or so.
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus prequel? It sucked. Alien: Resurrection, a joint written by Joss Whedon and filmed by the director of City of Lost Children? It blew. Alien 3, directed by multiple Academy Award winner David Fincher? Well, I’ve personally always thought it got a bum rap, but the general consensus is: It’s terrible.
Now Neil Blomkamp, the talented South African director behind District 9 and the upcoming Chappie, has been hired to film the next Alien movie. And thanks to Blomkamp, we have a pretty good idea what the movie will be about.
The McConaissance continues as Matthew McConaughey stars in Chris Nolan's Interstellar. Photo: Legendary Pictures
Like many movie fans out there I couldn’t be more excited about the release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, a spectacular-looking space epic from one of the greatest filmmakers working today. While I’m not going to get to see it until this weekend, its release gave me reason to revisit some of the best movie space epics in history — and dwell on a few of the worst, too.
Are you ready for a guide to both the best and worst the galaxy has to offer? Check out our picks after the hyper jump:
When we’re not bending our latest smartphones simply to see what will happen, there’s nothing that appeals to the dark recesses of the human (possibly male) mind more than watching two characters we recognize from separate franchises cross over to one another’s universes. It doesn’t matter if it’s The Simpsons and Family Guy, the NBA and the Loony Tunes, or Batman and Superman, all that matters is that it happens. And preferably that they end up fighting one another.
With casting well underway for a 2015 big screen adaptation of the endearingly daft Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, we figured it was the perfect opportunity to run down the movie mash-ups we most want to see. Scroll through our gallery to get your crossover on.
Picture: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
G.I. Joe meeting the Transformers was one of the comics that blew my mind as a kid, and I’d welcome the same experience as an adult. Unlike a lot of crossovers this one should be fairly straightforward, with the rights held by Hasbro and Paramount. Despite a rocky start, the G.I. Joe movies greatly improved with 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, while the Transformers flicks could certainly use a Joe-sized shot in the arm. I’d definitely be on board.
Picture: Marvel Comics
Sure, this one’s cheating. The Godzilla/King Kong battle has already been carried out in 1962’s superbly campy King Kong vs. Godzilla. But on the back of this year’s enjoyable Godzilla reboot, it would be fantastic to bring the battle up to date with cutting edge special effects. Done right, it would certainly put the dino fight from 2005’s King Kong to shame — even if sorting out the proper sizes of the two combatants would require a return to the drawing board.
Photo: Toho Studios
Quentin Tarantino’s movies all take place in the same fictitious universe. Ever since QT introduced us to brothers Victor and Vincent Vega in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction respectively, fans have been begging for a team-up. Given the length of time that has elapsed since then, creating a prequel would be kind of difficult. Of course, neither character makes it alive out of their respective movie either, which makes a sequel kind of difficult. But Tarantino has rewritten history more than that before.
The man killed Hitler, for goodness sake!
Photo: Miramax
The Power Rangers did, in fact, team up with the Turtles during an episode of Power Rangers in Space, but that only whetted our appetites for more. We just got done with the Michael Bay TMNT reboot and with a Power Rangers movie in the works too this would make for a great blockbuster mash-up. Fill it with the kind of self-referential fan service we saw in 2009’s tremendous Turtles Forever and you’ve got an undisputed winner.
Photo: Bandai
Okay, so this is a slightly strange one but as a long-time fan of both franchises, I’ve always been intrigued by this possibility. My optimal period for this to have taken place would have been the 1990s, when the aliens could have taken on the Next Generation Crew, but I’ll accept my Aliens/Star Trek crossover however it comes. Seeing the crew try to contain the alien by trapping it on the Holodeck would be superb entertainment.
Actor Robert Englund is 67 now, although appearing in more films than ever. Perfect, then, for him to make one last appearance as Freddy Krueger, to rinse away the taste of the awful 2010 remake starring Jackie Earle Haley. I was a massive fan of 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, which pitted everyone’s favorite Springwood Slasher against Friday the 13th's unstoppable killing machine.
With '80s nostalgia still working at the box office, why not dust Freddy off to face one more iconic cinematic murderer in the form of Hellraiser’s Pinhead? The Cenobite realm/Freddy’s world sequences would be worth the price of admission alone.
There was an Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator comic series from Dark Horse Comics back in 2000. Spinning off from Alien Resurrection (not the most promising of signs), it turned out to be a waste of all three franchises, although the concept wins some points for at least trying such a crazy idea in the first place. The Terminator movies have been disappointing since 1991’s fantastic T2: Judgment Day, while only the original Predator movie holds classic status.
Could a mash-up of the two properties redeem them? There’s only one way to find out.
Picture: Dark Horse Comics
In the works since 1979, a JLA/Avengers crossover finally happened in 2003, bringing together the World’s Mightiest Heroes and DC’s Justice League of America. With the two franchises set to collide (sort of) when Avengers: Age of Ultron and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice finally make it to theaters, the idea of mashing up both series seems unthinkable at present.
Looking longer-term, though, who wouldn’t want to Batman face off against Iron Man, or Superman with Captain America? The only losers would be the poor legal teams who had to work out the agreement for it to happen.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the highly-acclaimed tactical role-playing game from 2K Games,is coming to iOS this week, and it’s just begun its App Store rollout. It’s an exact port of the title that first hit the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 late last year, so you can expect a true console-quality experience and amazing visuals.
Those things don’t come cheap, however, with XCOM priced at $19.99 in the U.S.
Let’s be honest, at some point we’ve all dreamt about dusting off our funeral suit and fighting aliens with Will Smith as a Men in Black agent. Thanks to Gameloft, that dream is now a reality… on your Android or iOS device.
Men in Black 3, the official game of one of this year’s biggest action blockbusters, is now available from the App Store and Google Play, giving you the opportunity to create and manage your own MiB agency and protect New York from the scum of the universe — for free.