There are fan films that are fun and campy, then there are fan films like Judge Minty that really go that extra mile. You can feel the love these guys have for the characters come right out of the screen and punch you in the gut. We all know that a sequel to Karl Urban‘s Dredd is a “Hail Mary Pass” at best these days, but we can take solace checking out this wonderful production by director Steven Sterlacchini.

The props in this short are incredible. That itch to get a Judge Dredd costume build started the minute I laid eyes on those golden eagle shoulders. Take a look and join me after to discuss.

No Comments

Way back in 1982, when making your own film was actually something of a difficult proposition, a group of friends decided that they’d make their own version of Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation was made by Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala over 7 years, and now author Alan Eisenstock is turning Strompolos and Zala’s journey into a page turner called Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made.

Here’s a description of the book, followed by a video trailer: (more…)

No Comments

Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

ABOVE: Nevermind the triangle eyes, noses, and pointy teeth of a traditional jack-o-lantern, because, well… Johnny Depp. [TDWGeek]

(more…)

No Comments

There’s a new Batgirl: Spoiled web series featuring the character of Stephanie Brown (Who used to be Spoiler) as the new Batgirl. It’s based on Bryan Q. Miller’s pretty popular comic run. The plot synopsis:

After a close call leading to a falling out with Batman and Oracle, Batgirl goes out on her own to reexamine her place in Gotham and the world at large. Stephanie spends her days seeking advice from Gotham’s various heros, and her nights patrolling the streets in a seemingly endless battle against crime. All this while attending college, having a social life and finding time to sleep.

First off, this isn’t Shakespeare, Tarantino, or Spielberg so cool your jets when throwing out comments in the comments section. It’s a fan created series and they all can’t be gems. This one definitely has its issues, (Really, when the chief minor thug started monologuing about the oppressed masses and the privileged few, my eyes glazed over. I kept expecting him to start singing the Jefferson’s theme song.) but overall I’d still watch it because I don’t see any other Batgirl material getting done on television, animation, or the big screen.

The beginning wordplay between Batgirl and Oracle was promising and the fight choreography wasn’t bad, but the pace through out the episode seemed to stutter without a big build up to climax the episode.

Check out the episode and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Batgirl: Spoiled is written by Sax Carr, Zack West, Ray and Beurer with Joey Rassool as Director of Photography and Editor. Original scoring by Regan Remy, Executive Produced by Sax Carr. For more information on the production including additional footage, photos and credits visit the official Twitter page.

No Comments

Grab a plate of waffles, your jug of maple syrup, and plop yourself down in front of the computer and get ready to view some Batgirl Stephanie fan love. The new web series just released a new trailer that has this NerdBastard book marking the site for future episodes. The story line:

“After a close call leading to a falling out with Batman and Oracle, Batgirl goes out on her own to reexamine her place in Gotham and the world at large. Stephanie spends her days seeking advice from Gotham’s various heros, and her nights patrolling the streets in a seemingly endless battle against crime. All this while attending college, having a social life and finding time to sleep.”

Batgirl Spoiled is written by Sax Carr, Zack West, Ray and Beurer with Joey Rassool as Director of Photography and Editor. Original scoring by Regan Remy, Executive Produced by Sax Carr.

This NerdBastard finds the tone set in the trailer as dead on for a Batman style series. I can only hope that the series really cranks up the tone, maybe as high as eleven.

If you find yourself hungry for more information you can head over to the Batgirl” Spoiled Facebook page or the official Twitter page, to see stills from the series and additional tidbits.

Via ComicBookMovie.com

Comment (1)

There is a lot of Batman fan films out there. Some are good, but most of them are Mckayla Maroney meme face worthy. Now a new bat fan-flick rises. And, I’ll tell you, it’s the single most incredible fan film you’ll ever see.  Batman: Puppet Master, directed by Bryan Nest, takes place between Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and the recent Dark Knight Rises.

In the months following the death of Harvey Dent, Batman, still a wanted fugitive, is pushed to his limits as a new crime wave hits Gotham. Batman’s search to find who’s responsible leads him to a showdown with the masochistic serial killer Victor Zsasz.

Meanwhile Gotham’s newest crime boss, a mysterious figure known as Scarface, has an meeting with Edward Nigma, an FBI agent, sworn to bring down Batman at all costs.

All I can say is “Wow”. And for me, that’s saying something. I’m just as bad as Mckayla Maroney, nothing impresses me. 15 min fan film? Fuck, usually my A.D.D. kicks in and well basically, one sheep, two sheep, cow, turtle, duck Old McDonald had a farm…HEEEY Macarena! This fan-film, however, held my attention from start to finish.

The makers of this short nailed the mood, setting, writing, acting, directing, lighting, and tension perfectly. Believably set in the Nolan-verse. Oh, and those villains?  Perfect rendition of Edward Nygma (aka The Riddler). Scarface and the Ventriloquist was a great reveal. Both felt organic with the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Honestly, I wound up forgetting this was a fan-film.

I’m sure the haters out there will find loads of quibbles to pick at. IMO, though,  I don’t think couldn’t have gotten a more believable fan-film. I  consider this an actual piece of the Dark Knight franchise.

Comments (4)

While the official film adaptation of Bryan K. Vaughn‘s Y: The Last Man continues swimming around in pre-development hell, filmmaker Christian Cardona has stepped in to fill the void with his own really, really, really impressive fan film. Titled Y: The Last Man Rising, the short film follows the early events of the comic which chronicles a world where a catastrophic plague has wiped out every man on Earth. That is, except for Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand.

If you’ve never read the comic, one, get on that it’s an excellent book, and two, this film works as a darn good primer for the series. The production quality is fantastic and for as much as I’ve been able to watch, the acting’s pretty great, too.

Y: The Last Man Rising stars Travis Quentin Young as Yorick Brown, Kent King as Agent 355, and Rebecca Marshall as Hero Brown.

Hey, uh, Hollywood honcho guys, can you just let Cardona adapt Y: The Last Man for ya? We here, on the internet, are all really impressed with his test reel.

Source: IGN

Comments (2)

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me touch myself.

These are times that being a nerd pays off big time. When you find little gems like this one. BeanDiProductions put together this tribute video to the hardest to kill mercenary in the business: DeadPool.

Why can’t Hollywood do some of the insanely simple things that these guys did with this fan film. Things like understanding the character, the concept, the things that made you enjoy it in the first place.

We’re not gonna get a Deadpool movie in the near future anyways from all accounts. Although everyone seemed to be clamoring for Ryan Reynolds to play DeadPool after the Wolverine movie, this NerdBastard wouldn’t want Reynolds to touch the role with a ten foot pole with a bean taped to the end. Reynolds totally screwed up the Green Lantern character and helped kill any hopes of seeing some other D.C. hero movies besides Batman and Superman in the near future.

Seriously, why couldn’t the guys that wrote Green Lantern have reached out to people that know, love, and enjoy the characters as much as the guys at BeanDiProductions?

Enjoy.

Via: ToplessRobot

Comments (4)

Fan films have improved by leaps and bounds over the past so many years, mostly due to filmmaking and effects technology becoming increasingly available. What’s so great is this allows fans who’ve always had the vision to create something really ‘effin cool. Like this new Harry Potter web series, Auror’s Tale. Just watch this trailer and try and tell me you’re not impressed,

This is what you imagined when you thought of wizard duels, right? We never got to learn much about Aurors in the Harry Potter books, at least we never got to see them in their element and that’s exactly what Auror’s Tale wants to deliver. Here’s a synopsis from the video’s description,

New York City is a battlefield. Dark magic rules the underworld. The NYC Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE) is the only line of defense. Hawthorne is the force’s newest recruit and the dark criminals’ latest threat. Plunging into the nightmare that his occupation offers, he makes quick enemies of the most depraved wizard gang in America: the ever violent, ever twisted Hellhounds. AUROR’S TALE chronicles Hawthorne’s tempestuous adventures.

Auror’s Tale has a screenplay by Cassandra Johnstone, is directed by Leo Kei Angelos, and comes from Red Phoenix Pictures which I think we safely assume is staffed by a lot of die hard, Harry Potter fans. Here’s their official blurb,

Director Leo Kei Angelos teams up with screenwriter Cassandra Johnstone in this ground-breaking digital debut. The two die-hard Potter fans together will bring the underground wizarding world of New York City to life. A longtime dream of Angelos’, he and his talented team now have the opportunity to express their love for the Harry Potter series through the art of film.

Red Phoenix Pictures is proud to present this edgy, action-packed web series that’s a bold fantasy that Potter fans will love. It’s the wizarding world as imagined by fans that grew up with the series, created for fans that grew up with the series. It’s the magic of Potter as you have never seen it before: a high-speed, raw, and terrifically twisted ride.

I don’t know about you guys but I think this series looks awesome! It’s exactly what I need to get my Potter fix, what with no more movies or books. Since I’m pretty sure J.K. Rowling won’t ever revisit the series, and definitely not with the more adult tone so many fans would want, Auror’s Tale looks like the perfect remedy. What do you guys think of it?

Source: The Mary Sue

Comments (3)

No, no, this isn’t anything official from Valve. These preview images come from a project by Alex Zemke who has taken it upon himself to create his own animated movie about the characters of Portal. Or should I say character? No, let’s include the companion cube, it is after all Chell’s only true friend.

The film is called Companionship and while yes, technically this is a fan project it should be noted Zemke is a professional animator. He’s worked on  Disney G-Force and The Smurfs as well as Uncharted 2 & 3. And just look at these images! Something this good can only come from a true labor of love.

Make to check out Zemke’s DeviantArt for updates!

Source: Kotaku

Comments (2)