Phoenix Comicon 2013 Pictorial by Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (J!-ENT Interviews and Article)

On May 23-26, J!-ENT photographer Gilbert “Realm” Aquino traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to cover the cosplayers and the guests at Phoenix Comicon 13.

Please enjoy our latest pictorial for Phoenix Comicon 13!

Download the Pictorial Here (PDF/52.5 MB)

“Man of Steel” Movie Review by Gilbert Aquino

Directed by Zack Snyder

Screenplay David S. Goyer

Story by David S. Goyer/Christopher Nolan

Superman created by Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster

Producer: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Emma Thomas

Executive Producer: Jon Peters, Lloyd Phillips, Thomas Tull

Music by Hans Zimmer

Cinematography by Amir Mokri

Edited by David Brenner

Casting by Kristy Carlson, Lora Kennedy, Claire Simon

Production Design Alex McDowell

Art Direction: Vlad Bina, Chris Farmer, Aaron Haye, Dan Hermansen, Craig Jackson, Helen Jarvis, Kim Sinclair

Set Decoration by Anne Juljian

Costume Design by James Acheson, Michael Wilkinson

Starring:

Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Kal-El

Amy Adams as Lois Lane

Michael Shannon as General Zod

Diane Lane as Martha Kent

Russell Crowe as Jor-El

Ante Traue as Faora-Ui

Harry Lennix as General Swanwick

Richard Schiff as Dr. Emil Hamilton

Christopher Meloni as Colonel Nathan Hardy

Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent

Ayelet Zurer as Lara Lor-Van

Laurence Fishburne as Perry White

Dylan Sprayberry as Clark Kent (13-years-old)

Cooper Timberline as Clark Kent (9-years-old)

The “Man of Steel” had its NYC red carpet premiere last night, with the cast making their appearances. Outside of NYC, there were also advanced screenings of the upcoming film, of which I was able to attend the San Diego screening. I didn’t get my pass until 2:30pm, so it was a last minute notice.

Having grown up with the past renditions of Superman, from Christopher Reeve and Dean Cain, to Tom Welling and Brandon Routh, I came into the “Man of Steel” with high expectations, that it would carry on what the past had already done.

But that wasn’t the case. I felt the film distanced itself from any other rendition of the Superman stories that we all grew up with. Sure we get the origin of Superman, but through his eyes. We learn who he is, why he is, and where he came from.

The “Man of Steel” portrays more of the human aspect of the character. In the comic books and previous films, Superman is more “God-like”. I felt both characters, Clark Kent and Superman, were both very similar in this film. Maybe because we are learning more about his Kryptonian side at the same time as Clark Kent.

The film does have a lot of action sequences, with laser guns, bug-like spaceships, Kryptonians in heavy armor, and lots of explosions. All of these aspects are very common in the comic books, but I’m not used to it in the film.

I was skeptic when Henry Cavill was chosen for the role, but as I watched the film, he definitely sold the character of Clark Kent and Superman. I could see some essence of Tom Welling in him, as they had scenes of Clark growing up and dealing with his childhood, much like in “Smallville”. But as the film progressed and when Henry had the costume on, he definitely looked and acted the part.

The visual design of the Kryptonians, the ships, costumes, and planet, were very sci-fi, with very intricate and detailed designs. Throughout the film, I felt it had an influence from the “Gears of War”, “Mass Effect”, and “Aliens” franchises. I’m not used to all the heavy armor and laser rifles, I grew up with the long robes and “not of this world” designs of the past. I felt like the Kryptonians were violent people with the armor and laser rifles. I grew up with the people of Krypton as peaceful and humble people.

The film has an amazing cast!! I definitely enjoyed Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, playing a very emotional and powerful figure in Clark’s life. Amy Adams was great as Lois Lane, very modern and a believable character. Both Amy and Henry had great chemistry in the film as Lois and Superman. Russell Crowe as Jor-El? Maybe it was the armor, but I felt like he was about to hand Clark the sword of “Excalibur” or something.

But as Jor-El, Russell Crowe played a convincing character. Diane Lane as Martha Kent was just as amazing. Michael Shannon as General Zod, that guy played a very cold and souless villain. He nailed the role, although I kept thinking throughout the film that he looked like an international terrorist or something. Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, I didn’t see coming. Laurence is an amazing actor and I love all his work, especially “Boyz In The Hood”. His Perry White was on point and I could see him running a newspaper.

I read about how the film would not have the classic John Williams theme and I was disappointed to find out for myself that it wasn’t there. That is THE Superman theme and it wasn’t in this new version of the film. The score is so iconic, everyone knows it. But the film didn’t need it, seeing as how this is a different take on the Superman franchise.

J!-ENT MOVIE RATING: C

J!-ENT Pictorial: San Diego Comic-Con International 2012 and PopConLA 2012 featuring the photography of Alex Wong and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (a Special J!-ENT Pictorial)

In July 2012, Alex Wong and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino attended the San Diego Comic-Con International 2012 and “PopConLA 2012″ event. In the past, we featured a lot of cosplay but this time around, we wanted to showcase in addition to the cosplayers, also the statues, vehicles and other displays that were seen at both events.

Please enjoy our latest J!-ENT Special Pictorial featuring photography from both Alex and Realm.

Click here to download our J!-ENT Pictorial (PDF Version)

Pacific Media Expo 2011: Special Pictorial by Nergene Arquelada and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Every winter, Los Angeles is the host for the Asian pop culture event known as “Pacific Media Expo.   The 8th annual event took place back in November 11-13, 2011 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel and attracted many people from all over the globe for the live concerts, panels, cosplay and more.

And to cover the event, J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada and Gilbert “Realm” Aquino were on location to cover the event.

Click here to download the special pictorial

Disney’s D23 Expo 2011 Memories by Gilbert Aquino (a J!-ENT Pictorial)

On August 19-21 was Disney’s D23 Expo (a convention celebrating the arrival of Disney to Hollywood in 1923 and the year the company was founded) and J!-ENT sent our writer/photographer Gilbert Aquino to cover a day of D23 Expo, held at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Let’s just say that he LOVED it!

Click here to download J!-ENT’s Special Pictorial of D23 Expo by Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (PDF, 22MB)

J!-ENT Pictorial: San Diego Comic-Con International 2011 by Gilbert Aquino (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

On July 21-24, J!-ENT’s Gilbert Aquino covered San Diego Comic-Con International 2011.  Here is our special digital pictorial photo book (PDF – 17 mb) featuring memories from the epic event!  Stay tune for Gilbert’s coverage of Disney’s D23 EXPO coming soon!

J!-ENT Special Pictorial – Anime Expo 2011 by Gilbert “Realm” Aquino (J!-ENT Pictorial)

July has been a busy month for event coverage and earlier in July, during Fourth of July weekend, we attended Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles.   An event that covered everything related to Japanese pop culture and many people cosplaying as their favorite characters.

For our J!-ENT photographer Gilbert “Realm” Aquino, he was there to cover the event.  Here is our J!-ENT pictorial of Anime Expo 2011 and coming up soon, is Gilbert’s special pictorial from San Diego Comic-Con.

“Green Lantern” movie review by Gilbert Aquino

“Green Lantern” is a fun film worth watching, but don’t get your hopes up by assuming it’s going to be the best film of the summer!  Because it’s not.

Green Lantern

Directed by Martin Campbell

Screenplay by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg

Executive Producer: Herb Gains, Andrew Haas

Produced by Greg Berlanti, Donald De Line

Co-Produced by Geoff Johns

Cinematography by Dion Beebe

Edited by Stuart Baird

Casting by Pam Dixon

Production Design by Grant Major

Art Direction by Francois Audouy, Carl Horner, Andrew L. Jones, Iain McFadyen, Scott Plauche

Set Decoration by Anne Kuljian

Costume Design by Ngila Dickson

Starring:

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern

Blake Lively as Carol Ferris

PEter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond

Mark Strong as Sinestro

Temuera Morrison as Abin Sur

Jenna Craig as Carol Ferris (11-years-old)

Jon Tenney as Martin Jrodan

Mike Doyle as Jack Jordan

Gattlin Griffith as Young Hal

Nick Jandl as Jim Jordan

Dylan James as Jason Jordan

Leanne Cochran as Janice Jordan

Having followed the long running “Green Lantern” comic book series on and off since the late 1980′s, I went into the theater knowing that Hollywood would most likely give a Hollywood update to Hal Jordan’s origin using today’s standards.

This has been a practice that is routinely used whenever a comic book is translated to film. Sure, the concept of the origin is there, but the presentation is a bit exaggerated.

For some reason, every time I saw Ryan Reynolds on the screen, he kept reminding me of a combination of actors David Arquette and Luke Perry. Reynolds definitely has the acting ability to sell the character of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), although he gave Hal some humor with his performance.  For anyone who has read the comic book, knows quite well that Hal Jordan was not exactly the most comedic character and it is something I don’t recall from the comic book version at all.

And during the film, there is narration.  While, I’m not sure who the narrator is,  it sounded a lot like Anthony Hopkins, who was recently seen in Marvel Comics’ “Thor” movie!

The pacing of the film is pretty fast. One second we’re learning why Hal Jordan acts the way he does, the next, he’s got the power ring and running around the planet of Oa!

I was impressed with the special effects. Having seen the trailers when they were first released, I felt the special effects weren’t quiet up to par as far as making them realistic. But in the film, it was well-rendered and very fluid. I enjoyed the many objects Reynolds and the Green Lanterns created, very clever and well executed!

The costumes were rendered the way they were for a reason, to indicate when a Green Lantern powers up.

Now what about the other Green Lantern Corps members?  I enjoyed Michael Clark Duncan voicing the colossal figure, Kilowog.  He definitely fits the character and delivered!

Mark Strong nailed the character of Sinestro, literally dead on as if  Sinestro walked off the pages of the comic book! The look and attitude was all there.

Tomar Re, voiced by Geoffrey Rush, was also great! Geoffrey voiced a very humble and sincere character.

Parallax reminded me so much of Unicron from the “Transformers the Animated Movie”, because the voice sounded just like him. His screen presence was a combination of the Kraken from “Clash of the Titans” and Darkseid, from the recently finished “Smallville” TV series. In the comic books, Parallax was this powerful being, but the film portrayed him in a different way, more supernatural than powerful.

I felt the film was too short in my opinion. It was like an introduction to Hal Jordan, Hal gets the ring, Hal saves the world, and then the end credits.

The only character that got some sort of development was Hal Jordan, while everyone else was introduced as though they were already established. Fortunately, the film didn’t drag, but it felt like it kept jumping from different scenes, one after the other.

If you have very little to no knowledge of the Green Lantern, this film may be of some interest, just don’t expect an all out, high action battles.

As for the fans that know Green Lantern from A to Z, the film does stay as close to the comic books as possible, but we all know Hollywood likes to make some changes to the stories that we know from the books.

“Green Lantern” is a fun film worth watching, but don’t get your hopes up by assuming it’s going to be the best film of the summer!  Because it’s not.

And for those who will watch the film, whatever you do, don’t forget to stay after the film ends but before the credits officially come up, as there is additional footage that involves Sinestro!

MOVIE RATING: C

Botcon 2011 Report by Gilbert Aquino (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Pasadena, California once again hosted the annual “Botcon”, a trade show dedicated to the Transformers franchise. This would mark my second “Botcon” event, since last year, the event has been held in Orlando, Florida.

“Botcon 2011″ featured a small cast of voice actors and actresses from the 1980′s, many of whom did work on such classics as “GIJoe, Garfield, the Superfriends, X-Men, Robotech” and of course all various seasons of the Transformers.

The list ranged from Michael McConnhie (Tracks, Cosmos), Arlene Banas (Carly, Spike Witwicky’s girlfriend), and Jack Angel (Ramjet, Astrotrain, and Breakdown) to Morgan Lofting (the Baroness from “GIJoe”, Firestar & Moonstar from the “Transformers”), rock star Stan Bush (the musician on the classic “The Touch”) and surprised guest, Peter Cullen (KARR from the original and 2008 “Knight Rider” series, the narrator from “Lion Force Voltron” and Optimus Prime in the original “Transformers” series, the live movies, and animated movie).

While standing in line, it was surprising to hear the fans who weren’t even around during the 80′s to talk about such classics as the “G.I. Joe” and the “Transformers” animated series, regardless if they were available on-line and/or DVD. Another topic that seemed to be discussed around the event was “Power Rangers”. People were discussing what it would be like to attend a “Power Rangers” only event!

For a small event, they literally charged for everything if you don’t happen to purchase one of their various admission packages, which consist of “exclusive” Transformers figures. As big of a fan as I am of the “Transformers”, I couldn’t justify to purchase repainted figures who resemble “McDonald’s Happy Meal” toys. In fact, while standing in line to purchase tickets, someone was trying to sell one of the boxed set exclusives for $400 when it retails for $150 or so at the event, which was supposedly sold out to the general public before the event happened! Admission cost me $20 for one ticket just for Saturday and if I wanted to attend the Hall of Fame event that same night, it would have cost me an additional $45.

The Hall of Fame event honors both characters from the franchise and those that were involved in any aspect of bringing the franchise to life, such as voice actors/actresses, producers, and even directors. In fact, this year was set to honor Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.

As for autographs, that also required an additional $25, which allowed anyone to obtain autographs at designated times.

I managed to talk to Greg Bregger, the voice actor for “Grimlock” from the original Transformers animated series and animated movie. He is a great guy who is even greater with his fans! I mentioned to him how I was a big fan of “Tranzor Z”, another animated series from Japan, and he thanked me for bringing it up, since people only know him for “Grimlock” and not for voicing “Tommy” from “Tranzor Z”!

Stan Bush was also very great to his fans, signing at no charge to items provided by the fans. He had his CDs and 8x10s for sale at very reasonable prices.

The CDs were only $10 and his 8x10s were only $5!

Stan had a monitor with his music vide of “The Touch” playing on loop throughout the event. One of the most humble celebrities out there!

The dealer’s room was filled with vendors from local dealers and artists from the comic book industry, to toy manufacturers as Hasbro and KRE-O. Paramount had a few of the screen-used cars from the upcoming third film of the franchise, which included Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe.

Another sight that amazed me was the fact that many of the dealers were also selling various “Power Rangers” figures, known as “Zords”. I even actually saw an attendee purchase a “Dragonzord”, complete with the original box!

The one thing that seemed to bother me about the event is the number of fake merchandise being sold. One dealer was selling home-made looking t-shirts that featured either the Autobot or Decepticon symbol on the front.

He even had trucker hats with either logo for sale at $6 each! Another dealer had some really bad knock-offs, the ones you would find at the .99 Cents stores!

What was the worse knock-off that I saw? Fake “New Era” hats for $10 each that had really bad embroidery, the Autobot logo looked more like the devil with horns than the iconic symbol!!

Across the street from the venue, fans can take photos of a Generation 1 “Ratchet”, owned by Jason Ybarra; and a replica of Bumblebee from the first live movie, owned by Jon Merker. Many fans and people just passing by were amazed at the replicas, taking photos and observing the details of each car. Jason had a very cool 1:1 size of Ravage, perched on top of Ratchet!

An awesome photo I managed to capture was a fangirl re-enacting Megan Fox’s scene where she was lifting up Bumblebee’s hood when he was still an old Camaro.

Overall, in comparison to my previous attendance of “Botcon”, this year’s attendance was pretty low.

I arrived at the venue by around 7:30am and I must have counted like 30 people in front of me to purchase tickets. From my first time at the event, I arrived around 8am or so, and the line wrapped at least around three or four times, making it look like we were all in line for a theme park ride!

Yet, I still enjoyed the event despite the low attendance but I look forward to the next Botcon.

[imagebrowser id=9]

HYPERKIN ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION OF DANCE BATTLE VS FOR PS3 AT E3

Peripheral Manufacturer to Launch Its First Software Title Winter, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH, CA (JUNE, 2011) ­ Hyperkin, a recognized and trusted brand of video game peripherals, has announced that it will be the exclusive distributor of video game software title, Dance Battle VS for PlayStation�
3. Dance Battle VS is a dance game that features over 10 different motion-captured professional dancers representing a wide range of dance styles like capoeira, salsa, trance and even belly dancing.  Sample portions of Dance Battle VS will be on display at E3 Booth # 417 South Hall, June 7th-9th in Los Angeles.

Dance Battle VS allows gamers to compete in a dance showdown against their friends as each contestant puts together special combination moves and “Stomp” moves to ignite the dance floor. Dance Battle VS features an original soundtrack comprised of an eclectic mix of international artists that are sure to get your body moving to the music. Hyperkin has partnered with over 20 international recording artists for the soundtrack ranging from Rock to K-pop and Bollywood.

In order to promote the new title at E3, Hyperkin has invited one of the games featured artists, Mr. Robotic <http://mrrobotic.com/2011/robotic-road-to-e3-expo-sneak-peak-inside/>, to perform at the Hyperkin booth. Creating his own genre of music-rap with a twist of pop and a dash of hip-hop, Mr. Robotic will perform several times at the Hyperkin booth during the 3 day trade event.

“This is a very exciting new development for us,” stated Steven Mar, Hyperkin’s Business Director.

“We are always eager to expand our product offering and Dance Battle VS is a perfect opportunity for us to branch out into software distribution. Dance Battle VS is going to be a very fun title that will appeal to many people. We anticipate a very positive response at E3.”

Dance Battle VS Features:

·        Designed for PlayStation 3

·        Features Over 20 International Recording Artists

·        Includes Multiple Dance Styles Including Capoeira, Salsa, Trance
and Belly Dancing

·        Release Date: Winter 2011

·        SRP: $49.99

About Hyperkin

Since its launch in 2009 Hyperkin has been quickly become a widely
recognized and trusted brand of video game peripherals. Hyperkin is
constantly searching for new product ideas, emerging technologies and
innovative ways to enhance the video game experience. Hyperkin believes that
its most important asset is its business partners and is dedicated to
developing long and successful relationships with each client. The company¹s
executive office is located in Newport Beach, CA. For more information,
please visit: www.hyperkin.com.

Next Page »