Rachel Nichols

DVD Review: Catch Up With Animated ‘G.I. Joe’ Before ‘Rise of the Cobra’

BrianTT — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:26:26 -0600

CHICAGO – “Yo Joe!” Before Paramount unleashes “G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra” in theaters on August 4th, 2009, viewers should catch up with the height of the phenomenon with Shout Factory’s “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1,” now available on DVD.

DVD Rating: 3.0/5.0

G.I. Joe is the code name for America’s daring, highly-trained special missions force, a group of soldiers defending humanity against Cobra, the ruthless terrorist organization trying to destroy the world. Relive the generation-defining adventures of Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Flint, Lady Jaye, and the rest of the Joe team before you see Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the cinematic reboot of the franchise.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1 was released on DVD on July 14th, 2009.
Photo credit: Shout Factory

In the film version, Tatum plays Duke, Marlon Wayans plays Ripcord, Dennis Quaid plays General Hawk, Ray Park plays Snake Eyes, Arnold Vosloo plays Zartan, Said Taghmaoui plays Breaker, Rachel Nichols plays Scarlett, Byung-hun Lee plays Storm Shadow, Gordon-Levitt plays Cobra Commander, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Heavy Duty, and Christopher Eccleston plays Destro.

The four-disc set of “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” includes 22 episodes of the landmark animated series, running just over eight hours in length. The episodes included in the set aired from September of 1983 to October of 1985 and are largely broken up into multiple-episode arcs that aired originally as mini-series. For example, the first disc includes the five episodes that comprise “A Real American Hero: The M.A.S.S. Device”. The second disc is “The Revenge of Cobra,” and the third “The Pyramid of Darkness”. The fourth disc is untitled but includes seven more episodes.

The first three discs of “G.I. Joe” include the three-part feature “Looking Back With Writer Ron Friedman”. The final disc includes “Knowing is Half the Battle” PSAs, G.I. Joe’s Original 1963 Toy Fair Presentation, Printable “Jungle Trap” Script, and Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials.

Critically, there’s really not much to say about “G.I. Joe”. How can you look back at a formative TV show of your youth with a critical eye? Like a lot of people of my generation, I grew up with G.I. Joe and Shout Factory’s set is like a product pulled from a time capsule of my youth. The technical presentation is a bit so-so and the special features could have been more extensive, but I look forward to the day I introduce one of the shows of my youth to my own son and now I know I can do that with the Season 1.1 set. And knowing is half the battle.

‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1’ was released by Shout Factory. The show was released on July 14th, 2009. It is not rated.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Video: Preview For ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ Video Game

BrianTT — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:15:13 -0600

CHICAGO – The trailer for the video game based on one of this summer’s more-likely blockbusters, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” was released by Electronic Arts this week and we wanted to share. The movie that inspired the game will star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Byung Hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Saïd Taghmaoui, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans and Dennis Quaid.

The film is directed by Stephen Sommers. The story is by Michael B. Gordon and Stuart Beattie & Stephen Sommers. The screenplay is by Stuart Beattie and David Elliot & Paul Lovett. Based on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe® Characters.

Synopsis:

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that development is underway to bring Hasbro’s legendary G.I. JOE® brand to all major console and handheld gaming platforms in summer 2009 to coincide with the theatrical release of the G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA live-action movie from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Hasbro, which opens in theaters August 7, 2009. EA will unveil a “first look” of the G.I. JOE® video game at Hasbro’s Showroom at Toy Fair on February 15-17, 2009 in New York City.

“As Hasbro and Paramount Pictures reignite the G.I. JOE® property this year with an all-new toy line and film, EA is excited to play a major role in bringing this icon of pop culture history to a new generation of enthusiasts through interactive gaming,” said Chip Lange, General Manager and Vice President of EA Hasbro. “G.I. JOE® offers exceptionally rich storylines and a cast of characters that lends itself incredibly well to creating an over-the-top action adventure video game that will thrill gamers as well as G.I. JOE® fans.”

For fans of all ages, 2009 is gearing up to become another watershed milestone in the timeless franchise by introducing even more new ways to engage, immerse and play within the G.I. JOE® universe. The G.I. JOE® video game will feature an exclusive storyline that picks up where the live-action movie leaves off, allowing players to re-create and re-live the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line. The game will feature 12 G.I. JOE® characters, each with unique abilities and weapons. Adding to the adrenaline rush will be an intense single-screen co-op mode allowing two players to easily unite as a team in a classic struggle between good and evil as they work together to defeat the powers of the COBRA organization. The G.I. JOE® video game is under development for Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™, PlayStation®2, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Nintendo DS™, and mobile devices.

“G.I. JOE® has been an icon of action for 45 years,” said Mark Blecher, General Manager of Digital Gaming and Media at Hasbro. “EA has tapped the legacy of the G.I. JOE vs. COBRA saga to create an amazing interactive experience inspired by the movie, comic books, animated series and iconography that we hope will resonate with millions of fans.”

For more than four decades, G.I. JOE® has been one of the premiere brands in the history of boys’ toys. Originating the term “action figure” in 1964, Hasbro’s G.I. JOE® brand ushered in a new play pattern that forever changed the scope of the toy industry. The G.I. JOE® brand made another revolutionary introduction in 1984 with the release of the G.I. JOE vs. COBRA toy line, which introduced a generation of boys to the heroic G.I. JOE® forces, led by Duke, and their epic struggle to defeat the evil COBRA organization. The G.I. JOE vs. COBRA saga featured a diverse cast of characters – both good and evil – that became a part of pop culture through Hasbro’s toy line, an animated television series and best-selling comic book franchise.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Sex in J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’? Chris Pine, Rachel Nichols, Zoe Saldana Engage Full-Speed Ahead

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:36:48 -0700

CHICAGO – While “sex” and “Star Trek” typically aren’t found together in the same sentence, we learned this week from the official trailer for the new J.J. Abrams film that he’s clearly acquainting one with the other. But there’s more.

Chris Pine, who stars as the new (young) Captain Kirk, went so far as to tell Marc Malkin of E! Online that all the buzz about a particular striptease in the new “Star Trek” film from actress Zoe Saldana will live up to the hype.

From left to right: “Star Trek” stars Chris Pine, Rachel Nichols and Zoe Saldana.
Image credits from left to right: Michael Buckner/Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
and Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage.com

“It’ll become famous,” Pine told Malkin about the Zoe Saldana scene. “[The film is] trying to be sexed up for a new generation that really isn’t used to seeing ‘Star Trek’. It’s a whole new beast.”

As for who Pine himself is pining for in the film, we briefly saw in the trailer released this week that the woman he climbed in bed with while wearing his best drawers was in fact actress Rachel Nichols, according to Malkin. It’s one of the film’s two love scenes.

While Pine wouldn’t say Nichols is tough to look at, he said (at least to Malkin) that even that kind of work is still very much work nonetheless.

“It was a lot of fun, but I think that day actually was a 20-hour day,” Pine told Malkin. “By the end, the novelty wears off. After many sandwiches and meals through the day, all you want to do is brush your teeth and go home.”

“Star Trek,” which is slated to release on May 9, 2008, stars Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Eric Bana as Nero, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson, Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, Karl Urban as Leonard “Bones” McCoy and John Cho as Hikaru Sulu.

“Star Trek” also stars Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike, Ben Cross as Sarek, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Leonard Nimoy as the old Spock, Greg Ellis as chief engineer Olsen and Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk.

Read about the multi-staged “Star Trek” trailer launch in Nov. 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com