Posts tagged with #james

Lionsgate announces Steelbook collectible releases for Kickboxer and Little Monsters

By Classic Nerd | January 9, 2024

More and more I've been thinking about spending my money on physical media instead of throwing it into the void of streaming where I might not even get to keep my purchase for myself. And Lionsgate is making that choice seem even more relevant with a couple of upcoming collectible releases of nostalgic movies. Both of these classic movies will be released via Steelbook, meaning DVDs that come inside steel cases instead of boring plastic ones. To refresh your memory, Kickboxer is a story of mar

An elegy for E3: The coolest con I'll never get to go to

By Classic Nerd | December 12, 2023

As I was casually scrolling my social media feeds this morning (the platforms I use shall remain unnamed, because I don't like getting yelled at), simply looking for something to enrage me like any other normal person, something hit me harder than I ever would have expected it to: not only is E3 canceled, it's going away forever. pic.twitter.com/y6dtVkBvNI — E3 (@E3) December 12, 2023 For those unfamiliar with the Electronic Entertainment Expo, it was an annual convention put together by the

33 years ago, The Simpsons released a hit novelty album just one season into the show's run

By Classic Nerd | December 4, 2023

Premiering in December of 1989, The Simpsons very nearly instantly struck a chord with pretty much all of America — screwball comedy and animation that was entertaining enough for most kids, absurdist humor and relatable topics for adults, and plenty of subversion that would come to define the satirical cynicism of '90s pop culture. Within a year, the animated show had become one of the highest-rated shows for the fledgling Fox network, becoming the first of the network's shows to crack the top

The top 5 kids movies from the '80s to watch for Halloween

By Classic Nerd | October 27, 2023

For those of us who grew up or had our formative years during the 1980s, we're familiar with the rampant anxiety issues thanks to some of the movies that were for some reason marketed to kids. That said, they were usually also pretty awesome movies, even if a bit traumatizing. And every year when Halloween was getting close, my brothers and I would bust out a few well-worn classics to get our fix of ghouls and ghosts and pirates and monsters and Fred Savage. Despite the fact that these movies

The new Metalocalypse movie is a love letter to '80s dark fantasy

By Classic Nerd | August 18, 2023

When I was in college I had a friend we all simply called, "Heavy Metal Tim." Heavy Metal Tim had long curly hair, wore a devil's mustache and goatee, and — you guessed it — was really into metal. One time he invited me over to his house to watch an Iron Maiden video in his basement, which obviously I accepted (despite having about one-tenth as much metal in my blood). About halfway through, he said, "We should get out of the gas mask." The gas mask, it turns out, was an apparatus that Tim use

40 years later, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon is still having an impact

By Classic Nerd | July 28, 2023

I always wondered why Dungeons & Dragons, the Saturday morning cartoon inspired by the role-playing game of the same name that ran for three seasons from 1983 to 1985, was the way it was. Namely, why isn't it more similar to the game? "I had absolutely no time [and] I had never seen Dungeons & Dragons before in my life," says Mark Evanier, who wrote the initial premise and pilot for the animated series. He did so after being given just four days to save the show's chance at getting made. Yet

The truth about the Kessel Run line in Star Wars (sort of)

By Classic Nerd | July 25, 2023

You've certainly heard about it before: The big mistake in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (or more simply, Star Wars when it first came out), in the form of a piece of dialogue written by none other than George Lucas himself. The line, uttered by Han Solo in disbelief, goes a little something like this: Solo: You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon? Obi-Wan: Should I have? Solo: It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Just one problem: parsecs are a measureme

Twisted Metal is getting its own ice cream flavor

By Classic Nerd | July 18, 2023

It's the sweet treat we never knew we needed on a hot summer day — a scoop of ice cream inspired by a murderous, psychotic clown. I'm not sure how many hours I spent just rolling around in Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck, trying to blow up my friends and AI alike without mercy — and with a huge grin on my face. Such was life when the first Twisted Metal video game came out on the very first PlayStation. But let's say you saw an ice cream truck on the side of the road with a deranged-looking clow

Revisiting Ninja Gaiden for the NES: Is it worth playing again?

By Classic Nerd | May 24, 2023

Sometimes arcade games lie to you. Case in point: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you visited an arcade sometime in 1989 with three of your friends, you probably easily blew $10 worth of quarters EACH on the TMNT arcade game. It was thrilling, fast-paced beat ‘em up alongside impressive cartoon-like animations. So naturally, when you told your mom how great it was, she tucked that away as an idea for your birthday present. And when that fateful birthday rolled around … hey, you got a Ninj

What to know before you visit Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood

By Classic Nerd | April 26, 2023

It was always my destiny to visit a video game in real life. I believed as much when the first incarnation of Super Nintendo World opened at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. This was in the middle of the pandemic, and they were like, we’ll risk it all because IT’S F***ING MARIO. And I believed it was my destiny when, as I was planning my trip to Japan, I found out they were building one right here in the United States — not only that, but just a quick two-hour flight away. And I believe it n

The coolest old-school things we saw at WonderCon 2023

By Classic Nerd | March 30, 2023

There’s nothing quite like opening your doors to thousands of nerds in a confined space and pumping them full of sugar, caffeine, and nostalgia. WonderCon was back in full force for 2023, packing Anaheim with more cosplay and expensive collectibles than any sane person should possibly be able to handle — which is, of course, exactly what makes it great. Human innovation was on full display once again, and at every turn it was hard not to smile and say, “oh that’s neat!” I was only able to mak

Andor proves why Rian Johnson deserves another chance at Star Wars

By Classic Nerd | January 11, 2023

I remember the crossed arms, the tense faces, the utter look of confusion, and maybe a tinge of fear. As my friends shuffled into the bar after watching The Last Jedi, I have to admit that I was a bit surprised. You see, I’m one of “those people,” the ones who actually really liked Last Jedi, even right out of the gate. Yeah, even Canto Bright. Look, I’m not saying I’m going to totally rework where Last Jedi ranks in terms of Star Wars movies, but I was legitimately surprised by the mixed reac

Revisiting Tecmo Bowl: Is it worth playing again?

By Classic Nerd | December 27, 2022

Is there anything more American than sitting back, putting on the game, and watching a bunch of dudes try to give each other CTE? Actually, yes, yes there is — playing a video game where you pretend like you’re one of those dudes. Football video games have come a long way. From the handhelds of the ’80s to today’s Madden games that allow you to essentially create your own personal NFL. But the modern era of football video games truly began with Tecmo Bowl, released in arcades in 1987. Everyt

Terry Hall’s best songs with The Specials

By Classic Nerd | December 21, 2022

I’m getting to that age where if I hear certain musicians on the radio often enough I start to wonder if it’s because they died and those are the tributes. But there are some whose passings still seem to come out of nowhere and punch me right in the gut. David Bowie. Adam Schlesinger. Dolores O'Riordan. And now, sadly, we add Terry Hall, the incomparable frontman for The Specials, to that list. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our bea

The NSFW Thundercats outtakes you need to hear

By Classic Nerd | December 14, 2022

Imagine yourself as a full-grown adult, a professional voice actor, stepping up to speak into an expensive microphone. You’re getting paid real money, lots of it, to do this. You look at the script and begin to read, and hear yourself uttering this line: We should have known the Terra-tor didn’t mean any harm when the Sword of Omens didn’t obey me! That’s the kind of thing the voice actors from Thundercats were asked to recite day in and day out, and they did a damn fine job of it. Somehow I