A few weeks ago, Benicio Del Toro was reportedly offered the role of the villain in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode 8, but there was no hint as to whether or not the actor was interested in taking the part. But ET caught up with Del Toro at an event for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and managed to get as close to a confirmation as you can get out of him:

"I can't tell you much about it, but I think it might happen. It looks like it's gonna happen, so I'm very excited...I can’t talk too much about it. The script is hard to get. They told me they’d cut my finger if I talk about it."

That's about all the information I'd expect us to get this early on in the process, especially since The Force Awakens hasn't even come out yet. We're still not sure which actors will make it through to the next entry of this new trilogy, so if all goes well, Del Toro could be sharing the screen with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and the new crop of younger actors like Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, though if he's playing the villain, it seems more likely he'd be alongside Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Max von Sydow, and Adam Driver.

Star Wars: Episode VIII arrives in theaters on May 26th, 2017.

It's been several weeks since our last Movie Dream Team post, so let's make this a good one.

Borderlands is one of my favorite video game franchises. It's wacky, completely insane, and just the right amount of violent. The Borderlands franchise doesn't sit alone in this type of game, nor would it sit alone in this type of movie. Picture Mad Max, but with a lot more humor, and more guns. A lot more guns. The beauty of this franchise being turned into a movie series is that you don't have to take anything too seriously. Do you want a shotgun that shoots exploding rounds? Go for it. Do you want a pistol that shoots acid? We got it. The whole point of the game is utter insanity, with a boat load of guns and crazy abilities and the best part is, you can definitely make a series of it. Cover the first game, then go on to the second. With the little amount of cohesive stories between games, you can do a lot with it without feeling bogged down by what's come before. But let's get into it.

THE PLOT

The story for Borderlands is pretty simple: get stuff, kill some people, beat giant extra-dimensional monster. Just your average Tuesday, really. But in Borderlands, you play as a Vault Hunter, which is a really big scale treasure hunter. There's a legendary place, called The Vault, which is said to contain untold amounts of treasure. But nobody knows what kind of treasure — maybe money, maybe guns, maybe a giant space monster, who knows. So you progress through the story by collecting pieces to the Vault Key. Along the way you meet some fun people, some betrayals occur, there's a prison break...it's all very simple. But that's the beauty of it. The story is so simple, you can really skim over most of the unimportant NPCs and just focus on collecting the vault key pieces, and the main antagonist, Commandant Steele. The plot is so simple, you could comfortably fit it into a 90 minute movie.

THE DIRECTOR

This really is a simple choice. James Gunn. Remember Guardians of the Galaxy? That was this beautiful bastard. Gunn understands how to take strange characters and story elements and make them work in a way that's fun and enjoyable to watch. He would also be ideal for adapting the game into a workable screenplay. He's a master of simple, fun stories that capture the imagination, and really make you love a bunch of characters that you normally wouldn't care about. Like, I don't know, a talking raccoon?

THE CAST

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Brick

Do you need a guy that's gonna primarily punch his way through the opposition? It's Brick, and who better to portray a mountain of a man whose hobbies include punch, shooting, and just generally causing a mess, while saying very little than The Mountain himself. Hafþór has shown through his run on Game of Thrones as the infamous sword of the Lannisters that he can do big and intimidating very well, while still being able to portray a character that you want to watch and be involved with.

Keanu Reaves as Mordecai

Have you seen John Wick? If you have, then this makes total sense to you. If not, I'll break it down. In John Wick, Keanu plays Mordecai: serious (almost to a fault) but with just the right amount of snark. Not to mention Keanu definitely showed that he can do visceral, sometimes graphic action scenes extremely well while still managing a great level of realism to his gunplay. Obviously a lot of that has to do with direction but we've got that wrapped up. Keanu could bring a beautiful seriousness to this character, and portray the assassin we need.

Idris Elba as Roland

This was an easy choice for me. Roland is the leader of the team and is probably the most serious one of the bunch. I'll point you to Pacific Rim as a prime example of this. Idris can definitely handle the strong-willed leader that Roland becomes, and he can show us the seeds of that in this film before coming back to handle the role for Borderlands 2.

Isla Fisher as Lilith

I had the toughest time casting Lilith. Who could be serious at times, but also handle the wackiness that Lilith is both surrounded by and contributes to? She's goofy and funny, but still heartfelt. But who could also grow with the character, becoming the badass Siren that she is in the sequel? Answer: Isla Fisher. Her comedic acting chops have certainly been shown time and again, but her performance in Now You See Me is what sold me on this. She shows some leadership, some badassery, and quite a bit of sassy tenacity. That's Lilith. Plus, being a natural red head doesn't hurt.

Emily Blunt as Commandant Steele

Emily Blunt is PERFECT for this role. She can play the quick witted, badass hero as in Edge of Tomorrow, but I also feel like she could handle the sarcastic humor that this franchise entails. Plus, seeing her get impaled by The Destroyer at the end of this movie would be a pretty great ending, am I right?

That's that as far as Borderlands go. Who do you think would fit better for these roles? Let us know in the comments! I'll be giving you my Dream Team for Borderlands 2 in the next couple weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

To read our previous Movie Dream Team posts click on any of the following links: Movie Dream Team: SAMURAI JACK , Movie Dream Team: MORTAL KOMBAT and Movie Dream Team: CAPTAIN N. 

Disney's big D23 Expo begins in Anaheim today, and we have some GeekTyrant team members there on the scene covering the biggest panels and ready to bring us all of the coolest info from the convention. But even before the panels begin, there are already trickles of cool stuff leaking out, like photos of the teaser posters for Toy Story 4, The Incredibles 2, Cars 3, Finding Dory, and The Good Dinosaur. Check them out below (that Incredibles 2 poster is the best of the bunch if you ask me), and stay tuned for more from D23 as things start to get underway later today.

OH MY GOSH!!!! The teaser posters for Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, Cars 3, And Toy Story 4 revealed at D23!!!! pic.twitter.com/7fKJwb7lAw

— Jason Ortiz (@Y2_Jason) August 14, 2015

Cars 3 and Incredibles 2 posters on the wall at the animation booth #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/Yl5mAmCVUc

— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) August 14, 2015

By now, the flight safety videos of Air New Zealand are world-famous. The company embraced The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films and made safety videos that featured actors in full costumes from the film, and even included cameos from Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis. You can watch two of their previous videos here and here.

Now they're back with a brand new video (via ComingSoon) featuring the Men in Black and a bunch of rugby references. I'll still take Will Smith's version of the movie's theme song any day, but that's just me.

With How I Met Your Mother disappearing in her rear view mirror, Cobie Smulders has popped up in some big movies lately (Avengers: Age of Ultron, anyone?), and it appears she'll next be starring alongside another of the world's biggest movie stars — who, weirdly enough, was once attached to play Iron Man.

The Wrap reports that Smulders is in early talks to join Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher 2 for The Last Samurai director Ed Zwick. If the deal goes through, she'll play the film's female lead, a character named Danika. Details are being kept under wraps for now, but we know the film will be an adaptation of Never Go Back, the 18th novel in author Lee Childs' Reacher series. Here's the description of that book to give a good idea of what to expect from the movie:

Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had.
 
Reacher is there to meet—in person—the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone.
 
But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about.
 
When threatened, you can run or fight.
 
Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs.
 
Combining an intricate puzzle of a plot and an exciting chase for truth and justice, Lee Child puts Reacher through his paces—and makes him question who he is, what he’s done, and the very future of his untethered life on the open road.

Production on Jack Reacher 2 is slated to begin later this year. Rosamund Pike played the female lead in the first film, so Smulders has a high bar to live up to if she ends up taking this role.

Writer: Jeff Loveness

Art: Brian Kesinger

Letterer Jeff Eckleberry

I wasn't aware I could love Groot any more than I already did. Thankfully, that assumption was all kinds of wrong. The creative team of Jeff Loveless and Brian Kesinger successfully multiplied my admittedly already high level of adoration for Groot ten fold. If you were looking for a perfect hopping on point after Guardians of the Galaxy, look no further.

While there are some who undoubtedly will be turned off by this more humorous take on the duo of Groot and Rocket, that happens to be one of the book's biggest strengths. I often found myself laughing out loud, much to the chagrin of my wife (pretty sure she was really invested in a Criminal Minds episode at the time, to be fair). Loveness has imbued Rocket with the perfect amount of lovable sarcasm, and Groot couldn't be more endearing if he tried.

That perpetual feeling of adorableness on display owes a great deal to the talented art team of Kesinger and Jeff Eckleberry. Groot himself is so expressive, with every emotion so vividly on display that you start to understand him even without Rocket's translations. Half the time it doesn't even require traditional punchlines, as the looks and reactions of Groot and Rocket sell the moments better than any line could.

The wonderful art and witty writing come together beautifully, crafting the start of a hilarious road trip story that just so happens to star an ancient tree and a raccoon who isn't really a raccoon. I couldn't recommend it more.

At this point, audiences are extremely familiar with superhero stories. They've dominated the blockbuster landscape over the past decade, and even had success in live action on television with audiences really responding to shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Gotham in the past few years alone. But at some point, there are only so many different ways to put a fresh spin on an origin story, so storytellers are going to have to start coming at these tales from a different angle altogether.

That's what it sounds like Powerless is doing, a potential new show that just received a pilot order from NBC. As the network watches rivals like The CW, FOX, CBS, and ABC bask in superhero shows of their own, they're apparently coming at it with a different perspective. Deadline describes the show as "The Office, but with superheroes," so it's a workplace comedy that takes place in the DC Comics universe and it's set at one of America's worst insurance companies, following a bunch of non-superpowered people who deal with the fallout of living in a world filled with chaos-causing heroes and villains. So it sounds a little like The Office by way of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

DC's two biggest heroes, Batman and Superman, aren't expected to make appearances, which means that if we actually see any heroes or villains at all, it'll more likely be lower tier characters. There's also no word on whether this will take place in the new DC Cinematic Universe, or the separate TV universe of Arrow and The Flash, or an entirely new TV universe of its own. A to Z creator Ben Queen (who also wrote Cars 2) is the creator/showrunner on Powerless, and if this goes to series, it will be interesting to see exactly how it aligns with DC's plan for their characters. At the very least, a workplace comedy seems to fly directly in the face of the cinematic universe's "no joke" policy.

We've featured the work of artist Marko Manev multiple times here on the site, and his Star Wars pieces are always awesome, stylish interpretations that would look great on any wall. Now he's back with a new set of prints at New York's Bottleneck Gallery (via /Film), and you can snag these pieces right now if there are still any available.

Officially licensed by Lucasfilm, the 13 x 19 inch, giclee prints will be numbered out of an edition of 125 and cost $35 each or $125 for a matching numbered set.

I love the atmospheric quality these have, and there are even some darker "noir" themed versions available in an alternate run. Check those out below:

Writer/actor Simon Pegg appeared in Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Force Awakens Comic-Con video, confirming the rumors that he has a small role in the film. We won't even recognize him when we're watching the movie this December, but in a new interview with EW, director J.J. Abrams says that appearing in the film wasn't the only way Pegg helped out:

“I will say this in terms of Simon: while he won’t be recognizable in the movie, in all honesty, his role in this – not the performance or the character – but his support and friendship has been massively important and helpful in the process. He was a wonderful partner in crime to kick the story around and ask questions and come up with ideas, and he was an incredibly helpful part of the process for all of us. I’m very grateful.

He was a sounding board. He would drop by the set because he wanted to, and when he could, he would help… We could talk about things, and he was a perfect combination of incredibly smart screenwriter, fan of the series, critical fan of the series, and friend of mine – but not just blindly supportive. He was an honest, critical friend. And he wasn’t so close to it that he became immune to things. He would come in with fresh eyes and very smart ideas. He’s one of a handful of people along the way that has been really priceless.”

Sounds like the coolest thing ever for Pegg, who obviously harbors major love for Star Wars that's been exhibited in major ways going all the way back to his days on Spaced with Edgar Wright. He was able to contribute to the story but not get so deeply involved that he can't appreciate it as a fan, which is the best of both worlds. Also, Abrams isn't the only one involved with crafting the stories for both Star Wars and Star Trek: since Pegg is co-writing Star Trek 3 and contributed to The Force Awakens, he shares that distinction as well.

The Force is strong with this one. Twitter user @Tez_Gelmir created this custom-made Star Wars-themed speeder bike rocking horse for his one year old daughter on her first birthday, and it turned out to be pretty awesome. There's a video breakdown and some in-progress photos of the rocker, and he put the entire how-to guide up on Instructables in case you want to replicate it yourself.

Via: LaughingSquid

Not long ago, we posted the most badass trailer yet for the latest adaptation of Attack on Titan. It blew fans away, and I'm excited to report that the two live-action Attack on Titan movies that have been made now have release U.S. dates!

FUNimation Entertainment has announced that Attack on Titan Part 1 will be released on September 30th and Part 2 will hit theaters less than a month later on October 20th! How freakin' cool is that! I love that we won't have to wait forever to see the second part.

Gen Fukunaga, CEO and President of FUNimation Entertainment, had this to say in a statement:

“Fan reaction to Attack on Titan was extremely positive at the world premiere and we’re pleased to be able to announce dates for the theatrical releases in September and October. Attack on Titan is a worldwide phenomenon and we are excited to bring the live action movies to not only fans of the manga and anime but also horror fans as well from across the U.S. and Canada.”

The movie turned out looking a lot better than what fans were expecting when it was first announced. I'm so excited to see these films and it's great to know that they are coming to America soon!

Here's the synopsis:

Based on the popular manga series of the same name,  takes place in a world where the remnants of humanity live inside a series of connected cities, isolated by enormous walls. These walls exists to keep the Titans out, gigantic humanoid creatures who devour humans seemingly without reason. These Titans have reduced the world’s population to staggeringly low numbers. The three main protagonists of Isayama’s manga are Eren Jaeger, his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armin Arlert. Their lives are changed forever when a ‘Colossal Titan’ breaches the wall protecting their town, leading to the death of Eren’s mother. Vowing revenge and to reclaim the world from the Titans, Eren, Mikasa and Armin join the Survey Corps, an elite group of soldiers who fight Titans outside the walls.

In this week's episode, Tyler joins Ben in Los Angeles for an in-person episode of The 5Cast, and they tackle their most important list yet: which cereal mascot should run for president? Find out their rankings below!

For more episodes of The 5Cast Podcast on GeekTyrant, click here, and click here for our entire back catalog of episodes. Be sure to e-mail us at 5castpodcast@gmail.com with your suggestions for future Top 5 lists we should cover, as well as your own personal list of cereal mascots YOU think should run for president.

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Before the panels really begin in Anaheim at Disney's D23 Expo, there's some news about one of the most anticipated projects in development at Pixar. Toy Story 4 was announced a while back for a 2017 release, and director John Lasseter brought on screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who wrote the solid dramedy Celeste & Jesse Forever, to pen the script. We knew the movie will be a love story that picks up after Toy Story 3 ends, but who are the two characters that are in love?

Now we know. Lasseter told CNBC:

"It's a love story with Woody and—and this is news—Bo Peep."

Not exactly a groundbreaking shake-up in the toy universe, but it's news nonetheless. I sort of like the anchor's guess that the love story will be between Woody and Buzz just because that would be sort of crazy for a big movie like this to do, even in a society that's inching toward becoming more progressive.

Bo Peep was absent from Toy Story 3, so this may be a love story of the "long lost" variety between her and Woody. I'm sure we'll have more information about this movie and many more Disney films in the coming hours and days. To see an early teaser poster for Toy Story 4 and some of Pixar's other upcoming movies, click here.

I don't watch The Simpsons, but I'm familiar enough with the character of Ned Flanders to know that naming a metal band after him is pretty damn funny. He's the antithesis of metal, but a band called Okilly Dokilly — a play on his famous catch phrase — has used him as inspiration. The band members are: Head Ned on lead vocals, Red Ned on synthesizer, Thread Ned on bass, Stead Ned on guitar, and Bled Ned on drums. They claim they're "the world's only Nedal band," and I believe them.

You can listen to a few of their tracks right here. Thanks to Neatorama for the heads up.

We already have a review up on the site for Cop Car, the new film from upcoming Spider-Man solo movie director Jon Watts. Our team saw the film back in January at Sundance, but I had the opportunity to see it for the first time this past weekend, and I wanted to take a second and give you a recommendation in case you're looking for a movie to see this weekend.

Cop Car is a very small movie, but it's also one that knows exactly how to twist every ounce of suspense out of its slimmed down story. The plot revolves around a couple of young kids who discover an abandoned police cruiser in the woods, take it out for a spin, and then have to contend with the sheriff (Kevin Bacon) who wants it back. To say much more would be to spoil the film's surprises, but this movie feels like what Stand By Me would have been if it was written and directed by the Coen Brothers. It's a taut thriller that knows how to keep the audience on the edge of our seats at just the right moments, and it feels refreshingly real in the way it depicts the friendship (and language) between its two young leads (James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford).

Bacon does strong work as usual, but even with his star power, I think this is one of those movies that's going to slip by under most people's radar. I wanted to do my part to make sure that doesn't happen by recommending you check it out because I think it's one of the best-made low budget thrillers I've seen in a long time. The movie is in theaters now in L.A., New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, Boston, Portland, Denver, San Antonio, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Minneapolis, and Washington DC this weekend, and it's available On Demand everywhere else. Give it a chance — you won't be sorry you did.

Looks like Oliver and company are about to get a little more room to hang out and sharpen their skills on the next season of Arrow. Entertainment Weekly shared this new concept art for what the writers are calling the "Arrow Bunker," though executive producer Marc Guggenheim wouldn't reveal the exact location of the new bunker in Star City. He did, however, offer up some commentary on the design and functionality of the new work space:

“In designing the new lair, we had to think in terms of the much larger group that Oliver [Stephen Amell] has now surrounded himself with and how Team Arrow is a much bigger enterprise. One of the fun things about this lair is that as opposed to one big space, where everyone would congregate, it’s now a much larger space divided up into smaller spaces. There is an area for Felicity [Emily Bett Rickards] to work, there is an area for Oliver to work out, and there is a garage. There are many different places we’ll continue to discover over the course of the season that give you a sense that this thing is a bit bigger than we got used to in the first three years.”

The show returns to The CW on October 7th.

I just received a press release from The Walt Disney Company officially announcing a new animated feature film called Gigantic, which is Disney's take on the classic story of Jack and the Beanstalk. John Lasseter introduced the film at the D23 Expo, but the press release includes a synopsis and a new photo from the movie, as well as a release date — well, a release year, anyway: Gigantic will arrive sometime in 2018.

Things are looking up at Walt Disney Animation Studios – way up. “Gigantic,” Disney’s unique take on “Jack and the Beanstalk,” will feature music from Oscar®-winning songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who greeted D23 EXPO fans in signature style—in song—alongside director Nathan Greno (“Tangled”) and producer Dorothy McKim (“Get A Horse!”). Set in Spain during the Age of Exploration, Disney’s “Gigantic” follows adventure-seeker Jack as he discovers a world of giants hidden within the clouds. He hatches a grand plan with Inma, a 60-foot-tall, 11-year-old girl, and agrees to help her find her way home. But he doesn’t account for her super-sized personality—and who knew giants were so down to earth? “Gigantic” hits theaters in 2018.

The Jack and the Beanstalk story seems a little played out right now — we've seen it in live action in recent movies like Into The Woods and Jack and the Giant Killer — but Lasseter seems to want to create a definitive animated take on it, and the combination of Greno and McKim's talents and music from the duo behind Frozen, this could very well accomplish that goal.

Gareth Edwards' Godzilla impressed a lot of people with its visual effects last summer, but I wasn't crazy about how it handled Bryan Cranston's character. Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the film, but Cranston himself wasn't thrilled about it either.

For those who don't remember, he's killed off early in the movie, and on the Nerdist podcast (via JoBlo), Cranston spoke openly about his disappointment with the script:

“That character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it. When I read it I said, ‘Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point – he dies?’ What a waste.

They kind of dealt with it poorly, that’s my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie. I told them that even if I wasn’t doing this role, that character shouldn’t die at that point. It’s just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road. I was the last guy hired because I was still shooting Breaking Bad and they kept pushing because Breaking Bad kept pushing. Finally, I was able to get in and do it.”

Yeah, I think anyone who has seen the film will probably agree with him on that point. Leaving the audience stuck with the block of wood that is Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the criminally underwritten role for Elizabeth Olsen didn't help matters any, and it's probably fair to say most people didn't care about the humans after Cranston died — they just wanted to see more monster action. But the actor did offer a suggestion for a way for his character to die when it actually could have impacted the script in a positive way:

“That character should have been with his son and they would’ve started to bond a little bit more and they went on this journey together to go back home and be reintroduced to his grandson. Just when they’re bonding and it looks like they could have a relationship, the father sacrifices himself to save his son. And that’s the way he should have died.”

I'm right there with him on this one, too. That development would have made the film a little more predictable, but that's a much better alternative than just mentally checking out of the movie an hour in because the human characters are worthless. Regardless, Edwards certainly came out of this whole thing OK, since he's moved on to directing Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. Mostly it's just refreshing to hear an actor publicly say something negative about a film they've made recently and not just keep quiet because they think it'll hurt their career if they give their honest opinion.

This Wonder Woman cosplay is so freakin’ cool looking. It comes from cosplayer Joanna Mari, and it’s unlike any Wonder Woman cosplay that I’ve seen before. The photo of her flying is pretty damn awesome as well. The photos you see here were taken by photographer HLXdsgns. I love that the design incorporates the style of Themyscira.

When we first learned that Matt Ryan would be reprising his role of John Constantine in The CW’s Arrow, fans were excited as hell! The only information we had to go off of at the time was that the episode would be titled "Haunted," and we had this brief description:

“John Constantine is a weather worn exorcist and expert on the supernatural and the occult. He is a detective, magician, and a hunter of demons, and will provide critical support to Oliver (Stephen Amell) when arrows aren’t enough.”

Thanks to producer Marc Guggenheim, we have a few more details on what Constantine’s involvement will involve. Apparently it’s tied to the fallout from Sara Lance’s upcoming resurrection and transformation into the White Canary via the Lazarus Pit ahead of Legends of Tomorrow. Guggenheim told TV Insider:

“Unlike Thea, who wasn’t fully dead, the consequences of using the pit on someone as dead as Sara was creates some unforeseen difficulties, and John Constantine is uniquely suited to help our team deal with those.”

Damn, it’s going to be fun to see Constantine team up with Oliver Queen to take on these supernatural forces!