As Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominates discussion all morning thanks to last night's new trailer, allow us to briefly turn our attention to one of the year's biggest theatrical paradoxes: what's sure to be one of the smallest movies with two of the world's biggest movie stars.

Angelia Jolie wrote, directed, and stars in By the Sea opposite her husband Brad Pitt, and they play a couple whose marriage is on the rocks in what appears to be a drama with a lot of forlorn looks and pent-up resentments. The first trailer implies that eventually, those conflicts come to a head, but this new featurette (via The Playlist) concentrates more on Pitt and Jolie's experiences making the movie than anything else. The film premieres at this year's AFI Film Fest next month before opening on November 13th.

By the Sea follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife, Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud) and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives.

Jurassic Galaxy is a movie trailer mashup created by Kevin Vonckx of Zenlike Productions that combines Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. These two movies share two things - they were both huge box office successes and they both star Chris Pratt. The mashup works out great thanks to some smooth editing. The creator offered the following note:

After the park... after the world... comes the galaxy. Star-Lord faces his most terrifying adversary yet--a Kree overlord who thinks he's a dinosaur.

(It should be noted that this has nothing to do with artist Tim Doyle's equally fantastic art print with the same title.)

Thanks to the creator for sending this over to us! 

Lionsgate has released a couple of new TV Spots for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. The first spot is called "Final Battle" and the second is called "Her Story." Each of them recalls certain moments from the previous films, and lead up to showing footage from the current movie, some of which is new. This looks like it going to be a crazy battle-filled finale to a fun and entertaining film franchise. 

With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow [Donald Sutherland] in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale [Liam Hemsworth], Finnick [Sam Claflin] and Peeta [Josh Hutcherson] – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to liberate the citizens of Panem, and stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.

The movie will be released in theaters on November 20th.

Five year old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) has spent his entire life in what he calls Room, a windowless sound-proofed shed with an electronically locked door. He's only ever spoken to his loving Ma (Brie Larson), who has spent the last seven years trapped inside by a mysterious captor. Since escape has always seemed hopeless, she's decided to tell Jack that there is nothing outside of Room: the people they watch on their small TV aren't real, trees and oceans aren't real...everything outside of their confines is considered "outer space." It's a heck of a premise for a movie, and writer Emma Donoghue's script (adapted from her own novel) provides plenty of opportunities for gut-wrenching — and even a few heart-pounding — set pieces.

Director Lenny Abrahamson is coming off a movie called Frank, which centered on an idealistic young musician as he joined an off-kilter band full of weirdos. The title character took the musician under his wing and served as the patriarch of this metaphorical family; in Room, Abrahamson explores another strange family dynamic. This entire film hinges on the relationship between Jack and Ma, and both Larson and Tremblay deliver in a huge way. Larson, hearkening back to her breakout work in the indie film Short Term 12, is excellent, juggling moments of soul-crushing sadness with glimpses of pure joy as her character interacts with her son.

Tremblay is next-level, delivering one of the best child performances...maybe ever? This may be an ignorant or ageist stance on my part, but I'm always hesitant to ascribe greatness to kid actors because I can rarely tell if they have the full capacity to understand what they're doing, like whether certain moments are nuanced decisions or just part of the kid's natural tendencies. But considering how drastically different Jack's worldview is than a normal kid's, it's safe to say the young Tremblay knows exactly what he's doing. It's a superb performance, ranking up there alongside Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense.

(In case you don't know how the story plays out, I don't want to ruin it for you here without throwing up a big spoiler warning, so if you're on the fence about seeing this one, I'd say it's worth checking out. Anything from here on out should be considered a SPOILER.)

In addition to being something of a thriller in its first half, Room also works as a metaphor for postpartum depression. Jack's eventual escape and his flabbergasted first reactions to the outside world serve as the birthing scene, and after Ma reunites with him, she falls into a major funk when they return to her childhood home that's parallel to how some mothers feel after giving birth. She's been planning this for years, and now that it's happened, she's not quite sure how to go back to "normal" life. It's a daunting prospect, and the film doesn't offer any easy answers, spending a considerable amount of its runtime dealing with the emotional fallout after the escape. After such a breathless escape sequence, the pacing slows way down to deliver a meditation on the effects of the trauma they both suffered, and though it picks back up again a little by the end, it's still a bit of a drag in the middle. It finishes strong, though, and Larson and Tremblay's moving on-screen connection is more than enough to justify a viewing.

I have a very good feeling about The Revenant, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's desolate revenge drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The film looks breathtaking, as well it should considering it was shot by Gravity, Birdman, and Children of Men cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski in real locations using only natural light. If you haven't seen the most recent trailer, you should definitely check it out.

In a new interview with Yahoo Movies, DiCaprio — who plays a trapper left for dead by his crew after a bear attack — says the movie is "going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times," which is quite a proclamation. But having seen the trailers, I believe it. In addition to talking about film vs. television and some of the well-publicized behind-the-scenes drama about some crew members bailing on the production, the actor discussed the incredible-looking bear attack sequence:

Well, I’m not going to give any specifics on how we did it — you’ll figure it out on your own. But I will tell you it involved cables, it involved me flying around the forest, and it involved a tremendous amount of rehearsal. And it was pretty agonizing to do. [Those scenes] — amongst many other sequences — were some of the more difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my entire career. But the end result is going to be one of the most immersive experiences audiences will ever have with what it would be like to come face-to-face with an animal of that magnitude that is incredibly primal. It is absolutely startling and shocking, and it is the closest thing to documentary filmmaking — but in a completely stylized way that a lot of people never experienced.

DiCaprio, a vegetarian, also had to endure some pretty extreme eating on the set:

Were there any moments where you asked yourself, “What the hell have I gotten into?”
I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly.

What did you have to eat during it?
I certainly don’t eat raw bison liver on a regular basis. When you see the movie, you’ll see my reaction to it, because Alejandro kept it in. It says it all. It was an instinctive reaction.

And finally, here's what he said when he was asked about his movie coming out around the same time as Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

There’s always room at the top. I’m going to be in line for Star Wars as well. What’s great about this time of year is, as you know, they save the best for last in most cases. And hopefully, it just means more people are excited to go to the movies. I think that people know this time of year is where a lot of great pieces of art are going to come out. I would never think that we’d be able to compete with Star Wars — that’s something that’s embedded in our cultural DNA. But I think when people begin to hear about this movie, they’ll want to go see it. And that’s all we can hope for.

You should read the whole interview if you have a minute.

Are you excited about The Revenant?

This is one badass original cosplay for The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is Battle Sally, and it was created by the talented Maweezy Cosplay. I absolutely love the detail of this costume. The armor and outfit was made using worbla and insulation foam. Every part of that armor includes elements from the classic Henry Selick film and the bold cross stitching really ties the whole costume together. This is easily the best Nightmare Before Christmas cosplay that I've seen. 

Via: Fashionably Geek

If you're trying to go into Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoiler-free, I'm going to go ahead and advise you to just stop reading this right now. While technically nothing herein is a spoiler, there will be a lot of speculation centered around what we've seen in the newest trailer. Which, if any of this does turn out to be true, it will indeed be a spoiler. So once again: If you are trying to be spoiler-free, thanks for playing but you've been dealt a poor hand — have a nice day. Before we get started, however, let's talk briefly about the trailer on the whole.

In summation: It's amazing! Start to finish this is equal parts epic and emotional. We get to see Rey doing her thing as a scavenger and hanging out with everybody's favorite rolling droid. We see a little more of who Finn is, and what his story is. We learn for sure about Kylo's obsession with Darth Vader. There are stormtroopers and dogfights, explosions, and tons of everything else that makes Star Wars, well, Star Wars! And that final line: “The Force, it's calling to you. Just let it in.” That can mean so much!

Now let's get down to the nitty gritty of this trailer. Remember, most of this is speculation, so take all of this with a spoonful of salt.

Let's start at the beginning. So far we know very little about most of the characters. We know Rey lives on Jakku (which is the desert planet we've seen in all the trailers), she's a scavenger, and a bit of a loner. I was really excited to see her in action, exploring what looks to me like the inside of the crashed Star Destroyer we've seen.

There's not much speculation there, I know, but I'm excited at the opportunity to see a derelict Star Destroyer.

We get a few seconds of Rey and BB-8, then things get interesting.

We're treated to a few seconds of a far off ship flying upward. The triangular shape of the ship immediately draws up images of Imperial craft (i.e. the Star Destroyers) and I believe this ship has something to do with the search party that is looking for Finn. We know that Captain Phasma will be leading the hunt for him, so this will likely lead up to our first meeting with the towering Stormtrooper captain.

Next we're treated to a pan of a mysterious figure speaking before the amassed forces of the First Order. If you zoom in it's clearly Captain Phasma standing just to the right of the speaker, and they appear to be wearing an Imperial uniform. I believe this to be General Hux, and this to be Starkiller Base, which he commands. This may be in preparation to attack the Resistance forces, or to prepare for an attack by them.

We're treated to a quick shot before Finn takes his helmet off that is interesting to me.
It looks like there's some blood smeared on Finn's helmet. While it's not particularly ominous of anything in particular, blood is a fairly rare sight in these films. I think this shows us that this will be a somewhat darker film.

Finn talks about being raised to do one thing, and the implication is fight. If that's true, he may have been drafted as a child and raised from a young age to be a soldier. This can mean that the First Order is stretched for troops, so they start them young. It could also mean that the First Order is dedicated solely to warfare, and they're troops are some of the best. Stormtroopers that don't miss all the time? Sign me up!

We get a beautiful pan of a TIE fighter, presumably Finn's, spiraling toward a planet that is most likely Jakku. I think these will be in the beginning of the movie. We'll start with Finn fighting his way out, stealing a TIE fighter, being shot down, then we'll be introduced to Rey as seen in the earlier shots.

Finn says he has nothing to fight for...perhaps he'll find his purpose among the Jedi?

Next we get a shot of Kylo Ren standing on what looks like the bridge of a Star Destroyer overlooking something. I honestly have no idea what it could be.

Now we have a couple of shots of Kylo doing what appears to me to be almost praying to Darth Vader's helmet. 

We know Kylo is obsessed with Darth Vader, JJ has told us that. This definitely speaks to that, but it would also imply that there is almost a religious fervor to him. He may be so obsessed with Darth Vader because of who he is under that mask. I believe that Kylo Ren is (if not in name) Jacen Solo. In the former EU, Jacen was the son of Han and Leia, who turned to the dark side. He was obsessed with Darth Vader, as Kylo seems to be. We'll talk more about the Jacen parallel in a moment.

We next see what looks to be Kylo torturing Poe Dameron using the Force.

There is a scene in one of the Legacy novels where Jacen tortures a prisoner using the Force. He messes with their minds, forcing them to relive their worst memories and nightmares, then repeatedly smashes their heads into the table until they are dead. This scene seems to fit that. Poe is bloodied (again, we're seeing a lot of blood) and seems to be in excruciating pain as Kylo moves his hand in front of his face. If that is the scene they are portraying, I'm VERY excited to see them do something this dark on the big screen.

We get a great moment of Rey asking Han if all the old stories are true, and he tells her that all of them are. There's some awesome shots of the Falcon doing her thing what looks like on Jakku.

Now in a previous trailer we were treated to Han telling Chewie they were home, and it appears they were on board the Falcon. If it's on Jakku at the beginning of the movie, this could mean that Han and Chewie don't actually possess the legendary ship at the start of the film. Maybe Rey and Finn get it from its current owner and return it to them. This does leave us knowing that Greg Grunberg's character (who has yet to be named) might own the ship at the beginning of the film, but his fate is still up in the air.

We get a great shot of the Falcon traveling through hyperspace (which admittedly looks a lot like one of the scenes from JJ's Star Trek into Darkness.)

Then we get this beauty.

We know that Ren is a title, much like Darth. We also know that Kylo is a part of a group called the Knights of Ren. These are most likely more of these Knights. While we know very little about them, it seems like Kylo may be the only lightsaber-wielder of the bunch.

We're treated to several shots of X-wings, stormtroopers, dogfights, and the like. You know, your typical Star Wars goodness. We get a quick shot of Rey and Finn being stopped in their tracks by an explosion.

There are a number of flags in this picture, but 3 of them stand out to me. Dead center we have a mythosaur skull, the symbol of the Mandalorians. Just to the left of that there is a flag bearing the symbol Boba Fett wears on his armor, the symbol of his clan. Then down and to the right of those we have a blue flag with what looks like the Death Watch symbol on it. I don't recognize any of the other symbols on the flags, but here's my theory. In the Legacy series Boba returns to Mandalore and unites the clans. The Mandalorians stop being mercenaries for the most part and instead work on rebuilding their world and their society. I think this building they're about to walk into is some sort of Mandalorian stronghold, and that Han is taking the kids to ask Boba for help. While that may sound crazy, in the former EU the pair shared a professional mutual respect for each other. On top of that, in the most recent episode of Rebels, it's mentioned that there are Mandalorian strongholds but nobody knows where they are, and we've been told that there will be things in these new movies involving the animated series.

Now we get another look at a shot from the previous trailer with some additional footage.

I believe that these shots are all from the same area. Whomever is with R2 (and I believe it to be Luke) is being hunted by Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren, and a sizable contingent of Stormtroopers. If Luke has been in hiding, as some rumors have said, this could be the First Order's opportunity to capture him.

Rey is crying over what looks like a body. This looks like one of two people to me. If at the beginning of this film Rey is a loner and spending her time on Jakku, then who could she have bonded with to cause this reaction? My theory is that if Kylo is Jacen, Rey is his sister Jaina. If she is the daughter of Han and Leia, either of these will work: Chewbacca or Leia. Now the right side of the shot looks like fur, and in the bottom right corner appears to be Chewbacca's bandolier. It could also be a jacket worn by Leia, as the left side looks like her hair. I know, that's loose. But this reaction would certainly be warranted by the death of her mother.

Now what could cause Han and Chewie, who have been professional criminals, resistance fighters, military leaders, and have been on the lam or in hiding for years at a time, to react in such a fashion. Clearly they were about to be arrested, and based on some of the other shots in the trailer, it looks like they have been a part of the battle all over this footage. So what could have caused them to be so shocked? Shot in the dark here: Luke. We've seen strangely little footage of Luke in the trailers so far, but if Luke were to arrive in the nick of time to save his friends from certain death, that could certainly spark such a reaction.

We're treated to several more shots of dogfighting, and stormtroopers charging off a shuttle.

Then we're back to Rey.

That's anger if I ever saw it. I think this is following her scene with whomever's body she is crying over a few seconds before this. Whoever killed that person is going to face the wrath of Rey shortly thereafter.

More action shots, Kylo looking like a total badass, and then the most emotional moment we've seen so far.

Han embracing Leia. When we last saw the pair they were madly in love, so it's probably safe to assume they're married by this point. Leia is clearly feeling some strong emotions, maybe at the loss of an old friend, who is also a Wookiee? This more solidly supports the idea that Rey is crying over Chewbacca's body earlier, and this is when Han and Leia hear the news that their dear friend is gone. 

And now, the piece de resistance:

I believe this will be the only lightsaber fight in the movie, and it won't be what we're used to. When you take a close look at Kylo's saber, it looks very hodgepodge. We know that he built it himself, and that he has little training in its use. We also know that Finn is no Jedi at the beginning of this movie. Which means that we're going to have two people who have very little training or experience using the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy. We'll probably see two people hacking away at each other more like medieval knights, and less like graceful samurai. Personally, this excites the hell out of me. I love the classic lightsaber fight, but I'm ready to see a different type of duel.

As I said before, this trailer was absolutely wonderful. I love that we still know very little about the story. We know nothing about what is going on with Luke, but we have gotten to see some more character interaction between the new gang and the old gang. This seems to be a happy blend of the feeling of the original trilogy, but with some darker tones added to it. While we know very little still, this gives me a lot of hope for a wonderful Star Wars experience, with new stories to tell.

All 147 images have been split into two zip files for easy download.

There's a great piece in Variety today about the visual effects work Weta Digital did to create some of Paul Walker's performance in Furious 7 following the actor's tragic death in a car accident in the middle of production. It's worth reading in full, but I'll pull out a few notable quotes from the company's senior VFX supervisor, Joe Letteri, as well as embed a gallery of images at the bottom of this piece so you can see the results of what he talks about:

Unlike the motion-capture work that Weta had done on earlier films, there were no scans of Walker to create a digital double. So the team went through old footage, building a reference library of Walker as Brian O’Conner by using outtakes from “Furious 7” and previous films in the franchise. But those moments had been filmed in one lighting environment and the Weta team “essentially had to relight his performance” digitally for each new scene, said Letteri.

...

The filmmakers scanned Walker’s brothers Cody and Caleb, as well as actor John Brotherton (who has a role in the film and whose build and coloring are similar to Walker’s). The three men tried to capture the timing and direction that director Wan wanted. Weta essentially motion-captured the work of the three men, and then reapplied that to Walker digital models they had created.

Those digital models included extensive work on Walker’s hair and skin — how his facial muscles moved if he frowned or raised his eyebrows, how his coloring would flush after exertion or how the hair changes depending on the light or the wind. They even worked to make sure he blinked in character.

And while I thought a few of the shots in which Walker's face is digitally added or altered were obvious in the theaters, it's a testament to the filmmakers that there are SO MANY MORE of those shots than I noticed. They really did an excellent job, especially given the terrible circumstances. Check out this gallery of images and see if you noticed these when you saw the film in the theater:

Paul Walker Furious 7 VFX shots

Via: Uproxx

Adult Swim has released the first trailer for The Venture Bros. Season 6. I freakin' love this show and it's one of those rare series that only gets better and crazier as it continues. We've heard that a sixth season was coming for a long time, and it's good to know that it's actually officially happening! This trailer proves that it's coming, and it looks freakin' fantastic!

Showrunners Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer are obviously having a ton fun with this show, and at this point they are pretty much catering to their faithful audience. The trailer is three minutes long and, as you'd expect, it's full of lots of random awesomeness. I love how crazy this show can be, and it looks like we're in for a real treat. 

Season 6 will premiere on February 7th, 2016, which is two and a half years after season five concluded. I can't believe they made us wait this long! 

The last couple of days have been all about Star Wars. Teasers, posters, interviews, theories and speculations, and finally, we got the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer which, to be honest, almost made me cry. It simply managed to bring back all of those moments of pure excitement while watching the previous movies for the very first time. Oh, the chills.

In the new trailer, we are once again faced with some of the most-liked characters like Han Solo, his irreplaceable companion Chewbacca, and Princess Leia. There are, of course, the new heroes and villains of the saga that we have seen and heard about (rather briefly): Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren. But wait! We’ve caught a glimpse of yet another familiar character and one of the greatest villains of all time – Darth Vader! This part of the trailer was my favorite because I’ve always considered myself to be more of a Sith than a Jedi.

HOWEVER! Have you thought what the official poster would look like with one of the most reviled characters in the franchise's history on it? Here’s a redesigned version of it created by Olly Gibbs.

You'd think appearing in four big movies in one summer would be a good thing, but it seems to me like actress Judy Greer — who had roles in Tomorrowland, Entourage, Jurassic World, and Ant-Man this year — got the short end of the stick with the characters she played. Vanity Fair published a nice piece that breaks down every line of dialogue she had in all of those movies, and the results aren't exactly encouraging; I'd encourage you to read that piece if you haven't already. And though Greer has been great on television in things like Arrested Development, Archer, and Married, this trend of her having disappointing roles on the big screen continues from last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, in which she played Cornelia, the chimpanzee wife of the ape's leader, Caesar (Andy Serkis).

She had almost nothing to do in that film, but now THR reports that she's signed on to reprise her role in Matt Reeves' sequel, War for the Planet of the Apes. Hopefully she has a much more substantial role this time around, because Greer's too good of an actress to waste her in tiny parts in which she only has five lines. She joins Serkis, Woody Harrelson, and Steve Zahn in the film, and THR also says Karin Konoval will be back to play Maurice, Caesar's wise orangutan advisor.

We just wrote about the first set photo from War yesterday, and the film hits theaters on July 14th, 2017.

The team at How It Should Have Ended is at it again, this time taking a look at how Back to the Future should have ended...or, perhaps more accurately, how Back to the Future Part 2 should have started. The result isn't nearly as depressing as the timeline in which Biff lords over Hill Valley with his sports almanac, but it's surprisingly close. There have always been time travel paradoxes in time travel stories, and this one is no different. With October 21st, 2015 only one day away, check out their explanation below:

In the film, Back to the Future, the first time Doc tests the time machine is by sending his dog Einstein 1 minute into the future. Doc puts his dog in the car, drives it down the parking lot, and zap the car bursts into awesome flaming tire trails. Marty immediately thinks Doc killed his dog, because both the car and dog disappear. For a whole minute Einstein was missing until the DeLorean finally comes back from the past. This is why "Back to the Future 2" sending Marty into the future to see his own future children is impossible. When you travel into the future your timeline is you going into the future. A copy of you is not left behind to live on to 2015, so you can't go forward to see what your future self would be like. You would jump ahead to a world that lost you in 1985. People would think you had died. But that's not as fun of a story to tell is it.

And if you're a true BTTF fan, be sure to buy Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, which is packed with amazing never before seen photos, cool prop replicas, and much more.

I think Creed has the potential to be a surprise hit this year. The history of the Rocky franchise combined with the up-and-coming talent of Fruitvale Station collaborators Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, along with a supporting role from Sylvester Stallone, sounds like it could result in something special, a new entry into the series that could be vital and have a life all its own.

It's important that the vision of this movie came directly from Coogler himself and it not a group of suits in a boardroom somewhere at MGM. The director's passion for this project comes through in this new featurette called "Generations," which details how it came to be and features interviews with the major cast members talking about the legacy of Rocky and how Creed will fit into that story. The film arrives in theaters on November 25th.

Adonis Johnson (Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.

Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer. Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend. Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring. 

With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?

Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in cinema history. So how many people did the Star Wars villain kill on screen? The answer may surprise you, especially if you only count his appearance in the original trilogy. Once you open it up into the prequels — where a case might be made that he wasn't technically Darth Vader yet — the kill count rises immensely.

Keep in mind, this doesn't include any of the animated Clone Wars or Rebels content, so I suppose that title should really read "Every Darth Vader Kill From The Live Action Star Wars Movies," but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Anyway, thanks to Mr. Sunday Movies for the entertaining editing on display here.

If you're like me, you love good stories, and none have been as interesting and exciting as Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands... View Full Post GameTyrant

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Joe Dante, the director behind The Howling, Gremlins, and The Burbs, is set to direct a supernatural thriller called Labirintus. I’m a big fan of Dante’s earlier work, but his most recent films, such as The Hole and Burying The Ex, have been disappointing. I’ve been waiting for him to do something great again, though. I’d like this next project of his to be it, but only time will tell if that ends up being the case.

According to Variety, the movie will tell the story of “a paranormal investigator and psychiatric researcher, who join forces to explore an abandoned subterranean Soviet research facility, hidden within Hungary’s Budapest Labyrinth, the dark twisting catacombs beneath Buda Castle. When supernatural forces confound and torment the group, they begin to question their own sanity. To escape they must quash their fears and lead their team to find and destroy the dark heart of the maze.”

This sounds like it has the potential to be a great movie! I’m actually really excited to see what comes of it. 

Dante began his career as a film critic. From there he started cutting together trailers for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. From there he launched his directing career with Piranha for United Artists. He’s had a pretty awesome career, and It’d be great if this next film of his put him back on the map. 

Executive Producer Pascal Degove, who is also the managing director at Goldcrest Films, had this to say in a statement:

“Extraordinary to be working with Joe Dante – a director who has been thrilling, surprising and scaring audiences his entire career. ‘Labirintus’ is a creepy and unnerving journey into the psyche, and Joe is the perfect director to bring that to the big screen.”

I hope Dante can pull off something great with this. The director did say that this will be a “compelling, chilling film.”

DC Comics has released some more great variant cover art for Frank Miller's upcoming series Dark Knight III: The Master Race. We've previously shared a couple of covers created by Miller including Superman and one for Batman. Then we shared several other variant covers that were done by different artists. We have a lot more to add to that collection, and they come from a group of very talented artists.

Those artists include Greg Capulla, Bruce Timm, Brian Bolland, Darwyn Cooke, Gabriele Dell’Otto, Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Jae Lee, John Cassaday, Kelley Jones,  Kenneth Rocafort, Klaus Janson, Lee Bermejo, Matt Wagner, Neal Adams, Eduardo Risso, Tyler Kirkham, and Kevin Eastman.

There are enemies lining up to take a shot at the new God of Thunder, and while they might think themselves a force to be reckoned with, Jane Foster isn't really concerned with them. At the heart of this newest Thor is the battle going on in her own body as she struggles with the cancer attempting to take her mortal form. A premise like that is certainly compelling, and the team of Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Matt Wilson hope you feel the same way and stick around for the ride. I'll at least be giving the book a try. 

If you want to check out a preview of issue #1, you can do so above, as well as peruse the myriad of variant covers available at launch below. 

The Mighty Thor #1 releases on November 11.

Natalie Portman's new film Jane Got a Gun has gone through some hard times, and it all started when the original director, Lynne Ramsay, didn't show up for work on the first day of shooting. Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) ended up taking the gig, though, and he got it through production. Now we have our first trailer for the movie, and it looks great! If you're a fan of westerns like I am, then there's a good chance that you'll like what you see. 

The movie has a solid cast that also includes Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor, and Noah Emmerich.  Here's the brief synopsis:

Natalie Portman stars as Jane, who rebuilds her life with new husband Bill (Emmerich) after being tormented by an outlaw gang led by Collin (McGregor). But things get ugly again when the husband has a fresh run-in with the gang, leaving Jane little choice but to ask her ex-fiance (Edgerton) for help.

The Weinstein Company picked up the distribution rights to the movie, and it will be released in February of 2016.

David Goyer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Neil Gaiman's feature film adaptation of Sandman is inching closer to production. Gordon-Levitt has been very vocal about the project, and earlier this year he talked about how it has been a complicated adaptation, and discussed how the film would be mind-blowingly awesome.

The movie is being developed at New Line Cinema, which is the WB production company that will be taking on all the Vertigo comic book properties. During an interview with Collider, Goyer offered an update on the project and said that they've brought in “a really fantastic writer" that fans "will enjoy” to write a new draft of the script. He also says that he hopes the film will go into production next year. Here's what he said:

"We’re just about to do a new draft. All of the Vertigo properties ported over to New Line a few months ago. There was a decision from the higher-ups that New Line would focus on the Vertigo properties and Warner Bros would focus on the DC properties. So we’re just starting a re-write with a really fantastic writer that fans of your site will enjoy that’s coming aboard, but I can’t quite announce it yet.

"I think that the Vertigo properties are a bit more quirky and off-center than kind of the mainstream superhero stuff at Warners. But I understand the decision because we’re not having to fight for release dates with the Vertigo stuff like we would have been having to do over at Warner Bros. But I feel confident that film will go into production hopefully next year."

I'm curious to know who this mystery screenwriter is. Hopefully, whoever it is has a great take on the property. This could be such an awesome movie if done right, and I don't think Gordon-Levitt would be a part of it if it wasn't. 

The Sandman comic series was originally created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. But it wasn't until Gaiman came along and gave us his version of the comic that it really exploded. The 75+ issue comic arc ran from January of 1989 to March of 1996. WB has been trying to get a movie made since 1996, and it's about time that it finally happened. 

The story focuses on Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, a deity who personifies dreams. Gaiman also introduced the Endless, a group of powerful brothers and sisters named Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium (as well as Dream).