I was extremely skeptical of The Peanuts Movie when it was first announced. Could the studio that made the Ice Age and Rio movies really turn the classic Charles M. Schulz comic strip into a worthy CGI movie? Turns out the answer is yes, and The Peanuts Movie has everything you could want from a movie that follows Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Woodstock, and the rest of the gang.

When a new girl moves in across the street, Charlie Brown is immediately smitten, and he spends an entire school year devising various ways to impress her. It's a cute representation of young love, the kind where he's instantly head over heels for this girl even though he's never, you know, actually spoken to her before. It hits all the predictable beats — the crippling insecurity, the eventual boost of confidence, etc. — and though the story is incredibly simple, it's also the kind of wholesome, old-school storytelling that teaches basic lessons about honesty and decency that Schulz himself would surely have appreciated.

As to be expected, though, Snoopy is the real star here, and I laughed out loud several times at his ridiculous antics. He's also the character at the center of the movie's most bombastic action sequences. He rescues a typewriter from a dumpster early on and spends the movie writing his own movie within the movie that stars (who else) himself as the World War I flying ace, battling the infamous Red Baron and trying to save the love of his life, a female poodle pilot named Fifi.

The boiled-down storytelling clearly aims at a much younger crowd than, say, a typical Pixar film, but that doesn't make it any less effective. The movie also looks downright terrific, with the visual effects team perfectly capturing every detail of these recognizable characters and seamlessly translating them to CG without missing a step. There are even a handful of callbacks and references to the animated TV specials that have become annual viewing for so many families.

The Peanuts Movie doesn't break any new ground, but its amusing characters and quick pacing should satisfy younger viewers while older ones should be please with just how familiar everything looks, even in an updated format like 3D. Thankfully, the filmmakers didn't pull the metaphorical football out from under us on this one. (Pro tip: Stick around during the credits to see that gag brought to life.)

Here's the second full trailer for Concussion, the new movie that takes on the NFL by concentrating on the negative effects players can experience from repeated head trauma. It's a movie the NFL should not want people to see, but I think football has proven that it's too big to fail in this country.

Even if every single fan knew about the risks of injury and knew that by watching and supporting the league, they were encouraging early and unnecessary deaths, a large percentage of people would still watch football every Sunday. It's simply ingrained in the fabric of American culture (especially in the South, where I was born and raised), and it's a complicated issue that will hopefully help reach a larger audience with this movie. Who knows — maybe we'll be able to look back one day and point to Concussion as the impetus for real, worthwhile changes that were made to make the sport safer for its athletes.

Concussion premieres next week at the AFI FEST here in Los Angeles before coming to theaters on Christmas Day.

Yesterday, we shared a supercut of every single gadget from every James Bond movie. And with Spectre officially hitting theaters in the United States tomorrow (read my review here), there's no better time to watch another Bond-themed vide. This one, from editor Phil Whitehead, cuts together the surprising number of times that 007's villains break out into laughter. Plotting all of those harebrained world domination schemes can be such serious business, so I guess they need to let off a little steam every once in a while. 

Via: The Awesomer

EA Games and DICE have packed an unbelievable amount of detail into the planets of Star Wars Battlefront. From the snowy hills of Hoth to the mossy redwoods of Endor, everything is crafted with an insane level of care... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that if Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer finish the screenplay they've been working on together and both co-star in an eventual movie as planned, that movie is going to be awesome. Schumer is absolutely hilarious, and Lawrence, despite her A-list status, has the kind of self-deprecating personality that could be used wonderfully in a straight-up comedy (she's never starred in a comedy before).

Schumer recently told Access Hollywood that the most recent draft of their work-in-progress script was, "funny, it’s dirty, it’s real. It’s like us," and now Lawrence — in the midst of her press tour to promote the final Hunger Games movie — has offered up a few more scant details about it to ET:

“Yep! It’s is all of those things,” she said, confirming Schumer's description of the tone of the picture in which they'll play sisters. “Amy, in this movie, she has it very together. It's her lifelong dream to be a flight attendant. She works at the airport. And I'm a mess.”

“We both have very similar senses of humor, obviously and aren't afraid, which is a good and bad thing, because I don't know what our movie will be rated," she said. "And we're both very blunt. So we've gotten through a really strenuous process without ever fighting, because we're both very straightforward.”

She also mentioned to Extra that "there's not really a lot of boys in the story. It's mainly just me and Amy," so there's yet another interesting look into their creative process.

I have very high hopes for this one, and it'll be cool to see them playing against type. I'm interested to see who comes on board to direct this, as well: could Schumer get behind the camera and do it herself? How cool would that be?

We’ve gotten a little taste of how Jesse Eisenberg will portray Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but that stuff barely scratches the surface of who Lex really is in this movie.

Over the years, Lex has been played by actors such as Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Michael Rosenbaum, Clancy Brown, and John Shea. Each one had their own unique spin on the character, and next year we’ll fully get to see another version of the villainous character from Eisenberg. In a recent interview with The Diane Rehm Show, the actor talked about how he approached the character and how he will make it his own:

“I’ve always noticed the best thing to channel, as an actor, is yourself. To figure out what makes you angry, what makes you feel vengeful or righteous. Those are the feelings that Lex Luthor has. And use that as opposed to kind of watching Gene Hackman, who’s a great actor obviously and played that part originally, and think, ‘How can I kind of mirror that? Because the truth is, me mirroring him would just come off weird. We have different faces, different life experiences, different emotions, but what I do have – that I have more than anybody – is my own feelings, and so I use those, and then the character seems not only real, but emotional and just. He believes he’s the hero of his own story – is the kind of the actor cliche – when you’re playing the villain, you’re the hero of your own story. That’s the kind of most interesting way for me as an actor, and I think, for an audience to appreciate as well.”

Well, he seems to know what he wants to get out of the character, and from what we have seen, this is going to be a very different version of Lex than anything we’ve seen before, and I’m actually excited about that. It will definitely make things more interesting. 

Directed by Zack Snyder and also starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will arrive in theaters on March 25th, 2016.

Disney continues to make dreams come true. Earlier this week we learned about hardcore Star Wars fan Daniel Fleetwood, who was diagnosed with cancer and isn’t expected to make it to the December 17th release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In an interview, Daniel shared his enthusiasm about the film and said, "judging by how progressive the disease has gotten in the past two months, I really don’t think that I’ll be able to make it.”

A social media campaign was launched for the 32-year-old by his wife Ashley and the hashtag #ForceForDaniel spread across social media like wildfire. Mark Hamill, John Boyega, and several other people supported Daniel and spread the word. 

It’s with a happy heart that I report that Disney, Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams granted Daniel his wish, and he has already seen an early cut of the film! Ashley gave the following update on her Facebook page:

How awesome is that?! Hamill also expressed his happiness and tweeted the following message:

I just read this and am elated for Daniel & his family! Thanks to the powers-that-be for making his dream come true. https://t.co/ImiAdyBxf8

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) November 5, 2015

It is truly heartwarming that people will have gone out of their way to make something like this a reality. My faith in humanity has been strengthened, and I love to see the passion of the fans help another passionate fan get his wish.

While we wait for the first full trailer for Warcraft to premiere today, we have an EW interview with director Duncan Jones about the epic fantasy adventure film.

I'm not only excited to see the film for myself, but I’m also excited to how it changes the way these kinds of movies are made. The epicness you saw in the previously released teaser trailer is just the tip of the iceberg of what this film has to offer. As I’ve said before, I think this movie is going to take fantasy to a whole new level. I also think it will break the video game movie curse. When asked about that specifically, Jones had this to say:

“There are a couple of things. One thing I would say is that that stigma used to be attached to comic book movies too. It took a generation of filmmakers who loved and were raised on comic books to make movies that you actually cared about and felt something for. I think that’s absolutely the same with what’s going on with video game movies. I am absolutely of the video games generation, starting on the Atari and Commodore 64 and the Amiga. I’m a gamer at heart and always have been. I’m also a filmmaker. I think my sensibilities about storytelling and character just automatically come into play when I’m trying to work on any kind of narrative. For me, it doesn’t really matter what the source of the narrative is. I will be looking for ways to make it into an intriguing story with empathetic characters.”

Warcraft is a film that was made for both fans of the game and audiences who have never played it. It had to appeal to everyone, and from what I’ve seen and heard, the film will please people on both sides of the fence. Jones went on to talk about the faithfulness of the movie to the game:

“I am someone who played Warcraft, but at the same time, I consider myself a filmmaker first. I think one of the reasons why it’s taken so long for this film to come together the way it has is that there were a lot of priorities and a lot of concerns about what this film needed to be and how it absolutely had to be something that you could approach and watch if you didn’t know anything about Warcraft. That was really that tricky line to walk, making sure that the fans would really feel that it’s their world and at the same time introduce it in a way to people who know nothing about it. That’s why it took such a long time. Peter Jackson went through this with The Fellowship of the Ring. There was always going to be a hardcore fanbase for Tolkien that was going to take him to task if he didn’t address things in a way that stayed true to the spirit of Tolkien’s work. Obviously, we don’t have the amount of history that Tolkien does. It’s a different fanbase, somewhat overlapping. We have the same passion amongst our fans, so it was a similar job.”

The director spoke about the challenges of putting together the first trailer for the film saying:

“We’ve got an awful lot of introducing to do, both in this movie and inviting audiences in to come see this movie. There’s an entirely new world, new characters. This is beyond the Warcraft faithful, who know what it is that we’re talking about. Also, what kind of subject matter is it? What kind of fantasy is it? There will be different pieces that we have to address over the seven months until our film comes out. Right now, we just want to give everyone a sense of the breadth of the world, the kind of action that’s involved, and a sense of the energy of the movie. As we go along, I’m sure we’ll be introducing people to the broader spectrum of what this big, big film is.”

Since the movie is completely finished, Jones can basically watch the movie whenever he wants. The last question he was asked was, “Do you just watch Warcraft on your phone because you can?” This was his reply:

“Right now, I feel really bad for my wife because I keep on playing the teaser trailer and seeing what people are saying about it. It’s absolutely self-destructive behavior, but I think today I’m just going to give myself the day off to do that kind of thing. We’ve been waiting nearly three years now to see what people think of what we’ve been doing. I’ve just been enjoying the excitement.”

We’ll make sure to post that trailer for you as soon as it’s released later on today! It’s something you won’t want to miss! Warcraft arrives in theaters on June 10th, 2016.

The eighth season of Robot Chicken recently premiered, and it kicked things off with a hilarious sketch involving Arrow, The Flash, and some of the other less geeky CW shows.

The sketch features resident Robot Chicken The Nerd voiced by Seth Green as he daydreams his way through various CW TV series. In Arrow, The Nerd appears alongside Oliver Queen as his costumed sidekick, Arsenal. He seems to have issues following Arrow's season two and three policy of not killing anyone, though. He later finds himself as The Flash, but has problems figuring out where to go to stop a bank robbery because he’s not familiar with Central City.

The Nerd also makes appearances in Beauty and the Beast, America’s Next Top Model, and Jane the Virgin. If you’re a fan of Robot Chicken, then there’s no doubt that you’ll enjoy this!

Guess what!? We're only six weeks away from the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! While we may not be seeing anymore trailers for the film between now and then, Lucasfilm and Disney will still be releasing posters and banners like this latest one featuring John Boyega's Finn wielding his new lightsaber. This is a wicked cool image, and it might just be the most badass image of Finn we've seen yet. 

The banner comes from Star Wars Junk, and there are sure to be more of them popping up featuring different characters. 

Starring original cast members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker and franchise newcomers Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Lupita Nyong’o, and Max von Sydow, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to be released on December 18th, 2015.

To catch up on all of our Star Wars: The Force Awakens news, click here! There's been a lot of it, so there's a chance you may have missed something.

We’ve heard that Tom Holland has some serious gymnastic skills, which is probably one of the reasons why Marvel cast in the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He recently released a video of himself showing off these skills, and it’s really quite impressive. I’ll be honest, the only thing that he does in this video that I can do is when he lays down at the end of it.

It’s going to be fun to see this kid kicking ass as Spider-Man. He will make his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, which hits theaters May 6th, 2016. There's no doubt he's going to utilize some of this gymnastic stuff in the movies.

Thank you @GymaidLtd and GJTC for an awesome day and thank you so much for the awesome Airtrack mat. I can't wait to have a play. It was so good to be back in the gym so thank you thank you thank you for getting me started again!

A video posted by ✌️ (@tomholland2013) on Nov 5, 2015 at 8:56am PST

"With Great Power Comes Zero Responsibility"

Here's a new superhero movie with a different kind of flavor than you're used to tasting. It's a dark comedy called American Hero, and it stars Stephen Dorff (Blade) as a guy who has telekinetic abilities. Of course, he doesn't use them for anything worthwhile. He's basically just a major screw-up, but after hitting rock bottom, he is looking to change his life and start fighting crime. This actually looks like it could be a fun flick! Here's the synopsis:

Melvin (Stephen Dorff), a reluctant hero who is far from super, has been suppressing his telekinetic powers for years with booze, drugs, and women. In the process, he has failed at practically everything, most of all as a parent to his son. After a brush with death, Melvin decides to use his powers for good and clean up the streets of New Orleans with the help of his best friend/definitely-not-a-sidekick, Lucille (Eddie Griffin). For a man who can do the impossible, it might be a fight even he can’t win.

American Hero was written and directed by Nick Love, who worked on films such as The Sweeney, The Firm, and Outlaw. The movie will be released in select theaters and VOD on December 11th.

"Hope is not lost today... it is found."

Just when we thought we wouldn't see any new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a Japanese trailer was released that shows off  a ton of new stuff that fans are going to love! It contains new shots of BB-8, Chewbacca, Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren, and more!  

The highly anticipated film stars Daisy Ridley stars as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, and Max Von Sydow. Returning from the original trilogy we have Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Kenny Baker as R2-D2.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th! Now enjoy the new international trailer!

A few weeks ago we posted some cool concept art from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice created by costume designer Michael Wilkinson. It included costumes for Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck), and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). We now have some new concept art to share with you of the Dark Knight, and these pieces come from conceptual artist Jerad S. Marantz, who had this to say on his Facebook page:

"Finally get to show these! Here are some of the images that I painted for Batman versus Superman. I was fortunate enough to spend a bit of time on all of the characters, but was lucky enough to be able to focus on Illustrating the new Batman costume with the incredible costume designer Michael Wilkinson. This was a childhood dream come true."

There is a full body illustration that he made below. It looks a little different from what they ended up using. This suit design looks like it included some armor under the suit, which I didn't see in the final design.

In Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice opens March 25, 2016.

It's already been a big Star Wars: The Force Awakens news day with a new banner featuring Finn and an unexpected international trailer that was packed full of new footage from the film. Now Hot Toys has unveiled their latest Star Wars action figure featuring Captain Phasma, who is played by Gwendoline Christie. All of the figures that Hot Toys has released for this film so far have been so cool looking, and this one is no exception.

As the release date of Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming closer and closer, the anticipation for this long awaited installment of the saga is growing stronger everyday! Following the reveal of the First Order legions of troopers, Hot Toys is very excited to officially present the 1/6th scale collectible figure of their commander clad in distinctive metallic armor – Captain Phasma! 

The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She stands approximately 33cm tall and features the character’s signature chrome colored armor and helmet, specially applied multiple layers of metallic paint on armor with weathering effects, finely tailored cape, highly detailed blaster rifle, and hexagonal figure stand with the First Order’s emblem!

"Sometimes you gotta get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side."

Disney has released the first clip for Pixar’s wonderful looking new film The Good Dinosaur. The clip is titled “Get Through Your Fear,” and it features a scene between the young dinosaur Arlo and his dad, who is teaching him to overcome his fears. It a beautiful little scene that you can check out below. Pixar sure does like to teach some good valuable lessons in their stories. 

The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa; The Night Shift, Rizzoli & Isles) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

The film’s voice cast will also include Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), Steve Zahn (Treme, Saving Silverman), AJ Buckley (Murder in the First, Justified), Anna Paquin (True Blood, X-Men), Sam Elliot (Justified, The Big Lebowski). Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge, Fargo), Marcus Scribner (Black•ish), and Jack Bright (Monsters University).

The Good Dinosaur was directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream. It hits theaters November 25th.

Spider-Man just got a hell of a lot more badass with this new Spider-Man samurai action figure! The toy is part of Tamashii Nations "Marvel Movie Realization" toy line. The photo above comes from Toyark, but there is no information other than what you see in the picture. It'd be cool if they ended up releasing a full series of Marvel superhero samurai figures!

I recently had a chance to speak to Joshua Fialkov (Last of the Greats, The Bunker) about his newest project, Pacific Rim: Tales From The Drift. Join us as we talk about this book of giant robots and monsters with a very intimate tale of two people at its core.

Matt Mueller: To start off, what drew you to create something in this universe? Were you a big fan of the film?

Josh Fialkov: I am. It has been about 6 months since I’ve taken on any work for hire, so I haven’t been working for anyone else, I’ve got all my creator-owned books that I am doing all over the place, and they keep me super busy. I made an active decision that I’ve gotten to play with every toy I wanted to, I’m good, now I want to play with my toys, and then, the monsters at Legendary called and offered me the chance to work on Pacific Rim, and I was like oh come on, of course, how do you say no to that. It has been amazing to get to work, I mean, I’m a huge fan of the movie. The movie is by far my favorite original piece of science fiction of the past 15 or 20 years probably. It checks so many boxes of things I love. I love monster movies, I love robots, I love war movies. I love apocalypse movies! It is literally four quadrants of me. It is the perfect movie for me. On top of that, getting to work with a story that Travis and Guillermo, Travis who wrote the movie and Guillermo who directed it, getting to work with a story that the two of them approved and is canonical and really a part of the story, and getting to work with them and getting to see the inside of this universe, it has been a real treat for me. I am so thrilled to get the chance to do it. I think everybody says that right? Like everybody says in interviews “well it was the thing I always wanted to do,” but like literally I took it entirely because I wanted to play with the toys. And the best part, it’s written and being drawn, almost all drawn, and being on the other side of it is nice, and it has been an absolute pleasure the whole way through. Legendary is so cool to work with, and it is a bunch of great people who all are really passionate about this universe and really believe in this universe.

MM: So you came in because it is a property you love. Was the plot line already set when you came on? Did you get to help plan that out?

JF: That is pretty close. The broad strokes were definitely there. They knew where the story was going to start and generally where the story was going to end, but within that framework I had a ton of freedom to tell the story the way I want, and what is really nice, the thing I am sort of proudest of with the comic, and again part of what was so great about working with Legendary, as a writer if you look at my books, you look at The Bunker or The Life After or King, you look at those books and they are fairly avant-garde genre books. They’re genre, whether hard sci fi or hard fantasy, but they have a sort of avant-garde or abstract execution, right? Very stylized, and very odd, and Legendary... that is part of why they wanted me. They wanted someone who could come in and tell a story with that sort of brush stroke. So they have been so warm and accepting of the weird way the story is being told, haha. But I think what is cool is the part of how that manifests itself in the book is that I get to tell two stories simultaneously. So what I love and I’m really proud of is that you get to see these two hardened Jaeger pilots who have this clever relationship that is immovable. You also get to see the story of these two pilots when they couldn’t stand each other, and we get to see these two stories play out, with genuine real stakes. It isn’t like one is a flashback that doesn’t matter and one is the present that does. Both are given equal weight, because while we know both will clearly live through the flashback, we don’t know how they get there. The hope is that you want to see these two people, these two people who are again as opposite each other as can be, essentially become one, one unit, and not just compatible, but beyond compatible.

MM: And that is actually one of the things I really liked about the first issue. After seeing the film, which I caught right at the end before it exited theaters after pleading with my wife to come see it, which she did and really enjoyed, but I digress... It is really easy to get lost in just how bombastic in scale the fights and monsters are, that you lose sight of the people who are actually making these Jaegers move. In this book it is actually a very intimate tale of one couple, and even from the first issue there are so many little couple moments that happen while they are trying to not get destroyed by a massive Kaiju, and then during that they are almost getting into a fight. That kind of thing, those little moments, happen every day with your significant other or girlfriend or boyfriend, and that stuff is just great. It’s really fun to see that juxtaposed against all the other stuff that is going on around them while they are piloting a giant robot, haha.

JF: And that is something that, um, for whatever it is worth, that is the reality of my marriage, right? A lot of what is in that book comes from what my wife and I’s relationship is. It is this idea that we found each other and came from very different places, with very different life goals  and very different upbringings, and very different everything, but together we make a team that is unstoppable, and that team is cemented by something that as I say it as a writer you’re like “oh really, that’s what it is?”, but the truth is it's cemented by love. The idea at the core of Pacific Rim is that two people can find each other, and they can bond in a way that is so powerful that they can destroy monsters. That they can slay any dragon. I think that any relationship that has that level of closeness, and trust, and honesty, I think that is what it is. I know that no matter what happens to me or what situation I find myself in my wife is always there for me, and my wife knows the same thing about me, that I’m always going to be there for her. The bedrock of our relationship is that, and I think getting to express that through this big genre explosion is such a cool thing to do and such a cool trick.

MM: Now this is a four part miniseries. Throughout the whole thing does it focus on these two, or is there a revolving cast?

JF: This is their story. It is really the story about Duc and Kaori, and it's about, part of it, I’m going to talk about Legendary business affairs as much as everyone wants me to! Haha, but it’s something that, they want to see if the appetite that they all think is out there is out there. I know it is, and I would love, they have pitches from me for more stuff, like they know what I want to do, and even with my schedule being completely insane, like I will always make time for working on Pac Rim, because I love the universe and the toys so much.

MM: One of the other things that really stuck out is the artwork. It is very unique and distinct, and the actual Kaiju look menacing and deadly, something to be feared.

JF: Marcos Marz and Marcelo Maiolo, who were both good friends of mine, and are both extremely talented guys, have really like, the best part about comics is that what comes out the other end is so dependent on the people who make it. Sometimes you get put into situations where what comes out the other end, the band just doesn’t play well together, right? But I feel the stuff we are doing, and getting to work with Marcos and Marcello, is really like, it’s the Miles Davis Trio, if there was a trio, but you know what I mean, it is literally like the three of us jamming off each other and making something that is super cool and super fun. Like I said, there isn’t a part of this that hasn’t been a complete joy.

MM: What is your favorite part of writing these two in particular?

JF: I like the stuff you talked about actually, the relationship stuff. In the movie you get to see two very separate relationships and you see them at two opposite stages. You get to see them when they are essentially first courting, and when they are first courting they really want it to work. They so want to be able to drift together. And then when you see Raleigh and his brother at the top you are seeing these guys who have literally been together from birth. So the idea of two people who do not want to work together, going from not just not wanting to work together but actively disliking each other, hating each other, going through to being inseparable and being literally being each other's limbs, is such an interesting journey because you get to every step of it. You get to see the beginning, middle, and end of it. You get to see how they achieve that perfect harmony. 

MM: And it does make sense that two pilots that would be stellar would be two people who already know the ins and outs of each other. They know each other’s tendencies. A couple of different times you see this, like when Kaori is talking to Duc and says the passing comment, “Well of course you are going to give up so easily,” those type of comments only come from living with someone for years.

JF: And from knowing each other’s weaknesses right? The most important thing is not only knowing when someone needs picking up but also knowing when someone needs a kick in the ass.

MM: Exactly. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. It wasn’t necessarily missing from the film, but you don’t really know what you are missing until you see this.

JF: That’s the power of transmedia right? The power of being able to take a franchise or a property that is so strong, and then explore it in other forms, is that you get to explore it using the strengths of those things. In comics, for having the reputation of being books about people punching each other, which I think is what most people generally think about comic books, the most compelling thing in Superman is Superman and Lois. Like that’s the thing that started it, is that he is in love with a woman whose entire purpose in life is to get into danger, like she has none of the powers and none of the fear, and he has all of the powers and all of the fear. That dynamic is what makes him exciting, not the fact that he punches Brainiac, right? That is at the heart of every great comic book. Look at the X-men. What makes the X-Men work when they became great was that it stopped being about “Oh, Society hates us!” and it becomes about “Not only does society hate us, but now I hate you, we hate each other, we can’t get along!” and is very much about that interpersonal stuff, because comics do that really well. So yeah getting to do that and getting to explore that side was really important to Travis, Guillermo, and Legendary as well.

MM: I couldn’t agree more. That interplay between the varying personalities was always what I loved most about the X-Men, and when that aspect is present in any book, I tend to add it to my pull list.

Thanks so much for setting some time aside to talk to me. Looking forward to issue #2.

JF: Thank you so much, really appreciate it!

Pacific Rim: Tales From The Drift #1 is in stores now.

With Legendary Pictures putting a bunch of money and support behind Duncan Jones for Warcraft, it is no surprise that other game companies are starting to jump behind video game movies again. Though they have been the laughing stock of the box office the last couple decades, we very well could be poised on the edge of a video game movie revolution... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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At GeekTyrant, our video team has been working hard creating original content for the site. As most of our future ideas were too big for a micro budget we realized we would need a sponsor. Geek-themed box subscription services are exploding, and after sampling several, our consensus is that Loot Crate is the best.

So we reached out to Loot Crate with our creative ideas, and they got excited about teaming up. Starting in November, GeekTyrant is going to be making a series of videos that feature Loot Crate boxes and their contents as MacGuffins. We're hoping to make videos with action, humor, visual effects, geek references, original music, stunts, and creative product placement.

Each month Loot Crate themes their boxes, which means we can create a couple of fun videos around that theme. November's box theme is "Combat" and will have items from Fallout 4, Blizzard, Capcom, and Hunger Games. In mid-November we'll have a unboxing video unlike anything you've ever seen.

In our first video, two recurring characters are being introduced, and for legal reasons we'll call them the Warrior and the Adventurer. One wants to gain power from the boxes, the other wants to collect and preserve them.

If you want to know what makes Loot Crate so awesome, go to http://lootcrate.com/tyrant. We've heard that this month's box has two collectible figures (the GeekTyrant office is full of figures from past crates). If you use promo code "TyrantUp" you save 10%, and let them know that GeekTyrant sent you.