House of Cards season four has yet to premiere, but Netflix has already renewed the series for a fifth season. That fifth season comes at a price, though, because the creator of the series, Beau Willimon, is not coming along for the ride. The streaming service released the following statement:

“Netflix and MRC owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Beau Willimon for his strong narrative vision for House of Cards over the show’s first four seasons. As an Academy Award nominated writer, he made his first foray into television and built a riveting and critically acclaimed series, establishing his place in TV history. The producers, cast and crew join us in wishing Beau the best in his next creative adventure.”

Willimon is just moving on to other things. This is what he had to say:

“I’m grateful to Netflix and MRC, my fellow executive producers, our two incandescent stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, our talented writers, as well as the incredible cast and crew with whom I’ve had the privilege to work. After five years and four seasons, it’s time for me to move on to new endeavors, but I’m supremely proud of what we’ve built together, wish the show much continued success, and leave it in the hands of a very capable team.”

It's really a good thing when the creator of a show leaves. These people are the heart and soul of these productions when they leave the show is rarely the same. But we'll see how it goes! Season five is set to premiere in 2017.

I also included a new promo spot for season four below called "Dig."

Via: Deadline

Artist Brian Kesinger won’t stop with the Calvin & Hobbes Star Wars art and I hope he never does! We’ve already done a couple posts featuring characters from The Force Awakens in the style of Calvin & Hobbes that you can see here and here. Now we have a few more pieces that I know you’re going to love.

Making Star Wars is reporting that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will show us a Vader much more violent than we've seen in the past. The team reports that a stunt suit for Vader has been built, and it's more than likely we are going to see some action scenes that they are saying will be "brutal." So far, ideas pitched by the writing staff include decapitations by a thrown lightsaber and using stormtroopers as human shields via the Force.

I'm not at all against this! While we've always known Vader was for the most part cold-blooded in his early days, we never saw the height of his power in the films as we do in other media. That being said, there's a fine line between depicting someone being choked out on screen and straight up head slicing them. Do you think it's extreme, or not extreme enough?!

With the Lenovo Tab 3 Pro, you can now own a big screen television and a tablet for a fraction of the price. $475 is quite a bargain considering the price of a 4K television alone is about three times that! For those saying there has to be a catch, Time tech says all appears to be up to snuff. You can't attach your cable to it, but it will project your apps and games and is coupled with built in JBL speakers! It also has a 15 hour battery life unplugged, which is awesome for those long binges.

Of course, for it to work ideally, you're going to need a blank wall and some darkness in your room, which may be a big deal-breaker for some. All things considered, however, it's a great budget option for those looking to have the latest tech, but also save money.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 OF REBELS AHEAD]

A quick history lesson.

When Disney acquired the rights to the entirety of Star Wars in October 2012, fans worldwide held their breath waiting to hear what orders our new mousey overlord may pass down. It wasn't long before Disney declared every single Star Wars book, video game, or any other piece of media (outside of the approved live-action films and The Clone Wars) an enemy of the Republic. Sorry, they declared them "legends." The move enraged a large number of die-hard fans. I spent the next several weeks sifting through Facebook page invites, tweets, and petitions to “bring back” those stories. Disney later clarified that while they were no longer considered “canon,” they might occasionally draw on them for the purpose of enhancing their new stories.

Among the countless characters now no longer considered canonical is Grand Admiral Thrawn. A fan favorite for decades, Thrawn is considered by many fans to be the quintessential Star Wars villain. But we held little hope we would ever see the return of this cunning threat.

Enter Star Wars Rebels. Rebels has been positively loaded with references to Legends characters and events since the beginning. So it's unsurprising that there could be a possibility of seeing some fan favorite characters returned to the canon.

A recent rumor from MakingStarWars.net insists that we'll be seeing the good Admiral pursuing the crew of the Ghost, which would be absolutely amazing! Thrawn has always been a tactical genius, and the possibility of his substantial abilities being brought to bear against our heroes is a phenomenal opportunity! We would see the return of an old fan favorite and the distinct possibility of the heroes of the rebels meeting their match against a man they know nothing about. Let the games begin, Rebels!

The rumor also addresses that we will see Ezra sporting a shorter haircut, and a new lightsaber very similar to Luke's second lightsaber. We may also see a timeline jump further toward A New Hope in season three.

Part of me really wishes this was the real George Lucas. The apathy towards Star Wars, the extravagant lifestyle, the harem of women at his disposal? Of course he's really nothing like this and this whole thing is a great parody by joshrobertthompson.

This guy really captured the casualness of George Lucas when he talks. I need more of these.

Rumors and information about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been steadily building since people have turned their attention from The Force Awakens to the next live-action Star Wars movie, and that trend continues today with a post from MakingStarWars. The site claims to have information about Forest Whitaker's character in Gareth Edwards' new movie. Here's the info they've heard from their sources:

• Forest Whitaker’s character uses a cane.

• It appears he has one leg and uses a cane as a crutch to walk.

• He appears to be a veteran of some battles, but it isn’t clear if he lost his leg fighting in the Clone Wars or against the Empire.

• Based on a differentiated code name from the rest of the rebels in the movie, it appears he is likely good but maybe a bounty hunter affiliated type.

• He seems to be a “good guy” in Rogue One. 

• He has a cape and his costume is a hodgepodge of different things (think of someone you might see at Maz’s castle).

It doesn't look like any of the recently unveiled costumes match up with that description, so I don't think any of those belong to Whitaker's character. But the idea of seeing him as a battle-hardened veteran in the Star Wars universe is very appealing to me, and I'm excited to see if this rumor pans out.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16th, so I'm guessing we're going to see its first trailer very soon.

Yeah, so, I'm not gonna try to hide that I have had a major love/hate relationship with Diablo III. What was my most anticipated game of my adult life, I felt was quite a clusterf**k at launch. I kept playing over and over, day after day and many late nights, hoping that it would somehow... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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Adam Sandler is one of the most financially successful actors in Hollywood. Personally, I haven't liked a Sandler movie since Funny People, but his continued success proves that there is an absolutely massive audience out there who can't get enough of him and loves practically everything he does.

Comedian Shawn Kohne seemingly went insane putting together a unifying theory called The Sandlerverse that connects Sandler's movies to other Happy Madison productions, as well as tying things into his work at Saturday Night Live, and more. Even if you're like me and despise most of Sandler's movies, it's still easy to appreciate this video:

Via: LaughingSquid

It’s been confirmed that a new movie called Official Secrets has recruited two of the biggest stars in the movie industry: the guy whom princesses find hard to resist, Harrison Ford, and the man who played the most famous cannibalistic serial killer in film history, Anthony Hopkins.

Produced by Elizabeth Fowler, the spy thriller boasts a cast that also includes Paul Bettany (The Avengers), Natalie Dormer (The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock).

Official Secrets is based on the best-selling book and true story The Spy Who Tried To Stop A War: Katherine Gun and The Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion.

Here’s the official synopsis of the book:

British secret service officer Katharine Gun's only crime was telling the truth, but she paid a steep price when she exposed a U.S.-U.K. spy operation to secure UN authorization for the Iraq invasion. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this book tells the story of the young woman Sean Penn describes as "a hero of the human spirit."

Filming is planned to start in May in the U.K.

1A4 Studio is back with a new speedrun video, this time turning to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and condensing the film's major story beats into sixty seconds. We've featured a few of these speedrun videos on the site before, and I think you'll get a kick out of this one.

I'm already starting to get sick of hearing about Thor: Ragnarok, because it seems like so many of the stories that have come out about that movie recently have been centered on how it's either going to be super dark and gritty, or how director Taika Waititi is going to bring a bunch of humor to it. (The reality is it'll probably be both.) Thankfully, the director did an interview with Collider in which, yes, he mentions humor, but he also talks more about his specific approach to the movie and what he wants to bring to the table:

I love that one moment in Avengers when Hulk grabs Loki and rag dolls him. It lends itself to great humor, do you read those comic books? They’re wacky. They’re crazy. I think that‘s exactly what they need, to keep changing it up. They’ve got their dark films, some are more serious, and I think it’s great that they’re mixing it up. I really want to inject my style of humor into this.

I’ve learned that there are really no rules. There’s no road map. They’re very similar to Pixar in that way. They are constantly looking for the best story, they’ll tear everything down to rebuild it to make sure they have the best story. That’s why Marvel is good they keep pushing and pushing and trying to get the best thing possible. That’s what I’ve discovered the way things have changed.

I constantly remind myself that there are terrible movies out there. I try to watch them, some of them, to give myself an understanding of what not to do. Because also with that money comes the idea, “Let your imagination run wild.” Which I think is a very dangerous thing. I think it’s dangerous because you can get into pretty wacky territory. There are things that are too crazy. So the films I like to watch are when they make it relatable to human audiences. I’m used to working with restrictions and that’s when you come up with the more creative stuff. So I’m really not trying to do everything that comes to mind because that’s when it can be dangerous. For instance, I believe as much as possible, how your camera moves and flies around should be limited to the physics of how you could do it in real life. If you’re tracking with a character that’s running off a thing and diving off, I would leave the camera there and not follow them down, because cameras don’t do that. The audience understands that. I’ll definitely bring that understanding of keeping things a bit more grounded.

That idea of keeping the camera locked in a tangible, physical space seems almost like a revolutionary one considering how there seems to be an excessive amount of flying virtual cameras in blockbusters these days. Grounding the camera movement seems like a great way to have this movie stand out stylistically, and that grounded approach combined with the out-of-this-world visuals that we're going to see sounds like it could result in something that's actually pleasing to watch, which might be a first for the Thor series.

Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters on November 3rd, 2017.

We know Tim Miller's Deadpool has an R rating for "strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity," but according to actor T.J. Miller (who plays Weasel in the film), that's only the beginning. At a recent fan event in London, Miller revealed that the director's cut of the movie is apparently going to take things to a different level:

TJ Miller confirms that the #Deadpool directors cut will be "even more raw" #DeadpoolDoesLondon pic.twitter.com/lFoHvH3ugO

— James (from Essex) (@jamesfromessex) January 28, 2016

I've heard in a lot of interviews that there was a lot of improv on the set with Miller and Ryan Reynolds just riffing back and forth. The scene in the trailer in which Miller's character makes fun of Reynolds' appearance was rife with material that had to be left on the cutting room floor, and since we don't have any context for what aspect of the movie Miller was talking about in this clip, maybe what he meant by "even more raw" was that the director's cut would include some of those improvised jokes that were dirtier than the theatrical cut could handle. Or maybe he means there's more insane violence, nudity, and more gore — although, based on Tim Miller's feelings on gratuitous gore in movies, that last option admittedly doesn't seem quite as likely.

Deadpool hits theaters on February 12th.

Via: ScreenCrush

Ubisoft's The Division is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. An open world multiplayer action-RPG stealth game set in Manhattan? Yeah, sounds like a good time! If you were lucky enough to get into the beta, then what are you doing here?! Go play... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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The tagline for Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea should be: Just walk in the theater, start crying, and never stop. The writer-director’s latest is a simple, well-told story of a man who cannot shake his past. There isn’t a ton of plot — the movie is easily summarized as: a man returns to his hometown after his brother dies and is confronted by memories of his past. But there is a great script, lovely cinematography, great direction, and a slew of richly-drawn characters, with performances that do them justice. 

Casey Affleck plays Lee Chandler (“The Lee Chandler?” people in the town of Manchester by the Sea are always asking before we know why he’s notorious), a man who really does not have it together. He lives alone in a one room basement apartment, does not relate to other people well, and is violent and volatile. Then he gets a call that his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has died, and he returns to his hometown, Manchester by the Sea, to take care of arrangements and his 16-year-old nephew, Patrick. The movie cuts between his present day of funeral arrangements and driving his nephew around, and the events that led him to his present state. In the initially happy memories, he and his brother are both married, and Lee has three children. But in the present, the wives are both gone, and so are Lee’s children. We learn pretty quickly that Joe’s wife was unstable and has been gone for a long time. It takes longer to find out what happened to Lee’s children, and holy fuck, it is a doozy.

The film is anchored by Affleck’s quiet, solid performance as a man who can barely hold it together. It is killing him to be back in this town, but he is trying to do his best to help his nephew and honor his brother’s wishes. Affleck plays Lee with a fairly flat affect, but under this pressure he is constantly simmering, trying desperately not to blow. He has basically zero ability to regulate his emotions, so he just tries to avoid feeling any, but in Manchester by the Sea, that is hard. There are too many reminders and too many pressures. There is his nephew Patrick, with whom he is obviously close, who vacillates between being a typically obnoxious, sex-obsessed teenaged boy and a grief-stricken son who isn’t sure that anyone wants him now that his father is gone. Lucas Hedges plays the typical teenager parts a little bit better, but he carries off the emotional aspects well enough. He also plays teenaged certainty and self-absorption well, which is good, because Patrick has strong opinions on how things are going to happen, all of which require significant contributions from his uncle. And there is also the past and the fact that everyone in town knows it.

Michelle Williams has a small but significant role as Lee’s ex-wife. She’s only in about six or seven scenes by my count, but her final scene is such an emotional gut punch and so perfectly acted that I’ve already heard Oscar buzz. Also excellent is Kyle Chandler, who only appears in flashbacks as the world’s best big brother. Chandler is, as ever, the strong, silent type, but he basically radiates love and kindness, and you feel what his loss means for Lee. There is a scene in which Joe buys Lee furniture, and it is one of the most quietly loving acts of brotherly support I have ever seen, onscreen or in real life. C.J. Wilson turns in a career-best performance as George, Lee’s only ally in town. Wilson is a journeyman actor — most of his IMDb credits are TV guest roles, but he’ll hopefully pick up more work off of this. I could probably call out every single performance here, from Gretchen Mol as Patrick’s mother to the teens who play Patrick's friends to Brian Chamberlain as “1st Detective,” because every single actor in this film is wonderful, and I’m sure that is in large part due to Lonergan’s direction.

Manchester by the Sea is basically the opposite of the comic book movies we love so much. The world isn’t at stake — only one man who isn’t even important except to his brother and nephew. There are no superheroes — no one can save Lee except himself. And there is no hero’s journey — just a man struggling. It is one of the most intensely emotional movies I have seen in a long time, maybe ever, and it is one of the most vital films I saw at Sundance this year, if not the most fun. 

Amazon bought the U.S. distribution rights for $10 million and plans to give it a full theatrical release with an awards campaign, so look for it in theaters late this year.

Gianni Nunnari's The Hollywood Gang, the production company behind the 300 movies and The Immortals, was one of the first companies to start development of a reimagining of the Robin Hood legend. They've been working on a "futuristic" take on the classic archer since 2009, and it's gone through multiple screenwriters, including Jason Dean Hall (American Sniper) and Michael Ross (The Throwaways), over the past few years. Now THR reports that the company is gearing back up to give it another go with the project.

They've just hired UK-based scribe Tony Lee to write the screenplay, which will be set in "dystopian London with a rogue MI5 agent on a mission to avenge injustice." Lee is primarily a comic book writer, but he has a few screenplays in the works at various places around town. This project's working title was once Robin Hood 2058, but there's no word yet on whether or not that will change with the new draft.

It's ironic that they're just now starting to find traction with this since, as I mentioned before, they were one of the first to see the potential in a reimagining of this character. Unless they get moving very quickly, though, they're probably going to get beaten to the punch by other studios: Sony, Warner Bros., Disney, and Lionsgate all have their own spins on Robin Hood in the works. Lionsgate's Robin Hood: Origins is seemingly the farthest along, with Kingsman star Taron Egerton on board in the lead role and Jamie Foxx set to play Little John.

No word yet on when production might begin on this one, but the futuristic setting might give this an advantage over its competitors because it might be considered different enough that audiences may still be interested in seeing it even if one or two other Robin Hood movies manage to beat it to theaters.

It seems as if Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra have settled into a nice working relationship. They've already collaborated on actioners like Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night, and now Deadline reports that they're about to team up again for a new thriller called The Commuter.

Neeson boarded this one a few months ago, back when there wasn't a director in place, and apparently StudioCanal fought to keep the creative partnership together and brought in Collet-Serra to sit in the director's chair. The plot, from first-time screenwriters Byron Willinger and Phil de Blasi, sounds a lot like Non-Stop on a different form of transportation, though it isn't being described as a parody. Production was originally supposed to begin this spring, but now it'll start this summer.

Really, the best thing to come out of Collet-Serra and Neeson's partnership so far was inspiring this awesome Key & Peele sketch:

Man, I miss those guys.

Tomb Raider. What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase? Excitement? Disgust? Digital boobs? Indifference? Honestly, I think I've seen all those reactions when I tell friends and colleagues that I am huge fan. While the first few entries in the series are not my absolutely fave... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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There's a good reason sports stories tend to work well at the movies: no matter how many times you see the same basic formula play out, it's always inspiring to watch an underdog triumph over incredible odds. Despite being perhaps the most predictable distillation of this formula of the past thirty years, Eddie the Eagle hits all the right beats; while occasionally veering into cheesy territory, this based-on-a-true-story genre entry is a largely satisfying crowd-pleaser.

In the hospital with a busted knee, young Eddie Edwards develops a singular dream: he wants to be an Olympian. He spends his childhood trying all manner of sports in order to find the one that will allow him his shot at glory, and eventually discovers he's pretty good at downhill skiing. But he's too clumsy for the coach's liking, so after getting booted from the team and coming close to giving up entirely, he realizes that ski jumping may be his ticket to the 1988 games in Calgary. The British don't have a ski jumping team, so all he has to do is qualify and he'll automatically be invited to the big show. The only problem, of course, is that he's never ski jumped before in his life. Against his comically gruff father's wishes, but with the backing of his supportive mother, Eddie travels to Germany to practice and meets disgraced former U.S. ski jumper Bronson Peary, now a drunk who drives a snow plow to clean up the course. As you would expect in a film like this, their unlikely friendship turns into a mentorship, and their quest begins.

Taron Egerton trades all of the swagger and sophistication from Kingsman for a geeky persona here, perpetually pushing his thick glasses up his nose and adopting a constant underbite to the point where he's almost unrecognizable as the stylish spy he played last year. He's very good as Eddie, giving the character a determination that's the backbone of the movie, and I wouldn't be remotely surprised to see him start popping up on lists of the best sports movie underdogs in the months and years to come. Hugh Jackman is a walking cliche as Bronson Peary, but he's so charismatic and fun to watch that he mostly overcomes his character's limitations by sheer force of personality.

This film doesn't know the meaning of the word "subtlety" — the sneering rival Norwegian skiers who might as well be the Russian from Rocky IV and the ridiculously on-the-nose soundtrack (Van Halen's "Jump" plays during a key moment) are just two examples that instantly come to mind, but the film is littered with them. But it's a testament to the film that it somehow works in spite of these aspects (along with some dodgy CGI and green screen work).

Leaning so hard on underdog sports movie tropes that it's sometimes unintentionally hilarious, Eddie the Eagle is engineered to garner a specific response from its audience. But even though I was aware of director Dexter Fletcher's skillful manipulation as it was happening, the power of the formula briefly overtook my powers of critical thinking and I admittedly got caught up in the film's triumphant final moments. While most of us will never be able to relate to sliding at 70 mph down a ramp while strapped into a pair of skis, we can all relate to the idea of proving doubters wrong.

Pro tip: listen closely to the voices that sing the '80s-inspired song that plays over the credits. I found out after the movie that it's actually Egerton and Jackman singing, and I wish I would have known that beforehand.

With Agent Carter back on the air, Tyler and Ben consider other Golden Age comic book stories that could be just as popular on television today!

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 feedback and suggestions for future Top 5 lists we should discuss.

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