Dwayne Johnson, one of the hardest working men in Hollywood, just wrapped the second season of HBO's Ballers, and now there's a new trailer to show off what the show has in store for fans. It's a testosterone-driven trailer filled with the kind of macho posturing you'd expect from a show that takes place in the world of sports and management. I like the Vin Diesel joke (gotta shout out to his Fast & Furious #family), but the rest of the trailer highlights the kind of drama that couldn't keep me interested enough to stick out the full first season. I couldn't stop comparing it to Entourage, and it didn't help that I didn't like or care about any of the characters or what happened to them. I gave it a shot and it just wasn't my kind of show, but obviously it has a ton of fans who love diving headfirst into that world and immersing themselves in the minutiae of agents and high-powered behind-the-scenes deals. 

Check out the trailer for season 2 below, and stay tuned for when Ballers returns to TV sometime this summer.

If you're someone who's desperate to see Game Of Thrones season 6 before anyone else you can do so, but it's gonna run about $10,000 for two tickets. According to Uproxx, some luxury concierge sites are advertising tickets to the debut showing of the season 6 premiere on April 10th at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theater, which includes a pair of tickets and entrance to the after party.

Other sites are offering charity auctions in which the tickets have already exceeded $11k in bids! That's an absolutely insane amount of money just to see Game of Thrones a couple weeks before everyone else will on April 24th! I wouldn't pay that much! Plus, didn't last year's first couple episodes leak online ahead of the premiere?! I would be pissed if I dropped that kind of cash and that happened!

Another filmmaker has come out of the woodwork to put film critics on blast. Gods of Egypt director Alex Proyas, who has also helmed movies like The Crow, Dark City, Knowing, and I, Robot, went on a Facebook rampage when critics trashed his latest film in their reviews:

NOTHING CONFIRMS RAMPANT STUPIDITY FASTER...Than reading reviews of my own movies. I usually try to avoid the...

Posted by Alex Proyas on Sunday, February 28, 2016

Notice how he slipped in that little "failed film-maker" dig? It's the latest in a long line of directors who are operating under the false assumption that you have to make films in order to critique them. Far better writers than I have tackled this topic, but it boils down to the fact that film criticism is an art unto itself, and while it certainly makes for better writing if a writer has knowledge of every process of filmmaking, it's not a requirement that you have to direct a movie before you can critique one.

Also, while Proyas definitely has a point that a lot of critics seem to just stick to a herd mentality, any worthwhile writer isn't afraid to go against the consensus in order to give their honest opinion about a film. And the whole thing about locking a critic in a room with a movie no one has seen before and them not knowing what to say about it? That's what film festivals are — they happen multiple times a year. Are there critics who scour the internet to see what everyone else thinks about a movie before writing their reviews? Probably. But there are just as many (GT writers included) who attend film festivals and see movies at their world premieres, when no one else has seen them, and then we immediately go back to our hotel rooms, write our reviews, and publish them without reading a damn thing about what anyone else thinks. When you're the one being trashed, I can see how it'd be easy to vilify critics for conspiring against you, but in reality, chances are you probably just made a bad movie.

(I haven't seen Gods of Egypt yet, and I still plan to see it before I write with any authority about the film itself. But in the meantime, take this article simply as a reaction to Proyas's comments and not as a comment on the quality of his latest movie.)

Silent Hills will be the Half Life 3 of this decade in the sense that we will constantly be teased as to whether or not it's coming back time and time again. While we can only hope and wait to see if Hideo Kojima, Norman Reedus, and Guillermo Del Toro ever have a chance to collaborate again... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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Star Wars musical covers are a dime a dozen, but it's always interesting to hear artists put a new twist on John Williams' classic score. I also appreciate when people cover the deep tracks, since covers of the main theme have been done to death by now. A group called Mariachi Entertainment System combined both of these elements by performing "The Throne Room," the song heard at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, in a cool mariachi style, complete with trumpet, violin, guitar, and more.

Via: LaughingSquid

Actress Sophie Turner, who is starring in X-Men: Apocalypse as Jean Grey, was at the Oscars last night, and she may have just dropped a spoiler for the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones. The 20-year-old plays Sansa Stark (formerly Sansa Lannister, now Sansa Bolton) on the beloved HBO fantasy series, and since the show has caught up to George R.R. Martin's novels in a lot of storylines already, the network is keeping everything about the upcoming season very close to the vest to avoid spoilers (check out the advertising and you'll see what I mean).

On the red carpet last night, Turner either continued the misdirection with a convincing performance, or she may have dropped what could be considered a spoiler: Sansa apparently survives this season:

“I’m like flicking through [the scripts] and I’m like death, death, death, death, OK, I’m good for this season.”

Again, I wouldn't put it past her to try to purposefully mislead fans about the fate of her character, but if she experienced a moment of weakness on the red carpet and actually let something slip, then Sansa makes it through season six (and presumably, some of Martin's upcoming novel The Winds of Winter). In Game of Thrones, nothing is a given, so this would be a pretty big deal.

In case the opening cinematic or the brief references weren't enough to spell out the precursor to Game of Thrones, the studio added these delightful animated extras to the season 5 Blu-ray!

They don't talk about it as much in the series as much as they do in the books. Honestly, I think the story of the fall of the Targaryens is more interesting than the events of Game of Thrones, and that's saying something!

This preview features Sir Barristan Selmy recalling his role in Robert's Rebellion. Experience many more on the Blu-ray upon its release!

Thanks to Gizmodo for the heads up!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens breakout star Daisy Ridley took the stage to present an award at the Oscars last night, and on the red carpet, the actress talked to MTV about reprising her role as Rey and acting opposite Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker in the upcoming sequel, Star Wars: Episode VIII.

“Me and Mark have been rehearsing a lot, and it’s really amazing. When we went back to Skellig to do the opening of [Episode] VIII, it was so crazy doing the same scene with a different crew of people. He’s amazing to rehearse with, and I’m very excited to be doing the rest of the stuff. It’s such a good story. Seriously. Luke is so cool in this one. Really.”

Skellig, of course, is the island of Skellig Michael off the Irish coast, which stands in for the planet Ahch-To, where Luke has been in hiding and where we saw him in his brief appearance in The Force Awakens. We saw the two of them recreate that fim's final shot in the first teaser/announcement video for the start of production on Rian Johnson's Episode VIII.

Skywalker is obviously a major icon in the Star Wars universe, and Rey (who may or may not be Luke's daughter) is well on her way to becoming just as iconic thanks to her adventures in a galaxy far, far away. I can't wait to see them share the screen in Episode VIII.

HBO's Game of Thrones is one of the most ambitious shows on television, and every year, its production goes global, filming multiple countries at the same time. Behind the scenes, the production crews are constantly dealing with punishing weather to bring us one of the best-looking shows ever made, and now the network has released a new video that shows you what it's like to operate the camera on the series. Camera assistants hold one of the least glamorous positions on a set, often having to show up before anyone else and stay later than anyone else to set up and break down the cameras, lenses, and equipment used to capture the shots. This video gives them a much-deserved shout-out, and shows you a little of what they deal with on set.

There are also a few looks at some scenes we'll see in the show's upcoming sixth season, so feel free to dissect the background for clues and predict what might happen. Check it out:

For all you Divergent fanatics out there, you'll be glad to know that the final movie in the franchise (unless they announce prequels or more sequels later), The Divergent Series: Ascendant, has secured a new director.

THR reports that Lee Toland Krieger, the man who brought us Age of Adaline, The Vicious Kind, and the underseen dramedy Celeste & Jesse Forever, is in talks to replace Robert Schwentke, who bailed on the franchise after directing two Divergent movies in a row (Insurgent and Allegiant). Schwentke reportedly needed a break and wanted to spend more time with his family. Ascendant will certainly be the biggest movie that Krieger has taken on in his career thus far, but Hollywood has proven time and time again that they aren't afraid of giving a young director with indie experience the responsibility of handling a large-scale blockbuster.

Plus, this basically seems like it's impossible for Krieger to screw up: the groundwork has already been laid, the fans are already hooked and going to come see it, he's not writing the movie, and the Divergent series isn't exactly a mega-success on the level of Marvel, Star Wars, or The Hunger Games anyway, so I don't imagine there's very much pressure on him. This looks like a nice middle-range sequel that could be a stepping stone opportunity to larger things in the future.

Shailene Woodley, Naomi Watts, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and Miles Teller star, and production begins this summer.

Since it’s the 20th anniversary of Pokemon’s creation and Pokemon Sun and Moon were just announced, we decided to go through each generation of Pokemon and put together dream teams. Sticking to the Pokemon new to each generation and ignoring Legendaries and Megas, we... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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Leonardo DiCaprio took home Oscar gold for his work in The Revenant last night, and before the ceremony, Funny or Die released this humorous fake commercial for a horse carcass sleeping bag that kids can rip open and sleep in, just like Leo did in the movie. It plays just like a classic '90s commercial that would run during Saturday morning cartoons, but chances are pretty good you won't be able to buy this at a store near you any time soon.

Via: /Film

As you all know by now, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Academy Award at last night's ceremony for his performance in The Revenant, and YouTuber The Flippist created a funny recreation of the actor finally accepting his Oscar — but it doesn't quite end the way you expect. It's cheesy, but I laughed; maybe some of you will, too.

Via: LS

If you aren't familiar with the name Kay Pike yet, then you probably haven't been paying much attention to the world of "cospainting," wherein artists paint themselves to resemble pop culture characters. As far as I can tell, Pike is one of the best in the world, and we've written about her a few times before (you can find links to all of those instances in the most recent article we wrote about her when she cospainted as Lady Deadpool).

Pike recently debuted a new look, this time paying tribute to the classic Batman villain Poison Ivy. As usual, she brought her A game and made it look easy, but as these behind-the-scenes videos show, it was anything but. Behold:

<a rel="noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.twitch.tv/kaypikefashion">http://www.twitch.tv/kaypikefashion</a>

Some intriguing news has surfaced regarding Akira. We know that Warner Bros. has been trying to get a film adaptation of the manga/anime off the ground for years. I have no idea if that’s going to happen or not, but according to legendary manga author and anime director Katsuhiro Otomo, there’s a new adaptation of the property that could go into development for TV.

Otomo revealed the news at a press conference earlier this year at the comics festival Angouleme in Paris where he was the Guest of Honor. While there, he was asked if he would consider another adaptation of Akira one day that would go further than what we saw in the original 1988 movie. 

He shocked everyone when he said that a new series was currently "under study,” which means that it’s being considered. Of course, he wouldn’t say any more than that at the time so we are left with all kinds of questions regarding what this new series could be.

It would be awesome if something more came out of this comment. I’d love to see Akria adapted as a TV series. There’s no word on if it will be animated or live-action, American or Japanese, but either way, I’m interested! If there are any more developments on this news we’ll let you know. 

This insanely cool piece of Batman art was a commission piece created by legendary comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz, who is known for his work on The New Mutants, Batman, Elektra: Assassin, and several other comic books.

Unfortunately for the guy who commissioned it, that art was stolen in the process of its delivery by some asshole. My heart aches for him and the artist of the piece who was incredibly pissed off as well. He sent out the following Tweet:

To the thief or thieves who ripped open the box to steal this piece from its intended recipient in France: Fuck you pic.twitter.com/2rOfCb9dQn

— Bill Sienkiewicz (@sinKEVitch) February 26, 2016

These artists put in a lot of time, talent, and effort to create art like this. They make a living doing this kind of stuff, so it sucks so hard that this happened. 

Lionsgate has just released an official plot synopsis for their upcoming Power Rangers movie. The movie, which is being directed by Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) has started production, and it seems like fans of the franchise are really curious to see what he plans on doing with the property.

I’m not getting excited about this just yet, but as long as the film manages to keep the spirit of the original series, then I think fans will be happy with whatever is thrown at them. I really hope that they actually develop an unexpectedly kick ass Power Rangers movie.

Here’s the synopsis with details on the plot as well as a listing of the full cast of the film:

Saban's Power Rangers follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove - and the world - is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threats. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.

The film stars Dacre Montgomery (A Few Less Men) as Jason the Red Ranger, RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) as Billy the Blue Ranger, Naomi Scott (The 33) as Kimberly the Pink Ranger, Becky G (Empire) as Trini the Yellow Ranger, Ludi Lin (Monster Hunt) as Zack the Black Ranger, and Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect, The Hunger Games franchise) as Rita Repulsa.

Directed by Dean Israelite (Project Almanac), Saban's Power Rangers is written by John Gatins (Kong: Skull Island, Real Steel), Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (Dracula Untold), Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor), and Max Landis (Chronicle). Producers are Power Rangers creator Haim Saban, Brian Casentini (Power Rangers TVseries), Wyck Godfrey, and Marty Bowen (The Twilight Saga, The Fault in Our Stars, The Maze Runner franchise).

Allison Shearmur (The Hunger Games franchise; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Brent O'Connor (Warcraft) serve as executive producers. Brian Tyler (Avengers: Age of Ultron; Now You See Me) is the composer and Kelli Jones (Straight Outta Compton, Sons of Anarchy) is the costume designer. Set decorator is Oscar-nominated Hamish Purdy (The Revenant) and stunt coordinator is Paul Jennings (Game of Thrones, San Andreas, The Dark Knight). Weta Workshop (The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, District 9) is in charge of suit design and visual effects. Andrew Menzies (Fury, X-Men)is the production designer and Director of Photography is Matt Lloyd (Daredevil, Cop Car).

For those of you looking for additional details, you can read up on some additional rumored story and character details here.

If you are a huge fan of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films and you have $7,000 to spend, this is probably one of the greatest replicas of the U.S.S. Enterprise that you can buy. The replica comes from Quantum Mechanix, and you can bask in the glory of its mind-blowing details in the photos below. The official description explains:

“The model itself was created using master components generated directly from CG files supplied to QMx by Industrial Light & Magic. The sculpture consists of thousands of details, many of which are only barely glimpsed on screen. You could spend hours studying this replica and still find new surprises around the next curve.”

You'll find some additional information below the photos.

They also offer the following lighting effects that were implemented into the replica: 

Our Artisan Enterprise features approximately 200 custom-built lighting effects that truly bring the starship to life. These effects include:

• Static interior and exterior lighting.
• Anti-collision and formation lighting (flash and strobe).
• Fluid plasma effect inside the impulse engines.
• Bussard collectors – Custom circuits and motion effects reproduce the look of the forward end of each warp nacelle.
• Illuminated deflector dish – The dish itself is a specially-built lighting element – not just lit up by a bulb – with light lines radiating out from the center of the dish, just like in the movie.
• Interior lighting for the shuttle bay.
• Four-function remote control – The QMx Artisan Enterprise comes with a custom remote for interior, warp and impulse, formation and auxiliary lighting.

The replica is 34 inches long x 15.75 in wide x 7.5 in high, and it even includes a little shuttle in the shuttle bay. As you’ll see, this thing is pretty damn impressive. If it didn’t cost as much as a used car I might have considered buying it. At least I can enjoy the photos.

In the spirit of awesomeness and to help tide us over until the release of Captain America: Civil War, Marvel has released nine new photos from the film. These photos feature images from the film along with some behind-the-scenes photos from the set, and there’s still no Spider-Man to be seen!

A couple of the photos feature shots from the trailer that we’ve already witnessed, while others feature new shots of characters that include Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Falcon (Anthony Mackie). There are also photos of Joe and Anthony Russo directing certain actors.

Captain America: Civil War is set to be released on May 6th, 2016, and I’m siding with them Captain America! I’ve included the previously released Super Bowl trailer for you to watch.

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability. Get ready to pick a side and join the nonstop action playing out on two fronts when Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War opens in U.S. theaters on May.

We have seen a lot of exciting footage from Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's going to be a fun movie to watch, and according to Jimmy Kimmel, who already saw the movie, it's great! On the Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the Oscars Kimmel said:

"By the way, I saw the movie and its great. For kids and people that grew up loving comic books, to see Batman fight Superman it's really unsettling. It challenges everything you ever believed."

So if you're a fan of Kimmel and trust his judgement, then you can expect Batman v Superman to be as great as we all hope it will be. We've got four new TV spots to share with you today to help sell you on the film if you still aren't on board. Of course, if you're not on board I doubt these will change your mind.

I've also shared the program cover art for WonderCon 2016, created by artist Jason Fabok. As you can see, it was inspired by Batman v Superman. The geek convention takes place in Los Angeles from March 25th-27th.

Then in case you missed it, I included the hilarious Batman v Superman deleted scene that aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The movie hits theaters on March 25th! You can check out everything below!

Here are the final colors by Brad Anderson and the digital inks by myself for @WonderCon! Check it out pic.twitter.com/mTq5fUCBAF

— Jason Fabok (@JasonFabok) February 29, 2016