Happy Fourth of July, everyone! My wish for you is that you're lounging by a pool or other body of water somewhere with a grill nearby, and you see this as you're lazily scrolling through your phone in between bites of BBQ.

Before you head back to polish off another burger, check out these two Independence Day-themed videos. The first is a web exclusive from Last Week Tonight, which features host John Oliver giving us a list of things we're missing out on because we asserted our independence from England. And the second is a PSA from Seth Rogen's character in his new animated movie Sausage Party that warns us not to murder any food items today. Sorry, dude...too late for that.

Enjoy your fireworks tonight!

Some more new photos have surfaced from the set of The Dark Tower, and they features photos of Idris Elba as Roland Deschain meeting up with Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers. This is our first look at Chambers, and the photos come from the New York City set. According to the report from Birth.Movies.Death, PAs were calling this the "First Meet.” Producer Ron Howard also posted a photo on Twitter of himself with Elba and director Nikolaj Arcel.

One of the first things I noticed besides the actors in the film were the present day setting and blue taxis, which is a different world that Jake lives in. This could be one of the worlds that Roland visited during his previous and forgotten adventures. The bag he’s carrying could very well be holding the Horn of Eld, which was previously teased by Stephen King. You can read more possible spoiler information on that here. We also get a better look at Elba’s costume, and it’s pretty badass looking. 

The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum.  It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.

The movie also stars Matthew McConaughey as Randall Flagg, whom you can see photos of here, Abbey Lee as Tirana, and Fran Kranz as Pimli. Katheryn Winnick is also in the film, and Jackie Earl Haley is the villain, Richard Sayre.

The Dark Tower is being directed by Nikolaj Arcel, and the first film is currently set to be released on February 17th, 2017. 

The Gunslinger reunited with Jake Chambers in New York city- THE DARK TOWER pic.twitter.com/qQpNBbGbel

— Lights|Camera|Action (@lights_cam_act) July 4, 2016

Idris Elba on set of “The Dark Tower” in NYC.
via https://t.co/AQt95fO0lt pic.twitter.com/84oEFbhU8F

— medievalpoc (@medievalpoc) July 4, 2016

I joined @idriselba & director Nikolaj Arcel in #NYC for #DarkTowerMovie production Dream Team 4 a Dream Project pic.twitter.com/X3REnQDf7b

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) July 2, 2016

Lindsey Stirling is a talented musician who kicks ass at playing the violin. This woman has got some crazy talent, and she’s also a big geek. If you’re familiar with who she is, then you know that many of here music videos features themes from the geek culture. Her latest music video is called "The Arena," and it is set in a post-apocalyptic world reminiscent of Mad Max, only dance-offs are the way to battle. The production value is top notch stuff, especially the costumes, and it is definitely worth checking out. To see some of here previously released music videos, click here.

It’s always fun to watch Star Wars Rebels and see it cross over with storylines and characters from the films that we all grew up with. According to to producer Simon Kinberg, we might be seeing more of that in season three, and some of those elements could end up connecting to future Star Wars movies. While talking to Moviefone, Kinberg teased:

“What’s lovely is, obviously, we’ve brought in characters from Clone Wars in the second season, and we keep sort of bringing characters from the original movies and sort of deepening the relationships between our core characters, the Ghost crew. So it’s trying to balance the two different things, like the original cast from the first season with Clone Wars, with characters from the original movies, and maybe even feeding into future movies.”

It’s pretty exciting to hear him say that some of the things that are coming up could feed into the future films. He obviously didn’t go into any detail on what that might be, but seeing certain characters crossover is a strong possibility. After all, the character Saw Gerrera from The Clone Wars is appearing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and he’s being played by Forest freakin’ Whitaker.

I guess fans will have to keep a look out while watching these upcoming Star Wars movies because you never know when something might pop up that you’ll recognize from the animated series. Who knows, some of the unknown characters being played by actors like Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro could eventually appear in Rebels. We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

We'll learn more about Star Wars Rebels season three when Lucasfilm shows it off at Star Wars Celebration London in a few weeks. A trailer and premiere date are expected to be released and announced then.

I caught this fan poster over the weekend while scrolling through my Facebook feed. It’s for a Stan Lee biopic starring Bryan Cranston as the legendary Marvel comic book writer. It popped up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe fan page, and I immediately was like, “Yes! This needs to happen!” 

It’s just too damn perfect to ignore, and this needs to eventually be added to Marvel’s movie lineup. It may not take place in the MCU, but this is a biopic that really needs to be made, and Cranston would just be amazing as Lee. 

Stan Lee has led an extraordinary life. All of the stuff he went through in the comic book industry is such fascinating story that would make for a great film. Wouldn't it be crazy if every actor who has ever starred in a Marvel movie made a cameo in the Stan Lee biopic?

While America was celebrating the 4th of July, director Taika Waititi and his crew started shooting the highly anticipated Marvel film Thor: Ragnarok! The movie is currently shooting in Queensland, Australia, and the announcement came from Marvel’s Louis D’Esposito over the weekend. That was followed by a congratulatory tweet from Ant-Man director Peyton Reed reminding the director to have lots of explosions, which led to the director sharing a photo from the set which you can see below. I've also included some additional photos from the set featuring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and some Asgardian-looking building that you can take a look at as well. 

There's been a lot of talk and speculation about what we are going to see in Thor: Ragnorok, and it seems like one thing is for certain: there's a good chance this sequel will be better than the first two films. We've most recently heard that the Hulk and Bruce Banner could face off in the film, There's been talk of it including Planet Hulk elements, and there's so much more about the film that you can read about here. I'm extremely excited about this movie because of the director. I think he's going to give fans something incredibly awesome and unique.

The movie also stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Karl Urban as Skurge.

Thor: Ragnarok will be unleashed on the world on November 3rd, 2017. I doubt they will show anything from the film at San Diego Comic-Con, but that certainly would make for an awesome surprise! 

Best of luck to @TaikaWaititi and the whole cast and crew of #ThorRagnarok . July 4 they started filming. Australia is in the future.

— Louis D'Esposito (@louisde2) July 4, 2016

@MrPeytonReed @louisde2 Pretty sweet 1st day. Look at all these people who turned up to work. #Blessed #support pic.twitter.com/xJQdJzyFwR

— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 4, 2016

View post on imgur.com

Via: CBM

Before Mad Max: Fury Road was released on Blu-ray, director George Miller reportedly fought for a black and white version of the film to be included on the disc, but as you all know, that didn't happen. Miller has previously said that the black-and-white version of the film is "more authentic and elemental." While talking to Edgar Wright about the film, Miller explained:

"One thing I’ve noticed is that the default position for everyone is to de-saturate post-apocalyptic movies. There’s only two ways to go, make them black and white — the best version of this movie is black and white, but people reserve that for art movies now. The other version is to really go all-out on the color. The usual teal and orange thing? That’s all the colors we had to work with. The desert’s orange and the sky is teal, and we either could de-saturate it, or crank it up, to differentiate the movie. Plus, it can get really tiring watching this dull, de-saturated color, unless you go all the way out and make it black and white."

Well, it looks like we'll finally have the opportunity to see his black and white version of Fury Road! According to  Refocused Media, there's new 6-disc box set called Mad Max: High Octane Collection, which has been added to Amazon Germany, and will feature the black-and-white cut of the film, which is dubbed the "Black and Chrome Edition." It is set to be released on September 29th.

I've included a trailer for the black and white version of the movie below. I can't wait to watch this! I know I've already seen the movie a billion times, but watching it in black and white will be a whole new experience. 

Via: cinemablend

This Futurama LEGO set of the Planet Express ship is absolutely spectacular. This is a digital design that comes from Nicola Stocchi. The render that you see here was created in LEGO Digital Designer using 5112 parts. It’s absolutely perfect, and it needs to be a real playset! It’d be an absolute shame if it never happens, and it probably won't. The creator explains:

"Lego Ideas didn’t approve this ship, they say the content of the project doesn’t fit their standards and it could refer to politic, religion, drugs, smoking, violence…"

That's a bummer because this thing is so damn cool! You can see more pics on Stocchi’s Flickr page. This is what the creator had to say about his project:

“Good news everyone! Get ready for a space journey in the 30th century!”

Hello everyone, here is the iconic Planet Express ship in a UCS version. I love the animated series and also the spaceship design, so it was a pleasure for me to accept this challenge and start the project. It was difficult for the curved profile, that is not simple to create with Lego bricks. 

This is a big model: the ship counts 5112 parts and the total length is almost 1 m. For this reason it needs a very strong inner structure, as you can see from one of the pics in the album. It was totally built using Lego Digital Designer. For the moment there are no minifigs, but hopefully they could be added in the future.

Features:

- turnable turret

- mechanism to bring down the cargo elevator

- UCS plate ;)

I’m a bit disappointed because Lego Ideas didn’t approve this ship, they say the content of the project doesn’t fit their standards and it could refer to politic, religion, drugs, smoking, violence…

I agree with them, but also I asked why Simpsons sets are OK for their standards: they refer to an animated series with an alcoholic father that strangles his son and makes fun of religion.

Via: The Brothers Brick

We all saw Crossbones get blown up in Captain America: Civil War. It was pretty clear to anyone who was watching that he died, but actor Frank Grillo isn't so sure. During a recent interview with ABC News, the actor teased fans by questioning whether or not his character actually died and in hiinting at the possible return of Crossbones.

When talking about his character he says, “You think he dies, don't you? Did you see the body?” Grillo later asked with a big grin on his face, “What did you see?”

He's right, you know. We didn't see a body unless it was disintegrated in that powerful explosion, which is a possibility, and it's not like Marvel is going to show a bloody and grotesque mangled body in one of their films.

When it comes to comic books, there is a long history of characters seemingly being killed off only to return. So I guess you never know what to expect, and it's not like Brock Rumlow hasn't had his share of surviving the impossible. In The Winter Solider, he somehow lived through the Triskelion building collapsing on top of him. 

Grillo went on to reference Crossbones' lucky ability to survive saying, “That happened last time. I'm not saying anything except that...you didn't see a body.”

I'm sure Grillo would love to come back as Crossbones. At this point, it's up for Marvel to decide his fate, but I personally think they already made their mind up on that when they decided to blow him up. If he did come back, it's hard to image the mangled mess he'd be. 

Microsoft is going all in with its Play Anywhere system. The company outlined its latest plans with the initiative in a Windows blog and announced that all of their first party...read more on Gametyrant

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Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors behind Marvel's last two Captain America films and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War films, have signed on to develop a TV series adaptation of the cult classic gang film The Warriors. 

I'm a fan of The Warriors, it's one of those films I figured would eventually get remade. I just didn't think it would be remade as a TV series with the freakin' Russo Bros. developing it! The fact that they are involved gives me confidence that the project will turn out to be a great exciting series that will be worth watching. 

According to Deadline, The Warriors will a one-hour drama being produced by Paramount TV and Hulu. The report says that "the brothers will re-imagine Walter Hill’s iconic 1979 film, itself an adaptation of Sol Yurick’s classic novel of the same name. Their take will honor the original film while adding its own unique brand of grit, pulp, sex and violence."

The original film is set in 1979 in a New York City that is ravaged by territorial gang violence. The story follows a charismatic leader who summons the street gangs of New York City in a bid to take it over. When he is killed, The Warriors are falsely blamed and now must fight their way home while every other gang is hunting them down to kill them.

If you've never seen this movie, do yourself a favor and check it out. The Russo Bros. are a very talented creative team, and I'm excited to see what they come up with for The Warriors TV series. One thing I do hope for is that the series will take place in 1979 like the original film. It would just add so much more personality than modernizing it. What do you all think about the Russos taking on The Warriors? 

As we settle in for the long ten month wait until Game of Thrones returns to television, we're not quite ready to stop talking about the show yet. And since we're really going to be off-book moving forward (unless George R.R. Martin releases The Winds of Winter between seasons and it contains story points beyond what we've seen so far in the show), I figured I'd throw out a few predictions about some plotlines that could happen in season 7 and see what you all think.

Jaime vs. Cersei

At this point in Martin's novels, Jaime Lannister is pretty much done with Cersei because she slept with Lancel (and a litany of other people) and he feels betrayed and inadequate. The finale left his reunion with his sister/lover intentionally vague, but that look they shared at the end certainly wasn't a loving one. He's gotta be pretty pissed that his only remaining son killed himself because of Cersei's actions (she could have prevented Tommen's death had she not been so focused on getting revenge on Septa Unella), so I don't imagine he'll be giving lovey-dovey speeches to her anymore about how they're the only two people in the world who matter. Plus, there's the whole prophecy aspect that hints Cersei will die at the hands of her younger brother. Many assume this means Tyrion, but some suspect it's Jaime, since, even though he and Cersei are twins, he's technically slightly younger.

Sam and Jorah Buddy Comedy in Oldtown

Samwell Tarly had his big Beauty and the Beast moment in the library of Oldtown, and I'll bet that as he's wandering those immense halls searching for information about how to take down the White Walkers, he'll come across Ser Jorah Mormont, who will be following Dany's orders and trying to find the cure for his greyscale. If there's any place in the world that would have the solution for him, the Citadel's library seems like the perfect spot.

Dany and Jon Meet

The Dragon Queen and the King in the North...sounds like a match made in heaven, right? When Dany left Daario behind, she mentioned possibly needing to marry someone as a strategic move when she arrives in Westeros — assuming she doesn't get waylaid by Euron Greyjoy before she gets there. Jon seems like a decent choice (mainly because he's one of the only kings left alive at this point), but there's that pesky little detail about them actually being related. (Dany is Jon's aunt...he's the offspring of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.) But that's never stopped Targaryens from marrying before, and technically neither of them know that they're related yet. Maybe they'll have a bit of a Star Wars/Luke and Leia thing before they realize they're related? At least aunt/nephew is slightly better than Cersei and Jaime's brother/sister thing.

The Wall Comes Down

You didn't think Benjen just randomly stopped in the finale to remind us about how the Wall contains magical elements, did you? And wasn't it convenient how we never heard Bran or Meera tell Benjen about how Bran was marked by the Night King? I'm guessing that's a pretty damn important detail, and it seems incredibly likely that by passing through (or under, or over) the Wall, Bran is going to inadvertently bring it down and allow the White Walkers to come pouring in.

Arya in The Riverlands

We last saw Arya Stark slitting the throat of Walder Frey at The Twins, which is in the heart of the riverlands. While I don't think we'll ever see the Lady Stoneheart character in the show, there's a good chance Arya could become a sort of stand-in for that character, tromping through the region killing everyone involved with the Red Wedding and enacting Starkish revenge left and right. It seems pretty obvious to me that at the very least, she's going to encounter the Brotherhood Without Banners and The Hound again, and since Melisandre should be wandering through that area too, I wouldn't be surprised to see that interaction occur. What do you think Arya's role will be in the "great war to come?"

Is Battlefield 1 as amazing as it looks? You'll believe the hype when you see this new footage courtesy of IGN. Experience a full Domination Mode match in 1080p...read more on Gametyrant

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Hot on the heels of the Fourth of July, it seems fitting that USA Today announced this morning that a 13-foot bronze statue of Captain America is going to be erected in the character's hometown of Brooklyn, New York this year in honor of Cap's 75th anniversary.

“For the past 75 years, Captain America has inspired generations of fans serving as the ultimate global icon for freedom, strength and doing the right thing,” says Paul Gitter, senior vice president of licensing for Marvel at Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media.

“We hope that when fans see the statue, they will think back to a favorite comic book, treasured action figure or even be transported back to a special time and place in their lives where Captain America’s values played influence.”

The statue, which was designed by Marvel artists and Comicave Studios, is being unveiled at this year's San Diego Comic-Con and making the cross-country trek to Brooklyn's Prospect Park for a dedication ceremony on August 10th. If you can't make it to SDCC, you may be able to catch a peek at it along the route to New York; if you miss that, Comicave "will be selling a limited-edition line of 750 12-inch bronze replicas and 100-made-to-order 35-inch pewter ones," so if you're lucky, you'll be able to get your hands on one of those. Here's what the statue (and the smaller replicas) will look like:

Via: io9

What about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems inappropriate for children? The turtles have been icons for kid-based superheroes for years, so there's no way their origin could be based in violence, right?! Court of Source shows how the now-friendly Turtles pasts' were based in brutal violence and Daredevil-based source material!

Watch the full breakdown below.

You may not recognize Clea DuVall's name, but you've seen her in movies like Can't Hardly Wait, She's All That, The Grudge, Zodiac, Argo, and many more over the past twenty years. Now the actress is making her directorial debut with The Intervention, an ensemble comedy in which she stars alongside Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders, Ben Schwartz, Alia Shawkat, Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Piazza, and Jason Ritter. The film earned some nice buzz on the festival circuit earlier this year, and Paramount has picked it up for a wider release on August 26th.

When four couples meet for a weekend away together, an attempt to run a “marriage intervention” goes hilariously wrong as everyone is forced to confront the secrets and fears that seem to be holding them back from finding happiness with each other.

As a long-time fan of The Goonies, all this back and forth talk about a sequel has been driving me crazy! I want a sequel to happen so bad with the original cast and crew, and there have been lots of positive reports and lots of negative reports regarding The Goonies 2. One thing we know for sure is that everyone seems to want it to happen, but it hasn't happened yet! 

Just last month, Sean Astin appeared at a convention and teased the return of One-Eyed Willy in the story for the sequel. This got me and a lot of other fans incredibly excited for this sequel to happen. Now actor Corey Feldman has chimed in again on the matter, and he's playing devil's advocate and explaining why he doesn't think the sequel will ever happen. While talking to MovieWeb, he said:

"Richard Donner is 87 years old. And it’s like, no one really wants to make it without him. He’s the driving force behind it. He says it’s still alive. But as we all know…When you get to that age, things slow down quite a bit. There is a big possibility that he might not want to keep driving it. So, I think without him, it doesn’t happen. And every day that passes, that he doesn’t do it, there is less and less chance that it is ever going to happen at all."

I love that Donner is being optimistic about the sequel and that he's saying it's going to happen, but Feldman is right. If the filmmaker doesn't start developing the film soon, it probably won't happen. Producer Frank Marshall previously said that they have been trying to get the story right. Hopefully, they can figure that out soon, because if this long-awaited sequel is going to ever happen, it has to happen now!

Feldman and Astin actually came up with a story they pitched to Donner at one point, but they passed on it because the budget would have been too big. Feldman previously explained:

"I remember one night, he and I sat down and actually mapped everything out and pitched it to [Goonies director] Richard Donner. Donner was really impressed with the work we put into it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right direction. What we came up with [had] far too big a budget for what they wanted to take on. We wrote something that was Indiana Jones-type big, with the characters going to different countries on this big adventure, with all these special effects. It was maybe a little too much. But I think that’s what you’ve kind of got to do in a sequel.

“While fans do crave a bigger and better adventure, the key to a good sequel is the heart and the magic. Those two elements are necessary. Donner said to me in that meeting, I like where you guys are going, but the one thing you have to remember is we’re not trying to make a big epic movie here. We want to make something true to what the original was, which is more character-driven and full of heart.’ Any Goonies sequel has to be based in reality, and in Astoria. That’s where we met and fell in love with these characters. I think that’s the biggest clue I got to where they were heading with the sequel."

I really hope that Donner is still working on this thing and that a script is being written. At one point, even Steven Spielberg came up with a story! I would just really love to see this sequel happen with all the original players who helped make the first film such an adventurous masterpiece. One day we are either going to get an official announcement that the sequel is happening or an official announcement that the sequel is dead. Until then, all of The Goonies 2 movie talk will continue to drive me crazy.

Often we'll see a movie that sounds good on paper but completely tanks at the box office. It's not too often we see the reverse. If I were a film producer, I would not imagine a film about a group of guys fighting ghosts in New York would have a widespread audience appeal. Yet Ghostbusters became a huge success. In the opinion of Lessons From The Screenplay, this was not due to the screenplay, but how direction and acting brought a mediocre concept to great heights.

There are some good interviews in this video that you should definitely check out if you're a Ghostbusters fan. Let's see if we can make it through the comments without mentioning the reboot!

With Green Room coming out earlier this year and now this trailer for Imperium, it looks like white supremacists are having a bit of a resurgence on the big screen right now. Sure, there were KKK rallies in movies like Bad Boys 2, Django Unchained, and O Brother Where Art Thou?, but before Green Room, the last time a movie really dove headfirst into that world was what, American History X? Either way, Daniel Radcliffe continues to take on projects that allow him to stretch his acting muscles and distance himself from Harry Potter, and I'm guessing he'll have to either witness or partake in some seriously messed up stuff in this true story as he plays an FBI informant who goes undercover to infiltrate a hate group.

Imperium hits theaters and On Demand on August 19, 2016.

Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe), a young, idealistic FBI agent, goes undercover to take down a radical right-wing terrorist group. The bright up-and-coming analyst must confront the challenge of sticking to a new identity while maintaining his real principles as he navigates the dangerous underworld of white supremacy. Inspired by real events, IMPERIUM stars Daniel Radcliffe, Toni Collette, Tracy Letts, with Nestor Carbonell, Burn Gorman and Sam Trammell and will be released by Lionsgate Premiere in theaters and on demand August 19.

In promotion for his bizarre film Swiss Army Man, Daniel Radcliffe took time with EW to answer some questions from his kid fans. We don't learn anything groundbreaking in regards to Harry Potter or future projects, but I liked hearing that Radcliffe would like the Peter Petrelli method of getting super powers! I always say I would want my super power to be mimicking other superpowers! Hear the rest of his answers to various questions below.