Michael Tucker (aka YouTuber Lessons From The Screenplay) is back with a brand new video essay, this one taking a look at one of the best villains in movie history: Heath Ledger's Joker. The actor's Oscar-winning performance is undoubtedly great, but why does this portrayal work so well in Christopher Nolan's superhero masterpiece? Watch and find out.
Why isn't John Cho a bigger star than he is? The dude has had some big roles in major movies, and constantly exudes a cool, effortless charisma that's intoxicating for a lot of his fans. If you're one of the people who have been hoping that Hollywood would finally get its sh*t together and put him to good use, we may have a bit of good news. Variety reports that Cho is developing a new TV series with Gary Lundy and Hand of God creator Ben Watkins called Connoisseur, which Cho is supposed to headline.
The story "centers around Clay Park (Cho), a brilliant con artist who dupes the wealthiest, most powerful people in the country into paying millions for fake wine, but his hustle forces him into a deadly bargain with an organized crime syndicate, puts him in the cross-hairs of the FBI, and unearths the details of a tragedy that fractured his family years ago in Korea."
USA Network bought a script for the series and appears to be waiting to see a pilot before they make a final decision, but this sounds like a great fit for the talented actor and if it's picked up, it'll mark the first time Cho stars in the leading role in a TV show. The idea that it'll be on USA is slightly disheartening to me because, generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of the content they've produced over the years, but otherwise everything about this sounds pretty fun. What do you think?
Two new DLC packs have been announced for Dark Souls III, with the first reportedly arriving in Japan October 26th. Siliconera says Bandai Namco is peppering...read more on Gametyrant
Some new concept art for Captain America: Civil War has been released by Andy Park. Park is a concept artist and visual development supervisor for Marvel Studios. This latest piece gives us an alternate take on Ant-Man — not really with his look, but whose side he's on. In the movie, Ant-Man was a part of Team Cap, but in this concept art, Park reveals that he is fighting against Captain America, which means at one point Marvel may have wanted him on Team Iron Man. Park says:
"An early keyframe painting I did for #CaptainAmericaCivilWar #Antman #Giantman vs. #CaptainAmerica Whaa??"
Maybe that's how it would've gone down had the Marvel and Sony deal for Spider-Man not gone through.
On this edition of The Screen Watchers Guild, we review Kubo and the Two Strings, the latest stop-motion animated feature from Laika Entertainment...Listen on PodTyrant
By: Aaron Goins
This time of year, we would normally be gearing up for new episodes of Doctor Who. The last two seasons started on August 23rd and September 19th, respectively. But this year is different. Back in January it was announced that Series 10 of Doctor Who will not air until Spring of 2017. That means there will be a long 16 or so months separating the finale of Series 9 from the premiere of Series 10.
So what do we do during the wait? Well, there was another major announcement in January: Steven Moffat will be leaving Doctor Who and new showrunner Chris Chibnall will be taking over starting with Series 11. With Series 11 not coming until 2018, we have even longer to wait to see what his version of Doctor Who will look like. But it’s never too early to start doing your homework.
Chibnall has written five episodes of Doctor Who making up four stories (one of the stories is a two-parter). What better way to get a feel for the future of Doctor Who than to watch the future showrunner’s previous work? So while you are waiting for this year’s Christmas Special, check out these four Chibnall-written Doctor Who stories.
Chibnall’s very first Doctor Who writing credit was for a 2007 episode featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha. This episode was unique in that it was the only Chibnall-written episode to not feature the Eleventh Doctor and the Ponds. The main villain in this one was a sun-entity that possessed people and burned them up from the inside. Or were the villains the humans who were stealing energy from the entity? You decide. Chibnall can write scary and intense. He gave David Tennant’s version of the Doctor some very memorable scenes that rival the most emotional Doctor moments. There was also some nice foreshadowing of the Master’s return at the end.
Chibnall returned to Doctor Who in 2010 and penned this two-parter. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory traveled to the wrong place and time and encountered some scientists who were unknowingly drilling into an underground civilization. The aliens below the surface did not appreciate this and wanted to start a war. Humans carelessly hurting an alien species and paying the consequences...sound familiar? We can definitely see some themes Chibnall enjoys to write, although this one is somewhat of a Doctor Who staple. These episodes also featured the return of a Doctor Who alien we had not seen in the series since 1984, the Silurians. The Silurians appeared or were mentioned in three of the five Chibnall-written episodes. I wonder if we should expect to see them more when he takes over the show for Series 11.
This 2012 episode of Doctor Who took us from one extreme to another. It showed us a very silly side of the Doctor, not uncommon in Matt Smith’s run. It also showed us the dark side of the Doctor, where he essentially killed a man, or let’s say, let him die. This episode gave us one of the more interesting villains in the modern series, a man who was so void of morality that the Doctor wasn’t sure exactly how to deal with him. As Chibnall takes over Doctor Who, I hope to see more villains like Solomon and more dark moments for the Doctor. The triceratops that acted like a dog? Let’s not revisit that.
Chris Chibnall’s last Doctor Who episode was also written for 2012’s Series 7. It was a story featuring little black boxes appearing on Earth and the introduction of a villainous species with a lot of potential, the Shakri. But this was all just the vehicle to carry the real story, which was the Doctor coming to terms with having to say goodbye to the Ponds. Some of the best dialogue of Series 7 can be found in conversations between the Doctor and Brian (Rory’s dad) and the Doctor and Amy. Chibnall showcased his ability to write the tear-jerking emotion we all love to see in our Doctor Who.
Which Doctor Who episodes have you been watching while waiting for the show to return?
Starz has released a couple new posters and a promo image from Ash Vs. Evil Dead season two. The latest poster features the cast of the series saluting the American Flag because there’s nothing more American than battling deadites! You can check out another poster and photo below.
The series stars Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, Lucy Lawless as Ruby, Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar, and Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly Maxwell. Season two will introduce a few new characters as well that consist of Michelle Hurd as Ash’s former high school sweetheart, Lee Majors as Ash’s father Brock Williams, and longtime Evil Dead franchise star Ted Raimi as Ash’s childhood best friend, Chet Kaminski.
The upcoming season follows Ash as he leaves Jacksonville to return to his hometown of Elk Grove. It’s there that he and Ruby reluctantly team up to battle the deadites that have infested the town.
There are ten episodes in season two, and it’s set to premiere Sunday, October 2nd at 8 PM ET. To catch up on all our previous news on season two including its connection to Army of Darkness, click here.
A month ago it was announced that there would be a crossover comic miniseries that teamed Batman up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Today we have four pieces of cover art created for the series thanks to CBR. The new comic is based on the version of Batman from the classic animated series and the Ninja Turtles from Amazing Adventures. The comic is called Batman/TMNT Adventures, and it comes from IDW Publishing. This is the synopsis:
The story will follow Batman, in the style we know and love from Batman: The Animated Series, in his pursuit of his usual band of foes after they break free—as they always seem to do—from the confines of Arkham Asylum. The assorted criminals will find their way across canons into New York City, where Bats will have no choice but to call upon the help of the pizza-loving goofballs devoted to keeping the Big Apple safe. It won’t only be Batman’s foes who stand in the way of justice, however; the Turtles’ collective of enemies will step in to ensure the longevity of this new taste of chaos. And of course, we’re likely to see some contribution from the heroes’ pals—perhaps Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon will lend a hand, ditto April O’Neil and Casey Jones.
Batman/TMNT Adventures will be written by Matthew K. Manning with art by Jon Sommariva. It looks like it will be a fun comic to read! The first one is set to hit stores on November 9th, 2016. Enjoy the rest of the cover art below.
A few months ago we learned that Get Shorty was being adapted into a TV series. I’m a fan of Barry Sonnefeld’s 1995 film, which was based on the book by Elmore Leonard. I’m curious to see how this coming series for Epix turns out. Deadline is reporting that Chris O’Dowd is finalizing his deal on the show, and Ray Romano is in negotiations to topline it.
The series centers on the character Miles Daly, “who works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada. For the sake of his daughter, he attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film. But instead of leaving the criminal world behind, he accidentally brings it with him to Los Angeles.”
O’Dowd will take on the role of Miles Daly, and Romano would play a character named Rick, who’s “a washed up producer of low quality films who becomes Miles’ partner and guide through the maze of Hollywood.” These two characters are obviously based on the characters Chili Palmer and Harry Zimm from the original movie.
I like both of these actors, and although they’re no John Travolta or Gene Hackman, I think they will be solid in the roles that they will be playing in the series. I’m hoping for the best with this new show.
Artist Scott Willis posted some awesome concept art that was created for a cancelled Superman project that was being developed by Genndy Tartakovsky for Warner Bros. The art was accompanied by the following note:
Genndy Tartakovsky, Justin Thompson and I were very excited to do our take on an animated Superman but unfortunately it was pulled from us just as we were starting.
That’s a damn shame. I’m a big fan of Tartakovsky’s work, and it would have been awesome to see an animated Superman short film from him.
I actually really enjoyed The Ring horror franchise, and I'm kinda excited for the upcoming sequel Rings. Paramount Pictures has released a couple new full trailers for the film, and as a fan of the first two movies, this sequel looks nice and creepy.
The movie was directed by F. Javier Gutierrez (Before the Fall) from a script that was written by David Loucka, Jacob Estes, and Akiva Goldsman. The movie stars Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe. They are the latest victims of Samara who has made some technological upgrades.
No one is watching VHS tapes these days, so how is Samara spreading her evil video around the world that will kill you in seven days if you watch it? It's all digital now. The sequel doesn't look like it will be as good as the original film, but it should still end up being a fun flick.
A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise. A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before…
Rings will be released in theaters on October 28th, just in time for Halloween. You can watch the domestic and international trailer below.
Lionsgate has announced that they will be developing a big screen adaptation of the graphic novel series The Monolith. The series was created by Justin Grey and Jimmy Palmiotti.
The film is being directed by Dave Wilson, who is the creative director of Blur Studios, which is headed up by Deadpool director Tim Miller. He has worked on developing visual effects for a bunch of video games and trailers for properties like Mass Effect 2, The Division, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He was also a part of developing some of the effects for Avengers: Age of Ultron. This will make Wilson’s feature directorial debut, and it will come from a script written by Barnett Brettler.
In The Monolith, we are introduced to Alice Cohen, a down-and-out ex-junkie who inherits a house in Brooklyn from her deceased grandmother. Alice discovers her diary and begins to read the tale of a lost love and revenge that begins in the factories of New York during the depression and shows the creation of a monster bent on revenge for the slaying of a good honest man.
THR says that the film version of the story will be a “contemporary retelling of the classic Golem legend, which centers on an artificial creature created by magic.” I’m definitely intrigued by the concept.
I don’t really know what to expect from this film, mostly because Wilson has never really directed anything before. I guess one thing it seems like we can expect from Wilson is great looking visual effects. Hopefully, the script is good and Wilson knows how to tell a good story.
In 2012 Stephen King wrote a short story that featured one of his favorite superheroes — Batman. You can now hear that story retold in audio as it’s read by actor Stephen Lang.
The story was originally published in Harper’s Bazaar and was a part of several other stories King wrote in a collection called The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. The title of the story is "Batman and Robin Have An Altercation," and this is the synopsis:
A middle-aged man named Sanderson brings his Alzheimer's-afflicted father to Applebee's for their weekly lunch, where for three years they have ordered the same food and had the same conversation. Just as Sanderson despairs of finding any shred of the man who raised him, he’s saved from a brutal assault to find his father wielding a weapon procured in a moment of lucidity.
If you’re a fan of Stephen King’s work, you’re gonna wanna listen to this!
Thanks to Wired
No Man's Sky is promising to be a much better experience for PS4 users (sorry PC) sometime this week. The company was on Twitter talking about their...read more on Gametyrant
If you're a fan of Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, you'll be excited to learn that they are preparing for their “Return to the Spider-Verse” storyline. It's in this upcoming event that Spider-Gwen will make her TV debut! I've been wondering when this would happen, and it's great to know that that time has come. The news comes from IGN, who explains:
The current fourth season of the series, titled Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Six, will conclude with the four-part storyline, which will find Spider-Man, joined by Miles Morales, once again encountering a ton of alternate reality Spideys. Spider-Gwen will debut in the final installment, voiced by Dove Cameron (Liv and Maddie, Descendants). The super-powered, alternate reality version of Gwen Stacy has been a fan favorite since her debut in the comic book version of the Spider-Verse storyline, and currently stars in her own spinoff title.
The “Return to the Spider-Verse” story arc will also include many other notable characters and guest voices. Some of those include Ben Diskin, who will voice Blood Spider; Christopher Daniel Barnes, the voice of Spider-Man in the beloved 1990s animated series, will voice Wolf Spider; Will Friedle will voice Web Beard, a pirate incarnation of Spider-Man; and Troy Baker will voice Webslinger, the Spider Cowboy.
The series will also include Rocket Raccoon, who will be voiced by Trevor Devall, and Howard the Duck, who will be voiced by Seth Green. He previously provided the voice of Howard in the post-credit cameo in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
The first installment of “Return to the Spider-Verse” is set to air this Saturday. You can see a few more photos below.
Before Ash Vs. Evil Dead bloodily exploded on Starz, Sam Raimi was trying to develop a fourth Evil Dead film for years, which is technically something that could still eventually happen. It will just end up being very different from every other story idea that they had already come up with.
I’m fine with the fact that an Evil Dead 4 film hasn’t happened yet. The TV series has been freakin’ awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more entertaining. But Raimi was really trying to crack a story for a fourth film, but it just never clicked.
ScreenRant recently got their hands on a commentary track for the upcoming Blu-ray for the first season of Ash Vs. Evil Dead. In that commentary, Raimi talks about working on Evil Dead 4 and reveals that they were developing several different versions. He explains:
“Ivan and I wrote a lot of different versions of Evil Dead as a feature in the years after Army of Darkness. We’d get 20 pages into one draft and realize it was not good, do another five pages a different direction.”
He even goes on to reveal what some of these ideas were! One of them followed Bruce Campbell as a documentary filmmaker. Raimi goes into some detail saying:
“Bruce is a documentary filmmaker I remember one of them was, capturing his own journey through life. I remember we wrote one version; we started to write one version of Evil Dead 4…” Brother Ivan chimes in: “Bruce travels cross country to sell his documentary in a car to explain the importance of his story being told.” Sam continues: “No one thought it was a very important story except him.”
That’s an interesting option, and I can see why they ditched it. Another one of the ideas is one that we’ve already shared before. This was a wonderfully insane concept that I wish they would have stuck with. The story followed two versions of Ash in different timelines. It combined the two separate endings that were shot for Army of Darkness. One was set in the future of a post-apocalyptic universe, which was an ending that the UK audiences saw, and the other was set in the present day with Bruce returning to S-Mart, which is what the U.S. audiences saw. The director says:
“So we wrote an Evil Dead 4 that followed both realities. We were going to be following two Bruces – one in the future and simultaneously crosscutting to Bruce here in the present. And we realized, we have really lost our mind now and we must stop.”
They shouldn’t have stopped, though! They should have followed through with that shit! That could have been an awesome film! There was another idea that never saw the light of day that Campbell called "Ash vs. the Machines." It was described as a big-budget film with a Terminator-esque story. Raimi ditched it, though, because he didn’t think there would “be enough money for the big production we had planned.”
It’s pretty cool to learn about some of the other story ideas for Evil Dead 4. It was obviously a hard nut for Raimi to crack. Luckily, they ended up getting this badass, blood-crazed series off the ground, and I’m excited to see where it all leads! Maybe one day Raimi will crack the story for Evil Dead 4, but until then, I’m just going to enjoy the hell out of Ash Vs. Evil Dead.
Neil Hanvey, the terminally ill Star Wars fan behind #RogueOneWish, has seen Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. According to Cinemablend, Hanvey saw the film on Saturday night and passed away on Monday. His wife issued the following statement:
On behalf of all our family we would like to thank everyone who has passed on their condolences following Neil's death last night. We would also like to thank the tens of thousands of people who supported the #RogueOneWish campaign. All the messages of love during the past week have given us a great deal of comfort during a very difficult time. We would also like to thank everyone at St Michael's Hospice, especially Amy Duncan, without who #RogueOneWish would not have happened. All donations at Neil's funeral will go to the Hospice's Family Support team and will be used to fund work with children and young people. An online donation page will be set-up shortly.
#RogueOneWish was tweeted out by thousands of Star Wars fans, including Mark Hamill who retweeted the plight to his million followers. I'm really glad to see that Disney and Lucasfilm managed to make this happen. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releases December 16th.
I was already a big fan of where season 3 of The Flash was headed. With Flashpoint kicking off the season and the introduction of Wally as Kid Flash, it already looked like things were going to be as amazing as it's been so far...and now the ante has been raised. The latest trailer for the show gives us a brief look at a timeline where Cisco Ramon is a millionaire playboy. It's literally a couple seconds long but I've replayed and frozen the clip way too many times.
In case you need a breakdown of all the stuff we just saw:
Let me be the first to say I'm glad Flash is keeping with the alter egos. I had a blast last season watching the cast take on new roles and personalities and imagining Cisco as a rich douchebag sounds too great for words at the moment. The season premieres on The CW on October 4th.
Vin Diesel went live on Facebook this past Friday and revealed that the Guardians are going to be a part of Avengers: Infinity War, but he also revealed an interesting little piece of trivia about the Fast & Furious franchise.
First up, you probably know Diesel was reportedly beefing with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson over some ego-driven nonsense on the set of Fast 8. So when Diesel praised his fans for being loyal to him in that live video, I took it as a veiled dig at Johnson:
"Loyalty is not the common word out here in Hollywood most of the time. Sometimes I wonder if it even exists."
Hmm.
But on to the trivia. Diesel revealed that the role of Johnson's Luke Hobbs was originally meant for an entirely different actor:
"When the Letty character was killed in the fourth one...because of all of you, because of the petitions, and because of all of those beautiful Dom/Letty videos you used to make...we were able to get the studio to bring her character back, and the franchise has been better because of it. Back in the fifth film when I was asking who should I work with, the reason why we brought Dwayne Johnson into Fast Five was because of you. There was a girl named Jan Kelly who said, 'I would love to see you guys work together on screen.' So we gave a role that was originally written to Tommy Lee Jones, but we gave it to Dwayne. And he shined in it."
Obviously, Jones' version of Luke Hobbs wouldn't have been nearly as physical as Johnson's eventual take on the character. It seems like he would have basically been reprising his role from The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, which is basically the kind of archetype that Kurt Russell has in the franchise now.
Because of all of the recent drama, I can't help but think this video is a passive aggressive tactic meant to get under Johnson's skin a little bit. The subtext is basically Diesel saying, "We could have given this to someone else, but we went out of our way to give this part to The Rock, and look at how he's repaid us." They better get their sh*t together and make up, because I don't want this crap to have a negative effect on one of my favorite on-going film franchises.
Fast 8 hits theaters on April 14, 2017.
Via: /Film
Kenneth Lonergan's previous film, Margaret, was shot between 2004 and 2006 and got caught up in so many legal battles that it wasn't released in theaters until 2011, and even then it was dumped for only a one week limited run. I'm guessing most people haven't even heard of it. (You can read my review here.) But it looks like his newest movie, Manchester by the Sea, is going to be seen by a much larger audience.
The film received rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival this year (including Emily's for GeekTyrant), and the film's first trailer has just hit to give the rest of us a sense of what all of the hype was about. This looks like a showcase for a bunch of terrific performances, and I can't wait to check it out for myself when the movie hits theaters on November 18, 2016.
After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave of his job, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, a spirited 15-year-old, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised. Bonded by the man who held their family together, Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust to a world without him. In his first film since 2011’s acclaimed Margaret, Lonergan once again proves himself a powerful and visionary storyteller as he seamlessly weaves past and present together, crafting a tension-filled tale that deftly eschews sentimentality in favor of penetrating emotional insight and deeply affecting human relationships.
