With a couple months left until its premiere, we're getting more looks at Michael Fassbender in the upcoming Assassin's Creed film. The Playlist shares these photos showing Fassbender's character entering the Animus and taking on the role of his long lost Assassin ancestor. Of course, the trailer for the film received some mixed reviews, and I imagine these latest photos will stir up some of the same conversation now that happened then. 

Personally, I think they're staying faithful enough to the source material. The original games may be masterpieces, but I don't think you could translate their stories into a film that wouldn't drag out far longer than it should. Best to give it a fresh start and see how it goes. The film opens December 21st. 

I had no idea that writer Travis Beacham, the brainchild behind Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim, was hard at work making his directorial debut on a completely original project, but /Film has just pointed out that Beacham shared a mysterious new teaser for The Curiosity on Twitter, and it looks extremely compelling. Take a look:

Two moons. Shapeshifting mermaids. Teslapunk magicians. I've made nothing better than #TheCuriosity pic.twitter.com/AK5YYPVlCf

— Travis Beacham (@travisbeacham) September 12, 2016

There's also this quick one that he shared on his Vimeo page last year:

I love the vibe I'm getting from these teasers, and it looks like actress Caroline Ford is going to bring a haunting, magnetic presence to this project. There's also a handful of cool concept art and worldbuilding teases on the movie's website if you're interested in checking out more.

/Film's write-up calls this a full length feature, but in a tweet to a fan, Beacham seems to heavily imply that it's actually a short film:

You bet your ass I did. #TheCuriosity https://t.co/L8pPk0ck3t

— Travis Beacham (@travisbeacham) September 3, 2016

Regardless of the final form it takes, I'm very curious (yeah, yeah, pun intended) to check this one out as soon as it becomes available. We'll try to keep you posted, but it's best to follow Beacham on Twitter to make sure you find out the second it goes online.

If you've played any of the Pokemon games, be prepared for the nostalgia this trailer will unleash on you! Pokemon Generations is the latest in Pokemon-related series that will feature the untold stories from each video game. Each 3-5 minute short will capture a moment you experienced while playing Pokemon across all generations. 

For example, the trailer features Viridian Gym leader Giovanni, Red Gyrados taking on a Dragonite, and some absolutely awesome battles! If you're a fan of the Pokemon Origins series, this looks to be from the same animation team that did that. 

In short, it looks incredible. Check out the trailer and be on the lookout for these episodes to start appearing online December 23rd!

In case you were losing sleep as to whether or not the G.I. Joe film franchise would become a trilogy, you can now rest easy. LRM reports G.I. Joe 3 is still a go, but Paramount is just waiting for Dwayne Johnson's schedule to clear for him to be able to commit to it. The confirmation and quote comes from actor Byung-Hun Lee (Storm Shadow) who says the following:

"I heard from the studio there's a possibility to do a third one, but I think they're waiting on the actors' schedules...they're arranging schedules for the actors, especially Dwayne Johnson."

That could take some doing as it seems The Rock has his hand in about a dozen cookie jars at the moment, but something tells me Paramount will find a way to get it done. 

Michael from YouTube's Lessons From The Screenplay just alerted me to a new video essay he created, and it centers on one of my favorite movies of 2014. Dan Gilroy's seedy thriller Nightcrawler is a terrific showcase for Jake Gyllenhaal's talents as an actor and Gilroy's stylish directing skills, but it's also a wonderful example of a movie that focuses on an incredibly unlikable protagonist. Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom does some despicable things in the film, but this video dives into the reasons the audience still cares enough about him to stick around instead of just bailing when the going gets tough. Check it out:

I hate when I see things that aren't real that I desperately want to make a reality...mainly because I WANT THEM SO BAD! FreakinRad just made me super pissed with this awesome video imagining Pokemon Go in an actual VR setting that you can experience in 360 degrees! 

I've seen a couple 360 videos that are more or less lazy "wow check it out it's the future" deals but this one is actually really well done and makes you feel as though you are a part of an experience! Really phenomenal job guys I HATE YOU.

Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's Westworld is my most anticipated TV show of the year, and with Game of Thrones' ending in sight, I'm sure HBO is hoping that it's a huge success for the premium network. The showrunners already have five seasons planned out, and after a brief hiccup with production taking a hiatus to make sure they got the scripts right, it's been full steam ahead on the hype train. The marketing has been excellent, and now a new trailer (via ScreenCrush) has ramped up the intensity even more. Anthony Hopkins' baritone voiceover provides a chilling juxtaposition with the serene western landscapes inside the experience, and this looks like a heck of an opportunity for the cast (and especially Evan Rachel Wood) to gain even more attention.

Westworld premieres on October 2, 2016.

If you grew up around the same time as me, you're familiar with Butch Hartman. He's created The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and other many other shows on Nickelodeon. Today, on his YouTube channel, he took some more modern cartoons such as Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Gravity Falls and redrew them within his universe. 

I love when animators do this! Any chance we can convince them to do more?!

Maybe you're familiar with this situation, but if you're like me and just now learning about it, let's catch up. For the past couple days, actor John Barrowman (Arrow, Doctor Who, Torchwood) has been publicly announcing that a Torchwood revival is being blocked specifically by Steven Moffat, who is the current showrunner of Doctor Who. Essentially Barrowman says that it's not him holding things up, it's THEM, and now Moffat has finally responded to the accusations via Doctor Who TV:

“You may be aware that John Barrowman has been saying, publicly, that I’ve been blocking a new series of Torchwood. To be very clear – I haven’t blocked it; I wouldn’t block it; I wouldn’t even be ABLE to block it. I didn’t even know a revival had been mooted till I read about it on the Internet. As John perfectly well knows, it’s not my show and I could no more prevent it happening that he could cancel Sherlock. I am bewildered, and a little cross, even to be included in this conversation. For the record, I really liked the show (especially the third series) and would be very happy to see more – monsters and mayhem, why not? But the fact is, it has nothing to do with me. Please pass this on to the anxious and the angry – I’ve had enough hate mail now.”

Having heard several actors who've worked with him and Barrowman himself speak, I can attest to the fact he's a bit of an eccentric. I'm not going to say he lied because I don't think he did, but I can fully believe that he received a bit of information regarding a show he loved and broadcasted it with a megaphone before he had all the information. 

Hopefully, this brings the discussion of Barrowman returning for something Torchwood- or Captain Jack-related on Doctor Who! Though from what I remember from reports back at the 50th anniversary, Barrowman wasn't too interested in returning to the series — or perhaps wasn't wanted. Let's hope the two mend this bridge soon, because I would love to see Barrowman back on either series. 

Jessica Chastain rocketed to the A-list after absolutely blowing up in 2011 with six movies hitting theaters in one year. Since then, she's starred in films like Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, A Most Violent Year, and The Martian, and now she has her next big leading role in a political thriller called Miss Sloane. EW has the trailer, which reunites Chastain with her The Debt director John Madden in a story about Washington lobbyists and the gun control debate that's come to a head in our country following the numerous mass shootings we've endured over the past few years.

Joining Chastain is a stellar group of supporting players, including Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, Sam Waterston, and John Lithgow. Color me intrigued.

Miss Sloane hits theaters on December 9, 2016.

Like anyone invested in the Marvel shows on Netflix, I am super excited for the upcoming Punisher series. Initially watching Daredevil Season 2, I found Frank Castle’s exit from the season rather lackluster. I was looking forward to Daredevil/Punisher fighting the bad guys and blowing everyone’s minds with their fighting prowess. Alas, I had to remind myself that it is a Daredevil series, not a Punisher show. But can you blame me? Jon Bernthal played the role of Frank Castle to perfection.

With the recent announcement of an upcoming Punisher series, hopefully all of my expectations will be fulfilled. The series is reportedly slated to hit Netflix in November of 2017 and casting has begun. It appears that the villain of the show has been cast.

TVLine got the exclusive on the casting. Here is what they had to say:

Netflix’s latest Marvel spinoff, The Punisher, has cast English actor Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) in a series-regular role opposite Jon Bernthal’s titular vigilante, TVLine has learned exclusively. Character info is sketchy, but one rumor making the rounds has Barnes — who will next be seen in HBO’s big-budget Westworld — portraying antagonist Bobby Saint, the corrupt crime prodigy played in the 2004 film by James Carpinello.

If the rumors are true, then it looks like we will be watching Frank Castle make Swiss cheese out of the mafia. I am really OK with the casting of Barnes. He is definitely an underrated actor. Marvel has a history of finding the diamonds in the rough.

What do you think about a reimagining of Bobby Saint? Is he a baddy worthy of The Punisher?

Update:

We mistakenly used a photo of Rodrigo Santoro and not Ben Barnes. We've updated the images and included a side-by-side comparison, because, wow they look really similar. Our apologies to Mr. Santoro and Mr. Barnes.

Remember Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie based on a book that was based on Twilight fan fiction? The movie actually did pretty well in theaters, making over $570 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, and Universal is assuming that fans still want to see what happens when Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele reunite for more hot and heavy action. Yes, the first movie kicked off a planned trilogy, and now we have the first trailer for Fifty Shades Darker, the second movie in the franchise.

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are back to reprise their roles, and it looks like now that the baseline expectations have been set for their S&M relationship, things are getting taken to the next level this time around with cheesy masquerade masks, creepy stalkers, and a guttural cover of a song that desperately tries (and fails) to sound sexy. Are any of you willing to admit that you’re looking forward to seeing this one?

Fifty Shades Darker hits theaters on February 10, 2017.

I'm not afraid to admit right here and now that Tabletop Simulator saved my love of tabletop games. Anyone into the hobby right now eventually finds themselves...read more on Gametyrant

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is Joey’s most anticipated movie of 2016, and while I think it looks solid, I’m far more interested in seeing how writer/director Rian Johnson continues the events of The Force Awakens in Star Wars: Episode VIII.

We’ve heard from Oscar Isaac that the three heroes (Finn, Rey, and Poe) are all “tested immensely” in the new film, John Boyega described the film as “darker and bigger” than TFA, and now Adam Driver — who plays the tempestuous villain Kylo Ren — is sounding off with some of his thoughts.

Collider asked the up-and-coming actor what it was like working with Johnson on this movie, and Driver’s answer makes me want to see the movie more than ever:

Rian is coming into something that we kind of set up and he just took it to the next level in a really great way. He wrote it, too, and Rian’s writing is so clear. I learned a lot of things about my character through his writing. Some things we talked about before and some things we didn’t. He was working on [the script] while we were still working on the first one. To understand what J.J. was doing and take ownership from there is kind of a remarkable thing. And he’s the most polite, unassuming guy and he was appropriately territorial about some things but would still be the first to admit when something’s not working. A lot of times you need to rise to understand what the script is, and perhaps I’m beginning to be unclear, but he’s a great person to work with.

Driver also compared the script for Episode VIII to The Empire Strikes Back, which I know will make a lot of fans happy:

[The script for Episode VIII is] great. It’s similar to how The Empire Strikes Back has a different tone. For that people always go “oooh, it’s dark,” but I don’t know that it necessarily is. It’s just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear. He trusts [that] his audience is ready for nuance and ambiguity. He’s not dumbing anything down for someone and that’s really fun to play.

When I rewatched the original trilogy last year before seeing The Force Awakens, I decided that A New Hope was the best of those first three movies because it tells a complete story and doesn’t have that cliffhanger ending. (Empire is an undoubtedly great entry, but not necessarily the best singular storytelling experience; you can’t watch that on its own the same way you can with A New Hope.) So as long as Episode VIII doesn’t end on another cliffhanger (especially after the way The Force Awakens concluded), I think the idea of changing the tone sounds great to me. I’m excited about seeing that nuance and ambiguity play out with these characters, and even if Johnson isn’t able to tell a perfectly contained story with this movie, I’m still very excited to see how he picks up the baton from J.J. Abrams and pushes the universe forward in his own way.

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters on December 15, 2017.

Here's a head-scratcher for your Tuesday afternoon.

Comic lovers everywhere are probably at least cursorily familiar with the biography of Stan Lee, one of the most influential creators in the medium's history (though it seems pretty well recognized that he may have embellished his role in some of the finer points of creating certain characters, at the expense of other artists and collaborators over the years). A biopic about Lee's life could be interesting fodder for a movie, so when I saw that 20th Century Fox had purchased Lee's life rights, I didn't really blink an eye. It was only when I read the details in THR that I did a double take, because they have a doozy of a premise cooked up for their Stan Lee movie.

Instead of a straight biopic, producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (Twilight, The Maze Runner) are aiming to make an action adventure movie that's being compared to the Roger Moore James Bond films and Kingsman: The Secret Service. This is being eyed as an adventure with Lee as the main character (though presumably starring someone else as the young comics creator...but how bonkers and amazing would it be if the actual Stan Lee played young Stan Lee?), and the trade cautions that no writer is attached at this stage, so the plan for the film could ultimately change.

What do you think? Would you be interested in seeing a Stan Lee action adventure movie, or a story that hews more closely to the real events of his life?

Sully tells the story of the Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a pilot who became a hero when he landed a plane on the Hudson River. Clint Eastwood's latest biopic features another veteran of the biopic genre, Tom Hanks, in the titular role...Listen on PodTyrant

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ScreenJunkies is back with their latest Honest Trailer, and this time they're taking on Marvel Studios and the Russo Brothers' superhero face-off film Captain America: Civil War. It's a pretty average assessment of the movie using criticisms and observations that were widely made at the time of the film's release, filtered through the increasingly-annoying voice of their voiceover guy. But by this point, you know what you're signing up for when you watch one of these things, and you've already made the decision to watch it, so let us know if you dig it in the comments below.

Marvel is really ramping up the marketing for the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We've seen a couple promo spots and a first look at Gabriel Luna's Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider and his Hell Charger racing into action. 

Marvel has now released a poster for season four, and it features a closer look at Ghost Rider's skull as he looks down on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. He definitely has a badass look. Last week it was revealed that in the second episode of season four "Daisy sets out to battle Ghost Rider, but at a terrible cost." I'm interesting in seeing how that plays out. 

Here's the synopsis for the upcoming season:

In light of the Sokovia Accords, and with Hydra obliterated, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been legitimized again and no longer needs to operate in the shadows. Since the world presumes that Coulson is dead, the organization needed a new Director to be the face of the organization. Coulson finds himself back in the role as an agent and teamed with Mack, and together they are tasked with tracking down and confirming the presence of Enhanced people, aka Inhumans. They have been trying to track down and capture Daisy, aka Quake, who has gone rogue in an attempt to atone for sins from the past. But with the world believing that Daisy is a dangerous outlaw who has taken down banks and bridges, the new Director has no qualms about taking her down for good. Agent May is tasked with training specialist strike teams, and Fitz and Simmons have taken a big step forward in their relationship. But with Simmons’ new promotion as Special Advisor to the Director in Science and Technology, Fitz, as well as her former team members, finds it hard to confide in or trust her since she’s now the Director’s confidant.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premieres Tuesday, September 20th at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Artist Kerry Callen has released a fun new superhero comic strip. In it, Superman asks Wonder Woman what she thinks and she automatically goes off on her Justice League superhero teammates, unleashing the brutal truth of each of them. I love the ending of the comic and how her reasoning behind it is because her lasso of truth got wrapped around her leg. 

The artist even included a panel in which she's going off on The Flash, and you get to fill in the blank! Go ahead and do that in the comment section below!

Two read a couple of Callen's previous comics we've posted, click here.

It's been a couple years since we learned that Steven King's Gerald's Game was being adapted into a film. After all this time with no updates or news, I thought the project was dead. 

Back in 2014, Oculus director Mike Flanagan was hired to helm the project. He most recently directed a psychological horror film called Hush, and apparently it's been quite popular on the streaming service Netflix, which helped spark up new interest in finally getting Gerald's Game into development. In a recent interview with Rue Morgue the director said: 

“All of Netflix’s numbers are proprietary, so I don’t get to look at them, but the way I’ve heard people talking, it’s been viewed an amazing number of times, and the reception has been very, very positive. Coincidentally, Stephen King watched Hush at home on Netflix and tweeted about it, which kind of blew my mind. And that got us talking about Gerald’s Game again.”

Flanagan has had a hard time finding a studio and financiers to back the film based on a story that mostly focuses on a woman chained to a bed through the majority of the story. The director explained: 

“It’s a real challenge for financiers and distributors, who say, ‘Yeah, we love your work, we love Stephen King, but this story, this particular story? We don’t know how it works,’ without reshaping it to fit a much more conventional structure, which I did not want to do.”

He then revealed that's when Netflix stepped in to produce it. Not only that, but they are giving the director the freedom to make the film the way he wants to.

“And Netflix, because of how well Hush has done, said, ‘We’re really interested in this, and we’d like to do it the way you want to do it.’ And that eliminated the pressure of having to test-screen the movie and define the demographic that’s going to watch it—all of that stuff that typically comes into the conversation when you’re trying to figure out how to market a film for a wide theatrical release. It just cleared the table, so that I can make the movie I want to make.”

So if you're a fan of this book, it sounds like you're going to get a solid adaptation. If you're not familiar with the book, the story follows a woman who accidentally kills her husband during a game of bondage-type seduction. This happens in a remote retreat, and she soon realizes that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, at which point she begins to let the voices inside her head take over. Then the real nightmares begin. 

I imagine Flanagan will start production on the film in the near future. I'm happy to hear it's happening, though, this is a great and intense story!