After 20 years of service Blizzard has decided to retire the Battle.Net moniker and will be moving onto calling it Blizzard Tech instead, although this change does not affect...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

It's been six years since Mark Wahlberg and director David O. Russell worked together on The Fighter, and in the intervening years, there were some whispers that the two of them weren't getting along very well. Wahlberg was going to star in Silver Linings Playbook at one point before that deal fell apart, and the two were inching toward a reunion with Sony's Uncharted movie in one of that film's many configurations over the past decade. But now it sounds like they've patched things up and finally found something they're both passionate about.

The actor went on Facebook Live to promote his new film Deepwater Horizon, and during the session, he ended up talking about a new project he's working on with Russell:

David O. Russell and I are working on developing a script about Father Stu, who was an amazing priest from Helena, Montana. He was a very tough guy who was a fighter, a football player…anything but a spiritual guy. He found his calling, and decided, after falling in love with a woman, that he wanted to become a priest. He suffered from this horrible muscular degenerative disease but was still ordained as a priest and passed away, but not before he was able to inspire thousands upon thousands of people. I think it’s an amazing, inspirational story, so David and I are working on that right now.

That sounds right up their alley, and would be yet another example of Wahlberg mining a true-life story for content on the big screen. (He's done a lot of that lately with The Fighter, Pain & Gain, Lone Survivor, and Deepwater Horizon.) Meanwhile, the former Funky Bunch leader is also developing a movie with basketball superstar LeBron James.

LeBron James and I are possibly going to do a movie this summer. It’s about guys going to fantasy basketball camp, and me getting in a lot of trouble and having to go at it with LeBron.

James was great in small doses in Judd Apatow's Trainwreck, so we'll see how he handles what could be a much larger role here. That Space Jam sequel seems to be moving insanely slowly, so I'm guessing it'll be years before we see that, if ever. Let us know what you think about these new Wahlberg projects in the comments below.

As someone who just finished Stranger Things and is just getting into Buffy The Vampire Slayer, this is my favorite thing on the internet right now. Tony Harley redid Stranger Things' opening to look just like Buffy, and I'm convinced that theme song can get you pumped to watch even the worst of shows! Check it out below. 

Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for bringing this to our attention!

Nothing has been more shrouded in mystery than Nintendo's follow-up to the Wii-U. Despite ts secrecy, a few secrets have managed to find their way to the...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

While a lot of TV talk centers around HBO and Netflix, FX continues to up its game by bringing in a slew of new voices to create television shows. Donald Glover's Atlanta and Pamela Adlon's Better Things have done well enough in their short time on the air to have already earned second seasons, and now the network is gearing up for a new show with one of today's most mercurial and unpredictable actors: Tom Hardy.

The show is called Taboo, and they've just released a quick new teaser for the series that hints at the atmospheric visual qualities we can expect to see when it debuts:

Here's the full synopsis:

Set in 1814, Taboo follows James Keziah Delaney, a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder, and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.

Sounds pretty great, right? I'm psyched. The show will arrive sometime in 2017, and if you're looking for a more in-depth trailer, check out this one that was released about six months ago.

It's Thursday, and you know what that means: Couch Tomato is back with a new "24 Reasons" video. This time, he looks at the similarities between two relatively modern westerns: 1999's Wild Wild West, and 2012's Django Unchained. Most people know that Django was originally intended to star Will Smith, but the actor ended up turning down the role and it went to Jamie Foxx. To me, that seems like one of the biggest mistakes of Smith's career.

Check out the surprising similarities in the video below:

In a refreshing change of pace, Sam Esmail has most of the answers you're likely searching for after last night's confusing and bonkers finale of Mr. Robot. He spoke exclusively with THR about what happened, and what's next for the show. 

As you can probably guess, there are spoilers ahead.

First, the good news: Elliot is indeed alive, and yes, he was really shot and Tyrell is real. As many of you probably made the connection, this scene was a callback to earlier in the season when Mr. Robot shot Elliot:

"...it was imperative that this was the defining real — and I kind of want to underline that (laughs) — moment for Elliot, because he's actually been shot twice in the show now. He was shot in episode four of the first season in that fever dream hallucination, and was obviously continually shot in the beginning of this season. This one, we wanted to make it feel very different."

Of course then we were met with the equally WTF scene with Angela being calm in the face of learning her best friend has been shot, and that she's been in contact with Tyrell this whole time. Esmail says this is the true cliffhanger for next season and we don't need to worry about what Elliot's fate is:

"Angela, to me, is one of the more fascinating characters. What's great about her character is that there's an elasticity to her motivations. You think she's going one way, and then you realize she's actually going another. Portia pulls it off brilliantly. Just in terms of life, I cannot read Portia Doubleday. That's how good she is. I just thought it's such an interesting way to play the character. You can't quite read what side she's on, and it always keeps me on my toes in an interesting way. This just doubles it down for us. Now she's part of this group we never would have expected. She's shifted once again. But is this an alliance with Elliot, or is it against Elliot, one of her oldest childhood friends? That's something we're going to play with in an interesting way next season."

This is just some speculation here, but I think Angela will be found as the true ringleader in this operation. She is the only person involved who really knows there is a difference between Elliot and Mr. Robot, and even told Elliot on the train, "You think you can trust him, but you can't." Was this manipulation of Elliot and is she having side conversations with Mr. Robot? We can only assume so after that scene. 

Esmail went on to confirm that there will be a lot more Tyrell in season 3, and explained the dynamic between the two quite well:

"The interesting thing to me about Elliot and Tyrell's relationship is that you can clear-cut have a good guy versus a bad guy. That's the way we sort of set it up at the beginning of the whole show. What's incredibly fascinating to me is, what if these two people actually have a connection? What if literally the guy we're supposed to hate actually loves our hero? And there isn't this sort of conventional antagonistic relationship that they have — that it's out of love, as opposed to hate, that there's this friction, that there's this battle? I always thought that was interesting, that usually the hero and the villain of any story are deeply flawed characters. Well, what if these two have the same flaws and are two sides of the same coin, and they both see that and feel that and connect on that? I think there's something a lot more complicated there. We can go into a lot of deeper levels into what that relationship and that conflict will look like going forward."

Something he didn't explain was his prison buddy (played by Joey Bada$$) going to visit the rest of the F Society founders. Did Mr. Robot plan a hit on them? I need to know what happened! I know some people were turned off by the way the season went, but I for one was definitely entertained and hooked for season 3 regardless. Do you feel the same or are you unsatisfied? 

I'll see just about anything with Michael Fassbender or Brendan Gleeson in it, so a crime thriller in which they play father and son at odds with each other is a nice little two-for-one. (It also helps that A24, a company I admire and whose tastes tend to align with mine, is distributing the film.) It's called Trespass Against Us, and the first trailer has been released online (via The Film Stage). It's been a while since I've seen a good generational crime movie (The Place Beyond The Pines is the most recent one I can think of off the top of my head), so hopefully this will scratch that itch.

Trespass Against Us is being eyed for a 2017 release.

Trespass Against Us is set across three generations of the Cutler family who live as outlaws in their own anarchic corner of Britain’s richest countryside. Chad Cutler (Michael Fassbender) is heir apparent to his bruising criminal father, Colby (Brendan Gleeson) and has been groomed to spend his life hunting, thieving and tormenting the police. But with his own son, Tyson (Georgie Smith) coming of age, Chad soon finds himself locked in a battle with his father for the future of his young family. When Colby learns of Chad’s dreams for another life he sets out to tie his son and grandson into the archaic order that has bound the Cutler family for generations. He engineers a spectacular piece of criminal business involving a heist, a high-speed car chase and a manhunt, which leaves Chad bruised and bloodied and with his very freedom at stake.

Last night, celebrities like Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Melissa McCarthy, Zac Efron, and more appeared in a video on Jimmy Kimmel Live reading mean tweets about themselves. I was sort of shocked to find out that this is apparently only the tenth edition of the "mean tweets" series — to me, it feels like this has been going on for years, and they should be closer to the 20th edition than the tenth.

Still, there are some pretty funny one-liners in here, and as usual, these celebs seem willing to make fun of themselves. I think my favorites are the ones about Anthony Mackie and Paul Rudd.

There's a new series coming to Syfy, and as usual, I can't tell if it's going to be good or bad based on the trailer. I feel like 90% of Syfy original series look good in their trailers, but then I get into the show and realize they suck.

After watching The Expanse, I have my hopes that their programming is on the upswing and with Incorporated having the name power of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck behind their series, that's as good a start as any. It kind of sounds like a take on the plot of Elysium? I don't know...I see potential, but I see just as much opportunity for cheesiness as well. 

Incorporated premieres on November 30th. 

Apparently I saw clips for Ghost In The Shell last night and didn't even realize it! The clips were so short that I thought the Geisha sequence was some part of Mr. Robot that I didn't understand. Now that I know what it is, I can agree with the fans that while Ghost In The Shell looks promising, the clips were too short. 

Luckily, we have guys like Tim Gonzales who go and combine the clips in a digestible way and add music from the original soundtrack as well as clips from the 1995 film. Check this out below and tell me you're not excited enough for this film to forgive them casting ScarJo. 

Mark my words: if I can say nothing else positive about the upcoming fifth season of Arrow, this poster is wall worthy. I can hope this year will be a significant step up from the past two seasons, but I have the bar set pretty low this time around. At least I have this cool ass poster to remind me of the good times and HOLY S*** IS OLIVER GROWING HIS BEARD OUT?! Maybe it's just the angle...is it?! It definitely seems darker than it usually is, but maybe that's just the coloring of the poster. 

As for The Flash...it's commendable. Not as good as Arrow, unfortunately, but still good.

Season 5 of Arrow premieres October 5th, and The Flash hits on October 4th on CW. 

The Harry Potter site Pottermore has launched an official quiz that will tell you what your Patronus is in the Harry Potter universe. The site also includes a “Sorting Hat” quiz that will tell you which house you belong in.

Just in case you need a reminder of what a Patronus is, it's described by Remis Lupin as "a kind of positive force, projection of the very things the Dementor feeds upon - hope, happiness, the desire to survive..."

The quiz is a multiple choice test. You are given two or three words that pop up and five seconds to click one instinctively. You don't really have time to think. No thoughts needed or wanted. I already took the quiz, and I don't know why, but I got a Calico Cat...and I hate cats. As for the sorting hat quiz, it put me in Ravenclaw House, which I'm perfectly fine with.

J.K. Rowling herself made the announcement on her Twitter feed and even revealed that her Potronus is a Heron. Check out her the tweets she sent out below:

As many of you have now realised, the @pottermore Patronus Test is finally live!

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

I took the @pottermore test (which I wrote) ages ago when it was a work in progress and got a pine marten Patronus. I was happy, because...

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

... my fondness for weaselly creatures is well documented. However, when we finalised the @pottermore test last week I took it again...

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

... and found that it had changed (which, as we know, can happen). My new Patronus has personal associations and I like it even better...

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

... so as far as I'm concerned, the @pottermore test works! Here's my Patronus... pic.twitter.com/xnjKfjGMx4

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

When asked if getting a mythical creature was possible, Rowling said:

Yes, but they're rare! So far I've seen one hippogriff, one occamy and a unicorn... https://t.co/70e1PHjJiJ

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 22, 2016

Calls between investors and CEOs of major entertainment companies aren't often full of information that we particularly care about. We're not investors in any of these companies — we just want the entertainment we consume to be good. But there were a couple of lines from yesterday's call with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes that stood out as being worth a quick mention.

First of all, he essentially admitted that the stories of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad weren't that great by saying, "We can do a little better on the creative." No kidding, dude. But secondly, he said that these iconic, beloved characters "have a little more lightness in them than maybe what you saw in those movies, so we’re thinking about that."

I'm sure that quote will infuriate fanboys who insist that DC movies absolutely must be dark and gritty. I know that's not a majority of you — most of us agree that regardless of the tone, there need to be improvements on the script level — but there's a militant subsection of DC fandom that seems obsessively tied to the notion that these films have to be as far away from the Marvel Studios vibe as possible. I'm not sure why they think that. It's always been true that these movies can be whatever the filmmakers want them to be (light, dark, funny, serious, whatever) and as long as they're well executed from beginning to end, they'll be well-liked by a majority of the population. The current DC films don't meet that standard, which is why they've been destroyed by the majority of critics. But that part doesn't matter that much to the CEO when people are dropping cash to go see these movies anyway. "The main thing was to launch DC and reinvigorate it with the fan base," he said.

Bewkes isn't the first guy associated with DC Films to mention lightening the tones of future movies. Geoff Johns has said similar things, and the studio flew a bunch of press out to visit the Justice League set with the hopes of convincing them that they've added some a humorous touch to the dour vibe we've seen in the previous two movies. It remains to be seen how all of this will actually affect the studio's upcoming movies on the script level, which, again, is where all of the big changes actually matter. Write a good script without being completely locked in to a pre-established release date, and the rest will fall into place.

Source: Variety

A couple new clips have surfaced promoting the premiere of Star Wars Rebels Season 3. The first clip is called "Face to Face with Thrawn" and in it, we see Hera and Ezra go undercover. "But the captain of the Ghost crew unwittingly gains the attention of a high-ranking Imperial: Grand Admiral Thrawn." The second clip is called "Steps into Shadow" and it centers on Ezra seeking guidance from the Sith Holocron. I also included 15 new photos from the upcoming season that you can check out below the clips.

It seems like we've been waiting forever for Season 3 to start, but it thankfully it premieres later this week! The waiting is almost over! 

Having established a secret base on Atollon, the Ghost crew, now led by a more powerful Ezra, strengthens the rebel fleet by acquiring new resources and recruits eager to stand against the Empire. However, the Imperial efforts to eliminate the rebellion are now being led by the coldly analytical Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose strategic, tactical and cultural insights make him a threat unlike any they have faced before. In season three, Ezra and Sabine take on new roles and challenges as the rebels prepare for their biggest mission yet – a direct assault on the Empire.

The series returns with two episodes on Saturday, September 24th!

Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi film Arrival looks awesome, but it also looks awesome. What I mean is, it looks like a compelling, rich narrative, but it also has impeccable-looking visuals, and that comes from a collaboration between the director and his cinematographer, Bradford Young. Young also shot Ava DuVernay's Selma, David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, and J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year; in short, the dude's got skills.

The Film Stage brings word that Young has scored the biggest gig of his career so far: he'll shoot the upcoming young Han Solo Star Wars Story movie for directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Miller confirmed the news on Twitter:

Very excited. https://t.co/QggZxnHxPh

— Chris Miller (@chrizmillr) September 22, 2016

Filming starts in January, and the movie will arrive in theaters on May 25, 2018. Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan are writing the screenplay.

Alden Ehrenreich will play Han Solo, but that's the only piece of official casting news we have at this point. Donald Glover is apparently at the top of Disney/Lucasfilm's list of actors they want to play a young Lando Calrissian, but with Glover's Atlanta getting picked up for a second season by FX, scheduling might be tougher than it would have been otherwise. We'll keep you posted with more about this movie as we hear it.

Remember the game Power Stone on Sega Dreamcast? You might not, but if you do, you know it was one of the best fighting games out there. The isometric...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

Hollywood regularly churns out underdog sports movies, but rarely do modern entries in the genre work as well as Queen of Katwe, a true story that centers on a non-traditional subject (a Ugandan girl) and a non-traditional game (chess). Like this year's Eddie the Eagle (side note: holy crap, Eddie the Eagle came out this year?! I would have pegged it as a 2014 or 2015 film for sure), the film leans heavily on the formulaic aspects of its genre, but it's so enjoyable to watch these actors and these characters, it hardly matters that you know every major beat before it happens.

Life is difficult for Phiona (Madina Nalwanga), who toils alongside her single mother (Lupita Nyong'o) to help keep their family fed. One day, she follows her brother after work and discovers The Pioneers, a chess club of local children led by coach Robert Katende (David Oyelowo). Despite being uneducated, Phiona quickly takes to the game, and before long, she has beaten everyone in her village — including her coach. The film follows her improbable ascent through the ranks of national tournaments and even into international play.

In a time when the pop culture conversation has rightly demanded more diverse voices in our entertainment, Queen of Katwe is a shining example of answering that call. It's a studio film directed by a woman (Indian filmmaker Mira Nair) that gives us a fairly realistic look at an area of the world not often explored in American cinema (and when it is seen in other films, it's often little more than a backdrop for chase scenes in action movies). It also stars an almost exclusively black cast, led by a wonderful new face in Madina Nalwanga. She plays Phiona with an excellent blend of determination and fun, with the occasional flash of over-confidence that comes with being a kid. David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o deliver performances just as strong as we've come to expect from them, and the rest of the supporting cast — largely children — provide much of the film's joy in humorous moments peppered throughout.

In the film, chess is a metaphor for life not just in scenes where characters say things like, "In chess, the small one can become the big one" and "What matters is when you reset the pieces and play again," but in an even more literal way. One scene involves Oyelewo's coach setting up a board, assigning values to the enemy pieces that correlate to the children's lives (a rook becomes flood waters, a knight becomes troublemakers waiting to rob them, etc), and explaining that though they may feel boxed in on all sides, if they think through their options and move strategically, there's a way to survive.

The movie may center on chess, but it's really a story about being able to embrace our upbringing while also overcoming obstacles and growing beyond societal and class limitations placed on us at birth. When Phiona travels to a nicer part of the world to compete and returns to the relative poverty of her home life, a decent chunk of the movie deals with her struggle with adapting back to the reality of her surroundings.

There are a few nitpicks barely worth mentioning (an unnecessary in medias res opening, some distractingly bad ADR work that smells like studio interference), but on the whole, this is a largely enjoyable movie that accomplishes what it sets out to do and basks in the benefits of its charismatic performers. If there's any justice in the world, Nalwanga's star turn here will earn her more opportunities in Hollywood. We'll see if that happens and how far the industry has actually come, but Queen of Katwe is definitely a step in the right direction.

Bonus: the closing credits do something I've never seen before: they show footage of the actors standing alongside their real-life counterparts with the two people interacting. Biopics sometimes end with side-by-side photos of the actors and the person he or she is playing to show how similar they look, but because the events of this movie are so recent and all of the actual subjects of the story are still alive, the filmmakers were able to showcase that comparison in live-action. It's a neat effect that I don't imagine will be replicated very often considering the specific circumstances under which this movie was made.

On this week’s episode of CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO, we’ll be featuring music from six brand new scores. We open with a wonderful effort by Laurant Perez Del Mar for the animated film THE RED TURTLE. You’ll also hear Roque Banos’ inventive score from the thriller DON’T BREATHE. The new documentary THE TRADE features an atmospheric score from newcomer Mimi Page. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis deliver a dark, raw, serious score from HELL OR HIGH WATER. Chad Seiter’s brilliant score to RECORE is our video game score of the week. And Tadlow Music’s new recording of Maurice Jarre’s IS PARIS BURNING? is our film music vault selection. Listen on PodTyrant

Permalink

We've written about Mike Mitchell's work a bunch of times on GeekTyrant, and lately the artist has been working with Mondo and Acme Archives to bring us a bunch of cool profile shots of Star Wars characters. Now he's back with portraits of two of the film franchise's most iconic faces: smuggling partners Han Solo and Chewbacca.

These would look great facing each other on a wall, and luckily you won't have to worry about them selling out if you want to grab these bad boys. Both are available in a timed edition for 72 hours, which began earlier this afternoon and will last until this Sunday, September 25th, 2016, at 12pm CST.

Han Solo by Mike Mitchell. 12"x16" Giclee Print. Signed & Hand Numbered. Available Thursday (9/22) at 12PM CST through Sunday (9/25) at 12PM CST. Printed by Static Medium. Expected to ship in 6-8 weeks. $55

Chewbacca by Mike Mitchell. 13"x19" Giclee Print. Signed & Hand Numbered. Available Thursday (9/22) at 12PM CST through Sunday (9/25) at 12PM CST. Printed by Static Medium. Expected to ship in 6-8 weeks. $60