If your latest Rey theory has Kylo Ren knowing of her existence prior to meeting...you can throw that one out. Slashfilm reports that J.J. Abrams specifically stated that the two have never met, but that Ren has heard of her. Here's the specific verbiage...

“One of the new relationships that we were focusing on was between Kylo Ren and Rey. They’ve never met but he’s heard of this girl.”

While I don't know specifically what Abrams means in the statement, I would assume Ren's knowledge of Rey is limited to her escape from the New Order from Jakku. I don't think he's had people watching her and not acting on it if she is at all important to his plans. 

I'm still of the mind that Rey's lineage is being made to be a bigger deal than it really is, and that the real climax of this saga is something we haven't even begun to think about yet. I'm also just over theories regarding where she came from in general as I think it's going to have only a small impact on the film overall. Really, everyone just wants justification for how Rey was so powerful in the Force and adept at using a lightsaber, which I'm sure is going to be answered by saying she is the child of a Jedi. 

In case there was any doubt that Anthony Hopkins is one of the greatest actors of all time, Nerdwriter is going to solidify that case. Westworld is already a great series, no doubt, but Hopkins is the vehicle that really propels the story and mystery as it goes along. The crazy part is, he makes it all look so easy. When you break it down, it's mystifying how talented this seasoned actor is. 

Check out a detailed breakdown of a pivotal scene and what Hopkins brings to the table below. 

This latest trailer for A Series of Unfortunate Events looks like it's straight out of my mind! Seriously, I don't think they could have done a better job with the casting! Neil Patrick Harris looks completely transformed — it's scary! For those unfamiliar with the franchise, here's a description...

Based on the internationally best-selling series of books by Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) and starring Emmy and Tony Award winner Neil Patrick Harris, A Series of Unfortunate Events recounts the tragic tale of the Baudelaire orphans -- Violet, Klaus, and Sunny – whose evil guardian Count Olaf will stop at nothing to get his hands on their inheritance. The siblings must outsmart Olaf at every turn, foiling his many devious plans and disguises, in order to discover clues to their parents’ mysterious death.

My expectations for this second chance on the beloved Lemony Snicket series just skyrocketed, and I'm really hoping this show delivers far more than the film did. Check out the trailer below and watch the series January 13th.

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence's upcoming sci-fi film Passengers looks incredible. I'm incredibly excited for this movie because I'm fascinated with the story it tells. We've got the basic gist of the story thanks to the trailers that have been released, but I have a feeling there are going to be some great unexpected surprises that unfold as the story is told. 

Sony Pictures has released the first TV spot for the film, and it offers us a bit of new footage as Pratt and Lawrence try to figure out what is going on with the ship that they traveling on and why they woke up 90 years early. Here's the synopsis:

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are two passengers onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on another planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination. As Jim and Aurora try to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction... only to be threatened by the imminent collapse of the ship and the discovery of the truth behind why they woke up.

I have my own theories on how the film will end, but I won't share them here because there's a good chance they might be right and I don't want to spoil the ending for you. Passengers opens in theaters on December 21st.

Van Helsing is one of several Universal Monster movie characters that the studio is rebooting for a new generation. This whole Universal Monster cinematic universe will launch with Tom Cruise's The Mummy, and after that we'll see films about The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and more. 

There's not much concrete information about how the stories will play out in these films, but we do know that they are all set in a modern world, which is something I'm not a fan of, but I'm not the guy making the decisions over there. All of these monster characters will be able to cross over with each other, though, which could be cool if done right.

During a recent interview with Collider, screenwriter Jon Spaihts talked about his vision of Van Helsing, explaining:

"It’s a new creation, so it doesn’t owe much of a debt to prior films, but it is still a very romantic departure from the character as incepted in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, where it was a Dutch doctor who figures out a very surprising answer to an odd medical question. This is a monster hunter with encyclopedic knowledge, but it’s set in the present day and it’s just filled with good stuff I’m not allowed to talk about. But I’m very excited about this new incarnation of Van Helsing, and I hope that as the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe begins to take flight, we’ll see him cropping up in other stories, as well."

He sure seems excited about what he and the team he's working with are doing with the character. I'm sure it will be better than what Stephen Sommers did with the character in his terrible 2004 film. When previously talking about his plans for Ven Helsing, he said it was inspired by Mad Max and added:

"I can say that the decision that a lot of us made was to go and just write the best movie we could in our own corner and make sure it’s good on its own…and didn’t necessarily need to link arm-in arm-with anybody else. And to be tonally different from the other films. One may be a little bit more comedic, action-adventure-y, one can be very much a traditional horror piece. That kind of thing. And then we’ll see what happens as the projects evolve and we all get a chance to convene and talk, and make sure the movies feel like they’re all in the same world."

He also talked about the series of monster films that they're making, saying they will be "legit terrifying."

"Yes, it’s not a campy series. Even to go back to the original Universal Monster movies with Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff, they were not really terrifying even then. Maybe sensibilities were different and people were easier to scare at the time, but they’re slow and they’re parlor stories, for the most part. They’re not terrifying, in modern terms. We’ve gotten really good at scaring people in movies. So, the nice thing about this Mummy is that it has the swashbuckling action-adventure character of a modern epic action movie, but it’s legit terrifying. It will scare you."

I really do hope these new movies with be scary! To be honest, I'm expecting more action and adventure than I am horror, but if they can pull it all off and manage to terrify audiences in the process... awesome! 

As far as casting goes for these films, I'll just remind you that The Invisible Man will star Johnny Depp, Frankenstein will star Javier Bardem, and The Wolf Man might star Dwayne Johnson. 

For the first time ever, the Call of Duty franchise will allow you the option to die and not respawn. Activision revealed via a blog their latest Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare features a permadeath...read more on Gametyrant.com

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There was this one time at Comic-Con a few years back when I met Olivia Munn shortly after she left Attack of the Show. When I was introduced to her she told me she didn't associate with "those people" anymore in terms of people involved with the geek culture, and she turned her back on me. Anyway, for a person that doesn't want to associate with "those people" anymore she sure is doing a lot of high-profile geeky kind of movies that are putting her in the geek spotlight. She recently starred in X-Men: Apocalypse, and now it's been announced that she has joined The Predator.

Shane Black is currently writing the film with his Monster Squad co-writer Fred Dekker. Black will also direct the film, and Munn will join Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), who was previously cast in the lead.

According to THR, Munn will be playing a scientist opposite Holbrook’s special forces commando. They also offered a brief plot description for the film, saying that the story, which takes place 30 years after the events of the original film, "plunks the deadly alien hunter, who audiences have seen fight in jungles, concrete jungles, frozen wastelands and alien planets, in the harsh environment of … suburbia."

Suburbia is definitely an interesting setting to drop the Predator into! He'll be battling through the homes of families, supermarkets, parks, churches, schoolyards, and whatever else the suburbs have to offer. This is something that I didn't see coming at all, but I like it! It'll be like Monster Squad but instead of monsters, it'll be the Predator! 

While previously talking about the film, producer Jon Davis explained: 

“The writing is so fresh, the perspective is so fresh. I’m telling you, you’re going to get something you don’t expect and you’re going to say, ‘This is the most entertaining way to reinvent a franchise.’”

Well, this latest reveal definitely gave me that reaction, and I'm excited to see where it goes! They are looking to start shooting the film in February 2017, and it will be released in theaters on February 9th, 2018.

Columbia Pictures is in the process of rebooting the 1997 sci-fi action film Starship Troopers, and they've hired Mark Swift and Damian Shannon to write it. This is the writing team behind the script for Dwayne Johnson's upcoming Baywatch movie. Neal H. Moritz, the producer behind the Fast and Furious franchise, is also attached to help develop it.

The studio is hoping to relaunch Starship Troopers as a franchise that would spark several new films. This new film will not be a remake of the Paul Verhoeven movie. This will be a new reimagining of the source material written by Robert A. Heinlein. His book tells the story of a soldier named Johnny Rico as he moves up through the ranks, and it centers on humanity's fight for survival against a race of giant man-eating alien bugs. 

The original Starship Troopers hasn't aged well over the years. I thought it was awesome when I first saw it, but when I watched it again years later it wasn't as awesome as I remembered. It's actually kind of a terrible film, but it has a cult following. I did love the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers animated series, though! That was a great show that was far superior than the movie. I guess if there's one film that could use an upgraded reboot, it's Starship Troopers.

Who knows, maybe it will end up being a more faithful adaptation of the book. A year ago there was talk of a possible TV series, but I guess that's not happening now. What do you think about Starship Troopers getting the reboot treatment?

Source: THR

Paramount Pictures has picked up the film rights to Deadpool creator Rob Liefled's comic book character Avengelyne. The studio has hired Academy Award-winning writer Akiva Goldsman to produce the film and possibly direct it. 

The film is being described as John Wick but with a fallen angel. Avengelyne was originally published in 1995 and a read the first few issues but that's it. I just had so many other comics that I was spending money on and reading at the time that I couldn't afford another one. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, here's a description:

Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in Heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of Hell, to confront the Devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from Heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle once empowered by quoting verses from the Bible. Avengelyne uses her powers to fight demons on earth and is being groomed to be humankind’s last hope in a coming Armageddon.

Liefeld has been developing a film project for years and when he first started he was looking at MMA fighter turned actress Gina Carano to star in it. When talking about why he wanted to bring Avengelyne to the big screen, he explained: 

“Avengelyne resonated so powerfully with the audience because her story of redemption is one that is so relatable. A fallen angel, sentenced to redeem herself by serving humanity, Earth is a foreign environment to her, she must adapt in order to save herself as well as mankind. Her dilemma provides humor amidst the larger plot engine driving her journey. ” 

As of right now there's no actress attached to the film, and there's no word on if Carano is still even being considered. I think this will make for a great movie and with Goldman involved with developing it, I think there's a good chance that it could be done right. 

Goldman has written a ton of high profile films such as A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Tower, and more. He also wrote and directed the film Winter's Tale. He is also overseeing the writer's room for all of the Hasbro properties that Paramount is developing like Transformers and G.I. Joe. 

Are you excited to hear that Avengelyne being adapted into a film? 

I know you've all been waiting for this! Forget Marvel, forget DC, and forget Star Wars: the Weinstein Company is developing a freakin' Furby movie! What? No applause? I didn't think so. I'm sure there are a few Furby fans out there that will be excited for this, but I'm certainly not one of them.

Bob Weinstein made the announcement at the American Film Market in which he said, “I’m rolling the dice and playing for hits.” I'm not sure if a movie based on Hasbro's Furby toy line is really going to be a hit, but OK. It was also revealed that it will be a live-action and CGI hybrid film, which isn't helping its chances of being good.

No talent is attached to the film yet, but Hasbro executive Josh Feldman joked, “We’re out to David Fincher.” So even they know doing a Furby movie is a joke. I personally think they should turn it into a horror movie. Watch Furbys horrifically kill people could be entertaining.

The Weinstein Company also had presentations for Six Billion Dollar Man with Mark Wahlberg; Polaroid, which is based on a short film about a Polaroid camera that murders those who come in contact with it; The War with Grandpa with Robert De Niro in which a boy is forced to move out of his room when his recently widowed grandfather moves in; and a film called Murder Mystery, which a story about an American couple in Europe who get caught up in murder mystery.

Some photos and a video have been posted of Donnie Yen's son James dressed up for Halloween as his dad's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character, Chirrut Imwe. The costume that was put together for him is pretty badass. There is also a photo of Yen's daughter Jasmine dressed at a First Order Stormtrooper. 

I think Chirrut Imwe will end up being a fan-favorite character in the movie and I already plan on dressing up as him next Halloween.

Yen siblings battling it out! Thank you to our amazing Bullet costume design team in HK for making this amazing #chirrutimwe costume for James!! #happyhalloween #starwars #rogueone #bulletfilms #donnieyen #甄子丹 #stormtrooper #disney #lucasfilm @bulletfilmsofficial @donnieyenofficial @jasmineyenofficial #halloween #trickortreat

A video posted by 汪詩詩 Cissy Wang (@sweetcil) on Oct 31, 2016 at 4:22am PDT

You can see we have the force!! 😆💪#Repost @sweetcil ・・・ Like father like son. Thank you to our amazing Bullet films costume design team in HK for making this coolest #chirrutimwe costume for James!! And thx to #Disney for sending us the materials! #happyhalloween #starwars #rogueone #bulletfilms #donnieyen #甄子丹 @bulletfilmsofficial #lucasfilms

A photo posted by Donnie Yen (@donnieyenofficial) on Oct 31, 2016 at 3:32pm PDT

Trick or treat! #happyhalloween #halloween #trickortreat #starwars #stormtrooper #chirrutimwe #chirrut #rogueone #lucasfilm #disney #donnieyen #甄子丹 #bulletfilms @bulletfilmsofficial @donnieyenofficial @jasmineyenofficial

A photo posted by 汪詩詩 Cissy Wang (@sweetcil) on Oct 30, 2016 at 9:40pm PDT

As you know, each Marvel film that is made leads into one of their future films. There's always a little cliffhanger that they leave fans with that always ties into a much bigger story for another movie. In this current phase of the MCU, everything is leading up to Avengers: Infinity War.

It turns out that Thor: Ragnarok could play a huge role in setting up the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Earlier this year, a rumor broke that Cate Blanchett's character Hela "could replace the physical embodiment of Death that Mad Titan Thanos falls in love with when he obtains the Infinity Gauntlet in the comic books." Death is the character who causes the Mad Titan to go on a killing spree and destroy half of the universe in the comics. 

It seems like it would be a smart movie and it kinda makes sense that that's how things would play out. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was specifically asked about this rumor during an interview with Vulture and this was his response:

"Anything is possible. But knowledge of the comics can be both beneficial to fans anticipating things, and also misleading. So you’ll have to see."

Yeah, so he kind of dances around the answer, but like he said, anything is possible. One thing he didn't do is come out and completely deny it. I'd love it if Blanchett's Hela ended up standing in for Death. Feige went on to talk about the awesomeness of having Blanchett in the role of Hela:

“I would be psyched if I were you. Put it this way: Her part is wrapped, and we haven’t done any effects yet. Even without any effects at all — I’m talking dots on her costume, and green screen — it’s amazing.”

Feige also talked a little bit about the direction that he wants to take the Marvel films, explaining that he wants to have more smaller and intimate movies. I know it seems like these films just keep getting bigger and bigger, but that's not the goal they have in mind. Feige explained:

"I think it’s possible to have more intimate movies after that, or to have more interesting, unexpected combinations of characters after that, absolutely. It never is intentionally about ‘being even bigger.’ Arguably, one of the biggest scenes we’ve ever had in a movie was the airport battle in Civil War, and there weren’t world-ending stakes in that scene, there wasn’t an asteroid smashing into a city in that scene, but there was a conflict between the characters that made you feel something."

I like his vision for these films and that he's not really interested in having to keep upping the ante with every movie. They just want to set out and tell a solid story and from there everything else comes together. 

So, there's this “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” craze that I've just been introduced to. I know I'm a bit late to the party on this, but there are certain dark corners of the web that I do not dare visit and expose myself to such things. 

It took this video of Ryuk from the anime series Death Note doing the PPAP dance routine to introduce me to this whole PPAP thing. I have no idea why this all exists, but it does, and for some reason it's popular, and it's so damn weird! 

I honestly find the Death Note-inspired version of PPAP less disturbing than the original video. I don't know why, but it makes more sense for Ryuk to be performing this thing. I think I've lost my mind, so just watch the video. 

Via: Geeks Are Sexy

The team behind Tron: Legacy — director Joseph Kosinski and producer Sean Bailey — have been working on a remake of the classic 1979 sci-fi film The Black Hole since 2009. At some point during the development, screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus, Doctor Strange) was hired to write the script and it's something he seems very excited about and happy with.

Thanks to an interview Spaihts gave to /Film, we have an update on the current status of the film project and apparently the reason nothing has happened with it yet is because it's too dark for Disney. He explains:

Black Hole was an amazing experience. That was one of those movies I was stuck on until I cracked the beginning, and suddenly it just started to flow. I loved that script. It sits uneasily in Disney’s world as a dark epic, and Disney is in a very colorful place. They already have multiple big space epics going, so I don’t know how or whether it’ll find its way to light of day, but I sure wrote a heck of a movie and was thrilled to do it. It was very faithful to the original but clever in all the ways in that first film was silly, I hope.

The original 1979 film followed a group of space explorers aboard the USS Palomino who come across a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, hovering outside a black hole. Inside the Cygnus, the explorers meet a scientist commanding an army of faceless robots, who explains his crew deserted him as he planned to go through the black hole. The explorers soon discover that the robots are the remnants of the former crew and that the scientist has no intention of letting them leave.

It's be a shame if Disney passed on this project. I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing what Kosinski would do with it. It's OK to make dark films! On top of that, I don't know how it can't be any darker than what they are doing with the Marvel and Star Wars properties. Hopefully they eventually move forward with it!

Yesterday, we wrote about how The Raid director Gareth Evans has finally set up his latest feature film. It's called Apostle, and it follows "a man who travels to a remote island and attempts to rescue his sister after she’s kidnapped by a religious cult. The group demands a ransom for the sister’s return, undermining the man’s resolve to rescue her."

Now we know who will star in the film, and according to Variety, it's The Guest and Beauty and the Beast star Dan Stevens. If Evans' previous filmography is any indication, Stevens' character will kick some serious ass as he sets out to rescue his sister; Stevens has proven he has the physicality to handle that kind of action, but assuming there's martial arts involved here, it's just a matter of whether or not Stevens' form will be smooth enough to convince us that he knows what he's doing.

Production gets underway in March 2017. Stevens will next appear on the FX series Legion, but in the meantime, check out this samurai short film Evans made about nine months ago.

It feels like forever since It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia aired its most recent episode, but it's only been since March. (I mean, I guess that has been eight months, which is a pretty damn long time when it comes to TV shows and the modern attention audience's span.) But the first teaser trailer for the show's twelfth season has finally come online, and it gives us a brief but much-needed look at the increasingly insane antics that "the gang" gets up to in the new season. In the first six seconds alone, we see someone take a flying jump kick to the chest, someone get their head stuck in a staircase banister, the gang pull a The Way Way Back and get stuck in a water park slide. So yeah...this season's going to be nuts.

It's Always Sunny returns to FXX in January.

Via: ScreenCrush

I had never heard of French director Leos Carax when I went to see his 2012 film Holy Motors on a lark, but that movie certainly got my attention. If you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend checking it out; I don't watch a lot of French cinema, but this is an incredible piece of filmmaking that really blew me away. I've been wondering what Carax was planning to do next, and now Variety reports that he's set up his English language debut and he's locked down a couple of big name actors to star for him.

Adam Driver and Rooney Mara are set to star in Annette, a movie that's being described as a "musical drama" that "depicts the rise and fall of an intense love story and will boast Carax’s singular visual style and atmosphere." These two actors have done a nice mix of big budget studio movies and indie projects so far, and this one will definitely fall on the "indie" side of the equation. 

Rihanna is rumored to have a small appearance as well, and that wouldn't be the first time Carax has pulled a singer/actress into one of his films (Kylie Minogue had a role in Holy Motors).

Seriously, if only one of you checks out Holy Motors because of this article, I'll feel like I accomplished something today. Give the trailer a peek and see what you think:

To celebrate the launch of Nintendo's NES Classic, the company is bringing back it's famous "Power Line". In the pre-internet world, when gamers needed help completing a game...read more on Gametyrant

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Mindy Kaling is on quite a run right now. Since getting her start as a writer/actor on The Office, she's launched her own show (The Mindy Project, which is still going strong on Hulu) and is now about to appear in two major movies: the heist movie Ocean's Eight and Disney's A Wrinkle in Time. But she's also written a screenplay specifically so she can star in her own movie, and now that project may have found a director.

Variety reports that Spy, Bridesmaids, and Ghostbusters: Answer The Call director Paul Feig is in "serious talks" to direct the untitled movie. The comedy is set in the world of late night television, and Kaling will star opposite Oscar winner Emma Thompson. Not much else is known about the story at this time, but this trio uniting for a movie is an appealing prospect. Feig has established himself as a filmmaker who loves working with and championing funny women, and Kaling and Thompson certainly fit the bill. I'm also a sucker for stories set in the late-night TV scene, and Kaling has idolized Conan O'Brien for years, so hopefully we'll get a good insight into her comedic sensibility here.

What do you think?

Quentin Tarantino has been talking for years about how he's planning to retire from directing feature films after he finishes his tenth movie, which means he still has two more films under his belt. Speaking at the Adobe Max creativity conference in San Diego (via THR), the writer/director confirmed his plans on stage in the most Tarantino way possible:

"Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, 'Match that shit.'"

I used to get really annoyed by Tarantino's arrogance, but after finally watching his whole filmography around 2007 or 2008, I now think he's pretty much earned that attitude with the work he's done. Since then, he's released Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight, and I think two of those are straight up masterpieces, so in my mind, he's only re-established his ability to pretty much say whatever he wants about the industry. He also talked about his feelings about success:

"Hopefully, the way I define success when I finish my career is that I'm considered one of the greatest filmmakers that ever lived. And going further, a great artist, not just filmmaker."

Even if he rubs you the wrong way, I think you've gotta admire the cojones it takes to talk like that about yourself. I think you have to be a bit of an egotist to be a good director (or at least a memorable one), and he definitely lives up to that.

In the meantime, Tarantino has spent the past few years researching the year 1970 for a new mystery project, which could be anything from a book to a feature documentary or a six-part podcast. Hopefully we'll hear more about that soon.