Patrick Wilson, who is best known for his roles in Watchmen, Insidious, and The Conjuring, has joined the cast of James Wan's Aquaman. According to Deadline, the actor will take on the role of ORM, Aquaman's villainous half-brother, who is also known as Ocean Master.

Wilson is a very talented actor who has been involved with a lot of great films and TV projects over the years. It's always cool to see him land a cool role like this, and I think he'll be great in the role!

It was rumored early on in development that ORM would be in the film, and I think  Wilson is perfectly cast in the role. He has had a great working relationship with Wan over the years, so it's not really that surprising that Wan would find a place for him in the movie. 

ORM has had multiple origin stories, but one thing that has always been consistent is the fact that he wants to take his brother's place as the king of Atlantis. As far as his powers go, ORM has superhuman strength, superhuman durability, enhanced senses, and is an expert at magic manipulation using his helmet and trident to conjure magical bolts and control water and lightning. 

This week we head to the biggest Office Christmas Party you've ever seen! That doesn't necessarily make it a good party, does it? Find out on this week's edition of The Screen Watchers Guild. Listen on PodTyrant

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John Carpenter is going to return to the Halloween film franchise as an executive producer and a creative consultant on the new film being developed by Miramax and Blumhouse Productions. This will be the first Halloween film that he's been a part of since Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and producer Jason Blum is trying to get the filmmaker to score the new film. He talked about Carpenter's involvement during a Facebook live interview with Fandango in which he said:

“John Carpenter is our executive producer. I also am hoping he’s going to do the music for the movie. The deal isn’t done, but I’m a good negotiator.”

I hope he's as good as he says he is because it would be pretty awesome to see Carpenter come back and score another Halloween film! The filmmaker hasn't really done much with movies recently. The last film he made was The Ward back in 2010. He's mostly been focusing on music and has released a couple of studio albums called Lost Themes and Lost Themes II.

Carpenter previously said about the film:

“38 years after the original Halloween. I’m going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all.”

It would be so cool if this next Halloween movie did end up being the scariest of them all. That's going to be a hard feat to accomplish, though.

Square Enix is showing off one of their latest DC Comics Play Arts Variant Batman: Rogue's Gallery action figures. This one is a Batman and Mr. Freeze mashup. As you'll see, Batman has been given a cold suit that comes complete with cryo tubes and a freeze gun. This has such a cool and sinister character design that I'm sure collectors will love. Square Enix sure does know how to bring out the badassery in these superhero and villain characters that they make figures for. Here are the details:

Mr. Freeze, Batman's foe with a heart of ice, enters the Rogues Gallery series! Mr. Freeze is driven to freeze all living things that they might be preserved forever, giving him the reputation of a ruthlessly cold and unforgiving villain. In this entry of the Rogues Gallery series, Mr. Freeze measures approximately 10 2/5-inches tall x 9 1/2-inches wide x 5 1/4-inches long and comes packaged in a window box. The plastic action figure features realistic form and color, with the surface texture of the frost and ice covering his entire body are differentiated based on the underlying materials of his armor and suit. No details are missed, especially the use of translucent parts to emphasize his frozen finish. His accessories include gadgets such as a batarang designed to resemble an ice axe and of course, a Freeze Gun. The tank on the bottom of his gun can be detached and a connecting tube can be linked to his waist, allowing our Rogues Gallery Mr. Freeze to amplify his icy power directly from his cryogenic suit.

The Play Arts Kai Mr. Freeze Batman is scheduled to be released in April 2017. The figure will be priced at 19,800 Yen (about $173 USD). You can't pre-order it yet, but if you want to keep checking back, here's the link to Entertainment Earth.

Via: Toy Ark

Netflix has released the first trailer for a new series that they've been secretly developing called The OA. It's an eight-episode series that was created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (Sound of My Voice and The East), and it looks incredibly interesting. I'm definitely intrigued by this trailer, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the series has to offer. 

The series is being produced by Brad Pitt and is described as "a powerful, mind-bending tale about identity, human connection, and the borders between life and death." The story follows Prairie Johnson (Marling), "a missing blind woman who finally returns to her family after seven years with her sight restored. Though Prairie is said to 'remember everything,' she refuses to talk about what happened to her during her time away from home, leaving viewers to contemplate what exactly befell her all those years ago."

The series also stars Emory Cohen (Brooklyn), Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead), Phyllis Smith (The Office), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter), Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact), Patrick Gibson (The Tudors), Brendan Meyer (Mr. Young), and more. 

The OA is set to premiere on Friday, December 16th. Netflix has been pumping out some great series, and this looks like it will hit their high standards for entertainment. 

I love a good opening title sequence at the movies. It gives the filmmaker the opportunity to immediately set the tone for the film and sometimes even sets up the plot. CineFix has compiled a list of what they think are the ten best opening title sequences. It's a pretty solid list that includes films like Catch Me If You Can, Touch of Evil, Fight Club, Taxi Driver, and Lolita. They mention many great opening title sequences while explaining each one of the sequences that made their list. In the end, they crown Saul Bass as the master of movie title sequences and honor all of the films he has worked on in his career in the number one spot.

Cartoon Network has released the opening credits sequence and synopsis for their upcoming Adventure Time: Islands. This is a four-night special event that consists of eight episodes and will explore the history of Finn and what happened to the humans. 

Here’s the official synopsis, which is followed by the opening credits:

In Adventure Time: Islands, Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), Jake (John DiMaggio), BMO (Niki Yang) and Susan Strong (Jackie Buscarino) leave the Land of Ooo to embark on a quest of epic proportions across the ocean and into new lands—encountering new creatures, discovering new islands and using teamwork along the way.

Adventure Time: Islands is set to premiere on January 30th and will end on February 2nd. If you don’t want to wait until then to watch it, you can watch it on DVD, iTunes, Amazon Video, and Google Play for $15. That advance release has all of the episodes as well as some special features that fans might enjoy.

Here's a scenario for you. You own the rights to a fighting franchise that in a world of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, has forged it's own path and held a dominate fanbase since the arcade era of the mid 90's...read more on Gametyrant

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While talking to The New York Times during a recent Facebook live Q&A, Ben Affleck opened up about his solo Batman movie. He explained why he's taking his time with developing the project. It sounds like fans are going to have to be patient with this one because Affleck isn't interested in rushing out a mediocre film. He said:

"We still have to get a screenplay and get it together. I’m a real believer in not reverse engineering projects to meet a window or a date, but rather when you get the right story, the right idea, the right thing, then you make the movie. That’s what we’re doing, and I’m hoping to get that done. I’m spending a lot of time working on that, but also working on other stuff.

"If I could, there’s nothing I’d love more than to direct a stand-alone iconic, great Batman movie. But it’s been done. Chris Nolan did three really great movies. I’m mindful of that. I’m not in any hurry to jam the mediocre movie down the pipe. I really want to make sure, if we do it, we get the great version and one that’s worthy of tradition of guys like Tim Burton, Chris Nolan, and Christian Bale."

I respect that fact that Affleck is taking his time with this film project and that he's only interested in giving us the best possible Batman film that it can be. Hopefully, the studio learns something from this because they've had directosr pumping out those mediocre DC films. Affleck has the integrity to actually make sure that he has a solid story and script before he rushes into production.

It seems like Warner Bros. is still trying to push him a bit, though, to get it done because they recently moved the Justice League sequel back to make room to release The Batman first. But as you can see, Affleck clearly isn't going to start production on the film until he feels that it's ready. It seems like Warner Bros. will be forced to wait until it finally all comes together. The filmmaker went on to talk about how Daredevil played a role in convincing him to make the Batman movie saying:

"Part of it was I wanted for once to get one of these movies and do it right - to do a good version. I hate Daredevil so much.

“It frustrated me. The Netflix show does really cool stuff. I feel like that was there for us to do with that character, and we never kind of got it right. I wanted to do one of those movies and sort of get it right.”

When he does find the right story to tell and he's ready to move forward, hopefully Affleck delivers something special that fans will love.  

We're now in the middle of December, and if you're anything like me, that means you need to tighten up your Christmas gift shopping before things get too far out of hand. Thankfully, ThinkGeek is here with an inexpensive product that would be perfect for the diehard Harry Potter fan in your life. It's a Platform 9 3/4 Hogwarts Express sign, and you can hang it anywhere in your home and make it feel as if you're always just a quick train ride away from one of the coolest locations in fantasy movie history. But as ThinkGeek warns in its product description, just make sure your guests don't actually run headlong into the wall nearby (or at least give them a helmet when they try it).

Everyone has that one guest at the party who has always has too much to drink. This year, if the conversation over butterbeer turns to who voted for whom or if Star Wars is better than Star Trek or if JJ Abrams ruined our childhoods, show your guests this new sign: 

"Look everyone! I had a special portal to Platform 9 3/4 installed last week! If you run straight at it, you can be at Hogwarts by midnight!" 

An international trailer has been released for War for the Planet of the Apes, and it offers us some new footage of Caesar engaging with Woody Harrelson’s The Colonel, who is the main villain in the story. The new footage is basically extensions of scenes that we saw in the first trailer. He is the one who declares war on the apes. Of course, we all know he’s going to lose. This latest film in the franchise will show us how it all goes down.

I’m impressed by what I’ve seen from this film so far. It’s very rare for a third film in a franchise to be just as good or better than the previous films, but this looks like it will be one of those rare sequels that pulls it off.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

War for the Planet of the Apes was directed by Matt Reeves and also stars Andy Serkis, Steve Zahn, Terry Notary, and Karin Konoval. It opens in theaters on July 14, 2017.

A new international trailer has been released for Gore Verbinski's upcoming psychological thriller, A Cure For Wellness, and this thing is very unsettling and fantastically sinister. Seriously, there are some insane visuals in here. It kind of reminds me of something we might see from the American Horror Story franchise. 

The film stars Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-Man), and I can't wait to see it. I love watching crazy movies like this, and it looks like Verbinski has made a visually striking film that will make audiences uncomfortable and freak them out with its madness!

An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company’s CEO from an idyllic but mysterious “wellness center” at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. He soon suspects that the spa’s miraculous treatments are not what they seem. When he begins to unravel its terrifying secrets, his sanity is tested, as he finds himself diagnosed with the same curious illness that keeps all the guests here longing for the cure.

A Cure for Wellness also stars Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter) and Mia Goth (The Survivalist, Nymphomaniac). It's set to be released in theaters on February 17th, 2017.

A year or so ago, I wrote briefly about how I used to be an extra on some films and TV shows and how I've seen my share of fake graphics used to make screens in the background of shots appear to be functional and normal. Projects often populate them with specific content that enhances the fictional world they're trying to create; for an example, watch this video focusing on the interfaces of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Today, I stumbled across this really solid video from Vox that interviews one of the men responsible for those kinds of background graphics on screens within movies, and it's a fascinating peek into an aspect of filmmaking that many of us likely take for granted and don't ever consider. Check it out, and maybe you'll get as much out of this as I did.

Out of all the past footage I've seen of Yooka-Laylee, this is the first time I've actually believed it's really the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie! The new trailer reveals the level for the Capital Cashino and it's truly beautiful...read more on Gametyrant

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In the first teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight we see Optimus Prime go rogue and turn against those he loves. We see him get into a pretty intense fight with Bumblebee! This first poster for the film drives the point home that Prime isn't the hero of this story as it comes with the tagline telling you to "Rethink Your Heroes."

It seems like The Fate of the Furious and Transformers: The Last Knight have a similar plot element where both heroes of the franchise turn on their families. 

The film sees the return of Mark Wahlberg as inventor Cade Yeager, and as we previously learned, the sequel dives deep into the mythology of the Transformers and their home of Cybertron. We'll learn how they were created, where their story starts, and how they went from a slave race to a sentient race. King Arthur and the Nazis also play a role in the story.

The Transformers are also being hunted down on Earth by the Transformers Reaction Force, which is being headed up by Santos (Santiago Cabrera) and Lennox (Josh Duhamel), and Yeager is in hiding or on the run. On his journey, he joins forces with couple new characters including Izabella (Isabela Moner) and Vivian (Laura Haddock).

Transformers: The Last Knight will be released in theaters on June 23, 2017. It also stars Anthony Hopkins, John Turturro, and Stanley Tucci.

With everything that’s been officially released for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the movie. All that footage that’s been shared looks great, and fans have a reason to be excited about the movie because the movie is absolutely incredible! I also have to tell you, there’s so much more that you haven’t been shown from this movie! More action, more story, more character development, more epicness, and a ton of other surprising stuff that you aren’t expecting.

Don’t worry, this is a spoiler free review, and I’m not going to ruin the movie for you or reveal any of these surprises. It’s only been about 30 minutes since I’ve seen the movie at the time that I started writing this review, and my brain is still firing on all cylinders! Rogue One was just such an overload of complete awesomeness and it was so overwhelming in the best ways. 

In my opinion, Rogue One is easily better than The Force Awakens and I honestly think that it’s the best Star Wars movie since the original trilogy. This movie is seriously on the same level of classic greatness as The Empire Strikes Back. No joke, it packs that kind of punch and at the same time it delivers a completely unique and different style and feel. This is all thanks to its thrilling story and the characters that filled it. 

I loved the new characters that we are introduced to in this film so much. Each and every one of them had their charms, and director Gareth Edwards and the writers of the film made sure that these characters were developed in a way that you cared for them. Some of those characters include Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang). Each one of them had some striking scene-stealing moments in the movie that audiences are going to flip over. Thenm of course, there was Ben Mendelsohn as the villain Orson Krennic who also gave a magnificent performance. 

My favorite character in the movie, though, was Jyn Erso, who was brilliantly played by Felicity Jones. She gave one of the best performances that I’ve ever seen in a Star Wars film. I’d go as far as to say that’s it’s award caliber work. You could tell that Jones put everything that she had into this character, and she completely shined on the screen. Erso is such a strong character and there were several moments in the film where Jones just wowed me with her sensational performance. I also really enjoyed Alan Tudyk's K-2SO droid character because he added some fun comic relief that lightened the mood in such a heavy story.

The movie is also filled with familiar characters that fans are going to enjoy seeing. I won’t mention anyone other than Darth Vader, since he’s really the only one who has been officially revealed, but you definitely won’t miss the other characters they included from the original trilogy. There’s some CG work that was done to bring some of these characters back to life and the visual effects work was incredible! As far as Darth Vader goes… holy shit! There’s so much I want to get into about his involvement with the story, but I won’t. All I’ll say is… holy shit! Just wait and see! You’re all in for a real treat that will stun you.   

Not only does the film offer a great story and characters, but the action sequences are astounding! The battles we get to see in the film take place on both land and in space, and I’ve gotta say that it might be some of the best and most intense action we’ve seen in the franchise. They didn’t hold back in this film, and there are incredibly high stakes involved! 

The movie leads up to one hell of an insane grand finale. The ending of Rogue One was so utterly spectacular that the audience I saw it with was gasping and cheering. I was right along with them pumping my fist in the air and excitedly cheering. It’s quite an astonishing and breathtaking experience that blew my mind. It’s a perfect ending for the film that I don't think any of you are expecting. I didn't expect to see what we got! Oh man, I can’t wait for all of you to see it for yourself!

Rogue One is an utterly stunning film that lives up to all the hype you’ll see. I know you’re all going to see it, and I’m excited to see what you all think about it. I can’t wait to see it again on opening night! Gareth Edwards has made one of the best films in the Star Wars franchise, and I applaud him for his vision and what he accomplished with it.

Sigourney Weaver is not certain whether or not Avatar 2 will be completed in time for its release date. Slashfilm reports that the actress said she doubts the film will be ready by the time Fox has projected, which is late December 2018. Weaver explained herself in the statement below...

 “We haven’t started it, so I don’t know how realistic that date is, but I think it’s going to be very exciting,”

Considering how much time they'll need for filming, post production, and any hiccups along the way, I'd say that's a more than fair statement. I've just subscribed to the frame of mind that the earliest we will see the film is 2020. It keeps me from being disappointed at least! 

Also, so what if it gets pushed back? Are any of us eagerly awaiting the release of Avatar 2 that much? I liked the first film, but they're going to have to bring more than next level animation to pull me in for a sequel. 

Yamcha, the hero of the Dragon Ball series?! He's not even the strongest human on Earth! It'd have to be a dream that he would be the savior of the world! 

That's exactly what it is, as ANN says Shonen Jump released a spin-off of the Akira Toriyama Dragon Ball series titled  Dragon BallGaiden: Tensei Shitara Yamcha Datta Ken (Dragon Ball Side Story: The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha). In this bizarre story, a young boy falls down a flight of stairs and hits his head. The next thing he knows is he's Yamcha, but he still has the knowledge of his former self as well as all the history of the Dragon Ball series. 

Supposedly the issue is a parody of popular manga released this year Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Slime) in which something very similar happens to a man...except he's a slime monster. 

While I jest about the strength level of Yamcha, his role in the Dragon Ball universe is vital to the evolution of Krillin and Goku as fighters when they are young. If it weren't for him they would've been toast several times over, so I guess he deserves a little credit. If you're looking to read the Manga, click here. 

Finally, because I know someone is going to dispute it in the comments...Krillin is Earth's strongest human. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year! It's almost Christmas, and as you're gathered with family and friends watching Christmas movies and TV specials, you can pull up this video and watch impressionist Jim Meskimen recite "The Night Before Christmas" in 27 different celebrity voices. Let's face it: we'll never actually be in the same room as Sir Ian McKellan reading this poem, so this will probably be the closest we ever get.

Via: LaughingSquid

Lionsgate has hired Zombieland director Ruben Fleisher to helm their new film Jekyll, which will star Chris Evans. The movie is an adaptation of Steven Moffat's 2007 BBC One miniseries, which continued the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

Evans will take on the role of Tom Jackman, "a modern-day descendant of Jekyll who is beginning to exhibit the trademark split personality. The father and husband abandons his family, without explaining why, and lives in a fortified basement with a psychiatric nurse as his ally. When they strap the doctor to a metal chair, she watches him transform into an alter ego who rages, shows heightened strength and speed and can be a charming, flirtatious scoundrel as well. The two personalities try to co-exist, even though one doesn’t remember what the other does while in control of the body. They use a microcassette to leave messages for each other. Unable to stay away from the family he left behind for their own safety, he visits his wife, Hyde assumes control and learns about them, and things grow very complicated."

The script was written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, who both also worked on the Shane Black-directed The Nice Guys and the upcoming adaptation of Doc Savage, and the remake of Netflix's Death Note. With these guys on board, at least we know that the film will have a strong script. 

Fleischer is currently developing Zombieland 2 for Sony Pictures, but there's no word on when that will happen. I imagine Jekyll will happen before Zombieland 2 because that sequel is still in the process of trying to lock down the return of its stars. 

It seems like Fleischer is a good fit for this project, and it'll be interesting to see what he ends up doing with it.

Source: Deadline