Adéwalé should feel robbed.

The most charismatic member of the Kenway family has been a templar, and there’s something a bit off with that, right? Adéwalé, on the other hand, is everything an assassin should be. Devoted to the cause, distinct, roughly charming, and above all not a whining self loathing or self-involved tool (sorry Kenway clan). More impressive is that all of this is achieved without a huge setup or introduction, just enough of one to set the tone for the next few hours. He deserved to be the star of Assassin’s Creed IV, not just a member of the supporting cast. Even in this rather small 4 to 5 hr adventure, he quickly escapes the restrictions of his limited spotlight.

The expansion campaign takes place 15 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, with Adéwalé now bestowed with full membership into the brotherhood. His purpose is made very clear, one that consists of breaking down the templars' hold, while fulfilling his own personal goal of liberating his brothers and sisters along the way. Eventually you help bolster a resistance in dire need of some good fortune, and this need gives you considerable incentive to seek out the various side missions. Helping liberate the slaves of Port-Au-Prince rewards you with additional help for the resistance and is directly tied to unlocking additional advancements to your gear and weaponry. I love how seamlessly this is all tied together, but I would have liked a bit more character development for some of the other supporting cast. Other than Augustin and Bastienne, there isn't a lot of that around. Unfortunately, with the smaller scale of an expansion, something has to be left on the cutting room floor, but what could have been is very enticing, and what is there is high quality.

The combat is mostly unchanged, but going from Assassin’s Creed: Liberation to the full AC 4 engine has helped me appreciate the finer control presented here, though there are a few hiccups along the way. This rears its head when attempting to climb anything that isn’t completely flat or wall like in nature. All the sudden it feels as if Adéwalé needs a few lessons from Lara Croft on how to scale a small platform. The world available to Adéwalé at times feels a bit small, but once out on the water that slightly claustrophobic feeling mostly goes away. The whole point is to leave someone wanting more, so I guess it's hypocritical to then criticize the game for not being long enough, but just a bit more real estate to play in would not have gone unappreciated. The same applies to the upgrade system, as both your blunderbuss and machete have very low upgrade ceilings. I understand the whole reason we can only pay $15 to $20 for a game is that some features have to be scaled down, but I’m still allowed to want things, right?

For those who have already invested in Assassin’s Creed IV, the expansion is more of what you love, with a protagonist that you will love even more. For the uninitiated, Freedom Cry is a wonderful entry into this era of the series and comes extremely recommended. Adewale is a standout, and here is hoping that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of his story.

This review copy was provided by Ubisoft for the Playstation 3.

The team at Dorkley have created a comic that breaks Star Wars fans into 8 types. I’m an “Original Trilogy Exclusive” with a bit of “Everything-ers.” All we need now is for someone to do this as a Venn diagram.

Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for their big screen contemporary adaptation of the hit musical Annie. The movie was directed by Will Gluck and it stars Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz. I know you're all familiar with Annie, so you really don't need the story details, do you? Just watch the trailer. The movie hits theaters on December 19th.

Thanks to EW we have a couple new photos to share with you of Angelina Jolie as the terrifying Disney villain Maleficent. I seriously think that she is one of the most nightmarish villains that Disney has ever brought to life. It's pretty cool that she's actually getting her own movie. Above you'll find the magazine cover with the character on it, and below you'll find her with a young Aurora, who is played by Jolie's real daughter. 

When talking about playing the villain, Jolie said, “The exercise wasn’t how can we have fun with a villain? It was: What turns people evil and vile and aggressive and cruel? What could have possibly happened to her?”

I guess we'll find out when the movie is released on May 30th. The film looks visually stunning, and it also stars Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville.

The movie tells the "untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well."

The director of The Orphanage and The Impossible, Juan Antonio Bayona, is set to develop a new fantasy action film, A Monster Calls. The film is being produced, distributed, and funded by River Road, Participant Media, Focus Features, and Lionsgate. 

The movie is based on the book by Patrick Ness, which "centers on a boy who attempts to deal with his mother’s illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales."

The plan is to release the film in theaters in 2016. Bayona is a talented director, and I like the movies that he's made so far. This seems like it will be a great project for him to work on, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with it. 

Here's a description of the book:

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Via: Variety

A few days ago we posted some great art inspired by Bryan Singer's highly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past. The art came from Blurrpy, and today we have the second phase of that series to share with you. May favorite of which is the one above that has a great Saul Bass vibe to it. That illustration was created by Fernando Reza. Check out the rest of the poster art below, and click here to see more.

Khoa Ho

Ben Whitesell

Harlan Elam

Joe Vetoe

John Hughes

Marie Bergeron

Tom Miatke

Patrick Connan

Daniel Shearn

You've got to check out this really cool trailer for an upcoming animated film called War of the Worlds: Goliath. I don't know how this flew under my radar, but it's getting a limited 3D theatrical release this weekend, so if it's playing around you, it definitely looks like something worth checking out. The movie was directed by Joe Pearson, and it features the voices of Adrian Paul, Adam Baldwin, and Peter Wingfield.

In a parallel universe, World War One is imminent as we follow the gripping story of human resistance fighters who march to battle against the second invasion of the Martians. In 1899, the Earth was attacked by ruthless invaders from the planet Mars. The Martians' 80 ft tall, heat-ray spewing, Tripod battle machines laid waste to the planet, but the invaders ultimately fell prey to Earth's tiny bacteria. Fifteen years later, Man has rebuilt his shattered world, in large part by utilizing captured Martian technology. Equipped with giant, steam-powered Tripod battle machines, the international rapid reaction force, is Mankind's first line of defense against the return of the rapacious Martian invaders. And return the Martians do. The rematch finds the multinational battle squad tripod "Goliath" on the front-lines of a vicious interplanetary offensive. This time the Martians are using even more advanced alien technology. In the crucible of combat, the young crew helming the mighty Goliath will be tested to the limits of their endurance and courage as they fight for Mankind's very survival under the onslaught of an implacable enemy.

The movie will be released on March 7th!

I'm sure you haven't forgotten about the star-studded selfie that Ellen Degeneres took at the Oscars. I can't believe that it actually crashed Twitter. A few awesome parodies of that photo have found their way online. One comes from Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who says, "The ugly true story of that Oscar® selfie can finally be told! Let’s break Twitter again. Look for Bart.”

This next photo was tweeted by Iain Heath, who said "@TheEllenShow told everyone to 'retweet' her Oscars selfie. I thought she said 'rebuild' it ...in LEGO."

 The Lego Group posted this photo saying, “the real #Oscars #selfie… sort of.”

Then finally we have one by Phil Edwards who says, "The real truth behind the #Oscars selfie. They Live! Obey Consume,"

NBC’s TV show Constantine, based on DC Comics' Hellblazer, has added Lucy Griffiths (True Blood, Robin Hood) as Liv, Harold Perrineau (Lost, OZ) as Manny, and Charles Halford (True Detective) as Chas to the cast. They join Matt Ryan, who has already been cast as the title character John Constantine.

Character descriptions from THR:

Liv, the female lead and an offbeat young lady who finds herself teamed with Constantine after she is marked for death by a powerful demon. With the ability to see the supernatural world among us, she becomes a key player in the battle between good and evil.

Manny, an authoritative angel assigned to watch over Constantine. He has the power to step into other people’s bodies, and although he is meant only to observe, Manny will not hesitate to help out if he can save a life. 

Chas, Constantine's oldest friend and staunch companion. The foreboding Chas possesses powerful survival skills that might possibly be supernatural. 

The 2005 film adaptation also titled Constantine met with mixed receptions, due mainly to fan gripes about large departures from the source material. Hopefully the show is able to deliver on the high expectations of those fans.

Artist Brian Taylor has created a couple of pieces of beautiful fan art of the films Alien and Blade Runner that might just blow your mind. I freakin' love these! 

This badass 4-minute preview for Captain America: The Winter Soldier is loaded with tons of awesome new footage that you're going to want to see!  This movie is probably going to be even better than I'm expecting, and I'm expecting a lot. The movie comes out on April 4th, and it's going to be epic.

This is the first clip and footage to be released from the Jimi Hendrix biopic, All Is By My Side. It gives us our first look at Outkast's Andre Benjamin, a.k.a. Andre 3000, as the legendary musician. 

The clip features flirting with Linda Keith, played by Imogen Poots. Keith is the onetime girlfriend of Keith Richards, who inspired songs by both men. The film centers around Hendrix's recording of his Are You Experienced album.

The film was written and directed by 12 Years a Slave screenwriterJohn Ridley. It doesn't yet have a U.S. release date. The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and is set to be shown at SXSW. It's gotten a lot of positive buzz, and so far has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it seems like a movie that could be worth checking out. 

Xombiedirge

This fun piece of Batman fan art comes from Austin Madison and gives us a glimpse into what life must have been like for Bruce Wayne in college. The piece is called Fratman, and after a hard night of partying like this, maybe he shouldn't take out any of his Bat-vehicles. 

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games have released a funky new trailer for their upcoming video game, LEGO The Hobbit. The game will take players through the events of the first two films of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Like all of the LEGO-themed video games it looks like it will be fun. I enjoy the humor that included in these games.

Players will follow Bilbo Baggins as he is recruited by the Wizard Gandalf to aid Thorin Oakenshield and his Company of Dwarves. Bilbo leaves the comforts of the Shire on a journey through Middle-earth to help the Dwarves reclaim their lost Kingdom of Erebor within the Lonely Mountain. Along the way, he is introduced to ravenous Trolls, dangerous Orcs and, of course, Gollum and his precious Ring. Players will utilize and combine the Dwarves' unique abilities – often with hilarious results – to solve the most diverse Quests of any LEGO videogame to date.

LEGO The Hobbit will be available for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and PC on April 8th. I've included a demo of the game play for you to check out as well. 

Director Robert Rodriguez announced on Twitter that the first trailer for Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For will be live on his account today, March 6th, at 8pm ET. 

Via: Cheezburger

This is not a photo or a cosplayer, this is just an insanely well-made digital illustration of Elsa from Disney's Frozen. It was created by DeviantArt artist jiyu-kaze, and I'm just incredibly impressed. To see the step-by-step process of how this was made, click here.

Matthew McConaughey recently did an interview with Rolling Stone about his character in the critically acclaimed True Detective. The amount of work and time McConaughey put into Rustin Cohle is insane, but just how insane is it, Matt?

"I just basically broke it down and made a 450-page graph of where Cohle was and where he was coming from."

For those not familiar with the series, the show switches a lot between the present, 1995, and 2002, hitting the key moments of an ongoing investigation between two detectives. The most dynamic of these characters, Rustin Cohle, experiences a ton of changes over the years and McConaughey breaks each one down below.

1995 Cohle
"Back to being a part of the body. He's coming off of years being Crash. He's trying to walk the line. Monk-like. Trying to hold it together. And that's a lot easier with less interaction with others. There's a mechanical side to him. He needs the regimen of the homicide detective. He needs the case to actually survive. One, because he's great at it. And two, because it's going to keep him from killing himself."

Crash
"He's our deep, narco wild-ass. A guy who goes all ;the way. This is where Cohle has all the freedom. He can go over the edge as this guy. And inside, he loves the life of Crash even more, because the shackles are off of him. He knows he may die sooner living this life, but there's a freedom and peace in that knowledge for him."

2002 Cohle
"A little looser mix of Crash and the '95 Cohle. A guy who's made his boundaries clear and has to mark less territory, so he's relaxed into his way in the world. But the case is still his lifeline. He has some small hope that there's going to be a way out of his being and pain and criticism, so he makes an effort into domesticity, a la the girlfriend. Only to prove that he was not made for it, and there is no way out. So what does he do? He resigns to his nature, once again."

2012 Cohle
"This guy lived longer than he hoped. Fallen prey to his own beliefs. More cynical, angrier, he's had to endure the existence of this shitstorm called life. A little ragged, more rough edges, living in a place where he can manage himself. Not too close. He's not in the CID. But he's not in Alaska. He's a guy who's resigned to his indentured servitude of being alive. But he despises the sentence and the penance. He will not accept defeat. He's not going become a madman, he's not going to kill himself. He wrestles the devil every day, and he realizes that this may last a lot longer than he ever hoped for."

Reading these descriptions really gave me a further appreciation for the amount of work that has gone into writing this show. Both Woody Harrelson and McConaughey do a lot to make their characters organic to the point you feel like they are enacting scenes from real life. For those not watching the show yet, I'm imploring you not to be late to the party on this already classic series! 

“Sin City is where you go in with your eyes open, or you don’t come out at all.”

The first trailer for Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was supposed to premiere tonight at 8:00pm ET. The Internet had different plans, and the trailer has leaked early. 

The teaser takes us back into the world of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, and is filled to the brim with action, slow-mo, and lots of expertly placed shadows on the female body.

Sin City 2 stars Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jaime King, Eva Green, Dennis Haysbert, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Jamie Chung, Ray Liotta, and many more.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For weaves together two of Frank Miller’s classic stories with new tales in which the town’s most hard boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more repulsive inhabitants. In Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Dwight is hunted down by the only woman he ever loved, Ava Lord, and then watches his life go straight to hell. Chronologically, this story takes place prior to “The Big Fat Kill” (featured in the film Frank Miller’s Sin City) and explains how Dwight came to have a dramatically different face.

The design duo of The Blonds used inspiration from Batman’s villains like Catwoman and the Joker to create over a dozen high fashion looks. Using signature color palette of the Joker or the cat motif of Catwoman, they brought the city of Gotham to Fashion Week.

You can watch all the looks in the full 9min video. Not sure what the model with the knitting needles was trying to do, but she looks crazy. (Thanks: Fashionably Geek)

Screen Gems is teaming up with Sam Raimi to bring us a live-action adaptation the hit video game The Last of Us. The script for the film will come from Neil Druckmann, the Creative Director for the game. The game is pretty incredible, and it should make for an awesome movie. Right now Raimi is only producing the film through his Ghost House Pictures, but maybe there's a chance he could direct it. 

The story follows "hardened survivor, Joel, and Ellie, a young and capable girl, on their journey through a radically transformed world. Set twenty years after an infectious pandemic spread by the cordyceps virus ravaged the course of humanity, these two people, who were brought together by chance, must make life-altering decisions in order to survive. The Last of Us explores themes of survival, loyalty, love, and redemption in an emotionally charged expedition across a post-epidemic United States."

Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper had this to say in a statement to Deadline: 

"Screen Gems’ Brian Dukes and Eric Ling brought this game to my attention insisting we go after it and when I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay. I am thrilled that SCEA’s Riley Russell was able to get me in front of Neil and Evan Wells to plead my case. Sam and his team at Ghost House round out the perfect team to help realize Neil’s vision."

I think it's great they brought in Druckmann to write the script. That should make fans of the game happy, and it doesn't hurt that Raimi is attached to help develop it. 

Here's the full press release: 

Screen Gems will distribute the live action film THE LAST OF US based on the critically-acclaimed PlayStation®3 exclusive video game, developed by Naughty Dog. Neil Druckmann, the Creative Director for the game, will also write the script for the film. On behalf of Naughty Dog, the project will be produced by Co-Presidents’ Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, as well as Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley, along with Sam Raimi via their Ghost House Pictures banner.

Clint Culpepper, Screen Gems’ President, stated, “Screen Gems’ Brian Dukes and Eric Ling brought this game to my attention insisting we go after it. When I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay. I am thrilled that SCEA’s Riley Russell was able to get me in front of Neil and Evan Wells to plead my case. And Sam and his team at Ghost House round out the perfect team to help realize Neil’s vision.”

“Our partnership with Sam Raimi, Ghost House Pictures, and Screen Gems to develop a film based on The Last of Us universe is a perfect fit,” said Evan Wells, Naughty Dog’s Co-President. “Since our game released last June, we’ve talked with many companies about making a film, but we couldn’t have found better partners who share our creative vision and high standards. We look forward to collaborating with Sam, his team, and Screen Gems, to make a movie that will thrill fans of The Last of Us and general audiences worldwide.”

The rich and visceral story of The Last of Us, which was released in June of 2013, follows hardened survivor, Joel, and Ellie, a young and capable girl, on their journey through a radically transformed world. Set twenty years after an infectious pandemic spread by the cordyceps virus ravaged the course of humanity, these two people, who were brought together by chance, must make life-altering decisions in order to survive. The Last of Us explores themes of survival, loyalty, love, and redemption in an emotionally charged expedition across a post-epidemic United States. 

The Last of Us has received worldwide recognition for its innovation in storytelling and gameplay, garnering over 200 global Game of the Year awards from notable outlets such as USA Today, E! Online, Yahoo!, and IGN.  The post-apocalyptic video game also took home 10 wins at this year’s Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences D.I.C.E. Awards – including Game of the Year, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming and Character Performance. Additionally, The Last of Us also won a Writers Guild of America award for “Outstanding Achievement in Writing for Video Games” and leads nominations for the British Academy of Film and Television Video Game (BAFTA) Awards with 10. 

In addition to The Last of US, Naughty Dog recently released their first-ever story expansion, The Last of US: Left Behind, a prologue to the game’s single player campaign available exclusively for the PS3™ system.  For more information about The Last of Us and Left Behind, visit the PlayStation blog or the official game sitehttp://www.thelastofus.com