/Film

I've got a couple of great pieces of Ghostbusters fan art to share with you today. The first one above comes from Scott Campbell, and the comic book style illustration below was created by Matthew Skiff. These are both a part of Gallery 1988's Ghostbusters traveling art show which is coming to Los Angeles this week. 

Campbell's 16 x 20 inch poster will go on sale at 9 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, May 27th and stay available through 9 p.m. PST Friday May 30th. It’ll be on sale at www.gallery1988.com and cost $70. It's a timed release so they will print out as many posters as were purchased during the selling period. 

The art show takes place in L.A. from May 17th to June 1st at Gallery 1988 (West), 7308 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

G1988

Before Maleficent turned into a villain, she was a much happier free-flowing fairy. This latest clip from the film features the Angelina Jolie's character having a relaxing time flying through the fantasy world. It's really a beautifully shot sequence, and I hope you enjoy it.

From the moment this new Godzilla movie was teased at San Diego Comic-Con two years ago, I've been excitedly pumped up to see see how it would turn out. That excitement for the film only got stronger over the years, with everything that has been released, and I have to say the final product kicked so much ass!  

I grew up watching the old-school Godzilla movies over the years, and I loved how the filmmakers took elements from all of those films, and combined them into one ultimate film experience that fans can enjoy. Watching this movie made me want to go back and revisit some of the classic Godzilla flicks that I haven't seen in a long time. I know the special effects won't live up to what this movie gave us, but I'm curious to see how the stories hold up after all these years.

Look, if you throw Godzilla up on the big screen and have him fight other giant monsters, I'm going to freakin' enjoy myself. I know what I was getting myself into, I know what I wanted to see, and this movie delivered all of that and more. I'm not one to nit pic and tear apart all of the little things that didn't make sense in a movie like this. When I was watching gigantic monsters epically battling to the death, the 10-year-old in me sat there in awe with a huge smile on my face enjoying every minute of it. 

Outside of the monsters, the human characters in the story were really interesting and well rounded. Bryan Cranston gave one hell of a powerful performance. I really felt for his character, and was invested in the personal mission that he was trying to accomplish. There were even some intense moments in there where I got a little emotional. I cared about his character. It's hard not too when you see the agony in Cranston's face!

Aaron Taylor-Johnson was also great in the movie, and his character played an integral role in the story. He plays the son of Cranston's character, and while trying to get back to his family in San Francisco he volunteers his services to help the military take down the giant beasts. He's a likable character that you can't help but root for. That poor guy really goes through some heavy shit, but he's a guy that will push through the agony and get the job done.

The way that Godzilla was portrayed was my favorite aspects of the movie. They gave me everything I loved about the creature, and it was so cool to see him use his atomic breath. I really wanted to see that. The first time he uses it in the film I'm sure I jumped out of my seat and cheered while pumping my fist in the air with excitement. That just gives you an idea of how much appreciation I have for this legendary movie character. 

This movie was made for Godzilla fans, by Godzilla fans. Edwards created an extremely entertaining movie that was made to bring out that awe, wonder and excitement that we love to feel when we go to the movies. If you're into watching destructive monsters causing chaos and kicking ass, then this is the perfect movie for you to see. In the end, Godzilla is everything that I hoped it would be.

Disney has released a poster for their upcoming Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars crossover episode. The story for this special runs parallel to the original 1977 film, A New Hope, and it sounds like it's going to be a really fun episode. Here's a detailed synopsis:

The episode's story begins a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away -- in summer. Phineas and Ferb are living happily on Tatooine, just one moisture farm over from Luke Skywalker. They love simply hanging out and creating new adventures under the twin suns, however, they find themselves thrust into a global rebellion when the plans for blowing up the Death Star accidentally fall into their hands.

Now that fate has suddenly pulled them into the fight for freedom, they must go in search of a pilot who can take them to the Rebels so they can hand over the plans. Complicating matters, Candace -- the boys' sister -- has a Stormtrooper-like intent on "busting rebels" who chase Phineas and Ferb across the galaxy in hopes of retrieving the Death Star plans.

Meanwhile, back on the Death Star, Dr. Darth Enshmirtz, a low level Darth, has created a Force-powered "Sith-inator" that he plans to use against the Rebel Alliance. Agent P, working undercover for the Rebellion, is dispatched to stop him, but quickly gets trapped in carbonite. Then, things take a startling turn when Ferb is accidentally hit by the full blast of Dr. Darth Enschmirtz's "inator" and becomes...an evil Sith.

When talking about this episode, series creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, had this to say:

"Our story all takes place as if you had a slightly wider shot, you could see our characters. Or if you just waited around five minutes after this [Star Wars] storyline, our characters would pass through, which was really really fun to do."

The Phineas and Ferb Marvel crossover episode was actually really fun, and this Star Wars episode should be good. I've got kids that love this show, so I'll definitely be watching it.

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars, will be unveiled for the first time at Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida today. 

Marvel has released another short teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy, and in this one we get to hear Racket Raccoon speak for the first time! The badass rodent is voiced by Bradley Cooper, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be the character that steels the show. Stay tuned for the new full trailer that will be unleashed on Monday, May 19th! 

I'm really excited about the first animated Marvel film Big Hero 6. Everything that I've seen from it and heard about it up until this point has been great. We'll get to see more soon, as Disney has announced that on Thursday they will be releasing the first teaser trailer. 

The film follows the brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, "who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion—a robot named Baymax—Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city."

So far it stars TJ Miller, Jamie Chung, and Maya Rudolph, and it hits theaters in 3D on November 7th, 2014.

It's not easy trying to get into the movie business. It's one of the toughest industries to break into. Your best chance of getting in is a combination of working your ass off, and being at the right place at the right time, like in an elevator with a major Hollywood player. Mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer once said, "90% of all Hollywood careers begin with an elevator pitch…"

I've got a funny short film for you to watch today called The Elevator Pitch that centers around that central idea. The short is described as a "fourth-wall breaking trip through the film industry, featuring a plucky intern struggling to get to the top…"

The short was extremely well made, and it's loaded with really fun twists and turns that you don't see coming. 

Joel and Ethan Coen are in the process of developing their next film project called Hail Caesar. I'm a big fan of their work, and this new project of theirs sounds like it's going to be great. According to Deadline, it’s about "a fixer in Hollywood circa 1950s who works for the studios to protect the stars of the day." The report goes into more detail saying, 

"The comical yarn centers on a man named Eddie Mannix who sounds a lot like the Fred Otash of his day — the famed 1950s private investigator who worked for Confidential magazine and was the muckraker of the time using wiretaps to spy on movie stars and gather dirt. Otash was a former lifeguard who became a cop, then helped operate a call girl ring and lost his job as a cop and became a private eye who wiretapped. The project is being put together now.

It was not unusual during the time for studios’ internal security to protect their assets to construct and manage the squeaky clean image of their stars. The big stars of the day were under contracts for a certain number of pictures so the powerful studios had their own go-to guys (and sometimes hired outside investigators) to deep-six scandalous stories, whether it be romantic dalliances, drug use, DUIs, arrests, you name it. For the more serious threats, the fixers used pay-outs, strong-arming, and took care of 'problems' (real or perceived) by any means necessary. It was the day of the old Hollywood star system."

Apparently this kind of thing went on up until 2002. I love the setting of this story, and it's going to be a great project for the filmmakers to take on. It's perfect for their style and sense of humor.

Artist Marco D’Alfonso created this wonderful comic book cover art that pays homage to Marvel's Secret Wars #10. He's replaced Doctor Doom with Darth Vader and reimagined it as a Star Wars comic book. I included the orginal cover art below, so you can compare the two. 

This is part of CBR's weekly art challenge, The Line It is Drawn, and this week they are obviously focusing on comic book cover homages. 

Here's a fun set of Avengers character comic art that you can watch morph into the actors that played them in the Marvel movies. They were created by Syntaxbitch, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't stop staring at them!

Comedic actors Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are set to star in the Richard Linklater directed film project Larry's Kidney. The movie is an adaptation of Daniel Asa Rose's comic memoir.

According to The Wrap, "Ferrell will play author Daniel Asa Rose, who traveled to China with his black-sheep cousin Larry (Galifianakis) and his mail-order bride to save Larry's life by skirting the law and securing him a kidney transplant." They go on to explain that the story, "balances comedy with life-and-death stakes. Another element of the project's appeal is its Chinese setting."

Ferrell and Galifianakis starred together in the comedy The Campaign. This new project sounds like it will be a lot better. The film also has a solid director attached to it. In case your not familiar with Linklater's name, he's worked on films such as Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, After Midnight, Dazed and Confused, and most recently Boyhood.

Production is expected to start in the spring. Here's a detailed description of the story:

Larry Feldman desperately needed a kidney. After two god-awful years on dialysis, watching his life ebb away while waiting on a transplant list behind 74,000 other Americans, the gun-toting couch potato decided to risk everything and travel to China, the controversial kingdom of organ transplants. But Larry urgently needed his cousin Daniel's help . . . even though they have been on the outs with each other for years.

Sure, Chinese law forbids transplants to Westerners, but that didn't faze Larry. He was confident he could shake out a single pre-loved kidney from the country's 1.3 billion people. But wait: Larry was never one to not get his money's worth. Since he was already shelling out for a trip to China, he decided to make it a twofer: He arranged to pick up an (e-)mail-order bride while he was at it. After a tireless search on the Internet, he already knew the woman he wanted.

Backed by a quarter-million-dollar disability settlement (was it the icicle falling on his head or the truck rear-ending him?) and armed with an all-purpose letter of recommendation from a devoted nun, Larry ventured forth from his Florida condo on an unlikely search for life and love in the most cryptic country on earth. Conflicted about the ethical issues surrounding medical tourism, and with no time to cultivate even a single Chinese contact, Daniel left the next day, on his own dime.

So begins the quest of two star-crossed cousins to rejuvenate Larry's failing body and ever-romantic heart, while avoiding getting tossed into a Chinese slammer. An unforgettable adventure filled with Red Guards who waltz at midnight and former enemies who prove more true than family,Larry's Kidney is the funniest yet most heartwarming book of the year.

A photo from the set of Zack Snyder's Batman VS. Superman has surfaced featuring actress Gal Gadot as Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman. She's not sporting her Wonder Woman warrior outfit in the photo, but it does give you an idea of what they're going for with the look of her character.

The picture was taken by Armen Darakjian as he watched the movie being filmed in Birmingham, Michigan. She looks great in that blue tailor fitted dress, but I'm looking forward to seeing what she looks like all decked out as Wonder Woman. 

Marvel has released the last teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy before the full trailer explodes online tomorrow! This one offers a little more footage that fans are sure to enjoy. I can't wait to see what's in store for us tomorrow! 

Don't forget, the live Facebook Q&A with Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and director James Gunn takes place on the official Guardians of the Galaxy fan page tomorrow, Monday, at 10AM PT!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, and The LEGO Group have announced a third chapter in the popular LEGO Batman video game series. It's called LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and they've also released an announcement trailer. Here's the synopsis:

In LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the Caped Crusader joins forces with the super heroes of the DC Comics Universe and blasts off to outer space to stop the evil Brainiac from destroying Earth.  Using the power of the Lantern Rings, Brainiac shrinks worlds to add to his twisted collection of miniature cities from across the universe.  Now the greatest super heroes and the most cunning villains must unite and journey to different Lantern Worlds to collect the Lantern Rings and stop Brainiac before it’s too late. 

The Batman LEGO games are the only LEGO video games that I have played, and they are actually pretty fun. Below the following press release, you will find the trailer.

LEGO® Batman™ 3: Beyond Gotham will be available beginning Fall 2014 for the Xbox One all-in-one games and entertainment system and the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, the Wii U™ system from Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system, as well as for Windows PC. 

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is the next installment to the blockbuster LEGO Batman™: The Videogame and LEGO Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes videogames. To-date, LEGO videogame sales have reached more than 100 million units worldwide.

“Building on the incredibly successful LEGO Batman franchise, we are working to make LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham the ultimate super hero videogame this year for all ages,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games.  “The TT Games team is bringing LEGO Batman and an astounding amount of characters from the DC Comics universe to the next frontier with a new epic story, more gadgets and unexpected challenges."

In LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the Caped Crusader joins forces with the super heroes of the DC Comics Universe and blasts off to outer space to stop the evil Brainiac from destroying Earth.  Using the power of the Lantern Rings, Brainiac shrinks worlds to add to his twisted collection of miniature cities from across the universe.  Now the greatest super heroes and the most cunning villains must unite and journey to different Lantern Worlds to collect the Lantern Rings and stop Brainiac before it’s too late. 

Players will unlock more than 150 unique characters from the DC Comics universe, including members of the Justice League and LEGO big figures such as Killer Croc, Solomon Grundy and many more. Fans of all ages will be able to control their favorite heroes and villains with new gadgets and abilities. Brainiac’s mind controlling abilities and the power of the Lantern rings bring unexpected twists to the classic characters’ personalities.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham also will allow players to explore iconic locations such as the Hall of Justice, the Batcave and the Justice League Watchtower.  They will be able to access Batman’s training modules on the Bat Computer and take part in various challenges, battles and races.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 

I you haven't seen X-Men: Days of Future Past yet, then you might want to steer clear of this video by Mr. Sunday Movies because it's packed full of SPOILERS. 

If you saw the movie, I'm sure you were able to pick up on a few easter eggs in reference to the Marvel and X-Men universes. This video completely focuses on those things and claims to point out all of them. It also explains a few of the things that were changed in the process of adapting the comic book for the big screen.

X-Men: Days of Future Past was a spectacular film, and I'm looking forward to seeing what exactly they have in store for X-Men: Apocalypse. Thanks to CBM for the tip.

Update:

E! has now confirmed Charlie Cox as Daredevil. 

Latino-Review reports that Marvel is closely looking at Charlie Cox (Stardust, Boardwalk Empire) for the role of Daredevil in their upcoming Netflix series. Latino-Review got the casting of The Flash right, let's see if their Marvel TV sources are just as good as their DC counterparts. This is the first real casting rumor for the title character of the Netflix series. Zac Efron has been rumored for a non-specific Marvel character, and Michael C. Hall said that he'd consider the project if it was offered to him.

Cox is not as well-known to the larger public as the two aforementioned actors are, perhaps this could be a breakout role for him. The Daredevil series should be a lot better than the movie, but maybe the baggage of the previous film is keeping away better known actors.

This weekend, X-Men: Days of Future Past hit theaters with a boom! By far the character that stole the show was Evan Peters’ Quicksilver. THR was able to interview Peters and ask him about his experience making the film. Here are some segments from their interview, but be warned there are spoilers in the interview. If you haven’t seen the movie, do not read on:

When you were cast, did you know Quicksilver would become a breakout character?

No, not at all. I knew the character was cool and what they had written was great. But I didn't now any of the special effects they had planned. I had never done anything like this before. They were filming it and said it would look really cool. I'm super happy with it and pleasantly surprised by how awesome it turned out

You stole scenes from huge characters such as Wolverine and Magneto. What was that like?

It was pretty intimidating. I had grown up watching all of the X-Men films and then there's Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in front of me. I was really nervous. They were great and really funny and nice guys — Hugh and James [McAvoy] and Nicholas [Hoult]. They were awesome.

You didn't have to audition for this role. What was getting that offer call like?

Bryan Singer called me and said he's a fan of American Horror Story and he wanted me for the role. I was blown away because I audition for things all the time and I don't get things – and here I get a role in the new X-Men movie as Quicksilver. I was going "what the hell is going on? This is awesome!"

What was shooting the kitchen scene like?

It was really cool because in the elevator me and Fassbender got to improvise a lot and just play around, which is so much fun. He's such a cool guy. Then we get upstairs to the kitchen and it's all very technical. There are a lot of motion capture camera moves and you are shooting with a phantom camera, which shoots in super slow motion – and the room is brighter than any sunny day.  And there are these four guys keeping their eyes open and pretending to be frozen. And I'm just running around pretending to move them.

There's a section of the scene where I'm moving the arms of two cops, so their guns will move. Then I'm supposed to sprint to the other end of the room to prevent the bullets from hitting my friends –- but there's water all over the floor and I slip and fall – I just eat shit (laughs).

That stuff looks incredibly physical.

They tried to teach me some parkour. They tried to teach me some jumping over shit and that was funny too.

Did you get good at it?

Not really – it's very hard!

I can’t wait for the next installment in the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse, which is being prepped for a 2016 release. Quicksilver has been confirmed for that film, I just hope he will have a bigger role.

Even though I'm a big fan of director Tim Burton, I didn't really care for his vision of Alice in Wonderland. It seemed like one of those movie that he made for a the money. It's like he was just their to stick his name on it, while Disney advised him on how to direct the film. Of course it didn't stop the movie from making over a billion dollars at the box office! As they point out all of the ridiculous things that came from this movie, like always, the team over at Screen Junkies delivers the laughs. 

"Maleficent" is just the latest live-action fairy tale Disney reboot. Fall down the rabbit hole once again with "Alice in Wonderland," visionary Tim Burton's not-so-visionary take on the classic story.

With all of the news swirling around about the divorce between Marvel and director Edgar Wright, no one has asked what the director is now going to do with his time.

It looks like he could be heading right into a movie remake of the 1970’s TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker. This is a project that he would be doing for Disney. He has been interested in this project with Johnny Depp as the lead for awhile. It was first announced a couple of years ago. It isn't confirmed that this will be the next project that Wright takes on, but that's what Deadline is speculating.

Kolchak was a show that centered on a tabloid reporter named Carl Kolchak, whose stories of vampires, zombies, and any other kind of monster you can think of, kept him from being taken seriously. The worst part about it was that all of his stories were true.

This sounds like a perfect vehicle for a Wright/Depp team up. I feel that Wright's style fits right into Depp’s wheelhouse. 

The Americanized remake of the insanely amazing action film, The Raid, has been delayed. It was supposed to shoot this September. The movie is still going to happen, it just won't go into production until early 2015.

Variety also reports that one of the possible reasons for the delay is the casting. The movie is set up at Screen Gems, and apparently the actors who are frontrunners for main roles in the film include Luke Evans, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo and Ethan Hawke. The report doesn't specify what characters they would play, but this really is a solid cast of actors. They also might be holding out for an even bigger actor.

No offers have officially gone out to any actors yet, and I'm sure there are more in the mix. Chances are the studio is waiting for the schedules of the actors they want to star in the film to clear up so they can have their dream cast. 

It's a good thing that the studio is taking their time to make this movie instead of rushing it into production, but it doesn't mean the movie is going to be better than the original. The action film is set to be directed by Patrick Hughes, who recently directed The Expendables 3. When talking about the film in a previous interview, the director had this to say:

"We have a really, really interesting take on that film. One thing, obviously the original just blew my mind and I was fortunate enough to catch up with Gareth Evans in LA at the premiere of ‘The Raid 2.’ The thing that blew my mind with that film was the aesthetics and the fight sequences but also the simplicity of the premise, and there’s so much you can do with that. So our take on it is really interesting and I feel like if anything what I want to do is elevate the emotional aspect of it, and I think those are my favorite action films of all time when you can balance the action and the emotion, and what he did with his first ‘Raid’ was phenomenal."

When talking about the plot he revealed:

"Certainly, we’re not there to recreate that film beat for beat, with the set up we’re following a DEA task team, which was implemented by the Bush administration after September 11th when they realized that terrorism and the drug trade were so closely aligned. So they set up a DEA task team that’s six units and they work across borders and sort of act like Navy SEALS. You never read about it, you never hear about it, but they go on these missions. So that’s a really interesting take and a really nice premise and also what’s interesting on this take on it is the clash of cultures and the clash of martial arts, the fighting styles, which is something that’s going to be a lot of fun when we’ve really started pre-vizzing stuff."

I'm not really expecting much from this movie, but I'll watch it because my curiosity will get the better of me.