Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy is the best and most cinematic take on Batman we've ever seen. Thanks to Reddit user Join_You_In_The_Sun, we have 120 behind the scenes photos from the films. After going over the gallery, I really want to re-watch the full trilogy.
It's crazy to think that Nolan made The Prestige and Inception in between the Batman movies. Nolan's work is consistently great, and I'm very much looking forward to Interstellar.
Earlier this month, everyone’s favorite new celebrity Chris Pratt tweeted his first headshot, and as you can see above, it was amazing. Just look at that open shirt, huge sideburns, and leonine mane of curls. He also looked like he didn't have a neck, but you know how that goes. Last night on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Pratt explained the story of how he obtained the photo, and it is just as funny as the picture itself.
Hat tip: Vulture
I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited about the upcoming Halloween season. This is my favorite time of year, and today we have a wicked cool illustration that pays tribute to Charles Schultz's classic Halloween special It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. The piece was created by Nicolas Delort for Dark Hall Mansion, and what he did is absolutely breathtaking. It has a subtle epic and wondrous tone. I will attempt to get myself a print. There's even a glow-in-the-dark variant!
These prints will be made available at the Dark Hall Mansion Store at a random time on Thursday, October 2nd. Be sure to follow Dark Hall Mansion on Twitter for the announcement.
via: Blurppy (They have an interview with the artist and concept sketches that are worth a look.)
An intense trailer has been released for a Spanish horror thriller called Shrew's Nest. The movie was directed by Esteban Roel and Juanfer Andrés, and it premiered at Fantastic Fest where it was met with positive buzz. I enjoy films like this, and this trailer got me excited about watching this one. Here's a detailed synopsis:
Montse has had a rough life. Her mother died while giving birth to her sister and her father disappeared during the war. She’s raised her younger sister on her own, a task complicated by her extreme agoraphobia. Montse never leaves the apartment, but works as a seamstress for clients that come to her. Combined with her sister’s work at a local store, they just manage to squeak out a living. But the girl is curious and she has questions about their past that Montse can’t or won’t answer.
Montse’s agoraphobia is tested when their upstairs neighbor falls down the stairs and lands just outside their front door. Montse decides to help him, bringing him into the apartment and propping him up in bed. But it quickly becomes apparent that Montse has an agenda of her own, and while it may endanger everyone involved, the girl may just get the answers to the questions she’s had for so long.
Unfortunately, there's no U.S. release date set for Shrew's Nest, but hopefully it will get one because this looks like a film I'd want to watch in a movie theater.
I've got an interesting sci-fi short film for you watch today called "Dosing." It was directed by Matt MacDonald, and the story centers on lonely woman's relationship as it's being pushed to the limits by her use of downloadable drugs. Drugs that can be downloaded from online is a really interesting concept that makes for great plot point. There's so much you could explore with this, and I think it would make for a really cool feature-length movie.
This extended Alien: Isolation TV spot features the main character, Amanda Ripley, as she is creepily staked by a Xenomorph. This looks like a solid survival horror game. If you preorder the game you get access to the "Nostromo Edition." Available on October 7th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
I'd totally live in this Star Wars inspired home! Although I'm not sure if the current residents would be too thrilled about that. It's also located in South Korea, and it was built by the architecture firm Moon Hoon.
The 1,410 sq ft house was built for around 200 million KRW (~$192,000) and it looks like it fits right in with the Star Wars universe.
Completed in 2013, the unusual project was conceived when an airline pilot and his former ground crew wife approached Moon Hoon architects to construct a house with a small physical footprint for themselves and their children. Using the fact that the husband had wanted to be an astronaut in his youth as a jumping-off point, the firm brainstormed and eventually settled upon a dwelling that references Star Wars from the outside.
You can see even more photos of it below.
Via: Gizmag
Director Nacho Vigalondo is known for making some pretty cool sci-fi films and thrillers such as Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial, and Open Windows. He has reveled that his next project will be an "old school" Kaiju monster movie, which I imagine means it will be in the same vein as the classics that many of us grew up enjoying. He confirmed the news on Twitter saying, "My next movie will be a Old School Kaiju." He goes into a little more detail about it in an interview with Film Divider though saying:
"The script I finished and want to get financing for is a twist on the kaiju eiga genre, the Godzilla genre. It’s going to be the cheapest Godzilla movie ever, I promise. It’s going to be a serious Godzilla movie but I’ve got an idea that’s going to make it so cheap that you will feel betrayed. You’re going to be so frustrated by it, it’s not even possible.
"The way I wrote the movie – and I don’t want to explain too much – I found a way that is honest and logical to make Godzilla in a costume, destroying cities, models all the time. I wrote the movie in a way that the story has a twist so it makes sense to do Godzilla this way and I’m going to try to be the guy inside the costume because I love filmmaking to the core and I’m a film [lover], one of [my] dreams is not to direct a Godzilla movie but to be inside the costume and destroy the cities. I want to be the guy in the costume."
The guy knows how to work with a small budget, and I've enjoyed the films that he's made. This one sounds like it could be pretty awesome as well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he brings this idea to the big screen.
Via: /Film
There have been a ton of cartoons that have come and gone over the years. Some of them left a mark on the world and became classics, others disappeared into the dark void to be forgotten. I've come up with a list of ten animated series from the 1980s that a lot of you may not remember. Some of you might not even know they existed, but they did. A couple of them were even awesome, but most sucked, which is why they didn't last very long.
Like He-Man, InHumanoids was an action figure toy line before it became an animated series. The story followed a group of scientist-heroes called Earth Corps, and they battled a trio of subterranean monsters called the Inhumanoids with the help of elemental beings, the Mutores. The series started out as a set of six to seven minute shorts. It eventually got a full-length series, but only lasted one season. It was more of a mature themed show that was intended for kids… to give them nightmares.
This was the second spin-off animated series for Gilligan's Island, and I have no idea what they were thinking when they made it. In the show, the Professor builds an operational interplanetary spaceship to get the castaways off the island. As luck had it, the ship rocketed into space and crash-landed on a planet somewhere in the universe that could support human life. So they were once again stranded waiting around for the Professor to repair the ship so they could try and get home.
No, Ghost Busters is not a cartoon based on the movie Ghostbusters. But, it was the success of that movie that made Filmnation resurrect the property, which was previously a 1975 live-action TV series. It wasn't as good as The Real Ghostbusters animated series though. It was just an all-around weak cartoon. The characters in the series lived in a haunted mansion right in-between two skyscrapers. They were on a mission to rid the world of the evil ghost wizard Prime Evil and his villainous henchmen.
This cartoon was based on the the live-action series that starred Soleil Moon Frye. When I was growing up I enjoyed watching the live-action series, but the animated one didn't interest me at all. Frye provided the voice of her character, and it took Brewster on more wacky adventures. The premise included a city at the end of a rainbow which had magical powers that allowed Punky and her friends to transport to any part of the world instantly.
This is what happens when you make a cartoon based on a line of Hallmark greeting cards. The story followed a group of secret crime-fighting animals that included Tyg Tiger, Pammy Panda, Digger Mole, Rick Raccoon, and Bogey Orangutan who talked in a Humphrey Bogart voice. They also teased the park ranger Mr. Dinkle.
Oh yeah! The Rubik's Cube was so popular in the 80's that it even got its own animated series. It focused on a magic Rubik's Cube named Rubik, who could fly and had other special powers. The character could only be brought to life when all the colored squares on his sides had been matched up. Rubik was kind of a creepy looking character too.
I loved playing Laser Tag with my friends when I was a kid. It was a lot more fun and entertaining than watching this shitty TV series. The show kind of had a Terminator storyline that followed a Lazer Tag Champion from the year 3010 who was sent back in time to the 1980s to help her ancestors from Draxon Drear, a master criminal from the year 2935.
I'm not sure why this one was so short lived because this show was freakin' badass. I think maybe because it was too dark and ahead of its time. The sci-fi series was based on a toy line made by the Japanese company Bandai, and the series focused on an international group of soldiers fighting to free the world from a scientist who controls much of the Earth's surface and transformed people into "zoners," people with lifeless yellow eyes and red patches on their faces.
The characters in this series included a group of monsters named Drak, Frankie, and Howler, who were the descendants of Dracula, the Frankenstein monster and Wolfman. The three characters formed a superhero team that would atone for the sins of their ancestors. They would look like normal humans until trouble arises. When that happened they would strike their right hands together and yell out, "Whack 'em!" Then they would turn into their monster selves. This was kind of a cool concept, only 16 episodes were made.
This show is the epitome of everything that was terrible about the '80s. The story centered on band called Kidd Video, who are played by live-action actors in the first half of the title sequence. They are kidnapped by a villain named Master Blaster, and transported to another dimension, which was a cartoon world called The Flipside. They were rescued by a fairy named Glitter, and spent each episode of the series either helping the people of Flipside from Master Blaster's rule, or trying to find a way back to the real world.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was such an awesome series. If you haven't watched it yet, you can get caught up on Instant Netflix. StarWars.com has released a video that goes through the legacy of the The Clone Wars and also reveals three new stories that are coming from that era in the Star Wars universe. A a new Darth Maul comic book is being released, as is a Asajj Ventress novel and a story arc from The Clone Wars that was finished called "Crystal Crisis on Utapau."
You can watch a story reel introduction here, where supervising director, Dave Filoni, discusses the unfinished story. You can watch "Star Wars Clone Wars: Crystal Crisis on Utapau" here.
Here's the description that came along with the Star Wars Clone Wars "legacy" video that you can watch below:
Learn about the lasting effects of The Clone Wars television series on the Star Wars saga and the future stories yet to be told.
A whole new chapter in the Star Wars universe is about to begin with Star Wars Rebels, and I can't wait to see the stories that it tells.
Xena: Warrior Princess introduced the world to Lucy Lawless, and during its six year run (1995-2001) established Xena as an iconic female warrior. Nayyonnaise has taken Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle and given them a Disney Animation style makeover. The artist took particular inspiration from the animated Hercules movie.
Hat tip: Geek x Girls
LAIKA Studios’ The Boxtrolls opens today, and it looks really really charming with a little side dish of creepy. Sir Ben Kingsley voices the film’s villain, The Snatcher, and he recently spoke to reporters about what drew him to the role, and he has some kind of harsh words for other so-called family films.
I haven’t done much of this before. I was sent the most beautiful script which rang true. It rang true from the honest starting point for a family film, which I think is a very bold, very mature move. Orphans. They go through a struggle. They fight some very dark forces, and they achieve their own light, their own friendship, and their own future. To present this as a family film is very refreshing. I’m sorry to say that I think family films often wipe off the top two generations of the family and say, “Anyone taller than this table won’t like this movie.” That is stupid because it’s not a family film. But this is. It will have resonance for all the members of the family who see it.
I say it’s rooted in truth because I can tell a good script from a bad. My former years as an actor were with tremendously good writers, one in particular. Therefore, the way that this rang true, the way the patterns of human behavior in terms of loneliness, of longing, of care, of nurturing, of loss, of greed, of power, of indifference, they’re all there on the canvas. They’re all beautifully etched. So, it was not a great leap for me to say absolutely yes to the script.
He also talked about the darkness of the movie, and the courage of making such a grim movie for children.
Whether it’s the viewpoint or not, the fact is that if you’re going to offer a story, a narrative to the audience about orphans struggling, you have to have a tidal wave against which they have to struggle. It can be indifference. It can be abandonment. It can be incarceration. It can be domineering cruelty. But, because they are wonderful, kind adults, let me reassure you, in the narrative, our heroine and hero have to struggle through the darker side of life. I congratulate LAIKA on having the courage to say, “Look, boys and girls, it’s not about cherries.” It’s really courageous, because I don’t think anything is learned by a movie — this must remain strictly at this table (laughter) – I’m not so sure about feel good movies. I’m not so sure.
And, because he is Sir Ben Kingsley, he makes some (interesting, insightful) comparisons to Shakespeare after being asked if he saw any similarities between his character and Richard III.
Totally. But, you see, the wonderful thing about Richard III is that his first soliloquy is in front of the audience, and he explains exactly how he’s feeling, and he explains how he’s going to behave. He tells them, “Look, I’m mangled and wounded, and I’m going to get the crown.” And Snatcher is in a sense. He cannot take rejection. There’s a reason for that. I don’t know what the reason is. But there is a reason for his absolute inability to be rejected. It turns him into a maniac. It turns him into a fury. I saw a splendid production of Richard III ages ago. I’ve not played the man myself. I could see what he was doing, but I couldn’t see why. I wasn’t allowed to join into why. And really, I think the why in Richard is it hurts to be me. There is always something about the villains that I’m able to play, quote unquote, that isn’t villainous. It’s just very vulnerable and wounded. So, I used that with Archibald Snatcher. Yes, Richard III, and Iago is another great analogy, because Iago begins the play by saying, “I’ve just been passed over for promotion.” And the world will suffer. And it does. At the end of Othello, Iago is responsible for about seven deaths.
Well, that sounds heartening. You can read the whole transcript, including an explanation of why Kingsley stood perfectly still in the recording booth, over at Collider. And below, you can watch a ton of B-roll of Kingsley and some of his co-stars — Elle Fanning, Nick Frost, SImon Pegg, Isaac Hempstead, and Tracy Morgan — recording their parts.
Here’s a synopsis of the movie:
The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures, have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs in the amazing cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher, comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, "into the light," where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnifred. Together, they devise a daring plan to save Eggs' family.
Kate Mara and Ellen Page star in this hilarious True Detective parody from Funny or Die called "Tiny Detectives." They are portrayed as being a couple of tough detectives that face all kinds of challenges due to their extremely short sizes.
The internet was unhappy with the casting of 'True Detective' season 2, so the creators have started from scratch with an entirely new show.
It's a very silly premise, but that's what makes it so entertaining. In all seriousness though, I could totally see these two actresses as the stars of a True Detective series.
Tiny Detectives with Kate Mara and Ellen Page from Kate MaraJupiter Ascending has great directors, a well known cast, and a large scope with lots of action. So why are very few people excited for this movie? Every post we've put out for Jupiter Ascending lands with a real thud, with hardly any clicks, comments, or shares.
The movie opens in February, which is where bad movies go to die. While very different, this feels like a repeat of John Carter to me, a movie full of cool ideas that alienates mainstream audiences — how did James Cameron turn Avatar into such a success?
Official Synopsis:
Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis star in "Jupiter Ascending," an original science fiction epic adventure from filmmakers Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix).
Jupiter Jones (Kunis) was born under a night sky, with signs predicting that she was destined for great things. Now grown, Jupiter dreams of the stars but wakes up to the cold reality of a job cleaning other people's houses and an endless run of bad breaks. Only when Caine (Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along—her genetic signature marks her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.
Jupiter Ascending staggers into theaters February 6th (USA)
If you visit artist Ciro Trezzi’s Threadless profile, you’ll see that he’s been toying around with yin-yang concepts for around 4 years now. Well, Trezzi gave it another go and hit it out of the park with this Star Wars themed yin-yang design that portrays the “Death of a Star/Birth of A Hero.” It was prophesied that a “Chosen One” would bring balance to The Force, but what does that entail exactly? This yin-yang portrays The Force and The Dark Side as complementary energies, so perhaps it was in joining the Sith that Anakin did indeed bring balance to The Force… or maybe he was just an asshole who ruthlessly murdered a bunch of children. Did things just get awkward in here? *slowly walks backwards out of the room*
Via: BoingBoing
Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television has been developing a fantasy drama with Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston called Luman, and it just received a pilot order from TNT.
According to THR, the story is about "a famous author of a best-selling series of fantasy books who suddenly disappears and a family of four who are transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Once there, however, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a complicated mystery and uncover some astonishing secrets as they struggle to find their way home."
Chris Black (Mad Men) has been hired to write the pilot, and he will produce the show alongside Spielberg and Johnson. I really like the concept of the series, and with the talent they've brought on to develop it, it should turn out to be really cool.
The art I used here is Final Fantasy art, but I thought it was a good fit for the post. It was created by Airi Yoshioka.
Movie geeks have had an amazing summer of films this year, and I couldn't be happier with how amazing many of those films turned out. A few of my favorites include Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Edge of Tomorrow, Chef, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
As a tribute to the movies that have been released over the last few months, Jerry Goff created a montage video to remind us of the awesome summer of movies. Here's what he said about his video edit:
Summer 2014 was a big one, chock full of mega budget spectacle and indie favorites alike. It had surprises and letdowns to be sure, but still a fantastic time at the movies. Which is why I wanted to make this video, to pay tribute to the ones that stuck with me (notable omissions aside), these are my favorite films of Summer 2014.
Check out the video and let us know what your favorite summer movies were this year.
The Josh Trank-directed Fantastic Four reboot is done filming and slated for release next June, but we still don’t know that much about it. In fact, we hadn’t realized they had started filming until Kate Mara tweeted a photo of the team celebrating the end of shooting. Surprisingly little has leaked (they haven't even released any official photos of the cast), but Schmoes Know has some new details on the film that just might pique your interest.
First of all, addressing the outcry that accompanied news that Michael B. Jordan had been cast as Johnny Storm: Johnny and Sue Storm (Mara) are still siblings. Sue is just adopted.
Next, the group’s origin story will be a bit different than it was in the original comics and the previous movies. Instead of the mission in outer space, the group will gain their powers after a lab experiment in which they create a portal to another world or dimension goes wrong. The powers are gained from their exposure, which is more like the team's origin in the Ultimate Universe. Screenwriter Simon Kinberg has previously said that the film will be more scientifically grounded than past iterations and more like the Ultimate storyline.
In other good news, the Schmoes also claim that the movie will be VERY character driven. They used all caps like that. Kinberg has called the movie a coming of age story, so it makes sense that the focus would be on the relationships between the four and the villain, Victor von Doom, and they’ve picked the right director for that. Trank's previous film, Chronicle, told a big story by focusing on the characters, and it worked really well.
Fantastic Four also stars Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell, and you can expect it to hit screens on June 19, 2015.
Artist Marco D' Alfonso always creates amusing art for us to enjoy. His latest piece imagines Deadpool and Harley Quinn on a family trip in the style of National Lampoon's Vacation. The result is amazing. The piece was created for CBR's The Line is Drawn art challenge. The theme of this one was "What Would Their Kid Look Like?" The illustration is called "Irrational Lampoon Vacation." One of my favorite parts about the piece is Joker wrapped up in the bag sitting on top of the car.
Several new photos have been released for Alexandre Aja's upcoming film Horns, and Daniel Radcliffe looks bloody terrifying in them! The photos give you a look at the complete transformation of Radcliffe's character into the Devil Incarnate. Just wait until you see how insane Radcliffe looks in some of these images. He's virtually unrecognizable.
Horns, a supernatural thriller driven by fantasy, mystery, and romance, follows Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe), the number one suspect for the violent rape and murder of his girlfriend, Merrin (Juno Temple). Hungover from a night of hard drinking, Ig awakens one morning to find horns starting to grow from his own head and soon realizes their power drives people to confess their sins and give in to their most selfish and unspeakable impulses – an effective tool in his quest to discover the true circumstances of his late girlfriend’s tragedy and for exacting revenge on her killer.
This rock and roll infused dark fantasy explores why bad things happen to good people and what the loss of true love can do to a man. The widely acclaimed book was on the New York Times bestseller list for six weeks and has become an international bestseller as well.
Horns hits theaters on October 31st. The photos come from SciFi World via CBM. To see more photos from the movie and a trailer click here.
