Director James Gunn has revealed that he has completed the story for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and is now working on writing the script. During a recent Q&A with a number of websites including /Film, the filmmaker discussed his plans for the film, and he seems to have a clear view of what he does and doesn't want to do. 

Some of the things that he points out during the interview are that he doesn't want to repeat what they've already done, and the film will dive more into each of the characters, which could include some possible back story. He talks about the franchise’s role in Phase Three and says that the series might not continue with a third film. In this first quote he is focusing on for the sequel:

"I think the main thing with moving on is we can’t just repeat ourselves. We can’t just say 'Okay, well let’s start with something sad and shift into something really happy with some music and let’s have the Awesome Mix work in exactly the same way only with songs from the 80s instead of the 70s.' All of those things, that doesn’t interest me. For me the shift is really about getting to know the characters on a deeper level, knowing them more intimately and uncovering facets of those characters that make them more real to us. At the center of what works about Guardians is that people like the characters."

Most sequels fail when the filmmakers try to emulate exactly what they did with the first film that made it successful. It's good to see that Gunn isn't going to fall into the trap. He went on to elaborate on the characters: 

"Yes. I mean more deeply into the characters themselves and who they are, how they work and how they think. What their flaws are, what their strengths are. They’re a much more flawed group than The Avengers. They have major major issues."

When talking about the film's influence on Marvel's Phase Three he said,

"Who knows how much we’ve influenced Phase Three but one thing is the Guardians aren’t back seat to The Avengers. Captain America, Thor, those other movies, they do really support The Avengers and I think take a back seat to The Avengers. The Guardians are their own thing. The cosmic side of the universe is its own thing. And because the movie was so successful, it was more successful than Iron Man was, that changed the way other people looked at it but I still look at it the same way."

I do hope to see The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy team up one day. Maybe it will come in Marvel's two-part Infinity Wars. Gunn goes on to address rumors of Guardians of the Galaxy 3:

"There was a big rash of 'James Gunn Was Thinking Of Ideas For Guardians of the Galaxy 3.' I don’t think I really said that. What I said was 'I had ideas for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I knew what I was going to do for that, and I had ideas for beyond that.' That doesn’t necessarily mean Guardians of the Galaxy 3 because there are a lot of different characters in this movie that could go in a lot of different directions. And some of the characters I’m most interested in aren’t necessarily Guardians of the Galaxy."

So, is he also looking at some kind of spinoff film? Because that would be just as cool. Gunn is just full of ideas, and we'll have a better idea of where he is taking these characters after we see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on May 5th, 2017,

CineFix has released a new episode of their "Homemade Movie" series. This video is a sweded remake of the teaser trailer for the upcoming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. The latest video was directed by Pasadena, California-based animator and musician Dustin McLean. It's always fun to watch the sweded videos these guys make.

Get ready to stand up and watch our homemade version of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 trailer, re-created shot-for-shot, without any special effects. It’s the the trailer for one of the most highly anticipated movies of the season, given the Homemade treatment!

I've also included a side-by-side comparison and behind-the-scenes video for you to watch as well if you want. 

A new clip from Dumb and Dumber To has been released, and it features a great cameo that I thought was awesome. I will let you know the the image above is not a spoiler, because you can't really see who is behind the mask. In fact, his face isn't even shown in the clip. I had no idea that this actor was even in the movie, and it seems like a lot of the critics who have seen already seen the film didn't know who it was. Watch the clip and see if you can tell who the actor is. In case you can't figure it out, I've posted the name of the actor below the video. 

At first you might suspect it to be Bryan Cranston, but nope, that's not him. The actor behind the mask is actually Bill Murray! This is the one and only time that he pops up in the film, and it's great! Dumb and Dumber To open up this weekend on November 14th.

UK artist Greg Staples has a large body of work well-known among comic book geeks. He's best known for Judge Dredd and the illustrations he did for Wizards of the Coast. I came across his Batman vs. Joker art piece, and when I did a search I found a couple more Batman pieces. I like how Staples uses shadows to define the shape and mass of the figures. Staples seems to post new things on Facebook, and he has a few older pieces on his website.

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, the director of Oldboy, Thirst, and Stoker, is set to take on a sci-fi thriller called Second Born. This will be his second American film. His first was Stoker, which was beautifully directed. 

The movie is being produced by David Lancaster's Rumble Films, which recently produced Miles Teller’s Whiplash at Sony Classics and Jake Gyllenhaal’s crime thriller Nightcrawler at Open Road, both of which were absolutely amazing movies.

Second Born is based on an original screenplay that was written by David Jagernauth. The story is set in a "futuristic world in which neural microchip implants are used to store one’s consciousness, leading to black market body-swapping."

Park is an incredible filmmaker, and I've enjoyed watching many of his films. This sounds like it could be a great project for him to work on. I love the whole black market body-swapping concept. This could be a really cool flick. 

Source: Variety

We won’t get to see Ant-Man or Wasp palling around with The Avengers until, at the earliest, Phase 3 of Marvel’s cinematic universe. However, in this mashup trailer cut together by Smart Aleck Comedy, which uses footage from the much missed animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the sound from the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, we get to see both characters getting in the mix of battle. Wasp was actually supposed to be in Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film, making it far enough into the scripting process to be included in early animatic sequences made for the movie. Alas, she was ultimately cut from the script. Well, we can look forward to seeing Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and (almost certainly) seeing Evangeline Lilly as Wasp soon enough.

H/T: io9

Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye reports that Christoph Waltz has signed on to the 24th James Bond film. Chiwetel Ejiofor has been long rumored as the main villain, with Dave Bautista as an Oddjob-type henchman. I imagine Waltz has taken the role of the lead villain.

Daniel Craig returns as James Bond and Léa Seydoux is the yet to be named female lead/Bond Girl. Returning from Skyfall are Ralph Fiennes (M), Naomie Harris (Eve Moneypenny), Ben Whishaw (Q), and Rory Kinnear (Tanner).

Shooting was at one point going to start in October, but won't start until December. Bond 24 will saunter into theaters November 6th, 2015 (USA).

Benedict Cumberbatch has been known to do an Alan Rickman impression on occasion, and previously did an embarrassingly accurate Jar Jar Binks voice. Tom Hiddleston, on the other hand, is quite well known for busting out countless celebrity impressions whenever he makes the press and talk show rounds. In this interview Cumberbatch did with MTV, he gives his War Horse co-star a run for his money, doing as many imitations as possible in 60-seconds in order to promote his new film The Imitation Game. During the 60-seconds he does an impression of Hiddleston, as well as John Malkovich, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Matthew McConaughey, Taylor Swift, and more.

Below the video of Cumberbatch, I’ve also embedded a small compilation of Hiddleston doing numerous impressions. You can watch both videos and let us know which remarkably suave and debonair Brit you think does better impressions. I'd say Hiddleston has a slightly better knack for it, but Cumberbatch is the one only one of the two voicing a giant menacing dragon, so... coin toss? The Imitation Game, which is a World War II thriller about code crackers — and not a film about competing celebrity impressionists — will be released in theaters on November 28th.

Streaming video services like Hulu and Netflix have been strong alternatives to traditional cable and TV for years. There have been a few gaps in what you can get online, like HBO, Showtime, and AMC just to name a few. But recently HBO announced you would soon be able to get HBO Go without a cable subscription. This trend will likely continue until all TV channels are available online. The cable and satellite service companies like Verizon and Dish are launching their own competing streaming video services. Tech companies like Microsoft with the Xbox One are all trying to get ahead of this sea change. The long rumored Apple TV set has been said to be another competitor to online TV.

Sony has announced a new service coming in early 2015 called PlayStation Vue. It will be available on PlayStation 3 and 4 for its Plus users. As there seem to be so many other streaming video services, what makes Vue so different?

Unique or interesting parts of PlayStation Vue:

• Stream live TV
• You don't record shows, you "favorite" them
• Favorited shows are available for 28 days after air date
• All other shows are available for 3 days after air date
• No contracts
• No equipment (other than a Playstation 3 or 4)
• Clear pricing without hidden charges or taxes (Price to be announced)
• Coming to iPad and other devices

The 75 channel line up for PlayStation Vue:

• CBS – At launch, will offer the live linear signal from CBS Television Network's owned-and-operated TV stations in select leading markets in addition to on demand primetime programming.
• Discovery Communications – Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Family Channel, and 11 more brands.
• Fox – Fox Networks Group's portfolio of national entertainment programming services, including - FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic Channel, and Nat Geo WILD. Additionally, FOX Sports' national and regional programming services - FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, BTN, Fox's regional sports networks, including YES Network and Prime Ticket. The agreement also covers Fox's owned and operated television stations. 
• NBCUniversal – All local offerings from NBC, Telemundo and regional sports networks as well as Bravo, CNBC, E!, NBCSN, Oxygen, Sprout, Syfy, USA Network, and more.
• Scripps Networks Interactive – HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network, and Cooking Channel.
• Viacom – BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, PALLADIA, Spike, VH1, and more.

This is a pretty impressive line up and a fairly good start. If you are a cable cutter, this looks to be a must have service. The future for choice looks bright for consumers. We've already seen cable providers throttle Netflix, which is why securing net neutrality to keep internet speeds unrestricted is so important.

Source: Sony

For those of you who are curious about this Fifty Shades of Grey film, we have a new trailer for you to watch. I’m not buying into the hype, and I’m not really expecting much from the film. I bet fans of the book are going to be disappointed in the movie because it won’t live up to their expectations and be as hardcore as they hoped.

Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the film adaptation of the E.L. James novel, and it stars Jamie Dornan as the wealthy BDSM enthusiast Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as the timid, inexperienced Anastasia Steele.

Fifty Shades of Grey is the hotly anticipated film adaptation of the bestselling book that has become a global phenomenon. Since its release, the “Fifty Shades” trilogy has been translated into 51 languages worldwide and sold more than 100 million copies in e-book and print—making it one of the biggest and fastest-selling book series ever.

Stepping into the roles of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, who have become iconic to millions of readers, are Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson. Joining Dornan and Johnson in the cast are Luke Grimes as Elliot, Christian’s brother; Victor Rasuk as José, Anastasia’s close friend; Eloise Mumford as Kate, Anastasia’s best friend and roommate; Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Grace Trevelyan Grey, Christian’s mother; Rita Ora as Mia, Christian’s sister; Max Martini as Taylor, Christian’s bodyguard; Callum Keith Rennie as Ray, Anastasia’s stepfather; Jennifer Ehle as Carla, Anastasia’s mother; and Dylan Neal as Bob, Carla’s husband.

Fifty Shades of Grey is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and produced by Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti alongside E L James, the creator of the series. The screenplay for the film is by Kelly Marcel.

The movie comes out on February 13th, 2015.

DC Comics' New 52 Batman kicked off with The Joker cutting off his own face. It was actually insanely terrifying. The Clown Prince of Crime recently revealed himself to the Dark Knight in Batman: Endgame #36: But now we all get to see the villain’s full new look thanks to the cover art for the upcoming Batman: Endgame #37. I’ve got to admit, he looks pretty slick. He's not as nightmarish looking as he was, but he’s still pretty f’ed up in the head.

The cover art above was created by Greg Capullo, and the variant art below was done by Andy Kubert. DC also revealed that Kubert will be doing a total of six variant covers for the Batman: Endgame issues #35 through #40. Each one is based on the theme “Joker’s Greatest Hits.”

Source: HitFix

Paul Blart heads to Las Vegas for a new silly slapstick comedy adventure in the upcoming film Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. Kevin James reprises his role as the ridiculously clumsy security guard in the Andy Finkman-directed sequel. The story centers on Blart, who attends a Security Guard Expo in Las Vegas with his daughter. While there, Blart takes on a group of dangerous art thieves to save the day, because that’s what he does.

I didn’t think the first movie was very funny, and this sequel looks like it’s going to be even worse. Hollywood sure does have some brain farts, and I still can’t believe the studio followed through with this sequel. The trailer starts out with Blart riding on his Segway scooter through the Vegas desert, and a bug flies in his mouth, so he has to spit it out because it’s gross. That’s exactly how I felt as I watched this trailer.

The movie also stars Neal McDonough, Ana Gasteyer, D.B. Woodside, Raini Rodriguez, and Eduardo Verástegui. It’s set to be released on April 17th, 2015. I wonder if the people that make these kinds of films actually think they are good. 

Here’s a vintage 1976 interview with Mark Hamill that I’ve never seen before. The interview was conducted on the the Death Star set of Star Wars. It was posted on YouTube by mielr, who says that this is the only interview he’s seen with the actor that took place before the 1976 car crash that caused his facial injuries. The quality of the video is freakin’ amazing too, especially for 1976.

In the interview he talks about his love for film and how he likes fantasy films more than science fiction. I know most fans seem to consider Star Wars being more of a fantasy story than sci-fi, and Hamill discusses that. He also talks about his approach to playing Luke Skywalker. The interview is a must watch for any Star Wars fan. 

Another trailer has been released for the Pablo Escobar film Escobar: Paradise Lost. The movie was previously just called Paradise Lost, but I guess they wanted to make sure audiences knew that the movie revolved around the Columbian drug lord.

The film is based on a true story, and Benicio Del Toro plays Pablo Escobar. The film follows a young Irish surfer named Nick (Josh Hutcherson), who visits his brother in Colombia. While on his little surfing vacation, he unexpectedly falls in love with Escobar's niece, which doesn’t seem like the best idea.

The movie was directed by Andrea Di Stefano (Life of Pi screenwriter), and it has been getting great reviews. Apparently, Del Toro has given an incredible performance. Here’s a detailed synopsis:

More than twenty years after his death in 1993, Pablo Escobar’s impact on Colombia is still impossible to measure. His cocaine trafficking empire made him one of the wealthiest criminals in history, and he was responsible for the deaths of thousands. Yet the Robin Hood-like persona he cultivated, along with his brief political career, rendered him a folk hero among some of his fellow Colombians. Escobar: Paradise Lost is a chilling drama, based on a true story, that offers us a fascinating glimpse of Escobar’s deadly allure.

Told from the perspective of Nick (Josh Hutcherson), an innocent surfer from Canada, Escobar: Paradise Lost unfolds during the final years of Escobar’s reign. Nick and his brother Dylan (Brady Corbet) set up a modest surfing retreat near Medellin, where Nick meets the woman of his dreams, Maria (Claudia Traisac), who is busy campaigning for her politician uncle. That uncle turns out to be Pablo (Academy Award-winner Benicio del Toro), who invites Nick to a party at his “cottage,” a sprawling, Xanadu-like jungle fortress. When he hears of the trouble Nick and Dylan are having with some local thugs, Pablo vows to “take care of it.” The thugs turn up dead, and suddenly Nick finds himself immersed in a world of wild extravagance, corruption and bloodshed — one he will find nearly impossible to escape.

The directorial debut of actor Andrea Di Stefano, Escobar: Paradise Lost comes at organized crime from an unusual angle. Movies typically show crime syndicates as closed hierarchies, but Nick goes from outsider to insider in a flash — Pablo’s devotion to his niece is so fierce that he doesn’t hesitate to incorporate Nick into the family business. The question is: how far does Pablo expect Nick to go in exchange for his hospitality? Riddled with tension, Escobar: Paradise Lost takes you on a careening journey into recent history, one you won’t soon forget.

The movie hits theaters on January 16th, 2015.

Star Wars Celebration blasts into the Anaheim Convention Center in California next year! It is set to take place April 16-19, and today we have a cool piece of poster art promoting the event to share with you. It includes Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and a Stormtrooper. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming out later that year, this is sure to be the biggest Star Wars Celebration that Lucasfilm has ever seen since it was first launched in 1999 when Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace was released.

No details have been confirmed for The Force Awakens at the event yet, but I imagine they are going to show off something. They have to! Mary Franklin, senior events and fan relations lead for Lucasfilm said in a statement:

“It’s going to be really interesting, because we are way ahead with ticket sales from where we usually are this far out. I feel safe saying this is going to be the biggest one yet.

“The Celebration recipe is really built so much on fan passion and what the fans bring to the show. It’s really the same fan festival, just bigger.

“We’ve got so many things coming from ‘Star Wars,’ I know it’ll be a very exciting show, I’ll say that much,”

Source: Hero Complex

Marvel has released a couple new behind-the-scenes featurettes for Guardians of the Galaxy that focus on everyone's favorite character, Rocket Raccoon. The first video gives us a look at Bradley Cooper voicing the character, which is kind of fun to see. The second is about James Gunn's obsession with the crazy violent rodent. I've also included a trailer that was released for the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD that highlights some of the special features, including some stuff from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on Digital HD November 18th and DVD and Blu-ray December 9th. 

A bit of new artwork has surfaced for the upcoming Attack on Titan and Avengers comic crossover. The art is being done by Marvel Comics artist Gerardo Sandoval. The art you see here comes from Brutus Magazine, and it’s a comic panel that features Spider-Man violently hitting a female 46-foot tall Titan as Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captain America look on. The story features the team of heroes battling a Titan that has invaded New York City. 

The Marvel’s Attack On Titan issue of Brutus will hit stores in Japan on November 15th. Marvel's C.B. Cebulski revealed the following on Twitter:

"Attack on Titan/Marvel story in @BRUTUS_mag: 1.) it is plotted by Hajime Isayama himself & 2.) it will run in Japanese & English there."

I do love that Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama is the one who plotted the story for this. I can't wait to read it! For previously released details on the comic, click here. 

Via: CBR

Ever since Marvel announced their Phase 3 movie lineup, fans have been speculating on how all of these films will connect with each other. A lot of fans assumed that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 would help lead into  Avengers: Infinity Wars, because it seems one of the big things they have in common is the Mad Titan Thanos. According to director James Gunn, though, that won't be the case. 

In an interview with MTV, he explained that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will not pave the way for the battle over the Infinity Gauntlet in Infinity Wars.

"I don’t feel beholden to that stuff at all. I think it's really about the Guardians and what they are doing. We're not subservient to the Avengers. 'Guardians 2' is not a movie that's made to move toward 'Infinity War.' It's something that's made to move toward future cosmic movies, so I don't feel that that is something that affects me that much."

Back in August, before the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was released, Gunn told Sky Movies that he and Marvel had "talked about all sorts of possibilities for a crossover," and said that he knew what the basic plan was, but also said, "it could always change at any minute." He added:

"That could or could not include a couple of Avengers and a couple of Guardians meeting up, or all of the Avengers and all of the Guardians. But, we do inhabit the same universe and they're pretty big personalities that are likely to, at some point or another, run into each other."

Now, just because Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is going to to be a standalone adventure, and won't set up what happens in Avengers: Infinity Wars, it doesn't mean we won't see these teams of superheroes team up in it. A crossover is inevitable. 

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper will all be back to reprise their roles in the sequel, which is set to be released on May 5th, 2017.
 

The team at Mental Floss have created another "Things You Might Not Know" video. This new episode focuses on the Harry Potter books and movies. Lot of interesting trivia that was mostly new to me, but I'm sure there are some die hard fans that already know all of them.

It was recently announced that Bruce Campbell will be reprising his role of Ash in Sam Raimi’s upcoming Ash Vs. Evil Dead series. The actor is now set to star in a new comedy film called Highly Functional.

In it, Campbell plays a “washed-up former country rock star who’s kidnapped by a young autistic man portrayed by James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom), with the belief that his dying caregiver can only be cured by the star performing.” The rest of the cast includes Annabeth Gish (Sons of Anarchy) and Missi Pyle (Gone Girl).

The movie will be directed by Marc Forby from a script written by Tom Dibble. It’s great to see Campbell land a new movie role. In my opinion, the guy is completely underrated and is not used enough in movies. The world could always use more Bruce Campbell. 

Source: Variety