The CW has released a promo trailer for the mid-season finale of The Flash titled “The Man in the Yellow Suit. The episode airs next week, and in it, Barry Allen will come face-to-face with the man who he believes killed his mother… the Reverse-Flash, who is one of his most dangerous enemies that he has faced in the comics. As you’ll see in this trailer, the next episode looks extremely intensely awesome!
Here is another amusing parody trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This time we get to see what the movie would be like if it had been directed by Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Grand Budapest Hotel). The video was created by Jonah Feingold, and he completely nails it! I love how this turned out.
About a year ago the director did an interview in which he talked about the possibility of directing a Star Wars film and said,
"I don’t think I would do a terrible job at a Han Solo backstory. I could do that pretty well. But maybe that would be better as a short."
You can watch a previously released Wes Anderson Star Wars video here that was done for the Conan. You can also read the rest of that interview at the link as well.
Last week it was announced that Oscar Isaac will be playing the villain Apocalypse in Bryan Singer's upcoming sequel X-Men: Apocalypse. We got a quick glimpse of the actor flying an X-Wing in the recent trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He's a fantastically talented actor, and I think he's going to make for a great villain in X-Men. In a recent interview with IGN, Isaac opened up about what he is looking to achieve playing this character.
“Just as Bryan’s done with the other films, I think he seeks to find something a little more interesting than the archetypal aspects of the characters, which work really well in print, but for a film I think you want to see a bit more of the — for lack of a better word — humanity in [Apocalypse]; because ultimately this is a story about humans….It’s just different symbols for different things that we feel. So with this character I am incredibly interested in the challenge of finding someone that’s psychologically interesting and compelling, and actually the spiritual aspects of the character.”
Isaac went on to talk about Ben Foster and how he would like to see him reprise his role of Warren Worthington III, aka Angel from X-Men: The Last Stand.
“He’s a great actor. I don’t really know how they’re going to put all that together or exactly what characters, or how that’s going to work. But I know Angel and Archangel in particular were some of my favorite characters in that storyline. That was such a cool and dark storyline. I think that would be a cool thing to see on film.”
The actor then went on to discuss adapting comic books for the big screen in general, saying:
“Ultimately, it’s about making something compelling and interesting to watch. I think being faithful to certain characters from the comics is very important, but it’s a different medium. I think, ultimately, you want to make a great movie. That’s the most important part, and then finding, if not the exact details, the soul of the characters, of the stories, of what the whole thing was. Those aspects, even if you’re moving certain things around and maybe not being true to this particular storyline and adding this new thing, I think those are much more important. The experience of it will be much more compelling in the end.”
I think for the most part Hollywood has been making awesome comic book films. Marvel has been kicking ass at it, I loved what Singer did with X-Men: Days of Future Past, and I'm looking forward to seeing what DC does with their upcoming slate of superhero films. I'm also excited to see where this next X-Men sequel takes these characters!
Isaac joins James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult in the sequel, and more names are expected to be confirmed in the near future. Singer is preparing to shoot the film in Montreal in April of 2015. Fox plans to release the film May 27th, 2016.
Adam West is quoted as saying that three B's shaped the '60s: Bond, The Beatles, and Batman. Curiously enough, West was offered the role of James Bond for the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service but turned it down, wanting a British actor to have the role instead. While West may have been right about the '60s, I might expand and say those three B's have shaped our pop culture to this day. Fifty years later we still get excited about all three, but over the years some have forgotten the impact West's Batman truly had on the series. While we may not have a Batman logo etched on our back molar like West does, we do remember some things his Batman did better than most.
Christian Bale's Batman believed that darkness was his ally. For West's it was but an acquaintance. Most of the stories in the Batman television series took place during the day, but it didn't seem to bug the Dark Knight. Batman and Robin walked the streets of one of the most dangerous cities in the world during business hours in full costume. If that doesn't require balls of steel, I don't know what does.
We've seen, heard, and seen the sounds of West's Batman throwing punches, but sometimes violence is not always the solution. Batman has shown this in various ways throughout all his incarnations, but none of them have ever entered a boxing match and won not throwing a single punch. Riddler leaves off of sheer intimidation factor! Speaking of which, Riddler was originally planned to be a throwaway character in the comics until his inclusion in the series, which made him a mainstay and one of Batman's greatest villains.
Only one Batman has had a dance named after him. Take a guess which one. The "Batusi" was a variation of the '60s dance the "Watusi." You wanna do the Batusi? Just do the eye thing and shake your hips... but do both peace signs horizontally from the center of your face and outward. This is the Batusi, and it works to every song in the world. Top that, other Batmen.
It's tough to call someone who is commonly referred to as "the Boy Wonder" bad ass, but the West Batman let Robin do a lot more than others. Robin occasionally got to drive the Batmobile, have his own catchphrase (which is annoyingly immortalized), and trained him enough to take him on. Seriously, how many times have you seen Robin kick Batman's ass?
Call it campy, call it stupid, call it what you will, but the fact of the matter is West's Batman was the hero you needed, not deserved. Without his show the Batman comic series would've been cancelled, and there would be no Batman films, series, or games. West put Batman on a national stage and allowed the true vision of who Batman is to be realized. If that isn't something a real Batman would do, I don't know what is.
If you're excited for the new Dragon Ball Z animated movie coming out, then you're sure to enjoy this first footage from the film thanks to the Anime News Network. The movie is called Dragon Ball Z: The Resurrection of F. The F stands for Frieza, a popular villain in the universe who will make a triumphant return in this movie.
The new film is also set to feature Beerus, who is the villain from 2014′s Battle of Gods movie. Below you will find the synopsis for the movie, which was translated from Japanese:
“An Earth where peace has arrived. However, remnants of Frieza’s army Sorbet and Tagoma arrive on the planet. Their goal is to revive Frieza with the dragon balls. Their dastardly wish is granted, the “F” that plans its revenge against the Saiyans is revived…!”
The film is set to debut in Japan next April. There's no word yet on when or if it will be released in the US. Below the trailer I've included a translation of what is being said in the video below:
Text: The old enemy wished for by Dragonball fans.
Narrator: The latest footage from next year's Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F film has arrived.
Piccolo: He became a monster from another dimension and came back!
Vegeta: What is going on!?
Goku: Frieza!!
Frieza: Let me show you... My next evolution!
Narrator: Akira Toriyama, who is writing the scripts, brought back Goku's old enemy Frieza. Frieza is very popular among fans, and the film will be filled with so many action scenes that Akira Toriyama has called them "fierce."
Text: Akira Toriyama - "Look forward to a fierce face-off."
Artist James Harren whipped up this lightning filled variant cover art for Thor #3. This is a beautiful piece of art that would make for a great poster. The comic comes from writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman, and here are the story points of the comic:
• Lifting the enchanted hammer Mjolnir has transformed a mysterious woman into an all-new version of the mighty Thor.
• But what happens when she's separated from that hammer?
• Plus, Frost Giants! ROXXON! And oh yeah, whatever happened to the guy who used to carry that hammer?
For those of you who have been reading this new comic with the female Thor, what have you thought about it so far?
After about eight months of shooting, director Zack Snyder has wrapped production on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The news comes from cinematographer Larry Fong via his Instagram. The production will now move into the post-production process, where the magic of sound, editing, colorization, special effects, and several other elements will be completed to bring this film to life for the fans.
I have to say say that I'm surprised that we didn't see more leaked set photos of Ben Affleck as Batman. In fact, we haven't seen any leaked photos of him in full costume. That's a pretty impressive feat. We have seen some of him as Bruce Wayne, and we've also seen some of the Batmobile and Henry Cavill as Superman.
The movie is set to be released on March 25th, 2016, and I'm looking forward to seeing more footage. I'm sure Snyder will have a lot more to show next year at San Diego Comic-Con.
The film also stars Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Jena Malone, Holly Hunter, and Scoot McNairy. Here's a little video that Fong posted with the announcement:
A video posted by Larry Fong, ASC (@unclewow) on
Yesterday the first full trailer for Terminator: Genisys was released, and there were a lot of mixed reactions. Some people were excited by what they saw, while others didn't buy into it. I enjoyed the trailer, and I'm definitely excited about seeing the movie. I know it's not going to be as good as the first two films that were made by James Cameron, but it still should be a fun ride.
For those of you who didn't break down the trailer to find things that you may have missed the first few time you watched it, Mr Sunday Movies released a video that points out four things that you might find interesting. There were a couple included in the video that I wasn't aware of, so this might be something worth checking out.
Producer Dan Lin has been developing a big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 1986 novel It for a few years already. He's brought on True Detective director Cary Fukunaga to bring this story to life on the big screen. In a recent interview with Vulture, Lin offers an update on the project and reveals that it will actually start shooting next summer!
“The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot. Cary likes to develop things for a while, and we’ve been with this for about three or four years, so we’re super excited that he stayed with it. You guys are gonna be really excited.”
It is another one of my all time favorite books that King has written. I also really enjoy the 1990 TV movie that was made that starred Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown. The story is so big and so epic that the plan is to turn into a two part film, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen. Like the TV movie, the first part will focus entirely on the seven kids of Derry, Maine known as the Losers Club as they are being terrorized by an evil being disguised as a clown. The second film will focus on these same characters all grown up as they return to Derry to face their nightmare and rid the world of this horrific monster. Lin explained:
“The book is so epic that we couldn’t tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth.”
As of right now, Fukunaga is only attached to direct the first film in the set, and he may also co-write the second. Of course, there's always a chance that as he's working on the first film, he'll come back to direct the second. Lin did go on to say that they do have King's blessing:
“The most important thing is that Stephen King gave us his blessing. We didn’t want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, ‘Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.’ So that was really gratifying.”
That's really awesome to hear! It's always good when King backs the film projects based on his work. There's no word on if this version of the film will be set in the late 1950s and mid 1980s like the book. There's always a chance that they could take an updated approach, which would set the kids in the '80s and then return to a present-day Derry. Either way would be fine for me, but I do kind of prefer the 1950s setting, even though the 80s could be fun.
The next movie that we'll see from Fukunaga will be the African child soldier drama Beasts of No Nation, which stars Idris Elba.
Kathryn Bigelow, the director behind films such as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, has created a short film called "Last Days." She takes on the war over elephant poaching, and the film revolves around the illegal ivory trade. The short premiered on Time.com, and this is what the director said about it:
“Last year I was made aware of the very real connection between elephant poaching and terrorism. For me it represented the diabolical intersection of two problems that are of great concern — species extinction and global terrorism. Both involve the loss of innocent life, and both require urgent action.”
She wanted to make a short film like this because turning it into a feature length film would have taken several years to do. During that time of making the movie more elephants would be hunted down and killed, so she wanted to try and inspire urgent action. She explains:
“An elephant disappears every 15 minutes. It is our hope that this film helps bring an activist into existence at least that often.”
You can watch the short below.
As a fan of classic James Bond movies, I'm very happy with the direction that the franchise has been headed toward with Skyfall and the recently announced Spectre. While still putting on a few of the tropes of the older films, the new movies are still a lot darker and more realistic. Cinemablend dug up an old quote that feels really prescient after the announcement of Spectre. GeekTyrant Editor, Mick Joest wrote up a great intro to what Specte is, shortly, Bond's greatest enemy from the classic movies and books.
Daniel Craig on why his Bond is so much darker:
The truth of it is that I always had this plan in my head is that we got to make them and begin them again and bring all that back in, but it had to happen the way it did. I can't see it happening any other way. We had to destroy the myth because Mike Myers fucked us - I am a huge Mike Myers fan, so don't get me wrong - but he kind of fucked us; made it impossible to do the gags. What I am proudest of in Skyfall is the lightness of touch we've been able to bring to back into it but not lose the drama and the action.
With Q and Moneypenny being reintroduced in Skyfall, the groundwork for the return of more classic Bond tropes has been laid, and I'm very excited.
H/T: io9
BuzzFeed has released an amusing video that shows us what it would be like if the characters in Harry Potter texted each other. All of the characters from this franchise lived in a world of magic, not technology, which is why we never saw any of them with cell phones texting each other. This is a fun video that shows us what could have been. In my world, technology is magic.
Earlier today we learned that Earth to Echo director David Green is in talks with Paramount Pictures to direct Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. After seeing what producer Michael Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman did with the first film... ugh.
The studio can't seem to get their '80s properties right. As you know, they also destroyed G.I. Joe, which is unfortunately getting a third film, and then there's Transformers. In a recent interview with Omelete (via Collider), Andrew Form revealed some new characters that will make and appearance in the movie.
“We can say that Bebop and Rocksteady are in the film, and Casey Jones is a character that we love and we’re trying to fit him in as well”
I love these characters, especially Casey Jones, who I think deserves his own movie. It's cool that these characters will be included in the story, but after seeing how they envisioned all of the other characters I'm not expecting much. Producer Brad Fuller also revealed that Megan Fox and Will Arnett are set to return for the sequel. Shredder will be back as well, but there's no word on whether William Fichtner will reprise the role.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 will be released in June of 2016.
Check out this cool piece of fan-made Spider-Man concept art that was created by artist Pietro Scola Di Mambro. This is a fun untraditional character design for the superhero character. I do have to say, though, that that I think it's funny that he's running around barefoot because he's also wearing knee and elbow pads. The hoodie and mask of the costume are my favorite aspects of it. I want that hoodie!
Earlier today we posted an interview in which Oscar Isaac talkied about his role as the titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse, now we have another interview in which he discusses J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This guy's acting career is just blowing up all over the place, and it should be, because he's freakin' talented.
The interview comes from IGN, and in it, he shares his thoughts on the technology of filmmaking, living out his childhood dream, and watching Harrison Ford play Han Solo. As I'm sure you all noticed in the trailer, the movie is going to have a good mix of CGI and practical effects. Talking about the technology of making the movie, Isaac said,
"There was just so much love poured into it and so much care. The thing is, when you rely on the latest technology to tell your story -- and that's it -- that dates. It can date badly. Whereas, when you actually make the stuff, I think there's something about that that is a little bit more ageless."
I know you all know, that the statement he made there is true. I love when practical effects are used in film, there's a certain feel to it that CGI just can't replicate. I think it's funny that the Star Wars prequel films look more dated than the the original trilogy. The actor then talks about what it was like to be on the set of the film:
"It was totally like living out a childhood dream. Being on those sets and being surrounded by those people -- talking to Anthony Daniels, seeing him getting suited up, and Peter Mayhew putting on the suit again -- that was incredible."
I wish I could have visited the set. It would have been so cool to see all the stuff that we're going to see up on the big screen in person. The conversation then moved onto what it was like to work with Ford.
"If you watch Harrison Ford in [the originals], he doesn't give a f***, you know? [Laughs] He's just being a real person. He's funny. You can even hear little ad-libs and things like that... [It's similar on this film]. There's less of a formality, I think.
I think the biggest thing, the most important part of the story, is the emotional aspect of it. I think that's what most of us were keyed into: 'What is the emotion of the thing?' The spectacle is secondary to that."
Isaac had a great answer when he was asked about the whole crazy controversy over John Boyega playing a black Stormtrooper in the film.
"What's great about it is, it's like, 'Are you a racist? Here's a perfect way of revealing that to everyone!' [Laughs] What I loved about the trailer too is, like, the giant middle finger of the first thing you see, right off the bat: John's face -- BAM! So it is, yeah, 'Just deal with it.'"
There's no solid intel on who exactly Isaac is actually playing in the movie, but he is a rebel character. Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll pull it off brilliantly.
Santaur Ornament by Archie McPhee
I recently stumbled across the very cool Santaur Claus ornament above. This led to me falling down the Google rabbit hole on a hunt for all things Santaur Claus. I've assembled a bit of a collection, and I'm hoping this inspires more people to make more cool Santaur Claus stuff. If I missed something cool, email me below.
Santaur T-Shirt by HomeBrewed Tees
Santaur art by Negorobson
Santaur Statue by FacultySchedule
Santaur by BurritoGoblin
Warner Bros. has released a nearly six-minute featurette for Peter Jackson's final film in the Middle Earth saga, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It's called "Completing Middle-Earth," and it focuses on the epic six-film journey that we've had the pleasure of experiencing all of these years. It all leads to this finale film that we are going to see later this month.
The featurette includes new footage from The Battle of the Five Armies, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with Jackson, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, and writer/co-producer Philippa Boyens. They discuss how all of these films work together and how it all leads to the epic battle in the upcoming film. This is a must watch for anyone who is a fan of of these classic cinematic films. It includes a great little wrap up ending as well that tugs at the heart.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will be released on December 17th.
Earlier this year a badass trailer was released for a fan-made live-action Akira film project. They call it Akira Project, and what I've seen from it so far has been insanely impressive. If you haven't seen that trailer yet, you have got to watch it now! You can do so by clicking here.
We were sent a VFX behind-the-scenes video for you to watch. It showcases the radical VFX talent that helped bring director Nguyen-Anh Nguyen's world of Akira to life. I would love to see these guys make a feature film adaptation of this classic anime.
Here's a note from the creators of the film about how it all came together.
The Akira Project is a crowd-sourced, non-profit project meant to create a live action fan trailer of AKIRA, the renowned manga-turned-anime film from the late 1980′s; a stunning example of both mediums as art forms. While Hollywood has been working on a live-action Akira movie for a few years now, we, as fans, wanted to take a shot at making our own adaptation. A chance to stick as close to the source material as possible. A chance to do Akira Justice.
We launched an Indiegogo campaign in July 2012 as part of a crowd sourcing effort to make this project come to life. Many people contributed not just financially but offered their time and talent to help the production that was shot in Montreal, Quebec from November 2-5th 2012. What started out as a simple idea between two guys having a beer (Hey! It'd be cool to see Kaneda ride his bike around Neo-Tokyo!), became a global endeavour, filled with adventures and hurdles, involving more than 40 artists in 12 different countries.
After a year and a half in post-production, we are proud to present the project to Akira fans the world over. We hope to have done justice to the timeless work of Katsuhiro Otomo and look forward to, someday, seeing the full scope of the Akira story translated to the big screen as a live-action.
I hope you enjoy the VFX video!
For awhile there it looked like Star Trek franchise screenwriter Roberto Orci would be directing Star Trek 3. According to Deadline, the writer will not be directing the film, and the studio already has a short list of directors to develop the next film in the epic sci-fi franchise. One of the names on this list is Edger Wright! That's right, the same Edgar Wright who directed Shaun of the Dead, Hott Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim and almost directed Ant-Man.
There's no information on why Orci has stepped away from the director's chair, but he is staying on as a producer. Maybe it was just too big of a project to handle for a first time director.
I would love it is Wright actually did take on the job of bringing this next chapter of Star Trek to the screen. It would definitely be a different kind of project for him to take on, but I think he would give fans something amazing. The guy knows how to direct action, the drama of it all would just fall into place, and I think it would be fun to see some of his sense of humor in the movie.
Wright has not signed on to direct, though. As of right now, he's only a name on a list of other directors that the studio would like to see direct the movie. It'd be great if Wright actually directed it, but I'd be very surprised if he did, especially after his experience with Marvel.
Here's a funny piece of Batman comic art created by Deviant Art user nebezial, aka Stjepan Sejic. The guy does a lot of great amusing superhero art like this, and this one features Batman in the looney bin with the Joker being driven crazy by White Rabbit.
"So today I got schooled on the character of the White Rabbit from Batman. And you know what... I loved the concept of a villain that makes this illusion of herself only batman sees making him seem completely insane. I am still not a fan of the costume (you would think I would be...as it is well designed fetishwear), but I do love the idea..aaand so.... XD"
You can see a few other of his illustration here, here, here, and here.
