In 2012, we wrote about an impressive animated CGI short film called The Chase from first-time filmmaker Tomas Vergara. Now the Chilean director is back with Isolated, a new short that's also 100% CGI - but this one takes place in a world full of zombies. He used motion-capture technology to get the performances he needed, and there's a tantalizing cliffhanger that left me hoping that we'll get to see more of what happens in this world in some form or another. Vergara apparently already has the full story worked out, because he told DailyDot that the next installment of the tale (in whatever form that will take) will have:

"More action, drama, scale, intensity and eye candy. If you liked this one, you're gonna die with the next. And we kind of leave aside the oversaturated zombie thing. What matters to us is that you root for this guy."

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next, and I'm glad they've decided to use the zombie narrative as a springboard toward something else next time around. Let us know what you think below!

It's going to be tough for me to avoid turning this piece into a scathing takedown of Adam Sandler, but I'll give it a shot in order to bring you some news. According to The Wrap, Sandler's first movie in the four-film deal he signed with Netflix will be Ridiculous 6, the western "comedy" he was originally going to make with Paramount Pictures.

Get a load of this cast: Sandler, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, Luke Wilson, Terry Crews, Blake Shelton, Whitney Cummings, Steve Buscemi, Dan Aykroyd, Will Forte, Nick Swardson, Luke Wilson, Steve Zahn, Chris Parnell, Danny Trejo, Jon Lovitz, Vanilla Ice, and Breaking Bad alum Lavell Crawford. Here's the breakdown of who they're all playing:

Sandler will play man who grew up as an orphan among an Indian tribe. Lautner, Schneider, Wilson and Crews are poised to play his half-brothers, while the final half-brother has yet to be cast.

Nolte will play Sandler’s long-lost father; Parnell a bank manager; Lovitz a wealthy industrialist and Cummings his flirtatious wife. Forte and Trejo will play the leaders of rival gangs, while Buscemi will play a local jack-of-all-trades.

Blake Shelton will play Wyatt Earp, and Vanilla Ice will take on the role of Mark Twain. Seriously. This is not a joke.

The only reason I'm giving this project any shred of a chance that it could be anything other than a steaming pile of crap? The fact that it's co-written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy. The latter wrote the screenplays for Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy...so, basically all of the early-era Sandler stuff that some of his fans wish the actor would return to instead of the insipid garbage he's been pumping out over the past few years (Just Go With It, Jack and Jill, Blended).

Production starts next month, so it seems likely that the film will be available on the streaming service by the end of this year.

Having a bad day? Need a therapeutic release? io9 pointed us to this animated video created by a 19-year-old student who goes by the handle Optical-Core in which two guys face off in a Dragonball Z-style showdown. One of the faceless figures can seemingly control gravity (or as he calls it in the video's title, "repulsion"), while the other has the power to generate and control heat blasts. It's a great fight sequence, and things get taken to a ridiculous extreme when music kicks in around the 2:45 mark. Check it out below, and enjoy the catharsis.

Back in November of last year, Daniel Brühl was officially cast in Captain America: Civil War as an as yet unrevealed villain. Fan speculation and lots of other rumors alluded to Brühl being Baron Zemo. According to a leaked call sheet from Moviecastingcall.org, a breakdown of the film's cast shows Brühl is, in fact, Baron Zemo.

Starring in Captain America: Civil War is People’s Choice Awards winner Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America. Also starring is four-time Golden Globe Award nominee Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Critics Choice Television Awards nominee Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, two-time Academy Award nominee Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, two-time Black Reel Awards nominee Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther. Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl has joined the cast as Baron Zemo.

I'm not very familiar with Moviecastingcall.org's track record, but a lot of other sites are reporting them as a credible source. In the comics, Zemo has been a real challenge for the Avengers, nearly killing all of them on more than one occasion. I'm interested to see how they will pull off the signature mask.

Also, Robert Downey Jr. spoke with Empire about coming on board Civil War.

"They said to me, 'If we have you, we can do this, or Cap 3 has to be something else. It's nice to feel needed. And at this point it's about helping each other, too. I look at it as a competition and I go, 'Wow, maybe if these two franchises teamed up and I can take even a lesser position, with people I like and directors I respect, maybe we can keep things bumping along."

While in the past Downey has been a hard negotiator with Marvel, he's ultimately a team player and likes the people he works with. He also seems to enjoy the challenge of playing Tony Stark across multiple properties. Here's Downey on Stark's evolution over Avengers: Age of Ultron into Civil War.

"It's natural to change your views. The main thing to me is, what sort of incident could occur, and what sort of framework could we find Tony in? The clues about where we might find him next are in Ultron. But what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he's stood for? Joss brings this up all the time. It's kind of weird that these guys would have all these throw downs all over planet Earth and yet when the movie's over, nobody minds. What would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn't it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn't imagine?"

Stark's fear is very present in Iron Man 3, and I'm sure we'll see how that motivates his actions in Age of Ultron. What is essentially a three movie arc for Stark is going to be amazing to see, especially if other rumors hold true.

When asked if Stark will become a full-on villian, Downey responded with:

"I wouldn't put it that way. The biggest question is, for Chris and for Cap, how do we bring Cap to a place where people go, 'Man, I never thought I would see such a vast change in Steve.' After you see Snowpiercer, you're like, 'I want to see a little bit of that guy.'"

Bit of a deflect, but I think what he's saying is that both heroes go a bit dark and until we see the movie we won't know how much.

H/T: CBM

The genius inventor Nikola Tesla mashed up with Thor seems so brilliantly obvious that I'm not sure why I hadn't seen it before. Inspired by the Tesla coil and Thor's ability to wield lightning, artist Luiza "Zee" Mendoza created this mashup for Cracked. This art is available as a t-shirt, iPhone case, mug, pillow, tank top, and art print. 

H/T: Geek Alerts

First thing you need to know before I begin is that I have a soft spot for Keanu Reeves. I know he's not the greatest actor in the world, but over the years I've enjoyed his films, and I'm a fan. Unfortunately, director Eli Roth's latest torture thriller isn't one of his best. I didn't like this movie at all, and I don't know how or why it was made. I personally believe that this is the most embarrassing movie that Reeves has starred in, and it makes me sad. Apparently the actor jumped at the opportunity to star in it, though. I'm not sure why, unless he thought it would be a fun filmmaking experience, and maybe it was fun! The thing is, a movie can be bad even if it was fun to make.

We all got to see Reeves kick some major ass in John Wick, but the tables are turned on him in Knock Knock. Instead, he unbelievably gets his ass handed to him by a couple of petite young girls, which would never happen in real life.

Reeves plays a happily married man with two kids, and the first fifteen minutes of the movie focuses on his character and shows him being a loving and fun father and husband. It's Father's Day, and his wife is taking the kids to a weekend retreat at the beach while he stays back to finish up a project for work. Later that night, two young, good-looking girls show up at his doorstep in the middle of a rainstorm, soaking wet and asking for help. He obliges, lets them into his house, and the madness begins. They are innocently flirtatious at first, but the flirtation escalates, and he tries to dodge their advances as much as he can until their ride arrives to pick them up. They lure the poor basted into the bathroom where they proceed to have their way with him. He tries to fight it off at first, but the temptation is just too heavy once they both go down on him.

From that point on, things take a turn for the nightmarishly worse. These girls are absolutely psycho bitches, and they put him through utter hell. At one point they even rape him. I won't spoil everything they do to this guy, but these girls are out to completely ruin his life and destroy him. It really sucks to see what they put him through. It's pretty jacked up, and unfortunately, Reeves just can't completely sell the pain and agony that he's going through.

The concept and story isn't really anything we haven't seen before, but it was poorly executed in this movie, and Reeves gave the worst performance of his career. I'm sorry, Keanu. I'm a huge fan, but it was bad. I don't blame Reeves though! I blame Roth, who should never be allowed to make a movie again. The guy only knows how to make one kind of film, and he's not even very good at that. It's his fault and his direction that I think made Keanu as bad as he was. On top of that, the script was atrocious! It's amazing too me that he got the money to make this flick.

I will say, though, that the best part of the movie was the very end. I won't spoil what happens, but it sure did make me laugh. I just don't know if it's worth sitting through the entire terrible movie for that one genuine laugh. Of course, you'll probably laugh at the movie as a whole while you watch it.

Now, if you want to see Reeves do some legendary bad acting, be the victim of rape, and desperately plead for his life as he's tortured, then by all means watch the movie. Just know going into it that it's a terribly made and laughably bad film. Who knows, maybe that's what Roth was going for.

Here's the description of the film:

Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) is living the dream. Just look at his beautiful, successful wife, his two wonderful kids, and his truly stunning house—which he designed himself. Of course he did. Things are going so well, Evan doesn't even mind spending Father's Day alone while the rest of his family heads out for a beach weekend. And then there’s a knock on the door.

The two young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) standing on Evan's doorstep are where Evan's dream takes a nightmarish turn. Given co-writer/director Eli Roth's well-deserved reputation for creating cinematic discomfort, it should come as no surprise what happens next: Things get weird, and then dark, and then much, much, much darker. But this is no splatter film, so Roth keeps the horror nice and psychological as Evan's life—and house—get ripped apart, piece by beautiful piece.

You've probably seen a lot written about Back to the Future Part II this year already, and I'm guessing it won't stop until we enter the year 2016. Because we're currently living in the same year Doc Brown and Marty McFly travel to in the 1989 sequel, everyone seems to be obsessed with comparing the film's predictions of what "the future" would be like to how things actually are for us today. Here's a handy infographic from the folks at StaySourced breaking down what the movie got right and wrong about 2015.

Marvel seems to be developing a pattern for casting actors who've previously played the Doctor on the long-running BBC series Doctor Who. First it was Christopher Eccleston as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, and now the company has announced that David Tennant will play the villainous Kilgrave in the new Netflix series AKA Jessica Jones.

An enigmatic figure from Jessica’s past, Kilgrave’s reappearance will send shockwaves through the former super hero’s world.

After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.

Tennant will join Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage) in the series.

Another big takeaway here? After some speculation that this series might debut in 2016, it will in fact hit the streaming service at some point this year following the release of Daredevil. That's good news for those worried about the timeline of all of these upcoming shows, and it should appease fans (like myself) who are hoping that The Defenders will appear in Marvel's Infinity War by the time those films hit theaters a few years from now. Excited about Tennant's casting?

“I'm so honored and excited by the prospect of David inhabiting this multifaceted character,” said [showrunner/executive producer Melissa] Rosenberg. “He can deliver the most heart-wrenching moment to the driest of lines, and all points in between. He'll make Kilgrave a truly original villain."

“Anyone familiar with David's work knows he brings an incredible level of dedication to any role he inhabits, a level we knew we would need from the man playing Kilgrave,” said Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer/Marvel’s Head of Television. “While most know him for his roles as a hero, we can’t wait to unleash a whole new side of this talented actor.”

Have you ever wondered if the events of Mario Party are connected to the Super Mario Bros. game? Thought about how Yoshi's Island may have led to Wario Land? This video is for you. YouTube user Scorpigator Films has a new video (via Kotaku) which breaks down in mind-boggling detail exactly how every single game in the Mario universe is connected. It's a must-watch for Nintendo fans, and it'll definitely give you something to think about next time you pop in a Mario-themed game.

Rumors have been floating around for that past few months about a possible live-action X-Men TV series coming to Fox, but now the studio has confirmed (via TV Insider) that they're actively developing the show. Because of the situation involving the rights to the characters being held at different studios, Fox has to get Marvel's approval before they can put this show into production, but talks have taken place between the two sides.

"It's in negotiations," [Fox entertainment chairman Gary] Newman confirms. "We're cautiously optimistic, we had a good meeting with [Marvel]. That will not be on a fast track creatively. This is just the deal, now we have to find the creative."

Sounds like this is still in the very early stages, and rumor has it that even if everything goes smoothly, the show won't be ready until the 2016/2017 TV season. No word yet on whether the show would center on the X-Factor team or another group of mutants altogether, but bringing Xavier's gifted youngsters to the small screen seems like a total home run idea. Superhero TV shows are all the rage right now with Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, The Flash, Agent Carter, and Gotham — just to name a few. It's no surprise that Fox wants to cash in any way they can on one of their most valuable film properties.

THR reports that 24 producers Manny Koto and Evan Katz will be the show's executive producers/showrunners, while the series will be written by Star Trek 3 scribes Patrick McKay and JD Payne, and all four of them will share a "created by" credit if the show moves forward. Looking forward to seeing the X-Men on TV?

This past weekend marked the birthday of Full House creator Jeff Franklin, and most of the stars of the '90s sitcom - including Bob Saget, John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber - were in attendance. At one point, they jumped onstage and performed the show's theme song, "Everywhere You Look," along with vocalist Jesse Frederick (who sang the song for the show), and the result was...well, it was awful. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: this is a sub-karaoke level rendition, and it seems like most of the people don't even know the words. But oh well: nostalgia reigns supreme. This is one time I actually wish Dave Coulier had been there to give everyone his whole "cut it out" routine.

A video posted by Andrea Barber (@andreabarber) on Jan 25, 2015 at 9:21am PST

H/T: Vanity Fair

A Deadpool movie is finally happening! A leaked script and leaked video pushed fan fervor to new heights last year, which gave FOX the confidence to green-light the production of the new movie. Ryan Reynolds, who loves the character, put up with years of development hell to hold on to the role. While at Sundance, the actor was interviewed by MTV and talked about the production, the video leak, and getting the film done right.

Because the MTV video is hit and miss for our readers on mobile, here are a few great quotes from the interview.

“It’s been a long time (11 years), but it’s happening the right way, and that’s all that matters."

“Yeah, I would've leaked that footage myself! Looking back now? In a heartbeat! I should go home and scan the old hard drive and see what I got in there!”

We're about a year away from seeing Deadpool hit the big screen. 20th Century Fox has set it for release on February 12th, 2016.

I must admit something: earlier today when I first saw headlines about the cast of Full House reuniting to sing their own theme song, I thought everyone was talking about Jaleel White, Reginald VelJohnson, and the Family Matters crew getting together to sing "As Days Go By." (I've always gotten those two songs mixed up in my head, and I literally just found out that they were both performed by Jesse Frederick, which might explain why.) So I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see the Family Matters cast belt out their theme song...but now, thanks to Fox, I'm able to get my Family Matters fix in an even better way.

The team at Animation Domination High-Def have reimagined the 90s sitcom as an anime in which Steve Urkel attempts to win Laura Winslow's heart, but must first fight her father, Carl. There are plenty of fun references here for fans of the original show: Urkel-san's accordion, the famous one-liners, the Stefan reference, and more. There's even an anime-fied version of the show's theme song at the beginning of the video, so I can check that off of my bucket list. Behold:

H/T: Sploid

I was talking with a friend yesterday about our most anticipated films of the year, and when checking out a release calendar to remember all of the movies coming out this year, I realized when I got to December that I had completely forgotten a new Mission: Impossible movie is coming out in 2015. But Paramount has just decided to move M:I 5 from its December 25th release up to July 31st, 2015, so we can expect the marketing blitz to begin in the near future, insuring that nobody else forgets about the movie any time soon.

Presumably, the studio shifted the release date to avoid what's sure to be a record-setting box office performance by J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and considering Abrams is producing M:I 5, the move makes sense. Tom Cruise should be a big enough draw to pull audiences in when the film faces off against Jake Gyllenhaal's boxing drama Southpaw and the remake of Point Break. Paramount slotted its animated film Monster Trucks in M:I 5's old December release spot, which is a better counter-programming tactic than having Ethan Hunt and his team face off against a Star Wars movie.

We don't know much about Mission: Impossible 5 at the moment (which is actually kind of refreshing), but Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Jeremy Renner will all star in the follow-up to the well-liked Ghost Protocol, so hopefully writer/director Chris McQuarrie will be able to deliver something as entertaining as Brad Bird did last time around.

This decision tree by Onlineschools.org guides you through possible career paths you might be suited for in the Star Wars universe. My choices led me to "Sith Apprentice," but to be fair I did found a site called GeekTyrant. I had a lot of fun working my way backwards to see what choices lead to each. Let me know what you got in the comments.

H/T: Geek X Girls

David Ayer's Suicide Squad is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about movies of the year, and it doesn't even open until 2016. We've already pointed out how this is a very important project for Warner Bros. and DC to get right in the wake of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and today has brought a whole new round of rumors for us to mull over.

The studio is on the hunt to fill one of the lead roles, since Tom Hardy and Jake Gyllenhaal have both passed on playing Rick Flag. Last week, we heard that Joel Edgerton and Jon Bernthal were being eyed as possible replacements, but now JoBlo has an unconfirmed rumor that Star Trek's Karl Urban is in the mix for the role as well. Urban was just mentioned as a contender for a role in Aquaman, but that deal depends on which script the studio ends up choosing for that film, so as of now, Urban is still being looked at for Suicide Squad.

The role of Rick Flag that everyone is talking about is actually Rick Flag Jr. The character's father, Rick Flag Sr., is going to appear in the film as well, and JoBlo says Ed Harris and Max Martini (Pacific Rim) are being eyed for that particular part. (Harris would be great here, and it would give the movie even more star power.) As for Gary Sinise, who was rumored to have scored an unknown role in the film last week? They claim he's up for the role of General Sam Lane, Lois Lane's father. There's obvious crossover potential for that character in any project involving Amy Adams' Lois and Henry Cavill's Superman. In addition, there's a character named Thinker that will appear in this movie, and since Geoffrey Rush has reportedly turned it down, that part is up for grabs.

Their report also says that Joe Manganiello is indeed the first choice to play the assassin Deathstroke, but that Terminator Genisys and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes star Jason Clarke is also on the list of contenders. And there's a brief update about Jared Leto's Joker: he'll apparently be "scarred all over his body because of his battles with Batman," and he always "plays mind games with people and twists [their] minds." Sounds pretty Joker-esque to me. The character is compared to Hannibal Lecter, and "everyone is afraid of him," so - and this is just me speculating here - maybe the fact that he's contained for most of the movie will give Leto a chance to put his own stamp on the character following Heath Ledger's iconic performance in The Dark Knight.

Ayer has reportedly been trying to "get his own people" involved, and if that's true, that means Martini and Manganiello have a better shot at scoring their respective parts because they've worked with the director before. We'll keep you posted with more when we hear it.

I never knew this, but Jude Law was one of the many actors who almost played Superman in director Brett Ratner's 2002 effort Superman: Flyby. Law was Ratner's first choice and the actor was very reluctant to sign on.

Law relates the story of what happened to MTV.

“At the time, I really didn’t want to. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being that guy who played Superman."

In a final push, Ratner convinced Law to try on the costume.

“I go in the bathroom, put it on and look in the mirror, and suddenly, I am Superman. And it is an amazing costume. My chest pops up and the music comes on… That was it. I got it out of my system. I took it off, put it in the bag, and was like, ‘I’m not going to do it.’ I saw myself, No need for the rest of the world to see me.”

Given Ratner's current track record, it seemed like a wise choice. After Law walked away from the Superman reboot, it quickly fell apart. As much as I like Law, I can't really picture him as Superman and he just seems too dashing to pull off Clark Kent.

When writer Gary Whitta (amicably) left Godzilla director Gareth Edwards' upcoming Star Wars spin-off, rumors circulated that Simon Kinberg would take his place. It sounded like a good fit, and the geek crowd was happy: Kinberg has either written or produced other Star Wars films, X-Men, Star Wars Rebels, Sherlock Holmes, and The Fantastic Four, so this spin-off seemed to be in good hands. But it turns out that's not happening after all.

THR reports that Twilight: New Moon writer Chris Weitz has boarded the project as a replacement for Whitta. Weitz - who directed The Twilight Saga: New Moon along with features like The Golden Compass - also wrote Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Antz, and The Golden Compass, so I wouldn't call this an upgrade. Weitz also wrote and directed About a Boy, which certainly has its fans but doesn't really inspire confidence that he's able to handle a big sci-fi spectacle. I assume he'll be punching up elements of Whitta's previous script, but with projects like this, it's tough to figure out who contributed what when all is said and done. We'll have to hope that this turns out for the best.

Edwards' untitled spin-off movie is set to hit theaters on December 16th, 2016.

Before I even saw this teaser trailer for Turbo Kid, I was sold on the concept. This is one of my most anticipated films to see at the Sundance Film Festival, and it looks ridiculously fun! 

It has been described as a retro-futuristic movie, and it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The story follows a young solitary scavenger obsessed with comic books, and "he must face his fears and become a reluctant hero when he meets a mysterious girl." This has the makings of a cult classic. I absolutely love the vibe that I get from this teaser.

The movie was produced by Ant Timpson (The ABCs Of Death 1 & 2, Housebound), Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), and it was written and directed by Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Here's an official synopsis:

It's 1997. In a ruined post-apocalyptic world, the orphaned Kid survives on his own through drought-ridden nuclear winter, traversing the Wasteland on his BMX, scavenging for scraps to trade for a scant supply of water. When his perpetually chipper, pink-haired new best friend Apple is kidnapped by a minion of evil overlord Zeus, the Kid summons the courage of his comic book hero and prepares to deliver turbocharged justice to Zeus, his buzzsaw-handed sidekick Skeletron, and their vicious masked army.

I'm seeing the movie on Wednesday, so I'll let you all know how it is! This has the making of a movie I know I'm going to love. 

Artist SalBa Combé created this extremely awesome fan art for Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The character designs that he came up with are so freakin' cool. I'd love to see these brought to life in some kind of CG animation. That Batman armor just looks excellent. Here's what the artist had to say about the designs:

"Some time ago I made these three designs based on 'The Dark Knight Returns' by Frank Miller, and some people asked me if this Batman was who fights against Superman in the end of the comic? No, that was a Batman older,  rougher and more realist than Batman with spandex and micro-kevlar suits. But this batman yes it´s that armored batman. I hope you like and thanks for this visit."