Breathe is a wonderful horror short with a unique concept: it centers on a ghost who can only be seen when a person holds their breath. The film stars Josef Altin (Game of Thrones, Child 44, Eastern Promises), and his character is showing this ghost girl to another person. The movie was directed by Toby Meakins, and it premiered at Film4 Frightfest. I enjoyed this, and I think that it would make for a great feature-length horror film. Check it out for yourself, and let us know what you think of it.

Birdman was one of the best films of 2014, and I’m betting that Michael Keaton will take home the trophy for Best Actor at the Oscars. In the film, Keaton plays an actor whose most iconic role, Birdman, haunts him as he attempts to put on a stage play that would help boost his career back to the top. 

The film was heavily inspired by Keaton and the fame he saw from Tim Burton’s Batman. But director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Alexander Dinelaris had a very different ending for Birdman planned than what they ended up using. I thought the way the film ended was great, but the original ending moved the story to another actor and character: Johnny Depp and his Pirates of the Caribbean alter-ego, (Captain) Jack Sparrow. 

Here’s what Dinelaris had to say about the original ending during Jeff Goldsmith‘s annual discussion with Oscar-nominated screenwriters:

"So we had one other ending that was satirical. The other ending was that he shoots himself on the stage. The camera comes around to the audience and their standing ovation — all the way around, like Chivo [Emmanuel Lubezki] and Alejandro did the whole time — and the segue was back on to the stage and on the stage was like James Lipton or Charlie Rose and Michael [Keaton] was sitting across from him and he’s sort of reading the review. He’s saying, ‘Oh my God, you got this tremendous review’ and Michael is like, ‘Yeah.’

"…Then the camera prowled like it did the whole film, went back stage through the halls we’ve seen the whole time and we’d get to the dressing room where literally Johnny Depp would be sitting looking in the mirror and putting on his Riggan Thomson wig and then the poster of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 would be in the back. In Jack Sparrow’s voice [it would say], ‘What the fuck are we doing here, mate?’ It was going to be the satire of the endless loop of that."

That would have been amazing! Unfortunately Depp or Disney weren’t interested playing with them on the idea. Dinelaris added:

"We couldn’t get Johnny Depp or even the poster."

That was such an awesome idea for an ending, and there's no doubt audiences would have loved it. What do you think of the original ending they had planned?

Via: The Film Stage

"It's so bad."

The Fine Bros. have released another fun “React” video that features modern day teenagers being introduced to 1989's legendary Nintendo Power Glove. The first time I saw the Power Glove was in the 1989 film The Wizard. Not long after, one of my friends got it for his birthday. We spent hours trying to figure out how it worked, but neither of us or his parents could get the damned thing to operate. They ended up returning it and getting a couple of games instead.

I didn't really get a chance to play with the glove for another few years. In the end, it wasn't as fun to play with as I thought it would be. Watching these teens talk about it and play with it is really amusing, though.

With teens today growing up with controller-less technology that actually works, showing them one of the early attempts had fun results.  Beyond some not even being sure if it something old or new, came some feeling it was very cool to wear and a great idea, only to have massive disappointment and a very sore arm after trying to play 2 different games with it, as they learned first hand it just didn't really work.  Though in the end, when we showed them a commercial from 1989 for the Glove, they all felt just as we all did back then, that advertising works and it made it seem like the coolest thing ever and some even wanted to try again after seeing it... 

Which of course we had them do in our other gaming series on our REACT channel as a fun extra, we had some of the same teens play RAD RACER with the Power Glove, made famous by the infamous scene in the movie "The Wizard" which we of course showed them a clip of, you don't want to miss that.  Be great if you can post both! This was a lot of fun to produce. 

This is a pretty entertaining video, and you can watch their previous one here featuring old people playing Grand Theft Auto V.

Last night was the series premiere of Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin-off that essentially serves as an origin story for Bob Odenkirk's Saul Goodman. When we first see him in this show, he's living out his own Breaking Bad prophecy, managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska with a new name (he goes by "Gene" now). The pilot, directed by Vince Gilligan, opened with striking black-and-white cinematography, and gave us a very brief glimpse at Saul's rather pathetic life after Walter White. But the show soon flashed back to explore the character back when he was known as Jimmy McGill, and quickly formed its own visual identity by using an exceptionally bright color palette instead of the more drab tones we came to expect from Breaking Bad.

There are already quite a few comparisons one can draw between Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, including the appearance of a few familiar faces, but I was pleased with how much the pilot felt similar but different to its predecessor. It has a bit of that Breaking Bad vibe to it, but I felt like they didn't lean too heavily on references or cheap callbacks. And even though we think we know how things end up for Saul, that's not necessarily true. I assumed the black-and-white intro of the pilot would be the only time we'd see Saul in "present day," but according to an interview with EW, Gilligan says that isn't the case.

“I don’t think people should be surprised to know that they will eventually learn more about Jimmy/Saul/Gene’s ongoing existence in Omaha, but they shouldn't necessarily hold their breath that those questions will be answered this season.”

So while a majority of the show will be told in flashback form, it'll still jump ahead to continue Saul's story in the future. That's great news for the overall dramatic weight of the series, because now there can be seeds planted that pay off in future episodes instead of seeds planted that were already paid off on a different show. One of the most annoying elements of prequels is how the audience always knows how the main characters will end up, but by making this show a prequel and a sequel at the same time, Gilligan and co-creator Peter Gould have restored a sense of the unknown to this show, which makes it a lot more exciting than if Saul's ultimate fate was already set in stone.

What did you guys think of the series premiere?

In the video game Assassin's Creed, your character can swan dive from impossible heights and always survive the fall if he lands in a bale or cart of hay. It's called a "Leap of Faith." Well, if you replace the hay with snow and add fire to the mix, you'll have a good idea of what this insane real-life stunt looks like. This is one of the craziest things I've seen in a long time. Kotaku points us to two videos of a Russian man named Alexandr Chernikov who performed his own flaming version of the leap of faith. Wow.

There are two videos with two different angles of the fall, so anyone who might think this is some sort of hoax can examine the two videos for themselves. I don't speak Russian so I can't know for sure, but I'm shocked he didn't break any bones after a tumble like that. He looks to be OK, which is pretty damn impressive after leaping off a building that's 30 meters (98 feet) tall.

A few weeks ago, Sir Patrick Stewart mentioned that he and Sir Ian McKellen wouldn't be reprising their roles as Professor X and Magneto in Bryan Singer's upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. But now it appears that his tune has changed a little bit.

Stewart spoke with Oregon Live (via ComingSoon) and said that while he won't be appearing in Apocalypse, McKellen's Magneto definitely will. And he also revealed that discussions have been had about a third Wolverine movie in which Professor X would appear alongside Hugh Jackman's Logan:

But Magneto, Ian McKellen, is certainly going to be in it. And what I'm very excited about is that we have been talking about a Wolverine movie, which would team Hugh Jackman and myself together. Wolverine and Professor Xavier. That would be a very different sort of "X-Men" from the four movies that I've already done.

That's an interesting reversal about McKellen's older Magneto appearing in Apocalypse, and thanks to the time travel events of Days of Future Past essentially resetting the X-Men's cinematic continuity, I suppose just about anything is possible in that franchise at this point. More fascinating to me, though, is the idea of Stewart and Jackman as main characters in a third Wolverine film. I didn't even bother seeing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but Logan was secluded from his fellow X-Men in The Wolverine, and since Xavier has been such an important figure in his life, it makes sense that he'd be there in what many are assuming will be Hugh Jackman's last solo outing as Wolverine.

What do you think?

The visual effects pipeline is often an overlooked and under-appreciated element of film and television production, but over the past few years VFX reels have become more popular and given audiences a chance to see exactly how much of their favorite properties use the tool to enhance the final product. Game of Thrones is a show that heavily relies on VFX to create its fantasy world, and the show's dragons have become a bigger part of the series over its run.

A new reel from Pixomondo, one of the companies that works on the HBO series, showcases some of the work it takes to bring Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion to life. It's another stunning look behind the scenes of one of the best shows on television, and it reminds me yet again of that heartbreaking moment in Season 4 in which Dany locked her children away because they became too powerful to tame. Game of Thrones will premiere its fifth season on April 12th, 2015.

Via: Sploid

Another filthy, funny red-band trailer has been released for Vince Vaughn's new comedy Unfinished Business. The movie has potential to be a great comedy...if they haven't shown all of the funny parts in the trailers already. 

Vaughn and his co-stars Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco team up for a business adventure in Europe in hopes of landing a big business deal. In the process, they find out that a few of Vaughn’s old colleagues-turned-rivals are trying to land the same deal. They are played by Sienna Miller, James Marsden, and Nick Frost.

A hard-working small business owner (Vince Vaughn) and his two associates (Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco) travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way, including unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit.

Unfinished Business hits theaters on March 6th, 2015.

Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1993 adventure film Last Action Hero? Well, that was my first big audition for a big movie starring a huge actor. It was a pretty surreal experience when I look back at it.  

I auditioned for the lead kid role in the movie, which followed a young film fan who is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action film character with the help of a magic ticket. The part of the kid eventually went to Austin O'Brien, but here's my story.

It all started with an elevator ride with my dad in a building located in Santa Monica. Schwarzenegger and a big bodyguard joined us on this elevator adventure. Arnold had this big cigar hanging out of his mouth, and I just remember him being so damn big. My dad was a big guy as well, and it was kind of funny when my dad and Arnold tried to exit the elevator at the same time. This was one of those ridiculous awkward moments that people don't find themselves in everyday, so of course it had to happen to my dad. There was a brief moment when they just had to stare each other down. I thought to myself "Great! There goes my chances of landing the part!"

Back to the audition. I was able to calm my nerves the best I could before I went in to read, and it seemed to go pretty well. I think it helped that I didn't have to read my lines with Arnold. I just don't think I was ready for that. My interview was with the casting director and director John McTiernan. The audition went by pretty fast. I read my lines, they said "nice job," and "thanks kid," and in the end, I felt confident with how it turned out. Obviously I ultimately didn't get the part, but it was still a great experience, and it prepared me for other big movies that I would have the opportunity to audition for, which I'll tell you about later.

On the way out of the building, I had to go to the bathroom. As I was taking a piss at a urinal, a man walked in and stood at the urinal next to me. It wasn't Schwarzenegger, though. I finished up, walked out, and met up with my dad. The other guy followed me and walked by, and my dad said, "Do you know who that was?" I said no. He explained to me that it was Oliver Stone, the director of Platoon. I was only 12 years old at the time, I hadn't seen Platoon yet, so what did I care? Now I know though, and I can say I took a piss next to Oliver Stone.

Even though I didn't really land many of the roles I auditioned for, I still enjoyed it because of the adrenaline rush it gave me. To go along with my article, here's a funny video from Cracked that explains why Last Action Hero is secretly terrifying:

The knife-wielding Michael Myers is one of the most instantly-recognizable villains of all time, and even though he's appeared in nine films so far, Hollywood isn't finished with him yet. THR reports that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the duo who wrote Saw IV through VII and the Feast trilogy, have been hired to write the screenplay for a new Halloween movie.

But here's the interesting part: THR's sources say the film won't be a remake, a reboot, or a re-imagining, but instead a "recalibration." What could that possibly mean? Rob Zombie was the last director who brought the character to the big screen, and though there have been some starts and stops since then, the last time we saw Myers on film was in 2009's Halloween II. No director is attached to this new movie yet, and I'm guessing if they're trying to recalibrate the series, then Zombie won't be returning. The only way I can fathom that term being used accurately in this context is if the script tells a new story about what happens to Zombie's version of Myers (played in his films by Tyler Mane) after Halloween II, with the events of the previous two films considered canon.

Either way, it sounds like fans will have more to chew on soon, and perhaps Melton and Dunstan's experience in the genre will result in a fresh angle on the adventures of one of horror's biggest names.

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In a joint press release on Marvel.com, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have announced that they are collaborating to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel cineverse and create new Spider-Man movies together. After lots of speculation and rumors, a deal Spider-Man fans have wanted has become a reality. A new Spider-Man will make his first appearance in a Marvel movie, followed by a standalone movie on July 28, 2017. The only announced Marvel movies between now aand the standalone film are Captain America: Civil War and Dr. Strange, which means Spider-Man will likely be in Civil War. The Spider-Man standalone film is the exact date as previously announced Thor: Ragnarock, which likely means that Thor will be moved back a month.

Rumors of Spider-Man's appearance in Avengers: Infinity Wars now seem extremely valid. The most interesting part of the press release is this: "Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films." This is the only thing that gives me pause about the whole deal. But thankfully, Sony's control is limited to Spider-Man films. This deal opens up so many stories and characters to cross over, and as a fan, I could not be happier.

Via Marvel:

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company said: "Spider-Man is one of Marvel's great characters, beloved around the world. We're thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building."

"We always want to collaborate with the best and most successful filmmakers to grow our franchises and develop our characters. Marvel, Kevin Feige and Amy, who helped orchestrate this deal, are the perfect team to help produce the next chapter of Spider-Man," said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans."

"Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together. This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker's story into the future," added Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

"I am thrilled to team with my friends at Sony Pictures along with Amy Pascal to produce the next Spider-Man movie," said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "Amy has been deeply involved in the realization on film of one of the world’s most beloved characters. Marvel's involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU. I am equally excited for the opportunity to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU, something which both we at Marvel, and fans alike, have been looking forward to for years."

Mike Judge’s Silicon Valley surprisingly ended up being one of my favorite shows to watch last year. I had no idea that it was going to be so good! But I loved the story, the setting, the characters, and every single episode was filled with hilarious entertainment. Of course, what do you expect from the guy who brought us Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, and Office Space? Today we have the first trailer for Season 2, and it looks like we're in for another great season.

The Emmy and Golden nominated “Silicon Valley” looks at the modern-day epicenter of the high-tech gold rush, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. 

The series stars Thomas Middleditch (The Campaign, The Wolf of Wall Street), T.J. Miller (Cloverfield, How to Train Your Dragon), Zach Woods (In the Loop, The Other Guys), Kumail Nanjiani (Life As We Know It, Sex Tape), Martin Starr (Party Down, Freaks and Geeks), Josh Brener (The Internship, Glory Daze), Amanda Crew (Sex Drive, Charlie St. Cloud), Matt Ross (Magic City, American Horror Story), and relative newcomer Jimmy O. Yang. 

The series comes back for a ten-episode second season beginning Sunday, April 12th at 10pm.

Photo: Jason from Flickr

The Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain has released a funny anti-texting and talking PSA for the upcoming release of Kingsman: The Secret Service. Hamill gets serious in the video and draws on his best known roles as Luke Skywalker and the Joker to get his point across. It all leads to his threat to unleash an army made up of insane clowns brandishing lightsabers that will “completely destroy you.” It’s always great to see Hamill having fun like this.

Thor’s Jaimie Alexander is coming back to reprise her role as Sif in an upcoming episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and there’s gong to be an interesting twist to her character this time around.

According to TV Insider, Sif will show up on the Portuguese coast to fight a villain with superpowers equal to her own. In the process, she also looses her short-term memory. The photo above shows us what kind of outfit she'll be sporting in the episode. 

Sif comes to Earth on an undercover mission and has a bodyslamming showdown with a foe whose superpowers are equal to her own. Footage of the epic clash, which takes place on the coast of Portugal, becomes big news on social media, prompting the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to rush to the scene to investigate. Not only do they find Sif without her lusty trademark armor, but she has also lost her short-term memory.

There’s no information on who the villain is, but if Sif is battling him or her, it could be another Asgardian. Executive producer Jeffrey Bell said in a statement,

"Sif has no idea who Thor is or that she serves a king, and we're going to have fun with that. It'll give us some much-needed humor in a season that's been full of betrayal and death. Sif can't even recall who she came here from Asgard to stop, but Agent Coulson [Clark Gregg] and his team will try to help her figure all that out."

He continued,

"We've been dealing a lot with space aliens and Inhumans in our last few episodes—things our Earth-bound heroes just don't know much about. They need help understanding what's really going on. Sif's memory—what's left of it—will come in very handy."

It will be great to see Sif back in action, and I’m really curious to see how she helps move the story forward.

Kotobukiya has revealed their Star Wars R3-A2 and K-3PO ARTFX+ Statues. The droid statues will be available at the Kotobukiya booth at Star Wars Celebration 2015. These are basically just repainted versions of their already existing R2-D2 are C-3PO statues. But they are actual characters in the Star Wars universe, appearing in The Empire Strikes Back.

R3-A2 is an Astromech Droid, much like R2-D2. It helped the Rebel pilots as a navigator on their fighters and helped keep them in good shape. As for K-3PO, it had a vast database with a great knowledge of military tactics. It specifically helped the coordinator of all Droids of Alliance High Command and was destroyed during the Battle of Hoth.

The 1/10 scale statues will include a stand as well as a special collector’s coin. The coin features the logo of Industrial Automation, the manufacturers of Astromech Droids. The droids have magnets in their feet to connect to the figure stands. K-3PO stands 6″ tall, while R3-A2 is 4″ tall.

For those not able to attend Star Wars Celebration, you'll still be able to get yourself one. Kotobukiya will have an exclusive pre-order chance for non-attendees on kotous.com beginning in April.

Via: Action Figure Fury

A new piece of concept art for Marvel’s Ant-Man has surfaced. It features our tiny hero leading an army of ants as they are about to invade Cross Industries. At least, that’s what it looks like to me. I hope that the next trailer Marvel releases for the film includes more footage of Ant-Man in action with his ant allies. 

The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man.” Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

The movie stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, John Slattery, and Hayley Atwell. It will be released in theaters on July 17th, 2015.

Weird Al Yankovic has made a career mocking musical trends over the years. As his Mandatory Fun tour gets closer, he's decided to make a parody video with College Humor poking fun at himself, and one of 2014's best pictures, Whiplash. It's called "Weird Al Gets Whiplashed," and J.K. Simmons' character, Fletcher Henderson, goes ballistic on him as he is trying to perfect the art of playing the accordion. The video is seamlessly cut together, and it offers pure, fun entertainment. 

Last night Marvel and Sony officially announced that they will be working together to bring Spider-Man back to the big screen. It will start with an appearance in a Marvel movie before he gets his own solo film on July 28th, 2017.

As we speculated in our report last night, the only Marvel movies between now and the standalone film release date that have been announced are Captain America: Civil War  and Dr. Strange. It would make complete sense for Spider-Man to appear in Civil War since that was the original plan. We later heard that that plan was scrapped, though.

Thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we have confirmation that Spider-Man will indeed make his first appearance in Civil War, which is what I was really hoping for. The report says:

The two companies said late Monday that Spider-Man will appear in an upcoming Disney-produced Marvel super-heroes movie; that movie is 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

I'm ecstatic that Marvel and Sony were able to make this deal! I don't know how they would have been able to tell this Civil War storyline without Spider-Man because he's such an essential character in it. 

For those of you wondering what this all means for the Spider-Man spin-off films that Sony has been developing, including Sinister Six, they're still happening. Drew Goddard, (Cabin in the Woods) has been developing the project for a year already, and according to the WSJ, it will just be delayed.

Sony will delay its planned release of The Sinister Six, about a group of Spider-Man villains, in wake of the new deal said a person involved in movie. It had been scheduled for release in November of 2016.

The publication also confirms that Andrew Garfield is out as Spider-Man, which isn't really surprising, as we've been hearing that all along. I liked Garfield as Peter Parker, but I'm also excited to see who they bring in to take over the character. You can read our list of ten actors we'd like to cast in the role here.

Who would you want to see take on the role of Spider-Man?

Via: ComicBook.com

Cryptozoic has announced that they will be releasing a board game based on the classic 1984 film Ghostbusters. They are launching the Ghostbusters: The Board Game via Kickstarter, and they are offering a variety of pledge levels. This will be the first board game for the movie in 30 years.

Ghostbusters: The Board Game is an episodic adventure game for one to four players, who are charged with busting ghosts and sealing gates to the Spirit World. The game is customizable, cooperative, and highly re-playable. It features unique illustrations and figures based on original artwork and designs by Dan Schoening, the artist of IDW's Ghostbusters comic book series. Each Ghostbuster has a distinct role and unlocks unique abilities by gaining experience. The game offers modes for different levels of players, making it accessible to beginners and challenging to experts. Now is your chance to save the world!

The game comes with 47 custom plastic mini figures consisting of characters and ghosts from both the movie and the animated series.

I'm not the biggest fan of board games. I'd much rather play a video game, but this is Ghostbusters! It's one of my favorite movies of all time. It's a game I'd probably buy just to support it, but I don't know if I'd actually ever play it. Check out the additional details about the game below!

Via: /Film