I've got a really fun monster movie for you to check out today called The Hunt. One of the things that I like about it most is its use of practical effects for the creature. Most films we see these days, even the short ones, use CGI effects. So it was great to see something different in that aspect.

The story follows a father and son who go out on a hunting trip, and things don't go over too well for them when their mobile home is invaded by some kind of monster. The short was directed by Spencer Estabrooks, and I think you'll all enjoy it. 

Concept image by Christopher P. Bryan

“Life will not be contained. Life breaks free. Life… finds a way.” Mirroring Jeff Golblum’s foreshadowing words in the first Jurassic Park movie, apparently spoiler info also finds a way. Plot details for Jurassic World emerged online last week over on JoBlo. While much of the information would have likely been explained in the marketing of the film, it turns out some details were significant spoilers. The filmmakers were understandably upset by this. But instead of sitting around waiting to be eaten up by raptors (fanboys upset over facts that have no context yet), director Colin Trevorrow took the 'fight fire with fire' approach by not only confirming the leaked plot details but offering more information as well.

Here are some of the highlights from Trevorrow’s email interview with /Film’s Peter Sciretta:

Trevorrow’s message to the person who leaked the details:

"When I was a kid, you got to discover everything at once, it washed over you and blew your mind. Now it only takes one person to spoil it for everyone else. I hope whoever leaked it is actively trying to undermine what we’re doing. Because if they’re trying to help, they’re doing it wrong."

Confirmation of fully functional park:

"Yes. Jurassic World takes place in a fully functional park on Isla Nublar. It sees more than 20,000 visitors every day. You arrive by ferry from Costa Rica. It has elements of a biological preserve, a safari, a zoo, and a theme park. There is a luxury resort with hotels, restaurants, nightlife and a golf course."

Timeline of the film:

"This film picks up twenty-two years after Jurassic Park."

On dinosaur behavior:

"There’s no such thing as good or bad dinosaurs. There are predators and prey. The T-Rex in Jurassic Park took human lives, and saved them. No one interpreted her as good or bad." 

"Chris Pratt’s character is doing behavioral research on the raptors. They aren’t trained, they can’t do tricks. He’s just trying to figure out the limits of the relationship between these highly intelligent creatures and human beings."

Crossbred dinosaurs:

"We were hoping audiences could discover this on their own, but yes, there will be one new dinosaur created by the park’s geneticists. The gaps in her sequence were filled with DNA from other species, much like the genome in the first film was completed with frog DNA. This creation exists to fulfill a corporate mandate—they want something bigger, louder, with more teeth. And that’s what they get."

Message to the fans:

"I know the idea of a modified dinosaur put a lot of fans on red alert, and I understand it. But we aren’t doing anything here that Crichton didn’t suggest in his novels. This animal is not a mutant freak. It doesn’t have a snake’s head or octopus tentacles. It’s a dinosaur, created in the same way the others were, but now the genetics have gone to the next level. For me, it’s a natural evolution of the technology introduced in the first film. Maybe it sounds crazy, but most of my favorite movies sound crazy when you describe them in a single sentence."

"I understand the risks of leaving the safe zone. We’ve all been disappointed by new installments of the stories we love. But with all this talk of filmmakers 'ruining our childhood', we forget that right now is someone else’s childhood. This is their time. And I have to build something that can take them to the same place those earlier films took us. It may not happen in the same way everyone expects it to, but it’s the way I believe it needs to happen."

Jurassic World is currently in the middle of production with aim for a June 12th, 2015 release. There are some other great tidbits in the full interview, so be sure to head on over to /Film for that. 

20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for producer Guillermo del Toro's new animated film, The Book of Life. It looks like it will be a seriously great movie, and I'm excited about taking my kids to see it. I was really impressed by what I saw in the trailer.

The film was directed by Jorge Gutierrez and it stars the voices of Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoë Saldana, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate, Kate del Castillo, Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, Hector Elizondo, Ana de la Reguera, Eugenio Derbez, Gabriel Iglesias, Ricardo "El Mandril" Sanchez, and Danny Trejo. Here's the synopsis:

THE BOOK OF LIFE is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, THE BOOK OF LIFE encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

The movie is set to be released on October 17th!

Maki Rolle is Storm | Photo by: The Big Tog

It took way too long perhaps, but the Mistress of the Elements is finally getting her due in this Best of Cosplay Collection. There are few X-Men who kick more ass than storm, and plenty of cosplayers feel the same way, as the weather goddess is shown plenty of love in the beautiful and diverse series of photos below. Alright, enough lollygagging, let's get to why you're here. Enjoy the cosplay! 

Sara Moni Cosplay is Storm | Photo by: Radiant Vision Photography

Paris Sinclair is Storm | Photo by: Adam Murray

Maki Rolle is Storm | Photo by: The Big Tog

Jacqueline Elizabeth Cottrell is Storm | Photo by: Jamais Vu Photo Artistry | Clothes by: Kicka Custom Designs

Cassian Cosplay is Storm | Photo by: Starrfall Photography

Sefioum is Storm | Photo by: Burak Etman

Sara Moni Cosplay is Storm

Akwa is Storm | Photo by: Kurnikoff.com

Fudgie is Storm | Photo by: SGH PhotoArt

Cano Creations is Storm | Photo by: screaM4Dolls

Panterona Cosplay is Storm | Photo by: Guru Kast and Aaron Richards | Edited by: Israel Silva 

Maki Rolle is Storm | Photo by: The Big Tog

Sadakochan87 is Storm | Photo by: Fabiohazard

Toni Weri is Storm | Photo by: Wandering Dana

Mad Maven is Storm | Photo by: What A Big Camera | Edited by: Eve Beauregard

Cassian Cosplay is Storm | Photo by: Starrfall Photography

Fudgie is Storm | Photo by: SGH PhotoArt

Larry Smith is Storm | Photo by: Felix Wong Photography

Melting Mirror is Storm | Photo by: RocknamLee

Sara Moni Cosplay is Storm

Paris Sinclair is Storm | Photo by: Adam Murray

JouninK is Storm | Photo by: Electric Lady

There have been a lot of trailers released for Snowpiercer over the years, and we've got another one to share with you. I've been waiting to see this movie since it was first announced in 2012, and I'll finally get my chance this summer. This might be the tenth trailer that the studio has released for the film, but it's still a really good one and worth watching!

In this sci-fi epic from director Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Mother), a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet.  The final survivors board the SNOWPIERCER, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine. When cryptic messages incite the passengers to revolt, the train thrusts full-throttle towards disaster.

The full "Director's Cut" of the movie will be released in select US theaters starting June 27th.

The latest episode of Cinefix's 8-bit cinema series transforms the 2001 cult classic film Donnie Darko into a retro style video game. It quickly takes you through the full story of the film, and they got really creative in telling it with the limited use of 8-bit visuals. I'm a huge fan of Donnie Darko. It was one of those films that kind of blew my mind the first time I saw it. I hope you enjoy the 8-bit retelling of it!

CBR recently got word that John Wesley Shipp will play Henry Allen, the father of Barry Allen in the upcoming CW show The Flash.

For those of you who don't know, Shipp played Barry Allen in the 1990 version of The Flash. Here is the statement that site received:

Given his history with The Flash, Andrew [Kreisberg], Geoff [Johns] and I could only think of one person we wanted to play Barry's father and that was John Wesley Shipp," Flash executive producer Greg Berlanti said in a statement. "He gives a fantastic and emotional performance in the pilot and we are looking forward to his presence in many more episodes. Also, personally, it was just wonderful to work with him again since my days at Dawson's Creek. He's a great actor and a great guy.

In the show, Henry Allen has been accused of killing his wife, Barry’s mother. It sounds like he will have a prominent role in the show. 

I am a Marvel reader, but The Flash is my all-time favorite DC hero. I can’t wait to see how this show plays out. The 1990 version, even though it was short lived, was one of my favorite shows. Thanks to a deal that I just made with my wife I will be able to watch the new series when it comes out. When I excitedly told my wife that Shipp was going to be a part of this incarnation of the show, she promptly told me that he played the dad in Dawson’s Creek. This garnered the deal that if I binge watch Dawson’s Creek with her, which I have refused to do up until this point, that she will watch The Flash with me. The deal was made and my fate hangs in the balance. 

Here is a sampling of pieces that are included in "Femme Fatale", a stunning portrait series by Australian based screen-print artist Rhys Cooper. The show will run from May 31st through June 21st at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco.

If my TMZ-like memory for actors’ faces hasn’t failed me, I’m certain these femme fatales were modeled after some very famous and extremely beautiful actresses (no complaints here). Obviously Maleficent is in the likeness of Angelina Jolie. Natalie Portman looks to be used for Sorceress from He-Man [thanks to NietzschesGhost for the correction]. Poison Ivy is definitely modeled after Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer — the side shave is a dead giveaway. Sofia Vergara is Red Riding Hood, and Mystique looks to be Kate Beckinsale [note: readers on FB have also pointed out that she looks like Charlize Theron (the eyes definitely), others say Scarlett Johansson. It's perhaps a mix of a few actresses.] The only one I’m not so sure about is Rogue, who looks equal parts Abbie Cornish and Amber Heard.

The remaining art will be released online June 2nd. For more info on the artist and the exhibit head over to Spoke Art’s official site.

The brave new candidate to rewrite the script for the sequel to Independence Day is one Carter Blanchard. 

Not much is known about Blanchard’s writing, but he is currently working on a few projects that are in development. He wrote the screenplay for Spyhunter and is working on the film adaptation of Mark Millar’s Kindergarten Heroes. 

Roland Emmerich is still directing ID Forever Parts 1&2. Are we still calling the sequels to Independence Day this or not? All I know is, without Will Smith’s involvement, I am not sure how successful the sequels will be. Maybe Blanchard has the skills to keep the next two installments of the Independence Day franchise from falling in the movie gutter.

Usagi Yojimbo is one of my favorite characters in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe, and I hope that one day he gets his own movie. Goon comic artist Eric Powell created this gorgeous illustration for the Help the Sakais Benefit Auction, organized in conjunction with CAPS, and it will be included in “The Sakai Project Book,”

The first trailer for Jeremy Renner's drama thriller Kill the Messenger has been released, and it looks like it's going to be a great movie! The film is based on the true story of a journalist named  Gary Webb, who in 1996 asserted the C.I.A was involved in crack cocaine importation to California. It was directed by Michael Cuesta, who has directed TV shows such as Dexter and Homeland. The movie also has an insanely impressive supporting cast that includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, Barry Pepper, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Paz Vega, Michael Kenneth Williams, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Andy Garcia. Here's the synopsis:

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy) leads an all-star cast in a dramatic thriller based on the remarkable true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb. Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets…and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications. His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. – and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.

The movie opens in theaters on October 10th, 2014.

Film School Rejects

Not too long ago I went out and bought myself a Blu-ray copy of the intense 1981 WWII submarine film Das Boot. It had been an incredibly long time since I watched it, and I was blown away by how good it was. It was like watching the movie for the first time. If you haven't seen Das Boot yet, you need to put it on your must watch list. It's one of the best war movies of all time and was nominated for six Academy Awards. Here's the plot description from IMDB:

The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.

Artist Ken Taylor created this fantastic poster art paying tribute to the film for Mondo. This will be part of an art show that Mondo is putting on for the artist. It opens on May 30th at 7pm at the Mondo Gallery located at 4115 Guadalupe St. in Austin, TX.

Warner Bros. and MGM are set to develop a new trilogy based on the 1994 sci-fi adventure film Stargate. The co-writer and director of the original film, Roland Emmerich, will direct the new trilogy, and his long time producing partner Dean Devlin will obviously produce. 

This is a project that Emmerich and Devlin have been working on for years. I guess the studios like their pitch. Over a year ago the director had this to say:

"Stargate has always had this empty hole. When we made the first one, we always intended on doing part two and three, and we were prevented for years. And our hope is that we can get another chance at Stargate and tell the entire story we wanted to tell."

I've always liked the concept of Stargate. The first movie was really cool, and I enjoyed watching the many TV series on the SyFy Channel. I'm really interested to see what they have planned for the new trilogy, but they've got a fun world to play with, so let's hope they make the best of it. 

Emmerich is currently shooting the drama Stonewall, which is set amid the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York. He is also in pre-production on ID Forever Part I and Part II, which are back-to-back sequels to his classic alien invasion film, Independence Day.

Source: THR

The Wolverine director James Mangold is in talks to direct a biopic based on the life of the football quarterback legend Joe Namath. This would be a great project for the director to take on, as he's also the director of films such as Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, and Girl Interrupted. The guy seems like he's talented enough to take on all kinds of different genres. 

I enjoy a good sports movie, but I'm not really that familiar with sports in general, so I won't be starting a sports website anytime soon. I do know the basic details about  Namath, but I don't know the details of his life. This is what THR had to say about him though:

Namath is one of the most revered figures in New York sports history, having spent most of his career with the New York Jets in the 1960s and 1970s after playing college football at the University of Alabama for coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. He's also one of the most colorful. Known for wearing fur coats on the sidelines (a practice that was later banned), the rifle-armed quarterback celebrated winning the Super Bowl in a huge upset by opening Bachelors III, a popular bar on New York City's Upper East Side.

Upon his retirement from football in 1977, the likable and widely recognizable Namath made guest appearances on numerous television shows and starred in several films. On the sports side, the Hall of Famer was a commentator for ABC's Monday Night Football.

Namath was a notorious party boy and womanizer, hence the nickname "Broadway Joe." In early 2004, Namath checked himself into rehab after an infamous incident in which he told ESPN interviewer Suzy Kolber during live coverage of a Jets game, "I want to kiss you. I couldn't care less about the team struggling."

Regardless of my lack of knowledge in sports... like I said, I do love a good sports movie. If Mangold takes on this project, I'm sure he'll do a great job bringing Namath's story to the big screen.

Johnny Depp is currently in negotiations to play the legendary magician Harry Houdini in Lionsgate's The Secret Life of Houdini. The movie is set to be directed by Dean Parisot, who has developed films such Red 2 and Galaxy Quest. He's a solid director, and this should make for a great film project for him.

Depp has had a rough go at the box office recently with The Lone Ranger and Transcendence. Neither of those films were very good either. Depp will soon be back on top with with Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, both of which are sure to blow up at the box office. He's currently shooting the crime drama Black Mass. He's a crazy talented actor and I think it would be cool to see him take on the role of Houdini. If the negotiations go over well, I think he'll be great in the part.

The movie is an adaptation of a book called The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Real Superhero, which was written by William Kalush and Larry Sloman.

The book dives into some interesting details about Houdini saying that he was a British spy, in cahoots with police organizations, and at one point was even asked to be an adviser to Czar Nicholas II's court in prerevolutionary Russia. The studio wants to make an action-thriller in which Houdini will be portrayed as part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes. The most recent draft of the script was written by Noah Oppenheim. I've been following the project since it was first announced, and I think it really should make for an awesome flick.

Here's the description of the book the film will be inspired by:

Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation, the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments, such as his participation in early aerial surveillance and his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war, Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics, led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research, but as exciting and dramatic as a good thriller, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magician's long and circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend.

Source: THR

I love a good scary prank. My brothers and I have been playing terrifying pranks on each other since we were kids. It's also always entertaining to watch other people having the shit scared out of them, which is exactly what this video has to offer. It features a creepy-ass Owlman lurking in the shadows on an old abandoned children's hospital waiting for people to show up. When they do the Owlman stalks them, and I have to say that the reactions are priceless. My favorite reaction is the second guy that the Owlman comes after.

The video comes from LordofTearsMovie.

Every day visitors arrive, from urban explorers to photographers, at the abandoned St. Mary's Children Hospital. And we waited for them... with the Owlman. 

The poster you see above featuring Eva Green in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is apparently too sexy for the MPAA. 

According to Pagesix, the poster was disapproved by the MPAA "for nudity — curve of under breast and dark nipple/areola circle visible through sheer gown."

My question is… have they seen the the Jessica Alba poster? Because that one is way more provocative and has so much more sex appeal. In Green's poster, she's just standing their like a freakin' badass. Gotta love the MPAA.

The report goes on the say that executives are working on a compromise with the MPAA before the sequel opens up August 22nd.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo have lined up a new film project at Sony Pictures. It will be a big screen adaptation of Mark Greaney's 2009 novel The Gray Man. This book is the first of a four-part book series, and the studio has optioned the rights to those as well. The remaining three books are Dead Eye, Ballistic, and On Target. Here's a description of the story:

Court Gentry is known as The Gray Man - a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, and then fading away. And he always hits his target. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness.

Now, he is going to prove that for him, there's no gray area between killing for a living-and killing to stay alive.

Producer Joe Roth had this to say in a statement:

“We think this could be the next ‘Bourne Identity’ movie series. The Russo brothers are the most dynamic filmmakers working today."

Joe Russo added:

"We found the material to be very compelling and ultra realistic and has a great character at the heart of it. We are most interested in stories that are entrenched in the most modern elements that go on today and we think this book does an amazing job at explaining that.”

I absolutely loved what the Russo brothers did with The Winter Soldier. That movie was insanely good! These guys are going to makes some amazing films in their career, and this project they will be working on sounds like it could be awesome, especially with these two directors at the helm. 

The Russos are still attached to direct Captain America 3, targeting a May 6th, 2016 release.

Source: Variety

What true geek doesn't love a great science fiction film? Ever since I saw E.T. in the movie theater as a kid I was hooked on sci-fi. Over the years I've gone back and watched a ton of older films before my time, and continue to enjoy the awesomeness of this genre. Vimeo user 60fotogramas created a fantastic supercut that pays homage to the best sci-fi movies ever made. He calls it "Sci-Fi: Since 1902," and says:

This is a montage of some of the best science fiction films ever made. A total of 62 films ordered by release year, from 1902 to the present. Thanks for watching, enjoy.

I've included a list of all the movies in the video below:

1902- Voyage dans la lune
1927- Metropolis
1929- Fraud in Mond
1931- Frankenstein
1933-The invisible Man
1936-The Devil Doll
1951- The Day the earth Stood still
1953- The War of the worlds
1956- Forbidden Planet
1956- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1957- The incredible Shrinking Man
1960- The Time Machine
1960- The village of the damned
1966- Fahrenheit 45
1968- A space Odissey
1968- Planet of the Apes
1971- A Clockwork Orange
1972- Solaris
1973- Fantastic Planet
1974- Soylent Green
1977- Close encounters of the third Kind
1977- Star Wars: episode IV, a new hope
1979- Alien
1979- Stalker
1980- Star Wars: episode V, the empire strikes back
1982- Blade Runner
1982- E.T.
1982- The Thing
1982- Tron
1984- Terminator
1985- Back to the future
1985- Brazil
1986- The Fly
1987- Predator
1987- Robocop
1989- Back to the future II
1990- Total Recall
1991- Terminator II
1993- Jurassic Park
1995- Ghost in the Shell
1995- Twelve Monkeys
1997- Abre los ojos
1997- Cube
1997- Gattaca
1997- The fifht element
1999- The Matrix
1999- Being Jhon Malcovich
2001- Donnie Darko
2002- Akira
2002- Minority Report
2005- V for Vendetta
2006- Children of Men
2008- Wall-e
2009- Avatar
2009- District-9
2009- Moon
2009- Watchmen
2010- Inception
2011- Super-8
2013- Star Trek Into Darkness
2013- Gravity
2013- Her (only voice)

Warner Bros. has released the final trailer for their action-packed sci-fi film, Edge of Tomorrow. The flick looks ridiculously badass, and the reviews for it have been saying that it is just that. So of course I'm excited to see the movie, and you should be too! If you're not excited about it, I just don't know what to say. Even if you don't like Tom Cruise, it also stars Emily Blunt and Bill freakin' Paxton! On top of that, the action looks amazing. The movie is set to be released on June 6th.