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Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 26, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
The cast for Batman vs. Superman grows even larger! Yes, apparently Cyborg will feature in the film as well, played by Ray Fisher. The actor had also tested for a role in Star Wars Episode VII, but I imagine he won’t be doing that now. He recently finished up a stint playing Muhammed Ali in a stage play in New York. His role will reportedly be fairly small, so I imagine they’re attempting to prep in any way possible for an eventual Justice League film. Although, at this point, this movie could very well just be the Justice League film with the cast they’ve got: Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Fisher should get a more prominent role as the universe expands since Cyborg is an important member of the Justice League. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Man of Steel, Superman
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 25, 2014 in Cinema 
Peter Jackson is a fickle man, it seems. First The Hobbit changed from two films to three, then the titles got mixed around, and now the third film is getting a name change. Originally it was subtitled “There and Back Again,” but now it’ll be altered to a much more straightforward subtitle: “The Battle of the Five Armies.” I imagine this was mainly because it sounds more interesting and exciting (and promises plenty of battles to audiences), but Jackson also lays out other reasons on his Facebook post: “[…] with three movies, it suddenly felt misplaced—after all, Bilbo has already arrived ‘there’ in the ‘Desolation of Smaug.'” You can read his full reasoning here, but he does mention that “There and Back Again” may return as a box set title in the future. Read more…
Tags: Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 25, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
The writers behind Zombieland have latched on to Ubisoft’s big new game, Watch Dogs. They’ll be writing the movie script for a live-action adaption of the game, which will (presumably) follow the tale of Aiden Pearce, a hacker who wants to avenge his family after a violent tragedy (I assume murder). Because MANPAIN! You want to hack anything? He can, and will! If you can’t sense the sarcasm, I’m a little bored of Watch Dogs at this point, because we’ve seen it advertised for so long and the backstory simply makes me sleepy. Still, the amount of talent behind the game is big, and it looks like it’ll also get a good script from Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Read more…
Tags: Ubisoft, watch dogs
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 22, 2014 in Cinema 
Got an hour to spare? Then head over to this playlist: A Timeline of World Cinema. While the production quality is sometimes a little amateurish, this is a great way to learn about the various periods of film, from its inception as clips and shorts all the way to the present day. As my college major was TV and Film, there’s a lot here that I knew, but there’s a lot I didn’t know. There’s certainly a lot to say about movies beyond the Western films that dominate the medium! Read more…
Tags: Retro Movies
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 20, 2014 in Cinema 
There’s always some cheese going on in a giant monster movie. I mean, come on, your monster defies physics! But it looks like this latest TV spot for Godzilla is playing up the emotion and drama side of the film rather than Godzilla himself. They’re definitely aiming for different demographics here, but maybe that “It’s not like it’s the end of the world” line is a little too on the nose… Actually, wait, maybe this is that “cheese” factor I was talking about! Or maybe I’m just over-thinking it. Anyway, check out the TV spot below the break. Read more…
Tags: Godzilla
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 18, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s the third and most lengthy X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer yet, featuring a large amount of plot explanation. You know, just in case time travel is confusing. Granted, it’s not always done well, but I’m sure this doesn’t look very simple to the average moviegoer, so I can understand the desire to market it this way. However, given some recent allegations regarding Bryan Singer, I’m not sure I want to give him my money anymore. I think I got most of the plot from the trailer anyway! I’ll check it out on Netflix someday. It does look like a competent culmination of all the X-Men films so far, though, so if you want most of the plot, check out the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: X-Men
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 16, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Renowned composer Hans Zimmer composed the soundtracks to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy of films and also Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Naturally, fans have wondered whether or not he’d return to score Batman vs. Superman (or whatever WB ends up calling it). Zimmer had previously mentioned he likely wouldn’t do it, since he’d fear producing the same kind of output instead of anything new. However, it seems like he’s had a change of heart. Apparently after he finishes scoring Nolan’s Interstellar, “head over to where Zack is shooting his movie and just hang out a bit and see if we can come up with any ideas.” It’s good news for fans of the composer, and if Ben Affleck’s Batman is presented in any similar manner to Christian Bale’s Batman, it might be interesting for him to reference his previous score. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Man of Steel, Superman, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 10, 2014 in Anime, Cinema 
You just can’t keep Lupin the Third down. Originating in 1967 as a manga about a gentleman thief, there have been three anime series, countless movies and specials, and one cheesy live-action film. There’s a new Lupin III live-action film on the way to Japanese theaters on August 31 (around the release of The Tomb of Daisuke Jigen, a new anime film in the franchise), and it’s looking better than the last one. Images of the actors have been released, and they look pretty close to their cartoon counterparts. Jigen in particular Since FUNimation often licenses Lupin III movies, maybe they’ll pick this one up at some point? Read more…
Tags: Lupin the 3rd
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 9, 2014 in Battlestar Galactica, Cinema, Television 
Most stories don’t need a modern reboot, at least not in the manner that Hollywood has been constantly remaking any semi-notable IP the last several years. But I’m partway through the fourth season of SyFy’s 2003-2009 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, and I’m thoroughly impressed with what they made. I don’t feel the need to go watch the original 1978 series, but I’m very happy with what they made for modern audiences. Of course, that story ended, and a few spin-offs not withstanding, its story has come to a close. Guess it’s time to reboot it again! Read more…
Tags: Battlestar Galactica
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 7, 2014 in Cinema 
Movie trailers have a tendency to have lots of rapid-fire quick cuts, because they don’t want to spoil everything. However, this often makes it really hard to tell what’s going on, and can be incredibly disorienting. This extended look trailer for Godzilla still has plenty of fast cuts, but they do slow it down a bit for some lengthier clips. The end also features the best in-motion shot we’ve seen of Godzilla so far. I’m really glad that the movie looks so good, as I’ve been itching for a big-budget monster movie for a while now. And nothing tops Godzilla! Read more…
Tags: Godzilla
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 6, 2014 in Cinema 
You know, I wonder if Vin Diesel and Karl Urban are friends. They seem like they’d get along! Both are desperately dedicated to their poorly performing franchises (Riddick and Dredd respectively), and are working hard to get sequels made. Who knows if Vin Diesel will get a fourth Riddick film made, but Karl Urban is hard at work on getting Dredd 2 off the ground. He recently created a video for fans in which he thanks fans for their support of Dredd (a fan petition for a sequel has over 100,000 signatures) and promises that they’re working very hard on trying to make Dredd 2 happen. Here’s hoping! Read more…
Tags: Dredd, Judge Dredd
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 3, 2014 in Cinema 
After playing Black Widow several times in Marvel’s films, it seems like Scarlett Johansson wants to continue being an action star. She’s starring as Lucy in Lucy, a new sci-fi superhero movie that’s directed, written, and produced by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element). After bad guys put drugs inside of her, intending for her to smuggle them, the drugs leak into her system, giving her superpowers. (That’s how drugs work, right?) Morgan Freeman is also there, which is fine by me, because I could listen to that guy’s voice forever. Anyway, check out this trailer for what could be a really fun movie when it releases on August 8, 2014. Read more…
Tags: Science Fiction, Superheroes
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 31, 2014 in Cinema 
You may have heard the mo-cap extraordinaire Andy Serkis, famous for his work as Gollum and King Kong, would be making the jump to the director’s chair. He’ll be doing the Jungle Book for Warner Bros. (and Jon Favreau is doing one too… for Disney), and rather than take a family-friendly approach, it sounds like he wants to be a bit more realistic and faithful to the book. He said, “What I love about the screen adaptation by Steve and Callie Kloves is it’s very truthful to the original book; it doesn’t shy away from its darkness.” I’ll be interested to see how it turns out, especially given Serkis’ expertise with making CGI animals appear as realistic as possible. It could be neat! Read more…
Tags: Andy Serkis, Jungle Book
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 28, 2014 in Cinema 
At long last, fans can watch the trailer for Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and either assuage or confirm their fears about the film. Probably “confirm.” Even though this film is advertised as a Michael Bay film, it’s actually directed by Jonathan Liebesman. I don’t know if having his name eclipsed by Bay’s is either a good thing or a bad thing. The turtles appear to have some good effects behind them, but the thing that’s unsettling everyone is their faces. Those lips and the nose are a little too… prominent. Check out the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Michael Bay, Teenage Ninja Turtles
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 27, 2014 in Cinema 
As much as I love realistic sci-fi or gritty sci-fi or hard sci-fi, I can’t deny that I’m growing a little tired of it. One reason the original Star Wars trilogy always resonated with me was because it wasn’t quite science fiction, but more science fantasy. Now that I’m older and don’t feel as insecure about whether or not my entertainment choices are “legitimate” enough for non-geeks, I’ve started hungering for sci-fi with pulp sensibilities, or sci-fi that’s just plain weird. I want to see more sci-fi where no one worries about whether or not the alien kingdoms or advanced technology could plausibly exist in real life if we only had some unobtanium. So I’m really liking that Hollywood is putting out more sci-fi that’s “out there”; off the top of my head, this summer offers both Guardians of the Galaxy (which is also a superhero movie) and Jupiter Ascending. And while either film could be a mess, just watch the first full-length trailer for the latest from the Wachowskis and tell me that doesn’t look like a grand adventure. We’ve had enough grim sci-fi like Elysium recently (putting aside the fact that it was a horrible movie and disappointed compared to District 9) — let’s have something really wild and fun. Read more…
Tags: Jupiter Ascending, Sci-Fi, the Wachowskis
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Sony Pictures has released the final trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which features about as much bombastic action and special effects as you can fit into a 2 minute and 40 second timeframe. It definitely looks like Spider-Man! I hope it will be better than the first film, but the huge amount of villains does make me wary. We have heard that the Rhino is barely in the film though (apparently only 5 minutes) so not only does that lighten up the load, it also means that we’ve probably seen a third of the total footage of the Rhino in trailers and teasers! Check out the full trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 21, 2014 in Cinema 
For a while, many Pacific Rim fans worried that the film wouldn’t get a second chance after its poor domestic performance. Thankfully, a huge opening internationally brought in a huge pull for the film. $411 million isn’t too shabby, but we hadn’t heard anything for a while. Now, Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull said in a recent interview that Pacific Rim 2 is pretty likely, saying they’re “certainly open to it.” In fact, he listed several other big movies that Pacific Rim bested in the box office that did receive sequels, such as Superman Returns, Star Trek, Batman Begins, and Fast and the Furious. Guillermo del Toro is currently filming Crimson Peak, so we’ll see where he goes after that! Read more…
Tags: Pacific Rim
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 21, 2014 in Cinema 
Here’s an exciting rumor to start your weekend off. We last heard some bad news about Ghostbusters 3: Ivan Reitman, the director of the previous two, was stepping down as director of the third, instead opting to stay as a producer. He said the passing of Harold Ramis put the film in a new light for him, which is understandable. Still, fans were saddened and hoped for the best. Nikki Finke is now saying that Sony is looking for a new director(s) and have been eyeing Phil Lord and Chris Miller, hot off of their success in The LEGO Movie. Now that’s a good pick! Their skills would be perfectly suited to a Ghostbusters film. But which would the studios prefer they first tackle — a second LEGO Movie or a third Ghostbusters? Exciting times! Read more…
Tags: Ghostbusters
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 20, 2014 in Cinema 
The Giver was one of my favorite novels as a kid. It could very well have been my first dystopian novel, and the themes were thought-provoking. A film adaptation is coming August 15, 2014, and the first trailer looks fairly solid. There’s maybe a bit too much influence from The Hunger Games, because futuristic dystopian stories where kids rebel against the way of the world are hot right now. But hey: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes…with a cast that good, I could overlook whatever Taylor Swift is doing in there. My bigger issue is a major one: The Giver should be in black-and-white, not color. Read more…
Tags: The Giver
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 19, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
Of all the films that Pixar is made, I was always somewhat disappointed that The Incredibles, one of my personal faves, never got a sequel. Sure, Toy Story put them on the map, and Cars prints money for Disney’s coffers, but I thought The Incredibles had the most sequel potential of any of them. (Not that I need a sequel, mind you; I just wanted one instead of sequels to their other movies). Lo and behold, Disney CEO Bob Iger just confirmed that Pixar is working on a sequel. Speaking at the annual shareholders meeting, Iger shared that Brad Bird, who not only wrote and directed the first film but also voiced Edna Mode, was already working on the story. It hasn’t been confirmed that he will write or direct, but hopefully he does return for at least one of those roles. Until then, all that’s left to do is speculate wildly. I want more team-ups with Samuel L. Jackson’s Frozone! Read more…
Tags: Disney, Pixar, The Incredibles
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 19, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
20 Century Fox’s Blue Sky Studios is making a big-budget Peanuts film, based on Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and all the other classic characters created by Charles M. Schulz. Considering how many other modern animated/half-animated films have come before and sucked, it’s reasonable to be skeptical. But wait a second — this teaser looks good! While the animation nut in me pines for 2D animation, even I can admit how limited the Peanuts cartoons were, so it’s not like there wasn’t room to grow. This animation style, while done with CG, does a great job of retaining Schulz’s original designs and art style while mixing in faux-stop-motion animation. With a script by Schulz’s son Craig, Schulz’s grandson Bryan, and Cornelius Uliano (who simply has a cool name), there’s certainly potential for this movie to duck the trend of awful modern animated reboots and rehashes. Here’s hoping! Peanuts will be released on November 6, 2015. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown, Peanuts
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 14, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s a little pile of interesting Marvel news for all you Kevin Feige fanboys out there. We knew for a while that Marvel had a movie scheduled on the same date as Man of Steel vs. Batman, but we didn’t know what film Marvel would match up against it… until now. It’s Captain America 3. That’s a pretty ballsy move! It just shows how confident Marvel is in their battle versus DC. In other Marvel news, Kevin Feige also brought up Hulk and Hawkeye, mentioning that they’ll have significantly bigger parts in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Also mentioned was the potential for Agent Coulson to return again — and we’ll apparently get more details soon. Let’s hope! Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Age of Ultron, captain america, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 10, 2014 in Cinema, Fandom 
I know a few people who found Jurassic Park too scary when they were kids. My girlfriend was one of them! I, on the other hand, loved seeing dinosaurs on the big screen. Perhaps this little edit from We Are Camera Studio, a little studio in Thailand, will help her enjoy it a bit more. Rather than having velociraptors scampering through the kitchen scene, wouldn’t kittens be a bit more fun? Or at least, less terrifying! I was going to make a joke about dinosaurs actually having feathers, but that didn’t really work. I’m pretty sure fur wasn’t a typical dinosaur outfit. Check out the adorable video below! Read more…
Tags: Jurassic Park
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 8, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
Interesting: Sony announced yesterday The Last of Us will be adapted as a live-action film. The big thing for many fans will be that Neil Druckmann, the creative director of the original game, is attached to write the script. Screen Gems will be distributing the film, and Sam Raimi’s production company, Ghost House Pictures, will be producing it. I saw some people interpreting this as Sam Raimi possibly directing it, but I’m not sure about that. Just because he’s producing it doesn’t mean he’ll direct too. We’ll have to wait and see. My guess is that we’ll instead see a newer director get this project as a chance to prove themselves to the studios. Read more…
Tags: Sony, the last of us
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