|
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s a bizarre turn of events: Jesse Eisenberg, star of such films as The Social Network and Zombieland, will be playing Lex Luthor in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel. The Batman vs. Superman action film will feature one of Superman’s most iconic villains from a very different perspective. While I know a lot of fans might be mad about this, that’s exactly why I’m interested in this casting. A younger, more modern Lex could be the right twist needed to help reestablish the character. Also announced at the same time: Jeremy Irons will be playing Alfred. This is some all-star casting, so I’m more interested than ever before about how this will all turn out. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Man of Steel, Superman
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 31, 2014 in Cinema, Television 
Are you excited for the Superb Owl coming up? Even if you’re not a sports-er there’s still plenty to be excited about: there’s going to be a whole bunch of movie trailers premiering! But in the race to be first, everyone is releasing their trailers and commercials online first — or releasing trailers for trailers! Below, I’ve included some of the latest. We’ve got a teaser for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which features the Rhino, some Electro action, and plenty of Gwen Stacy. There’s also a combo-ad between the Muppets and Toyota with Terry Crews. It’s a little on the oddball side. Lastly, a whole bunch of British superhero villains try to sell you a Jaguar. Because EVIL! Read more…
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 29, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Captain America: The Winter Soldier isn’t out on April 4, but that doesn’t mean Marvel isn’t already thinking of the future. Since we’re still in the middle of Marvel’s “Phase 2,” there are not a lot of confirmed details for movies in “Phase 3” besides Ant-Man. However, we might see a third Captain America movie, as Marvel has already arranged for Anthony and Joe Russo to return to direct a third film. They’re already working on the story, even though the movie isn’t officially confirmed yet. Read more…
Tags: captain america, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 29, 2014 in Animation, Cinema, Videogames 
I guess Sucker Punch saw that Insomniac’s fellow PS2-era platformer Ratchet & Clank was getting a movie and wanted in, because now we have a Sly Cooper movie scheduled for theaters in 2016. Hell, it’s even being made by Blockade Entertainment and Rainmaker Entertainment, who are also making the Ratchet & Clank movie. My gut reaction at first was that Sly looked weird and had too much detail in his fur, but after seeing it in action, I have to admit he looks pretty cool. The whole trailer feels like the video game it’s sourced from, and that’s great. Plus, I have to love when a series like this opens with a Reservoir Dogs reference. My only question now is if Naughty Dog will get a Jak and Daxter movie made to complete the PS2 platforming trilogy. Read more…
Tags: Sly Cooper
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 26, 2014 in Anime, Cinema 
Get ready, anime and manga fans, it looks like another favorite series is about to get tackled by Hollywood. Ghost in the Shell was picked up a while back, and now Dreamworks has assigned a director to it: Rupert Sanders. The director of Snow White and the Huntsman will helm the film which features a new script by William Wheeler. I don’t have a lot of faith in Sanders after the mediocre Snow White film, so I’m not sure how I feel about having him in control of this project. Then again, like many other anime films that get a director — it may not get much else, and disappear into development hell. Read more…
Tags: Ghost in the Shell
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 25, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Last we had heard, Gal Gadot has been picked to play Wonder Woman in the upcoming sequel to Man of Steel, but now it’s confirmed that she’ll be sticking around in the DC movie universe a bit longer. She has signed on for a standalone Wonder Woman film and an eventual Justice League movie. I’m interested to see how this second Superman film turns out, now that Wonder Woman and Batman are creeping in on his turf. I also think Gadot is a great choice for the part, and people who complain that she’s “too skinny” and “not buff enough” need to take a chill pill. You’ve seen the change Christian Bale went through for the Batman trilogy, right? I bet she’s started an impressive regiment already. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Man of Steel, Wonder Woman
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 24, 2014 in Cinema 
The Raid was a pretty awesome Indonesian martial arts film that featured a team of elite police officers working their way up a crime lord’s 30-story apartment building. Sound familiar? Yeah, but this came out before Dredd. They’re back with a second film now, and it looks like they’re amping things up quite a bit this time. The fight scenes looks more elaborate, the locations are more varied, and did I see a car being used to fight? Now that’s just cool. Sony has released a trailer for the US release of the film, which recently premiered at Sundance and will arrive here in March. Read more…
Tags: The Raid
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 22, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
If you really loved Disney’s latest animated movie Frozen, you may want to consider visiting Quebec City. Disney has worked with Hôtel de Glace to create a hotel suite fashioned out of ice and snow. Frozen art director Michael Giaimo supervised the design to make sure it looked similar to the movie’s aesthetic. There’s also a “Frozen Activity Cave,” which isn’t explained, so it could be anything, but I’d guess it’s where you’d toss the kids if you and your partner wanted some alone time on that frozen bed. I’ve always appreciated ice sculptures, but I think sleeping in one might be a bit too much for me, so I’m happy to just look at these photos. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Frozen
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 21, 2014 in Animation, Cinema 
When I was younger, I really wanted a lot of live-action versions of things I had seen animated. How cool would things like Dragonball Z and Evangelion be with real people? (Turns out not so well.) Now that I’m older, I’m perfectly content with these things to stay the way they are, because good animation can do things live-action can’t and should be respected as its own art form, not just something to distract kids. But Disney seems committed to redoing its most famous animated movies in live-action. Alice in Wonderland came out in 2010, Cinderella will be out in 2015, but this year is Maleficent, the Sleeping Beauty reimagining that focuses on its main villain of the same name. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Sleeping Beauty
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 20, 2014 in Cinema 
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street was one of my favorite films I saw this year. It had it’s fair share of controversy, but I think much of it was from people who didn’t catch the core message of the film and just laughed at Jonah Hill acting goofy. That aside, the special effects in the movie were impressive! You might say, what effects? The lion? No, the lion is real, but it’s all the other special effects that are so well disguised that you don’t notice them. Brainstorm Digital has put together a video showing off their best work on the film — check it out below! Read more…
Tags: Martin Scorsese, wolf of wall street
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 19, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
A movie with a nebulous future date has gotten pushed back to another nebulous future date! Yes, the sequel to Man of Steel, which will feature Batman facing off against Superman has been moved to May 6th, 2016, which is nearly a year’s delay. Rather than heading off against the rest of Disney’s onslaught in 2015, it’ll instead battle X-Men: Apocalypse and Amazing Spider-Man 3 which come out the same month. Rumor’s have been circulating that Ben Affleck hurt his leg, but studio execs say that’s not the case. So, that means script problems then, eh? Maybe. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Man of Steel
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 17, 2014 in Cinema 
I don’t even know what to say here, guys. ET Canada went to visit the set of the upcoming Gozilla film, and they took some time to quick interview Bryan Cranston about his role in the film. He seems to be a huge fan of the character, saying ever since he was a kid he loved Godzilla. Then he proceeds to break out his best Godzilla roar and encourages the reporter to join in with him. Now that’s how you make an interview interesting, eh? They also talk to Sally Hawkins for a bit, then grab a little footage of the sets and destruction they’ve made for the movie. Nothing else super new, but seeing Cranston yell made my day. Read more…
Tags: Godzilla
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 14, 2014 in Cinema, Hobbies and Collections 
Magic: The Gathering is still one of the most popular trading card games out there, despite being 20 years old. And since Hollywood has shown it is willing to develop even simple board games like Battleship into a reasonable facsimile of a movie, I can’t be entirely surprised that there’s a Magic movie on the way. Yes, Hasbro has made a deal with 20th Century Fox to adapt a card game into a movie. They’re aiming for something as epic as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, which sounds silly, but there’s a ton of lore (often expanded upon in books and comics) for writers to draw from, so it’s possible. Simon Kinberg, who helped produce the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes for Fox, will produce Magic as a franchise, with multiple movies being the ultimate goal. All well and good, but do we really need a Magic movie? Does everything need to be tied to a preexisting product or franchise these days? Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Magic the Gathering
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 14, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Paul Rudd will play Ant-Man in Edgar Wright’s Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 film, fittingly called Ant-Man. But he’s not playing Hank Pym, the classic character. No, Marvel has clarified that Rudd is playing Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man who steals equipment from Pym. Of course, it makes sense for Pym to be in the movie, so Michael Douglas has been cast in that role. Now that we finally know which Ant-Men are involved, I can make some guesses as to some plot points. I’d imagine that in this universe, Hank Pym might just be a scientist instead of also being Ant-Man. Scott Lang steals his equipment for some reason, uses it to become Ant-Man, and eventually gets mentored by Pym. I’m still curious as to what the conflict will be. Could it be related to Ultron in The Avengers 2, since Pym created him? Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 13, 2014 in Cinema 
Deadline is reporting that Quentin Tarantino is back and has finished the first draft on his next film, reportedly titled The Hateful Eight. Last time Tarantino was on Jay Leno’s show, he mentioned that this film would be a Western. He just couldn’t stay away after Django Unchained! Tarantino is also apparently shopping his script around to several actors he wants to be in the film. Unsurprisingly, Christoph Waltz is at the top of the list. Another name Deadline is hearing is Bruce Dern (who had a small part in Django), who’s been getting a lot of buzz for his performance in Nebraska. I’m really interested to see Tarantino do another Western, so I hope we get more details soon. Read more…
Tags: Quentin Tarantino
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 10, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Many fans weren’t happy with the twist involving Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin. If you haven’t seen Iron Man 3, bail out here. Unless you don’t mind being spoiled. Since he was merely posing as the Mandarin, fans were upset that we’d never get to see the version of the famous villain from the comics, clearly ruining his legacy. I thought it was a great twist, although sadly Guy Peace couldn’t really hold his own as an interesting villain once the “Mandarin” was gone. Anyway: Ben Kingsley is back as the actor Trevor Slattery again, but it seems that the whole Mandarin thing was perhaps… appropriated from the already existing terrorist group The Ten Rings. And hints that perhaps the real Mandarin is very upset that someone is using his namesake. This could be a neat twist on things, but we’ll have to wait till the one-shot arrives — it’ll be on the Thor 2 blu-ray, which comes out February 25th. Till then, have some pictures of Ben Kingsley looking nervous! Read more…
Tags: Iron Man 3, Marvel, Thor: The Dark World
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 8, 2014 in Cinema, Videogames 
The most recent game based on Alien/Aliens was 2013’s Aliens: Colonial Marines, one of the worst games of the year that failed to live up to any of the apparently-false advertising and press demos. Everyone’s rightfully wary of any future games in the franchise, but let’s give Creative Assembly (known for Total War) a shot. They’re making Alien: Isolation, a survival horror game about Amanda Ripley — the daughter mentioned as having died of old age at the beginning of Aliens — exploring a space station to find info on Ellen Ripley and the Nostromo. Instead of hundreds of xenomorph enemies that are treated like cannon fodder, there’s only one, nine-foot-tall, formidable xenomorph that hunts Amanda throughout the game; they’re clearly aiming more for the horror of Alien than the action of Aliens with this game. Read more…
Tags: Alien, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 7, 2014 in Anime, Cinema 
Unlike the Cowboy Bebop and Akira movies that never got off the ground, Hollywood is actually managing to remake an anime into a live-action film — just not one you expect. This is Kite, scheduled for release sometime in 2014. The original Kite (or A Kite in Japan) is an OVA made of 2 30-minute episodes, often edited into one 60-minute film. It’s also extremely violent and somewhat controversial for its scenes of graphic sex and rape, including scenes of the main character Sawa as a young girl; some places even list it as a hentai, though it’s not. It’s been remade as a live-action American film, though it’s almost certainly based on the earlier censored releases that cut out the actual depiction of rape. India Eisley stars as Sawa, while Samuel L. Jackson is the guy who gets top billing. Jackson is actually a fan of Kite, though again, I’d have to imagine he’s thinking of the censored version that most fans have seen. The first trailer is below, and it looks pretty stylish. Read more…
Tags: Samuel L. Jackson
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 5, 2014 in Cinema 
Wes Anderson needs no introduction, does he? His latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel looks fantastic so far, and I’m very interested in seeing it. Leading the marketing push, two clips have been uploaded (one via Apple and one via Yahoo), to give you a taste. Ralph Fiennes is just having a blast here, chewing the scenery and devouring every line. And Tony Revolori is fitting perfectly into the role of a boy who is a bit too nervous, but it plays well into the energy the rest of the world has. Check out the two clips below! The film arrives March 7th. Read more…
Tags: Wes Anderson
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 3, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Straight from the New Year’s celebration comes this new clip of Amazing Spider-Man 2, featuring shots of Spidey, Electro, and 1.2 seconds of the Rhino. Of course, it’s all set in Times Square. Also, am I alone in noticing how… video game-y this trailer looks? I’m not sure if it’s the over-saturation or the glossy effects, but everyone looks like a CGI model. Rhino also didn’t look great for his brief appearance. At least Spidey is wise-cracking, though! I’m worried about all these villains, still, as I’m not sure Marc Webb can pull it off. Read more…
Tags: The Amazing Spider-Man
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
New Year’s Eve means news is light, but Marvel decided to give fans a little present with the first still from Guardians of the Galaxy. You’ve got five characters standing in this line-up: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and Groot (Vin Diesel). I for one love the fact that Marvel has decided to spend money on hiring someone really big like Diesel to voice a walking tree that only says his name. I’m curious how Chris Pratt does in the role of Peter Quill though, a.k.a. Star-Lord. I keep worrying I’ll just see his character Andy from Parks and Recreation. Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 31, 2013 in Cinema 
Dead Snow was a fun, campy movie about Nazi zombies in Norway. It was never going to win many awards (especially in subtitle-adverse America), but it was certainly worth a watch. Now the sequel is on its way: Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead. It’s not going to be just more of the same, though. One of the survivors lost his arm, and one of the Nazi zombies lost his arm. Apparently the doctor didn’t notice that the Nazi arm was dead, because he reattached it to the survivor, meaning we’ve got that wonderful cliche of the evil hand on a good guy’s body. And from this first teaser trailer, it looks like the good guy can use it to dish out some serious damage. It looks like more campy fun, and I’d definitely like to see the finished product. Read more…
Tags: zombies
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 29, 2013 in Cinema, Videogames 
Now there’s a title you don’t see every day. Clancy Brown, most famously known as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants’ Mr. Krabs, has join the World of Warcraft movie cast. No word on what part he’ll play, but he did voice Scourgelord Tyrannus in Wrath of the Lich King. Also announced was Daniel Wu. Previously, we had also heard that Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Rob Kazinsky, Dominic Cooper, and Paula Patton had been cast as well. And remember how it opened on the same day as Star Wars Episode VII? Well, no longer! It was moved to March 11th, 2016. A smart move. Read more…
Tags: Warcraft, World of Warcraft
Posted by Ben Huber on Dec 28, 2013 in Cinema, Fandom 
Alright, I know what you’re gonna say: another Kickstarter? But this one’s good. And with so many people using it, it really has become less of a novelty and more a legitimate pathway to funding your project. Kung Fury is an 80s-themed live-action movie by David Sandberg. It features vikings, Norse Gods, dinosaurs, guns, neon lights, and renegade time-travelling kung fu cops out to kill Hitler (the Kung Führer, of course). It looks suitably insane and has the look down pat. You can watch the trailer below made up of their existing footage, and then head over to their Kickstarter page to find out all the juicy details! Read more…
Tags: Kickstarter, Kung Fury
|
|
