Movies

“Some people build fences to keep people out – and other people build fences to keep people in.”

Based on August Wilson's renowned play, FENCES is a stunning, heart-wrenching portrait of a family and a story about feeling trapped in your life.

There’s an old bit of writing advice that I’ve always liked: your character doesn’t need to be likable to hold the audience’s attention – they need to be compelling. FENCES is a prime example of this.

On Thursday, the Justice Leauge hype train left the station and the time of this article it has become more powerful than a locomotive.

With each teaser trailer and poster reveal, a new member of the Justice League has been featured. So far we have:

• Aquaman
• Batman
• The Flash
• Wonder Woman
• Cyborg
• ???

Yesterday, I was critical about the first poster I had seen for JUSTICE LEAGUE.  I always try to be fair.  Since they released that poster, they have started to release character focused covers.  So far, we have Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg.  These posters are MUCH cooler than the strange JL logo poster. 

Now, here's a question...will we get a Superman poster?  Superman was killed at the end of BATMAN VS SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE.  We are all pretty sure he will be in JUSTICE LEAGUE, but what do you do for promotion?  Do you feature Superman, which would be a major spoiler.  Or do you leave Superman off, which could be taking away one of your biggest promotional tools?  I'm pretty curious how WB will come down on this.

With the release of a teaser for the Justice League trailer prepared to drop this Saturday, the vial marketing campaign for the DC blockbuster movie is ramping up.

So far what we've seen has been focused on Aquaman, King of Atlantis, with Jason Momoa's portrayal of the character on full display in a standalone poster. We expect that the other 5 members will get the same poster treatment over time.

Warner Bros posted this on Facebook this morning.  It's not particularly exciting, and I don't think it will grab all that many people.  I am not sure how well the public would know the name Justice League.  Just throwing a highly stylized JL up on a poster, I don't think the general public will even know what they are looking at here.

I think they would have been better off showing the characters, but that may just be me.  Warner Bros continues to have questionable marketing choices when it comes to their cinematic universe.

What can you say about Agatha Christie that hasn’t been said a thousand times? I mean, when your books are only outsold by the Holy Bible and that lousy hack William Shakespeare, that’s pretty much all there is to say. I’ve read a number of her stories, mostly the ones revolving around Hercule Poirot or Mrs. Marple. I have somehow managed to neither read WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION nor seen it performed until tonight, presented by The Kirkwood Theatre Guild. I don’t know what I was waiting for—I love a good courtroom drama.

I have a confession. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is not my favorite Disney movie. While it's also far from my least, the original probably ranks in my top five animated favorites. That said, the live action version starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast will make you fall in the love with the story and the characters all over again.

Watson is charming, fierce, and courageous. She embodies every aspect of Belle and is everything you could possibly want and more from the iconic Disney Princess. Stevens is the tortured and angry, self-loathing Beast in every way, and Gaston is still the pompous villain you love to hate and roll your eyes at. All the characters from the villagers (including Gaston's sidekick, LeFou) to the loveable household items Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and even the tiny teacup named Chip, felt so real in this adaptation. It's a world that sucks you in and makes you want to be a part of it.

Image source: Marksman via Twitter

If the huge success of Marvel’s cinematic universe has led to one thing, it is the desire of big film studios to have a ‘franchise’. Now everyone wants a successful ‘tent-pole’ franchise of interlinked films, whether it is Warner Bros trying to create a DC Comics version of Marvel’s success, Fox looking to develop more Alien films or Universal pushing out yet another THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS film.

Of course the films are just one part of the pulling power of these franchises, with studios looking to take big-screen success into other areas including merchandise and gaming. The aim is simple – to leverage the brand recognition of a franchise to attract fans to new experiences.

However, taking a film into the gaming world is not always as easy as it sounds. It is possible, although not always in the genre of games that you might expect.

Has Kal found Hal? If you enjoy a good conspiracy then we've got a juicy one for you!

File this one under EXTREME SPECULATION but given the clues, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Henry Cavill being spotted in a gym with Nathan Fillion could mean more than just a random encounter. On February 28th, Henry Cavill posted a couple of interesting pictures to his Instagram account:

His dog, 'Kal', staring out the window with an interesting caption:

Fasten your bracelets, adjust your tiara and draw your sword a new trailer for this summer's WONDER WOMAN is slated to drop tomorrow!

The official Wonder Woman twitter account (@WonderWomanFilm) released a brief 15 second video as a teaser for the new trailer. "All's fair in war and wonder" the teaser featured an action packed swordfight between Diana and another combatant that ended in a massive...well, check out the teaser to find out!

All is fair in war and wonder. New trailer for #WonderWoman arrives TOMORROW. pic.twitter.com/SmjL5HEEC2

2016 was a great year for movies if you're into geek culture. Superheroes seemed to dominate, with DOCTOR STRANGE, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, and SUICIDE SQUAD. Not counting the Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, Disney also gave us animated greats like ZOOTOPIA and MOANA, and Harry Potter fans got another helping of J.K.

Continuing our series of announcements from our Best of 2016 Readers' Poll, we approach the Best Actor of 2016.

The nominees for this award included Tilda Swinton (DOCTOR STRAGE), Jesse Eisenberg (BATMAN V. SUPERMAN), Chris Evans (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR), Kate McKinnon (GHOSTBUSTERS), Eddie Redmayne (FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM), Ben Affleck (BATMAN V. SUPERMAN), Jeff Bridges (HELL OR HIGH WATER), and Benedict Cumberbatch (DOCTOR STRANGE).

None of these heroes (or villains) however were able to surmount the huge turnout of reader ballots that lapdanced their way across the lap of that Merc with a Mouth, the unkillable killer, Deadpool, portrayed with perfect smartass attitude and comedic style by Ryan (Green Who?) Reynolds!

Saw this posted on Star Wars Facebook feed and thought it was kind of cool.

Your first look at The Last Jedi product packaging dropping out of hyperspace on September 1 for Force Friday II

Can't much more of an official announcement then this. On Star Wars.com, they announced the name of Episode VII...

Drum Roll Please...

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI!

We have the greatest fans in this or any other galaxy. In appreciation of the fans, we wanted them to be the first to know the title of the next chapter in the Skywalker saga: STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

THE LAST JEDI is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is scheduled for release December 15, 2017. 

The term "Women in Refrigerators" was coined by comic book writer Gail Simone in reference to a Ron Marz written issue of Green Lantern where Kyle Raynor found his girlfriend dead and literally stuffed into his refrigerator.

Often referenced when a female character dies in order to motivate the male protagonist, 'fridging' has become a commonly used expression.

Yesterday, USA Today released a new image from the upcoming Justice League movie, directed by Zack Snyder. The image depicts the league exiting the "Flying Fox", a ship used to transport the league from one place to another. What's IN the picture isn't very newsworthy, as we see the team we expect exiting a ship.

Saw this story on Deadline this morning:

Rob Liefeld, whose disruptive Deadpool creation was the blockbuster movie surprise of 2016, is at the center of the first big film rights deal of 2017. Graham King and Fundamental Films have partnered to build movies from the comic book characters Liefeld created in what is known as Extreme Universe. King has partnered with Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman, and they will produce the movies with Liefeld and Energy Entertainment’s Brooklyn Weaver. This rights deal is seven figures, I hear.

Director Jay Martin's vision of James Patterson's MAXIMUM RIDE is less of a movie and more of a CW series pilot -- and not a great one.

Allie Marie Evans (VANITY) plays Max, the heroine of Patterson's tale of a band of children who have been freed from a scientific facility known as "The School," where they were kept in cages while medical experiments were conducted upon them. They're special, because they have functioning wings. The kids -- Max, Fang (EXTANT's Patrick Johnson), Angel (Lyliana Wray), Gazz (Gavin Lewis), Nudge (Tetona Jackson) and Iggy (Zayne Emory) are now living in hiding, having been abandoned by the doctor who rescued them from the facility, Jeb (Peter O'Brien, WINTER), with no idea of Jeb's fate.

Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, they debuted a trailer for next year's Spider-Man: Homecoming.  

I am sure I am one of the few people who care about this, but so happy to see Jon Favreau back as Happy Hogan.  And I like the contining use of Iron Man as a mentor for Spider-Man.   The opening scene with the Avengers quip was pretty funny.  

Not quite sure how I feel about the costume.  It's not bad, just looks a little busy at times.  

Marvel has a new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Trailer up!

I will admit, I am a little late posting this one.  Had the flu all weekend.  Real fun.  This video was already videoed 81 million times in the first 24 hours. Personally, I loved the first Guardians of the Galaxy, and I am really looking forward to the sequel on May 5, 2017! The trailer promises more of the same from the first movie.  Lots of wild looking alien creatures (including some giant monsters this time), stong well developed characters, and a lot of humor.  And Mantis?  I am still shocked that somehow probably the least significant Avenger ever is going to be in a movie!