Check Out The New Batcave!

This week, Entertainment Weekly released a picture showing us the design for the Batcave in this spring's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  One word for it...wow!

Early reports on the movie tell us that Bruce Wayne has let Wayne Manor fall into disrepair, and judging by the looks of the Batcave, I can see where all of his money's been going!  This is a whole new look for the iconic cave, and man does it work!  We've seen other versions of the Batcave, in comic books, on television, and in movies, but for some reason the sheer size of it in this picture took me by surprise.  I knew that it was big, but in this picture it looks huge!

That's pretty much it for today, I just wanted to share this with everyone for New Years.  Also, I want to thank everybody that stops by to read this blog.  In a little over a year, it's been read in 47 different countries, and has been viewed nearly 11,000 times.  Pretty cool, huh?  I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for all of you, so thank you!

Hope you all have an incredible New Year!

The 20th Century Fox X-Men Spinoff Movie

I know, the above picture is just an artist's rendition of what the movie poster might look like, but ain't it cool?

So, with the final X-Men movie in their second trilogy coming out soon, 20th Century Fox is looking at where to take their universe next.  The first step in this direction is Deadpool, which comes out in February 12.  Considering Fox's hit-or-miss record with movies, and Ryan Reynolds last go around as the Merc with a Mouth, it's surprising that expectations are pretty high for this movie and the buzz about it is so good.  If it does as well as people say it will, where do they go after it's release? 

With the success of the Avengers, Marvel has pretty much forced all of the other studios to try and create an "expanded universe" for their comic book properties, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Fox is doing just that.  The closest that they've got so far are the stand alone Wolverine movies that take place in the X-Men universe, but Hugh Jackman is calling it quits after more than a decade of playing Logan, so they need to find another fit.

There have been rumors of an X-Men: The New Mutants movie being developed, but a more interesting move would be towards an X-Force film.  Back in 2013, Fox announced that Jeff Wadlow was writing a script for this concept, and their original plan was to release Deadpool first, and then release the X-Force movie six months to a year after that.  Things changed after the test footage for Deadpool was leaked online, and Fox rushed to get the film made while fans excitement for it was so high.

Not much has been said about the X-Force movie since then.  That is until recently.  Last weekend Comicbook.com came across a website of concept artist Greg Semkow that shows his vision of the X-Force movie poster.  In it, he has Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Warpath, and someone that they are guessing is either Psylocke or Hope Summers.  My guess is that it's Hope, what with Cable being in the picture and all.  Another easy fit into this group is actually Deadpool.  He's been an on again/off again member of the team, so this would work out really well for a cross over.

If Deadpool does as well as it's supposed to this winter, we may see the X-Force movie sooner rather than later.

Is Doctor Strange In The Possession Of An Infinity Stone?

With Avengers: Infinity War drawing ever nearer, the things that are going to set it into motion have been playing themselves out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Captain America: The First Avenger introduced us to one of the Infinity Stones, which there are six of.  The Avengers movie introduced the second one, which was in Loki's staff,  In Thor: The Dark World Jane Foster discovered the third.  The fourth one showed up in Guardians of the Galaxy.  Four down, two to go...

It's starting to sound like the next Infinity Stone will be turning up in the upcoming Doctor Strange movie, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  His addition to the MCU will introduce magic into their world.  I've heard some grumblings about this, saying that magic seems a little out of place in it.  Really?  A Norse God and a big, green Hulk are easy to accept, but magic seems too unbelievable?  Come on!

With Doctor Strange being a sorcerer, he carries an arsenal of magical items and talismans to help him with his magic.  Here's what producer Kevin Feige had to say about them:

"The Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto are his two signature pieces.  In this film, the Eye is a very important relic that can be quite dangerous if used in the wrong hands, because it has the ability to do any number of things, the most dangerous of which is, it can sort of manipulate probabilities.  Which is another way of saying, 'screw around with time' - which is part of our story."

The Eye sounds pretty powerful.  Kind of like...an Infinity Stone.  But what else can he do?  Feige continued:

"He can do a whole host of things, eventually.  He does cast spells, which in the comics have very sort of tongue-twisty fun names.  We don't want to shy away from that, because that's what makes Doctor Strange Doctor Strange.  He has a Cloak of Levitation that allows him to fly, but he doesn't fly like Superman or like Thor.  It's almost got a consciousness of it's own his cloak, which, again, gives us a superhero with a red cape - which we've seen a few times - but allows us to do it in a wholly original way.  He can create these mandalas of light that he can use as shields and he can use as sort of weapons.  He can create portalas that will open before your eyes that he can step through and go to other places around the world.  And frankly, even in this film, we'll only touch upon what a lot of his powers are."

If they are just going to "touch upon what a lot of his powers are" in this film, I can't wait to see what he'll be able to do when Avengers: Infinity War rolls around.  If the Eye is truly the fifth Infinity Stone, my guess is that we won't see the sixth until Infinity War finally debuts.  By then, we may also see a whole new team of Avengers fighting for the fate of the universe.

Doctor Strange comes out November 4, 2016.

Possible Huge Spoiler Revealed for Captain America: Civil War

Okay, I'm going to point out the obvious here, but in case this is your first visit to my blog and you don't know how I do things, be warned...there are possible ***HUGE SPOILERS*** coming up!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Still reading?  Good!  On YouTube, there is a channel called The Hashtag Show, and they are claiming to have some inside information about the upcoming Captain America: Civil War film from someone that's been working with the production of the movie.  No name was given to this source (obviously) so take it with a grain of salt, but one part of the spoiler kind of corroborates some things that have already been reported.  Last chance if you don't want to know...

...According to the source, there are going to be not one, but two funerals in the film.  One at the beginning of the movie, and one at the end of it.  The rumor of the first funeral has been swirling around for a while now, and been reported that it will be Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter who passes away.  This shouldn't really be that much of a surprise, since she was in pretty bad shape in the last Captain America flick,  This doesn't mean that Atwell's out of a job.  Season two of Agent Carter will be premiering soon, and I'm sure we'll see her in flashback sequences in future Marvel films, like we saw in Ant Man. 

The second of the two funerals is a little more surprising, but not completely unexpected if you're familiar with the comic book story of Civil War.  It will be that of Steve Rogers, Captain America himself.  Here's what the source is reporting:

"During the film, Steve will make a deal with the government, stating that they are not to hunt down the people that allied with him in the Civil War.  After Steve surrenders and is taken into custody he is killed.  Cap's death is left with a little ambiguous as to whether this was all planned out or not."

It also said that "Tony Stark will be very upset at Steve's funeral and the mood will be rather somber."  Just because Rogers is "dead" doesn't mean that there will no longer be a Captain America, though.  A few other people have sported the red, white, and blue in the comic books.  The source kind of alludes to this fact by saying that there is a scene where Sharon Carter, Falcon, and Bucky Barnes each pick up captain America's shield.  This may be to keep us all guessing as to whom will be the next Captain America, if Rogers is indeed dead.

So what do you think?  Is it possible that they'll kill off Steve Rogers?  If they do, will he stay dead or come back somehow like he did in the comic books?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Captain America: Civil War comes out May 6, 2016.

Did Disney Just Reveal Rey's Identity Through Another Screw-Up?

Okay, so I know that I said that I wasn't going to talk about the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie until it left the theaters, but this is too good not to report on!  So!  Before I go any further...***SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!***  If this doesn't give you enough warning, then I really don't know what will.  You've been warned!

Okay, here we go...last chance to turn back...still here?  Okay, if you haven't seen the movie yet and you keep reading from this point on, it's your own fault!

Last week I talked about how LEGO unwittingly revealed a potential spoiler for Captain America: Civil War by unveiling a giant version of the Ant-Man.  I said that I was surprised that Disney allowed this to happen considering the tight lid that they put on everything that had to do with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  I said that JJ Abrams would never let anything like this happen.  I guess I was wrong, Disney is just as inept to things when it comes to Star Wars, as well.

There was a Disney Infinity "trailer" that made it's way online, and during it's preview Kylo Ren says to Rey, "Face me, cousin!"  So it seems that there is some sort of family relationship between the two. The obvious thought is that Rey is somehow Luke Skywalker's child.  But what if she isn't?

There is another article that is going around that deals with the crawl from The Force Awakens.  It's kind of a stretch, but it should be mentioned, because it may turn out to be true.  Before I go any further, check out the picture of the crawl that is being scrutinized:



Here's where your grammar lessons are going to come into play...and you thought that they would never come in handy!  In the crawl, when it refers to Luke as Leia's brother, it doesn't use any commas.  If it was referring to Luke as her only brother, then it would have read " She is desperate to find her brother, Luke, and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy."  If she had more than one brother, then the lack of commas labels Luke as the brother to which they are referring.  Was this an accident?  I find this hard to believe.  How is there another sibling to both Luke and Leia?  Their mother died in child birth, right?  Is it possible that Darth Vader got a little busy on the side?  Rey may honestly be Kylo Ren's cousin, but it may also be possible that she is not Luke's daughter, but is his niece from another Skywalker that hasn't been revealed yet!  Pretty crazy, right

What do you think about this theory?  Do you think that this is a possibility?  Let me know your thoughts in the section below...I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! 

Big Changes Possibly Coming For Hulk In Thor: Ragnarok

There was a time during The Incredible Hulk comic books that Bruce Banner was able to keep his intellect while transformed into the Hulk.  He was intellectual, reasonable, and articulate with his speech.  I remember this version of the Hulk while reading Secret Wars back in the 80's.  Could this be the approach that Marvel wants to take with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in the MCU?  Quite possible, although they won't just jump right into this stage of conciseness. It may be more like a "slow burn," so to speak.  Recently, Ruffalo sat down to talk with Ain't It Cool News about his upcoming appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, and what he thought about the relationship between Bruce Banner and the Hulk.  Here's what he had to say:

"It's very subtle, but the Banner/Hulk consciousness is beginning to meld a little bit. Who decided to leave? Was it Banner or Hulk? It's not really in the (cinematic) mythology of Hulk up until that moment to be that conscious and pro-active. It's interesting, right?"

We might have caught a glimpse of this turn for the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Black Widow seemed to be able to calm him down to bring him back to his human form after the fighting was over.  This might be start of Bruce Banner being able to take control of the Hulk.  Something like this would obviously take a lot of practice, and considering Banner spent most of his time in seclusion he wouldn't have had the opportunity to practice this on his own. 

So what do you think?  Do you want to see an "intelligent" Hulk, or do you prefer the marauding monster that we've come to enjoy so much?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters November 3, 2017.

Kurt Russell In Talks To Join Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

When I read the article talking about how Kurt Russell was going to be talking to James Gunn about appearing in the next chapter of Guardians of the Galaxy, I was excited and stunned at what he had said about the first movie.  Check out what he said when asked about being approached to appear in the movie:

"I literally got a phone call two days ago about this, I’ve never seen Guardians of the Galaxy so I don’t know anything about it. Many times I’ve heard ‘That’s a really fun movie, a really good movie [with] great characters.’ I don’t know it! So, I didn’t realize that [James Gunn] had written and directed it, but we talked to each other on the phone. And I just had to be honest and say, ‘Thank you for considering me, I have to read [the script], and I have to watch the [first] movie because I can’t bring anything for you [right now]. I’ve got nothing to offer here. So, I’m amazed to get asked about this because everybody knows more about it than I do... it’s a little weird."

Do you see why I was stunned?  I had no idea that there were still people out there that still hadn't seen the movie yet!  In Mr. Russell's defense, he  has been extremely busy (and no, that isn't sarcasm).  This year alone he has appeared as Mr. Nobody in Furious 7, as Sheriff Franklin Hunt in Bone Tomahawk, and is set to play John "The Hangman" Ruth in the upcoming The Hateful Eight.  With the three movies coming out this year, that means he's been pretty busy for the last two years filming.  I'd give him a pass.  When he does watch it, though, I hope he enjoys it just as much as the rest of the world and decides to join the cast.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is set for release May 5, 2017.

Meet The New Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, And Ron Weasley

I hope this makes it over here from across the pond!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new story from the creative minds of it's creator, J.K. Rowling, and Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.  You won't be able to see it in a movie theater, though.  This one is set to hit the stage!  But who's going to play our favorite characters?  Here's what Baz Bamigboye of The Daily Mail had to say on that subject:

"Harry will be played by 36-year-old Jamie Parker, an original member of Alan Bennett's History Boys cast at the National Theatre, While Paul Thornley has been cast as Ron Weasley.  Ron, his hair receding now, is married to Hermione - a part won by Noma Dumezweni, 45, who was born in Swaziland to South African parents fleeing apartheid.  She moved with her mother and sister to Suffolk when she was seven."

Because this undertaking is huge one, the play is being broke up into two separate shows.  Viewers will have the option of watching both parts "at a matinee and evening performance on the same day," or "on two consecutive evenings each week."  Here's a quick description of what the play will be about:

"It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.  While Harry grapples with the past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.  As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places."

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opens in late May at London's West End.

Thor: Ragnarok...What We Know So Far

It's hard to speculate what sort of impact Thor: Ragnarok is going to have on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) considering that Captain America: Civil War hasn't been released yet, but considering it's title, this movie is going to wreck havoc just like Civil War will.

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok is the Armageddon for their gods.  Many of them don't survive.  It stands to reason that Marvel chose this title on purpose, signifying the epic scale on which they hope to create for this movie.  We caught a glimpse of this in Avengers: Age of Ultron, with the vision quest that Thor took.  How it all turns out, though, remains to be seen.

One of the more interesting things that we've learned about the film is that it will also feature the Hulk.  This was an interesting pairing.  In the first Avengers movie, Thor and the Hulk don't exactly get along.  Well, that might not necessarily be accurate.  They had a huge fight scene in the flick, with the Hulk getting in the last hit, even if it was a sucker punch.  This isn't just a cameo appearance, either.  It seems that he's going to be playing a big part in the storyline.  Considering that Thor and the Hulk are easily the two strongest Avengers, there should be some amazing fights in the third installment of the Thor franchise.

Besides the Hulk, the film is also going to include Loki, Heimdall, and Lady Sif, just to name a few.  Another character that will be joining the film is The Valkyrie.  In the Marvel comic, Valkyrie helps the dead pass over into the next realm.  The inclusion of this character helps cement the theme of the movie that has been set by the title.  No one has been signed yet to play this role, but with the news that Cate Blanchett is in talks to appear in the film, it makes me wonder if this is the role that they are talking to her about.

Lastly, Thor: Ragnarok will be the movie that sets everything up for Avengers: Infinity War.  Considering that at least one of the Infinity Stones is in Asgard, it's reasonable to assume that in the aftermath of Ragnarok, Thanos would see it as the ideal time to start gathering the rest of the Infinity stones for himself, leading to the Avengers next film.

Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters July 28, 2017.

Toy Brand Reveals Huge Spoiler For Captain America: Civil War

Leave it to the toy companies!  I don't know, I actually think this is quite funny!

Before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams had a tight control over what would and what would not be released before the movie, making sure to keep everything spoiler-free for the film.  That included what toys would be released before the movie came out.  You'd be surprised at what sort of spoilers you can get out of a simple toy release, as Marvel is learning all too well.

A full four and a half months before the movie is set to come out, a LEGO catalog in Germany may have spilled the beans regarding one of the new Avengers member's powers.  Take a look at the photo above.  See anything unusual?  Yes, it's Ant-Man, although he's not the little ant-sized hero from the movie of the same name, he's huge!  This isn't really that big of a surprise, everyone that reads comic books knows that his powers work in both directions regarding size, but to see it in a toy advertisement before even hearing anything about this is kind of sloppy.  Doesn't Disney own both Marvel and Lucasfilm?  How could they keep such a tight lid over Star Wars and not do the same for Captain America?  Like I said, sloppy.

In another LEGO set, it also shows Hyperion.  Don't expect him to be in the movie, he falls more in line with Guardians of the Galaxy than anything that has to do with the planet Earth.  However, his inclusion could be a sign that Marvel is wanting to use him in the next Guardians movie, seeing how they're going to be using him a lot in the upcoming Squadron Supreme comic that comes out later this year.  If you don't know who Hyperion is, he's an Eternal.  Remember that floating head in Guardians of the Galaxy?  The one they called Nowhere?  Yeah, that's an Eternal.  They were a race of super humans that were created by the Celestials.  So keep an eye out for him.

Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6, 2016.

Will Captain America: Civil War Be THE Movie Of 2016?

It's hard to believe that any one movie is going to run away with 2016 like Star Wars: The Force Awakens did with 2015, but a lot of movie analysts are predicting that Captain America: Civil War will do just that.  That's pretty bold considering all of the movies that are going to be coming out next year.  I mean, think about it, if it wasn't for Star Wars coming out this year, Jurassic World would have walked away with that honor this year, and who really thought that was going to happen?  Last year, it was Guardians of the Galaxy, another film that nobody thought would be a huge hit (until it came out, that is.)  So what makes Captain America: Civil War the runaway favorite for next year?  In a word...Spider-Man!

Or is that two words?  Oh well, doesn't matter, you get my point.  The inclusion of Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has fans geeking out all over the world.  The problem...or I guess I should say "challenge" for the Russo brothers is to give us a fresh and new Spider-Man, one that separates him from the other movie versions of the character.  The first step for them in doing this was to find the right actor, and he had to embody what they wanted Peter Parker to be like.  So what were they looking for in a nerdy kid from Queens that accidentally gets super powers?  Here's what they had to say:

“This is a completely new version of Spider-Man that’s introduced in Civil War. It was very important to us that we go younger with the character because what we love about Spider-Man is that he’s still a high school student. That’s a part of his vulnerability and it’s what makes him special in the Marvel Universe; he’s very unique. We wanted to play to that aspect of the character. We also wanted to think about ‘Who is Spider-Man today?’ A lot of times when you get interpretations of Spider-Man, they’re very nostalgic to the origins of the character. Sometimes there’s an old-fashioned patina to the tone of who Spider-Man is. We wanted to think about who is Spider-Man today if he’s living in Queens, what’s the texture of his life like, what’s the texture of his relationship with his aunt who lives with him. How can we make the relationship and character very contemporary? That’s our goal with the character.”

Makes sense, right?  Here's the funny thing about this movie.  Even though this is the first appearance of Spider-Man in the MCU, Captain America: Civil War is actually one of the final acts in Marvel's Phase 3, which may or may not see the end of the core group, or the "founding members" if you will, of the Avengers.  With every movie they make, and each one pretty much becoming a blockbuster, the fees for the actors continue to rise, and at some point the studios won't be able to (or will refuse to) pay the actors what they are worth.  So they will introduce us to new and (hopefully) interesting characters to keep the franchise going.  Captain America: Civil War is the first step in introducing us to some of these new characters, as well as bringing the original characters stories to a climax.  In the same interview, here's what the Russo brothers had to say about the third Captain America film, and the next Avengers movies, Infinity War Part 1 & 2:

“The stakes of both Civil War and the Avengers: Infinity War movies are gonna be very high, and there will be a price to pay [for?] a lot of characters. And that’s the whole point of cumulative storytelling. We’re going to go on emotional journeys with these characters. We’ve got a lot invested in the emotion. We have responsibilities to be mindful of how these people feel about the characters and, at the same time, we also have a responsibility to carry through on the storytelling. As filmmakers, we believe in stakes. You can’t have good storytelling without strong stakes. So, there will be a price to pay in Civil War.”

So enjoy the original core group of characters while you can, and hopefully they will give us some new characters that we can get excited about as they continue to expand their MCU.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Shatters Records

As if there was ever any doubt that this would happen!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened this past weekend and it destroyed all sorts of records with it's release.  Here are some of the records that it broke, according to Comicbook.com:

- The biggest opening weekend for any movie with an estimated $238 million domestically, and $279 million internationally, giving it a whopping $517 million since it's release.

- The biggest Thursday preview total with $57 million.

- Biggest Friday and single-day total with $120.5 million.

- First movie to ever pull in over $100 million in a single day.

- Fastest film to reach $100 million and $200 million in sales.

- Biggest December release (Comicbook.com says that the previous record for this was $84.6 million!)

- Biggest IMAX Thursday release ($5.7 million), single-day ($14 million, Friday) and weekend ($30.1 million). Biggest IMAX global opening with $48 million.

- Highest theater average for wide release ($57,568).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has opened in every market around the world, except Greece, India, and China. Greece and India will have it's premier December 24, 2015, and China will have it open on January 9, 2016.  There was a little worry over at the House of Mouse as to how Star Wars would be received in other countries.  Yes, here in the United States it's a huge phenomena, but not all countries are as familiar with the Original Trilogy, and are more familiar with the prequels.  Considering The Force Awakens deals more with the Original Trilogy, and not Episodes I, II, and III, would people still go out and see it with the same enthusiasm as we would here?  After this past weekend, Disney got their answer.

The Force Awakens had the biggest opening weekend of all time in the UK, Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Romania, Hungry, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia, and New Zealand.  It had the second highest opening weekend for France, Belgium, Israel, and Chile.

Believe it or not, there are still people out there that haven't seen it yet, so I will refuse to talk about the details of the film until it leaves theaters.  Why spoil it for everyone that's still waiting to see it?  When that happens, though, I can't wait to talk to you about what you liked about the film, and what you didn't.

Now we can all try and start guessing what's going to happen in Episode VIII...

Action Horror PANDORICA Looks Set To Amaze!

This new movie looks to be an amazing thrill ride!

So I was messing around on Twitter the other day (you can follow me @Comconoclast) and started talking to one of the guys involved with a new movie coming out called Pandorica.  I went to their website, which is www.pandoricamovie.com, and this movie looks to be incredible!  So what's it about?  Here's what they say about the story on their website:

"Pandorica revolves around the leadership trials of the Varosha Tribe.  Eiren, Arres, and Thade are all in line to lead the next generation of their people.  They journey out of the saftey of their home towards a dark forest miles away with their tribe's leader Nus.  Here they will take part in an age old tradition where Nus will choose his successor.  Only one of them will return leader but who will it be?  Pandorica is an edge of your seat action horror that keeps the twists coming thick and fast."

Here's a link to their official trailer that's been posted on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBE_8PCPZvc

So who are the Varosha?  Here's another quick description of the tribe from their website:

"The Varosha Tribe rarely ventures out of the safety of their territory.  At the age of thirteen, all children begin training for leadership.  After years of elimination the potential candidates are whittled down to the final three.  These candidates embark on a dangerous pilgrimage to a sacred place within the forest that separates their home from the world beyond.  Here, the current leader will decide which of the finalists will become the Varosha's next leader."

Make sure you check out their website, and follow them on Twitter, @PandoricaMovie, and check out their Facebook page.  Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/PandoricaMovie/

 

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Movie Reaction

First off, I'm sorry this is a little late, but I was up late last night trying to take in all of the excitement of seeing this amazing film!

I got to the movie theater a couple of hours before the movie was set to begin.  This is the seventh Star Wars movie that I've seen on opening night, and that doesn't include the "special editions" that were released.  I was one of the lucky ones.  I live in a fairly small town, so I didn't have to endure waiting in line for days on end hoping to get in to see it.  This was also the first time that I was able to purchase my tickets online before the premier.  People were all duded up in their Star Wars clothes, and some even wore costumes.  With an hour and a half to go before the movie, they started to seat people.  While we were waiting, there were a lot of children running around having lightsaber fights throughout the theater.  Everybody was excited that it was finally here.

The classic Williams score began, and the crawl began to go to a theater full of cheers.  There were people laughing at some parts, and crying at others.  There were definite nods to the original films, with little things thrown in to certain scenes.  Every time this happened, I'd nudge the person next to me and point, both of us grinning because they knew exactly what I was pointing to, and why.  

This movie does a great job at introducing us to the new core of main characters, and weaves in the classic ones really well, too.  I am also pleased to say that around 90 percent of the rumors that have been floating around the interweb regarding this movie are false.  If you haven't been able to stop reading things about the movie and are afraid that you know too much about it to enjoy it, don't worry.  It's full of surprises and it won't disappoint you.  

There is a lot more humor in this movie than all three of the prequels put together, and it definitely has that Kasdan feel.  It's the movie that fans have been waiting for since 1983.

This was just a reaction post to the movie.  I do not want to spoil this film for anybody, and I hope that you enjoy this film just like I did, without knowing what's going to happen!  Somewhere down the road I may talk about the details of the movie more, but that won't be until it leaves the theaters, which I suspect won't be for a very long time!   

What The Best Order To Watch The Star Wars Movies?

There have actually been arguments over how to watch the Star Wars movies, meaning, in what order do you watch them?  Do you start with the Original Trilogy, then watch the prequels, or watch them in the order of their chapters (i.e. Episode I, Episode II, etc.)?  Here's my opinion on the subject, which means it's the correct way to watch them!

You have to start with Star Wars: A New Hope.  There's no other way around it.  First of all, it introduces you to "a galaxy far, far away" and to the characters in it that made the franchise so well loved.  Another reason to start here is because of it's special effects.  Back in late 1977, when the movie first came out, movie special effects were still in their infancy, so when you watch the movie you get more of a story than "in your face" CGI, which is what the prequels did.  The spaceships were models, and the sets were actual physical sets, and it gave the movie a more "real" feeling.  This technique is something that JJ Abrams decided to go back to with The Force Awakens.

The next movie you need to watch is The Empire Strikes Back, arguably the best movie out of the Original Trilogy.  This movie was an important one in movie history because it was the first time that a movie left people wondering if Darth Vader really was Luke's father, without giving us the answer.  No other movie had ever left a question like that lingering in the minds of it's fans, making us wait until the next movie came out to find the answer.  Every movie up until that point always neatly summed everything up before the closing credits rolled.  Three years later, we got the answer when Return of the Jedi was released.

This movie was the perfect ending to trilogy.  It answered all of our questions (with the exception of why the movies were Chapters IV, V, and VI, and not I, II, and III) and gave us an epic conclusion to the series.  It seemed that at the end of the movie, everyone was going to live happily ever after.  Of course, that doesn't happen in real life, which is one reason everyone is excited to see the original characters come back for The Force Awakens.

Next, you have to watch the prequels in their proper order, starting with Episode I.  You have to watch these movies after watching the Original Trilogy because if you don't, then the whole question of whether or not Darth Vader is Luke's father won't leave any sort of impact on you because you'll already know the answer.  It works better to not know, and then to find out why things turned out the way they did for Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and what turned him over to the Dark Side of the Force.

So that's the proper way to watch all of the Star Wars movies.  You're welcome to disagree with me on this, but just know that you'll be wrong.  I'm heading out to see The Force Awakens tonight at 7, in 3D!  I'll let you know what I think of the movie in tomorrows post, and I'll try to make it spoiler-free...but no promises!

What Happened To Will Smith's Hiller From Independence Day?

To make it simple...he's dead.

Even though a majority of the original cast is returning for the sequel, Will Smith didn't sign on to appear.  I don't know if it was he didn't feel it was a good idea for him, or if his schedule was too packed.  The latter seems the most reasonable to assume, since he's just finished Concussion, has been working on Suicide Squad, and is also set to appear in the new stand-alone Batman film that will feature Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight.  So how did he die?

There's a new website that was created to promote Independence Day: Resurgence called War of 1996.  It is designed to let people know what's been going on over the last twenty years since aliens first tried to take over the planet.  One of the "news articles" that is posted on the site states the following:

"World Mourns Col. Hiller 4/22/2007

While test piloting the ESD's first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller.  Hiller's valor in the War of 96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mothership lead directly to the enemy's defeat.  He is survived by his wife Jasmine and son Dylan."

Vivica A. Fox is returning to reprise her role as Jasmine, but a new actor will be playing his son, Dylan.  In the original film, Dylan was played by Ross Bagely, but the older version of Dylan will now be played by Jessie Usher.  Other returning actors are Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, and Brent Spiner.  Liam Hemsworth, Joey King and Maika Monroe will also be joining the cast as new characters.

Independence Day: Resurgence is scheduled for release on June 24, 2016.

Star Trek Beyond Trailer Released

Looks like the USS Enterprise is going to be destroyed...again.  This time, it looks to actually play a roll in the story.  Check out the new trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sml23ogwy4w 

 

Sorry, the only ones available were international trailers, so it was either this, or one that someone upload while filming their television screen.  Let's break it down!

 

Like I said, it looks like the destruction of the USS Enterprise takes place, but it's kind of hard to determine if it's done by aliens or robots.  It also looks like the crew has to take refuge on a nearby planet, where it seems they are all captured by it's inhabitants.  At least, that's what it looks like from this picture from the trailer:

 

 

It also showed a whole lot of new aliens in the trailer, expanding the already incredible universe that has been built off of the beloved Gene Roddenberry's creation.  One of the things that has made his show so popular has been the interaction between the Enterprise's crew.  So far, we've only really seen interaction between Kirk and Bones, Kirk and Spock, Kirk and Scotty, and Spock and Uhura.  One of the best parts of the original show, to me anyways, was the interaction between Spock and McCoy.  We haven't seen much of that in the last two movies, but from what the trailer gave us, it looks like we may get to see these two finally get some screen time together!

 

With the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens it's been easy to forget about...well, basically every other movie, but this new Star Trek Beyond is an important film in the movie franchise.  First of all, this will be the first movie that won't be directed by JJ Abrams.  One part of the writing team behind this film is a long time fan of the show, Simon Pegg, and he's promising us a great story.  Lastly, next year marks the 50th anniversary of the show, and Paramount is wanting to give fans something great to watch while celebrating.  From what we've seen from the trailer, I think that they may have been able to deliver on that!

 

Star Trek Beyond hits theaters July 2016.

JJ Abrams, Star Wars, And Chapter VIII

JJ Abrams has to have a lot of pressure on him right now.  In three days, the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens happens, and his three year journey to complete the film will finally be over.  But this isn't just one movie that he'll be responsible for, it's the beginning of a new trilogy.  Even though he won't be directing the next installment, that honor goes to Rian Johnson, he not only needed to create a stand-alone film for a new generation of fans and old fans as well, he needed to create a beginning of a much bigger story, one that would cross over three movies.  Was this thought weighing on him while he was writing the film's script with Lawrence Kasdan, or was he just wanting to make a movie that he wanted to see after the disappointment of the prequels?  Here's what Abrams had to say in a recent interview:

 

“We don’t write a treatment but there are countless times we came up with something and said ‘Oh, this would be so great for Episode VIII!” or “Thats what we could get to in IX!’ It was just that kind of forward moving story. But we knew this had to neither be a backwards moving nostalgic trip only nor a beginning of a movie without a satisfying conclusion, and that was part of the balancing act — embracing what we have inherited and using that where and whenever possible to tell a story that hasn’t been seen yet. We also knew that certain things were inevitable in our minds but that didn’t mean it would be inevitable for whoever came in next.

When Rian who I admire enormously and adore, came on board, we met and talked with him about all the things we were working on and playing with, and he as a spectacular writer and director has taken those things and has written an AMAZING script that I think will be an incredible next chapter, some of which incorporating things we were thinking of and other things are things we could never of dreamed of.”

 

Even with all of this pressure on him to get this next installment right, Abrams had one big-league Hollywood director in his corner, even before he accepted the gig...Steven Spielberg. When Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy at down to discuss how to go forward with restarting the Star Wars movie franchise, it was Spielberg that told her that there was only one person that could do it, and that was JJ Abrams. Abrams had originally turned the offer to direct the film down, but as he and Kennedy sat down one afternoon, they began talking about where the new movie should go, and they began brain-storming ideas off of one another, and by the time their meeting was over, Abrams knew that he wanted to take the job after all. It was much too exciting to pass up!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens this Friday in theaters everywhere...and I mean everywhere! I actually think some multiplexes won't be showing anything but this movie in their theaters for the next month!

 



 

 

X-Men: Apocalypse AND Independence Day: Resurgence Trailers!!!

 

SO!  I wasn't really sure how to post these, because to be honest, they are both really cool, so I'm starting with the one that seems the most popular.  Here you go, the new X-Men: Apocalypse trailer:

This looks to be awesome!  Finally, Quicksilver gets a little bit of credit and redemption from the last movie.  Sorry, I just didn't think that they used him to his full potential...maybe it had something to do with the Hardee's campaign?  I don't know...I just know that I can't wait to see more of him in this film!  I have to say, though, Apocalypse looks like a steroid-bound reject from the Blue Man Group...just saying.  This movie definitely looks to be getting their influence from the cartoons of the 90's.  But like I said, there are two trailers that I want to show you, so let's get down to the second one!

This one is the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence.  Check it out:

Kind of like Star Wars, this movie take place about 20 or 30 years after the first one.  In that time, Earth has been able to use the technology from our invaders to bolster the world's arsenal.  However...the aliens have come back for a little bit of retribution.  Everybody (minus Will Smith) is back, and this sequel looks to be pretty amazing!

There are way too many cool looking movie that are coming out next year, starting with Deadpool next month.  By the way, a new trailer for that film will be dropping Christmas Day!

Mars May Be Turned Into Tatooine

What's the biggest problem that will face astronauts and cosmonauts traveling to Mars?  It's lack of water.  But this problem may have just found a solution, and you can thank Star Wars for it's answer.

A moisture farm is being planned to be built on the Red Planet beginning in 2018, part of the 2018 ExoMars mission, a project being developed by both the European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos.  The joint project will be sending up the Habitability, Brine Irradiation and Temperature package (HABIT) that will "use salts to absorb five milliliters of water from the atmosphere a day."  This idea came about after NASA's Curiosity rover made findings that suggests that "liquid water accumulates just beneath the surface of Mars at night, before evaporating during the day."

Now, I know that five milliliters of water a day doesn't sound like much, but if this process works, then it may be able to expand on it's capabilities in the future to provide water for travelers to Mars.  NASA plans on sending it's first manned mission to the Red Planet some time in the 2030s.

Now if only they could develop blue milk...

BB-8's Origins Are...Classified?!?

Wait...what?


So the new Chinese trailer for the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, and there were a few surprises in it!

I guess that the biggest "surprise" from the trailer was...well, there were two surprises in it..the first was when Rey asked BB-8 were she came from, and then responds, " Classified, really?  Me too."  Curious....

The second thing that it showed was when Finn said that they needed a pilot, and Rey says, "We've got one!"  It was originally thought that she was talking about herself, but this trailer makes it look like Rey and Han are already familiar with one another, and that Han is the pilot that she's talking about..  So what does that mean?  Do they actually know each other, or did they cut the trailer to make it look like that they know each other?  And did they just show the Falcon crashing into a snow bank?

I'm going to be able to watch the early opening of the film that will be shown December 17, 2015, and will let you know everything that I find out...and there will be spoilers, so just a heads up!  Less than a week to go before we find out!

Star Wars 1313 And Live-Action Television Show May Still Happen

Back in March I talked about how there was a live-action Star Wars television show called Star Wars: Underground that was being discussed.  This had been a plan for Lucasfilm for a while, but after Disney bought the company from George Lucas, the show fell in to limbo, along with a highly-anticipated video game called Star Wars 1313.  Recently, SlashFilm sat down with Kathleen Kennedy to ask her whatever became of these once hot rumors, and here's what she had to say:

"No, interestingly enough, that's an area we've spent a lot of time, reading through the material that he developed is something we very much would like to explore.  And there was 1313 the game, where there was..."

...during the response she was giving during the interview at this point, Slashfilm tells her how incredible the concept art for the video game was that was released online.  She continued:

"Unbelievable.  So our attitude is, we don't want to throw any of that stuff away.  It's gold.  And it's something we're spending a lot of time looking at, pouring through, discussing, and we may very well develop those things further.  We definitely want to."

Star Wars: Underground was first announced at Star Wars Celebration III back in 2005.  George Lucas himself wrote close to 100 episodes for the idea, planning on it having a 400 episode run (my guess is that at least 200 of these episodes would be "Special Editions" that would be repeats that he had gone back to tweak, inserting Jar Jar Binks or Ewoks or something).  He was going to film it in state-of-the-art studios that he was going to build on his own property, and it was supposed to premier in 2009.  Rumor has it that his neighbors were extremely pissed at this idea, fearing all of the noise and congestion that would have invaded their neighborhood.  The idea was scrapped, and never saw the light of day.  Of course, the show was never really supposed to see "the light of day" because it actually dealt with the seedy underground workings that took place of the capital planet of Coruscant, taking on a more "noir tone" compared to the movies.

Star Wars 1313 was also to take place on Coruscant, more specifically on Level 1313 of the planet.  It was to follow an unnamed bounty hunter that explored the underbelly of the planet.  It was rumored that the bounty hunter would later be revealed to be Boba Fett during his early years as a bounty hunter, but after Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm, the video game got scrapped.  So will the video game get new life?  The trademark for Star Wars 1313 has expired, but Level 1313 still exists in the new canon, so if it does get made, it might keep the same concept with just a simple name change.

What do you think?  Look, the reason why I'm so excited for the new movie to come out is because I haven't seen a Star Wars film in the theaters in years.  I'm also going to get to see the original characters again in a new story for the first time in 30 years.  The thing that worries me is "over-saturation."  There have already been two animated television shows made for Star Wars, a slew of video games, and Disney is planning on releasing a new Star Wars film every year going forward,  Between that and all of the promotional tie-in's that are sure to go along with everything (while watching a one-hour program the other night, I think all but two commercials had some sort of mention of Star Wars!), are people going to get tired of the franchise?  I hope not, but adding a live-action television series to the story might just do it for people.  Maybe they can rename it Marvel: Agents of Star Wars.

Steven Spielberg Doubles Down On Indy Film

After Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas, taking control of both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, they moved quickly to announce the next chapter in the Star Wars saga, but nothing had been mentioned about Indy.  After Guardians of the Galaxy was released, Chris Pratt (who shot to super-stardom with it's release, and the release of Jurassic World)  was rumored to be the new Indiana Jones in a supposed reboot, or at least the next chapter.  Even though Kathleen Kennedy said that there were no immediate plans for an Indiana Jones film, the rumors persisted.  Now, in an interview with Screen Daily, Steven Spielberg has given his answer on the matter: 

“I don’t think anyone could replace Harrison as Indy, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Spielberg said about the prospect of a recast. “It’s certainly not my intention to ever have another actor step into his shoes in the way there have been many actors that have played Spider-Man or Batman. There is only going to be one actor playing Indiana Jones and that’s Harrison Ford.”

 That pretty much puts an end to it right?  But is there going to be another Indiana Jones movie in the near future?

“Because there are more adventures out there than films,” Spielberg said. “So as long as there’s more adventures out there, I’ve got a bullwhip, a fedora, a leather jacket, and a man on a horse who knows how to get the job done.”

Spielberg has been the director for the franchise since it's debut, and I suppose he still has a lot of say in the matter, but with Disney the actual owners of the franchise, who's to say that they may go forward with a reboot without him?  It's still much too early to know what the next chapter in the Indiana Jones story is going to bring us, but with the 73 year old Harrison Ford not getting any younger, Spielberg may want to move a little faster if he truly has more stories to tell.  Let's just hope that they don't include aliens...or "Mutt," for that matter!

New Spider-Man Costume Will Need Special Effects To Complete It

The last two incarnations of Spider-Man have relied heavily on CGI.  Both Maguire and Garfield's characters needed the special effects to convince movie watchers that they were the ones swinging through the city on webs and that they were actually as quick and agile as they appeared on screen.  So when a news report came out the other day saying that Spider-Man was going to be needing a lot of CGI for his costume in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, this didn't really surprise me.  What did surprise me, though, was the reason that was given for the need for the special effects.

Anthony Russo, one of the brothers that are directing the film, sat down with a Brazilian entertainment website at Comic-Con Experience 2015 (CCXP) and the topic of Spider-Man came up, and the fact that there are rumors swirling around that we'll be seeing him in multiple costumes throughout the film.  Here's what Russo had to say in reply:

"Well, we researched a lot and do a lot of experiments for all the characters.  We did the same with Spider-Man.  We knew it had to be someone young, it was very important because we wanted to give this essence to the character, it is something unique in the Marvel Universe.  Tom Holland is an amazing Spider-Man, people will love it.  It was a very experimental process, placing it with other actors, especially with Downey Jr., we were learning as we did and are very happy with the result.  But we are still working on some things, like the uniform.  He's not ready because so much will be produced with special effects."

Now, that could all just mean that they are working on some of the fight scenes and that they need to insert a CGI version of him in the sequence to complete the shot, but another theory about his answer has been making some ground.  Captain America: Civil War is being loosely based on the comic book mini-series Civil War that was written by Mark Millar.  In it, Tony Stark provides Peter Parker with a new red and gold Spider-Man suit.  Is this the suit that we will be seeing in the movie?  Some people are thinking that it is.  This may also be the reason why we haven't seen Spider-Man in any of the trailers that have been released.  They may be wanting to keep his look a secret until the movie's release.  Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6, 2016, and the stand-alone Spider-Man movie will be released July 28, 2017.

It Was Rumored, Now It's Confirmed!

The Flash will be making an appearance in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice!

There are really only three movies that are being talked about right now...Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Captain America: Civil War, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  The one with the most anticipation is Batman v Superman because it has the most to lose.  It's the tent pole for Warner Bros.'s DC universe and it has to do well!  If it doesn't, everything falls apart for them.

The Flash will be making an appearance near the end of the film, giving us a glimpse at five out of the seven founding members of the Justice League.  For those of you keeping score, that's Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash.  Green Lantern and Cyborg won't be showing up until the Justice League movies, and possibly Martian Manhunter.

The most recent trailer for the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie shows Superman unmasking Batman to find out that he's really Bruce Wayne.  That particular scene seems to be from a dream sequence that has the world in a post-apocalyptic state, kind of like Mad Max, and the Man of Steel is worshiped by millions, and he has his own army of loyalists.  That would explain why the soldiers from the trailer are kneeling before him in the trailer.  It's been dubbed the "Knightmare."  Ha!  I like it!

A lot of people think that the movie has given away too much in the trailers, and I kind of have to agree.  Up until recently, everyone was just guessing that Doomsday was going to be in it, but now we know that he will be showing up.  Maybe they should have taken a play from the Star Wars playbook and kept some things under wraps...but that's just me.

Do you think that they've given away too much with the trailers?  Do you want to see more?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to hear what you think!  

Star Wars News: Well This Is Interesting!

 

Here are a few things that I've read over the last couple of days that I found interesting...

The first thing that I read this weekend was that George Lucas has watched the final cut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  What did he think?  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie has received Lucas' seal of approval.  JJ Abrams recently had to show an uncut version of the film to the executive producers and to the Disney honchos, and he said that he was more nervous then than he ever has been...but how nerve racking could it have been to show the creator of the series a new chapter that he had nothing to do with (meaning Lucas)?  That had to have had Abrams heart beating right out of his chest!  But like I said, it sounds like he really enjoyed it!

The second thing that I read about this weekend had to do with an interview that Harrison Ford gave recently.  He was asked what his favorite scene from the upcoming film was, and he replied that it was the fight scene between Kylo Ren and Rey.  Wait...what?  The only scene that we've been privy to is a shot that shows Finn squaring off against Kylo Ren.  So does that mean we are going to be given a fight scene between Rey and Kylo Ren, or did Harrison Ford just misspeak?  I guess we won't know until the movie comes out!

The last bit of news that I found online was the picture that's posted up above.  I guess we now know that it's Kylo Ren that grabs Darth Vader's helmet off the planet of Endor, and is basically worshiping the thing in the trailers.

Less than two weeks to go before the release of the film, and as soon as I see it, I'll let you in on all of the things I find out!  And don't worry, I'll make sure I post a **SPOILER** warning before I begin, so if you don't want to know anything, then you won't have to worry about me giving anything away!