Archive for the ‘News and Editorials’ Category

Avengers 2: Vin Diesel as Vision?

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2013| 2 Comments »

Vin Diesel at Marvel via FacebookVin Diesel has let it be known quite publically that he’s in talks with Marvel/Disney for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This could be a little dicey/dodgy for him because some studios/execs don’t like their actors running about and blabbing everything.

That aside, the big question is: Who will he play?

There isn’t a shortage of choices, though some roles he’s better fit for than others. The people at io9 seem to think he’ll play The Vision, and it’s a really popular rumor right now, especially since Vin jockeyed for it back when Avengers came out.

It’s possible, he certainly has the “look” for Vision (tall, stoic, bald)… but here is my problem: he’s too old for Vision.

Before you yell ‘agest’, let’s look at the fine points here. The Vision is an android which means he doesn’t age, he’ll always look the same. If they want to use the character for several films then getting a younger actor simply makes the most sense. Just as you get an older actor who has already gone through puberty to play a teenager (that way you don’t have to worry about the sudden growth spurts, etc), you start with a young actor for a character who doesn’t age. Because no matter how well they stay in shape, they will eventually show their age once they hit the hill. (I’m sorry Hugh, you’re a wonderful Wolverine, and still sexy as hell, but Wolvie is looking rough around the edges now.)

So, if Vision aged like everyone else, then there wouldn’t really be a problem with Vin… except…

If they are looking at the likes of Saoirse Ronan to play Wanda Maximoff, or at least someone like her, then Marvel/Disney probably would want to get a guy in their 20s to play Vision as Wanda and Vision are the Avenger’s power couple. Granted, since Vision doesn’t really have an ‘age’ and there isn’t anything wrong with the age difference in general, an argument could be made that it’s perfectly fine to have a 46 year old Vin and 20 year old Saoirse (at time of filming) do a romantic sub-plot. But more likely Marvel/Disney will want to cash in on the pre-teen and young adult demographic and go with someone who can play the young romance/angst against Saoirse (or whoever gets cast as Wanda).

From a completely corporate/capitalism/what makes the most money view, Vin is not a good fit for Vision, which is why I think Marvel/Disney will cast him as someone else. Then they’ll get a 20-something for Vision, probably a small-name like Chris Hemsworth was before Thor, someone they can pay scale and contract for several films.

Anyway, personally, I love Vin Diesel and can’t wait to see him in the MCU, but I don’t see it happening as The Vision. There are a lot of options out there… he could be playing a villain for all we know. So until we have more to go on, I’m not going to even bother to speculate.

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Reblog: Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen To Become A TV Show

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on July 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

From BleedingCool

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Brendon Connelly

league of extraordinary gentlemenThough I’m sure Alan Moore won’t have many nice things to say about it, 20th Century Televison and their partners at Fox have committed to a new TV adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the exceptional comic book series that blends a staggering amount of fictional universes into one, from the worlds of Bram Stoker, HG Wells and Conan Doyle to those of JK Rowling, George Orwell and W. Somerset Maugham.

I’m sure that many of you will recall the adventure-focused Stephen Norrington movie of some ten years back, or the legal shenanigans that followed when Larry Cohen filed a suit alleging Fox had stolen the idea from his rejected pitch, Cast of Characters.

The comics, co-created and superbly illustrated by Kevin O’Neill, are rich and complex and could give rise to years worth of TV, maybe even following their multi-era structure of the comics.

Or, of course, they could be essayed into a lowest common denominator “Steampunk Justice League of the library.”

The only indicator of potential success or failure we have so far is that Michael Green, a writer on Smallville, Green Lantern and Heroes, will be the writer and executive producer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is being developed with a “put pilot” deal in place. This means that there will be a financial penalty to pay if the show doesn’t go to air.

Of course, Fox are past masters are cutting a show off after just a few episodes, or at least before its due, and for all we know, that could the fate of these Gentlemen too.

Meanwhile, over at Showtime, John Logan, Sam Mendes and JA Bayona are working on the similarly themed Penny Dreadful…

 

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Reblog: Now We Know Who’s Who In The Guardians Of The Galaxy Cast

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , on July 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

From BleedingCool
Posted on July 8, 2013 by Brendon Connelly

Nebula

When Den of Geek say they have a solid source, I believe they mean cast iron. Their slightly sucky team may have fallen someway behind ours in last week’s big Monsters University quiz night, but they’re certainly good guys and trustworthy.

Well, that’s the UK Den of Geek anyhow. I really can’t vouch for the US lot.

So, according to the UK Den’s new report, the characters being played by Benicio Del Toro and Karen Gillan in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy are The Collector and Nebula respectively. At the same time, they’re repeating that Lee Pace is playing Ronan the Accuser, which isn’t new news, but now, I’d say, rather solidly locked down.

Previously, we’d heard that Del Toro’s character will be in multiple Marvel movies, which kind of threw me off the scent somewhat. How will they use The Collector over and over again? I can see how he might factor into The Avengers sequel, but beyond that, I’m at a loss. For now.

We’ve also heard that Ronan the Accuser will “swap sides” as the film goes on, in keeping with his comic book legacy.

Add Nebula, the space pirate and alleged grand daughter of Thanos – though I would like to see the DNA test results, please – and I think it’s signed, sealed and on the way to the postbox that this plot line will feature the Infinity Gems.

Guardians of the Galaxy is in production in the UK now. Expect a lot more to break around the time of Comic Con.

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DOFP: Maximoff

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Bryan Singer just tweeted a pic that pretty much proves they were planning on using Quicksilver since before the Whedon/Disney announcement.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/352788163355348995

Maximoff House

The big question, is this a twin living on their own or both with their mother (if they don’t make her missing/dead as is canon) or with their adoptive parents? Seeing as the actor is in his late 20s I doubt he’s playing a 15 year old so not sure he’d be living with his parents as a 20-something. It could be his own house. And if it is, would Crystal be in the picture yet?

Is this why we haven’t heard anything about Wanda? Magneto goes to his son, who is living alone (or with Crystal), to get his help, so no sister. There was talk that the team will need Quicksilver’s speed for something specific. Does this mean that the two teams are working together? Or Charles knows about Magneto’s kids? Or they just know about a super speed mutant… and coincidences happen? So many options, some more awesome than others.

As for the Maximoff cold war, it takes time to set up a location for filming, you have scouting, then getting it prepped, etc. This sequence also had to be written and if they are bothering with doing outside shots then it may be more substantial than a quick scene. Not something to be likely be written on the fly. Lastly, the rumor after First Class was that this movie would be more Magneto-centric which this would play right into and show that Quicksilver was meant from the beginning.

Still no words on whether or not Wanda will be involved at all, but let’s hope she at least gets a mention…

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The Wolverine: New Posters

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on June 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Okay, only one of these is brand new, I somehow missed the other two. Anyway, Collider got the exclusive release of a new Jean Gray poster ala sumi-e ink art. While the others have been fairly original, even Wolverine was done up in Japanese clothing, Jean’s poster is just a copy of her X3 promo images.

The Wolverine - Jean Grey poster

X-Men 3 - Jean Gray promo

I wouldn’t read into Jean getting her own poster. She’s the second most recognizable character from the franchise, so they want to splash her around for that recognition. This happens all the time (Vin Diesel in Tokyo Drift anyone…). Still, would have liked to see something a bit more original than a direct copy cause this is a really pretty style of artwork.

There are two other posters I missed which are on Collider, one for Viper and Yukio. I’m not too impressed with them either. I don’t like the tongue thing on Viper and I’m not sure what’s going on with Yukio’s mouth, though, if I ignore that part, Yukio’s is actually pretty bad ass.

The Wolverine - Viper poster

The Wolverine - Yukio poster

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Days Of Future Past gets Release Date

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , on June 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Bryan Singer just confirmed on his twitter account that Days of Future Past will receive the coveted Memorial Day tent-pole position in 2014 meaning it will come out Friday, May 23rd, 2014.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/347890677381726208

Days of Future Past Film-VerseMemorial Day Weekend in the USA is one of the biggest selling weekends for movies and so companies like to put out films that will give them a strong opening. For example, this year saw the release of Hangover III which had a 42mil opening weekend (and it is a Rated R film) and Fast Six which did 97mil . This means that Fox has a lot of faith in this film which hasn’t even finished production yet.

Though, with the literal all-star cast which includes several Oscar winners and some really hot names right now, they probably call this movie a win-win regardless.

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RDJ Will Be Back For Two More Avengers Films

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on June 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

You’ve probably already heard, but Robert Downy Jr has signed on for two more Avengers movies meaning we’ll have two more movies (at minimum) to look forward to in the Avengers franchise, a Phase 2 and a Phase 3 film respectively. Will they get Downey for longer? Dunno, but it will at least give them two films to figure out how to sub-plot a change of either actor, or character all together.

Here is the official press release:

“I am Iron Man.”

Tony Stark’s famous closing line to the very first Iron Man film takes on new  life today as Marvel is pleased to announce the signing of Robert Downey, Jr. to  reprise the role of the “billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist.”

Under the two-picture agreement, Downey will star as Tony Stark/Iron Man in  “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” and “Marvel’s The Avengers 3.”  Downey is represented  at CAA by Bryan Lourd, Jim Toth and Matt Leaf and by his attorneys Tom Hansen  and Stewart Brookman of the firm Hansen Jacobson.

Downey, Jr.’s last two Marvel films, 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers” and this  year’s “Iron Man 3,” rank as two of the top five grossing films of all time,  collectively earning over $2.7 billion worldwide to date.

“Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is being written and directed by Joss Whedon.  Featuring favorites from the first Avengers film and new Marvel characters never  before seen on the big screen, “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is slated to begin  production in March 2014 and open in theaters May 1, 2015.

Thrilled by this mega announcement, Marvelites? Well, be sure you stay glued  to Marvel.com because in the coming days and weeks and months, Marvel.com will  be FIRST in the world to reveal additional casting updates, new characters  coming to Marvel movies and so much more — directly from the most secret  meetings at Marvel! You wouldn’t want to miss out on that now, would you?!

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Mary Jane Nixed From Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Wrong Fanboys Win

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on June 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Shailene Woodley as Mary JaneThe news is all over the place and I saw it first on BleedingCool, but Shailene Woodley’s role as Mary Jane Watson in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been cut from the film. There are several reasons this could have happened, two very big ones. Firstly, since she only filmed a couple of days it’s likely her role was just introductory and had nothing to do with the main plot meaning if they needed to cut something for time it’s that kind of sub-plot that would be the first thing to go. Secondly, as BleedingCool pointed out, since film makers are looking into the future now with probably two more films, they might want to hold off on MJ’s introduction instead of trying to cram her in.

Both are legit reasons that I’ll support.

However, there is one possible reason that I really hope isn’t it. You see, there was a lot of backlash against Shailene being picked to play Mary Jane. For some reason, a bunch of insolent fanboys have got it into their head that Shailene isn’t pretty enough. WTF? Here is a quote from the CinemaBlend article If You Think Shailene Woodley Isn’t Pretty Enough For The Amazing Spider-Man 2, You Don’t Deserve The Movie:

Yesterday we posted the first on-set images of Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, currently in production in New York. Because they were pictures of an actress walking from place to place on the set, not in costume, the notable difference was seeing her hair tinted to Mary Jane’s signature red. Honestly, the photos weren’t that interesting. Until the comments started.

“Omg she looks horrible I hope they can do something with that face of hers.” “Mary Jane is supposed to be hot.” “Looks horrible as a redhead.” The comments on our site weren’t actually as bad as they were elsewhere on the Internet, and not half as bad as the so-called satire posted at Comic Book Movie, with instructions on how to make Woodley hot enough to play “every nerd’s wet dream.” The “satire” was so close to the real thing that most of their commenters didn’t get the difference, and reading it makes your skin crawl because you just know that’s exactly how a strong handful of fanboys feel, no irony intended.

It is so bad that when I typed ‘shailene woodley mary jane’ into Google to get a photograph it auto-suggested ‘shailene woodley mary jane ugly’. I have never done a search on her name before so that was something Google pulled up from the internet itself.

Really guys?

REALLY?!?

Just when I feel the need to defend fanboys against rampant complaints of how sexist and hostile the fandom can be towards women, I run across something like this.

If the hate was more of a ‘we prefer Gwen Stacey’s character’ or ‘Dunst is a better actress’ then I can see that being a decent debate. I also understand that everyone has a slightly different view of beauty. But to just go off and say that this lovely young woman is ugly and that Mary Jane only exists as a wet dream for nerds? That’s not a legitimate complaint, that’s a request for a swift kick to the balls. One I’ll happily oblige.

Maybe I’ve been blissfully innocent, but I’ve never seen this amount of hate towards the casting of a character based solely on his/her looks. I’ve seen complaints about how someone can’t act or how someone looks nothing like their character (and by nothing I mean changing big stuff like race/gender) but not vehement complaints of how they are ugly and not pretty enough. So maybe the MJ fanboys are the ‘asshole in every group’, after all, the comic book world fandom is quiet vast and there is one is every group…

Anyway, if Shailene was nixed for time or to give her introduction a more solid foundation, then I’m cool with that. But if the filmmakers bowed down like some shameless sycophants… then stop the world cause I’m 110% done and I want off.

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DOFP: Presidental Reveal

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on June 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Bryan Singer has sent us another clue to the storyline that DOFP will be following.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/347043471040856064

First off, this confirms that the mutants did attend the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 as previously assumed. Also, the scene with Nixon which was also teased more than likely directly relates to him giving the speech which is shown in the photo. The fact that apparently things do not end well in Paris must lead to the introduction of Trask and the Sentinels.

One big issue though… if this is happening in 1973, then why, in X-Men, are mutants talked about as if they are something just now being acknowledge? If in ’73 they pull a big enough stunt that the President is giving a speech to a large body of people at possibly the White House itself (which I think will be green-screened in, the way the front is set up kinda looks right for the White House or the Senate House), then how are they pretty much ‘forgotten’ or considered conjecture/nonsense later on? And, of course, no Sentinels exist in the X1-3!future either outside a danger room session.

So, is this the turning point? Is the DOFP!future not actually the X1-3!future, but an alternate future? Then Bishop (likely) is sent back to make sure whatever happens here causes the X1-3!future to come into existence?

From a franchise perspective, I think that’s a bad move. Making sure the X1-3 movies happen and not changing anything means that the stories have no room to grow between DOFP and X-Men. Nothing can be changed or diverged and the drama is lost because you know what’s going to happen. Sure, in FC we knew what was going to happen eventually, it was how it was going to happen that was the key to why FC managed to pull the franchise up. The closer it gets to X-Men though, they won’t have that luxury. Not to mention a reboot allows new, younger actors to come into established roles and keep things going.

Anyway, as much as the word ‘reboot’ grates on me, at least they are using established canon here which could make it totally legit. But perhaps I’m reading this wrong, there is still a lot we don’t know about this storyline and we could end up very surprised.

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Reblog: Report: Man Of Steel Sequel In 2014, Justice League In 2015

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on June 16, 2013| 2 Comments »

From BleedingCool

Rumour: Christian Bale To Play Batman In Justice League, Directed By Zack Snyder, Produced By Christopher NolanWhen it comes to shared-universe comic book movies – which are, like, so in right now – Warner Bros. are definitely playing catch up. But they do seem to be moving with competitive speed.

According to “knowledgeable people close to the studio,” and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Warners are looking to fast track a sequel to Man of Steel for release in 2014. That would probably mean they have to get into production in the next six, maybe nine months.

And what’s more, the nameless, knowledgable ones say that the Justice League movie:

could come out as soon as 2015.

Which is actually what we were expecting a half-dozen set backs ago. I guess box office like Man of Steel‘s can really light a fire.

Films can be turned around this quickly and still turn out well, but I am always disappointed by the studios’ insistance on setting release dates before they even have screenplays, let alone actual films.

If Warner Bros. really want to play Marvel at their own game expect locked-in release dates announced by, or maybe at, San Diego Comic-Con.

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