Posts Tagged ‘CinemaBlend’

Reblog: X-Men: Days Of Future Past Debuts Trailer Tease Ahead Of Big Reveal Next Week

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on January 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I’ll save my indepth thoughts on this till we see the whole thing, but here is a lot of interesting comments from CinemaBlend. Though, why are we seeing Iceman and Magneto together, I thought them rescuing Rogue together got cut?

Via CinemaBlend

Director Bryan Singer has revealed on Twitter that there are some very big promotional plans in store for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past coming next week, and he has begun teasing those plans with the Instagram video you see above, featuring a surprising amount of new footage that wasn’t seen in the trailer that was unveiled a few months back.

The tease features quite a few interesting quick shots, so let’s take a much closer, in-depth look at them, shall we?

I can’t seem to embed the video so here it the link.

Quicksilver X-Men: Days of Future Past

The first shot that I picked up on is this one of Evan Peters as Quicksilver shattering some glass in super slow motion. He also seems to be disguised in a police officer’s uniform, which is just a tad strange.

Wolverine X-Men: Days of Future Past

Next up we have Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) wrapped up in some kind of metal and sinking to the bottom of a body of water. Looking at the way he is bound, I would guess that Magneto is somehow involved here, but I can’t be sure if it’s the older version played by Sir Ian McKellen or the young version played by Michael Fassbender.

Blink Warpath and Sunspot X-Men: Days of Future Past

This third screengrab shows off three mutants who will be making their first appearance in the X-Men franchise. Up front is Booboo Stewart as James Proudstar/Warpath, to the left is Fan Bingbing as Clarice Ferguson/Blink, and on the right is Adan Canto as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot.

Mystique and Magneto X-Men: Days of Future Past

Our fourth shot seems to be an intimate meeting between Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and young Magneto (Michael Fassbender). At the end of Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class the two of them became very close and Mystique even left her closest friend, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), to be with him. It will be interesting to see how their relationship has developed since, given that their timeline in Days of Future Pasttakes place 11 years after the events in that film.

Mystique X-Men: Days of Future Past

Here we have Mystique all by herself incognito in her “human” disguise. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the character in her pretty sundress and hat, as we got this behind-the-scenes photo a few months ago, but we’re still curious what she’s up to.

Iceman and Magneto X-Men: Days of Future Past

Lastly we jump back to the “future” timeline where we see two of Singer’s original franchise players: Shawn Ashmore as Iceman and McKellen as Magneto. With the exception of a few scenes in X2: X-Men United, these two characters have classically been portrayed on opposing sides – X-men vs. the Brotherhood of Mutants – but it would seem that facing an apocalyptic future has convinced them to work together.

We’re not 100% sure what exactly this is a tease for, but be sure to check back on Monday January 27th for even more X-Men: Days of Future Past awesomness.

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Reblog: Mark Ruffalo Dishes On Avengers: Age Of Ultron Script, Confirms Darkness, Laughs

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on January 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

via CinemaBlend

Mark Ruffalo Dishes On Avengers: Age Of Ultron Script, Confirms Darkness, Laughs image
If there’s any one script that the entire industry would give their right arm to get their hands on (good luck turning pages, stubby!), it’s got to be The Avengers: Age Of Ultron. The first picture was a billion dollar success, but the story actually left several unanswered questions. How can S.H.I.E.L.D. be trusted after the chain-of-command scuffle that almost destroyed New York? Who is Thanos? And what’s going on with that barely-contained sexual tension between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner?

Earlier, Scarlett Johansson claimed to know these answers, as she dished some minor sentiments regarding the script, calling it “dark” (not a huge reveal there). Now, Mark Ruffalo has also revealed that he’s read the script, and MTV was there to derail conversation about his Sundance film Infinitely Polar Bear to ask about it.

“I would say that it’s better, it’s cooler, it’s more awesomer,” he said, proving that he’s fairly adept at speaking Comic Con-ese. “It’s a little bit darker, but also really had Joss Whedon’s incredibly witty and sly sense of humor.” He also confirms there’s plenty in the script for Bruce Banner to do, but, well, he’d better if Ruffalo’s agent has anything to say about it.

Nerd Speculation Time! Ruffalo seems to be confirming the mandatory “darker sequel” angle, but by talking up the humor he suggests the drama will come from unlikely sources this time around. In other words, the Avengers won’t be “Disassembled” or any such event. Facing off against Baron Von Strucker and Ultron in this installment seems fairly comic book-y, and there’s a very good chance that lingering, deadly-serious Thanos continues waiting in the wings. Or maybe Ruffalo and Johansson simply read different chunks of the same script: again, this thing is in-demand, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they both read approved chunks of the script in a heavy-security safe house in Brazil once and were forced to leave without it. Maybe Ruffalo got the funny stuff, while Black Widow ended up dealing with some heavy stuff in the aftermath of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

You can pull off “darker” with “more laughs,” and that’s really the best sort of balance with these comic movies: with sequels announced until the end of time, you really need to find new ways to build suspense as much as possible. Fortunately, Whedon and his collaborators never forget that these are comic books originally made for audiences of children. They should be funny, a little ridiculous, and ultimately light on their feet if they want to honor the source material.

Expanding beyond that and using, say, Batman as a template for a serious message or a relevant contemporary theme could prove fruitful, but that’s not the sort of approach that’s all that easy to pull off. Nevermind the struggle in being allowed to use what are essentially costumed corporate mascots for the sake of complex adult storytelling: you can really only pull that off in cult comics and slashfic. Dirty, dirty slashfic.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron opens May 1st, 2015.

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Reblog: Will Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man Have Two Hank Pyms?

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , , on January 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

via CinemaBlend

Will Edgar Wright's Ant-Man Have Two Hank Pyms? image
It was exactly one week ago that director Edgar Wright teased us with the idea that his upcoming Marvel Studios film Ant-Man would actually feature more than one character taking on the titular hero’s moniker. Posting a still from the episode “To Steal An Ant-Man” from the animated series Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the director seemed to hint that his movie would include portrayals of both Hank Pym and Scott Lang, the first two characters in the comics to become Ant-Man. Today that was confirmed with the casting of Michael Douglas, who will star opposite Paul Rudd.Exciting as that development is, however, there’s evidence that suggests that there is more to come. Looking at both recent revelations and old, it’s entirely possible that we will soon end up hearing about the casting of a third Ant-Man. No, I don’t mean Eric O’Grady – I’m talking about young Hank Pym.

When the news of Douglas’ casting was announced this afternoon, Wright directed fans through his Twitter account to an interview that he did with SuperHeroHype all the way back in 2006 (just three months after he landed the Ant-Man gig). Discussing his vision for the superhero story, the filmmaker described beginning the movie with a “prologue” set back in the 1960s, following Hank Pym’s early adventures as Ant-Man, and then flashing forward to the present to tell the story of Scott Lang and how “he crosses paths with Henry Pym, and then, in an interesting sort of Machiavellian way, teams up with him.” Douglas will clearly be playing the older version of Pym that ends up taking Rudd’s Lang under his wing, but that means the project still needs an actor to play the character when he was 50 years younger.

In this regard, having Douglas on-board gives them something to shoot for in the casting process. We can probably assume that Wright won’t be going the Tron Legacyroute and create a younger, digital version of the actor, so that means finding someone who could pass for a young Michael Douglas. The veteran star’s age and the director’s hints suggest that the production will be looking for an actor in his 20s who stands about 5’10″ and who has the uncanny ability to switch from affable to intimidating at the drop of a hat. It won’t be an easy search, but there are a lot of young, talented actors out there who could fit the bill.

In addition to giving a full, rich history to the character of Ant-Man, casting a semi-known actor as the young Hank Pym would also open up a very interesting avenue for Marvel Studios. Thanks to Captain America: The First Avenger we’ve seen the 1940s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the 1960s would be entirely new terrain to explore. Twenty some-odd years after both the creation and presumed death of Captain America, where do things stand? How is S.H.I.E.L.D. progressing? What other experiments are going on? It’s yet another way for the comic book studio to expand everything that they’re doing, and we already know how much they love doing that.

Ant-Man will be in theaters on July 31, 2015, which means that production will start up in the first half of this year. Hopefully we’ll hear even more casting news soon.

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Reblog: Talking, Kids At Inappropriate Movies And Texting Among Movie Theater Pet Peeves

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on January 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

via CinemaBlend

Talking, Kids At Inappropriate Movies And Texting Among Movie Theater Pet Peeves image
What would you consider to be the most irritating behavior in a movie theater? Talking during the movie? Texting or seat-kicking? What about seeing kids at inappropriate movies or hearing the sound of a crying baby while you’re trying to watch the movie? Or perhaps it’s the smell of someone’s hot dog wafting your way or the irritating crinkle of plastic every time they reach into the bag for another chip? As movie theater-goers who shell out considerably to see films on the big screen, I’m sure we all have our own personal pet peeves, just as we likely have our own ways of trying to avoid a bad movie theater experience. A recent poll suggests that “talking” is the number one pet peeve. 

Today.com has a running poll in a recent article exploring bad movie theater manners. Presently, with nearly twenty thousand votes submitted, the most popular option selected is simply “Talking,” which beats out all of the other behaviors by a fair margin (it’s at 61% right now), including texting (10%), Kids at inappropriate movies (12%), Seat-kicking (14%), smelly/noisy food (3%) and other (1%). The site actually explores the various options mentioned, quoting critics and commenters who’ve weighed in on them, including film critic Rob Elder, who spoke specifically about his awareness of small children attending inappropriate movies with their parents, as a parent himself, saying, “I went to a screening of JJ Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’ reboot — but was so distracted by the fact that there was a newborn sitting a few rows away, it subtracted from my enjoyment. The theater was so loud, I’m sure the kid felt carpet-bombed by the rumbling sound system.” 

Admittedly, I’ve been surprised to see children at midnight and late-night screenings of movies, but on my list of pet peeves, that falls lower as I figure the parent would know better than I do whether it’s too late for their child to be up or whether the loud or dark theater would make their child or baby uncomfortable. Or maybe I’m just conditioned to not have an opinion about how other people handle their children. And honestly, I can’t remember the last time I was at the movies and heard a child or baby making noise, so no complaints there either. In my experience, adults are more likely to be disruptive than children. 

As for the use of cell phones, a poll Today did last month suggests an almost universal intolerance toward people taking their cell phone out in the theater, with 97% of people voting “They should never be allowed — watch the movie instead!” The second poll says that 69% claim they never glance at their cell phone during a movie. 29% admit to glancing once or twice but just briefly. It’s understandable that people might find the simple glance at a cell phone to be annoying, considering the light the screen gives off, which can be a distraction in a dark theater. But I’d say that’s a minor offense, the same as it’s a little distracting when someone gets up and steps past you to get to the bathroom or concession stand. In the end, as much as we want to be completely undisrupted while enjoying our movie, there’s no guarantee of that. Of course, if everyone checked their cell phone once or twice during the movie, the theater would be a sea of blinking lights, so let’s hope that poll remains an indication that most people really are willing to set aside their gadgets for a couple of hours and enjoy the film. 

While cell phones can be annoying at movie theaters, I can’t remember the last time someone actually talked on one during a movie. Maybe I’ve just been lucky or maybe people figured out that it’s unacceptable behavior. And it’s also just as possible that people tend to text more than they chat on their phones anyway. But “talking” in general, as Today’s poll suggests, seems to be people’s biggest issue among bad movie theater manners. And you don’t need a cell phone to do that. 

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Reblog: Guardians Of The Galaxy Releases First Official Still, Get To Know The Team

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , , on December 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

via CinemaBlend

Guardians of the Galaxy First Look

Ever since Marvel Studios announced Guardians of the Galaxy at San Diego Comic-Con in 2012, they’ve done a good job of teasing us with some really cool concept art, but that’s about it. Production on the movie wrapped up this fall, but while director James Gunn occasionally posted pictures of himself feeding raccoons or holding up wrestling belts on the set , nothing from the actual movie has ever been officially published publicly. That is, until today.

The film’s director has taken to his Twitter account to post the first ever real look at Guardians of the Galaxy. Very similar to the concept art that was released this past summer and seemingly taken directly from the footage that was shown in Hall H during the Marvel Studios panel at this summer’s Comic-Con, the image has the titular team in a criminal lineup (at one point in the movie the group all find themselves in prison together). As you can see by clicking on the still and seeing it in high-res, none of them are very happy to be there.

With the film still about eight months away from its August 1st release date there are still some pretty big pockets of the movie-going audience who know absolutely nothing about who these characters are, so allow me to help out by breaking it down.

Gamora Guardians of the Galaxy

First up on the far left side of the image we have Gamora, a badass green alien played by Zoe Sandana. As the actress explained on the panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July, the character is a hardcore assassin and possesses great strength, agility and speed. She is an adopted daughter of the evil Thanos – the big purple dude featured in the end credits of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers – but starts a new life for herself with the Guardians of the Galaxy fighting with the good guys.

Star-Lord Guardians of the Galaxy

Next up we have Peter Quill a.k.a Star-Lord, played by Parks and Recreation’s Chris Pratt. Despite his looks, he is actually half human and half alien, and when he was a kid he was taken away from Earth and never looked back. He spends his days trying to be a Han Solo-type smuggler, but, like Gamora, finds a new path thanks to his new group of friends.

Rocket Raccoon Guardians of the Galaxy

Rocket Raccoon may be a lot shorter than his Guardians of the Galaxy teammates, but underestimating him would be a big mistake. Voiced by Bradley Cooper, Rocket is one of a kind, as he was just a normal raccoon before being kidnapped and undergoing experimental medical treatments. As his name implies, he is he is a big fan of explosions and weaponry, and of all the members in the group his closest bond is with Groot (who we will talk more about in a bit.

Drax The Destroyer Guardians of the Galaxy

This mountain of alien muscle is Drax The Destroyer, played by wrestler Dave Bautista. In the comics the character began his life as an ordinary human named Arthur Douglas who saw his entire family killed at the hands of Thanos. Needing somebody to help fight the evil titan, a cosmic energy known as Kronos takes Douglas’ spirit and puts it into a powerful alien body. He’s not only incredibly strong, but can also do some serious damage with a knife.

Groot Guardians of the Galaxy

Finally we’ve arrived at Groot. If you look at this character and think to yourself, “Man, that looks like a walking tree,” then you have some very sharp instincts. Groot is an alien of the species Flora colossus, and is the strongest member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He has the ability to change his size and can absorb wood to become even stronger than he is naturally. He also has genius-level intelligence, though it’s a bit difficult to find that out given that he only has the ability to say “I am Groot” (probably not the biggest challenge for Vin Diesel, who is voicing the character).

In all probability we won’t get to see a Guardians of the Galaxy trailer until Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes out in April, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that Marvel will give us something sooner rather than later!

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Reblog: Anna Paquin’s Rogue Has Been Cut Out Of X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2013| 3 Comments »

Part of me is really mad that she’s once again getting the short end of the stick in these films (I will never forgive X3), but part of me is kinda glad that she won’t be in the official canon of the film because they were probably going to screw her up even worse anyway.

via Cinemablend

dofp_rogue_iceman_magnetoBryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past promises to bring together multiple generations of the mutant superhero team, with the worlds of the original X-Men trilogy and Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class colliding, but today it has been sadly announced that one fan-favorite character has been axed from the final cut of the film. During a recently interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director revealed that Anna Paquin, who plays Rogue in the cinematic X-Men series, is no longer going to appear in next summer’s blockbuster.

The detail was uncovered when Singer explained how a rescue sequence that was shot in the beginning of production on the movie ended up needing to get cut. The scene features Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Rogue (Anna Paquin), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), but Singer says that it ultimately affected the pacing of the film negatively. The good news, however, is that we will be able to see it someday. Explained the filmmaker,

“Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous. It’s a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she’s in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won’t appear in it.”

I must say that this is kind of a bummer. The last time we saw Rogue, in X-Men: The Last Stand, she had received the mutant “cure” and was going on to try and live a normal life. Thanks to the last shot of Magneto in the movie we know that the “cure” ended up being temporary, but what then what happened to Rogue? We won’t get an answer to that question until the movie comes out on home video some time next fall, and it sounds like they won’t be getting too deep into the material. Maybe she will play a crucial role in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse?

X-Men: Days of Future Past may not include Paquin, but it does have a full roster of familiar faces. From the original trilogy we will once again get to see Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and Daniel Cudmore,while returning First Class members include James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult. Joining the franchise in new roles will be Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing. You can watch the teaser trailer for the movie below, and catch the full thing in theaters on May 23, 2014.

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Amazing Spider-Man 2: Plot Synoposis

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on December 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Amazing Spider-Man 2via CinemaBlend

We’ve always known that Spider-Man’s most important battle has been within himself: the struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of Spider-Man. But in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker finds that a greater conflict lies ahead.

It’s great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp.

It basically is telling us that Spider-Man will be dating Gwen while fighting bad guys, probably several of them.

Okay then…

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Reblog: X-Men: Days Of Future Past Plans Reshoots In Montreal

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2013| 4 Comments »

via CinemaBlend

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Plans Reshoots In Montreal

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Plans Reshoots In Montreal image
One of the most encouraging changes I’ve seen in movie fandom over the last five years is in the way we understand news about reshoots. Just a few years ago word about additional shooting days for something like Where the Wild Things Are or Sherlock Holmes would send us and the rest of the Internet into a tizzy, with everyone assuming that something disastrous was happening, that the director had been forced off the movie and that the studio was ruining everything. Sometimes, of course, it was true– Jonah Hex‘s reshoots were only the beginning of its troubles. But most of the time, especially on hugely expensive movies, it’s just part of making sure that spending all that money was worth it.

Which brings us to X-Men: Days of Future Past, now going into reshoots in Montreal according to The Calgary Herald. The production was a huge boon for Montreal when it started there earlier this year, and will reportedly be adding several extra weeks of production– Quebec film commissioner Hans Fraikin calls it “a big reshoot” while also noting that this kind of extra production “happens all the time, especially with big pictures.” And just how big X-Men: Days of Future Past is may be more than any of us were expecting– according to Fraikin it’s the second-biggest production in 20th Century Fox history, just below Avatar. That probably means a final budget way, way bigger than the $160 million it cost to make X-Men: First Class— and if you remember just how cheap the Emma Frost diamond effects looked in that first one, you know why the extra cash is such a good thing.

Not that we were relying on budget to get us excited about Days of Future Past— with everything from Peter Dinklage as a mustache-wearing villain to two versions each of bothProfessor X and Magneto, the movie has enough going on that I’d probably watch a version of it made for 15 bucks and the promise of free popcorn for the entire crew. Most of the expensive effects on the movie aren’t yet finished– and neither is the filming, apparently– but we finally got our first look at the superhero sequel when the teaser trailer emerged online a few weeks ago. Check it out below, and share your speculation about what’s happening in the reshoots in the comments.

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Reblog: Evan Peters Talks About Quicksilver’s Look In X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on October 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

via CinemaBlend

Evan Peters Talks About Quicksilver's Look In X-Men: Days Of Future Past image
The image you see above, Tweeted by director Bryan Singer this past summer while X-Men: Days of Future Past was still in production, is the closest we’ve come to seeing franchise newcomer Evan Peters as the speedy mutant known as Quicksilver. But while we may have to wait a long time before we see an official image of the character, today at the very least we have an official description of what he will look like. iO9 recently caught up with Peters, and shooting him questions about the comic book movie role in an interview the actor revealed some key details about the approach to the character.

Off the bat, comic book fans will be happy to hear Quicksilver will be keeping the signature part of his design in the comics for the live-action film. Asked if the superhero will be sporting his trademark silver hair, Peters responded, “Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it’s cool.” And while the site wasn’t able to get any details about the suit that the character will be wearing into battle, apparently the star was a fan of some of the 70’s fashion he got to sport, including what he calls “a pretty sweet jacket.”

In addition to the look of the costume, the interviewer also talked with the actor about the set you see in the photograph above, which Singer called the brightest set he’s ever worked on. All of the lights were necessary for filming with high speed cameras (operating at 3600 frames per second), which Singer used to stylistically capture Quicksilver’s incredible powers. It sounds like the makings of some very cool sequences, but apparently it was a difficult set to work on for the actors. Explained Peters,

“It was incredibly bright. A lot of the crew and Bryan, himself, got to wear sunglasses. And the actors had to keep their eyes open for a long, long time, with that bright light just blaring at you. It’s like the sun. It’s brighter than the sun. It’s right there in your eyes. But the end result is so worth it. You just power through it.”

Explaining the effect, the actor said that the sequences will go into “super, super, super, super slomo” to the point where it will appear that raindrops are frozen in midair. He added, “It’s amazing how that camera works.”

X-Men: Days of Future Past has completed its principal production process and has now been placed in the hands of the editors and visual effects artists who will work to get the movie ready for release on May 23, 2014. In addition to Peters the film also stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Daniel Cudmore, Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing.

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