Despite his crippling social anxieties, detective Aiden McCormick is the pride of the Detroit Police Department because of his superior investigational abilities. Haunted by the relics of his past, McCormick is tasked with finding the Flayer, a mysterious man responsible for a series of grisly murders occurring throughout the city. Each murder is accented by his gruesome calling card: a distinct triangle cut into the cheek of the victim and the gouging of their eyes. It’s only a matter of time before the Flayer attacks another innocent victim…
Midnight Task Force #1 & #2
Written by: Mark London
Art by: Alejandro Giraldo
Letters by: Andrew Zea
Writing
Issue one of Midnight Task Force opens with a scene straight out of horror movie, albeit one that takes place in 2055 (as a caption informs us on the first page). A young couple is assaulted in a parked car by an unseen attacker. The scene is quick and violent and soon we meet series protagonist Aiden McCromick. And it is here where the comic’s narrative starts to reveal itself. Writer Mark London is creating a cyberpunk noir in the vein of Blade Runner. Aiden even has the hardboiled narration and stand off-ish personality of classic noir detectives. It’s fun stuff, but not terribly original. Through a series of meetings with other characters, we are shown the extent of Aiden’s abilities, skills, and tools. Not only is he a genius in the Sherlock Holmes tradition, he is also not exactly sociable. The goggles he wears work as scanners and computers, storing and analyzing data. It’s at the end of issue one that we learn of a twist to the story that stands to make it a little different. I won’t spoil it for potential readers.
Issue two is really where the meat of the story begins, and where some originality begins to creep into this sci-fi tale. The dialog is much improved, and there are even some playful jabs at the noir template and at Aiden himself. It’s also where the mysterious voices inside Aiden’s head that were introduced in issue one are explained. One good bit is a pretty funny scene at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Art
The art by Alejandro Giraldo was a bit static for me at first, but (like the writing) started to grow on me by issue two. The coloring improves immensely actually, and its neon color hues add a real layer atmosphere to the story. The character faces could use a little detail and work, but the setting and backgrounds are really nicely done. I feel like the art gets a bit better with every panel, trying to find its own style and pace along the way. There are some small details in issue two that are nice, like limbs and word balloons breaking panel borders. This shows me the artist is getting looser and more comfortable with what he is doing.
Conclusion
Midnight Task Force feels a bit like a work in progress. But there is potential here. Issue one was the weaker entry, as by issue two things were improving. If this trend continues, a good book will emerge. It’s also nice to see creators attempt new genres, especially as an independently produced comic book. If you like cyberpunk, give this a try.
In a new interview with Empire Magazine, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins discusses everything from the WW1 setting of the film to the “beautiful and innocent” performance offered by actress Gal Gadot. The interview comes from a scanned copy of Empire’s latest issue available now.
“My approach was to focus on telling the story of mechanised war and how that would look to a god visiting our world for the first time. I wanted the audience to understand the horrors that a war of this scale makes possible, and how shocking that would be to someone who comes with a strong sense of honour and justice. She doesn’t realise yet just how senselessly dark the world can be.”
After an exciting introduction in Batman v Superman, Gal Gadot will reprise her role as Diana Prince in Wonder Woman and Patty Jenkins has only kind things to say about the actress:
“She is everything Diana is. Good, kind, strong admirable, funny, fun, beautiful and innocent, yet wise. She emanates the message of this movie because it comes so naturally to her.”
Wonder Woman won’t only be the first time we’ve seen the character on the big screen, it is also the biggest female-led superhero movie in cinematic history. With Wonder Woman as a female hero, there are certain personality traits and beliefs that Jenkins wants to portray, that we won’t perhaps get from Batman, Superman, and more male heroes.
“She’s vulnerable because of how deeply she cares, what motivates her is philosophical. She isn’t just taking out bad guys or fighting crime. She believes in goodness and love. She is fierce and willing to fight, but only to protect a better vision for mankind.”
Wonder Woman will tell the origin of the hero we first met in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Gal Gadot stars as Diana Prince a child of Themyscira who is drawn to protect the world of man during WW1. From everything Jenkins told Empire it certainly seems like Wonder Woman is in safe hands with Gal Gadot, and we should expect an exciting and emotional story from the DC Extended Universe.
The article from Empire also revealed a new look at Wonder Woman as she charges through the trenches of WW1. This looks to be from a moment we’ve seen several times in trailers, but from a different perspective
“’Wonder Woman’ hits movie theaters around the world next summer when Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action-adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.
The last 48 hours has been dominated by the sudden deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. This mother and daughter duo blazed a trail through Hollywood while each was leaving their mark that will last indefinitely. Reynolds showed that she could keep up with the likes of Gene Kelly on-screen while tackling each role with an abundance of enthusiasm. Fisher not only impacted the world of screenwriting (she helped punch-up such scripts as Hook and Lethal Weapon 3) but showed little girls across the world that they can be whatever they want to be (a princess or a general).However, with her untimely death comes a gigantic hole that needs to be filled in the Star Wars Universe. Let’s examine some of the options they have.
1. Recast Princess/General Leia
There is no way they are going to be able to pull this off. Carrie Fisher was Princess Leia and recasting her would lead to catastrophic results (The Star Wars universe might just riot)
2. CGI Princess/General Leia
Technology has finally reached a point where an actor can be dead and still make an appearance in a motion picture. In Furious 7, they used CGI technology to insert Paul Walker towards the end of the film as he had passed away close to the conclusion of the shoot. In Rogue One, Peter Cushing (who died 22 years ago) reprised his role as Grand Moff Tarkin through the magic of CGI. However, could Lucasfilm and Disney get away with having a CGI Princess/General Leia in Episode IX? The answer is no as she’s too iconic of character to resort to digital trickery for a whole film.
3.Do what the Hunger Games did.
When Phillip Seymour Hoffman passed away during the last weeks of filming Mocking Jay, director Francis Lawrence felt the only way to handle the loss was to tweak the script.
In Mockingjay Part 2, they ended up giving the remainder of his lines to Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and it ended up being a nice tribute to his character. I could see them working her into Episode IX in this manner. Perhaps she’s in hiding from the First Order and sends a message to our new band of heroes.
4. Princess/General Leia is going to have to be killed
In my opinion, this is the only logical way to handle Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing. Something tells me that this might be all a moot point in the end as we aren’t even sure she survived Star Wars Episode VIII. Remember, Leia has to be pretty upset that Kylo Ren (Ben Solo -her son) killed the love of her life. Something tells me she’s not going just to sit by and not seek out some retribution. What if Kylo and Leia have a similar encounter the way Han and Kylo did? Leia has to go out in a blaze of glory (just like Han did).
Now, let’s say she does survive Episode VIII, then in the narrative of Episode IX, she should face the same fate her adoptive parents did on Alderaan. Remember …..
To do anything other than that would signal to rest of the world that Carrie Fisher was replaceable and as you well know, she was the furthest from that.
What do you think will happen? Leave a comment and let us know.
When exactly Grodd returns to once again battle Team Flash remains to be seen. The last we saw of him, he was banished to Gorilla City in Earth 2. Perhaps Grodd will return with a simian army, adding yet another threat to the Savitar plagued Central City.
The Flash returns Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. The show stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin and Keiynan Lonsdale.
A new teaser image from FX’s Legion has been released on Twitter. Check it out below.
The official Legion social media accounts have been dropping new images all throughout the last few weeks, gearing up for the series’ premiere on February 8, 2017.
“Legion follows David Haller, a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and visions might be real.”
Debbie Reynolds is dead at the age of 84. Her death comes one day after the passing of her daughter, Carrie Fisher.
According to the New York Times, Reynolds fell ill from a stroke while discussing plans for Fisher’s funeral. Despite being taken to hospital, her death came later that day. Her son Todd Fisher confirmed the news.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” says Fisher. He describes Fisher’s death as being “too much” for his late mother.
Apart from her son, Reynolds also leaves behind granddaughter Billie Lourd, who is an actress.
She was truly a natural when it came to acting
As an actress, Reynolds leaves a stellar body of work. She is best known for playing Kathy Selden in 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain. In 1964, Reynolds earned an Oscar nod for the lead role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. She would reprise this part in the Broadway adaptation.
How can anyone not feel uplifted when they see this movie?
Her filmography includes Tammy and the Bachelor, Goodbye Charlie, and The Singing Nun. During the 1990s, she had a recurring role on Will & Grace as Debra Messing’s wild mom.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Reynolds’ family at this time.
The OA, Netflix’s mysterious new supernatural drama is flawed, but worthy of your attention.
Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling co-created, co-executive produced and co-wrote the eight-part series. Batmanglij also directed every episode.
The OA is a complex and experimental exploration of life and death. From the beginning, the series asks the audience to suspend disbelief and follow along.
The Premise
Marling stars as Prairie Johnson, a young woman who disappeared several years ago. She is reunited with her parents after surviving jumping off a bridge. But she’s changed. When she left home she was blind, but now she can see. Instead of answering to the name Prairie, she insists on being called “The OA.” She has mysterious scars on her back.
The OA forges an unlikely friendship with a group of teen-aged misfits and their teacher. They all gather at an unfinished house where she tells them the story of her life, which began in Russia in 1987.
“I’m going to tell you my story,” The OA tells the group. “And there will come a point when you’ll see why you are here, what you might do together, how you can help people that you’ll never meet. But, you have to pretend to trust me until you actually do.”
Each night, she reveals more of her story, telling the group about her disappearance, what led to her capture and what part they play in her new mission.
Conclusion
The OA is flawed.
Not enough attention is given to some of the characters for the audience to form a deep enough emotional connection to them.
The series, at times, ventures into the absurd (again, you really have to suspend disbelief). And some elements are never fully explained, causing some revelations to fall flat.
But, it’s also intriguing. The show’s many twists and turns keep you engaged enough to wonder how it all fits together.
Earlier today it was reported from The Wrap that Ryan Reynolds would appear as Deadpool alongside Hugh Jackman in Logan. Since that report both Ryan Reynolds and director James Mangold have confronted the rumor.
Reynolds took to twitter to calm fans down and let them know that Wolverine will be a solo adventure, meaning no Deadpool in this one folks.
Director James Mangold then took to twitter to reassure fans that Deadpool will not appear in Logan and even went on to call out The Wrap for the false report.
While it would be amazing to see Deadpool and Wolverine interact, it does make sense for them to be kept separate. The tone of Logan seems to be much grittier than Deadpool and might not suit the comedic fun that is Wade Wilson.
Set in the future of 2024, Wolverine and Professor Charles Xavier must cope with the loss of the X-Men when a corporation lead by Nathaniel Essex is destroying the world leaving it to destruction, with Logan’s healing abilities slowly fading away and Xavier’s Alzheimer’s forcing him to forget. Logan must defeat Nathaniel Essex with the help of a young girl named Laura Kinney, a female clone of Wolverine.
Logan will land in theaters on March 3, 2017.
Are you sad that Deadpool won’t appear in Logan? Let us know in the comments section!
According to The WrapDeadpool star Ryan Reynolds has shot a scene as the merc with a mouth for Logan. This means that fans will get to see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine share the big screen with Deadpool at least once.
The Wrap is reporting that an insider told them a scene featuring Deadpool will likely be used as an after credits scene in the final film. This could be to set up the Deadpool sequel, or perhaps even a future X-Force movie.
It’s not a massive surprise to hear that Reynolds will appear in Jackman’s final Wolverine movie. Both stars have shown great chemistry on social media and in interviews not to mention that there is an obvious demand from fans to see the pairing happen.
Logan will follow an older Wolverine and Professor X as they protect a young girl named Laura. The film is set in 2024 and as previously reported Mutant births are in decline, but it would make a lot of sense for Deadpool to appear since he is technically immortal.
UPDATE: Both director James Mangold and Ryan Reynolds have shot down this rumour claiming that The Wrap made up the report. Check out their tweets below:
I spent three weeks in December traveling on the opposite side of the world from me in South East Asia. I toured the dense, skyscraper-laden streets of Hong Kong, the rustic shores of Vietnam, the otherworldly landscapes of Thailand, and the phenomenal, modern world of Singapore. It was a beautiful time. But to get to these magical places (and back!) from my high-rise cave in Miami, Florida, required extremely long flights and a two-week cruise traveling aboard the Azamara Journey.
During all this traveling there was plenty of downtime, so I caught up on A LOT of movies. I broke down all 19 movies I watched into fun, bite-sized thoughts along with pictures of where the MFR Logo was seen!
The Adventure Begins!
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Good: Beautifully animated with a simple but effective, comic-of-age story mixed with heavy dose of myth.
The Bad: If I were to critique something it would be the simplicity of the adventure, but that’s sort of the point. And the “universe” could expand into bigger and better adventures.
The Ugly: This would be the best movie I’d see for a long time. Not a bad thing, but it was rough traveling thanks to some of these movies.
Suicide Squad
The Good: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was fun. Will Smith being a little more subdued.
The Bad: Everything. Firstly, it doesn’t make much sense at this point in the DCU. Where Marvel has built up to doing something like this, DC hasn’t earned it.
The Ugly: Director David Ayers forgot that lighting exists in movies for a reason.
Star Trek Beyond
The Good: The cast is still fun, and traveling around the galaxy never looked so pretty.
The Bad: The cast says and does things that just make no sense. Once again, the villain is a good actor (Idris FREAKIN’ Elba) wasted on an uninspired character.
The Ugly: Simon Pegg. Not as Scottie, but for someone who is a Star Trek fan I think Pegg should be ashamed of himself. It just moves even further away from the spirit of Star Trek.
X-Men Apocalypse
The Good: Singer’s style is still fun, Quicksilver scene is a little too much but still impressive, and it’s got plenty of destruction porn.
The Bad: Sorry if I get repetitive, but the villain. Apocalypse looks weird, and he’s about as interesting as Ultron.
The Ugly: I’m assuming ‘apocalypse’ in the title is to describe what’s happening to this once consistent series.
Independence Day: Resurgence
The Good: The original ID$ was dumb fun. That’s the good here, that the original movie is still easily available.
The Bad: They decided to make a sequel and chose to be lazy. Rebooting ID4 in this age of cinematic universes is a good idea, but the execution was wholly uninspired.
The Ugly: You could watch the movie on mute and create your dialogue and make it more interesting. Maybe even add a drinking game element to it because why not?
Hong Kong
Top of the Peak Tram high above Hong Kong
Captain America: Civil War
The Good: The Russo Brothers do Michael Bay 100x better than Michael Bay. Their action scenes are clean, easily to follow, and very cool.
The Bad: Yet ANOTHER revenge villain with a convoluted plan that relies on the heroes traveling to the right place at the right time.
The Ugly: The plot and character motivations seemed developed by 12-year-olds using a free scriptwriting app.
Spectre
The Good: It’s a Bond movie with gadgets, girls, and ’explosions. Probably won’t be your favorite but it isn’t worst I’ve seen.
The Bad: It’s kind of boring. The villain and the twist involving him aren’t all that surprising or threatening.
The Ugly: Bond-by-the-numbers and lacking any ‘oomph’ and all the world traveling never feels tacked on.
Jason Bourne
The Good: ‘Splosions, action, and the fact that I’m not much of a Bourne fan, to begin with. So, my thoughts are mostly uninformed.
The Bad: Wildly straight forward and the once innovative action feels uninteresting because every movie does it.
The Ugly: Matt Damon’s scowl and that Bourne isn’t considered a comic book movie since he can seemingly take endless amounts of punishment and make cars much more durable than they should be.
Vietnam
Ho-Chi-Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.
Nerve
The Good: Pleasant surprise. Well-acted, briskly paced, and cleverly directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
The Bad: It’s kind of an episode of Black Mirror made a little longer. But that’s not so bad.
The Ugly: Like an episode of Black Mirror, the ugly truth always comes at the end. For Nerve, it’s the final punch of the plot when it reveals who the real ugly antagonists are.
Lights Out
The Good: Congratulations to director David F. Sandberg for turning his two-minute short film of the same name into a chance to make a five-million dollar version with the same concept.
The Bad: It’s not great, but at the same time it’s not a bad starting point for a monster/horror franchise with an interesting new kind of shadow creature. If they can make sequels to the dreadful Paranormal Activity, why not this?
The Ugly: The film-school-rookie ending. Yeesh.
Thailand
The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand
The Legend Of Tarzan
The Good: Skarsgard was a great choice, it moves along quickly, and you get Samuel L. Jackson playing Samuel L. Jackson or the anti-Morgan Freeman.
The Bad: The flashback sequences are disjointed, and the ending set-piece is borderline silly.
The Ugly: There must be some unwritten rule about making a Tarzan movie roughly every ten years. And this law dictates that the picture is average at best. The Legend of Tarzan fulfills this universal cinematic requirement entirely.
Now You See Me 2
The Good: A fun and lighthearted adventure where magic is real-ish if you go along with the pseudo-science explanations.
The Bad: Morgan Freeman playing Morgan Freeman or the anti-Samuel L. Jackson. I don’t think either actor tries very hard anymore.
The Ugly: My face while watching it because I’ve never watched the first movie or even heard of this series. I was utterly perplexed for the entire time.
Singapore
S.E.A Aquarium in Singapore
Ben-Hur
The Good: Director Timur Bekmambotov delivers a handful of great eye-candy.
The Bad: Remaking one of cinema’s all-time classics is always ugly business.
The Ugly: Aside from some visuals, the film is as lifeless as the stone tablets once used to record ancient stories.
The Secret Life of Pets
The Good: Cute, family friendly film with candy-coated computer animation.
The Bad: It wants to be Toy Story with pets but doesn’t ever get close. One moment it’s smart and the next it’s thoughtlessly moving ahead.
The Ugly: Listening to funny people like Louis C.K. and Kevin Hart try to make it work in something that is just not suited for what makes them great at what they do.
Traveling Back To The U.S.A
So long, London!
Keanu
The Good: I love me some Key and Peele and they do their thing here with gusto.
The Bad: The plot is ridiculous but somehow still works thanks a consistent flow of comedy and action.
The Ugly: I watched this one the day after George Michael passed away and the film took a little of that weight with its love for the late pop star.
Don’t Breathe
The Good: Pleasantly surprised by this thriller which didn’t quite go as I expected. Whether you like his take on Evil Dead or not, Fede Alvarez is an inventive director with a great eye and sense of cinema. I look forward to more of his work.
The Bad: How long will it take for this series to turn into a dried up cash cow where the blind antagonist is somehow driving a car in a chase scene?
The Ugly: It’s a bit of a reach as far as the suspension of disbelief goes. The blind antagonist is an adept shooter or has superhuman hearing like Daredevil.
The Conjuring 2
The Good: I consider the first Conjuring one of the better horror films of the 21st century. Conjuring 2 changes it up a bit in some very good ways.
The Bad: The last 20 minutes of the film tails off a bit in the same ways as the first Insidious.
The Ugly: The demonic villain here is pretty hideous and might be standing at the foot of your bed while you sleep.
Morgan
The Good: The concept, an assassin is sent to a remote lab to kill a genetically modified human designed as a weapon, is solid.
The Bad: The pacing, plot, and writing are lackluster. The team of scientist thing in an isolated location is a trope that needs good writing and acting to work well. It doesn’t come together here.
The Ugly: Kate Mara plays the world’s worst assassin. How bad is she? Mara gets her ass handed to her throughout the flick and the “surprise twist” makes it worse.
For The Love Of Spock
The Good: If you love Spock, Star Trek, or any part of Leonard Nimoy’s very extensive career as an actor and director you will love this. Directed by Nimoy’s son, Adam Nimoy, the documentary is a beautiful tribute that shows many aspects of the man from Vulcan.
The Bad: Being reminded that Leonard Nimoy is traveling within a new universe.
The Ugly: Watching Leonard Nimoy in the hilarious hobbit song video.
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