The film Assassins Creed made me wish for the sweet relief of death. Death would have at least allowed me to escape the assault on the senses that was this truly horrific film. Why? Why would anyone want to subject themselves to this mess? Even if you are a fan of the video game, this film doesn’t do it justice, it makes me want to find the creators of the game and throat punch them rapidly. Even with a solid cast Micheal Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons, this film is the equivalent of a sinking ship (one that cost 130 million dollars to make).
Didn’t Hollywood learn their lesson when Warcraft was poorly received? Can anyone reading this tell me of one instance where a video game was successfully (emphasis on the word successful) adapted for the big screen? Alas, no-one can and here we are once again on the precipice on yet another disastrous idea.
The film centers around a convicted killer named Cal Lynch (Fassbender). He’s on death row for murdering a pimp and is about to be executed via lethal injection. The scene then poorly transitions to a massive overseas lab where we see Lynch waking up and two scientists played by Jeremy Irons and Marion Cotillard are thrilled.
Lynch gets taken to this seedy looking lab and attached to a device that looks as if it’s been repurposed from the film Avatar and he believes that he’s in 1492. Lynch comes to realize that his ancestors were part of an elite group of assassins who were sworn to protect the world from the forces of the Templar. The Templar are seeking out the Apple of Eden because of its insight into human behavior and the ability to control people too. What lynch doesn’t realize is that these scientists actually are part of the Templar group as well (dramatic sound effect). While I’m sure this revelation certainly floored all of you, just know that Fassbender’s character isn’t going to give up so easy (eye roll).
What made Ubisoft studios think that hiring the director who did Macbeth last year was such a great idea? Justin Kurzel benefited last year benefitted from a nicely staged version of one of Shakespeare’s classic plays. Not to mention both Fassbender and Cotillard are pretty outstanding in that film as well. What made them think that this was the guy or even the cast to pull this off?
The writing in the film is heavy (uses a ton of big words when they aren’t needed), boring and will elicit more laughter than any gasp of excitement. Why would you write a film about a very popular video game and have the film take place a majority of the time, OUTSIDE THE VIDEO GAME? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but aren’t those the fans you want to draw into this film? Why would you spend a majority of the time outside of it? This is yet another example of Hollywood developing a great idea and showing little forethought after that.
Going forward, studios are going to have to seek out directors who are also avid gamers to correctly tackle this source material. Until that occurs, we are going to continue to get one bad adaptation after another. Bringing in a fan of the source material to direct can work and the perfect example of that was Tim Miller (avid comic book collector and director of Deadpool). I think that turned okay .. don’t you?
In a recent interview with TV Guide, actor Teddy Sears teased a potential return of Black Flash in the series’ future.
“Zoom has been transformed into Black Flash, who has quite a place in the mythology of The Flash. He’s like the grim reaper for speedsters. Andrew Kreisberg, the head writer and EP, has talked about their interest in having a Black Flash return at some point in the series.”
What are your thoughts on potentially seeing Sears return as the Black Flash? Did you like his character’s arc in season two? Let us know in the comments section!
Season three of The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, January 24.
A new Legion poster has been released by the show’s official Twitter account. Check it out below.
The show takes place within the X-Men film universe and debuts on FX in less than two months, 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.”
“GREEN IS THE NEW EVERYTHING,” part 1! Their songs may be better, but the Misfits have lost their label and nobody will touch them in the music business. On the ropes and desperate to get back on top, they’re forced to consider the worst case scenario…A MISFITS REALITY TV SHOW. Though it promises the chance to get them back in the spotlight, it comes with a heavy, privacy-destroying price.
Writing
With the popularity of the Jem comic, it was inevitable that IDW would have to answer the demand for more content. Enter The Misfits, the frenemy band of the Holograms who just so happened to have had a major plot point open for them thanks to recent issues of Jem. In short, the band has been let go from their record company and thanks to their past, well let’s call them “indiscretions,” they have become a black mark for any recording company. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to explore a bit more about these characters and what makes them tick.
This is where writer Kelly Thompson really makes this new series feel like something more than simply a convenient spinoff. The majority of this issue is spent in flashbacks showing how the Misfits came together as a band and even showing a bit more about Pizzazz. There could be an entire storyline just showing her growing up in a broken household but the subtle mentions of it are more than enough to help to get a mental picture of what it was like. A perfect example of “show, don’t tell” which makes the reader wish they could do something to improve her situation.
Artwork
The artwork for this issues has Jenn St-Onge (Josie and The Pussycats) on art and M. Victoria Robado (Littlest Pet Shop) doing the color work. The two artists come together and complement one another’s styles to produce a pleasing mixture which seems to tap into the previous incarnations of the characters but at the same time helps to give them a sense of originality. The subtle changes to each of the characters through the flashbacks to show them as younger is a very nice touch and really helps to wrap the first issue up with a bow.
Conclusion
IDW has another success for their audience and given them what they want but at the same time doing so in a very fulfilling and enriching way. Too many times publishers are simply it in for a cheap cash grab and don’t offer anything deep or meaningful in the process. Make no mistakes Jem fans, this is far from cheap or simple, and instead is a book you won’t want to miss checking out.
Magical Girl Raising Project can be seen by some as cute girl snuff porn. I am one of those people in that camp. While Magical Girl Raising Project can be shocking and entertaining, it is nothing more than junk food with near zero substance. Sometimes that is okay. I sure enjoyed the experience of watching it, but I feel given the comparisons this show is being given I feel its only right to tackle why this show fails to really say anything and what makes it entertaining. Even though it would be easy to address the reason people compare it to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I wont in this review for the sake of having the show stand on it’s own as much as possible. Though through the review you’ll be able to understand my stance on comparing these shows and why I feel they ultimately have little in common anyway. Also I have no experience with the light novel its based off of. I’ve never been opposed to tackling a magical girl show and here is no exception, so let’s get to it.
From the opening scene of Magical Girl Raising Project we’re led to believe that things aren’t as they seem. The atmosphere is foreboding and darkness is looming around the corner, despite the innocent and happy events that transpire in the first episode. The show didn’t take long to reveal its true intention and when it did I was invested in the fight for survival scenario that it was going for. Having people be forced to fight or compete for their lives is always appealing and alliances for certain characters form quite fast, especially if they are all cute girls. But what Magical Girl Raising Project seems to be absent of is, intention to root for these girls beyond the general empathetic sense. Sure I got emotional and sad when characters died. It’s only natural. Seeing innocent people being forced into horrible situations is awful and seeing them die and struggle is easily gripping. I wouldn’t care about these characters unless their life was on the line. So what is it all in service of? Around episode five I was asking myself this question and for the rest of the series I failed to receive an answer. Sure all the characters have their own motivations but what is the show saying? There must be a reason for all these things to be happening. Isn’t that the point of a narrative like this? It sure seemed like it was going somewhere with the main character Snow White being innocent and a bystander for the whole show. However it never delves into telling us why any of this should matter other than people are dying and that’s bad, so we should be sad. Again this works but only for so long. I don’t wanna watch a show that brutally murders people, makes me feel sorry for them and says nothing. It made me depressed and in service of nothing. It doesn’t even have the courtesy to have the simple message of “this world sucks and we can’t change it”. The ending is pseudo hopeful, I think.
Given the tight narrative and cast of diverse characters it should feel like there would be something tying everything together. Why else would you spend the time developing every character, trying to make us feel for their situation; only to kill them and say nothing about it. Like I said before it feels like just snuff porn. A show that reviles in depression and gratuitous violence isn’t enough to make me care in the long run. Even as I write this review I lost all the feeling I felt for every character except contempt. And the characters aren’t even that bad. Sure there are too many broken characters, but they fall into the realm of reason for the most part (I’m looking at you Swim Swim). It’s easy to say a character is crazy just because, but Magical Girl Raising Project makes sure you know why they are crazy and makes their actions make seem logical and hence lets the narrative flow, and keeps you invested in what will happen next.
All except one. The lovable mascot character is the breaking point for this show. It is the clear villain of all puppet masters and nothing beyond that. Its motivations are never even attempted to be rationalized. Never does it try to make you think about why it may be doing this cruel thing and not care. It is just there to be a shocking villain that is cute and apathetic. Why does this happen with such a diverse cast of emotion from the other characters? Because they want it to feel alien. Which would work if they were consistent, but they aren’t. As the show progresses the mascot reveals its intention extremely vaguely and even shows emotion. It’s as alive as these girls its making fight to the death, so why is it scary? It’s not anymore, just a cheap attempt to be edgy. It is around to say horrible things in a peppy voice and make the girls struggle. In the end even Snow White just gets pissed at it because its being such a dick. I don’t think you want to feel like the main villain is just a dick. Especially if the consequences involve murder. It clearly understand emotions, but why doesn’t it care about these girls. We never know, it’s just gratuitous. Same goes for the horrific ways people die. It’s gory as all hell and after fifteen deaths it becomes too much (civilian killing spree aside). Everything in this show gets old, because for the most part nothing changes, it just repeats. The story progresses but none of the characters do. So that brings up the question, how does this plan for the magical girls to kill each other kick off in the first place? Something has to change the status quo for the shows events to unfold.
Magical Girl Raising Project functions on a tipping point philosophy. Meaning that everything can be going hunky dory but all it takes is one change in the status quo for everything to spiral out of control. It’s the same as the Joker’s “one day” philosophy in the Killing Joke. Giving a group of people the extreme of kill or be killed presents an almost unavoidable outcome. From the very start we know that people are going to kill each other even though some don’t want to. But that really only happens once, at the end. Every other death is by someone who is okay with killing. So instead of people struggling with killing others, we get people cowering until its their moment to die. Literally a battle of attrition for who can stay pure the longest. That’s boring. You would think that there would be some answer to this problem, but the show never gives us one. It follows the scenario to its conclusion and has a Hunger Games ending. There isn’t any shift in the narrative as a whole. No big reveals that change how things happen, or how we perceive the events. Why can’t this show give me something to care, invest, or think about? Again it’s because all it wants to do is be shocking. It wants to be that thing you saw and couldn’t un-see. The thing that you thought was gross but kept watching anyway because you had to know how it ended. The villain is never even challenged until the ending. All these girls have magical powers and never once try to defy the villain. They’d rather just kill each other. What about the lifespan items, one was worth 25 years off your life but the person who bought it never suffered from it. I guess the implication is shocking but what would have really been cool was her dying because her time was up. Just a lot of cool ideas without any real creative ways to use them. It’s like giving a five-year old a chess set.
The ending is by far the worst part. If you don’t give your characters arc’s or motivations or emotional conflict the ending will suffer. This one does. The bad guy dies in a bullshit way and instead of dealing with the problem, the survivors ran away. It doesn’t make any sense as to how or why they escape the rules of the game. They just do. Suddenly the organization that can create magical girls at will and kill them at will is unaware or powerless to kill these girls who have stolen their power and are working independent from their wishes. This is where the disconnect ripples backwards through the show and made me think, why the hell did any of this happen if they didn’t really care? I guess you could say that’s part of the tragic nature of the show. That even though bad things happen to someone, its trivial for others. But what’s the point of having a happy ending then? Why not just kill them all if you don’t care? Or maybe they do care because the mascot could feel emotions. So there is motivation but this show fails to be consistent on it and drowns its resolution with blowing a hole in a person because its shocking and the audience wasn’t expecting it.
The only positive thing about this show is the character development. Which all happens in flashbacks. None of it’s really effected by the narrative, it’s all back story stuff. Magical Girl Raising Project fails to connect and that’s why it falls short. The events are griping but they don’t stick for long. I never felt the events paid off or were worth it. It’s twelve episodes of being sad and depressed and feeling hopeless. If that’s what the show was going for I guess it worked, but even if I step in a puddle I know it’ll eventually dry. That’s all this show is to me, a puddle. I made it through but at the end I was pissed by what it had to say, which is nothing. This show is a good way to fill time and wont bore you, but that’s about it.
Gore Verbinski Is Giving Serious Lovecraft Vibes With ‘A Cure For Wellness’!
After taking a break from horror with ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean‘, it seems like Gore Verinski is returning to horror with a vengeance! ‘A Cure For Wellness‘ has its first real trailer and it’s a bizarre Lovecraftian piece.
Starring Dane DeHaan as an employee sent to rescue his boss from a “wellness spa”; look for this to be one of the more artful horror films next year. All of the previews for this have been giving off some serious vibes to other horror masterpieces. There’s the obvious H.P. Lovecraft feeling but it also seems like Kubrick’s ‘Eye Wide Shut‘ or David Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ‘.
Are you looking forward to this surreal film by Gore Verbinski? Check out the trailer and let me know how you feel in the comments below!
‘A Cure For Wellness‘ is released February 17th, 2017. It stars Dane DeHaan, Jason Issacs, and Mia Goth.
The Power Rangers reboot looks to be an exciting film, and it gives Zordon a new backstory!
According to The Wrap, Zordon will be the original Red Ranger. Sixty-five million years ago, Zordon fights Rita Repulsa in prehistoric times. However, she transforms him into a state of pure energy.
From Heisenberg to Zordon. Not bad.
In the original show, Zordon’s past is a mystery, but it is known that he comes from the planet of Eltar. The film’s backstory will thus give him a deeper bond with the Rangers.
Bryan Cranston will lend his voice to Zordon for the movie. He is also providing motion capture to play the role.
Elizabeth Banks’ Rita Repulsa will serve as the main villain, and she also has a connection to the Rangers.
I wonder if Rita will get a headache in this film?
In the film, Rita is former Green Power Ranger who has gone rogue. Her mission is to steal the Zeo Crystal, which gives the Rangers their power. It is Rita’s goal to return the Zeo Crystal to her master Lord Zedd.
Rita’s connection sets up more stories for the franchise. Perhaps the sequel will have her create a new Green Power Ranger. This could be a great way to bring Tommy Oliver into the fold.
Power Rangers follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove and the world are in danger of an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes discover they are the only ones who can save the planet. To do so, they must band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.
The creator of the crawling credits which have opened every single Star Wars movie is not happy. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dan Perri spent many painful months laboring over the famous title which has become a key feature throughout the franchise. However, the creators of Rogue One opted not to include the familiar intro. Perri told THR:
“Frankly, it is a huge mistake, because the image is so iconic and it’s so important to tens of millions, hundreds of millions of fans. I couldn’t imagine it starting without that. It’s foolish.”
The film’s creators have said that Rogue One doesn’t feature an opening crawl because the story actually comes from the original title Perri created. Rogue One is a prequel which sets up the whole saga. Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed and Forest Whitaker star as unlikely rebel heroes who set out on an extraordinary mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, the ultimate weapon.
What do you think? Should the film have had the crawl?
Warner Bros. gave fans a detailed look at the Batman’s new suit in a promo photo for Justice League featuring the Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman, via Entertainment Weekly. The union of the entire Justice League is the team-up we’ve all been longing for and the wait is almost over. Yesterday we learned from LRM Online that a fan had coaxed a teaser from Director Zack Snyder, who said:
“The promo for the movie will begin REAL SOON so I can’t say more at the moment.”
Apparently “real soon” can be interpreted as the end of the month, and in the meantime, this moody new image is here to whet our appetites.
The image brings together Ezra Miller’s Flash, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in the first promo material we’ve seen since San Diego Comic Con. Fueled by a renewed faith in humanity, Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team including Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash, and the newly resurrected Superman (Henry Cavill), to take on the super villain Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds).
Justice League, which will be the 5th installment in the DC Extended Universe, is expected to hit theatres on November 17th 2017.
What is typically a jam-packed category at any Oscars ceremony, Best Supporting Actress, looks oddly thin this year. And there isn’t really a breakout frontrunner the same way there typically is – although if any category is used to the upset winner, it’s Supporting Actress, so I guess a frontrunner doesn’t really matter. From Marisa Tomei to Marcia Gay Harden, Best Supporting Actress is more of a crapshoot than any other acting category.
That being said, expect Viola Davis to grab a nomination for her standoff with Denzel Washington in Fences. And, barring any aforementioned upset, it feels like Davis’s time to win, and she deserves it for this role and, well, her entire career of greatness. Beyond Davis, the field opens up considerably, although Naomie Harris should get recognition for her turn as a drug-addicted – and eventually regretful – mother in Moonlight. She could just sneak away with the statue as well.
Michelle Williams is picking up steam as the estranged ex-wife to Casey Affleck in Manchester by The Sea. And she is good, but there simply isn’t enough meat on the bone here for me. That doesn’t mean she won’t get a nomination. Many have been nominated for less, and some have even won for less. I’m looking at you, Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love.
And then there were two, and a handful of hopefuls that will probably serve as mere filler. There are the outside hopefuls like Greta Gerwig for 20th Century Women and Helen Mirren in Eye in The Sky, but 20th Century Women will find its recognition elsewhere and Eye in The Sky may have been too small even for the snooty Academy to notice. Nicole Kidman is picking up steam for her work in Lion, and it feels like she will grab a spot. And then there’s Octavia Spencer for Hidden Figures, the NASA film. She should be noticed for no other reason than she’s Octavia Spencer and don’t we all love her? We should.
