Comic book artist Mike Perkins has been part of the industry since 1993, with his most notable work from the Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America. Perkins is currently working on Carnage and his indie book Rowans Ruin from Boom! will be out in trade paperback form in December.
The first annual MegaCon Tampa came together over the weekend, and Perkins took the time to talk with us about the epidemic of internet trolls in the comic book industry and how as a nerd culture we can move past it.
“I think there is more of a freedom of speech on the internet, on the message boards and that doesn’t necessarily mean its a good thing. Because of the anonymity of it, they are more embolden to harsher opinions in a way. I think that is a problem. I don’t really read the message boards because you usually read the message board or read reviews or something on the message boards and everyone hates your work. But then you realize it’s only perhaps 20 of them who keep going backwards and forwards and all this kind of stuff. I think it is more of a problem with the entire message board activity, rather than the actual people,” said Perkins.
“I don’t know if we can (drowned out the negative on the message boards). A lot of the times you come across these people at conventions, and they are sweet people. But you put them with this mask behind them and it’s just like, ‘everything is rubbish, and everything is bad.’ They just have that cage in-between them and the person that they are affecting, and they don’t understand that they are real people. It’s scary, really. I don’t know if there is anything we can do about apart from reminding people that the people they are criticizing are real people and they have feelings,” said Perkins.
Perkins makes some great points and as long as this conversation continues we are making progress.
Perkins does keep himself well insulated from the negativity as the artist only has a Facebook account and is not part of Twitter.
How would you fix the issue with internet trolls? Comment below.
Earlier this year it was announced that the Star Wars character Han Solo will get his own spin-off film. Now, the Han Sol: A Star Wars Story cinematographer Bradford Youngsheds some light on the projects tone and direction, according to Comicbook.com
Young stifles any misgivings fans might have about the film’s directors (Phil Lord and Chris Lord ) being the right choice to helm the second Skywalker-less entry:
“These cats are subversive, don’t let it fool you,” he said with a laugh. “They are prepared to say exactly what they wanna say and it’s complex, it’s layered, it’s smart, it’s visual, it’s dramatic, it’s funny, it’s uneasy, it’s unexpected. These cats are—I’m honored to have them in the list of directors I’ve worked with, that’s for sure.”
Young goes on to say that the team at Lucasfilm are behind them one hundred percent:
“Nobody at Lucasfilm is asking us to betray that [Star Wars formula], they’re saying ‘We’re in full support of what you do and we wanna make sure that we’re able to help you do it in the best way.’ It’s gonna feel like a Star Wars film, but we’re definitely gonna break some rules, and we’re encouraged to do that… Visually, narratively that’s a good mandate. They really are about, from what I’ve seen so far, supporting up and coming artists, artists who have a strong vision and voice and perspective, and they really wanna permeate the films with those kinds of voices.”
Giving a billion-dollar-grossing franchise to up-and-coming directors shows the trust Disney and Lucasfilm has for them. It’s an unprecedented and possibly risky direction to take.
The Han Solo movie doesn’t even have a title yet or a specific plot. What is known: the movie will follow the adventures of a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) prior to events in A New Hope.
Donald Glover, who will play a young Lando Calrissian, is the only other actor cast thus far. Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct from a screenplay written by Jon Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan, the latter of whom wrote both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Han Solo: A Star Wars Story will hit theaters sometime in 2018.
The countdown continues: there is a little over a month to go until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters. Fans are clamoring for information to whet their appetites. Diego Luna, who plays Captain Cassian Andor, says that Rogue One will be the most realistic Star Wars movie yet, according to a report from starwarsnewsnet.com
The site translates responses from an interview Luna gave to the Mexican branch of Vanity Fair. He talks about his character and the tone he wants to convey through him:
“I wanted to make my character more natural and realistic. Although people expect the tone of the film to be fantasy, it actually is quite the contrary. It’s an intimate story that feels real.”
Luna goes on to explain why he believes Rogue One is the most realistic film in the fabled series:
“I think of all the Star Wars films released so far, Rogue One is the most real one, which is about the people. The characters are very similar to us. They are heroes with no powers. What they have is a conviction and desire to change reality.”
This fits with the trailers, which show darker, grittier scenes. The film’s plot centers around Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a girl who unites a bunch of rebels to steal the blueprints for the Death Star.
Luna also reveals a detail about the story’s point of view:
“The story in the movie is seen through the eyes of Jyn Erso.”
Could this suggest that the entire movie is a first-person perspective, much like Goodfellas? Will voice over be present? Only time will tell.
Other stars include Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, and Forrest Whitaker. It is directed by Gareth Edwards, from a screenplay written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16, 2016.
It’s been nearly 10 years since ‘Halloween‘ was remade by Rob Zombie.
The polarizing remake leaves horror fans in heated arguments to this day. Even recently, the director of the original John Carpenter decided to open up about his feelings about the remake.
“I thought he took away the mystique of the story by explaining too much about [Michael Myers],” Carpenter said. “I don’t care about that. He’s supposed to be a force of nature, he’s supposed to be almost supernatural, and he was too big, it wasn’t normal.”
All of that aside, the 2007 ‘Halloween‘ remains an important part of modern horror. It launched careers, reinvigorated some, and even ended some careers.
Check out below where the cast of the Rob Zombie’s ‘Halloween‘ is now!
7. Danielle Harris
Danielle Harris was part of the ‘Halloween‘ franchise before she even acted in the remakes. Harris played Jamie Lloyd in ‘Halloween 4‘ and ‘Halloween 5‘ from 1988 and 1989 respectively. Rob Zombie eventually casted her to play Laurie Strode’s best friend. Since starring in the remakes, Danielle Harris remained an important member of the horror genre with films like the ‘Hatchet‘ franchise.
6. Malcolm McDowell
This man was a legend before ‘Halloween‘ and has remained one since. Malcolm McDowell is best known for his work as Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange‘ but with over 250 acting credits, you may know him from anything. McDowell has been in the industry since the late 60’s but new horror fans know he played Dr. Sam Loomis in the 2007 remake. He was also recently in Zombie’s ‘31‘.
5. Sheri Moon Zombie
It’s easy to track where Sheri Moon Zombie is now. Just look at any movie that her husband Rob Zombie is releasing. Before 2007’s ‘Halloween‘ and after, she’s always the centerpiece of his films. Rightfully so…her brand of crazy fits perfectly into the sick Rob Zombie movie universe. Sheri Moon Zombie has staked her claim as one of this generation’s Scream Queens.
4. Daeg Faerch
How did young Michael Myers turn into a rapper? Well Daeg Faerch made it possible. Since starring as Michael Myers in his youth, Faerch has starred in independent films as well just launched a rap career. Daeg Faerch also has a movie coming up where he co-stars with Sophie Turner from ‘Game Of Thrones‘ fame. Find his work his work at Facebook.com/DaegFaerch!
3. Tyler Mane
Tyler Mane is the monster of a man who played Michael Myers. He’s played various roles in Hollywood from Sabertooth in ‘X-Men‘ to Ajax in ‘Troy‘ but nothing fit him quite like ‘Halloween‘ did. He shined in half of 07’s remake but really got to showcase his talents in 2009’s ‘Halloween II‘. Since the movies, Mane has launched his own production company called Mane Entertainment.
2. Scout Taylor-Compton
Scout Taylor-Compton starred in the 2007 remake as well as the sequel. She plays the lead character Laurie Strode to mixed reviews. No one could replace Jamie Lee Curtis but she did her best with the material. After the ‘Halloween‘ franchise, she’s gone on to star in many independent horror films. Scout Taylor-Compton also played rocker Lita Ford in 2010’s ‘The Runaways‘.
1. Rob Zombie
The man behind 2007’s ‘Halloween‘. Rob Zombie had the tough task of recreating the iconic 1978 film and do a follow-up. The movies are polarizing but that’s nothing new for him. After doing this franchise, he moved on to the giallo-inspired ‘The Lords Of Salem‘ and the recent halloween themed movie ‘31‘. What’s next for Zombie? Trying to release his hockey movie ‘The Broad Street Bullies‘!
Picture yourself back in 1896. The air is crisp as the industrial age is still young. Telephone and electricity are only just becoming commonplace. And there is NO INTERNET! Relax, don’t freak out, it’s just imagination. The late-19th century is a terrifying time when the world was mostly unaware of what funny antics cats were up to. Trolls were only in fairytales. Photography was taking the next step into becoming moving pictures. And the horror film genre was preparing for its unholy birth.
French illusionist and inventor, Georges Méliès was experimenting with motion pictures. Years before his Trip to the Moon, Georges made what is widely considered the first horror film The Haunted Castle.
Méliès’ film was lost for nearly a century until the New Zealand Film Archives discovered a copy. The Haunted Castle is a ghost-centric horror film. So, in the spirit of the 120-year-old piece of motion picture history, here are five great haunted movies from around the world!
Ju-On: The Grudge (Japan, 2002)
Your shirt tag is sticking out.
Familiar to most for the American remake starring Buffy (Sarah Michele Gellar), the original is creepier than the slick U.S. version. The story is the same, a spirit haunts a home and torments anyone who enters. Unfortunately, real estate is a booming business, leaving new homeowners to learn about the spirits the hard way. Japanese horror is unforgiving which is why the land of the rising sun does so well with the genre.
A car accident seemingly kills a young woman and sets this horror film into motion. Tun, the passenger during the crash, convinces Jane, the driver, to flee the scene. Soon after, Tun starts to find bizarre, blurry faces in any photo he takes. Jane, riddled with guilt over the dead girl, starts to investigate who she was and begins to unravel an unnerving mystery about Jane’s friends. While there is an American remake that is good in its own way, the Thai version is brilliant from start to finish.
The highest rated horror film on this list (87% on Rotten Tomatoes if you’re into that sort of thing). The Orphanage is the story of Laura, a woman coming back to the orphanage where she spent her earliest days. Laura’s return leads her through a macabre mystery about the fate of the children who once lived at the orphanage. The Orphanage avoids the usual jump-scares that so many horror movies use as a crutch.
I am not a fan of the found footage genre as a whole. But films like Grave Encounters (or Chronicle) do it right. Grave Encounters follows a ghost-hunting television crew investigating an abandoned psychiatric hospital. As we all know, these shows are mostly a bunch of grown adults being astonished by particles of dust caught on camera. In Grave Encounters, the crew finds what they’ve been searching for, and it’s beyond imagination. Unfortunately, it’s more than their EVP meters, and other gadgets can handle.
The unofficial next chapter in the Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe goes undercover as lawyer Arthur Kipps in a period piece about a haunted estate. Kipps is sent to oversee the sale of Eel Marsh House only to find that the property is not exactly vacant. Delightfully classic in almost every way, The Woman In Black is patient and chilling. Radcliffe grows and expands with every new role and carries the haunting story with ease.
James Wan’s (Insidious, Saw) The Conjuring is a modern day horror classic and should undoubtedly be on this list. However, The Conjuring gets plenty of praise, so I put it here as an honorable mention. The Conjuring is slow-burn haunted horror at its best and Wan is undoubtedly a modern day master of the horror genre.
The horror film genre
is as old as movies themselves!
Horror movies tap into primal fear but wrapped in the safe and warm blanket of entertainment. If you’re not going to be brave the other 364 days of the year, at least shut off the lights, curl up on the couch, and cower in terror with a great horror film on this unholy day of Halloween.
We previously got a report stating that Messick would be back, but the return of Ann Woll is breaking news.
What are your thoughts? Do you like these characters? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
The Defenders stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Finn Jones as Danny Rand, and Mike Colter as Luke Cage; Sigourney Weaver is the villain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZtM8q2Z1g
Watch the first season when it drops on Netflix in 2017.
This weekend, news came down that Josh Trank, controversial director behind the most recent Fantastic Four debacle, will direct a new Al Capone biopic, Fonzo. Tom Hardy is set to play the famous gangster, which is awesome because anything with Tom Hardy in the lead is worth your time.
But something about Josh Trank getting this job doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t sit right with a lot of people, especially those who remember all the infighting behind the scenes of Fantastic Four. Not only did the movie turn out to be a dreary, boring disaster from top to bottom, but Trank and Fox execs brought all of the on-set squabbles and infighting to the public. Trank tweeted that he had “actually” directed a great movie but nobody will see it because of studio interference.
That innocuous tweet backfired on Trank. It brought some other controversy surrounding Trank to the surface, like how he’d been fired from a Star Wars spinoff film because of his erratic behavior on the Fantastic Four set. Like how he didn’t listen to anyone and let his ego take over the film, resisting any outside help. Like how he wore out his four castmembers with ridiculous demands to push the gloomy tone. For all intents and purposes, Josh Trank seemed to be untouchable following the Fantastic Failure, and yet, here he is, getting a big studio project with an A-list star.
And then, a tweet from Austin Shinn put it in perspective better than anyone:
While Josh Trank leaves director's jail, remember Debra Granik couldn't find funding after Winter's Bone.
Yes. For all its self-congratulation and liberal progressiveness, Hollywood will still give white male creators second and third and fourth chances in lieu of “taking risks” on female or minority directors. Granik who earned a screenplay Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone, chased several promising projects following the success of her debut film. But she couldn’t manage to square away funding on any of them and eventually directed a (pretty good) documentary, Stray Dog, about U.S. war vets.
Granik isn’t the only example of this issue in Hollywood. Females and minorities getting their second film funded has been an issue for too long, so much so that the Sundance Institute started the FilmTwo Initiative, a program to help women and people of color get funding for their follow up project. An LA Times article about this obvious problem pointed to a number of times where women and minorities had to wait years and fight through endless funding issues before getting their second film:
“Boys Don’t Cry” director Kimberly Peirce took nine years to make her second feature, “Stop-Loss”; black British director Amma Asante took nine years to follow up her first film, “A Way of Life,” with “Belle”; and African American director Gina Prince-Bythewood had eight years between “Love & Basketball” and her second film, “The Secret Life of Bees.”
And yet, here is Josh Trank, practically sabotaging a tentpole picture for 20th Century Fox, burning too many bridges to count, getting a major follow up feature fourteen months after his disaster of a superhero movie crashed and burned. His debut feature, Chronicle, was a decent movie. But it wasn’t some sort of game-changing picture that should earn Trank a lifetime of mulligans. It’s not like his movie introduced the world to Jennifer Lawrence and grabbed four Oscar nominations.
The same can be said for Chronicle’s screenwriter, Max Landis, who somehow manages to keep creating shitty screenplay after shitty screenplay while countless other scripts die on the vine every year in Hollywood. But hey, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
How does this make any sense that Josh Trank is back in charge of another major studio production? Because for all of its supposed forward-thinking, Hollywood is still run by white males who like giving white males work. And they have unfounded blind trust in white males because women and minorities scare them because maybe their movies can’t make enough money. Despite the fact that people like Trank continue to ruin major projects. This goes back for decades and can be seen in so many instances throughout the years. Remember Do The Right Thing? Yeah, one of the ten greatest films of the 20th century, that one. Spike Lee didn’t get a Best Director nomination, the film got only two nominations overall, and Best Picture that year went to… Driving Miss Daisy.
Oscars Always So White. And Male.
Josh Trank getting the Fonzo job proves there is literally nothing a white male filmmaker can do to end his career. Make a bad movie? Eh, we’ll get ’em next time. Cause problems on set and ignore everyone? Oh, it’s just the creative process. Direct a terrific debut feature on a shoestring budget and get a follow up project together to sell? Well, I don’t know. That depends, are you a female? Also, can you send us a printout from your Ancestry.com research?
Hollywood needs to practice what it likes to preach one of these days. The balance between white male directors and females and minorities behind cameras is way out of whack, and Josh Trank is the poster boy for the white male privilege polluting the studio system. I’m not saying there was anyone else interested in this Fonzo project, but that doesn’t really matter. If Fonzo is Trank’s baby, maybe don’t fund it, pass on it because, you know, he’s been a childish asshole in the past. Hold on to that check and see what sort of projects Debra Granik has in mind these days.
In 2003, Dan Brown released a book called The Da Vinci Code. It became an international phenomenon, selling over 80 million copies by the end of the decade. In 2006, director Ron Howard joined forces with his long-time collaborator Tom Hanks to bring the film to the big screen. The film was a huge success, pulling in over 750 million dollars worldwide on a 125 million dollar budget. There is only one problem with the film: it doesn’t make any sense.
Now, at this stage, I would like to show my cards. Generally I do not like to write in a first person perspective. I think articles should attempt to be as objective as possible, regardless of whether you’re writing a review, a news story, or whatever else it may be. To me, a writer’s individual opinion is meaningless in most cases. With that said, I need to talk about the internal logic of this film, and I can’t do that without approaching it in a subjective way. Before I continue, let me add that I have not read the book this movie is based on. So if any of my issues with the film’s internal logic is addressed in the original source material, you’ll have to forgive me.
The film, much like the book, is a murder mystery where professor Robert Langdon (played by Hanks in the film) needs to find the killer. As the film evolves, you learn more about the motivations of the killer, and what secrets they’re attempting to hide. However, there are three things that do not make any sense within the film. One is a slight nitpick, but I feel inclined to mention it nonetheless. The other two sort of ruin the entire set-up for me.
So, first, let’s talk about the murder of Jacques Sauniere (played by Jean-Pierre Marielle). It is the event that starts the film, the domino that falls to begin the internal motion of the story. We as the viewer see Sauniere get shot by Silas (played by Paul Bettany). We later learn that before he died, Jacques wrote three riddles. One by his body, where he also displayed himself as the Vitruvian Man. This riddle leads our heroes to the Mona Lisa, where they find a new riddle that leads them to a different painting. Behind this painting they find a key, as well as a riddle that set’s the rest of the film in motion.
My problem with this set-up is that it brings to mind a lot of questions. Did he have the riddles in mind beforehand, or did he come up with them then and there? Did he write them in that order, so that he potentially risked dying before finishing his clue? Or did he write them the other way around, so he risked them never finding it in the first place? More importantly, if he had the time to do all this, why didn’t he try to call for help? As I said, this is more of a nitpick for me. It doesn’t ruin the entire film, but it sets up way more questions than I think the film is aware of.
Rather, what ruins the film for me is the implication of the film’s secret. At this stage, I’m going to spoil the film’s twist. If you haven’t seen the film, or read the book, I’d urge you to stop reading. If you’re still with me, the film’s twist is that there’s a secret tomb that holds the bones of Mary Magdalena. Before she died, Mary allegedly had a baby with Jesus Christ, so if they can find her bones they can perform a DNA test to find the living relative of Jesus on earth.
This is where the film lost me, and I’ll tell you why. First, even if you found the bones there’s A) no way to prove they belonged to Mary Magdalena, B) no way to prove that the person potentially related to the bones being a descendant of Jesus. With these things in mind, it gets annoying when the film’s characters pretend like this revelation would alter Christianity as we know it. I suppose I should add that I am not religious in the slightest. So my issues with this film simply have to do with the film’s rationale. It doesn’t make sense that the characters believe this sort of revelation would be all that life-changing, or that the Vatican would bend over backwards trying to hide this secret. Granted, the Vatican has worked hard to quell rumors in the past, but this one seems too inconsequential, so I don’t think they would’ve bothered.
If we start with the first issue, proving the bones belonged to Mary Magdalena. At best, what you have is bones you could realistically prove are 2.000 years old. You have no way of proving they actually belonged to the person you claim. So what reason would anyone have to believe you? If they did find this tomb, and proved that they’re in possession of 2.000 year old bones, why would anyone care? They’d likely briefly acknowledge your finding, then go about their day as usual, like they do with most historical findings.
The second is two-fold of course. First, how do you find the relative, and then how do you prove they’re a descendant of Jesus? The film answers the first in the most shoe-horned way possible, by revealing that Langdon’s partner for this adventure, Sophie Neveu (played by Audrey Tautou) is actually the descendant of Mary. They don’t really explain how anyone has come to this conclusion, which brings up an interesting follow-up question: Could you reliably confirm ancestry between someone born today and someone born over 2.000 years ago? How accurate would a DNA match really be on relatives that are that far apart? If we ignore that question for a second though, how do you prove that this person, who’s an ancestor of the bones you possess, is also the descendant of Jesus? You can’t, can you?
So this is why the movie falls apart in my opinion. This idea that religious leaders would murder their way across millennia to protect a secret no one would be able to prove, and likely no one would actually believe, is too far-fetched. I know I’m probably overthinking all this. I should just enjoy the movie, and move on. However, every now and then, I’ll watch a movie that creates this sort of response in me. It stretches so far beyond the illusion of disbelief I can’t accept it. It happens when a film presents a premise that neither works within the movie’s framework, or a real-life framework. When this film pretends like the revelation of these bones would alter Christianity forever, I just can’t accept it. At best, it would create a small cult that starts to believe it’s true, which sort of already happens within the film. In the grand scheme of things though, it wouldn’t change a single thing.
Rogue One: A Star Story hits theaters in less than two months. To keep fans excited, IMAX has released new advertisement containing hidden messages.
IMAX created standees that feature multiple characters and Death Star schematics. Etched over the images are several messages in Aurebesh—the written alphabet of the Star Wars universe.
What does all the writing mean? You’ll need to brush up on Aurebesh to decode the messages hidden in the display.
The standees are located at participating IMAX theaters.
For The First Time In WWE History, Sasha Banks & Charlotte Main Event In A Hell In A Cell Match
WWE was already making history by having Sasha Banks and Charlotte face in each other in a Hell In A Cell match. But when WWE decided to have the two women main event ‘WWE Hell In A Cell‘, it became a groundbreaking night for wrestling.
We’ve seen women in cage matches before but nothing like the iconic structure. Women have also been the main event for Monday Night Raw and a NXT Live event but never a WWE PPV. That changed in Boston has Sasha Banks defended her Women’s Title in the Hell In A Cell match against Charlotte!
This feud has been growing since their time in NXT and has reached new heights when they made it on the main roster. When two people have a heated rivalry in WWE, the only logical step would be to fight in this hellacious creation. I never thought I’d see the day that two bad-ass women would end their feud in the Cell.
Earlier this month, Raw General Manager Mick Foley confirmed Sasha Banks and Charlotte would be the main event at Hell In A Cell. Then, there was some backtracking from Foley and it was left up in the air if the women would really be closing the show. It wasn’t until Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins had an early title match that fans knew Charlotte & Sasha would be in the main event.
“The women deserve to make history.”
–Mick Foley
It was time for the match and the hype was at an all-time high. The WWE Universe knew they were witnessing a historic night in wrestling history.
Charlotte came out first to massive jeers. Then comes the hometown hero Sasha Banks. The ground erupts for her and that really adds to the importance of this match. Having the crowd into this match gives it a “big fight” feel and proves that WWE made the right decision.As expected, Charlotte and Sasha Banks put on an epic showcase. The action was brutal, the storytelling was effortless, and the two women showed why they are deserved this spot.
The match starts with a brawl outside of the cage including a power bomb through a table from Charlotte. Sasha Banks had to overcome so much from the start of this match but that added to the drama. They did an early stretcher job where Banks seemed to not be able to compete. This was a great fake out that had many fooled including the villainous Charlotte.
From there, the two women went all in. Hitting each other with stiff shots and using all of their signature spots, these two know how to tell a story inside the ring. While Sasha Banks sold her injuries from early in the match, she still held her own against Charlotte’s powerhouse attacks. The action was back and forth until the end when Charlotte finally was able to get the win with her finishing move. This was a shocking way to finish a great match between two amazing wrestlers.
What do you think of the historic main event between Sasha & Charlotte?
What does all the writing mean? You’ll need to brush up on Aurebesh to decode the messages hidden in the display.