Lionsgate and CBS Films released the first trailer for ‘Patriots Day,’ directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg alongside an all-star cast.
The cast includes Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Alex Wolff, Themo Melikidze, James Colby, Michael Beach, Rachel Brosnahan, Christopher O’Shea, Jake Picking, Jimmy O. Yang, Vincent Curatola, Melissa Benoist, and Khandi Alexander.
About ‘Patriots Day’:
In the aftermath of an unspeakable attack, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) joins courageous survivors, first responders, and investigators in a race against the clock to hunt down the bombers before they strike again. Weaving together the stories of Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon), Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons) and nurse Carol Saunders (Michelle Monaghan) this visceral and unflinching chronicle captures the suspense of one of the most sophisticated manhunts in law enforcement history and celebrates the strength of the people of Boston.
‘Patriots Day’ gets a limited release on December 21 with screenings in Boston, New York, and Los Angele; with a nationwide release on January 13.
Official Funko press announced last week that the Animaniacs join the Funko Pop! family in November. Yakko, Wakko and Dot are on their way, along with Pinky and the Brain. We got a sneak peek at the Animaniacs Funko figures via an official press release.
Animaniacs Funko Pops Have Pay or Play Contracts
Animaniacs falls firmly in the category of “90s toons that cause severe nostalgia”. The show’s weird premise worked out well thanks in part to the star power backing it up. The Warner Brothers (and their long-neglected sister) are actually creatures living on the WB movie lot. For years, they were locked up in the iconic water tower for creating mischief and mayhem.
To the casual viewer, and the target audience, it’s a premise that makes just enough sense to support the nonsense of the variety-style show. For the movie buff, or the adult revisiting a childhood favorite, the show’s satirical brilliance shines through from even this initial skit.
Eventually, Animaniacs won eight daytime Emmy awards and a Peabody. Songs and skits still inspire teachers to share the now decades-old show in the modern classroom.
The show’s effects on popular culture continues to grow as the characters are immortalized in Funko Pop! figure form this November.
One is a Genius, The Other’s Insane
Besides the Animaniacs themselves, the most popular characters on the show quickly became Pinky and the Brain. These two lab rats spent every night doing the same thing “trying to take over the world!” As the theme song explains, the experiments have created very unique personalities in each of the characters. However, the true genius of the two is left to interpretation.
Once more, the success of the show lies in its complex, adult commentary. Presidents and movie stars alike make appearances delivered by the brilliant voice acting skills of Robert Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. Both still travel the convention circuit to the delight of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain fans. Paulsen can still deliver his fast-paced “Nations of the World” song flawlessly.
Now the voice actors can put themselves on a shelf. With the amount of love they still have for the show, there’s little doubt that they’ll snag these as soon as they hit the market.
Steven Spielberg Presents: Animaniacs ran from 1993 to 1998. It is now available to stream on Netflix.
Funko Pop! figures of Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky and The Brain will be released next month.
Recently deceased music and fashion icon Prince was going to appear on Netflix’s Luke Cage, according to ComicBookMovie.com. The idea makes sense for a show steeped in so much much music and musical performances. And it also connects to the shows now famous “swear jar.”
The tidbit was revealed on showrunner Cheo Hodari Cocker’s twitter, “The “Swear Jar” was for Prince. I was going to show him the first two episodes and convince him to play in episode 13″.
Luke Cage follows the street level battle of ex-con Cage as he attempts to clean up the streets of Harlem from the iron grip influence of crime lords Cottonmouth and Diamondback.
The Netflix show stars Mike Colter, Simone Cook, Marshella Ali, Alfre Woodard, Theo Rossi and Frank Whaley. Ex-music journalist Cheo Hodari Cocker serves as head writer, showrunner, and executive producer.
All 13 episodes of Luke Cage are currently available for streaming on Netflix.
It seems that John Bernthal’s Frank Castle aka The Punisher will be getting a familiar face in his violent war on crime. According to ComicBookMovie.com, Deborah Ann Woll will be reprising her role as legal secretary and moral do-gooder Karen Page from Daredevil. The reveal comes courtesy of a picture tweeted by FirstLook TV and Film.
Netflix’s The Punisher Season 1 will continue the story (which began in Daredevil Season 2) of ex-military specialist and war veteran Frank Castle as he moves forward on his never-ending vengeance on crime on the streets of New York.
John Bernthal returns as Castle/The Punisher and is joined by new cast member Ben Barnes as Bobby Saint. The show is spearheaded by showrunner and writer Steven Lightfoot.
The Punisher, currently shooting, is scheduled to premier from Netflix in November 2017.
New York Comic Con is the new place to announce film footage. Check out the teaser for ‘War of the Planet of The Apes’ below.
Official Synopsis: “In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar, and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.”
Director Matt Reeves, Producer Dylan Clark, and Andy Serkis are going to be in town on October 6 to show off some behind-the-scenes material; this will take place at 8:30 P.M. at the Regal E-Walk Theater. Additionally, Serkis is set to take part in a Q&A at 3 P.M. at the Madison Square Garden theater.
War For The Planet Of The Apes is slated for a July 14, 2017, release date.
New York Comic Con kicks off on Thursday, director Luc Besson and Jean-Claude Mézières will be in attendance promoting ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.’ New images and poster for the film were released to coincide with the convention.
Besson and Mézières are signing from 11am-12pm and then 2pm-3pm each day at Booth: NC8, located on the North Concourse. New York Comic Con takes place from October 7-9 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Midtown Manhattan.
Besson (The Fifth Element) directs the $180 million budget sci-fi film based on the French graphic novel series from Pierre Christin and Mézières. The film stars Clive Owen, Dane DeHaan, Cara Delavingne, Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, John Goodman, and Herbie Hancock.
Valerian is scheduled for a worldwide release on July 21, 2017.
VALERIAN is a saga that every fan of Star Wars and Star Trek will identify with and love. Valerian and his beautiful, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued partner, Laureline, live adventures set against visually stunning backgrounds: complex architectural inventions, futuristic machines, otherworldly landscapes, and odd-looking aliens that are staples of artist Mezieres’s seemingly boundless visual inventiveness. The stories are gripping and of epic proportion, sweeping along in thrilling, hyperspace speed.
Based on a best-selling novel, ‘The Girl On The Train‘ has been masterfully brought to the screen.
‘The Girl On The Train‘ is instantly reminiscent to Korean thrillers and early 90’s erotic thrillers like ‘Fatal Attraction‘. The non-linear storytelling and hyper-sexualized nature drew me in, but breaking down Suburban life was what sold the story.
The film follows an alcoholic divorcee who becomes entangled into a messy missing persons case. Simply, this movie mocks the idea of “the grass is much greener on the side” concept. Fantasizing about other people’s lives leads our main character, Rachel, into a twisted mess. Her black out drinking is a problem, but how bad is it? Is it so bad she is involved in the disappearance of a girl?
Voyeurism is dangerous. The three women the film, Rachel (Emily Blunt), Megan (Haley Bennett), and Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) are guilty of it. They have their own “perfect” lives shattered due to meddling and sudden changes of heart.
“Facebook And Drunk Ex-Wives Don’t Mix”
-Cathy (Laura Prepon)
The film is heavily marketed as Emily Blunt being the solo focus, but The Girl On The Train moniker doesn’t go to just her. Each of the women play a major role here. Their stories are told while the plot swirls around what’s seen from this train. This dynamic plays out beautifully even with all the moving pieces. It never once gets confusing, and you wait, in rapt attention, for the drama to unfold. Once you get to the climax, it delivers wonderfully.
Emily Blunt delivers some terrific monologues. Her dialogue seems to be the ramblings of a mad person, but the words she speaks and the way they capture them is superb. Usually heavy narration or intense monologuing can be tedious, but it works here thanks to Blunt’s energetic layering. Rachel’s drunk rambling and blackouts are a problem, but there is something else amiss here. Blunt’s performance is bold, daring, and I love how director Tate Taylor manages to highlight her inner turmoil.
My personal favorite performance is from Haley Bennett as the apathetic but pained Megan. Her character does go missing, but it doesn’t mean she is missing from the movie. The scenes with her and the therapist played by Edgar Ramirez are some of the most intensely sexual scenes I’ve seen in a Hollywood film in years. She plays this “Lolita“-like character, but with some honest depth. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen hasa perfect eye for Bennett as she knows how to linger the camera on the character just enough to tantalize.
Final Thoughts:
Everything came together for ‘The Girl On The Train‘.
The pulpy source material written by Paula Hawkins is almost gleefully brought to the screen. The developed characters of Hawkins’ are adapted well by screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson. There’s a blend of cinematic writing and novel writing that’s quite remarkable.
I can’t gush enough about the visuals of the film. Cinematography is stunning but it’s edited by Michael McCusker with precision. No shot last too long and it gives off a surreal feeling. The narrative is just hazy enough with the writing and editing to leave you guessing until the last minute. Not reading the book made for a better viewing experience as I’m genuinely happy to be surprised.
This is something to be witnessed. Even though the movie may dip into melodrama territory, it all felt like seeing a needed deconstruction of horrible people.
‘The Girl On The Train‘ comes with a huge recommendation.
Let me know how you feel about the movie in the comments below!
A quick Google search for “bootleg toys” will call up a page of websites linking to articles about hideous knockoffs. Some of those articles are pretty fun and worthy of a read but only after you’ve read every article on Monkeys Fighting Robots. And only then.
The Real Bootleg Toys
Distributor DKE Toys gained attention for their upcoming NY Comi-Con figure known as Darth Trump (below). As the name implies, it’s a mashup of Republican Presidential candidate and star of a nightmarish version of The Truman Show in which we are all stuck in, Donald J. Trump, and comparatively the much more human villain Darth Vader. Collaborators Timebandits, Special Ed Toys, and MocJoes are three in a growing force of independent “bootleg” toy makers inspired by pop culture past and present.
The kind of bootleg toys I’m talking about are not knockoffs, but more like reboots that take a lot of creative license. Take for instance one of the earliest toys to make and earn mass attention called the “Gay Empire” which featured pink-armored stormtroopers. The creator of the Gay Empire, known as Sucklord, features a catalog of wild toys that are familiar but unique. A lot of Sucklord’s toys poke a lot of fun at the decades old Star Wars franchise. But Sucklord has a rather deep view on the whole thing “Star Wars serves as a universal language which can be utilized to say whatever you want.” Sucklord almost makes me want to stay awake through The Force Awakens.
It’s hard to pinpoint where this whole artistic industry of bootleg toys started. But it’s easy to know where it’s going when you look at the growing number of artists contributing to the culture and using the “universal language” of pop culture to say new things.
Creator Beau Greener of Credenda Studios is an avid toy fan “when the family goes on vacation, and we pass a toy store, I’m usually the one that wants to stop in and see what they have.” Then a few years ago Beau discovered people making custom toys on Instagram. Not soon after Beau added his spin on things like A Nightmare In Space (below) featuring a hideously detailed Freddy Krueger in Boba Fett’s armor. Freddy in the Star Wars universe might explain why the Prequels were a nightmare to so many people.
For DA Marx of Buzzard Guts, he wandered into the wild world of bootleg toys via Craigslist. Dain was a toy reseller and would end up with extra toys lying around that he could never sell. “I started customizing some things and selling those.” The more I did, the more I enjoyed it.” DA created Riot Scum (below), a punk band that exists somewhere in the Star Wars universe and is no doubt featured on a poster in Kylo Ren’s room.
The bootleg toy business is a busy place. Along with Credenda Studios and Buzzard Guts, other creators such as MocJoes, Retrobrand, Healymade, Killer Bootlegs, and Dollarslice Bootlegs are adding their unique vision to the long legacy of pop culture. Like any other, it’s an industry that competes for the dollars in consumers pockets, but for creators, it’s still very much centered around the artistry and pop culture passion.
Credenda Studios
Legal restraints do make it an interesting industry to play in for creators. Parody laws and fair use are constant issues swirling around everyone involved. For creators like Dain, it’s personal, and something that I think every geek can understand, “I was four years old when Star Wars came out, so I’ve had almost 40 years of that franchise being shoved down my throat. I feel like it’s kind of a part of me.” For most bootleg toy makers, keeping the quantity low makes it easy to avoid legal issues. Beau has heard of larger companies “flexing their muscles” but thinks they consider it a “waste of time and resources to go after a little guy that is just making a run of figures for a movie they love.”
Buzzard Guts
Until Beau or Dain start making a few million dollars in merchandise, I don’t think Disney or anyone else will bother them much. It’s certainly not taking away from the gazillions The Force Awakens made and will continue to make. Bootleg toymakers are creating works of art that only add to the growing pop culture language.
Thanks to Beau Greener of Credenda Studios (Instagram: @CredendaStudios) and Dain Marx (Instagram: @DainMarxToys) of Buzzard Guts for their time in answering a few questions for this article.
Following a tease yesterday by way of a poster and announcement teaser, Open Road Films has released the first trailer for the Jamie Foxx-led action thriller feature “Sleepless”.
Foxx plays undercover Las Vegas police officer Vincent Downs, who is caught in a high stakes web of corrupt cops and the mob-controlled casino underground. When a heist goes wrong, a crew of homicidal gangsters kidnaps Downs’ teenage son. In one night he will have to rescue his son, evade an IA investigation and bring the kidnappers to justice. The film is directed by Baran Bo Odar and is based on the 2011 French film Nuit Blanche.
The film also stars Michelle Monaghan, Gabrielle Union, T.I., Dermot Mulroney, Scoot McNairy and David Harbour and is targeting a February 24th 2017 release.
Natalie Portman has been getting all the plaudits for Jackie, her upcoming biopic about former First Lady Jackie Kennedy. The film takes place in the days following JFK’s assassination and, judging by this trailer, the day itself.
This Jackie trailer has an eerie sense of unnerving calm, an edge to it even as it glides along with its classical score. Portman might have her second Best Actress statue sewn up:
So there you have it. There is some breathtaking imagery in Pablo Larraín‘s film. And what you don’t see here is the incredible supporting cast: Peter Sarsgaard as Robert Kennedy, Greta Gerwig, John Carroll Lynch as LBJ, John Hurt, and Billy Crudup. Quite the crew.
Portman has been bobbing along in some strangely inept films since winning her much deserved Oscar for Black Swan. She’s tried some interesting things, but they just haven’t hit the right notes for the most part. This looks to be her back atop her game and sinking her teeth in some solid material. She has the look, and her voice sounds on point. We shall see just how great she is soon.
Jackie will hit up a few more festivals this year before it get its awards season limited release on December 2.
For DA Marx of 
