Rob Leifeld Releases ‘Youngblood’ Script Online

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September 21, 2016

Comic creator Rob Leifeld (Image Comics, Deadpool) has taken to the internet to showcase a script treatment for his bestselling comic title, Youngblood, in celebration of the comics’ 25th year anniversary of the launch of both the aforementioned book and Image Comics. Leifeld notes that this is not an attempt to get excitement among the fans and lead to an accelerated production a la Deadpool as he’s not currently shopping it around to any studios.

It appears the film rights are now back with Liefeld after having been acquired by Reliance in 2009 for an intended live action adaptation which would have seen Brett Ratner at the helm. In a Facebook Post, Leifeld said,

“As we approach the 25th anniversary of the launch of Youngblood and Image Comics I am sharing unknown items and relics from its past. I loaded up my Youngblood screenplay available for download on my website. It’s not being shopped around, it’s for the fans and in all honesty it’s how I would launch the book if I had a do-over. Link to my website in my bio.”

The script can only be downloaded after a subscription to Leifeld’s newsletter is complete.

It remains to be seen, if this will create the same kind of buzz that the Deadpool test footage caused and whether or not this will lead to a live action adaptation of the character in the near future. Liefeld’s other famous character, Deadpool was severely butchered in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and halted all plans for a spin off until a test footage was leaked to the public to glowing reviews and excitement from fans. This reaction led to a fast tracked production which led to the critical and commercial success that was Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool earlier this year, with a sequel currently in active development with plans to introduce Cable into the mix.

Youngblood is a creator-owned superhero title from Rob Liefeld which debuted in 1992 at Image Comics. At the time of its release, Youngblood #1 was the highest-selling independent comic book of all time, despite scathing reviews from critics. The series followed a government-sanctoned superhero team and how the general populace would truly react to the existence of superheroes.

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‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ Trailer Is Fully Smurfed

By

Matthew Sardo

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September 21, 2016

Sony Pictures Wednesday morning released the first teaser for the animated film ‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ due out next spring.

Synopsis:
In this fully animated, all-new take on the Smurfs, a mysterious map sets Smurfette and her best friends Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty on an exciting and thrilling race through the Forbidden Forest filled with magical creatures to find a mysterious lost village before the evil wizard Gargamel does. Embarking on a rollercoaster journey full of action and danger, the Smurfs are on a course that leads to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history!

‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ is directed by Kelly Asbury, from a screenplay by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon. The film stars Demi Lovato (Smurfette), Rainn Wilson (Gargamel), Joe Manganiello (Hefty), Jack McBrayer (Clumsy), Danny Pudi (Brainy), with Mandy Patinkin (Papa Smurf).

‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ is based on the characters and works of Peyo.

The Smurfs strike back on April 7, 2017.

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‘Game of Thrones’ – Sansa Stark The Wildcard In Season 7

By

Matthew Sardo

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September 21, 2016

Sophie Turner was at the 68th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday night and she had some interesting comments about the future of Sansa Stark and revealed that not everyone will survive till season eight. Which makes sense, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss loves to rip the hearts out of fans.

“You don’t really know what’s going on with her this season. We’re trying to figure out where her loyalties lie and you’re wondering if she is going to pull through and be a true Stark or not,” said Turner to Variety.

The young actress ended the red carpet interview with a cryptic message about season eight.

“We’ve got one more season…well, not all of us,” said Turner.

Season seven of ‘Game of Thrones’ returns to HBO in the summer of 2017.

‘Game of Thrones’ won 12 Emmys Sunday night, including Outstanding Drama Series; Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Miguel Sapochnik); Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss); Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More); Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series; Outstanding Costumes for a Period/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Movie; Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series; Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic); Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or Special; Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour); Outstanding Special Visual Effects; and Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie.

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Fan Petition To Cast Shia LaBeouf As Jason Todd

By

Matthew Sardo

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September 21, 2016

There are good fan petitions, and then there are insane fan petitions. Trying to save a canceled TV show, GOOD. Trying to get a director fired because you don’t like his or her work, INSANE. With fandom, sometimes you get an insanely good idea, and yesterday was one of those days.

DC Extended Universe fans started a petition to urge Warner Bros. to cast Shia LaBeouf as Jason Todd, also known as the Red Hood. If you let it sink in for a moment, this is a brilliant idea. LaBeouf is as polarizing as Jason Todd, and fans have a solid love-hate relationship with the Red Hood. Furthermore, Jason Todd and LaBeouf are both crazy!

For those who don’t understand why LaBeouf gets so much hate, ‘Time’ has a great article from 2014: A Brief History of Shia LaBeouf Copying the Work of Others

Here are the reasons from the petition why LaBeouf should be cast at the Red Hood (p.s. We did fix all the spelling errors in the petition on our copy.)

Shia LaBeouf is willing to go the distance to be the best that his character can be in recent films.

It’s an opportunity for him to show the world what an amazing actor he can truly be if you Just give him a chance to Be this character.

Help him get from one of the most looked down upon actors in Hollywood to one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood because of this role.

Ben Affleck was hated by so many people because he was cast as Batman and now he is loved by many after they say what an amazing performance Ben Affleck could do as Batman.

Shia LaBeouf is truly one of the most talented actors in Hollywood if you have seen his recent films.

If you know the character Jason Todd aka red hood And if you know Shia LaBeouf the then u can see how similar they are in and how perfect this casting choice is for Shia LaBeouf.

At the time this article was published, 490 people have signed the petition.

What do you think, do you want to see Shia LaBeouf as Jason Todd? Comment below.

Do you want to see Shia LaBeouf cast as Jason Todd (Red Hood)?

— Monkeys Fight Robots (@monkeys_robots) September 21, 2016

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Review: ‘Lethal Weapon’ Pilot Balanced, Engaging, And Fun

By

Dewey Singleton - Film Critic

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September 21, 2016

Fox’s Lethal Weapon strikes the right balance between action, sentiment, and comedy making the pilot a tremendous first step in the right direction for this series. Now, this may seem shocking to some as this is the fifth iteration of the Mel Gibson/ Danny Glover movie franchise and one would think the public would grow tired of this narrative by now. How many more of these buddy cop shows could the public actually like?

The difference between this franchise and other cop shows is the chemistry between the lead actors. Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford are what make this show work. Sometimes the success of a television series comes down to casting, and they couldn’t have done a better job than the two that were chosen.

Crawford plays Martin Riggs, the grief-stricken/suicidal cop who is dealing with the loss of his wife. Wayans is cast as Roger Murtaugh who is just returning to work after a heart attack during the birth of his third child.

Now there are some parts of this show that won’t be surprising. Riggs likes to take chances he hopes will lead to his death while Murtaugh wants to live long into his retirement. Of course, this generates conflict between the two. What was enjoyable about the pilot is that they explored how those two became partners and found a common ground. This was a twist that made the pilot stand alone from the previous four films.

My biggest concern going in was could each actor make these two roles (Riggs and Murtaugh) uniquely their own. If Wayans was going to resort to doing a Danny Glover imitation or Crawford was going to try and play the role similar to Mel Gibson, then this series was going to be dead on arrival. It appears both have chosen a different approach. Wayans instead of trying to be Danny Glover has injected some humor into the role of Murtaugh that doesn’t overwhelm and is very consistent with his character and the narrative of the pilot. Crawford is playing Riggs as more of a nuanced character who might be crazy but is dealing with a lot of pain stemming from a personal tragedy.

While the pilot has plenty of chases and explosions in it, the real story is that Wayans and Crawford bring enough to this series to make audiences want to come back for more and Fox has to be elated by that.

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Review: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ A Love Letter To The Old Western

By

Dewey Singleton - Film Critic

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September 21, 2016

Antione Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven is a love letter to cinema where heroes are routinely outnumbered, and disputes settled with pistols at high noon. Some might refer to this as yet another remake in the litany of films that Hollywood has rehashed, but that would be a gross oversimplification. Fuqua doesn’t seek to recreate the magic of the 1960’s classic film; he honors it by creating a thunderous two-hour epic that’s highly engaging while managing to stay faithful to the genre.

If Fuqua had sought to simply do a full on remake of The Magnificent Seven, the results would have been disastrous. How could he recapture the magic of the original film? Even if he did assemble a full cast of A-listers, it wouldn’t nearly reach the standard set by a gritty and rugged Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson. The theme alone is considered to be one of the greatest movie scores of all time and any attempt to “remake” it would be foolish at best.

Now, does this film capture the essence of the original movie? Sure .. the narrative is similar. Only this time the town of Rose Creek is being overrun by a mining company run by Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). Bouge offers to buy up their land for pennies on the dollar which infuriates Matthew Cullen (Matthew Bomer). Cullen questions Bouge and he answer him back by shooting him in the chest, therein kicking off a mini-massacre. Emma (Haley Bennett) mourns the loss of her husband, but ultimately seeks vengeance. Weeks later, she happens to witness Bounty Hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) take out a whole saloon of people who had guns pointed at his back, and immediately begins to solicit his aide. They reached a deal, but it’s on Chisolm to recruit more men.

He first brings in Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), a reckless playboy who uses card tricks to charm his victims before he shoots him. Some might argue that this is just the same Chris Pratt that we see in all of his films, but there’s more here. Beneath the surface of this lighthearted playboy is a slick killer. Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and his Asian business partner Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee) join the crew with specialties involving knives and a sniper rifle. Goodnight is a former soldier in the Confederate army – who seems to be still dealing with PTSD – and Billy is trying to help him the best he can while trying to survive himself.

Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeir), and Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio) round out Chisolm’s crew. Vasquez is a Mexican bandit who has a price on his head who agrees to help Sam in exchange for his freedom. Red Harvest is a Comanche warrior who proves to be very useful in combat. Jack Horne is a Grizzly Adams looking animal tracker who’s a religious nut with a bloodlust.

Obviously, Fuqua wasn’t trying just to cast people who fit certain roles from the previous film (I can’t envision an African American being cast in the lead role of a western in the 60s). He sought to create a certain chemistry and rapport on the screen, and for the most part he pulls off a nice balancing act, giving each of the seven their moments. It’s this type of chemistry that can carry a film even when the narrative is all too familiar.

Nic Pizzolato and Richard Wenk, the screenwriters, do an admirable job crafting a story that is equal parts familiar and focused on the strengths of the ensemble cast. The cinematography is spectacular and the wide shots felt like an apt throwback to CinemaScope Westerns from a bygone era. Mauro Fiore (who’s worked on both Avatar and Training Day) uses plenty of sweeping shots, capturing the beauty of the open plains. These types of wide shots evoke memories of sitting in my Grandfathers living room watching The Outlaw Josey Wales, turning towards him and saying “Haven’t we seen this already?” The film has all those same visual qualities.

The cast all deliver solid performances. Denzel and Chris Pratt are front and center, sure, but what makes this film click is the power of the ensemble. Everyone in the film feeds off of one another. Sometimes it’s not about one person, it’s a team effort, and this team hit all the right notes.

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FX Renews ‘Atlanta’, ‘Better Things’

By

Will Ashton

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September 21, 2016

Good news, fellow FX watchers: Atlanta and Better Things are renewed for second seasons. Collider reported the news. Each new 10-episode season will air sometime next year. Both of them are worth your time, if you’re not watching them already.

Atlanta is Donald Glover’s passion project, a soulful, often surreal bluegrass effort centered around a young man trying to earn his way through producing his rising talent rapper cousin. It’s a darkly comedic, often strange and uncompromising series with a great sense of style and setting. I’m now two episodes behind, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far a good deal. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Better Things, meanwhile, is the new series from Pamela Adlon. Viewers might either know her extensive voice work, on shows like Recess, King of the Hill and Pajama Sam, or her live-action work on Californication and Louie. Adlon’s new semi-autobiographical series is cut from the same cloth as the latter, especially with Louis C.K. writing, directing and producing the series alongside Adlon. It’s not quite on Louie‘s level yet, but it’s finding its way. It’s developing its own voice.

Here’s what Nick Grad and Eric Schrier, FX’s Presidents of Original Programming, had to say about both renewals.

It’s really gratifying to launch two new comedies that have received overwhelming critical acclaim right out of the gate and that are emblematic of FX’s award-winning brand. It is clear to us that Atlanta and Better Things have struck a nerve with viewers, which is a credit to Donald Glover’s vision for Atlanta and Pamela Adlon’s vision for Better Things. They, along with their spectacular casts, writers and directors, have created exceptional shows that we are incredibly proud to produce.

FX continues to be one of the best stations for original content. This news only continues their excellent programming. I can’t wait to see what both shows — along with FX in general —have in store for the future.

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Curtis Hanson, 1945-2016

By

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor

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September 20, 2016

Filmmaker Curtis Hanson has died at the age of 71.

A few months ago, I started wondering what ever happened to Curtis Hanson. The man had directed an important film in my life, Wonder Boys, a film that in many ways pointed me certain directions in my life. He’d been nominated for Best Director in the terrific LA Confidential and won the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay. He squeezed blood out of a stone, somehow directing Eminem to a solid performance in the still pretty great 8 Mile. But I hadn’t heard from him in a while, ad I was hoping he had something in the works.

I checked IMDb, and saw that he had directed Chasing Mavericks in 2012. Shit happens. Too Big To Fail for television in 2011… the decent Lucky You in 2007… but he had pretty much disappeared. Little did I know, until I looked him up one afternoon, that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimers, the disease which ultimately took his life today in his Los Angeles home. That sucks.

Any director with the trifecta of Wonder Boys, LA Confidential, and 8 Mile to their credit is worthy of great praise. LA Confidential, any other year and not up against Titanic, would have won Best Picture. But, hey, we know those don’t really matter (plus… I mean… we know which movie has aged better). 8 Mile was that pop culture sensation that seemingly brought Hanson’s name into entirely new circles. And Wonder Boys is my favorite of his, one of my favorite films of the 21st century, and one of the three finest performances in Michael Douglas’s career. It made me want to major in English.

But back up a little more and you’ll see Curtis Hanson, born in Reno, Nevada, son of a schoolteacher father, who began his career directing small thrillers and B pictures, had another pretty interesting trifecta. This time, it was a trio of commercially successful, popcorn thrillers.

It began with psychopath Rob Lowe defending milquetoast pushover James Spader in the delightfully seedy Bad Influence. From there, Hanson put his own stamp on the blooming Yuppie Thriller – introduced to us in 1987 with Fatal Attraction – with one seriously screwed up nanny in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. Rebecca De Mornay plays the nutso looking to shoehorn her way into the lives of an unsuspecting family. In the midst of so many of these Yuppie Thrillers, Hanson’s stood out for it’s texture and a perfect sense of unease from the very beginning. There was no buildup here, only fist clenching.

Then came The River Wild, a whitewater adventure with the unlikely Meryl Streep as the hero of an action film Streep is terrific, and with Kevin Bacon as an adversary, this river chase film was a solid hit for Hanson and probably opened the door for him to tackle a prestige picture like LA Confidential. He may have never had that auteur style cinephiles so eagerly desire, but he knew where the humanity lay in each of his characters and his stories, and he was able to tap into that humanity as well as just about anyone.

And now, here we are, and Curtis Hanson is no longer with us. He made his mark, and he mattered in cinema.

2016 continues it’s heartless assault on people important in our pop culture lives. And we still have this election to look forward to.

R.I.P., Mr. Hanson.

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‘Jessica Jones’ Showrunner Talks About The Character’s Development In Season 2

By

Aric Sweeny

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September 20, 2016

Melissa Rosenberg, the Jessica Jones showrunner, recently chatted with Comicbookmovie.com about Jessica’s character arc moving into season 2. Rosenberg said the following.

“I learned from working on Dexter that you can advance the character, but you never want to cure the character. With Dexter, the moment he felt guilt or accepted that he was ‘bad,’ the show’s over. He’s no longer a sociopath. The equivalent for us would be if Jessica somehow recovered from the damage that had been done to her. People don’t just heal, you don’t go through that just to say, ‘Oh, he got arrested, he’s in jail, I’m OK now. ‘ That trauma is a huge part of who she is now.”

See Jessica Jones in 2017’s The Defenders, and then later in season 2 of Jessica Jones.

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EJ’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ Review: My Breakup Letter To Chris Pratt

By

EJ Moreno

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September 20, 2016

The Remake Of ‘Magnificent Seven’ Is Almost Great. There’s Just One Glaring Goofy Problem.

Dear Chris:

We’ve had a good run. You made me fall in love during ‘Parks and Recreation‘. I was tickled by Star-Lord. But since then…I think we need a break. I won’t give you the tired excuse that it’s me and not you. It’s totally you. After taking away from what could have been a solid Western in ‘Magnificent Seven‘, our time is over.

In all honesty, I almost LOVED ‘The Magnificent Seven‘. Antoine Fuqua tackling the Western genre with his fiery eye for bold characters and glorious action is something to love. The actors range from Denzel Washington to Vincent D’Onofrio are things I could fall in love with. But by the times the credits rolled, I was left only liking the piece. If that…

There was things to enjoy but up until the final act, I was so distracted by Chris Pratt’s performance as Faraday. It felt like he was in another film than the other actors. Some were funny like the burly & bizarre Vincent D’Onofrio as Jack Horne while others had dynamic range like Lee Byung-hun as assassin Billy Rocks. Pratt just played his one-note humorous character that we’ve seen in films like ‘Jurassic World‘ and ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy‘. Sure, he’s funny but I believe his comedic moments detach him from the movie he is in. Especially in a piece so character driven, it’s hard to get invested when he’s just drunk Chris Pratt.

This problem doesn’t just fall on Pratt. The screenwriters could have taken this chance to give this actor an amazingly bold character to see some change. I feel like it was easier to write Chris Pratt into a character he usually embodies than stretching what he could possibly do.

Movie Review:

‘The Magnificent Seven‘ is a remake of a 1960 Western originally directed by John Sturges. Taking the helm this time is Antoine Fuqua, who directed ‘Training Day‘, ‘Shooter‘, and recently ‘Southpaw‘.

Our story follows seven gun-men who come together in order to save a small town. Leading the back is Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), a revenge-seeking bounty hunter who refuses to label himself as such. Filling out the rest of the wild bunch is aforementioned Faraday (Pratt), Jack Horne (D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-hun), the sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

Each man brings something interesting to the group. I only wish we could have spent more time building the crew before we jumped into them prepping the town for all-out war. After an awesome shoot-out when they first arrive to Rose Creek, the seven of them never really connect. I admire that there was some moments between one or two of the gun-men together that bonded them but in a movie about seven men, the ensemble aspect wasn’t there.

Maybe it was because I was distracted by Pratt or maybe it’s because Denzel Washington literally carried this movie on his back. That’s a compliment to Washington, Fuqua, and the relationship they have as artists. In their third movie together, these two bring something out in each other. Denzel plays Sam Chisolm with ease. There is obvious pain in his eyes but he masks it with a calm attitude. It isn’t until he’s shooting you dead that you notice how dangerous he is.

The scene-stealer of the film has to be Lee Byung-hun. The South Korean actor brought so much needed action to this film. His fights allowed for a break in the usual shoot-outs you see in Westerns. He used a variety of weapons and moves that dazzled under the eyes of Fuqua and cinematographer Mauro Fiore.

Speaking of Fiore, why did it feel like he saved his best camera shots for moments with Denzel? The entire time I was waiting for these stand-out moments in cinematography. For the most part, it was fairly standard shots with some intriguing shots sprinkled sparingly throughout. Most of the best shots came when an establishing shot was needed or giving Denzel a striking frame to work in.

Final Thoughts:

I don’t want to deter people from seeing ‘The Magnificent Seven‘ because it is close to being an enjoyable film. But if you are starting to get a bit bored by the one-trick pony that is Chris Pratt, take this as an advisory. Another thing I would have loved was for the film to take an even campier spaghetti western turn. The elements were there and making the film that much more over-the-top could have helped. At least Fuqua used the most of his PG-13 rating.

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