Zack Snyder, director of Justice League, has recently shared the first photo of J.K. Simmons in the role as Commissioner Gordon. Check it out below.
Along with the image, Snyder used #BatmanDay in celebration of the character.
“Justice League: Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.”
Justice League hits theaters on November 17, 2017.
Marvel comics has a long and proud history with unleashed monsters and probably even a few leashed monsters. Before the return of super-heroes to Marvel in the 1960’s, popular comic books often had love stories, westerns, sci-fi and monster stories. Up-and-coming creators in the 1950’s, such as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko often wrote and created monsters that they never quite let go of when the industry shifted towards super-hero stories. Embedded in early Marvel comics such as the Fantastic Four, monsters clearly staked their place in the Marvel Universe.
In January 2017, Marvel will introduce their new crossover event, Monsters Unleashed. This event will showcase Marvel’s monsters in all their glory against the Marvel heroes in a Pacific Rim-style threat. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel’s editor-in-chief Alex Alonso stated:
“If there ever were a monster who stood 10 stories high or taller and created mayhem in the Marvel Universe over the last several decades, they’re gonna be in the story.”
An uncomplicated crossover event
Monsters Unleashed appears to be the first crossover event post-Civil War II. In recent years, Marvel has weathered severe criticism for the lateness of their major annual crossover events. In 2015, Secret Wars was months behind schedule and 2016’s Civil War is following the same distressing pattern. Both of those troubled crossovers had a significant number of tie-in’s as well.
Monsters Unleashed may shift to a more simplified structure as well as a typical “hero vs bad guy” approach. Scheduled as a five issue bi-weekly series, with limited tie-ins, CBR has called this a “reader friendly” approach. Given the complexity and lateness of recent crossover events, “reader friendly” sounds enticing . This means costs are a little lower, and for those who are a little tired of “good guys fighting good guys”, it appears we’ll have a good old fashioned super-heroes trying to save the world from the monsters’ story. Of course, there is bound to be some internal struggles. It’s likely some friends will turn to foes and that we’ll learn just exactly what defines a monster.
As usual, Marvel has established an all-star creative team with Cullen Bunn writing and Adam Kubert, Salvatore Larocca, Greg Land, Steve McNiven and Leinel Yu headlining the visuals. It will be interesting to see how Greg Land handles his monsters, given his glamourous style. Unlike Secret Wars and Civil War II, each issue of the mini-series is illustrated by a different artist. This should help Monsters Unleashed to be released on schedule, but hopefully not adversely affect the story given the wide-range of illustrators.
Monsters Unleashed has tremendous potential to be a breath of fresh air to readers who want a simpler event. For Marvel fans, get ready to see yourfavorite heroes aligned together in a clash against a clear “monster-ific” threat.
Marvel’s favorite monster – Fin Fang Foom, illustrated by Jack Kirby.
There are moments where you just want to know how the staff meeting went down to result in the finished product. This episode features the cast fighting against a living instant photo from a camera. This means there had to have been a meeting where the original creator Hirohiko Araki tossed this idea out to his editor and he was given the go ahead to move forward with it. Thanks to this decision this show once again lives up to the bizarre part of its title.
As Kira is working to get used to his new identity, Josuke and the team look into his old life. It’s amazing how much detail they go into how Kira did everything he could to be middle of the road thereby be beyond the suspicion or criticism. He really was a diabolic individual his entire life. His new role of masquerading as the someone else to hide out from Josuke and Jotaro is very suspenseful. It’s impossible to tell how long gone he will decide to suppress his homicidal nature around the wife and child he inherited from the face of the man whose life he stole.
This episode also proved the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Kira’s father turns out to be demented and off the deep end as his son. After using his abilities as a ghost to become a photo he starts terrorizing through team time make sure they don’t do anything to mess up his son’s life. Even though he’s fully aware his son is a psychotic killer.
With the addition of Kira’s father and the revelation there is a second bow and arrow which creates Stands, this season just got picked up a notch. Just when things were intense after the last episode, this one proves this show won’t simply play it safe until the end.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is streaming on Crunchyroll.
It’s a good day when you get to write about FX’s excellent Fargo. Though creator Noah Hawley is currently hard-at-work on his newest series, the upcoming Legion, the novelist-turned-showrunner will return for another round in North Dakota sometime next year, and he’s already gathering another exceptional cast. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) is now set to join Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon in the critically-acclaimed anthology series.
Variety reported on the latest casting. Winstead will play Nikki Swango, “a crafty and alluring recent parolee with a passion for competitive bridge playing.” She’s also “a woman with a plan, focused on always being at least one move ahead of her opponents.” We’ll have to wait and see how that factors into the impending season.
Set in 2010, a mere few years after the first season’s 2006 setting, Fargo‘s third season will focus on McGregor’s Emmit and Ray Stussy, who are not identical twin brothers, who’ll soon get intertwined in some small-town violence and crime, as one would expect. Coon, meanwhile, will play Gloria Burgle, the chief of the Eden Valley police. Additionally characters should be announced in the weeks to come. Although no one from season one is expected to come back, Slashfilm reports one undisclosed character from season two will work their way into the new season.
There’s no word yet on when season three will air, but it looks like the production start date is on the near horizon. Season two is nominated for 18 Emmys, and Sunday will determine how many Hawley and his team win. It already won two during last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, so things are already looking up.
Winstead currently stars on CBS’ political farce Braindead, but that show’s fate remains on the balance. The showrunners are currently working on CBS All Access’ Good Wife spin-off and, with Winstead’s joining this newest Fargo season, a second season for the summer comedy series looks more unlikely than ever.
And so the new season of the new Berserk anime ends. Not with a bang but with a sensation like the entire thing has been put on triple speed halfway through and you didn’t realize you hit the button on the remote and have to scramble to stop it. Things happen so quickly and with little explanation in the last nine minutes of the episode, you’ll find yourself pulling up Wikipedia in a desperate attempt to to figure out what just happened (yes, this is spoken from personal experience). Considering everything else which was explained in detail in this series, its a wonder they decided not to properly explain the game changing ending to the arc. Basically it all happens so fast and causes the plot of the entire series to move forward faster in the last half of this episode than in the majority of the rest of the season.
Other than the rushed nature, this episode also suffers from unnecessary comedy moments and a lot of attention paid to Nina. Seriously, was this character more endearing in the manga? She comes off as one of the most selfish and whiny individuals in recent memory.
There was at least a few good moments. The events at the end, though confusing and a bit rushed, are at least some of the better bits of animation from the season. Also, Guts does get to showcase his skills in dispatching his enemies. Unfortunately, its not against the multitude of demons which were surrounding him before but a whole new threat which appears out of nowhere and just adds to the confusion which is going on with the final scene.
So there you have it, all the new Berserk which will be aired for 2016. Expect a full review of the season soon but don’t get your hopes up of a glowing review. This show proved hope is a fool’s dream.
This is the second review I’ve done of an Old Tomorrow beer. But, since I wrote my review of Old Tomorrow Beer’s Canadian Pale Ale, the fledgling brewery has updated their website. The brewery’s “About” page now describes their high-minded mandate, brewing truly delicious craft beer that celebrates moments of Canadian greatness. As my other review says, I really enjoyed their CPA, so I picked up a couple 473 mL cans of Old Tomorrow Beer’s Track 85 Lagered Ale.
Track 85’s name is a reference to the Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, that links Canada’s east and west coasts. A major work that Old Tomorrow Beer’s mascot, Sir John A. Macdonald, fought for, the completion of this railway was key to unifying Canada. In fact, its completion is likely as powerful a symbol of Canadian nationalism as, if not more than, the country’s first steps toward confederation in 1867. But enough about the name of this beer, how does it taste?
Old Tomorrow Beer: Track 85 Lagered Ale – First Sip
Track 85 Lagered Ale pours a slightly amber golden colour with a relatively thin layer of head. I smell green apple as I take my first sip. It tastes slightly tart off the top and mellows to a refreshingly grainy flavour. Track 85 Lagered Ale presents well as a crowd-pleaser. Its sour to sweet flavour and thin mouthfeel make for a beer you hope to find at a late (or early) summer barbecue.
Old Tomorrow Beer: Track 85 Lagered Ale – Last Sip
This is a classic after-a-hard-day’s-work beer. It doesn’t demand much attention: it’s an excellent beer to open up and enjoy straight from the can. And, though 4.5% ABV might not seem like much, beers with lower alcohol percentages have taken many a beer lover by surprise. I’d like to try this beer with a wedge of lime and see how it measures up against a Corona. But that’s a challenge for another day.
The UnPOP guys bring you their first UnPOP “Kernel”! A Kernel, outside of being a tasty, buttery UnPOPped nugget at the bottom of the bag, is our way of releasing some unused content from previous episodes. Sometimes, in order to create the best possible UnPOP episode, many bits and conversations are cut from the podcast entirely. Here is where those pieces are resurrected and polished for your listening pleasure!
As we prepare for our big midnight review of Blair Witch, we decided to dust off some ghost stories as experienced by the UnPOP crew which we told during the Ghostbusters episode. As Halloween lurks around the corner, feel the chills as Austin recounts his lifelong experiences with the ghost of “Claire” and much more!
Have a topic you’d like to hear UnPOPPED? Send any comments/love/vitriol to unpopentertainment@gmail.com
At long last, The UnPOP Podcast is on iTunes! Check us out there!
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Do you have a question that you would like answered during the show?
Email your questions to matt@popaxiom.com.
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About the Monkeys Fighting Robots Podcast:
A Gen Xer and a Millennial debate the latest topics in pop culture. One guy is a filmmaker and the other is a journalist, but both are nerds. We make your slowest days at work better. Hosts, Matthew Sardo and EJ Moreno.
Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
Who is EJ Moreno? Is he a trained physician? No. Is he a former Miss Universe contestant? Possibly. But what we know for sure is he’s a writer, filmmaker, and pop culture enthusiast. Since film school, EJ has written & directed several short films. He’s used his passion of filmmaking to become a movie critic for MonkeysFightingRobots.com.
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The origin story continues on Season Three of GOTHAM, and the stakes are higher than ever, as Super-Villains more ambitious and depraved are introduced, and a realignment of alliances shakes up the fight for power in Gotham City.
Season Three will peel back the curtain on the infamous criminal organization known as the Court of The Owls. With the Indian Hill escapees on the loose, JIM GORDON (Ben McKenzie) must take matters into his own hands as a bounty hunter in Gotham. He makes it his mission to find HUGO STRANGE (guest star BD Wong), the mastermind behind the horrifying Indian Hill experiments, and FISH MOONEY (guest star Jada Pinkett Smith), one of Strange’s subjects. Meanwhile, GCPD Detective HARVEY BULLOCK (Donal Logue) and Captain NATHANIEL BARNES (Michael Chiklis) remain at the forefront of the fight against crime in the monster-ridden city. Also, BRUCE WAYNE (David Mazouz), with the help of his trusted butler and mentor, ALFRED PENNYWORTH (Sean Pertwee), and former Wayne Enterprises employee, LUCIUS FOX (Chris Chalk), discovers there are still more secrets to uncover regarding his parents’ murders.
As the city sinks deeper into chaos, GOTHAM will continue to follow the evolving stories of the city’s most malevolent villains: THE PENGUIN (Robin Lord Taylor); EDWARD NYGMA/the future RIDDLER (Cory Michael Smith); SELINA KYLE/the future CATWOMAN (Camren Bicondova); BARBARA KEAN (Erin Richards), TABITHA GALAVAN/TIGRESS (Jessica Lucas) and BUTCH GILZEAN (Drew Powell). The series also will catch up with the future POISON IVY (Maggie Geha), who, after an encounter with a monster from Indian Hill, finds herself reborn as a young woman who’s harnessed the full power of her charms; and will dive into the origin stories of JERVIS TETCH/MAD HATTER (Benedict Samuel), a talented hypnotist teetering on the edge of madness; and the TWEED BROTHERS.”
Gotham returns for its season 3 on Monday, September 19, on FOX.
