So far, the marketing for this December’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been hesitant at showing Darth Vader. Up until this point, we’ve only seen him once.
Now, however, coming via Star Wars News Net, a new look at Vader himself has been released. Check it out below.
The trading card is part of a Rogue One Style Guide, insuring its authenticity.
“From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,’ an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.”
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story features Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, and James Earl Jones reprising his role as the voice of Darth Vader. To read the full cast list, click here.
We’re less than a year from seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in theaters, and the cast is now starting to promote the film even more than before. Vin Diesel, voice of Groot, is known for actively supporting his movies on Social Media; this news story is no different.
In the video you can watch here, we see Diesel reacting to the Guardians Vol. 2 footage seen at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International.
“I’m blown away because…I want to see the whole movie. I want you to see the whole movie.”
He also complemented director James Gunn, calling him a, “genius, someone who takes a hundred plus blank pages and creates something that blows your mind.”
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Kurt Russel, Sylvester Stallone, and many others.
The secret behind recent events finally becomes known. The acolyte of the God Hand, The Egg of the Perfect World takes the time to reveal who is and what he plans to do. Before becoming all demonic, he was a human who was completely rejected by society because he was a beggar and he used the name Nobody. He became a hermit who was living underground until his home was used as a corpse pile. It was then the God Hand gave him his powers and his new form, which looks surprisingly like Behelit, the egg shaped items which designate those they chose to be worthy. He now wants nothing more than to slaughter all the humans around in an effort to open a gate to the other world where the God Hand reside so they can come to our world. This is a fairly interesting segment but unfortunately comes a bit too late in this story line. This demonic egg is more interesting as a character than Nina has been for her entire appearance on this show and this is the first episode he has really interacted with anyone. He is only now getting a chance to reveal what he was plotting while he was observing everything from the shadows. It would have been much more interesting if he had told someone his plan earlier. Maybe before giving Mozgus and his team powers.
Other than this interesting bit of exposition from The Egg of the Perfect World, not much else happens in the episode. Guts is still fighting the different minions of Mozgus but is having some difficulty taking them on. It’s basically been proven so far, if a person isn’t Guts then they are useless on the battlefield. This puts a lot of pressure on him as a character as he has to supply all the hack and slash action the fans came to this series for in the first place. At least back with the previous series there was the entire Band of the Hawk to take some of the responsibility off Guts. At least for a little while anyways.
Monkeys Fighting Robots co-host EJ Moreno was born in 1990 and we decided to look back at our favorite films from that glorious year.
What are your favorite films from 1990?
We are still enjoying the second half of season two of ‘Fear the Walking Dead.’ A hotel party and zombies falling from the sky! On the other hand, Ridley Scott gave his son Luke some money to make ‘Morgan,’ which is a solid rip-off of everything we have seen before.
Strap yourself in buckaroos! Episode 90 of the Monkeys Fighting Robots podcast is here.
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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.
Hibiscus or no, 12 Minutes to Destiny also advertises its raspberry flavour. And, although this is my first hibiscus beer, I did review a raspberry one, so this isn’t completely new to me. Having talked about Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery in my previous reviews, I won’t go over the award-winning history of the brewery here. I’ll just say that I’m glad that this unique Ontarian brewery continues to operate with the same mantra I do, “Normal is weird”. So let’s get down to some very weird tasting! (Wait, does that make it normal?!) I don’t think I’ve ever had hibiscus tea, so I can’t promise a fully informed opinion. But, having looked up what hibiscus tastes like, it seems like a good partner for raspberry. I got a six-pack at my local LCBO.
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery: 12 Minutes to Destiny – First Sip
This beer is a light red colour. With lots of carbonation it develops a thick layer of pinkish foam when poured into a pint glass. 12 Minutes to Destiny has a strong raspberry smell that enhances its rich flavour. This beer is tart off the top, but it finishes with a mildly grainy aftertaste. 12 Minutes to Destiny’s high level of carbonation gives it a fizzy mouthfeel that supports its tartness, and allows its complex flavour full effect.
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery: 12 Minutes to Destiny – Last Sip
At 4.1% ABV, you can have a couple. When enjoyed straight from its 355 mL bottle, 12 Minutes to Destiny is a bit too foamy. Plus, it loses some of its complex character. It retains some of its unique flavour but the complex hibiscus-raspberry combination is lost. So, ensure that you pour this heady beer into a glass before you drink it. This is a dessert beer so drink it with some pie or a bowl of fruit to really enjoy it.
Take a trip to The Upside Down with the UnPOP crew as they explore the Netflix phenomenon, Stranger Things. The widely loved, Amblin-esque, 80s creature-feature should be a home run for Brock and Curtis, right? Not exactly… Austin rounds out the D&D trio and the guys even find their own Eleven to come in and eat all of their Eggos and melt some brains.
2:05 Eggo Waffles and Intro to our “Eleven”
8:53 Brock and Curtis’ Week in Hollywood – Jerry Lewis and Starship Troopers
12:57 What’s Cookin’ in The Rock’s Kitchen
17:24 Testing Eleven’s psychic powers
21:58 The UnPOP roundtable discussion of Stranger Things and its strengths and weaknesses
52:07 Stranger Things fan theories
1:07:54 Comparisons with Netflix’s The Get Down
Have a topic you’d like to hear UnPOPPED? Send any comments/love/vitriol to unpopentertainment@gmail.com
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EW has released a new image giving fans another (and possibly best) image of Superman from the upcoming second season of CW’s Supergirl.
Supergirl “The Last Children of Krypton” Season 2, Ep 2 Tyler Hoechlin as Superman and Melissa Benoist as Supergirl
Along with this new image comes an interview with Tyler Hoechlin on how he landed the iconic red cape. Hoechlin revealed that he didn’t actually audition for the role saying;
“Honestly, it was the strangest thing — there wasn’t an audition,” Hoechlin tells EW. “I had a great meeting with [executive producers] Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg [in June]. I had been told that the meeting would have something to do with Supergirl, but nothing really specific. Halfway through, they brought up the idea of introducing Superman to the show and asked if I’d be interested. I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. I’m obviously a fan.’ I believe that was on a Monday. On Friday, we got a call with the offer, so it was very quick. It was very flattering, and I wish every job came about that way.”
Tyler Hoechlin joins a long line of actors who have played the role in the past (and present in the case of Henry Cavill) and will present his version of the Man of Steel when Supergirl returns fir its second season on Monday October 24, 2016.
Gore, Clowns, And A Mexican Nazi? ‘31‘ Has All You Need In A Horror Movie!
When you walk into a Rob Zombie film, you know what you are getting. Making his directorial debut in 2003 with ‘House Of 1000 Corpses‘, Zombie has since created a very distinct brand. From his ‘Halloween‘ reboot to original pieces like ‘Lords Of Salem‘, the man loves his 70’s inspired horror. ‘31‘ is just another example of how much exploitation and grindhouse play a part in Rob Zombie’s work.
‘31‘ follows a group of carnival workers who are kidnapped and must fight for their lives on Halloween night in 1976. Their captors force them to play a dangerous and depraved game called 31, in which they have to try to survive 12 hours while being chased by multiple killers called “The Heads”. The five players are Charly (Sheri Moon Zombie), Panda (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Roscoe (Jeff Daniel Phillips), Venus (Meg Foster), and Levon (Kevin Jackson). As the group goes through a maze of death rooms, the aristocrat-wig wearing leaders place bets on the players odds of survival.
It’s like a even-more twisted version of the classic short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game‘ published in 1924. A simple tale told through the unique eyes of Rob Zombie.
The film hits all the notes I expect from Zombie but also shows the improvement in his filmmaking. ‘31‘ has some striking cinematography mixed with very stylistic editing. Comparing this to his first film and the man has made leaps and bounds in terms of behind-the-camera work. Take his already amazing classic rock ‘n’ roll soundtracks, add these new film tricks, and Rob Zombie’s work feels complete.
In Hell, everybody loves popcorn.
– Doom-Head
There isn’t much to grasp at story-wise but it does lead to some bigger questions on how long this game has been going on. I don’t mind an easy plot when the real focus is on the violence and characters. Zombie even admits in a Q&A following the Fathom Event screening that the plot was something he pulled out of no-where. ‘31‘ knows exactly what type of film it is and that’s when it really shines. Characters ranging from final-girl Charly to sadistic leader Father Murder (Malcolm McDowell) all excel in their roles. I personally loved seeing all the different killers in the film; every-time a Head was killed, another was there to replace them. And those kills were gruesome but I will say they weren’t as graphic as you’d expect. I am curious to see what the Director’s Cut has in terms of upping the gore.
Just in time for Halloween this year, ‘31‘ is a great modern film to add to a night at home watching scary movies. There is enough 70’s nostalgia to please fans of the decade; check out for references to Wolfman Jack and a great use of a classic Aerosmith song! Just as polarizing as his other films but with a bit more polish, Rob Zombie is finally coming into his own as a filmmaker. I can’t wait to see his long-awaited transition from horror. But for the time being, keep the gory fun hits like this coming!
Fun Fact: The film was mostly crowd-funded. Some of the people who donated to the film even appeared as goons in the movie!
I recommend this highly! You can find ‘31‘ digitally on September 16th and in a limited release September 21st.
Everyone’s seen an Anime where there’s been two girls in love with the same boy or two boys in love with the same girl. Anime is infamous for its Love Triangles and how it can make it the meat of a narrative. But is there a formula that makes a Love Triangle story work so well in some shows and fall flat in others. Of course there is, I wouldn’t have asked if I already didn’t have an answer and an explanation. Love Triangles are inherently a hard subject to talk about because they float on the line of relationship and friendship. Also there are many-many shows that incorporate Love Triangles just “because”. Like most things, a Love Triangle is a trope. But being a recently bastardized trope, much like the characterization “Tsundere”, I felt it was necessary to try to break down what a Love Triangle is and what makes one effective from a story stand point.
Most of the time Love Triangles are between two girls and a boy. That’s just the way Anime is, sorry ladies. Also it’s what I’m most familiar with. I’m sure I could go scavenging for some more “Two guys one girl” stories but that would be a different article entirely. Because surprise, the dynamic that two boys in love and two girls in love bring to a story are different. So I’ll only be focusing on the former. So to break down the term Love triangle I’m gonna do it Barney style and break down the phrase and then bring it all back together and hopefully it will fall into place.
Love is the key to a love triangle; not like, not infatuation, not lust, Love. It’s a very specific emotion when it comes to romance and it has to be present for a Love Triangle to work. We can’t have characters who aren’t in love, especially the main character. I’m gonna blow a lot of Love Triangles out of the water here so get ready. If your main character isn’t in love with both of the girls in the Love Triangle it’s not gonna work. I said before that love needs to be present and it can’t be present unless its being felt by all sides. I’m not saying a character can’t be confused about their love or how strong they feel it but it needs to be either growing or present in all the characters involved.
So what is the purpose of Love exactly? (Shit we’re getting into pretty nebulous territory fast) Love usually is to see something in someone else that you value so much that you want to share. Love doesn’t always begin as soon as you meet someone too. It takes time to figure out what kind of person they are and learning what you like about them as an individual. The reasons are endless so I wont get into that. If you’re in love you want to be with that person and that person alone and you want them to love you back just as much as you love them. But wait how can there be a Love Triangle then if romantic love means you only love one person. Well that’s where we get into the triangle aspect.
A Triangle has three points and three sides (basic but hear me out). In a Love Triangle the points represent each person involved. I made a diagram to represent the parts of a Love triangle and whats going on. I’m also gonna use my favorite Love Triangle to later demonstrate the point of it all and why the term Triangle is used. So the first thing to remember about a Triangle is that all points are connected. There isn’t someone who’s not involved with each person. You don’t have a girl who doesn’t know the other girl exists, or a guy who is unaware of one of the girl’s who has feelings for him. Everyone has a relationship, even the girls involved. The red arrows are the girls love for the guy. They stretch all the way to him and are equal in intensity. The black arrows representing the guys feelings, are shortened however. For he is having the internal conflict on where to direct his love fully. Now his arrows can shift over time leaning more towards one girl or the other but the triangle doesn’t end until his arrow meets the same intensity and length as one of the girls. The rainbow is how the girls are connected. Yes, in a Love Triangle everyone has a connection. The rainbow line is the connection that the girls either develop or destroy along the Triangles progression. No matter who you are when you spend enough time with someone you’re going to form a connection. The rainbow line is all the possible emotions the girl will inevitably form, with each other and have an effect on their love towards the boy.
Bringing it all together we have an ever changing struggle between three people whose emotions are all connected but none are static. Love Triangles are a means to an end, and unsustainable. They exist only as long as the person whose love is unfocused doesn’t point to a single match. But Love Triangles are more complicated than what I can explain on a conceptual level. Since they are often woven into narratives, we as viewers have to buy into the Love Triangle itself. Love Triangles in real life don’t depend on viewers to be interested but in Anime and stories they are.
To delve into things that work lets look at one of the Franchise kings when it comes to Love Triangles, Macross. Every Macross series from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross that aired in 1982 to the currently airing Macross Delta, has a heavy portion of its narrative focus on the Love Triangle of the three main characters. Now all these series execute it to varying degrees of quality and I think the series that does it best is the 2007 series Macross Frontier and to even greater extent the 2009 and 2011 re-adaptation movies The False Songstress and Wings of Goodbye. Which so happens to be one of my favorite shows and favorite films. So to first understand the Love Triangle between Alto Saotome, Sheryl Nome, and Ranka Lee we’ll have to learn about these character individually, Barney style again, and bring it all around. I’ll try to be as simplistic with these characters as possible so I don’t end up writing a novel here.
Alto Saotome never wanted to be a kabuki performer. He went along with it because he was “the best” and it was his family’s legacy. When he discovered flying he realized that it’s not that he didn’t want to perform, but he wanted to find the right stage. A stage that he made for himself, not that he was born into. He joins the private military so he can fly at the cost of putting his life in danger to fight aliens.
Sheryl Nome was literally pulled from the slums of Macross Galaxy to become the hottest singer in the Galaxy. She is a puppet for the antagonists and her singing is causing her to slowly die. She love’s her fans and love singing so much that she will push herself to near death even after discovering that her fans don’t care about her. Her goal is to shake the Galaxy with her songs, and in doing so she’ll turn the place where she had nowhere to belong, into a place where she belongs everywhere.
Ranka Lee is tortured by memories and a family she can’t remember. She discovers her love of singing through one of Sheryl’s concerts and idolizes her every step of the way. When the Vajra aliens come and start attacking the Frontier she discovers her ability to communicate with them. Though the antagonists would use Ranka’s power to destroy the Vajra, she see’s it as an opportunity to connect with them. Her singing takes its own form as to be a voice of togetherness. As well as finding a way to tell the boy she always liked, Alto, that she loves him.
Somehow I think that Macross Frontier was supposed to be the ultimate Love Triangle story. The opening by Maaya Sakamota “Triangular” and all the imagery and connecting character themes makes it seem so evident the more I think about it. So let’s get into why this Love Triangle forms so naturally in the first place. All these characters each share something another character has either experience or can understand.
With Ranka and Sheryl its their love for singing. The progression for Ranka to eventually warrant Sheryl useless creates drama for their friendship and creates both perspectives that each character experiences and can understand. Both characters express their love for Alto in their singing both early in the story and after their position of importance have swapped.
Ranka and Alto have a difference of talent vs training. The narrative is them climbing the ranks together but in different ways. Ranka if fighting her shy nature while Alto is fighting against the powers that are surprising his talents. The connection they have gets stronger as they wish more and more for each other to achieve their goals. Ranks depends on Alto’s support because she is doing something outside her wheelhouse and Alto see’s her perseverance akin to him rebelling against his family’s art.
Sheryl and Alto share a longing for a place that will let them be free. For Alto it means a place where he can go wherever he wants. For Sheryl its a place that will accept her regardless of who she is, and thus be free of her lonesome past and insecurities. They both are cocky but insecure about their past selves so it’s easy to accept each other because they have experienced the same things. They also both understand the pressure that comes from being the best and what that means when you give that up.
As you can see none of that explanation really has to do with their personalities. A good Love Triangle will bring characters together because it means something for them to be together. Something grows as they interact and find things inside each other that they both share and have differences. This is where the Love Triangle is most effective. When characters all share different emotional bonds and eventually one becomes stronger than the others. It’s why we love to watch Love Triangles. We want to see where exactly our main character decides chooses who he loves and why. Or for the rare occasion for the girls to decide that their friendship is more important than them getting their heart broken.
I could go on but this got a little longer than I had anticipated. So for now I’ll just give some recommendation for shows that I feel execute the Love Triangle scenario I described effectively, and that have resolutions to their Love Triangle.
Deadline reports that Georgina Campbell (Murdered by my Boyfriend, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) has been cast as Lyta Zod in Syfy’s upcoming series centering around events that took place on Krypton one decades before the Planet’s destruction.
While the production process has been steeped in development for several months, this news is sure to rekindle excitement for the project among fans. Details on the character were scarce but the trade did offer this tidbit about the character;
“Lyta Zod is a member of Krypton’s military caste and the daughter of a general — that would be Superman’s future nemesis, General Zod, Lyta Zod serves as a cadet — and has also been having a clandestine, forbidden romance with Seg-El.”
The inclusion of this character in the series is a sign that much creative freedom will taken in this series as these events are largely undocumented in DC Comics canon. No release date has yet been announced for the series co created by Man Of Steel writer David S. Goyer.
Georgina Campbell will next be seen in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur:Legend Of The Sword alongside Charlie Hunnam which is set to be released on March 24, 2017
So the first thing to remember about a Triangle is that all points are connected. There isn’t someone who’s not involved with each person. You don’t have a girl who doesn’t know the other girl exists, or a guy who is unaware of one of the girl’s who has feelings for him. Everyone has a relationship, even the girls involved. The red arrows are the girls love for the guy. They stretch all the way to him and are equal in intensity. The black arrows representing the guys feelings, are shortened however. For he is having the internal conflict on where to direct his love fully. Now his arrows can shift over time leaning more towards one girl or the other but the triangle doesn’t end until his arrow meets the same intensity and length as one of the girls. The rainbow is how the girls are connected. Yes, in a Love Triangle everyone has a connection. The rainbow line is the connection that the girls either develop or destroy along the Triangles progression. No matter who you are when you spend enough time with someone you’re going to form a connection. The rainbow line is all the possible emotions the girl will inevitably form, with each other and have an effect on their love towards the boy.