What happens when the first issue of a series doesn’t really wow you? Some may just give up and not touch the book ever again. Sometimes though there is a chance for the second issue to correct the mistakes of the first and finish reeling in the reader by finishing the initial story line. This is what happens in Satellite Falling #2 as the team of Steven Horton and Stephen Thompson are able to get the readers in hook, line, and sinker with where they are taking their new series.
After finishing up the job from previous issue, Lilly is presented with a mystery which really hits home and makes you want to know what she is going to do next. Thought it is a bit convenient with Lilly knowing the little slave girl she rescues but it helps to show just how small the satellite is and how easy it is for someone close to anyone living on it to be affected by the black marker working in the shadows around them.
The art by Stephen Thompson is still on point. The different effects he employs in the comic really make it visual eye candy. Between Lilly’s holograms and the art from the chase scene, Thompson has shown just how much talent he is bringing to the table with this piece.
Satellite Falling is starting to shape up to be a series readers will want to look out for. With two issues it already has a great setup and a mystery which will keep the readers eager with anticipation for the next one.
Artix Entertainment released the AdventureQuest 3D “Guardian” teaser during their panel at MegaCon in Orlando Saturday.
AdventureQuest 3D is a cross-platform online multiplayer fantasy RPG where you can play with your friends from your phone, tablet, and PC.
AdventureQuest was Artix Entertainment’s first project released in October 2002. It was meant to be called “Land Of Rising Evil” (Lore). Now it is also referred to as AdventureQuest Classic and The Original AdventureQuest. The game is also called Battleon sometimes because of its domain name. The game is set in the fictional world of “Lore”, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the original game name, Lands of Rising Evil. While it is free to play, players may upgrade their characters to become AdventureQuest Guardians in order to receive exclusive in-game benefits.
Artix Entertainment LLC, is a privately held, game development and publishing studio that specializes in creating online, browser-based, anime-style, role-playing Flash games with a distinctive visual style and high-quality game play. Artix has developed a range of games with storylines that are based in the fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure genre. Content within the games is updated on a weekly basis creating a compelling experience which keeps users coming back frequently for new content and story lines. Artix core offerings are three online RPG games: AdventureQuest, DragonFable, and MechQuest, three MMORPGs: AdventureQuest Worlds, EpicDuel, and HeroSmash, and the puzzle-based game Pony vs Pony.
While Daniel Craig hangs up his tux and heads to a beach (maybe?) for a few years, Sony and the powers that be are working furiously to cast the next James Bond. And while names like Tom Hiddleston have been tossed into the mix, it seems the don’t want to take a traditional route. Whatever that means.
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones’ Mother of Dragons herself, has recently said she “would love to play James Bond.” And she even has her “Bond Boy” in mind: Leonardo DiCaprio. Brilliant! While Emilia Clarke may not be the first female choice to play “Jane” Bond, she might be an interesting take. Cate Blanchett has always been my leader in the clubhouse when the whole female Bond discussion comes up. Emily Blunt is a close second. But beyond whether or not Clarke is the right female choice, why not give her a shot?
Having a female play Bond would definitely ruffle the feathers of a toxic base of fanboys who cry foul whenever the loves of their childhood lives are upended by gender or race decisions. Think how the Ghostbusters haters would react! It would be greatness. Not to mention the fact males have ample super spy heroes to latch onto – namely Jason Bourne.
It makes perfect sense to change Bond’s gender, to inject life into the stilted franchise which ever-so-briefly upended the film series when Craig came on board before falling back into all the problems that plagued Pierce Brosnan’s run. Let’s see what Emilia Clarke has.
No, that isn’t Kylo Ren looking at Darth Vader’s helmet. That’s Poe Dameron as Apocalypse.
In “X-Men: Apocalypse”, a few characters debate about the “Star Wars” trilogy, with one of them declaring the third movie to be the worst. This is an in-joke to 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men: The Last Stand”, which felt overstuffed with action and too many characters. While it’s a stretch to compare “X-Men” with “Star Wars”, there are several moments that makes one pause.
Directed by Bryan Singer, the new is a sequel to “X-Men: First Class” and “Days of Future Past”. Set in 1983, mutants have been public knowledge for ten years and mostly tolerated by society. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is still running his School for Gifted Children in Westchester, New York. Among the students are telepath Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan), the younger brother of Alex Summers (Lucas Till). Scott is troubled and withdrawn due to being unable to control his optic blasts. Jean is also somewhat of an outcast, because she is powerful enough to read minds.
At least we get to see some familiar faces again- even if the plot is overstuffed with characters
Charles’ foster sister Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is travelling the world to help her own kind. Having saved the world back in 1973, she is revered as a hero by the mutant populace- a title which she dislikes. In Germany, she rescues former circus performer Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) from a life of abuse. Meanwhile, Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne) is in Egypt on a CIA assignment, where she witnesses the awakening of Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), an ancient being regarded as the first mutant.
Upon waking, Apocalypse decides the world has been corrupted by false gods and must be destroyed, so he can rebuild civilization. To do this, he begins recruiting street thief Ooro Monroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp), cage-fighter Angel (Ben Hardy) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) as his Horsemen.
Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) has put his tragic past behind him. No longer Magneto, he resides in Poland as a factory worker and has a family. He appears to have moved on from waging war on humanity and seems at peace. After preventing a mishap with his powers, he is exposed and loses his family. Apocalypse arrives to offer Erik a place as the Fourth Horseman, which he accepts. Now, it is up to Charles, Raven and the X-Men to stop Apocalypse’s plan of world destruction.
Fassbender is in fine form as Magneto
The cast does fine with the material they’re given, but it feels stretched thin at times. As an older, mature teacher, McAvoy channels Patrick Stewart’s Xavier in his heartfelt moments with the students and friends. Fassbender gets to have several dramatic moments of agony, despair and rage. His portrayal of Erik is a man who tried living in peace but feels doomed to suffer. Lawrence feels more confident as Mystique, yet she doesn’t have much more to do than guide young mutants. One cannot help but wonder if she is just phoning her performance in.
Once again, Evan Peters steals the show as Quicksilver with an elaborate rescue sequence set to the Eurythmics’ song “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”. Nicholas Hoult reprises his role as mutant teacher/tech expert Hank McCoy/Beast but doesn’t get much to do for most of the plot. Likewise, Lucas Till’s role is solely for the purpose of playing big brother to Sheridan’s Cyclops. Rose Byrne is the person who kicks off the plot and sides with the mutants for the film. She has good chemistry with McAvoy, and it is a shame McTaggert’s relationship with Charles isn’t explored further.
The newcomers are a welcome addition to the series. Sheridan plays Scott Summers with more of an edge than James Marsden’s reserved portrayal in the previous films. His agony over his power offers insight into what it means to be a mutant. Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey is troubled over being able to read minds, feeling that something powerful is growing inside her. While she resembles Famke Janssen, Turner gives a vulnerable, nuanced performance.
Smit-McPhee steals the show with his humorous portrayal of Nightcrawler and provides a lighter balance to the film. Shipp’s portrayal of Storm is more aggressive and edgy than Halle Berry’s version, and it is cool to see her sport a mohawk in 1980s style. Buried under prosthetics, Oscar Isaac is physically convincing as Apocalypse, but he is given little material to work with. Whereas he should be scary, Isaac gets to deliver speeches and philosophize on rebuilding the world. Olivia Munn is fascinating as Psylocke during fight scenes, but she isn’t given a lot of backstory or depth. Finally, Hardy’s Angel is visually impressive but sidelined for most of the film. What could have been interesting is sadly underused.
Angel looks cool, but that is about as far as it goes
Singer is good at presenting action, but the overstuffed quality of the plot feels a little too much. The globe-trotting nature of the story feels similar to “First Class”, and the big focus on destruction is an improvement over the “mutants versus humans” plot of past X-films. We are also treated to another appearance by Colonel William Stryker (Josh Helman), whose sole purpose is to capture the mutants and experiment on them. This leads to a surprise cameo by Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine of Weapon X. While this scene might be exciting to watch, it feels like fan service to those expecting Jackman to show up.
“X-Men: Apocalypse” has some good performances and amazing visuals, but it suffers from the problems that “Last Stand” depicted in balancing characters. Nevertheless, the movie feels like a satisfactory conclusion to this trilogy. Here’s hoping Fox will take the X-Men in a new direction for the future.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is getting a reboot over at 20th Century Fox. After the original 2003 film was met with a decent box office but horrid reviews and no staying power, the studio plans on kickstarting the story once again. Hey, it’s 20th Century Fox, what could possibly go wrong?
According to the report, Jayson Rothwell, whose most notable previous writing credit includes the 2012 remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night (simply called, Silent Night) is set to pen the screenplay from Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s graphic novel from the late 90s.
At one point, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which covers the adventures of literary legends like Dr. Jekyll, The Invisible Man, and Captain Nemo, was going to be a franchise. When the original film failed, seemingly sending Sean Connery (Alan Quatermain) into retirement, the story was set to head to TV in 2013. That never happened, so here we are, with another valuable comic franchise in the hands of 20th Century Fox.
There’s considerable debate about who the next “Arrowverse” superhero should be. There are a lot of good candidates. Some people hope for a Green Lantern or a Doctor Fate spinoff, but there’s a great superhero story that no one seems to be talking about: Alan Moore’s Saga of The Swamp Thing. There are three compelling reasons why The Swamp Thing would make a great new TV superhero series.
One: Location
Most superheroes defend a city. The Swamp Thing operates out of rural Louisiana swampland, defending nature. Smallville worked rural, but nothing, even outside of DC, has done quintessentially southern. There are just not superhero movies taking place in the American South. For that matter, there aren’t a lot of TV series period that take place in the South, save for shows like Hap and Leonard. The American South is a completely unexplored area for the Arrowverse and would offer a big and unique opportunity.
Two: John Constantine would return
Fans were disappointed when Constantine was canceled, but if someone did a Swamp Thing series, John, by necessity, would appear. He’s the Swamp Thing’s biggest name ally and, arguably, closest friend. He first appeared in a Swamp Thing comic. There isn’t really a way to write a Team Swamp Thing without Constantine as a member. It might even serve as a great bridge to a renewed Constantine.
Three: It deals with serious issues
The Swamp Thing story deals with major issues: alcoholism, abusive relationships, the question of who someone really is. But the main issue is, “What does it mean to be human?” The Swamp Thing isn’t technically human; he’s a plant. He comes to terms with the fact that he isn’t Alec Holland, the human, but that he’s still a “person” in the eyes of his friends and himself. It’s a very serious and classic science fiction theme that could be explored in depth in an extended series.
I don’t have any reason to believe that CW execs or writers are actually looking to tackle The Swamp Thing in any form. It’s entirely unlikely that he’s at the top of most lists of possible or likely adaptations. The Swamp Thing story would make a great TV series that could go in interesting new directions.
We’ve known for several months now that Thor: Ragnarok will co-star Mark Ruffalo, meaning the Hulk will make at least an appearance in the film. Now, plot details have come out discussing just how “Planet Hulk” this thing might be when all is said and done.
The film will definitely have the Planet Hulk element in it, operating as a kind of mash-up with the Ragnarok story. How Thor ends up on the planet in question is unclear, but he will definitely be involved in some gladiatorial games run by none other than Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. In terms of Hulk’s appearance in this portion of the film, he will be rocking the one-shoulder armor as seen in the comics, so expect him to be decked out in the familiar Planet Hulk look.
There’s also a video explaining in detail Hulk’s involvement in Thor: Ragnorok. Oh yeah, and the video also discusses the new villain in Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2:
That’s right, the villain in Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is Ayesha the blonde goddess with many different names. Elizabeth Debicki, who previously appeared in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Great Gatsby, should be playing Ayesha. Joblo also gives an extensive description of Ayesha and her impact on the MCU moving forward:
Now, the significance of Ayesha in GUARDIANS 2 and the greater MCU is rather huge, especially when you consider that she was created by The Enclave, a group of scientists dedicated to taking control of the world, starting with the creation of the perfect genetic beings, made to restart humanity. Their first version of this, called HIM, would later evolve into the character known as Adam Warlock, who escaped The Enclave. However, The Enclave made a second being, which became HER aka Ayesha, who also escapes and goes looking for HIM, who she considers to be her perfect mate to start a new perfect race.
Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters November 3, 2017, and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2 May 5, 2017.
The Lobster is as likely to frustrate and distance viewers as it is to captivate and engage them. It’s a film built around a critique of modern preoccupations with relationships and closeness that deliberately distances audiences from the film’s characters with its stark, clinical approach. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you have a taste for the dystopian and the absurd in film or literature, it may be worth your while.
What’s it about?
The Lobster focuses on David (Colin Farrell), who wears glasses to correct his short-sightedness (an important detail), and his search for the love that will not only change his life, but literally save it. When his wife leaves him, he does what all suddenly single people do in his society: check into “The Hotel,” declare to the management his sexual preference, and begin the process of finding a suitable life match among The Hotel’s other rejected, dejected, or otherwise forlorn and overlooked guests.
There are many rules at The Hotel, but one rule above all dictates the tone of existence within its grounds: if guests do not find a suitable match within 45 days of checking in, they will be transformed into the animal of their choice. When asked upon his check-in what his choice of animal will be should he “not make it,” David answers “a lobster.”
In the days that follow, David watches as other guests, in particular two other men he befriends, one with a limp (Ben Whishaw), the other with a lisp (John C. Reilly) attempt to find or in some cases fake connection with others in order to avoid being transformed. They attend seminars and workshops focused on the advantages of being part of a couple, and awkward dinners and mixers meant to encourage courtship and familiarity.
However, at any time when a particular alarm sounds, all guests retreat to their rooms, arm themselves with tranquilizer rifles and darts, and go out into the nearby woods to hunt “loners,” people choosing to live alone in the wilderness and thus breaking the law. For every loner caught and brought back, guests get another day added to their stay, another day to put off transformation and continue their search for “love.”
Being neither very charming nor an accomplished hunter, David finds his allotted days running short. After one final, catastrophic attempt to avoid his fate, he runs from The Hotel into the woods and joins the loners, where he meets and is instantly drawn to a woman (Rachel Weisz) with whom he shares much in common, including short-sightedness.
The Loners and their leader (Léa Seydoux, SPECTRE, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), however, have their own rules about connection, making David and his new friend’s mutual attraction problematic. A future together seems within their grasp if they can just reach The City and get lost among all the other couples living there.
Of course, in this world, that’s an “if” that’s almost as improbable as finding true love at “The Hotel.”
Taking things to their logical conclusion
As absurd as the premise behind The Lobster might sound when written out in a synopsis like the one above, there’s real imagination and creativity in the premise and the world built around it. Writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos (Venice 70: Future Reloaded) takes into account Western society’s inherent social pressures and prejudices regarding people living alone past a certain age along with governmental laws and regulation affecting unmarried people and puts forth a somewhat logical conclusion, a direction in which we as a society may be heading.
Is it extreme? Of course it is — such is the nature of dystopian satire. But in that extremity lies insight. If The Lobster succeeds at anything, it’s putting forth a thoughtful, if depressing, critique of societal structures and mentalities regarding how single people are viewed by the “conventional” masses and, conversely, how those who choose to seek out and actually find fulfilling companionship are looked dimly upon by those who do not.
That said, the film does have some pacing issues, and a fair argument can be made that it belabors its point once that point has been made. The Lobster is certainly not cinema for those seeking immediate gratification, but perhaps even that is deliberate. After all, isn’t “love” in 21st Century Western society at times considered a “thing” that people are able to just go out and get without time or trouble? Match.com would certainly have you think so.
Worth seeing?
As an alternative to the summer movie season’s mindless bombast and crowd-pleasing fare, yes, The Lobster is certainly worth audiences’ attention. It’s a difficult film to wholly embrace, just because it can be so harsh and unflinching in its premise and execution.
However, given the chance, it’s a film that’s sure to leave you thinking. It features solid, if understated, performances from its A-list cast bringing to life a truly unique and unconventional film experience.
Just don’t expect anything uplifting or romantic in any way, shape, or form in that experience.
The Lobster
Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, and Olivia Colman. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Running Time: 118 minutes
Rated R for sexual content including dialogue, and some violence.
The marketing for Suicide Squad is kicking into high gear as Warner Brothers posted this new video to their page today. It’s poking fun at soccer fans by showing off the team like they’re about to take on Manchester United. It’s amusing even if it doesn’t tell us much more about the characters themselves. With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice receiving less than favorable reviews there is a lot more pressure on Suicide Squad to justify the DC Cinematic Universe so expect WB to push this one hard in the coming months.
Suicide Squad comes out August 5th and is directed by David Ayer and starts Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevingne
