Producer Frank Marshall gave a few details about the upcoming Indiana Jones 5, and also discussed the future of Harrison Ford’s iconic character. Turns out, they aren’t gonna do “The Bond thing” and bring in new actors in the future. We’ll see about that.
Marshall spoke to Variety about Harrison Ford being the only Indiana Jones:
“It’s all about the story. I think both in the ‘Jason Bourne’ series and on ‘Indiana Jones,’ we are not going to do the Bond thing… We think those characters are iconic, and those are the only actors who can play that.”
Of course Jeremy Renner tried to take the mantle of Bourne from Matt Damon, but it didn’t work. And he wasn’t Jason Bourne, so I see where he’s coming from. He also talked about Indiana Jones 5, which Ford and Steven Spielberg are getting to pretty quickly (the film is set for a July 2019 release). This new Indy will be a continuation of the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Now, this could be taken any number of ways. Sure this will be a continuation of the characters, meaning Karen Allen and The LaBeouf could be back in the fold.
Let’s hope it means only this, and not that there will be some sort of narrative spillover from the fourth film, who most like to pretend never happened.
Early 90s B-movie action purists will remember Dolph Lundgren’s sci-fi cop thriller Dark Angel as I Come in Peace. The shooting and international title is, in fact, Dark Angel, but the title was changed to I Come in Peace stateside to avoid confusion with two other films from the 20s and 30s named Dark Angel (like that would happen). I Come in Peace is a cooler name by a country mile, and it also happens to be the catchphrase for the film’s giant blonde antagonist, a white-eyed alien here to steal human endorphins by goosing us with a lethal dose of heroin. Here is a definitive 1990 camp thriller, one managing to have every cop-flick action cliché known to man, while at the same time managing to build a detailed background of this alien race and the politics on his home planet.
1990 was also a time when we were dead set on turning the incredibly uncharismatic Dolph Lundgren into a leading man. With all the range he showed in Rocky IV, no wonder studios wanted this ripped Swede to share the box office with Schwarzenegger. I love Lundgren, and he seems to be making a comeback since his name is up next on the pop-culture nostalgia conveyor, but let’s not pretend he resembles anything close to a competent thespian. They tried with Masters of The Universe, they tried with The Punisher (guilty pleasure. You know you like it too.), and these big budget attempts didn’t take. So his next option was to get steady work in some undercard thrillers. Like I Come in Peace, where he plays Jack Caine, a Houston vice cop who… wait for it… is not on the Captain’s good side.
Yes, Jack is a rebel at The Force, a cop who works under his own rules, doesn’t have time for a skinny, bookish new FBI partner (Brian Benben), and doesn’t let the actual law impede his enforcement of it. And lest we forget an item on the checklist, he recently broke up with his girlfriend. He’s just the sort of cop America needs when a gigantic blonde alien – Talec is his name – begins killing people with really sharp flying CDs and injecting them with heroin to spike their endorphins so he can then harvest them. This is all highly illegal and expensive according to the other alien, Azeck, the good one, who’s hot on the trail of Talec and drops this plot exposition while dying in the back of Jack’s car.
The pursuit of Talec also dovetails into Jack’s pursuit of Victor Manning (Sherman Howard), the drug dealer getting ripped off by Talec. Manning and his cronies are stock villains built at the 90s B-villain factory, which is why the aliens are so crucial to the ultimate enjoyment of the movie. I Come in Peace isn’t much for human characterization, but director Craig R. Baxley and writers Jonathan Tydor and David Koepp (DAVID KOEPP!) pay great attention to the backstory of these extraterrestrial villains. That’s where the film separates itself from similar schlock of the time. Giving Talec firm motivation, and even adding in an alien cop to pursue him to earth, are extra steps in the development of these antagonists where most films of this ilk wouldn’t bother.
Disney must be very, very happy with Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book right now. The live-action remake is currently rocking a 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and early projections predict it’ll soon join the $1 billion club after it comes out this Friday. With all this excellent pre-release buzz, it should hardly come to any surprise that Disney is already setting up a sequel under their banner. After all, what would Disney be without a sequel to one of their successful films? And it looks like they want to keep a good thing going with Favreau is talks to return to the director’s chair.
TheWrap reported on the sequel news. In addition to Favreau returning to direct and produce the new film, screenwriter Justin Marks is also coming back to pen the continued adaptation of Rudyard Kupling’s beloved text of the same name. Lead child star Neel Sethi, additionally, is slated to come back on screen, and voice actors Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson and Lupita Nyong’o are also expected to lend their voices for a second round. It’s one big, wild reunion in the works here.
This, of course, isn’t the only live-action adaptation sequel in the works under Disney’s name, as they also have Alice Through the Looking Glass scheduled for May 27 and a Maleficent sequel rumored since the original’s release. And this is in addition to the countless other re-imaginings in the works at the moment, including a Pete’s Dragon remake on August 12 and a new Beauty and the Beast on March 17, 2017. And while I’ll had some problems with Favreau’s latest (I’ll talk more about them in my review later this week), I’ll admit that this and last year’s Cinderella are definitely a step in the right direction for this new sub-genre from the studio.
They certainly feel more inspired, heartfelt and far less cynically produced than 2010’s Alice in Wonderland or 2014’s ill-fated aforementioned Maleficent, and I can only hope they continue to get better as they go along. I feel like Pete’s Dragon, in particular, could truly be something special, and I wish nothing but the best for Favreau and his team moving forward with this sequel.
Outlander, a Starz-original TV show based on a series of novels of the same name written by Diana Gabaldon, is back with a second season. Although Outlander might not technically qualify as science fiction from a genre perspective–it doesn’t allude to a fictional scientific breakthrough or a speculative future either utopian or dystopian–, the name of the person who developed Outlander for TV, Ronald D. Moore, may set off a few science fiction red alerts. Moore was integral in fleshing out both the Klingon and Ferengi cultures in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And, Moore wrote or co-wrote some of the most popular Berman-era Star Trek episodes, including Star Trek: The Next Generation’s fan-favourite series finale All Good Things …
Moore was also responsible in large part for the successful re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica in 2004, working as the show’s developer and as one of its writers. So, I was pretty excited when I heard about this unique show that was developed for TV by the godfather of the Klingon culture and would feature a time-traveling World War II combat nurse portrayed well by Caitriona Balfe.
I won’t summarize the first season here but I will say that Outlander‘s first season surprised me. I had expected a lot more discussion about time travel and the nature of altering history from a show that was developed by Ronald D. Moore and involves sending its main character 200 years back in time. This lack of speculation on altering history, especially the main character’s own personal history, made the first season of Outlander seem more like a historical Soap Opera than a Science Fiction show. That being said, it was a well done historical Soap Opera that touched on issues like spousal abuse, psychological torture, rape, and the nature of love. And, although the first episode, “Through a Glass, Darkly,” doesn’t represent a total departure from Outlander’s first season, it does seem to promise an approach more rooted in science fiction or fantasy than its first season was. But, enough pontificating, first a recap of “Through A Glass, Darkly” …
Outlander Season 2 “Through A Glass, Darkly” – The Recap
If you watched Outlander last season you were probably, like me, surprised by the way Outlander Season 2 started. The audience sees Claire in a familiar stone circle frantically searching for something. She finds a ring in the dirt. A visibly upset Claire stumbles down a road until she comes upon a car–this definitely isn’t the 18th century where the audience left Claire last season. As the driver of the vehicle tells Claire while she holds him up by his collar, it’s the year 1948 and the English won the Battle of Culloden.
It’s a difficult reunion for Claire and her 20th century husband Frank made even worse by the fact that Claire, picturing Frank’s ancestor Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, recoils in disgust whenever Frank touches her. Showing an exceptional level of understanding, Frank first tells Claire that he doesn’t care where she’s been and is only happy that she’s back. He even takes in Claire’s wild tale of time travel and marriage to another man with relative understanding. It’s not until Claire reveals that she’s pregnant with Jamie’s child that Frank loses his cool and nearly strikes his time-traveling wife, the reality of their predicament setting in.
After a discussion with his host and friend Reverend Wakefield, though, Frank decides to raise the baby as his own rather than dwelling on the fact that the child’s true father is a long-dead Scottish Highlander. Claire agrees that the child should be raised as Frank’s son and that she will stop researching the fate of her 18th century husband Jamie Fraser. Frank in turn swears never to use the word “flogged” in Claire’s presence.
Their terms discussed, the two talk about the future. Frank has decided to accept a posting at Harvard, and the two must move to Boston. So, after a symbolic burning of Claire’s 18th century get-up the two fly to America. As Claire steps out of the plane she has a flashback to the day she landed in Le Havre, France more than 200 years ago in the company of her other husband, Jamie Fraser.
Tobias Menzies gets to play both ends of the spectrum in Outlander
So, after the relatively surprising beginning to Outlander Season 2, the audience is taken back to where it left Claire and Jamie at the end of the first season. Jamie is recovering from injuries suffered during his rape and torture by “Black Jack” Randall. And, because of one of the only bits of discussion about changing history from Outlander’s first season, Claire and Jamie have sailed to France in an attempt to stop the Jacobite rebellion before it can be wiped out at the Battle of Culloden. Claire feels that this is the best way to ensure that the Highland culture that Jamie is a part of isn’t destroyed.
The rest of “Through a Glass, Darkly” was similar to Outlander’s first season in that it was a relatively straight-ahead period melodrama aside from the fact that Claire knows vague information about some future events, including the fact that the Jacobite rebellion ends with their brutal defeat at the Battle of Culloden. In a productive meeting with Jamie’s Jacobite uncle Jared Fraser, publicly a successful wine merchant, Jamie convinces Jared that he and Claire are loyal to the Jacobite cause. Jared also gives Jamie a 35 percent cut in all profits that come from his wine business if Jamie will oversee it while Jared is away.
In the final scenes of “Through a Glass, Darkly,” Claire’s authority as a healer is once again challenged by an idiotic man with selfish interests: Le Comte St. Germain vows to get revenge on Claire, Jamie, and Jared when Claire exposes a smallpox outbreak that’s traced back to St. Germain’s ship. The authorities seize and burn the ship with all its cargo. Claire doesn’t waste any time making new friends, does she?
Outlander Season 2 “Through a Glass, Darkly” – My Critique
Much like Tobias Menzies, I’m a supporter of Team Frank, not Team Jack
Like I said above, it was good to start the season off with some mention of Claire’s temporal duality. Without any mention of time travel, Outlander may as well be Game of Thrones. This first episode of Outlander Season 2 reminded me of Tobias Menzies‘s (Frank/Jonathan Randall) emotive range. Menzies’s portrayal of Jack Randall last season left my skin crawling, and his portrayal of Jack Randall’s descendant Frank is as touching as his portrayal of Jack is unsettling.
Although I enjoyed the half and half approach taken in the Outlander Season 2 premiere, I don’t imagine that Outlander will continue using this format. One wonders what kind of drama could be cooked up in post-WWII Boston that would compare to the inevitable betrayal and violence involved in attempting to suppress the Jacobite rebellion from the inside. Having never read the series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, I can’t claim any insight into the outcome or structure that the show will take but I’m happy to wait and see where this story of 20th-century feminism in the 18th century goes.
Unlike Batman v Superman, it’s not all grim and dour! Episode one of The UnPOP Podcast also shells out plenty of love for the Batman animated films while also taking a look at living life as creatives in Hollywood. Each week the hosts, Curtis Waugh (Me! Hear my voice!) and Brock Powell, will filter all manner of pop culture trends and the latest movie releases through their specific nerd lens.
In this initial episode the show takes on the idea of bingeing content through a focused “Bat-binge”, discusses what “The Screening Room” might mean for theater goers and tackles the thousand-pound wet fish, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Have a topic you’d like to hear UnPOPPED? Send any comments/love/vitriol to unpopentertainment@gmail.com
Follow the show on Twitter @UnpopPodcast and the guys @curtwaugh and @thebrockyroad!
NEXT WEEK: You’ll find out the true answer to the question, “Xbox or Playstation?” as we’ll be binge gaming in anticipation of the first-person action film, Hardcore Henry.
‘Captain America: Civil War’ is less than a month away, and the press tour has begun. ‘Civil War’ will change the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it will be time to look to the future Avengers to lead the way.
One Avenger that is front and center in Civil War II for Marvel Comics is Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige talked with Fandango about when to expect an announcement on a director and casting for the ‘Captain Marvel’ film.
“I think we’ll be announcing a filmmaker in the next month or two, and probably some cast members later in the summer, at the end of the summer,” said Feige.
This year’s San Diego Comic-Con is from July 21-24, is that late enough in the summer for Feige, or is the MCU mastermind planning another private Marvel Studios event to unveil plans for Phase Four. (The Phase Three announcement was in October 2014.) Marvel has three unannounced films planned for 2020.
Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve have already been tapped for the script, ‘Captain Marvel’ is scheduled for release on March 8, 2016.
Carol Danvers is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and designed by artist Gene Colan, Major Carol Danvers first appeared as a member of the United States Air Force in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968) and debuted as the first incarnation of Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel #1 (January 1977) after a fusion of alien Kree and human genes gives her superhuman powers, which occurred in Captain Marvel #18 (November 1969).
Asgard bares good and bad news today. Let’s start off with the bad: after appearing in both Thor and Thor: The Dark World as Jane Foster, the titular superhero’s Earthbound love interest, it looks like Natalie Portman is stepping out from appearing in the third film in the series, the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok. The reasoning for why the Oscar winner won’t appear in the new blockbuster is unclear at the moment, but here comes the good news. Potentially replacing her in the new film is Tessa Thompson, the exceptionally-talented young standout from Dear White People, Selma and, most recently, last fall’s phenomenal Creed.
Whom Thompson will play is also left unclear at the moment, but THR notes she has a “key role” in the new sequel, set to be released on July 28, 2017. Some are speculating Thompson will potentially play a new love interest for our dashing blonde-hair demi-god. I guess where one door closes, another one opens. Or, I guess more appropriately, where one hammer is slammed to the ground, another is ….. picked up? You get what I mean. I think.
Don’t mourn Thor and Jane’s lost love just yet, though. Stellan Skarsgard has currently not been asked to come back yet either, according to Den of Geek, and Marvel has made no secret about how Ragnarok will largely take place away from our home planet. While these characters are not expected to return, do expect some buddy-buddy time between Thor and Hulk, as the film is being called “a buddy picture” of sorts between the two mismatched Avengers. Perhaps this explains why neither are reported to be featured in next month’s Captain America: Civil War.
This bit of casting news is also particularly curious as Portman and Thompson are both soon slated to star in Annihilation, Alex Garland’s follow-up to last year’s exceptional directorial debut Ex Machina. They round out a cast that also includes Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin). Production on Garland’s sophomore film begins in a mere few weeks.
Portman is also spending her non-MCU time appearing in Jackie, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Planetarium, The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards and Terrence Malick’s Weightless. Thompson, meanwhile, can also soon be seen in War on Everyone, Salt Water and HBO’s Westworld. If we ever get to see that new show, that is.
While it’s disappointing to not see Portman work her magic, it’s evident she hasn’t been living up to her full potential here — especially in that last Thor. This is probably for the best. Additionally, Thompson is an amazing young talent and it’s great to see her in more mainstream projects. Hopefully she isn’t wasted as Portman often was in these films. We’ll have to see when Thor: Ragnarok, directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) and also starring Chris Hemsworth (of course), Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo and Jaimie Alexander, stomps its way into theaters. There’s also no word yet on whether Kat Dennings is set to return. But don’t count on it.
A new trailer for ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is rumored to drop this Thursday at CinemaCon during the 20th Century Fox presentation, according to sources at Heroic Hollywood.
According to the report, the newly mastered trailer will be in 3D and feature Wolverine. Logan wasn’t originally part of the film, but director Bryan Singer figured out a way to fit Hugh Jackman in the movie and work around everyone’s schedule.
Fans will find out Thursday if this scoop is true.
X-Men: Apocalypse is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Lana Condor (Jubilee), Olivia Munn, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Ancient mutant Apocalypse is unearthed after 5,000 years and recruits his four horsemen; Magneto, Psylocke, Storm, and Angel. The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse try to reboot the world through destruction.
The film is set in the 1980s, and we will see younger versions of previously seen characters.
Kong: Skull Island hits theaters in March next year, but last night we got a rather extensive behind-the-scenes look at the film. Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson star in the film and they spearhead this glimpse on set.
The most interesting thing about Kong: Skull Island is the time period. This story takes place during the Vietnam War, roughly thirty plus years after Peter Jackson’s King Kong (or the original, for that matter). It should be interesting to see the continuity between that film and this one. Also, while Michael Keaton and J.K. Simmons dropped out of the project, it appears they’ve recovered nicely from those two leaving the fray with the addition of Hiddleston, Larson, Sam Jackson, and John Goodman.
The special debuted last night on the MTV Movie Awards, but for those of us out there wise enough to skip that scourge on society, here’s the promo video in its entirety:
There isn’t much of a synopsis, except the claim this movie is going to explore King Kong’s origins. Which doesn’t really gel with he time period, but whatever. Kong: Skull Island is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who previously directed the fantastic small indie flick The Kings of Summer.
When Alan Moore was writing his legendary Saga of the Swamp Thing run in the 1980’s, DC started branding the words “Sophisticated Suspense” at the top of each cover. It was the perfect juxtaposition of descriptors, because Moore was telling a perfectly balanced tale. It was bone chilling and eery, but also beautiful and elegant, and it was somehow exploring the human condition through a character that was not technically human. The run was a pinnacle of storytelling, and Tom King has achieved that same level of excellence in his current run on The Vision.
When the story begins, Vision has literally built a family for himself: a wife, Virginia, and two children, Vin and Viv. They live in a quiet Virginian suburb within flying distance of Vision’s job at the White House. Everything seems perfectly normal, and it is at first. It’s too normal; it’s an unsettling amount of normal.
Slowly but surely, things begin to unravel for the Visions. While their patriarch is away, the family is attacked by the Grim Reaper, who proceeds to wound Viv and wreck the house. Virginia acts swiftly, protecting her family with a baking pan, killing the Reaper in the process.
The whole sequence is jarring, and that’s what makes this series great. It sets up these tranquil scenarios, lulls the reader into a false sense of security, and then swiftly pulls the rug out. The narration remains calm all the while, only adding to the creep factor.
The artwork aids in the rattling in a huge way. Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s pencils and Jordie Bellaire’s colors creates a subdued and unsuspecting atmosphere, which makes the shocking moments that much more impactful. And trust that the artwork doesn’t hold back; the horror sequences are just as gruesome as the dinner scenes are peaceful.
This volume would be a good enough prose novel on its own, but it makes a near perfect comic book when coupled with these illustrations.
The rest of this arc revolves around Virginia trying to cover up the murder, and the ramifications it has on both her family and the community as a whole. It’s an interesting story, but it’s one that’s been heard before. What elevates it is Tom King’s natural ability to take the cliché and shine a light on its deeper philosophical themes.
The story becomes about humanity, and the androids’ struggle to understand it and blend in with the world. As logical beings by design, their impulses don’t correspond with what they know as “normal” human behavior. The family clashes with their neighbors and peers in a way that’s both heart wrenchingly depressing and hysterically real.
This book is everything that good science fiction is supposed to be. It takes a concept and stretches it to fantastic lengths, making it unbelievable and yet totally relatable. The characters are holding a mirror up to the reader and asking, “Is this normal? Are you normal?”
The Vision: “Little Worse Than a Man” is the kind of work that validates comics as a legitimate art form. It’s the kind that could (and should) be taught in higher education’s english and philosophy courses. Tom King and company prove that this is a serious medium to deliver life lessons, and to dissect society’s flaws.
“To assert as truth that which has no meaning is the core mission of humanity.”
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Preorder The Vision Vol. 1: “Little Worse Than A Man” here! Or pick up issues 1-6 at your local comic shop today!
