Netflix released a teaser for the fourth season of House of Cards Friday morning. Frank Underwood is busy working on the election campaign to stay in power. Underwood’s new campaign websiteTrump has a great creep factor, roll your cursor over Frank.
On his website you can create your own Frank Underwood campaign poster.
Underwood Campaign Ready For A Stop In South Carolina
House of Cards, the critically acclaimed Emmy®-nominated drama has its Golden Globe® winning stars Kevin Spacey (as Francis Underwood) and Robin Wright (as Claire Underwood), whose characters have always been each other’s’ strongest allies, showing cracks in their relationship. In an election year, the stakes are now higher than ever, and the biggest threat they face is contending with each other.
House of Cards also stars Michael Kelly, Mahershala Ali, Wayne Atkinson, Neve Campbell, Derek Cecil, Nathan Darrow, Kim Dickens, Elizabeth Marvel, Dominique McElligott, Molly Parker, Paul Sparks, with Ellen Burstyn, Cicely Tyson and Joel Kinnaman.
All 13-episodes of the one-hour drama produced by Donen/Fincher/Roth and Trigger Street Productions, Inc. in association with Media Rights Capital will premiere on Friday, March 4, 2016 at 12:01am only on Netflix.
According to Variety, this afternoon Fox has given a pilot order to Lethal Weapon based on the film franchise with Damon Wayans set to play Roger Murtaugh (the role originally played by Danny Glover).
Fox’s Lethal Weapon will follow a Texas Cop and a former Navy Seal Martin Riggs (role has yet to be cast). Riggs moves to Los Angeles following the death of his wife and baby looking for a fresh start. There he gets paired up with Detective Murtaugh, who is need of a low-key partner following a recent heart attack. “Forever” creator Matt Miller will pen the television adaptation and executive produce. McG has signed on to direct the hour-long pilot.
2016 seems to be the year of films being adapted into television shows. So far networks (NBC, CBS, and Fox) have also green-lit adaptations of Taken, Cruel Intentions, The Exorcist, Nancy Drew, and Training Day.
The CW released a new teaser for The Flash Friday afternoon. The teaser previews the next two episode with appearances by King Shark, Diggle, Speedy, of course, Zoom.
It looks like the battle with Zoom escalates as well. From the looks of the teaser, fans will find out shortly the identity of Zoom and something awful happens to Barry on Earth-2.
Escape from Earth-2
On Earth-2, the team asks for help from an unexpected source to find Zoom’s lair, while on Earth-1, Caitlin tries to perfect Velocity-9 so Jay can stop the Geomancer
King Shark
When King Shark escapes from an A.R.G.U.S. holding tank, Lyla and Diggle travel to Central City to warn The Flash. King Shark shows up at the West house and attacks Joe, Iris, Wally and Barry.
DC Comics relaunched their entire line of titles back in 2011 with “The New 52!” Not all of the original 52 titles have survived the past five years; some didn’t even last through 2012. But those that have survived will be hitting 52 issues in May, and the company is celebrating the occasion with eleven variant covers, each paying homage to the respective title’s cover from issue #1.
Read the Official Press Release from DC Comics, and check out the covers below:
DC Comics proudly presents: “The New 52” hits 52!
Celebrating 52 issues of incredible storytelling, DC Entertainment’s May 2016 variant cover theme will pay homage to the #1 issues of eleven comics that debuted in 2011 when DC Entertainment rebooted their superhero publishing line and revitalized the comics industry as a whole. It was a momentous occasion then, and is an anniversary to celebrate now!
Inspired by Cliff Chiang’s Wonder Woman #1, Rags Morales and Brad Anderson’s Action Comics #1, Adam Hughes’ Batgirl #1, and more, these brand-new “The New 52” variants will grace the covers of those same landmark titles that are hitting issue #52 in May. Illustrated by an all-star lineup of incredible talent, May’s lineup of variant covers are as remarkable as the industry-changing covers they’re based on.
Action Comics #52 variant cover by Ben Oliver
Aquaman #52 variant cover by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund
Batgirl #52 variant cover by Babs Tarr
Batman #52 variant cover by Rafael Albuquerque
Catwoman #52 variant cover by Inaki Miranda
Detective Comics #52 variant cover by Francis Manapul
Flash #52 variant cover by Jesus Merino
Green Arrow #52 variant cover by Szymon Kudranski
Green Lantern #52 variant cover by Billy Tan
Superman #52 variant cover by Mikel Janin
Wonder Woman #52 variant cover by David Finch and Matt Banning
Apple is creating a top-secret six-episode series Vital Signs, starring Dr. Dre, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Vital Signs is a half-hour scripted series that is semi-autobiographical to Dr. Dre, co-stars include Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae according to the report. The series is expected to be hard hitting when comes to sex and violence.
Paul Hunter is directing the series. No release date has been announced. Apple sees an opportunity in the market with the success of original shows on Amazon and Netflix.
Check back with Monkeys Fighting Robots as more details are announced.
In “Watch The Thrones”, The 100 draws some lines and connections that I’m not sure preceding evidence could uphold. Clarke finds herself inexplicably in the middle of a coup-from-nowhere which turns into a deathmatch via champion a la The Mountain vs. Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones. The comparisons to HBO’s masterful political drama don’t stop there as characters all across the land engage in questionable tactics which enrage the viewer because of everyone’s lack of communication. The biggest difference in season three of The 100 as opposed to the previous two is we’re dealing with very many brand new characters and resulting events in which we don’t have the gravity to process their effects taking place in this world. The story, by necessity, is getting bigger but we’re thrown so abruptly into lives and events of people with whom we have no connection, it’s hard to believe anything that happens as being true consequence. In Game of Thrones, the story slows slightly for us to catch up with their newbies whereas in The 100, the breakneck pace just chugs right along.
So, Lexa chooses herself as champion to fight against Ice Queen Nia’s champion and exiled son, Roan. This ignites that can’t-die, won’t-die fight in Clarke to not let this fight take place. Clarke is the perfect representation of manifest destiny on this show. If she doesn’t like what’s happening, she swears to change it. The problem here is that her inconsistencies when choosing sides should undoubtedly come back to bite her. It isn’t as if she’s dominated by some moral code she’s sworn to uphold. The closest she comes to this is defending her people and who is to even say who her people even are anymore? She’s alienated most of Skaikru and seems to only have grounds with her mother, Kane, Octavia and Bellamy. On the positive side, she doesn’t let antiquity and bygone ceremony rule her life and will fight against any process she deems unfair.
When she goes to Roan to speak her case against the battle occurring, he hatches his own plan to stop it. Unfortunately, it is also kicked in the teeth as Clarke tries to poison Nia in a blood oath. One of “Watch The Thrones” many shortcomings is given light here as if we’re really to believe Roan thought this plan would work. This is, after all, his own mother he has plotted to kill and despite his banishment at her hands, we have to believe there is a history at play here that wouldn’t let this plan end so simply. Still, the fact that Roan wanted Clarke to do this hopefully means we’ll see some aftermath on his psyche, especially after how the deathmatch ends.
Can we give a round of applause for the deathmatch, by the way? Early in its life I’ve resorted to the “great for a CW show” defense when talking about The 100. I’ve since given that up because it is a great show regardless of network but let me bring that line to the forefront one more time: On a network with such putrid fight choreography and eye for action (Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash, I’m looking at you), this battle stood above many regardless of network or medium. Lexa’s sword/spear/fist fight against Roan was short but it packed all the punches and emotional beats as the best of them, including those seen on Game of Thrones. The fight told its own story swiftly and brutally as Lexa found her way to victory. Instead of actually going through with killing Roan, she sends a spear Nia’s way and kills her instead. Now, I have a bone to pick with knowing the entire time we wouldn’t see one of the combatants die, but it does give Roan some interesting grounds to tread henceforth. He has just ascended to King of the Ice Nation after having been banished by his mother. Surely, he’ll have his own bone to pick with the nature by which he has reached this point and hopefully the show will address this adequately.
On the other side of the forest, Pike is beating his war drum incessantly. Bellamy, feeling guilty for the death of the Farm Stationers and his R.I.P. Ex Gf (I don’t know her name and I won’t look it up. Ever.) starts to see the light of Pike’s anti-Grounder platform. Should it be concerning that a Chancellor election looms? You betcha. Pike has his stance which is more than acceptable but Bellamy should absolutely know better. In fact, everything about his character’s previous actions would tell us that he’s making the wrong move in aligning himself with Pike and the plot devices known as Pike’s supporters.
Here’s the thing: I want this show to give me characters who do dumb things that piss me off. With that want also comes the responsibility of earning those moments. In order to earn moments we need insight as to what a character wants and why. With a show now in its third season and when dealing with a top three character, we understandably need something greater than a cursory reason as to why someone acts the way they do. With Bellamy, I don’t buy for a single second he would align with Pike. We never knew R.I.P. Ex Gf well enough to believe Bellamy’s alliance with Pike is the result of a vengeance-guilt complex. If anything, Bellamy knows that the actions of one Grounder doesn’t represent the whole. He learned this lesson with Lincoln in the first season. Bellamy is past this point. I get that Bellamy is looking for a father-figure but it honestly feels like we’ve gotten past that point as he’s made so many mature choices on his own that he might take a greater shove for him to follow another strong male so blindly.
I must give kudos to Bob Morley as he continues to portray Bellamy. Even if I don’t believe his character’s motives and choices, Morley has changed his entire demeanor and cadence when delivering his performance that it’s clear he’s giving it his all. I would completely believe defenders of Bellamy’s actions because the performance is so rich. It’s only the writing that fails him here.
Seemingly more arbitrarily, Pike is elected the new Chancellor of Skaikru (does Pike even acknowledge that term? ::Act IV as Chancellor, eliminate Sky-Crew::).
Looking back at previous seasons of a show and expecting more of the same is an absolutely insane thing to ask. It’s also a stupid one. I don’t think I’m asking for that, though. I do believe that early interactions between characters and their decisions were treated with greater nuance and deftness of hand that truly surprised and worked on many thematic levels. “Watch The Thrones” felt like a definite step back in regard to the spines of our main characters and the tropes the show decides to tackle. Before tonight, The 100 felt distinctly its own thing. Now, I’m not sure it’s more than Game of Thrones-lite. All this said, it’ll take more than one episode that still happens to be jam-packed with detail (those Nightbloods are interesting as hell) and inciting incidents to derail me and, at the very least, The 100 continues to move at a ridiculous pace.
Also, Jasper does more moping, Monty cements himself as an interesting character and Jaha, Murphy and Finn (literally!) are lost to the ether. I didn’t mind.
“Anger IS our policy!” – Pike
Check out Monkey Fighting Robots’ reviews of previous episodes of ‘The 100’ here:
Its been almost three months since we were graced with the first four episodes of Digimon Adventures tri. Since then we’ve all been wondering where the story will turn given the cliffhangers from the four episode. Well now that were so close to part two’s march 12 release date, we get a nice look at whats to come in part two of Digimon Adventures tri. And I’d have to say that it’s quite interesting and worth the wait. Unfortunately the trailer isn’t translated yet, so unless you know Japanese you’ll be going of visual queue’s, but it’s still a sight to see, especially for those of you who have been impatient since the first four episodes released in November. Also just like the first trailer there is a sneak peek at whats to come out in part three. Yet more ants to put in your pants as you patiently wait for this new Digimon series to continue.
If you didn’t catch the first four episodes of Digimon Adventures tri. they are streaming for free on Crunchyroll.com
Agent Carter Season Two’s “The Atomic Job” starts off with a great emotional swing between serious and lighthearted. The episode begins with the ghostly Dr. Wilkes waking Peggy up only to have a gun pointed through his ethereal head. Shortly after Peggy must reassure an arachnophobic Jarvis that they’re safe from spiders while they both attempt to steal a corpse. Beyond swinging between macabre and silly, though, we also see Chief Sousa propose to his girlfriend, Violet, while hunting through her couch for the engagement ring.
Mainstream Marvel Continuity’s Joseph Manfredi is very different
This swing continued through the episode with the cordial/brutal introduction of Joseph Manfredi (Ken Marino) to the show. In mainstream Marvel continuity, called Earth-616 by those in the know, Joseph Manfredi is better known as “Blackwing.” Unlike Agent Carter’s Joseph Manfredi, who appears to be the leader of Maggia, Blackwing is essentially a gimmick villain who has the ability to control bats.
One wonders why the writers of Agent Carter chose to appropriate this batty name from the comics rather than others, especially since Manfredi first appeared in a Marvel comic in 1975 and it’s only 1947 in the world of the show. It appears that Mr. Manfredi will act, chiefly, as an unstable mob boss with a penchant for punching. And, though it’s fun for viewers to have an unstable lunatic character on the show, I was hoping Ray Wise would get the honour of filling that quota through his role as Hugh Jones, president of the nefarious Roxxon; dedicated geeks may remember Wise as Laura Palmer’s haunted father Leland from Twin Peaks. Instead, if this week’s episode is any indication, Hugh Jones won’t be at all intimidating on Agent Carter, acting mainly as an “arrogant plonker,” as Peggy calls him, who can’t keep it in his pants. That being said, Wise’s acting talent was put to great use this week giving viewers what may have been the funniest bit on the show so far. This involved Peggy, sporting a red wig and an American accent, retrieving a key from inside Hugh Jones’s belt buckle armed with only a prototype memory inhibitor that erases the past two minutes from the subject’s mind … imagine what you will if you haven’t yet watched this week’s episode.
Another highlight of “The Atomic Job” is its “getting the band together” quality. Unlikely additions to Peggy’s elite team this episode include Rose Roberts, SSR receptionist and bouncer, and Aloyisius Samberley, who developed the prototype memory inhibitor Peggy used on Jones along with a host of other gadgets. The newly minted team’s obligatory slow-motion walk towards the camera is set to Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters’ “Pistol Packin’ Mama” to great comic effect. This scene’s goofiness again masks a serious problem: this team of misfits must now stop Whitney Frost and Calvin Chadwick from causing a nuclear disaster. And, though the plan is for the well-trained Chief Sousa to disarm the nuclear warhead, when the time comes the stressful task falls to none other than Edwin Jarvis–the comic relief. He, of course, handles the task as impeccably as any butler could.
We get to see Rose and Peggy kick some goons’ butts while Jarvis disarms the warhead, after which the audience is treated to Peggy and Whitney Frost’s first big confrontation. Much to Chadwick’s disappointment, Frost refuses Peggy’s offer to have her cured, instead trying to absorb Peggy’s essence as she has with others in previous episodes. Peggy responds with a quick headbutt/chest kick combination that, though it saves Peggy from Frost’s absorbing her, ultimately results in Peggy’s impalement upon some rebar.
Peggy gets rushed to Chief Sousa’s fiancée’s house, Peggy refuses to go to a hospital for fear of the Council of Nine‘s trying to kill her, to have her wound treated. And, though Violet is able to patch her up, after seeing them together Violet’s intuition tells her that Sousa is in love with Peggy. In terms of other relationships featured on the show, love is a bit stale for Chadwick and Frost, Chadwick living in fear of his wife calls a contact to arrange an emergency meeting of the Council of Nine, presumably to discuss Frost’s abilities. And, Dr. Wilkes and Peggy’s budding relationship seems less likely to happen when, at the end of the episode, he disappears entirely while Peggy shouts his name into thin air.
My Critique
Although this wasn’t a bad episode, it was a strange episode to see halfway into the second season, Agent Carter Season 2 only has five episodes left after all. It’s strange to see two new characters join the team halfway through. It’s also strange that we’re halfway through the second season and we’ve only seen the heroine fight the villainess a single time. Plus, although Agent Carter was always a somewhat lighthearted show, this episode was basically an out-and-out comedy, not like the relatively grim spy thriller I watched last season. Basically, this was a good episode but I’m getting bored. At this point in the season I was hoping that we the audience would have some compelling stories to engage with, instead it seems like the writers can’t figure out what Peggy should do, only who she should do it with.
On the surface, Criminal sure looks like another lame attempt at re-branding a former superstar (Kevin Costner, in this case) as an action hero. The Liam Neeson route, if you will. But this trailer, which shows off an incredibly impressive cast, might have a little more to bring to the table than post-Taken Neeson junk.
Here’s the trailer:
The quick synopsis of Criminal reads: “The memories & skills of a deceased CIA agent are implanted into an unpredictable and dangerous convict.”
The cast is tremendous, no matter what the final priciest may be. Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds, and Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot! Tommy Lee Jones is along for the ride, as is Michael Pitt and apparently 80s villain stalwart Robert Davi is somewhere in there.
Criminal will be released April 15 this year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
There are two schools of thought that surround SpikeTV’s cult-favorite yet short lived TV show, Blue Mountain State. One is that the show is a wonderful parade of breasts, beer, and football, much in the vein of the American Pie franchise. The other view sees the show as a parody of such works – taking the misogyny and ridiculousness of college football culture to such extremes that you can’t possibly take it seriously. It was members of both parties that made the show so beloved in its time. And while its possible the former of the viewpoints may find Rise of Thadland enjoyable, the latter will likely walk out before the attraction opens its doors.
To put it simply, Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland is a bad movie. It picks up a year after the show, where senior Alex Moran (Darin Brooks) is trying to save the beloved Goat House, the football team’s home for drugs, alcohol, and women. In order to buy it out from the outside bidders, the team calls upon former member Thad Castle (Alan Ritchson), who has enough money from his pro-football contract to buy out the house. Thad agrees to do so, under one condition: the team must make his childhood dream of a drug-infused amusement park come true – Thadland. If they build it, he will come. What follows is the gang partying in an amusement park, huffing balloons filled with poop vapors, and one character – co-creator Chris “Romanski” Romano – having sex with a goat. Yes, there is a beastiality sex scene in this movie.
In case the promise of goat sex, poop fumes, and several shots of Romanski’s penis aren’t enough to turn you off to this film, let the shoddy plot and juvenile humor do so instead. While the show focused on the humor that stems from the team’s ridiculous situations, this film is light on any actual jokes. We get a couple one-off jokes about how girls are dumb, how Romanski has a gross penis, how the dean has a funny accent because foreigners are funny, but that’s about as far as the humor goes. The film is only a vehicle for the concept of an R-rated theme park where Ritchson can call Walt Disney an “unimaginative piece of shit!” Likewise, the plot of the actual film only fills about 90 minutes worth of time, as it takes only about 20 minutes for the team to introduce their new amusement park. Sure, the Goat House may be auctioned off, Alex wants a lesbian cheerleader to be his girlfriend, and Thad hasn’t been as great as he thought he’d be outside of college, but who cares about all that when you can see Thad slap breasts and snort cocaine out of the sky?
Even for fans of the franchise, there’s little pleasure from seeing the boys back in town, unless you were hoping for them to realize the error of their ways. Alex decides by the end that he’d rather not be a party boy, opting instead to be with a girl he’d once slept with way back in the show’s earlier seasons. Fans were hoping for a return of two former characters, Shilo and Radon, who both only spent a season on the show. And both do show up – for about 10 minutes total. Instead, we see a lot of new character Dickdawg (played by Youtuber Jimmy Tatro), who is successful at being a second Thad Castles and not much else. Even the team’s beloved coach is only on screen enough to have his arm broken in a motorcycle accident. If a film like this doesn’t focus on complete and total fan service, especially after being crowdfunded into existence, then what has it really accomplished?
Now that’s not to say the film has absolutely zero positive qualities. We do see glimpses of real humor from Larry Summers (Omari Newton), the former Thad sidekick turned assistant coach. We also get an interesting twist of Donnie, one of the lead players, revealing that he’s gay, which Thad proclaims to the entire campus with excitement, going so far as to buy him “a guy.” There’s a brief moment where one of the “sloots,” Thad’s catchphrase term for women, notes how ridiculous and misogynistic the whole situation is.
That may be the crux of my issue with this film – it seems to be self-aware of its explicit and juvenile nature, but rather than have any real comedic insight into it, it rushed headlong into it. There’s no real humor or meaning behind Rise of Thadland except that the gang – both fictional and real-life cast members – wanted one last hurrah of horror. Alex’s ending revelation of letting the frat culture go to be with Mary Jo (Frankie Shaw) makes no sense within the context of the film – if it really was all about NOT embracing this horrible culture, then why is it only in the final few scenes that we get any indication of it? Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland seems to want to be more than it possibly can be. It wants you to think it sees the error of its ways, but it’s preaching about sin while still in the thick of it. What use is self-awareness when you don’t do anything to change it?
The movie doesn’t do enough of anything to make it redeemable to someone who wants more than a party, but after watching three seasons and a movie based off similar madness, maybe that’s all the film should be. Anyone who’s hoping to watch The Rise of Thadland for a good movie is out of their mind. A viewer hoping for a delightful parody of football culture should only watch this as a means of comparison. Even fans of the raucously funny show shouldn’t expect to much from this movie. The people who are most likely to enjoy it are the ones who made the movie, who now have 90 minutes worth of proof that people liked that thing they made once. To the creators, it’s a victory lap that misses the point of what made it work at all.
