Tracy Morgan continues his comeback from a near fatal car crash, and has agreed to join Mike Epps in Lee Daniels’ upcoming Richard Pryor biopic. Foxx was one of Pryor’s idols, and the two collaborated on a few projects throughout the years, including the vastly underrated 1989 comedy Harlem Nights.
The Wrap broke the news about Tracy Morgan’s involvement, and for my money he seems a perfect fit for the heavier, gravel-voiced Redd Foxx. He will join Mike Epps as Pryor, Kate Hudson as Pryor’s wife, Jennifer, Taraji P. Henson and Eddie Murphy as Pryor’s parents, and Oprah Winfrey as his grandmother. It’s a star-studded cast, so hopefully Daniels can handle this material (I’m not a fan).
After returning to host Saturday Night Live, Tracy Morgan appears to be steadily working himself back into Hollywood. Playing Redd Foxx could be a nice role for the comedian. Filming on the yet untitled biopic begins in March.
Doug Liman was Channing Tatum’s first choice to direct the comic-book adaptation of Gambit before Rupert Wyatt signed on and eventually backed out. Now, it seems Liman may return to the director’s chair.
The Hollywood Reporter has the story that Doug Liman has made it through several rounds of meetings and interviews, and Fox is getting closer to sign the Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Edge of Tomorrow director on board for the X-Men spinoff. Most recently, Liman wrapped production on Mena, a drug-cartel thriller with Tom Cruise, so Gambit looks to be his follow up.
While Liman has found major commercial success with action films The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, apparently those films needed someone to step in post-production and Liman lent to the troubled productions on both. Whatever may be behind these troubled productions doesn’t change the fact that Liman is a solid action filmmaker. His 2014 Edge of Tomorrow suffered from one of the more confused and muddled marketing campaigns of all time, but it was still more than competent.
Gambit is set for an October 7, 2016 release date, so Fox needs to put the pedal to the metal.
Let me first state: I LOVE Horror films AND Thrillers AND VILLAINS. They all put me on the edge of my seat and keep me coming back for more. When you’re sit in a dark theatre or darkened room in your house and are drawn into a story that gives you goosebumps, you feel ALIVE! The blood rushing to your head in anticipation of which characters will survive the taunts of a “madman” OR “madwoman.” To discover the story of what lead the tormentor to torment the tormented is fascinating.
Often times many mistake thrillers/suspense thrillers for horror films. So let’s clear up the difference before we get to the list.
A suspense thriller is a genre of literature, video game stories, or TV programs that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as part of its main elements. It entertains because it keeps the audience hooked with…An-tici-PATION!*
Horror is a genre of literature, video game stories, or TV programs whose intent is to scare, or startle their audience into fear and terror. Basically, it’s there to give you the willies, scare the SHITE out of you, and make sleep at night almost impossible. AWESOME huh?
There is nothing more fun to me than sitting down to watch a villain lay out his/her wicked plan. It’s a bit like watching a train wreck or passing by an awful auto accident. We know we should look away, but where is the fun in that? We love them! We love all the awful things that they do and we can’t wait to see what will happen next. Below is a list of nine film villains that we can’t get enough of on the big, or small screen.
In no particular order:
Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (also: Manhunter (1986), Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), etc.)
Although this list is in no particular order, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is by far the most chilling, diabolical, and dangerous villain on this list. His penchant for order and manners and he need for retaliation and retribution when those things are not achieved are the things of legend..and nightmares.
Clarice Starling (Jodi Foster), a FBI trainee, is pulled out of the academy to assist Agent Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) on a case. She is tasked with interviewing the most notable serial killer of the modern age, Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Sir Anthony Hopkins stars as Dr. Lecter, the once a renowned and famous psychiatrist who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital after it is discovered that he is an infamous cannibalistic serial killer. She is sent to the prison psychiatric hospital to interview him in hopes that he can provide insight into the inner workers of an active serial killer known as “Buffalo Bill.” Bill was given that name by the authorities because he skins his female victims.
Crawford and the doctor have a complicated past and he knows that he will not work with him but he hopes that he will be intrigued enough by Starling to assist with the case. Hannibal plays a cat and mouse game with her and only agrees to help Starling if she shares personal information about herself. She agrees because she senses/knows that he can provide a lens into that type of killer that cannot be learned. And thus begins the mind… Silence of the Lambs is definitely on the list MUST-WATCH films.
Fredrick Sykes AKA “The One-Armed Man” – The Fugitive (1993)
We meet Fredrick “The Man with One Arm” Sykes in a little 1993 film you may have heard of, the Fugitive. Harrison Ford stars ad Dr. Richard Kimble in this film adaptation of the bestselling thriller novel of the same name. Dr. Kimble is a well-respected surgeon, who is falsely accused, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. From the time of his arrest he has stuck to his story that a one-armed killer is to blame, but no one believes him. Who has ever heard of a one-armed killer and what reason would he have to murder the good doctor’s wife?
During transport to death row the van is hit by a train, the good doctor escapes, and sets out to clear his name and find the one-armed villain who murdered his wife. During his escape is he cornered by the authorities at the edge of storm drain over dam. Kimble jumps into the waters to escape. Tommy Lee Jones also stars in this thriller as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard, the cop in charge of the manhunt for Dr. Richard Kimble, and he will search “every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, hen-house, outhouse and doghouse in that area,” to find him.
Over the course of the manhunt Gerard is not so convinced that Kimble is the “real” killer. Things just don’t add up, but his job is to get his man and he won’t stop until the job is done.
Duuun dun. Duuun dun. Duuun dun. Everyone knows that sound. Just those few bars of that theme song can send chills down your spine. What dark entity lurks in the deep dark waters? It is a killing machine that runs on pure instinct. It kills without prejudice.
In the original film, directed by Steven Spielberg, a group of teenagers are having a nighttime party on the beach. One of the young ladies decides to go for a midnight swim in the ocean. While she is treading water, and waiting for her male companion to join her, she is pulled under (her date passed out on the bank). The next day her remains are found by a deputy on the beach. The medical examiner determines that the possible cause of death was shark attack. The new police chief, Martin Brody (Roy Schneider), of this small ocean-side community of Amity Island hears about the attack and wants to close the beaches. He runs into problems from the mayor and townspeople because it is the height of the tourist season. In order to save their season the mayor hypothesizes that perhaps she died in a boating accident, which Chief Brody reluctantly accepts.
But the true villain rears its massive head and after another fatal shark attack Brody enlists the help Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a oceanographer brought in by Brody, to examine the remains of the victims to determine cause of death. He confirms the chief’s fears that the deaths were caused by shark attacks. A local shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw), offers up his services to the community for a nominal fee. He will find and kill the man-eater with the help of Chief Brody and Hooper. They set off in their boat in search of the great fish, but this is not ordinary shark. Jaws is out for human blood and won’t stop until he’s had his fill…or is dead. The DEFINITELY “needed a bigger boat.”
Whoever thought that a sweet middle-aged nurse could be so twisted. At first glance Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) is an unassuming “schoolmarm’ type. She is not particularly pretty, but she’s not unattractive. She’s just nondescript and often overlooked. No one would have think that she is a Nurse Ratched type of villain lingered right beneath the surface.
Annie is also the Number 1 fan of the famous novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan). Sheldon is the author of very successful series of romance novels that feature the character Misery Chastian. While traveling from Colorado to his home in New York City he is caught in a blizzard and his car goes off the road. Annie finds him and brings him back to her home. When he regains consciousness he finds that he has two broken legs and a dislocated shoulder. Upon waking he also learns that he has been rescued by his “number one” fan and as a reward he lets her read his latest manuscript, that she saved from the wreckage, in the “Misery” series.
While she feeds him he pisses her off and he sees a sliver of crazy, but she apologizes and all seems to be good. Well, things were good until she goes out and buys a copy of latest book, Misery’s Child, and learns that Misery dies at the end of the book. She goes nuts and almost smashes a table over his head. He then finds out that she didn’t call his agent and then NOBODY knows where he is. She CRAY! She burns his latest manuscript and is insists that he write a new book to resurrect the dead Misery Chastian. What follows is a sledge-hammer to the feet and more torture than ANYONE deserves over a book series. That girl CRAY!
Bard Tales Productions and Lucky 9 Studios released a nine-minute fan film depicting the origin of Miles Morales.
The film is written and directed by Ivan Kander, and stars Demetrius Stephens as Miles Morales.
“The Miles character really resonates for me. Morales feels like a character who is more a reflection of today’s Brooklyn teenager—a smart, but not super-genius kid who is forced to take up the mantle of a fallen hero. And, not to dig into race too much (I am a white Jew after all), I think we need to see more non-white superheroes on screen. This may seem like a semantic thing, but I do think it’s an important notion on a base level for impressionable kids to see their action figures come in all sizes and colors,” said Kander on his blog.
The film was picked up by the AV Club and has started its viral climb amassing 91,547 Youtube views since Nov. 11. The creator of Miles, Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis took the time to endorsed the film as well.
In the seven minutes of footage Kander understands the source material and conveys Morales’s situation without over explaining or talking down to the audience. There is some clunky dialogue, but that is a side-effect of using comic book dialogue in a film.
About Miles Morales: After Norman Osborn was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D, and publicly revealed as the Green Goblin, Osborn Industries was left abandoned. Nearly two months before Peter Parker’s death, a thief broke into Osborn Industries. Unbeknownst to the thief, a spider genetically enhanced with the Oz Formula crawled into his bag.
Miles Morales, a young kid from Brooklyn, visited his uncle Aaron Davis against his parents’ wishes, because of his uncle’s criminal past, after being awarded the final spot in a charter school lottery. At his uncle’s apartment, Miles was bitten by the Oz-enhanced spider, which emerged from Aaron’s bag, and Miles discovered he received super-human abilities like camouflage, increased agility, and some sort of stun blast. After revealing his newly found powers to his best friend, Ganke Lee, both concluded he had power similar to Spider-Man’s, including wall-crawling.[4][5] But Miles reacted negatively, as he just wanted to be normal, and decided to leave heroism to the original Spider-Man.
Months later, Spider-Man died saving his family from Osborn. Miles arrived late to the scene. Struck with grief at not helping Peter Parker before his demise, Miles decided to follow Parker’s philosophy — with great power comes great responsibility — and so continue Peter’s legacy. (Source: Marvel Database)
Monkeys Fighting Robots has teamed up with the fine folks over at MegaCon to give some mega fans free tickets to MegaCon Fan Days, November 21-22, at the Orange County Convention Center.
All you have to do is comment on the Facebook post below for a chance to win a pair of MegaCon Fan Days tickets! ($40 value)
The winners will be announced on November 18, 2016.
Who doesn’t want to see Finn kick some ass with a lightsaber!?
Thursday night, ABC debut new Star Wars: The Force Awakens footage during their TGIT (It doesn’t have the same ring as TGIF). Where the trailer doesn’t have a lot of new footage, there are a couple scenes that just make you nerd out as a Star Wars fan.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters December 18, 2015.
There is no denying why Suffragette is an important film. Even though we live in a 21st-Century world where women are capable of achieving anything, gender bias has never stopped spreading it’s toxins. So then, you ask yourself this question, why would I want to watch Suffragette, a movie based on the fight british fight for voting rights in the early part of the 20th century? Then you see Meryl Streep is in the movie. I’ve seen her on the poster and she’s always fantastic in her projects … right? While she does play an important role in Sufragette (Emmeline Parkhurst- the leader of the Suffragette movement), Meryl Streep is on the screen for no more the four minutes during the picture. Are you a little confused at this point? To be honest, I am as confused as you are about Suffragette. Normally, this would be a movie where I would be gushing to tell you all the reasons why you should seek it out, but as I type this, I’m literally at a loss for words. It’s really a shame, because while Suffragette is about a topic so relevant in our modern world, I can’t in good conscious recommend it.
Is the movie based on a true story? I wouldn’t go that far, more like based on actual events. Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) is merely a fictional composite meant to represent women of that time. Remember, that this was a time period where women would work and be exploited by both their bosses and husbands until they passed on. Emmeline Parkhurst (Leader of the British Suffragette movement played by Meryl Streep) suggests that ladies stop being so genteel and start causing Havoc. Then of course you have Emily Wilding Davison (Natalie Press), who thought she could draw attention to the movement by literally throwing herself in front of the King’s Horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby and dying for the cause. She certainly was right about drawing attention to the cause.
Are you still baffled as to what possible problem I could have with Suffragette? Well, it begins with the contrasting styles of storytelling in this picture. In the beginning, we are front row to one of the greatest struggles that currently is still taking place around the world: equality for woman. As the story unfolds, we bear atrocity after atrocity leveed towards women (i.e. stripping parental rights, sexual deviance) so intensely that one couldn’t help but want to apologize to all women for what men have put them through. If director Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) and screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady) had just stuck that narrative, we would have a movie unparalleled in 2015. However, they choose to make this movie neat and tight and wrap it up with a nice Hollywood formulaic ending. Why? Why would you do this? Haven’t we heard of the phrase less is more? One can’t help but wondering if the ending is another example of studio interference.
Abi Morgan – the screenwriter, is also a source of what ails Suffragette. She attempts to tell a balanced story about a very important time in our history focusing on multiple members of the British Suffragette movement. Her story certainly discusses Carey Mulligan (Maude Wills) but it also focuses on Anne Marie Duff (Violet Miller ) , Helena Bonham Carter (Edith Ellyn) , Meryl Streep (Emmeline Pankhurst) , and Natalie Press (Emily Wilding Davison). The problem with this is that the only person that the audience remotely cares about is Wills because she has the most interesting story to tell. Why would you focus on these other characters if, quite frankly, the characters are a bore? I understand that the Suffragette movement had multiple influential women who played key roles but it’s not like Suffragette pretends to be a historically accurate. Suffragette is an example of a movie that just does way too much and in that process ends up losing a majority of the audience.
One shining light in the doldrums of Suffragette is Carey Mulligan. Even in a sea of issues that weigh this film down, Mulligan’s performance is another example of talent always rising to the top. Mulligan takes a cumbersome script that focuses on every single female (or so it would seem) in the Suffragette movement and manages to radiate on screen. She brings a fire and intensity to this role that quite frankly I’ve never seen from her (even when she was nominated for an Oscar in 2009 in An Education). With awards season in full swing, she certainly will be a topic of discussion.
In the end, although Suffragette discusses a topic that is very relevant in 2015, it’s simply not relevant enough to warrant paying to see it this weekend.
Eric D. Wilkinson with one bold move has become the coolest person of the week. The screenwriter has taken out a full-page in The Hollywood Report to pitch his idea for Die Hard 6. Wilkinson directed his open letter to Bruce Willis, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Len Wiseman. All three are working on the sixth film.
A Good Day To Die Hard was such a bad film and Wilkinson figures out how to keep that film in the mythos and return to John McClane’s gritty roots, read the story pitch below.
Former hero cop John McClane, 60 years old and beat to shit, is a convicted felon, being carted off to a Federal prison. Why?
Flashback to 1979, where 24-year-old New York City Patrol Officer John McClane is part of a team of cops assigned to investigate the murder of 6-year-old Ethan Peller, working under the direction of an up-and-coming Detective Stan Winshaw. Strong police work leads McClane to suspect possible sex trafficker Clarence Sutton, who mysteriously vanishes moments before McClane can make the arrest. The rule-breaking McClane and his superior Winshaw butt heads. The trail goes cold and the case is never solved. When McClane makes unprovable accusations about Winshaw he is transferred to the city’s bleakest division.
34 years later, Detective John McClane takes a personal leave and heads to Moscow to help his estranged son, who is being tried in a Russian court. While McClane is out of the country, the remains of Clarence Sutton are discovered, not only with DNA evidence linking Sutton to the murder of Ethan Peller, but additional evidence that ties John McClane to Sutton’s killing.
Upon McClane’s return from Russia, he is arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of Clarence Sutton. He is given a 30-year prison sentence in ADX Florence, an ultra-maximum-security, or ”supermax” prison which houses some of the most dangerous criminals in the country, including Omar Al-Maqdisi and Abdul bin Saeed, masterminds of the two worst terrorist attacks on American soil.
Following the Russian adventure, John had successfully reunited his family and reconnected with his wife Holly. Now, while he serves his sentence, Holly has been spending all of her time and effort on his appeal – especially once new evidence surfaces which may not only exonerate McClane, but also implicate Stan Winshaw (now a decorated police Captain) who may have framed John for the murder of the suspect they were chasing nearly forty years ago. However the day Holly goes to the prison to deliver this news personally to John, a riot breaks out, and before she can safely leave, the prison is put on lockdown.
But this is no ordinary prison riot.
By nightfall, inmates control the facility, holding Holly McClane and many other hostages. We soon learn that the riot itself was a distracting subterfuge… part of a plan to break both Al-Maqdisi and bin Saeed out of prison so they can help complete a horrific new terrorist attack in New York City.
However the one thing the terrorists didn’t count on was the one man who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time… And when it comes to John McClane, old habits die hard.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel debuted in 1971. Some of the cast reunited for the 44th anniversary of the film.
The film was directed by Mel Stuart and starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe, and Peter Ostrum as Charlie.
Ostrum, made no other films. He later became a veterinarian. In fact, of all the children in this movie, Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) is the only one still acting.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory opened on February 2, 1971, and made $2,126,226 its opening weekend. The film had a budget of $3 million.
In anticipation of the November 25th release of CREED, we’ll be taking a look back at the ROCKY franchise and discussing why these characters and this world are still relevant and necessary forty years later.
Rocky III is the most interestingly confusing and inadvertently entertaining entry in this series. It scrapes right along side what many might call a “guilty pleasure” as elements here firmly plant Rocky III into goofy movie territory. The sillier aspects Stallone cements into the Rocky canon would be much easier to accept if the character of Rocky felt like the same person we fell in love with during the first two installments. Here, we just have a Rocky Balboa who stands around, numbly watching events unfold around him and being far more reactionary than instinctual.
In Rocky III, Rocky Balboa is an international star and American hero. Having beaten Apollo Creed for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, Rocky has successfully defended his belt numerous times and has earned quite a lifestyle in doing so. Paulie has come to resent Rocky for not giving him enough to do and enough money in doing so because of Rocky’s newfound fortune (this series switches back and forth on Paulie so often, it’s a testament to Burt Young‘s performances that we believe him each time out). We also see Rocky taking on exhibition matches, fighting the “Ultimate Male”, Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), in a ridiculous set piece that exemplifies the circus that Balboa now represents. All the while, lurking in the background and climbing up the boxing ranks is Clubber Lang (Mr. T).
Clubber Lang is the embodiment of what Rocky used to be. The movie makes apparent that Rocky has now shifted into the Apollo role, training in lavish environments, mugging for the press, while Clubber is industrious, using his natural, stripped-to-the-bone environment to perfect his techniques. This dichotomy is supremely interesting and it is unfortunate that the movie doesn’t explore it more thoroughly. When confronting and challenging Rocky on the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, he’s not wrong when saying that America doesn’t want to give a man like him the chance. No one wants to see an angry black man like Clubber Lang holding up boxing’s most treasured title. Instead of sticking to these interesting socio-political guns, Stallone’s script makes Clubber Lang the supreme villain. He is crass, rude and gross (just listen to those grunts and look at those faces he makes). Rocky then only accepts his challenge once Clubber insists that Adrian come visit him tonight so she can be with a “real man”.
Rocky’s softened demeanor is exposed and he is beaten quickly by Clubber. As Rocky is defeated in the ring, Mickey’s (Burgess Meredith) heart gives out and he dies in the locker room. This is the first loss in the series that shakes Rocky to his core. In steps Apollo Creed to take over training duties and show to Rocky the edge he’s missing in order to beat Clubber. Apollo takes Rocky to his training facility in LA where he is introduced to an entirely black community of pugilists, training in a dank, dark hole of a gym. The suggestion here is that Rocky must gain back the “Eye of the Tiger” (the song debuting here for the first time and earning itself an Oscar nomination) he once had when he fought Creed. Paulie also doesn’t spare any words when it comes to his racial views and belief that Rocky can’t train like “them”.
Here begins one of the most memorable montages of the series. Rocky is training with Creed, dealing with the ups and downs of changing his entire approach to the ring. Stallone and Carl Weathers are absolutely drenched in sweat, juking and moving to the beat of the music. They race each other on the beach, Creed coming out on top each and every time. It isn’t until a motivational speech from Adrian (Talia Shire) that Rocky is able to master his new moves and beat Apollo in the beach race, igniting a furious splashing celebration between the two friends.
This training sequence is important because of how utterly tone deaf it is. It is entertaining, for sure, but not for the reasons that makes a sequence like this actually good in context. Each Rocky movie prior to this has had similar training montages that work within the characters and symbolize the experience they must go through to achieve their goals. Here, Stallone believes he knows what the sequence should look like but just can’t execute it without it being laughable. The sexual tension between Rocky and Apollo isn’t a misreading if you were to view this sequence out of context. It very much reads like a love story between the two and in some ways it is! These two characters were once mortal enemies who have now come to understand each other’s points of view. It’s a perfect melding of two different American classes, perfectly symbolizing the melting pot of this country’s culture. It should be a beautiful thing. The fact that the sequence reads as more laughable is entirely on Stallone.
In the end, Rocky gets his revenge on Clubber Lang with the audience watching the fight in real time instead of skipping any rounds. The fight itself is merely ok, never landing a big moment like the culminating bouts in the previous two films. Rocky and Creed settle their differences one last time as the two fight completely alone in a dark, empty gym. The image freezes just as the two come to blows for the first time, allowing us to imagine who comes out on top of that one (my vote: love).
The cultural impact made by Rocky III is indelible and not for the greatest of reasons. This is the first Rocky film to feel like more of a joke than a serious film. To be sure, the previous two movies aren’t without great moments of levity, but most of those stem from the flaws of the characters. The comedy here is derived largely through plot contrivance and mishandling of tone. Rocky III could have easily marked another masterful entry in the series if the film had just paid more attention to who Rocky was as a person, allowing him to handle these situations like the lovable oaf he is, instead of the audience surrogate he has become. Clubber Lang is a deservingly wonderful villain, posing a real threat to Balboa, even though his impact would have been greater if he was made to do less mustache twirling.
Yet, here we are. Rocky and Creed are best friends. Paulie is back to being a drunk fool. Adrian still has nothing to do. Mickey has gone to the boxing ring in the sky. Now we go into the true nadir of the series as Rocky takes on the USSR in Rocky IV.
