AMC released a video off Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) as he gives a behind-the-scenes look at Season 6 of The Walking Dead with cast and crew. Cudlitz talks with Lauren Cohan (Maggie), Lennie James (Morgan), Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha), Christian Serratos (Rosita) and Danai Gurira (Michonne).
Cudlitz and James go in depth about the return of Morgan and his new skill set.
The Walking Dead at Comic Con
AMC also released the banner they will use for San Diego Comic Con 2015.
It’s not long into Mr. Robot’s premiere episode, that you realize that it’s far better than any show on the USA Network has any right to be. Granted, I haven’t watched USA–the home to generally-liked shows such as Monk and Psych–since the network was showing Wings reruns in the 90’s. Mr. Robot isn’t Monk and it isn’t Psych and it definitely isn’t Wings. Instead, this series from television newbie Sam Esmail, follows a much darker path, reveling in the paranoid world of cyber security and hacking in the post-Snowden era.
Mr. Robot drops us in the mind of Elliot, a cyber security engineer who serves numerous gigantic corporations in their security needs, including E-Corp, whom he refers to in perpetuity as “Evil Corp”. If Elliot’s moral proclivities weren’t apparent in his not-so-clever naming–or his inner monologues born straight out of the “Occupy” movement–then his weekend hactivism should get the idea across. When a strange hacker group reaches out to Elliot, the world he’s always wanted and the one he’s settled in come face to face, forcing him into his greatest moral dilemma yet.
In it’s series premiere, Mr. Robot does an excellent job of endearing us to a difficult and unique character in Elliot, and of guiding us through a well-constructed storyline that has us hooked by the end of the episode. Elliot, for one, represents a kind of character–the tech genius–that up until this point, has mainly been portrayed as inventive and entrepreneurial on the best of days, and disturbingly greedy on the worst. Elliot, on the other hand, is a creature built purely on his own ideals of morality, not caring one bit about the pursuit of money. While he does exhibit many of the same “techie” character tropes that we’ve become accustomed to–bet you didn’t see this one coming, but he’s not particularly great at socializing–Elliot’s interest in helping out the “little guy” brings a decidedly Marxian view to the realm of the digital power struggle. The episode is strewn with moments of Elliot receding into his own mind, dropping an angry soliloquy on the imbalance of power in the modern world and the average Joe’s inability to act against it–or willing ignorance towards it. It’s admittedly heavy handed at times, but the way in which Mr. Robot points out Elliot’s own submissions to the power of societal norms, pushes his thoughts–and their overall meaning to his character–in a much more interesting direction. There may be a few scenes that don’t quite land–in particular, one between Elliot and a newly minted “Evil Corp” big wig, sees the two having an unnatural conversation about Linux and GNOME, as if to say, “You better believe this big wig knows computers TOO.”–but the majority of this first episode, does an incredible job of riding the fine line between on-the-nose rambling and well thought-out societal critique.
A good portion of the dramatic gravitas that Mr. Robot is able to pull off here, comes from the fine performance of Rami Malek, who very carefully crafts a complex character that we root for from the beginning. Giving Elliot’s social anxiety issues, Malek could play this role with much more of a focus on those traits, as we’ve classically seen in other series and films, but he doesn’t. Instead, Malek accepts those qualities in Elliot and absorbs them, showing the character’s social problems through small ticks and eye glances, rather than big and broad sweeps that whack the viewer in the face. Malek also imbues the character with a thoughtful duality; the way he talks to himself and the way he interacts with the outside world, is completely separate but flow from scene to scene smoothly, truly placing the audience in Elliot’s shoes for the hour. Malek’s cohorts on the show aren’t slouches either. The clear love interest, Angela–played by Portia Doubleday–was seemingly written just to serve a “will they, won’t they” side story, but Doubleday takes what could be another “female in need of saving”, and turns her into a nice foil for Elliot; a woman who’s troubled sassiness plays well against his own relative shyness. Meanwhile Christian Slater–as Mr. Robot, the leader of the hacker group that attempts to recruit Elliot–is given some decent monologues, but isn’t yet bringing much more to the table than a casual performance. So far it works for the character, as the audience needs to feel as unsure of where the group leader stands as Elliot does, but I’m hopeful that Slater will get to showcase some of his more dramatic flair ups in the future.
The directing and cinematography raise the quality of the episode to the next level, in the capable hands of Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev, who helmed the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Tight, claustrophobic shots throw us in Elliot’s head space, playing up both his paranoia with the external world and the countless times that he’s left talking with himself, in some ways a prisoner of his own mind. Unique camera angles–Elliot barely in the frame in the bottom-right corner of the screen, for instance–also work to emphasize his differing outlook on modern day life and the societal norms that he’s confined within. In one scene in particular, Elliot comes upon a group of high-powered corporate execs, the one percent if you will. Cleverly, the men remain out of focus throughout the short scene, pointing out Elliot’s own inability to understand or comprehend what these men are all about and where their greed and lust for power comes from. When one of them–the Linux guy from earlier–finally comes into focus, we’re left wondering if there isn’t some point of connection between Elliot and this horde of formless blobs.
Mr. Robot‘s premiere does plenty to impress, including setting up an interesting path for the rest of the series. The characters are fairly well-executed, the writing is sharp on social critique and the stylistic choices push the narrative forward while dragging us further into the depths of this world. Most enticing of all, is the fact that Elliot could go either way with his allegiance from here, playing into our own ambiguity with the increasingly polarized society springing up around us. Elliot is Fight Club‘s unnamed narrator–sans Tyler Durden–mixed with Edward Snowden’s need to empower those around him. He wants to bring the world down, but for all the right reasons. Elliot may in fact hold the keys to his own destiny–the character’s driving desire–but his own naiveté is sure to play a role in things, before it’s all said and done. That’s a story for our times.
The epic dark comedy series The Brink focuses on a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three disparate, desperate men: Secretary of State Walter Larson (Tim Robbins, Best Supporting Actor Oscar® winner for Mystic River), lowly Foreign Service officer Alex Talbot (Jack Black, Golden Globe nominee for “Bernie”) and ace Navy fighter pilot Zeke Tilson (Pablo Schreiber, HBO’s The Wire®). The series was executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, Roberto Benabib and Jay Roach, who also directed the pilot, and was created by Roberto Benabib and Kim Benabib.
"If you help me save the world, I'll be nicer to your sister."Jack Black, Tim Robbins and the cast of The Brink present their 'Tips for Healthy Relationships.'
Ema Watson has signed on to join Tom Hanks in the new tech thriller, The Circle. The film, which has been in development for many months, appears to finally have its cast together, with James Ponsoldt adapting the Dave Eggers novel.
The Circle deals with the current state of privacy and security, among many other hot topics. Watson will play Mae, an employee at a cutting exe technology company who ties together emails, social media pages, bank accounts and various other online accounts into one online identity for its clients. Hanks will play the company’s CEO. Naturally, the dark side of the endeavor at the company shines through.
Director Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) spoke to Variety about casting Emma Watson, saying ““Emma Watson is one of my favorite actors, and her incredible talent, sensitivity and deep intelligence will bring an electric energy to The Circle.”
Seeing Hanks take on a role that will potentially be dark and villainous will be a welcome change from his standard everyman hero roles. The Circle will begin shooting this fall.
When you first look at the title of this review and you see the word “joy”, how does that make you feel? I’m sure some of you are downright confused because how exactly can a film that involves a girl who is dying actually be something that would elicit joy? The joy that I am referring to is Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one the very few movies that I have ever seen that has dealt with the terrible disease of cancer and told it like it is. How many times have we gone to the movies and sat through a film in which in the end somehow that character we love has cancer but is showing no ill effects throughout the film? Me and Earl and the Dying Girl shows just the profound effect a cancer diagnosis can have, not only on the person’s health, but on the interpersonal relationships that person has in his/her everyday lives.
This movie tells the story of Greg (Thomas Mann), who’s mom forces him to interact with a girl named Rachel (Olivia Cooke) who was just diagnosed with Leukemia. Earl (R.J. Cuyler) who’s Greg’s co-worker (his best friend but Greg has commitment issues) lets it slip when they are hanging out that he and Greg love to shoot horrible remakes of even worse movies. They start a bond over these films that provide a much-needed distraction as Rachel heads down a very tough road of Chemotherapy. Let me be clear about this -Me and Earl and the Dying Girl doesn’t hold anything back but even through the horrors that Rachel endures (loss of hair, getting weaker by the day, and barf buckets) we still feel the warmth, compassion, and even humor even during Rachel’s darkest times.
Me and Earl and The Dying Girl won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Prize at the Sundance Film Festival this year and I can see why. It is simply one of the very best movies I have seen so far in 2015 and right now would be in my personal top 3. The brilliance of this movie doesn’t come from what was necessarily said but was n’t. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s use of silence and calling upon the actors to convey parts of the movie using facial expression really created an authentic moment for everyone in theater. We all felt like we were right there with Rachel as she painfully went down this journey (both on a personal and interpersonal level). I was sitting in the theater with thoughts of all the people I knew who have bravely battled cancer-my mom,my father in-law,my grandmother, and my good friend Tara at work. Through brilliant acting and tremendous cinematography, the movie shows us that when the people closest to us are facing the most dire of diagnoses, the prudent thing to do is to just be you (even if that you is weird from time to time).
Joy can be found in a movie whose title includes the Dying Girl.
Rachel forcing Greg to have lunch in the cafeteria.
IronE Singleton will be at Walker Stalker Con in Orlando this weekend and he talked with Matthew Sardo about the convention, the over whelming support of the fans, a “Vatos” spinoff, his quest to be cast as a super hero, and his one-man play “Blindsided by the Walking Dead.”
Singleton who was born in raise in Georgia also weighed in on the debate over the confederate flag.
— Walker Stalker Con (@WalkrStalkrCon) June 23, 2015
ABOUT IRONE SINGLETON: IronE Singleton is best known to audiences as the menacing kingpin Alton in the Academy® Oscar Award-nominated film The Blind Side; the biggest box office grossing sports movie of all time. He is also known as the compassionate tough guy, T-Dog, in the Emmy, AFI & WGA Award winning, Golden Globe nominated TV show The Walking Dead; one of basic cable’s highest rated shows for viewership. IronE’s unusual name depicts his life story, his ability to play strong, multidimensional characters and has made him a memorable actor in both film and television.
Singleton appears on the big screen alongside Bow Wow and Ice Cube in Lottery Ticket. He stars alongside Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce and January Jones in the feature film Seeking Justice and will soon captivate the Lifetime audience in his leading role as “Glock” Nichols with Neve Campbell in AN Amish Murder. Singleton’s talent is on display in several television pilots, including ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7, VH1’s Single Ladies, and TNT’s Franklin & Bash. Among his other television credits are CW’s One Tree Hill and BET’s Somebodies. As a result of IronE’s success on The Walking Dead, IronE has been sought to write an introduction for two zombie theme anthologies; Zombie Survival Crew: Undead Is Not An Option and Appalachia Undead.
Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Singleton’s story embodies everything we have come to understand about the lives of many inner city youth growing up in low-income housing projects. Fatherless and having lost his mother to HIV/AIDS when he was a senior in high school and watched his brother spend most of his life in Georgia’s prison system, IronE fought to have a life far different from the one he knew growing up. The “irony” of his story is that, while all the odds were stacked against him, IronE Singleton still overcame his troubled childhood to attend the University of Georgia on academic and football scholarships where he completed a double major in Theater and Speech Communications.
Prior to breaking into film and television, Singleton wrote, directed and performed a critically acclaimed One Man Stage production entitled IronE . . . The Resurrected which garnered rave reviews inspiring IronE to transcribe the production into his autobiography Blindsided by The Walking Dead which chronicles his life from poverty to fame. His ambition is to have it produced as a movie along with his current screenplay Volleyball Vixens. IronE is also overly enthusiastic about incorporating his non-profit performing arts school, IronE School of The Arts (ISA) which will provide youth with a performing arts program that is intellectually stimulating, emotionally compelling, aesthetically enriching and personally relevant with a strong emphasis on truth, purpose, respect for self and others and love for all of humanity. In his spare time, Singleton is a motivational speaker and lyricist.
There’s absolutely no denying that Ted 2, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane’s inevitable sequel to his 2012 smash hit live-action film debut Ted, gives audiences lots more of what they loved the first time around.
More bong hits, more poop and bodily fluid jokes, more celebrity cameos and hilarious casting, more nods to pop-culture and hit films of previous eras, more profanity (maybe, or perhaps it just feels like more), and perhaps even more laughs. When the gags in Ted 2 work, they REALLY work — you might find your face hurting by the end, some of the bits are so funny.
But where this sequel falls just a teddy bear’s height short of its predecessor is in the strength of the film story connecting all those clever bits. Whereas the original film gave audiences a relatable narrative underlying the fairy tale, a story whose plot beats might actually feel pretty familiar to men and women in the age demographic the film targets, Ted 2‘s story feels contrived, forced, and obligatory, and that feeling, when all is said and done, comes to define the character of the film, itself.
Ted 2 opens with the wedding of everyone’s favorite potty-mouthed stuffed bear (once again voiced by MacFarlane) to his grocery store co-worker sweetheart from the first film, Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth). It’s a joy-filled day for all, but Ted’s best man, his Thunder-Buddy-For-Life John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), struggles a bit to maintain his good cheer, as he’s still hurting from the divorce that ended his fairy-tale marriage to Lori (Mila Kunis, who does not appear in Ted 2) just months before.
A year later, John is still single, and Ted and Tami-Lynn’s honeymoon period is long, long over, now characterized by loud arguments and crashes of hurled objects rather than the loud sex of their courtship. The solution to their married life woes? Bring a child into the world! Of course, with Ted missing the critical anatomical bits to actually create a baby with Tami-Lynn, they explore a number of alternatives, including artificial insemination with a sperm donor (wait until you see who they have in mind to donate) and adoption. Their efforts to adopt have an unintended side effect in that they shine the light of the legal system on Ted and whether or not the stuffed animal is, in fact, a living person entitled to hold a job, get married, and adopt a child, or simply a piece of property.
Choosing to fight for Ted’s civil rights, he and John enlist the aid of neophyte attorney Samantha Jackson (Amanda Seyfried), who immediately endears herself to our heroes with her intelligence, her passion for the case, her proclivity for smoking up (it’s a prescription), and her complete and utter lack of pop culture awareness. From there, hijinks ensue as the intrepid and often stoned trio embark on a number of adventures to help “legalize” Ted, but they’re up against more than just the courts. Ted’s one-time stalker Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) sees yet another opportunity to have a Ted of his very own in our stalwart bear’s legal battle, and this time he has help in the form of a certain big-time toy manufacturer who would like nothing more than to mass-produce Ted and make billions putting Thunder Buddies in the shopping carts of families everywhere.
Again, where Ted 2 excels is in the comic genius found in just about every gag staged by MacFarlane and his writing partners, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. Even when a joke falls flat, it’s by design (watch for the send-up of an SNL opening skit that’s deliberately un-funny seemingly to mimic how barely chuckle-worthy that show seems to be these days), and when the set-ups work the laughs don’t stop. Perhaps even more than its predecessor, Ted 2 plays out like a feature-length, R-rated episode of “Family Guy” or “American Dad”, complete with the requisite cartoonish violence, abrupt asides for pop-culture and cameo-powered punch lines, and reverent visual nods to beloved films of the past. Younger audiences might not get all the references MacFarlane packs in here — there’s a priceless bit borrowed from the Steve Martin/John Candy 1987 classic Planes, Trains, and Automobiles that’s pretty funny in and of itself but downright genius if you know what it’s aping, for example — but just about everything else around those references hit the mark, anyway, so it’s not likely to matter all that much if every allusion isn’t recognized and appreciated.
Also, just as he did the first time around, MacFarlane clearly has a lot of fun with casting in the film, bringing back standouts from the first film like Patrick Warburton and Sam J. Jones (yup, Flash Gordon himself is back!) and bringing in Seyfried (who had a small role in MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West last year) to capably succeed Mila Kunis as the love interest for Wahlberg’s character. In each of these casting choices and also in the choice to add “Star Trek” film and TV alum Michael Dorn to the ensemble MacFarlane has specific in-jokes and gags in mind that pay off memorably — seeing one particular set-up in the third act involving Warburton and Dorn showing up in costume to New York Comic-Con, and the particular costumes they show up in as well as how they behave, is almost worth the movie ticket price all by itself.
But despite all that’s laugh-out-loud funny and enjoyable about Ted 2, it never really transcends the feeling that it’s more a collection of funny ideas for buddy comedy situations featuring Ted and John than a cohesive film, and that issue derives from the relatively weak screen story holding all of those situations and set-ups together. The first Ted was a highly unorthodox but still recognizable coming-of-age story, a story about choosing between your past and your future, about what it means to be an adult and have adult relationships, and as such resonated on a deeper level in addition to making us laugh. In comparison, the main semi-serious plot of Ted 2, despite featuring eloquent courtroom debates and ruminations regarding what it means to be truly “alive” — a theme that’s also borrowed from “Star Trek” along with actors Dorn and Nana Visitor (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) in a small role — never escapes the feeling of being a frame for all the other fun stuff going on in between the plot beats that sometimes drags on a little too long, particularly in the final stretch. The result is that you’re more likely to come away from Ted 2 remembering particularly funny scenes than you are what the whole film was about.
Is that okay? For a film like this, where clearly MacFarlane isn’t out to reinvent the Teddy Bear or one-up himself in any way, or push the envelope that he himself created, maybe it is. After all, Ted 2 does what you expect it to going in, and does it well. The fact that it doesn’t aspire to do more, to be “great” rather than be “just as good as the first one”, is perhaps a question that’s only important to those who debate such things. Is Ted 2 entertaining? Without a doubt. Will it make fans of the original happy, Seth MacFarlane fans, and the folks at Universal Pictures who are distributing the film and counting the box office receipts happy? It certainly should.
Maybe next time MacFarlane will aspire to accomplish more.
Ted 2
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, John Slattery and Morgan Freeman. Directed by Seth MacFarlane.
Running Time: 94 minutes
Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, and some drug use.
With only one episode of Sense8 left I think it was safe to assume that these last few episode would close some conflicts that have been stirring all season. Now knowing that, one question that comes to mind is just how satisfying were these conclusions. And seeing that I’ve never been able to completely invest in these characters to begin with, the arcs they did close were pretty damn great!
First off we get some sweet revenge for all the savage imagery of Wolfgang growing up. Sure it may have taken a long time for us to realize why he hated his family so much. But now that we know the motivation behind it, seeing him get revenge for his best friend and a little retribution from growing up makes this scene work. Also the RPG definitely helps.
Now after the incident with Wolfgang, Lito has taken some of that courage and resolve to do what he was, up until now, afraid to do and go save Daniela. This scene is great because it sort of reminded me of the first time Capheus went to get his mothers medicine back. He knew full well that he probably wouldn’t stand a chance, but went anyway due to his selfless nature. Now we get to see Lito break free from his selfish nature and do something for someone else. (Even though there may have been side benefits for doing so). We really got to see Lito grow and it seems believable seeing the action that brought forth his growth really rocked his world, as was seen in previous episodes. Also, what a way to end it with an uppercut to the jaw!
And speaking of Capheus, his arc is the last one they wrapped up. Now while the show sort of made it seem like he had a hard decision to make about giving up Silas’ daughter. But I always sort of knew that he would do anything to keep that from happening. Capheus certainly has a gentle heart and would rather see himself go through pain rather than someone he loves. In the end his decision really solidified his character if it wasn’t already apparent. It also solidified Sun as the one who comes and bails him out when he gets in over his head.
As for the big remaining conflict, it seems that one or a few of the main 8 will meet before this season is done. With Riley now in the same situation as Nomi was, it’s only a matter of time before Whispers gets a hold of her. Luckily this time Will and Nomi are ready to attack as well, and won’t give up Riley without a fight.
Also I’m pretty sure this part I’m about to talk about is a set-up for later seasons so its definitely worth mentioning, at the least to keep in the back of your mind. Will and Jonas have another talk and in this talk Jonas reveals that there are two different types of humans. And not in the just being special sense. They’re two completely first species of human. Thats how Jonas phrases it anyway. He also makes it sound like that sensate were the first humans until humans evolved into our kind so they could be more ruthless. I watched that part again just to make sure, and thats pretty much what he means. So there is definitely stuff to dig in there as well. And surely Sense8 has more to come with the next episode.
With San Diego Comic Con just around the corner the Hall H rumor mill is putting in some overtime.
According to the Latino Review, Warner Bros. will announce a Batman stand alone film called The Batman star Ben Affleck, written by Chris Terrio (Argo, Batman v Superman), and possibly directed by Affleck as well.
From the looks of Terrio’s IMDB page he seems to be working exclusively in the DC Cinematic Universe: 2016 –Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2017 – Justice League Part One, 2019 – The Justice League Part Two.
Warner Bros. is looking at a late 2018 release date for the film. All your questions will be answered Saturday, July 11 in Hall H.
The new trailer for Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension has been released, which will be the final film in one of the more successful horror franchises of the new millennium. The synopsis, short and vague, says only “Every secret will be revealed…”
Here is the Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension trailer:
While this is the true final film in the franchise, which has seen five entries leading up to the sixth Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, for me the films ended in the quality department after Paranormal Activity 3. But we still had 4, The Marked Ones, and now The Ghost Dimension…
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension opens October 23.
