According to USA Today, Baldwin has departed Joker citing a scheduling conflict. The veteran actor made it clear that someone else could take on the role no problem saying, “I’m sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.”
Following Baldwin’s casting, news came that The Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen passed on the role of Thomas Wayne. It’s unclear if Warner Bros. would reach out to Mortensen’s camp again to fill the void or look in another direction.
Are you disappointed that Alec Baldwin left the project? Let us know in the comments below.
Yes, you read that headline correctly. According to Deadline, veteran actor Alec Baldwin has joined the cast of the Joaquin Phoenix led Joker film.
Baldwin is set to play the father of Bruce Wayne, Thomas Wayne. He’s said to be portraying the character as a stereotypical 80s businessman in the vain of Donald Trump. Most iterations of the character paint Thomas Wayne as a stand-up individual. The difference with this version will be that the film centers around the Joker, meaning he could see Thomas Wayne in a different light.
Recent years has been a sort of renaissance for Alec Baldwin. He’s earned two Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. This summer he appeared in Mission: Impossible – Fallout as Alan Hunley reprising his role from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Baldwin will attempt to keep the momentum going as he portrays the father of one of the most iconic heroes of all time.
The cast of Joker has many speculating that the film could get Oscar buzz. Baldwin joins the previously mentioned Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Deadpool 2 star Zazie Beetz, Glow standout Marc Maron, and Frances Conroy. Todd Philips of The Hangover fame is directing the project with Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese attached to produce.
Joker will take inspiration from classic films such as Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. The film will see the Clown Prince of Crime go down the dark road that leads him to become the villain we know and love. Don’t expect this version of the Joker to resemble anything we’ve seen on film before. Joaquin Phoenix has promised his version of the character will differentiate itself from what we’ve come to know.
Bond fans were surprised when it was announced on Twitter that the Bond producers, Daniel Craig and Danny Boyle had parted company over creative differences. Rumors of disagreements range from casting decisions to Boyle planning to kill off Bond.
The Bond 25 gig is one of the most sought directing jobs at the moment, and directors like Edgar Wright and Jean-Marc Vallée have been linked to the position. The British bookmakers William Hill have come up with a list of directors who they think could take the job, – so let’s look at who they picked, and whether or not each filmmaker would be a good fit and if they have a realistic shot becoming the director of Bond 25.
Steve McQueen – 14/1
Bringing up the rear is Steve McQueen, a good outside bet and properly more likely to be offered the Bond gig than some of the other directors on this list. McQueen started his career as a video artist and made his name with dramas like Hunger and Shame and his historical drama 12 Years a Slave won an Oscar for Best Picture.
McQueen’s films are known for having great acting, Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor were nominated for awards for their performances and his greatest ability as a filmmaker is his long takes. Hunger had a terrific scene of two people simply talking, Shame had a jogging scene where Fassbender runs in an empty New York, and 12 Years a Slave had the powerful whipping scene. It would be something if McQueen could do something similar for a Bond action scene.
Due to McQueen’s background as an artist and dramatic director, he does not seem like the most obvious choice, but he was shortlisted to direct The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and his next film is set to be a female-led heist film that will premier at the Toronto Film Festival.
Ridley Scott – 12/1
Ridley Scott is one of the most prolific directors working and even though he is 80-years-old does more work than filmmakers half his age. He has some of the greatest sci-fi films of all time like Alien and Blade Runner. He has experience in the war, crime and spy genres with Black Hawk Down, American Gangster and Body of Lies to his name.
But Scott is a hit-and-miss reputation – as well as making great films he has made some stinkers. In recent history, he has made The Counselor and Alien: Covenant.
Scott would be perfectly capable of making a Bond film especially with the action sequences, but Scott’s placement by William Hill is a case of the bookmakers picking a big name for the sake of it. It is unlikely he would even be approached to direct Bond 25, let alone take the job. Save your money.
Paul Greengrass – 10/1
Paul Greengrass is best known for directing three films in the Bourne franchise, and that is the main reason he is considered a possible Bond director. Beside from his Bourne films, Greengrass has made some excellent true-life films in the form of United 93 and Captain Phillips.
But there are some significant reasons why Greengrass won’t be considered. Back when he was promoting Jason Bourne Greengrass stated he would never do a Bond film and his Bourne star even called Bond an ‘imperialist, misogynist sociopath.’ Greengrass also inject his political beliefs into his movies and the Bond producers will never let him do that with Bond franchise. Finally, Bond fans wouldn’t want Greengrass to direct because of his incomprehensible shaky cam.
Kathryn Bigelow – 10/1
Ever since making The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow has been a fan choice to direct a Bond film. Bigelow is one of the few female directors who has made big-budget movies, and she would be a good fit for the Bond series. Her films The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty show she can make compelling films that touch on contemporary issues and she favors using practical effects over CGI.
However, some issues prevent Bigelow from being a favorite to take the gig. Since her Oscar win Bigelow pretty much has a license to make any film she wants, and she followed The Hurt Locker with Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit. It would be unlikely she would make a Bond film considering the demands from the producers and Daniel Craig. The other issue is Bigelow’s nationality – the Bond series has avoided hiring American directors. The closest an American has come to direct a Bond film was Brett Ratner who Pierce Brosnan lobbied to direct Die Another Day, but the producers rejected him because of his nationality.
Martin McDonagh – 8/1
British-Irish writer/director Martin McDonagh is a filmmaker who has the potential to make a great Bond film. Starting his career as a playwright, McDonagh made his name as a filmmaker with the dark comedy In Bruges and his recent movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was an awards darling.
McDonagh’s films are known for quick, witty director, some politically incorrect humor and being able to blur the lines between comedy and tragedy. His movies also have terrific performances, and McDonagh has worked with some big-name actors like Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and mostly importantly Frances McDormand who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
At 8/1 McDonagh is worth a punt.
Danny Boyle – 8/1
Considering how Danny Boyle lost the Bond gig it be would improbable if he got rehired. And if the rumors are true that Boyle planned to kill off Bond, there would be an uproar from the fans.
Christopher Nolan – 8/1
Like Bigelow, Christopher Nolan is a fan favorite to direct a Bond film, and Nolan was influenced by the Bond series. He stated that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was his favorite Bond film and the series has affected his action scenes. However, like Bigelow Nolan would be a director who would demand a high level of creative control and he would more likely direct Bond 26 and set the groundwork for a new Bond.
Sam Mendes – 7/1
Sam Mendes directed the previous two entries in the Bond series, the fantastic Skyfall and the letdown that was Spectre. Back in 2016, he ruled himself out of directing Bond 25 and considering the lukewarm reception to Spectre the producers will properly feel the series needs some fresh blood. Plus Mendes is attached to a couple of other films, 1917 and The Voyeur’s Motel.
Yann Demange – 6/1
Before Danny Boyle was hired by Eon Productions, they had a shortlist of directors which included Yann Demange. Demange is a French national who has worked predominately in the UK – working shows like the Charlie Brooker scripted Dead Set and crime series Top Boy. Demange indeed made his name with the historical thriller ’71, a film where a British soldier is caught up in The Troubles when serving in Northern Ireland. ’71 earned a lot of praise and Demange won a BIFA for best director. Demange’s next film is the ’80s set crime-thriller White Boy Rick.
Demange is clearly a talented director and has the potential to have a great career. Because he is a relative newcomer, Demange wouldn’t have the clout of other directors on this list and wouldn’t be able to challenge the producers as much.
Denis Villeneuve – 4/1
French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is another favorite of fans to direct a Bond film. Since Villeneuve started making English language films he has made some critically acclaimed thrillers and genre films. The main reason Villeneuve is considered a possible Bond director is that of his work on the Mexican set crime thriller Sicario and like many other directors on this list he can get excellent performances from his actors. Villeneuve is also known for his intricate plotting and fantastic cinematography – he often works with Skyfall cinematographer Roger Deakins. Villeneuve did the impossible, he made a great sequel to Blade Runner, 35 years after the original was released – it was one of the most beautiful looking films of 2017.
However, Villeneuve is currently attached to direct a new adaptation of Dune, making it unlikely he would be able to direct Bond 25 and like Christopher Nolan would more likely direct Bond 26.
David Mackenzie – 3/1
The favorite according to William Hill is Scottish director David Mackenzie. Like Demange and Boyle, Mackenzie was on the same Eon shortlist. Mackenzie had a respectable career in the UK, making films like gritty dramas Perfect Sense and Starred Up and he blew up as a directional force with the neo-Western Hell or High Water which earned him an Oscar nomination. Mackenzie’s next film is the historical epic Outlaw King which is set to open the Toronto Film Festival and be released on Netflix.
Mackenzie would be excellent for a Bond film, and he deserves to be one of the favorites to direct Bond 25. His placement is more realistic than some of the other directors on this list. He could keep the gritty look and tone of the Craig era Bond films and still be able to provide some stunning visuals and action sequences.
In the latest episode of Kieran’s Movie Space, Kieran delivers his full (spoiler-free) review of Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon’s new spy comedy, The Spy Who Dumped Me. Is this a comedy worth your time and hard earned cash? Do Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon make a good comedy duo? Listen to the review below and find out!
Kieran’s Movie Space is an insightful, fun and reliable new podcast for fans of all things cinema. Host Kieran McLean delivers in-depth reviews of the latest movie releases, from small indie movies to massive blockbusters.
The Spy Who Dumped Me tells the story of Audrey (Kunis) and Morgan (McKinnon), two best friends who unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of the women discovers the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy.
Directed by Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped Me stars Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Sam Heughan, Ivanna Sakhno, Gillian Anderson, Justin Theroux and Hasan Minhaj.
Make sure you hit the like button, subscribe and review the podcast! Alternatively, you can subscribe to the Monkeys Fighting Robots newsletter to be notified when new episodes are available, plus amazing content!
As a musician dealing in electronic sounds, Joseph Fraioli is no stranger to science fiction-like soundscapes which made him a perfect fit as sound designer for the upcoming sci-fi film Kin about a boy and his awesome, artificially intelligent alien super-gun.
Monkeys Fighting Robots spoke with Joseph Fraioli about his life in making sounds, Kin, and the awesome power of Jurassic Park.
The Road to Sound Design
“I got into sound design through releasing electronic music. Back through my teens and early 20s, I released experimental electronic music under the name Datach’i. I still release the same sort of experimental stuff. I was contacted by the Museum of Modern Art in New York to work on an installation. It became an ‘ah-ha’ moment that started me on this path of sound design.”
All About Kin
“My relationship with the Bakers, [Jonathan Baker & Josh Baker] the directors goes back a long way. We have a really great working relationship. We’ve done a lot of commercials and short films together. We have a great open dialogue for discussing ideas and coming up with concepts. We had done the short film the Bag Man which was picked up and developed into the feature Kin.”
From Bag Man to Kin “We had the wheels turning on what to do with the story well before the feature film was happening. One of the ideas the Bakers had was that all the technology would be based on magnetism. So very early on I collected different types of sounds that represented magnetism. There’s a different type of energy that’s controlling the systems within this sci-fi world.”
How do you go about making these kinds of sounds? “To do that I used a variety of different methods; from processing organic sounds through digital systems like the Symbolic Sound Kyma or generating electronic sounds on a synthesizer and using an electromagnetic field recorder to capture sounds from different things. I started off with a really cool palette and was able to develop that conceptually into different ideas to help tell the story.”
Working with Mogwai
“In this project, there were a couple of instances that I got really excited about. The composers of the film were the band Mogwai. So we had a couple situations where the sound and music work together almost like one thing. It’s hard to tell where one starts and the other ends.”
How did the music and sound come together? “I made a sound for this one particular scene where I made this sort of electronic sound that would ‘pair’ Eli with the weapon, almost like Bluetooth technology. The gun calls him from a distant place, and he could follow it. Mogwai had taken those beats and used it as a time signature and cue for the what they scored for that moment. It came together beautifully. That was one moment that I was really proud of.”
Joseph spreads the love around “Also, a lot of this stuff comes together … because of the work from everyone from Frank Marrone and Brad Zoern our amazing mixers, and Jonathon and Josh Baker and myself being there and going through in fine detail to make it a cohesive soundtrack.”
It’s All in the Details
“A big part of how I like to work … I feel that the more detail you can add the more you can bring someone into the experience, the more you immerse them. Also, it helps for practical reasons, you can bring someone in with a small sound and then hit them with something really hard and even that much more impactful because your ear is focusing, almost like a lens, on the small sound.
The process for Kin had an essential component for Joseph “A huge part of the design process for me was working with the sound design of the weapon, the ‘block nose rifle.’ It had to, in a lot of ways, contrast Eli our main character and feel very dangerous and otherworldly. But at the same time, it needed to connect to him because there is this artificial intelligence that when it pairs with certain people, it behaves differently. So the technology behaves differently. And I use strange, electronic sounds as cues to the connection between the sci-fi and story elements.”
What Makes Sci-Fi Sounds?
“I used something called an Om Wand, it looks like a sword made of plastic, and it made these low vibration sounds as you swung it around. Hematite Magnets, you can throw them in the air, and they spin around each other and make these interesting sounds that I pitched way down.”
But it’s not all fancy materials or tech but both things “There’s a lot of high-end stuff, but there’s a lot of cheap stuff too. I went to the dollar store and got this breathing tube, it’s actually a children’s toy that makes these ratcheting and whistling kind of sounds. I used that as part of the sound effect for the alien breathers.”
Spread the Love
“There’s a lot of people out there doing great work. I always go back to what first inspired me to make sounds, and that’s the movie Jurassic Park and the roar of the T-Rex. I wasn’t expecting it, and it was so unsettling, but it was so perfect. I saw an interview with the sound designer, Gary Rydstrom and he was talking about how they mixed all these different animal sounds together. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe someone had that job. Gary Rydstrom is phenomenal. Ben Burtt, the way that he takes electronic sounds, especially in Wall-E, there’s so much emotion and character in each sound. That’s what I aspire to do.”
Thanks to Joseph Fraioli and Impact24 PR for making this interview possible.
Since it’s revival in 2005, Doctor Who has become one of the BBC’s most prominent exports and managed to please long-time fans and newcomers alike. It is a show that has been able to reinvent itself – the modern version of the shows has had two showrunners – three actors playing The Doctor and seven characters as the companion and Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whitaker set to take over the show as showrunner and the title role.
Over the course of 13 years, the show has had ten seasons, a series of specials and amassed 134 episodes. With this amount of content there are of course ups and downs, so let’s look at all the modern Doctor Who seasons from worst to best.
11. Series 8
The eighth season of the modern Doctor Who is easily the worst. This season was Peter Capaldi’s first as the famous Time-Lord, and he was ill-served by the material he was given. The season started off strongly with indie-director Ben Wheatley directing the first two episodes, and there was a level of intrigue with the idea of beings trying to find The Promised Land.
However, the season was bogged down with uninspired elements, and it had two of the worst episodes in the modern show’s canon, “Kill the Moon” and “In the Forest of the Moon.” It was a season made out of apathy.
The worst element of the season was Clara’s role. The season looked more toward Clara’s life on Earth, working as a teacher, forming a relationship with Danny Pink and her students. The show focused on Clara instead of the Doctor, sinking the season because Clara is a boring character. The use of the school setting was a backdoor route to making the Doctor Who spin-off The Class.
10. Series 7
Peter Capaldi had a rough start as the Doctor, and Matt Smith end wasn’t much better. The seventh season was split into two parts, the first focusing on The Doctor’s final adventures with Amy and Rory, the second focusing on who is Clara and why she kept appearing in different periods and dying when the Doctor was around.
The first half was the stronger, having a fun opener with the Doctor having to go into a Dalek insane asylum and the show pulled off a great surprise by introducing Jenna Coleman as Oswin. Amy and Rory’s final moments had plenty of emotion when Rory is trapped time fix time, and Amy sacrifices herself to be with him – a sacrifice that brings the Doctor into a great depression.
This half of the series did have a disappointment with the episode “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.” The title suggested a lot of genre fun and had comedic double-act David Mitchell and Robert Webb voice a pair of giant robots. Yet it did not live up to the hype. It was an episode written by new showrunner Chris Chinball.
The second half of the series was when it truly faltered. It was a season bogged down by forgettable episodes like “The Bells of Saint John,” “Cold War,” “Hide” and “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” and the Neil Gaiman penned “Nightmare in Silver” is hated by the fandom. The saving grace was “The Name of the Doctor” where Clara goes into the Doctor’s timestream and protects him throughout his many iterations. It could have been a great final episode for Clara, but Steven Moffat is scared to kill off main characters.
One of the significant issues with the series was Clara – she was a boring character. There were two great versions in “Asylum of the Daleks” and “The Snowmen” – Coleman gave these characters a lot of check and spunk and was intelligent enough to be able to help the Doctor. But the real version of Clara was a bland young woman from modern day Britain.
Now we have gotten past the two worst series in Doctor Who everything from this point on ranges from good to great. The worst of the best is the most recent season of Doctor Who, Series 10.
Series 10 was the last season to star Peter Capaldi and be produced by Steven Moffatt, but weirdly made as a soft-reboot of the series and act as an entry point for new viewers. The first episode “The Pilot” acted like a pilot episode for a new show and Bill was an audience surrogate. Series 10 did have excellent episodes in the form of “Oxygen” and the season finale had some gutting punching moments, or they would have been if the BBC didn’t reveal them in the trailers. The finale was a great send off for Capaldi as the Doctor as he fought off an army of Cybermen.
Pearl Mackie was a terrific find as Bill, a fun, upbeat presence who acted like a fangirl and was the first lesbian companion. Bill’s presence also allowed for the show to offer some commentary about prejudice. Yet her sexuality was handled maturely, she’s gay, deal with it. It was a shame she only had one season.
However, the series was at times on autopilot, with episodes like “Smile” rehashing ideas from previous seasons.
8. Specials
The Specials as the name says special episodes that were made between Christmas 2008 to the New Year in 2010. These specials were the last episodes to star David Tennant and written by Russell T. Davies. There were four stories (one of them being a two-partner) of various quality, and there were all over 60 minutes instead of the usual 45.
The best special was the horror-themed “The Waters of Mars” with the Doctor on the first human colony on Mars where the astronauts are inflected by a waterborne virus and tests the Doctor because he was interfering with a fixed time event. It was one of the best Doctor Who horror stories, being an exciting, fast-paced episode and the ending gave audiences a hint of what The Doctor could be like if he acted without impunity.
The weakest episode was the forgettable “Planet of the Dead,” whose most prominent feature was the casting of Michelle Ryan as the Doctor’s one-time companion. It was met with average reviews which is a fair summary of an average episode.
“The Next Doctor” did tease audiences with what a David Morrissey could have been like and “The End of Time” brought back John Simm as The Master and the Time Lords as a whole. Tennant was given a long goodbye as he revisits all his companions before his regeneration which was made into an epic moment.
7. Series 9
After the poor showing that was Series 8, Doctor Who needed a big comeback – especially to save Peter Capaldi’s run as the Doctor. Fortunately, Series 9 was able to do this, bringing the focus back on the Doctor and allowed Capaldi to shine as an actor – he had an impassioned anti-war speech in “The Zygon Inversion.”
The series brought in Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams for a role as Ashildr/Me, a young woman from a Viking village who The Doctor curses with immorality. Williams appeared in four episodes, and her character had some powerhouse moments like at the ending of “The Girl Who Died” and the reveal that her children died during the Black Death.
The series strongest episode was “Heaven Sent” and it is one of the best modern Doctor Who has produced. It was an ambitious and creative episode showing the various versions of Doctor living the same scenario over-and-over again. Capaldi had to act around as he fought for survival, tried to figure out a message and overcome his grief. The montage when the Doctor utters “The Sheppard Boy” poem was Doctor Who at its finest.
The series still had some problems. The series opener was overly complicated and needed an encyclopedic knowledge of Doctor Who lore to understand it at times and the episode “Sleep No More” had a good concept but hampered by revealing that the monsters were made out of eye gunk. The worst aspect of the series was the series finale “Hell Bent” because it undercut Clara’s death and The Doctor’s fight to get revenge. Moffat didn’t have to gut to keep a companion dead.
6. Series 1
Back in 2005 the return of Doctor Who was seen as a big risk – the 1996 TV film was a flop, and the BBC was hesitant at bringing back the show. It was a big budget update of a show that was known for cheap costumes and special effects and came from a man who was a big fan of the original series.
The aim of the new series was to introduce the Doctor to new audiences while still honoring the continuity of the classic era. The first season manages to walk this delicate tightrope by having the Time War – an event that gave the modern series a clean break but still in the same continuity. Classic villains were introduced, and the modern series gave longtime fans some Easter Eggs. The first episode, “Rose” was told through the new companion’s eye so acts as the new audience members’ surrogate.
The first series gave us classic episodes like “Dalek” which shows how threatening one Dalek could be and revealed The Doctor’s pain, and the two-parter “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances,” was one of the great horror themed episodes – it scared my cats. But there were some clunkers in the form of “Aliens of London”/”World War Three” which was too reliant on juvenile humor believing this was what the show needed to do to appeal to kids. Like many first seasons of a show Doctor Who was finding its feet.
Christopher Eccleston was solid in his only season as The Doctor, but he was stronger in the dramatic moments than the comedic ones. Fans would have wanted at least one more season with Eccleston. The show helped turn Billie Piper from teen pop star to a popular actress in the UK, and John Barrowman’s Captain Jack was an entertaining character.
5. Series 6
Series 6 was Steven Moffat’s second season as showrunner and the first of two that had a mid-season break. It is also his second best season.
Series 6 big storyline involved the Doctor being killed by the Impossible Astronaut and figuring out River Song’s real identity. Moffat also created his second monster, The Silence, suited aliens whose people forget their existence when they look away and have been secretly controlling the human race. The name even changed the meaning of the arc in the previous season.
“A Good Man Goes to War” was a big, bombastic episode where the Doctor and his allies fight an army of cleric soldiers and headless monks and Moffat was able to turn his fan theory that people that The Doctor was given his name by the people he saved into official canon. Episodes like “The Doctor’s Wife” and “The Girl Who Waited” were underrated stories.
However, the series does suffer from some bad episodes. The episode “Let’s Kill Hitler” was a huge disappointment because it was meant to be the first time River met The Doctor and ended in a hokey way because she gave up all her regeneration energy to save him. The pirate-themed “The Curse of the Black Spot” was the definition of a filler episode and was utterly forgettable.
4. Series 3
The third season of modern Doctor Who marked a changing of the guard, the first time they changed the companion with Freema Agyeman playing Dr. Martha Jones. Series 3 was a season of two halves, the first being pretty weak while the second half was much more ambitious and creative.
The first half of the season’s episodes were a mix of forgettable to maligned. Episodes like “The Lazarus Experiment” and “42” are particularly criticized by fans. After “42” the season saw a massive improvement. The most famous and celebrated episode was “Blink” – one of the best-written episodes and introduced The Weeping Angels. The season has a three-part finale which saw The Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack Harkness going to the end of the universe and seeing the return of The Doctor’s nemesis, The Master. It was a varied finale, but the resolution was incredibly cheesy.
The two-parter “Human Nature”/”The Family of Blood” was a strong entry showing what The Doctor could be like if he could live a normal life because his fob watch turned his biology into a human. Martha and eventually The Doctor had to face a creepy set of aliens who have overtaken human bodies who are after The Doctor.
The biggest shame of the season was losing Agyeman after one season, but she did get to return in the fourth and in Torchwood.
The season gave actors like Andrew Garfield, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Carey Mulligan early roles.
3. Series 2
The second season of modern Doctor Who was when the show was finding its stride. David Tennant had taken over the role as The Doctor, and he was the complete package – he was funny and witty, had moments of darkness and could give an epic speech. He is my favorite actor in the role.
The series had some great episodes like “Rise of the Cybermen”/”The Age of Steel,” a two-partner that reintroduced a classic villain, “The Impossible Planet”/”The Satan Pit” where the Doctor got to battle Satan and the finale gave audiences a war between Daleks and Cybermen. Fans of the classic era were given a blast from the past with “School Reunion,” bringing back the former companion Sarah Jane Smith and had one of the darkest moments in Doctor Who history where alien eats a child.
However, the season has two black stops – “Love & Monsters” and “Fear Her.” “Fear Her” was a filler episode – made on a low budget since most of the episode takes place on a housing estate. The biggest issue was it became outdated very quickly – the episode was set in 2012 just before the London Olympics. The episode started with a stupid joke where the recent X-Factor winner, Shayne Ward, was advertising his greatest hits – he wasn’t known outside the UK, and most people now would have either forgotten him or didn’t know who he is. The Olympics also played a part in the narrative – an event that was only six years away when the episode was first broadcasted.
“Love & Monsters” was for a long time considered one of the worst episodes in the show’s run. It had a solid concept – looking at the people who had come into contact with the Doctor and attempted to find him but devolves into stupidity when they gave up on their mission and formed a band. The episode was mandated to star a monster created by a child who won a competition and the episode shows by shoehorning the creature. The worst moment was when the episode ends with an oral sex joke.
However, the good outweighs the bad.
2. Series 4
The fourth Season of Doctor Who was Russell T. Davies’ last full season as showrunner and he certainly went out with a bang, giving us his best offering. The season has the best long-running arc in Davies’ run, the threat of coming darkness and has the most consistent collection of episodes during the Davies era. It was a season that reintroduced classic villains like the Sontarans and the Doctor’s nemesis Davros, creator of the Daleks.
Highlights included the two-parter “Silence in the Library”/”Forest of the Dead” which introduced the world to the River Song, “Midnight” a taut bottle episode where the Doctor and a group of passengers are trapped in the middle of crystal planet and my personal favorite “Turn Left.” “Turn Left” was a Donna focused episode where she makes a decision different which has a huge knock-on effect. It was an unusual and ambitious episode.
“The Doctor’s Daughter” is often considered the worst episode in the series and some have called it one of the worst episodes in Doctor Who’s modern era. This is a harsh reaction because it was a perfectly serviceable episode and the worst this season had to offer was something being less memorable.
The finale, “The Stolen Planet”/”Journey’s End” did come across like fan fiction – it saw the return of many of the characters in the Davies era – created a second Doctor so that Rose could live with him in a parallel universe and the Donna becoming the ‘Doctor Donna.’ This was where the season was at its weakest.
I went into Season 4 with a lot of hesitation because of the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Donna had an irritating introduction, and Tate was famous at the time for her self-titled sketch show that relied on lowest-common-dominator humor. But give credit where credit’s due because Donna grew as a character, Tate showed she was more than a comedic actress, and she was the only female companion in the Davies era who didn’t feel attached to the Doctor romantically or sexually.
1. Series 5
Topping this list is Doctor Who‘s fifth season. The fifth season marked a fresh start for the show, Steven Moffat took over as the showrunner having been seen as the best Doctor Who writer – he had episodes like “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances, “Blink” and “Silence in the Library”/”Forest of the Dead” to his name. The fifth season took a big risk casting then unknowns Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as The Doctor and his companion.
What makes Series 5 the best modern Doctor Who season is it has the best running plotline and is one of the most consistent seasons. The running plotline involved the coming silence, a mystery threat that left cracks throughout the universe and anything that’s sucked in is erased completely – no one remembers their existences.
The season has some great episodes like “The Eleventh Hour,” “The Time of Angels”/”Flesh and Stone” and the highly emotional “Vincent and the Doctor.” The season also has the best Doctor Who finale in the modern run with a triumphant feel to it. There were a couple of clunkers, “Victory of the Daleks” was made to sell toys and “The Vampires of Venice” was forgettable but they are far from the show being at its worst.
Smith and Gillan were great finds for the show. Smith took on the impossible challenge of following up David Tennant as the Doctor, making the role his own and got to give some beautiful speeches while Gillan was funny and dramatic and suffering from sadness but not knowing why. Both have become big stars because of the show and found successful afterward.
In the video above, Jennifer Garner explains all the chaos involved with making a high octane action film like Peppermint.
Time makes your memory forgetful, but in a time before DVRs and On Demand, Garner was one of the most badass women in Hollywood from 2000 to 2006 with Alias, Daredevil, and Elektra. Say what you want about the film, but Garner got Elektra Natchios on the big screen in a solo movie before Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers.
About the film: Riley North awakens from a coma after surviving a brutal attack that killed her husband and daughter. When the system shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerrilla. Channeling frustration into motivation, the young widow spends years in hiding — honing her mind, body, and spirit to become an unstoppable force. Eluding the underworld, the police, and the FBI, Riley embarks on a deadly quest to deliver her own personal brand of punishment.
Peppermint stars Jennifer Garner (Love, Simon, Dallas Buyers Club, Alias), John Ortiz (Silver Linings Playbook, Fast & Furious 6), John Gallagher, Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane, Short Term 12, The Belko Experiment), Juan Pablo Raba (Narcos, The 33, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Annie Ilonzeh (American Horror Story, Empire, All Eyez on Me), Jeff Hephner (Interstellar, Chicago Med), Pell James (Only the Brave, The Lincoln Lawyer), and Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith (Keanu). The film is directed by Pierre Morel (Taken, The Gunman) and written by Chad St. John (London Has Fallen).
Peppermint hits theaters on September 7.
Are you going to see Garner kick-ass on opening night? Comment below with your thoughts.
In the latest episode of Kieran’s Movie Space, Kieran discusses and reviews one of his most anticipated movies of the year, Spike Lee’s BLACKkKLANSMAN. Is this the best Spike Lee Joint yet? Is it one of the best movies of the year? Listen to the full review below and find out!
Kieran’s Movie Space is an insightful, fun and reliable new podcast for fans of all things cinema. Host Kieran McLean delivers in-depth reviews of the latest movie releases, from small indie movies to massive blockbusters.
It’s the early 1970s, and Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. The young detective soon recruits a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), into the undercover investigation of a lifetime. Together, they team up to take down the extremist hate group as the organization aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.
BLACKkKLANSMAN is directed by Spike Lee and stars John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins, Ryan Eggold, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ashlie Atkinson and Robert John Burke.
Make sure you hit the like button, subscribe and review the podcast! Alternatively, you can subscribe to the Monkeys Fighting Robots newsletter to be notified when new episodes are available, plus amazing content!
Sunday night, HBO released a sizzle real for 2018 and 2019 featuring the first look at Season 8 of Game of Thrones.
According to early reports, the earliest fans might see Season 8 could be May 2019.
Other shows featured were Veep, Big Little Lies, The Deuce, Room 104, and new series Camping and The Shop.
About Camping: The half-hour comedy follows married couple Kathryn (Jennifer Garner) and Walt (David Tennant), who have planned a delightful weekend “back to nature” for Walt’s 45th birthday. But when the camping trip gathers Kathryn’s meek sister, holier-than-thou ex-best friend, and a free-spirited tagalong in one place, it becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman-on-woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten.
About The Shop: The series features a lineup starring four-time NBA MVP LeBron James and Maverick Carter. Among the headliners on the first show are rap icon Snoop Dogg, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, three-time NBA champion Draymond Green, two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker and Peabody and Emmy winner Jon Stewart.
The Shop gives viewers a one-of-a-kind barbershop experience, which for many provides a sanctuary for free-flowing and spirited discussions. The series will visit barbershops around the country to gather distinguished individuals who can speak honestly on sports, music, pop culture, world events, business and other culturally relevant topics.
How excited are you for the return of Game of Thrones? Comment below with your thoughts.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman is moving forward full steam ahead. According to Omega Underground, Warner Bros. has met with Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac about a role in the upcoming Dark Knight solo film.
Before anyone gets excited, the source tells us that the mystery role is not Bruce Wayne. Of course, current Batman actor Ben Affleck is expected to vacate his spot to make way for a younger actor as Reeves’ film is set to be a prequel. It will take place during the first couple years of the Caped Crusader’s tenure.
With the titular role being ruled out, there’s still a world of possibilities for Isaac. Next up would be the villain in the film. There have been rumors that Penguin will faceoff against the Batman, so could Warner Bros. be looking at Issac for Oswald Cobblepot? Only time will tell. Other options include Hugo Strange, Carmine Falcone, and Two-Face.
Isaac has become no stranger to tent-pole movies. In the last three years, he has appeared in two Star Wars films, with the third set to hit theaters next year, and as Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse. He’s also appeared in critical darlings such as Ex-Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis and A Most Violent Year. Making another move into comic book films could be a smart move for the highly sought-after actor.
The Batman is said to be a noir-driven Batman story that will show us the criminal underbelly of Gotham. Director Matt Reeves promises that the film will be different than ones we’ve seen in the past. Reeves’ track record speaks for itself so as long as this film makes its way into production audiences are promised something special.
What role would you like to see Oscar Isaac play in The Batman? Let us know in the comments below!
Matt Murdock’s twin, mind reading Inhumans, dog kidnapping, and the Trapster all in this week’s DAREDEVIL #607 as Charles Soule resurrects a fake persona of Matt Murdock’s from the 60’s while creatively figuring out how to bring it into continuity. Let’s take a look at Soule’s genius!
WRITTEN BY: Charles Soule
ART BY: Phil Noto
LETTERS: Clayton Cowles
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
DAREDEVIL #607 SPOILERS TOO!
To see what happened last issue, click on the writer’s name below.
Summary
Daredevil finds his fake identity from the 60’s standing across from him at a bar. Confused beyond belief, Daredevil throws out scenarios as to who this could be, but nothing seems to stick. So, after a bar fight with Trapster, Speed Demon, Overdrive, and White Rabbit, Daredevil knocks out Mike Murdock and takes him to an Inhuman telepath.
The telepath searches Mike Murdock’s mind and notices that this guy genuinely believes he’s Matt Murdock’s twin. Continuing to have no answers, Daredevil takes Mike Murdock back to the hideout of the team he created the last issue to stop the Kingpin. It turns out; the Reader accidentally created him by reading a line of text from Matt Murdock’s journal. Oops! If things couldn’t get worse, Mike Murdock breaks out of the hideout kidnaps Reader’s dog, and escapes in a crowd. The issue ends with Mike Murdock confronting Foggy Nelson in his office.
The Goods
Soule is stunningly creative in this issue. He took a throwaway story from almost 50 plus years ago and weaved it into continuity. This wasn’t any old concept. Soule figures out a way to create an evil twin brother of Matt Murdock from a fake identity Matt used to stop people from thinking he was Daredevil. Soule is freakin’ nuts! Who thinks of that? Better yet, who thinks LIKE that?
Soule’s idea behind creating a doppelgänger of Matt should have been convoluted and made absolutely no sense at all. However, Soule lays it out masterfully with exact detail and reasoning as to why and how this happened. Granted, it’s comic books, but it makes sense. I seriously left this issue laughing because I bought it. Soule is thorough, concrete, and gives supportive evidence in the issue to make this work.
Heck, the easy solution would have been to use a shapeshifter, life-model decoy, or some magic but Soule goes above and behind to make this work without the easiest solutions. Plus, Soule introduces the obvious options at the beginning of the issue when Daredevil screams those possibilities at Mike Murdock but again takes a detour on that idea leaving the readers awestruck as to what’s going on. After reading this issue, writers are probably jealous of Soule’s imaginative storytelling. This plot was crazy-good!
The Art
Phil Noto’s art always appears so casual and smooth. Also, his characters facial expressions are fantastically detailed and set the tone of the narrative so well. On page 6, readers can feel how angry Daredevil is through the issue as well as see every crinkle and texture on the characters faces.
Occasionally, Noto’s art appears more like a portrait while his panels seem stationary making it difficult to judge the movement of the characters. That said, Noto’s lines are always clean and clear while his colors blend so well together grabbing the reader’s attention.
His colors are perfectly chosen to help depict Daredevil’s perspective, visualize his powers, and introduce past events in the timeline. Between Noto’s art and Clayton Cowles lettering, fans are never lost or confused from panel to panel or time frame to time frame. Furthermore, how could anyone complain about a guy (Noto) who did touch up work for THE LION KING and POCAHONTAS? Seriously!
Should you buy this issue and/ or add this to your pull list?
Yes! Daredevil has had its ups and downs from issue to issue, but Soule‘s run has been consistent. Overall, this comic is always exciting and fun to read. Noto’s art is never off and fans know exactly what they’re going to get. So, readers should absolutely add this to their pull list.
As for this single issue, you need to buy it. Even if you haven’t been following along with this comic, it’s still total genius watching Soule connect a made-up identity and morphing it into a real character in the Marvel Universe who could be around forever. However, I recommend buying DAREDEVIL #606 with it to get the full effect. Excellent job to everyone involved in this issue.
What did you guys think of DAREDEVIL #607? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @dispatchdcu. If you would like to read more of my reviews, click HERE!
