Just when you thought The Walking Dead couldn’t garner any more accolades, Image Comics, in conjunction with Skybound Entertainment, has announced that October 13 will forever be known as The Walking Dead Day!
October 13, 2018, will serve as the 15th anniversary of the release of TWD #1, which was originally released on October 8, 2013. This will be an all-day and globally-celebrated event to pay homage to one of the most-popular, longest-running survival horror indie comics of all-time.
Fans of Robert Kirkman’s series should have the 15th Anniversary #1 variant on their radars, which will be released on TWDD. It will feature art from current series artist, Charlie Adlard, with colors by Dave Stewart, and be a throwback to the original Tony Moore cover, with some slight modifications.
The cover will showcase walkers invading comic book shops, but will still feature Rick Grimes, front-and-center, loading his shotgun. A select-few shops will become part of the story with their very own special edition cover, featuring their logo incorporated into the artwork. Shops will also have special promotional swag available as part of the celebration.
The Walking Dead #1 15th Anniversary Variant Cover will be available on Saturday, Oct. 13, with a final order cutoff set for Monday, July 9th. Contact your local shop to get in on the fun. Before you leave, check out this sweet TWDD Anny Box Set ahead of its release.
Are you excited for the variant cover? What swag and promotional items do you want to see Image dish out? Let us know in the comments section below.
Click HERE for more information regarding the anniversary event.
Director Doug Liman is the most recent name to attach himself to a remake of Cannonball Run, one of Burt Reynolds’ more ridiculous ’70s comedies that has since found cult status over the years.
Liman will take over for Rawson Marshall Thurber, according to Deadline. For anyone not as ancient as myself, Cannonball Run was a cameo-laden race-across-the-country spoof that starred Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., and a whole host of other celebrities of the time in bit parts. There isn’t much to the story, and it’s been done over and over for years, but it’s been a while since Rat Race.
Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant are writing the screenplay – at least the first draft. This new Cannonball Run still has quite a long road to travel, as we have been on this section of highway before. There is still no shooting schedule, finished draft, or a single star attached. Hopefully Doug Liman can reach far and wide to fill the movie with solid cameos. He does have a strong relationship with Tom Cruise it seems…
Stay tuned for any release details or casting announcements. In the meantime, check out the original Cannonball Run. If we’re in the trust tree here, it is pretty fun.
Director Ari Aster’s feature debut, A24’s Hereditary,is a crackling journey oozing with terror which slowly builds to a horrific conclusion.
Mix in a terrific cast with a performance that’s undoubtedly Oscar-worthy and what audiences have is one of the rare instances where a film lives up to the hype. Hereditary gained a tremendous amount of buzz after blowing away crowds of moviegoers at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s not unheard of for a film to garner awards consideration this early (ask Jordan Peele), but it seems we might have a case of history repeating itself.
The narrative centers on Annie (Toni Collette) and the passing of her 78-year-old mother. While she seems sad about her mother’s death, Annie is far from devastated by the news. At the funeral, she keeps up appearance, but in the grief-counseling group, she tells them about her madness. Gabriel Byrne plays her husband and appears to be the only sane person in the house. Their daughter, Charley, is played by Milly Shapiro and is a compulsive teen who likes to click her tongue. When her brother Peter (Alex Wolff) is forced to bring her to a party, a shocking twist of fate occurs which will leave audiences stunned. These events send Annie’s life spiraling into a living hellscape, and her family is along for the ride.
Everyone in the cast of Hereditary is outstanding and has a deep understanding of the roles they play in Aster’s fiendish yet well-constructed narrative. Just as Shapiro’s character slowly appears to be succumbing to these evil spirits, Wolff’s creeps closer to the edge of insanity. Each actor shows terrific restraint as the story unfolds, allowing the tension to reach uncomfortable levels. Collette’s performance is equal parts chilling and awe-inspiring. Seeing this actor lose herself in the role of Annie brought back memories of the way Reese Witherspoon became June Carter Cash in Walk The Line.
Cinematographer Pawel Porgorzelski shows a creative flair utilizing Annie’s mini models — she’s an artist who creates miniatures of her life — to enhance the tale. Porgorzelski starts by showing a closeup of the miniature portion of the house Annie created and pulls back gradually as it fades to the real section of the house. Are the models and Annie’s home somehow connected? Porgorzelski makes ample use of the lighting, shadows and other details to enhance the scares in Hereditary.
Colin Stetson’s score is haunting, but the slow build makes it pleasant to listen to. Aster’s narrative seems to have been influenced by some classic horror films (most notably, Rosemary’s Baby and Poltergeist). Yet, he manages to still make Hereditary feel distinctive. Nothing in the movie lags. The pacing of each frame is so precise that it allows the unspeakable moments to really make an impact. Do not go into the film expecting anything close to an acceptable resolution. Aster seemingly wants to leave theaters full of people shaken, and he certainly achieves that.
Overall, Hereditary is a delicious dose of horror that’s extremely well crafted and will resonate with audiences. With the success of A Quiet Place and now Aster’s feature debut, it seems horror might be going through a bit of renaissance, a trend which should delight fans everywhere.
The first full trailer for Mortal Engines, Peter Jackson’s latest epic world-building fantasy adaptation, appears to have everything Jackson fans want from their director. Not only will he be able to craft a terrific dystopian landscape, but Jackson gets to design a handful of rolling cities that look pretty cool.
Check it out:
Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future. Mortal Engines is the startling, new epic adventure directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects artist Christian Rivers (King Kong).
Joining Rivers are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who have penned the screenplay. The Universal and MRC adaptation is from the award-winning book series by Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic. On board as producers are Zane Weiner (The Hobbit trilogy), Amanda Walker (The Hobbit trilogy) and Deborah Forte (Goosebumps), as well as Walsh and Jackson. Ken Kamins (The Hobbit trilogy) joins Boyens as executive producer. Universal will distribute the film worldwide.
Hopefully Jackson’s vision will pass muster with the fan culture who is showing that they are totally cool and not gatekeeping whatsoever on all intellectual properties. Fingers crossed that he placates everyone so as not to “ruin childhoods.”
After the success of The Lego Movie, it was only a matter of time before Warner Brothers greenlit the sequel. On Tuesday, Warner Brothers released the first trailer for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part which takes place five years since the events of “Taco Tuesday.” Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) and Emmet (Chris Pratt) are currently residing in what was Bricksburg but now resembles a world ripped out of Mad Max. Lego Duplo invaders arrive threatening their way of life taking all who Emmet holds dear prisoner. He’s forced to travel to a strange world where everything is a musical.
New character Sweet Mayhem (STEPHANIE BEATRIZ) in a scene from the animated adventure sequel “The LEGO®Movie 2: The Second Part,” in theaters February 8, 2019. The film also stars Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Tiffany Haddish, and Arturo Castro. It is directed by Mike Mitchell and produced by Dan Lin, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Roy Lee. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Here’s the trailer
I certainly applaud the original direction the sequel is headed and that they brought back most of the original cast for the sequel. It appears writers Christopher Miller, Phillip Lord, Matt Fogel, and Raphel Bob-Waksberg have also made a point to hit on some previous themes involving positivity and empowerment. What did you think of the trailer?
Returning character Lucy (ELIZABETH BANKS) in a scene from the animated adventure sequel “The LEGO®Movie 2: The Second Part,” in theaters February 8, 2019. The film also stars Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz, and Arturo Castro. It is directed by Mike Mitchell and produced by Dan Lin, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Roy Lee. Courtesy of Warner Bros.Pictures.
A few days ago, seemingly out of the blue, legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma announced he was writing and set to direct a new horror film revolving around the Harvey Weinstein scandal that has completely changed the complexion of Hollywood. In case anyone scoffed at the idea as a faraway dream (or nightmare), De Palma is planning on shooting next summer with the help of a French production company.
One way or another, it appears this movie is coming.
That is, unless the Outrage Machine consumes De Palma. That seems unlikely, however, as the filmmaker responsible for a number of delightfully perverse and voyeuristic thrillers certainly does not give a shit who is clutching their pearls – my dude has never opened Twitter Dot Com. The film may be in poor taste, depending on who you talk to, but when has that ever stopped anyone from making art?
Brian De Palma has not made a decent film in over a decade, true, but to be fair he hasn’t attempted that many films. The Black Dahlia was the aforementioned decent film, which came out in 2006 and was followed up with two stinkers: Redacted and Passion. He is currently in postproduction on Domino, a murder mystery starring Carice van Houten, Guy Pearce, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, but it has yet to find distribution. This one is beginning to reek of VOD fodder.
There is very little redeemable in Redacted, De Palma’s attempt to cash in on the Iraq War with a “serious drama.” It cannot hold a candle to his compelling Vietnam thriller Casualities of War. Passion is at least fascinating on certain visual levels. It is a lurid, shadow-soaked living nightmare where De Palma is most at home – it plays his camera hits – but the story and the direction beyond familiar aesthetics is dull and trite and sometimes suffocating; it does not vibrate with the energy of Dressed to Kill or even Femme Fatale in 2002. De Palma’s most recent films feel like a rock star who used to fill arenas trotting out those same old hits over and over and over again, but the songs just don’t sound the same anymore.
A Weinstein horror movie sounds like an unwatchable mess in the hands of just about anyone. It doesn’t seem like anyone is particularly interested in a dramatic retelling of a disgusting monster preying on women in his industry; but throw Brian De Palma into the mix, and the complexion of the story changes. De Palma’s strengths play right into the sort of predatory monster Weinstein appeared to be; a lurid and disgusting voyeur and rapist perusing Hollywood hotels in his bathrobe could be a character right out of an ’80s De Palma thriller.
The problem is, for many, that Weinstein is not a character from an ’80s movie. He is real, and in jail on rape charges, and he ruined many careers and lives. Dramatizing his horrific life in film feels a little gross and ironic, and most definitely in poor taste, but that doesn’t mean this movie won’t be absolutely fascinating, in one way or another.
This Harvey Weinstein story does not instill confidence that De Palma will be able to redirect his career. Sometimes, directors lose their fastball. It happens in every profession across the board, it should not be any different for the vast majority of film professionals. There are exceptions, sure, but De Palma has shown no signs of rekindling his former glory years. That being said, he can still be interesting, and this might be the right sort of salacious story to bring him back from the brink.
There have been five Transformer films directed by Michael Bay over the past ten years, and Monday night we finally got our first glimpse of Bumblebee. The first film in the Transformers franchise not directed by Bay, and it was a breath of fresh air.
Check out the trailer below.
Travis Knight who directed the underrated Kubo and the Two Strings, looks to strip down the franchise to its barebones and give fans a Steven Spielberg type of adventure. The 80s setting will only help brings back fans of the original cartoon as there are design nodes to the past. Sometimes all you need is a fresh set of eyes to see the heart of the story. Knight’s film doesn’t to be bloated with extra fluff and CGI to distract from the narrative. It’s just the first trailer, but it’s a step in the right direction for a franchise that needed a course correction.
Bumblebee is directed by Travis Knight and stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Oritz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, and Stephen Shneider.
AMC’s Preacher is back with an action-packed new trailer (seen below) ahead of its season 3 June 24th release date. Jesse, Cassidy, and Tulip are at odds with everyone as he heads back to the one place he doesn’t want to go, home.
Tulip portrayed by Ruth Negga is killed after uncovering The Grail organization had been spying on the crew. Which leads us to the events of season three’s trailer in which Jesse Custer played by Dominic Cooper and Cassidy portrayed by Joseph Gilgun, are forced to go back to Jesse’s hellish extended family the L’Angelles to bring Tulip back to life.
The trailer shows us, Jesse’s grandmother will be a new obstacle for Jesse and company to overcome – after Jesse is forced to make a deal with her to bring Tulip back from the dead. As we saw in previous seasons, Jesse and his family are less than close and him having to owe his them means a big bucket of new problems for him.
Unfortunately for Jesse, it is not out with the old, and in with the new, the trailer shows that Herr Star and The Grail organization is still on his tail with their own quest to replace Jesus’s descendant with Jesse as the organization’s figurehead savior. We also get a glimpse of the almost unstoppable Saint of Killers standing in a doorway.
As reported by AMC The L’Angelles family brings some familiar faces to the cast, Betty Buckley from the show Supergirl and the film Split will be playing Gran’ma, Preacher’s grandmother who has a thirst for eternal youth. Colin Cunningham from the show Falling Skies, he will portray TC a loyal caretaker and soldier for Gran’ma. Jeremy Childs from the shows The Last Castle, Nashville, will be starring as Jody, the enforcer for Gran’ma and the only man Jesse’s never beaten in a fight.
The trailer is packed full of action, violence, and fun in true Preacher fashion. I look forward to season 3 when it premieres on Sunday, June 24, on AMC.
When it comes to owning intellectual properties, Disney pretty much owns them all. Leading moviegoers to wonder if we would see a movie where all of Disney’s characters would interact with one another. As the newest trailer for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 shows, the answer is yes.
The trailer, like the previous one shows both Ralph and Vanellope taking a trip to the web. Except in this one we see Vanellope interact with multiple Disney characters like stormtroopers and Disney princesses. Not to mention Iron Man makes a cameo as well. The scene between Vanellope and the princesses looks to be key in terms of her arc and possibly the movie’s.
Before meeting the princesses, Vanellope tells the person who’s supposed to be Google’s search bar “Take me to a website that’s super intense and really nuts”. This command sends her to Oh My Disney where she meets the princesses after being chased by a group of stormtroopers. After a “One of us! One of us!” moment between them, certain arcs we’ve seen over and over make possible appearances in Wreck-It-Ralph 2.
The first being the arc of the wanderer. Someone (Vanellope) discovers a group of people and becomes part of the group. Jealousy of the new person then sets in among one or all of them. Leading to the casting out of the new person, or their capture. Think of Toy Story 3.
The toys go to a place that’s supposedly innocent, but contains a two-faced character like Lots-o’-Huggin Bear. What if the princesses or maybe just one of them (Cinderella) are those types of characters? If an arc like this does happen, it’s likely Princess Leia will be the one who aides Vanellope in her escape. Simply because she’s the one princess we don’t see in the trailer and maybe is seen as an outcast because of how she became a Disney princess.
The second arc could be one involving Vanellope’s unwillingness to leave the internet and go back to her game, causing a split between her and Ralph. While these two theories could be wrong, the former of the two could make the movie interesting if given proper substance. Outside of Vanellope’s potential arc, Wreck-It-Ralph2 does have something working against it. Time.
Doing a movie involving the actual internet itself is a major risk in terms of jokes, possible settings and characters. By the time the movie is released in late November, odds are the landscape of the internet will change. Certain websites, and visual gags may be deemed “too old” by the time the movie is released. But we will find out when Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 hits theaters on November 21.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 stars John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch.
Researching Cindy’s filmography, my eye landed on a late-90s hit action film starring Wesley Snipes. Yes, Cindy worked on Blade and about her experience she says “It was one of the first things I worked on when I started assisting Mark Isham. It was fun. Total grunt work.”
“It was the sound of a small, creepy women’s choir.”
Cindy’s hand was involved in working on The Crazies, a remake of the George Romero film. “Yeah, I’ve been involved in a number of horror projects.” Indeed, Cindy worked on The Conjuring series and The Mist.
What did Cindy’s work involve? “I sang [for The Conjuring]. It was the sound of a small, creepy women’s choir. Doing kind of dissonant sounds and murmuring. And then they used some of that for The Conjuring 2.”
Cindy has worked across every conceivable film genre. So what’s her favorite? “I love a variety. Comedies are always fun. Horror movies you get to have your players do interesting things. Everyone loves drama because you get to make beautiful themes. But if I had to pick one, it would be fantasy. Something like Once Upon A Time where the music can be larger than life.”
“I got so used to, ‘here’s your scene’ and that would guide what I would have to create.”
“More than once they’ve traveled to different realms and we got to create a sonic world for this realm. We went to the world of Jekyll and Hyde, this Victorian era with industrial and science stuff. We came up with sort of a baroque string quartet with industrial sounds.”
How does Cindy feel now that Once Upon A Time is over? “The first Friday without any work to do for the show was weird. But it was great fun. I was glad to be a part of it.”
What’s coming next for Cindy? “At this very moment, I’m writing a concert piece that I’m going to have performed with a live orchestra over the summer in the Czech Republic.”
“Usually it’s pretty fast and furious.”
There was a bit of a problem for Cindy and the current piece she’s writing. “The piece is for a deeper study of composing for Film and TV. I have to write a three-minute piece. But it’s about anything. I got so used to, ‘here’s your scene’ and that would guide what I would have to create.”
What’s the schedule like when working on a show like Once Upon A Time? “Usually it’s pretty fast and furious. We get picture and timing notes on a Tuesday morning. Then Mark Isham, myself and the team discusses which scenes each of us will do.”
Is there ever a scene that everyone wants to score? “Absolutely. But Mark is the boss, so he gets to pick.”
“We have a genius music editor who keeps track of all the music.”
The relentless pace for a TV production continues “We try to finish everything by Saturday night and get it to the orchestrators. Monday night we record and Tuesday we get the next episode.”
TV show characters often come with a musical theme which is reused from episode to episode when necessary. “We have a genius music editor who keeps track of all the music. He will figure out how much new music is required. We have seven seasons of evil Rumplestiltskin sounds, so we probably don’t need to make anything new for that.”
As always, I end with one question to help spread the love: Who is a composer you admire working today? “I really love John Powell’s work. I love the stuff he did on How To Train Your Dragon and his sort of adventure music. His score for the Bourne movies was a fresh way to do action. I’m really excited to see what he did with Solo too.”
