Here is The Badass Extended Trailer for BLACK PANTHER

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January 8, 2018

For anyone who may have missed it, at halftime of the College Football Championship tonight Marvel Studios delivered an extended, full-length trailer for Black Panther.

And it is Bad. Ass.

The upcoming MCU entry from Ryan Coogler couldn’t have any more buzz heading into its February release, but this expanded look gives us a better feel for the tone. And the tone is we’re gonna do what we want how we want and it will absolutely work:

See for yourself:

T’Challa, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

This looks positively legit on every level. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just a silly, silly person. Coogler clearly has a grasp of the material, and nothing is more encouraging than Michael B. Jordan trying his hand at a different character here as the villain, Kilmonger. And the soundtrack should be fantastic. The poster is fantastic. Everything about this movie is great so far.

Black Panther will be here February 16.

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Academy Awards 2018: The Golden Globes Bring the Race Into Focus

By

Eric Morales

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January 8, 2018

Another Golden Globes has come and gone, and it will undoubtedly go down as one of the most memorable. The red carpet was used as a powerful social statement. There were surprising upsets. And perhaps most of all, there was Oprah’s historic speech.

For award season zealots, the Golden Globes are exciting not because of their tendency to be unexpected and zany, but because of they open the gates to the Oscars. The Golden Globes are seen as the opening volley of the season, giving a glimpse into what the Academy of Motion Pictures might be thinking.

We followed that particular bread crumb trail to its probable ends. Check the complete list of winners here if you missed Sunday’s ceremony. Then come along as we decode the Road to the Oscars.

Best Picture

If the past is any indicator, then winning a Golden Globe is actually detrimental to a film’s chances of winning the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Comedy/Musical category has only lined up once in the past ten years, and that was for The Artist, which was a near guarantee. That’s bad news for fans of Lady Bird, as it all but kills its chances.

The Drama category is a little better, matching four times in ten years, though that still means that it is more of a detriment than a help. It’s unlikely that Three Billboards will take home the Oscar.

Best Director

Like Best Picture – Drama, the Golden Globe for Director has only aligned four years in the past ten. That doesn’t mean del Toro’s chances are dead in the water, though it doesn’t look great either. The DGA’s will likely answer the question for us.

Best Actor

Best Actor – Drama is one of the Golden Globe’s best predictive categories. It has lined up eight times in ten years, and the two times they didn’t, it was fairly obvious who would win.

On the flipside, Best Actor – Comedy is a complete non-starter. The only time it has lined up in a decade was for Jean Dujardin in The Artist, which, of course.

This is all to say that, amazingly, Oldman is now the favorite to win Best Actor. Hugh Jackman and other detractors can rest easy – James Franco will not be returning to the stage.

Best Actress

The Globes are harder to pinpoint with actresses. While Drama has lined up the majority of the time, it’s a slim margin. Comedy has only lined up three times in ten years, and each win was separated by four to five years.

Things look good for McDormand, though it is still very much anyone’s game. For Ronan things look worse; last year’s match means her chances of winning Best Actress are low.

Best Supporting Actor

Much to Natalie Portman’s chagrin, the Globes excel in the men’s categories. Supporting Actor has lined up eight times out of ten; the two it missed were Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who wasn’t nominated for an Oscar, and Sylvester Stallone, who lost to Mark Rylance in an upset.

Rockwell is leading the race, and has a good shot of getting a statue in February.

Best Supporting Actress

The Globes tend to lineup here, so Janney has a good shot. The SAG’s will give a better idea as to what the Academy is thinking, but in the meantime she has pulled ahead of the pack.

Best Animated Film

This is one of the Golden Globes stronger categories. It should come as no surprise, but it’s all but guaranteed Coco will take the W in February.

Best Foreign Language

This one is a crapshoot. It lines up half the time, which means it isn’t detrimental, but isn’t helpful either. In the Fade has as much chance as anybody else.

Best Original Score

With a record of eight in ten, Shape of Water has a great chance of winning its category. If the reviews are any indicator, it will certainly not be the only technical category it wins.

Best Original Song

This is another *shrug* category. “This is Me” has as much a shot as anybody else. Perhaps Jackman’s perceived slight at the Globes will push them to the win.

Best Screenplay

This is an incredibly difficult category to evaluate because the Globes don’t “play by the rules.” While the Academy Awards split screenplay into Adapted and Original categories, the Globes combine them. It has a seven in ten record combined, which certainly helps Three Billboards chance. In the end, it’s still up in the air.

What did you think of the Golden Globes? What are you hoping to see win an Oscar in February? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments below!

Get Yourself To Paradise City Comic Con For A Heavenly Weekend of Comics, Movies, Games, And More

By

Ruben Diaz

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January 8, 2018

Take me down to the Paradise City Comic Con where geekdom rules and the cosplay is pretty. Coming this week is the first of many pop culture conventions this year all around the country. The convention season is an exciting start to a time where the imaginations of creaators and fans come together in celebration. The people behind South Florida’s largest comic book convention, Supercon kick off the season with Paradise City Comic Con in Miami, Florida.

Paradise City Comic Con starts Friday, January 12th
and runs through Sunday, January 14th.

If you like Star Wars, Star Trek, zombies, and all that pop culture goodness, then there’s no better place to go than a convention. On a smaller scale that Supercon — but growing fast — Paradise City Comic Con will feature the usual array of geekdom awesome that fans have come to expect.

Cosplay? Check! And the Saturday night cosplay contest will be judged by the likes of Kamui Cosplay, KayBear Cosplay, & Handsome Jordan!

Guests? A whole lot of them. If we learned anything from Supercon, the people behind the geekdom fun love to bring in celebrities from all walks of pop culture. Paradise City will include faces from Star Trek, the video game Overwatch, anime, wrestlers, and more.

Panels, movies, gaming? Oh, you know it! Paradise City will feature a host of panels about comics, anime, gaming, and wrestling. A geek film festival with indie movies will keep cinephiles happy. Gamers of all kinds will find Paradise City Comic Con lives up to its name by providing heavenly tabletop and video game sections with the latest and greatest games for XBox, Playstation, and PC.

Paradise City Comic Con begins on Friday, January 12th, and piles on the fun for the entire weekend, ending on Sunday, January 14th. Get tickets here.

Come back to Monkeys Fighting Robots for more coverage from the con, including photos of the amazing cosplay and much more.

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New Trailer For BLOCKERS, The Anti-Christ Of Teen Comedies

By

Matthew Sardo

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January 8, 2018

Universal Pictures just dumped a whole bunch of butt beer all over the teen comedy genre in the form of Blockers.

As a guy in his early forties, I’ve witnessed the progression of comedy and Blockers is the sick love child of Something About Mary and Sixteen Candles, yet for no comprehensible reason, John Cena makes me laugh.

You will all become dumber for watching this trailer.

When three parents discover their daughters’ pact to lose their virginity at prom, they launch a covert one-night operation to stop the teens from sealing the deal.

The film is directed by Kay Cannon and stars Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena

Blockers hits theathers on April 6.

What do you think, is John Cena funny? Comment below.

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Secret EXILES Series Character Revealed: Valkyrie

By

Michael Stagno

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January 8, 2018

Last week the new Exiles comic was announced by Marvel, which included a secret character. That member has finally been revealed. It will closely resemble Tessa Thompson’s ‘Valkyrie’ character from the most-recent Thor: Ragnarok film.

“Though she’s not technically from the Marvel Cinematic Universe reality, she’s basically the literalization of the larger-than-her-physical-frame swagger that Tessa Thompson displayed in Thor: Ragnarok, turned up to 11,” Saladin Ahmed said. “Valkyrie is a character who’s always appealed to me,” Ahmed said. “Her iconic warrior-woman look and spear, sword, flying horse, but also the juxtaposition of a kick-ass ancient fantasy hero operating in contemporary New York City. This is a tankard-draining, maiden-wooing, giant-slaying thunderbolt of a woman.”

For more about this upcoming series, check out Part 1 to this release, HERE.

Exiles #1 will hit comic shop shelves on April 11, 2018, with the second issue to follow to weeks after that.

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Golden Globes: Why There Was A Sea of Black

By

Parish Hodges

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January 8, 2018

How much do you know about why celebrities wore black to The Golden Globes?

One of the most significant award shows kicked off red carpet season last night. The Golden Globe Awards are equally known for their fashion as they are for their awards.

This year at the Golden Globes, everyone stood in solidarity and wore black. Big names like Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Eva Longoria joined in support of the #TimesUp campaign, #MeToo movement, discrimination, and gender pay gap.

What exactly are these movements and why are they important?

Tarana Burke coined the phrase ‘Me Too’ in 2006 to promote sympathy for women of color who have been abused sexually. The phrase became popular in late 2017 after sexual assault allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein surfaced.

Best Actress in a Drama nominee, Michelle Williams brought Burke as her plus one to the ceremony. During E! Red Carpet she spoke with Ryan Seacrest about how great it is to see how her movement has grown.

“It’s deeply humbling. This is something that I started out of necessity, as something that I thought my community needed. It’s grown over the years, but I could never have envisioned it growing like this. This moment is so powerful because we’re seeing a collision of these two worlds — or a collaboration between these two worlds that people don’t usually put together, and would most likely have us pitted against each other. So it’s really powerful to be on the red carpet tonight and for people like Michelle to be selfless enough to give up their time so we can talk about our causes,” said Burke to Ryan Seacrest on E!’s Live From the Red Carpet.

‘Time’s Up’ came to light January 1, 2018, after the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas’ letter of solidarity to Hollywood women was published in Time detailing the sexual abuse female farmworkers face.

The President of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Mònica Ramírez hit the red carpet with Big Little Lies star Laura Dern. Ramírez gave more insight on why she needed to reach out to women in Hollywood.

“Farmworker women pick, pack and plant the food that we eat and have a long history of combating workplace sexual violence. When we learned about what was happening in Hollywood, our members felt very strongly that they wanted to send a message to the women in this industry and all women who are experiencing sexual violence in the workplace that they are not alone. We stand with them, and we lend them our power and our strength as they move through this difficult time,” said Ramírez to Ryan Seacrest on E!’s Live From the Red Carpet.

It’s essential for celebrities to be in tune with what’s going on in society. They provide a voice for those who aren’t allowed to be heard. As a woman and a person of color, I know first hand what it’s like to be silenced.

While the protest at the Golden Globes is a great start, we have a long way to go before change is made.

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Benedict Cumberbatch Kinda Sorta Wants to Sober Up in Showtime’s PATRICK MELROSE

By

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor

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January 8, 2018

Benedict Cumberbatch is our title character in Patrick Melrose, Showtime’s new adaptation of a popular book series by Edward St. Aubyn, and he sorta maybe sometimes wants to kick his wild life of boozing and drugs. But what fun is that?

This trailer promises some drama, but plenty of dry humor and a wonderful cast. See for yourself:

Based on the acclaimed Patrick Melrose series of novels written by Edward St. Aubyn and adapted by BAFTA award nominee David Nicholls (Far From the Madding Crowd, One Day), Melrose gleefully skewers the British upper class as it tracks the titular characters harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood, through adult substance abuse and ultimately, towards recovery and redemption. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Sherlock) plays Patrick Melrose, an aristocratic and outrageously funny playboy, who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by an abusive father and a mother who tacitly condoned the behaviour. A true television saga, Melrose is both gripping and humorous, with a dramatic sweep that encompasses the South of France in the 1960s, debauched 1980s New York and sober Britain in the early 2000s. Melrose will devote an hour to each of the five novels, with each episode storytelling a few complicated and intense days in Patricks life.

That just about covers it, but again, that cast!

Patrick Melrose will hit Showtime at some point in 2018, so stay tuned for any updates.

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Full Transcript Of Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globe Speech

By

Matthew Sardo

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January 8, 2018

Oprah Winfrey gave a speech Sunday night, and the world stopped, now a large group of people is clamoring for her to run for the office of the President of the United States in 2020. With that kind of response, her speech must be pretty impressive, and we should read it and reflect. Her speech could be a pop culture moment that changes the course of humankind, or it could just be a blip on the radar of life.

Winfrey was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, and this is her speech:

In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black, and I had never seen a black man being celebrated like that. I tried many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney’s performance in “Lilies of the Field”:
“Amen, amen, amen, amen.”

In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the Golden Globes and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award. It is an honor — it is an honor and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them and also with the incredible men and women who have inspired me, who challenged me, who sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson who took a chance on me for “A.M. Chicago.” Quincy Jones who saw me on that show and said to Steven Spielberg, “Yes, she is Sophia in ‘The Color Purple.'” Gayle who has been the definition of what a friend is, and Stedman who has been my rock — just a few to name.

I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association because we all know the press is under siege these days. We also know it’s the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice. To — to tyrants and victims, and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year we became the story.

But it’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they’re in academia, engineering, medicine, and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.

And there’s someone else, Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and mother walking home from a church service she’d attended in Abbeville, Alabama, when she was abducted by six armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the NAACP where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But justice wasn’t an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died ten days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday. She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up.

Their time is up. And I just hope — I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented, goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’ heart almost 11 years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery, and it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, “Me too.” And every man — every man who chooses to listen.

In my career, what I’ve always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave. To say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere and how we overcome. I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “Me too” again.

What did you think of Winfrey’s speech? Comment below.

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Get your first look at TWISTED ROMANCE #2 by Alex de Campi & Alejandra Gutiérrez

By

Anthony Composto - EIC

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January 8, 2018

Twisted Romance issue two is out February 14th from Image Comics, and Monkeys Fighting Robots has your exclusive first-look at the book.

Written by Alex de Campi and illustrated by a rotating team of artists, Twisted Romance is “a four-issue weekly anthology miniseries with tales of love—love gone right, wrong, and everything in between.” Each issue will be 48 pages long, and will feature a main comic story, a backup comic story, and a prose story.

“Romance comics were such a huge staple of the sequential market throughout the golden and silver ages, with ur big masc faves like Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and Stan Lee regularly working on DC and Marvel books with titles like Our Love Story,” says de Campi. “John Romita Sr: co-created the Punisher; also drew kissy-girl books. But then when comics moved out of newsstands and lost a large part of its female readership, we got this straight-white-boys’ club attitude, which is both historically inaccurate to the medium, and woefully ignorant of the tremendous buying power of women, PoC, and/or LGBTQIA audiences.”

“When you ignore a market, it takes its dollars elsewhere,” she continues. “Mostly to prose romance, and to fanfic (where fics often have far greater readership than the ‘official’ published stories, and are in most cases better written). So it was kind of a no-brainer for me to look around and be like, this is a book I want to read, nobody is making it at a big indie or mainstream publisher; I will force it into existence by the sheer power of will and eating too much sugar late at night. Whatever you like in terms of romance stories, however you identify, we probably have a story you’ll dig, made with or by someone who looks / identifies like you. Because this is the new club, it looks different from the old club, and it’s way more badass.”

Issue two, “Twinkle and the Star”, is illustrated by Alejandra Gutiérrez (Love is Love), with the backup comic by Meredith McClaren (HINGES), and the prose story by Vita Ayala (Batman Beyond).

Twisted Romance #2 cover — Gutiérrez’s cover art for issue 2.

“Being the comics baby of the bunch, I’m really excited for people to see the fun world we’re creating,” said Gutiérrez. “Honey, get into this boots-the-house-down realness for your nerves!”

About the comic:
Beauty is business as usual for fashion photographer’s assistant Twinkle Johar until she meets and accidentally falls for a shy Hollywood actor during a shoot. Is he using her? Or can a girl like her really end up with a guy like him?

Take a sneak peek at five finished pages from the issue below:

“Twinkle and the Star” comes out on Valentine’s Day, February 14th; pre-order it at your local comic shop today using Diamond code DEC170608 (final order cutoff is January 22nd).

EW.com already has your first-look at Twisted Romance issue one, in stores February 7th. SYFY Wire and The A.V. Club will have your previews of issues 3 and 4 on January 22nd and January 29th, respectively.

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HALO on Showtime is Still in ‘Very Active Development’

By

Michael Stagno

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January 7, 2018

It’s been five years since we first heard about the supposed Halo television series that would be on Showtime. It was announced back in 2013, by Executive Producer Steven Spielberg and Microsoft Studios, in conjunction with 343 Industries. Well, it’s apparently still ‘very much’ a possibility.

When asked recently at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter Press Tour, in an interview with TV Guide, Showtime President and CEO David Nevins said it is still in “very active development” and confirmed that he has indeed seen scripts for the project.

“It’s still live action,” Gary Levine, President of Programming at Showtime said. “It will definitely satisfy the fans of Halo and I think also satisfy the drama audiences of Showtime.”

This is the third time that Hollywood has essentially tugged at our heart strings and teased us with a live-action Halo project. Back in 2004, Bungie confirmed a partnership with then-20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures to adapt the game into a full-length, live-action feature film. However, in 2006, production of the film ‘stalled’ and eventually fizzled out again.

The Showtime series was supposed to launch alongside the release of the Xbox One and Halo 5: Guardians, in 2015, but that changed after Microsoft canceled plans to develop original content programming for the console.

Halo first launched back in 2001 and quickly became a fan-favorite game. As goes the games, so does the story of the ancient Alien Covenant and that of the human race as well. The title has now expanded into both comics and novels, but also animated movies as well, further expanding the universe of the franchise.

While it is extremely exciting to hear this news, we can’t help but be skeptical, considering how many times this project has been teased. With the sixth installment in the gaming series not due for release for at least this year, this might be the only bit of Halo-related news we get in 2018.

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Paradise City Comic Con starts Friday, January 12th and runs through Sunday, January 14th.

How much do you know about why celebrities wore black to The Golden Globes?

Paradise City Comic Con starts Friday, January 12th
and runs through Sunday, January 14th.