Welcome to the Movie Show, today is a sci-fi spectacular with ‘Blade Runner 2049.’ The episode starts off with our reaction to the film, and then Warner Bros. gave us the complete press conference audio with cast and crew.
Strap yourself in buckaroos! Episode 134 of the MOVIE SHOW by Monkeys Fighting Robots is here.
Do you want to be our SUPER-FAN of the week? All you have to do is comment on this podcast to be eligible.
Do you have a question that you would like answered during the show? Email your questions to matt@popaxiom.com.
Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
Denzel Washington appears to be channeling Princeton professor Cornell West in Roman J. Israel, Esq, the new thriller from Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy.
The trailer is unusual. It’s breezy all the way through, but it clearly hints at some thriller elements. Colin Farrell shows up as a mystery lawyer who brings Washington into his law firm. Check it out:
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is a dramatic thriller set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as a driven, idealistic defense attorney whose life is upended when a turbulent series of events challenge the activism that has defined his career. Colin Farrell costars as the ambitious, monied lawyer who recruits Roman to his firm.
Roman J. Israel, Esq is going to get a big awards season push, especially for Denzel Washington who’s angling for his ninth nomination. Gilroy has skins on the wall, having directed Nightcrawler and written the screenplay for Michael Clayton, the best legal thriller of the 21st century.
Aside from Washington and Farrell, Roman J. Israel, Esq (this is a bear of a title, by the way) stars Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong, Sam Gilroy, Tony Plana, DeRon Horton and Amari Cheatom. It will be here November 3.
Marvel and Netflix made the right decision Wednesday afternoon when they pulled ‘The Punisher’ panel from the New York Comic-Con schedule of events, according to Deadline.
The Punisher is a hyper-violent character, and a new trailer depicting mass violence doesn’t make sense in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. Marvel and Netflix put out a joint statement:
“We are stunned and saddened by this week’s senseless act in Las Vegas. After careful consideration, Netflix and Marvel have decided it wouldn’t be appropriate for Marvel’s The Punisher to participate in New York Comic-Con. Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and those affected by this tragedy.”
Take note; this is how you handle public relations after a tragedy. On the other hand, NYCC released a statement shortly after:
“New York Comic Con wholeheartedly supports Netflix & Marvel’s decision to cancel Saturday’s The Punisher panel. NYCC takes great pride in offering fans the best in pop culture programming, and we are working tirelessly to fill that time slot at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. We will continue to update fans via our social channels throughout the weekend.”
The folks at NYCC should have left it after the first sentence. Everything else sounds like insensitive, money-grubbing, bull-shit.
Netflix has yet to announce a release date for ‘Marvel’s The Punisher.’ It will be interesting to when Netflix debuts the series, and if this will hurt or help ratings. When fiction starts resembling reality people tend to tune out.
Were you planning on watching ‘Marvel’s The Punisher?’ Comment below.
This might be the best damn bromance on television! In a new image released by Entertainment Weekly, it has been revealed that Finn Jones will appear as the Immortal Iron Fist in season two of Luke Cage.
It’s not a very surprising to see that Iron Fist will appear in LukeCage, especially since the characters are best friends and superhero co-workers in the comics. Marvel Entertainment is staying tight-lipped about Danny Rand’s involvement in the series, but we know that the pair will share the screen at least once when the show returns to Netflix.
Luke Cage season 2 is currently filming and is expected to land on Netflix in 2018.
Warner Bros. has released the first image from the upcoming Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them sequel. The film, which is still untitled, will continue Newt Scamander’s adventures in the Wizarding World.
Officially released on Twitter, the first image shows Newt’s travel application, which has been denied by the Ministry of Magic. A close examination of the image reveals that Scamander’s application was denied because of his behaviour on a previous visit. This would seem to suggest that Newt will return to the United States in the upcoming sequel.
Check out the image below:
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Not much is known about the second Fantastic Beasts film, although a leaked synopsis stated that the film begins two years after the events of Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, as the previously captured Gellert Grindelwald escapes.
Fantastic Beasts 2 will see Eddie Redmayne return as Newt Scamander, alongside Katherine Waterston as Tina, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol as Queenie, Ezra Miller as Credence Barebone, and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. will also introduce Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore and Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange.
I talked to Dominic Lewis, a composer who’s worked on Ducktales, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and many other projects. Enjoy our conversation below.
Monkeys Fighting Robots: To start, give our readers some background knowledge on who you are, where you come from, etc.
Dominic Lewis: I was born in England. Both of my parents are musicians, so I started doing music from a really early age. I started playing Cello when I was 3. I was always singing, as far as I can remember. I was in choir as a kid, too. Then I got a little bit older and found rock music. I started forming bands with friends, writing songs, and that was cool for a while but then I wanted to do more. My dad started recording film scores in London, so I got really interested in that and fell in love with the usual, John Williams and Alan Silvestri. I had a background in classical music, so it was the next step. Then I went to boarding school when I was 11, then when I was 15 I met Rupert Gregson-Williams’ daughter. So then I got introduced to Rupert, he was super cool. I expressed my love of film music, that’s what I wanted to do; he encouraged me to come down to his studio to hang out and watch him work, so it grew from there. I went to the Academy of Music in London. The idea was to work for Rupert, but he was full and there were no job opportunities. So he put in a good work with Hans Zimmer so I came out to Los Angeles. A couple of my Dad’s friends from the orchestra came out to stay with John Powell. I went to meet them, met John, and my Dad’s friends put in a good word for me. John put me through, sort of, a trial on How To Train Your Dragon and it went pretty well.
MFR: You had a way into the industry along with a passion for music. That worked out well.
Lewis: Yeah it did, totally. I’m very fortunate to have the necessary contacts. It’s terrifying at first. Working with John Powell, it’s not scary in terms of what I had to do, but he’s just a dream to work for, and the scale of it is massive – working on big Hollywood films and being so young. But working with Rupert since I was 15 kind of got me ahead of the game on that front, and that was valuable to me. I just have helped with movies since that point on and now.
MFR: You have worked on huge films like How To Train Your Dragon, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: First Class, Money Monster, and others. Take the readers through your experience working on these projects.
Lewis: It’s a dream come true. My role on X-Men and Captain America were different than Money Monster because Money Monster was my first Drama, and the credits you just see me. I had to write all the music, that was a very different experience. But not jumping forward so quickly, what I did on those other movies was basically taking the themes and material that the main composer came up with for the movie and helping them get the job done, whatever that may be. It kind of changes from movie to movie, but Henry and I, after my little stint with John, I did a few things with Hans Zimmer, I was free for a couple of months and I helped out Henry on Gulliver’s Travels and we kind of clicked. We are from similar backgrounds, we studied music, both choir boys, and we like all different kinds of stuff. Learning stuff from Henry in the first few years, by the time I got to X-Men and certainly Captain America, we had a really great shorthand with each other. It was a really awesome collaborative experience. I’ve learned so much from that guy, and I’m very thankful for it. Money Monster was because of him. Man in the High Castle was because of him. But it wasn’t really a teacher-student thing, because those movies are such a massive undertaking that you do need to bring in help. It takes everybody. It was a great few years for me, to learn and absorb everything from Henry. But not just Henry, everybody. Hopefully I’m carving my own path now.
MFR: To round out our discussion on film, do you have a favorite movie you’ve worked on?
Lewis: I obviously enjoy Free Birds because it’s my first big feature by myself, I have John Powell to thank for that. But Money Monster was such a whirlwind, an incredible experience for me. Not having any time and having to come up with stuff. The big thing about Money Monster, for me, was this. James Newton Howard said, “No one will ever remember how much time you had to do this score, they will only remember if it was good or bad.” So, Money Monster for me, I had a very limited time to do it, so it was extremely daunting. Working with Jodie Foster, you know, is very surreal. I really pushed myself to come up with good sounds, and a good sounds palate, and and just really tried to nail the movie in such a short span of time. Jodie had gone through another score before and she wasn’t happy with it; for me to come in and basically give her what she wanted and for her to be so happy with it, and for me to be proud of it, despite how the movie did, it was a big accomplishment. It was a change for me, in terms of growing up a little bit. Throwing me into the deep end, and I didn’t drown.
MFR: Moving away from your work in movies, let’s talk a little bit about Ducktales. The 2017 reboot is extremely popular. Many people grew up with the original series from 1987. It’s a classic. I just want to get your thoughts regarding the show. How did you feel when you landed the job?
Lewis: It’s so beloved by everybody, and you don’t want to mess with people’s memories. It’s childhood for me and I think that’s why I took the gig in the first place, because it’s so close to my heart. I loved the original series. Approaching that, I was very excited, but you don’t want to annoy people. It’s a very fine line, and from the top all the way down, the creators of the show all the way to me, or the animators, it’s all about creating the best version of Ducktales. I’m sorry if I annoy people with this statement, I apologize, but I go back and watch some of the original episodes on Youtube and I can’t understand what Huey, Louie, and Dewey are saying. We have this really amazing memory of things, and it’s still good, but you know. Our goal was to create the best version of Ducktales, like how we all remember. I really, wholeheartedly, believe they did that. They did such an amazing job with this show, in creating something that is so appealing to kids now, but also so great for us, you know? I’m 32 now and there are so many jokes in there for adults who are watching with their kids. It’s super funny, and the new style of animation is great. It’s such a great combination of the comic books and the original show. Everyone involved in the show, they do it because they love it. That’s why I took the gig. I love it, and that’s everybody. From animators to the top, and it really shows when you watch it. There is so much care given to it. I just feel very lucky to be a part of it.
MFR: We talked about everything you worked on, Ducktales, several films. What do you have in the pipeline? Can you talk a bit about Peter Rabbit?
Lewis: I am working on Peter Rabbit, and that’s another thing that I grew up with. Again, this is not what you think it is. It’s a little different. Will Gluck has done such an amazing job keeping it true to the original, but going somewhere different with it. It’s so funny. I genuinely, really, think James Corden was put on this earth to play this Peter Rabbit character. He’s so, so funny. The whole cast is brilliant. I’m just now starting to get into the rendered animation, and I can tell you, it just looks phenomenal. What they’ve done with these rabbits, somehow, they have created real rabbits. It’s pretty amazing. Super excited for people to see that. As I said, it’s not quite what some people are expecting, and that’s all I’ll say on that. It’s a fun one. I’m doing the third season of The Man in the High Castle at the moment, so that’s going places and it’s exciting. We have a new showrunner. I’m also doing a movie called Hunter Killer, which is a submarine movie with Gerard Butler. That’s it right now, and it’s enough [laughs].
If you’re interested in following Dominic’s future creative endeavors, check out his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.
As a huge fan of the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and Infinity Crusade books from the ’90s, I loved Adam Warlock. And now it seems the cult-favorite character will be back in a big way in the 616 Universe! Check out some information below!
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #150: THE RETURN OF ADAM WARLOCK PART 1 Written by: GERRY DUGGAN Art by: AARON KUDER Cover by: ALEX ROSS
Adam Warlock is returning to the galaxy…but the mystery surrounding his return remains. Is he here for the Infinity Stones? Has he come to take them back for himself? The Infinity Stone saga continues in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #150: THE RETURN OF ADAM WARLOCK PART 1, written by Gerry Duggan with art by Marcus To & Aaron Kuder.
More information about Adam Warlock’s return will be revealed by Duggan at the MARVEL LEGACY: NEXT BIG THING Panel on Thursday, October 5 at 2:45 pm during this week’s New York Comic Con.
What do you guys think? Are you glad to see Adam Warlock back? And what about that sweet Alex Ross cover? Reminds me of Earth-X! Comment and discuss below. And stay tuned to Monkeys Fighting Robots for all your breaking NYCC news!
Daddy’s Home 2 is one of the more unlikely sequels of 2017. And that’s saying something. The first seemed like just a thing that came and went, but apparently it made OVER $150 MILLION at the box office so here comes the second one.
The big sell here, oddly enough, is Mel Gibson, the surly “man” father for Mark Wahlberg’s character. In this trailer, he really just kind of laughs at Will Ferrell crashing into things. Check it out:
Father and stepfather Dusty and Brad join forces to make Christmastime perfect for the children. Their newfound partnership soon gets put to the test when Dusty’s old-school, macho dad and Brad’s gentle father arrive to turn the holiday upside down.
Honestly, some of this looks funny. It does feel like the physical antics will get pretty tiresome. Seriously, how many different things and places does Ferrell crash into? But hey, let’s see what Mel Gibson has, right? Although that creepy “your dad is hot” joke directed at Gibson feels kind of gross. This ain’t your dad’s Mel Gibson.
That being said, John Lithgow as Ferrell’s dad is about the most perfect casting choice all year.
Daddy’s Home 2 will open November 10, just in time for an awards season push.
The official Justice LeagueTwitter account has confirmed that the final trailer will be released this Sunday. Along with the announcement, the account dropped some cool character posters featuring the team.
Interestingly, it looks like the marketing is still hesitant to show Superman. I love the decision not to, as it will make his first appearance in the film something special. That said, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his Justice League debut in the upcoming trailer.
What do you hopeto see in the new footage on Sunday? I hope to keep the plot as under wraps as possible, as we still don’t really know what the plot is. Warner Bros. did a spectacular job of marketing Wonder Woman, and it has yet to be seen if that will keep up with the final month leading to Justice League.
“Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.”
Justice League is the first live-action adaptation of the characters on the big screen. It features Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Amber Heard, J.K. Simmons, Willem Defoe, Ciarán Hinds, and Connie Nielsen.
The film will be released in theaters on November 17.
Archie Andrews was inspired to start a band after chatting with Riverdale’s music hero Bingo Wilkin at The Jackpot, a local music venue. Swept up in pure rock ‘n’ roll bliss, Archie assembled a band of his closest friends—Betty Cooper on tambourine, Veronica Lodge on keyboards and best pal Jughead Jones on drums. The gang was stoked to make music together, but Archie’s Brian Wilson-esque control freak ways got the better of him and they disbanded before their first show. Archie attempted to go at it solo while the others joined Reggie Mantle’s band, but in the end, they all realized that they work better together; they even let Reggie get in on the action! The Archie’s played a fantastic first show! But what’s next for the teenage rockers? Will they play another show? Will they even write another song? And when someone makes a decision that leaves the rest of the band scrambling, can the group keep it together? It’s friendship vs. fame in the new, ongoing The Archies series!they play another show? Will they even write another song? And when someone makes a decision that leaves the rest of the band scrambling, can the group keep it together? It’s friendship vs. fame in the new, ongoing The Archies series!
The Archies #1 Written by: Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg Art by: Joe Eisma Colors by: Matt Herms, Lettering by: Jack Morelli Published by: Archie Comics
Writing
Archie comics have always been about friendship. Playing music with your friends is also more about hanging out than playing gigs. So it’s no wonder Archie and music have always had such close ties. And it’s a bond that is clearly still going strong in this debut issue of a new on-going The Archies comic by Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg.
What the two have done here is create an Archie book that, even more so than the main recent Archie title, will appeal to a wide range of readers. It’s modern enough for the millennial, classic enough for the die-hard fan, and filled with tons of music easter eggs and love of rock & roll for ‘record collectors’ as well. It’s a comic for many, and it’s something the medium and industry needs.
The story itself will appeal to anyone who has spent time behind an instrument and on a stage. The writers capture the nervous energy that comes with even playing in front of a just handful of people. But more importantly, they capture that magic of music that bonds friends.
Having Archie directly address readers also feels makes it a bit more intimate, making the reader feel like part of the band. Archie has always been our inside man to Riverdale and the gang, and now he also feels like a friend.
The standout for me is once again Jughead Jones. Jughead has the best lines, the funniest observations and just may be the heart of the band (and as the drummer he does keep the beat…ahem).
The end is also a great set up, as the gang gets a classic junky looking band van to go on tour. Every band needs to ‘get in the van’ sometime, and here is The Archies turn.
Art
The art by Joe Eisma, combined with the coloring of Matt Herms, creates a very vibrant and energetic book that moves with the beat of a great pop song. The art has sharp, crisp edges and thick lines that give everything a great attitude and feel. They also have weight. The layouts use time playfully, having the gang talking juxtaposed with great images of them on stage.
You will also have fun finding all the great band names snuck in on posters and t-shirts. I hope these little nods continue because as a music fan, they add a lot to pouring over the images.
Conclusion
I can honestly say The Archies is my favorite main Archie Comics title being put out at the moment. Although it’s set in the same modern continuity, it feels more classic than the regular Archie book. If you have wanted to check out these new Archie books, this is without a doubt the one to start with.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #150: THE RETURN OF ADAM WARLOCK PART 1
