Now here’s some news that, while timely, is also pretty funny: Jared Leto has signed on to play Hugh Hefner in director Brett Ratner’s long-gestating biopic.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, and Ratner spoke about Leto in the upcoming film. “Jared is an old friend,” he said. “When he heard I got the rights to Hef’s story, he told me, ‘I want to play him. I want to understand him.’ And I really believe Jared can do it. He’s one of the great actors of today.”
So yeah, Jared Leto wants to “understand” him. Hoo boy, can you just imagine the silly lengths this dude is going to go to BECOME HUGH HEFNER! He didn’t get a chance to meet the mogul before his passing last week, which is either good or bad news. We shall see.
As for Ratner, well, there doesn’t seem to be anyone more suited to tell the story of Hugh Hefner. And don’t talk about the guy’s humanitarian endeavors. This is Brett Ratner at the helm, not Sidney Pollock.
There’s no release date or official title for the film. At one point it was going to be called Playboy, so we’ll see if that sticks. Stay tuned for more funny updates and set photos of Leto in his smoking jacket and sailor’s cap.
Supermansion, the Crackle original series, will spook viewers this Thursday with a new holiday special. ‘Drag Me to Halloween‘ is a half-hour episode that lampoons the horror genre. The one-off episode follows the League of Freedom, a super team, trying to enjoy the holiday. The night then devolves into failed hook-ups, trick-or-treating, and a robot exorcism. It’s a zany half-hour special with some quality humor, perfect for October viewing.
‘Drag Me to Halloween’ crams a lot of horror parodies into a single special. The episode’s cold open takes a crack at nearly every classic horror film. There isn’t much focus on the team’s heroics, but that’s par for the course. Supermansion did a similar special, ‘War On Christmas,’ last year. The series is a superhero parody first and foremost, but it always takes on broader parody as well. ‘Drag Me to Halloween’ isn’t the most focused caped crusader comedy, but it’s got some great jokes.
The series is a lot like Robot Chicken, another stop-motion comedy from the same production company. The similarities are clear, from the stop-motion animation to the pop culture references. It wouldn’t be surprising if the next Supermansion special takes on Star Wars like its parent show. While the series usually focuses on superhero-related jokes, ‘Drag Me to Halloween’ broadens the scope for wider parody. The special walks the line between Supermansion and Robot Chicken, casting a wider net for its comedy.
What makes the show a standout is its phenomenal voice cast. The voice cast is full of amazing performances by top-notch actors. Supermansion stars Bryan Cranston as Titanium Rex, the aging superhero struggling to keep his team in order. Supermansion also features Keegan-Michael Key as American Ranger, and new SNL cast member Heidi Gardner as Cooch. Other regular cast members include Zeb Wells, Tucker Gilmore, and Jillian Bell. ‘Drag Me to Halloween’ has a stacked cast that make the episode pop.
‘Drag Me to Halloween’ airs this Thursday, October 5th. The special features Lake Bell and Phil LaMarr, along with the cast of series regulars. You can watch the first two seasons of the show, as well as last year’s Christmas special, for free on Crackle.
Glass, M. Night Shyamalan’s sequel to both Split and Unbreakable, the sequel we didn’t realize we were getting until this year, has officially begun filming.
Yesterday afternoon, Shyamalan tweeted a photo of the clapboard, which shows the new logo for Glass as well:
“From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast.
Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
This riveting culmination of his worldwide blockbusters will be produced by Shyamalan and Jason Blum, who also produced the writer/director’s previous two films for Universal. They produce again with Ashwin Rajan and Marc Bienstock, and Steven Schneider, who will executive produce.”
Glass could be really great, if for no other reason than it puts Bruce Willis front and center in a movie he may actually care about. It will be here January 18, 2019… pay no attention to that release date. This will buck the trend of shitty January movies.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ hits theaters this week, and like the original film, the sequel is a mixed bag of emotions and questions.
Visually, Director Denis Villeneuve understands the ‘Blade Runner’ universe and creates a worthy film to expand the mythos Ridley Scott established. Unlike most sequels, ‘2049’ can stand on its own.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ has a great cast, and Ryan Gosling continues to impress with his stoic presence. Gosling doesn’t say a lot, but you understand his every move. Jared Leto’s character and performance was a letdown. You never felt the crazy with Leto.
Check out our Facebook Live Review for more details:
‘Blade Runner 2049’ is a strange film as it will hit a home run with its core audience but may misfire in the mainstream.
After you see the movie, come back and comment below with your review.
About the film: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
According to multiple reports, one of the greatest rock stars of all time, Tom Petty, is clinging to life. TMZ reports that the rock legend was found unconscious in his home near Malibu, Calif. He was immediately transported to a local hospital and put on life support. It is now widely reported that a decision was made on Monday to take him off of life support due to the family having a DNR (do not resuscitate) order on the rock icon. Petty became a superstar in the 70s when his band, The Heartbreakers, churned out such hits as “American Girl” and “Breakdown” just to name a few. The Heartbreakers made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
What are some of your favorite songs from Petty’s vast catalog? Did you prefer him in The Heartbreakers or his solo work? Please leave a comment below.
Way back in June’s Batman #24, the Caped Crusader got down on one knee and asked his longtime love interest Catwoman to be his bride. More accurately, he demanded, “Marry me.”
The proposal made major waves in the comic book community, with many fans asking, “should Batman get married?” However, before receiving her answer, Bruce tells Selina that he must tell her about his greatest failure. Only then will she truly know him and be able to answer his proposal. Issue #25 began “The War of Jokes and Riddles” and in this week’s issue #32 – eight issues later – the flashback concludes and we finally have Cat’s answer.
*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BATMAN #32*
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In the final panel of the new Batman, Catwoman answers “YES” to the Dark Knight’s proposal.
“The War of Jokes and Riddles” concludes with Bruce revealing that he once snapped and attempted to kill the Riddler, only to have the Joker interfere and stop him. This is his greatest shame. “I’m not some knight in the dark. I’m just what he made me,” he says. “Cat…I…I love you. I have to love you. But that doesn’t mean…it isn’t…I’m…you don’t have to love me.”
Selina’s response is a beautiful monologue written by Tom King, one that boils down to “who cares?” Compared to what they have together, and what they can have together, Cat believes their past tragedies mean little to nothing.
“That to me is what true love is,” says King. “It’s showing who you truly are to someone. It’s letting someone know deep down who you are and that’s horribly frightening and it scares Batman as much as anything ever has.”
Batman #32 is out this Wednesday, October 4th. You can read our full review when the book hits shelves.
After this story leaked by another outlet, USA Today was granted permission to publish their planned exclusive.
With New York Comic-Con this upcoming weekend, IGN teamed up with Marvel to release four exclusive posters from Jessica Jones, Cloak & Dagger, Runaways, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Each of these posters attempts to replicate the atmosphere of the show. Jessica Jones revolves exclusively around the main character and her life, subsequently, the visual representation is all about her seemingly try to hide from the camera. On the flip side, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. revolves primarily around a team, with Coulson being the focus. Cloak & Dagger and Runaways have yet to premiere, but with any luck, they’ll be liked more than the recent Inhumans television show from Marvel.
Which of these four shows are you most excited for? Start a conversation in the comments below, on Twitter, or even Facebook.
Jessica Jones season 2 drops in 2018, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 hits ABC later in 2017, Runaways lands on Hulu November 21, with Cloak & Dagger launching sometime next year on Freeform.
Blade Runner is one of those staple films in the story of science-fiction cinema. Many genres build momentum from repetitive successes, be it the blooming gagster genre brought on by Coppola and Scorsese in the 70s, the decades-long domination of John Ford out West, or Walter Hill and the new action movement of the late 70s and early 80s. Genres have periods strung together by commonality; science fiction has moments, however, seminal films where the genre stops down to recognize a sea change among their ranks.
The Day the Earth Stood Still. 2001. Planet of The Apes. Close Encounters of The Third Kind. Alien. The Matrix. These were heavy spikes driven into the ever expanding pathway of science fiction filmmaking, and the influence of their brilliance writes the scrolls of the genre. While franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars have fueled the genre for decades, science fiction has more singular films that stand alone and reshape aesthetics.
One of those films is Blade Runner, for better or worse.
Ridley Scott managed to create two game-changing sci-fi films with Alien and Blade Runner, back to back. His 1982 noir, based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, changed the course of cinematic dystopias for the foreseeable future. It is a moody piece, soaked in style and deliberate in its pacing. It’s also one of the more divisive sci-fi “classics” we have, beautiful and mesmerizing, but for its dissenters, a dull, lifeless endeavor that is all style and no substance.
The style over substance criticism of Blade Runner could arguably be applied to Ridley Scott’s entire body of work. He has never been an actor’s director, so to speak, a filmmaker whose penchant for visual brilliance has so often outweighed any of the characters in his stories. Blade Runner might be the most egregious example of Scott’s shortcomings as a storyteller, but do the incredible aesthetics make up for the void of personality?
If the look of the film is to be praised, not all of it belongs to Scott. Syd Mead, an industrial designer and futurist, created the structure of this dystopian, rain-soaked urban hellscape. The expressionistic matte art, the neon glow, and the noir visuals are what make Scott’s film so undeniably influential in the pantheon of science-fiction cinema. It is a tragic beauty of a world pushing in on itself, disparate and grim, and the echoes of The Blade Runner Aesthetic can be felt even today… and I’m not just talking about Blade Runner 2049.
The adoration for the visual power of the film is often met with an equal amount of frustration or disinterest in the performances and the characters. It has rarely been a strength of Ridley Scott, to fully develop his characters; and, much like he does in Alien: Covenant, Scott succeeds in fleshing out androids and their emotions. OF course, Sean Young’s Rachael is a Replicant, as is (SPOILER) Harrison Ford’s Deckard. But their story is more about a romance and very human emotions. The central romance doesn’t work, not really at all, and it stalls the picture.
The scenes involving Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty, Daryl Hannah’s Pris, and the curious craftsman J.F. Sebastian (the great, underrated William Sanderson) absolutely sing. There is honest tension and angst as Roy tries to find a way to outrun the Replicant expiration date. He is the villain, traditionally, but Hauer and Scott sell his desperation to the point of sympathy, much like Scott did with Michael Fassbender’s dueling androids in Covenant.
And so Blade Runner has traveled along this razor’s edge between masterpiece and mediocrity. It depends on who you talk to and how long it’s been since they have seen it. The film works in different ways as you age, which is one of the more underrated indicators of the power of a film. If it evolves, and perhaps even improves, with age, there is no better proof to the importance of the film.
And just like that, season 3 of Rick and Morty has come to a close with the episode The Rickchurian Candidate, where President Keith David returns. And, oh boy, did it end on somewhat of a mild (yet mysterious) note.
Here’s a brief recap of the episode. Spoilers are abound. If you haven’t watched it yet, feel free to minimize your browser, watch the episode, and come back.
Our titular heroes are once again called upon by the President of the United States to get rid of an alien miscreant lurking in the Kennedy sex tunnels (yes, you read that right) of the White House. After finding their mission to be a tad boring, Rick and Morty teleport back to their home for a game of Minecraft.
The president and his advisers are not happy that Rick and Morty bailed on their country, and decides to cut the duo off completely – in lieu of a drone strike.
But a mere order from the president is not going to stop Rick and Morty. When they go to check out a colony of tiny aliens in Brazil, they are cut out by the president, who decides to take the matter into his own hands.
Meanwhile, after the events of last week’s episode, The ABC’s of Beth, Beth is having a meta crisis, wondering if she actually took her father’s offer and is actually a cloned version of herself. She calls Rick in an attempt to get an answer, but when he denies it and also throws in a comment about clones becoming self-aware, it makes her whole situation worse.
Back to the president, who is beaten to the punch when making first contact with the miniature society by Rick and Morty. They also managed to solve the crisis in the Middle East, which has significantly improved his approval ratings. This only angers the president further.
Beth’s goes to Jerry in her moment of crisis, where he recounts their first date and how much she means to him. The two reconnect.
Rick and Morty ambush the White House, wanting to take a selfie with the president for taking care of what he could not. The duel gets pretty intense, with a number of secret service agents getting killed in the crossfire. It turns out the president has just as many resources as Rick does, but Rick is still able to get the upper hand and get the selfie he and his grandson wanted. Only Morty is nowhere to be found.
Beth and Jerry have taken their kids to a cabin where Rick can’t find them, fearing Rick would murder his (potentially) clone of a daughter. Rick, realizing he doesn’t want to lose his family, gives up on his fight with the president and attempts to win them back.
Back at the Smith house, everything seems to be back in place. It’s a new start for the family, all under the same roof once more. It’s all a little too hunky-dory compared to the ending of season 2.
And with that, the season 3 of Rick and Morty has come to a close. While this season had some of the best episodes of the entire series thus far (see: Pickle Rick, The Ricklantis Mixup), it did have a few underwhelming episodes, including its season finale. Go on, search Twitter, and you’ll see a fan base divided.
Granted, this may be due to the fact this season was way too hyped due to its extended hiatus, and the following it had built over that time. There were just so many questions left unanswered, and plot points left unfulfilled. Why didn’t we get to see Phoenix Person return? What is Evil Morty’s ultimate scheme?
Regardless of how you feel about the season 3 finale, or the season in its entirety, you cannot deny the utter genius and thought that’s put into every episode. There are layers of depth and moments of tragedy that topple the dramas seen on television today. It’s also completely bonkers.
When the show will return remains to be seen. It could be a year and a half. It could be longer. It seems like the creators are in no rush.
What did you think of Rick taking on the president in the season finale? Let us know in the comments!
FOX’s new sitcom Ghosted is a buddy cop series taking on all forms of ghosts, aliens, and science. The show’s scope seems to expand beyond the spirit realm, taking on every “odd” spectacle they can. Helmed by Adam Scott and Craig Robinson, Ghosted is like a combination of X-Files and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The stars are two comedy legends, and their dynamic is electric. While it makes for promising television, the pilot of Ghosted struggles with setting up what’s to come.
Pilots are hard to make, especially for concept-heavy comedies like this. There are some nice jokes in Ghosted, but they’re stifled under heavy plotting. The pilot plays like a basic CSI show, hitting several procedural tropes in the half hour. From the two protagonists yelling about how “we are NOT partners,” to the supporting cast of loose “experts,” everything feels familiar. The pilot sets up an unoriginal show with only the slightest of comic twists. Ghosted‘spremiere feels more like Law & Order than Ghostbusters.
Thankfully, the disappointing pilot has two experienced actors to lead the way. Robinson and Scott are great actors with awesome timing and chemistry. The banter between the two elevates the pilot beyond bland situational comedy. Considering the series is a “buddy comedy,” it’s nice that Ghosted found a strong duo. The two actors make the show Ghosted worth keeping an eye on. Now that we know what the show is about, the two actors can have more time to shine.
The two characters also get the most interesting plot point of Ghosted’s pilot. The show starts with the two characters, Leroy (Robinson) and Max (Scott) as disgraced professionals. The former star detective and professor are kidnapped and recruited into the government’s supernatural investigation force. The government agency is rather bland, and filled with the bland side characters mentioned earlier. But the reasoning for why these two are willing to hop aboard works well. Leroy wants a shot at being a real cop again, as opposed to being a mall cop. Max wants to find his long-lost wife, who he believes was abducted by aliens. Even though their dynamic of “learning to get along” is boring, the motivations for these characters feel real.
Ultimately, it’s too early to say whether Ghosted will pick up steam. Perhaps it will be a one-season nerdy comedy experiment. FOX has tried projects like this before – notably with Son of Zorn and Making History last year. The pilot sets up a rather basic procedural, and many will likely find it too boring. However, the two stars could make the show worth watching later down the line. We’ve seen how high-concept network comedies can succeed with NBC’s fantastic new show The Good Place. If Ghosted can break out of the buddy cop formula and embrace its weird comic potential, the show could be great. If nothing else, keeping Ghosted on the air could keep Hot Tub Time Machine 3 from happening.
