Darren Aronofsky’s mother! is one of the most divisive movies recently made—like most of Aronofsky’s films. With Noah, even the Christian community couldn’t decide if it was blasphemous or beautiful. The Fountain was as passionately hated as it was loved. And mother!…yeah, there’s a lot of polar opposite feelings. Its Cinemascore is an F while a 68% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now, the marketing department of mother! is embracing the divide:
When talking about mother! with The Frame‘s John Horn, Aronofsky said this of the “F” score:
What’s interesting about that is, like, how if you walk out of this movie are you not going to give it an “F?” It’s a punch. It’s a total punch. And I realize that we were excited by that. We wanted to make a punk movie and come at you. And the reason I wanted to come is because I was very sad and I had a lot of anguish and I wanted to express it. Filmmaking is such a hard journey. People are constantly saying no to you. And to wake up every morning and get out of bed and to face all those no’s, you have to be willing to really believe in something. And that’s what I look for in my collaborators and what I pitched the actors I said, Look, this isn’t going to be a popularity contest. We’re basically holding up a mirror to what’s going on. All of us are doing this. But that final chapter hasn’t been written and hopefully things can change. And, to go back, the fact that it’s going down right now and things are really falling apart in a way that is really scary.
It’s scary when you talk to the people who are studying this and thinking about this and then you have other people who basically believe in the power of a iPhone that they can communicate to 35 million people in a blink of an eye, yet they don’t believe in science in other ways. You know, which is as proven as gravity at this point, really. It has as many people believe in it as believe in gravity. And it scares me and it’s time to start screaming. So I wanted to howl. And this was my howl. And some people are not going to want to listen to it. That’s cool.
Our own Dewey Singleton gave it three stars, check out his review here.
Fresh off their Han Solo firing, the Jump Street directing duo of Lord & Miller are moving on to a different sci-fi project. This one is called Artemis, and it comes from The Martian author Andy Weir.
20th Century Fox is releasing the film, and according to The Hollywood Reporter “the plot follows Jazz, a twentysomething part-time smuggler living on a city on the moon who uncovers a conspiracy.” It sounds oddly familiar to another character in another movie. Wonder if Weir’s character fly a ship called the Shmillenium Shmalcon.
It was June when Lord & Miller were fired from the Han Solo film and replaced by Ron Howard, so they probably want to work with Weir on Artemis to show off some of their abandoned ideas for the Star Wars spinoff. t could be an interesting comparative piece, depending on how similar it turns out to be and when it’s ultimately released.
The first trailer for Waco, the new Branch Davidian biopic, is all the evidence you need to realize Taylor Kitsch is channeling cult leader David Koresh in some truly fascinating ways.
Plus, Michael Shannon is here! Check out the trailer:
Having grown up about an hour north of Koresh and the whole insanity surrounding Waco in the early 90s, this one hits particularly close to home. Kitsch has the voice and the look down about as well as one could imagine.
If you see there, Waco is a 6-part miniseries on Paramount Network. This is SpikeTV, which will start pushing for their own original content with this new moniker. If this is their first foray, they look to be off to a promising start.
Michael Shannon will play an ATF Agent investigating Koresh, and John Leguizamo, Shea Wigham, Rory Culkin, Melissa Benoist, and Andrea Riseborough fill out the central cast.
Waco will be here in January, so find out where SpikeTV is on your TV and remember that’s where this one will be.
Pete Davidson revealed that he struggles with borderline personality disorder on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF With Marc Maron. Davidson is a fairly recent addition to the cast of Saturday Night Live, but is perhaps most famous for becoming a recent Comedy Central Roast staple. (At the Roast of Justin Bieber, Davidson, whose father was killed on September 11, 2001, told Snoop Dogg that his movie Soul Plane was “the worst experience of my life involving a plane.” This remark caused many to take note of the young comedian.)
Davidson discussed his symptoms in detail, explaining how he initially believed that the source of his troubles stemmed from being a “pothead.” He explained that “Around October [or] September last year, I started having these mental breakdowns where I would, like, freak out and then not remember what happened after. Blind rage.” These incidents caused him to take a break from SNL, and he used this time to check himself into rehab. Lorne Michaels gave Davidson his blessing, likely due to the showrunner’s past experiences with troubled comedians and self-destructive behavior.
A few months later, even after being off marijuana, Davidson had another episode. This is what lead to his diagnosis with BPD. He recounted that a conversation with his psychiatrist: “He was always saying before this big meltdown, ‘You’re probably bipolar or borderline, we’re just going to have to figure it out.'”
Davidson admitted that the new treatment plan has not been without its share of difficulty, but he does claim to be seeing improvement overall. “It is working, slowly but surely. I’ve been having a lot of problems. This whole year has been a fucking nightmare. This has been the worst year of my life, getting diagnosed with this and trying to figure out how to learn with this and live with this.”
Davidson is not the first entertainer to be diagnosed with some type of disorder or similar affliction. But his openness about his condition, and his struggle to improve himself, are heroic. He will undoubtedly serve as inspiration for those diagnosed with similar disorders.
September 24th, 25th if you live outside of North America, showed anxious Trekkies a glimpse of what Star Trek: Discovery’s creative team has up its sleeve. Viewers met a few members of the U.S.S. Shenzhou, including Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Although there appeared to be several other unnamed characters on the bridge, the only other crew member we met was the Shenzhou’s science officer, Lt. Saru (Doug Jones).
Although the premiere included two episodes, if you were lucky enough to figure out how to watch them, viewers still haven’t seen either the U.S.S. Discovery, which the show is named after, or her crew. Presumably, viewers will meet the Discovery’s captain and crew in next week’s episode with the two-part premiere acting as a kind of prologue. This prologue gave viewers a sense of Cmdr. Burnham’s motivations and personal history.
It’s always a good idea for any show to flesh out their lead role early on and allow the audience time to develop a connection with him or her. But rather than getting me to like Cmdr. Burnham, this two-part premiere had me wondering how this impulsive and, frankly, racist officer ever made it out of Starfleet Academy. I’m not going to recap these two episodes. Instead, I’ll just talk about my impressions of the show’s somewhat awkward start.
Discovery: Michael Burnham – The Vulcan Hello
The name of part one of Discovery’s premiere was entitled “The Vulcan Hello.” This title refers to a line of Cmdr. Burnham’s: after communicating with fan favourite Ambassador Sarek (James Frain), Burnham informs Captain Georgiou that the Vulcans used a particular method when opening relations with the Klingons. Rather than try to open up a dialogue with any given Klingon vessel, Burnham claims that the Vulcans would open fire on Klingon ships, showing force and preserving the lives of their own officers.
The ethical problems with this form of “diplomacy” notwithstanding, one wonders how any Vulcan would think these actions logical. As a bunch of logic nerds, the Vulcan High Command would be familiar with the problem of induction. Very briefly, inductive reasoning assumes that because something has happened a specific way in the past then it will happen the same way in the future. The problem of induction points out that this isn’t always the case.
Using inductive reasoning, if two Klingon ships in two different scenarios open fire on a non-Klingon ship, then we assume that a third Klingon ship will open fire on any other ship in any given scenario. The problem with inductive reasoning, though, is that the status quo often changes. Even the sun’s rising or the change of the seasons can be interrupted by some external cause — climate change or a reversal of the magnetic poles of the Earth, for instance.
Instead, what Burnham calls the “Vulcan Hello” indicates a formalized cultural bias based on emotional concerns, the desire to preserve the lives of Vulcan diplomats. One wonders how the eminently logical Vulcans could’ve missed such an obvious logical fallacy and based their diplomatic methods on problematic reasoning humans identified over 2,000 years ago.
Discovery: Michael Burnham – A Helluva Fly-by!
Now since I said I’d talk about why I dislike Cmdr. Burnham, I’ll skip the rest of the Intro to Philosophy refresher and get on with it. If you’ve watched other versions of Star Trek, you’re probably familiar with how Starfleet operates: commands of starships aren’t necessarily given to the officer with the most seniority or a spotless attendance record. Instead, Starfleet Command uses its best judgement, weighing several factors, to determine which officers should receive the privilege and responsibility that come with commanding a starship. Although this process isn’t perfect, and apparently causes captains to turn alien civilizations into ham-handed analogues for periods of Earth’s history, it does have its benefits.
Jim Kirk, for instance, becomes the youngest Starfleet officer to sit in the big chair after proving he’s a very capable person who changes the rules of any engagement if they don’t suit him. That he cheats and reprograms the Kobayashi Maru test shows his superiors that he thinks outside the box and will always reject a no-win scenario. That said, even the often impetuous Captain Kirk tends to respect the chain of command.
If the creative team was trying to show how much Michael Burnham has in common with Jim Kirk or Will Riker by having Burnham ignore the original parameters of the first mission we see her undertake — she was ordered to do a fly-by of the Klingon vessel, not land on it and engage a hostile force — then mutiny, and finally plant a warhead on a combatant’s corpse while her enemy retrieves their dead, then the creative team expects too much too fast. Instead, Burnham comes off as bloodthirsty, wildly impulsive, especially for someone who was raised by Vulcans, and as someone who has little respect for the chain of command or Starfleet’s tenets.
Discovery: Michael Burnham – Michael’s Journey
If this prologue is meant to give viewers a sense of Cmdr. Burnham’s past and act as a low point in her career, then it did its job well. Seeing Burnham convicted of her crimes and sentenced to life in prison seemed a fitting punishment for someone who knocked out her commanding officer and engaged in all-out hostilities with an alien culture’s funerary rights vessel. That said, the show will be pretty boring, and pretty un-Star Trek if the entire plot involves Cmdr. Burnham’s imprisonment. But, based on the fact that viewers still haven’t met the Discovery or her crew, I doubt that will be the case.
Instead, I hope that the rest of this season shows viewers Cmdr. Burnham’s journey from her starting point as an impulsive and culturally biased go-getter to becoming a reflective officer that uses her instincts and her reason to guide her. In other words, it’d be great to see her go from being a questionable first officer to being a great captain. That would be a journey worth watching and one worthy of Gene Roddenberry’s creative vision. An ongoing show about Burnham shooting first and asking questions later, based on bad logic from Sarek, wouldn’t be.
John Travolta is entering Nicolas Cage territory but looks to impress as John Gotti, Lionsgate Premiere released the first trailer Tuesday afternoon. The trailer gives it a feel of a real blockbuster. Hopefully, the trailer doesn’t lie.
You decide for yourself.
About the film: GOTTI follows infamous crime boss John Gotti’s (John Travolta) rise to become the “Teflon Don” of the Gambino Crime Family in New York City. Spanning three decades and recounted by his son John Jr. (Spencer Lofranco), GOTTI examines Gotti’s tumultuous life as he and his wife (Kelly Preston) attempt to hold the family together amongst tragedy and multiple prison sentences.
‘Gotti’ is directed by Kevin Connolly and written by Leo Rossi and Lem Dobbs. You may remember Connolly as Eric Murphy from ‘Entourage.’ The filmmaker has busy directing TV, and last year released ‘Dear Eleanor’ to mixed reviews.
The film stars John Travolta, Spencer Lofranco, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Stacy Keach, Chris Mulkey, William DeMeo and Kelly Preston.
‘Gotti’ hits select theaters and On Demand December 15.
The allure of poker is undeniable. A game of savvy, wit and chance, watching it can be as exciting as playing it. And there are many opportunities for both sides of this coin. The movie industry is certainly not giving up on the poker theme, judging by the upcoming biographical drama Molly’s Game, starring Jessica Chastain and expected to hit theatres in November 2017.
Motivated by the big screen as well as their own skill, players around the world continue to tackle poker, with features like webcams and live dealers continuing to pleasingly blur the lines between live and digital poker action. It is easier than ever to act the part of a favorite on-screen poker face, while putting one’s abilities to the test. All that remains is research into the many memorable stories and characters that have emerged throughout the years. But let us begin with three.
Casino Royale (2006)
The film that tends to immediately spring to a 21st-century mind is that which entangles agent 007 in a deadly poker tournament at Montenegro’s fictional Le Casino Royale. Daniel Craig’s rival in his first venture into the role of James Bond was Le Chiffre, cunning banker to terrorists and excellently portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One, 2016). Endowed with 95% approval from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and so much more acclaim besides, this title has two engaging characters to choose from for inspiration. The bad guys have as much to teach as the good.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999)
Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut and enduring classic starts with Eddy (Nick Moran) facing off gangster Hatchet Harry (P. H. Moriarty) and a few others in an underground poker game, but which Harry has rigged. Eddy’s sizeable loss drops him and his friends, comprised of actors Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher, into the middle of a Cockney mess of mistakes and shoot-outs. Acting and narrative praised by Metacritic reviewers, it has even been compared to Pulp Fiction. To put it simply, it is a more than worthwhile movie to be watched by poker players.
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Steve McQueen and Ann-Margret lead one of the most prominent golden oldies of poker films. In a similar manner as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, McQueen’s character, the Cincinnati Kid, bites off more than he can chew when he challenges The Man (Edward G. Robinson) and the plot, as they say, thickens. Scoring a 7.3 on IMDb, Norman Jewison’s direction and star-studded cast created what fans have in short described as a cinematographic gem of slick, sharp suspense about the world of poker and its personalities, underdogs, rounders and all.
This is but a sample of the rich material available out there, not including invaluable documentaries focused on various aspects of poker. Whatever the need, whether mere entertainment or training in terms of characters or playing techniques, there is a film, if not several, that can help. Grab your cards. Grab your popcorn. And enjoy the show.
‘IT’ holds the record for the biggest opening weekend in September, New Line and Warner Bros. will look to break the record in 2019 as ‘IT: Chapter Two’ hits theaters on September 6, 2019.
As of now, ‘It’ ($266 million) ranks sixth in the domestic box office for highest grossing R-Rated movie. The film will easily reach fourth place, but it will be hard to match the $370 million ‘The Passion of the Christ’ did back in 2004.
‘Chapter Two’ takes place 27 years after the first film with the ‘Losers Club’ in their late 30s and early 40s.
“I really wanted to focus on the emotional journey of the group of kids [in the first film]. Getting into that other dimension — the other side — was something that we could introduce in the second part. In the book the perspective of the writing… is always with the Losers, so everything they know about Pennywise is very speculative and shrouded in absurdity, so I wanted to respect that mystery feeling of not knowing what’s on the other side,” said director Andy Muschietti to Yahoo Movies.
Warner Bros. signed Gary Dauberman to work on the screenplay for the sequel. Muschietti has yet to be officially announced as the director. The 80s ‘Losers Club’ should return in flashbacks which means the original cast should return with Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise.
As casting news is announced, we will have you covered.
What did you think of the Chapter One? Comment below.
Whether you’re a music fan, a film buff, a bookworm or anything in between, with just a few apps and a decent phone you can now get instant access to a world of entertainment.
Yup, us millennials are all thoroughly spoilt for choice when it comes to indulging our passions – and the creative industries responsible for feeding those interests have had to adapt and develop to keep up.
The comic book industry has proven no exception – we’re taking a closer look at how it’s changed throughout the ages in a bid to entertain, delight and enthrall every new generation.
The glamour of the silver screen
Certain comic book characters – the inimitable Superman, for example – have long enjoyed an illustrious relationship with Hollywood.
But in recent years, we’ve seen a flurry of comic book adaptations storm the box office, and it’s not just the biggies like Batman grabbing the spotlight – less mainstream comics like Kick-Ass and Watchmen have proven major hits, too.
Of course, some of this comes down to the film industry’s financial situation. With profit margins in mind, films (like comic book adaptations) with the potential for sequels or franchises are unsurprisingly popular.
And yet, it’s also a clever move by the comic book industry, widening its appeal and introducing its wares to whole new audiences. For Marvel, such cinematic ventures have already undoubtedly boosted profits.
Working with the Netflix powerhouse
But the comic book industry isn’t just relying on the big screen to win new fans – Netflix, one of the biggest usurpers of the entertainment industry in modern times, has also been important.
Netflix already has an interesting relationship with Marvel, its adaptations of the likes of Daredevil and Jessica Jones bringing beloved comic series and characters to much wider attention and critical acclaim.
With some of Millarworld’s characters already boasting successful film adaptations, there’s a lot of justifiable excitement around how the unstoppable Netflix will choose to bring them to life for our TV, laptop and iPad screens.
Keeping up with the gaming industry
The gaming industry is perhaps the most changed throughout the years – just look at cards and other gambling games. Long gone are the primitive decks of cards. Instead, players simply have to log on to the likes of onlineroulette.org.ukto join a perfectly rendered digital game from anywhere in the world, at any time.
So how is the comic book industry attempting to keep up?
Well, Rick and Morty’s latest Virtual Reality (VR) game is the perfect example of how comic books can successful tap into the flourishing gaming industry.
Created by Owlchemy Labs and Adult Swim Games, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality cleverly won over both fans of the comic series icons and VR-tech geeks with its fun storylines and on-brand graphic style.
The future of the comic book industry
So there you have it – from big-screen ventures to TV triumphs and gaming innovations, the comic book industry has been far from static over the past few decades.
However, will it be enough to withstand the rumored financial troubles threatening the entire industry? Only time will tell, but here’s hoping we get to enjoy even more entertaining developments as it battles to stay afloat.
One thing is sure! The biggest theory in Game of Thrones just got bigger.
Ever since Game of Thrones started, there have been questions about Jon Snow’s parentage as we never knew who his mother was. And as we got further into season 7, some explosive truths about his origins have started to show up. If you haven’t paid enough attention to episode 5, ‘Eastwatch,’ you might have missed the bombshell answer we all have been waiting for.
Do you remember what Gilly said?
When Sam Tarly was complaining about his life at the Citadel, his partner stumbled on the answer to one of the biggest questions in Westeros. Reading from a book written by a maester in the time of King Aerys II, she states:
“Says here the High Septon annulled a marriage from ‘Prince Ragger,’ and married him in secret, to another woman in Dorne.” Then she is interrupted.
Until that statement, it was believed that Rhaegar was still married to Elia Martell when he died. But now it all seems wrong. Truth is he divorced Elia Martell (Oberyn’s sister) and married Lyanna Stark (Jon’s mother) before she died.
What does that mean?
Well, it’s pretty simple. Jon is the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, so he is a Targaryen. What we still don’t know is his real first name, the one given to him by his parents.
If you are confused, I have the quick explanation for you: in season 6 flashbacks we found out that Jon is the son ofLyanna Stark, Ned’s sister. As a fact, HBO confirmed that Jon’s dad was Rhaegar, Daenerys brother. Until Gilly read the above statement, it was believed that Lyanna was kidnapped by the Targaryen ruler and held a hostage in the Tower of Joy where she gave birth to Jon and died. In order to prevent Robert Baratheon from killing Jon, Ned Stark took his custody, telling the boy was his bastard son.
Just a second. It means…
Jon is the official heir to the Iron Throne. At the time he was born, the Targaryens were the ruling family in Westeros. Aerys, the father of Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys, was king when his eldest son, Rhaegar, died. Still, Jon remains, and because of the fact that the monarchy works in a patriarchal way, it means that Jon is next in line to the Iron Throne, above Daenerys.
Are you ready to make your bets?
Now that you know all this will you place a bet on who will win the Iron Throne? You can do that pretty easily with no deposit bonus codes that you can use to play Game of Thrones Slot Game, a game where the 4 Houses (Baratheon, Lannister, Stark, Targaryen) are all in the battle for the Iron Throne.
Daenerys is in the game
The Khaleesi is also in the battle for the rule of Westeros. One thing is sure we still have a few episodes and a whole season before we find out who will lead. Another thing has also been announced – Emilia Clarke says she is ready to let go of her role as Khaleesi.
“I mean, I have no doubt there’ll be prequels and sequels and who knows what else. But I am doing one more season. And then that’ll be it”, she said in a Rolling Stone interview.
Until that happens, let’s keep an eye on Jon, Daenerys, and the rest.
