The rumors are rumors no longer; HBO has announced that Damon Lindelof’s adaptation of the Watchmen has been green-lit for a pilot. Lindelof had posted a picture of a writer’s room with the caption “Day One” only a day earlier, but this announcement makes everything official.
Watchmen is perhaps graphic novelist Alan Moore’s most iconic, influential work, and has been the subject of a few adaptations, as well as attempted adaptations. As recently as two years ago, it was reported that Zack Snyder would be developing a small screen adaptation for HBO. Snyder was an obvious, predictable choice, having directed the 2009 film adaptation of the work, which had a very lukewarm critical reception. But somewhere along the line, that project appears to have been abandoned. Perhaps Snyder’s DC directorial commitments were more pressing.
Then, in June, after Lindelof’s magnum opus The Leftovers had concluded, rumors began to emerge that he was looking into adapting the work he had once called the greatest piece of pop culture in modern history. But then Lindelof made his Instagram post, confirming that there was indeed truth to the rumors.
Readers of Moore’s Watchmen will recognize the picture as the trophy Nite Owl received after retiring from the dangers of the superheroism. Choosing an obscure reference like this to make such a crucial announcement is very characteristic of the LOST creator, and is certainly a promising sign that his adaptation will be of considerable quality.
It has been said many times that Watchmen is utterly unadaptable, and hardcore fans of the graphic novel tend to point to Snyder’s adaptation as irrefutable proof of this. However, Lindelof is clearly a huge fan of the work, and has experience with great adaptations; The Leftovers took a good novel by Tom Perrotta and turned it into a once-in-a-generation masterpiece that will easily go down as one of the greatest shows in the history of television. What he changed in his adaptation of the novel actually expanded on its themes and ideas, rather than detract from or dumb them down for a television audience. Lindelof is a master of his craft, and this author isn’t sure a project like this could be in better hands.
Okay comic fans, take all this with a grain of salt and it is definitely pure SPECULATION but earlier today some evidence surfaced that may lead us to believe The Fantastic Four is indeed returning in Marvel Legacy.
According to Newsarama, who first posted the story, Alex Ross (the superstar artist of Kingdom Come and Marvels, who has also done redesigns for Marvel before, including recent ones like ‘Parker Inc’ Spider-Man and ‘Legacy Falcon’) posted an image on his Instagram before taking it down. However, the image resurfaced on Imgur, but you can see it below.
Those uniforms worn by Reed & Sue sure do look like some kind of new design. And the image has a very concept or proof of concept vibe to it. If you add that to the way the image was so quickly deleted, it does make you wonder and raises some questions.
The Fantastic Four has not been seen in the Marvel Universe since the end of 2016’s Secret Wars, instead remaining in a pocket universe.
Marvel Legacy #1 is said to bring back a much-awaited and fan favorite character(s). The book is scheduled to hit comic stores on September 27, 2017.
What do you guys think? Was this a quick leak? Was it just coincidence? Comment and discuss below!
Netflix announced today via Twitter that BoJack Horseman is being renewed for a fifth season. The animated series follows BoJack Horseman, a washed-up actor, as he deals with fame, mental illness, and the proliferation of honeydew in a world where animal people and regular people live side by side.
The show stars Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy), Alison Brie (Glow), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), and the inimitable Paul F. Thompkins (Bajillion Dollar Properties). It was created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Arnett tweeted a photo of a script from a table read for the first episode of season five.
Judging by the script behind the phone in the first photo, season five will probably focus on BoJack trying to make a return to television stardom in Philbert, a gritty drama written by Flip McVicker (voiced by Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek. Season four saw BoJack dealing with a possible illegitimate daughter and a hateful mother in the grips of dementia while his rival Mr. Peanutbutter ran for governor of California.
No premiere date has yet been set. Season four premiered on Netflix on September 8th, 2017. You can watch all epsiodes on Netflix and if you want to take a deeper look at season four, you can check this out.
Well, the world premiere of Star Trek: Discovery came and went. Cast, crew, and high-profile fans of the CBS’s latest iteration of Star Trek gathered on September 19th to promote Discovery and recall their favourite Trek memories. Attended by Star Trek personalities past and present, it was truly a Trekkie’s who’s who.
Sonequa Martin-Green, Discovery’s lead, said that she’s excited that “the secret is out of the can” in terms of Discovery’s plot. This comment likely had Trekkies the world over madly googling terms like “Discovery plot” and other permutations of the same theme. But, as one of these aforementioned Trekkies, I was glad to find that the producers are still relatively tight lipped about the show’s premise.
Star Trek: Discovery Premiere – Sarek Dearest
Aside from revelations that Discovery will tell its story serially over the entirety of its first season and that Martin-Green’s character Michael Burnham is a human raised by Spock’s father Sarek (James Frain), there isn’t much else to go on. We also know Discovery will focus on a cold war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, but is it just me or did everybody basically know all this already? Based on descriptions of the show’s main characters and the trailers released prior to the Discovery premiere, most attentive Trekkies had probably already guessed these plot points.
Star Trek: Discovery Premiere – Unconventional Lead?
Another tidbit that keeps popping up in CBS’s promotional material is that Discovery’s lead will not be a captain of a starship. Instead, the plot will follow Cmdr. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). This might sound different from previous versions of Star Trek, but any good Trekkie knows better.
“Don’t forget about me! I used to bring Captain Kirk his coffee!”
Even the original Star Trek, which focused a lot of its time on Captain Kirk, basically featured an ensemble cast. Star Trek featured the insurmountable triumvirate of Spock, Kirk, and McCoy with a generous helping of Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, and Uhura on the side. And, Star Trek: The Next Generation probably had as many Data-centric and Riker-centric episodes as Picard-centric ones.
This same practice carried on throughout the other spinoffs: Star Trek: Voyager took a lot of time fleshing out Neelix and other characters, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showed us what life on Ferenginar was like, and the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, maybe the most Captain-centric Star Trek show to date, spent a fair amount of time focusing on the deterioration of Trip and T’Pol’s relationship following the death of their cloned daughter.
Star Trek: Discovery Premiere – Wait and See
Either way, anxious Trekkies won’t have to wait much longer. Star Trek: Discovery premieres to us regular Joes in a mere three days, four if you live outside of North America. So, we’ll have to wait and see what the creative team has in store for us. Based on interviews with the show’s stars and creative team, we can expect the show to have a thought-provoking and socially progressive message — unlike the recent Star Trek movies — and, according to one of Discovery’s writers Kristen Beyer, Discovery will be surprisingly current considering the show is set in the distant future. Make it so.
Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Trollhunters’ is one of the best-animated series on television right now, and the show just got better with the addition of the voice talents of Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, and David Bradley.
Netflix released a press release Thursday afternoon stating Hamill, Headey, and Bradley have joined the cast for the second season. That cast was already impressive with Kelsey Grammer, Ron Perlman, Steven Yeun, Anjelica Huston, Jonathan Hyde, Amy Landecker, and Charlie Saxton. The late Anton Yelchin is featured in the lead role as Jim Lake, Jr. and completed recording through season 2.
Hamill will voice the unknown older brother to a member of the Trollhunting team but has pledged his loyalty to the evil Gunmar.
Headey plays an extremely powerful and evil sorceress who must be stopped at all costs, while Bradley voices a mysterious figure known to have great magical powers — but the Trollhunters find he’s not the mystical wizard they expected.
About the show: ‘Trollhunters’ features a tale of two fantastical worlds that collide in an epic saga. Set in the fictional suburb of Arcadia, our unlikely hero, Jim, and his two best friends make a startling discovery that beneath their hometown lies a hidden battle between good trolls and bad, the outcome of which impacts their lives forever.
In season two Jim enters the Darklands by himself, leaving his best friends and fellow Trollhunters, Toby and Claire, behind.
‘Trollhunters’ will return to Netflix by the end of 2017, but no exact date has been confirmed.
Outlander’s third season premiere, The Battle Joined, gave viewers a sense of what to look forward to. A separated Claire and Jamie showed their battle readiness in different yet similar ways. Although Jamie’s story involved a literal battle and Claire’s involved her readjustment to 20th-century life, the limits of the time-crossed couple’s tenacity are tested in both cases. And although Surrender again showed Claire and Jamie in very different situations, the thematic similarities between their two stories are easy enough to spot. Both Claire and Jamie, hampered by existential ennui, find themselves detaching from society by retreating into their memories, but like any good TV show it doesn’t last long.
Outlander Season 3: Surrender – The Dunbonnet
After his reluctant return to Lallybroch, Jamie is in hiding. Frequent searches by the Redcoats make staying in his family home impossible. But, the Jacobite rebel isn’t far off. Sporting a huge beard and long matted locks, Jamie has taken up residence in a nearby cave and roams the countryside hunting, gathering, and righting wrongs as the notorious Dunbonnet.
Having made a name for himself even when trying to keep a low profile, Jamie attracts the suspicion of the lobsterbacks, and the soldiers come calling during one of his rare visits to Lallybroch. Although he manages to give them the slip, they show no evidence of leaving the Frasers and Murrays alone any time soon.
A determined and rather cocky Fergus attempts to lure the spying redcoats away from Jamie’s cave but his chosen route takes him right into the path of another company of soldiers, and Jamie is forced to look on from a distance as one of them chops Fergus’s hand clean off.
Outlander Season 3: Surrender – Look at Me
Back in the ‘40s, Claire tries to ease back into life with Frank, and after several frustrating nights imagining her Jacobite husband’s tender caresses she finally relents. Telling Frank that she misses her husband — one guess as to which husband she’s referring — the two reunite. This period of connubial cooperation is short lived though. One night after a few glasses, Claire and Frank are in the throes of passion when he demands that Claire look at him. Claire is unable to do so, and Frank describes the situation pretty accurately: when Frank’s with Claire he’s with Claire but when Claire’s with Frank she’s with Jamie. Seems that new beginning they discussed in The Battle Joined isn’t going very well.
Outlander Season 3: Surrender – The Dunbonnet’s Capture
Realizing that his family will be in danger as long as the Redcoats are snooping around, Jamie hatches a plan to make it seem as though his loyal sister Jenny is turning him in to the English. After a haircut and a shave, courtesy of Lallybroch’s faithful maid Mary MacNab, Jamie looks relatively presentable. And after a quick bathe in the river, Jamie returns to his cave to find Mary in her skivvies. Although reluctant at first, Jamie eventually gives in to Mary’s better judgement: their union isn’t meant to replace anything, it’s just something they both need. Telling Jamie he can look at her, Jamie lies and says that he always closes his eyes. A tear runs down his cheek, and the camera cuts away.
Jamie then returns to his family home and, pretending Jenny is betraying him, gets hauled away by the Redcoats cursing his sister all the way. Jenny weeps and tells him she’ll never forgive him, neither truly knowing whether she speaks the truth or it’s all part of the act.
Outlander Season 3: Surrender – Dr. Randall, I Presume
Hoping that the thing missing from her life is revolutionary action rather than regular sex with a Highlander, Claire enrolls at Harvard Medical. Probably imagining a different response from her professor, who sarcastically describes Harvard as “very modern” for enrolling a woman and a “negro” in this year’s class, Claire takes her seat in the operating gallery amidst upturned white male noses. But, because no one should befriend someone who’s openly sexist and/or racist anyway, Claire does pretty well by making friends with the only accepting person in the gallery. An African American man politely asks Claire if anyone is sitting next to her, and when Claire tells him there isn’t, he introduces himself as Joe Abernathy. This looks like the start of a respectful professional relationship.
Outlander Season 3: Surrender – Final Thoughts
Although not as pronounced as the parallels being drawn in The Battle Joined, Surrender’s focus on both Claire and Jamie coming out of hiding and being true to themselves is the common thread that binds them together across the centuries.
But, I can’t help but feel for Frank, relegated to sleeping in a separate bed from his wife who loves her other husband and looks on Frank as a very close friend.
For Jamie’s part, I fear that his imprisonment may very well lead to a revelation that Black Jack Randall lives. And if he does, and if history is any guide, Jamie had better start working on his escape plan now.
It is quite obvious for movie fanatics that casinos play a major role in a lot of films, both old and new. This is probably because casinos are filled with so many different emotions – such as romance, excitement, tension, and risk – that they provide the perfect venue for intense scenes, not to mention that casinos provide a beautiful and elegant backdrop to actors. There are even movies whose entire plot revolves around casinos. Here are just a few:
Casino
This 1995 Martin Scorsese epic crime film is about money, power, greed, deception, and murder. The movie opens our eyes to the brutal and cruel reality behind the glamorous façade of 1970s Las Vegas. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro are two mobsters who move to the Sin City to make their mark. Ace, a sports oddsmaker based in Chicago, becomes a casino executive at the Tangiers Casino. Nicky, Ace’s childhood friend in Chicago, is a thief and a killer who moves to Las Vegas and eventually became known as the mob’s enforcer after he squeezed a man’s head in a vice. The plot thickens as the two compete against each other over a gambling empire and a high-priced call girl, Ginger McKenna, who married Ace and became the mother of his child.
Casino Royale
In this intense Texas Hold’em scene in Casino Royale, the player to James Bond’s left moves all in for 6 million dollars, another player calls, and Bond’s adversary, who is seated across the table, raises the stake up to 12 million dollars. Bond decides to push all in for 40 million dollars. The players reveal their cards. The first player, who moved all in for 6 million dollars, had a weak flush, the next player had a pair of eights in the hole for a full house, while Bond’s nemesis had a stronger full house with A-6. Bond had a straight flush and the 115 million dollar pot is pushed towards him.
The Big Short
The film is based on Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, which explores the financial crisis experienced in the United States back in the 2000s, and there’s a scene in the movie where singer/actress Selena Gomez, playing herself, is at a blackjack table joined by economist Richard Thaler. The thrill and excitement present in this scene is something modern casinos are still trying to replicate to this day. For example, live blackjack at William Hill features a dealer on webcam to create a more authentic experience for the player. The Big Short is ultimately a metaphor for a growing housing market, showing how “boom and bust” go hand in hand.
The glitz and glamour of casinos is so fascinating in real life that filmmakers just cannot keep their hands off them in movies. Odds are, at least one movie with casino scenes is being filmed right now. Coming soon to a theater near you!
Welcome to the Movie Show, today is an exciting show with the ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ coming out this week and Managing Editor of Monkeys Fighting Robots, Larry Taylor is here to give his Fall movie preview.
Strap yourself in buckaroos! Episode 132 of the MOVIE SHOW by Monkeys Fighting Robots is here.
Episode Breakdown:
03:47 – ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review
14:57 – Fall Movie Preview with LarryTaylor
Thank you for listening!
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.
Fox Searchlight Pictures released the first trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest film ‘Isle of Dogs’ Thursday morning.
‘Isle of Dogs’ tells the story of ATARI KOBAYASHI, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.
The film has the voice talents of:
ブライアン・クランストン
Bryan CRANSTON
エドワード・ノートン
Edward NORTON
ビル・マーレイ
Bill MURRAY
ジェフ・ゴールドブラム
Jeff GOLDBLUM
野村訓市
Kunichi NOMURA
渡辺謙
Ken WATANABE
グレタ・ガーウィグ
Greta GERWIG
フランシス・マクドーマンド
Frances McDORMAND
コートニー・B・ヴァンス
Courtney B. VANCE
フィッシャー・スティーブンス
Fisher STEVENS
村上虹郎
Nijiro MURAKAMI
ハーヴェイ・カイテル
Harvey KEITEL
ランキン・こうゆう
Koyu RANKIN
リーブ・シュレイバー
Liev SCHREIBER
ヒボブ・バラバン
Bob BALABAN
スカーレット・ヨハンソン
Scarlett JOHANSSON
ティルダ・スウィントン
Tilda SWINTON
伊 藤 晃゙
Akira ITO
高山明゙
Akira TAKAYAMA
F・マーリー・エイブラハム
F. Murray ABRAHAM
野 田 洋 次 郎
Yojiro NODA
夏木マリ
Mari NATSUKI
オノ・ヨーコ
Yoko ONO
フランク・ウッド
Frank WOOD
‘Isle of Dogs’ hits theaters March 23, 2018.
OMG! This look brilliant, what do you think? Comment below.
Jordan Peele is set to bring us a television show we didn’t realize we needed until now.
Nazis are our favorite villains once again, and Peele’s new TV project is based on the true story of Nazi hunters in the 1970s. Here’s the lowdown from The Hollywood Reporter:
Inspired by true events, The Huntfollows a diverse band of Nazi hunters in 1970s America as they set out on a quest for revenge and justice — tracking and killing hundreds of Nazis who, with the unconscionable help of the U.S. government, escaped justice and embedded themselves in American society.
Do we really need any more information about this show? Jordan Peele. Nazi hunters. 70s America. What an incredible trifecta of awesome.
There is no network attached to The Hunt yet, but that will certainly change. In the meantime, Jordan Peele is also producing Spike Lee’s The Black Klansman, another truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story about an African-American police officer who somehow made his way into the higher rankings of the KKK. That sounds incredible as well.
Also, who knew these Nazi-hunting Americans were really a thing? Maybe it’s common knowledge for some but not this reporter.
