News on Bond 25, the upcoming entry into the James Bond franchise, has been picking up steam recently, and today we may have gotten the title and the sort of villain Daniel Craig will be battling.
According to the report over at the U.K. gossip rag Mirror, of all places, Bond 25 will be called Shatterhand, which is allegedly based on a more recent 1999 novelization in the Bond canon, Never Dream of Dying. It was written by Raymond Benson, who picked up the mantle of the franchise after Ian Fleming. Here is a synopsis of that book:
James Bond, 007, finally comes face to face with his most cunning nemesis-the enigmatic blind criminal mastermind behind the sinister organization known only as the Union.
This little snippet of the story leads us to the villain, who will be blind if Shatterhand stays in the same vein of Never Dream of Dying.
Craig is returning, and relatively new French director Yann Demange, who has the upcoming drama White Boy Rick with Matthew McConaughey on the way. Christoph Waltz and Dave Bautista have also agreed to return.
Of course, this is all early rumor and speculation, so everything could change in the blink of an eye. We will see what happens when Bond 25 finally hits theaters in November 2019. We have some time.
Right now I am in the midst of catching up with books, with one such book beingCrosswind. I’d heard nothing but rave reviews about the series so I had to see this for myself. Gail Simone is a favorite writer of mine and somehow this managed to slip past me. Even with knowing the little bits I’d heard about it, I’m coming into this with fresh eyes. Since there are a lot of different reviews out there for Crosswind #1, I won’t be diving too much into that one. Instead, I will focus more on #2 in this catch up session. Welcome to the adventures of catching up with comics as I venture into the world of Crosswind. How will this fare in my eyes and will it differ from everyone else review wise? Only one to find out. On with the show.
Crosswind: It’s Freaky Friday but with a darker twist an deft sense of humor to the proceedings.
The simple premise to Crosswind is that – for unknown reasons – a housewife and a hitman switch bodies. We don’t know why they were chosen for this and all we know is it happened and let the fun begin. The first issue is getting to know our hitman, Cason and our housewife, Juniper. Simone from the start gives you all you need to connect with them and engage into their worlds. By the end you know just enough of their personalities and the supporting characters of their lives. Juniper has a messy family life and more and Cason has a similar but different sort of mess in his own life. When the body switch happens it sets the scene for the craziness within #2 and my goodness this book is brilliant.
As #2 begins, you see the after effects of the switch. Whoever did this still wants them to do what they need to do, or else. It’s unique and there’s many twists to that put us in directions that are unexpected, to say the least. Cason for example has skills that we never imagined and the same goes for Juniper. They use their skill sets in different ways than they did in their normal lives. Both lives have their dangers so to speak but they are good in their new situations. The neat thing with Juniper is that she was a writer until life happened. In the back matter for #1 we get a dark tale we don’t know the author of, but the second is Juniper’s writing. I get the feeling that more of Juniper’s writing and her frustrations will play a bigger role as time goes on.
Overall Crosswind is a strong series so far, yet I do have some mild complaints.
I do say Cason’s life is the one that’s intense but I’m not entirely connected to his world. It’s interesting to see that Cason’s world is more the crazy hitman lifestyle but I find Juniper’s world fascinating. I think it’s because you want to see Cason just run over everything and every bit of awful in Juniper’s life in her body. Yet I do like that Juniper has strangely started to adapt to Cason’s universe, it will be fun to see where that goes. Not fully sold yet on what’s happening in Cason’s universe but it’s a mild complaint at best. I do say Crucifix is a great character and a highlight in the Cason experience and it will be fun to see how Juniper as Cason interacts with him in the future.
Crosswind explores a lot in these two issues as to how these characters relate to one another. You would not think a housewife and a hitman would have so much in common, yet they do and it works well. It’s going to be fun to see how their worlds collide at some point and I can’t wait to see when it happens. I like where this is going so far and it will be interesting to see where this story goes in the issues to come. As we’ve only started to see the madness Gail Simone has in store for us with this tale. Yet now I get to dive deep into the wonders of this glorious art team. As Simone’s writing is amazing but this art team, this art team is incredible.
Between Cat Staggs illustration and Simon Bowland’s lettering, Crosswind is a beautiful book.
Where to begin with the art on Crosswind? Cat Staggs gives this series a feel unlike many series out there. What makes this so special is the way Staggs handles expressions. It’s dynamic and puts you that much more into the story. There is a lot of action but a lot of action happens in the emotions in Simone’s writing and the expressions of the characters. There’s also an immense amount of color work, subtle shades on the faces with brutal reds for other situations, and it works beautifully. Staggs is handling all of this and it looks mind blowing and it adds that next level feel to the proceedings here. Staggs has artwork that’s realistic, beautifully stylized, and absolutely wonderful. You got an engaging script, strong lettering from Simon Bowland, and gorgeous illustrations that make up the joyous experience that is Crosswind.
Crosswind: If you’re sleeping on this book, I would correct that mistake immediately.
I am with the choir on this one, Crosswind is off to a great start. Reading these two issues has made me a believer and it’ll be on my pull for many days to come. It’s brilliant, it’s wonderful, and you need Crosswind in your life. You won’t regret it.
Entertainment Weekly caught up with Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson, and got her to talk a bit on why she thinks the role is so important.
“It feels like such a weight off my shoulders because I really don’t like keeping secrets, and the response was really positive, and that felt really cool. I mean, making movies is hard, and making films of that size is even harder. It requires so much physically, and it’s a lot longer shoot, and there’s also the pressure because this is a character that is incredibly inspiring to people and means a lot. So you just want to get it right. I feel really excited about how everything is shaping up.”
Captain Marvel will be set in the 1990s, and is confirmed to feature Nick Fury. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck with a script written by Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve, the picture will see Carol Danvers’ first ever film. March 8, 2019 is the release date.
Are you looking forward to Captain Marvel? Let us know in the comments below.
Before vampires became mopey, self-hating, glowing pedophiles, director Joel Schumacher let loose The Lost Boys. The vampire story is a rare one by today’s standards. It oozes 80s punk rock aesthetic and attitudes. The monsters are monsters with little sympathy afforded to most of them. The Lost Boys is a raw horror story with a dose of comedy and plenty of attitude. It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination. But The Lost Boys is the very definition of a cult classic. It’s endlessly quotable, features a pitch-perfect cast, and a great soundtrack. The Lost Boys earned every bit of its cult status.
A Look Back At The Lost Boys 30 Years Later
If you’re reading this and have never watched The Lost Boys then do yourself a favor and finish this article, click on a few more articles, then watch the movie. 🙂
The Lost Boys is the story of two brothers from Arizona, Sam (Corey Haim) and Mike (Jason Patric) who move out to a small fictional town in California by the name of Santa Clara with their recently divorced mother. Immediately, the city strikes Mike as weird when he sees “Murder Capital of the World” scribbled on the back of a billboard. As Sam and Mike explore their new surroundings, Mike is mesmerized by Star (Jamie Gertz), a beautiful young woman. Soon after, Mike meets Star’s controlling boyfriend David (Keifer Sutherland) who leads a small gang of hooligans. David, the hooligans, and Star turn out to be vampires.
In any other movie, this scene wouldn’t be memorable. However, in The Lost Boys, the moment is elevated to unforgettable status.
After a dark prologue featuring David as a mysterious, brooding man in black, The Lost Boys moves into a family-friendly ride with Mike, Sam, and mom Lucy (Dianne Wiest). However, the moment Mike sees an ominous message scrawled on the back of the billboard, the film cements its tone. A cover of The Doors’ “People Are Strange” by Echo and the Bunnymen kicks in for a minute of establishing this weird little town. And the sequence flows into the start of Mike’s journey with Star.
Mike sees the alluring Star at an outdoor concert. Schumacher interlaces shots of head banging crowds all listening to a band doing a cover of “I Still Believe” by The Calls. In any other movie, this scene wouldn’t be memorable. However, in The Lost Boys, the moment is elevated to unforgettable status. The lead singer of the band is a sweaty, shirtless body builder pretending to play the saxophone. Bulging sweet bombs for arms pump out towards the crowd while “Sexy Sax Man,” as he’s come to be known, gyrates and roars “I STILL BELIEVE!”
Soon after falling for Star, Mike meets David played with a luscious badassery by Sutherland. In every look and grin from Sutherland, there is a depth that spirals down into a monster. Unlike Louis from Interview with a Vampire or Edward Cullen or Angel, David LOVES being a vampire. Buffy fans won’t be surprised to learn that Whedon acknowledged Sutherland’s character as inspiration for Spike years later.
Fun Fact: Whedon credits The Lost Boys with a lot, including the vampires morphing from man to monster.
The main plot thread of The Lost Boys is David’s attempts to sire Mike and lure him to the dark side. However, Sam plays the counter, trying to retain his brother’s humanity. Haim’s Sam is helped by Edgar and Allen Frog, two serious geeks who know all about the vampires behind Santa Clara. Edgar Frog, played by Corey Feldman, marks the first pairing of the Coreys on film. Feldman channeled every 80s action star into a gruff kid that takes himself too seriously but for all the right reasons. Jamison Newlander as Allen Frog doesn’t say much but accentuates everything Feldman does with sneers, nods, and crossed arms.
For two acts the film plays like the love child of Near Dark and Goonies, and there is a reason for that. Initially, the script for The Lost Boys was designed to be a sort of Goonies with vampires. Sutherland’s David, dripping with a delicious syrup of nefarious was supposed to be a pre-teen. Schumacher changed all that when he was brought in to direct. The American director added the darker elements and used the low budget to his advantage when he conceived of the unsettling “first-person” flying instead of consistently showing the people themselves flying around.
On the downside, sure, the movie’s plot is razor thin. The ending sequence and “twist” are the weakest parts. It’s perhaps the one section of the film where the disparity between pre-teen adventure comedy and stylized horror movie collide instead of compliment. However, it doesn’t matter because of the strengths of the movie, like many Schumacher films, are the director’s sense of style and Sutherland’s David which is angsty villainy at its best.
Happy 30th birthday to The Lost Boys. Like the immortal beings in the film, the movie has aged well.
Marvel Studios announced today that production has begun on ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp,’ the studio released a tiny video to go along with the press release.
About the film: In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.
‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Michael Douglas, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tip “T.I.” Harris, and David Dastmalchian.
The sequel up the states with new cast members Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen, Walton Goggins, and Randall Park.
Peyton Reed directs from a screenplay by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, and Paul Rudd.
‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ hits theaters on July 6, 2018.
All good things must come to an end at some point.This was the case for Marvel’s Agent Carter, which got canceled last year after two seasons. While receiving critical praise, the show struggled in terms of ratings.
Series star Hayley Atwell opens up about why it got the axe. While promoting Howard’s End, Atwell tells IGN how studio politics led to the show’s fate. It turns out to have been a business decision in the end.
“You know Marvel and all the creatives behind the making of the show loved it,” she says. “And we loved it. We all loved making it. It was a network political thing. They wanted to put me in something mainstream [Conviction] to get their ratings up rather than something that was more genre specific. There were a lot of economic decisions behind it, and I wasn’t a part of the conversation.”
Atwell admits the cancellation did come as a shock. “So we were all really surprised about that because we kind of got the sense that people were liking it,” she says. “It had this cult following.”
Peggy and Chief Sousa dancing up a storm
Atwell still hopes to reprise her role in the MCU. Although Peggy dies in Civil War, she did appear in Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron. During the Ant-Man prologue, Atwell made an appearance as a 60-ish Peggy. Using this logic, she can play her from youth to middle age.
“I’d love to see [Peggy] more in films,” she says. “I’d love to see her in her own film. And if we can keep evolving it so that she does new things so that I can surprise myself and she can keep surprising me then I’d love to do it.
“The fact that we know that she lives until the age of 96 means that technically I could be employed for the rest of my life, you know.”
Were you a fan of ‘Agent Carter?’ Sound off in the comments below.
While DC was keen to confirm a sequel to their smash hit Wonder Woman at last month’s Comic-Con, they didn’t announce Wonder Woman 2‘s release date until a few days ago. Thanks to Deadline, we know that the film is currently set for a release date of December 13th, 2019.
Delayed Gratification?
The 2019 date seems pretty far off, but fans of Diana won’t have to wait that long to see her on the big screen once more. Wonder Woman joins the Justice League this fall on November 19th. Prince (Gal Gadot) has already more than proven her staying power in her record-breaking solo film. Director Patty Jenkins got much of the credit for the film’s popularity. No director has signed on for the sequel yet.
Wonder Woman and the Wonder of Leading Women
Idina Menzel (Frozen) and Kristen Chenowith (American Gods) originated the roles of Elphaba and Galinda, respectively
Wonder Woman 2‘s release date comes just one day before the long-anticipated film adaptaion of Wicked. The latter, produced by Universal, is based on Broadway’s second-most popular musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel. Wicked tells the story of the Wizard of Oz from a different perspective: through the eyes of the Wicked Witch herself. Elphaba (the wicked witch’s proper name), her sister Nessa Rose and Galinda (not a spelling error) all go to school together. The story rounds out all three characters with deep backstories and political agendas. Winnie Holzman (book) and Stephen Schwartz (score) wrote both the musical and film.
So we have superheroes, witches, and apparently a princess or two. Disney’s unnamed fairy tale project rounds out December 2019 with a variety of powerful women. Here’s hoping all three projects will hire female creators, as well.
Based on characters from DC comics, Wonder Woman 2 is produced by Warner Brothers Studios.
Netflix just keeps punching us in the face with good ideas. The streaming service just gave David Fincher a series about understanding the mind of serial killers. How is this not going to be great?
How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks? Two FBI agents set out on a sinister investigative odyssey to discover the brutal answers.
Check out the first trailer for ‘Mindhunter’ below:
Charlize Theron is a producer on the series. It’s exciting to see her influence on the business side of filmmaking.
‘Mindhunter’ stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Cotter Smith, Sonny Valicenti, and Tyler James Larkin.
The series is written by John Douglas and Joe Penhall, with David Fincher directing three episodes, Asif Kapadia 2 episodes, Tobias Lindholm (TBD), and Andrew Douglas 2 episodes.
‘Landline’ directed by Gillian Robespierre (‘Obvious Child’) starring Jenny Slate, John Turturro, Edie Falco, and Abby Quinn, hits theaters this week.
‘Landline’ is a multi-generational coming of age tale set in 1995 that awkwardly tugs at those tricky heartstrings. The world is not black and white, and Robespierre does her best to explain that relationships take work in this graying of the family dynamic. The nostalgia of the 90s does just enough to make the film unique, but any time period would work for this story. ‘Landline’ has a familiar, pretentious, indie feel to it; but the heart of the characters is what shines through in the end.
The cast is what sells this film and gives the plot movement and life. Jenny Slate’s character Dana is an awful person, but with Slate behind the wheel you can’t help but like the character. What ever the middle is between ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ and ‘Seinfeld’ is where Dana lives. John Turturro at this point in his career has hit the ‘Kevin Spacey level’ when comes to putting on an acting clinic. Turturro’s character, Alan, is where most men hope they don’t end up in life. Edie Falco brings the true grit the role of Pat, the mother of the family. Keeping a family together is rough and takes a toll on Pat. When Pat has finally had enough, that’s where Falco reminds the audience of her power and command. Ali, played by Abby Quinn is the most put together character, and it will be interesting to watch her mature into an actor. Ali is cold-hearted, and Quinn made that resonate in her performance.
Robespierre doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the audience will relate to her passionate storytelling. Where Robespierre succeeds is playing it down the middle with this film, not being too comedic or too serious. Either direction would have ended horribly for this movie. The balance is what makes Slate awful and likable at the same time.
If you want to contemplate your life choices and relationships, ‘Landline’ will get you brain churning.
Sandwiched in between Kathryn Bigelow’s breakout vampire western Near Dark and her modern classic Point Break, lies Blue Steel, a crime thriller that is aggressive and violent and a modicum of the types of thrillers in this era. It is a film of many different surprising narrative turns, a story that shouldn’t work as well as it does, and a clear indicator of the sort of filmmaker Bigelow would soon become.
Blue Steel is the sort of movie an audience watches, and with every outlandish turn as their jaws drop even further, they find themselves swept up in the thrilling inertia and terrific performances, lost amid the chaos. Jamie Lee Curtis’s Megan Turner graduates from the police academy under the credits, only to be thrust into a grocery store armed robbery day one of her patrol, the sort of grocery store armed robbery that would only exist in the movies. She shoots and kills the perpetrator (a young Tom Sizemore), and his gun goes spinning across the tile floor of the grocery store, where it rests directly in front of Eugene Hunt, who is one crazy sonofabitch just waiting for the right moment to let his inner demons spill out.
This is that moment, as Eugene pockets the gun. The disappearing weapon causes more problems for Megan, who is immediately dressed down and stripped of her badge and gun. Of course. Meanwhile, Eugene begins to stalk Megan, and eventually the two meet, date, sleep together, and almost immediately Eugene reveals himself to be a completely insane human being.
The late Ron Silver plays Eugene Hunt as a mix of yuppie Wall Street douchebag and unhinged psychotic murderer. It’s a weird juxtaposition outside of the satirical realm of something like American Psycho, but Silver’s dedication to the role and his curt, unnerving cadence, the way his voice can slink through a conversation like a snake, gets right under your skin. Beyond his words, Eugene’s increasingly fracturing mental state throughout the film is a sight to behold. It’s almost avant garde the way Silver approaches the physicality of this role, whether it’s trying to scream away the demons in a gym or rubbing blood all over his naked body… Silver is here to do some crazy things, and they all work.
Bigelow’s screenplay – which she co-wrote with Eric Red – lays all the cards out on the table early on, at least as far as the mystery of the plot is concerned. It’s the same sort of reveal she has in Point Break, when we realize pretty much from the get go that Swayze’s band are the criminals. Megan finds out in the second act that Eugene has been murdering people with the missing gun, but she cannot do anything to stop him even though she’s back working with detectives. Because this is a movie.
Blue Steel is not about Megan’s shocking realization, it’s a cat-and-mouse thriller about a mouse eluding a cat in a wide open space. Kathryn Bigelow knows where to find interesting and unique tension, even in films that seem more predictable than they turn out to be. The third act finally loses its grip on the insanity, and the finale reaches its hand out and grabs ahold of near parody. But that’s not enough to dismiss Bigelow’s first action feature. It is one of the rare instances where Bigelow’s protagonist is female, and Jamie Lee Curtis is right at home fending off a madman who seemingly can’t be stopped.
Kathryn Bigelow’s latest, Detroit, opens this Friday.
