Daisy Ridley took to Facebook this afternoon and posted a brand new poster for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and our minds are blown. Check it out!
Not only is the poster beautiful, but what does it say about where Rey’s character is headed in the next film? Could Rey be turning to the dark side? Daisy Ridley has been on record saying that she initially had some major issues with where the next film was headed. What do you guys think?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will hit theaters on December 15th.
At a live presentation during Disney’s D23 Expo today, some of the cast of the Avengers: Infinity War was brought out on stage. Emphasis on some, as Marvel President Kevin Feige promised “every single hero” who had ever been in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film for Infinity War.
Included on stage was Josh Brolin/Thanos, Paul Bettany/Vision, Elizabeth Olsen/Scarlet Witch, Pom Klementieff/Mantis, Karen Gillan/Nebula, Dave Bautista/Drax, Don Cheadle/War Machine, Anthony Mackie/Falcon, Benedict Cumberbatch/Doctor Strange, Tom Holland/Spider-Man, Sebastian Stan/Winter Soldier, Chadwick Boseman/Black Panther, Mark Ruffalo/Hulk, Chris Hemsworth/Thor, and of course Robert Downey Jr./Iron Man. Joe Russo, one of the directors of the film, also took the stage.
Just some of the cast from “Avengers: Infinity War”
A teaser for Infinity War was also shown. While not yet posted online, we do have a description courtesy of THR:
“The trailer begins with The Guardians of the Galaxy in space. Suddenly, a body hits their spaceship. It’s an unconscious Thor, wearing his gladiator garb for Thor: Ragnarok. They bring him inside the ship, and he asks what’s going on.
Next we are on Earth, where our heroes are dealing with death and destruction. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has the tesseract, Peter Parker is on a school bus and sees his arm hair is tingling (Spider-sense?)
It’s hard to break down how wild this trailer is, but here’s just some small observations:
— Spider-Man has a new suit, that looks quite advanced, ala the one at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming
— Captain America has a beard and looks like he’s been through a lot.
— Thanos wears the Infinity Gauntlet, and pulls down part of a moon to battle the Avengers on an alien planet.
— Doctor Strange battles alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man on this planet.”
This article will be updated when/if the teaser arrives online.
It’s a whole new world now that we have a cast for Disney’s upcoming live-action Aladdin.
During Disney’s D23 Expo presentation today, Disney production President Sean Bailey announced that Mena Massoud will star as Aladdin, while “Power Rangers’” Naomi Scott will play Jasmine. Will Smith had been previously announced as the Genie. It will be directed by Guy Ritchie.
Bailey also said that the film would be an adaptation of both the 1992 animated movie, as well as 1001 Arabian Nights.
An official release date has not been set, though Aladdin was not included in their 2017-2019 lineup.
Disney’s live-action fantasy ballet film, Nutcracker and the Four Realms, officially has a release date: November 18th, 2018.
The release date was announced today during Disney’s D23 Expo. Concept art for the film, along with a quick first look were shown. From ComingSoon.Net, it had “[a] very detailed set and costume design.” Dancer Charles Riley, who is portraying the Mouse King, also gave a live dance performance.
The first trailer for the film was also shown, though it has not been released as of writing.
The film is an adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman, about a young girl who finds a Nutcracker doll and is tasked by her parents to take special care of it. Taken on a magical journey, she explores the Land of Flowers, Snowflakes, Sweets, and a fourth realm, belonging to Mother Ginger (played by Helen Mirren).
Nutcracker is directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, Cider House Rules) and stars Misty Copeland, Mackenzie Foy (Clara), Morgan Freeman (Drosselmeyer), Keira Knightley (Sugar Plum Fairy), Helen Mirren (Mother Ginger), Ellie Bamber and Miranda Hart.
Disney’s D23 Expo manages to combine everything that is in Disney’s cinematic world into one massive event. Yesterday, during the animation panel details were released surrounding many of their future releases including Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. What’s great about this is that it allows some free thinking journalists to capture moments with their phones for our benefit. Check out this footage from one of the booths of the sequel to Wreck It Ralph.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaKOIhAqce0
The panel also announced the casting of Taraji P. Henson as a character named Yessssss. If one was to speculate, perhaps she’s some sort of Siri character. Probably the biggest news to come from this portion of the panel was the announcement of Disney Princess (voiced by the original actresses), Marvel, and Star Wars characters joining Ralph on his latest adventure. Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it-Ralph 2 hits theaters on November 21st, 2018 starring John C. Reilly, Sara Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch.
Part of the allure of the first film is that it took some of the more iconic video game figures and turned them into normal people. Who didn’t just feel a little sad when we saw Q-Bert down on his luck in the first film? My hope is that they take these characters from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and give them the same treatment. How cool would it be to see Airel and Belle fight? What are your expectations for the sequel?
The first trailer for Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time is here! Watch it below.
“The film, which is an epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic which takes audiences across dimensions of time and space, examining the nature of darkness versus light and ultimately, the triumph of love.
Directed by Ava DuVernay from a screenplay by Jennifer Lee based upon the beloved novel by Madeleine L’Engle, “A Wrinkle in Time” is produced by Jim Whitaker and Catherine Hand with Doug Merrifield serving as executive producer. The film stars: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peňa, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, André Holland, Rowan Blanchard with Zach Galifianakis and Chris Pine and introduces Storm Reid.”
Comic book fans are familiar with Batman’s nickname. No, I don’t mean the Dark Knight or the Caped Crusader or Bats or even BatGuano. Everyone’s favorite orphan is known in the DC universe as “the world’s greatest detective” yet, if you only know the character from the movieverse, it’s hard to understand why he gets that name. Batman movies have not, to date, focused on the detective side of things. And while an argument can be made that Rorschach or even Nightwing is a better super-sleuth, that’s not what we’re doing here. We’re exploring Batman films and why there’s so little detecting done by the world’s greatest dick.
Why isn’t the world’s greatest detective always absent on film? Before we get to that answer, let’s quickly review the movies we’ve had so far.
Batman
In the original Tim Burton film, Batsy takes on The Joker who is poisoning the entire city through unknown means. Batman is an action film through and through. However, there is a little moment where Bats figures out what Joker’s chemical concoction is and where he’s doing it. It’s a touch of detecting, but that’s it. Otherwise, Batman is trying to manage being a borderline sociopath with love while closing in on the Clown Prince of Crime.
BatmanReturns
Criticism regarding Burton’s last Bat-film centered around it being “too adult” and “mean spirited” for a comic book movie. These descriptions are why I’d rank it the second best movie featuring the character ever made. Batman Returns puts Batman in a battle with The Penguin and Catwoman. The Penguin is trying to take over the city with an army of armed penguins. Batman does far less detecting here.
BatmanForever
Dear universe, please grant me the strength to talk about the Schumacher Batman films without devolving into nerd rage. To counter Burton’s vision of a dark, Dark Knight, Schumacher added neon and nipples. And the film as a whole features even less real detective work by the world’s greatest.
Batman & Robin
Less detecting, more steroids pumped into the stupidity. Batman and Robin is great if you consider an avant-garde art-house film honoring the original 60s TV show. Unfortunately, it was a blockbuster studio action film that clipped The Bat’s cinematic wings for a decade. No detecting here. Just the joy of watching Arnold Schwarzenegger ham it up as Mr. Freeze and half-ass one of the villains in Batman’s rogue’s gallery with the most sympathetic and tragic back stories.
Batman Begins
Eleven years after Batman & Robin put the world’s greatest detective out of business, Christopher Nolan brought Bats back to life. The grittier take (even grittier than Batman Returns ever was) on the Dark Knight was a box office hit that reignited the hero’s cinematic adventures. However, it was yet another adventure where the gumshoe is simply an action hero and not a detective.
The Dark Knight
Arguably the best Batman film made thus far; The Dark Knight is ripe with layers and contemporary themes such as the surveillance state. Batman is a super-spy here, traveling the world to stop the Joker’s agenda of chaos. However, he’s no super-detective, even being (fairly easily) fooled by the Joker as to where his beloved Rachel Dawes was held captive.
The Dark Knight Rises
The last Batman film until 2019(?), The Dark Knight Rises features one incredible detective. However, it’s played by police officer John “Robin” Blake who figures out Batman’s secret identity from a “look?” Any who, long story short, not much detecting happening here either.
Why is it so hard to put the world’s greatest detective part of Batman into a movie?
So, we’ve quickly covered the seven solo films. Affleck’s Caped Crusader in BvS, the last film appearance of the hero, does little detecting too. In fact, he’s so bad he doesn’t ever figure out who Superman is or that his mom’s name was Martha. The best detective in the DCEU so far is Lois Lane or perhaps, Lex Luthor.
Why is it so hard to put the world’s greatest detective part of Batman into a movie? The comics do it on a regular basis. Sure, an argument exists that the Dark Knight fails there too, but at least there are many stories where Bats goes full on sleuth. The simple answer, though, and frankly, the anticlimactic answer is: money. Name the last hard-boiled detective film that grossed 500 million dollars? You can’t because that movie does not exist. And for WB, particularly in this age of super-blockbusters, a 500 million dollar return on investment for a Caped Crusader movie is simply not enough.
The popular cinematic formulas of any age have never included a pure detective story. Peruse the list of Top 20 blockbusters, and you won’t find even one in the bunch. The pattern is clear. A blockbuster needs crisp, beautiful eye-candy and action. Batman crawling through dark streets looking for clues makes the eye-candy side of things a bit harder, so Warner Brothers has to double up on the action (which, in turn, helps with the eye-candy). There’s simply no room in all this for a detective. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to do it. And there will be no shortage of Batman movies anytime soon, so maybe it’ll happen one day.
However, all hope is not lost. You see, there is a place where sleuthing and action live happily alongside each other.
The True Detective
If you want to see the Caped Crusader the way he’s meant to be, then look no further than some of the animated shows (and comics, of course), notably Batman: The Animated Series. The early 90s show is arguably the best representation of the entire Bat-verse there has ever been. The Dark Knight does plenty of fighting with his knowledge of a million fighting styles, but there are also episodes dedicated to showing off the investigative mind that’s under the cowl. See episodes like “The Demon’s Quest” or “What is Reality?” to see the sleuth be super.
