Deadline has confirmed that production on the still untitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel began today at Leavesden Studios just outside of London. Along with this announcement, they also provide readers with the first plot synopsis of the film, supplied to them by Warner Bros. Pictures, which offers up the first revealing details on its story.
Adventures in Babysitting, starring the never-aging Elisabeth Shue, was released on this day thirty-years ago. As such, I thought it would be fun to look back at what is – in my mind – not only one of my personal favorite eighties films, but also one of the best, quintessential movies to come out of that decade period!
Spider-Man fans have had a rough go of it at the theater. We’ve gotten emo Spider-Man from the Sam Raimi films and hipster Spider-Man from Marc Webb’s, but never “true” Spider-Man. Then Tom Holland stole the show in Captain America Civil War and webheads everywhere rejoiced. They had finally done it; they brought Peter Parker to life. And so Homecoming quickly became one of the most anticipated superhero movies in quite some time. Everyone wanted to see how Holland could do without the rest of the Avengers around to bolster him. It’s finally hitting theaters this week, and while it’s easily the best Spider-Man film yet, it’s just a perfectly ok superhero piece overall.
Homecoming takes place several months after the events of Civil War. Peter is back in Queens being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man while anxiously awaiting Tony Stark to call him with his next assignment. Just when it feels like that call might never come, Pete crosses paths with the Vulture and his crew, and realizes that this may be his chance to prove his worth once and for all.
That’s a perfectly adequate plotline for a superhero movie. It’s not the most conventional movie in the MCU, but it’s also far from original. As Tony Stark says in the film, “there’s a little grey area in there, and that’s where [Homecoming operates].” It’s a simple, enjoyable story overall, but it’s not genre-defining. If you’re looking for a groundbreaking superhero movie, please temper your expectations before July 7th.
However, what really makes Homecoming special is all of its non-superhero related content. What’s always made Spider-Man a captivating character is how the writers focused on his personal life, and that’s finally translated to film here. Watching Peter in his everyday life – going to school, dealing with girls – is what’s going to keep your interest when the Vulture stuff wanes. It’s character development at its best, and it’s relatable.
Every critic out there is comparing Homecoming to a John Hughes movie, and that’s absolutely intentional on the part of director Jon Watts. There are tons of visual cues – some more blatant than others – meant to recall the likes of Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club. And much like those films, this is a coming-of-age story. Perhaps that’s why the superhero action sticks out as somewhat weak. Because we want to see less action and more of Peter coming to grips with who he is as a hero. He dreams of being called to The Show, but he also thrives as the man on the ground – the guy that deals with threats, again as Tony says, “below [the Avengers’] paygrade.”
Tom Holland further proves himself to be the best Spider-Man put to film yet. He’s the perfect amount of awkward, chatty, and energetic. He plays Peter as someone just happy to be where he is, as Holland himself must feel. Watts and his team of screenwriters also deserve a lot of credit for bringing this character to life. They hit all of the quintessential beats for both alter egos (something previous films have failed miserably at). Peter struggles to balance his social life with superheroing; he’s forced to let his friends down on more than one occasion. Plus there’s an early scene that shows Spidey stopping small time crooks and helping little old ladies that will put a huge grin on lifelong fans’ faces.
Admittedly, they might go a little too far with the suit. It crosses into Iron Man territory with all that it can do now. But it actually helps to emphasize the awkward, comedic side to Peter, since he has such a hard time figuring out how to use it at first.
With all that said, if you are a Spider-Man purist, you might walk out of this film with some issues. They nail the titular hero himself, but they take some mighty fine liberties with his supporting cast. It definitely feels like an Ultimate version of the universe, where everything is just slightly left of center. But this is one of those times where you just have to suck it up and accept that not everything from the comics will carry over into the films.
Especially because the supporting characters in Homecoming are so much fun to watch. Marisa Tomei as May, Jacob Batalon as Ganke Ned – they’re all as stellar in their roles as Holland is as Peter. And Michael Keaton absolutely slaughters as the Vulture, even if his storyline falters a little. Keaton plays Toomes so low key and menacing, kind of like Vincent D’Onofrio in Daredevil, making a previously goofy rogue terrifying.
Homecoming is the most accurate film portrayal of Spider-Man to date. And while the overall superhero story is just ok (but not bad by any means), the smaller coming-of-age story is what makes this a movie to watch time and time again – just like those John Hughes movies you’ve seen a hundred times.
Despicable Me 3 is a combination of visual decadence, 80’s gags, and a re-hashed narrative that will have children laughing their butts off.
The film is framed around two different stories. It begins by talking about the origin of super villain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) and how a failed child star became the world’s greatest evil-doer. Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) are now veteran members of the Anti-Villian League, and they are hot on the trail of Bratt. The Anti-Villian gets word that he’s attempting to steal a huge diamond off of a freighter and dispatches our two heroes to go and apprehend the thief. Gru manages to retrieve the diamond but allows Bratt to slip away. This leads to them being fired. Seemingly out of nowhere, Gru finds out the very next day that he has a very wealthy twin brother named Dru and that he’s invited his family to his mansion. Lucy views this as an opportunity to bond with the girls. Gru sees it as a chance to connect with family. Dru thinks he can learn a thing or two about the family business. Of course, nothing happens as planned.
The other narrative centers around the Minions. They have grown weary of being safe and long for Gru to go back to being evil. When the minions beg to go back to their evil ways, he tells them no, so they decide to split. Soon after leaving, their shenanigans land all of them in prison. Will they wait out their sentences or bust out to rejoin with Gru?
The animation is so crisp, and the lines are so clean that it gave the film a type of certain realism.
Parker’s vocal talents made Bratt a fun villain for Gru to go head to head with.
Lucy has this minor story line where she’s trying to figure out what it means to be a step mother. Very relatable to many families who will be paying to see this over the weekend.
Making the villain someone who was stuck in the 80’s was a great decision.
It was good to see Gru’s commitment to staying good even when his brother is tempting to back to what he knows best.
It’s a paper thin story that appears to borrow from the first two films.
We see the same gags from the minions that we’ve seen over and over again.
There is much to say about Despicable Me 3. If we are judging this film on its merits, then no one should bother paying to see it this weekend. However, sometimes we venture to the movies because our kids are super jazzed to see something. There’s nothing in the film that wouldn’t appeal to children from the ages of 3-11. It’s not very often that something is released which is 100% kid friendly and if the kids are laughing a ton, sometimes that’s good enough.
Although 20th Century Fox already has a stacked lineup of coming book films, their lineup just got six films added to it. While we don’t know what movies will be coming out on these dates, it’s been confirmed that each is a Marvel Comics property.
The dates include June 7 & November 22 (2019), March 13, June 26, & October 2 (2020), & March 5 (2021). The release seem to be well spread out, with nothing coming out too close to another film.
Since we have the official dates, it’s time to speculate. Though the Fantastic Four are still owned by FOX, I doubt they’ll be using that property. Instead, however, I have a feeling these slots are related to Deadpool, X-Force, or X-Men.
What movies do you think we’ll see announced? Sound off in the comments below.
It’s been an eventful weekend for comic book covers from Image, and now over on his Twitter, original Image co-founder, and The Savage Dragon creator/writer/artist has revealed the image for his upcoming ‘Not Safe For Work’ explicit cover for the over-sized issue #225.
A censored version of the NSFW Savage Dragon cover by @krashzzone has found its way onto the Internet. It looks hilarious as censored. pic.twitter.com/B7MWB7a0yL
— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) July 1, 2017
Larsen also spoke to ComicBookResources.com and had a few things to say about the image:
Sometimes I do things just because it amuses me. Image has done a few NSFW covers of late, and while they certainly qualify as NSFW, they haven’t been especially raunchy. The thought of some reader unwrapping this from its plastic sheath and doing a spit-take makes me laugh. I love comics—all comics. Every kind of comic book. If it’s well done, you can count me in as a fan. Love the underground comics from the ’60s and ’70s. Love European comics. I love a good superhero comic. I love a good horror comic. I love a good fantasy comic. I love a good Western comic. I love a good sex comic. I love a good comic—period. Love ‘em all.
You can head over to CBR to read the rest of his statements. The solicitation for Savage Dragon #225 reads:
In “The Merging of Multiple Earths,” SAVAGE DRAGON boasts a giant-sized 25th anniversary special that fans won’t want to miss out on. The Dragon is restored to his former glory as he bulks up to take on Darklord in a final battle! Mr. Glum’s devious plot to merge the multiverse comes to its cataclysmic conclusion! Savage Dragon and Malcolm Dragon join forces to save Angel Murphy and the very Earth itself!
The issue will hit stores on July 25th has a cover price of $11.99.
What do you guys think? Comment and discuss below!
Image Comics and Howard Chaykin have pulled the controversial cover to issue four of The Divided States of Hysteria, according to a statement released by Image Comics Saturday afternoon.
The cover in question which depicts a Pakistani man hanging by a noose and a racial slur (Paki) on the name tag was met with social media outrage Friday. When major media outlets like The Hollywood Reporter start picking up the story, a PR nightmare for Image Comics is starting to build.
Sorry but WTF is going on at Image? The new cover to Divided States of Hysteria manages to be the most offensive one yet. I'm disgusted.
— Rosie Knight 👽 (@RosieMarx) June 30, 2017
[totalpoll id=”83054″]
Image Comics’s Statement:
Image Comics and Howard Chaykin would like to apologize over the distress caused by the cover to THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #4. It’s neither Howard’s nor Image’s intention to inflict pain on anyone already dealing with intolerance or hostility on a personal level. We ALL agree that any form of bigotry is wrong, and this comic exists due to anger and frustration over rapidly escalating injustice in a world filled with people too quick to judge others on the basis of their race, religion, or gender association.
The purpose of this series is to sound alarms. THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA is a comic book about the terrifying future we are heading for if our country remains on its current path. Far from an endorsement of the horrible violence depicted or the ugly language used by many of the characters, Howard’s goal is to give us a glimpse into a society crumbling under the weight of ignorance, hatred, and intolerance. It’s unsettling to be sure, but it’s difficult to convey the horrors of a world gone wrong without also showing what it looks like.
People have described the cover to DIVIDED STATES #4 as distasteful, and they’re right, in that: ALL hate crimes are horrifying, dehumanizing, and distasteful, and the intent of this cover was to challenge people to look at what we as a society have become. Every hate crime is perpetrated under the cover of willful ignorance, because there is always someone content to turn away from what is really happening or label shameful truths as “alternative facts.” What’s more, ignoring that these hate crimes exist—and that they are happening right now—watering down in any way how bad things have become, seems like a cop out, like turning a blind eye at a time when we all need to be paying attention.
At its heart, THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA is revenge fiction set against the backdrop of a nation on the brink of collapse, with the greedy and corrupt people who brought it to that point in the crosshairs. If it was just a book meant to be provocative for the sake of being provocative, Image would not be publishing it. This series is supposed to make people angry about what’s happening in the world right now, and it’s supposed to make people want to fight back and resist the very real oppression bearing down on us all.
These are trying times we are living through, and while this comic puts a spotlight on just how bad things have become and how much worse they could possibly get, it was absolutely NOT meant to harm anyone. We understand, however, that with no foreknowledge of the series’ content, the cover to this issue is painful and offensive.
With that in mind, more sensitivity will be given to future covers of THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA. The original cover to issue #4 will not be used, and the cover for issue #6 will be substituted.
While Image as a company is committed to free speech and artistic expression, we also recognize our responsibility to be sensitive to all members of our readership. We listen to all feedback—from our creators, from our retailer partners, from our readers—but Image Comics recognizes that we could have responded to readers’ concerns about the graphic nature of this cover more quickly and with more empathy and understanding. We apologize for not doing so sooner.
###
We would like to continue the conversation with you, comment below.
Churchill is the first of two films to be released in 2017 about the wartime career of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Churchill takes place over the four days before D-Day. Churchill (Brian Cox) is suffering from memories of the failed operation in Gallipoli 29 years prior and servicing on the Western Front. Fearing the D-Day Landings could be another disaster Churchill, clashes with the British and American commanders as he is pushed out of the military decision-making process.
Churchill is the second film about World War II from Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky; his previous effort being the prisoner-of-war movie The Railway Man. The Railway Man was an underrated drama and worth checking out because of Jeremy Irvine’s incredible performance. Churchill does not match the heights of The Railway Man.
Teplitzky and his team did assemble a solid cast: supporting Cox was Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Julian Wadham, Richard Durden, James Purefoy and David Webb as well rising star Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children). A film like this centered on Cox’s performance and he was terrific during some of his monologs like when he prayed for rain to prevent D-Day and his speech at the end of the film (it is safe to assume audience know how D-Day ended) and he nailed downChurchill’s movements. However, Cox’ natural voice was a distraction because we know what Churchill’s voice really sounded like.
The film was made on a modest $10 Million budget and was a major Scottish production. Whilst Cox and Richardson give the film gravitas the rest of the cast can hardly command the biggest pay packages and Churchill comes across more like a glorified TV movie. There are some nice wide shots, Teplitzky has a great eye for scenery and composer Lorne Balfe provides some solid orchestra music but the majority of the film is a talky film, taking place mostly in the war rooms, grand halls, and bedrooms or on the grounds of sparsely populated country estates. One hilarious example was when Churchill visits Field Marshall Montgomery’s (Julian Wadham) troops and the scene takes place in a wooded area and the production could only hire a handful of extras.
Teplitzky also fell into the trap of making Churchill too sappy and sentimental because characters make emotional speeches about their inner doubts and feelings or have shouting matches with each other, inflamed by Balfe’s music. It just does not ring true to how people would actually speak. It’s schmaltzy for the sake of it.
Churchill is the first film written by Alex von Tunzelmann who has worked a professional historian and author. Her intentions are noble as she is trying to show the man behind the public persona – Churchill is clearly an intelligent man with a remarkable way with words, so stubborn that is both a strength and a fault and enjoyed alcohol a bit too much. Churchill faults made him more human because he suffers from guilt from the Gallipoli campaign and a scene where he berates his new secretary (Purnell) acted as a counterpoint to a scene in the beginning of Downfall where Adolf Hitler treated his new secretary with tenderness. However, von Tunzelmann and Teplitzky sacrifice historical fact for dramatic effort: Churchill is seen as a dinosaur firing the old war when in reality he came up with some ambitious plans and he commissioned some radical military inventions including for D-Day like Mulberry Harbors and crab tanks (also known as mine flails). Churchill would have known about Operation Fortitude, a complex mission of subterfuge where the Allies tried to convince the German high command that the Allies were going to invade Calais instead of Normandy. That would have made an awesome film.
The film also makes out that Churchill wanted to invade territory in the Mediterranean as a way to spread the risk of D-Day and save soldiers lives in case the operation failed. In reality, Churchill was thinking of British self-interest in the Mediterranean and wanted to invade Southern and Eastern Europe to prevent Soviet influence in Europe. The American intent was simply to win the war as quickly as possible.
By the third act, Churchill turns into The King’s Speech where Churchill is seen as the person who has to rally British moral and has to make the speech about the outcome of D-Day whether it succeeds or fails. Churchill falls into a state of deep depression and his loved ones have to shake him out of it. The comparisons with The King’s Speech are made more pronounced because James Purefoy is playing George VI – having a stutter and a lisp.
Churchill is a well-intended film that has some great actors and nice shots but its budget limitations were apparent – making it incompatible for cinematic viewing and simplified history a bit too much.
Webcomics are great and free to read, but the problem with anything you can read for free is that they sometimes end unexpectedly. Otherwise, you’re stuck waiting for an update, hoping nothing happens to the author while you’re waiting for a cliffhanger to resolve.
Here’s a list of ten excellent completed webcomics, good for rainy days and lazy afternoons. Some are longer than others with multiple arcs, while others are shorter, cohesive stories.
Artifice is an 88-page queer science fiction story drawn by Winona Nelson and written by Alex Woolfson. When Deacon, an android soldier, is stranded for more than a month on an outpost with a human he’s assigned to kill, his curiosity wins out over his duty. Rendered in gorgeous full-colour, the bulk of the story is teased out during a single conversation between Deacon and his robopsychiatrist, Clarice Maven.
Artifice was one of four finalists for the 26th annual Lambda Literary Awards in the “Graphic Novel” category. Alex Woolfson is now working on Young Protectors.
Phoenix Requiem, set in a Victorian-styled fantasy world, follows the spread of a horrific supernatural plague. Jonas Faulkner collapses in the snow at the edge of the village of Esk; a plague that decays its victims alive follows soon after. They’re connected, but the truth is worse than it seems.
Written by Sarah Ellerton, Phoenix Requiem is 800 full-colour pages and worth every single one of them. Fair warning for the faint of heart: Requiem doesn’t delve into full horror, but it takes full inspiration from the genre where it’s appropriate.
Girls with Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto ran for eleven years, and in that time told many tales of the bizarre life of Hazel and Jamie, roommates and best friends. Known for its growing focus on lesbian and subculture issues, GWS stars a professional dominatrix, several lesbian characters and one of the first and most prominent asexual characters in webcomics.
GWS has also been featured here, where Jamie and Erin’s asexuality arc is discussed in more detail!
Unlike many of the entries on this list, there’s no art involved in DM of the Rings. Every panel is a screenshot from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. The dialogue, however, tells a new story. The premise of DM of the Rings, written by Shamus Young, is that in a world where LOTR never existed, a group of (terrible) Dungeons and Dragons players get their hands on something suspiciously similar to Tolkien’s celebrated work. The following 144 pages are about as disrespectfully hilarious as you can imagine.
Of particular note is the opening crawl.
“Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D. The latter rose from the former, although the two are now so estranged that to reunite them would be an act of savage madness. Imagine a gaggle of modern hack-n-slash roleplayers who had somehow never been exposed to the original Tolkien mythos, and then imagine taking those players and trying to introduce them to Tolkien via a D&D campaign.”
Penny and Aggie is one of T. Campbell’s many, many webcomic projects. Originally illustrated by Gisèle Lagacé, the latter half of the comic is illustrated by Jason Waltrip. (The above is a Waltrip panel.) The comic takes inspiration from Archie’s Betty and Veronica, and follows popular rich girl Penny and alternative protest poet Aggie through their high school years and their tension-laden rivalry.
Penny and Aggie is notable for the amount of serious topics it chose to handle. While set in high school, themes of child abuse, racism, death, grieving and sexuality all become central. LGBT+ and coming out themes, in particular, became a driving theme of the comic right up to its conclusion.
A sequel of sorts to Bobbins, Scary Go Round by John Allison is a comic that makes very little sense and doesn’t really need to. The main characters mostly disaffected 20-somethings, face such dastardly evils as man o’war jellyfish, leprechauns, and the Devil Himself. All against the backdrop of small-town England, of course.
Scary Go Round as a comic is complete, but John Allison has returned to the cast and setting several times in Bad Machinery, Giant Days and a redux of Bobbins.
Homestuck by Andrew Hussie begins as a story about four friends who play an online game together. They end up bringing about the end of the world. Despite a slow start, the story mixes a bizarre humor with high stakes and engaging characters in a coming-of-age narrative.
At 8,000 pages, it’s one of the longest webcomics online. It integrates flash animation and games, animated GIFs, and music into its format to tell a multi-layered story.
What are some other completed webcomics you’ve enjoyed reading?
Wonderful performances from the cast, stellar writing, and effortless chemistry between the two leads actors make The Big Sick a special film.
The film is framed around the courtship of comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his now-wife Emily Gordon (Zoe Kazan). In 2007 Nanjiani was an up and coming standup comedian in Chicago when he met Emily. They instantly had a spark and fell in love with one another. His family originates from Pakistan and their strict values on marriage end up being the wedge that breaks these two up after eight amazing months together. A month later, he gets a call that his ex-girlfriend is very sick and been admitted to a local hospital. Upon arriving, the attending physician drops the bombshell that Emily has to be placed into a medically induced coma right away due to an aggressive infection that is spreading. Nanjiani is bullied into signing the papers and now he has the tough task of letting her parents, Terry (Ray Romano) and Beth (Holly Hunter) know about what has transpired. To make matters worse, her parents aren’t exactly thrilled to be talking to the man who broke their daughter’s heart.
The casting of Emily was extremely important to overall success of the story. Zoe Kazan not only was the right person to play this role, she may be the only person with the emotional depth to pull this off other than perhaps Emily herself. She is someone who has wrapped herself up in academia for years and is very sure of herself. Even when Kumail’s girlfriend recognizes that this relationship has no logical way of being successful, she defies conventional wisdom and pushes forward. Why? In her words, “I’m overwhelmed by you.” Audiences will be overwhelmed by Kazan’s wonderful performance.
Loved all the sequences that took place during family meals at Kumail’s mother’s house. Zenobia Shroff plays his mother and at times steals the scenes she’s in with her son. How could you not love her fake astonishment when everytime someone suddenly shows up to visit them, it happens to be a young single Pakistani girl?
Romano and Hunter each delivered a level of authenticity to the film in their respective performances. Seeing Emily’s mother just loathe her daughter’s ex-boyfriend felt so real and yet so right on the screen. Showing her father be at a loss for words about Emily’s condition was a gut punch to the soul. There’s a sequence in the film late at night where he is explaining how hard it is to go through something like this, “to love something so much it hurts.” Romano shows this pain.
In the film, we see Kumail go through a whirlwind of emotion to reach an epiphany that this woman, who seemed to be out of his life is now someone he can’t live without. The fact that this film is based on a true story is astounding to me but for him to want to relive it on screen blows me away. His performance is equal parts raw, hilarious, touching, and downright heartbreaking.
One of my favorite lines of the year, “Let me give you some advice Kumail … love isn’t easy … that’s why they call it love.” was perfectly delivered by Romano. It truly sums up this whole story beautifully. Everyone is at the hospital because they love Emily in some way. They might have animosity towards each other, still be hurt because of past indiscretions, but that doesn’t change how they feel towards Emily. This was projected so effortlessly in each performance that it felt like we were watching a slice of real life unfold.
Director Micheal Showalter makes sure that film doesn’t lag and never loses it’s momentum especially when it pivots from hilarity to something very serious.
Even though Emily is in a coma for most of the 2nd half of the film, the story never loses its focus on her.
The Big Sick is a gut-wrenching yet hilarious account of one of the pivotal moments in a couple’s life. Audiences will have experienced a kaleidoscope of emotions once those final credits are done. One top of all of it all, the film is one of the most original releases this year. Very rarely can a film effectively morph from a lighthearted romantic comedy to something that’s completely fascinating. This is the type of film that has the look and feel of something that could stick around well into awards season and nothing would make me happier.
