After last month’s defeat of the villain Aegeus, the Justice League of America have taken some time for themselves. Vixen and Ray continue their community efforts, Lobo lets off some steam in the only way he knows how, and The Atom and Killer Frost visit a museum in order to hopefully find out more about Killer Frost’s ‘heat sickness’ and the true nature and origin of her powers. But their efforts are cut short by the appearance of Terrorsmith, whom Atom and Frost will have to battle on their own.
Justice League of America #7 “Terrorstrike”
Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Jamal Campbell
Published by: DC Comics
Although this issue is a step down in intensity from last month’s excellent chapter, it is still a solid entry in what is a refreshingly different and old school feeling JLA. By focusing on character beats and some quiet moments, Steve Orlando is able to flesh out these lovable misfits and ‘B’ listers into characters you want to read about every month. Read on for 11 reasons Justice League of America #7 should be one of your pull list books this week!
Page from Justice League of America #7
Steve Orlando continues to write a great, old school feeling narrative that feels almost like Batman and The Outsiders or John Ostrander era Suicide Squad.
Jamal Campbell’s art is sleek, beautiful and expressive. It’s great for both action and drama.
The budding relationship and dynamic between The Atom (Ryan Choi) and Killer Frost.
Lobo’s bar fight scene. Classic ‘Main Man’ moment!
“As if Lobo’d be caught in a museum” –Killer Frost
The use of Terrorsmith, a cool underused character from the Bloodlines era! (Go the 90s!)
Great use of Dr. Sivana’s time pills. Love obscure call outs like that!
The relationships being built amongst the team. So many conflicting character types create such great moments.
Killer Frost still being able to be brutal when needed.
An appearance by Amanda Waller is always welcome (for us readers at least).
“Oliver’s got a Robin Hood crush. We met in a street fight and we both have colors in front of our work names…you think I don’t recognize a strange date when I see one?” –Black Canary
Page from Justice League of America #7
So final word? Not as bug shit crazy as the previous storyline, but it’s a nice, quieter moment that allows for some humor and character development. If you love oddball DC teams like the Outsiders or the ‘Squad, then this new Justice League of America is for you.
John C Reilly, instantly recognizable by his curly mane and square face, has already had a career unlike any other in Hollywood. In honor of Reilly turning 52 today, we take a look back at his unique path.
If Reilly had spent his entire life doing nothing but dramatic roles, he would still have a terrific catalog. He’s done brilliant work with legendary directors Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York), Roman Polanski (Carnage – sorry Marvel fans, this movie has nothing to do with alien symbiotes), and Paul Thomas Anderson (BoogieNights).He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Chicago. He headlined the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph. He’s even appeared in a Fiona Apple video.
But I’m here today to talk to you about comedy and John C Reilly is a titan in the realm of comedy.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
To me, Reilly is at his best when working with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. As Cal Naughton Jr. in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of RickyBobby,Reilly made us rethink what we thought we knew about friendship, teammates, and even Jesus.
While the entire movie is hilarious, it’s most often Cal that cracks me up. His lines are so quotable: “Shake and Bake”, “I’m in the front row and I’m hammered drunk”, and “cocaine and waffles” are particular favorites.
Step Brothers
In Step Brothers, he takes us into the world of man-child Dale Doback, a forty-year-old man who still lives with his doctor father. Despite the handicap of having no education or experience, Dale’s only plan for the future is going into “the family business”. Reilly gives us the obvious Peter Pan Syndrome laughs, but also takes us deeper. He shows childlike wonder at the effects of Liquid Paper on bees. He doesn’t know what to do when his enemy’s wife falls in love with him after he punches her husband in his stupid face. His sense of awe and naivety allows him to get away with so much and never risk losing the audience’s sympathy.
This classic Funny or Die video takes us into the world of three unhinged environmentalists and their psychotic approach to social correction. Whether it’s comedy or drama, I’m a sucker for a good “descent into madness” and this short delivers just that.
Even with all that, Reilly shows no sign of resting on his laurels. He’s currently filming Stan and Ollie, in which he plays legendary comedian Oliver Hardy, and Wreck-It Ralph 2 is expected in 2018. So, happy birthday, John C Reilly. We look forward to seeing what you have in store for us next.
With Memorial Day just around the corner, it’s the sign May is coming to an end. This means it’s time for another installment of Geekflix on Netflix, where 10 titles are labeled required viewing for anyone who wants to keep their geek credentials strong.
10Little Witch Academia(June 30th)
Searching for a new anime series which you can enjoy? Look no further than Little Witch Academia, a show which is a little bit of Harry Potter, mixed with the randomness which comes from an anime series. It already has a huge following thanks to the two short films which preceded it. Give it a watch and check it out for yourself.
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Which titles are you looking forward to most? Leave a Comment below and let us know.
Justice League Dark has lost its director, Doug Liman, sources tell Variety.
The reason for Liman’s departure is reportedly schedule related, as he has other obligations in the form of Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking.
Justice League Dark is being written by Michael Gilio and produced by Scott Rudin. The characters featured include Swamp Thing, Constantine, Deadman, Zatanna, and Etrigan the Demon.
Monkeys Fighting Robots will update this story as news breaks.
Well, as the retweets piled up, director Ava DuVernay got pulled into the genius idea, and after a major negotiation at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this week, the project was greenlit and Netflix, once again, swooped in and stole the project from prospective studios. DuVernay announced the collaboration:
So here is Twitter, showing that it might actually be good for something. And here’s Netflix, continuing to change the landscape of cinema. Movies aren’t dying, they’re just relocating to your favorite streaming service.
Sam Mendes isn’t directing the live action update of James and The Giant Peach for Disney anymore. But he may be directing Pinocchio.
Variety reports that Mendes, who certainly isn’t the first person I’d think of for any of these movies, is circling the live-action update of the puppet who became a real boy. Nothing is official yet, but it seems like a formality. Mendes is currently tied up with his stage play The Ferryman, so he hasn’t been able to meet with Disney execs to ink a deal.
Pinocchio, with Dumbo, is next in line for a live-action remake. That Dumbo movie has Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, so keep your fingers crossed that one won’t be just a total mess. And while Mendes doesn’t feel like the obvious choice from the get go, Pinocchio does have a bit of darkness to it. Especially in those scenes where he and Lampwick turn into donkeys and smoke cigars and all that. It could be intriguing to see just how dark Mendes takes the story, or how far he’s allowed to go with it.
Storied actor Richard Gere stars in Norman: The Moderate Rise And Fall Of A New York Fixer, a film about a mediocre man’s attempt, through sheer will, to put his life into a better place. Let’s face it, we all secretly desire to be part of the cool crowd. The difference is, who do you consider cool? For Gere’s Norman, cool are people with power and influence, and that’s who he wants to hang out with. However, does Norman have the power or influence to get people to watch the film?
Richard Gere carries this film like
Atlas with the world on his back.
The story goes like this: Norman Oppenheimer is a “fixer” or what’s sometimes referred to as a “Court Jew.” Others might use terms like huckster or even con-artist. Norman spends his life trying to get as close as he can to people in power. Norman does this in a few ways, but often by saying some very important person (VIP) is “his friend.” Norman befriends a young Israeli politician who later becomes a VIP and changes Norman’s life for better and worse.
Richard Gere carries this film like Atlas with the world on his back. Gere is oddly compelling, like a character out of a Woody Allen movie. It suits much of the film which feels inspired by Allen’s works. Gere’s performance, cadence, and accent are so flawless that it could be mistaken as the actor’s actual speaking voice. Gere chameleons here and it’s fun to watch.
The characters around Gere each play their part well. Steven Buscemi is a rabbi who is every bit as fantastic as it sounds. Lior Ashkenazi is the Israeli politician who balances out the somewhat ridiculous nature of the film. But perhaps it’s Hank Azaria who steals the show in a cameo as an alternative Norman.
As the title suggests, Norman is of moderate entertainment value.
Norman is a comedy of sorts, but one that never produces huge laughs, just smart chuckles. The first act of the film is mind-numbingly slow, but it’s serving a purpose. The movie is a slow-burn kind of film that builds and builds, becoming more and more absurd while never leaving reality completely behind.
The writing is sharp but sometimes offset by directing choices that are inconsistent. The best parts of the visuals allow the dialogue and performance to become the focus. At other times, it seems to try a bit too hard to be artsy. But perhaps the weakest aspect of the movie is the overabundance of music that’s repetitive. It reminded me of old school video games with limited music that just kept repeating time and again. While the music in a film should have a theme running through it, here it’s somewhat monotonous and distracting.
As the title suggests, Norman is of moderate entertainment value. It’s never hitting hilarious highs, but it also doesn’t bog itself down. Although, the film does cater to a specific audience, specifically one who enjoys dialogue and theatre.
The family of Sir Roger Moore has announced the sad news of the actor’s passing via Twitter. In a statement posted to the social network, it was said that he died, aged 89, after “a short but brave fight with cancer”.
With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated. pic.twitter.com/6dhiA6dnVg
He was perhaps most famous for taking over from Sean Connery as James Bond in 1973. He appeared as the iconic English secret agent in seven films. The English actor was also a key figure on the stage and small screen, but he was most proud of his humanitarian work, most notably with UNICEF.
The emotional statement written by his children finished with the beautiful tribute:
“Thank you Pops for being you, and for being so very special to so many people.”
Our thoughts go out to the family of Sir Roger Moore at this difficult time.
Nintendo has announced “Summer of Play 2017”, where gamers nationwide will get their hands on select Nintendo Switch and 3DS games.
“Try out the latest games for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS family of systems at Summer of Play 2017, touring cities across the nation all summer long.”
The playable Switch games include ARMS, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, 1,2 Switch, Snipperclips, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Ultra Street Fighter 2, Super Bomberman R, and Minecraft.
Included games on the 3DS side of things are Hey Pikmin, Miitopia, Pokemon Sun & Moon, Super Mario Maker, and Super Smash Bros. 4.
The tour will spread all around the United States, with several cities in California, and others in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Illinois, New York, and Maryland. Click here for specific dates and times.
Will you be taking part in Nintendo’s 2017 summer tour? Sound off in the comments below.
Yesterday, Universal Studios officially released some information regarding their new shared Monster Universe, which will kick off with The Mummy in a couple of weeks. It has an official name, The Dark Universe, and a few snippets of cast and crew for upcoming movies were announced. One new addition to the universe was an inspired bit of casting, the one announced director even better. The other one was Johnny Depp.
We all know by now what’s happening with The Mummy: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella as the mummy, Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll, batshit crazy trailers, and a whole mess of Tom Cruise running and shouting. I have my reservations, but I’ve at least come around to the fact that it should be fun.
Then, this announcement yesterday let us know that Javier Bardem has been cast as Frankenstein’s Monster and the next film in The Dark Universe, Bride of Frankenstein, will be directed by Bill Condon – which is absolute perfection since Condon directed the James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters. But Universal also had some bad news to give us, that the personification of Steven Tyler’s microphone stand, the “wacky pirate” himself, Johnny Depp, would play The Invisible Man in what will likely be the third entry into The Dark Universe.
Having Johnny Depp anywhere near this franchise is a garbage move from Universal. It makes almost no sense these days, and it’s flat, uninspired, lazy casting. Because we no longer have 1990s Depp, or even early 2000s Depp, when his idiosyncrasies were endearing, his craft intriguing, and even his work in between Tim Burton films was worth seeing. Gone is the quirky charmer with the tattoos and the clove cigarettes and wisps of jet black hair we all loved. Instead we have a puffy, necklace-obsessed, fedora-sporting egomaniac who’s allegedly inching ever closer to bankruptcy thanks to his penchant for maintaining islands and buying expensive wine. Plus, he appears to be an insufferable diva these days.
Reports this month surfaced regarding Depp’s issues on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean 11 or whatever we’re on now. Depp would alienate his cast and crew, mail in his performance, show up late and drunk, and be just an overall pain in the ass during filming. Maybe these are rumors, but nobody from Depp’s camp has bothered to rebut the claims.
Depp certainly appears to be battling the bottle and a dozen or so inner demons, and who really knows the truth behind that whole domestic issue between he and Amber Heard. If that wasn’t bad enough, these reports come on the heels of an incredible run of mediocrity over the last decade, a stunning mixture of poor critical reception and box office failure: Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger,Transcendence, Mortdecai, Black Mass (don’t even try to tell me this was good), Alice Through the Looking Glass… these are merely highlights of a wasteland of terrible films from an actor who doesn’t seem to care about the work he’s doing anymore.
Yet here he is, without any box office clout, or admirable work ethic, or any discernible ability to do anything aside from playing the super wacky eccentric with the accessories, cast as The Invisible Man. The Universal Monsters were for me, like so many of us out there, singular moments in my evolution as a movie lover. I remember my grandmother showing me Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and, yes, The Invisible Man, when I was 9, 10, 11… the mythology of these characters is woven into the tapestry of my cinephile DNA. Having this new universe clearly go in the direction of action/adventure is one thing, but The Mummy at least has the action/adventure GOAT in Tom Cruise; and it has Russell Crowe. And Frankenstein has Javier Bardem. The Invisible Man, an incredible story about a mad scientist who turns himself invisible and cannot handle the psychological windfall of this breakthrough, has a lazy diva who’s spent more money on necklaces than I’ve made in my lifetime.
What a perfect place for Universal to add some diversity to their Dark Universe. What a squandered opportunity. Having an African-American actor, someone like Get Out‘s Daniel Kaluuya, would be fresh and exciting – and inclusionary. Or, leaning older, what about Don Cheadle? Hell, imagine what Samuel L. Jackson could do with such an inventive role? If they didn’t want to go that route, why not call Oscar Isaac? He would be great. You know who else would be great in The Invisible Man? Literally anyone but Johnny Depp. Universal has shown zero creativity with this casting.
But here we are, with a rotting apple at the bottom of Hollywood’s fruit bowl, an actor whose bit just about everyone has grown weary of, anchoring what should be a major tentpole franchise picture. Again. And studios can’t figure out why people are getting tired of multiplexes and actual good movies are relocating to place like Netflix or HBO at alarming rates. This was just another missed opportunity from a shared universe who clearly spends a fraction of their time and brain power on casting as they do marketing and CGI.
At least this time we shouldn’t have to see much of Johnny Depp. Just his stupid hat, disembodied, floating above a dozen necklaces and scarves.
