The upcoming UFO-centric ‘found-footage’ film Phoenix Forgotten released its new trailer. Check it out here:
The flick, produced by Alien: Covenant’s Ridley Scott, directed by Justin Barber, and co-written Barber and T.S. Nowlin, is rated PG-13 for “terror, peril, and some language.”
Since The Blair Witch Project terrified audiences with its realistic approach to storytelling back in 1999, major and independent studios alike attempted to find success in the genre – for better or worse. There have been a few successful flicks since, such as Cloverfield, V/H/S/, and Paranormal Activity. Will Phoenix Forgotten follow the trend of popular found footage films? With Ridley Scott on as producer, it’s quite possible.
The film is based on the “true” events of March 13, 1997, when several mysterious lights appeared over Phoenix, Arizona. This phenomenon is known as “The Phoenix Lights,” and remains the most famous UFO sighting in history.
Here is the plot synopsis:
“In the spring of 1997, several residents of Phoenix, Arizona claimed to witness mysterious lights in the sky. This phenomenon, which became known as “The Phoenix Lights,” remains the most famous UFO sighting in American history. On July 23, 1997, three high school student filmmakers went missing while camping in the desert outside Phoenix. The purpose of their trip was to document their investigation into the Phoenix Lights. They were never seen again. Twenty years later, Sarah Bishop, a documentary filmmaker and younger sibling of one of the missing, returns to Phoenix to delve into the their disappearances and the emotional trauma left on those that knew them. Nothing can prepare her for the shocking discovery of a tape from the night her brother and his friends disappeared.”
Phoenix Forgotten hits theaters April 21.
Are you fond of found footage flicks like Phoenix Forgotten? Share your favorite in the comments!
Last year in Cologne, Germany, millions gathered, and millions more watched live as 16 teams battled it out for the world championship. At stake was a one million dollar prize. It wasn’t a football (aka soccer) match or a football game but a gathering of eSports fans. Competitive video games are growing rapidly in popularity with estimates in the millions of fans. Competitive video games have been around for as long as the industry itself. The history of eSports, however, is shrouded in mystery and by goofy 80s TV shows.
Let’s look back at the history of competitive video games …
1972
Original Spacewar! “console.”
In the 1960s, a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created Spacewar. The game featured two players in a battle among the stars and is considered one of the most influential games ever. Back in the early 70s, Stanford University put together a competition between students called the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics (ISO). The winner of ISO would get bragging rights as well as a year subscription to Rolling Stone magazine.
1980
Atari 2600 Controller.
Four years after ISO, video games were still a wildly unstable, niche market few people understood. Local arcades held small competitions, keeping the spirit of competitive gaming alive. In 1976, Atari brought gaming home like never before and made video games A LOT more popular. By 1980, the Space Invaders Championships, an official competition by Atari, drew 10,000 competitors from around the United States.
By 1982, Atari was at its peak. Arcades were centers where the cool kids hung out. Okay, fine, we thought we were cool. Every day, arcades filled with newer, more advanced game machines. Each one was drastically more impressive than the last.
1982-1984
80s Arcades were dimly lit dungeons of awesome.
In 1982, Atari made an ill-advised deal to create a video game based on the Steven Spielberg blockbuster film E.T. The Extraterrestrial. The deal, worth millions, brought video games fully into the mainstream. Video games were wildly popular. So much so, Starcade was born.
Starcade was a short-lived television game show that centered around video games. Competitors would stand at arcade machines and use their time to get the highest possible score. Three rounds, plus a bonus round, would eliminate players until one was named the champion. Starcade proved that competitive gaming was feasible and entertaining. Although to be fair, the show also aged quickly, featured hosts who were clueless about video games, and only lasted two seasons.
The abrupt end of the show was, in part, due to the implosion of Atari and the E.T. deal. However, the implosion of Atari was mostly due to more powerful arcade machines of the time. Gamers wanted bigger and better graphics which Atari’s hardware could not provide, even after upgrades. And of course, there was also Nintendo.
For the rest of the 80s, competitive gaming popped up here and there. After Nintendo had debuted (in the U.S.) in 1985, competitions for Mario, Tetris, and other games became more frequent.
The 1990s – The Internet
What f*ck is the Internet?
As the 80s were closing out, a new thing called the “Internet” was gaining widespread use. New video game consoles like the Super Famicom (Japan’s name for the Super Nintendo) and Sega Genesis promised to use this Internet to connect players like never before. Efforts from both systems were gimmicky at best. However, PC gaming made use of the web. Early games like Netrek (the great grandaddy of the MOBA genre) allowed players to compete from miles apart.
By the mid-90s, this Internet thing seemed to be taking hold. So did competitive gaming. Nintendo and Blockbuster Video (Netflix of the 90s) held yearly competitions. In the UK, GamesMaster and Australia’s A*mazing carried the torch of Starcade featuring video games on a game show.
In 1997, a possibly unrelated event occurred in Asia. A financial crisis swept the region. To boost employment and revamp the ailing country, South Korea upgraded the country’s entire network. As things turned around, many unemployed Koreans turned to gaming to pass the time. The faster internet allowed these people to play a lot. More players meant a fast-growing market that was served by new businesses, namely, Internet Cafes. By the end of the 20th century, competitive gaming was a robust industry in South Korea with games like Diablo and Starcraft leading the way.
21st Century & Beyond
ESL 2016 Championships with one million dollars on the line!
Gaming’s skyrocketing popularity paved the way for not only more game shows but an entire network, G4, that was devoted to the industry. Entering the 21st century, gaming companies looked at the oncoming wave of competitive gaming and continued to feed into it. In 2016, a live competitive event in the game Counterstrike: Global Offensive, drew more than 30 million viewers.
Talk of eSports, particularly to “real” sports fans still receives scoffs. It’s similar to the early treatment of wrestling. Today, though everyone knows wrestling is “fake,” the sport is admired for the extraordinary athleticism of its athletes. Competitive gamers sit, and to onlookers, it doesn’t look like much is going on. But the same sense of focus that makes a hockey player or high-flying wrestler great also applies to an eSport “athlete.” It’s not large muscles taking a pounding; it’s precise muscles firing off in bursts a fraction of a second long in a brilliant dance of hand-eye coordination. Whether you’re on the side of mocking it or watching it, eSports are here to stay. At 80 million fans and growing, it’s also clearly the sport of the future.
USA Today wrote up a preview of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and included in the piece was some new quotes from stars Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon. The actors discussed their characters’ friendship in the film.
Batalon:
“He understands Peter’s life and he thinks he’s the one who can help him deal with being a crimefighter and deal with girls.”
Holland:
“It’s nice to be able to make up excuses of why he has to get out but then share a beat with Ned and be like, ‘I’m gonna go swing through New York’ — the wink-wink scenario.”
Are you looking forward to seeing the characters interact in Spider-Man: Homecoming? Comment below, let us know!
“A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.”
The summer movie season isn’t what it used to be. A few years ago, studios would only release big blockbusters between the months of May and September to capitalize on the fact that children have more free time in the summer to see films because they’re off from school. That just isn’t the case anymore. While many huge event movies are still released in this time frame, most studios have no trouble anymore with releasing big films throughout the rest of the year as well now that it’s been proven that movies have the potential to make truckloads of money regardless of what month they’re released. This year alone, Beauty and the Beast, Logan, Kong: Skull Island, and The Lego Batman Movie have already been released prior to the start of the summer movie season, and some of the most anticipated films of the year will be released after said season concludes, including It, Blade Runner 2049, Thor: Ragnorak, Justice League, and – of course – Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Despite this, there is still something extremely exciting for film nerds once the summer movie season kicks off. Since we’re now a month away from its start, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the five films – and three honorable mentions – I’m most anticipating being released this year between May 1st and September 4th.
Not much is known about the new planets in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but according to Makingstarwars.net, we might have some new information.
The outlet is reporting that the scenes filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia, take place on a planet called “Canto Bight”.
As MSW points out, Canto Bight could be a code name. However, since it was described as “casino-like”, the code name would’ve likely been something more blatant, like “Vegas”.
What do you think about this potential planet name? Have you been keeping up with rumors regarding The Last Jedi? Comment below, let us know!
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15, 2017.
Imagine that America made it legal for citizens to commit crimes, including murder, for twelve-hours one designated night every year, during which all emergency services would be suspended. This is the reality that filmmaker, James DeMonaco, brought to life when he wrote and directed The Purge and its two sequels, The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year, for Blumhouse Productions.
The Purge franchise is one of the rare movie series where each installment not only made more money than the last, but was also better received by both audiences and critics. It appears that Blumhouse now plans on bringing the hit horror series to the small screen as a television show.
Bruce Willis has a new movie, Once Upon A Time in Venice, hitting theaters and VOD this summer. And it probably won’t resuscitate a career, which has turned into a bizarre disappearing act from the one-time superstar.
Where did Bruce Willis go? The dude who was once John McClance, once Butch in Pulp Fiction, who at times would branch out into smaller films where the story was the allure, who retrenched himself with M. Night Shyamalan’s first two films, who at other times looked to be having a blast cracking wise in B-grade action flicks, has vanished. He has been replaced by a placid, disinterested actor-for-hire. His slate of direct to TV low-budget action flicks – films where he gets top billing but swings by the set for a day of filming and ten minutes screen time – are beginning to outnumber his successes.
This happens sometimes. It happened to Robert De Niro, and that decline has been dissected for about a decade now. It happens to older actors and, maddeningly, middle-aged women in Hollywood. But Willis isn’t too old yet. This isn’t an age thing, it’s a combination of poor films, a massive disinterest in promotion, and picking up the reputation as a complete asshole.
Willis has been accused of being a terror on the set, especially from Kevin Smith who claimed Bruce Willis made the shoot a “soul crusher.” He has been incredibly rude and uncomfortable with interviewers on a press tour. In 2015, Willis was fired from a Woody Allen film, the third Expendables movie, leaving a trail of bad things people have said about him in his wake. His reputation is that of a curmudgeon, a diva, someone who isn’t here to collaborate. He isn’t picking bad roles so much as he is taking the junk he’s offered to grab paychecks.
Bruce Willis is the new Val Kilmer.
Val Kilmer was, much like Bruce Willis, a terrific star at one point. But then he allowed his inflated ego ruin just about every project he was involved in until he showed up less than interested in delivering good work. Nowadays, you can catch Val Kilmer’s latest films on VOD. Right next to Bruce Willis’s latest.
Like I said, Once Upon a Time in Venice does have a promising synopsis:
ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE tells the story of Venice Beach P.I. Steve Ford (Bruce Willis): a detective who’s good with the ladies, bad with the punches, and wild about his dog, Buddy. But when his beloved pet is stolen by local thugs, Steve makes a questionable alliance with their devious leader, Spider (Jason Momoa). Teaming up with his best friend (John Goodman), Steve pulls out the big guns in search of Spider’s stolen cocaine and cash in order to set things straight and get Buddy back where he belongs.
Jason Momoa, John Goodman, Thomas Middleditch, Adam Goldberg, Famke Janssen, and Kal Penn. That’s a solid lineup, but nothing to make sure the film is some rebound picture for Bruce Willis. Add to that the fact that Cop Out writers have written the screenplay and are directing. Yikes.
There’s no telling if Bruce Willis will ever make any sort of comeback. Any of these actors, legendary in their own ways and their own niches, have popped up from time to time to show they still have their fastball. Robert De Niro had his chance with Silver Linings Playbook; never mind that he followed that up with one garbage movie after another. Perhaps M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming Unbreakable sequel will right the ship for Willis, at least for a little while.
A new trailer featuring all four of Marvel’s Defenders leaves more questions than answers– unless you do a little detective work yourself, according to The AV Club. The teaser is only 16 seconds long, with no dialogue or even eye contact exchanged between characters. How can you figure out anything yet?
Found Footage and Fake News: A Modern Take on The Defenders
The teaser trailer takes the form of found footage–a clip from a security camera in the elevator of the Midland Financial Circle building. All four Defenders slide into the elevator, looking worse for the wear. Luke barely looks up from the floor, Matt’s back in his super subtle mask and Danny seems winded for some reason. Only Jessica appears to have her wits about her. After choosing the floor they need to get to, she turns to the camera and punches it out.
The trailer may not look like much, but the time stamp in the right corner caught fans’ eyes early on. As soon as Jessica punches in the camera, the stamp freezes on 8:18:20:17. This piece of evidence alone could be left up to interpretation. However, the numbers on the left side of the screen look suspiciously like an IP address…
If you continue to follow the clues, you’ll arrive at The New York Bulletin’s website. The Bulletin is a literal fake news outlet reporting on the Defenders’ New York. In faint gray text at the bottom of the page, the fan theory is confirmed. The text reads: “Watch ‘Marvel’s The Defenders All Episodes Streaming Only on Netflix August 18”. Check out the trailer for yourself and let us know if there’s anything we missed.
Based on Marvel Comics, The Defenders features an ensemble cast of Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), and Finn Jones (Danny Rand/Iron Fist). The show releases on August 18th, 2017 exclusively on Netflix.
Two new stills and a couple of promo images have surfaced in a week jam-packed with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming news, via Comic Book Movie.
One of the photos is an action shot showing Tom Holland’s new Spider-Man in an iconic power pose as he jumps between levels on the Staten Island Ferry. It is taken from a scene teased in the new trailer (released last week) in which the young fledgling superhero attempts to halt the Vulture (Michael Keaton) on his path of destruction. An attempt which ultimately fails with potentially disastrous results, demanding the aid of the Avengers.
The second still is a behind-the-scenes shot of Holland, Keaton and director Jon Watts pictured in some sort of warehouse set. In this chilled tableau, Holland is seen wearing a homemade Spidey suit after Tony Stark/Iron Man confiscated his hi-tech outfit following the ill-fated incident on the Staten Island Ferry.
Finally, the two new promotional images feature Spider Man and his dashing civilian alter-ago.
The long-awaited regeneration of the Spider-Man story is coming very soon. Here’s the synopsis in case you need reminding:
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming stars Tom Holland, Robert Downey, Jr., Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Donald Glover, Zendaya, Tyne Daly, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Hannibal Buress, and Martin Starr.
Spider-Man: Homecoming spins into theaters on July 7th this year.
The world of professional wrestling & comic books are a natural pairing. All the big characters in wrestling closely resembles the bold characters in comics but none are bigger and bolder than wrestler Joey Ryan! Now, you can finally see the “King of Dong Style” in comic form presented by Chido Comics.
Independent publishing company Chido Comics recently launched their Kickstarter for a project based on the “sleaziest wrestler in the business” Joey Ryan. The company previously teamed with Lucha Underground to bring wrestlers like Vampiro, Mil Muertes, and even Rey Mysterio to comics. Now, they plan on another project but this one seems a little different than the ones before.
Check out the link to the Chido Comics Kickstarter and official site below!
“Joey lends himself well to a variety of storytelling possibilities and we found what is, in my opinion, the perfect take. It’s gonna get weird. But the result, as long as we get funded, is going to be a comic about a wrestler dragging himself back from the brink. He’s just gonna do that by way of dick flips and a whole lot of sleaze, neon, baby oil, and one-liners.” – (Writer) Tres Dean
About “Joey Ryan: Big in Japan!”: “Joey Ryan was pro wrestling’s king of sleaze – until five years ago, when a match gone wrong left his tag team partner crippled and one of his opponents dead. Now he spends his days looking for answers at the bottom of bottles in Tokyo bars. But when he hears that his old nemesis is back in town, he decides it’s time to get back in the ring. And there’s only one way they can settle their score – in a Japanese Death Match! Witness Joey Ryan’s redemption in JOEY RYAN: BIG IN JAPAN by Tres Dean and Jamie Jones, launching this April 4, 2017 from Chido Comics.”
About Chido Comics: Chido Comics is an independent publishing company founded in 2016 which focus is to publish a wide variety of licensed & creator-owned comic books and graphic novels. Our goal is to publish stories by up-and-coming, talented and diverse creative teams. Along with your support, we can join forces and help some of the best independent artists bring their work to life as they intended without limitations or restrictions.
