Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all our friends, fiends, minions and monsters, both near and far! Embrace some make believe and bring on the screams!

Five Star Review Focus!

Let's come down from the superhero clouds for a bit and take a look at some of the other new films that are making strong names for themselves.

I like to keep track of the reviews over at Empire, as they tend to have a pretty good first-take on new releases, while being very particular with their coveted five-star "Unmissable" rating.

Lately, Empire has given the five-star nod to three new pictures, one of which opens here in the states tomorrow:


Mr. Turner - From Topsy-Turvy director Mike Leigh, a biography of British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall), contrasting his professional success with his personal turmoil and isolation.

The Babadook - A horror genre entry with genuine oomph about a nightmarish monster's visitations on a young boy and his family.

Nightcrawler - Opening Friday, a breakthrough performance from Jake Gyllenhaal about a Los Angeles loner's foray into the world of crime scene video journalism, it's a dark satire that's been mentioned in the same breath as Taxi Driver.

Not a cape or superpower in the bunch! These all sound pretty interesting, and at least a couple of them are bound to find their way into the pack at Oscar time. Keep your eyes peeled!

Marvel Unveils Complete Phase 3 Plan!

...and what a plan it is! We only just got our first real taste of Avengers: Age of Ultron a few days ago, and now Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed the entire war plan of the ensuing nine movies that will unspool following next summer's Age of Ultron (May 1st, 2015) and Ant-Man (July 17th, 2015) - a sweeping strategy that extends out to May of 2019. Talk about a five-year plan!


Feige confirmed everything but the by now assumed casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, including the Mark Millar Civil War storyline as the title of the third Captain America film, which will pit Cap against Iron Man in a conflict over forced government registration of anyone with superhuman abilities.

Here's the rundown:

5/6/16 – Captain America: Civil War

11/4/16 – Doctor Strange

5/5/17 – Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – moved up from its previously announced July release date.

7/28/17 – Thor: Ragnarok – "Ragnarok" means the end of all things in Norse mythology. 

11/3/17 – Black Panther – Hugely cool, featuring the prince from the African nation of Wakanda

5/4/18 – Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – The third Avengers chapter will be split into two parts and focus

on the ultimate threat to the universe by Thanos. 

7/6/18 – Captain Marvel – CM has had many iterations, but this one will be female Marvel Carol Danvers.

11/2/18 – Inhumans – A new galactic saga featuring super beings ruled over by Black Bolt.

5/3/19 – Avengers: Infinity War Part 1I 

WHEW! There you have it! That's a mighty intense counter-punch to the game-plan DC and Warner Brothers have announced. Marvel is clearly expanding their saga into a universe-spanning landscape that will allow them to tell stories on a much more cosmic scale. They're also confidently positioning new characters and responding to previous complaints of the lack of prominence for women and African Americans in lead roles. Two things are certain - with competing multi-film franchises involving characters from DC and the Star Wars universe, superhero stories aren't going anywhere...

...and it's going to be getting awfully crowded out there!

The Early Word on Interstellar...

The early reviews are making their way out on Christopher Nolan's ambitious science fiction saga, Interstellar. In this day and age, the higher a film's expectations, the more pundits stand poised to hurl barbs and furrow brows. Phrases like "flawed" and "near masterpiece" will abound, so detailed reviews are to be avoided like the plague, as there are bound to be many who feel entitled to discuss more than they should.
There is one review that might bear paying attention to - consider this excerpt from Scott Foundas' review at Variety: "...Interstellar reaffirms Nolan as the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation, more than earning its place alongside The Wizard of Oz, 2001, Close Encounters and Gravity in the canon of Hollywood's visionary sci-fi head trips. Global box office returns should prove suitably rocket-powered."

We'll meet back here in a week or two to discuss, but by all accounts Interstellar cries out to be seen on the largest format screen you can find.

Florida Mom's Slippery Slope

What's the old saying about good intentions? The saga of "Florida Mom" (aka Susan Schrivjer "Meyers") and her quest to raise awareness about the evil of adult collector action figures has become a full-blown national media story, and illustrates a couple of things - it's a great example of how a single individual can harness social media to inflict change. It's also a good reminder of how fear and an opinion can sweep up thousands of others into agreeing with an agenda that tars one "parolee," while hundreds of other "escaped cons" frolic in its wake.

Florida Mom's ire and outrage involves the Mezco Toyz line of Breaking Bad figures, and their availability at retail giant Toys 'R Us. Her issue being that the figures are packaged with Crystal Meth and assorted drug-manufacturing accessories. That these figures were available in a toy store where children can see them was an affront to the values of parents and the retailer, so said FM, despite the fugures being clearly marked "15 and Up" and displayed in the adult collector aisle of Toys 'R Us.

 

So guess what? Toys 'R Us buckled like a belt. The retailer caved, and FM's 9,000-signature petition was enough to cause TRU to yank the figures from their shelves and their website, despite the media attention of Breaking Bad stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston, and a counter-petition from Action Figure Insider champ Daniel Pickett to keep the figures, that currently has over 53,000 signatures.

 

TRU has revealed a complete lack of character in this move, and Florida Mom's focusing on one lone feather of the entire bird is misguided at best. Because while the Breaking Bad figures are gone, you can go into the same aisle and still find plenty of Mezco's Sons of Anarchy figures,which evidently don't cause Florida Mom to lose any sleep. Because clearly the message here is that while the depiction of drugs is bad, depictions of gun-running outlaws, firearms or violence are perfectly reasonable. She had no issue with the Scarface Tony Montana figures, Texas Chainsaw Massacre figures, gore-splattered Walking Dead figures or any of the countless adult collector movie and TV depictions of violent characters that companies like Mezco, McFarlane or NECA have been selling at TRU for years. FM is evidently totally fine with the legions of violent videogames and tarted-up Barbie/Bratz objectification/role-model dolls for girls. That stuff's perfectly acceptable!

 

I'm a toy collector. I'm also the parent of a small child. Those two identities aren't in any kind of conflict, and there are thousands of similar enthusiasts across the USA and beyond. I've got Breaking Bad figures myself, and if I've got a beef with Mezco, it's their recycling of endless color variations in figure outfits, rather than diligently expanding the line (How may differently colored jumpsuited Jesse Pinkman figures does anyone need, all with the same expression?).

 

But it's my responsibility as a parent to shield my child from harmful imagery or negative depictions. If parents are letting their children run unsupervised into the (gasp!) adult collector aisle at TRU, maybe same parents should put down their phones and monitor what their children are doing.

 

I know plenty of moms (including my own wife) who aggressively advocate for, champion, and protect the rights, safety and well being of our children. I have nothing but respect and admiration for parents who take to social media to keep their children safe. In this day and age, we have to. The world is full of bad influences. But like adult content video games, these figures aren't displayed or sold to young children.

 

More importantly, if there's anything we need to truly be vigilant towards when it comes to our children's futures, it's being watchful against the knee-jerk impulse to ban things. To restrict the freedoms of everyone in the name of fear and protection. History teaches rather dramatically that that's a slippery slope. If one upset consumer can get big retailer to label products with a scarlet letter, and we see how quickly retailers flinch, then how hard will it be to start looking for other objectionable items that could threaten our youth? That should be removed or banned?

 

While this is definitely a First World problem and undoubtedly worthy of plenty of laughs, Florida Mom might be better served in directing her efforts to consider that the real epidemic that threatens our kids is the epidemic of school shootings and gun violence that claims the lives of so many of our nation's children each year. Instead of worrying about an accessory of blue plastic crystals, maybe we ought to be more concerned about the accessories that have triggers - and maybe let's worry about what's going on outside of the toy store for once.

 

Ultron Pops Our Jaws Off!

Immediately monnikered as The Empire Strikes Back of superhero movies, the trailer for this darker, more dangerous sequel to The Avengers sent shock-waves of glee throughout the community of the faithful yesterday:

Mr. Whedon, you have our attention! The most delightful of surprises - a supposed leak that almost immediately got legit, Ultron himself looks like the villain of villains - the trailer's tone, backed by the most disturbing rendition of Pinocchio's "I've Got No Strings" is lethal and epic. We don't just get teased with Tony Stark's Hulkbuster suit, we get a full-reveal demo!

2015 is getting me so delirious with anticipation, I can hardly stand it.

Now THAT's a movie trailer!!!

WOW! Just look at this footage from Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea. Just spectacular.
The cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle (who's worked with Howard before) is simply jaw-dropping:

 

It's a true story, and the book by Nathaniel Philbrick is an amazing read.
This just moved up to the top of the list!

Branagh's Henry V comes to blu-ray!

Kenneth Branagh fans, rejoice! On January 27th Shout! Factory is releasing Branagh's staggering adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V on blu-ray.

If you've never seen Henry V, get ready - released in 1989, it was Branagh's directorial debut, and heralded the arrival of an actor-director combination to be mentioned in the same breath as Welles.

It's a visually stunning film and lends convincing grit to the horse and steel of its combat scenes. Emma Thompson, Ian Holm, Derek Jacobi and the great Brian Blessed round out the stellar cast. Branagh deliver's the Crispin's Day speech in such a way that you'll be ready to happily leap off the couch and follow him into battle.

Game of Thrones fans will eat this up and come back for seconds. If you haven't seen Henry V, it's up for pre-order on Amazon at a very reasonable price.

Now, soldiers, march away - and how thou pleasest God, dispose the day.

Drax does Bond!

Bond 24 has found their bad guy! In a particularly awesome bit of casting, Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Bautista has signed onto the latest James Bond outing as the "physically imposing" bloke they've been looking for.

This is great news, as Bautista was a crowd-pleasing standout in Guardians, able to deftly move from comedy to carnage with the flexing of a bicep. He's got what it takes to help create the iconic henchman Sam Mendes and company have been looking for. "Spare me your foul gaze, woman!"

Walking Dead: The Terminated

Moderate spoilers below – recommend you turn back if you haven’t seen the premiere...

AMC has got themselves a showrunner who delivers in Scott Gimple – and how. He’s cracked the code of how to give fans what they want while sending the show’s ratings into the stratosphere, delivering their highest numbers ever with 17.3 million viewers (up 7% from last year), while increasing 6% in adults age 18-49.

Sunday night’s 5^th season premiere of The Walking Dead jumped right into the thick of things Sunday night, manhandling viewers out of the boxcar into a sequence that’s destined to be referred to as “the trough.” Easily one of WD’s most horrible and disturbing openings ever – and it’s important to note that the violence isn’t perpetrated by Walkers, but by human beings. Humans who've strayed so far off the moral map that they now employ a casual, institutionalized brutality that makes their actions all the more disturbing. A scene depicting the mass sorting of victim's clothes, watches and possessions conjurs up a chilling semblance of the Holocaust. As in-your-face as the episode began, it was an unforgettable way to nail viewers’ attention.

I figured we’d be spending at least one or two episodes at Terminus, but the survivors have left its smoldering ruin in their wake. What may be most surprising is what didn't happen last night, as the body count for Rick’s group was unexpectedly low – with a couple of truly heartfelt reunions, placing all of these characters together in one group for the first time since the prison fell.

Head means-justifier Gareth is clearly still out there – and it’s likely only a matter of time before Rick makes good on his promise there. We also saw that someone else is back, too – in a very surprising reveal that popped up after the episode’s end credits. So without a doubt, a smashing return for fans of The Walking Dead, as Gimple and episode director Greg Nicotero pushed and pushed hard, to deliver an unforgettable episode that’s got us primed like mad for what comes next.

West coasters – in the past, AMC has always had their west coast feed show the series earlier than the normal 9:00 PM broadcast, keeping in line with the east coast feed, allowing viewers to capture it on their DVRs and watch it before the 9:00 airing. For the premiere, we had to wait ‘til 9:00 – but looking ahead to next week, they’re showing episode 5.2 first airing at 6:00 PM Pacific, so the 9:00 airing was just for the premiere, and to accommodate the lead-up of the season 4 marathon. Adjust your DVRs accordingly.

Scott, Greg – thanks, fellas. You let us all know without a doubt that you’re open for business – and business is good.

The Dead Are Back Sunday Night!

Just a quick reminder - like you needed one - that you'd better set the DVR, as Sunday night heralds the long-awaited return of AMC's The Walking Dead, embarking on their 5th season.

Last season ended strong, and left Rick and company in a position that needed dealing with pronto. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like we'll be hitting the ground running tomorrow night: "It's been incredible," according to series star Andre Lincoln. "I think the returning episode is one of the strongest we've ever had. When we all read it, we just thought it had everything."

PR is PR, but that sure sounds promising as hell. The series has really hit its stride, and they've been letting character and conflict lead the way. I'm very excited to see what goes down at Terminus, and it seems a pretty safe bet that we're going to get a pretty intense collision of boxcars and brisket.

Alien Queen rocks NYCC!

Check out her enormousness! NECA brought their new Deluxe Alien Queen to New York Comic Con! Check her out in scale to the other 7" Colonial Marines...

I'm gonna need a bigger shelf!

Homeland is back - in a good way

After an incredibly frustrating third season, I feel that after Sunday night's two-hour fourth season premiere, Homeland is back - at least the Homeland that got under our skin and made us scratch for more.

While Brody may be gone, his ghost definitely lingers. Without giving anything away, Carrie has a new post in Islamabad and she's as aggressive and determined as ever - and possibly just as nearsighted. The fourth season opener gives us a lot to enjoy and doesn't waste any of our time. A judgment call goes horribly wrong, Corey Stoll (may you never wear another galling toupee) joins the participants in a very effective bit of casting, and we're knee-deep in a Middle East plot that not only reflects real world U.S. involvement, but thankfully seems to be taking steps towards making its Muslim characters into well-rounded, stereotype-confounding people.

Immersing Carrie - and us - into the front line gamesmanship of overseas intelligence gathering bodes well for the direction this season is pointing. We're seeing fan favorite Quinn (Peter Friend) get a much more high profile (and conflicted) role, and in one of the more fascinating moves, the showrunners are taking the situation involving Carrie's child and instead of succumbing to the "oops" pitfalls of suddenly appearing offspring that torpedoed the dynamics of Dexter and Breaking Bad, Homeland is dealing with Carrie's new role in a frankly audacious and disturbing way that serves not only the plot, but Carrie as a character.

A premiere is only the tip of an iceberg, but from the evidence on hand, it really feels like the creators of Homeland have not only listened to their fans, but also looked keenly at the world at large, as well as taking the time to look within.

Star Wars Rebels gives good déjà vu

Star Wars Rebels premiered on Disney over the weekend, and I admit I had some trepidation. But after watching the pilot, Spark of Rebellion, I'm liking what I saw, and believe we may have a creative team here that's determined to return The Force to Star Wars. 

Teen "street rat" Ezra Bridger is an orphan, a scavenger and a thief. When the cargo of one of his heists has other interested parties, Ezra meets Kanan, Hera, Zeb and Sabine - the crew of The Ghost, a group of ragtag rebels with a strong Firefly vibe.

The group quickly runs afoul of the Empire, and what grabs your attention here are two things - the smart choice of setting this series in the time period between Episode VI and the original Star Wars, we're much closer to the events of Luke and Leia, both in timeline and in tone.

The production also looks spectacular. Much of the designs on view in Rebels are based on the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, and nearly all the music queues are lifted right out of Star Wars, often to very successful effect. Rebels looks and feels like Star Wars, with TIE fighters and Stat Destroyers a-plenty. While a member of the Ghost's crew is one of the few remaining outlaw Jedi, it becomes clear that Ezra is strong with The Force himself - in ways he's barely begun to discover.

The characters in the pilot are pencil sketches - we don't even meet the primary villain The Inquisitor until the final scene. But there's a nice story here and what feels like a good dynamic emerging. There's a joy of discovery and even a little awe that was often missing from The Clone Wars series. It would be a mistake to dismiss Rebels as "just a kid series," though for the most part, the story seems kid-friendly so far. Star Wars fans should definitely check out this return to form and give it a shot as the suspense builds towards Episode VII next year. 

Widescreen Star Trek!

Like many sixties TV shows, the original Star Trek had plenty of panning shots, where the camera followed the action across a scene. Check out the work of Nick Acosta. By cutting together HD screencaps, he's created some truly epic widescreen panorama shots that suddenly give classic Trek a sweeping, Cinerama vibe! Check out the full gallery at Nick's website!