The Marvel Studios Comic-Con Panel Announces Big News

The Marvel Studios Comic-Con panel got off to a big start this weekend when they announced the full titles for the upcoming Thor and Captain America sequels, and showed concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy.

They also announced the team for the planned Marvel Studios movie, as well as showing Edgar Wright’s test footage for Ant-Man.

The Thor sequel will be called Thor: The Dark World. Captain America’s sequel will be called Captain America: The Winter Soldier. After unveiling some concept art, the panel announced the team that will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Rocket Racoon and Gamorra.

This is essentially the same line-up as the group that will appear in Marvel Comics’ Avengers Assemble, according to ComingSoon. Wright then came on stage to show test footage he had filmed for the upcoming film Ant-Man, though the film has not yet been cast.

ComingSoon is keeping a live blog of Marvel’s actions at Comic-Con. To follow the updates, click here.

Danai Gurira Talks Michonne in Season 3 and Comic Con Offers Glimpse Into The New Season

 

“The Walking Dead” was a huge hit at Comic Con 2012 this year, and with season 3 on its way, fan excitement is building. In the new season we see the new character of Michonne as well as the introduction of the Governor.

Danai Gurira, the actress who plays Michonne, opened up about her character as well as the work that goes along with it.

“Initially, learning the sword was challenging,” she told Vulture at Comic-Con this weekend. “I started to take natural vitamins, tart cherry pills. Very good for the joints and the muscles. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do what Michonne has to do in 100 degree heat, but with those pills, I’m fine.”

Whatever Danai is doing, worked. Executive producer, Gale Ann Hurd expressed how impressed she was with Danai’s work.

“Michonne kicks ass with a katanna sword,” she said. “The intensity level is incredible, we’ve got our cast inoculated now, the new people realize just what they’re in for and the level that we expect, and they’ve become just as passionate about ‘The Walking Dead’ as we all are.”

You can now see the season 3 trailer below:

Meet The 14 New Cast Members To Game of Thrones Season 3

Fans are (somewhat) patiently awaiting the next season of the massively popular HBO series, “Game of Thrones.” As the plot thickens and being heating up, season 3 is promising to be, well, amazing. What is great about the series, besides the overall story, is the large cast with many impressive actors attached, and with each new season we get a plethora of new faces to grow to like before they (most likely) bite the dust. The main cast currently includes Richard Madden, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Alfie Allen, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Jack Gleeson, Rory McCann, Aidan Gillen and Iian Glen.

With the premiere of season 3, however, we see an addition of 14 new cast members to the ensemble.

Dame Diana Rigg as Olenna Redwyne, The Queen of Thorns

You might recognize her as the cat-suited secret agent Emma Peel in the British TV series “The Avengers” (a role later taken by Uma Thurman in the disastrous 1998 film version). She also played the only woman James Bond ever loved, killed just after their wedding, in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Her most recent movie appearance being in 2006’s “The Painted Veil.”

The Character: Olenna Tyrell (née Redwyne), is the grandmother of season two addition Margaery Tyrell, described as a cunning, manipulative matriarch who comes to King’s Landing to oversee her granddaughter’s wedding to King Joffrey.

Clive Russell as Brynden Tully, The Blackfish

The Scottish actor Clive Russell is already relatively well-known since he starred in Neil Gaiman’s TV series “Neverwhere” as villain Mr. Vandemaar and also had a recurring role as sinister comics boss Damien Knox in Edgar Wright’s “Spaced. He’s got over a hundred credits to his name, but the most recognizable one of late is as Captain Tanner in both Guy Ritchie “Sherlock Holmes” films.

The Character: Brynden is the uncle of Catelyn Stark (née Tully), a famous knight who now fights alongside Robb, becoming one of his most trusted advisers and comrades.

Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully

A RADA grad best known at first for playing Brutus in another HBO epic, “Rome,” before being M’s right-hand man in “Casino Royale.” Most recently, he starred in “The Recruiting Officer” at the Donmar Warehouse in London.

The Character: Catelyn’s younger brother, Edmure, is a whoring, hot-headed figure, but good at heart.**Spoiler** He becomes the lord of Riverrun after his father, Hoster Tully, dies.

Mackenzie Crook as Orell

Crook came to fame as Gareth on the original BBC version of “The Office,” before going on to appear in the original “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy. However, he has begun adding more serious roles to his credits, appearing first in “The Seagull” withKristin Scott Thomas, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Carey Mulligan, then the award-winning “Jerusalem,” and most recently “The Recruiting Officer” alongside Menzies.

The Character: Orell is one of the lieutenants of Mance Rayder (the biggest part yet to be cast), the so-called King of the North. He’s a skinchanger, which means he’s able to shift his consciousness inside an animal, in his case an eagle.

Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion

The Northern Irish actor starred  as troubled snooker player Alex Higgins in stage hit “Hurricane,” which he also wrote. He also appeared in films like “Mrs. Henderson Presents” and “Five Minutes Of Heaven” and TV series like “My Boy Jack” and “Hidden,” but recently got a lead role — later in the year, he’ll star as Belfast punk legend Terri Hooley in “Good Vibrations” from the producers of “24 Hour Party People.”

The Character: Beric Of Dondarrion is a former soldier for Ned Stark, who is now the leader of the outlaw group the Brotherhood Without Banners, and may or may not be unkillable.

Nathalie Emmannuel as Missandei

Emmanuel appeared on the British teen soap “Hollyoaks,” in which she played Sasha Valentine, who became a prostitute and a heroin addict. Since leaving the show in 2010, she’s starred as Nala in “The Lion King” on stage and appeared in the most recent season of cult superhero drama “Misfits.”

The Character: Daenerys is a little lacking in followers after the events in Qarth, but Missandei, an interpreter in the slave city of Astapor, looks to fill the gap. Eleven in the books, clearly a little older here.

Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon

At 13 years old, she has already had her fair share of success, sharing the Olivier Award(the British equivalent of the Tonys) for Best Actress in a Musical for playing the title character in smash-hit musical “Matilda.”

The Character: Shireen Baratheon is the young daughter of Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), who nearly died of a disease called ‘greyscale’ as a child, and is left with flaky, grey dead skin on her left cheek and neck as a result.

Tara Fitzgerald as Selyse Baratheon

She played Ophelia to Ralph Fiennes’ Hamlet in 1995, winning a Drama Desk Award for her trouble, and starred in films like “Sirens,” “The Englishmen Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain” and “Brassed Off.” Currently she’s been a regular on long-running BBC procedural “Waking The Dead,” and its spin-off, “The Body Farm.”

The Character: Selyse Baratheon (née Florent) is Stannis’ wife, and the mariage has never been a happy one. And yet Selyse is a fervent supporter of his priestess Melisandre and her new religion.

Paul Kaye as Thoros Of Myr

Another actor from the series “Spaced. Kaye came to fame playing obnoxious red-carpet interviewer Dennis Pennis on a BBC comedy show. After the character was killed off, he starred in British films like “Blackball” and “It’s All Gone Pete Tong.” Also has a memorable role on TV show “Pulling,” and as Ingram’s stage father in “Matilda.”

The Character: Thoros is a red priest, affiliated to the same religion as Melisandre. He’s also a formidable warrior, and co-founds the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed

Sangster first appeared as Liam Neeson’s son in “Love Actually” before going on to star in films like “Nanny McPhee,” “The Last Legion,” “Bright Star” and as Paul McCartney in “Nowhere Boy.” TV roles have included a classic two-part “Doctor Who” and the voice of Ferb in long-running Disney Channel animation “Phineas and Ferb.”

The Character: Jojeen Reed is the son of another aristocratic family who has “greensight,” the power of prophetic dreams. He accompanies Bran, Osha and Hodor as they flee from Winterfell.

Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed

A young actress who played Juliet at the Globe Theater at 19, Kendrick is probably best known as Carey Mulligan’s best friend in “An Education.” She also played the title role in a BBC version of “The Diary Of Anne Frank,” and has more recently appeared in TV series “Upstairs Downstairs” and “Being Human.”

The Character: The older sister of Jojen, Meera is a skilled huntress who, with her brother, assists and accompanies Bran on his flight from Winterfell.

Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane

Hivju played Jonas, a nervous scientist, in last year’s remake/prequel of “The Thing.” Since then, he’s been shooting a role in M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth” alongside Will Smith.

The Character: Tormund is a giant-slaying wildling raider, one of Mance Rayder’s most trusted men, with the impressive title “Tall-talker, Horn-blower and Breaker of Ice, Husband to Bears, the Mead-king of Ruddy Hall, Speaker to Gods and Father of Hosts.” Not sure what “husband to bears” means but I’m interested in finding out.

Philip McGinley as Anguy

McGinley is best known for playing Tom Kerrigan on long-running soap “Coronation Street” between 2008 and 2009. More recently, he had a tiny role in “Prometheus.”

The Character: A talented archer, Anguy is another member of the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Anton Lesser as Qyburn

A veteran Shakespearean actor, 60-year-old Lesser has long been associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has been a prolific TV actor in Britain. Most recently, he cropped up in the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” and stole the show in excellent BBC program “The Hour.”

The Character: A former maester and skilled physician, Qyburn was stripped of his position after performing experiments on living people. Since then, he’s joined the mercenary band The Brave Companions.

The third season will consist of ten episodes. It will be based roughly on the first half of A Storm of Swords, the third of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin, of which the series is an adaptation.Production began in July 2012 and the series will premiere on March 31, 2013.

New Details Released On Walking Dead Video Game

The Walking Dead: Video Game creators have released the first details about the new game.

Angel Gonzalez, creative lead for the project, said the developers wanted to portray the Walkers from the series as closely as possible, including the way they react to sound and smell, according to Digital Spy.

“When referencing the show, one of the things that stood out to us was how the Walkers reacted to sound; they were suspicious of gunfire,” Gonzalez said. “Seeming to know that only humans were able to wield weapons, the Walkers instinctively moved toward the sounds people made. They are also attracted to other sounds, so someone moving through that world needs to be aware of the amount and type of noise they make at all times.”

The developers are creating the games Walkers the same way, so players will have to be careful, quiet and sneaky to avoid confrontations during gameplay.

“If you show up with guns blazing, you’ll quickly find yourself dealing with a much larger crowd and you could easily be overwhelmed,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also said players will give off a greater scent and attract more Walkers by staying in one place for too long, keeping true to the story that Walkers can identify the living by their sense of smell.

“Humans give off a scent that the Walkers can detect, and the longer we stand still (like when we are looking at a shelf for supplies) the larger the radius of that scent becomes. Stand still for too long and a Walker shambling down the street looking for a meal might just discover you standing inside a store,” Gonzalez said.

Activision announced the new title last week, stating that it will be a first-person shooter based on the AMC television series.

The game’s story will take place prior to the events in the show, and it centers on Daryl Dixon and his brother Merle as they fight their way across the Georgia countryside to reach Atlanta.

Terminal Reality (Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Kinect Star Wars) is developing the game.

It will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC sometime in 2013.

My Friend Dahmer Is heading To The Big Screen

Two-time Eisner award nominee Derf Backderf’s autobiographical graphic novel “My Friend Dahmer” is getting a big screen adaptation.

The story follows Jeffrey Dahmer from age 12 right up to the day he kills his first victim, two weeks after his high school graduation.

Ibid Filmworks partners Marc Meyers and Jody Girgenti will produce.

According to a press release about the film, the story is set in the bizarre world of 1970s suburbia.

From the release:

“Jeff Dahmer, a troubled teenager, descends into darkness as his divorcing parents, high school teachers and peers stand by and do nothing. Told through the eyes of his friend Derf, this is a touching, realistic look at some oddball teens trying to find their identities in the tumultuous 1970’s.”

There are macabre elements to the story, but the release states it will be more of a coming-of-age story of “teenagers teetering on the abyss” than a horror film.

The film is described as Welcome to the Dollhouse meets Dazed and Confused by way of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

Indie publisher Abrams ComicArts released the critically acclaimed bestseller in March. The book recalls Dahmer’s “isolation, binge drinking, bizarre behavior to get attention, and his disturbing fascination with roadkill.”

Backderf and his friends created the Dahmer Fan Club and encouraged Dahmer to act out, including fake epileptic fits and his imitation of a cerebral palsy victim, according to the release.

No word has been released yet on who will portray Dahmer in the upcoming film, though the role carries potential star-making power.

The last actor to portray Dahmer in film was Jeremy Renner in 2002’s Dahmer, a role that won him an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and helped launch his career.

Check back for more details as they are released.

Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms MMORPG to be released in 2013

The massively huge world created by author George R.R. Martin for his series A Song of Ice and Fire lends itself well to a MMORPG and thankfully that is about to happen. A new video game (which begs to be better than the game released earlier this year) will be called “Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms.”  The fantasy genre massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is scheduled to be released sometime in 2013.

A trailer was released on July 11th during Comic-Con and it appears that elements from the critically acclaimed HBO series will be included in the game such as the show’s opening credits.

The game will be browser based and will have players pledging allegiances to either the Stark, Lannister, or Barantheon houses to rule the land and the Iron Throne. One drawback is that players can only be human-sized characters, however more character types will be added at a later date. Player-versus-player combat will also be part of the game, as will stealth attacks and brutal sword play. The game takes place after the deaths of King Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark.

The world of the game, at least at the beginning, will include a playable area from the Wall in the north to the south beyond King’s Landing. You won’t actually join directly with a faction, though. Instead, you’ll join a lesser house in Westeros – your guild – that can align with one of the three great houses.Players can also possibly swap allegiance between fractions using bribes and swaying your guild.

Be aware though, once out in the open on the continent of Westeros, player versus environment content will be testing you. While the game is PvP driven, it is possible to level (at least a bit) without them.

In terms of controls, the mechanics of combat will include, “You’ll move with WASD and attack with 1, 2 and 3 keys, which correspond to light, medium and heavy attacks. If you combine the attacks in the right ways you’ll trigger combos and attack faster, and can perform special combo finishers. There isn’t really a strict class system. Instead, you select skills as you go, and there’ll be around 60 available at launch. There’ll also be a weapon leveling system, which should help out if you happen to find a weapon you really like,” according to IGN.

Don’t worry, Mac users! The game is not only free to play but it is will also be compatible for both PC and Mac operating systems. Bigpoint is developing the game with HBO and is known for developing popular games such as Farmerama,Battlestar Galactica Online, and SkyRama.

The Amazing Spider-Man Reboot Is Surprisingly Fun – Review

The Amazing Spider-Man

Elena-

As a Spider-Man fan, you obviously think the world needs another manifestation of Spidey. True or False? Discuss.

Rachel-

Well…this is kind of a trick question for me. While I was OK with the first two Raimi Spidey flicks, the third one was so heinous that I’m all for throwing all of them out and pretending they never existed. IT WAS THE MOST HORRIBLE THING. THE MOST. Plus I was never really sold on Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker anyways, mainly because HE ISN’T FUNNY AT ALL.

So yea…I guess we did need a reboot of the Spiderman franchise if only to make something better. Do I think we needed ANOTHER origin story? Absolutely not. Everyone gets Spiderman. Nerd bit by a spider is now a super hero. LET’S MOVE ON. Let’s just make movies out of some of his better story arcs. Like THAT is a novel idea.

But that didn’t happen. We got another origin story.

Still. SPIDERMAN! Do you even like Spiderman? Or are you a DC person?

Elena-

Ha!  You can’t trick me with your false dilemma!

The truth is…NEITHER.

There. I said it. I admitted it in public after three and a half long years:  I am a nerd who doesn’t do comics.

Look, I have nothing against them. I just didn’t read them as a kid, and they have never grabbed me as an adult, and so I have no intimate knowledge of or attachment to any comic book heroes.  As a general rule of thumb, superheroes bore the shit out of me.  I think I just don’t like the amount of disbelief I have to suspend in order to accept the stories is too much to bear.

Spiderman is…um.  At least he’s not Superman?  At least he’s supposed to be nerdy and lame and kind of smart so at least he’s better than dumb jock whose only power or relevance is that he’s an alien?

Rachel-

This Spidey is British and his girlfriend is Emma Stone. Do you like this better than Tobey “SadSack” Maguire and Kirsten Dunst? <—- I almost typed Kristen Stewart…the horror.

Elena-

Shudders.  Oh, god, the horror indeed.  Heart of Darkness style, “the horror…the horror.”

Anyway, yes, I like this pairing better. I don’t know why Tobey didn’t do it for me, but I was never interested enough in him or KiKi to actually see any of their movies.

When I saw the studio was making another Spiderman movie, I just assumed Tobey wanted to get paid too much and they replaced him.  Instead it’s a complete reboot, which I guess I am actually the person they were after?  The one person on the continent who might have been caught by an origin reboot but would have ignored Spiderman 4: The Amazing Face-Lift? So, congrats, Sony, you reached me.

I quite like Emma Stone, and while I am skeptical of Andrew Garfield—I liked him in whatever movie was our introduction but found him a weak-ass in Never Let Me Go (or maybe that was just what the character was written to be and he played it brilliantly)—I figured if nothing else I’d have a laugh picturing the Bachelor contestant from a couple seasons back who looked exactly like him. Seriously.  She exists. Her name escapes me, but it was the season that happened right after NLMG came out, and that was all I could see every time she was on screen.

What did you think?  Did Andrew Garfield make a better nerd cum dark avenger than Toby McGuire? Did starring in Never Let Me Go give him more nerd cred coming in?

Rachel-

I didn’t think I would like Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker as much as I did. True, he was a little less nerd and more hipster guy, but whatever. He’s skinny, he gets tongue-tied around girls, he cracks really lame jokes. That’s the Spiderman I know and love! Rock on, Andrew. (It helps that he gave a pretty heartfelt speech at last year’s Comic Con in a poorly fitting Spiderman costume about how much Spiderman meant to him growing up.) So I think he’s worthy. I think he is definitely worthy. Plus… DUDE DOES HIS OWN STUNTS.

Go cry somewhere else, Tobey…no one likes you.

Elena-

With a franchise that has been rebooted as many times as this one, do you still hold out hope for something new?

Rachel-

I’m just grateful I don’t have to sit through another Green Goblin story. (yet) Here’s the thing – a lot of Spiderman’s classic enemies are FUCKING STUPID. The rhino guy? Sand man? Mysterio? (OK, Mysterio could be cool…) So they don’t have a lot to pick from when it comes to appealing to the douchey masses. And no, we can’t have Venom or Carnage in the first movie of a trilogy. That would never happen.

I thought it was smart to bring Gwen Stacey back. It distances the franchise from the Raimi films, and it gives the comic book fans a character we love. I also liked the way they handled the Uncle Ben and Peter dynamic. We got to know Uncle Ben and they modernized Peter by taking away the embarrassing early amateur wrestling story line while still keeping homage to it in the film. The bullshit with Peter’s parents is a retcon we’ve all seen before, and it’s just as boring now as it was then. JUST FLING WEBBING AND BAD GUYS AND BE SARCASTIC. It’s all we want from Spiderman. Everything else is just bullshit.

Spiderman is a uniquely city-dwelling super hero. His power basically STICKS on the fact that there are lots of tall buildings around so do you think Spiderman is an ALL AMERICAN hero? (This movie came out on the Fourth of July and so this is fucking relevant, no?)

Elena-

Um.  Uniquely American?  No.  Uniquely urban?  Yes.  But London has tall buildings.  L.A. Tokyo.  Hong Kong. Dubai. Uniquely Manhattan might be a better way to put it, since I am not sure any other city has the sheer length and breadth of skyscrapers crammed together that Manhattan offers a man of Spidey’s proclivities.

I do think since superheroes tend to be vigilante crime fighters they are all drawn to cities just because that is where the higher concentration of people are and thus where the higher concentration of crimes and/or potential targets for domestic terrorism are. I am guessing that Spidey flinging from pine tree to pine tree along the western Louisiana/eastern Texas meth corridor would be less interesting to watch for most people.

So tell me about your viewing experience. How many drinks did you need to get through it? Were you able to make up a new drinking game for this new franchise?

Rachel-

I was fairly entertained actually. I thought it was OK. I thought the middle was too long, the crane scene was embarrassing to watch and the soundtrack was HORRRRRRIIIIBBBLLLLEEE. Distractingly bad? Especially during the Lizard boss fight in the high school. Did you notice it? It knocked me COMPLETELY out of the film it was sooo bad.

Other things that were weird:

The film eventually gave up on a bunch of early storylines, like how Peter’s parents were basically super-secret genetic scientists who may or may not have genetically engineered their son to become a super hero if were ever bitten by one of their super special engineered spiders. Or something.

It also dropped the illegal experimentation on people story line (did that evil corporate douche ever make it off the bridge on his way to the veteran’s hospital?)

Lastly it dropped (but I think this time on purpose) the storyline involving Peter finding the man that murdered Uncle Ben. This was pretty smart, though, because it’s just more origin story shit, and I’m glad it went away. I didn’t want to watch Peter get all sad in the rain after he brought the killer to justice. I just wanted to see webslinging across the NYCscape. So bravo on that.

Everything else I assume was taken out because they realized in the editing room THAT IT WAS LAME.. Or they are planning on bringing it back for the sequel…which would suck.

E tu?

Elena-

I, too, found this movie surprisingly enjoyable.  I basically walked in with the resolution to leave after an hour if I was not engaged by then.  I wanted a popcorn flick; what I did not want was to feel like I’d have had a better night on my couch with Uncle Redenbocker and a True Blood catch-up marathon.

I…stayed till the very end and will probably see at least the first sequel.

Yeah.  It was pretty fun.  Not brilliant or original in any way, and I had to stop myself from thinking about it too much as I watched, because…oh my god, so many holes to poke about the world-building and medical tech.  I think my biggest issues were (1) Peter’s reluctance to go all civil libertarian on Gwen’s dad and make a crack about how the NY po-po was too busy harassing minorities about Mary Jane (see? There was a place for her in this film, after all!) to catch actual criminals versus victimless crime facilitators, and (2) the super-fast genetic changes, and (3) the super-fast lizard-limb growth.  Because, you know, lizards and starfish grow back their limbs spontaneously and not cell layer by cell layer over the course of months.  And resequencing someone’s DNA can happen in a matter of SECONDS.  You know, how viruses do it.  Except OH WAIT, NO.

What. The. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I also felt the limits of the genre as I watched it.  Like, there were a lot of interesting places a movie like this could have gone but to go there would have meant it was not an action film.  When Uncle Ben died I almost walked out, because I just cannot deal with any more guilt-driven angst “Oh, no, if I had only stepped in and stopped that guy RIGHT THEN Uncle Ben would still be alive, ergo I must never refuse a call for help againnnnn!”  Luckily they did not use that tactic.  The whole “with great power comes great responsibility” bit was annoying but not as much.

See, Peter here reminded me of a guy I knew in college. I could use Simon Tamm’s speech about River making him look like an idiot-child for this guy. Everyone we were friends with would talk about how he needed to use his “gifts” for the world, like he owed the fucking world something just because he was born with this hyper-intelligence.  He just wanted to play music. And I have no issue with that. I don’t believe in the idea of obligations to society just because of what you were born (or in Peter’s case became by accident). I think it would be a more interesting story to me to have someone like him who just wants to be normal.  Like I kind of thought halfway through that Gwen’s being a researcher and super-smart herself would lead to him asking her to cure him.

I think he likes being special too much, though. I really appreciated that they touched on the angle of how much of an asshole Peter was to Spark (or whatever the Jock’s name was)…how easy it is for bullying to go both ways so there is no clear victim and no clear bully.

I…don’t want to talk about the lizard man.  That whole thing was awful.  I could understand why the scientist gave himself the therapy but the fact that he suddenly became a boring super-nanny villain was just the lamest thing ever. The voice-over thought process in the sewer…oh, god. That was just embarrassing.

Name what (if anything) this version did better than any of the other Spiderman movies (recent or otherwise)

Rachel-

Speaking of webslinging…I really liked the way they did it in this film. They restored the man-made webslingers and really took advantage of Garfield’s athleticism to recreate moves we see in the comic books. I wasn’t a fan of the first person webslinging. That felt pretty gimmicky, but the rest of it was great. I also felt like this film was actually set in New York whereas Raimi’s films always LOOKED like they were filmed on a lot somewhere, probably on purpose, knowing Raimi.

I also got really, really happy when Peter was studying in his room while sticking to the wall. It’s the little things.

Elena-

And tell me about what this version utterly failed to achieve.

Rachel-

They certainly didn’t reinvent anything. The Lizard design was pretty bad. I’ve said it before and I’ll always say it – he looked like a goomba from the Mario Brothers movie. A goomba in a lab coat. Same grin.

I don’t know how rewatchable this film is either. I’ve only seen it once, so I can’t say I won’t enjoy it again, but the middle felt so long that I left the theater doubting whether I’d ever really want to watch it again.

That’s probably a terrible thing to say about a movie that I didn’t think was all that bad, but it’s true.

Elena-

I think that’s a really fair assessment, actually.  It was enjoyable to watch at the time. Not something I will dwell on or watch multiple times.  Any sequels will be subject to the same test this one was: is it more entertaining than being on my couch, yes or no?

I didn’t see anything here that could be iconic…nothing that will inspire this generation of kids to love Spiderman above all other superheroes.

Rachel-

I also thought that they really jumped the gun on rebooting the Spiderman franchise NOW. I think if they had waited even a year or two they could have rebooted with Ultimate Comics Spiderman – Miles Morales instead of Peter Parker. This new (he first appeared last year!) Spiderman is a young kid from Brooklyn. A young black kid. He may not be an icon yet like Parker, but Miles is important, and a super hero film featuring a big time title character played by a minority actor would have been HUGE. Sony and Marvel missed the boat on that one, but I’ll bet it happens eventually.

Of course…maybe we’ll see a John Stewart Green Lantern or a Justice League movie first! If DC can EVER GET IT’S SHIT TOGETHER.

What will you do if Hollywood forces yet another superhero origin story down our throats next summer?

Elena-

What I always do: ignore it unless it proves itself more interesting to me than its genre.  Yeah.  That’s pretty much how I handle them, always.

Do you see any hope for the future of this version of the franchise?

Rachel-

A fangirl can dream that Sony will work out something with Marvel and we can at LEAST get a little Spidey cameo in the next Avengers film?

Pretty please?

 

New Batman Action Figures Revealed For Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises opens in theaters on July 20 in about 18 countries worldwide, and another 38 markets the following weekend, according to Variety.com.

WB has upped the amount of screens they’re putting the film on by about 4,000 over 2008’s The Dark Knight, according to ComingSoon.

The new film will be played on about 15,000 screens overseas, which ComingSoon reported isn’t the biggest overseas opening, but still sizable.

In promotional news for the film, Hot Toys unveiled a Dark Knight Rises action figure. It comes with multiple accessories, faces and hands that are interchangeable.

The figure can also be placed on a Batpod or in a new vehicle called The Bat (sold separately).

To see the new toy, check out the photos below:

 

Editor’s note: I find the above toy incredibly creepy and Patrick Bateman-esque. Anyone else feel this way?

City Of Bones Film Adds New Actor To The Cast

A quasi-main character from the popular YA novel series “City of Bones” has been cast in the upcoming film adaption. Irish actor, Robert Sheehan will be playing Simon Lewis in the film opposite of Lily Collins as protagonist Clary Fray and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland.

Sheehan is most known for his role on the television series “Misfits.” The news was announced via the author, Cassandra Clare’s official Tumblr earlier today. She revealed the news after fans were able to get the hashtag #WeWantSimon to be a trending topic on the social media site Twitter.

The novel follows Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary human girl who discovers that she can see supernatural beings that no one else can and gets drawn into the world of the Shadowhunters, humans who hunt and kill demons. Campbell-Bower is male lead and Clary’s love interest Jace Wayland, while West plays fellow Shadowhunter Isabelle. Sheehan’s Simon is Clary’s best friend who harbors a secret crush on her and plays in a band. He, too, gets drawn into the secret underground world of the Shadowhunters in New York City.

Director Harald Zwart will direct the film in Toronto this summer, aiming for an August 23, 2013 release.

Cabin in the Woods Director Rewriting World War Z

Am I the only one who thinks the current version of this film adaptation should be scrapped and redone? This is actually closer to happening than you might think. The film version of Max Brooks’ much loved novel World War Z has had its ups and downs… OK, so it has been mostly downs. In fact the movie hardly resembles the book anymore with exception that both have zombies in them.

However, it might be on an incline after several months of incredibly unlucky setbacks. Cabin in the Woods director and overall awesomely faced genius, Drew Goddard, recently announced that he has been hired to re-write the ending of the World War Z film. According to Deadline, he will come in and finish out the ending the Damon Lindelof dreamt up from an earlier pitch for the project.

But can Goddard save this mess? While he is certainly talented, there may not be enough time for him to fix the broken project. Rewriting the end will help but can it fix the project that is already plagued by so many problems?

It seems current director Marc Forster has surely created a huge mess out of the picture. Going so far as to completely strip away the oral documentary concept of the book and replacing it with a thread known as Brad Pitt to keep the scenes together. Pitt will effectively be a (albeit strained) version of the reporter collecting stories during the apocalypse. Though, rather than merely collected stories of the doom that engulfed the world, he will be racing against a clock to save the world. Yet that major change is not even the worst part.

The film has had a notoriously high budget that continues to climb along with the need for massive reshoots that has delayed its release date by 6 months. The script has also presented major problems with rewrites being ordered more than once for the picture. There were even talks of the film becoming a trilogy as a way to handle the bumbling storyline that was created with what seems minor similarities to its supposed source text.

Goddard may be the best thing to happen to the adaptation. He has experience in the sic-fi genre already with his work on the aforementioned Cabin in the Woods as well as Cloverfield. He also worked on tv series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Lost.” (And hey, Joss Whedon likes him!) But in the end the studio may have better luck scraping the project and starting over from the beginning with Goddard from the get-go.