Awesome Con 2018: Taking In The Sights At DC’s Most Awesome Pop Culture Event

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April 2, 2018

Awesome Con 2018 took place over the weekend here in the Nation’s Capital, and in its sixth year it has continued to grow, bringing in more guests, hosting more panels, and of course, attracting more Cosplayers! Me, Khalil Johnson, and Zack Walsh were there checking out the sites as usual. While I spent most of my time playing video games, chasing after wrestlers, and hunting down Funkos, Zack and Khalil attended panels (check out Zack’s John Boyega interview recap and Lost in Space review) and took in the sights.

Maybe it’s the personal connection of it being so close to home, but Awesome Con has quickly become my favorite con outside of San Diego. It isn’t as big as some others and doesn’t have the movie content that attracts me to other places, but what it has a terrific diversity of content. In a couple of days I managed to attend a Sean Gunn Q&A (hosted by the lovely and talented Kristen Page-Kirby), a Superman retrospective, a Q&A with WWE’s the New Day, and two wrestling panels, one focused on queer and femme wrestling fans. And that was just a tiny bit of what I was able to take in over two days. Mostly, it’s just been great to watch Awesome Con grow so rapidly, and I’m eager to see what they come up with for 2019.

Here is a collection of just some of what we were able to capture while at Awesome Con 2018, and yes you’ll see some of us sprinkled in a few of these. Thanks to the staff at Awesome Con for another great year and we look forward to the next one!

Villain Revealed For ‘Doctor Strange’ Sequel That Isn’t Greenlit Yet

By

John Nolan

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April 2, 2018

Marvel’s solo movies generally work in threes: Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnrok, and so forth. Unless you’re the Hulk, count on a trilogy of some kind. Doctor Strange wasn’t Marvel’s biggest hit, earning $668M worldwide, but he’s expected to be a major character in the MCU going forth, and so there will probably be more movies. That said, a sequel hasn’t been green lit yet, but if one does happen C. Robert Cargill, writer of the first movie with director Scott Derrickson, already knows who the villain will be.

Speaking at a recent Q&A, Cargill revealed Strange’s foe will be Nightmare, a malevolent demon from a dream dimension who draws strength by inflicting torment on his victims while they sleep. As such, he’s essentially immortal, making him a pain in the butt for Strange, Ghost Rider, and basically the entire Marvel Universe. If you sleep, he’s a problem.

Cargill says that we should also expect to see Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo play a key role, and possibly be involved with ending Nightmare’s evil plans…

“Me and Scott have not laid the groundwork for it but what I can say is that I have a feeling that whatever Nightmare is involved with, Baron Mordo, being somebody who considers himself the defender of natural law will have something to do with it.”

He adds that Mordo’s story is a long way from over but they already have a clear idea of where he’s headed. Those who have read the comic probably have a good idea what that means…

“For those of you who have ever read the comics, you know that Baron Mordo has a very particular arc, and that’s something we discussed with Chiwetel while working on the first movie. And part of the reason Chiwetel wanted to play Mordo was because he has a definitive ending as a character and it’s such a fascinating ending. And I do know that whether we’re attached or not, that Marvel plans on working towards that ending and fully realizing Mordo as more than just a cardboard cutout villain, but actually taking him to kind of Loki levels of awesomeness. That’s the goal with him.”

I think the key bit in there is the “whether we’re attached or not”, suggesting that Derrickson and Cargill may not be involved in Doctor Strange 2. Maybe the good doctor doesn’t make it out of Avengers 4 alive? Eh, I’m sure he does but you never know. [MovieWeb]

Kate McKinnon May Join Danny Boyle’s ’60s-Set Musical Comedy

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John Nolan

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April 2, 2018

Before Danny Boyle ever gets to do his James Bond movie, there’s the little matter of the musical comedy he’s working on with Love, Actually writer Richard Curtis. While we don’t know a lot about it just yet, we can probably assume it’ll lean heavily on the comedy aspect now that SNL‘s Kate McKinnon is in talks to star.

McKinnon would be joining the previously announced Lily James and Himesh Patel (Damned) in the ’60s-set musically themed comedy. Boyle will direct from a script by Curtis, but we don’t know any details on who the actors will be playing.

If we’re lucky, McKinnon will prove so invaluable that Boyle casts her as the next Bond Girl. Or as the next M. I’d pay to see her boss around Daniel Craig for a while. [Variety]

Awesome Con Review: Netflix’s ‘Lost in Space’ Episode 1

By

PunchDrunkCritics

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April 2, 2018

The pilot episode of Netflix’s new Lost in Space reboot had
its premiere at Awesome Con this past Saturday, and for a multitude of reasons
I’ll get into in just a moment, I really enjoyed it. That being said, when I
learned of the screening, I decided to familiarize myself with the original
1960’s cult classic show by watching the original pilot episode (currently on
Hulu) and doing some background Wikipedia-ing, which I feel tremendously helped
make a fan out of me.

Both series follow the Robinson family, who (after high intelligence
testing) are chosen to be among several families sent into orbit to colonize a
new planet after series of natural disasters leave the earth’s future up in the
air. Unfortunately, the title happens, and the Robinson family find themselves
stranded on a new world.

The original series reminded me a lot of the original Star
Trek series. Slow moving, heady, campy. And much like the recent reboot
of that franchise, Netflix has decided updating that for modern audiences means
loading it with intense and violent action. And much like with the J.J. Abrahms
Star
Trek reboot, I imagine this move to be a bit polarizing for die-hard
fans of the original. Some might view it as cynical that the new pilot features
characters being frozen alive, breaking limbs, operating on each other, facing
off with robot alien spiders (I’ll come back to that), and getting trapped in
wild fires, whereas the most action packed moment of the 60’s pilot was a campy
space-walk to go connect one rope to another rope. That’s not to say the action
is inappropriate or out of place in this new version. It did work for me for
the most part. Except for the robot spider aliens. Let’s talk about that now.

The original series is famous for its robot sidekick and his
catchphrase “Danger, Will Robinson!” It’s very clearly just a dude in a silly
robot costume waving his arms around, but that’s part of its charm. Our
rebooted robot is a multi-limbed alien being they encounter. He crash-landed
and is dying on the planet the Robinsons are stuck on. He’s big and CGI and has
a lot of super powers that can get them out of trouble, and, to me, went just a
step too far into the reboot-land-of-no-return. This was the only aspect that didn’t
feel organic to the project and instead felt like gritty fan service. Once
again, I’m glad to have watched the bit of the original that I did. I do fear
that without that back-knowledge, this new reboot might not make a lot of
sense.

Lost in Space features the streaming service’s signature cinematic
visuals and gripping storytelling. I could definitely see myself Stranger
Things-style binging through the series when it drops in full. The
characters are compelling. The dialogue is witty. The action is fun. I’m a fan,
but I’m also a fan now of the original, so take this all with a grain of salt.

From the looks of it, Netflix’s Lost is Space is gonna be
pretty rad.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Podcast: Cinema Royale Gets Nostalgic With READY PLAYER ONE

By

John Nolan

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April 1, 2018

On this week’s show, me and Matt Razak of Flixist.com will dive into the Oasis and review Steven Spielberg’s READY PLAYER ONE! Is too much turning back the clock a bad thing? Can Spielberg capture the magic of Ernest Cline’s geeky pop culture novel?

Plus, we’ll look at the hilarious controversy surrounding Donald Glover’s cancelled DEADPOOL series, Colin Trevorrow returning for JURASSIC WORLD 3, and what the Hell is really going on with those NEW MUTANTS reshoots!

Tune in for another great show!

Box Office: ‘Ready Player One’ Achieves $181M High Score

By

John Nolan

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April 1, 2018

1. Ready Player One (review) – $41.2M/$53.2M
The S.A.S. at the top of the leaderboard stands for Steven Allen Spielberg, whose Ready Player One proved to be a pop culture dynamo with $53M since its debut on Thursday, and $181M worldwide overall, $20M of that from IMAX alone. The $41M Fri-Sun number ranks as the fifth best of Spielberg’s career, shockingly. You can probably guess which films rank above it. The film is based on Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel beloved by retro enthusiasts and pop culture obsessives, but that also caused a good many of them to be dubious of the movie which was presented as a straight blockbuster. Reviews have been solid nonetheless, with critics and audiences digging it to mostly the same rate on Rotten Tomatoes. With Cline working on a sequel book don’t be surprised if we start hearing rumblings of a film adaptation to follow.
2. Tyler Perry’s Acrimony– $17.1M
The pairing of Tyler Perry and Taraji P. Henson continues to reap benefits for both. Tyler Perry’s Acrimony opened with a strong $17M. Like most Perry films this one was not screened for press, but that’s because they rarely need to because of his built-in, and highly consistent audience. Henson has emerged to become a reliable name, as well, which may explain why the quietly promoted film opened so well. The two previously collaborated on I Can Do Bad All By Myself and The Family that Preys.
3. Black Panther– $11.2/$650.6M
4. I Can Only Imagine– $10.7M/$55.5M
5. Pacific Rim Uprising– $9.2M/$45.6M
The John Boyega-led sequel Pacific Rim Uprising fell hard in week two, dropping 67% for just $9M and $45M domestic. It’s faring better worldwide with $168M total but I doubt it’ll come close to matching the $400M of the first movie. Keep in mind that it still hasn’t opened in Japan, and that should provide a big boost.
6. Sherlock Gnomes– $7M/$22.8M
7. Love, Simon– $4.8M/$32.1M
8. Tomb Raider– $4.7M/$50.5M
The $50M domestic total for Alicia Vikander’s Tomb Raider reboot sucks, but the $245M worldwide should make up for it. This is still a popular franchise and I wouldn’t write off chances of a sequel just yet.
9. A Wrinkle in Time– $4.6M/$83.2M
10. Paul, Apostle of Christ– $3.5M/$11.5M

Awesome Con 2018: John Boyega Talks ‘Star Wars’, ‘Pacific Rim’ And ‘Attack The Block’ Sequels

By

Travis Hopson

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April 1, 2018

John Boyega is at Awesome Con this year!

Hooray!

The energy in the room at his panel Saturday night was
electric, the air buzzing with excitement and glowing with the LED lightsabers
that somehow made it through the weapons check at the front gate.

Now, this panel was exciting for a number of reasons. Not
only was this John Boyega’s first appearance in DC, which he explained he’s
loving BTW, but also his first appearance at a convention outside of San Diego or D23. We were among the first group of con nerds to actually get to Q&A with
Finn, and that’s just rad as all hell. While the main focus of the panel was
his new film Pacific Rim: Uprising, which he both produced and starred in,
the topic quickly shifted over to the number one thing on everybody’s mind: Star
Wars.

“I’m gonna called JJ Abrams up next week,” he joked when
asked about the next installment. “I think Finn needs a jetpack in the next one,
and a blaster in each hand.”

He also shed some light on his infamous hatred of Porgs, explaining
that while we’re familiar with the cutesy final product, he had to deal with
the onset puppets and their “beady little dead eyes” that freaked him out.
While this is a perfectly justifiable explanation, I am still firmly team Porg.

Speaking of his internet infamy, he is very much aware of our
desire to see his character get romantically involved with characters of both
genders.

“Rose wants me, Rey wants me, Poe wants me.” He laughed, but
solidified that if he had to pick one relationship for Finn it would be Rey.

Speaking of Daisy Ridley, the biggest scoop of the night
seems to be their upcoming partnership in Episode IX.

“She texted me the other day saying she just talked with JJ
and that we’re gonna be back together in the next one.”

Big news considering that no one so far has read the script,
though Mr. Boyega promises to tweet the “special secret phrase” “guys, I’ve
read it” as soon as he does. This is our first real glimpse into the potential
story dynamics of the upcoming film.

“But Zack,” I’m sure you’re asking. “What about Pacific
Rim sequels?”

He’s open to them!

“But what about Attack the Block, the quirky British
sci-fi comedy from nearly a decade ago that was his feature film debut?”

He’s open to sequels there too! And although no plans are set, he actually has discussed
possible ideas with writer/director Joe Cornish.

“I’d love to see [his character] Moses mount up on police
horses with his gang and take to the streets again.”

A proud nerd, Mr. Boyega returned to the convention floor,
both to sign autographs and just straight up look around. In a heartwarming
moment, he explained that the late Carrie Fischer lead by example that it’s
okay to be yourself, and be both a fan and a star. That part of her humanity
was her humility, which inspires him daily to be the unashamed fanboy he is.
Which, when you think about it, is what this con is about.

Even Finn is a nerd about Star Wars.

Matt Damon Apparently Turned Down Villain Role In ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming 2’

By

John Nolan

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March 31, 2018

Matt Damon in a superhero movie? It’s gotta happen someday, right? And no, he won’t ever play Robin to Ben Affleck’s Batman like some have long thought/hoped/. If you believe the latest rumor from the guys at the Meet the Movie Press podcast, and I don’t often do, Damon was approached for a role in Marvel/Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, but not as a hero.

The rumor goes that Damon was in talks for an unspecified villain role in the film, picking up the reins from Michael Keaton who brought some gravitas to The Vulture last time around. Unfortunately, Damon said “nah” and that was apparently the end of that.

Maybe Damon thought his brief cameo in Thor: Ragnarok was more than enough? Damon has some of the best unexpected cameos ever. Remember Eurotrip? God that was a great appearance in an underrated movie. Or maybe Damon has decided comic book movies are too much trouble. If that’s the case I’m sure his buddy Ben has had some input on his thinking.

‘New Mutants’ Reshoots Drama: Jon Hamm Nearly Played X-Villain Mister Sinister

By

John Nolan

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March 31, 2018

New Mutants is in trouble, y’all. It’s funny, last night I was watching the film Marrowbone, a thriller/horror starring New Mutants stars Charlie Heaton and Anya Taylor-Joy, and the whole time all I could think about was their flailing X-Men flick. Josh Boone’s film, presented as a straight horror, was supposed to be out this year but has been hit with numerous delays, including a very recent one pushing it deep into 2019. Then came word that roughly 50% of the movie was in need of reshoots, this after a previous report said reshoots would take place to add a brand new character. Well, now we’ve got more details, and the smoke from a dumpster fire is clearly visible.

Basically, The Tracking Board says Boone shoot a post-credit scene that was to finally introduce the most anticipated X-Men villain, Mr. Sinister. What’s more, he was to be played by Jon Hamm (!!!) of Mad Men fame.

Meanwhile, remember the Essex Corporation that was teased at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse? Well not only was New Mutants going to feature that mysterious company, but The Tracking Board has learned that Jon Hamm was originally going to appear as Mr. Sinister in a tag at the end of New Mutants, and Boone filmed material that led up to that reveal, only for Fox to change their minds after shooting had been completed.

The rest goes into SPOILER territory, so beware. The report goes on to say that the post-credits tag still exists and will be used, except it will star someone completely different: Antonio Banderas. And he will be playing another bad guy, not Mr. Sinister. Say what?

It’s never good when spoilers of this magnitude start to leak. Another tidbit spilled is that the popular New Mutant character Warlock, a techno-organic being who can shapeshift, had to be cut for being too expensive. Ugh.

But the worst part has to do with the movie’s tone. Apparently, that excellent first trailer which promised a very horror-centric superhero movie was heavily influenced by It’s success, but wasn’t a good representation of New Mutants. So part of the latest batch of reshoots is to actually make it more of a horror, which is what Boone has been calling the movie since day one. It’s like 20th Century Fox are chasing after themselves and are struggling to keep up.

So this doesn’t sound good, but I’m going to classify all of this as rumor. Strong rumor, but rumor nonetheless. Hopefully New Mutants will be just fine when it opens on August 2nd 2019.

‘Revenge’ Red Band Trailer: Matilda Lutz Cuts A Bloody Path Of Vengeance

By

John Nolan

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March 31, 2018

A semi-famous story about the bloody vengeance thriller Revenge goes that during its premier at TIFF last year, one particular scene was so brutal that it caused a viewer to spazz out and go into a seizure. Suffice it to say, that story fueled a tremendous amount of interest in its run at Sundance. Well now you can get a feel for the gory awesomeness for yourself in a new red band trailer, red like the blood that runs deep throughout this footage.

Directed by Coralie Fargeat in her directorial debut, the film stars Matilda Lutz as a woman on vacay in the desert with her boyfriend, only for his sleazy friends to arrive. When things go south and they leave her dead, she doesn’t just shrivel up and go away. She comes back with only one thing on her mind: cold, hard, revenge.

Revenge/rape movies are nothing new and all of them claim to be pro-feminist in some way. Not all of them succeed without feeling exploitative, but the buzz around Revenge is that it pulls this off quite well.

Revenge hits theaters and VOD on May 11th.