Following the domestic trailer released just days ago, Paramount has dropped a new international trailer for Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins with some different footage. There are high hopes that this will be the film that makes GI Joe a big screen staple, similar to its ’80s counterpart Transformers. Two previous attempts, 2009’s The Rise of Cobra and 2013’s Retaliation failed to get the job done despite decent box offices.
Henry Goulding leads the way as Snake Eyes, the Joe team’s enigmatic ninja commando. As the title suggests, the film is an origin story for him, centering on his training as part of the Arashikage clan and how it sets him on the path to becoming the soldier we all know.
Also in the cast are Warrior star Andrew Koji as Storm Shadow, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, The Raid‘s Iko Uwais as Hard Master, Úrsula Corberó as Baroness, Peter Mensah as Blind Master, Haruka Abe as Akiko, and Takehiro Hira as Kenta.
With the inclusion of Storm Shadow and Baroness, this is as much of an inside look at the formation of COBRA, the shadowy terrorist organization that becomes GI Joe’s greatest enemy. Here we learn that they’re trying to start a war, and we even get a look at the iconic COBRA insignia. Perhaps there will be a Cobra Commander cameo? We’ll also see the beginnings of the relationship between Snake Eyes and Scarlett, who become longtime lovers in the comics and animated series.
Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins opens July 23rd directed by Robert Schwentke.
A lot of couples reevaluated their relationships during quarantine – just not set to music. In the trailer for the new Apple TV+ show Schmigadoon! Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live) and Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, The Prom) must work out their relationship issues in front of a cast of musical characters.
Schmigadoon! also stars Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Fred Armisen, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski and Ann Harada. Martin Short guest stars. Lorne Michaels executive produces the series. The official synopsis is as follows:
“Schmigadoon!,” a parody of iconic Golden Age musicals, stars Strong and Key as a couple on a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship who discover a magical town living in a 1940s musical. They then learn that they can’t leave until they find “true love.”
The trailer alone references Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, and West Side Story, not to mention the title is a play on Brigadoon, a musical about a mystical town in Scotland that is found by two American men.
Most of the supporting cast have either been on Broadway or are known for their singing ability. Strong routinely sings on SNL and appears in musical sketches a lot on the show. Key sang his heart out as the principal in last years The Prom (which also starred the above mentioned Ariana DeBose as his student but we won’t talk about that).
If a classic yet zany musical with a modern twist is your thing, check out Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+ July 16.
As part of JJ Abrams’ and Bad Robot’s deal with Warner Bros. TV we knew that a Justice League Darkseries for HBO Max was in the works, and that it would lead to other DC Comics projects. While a Constantinereboot is said to be in development, another that we’re now learning about has to do with another member of the paranormal team of heroes: Madame Xanadu.
THR reports Abrams and writer/director Angela Robinson (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women) are teaming up for Madame X. Robinson will write and exec-produce the series about Madame Xanadu, a powerful sorceress introduced in the pages of DC Comics in 1978. She went on to join the Justice League Dark team battling supernatural threats, and serves as an adviser to the Spectre. Xanadau made her live-action debut on the short-lived Swamp Thing series played by Jeryl Prescott.
Madame X will be connected to the larger Justice League Dark plans that Bad Robot is developing for HBO Max. Don’t be surprised if the actress who lands the role appears across multiple projects. Bad Robot also has a spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman in the works, and a Supermanmovie with a Black lead character.
It’s been a while since there has been an exciting piece of news about Star Wars on the big screen. By the time we got around to The Rise of Skywalker much of the trilogy’s energy had dissipated. But the announcement of Patty Jenkins as director of a new feature, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, has definitely created some buzz again. And now that film has one of the busiest writers in Hollywood on board.
Matthew Robinson has been set to pen Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron movie, about the hotshot group of X-Wing fighter pilots for the Rebel Alliance.
Robinson’s list of credits is a mixed bag, but it has him working on a bunch of high-profile gigs. He started with Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying, then wrote the surprisingly not horrible flop Monster Trucks. He followed that up with Dora and the Lost City of Gold which was better than it had any right to be, and the awesome Love & Monsters which ended up on my best movies of 2020 list. Lately, Robinson has been attached to an Edge of Tomorrow sequel that may or may not ever happen.
Production on Rogue Squadron is set to begin in the U.K. next year, in time for a release on December 22nd 2023.
If you’re anxious for that hit of spice, it’s going to have to wait a few more weeks. Warner Bros. has delayed Denis Villeneuve’s Dune a third time, but not quite as far as the others. The anticipated sci-fi epic will move from October 1st to October 22nd.
Dune is based on the groundbreaking novel by Frank Herbert, previously adapted into (I think) a woeful 1984 film.
Villeneuve’s version stars Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Dave Bautista, and more. It was originally due to open in November 2020, then was moved to December 2020. The emergence of COVID-19 force a longer delay to October 1st 2021.
While no reason was given for the move, it’s possible WB wanted to keep it away from James Bond film No Time to Die, which opens on October 8th. Prospects for Dune are high as audiences begin their return to theaters. WB has had more success than most with Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, and The Conjuring 3.
On the other hand, WB has faced criticism for their blanket decision to release their films in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously. Villeneuve and Legendary have lobbied hard for Dune to be theater exclusive, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. On such a niche property as this, it could have a serious impact on the box office just as we saw recently with In the Heights.
Whatever you do, don’t call her a Loki! Funko has made available for preorder a new Pop! Vinyl figure for the nastiest variant around, Sylvie! Let’s be honest, she’s probably the Enchantress, anyway. The character has made quite an impression in the Disney+ series for her quest to destroy the TVA. Well, that and she seems to know how to get under Loki’s skin, drop what few inhibitions he has, and even bust a tune in a pub that’s about to be obliterated.
Add this to the previously-revealed Loki Funkos which you can order here!
All of these are available for pre-order now. We highly recommend our friends at Entertainment Earth for your Funko Pop buying needs! Any commission that we earn from purchases through our affiliate links goes back into the site. We are a small group and every little bit helps. Thank you so much for all of your support!
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free virtual screening of Amazon Studios’ The Tomorrow War, starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, JK Simmons, and Betty Gilpin! The film is directed by The Lego Batman Movie‘s Chris McKay.
SYNOPSIS: In THE TOMORROW WAR, the world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is a high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt).Determined to save the world for his daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the past.
The virtual screening takes place Thursday, July 1st at 7:00pm EST. If you’d like to attend, please go to the Amazon screening site here. These are first come first served so you need to act fast. Enjoy the show!
The Tomorrow War hits Amazon Prime Video on July 2nd!
What is it about heist movies that criminals are always made to look like good guys, even when they aren’t? Often times a Robin Hood-esque quality is attributed to them that simply isn’t there, because who doesn’t like to see someone stick it to “The Man”? Well, in the new film The Duke, one of the greatest real-life heists in history actually was done for a good reason, and by culprits who look like the cast of Downton Abbey.
Jim Broadbent stars as Kempton Bunton, a British pensioner who in 1961 stole Goya’s masterpiece Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery. Why did he do it? To have the ransom money donated to charity to help poor people. Well, there’s your feel-good movie, folks.
The film also stars F9 badass Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode, Jake Bandeira, Aimée Kelly, and Charlotte Spencer. Behind the camera is veteran filmmaker Roger Michell, known for Notting Hill, Hyde Park on Hudson, and most-recently Blackbird.
The Duke opens in U.S. theaters this fall, in the U.K. on September 3rd.
In 1961, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly – he had long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage – how and why he used the Duke to achieve that is a wonderfully uplifting tale.
Have you ever watched a documentary to learn about something new? Whether it’s a biography, event, and/or topic/subject matter that sparks your interest? Or do you watch because that documentary pertains to one, if not all the above asked categories that has affected and/or involved you personally? Whatever floats your boat, right?
I am always on the hunt for learning about some one(s)/thing(s) new and even more stoked that I get to do reviews/interviews about them. LFGis a new documentary that I can 100% understand, respect, and mostly relate to regarding the bullshit of what the U.S Women’s Soccer Team have gone through. While I’ve never played for a national team or won any world cups, I do know what it’s like to be told that your sex to the sport of soccer was “entertaining, but not worth the investment” to community college standards. After two years of hard work and dedication on so many levels (even out raising and performing the men by a long shot) the curtain was closed on our small town women’s soccer team, permanently. A metaphorical kick to the vagina that’s still felt to this day!
LFG highlights the kick-ass achievements and the movement that came to be when the U.S Women’s Soccer team fought for equal pay. HBOMax and CNN Films collaborate with award winning filmmakers Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine (Innocente, 2012) and feature interviews with Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Sam Mewis and with several others who represent and support the women’s team and plea for equal pay.
Every team sport, regardless of gender, has a battle cry or song that pumps them up before the game. During my high-school years and at the turn of the millennium, our song was “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. For the current U.S Women’s Soccer team it’s the expression “LFG” which is an acronym for Let’s. Fucking. Go!! These expressions/songs motivate and inspire individuals of “getting their head in the game” but are reminding, in the sense of, how and why they’re there in the first place. These badass ladies have to prove their worth just to qualify and work twice as hard only to be provided much less and often unflattering accommodations. This apathetic environment practically force these women into early retirement. Female soccer players have endured these ongoing issues for decades. The current women’s national team declares that “enough is enough”!
A few months before the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the players filed a class-action, gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Setting the documentary stage for LFG. The film interweaves athletically skilled performances, including a record-breaking World Cup victory in 2019, with the players’ ongoing pursuit for equal pay. LFG gives insight to what the players experience as they meet the physical demands and pressures of being some of the world’s top athletes and working women; some even being mothers. These ladies showcase their courage, unflinching spirit and resiliency in an effort to create long-lasting social change with the biggest fight for women’s rights since Title IX. Deservedly so!
Megan, Jessica, Becky and the rest of the team are not just a group of talented women who just happen to be fucking amazing at soccer. They are a group of women who defied the odds, overcoming the sexism and misogyny that tries to kick the legs out of the very platform they’ve worked their asses off to stand on. These ladies are the true inspiration to the rest of us who never got to finish, let alone the chance, to aspire to the greatness they’ve achieved in this sport. Andrea Nix Fine, husband Sean, and their team did an outstanding job of bringing this story to light. They really do care about these wonderful women players and the sacrifices they make for the sport. It truly is all around perfection. We should all be proud! Definitely worth a watch!!
Director David Mackenzie set an extremely high bar for himself with a pair of incredible films, Starred Up and Hell or High Water. While his Netflix historical drama Outlaw King wasn’t quite on their level, it was still an accomplished effort with some big stars. And now Mackenzie is taking his talents to FX on Hulu with a new crime series that will star Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Variety reports Mackenzie will direct an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book Under the Banner of Heaven. Garfield and Edgar-Jones will star in the series which will be penned by Dustin Lance Black, known for his work on Milk, J Edgar, and the HBO series Big Love.
It’s Black’s writing on Big Love that makes the most sense here. Under the Banner of Heaven will star Garfield as a detective and LDS elder whose faith is shaken by a brutal murder connected to a prominent Utah family with ties to the church. Edgar-Jones plays a Mormon and one of the murder victims.
The killing at the center of this was committed by brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty, religious extremists who claimed to have acted in the name of God. Krakauer’s book explores the ideologies of the LDS church and the many offshoots of fundamentalist Mormon groups.
This is a high-profile, major project and that’s reflected in the list of producers which includes Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Jason Bateman.
Garfield is coming off Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, and will be seen next in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. He will NOT be part of Spider-Man: No Way Home, or so he says. Edgar-Jones was the breakout star of Hulu’s Normal People series, so she’s very familiar to the network.
