When DC Comics launched their Elseworlds line of comics it gave fans a unique twist on the legacy heroes they had known for so long. One of the earliest, and still one of the most successful, was Gotham by Gaslight, from writer Brian Augustyn and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. The series took place in the late 19th century and set Batman in a steampunk, clockworks settingfacing one of the most infamous serial killers ever: Jack the Ripper.
And now that story is the latest of DC’s terrific lineup of animated movies, and the first trailer has arrived. Boasting a different animation style in an attempt to mimick Mignola’s art, the film has altered version of Bruce Wayne/Batman (voiced by Bruce Greenwood), Catwoman (Jennifer Carpenter), James Gordon, and Alfred (Anthony Stewart Head). Director Sam Liu has promised a bloody, action-packed R-rated adventure just like the comic, which was pretty controversial when it published in 1989.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight should hit Bluray/DVD in 2018.
Film dynasties have provided movie fans with some of the greatest titles of
all-time. From the Godfather to Star Wars via Harry Potter and Lord of the
Rings, franchises have the ability to capture a loyal fanbase like no other,
the release date, plot points and cast of any forthcoming release a constant
source of speculation, especially in the digital age.
With most of the active titles among these films firing out a film every two
years or so and many carrying popular spin-off titles, it’s perhaps fair to say
that enthusiasts don’t need to wait a huge amount of time to get their film
franchise fix. But for some the wait can be too painful, and their appetite for
their favourite film titles has to be abated with the increasing amount of
cross-industry merchandising filmmakers are licensing in the form of clothing,
comic cons, games and much more.
Of course, as with the films themselves, some releases are better advised
than others. Star Wars has long since been particularly adept at sanctioning
the very worst merchandising ideas, the R2D2 aquarium a particular low
point along with the frankly laughable 1984 TV spin-off Caravan
of Courage: An Ewok Adventure.
One area of entertainment that has seen huge interest from film fans is in
gaming, where a number of cross-platform releases have been inspired by
Hollywood. Some film franchises even out started as games – we’re looking at
you Tomb Raider and Assassin’s Creed – before making the leap onto the big
screen. For filmmakers and game developers alike, the relationship between film
and gaming appears to be a match made in heaven.
And this interest is showing no sign of cooling and as the
games industry continues to evolve, it’s not just flashy console games
that peak the interest, either, with mobile gaming filling their industry
with well-known movie titles. As franchises continue to unravel their
individual sagas, the games market continues to lap it up, with titles
such as Ted, Transformers and even Naked Gun taking their place alongside
long-established titles Halloween, Jurassic Park and Tomb Raider as online slots at William Hill games.
Indeed, these games give film fans an insight into their favourite titles in
a way even the films themselves can’t. Seeing the world through the eyes of the
character gives the entire franchise an interesting new perspective, and allows
gamers to escape into the world of the franchise.
Film franchises’ jump into other entertainment streams, such as music,
are well-known. The music and movie crossover is another that goes
hand-in-hand, with movie soundtracks often selling in huge quantities and
dominating the music charts. The film dynasty with the most obvious example of
musical pedigree is, of course, the James Bond series, which has
spawned all-time classic tracks such as Live and Let Die, Goldfinger and
Diamonds Are Forever, to name a few.
Forays into television by film franchises have been mixed in both audience
numbers and critical reception, and it’s fair to say that titles as varied
as the likes of RoboCop, Indiana Jones, Back To The Future and Lilo &
Stitch received better big-screen acclaim than their little-known TV spin-offs.
Whatever the reasons that the games and music market seems an easier nut to
crack than that of television, the likelihood that big movie franchises will
continue to cross-pollinate a number of entertainment and merchandise markets
in undoubted.
Which is your favourite movie song, game, piece of merchandise or TV
spin-off? Let us know in the comment box below!
Danny Elfman music and superhero movies, they just go hand-in-hand at this point. The composer has worked his magic on both sides of the comics divide, from 1989’s Batman to Avengers: Age of Ultron with plenty in between. Justice League doesn’t open until next week, but you don’t have to wait that long to hear Elfman’s score because it’s available to stream in full right now.
Elfman came aboard as replacements for Junkie XL, and I don’t think anybody is complaining. Especially since Elfman managed to mix in his originl Batman theme. And that is probably what Warner Bros. is looking for; a classic sound to go with a classic approach to DC’s historic characters. Seems like the right move to me.
*UPDATE* Louis C.K. has issued a statement confirming the allegations made by multiple women against him are true. You can read them below, followed by the original story. *
I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and one who did not.
These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.
I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.
I also took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it.
There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.
I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including because I admired their work.
The hardest regret to live with is what you’ve done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them. I’d be remiss to exclude the hurt that I’ve brought on people who I work with and have worked with who’s professional and personal lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently in production: the cast and crew of Better Things, Baskets, The Cops, One Mississippi, and I Love You Daddy. I deeply regret that this has brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to mediate a situation that I caused. I’ve brought anguish and hardship to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a chance on my movie. and every other entity that has bet on me through the years. I’ve brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and their mother.
I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.
Everyone, back away from the comedian! It didn’t take long for the tables to turn against Louis C.K., and while it was the recent New York Times expose that ultimately did it, I would say this has been coming ever since the world premiere of the controversial I Love You, Daddy. It was recently pulled from its New York debut, and now distributor The Orchard has pulled it from the release calendar completely.f
This seemed like the path they would take after five women alleged sexual misconduct by C.K. His movie, which has the unfortunate premise of a father trying to stop his young daughter from dating a 70-year-old movie director, was to open next week but is now off the schedule. Even worse, some of the stars are starting to distance themselves from it, like co-star Charlie Day, who told the LA Times he “will not be promoting the movie further.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. HBO has pulled C.K.’s appearance from the “Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs” special that was to air on November 18th, and have removed all of his content from their network. FX, the home of his hit series Louis and other programs he produces like Better Things, released a statement saying they will “thoroughly investigate any allegations of misconduct within our workplace.”
The walls have come crumbling down for C.K. and who knows if this is the end or not.
There are two facial expressions that are secret weapons
in Marianna Palka’s film Bitch: Her own glare, which is a determined look that
communicates layers upon layers of disgust and resentment, and her costar Jason
Ritter’s dopey grin, which he uses as a defense mechanism against knowledge of
his own inadequacy. Together, how Palka captures rage and how Ritter
demonstrates irresponsibility are the keys to a film that addresses personal
and marital dissatisfaction in what is purposefully an off-putting way—with a person,
who for years has been treated with a lack of humanity, quitting acting human
altogether.
Bitch is written and directed by Palka, who you may
recognize from Neflix’s GLOW, and there is some overlap between how that series
jumped tonally between physical comedy antics and deep-seated personal anxiety
and this film. On a very surface level,
you could smirk at how Jill Hart (Palka), when she assumes the identity of a
vicious dog and stops acting human, throws her shit around and intimidates her
philandering husband Bill (Ritter) and refuses to engage with her children. She
is that bitch.
But consider the scenario for even slightly longer than a
few seconds and there is, of course, something profoundly sad about it—about the
degree to which Jill is pushed around and the depths to which she’ll plunge to
exert even any semblance of control over her life. Her kids yell at her and
take her for granted. Her husband simultaneously ignores and belittles her.
When the film opens with a scene of Jill trying to hang herself from the dining
room chandelier in their upper-class home, you know things are already pretty damn dark.
The premise of Bitch is pretty straightforward, and the
film isn’t necessarily that surprising narratively once you accept the basic
idea that Jill would rather scramble around her basement’s home naked,
defecating and urinating freely, then listen to her husband’s lies or her
children’s whining any longer (and I don’t blame her, because they are all
initially terrible). What the plot does when Jill’s storyline is fairly
contained is switch to Ritter as Bill, who is your typically awful husband who uses
his demanding, well-paying job as a way to totally disengage from his children
and abuse his wife. Ritter is all zeal, from how he collapses in an elementary
school playground after having to spend a morning with his four children (the
horror!) to the self-righteous way he mocks a doctor (a woman, of course) who
suggests that Jill would benefit from psychiatric care. It’s hard to imagine
another actor with Ritter’s unique combination of affability and smugness who
would work as well as Bill, and although the film leans on his character more
than you would expect, he can handle it.
As a foil to Bill, Jaime King as Jill’s sister Beth is a
grounding presence; her increasing, barely contained frustration with her
brother-in-law serves as a reflection of our own audience experience. It’s her
reaction that the film uses to play with horror tropes; in a scene where Beth
tries to remind Jill of their shared childhood, the use of camera angles and
framing makes the confrontation feel more like something out of a zombie film
than a family drama. It’s an effective switch-up that keeps Jill mysterious and
unknowable.
Still, it’s a little disappointing how cut-and-dry the film
gets toward the end, and how tidily—and somewhat expectedly—the narrative deconstructs
the components of an upper-class suburban life to signify true happiness. And
how Jill’s transformation is ultimately an impetus for Bill’s realization of
how to be a better father and a better husband is a little disingenuous, too,
since it seems to stymie her own character development at the expense of Bill’s.
Nevertheless, Bitch is darkly funny and often oddly
satisfying, and how perfectly Palka and Ritter understand their roles goes a
long way. The film could have skewed a bit more horror or a bit more comedy,
but the family-drama lane it chooses isn’t bad either.
If you don’t know Texas state senator Wendy Davis, you should. In January 2013 she held a 13-hour filibuster on the state Senate floor to block what would have been the most restrictive anti-abortion bill. Her efforts brought her national attention and the adoration of millions who support a woman’s right to choose, and now her story is about to become a movie with Sandra Bullock attached…for now.
Bullock is on board to star in Let Her Speak, as long as a director is found that she approves of. Oh, okay. The film will tackle Davis’ epic filibuster, the old school Mr. Smith Goes To Washington-style of talking filibuster that doesn’t allow you to sit or eat or go to the bathroom or anything. Davis was a mom at a young age but didn’t let that slow her down, rising to become a Harvard-educated lawyer before joining the senate.
It’s a great story that deserves to be told and having Bullock promises it will get seen. Check out Davis reflecting on the filibuster below.
I don’t know if Marvel knows what they have set off with Black Panther. If it sucks, there will be rioting in the streets. If it’s awesome…well, we may still riot but we’ll have lots of cookouts, too. Yes, black nerds, non-nerds, and nerd-adjacents will be celebrating its arrival from sea to shining sea, and Marvel has decided to get us all pumped once more with some great looking character posters.
You have pretty much the entire cast featured in these images: Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa aka Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan as his rival Erik Killmonger, Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira as Nakia and Okoye, adored members of the Dora Milaje, Letitia Wright as T’Challa’s sister Shuri, Angela Bassett as his mother Ramonda, Forest Whitaker as Wakandan elder Zuri, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross of the Joint Counterterrorism Center, Winston Duke as M’baku aka Man-Ape, Daniel Kaluuya as T’Challa’ best friend W’Kabi, and Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klau whose sonic hand is teased underneath that mannequin shell.
Ryan Coogler hit the friggin’ lotto with that cast. It’s just crazy.
