‘X-Men ’97’ Trailer: The Legacy Mutants Are Back In Marvel’s Sequel To The Classic Animated Series

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February 15, 2024

To me, my X-Men fans! Disney and Marvel have finally given what fans of Marvel’s merry mutants have been waiting for. Today is the debut trailer for X-Men ’97, the sequel to the classic X-Men animated series! Not only that, but the show now has a release date on Disney+, and it isn’t far away at all. Look for it to hit the streamer on March 20th!

Arriving 30 years after X-Men: The Animated Series hit the air for the first time, X-Men ’97 arrives with 10 new episodes picking up where the 1997 finale, titled “Graduation Day”, left off. And we see a glimpse of that final episode at the start of this trailer, with a gravely injured Charles Xavier bidding farewell to his X-Men family before heading off into space to recover with the Shi’ar.

The team is now led by Xavier’s friend/enemy, Magneto. And guess what? The world still hates mutants and seeks to destroy them. We see flashes of the discrimination and hatred the X-Men will face, but also of the mutant-hunting Sentinels.

X-Men ’97 has Beau DeMayo aboard as showrunner. Here’s EW’s rundown of the entire voice cast, including Lenore Zann who returns as Rogue, and new addition Theo James as a mystery “fan favorite” character. Hmmm!

“Cal Dodd (Wolverine/Logan), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm/Ororo Munroe), George Buza (Beast/Henry “Hank” McCoy), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner), and Chris Britton (Mister Sinister/Nathaniel Essex)”

“Ray Chase will now voice Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jennifer Hale will voice Jean Grey, AJ LoCascio will voice Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Holly Chou will voice Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, JP Karliak will voice Morph, Isaac Robinson-Smith will voice Bishop/Lucan Bishop, Matthew Waterson will voice Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr, Ross Marquand will voice Professor Charles Xavier, Giu Augustini will voice Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, Gil Birmingham will voice Forge/Daniel Lone Eagle, and Eric Bauza is voicing the Sentinels.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m humming the classic theme song already! It’s been a long time coming for X-Men ’97. Are you excited now that it’s so close?

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‘Femme’ Trailer: Queer Revenge Thriller Stars George MacKay And Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

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Travis Hopson

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February 15, 2024

George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in FEMME

With impressive performances in Captain Fantastic, True History of the Kelly Gang, and 1917, George MacKay has continued to seek out complex dramatic roles rather than the spotlight of blockbusters. And he’s taken on another challenging film with Femme, a revenge thriller set within the LGBTQ community.

As seen in the new trailer, Femme stars Candyman Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as a drag artist who is brutalized in a violent, homophobic attack. MacKay plays one of the attackers, who is spotted by his victim in a gay sauna and targeted for revenge. But this isn’t violent retribution we’re talking about here. The plan is to learn the attacker’s identity, then destroy him up close and personal.

The film is written and directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping in their feature debut. It’s an expansion of their 2021 BAFTA-nominated short film. Also in the cast are Aaron Heffernan and John McCrea.

Femme opens in New York on March 22nd, followed by Los Angeles on March 29th with a wider rollout to follow.

Here’s the synopsis: With his performances as Aphrodite Banks, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Candyman) has a place among London’s celebrated drag artists. One night, after a show, he steps out to get some cigarettes and is brutally attacked by a man (George MacKay, 1917) out with a gang of his friends. Although Jules is able to recover physically, he withdraws from the outside world, traumatized. Months later, he recognizes his attacker by chance in a gay sauna. Without make-up and wrapped only in a towel, Jules is able to approach the other man incognito and find out who he is. He begins an affair with the closeted Preston with a plan to take his revenge.

Review: ‘Calamity Jane’
It’s An “Olicity” Reunion As Emily Bett Rickards And Stephen Amell Star In A Revenge Western

By
Khalil Johnson
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I’m going to try not to reference The CW’s Arrow too much in this review. After all, Calamity Jane is headlined by Emily Bett Rickards and Stephen Amell, who make up one of our favorite Arrowverse couples. Oliver and Felicity had great chemistry, so much so that they eventually became a couple on the show after fans shipped them hard. So it’s good to see the two actors paired together. Even more interesting is that it’s in a Western, which is a genre we don’t get to see too often nowadays. So how was Calamity Jane?

Martha Jane Canary (Emily Bett Rickards) is best known as one of the most famous female gunslingers during the days of the Wild, Wild West. In Calamity Jane, we are treated to her superhero origin story as she embarks on a revenge quest after her recently married husband (and partner in crime) Wild Bill Hickok (Stephen Amell) is gunned down in a poker game and she has to escape custody and then enact her revenge on her husband’s killer.

Calamity Jane begins with Jane being escorted to Deadwood by Sheriff Mason (Tim Rozon) for one of her crimes when their stagecoach is attacked by thieves. Even though Jane is an outlaw, she’s a “good” outlaw and helps the sheriff defend against the bandits killing them. Her reward: she still has to go to jail. Mason is a by-the-book lawman. At the same time, her new husband Wild Bill arrives in the town of Deadwood and is waiting for her to be arranged and released as he just bought a plot of land for the two of them to settle in for the next chapter of their lives. In the meantime, Wild Bill and decides to blow off some steam by playing poker and drinking. Unfortunately, Bill talks smack to the wrong guy and is gunned down while playing poker.

Jane learns about her husband’s death while in her jail cell, and she immediately breaks out trying to get justice. In the aftermath, her husband’s killer guns a lawman, but it looks like Jane did it, so now she has to go on the run, and at the same time try and chase down her husband’s killer. As a result, we are treated to a cat-and-mouse game with Jane going after her target, and Sheriff Mason going after her through Calamity Jane’s hour and thirty-five-minute runtime up until its explosive finale.

For fans who were shipping for a proper “Olicity” Arrowverse reunion, you may want to proper your expectations for Calamity Jane. Stephen Amell’s appearance operates more like a de facto cameo. He and Emily Bett Rickards may share about ten minutes of screen time before his untimely demise in the film. Ironically this is one of the few films of late that has a “reverse fridge” and Wild Bill’s death is in service to the female’s character development instead of the other way around. Speaking of character development, there isn’t much in the film. Emily Bett Rickards gives a good performance for what she is given script-wise, but Calamity Jane treads water in between shootout scenes.

Calamity Jane is a “Tubi Films Original” which given how Tubi is often the butt of so many jokes and memes on social media for their poor scripts and production quality will probably make some eyes roll as soon as the banner shows up at the beginning of the film. However, the production quality is very good. For a free streaming service, they managed to make the film visually look like the premium streaming services it competes with. Surprisingly, Calamity Jane wasn’t released on Tubi as it opted for a theatrical and VOD release instead. However, like most of what pops up on Tubi, the script isn’t strong and there are large periods where it doesn’t feel like “anything” of value is happening. As stated, Emily Bett Rickards and Tim Rozon give fine performances. The film is also taking artistic liberty with the real-life story of Emily Bett Rickards it might have been better served not being about Jane but some fictitious female gunslinger instead.

Calamity Jane is currently available in theaters and On Demand.

Calamity Jane

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‘The Epiphany’: Sylvester Stallone To Star In Philly Crime Thriller From ‘Underwater’ Director Will Eubank

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Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

Sylvester Stallone and Philadelphia will forever be intertwined. There’s a damn statue of the man as iconic Philly hero Rocky Balboa, and it’s a bigger tourist trap than the Liberty Bell and cheesesteaks from Geno’s and Pat’s. So it just feels right that Stallone is returning to Philly for The Epiphany, a new thriller set to shoot this summer.

Deadline reports that Stallone is attached to The Epiphany, which is a hot title making the rounds on the sales market right now. The film is directed by Will Eubank (Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin) from a script by screenplay by Katie Lovejoy and Russell Sommer. Eubank also directed Kristen Stewart in Underwater, and has the action-thriller Land of Bad coming up with Russell Crowe.

Stallone plays “a hard-nosed, soon-to-retire police detective who must team up with a younger cop and former priest to stop a serial killer on a murderous crusade through the streets of Philadelphia.”

The last we saw of Stallone he was making an exit from The Expendables franchise. He also starred in the Paramount+ crime series Tulsa King.

‘Sugar Bandits’: Will Smith To Star In Drug War Action Thriller

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Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

Will Smith has found his first role since Emancipation failed to live up to the award season buzz. Deadline reports Smith will star in action film Sugar Bandits, which is one of the hottest projects on the market right now, and has a budget in the range of $80M.

The film reportedly centers on“a former Special Forces solider who joins an elite, vigilante squad aiming to wipe out the drug trade in Boston, but soon learns things are not what they seem.”

The film has actually been making the rounds for a while, and once had Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) attached to direct. Crime author Chuck Hogan (The Town) wrote the screenplay based on his novel Devils in Exile.

This won’t actually be a lead for Smith, but he’ll take a supporting role. He’s kept a pretty low profile since the infamous “slap” at the Oscars in 2022, but looks to be making a comeback now. He’s currently in post-production on Bad Boys 4.

‘Knox Goes Away’ Trailer: Michael Keaton Directs And Stars As A Hitman Suffering From Dementia

By

Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

Readers of this site know that hitman thrillers are top of my favorite list, and there’s a reason for it. There are so many different stories that can be told from the perspective of a contract killer, and fortunately, the genre has found storytellers willing to make some interesting choices. In the case of Knox Goes Away, the killer in question has a degenerative brain disorder, which makes his quest for redemption more vital than ever.

The film is directed by and stars Michael Keaton, and if you’re surprised, don’t be. Keaton has been director before, but it’s been a while. His directorial debut was 2009’s The Merry Gentleman, and this is his first since then.

In Knox Goes Away, Keaton is joined by Al Pacino, James Marsden, Marcia Gay Harden, Suzy Nakamura, and Joanna Kulig.

Here’s the synopsis: Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton directs and stars in this unpredictable thriller as John Knox, a hitman attempting to make amends before his recently discovered dementia takes over. Aided by a trusted friend (Academy Award® winner Al Pacino) with his own shady past, Knox races against the police — and his own rapidly deteriorating mind — to save his estranged son (James Marsden) from a vengeance-fueled mistake and “cash out” before it’s too late. Also starring Oscar® winners Ray McKinnon and Marcia Gay Harden.

Knox Goes Away opens in theaters on March 15th.

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Trailer: It’s A Kaiju Battle Royale In The Latest MonsterVerse Blockbuster

By

Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

Is anyone else getting Godzilla burnout? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we’ve seen a lot of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. There have been a couple of trailers and a teaser already, plus a brand-new one release today. With Godzilla Minus One and the Monarch television series, it’s just a lot of kaiju stuff going on right now. Warner Bros. hopes I’m alone in feeling this way, and that most people are ready to watch these two titans clash one more time.

A sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, and the fifth movie in Legendary’s MonsterVerse, the film finds King Kong and Godzilla, natural rivals, teaming up to face a dangerous new threat. Oh, and there’s a baby Kong in this one. Like a Diddy Kong, if this were a Donkey Kong movie.

Adam Wingard returns to direct, joined by a cast of Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen.

Here’s the synopsis: This latest entry follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the mighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens on March 29th.

‘Thunderbolts’ Swaps Release Dates With ‘Fantastic Four’, Moves To May 2025

By

Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

If you were paying attention during the news about Marvel’s Fantastic Four casting, you probably thought that the film’s July 25th 2025 release date sounded familiar. Isn’t there something already on that date? Well, there was, and it was Thunderbolts, Marvel’s other superteam movie coming out that year. So what’s up with that? The answer is pretty simple, actually.

Disney/Marvel have decided to swap release dates, so that Thunderbolts will now arrive on May 2nd 2025. This is actually a bigger deal than it might seem, because it shows the confidence Marvel has in both movies. The first weekend in May is where the Guardians of the Galaxy movies were consistently huge hits for them, clearly Marvel is expecting the same kind of payoff.

To be fair, there are some similarities between Thunderbolts and GOTG, starting with the star-studded casts. Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Harrison Ford, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Lewis Pullman lead the movie about a group of villains brought together to pose as government sanctioned heroes.

Fantastic Four opening in July, one one of the summer’s hottest weekends, makes sense considering the anticipation fans have for it. The dream casting has been going on for years. Also, with both movies still awaiting the start of production, it shows that Marvel thinks Fantastic Four will need a bit more time before it’s ready.

Marvel’s First Family Arrives as Casting for ‘The Fantastic Four’ and a Release Date is Officially Announced

By

John Nolan

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February 14, 2024

Marvel's FANTASTIC FOUR have been found!

It’s been a solid month since we become reasonably certain that the smartest man in the Marvel Universe, Reed Richards, would be played by none other then Pedro Pascal. With the MCU in a current downdraft and the Fantastic Four being one of the most anticipated upcoming plot points it’s easy to say that this casting may be one of the key deciding factors in the remaining longevity of history’s most successful franchise.

Disney unveiled the core four today and while there were no earth shattering surprises, it’s still pretty astounding to finally have this information out there and confirmed by the mouse house itself. The casting was revealed as follows:

Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing

While all of these names have been bounced around previously as being associated with the project we now know that this is concrete factual information. I absolutely love that Joseph Quinn has come of his star-making turn as Eddie Munson in Stranger Things to land this role, Johnny Storm is absolutely someone I could see him playing.

This being Valentine’s Day, Marvel wanted to make sure we went home with more then just some casting news (awesome though it may be), the official Marvel Studios Instagram account also saw fit to post the following, letting us know that we have just under 1.5 years to wait to see the F4 in action, with a premier date of July 25th, 2025

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Interview: Reinaldo Marcus Green Talks ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ And Being True To The Reggae Legend’s Story

By

Travis Hopson

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February 14, 2024

Reinaldo Marcus Green talks BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE

Reinaldo Marcus Green made his directorial debut in 2018 with Monsters and Men, a breakout film that I remember being impressed by at its Sundance world premiere. Since then, Green has turned his attention to dramatic films about real-life men in times of struggle. 2020 saw his sophomore effort, the Mark Wahlberg film Joe Bell; that was followed by Green’s biggest film to date, King Richard, starring Will Smith as Richard Williams. But the movie that has the potential to reach millions all around the world is Bob Marley: One Love.

Green’s latest stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley, the reggae legend whose music has spread the message of peace, love, and unity for decades. Marley’s life and career are too big for one movie so Bob Marley: One Love focuses on two crucial years as he navigates a civil war in Jamaica and prepares his historic album, “Exodus”, which he hoped would help heal the wounds of his people. The film is the first major Hollywood effort to truly try and explore who Bob Marley was beyond the music. Who was he to his friends, the people of Jamaica, his bandmates, and most importantly, his wife Rita and their children?

I had the chance to speak with Reinaldo Marcus Green about Bob Marley: One Love, and we talked about any hesitation he felt making a movie about such a beloved figure. We talked about the decision to center the story on just two years and Marley’s planning of two key concerts. And we discussed the shoot itself and how the reception they received from the people of Jamacia, who were VERY invested in seeing this be an accurate depiction of Bob Marley.

Bob Marley: One Love is in theaters now. You can check out my review here, and the interview below!