Monthly Archives: January 2017
Patrick Stewart Plays Poop in The Emoji Movie
Shakespearean kings. Neo-Nazi kingpins. Jean-Luc Picard. These are the roles of the actor, Patrick Stewart. His continuing mission, to explore strange new psyches, to seek out new lives and new experiences. To boldly go where no one has gone before.
Which might go some way towards explaining why he's now the "distinguished" voice of the poop emoji.
So excited to announce the distinguished @SirPatStew as Poop in the #EmojiMovie – in theaters August 4th! #SonyAnimationDay pic.twitter.com/JTeEhP08qI
4 Reasons Halo Wars 2 Has Something for Everyone
Whether you’re a fan of Halo, a real-time strategy aficionado, or both, Halo Wars 2 is shaping up to be something pretty unique that you’re going to want to keep an eye on. If you spent time with the original Halo Wars at any point in the past eight years, you’ll find a lot of familiarity in this next chapter.
But Halo Wars 2 is doing some surprising things that might make this the real-time strategy game for you:
If you’ve been following the Halo saga closely then you already know Halo Wars 2 will expand the universe by exploring familiar characters and locations, and introducing brand new ones. If you’re not following the Haloverse and just looking for some good strategy gameplay, then you’re in good hands.
Tina Fey’s New 30 Rock-Type Comedy Series
There are more than a few parallels between NBC's new sitcom Great News and 30 Rock. They're both about hard-working women in the television industry (news for the newer show, sketch comedy for the older one), they both hail from comedy queen Tina Fey and fellow executive producer Robert Carlock, and, most importantly, they're both funny.
But Great News, which was created by 30 Rock and The Mindy Project writer Tracey Wigfield, has one key difference. "It's a funny show with a lot of fast-paced jokes per page but the show is very different. At its core it's a show about a mother and a daughter," Wigfield said on a Television Critics Association 2017 winter press tour. "There were a couple times -- Tina was very much on it -- about let’s make sure Katie isn’t, like, eating tuna out of a can or tucking her shirt into her underwear, that kind of thing, making sure that Katie is a very different character
Facebook, Oculus Founders Testify in Ongoing ZeniMax Trial
Chief executive of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey both took the stand recently as part of the ongoing trial led by Bethesda parent company ZeniMax.
As reported by The New York Times, Zuckerberg denied accusations that Oculus stole technology from ZeniMax, and claimed "Oculus products are built on Oculus technology."
“The idea that Oculus products are based on someone else’s technology is just wrong,” said Zuckerberg.
When questioned by ZeniMax's lawyers about his response to the lawsuit, Zuckerberg said that such occurrences were common around "big deals."
Overwatch Teases ‘Year of the Rooster’ Event
Overwatch has teased something called 'Year of the Rooster', which looks to be a Chinese New Year event.
The tease depicts Mei, a character of Chinese origin, in a variation of traditional Chinese clothing. As spotted by NeoGaf, Overwatch's Korean Twitter account also appears to have revealed a new skin for D.Va.
Why Powerless Added its Bruce Wayne Connection
When the new DC Comics comedy TV series Powerless debuts on February 2nd, it’ll look very different from the version that screened at San Diego Comic-Con last summer.
Original creator Ben Queen departed the series after the pilot was filmed, and ultimately, the decision was made by new showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker to completely overhaul the series – discarding the original insurance company setting and now placing the characters as employees at Wayne Security.
Explained Schumacker at the Television Critics Association press tour today, “15 weeks into this we thought that the insurance company angle wasn’t really generating the storylines we hoped,” saying they sat down and spoke to DC about wanting to change the series. They felt the new security company setting still let them “tell classic workplace stories but in a way that activates the DC universe more.”
Future Sony Animation Films Set Stellar Voice Casts
Sony Pictures Animation previewed their 2017 and 2018 motion picture slate for the press today, including confirming that Miles Morales is the protagonist of their 2018 animated Spider-Man film, during which time they revealed a number of voice casting announcements for their various upcoming movies.
Smurfs: The Lost Village has added a series of high-profile actors to their voice cast, including Oscar winner Julia Roberts as SmurfWillow, the matriarch of the titular lost village and foil to Papa Smurf (the previously announced Mandy Patinkin). Other new voice cast members include the Fast and Furious' Michelle Rodriguez as SmurfStorm, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper as SmurfBlossom, and Modern Family's Ariel Winter as SmurfLily. Yes, Smurfette (voiced here by Demi Lovato) is no longer the only female Smurf in the world.
Why Ewan McGregor Needed to Rerecord “Be Our Guest”
Ewan McGregor might be no stranger to musicals, but recording his musical number as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast proved trickier than he initially expected.
While promoting Fargo: Season 3 at the 2017 winter TV Critics Association press tour, McGregor opened up about to a small group of reporters about why he botched "Be Our Guest" on the first go-around.
"I hadn't been in a recording studio for a long time, and I was in a recording studio in London when we recorded the song for the first time. There was an enormous amount of pressure, I thought," he recalled. "I had only just arrived, I was jet lagged from LA. I got off a plane one day and the next day I was in a recording studio. It's very nerve-wracking recording, because you're in a quiet room and through the glass there's people who are looking at you, and they speak to each other and you can't hear them. In this instance there were 50 people in there, and I was standing jet lagged alone trying to sing in a French accent this big number. Every time I stopped they would go, 'OK, hang on,'
Why Final Fantasy XV’s 13th Chapter is Important
Warning: Contains spoilers for Final Fantasy XV's latter half.
After a decade in development hell, Final Fantasy XV released late last year to critical acclaim thanks to a vastly improved plot over its previous single-player only predecessor, a slick combat system that straddles real-time and traditional JRPG elements brilliantly, and an utterly gorgeous and expansive world to get lost in.
Still, while the stunning open-world of Lucis is the most celebrated feather in Final Fantasy XV’s cap, what criticism the game has received has been aimed at its final third, as its open-world focus narrows into finely structured, linear chapters in the build up to its dramatic finale. Chapter 13 in particular bears the brunt of this negativity.
New Star Wars Rebels Clip: Sabine Wields the Darksaber
In this week's new episode of Star Wars Rebels, "Trials of the Darksaber" -- airing Saturday, January 21st on Disney XD -- Sabine (Tiya Sircar) tries her hand at harnessing the power of the Darksaber while training with Kanan (Freddie Prinze Jr.).
In this clip from the episode, Sabine finds herself having trouble mastering the Darksaber's abilities, unable to utilize her skills to take down Kanan. Check it out, and then check out the photo gallery from the episode below...
The official synopsis for "Trials of the Darksaber" reads:
"In an effort to recruit her people to join the rebels, Sabine reluctantly agrees to learn to wield an ancient Mandalorian weapon, but soon finds the challenge more difficult than expected."