Monthly Archives: September 2017
Netflix’s Novel Way to Keep You Laughing
Netflix has given us a peek behind the curtain and into some of the process it uses to determine what, exactly, you might be into in regards to comedy.
According to the company, 63% of its users have watched a stand-up special on the service. That's a pretty substantial number, and represents some of the biggest names in comedy. Netflix can then use the themes, or even specific jokes, to figure out what your tastes are.
Netflix comedy pairings.
Star Trek: Discovery – God Lives!
Star Trek: Discovery is finally set to debut on September 24, featuring the long-awaited return of the famed franchise to the small screen. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnham, the series depicts the adventures of a new Starfleet crew living and working onboard the USS Discovery as they must contend with war with the Klingons. Set about 10 years before The Original Series featuring Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, Discovery looks to tell a brand new story during a time period in Trek history that hasn’t been very well fleshed out in the official canon.
Last month, I visited the set of Discovery in Toronto, where I spoke to the cast and crew about the show. We’ll be rolling out those interviews in the next two weeks leading up to the show’s debut, but first up is my chat with executive producer and co-showrunner Aaron Harberts, where we talk about religion and God in the world of Trek, what war means for our Starfleet officers, and the trouble with continuity in a 51-year-old franchise. Read on for all of that and more…
Comics Legend Len Wein Dies at 69
Legendary comic book creator Len Wein passed away Sunday at age 69. The news came via fellow industry veteran Paul Kupperberg and was corroborated by various other colleagues.
Wein had a prolific writing career. He made his professional debut on 1968's Teen Titans #18 and worked on a number of popular Marvel and DC titles, including Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Incredible Hulk, Justice League of America and Thor. However, he'll always be best known as the co-creator of Swamp Thing and of many of the most iconic X-Men characters, including Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Wolverine.
DNA Reveals Viking Remains Are of Female Warrior Leader
A viking leader from the mid-10th century, originally believed to be a man, was actually a woman, a new study has revealed.
Speaking to The Local (via New York Post), Uppsala University archaeologist Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson said the remains—which were discovered and excavated in the late 1800s by Swedish archeologist Hjalmar Stolpe—are of a woman over 30 years old and about five and a half feet tall.
According to Hedenstierna-Jonson, the warrior had "most likely planned, led and taken part in battles." In addition to having a complete set of equipment buried with her, including "a sword, an axe, a spear, armor-piercing arrows, a battle knife, shields, and two horses," she also had "a board game in her lap, or more of a war-planning game used to try out battle tactics and strategies, which indicates she was a powerful military leader."
Stephen King’s IT Scores Biggest Horror Opening Ever
Stephen King's IT enjoyed a record-breaking debut this weekend, opening with an estimated $117.2 million and reigniting the domestic box office after one of Hollywood's most dismal summers in years.
That $117.2 million haul gave the New Line release, an adaptation of King's 1986 horror novel, had the third biggest opening weekend of 2017 behind Beauty and the Beast ($174.8 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146.5 million), edging past Spider-Man: Homecoming's $117 million.
Not only is IT the biggest opening ever for a Stephen King film adaptation (1408 was the previous record holder with $20.6 million), IT also broke records for the largest September debut (Hotel Transylvania 2's $48.5 million) and fall debut, period.
9 Movies You Can Stream If You Liked Stephen King’s IT
So you just got home from watching IT, the genuinely terrifying new Stephen King adaptation from director Andy Muschietti, and you’re not going to sleep anytime soon. There’s no sense in fighting it. You might as well delve deeper into the sewers of unspeakable horror, coming of age shenanigans and 1980s nostalgia.
But what the heck should you watch now? Streaming services are great but their libraries can be kinda spotty, and many of the most obvious double-and-triple feature ideas (like Stand By Me and Killer Klowns from Outer Space) are a little hard to find right now. Well, don’t worry: we’ve gone exploring for you. Here are nine films that should go perfectly well with IT. You know, like cotton candy and balloons. Or clowns and nightmares…
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Movies Podcast: IT Spoiler Chat and Star Wars Directors
Welcome back to the IGN Movies Podcast!
This week, Jim Vejvoda and Tom Jorgensen talk up the news that director Colin Trevorrow has parted ways with Star Wars: Episode IX and what that says about Lucasfilm, the rumblings that Apple and Amazon are vying for the movie distribution rights to the James Bond franchise, and what we learned on the set of Thor: Ragnarok.
Finally, we're joined by Terri Schwartz to talk FULL SPOILERS about Stephen King's IT, what we liked and didn't like about it, and the challenges its sequel will face. The IT spoiler chat starts around the 23:30 mark so you'll be spoiler-free listening to this episode until that point. You can also watch the video version of our IT spoilercast below.
Jack Kirby and Jason Aaron’s Big Influence on Thor 3
The late comic book artist Jack Kirby's influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe cannot be overstated. As Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige himself recently said in a tweet honoring what would have been Kirby's 100th birthday, "MCU wouldn't exist without him. Thor Ragnarok is an unabashed love letter to his vision." Kirby's influence -- as well as that of two other major Thor comics creators, Walt Simonson and Jason Aaron -- was much discussed during my visit to the set of Thor: Ragnarok in September 2016.
Thor: Ragnarok production designer Dan Hennah, who said he's been a fan of Kirby's since he was 15-years-old, cited Kirby's artwork from the 1960s Marvel Comics as a visual guide for his set designs. "You have to analyze the shapes, how he got his shapes, what they wore, what was put on them, you know, how he used them," Hennah explained.
Star Trek: Shatner Thinks Nimoy ‘Cooked Up’ Spock’s Death
The death of Spock in the 1982 movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is considered by many to be one of the most emotional and gripping sequences in the entire history of the long-running franchise—we placed it as our all-time favorite moment from the movies—but William Shatner has come to take a slightly different view of long-time friend Leonard Nimoy's motivations behind the death.
In an interview with USA Today to celebrate Fantom Films' theatrical re-airing of The Wrath of Khan on September 10 and 13—just in time for the movie's 35th anniversary—Shatner reveals that he thinks Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett planned the whole story, from Spock's death to his eventual resurrection, with the end goal being that as part of his return to the character, Nimoy could demand a directing deal for the sequel.