Monthly Archives: July 2019
Thor: Can Love and Thunder Redeem Jane Foster the Way Ragnarok Did Thor?
The news that Natalie Portman will not only reprise her role as Jane Foster in the upcoming film Thor: Love and Thunder but she will do so as the mighty Thor shook the Marvel Studios panel crowd at San Diego Comic Con 2019 like, well, a clap of thunder. It was all the more surprising given Portman’s reported behind the scenes issues while making Thor: The Dark World, leaving us under the impression she would never return to the part, but also because the character of Jane was undercooked in the first Thor, damsel’d in the second one, and completely absent in the third.
Why would she want to return to such an underwhelming character? Well, after seeing how writer-director Taika Waititi was able to breathe new life into Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder in Ragnarok, creative lightning could conceivably strike twice when Portman picks up the hammer.
Star Trek: Seven of Nine’s Jeri Ryan Shares How Her Character Has Resonated With Autistic People
During EW’s Women Who Kick Ass panel at San Diego Comic Con 2019, actress Jeri Ryan spoke about how her character Seven of Nine -- who originally appeared on Star Trek: Voyager and will be a part of the upcoming Star Trek: Picard show -- unexpectedly became a relatable character for autistic people.
Ryan first talked about how freeing it is to be on a sci-fi show where anything can happen, but how the characters are rooted in aspects of the real world that are relatable. Then she shared with the crowd how her part-Borg character has been interpreted through that lens.
“I play a character that started out as a person who became a machine and is now a little of both. And that became a whole different opportunity to show different sections of society representation of themselves,” Ryan said. “Personally, with Seven of Nine, I’ve heard from so many people who are on the autism spectrum, that they appreciate seeing a character who has the same struggles that they did. Because she didn’t have social skills. She didn’t know personal space boundaries. She didn’t understand social norms. So she had to learn all of that. And that’s very much the same kind of experience that a lot of those people have. And I know this because my son is on the spectrum. That was so meaningful to me, when these fans reach and say, ‘Thank you for showing me on screen, for letting me see that it’s not just me and that I’m not alone and I’m not the oddball, that I can see that represented and it gives me hope and it makes me feel not so alone.’ And I love that.”
Gemini Man: Footage First Impressions of Will Smith and Ang Lee Sci-Fi Epic
The sci-fi epic Gemini Man has been trapped in development hell for over two decades since it was originally conceived in 1997, but the film is finally coming to fruition now that technology, seemingly, has caught up to its high-concept premise. Directed by Academy Award-winner Ang Lee, the new Paramount Pictures movie stars Will Smith as an aging hitman (Brogen) facing off with a younger clone of himself (Junior), and pushes the bounds of known filmmaking technology to execute on that advanced sci-fi idea.
But will the finished film actually work in execution as much as in conception? That's what I set out to find out during a special footage presentation on the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles, where a select group of journalists, including myself, got a preview of a now-released behind the scenes featurette, three new clips, and a new trailer (which will be dropping on Thursday). Check out the new behind-the-scenes featurette of Gemini Man below:
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy TV Series Reportedly Coming to Hulu
Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is reportedly being turned into a television show for the streaming service Hulu.
Deadline is reporting that a television adaptation of the sci-fi comedy series is coming to the streaming service. Carlton Cuse (Lost, Locke & Key) is attached as showrunner and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman) is a writer on the series.
We reached out to Hulu for verification, but the company declined to comment.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy began as a radio series on BBC Radio 4, which premiered in 1978. Adams adapted the series into a novel in 1979, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was adapted into many different forms since, including a video game and a 2005 feature film.
HBO Boss: GoT Fan Backlash Hasn’t Affected the Prequel ‘At All’
To say that Game of Thrones' final season was divisive amongst fans is the biggest understatement of 2019, but HBO President Casey Bloys still isn't sweating the audience backlash. In fact, he says that the response to the events of the final season hasn't changed the way the network is approaching the upcoming prequel series "at all" -- which does make sense, if you consider that the new series has an entirely different creative team.
The new series, which may or may not be called The Longest Night, comes from a concept that X-Men: First Class’ Jane Goldman developed with George R.R. Martin. Set 5,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the new series doesn't creatively involve the flagship series' showrunners David Benioff or D.B. Weiss, or executive producer Bryan Cogman, who is off working on Amazon's Lord of the Rings series. (Though Cogman was originally conceptualizing a spinoff series, HBO did not move forward with it.)
How the Mandarin Could Be the New Version of Shang-Chi’s Father
Marvel's martial artist superhero Shang-Chi is headed to the big screen in 2021. Not only will Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu as the titular hero, but it'll also finally make good a long-dangling MCU plot threat by introducing Tony Leung as the one, true Mandarin.
While it might seem strange to pit Shang-Chi against a villain most commonly associated with Iron Man, this choice backs up a popular theory that the Mandarin will be depicted as Shang-Chi's father in the MCU. Here's why we think that theory will come to fruition in the new movie.
Marvel Comics' Mandarin
Wolfenstein’s Story Explained
With Wolfenstein Youngblood on the horizon, what better time than now to take a look back at the story of BJ Blazkowicz, and see how Terror Billy earned his nickname and reputation as a Nazi Killing badass, and how we’ve gotten to where we are today.
Here's a breakdown of the plot in Machine Games' two mainline Wolfenstein games, The New Order and The New Colossus.
An Alternate Reality World War 2
The year is 1946, World War 2 is in full effect, and the tide of the war is starting to shift in favor of the Nazis thanks to their sudden and dramatic leap in technology. We're talking near impervious metallic killing machines, robot dogs, death lasers, and all other forms of nastiness.
Mad Max Sequels Are Going to Happen, Says Director George Miller
George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road sequels and Furiosa spinoff are still "going to happen," despite the director's ongoing legal dispute with Warner Bros.
"There are two stories, both involving Mad Max, and also a Furiosa story," Miller said when asked about the status of the sequels by IndieWire. "We’re still solving, we’ve got to play out the Warners thing, it seems to be pretty clear that it’s going to happen."
Miller's production company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell, sued Warner in 2017 after the distributor refused to pay out a multimillion-dollar bonus. The bonus was to be paid if Fury Road's final cost came in under $157 million USD. While it ultimately exceeded that budget, Miller's company claims that was only due to "substantial changes and delays" created by Warner.
Pokemon Masters’ Microtransactions Don’t Seem Too Intrusive
Pokemon Masters is a collaboration between DeNA (Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp), Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company that seems to be working surprisingly well. As Pokemon Masters is a free-to-play game, I expected to see a potentially annoying gacha system paired with even more annoying currencies that moderate progression, but was instead met with a cool way to get to better know characters from across the Pokemon universe all in one place — of course, while also battling Pokemon.
Pokemon Masters is an unconventional Pokemon game, but it’s one I’m certainly glad exists. In it, you’ll be able to play what seems to be an interesting story mode where you’ll challenge trainers in three on three battles to earn five badges in an exclusive League reserved for Pokemon Masters on the manmade island of Pasio. It comes complete with its own Pokemon Professor, new villainous squad, and new special battle mechanics that can only be performed in this area. Playing alongside NVC host and resident Pokemon Master Casey DeFreitas, we got to see what DeNA’s next mobile game has to offer all us Pokemon Trainers, and for a mobile game, we were impressed with what we were shown in an hour and more excited for its August 29 release.
How Seven of Nine Connects to Picard
CBS All Access dropped a photon torpedo bombshell at San Diego Comic-Con with the announcement that the Borg characters Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) will be appearing on the upcoming series Star Trek: Picard. The series, which of course features the return of Sir Patrick Stewart in the title role (and will also bring back Brent Spiner as -- apparently -- Data, Jonathan Frakes as Riker and Marina Sirtis as Troi), will obviously play into Jean-Luc Picard’s own dark history with that feared cyborg race.
It’s a surprising development because the casting of Ryan is the first major crossover between The Next Generation cast and Star Trek: Voyager (although the Next Gen films did feature a couple of cameos with characters from its sister show). So let’s look at the history of Hugh, Seven of Nine and Picard as well and consider how their paths could be converging in Star Trek: Picard.