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Days of Future Past goes Viral

By
Chris
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0

Despite the Wolverine only opening a few days ago, viral marketing for the next X-men film, Days of Future Past, has already started and it is bringing forth its A-game. At SDCC this year, they unveiled the first look at sentinels from the upcoming film; sentinels are a large part of the X-men lore as they hunt and exterminate those with the x-gene. To immerse people into the world created by the X-Men movies, Fox has created Trask Industries as a viable organization and given it a website that looks real, along with our first (official) look of Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask, inventor of the sentinels.

Take a look at the Trask-Industries.com which also places sentinels in historical photographs from time, and admire Dinklage in his not-so-short role as the man who enslaved the mutants.

sentinel2

Read an excerpt from the site regarding sentinels

In 1973, Trask Industries introduced the first Sentinel production model, the Mark I. Bolivar Trask’s groundbreaking research in AI, robotics and autonomous ballistic systems laid the foundation for the world’s most capable anti-mutant defense system. Since the program’s inception, we’ve continued to advance our founder’s cause through eight additional generational upgrades and enhancements.
As we celebrate five decades of achievement, we also bid farewell to regular production of the Mark I and shift our efforts to full-time manufacturing of the Mark X — our first complete overhaul of the Sentinel line. These highly anticipated units will combine next-generation nanotechnology and bioweapon breakthroughs, promising an even brighter future for the human race.

I think this movie has a lot of potential. Let’s just hope its not too crowded.
[alert variation=”alert-info”]May 23, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past stars Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Boo Boo Stewart, Adan Canto, Evan Peters, Josh Helman and Lucas Till.[/alert]

Rumor: Avengers 2 Casting Call Reveals Ultron’s Maker

By
Chris
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0

Avengers 2 already has a casting call. That is probably the biggest surprise out of this news, simply because they just announced the title and the release is a little under 2 years away. But hey, Marvel plays it bold and moves quickly. In just a year we’ll all be getting blasted in the face with images of raccoons and Guardians of the Galaxy. Anyways, with this casting call, it appears to have some interesting tidbits about the film. Before holding this as fact and law, please remember that all of this information has been posted on ComicUI before today, more specifically about the theoretical creator of Ultron and the addition of Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch in the sequel. Let’s take a look at it.

Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Studios are now in pre-production on the upcoming sci-fi themed superhero feature film “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”, and casting directors are auditioning actors for starring, co-starring, and supporting roles. The film’s photo doubles and stand-ins for the starring actors, as well as general extras and featured background actors will be cast closer to the start of filming. The locations where outdoor principal photography will take place are in and around London, England. Indoor sound stage filming will take place at Shepperton Studios. Shooting begins in February, 2014.

In “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” Loki is gone and the new villain will be the evil robot Ultron, who has the ability to keep upgrading his own strength, making him extremely fearsome. Tony Stark/Iron Man becomes the unwitting creator of Ultron. The brother-and-sister team of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch become the seventh and eighth members of The Avengers. Quicksilver has extreme speed, while Scarlet Witch can cast spells and has telekinesis ability. Black Widow and Hawkeye will be key figures in the film.

All signs are pointing to Stark creating a villain rather than an actual troupe of space invaders. Again, please not all this information has been shared by Joss Whedon in his interviews in the past 2 weeks since SDCC. Nothing is truly new or exciting, except the fact filming starts in February. I hope we get some sick on set photos to keep us going through the long wait. Until we get a synopsis of the film in press release form from Joss or Disney or Marvel, please regard this as rumor, however likely it may be.

How do you think Ultron will be introduced in Avengers 2?

 

Source | Feature Film Casting

 

The Wolverine Review

By
Chris
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1

Let me preface this with my spoiler free, cinematic review that can be found on Facebook and Rotten Tomatoes:
[The Wolverine is] A deliberately paced film that focuses on Logan and the effects he has on the people met throughout his abundant years in the world. Those who are afraid of another Origins and X3 disaster will find this more focused, striving to achieve beyond both of those films while not exactly denying their existence. Jackman exudes Logan/Wolverine and makes us, the viewer, realize that he is and understands the title character more than any other actor at this time. Heavier in tone than most other films based on Marvel characters, The Wolverine is a well done film that starts a path in the right direction for Fox’s mutant franchises.

The Wolverine – 4 out of 5 Stars

 

Now that we have that, anything beyond this is considered *SPOILERS* (probably not though).

Logan, James Howlett, Wolverine, whatever name you’d like to call him is almost the main face of the X-men franchise. In fact, he is featured in three out of four comics that encounter the mutant population and featured prominently in the last two Marvel events (AvX and Age of Ultron). A few months ago I stated that I was suffering from Wolverine fatigue and I don’t even follow the character. Much to my surprise, I find the character’s cinematic presence to be much more captivating and interesting than his comic counterpart.

This is owed to Hugh Jackman, the only character to consistently play Wolverine in X-men movies and the solo outings. This makes his 6th screen appearance to date with a 7th currently in production, again with a story circling his character. Jackman embodies Logan and Wolverine to an extent I don’t think any other actor at this point in time could do.  Much like we can’t image Tony Stark being anybody but RDJ or a Bruce Wayne better than Christian Bale. The actor truly understands the character and brings them to life on screen in ways we could only imagine.

Beyond his performance in the title role, the Japanese setting and actors were an awesome change of pace. We were not flooded with mutants in the wilderness, much like we always tend to see Wolverine. Changing his environment from the wilderness to Japan, with its classic beauty and elegance, was a welcome change of scenery that again helped the movie achieves new heights by breaking the current mold. With the locale, the Japanese actors also brought something new to the film. This encouraged me to pay attention, to learn their ways and see how the famous Wolverine could fit into such a culture. It was very reminiscent of Clerks in that “I’m not even supposed to be here today” at some points.

Some may criticize the film with a constant flow of action and tension with the slower, meaningful moments. People who want to see Wolverine want action piece followed by a larger action piece, finally culminating in a super awesome action piece! And to that extent we have Origins, which ended in what is heralded as the worst of the mutant films, but I feel that is from fan’s requests to see things go big. In this outing, Logan is a shell of what he was due to the ending of X3 where Jean died in his hands. He doesn’t immediately jump to fighting and the claws only come out when he’s near feral rage or defense. A deeper side of the character is revealed by this ebbing of fast and slow pieces that bring tension and heart to the film.

To this regard, the only romance in the film that felt forced was the ghostly apparitions of Jean Grey in Logan’s dreams. She appeared in several key moments, highlighting chapters for him as the movie progressed. How someone who is stricken with immortality and no true purpose in life craves that which he cannot have, death and release from the personal hell he was living in. However, I found the Jean Grey appearances more allegorical than anything. In the vein of ‘If you love something, let it go. If it was meant to be it will come back to you’ or something of that sort. If we truly love Wolverine and the mutant franchises, we have to let X3 and Origins go. When we let those go, we will be treated to a brighter future for the characters and films they appear in. So do we truly love Wolverine? When Days of Future Past finally come, we will know.

Lastly, I applaud the film for not outright ignoring the other movies in the franchise. It embraces the end of X3 (in more ways than one) and has a passing mention of Origins. I had 2 “oh shit!” moments during the film that caught me off guard, but also throw back to Origins in a very minor way, at least something we didn’t see in X1-3 or First Class. We’re seeing Wolverine develop on screen from the animal he was to the hero he will become. There have been bumps along the way, but the road is smoothing out once again leading me to believe that the character (and actor)’s screen appearances have a healing factor just as powerful as Wolverine’s himself.

The Wolverine is a fine example about how a movie series can start strong, falter, and slowly regain itself over the years when put in the right hands. James Mangold and Hugh Jackman bring definition to the character that we’ve not seen since his first appearance 13 years ago. There is little surprise the film gave the X-men franchise its 6th #1 opening (out of 6 movies). Take a second to tell us what you thought of The Wolverine in this week’s daily poll.

Road Map to Age of Ultron

By
Chris
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1

So the dust has settled, SDCC is over and we’re already on the release date of The Wolverine. But the question I’ve been asked most this week is about the Avengers 2 announcement. I’ve seen some ludicrous claims online about it following the similar titled Age of Ultron storyline, despite tons of statements from Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige saying that the title was pulled from the comics, but written as an original story. The biggest concern is that Marvel is introducing Ultron so quickly and as the main villain of the phase 2 chapter. So let’s cover how the first and only release film of Phase 2 can lead into an Ultron storyline through Iron Man 3 and the team involved.

 

First and foremost, the obvious answer is that Ultron is an accidental creation from Tony Stark. But Hank Pym created Ultron, you cry. Sadly, I don’t care. This is the cinematic Universe and has been rewarded for taking risks and telling stories that have broken the mold their comic brethren created.  Iron Man 3 introduced us to an army of near sentient robots through his wirelessly controlled armor. What happens when Jarvis or an alien AI (via the Chitauri) get into one of these suits? They would find ways to improve upon the design and become the ultimate machine. This would drive Tony mad because he deems himself the master of machines; his frustration would create a great story for Stark in Avengers 2.

Also, to top off the sentient machines which are derived from Tony’s suits of armor is the introduction of Extremis. Yes, it is a biological weapon that can be used to heal humans and reprogram life as we know it, but that also makes it a machine. One that can be militarized and bastardized into something beyond what we previewed in Iron Man 3. Killian’s A.I.M. organization is one based on science and furthering the progress of society through intelligence, which could pop up later too as a creator of Ultron.


Further descriptions of the teaser from SDCC describe what appear to be aliens and a temple in space. This is all hearsay at this point, but if it is of alien origin too, it could be another attempt by Thanos to take over the world via indirect route. The Phase 2 films and SHIELD tv show also focus on the fallout from the Chitauri invasion, now that the world knows we’re not alone. If you remember from the Marvel One-Shot: Item 47, some of the Alien technology still works on our world. If AIM or SHIELD or Stark Industries attempts to take on this technology, they may find themselves with something more than they bargained for in the terms of a hyper advanced AI that is nigh-indestructible.

One of the strongest points is the writer/director. Joss Whedon is an apt story teller, per his rep sheet in Buffy, Firefly, Astonishing X-men, and lately the Avengers. He also acts as a creative consultant for Marvel films now, able to slightly craft the films to his need so the payoff will be Avengers 2. Not that they had to do much for the Avengers, but some retconning was done to fix some nuances. Whedon also knows how to handle ensemble characters and has mentioned we will not get a film like the first Avengers. He is intentionally trying to take this to a new place and the unexpected villain is one that could be best for everyone, especially fan boys. Despite the altered origin of Ultron, keeping us guessing till the end will be exhilarating and rewarding if correct.

If Avengers 2: Age of Ultron is to provide a penultimate story for the Phase 2 films, I have a strong feeling this may be the way they go. Marvel has ideas and plans that are already in motion for these movies, but all we’ve seen is Iron Man 3 at this point. With the other films on the horizon, including Thor: The Dark World; Captain America: Winter Soldier; and Guardians of the Galaxy in between now and then, more pieces of this large puzzle will fall into place. A slow, unveiling to the road map that leads us into the Age of Ultron is better than a quick reveal.

Nobody wants Marvel ultimately blowing their wad on what was supposed to be a dry run. What are your favorite theories of Ultron in the Marvel cinematic Universe?

Throwback Thursday: C2E2 2013 Floor Impressions

By
Chris
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1

C2E2 is a huge event for me on the most personal level. Much like Civil War in the Marvel Universe will always hold an unnecessary favoritism in my mind for events because it was the first, the entry into something much better (and more monstrous). You never forget your first comic con. For me it was C2E2 2011, short for Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, and the world that opened up before me.

Misconceptions are that comic conventions are full of people in costumes (cosplayers), acne, fanboys, and bad smells. I can confirm at least 2 of those are mostly true, but stepping onto a show floor of a convention instantly removes all those preconceived notions. Immediately you see towers of t-shirts, 2 story posters for upcoming movies/TV shows/comic books, video game publishers and their latest titles, and most of all, passion. C2E2 2013 was no exception.

This year, Brian of ComicUI and I took the trip together for the first time. This was my third year and his first, so we decided to really go all out. We left early Friday morning and trekked 3 hours from Indy to Chicago discussing all the panels we’d watch and stuff we should buy. The whole point of comic cons is actually to find parking: the rarest, most elusive thing of all. To solve this crisis, I taught Brian a thing or two about how to work a system in our favor (another story for another day), but to say the least, that parking pass is being saved for a long time.

Once we arrived in the McCormick Place event center, grabbed our press passes, and headed to the floor, it immediately became apparent that this year was going to be twice the show I’ve ever seen. From the doors, Marvel’s booth was directly to the right, t-shirts straight ahead, and to the left were the artists. The best way I can break down the floor space is in 4 sections: Artists, Autographs, Publishers, and Purchases.

The section designated for the big names/publishers this year was actually smaller than ever. We got Marvel, Dark Horse, Monster Hunter, Hawken, and that’s about all I can remember. DC was definitely a no-show this year, something Marvel took a chance to poke fun at during their panels, and the #swag from these companies was limited to lanyards and buttons (some buttons can be pretty awesome, such as an I [punisher symbol] Marvel) but no real treats to take home and show off from the visit.

First order of business was a picture with the props from Marvel’s cinematic films, and by props I mean fake ones. We had a choice between Mjolnir, Cap’s Shield, or Hulk hands. We went hammer and shield, ironically the names for SHIELD in the past 4 years (it was HAMMER under Osborn). After that was done, in about 15 seconds, we moved on to the next area, purchases.

The sales portion of the floor was enormous this year, covering probably 1/3 if not up to half the space. The variety was what really shocked us this year. There were toys, comic books, indie artists, props, outfits, and the ultimate item, swords. Walking through this sea of booths and people (where the odor was most palpable), it can become overwhelming and almost distracting. Keeping a flow of movement and trying to stop at booths is the impossible task that people still try to take upon themselves. Brian got excited when we saw the Cyanide and Happiness troupe and we had to stop, which paid off due to Brian getting a custom drawing of (what I think) to be a time machine hat. Their work method was brilliant and admirable, which is also another story. There was way too much to remember everything that was for sale, but to say the least, any collector could go away a happy person.

After the sales portion, we decided to take up some dining opportunities. This consisted of a large 2 story structure in the middle of the show floor. We trekked to the top, picked out some overpriced sandwiches, and then hunted for a table much like men hunt for women, without much to show for it until we got lucky. From here, I took a panoramic shot of this third of the convention hall, yes, just ONE THIRD of the space that was there.

When lunch had ended, we proceeded to look at the autograph area, which was pretty empty due to it being early Friday. There are roped off sections for lines and little tables people sit at. And that’s it for that part.

Lastly, the artist alley is one of my favorite things at comic cons. It was not always this way, hardly at all, but after meeting some great people my first year and at subsequent conventions, I have become an artist junkie. Most notably I favor the 8-bit artist, Victor Dandridge, a friend of mine who I love tossing money at. He created the Sentry in 8-bit form for me in 2011 and my current avatar for this website, Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet is one of his works as well. This year he presented an 8-Bit Challenge involving Iron Man due to the movie’s release the week after. The premise is that you pay $2 and you can guess 10 of his 8-bit characters from his huge poster. If you do, you win level 1 8-bit Iron Man card (Mk 1 suit), another $2 and you guess another, different 10 and you get to level 2 (Mk 2 suit) and so forth until you get to level 8, which is Hulkbuster. Needless to say, I was the first winner of C2E2 2013 and the winning character was Reverse Flash (how ironic). If you get a chance and see Victor with his 8-bit works at any artist exhibition, please stop by and check out his awesome work. He also draws a full comic, The Samaritan, which is available in digital online as well (Vol 1 and Vol 2 are on Amazon, they’re $3 for the whole set).

iron man 8bit challenge

In what I have to deem ‘short’ summation of the convention floor at C2E2 in 2013, I must say that I was most impressed by the people who weren’t publishers. It was extremely obvious that artists, comic book stores, and the indie vendors were the true heart to what made C2E2 so great this year, instead of the big names that obviously save their huge reveals for larger places (I’m looking at you SDCC). For that reason, I choose to spend the majority of my dollars with them and will always support their efforts at any convention we visit. Stay tuned as we write some synopses of the panels and share our photos of the artwork we gathered over the weekend.

Reminder: The Wolverine This Weekend

By
Chris
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0

Alert: The Wolverine will be released this weekend on July 26. This is a reminder for all those wanting to see the 6th outing of Wolverine on the big screen, his second solo film, and definitely not the last. You can be for sure I will be there Friday night watching it. Most likely plagued by teenagers who lack movie going etiquette, but its the price we pay for trying to see a movie opening weekend.

Also, on that note, I’d like to inform everyone right now that yes, there IS A POST CREDITS SCENE.

Please stay after the credits and watch the scene afterwards. Rumor has it that it ties this film to the next, Days of Future Past, but I won’t be posting any spoilers here. Come back this weekend or next week to catch our review as well, as soon as I get Pacific Rim review posted. Totally slacking on that one.

Until then, grab your claws and we’ll see you at the movies!

UPDATED: Hi Res Photos of Electro and Spidey

By
Chris
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0

These are just hi resolution updates from the Amazing Spider-man 2. We get to see a full body Electro and Spider-man having a face off moment and the thermometer or whatever in Jamie Foxx’s head. Take a peek and start setting your wallpapers to these bad boys.

Click for the FULL versions.

ASM2 - 1

ASM2 - 2

ASM2 - 5

ASM2 - 3 ASM2 - 4

 

X-Men Posters Showoff Magneto and Xavier (UPDATED Hi-Res)

By
Chris
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4

Hot on the heel of those sexy character portraits from SDCC, Fox has unveiled the first posters for Days of Future Past showcasing none other than Magneto and Xavier. Whats great about these posters, which happen to be on the cover of EW, is the inclusion of both new and old versions of the character. We see a bearded, hippy Xavier transposed over the future, hairless self and a large blue X symbolizing peace and equality. In a stark contrast, we see a menacing Fassbender mixed in with an elderly McKellen and a red X instead. The red could symbolize the war and bloodshed that happens to the homo superiors in the course of the film, or a color associated with the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Either way, these posters absolutely gorgeous and mind blowing how well they mix together. Kudos, art director, kudos indeed. Check out the posters and hopefully we’ll get more as we get closer to release. Again, these are eerily cool.

Click for High Res versions.

X-Men "Days of Future Past" poster -- exclusive EW.com image

X-Men "Days of Future Past" poster -- exclusive EW.com image

 

The VD Theory

By
Chris
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2

Ok, the title is misleading, how about this one: Theory: Vin Diesel as a Voice in Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite my last theory that Diesel could be the Vision or even Ultron in the Avengers 2, a few hints from both the actor himself and James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy, seem to point he will be announced as portraying the voice of one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, namely Groot or Rocket Raccoon.

But Chris, why would you ever say that? Elementary, my dear reader, elementary. At the end of SDCC 2013, during a press conference for GotG,  James Gunn leaned over to Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, and was able to say that casting news for both Rocket Raccoon and Groot is coming “Tomorrow, next week-ish.” That’s pretty soon, but why didn’t they do any announcing during SDCC? That’s the real question and I predict Hollywood politics. Negotiations about actors and payment and all that stuff we never really think about as filmgoers. Another thought is that they didn’t want that news to be overshadowed by Joss’ surprise appearance and Avengers 2 announcement. But I digress from the clues in front of us.

Today’s date is July 22, a week or so from the end of the month. This coincides with Vin Diesel’s statement prior to the Marvel press conference about his meetings with Marvel that “There is some very big news coming at the end of this month.” The end of the month is only a week or so away. And then magically a line appears that could very possibly connect the actor with the Marvel Studios film.

These two statements were made apart from each other at separate SDCC panels, meaning that each person doesn’t know what the other said and we shouldn’t be making this connection, or we’re jumping to conclusions and may be totally off our mark. After all the other announcements this weekend that isn’t too far out of reach for even us.

Vin isn’t a stranger to voice acting as well, so this role wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for the guy. He has a distinct, memorable voice as well that can really get a point across. I could see him playing Groot before the Rocket Raccoon, honestly. Diesel voiced the Iron Giant in the movie with the same title from the late 90’s, and that deep gravely sound he has fits the one-note character. It also doesn’t help that my concept of how Rocket should sound comes from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, in which he was more Australian-accented. He needs a more lively voice with accent and theater, which I don’t think the actor can muster (but I’ve been proven wrong).

So there you have it, a theory with a few facts sprinkled in there leading to what may be some fun news before August. We may find out sooner than later. Who do YOU think Diesel should be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

PS: Forgive the icon, Groot is much more of a BA in the newest concept art.

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