Most Anticipated of 2015

With 2014 coming to a close, it's time to look ahead to the new year. And as strong as 2014 was, 2015 looks like it's going to be one of the biggest years for film yet, at least box office wise. There are some huge films coming out next year with the potential to be awesome, so I decided to look ahead and tell you guys my ten most anticipated films of 2015. 

10) The Fantastic Four

This one is a bit of a weird entry for most anticipated. Whereas the remaining nine films on my list are here because I'm sure they'll be astounding, 'The Fantastic Four' is here rather because I'm just so eager to see whether or not Fox will manage to pull it off. It is also intriguing that we have absolutely nothing official to go from on what the film will look like. We have no officially released posters, stills or trailers. The only thing we do have are a couple of leaked set photos depicting what we can expect The Thing and Doctor Doom to look like. Also this will be the fourth attempt at a film adaptation of the FF after the infamous Roger Corman attempt from the '90s which was apparently so bad it remained unreleased, and the 2005 and 2007 Tim Story features which probably should have remained in the same vault as the Corman feature. But with a solid director and cast, maybe the fourth time will be the charm for this particular property. 

9) The Hateful Eight

Let me make this perfectly clear. The only reason that The Hateful Eight isn't in the top five of this list is because of a lack of information about it; specifically a solid release date. Nevertheless I decided to remain optimistic and include it on the 2015 list anyway, because Quentin Tarantino is a director who should always be kept in mind. After the beautifully directed 'Django Unchained', the idea of Tarantino returning to the Western genre is just too good to resist. Coupled with the recent news of a cast list that includes longtime Tarantino collaborators Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Madsen and Tim Roth, I have no doubt that this film will be a fantastic one, and I anticipate hearing more news about it.  

8) The Jungle Book

I'm a huge fan of the original 'The Jungle Book' by Disney. And I also love Jon Favreau's work. He's proven that he can make a solid family film, from 'Elf'' to 'Zathura', and even through his work on 'Iron Man'. I haven't seen his latest feature, 'Chef', yet, but I've heard that it's good enough to prove the disappointing 'Iron Man 2' and 'Cowboys and Aliens' films to be unfortunate flukes. But even if you put the director aside, just consider the cast list of this feature. Scarlett Johansson voicing the hypnotic snake Kaa, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, the fearsome tiger and antagonist. Bill Murray (Bill frickin' Murray!) as the lovable bear Baloo! Ben Kingsley as the wise panther Bagheera. Christopher Walken as the orangutan, King Louie! These are some of the most inspired voice acting casting calls I've heard in a long time, and while we have yet to see footage from the film here's hoping the blend of CG and live action works out in the film's favor. 

7) Inside Out

Pixar really need a win. They have a lot of timeless classics under their belt and for many years we believed them to be the undisputed kings of animation. But since 'Toy Story 3', we haven't really seen them release anything noteworthy. 'Brave' was okay and 'Monsters University' was fun enough, but they don't reach the quality of Pixar's classics. And in the same time period, every other animation studio have been picking up their game. Disney released 'Wreck-It Ralph', 'Frozen' and 'Big Hero Six'. Dreamworks released the 'How to Train Your Dragon' films. Even Warner Bros. shocked everyone this year with 'The Lego Movie'. So Pixar really, really needs 'Inside Out' to knock it out of the park. And from the footage in the recently released trailer (embedded below), it looks like it has a strong chance of doing just that. Pixar also have 'The Good Dinosaur' releasing in November 2015, so hopefully they can pull a one-two punch to once again establish them as the kings of animation. And I have a very strong feeling that 'Inside Out' will be a step in the right direction. 

6) Jurassic World

"You just went and made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea.". Wise words from Chris Pratt in the trailer for the new installment for the 'Jurassic Park' series probably summarizes the plot better than I ever could. I love the idea that Jurassic World is a thing that has become boring to the consumers within this new film. Because that's exactly what would happen. No matter how good something is, we always get bored of it eventually and go on to the next thing. I also love the absolute absurdity of humans splicing together dinosaur DNA just because they can, because again it's exactly what we would do. I can guarantee you right now if I had the ability to, I'd make a T-Rex with wings. For science! Either way, this new film looks freaking fun. Chris Pratt's dialogue seems a little stiff and wooden in the trailer, but it seems the film will set him up for enough fun action to prove once again to use why he deserves to be an A-List star after he already blew us away with 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. Hopefully 'Jurassic World' can strive near the heights that the awesome original has set up, but if not it at least looks like it'll be an extremely fun way to kill a couple of hours. 

5) Mad Max: Fury Road

This film looks fucking insane. Described by director George Miller as a "western on wheels", 'Mad Max: Fury Road' stars Tom Hardy as Max, joined by Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult in lead roles. Not much of the film's plot is known beyond Tom Hardy's Max aiding Charlize Theron across the desert as they are chased by Hoult's Nux. But the plot isn't really what sells the film, nor are the three admittedly strong lead actors. It's the utter carnage that the film promises through it's action sequences, coupled with the stunning visual style that Miller has recreated in the trailers. There isn't much I can say here to sell you on the film more than what the trailer itself can do, but if the film lives up to the promotional material it might be one of the best action films in recent years. Check out the trailer below and see for yourself!

4) Ant-Man

'Ant-Man' has had it's fair share of issues. Most notably was the departure of Edgar Wright from the project, apparently due to creative differences. Marvel quickly replaced Wright with Peyton Reed however, and the film has lost no steam with it still currently on course for a July release. We haven't seen any official footage from the film yet beyond old test footage from when Wright was still attached to direct, and other content we have seen from the film has been minimal, with the above banner (picturing what we can assume is Scott Lang's Ant-Man costume on the left, and the villainous Yellowjacket on the right) only just being released recently. The film follows young thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) stealing the Ant-Man technology from an elderly Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), but not much is officially known from there. A trailer was just recently classified however, seemingly indicating the first footage is on its way (possibly with the Agent Carter premiere next week?). But I'm still extremely excited for this film. This will be the 12th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and beyond the odd slip-up such as 'Iron Man 2', Marvel have done a fine job of all their films thus far. And though people may cite his ridiculous set up as a reason that Ant-Man may fail, last year's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' proved that if you handle it right, anything can work on the big screen. Hopefully the trailer will drop soon and prove my suspicions right and help everyone else get anticipated for 'Ant-Man', because I think we're in for a delightful Marvel-styled surprise with this property. 

3) Spectre

I'm not the biggest James Bond fan in the world. I find quite a lot of the older films to be a little bit too cheesy and ridiculous to be taken seriously beyond anything other than mindless fun. But Daniel Craig's new gritty Bond has really changed my perspective on the franchise. For quite a while I considered 'Casino Royale' to be a fluke since it was one of the few Bond films I truly enjoyed, and since the follow up 'Quantum of Solace' did not appeal to me at all. But then Sam Mendes ('Road to Perdition') came along and released 'Skyfall' and hit the highs that I thought would have been a one off with Craig's first Bond outing. It provided a fun yet gritty story that also paid tribute in spades to Bond's rich 50 year legacy. So you can only imagine how excited I was to hear Mendes had decided to return to direct Craig's fourth Bond film 'Spectre'. The title alone seems to indicate that Mendes will continue to respect the Bond legacy and incorporate it into modern adventures as to not alienate the fans but instead both appeal to them and newer fans like myself. Throw in the fact the incredibly talented Christoph Waltz is joining the production and 'Spectre' certainly deserves a top five spot on the list. 

2) Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Holy shit, it feels good to write that title! The entire concept of a new Star Wars film feels incredibly real now we have a title and footage to work with. The last two entries on this list should cause no surprise to anybody (most similar lists I've read have these pegged as the top two as well, in various order), but the obvious picks are sometimes the right ones. Yes, it'll technically have only been 10 years since the last Star Wars film by the time 'The Force Awakens' releases, but it will have been 32 years since the last true Star Wars film was released, and from what we've heard JJ Abrams say, this installment definitely feels like it should rank among the original trilogy. The short teaser Disney released for the film was recently revealed to have only been released to satisfy the huge fanbase. And you can definitely sense how satisfied that fanbase was with the internet erupting with comments about the film after the teaser hit the net. I applaud Abrams and Disney for comprising the trailer mainly with shots of new material such as the characters portrayed by John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac over the obvious fan pleasing shots they could have included of Luke, Leia and Han. And while they may not count as original characters, that final shot of the Millennium Falcon going against the Tie Fighters was incredibly gratifying. I'm extremely glad I've seen the trailer twice in IMAX now, and the thought of being in a galaxy far, far away once again on the big screen is extremely exciting! So exciting, in fact, that there's only one other film coming out next year that manages to have me more anticipated. 

1) Avengers: Age of Ultron

Yep, no surprises here. While Star Wars may promise us an exciting return to form, the lackluster stench of the prequels coupled with the fact that it's a whole year away admittedly has my anticipation for it slightly lower than most others have ranked it. But Marvel are on a hot streak right now. And 'Age of Ultron' is only four months away (in fact, it's the earliest release on this entire list). The Marvel Cinematic Universe is like this huge self-sustaining hype machine too. Every time a new installment comes out and people like it, they only get even more excited for the next one. Even beyond the hype that the solo films create, this is the sequel to the third highest grossing film of all time, so you can guarantee there's going to be a lot of noise come release day. With Joss Whedon back at the director's helm and the original cast joined by new talent such as Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and of course James Spader giving a delightfully sinister turn as antagonist Ultron, the film promises to elevate the stakes from the first installment to new heights. If you loved seeing the fan pleasing moments of the first like Thor brawling with the Hulk on the Helicarrier, Whedon shows in the trailer that he's not out of tricks yet with Iron Man donning his Hulkbuster armour to tackle the Green Goliath. And strangely enough, I'm also excited for the ramifications of 'Age of Ultron' to hit the MCU almost as much as I am for the film's events itself. Hopefully Marvel have managed to create the 'Empire Strikes Back' of the Avengers, and hopefully a year from now when we're all discussing what films astonished us and what disappointed us, 'Age of Ultron' manages to hit all the right notes and become one of the best films of the year, and not one of the most overhyped disappointments of all time. For now though, we've still got this incredibly awesome trailer to help pass the time with until April 24th! 

That's the ten films I'm anticipating the most in 2015, then. Not necessarily the best of the year, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of films I missed out that I'm not even aware of yet that'll knock it out of the park, but there's enough potential here to indicate 2015 may be the best year for films yet! Honorable mentions to 'Chappie', 'Tomorrowland', 'The Good Dinosaur' and 'Mission: Impossible 5', all of which I wanted to include on the list but I need to see a little bit more to secure them as my most anticipated. Again, just because I say these are my most anticipated, it doesn't mean it's what I think it'll be the best. For example, I think Brad Bird is going to knock it out of the park once again with 'Tomorrowland' like he did with 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' and 'The Incredibles', but I haven't seen enough from it yet to anticipate it more than these ten films. 

But what ten films are you guys anticipating most? Comment below and let me know how our lists deliver. And for more on film throughout the new year, make sure to check back here!

Rumor Debate: Is "Captain America: Civil War" a reality? Will it star Spider-Man?

Yesterday, in the wake of New York Comic Con, news exploded on the internet that Robert Downey Jr. was going to be starring in 2016's 'Captain America 3', and that the film would adapt, or kick off a series of film adapting, the Civil War comic arc from 2006. This is hot on the heels of the multitude of reports debating Spider-Man's future at Sony, with many claiming they heard from inside sources that a deal was being worked out with Disney that could end up with Spider-Man being included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Reports also claimed that 'Sinister Six' (2016) would be a soft reboot of the franchise, that could involve Andrew Garfield replaced as the lead actor for Peter Parker. It would certainly seem the two news stories are related with Spider-Man being a major player in the Civil War story. But just how much of this news is actual, factual information? Can we really discuss it as anything more than speculation at this point? After all, Marvel hasn't officially announced anything. Don't misconstrue my words; I'm not saying none of this will happen. I'm just saying until we get an official confirmation, we should be careful what we spread as fact.

Let's start with looking at the Spider-Man news. There was a couple of days recently where a lot of Spider-Man rumors started sprouting up online, including but not limited to:

• Sinister Six will be a soft reboot of the franchise.
• Spider-Man will be incorporated into the MCU.
• Andrew Garfield will no longer play Spider-Man.
• Venom/Carnage, currently set for 2017, is now scrapped. 
• The Amazing Spider-Man 3 as a 2018 release is looking unlikely.

A lot of websites pinned the reasoning for this down to the "flop" that 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' endured. Okay, that sounds reasonable. Except in what world was 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' a flop? It managed to make over $700 million worldwide. Sure the domestic figures were probably a bit lower than Sony expected, and they were probably hoping for this to be the first Spider-Man film to break $1 billion, but this is by no means a travesty. $700m is a great result. There's no need for them to start scrapping films and worrying and calling up other studios hoping to flog their character off for a cheap, quick crossover. All they need to do to figure out how to fix Spider-Man is to actually for once read some of the fan and critic complaints about the film, take them on board, and fix them for the next installment. We all no they aren't completely incapable of this. Fans of the franchise were treated to a more comic-book accurate costume in the sequel after complaints that the costume in the first installment swayed too far away from the original suit. Why can't they do this with some of the complaints for the plot and tonal inconsistencies for the second film? The answer is there is no reason. The franchise is still completely redeemable as long as they learn from their mistakes. I get the idea that complaints will be falling onto deaf ears though. How many of the problems with 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' were also comparable to the problems people had with 'Spider-Man 3'? Too many villains is the obvious one, especially with huge, fan favourite villains relegated to five minutes of action at the end of the film (Topher Grace's Venom and Dane Dehaan's Green Goblin). Tonal inconsistencies was also a problem with 'Spider-Man 3'. If Sony refuse to learn from their mistakes that killed their previous Spider-Man series, how do they expect the new one to ever survive? Either way, the random flailing Sony seems to be doing now to set up a franchise is worrying, with 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3' pushed back to 2018, and 'Sinister Six', 'Venom/Carnage' and female led films set for launch before then (although I feel it is necessary to remind people that producers of Spider-Man  stated before the release of the second installment that the 2016 Spider-Man slot may not be 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3', and this isn't as much of a  panicked reaction to bad press as a lot of sites make it out to be). Now sure, it does seem like Sony doesn't really know what they're doing right now, but I think the one consistency they do have with their plans is that they seem extremely desperate to expand Spider-Man. The rumor that they have cancelled 'Venom/Carnage' seems so against what they have been doing recently, I doubt there's much ground behind it. Garfield being replaced as Peter Parker also seems to come out of nowhere. Andrew Garfield's performance in the sequel was one of the few things critics universally praised, so why would Sony replace him? Are they trying to shatter confidence in the third installment as much as they can? However, I have mixed reactions to the potential integration of Spider-Man with the MCU. We've heard in the past about the willingness of both Marvel and Sony to work together, with an Easter Egg of the Oscorp tower appearing in the Avengers skyline being set up, only failing to happen when designs for the tower weren't finished in time for Avengers. But the level of how much Sony are willing to let Marvel use Spider-Man is debatable. They're probably all for small Easter Eggs, but when you start talking about mixing characters, there's going to be a lot of conflict. Sony would probably love for Spider-Man to be officially in the MCU, and potentially make a small appearance in something like 'Captain America 3' to build some more interest in their property before the next installment launches. But they'd probably also want a cut of the box office from any film Spider-Man appeared in. And while Sony could use Spider-Man, Disney don't really need him right now. When you have the power to make a "Guardians of the Galaxy" films one of the biggest box office hits of the summer, do you really need to sacrifice a percentage of your profits to have Spider-Man quickly appear? The only real reason Disney would need Spider-Man is, coincidentally, if they wanted to properly adapt the Civil War storyline. One of the major points in the story was Spider-Man being torn between Captain America and Iron Man's side in the war, which of course they can't really do without the rights to Spider-Man. But they could probably replace Spidey's role in the story with another character. And really to do a Civil War movie properly, they'd also need the X-Men rights, which they'll probably never get, especially with 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' reinvigorating interest in the franchise. So the rumor of Spider-Man in the MCU is very debatable right now. It probably relies a lot of whether or not Marvel actually are planning the Civil War movie. 

The sudden barrage of Captain America rumors, quite similarly, seemingly spout from an inside source. Brilliant. The problem I have with "inside sources" are that anyone can say that they have them, and websites would probably swoop in on it and claim it as fact. Regardless, let's work our way through the Captain America rumors. The main one was that Robert Downey Jr is in final negotiations to sign on to 'Captain America 3'. This certainly rings true with Robert Downey Jr's recent rather mysterious comments regarding his future with Marvel, where he confirmed 'Iron Man 4' was in the works, then almost instantly denied that, and then stated he will continue working with Marvel. Appearing in other franchises would certainly allow him to continue working with Marvel without an 'Iron Man 4' having to be in production. But the idea that he initial signed on for a small role that would require three weeks of work but demanded a larger role seems to be evidence to the contrary of the Civil War movie. Would Kevin Feige, well known strategist to be working years in advance, really be so lax on the plot of Captain America 3 that he'd either plan a Civil War movie and hope Downey comes back, or change it to a Civil War movie upon Downey demanding a larger role? Seems unlikely. It would ring true with the recent comments about the title of 'Captain America 3' revealing big changes for the Marvel universe, but maybe it circles around a different story. One in which Iron Man would be an added bonus, but not a necessity. Something like Secret War, which Iron Man didn't originally star in but would help to replace characters like Spider-Man should a deal with Sony not be reached, and other X-Men and Fantastic Four characters. This could lead to bigger things obviously if it tied into a Secret Invasion film later down the line. It just seems weird that the entire plot of Captain America 3 would rely on the willingness of RDJ and the studio to cooperate at such a late stage. It would make more sense if Tony Stark was only set to be a minor role in the film. However, one point that supports the idea of Civil War is the idea that Chris Evans seems to be wanting to take a break from acting for a while. If Marvel don't want to shelve Captain America while Chris Evans is on a break on the hope that he may resign a new contract, they could always kill Steve Rogers and replace him with either Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, or Sam Wilson, also known as the Falcon, who have both taken over the mantle of Captain America in the comics at some point or another. Alternatively, if they want to give Robert Downey Jr a big exit, they could reverse the death at the end of the Civil War story and have Iron Man die instead of Captain America. Although that entire support for the idea of Civil War happening is just on the off chance Marvel want to dispatch of either Tony Stark or Steve Rogers. One possible idea against it is the idea that would Marvel really want Iron Man to appear as somewhat antagonistic twice in a row? If in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', Tony creates a machine that creates so much suffering for the Avengers and feels guilty about it, would Marvel want to further him down the road of questionable morals by making him an antagonist in 'Captain America 3'? Nothing solid to dispute the rumors, just food for thought. 

In conclusion, some of the information claimed by "inside sources" seems to be rather questionable at best, such as Sony stumbling with their plans to expand the Spider-Man franchise and the idea that Kevin Feige would leave it this late to lock down Robert Downey Jr if he is absolutely needed for a huge role in 'Captain America 3' (just to reiterate, I know this isn't that late to cast an actor, but if they don't get Downey back and can't do Civil War they may need to change a lot of plans in a little time). I imagine we'll hear more in the way of official confirmations for it closer to, if not after, the release of 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron'  on 24th April 2015. 

'Guardians of the Galaxy' review

'Guardians of the Galaxy' is the latest installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and follows Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finding an ancient artifact that villain Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) wants for himself to unleash chaos. Quill teams up with a band of misfits, including Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) in order to save the galaxy.

Firstly, I just want to get it out of the way that I actually saw this on opening day here in the UK, 31st July, but knowing I'd be seeing it for a second time the following Sunday on the 3rd August, I decided to hold off doing a review so I could better summarize my feelings towards the film. Guardians of the Galaxy has to be the riskiest choice Marvel could have chosen for a film, given that it is centered around these extremely obscure characters and in fact has very little tying it to earlier films. But damn, did it pay off! I previously did an editorial on this blog about how Guardians of the Galaxy should be the refreshment that the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs right now, and damn was it refreshing. Guardians really builds upon the existing Marvel universe showing us new races and characters and storylines previously not even hinted at, and giving us something rather original in a franchise where we've come accustom to certain elements like a Samuel L Jackson cameo or talk or another Avenger. 

Speaking of the new characters, pretty much everyone in this movie comes out on top. Chris Pratt really infuses a lot of his own personality into the main character, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, to give us a lovable, hilarious rogue reminiscent of characters such as Han Solo. It's good to see Pratt do such a good job headlining a major blockbuster too, after he brought to life the protagonist in this year's 'The Lego Movie'. I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of him in future big blockbusters. As for the rest of the Guardians, let's start with the safest bet. Zoe Saldana here doesn't really explore new ground. We've seen her as an alien warrior before in 'Avatar', and in other sci-fi films like 'Star Trek', but nevertheless Saldana does an excellent job once again at bringing to life a badass, strong female character. Dave Bautista finds himself in the most important job of his acting career since deciding to leave WWE, and he performs admirably. The character of Drax is somewhat of a stiff, wooden character dialogue wise anyway (his people are completely literal, as explained in the film), so it's hard to tell sometimes if Bautista's acting is weak in some spots, or if he's actually playing the character well, and it's the character acting strange. Either way, he manages to provide a few laughs and most importantly, show off in some excellent action sequences. Last but definitely not least are Groot and Rocket Raccoon, the two CGI characters of the team. I was critical when I first heard the casting of Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon to be honest. I always felt it was just the studio unnecessarily putting star power into an obscure film to guarantee some better box office results, and I always assumed it'd be jarring to hear Rocket Raccoon talk like Cooper. But I've been proven wrong. Cooper's performance as Rocket really brings the character to life, and helps give him a presence in scenes shared with actors so the character doesn't feel fake. More importantly, Cooper disappears into the role, with me never thinking during the film I was watching him play a raccoon; the entire time I just felt like I was actually watching Rocket. Vin Diesel's performance of Groot is equally incredible, and also helps give the character a presence, but not as much as a surprise. After all, I've already seen Diesel do a terrific job with 'The Iron Giant', so why should he fail with the Wooden Giant? As for the rest of the cast, I can't think of anyone who did a poor job. Lee Pace performs great as the antagonist, Ronan the Accuser, giving us a terrifying villain for the Guardians to face off against. Joining his side is Doctor Who's Karen Gillan as Nebula, who I was surprised at how much I liked in the villain role. Glenn Close and John C Reilly star as members of the Nova Corp, and while they're good in their roles, they appear far too little in the film to really justify getting such big stars in. 

On a technical standpoint, the film is spot on. The cinematography and direction in general was great, and something a little different to give Guardians it's on flavour. The visual effects are flawless, with huge set pieces, CGI characters and various stunts all looking brilliant throughout the film. I saw the film in IMAX 3D, and I'm glad to say even the 3D was used to a good effect in the film, after seeing so many films this summer squander the use of it. Tyler Bates creates a tight enough score for the film where it's serviceable, but not really noteworthy, as it's utterly outshined by the soundtrack James Gunn decided to use in the film, with Star-Lord's collection of 70's riffs featuring throughout. Surprisingly though, the soundtrack never feels too forced. There's an actual story element to why Star-Lord has this music, and every time it appears throughout the film (eleven different tracks make it into the film), it flows well and feels natural rather than feeling that the director was just pushing the music onto us (something Transformers: Age of Extinction did by shoving Imagine Dragon's latest single down the viewers through over and over again in the last hour).

This image adds nothing to my review. I just think the design for Ronan's ship is fucking badass.

On the whole, Guardians of the Galaxy is just such an incredibly fun time to watch that it's hard to nitpick and really find any faults with it. Looking at it as just a film, it gives the audience these really fun characters you want to follow with some great humour and awesome action, not too unlike the Avengers. Even looking at it as a hardcore fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there's so much world building here setting up potential threads for the future of the franchise, as well as a galactic element, that it's hard to watch the film and not feel myself grinning the entire time. One particular scene in the film was so great to see on the big screen that I actually couldn't stop smiling through it. I don't want to give specifics to those who haven't seen it or don't know about it, so all I'll say is that the scene stars Josh Brolin. I knew I was going to appreciate Guardians of the Galaxy for taking the risk and showing us a new side of the MCU, but I never knew I was going to end up loving it and these characters so much! And on a note for the future of the Marvel universe, this pretty much gives Marvel a free pass to try any zany characters and films they want. Who can deny the possibility of Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Ms Marvel working when Marvel made a space movie starring a fucking raccoon one of the highlights of the summer. 

9 out of 10

Is Deadpool finally heading to the big screen?!

In the middle of all the Comic-Con related madness, something glorious happened. Test footage created years ago by Tim Miller showcasing the fan-favourite merc with a mouth Deadpool hit the internet! The footage was a short two minute clip featuring Ryan Reynolds reprising his role from 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' with a more faithful adaptation of the character this time, and featured Deadpool almost instantly breaking the fourth wall to have banter with the audience before leaping into battle against generic henchmen. The first time the footage leaked, I decided to not blog about it. The quality was rather low, and the fact that someone leaked it about three years after its creation connoted to me that studio interest in the project was so lacking that an employee managed to leak the footage. But then the footage got leaked again today. In HD. And now I'm thinking I was completely wrong. I'm actually starting to believe that the leaking of this footage could be the closest we've come to Deadpool's very on standalone.

Deadpool as he appeared in the footage.

Okay, so let's look at some of the facts first. Fox had nothing relating to X-Men or Fantastic Four at Comic-Con. Understandably so for the X-Men franchise, given that the next installment isn't until 2016, but less understandable for Fantastic Four given that the film is less than a year away and will probably need to work to get a positive attitude from the general audience after the 2005 and 2007 installments from Tim Story. But does this mean Fox were idly sitting back playing with their thumbs while Disney and Warner Bros won over audiences? I'm actually starting to think that the entire reason Deadpool footage leaked during Comic-Con was to ride the hype of all the fans frantically searching online for all the news so that they could gauge fan reactions to the footage (which are mostly positive from what I hear). The idea of a HD leak coming a day or so after a low-res leak certainly seems to hint to some studio involvement in the footage getting released. And after the mega success of 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', along with the hype of audience relating to 'Guardians of the Galaxy', a similarly abstract and lesser known franchise, could have convinced Fox into reigniting their interest in the Deadpool movie. After all, in October 2013, the director of the project, Tim Miller confirmed in an interview that the film is actually ready to go and the hold-up on the project is just Miller and Reynolds waiting for the green light from Fox. So imagine if you were in charge of handling 20th Century Fox's Marvel projects. You want to expand your superhero cinematic universe, your latest film in the universe was the highest grossing yet, lesser known properties are actually now getting huge reactions from the audience, and you have a film ready to go centered around a character adored by fans. You'd be crazy to not at least consider giving Deadpool the go ahead, right?

The footage stays true to the comedy of the character.

One of the biggest drawbacks fans speculate is holding Deadpool back from getting greenlit however is actually the nature of the characters himself. Fans of the character know very well how gory Deadpool can get in the comic, as well as rather inappropriate humour for the younger audiences of typical comic book movies. But the funny thing is about this "huge drawback" is that we might have the answer to exactly how Fox plans on getting past that right in front of us. One idea is that Fox simply dial Deadpool back and make a PG-13 film. Before seeing the footage, I'd call this hearsay! But after actually seeing the footage, they do a spectacular job of bringing Deadpool to life without really crossing the line into R territory. There's one decapitation, nothing that hasn't been seen before in films aimed towards a teenage audience like Star Wars or The Hobbit, and that's as far as the gore goes. There's an expletive right at the end as Deadpool says "Oh, fuck me!" when the title appears, but nothing that you couldn't squeeze into a PG-13 film ("Fuck" was actually used by Wolverine in both 'X-Men: First Class' and 'The Wolverine', and then later by Charles Xavier in 'Days of Future Past'). So that's one option. The second option would be of course to just go all out and make the R-Rated Deadpool movie fans demand. Of course this would mean having to minimize the budget giving that you lose a large potential audience, but perhaps if the film is done in a similar motion capture way as the test footage, you could actually have all the zany stunts you'd expect from the character without having to go overboard with the budget. I think one of the biggest worries Fox will have about an R-Rated film, though, would be the major under performance of recent R Rated superhero flicks, namely 'Dredd'. It's not like the concept can't work and still make a good return though. All three Blade films were both R-Rated and financially successful. 2009's 'Watchmen' also turned a decent profit. There is however a third potential option. Theatrically releasing a barebones PG-13 version of the film that could still get the profit from the teenage audience, and then releasing the more hardcore R rated version when the home video releases of the film come later. It's not a concept completely alien to Fox, last year's 'The Wolverine' had the exact same treatment, but it's perhaps a tricky one to pull off without making it seem like the theatrical version is a half hearted version, and it could maybe even damage the film financially if fans decide to hold off until home video to see the version they prefer, but it could be a way to make the studio feel safer about going ahead with the film while also staying true to the character.

So all in all, while we may not have any confirmation from Fox whatsoever that they're even looking at a 'Deadpool' solo film once more, I think all the signs are pretty clear that they are considering it, and the character is currently in the best position to be greenlit that he's ever been. I decided against including a link to the HD release of the footage, because it's likely by the time anyone read this blog the link would be dead, but a simple Google search for "Deadpool leaked footage" shows dozens of enthusiastic fans sharing the footage and hoping we see a full feature. So instead I'll leave you with this, which yes, does actually appear as the theme in the test footage.

So have you seen the footage? What are your thoughts on it and the idea of a full feature film like it? Would you want it PG-13 or R? Live action or mo-cap? Whatever your thoughts, share them in the comments below!

Wonder Woman Unveiled!

DC hit Hall H earlier this day at Comic-Con offering a look at 'Jupiter Ascending', 'Mad Max' and 'The Hobbit', but "surprised" audiences when they also showed off a sneak peak at the upcoming and highly anticipated 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', due to hit cinemas early 2016. Apparently the audience were treated to some early footage of the film, as well as the unveiling of actress Gal Gadot's costume for her role as the popular superhero Wonder Woman! This is following earlier reveals this year of both Batman and Superman's costumes for the film. 

Gadot as the iconic Wonder Woman

My first initial reaction to this image was how faithful the armour is the iconic Wonder Woman look. It has all the features one would expect to see in a Wonder Woman incarnation from the 'WW' belt symbol to the bird on the chest. I was hoping to see Wonder Woman wearing pants on screen but I suppose a skirt is better than nothing. Although there's one glaring aspect to the Wonder Woman costume that seems less faithful to the comic books: the colouring. If you take an extremely close look at her armour, it seems like it may have a very toned down tint of red in it, and while the skirt indeed looks black it might be a very dark shade of blue. Regardless, I am slightly disappointed that we can't see a bit more brightness to her costume. It's almost as if DC, while making a film about a superpowered alien battling an orphan who dresses up like a bat, are convinced that bright colours on the costumes will be where the audience draw the line and say that's the thing that's unrealistic about this whole scenario. I can't say I'm surprised to see DC tone down the vividness of the characters, but I also can't pretend to be happy about it either, especially while their rivals are making billions from movies with vivid and comicbooky characters like Captain America, and in a week will happily release a movie starring a raccoon with a gun, while DC are only now bringing their third biggest character to the screen.

Another pleasant surprise from this image is how good Gal Gadot looks in this costume. And I don't mean attractive (as much as she is), but rather that she looks like she belongs in it. As much as I doubted Gadot could pull off this iconic role, I gotta admit she actually looks pretty fucking badass in her suit there! Now, of course, this is a still image, so while she may look the part here, she may still completely screw up all the acting of the character, but this image has given me more hope that she will provide us with the incarnation of Wonder Woman we truly deserve after all these years of waiting.

There's not a lot else to say really about DC's panel; Wonder Woman was definitely their big hitter. But before I leave you I will touch upon one subject. Description of the footage, while stating it's no more than a stare off between Bats and Supes, did describe that we'd see Affleck don an armour not unlike the one used in the classic graphic novel 'The Dark Knight Returns' that features white lights for eyes, giving him a classic comic look. Now granted, this won't be the first time we have seen something like this. Christian Bale's Batman uses sonic vision at the end of 'The Dark Knight' to find the Joker that give his eyes the same white out effect (spoiler, I guess, if you haven't seen one of the most popular superhero films ever six years after it's release yet care enough about superheroes to read some guy's thoughts on a costume). Apparently, this image has leaked from the teaser they showed, and while I cannot confirm that it is genuine, if it is, it looks fucking awesome.

I can't wait to here about more from this film. I've had my worries and doubts, but today has really reassured me that DC know what they're doing finally when it comes to putting some of their most iconic characters onto the big screen for the first time, and it sounds like they know exactly what they're doing with the face-off between Batman and Superman. What do you guys think of the Wonder Woman costume? Perfect? Too dark and gritty? Not dark and gritty enough? Sound off in the comments! And for more on my thoughts from comic-con, check back to the blog later today! Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits cinemas 29th April 2016 in the UK (a week before USA's 6th May date).

EDIT!: That Batman screenshot I included at the end? Leaked footage online proves it's completely real, and we can indeed expect Affleck's Batman to have similar armour in the film!

How the 'Destiny' Beta turned me into a believer

'Destiny' has been a game that everyone has known about for a while, and pretty much everyone has been on board with as a staple of what next-gen gaming could be. And when I say pretty much everyone, I really mean what seems like everyone but me. The majority of the time since the announcement of the PlayStation 4, everytime we see a conference relating to next-gen, we see Destiny back on the stage showing off more content. So much so, in fact, that by the time E3 rolled around this year, I was fatigued by the game months before it ever came out. I remember letting out a sigh when they inevitably hit the stage again this year showing off new content from the game. Very much like Ubisoft did with 'Watch_Dogs', I felt as though Bungie were pushing their product onto me too much and actually turning me off from the idea of purchasing it. However, unlike 'Watch_Dogs', it seemed like I was alone with this sentiment. They never showed me anything that got me excited. After a while, we finally got to see some gameplay, and I was still unimpressed! I just kept getting the vibe I was watching a more serious take on 'Borderlands' set in a 'Halo'-esque world. Very little to keep me interested. But then, this weekend, the Beta opened to the public (giving that you owned a PS4 or Xbox One and had PS Plus / Xbox Live Gold). And everything changed.

Destiny always looked beautiful, but lacked something to keep me interested.

As soon as the beta started, I found myself surprised by how much I enjoyed the customization in the game. Assuming the complete game will be much more expansive, the Beta currently offers the choice of three races, gender, and the ability to customize the face (albeit currently limited). The opening cinematic featuring explorers on Mars hooked me more than anything Bungie have shown at conferences with stunning graphics, but most importantly, it had a great tone to it, reminiscent of classic science fiction TV shows such as Star Trek. This was particularly helped by a great score, really setting the mood of this world that Bungie have obviously poured so much effort into constructing. Gameplay wise, the game is completely tight. I felt that no elements of the gameplay were lacking, but on the other hand none were unique enough to praise the game for being inventive. It's a standard shooter with RPG elements like we've seen dozens of times with games like 'Borderlands' and 'Fallout'. The real appeal to the game lies with the feel and aesthetics of the world Bungie have created. Peter Dinklage voices your robotic companion in the game, and does a decent job of it too, but it's not a particular stand out performance. 

The beta includes a handful of story based missions, all of which I enjoyed playing thoroughly, both due to the fun, tight gameplay and the promise of evolving my character and upgrading him to meet my demands; standard RPG stuff. Quite obviously, Bungie doesn't include too much in the Beta such as otherworldly exploration or a lot of the story beyond an initial set up. It does also include a multiplayer mode, which again was rather bog standard and something we've seen a thousand times before with players capturing points on the map. As someone who rarely finds myself getting involved with multiplayer unless it promises something unique (Assassin's Creed or Last of Us come to mind), it was disappointing that Bungie had fail to capture my interest with Destiny's multiplayer mode and instead just spewing out the standard we have come to expect with all games. One interesting aspect of multiplayer, however, was that when I was playing single player story missions, I'd find three or four other players playing through the mission too while I was. While the Beta just threw me in with random players, it stands to reason the full game could have you blast through missions with a few pals online, which sounds like an interesting concept. Much more interesting than the samey competitive multiplayer. The idea of being thrown in with random players wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be either. Most players stuck to themselves and I rarely saw them if I wanted to do my own thing. There were sections of the missions where you'd enter a darkzone, meaning you'd play through it with no other players, and if you died you wouldn't instantly respawn without losing progress, instead going back to the beginning of the zone, which seems like a fair way to make sure the cooperative system doesn't make boss fights too easy. One problem I did have, though, was because of the games online nature, I couldn't pause the game. Rather, when I pressed the 'Options' button which I assumed would pause the game during a boss battle so I could do something else quickly, the boss continued to beat on me while I was away and killed me. I don't know if this is something that will be fixed in the full game, but it seems like a pretty big flaw in the system. Luckily though, the story missions all seemed short and sweet enough that if you got stuck in the middle of one when you suddenly needed to do something else, it wouldn't take you long at all to either finish the level or get back to where you were. 

All in all, Destiny's beta surprised me, and I completely swayed from being not interested at all to highly anticipating the game. I still have my concerns about the competitive multiplayer and whether the online aspects will continue to work in the story missions, but I'll be purchasing it on day one to find out the answers myself. But what did you guys think of Destiny? Did you play the Beta and enjoy it, or have you made your decision through gameplay videos? Drop me a comment and let me know! For more on Destiny when it launches, check back to the blog!

'X-Men: Days of Future Past' review

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is the seventh instalment to the ‘X-Men’ franchise, which follows the X-Men send Wolverine back to the past in a desperate attempt to alter history and prevent a dark future in which mutantkind, and humanity with it, are doomed. Bryan Singer, director of ‘X-Men’ and ‘X-Men 2’, returns to the franchise, joined by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy as Professor X, Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, among a slew of other familiar and new mutants appearing throughout the film.

The X-Men franchise thus far has been rather hit and miss, and one worry someone might have before entering Days of Future Past is whether it would be among the likes of X-Men 2 and X-Men: First Class, which rank in my opinion among the best comic-book films to date, or whether it would fall among the weaker instalments like The Last Stand or Origins: Wolverine. I’m ecstatic to say that Days of Future Past is definitely among the best of the franchise thanks to a brilliantly crafted story, riveting tension throughout the film as the stakes are at the highest we’ve seen in the franchise before, and a certain sense of scale as fan favourite mutants from the original trilogy and the younger cast from First Class come together. There’s a huge amount of characters in this, and while the majority of them aren’t major players, none of them feel like they have been crammed in for simple fan service. And among these characters, none of the familiar actors fail to fall right back into their old roles, and the new characters never seem out of place in the universe.  

McAvoy steals the show as a young Xavier.

Despite the plethora of mutants, the film truly belongs to James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier, who not unlike how Patrick Stewart’s Xavier mentors Logan in the original X-Men film, now relies on Logan to guide him through a particular low point of his life. McAvoy truly manages to portray just how far Xavier has fallen since First Class, and how far he needs to go before he becomes the wise mentor from X-Men, with the highlights of his performance being interactions with Fassbender’s Magneto and Jackman’s Wolverine. Speaking of Wolverine, while obviously a major player in the film with him being the link between 1973 and 2023, it was refreshing that he took somewhat of a less central role from the original trilogy, allowing the younger iterations of Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast to share the spotlight.

 

Magneto (Fassbender) is a particular highlight.

Naturally being a summer blockbuster, the film wasn’t solely relying on the admittedly brilliant plot and performances to succeed, as it has its fair share of action and special effects throughout as well. The scenes set in the dystopian 2023 looked magnificent as a torn apart, ragtag X-Men team were forced to fight for their lives. The powers of the remaining X-Men were showcased in these scenes in such a brilliant way, while also adding extra tension to the film as their efforts amounted to little. Meanwhile, in 1973, Logan and the gang have enough action to keep the film going, but the middle of the film was rather light on action as it entered rather dramatic portions of the story. In particular, an action scene set inside a prison was an early highlight, but it was a bit of a shame to not see some more action sprinkled in the second act as the X-Men, both past and future, prepared for a final showdown. Speaking of the final showdown the climactic battle set in 1973 felt like it was missing something to make it something special, rather than a solid set piece, as well as certain parts of it feeling too convenient and weakly scripted compared to the rest of the film.

 

Fan favourite Wolverine unites the two timelines.

In other sections of the film, it was wonderful to hear John Ottman return to score the film, and with him the return of the classic theme he introduced in X-Men 2 that was criminally never used again until now, though I will admit to missing Henry Jackman’s Magneto suite from First Class. Fans of the X-Men franchise in general will be pleased to know the film honours the majority of the existing instalments and tries to avoid messing up the continuity even more throughout the story. The future costumes for the X-Men looked brilliant, a definite improvement on the somewhat awkward suits from the original trilogy. While not many people wore costumes in the 70’s unlike the yellow suits from First Class, I’d argue Magneto’s costume looks the best here that he has done in the franchise.  

 

Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past is an epic return to form for the franchise, and will be a real joy for fans to see their favourite original trilogy characters return while also expanding on the ‘First Class’ story. It manages to resolve a lot of problems people had with the franchise so far, while also opening the doors for exciting new possibilities in the future. Most importantly though, Days of Future Past stands on its own as a great story that I’d absolutely recommend anyone with even a passing interest in the franchise or genre checks out. 

4 out of 5 

Batman: Arkham Knight trailer review

Rocksteady have just released the second trailer for the upcoming ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ video game, set to launch this October on PS4, Xbox One and PC. And it looks utterly incredible. I’ve got to be honest here, as excited as I have always been for Arkham Knight, the first trailer didn’t exactly floor me. The cinematic style they were using looked strange, with characters looking different to what they have done in previous video games (particularly Two-Face and Harley Quinn). Yet in-game screenshots released at the same time featured more familiar character models strangely. Furthermore, the trailer didn’t really reveal a lot about the game itself. This trailer though is a stunning improvement.

Kevin Conroy returns to voice Batman

The first thing you’ll probably notice watching the trailer is how beautiful the game looks. And rightfully so. While some of the games recently released for the PS4 and Xbox One haven’t had such an impressive graphical improvement as we would have liked, it could be argued that a lot of these games are actually held back because of their presence on PS3 and Xbox 360 systems as well. Arkham Knight has no such restrictions, and it really shows here as the city of Gotham and those who inhabit it have never looked better. Also, while Roger Craig Smith did an admirable job of voicing the Caped Crusader in Batman: Arkham Origins, one of the standout moments in the trailer for me personally was hearing Kevin Conroy back for the one, admittedly badass line he has in the trailer. Batman’s suit has a nice, armoured design this time around, although I can’t deny I miss the more comic-book styled suit from Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. And speaking of Batman's suit, it's awfully interesting that the Arkham Knight character seems to share Bruce Wayne's fashion sense. With still no word or clues to his identity, we're left to speculate who the Knight is and what his goals are. Maybe he's not just imitating Batman, but also Bruce Wayne, making the man under the mask Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush who appeared in Arkham City crafting a Bruce Wayne mask. Perhaps the Joker has risen from the dead and has now adopted the Arkham Knight persona? Could it be Quincy Sharp, who in Arkham Asylum was revealed to believe he has been possessed by the ghost of Amadeus Arkham? There are so many possibilities to who the Arkham Knight is, and so far no hints, and I love the mystery of it all.

The Arkham Knight promises there will be "No more Batman."

There doesn’t seem to be any new villains or characters in the trailer besides the Arkham Knight himself, but with the amount of things going on in this game, and not to mention the plotlines set up in Arkham City that will no doubt appear in this game such as the Hush and Azrael storylines, and it’s probably a good thing Rocksteady don’t appear to be cramming in as many villains as possible. We do get to see Oracle make a physical appearance for the first time in the series, despite being a major character in the first two games. Two villains I noticed in the trailer that I was really excited for was Scarecrow, who appears to be the main antagonist in some sort of way, making good on his hidden threats to Batman and Gotham from Arkham City. And after the spectacular Scarecrow sequences from Arkham Asylum, who isn’t excited for this particular villain to return to the series in a big way. The second is Two-Face (see what I did there?). Two-Face is in particular probably my favourite Batman villain, so while I was glad to see him make an appearance in Arkham City, I was equally disappointed when he had a very minor role in that game. So naturally I’m excited again to see him back in action for a hopefully bigger role in Arkham Knight.

Scarecrow's reappearance suggests a return of the thrilling fear toxin sequences from Arkham Asylum.

Batman: Arkham Knight is looking utterly fantastic, and with Rocksteady back we can expect a true return to form for the Arkham series after the slight dip in quality with 2013’s ‘Batman: Arkham Origins’. Rocksteady’s return, along with new gameplay features such as the Batmobile, a major graphical improvement thanks to next gen and an exciting new story to enjoy is more than enough to get me excited, and I look forward to hearing more about the game over the summer until it drops in October. 

What did you think of the trailer? Are you excited for Batman: Arkham Knight, or are you tired of this franchise? And who do you think the Arkham Knight is? Leave a comment and let me know. 

Batfleck: Coming Soon in Technicolour!

Ben Affleck’s Batsuit for the upcoming ‘Man of Steel’ sequel (which remains untitled for now, but is known as Batman vs Superman) [edit: now known as 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'*] was revealed recently to fans around the world, and received a positive reaction from fans. Anyone at least familiar with Frank Miller’s classic graphic novel ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’ will have noticed more than a passing resemblance to the suit Batman wears in that, which keeps in line with the comments from Snyder that the graphic novel is a big influence on the film (even announcing the film with a quote from it). As a fan of the more classic comic book Batman appearance than we have seen on screen in the films from Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan, I can’t praise the reveal image of the Batsuit enough. But the good news doesn’t just end there.

First official image of Ben Affleck's Batman.

Kevin Smith, a director who is himself a Batman fanatic and a close friend of Ben Affleck, revealed late last year he had already seen the Batsuit, and upon the recent unveiling to the world, decided to clarify a few things, mainly that this isn’t the image he had seen. Smith claims the image he saw of the Batsuit was in full colour, and now the public has had their first taste of the suit themselves, he has decided to share some key details with us. Specifically, he said “If you want to see what this fucking suit looks like, you just go to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, go to the third book, Hunt the Dark Knight…it’s the exact fucking outfit he’s wearing. That’s why I hugged that guy all those months ago.” Once again we find ourselves back at ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, which indeed seems to be the largest influence for Batman in this film. So for those of you who haven’t yet read it (and if this includes you, I cannot recommend highly enough that you check out the graphic novel or at least the recent two-part animated adaptation), here is an image of Batman from the third book.

Batman (and Robin) from 'The Dark Knight Returns'

While it may be hard to see in that image, Batman’s cowl, boots and gloves are all a dark blue that appears to look black in certain lighting and positions, not unlike the suit seen in the recent video games ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ and ‘Batman: Arkham City’. Regardless, hearing this extra bit of detail on the Batsuit has really solidified in my mind how good it will look on screen. After the last seven Batman films all focused on Batman wearing a completely black suit, it feels so refreshing that when Batman finally clashes with Superman on screen, he’ll be wearing a more comic accurate suit. Even just Smith’s hints that the main colour will be grey sounds brilliant, but I especially love the idea of incorporating the dark blue, almost black colouring to the suit as well. Upon hearing the tidbits, actually, I went to Photoshop and quickly threw in some colour based on Smith's comments to give us a rough look at what Batman may look like. 

For the record, I was a big fan of Superman’s costume in Man of Steel, with the only really problem I had being I felt it could have benefited from the blue being slightly brighter, but even then I’m nitpicking. But with reports that the costume designer for ‘Batman vs Superman’ will be making some slight alterations to the Man of Steel suit, all I can say is I’m excited for the first image to be released of Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman, suited and booted, standing side by side in full colour. 

*About four hours after I posted this, Warner Brothers decided to officially announce the title of the film will be 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' in what I believe to be a deliberate way to make me look like an asshole at the beginning of this article. Thanks a lot, dicks. 

The new official title card for the Man of Steel sequel

Oh, and for those curious, I made a gif to summarize how I feel about this new title. 

The Future of the Coens

Joel and Ethan Coen are arguably two of the biggest names in Hollywood. ‘Fargo’, ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’, ‘No Country for Old Men’, ‘True Grit’ and last year’s ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ are just a handful of the critically acclaimed slew of films they have offered up to us as an audience, so understandably when they start talking about their upcoming projects, film fans listen. In the past week however, fans have been lucky to hear the Coen Brothers reveal two upcoming projects they are working about, that I have decided to talk about briefly here.

Joel and Ethan Coen

First up is their own project. ‘Hail Caesar’ follows a Hollywood fixer by the name of Eddie Mannix during the 1950s with George Clooney set to star and has been described as a ‘comical yarn’. Personally, I think this film sounds like one to keep an eye out for. I’ve always loved the idea of a ‘fixer’, someone hired to take care of problems and keep them away from the public eye such as drug abuse or sexual affairs. It’s an idea we’ve seen before in the likes of ‘Pulp Fiction’, the TV series ‘Ray Donavon’ and LA Confidential. Throw in the fact the Coens are writing it, and that they will be reteaming with George Clooney for it, and ‘Hail Caesar’ sounds like a sure thing.

The second project revealed to be in the Coens’ upcoming roster is actually a project revealed last month. The film, which is so far untitled, is the latest effort from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and is set to be a cold war spy thriller based around the crashing of a U-2 spy plane in 1960 on Soviet soil and the capturing of the pilot. Tom Hanks is set to star as the lawyer sent by the CIA to negotiate with the USSR for the pilot’s release. And now it has been revealed that the Coens will be writing the script for this feature. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have been a great pairing since delivering ‘Saving Private Ryan’, with the pair also being part of the driving force behind ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘The Pacific’. But to hear now their latest collaboration will also feature the Coens’ brilliant scriptwriting, and suddenly the project manages to become even more exciting!

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks

I feel like I should also mention ‘Unbroken’ here as well, the Coen scripted war drama set for release December 2014. The premise of the film sounds intriguing, focusing around a prisoner of war during World War II, and the fact Angelina Jolie is directing is also an interesting concept. I haven’t seen her directorial debut, ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’, which she also wrote, but I’m aware it received mixed reactions from critics, so it will be interesting to see how she does directing when she has the Coens scripting for her.

Overall, the two projects they have recently revealed sound like they’re going to be must-see films if they deliver, and hopefully Jolie’s ‘Unbroken’ fares better than her previous film. If you’re a film fan, I highly recommend keeping an eye on the Coens’ upcoming projects as they’re sure to deliver even more critical successes to add to their already impressive filmography.