So, I missed last week due to Baselan and Comic Con, hopefully this week makes up for what I missed.
I’ve watched this a couple of times now and I like the premise. I’ve never read the graphic novel this is associated with, but I think that in the hands of AMC they should have most of the necessary freedoms to do a show like this properly.
I only have 4 words…. “My Body is Ready“
This just dropped at 130 this afternoon. I like this trailer. It appears the story will be framed around the start of the human orc war. The trailer only shows the Orcs and humans, keeping true to the start of the Warcraft Franchise. In the words of my co-worker: “this looks good”.
Speaking of Warcraft, the film’s director (Duncan Jones) has spoken about the film and how this movie is aiming to break the “Video Game Movie Curse”
“There are a couple of things. One thing I would say is that that stigma used to be attached to comic book movies too. It took a generation of filmmakers who loved and were raised on comic books to make movies that you actually cared about and felt something for. I think that’s absolutely the same with what’s going on with video game movies.
I am absolutely of the video games generation, starting on the Atari and Commodore 64 and the Amiga. I’m a gamer at heart and always have been. I’m also a filmmaker. I think my sensibilities about storytelling and character just automatically come into play when I’m trying to work on any kind of narrative. For me, it doesn’t really matter what the source of the narrative is. I will be looking for ways to make it into an intriguing story with empathetic characters.”
Syfy has picked up a short season of a new Van Helsing TV series to be based around the daughter of the classic character. The story is to take place in a time when Vampires have taken over the world. The daughter of van Helsing, named Vanessa, has some form of power over Vampires. Nomadic Pictures will be producing the series. I am a big fan of traditional vampire lore, so I will definitely give this a watch. The early bits information gives me a mostly good vibe.
It looks like DC is potentially skipping (at least for the most part) origin stories for it’s upcoming slate of live action movies. This makes sense to me, as a comic fan, though it may end up alienating some would be movie goers. We already know the origins of the Big 3, and the big 5 if you include Flash and Green Lantern, but do people really know how Cyborg came to be or how Aquaman fits in to the realm? If they are going to be making more than one individual movie about these characters, should they not at least give some kind of origin? Here is what the president of Atlas Entertainment had to say about developing hero stories :
“The Flash movie or the Aquaman film is gonna come out after Justice League 1, it’s not gonna be a completely different character; that character will have evolved from Justice League 1. Wonder Woman, when we see her in Justice League 1, will have evolved from Batman v Superman.
Unless we decide that in one of these stories we’re gonna do something that happened in the past and have it be more of an origination story, in which case you’ll realize how that character became what they were in the movie that they were first introduced.”
And in the last bit of DC news, we are receiving some word that the stand alone Batman movie (in 2018) will be based around the popular story lines “A Death in the Family” and “Under the Hood”. Given the scene in the BvS trailer with the Robin Suit and news clippings, this makes perfect sense. I can only hope we see a really well done Jason Todd.
The hype surrounding the Netflix developed Marvel titles has been pretty solid following the release of Daredevil earlier this year. Now with Jessica Jones due out in 2 weeks, Daredevil‘s second season, and Luke Cage to be released in Q1 and Q2 2016 respectively we have some news regarding the 4th member of The Defenders. There have been whispers indicating that Netflix may develop Iron Fist as an original movie as opposed to developing the character as a serial. This has both pro’s and cons. On the pro side, Iron Fist would have a bigger budget, and they would be able to dive into a more direct story line. Another pro is that the tone of the movie could be something different for Iron Fist, given that the story line and character are not nearly as dark as the rest of his Defender compatriots. The most major con to this is we wouldn’t be able to have the same in depth development of Iron Fist as a character, and that would be a shame IMO. Netflix could then option characters such as electra or possibly Punisher as a series to fill their 4 series commitment to Marvel. The scope and ominous feeling we get when watching Daredevil‘s first season seems to be carrying over into season 2 and Jessica Jones, we definitely think that Punisher would be a great fit in the darker universe they have created.
Earlier this week CBS announced plans to release a new Star Trek Series to debut in January 2017. My first thought when I heard this was “I hope they do it in the new universe” since Alex Kurtzman is developing the series and I doubt they would dive back into the original universe after the movies have come out. My second thought “why in the sam hell are they releasing it on CBS All Access only?” Meaning that they are only releasing the first run episodes in the US. BOO. Put that stuff on air and enjoy the benefits of your worldwide fanbase being able to watch this show.
I want to finish on Star Wars news. This week we got some new character posters and a new trailer edit that I showed earlier. But that isn’t really what I wanted to talk about. Did anyone watch the movie Fanboys? If you didn’t I’ll fill you in on the premise. Lifelong friends and Star Wars fans drive across the country in an effort to see Episode 1 with a friend that is terminally ill and won’t make it to the premiere.
Well, this week, we have a real life Fanboys style story. Social Media works! #ForceForDaniel was a hashtag started to help a terminally ill fan of the franchise get a chance to see the movie before he passed. Daniel has spindle cell sarcoma and was not given long by his doctors. The Star Wars fandom rallied behind the effort, reaching out on social media and through multiple other methods to stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Jon Boyega and more, as well as having nearly every Star Wars fan group in the world getting behind the movement. It was then picked up and carried by many major news outlets such as CNN and NBC.
We can officially say that a dying man has had his wish fulfilled. Daniel has seen the movie.
David Alberto is a Contributing Editor for aybonline.com. You can often find him making people cry in Counter-Strike. Roll percentile dice to see if his opinions change, your chances are slim.
