Alright folks, I found some stuff to bring to you this week. Things that make me look quizzically at the screen, or mumble sweet things at my monitor (don’t judge me)
Firstly, we had 2 trailers drop this week:
The second trailer for the Independence Day sequel is specifically targeted to let you know that once again, the Earth is fighting a far more powerful enemy in a futile effort to save the planet. We can only save it by the coming together and fighting as one! While I’m sure that the movie will be blockbuster worthy, we all know that they are going to win in some magical way.
I think it would be cool if the aliens won, for a change of pace. ;)
The newest trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse was released and while it doesn’t add too many new scenes to what we already knew and have seen, we do get confirmation that Hugh Jackman/Wolverine will be in the film (Editor’s Note: please let this be the last time, 16 years of Hugh is enough). The extent of his role is yet to be determined, however I assume that it will be small. I really, REALLY want to see how well they pull off the dark sides of Storm and Archangel. We do see bits of a winged man fighting against Nightcrawler so is it possible that the hatred of whomever was forcing the fight could be what Apocalypse is using to turn him? And yes, even after CG has been added, Apocalypse still looks like Ivan Ooze.
Good news for the fans of the Marvel universe on Netflix! Netflix were so happy with the crowd reaction to Jon Bernthal’s Punisher that they have ordered a full season of him. I enjoyed his role within DD and I am positive that they will do something interesting with it. My question is this: which Punisher story arc will they derive the content from?
Some more news from Netflix’s comic book creations that I have yet to pass along is the production has started on Iron Fist. With that being said, based on their production schedules and timelines, we should see Danny Rand in action in the first quarter of 2017. Though my estimates may be a little bit optimistic, given that the post production on Iron Fist will be a little bit more hectic than the first few since there is actually magic involved with this character.
Continuing on the Marvel train, one of the co-writers of Doctor Strange spoke about the casting of the Ancient One. While on the Double Toasted podcast he talked about how hard this character was when it came to casting:
“There is no other character in Marvel history that is such a cultural landmine, that is absolutely unwinnable. I’ve been reading a bunch of people talking about it, and the really frustrating thing about it this week, is that most of the people who have thoughts on it haven’t thought it all the way through and they go, ‘Why didn’t they just do this?’ And it’s like, I could tell you why. I could tell you why every single decision that involves the Ancient One is a bad one, and just like the Kobayashi Maru, it all comes down onto which way you’re willing to lose.”
And he then explained why casting an actor of Asian descent in the role was extremely difficult, (and after his breakdown I tend to agree with him):
[The character is] a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in [a] very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that’s bullshit and risk the Chinese government going, ‘Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We’re not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.’
If you are telling me you think it’s a good idea to cast a Chinese actress as a Tibetan character, you are out of your damn fool mind and have no idea what the f— you’re talking about. Oh, ‘she could be Asian!’ Asian? She could be Japanese, she could be Indian, really? The levels of cultural sensitivity around this thing is, everyone is staking out their one particular place and not realizing that every single thing here is a losing proposition.
Now, we’ll move away from Marvel but stay under the Disney umbrella for the time being.
Following the success of Maleficent, Disney pushed into production on “The Jungle Book” and early numbers following last weekend show that this movie will be another definite money maker. So, Disney has done what Disney does, they have announced dates for more upcoming live action productions of their fairy tale line-up.
Obviously, we are already aware of the next Alice in Wonderland movie due out in May, and the the Beauty and the Beast film starring Emma Watson to be released in March 2017. But, what comes after that? Maleficent 2 is the first up in May of 2017, followed by 3 more live action fairy tales up to 2019. Early speculation by many media outlets has one of the movies linking Emma Stone to Cruella de Vil (Editor’s Note: yaaass Stone proved this idea could be awesome with Easy A).
Ok folks, We are going to finish this week with a bit of DC news. Firstly, the man who was set to write and direct “The Flash” for Warner Brothers (Seth Grahame-Smith) has left the project citing creative differences. The script, which is apparently already written, will remain to be used for the film. Since it is not due in theatres until 2018, Warners still has time to find a new director.
Lastly, the first (and likely the only) full length trailer for Batman: The Killing Joke was released this week, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you really need to. SO, I am going to show it to you.
First: The voices, ohhhhh lordy the voices. I have a hard time with anyone but Kevin Conroy voicing Batman and Mark Hamill is such a perfectly stark contrast that it blows my mind. The art style was so carefully developed to make it feel as close to the original comic as possible that it makes me giddy. I couldn’t have picked a better way to end this column.
It is with a heavy heart that I need to pass on a sincere Farewell For Now to my readers. Many life commitments are preventing me from writing this column on a continuous basis. Thus, after its inaugural year, The Weekly Nerd is coming to an end. I will still write from time to time, when big things happen or when something that shocks me hits the Nerd World. These pieces will be sporadic, so you’ll have to be on the lookout for them.
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.
