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Throwback Thursday: ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace’ (1999)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 02 May 2024 14:45:39 +0000

It feels like it was just yesterday. And yes, I understand how much this sentiment “dates” me, but I don’t care! 25 years ago, on May 19, 1999, the Star Wars universe was officially expanded, with George Lucas’ launch of his prequel tale ‘Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace.’ This, of course, is the beginning of a film trilogy that all takes place before the events told in his original blockbuster Star Wars trilogy, which were rebranded in the 1990s to be Episodes IV, V, and VI. Listen – you know all of this. If you’re here reading this, you must be a Star Wars fan, or at least knowledgeable enough in the pop-culture vernacular to understand how this all works. So this piece isn’t really about the movie, which you probably either love or hate (or, like many of us, have had your opinions on the film vacillate a bit over the years as new movies have been released, nostalgia takes over your brain, and the like). This feature is about my personal experience with my first viewing of ‘The Phantom Menace,’ because I think it’s a pretty darn fun story. With ‘Episode I’ being re-released in theaters […]

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LFG: It’s The Second Trailer For ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:48:04 +0000

The world got a bit more exciting on Super Bowl Sunday – February 11th – when Marvel dropped the first trailer for the forthcoming third Deadpool movie, which they announced was officially titled ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’ Mark today as another exciting day on the calendar, as Marvel has provided us with the second full trailer for the film! Rather than inundate you with silly ramblings about the two characters and the long-gestating crossover between them that many thought would never happen, we will instead jump right in and give you the trailer in all its insane glory. Take a peek: There’s a good amount to unpack here, and no shortage of fun Easter eggs for fans as well. Everything from meta jokes such as the store in the background called “Liefeld’s Just Feet” (a cheeky reference to Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, who is notorious in the comic-book world for struggling to draw character’s feet) to in-movie references of Ant-Man/Giant-Man’s helmet and skull/body being used as an apparent bad-guy hideout, to deep-cut appearances from Dogpool and Alioth (best known to audiences of TV’s ‘Loki’ fame)… there’s no doubt this is going to be a big movie with lots of eye candy […]

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Movie Review: ‘Civil War’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 16:40:28 +0000

What if. It’s a question that has intrigued storytellers and audiences alike for generations. The desire to take something known and twist it ever so slightly, to the point where elements and pieces are not immediately recognizable – or worse, things are chillingly recognizable and seemingly appropriate in their darker state. The thought of “yes, I could see something like this happening” is perhaps one of the scariest story premises out there – especially when what we’re being presented with is dark and dangerous. Such is the case with ‘Civil War,’ the new film from director Alex Garland and production studio A24. Taking place in the indeterminately-near future, the political and socio-economical divide in the United States of America has grown to the point where the country has fractured, with several states deciding to try their own hand at self-governance. A few maps shown early in the film indicate that close to 20 states may be trying to secede in various ways. Factions such as the “Florida Alliance” and the “New People’s Army” have arisen, but the two largest proponents have joined forces to create the “Western Forces,” and in a large-yet-subtle twist, it’s California and Texas, of all the […]

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Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ Season 2 Is Coming To Disney+ In December

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 20:17:36 +0000

We’ve known for a while now that the first season of the animated Disney+ show, Marvel’s “What If…?,” was getting a follow-up season. Today, Disney and Marvel have confirmed the new season’s release date, along with some additional fun information about the release schedule of the individual episodes. Read on for more info! Starting its life in comic-book form back in 1977, Marvel’s series told alternate-reality tales about heroes and characters that readers knew well. The first issue was titled “What if… Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?” and it set the precedent that readers would be seeing, essentially, the early stages of what would eventually become known as The Multiverse. Now that the stories have shifted onto the television screen with the first season of “What If…?,” the tales being told are directly connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its version of classic Marvel characters. The nine episodes in the inaugural season revolved around tales of alternate versions of The Avengers, Black Panther, Ultron, Doctor Strange, zombies, and more! While the complete list of episodes for Season 2 hasn’t been officially released yet, several leaks claim to outline the entire season. Items that have been confirmed by Disney include […]

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Prepare Yourself For The Next Great Spy Thriller Movie: ‘Tetris?’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:00:27 +0000

There are certain video games that have a natural path that can be traced in terms of what a move about that game would be about. Assassin’s Creed and time-travel undercover ops. Uncharted and a treasure-hunting mystery. Sonic the Hedgehog and a fast blue animal with rings. Super Mario Bros and plumbing. And the like. So, when the news came down about an upcoming film called ‘Tetris,’ it makes one’s brain start to think of the possibilities: will this be a movie along the same lines as Hasbro’s now-scuttled plans for turning its games into film properties? Will it be a tale about giant blocky alien ships invading Earth, and the only way for us to defeat them is to get them lined up next to each other so our missiles can make them “disappear?” (I’d watch that, probably.) Could it be a horror movie based on an ancient puzzle, and when the pieces align just so, it sends the user into a shadowy nether-realm? (I’d definitely watch that.) Well, no, that’s all wrong – and probably the furthest thing from our mind is actually the correct answer: ‘Tetris’ will be an espionage-style thriller, telling the true(ish) story of how the game […]

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Movie Review: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 21:30:18 +0000

New beginnings bring new excitement, but also new challenges. Such is the takeaway vibe I got from our advance screening of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ the kickoff for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Let’s be clear from the get-go: Marvel has been giving us entertaining, high-quality films for a long time now. Almost 25 years, across dozens of television series, along with short films and literature tie-ins… this juggernaut is no slouch. Unfortunately, every entry into the series can’t be a home run – and that’s where we need to have some “real talk” about ‘Quantumania.’ The story itself is right in line with what viewers have been given across the over-arching MCU narrative to date: things on Earth appear to be “settling in” a bit post-Blip (although, frustratingly, ‘Quantumania’ still does not reference anything to do with the giant stone Eternal that is now sticking out of the Earth, half-stuck, as shown in the climax of ‘The Eternals,’ with this new film believed to be the 11th property to take place in the MCU timeline set after those events with absolutely zero remarks or tie-ins to it). The story does reference The Blip, of course, as […]

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Go Big Or Go Home With The New ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Trailer

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:36:08 +0000

Marvel has made plenty of waves this year with both their newly-released MCU content (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk) and key announcements for the forthcoming Phases of film & TV. One of the most anticipated upcoming films easily has to be ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.’ After the first Ant-Man film was a pleasant surprise to both fans and critics alike, and its follow-up ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ continued to build on that success – not to mention casually dropping one of the most impactful pre-‘Endgame’ mid-credit scenes of all MCU time – fans now know that Marvel isn’t afraid to load this part of the MCU franchise with big reveals and important info. With that, today brings us the first trailer for the film that’s dropping in theaters in just a few short months. It gives us a better look at the newest big-bad of the Marvel on-screen universe, Kang the Conqueror, along with some very tantalizing tidbits about what secrets the Quantum Realm is holding – and how long Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) has truly known about these secrets. Take a good look for yourself: […]

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Fiction Review: ‘Signal Moon’ (2022)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 16:39:22 +0000

Amazon has been kind enough lately to grace readers with advance copies of select forthcoming titles, and I was lucky to grab a copy of Signal Moon by Kate Quinn, which is releasing wide in August from the streaming giant. This novella-sized tale will be available in eBook only, but it packs a pretty decent punch into a relatively bite-sized story. In 1943, at the height of World War II, Lily Baines works for her country as a “Wren,” the Y-Station listeners of the British Royal Naval Service tasked with intercepting, relaying, and sometimes deciphering the enemy transmissions they hear over the airwaves. Armed with receivers, headphones, and their skill to transcribe as quickly as possible, Lily is but one of a team of women stationed at Withernsea on the English shoreline, working daily to do their part for the cause. Imagine her surprise, then, when she intercepts a truly curious transmission: one coming from a United States Naval officer originating 80 years later, in 2023. This is the main premise the drives this short story from the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Quinn. The author is intimately familiar with the 1940s Y-Station setting, having previously penned […]

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The New ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Trailer Delivers Twice The Thor – And The First Look At The Film’s Villain

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Tue, 24 May 2022 03:08:53 +0000

It will almost assuredly be a trivia question years from now: who was the first character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to get a fourth solo film? The answer, of course, will be Thor Odinson, and the film will be the movie that’s next headed to cinemas for audiences to enjoy: ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ The impending superhero film comes with a few twists and “extras,” however. The story will see not only Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as the iconic God of Thunder, but Natalie Portman also returns to the franchise – not just as mild-mannered human scientist and Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster, but ALSO as The Might Thor, wielding the reconstructed Mjolnir hammer and sporting some serious superhero(ine) cred of her own. Oh, and the fan-favorite Guardians of the Galaxy also feature in the film. There should be a lot to take in from this one! Speaking of the Guardians team, however – it’s hard to tell how heavily they will feature in the film, as not only is this not “their story,” but the newest trailer that just dropped really seems to minimize their involvement in the main plot of the film. This is a stark […]

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Thor Puts The Hammer Down (Literally) In Teaser Trailer For ‘Thor: Love And Thunder’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 18:22:57 +0000

Marvel’s Phase 4 is officially off and running here in 2022. One of the biggest questions on fans’ minds – besides what the heck we’re in for in the upcoming ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ film set to hit theaters next month – is “what changes are in for one of the last-standing original Avengers, Thor?” Answers to that question and others are undoubtedly forthcoming with the impending release of “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the fourth feature film in the Norse Gods’ franchise and the first on-screen sighting of Thor since his characters’ wild evolutionary ride in the MCU Infinity War/Endgame saga. Today, Marvel has given us a teaser trailer of the upcoming movie – one that, thankfully, doesn’t give away too much of the film plot-wise but absolutely sets the tone for what we’ll be getting on screen this Summer. Here’s the “official” description directly from Marvel: Here it is. ❤️ + ⚡ Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder arrives only in theaters July 8. The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr […]

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Feast on the New ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Trailer

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:58:17 +0000

Feast on the New ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Trailer After having to briefly pause shooting for two weeks in October 2021 due to a mild COVID outbreak on set, ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ is ready to be released upon the world, drawing what many hope will be a fitting conclusion to the ‘Jurassic World’ trilogy of films and likely, if the marketing is to be believed, putting a cap on the “Jurassic Era” of films altogether. From the descriptions to the teaser trailers to the full-blown trailer we’ve been given today, it has felt like the inevitable conclusion to this saga is upon us. After 5 films of keeping the genetically-recreated dinos (mostly) confined to an island or two, it’s clear that time may very well be up for humans as the dominant species on our planet – but only seeing the film will give us the answers for sure! Check out the new trailer, which is chock-full of excitement and nostalgia from newer and classic franchise characters alike: From the ridiculously in-depth description over at Universal Pictures UK: Genre: Epic Action-Adventure Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, […]

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Disney Announces Delay in Release of ‘Black Panther’ Sequel, ‘Doctor Strange 2’ and More

Ally Miller — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 19:03:51 +0000

Disney has announced a delay in the release of multiple Marvel films that are slated to come out over the course of 2022 and 2023. The first major change we see is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness being delayed about a month and a half, thus pushing the films with a following release date about the same. While this news may seem shocking, sources at Deadline claim this is not the result of any major problems, however, is the result of the fact that”some titles are contending with finishing scenarios while others are in production.” That being said, these delays are only for the films that are scheduled to be released and appear to have no effect on the streaming series at Disney+. Below is the full recap of the Marvel release date changes that we know so far. Fortunately, the shift is minimal and we can all look forward to kicking off summer 2022 with what should be a huge hit. Marvel Release Date Changes Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Delayed from March 25, 2022, to May 6, 2022 Thor: Love and Thunder – Delayed from May 6, 2022, to July 8, 2022 Black […]

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An Agatha Harkness ‘WandaVision’ Spin-Off is in the Works at Disney+

Ally Miller — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 20:14:41 +0000

According to a report from Variety, Disney+ plans to launch a ‘WandaVision’ spinoff based around the character of Agatha Harkness. As typical with most Marvel projects, details on this future Disney+ series are slim to none, however, we do know that Kathryn Hahn will revive her role as fan-favorite Agatha Harkness and it looks like Jac Schaeffer, head writer of ‘WandaVision,’ would be filling the slot as the writer and executive producer. While sources have described the show as a dark comedy, we know we can all look forward to one of our favorite witches returning to the screen in what is sure to be another captivating series. What do you think of an Agatha Harkness spinoff? Any thoughts on what plotline they might travel to? Sound off below and stay tuned for more details of this upcoming series!

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HBO Releases First Official Teaser for Game of Thrones Prequel House of the Dragon

Ally Miller — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:52:13 +0000

HBO released the first official teaser for the much-anticipated Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon at their HBOMax Europe launch event. House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood” series which focuses on the story of House Targaryen set 200 years before the fall of The Throne in Game of Thrones. The story follows the members of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil war which came to be known as the “Dance of the Dragons.” Watch the teaser trailer below and let us know what you think! House of the Dragon has a 10-episode order slated to launch in 2022. Stay tuned as we keep you updated on all things House of the Dragon related as we countdown to the launch of this series.

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First Look at Black Adam Suit and Hawkman Helmet in Leaked Set Photos

Ally Miller — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:12:50 +0000

Black Adam fans are getting their first possible look at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s costume in leaked behind-the-scenes images of the actor’s suit posted to Twitter last night. The leaked images not only include Black Adam’s suit but also show images of the classic Hawkman helmet fans are familiar with from the comics. The costume has similarities to the one worn by Zachary Levi in Shazam!, which would make sense as both superheroes, while rivals, draw their powers from the same source. Where this is our first peek into Black Adam’s suit, we surely can expect to see more to come at the upcoming DC FanDome event later this month. So what do you think of the first images of Black Adam’s suit and Hawkman’s helmet? Let us know in the comments below! Black Adam is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 29, 2022.

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