Instead, they dropped this on us:

And that’s just Phase 5. They also announced Phase 6 for God’s sake. The whole Multiverse Saga. So let’s chat for a minute. Or ten.

Final movie in Phase 4 is Wakanda Forever. And they ended the presentation with that trailer, but we’ll hit that next because we’re going in order of release date for the sake of sanity. But I have to show you this: Baaba Maal showed up to kick off the Black Panther presentation.

Baaba Maal is a singer from Senegal who was featured on the soundtrack for the first Black Panther movie. I originally encountered him on the Passion Sources compilation album that Peter Gabriel released as a companion to his soundtrack, Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ. Maal is, as you are certainly aware now if you weren’t already, fantastic.

So here’s that incredible trailer.

It’s pretty obvious why they let that close out the presentation. Nobody wants to follow Angela Bassett. Nobody.

Now, also in Phase 4, there is the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which is this year…but before that for Halloween, there’s the “Untitled Maybe Probably Werewolf by Night Halloween Special” as well. That’s starring Gael García Bernal and is the directorial debut of Michael Giacchino, who’s probably best known to our lot as the composer behind the film scores for The Incredibles and THE Batman. It doesn’t appear this was mentioned but my understanding is that it’s already finished production. Maybe they’re giving the FX teams enough time to finish it up so they’re going to push it till next year? Hahahayeahunlikely.

They showed footage from Quantumania, with Jonathan Majors as Kang, Bill Murray as…uncertain, and apparently MODOK as himself. Now…you may be tempted to wonder just what in the hell is a size-changing guy supposed to do against Kang the Conqueror. If you’d like to know the possibilities, just Google “Green Arrow Atom Darkseid.” It’s similar to a trick that was performed in Civil War but on steroids. So Ant-Man 3 is your Valentine’s Day movie of choice for next year.

Some footage from Secret Invasion was shown. This is the show where Skrulls (presumably the bad kind) have infiltrated Earth and replaced key people…at some point in the past. At least, based on the comics version…that’s what the show is. When this was done in the comics it was at the end of a long line of Skrull stories in which they didn’t infiltrate very much, which was weird, because shape-changing. But it also had the benefit of decades of stories as a backdrop, whereas in the MCU, Skrulls have been known about (we think) by humans since the 1990s. I’m predicting one character who has died will be revealed to have been a Skrull and the real one will return. Just please: not Natasha. That one was perfect. Leave it alone. That’s in the spring–first Disney+ show of next year.

In May, the third James Gunn Guardians of the Galaxy hits. While he’s said that this is the last film starring this group of Guardians, he did mention (and maybe it was this past weekend, not sure, that brain cell died) that just because something is ending doesn’t mean everybody’s going to die. Although if anybody kicks the bucket it might be Drax just because Bautista seems to be done with the role. But hey, we’re getting Cosmo the Dog. A trailer was shown. It would be nice if they’d start putting this stuff online. Again, maybe before D23 to re-kindle some hype.

Then Echo gets her own series, the arsekicker who was introduced in Hawkeye last year. I’ve seen her powers referenced a number of places…and they’re similar to the Taskmaster. She can watch and repeat back the fighting styles of others. I assumed they hadn’t put an emphasis on that because Taskmaster appeared in Black Widow pretty close to Echo making her debut. In Hawkeye she was mostly a badass hand-to-hand combatant whose prosthetic leg was used to great effect. So much so that I guarantee you kids with prosthetic limbs all over the world suddenly wanted to sign up for martial arts classes after watching that. Which is awesome. That show hits next summer. Apart from the date, I don’t think much else was discussed. We’re no doubt getting more Wilson Fisk and very likely some Daredevil…I would love it if we could get some Cage in there.

They gave a summer release date for Loki Season 2…and there’s no telling what’s going to happen in that show. It’s in production even as we speak, over in the UK.

The Marvels is in July and I think reshoots for it have wrapped up. And I also think this is the first time we’ve introduced a character in their own MCU TV show only for them to immediately show up as a lead in a feature. That’s Ms. Marvel, of course. And if you haven’t watched the show, you must. Iman Vellani is the most “born to play the role” casting since Robert Downey Jr.

Blade starts shooting in October for a November 2023 release. The question is where is Mahershala Ali’s Blade going to show up before then, if anywhere? The Halloween special is an obvious possibility, but any of the street level shows would work as well. If we could get a cameo in for Snipes and Kristofferson I would be most pleased.

Next, Ironheart. That was her debuting in the Wakanda Forever trailer. And I just want to get this off my chest: I hate the name Ironheart. It’s not a superhero, it’s a romance novel set in the Scottish highlands about a blacksmith and his estranged love. Blech. Almost anything would be better. Okay, anyway, that’s next fall.

The Agatha Harkness show changed its name from House of Harkness to Coven of Chaos. Which makes me think it’s not going to be a home advice show hosted by Kathryn Hahn in character. Which is a damn shame. I have no idea what it’s about at this point. My hope, though, is that Hahn wouldn’t reprise the role if the material sucked. Anyway, that’s the last thing we may get in 2023.

The long-rumored new Daredevil series hits in spring 2024. Born Again. It’s clocking in at eighteen episodes. That, as far as I know, is all being called the first season. Love that they’re bringing him back into the fold and hope this will open the door for the rest of the Netflix corner of the MCU to get reinstated. Except for Danny Rand. He had his chance.

They also announced something I have been anxiously waiting for: a date for the fourth Captain America movie and the first to star Anthony Mackie as Cap. I really want this because I hope the MCU embraces the fact that time marches on and they will need to pass the mantle, since they can never seem to do so in the comics. It’s called New World Order, and it’s being co-written by the creator/scribe of the Falcon/Winter Soldier TV show. That’s May 2024. Granted, I also want this to come out so that the heads of racist assholes will explode. Something else to look forward to.

Phase 6 is mostly empty, with a ton of open slots. You’ve got Fantastic Four in November 2024, then Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in May and November 2025 respectively. That is a lot of ground to cover when you have Kang as your supposed big bad, when everyone thinks Fantastic Four guarantees Doom, and you’ve got some throughline of wacky artifacts happening in Phase 4. There is a ton of moving parts in play.

That’s not even counting their ongoing issues with FX folks, which they need to get straightened out.

I do also want to make mention of the Secret Wars film that’s closing out the entire Multiverse Saga. Marvel Comics, because it can’t come up with original titles, has two series called Secret Wars. One was in 1984 and had a cosmic being building a world from bits and pieces then throwing characters onto it so they would fight. If you’re thinking that sounds like a pretty shallow concept and could be something somebody came up with just to sell toys…well, you’re right. But they also used Secret Wars as the title for their massive “mash the Ultimate and regular Marvel Universes together” event back in 2015. The main difference between the two series is that “Secret Wars” made sense as a title for the first one, not so much for the second. (See also: Inferno.)

The Brothers Russo had said that they would come back to the MCU for Secret Wars, but they could have been kidding, frankly. And since this is the Multiverse Saga, this is more than likely the 2015 version they’re drawing from. Also, in Multiverse of Meh, they introduced the concept of multiversal incursions, which was a big thing in the comic storyline. But here’s hoping they can make it all work. The good news is that anything can happen between now and November 2025 while at the same time it’ll be here before we know it.

Whew. Now with that all coming out of San Diego…what the hell is coming out at D23?

David Warner was all over the screens of any self-respecting pop culture geek. In addition to those in the video above, you’ve got a number of Star Trek roles, the voice of Ra’s Al Ghul in the universe of Batman: The Animated Series, multiple Doctor Who audios, Twin Peaks, and scads more. He was just…brilliant. And now, he’s died at age 80 due to cancer.

While everyone is sharing some of their favorite roles–and I’d be hard pressed to give you mine, it sort of depends on the day–I thought we’d go to one I had initially learned of watching the documentary Imagine: Being Hamlet from across the pond. There I learned that Warner had been cast in Peter Hall’s production of Hamlet in 1965 at the ripe old age of 24. So here’s a bit of that now:

Mr. Warner, thank you for everything. Rest well.

The trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has hit. And I will say it has simply got to be better than the previous Dungeons & Dragons movie, the high point of which was watching Jeremy Irons overact as if to save his life. Looks fun. Chris Pine is being Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez breaks shit, and I have no idea which of them is supposed to be Uni, but whatever.

Asteroid City is the new Wes Anderson movie. And the cast is ridiculous: it includes Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Jeff Goldblum, Liev Schreiber, Tilda Swinton, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Schwartzman, and Fisher Stevens. An embarrassment of riches. Source.

I had not heard of this film before seeing this clip. But now I want to see it. It’s Barbarian. Not sure of the title’s significance since it looks to be a creepy AirBNB type thriller.

The next chapter in the MonsterVerse franchise is coming to Apple+. Kurt Russell and son Wyatt are set to star in an untitled Godzilla-adjacent series. Matthew Shakman (WandaVision) is helming the first two episodes. Matt Fraction is co-creator and executive producer. After the insane romp that was Godzilla vs. Kong, I said I was up for director Adam Wingard to do something else in that universe…but he doesn’t appear to be involved. So we shall see. Source.

The John Wick 4 trailer actually looks interesting. If the film can make me forget about the third movie, I will be eternally grateful. I just hope it doesn’t give itself some pretentious title like JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4: LATIN VERBA VULTUS FRIGUS.

In the world of Marvel animation, X-Men ’97, the continuation of the animated series, will be hitting Fall 2023. And a second season has already been green lighted. What If? Season 2 is showing up early next year (with among other things a 1602 episode), and a third season is already in the works. Spider-Man: Freshman Year is in 2024 (with a Sophomore Year already planned) and Marvel Zombies is 2024 as well. Source.

The Rings of Power trailer has also hit. My only interest in this is with Morfydd Clark as Galadriel. Because she looks to be a proper badass.

And the Comic-Con trailer is up.

The Walking Dead final trailer is not anything you need to know. The one intriguing piece of news is that the Rick Grimes movies are now a series–six episodes at present. Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira are both in and both executive producing…so they get more coin, and we like that. And the one trailer worth watching is for Tales of the Walking Dead. Because who doesn’t want to see Terry Crews vs. zombies?

I’m not sure how I missed this was happening. There’s just too much going on even in the midst of the plague apocalypse:

I don’t know how many of you, like me, were so bored and lived away from human beings where your best friend was the video rental store (kids, ask your parents). But as I’ve mentioned before, I started going from right to left down shelves and working my way through every genre I could. One I especially enjoyed was the array of martial arts films. With New York Ninja, they have either actually found a lost 80s martial arts film or nailed the look and feel so well that it defies belief. I ran this by our own Doc Ezra, Keeper of the Fu, and we are in complete agreement: we honestly don’t care, we just want this. It’s available from the Vinegar Syndrome website in a quite sweet Blu-Ray edition. Nice.

In other mayhem:

Now that Evangeline Lilly is also revealed to be an anti-vaxxer (joining Letitia “Shuri” Wright), Marvel: if you need to recast them both, I’ll get over it. I’d rather that than them continuing to endanger everybody that they’re working with.

Art Spiegelman’s Maus has been banned by a Tennessee school district. Appropriately, sales have been climbing. Reason for the banning? Naughty words. Or so we’ve been told. If you would like to add to the sales, be our guest.

Ben Stiller says he’s still up for a Mystery Men sequel. So are we, Ben. So are we.

So here come the reports that Spider-Man: No Way Home is the 4th highest grossing film of all time domestically. And here comes me, the spoilsport, reminding you that that’s in unadjusted dollars, which makes it a meaningless comparison to films that came out back in the day that, you know, didn’t cost $18 a ticket. Box Office Mojo’s adjusted all-time list isn’t exactly 100% up to date but based on it I would say No Way Home is somewhere in the mid-20s. Gone With the Wind is still fairly untouchable at $1.8 billion adjusted dollars.

So something else for your post-apocalypse todo list: the Studio Ghibli theme park has an official opening date. November 1, 2022. The My Neighbor Totoro section will be the first of five, and the entire park is supposed to be open in 2024.

I’m probably one of five people on the planet who didn’t know off the bat that Uncharted is based on a video game. It looks like dumb fun for Tom Holland to jump around in. And I’m fine with that.

First things first. You need to watch this trailer. Just that image alone, before you hit play… that’s what started me saying Oh Shit. Because I realized…that’s Denzel. That’s Denzel…in Macbeth.

So that cast + that story + that director = Oh Shit. And I have a feeling this isn’t going to be Hudsucker Proxy Coen, but more like True Grit Coen.

And it’s a singular Coen. Apparently Ethan is, depending on when and who you hear it from, busy working on a play or tired of doing movies or done with making movies altogether. Who knows? Maybe he’s just less of a fan of Shakespeare than his brother. Time will tell. In the meantime…oh shit.

This video, posted last year by HBO, is basically Omar’s Greatest Hits. Obviously, if have yet to watch The Wire: first, you should do that sooner rather than later. And second, spoilers for almost the entire series in this thing.

And it was impossible not to appreciate the actor behind the character. I remember fearing, at the time, that MKW wouldn’t get cast in other big roles–not because of a lack of talent or ability, but because everyone casting other projects would simply see him as “Omar” and pass. Thankfully, my fears were ultimately unfounded.

That’s just a memorable scene chosen from many memorable Boardwalk Empire scenes with MKW. But that little monologue from Chalky White is something else.

So he wound up with a sizable filmography. But one thing that’s on it that most people I talk to don’t know about is a show he did for Vice called Black Market. Basically, he went around looking at…well, black markets–the nature of them and why they spring up. And MKW could go pretty much anywhere and talk to anyone–even and especially criminals–because he was Omar Little. And that apparently carries huge weight. It had eight episodes that featured his explorations and a side/spinoff called Black Market: Dispatches which he hosted and let others do the exploring/investigating. All of it is highly recommended.

Here is a brief snippet where he’s talking to the man he says saved his life.

As you no doubt know by now, he was found dead in his home in Brooklyn this past Monday. Goddamn, I’m gonna miss him. Rest well, MKW. Thanks for everything.

Everything you’re about to read in quick snippet form would be an entire post on other sites, with the same amount of content plus maybe 200-300 words of filler. Nobody has time for that shit. We’ve got a lot of trailers to catch up on. Enjoy.

• A veritable slew of people are getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. More than you actually need to know…but it is worth pointing out that Carrie Fisher is getting one and it’s about goddamn time.

• Production is underway on Evil Dead Rise and here’s the two things you need to know. First, Bruce Campbell is reportedly not in it, as he’s sticking to the production side of the franchise going forward. And second, and perhaps most excitedly, the film will ignore the recent, lamentable reboot.

• The director who truly adheres to the idea that “more is more,” Peter Jackson, has gone from his Beatles docu Get Back being a feature film to a three-episode, six-hour miniseries that will air on Disney+ over Thanksgiving weekend. So oddly enough, it’s a non-Halloween event that I endorse for 2nd Halloween viewing. Go figure.

• All I can tell you about the upcoming Gunpowder Milkshake is that it seems it will live up to the promise of its title. Look at this cast. Look at all the guns they use. It looks epic.

• Harkening back to a simpler time with more straightforward apocalypses, rather than the complicated apocalypse we find ourselves in now, is How It Ends. Which appears to have someone’s entire Rolodex in it.

• I think the world became a brighter place a while back when Jean-Claude Van Damme started embracing the full silliness. Here’s The Last Mercenary, which is laced with pure insane joy.

• I was on board with No Sudden Move with the teaser which hit a month ago. But the full trailers just solidifies my decision that this must be seen. Soderbergh, period crime, this cast…yes, please.

• I don’t know what’s happening to Nicolas Cage recently (I can already hear you asking “What do you mean recently?”, but he seems dead set on being the gonzo actor of his generation. And I am totally here for it. Here’s the trailer for Pig, which seems like a mashup between Babe and John Wick.

• Apparently Paul Freeman (aka Belloq) has been making the rounds doing interviews for the 40th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The most interesting one I found was on this site, where, in my opinion, he nails why the first film is so timeless and the later films…less so.

• This looks like it might be a film, but it’s an eight episode miniseries based on the podcast of the same name. Ferrell and Rudd playing opposite each other in this sort of scenario looks interesting, and of course, MVP Kathryn Hahn can also be spotted in the trailer. So The Shrink Next Door is on the list.

• Lin-Manuel Miranda (yes, he of Hamilton) is making his feature film directorial debut with the Jonathan Larson work that came before Rent. It’s tick, tick…BOOM! And I think it looks pretty fantastic. Did you know Andrew Garfield could sing? Because I did not.

• I mean…I don’t know who ordered the Independence Day/Edge of Tomorrow mashup, but Tomorrow War is here. And I’m game.

How bad is the pandemic? Not even the promise of Tenet on IMAX screens could get people out to cinemas. And you know what: good. Unless you’ve got somebody who takes cinema as seriously as Alamo Drafthouse (where if they treat the virus like they treat disruptive patrons, then all will be well), stay the hell home.

It’s because of this that most everything is being put on hold.

• Death on the Nile is now December 18, 2020
• The King’s Man moved up to February 12, 2021
• Black Widow is now May 7, 2021
• Shang Chi is now July 9, 2021
• Jungle Cruise is now July 30, 2021
• Eternals is now November 5, 2021
• West Side Story is now December 10, 2021

Please note: not all of the films are MCU-related, in case you were afraid that soon you would discover that the Jets were actually all agents of HYDRA or something.

From what I can tell, production is starting back up on both the TV and the movie side of Disney…which hopefully is being done as safely as possible. Unless we get our shit together (at least stateside), it’ll be 2023 before any of this stuff actually hits theatres.

Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) has an anthology series of films coming out on the BBC and Amazon Prime Video on November 20. It’s called Small Axe and it will “explore the black experience in Britain as seen by a group of friends and their families from 1968 to today.” (Deadline Hollywood.) It stars John Boyega and Letitia Wright. Trailer:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. That’s why you’re going to see trailers like these for things that are coming really damn soon. The first is for a…well, I was going to say a new version of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood because I could’ve sworn there was a previous adaptation that used the title. The closest is Book of Blood from 2009. Maybe that’s what I was thinking of. It’s directed by Brannon Braga (his first entry into the genre for features, though he was an executive producer and directed two episodes for Salem). I don’t think I need to actually warn any of you who are squeamish. You can read. You saw the name Clive Barker. Trailer:

Also, nifty poster:

While we’re on the topic: Netflix released a full trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor, the non-sequel to their series The Haunting of Hill House (which if you haven’t seen, you must surely treat yourself to it). I am greatly looking forward to this. A lot more of the cast from the first series are returning than expected. I kinda dig that. Trailer:

Books hits October 7th while Bly Manor arrives October 9th. Dance card is Filling Up.

While we’re on the topic of Netflix, this trailer for The Trial of the Chicago 7 reveals the film to be an embarrassment of casting riches.

One last trailer and we have to go because they need the keyboard. The Father is due out December 18th (allegedly) and looks both creepy and sad in equal parts. Let’s prepare to watch Anthony Hopkins kick a lot of ass again. Oh, and you’ll notice Olivia Colman is in this. She is, however, in everything. I think that’s a law.

John Saxon has died from pneumonia at the age of 83.

He’s probably best known among genre fans as Nancy’s father from the Nightmare on Elm Street series but he was in scads of roles, including Enter the Dragon, the original Black Christmas, the MST3K favorite Mitchell, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Blood Beach. 

Speaking of Dragon, here’s him telling a story about Bruce Lee.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Saxon. Rest well.

Kenny Rogers passed away at age 81. His family said he died peacefully, at home, of natural causes. Here’s how I think people of my generation remember him best…

You lived one helluva life, sir. Rest well.

Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries

There’s too much information out there. Especially when it comes to Comic-Con weekend. But don’t worry. Go on with your lives. I sift through this stuff so you don’t have to.

Because the Night is a four-part series coming to ITV across the pond (and then to the States and elsewhere eventually, of course) from Neil Cross, based on his novel Burial. Cross is the man who brought you Idris Elba as Luther, the first series of which is some of the most nail-biting television I’ve ever seen. As for the title, yes, I too finished it with “belongs to lovers.” Source.

Cats has been in development hell for forever, and now there’s actually a trailer. And the reaction to this on the net has shown me that I am apparently one of five people who doesn’t detest the musical and perhaps the only person who doesn’t think this trailer looks like rubbish. They have CG cat costumes on. So what? Most of them look a lot like the Broadway costumes. Anyway. Trailer.

His Dark Materials is coming to HBO/BBC and it looks…pretty amazing. The cast is dead on…and if you haven’t read the books, you probably don’t know what the hell is happening in this trailer. Which is fine. But if they actually make it to book three, I’m going to stop and someone’s going to have to tell me if they fix the ending or not. Because that ending makes me so angry I could punch bunnies. Anyway. Trailer.

IT Chapter Two looks gloriously messed up. If we can avoid the Tonka Toy ending of the miniseries, then I’m good. (And remember: that wasn’t my criticism, that was King’s.)

Terminator: Dark Fate looks excellent. Apparently Edward Furlong is back as John Connor, which is…really surprising. Here’s the featurette from San Diego. (And incidentally, speaking of being only one of five people, I’m only one of five people who enjoyed Terminator: Genisys.)

Top Gun: Maverick barely counts as something you need to know, but I’ve included it here because the Tom Cruise-in-the-cockpit “dashcam” bits look pretty amazing.

Image from Mondo’s Avengers: Infinity War poster. All of their stuff which you’ll probably never get before they sell out of it can be found here.

2016 has been a rough year for everyone. It doesn’t seem to be interested in slowing down on its way out, since it has taken one of the biggest badasses of our time: Carrie Fisher. She blew up at the age of nineteen when she hit the screen in Star Wars, becoming one of the biggest first geek screen crushes of all time. She later was put in a space bikini outfit and then used her own chain to choke the Hutt that imposed it on her. In her time, she also stuck an automatic weapon in John Belushi’s face, did not marry Billy Crystal and became a harbinger of the future for Tina Fey, among other things. She was also a blisteringly funny writer, creating a series of autobiographies and semi-autobiographies.

And that’s all well and good, but the thing Carrie Fisher did for me wasn’t her acting on screen…it was her being on screen–being herself–and giving no fucks about doing so. And this isn’t easy for anybody, much less someone who has had to grapple with bipolar disorder and addiction. I didn’t know specifically what she was dealing with until seeing her discuss it with Stephen Fry in his docuseries, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. But seeing how she was able to deal with it–and do so fairly openly and with tremendous strength–has made her a serious role model for dealing with mental illness as well as a personal hero of mine.

What follows are two recent appearances she made where she not only exceeded expectations but also lit them on fire.

This second one is from the British show The Last Leg, hosted by comedians Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe. It’s called thus because between the three of them they have four legs. It started as a special they hosted for the Paralympics in London but took off and has so far completed ten series. That’s the background you need for the show itself–for this particular episode, it was the week of Robin Williams’ death, hence the opening discussion between them. (Audio is not great, but c’est la vie.)

Carrie Fisher knew full well that the moonlight and bra were waiting for her. But I don’t think anyone expected they would come for her so suddenly or so soon. Thank you for everything, Carrie. You were magnificent.

Image 2013 by Riccardo Ghilardi.

In case you hadn’t noticed, San Diego Comic-Con just happened. And lots of stuff gets announced and lots of trailers happen and it’s basically just crammed with things. Here, I’ve tried to take the high points of the chaos and condense them into one huge post. There are lots of videos. You might want to go get a sandwich.

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And last but definitely not least, the Season 4 Sherlock trailer has dropped, which looks almost as fantastic as Toby Jones looks evil as hell.

That’s it. Hope you enjoyed your sandwich.

Related posts:

• Well, the Governor of Jerusalem Pissed Off Somebody
• Your Weekend Justice #297: The Wind Causes Insanity
• Justice League: The Snyder Cut – Stayhomer Review #3

]]> https://www.needcoffee.com/2015/09/30/yakuza-apocalypse-trailer/ Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:31:30 +0000 https://www.needcoffee.com/?p=30210

Takashi Miike is an absolute maniac. He brought you such films as Ichi the Killer, Audition and 13 Assassins. And now… Yakuza Apocalypse. Now, if you are a frequent visitor to this site, doubtless you are already ready to watch this film, based on the title alone. But now…you simply have to watch the trailer. It’s a red band trailer, but mostly it’s just…what I imagine dropping acid and watching Battles Without Honor or Humanity would be like. Enjoy.

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Why doesn’t every film have a weird frog mascot delivering beatdowns? Now we have a new yardstick by which to measure mad genius.

You might recognize Yayan Ruhian from The Raid series, among many other familiar faces. Stateside release date is apparently October 9th. And interestingly, the DVD is already available for pre-order on Amazon, out December 1st.

Related posts:

• Headsup: Teenage Angst, Dead Bodies, and a Musical
• Functioning Through the Fear: A Conversation With John Balser

]]> https://www.needcoffee.com/2015/07/23/disney-live-action-remakes/ Fri, 24 Jul 2015 02:06:53 +0000 https://www.needcoffee.com/?p=30094

A lot of pop culture news happens. Some of it you don’t need to know. Some of it you only need the briefest bit of it. And pretty much all of it is not urgent. Welcome to an endeavor to save you time and sanity. Enjoy.

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Why sift through a site where there’s a news story for every time any project sneezes? We read it all and we give you a digest version of just the important stuff. You’re busy and have a life. Everything else can wait. Enjoy.

There was once a time when every actor would get a crack at playing Hamlet. And now, it’s Peter Parker. (Arguably at one point, it might have been Bruce Wayne…but anyway…) The good news is that Sony and Marvel are starting with a clean slate and giving us an MCU Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland (pictured above). The bad news is that I’m going to miss Andrew Garfield, because I actually enjoyed the hell out of his first film. And at last, we had a Peter Parker who could banter. And the sideways news is that a bunch of people are pissed that we’re getting Peter Parker again and not Miles Morales, the second Ultimate Spider-Man. And I get where they’re coming from: as the man said, it’s deja vu all over again. Plus: people love the shit out of Miles and want to see the character they enjoy brought to the big screen.

So before I begin, let me say: I have no dog in this fight. I haven’t liked Earth-616 Peter Parker since Civil War, which ruined him for me. I enjoyed the hell out of the Ultimate Peter Parker, but I left Marvel as a regular reader before Miles arrived. And I’m not necessarily saying I think like any of the points I’m about to make, especially the ones seemingly in defense of the studio(s)–since they’re from the studio’s perspective. I say this because I don’t want you to expend your nerd-rage unnecessarily. Here we go.

[ad#right042415]Studios Are Ready to Take Risks, But Not as Many as You Want Them To. The movie studios, especially ones as monstrous as Disney, are ready to extend narrative risk-taking, casting risk-taking and so forth…but only so far. I know we’re used to seeing The Studios as massive and imposing beasts…but imagine them as not T. Rexs, but apatosaurs instead. Apatosaurs who have washed down their latest ginormous salad with about fifteen espressos. So while they’re huge and seemingly powerful, they’re skittish as hell. The slightest rustling will make them jump. So the evolution of the Hollywood movie industry is a slow one. It takes an unmitigated, there’s-no-way-to-talk-yourself-out-of-it success story to get people up there to change. Which is why if John Lasseter had not been such a fan of filmmakers like Miyazaki, you would never have seen some of the stateside innovations that Pixar brought to the table. And Pixar was a success story you could not shoot down. And so studios had to admit this and say: “Give me some of that.” So if you enjoyed films like How to Train Your Dragon, you can thank folks like Miyazaki.

Does Anybody Know Who the Hell Miles Morales Is? Remember, don’t kill me for bringing this up. I’m just making this point from the studio’s point of view. They probably think, rightly or wrongly, that if you leap right into Miles Morales then audiences will get confused. If you recall, a previous Spider-franchise felt the need to give you an extensive flashback sequence for something that had happened less than a half-hour earlier. They probably think, rightly or wrongly, that having a non-Peter Parker is like having a character named Ralph Nickleby turning into the Incredible Hulk. But here’s one thing that is true: a single fanbase is not enough to carry a film. If it was, you’d see ads for Serenity 3 in cinemas, coming out this August. So they may be afraid they can’t pull off a huge audience without Peter Parker in the mask–again, rightly or wrongly.

Another Risk is Actually Having a Miles Morales Spider-Man. What was the studio that had an email suggesting that casting Denzel Washington was a risk if you wanted a film to perform well overseas? Oh right, it was Sony. Now, I haven’t gone to check their numbers…nor have I grabbed the last ten really big films with black leads and seen how they did overseas (if they hit the 65% of international box office that the article says studios want), mostly because I am old and tired. But let’s, for the sake of argument, say this is true. As ScottC has pointed out time and again, the studios look to overseas box office like you wouldn’t believe. The studios are definitely taking a global eye–and some of the decisions that make no sense if you’re just looking here (Jesus, another 3-D film?) make perfect sense if you’re looking at it from a worldwide perspective. So if the numbers do reflect this…then this is a serious hurdle to Miles Morales or any other Spandex-Wearing Hero of Color. I don’t like this idea. You don’t like this idea. But it’s the Acanti in the room and we’ve got to face it. Studios are out to make money. If the situation reversed itself, you can bet James Franco would find himself suddenly incredibly available pretty damn quick.

What can we do about this? Well, we can’t do too much. But. My hope is that Marvel is working on this themselves. Think about this: Marvel plays the Long Game. That’s why their plan has worked so far. If you look at their schedule, they are systematically showing they can win at whatever they want to take on. Techno thriller? Done. Sci-fi madness? Okay. World War II period film? Sure. Spy thriller? Absolutely. Movie with a female lead? It’s coming. Movie with a black lead? It’s coming. In fact, they may have already had Black Panther so ingrained in their plans they only wanted to play–excuse the term–the race card once at this point and that just to prove their point. It may be that they’re trying to become like Pixar: “Look, just fuck off and let us work. We’ve got this.” This is pure speculation, of course, but it would fit.

Or This Could All Be According to Plan. Speaking of The Long Game, this could be part of it for different reasons. Like maybe you need an MCU Peter Parker first in order to kill him off and then bring Miles center stage. So what happens if the first film is indeed not an origin story for Peter…but an origin story for Miles? What if Miles is left standing at the end of the first film and Peter is dead?

Or…and here’s what I think might be more interesting…what if there’s a Peter Spidey in the films…and a Miles Spidey on TV. So Miles is more street level while Peter is dealing with crap like Thanos? Now, lest you think I’m giving Miles short shrift, whereas movies are very slow to react…TV is reacting pretty damn fast. We’ve seen American television move more towards the British model of shorter, higher quality series than just banging out twenty-four episodes of something. We’ve seen more complex characters, plots, the whole nine yards. Would you rather see Miles on the big screen? Or on Netflix? It’s something to consider. Then the MCU can have their cake and Edith too. And Tom Holland probably won’t be nearly as expensive to crossover to television as, say, Sam Jackson.

If you’re old enough, cast your mind back to the Hulk TV movies…with their versions of Daredevil and Thor. Back then, we had no idea there would ever be anything better than that. Or…there’s Legends of the Superheroes, even. So be patient. Marvel has been. And it’s worked so far. So as hard as it is to ask for this in a post-Phantom Menace world…have a little faith. Just a little, mind.

UPDATED 6/25/15: Saw this thanks to Wolven and I think it bears addressing: that there is a contract stipulating many things about Peter Parker/Spider-Man, including the fact that he’s straight and white. The article also points out the contract went into effect a month after Miles became Spider-Man.

I don’t think they were trying to necessarily and specifically avoid Peter Parker being made a flamboyantly gay transgendered individual from Japan. I think they were just trying to nail the character down to avoid tinkering. If you want to see some tinkering, find one of those vendors at a convention and grab some unused drafts of comic book adaptation screenplays. Did you know the Kingpin had electrical powers? Did you know Neil’s Sandman would fight the bad guys by punching them? As I stated on Facebook, it’s worth noting that of the important bits of the character, the one thing this apparently leaves out is “He designs ‘web shooters’ for himself.” What’s the biggest tinker that happened on the Sam Raimi version? Organic webshooters. Maybe they knew they had already lost that fight (way back with James Cameron’s “scriptment,” who knows? But anything that’s not nailed down, it’s almost guaranteed to be tinkered with…and usually not very well.

Remember, this is 2011. The idea that Sony and Marvel could happily coexist on a project was a vague myth. The first Avengers film, which proved that the Marvel phase idea worked, didn’t come out until the next year. So I don’t think this ties in to the previous bit about not casting Denzel in things. I could be wrong, but I think this is just Marvel trying to cover their collective ass.

Top Image.

Sir Christopher Lee, the last man standing of the Grand Horror Pantheon, has died at age 93. And it’s sort of hard to put into words what we’ve lost. Not only was he an incredible actor but Lee had a voice that would chill you. I mean seriously. Go listen to him read stuff on Spotify. His laugh is scarier than even Rox’s. And he worked his arse off. IMDB lists him with 281 credits to his name. And yet, he has more recognition from the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards than the Academy. In his honor, here’s some of my favorite bits, some of which we’ve posted before during the Halloween season.

I know that he first got his huge break with Hammer’s Curse of Frankenstein, but for me one of his first iconic roles wasn’t even really a horror flick. It was Corridors of Blood, where he was supporting Boris Karloff. Karloff plays a doctor trying to come up with a method of painless surgery. Lee plays Resurrection Joe, your one stop shop for experimental corpses. Here’s the trailer. Check out Lee. A stove pipe hat adds to his already formidable tallness. He’s got that scarred face. And, well, the voice. He just looks like a guy who would club you with your back turned.

I said to go listen to his stuff on Spotify, but here he is reading Poe from the BBC’s Fireside Tales series. Brilliant stuff.

And one thing he didn’t have to do…is go and sing. But he did, dammit. Why? Because he could. And if you want to hear a far better performance of Sweeney than Johnny Depp, then here you go… Yeah, his pitch is sometimes lacking, but he’s freakin’ dangerous.

Update: Alas, the performance of “Epiphany” has been taken down. When we find it again, we shall throw it back up here.

And lastly, here’s the man himself, remembering two very excellent friends.

We have a lot of great memories too, Sir Christopher. And if there is an afterlife, I hope the three of you guys are having one hell of a party. Rest well.

Well, we’ve been dreading has come to pass. Sir Terry Pratchett has made his exit. He did so at home surrounded by family, so we have that to hold onto at least. He had been doing battle with Alzheimer’s for quite some time, and drawing much needed attention to the disease through the fact that he was, well, Terry Goddamn Pratchett. His writing lives on. He was 66 years old.

Rox, our chief Pratchettologist, called my attention to the fact that we have three DragonCon panels wherein she and others celebrated his work and life. Below you’ll find the 2013 and 2014 Worlds of Terry Pratchett panels. The 2011 edition is here.

Leonard Nimoy–actor, director, writer, poet, musician, and elder stateman of the sci-fi geek community for his role as Mr. Spock–died yesterday at age 83. Chances are if you read this site, this is not news to you…since social media has been awash with memorials. And rightly so. An irreplaceable loss to culture, pop or otherwise.

Rox pointed out that bits of Leigh’s interview with him from DragonCon 2009 has been posted on YouTube. So for a look back at the man in one of his elements, here you go:

And as Rob pointed out on our Facebook page, his last tweet is profound, amazing and simply perfect:

Thanks for everything, Mr. Nimoy. Rest well.

In the words of Wednesday, “All is well, and all is well, and all shall be well.”

But I don’t know, maybe you just didn’t hear me when I said that Bryan Fuller is working on the American Gods production team.

The Hollywood Reporter has it that Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Dead Like Me) is working with the network Starz on the adaptation of The Neil’s sprawling and lush roadtrip through the American mythscape–the resonant and divisive opus that is American Gods.

If you’ll remember, the last time we talked about the American Gods adaptation, it was going to be a movie, and then a show, and then an HBO series produced by Tom Hanks, and then and then and then…! But a lot can change in three years, and now we have Bryan Fuller–recent recipient of the Saturn Awards for both Best New Show and the Dan Curtis Legacy Award–adding his production clout and lyrically visionary skill to what was already a hotly anticipated project.

Needless to say, the entire Internet has exploded.

FreemantleMedia is the currently-helming production company, with Thom Beers, Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk on executive producing duties for the show–right next to Fuller, Michael Green and, most importantly, Neil Himself. I was extremely worried when I first heard that FMNA’s most well-known products to date had been variations on the live performance competition genre, but I was assuaged when I realised two things:

1) It’s not so much that they’re producers of derivative “reality” TV, as it is that they are the producers of the live competition shows of which everyone has made derivations. They know how to make TV that works. Now, this can be bad, because, at its worst, “TV that works” could just mean formulaic crap…but at its best it can mean knowing how to subvert that formula, and the expectations that go along with it. Plus they have a crap ton of money to throw at this project.

And 2) Neil is enamoured of this production team. As he said to THR:

So I, for one, have some renewed hope that when this show finally hits screens, it’ll be as close to perfect as we could hope for.

I mean, Fuller’s already shown himself capable of working with animal people, right?

So, as Tor.com had it, “Joseph Gordon-Levitt to direct and star in Sandman movie, possibly the first in a multi-film franchise.” Granted, JGL clarified later on that he was only on board (for the moment) as a producer. David S. Goyer is, of course, also attached to produce.

As long-time followers of the Sandman film adaptation debacle will recall: this film has been stuck in development hell for over a decade and a half–and thankfully so. The most recently discussed draft had capes and superhero-esque origins and all kinds of foolishness. So thankfully, this iteration looks basically exactly like I said it would need to look, in order to get me interested: it looks like they’ve erased literally all of the film script work done on it, to this point, and started over from scratch. And I’m okay with that.

Also, I love how WB/DC Entertainment basically attaches Goyer to every hundred SpookyDark Thingsâ„¢ they attempt, and then follow through on like, Two of them. WHERE’S MY 100 Bullets and Hellblazer Series, GOYER/DCE/WB/SHOWTIME!? GIVE TO ZIM!

Anyway, I hope this actually pans out, and I have a bit more faith that it will, especially now that Neil has the clout to make serious requests/demands on the shape of the thing. But even still, it’s been almost twenty years since this process started, so I’ll believe it when I literally see it. I suggest you adopt the same sort of stance for the sake of your own sanity.

Peter O’Toole died over the weekend, apparently after a long illness. He was 81 years old.

I understand he was in damn near everything–and was working right up to the end, it seems–and I know he’s best known for playing the title character in Lawrence of Arabia. But for me, I had the most fun with O’Toole in two roles. One was Alan Swann in My Favorite Year from 1982. It’s criminally underviewed but has him playing a hard-drinking swashbuckling actor (“I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!”) trying to be kept under control by Mark Linn-Baker. Think of it as a predecessor to Get Him to the Greek.

But the best…the most glorious film was The Lion in Winter. With a script by James Goldman based on his play, and with O’Toole playing Henry II opposite Katharine Hepburn (with Anthony Hopkins and then some guy named Timothy Dalton making his screen debut), it’s pure dialogue joy. And bonus, it’s technically a holiday movie since the plot plays out over Christmas. Here he is with Hepburn. They’re both amazing. (I apologize if you get a godawful Sonic commercial before the actual bit of movie–it’s TCM’s, not mine.)

Thanks for everything, sir. Rest well.

For the last few months there have been persistent rumors of a “major” discovery of missing Doctor Who episodes. These rumors went into overdrive over the weekend thanks to articles in The Mirror and The Radio Times claiming that an announcement was imminent.

It appears as though the Beeb wanted to keep this thing under wraps for a while longer, but the cat is out of the bag now and they had to act. Thus we arrive at today, a time when all of the classic Doctor Who fans are waiting like a groom at the altar for a bride they know is probably beautiful…but they’d like to see for themselves.

[ad#longpost]It is official that later today the BBC will reveal how many missing classic Doctor Who episodes have indeed been returned to their vaults from the find in Ethiopia. There are rumors that there could be other “lost” BBC programs also included in this find.

As you can imagine there is a big guessing game going on: speculation with no clear answer. The low end of these rumors has at least two episodes being returned: presumably one ep of “Web of Fear” and one ep of “The Enemy Of The World,” both Second Doctor stories from the legendary Season Five. The other side of the spectrum holds that 106 episodes have been returned. More rumors are surfacing that it could be only 42 episodes (still not bad and bonus points for the Douglas Adams nod).

Before we go on, a few quick things to put this into context in a simple way. First, there are 106 missing episodes total (including ten full stories) from the Hartnell and Troughton eras of the show, mostly from Seasons Three, Four and Five. These were wiped by the BBC archives between 1967 and 1974 because there was a commonly held belief that there was no reason for these stories to be kept.

In hindsight, the decision to wipe anything seems daft, but at the time there were several factors in play that explain their rationale. The main one being the notion that there was no long-term value in the programs, especially since black and white was deemed as a dead medium.

Then there are the Equity laws faced by the BBC. The agreement between Equity and the Beeb for overseas rights and distribution for these stories had expired. This combined by the advent of color television as a preferred medium doomed these episodes since the BBC had no contractual obligation to preserve them in their archives. As a result Doctor Who and thousands of hours of additional serials were destroyed.

The madness stopped when record producer and uber Doctor Who fan Ian Levine stepped in and urged the BBC to cease their wiping of archived material, namely the Who material. Fast forward to 1978 when the VCR tape became in vogue. Its invention and popularity saw the creation of a secondary market for older episodes of the program and as a result caused the BBC to begin actively searching for the now lost episodes.

Since the wiping of these episodes, Levine has been a champion of their retrieval and a thorn in the side of the BBC for his firm criticism of their actions. Levine is just one of hundreds of people who have devoted decades to searching for these missing episodes.

This brings us up to now…when things are getting really interesting. Deborah Watling (who played Victoria Waterfield during the Troughton era) has confirmed on her website that she and Frazier Hines (who co-starred with her as Jamie McCrimmon) will both be at the unveiling later today. On his Facebook page Hines states he is en route to London now!

In addition to the discovery of episodes from the missing Troughton years there is more chatter that the first Doctor epic, “Marco Polo,” may also now be recovered. Another turn happens here though as Peter Purves (who played Steven Taylor in the Hartnell era) has categorically stated that he has yet to be contacted by the BBC about any missing episodes.

Not having Peter Purves in person for the announcement could make this even weirder. Does his non-participation mean that he is not in any of the retrieved stories or is it a sign that the BBC leaned on him to sign a rigid non-disclosure agreement until they were ready for an announcement?

It really gets odd when you throw in into the mix that the BBC has yet to “officially” explain why they are delaying the release of several DVDs with linking animation to replace “lost” footage. These would be “The Tenth Planet,” “The Moonbase,” and “The Underwater Menace.” Episode Four of “The Tenth Planet” is listed as missing. It is an important story since it features the Hartnell regeneration into Patrick Troughton and is considered by many to be the holy grail of missing episodes. There is innuendo being batted about that this delay could mean that the “missing” bits of these stories have been recovered and would thus conflict with the scheduled DVD releases of these stories.

So for now we wait. All press has been embargoed by the BBC until midnight London time, or 7pm Eastern Time here stateside.

Until then, ironically, we have to deal with the slow ebb of time moving towards this announcement.

James Gandolfini died this week of a heart attack at the way too young age of 51. Thespia found this clip for us, coming up after the jump. You have to love it when a tough guy actor doesn’t have a problem subverting his own image.