Matthew Monagle
Josh Gad Ambushes Daisy Ridley With a ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Intervention
Over the past few weeks, Josh Gad has systematically been chipping away at the defenses of Murder on the Orient Express co-star Daisy Ridley to try and get his hands on a few tasty Star Wars: The Last Jedi spoilers. We’ve checked in on the series three times over the past month as Gad quickly escalated his efforts, bringing in ringers such as Dame Judi Dench — seriously, how to say no to Judi Dench? — to try and guilt Ridley into letting something slip. And now, for his last-ditch effort, Gad has pulled out all the stops.
Rumor Has It This ‘Harry Potter’ Alum Will Play the ‘Wonder Woman’ Villain
There’s just a few months left until Wonder Woman hits theaters, which means it’s time for Warner Bros. to get down to the business of promoting the crap out of this movie. When I saw Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in theaters, the crowd greeted her character during the climactic fight scene with wild cheers and applause, suggesting to me that audiences are ready to embrace the first standalone superhero movie. We’ve had the first two rounds of movie trailers; now it’s time to open the floodgates on teasers, TV spots, and production rumors. Let the games begin!
Our Favorite A-Holes Save the Galaxy (Again) in This New ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ TV Spot
It’s funny how things work out. When Marvel was putting together the cast for Guardians of the Galaxy, they probably never dreamed that it would be former professional wrestler and MMA fighter Dave Bautista who would emerge as the film’s most likable character. And yet, with his deadpan line deliveries and awesome physicality, Bautista stood out among his live-action costars — I mean, nobody was going to beat Groot — as the funniest and most sympathetic of all the Guardians. Just like that, Bautista was a bonafide movie star and one of the biggest strengths of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Watch Robert Downey Jr. and Guests Answer Your ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Questions
There may never be a Hollywood talker like Robert Downey, Jr. Even in his fifties, the actor possesses a nervous energy and patter that makes him seem like the youngest man in the room, barraging his co-stars and audiences alike with a flurry of self-deprecating jokes and unbridled enthusiasm for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His success as Tony Stark is synonymous with the success of the Marvel movies as a whole; while it’s technically possible to picture an Avengers movie without Downey, Jr. in the mix, there’s no denying it would probably be a whole lot less fun.
Take the ‘Cure for Wellness’ Super Bowl Spot and Call Me in the Morning
Here’s the best movie trailer of the Super Bowl.
A ‘Deadpool’ Screenwriter Explains Their Anti-Disney Success Story
Few superhero movies captured the imagination of audiences last year quite like Deadpool. While Marvel releases were praised for their sleek storytelling and progressive characters, Deadpool went the other route, earning hundreds of millions of dollars on the strength of its raunchy sex scenes and immature sight gags. It was choppy, it was unpolished, and, occasionally, it was noticeably cheap around the edges. In other words, it was everything that Marvel movies are not.
Watch School Pride Turn Into Song in This ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Deleted Scene
It’s the little touches that help make a world feel authentic, which is why the Harry Potter universe has always stood above its peers. There’s a sense of history to the schools in this universe; you never feel like these characters are the first to experience any part of the world of wizards, only the latest in a chain of events and people that existed long before they arrived. And while this new deleted scene from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may not exactly move the plot along, it certainly makes the universe feel more cozy for all who jump in.
David Ayer Wishes He’d Made Joker the Big Bad in ‘Suicide Squad’
It’s been six months since Suicide Squad was released in theaters and a collective history is starting to shape up around the film. Despite denials from Warner Bros., it’s now pretty much understood that the studio rushed production of Suicide Squad and backed director David Ayer into a corner about the film’s final cut. Despite these issues, Ayer has remained a loyal solider for the studio, regularly commenting that the film we saw in theaters was his and his alone.
Hackers Shut Down the Sundance Film Festival Box Office
Cyberattacks — or, as newly elected President Trump would say, “the Cyber” — are an increasingly common part of the world we live in. With most private information and secure data now available online, one tech-savvy computer user can do more damage to an institution than hundreds of lawyers or corporate spies. And while we might think of cyberattacks as being reserved for the Big Evil Corporations of the world, it turns out that not even film festivals are immune from being targeted.
Warner Bros. Picks a Director for Its ‘Mortal Kombat’ Reboot
Odds are good that a few of you read this headline and thought, “Wait, there’s a Mortal Kombat reboot in production?” It’s true! Despite mixed success as a feature film and a web-series, Warner Bros. has decided to once again chase that sweet video game industry money with a big screen remake of the popular video game franchise. James Wan — who joined the project all the way back in 2015 as the executive producer — recently described the film as the fantasy version of Enter the Dragon, expressing a great deal of enthusiasm for the universe that he and the Mortal Kombat screenwriters had created.
See How Thor Kept Busy During ‘Civil War’ in the Hilarious ‘Civil War: Team Thor’
Even months before the movie was released, it was pretty obvious that Thor had no real place in Captain America: Civil War. That film was rooted in political intrigue and manipulation of trust; Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is really more of the Mary Poppins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not really worrying so much about the day-to-day and just popping in whenever he’s needed the most. To remain true to the character, there was no scenario in which Thor did not just roll his eyes and head back to Asgard until the whole thing had blown over.
Ghostbusting Gets Colorful in the ‘Ghostbusters’ VFX Reel
We’ve all complained about Hollywood’s increasingly monochromatic color scale from time to time. It seems that no blockbuster franchise is immune to a post-production color correction that turns everything into the shame shades of dull and dingy. So while reactions to the new Ghostbusters movie were more than a little split — that seems like the charitable way to put it — I hope that most people could agree that the bright splashes of color in the new movie were a breath of fresh air for studio films. Fluorescent purples, yellow, and greens are a nice change of pace from browns, blacks, and… wait, did I mention browns already?