Kevin Smith and Grant Morrison Discuss The Killing Joke: Does the Joker Die?

As you may know, Kevin Smith is a huge Batman fan and weekly presents a podcast called Fatman on Batman as part of his SModcast empire. Each week Kevin Smith invites a creator who is involved (sometime tenuously) with Batman. This week Smith was again joined by famed writer and spiritualist, Grant Morrison for issue #44. Morrison was invited to discuss his favorite Batman stories, and as part of the podcast discussed Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s seminal Batman story The Killing Joke.

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Hercules Set Photos Instagrammed by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is giving it a good go at drumming up a bit of interest in his latest movie, Hercules: The Thracian Wars, by teasing set pictures and sneak peeks at his costume for his titular role as Hercules in Brett Ratner’s upcoming comic adaptation. His latest attempt comes courtesy of his Instagram feed and is a brief video giving as partial glimpse at his costume.

//instagram.com/p/dFphUzIh3l/embed/

Much like his Fast and Furious 6 co-star Vin Diesel has done with the upcoming Pitch Black sequel, Johnson is using social media to drive interest and create a bit of viral marketing for the movie, which seems to have relatively slipped under the radar. Johnson has posted several pictures from the set of him in various stages of make up and showing off scars and set pieces. Notably, Johnson has not revealed his face in any of these pictures. It would be interesting to see if this is due to Johnson sporting prosthesis of some kind. Or just a big bushy beard.

Hercules

Hercules: The Thracian Wars is an adaptation of Radical Comics limited series of the same name, written by Steve Moore and art by Cris Bolsin. Hercules: The Thratian Wars take place after all the legendary stories, including the 12 labors, and see’s the demi-god in the company of five trusted warriors and has been described “a revisionist take on the classic myth set in a grounded world where the supernatural does not exist.” Apart from Hercules himself being the son of the God Zeus, of course.

[quote]Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules’ help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail… he must again become the hero he once was… he must embrace his own myth… he must be Hercules.[/quote]

The film is being produced by Paramount and MGM who will be hoping that their movie will do better than 2011’s Conan The Barbarian, another former Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, that was a complete box office and critical failure. Paramount and MGM have placed the project in the hands of reliab[ly mediocre], if not groundbreaking, director Brett Ratner and scripted by Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos.  

Hercules set photos

As well as Dwayne Johnson as Hercules, the film also stars Ian McShane (Deadwood) as Hercules’ counselor and former warrior, Amphiarus, Aksel Hennie as Tydeus, Rufus Sewell (Dark City) as Autolycus, and Reece Ritchie as Iolaus. The villains of the piece will be Tobias Santelmann as the evil Rhesus along with John Hurt (Alien) as the King of Thrace. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and Joseph Fiennes also join the cast.

Hercules set photos

To keep up to date with information and teases of Hercules: The Thratian Wars, as well as some pretty impressive pictures of muscles and tweets about weight training, follow The Rock. Hercules: The Thratian Wars will be released theatrically July 25 2014.

You’re Next – Multiple Posters Accompanied with Creepy Messages

You’re Next is the newest film from Adam Wingard. Another home invasion horror, but early word from those that have seen it, You’re Next is a fantastic example of what the genre can be. The logline is pretty straightforward…

[box_light]When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.[/box_light]

While I am not a fan of horror films, I am a huge fan of unusual marketing. The latest You’re Next posters fall into that category in fine fashion. The powers that be of the film sent out a series of posters to various sites, each with a message that frankly would creep me out, movie or not. It doesn’t appear that all have been released, but hopefully those holdouts will check their emails soon and complete the series. Maybe they’ll send us one…

You’ve been chosen.
The Animals are on the hunt.
And … #YoureNext

Y – Not Discovered

O – Bloody Disgusting

You're Next Poster O

U – Cinema Blend

You're Next poster U

R – Collider

You're Next Poster R

E – Dread Central

You're Next Poster E

N – Not Discovered

E- Not Discovered

X – Screen Crush

You're Next Poster X

T – Shock Till You Drop

You're Next Poster T

You’re Next opens in theaters next weekend and while there is no way on Earth I’ll be going to see it, I’m sure someone from Grizzly Bomb will, so stay tuned for our You’re Next review!

In A World… Lake Bell is Joined by All Star Cast in Directorial Debut

In a world filled with summer disappointments and tent-pole flops, Lake Bell’s In a World… looks like it could be really good. Recipient of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and nominated for Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Festival, In a World… has received praise critically and its thus far limited release has proved successful. Starring, written, and directed by the lovely Lake Bell (A Good Old Fashioned Orgy), the film is about a voice coach trying to break into movie trailer voice over work like her father.

Take a look at the In a World… trailer here…

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Ain’t Them Bodies Saints: Trailer Features Outlaws in Love

After getting rave reviews at Sundance, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is finally getting released to theaters and we have the trailer. Written and Directed by David Lowery, who’s prior works consists of two low-budget features, St. Nick and Deadroom, and recently the editing of the tantalizing Upstream Color. This seems to be his first film with a well-known cast in Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Ben Foster (The Mechanic, and the upcoming Lone Survivor). The story for his newest flick is as follows; Affleck plays an outlaw who is sentenced to prison for 25 years for an act his wife, Mara, committed, but escapes in hope of reuniting with his her and their now born child. Sounds interesting enough, and if that doesn’t entice you enough, check out the trailer for the gorgeous cinematography and score. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiWJMsBEYl8

The reviews for this have been mostly positive, and one conclusion I can draw is this looks film looks great visually. Winning the Special Jury Prize for Cinematography at Sundance, the shots in the trailer feel reminiscent of the type of shots in Mallick’s The Tree of Life, very surreal and up close to the actors. Some of the complaints at Sundance were the film being overly long, which makes it good news that the cut being released to theaters is about 15 minutes shorter. Also, I can’t forget the score in the trailer that I hope is a precursor to what the film is like, cause it works tremendously in the trailer with its soft, mellow, yet dramatic violins.

For more on the film, below’s an excellent quick interview with David Lowery where he talks about the story and how it differs from other films in the genre, check it out:

The film was released on August 16th in NYC and LA, and is coming to VOD August 23rd.