Fans of survival horror should be in for a treat as the trailer for the new home invasion film Purge has just been released. Starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Heady, directed by James DeMonaco (writer of The Negotiator) with producing going to Jason Blum (one of the team behind Paranormal Activity). Below is the synopsis and trailer for this film that shows a horrific, possible future.
Continue reading The Purge: Trailer Shows Newest Thing in Home Invasion Horrors…
Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Wonder Woman. Like the old Sesame Street song, one of these things is not like the other. In a world dominated by male characters, Wonder Woman stands apart. Not only in genitalia but in history. Introduced in a time where women were required to leave the home to take over jobs left vacant by fighting soldiers, Wonder Woman represented the strength that a woman possessed, no matter if she had a man to stand by or not. When the GI Joes came back? Wonder Woman comics became a love story. Can you even imagine if there was a series of Batman comic books centered on Batman asking a girl to a dance? Probably not.
Even without the somewhat ridiculous story lines, Wonder Woman stands alone as the most recognizable female comic book superhero there is. While diehard fans know of Black Canary and Ms. Marvel, almost everyone knows about Wonder Woman. Of course, made even more popular by the 1970’s TV show starring Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman remains to this day a fan favorite. But what effect does she and other female superheroines have when it comes to influencing the young women of the world today?
Director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan set out to answer that question.
Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines is a look at feminism through the comic book lens. Interviews with noted feminist Gloria Steinem, Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter, and young girls come together to paint a picture of what female comic book characters mean to the world, both in ages past and today. Maybe this documentary will be the push Hollywood needs to finally put Wonder Woman on the big screen. I think we can all agree, the dude superheroes have had their day and it’s time to move over a bit and let a girl have the spotlight for a moment. Here’s hoping!
Airing on April 15th on PBS, Wonder Women will hopefully incite conversation amongst men and women alike, comic book fans or not. I know I’ll be watching, Lasso of Truth at the ready.
Wonder Women! Sneak Peek from Vaquera Films on Vimeo.
In 2010, the Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. comic book story of a high school guy who decides one day to become a superhero was brought to the big screen in Kick-Ass. Now the gang is back and ready to fight crime and well, kick ass yet again!
Chloe Moretz is reprising her role as Hit-Girl, the bad-ass little high school girl who fights crime in costume beside Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) himself. This time around, a group of regular citizens have been inspired to follow her lead, and don costumes, and fight crime through the city as well. Aaron and Chloe will star alongside such names as Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison, Clark Duke, Lyndsy Fonseca, and of course Christopher Mintz-Plasse, formerly Red Mist, as The Mother F***er; the villain who the citizens must band together to defeat. [Ed. Note – Let me just say, I’m very pleased to find out that Lyndsy Fonseca is returning. She is awesome on Nikita, plus – well you know. The acting and all that…
see. Acting.]
Comic creators – the aforementioned Millar and Romita Jr. will also be making a costumed appearance…
Now – on to the goods…
First one is the ‘Official Red Band Trailer’, it gives us a pretty good look Jim Carrey and some of the other newcomers…
The second one here is a character trailer for Hit Girl, who sort of stole the spotlight in the first movie…
Finally, we have a whole slew of movie posters and stills. Most of the character posters come courtesy of CINE 1, as their watermarks will clearly indicate…
Kick-Ass 2 will be hitting theaters on August 16th of this year!
I have to be honest with you. I have a deep love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have one more admission. It physically pained me when I found out some of the silly things that Michael Bay had in mind for the 2014 reboot. Really, Sir? Aliens? Really?
The cast of the mutant, uh, I mean, “alien” brothers has been finalized so I can’t help but add my two cents about the gents. Being attached to the name “Michael Bay” certainly has its advantages. Bay abuses what I would call an “increasingly stupefied” audience. Are his films visually overstimulating because that is his true expression of art, or is he just supplying what the audience wants? Either way, I don’t know what his exact plans are for the Ninja Turtles reboot, but I can guarantee they will be stupid and I will hate them. He is, however, box office gold.
So will these budding young stars reap the benefits of Bay’s name? So long as they don’t call him a Nazi, I’m quite positive they will experience some success from this highly commercialized, toy friendly franchise.
Cast as the group’s leader Leonardo is Pete Ploszek. You may recognize him from Parks and Recreation that one time. If you missed him then, maybe you saw him on Shameless that other one time. He has the shortest resume of the bunch, but this could be the springboard he needs.
Alan Ritchson, who has some fairly memorable previous performances, will be Raphael. Of all the main characters, this guy could potentially benefit the most from this stamp on his career. Between the Ninja Turtles being filmed, and The Hunger Games in post production, his attachment to some major titles could lead to future success. His strong handsome face doesn’t hurt anything either. Too bad his gorgeous mug is going to be CGIed in Ninja Turtles.
Jeremy Howard has been cast as Donatello. I am not entirely sure how he fits in considering the other gents are a bit more statuesque. However, he does have the most experience in films dealing with aliens, so I suppose that is fitting with Bay’s ideas. The only thing I can project is that they are truly trying to highlight the geekiness of Don’s character. This is the exact opposite of what they have done previously. Donnie was always the smart techie guy, but to avoid boxing him into a one-dimensional character, they also gave him a skateboard. These are all just assumptions, but as I have stated earlier, I already hate this movie and it is stupid.
I found Noel Fisher (Shameless, Terriers, etc.) to be the most recognizable of the foursome. He, obviously, will be playing Michelangelo. “All the good ones end in ‘o’.” Considering Mikey was my favorite turtle, I hope he stays true to the character. I feel weird saying that considering he is a turtle that is a ninja that also likes to party. What great depth!
Rounding out the cast is the ever sultry Megan Fox. Considering there aren’t too many female roles to choose from, she will be April O’Neil. I was kind of crossing my fingers she would have been the Shredder. Or even better, she could have been that girl turtle from that Saturday morning show that no one watched…
The only thing that I can guarantee is that I don’t care. Keep an eye out for Ninja Turtles exploding in a theater near you next summer.
Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top stories in comic based Film & TV news!
I’m sure there could be a more random casting, but I’d have to think about it. However, Robert Redford signing on for the new Captain America might be my new go-to example. When it was first announced, I wrote it off as a ridiculous rumor but lo and behold, Mr. Redford himself confirmed it on stage at the Indie Focus Screening Series.
[quote]”I’m doing this film because it’s different. It’s a new thing for me… I think these films are really powerful. I think they’re great. This is the kind of film I would have loved to see as a kid.” – Robert Redford via LA Times[/quote]
In addition to the fabulous Robert Redford, word has been circulating (starting with the Latino Review) that MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre has been cast as Batroc the Leaper. The real shocker in this headline is this is not Georges St-Pierre’s first film role. Oh no, he’s had the honor of being a part of some real cinematic masterpieces such as Death Warrior and Hell’s Chain. One might say he could be the next Robert Redford.
While we are on the subject, why not enjoy a Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer?
I almost expected the headlines to read “Kid’s Choice Awards ratings skyrocket as thousands of fanboys tune in to catch new Iron Man 3 TV spot”. While no one went with this headline and I have no idea what the ratings for the Nickelodeon awards show were like, there is no doubt in my mind that there were people watching for no other reason than to see this.
Not much that in addition to previous trailers but it was fun to see anyways. With a little over a month left before the movie’s release date, it’s time to get excited about Iron Man 3.
Fans in China are no doubt as excited as the rest of us and they should be even more excited as their version of the Marvel studios film with be just a little bit longer than the rest of the world’s. The studio announced that the Chinese version will include bonus footage of a Chinese actress named Fan Bingbing cast as “Dr. Wu’s wife” but they did not say how the extra scenes related to the plot, if at all. Guess we’ll just have to wait until the illegal copies make their way to eBay to find out.
No really, I’m able to mention Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (let’s be honest here, that is a kickass name) twice in one post. Not only is she going to appear in the Chinese version of Iron Man 3 but it looks like she’s going to be in the new X-Men as well!
Bryan Singer took to twitter a bit ago and posted this
3 #Oscars, 6 #GoldenGlobes, 1 #BAFTA, 2 #Emmys, 2 #Tonys, 5 #Oliviers, 1 #Ceaser – Now let’s blow s**t up! #XMEN twitter.com/BryanSinger/st…
— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) March 15, 2013
with the following picture attached.
So everyone we expected – Hugh Jackman, Ellen Page, James McAvoy (yum), Patrick Stewart (sexiest bald man alive), Peter Dinklage, and who is that? Oh that’s just Daniel Cudmore which means he is reprising his role of Colosses from X-Men: The Last Stand. Not only that, but the aforementioned Fan Bingbing is there and on her IMDb profile it says she is going to be playing Clarice Ferguson aka Blink. [Ed. Note – The editorial staff would just like to express how much we love this news as Blink is one of our favorite characters, the Age of Apocalypse was awesome, and she doesn’t get the love she deserves…]
All these names are great and wonderful, but I think we can all agree it would be better is Alan Cumming were mentioned amongst them. Unfortunately there will be no Nightcrawler in Days of Future Past. Don’t worry Alan, we’ll always have Spy Kids.
That about does it for this edition of Hero Express! Let us know what you think of these stories in the comments and we’ll see ya next time!
Dread Central showcased the latest film trailer by promising upcoming director Adam Wingard (V/H/S Tape 56 segment). Called You’re Next it is a home invasion movie that was originally finished in 2011 and has now been acquired by Lionsgate (a studio well-known for its interesting horror output). Starring the likes of Wendy Glenn (666: The Prophecy), AJ Bowen (Hatchet 2), Joe Swanberg (V/H/S), Ti West (The House of the Devil) and Sharni Vinson (Bait), it is a home survival/slasher movie which focuses on the Davidsons coming together for a family reunion in a secluded vacation house, only to be set on by a gang of masked killers armed with axes and cross bows. Here is the recently released You’re Next trailer.
From looking at this trailer I have mixed thoughts on its originality. Home invasion movies are a staple of the urban horror movie and there are numerous nods to these other movies in this film. The masked killers invading a quiet family house parallels that of The Strangers (2008), while the generally gritty tone and helplessness felt by the protagonists and the viewers watching them feels a lot like Them (2006). In some instances with the booby traps and axe attacks it felt like a Friday the 13th movie. It could even go the way of The Zero Boys where the group turn on their attackers in the most extreme way. The stances of the killers in the below photo certainly suggests a Zero Boys influence.
However after saying all this it certainly does grab your attention, it has an ‘on the edge of your seat’ quality which certainly made me watch until the end. The group of people at this party seem quite likable which is an important factor in these style of movies, and the cast involved in this are some great up and coming players in the horror genre. Much like Ti West’s own House of the Devil or the new Lords of Salem movie by Rob Zombie, it has grittiness to it, which seems to be all the rage in recent horror movies. The nice mix of quick kills and slow, methodical stalking kills came across really well in the trailer and the use of “Perfect Day” song as the trailers score helps to heighten that tense mood even more. Something is defiantly not right here and it is not going to end well. Though Adam’s section on V/H/S was only average, it did have a great style to it, and some sequences were incredibly freaky. Here is hoping that same feeling of unease comes across in this movie, and if the trailer is anything to go by it is well on its way to scaring the pants off everyone.
You’re Next comes out on August 23rd. While you wait here are some promotional posters for the movie that showcases the psychotic murdering trio.
Grizzly Bomb 