Marvel reveals Phase 3 titles and Black Panther has been cast!!

A week ago DC announced their slate of films from now until 2020, and now Marvel has hit back. The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood was the venue where Kevin Feige finally filled those promised release dates with actual titles... and of course I'm having an intense fangasm!!

The live blog I followed for all of this information can be found by following this link: http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/we-live-blog-all-the-details-of-marvels-special-hollywood-event#disqus_thread

After first showing the unbelievably awesome Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer and talking a little bit about Ant-Man, both movies scheduled to come out in 2015, Feige said that they didn't call this entire press meeting just to tell us things we already know! Then, the entire Phase 3 line up of movies was revealed:


May 6th 2016 - Captain America: Civil War

November 4th 2016 - Doctor Strange

May 5th 2017 - Guardians of the Galaxy 2

June 28th 2017 - Thor: Ragnarok

November 3rd 2017 - Black Panther

May 4th 2018 - Avengers: Infinity War... PART 1

July 6th 2018 - Ms Marvel

November 2nd 2018 - The Inhumans

May 3rd 2019 - Avengers: Infinity War... PART 2


Marvel pulled a bit of a fast one when announcing the third Captain America movie and initially gave it the title of "Serpent Society". Very cheeky Marvel. We've been bombarded with rumours of Civil War ever since Robert Downey Jr signed on to start in the film, and Marvel nearly made fools out of all of us. Then they confirmed it. Captain America 3 will see the start of the Civil War storyline, pitting Tony Stark and Steve Rogers against each other. ITS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! There's no word on whether Spiderman will be part of the film as of yet but for now I'm overly content with the announcement which just happened so I'm happy to find at a future date.

While I am aware that Benedict Cumberbatch is in final negotiations to play Doctor Strange, he hasn't been officially confirmed. When he is, I'll give my take on it. But until then, just know I would be a huge fan of the decision should he be confirmed. The film, as expected, will be coming in 2016.

It did surprise me that Guardians 2 was moved forward as Marvel usually sticks to their dates. Nevertheless, we will see James Gunn and the Guardians return to theatres in May 2017 followed in late July by the third movie in the Thor trilogy, titled Ragnarok. While I don't know just who/what Ragnarok is, the name has been thrown around by people who were predicting what Phase 3's titles would be well in advance of today, so the storyline/character is obviously a fan favourite. So for that reason I'm excited. Plus I'm interested to see how they conclude the Loki storyline considering his predicament at the end of Thor: The Dark World. More Loki is always nice.

 

And the third MCU film of 2017 has been confirmed as Black Panther, a movie I always thought that they would do. Plus, Chadwick Boseman (42) was announced to play him. And if Andy Serkis is playing Claw, there is just one more reason to look forward to what this film has in store.

Ms Marvel and The Inhumans will come in 2018. Those were 2 movies I thought they would do as well considering that Feige has talked about them for sometime know. When Feige consistently talks about a specific character, a movie is pending. Feige keeps his promises.

Finally it was announced that in May 2018 and 2019 the Avengers 3 will be split into 2 parts and it will be titled "Infinity War". Expect Thanos. Expect the Infinity Gauntlet. Expect a new roster of heroes. Expect a lot of epic moments that'll make fan boys like me cry. Also I think its clear that Marvel went to the DC school of splitting up your superhero team-up movie, which is weird considering its usually Marvel who make a decision like that first. Either way I get 2 Avengers and 2 Justice League movies in just over a two year period so I am not complaining!

I'm thrilled with today's announcement. If you have any opinions on any of the titles or the casting of Black Panther, leave a comment and start a discussion because there is a lot to talk about!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

DC Cinematic Universe Movies Confirmed

In August DC and Warner Brothers released their movie dates for their cinematic universe of superheroes from DC comics. I got none of my guesses right... which goes to show just how much I know!!

Warner Brothers have finally got their act together. When they released their release dates back in August I was happy to see that they actually had formulated a plan that they were willing to execute. Now we have those dates filled with confirmed titles. They are as follows:


2016 - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

2016 - Suicide Squad

2017 - Wonder Woman

2017 - The Justice League: Part 1

2018 - The Flash

2018 - Aquaman

2019 - Shazam

2019 - The Justice League: Part 2

2020 - Cyborg

2020 - Green Lantern


Its important to note that this slate of movies does not contain The Sandman, which is currently in development with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached to the project, or any stand alone Batman or Superman sequels which are also said to be in development. Also, this universe does not connect with the any of the DC television series airing right now including Arrow, Constantine, Gotham or The Flash.

Obviously I'm super excited for Batman v Superman and I'm eager to see what ramifications that film has for The Justice League movies and the other movies within the universe. But at the moment the film which makes me the most curious as of right now is Suicide Squad. The film is set to be directed by David Ayer and it may involve characters such as Harley Quinn and Deathstroke. If you don't know who they are, Harley is The Joker's bitch and Deathstroke is DC's Deadpool. According to Wikipedia, they are "an antihero team of incarcerated supervillains who act as deniable assets for the United States government, undertaking high-risk black ops missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences". I cannot wait to see how they fit this in with the other movies and I'm really looking forward to the casting choices as many A-list actors (Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Tom Hardy etc.) have been linked so far.

Gal Gadot will be Wonder Woman and DC will beat Marvel by putting out a female led superhero movie first. The Justice League movie has been split into 2 yet there are other movies that fit in-between. I'm thinking that they will be 2 separate stories but it could turn out that they feed directly off each other. Either way those 2 films allow DC to show off villains like Braniac and Doomsday so that really is something to be excited about.

 

The Flash film will have no relation to the TV series but will see Ezra Miller become the fastest man alive. I haven't really seen him in much but I do have faith that he can pull of superhero well. I'm not 100% sold on the decision but I'm hoping I will be before 2018, I'm secretly hoping he has a short cameo in Batman v Superman and a large role in Justice League Part 1.

Momoa has finally been confirmed as Aquaman, we'll see The Rock play Black Adam in Shazam and Ray Fisher play Cyborg in his own solo film as well. Finally, Green Lantern will be rebooted in 2020 and I'm hoping, like Flash, we'll see Hal Jordan in Batman v Superman and the 2 Justice League films before this feature. This film is not a sequel to the 2011 Green Lantern, which is not a bad thing at all!

For me this news is pretty darn special and I don't really have any complaints with it at all. However there are still superheroes who haven't been cast and now confirmation on how this overall story will pan out and what villains we will see our favourite superheroes come up against. To see DC assembling their own universe makes me so happy and I'm really anticipating the head-to-head of DC vs. Marvel that's going to develop from 2016 onwards.

So those are my quick thoughts on DC's movie slate. I'm finding it quite hard to think right now as this news has melted my brain a little bit.


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Iron Man in Captain America 3 - Marvel's Civil War

So it turns out 2016 is now officially the year of superhero vs. superhero movies, and I like it...

Captain America 3 was one of my most anticipated movies of 2016 and is now definitely in the top 3, if this story turns out to be true. A few days ago Variety reported that Robert Downey Jr had signed on to reprise his role as Iron Man in the third Captain America movie, which will be directed by the Russo brothers. This somewhat sets the stage for Marvel's Civil War and will pit 2 fan favourites against each other.

Immediately after hearing this a whole wave of questions inundated my mind at the exact same time and I'm going to try and get them all out in some sort of question. The first one was; will they stay loyal to the source material? In the comic book storyline the government creates a superhero registration act which Iron Man agrees with and Cap really does not. Its admittedly difficult adapting a comic book into a movie replica but they can do it easily if they follow on from the events of Age of Ultron. If you have Iron Man create Ultron which leads to the death of many and the destruction of cities, then he'll probably feel guilty about it and willingly accept the government's new programme. Cap on the other hand will probably say that it invades civil liberties and pit against the programme. To me this sounds the likely route they will take.

My next question was is this really Captain America 3 or Avengers 3? I thought about it for a while and while it may seem like that at first, I think that the film will tell the narrative via Cap's perspective and we'll see events play out through his eyes.

This conveniently leads onto my third question which is will they make Iron Man the villain? Well let's take a step back for a second. Tony Stark has proven himself to be a guy who does what is right and does not show any traits of villainy. The fact that he and Rogers will disagree on something doesn't make him a villain. What it does do is create a fascinating dynamic to 2 already broad and fleshed out characters and is something I can't wait to see how they pull off on the big screen.

And finally, what will happen to the Avengers? Will they not show up? Will they split up and join whoever they agree with? Will the Avengers disintegrate before new characters like Ant Man and Doctor Strange form a new team to defend the world from Thanos?

I couldn't possibly predict right now. However, I do think that Captain America and/or Iron Man will die. Robert Downey Jr has flirted with the idea of leaving the MCU and Chris Evans has said that he wants to branch off into other acting roles. Its weird when you think about one (or both) of The Avenger's poster boys dying at the hand of another, but its an artistic direction I feel Marvel can pull off without alienating or creating a villain out of our beloved characters.

All I can say is, bring on 2016!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Gone Girl and Dracula Untold Double Feature - Movie Reviews

So I've ended my September hibernation to talk about David Fincher's latest and Universal's first feature in an attempt at creating a shared monster-movie universe.



Gone Girl

I think it'd be easier if I said it right off the bat that Gone Girl is absolutely tremendous and is a film that you should seek out, if you haven't already. David Fincher once again proves that he is one of Hollywood's best forces behind the camera and he successfully adapts the novel into a riveting and at times jaw-dropping screenplay. Ben Affleck was a perfect casting choice and he portrayed a very subdued and slightly messed up dude perfectly, but in my opinion Rosamund Pike completely stole the show and delivered the best performance of her career so far. The supporting work is also very good with Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris executing their characters well. Tyler Perry in particular was impressive.

The movie took twists and turns that I never could have predicted (I haven't read the book) and they had such great dramatic impact because they were all plausible and grounded in the reality of the situation. The 2 main leads are actually really well fleshed out characters; one minute you're sure of a character then a minute later you're sceptical. It never came off as showy as it felt necessary in order to tell a very thought-provoking story.

The acting is excellent, the story riveting, the characters are handled brilliantly, its paced fantastically and it utilised humour brilliantly. Its also a beautiful thing to behold. David Fincher as always combines every technical detail of filmmaking to create his classic style. He makes a film look gritty, damp and cold so the story can get under your skin and you as a viewer can get sucked into this immersive environment. The musical score was also excellent and always created a sense of mystery and dread.

I loved the places Gone Girl went not just with its screenplay but with the commentary it was trying to make on our expectations of marriage and, perhaps more prominently, the way the media can make you feel a certain way about someone or something in a way that they want you to think about them. Gone Girl explores how the media can really worsen the life of somebody who is already dealing with some traumatic stuff.

My one issue with the film is the last 20 minutes when characters start to do things which conflict a lot with the motivations they had earlier in the film. Other than that, Gone Girl is flawless.

I loved Gone Girl and it is comfortably one of the best of the year:


Rating - A



Dracula Untold

Unlike Gone Girl, Dracula Untold is nowhere near the best movies of the year list and is in fact right near the bottom. This film for me was a huge struggle to complete and I was bored shitless for 90 minutes.

When I say the film is 90 minutes you'd think that the time would fly by and you wouldn't suffer for long at all. That wasn't the case with Dracula Untold. I think the main reason why this film failed in my eyes was because I wanted to see a fun monster movie with Dracula kicking ass. We do get glimpses of that, but only during action sequences where the director thought it'd be a good idea to shake the camera around.

But I didn't get a fun-filled popcorn flick where the film didn't take itself too seriously, in fact I got the opposite. Untold took itself way to seriously and tried to throw in a load of dramatic scenes which had no emotional impact at all. If you give bland, generic and forgettable supporting characters that are there only because the script says they need to be, don't try and make us care about them. The acting also ranges from way over the top seriousness to people clearly not giving a shit. I don't really blame them because I stopped caring 10 minutes in.

Luke Evans is actually pretty good as Vlad the Impaler and actually enjoys a few moments where Dracula is just decimating armies of men. He also takes part in the movie's best scene when Tywin Lannister himself turns Vlad into Dracula.

Other than a few moments Untold offered nothing in terms of enjoyment. I went into the film wanting to like it but came out bored out of my mind and deflated. I wanted to enjoy this take on Dracula but instead got a bunch of shaky cam and sub-par CGI mixed with a screenplay which gave me wafer-thin characters and a film which was tonally confused and a slog to get through.

I can't recommend anyone seeing this, save your money:


Rating - D



Thanks for reading,
Matt