23 years of this site still chugging along...
HotShot Trailer: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 teaser
by Doc on Jun.09, 2015, under Movies
“Nothing good is safe while Snow is alive…Snow has to pay for what he’s done.”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and Stanley Tucci. It is directed by Francis Lawrence.
Opens November 20th, 2015.
Join the Revolution.
HotShot Trailer: The Martian
by Doc on Jun.08, 2015, under Movies
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return. Based on a best-selling novel, and helmed by master director Ridley Scott, The Martian features a star studded cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald Glover.
In theaters November 2015
Meet the Stitchers – ABC Family’s new genre drama
by Doc on Jun.08, 2015, under Television
Stichers is the new SF procedural drama from ABC family, and features a couple of faces familiar to fans of this site – Salli Richardson-Whitfield, who played Allison Blake on Eureka, and Allison Scagliotti, who played Claudia Donovan on Warehouse 13. It debuted last week, and episode 2 airs tomorrow night at 9/8c.
The show follows Kirsten Clark (Emma Ishta), a Caltech student who has temporal dysplasia, which causes her to have no sense of time. She is at odds with her roommate, Camille (Scagliotti), another Caltech student who is a computer systems expert and is trying to kick her out. Kirsten encounters Maggie Baptiste (Richardson-Whitfield), who leads the Stitchers program – a covert government project (the agency we are not given) which has developed the capability to insert or “stitch” a person into a recently deceased victim’s memory for a limited time, with the hope that they might discover the truth about the person’s death. Kirsten’s affliction makes her perfect to become a Stitcher.
Helping on the team is Cameron Goodkin (Kyle Harris, The Carrie Diaries), a brilliant neuroscientist and acts as a guide while Kirsten travels through memories; and Linus Ahluwalia (Ritesh Rajan, Campus Life), a bioelectric engineer.
The first episode was extremely fast-paced – perhaps a bit too much, as there is a lot to follow for an introductory episode, but that doesn’t prevent the characters from coming through. And their interactions allow for a good amount of humor to lighten up the intensity, especially the banter between Kirsten, Cameron and Linus. It will be interesting to see how this translates in the long run.
Of course I had to wonder about the length of the “exit password” that Kirsten needs to type in to exit the memories…I tweeted about the fact that something you’d need to type in quickly should be much shorter…almost instantly I got a reply from executive producer/creator Jeff Schechter, who said, “It used to be ‘iheartjeffreyalanschechter’, but my wife objected.” OK, everyone involved is fun to deal with…
Check out some introductory videos below on each of the Stitchers.
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Nichelle Nichols recovering from mild stroke
by Doc on Jun.05, 2015, under Movies, Television
Actress Nichelle Nichols, best known for playing Uhura in the original Star Trek, is currently recovering from a mild stroke suffered Wednesday night while she was at her home in L.A.
An update posted yesterday evening on her official Facebook page by her publicist says that her CAT scan was negative and they are waiting on the MRI results, but she is “awake, eating, in good spirits and able to have full conversations. Her right side has shown minor signs or mobility loss but she is not showing any signs of paralyses.”
Well wishes from across Twitter – co-star William Shatner:
Thoughts going out to Nichelle. I hope all is going to be OK. Love, Bill
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) June 5, 2015
And George Takei:
We understand #NichelleNichols has been rushed to the hospital. We don't have any diagnosis on her condition but our thoughts are with her.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 4, 2015
Our thoughts are with you Nichelle and a speedy recovery.
Eddie Redmayne confirmed as Newt Scamander for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
by Doc on Jun.02, 2015, under Movies
Warner Bros has confirmed that Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne will play the role of Newt Scamander, the author of the book (and title of the movie) Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a prequel story set in the world of Harry Potter.
The script itself was written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut, with the film being directed by David Yates (who directed the last four Harry Potter films and produced by David Heyman (who produced all of them).
Redmayne won the Oscar for his portrayal of physicist and author Stephen Hawking in the movie The Theory of Everything, and prior to that captured audiences as Marius in Les Misérables.
The film will release worldwide on November 18, 2016.
Tron 3 loses power, gets shelved
by Doc on May.30, 2015, under Movies
The news last month that stars Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde along with director Joseph Kasinski were in for a third installment of Tron, gave hope even after several years had already passed since Tron: Legacy, but Disney said today that it never officially gave a green light for the project, and has in fact pulled it from the development slate.
No specific reasons were given, but given the relatively soft worldwide box office ($400 million against an approximately $180 million budget, not including marketing), and the subsequent failure of the animated Tron: Uprising, and with expected blockbusters from Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next several years, Disney probably sees the slate pretty clogged with high budget features with likely better returns.
Update: There have been various reports that this was due to the poor opening of Tomorrowland, but there is no real reason they would be connected.
Ash vs Evil Dead – the Groovy Teaser
by Doc on May.29, 2015, under Television
I actually missed earlier reports on this…but it is in production right now in New Zealand, will feature the return of Bruce Campbell as Ash, Lucy Lawless has a role and has Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert in charge.
Groovy!
Fox plans to reboot League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
by Doc on May.27, 2015, under Movies
Could this be the final sign that studios are out of original ideas? It’s one thing to want to reboot something that has shown success (Sony is about to embark on it’s third reboot of Spider-Man), but Fox seems set on trying to make gold from lead, this time with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The 2003 film was a critical and box office failure, but it did at least get a cult following, as does the source material from writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill, which deals with a group of Victorian heroes who band together to help save the world. The characters are taken from various stories of the time: Mina Harker (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Alan Quartermain (H. Rider Haggard’s novels), Captain Nemo (Jules Verne), Doctor Jeckyl (Robert Louis Stevenson), and the Invisible Man (H.G. Wells) (for the 2003 movie, the character was renamed for legal reasons.) It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but it deviated from the source material in terms of the leaders of the group (in the comic/graphic novel, Harker was in charge with Nemo aiding a lot, while the movie it was mostly Quatermain – likely due to Sean Connery – and Tom Sawyer), and overall I think it just dealt with characters that were too unfamiliar to people. Even in the case of Captain Nemo, although in the Verne novels he is an Indian prince, most portrayals were by British or American actors.
I was overall less than impressed with the acting and the visuals, but I do remember the one bright spot was with Tony Curran as Skinner (not THE Invisible Man, but invisible, making a noticeable performance a major feat.) Even Connery permanently retired from acting right afterwards.
Back in 2013 Fox committed to a put pilot (they would have to air the pilot regardless if they pick it up to series, or pay a penalty) for a TV adaptation, but from what I hear the pilot was rejected, and I haven’t seen any sign it will ever air. This movie appears unrelated to the pilot, with a different production team in the form of Ira Napoliello (Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and Matt Reilly, and John Davis (Mr. Popper’s Penguins, I, Robot).
Defiance returns for third season June 12th
by Doc on May.25, 2015, under Television
Defiance holds a unique record – it is now the series that has run the longest since I’ve visited the set. Warehouse 13, Being Human and Helix were all gone within 2 seasons or less. Haven still has the second half of it’s fifth season to air, and no decision on renewal has been made yet, but the film tax credit situation in Nova Scotia, where it is filmed, makes it something of a long shot…maybe I should stop visiting sets…
But Defiance remains, well, defiant. Season 3 premieres Friday, June 12th, and picks up seven months after the radical events of Season 2. With the collapse of the gulanite mines, the town of Defiance is rapidly becoming a ghost town – the Earth Republic has left and the farms are buried under snow, while Amanda (Julie Benz) is back as Mayor with Berlin (Anna Hopkins) as Lawmaker. The lack of gulanite means a lack of power generation, jeopardizing the stasis nets that protect the town. And a new threat wants the town destroyed.
Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) wake to find themselves outside, with Nolan having remembered being removed from the stasis pod by two strange aliens he has not seen before. They return to Defiance, but the town has not forgotten what Irisa did while controlled by the Arkbrain.
Datak (Tony Curran), Stahma (Jaime Murray) and Rafe McCawley (Graham Greene) are hot on the trail Rafe’s wife Pilar (Linda Hamilton), who had kidnapped Alak (Jesse Rath) and then-pregnant Christie (Nicole Muñoz), and is keeping them and her new grandchild in her custody.
Defiance has not lost any of its momentum. We are introduced to two new aliens – Kindzi (Nichole Galicia, Django Unchained) her father T’evgin (Conrad Coates, The Strain), two of the Omec – a Votan race only mentioned before in hushed whispers and dread. Called devils, enchanters, “takers of the innocent”, they subjugated the other races in the Votan system and even would eat them. They were believed to be near extinct when the Votans fled their home system for Earth. They need gulanite for their ark, still in orbit – but can they be trusted when the other Votans say they should be killed on sight?
Also joining the show is Lee Tergesen (The Americans) as General Rahm Tak, a megalomaniac Castithan and leader of a Votanis Collective “death squad”, who sees the town of Defiance as a symbol that must be destroyed.
So now Defiance has two threats that need to be dealt with, in addition to the existing problem.
Oh, and I don’t think it is a good idea to get on Doc Yewll’s (Trenna Keating) bad side. Just sayin’…
See them making wax Star Wars for Madame Tussauds
by Doc on May.21, 2015, under Fun Stuff, Movies
Wow…I’ve been to the London Madame Tussauds, and they can be frightfully real at times…well, I can say they really NAILED Qui-Gon Jinn. And the Han “Shot First” Solo isn’t bad either…
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