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This past weekend, pop culture art collectors descended upon Austin, Texas for the fifth edition of MondoCon, a convention dedicated solely to original artwork created for movies, television, video games and more. One of the most coveted new prints to come out of the convention was revealed at a special screening of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Thankfully, even though the special edition of the new print by Martin Ansin handed out at the screening is sold out and will cost you a significant upcharge in the secondhand market, there’s a timed edition available for order now.

Martin Ansin Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Print

This is one of the coolest Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse prints that we’ve seen. Front and center is Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), along with Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Noir Spider-Man (Nicolas Cage), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) leaping into action. Above them we have Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) looking menacing, as well as The Prowler (Mahershala Ali) and Doc Ock (Kathryn Hahn) behind him.

At the special Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse screening, a foil edition of the poster above was handed out, and the shimmer on that print is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, this timed edition of the print isn’t available on foil, but the artwork from Martin Ansin is astonishing enough on its own that this print still looks amazing as a standard screen print. And the good news is the 24×36 print is a timed edition available to purchase at Mondo for $60 until Wednesday, September 18 at 11:59pm CT.

Here’s what Ansin had to say about creating the print for Mondo:

“I remember watching the first trailer for it, and it was so hyper and fast and layered that I thought that if I ever got to do a poster for Spider-Verse, I would have to fit all those visuals in there. I don’t think I could come up with a minimal design that also feels like the movie, it’s just so rich and detailed… the challenge was in finding a way to compose the poster to make all those characters fit together.”

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Can Wolverine beat Predator in the latest edition of Super Power Beat Down? How many times did Robin say “Holy _____, Batman” in the original TV series? Would James Gunn direct an episode of a Marvel series on Netflix? Want to see an X-Men fan film featuring Cable? How much did Doctor Strange make at the international box office last weekend? All that and more in this edition of Superhero Bits?

Wolverine takes on the galaxy’s fierce hunter, Predator, in the most recent edition of Super Power Beat Down

Comic Book Resources counts down 15 creepy things that you might not know about X-Men villain Mr. Sinister.

One fan created a custom Fender guitar perfectly wrapped in the pages of Captain America comics.

Gabriel Luna says Ghost Rider‘s origin on Agents of SHIELD will have a new angle but still pulls from the source material.

Floyd Mayweather dressed up as Marvel’s Iron Man for Halloween and shared his outfit on Instagram.

As if anyone thought it could happen, Rob Liefeld confirms Quentin Tarantino won’t direct Deadpool 2.

Some artists created a few awesome Halloween comic book crossovers like this one at Comic Book Resources.

Mike Colter recently teased the forthcoming team up with Finn Jones as Iron Fist over in New York.

Continue Reading Superhero Bits>>

Due to the amount of graphics and images included in Superhero Bits, we have to split this post over THREE pages. Click the link above to continue to the next page of Superhero Bits.

The post Superhero Bits: Wolverine vs Predator, Cable Fan Film, Doctor Strange Overseas Box Office & More appeared first on /Film.

Throughout the original Star Wars trilogy, Stormtroopers were considered nothing but faceless henchman with poor aim who could be dispatched with quickly without a second thought. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens changed our thinking a bit by making one of our new heroes a defected Stormtrooper who just couldn’t bring himself to kill in the name of the First Order.  Now a new Star Wars short film goes the extra mile by actually making us feel for these white-armored soldiers.

Jakku: First Wave is a simple but affective short film put together by Benjamin Eck focusing on a small group of Stormtroopers who have a few moments to themselves inside an Imperial walker just before a door opens and sends them right into the battle of Jakku. It has the feel of a scene from any given war drama, and it packs a pretty powerful emotional punch.

Watch the Jakku First Wave short film after the jump.

This makes me want to watch an entire series based around a unit of Imperial Stormtroopers. Something like The Pacific or Band of Brothers set in the Star Wars universe would be spectacular, and it would be fascinating to have characters who you empathize with and like despite the fact that they’re working for the Empire.

Eck explains what drove his desire to make the movie:

“It all starts with a deep love of Star Wars. My friend and DP on this project recently joined the 501st legion as a Stormtrooper and it was pretty incredible to see his armor in person for the first time. It felt true and real like an actual historic war relic. Holding the helmet was unreal, here was this thing I’d loved so much my entire life but only ever saw in movies and images and now I was getting to hold it in my hands. That’s when he invited me to try the helmet on and it instantly flipped a switch in my mind. Wow, there really are guys in here. I’d always known that, but this made it real. This made me want to tell a story from their angle, a human angle. Growing up in a military household, I’ve always had a deep respect for our service men and women. So I set out to marry these two ideas and bring a militaristic realism to the soldiers under the armor.”

Even more impressive is they actually built that little set the Stormtroopers are waiting in. Eck researched the inside of a walker, designed it in Cinema4D, transferred it to Google SketchUp and built the set with materials from Home Depot.

All in all, this is one of the better Star Wars short films I’ve seen in a while. Nice job, Benjamin.

The post Watch ‘Jakku: First Wave’, A ‘Star Wars’ Short Film That Makes You Feel Bad For Stormtroopers appeared first on /Film.

One of my favorite things — although, honestly, it’s not easy to choose — we ate in Portugal was small clams cooked in a garlic wine sauce, usually with cilantro and always only eaten with bread, which I learned when we went to one of those* restaurants on the beach one night where you pick your dinner from what’s been caught that day and everyone is a little vague about preparations because they assume you already know. “How are the clams prepared?” “What do you mean? Steamed!” “And they’re served with…?” “Well, in Portugal, we eat clams with bread, only bread. Would you like something else?” And so it was.

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A thing I have learned over the last 10 years (!) here is that people have fairly bifurcated opinions of eggplant. Some find it to be the greatest, especially when it is at its most eggplant-y, others don't care what you do with it, they're never going to be converted, but even the most eggplant-equivocal agree on one thing: eggplant parmesan is the bee's knees. I am, however, the one that's ambivalent about it. To take beautiful coins of eggplant, batter and fry them to a profound and well-seasoned golden crisp just to bury them in texture-killing amounts of sauce and melted cheese feels wrong to me, disrespectful of the labor involved and calories embedded in gloriously deep-fried foods. (I feel the same way about fries smothered in sauces and gravies. Unfollow me now!) All of these concerns go out the window when making a sub, however, which is what we called hoagies/heroes/grinders in my half of New Jersey growing up. The eggplant parm sub is in a way-too-small category of Great Vegetarian Sandwiches*, and I don't know when they went out of style, but I don't see them around very often anymore. The eggplant's texture is less compromised than it gets in casserole form, and so much extra from a seeded roll (it must be seeded; don't even ask), I find you can even make compromises with the eggplant itself (baking instead of frying breaded eggplant or roasting coins without breading at all) and not feel like you're missing a thing.

One of the staples of comedy releases on home video is a special feature that contains a reel of alternate jokes and lines from various scenes. They’re called “line-o-ramas” on home video releases for movies from the likes of Judd Apatow, Adam McKay, and Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, but we usually don’t get to see this same practice from television shows. That changes today though.

On HBO’s comedy Silicon Valley, series regular T.J. Miller is known for delivering some pretty brutal insults by way of his character Erlich Bachman. The arrogant partial owner of Pied Piper recently dished out a perfect string of age-based insults when meeting his new boss, “Action” Jack Barker, played by friend of the site Stephen Tobolowsky. But what we saw in the final cut was only a small fraction of what Miller threw out there while they were shooting. Thankfully, a slew of alternate takes has been made available online for you to watch right now.

Here’s the Silicon Valley alternate takes from the season premiere a few weeks ago:

T.J. Miller has been a stand-up comedian for years, getting his start in Chicago before he started taking roles in major motion pictures like Cloverfield, She’s Out of My League and this year’s runaway hit Deadpool. He’s a skilled improviser, a quick wit, and once he turns it on, there’s no stopping him. My personal favorite is “unlimited breadsticks or similar valued deals.”

Even more impressive than the string of insults themselves is how T.J. Miller and Stephen Tobolowsky are able to keep straight faces throughout many of these alternate lines. However, that appears to just be the editing of this particular video, because Miller notes that both he and Tobolowsky broke character and laughed a few times. But the latter is very professional on set and rarely broke while he was on camera.

As you can see in the video, the editors of the show had 75 different options to work with, and that might not even be all of them. According to Entertainment Weekly, it got to the point that the producers had to stop them from shooting any more material, despite how funny it was. This consistently happens on Judd Apatow’s movies, which can be difficult because he likes to shoot on film, making the time spent shooting all the more expensive. But at least we get to see that kind of material now so we can share in the laughs too.

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I have a love/hate relationship with Comixology. I love it because I can get all the comics I want without having to leave my home. I hate it because the amount of money I’m paying for comic book subscriptions have reached an all-time high. But today Comixology announced a new service called Comixology Unlimited that promises to be the Spotify or Netflix for comics (but we’ve heard that claim before). So what is this new digital comic book subscription service and why should or shouldn’t you get it? Find out the details, after the jump.

Comixology Unlimited is offering a free 30-day trial, but after that it will cost you $5.99 a month to access over 100,000 comic books. But which books are included and which are not? If you’re looking for Marvel or DC comic book series you will be disappointed. However, Marvel offers their own Marvel Unlimited service which offers most of their comic book series on a six month delay.

So at launch, Comixology Unlimited will only include selections from the mini-majors and other independent comic book publishers. ComicBookResources has a roundup of the big titles included:

Image Comics hits “Saga,” “Lazarus,” “Outcast,” “Fatale,” “Chew,” “Sex Criminals,” “Bitch Planet” and “The Wicked + The Divine”; licensed books from IDW including “Transformers,” “My Little Pony,” “Star Trek” and “G.I. Joe”; Dark Horse’s continuation of Joss Whedon-created television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Serenity”; standout series “Attack on Titan,” “Lumberjanes,” “Hip Hop Family Tree,” “Locke & Key,” “Scott Pilgrim,” “Letter 44,” “Princeless” and “Wuvable Oaf”; plus classics like “Hellboy,” “Lone Wolf and Cub,” “Love and Rockets” and “The Complete Peanuts.” While some series, like Dark Horse’s “B.P.R.D.,” have upwards of a dozen issues available via the service at launch, and Archie fans can peruse dozens of classic issues, others, like “Saga” or “Outcast,” are limited to their first story arc.

Now to be honest, Image Comics is my favorite comic book company, even over Marvel, because they consistently publish some of the best comic book stories that aren’t just the same superheroes in tights stories. And a lot of the comic books listed above are amazing, including Saga, Sex Criminals, Letter 44 and Scott Pilgrim.

Apparently the service plans to cycle through the content being offered, much like Netflix does, with new and old series and issues being added but with no specific window announced yet. The lack of an announced criteria makes the service harder to clarify than the Marvel Unlimited service. This also means that this service can’t really function as a replacement for those of you who subscribe to a bunch of these series, instead serving more as a service to discover new series – which is fine. I buy a lot of first issues to see if I’d be interested in jumping into a new series and maybe Comixology Unlimited will be worth it to me.

The good news is that the Comixology Unlimited service will be accessed through the same app you already have installed on your tablet, and that they are letting subscribers download up to 50 books to read offline, which should be enough for even the longest of plane flights or trips. This is also much more than Marvel Unlimited allowed when I tried them out a year or so ago.

You can sign up for your free 30-day trial not on the Comixology website.

The post Comixology Launches Digital Comic Book Subscription Service appeared first on /Film.

NECA have now revealed what will be included in Aliens Series 9, due for release some time around September. This set is to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Aliens. Earlier this week, actress Jenette Goldstein revealed […]

The post NECA Reveals Aliens Series 9 – Vasquez, Frost & Albino Alien appeared first on AvPGalaxy.

Partially inspired by the original research library at Disney studios, where artists were surrounded by inspiring images, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wanted to create a space for himself to fuel his imagination. The Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak director built a second house for himself, known as both the man cave and, inspired by the Charles Dickens‘ novel, the “Bleak House.”

Del Toro has shared videos and images from the Bleak House in the past, but now his epic collection of memorabilia will go on display for movie fans, at least for movie fans in select cities. Learn more about the Bleak House exhibit below.

This summer Del Toro will share more than 500 pieces from his second home. Guillermo del Toro’s House of Horrors will run from July until November at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), before visiting Minneapolis, Toronto, Mexico City, Barcelona, Paris, and, lastly, New York City.

In total, del Toro owns 580 pieces of art and “roughly” around 9,000 books. Discussing the Bleak House exhibit with HPA, the director says he’s always been an avid collector:

I started collecting when I was a child. I have every single thing that I bought. I’m a monster guy. I love fantasy; I love reading. I have two houses for me and one house for my family. I live in the family home and I work in my two houses. The two houses are organized in libraries. There’s a library for horror, a library for history, a library for art. I have about roughly eight to nine thousand books. I have roughly about fifty thousand magazine and comics. I have about five hundred and eighty original pieces of art; acrylics, oils…..I have secret passages behind bookshelves. I have a room where it rains all day. At fifty-one I live the life of a well-financed twelve year-old.

Del Toro adds:

It happens to all of us, our house is who we are. Even if people say not to judge a book by its cover, we are what we own. And I know the difference between collecting or accumulating is very, very, very small. A hoarder accumulates compulsively while the collector lives through their objects, every book, every object has a meaning. And that’s me.

If you’re a fan of the director and live in one of the cities listed above, then consider yourself lucky. Not only will you get to study hundreds of pieces of rare memorabilia, but you’ll also see what helps make del Toro tick as a storyteller. However, if you’re not in one of the cities listed above, then here’s the filmmaker himself providing a brief tour of the Bleak House (and you can read this in-depth New York Times piece on the man cave as well):

The post Guillermo del Toro Wants to Share His Bleak House with the World appeared first on /Film.

In case you haven’t heard, Alien Day is coming next week with a slew of screenings, collectibles, artwork, clothing and more. The celebratory day has been set for April 26th, inspired by inspired by the planet LV-426 from the original Alien. Mondo just released their new posters that will be sold in honor of Alien Day, and now they’ve unveiled the new gear they’ll have on sale starting next week. The new items include a couple of knit sweaters, a knit cap, a t-shirt and a special enamel pin. Check out all the new Mondo Alien gear below.

First up, here’s an ugly Christmas sweater design featuring several aliens for $85:

Here’s the other sweater featuring the chestburster and some bloody sleeves for $85:

Then there’s this t-shirt designed by Industry Print Shop, with Tyler Stout artwork, which will cost $30:

You can double up that sweater with this facehugger knit cap that will cost you $30:

Finally, decorate your sweater with this nice enamel pin for $10:

The sweaters are a little pricey, but you’re definitely getting some quality clothing here since they’re 100% acrylic heavy knit.

Don’t forget that some of the other cool promotions coming on Alien Day include special edition Reeboks modeled after the ones Ripley wears in Aliens. Alamo Drafthouse is hosting double features screenings of both Alien and Aliens on April 26th, as well as the following weekend if you can’t make it on a weekday. I’ll be up at the screening in Kalamazoo, Michigan checking out the double feature at the Alamo there, so if you’re going to be there, feel free to say hello.

Don’t forget, there’s also Super 7 action figures on the way for Alien Day too, and you can check those out right here. But for the full list of Alien goodies coming next week, check out our round-up of information and details right here.

I’m not sure if this is going to be quite as big or popular as Back to the Future Day was last year on October 21st, because people went all out for that fan celebration. But this is still bound to be exciting for Alien franchise fans out there. More items will be announced imminently from various vendors, and if you’re attending any of the Alamo Drafthouse screenings, they’ll have some of this stuff on sale there. Stay tuned for more Alien Day goodies as we hear about them!

The post Mondo Unveils Xenomorph Sweaters, Knit Hat & More for Alien Day Next Week appeared first on /Film.

Pop-up books have always been fun for kids, but what Matthew Reinhart and Emiliano Santalucia have created with Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe is truly a marvel in paper engineering. The pop-up book commemorates the 30th anniversary of Hasbro’s iconic robots in disguise, and it features paper creations that actually transform from vehicles into their respective robot forms with just the pull of a paper tab. It’s something that your kids, and even some adults, will be pretty impressed by.

Check out the Transformers pop-up book below.

Here’s a video that takes you inside Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe (via Gizmodo):

If you don’t feel like sitting through the entire review from Best Pop-Up Books then just check out this GIF:

How cool is that? It’s one of those times I wish pop up books were this cool when I was a kid. But at the same time, the real Transformers toys that were on shelves when I was a kid were of a little higher quality than the ones released today.

Anyway, here’s the official synopsis of the book:

TRANSFORMERS shift, change, and rise to battle in this spectacular interactive pop-up adventure by bestselling paper engineer Matthew Reinhart. Open each page to explore a different part of the vast Transformers universe-then pull the tabs to watch the pop-ups change into entirely new paper creations!

Watch as the planet Cybertron changes into an epic battle on Earth. Then look out for the mighty Autobot Omega Supreme — Reinhart’s tallest pop-up ever — as he rises off the page to smash Decepticon foes. In this epic pop-up experience unlike any seen before, only you hold the power to make the Autobots and Decepticons turn from vehicles to robots, and back again.

Starring more than 35 iconic Transformers characters, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, and more, Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe offers fans new and old a pop-up experience they won’t ever forget.

Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe is available on Amazon right now.

The post Cool Stuff: New ‘Transformers’ Pop-Up Book Has Paper Vehicles That Actually Transform appeared first on /Film.

The Predator is to be an “event” film according to Shane Black. Speaking to Matt Patches at Thrillist about The Nice Guys, Shane Black has talked a little about The Predator. He talks about what […]

The post The Predator to be an “Event” Film appeared first on AvPGalaxy.

If you thought Fuller House was the only spin-off sequel series to the cheesy ’90s sitcom Full House we were going to get, you thought wrong. Hot on the heels of a second season order for Fuller House, yet another spin-off series has been revealed.

Full House Nights follows Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos), and Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) after they put the girls to bed in the original series. Because that’s when they turn into night time detectives of San Francisco. And if that sounds like something you just can’t wait to see, then you can check out a clip below.

Here’s the Full House Nights clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

With a title sequence inspired by True Detective, this looks like exactly what a Full House spin-off needs to appeal to a different kind of audience. If there’s one thing that True Detective was missing, it was an impressionist cop to really help the case move along a lot smoother.

Here’s hoping that Full House Nights, which sounds more like a porn parody on Cinemax, will be able to wrangle up more guest stars like Stephen Colbert as Dimitri. After all, Law & Order and all its spin-offs have cast plenty of big name actors in roles as criminals, so Full House Nights can easily do the same.

However, I have some questions about this project. First of all, if it takes place in the past, why does the credits sequence have a picture of Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen as adults? When was this pilot made? Furthermore, how does this effects the Full House cinematic universe? Does what the Full House dads do in the past change the future? And where the hell is Mr. Woodchuck?

Thankfully, Full House Nights isn’t real, so we don’t have to worry about those questions. But what we do have to worry about is the runaway success of Fuller House paving the way for even more unnecessary nostalgic TV show reboots. Look, I grew up on Full House, and it holds a stupid, special place in my heart. But it’s not a good show, and Fuller House doesn’t do anything different. Let’s not keep getting stuck in the past, folks. It’s time to start cranking out more original content, because otherwise we’ll have nothing to reboot in the future.

The post ‘Full House’ Goes ‘True Detective’ in New Spin-Off with John Stamos, Bob Saget & Dave Coulier appeared first on /Film.

The best board games tell dynamic stories, plunging gamers into narratives of their own creation as they race to outwit, outthink, and out-dice roll their opponents. Tabletop gaming can often make for a cinematic experience when designers aren’t trying to evoke a specific film or genre, which makes a game like Last Friday look all the more intriguing. Here is a board game that is specifically trying to recreate an old school slasher movie in the Friday the 13th mold and for those of us who occupy a specific sliver on a diagram measuring horror movie fans and tabletop fans, it looks like a potentially amazing experience.

The creation of Italian game designers Antonio Ferrara and Sebastiano Fiorillo, Last Friday leans heavily on the iconography of a certain flavor of horror movie. The game board is an isolated summer camp. Some players step into the shoes of various archetypes (Nerds! Jocks! Stereotypical “Final Girl”!). One player takes on the role of a deadly killer, who stalks around the board attempting to claim victims on a mission of bloody revenge.

Although I can’t speak for the gameplay, I’m a huge fan of “hidden movement” games, where one player secretly moves around a map while everyone else works together in full view. This style of game works exceptionally well for the horror genre, with board game masterpieces like Fury of Dracula and Letters From Whitechapel using the lack of available information to ratchet up tension around the table to unbearable levels. Last Friday‘s board bears a strong resemblance to Letters From Whitechapel (with dozens of potential locations/hiding spots marked by numbers), but the actual design seems to reverse its dynamic. While that game is about a team of cops hunting down a hidden serial killer, Last Friday appears to be about a team of campers being hunted by a hidden serial killer. That’s a refreshing twist on a gaming genre I already love. I can already hear my friends and family scream and shout as they watch their buddies get picked off one-by-one around the table.

Although an exact North American release date has not been specified, it looks like the publisher is targeting an August release date for the English language version of the game (the game’s Facebook page is full of images from an Italian printing).

Here’s an official description of the game:

Designed by Antonio Ferrara and Sebastiano Fiorillo (authors of the horror-themed card game “Stay Away!”), Last Friday is a game for two to six players, divided into four chapters full of horror and suspense (Arrival at the Camp, The Chase, The Massacre and The Final Chapter). Each chapter plays out very differently, as the hunter becomes the prey, then comes back from the dead looking for revenge.

If lore is your thing, here is the game’s thematic description, which borrows more than its fare share of horror tropes:

Five friends were contacted by the counselors at Camp Apache, a summer camp nestled deep in the woods. In exchange for a weekend getaway at the camp, the friends agreed to make some repairs and get the place ready for the coming season. What they don’t know, is that they are about to experience the most terrifying weekend of their lives. Locals believe the camp is cursed due to unexplainable misfortunes over the years.

Campfire legend tells of a murderer who died at Camp Apache and is determined to seek revenge from the grave. Several days before their arrival, a decomposed body was fished out of the lake by some divers. The authorities weren’t able to identify the body and had the corpse buried in the cemetery several miles from the infamous camp.

Some believe the body from the lake belongs to the legendary murderer who refuses to stay dead. The unprepared group will soon discover the horrifying truth. Is the body resting peacefully in the cemetery or has the maniac returned to carry out his brutal revenge?

You can find more information and images at the game’s Facebook page, but you can check out pictures of the box art and the game board below. In any case, Last Friday looks like a nice way to bide your time while the producers of the next Friday the 13th movie figure out what the hell they’re doing with the series.

The post ‘Last Friday’ is a Board Game That Puts ‘Friday the 13th’ On Your Table appeared first on /Film.

If you’ve seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, then you know that Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) can have a bit of a temper when things don’t go his way. There’s already an Emo Kylo Ren account on Twitter and an animated short featuring the First Order commander freaking out during everyday situations. Now Kylo Ren wants to see what the employees at Starkiller Base really think of his management skills and attitude by disguising himself as a radar technician named Matt on the CBS reality series Undercover Boss in a new sketch from Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Driver himself last night.

Watch the Saturday Night Live Kylo Ren sketch after the jump!

Here’s the sketch straight from the SNL YouTube page:

Even though my bias will show a bit here because I’m a huge Star Wars fan, this sketch is just about the best thing Saturday Night Live has done all year, with the exception of maybe the Santa Baby short with Ryan Gosling back in December.

What’s great about this sketch is that not only does it make a mockery of Kylo Ren in a clever way, but it’s also a pretty perfect parody of Undercover Boss, right down to the tender moment Kylo shares with one of the First Order officers played by Taran Killam. Of course, he ends up killing him in the end, after he previously killed his Stormtrooper son. The Force works in mysterious ways, I guess.

Another great, more subtle moment comes when Bobby Moynihan, who probably has it in his contract to be in every Star Wars sketch on SNL, as a Stormtrooper asks what exactly has Darth Vader started? That’s actually not a bad question, since we don’t know the specifics of what Kylo Ren is trying to achieve other than killing the last Jedi. Presumably he thinks that will bring balance to The Force as it was predicted Anakin Skywalker would do, but with all the Jedi dead, that doesn’t sound like balance to me. But we’re getting into super nerdy territory at this point.

Between this and the action figure sketch from late last year, Saturday Night Live has been offering up some solid Star Wars comedy. Here’s hoping we can get some more sometime in the future, perhaps with Daisy Ridley or John Boyega being brought on to host SNL next time.

The post LOL: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Puts Adam Driver as Kylo Ren on ‘Undercover Boss’ appeared first on /Film.

The last time he was in a stormtrooper outfit, Mark Hamill was 26 years-old. Apparently. But this video from Omaze got us so pumped for what’s coming two weeks from now.

Luke Skywalker’s part in the story of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is shrouded in mystery, but his work on the streets of Hollywood is not. This is so rad, and I can’t imagine running into this guy and not knowing it was him.

So, donate to Omaze and help be a Force for Change. And for the record, the lady who called him Mark Hamilton is the best. Hahah!

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Will Smith in a great movie. You could argue we’ve never seen the actor in a great movie, but he did have the opportunity to be a part of one a few years ago. Smith passed on starring in Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained. He missed out on a strong role, a role he didn’t feel was substantial enough. Smith, who’s on the Oscar hunt for Concussion, now claims he turned the part down for a different reason.

Learn why we didn’t see Will Smith in Django Unchained after the jump.

Why We didn’t See Will Smith in Django Unchained

Smith’s comments a few years ago on why he said no to the project were somewhat revealing about the actor’s process; he couldn’t play what he perceived as a supporting role. This is what he told Entertainment Weekly back in 2013:

Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead! I was like, “No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!” I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me.

To say Django isn’t the lead is a misreading of the film. Putting aside the fact Django is the titular role, look at the difference between the character in scene one and the ending. His change is remarkable, and the only significant arc in the film. Yes, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) drives much of the plot, but that doesn’t make him the lead. Also, Django does kill the villain. Calvin Candie (Leonardo Di Caprio) isn’t the big bad of the film. Candie’s protector, the real brain behind the plantation, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), is.

Another reason why Smith wasn’t onboard for Django Unchained? He took issue with the violence. Considering Tarantino’s picture takes place in one of the most horrific periods in American History, that’s a rather peculiar view of the film. Here’s what Smith had to say to The Hollywood Reporter:

I wanted to make the greatest love story that African Americans had ever seen. We talked, we met, we sat for hours and hours about it. I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story. We can’t look at what happens in Paris (the terrorist attacks) and want to fuck somebody up for that. Violence begets violence. I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer.

Maybe I’m wrong, but something tells me love wouldn’t have been enough for Django to reunite with his wife back in the 1858…

The post Will Smith Reveals Another Reason Why He Turned Down ‘Django Unchained’ appeared first on /Film.

We’ll have a full review of the latest episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Matthew McConaughey up later today, but in the meantime, we couldn’t help but share this pre-recorded sketch from last night. A whole slew of guest stars popped on SNL for this sketch that features J.J. Abrams (who actually appears in the beginning) showing off some of the screen tests of other actors who tried to land a part in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Sofia Vergara, Javier Bardem, Shaquille O’Neal, John Mayer, Danny DeVito, Chris Tucker and Michael Buble for some reason, all audition for the movie, with a little help from the real Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. Watch it below!

Here’s the Saturday Night Live The Force Awakens auditions from the SNL YouTube page:

Every now and then Saturday Night Live pulls out a screen test sketch like this so their cast can whip out their arsenal of celebrity impressions, and most of the time it’s pretty funny. This is certainly one of the good ones, especially with the likes of Emma Stone and Jon Hamm appearing as themselves as well, the former softening the blow of her playing Chinese-Hawaiian in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha recently. Plus, Boyega gets to make a crack about how unbelievable it is for some to see a black Stormtrooper in Star Wars.

But for me, Bobby Moynihan is the scene stealer when he pops up both as Danny DeVito auditioning for BB-8 and as George Lucas, just wandering around the studio, asking for some Coke Zero. I could probably watch Danny DeVito rolling around on the ground with that cheeky smile on his face for a good 15 minutes and never be bored. It also wouldn’t be bad to see Moynihan as George Lucas in some kind of mockumentary.

This isn’t the first time Saturday Night Live has tackled auditions for Star Wars. Back when the Special Editions came out, they showed off some of the “lost” auditions for the original movies, featuring Kevin Spacey doing some amazing impressions of Christopher Walken and Jack Lemmon auditioning for Han Solo and Chewbacca respectively:

As the hype for The Force Awakens continues to grow in the final month leading up to the movie, I’m betting this won’t be the last time we’ll get a sketch related to Star Wars. If you missed the previous The Force Awakens parody on SNL, you can still check that out right here. And don’t forget, the weekend The Force Awakens hits theaters, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting Saturday Night Live, likely making some kind of joke about how their movie Sisters will destroyed at the box office that weekend.

The post LOL: J.J. Abrams Reveals ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Auditions on ‘Saturday Night Live’ appeared first on /Film.

Ridley Scott has just dropped a pretty big bombshell in an interview with HeyUGuys while doing The Martian pressrounds. Scott has revealed the title of the upcoming Prometheus sequel. It won’t be called Prometheus 2 […]

The post Prometheus Sequel Now Titled “Alien: Paradise Lost”! appeared first on AvPGalaxy.

I’m excited because tonight is the first episode of The Muppets‘ new ABC prime time television series. We’ve shown you the trailers and the early pitch video, so you probably know by now that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have broken up. Well now that Kermit and Piggy are out promoting their new show, they are being forced to talk about their storyline relationship implosion. Last night the former puppet couple were forced to appear together (due to contractual commitments) on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and you can watch the fun interview embedded after the jump.

The Muppets Interview On Jimmy Kimmel Live

Here is the interview with Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy on Jimmy Kimmel Live talking about their break-up and new ABC primetime series:

The Muppets not only talk about the reasons for their romantic break-up but Jimmy Kimmel brings up Kermit’s new pig girlfriend Denise. We get some new information about Kermit’s new girlfriend, who it turns out is an executive at ABC and is young but “old enough” according to Kermit.  They also explore Miss Piggy’s dating profile on her Tinder account (of course Piggy is on Tinder…), Kermit talks about the show they are making within the documentary-style show and they both discuss reuniting with our favorite Muppet friends to make this new series.

I’m very excited to see The Muppets new television series tonight despite the early mixed reviews. If one million moms are boycotting the new show because of the series’ adult humor, they must be doing something right. Lets just hope the new series is better than Muppets Most Wanted and something more akin to the original series The Muppet Show or even the recent Disney film reboot The Muppets. My DVR is set, is yours?

 

 

The post Watch: Kermit The Frog And Miss Piggy Discuss Their Break-Up On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ appeared first on /Film.

See you at BAHFest tomorrow!

According to the Daily Mail, Sir Ridley Scott has arrived in Australia to scout for locations for the upcoming Prometheus 2: “‘It’s the best kept secret at the moment, that Ridley is here to film […]

The post Prometheus 2 Shooting in Australia? appeared first on AvPGalaxy.

Those of you who have been around for a while will remember the old 8-bit Nintendo games.  Primitive art by today’s standards but very cool at the time.  Well, they have releasing figures based on classic movie characters like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Robocop.  The next one will be based on – drum roll please – the Predator.  You know that was going to be the answer or why the heck would we be talking about it?

The figure below shows the original 8-bit character on the right and the updated, but holding true to the original color, on the left.  Check out the whole story and look for updates here.