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Sunday, December 22, 2019

New Avengers: Endgame Clip Proves Iron Man Missed Captain America

New Avengers: Endgame Clip Proves Iron Man Missed Captain America
Cap in his Quantum Realm suit

After a long year of waiting, it's finally happening. This week will bring the highly anticipated debut of Avengers: Endgame, picking up the narrative after Thanos snapped his fingers and destroyed half of all life. Fans are eager to see how the surviving heroes manage to turn things around, and eventually bring the fight back to the Mad Titan. How this'll happen is largely a mystery, especially thanks for the cryptic marketing campaign for the film.


Marvel Studios has been methodically releasing new Avengers: Endgame to the footage, keeping the secrets of The Russo Brothers' upcoming blockbuster in the process. A new TV spot recently arrived, which showed that Tony Stark has missed Steve Rogers during their years apart since Captain America: Civil War. Check out the clip below.


Captain America and Iron Man haven't shared any scenes in the MCU since the ending of Civil War back in 2016. They're the biggest characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the Sakovia Accords and Bucky's brainwashing put a serious wedge between the two Avengers. Now they've got to bury the Stormbreaker if the surviving heroes are going to stand a chance against Thanos.




This new trailer shows Tony safe back on Earth, after previously being stranded in space alongside Nebula. It's unclear how he makes it home, but the mismatched duo of characters are presumably going to need some rescuing. Despite their fractured relationship, Cap and Iron Man seem to be on good enough terms, presumably since The Decimation made their tiff look like child's play in comparison.


Related: 4 Shots In The Avengers: Endgame Trailer That Will Break Your Heart


In the Avengers: Endgame trailers, Chris Evans' Steve Rogers seems a bit less jaded than his appearance in Infinity War, and is once again trying to inspire Earth's Mightiest Heroes to rise up and fight the good fight. While this is a habit that previously rubbed Tony Stark the wrong way, the above clip shows he's done an about-face, and is now appreciating Cap's never-ending optimism.




Cap and Tony's reunion is one of the most highly anticipated aspects of Avengers: Endgame, as they've been kept apart for years. This includes the events of Avengers: Infinity War, as The Russo Brothers put them in two separate conflicts during the massive ensemble movie. The Black Order arrived in New York just before Tony called Steve Rogers, and Iron Man eventually followed Ebony Maw into space. Meanwhile, Cap stayed on Earth and helped lead the Battle of Wakanda.


After Doctor Strange sacrificed the Time Stone to save Tony Stark, the OG Avengers all miraculously survived Thanos' snap. This should allow Endgame to focus on the original members of the team, although they'll get help from Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, Rocket, War Machine, and Nebula.


Avengers: Endgame will finally arrive in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, fill out CinemaBlend's Endgame death pool, and check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.



Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Cool Fight Scene That Had To Be Cut From Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

The Cool Fight Scene That Had To Be Cut From Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Successful blockbuster action flicks are often the result of a miraculous balancing act. With Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the filmmakers were tasked with showing off the legendary Kaiju in a refreshingly terrifying light and bringing in King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan for him to clash with. Oh, not to mention the ensemble of humans to bounce between as well.


By the looks of early reactions to King of the Monsters, the new Godzilla manages to offer up an exciting new entry to the long-running mythos. However, not everything originally in the script will make it to the big screen this weekend. During CinemaBlend’s exclusive interview with Millie Bobby Brown, the young actress revealed one cut scene she was sad to see not make the theatrical release. In her words:



Oh yeah. There was this full fight montage that I had done. It was a fighting, full-on MMA on this guy, this man-guy. [It was] cool. They cut it! So bummed out about it. … By the way, I never got to see it, but I would have loved to see it, too. And I’m sure everybody else would.





This is a bummer! It would have been a treat to see the 15-year-old Stranger Things star show off some badass MMA skills in the Godzilla movie. The actress likely had to go through some intense training in order to pull off a scene that may never see the light of day.


Here’s hoping the bonus features allows Millie Bobby Brown and fans to see her take on this “man-guy” she speaks of. Movies such as this one have big scenes cut all the time. Her big fight sequence was likely taken out to make room for more action between Godzilla and the titans he goes up against.


The lost scene does have us thinking about who exactly Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison Russell is. What 15-year-old knows MMA? As far as we know, her character is the daughter of Vera Farmiga’s Dr. Emma Russell, who is a paleobiologist involved in research on Kaiju creatures and Kyle Chandler’s Dr. Mark Russell, a former Anthrozoologist. Perhaps this is her particular family talent?




The film’s script may have originally developed Madison’s character further by showing off her MMA skills but there wasn’t enough room in the film to fit everything. Brown is also among an ensemble including Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, O’Shea Jackson and Thomas Middleditch. So, there were a ton of performances to fit in.


Godzilla: King of the Monsters follows the events of 2014’s reboot as the mighty Godzilla must face-off against three ancient super-species in order to restore balance on Earth and reign at the “king of the monsters”. The movie hits theaters this Friday, May 31.

Disney’s Alan Menken Thinks One Animated Blockbuster Is Too Controversial For Live-Action

Disney’s Alan Menken Thinks One Animated Blockbuster Is Too Controversial For Live-Action
Pocahontas

Disney has found a goldmine in the form of remaking the studio's animated classics. Movies like The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast have been massive box office smashes. It looks like Disney may have another hit on their hands with Aladdin opening this week, and other remakes, like The Lion King and Mulan are waiting in the wings.


With several other remake projects rumored, we know Disney is going to be continuing this franchise for quite some time, however, Alan Menken, the Academy Award winning songwriter of many of Disney's Renaissance classics, thinks there's one animated Disney movie that likely won't get the remake treatment, 1995's Pocahontas. According to Menken...



I don't know if we'll ever be able to do Pocahontas. I think that story is going to be difficult. With modern sensibilities, it'd be hard – you're going to offend somebody – so I don't know.





It's not hard to believe that Alan Menken is correct in his comments to Express. The fact of the matter is, Pocahontas was criticized for its depiction of Native Americans when it was released in 1995, so doing a note-for-note adaptation of the film now would certainly cause similar complaints, only more so.


At the very least, an adaptation would need to go through some major modifications. Considering how close movies like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin have stayed to the source material, a version of Pocahontas that was significantly different doesn't seem like the sort of movie Disney would want to make, but if they also can't make the original version again, the movie gets stuck in limbo and probably never gets made.


It's not the first time that the test of time has not be kind to a Disney movie. Dumbo had a collection of crow characters back in the 1940s that included a character that was actually named Jim Crow. Needless to say, the recent live-action remake of that movie did not include that scene.




Song of the South is a movie that Disney would probably rather we all forgot existed. The depiction of African-Americans during Reconstruction was also criticized in its day, but that criticism has only grown over the years and the film has never been released on home viewing in North America. Disney has confirmed the film will not even be released on the Disney+ streaming service.


Pocahontas isn't Song of the South bad, Disney hasn't disowned the film, but it's still another example of a movie that simply hasn't aged well. The fact that Moana another Disney animated film focused on a cultural minority group, has a largely similar story, but is viewed much more positively, makes it feel like the film was an attempt to make up for the missteps of Pocahontas.


Disney's live-action remake slate currently includes The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Mulan, and Cruella on the big screen as well as Lady and the Tramp coming to Disney+. We also know that The Little Mermaid is a project currently in development. Other projects that have been rumored include Pinocchio, Snow White, and Sword in the Stone.




Pocahontas hasn't even been rumored as a potential remake, which would seem to confirm Alan Menken's feelings. Al;though, after all the other remakes have been made, Pocahontas might start to look like a more attractive option.

Bond 25’s Ralph Fiennes Still Doesn’t Know Anything About The Movie

Bond 25’s Ralph Fiennes Still Doesn’t Know Anything About The Movie
Spectre M standing at his desk, in a double breasted suit

We’re almost a year out from the release of the film still known as Bond 25. What's even scarier is the fact that the film is starting to get ready to shoot within the next couple of weeks, and it sounds like some key actors still haven’t been brought up to speed on what the film will be about. At least, that’s what Ralph Fiennes is saying, as he was recently asked about what his newly installed M might be doing in the next adventure.


How or why Fiennes could be left in the dark on Bond 25’s goings on might feel like an interesting turn of events, but we know exactly why the Academy Award winning actor is absolutely clueless on what he’s doing. In his own words, Ralph Fiennes provided his reasoning:



I don't know the name of the film, I haven't had access to a screenplay yet... Honestly, I'm not being coy. I don't know when it starts or what the story is.)





So a couple weeks before this would-be blockbuster of 2020 is set to get serious about giving fans what they’d want out of Daniel Craig’s final round as James Bond, his spymaster boss doesn’t know what orders he’ll be giving out in Bond 25. This might sound like a rather troubling turn of events, but thinking things over a little longer, it's not much of a surprise.


While The Telegraph is reporting that Bond 25’s script, which has recently undergone some retooling by writer Scott Z. Burns, still hasn’t made its way into Ralph Fiennes’ hands, it might be because he’s not on the earlier side of the shooting schedule. And besides this script revision, one of the many changes triggered by previous director Danny Boyle’s departure from the project, there’s more reasons why he might Fiennes might not be in the loop quite yet.


Most importantly, this could be a side effect of Ralph Fiennes’ schedule taking yet another recent turn, as the untitled prequel to the Kingsman universe moved to the very Valentine’s day release date that Bond 25 vacated. So why give the poor man a script when he’s already busy working one out at the moment? Also, taking into account the events of the previous film, M’s role may still be firming up in the newer script.




When we last left him in Spectre, the man previously known as Gareth Mallory had been promoted to the post of M, head of MI6’s operations in British intelligence. And judging by what he went through in that film’s adventures, as well as the fact that his predecessor was removed from her post due to her untimely death, he’ll undoubtedly be vetting his co-workers a little harder. So the return of Fiennes’ fellow franchise co-stars Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris should help narrow down the list of people who can be trusted, and those who he needs to talk to.


Director Cary Joji Fukunaga is undoubtedly working very hard on Bond 25, which is scheduled to head to theaters on April 8, 2020. It’s definitely going to keep him busy for the next couple of months, but we’d like to assume that at some point soon, he’ll be able to pop that script into the mailbox in order for Ralph Fiennes to start learning his lines.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Todd Phillips Releases Moody New Joker Image, Confirms Editing Is Underway

Todd Phillips Releases Moody New Joker Image, Confirms Editing Is Underway

Todd Phillips' Joker wrapped filming a few months ago, and now the director has shared a moody new image of Joaquin Phoenix in character from the production, along with confirming that he's deep into the editing process. As was to be expected from this totally non-DCEU origin story for The Joker, the photo Phillips posted gives us plenty of gritty mystery to sink our comic obsessed brains into. Take a look:


As you can see, the black and white image of Joaquin Phoenix in character as soon-to-be-Joker Arthur Fleck is giving off many vibes without him doing much of anything at all. Actually, this shot, which was helpfully posted on Todd Phillips' Instagram page, could easily be a photo of Phoenix's Oscar nominated performance as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. Arthur is clearly dressed for success, even though he doesn't look very happy, with his dress shirt, vest, slacks and slicked back hair. But, something is off...and I'm going to say it's the slightly clown-like dress shoes with what appear to be regular, I'm-going-for-a-run socks. Yeah, nothing about that sock and shoe combo would sit well with Mr. Cash.


Upon taking a closer look at the image, Arthur, who is a bit slumped over and way too close to that TV (You'll ruin your eyesight, man!), is doing two things that lead me to believe he's already begun his downward "I'm gonna need to cause some destruction" spiral. First, he's smoking, which, sure a lot of smokers do when they're bored, but many people also head for the fire sticks when they are seriously stressed out.





Secondly, remember how he's all slumped over and sitting too close to the television? Well, an inspection of the VHS tapes on the floor, two of which appear to be labeled things like "Murray #237" and "Murray #42," make me think that this is a scene where Arthur is going over and over recordings of his favorite talk show host, and it's probably the one who will be played by Robert De Niro and somehow lead to Arthur's future as a criminal mastermind.


When Todd Phillips confirmed that Joker had wrapped filming back in December, he did note that his work wasn't quite finished yet, as he still had to put all that, greatly revised, footage together to give us a film we didn't even know we needed. And, as you can see by his caption on this post, he's been doing just that. Now that Phillips has seen fit to show us this additional snippet of production, I'm really hoping that this scene is actually in the movie. It's looks pretty heavy and seems like it could be important to the story over all, but also I'd really just like to brag about correctly guessing what this scene is about.


Speaking of what this scene may be about, we don't exactly know how all the pieces of Joker will fit together, but we do have some idea of what the movie will be about. Joker, which takes place in the early 1980s, will follow Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck, a failed stand up comedian who will be driven insane during the course of the film and turn into the crazed, clown makeup-wearing supervillain we all know and fear. And, again, while this movie is totally unconnected to what we once knew as the DCEU, there will be other familiar names from the comics appearing.





The rest of the cast of Joker will include Brett Cullen as a still-alive Thomas Wayne, Dante Pereira-Olson as a super tiny and adorable young Bruce Wayne and Douglas Hodge as trusted Wayne family ally Alfred Pennyworth. In addition, of course, to De Niro, the cast will be rounded out by Zazie Beetz's "cynical" single mom turned Arthur's love interest, Frances Conroy as Arthur's mom Penny, Marc Maron as an agent who works on the talk show hosted by De Niro's character, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Shea Whigham, Bryan Callen and Josh Pais. I don't know about you, but with Bruce still a little child person during Joker, I'm expecting most of these folks to turn up very dead by the end of the film.


We don't have too much time left now until we can feast upon Joker in theaters everywhere, because the film that finally nails down a backstory for one of DC's most popular villains will be out on October 4, 2019. More details are sure to be coming soon, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest information!

New DVD Releases April 2019: All The Latest Movies And TV Shows Coming This Month

New DVD Releases April 2019: All The Latest Movies And TV Shows Coming This Month
Glass DVD and Blu-ray release 2019

April is often a hodgepodge of new releases, both of the TV and movie variety. If you’ve still been waiting to catch some flicks from the end of last year, there will be options in April. In addition, if you’ve been hoping to catch some 2019 projects ranging from cool movie options like Glass to major TV events like Escape at Dannemora, you are in luck.


There’s a lot of good stuff out in April of 2019. Although we are sort of in the lull between giant blockbuster end-of-year releases and the big stuff that will be hitting theaters this spring and summer, no matter your preference, there’s interesting TV and movie content coming this month.


If you’re looking for the list of stuff coming in March of 2019, we have you covered per usual. In addition, Digital releases are out the same day as Blu-ray and DVD releases, unless otherwise noted in the early Digital releases column.




Tuesday, April 2 DVD, Blu-ray And Digital Releases


The Mule

Vice

Bumblebee

Archer: Danger Island

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

The Man Who Killed Hitler and then Bigfoot

Patrick

Seven in Heaven

Rust Creek

A Violent Man


Week of April 2 Early Digital Releases


Glass

Replicas

The Kid Who Would Be King


Tuesday, April 9 DVD, Blu-ray And Digital Releases


On the Basis of Sex (Digital March 26)

A Dog’s Way Home (Digital March 26)

Holmes and Watson

Welcome to Marwen (Digital March 26)

We Die Young

Berlin I Love You

Project Blue Book: Season 1

Ray Donovan: The Complete Sixth Season

You’re The Worst: The Complete Fifth Season

Noir Archive: 9-Film Collection

The Browsing Effect

Mirai




Week of April 9 Early Digital Releases


Escape Room

Destroyer


Tuesday, April 16 DVD, Blu-ray And Digital Releases


Glass

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

The Kid Who Would Be King

Escape at Dannemora

Justice League vs. The Fatal Five (Digital March 30)

Replicas

Batman: Hush

Masterpiece Victoria: The Complete Third Season

The Karate Kid [4K]

The Big C: The Complete Series


Week of April 16 Early Digital Releases


Miss Bala




Tuesday, April 23 DVD, Blu-ray And Digital Releases


Escape Room

Destroyer

Shameless: The Complete Season 9

I Spit on your Grave: Déjà vu

The Librarians: The Complete Season 1-4 Collection

The Gospel According to André

Tickled


Tuesday, April 30 DVD, Blu-ray And Digital Releases


Miss Bala

Serenity

Mission of Honor

The Hole In The Ground

Arctic

Dragged Across Concrete

Level 16


Given the wildly different releases this month, it would be hard for me to guesstimate what will be up your alley. Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Glass, and Bumblebee were all popular in their respective releases. In addition, The Kid Who Would Be King wasn't wildly seen in theaters, but is one of the best-reviewed flicks out this month, running at a whopping 90% on Rotten Tomatoes among critics who reviewed the flick. Particularly if you have older kids, it may be worth checking out. All in all, there's a lot to choose from and be sure to check back when we bring you May's (likely even bigger) releases!



Venom 2 May Be Getting A New Director

Venom 2 May Be Getting A New Director
Venom in his final scene

It's no secret that superhero movies are everywhere, as multiple studios duke it out for box office supremacy. As such, there is the fear of superhero fatigue, where the genre becomes to oversaturated that the blockbusters all mold together, essentially cancelling themselves out. If any superhero movie had the potential to fade into the background last year, it was Ruben Fleischer's Venom. Fans weren't sure how the movie would function without Spider-Man's inclusion, but Venom ended up making a surprising amount of money at the box office, allowing a sequel to be green-lit by Sony.


Venom's sequel is currently in active development, and will likely focus on Woody Harrelson's Carnage, who was introduced during the film's credits scene. But now it looks like director Ruben Fleischer won't be involved in the next installment in the burgeoning franchise. While writer Kelly Marcel will reportedly return to work on the screenplay alongside Tom Hardy, Sony is apparently searching for a new director to helm the upcoming sequel.


This news comes to us from Variety, which reports that Ruben Fleischer will be too busy with other directing projects to return for Venom 2. Instead, Sony will find new talent to helm the follow up film, and hopefully capture the same unique tone. Venom had a dark sense of humor and self-awareness that set it apart from the rest of the genre, so the new director will have to find a way to inhabit the same space in order to please all the moviegoers the first film won over.





Prior to its release, the cards were stacked again Venom from being the success it ended up being in theaters. As previously mentioned, it had the lofty goal of making a Spider-Man character movie without the web slinger, as Sony's deal with Marvel has Tom Holland's Peter Parker operating within the Marvel Shared Universe. Venom's first trailer gave the fandom particular pause for concern, as it was completely lacking the titular antihero at all, instead coming off as more of an adventure for Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock. The film got even more flack when Jenny Slate's character mispronounced the word symbiote in the trailer, as audiences grew more concerned.


But Venom ultimately vibrated on its unique frequency, having a closer relation to Fox's Deadpool franchise than the MCU. The visual affects may have left something to be desired, but Venom was delightfully snarky and crude, while also setting up the ground work for a larger franchise. It still remains to be seen whether Spider-Man will ever make an appearance, but some big concepts were introduced that will hopefully take bloom with its mysterious sequel.


Venom is currently available for home purchase. CinemaBlend will keep you updated on the developing sequel as more details become public. In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.




 

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