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Sunday, August 2, 2020

Top 20 YouTube Movies Available To Watch

Top 20 YouTube Movies Available To Watch

Since the moment they've opened their doors, YouTube has always been a fine purveyor of everything from DIY hacks to cute animal videos, with tons of gaffes, live TV moments, and movie trailers filling the gaps in between. Yet there's one thing YouTube isn't primarily known for, at least when it comes to the legal enjoyment of filmed entertainment: they've got a lot of good movies sitting on their servers, just waiting to be viewed -- in their entirety. Some are classics that have fallen into public domain, and can be watched for free. Others are big studio pictures or legacy titles that are locked up tighter that Citizen Kane's past. Yet they all have one thing in common: they're on the YouTubes and available for anywhere from free to a nominal fee.


So if you're looking for something to watch, Netflix or Amazon Prime are exhausted options, and your Blu Ray collection has been picked over so frequently you know all the words to X-Men: Days Of Future Past, why not frequent some of these easy to view picks? Chances are there's something you've always been meaning to watch sitting on the list below.


Big


Year Of Release: 1988

IMDB Score: 7.3 / 10

Synopsis: After Josh Baskins makes a wish upon a carnival fortune-telling machine, he grows up to become a more Tom Hanks-looking version of what he'd look like as an adult. With the help of his best friend, he embarks on a journey to make better toys, reverse the wish, and learn how to deal with women... not necessarily in that order. If you need a good reminder of just how funny Tom Hanks can be, or if you just want to relive the piano scene one more time, look no further.





Broadcast News


Year Of Release: 1987

IMDB Score: 7.2 / 10

Synopsis: The world of television news is tough, especially when the ax is looming and some pretty boy wants your dream job (and dream woman). Aaron (Albert Brooks) has to contend with Tom (William Hurt) for both breaking news and the heart of Jane (Holly Hunter,) his best friend. Set against the backdrop of 1980's network news, Broadcast News tells the story of talent vs. looks -- a debate that was waged on no greater battlefield than the ever-evolving landscape of TV news. Funny, heartbreaking, and thought provoking -- this is a comedy that's in rare form, and you'll be hard pressed to find anything like it today.

Avengers: Endgame Writers Say The Runtime Is Perfect

Avengers: Endgame Writers Say The Runtime Is Perfect
Iron Man new suit extension in Avengers: Endgame

It was very clear well before we knew what the runtime for Avengers: Endgame would be, and well before we even knew what the official title would be, that it would be a long movie. It is going to be a long movie, but it’s one screenwriter Stephen McFeeley feels is “exactly as long as it needs to be.”


First and foremost, Avengers: Endgame isn’t going to be long, it’s going to be hella long, clocking in at 3 hours and 1 minute in length. AKA 181 minutes. A movie which you could also think of as "not short."


That’s the sort of length of time that’s comparable to hobbits traveling away from the Shire for the first time or the length of time it takes for scientists to explore Pandora’s biosphere and mess with the environment in the process.




Per Stephen McFeeley, however, the movie’s lengthy runtime works and he's happy to talk about why it works, saying,



It's exactly as long as it needs to be. Any shorter and it would have felt like we weren't honoring all the threads and franchises that are feeding into this climax. Twenty-two movies in, not only has the movie earned its length, but people deserve a movie of that substance.



He also revealed why, noting it’s very important that each of the individual franchises are highlighted in this final movie focusing on the original Avengers. In total, the movie will feel as if it has weight and substance, according to the writer. (Although he did write it, so I’d hope he didn’t have the opinion he was just putting fluff out into the universe.)




Related: Why Avengers Endgame Should Be Exactly As Long As It Needs To Be


However, if you are worried that three hours will drag on and on and on, Stephen McFeeley also claimed in his interview with Vulture that the time will fly.



I swear to God, it sounds like a paradox to say this, but it's a lean three hours.





In fact, we’ve already heard this super long movie is extremely tight and that every single scene will matter to the whole (along with hopefully being fun, funny and epic). Unlike some of those early episodes of Game of Thrones, there really won’t be much filler, to the point where Marvel's Kevin Feige basically stated there won’t be a good time to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the movie. The flick, in fact, was designed that way.



We are fans of movies that you wish didn’t end. Movies that you want to see again as soon as it’s over. And movies that you just don’t ever find a good time to run out to the bathroom. That’s when a movie’s working. And if a movie doesn’t feel like that to us we continue to trim, we continue to shape, we continue to bring that time down. That happened to a certain extent on this movie. But we got to a point where it feels very exciting and goes by very quickly and in the end is the perfect length.



Spoiler alert: I still plan to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the movie. Someone probably should have worked a bathroom break in there, because I’m 100% positive I’m going to miss at least two minutes of this movie. I just have to hope I won’t miss something super important.




To that point, this movie is so long there has been some chatter online that we should get a bathroom break in the form of an intermission.


Our own Mike Reyes would argue against the inclusion of an intermission, and he has some valid reasons for why he’s opposed to that sort of addition; however, I do have fond memories of getting up in the middle of a special showing of Gone with the Wind as a kid and grabbing more popcorn. So, intermissions could theoretically work for modern audiences.


Either way, we aren’t getting an intermission with Avengers: Endgame, so this sort of argument is rather moot. What’s not moot is figuring out how to hold your bladder for three hours if you are hyper invested in this superhero and space story.




If not, we already have seen a small chunk of Avengers: Endgame in the form of footage revealing the plan to take on Thanos. Unfortunately, given the context of the scene, even if you've seen that entire segment already, it's likely to come closer to the beginning of the movie rather than the middle, which means it may not be a great opportunity for you to get up and stretch your legs.


At the end of the day, Avengers: Endgame's other writer Christopher Markus also defends the length of Endgame because a shorter movie would not be capable of wrapping up the entire Phase Three of the MCU (and possibly all the phases that came before it). After all, Thanos not only has to be defeated but a slew of character arcs also have to be tied up! A lot needs to happen. He said:



If we told you the entire universe got snapped out and we were gonna wrap it up in a tight 85, you’d have issues.





I mean, 85 minutes at this point is short for even an animated movie, but I take his point. At least everyone is guaranteed to get bang for their buck with this movie, as well. It's the longest movie in the MCU so far, competing only against its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War, a movie that is a whopping 32 minutes shorter.


Get prepared for the long and arduous journey your bladder is about to go on, because Avengers: Endgame is finally out next week. At that point we'll find out whether this arduous movie works or you'll likely start seeing headlines akin to "Should this have been a trilogy?" Either way, I'm pumped to see how it all pans out.


Catch it starting on April 26, 2019. Be sure to also check out what we know about Phase Four if you haven’t already. Best of luck avoiding spoilers on the Internet for the next few days. We're in the endgame now.



Sophie Turner Calls Working With Bryan Singer On X-Men: Apocalypse ‘Unpleasant’

Sophie Turner Calls Working With Bryan Singer On X-Men: Apocalypse ‘Unpleasant’
Sophie Turner in Apocalypse

It's no secret that superhero movies are everywhere. The comic book genre is massively popular, so tons of studios are trying to get in on the game. But before comic book movies became commonplace, the X-Men franchise was there. Starting back in 2000, the mutant-centric property has routinely released new blockbusters, with Dark Phoenix set to arrive this summer.


Sophie Turner is taking center stage on Dark Phoenix, after being introduced as a young mutant in X-Men: Apocalypse. That movie was directed by franchise creator Bryan Singer, and brought in some new characters alongside the First Class ensemble and Oscar Isaac. But according to Turner, she didn't have a good time working with the controversial director. She recently spoke to this, citing Rami Malek's recent comments about Singer. As she put it:



Our time together was, like Rami said, unpleasant.






While becoming a superhero was a great did for Sophie Turner, it doesn't look like she enjoyed her time working alongside Bryan Singer in X-Men: Apocalypse. Ultimately she seems to have persevered, as she'll be the titular character of Dark Phoenix.


Sophie Turner's comments come from her recent profile from Rolling Stone. Bryan Singer has had a long career as a filmmaker, but he's currently got his share of controversies. Singer was recently accused of sexual misconduct, and was seemingly removed from a variety projects in response. He was famously removed from Bohemian Rhapsody before it was completed, which put the project in jeopardy during filming. And recently, Singer was removed from his Red Sonja reboot.


In her conversation with Rolling Stone, Sophie Turner directly mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek. About two months ago, Malek finally broke his silence about Bryan Singer, in the wake of his sexual misconduct allegations. When describing his working relationship with the director, he said:






I've sat here and talked about how everyone deserves a voice and anyone who wants to talk about what happened with Bryan deserves to have their voice heard. In my situation with Bryan, it was not pleasant, not at all. And that's about what I can say about it at this point. ... For anyone who is seeking any solace in all of this, Bryan Singer was fired. Bryan Singer was fired, I don't think that was something anyone saw coming but I think that had to happen and it did.



Rami Malek's quote was meant to give solace to some of Bohemian Rhapsody's critics, as the movie was celebrated, and therefore so was Bryan Singer's work as director.


It's fascinating to see how both Sophie Turner and Rami Malek had such a hard time working with Bryan Singer, considering his long tenure in the business. It's a wonder that someone could be so successful, while also being so difficult to work with. But in the modern age, this seems like a trend that is falling out.





You can see Sophie Turner return as Jean Grey when Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters on June 7th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Saturday, August 1, 2020

To Celebrate Endgame, Google Introduced A Thanos Easter Egg

To Celebrate Endgame, Google Introduced A Thanos Easter Egg
Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War

Today, fans everywhere are feeling the impact of the past eleven years of the MCU with the release of Avengers: Endgame, whether it be through witnessing the movie amidst packed theaters full of fans or actively avoiding spoilers at all costs until they can score a ticket. Joining in on the fun, Google has commemorated the release of the new Marvel film with a fun feature. (Don’t worry, there aren't any spoilers!)


First, type in “Thanos” in the search engine on either your desktop or mobile device, and then look on the right side of the window for the Infinity Gauntlet. Click on it and watch what happens!


Did you try it out? The Gauntlet graphic snaps just as the villain does in 2018’s Infinity War and turns much of the search results to dust, before wiping out half the search results from 101 million to 50.5 million in under a minute. Then if you click on the Gauntlet again, the Time Stone activates and the page is restored to its original glory. It’s a clever trick Google has pulled and a fun little way to feel a bit of the satisfaction Thanos feels when he snaps half of life out of existence, and the victory we are crossing our fingers the Avengers will hopefully score by the conclusion of Endgame.




This time last year, Avengers: Infinity War shocked Marvel fans when our favorite heroes did not win the race against Thanos’ mission to collect all six Infinity Stones and bring stability to the universe by killing half of life across the board. Heroes such as Black Panther, Spider-Man, Peter Quill and Doctor Strange were among the many casualties in the snap.


Endgame follows the remainder of the Avengers, including the Original Six, Ant-Man, War Machine, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula and even Captain Marvel. The team will presumably aim to reverse the events of the tragedy by retrieving the Gauntlet and use the Infinity Stones to reverse the events of Infinity War (as the Google search shows). The movie is three hours long though, so this quick 45 second fix is by no means a play-by-play of Endgame.


The blockbuster premiered on the big screen last night and reportedly made a record-breaking $60 million opening night, which is usually a really solid opening weekend for a movie. Word on the street is the film could hit $800 million worldwide this weekend alone and break some additional box office records.




Avengers: Endgame is the 22nd MCU film and will mark the end of an era for the franchise as some of the central characters’ story arcs are wrapped up and some questions about what Marvel may have in store for Phase 4 may be answered. Endgame also marks the last Marvel outing for the Russo Brothers.


You can catch Endgame in theaters now! If you’ve seen it already and are looking for a place to geek out, check out out 10 biggest questions we have after seeing the highly-anticipated film.

The Time Star Wars Security Had To Bribe Tourists To Delete Spoiler Photos

The Time Star Wars Security Had To Bribe Tourists To Delete Spoiler Photos
Sea Cow Rian Johnson's Idea in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Creating creatures for Star Wars films is no easy feat. In the case of the sea creatures made famous in Star Wars: The Last Jedi thanks to their green milk, a puppeteer spent hours inside with only Coca Cola and diapers to appease him or her. However, stuffing a live human inside a puppet for hours wasn’t the only bizarre thing the crew on Episode VIII had to deal with. The crew also had to deal with American tourists attempting to take spoiler photos of the creatures.


Special effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan told a zany story at Star Wars Celebration, noting that when the crew was shooting sea cow scenes in Ireland, an American couple starting snapping images of the brand new Star Wars creature from a distance. He said:



There was a time when an American couple had taken a boat ride. They had no idea from the distance they were that [the sea cow] was being operated by puppeteers. So, they took all these photographs. And this huge thing went out with security. Security was like, ‘You’ve got to apprehend these people before they get to the shore.' The story goes that I think security did ‘a deal’ for several free meals if they were allowed to delete photographs off of the cameras.





As you could imagine, security was obviously displeased and rushing around to rectify the situation. We know from past history that the sea cows were carefully created in Pinewood studios from foam latex and then flown by helicopter to Ireland, where the main sea cow and two smaller background sea cows were constructed. It was an ordeal and hassle to get them to the filming location and then to have to deal with factors outside their control I'd guess had to feel a little bit ridiculous.


From what Neal Scanlan revealed, the American tourists may not have really understood what they were filming, but had the images gotten out, they would have been spoilers nonetheless.


This isn’t the first time a major movie or TV show has been spoiled by a seemingly random turn of events. We just heard a story like a week ago about how Game of Thrones did a bazillion things to make sure security was tight in Belfast and then a festival came to town that included a giant ferris wheel basically setting up “a viewing platform” for the set. Rough.




So, while it seems zany that American tourists could get close enough to film the sea cows on the set of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, weird stuff like this happens every single day.


Ultimately, all was well that ends well. I can remember seeing the creatures for the first time and being both wowed and disturbed by the  sequence, particularly when Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker milked the darn creature and then drank its green bounty. The perfectly shocked look that Daisy Ridley quickly makes and then tries to disguise on her face is still etched in my mind. It’s been over a year since the movie came out and it's still memorable.


(Reportedly, in real life, the green milk was not as disgusting as it looked.)




So, the shock value was certainly there with this particular creature, which Neal Scanlan also mentioned at Star Wars Celebration was a creation that came from Rian Johnson’s mind.


We’ll have to wait and see what’s in store for the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but if the first look at the new creatures is any indication, we should be in for treat. The Rise of Skywalker will hit theaters on December 20, 2019. The first trailer for the new movie is out now.

Shazam! Made A Major Change To Billy's Parents And It Really Worked

Shazam! Made A Major Change To Billy's Parents And It Really Worked
Asher Angel as Billy Batson in Shazam!

Warning: SPOILERS for Shazam! are ahead!


Lost parents are a common trope when it comes to superhero storytelling, particularly in the DC universe. Occasionally ‘lost’ is literal, but more often than not it’s figurative, with the mother and/or father being deceased. Billy Batson is among the many DC superheroes who has lost his parents, although depending on the continuity, they’re either killed (usually the case) or are indeed missing. Shazam! took the latter approach, although it applied a unique twist that did a wonderful job reinforcing the ‘family isn’t blood’ theme.


After kicking off with showing us the adolescent Thaddeus Sivana being brought to Rock of Eternity in 1974 and failing to be selected as the wizard Shazam’s new champion, Shazam! flashed forward to show us Billy Batson as a small child attending a carnival with his mother, Rachel. Billy’s mother was trying to win Billy a stuffed tiger at a balloon-popping game, and while she didn’t succeed in doing so, she did win him a compass, which she told him he could use to find his way home.




Unfortunately (and ironically) for Billy, he was soon after separated from Rachel at the carnival. In the years following he bounced throughout the foster care system, never staying too long at a home, no matter how loving the family was, because he was determined to find his mother. Billy failed to accomplish this one his own, but luckily for him, one of the members of his latest foster family, Eugene, is a computer whiz kid, and he not only tracked down where Billy’s mother was currently living, but also discovered that her real name is Marilyn, just like in the comics.


You’d think that a reunion between mother and son would be a happy occasion, but as Billy learned upon arriving at his mother’s apartment, she didn’t reciprocate his excitement. It turned out that Marilyn did track down Billy at the fair after briefly losing him, but when she saw him being cared after by police officers, she decided he was better off being looked after by another family. Apparently our previous look at Billy and Marilyn together had been filtered through Billy’s romanticized memory, and Marilyn was actually having a difficult time caring for her son as a single parent. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Billy’s dad, C.C., is in prison.


Learning that your mother abandoned you is bad enough, but sinking the knife in further, Marilyn also told Billy that now wasn’t a good time for her to begin forming a new relationship with him, and assumed that he was doing just fine with whatever family he was living with. Understandably shocked and disappointed with how this reunion turned out, Billy handed his mother the compass she’d given him years back and returned home, at which point he returned home, gave his adoptive siblings superpowers, defeated a glowing-eyed maniac and realized he finally had found his true family. Yay, there was a happy ending for the kid after all!




When you’re making a comic book adaptation, it’s obviously necessary to take creative liberties in order for the story to flow smoothly within a cinematic framework. Every now and then, one of these changes ends up being better than what was originally depicted on the printed page, and with the kind of story Shazam! was telling, it was a better call to simply not have Billy’s parents in his life as opposed to them being dead or their whereabouts being a big mystery needing to be solved.


For those unfamiliar with the Shazam mythos, in the various pre-Flashpoint continuity stories, C.C. and Marilyn Batson usually due while traveling, with Billy being forced to live with his cruel uncle Ebenezer until being tossed onto the street. In the graphic novel The Power of Shazam!, Billy’s parents were archaeologists killed by Theo Adam, descendant of Black Adam, while on a dig in Egypt. In the New 52 universe, it’s never specified what happened to C.C. and Marilyn, although in the current Shazam comic book, Billy’s father has returned to reunite with his son. Whether this is the real C.C. or an impostor has not yet been revealed.


Regardless, had Shazam! gone the route of having Billy’s parents be dead/gone tied to some kind of conspiracy, similar to what was done was done with Peter Parker’s parents in the Amazing Spider-Man movies, would have been a mistake. Shazam! was about how people don’t need to be biologically related in order to be a family. Billy spent so much time looking for his mother that he didn’t open himself to the possibility that he could find love elsewhere in his life. With the Vasquez’s, he’s finally found that home and sense of belonging that he wanted.




There are more than enough Shazam stories from nearly 80 years to provide material for more Shazam! movies; a big mystery surrounding Billy’s parents didn’t need to be one of them. And while it may seem ridiculous commenting on realism in a movie about a boy who turns into an adult superhero by saying a magic word, it was a novel and logical idea to have Billy’s mom not caring for him because she didn’t want to. As heartbreaking as it is, there are people who have just been abandoned by their parents for selfish reasons, and by taking this approach, Asher Angel’s Billy becomes a more relatable character.


It’s also worth mentioning that this ‘family isn’t blood’ idea extends particularly well to one of Billy Batson’s siblings, Mary Bromfield. Before The New 52, Mary was Billy’s biological sister, reuniting with her brother years after their parents died. However, like in the New 52, Shazam!’s versions of Billy and Mary are not related by blood, but by the end of the movie they finally form that brother/sister bond and still get to be superheroes with their other siblings. It’s a win-win.


It’s possible Billy Batson’s biological parents could factor into future Shazam! movies. Maybe Marilyn will change her mind and decide she does want to build a relationship with Billy, and/or maybe his father will be freed from prison and decides to seek out Billy. But even if this does happen, Billy already has a family who loves and cares about him. These people care about him and have his back, and vice versa. And especially with his siblings, there won’t be any lack of excitement in their lives going forward.




Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of Shazam! and stay tuned for updates on how Shazam! 2 is coming along. You can also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else is in development for the DCEU.

Friday, July 31, 2020

Captain Marvel Fan Watches Film 116 Times To Break World Record

Captain Marvel Fan Watches Film 116 Times To Break World Record
Captain Marvel Brie Larson Carol Danvers Marvel Studios MCU

A Wisconsin chiropractor has been workin' like a Flerken to watch Captain Marvel over and over in local theaters to break the Guinness World Record.


Steve Ruppel "only" had to watch the MCU movie 104 times to break the current record for most times seeing the same movie in the theater, but he went for 116 times to try and make sure he'll keep the record for a while.



To be official, I have to have certain pictures taken, like in front of a movie poster, and I need to have two written witness statements saying that I was actually there. So I'm trying to think, if anyone wanted to break this, I really don't want to re-break it. Cause this has been pretty tough. It's been a finite amount of time, but I don't think I'm going to try this one again.





Can you imagine? The person with the previous record must be seething with Seinfeld/Newman resentment that this guy swooped in and stole his superheroic title.


Steve Ruppel told his local WSAW news the most he's ever seen is seven showings in one day. So far, his 116 viewings total 14,268 minutes of Captain Marvel footage:



The amount of time that it takes, I've had to take time off work, I would take long lunch breaks to accommodate watching an entire movie in that particular time frame. And then just time on the weekends where I'm not doing other things.





So the big question: Why? For the love of Goose, why do this?



I thought it was the most insane thing ever, I thought it was impossible. I wasn't even sure why it was even a record, but I thought after a while 'I should probably do that.'



This is not Steve Ruppel's first Guinness World Record. Apparently he has made it a hobby to break records, and this is his fifth -- the Wisconsin news reports one of his previous four included running a half marathon wearing the most amount of t-shirts.




So it's not like he's just such a massive Captain Marvel superfan he HAD to see Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) on screen 116 times. However, he did add that he picked this movie because he loves superhero films and figured it would be a good fit to break this particular record, since he knew Captain Marvel would be playing in theaters for a while. If you're wondering why he didn't pick a movie under two hours, well...



Looking back on it now, I might almost consider a Disney movie, because they're usually shorter and probably around for a while, but that singing would drive me crazy. It really would.



Watching the same movie 116 times in a theater would drive me crazy. I'm still amazed that he had the time and money to do that. Good for him, I guess? Marvel Studios should send him a thank you card for contributing to all of the money Captain Marvel has made at this point, over $1 billion and counting.




He probably didn't wait to try to break the record with Avengers: Endgame viewings because that movie is over three hours long and many other MCU fans will surely watch that hundreds of times.


Clearly, Steve Ruppel is prepared for Carol Danvers' role in what's to come, since he must have everything she said and did memorized by now. How about you? Are you ready for Endgame? It opens in theaters this Friday, April 26. Be careful of spoilers, since even more may come out in the days leading up to the opening. Here's what else is headed to theaters in 2019.

 

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