Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Thursday, January 5, 2017
Welcome to another edition of 6 Flicks Picks, wherein I list all of the upcoming films that are scheduled to be released in the United States for the month which is about to begin and break down which ones I'll be watching in theaters, which ones I'll wait to rent at home, and which ones I'll be skipping out on entirely. After going through the list, I'll choose which six films stand out to me as the ones I want to see the most, even if there are more or less than six that interest me.
Note: The list below is based primarily off the expanded nationwide USA release dates on IMDB as well as some other random outlets if possible, so some information may be different. If I am missing some of the limited releases or the dates conflict in some fashion, please let me know in the comments below and any adjustments and corrections will be made!
Without further ado, another new month means another new set of films, so what's coming soon to theaters in January 2017?
RELEASE DATE: January 6, 2017
Underworld: Blood Wars
Synopsis: Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.
Will I watch? = No
Amityville: The Awakening
Synopsis: A single mother moves her three children into a haunted house, unaware of its bloody history.
Will I watch? = No
A Monster Calls
Synopsis: A boy seeks the help of a tree monster to cope with his single mom's terminal illness.
Will I watch? = Yes
I, Daniel Blake
Synopsis: A middle aged carpenter who requires state welfare after injuring himself is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: January 13, 2017
Monster Trucks
Synopsis: Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp (Lucas Till), a high school senior, builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange and subterranean creature with a taste and a talent for speed, Tripp may have just found the key to getting out of town and a most unlikely friend.
Will I watch? = No
The Bye Bye Man
Synopsis: Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind man's most unspeakable acts.
Will I watch? = No
Sleepless
Synopsis: A cop with a connection to the criminal underworld scours a nightclub in search of his kidnapped son.
Will I watch? = Yes/Maybe/No
The Comedian
Synopsis: A look at the life of an aging insult comic.
Will I watch? = Yes/Maybe/No
The Book of Love
Synopsis: Henry is an introverted architect. After the death of his wife in a car accident, he sets out to help Millie, a homeless teen, to build a raft to sail across the Atlantic.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: January 20, 2017
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Synopsis: Xander Cage is left for dead after an incident, though he secretly returns to action for a new, tough assignment with his handler Augustus Gibbons.
Will I watch? = No
Split
Synopsis: After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 duel personalities they must find some of the different personalities that can help them while running away and staying alive from the others.
Will I watch? = Yes
The Founder
Synopsis: The story of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.
Will I watch? = Maybe
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone
Synopsis: A washed-up former child star, forced to do community service at a local megachurch, pretends to be a Christian to land the part of Jesus in their annual Passion Play, only to discover that the most important role of his life is far from Hollywood.
Will I watch? = No
The Red Turtle
Synopsis: The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Will I watch? = No
Kedi
Synopsis: A profile of an ancient city and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the Cat.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: January 27, 2017
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Synopsis: Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began - The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.
Will I watch? = No
A Dog's Purpose
Synopsis: A dog looks to discover his purpose in life over the course of several lifetimes and owners.
Will I watch? = No
Bastards
Synopsis: Upon learning that their mother has been lying to them for years about their allegedly deceased father, two fraternal twin brothers hit the road in order to find him.
Will I watch? = No
The Salesman
Synopsis: Forushande (The Salesman) is the story of a couple whose relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Will I watch? = No
Un Padre No Tan Padre
Synopsis: When Don Servando Villegas (85), a good old fashioned Mexican patriarch gets expelled from his retirement home, his younger son Francisco takes him in. Don Servando is about to find out the truth about his son and his way of living.
Will I watch? = No
6 FLICKS PICKS
Which films make the cut? Well, this month is atrocious and I don't think I'll be seeing a single one of these in theaters.
6. Bastards — January is a dumping ground for films that studios don't think will make much money. This looks like as generic of a comedy as you can get and its placement at the beginning of the year means it probably has no laughs in it. But hey, compared to other movies listed here, I'd rather see a shitty comedy than to see a shitty horror film.
5. The Comedian — I hadn't heard that this was even a thing until I started writing up this article. The cast is the most enticing part for sure, and I'm always rooting for Robert De Niro to get back on track and to have another great movie. Maybe this is it? Either way, if there's some scenes where he and Danny DeVito trade shots, I'm at least somewhat interested.
4. Sleepless — Just as Bastards looks like a generic comedy, this looks like a generic action flick. Just as The Comedian has a great cast, so, too, does this. When you combine those elements, I think I could actually enjoy this for a 2-hour escape even if it might be one of those films I forget I had even seen in a few months. Maybe it's the next Collateral instead of the next...crap...what was that movie I'm thinking of?
3. The Founder — I've purposely not seen any trailers or TV spots for this movie as I have a feeling if I do check previews out, I might not want to see it. Right now, the story of the guy who created McDonald's isn't something I'm craving to check out, but if they attracted Michael Keaton to the project, there might be something worth paying attention to.
2. Split — I'm not a horror film fan, but when I saw a preview for this a few months ago, I wrote it down on my list to remember. The psychological thriller side of scary movies is something I enjoy a lot more than the slasher flicks, which means this has a better chance of being a motion picture I enjoy rather than anything else on the horror spectrum coming out in January. Naturally, I don't expect it to be good so much as interesting, but hey, why not give it a shot, right?
1. A Monster Calls — This is the only movie on the list that I might make it to the theater to actually see, although my interest in it is waning bit by bit. I had hoped that by now, I would have heard rave reviews, yet I haven't, which is making me think there's less to buzz about than originally thought. I'm hoping it's something like Big Fish where it melds the fantasy and coming of age elements together in a dark, but not too depressing tone.
WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Sunday, January 1, 2017
Welcome to a special edition of 6 Flicks Picks to jump-start the year 2017!
Naturally, this breakdown won't be listing the releases of every single movie that will be coming out in the year—partially because that's too daunting of a task and partially because even the studios don't know all of those yet—but it will still follow the same format as far as the picks go. This will be much harder, as there are hundreds of films that will be coming out, but it still boils down to the same concept: if I had to pick only six movies that I could watch, which ones would they be?
Without further ado, let's take a look at what makes my cut for 2017!
6 FLICKS PICKS for 2017
This is so difficult, especially because I don't even know how many movies are going to come out that I'm completely unaware of. That being said, there are some huge films scheduled for the year, so I ended up sticking to some pretty standard choices. Even still, that in itself made this hard, because when this is based on a monthly list, they aren't in direct competition with one another. I actually got my list down to 10 and then got stuck.
What Didn't Make the List: There's some movies that I'm very intrigued about, but given the much more massive importance of the six below, they needed to be bumped off the list. It was so hard to take some of these and not include them, because I started off with a list of over 15 that were guarantees. Some of those names which didn't make the cut are God Particle, Dunkirk, The Mummy, Beauty and the Beast, Kong: Skull Island, The Lego Batman Movie and the fact that I have no idea what Pixar films are coming out but they're usually good. While I'm mildly intrigued when it comes to Transformers: The Last Knight, I've been burned 3 out of 4 times, and they're not getting my money this time. I wasn't a big fan of Blade Runner, so I'm not thrilled about Blade Runner 2049, but if I rewatch the original, maybe I'll have a different opinion about it and this will change as well. By far, though, the three hardest cuts I had to make were Logan, Wonder Woman and Thor: Ragnarok. The reasoning I have for Logan not making it is how I was disappointed with X-Men: Apocalypse and so far, while I've liked the teaser trailer, I'm not going ballistic like I am about some of the other films here. Thor: Ragnarok should be a super fun edition of the MCU saga, but I'm getting worried they're cramming in too much and the tone will be weird, making it disjointed and odd. I can't help but feel like there's a better movie that could be made if they didn't have half the elements they're claiming will be in the movie. With Wonder Woman, it's more so me having my reservations about the DCEU. Justice League is on the list below, but that is such a big film that it supersedes my hesitations. Plus, it has Batman in it, while Wonder Woman doesn't. I'm still very much looking forward to all these movies which were runner-ups, but the nature of the beast is that I can only pick six for the whole year. So which ones made the cut? Let's see...
6. Power Rangers — Do I think this will be good? Nope. Do I think it has potential? Ehhh...maybe. What this basically boils down to is nostalgia. I was a huge fan of the original series and when they announced that they would do a darker reboot, I immediately was on board to watch it and probably be disappointed. If I saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and I watch all these comic book movies, why wouldn't I also apply that to Power Rangers? This could really be a total catastrophe, but they'll get $15 out of me.
5. Kingsman: The Golden Circle — I LOOOOVED the first Kingsman film and I'm so happy the majority of moviegoers agreed with me on that. Typically, sequels are very black and white where they either improve on the first and go the Terminator 2: Judgment Day or The Empire Strikes Back route or they fall victim to just copying and pasting what came beforehand and they suck, so I hope we get the former rather than the latter, but based off how much I enjoyed Eggsy's adventure before, I think this is going to kick so much ass.
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming — So, so, so many things about this movie are making me concerned. I don't like Ned Leeds being Peter's friend, I don't like how we might not get Mary Jane OR Gwen Stacy in this (or if we do, we'll get a totally different version of MJ based on how Zendaya's attitude comes off in the first trailer). I don't like how there's no Harry Osborn, or how Flash Thompson doesn't seem like a true imposing bully, or a litany of other things, but it's still Spider-Man, and he's my second-favorite superhero of all time behind Batman. Having Iron Man in the film and casting Michael Keaton as The Vulture are elements I'm getting super excited about.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — Baby Groot should be enough said. I was shitting all over Guardians of the Galaxy before it came out, convinced it would ruin the MCU, and here we are with that being one of the best of the franchise. James Gunn has my total faith and everything we've seen so far has not made me worried, so this shoots up past some other contenders and gets the third to highest rank.
2. Justice League — It's Batman and Superman and The Flash and Wonder Woman and Green Lan...wait, why is Green Lantern not in this movie and Cyborg is? That's stupid as hell. And why are they fighting Steppenwolf instead of Darkseid or OMAC or something else? Damn it, don't screw this up, guys.
1. Star Wars: Episode VIII — Every year, Star Wars is going to be the top film I'm looking forward to, save for possibly Avengers: Infinity War. Get used to it. It's not going to change. We don't even know the name of Episode 8 yet but that doesn't matter, as I want some lightsaber action!
WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Friday, December 30, 2016
Every year, TorrentFreak takes all of the statistics from the past 12 months and compiles a list of the top 10 most pirated films and television shows downloaded through various sources from a worldwide perspective. The other day, the television list was revealed and today, the movie list has been released.
Here are the top 10 films to have been downloaded the most in 2016:
#10. The Revenant
#9. Finding Dory
#8. Suicide Squad
#7. Independence Day: Resurgence
#6. Warcraft
#5. X-Men: Apocalypse
#4. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
#3. Captain America: Civil War
#2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
#1. Deadpool
Per usual, it's no surprise to see that this list is dominated by comic book films. As I mentioned in my thoughts for the TV side of things, the types of people who torrent are typically crossing over with the audience that would watch these films to begin with. These movies also get much bigger publicity coverage and usually make the most amount of money in that year, which also begs the question: if they made hundreds of millions of dollars and shattered records, are these pirates really hurting the industry? I would have to imagine most of the people downloading these films are doing it after they've already seen the movie in theaters and they just don't want to spend another $20 to see it one or two more times. The only real surprise for me on the list is The Revenant, but that received so much Oscar buzz with Leonardo DiCaprio that I can also justify it being on the list without too much thought, nonetheless. It would have utterly shocked me if something like American Pastoral would have been downloaded more times than Suicide Squad even with all the problems the latter has.
What do you think of this list?
Which movies did you see in theaters, download or skip?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Tuesday, December 27, 2016
While many films fall under the classification of "comic book movie" according to various outlets due to a lot of crossover audience, there were only eight true mainstream superhero flicks that came out in 2016.
Oddly enough, despite the boom of the genre, this was a year of struggles where many of them underperformed at the box office and weren't particularly critically acclaimed. There were aspects to like for just about every film on the list as even the worst movies could have gems peppered throughout, but overall, it looks like a somewhat weak group.
So how do they rank compared to each other? Let's go ahead and list them from worst to best and examine why some succeeded while others scrambled for whatever praise they could get.
#8. Max Steel
I didn't see it, so it has to go at the bottom of the list by default. Nobody seems to have anything positive to say about this movie and it looked pretty dumb as it's targeted toward a younger audience. If I were six years old, I'm sure I would have jumped at the chance to watch this, but when you add more than 20 years to that, I have better things to do with my time. Of course, if everyone had raved about it, I would have set aside the time to give it a go, but if you look around, critics hated it, audiences weren't much kinder to it, and there's been no buzz.
#7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
I was a huge fan of the turtles as a kid with the first and second films being two of the most-watched movies of my childhood. We all know the third one was awful, so when they said they were rebooting things a few years ago, I went into the Michael Bay-produced flick with high hopes which were sadly deflated. I didn't absolutely hate everything about it, but it just wasn't as well-crafted as I was hoping it would be.
Still, when a sequel was announced, I knew I would be interested in checking it out, so I went ahead and did just that. There were elements that I think they improved on, while other parts of the sequel showed that there was still a lot of tweaking necessary to get a better product out. Since this underperformed, I'm not expecting a third one to happen any time soon. Check out my Reviewpoint and Minute Man Review for more.
#6. X-Men: Apocalypse
While slightly better than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, good lord was this a disappointment compared to expectations. X-Men: Days of Future Past was so damn good and I love the character of Apocalypse, so I was really hoping this would be the best film of the franchise to date, but it was just okay with some questionable decisions that really hurt the overall movie. It was as if they had a checklist of things they needed to do and they tried to formulate as basic of a plot surrounding those elements, so when they patched everything together, it just felt hollow. Check out my Reviewpoint and Minute Man Review for more.
#5. Suicide Squad
This movie has so, so many problems...so many, in fact, that I wrote up a Fanboys Fix It article showcasing them and I had to lump tons of little things together into bigger issues just so I didn't make the post too big.
There were tons of stuff I actually enjoyed, like the cameo from Batman and the world-building, but holy shit was this movie hacked to pieces in the editing room or just poorly structured out to begin with. What could have been DC's Guardians of the Galaxy in that it would be a surprise to see such low-key characters outshining the more popular ones ended up instead being a movie that killed a lot of enthusiasm about the future of the film franchise. For all the flaws Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have, people looked at Suicide Squad as the one that could save things, and it didn't. Now, all eyes are on Wonder Woman to undo the bad mojo from three films, not one or two.
Check out my Reviewpoint and Minute Man Review for more.
#4. Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange is one of my least favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe films, but that's not to say that it's a bad one. Lots of people seem to love it because it has some elements that are slightly different yet they ignore the things that are the same. For the record, I never tend to like something solely on it being "a refreshing change of pace"—good is good, bad is bad, change can be either. In this case, the differences were okay, but nothing to make me disregard the parts that I didn't enjoy.
For example, the love interest and the villain are very lackluster with almost no dimension to them (no pun intended) and the origin story is incredibly rushed. Is it fun at times? Sure. But I think the longer we separate ourselves from this movie, the less it's going to hold up as a favorite for people. Years after its release, everybody still agrees the first Iron Man and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are among the two best of the series, but I don't think we'll be hearing many fans talk about Doctor Strange being one of their go-to films to rewatch on a regular basis like they do with The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Check out my Reviewpoint and Minute Man Review for more.
#3. Deadpool
Innovative? Check. Funny? Check. Cool action? Check. Do you get a lot of bang for your buck? Check. Does it stay faithful to the character? Check.
The marketing campaign for this film alone was amazing but who would have thought it would end up making so much money while simultaneously being praised by critics? It's Deadpool, for God's sake! This movie spent a decade on the shelf as a film that would never be made, and not only did it accomplish just that, it shattered so many of the expectations put upon it.
This isn't my favorite movie of the year by any means (hence why it's #3 on this list, even) but I think it deserves all the credit in the world and if you think it should be at the top, I could definitely see the argument.
Check out my Reviewpoint, Making the Grade and Minute Man Review for more.
#2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
I'm somewhat of an apologist for this movie in a lot of ways. When the credits came up, I asked everybody I had seen it with and most people were hating on it or they didn't know quite what to think, but I loved it outside of Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, Batman killing people and a couple other things. The extended cut is even better and fixes about 60% of the problems I had with the movie. Sure, it leaves 40% (like Eisenberg's casting and Batman killing people) but the amount of hate this film gets is preposterous.
I felt more enthusiastic about the future of the DCEU after seeing Batman v Superman than I did going into it, which may be a minority vote, but at least I'm one person out there who doesn't grimace when hearing the title of this movie. I've since seen it a handful of times (always the ultimate edition, never the theatrical) and there are more and more little idiosyncrasies that I enjoy with each viewing. Just the same, there are some black marks that bug me every time, but I'm still very high on this movie.
Check out my Reviewpoint, Making the Grade and Minute Man Review for more.
#1. Captain America: Civil War
Oddly enough, I like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice more than the average person and I don't like Captain America: Civil War as much as the average person, but I still have to admit that fundamentally, it's the better film between the two as far as fitting within their respective series. More than anything, I was disappointed that Civil War didn't have the gravitas that The Winter Soldier was able to pull off, but look at everything that was fantastic about it: Black Panther, a new Spider-Man, the airport sequence, The Raft, an implosion between a group that actually makes more sense than what Batman and Superman are doing, etc.
The MCU is simply fantastic and the worst parts of this franchise are always outmatched by all of the great things. For everything in Civil War that makes me wish they had gone a different route, they do ten that make me geek out.
Check out my Reviewpoint, Making the Grade and Minute Man Review for more.
How would you rank these movies in order?
Do you agree or disagree with this list?
Tell us yours in the comments below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, December 26, 2016
Every year, TorrentFreak takes all of the statistics from the past 12 months and compiles a list of the top 10 most pirated films and television shows downloaded through various sources from a worldwide perspective.
Here are the top ten for 2016:
#10. The Grand Tour
#9. Suits
#8. Lucifer
#7. Vikings
#6. The Big Bang Theory
#5. Arrow
#4. The Flash
#3. Westworld
#2. The Walking Dead
#1. Game of Thrones
From my perspective, this makes quite a bit of sense. I've actually never heard of The Grand Tour before, so I might be living under a rock when it comes to that, but outside of that being on the list along with Vikings and Suits, nothing else surprises me.
With Suits, I just didn't think it had enough of a following. I would have thought Mr. Robot would take that spot instead for sure, so I'm shocked that's not in the top 10. Vikings is something I underestimated the popularity of, too.
But in general, comic book material is always a target for this type of activity as the fans of those genres are typically more savvy to the ability to torrent things in general. You're not going to find mid-40s housewives scouring The Pirate Bay for General Hospital episodes as much as you're going to see those CW shows on this list.
I'm a huge fan of Lucifer as well as The Flash (and admittedly The Big Bang Theory is still something I enjoy, despite my enthusiasm for it decreasing year by year) so I don't know how to feel about them being on this list. That means they're popular, but it also means a lot of people aren't watching them in means that actually matter to the networks. This could hurt them quite a bit. Perhaps if less people torrented stuff like Limitless, it wouldn't have been cancelled.
Westworld is undoubtedly my favorite new show of the year and with the amount of buzz it got, I fully expected it to make this list. Seeing as how the only two above it are the two shows which have been around longer and amassed an even bigger following over those years, it makes perfect sense.
What do you think about this list?
Would you have expected anything else to be on here instead of what the results were?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, December 17, 2016
After last year's release of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens breaking box office records and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story currently out in theaters right now, the Star Wars franchise has carved out a niche in December's already packed holiday season.
While you're celebrating Christmas, why not combine it with your love of the galaxy far, far away by merging the two together with TV Store Online's selection of Star Wars ugly Christmas sweaters?
TVSO has a wide variety of "ugly Christmas sweaters" ranging from all sorts of topics, but in particular, Star Wars is the theme that stands out as the most abundant as there are over 20 different designs to choose from, including my favorite of the bunch, the Stormtrooper With Reindeer Antlers Ugly Christmas Sweater.
How do you make a truly ugly Christmas sweater with a Stormtrooper? Give him antlers, of course! The design for this holiday sweater is absolutely atrocious, making it perfect for any contest. If you’re going to take part in this beloved holiday tradition, you might as well get a Christmas sweater that represents one of your favorite franchises! Show off your inner Star Wars nerd with the help of this funny Stormtrooper sweater. Bring a smile to everyone’s face with this officially licensed Star Wars sweater!
- 100% Acrylic
- Adult unisex sizes
- Runs Small; ORDER ONE SIZE LARGER
- Great add on for Ugly Christmas Sweater parties
- Officially Licensed
I'm not a sweater guy, but this is super comfortable, and if I'm going to embrace the ugly Christmas sweater season, I might as well do it with some Star Wars flair while I'm at it, right?
So if you're looking for a gift for someone this Christmas, you want to sneak in a movie reference for your holiday dinner or you're looking for a talking piece for everyone who will laugh at the mashup of imagery instead of the standard trees and Santa Claus and snowmen, be sure to check out TV Store Online and order one today!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Friday, December 16, 2016
We're back with another unboxing video from SuperHeroStuff.com for December 2016 to celebrate the upcoming release of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story along with the holiday season rapidly approaching.
That's no moon...that's a mystery box! The STAR WARS: REBEL SCUM HEROBOX® to be exact. Celebrate the original trilogy and the release of Rogue One with two curated collections of Star Wars awesomeness: the Gold Edition and the Silver Edition. Limited to just 450 boxes.
Prepare for intergalactic war with our new limited edition mystery box featuring our favorites from the Star Wars Saga and this December's Rogue One. How exactly do Jyn Erso and her team of resistance fighters get the plans to the Death Star? That's not nearly as big of a mystery as what's inside this box.
The Empire can be a bunch of real jerks, can't they? Way back in the day, the galaxy was a nice democratically elected republic with senators, politics, and lobbying just like we have today. Unfortunately due to the machinations of the Sith, the Republic was destroyed through a series of measures that the democratically elected senate decided was a good idea. In order to preserve 'safety' of the Republic-Turned-Empire against the Confederacy of Independent Systems and newly born Rebel Alliance, the Senate was destroyed and all power given to the Chancellor...who turned out to be Sith! Awwww! We were bamboozled!
Of course people in the galaxy can't just sit by idly as the galaxy's freedoms and liberties are trampled. Oh no, they have to do something! Adopting the symbol of the House of Marek(thank you Force Unleashed), the Rebel Alliance decided to stick it to the Empire. Not only did they blow up the Death Star once, but twice...and maybe a third time if you count Starkiller base! On the bright side of things, we are going to get even more Rebel Alliance themed goodies...and here I thought 'Rogue Squadron' was the best we were going to get! Star Wars: Rogue One is a brand new moving coming out soon that will finally tell us the story on how the original Death Star plans were stolen. All I know is it involved Bothans!
What is the best way to lend your support to the Rebel Alliance while at the same time showing solidarity against the Empire and the Sith? You have plenty options available to you! You could go sign up at your local Jedi Temple or you could hop in your X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, or if you are super fancy B-Wing and come help the war effort! Oh, you don't know where your local Jedi Temple is and you don't have any spacecraft? That's alright...you could always just get the SuperheroStuff Rebel Scum HeroBox! 'Scum' here is of course a term of endearment that the Imperials will never understand. They thing it is some kind of derogatory term! HA! The Rebel Scum HeroBox is available in two different types. A normal one for those that are still leery of the Empire's reach while the ultimate one contains everything a rebel would need(has hand-picked by our exceptionally trained droids)! You'll get a shirt but beyond that it is anybody's guess! You could get buttons, lanyards, POP Fun FUNKO figures, pint glasses, travel mugs, beanies, hackey sacks, ice cube trays, fabric flags...all sorts of goodies! They all have the Rebel Alliance in common though and how often do you get to see a mystery gift box with such laser focus? Exactly!
Gold Edition: $69
Silver Edition: $49
If you want to get in on the fun and reserve yourself some cool stuff for next month, place your order at SuperHeroStuff HeroBox and use the code 15-HERO-BOX to save 15% off your order of $40+.
Thanks again to SuperHeroStuff for sending this our way!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, December 12, 2016
The 74th annual Golden Globe Awards will take place Sunday, January 8, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton on NBC, hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Here are the nominees for all of the categories. Give us your predictions on the winners and your favorites in the comments below!
TELEVISION AWARDS
Best Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Chrissy Metz, This is Us
Mandy Moore, This is Us
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Best Supporting Performance by an Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
John Lithgow, The Crown
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
John Travolta, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Riley Keough, The Girlfriend Experience
Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Charlotte Rampling, London Spy
Kerry Washington, Confirmation
Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film
Riz Ahmed, The Night Of
Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager
John Turturro, The Night Of
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Best Miniseries or Television Film
American Crime
The Dresser
The Night Manager
The Night Of
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Sarah Jessica Parker, Divorce
Issa Rae, Insecure
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Nick Nolte, Graves
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series (Drama)
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Claire Foy, The Crown
Keri Russell, The Americans
Winona Ryder, Stranger Things
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series (Drama)
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath
Best Television Series (Musical)
Atlanta
Black-ish
Mozart in the Jungle
Transparent
Veep
Best Television Series (Drama)
The Crown
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
This is Us
Westworld
MOTION PICTURE AWARDS
Best Original Score
Nicholas Britell, Moonlight
Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Arrival
Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka, Lion
Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch, Hidden Figures
Best Original Song
"Can't Stop the Feeling!" (Max Martin, Shellback and Justin Timberlake), Trolls
"City of Stars" (Justin Hurwitz, Pasek and Paul), La La Land
"Faith" (Ryan Tedder, Stevie Wonder and Francis Farewell Starlite), Sing
"Gold" (Stephen Gaghan, Danger Mouse, Daniel Pemberton and Iggy Pop), Gold
"How Far I'll Go" (Lin-Manuel Miranda), Moana
Best Supporting Performance by Actress in a Motion Picture
Viola Davis, Fences as Rose Maxson
Naomie Harris, Moonlight as Paula
Nicole Kidman, Lion as Sue Brierley
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures as Dorothy Vaughan
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea as Randi
Best Supporting Performance By an Actor in a Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight as Juan
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water as Marcus Hamilton
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins as Cosmé McMoon
Dev Patel, Lion as Saroo Brierley
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals as Ray Marcus
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don't Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Colin Farrell, The Lobster
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Ruth Negga, Loving
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Best Motion Picture (Foreign Language)
Divines
Elle
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann
Best Motion Picture (Animated)
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
Zootopia
Best Director, Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
20th Century Women
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Sing Street
Best Motion Picture (Drama)
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN? WHO ARE YOU ROOTING FOR?
LEAVE YOUR PREDICTIONS AND THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, December 10, 2016
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has a ton of potential to completely change the game as far as Star Wars films go, but on the glass half empty side of things, since this is uncharted territory (or unknown regions, as you might say) there's also a chance it could mess with the feng shui of it all and throw it off-balance.
I have my reservations about some of things I've seen so far, ranging from the ships looking somewhat fake to my speculations that none of these characters will be fleshed out enough for me to truly care about them and even the possibility this muddles with canon in ways that are upsetting to me. However, since I'm a big fan of the series, I'm also geeking out so much over some different things I'm really hoping we get to see at some point in the film.
Thus, I figured I'd write out a list of ten things I really want to happen during Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, although I'll admit that some of them aren't essential to the film's success or failure in the grand scheme of things. A few of them are minor touches that I feel could really spice things up and make a lot of difference in the overall enjoyment of the film, but if they aren't included, it doesn't mean the movie is doomed, so you won't see anything on the list like "a good plot" and "great actors" or anything substantial like that.
In no particular order, here's my list:
1. Illustrate Darth Vader's True Power
For being the biggest badass in the galaxy, Darth Vader doesn't have a great track record on film. Sure, if you count The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels along with the comics and novels, he's beyond an imposing threat, but in the movies, he's yet to come off as that same type of monster. He's always fumbling around and getting beaten as Anakin Skywalker and by the time we see him in the original trilogy due to the limitations of filming several decades ago, the action is quite awful. Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi essentially don't even duel, he holds back considerably against a wildly untalented Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back and he's somehow beaten by that same untrained kid in Return of the Jedi.
This movie needs to show him at the height of his powers as an unstoppable force (no pun intended) nobody can even dream of matching up with. Please don't give me Jyn Erso taking him down with a blaster just to make her look cooler. Don't waste Vader on two or three talking scenes where he does nothing but storm out of a hallway. Have him go on a kill-crazy rampage mowing people down, slaughtering rebels left and right. He should be the final boss fight beyond even the Star Destroyers and AT-ATs. Darth Vader should be that presence on the battlefield where as soon as he starts getting down to business, everybody panics and realizes they have to flee or possibly even sacrifice themselves to take him down.
Vader shouldn't be defeated, he should only be stalled after something huge. I'd love to see the rebels reach a point where they blow up an entire ship just to attempt to slow him down and he gets injured just enough for him to need the bacta tank we've seen in the first teaser, allowing them to jump to hyperspace and escape. That way, we can understand going into A New Hope that this badass just took all they could give him and is still recuperating, which is why he's so slow, but if he were to fully recover, he'd be able to take on the entire army himself like in Rogue One.
2. The Exhaust Port
One of the big criticisms of the destruction of the Death Star is how the exhaust port machinations make any sense. Why would they build this structure and leave it with such a huge vulnerability?
The first answer is pretty simple: what huge vulnerability? They make it a point to say how it's an impossible shot that you'd only be able to reach with a small fighter to begin with, and you'd never make it past the turrets and the enemy ships, and even then, it has to be an exact hit to cause the chain reaction. It's one air vent on a battle station the size of a moon!
However, there should be steps taken in this film to make it even harder for people to complain. We know Galen Erso is working on the Death Star and that he isn't an Imperial empathizer by any real means, so why not have him explain that he purposely added this into the plans as a failsafe?
He can clarify that no great inventor makes something without knowing how to destroy it and with such a dangerous weapon, he needed to apply the same philosophy, but he was also under close watch, so he needed to do it in a way that wasn't suspicious. If it were a glaringly obvious killswitch button, they'd never allow it, but something small like this exhaust port is exactly the type of thing they would overlook. Are the odds of destroying the Death Star monumentally against the Rebel Alliance? Sure. But a small chance is better than no chance, right?
Galen should pass that information on with the plans that R2-D2 ends up with so when the rebels retrieve it from Leia and company in A New Hope, they basically just open up the folder and read the technical layout which explains where to find the exhaust port and such.
3. References to Star Wars Rebels
I don't read the novels or the comics as I have way too many things on my plate to be able to spend the time and money on them, but I do watch Star Wars Rebels and as such, I want to be rewarded for my efforts. That show is canon and they can't keep everything under lock and key where it doesn't leak elsewhere into the movies. There are limits within reason, of course, so I don't expect Ezra Bridger to be Snoke or for anything huge like that, but since the show takes place roughly around the same timeline as this film, why not throw us a bone here and there?
Saw Gerrera is popping up, which is amazing and exactly the type of content I'd like to see apply to Star Wars Rebels. Why not have a character mention that they would send Captain Syndulla and her crew on The Ghost for the mission, but they're already on the other side of the galaxy doing something else. That way, the only character we know sticks around is Hera, but we can lose anybody else on the show or they can still be alive and it's left for the TV show to figure out. We're not pigeonholing ourselves with something super over the top like seeing Zeb and company all appear, spoiling any potential deaths that could happen on the show, but we're getting a nod that those characters are actually important members of the rebellion. Maybe Commander Sato is at the war room conversing with Bail Organa and Mon Mothma? That would be awesome. What if Director Krennic mentions past failures of Agent Kallus?
That's all I need. Just give me something that definitively proves these characters aren't going to exist solely on the animated show.
4. Alderaan
This one is very, very simple: you need to show Alderaan. All we've seen of the planet so far is the quick shots in Revenge of the Sith and its explosion in A New Hope. Give us some time on the planet's surface itself so we can see the people there who will be meeting their doom very soon. Hell, give us a scene where there's a bunch of children playing happily so it makes us feel awful as we know their time is so extremely limited. It will make the scene where Tarkin orders the destruction all that more painful to watch in the future since we'll have a better connection to the billions of lives that were lost.
5. Where is Snoke? Where is Palpatine?
I would love to see Emperor Palpatine show up in a scene, even if he's a hologram speaking to Vader, and I also would like to see that there's at least an attempt to give us a rationalization for how Supreme Leader Snoke could witness the events that transpired over the films that preceded The Force Awakens. I'm certainly not expecting a scene with Snoke, so I won't be shocked if that doesn't happen, but considering the ease of how you can film a quick scene with Ian McDiarmid, I'll be annoyed if Palpatine doesn't make some kind of appearance in some fashion. Ideally, I'd love to see Vader talking to Palpatine and when they hang up talking to each other, we can have another quick scene where Palpatine converses with Snoke, but I'll settle for just the two Darths talking.
6. Explain Chirrut Imwe
All it takes is one or two lines of dialogue to explain how Chirrut Imwe was able to survive Order 66 and the subsequent Jedi Purge and I'll be happy. I don't want there to be leftover Jedi hanging out in the galaxy by the time Luke is told he's the last of his kind save for Kenobi and Yoda, so that means if Imwe is a true Jedi like Ezra and Kana Jarrus, all three of them need to be killed by the end of this film, but there's some wiggle room if you make Imwe not a true practitioner.
The Force Awakens introduced this concept of The Church of the Force. Why not have him be one of the founding members of this? Maybe he was a Padawan who wasn't particularly skilled enough to train at the Jedi Temple, but was still imbued with some power (hence being able to see despite being blind) and those people are the ones we see like Jocasta Nu working in the archives and doing work on other planets. Jedha is going to have some kind of significance, so why not make that an ancient planet they used hundreds of years ago as a monk-like training ground for less advanced recruits who could dedicate themselves less in the fighting skills and more in the meditation practices or whatever?
I just don't want them to have this random Jedi on the team who never appeared before, was lucky enough to survive being hunted just because they wanted a Jedi to appear in this story, and all sorts of other writer-driven coincidences like that.
7. The Crawl
I know it's already been confirmed that we won't have it, but I think we need it more than ever. So many casual fans are utterly confused about the time this film takes place, making it the perfect example of a movie that needs exposition to be told to you from the onset.
They most likely are starting this film off with a flashback, which is kind of jarring, but I'm okay with it. Here's how you get around it. Do the "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." and have that fade into your cold open flashback sequence. When you're done with that, pan the camera up to the sky and the stars and then have STAR WARS pop up on the screen, give us the crawl to set everything up and explain the time jump, and then pan the camera back down from the stars into a ship flying by a planet. Done.
8. The Imperial March
I know this is the first time John Williams won't be composing the music for a Star Wars film, but if we don't get The Imperial March throughout the film, I'll be well past frustrated. I shouldn't even need to explain this, and hopefully, Michael Giacchino doesn't just want to put his own spin on things and abandon all previously established themes. Some new themes are necessary, but we need to hear some of the familiar ones as well just to make sure it still feels like a Star Wars film, and The Imperial March is an absolute must.
9. These are the Droids I'm Looking For
Artoo and Threepio need to make a cameo in just one scene or even one shot. They've been in every film so far and there's no reason why we shouldn't see them aboard the Tantive IV at the end of the movie or something like that. If we don't have R2-D2 and C-3PO, as annoying as the latter can be at times, I'll feel like something was missing.
10. A Sense of Direction
By that, I mean I want to fully see that the creators know where these characters are going and where they fit in the timeline going forward. I don't want to leave everything open ended where we have to read about it in books and get no closure at all. I don't want to wonder where these new ships and Death Troopers and everything went and disappeared during the original trilogy. Jyn Erso can't be someone who becomes the hero of the rebellion and then just never shows up or is heard from again unless she dies or they give her a reason to not be involved anymore. Director Krennic either needs to die or he needs to be sent to the outer reaches of space as punishment for failure to explain why he isn't sitting at the table in the Death Star in A New Hope. Don't create new plot holes, use this movie to patch up the ones from before.
That's what I have on my mind, but what would you like to see in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? Is there anything I didn't add to my list you think needs to be included in the mix?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
