By George Robbins
The DC Extended Universe, or DCEU, has a number of films involved in it nowadays, but one of the newest films involving one of DC’s most iconic characters is not going to be a part of it. Every live-action DC related film that has released since ‘Man of Steel’ has been a part of the DCEU and has contributed to its roster. Despite what people may think about the individual movies, the DCEU as a whole has become very successful. While many of the films have not been seen with favorable eyes, they still bring in a lot of money from fans of the characters. This is what has kept them all going and allows for more films to be made. We will not be seeing the next entry that involves Batman being a part of that shared universe.
Although Batman has been a part of the DCEU since the second film in that universe released, he is not slated to make a return any time soon. The upcoming movie ‘The Batman‘ has already been stated to be a standalone film that will feature the titular hero as well as some iconic ‘Batman’ villains. So far the development for the movie has seen rough times due to the pandemic and they have only just recently been able to start working on the film again. Though they only just started again, many are apparently excited to return to work on the movie. The script for the film has been talked about excitedly by the actors that are going to appear in the film and it is one that they apparently believe will make DC fans happy.
Although filming for ‘The Batman’ had started in England, the remainder of all of the rest of the film will not be shot on location anymore. Despite this they have been putting a lot of effort into getting the movie done by handcrafting all of the set pieces they need in order to film the rest of the movie. Although they had to stop filming for a lengthy period of time, they still plan to have the movie out by October of next year. This is only a little bit longer from when they originally wanted to show the film. Although we have had the chance to see many set photos for the film, we have not seen any kind of footage in the form of a trailer. This has made it difficult to gauge how people will feel about the standalone film. Apparently, they will have something to show at the upcoming virtual convention DC FanDome.
The DC FanDome event is a virtual convention that is akin to other virtual conventions that we have seen thus far. It will allow people to see panels and things like merchandise from the safety of their own homes and they can see what is going on with all things DC. Reportedly, among the things that will be shown off will be some kind of footage from the upcoming movie ‘The Batman.’ This will give fans and the general public alike a chance to see just what the movie is about and it will offer an opportunity for people to see just how the character will be portrayed. This footage could even get people more excited about going to see the film next year in October.
By George Robbins
Pixar is extremely well known at this point because of all of the films that they have put out over the years. Nearly all of their films have done well and the amount of time they put into their animations shows up very well in their films. They have become a strong studio on their own over the years and because of that, they were eventually scooped up by Disney who saw how well they were doing. Pixar has made many different films over the years, but there is one series of films that has always done well. The ‘Toy Story’ series has done well ever since the first film was released back in 1995.
The first ‘Toy Story‘ movie was something that the world had never seen before because CGI was never used in such a way at that point. At the time of release, CGI was still a relatively new concept and it was only used as a supplementary technology to help make some films look better. Though those effects haven’t really held up over the years because CGI objects transplanted in a real life world was bound to cause issues. Nowadays, this isn’t much of an issue and CGI is pretty well done and it doesn’t take away from people’s experiences watching films. Back in the 90’s, it was hard for CGI to find a place, but Pixar figured out exactly what they were going to do with it.
As already stated, CGI had not really been used all that much back in the 90’s and it usually didn’t translate very well as time went on. This is where ‘Toy Story’ becomes different as it was a film that was animated entirely with nothing but CGI. With no real life components making up the film, the CGI animation had room to breath and it doesn’t stand out the way it would in a live-action film. Even today, while Pixar’s newest films look incredible by animation standards, their older films still hold up, including ‘Toy Story.’ Now that they have improved their animation tech, their newest ‘Toy Story’ films, ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Toy Story 4,’ both look amazing and have found themselves well adjusted by today’s standards.
The ‘Toy Story’ films are now iconic and they will never be forgotten as time goes on as we have seen with the last two films. Even if many years pass since the release of the previous films, they have been putting a lot of time and effort into the films. They also try and keep up with trends nowadays as a question was recently asked about whether the toys in the universe could die. The answer for which was yes, but only if they are completely destroyed. In the most recent film, we had to recognize that ‘Toy Story’ would not stay the same as it was story-wise, but it will always remain an incredible series. The character of Forky and the departure of Woody in the most recent film showed us that this is a new era if the films continue. Forky’s voice actor, Tony Hale, wants to continue to be a part of it and wants to reprise his role in ‘Toy Story 5.’ Hopefully it won’t be too long before we hear more about it.
By George Robbins
This pandemic has been a massive drain on people all over the world, but not everyone is necessarily suffering because of it. They have simply had to re-think the way that they do things because they can’t just do what they want like before. Those in the entertainment industry have had the most fun trying to figure out exactly how to move things forward, but there are some among the industry who aren’t having many issues. These people would be the writers, because who would benefit from having nothing better to do than sit down and write while stuck indoors. Among those writers is one who has written and directed his own works for years and that would be Kevin Smith.
Smith came to prominence in the 90’s when he released his first film ‘Clerks,’ which he had written and directed himself. Although it was really just an indie movie, its interesting look at the daily lives of two convenience store clerks drew a lot of attention. This attention is what allowed him to continue making movies that were unique to this style and we got interesting and sort of out-of-this-world films. Although a lot of things were added for the sake of comedy, most of what happened in his films focused on aspects of daily life. One of his earlier films was ‘Mallrats’ which followed a day in the lives of two slackers, who both broke up with their girlfriends, while they were at a mall.
‘Mallrats‘ had some moments in it that were highly memorable but some parts of the film were still a bit outside the realm of an ordinary day. That aside, it looked at various situations that the two men were put into as they spent time in the mall that day. One of those situations involved a character, played by Ben Affleck, who started dating the ex-girlfriend of one of the two main characters. His character was seen as one of the antagonists in the film and by the end of the film, his character ended up being arrested. Kevin Smith revealed within the past couple of months that he has managed to finish a script for ‘Mallrats 2’ and he wanted Affleck to return for the film. Now, he has confirmed that Affleck will in fact return for the new film, so that is something to look forward to as we wait for the film to release.
By George Robbins
The ‘Scream‘ movies have become something of a lasting reminder of the work done by the director Wes Craven and they have a devoted fan base. These films were made with the thought in mind that they would be something of a parody of slasher films and this is what made them so popular. They are unlike other films in the genre because they are meant to make fun of it in some way while also telling an interesting story. ‘Scream’ movie stories are actually important rather than just being there as a plot device to get from one kill to another. The late Wes Craven was very particular about the way he made his movies and what was portrayed in them.
Craven put a lot of effort into his movies and wanted people to know that they were really a series of parody films. This is a fact many people may not have realized because of the stories told throughout all of the movies. He made them to be a parody of the slasher genre where every movie saw the same characters coming back to fight an entity that just doesn’t go away. This level of satire was very nuanced but it drew in a large following that saw the films getting a lot of attention. This would carry on through a total of four films made between the years of 1996-2011 and unfortunately Wes Craven passed away after the fourth film was made.
Although Craven is no longer around, his legacy has continued on and although the world around us is pretty much burning down, some people have been trying to get a fifth ‘Scream’ made. ‘Scream 5’ will be making its way back to the screen in the not too distant future, but there was initially some concern from both the fans and actors. People were not sure if another movie should be made, but the new directors have assured everyone that the film will be made in the same way Craven’s were made. This drew more attention to the project and actors from the series like David Arquette will be making their return for the film. Arquette has even said recently that he would be interested in returning for any future sequels in the series.
By George Robbins
Comic-Con is a series of conventions held throughout the year to celebrate comic books and all other forms of media related to them. Even though it is a comic convention, all different kinds of companies come in to show off whatever products they have. Any pop culture merchandise would usually be found at a Comic-Con, but mainly it focuses on comics and heroes of some degree. These conventions are usually host to thousands of people and they draw people in from all over the world with different Cons having different announcements and merchandise. Unfortunately, this year has been forced to be a little different than all years prior as we are currently dealing with a pandemic. All hope is not lost, however, as they have figured out an alternative way to hold the event.
In an effort to prevent the further spread of disease, all conventions through the end of the year, and even some for next year, have all been cancelled. One of those conventions just happened to be San Diego Comic-Con, which is the West Coast equivalent to New York Comic-Con. They found an alternative way to hold the convention in a way that would end up working out for all Comic-Con fans and the general public as well. The organizers decided to host the first ever Comic Con @ Home, which was essentially a live stream event where many panels were held online. On top of this, they had a digital marketplace set up in order to allow companies to continue selling their merchandise online.
New York Comic-Con was formed in 2006 as a way for people on the East Coast to easily go to a Comic-Con and not have to go across the country. This convention is just like the other Comic-Cons in the fact that they host thousands of people and all kinds of announcements end up being made during the event. New York Comic-Con’s venue allows for even more people than San Diego Comic-Con does and in 2014, the convention surpassed the total number of visitors that the San Diego convention had. Last year, in 2019, they had the largest celebrity-guest list that convention has seen in its entire history. This made it all the more eventful, but this year, just like San Diego Comic-Con, they have had to cancel the live event due to the pandemic.
Fortunately, also like San Diego Comic-Con, they will be doing an online event to draw people in and give them something to look forward to. SDCC went about doing things online by conducting panels over zoom and doing live Q&A’s that anybody could go on and watch during the weekend of the event. ReedPop, the company behind NYCC, revealed that they will be setting up an exclusive partnership with YouTube in order to live-stream all of their panels. Among the panels this year are ‘American Gods,’ ‘Star Trek’s’ expanded universe, Dreamworks Animation, along with various shows from Hulu and FX. Just like with SDCC, they will also have a “virtual marketplace” to allow new, and old, merchandise to be sold to fans. So although we can’t be there in person, come October 8th- October 11th, the Con is still on.
By George Robbins
Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, has become a massive multi-media franchise within the past 12 years. The original ‘Iron Man’ film started something that no one knew would be as successful as it is and that the series would have so many movies in it. It isn’t just difficult for a franchise to tie things together as it is very difficult to make sure every hero has their own time in the limelight. There have been a massive number of heroes shown off in the MCU and they have all had their fair share of interesting introductions and stories. They even managed to get Spider-Man involved in the MCU because of a deal made with Sony that allows for the character to have his place in the MCU. One of the most asked questions though, is just when will the X-Men be introduced.
For many years, the X-Men franchise has been the property of Fox Studios but after last year, Disney acquired a vast majority of Fox. When they acquired most of them, they also acquired their intellectual properties, namely the X-Men franchise. When they got their hands on the property, fans immediately knew that they would some day be seeing some of their favorite characters come over to the MCU. The question is how they will be introduced, because in the comics, mutants just exist in everyday life, but I’m sure they can find some easy way of seamlessly including them into the universe. When they do end up getting into the universe, ordinary fans will not be the only ones looking forward to it.
Many people know Colton Haynes who played Green Arrow in the CW’s ‘The Arrow’ and they also know that his character is no longer in the Arrowverse. With no other commitments, it seems that he wants to try his hand at being a part of the MCU instead of the DC universe. Haynes has said that whenever the X-Men actually do make their way into the MCU, he wants to play the character of Iceman who is a well known member of the superhero team. Haynes is one of many different actors who wish to be a part of that universe and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he did end up in that universe. Many different actors have found their way in somehow and it would be interesting to see if he can as well after playing a DC hero.
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