Category: Movies

How Did They De-Age Michael Douglas In “Ant-Man”?

My answer would be witchcraft but it turns out that the answer is the people at Lola VFX, who were also behind skinny Steve Rogers in “Captain America: The First Avenger”, Magneto and Professor X in “X-Men: The Last Stand” and Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”.

From Vulture:

Mostly that meant no anti-aging makeup on the 70-year-old Douglas (it messes with the way light works on the face) and a sprightly stand-in to give a reference point for the way young skin looked on the S.H.I.E.L.D. set. Unlike on previous transformations, they had a plenty of reference material — multiple feature films’ worth — of exactly what a 45-year-old Michael Douglas would look like.

The only solution was to view as much of Douglas’s late-’80s oeuvre as possible, as closely as possible. They found themselves watching Wall Street not only for its dramatic indictment of corporate greed, but also for its great shots of Douglas’s middle-aged wrinkles. “What’s really important is the way his face moves as he speaks, the way that the muscles in the face have changed over time, the way the skin reacts to those muscles. To sell the effect you have to look at the way [the face] looks in motion.”

De-aging an actor is essentially giving them a digital face-lift, and Lola’s team do the same work with digital composites a skilled plastic surgeon would do with a scalpel. “The most obvious thing is that the skin along the jaw in most people tends to get lower and lower and sag a little bit as you get older. Particularly around the throat and the Adam’s Apple area, you’ll get a build-up of extra skin down there,” Claus told me. “One thing we’ll have to do to de-age someone is restore that elasticity and try to not only to remove the excess skin, but pull it back up to where it once was.”

Our cheeks thin out and sink as we get older, so Lola also added a little more fat to the middle of Douglas’s cheeks. And since human ears and noses never stop growing, they also had to shrink Douglas’s back to their 1980s’ sizes, as well as remove some of his ear wrinkles. Then it came time to restore what Claus called Douglas’s “youthful glow,” adding shine to his skin and hiding the blood vessels in his nose.

Source: Vulture

The New “Spider-Man” Meets The New “Punisher”

What is going on here? Recently Tom Holland, who has been cast to play Spider-Man, posted a photo of Jon Berthnal, who has been cast to play The Punisher, and himself on Instagram. This could be purely coincidence that they happened to meet or it could be that maybe The Punisher will appear in “Captain America: Civil War”. In the Civil War comic book series, The Punisher had a impactful role and helped save Spider-Man from Iron Man’s goons. Only time will tell.

Civil War:

The Punisher also made his first appearance in the comics in Amazing Spider-Man #129.

Source: Tom Holland Instagram

First Look At Jon Berthnal As “The Punisher” Filming “Daredevil: Season 2″

Here is the first look at actor Jon Berthnal as The Punisher on the set of “Daredevil: Season 2″. This looks like a daytime shot of Frank Castle and definitely expect to see the classic skull on his chest when he goes to work as The Punisher at night. Looking good so far.

Source: Just Jared

Kevin Feige Talks About How The Movies Of John Hughes Will Inspire The New “Spider-Man” Movie

This should be interesting! While talking about “Ant-Man” Kevin Feige was discussing the upcoming Spider-Man movie and that the movies of John Hughes will play a role in how Peter deals with some of his High School days.

It’s the soap opera in high school, and those supporting characters, that are interesting. Just as we hadn’t seen a heist movie in a long time, or a shrinking movie in a long time, we haven’t seen a John Hughes movie in a long time. Not that we can make a John Hughes movie — only John Hughes could — but we’re inspired by him, and merging that with the superhero genre in a way we haven’t done before excites us […] Particularly at that age, in high school, everything feels like life or death. The tests feel like life or death. Coming home from being out with your friends seemed like life or death. The stakes are high at that age.

The Great Spider-Man Conspiracy!

“Ant-Man” Coming To Disney Infinity 3.0

SideShow Collectible Corner:

“Ant-Man Collectible Set”

The newest release in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man, will give audiences an interesting perspective. In this superhero hit, ex con-man, Scott Lang, is armed with a super-suit that has the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength. He must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, pull off a heist that will save the world against the Yellowjacket.

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are delighted to officially introduce the Ant-Man Cosbaby Series! This series includes Ant-Man and the movie’s villain – Yellowjacket. The Collectible Figure each stand approximately 9.5cm (3.75 inches) tall and have a bobble-head. The Collectible Set of 3 is also available, which will feature the Ant-Man and Yellowjacket plus a special Ant-Man (Black Out Version) that is only available in the set.

The Ant-Man Collectible set is available for pre-order exclusively through SideShow Collectibles at a price of $46.99 and will ship in the last quarter of 2015.

Source: Sideshow Collectibles

That’s it for this time!

I was never a fan of Ant-Man in the comics. I always thought he was one of the weakest superheroes in that his power was basically he could turn microscopic and talk to ants. Last year Marvel released “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and they basically did quite an accomplishment by turning a story about a virtually unknown group of superheroes into one of Marvel’s best superhero movies to date. It looks like Marvel has done it again because “Ant-Man” was a really enjoyable and well done film.

Hank Pym played by Michael Douglas:

Within the very first few minutes of the film you will be treated to one of the most incredible effects of the film, the de-aging of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) by 25 years. We have seen this done previously with films like “Tron: Legacy” and in the recent “Terminator: Genysis”, but the results that were achieved in “Ant-Man’s” de-aging process blows all contenders away. It is absolutely flawless and it is the one thing that impressed me the most with “Ant-Man”. I definitely wanted to see more of it and it made me realize that we are at an age where a whole movie can be done with this process.

Scott Lang/Ant-Man played by Paul Rudd:

Scott Lang is an ex-con that has just been released from prison and is finding it hard to find work due to his criminal background. He is also trying to rebuild the relationship with his young daughter and just wants the best for her life. Realizing that the only way out of his financial problems is to make one big score with his friends he decides to burgle the house of Hank Pym. The score is not what he expected and is basically a setup to have Lang work with Pym to stop Pym’s former protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from militarizing Pym’s Particles which Pym fears could lead to disaster if the technology ends up in the wrong hands. Pym and Lang are joined by Pym’s daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) as they work against time to stop Cross and the villainous Yellow Jacket from achieving their goal of selling their technology to the highest bidder.

Hope Van Dyme played by Evangeline Lilly:

“Ant-Man” is basically a heist movie with a bunch of lighthearted comedy and the introduction of Marvel’s newest superhero to it’s ever growing cinematic roster. If you throw out all of the superhero parts, it’s still a fun movie. What I liked about this movie was that it was something new and it feels different from the other Marvel movies that we have seen thus far. Paul Rudd has a certain kind of charm where you just can’t help but root for the guy and he is excellently cast as Scott Lang/ Ant-Man. Michael Douglas does a great job as the mentor to Lang and it is great to see him in a Marvel movie. Corey Stall does a great job as the villain and it is a shame that Warner Brothers did not choose him to play the role of Lex Luthor in “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice”.

Darren Cross played by Corey Stall:

I think the director, Peyton Reed, deserves a lot of praise due to the drama that was created after Marvel and Edgar Wright, the original director, parted ways. I am sure that people that dislike this movie will say that it probably would have been better if Wright was still director and there will be others who really like it and basically say, well this was Wright’s vision and he deserves the credit.

I would say the only negative is although I enjoyed the movie and it made me appreciate the “Ant-Man” character, in no way am I looking forward to “Ant-Man 2” as I would say the next “Guardians Of The Galaxy”. He’s still just a guy that shrinks and communicates with ants, even though I know he has another power that will probably come to play in the sequel.

Since “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” came out recently, it is hard not to compare the two. I would say that by far “Ultron” had the star power, the roster and some incredible action scenes that many people would prefer it over the “Ant-Man”. But this was a fun movie with very likeable characters and a story that flowed a hell of a lot better than ir did in “Ultron”.

As per the norm, there are two after credit scenes once the movie is over. One occurs within a few minutes and the other one will have you waiting at least 10 minutes until all of the credits are finished. Is the second after credit scene worth it? It depends. It appears to be an actual scene from “Captain America: Civil War”, so if you are dying to see a little piece of that movie, you may want to stay. But dont be surprised if you end up saying, “I waited all this time for this?” Like most after credit scenes, it is short and probably floating around the internet somewhere.

I give “Ant-Man” 3 out of 5 stars.

Marisa Tomei Cast As Aunt May In The New “Spider-Man” Movie

Yes you heard it correctly, Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny”) will be playing Peter Parker’s Aunt May in the upcoming “Spider-Man” movie. My first reaction is somewhere George Costanza is either very happy or he is mad because he could have been Uncle Ben.

It seems like it’s not such a bad gig being Aunt May because you keep getting younger and younger in both the comics and the movies. But then again Aunt May was almost 100 years old in the comics for a good 40 years. As an old school Spider-Man fan, I would have liked to have seen an older Aunt May, but I’m sure Marisa Tomei will do a great job.

The casting of Tomei as Aunt May kind of reminds me of Hiro and his Aunt in “Big Hero 6″. It worked well in that movie and I could see it working in the new “Spider-Man” too.

Source: Variety

James Gunn Reveals The Title For The “Guardians Of The Galaxy” Sequel

James Gunn has reveled that the title for the sequel to “Guardians Of the Galaxy” is….”Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 2″. Meh. I’m taking a wild guess and saying the movie after that will be called “Volume 3″. Does that mean they have to change the title of the first movie to “Volume 1″?

Source: James Gunn via Facebook

Elodie Young Cast As “Elektra” in Marvel’s “Daredevil”

Daredevil Season 2 has now found it’s Elektra and it is Elodie Young (“G.I Joe: Retaliation”).

Head of Marvel Television and Executive Producer of Daredevil Jeph Joeb sang Elodie’s praises:

After a worldwide search, we found in Elodie the perfect actress to embody both Elektra’s impressive and deadly physicality, as well as her psychological complexity, paired with Charlie as Matt Murdock, the two will bring one of the most beloved and tumultuous comic book relationships to life with all the accompanying sparks and spectacular action sequences the show is known for.

Source: JoBlo

New Poster And Sneak Peek Schedule For The “Guardians Of The Galaxy” Animated Series On Disney XD

Featuring characters both from Marvel’s Guardians comics and last year’s huge hit movie, Guardians of the Galaxy’s voice cast includes Will Friedle (Boy Meets World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Trevor Devall (Johnny Test) as Rocket Raccoon, Vanessa Marshall (Star Wars Rebels) as Gamora, David Sobolov (Transformers: Prime) as Drax the Destroyer, Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show) as Groot and James Arnold Taylor (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Yondu and Cosmo.

While the official debut of Guardians is September 26th, viewers will have a chance to first see the show on September 5th, as part of a big rollout Disney XD are giving the series. Check out the complete plan below.

AUGUST 1 – AUGUST 29
• Each Saturday throughout August, two new character shorts will telecast on Disney XD.
o August 1: Star-Lord – Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (10:28 p.m., ET/PT)
o August 8: Groot – Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)
o August 15: Rocket Raccoon – Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)
o August 22: Drax – Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)
o August 29: Gamora – Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
• Disney XD debuts sneak peek at first episode of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT.
o “Road to Knowhere” – The newly-christened Guardians of the Galaxy come into possession of a dangerous artifact that has Thanos’ new lieutenant, Korath, after them.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
• One-hour premiere of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy featuring back-to-back episodes on Disney XD (9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m., ET/PT).
o Encore presentation of “Road to Knowhere” followed by “Knowhere to Run.” In “Knowhere to Run,” the Guardians struggle to subdue the suddenly-sprung-to-life Celestial head that is the Knowhere space colony, as well as storm Korath’s ship to rescue Quill, Gamora and the mysterious CryptoCube that holds the Cosmic Seed.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy available to WATCH Disney XD users on WATCHDisneyXD.com and the WATCH Disney XD app for smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.

Source: IGN

Sideshow Collectible Corner

“Thor”

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys have revealed their newest premium collectible figure for “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” and it is “Thor”.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron  Hot Toys collectibles series continues! In the epic blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron  Thor, along with the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, battle hard against the menacing A.I., Ultron, in order to save mankind from the terrifying fate of human extinction!

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are delighted to present the new Thor Sixth Scale Collectible Figure from Avengers: Age of Ultron! The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the movie and features a newly developed head sculpt, highly detailed costume, an LED light-up Mjolnir and an authentic metal Mjolnir with lightning effect accessory, as well as a specially designed figure base.

“Thor” is currently available for pre-order exclusively through Sodeshow Collectibles at a price of $219.99 and will ship in the last quarter of 2015.

Source: Sideshow Collectibles

That’s it for this time!