Category: Entertainment & Media

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!