ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, NEW TRAILER

Release date: December 16th, 2016

STRANGER THINGS, INDEED

The new Netflix original series, Stranger Things, has become quite the hit.  Taking place in 1983, it hits upon a certain nostalgia and combines a mystery/horror element with the wonder of a Spielberg film.  There is a group of children, portrayed by some great little actors, looking for their friend who has mysteriously disappeared.  There is a government facility, shrouded in secrecy, conducting experiments that mirror the Montauk Project, MKUltra and other conspiracy theorists favorites.  There's a monster, dimensional rifts and psychic powers.  It's great. Winona Ryder stars as the unstable mother of the missing child and David Harbour portrays the town sheriff trying to uncover the truth behind the odd happenings.  The story is great, the performances are top-notch and young actress, Millie Bobby Brown, can convey more with a look than most actors can with a page of dialogue.  Seriously, if you haven't already, check this one out.

In Theaters Today (04/15/16)

The Jungle Book (2016)
   Director: Jon Favreau
    Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o,
     Ben Kingsley, Chritopher Walken, Bill Murray
               
Criminal (2016)
    Starring: Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman,
     Tommy Lee Jones, Gal Gadot, Alice Eve
Barbershop: The Next Cut
   Starring: Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall,
     Anthony Anderson, Common, Nicki Minaj

Marvel's Doctor Strange Teaser Trailer

Box Office for April 8-10, 2016

1. The Boss     $23.5 million
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice     $23.4 million
3. Zootopia     $14 million
4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2     $6 million
5. Hardcore Henry     $5 million

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Teaser Trailer [HD]

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Official Teaser Trailer

SPIDER SENSE

Final Trailer for Captain America: Civil War has a little of everything, including the first Marvel Studios appearance of the wall-crawler...

Box Office for November 6-8, 2015

1. SPECTRE     $73 million
2. The Peanuts Movie     $45 million
3. The Martian     $9.3 million
4. Goosebumps     $6.9 million
5. Bridge of Spies     $6 million

SPECTRE

First trailer for Bond 24 released today!

Box Office for March 20-22, 2015

1. The Divergent Series: Insurgent     $52.2 million
2. Cinderella (2015)     $34.9 million
3. Run All Night     $5.03 million
4. The Gunman     $5.02 million
5. Kingsman: The Secret Service     $4.6 million

You can certainly see that we're still in the winter slump when there's such a big difference between the top two and number three and that a movie that has already been out for 6 weeks can still grab the number five
spot.

REMEMBER.....

Momoa da Man... Aquaman!

Let's face it, Aquaman doesn't get a lot of respect.  But looking at the new publicity picture that was just posted, it looks like actor, Jason Momoa, will demand it!  Veteran of the genre, you can see Jason's other work on Stargate: Atlantis, the Conan remake and Game of Thrones.

I NEED A HERO! ....and so do you, evidently.

UPDATED 03/11/16
With at least TWENTY SEVEN super hero movies coming out over the next 6 years, I thought I would try to put together a comprehensive list.  The following includes Marvel and DC characters.  The Marvel one's are being produced by different studios and will most likely vary in continuity.  Here we go...

• Avengers: Age of Ultron (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/01/15
• Ant-Man (Marvel / Marvel)
• 07/17/15
• Fantastic 4 (Marvel / Fox)
• 08/07/15
• Deadpool (Marvel / Fox)
• 02/12/16
• Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (DC / WB)
• 03/25/16
• Captain America: Civil War (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/06/16
• X-Men: Apocalypse (Marvel / Fox)
• 05/27/16
• Suicide Squad (DC / WB)
• 08/05/16
• Doctor Strange (Marvel / Marvel)
• 11/04/16
• Wolverine 3 (Marvel / Fox)
• 03/03/17
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/05/17
• Wonder Woman (DC / WB)
• 06/23/17
• Spider-Man: Sinister Six (Marvel / Sony)
• 07/07/17
• Thor: Ragnarok (Marvel / Marvel)
• 11/03/17
• Justice League: Part 1 (DC / WB)
• 11/17/17
• Black Panther (Marvel/Marvel)
• 02/16/18
• The Flash (DC / WB)
• 03/23/18
• Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/04/18
• Ant-Man and The Wasp (Marvel / Marvel)
• 07/06/18
• Aquaman (DC / WB)
• 07/27/18
• Captain Marvel (Marvel / Marvel)
• 03/08/19
• Shazam (DC / WB)
• 04/05/19
• Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2 (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/03/19
• Justice League: Part 2 (DC / WB)
• 06/14/19
• Inhumans (Marvel / Marvel)
• 07/12/19
• Cyborg (DC / WB)
• 04/03/20
• Green Lantern (DC / WB)
• 06/19/20
• Marvel: Phase IV Begins ? (Marvel / Marvel)
• 05/01/20 (Date Reserved - TBA)
• 07/10/20 (Date Reserved - TBA)
• 11/06/20 (Date Reserved - TBA)

BOND 11/06/15...

CHILDHOOD'S END

I just recently read the book.  I hope Syfy can do it justice.

View full article at Dark Horizons.

Syfy Green Lights "Childhood's End" Mini-Series

READER'S BLOCK

If there can be such a thing as writer's block, then I can certainly suffer from reader's block.  It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it lasts a while.  I'll read several books in a row, start the next one and BAM! , I hit a wall.  I'll set the book aside but can't seem to get motivated to pick it back up.  I'll think, maybe it's this book or the genre or something and try another, but... nothing.  I can't get back into it.  Other times I can circle around a book and read another, but it's slow going.

According to my Goodreads page, I've been reading Terry Brooks' Armageddon's Children for almost a year.  I'm only 117 pages in.  I have managed to read a couple of other books since then, but that took me a good while.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with the book or the author.  They're both great, in fact.  I just have some kind of mental block.  I read 2 chapters the other day, enjoyed it, but stalled-out again.


So, in my normal fashion, I've picked up another one, Kevin J. Anderson's The Dark Between the Stars.  I'm building up some momentum and if I can get through it, in relatively short order, I think I'll get back on track for Brooks' novel.  I'm hopeful that I won't get side-tracked again and can keep rolling as my 'to read' list is not getting any shorter.

JACK RYAN: BEFORE AND AFTER

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a reboot of the Tom Clancy franchise.  We've seen him played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and even Ben Affleck.  Now, in the title role, is Star Trek's Chris Pine.  As of this writing, I haven't watched the movie yet.  I'm going to check it out and follow up with my thoughts below.  Here's what I know before:  The reboot is an original story and I believe it messes with a lot of the earlier canon.  This makes a certain amount of sense, though, as Ryan was a product of the Cold War and evolved over time.  The reboot would have to be a new story, however it probably alienated long-time fans.  Strike one...  They released the movie in the theaters in January, not a great slot for a hopeful franchise do-over.  Strike two...  Author, Tom Clancy, died before the movie was released and it was not the box office success that I think the studios were looking for.  Probably Strike three for the franchise, but who knows?  Is the movie any good?  Does it live up to the Clancy legacy?  I'm gonna check it out right now....



...And, I'm back.  Well executed story.  It's definitely in the Clancy universe.  Part political thriller, part action with a pinch of high-tech spy gadgetry.  The cast does a great job and I'd love to see more stories.  Unfortunately, the movie only made a profit due to over-seas box office and the critics panned it pretty good.  I'm not sure the studio will have enough faith in this to try again.  The good news is that it didn't have the price tag that many A-list features do these days.  I think it's a better movie than the previous Sum of All Fears, but, alas, the proof is in the $$$.  At any rate, it's worth a rent.  Check it out and decide for yourself.

SUMMER CHECKLIST

Recently viewed items in the theater and on video:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier   -   Excellent!
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Electric Boogaloo   -   I miss Raimi...
Godzilla   -   If you like Godzilla...this one's for you.
X-Men: Days of Future Past   -   They finally got it right...

The Monuments Men   -   Much better than the critics gave it credit for.
The Wolf of Wall Street   -   Great, but make sure the kids aren't around...
Odd Thomas  -  Good adaptation of the book but would make a better TV series...
Frozen   -   Let it go...
American Hustle   -   The 70's were strange but fun...
Gravity   -   Too much hype, but visually stunning...

Looking forward to:

Edge of Tomorrow   -   Tom Cruise's Groundhog Day ... with aliens!
22 Jump Street   -   Not really, just kidding...
Transformers: Beat a Dead Horse... with Dinobots!
Dawn of The Planet of the Apes   -   Go bananas!
Lucy  -   Scarlett Johansson... 'nuff said
Guardians of the Galaxy   -   Why not!

Really disappointed that Jupiter Ascending has been delayed until February, 2015.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.........

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

It has come to my attention that I have not posted for 4 months!  Shame on me.  It's also come to my attention that my humble blog is getting a few "hits" that aren't my mom.  So, I'm thinking I better post some stuff.

There's been a lot going on with new releases in the theaters, video, books and TV.  Too many, in fact, to try to catch up at this point.  However, I'll run down a few highlights and bring us up-to-date.

There were a few movies out that failed miserably at the box office but were actually good sci-fi stories.  Oblivion, with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, was an original story that reminded me of an Arthur C. Clarke tale.  While the pacing was slow the first half of the movie, it really gained some momentum and ended up with a great sci-fi ending.  It's worth a look now that it's out on video.  The other movie that was completely reviled was the M. Night Shyamalan flick, After Earth, starring Will Smith and his son.  I think good speculative fiction story telling has been lost in the flash of Hollywood special effects.  This movie had a good plot, but it didn't have enough eye-candy to win audiences over.  I think people were expecting something else from Smith, and Shyamalan has fallen out of favor after a couple of perceived 'stinkers'.  As with Oblivion, this movie is now on video and there are worse things one could do with their time than watch it.  Ender's Game is pretty good but has been totally overshadowed by the new Thor release (more about that later) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Look for 'Ender' to be out on video after the first of the year if you can't make it to the theater.

Now, when new movies come out I tend to categorize them in to three groups;
1) See it in the theater
2) Wait for video
3) No thanks
Now You See Me falls at number 2.  With an ensemble cast that included Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harrelson, this was a 'heist' movie that had Vegas magicians and illusionists perpetrating the crime.  It was fun and had a few neat twists but I still feel that a video viewing was the right choice.  Star Trek Into Darkness was definitely in the number 1 category.  This latest vision of the rebooted franchise revisits many of the themes of Star Trek II, much to the discouragement of some fans.  However, I found that this is something that needs to be recognized.  These characters may be in a new timeline, but they will still experience many of the same challenges and villains, and it will happen in a different fashion.  This movie did a good job of demonstrating that.  I look forward to a 3rd installment.

Other theatrical releases of note, all of which have made it to video now, include World War Z, Epic, The Croods and Pacific Rim.  All were very entertaining and well worth the time to check out.

Most recently, I've had the opportunity to see Thor: The Dark World.  This is the second Thor story as well as the second post-Avengers one, and part of Marvel's "phase 2" movies.  It is really a much larger canvas and tells a more epic story than the first.  The cast is great... again, and Tom Hiddleston's Loki has some great one-liners... again.  However, in the first of 2 post-credit teasers, the Infinity Stones are introduced and they are supposed to come into play in a later movie (Guardians of the Galaxy most likely).  This is way out of context, though, as they are never mentioned anywhere else in the movie.  They assume the audience already knows what they are.  More of an explanation to non-Marvelites would have been warranted, but, overall, it's a great sequel.

Meanwhile, on the television front, a whole new season has been in progress.  Favorite picks on new shows so far; Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dracula and Almost Human.  Returning shows of note; The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, Revolution and Elementary.

Not to be forgotten, of course, is Doctor Who.  As I write this, the 50th Anniversary movie has aired almost exactly 48 hours ago.  It was simulcast to 94 countries and is now in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest simulcast ever.  Although it could never live up to the hype that was built around it, the movie was still quite satisfying and sets the stage to launch a new Doctor (to appear in the upcoming Christmas special) and, possibly, another 50 years of stories.  Unfortunately, fans will have to wait another 8 months or so to actually see new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, in a regular episode.  These short 'Series' that BBC insists on wear a bit thin sometimes.

In the literary world, the big release, for some, over the summer (actually May - my how time flies) was the new Dan Brown, Robert Langdon novel, Inferno.  Much better than The Lost Symbol, the plot finds our hero running around Italy again.  Although Brown approaches this story from a different angle, the constant art and history lessons he tries to inject gets a bit old after a while.  Overall, it's a good book and would probably make a great movie.  Hollywood should skip The Lost Symbol, though... yuck.

Well, I think I've rattled on quite enough, so for now, That's all folks! (Bonus Content Below)

Here's a link to a video of some Doctors who didn't make it into the 50th Anniversary movie.  ...or did they? 

 The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot