You can also spot Will Arnett hanging around the TV reporting van. His part was said to be for a small, undisclosed role. It looks like he may be April‘s camera guy. This means we can probably expect Arnett to play his usual brash, grown-up-frat-guy role. He’ll also probably hit on April. Will Casey have to smack him down? Just pure speculation on my part. What do you think about Fox as O’Neil? Do any of these images change your mind about her taking the role? The film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman and is scheduled for a June 6th, 2014 release date.

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Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Megan Fox Spotted In Her April O’Neil Duds On The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Set

In 1983, Sam Raimi’s cult horror classic, “The Evil Dead” was released. It has gone down as one of the most influential horror films of all time. 30 years later, a remake, “Evil Dead” was released by director Fede Alvarez. Like Raimi, “Evil Dead” serves as the directorial debut of Alvarez.

The plot of the film is similar to the original in many regards. Five twenty-somethings head to a remote cabin in the woods to stay together. In the original, it was to spend their break away from it all and relax. In this film however, it is a drug intervention for a college student named Mia (played by Jane Levy). She is there with her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) who is now a mechanic, their friend Olivia (Jessica Lucas) who is a nurse, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) a schoolteacher, and David’s new girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore). They find that their cabin had been used as a site for black magic and find the “Naturon Demonto” the book of the dead. Despite warnings written in the book, Eric reads an incantation from it and summons demonic forces that stalk and possess Mia. Due to her going through drug withdrawals no one will believer her, until they too begin experiencing strange events. The first two acts of the film deal with the generic clichés of the horror genre, but the third act delivers an excellent and brilliant climax.

The film’s setup is similar to the original but they give much more backstory for the characters as well as more exposition and explanation of the events. The original “Naturon Demonto” did not specify rules on how the demonic possession worked. The characters in the first did not even read it; they stumbled across a tape recording of someone else reading it. This film also gives a better reason for why the characters do not take Mia’s warnings about the dangers seriously, they think she is going through withdrawals and wants to get back home to get a fix. It is revealed that Mia and David’s mother went insane and died in the hospital, which adds tension to their relationship and shows David’s fear that Mia is slipping into insanity as well.

These revelations about their backstories are important because the characters get little development apart from this. David and Mia get the expected development that reconciling siblings would get. Eric goes through an interesting character arc as well. Olivia and Natalie get little to no development. They also seem to suffer from impeded intelligence at times. David and Eric range from being quite intelligent to embarrassingly stupid. However, in the films defense, the original’s cast suffered the same problems.

The actors themselves gave mixed performances. Shiloh Fernandez was varied as David. His performance would range from competent with shades of quality to wooden and stiff. His best scenes were when his determination was showing through. Lou Taylor Pucci was actually pretty good as Eric. He is the guy from the trailers who looked like Nerdy Jesus. He seems wracked with guilt and facing conflicting emotions. He probably gave the second strongest performance from the cast.

The best performance in the film is without a doubt Jane Levy as Mia.

Levy is especially creepy as Mia’s possessed form. Her insane expressions and erratic movements make her quite unsettling.

Her performance is among the best of any horror film in the past decade. She did an amazing job depicting the fear and anxiety after her initial attack. Her terror was very palpable and made the audience uneasy. Once she becomes possessed, as seen in the trailer, she steals the show. She is twisted, mesmerizing and terrifying in the role. Her face can quickly switch from terror to a contorted crazy expression that is terror inducing in its own right. Her body language was very well done as well. She alternated from stiff and unnatural to fluid and lethal. Her performance alone is enough to compensate for other cast members underacting.

The film is certainly flawed but overall delivers a great thrill ride. It never pretends to be anything more than an entertaining horror film. It is obvious that the writers and director had a love of the original. The film is loaded with shout outs to the original. Some are obvious, such as the chainsaw in the shed, or a 1973 Oldsmobile sitting abandoned behind the cabin, while some, such as Mia wearing a Michigan State jacket like the characters of the original film, are more subtle references. The cabin itself looks nearly identical to that of the original film. The main aesthetic difference is that the “Naturon Demonto” still appears to be made from human flesh but no longer carries the contorted face on the cover. It also has much more detailed imagery and exposition within it.

The book in this one gives much more detail and exposition about what these beings are, though the term Deadite is never used.

This could be one of the most technically proficient horror films in years. The cinematography and special effects in the film were excellent. The camera work in this film is one thing that was certainly superior to the original. Most of the shots are perfectly placed building just the right amount of suspense and unease. The special effects all appear to be hard practical effects with CGI only being applied for touch ups. They look amazing. The practical effects combined with the films beautiful camera work and extraordinary lighting create some engaging and scary shots. The possessions are more realistic looking than the originals. The effects are mostly low-key until the film climaxes in an amazingly bloody spectacle that would make any gore lover happy. This scene is topped off by an excellent piece from the score. The score for the majority of the film is low key and eerie, fitting the tone perfectly.

This biggest difference between this film and the original is its sense of humor. One of the most memorable things about the original is that while a horror film, it was also funny. It had a creepy sense of humor that, while unsettling at times, was amusing. This film has a much darker tone, but still has a dark sense of humor. Its humor comes from a feeling of medium awareness. The obvious clichés are played straight or subverted in ways that are comical. The film also has obsession with doors suddenly or slowly closing behind people. It eventually becomes apparent that it is a running joke.

“Evil Dead” is an excellent debut for Alvarez. The film is of much better quality than the slew of horror remakes to come out in the past decade. While not perfect, it is an enjoyable ride that actually manages to keep you guessing and in suspense until the end. It is what it is and does not pretend to be anything more. The film merits a 7/10, a must see for horror fans.

Richard "Hawk" Hawkins, “Evil Dead” Review: Breathing Life Into a Classic Franchise

Work on Marc Webb’s Spider-Man sequel is coming along nicely. It seems the majority of the cast is in place and filming will start soon. Two of the new additions to the movie were out and about promoting their movies at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Shailene Woodley, who will be playing Mary Jane Watson, and Dane DeHaan, Harry Osborn, talked a little about the upcoming Spidey movie.

Woodley spoke with MTV about joining the cast and how excited she was about the film. The actress couldn’t reveal too much, but she said she’s a fan of the character and really enjoyed the reboot:

Spider-Man has always been my favorite super hero dude, since I was a little girl. I think there’s something really special about flying. When I watched the previous Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield, he made me feel invincible. I think Marc Webb is amazing. I’m so stoked to work with Andrew and Emma [Stone], they’re the best of the best.

She went on to say that she didn’t know any real details about the film, but she assumes she’ll be part of a love triangle if the comics are anything to go by. Woodley also hinted that she’d be making the transition and become a redhead soon. You can watch the full video interview by clicking here.

Chronicle break-out star Dane DeHaan also chatted about The Amazing Spider-Man sequel while on the red carpet for his film with Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe called Kill Your Darlings. The actor remained tight lipped on what he knows, but he did confirm that he will be involved in a love triangle. Is it with Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, Aunt May? We’ll have to wait and find out. The director of Darlings may have spoiled a big plot point for the film though. HitFix reports an incident that occured during the cast introductions:

[Director] Krokidas introduced the cast of “Darlings” which includes Daniel Radcliffe, Ben Foster and Michael C. Hall. When he got to DeHaan he said “He’s the Green Goblin.” DeHaan just smiled, but it didn’t seem like Krokidas was kidding.

Is this a case of a director who doesn’t know a lot about comics or is Webb planning on skipping Norman and having Harry don the Green Goblin gear? I would say it’s the first, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the second happened. The Green Goblin was used in Sam Raimi’s first film, so it would be a little too soon to simply rehash the character. What do you think? Would you be pleased if Harry is the first Green Goblin?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Amazing Spider-Man 2: Shailene Woodley, Dane DeHaan, And A Possible Villain Spoiler

I am Yumi Sakugawa and I am a comic book artist and illustrator based in the Southern California. I am a regular comic / illustrator online contributor to Sadie Magazine and Wonderhowto.

Most recently, my comic zine “Mundane Fortunes for the Next Ten Billion Years and Other Stories” was selected as Notable Comics of 2012 by the Best American Comics anthology editors.

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Muy Mareado!, Indie Spotlight: Yumi Sakugawa

IDW is releasing a comic book prequel for Star Trek Into Darkness, called Countdown to Darkness, written by Mike Johnson with a story by Roberto Orci. It is an official prequel comic to the movie and works to bridge the gap between the first film and the second. The cover to #4, the final in the miniseries, shows a Klingon warrior with the much debated helmet. The comic comes out in April and the film in May. Could it be setting the Klingons up for a big role for Into Darkness? Time will tell. What do you think?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, IDW Seems To Hint At Klingon Involvement In Star Trek Into Darkness

Fox has tapped Jeremy Slater to write the reboot. The Hollywood Reporters states that the up-and-coming writer, along with Trank, are indications that Fox is trying to capture the hardcore comic book fans. Both Trank and Slater are of that particular genre. Slater has a horror movie Tape 4 floating around Hollywood, which is centered in the H.P. Lovecraft mythology. It is being worked on by Lionsgate. Slater also wrote My Spy, which is a teen spy comedy.

It’s too early for any sort of casting yet, but there had been a rumor floating around since the reboot was first announced that The Thing would be purely CGI. With all of this recent news, it seems Fox is pushing it to get a Fantastic Four movie off the ground. It is the next big film lined up after The Wolverine.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Fantastic Four Reboot Finds A Writer

We pretty much knew that Trank would be working on the Fantastic Four reboot, but now it is official according to Deadline. Josh Trank will direct the reboot which is scheduled to be the next film Fox will work on after The Wolverine and X-Men: First Class sequels. After Chronicle’s success at the box office and with critics, Fox has been throwing offers at Trank to work on another project. He has attached himself to a few, but FF will be the next film he directs.

Deadline also reports that the Daredevil movie has lost David Slade as its director. Fox is scrambling to find a replacement since they have a script they like. Fox also has to race against the clock. The studio will lose the rights to DD if they don’t have a film in production by fall. If they don’t, the rights revert back to Marvel Studios and Disney. Slade had to drop out because he is directing the pilot episode of the Hannibal TV series. Yes, Hannibal Lecter is getting a TV show.

The news about Trank is something we knew, but now it’s just official. Trank should be an excellent fit for Marvel’s first Family and Chronicle was a terrific movie so we have little to worry about for now. We may finally get the FF movie we deserve. The Daredevil news is a mixed bag. If they can find a good director and stick with the script based on Frank Miller’s Born Again run, it may be alright. If they do rush just to get something into production, we could have a mess on our hands. If the rights do revert back Marvel will surely act fast.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Movie Reboot News: Fantastic Four Locks In Josh Trank But Daredevil Loses Its Director

At a Dredd panel at the London Film and Comic Con, an amazing new scene was shown that was “vicious” and showed off an ability of Dredd’s lawmaker gun, but that wasn’t the big story. Alex Garland, the screenwriter of the reboot, addressed the inevitable sequel questions. Here’s the quote by way of Bleeding Cool:

We’ll see a sequel if the gross is above $50 million in the US. It’s a simple financial equation. We’re an independent movie… In terms of Dark Judges, I wrote Death into this script, but it didn’t feel right for the first film. I thought it felt right but after about 16 drafts and it really didn’t work out.

I needed to have set up the city and Dredd first before taking on what is essentially a riff on the Judges. You need to know what the Judges are before you can subvert them.

I wrote a second script which was about Dredd going out to the Cursed Earth. That was rejected for similar reasons.

If they want to make sequels, I’ve got a story that goes from this one into the origins of Dredd and the city. Then the third one has would have a strange, existential attack from the Dark Judges.

If you’re a fan of Dredd and 2000 AD this is pretty great stuff. Many versions of this film’s script had the Dark Judges, or at least Judge Death. If you want to read up about the Dark Judges, wikipedia has a nice overview if you click here.

So if the film hits around $50 million you can expect at least one more outing for the Judge. That doesn’t sound too high of a mark, but keep it mind it is a hard R rated movie. The Dark Judges have a lot of potential if done correctly. We’ll see how the script changes work and if it’s worthy of a sequel September 21st.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Early Plans On A Judge Dredd Trilogy From Scriptwriter Alex Garland

Unlike DC’s 52, the Marvel relaunch will not change any continuity. Books will be reworked and relaunched with fresh #1′s on their covers and all the heroes will be sporting new looks. The new idea is to have an easily accessible point for new readers to climb aboard the Marvel train. October will see Marvel launch brand new series, some come out weekly, with new relaunches for classic books as well. All of this will run through February of next year.

Some readers of EW’s comic-con issue uploaded the picture Joe Quesada did for the new character looks as well as descriptions for three of the books. You can see pictures of the pages below. These descriptions come by way of CBR:

• Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender and John Cassaday starring a team composed of Captain America, Wolverine and others from the company’s two powerhouse franchises battling the mutant-hating Red Skull.
• All New X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen realigning the mutant team in the wake of AvX as the original five X-Men are mysteriously brought to the present day. This title will launch in November.
• Avengers by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena, which is light on specific details aside from a roster of 18 heroes in a bi-weekly comic that seems to be Hickman-esque rethinking of the Avengers core mission in the vein of the writer’s “Fantastic Four” run.

There will be digital bonuses for each of the Marvel Now books similar to AvX. This is all a part of Marvel ReEvolution push.

Hickman’s Avengers is said to feature “galaxy spanning multi-issue arcs.” Bendis talked about the X-Men book with EW:

It’s not a time-travel story like Back To The Future. It’s a time-travel story like Pleasantville. Here’s the big question that the original X-Men are gonna be faced with: We’re gonna grow up, and this is what we’re going to get? That is not acceptable.”

While all of this information coming out now spoils the ending of AvX, not all of it sounds so bad. DC was able to change for the better, in most cases, so maybe Marvel can refresh their universe and bring together great new teams. I’m not one to love big changes in comics, but I will wait and see on this one.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, MARVEL NOW: Don’t Call It A Reboot

The big issue with the movie was said to be the script.

Paramount has delayed several big movies from this year to 2013, including G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Brad Pitt’s World War Z, leaving it with a spotty pipeline for the current year. Now it has halted work on its planned holiday movie for 2013, temporarily laying off preproduction staff and informing those prepping the film that the work stoppage is “indefinite,” according to sources. Another source close to the production says the movie has been pushed by ten weeks.

The delay of G.I. Joe was bad enough news for Paramount, then not long after that the stories about rewrites and weeks of reshoots for Brad Pitt’s World War Z was announced. It seems like Paramount has a pretty big mess on their hands.

The new date for Ninja Turtles is a tentative May 16, 2014 release according to Deadline’s sources. It is believed that part of the decision to delay the production was to reduce the budget by $10-$20 million and have the film at the $125 million mark. The May 16 spot will more than likely also feature one of Marvel’s as of yet unannounced films as well, so that’s some stiff competition.

You may remember Michael Bay, who is producing the reboot, had fans in a tizzy when he announced that the turtles would be an alien species that came to our planet. There was a mixed reaction from the creative team of TMNT, but fans were pretty unanimous in their displeasure. Whether the script is being reworked to ease the fan rage or not remains to be seen. Paramount has some cleaning up to do, so we’ll have to wait and see how things are adjusted.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Ninja Turtles Production Pushed Back

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Judge Dredd. Game of Thrones star Lena Headey breaks a pretty long Dredd silence and talks about her character. We’ve also got a few images from the film. This is the real first look we’ve had of Headey’s character, and she talks a little about her role and the tone of the film.

This incarnation of Judge Dredd will be a hard R rating, 3D take on the comic book that is more faithful to the source than the Sly Stallone version in the early 90s. Karl Urban plays Dredd and Olivia Thirlby plays his partner, a new recruit with psychic powers. They team up to take on Ma-Ma (Heady’s character), the head of a drug gang that deals a “reality-altering narcots known as SLO-MO.” Ma-Ma is head of an apartment block called Peach Trees, where most of the action takes place. It will be gritty, dark, and very violent.

The world feels really British, and I don’t know if that’s because it’s so dirty and dark. And it’s…violent. Just in terms of gunplay, they’re not afraid to show blood and gunshot wounds. And it’s set up in this concrete sort of shanty town — it’s shanty but they’re blocks — concrete favelas.

Ma-Ma was originally supposed to be an older woman, Heady reportedly won over the director with her take on the character.

She’s a prostitute who then kills her pimp and takes over his drug-running business. And Ma-Ma is a bit of a man-hater.

Dredd will be dropping into theaters on September 21st.

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Lena Headey Talks JUDGE DREDD Plus New Pictures