FEATURED POST
700th issue of 'Amazing Spider-Man' turns series on its head
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Dec 28, 2012 5:55PM
By Don Kaye
Special to MSN Movies
First, a spoiler warning, in case you don't want to know what just happened in the historic 700th issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man," which arrived on the stands this week.
OK, ready to keep going? Let's press on.
Bing: More on Spider-Man | More on Marvel Comics
Spider-Man is dead. Long live Spider-Man. Peter Parker -- the nerdy young man from Queens who was bitten by a radioactive spider and developed superhuman powers, becoming one of the most beloved superheroes of all time -- is gone, his consciousness trapped in the broken and now-dead body of his archnemesis, Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus, after their minds were swapped.
Meanwhile, Doc Ock's mind has taken up residence in Peter's body, but in a surprising turn of events in the final pages, Ock is deeply affected when he abruptly relives all of Peter's memories from throughout his entire life. After that, Octavius pledges to the dying hero that he will take up the responsibilities of being Spider-Man and become a force for good.
The final scene between Peter and his longtime nemesis carries quite a bit of emotional power, but there's even more poignancy on hand in an earlier sequence in which Peter dies for three minutes and sees everyone who he has ever lost, including his Uncle Ben -- who absolves him of guilt over Ben's death all those years ago. This is comic book writing at its best.
And that's how "The Amazing Spider-Man" concluded this week, with the 700th issue also being the last of the decades-old line. It will be replaced in January by "The Superior Spider-Man," with Octavius' consciousness inside Peter's body -- and costume -- while Peter Parker himself is presumably gone forever after 50 years of web-spinning.
But is he really? Marvel and writer Dan Slott have been saying that this is a permanent change, but comic book fans know better. Superman was famously killed off in the '90s, yet came back. More recently, Captain America was assassinated at the end of the "Civil War" saga yet eventually returned as well. Even Bruce Wayne was presumed dead for more than a year not long ago, with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, donning Batman's cape and cowl in the interim.
It seems as if superheroes always come back in the end, and this is one of the reasons why we have gradually stopped reading comic books, at least the major superhero lines: If someone can come back to life, there's inherently no sense of true loss when they die. It's very difficult to have a truly dramatic story or character arc when the whole thing can be reset with the turn of a page. Anyone remember when Peter made a deal with Mephisto and wiped out his entire marriage with Mary Jane Watson, just because?
The idea of Doc Ock struggling to pretend he's Peter Parker, in Peter's body, while also going against his own nature and learning to be a good guy, is a fascinating one that could lead to a number of cool stories as "The Superior Spider-Man" progresses, just as the death of Captain America led to some great stories with Bucky Barnes taking up the mantle.
But in the end, we know Peter will be back, and the only suspense will be in figuring out how he does it. Remember, his memories and perhaps even a bit of his consciousness are still locked in his physical brain, just crowded to one side by the powerful mind of Doc Ock.
Some fans have responded with outrage to the story's turn of events, with Slott even reportedly receiving death threats. How anyone can do that is beyond our understanding -- threatening to kill someone over a comic book hero? Come on, guys. Even if it's a prank, it's an awful one.
Comic books have had as hard a time transitioning to a digital world as any other form of entertainment, and they're far from out of the woods. This shake-up of the Spider-Man universe is no doubt one way to jazz up publicity for the line and rattle readers' cages. And it will probably work -- in the short term, anyway. But how long will it be before "The Superior Spider-Man" makes way for the return of "The Amazing Spider-Man"?
We're guessing that the wheels will start turning at Marvel Comics to bring Peter back approximately a year from now -- just as the marketing for the summer of 2014's big screen "Amazing Spider-Man 2" starts to get under way.
Bad buzz, rewrites and reshoots may not have killed zombie epic
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse 1 hour ago
"World War Z," the upcoming globe-spanning zombie epic starring Brad Pitt, has been the subject of intense speculation and bad buzz ever since it was revealed that the entire third act of the movie was junked, rewritten and reshot last year. But guess what? All that extra work might just have been worth it.
Pitt was on hand at two screenings of the film last night (May 22nd) -- one in Manhattan for friends and media, the other in Hoboken, New Jersey for fans -- and initial reactions posted on Twitter to the movie indicate that he, director Marc Forster and the producers may have made the right decision in going forward with the costly reshoots (which were written by Damon Lindelof).
Scott Collura of IGN tweeted: "World War Z: a big, solid zombie movie. Makes up for in scope what it lacks in blood."
Latino Review's Kellvin Chavez wrote: "World War Z will probably be the most intense movie you will see this summer...I was shocked it was that good. So much for those re-shoots."
Screencrush's Mike Sampson said: "So after all that fuss, 'World War Z' turned out to be a surprisingly effective zombie thriller."
Novelist Kurt Andersen wrote: "Saw World War Z. Not at all the disaster it's been made out to be. It's entertaining and will do fine. So there, negative buzz."
We're sure that more reactions will be coming and that there will be some negative ones as well. But if these responses are any indication, "World War Z" is not the catastrophe that everyone assumed it would turn out to be, and may in fact be something we rarely see these days: a bona fide horror epic.
"World War Z" is out in theaters Friday, June 21.
J.J. Abrams defends film by showing 'deleted' villain shower scene
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse 3 hours ago
"Star Trek Into Darkness" director J.J. Abrams has countered charges that a scene of actress Alice Eve in her underwear is sexist -- by offering up a "deleted" scene of the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch taking a shower.Ever since it first showed up in a "Star Trek Into Darkness" trailer, a shot of British actress Alice Eve -- who plays Dr. Carol Marcus in the movie -- in her underwear has been a lightning rod for criticism. The shot was added to the trailer, critics said, purely as bait for teen males.
Related: Who's who in 'Star Trek Into Darkness'
Related: Who's who in 'Star Trek Into Darkness'
Seeing the shot in the context of the movie itself doesn't dispel that accusation at all, and in fact, strengthens it. Whether you think the flash of Eve's flesh is sexist or not, the truth is that it is completely gratuitous -- there is literally no reason for Marcus, who is having a conversation with Kirk inside a smaller ship, to begin shedding her clothes, except as a pathetic attempt on the part of the filmmakers to throw some eye candy to male viewers.
Screenwriter Damon Lindelof has already offered a half-hearted apology for the scene, and while Abrams didn't apologize, he semi-defended it on "Conan" by pointing to a scene earlier in the film in which Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) appears shirtless. He also provided a clip of an allegedly "deleted" scene showing villain Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) shirtless and in the shower (via Slashfilm):
There's two things wrong with this: first, Kirk is shirtless for a reason -- he's getting out of bed after romping with a couple of women, which is totally in character for everyone's favorite space womanizer. Second, the Cumberbatch scene -- which, if you ask us, looks like it was created solely for "Conan" -- was left out of the movie, while the Eve scene wasn't.
So an unnecessary scene of a bare-chested male actor was removed, but one of a scantily clad young actress wasn't?
Here's the thing: we don't for a minute actually think that J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof or co-screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are sexist. But the scene of Eve stripping, which feels so awkward even as you're watching it, comes across as just another ill-advised attempt to cater to a specific section of the audience in a movie riddled with them.
Yes, the original "Star Trek" series had more than its share of women in skimpy costumes -- but that was the '60s, the women didn't start stripping for no apparent reason, and even then the show was doing it best to be more forward-thinking than most of the fare of its time (Badass Digest has posted a terrific piece with more on this).
So what do you think? Is the Eve underwear scene gratuitous and sexist? If it does nothing to advance the plot or her character, should it have been left out? Would the inclusion of the Khan shower scene have balanced things out? Tell us at MSN Movies on Facebook and Twitter.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" is out in theaters now.
Mutant named Quicksilver will appear in both movies
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse 4 hours ago
Two upcoming films based on Marvel comics -- "The Avengers 2" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" -- will feature the same character despite being made by two separate studios. How is this possible?
The character in question is Quicksilver, a mutant who, with his sister Scarlet Witch, is the offspring of evil mutant leader Magneto in the Marvel Comics universe. Both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch originated in the "X-Men" comics, yet also crossed over and spent time as members of the Avengers, which is how Joss Whedon recently confirmed that the "brother/sister act," as he called them, would appear in "The Avengers 2," made by Marvel Studios/Disney.
But now director Bryan Singer, who is making "X-Men: Days of Future Past" for 20th Century Fox (which owns the "X-Men" film rights), has thrown a potential wrench in the works with this tweet: "Before he was an Avenger, he was just a REALLY fast kid. Thrilled to say Evan Peters is joining 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' as Quicksilver."
Peters, in case you don't know, is one of the stars of "American Horror Story" and is a solid enough actor. But how can the two movies use the same character without getting into all kinds of legal issues?
Somehow, because they're involved with the X-Men and are also part of the Avengers, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch can legally be used by both. Here's what Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige told Superhero Hype: "There's a specific arrangement with those two characters that would allow us to use them with 'Avengers,' but not discuss or reference their mutant or Magneto-related lineage. They can use them as mutants and as Magneto's relatives, but cannot have anything to do with 'The Avengers.'"
So while it does make sense that the siblings could show up in both stories, Singer's tweet -- especially the part about "Before he was an Avenger" -- feels a little like provocation, especially coming so soon after Whedon's revelation.
Is this an attempt on his and Fox's part to get under Marvel/Disney's skin a bit by using this character (and getting him to the screen a year earlier)? Was he just written in now to accomplish this? After all, why didn't we hear about him being in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" before? The thing's been in production for a little while now.
The other question is now whether Whedon will rewrite "The Avengers 2" and drop Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch from his story, or just ignore the Fox version of the character.
This is the problem facing Marvel: while the studio owns literally thousands of characters, three of its biggest names -- the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man -- belong to other studios, who certainly have no intention of giving them back at this stage. The fact that these two characters also belong to Marvel Studios as well is an anomaly.
Here's an idea: could the two studios come to some sort of agreement and allow Peters to play the role in both movies? Would that be a cool, fan-centric way of acknowleding the entire scope of the Marvel Universe on film? It's a nice thing to think about, but we won't hold our breath.
"X-Men: Days Of Future Past" is out in theaters Friday, July 18, 2014.
'Scream 4' star signs on for more terror
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Wed 6:11 PM
The third season of "American Horror Story" has added Emma Roberts to its ever-expanding cast. Roberts is set to play what TV Line called "a self-involved party girl by the name of Madison."
Roberts is no stranger to the horror genre, having appeared in "Scream 4" for director Wes Craven. That movie's lack of success didn't exactly lead to "Scream 5" getting off the ground, but Roberts must have a feel for the genre since she's joining creator Ryan Murphy's nightmarish FX program.
The actual title for season 3 is "American Horror Story: Coven" and the cast now includes series regulars Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga and Evan Peters (Roberts' real-life boyfriend), along with newcomers Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Patti LuPone and Gabourey Sidibe.
As you might guess from that title, the new season will almost certainly have something to do with witches, and reports say that the show will begin shooting in New Orleans this summer.
"American Horror Story: Coven" premieres in October on FX.
What do you think of Emma Roberts joining the cast of "American Horror Story"? Tell us on our MSN TV Facebook page and on Twitter.
Follow Don Kaye on Twitter @donkaye.
Find out how human pilots drive those massive robots
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Wed 2:49 PM
A new "Pacific Rim" featurette has been posted online in which director Guillermo Del Toro and members of the cast lay out the meaning of what the movie calls "The Drift."
Basically, the towering robots known as Jaegers, constructed to defend the Earth against the equally gigantic kaiju monsters from another dimension, are driven by human pilots whose minds and bodies are linked directly to the machines. But because the sheer size and power of the Jaegers can essentially burn out someone's brain, each robot requires two pilots.
Those two pilots, however, must also be mentally linked as well. The space in which their two minds meld -- where one cannot hide anything from the other, including memories -- is called "The Drift."
We'll let Del Toro and his cast elaborate further in the video below, which also contains plenty of epic footage from this jumbo-sized sci-fi epic.
"Pacific Rim" is out in theaters Friday, July 12.
In honor of 'Fast & Furious 6,' horror/sci-fi on the road
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Wed 2:28 PM
Somewhat improbably, "Fast & Furious 6" comes out later this week and is sure to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, if not the year. But why is this improbable? Because after "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" in 2006, the street-racing franchise seemed to be veering off the road and into the ditch. But it began to reinvent itself with "Fast & Furious" in 2009 and "Fast Five" in 2011, evolving into a high-octane crime-action series with an escalating series of stunts involving speed, vehicles and explosions, not always in that order.
"Duel" (1971): This early Steven Spielberg thriller was made for television but was later expanded for theatrical release in Europe. Dennis Weaver plays a traveling salesman who is caught in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a massive tanker and its unseen driver, who seems intent on running Weaver to his death. Based on a story by Richard Matheson, this gripping and lean shocker will keep you watching the rear view mirror the next time you're on a lonely road.
"Horror Express" (1972): We're going to jump briefly from cars and trucks to trains for this Spanish-British production that put Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas on the Trans-Siberian Express with an ancient frozen ape creature that is actually the hiding place of an alien entity from another galaxy. By the time it starts turning everyone on the speeding locomotive into zombies, you'll be hooked by this wild, over-the-top horror/sci-fi/runaway train mashup.
"Death Race 2000" (1975): Roger Corman produced this now-classic sci-fi satire, set in a future fascist America where the annual Transcontinental Road Race provides the ultimate in violent reality TV to keep the masses distracted. The more pedestrians you kill, the more points you acquire. Crashes and chases ensue -- and all of it seems eerily plausible these days.
"Race With the Devil" (1975): Two couples accidentally stumble upon a satanic ritual and are pursued in their RV across Texas by the cult. Peter Fonda and Warren Oates are the menfolk, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker are the ladies, and the movie builds a decent amount of tension while also delivering some knockout chase scenes.
"The Car" (1977): Notice how a lot of these movies are from the '70s, when films based around autos were very popular? "The Car" is as simple as it gets: A black Lincoln Continental begins laying waste to the citizens of a small Utah town. Why? It's possessed by a demon, silly. James Brolin plays the lawman tasked with stopping the infernal machine. Look for future "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" sisters Kyle and Kim Richards as his daughters.
"Damnation Alley" (1977): This cheesy post-apocalyptic film was based loosely on a novel by sci-fi great Roger Zelazny and follows four men as they travel in 12-wheeled Landmasters across "Damnation Alley," the devastated heartland of what was once America that is now populated by freakish weather and giant mutated insects. The Landmasters almost outshine the actors -- Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Paul Winfield and others -- in one of two sci-fi films released in 1977 by 20th Century Fox. This one was supposed to be the hit. The other? "Star Wars."
"Mad Max" (1979) and "The Road Warrior" (1981): Australian director George Miller delivered some of the finest action sequences of their time in these brilliant first two entries in the "Mad Max" trilogy, starring a young Mel Gibson as a cop who lives through the collapse of society to become a near-mythic hero. The slamming automobile action in "Mad Max" paved the way for the climactic extended chase in the second film, surely one of the greatest in modern cinema.
"Maximum Overdrive" (1986): When the director -- who happened to be Stephen King -- calls his own picture a "moron movie," you know you're in for either a painful sit or an enjoyably bad time. Sadly, "Maximum Overdrive," which first-time (and only-time) director King based on his short story "Trucks," leans closer to the former. The idea of trucks, cars and other vehicles and machines coming to life and coming for us is a fun one, but King just sends it all into the ditch.
"Drive Angry" (2011): Car-chase movies with a supernatural or sci-fi slant dropped off the pop culture radar for a long time, but director Patrick Lussier and star Nicolas Cage tried to bring them back with this 3-D exercise, which does feature some well-staged automobile action but an ultimately dull story. Cage does the same loony schtick he's been doing for the past decade, while William Fichtner races off with the picture as the demonic Accountant.
"Fast and Furious 6" is out in theaters Friday, May 24.
Be prepared for moments between Plutarch and President Snow
By Myriam Gabriel-Pollock Wed 12:09 PM
During a Stella Artois-sponsored media event at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, "Catching Fire" director Francis Lawrence revealed that the film, while keeping very faithful to the book, will also feature some entirely new scenes:
"Lots of new stuff—new cast members, new action, a new arena and a fantastic story. There's very little that's been taken out—there's some additional scenes with some of the characters," says Lawrence, who specifically mentions new moments between Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and President Snow (Donald Sutherland).Could the still image shown above be from one of the scenes?
Bing: More about 'Catching Fire' | More about Francis Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence has revealed, when asked about how "Catching Fire" compares to "The Hunger Games," that, "Visually, it's a lot bigger this time. We get a little deeper into The Capitol as Katniss is trying to get her life back together."
As the book is written from Katniss' perspective, we only see The Capitol as she does. We'd definitely be fascinated to see more of what goes on behind President Snow's closed doors.
"Catching Fire" is out in theaters Friday, November 22.
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Kryptonian fight comes to Earth in spectacular new footage
By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Wed 2:26 AM
There's a new "Man of Steel" trailer out, this time focusing on the quest by the villainous General Zod to find Superman.
Superman/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) wasn't the only survivor of the destruction of his home planet, Krypton. Zod (Michael Shannon) and others have also managed to live, and in this trailer the general lays down an ultimatum: Superman must turn himself over, or Earth will face the consequences.
As you can see from the 90 seconds of awesomeness below, Superman doesn't go down without a fight. While previous trailers have played up the emotional side of Superman's story -- and have done so quite effectively -- this new one gives us a taste of the kind of large-scale action Superman fans have been wanting for years. And heat vision!
Zack Snyder is behind the camera, while joining Cavill and Shannon in front of it are Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue and more. 23 days to go ... and we can't wait.
"Man of Steel" is out in theaters Friday, June 14.
movie news
- Cannes auction of space trip with DiCaprio raises 1.2 million euros for charity
- 'American Horror Story' Star Evan Peters Joins 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'
- Helen Mirren plays queen to grant dying boy's wish
- Brad Pitt surprises fans at NJ 'World War Z' screening
- Jerry Lewis repeats his distaste for female comics
- Police: Jewels stolen in Cap d'Antibes near Cannes
- Jennifer Aniston strips her way out of trouble in 'We're the Millers' trailer
- Zach Braff taught Woody Allen about crowd funding -- and he liked it
- Leonardo DiCaprio pulls out of Sydney premiere
- Kellan Lutz: My physique is costing me dramatic roles
