We’re in the home stretch for this year’s biggest summer release (and only MCU film), Deadpool & Wolverine. It has been about a year since Ryan Reynolds made an announcement video about what Deadpool 3 could possibly involve, then ending on a hilariously exciting casual note as Reynolds calls out to Hugh Jackman, walking out of focus in the background, asking him to play Wolverine again. Even when Jackman went out on an appropriate high note with Logan, this news wouldn’t put off the excitement of anyone.
Deadpool & Wolverine was instantly put on everyone’s radar and even more so when it was revealed that Jackman would finally be donning the famous yellow suit. Jackman’s return seems to have set a new precedent, according to Kevin Feige. Variety is reporting that the head of Marvel Studios sees this as proof that a certain billionaire hero could return under the right circumstances. Feige spoke with Discussing Film when he stated, “That’s the key, right? How do you do it in a way that maintains what has come before, and in a great way? And we’ve been spending, you know, the last two-plus years figuring that out for Wolverine.”
Feige continued, “So, what’s to come? We’ll see. We’re just proud that we, I think, have figured it out for Wolverine. I think Hugh’s appearance and starring role in [Deadpool & Wolverine] is a great sign that it can be done — if great care is taken.” He would not only limit this thinking to Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark but also possibly Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. The X-Men universe under Fox was already previously inconsistent. However, Jackman would say in a previous SiriusXM interview that the multiverse is a perfect set up for all these possible reprisals, “It’s all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines. Now we can go back because, you know, it’s science. So, I don’t have to screw with the Logan timeline, which was important to me. And I think probably to the fans too.”
For a comedian, there’s no greater reward than a laugh. But when it comes down to it, it has to have the right timing. Part of that is up to the comedian themselves but so much also relies on the audience, who can easily break the rhythm if they’re giving too much back to the actor. And just like Phoebe Buffay had her smelly cat, Lisa Kudrow had plenty of rotten crowds while filming Friends.
Lisa Kudrow recently appeared on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, where she touched on just how easily what the audience perceives as praise can turn into a disruption. “They were laughing for too long. It wasn’t that funny…It wasn’t an honest response and it irritated me. Now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show. There are other lines. Sometimes I would just look out if they’d been laughing too long, and go, ‘Come on’. Really angry.”
This would be the part of the article where you think, Friends wasn’t even funny to begin with – the audience was doing those guys a favor by laughing! But you have to remember just how big that show and its cast was at its peak. Those fans wanted to give everything they had when visiting Warner Bros. Studios. The problem, like Lisa Kudrow points out, is amplifying it to the point of irritation, as if they asked for one too many autographs and ruined the experience for the people they admire and themselves.
As a matter of fact, if Lisa Kudrow had her way, Friends would have barred a live audience and relied on 100% canned laughter. “A TV show is not for the studio audience. It is made for the TV viewers at home. That’s who we are in service to. If it was a stage play, yeah laugh as long as you want. I’ll figure out things to keep my character busy waiting to continue with it. That’s fine. It’s being filmed and now I’m just standing there…You do, like, nod, ‘Yeah, I said that.’ It’s terrible. They instructed our audience not to do anything like that, I think.”
Certainly Lisa Kudrow would have noticed this even more in recent times, as she started rewatching Friends as a way of paying tribute to her late co-star, Matthew Perry, who died in October last year. Kudrow is one of just two cast members – alongside Jennifer Aniston – to have won an Emmy for Friends, nabbing Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for season four.
Crossovers happen frequently in the world of comic books, but it’s far more rare that we see characters from different companies teaming up (or facing off). In the years since the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe, fans have been wondering if they would ever get to see a proper Marvel vs DC movie. The chances are slim, but it’s something Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige does think about.
“I think about it occasionally, like any fan would think about it,” Feige told Collider during a recent interview. “I don’t know when in the heck that would ever happen, or how that would happen. But we’ve been talking too long for me to go, “Never! We’d never be able to do that.” We’ll never say never, but no, no plans. I’ve seen the paparazzi shots of the Superman set looking cool. So he’s focusing on that. We’re focusing on this.“
I doubt any type of Marvel vs DC project would happen anytime soon, but as both franchises explore the multiverse, I suppose anything is possible. James Gunn, Feige’s counterpart over at DC Studios, spoke about a possible crossover last year. “I’m certain that’s more likely now that I’m in charge [at DC],” Gunn said. “Who knows?” However, he did add that the DC Universe would need to establish itself first before they consider any type of crossover event. “That’s many years away, though,” Gunn said. “I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.“
The first major crossover between Marvel and DC arrived in 1976 with Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man. More crossovers would follow, including JLA/Avengers by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez.
Speaking of crossovers, the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine will see ol’ Wade Wilson making the leap to the MCU and bringing Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine along for the ride. The film comes jam-packed with cameos from the last twenty years of Marvel movies, and you can check out a spoiler-free review from our own Chris Bumbray right here! Deadpool & Wolverine will hit theaters on July 26th.
THR reports that Minor Threats, the comic book co-created by Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, is set to become a live-action Netflix series.
The comic, first published by Dark Horse in 2022, deals with “low-level supervillains who usually find themselves bound in front of a police station with a note saying, ‘Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Batman.’” Minior Threats proved to be quite successful and has been followed by a sequel and a pair of spinoffs. Oswalt and Blum will serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers on the Minor Threats series, with artist Scott Hepburn also onboard as an executive producer.
The official description of the first issue of Minor Threats reads: “It’s hard out there for a supervillain. Not the world conquerors, chaos engines, or arch-nemeses . . . but the little guys. The ones who put on uniforms, knock over jewelry stores, and get tied to poles. And things are about to get worse. The psychotic Stickman has murdered Kid Dusk, sidekick to Twilight Citys premier crime-fighter, the Insomniac. The Insomniac’s teammates are tearing Twilight apart, turning it into a police state–desperate to capture Stickman and stop the Insomniac from crossing that final line which he may never come back from. Caught in the middle are the small-time c-list villains, finding it impossible to walk down the street without being harassed by these heroes. With a bounty on the Stickman’s head, former villain Playtime decides to assemble a ragtag team of villains to take down the Stickman and kill him themselves.“
Oswalt and Jordan previously worked together on Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., the stop-motion animated series which aired on Hulu for a single season before it was cancelled. Oswalt voiced M.O.D.O.K., the megalomaniacal supervillain who has long pursued his dream of one day conquering the world. But after years of setbacks and failures fighting the Earth’s mightiest heroes, M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground. Ousted as A.I.M.’s leader, while also dealing with his crumbling marriage and family life, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is set to confront his greatest challenge yet.
THR reports that Minor Threats, the comic book co-created by Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, is set to become a live-action Netflix series.
The comic, first published by Dark Horse in 2022, deals with “low-level supervillains who usually find themselves bound in front of a police station with a note saying, ‘Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Batman.’” Minior Threats proved to be quite successful and has been followed by a sequel and a pair of spinoffs. Oswalt and Blum will serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers on the Minor Threats series, with artist Scott Hepburn also onboard as an executive producer.
The official description of the first issue of Minor Threats reads: “It’s hard out there for a supervillain. Not the world conquerors, chaos engines, or arch-nemeses . . . but the little guys. The ones who put on uniforms, knock over jewelry stores, and get tied to poles. And things are about to get worse. The psychotic Stickman has murdered Kid Dusk, sidekick to Twilight Citys premier crime-fighter, the Insomniac. The Insomniac’s teammates are tearing Twilight apart, turning it into a police state–desperate to capture Stickman and stop the Insomniac from crossing that final line which he may never come back from. Caught in the middle are the small-time c-list villains, finding it impossible to walk down the street without being harassed by these heroes. With a bounty on the Stickman’s head, former villain Playtime decides to assemble a ragtag team of villains to take down the Stickman and kill him themselves.“
Oswalt and Jordan previously worked together on Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., the stop-motion animated series which aired on Hulu for a single season before it was cancelled. Oswalt voiced M.O.D.O.K., the megalomaniacal supervillain who has long pursued his dream of one day conquering the world. But after years of setbacks and failures fighting the Earth’s mightiest heroes, M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground. Ousted as A.I.M.’s leader, while also dealing with his crumbling marriage and family life, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is set to confront his greatest challenge yet.
PLOT: When his timeline is threatened by a rogue faction of the Time Variance Authority, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) hops into the multiverse to find the only man he believes can help him – Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). YES!!!
REVIEW: Have you ever been to a concert and wished that your favourite band would stop playing their not-as-good new stuff and play the hits? That’s exactly what Marvel is doing with Deadpool & Wolverine. After a rough run of movies, with many saying their Phase 5 has been disastrous, this feels like an everything but the kitchen-sink attempt by the company to win back those fans who feel alienated by the new direction the company seemed to be heading in. With this, you have a rock ‘em, sock ‘em thrill ride that delivers fans exactly the movie they wanted to see, with nary a message to be found amidst all the charred, sliced and diced corpses our heroes leave in their wake. It’s glorious fun.
To be sure, Deadpool & Wolverine’s success depends on going in relatively unspoiled. Sure, the endless series of trailers have given away a lot (too much, in my opinion), but the best cameos haven’t been spoiled yet, and there are some doozies. I went in thinking there wasn’t much they could throw up there on the screen that would surprise me, but there were one or two here that made me cheer out loud, despite being at a press screening with nary a Marvel fanatic to be found. This is the kind of movie where the public screenings are gonna be raucous, and I envy anyone who gets to see this for the first time with a theatre full of fans. This is going to rival Spider-Man: No Way Home in terms of their adoration.
Despite all the easter eggs (and the movie itself is one big easter egg), it’s centred firmly around our two titular heroes, with this feeling less like Deadpool 3 than something else entirely. It’s a buddy cop movie through the lens of the MCU, and Reynolds and Jackman, who’ve always been pals offscreen, bring their chemistry to the big screen under a director (Shawn Levy) whom they’ve both worked with time and time again.
Levy has closely studied all of the 20th Century Fox Marvel movies and clearly has a lot of affection for them. There are some loving digs, but none of the movies they reference are trashed. Many fans have been concerned that with the Disney/ Fox merger, all of their favourite Fox-Marvel films will be regulated to the cinematic dust heap of history, and the film is very self-referential in that regard. It puts a button on this era and hints at a possible reset in the current MCU ideology, and for the first time in a while it may leave fans excited about where things are going.
Through it all, Reynolds seems like he’s having a whale of a time reprising The Merc with a Mouth in all his glory. Wholly embracing the Hard-R rating, this is just as violent as any other film in the Deadpool saga, although the overall comic vibe does dilute the carnage somewhat. This isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, but I honestly found myself enjoying it more than the first two films (which I was cool on) and certainly more than anything I’ve seen from the studio lately. The thing is, Levy has a good sense of exactly how to make a movie like this. He keeps it well-paced, at just over two hours, and it doesn’t feel too roomy. It ends before the buzz of seeing all this crazy stuff on screen wears off.
So, how does Hugh Jackman fare as Wolverine? Despite giving the character a perfect send-off in Logan, Jackman seems to be having so much fun going toe-to-toe with Reynolds that you can’t hold it against him wanting to return to the fold. Whether or not this is a one-off remains to be seen, but Jackman, as always, is perfect in the part and seems delighted to be there spewing off F-bombs in a way he rarely could in his Fox movies.
The rest of the ensemble is solid, although given how jampacked a movie it is, it does suffer from one all too common Marvel failing – in that the villains are weak. Matthew McFayden’s Mr. Paradox is a riff on his role from Succession, with him too much of a buffoon to be taken seriously. Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova has a dynamite look and vibe but isn’t given much time to establish any real sense of menace. The film is too amusing for that, with it loaded up with so many gags and needle drops that this is the closest thing Marvel has ever done to a pure comedy. That statement may irk some fans, but the vibe worked well for me, as it’s a movie filled with so much infectious joy that Levy sometimes seems to almost be daring you not to have a good time. He knows you’ll love what he’s doing – and gosh darn it – I sure did.
So do yourself a favor and skip reading any more about Deadpool & Wolverine until you’ve had the chance to see it yourself. I’m certain this is the one MCU movie that’s going to please even those fans who have totally gotten lost in the never-ending sea of Disney Plus TV shows and sequels. Again, this is Marvel playing the hits, and it’s probably the most fun you’ll have watching a movie this summer.
We’re used to seeing Chris Hemsworth’s handsome mug on the big screen, but his next role finds him voicing Orion Pax/Optimus Prime in Transformers One. It’s something of a departure for Hemsworth, and the actor spoke with Den of Geek about what drew him to the animated movie.
“This being an origin story is what appealed to me. It isn’t a remake; it’s not a reimagining. It shows the early years of these characters, whom we only knew later in their lives,” Hemsworth said. “This film delves into friendships and relationships you have with people when you’re vulnerable and afraid. It talks about what bravery really means and how good and evil aren’t as simplistic as they might first appear. We make mistakes, and we learn from them. But ultimately, we are defined by the decisions that we make.“
Hemsworth continued: “What I like about this version of Optimus Prime is there’s a brashness and recklessness to him that needs to be tempered. He’s exposed to things that make him question everything he believes in.” The actor also touched upon the longevity of the franchise and why fans continue to love the story. “I think what we connect to through all great storytelling, whether it be comic books, film, even Shakespeare, is that there’s a mythology to it,” Hemsworth said. “And there’s allegory and hidden messaging in there, too. It’s baked into the story. When I was watching Transformers as a kid, there were moral questions posed—right and wrong, good and evil, cause and effect. Your choices have consequences. And I think there’s a nobility to Optimus Prime that kids look up to.“
In addition to Chris Hemsworth, Transformers One also stars Brian Tyree Henry as D-16/Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Josh Cooley directs from a script by Andrew Barrer, Steve Desmond, and Gabriel Ferrari. The animated movie tells the “long-awaited origin story of how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron.” The film received a rousing standing ovation upon its debut at the Annecy Animation Festival last month, which bodes well for the potential trilogy franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has in mind.
The animated prequel may not be Hemsworth’s only role in the franchise, as he’s been in talks to star in the upcoming Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie. Transformers One will hit theaters on September 20th.
Last week, a good chunk of the digital world shut down and stopped working due to an update that caused Microsoft’s Windows operating system to crash and display a blue screen on millions of devices. This affected places like hospitals, schools, and airports. But one airline, unlike the others, was spared from the…
Last week, a good chunk of the digital world shut down and stopped working due to an update that caused Microsoft’s Windows operating system to crash and display a blue screen on millions of devices. This affected places like hospitals, schools, and airports. But one airline, unlike the others, was spared from the…
Move over, Xena! Deadline reports that Lucy Lawless is set to return to her other iconic role, that of Lucretia in the upcoming Spartacus: House of Ashur series.
Sadly, Lawless’ return won’t be as a series regular, but as a guest-starring role in the premiere. The report states that her appearance “will be instrumental in setting up the ‘what if’ alternate timeline.” In a statement on X, creator Steven DeKnight said, “The gods bless the House of Ashur! Thrilled to have the amazing [Lucy Lawless] dropping in to grace us with her awesome presence!“
House of Ashur is described as a “history-bending, erotic, thrilling, roller-coaster experience that builds on everything that made the original series a colossal hit. The series poses the question: what if Ashur, played by fan favorite Nick Tarabay, hadn’t died on Mount Vesuvius at the end of Spartacus: Vengeance? And what if he had been gifted the gladiator school once owned by Batiatus in return for aiding the Romans in killing Spartacus and putting an end to the slave rebellion?” Lawless appeared in the first two seasons of Spartacus, as well as the prequel series, and was just fantastic. It’s a treat to have her back for House of Ashur, even if it is just for a guest-starring role.
Nick Tarabay will be reprising the role of Ashur, a former gladiator who used his cunning to serve the house of Batiatus and later the Romans in the original series. The rest of the main cast includes Graham McTavish (The Witcher), Tenika Davis (Jupiter’s Legacy), Jamaica Vaughan (Home and Away), Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth), Jordi Webber (Choose Love), Claudia Black (Farscape), India Shaw-Smith (The Pines Still Whisper), and Leigh Gill (Joker).
The first season of Spartacus, subtitled Blood and Sand, tells the story of the man who would become Spartacus as he’s sold into slavery and trained to become a gladiator. Filled to the brim with gruesome blood and sexual content, Spartacus was something to behold, particularly with its unique visual style and scripting. Tragically, Andy Whitfield, who played the title character, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and later died, but not before giving his blessing that the series should continue. Following a prequel series, Liam McIntyre took over the role for Spartacus: Vengeance and Spartacus: War of the Damned.
