Peter Dinklage and more cast as Angry Birds voice cast is revealed, Whedon regular teases SHIELD role

Its UK debut is yet to have been aired but the second series of Marvel’s action thriller show Agents of SHIELD has already kicked off in America. The original cast (Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennett, Iain De Caestecker, Brett Dalton and Elizabeth Henstridge) expanded drastically in the second half of the show, introducing regular spots for Bill Paxton, BJ Britt, Saffron Burrows, Ruth Negga, J August Richards and Patton Oswalt with cameos from Amy Acker, Cobie Smulders, Adrian Pasdar, Ron Glass and Samuel L Jackson. Reed Diamond, Lucy Lawless, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki and Kyle Machlachan have already boarded season 2 as newcomers but they don’t seemed to have stopped there.

Fran Kranz has posted a fairly cryptic tweet featuring the words “Robbie Baldwin, SHIELD, soon!” Baldwin would be referring to the Marvel hero Speedball. Kranz is a Joss Whedon regular following a lead role on Dollhouse, the Whedon-written horror Cabin in the Woods and played Claudio in Whedon’s Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. He’s the fourth Much Ado star to join the show after Clark Gregg, Amy Acker and Reed Diamond, who played Leonato, Beatrice and Don Pedro respectively. Should this theme continue, we may see Nathan Fillion make his MCU debut on the small screen. Alexis Denisof may be after more of the action after his abrupt exit in Guardians of the Galaxy.

In a plethora of Appstore installations, ornithology anthology Angry Birds is likely the most iconic. Across numerous sequels, the game has tied into the Fast and Furious, Rio and Star Wars franchises but is now ready for a film of its own. The film’s incredible, and largely comedic, voice cast has now been unveiled: Jason Sudeikis (We’re the Millers, Horrible Bosses), Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids, Away We Go), Bill Hader (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Paul), Josh Gad (21, Frozen), Danny McBride (This is the End, Tropic Thunder) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past).

Angry Birds – July 15th 2016

Agents of SHIELD – continues this year on ABC and Channel 4

Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool reportedly greenlit, Toby Kebbell joins Ben-Hur, new Agents of SHIELD teaser and (another) Interstellar poster

The marketing team for Christopher Nolan’s secrecy soaked sci-fi Interstellar will be having the time of their lives: across this week, a whole series of posters for the film have been revealed one by one. Today is no exception. This one sheet sees a spacecraft downed in either domestic or alien waters. Nolan, British writer/director behind The Dark Knight trilogy, Memento, The Prestige and Inception, directs the cast of Matthew MacConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Anne Hathaway, David Oyelowo, Matt Damon, Ellen Burstyn and John Lithgow.

A planned spin off for Ryan Reynolds’ (Safe House, Buried) crazed superhero Deadpool, who made his only, mediocre appearance in the vastly disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has been in development hell for the past six years. Most of that time the project has only been kept alive by the comic book character’s ongoing popularity. It has now been reported that Fox have greenlit the film for an early 2016 release. Tim Miller, who for an excruciatingly long time has been attached to the film, is now confirmed as director. My key hope for the film is that it can settle for a 15 rating: any lower and it wouldn’t have the same tone as the often adult comics but higher and the gore would unfairly become the focus.

I was one of many distraught by Toby Kebbell’s casting in the prestigious role of Doctor Doom in next year’s Fantastic Four but the star proved himself greatly going up against Andy Serkis’ Ceasar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He’s now setting himself up for another villainous role as Messala in the new remake of Ben-Hur. The historical epic already has Morgan Freeman (Batman Begins, The Shawkshank Redemption, Seven) signed on to play mentor Ildarin while Jack Huston (American Hustle, Broadwalk Empire) is negotiating to play the titular hero. 12 Years a Slave’s John Ridley writes while Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetov directs.

Finally today we’ve got an awesome new poster for season 2 of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. The expansion of the multi billion superhero universe got off to a fairly rough start but pulled itself together with an excellent second half to the series. Deduce what you like from the teaser. Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennett, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, BJ Britt, Adrianne Palicki, Patton Oswalt, Nick Blood, Reed Diamond, Adrian Pasdar, Kyle MacLachlan and Lucy Lawless will all feature in some way in the new season.

Agents of SHIELD season 2 – this autumn on ABC and Channel 4

Deadpool – February 12th 2016

Interstellar – November 7th

Ben-Hur – February 19th 2016

Hawkeye’s removed Captain America appearance revealed and first teaser for SHIELD’s second series

With two Oscar nominations to his name, Jeremy Renner (The Town, American Hustle, The Assassination of Jesse James, The Hurt Locker) is one of the Marvel Universe’s most decorated stars although his character was deprived of some crucial character development time in his only lead role, 2012’s The Avengers. We know Renner will reprise his role next year in Age of Ultron while he’s rumoured to be starring in Captain America 3 and the latter’s directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, have revealed that the archer did have a role in Cap’ 2. Be warned that the next passage does contain major spoilers for The Winter Soldier.

Joe Russo explained “What it was going to be, we were trying to complicate the relationship between Cap and his S.H.I.E.L.D agent friends. If Hawkeye got a call from S.H.I.E.L.D saying Captain America is a fugitive, would he listen to that call or not listen to that call? That sequence actually was heartbreaking for us to cut it. I think it ultimately might have been a conflict with Renner’s schedule. But there was a great sequence where Hawkeye was chasing Cap through Washington D.C. there was an awesome sequence where they confronted each other in a ravine on the outskirts of D.C. and Hawkeye was shooting a series of arrows closing in on Cap, Cap closing in on him. And then Cap took him down and he realized for the first time that Hawkeye was trying to trick S.H.I.E.L.D, where he whispered something into Cap’s ear that Cap had a tracker on his suit and to punch Hawkeye to make it look real, because there was a Quinjet hovering above where they were watching the feedback back at S.H.I.E.L.D.

“So it was a cool sequence. But look, there’s a million iterations of films, and especially when dealing with Marvel movies where characters can come in or come out during the creative process. And you keep working and working like a Rubik’s Cube till you find the right configuration where everything lines up. So even though we lost that sequence, I think we may have streamlined the movie and made it a little bit more propulsive.”

Also from the world of Marvel, the very first trailer for the second season of Agents of SHIELD have emerged. Many were quick to criticise the show but it transformed into something spectacular in its last sequence of episodes. Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennett, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge but the trailer made no such mention of J August Richards, Ron Glass, David Conrad, BJ Britt, Ruth Negga or Patton Oswalt. Lucy Lawless, Reed Diamond, Kyle MacLachlan and Adrianne Palicki also join the cast.

Agents of SHIELD season 2 – September 23rd on ABC/Channel 4

Captain America 3 – May 6th 2016

Lord and Miller rumoured for Ghostbusters 3, Andy Serkis reads Jungle Book and Patton Oswalt set for Agents of Shield

It was recently announced that Ivan Reitman would not be returning for the upcoming sequel Ghostbusters 3, although producers were determined that the project was still in place. This is perhaps because they had a new director, or directors, in mind. It’s rumoured that Phil Lord and Chris Miller will be rebooting a series that hasn’t seen a genuinely successful instalment since its 1984 beginning.

Lord and Miller are of coarse the brilliant minds behind The Lego Movie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street. For potential stars, we reckon surviving G’busters (RIP Harold Ramis) Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd will have a small role, and I doubt appearances from the original’s Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver or Ernie Hudson but will most likely be handing the baton over to a new era of Slimer-fighters and (Stay Pufft) Mashmallowman-hunters. Altogether now: Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!

There’s two adaptations of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book racing into production at the moment. Disney have gone as far as appointing Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Zathura, Elf) as director and Idris Elba (Pacific Rim, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, American Gangster) for the voice role of Shere Kahn while Warner Bros named Ron Howard (Rush, Apollo 13) atop of their list of potential shot-callers. The latter production has now stalked the jungle for their new director who’s none other than Andy Serkis. Serkis (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Return of the King’s Gollum, Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Caeser and King Kong’s King Kong) is set to make his directing debut with The Jungle Book although his not alien to the job – he’s worked very closer with Oscar winning director Peter Jackson as second-unit director on The Hobbit films where he directed the Moria battle sequence.

Patton Oswalt has consistently proved himself as a comic talent in Young Adult, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and a brilliant cameo role in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (pictured) as well as having the lead in animation Ratatouille. He’s now attached to star in an upcoming episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, a show which had a rough beginning, took and extended Christmas break and then returned with (hopefully) better quality of writing to finish off and to bid for a second season greenlight. Others set to join the main cast of Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennett, Elizabeth Henstidge and Iain De Caestecker include Jaimie Alexander and Bill Paxton.

Oswalt had this to say: “I’m lucky that I’m visible enough that they wanted to bring me in to play this character. I’d worked with Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly and director of Serenity and The Avengers)  before on Dollhouse, and I guess I wasn’t too annoying and they decided to put me on another one of his shows. So I was very lucky.”

Agents of SHIELD – continues on ABC and Channel 4

Ghostbusters 3 – 2016?

The Jungle Book – 2016?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty review

Director: Ben Stiller

Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley MacLaine, Sean Penn, Adam Scott, Patton Oswalt, Olafur Darri Olaffson

Ben Stiller has proved himself as a great comedic actor more than plenty of times but his directorial efforts have varied from Oscar nominated comedy Tropic Thunder and cult favourite Zoolander to the less successful Reality Bites and despised The Cable Guy. His new adventure comedy, based on both the original short story and the Danny Kaye film of the same name, is a triumph despite it being being remarkably absract.

Walter Mitty (Stiller) works in the photograph department of Life Magazine where he constantly drifts off into daydreams to escape his dull drab life; his fantasies range from him rescuing hundreds from an exploding building, having office crush Cheryl (Wiig) fall into his arms or just having the confidence to speak his feelings. With the magazine under new ownership from the menacing Ted (Scott) and the final issue in need of a cover photo, Walter discovers that a roll of negatives sent by legendarily untraceable photographer Sean O’Connell (Penn) is missing the all important submission for the cover. An inspired Walter hurries off to track down Sean and find the negative, learning that living the adventure is superior to just dreaming it.

Embracing the adventure is all you need to do to enjoy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It’s hugely funny and moving with similarities to It’s a Wonderful Life and Forrest Gump. However that’s not to say that it’s flawless. The film intentionally has a slow and plodding start but that’s necessary for the audience to get sense of Walter’s enclosed world.

Also, the film never addresses if its subject is the adventure or the comedy. Occasionally, it’s a little too bonkers for its own good, subtracting from some of the more believable action. The balance between the two never finds its feet but there are some excellent set pieces in comedy and action. Additionally, the enchanting soundtrack from Icelandic legends Of Monsters and Men does a great job of stylising the film.

Kathryn Hahn and Adam Scott’s performances seem a little forced but Kristen Wiig, Patton Oswalt and Sean Penn are good, Shirley MacLaine is great and Ben Stiller gives another brilliantly engaging performance but the real star is Stiller’s stunning directing and cinematography, particularly in the Icelandic and Himilayan sequences. As inspirational as it is visually stunning and funny, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty deserved credit for pulling off something ridiculously abstract and ambitious with great style.

9/10

“Life is about courage and going into the unknown.”

Rossio to write Masters of the Universe, Ehle joins 50 Shades, new Walter Mitty and Limitless TV show

Bradley Cooper’s 2011 mystery thriller was an excellent one. Two years on, Limitless, which itself was based upon sci-fi novel The Dark Fields, is set for a television remake. The plot centres around Eddie Morra, a failing writer who accepts an experimental drug called NZT from an old acquaintance who claims it to be legal and that it allows your brain to reach it’s unused 80%. His use of the drug and rising intelligence gets him noticed by those who find him a great business venture (I.E Robert De Niro’s Carl Van Loon) or those who want the drug for themselves (Andrew Howard’s Gennady). We don’t know if Cooper will star but we think the Academy Award nominee from The Hangover and Silver Linings Playbook is set to be executive producer. We still don’t know if the film’s director, Neil Burger (currently busy finishing off young-adult novel adaptation Divergent), will return though.

Next, we’ve a new casting for 50 Shades of Grey. The EL James adaptation stars Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim) as young billionaire Christian Grey while his lover Anastasia Steele will be portrayed by Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street). Jennifer Ehle has joined the project under the directing excellence of Sam Taylor-Wood. Ehle was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress British Academy Film Award back in 1997 for biopic Wilde and won a television BAFTA in 1995 for the beloved mini-series Pride and Prejudice where she starred alongside Colin Firth. Since then, she’s starred in Contagion, The King’s Speech, Zero Dark Thirty, the upcoming sci-fi action RoboCop and now 50 Shades of Grey where she play’s Steele’s stern mother Carla whose now married to her fourth husband.

We move on to a potential He-Man reboot. Masters of the Universe tells the story of Adam, Prince of Eternia, whose granted with magical powers and sets out with a team of heroes, Battle Cat, Man At Arms, The Sorceress, Teela and Orco, who set out to take down the villainous Skeletor. Terry Russio will now script the production. He’s a regular writer on the Pirates of the Caribbean series and recently scribed Gore Verbinski’s unappreciated Western The Lone Ranger. He also won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Dreamworks animation Shrek.

Finally, we’ve got the new trailer (on Empire because it wasn’t accessible on Youtube) for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller stars in and directs this comedic adventure with Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Sean Penn (Milk), Patton Oswalt (Young Adult), Kathryn Hahn (Anchorman) and Adam Scott (Friends With Kids).