Ever since The Birth of a Nation took the Sundance Film Festival by storm earlier this year, I've been dying to see it. Nate Parker's passion project looks like a powerful true story well-told, and Fox Searchlight has just released two new posters for the movie before its debut later this year. One is a "living poster" with quotes from the film and some footage that eventually freezes into the same image as the more traditional poster. Watch that below, along with the first teaser trailer in case you missed that when it dropped a little while ago.

The Birth of a Nation hits theaters on October 7th, and in the meantime, you can read Joey's review from Sundance here.

Set against the antebellum South, The Birth of a Nation follows Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slave. As he witnesses countless atrocities — against himself and his fellow slaves — Nat orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.

I've never heard of indie filmmaker Emily Carmichael until today, but I have a feeling I'm going to be hearing about her a lot more in the years to come. THR reports that Hollywood heavy hitters Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Apocalypse) and Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) are teaming with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment to produce a new family adventure movie called Powerhouse, which Carmichael will write and direct. The plot is being kept under wraps from the press, but the original idea for the film came from Trevorrow, and after he saw a short film Carmichael made called The Hunter and The Swan Discuss Their Meeting, he called her to the set of his current movie and they worked out the characters that will appear in this new movie.

“Emily Carmichael is the next great writer-director of the kind of movies I love,” said Trevorrow. "Her ability to find warmth and humanity in genre storytelling is a superpower in itself.”

Here are some of the young director's bona fides, according to THR:

Carmichael demonstrated her artistic versatility by having short stories and essays be part of the best-selling book Ophelia Speaks and created the comic strip Whiz Kids for the Harvard Crimson. But it’s her video game and geek-tinged works such as the animated web series The Adventures of Ledo and Ix and the animated short RPG OKC that got Hollywood’s attention. Her name has even surfaced as a possible contender to direct Marvel’s Captain Marvel.

I hope you didn't skim that last sentence, but just in case you did, it said Carmichael could be the one to direct Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel movie. If you weren't hooked before, maybe that piqued your interest. While we wait to find out more details about Powerhouse, check out some of the director's short films below and visit her production company's website for more:

He's had his struggles, but to my knowledge, even Old Man Logan has never struggled in "getting it up." We're talking, of course, about Adamantium Dysfunction, a possible problem some Weapon X mutants can experience. For these people, there's a cure. Xialis will keep your claws retracted when the time is right, and keep you going when the moment hits. Check out the first commercial via Nerd City below.

Frank Grillo can currently be seen kicking Cap's ass on the big screen as Crossbones in Captain America: Civil War, but soon he'll be taking his talents to the small screen. Netflix has acquired the rights to an action film called The Wheelman, in which Grillo will star. He's also making his producing debut here alongside Joe Carnahan (The Grey).

Writer/director Jeremy Rush is making his feature directorial debut (and his feature-length screenwriting debut) with this film, which has the following synopsis:

The wheelman is Grillo – a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race-to-survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him, and the only person he can trust…his fourteen-year-old daughter. All reasons to think fast, and drive faster.

I first read about this project a few days ago, and the description made it sound so much like the stunningly godawful Ethan Hawke/Selena Gomez movie Getaway that I didn't even bother to write about it. But Netflix has become synonymous with quality, and the streaming service picking this up and putting its stamp on the movie might mean it's a little better than that generic description would indicate. I suppose for movies like these it's all about the execution and seeing if the director can show us something we've never seen before, so here's hoping Rush can pull it off. Grillo has definitely proven he can be a badass on screen in movies ranging from Warrior to The Purge: Anarchy and beyond, so I don't doubt he'll be able to bring his A game...it's just a matter of whether or not the story and action can justify this movie's existence. Production starts this fall.

Via: Variety

Rick and Morty is one of the most amazing animated shows on television. We all know the show is a parody of sorts of Back To The Future, but things go even deeper than that! There's some really interesting facts in here! Among them, the fact that Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland announced, developed, and wrote the script for the pilot all in the same day! That's pretty amazing, and it paid off in spades as it's become Adult Swim's most celebrated show. Learn more below courtesy of The Court Of Science!

This article is going to contain discussion about a comic book company's logo, so if you were thinking about leaving a comment about how there are more important things to talk about in the world right now, A) you're obviously right about that, but we're going to talk about this anyway, and B) now I've just saved you the trouble of leaving that comment, so don't bother.

DC Comics changed its logo in 2012 to something that was supposed to resemble a comic book page being turned, but I never liked that design. Thankfully, the company has changed its logo again after only four short years, and the new logo is a huge improvement. It's trades in the cutesy design for one that's more straightforward, a throwback to its older logos with the two letters encased in a circle.

VP of Marketing Amit Desai spoke about the new logo:

While comics continue to be the heart and soul of DC, the brand has evolved to now stand for powerful storytelling across so many different forms of media. DC is home to the greatest Super Heroes and Super-Villains, and the new logo has the character and strength to stand proudly alongside DC’s iconic symbols. The launch of the new logo is the perfect tribute to DC’s legacy, exciting future and most importantly, our fans.

While I normally roll my eyes at PR language like that, I can't help but actually agree that this logo does somehow feel stronger than the previous incarnation. I'm sure those of you who know all about design can get into the technical and subconscious reasons this is the case, but all I know is that this is a big improvement, and I'm looking forward to seeing it implemented on the big screen. The logo will debut on the cover of the DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH SPECIAL #1, and hopefully they can have it ready by the time Suicide Squad comes out in August.

Via: io9

I loved Wreck-It Ralph when it came out a few years ago, but I feel like it's been almost forgotten in the wave of great Disney animated movies that have come after it. Still, it's a great piece of pop entertainment, and now ScreenJunkies has created an Honest Trailer for the movie that explores some of the most nightmarish existential quandaries lurking in the film. If you stop and think about it, the premise of living video game characters being trapped in an endless cycle of violence is pretty horrifying.

Here's good news for anyone who cares about the continuity of Michael Bay's Transformers movies: after sitting out the fourth movie, Josh Duhamel is returning to reprise his role as Lieutenant Colonel Lennox in the newly-titled Transformers: The Last Knight. (What a stupid title.)

Lieutenant Colonel Lennox reporting for duty. Let's do this. #transformers
https://t.co/wibnE21xgW

— Josh Duhamel (@joshduhamel) May 17, 2016

@joshduhamel Do you remember your way around set or need some pointers?#transformers pic.twitter.com/QlL7cv7Qqc

— Michael Bay (@michaelbay) May 17, 2016

.@joshduhamel welcome back to the #transformers family. This is gonna be good.

— Mark Wahlberg (@mark_wahlberg) May 17, 2016

I admittedly haven't seen much of Duhamel's work outside of this franchise, but in these movies, I've always found him to be a bland, forgettable presence similar to your Jai Courtneys or your Sam Worthingtons. But I'm sure hardcore fans will be pleased that he's back.

After I walked out of the flaming turd-pile that was Transformers: Age of Extinction, I promised myself that I would never watch another Michael Bay-directed Transformers movie again. If a different director comes on board the franchise and puts a new spin on it, maybe I'll give it a chance. But at this point, there's no reason for me to punish myself by watching two and a half hour pieces of garbage. The first one was OK. The second one was abysmal. The third one was passable. The fourth was unwatchable. That's not a good enough batting average for me, so I'm out.

DOOM
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When I first saw that DOOM was being rebooted, re-imagined, etc etc, I was more than hesitant. Let's face it, it was the first real shooter experience I had along...read more on Gametyrant

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I'm seeing a press screening of Shane Black's '70s noir buddy comedy The Nice Guys tomorrow night, so I'll have a review for you here on the site later this week. I'm very excited about this film, and I think my excitement is warranted because I've enjoyed all of the trailers I've seen so far; I'm hooked by the premise, setting, and stars; and I love Black's movies (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3).

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe have been doing a lot of promotion for the movies in the form of little viral videos. You may have seen some where they were in fake therapy sessions together. I thought those were fine, but not funny or interesting enough to write about here. But today, Gosling tweeted a video of the two of them getting yelled at by producer Joel Silver that made me laugh, so I figured I'd pass it along in case you're looking for a minute of amusement during your Tuesday. (NSFW language)

Stole this from the junket... #niceguyleaks #thetruthisoutthere https://t.co/uZv82glDRK

— Ryan Gosling (@RyanGosling) May 17, 2016

In case the tweet looks weird on your device for some reason, watch the video below. The Nice Guys arrives in theaters this Friday.

We discuss Ocean's Eleven and the rise of female reboots replacing a male cast, the Harley Quinn solo movie...Listen on PodTyrant

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AMC has released the first four and a half minutes of their upcoming new series Preacher, which is based on the comic book by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon. This clip gives you an idea of how insane this series is going to be and shows you that they are not going hold back on this thing.

The show comes to us from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who seem to have done an awesome job bringing this story to life for television. I've already seen the full first episode and it was wicked fun. 

This is a series that you will not want to miss because it’s so much damn fun. I loved the first episode, and I can’t wait to see the story continue as the series plays out. You can read our review of the first episode of the series here. 

Preacher follows Reverend Jesse Custer, a tough Texas preacher who has lost his faith, and has learned that God has left Heaven and abandoned his responsibilities. He finds himself the only person capable of tracking God down, demanding answers, and making him answer for his dereliction of duty. Accompanying Jesse on his journey is his former girlfriend and a friendly vampire who seems to prefer a pint in the pub to the blood of the innocent. On his tail is one of the most iconic bad guys in print – an immortal, unstoppable killing machine named the Saint of Killers —a western lone gunman archetype whose sole purpose is to hunt and kill Jesse.

The series stars Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, Ruth Negga as Tulip, Lucy Griffiths as Emily, W. Earl Brown as Sherriff Root, Anatol Yusef as DeBlanc, Tom Brooke as Fiore, Derek Wilson as Donnie Schenck, and Ian Colletti as Eugene/Arseface.

Preacher is set to premiere this Sunday, May 22nd at 10:00pm on AMC.

It's true that Kevin Feige has a huge amount of control over the movies that comprise the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even to the point where it's fair to call Marvel Studios' method of filmmaking a "producer-driven" model. But while the movies may share a visual vocabulary and cross over with each other, I think there's a large misconception among some fans that these films are almost connect-the-dots movies that don't allow individual filmmakers to put their stamp on them. There are three perfect examples that prove my point: The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Iron Man 3 all fit into the confines of the producer-driven Marvel movie, but they're also very much showcases of the personalities and types of films made by directors Joss Whedon, James Gunn, and Shane Black. Those movies couldn't have been directed by just anyone — you can watch it and tell that they come from those specific filmmakers.

Thankfully, it sounds like the upcoming Black Panther solo film will be the same way. In a new interview with Fast Company (via /Film), writer/director Ryan Coogler said the movie is going to be his "most personal movie to date."

It’s a specific challenge. What Marvel’s doing, and what you see a lot of studios doing now that Marvel has done it so successfully, is making content that exists in a particular universe, where the characters tie in and crossover, and I think that’s a great creative challenge to me—to make this movie as personal as possible. It’s going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it’s completely the case. I’m obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it’s going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they’re establishing. I grew up as a comic book fan, and the same things used to happen in the comic books. You’d have Wolverine’s books, and they’d be so much darker and more brutal than the X-Men books, but they’d still fit in when you open the pages of the X-Men book. It’s new to movies, but it’s not new to storytelling.

That's great to hear, and it's exciting that Coogler is approaching this movie with the desire to make it as personal as possible. For him to look at this as his most personal movie — even more than Creed or Fruitvale Station — says a lot about how he's looking to bring this story to life.

Black Panther will star Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, and Michael B. Jordan, and it arrives in theaters on February 2, 2018.

About a month ago it was reported that Elton John was in talks to join Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The legendary musician has just confirmed that he has officially joined the project, and he released the a teaser poster with the caption:

“Wednesday night’s alright for fighting.”

For those of you who don’t know, this is a parody John’s song “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” Then of course, it features a pair of his trademark sunglasses. John writes in the post:

“It’s been a long time since Tommy…” 

Tommy was the last feature film that John actually acted in, and that was released back in 1975. So it certainly has been a long time. 

John will join the previously-cast Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and, judging by the first teaser poster we saw for the film, Colin Firth will be coming back to join the party as well.

There’s still no word on who John will be playing in the movie, but there’s a good chance he could be playing himself or a movie version of himself. The sequel will continue the adventures of Eggsy, and it takes the action from the Kingsman group to the Statesmen, which is the U.K. organization's U.S. equivalent. 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is set to start shooting in London soon from a script Vaughn co-wrote with frequent collaborator Jane Goldman. The movie hits theaters on June 16, 2017. To check out some previously released set photos of Tatum all decked out in his Kingsman gear, click here.

It's been a long time since Tommy..... #Kingsman

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on May 16, 2016 at 1:24pm PDT

I’ve got an amusing and silly animated short that you have to watch that features a collection of two-second clips that show the many random and crazy ways that people can die in space. The video was created by animator Thomas Lucas, and one of the things that I find funniest about it is that it’s mostly the careless curiosity of people that gets them killed.

Terry Gilliam is never going to give up trying to make his passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. This is a project that he’s so passionate about that he’s willing to take on whatever torture that hell has to throw at him to get it made. Over the years, several actors have been involved with the project including Johnny Depp, Jean Rochefort, Ewan McGregor, Robert Duvall, Jack O’Connell, and John Hurt.

The project is set to move forward again, and this time there are two new actors attached to star in it. Those actors aree Adam Driver (The Force Awakens) and Michael Palin, who is one of Gilliam's old Monty Python collaborators. Both these actors will be great in the two lead roles of the film. Hopefully, the production actually goes through this time!

Thanks to Flickreel we have an updated story description for the project that you can read below:

There was a time when Toby was a young film student full of ideals. So he decided to shoot a film adapted from the story of Don Quixote in a pretty Spanish village.

But those days are gone and now Toby is an arrogant publicist, libidinous and jaded. Money and glitter have corrupted him, and while he is in Spain where he finishes filming an ad, he has to juggle with his boss’s wife – Jacqui – a calamitous weather, and his own ego. This is when a mysterious gypsy comes to find him with an old copy of his student film: Toby is upset and decides to go in search of a little village where he had made his first work a long time ago. He discovers with horror that his little film has had terrible effects on this quiet place. Angelica, the girl full of innocence, became a high-class call girl; and the old man who played Don Quixote lost his mind, convinced in his delusion of being the real “Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.”

A series of incidents lead to a fire that threatens to destroy the village. Wanted by the police, Toby is “saved” by the old fool who takes him for his faithful squire Sancho, and drives on the roads in search of his perfect wife, Dulcinea.

During this journey, Toby will face demons, real and imaginary, modern and medieval. Damsels will be saved, jousts will be completed, and giants will be killed!

Reality and fantasy merge in this strange journey, until a spooky ending.

The movie is set to start shooting in the autumn. Maybe this time it will work out better than the first time Gilliam tried to make this movie. You can watch that beautiful disaster go down in the documentary Lost in La Mancha.

Source: Screen Daily

Director Duncan Jones previously confirmed that his soon to be released Warcraft film is the first installment of a trilogy that they have put into motion. Having seen this film, it’s easy to see where the story for the entire trilogy is headed. It does a great job setting everything up, and it will be awesome to see the story that Jones started continue over the course of the next couple of films. 

During the Warcraft press conference that I attended, Jones was asked to say something about the trilogy and where his story is headed. As you might imagine, he didn't go into any crazy details, but he did offer up the following tease:

“You don’t make films this big and not hope that you’re going to get the chance to make maybe one or two more. I know Chris Metzen, who works at Blizzard and myself have talked about, if we have the chance to make a trilogy, what would story be? And what we set up in this film, I think, I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying… The Orcs had a home, they lost their home. Duratan, who’s chieftain of the Frost Worlds has tried to bring his people somewhere to give them a new home. At the end of this movie they don’t quite have that new home yet. I would hope by the end of the trilogy we know where the Orcs are going to live.”

I really do hope that Warcraft does well enough at the box office that Jones and Blizzard can tell the rest of their story. I’m not allowed to say much about the film at the moment, but I’m excited to see what fans of the game think of this movie after it’s released. When talking about the film, story, and how it relates to the classic game previously, Jones explained:

“The story is obviously a retelling of the tale of Warcraft one. The video game Warcraft one orcs and humans. We, many years ago novelized that story in a book called The Last Guardian. So in that novelization the lore was buffed a little more. You gotta remember guys, back in 1994 when War one came out story telling for games, you can argue this today still, I guess, but it was super crude. You had like a page of text in-between each mission. It was really hard to tell a story in gaming, it was super crude. So with the novelization we got to kinda plus the mythology, and kind of build out these characters more and more, and really once Duncan came on, we were very clear we wanted to do a movie about this timeline about this conflict since it’s such a, since its the point of commonality between the two franchises, or sorry, the two factions that make the franchise work witch is alliance and horde. This is where it all begins. So in looking at this story in terms of a script and what capable you can shoot, what you can literally build a story around for film. The mythology grew a little more, we made some kind of tactical calls to simplify certain themes or ideas, and really just make it work as a film. So it is not, there’s literally nothing to base it on. The game was crude and old, although I love it, I hope I didn’t sound like I’m… there’s no one left alive that worked on Warcraft one… so, you know, it’s kind of, I always like to call it, kind of… it’s the ultimate version of Warcraft one, I mean that like Ultimate Spider-Man where it’s all the greatest hits. it’s all the beats it needs, it’s all the right characters, and right kind of chemistry, but it’s streamline, it’s cleaner, it’s better, it’s sharper.”

Warcraft hits theaters on June 10th, 2016. If you're a fan of the game or fantasy films in general, you have to see this movie!

Director Paul Feig's new Ghostbusters movie seems to have been getting a lot of hate from the fans. The first trailer that was released for the film ended up being one of the most disliked trailers on YouTube ever. That's not a positive boost of confidence. Even actress Melissa McCarthy said that the first trailer was confusing. 

Well, today we have a brand new trailer to try and make up for that last one. It features more footage of the ghostbusters team and shows off some of the ghost creatures that they will be fighting including the big bad villain. It also offers a some more information regarding the story. 

I doubt this new trailer will change the minds of audiences who didn't like the first trailer, though. The trailer was also released on Twitter instead of YouTube. I imagine that's because they didn't want the same kind of hate from YouTube users. Twitter has a different kind of audience that might be kinder to the movie.

The movie stars McCarthy as Abby Yates, Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzman, Kristen Wiig as Erin Gilbert, Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan, and Chris Hemsworth as their secretary. All of the surviving original Ghostbusters are confirmed to have cameos in the film as well. Ghostbusters will be released on July 15th.

Watch the new #Ghostbusters trailer now, and see it in theaters July 15. https://t.co/Y2HjHrBMET

— Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) May 18, 2016

I've got a trailer for you to watch for an indie sci-fi film called 2307: Winter's Dream. The movie is like a post-apocalyptic Mad Max film only this one is set on a frozen wasteland. The movie was written and directed by the Academy Award-nominated writer of Blue Valentine, Joey Curtis. The story follows a soldier who is sent on a mission to hunt down the leader of a humanoid rebellion. It's a high concept story, and it looks like the creative team who made the film pulled off something pretty awesome. Here's the synopsis:

The year is 2307 A.D. The earth is frozen over and virtually uninhabitable. The manmade Chimeric Virus wiped out over 75% of the population. The remaining humans live underground, unable to survive the sub-arctic temperatures. With no “man power,” scientists bio-engineered Humanoids that possess great strength, speed, and tolerance to extreme cold. A rogue humanoid named ASH-393 escapes from captivity and threatens to lead a humanoid rebellion against mankind. Arizona Federation leader, General Trajan, sends an elite team of Spartan 7 soldiers to hunt down and terminate ASH. Decorated veteran humanoid killer, Commander Bishop, will lead the team and face his greatest foe.

2307: Winter's Dream is currently seeking distribution at Cannes Film Festival. I'm sure it will eventually be released in some form, and I'm definitely interested in checking it out. 

Via: Firstshowing

Here's a fantastically entertaining video that features Margot Robbie recreating Patrick Bateman’s morning routine scene from the cult favorite film American Psycho. The parody video is a shot-for-shot recreation that was perfectly executed by directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, the filmmaking team behind Paranormal Activity 3 and Paranormal Activity 4. It was released by Vogue and fans of Robbie and American Psycho are sure to enjoy it. 

What does it take to become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading ladies? Australian-born Margot Robbie has an idea: for starters, a studied beauty routine so precise it borders on psychopathic. See the 25-year-old discuss the importance of being born with a six-pack and the beautifying powers of placenta cream in this American Psycho–spoofing original short directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost.

One of my favorite parts of the video includes a shot of a fake script for a movie called Harley Quinn v Harley Davidson, written by Akiva Goldsman. This obviously isn't real, but I'd be interested in seeing that film! I also included the original scene from American Psycho with Christian Bale for you to watch below if you want to compare the two.