Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron for Star Wars??

Disney D23 Expo is coming up and what will no doubt be the hot button of that show is Star Wars Episode VII. With the already looming rumors of JJ Abrams' departure (already proven false by Disney execs), more rumors have been popping up.

These particular rumors pertain to casting of the film. We already have Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher confirm their returns, but what about the rest of the cast? Well apparently, Disney is rumored to be pursuing two actors as some of the leads: Ryan Gosling, and Zac Efron. I think it is a little early to speculate on roles, seeing as they are just rumors. However, Gosling is possibly lined up to play Luke Skywalker's son, Ben Skywalker. In my eyes, Efron seems to look more the part to play Luke's son, but these rumors could still be false altogether so we don't know yet.

 

 I'm certainly hoping D23 sheds a little more light on the subject, even if it's just to dispel these casting rumors completely. But, it would be interesting to see at least one, if not both, of these actors take on a role in the Star Wars sequel Trilogy.

Their source might be correct, but he also could have just picked two popular names that made sense and ran with it. It isn't surprising to see Gosling's name pop-up since he has been mentioned for what seems like every major movie role lately. Efron might not be in the same league as Ryan Gosling, but once again it's not a shocker to hear he might be up for a part in EPISODE VII. - See more at: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/is-disney-interested-in-these-two-actors-for-star-wars-episode-vii#sthash.k4BLgpiI.dpuf

Their source might be correct, but he also could have just picked two popular names that made sense and ran with it. It isn't surprising to see Gosling's name pop-up since he has been mentioned for what seems like every major movie role lately. Efron might not be in the same league as Ryan Gosling, but once again it's not a shocker to hear he might be up for a part in EPISODE VII. - See more at: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/is-disney-interested-in-these-two-actors-for-star-wars-episode-vii#sthash.k4BLgpiI.dpuf

Their source might be correct, but he also could have just picked two popular names that made sense and ran with it. It isn't surprising to see Gosling's name pop-up since he has been mentioned for what seems like every major movie role lately. Efron might not be in the same league as Ryan Gosling, but once again it's not a shocker to hear he might be up for a part in EPISODE VII. - See more at: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/is-disney-interested-in-these-two-actors-for-star-wars-episode-vii#sthash.k4BLgpiI.dpuf

Their source might be correct, but he also could have just picked two popular names that made sense and ran with it. It isn't surprising to see Gosling's name pop-up since he has been mentioned for what seems like every major movie role lately. Efron might not be in the same league as Ryan Gosling, but once again it's not a shocker to hear he might be up for a part in EPISODE VII. - See more at: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/is-disney-interested-in-these-two-actors-for-star-wars-episode-vii#sthash.k4BLgpiI.dpuf

Their source might be correct, but he also could have just picked two popular names that made sense and ran with it. It isn't surprising to see Gosling's name pop-up since he has been mentioned for what seems like every major movie role lately. Efron might not be in the same league as Ryan Gosling, but once again it's not a shocker to hear he might be up for a part in EPISODE VII. - See more at: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/is-disney-interested-in-these-two-actors-for-star-wars-episode-vii#sthash.k4BLgpiI.dpuf

Zack Snyder Announces Superman/Batman Combo Movie

Comic Con has come and gone, and some really big news has come out about both the Marvel and DC film universes that are quite noteworthy. But, the focus of this is the big announcement by Zak Snyder: the sequel to Man of Steel will be a combo film with Batman.

 

We've seen this a few times in the animated films. We have Public Enemies, Apocalypse, and the countless Justice League animated films. But this is the first time we're seeing this in a live-action film, and I think it's great to see the heroes interacting a little before Justice League is actually made.

Now the the troubling part...

Before the official announcement was made, Harry Lennix, who appeared in Man of Steel came out on stage and read a quote from a famous Batman comic:

"I want you to remember, Clark. In all the years to come. In all your most private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you."

First off, I have nothing against the quote. It's a great quote coming from one of the Batman's best story lines. By the way, it's from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns comic. What's troubling to me is, that they decided to take this specific quote. Batman is saying it to Superman after defeating him in combat.  Superman became a government pawn who was convinced that Batman was dangerous so he went against Batman and lost.

This concerns me because it sounds like they're making it a vs. movie, a Batman vs. Superman movie. Not only do I not like that idea, but it makes it obvious that Batman is going to beat Superman in some way. Batman we'll come out the hero and Superman is made an adversary, thus making it a Batman movie all over again. I don't want that, I want a Batman/Superman collaboration where they work together to stop a true global threat.

Miller does not portray Superman well in his book and i hope that isn't the direction they're looking at. Making this a vs. film would only reinforce Millers poor treatment of Superman. Man of Steel reintroduced Superman as a hero to this generation, he needs to continue to do so when he partners with Batman and not be some government stooge. I want Batman and Superman working together. This is after all a Superman movie featuring Batman, not the Batman reboot.

X-Men: Costumes, Sentinels, and Bishop

Outside a Hard Rock in Los Angeles, there was the head of a sentinel put on display. These sentinels will appear in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. The sentinels are gigantic robots designed specifically for hunting mutants. The photo below shows the sentinel head and the background shows the logo of Trask Industries, the company owned by villain Bolivar Trask (played by Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones) who detests the existence of mutants:

For those unfamiliar with the Days of Future Past storyline, it portrays a dystopian future when the X-Men fail to prevent the assasination of Senator Kelly by the Brotherhood of Mutants lead by Magneto. This failure catalyzes a future where Trask's sentinels rule the United States and mutants are held in internment camps. Now it's up to a resistance group of mutants to warn the X-Men of the past to prevent this disaster.



There are also portrait photos of Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Colossus, and Bishop. Bishop is a time travelling mutant leading the resistance group aimed at stopping the sentinels in the DOFP storyline and this film version looks fantastic. His red sash/ cloak thing is directly from the comic book and I like it when actual comic looks are brought to life. We also have a small look at Wolverine's new outfit, which looks like it might have elements of either his classic yellow/blue or brown/tan outfit from the comic. Check out the photos below:

To be honest, I'm starting to like how the movie's turning out. I was a little deterred when Bryan Singer returned to direct, but how can you go wrong with all the cast of every X-Men movie returning to their roles. Plus, we get both the Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender versions of Magneto and that alone is a wonderful thought.

Fans Petition Microsoft to Restore Original XBox One Policies

 

Apparently there is a petition on change.org for Microsoft to bring back all of the original DRM policies for the XBox One.

The organizer for this petition, David Fontenot, demands Microsoft to release "the XBox One we were promised at E3.

“This was to be the future of entertainment,” the petition says. “A new wave of gaming where you could buy games digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumers uncertainty. We want this back. It can't be all or nothing, there must be a compromise.”

So here we go again, after real gamers rallied for the gaming we know and love, someone wants to bring it back. I truly can't believe their are people out there who think that adding oppression to the one thing in this world we can use freely is the future of entertainment. Here's an FYI Mr. Fontenot, we weren't uninformed. We were clearly informed of what Microsoft was doing and we knew it was the such an arrogant, moneygrabbing scheme by Microsoft to dupe drones like you. Sony didn't take advantage of our uncertainty, they took advantage of Microsoft's stupidity by not being stupid.

However, I will say that I hope Microsoft returns to its old policies. There's nothing more detrimental to a companies credibility than reversing policies twice over the span of a few months. Who knows, maybe seeing the XBox One flop in comparison to the PS4 may be the kick in the ass Microsoft needs to do something intelligent for once.

How Cory Monteith's Death Will Affect Glee's 5th Season

So this past weekend was pretty depressing. Not only does George Zimmerman walk after killing Trayvon Martin, but Gleeks everywhere woke up on Sunday to the news of the shocking death of actor Cory Monteith. Monteith is best known as the adorably awkward Finn Hudson on Fox's Glee and news of his death echoed most of Sunday as co-stars and other friends of Monteith poured out their condolences to an apparently popular person.

Cory Monteith: 1982-2013

Grievances have been done to death, but I'll put my own opinion on it. Honestly, the death of an actor hasn't been this much of a shock to me since Heath Ledger's death back in 2008. I remember hearing the news and much like now I had too much trouble accepting it as actual fact. Eventually, the truth set in that Cory Monteith is gone, and we'll never see him again. That's how I felt about Ledger, they both had so much talent and potential and they're gone. Monteith was someone I looked forward to watching each week and share the common interest of hockey (he was a Canucks fan though). We can't anymore and it really sucks.

Monteith's character, Finn Hudson, was probably the most consistent of any character the show had and he was what kept it together. So how is Cory's passing going to affect the show. Monteith was one of the only graduate characters to be kept on as a regular so we could've expected a major storyline for Finn. At the end of it all, I was seeing him take over for Will as the director of the Glee Club at some point. With that thought in mind, there's pretty much one solution to what the show has to do with Finn: kill him.

Finn Hudson in a memorable scene for the character

It's been done before, when a star of a still running series dies, they kill off the character. It was done to John Ritter on 8 Simple Rules, and it was done more recently with Larry Hagman's character on Dallas. Finn needs to be killed off because he's too important a character for him just to disappear. Like I mentioned before, by the end of season four, he seemed destined to take over as director of New Directions should Will ever decide to leave. A character like that can't be written off by him simply leaving and never coming back, he's too attached to McKinley and the glee club to simply never return to what made Finn who he was when he graduated. Besides, Finn's death opens so many more possibilities for like finally having a constant story arc on the show, and a possible tribute episode where they perform a bunch of Monteith's favourite songs (I imagine Cory and Finn shared common music tastes anyway).


It's not complicated, Glee needs to kill Finn for the benefit of not only the show, but Cory Monteith's memory and what he brought to Glee.



"Interviewer: What's the best part about Glee?
Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray): Cory Monteith"

Why Adam Sandler Won't Improve

I still remember a time when Adam Sandler movies were somewhat enjoyable, sometimes pretty good. Back in the 90s, he had some of the funniest movies to come out of that decade. From Billy Madison to The Wedding Singer, Sandler was a hit. The Wedding Singer even managed to inspire a musical with all original music.

It was about the time when Little Nicky came out that his comedies became not just bad, but 'no one can possibly enjoy this' bad. Sandler then followed with other awful efforts like You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Jack and Jill, and That's My Boy. Grown Ups even has a sequel coming out this Friday. The reason for a sequel to a piece of crap movie like Grown Ups initially confused me until I read a poll where Grown Ups 2 has more support than the clearly more inspired Pacific Rim by Guillermo Del Toro.

Is Pacific Rim gonna be the best, most original movie this year? No, it's generally copied off of stuff that copied off of older stuff that copied off of even older stuff (I'm of course still checking it out). However, everyone can agree it'll be a lot better than Sandler's most recent two hours of comedy stool. Here's news for you folks, he's not getting any better.

Do you know why? It's because of YOU, the viewer. All of you constantly flock out to his terribleness in droves and reward him with constant People's Choice Awards (chosen by YOU) as the best comedic actor. Grown Ups even won best comedy over Easy A and Date Night. He sees this apparent praise and continues to make crap like that because he's always rewarded with it.

Do you know why more of his better movies like Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and Funny People aren't made? We punish him by not seeing those as much as the drivel we do see. I think Punch Drunk Love is Adam Sandler at his very best, Ebert compared him to Dennis Hopper for God's sake. Yet it only made 25 million at the box office. Meanwhile, Grown Ups raked in 271 million and we get to be treated with a sequel that's bound to suck even more.

Even if Pacific Rim isn't your thing, there's still more things to see. Go check out Despicable Me 2, The Heat, or Monsters University. I'm sure Melissa McCarthy can give you guys more to laugh about then Sandler's old, repetitive schtick. Whatever you decide, avoid Grown Ups 2 at all costs. Even if that means avoiding the movie theatre altogether. Make Adam Sandler see the error of his ways so he can  actually make better movies. Just remember Jack and Jill and you'll know I'm right.

Langue de Krypton pour 'Man of Steel' Créée par une Experte en Linguistique de la Colombie Britannique

Une professeure adjointe d'anthropologie de l'Université de la C.-B. à Okanagan, Christine Schreyer, a été engagée comme consultante par l'équipe de production du nouveau film Man of Steel, à l'affiche depuis juin.

Experte en linguistique, elle a aidé les producteurs du film à développer le langage kryptonien. Non seulement son équipe a inventé un vocabulaire d'environ 300 mots, mais elle a aussi travaillé avec des graphistes pour créer une écriture kryptonienne.
 
« Superman est devenu une franchise tellement importante qu'il y a plein de choses dont il fallait tenir compte, dit-elle. Il fallait regarder les noms utilisés dans les livres de bandes dessinées, les films et les émissions de télévision pour voir quels genres de sons on pouvait utiliser. »

Christine Schreyer explique que son travail avec des communautés autochtones voulant faire revivre des langues anciennes l'a aidée dans ce projet.

De plus, sa familiarité avec des langues fictives, telles que le klingon dans Star Trek et le langage na'vi dans le film Avatar, l'a aidée à comprendre comment d'autres linguistes s'y sont pris afin de créer des langues pour des films.

NHL's Free Agency Opening

The NHL free agency started with a lot of high profile players going to new teams. First off, was Vincent Lecavalier. It came as a surprise, to even myself, when the Lightning announced they were buying out his contract. Lecavalier remains a significant offensive asset and it surprised me to see him go like that. He signed a 5-year, 22.5 million dollar contract with the Philadelphia  Flyers. I think he still has some years left, and he'll definitely enhance the offence in Philly.

The cap space to sign Lecavalier was only made possible when Philly bought out veteran forward Daniel Briere. Coming off his least productive season of his career, Briere has moved on to the Montreal Canadiens with a two year agreement. While I'm not sure it adds to the size factor GM Marc Bergevin is aiming for, but maybe a new atmosphere will be beneficial for Briere. Besides, Montreal also acquired George Parros from the Florida Panthers to give the Canadiens more size and toughness; Parros stands at a towering 6'5".

Other big signings include Jarome Iginla going to Boston for a year. After rejecting a trade to Boston before going to Pittsburgh, his reception in Boston will most likely take a little time. Michael Ryder,  along with Ryan Clowe, signed with the New Jersey Devils. And Nikolai Khabibulin returns to Chicago now that Devan Dubnyk has taken over in Edmonton. Lastly, Nathan Horton has settled on a seven year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets after announcing he would test free agency instead of re-signing in Boston.

Along with free agent signings, some very big trades happened today that require recognition. The Dallas Stars have traded for Tyler Seguin from Boston, sending Loui Eriksson in return. The Stars have also acquired Shawn Horcoff from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Philip Larsen and a draft pick. Another team making a big trade is Ottawa as they get Bobby Ryan from Anaheim. Ryan has had three consecutive 30-goal seasons and is sure to bolster the Sens offence now that Daniel Alfredsson has gone to the Red Wings.

The free agency isn't over yet, and many players are still looking for homes for this coming season. I doubt I'll be reporting on those, most of the high profile players have already been signed.

Justice League Film: How Batman Ruined It

 

 

Christian Bale has made it official that he will not be playing Batman in the Justice League film. After writer David S. Goyer stating the Justice League Batman would be a rebooted character, Bale's official statement put the final confirmation that he'll have nothing to do with the film.

So with Bale gone, who will take the role next? It's pretty obvious someone has to. The three characters that need to be in the Justice League are Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. However, having said that, I think we need a little bit of a break from our beloved Dark Knight.

In the past few years, we've had several movies, tv shows, and games devoted to Batman and such little focus to other DC characters by comparison. The Wonder Woman pilot as rejected, Arrow is barely a show about the Green Arrow, and the only two DC movies we've gotten that wasn't Batman are Green Lantern and Man of Steel. All the other movies were direct to DVD animated films that were relatively overlooked (even those were mostly Batman or Superman). For the Justice League film to succeed, now made necessary by The Avengers, some form of storyline needs to be established with the other members of the team. Make that Flash film everyone's waiting for, have Martian Manhunter make a cameo somewhere, do something with Wonder Woman for God's sake.

Then again, even that seems to be a lost dream. With a new cartoon (Beware the Batman) and a new Arkham game (Arkham Origins) on the way, it seems Batman will still be a focus for DC for a little while longer. If that's so, then the focus of the Justice League film needs to be on the other characters. Give the significant screen time to the Flash, and Martian Manhunter. Throw in some Wonder Woman while your at it. Establish the new characters to fit in with the old. Give Batman the smaller role to accommodate all of the Justice League. Sure the movie's gonna end up a bit of a mess with the new characters fighting for screen time, but that's the situation DC got themselves in by being too Batman-centric. Even then though, they still have a new Batman to establish as well. I don't think Nolan's Batman will fit in well with all the superpowers.

Final bit: Is it too much to ask for a decent game for Superman or Green Lantern?

2013 NHL Draft Report

For those who didn't catch it, Sunday afternoon was the 2013 NHL Entry Draft held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Here, future stars of the NHL were selected by the 30 NHL teams. Top prospects include Seth Jones of the Portland Winterhawks and the two forwards of the Halifax Mooseheads, Nathan McKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.

The day started with the Colorado Avalanche making the first overall pick. Staying true to what they said the past week, the Avalanche passed over Seth Jones and picked Nathan McKinnon. The Avs always said they were going for a forward this draft and they followed through. The picks to follow, however, were a tad more surprising. Instead of Jones for the number-two pick, the Florida Panthers chose Russian-born Fin Aleksander Barkov. Jones was then passed over again by the Tampa Bay Lightning in favor of Jonathan Drouin. Then finally, Jones was selected fourth overall by the Nashville Predators. Some other notable picks of the first round were Sean Monahan (6th, Calgary Flames), Darnell Nurse (7th, Edmonton Oilers), and Max Domi (12th, Phoenix Coyotes), son of former NHLer Tie Domi. The first goaltender didn't come until round 2 when the Montreal Canadiens chose Zachary Fucale 36th overall.

The one big splash at the draft was made by the host New Jersey Devils. The Devils were slated to have the number nine pick in the draft, but they made a last second trade with Vancouver to acquire goaltender Cory Schneider. It was a great move by the Devils as they will be in need of a starting goaltender when Martin Brodeur decides to retire. Vancouver used the number nine pick to select Bo Horvat of the London Knights.

As for the Seth Jones situation, his move from number one scouting ranking to fourth overall pick is not his fault at all. The first three teams of the draft, Colorado; Florida; and Tampa Bay, all had their plan in mind and Jones did not fit. They either needed forwards or were looking for forwards and Jones is a defenseman with an offensive upside. In all honesty, Jones would fit better in Nashville anyway. With Jones teaming up with either Shea Weber or Ryan Ellis, the Predators will have the most dangerous blueline in the league next season.

If your still not convinced, then keep this thought in mind: the draft position is just a number. We've had first overall picks be total duds (ex. Alexandre Daigle, Patrik Stefan) and we've had late picks be total studs (ex. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Lundqvist). Who knows how these picks will perform in the NHL. At this point, we'll just have to wait and see.