“It all begins with a song…” Momentum Pictures has unveiled a full trailer for a film titled Wheeler, a faux-documentary about an aspiring country music singer from Texas who heads to Nashville to make his dream come true. Actor Stephen Dorff plays Wheeler, underneath lots of make-up and a heavy country western accent, and no one knew it was him when he was making the film. As explained by Rolling Stone: “only a handful of the cast knew that it was Dorff underneath the makeup, and fans at the Bluebird Café, where he performed, were also unaware.” Nice work pulling that off. I can’t tell if this film is making fun of country music, or just having fun creating a fake musician, but it actually looks like it’s worth checking out. ›››
Paramount has unleashed the first trailer for Michael Bay’s latest Transformers sequel, Transformers: The Last Knight, yet again starring Mark Wahlberg (who was introduced in Age of Extinction). This sequel puts an interesting spin on things, with the Transformers going back to medieval times and meeting up with King Arthur for an adventure. The full cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, John Goodman, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Isabela Moner, Santiago Cabrera, and Liam Garrigan as King Arthur; plus the same voices as before: Peter Cullen, Frank Welker and Ken Watanabe. I lost interest in this series after the last movie, but they’re really trying to make us care again with this fun back-in-time storyline. It honestly doesn’t look as bad as I was expecting. What do you think? ›››
“Two teachers are in a school fight to end all school fights.” Warner Bros has released a second trailer for the comedy Fist Fight, featuring teachers played by Ice Cube and Charlie Day, who organize an epic battle at the end of the school year. This trailer is much better than the first trailer, showing just how much it might actually deliver in full on the “fist fight” epic battle concept. The cast also features Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Dean Norris, Christina Hendricks, Dennis Haysbert, and JoAnna Garcia Swisher. This is such a crazy simple concept for a movie, but it just might work. As long as they don’t cop out with something lame at the end, when the actual fight is supposed to happen, I’m down to go see this. Have fun. ›››
Every new year brings us another Sundance Film Festival and with 45 days left until Sundance 2016 kicks off on January 19th, it’s time to find out what will be playing up in snowy Park City this January. Last week, Sundance revealed their line-up of in-competition films and documentaries from all over the world. Today, they’ve revealed the remainder of the line-up – including a fine selection of big Premieres (features and documentaries) as well as Midnight films, Kids films, special events, and Spotlight holdovers from other festivals. So many films to see! A new one from the director of The One I Love that sounds good (see The Discovery), as well as TIFF favorites like Raw, Colossal and Their Finest. Full list can be found below. ›››
Star Wars: Rogue One is a spinoff from the main series and is not expected to get a sequel. But would director Gareth Edwards want to come back to direct another film in the sci-fi series someday? Maybe, he said in a new interview, but it’s more important for him is to have other people direct new installments.
“It’s nearly impossible for me to say, ‘No, I would never ever do Star Wars ever again,’ but I sort of feel like you know, I’ve won the lottery in terms of cinema,” he told IGN. “The most unfair thing you can do with the lottery winning is go buy more lottery tickets. It’s like, you’ve got to let other people.”
Edwards and Felicity Jones on the set of Rogue One
Also in the interview, Edwards singled out the iconic Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi as one he would be theoretically interested in exploring in a new film. Specifically, he’d like to drill down on the time Obi-Wan spent on Tatooine as Luke Skywalker’s mentor of sorts.
“The bit that fascinated me before I knew about anything, I probably gravitated toward Tatooine because that’s where I fantasized about as a kid, like, wanting to be like Luke Skywalker,” Edwards said. “And as part of that obviously Obi-Wan Kenobi, his wilderness years. I mean, I feel like that would, I’d pay to watch that film.”
Lucasfilm has released another new Star Wars: Rogue One video, this one spotlighting the main character Jyn Erso. Played by Felicity Jones, Erso is critical to the story. Her father (played by Mads Mikkelsen) was apparently the architect of the Death Star and the movie’s story will involve trying to find him and steal the plans to the mega-weapon.
In the new featurette, Jones talks about how it was important to her and director Gareth Edwards to make Jyn come across as believable and relatable. “With Jyn, Gareth and I both felt that it was very important that we found her humanity and her vulnerability. Everyone should relate to her,” she says.
Jones goes on to say that the rebellion finds Jyn somewhat tough to deal with, but must push past whatever differences they have to find her father and try to stop the Imperials.
This character video follows one from last week that shined a light on another rebel character, Captain Cassian Andor, who is played by Diego Luna–watch it here.
There has been a flood of new videos for Rogue One in the past few weeks. Another new video shows off how the movie’s creature effects are largely physical, as opposed to the heavy use of CGI in the Star Wars prequels.
In other news, Edwards, the film’s director, said this week that Star Wars creator George Lucas gave a thumbs up to Rogue One. “I don’t wanna put words into his mouth, but I can honestly say that I can die happy now. He really liked the movie, so it meant a lot,” Edwards said at a press event.
A mysterious tweet from the Halo channel asks, “Shall we play a game?” This is presumably a reference to a new game mode. Check out the teaser for yourself in the image below.
Whatever the case, we’ll report back with all the details as they’re announced.
Halo 5 launched more than a year ago, arriving in October 2015 for Xbox One. 343 has supported the first-person shooter with heaps of free DLC in the past year in the form of eight free expansions, which were released (mostly) on a monthly basis.
What we already know about this latest DLC pack is that it will add more Warzone maps and Forge canvases. In terms of paid content, you’ll be able to buy a Req called “The Voices of War,” which introduces three new multiplayer announcers, one of whom is Edward Buck (voiced by Nathan Fillion).
Check back with GameSpot later today for more on Halo 5’s new DLC.
One of the most intriguing parts of the new Death Stranding trailer was the confirmation that Hannibal and Star Wars: Rogue One actor Mads Mikkelsen is in the game. Now, Mikkelsen has spoken about working with Kojima and why he was drawn to the project in the first place.
“Kojima is a master,” he told IGN as part of the Rogue One press tour. “He’s the Kasparov of video games. He’s such a visionary person. [Working on a video game] was just something I’d never crossed before, so it was a wonderful opportunity to dive into that world.”
The Kasparov Mikkelsen is referring to is Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
In the new Death Stranding trailer, released last week at The Game Awards, it is suggested that Mikkelsen’s character is the antagonist (something Kojima himself later confirmed). And he has some unique abilities; remember those tentacle things? Asked by IGN to provide more details on the character, Mikkelsen declined, saying official announcements will come later.
Mikkelsen isn’t the only Hollywood talent in Death Stranding, as the newest trailer also revealed that Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro will be in it in some form. The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus is also in the game; he’s the playable character.
Star Wars: Battlefront‘s Rogue One: Scarif DLC, which features content from the upcoming movie, launches today for some players. As announced previously, people who own the game’s season pass or have the Ultimate Edition can start playing the expansion today, December 6. The DLC will be available for everyone else beginning on December 20.
Rogue One: Scarif’s four maps are set on the tropical planet Scarif, while the new playable characters are rebel leader Jyn Erso and the evil Director Orson Krennic, based on the likenesses of Felicity Jones and Ben Mendelsohn, respectively. Additionally, a new multi-stage mode featuring ground- and space-based combat called Infiltration is included with the expansion.
Battlefront’s servers were taken offline today to launch the DLC and a new update. The patch–which is available for all players–adds two new weapons (the A180 and the DT-29) and a new Star Card in the form of the Sonic Imploder. This is a “hybrid grenade” that deals damage and also blinds people who are looking at it. The patch also raises the level cap from 90 to 100 and makes a series of weapon and hero balance changes.
Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full patch notes.
Rogue One: Scarif is Battlefront’s final expansion. It follows Battle of Jakku, Outer Rim, Bespin, and Death Star. If you’re just getting into Battlefront now, you can pick up the $40 Ultimate Edition that comes with the base game and all DLC, including Scarif.
New levels: Four new maps set on Scarif and in space above the planet.
New game mode: Infiltration. – A three-phased mode in which Rebels must first breach the shield surrounding Scarif by escorting a U-wing to the Shield Gate. Once they’ve landed, their objective is to create a diversion by blowing up an Imperial cargo ship. Immediately afterwards, the Rebels must complete their mission by stealing Imperial secrets and escaping.
New Weapons:
A180: A unique blaster pistol which can be modified to become other blaster types. Once equipped, your Star Card hand will be replaced with three different modes you can activate. – Sniper Mode – Rifle Mode – Ion Mode
DT-29: A blaster pistol which uses ammunition instead of the overheat system.
New Star Cards:
Sonic Imploder: A hybrid grenade that deals damage to the enemies as well as blinds targets that are looking towards the explosion.
New Heroes:
Jyn Erso:
Rifle Extension – Transforms the blaster pistol in to a blaster rifle. You can switch mode between pistol and rifle modes at any time without a cooldown.
Sonic Imploder – The grenade deals high damage, blinds enemies and reduce armor for targets.
Truncheon Surge – Jyn performs a short forward melee strike using her baton. The ability starts with 3 charges, but can hold up to 9.
Passive: For each kill with her blasters or grenade, Jyn will gain charges for Truncheon Surge. The amount she gains is equal to the level of her trait.
Director Krennic
Armor Breaker – Krennic will fire a powerful blaster bolt that deals high damage and does armor reduction.
C2-B5 – A unique version of an astromech droid is deployed. It is AI controlled and has the following abilities – Scan Ping – Squad Shield – Dioxis Defense
Wrath of the Empire – Boosts team members in a small radius around Krennic. On top of a temporary armor increase, it has the following effects: – For regular soldiers it will increase the total health to 200, but it will automatically deplete until the players health reaches 50 Health regeneration will not activate until the player drops to 50 health. – For heroes and Krennic they will receive a 10% temporary health boost.
Passive ability: An armor boost effect is applied to all nearby players, including Krennic. The armor boost effect is dependent on the number of nearby players. Heroes count for two players – Level 1: 1 Player – Level 2: 4 Players – Level 3: 8 Players
Death Troopers: 2 players are able to spawn in as a Death Trooper whenever Krennic is on the battlefield. They are equipped with the following gear: – Weapon: DLT-19 – Ability 1: Thermal Imploder – Ability 2: Cooling cell – Ability 3: Smart Rocket
New Vehicle:
U-wing: A vehicle only available in space above Scarif as part of the new Infiltration game mode. It can utilize the following abilities: – Speed Boost – Shield – Jammer
New Power-ups:
U-wing: Fire a turret mounted on the side of the U-wing as it circles above the map. You can protect yourself with the following abilities: – Shield – Jammer
TIE Striker: An Imperial only power-up available only on Scarif. When activated, an AI controlled TIE Striker will make a strafing run on nearby Rebel players.
Hutt Contracts:
New Hutt contracts: Four new Hutt Contracts have been added to the game.
General:
PlayStation: Added the Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: X-wing VR Mission.
Drivers: The required AMD drivers for Battlefront are now 15.7 and above.
Armor: A new armor system has been introduced. Increased armor decreases damage taken, where reduced armor increases damage taken.
AI ships: Reduced the damage the AI vehicles deal. This change affects the AI support pick-ups from Y-wings, B-wings, TIE Defenders, & TIE bombers.
Skirmish: Fixed an issue in which the Multiplayer Star Card hand wasn’t available.
Game modes: Updated various spawn locations.
Traits: Added a new way in which Traits are level up. It is point based now with different action granting more points. Playing the objective will grant more points than kills will do.
Traits: Resolved a bug in which the traits will not reset whenever a player is defeated at level 3.
Speeder Bikes: Resolved an issue which allowed speeder bikes to instantly kill heroes.
General: Various minor UI issues.
General: Updated the localization.
Game Modes:
Death Star DLC: Added Cargo and Droid run to the death star interior levels
Walker Assault: Resolved a bug in which players could spawn multiple heroes by waiting in the hero selection screen.
Walker Assault: Removed TIE Interceptors during the last uplinks on Twilight on Hoth.
Extraction: The shipment will now destroy any medical droid placed in its path.
Extraction & Sabotage: Resolved issues that could cause the player to get stuck in the hero selection screen.
Sabotage: Increased the spawn time for AT-STs .
Sabotage: Increased capture areas and moved them slightly.
Heroes vs. Villains: Is now best of 3 and all maps are played twice enabling players to play on both teams.
Battle Station: Space power-ups now properly respawn during the first phase.
Game Modes: Updated various spawn locations.
Weapon & Star Cards:
Bryar Pistol: Lowered secondary fire damage from 300 to 120.
Bryar Pistol: Increased cooling power from 0.1 to 0.07.
Bryar Pistol: Increased rate of fire from 240 to 280.
DLT-19X: Raised minimum damage from 65 to 67.
Stinger Pistol: Increased base impact damage from 5 to 7.
Stinger Pistol: Increased the active time for both basic and black card by 1 second.
Stinger Pistol: Removed the penalty of un-equipping the card before firing. It will no longer go into cooldown when performing this action.
Disruption: Added a 1.5 second delay from when the Star Card is activated to when the effect is triggered.
Disruption: Users who activated a Disruption card can’t run during the deploy time.
Disruption: When activating the Disruption card, sparks will emit from the player in order to notify enemy players in close proximity.
Astromech & Viper Droid: Added a lock-on multiplier that have the following effects: – If a target is more than 25m away from the droid, it will not take 1 second to lock-on, but rather 2 seconds. – Pulled in the effective range of the projectiles. – Lowered the minimum damage slightly.
Bacta effect: The bacta effect now applies to heroes. This applies to both Bacta Bomb and Medical Droid. When applied to heroes it adds an additional 10%, with 10% being the maximum amount.
Spawn Screen: Added more clarity for certain weapons with unique effects by adding a short description to certain weapons in the spawn screen.
Heroes:
General: Stun effects are not applied with each attack anymore. Players have a 1.5 seconds window where they can’t be consecutively stunned by the same attack.
General: Several attacks are now doing more damage to droids: Lightsaber, Force Push, Saber throw, and Saber Rush.
Luke Skywalker: Health increase from 1050 to 1100.
Luke Skywalker: Force Push damage increase from 100 to 130.
Han Solo: The Shoulder Charge’s hit box has been increased.
Leia Organa: You can now cancel the Trooper Bane ability.
Leia Organa: Health Token healing amount decreased from 50 to 40.
Leia Organa: Health increase from 1000 to 1050.
Nien Nunb: No longer takes damage from his own Proximity Bombs.
Chewbacca: Increased damage of main projectile from 40 to 45.
Chewbacca: Increased explosion damage of main projectile from 25 to 30.
Chewbacca: Roar active time increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
Chewbacca: Mobility speed increased very slightly.
Chewbacca: Health increase to 1500.
Palpatine: Health Token healing amount decrease from 50 to 40.
Palpatine: Very slight Lightning damage decrease.
Boba Fett: Wrist Rocket increased inner blast radius from 2.5 to 3.5m and the outer from 4 to 4.5m.
Boba Fett: Wrist Rocket homing range increased from 25 to 35m.
Greedo: Precision Shot will now briefly stun Luke.
Greedo: No longer takes damage from his own Dioxis Grenade.
Dengar: Hurricane Strike damage input fixed, it no longer hits multiple times on one enemy.
Dengar: Increased base damage of Hurricane Strike from 100 to 130
Bossk: Predatory Instincts will no longer randomly turn off.
Vader: Can attack and block while Force Choking enemies.
Han Solo: Damage fall off distance and general damage increases. – Level 0: 22m and 30 min. damage – Level 1: 30m and 40 min. damage – Level 2: 45m, 50 min. damage and 75 close damage – Level 3: 70m, 60 min. damage and 80 close damage
Darth Vader: Armor increase based on the number of enemies surrounding him. Heroes count as 2 enemies. – Level 1: 20% for 1-2 enemies – Level 2: 50% for 3-4 enemies – Level 3: 80% for 5+ enemies
You can see the full rundown of December’s freebies below. There will also be a new PSN weekly sale that kicks off later today–we’ll post a roundup of those deals when they are announced.
