“Never opened, never tested.” HBO has debuted a full trailer for the documentary I Am Evidence, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and also played at AFI Docs, and the Nantucket, Traverse City, Hamptons, and St. Louis Film Festivals. This powerful documentary is an important investigation into the way sexual assault cases are handled by police departments in America. Many brave women across the country tell stories of unthinkable experiences with rape who report, press charges, and go through rape kits thinking that their rapists will be caught and punished. Unfortunately we learn that there is a shocking number of untested rape kits in the US today. Hundreds of thousands of kits containing potentially crucial DNA evidence sit abandoned in police evidence storage rooms. Hopefully this doc might make a difference. ›››
“You cannot hesitate.” Focus Features has released one final trailer for Cory Finley’s devilishly dark comedy Thoroughbreds, opening in select theaters starting March 9th in just a few weeks. Two of the best young actresses today, Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke, play upper-class teen girls in suburban Connecticut who rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. When they get together again, they make plans to take out their stepfather – which they both hate. One of the big quotes on the poster describes this as “American Psycho meets Heathers,” which should make you very interested, or not. The full cast includes Paul Sparks, Francie Swift, and Kaili Vernoff. This does look damn good, and it did play at a bunch of festivals, so it may be worth checking out whenever it shows up at an art house theater near you. Watch out. ›››
“Listen to me – don’t come back.” Indican Pictures has debuted a trailer for an indie Los Angeles-set comedy titled The Happys, about a girl from the Midwest who moves into the trendy hipster neighborhood of Los Feliz. Tracy befriends the various weirdos from her neighborhood after a bad break up with hey boyfriend, meeting a recluse, a manager, a reporter, and a food truck chef, among others. Amanda Bauer (from “The Myth of the American Sleepover”) stars, and the ensemble cast includes Jack DePew, Janeane Garofalo, Melissa McBride, Rhys Ward, Arturo del Puerto, Cathy Ladman, Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Will Bethencourt. This seems like one of those cutesy LA movies that is all about how hard/easy it is to make friends in that town, perfectly depicting all the various quirks of Los Feliz. Oh, Los Angeles. Have fun. ›››
“Let’s make a deal – you tell me your secrets, and I’ll tell you mine.” An international trailer has debuted for the film Loving Pablo, a romantic thriller (entirely in English) about the Colombian journalist who struck up a romantic relationship with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. The film premiered at last year’s Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, and should be in cinemas this year but still doesn’t have a US release date yet. Loving Pablo stars real-life couple Javier Bardem as Pablo Escobar, and Penélope Cruz as journalist Virginia Vallejo. The rest of the cast includes Peter Sarsgaard, Julieth Restrepo, and David Valencia. There have been a few Pablo Escobar films in the last few years, including The Infiltrator and Paradise Lost. I still don’t really get the obsession with him, oh well. This looks like one of the biggest films about him yet. ›››
The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War delivered plenty of action, plus an appearance from pretty much every hero from the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. A few more pieces of information have emerged this week, including new looks for both Iron Man and Black Widow.
A promotional image posted on Reddit reveals that Tony Stark will be sporting two new additions to his Iron Man suit–a bionic arm and a pair of wings. As Digital Spy points out, a fleeting shot in the recent Super Bowl TV spot for the movie suggests that Tony is missing an arm. We obviously don’t know how he loses it, but it looks like he might be getting a bionic upgrade. As for the wings–Stark has never needed them to fly before, but hey, they look pretty cool.
Black Widow’s change is less dramatic, but her new costume is partly green, which at the very least ties her in visually to her good pal the Hulk. Check the image out below:
In addition, a piece of Infinity War merchandise has revealed one of the movie’s new villains. A promotional mug shows Thanos alongside his evil Black Order, plus a mysterious new bad guy. While we don’t know who it is exactly, Heroic Hollywood has suggested that it could be Warbringer, a Chitauri warlord who first appeared in a 2015 issue of Marvel’s Nova comic.
All will be revealed when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4. It is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who helmed the last two Captain America movies, and will follow it up with next year’s currently untitled Avengers 4.
In related news, Captain American star Chris Evans last week seemed to confirm that the rumored Black Widow movie is in development at Marvel. Evans was asked about the success of Black Panther, and said, “There’s nothing they can’t do, man,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to have the exact same effect when Captain Marvel comes out, and then the Black Widow movie comes out. Marvel just has the winning recipe.”
Venom is the first of Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man spin-offs, and it hits theaters in October. The second movie is set to be Silver and Black, focusing on the characters of Silver Sable and The Black Cat. Although it was originally scheduled for February 2019 release, the movie has now been delayed.
The news first emerged via The Hashtag Show, which stated that Silver and Black had been “delayed indefinitely.” Given it was originally set to begin production next month and no casting announcements have been made, this isn’t surprising. Confirmation has now come from director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who replied to The Hashtag Show’s tweet by explaining that the script was still being worked on:
Still working on the script. All about the script.
Silver and Black was first announced in March 2017. The movie has already been through several writers; Lindsey Beer (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Chaos Walking) are currently attached, while Thor: Ragnarok writer Chris Yost and Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy have both worked on previous drafts.
Although Sony made a deal with Disney in 2015 to allow Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the former studio still retains the overall movie rights to characters from the webslinger’s comic books. Another Spidey character that also has a movie in development is Morbius: The Living Vampire.
The first trailer for Venom was revealed earlier this month. It stars Tom Hardy as a man who is taken over by the alien symbiote of the title. It also stars Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed and releases on October 4, 2018.
The company’s board of directors have now issued a statement following the failure of negotiations with an investor group. “While we recognize that this is an extremely unfortunate outcome for our employees, our creditors and any victims, the board has no choice but to pursue the only viable option to maximize the company’s remaining value: an orderly bankruptcy process,” the statement reads.
The LA Times reports that the failed deal was worth around $500 million and would have given the investment consortium control of the company’s entire assets. The site states that the company was set to renamed under a new board of directors, “the majority of which would be composed of women.” However, talks collapsed when the New York attorney general’s office filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Weinstein company, alleging that senior executives failed to prevent the mistreatment of staff by Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein was fired from the company in October, following a series of revelations published in the New York Times that he reportedly paid off sexual harassment accusers. Since then, many more former employees and colleagues have come forward with their own stories about Weinstein’s alleged abuse.
One of the biggest names in Hollywood, Weinstein won the Best Picture Oscar for 1999’s Shakespeare In Love and also picked up a nomination for 2003’s Gangs of New York. Among his other producing credits included films like Pulp Fiction, The Aviator, and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Kevin Smith, the director best known for cult comedies Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, has suffered a “massive” heart attack. Smith tweeted the news from his hospital bed early this morning, February 26, and revealed that he came very close to death.
Smith had been performing one of his popular stand-up shows in Glendale, California, and suffered the heart attack after coming off stage. He was due to perform a second set that night, but was instead rushed to hospital. Check his tweet out below:
After the first show this evening, I had a massive heart attack. The Doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka “the Widow-Maker”). If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight. But for now, I’m still above ground! pic.twitter.com/M5gSnW9E5h
Smith made his breakthrough with the 1994 comedy classic Clerks, which is seen as one of the key movies in the American independent film movement of the ’90s. Many of his subsequent movies, such as Mallrats, Dogma, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, were part of the same connected universe, and more recently he moved into horror territory, with films such as Red State and Tusk.
He also has directed numerous episodes of DC shows Supergirl and The Flash, and is a prolific podcaster, comedian, and TV host. Since 2012 he has presented AMC’s reality show Comic Book Men, which is filmed at Smith’s New Jersey comic store Secret Stash.
Smith was also in the news recently following the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal. Weinstein financed many of Smith’s earlier movies, and as a result of the multiple accusations of harassment and abuse against the producer, Smith announced that he would donate all future residuals from those films to the non-profit organization Women in Film.
Smith also was credited by Thor star Chris Hemsworth for helping change the direction of Thor: Ragnarok, after he heard Smith bashing previous instalments on a podcast. “Hearing someone like Smith, who represents the fanboy world, was such a kick in the ass to change gears,” he said. “We sort of had nothing to lose. People didn’t expect what we did with it this time around.”
Season 3 of Fortnite‘s Battle Royale mode is underway on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, which means players can now pick up a new Battle Pass. As before, the Season 3 Battle Pass can only be purchased for 950 V-Bucks and lets players unlock items the more they play the game, including a slew of new outfits, gliders, emotes, and more.
For this season, Epic has added 30 more tiers to the Battle Pass, bringing the total number of tiers to 100. Despite this sizable increase, the studio says that players will still be able to unlock everything in the same amount of time it took to complete the Season 2 Battle Pass–roughly 75-150 hours of playtime by Epic’s estimates. Players can also purchase tiers using V-Bucks to unlock items faster, and those who own the Season 2 Battle Pass will unlock five free tiers as a bonus in Season 3.
The Season 3 Battle Pass includes 76 items to unlock in all. Among the new one that players can earn this season are Back Blings–customization items for your character’s back. Epic has also introduced new loading screens, skydiving effects trails, pickaxes, and more. You can see all the Season 3 Battle Pass rewards in our gallery.
Those who purchase the Season 3 Battle Pass will automatically gain access to a batch of free items, including the Mission Specialist Outfit. Epic is also offering a Battle Bundle, which includes the Season 3 Battle Pass and 25 tiers’ worth of items, for 2,800 V-Bucks. Individual tiers, meanwhile, can be purchased for 150 V-Bucks each. You can read more about the Season 3 Battle Pass on the official Fortnite website.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is free to download and play on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while the Save the World mode is currently still in paid early access. If you’ve yet to give the game a try, Xbox Live Gold members can purchase Fornite’s various Founders Packs at a discount on the Xbox Store as part of this week’s Deals with Gold.
With March drawing near, Microsoft has announced the lineup of games that Xbox Live Gold members will be able to download for free next month. There’s the usual total of four new games being introduced across Xbox One and Xbox 360, with an especially good one up for grabs on the newer console.
On Xbox One, the month starts out with Trials of the Blood Dragon, a more action-oriented take on the Trials series that’s somewhat in the vein of Far Cry 3‘s Blood Dragon spin-off. It will be available for free for the entire month. From March 16 through April 15, Superhot will be free. The excellent shooter sports a distinct visual style and an even more novel concept, as time (mostly) freezes when you stop moving, allowing you to set up some Matrix-style bullet-dodging sequences.
Xbox 360 owners also get two games to download in March. During the first half of the month, it’s Brave: The Video Game, which is based on Disney’s film of the same name and was just added to the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility list. It’s then followed in the second half by Quantum Conundrum, the puzzle-based first-person game from Airtight Games and Kim Swift, one of the key developers behind Portal and Left 4 Dead. As always, both Xbox 360 games are playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.
In the meantime, it’s not too late to grab some of February’s free Games With Gold titles. One of the Xbox One games, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, will also remain free for the first half of March. Claiming any of these games allows you to continue playing them for as long as you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.
