[SDCC 2019] Top Gun: Maverick – First Trailer For Tom Cruise’s Return To The Danger Zone

Fresh from Comic-Con in San Diego, Paramount Pictures has released the first Top Gun: Maverick trailer featuring Tom Cruise returning to the title role.

Lucy In The Sky: First Trailer for Noah Hawley’s Feature-Film Debut Starring Natalie Portman

Fox Searchlight has finally released the first trailer for Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman and the feature directorial debut of TV filmmaker Noah Hawley, the creator of Fargo and Legion.

Batman vs Superman: Casting Rumors, TDKR, and Connections to the Nolanverse?

Since Batman vs Superman(one of the the rumored titles) was announced at San Diego Comic Con last month, the internet has been awash with rumors and speculation about the Caped Crusader. Who will play Batman? Are Warner and DC going for someone young or someone more established? When in Batman’s career will the story be set? Could it be set after Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises after all, despite all claims to a reboot? Based on certain recent rumors, it certainly is a possibility, which we will take a look at below.

Zack Snyder was keen to point out that the quote taken from Frank Millers ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ (which was read by Harry Lennix at the SDCC announcement) was more to establish tone rather than it being a sign of Superman vs. Batman being a direct adaptation of Millers TDKR. Seeing as they have recently touched on that source material already with the awesome DC Animated Feature Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, it makes sense they wouldn’t be looking to dive into that territory again so soon.

[box_dark]”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.”[/box_dark]

However, the Independent recently reported that Snyder will be meeting up with Frank Miller to discuss Batman vs Superman, so it remains to be seen what kind of connection the film will have to the hit graphic novel.

Personally, I feel the tone of ‘TDKR’ would fit neatly into the world that Snyder and writer David Goyer created for Man of Steel. It might also slip in seamlessly into the Nolan verse, despite Christian Bale no longer being onboard as the Dark Knight.We already know that this isn’t going to be another Batman origin story, which we don’t really need to see again. One of the failings of The Amazing Spider-Man in my opinion is that it tried to spin a new origin story out of one we had already seen recently.

With Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy so embedded in people minds, we certainly don’t need to see another Year One style project.  Heck, if  Goyer and Snyder wanted to, the sudden appearance of Superman could be what initially brings Batman out of his early retirement we saw at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. That would also neatly fit this movie into the world that Nolan created with his Dark Knight trilogy. Now that would be interesting.

If Snyder and Goyer do go with a completely new universe as they have said before, than they will of course need to establish a new character. Within the comics Batman is perpetually in his 30’s, which has allowed for the character to be played by a revolving door of actors over the years, like in the Burton and Schumacher days. This generally negates the need to ever revisit the origin story, and would open many doors for more Batman adaptations in the future if that same mold is followed.

What initially bothered me about the announcement was the possibility that Batman would just be a glorified cameo. Hopefully this won’t be the case, as I feel there is plenty of fertile ground from the comic book history for Snyder and Goyer to really explore the relationship between Batman and Superman. They need to look no further than Jeph Loeb’s brilliant ‘Public Enemies’ storyline for inspiration.

Man of Steel sets up a great opportunity to put Batman and Superman at odds, while setting up the potentially great friendship they have. Having seen the destruction that is happening in Metropolis caused by these extra terrestrial beings, it seems only natural that Batman would want to investigate the events that occurred, which must have caused hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths. Initially it would be interesting to see Batman and Luthor working together, or at least sharing a vested interest as they rebuilt Metropolis into the futuristic city it’s known as in the comics.

This could lead to a fantastic mid film showdown between Batman and Superman, referring back to the quote read by Lennix and the rumored ‘vs.’ of the title. Once convinced of Superman’s good intentions, Batman could be put at ease. Here is where Luthor’s malevolence could really take over, as he is driven mad with the idea of defeating Superman and Batman, who has seen through Luthor’s veneer. It would make an amazing final act to see Batman and Superman team up against Luthor decked out in his battle suit.

It’s unlikely that Warner and DC will cast Batman too old, as they will want to churn out a few more Batman themed films. Not to mention the ever promised Justice League film that was recently confirmed. Even if it does continue with the continuity established within Nolan’s world, Batman is only roughly mid 40’s. Of course, age isn’t really an issue if they pick the right person, much like Marvel did when they cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man. So who would make a great Batman?

The rumors we have spoken about state that DC may be searching for an older Batman, with Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Jon Hamm, and Joe Manganiello all rumored (along with a few others) to wear the cowl. However, Warner and DC have denied all the rumors, with a source telling HollywoodReporter.com that the casting process hasn’t even started.

If they were to establish a completely new Batman then my choice of these would be Ryan Gosling (which was also Grizzly Bomb’s choice when we cast the Justice League movie). At 32 he seems the perfect age to carry the mantle of the Bat for a little while, and he has the acting chops, gravitas, and physique to make an imposing Batman. Brolin and Hamm however, would be perfect  for a Batman around the age and point in his life that we find Bruce Wayne in during Miller’s ‘TDKR’. So we will have to wait and see a bit more from the film’s development before we can further speculate.

What are your thoughts on the casting rumors for Batman? Excited to see Batman in the Man of Steel sequel or do you want to wait until he appears in a Justice League film? Sound off in the comments section below!

Fanmade photo courtesy of poumap on deviantart

Mad Men Season 6 – New Trailer and A Whole Lot of Pictures…

April 7th marks the return of the one of television’s greatest shows of all time, and the move from the awesomely classic aesthetic of the early 1960s to the gaudy and unpleasant aesthetic of the late 60s and early 70s. That change will be evident in some of the photos below. Before we get to that though, let’s talk about what we’ve got to expect story wise coming up…

Jon Hamm and Adam Scott star in “The Greatest Event in Television History”

If you have watched Adult Swim at all recently, you probably saw an incredibly vague promo for “The Greatest Even in Television History”, much like this one:

AMC’s Mad Men: Episode 512 “Commisions and Fees”

The other shoe finally dropped. That is the inevitable matter of Lane Pryce’s embezzlement came to the attention of one Donald Draper this week, and though the initial confrontation played out as one might expect, the conclusion was shocking. Bert Cooper, thinking Don was trying to assuage Lane’s constant griping about the bonus, brings the canceled check to his attention which leads Don to bring Lane in for proper questioning. The true tragedy of Lane’s transgression is that if pride didn’t get the better of him, and he simply went to Don to borrow the money that he didn’t even wind up stealing everything would have been fine. Through embezzlement and forgery however he has lost the trust of SCDP’s lead man and Don will have nothing other than his resignation and in fact thinks he is doing Lane a favor by giving him a clean new start, and the opportunity to resign without any black marks on his resume. Unfortunately, as is often the case when you get embedded in a nest  of deceit, Lane can’t come clean with his wife who has made matter even worse by purchasing a new Jaguar as a reward to her husband “who never treats himself”. Here is where the brilliance of Mad Men‘s writing comes in. The Jaguar is the perfect symbol for all of Lane’s problems. It is not only a literal symbol of the firm’s success with the client he failed with despite his best efforts, but is also symbolic of the nouveau riche who can afford an impractical luxury car like Jaguar, and the lie he is representing to his wife. If it wasn’t abundantly clear that AMC would never get Jaguar as one of their advertising clients, last night’s episode sealed the deal. In a moment of true black comedy we find Lane trying to kill himself by using the Jaguar to asphyxiate himself, but the car is such a lemon that he can’t even get it to start up and do the job.

It’s too early in the Mad Men era for a Nixon reference, but if Lane Pryce had an exit speech I think it might be somewhat similar to tricky Dick’s exit; “You won’t have {Lane Pryce} to kick around anymore gentlemen, because this is my last {episode}”. Lane’s suicide is the second Mad Men death when characters face off against Don’s tough love and you’ve got to imagine this is going to weigh heavily on Don’s conscience, and it will be interesting to see what happens when word eventually slips out about the true circumstances of Lane’s “resignation”. I’m not sure if this was the case of Jared Harris getting to big for the show or not, but either way it was an expertly crafted character arc, and despite it all you didn’t want to believe that Lane had killed himself until you literally saw the bloated corpse that Don and company cut down from the ceiling.

The other big developments of the week revolved around Don lighting a fire under his own ass and Sally Draper becoming a woman. Don isn’t happy with the direction that SCDP has taken on and wants bigger fish to fry. As he says, “I don’t want Jaguar I want Chevy!” which leads Roger to set up a meeting with Ken Cosgrove’s father-in-law, the Devil incarnate, aka Ray Wise aka the chairman of Dow Chemical. Ken has long been against SCDP getting involved in his family business, but he concedes on two main factors. That he has been “dragged” on board, and that in no way can Pete Campbell be involved in their business, chalking up Cosgrove as yet another of Pete’s inter-office enemies. We won’t find out until next week whether or not his tactics were sound but Don’s approach to winning Dow Chemical was to literally yell at them and berate them for being happy with 50% market success, and it’s as much of a speech for himself and SCDP as it is for the client.

Roger, for his part, is happy to see the feisty old Don Draper as his LSD induced free thinking has begun to fade. We also get to experience another typical Don and Megan squabble when Don forgets to inform her that Betty is dropping Sally off at the apartment:

• Don: (Demeaning comment)
• Megan: (Bitchy response)
• Don: (Some serious shit happened)
• Megan: (Let’s kiss and make up)

That’s pretty much how Don and Megan interaction go these days as she feels defensive and marginalized, and he feels defensive and overly stressed. It’s always hard to tell what’s going to happen in the Mad Men teasers, but it seems like there might be some new wedge between Don and Megan coming and you wonder if the loss of Lane might push Don back into his self-destructive ways.

Meanwhile we get a fun little aside with Sally and her weirdzo boyfriend Glen this week as when she realizes she will have the apartment to herself Sally convinces Glen to come to the big city for a visit on the sly. These two characters both have been subject to creepy sexual undertones over seasons past so it was a relief that when Glen arrives at Sally’s apartment his greatest desire is to go to the Museum of Natural History.

There we are treated to the awkwardly sweet interactions of Glen’s dry jokes about the exhibits, and the exploration of what their relationship actually is. All of this is interrupted when Sally, feeling ill, makes a startling discovery in the bathroom and then freaks out and takes a cab back to the suburbs and her mom, leaving Glen in the lurch. This whole sequence is yet another fine example of the quality of writing in this show as the awkwardness of youth is naturally captured. Having Glen be as concerned over completing his book report as he is about finding Sally just feels so natural to their ages. Sally freaking out and providing her mother with another bitch chip to play against Megan also feels very natural as despite young Sally’s mistrust of Betty when important things happen it’s still her mother’s arms in which she seeks comfort.

Next week, regrettably is the season finale of Mad Men, and it should be a good one. In the past two weeks of what is normally a pretty even keeled show as far as dramatic changes are concerned they have had Peggy Olson leave SCDP and Lane Pryce kill himself. What kind of bombshell did they leave for the last week?