WTF: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to get Sequel?

Sometimes  films become so iconic that a remake becomes unconscionable, a point where the movie isn’t just a movie anymore, but an indelible part of our culture. Such is the case with Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, starring movie icon Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Hollywood has found an end around situations such as this, they won’t remake the film… but they will make a sequel that essentially tells the same story or gets the same point across. This, my friends, is how we are getting It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story, coming our way holiday time 2015.

Most films of this matter offer some thin connections to “justify” the sequel being in the same universe as the original, and this upcoming flick is no exception. Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s child Zuzu (the one that has the iconic line about bells and angels getting their wings), will play an angel that shows George Bailey’s grandson, who for sake of convenience, is also named George Bailey what life would be like if he had never been born. Other cast members from the original have been approached about appearing, but no confirmation of any of them appearing can be confirmed at this time.

Another trick often employed in flicks like this is to throw in some “twist” so they can claim that indeed they aren’t just doing the same thing again, and It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story (every time I hear that title I think about Paul Harvey) ticks off that check box as well. The “twist” this time being that this new George Bailey will be a jerk instead of the well meaning family man of Capra’s original, which means they are now poaching from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as well.

An attempt to modernize the classic tale was inevitable,  but this sequel seems entirely unnecessary. A spiritual sequel, one that wants to get the same point across, but in its own way and without the baggage of the original seems the correct way to go. I know original IPs scare Hollywood to death, but sometimes that is the only way to lend your project any bit of credibility. As always and with all snark aside, I do wish the film well, but I can’t shake the feeling that it simply doesn’t need to exist.

So what do you think about It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story? Let us know in the comments below!

Via Variety

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‘The Wind Rises’ Trailer. Sincerely, Hayao Miyazaki

Some time ago, it was mentioned that Hayao Miyazaki was going to retire from making films. For those of you who don’t know, he is one of the founders/head of Studio Ghibli, that is responsible for such imaginative (and ANNOYINGLY cute) films such as My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. They have been dubbed as the Disney/Pixar of Japan, and although this studio does not have nearly as much titles under their belt, their quality of work rivals that of any of Disney’s classics. I would go as far as to say that they deal with more daring and mature subject matter, and that they pack more of an emotional umph.

So when Miyazaki said he was hanging his cap, fans from around the globe were both disappointed and happy. Sure, this meant that all future projects Ghibli will be making would not be directed by Miyazaki himself, but it also means that he has said everything that he wanted to say. It is evident that The Wind Rises is his last film in this trailer. It serves as a celebration for his successful and awe-inspiring career, as well as a heartfelt goodbye to this wonderful world he has created:

There isn’t much out on what the film is about, other than what The Hollywood Reporter said as “An imaginative, biographic collision of poet Tatsuo Hori and World War II aviator Jiro Horikoshi,” two important historical figures in Japan. The film has been on a festival run, and has been generating a lot of early Oscar Buzz and might be the forerunner in Best Animated Film.

Wow. When I saw this trailer, I could never have been more conflicted as to how I feel about this film. On one hand, I am super excited to lose myself in this world, but on the other hand, I’m heart broken that this will be the last time I will be exploring the mind of Miyazaki. It seems that this film is going to be a more serious and mature one, but not a depressing one like Grave of the Fireflies. The more fantastical elements of the trailer seem to be more of a poetic representation of the passion and emotion our protagonists are feeling, and serves as a metaphor rather than a literal translation of what is happening in the plot. It’s as if this is Miyazaki’s love letter to his many fans, as well as to his his passion for story telling and animation. In fact, it seems that the entirety of the body of his work can be seen as a kind of letter. This letter tells us about a fantastical life, detailing his fears, passions, hardships, and coming of age. After decades, The Wind Rises really feels like him signing off. This final film is essentially him saying, “Sincerely, Hayao Miyazaki.”

So fellow OOUies, what do you guys think? Are you excited to see this film? Whatever your thoughts, comment below and let One of Us know! Also, don’t save our audio drama for yo mamma! Check out Infinite Variations right now! (although you should make your mom listen to it as well)

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via The Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire

Decades-Long Feud Concerning Rights to Iconic Bond Villain Settled

After a legal feud that has lasted more than 50 years, the rights to one of James Bond’s greatest foes have been secured. On November 15, 2013, Danjaq, LLC, the producer of James Bond films, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the distributor of the Bond films, announced they had reached a settlement with the estate of Kevin McClory. The result of this long-lived legal conflict means that the Bond series is free to include Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his terrorist organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in future films.

The fight over the long-coveted properties in the estate began in 1959, when McClory, a writer, first met author Ian Fleming, the creator of the James Bond franchise.  McClory suggested a Bond movie set in the Bahamas to Fleming. This suggestion eventually became Fleming’s novel Thunderball. McClory claimed creation rights with the characters and elements of the book and sued when the book was released without the proper credit. This first dispute was settled in court, which allowed the film adaption of Thunderball to proceed in 1965. Later on, another lawsuit resulted a 1983 court ruling stating McClory owned significant elements of the Bond franchises, including Blofeld and S.P.E.C.T.R.E., and granted writer the right to produce his own James Bond films. McClory used the court’s authority to produce Never Say Never Again that same year. The movie brought back Sean Connery as Bond and faced off against the Roger Moore-led Octopussy in the box office

In later years, McClory lost the rights to make new Bond movies, but retained rights to the characters in Thunderball. The writer passed away in 2006, and his family worked to come up with a deal allowing the properties to be used in future Bond movies. They have agreed to sell the late McClory’s remaining ownership to the 007 franchise to Danjaq and MGM. The parties released this statement after the settlement was approved:

Danjaq, LLC, the producer of the James Bond films, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the longtime distributor of the Bond films, along with the estate and family of the late Kevin McClory, announced today that Danjaq and MGM have acquired all of the estate’s and family’s rights and interests relating to James Bond, thus bringing to an amicable conclusion the legal and business disputes that have arisen periodically for over 50 years.

With this achievement, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, arguably the greatest Bond villain, and his agents of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. are now legally allowed to be used in future Bond films. As a Bond fan, I am ecstatic because of the possibilities this agreement has brought to life. After the runaway success of Skyfall, I am quite pleased with the current direction of the franchise. Still, I was disappointed with the antagonists of Casino Royale and (moreso) Quantum of Solace. It took three films for Daniel Craig’s Bond to face off against a memorable adversary, and even Raul Silva’s plan starts to unravel if you put a little thought into what could have gone wrong. Blofeld and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. have the resources, organization, international influence, and (most importantly) the intelligence to challenge 007 and MI6. Coupled with the change of management at MI6, the rise of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. certainly has the potential to present a compelling threat for the new leadership of the British spy service.

Do you want to see Blofeld return to the Bond film franchise? Who do you think would be the right pick to portray such a legendary foe against Daniel Craig’s Bond? Let us know in the comment section!

Via The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian

 

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Digital Noise Episode 20: Blue Tights & RWBY Capes

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We did it, Digiphiles! We’ve reached our 20th episode!

Brian is once again joined by Richard Whittaker of the Austin Chronicle to review another light, but diverse, crop of home release titles. Incidentally, this crop includes Zack Snyder’s tiny independent film about some handsome do-gooder in a red cape.

They also answer your questions from The Letterbox, examine this week’s interesting spectrum of Blu-ray box colors, and giveaway the first season of the new Rooster Teeth property RWBY.

All that, plus Brian’s spectacular misunderstanding of British customs.

Crank up the noise!

 

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Nosferatu w time   RWBY w time

 

 

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‘The Killing’ Refuses To Die

AMC’s The Killing has had a rough go of it in its somewhat short life span. It has survived cancellation not once, but twice now at the hands of AMC. The show was cancelled by AMC in 2012 after its second season before AMC had a change of heart and picked it up for a third season and then it was cancelled for good September of this year after the third season wrapped up. Still, after all these hardships, The Killing will return for one more truncated season, exclusively on Netflix.

It appears that someone up there has an admiration for the series and wants to see it wrap itself up tidily. Netflix has stepped up and ordered a fourth season consisting of six episodes before it can finally be laid to rest. The Killing joins the likes of Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and others as shows in their lineup of original series available to Netflix users where all the episodes are available for mass consumption as soon as the show is added to the streaming database.

Creators of the series are understandably grateful and excited that Netflix is giving them the opportunity to wrap up the show the way they want in order to please the fans that have been clamoring for its continued survival. No word yet on an ETA for when we can expect the series to start production or an estimate for when fans can mark their calendars for a tentative release, but this move once again strengthens my faith in Netflix making bold and interesting moves in order to stay relevant and deliver different and quality entertainment to their loyal customers.

I love AMC and to this point I’ve only been able to catch bits and pieces of the show and I have no excuse as to why I haven’t given it the time of day. I believe all shows should be able to end in a satisfying way and I for one in spite of not being a regular viewer am glad that Netflix is honoring fans of the show to give it a fitting send off.

Do you watch The Killing? Are you grateful to be getting six more episodes? If you are a fan and don’t already have Netflix will you be subscribing just to see how the series ends? Sound off below!

Via: Indiewire

 

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Emmys About To Take The Plunge And Offer Online Voting

In finally starting to get with the times news, it has been announced that online voting will be available to TV Academy members for the upcoming  66th Primetime  Emmys. Following in the footsteps of the Oscars, which introduced an online voting option just last year, the Emmys are looking for easier ways for the Academy to vote. The TV Academy pretty much went and copy and pasted the plans used by the Movie Academy including meetings between the two and both using the same company (Everyone Counts) for the undertaking. Paper ballots will still be available for those who wish to opt out of the online program.

While I will give them credit for trying to modernize things, in the long run this won’t really mean much to anyone outside the Academy in the long run. The fact that they didn’t offer online voting until now was not the reason the Academy is considered out of touch. The Academy is considered out of touch due to nepotism and a lack of connection to the modern TV audience, neither of which will be fixed by any online component.

To the Emmys credit, they are much more in tune with today’s viewer then their cousin the Oscars, but that really isn’t that hard to do considering just how far away from popular opinion the Oscars have been multiple times. Do not misunderstand me, I do believe the Academy should exist, just viewing some of the winners of the last People’s Choice Awards proved to be enough evidence for that. I support the Emmys as they try to update themselves and stay relevant in the world, but they still have a long way left to go.

So do you people think online voting will make a difference for the Emmys? What do you think the Emmys need to do to stay with the times? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Via Deadline

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‘How I Met Your Mother’ Officially Getting A Spinoff

The ninth and final season of How I Met Your Mother is already underway, but 20th Century Fox and CBS are not ready to leave the universe in their dust as they have made a deal to get a pilot for a brand new series connected to the HIMYM gang. The new spinoff which was under negotiation for only a couple weeks will feature a female perspective almost identical to the storytelling of HIMYM.

The pilot for How I Met Your Dad was pitched on October 30th and the early word is that the new show will feature the popular hangout for Ted, Robin, Lily, Marshall and Barney, McLaren’s Pub. The lingering question now with this news is if the new group viewers will be following are going to be introduced at any point in the last few episodes of the show. More so, if they are going to be tied directly to the HIMYM gang and if Ted, Robin, Lily, Marshall  and Barney will make regular appearances in the new show or if they might just show up from time to time. Given they intend McLaren’s Pub to be the linking element and if the new characters hang out there, it’d be odd to not see the original gang hanging out in their beloved booth from time to time.

I don’t know how to feel. I loved the first 3ish seasons of HIMYM, but each subsequent season my enjoyment lessens more and more. There are select episodes that I really like, but so far this season all I have to say is that it’s boring- to the point that I don’t even look forward to watching it every Monday and I still haven’t gone On Demand to watch last week’s episode. A new show with new characters/new actors could work, but I have little faith that it will capture the early quality of HIMYM and every expectation that it will lean in favor of it’s current incarnation. Also, depending on who the networks casts I can’t be sure of how enjoyable the show will be, nor can I be sure if it can be successful without at least early and often appearances from the original cast until the new cast gets its wings.

What do you think of the final season of HIMYM so far? Are you excited for a spinoff series? What was your favorite season/moment/episode of the series? Sound off below!

Via: Deadline

 

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‘Preacher’ Pilot Ordered By An Esteemed Network

Many popular geek properties are getting adaptations on the big and small screens before I have the chance to enjoy in their originally intended form. I have a long long list of comics and books to catch up on and who knows if I ever will, but it doesn’t stop me from being excited to check out every new film or TV show that comes out if it looks decent enough. That’s how I got in to The Walking Dead and that’s how I’ve enjoy the vast majority of superhero movies coming out the last few years. So far, the quality of these properties, good or bad, has not swayed me from wanting to check them out.

Preacher, from Vertigo, has been a project anticipated and feared by many to be the next comic to get some kind of adaptation. As I have not read any of the comics, I can’t lean either way, but I’ve seen discussions on the topic and heard opinions from other people. The consensus was that this would serve much better as an ongoing TV series than as a film franchise. Doing some research on it, I’d have to agree, but with the right network.

For a while it was rumored that HBO would be the series’ home, but would that have been the right home? Sure HBO would be able to convey the more vulgar aspects of a harsher comic, but then again HBO also aired Spawn, which was not all that successful or adapted in a fully satisfying way. The network already has some very popular shows to focus on, so who knows if they could handle another. However, there is one network out that that just lost one of its premiere series and is definitely in the market for another- and that network seems to have just ordered the pilot for Preacher. That network is none other than AMC.

With Breaking Bad now off the schedule for good and some time before the Saul spinoff series is ready to go, it seems as though AMC hopes that a geek property like Preacher will draw in some decent early ratings and becomes something that gets talked about and gains popularity as it goes on- similar to what Breaking Bad did for them. Additionally, it is rumored that Seth Rogen will be heavily involved in the series. According to the actor’s Twitter feed, he has been working on getting the Preacher adaption set up for years.

There’s no guarantee that this is going to ever see the light of day, but if not HBO then I think the Preacher adaptation has no better home than on AMC. The network doesn’t have the same permissions as HBO when it comes to language and nudity, but that doesn’t mean that if the show does make it to series at the AMC we won’t see extended crazier editions of episodes when the show hits something like Netflix or on DVD/Blu-ray.

Have you read the Preacher series? Is AMC an appropriate home for the show? How does Seth Rogen’s involvement influence your opinion? Who would you like to see cast? Sound off below!

Via: IGN and Badass Digest

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The INTERN-net Show #8: How NOT to Audition for ‘Star Wars’

WELCOME TO EPISODE 8 OF THE INTERN-NET SHOW, WITH YOUR HOST CHRIS HARRISON!

THERE IS A VAST POOL OF EXCITING NEWS EVERY WEEK, AND IN OUR EFFORT TO BRING YOU BRAND NEW, ENGAGING CONTENT JOIN ME IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT FILM, TV, COMIC BOOKS AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT GETS US TALKING. GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? THIS IS THE PLACE TO DO IT!

THIS WEEK, A CLASSIC DOCTOR RETURNS TO DOCTOR WHO, THE SIMPSONS GO ON DEMAND AND CHRIS TAKES A HARD LOOK AT JUSTIN BIEBER AND THE STAR WARS AUDITIONS.

 

MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS SHOW IS ALL ABOUT YOU. GET INVOLVED IN THE DISCUSSION, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THESE STORIES AND IF THERE’S A STORY YOU WANT TO CREATE CONVERSATION ABOUT THEN THROW A QUESTION MY WAY EITHER ON TWITTER OR RIGHT HERE EACH WEEK. WE’RE WORKING ON MAKING THE SHOW EVEN BETTER SO DO MAKE ANY SUGGESTIONS YOU HAVE BELOW!

IF YOU HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR NEXT WEEKS IN DEFENCE OF, DO COMMENT BELOW ALSO!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN THE INTERN-NET!

 

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National Theatre celebrates 50 Years

At the beginning of this month, the Royal National Theatre celebrated 50 years on stage. The theatre presents a varied Theatre programme, including Shakespeare and other international classic drama; and new plays by contemporary playwrights.

To celebrate, BBC 2 aired a special live program featuring archive footage, live performances and insightful interviews with the cast and crew. The official program description reads;

From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to The History Boys, from The Mysteries to Angels in America, from Guys and Dolls to London Road – join us for a thrilling evening of live performance and rare glimpses from the archive, featuring many of the most celebrated actors who have performed on our stages over the past five decades and directed by Nicholas Hytner.

A cast of 100 will perform live on stage, including Roger Allam, Simon Russell Beale, James Corden, Dominic Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Frances de la Tour, Judi Dench, Christopher Eccleston, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Alex Jennings, Rory Kinnear, Adrian Lester, Anna Maxwell Martin, Helen Mirren, Andrew Scott, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton.

The National Theatre has given birth, or a home to some of not only Britain’s biggest stars, but the worlds and it is always a genuine pleasure to see them on stage, perhaps more so than in cinema. As part of the celebration, NT also has extensive interviews and Q+A’s with a variety of Theatre creators and participants. Here’s one example, featuring David Bradley but you can catch the whole roster over here. If you’ve ever been interested in Theatre, they are a great entry point into that world and I highly recommend it. The celebration special can also be found on iplayer in certain regions.

 

 

Also, In June 2009, the theatre began National Theatre Live (NT Live), a program of simulcasts of live productions to cinemas, first in the United Kingdom and then internationally – a fantastic way to open Theatre up to the country for people who either can’t afford or can’t travel to the performances. I myself have seen a number of performances this way including Helen Mirren’s reprisal playing the Queen in The Audience and Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston’s Macbeth. Definitely look at your local and surrounding cinemas to see if they participate.

Source: National Theatre

Did you check out the Program? Check out some of the extensive Q+A sessions on youtube? Comment below.

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