Lois Lane One-Shot Scheduled for February 2014

Given its recent PR tragedies, DC Comics has a lot of work to do if it ever wants start making amends for its grievances against women. An over-sized one-shot starring everyone’s favorite reporter, the acclaimed and fearless Lois Lane, is certainly a step in the right direction. Late last week, DC Comics announced that scribe Marguerite Bennett and and artist Emanuela Lupacchino will come together for a one-shot revolving around Lois Lane, due in stores in February 2014.

The book has been given that somewhat-awkward title of Superman: Lois Lane  (a title reused from another Lois Lane book written several years ago) and will involve tensions between the members of the Lane family. In the story, Lois’ father, General Sam Lane, is accumulating influence in the political and military spheres while Lois’ sister Lucy in falling deeper in the international drug trade. Additionally, Lois must contend with the return of the technological tyrant Brainiac as he attempts to take control over her mind once more.

Marguerite Bennett has written for two of the New 52’s few good titles, namely Batman and Batgirl. She had this to say about the opportunity to write a one-shot starring such an iconic character:

I love the conviction in Lois, how the same woman can maintain such calm and resolve and yet be so invested in the world and all its struggles. She cares so completely as to plunge into the fray, a war journalist or investigative reporter, because she knows that the truth must be brought to light, no matter how ugly, no matter how terrible. Yet she doesn’t permit the darkness, corruption, or trauma of the world she has seen to sully her. It can try and try and try again to dig its hooks into her, but she is fiercer and filled with more conviction than any human or superhuman foe can break. Within her discipline and self-reliance is, I believe, an inherent compassion—an understanding of our suffering, and a trust that the truth will better us—a trust that we will better ourselves.

Bennett is also writing a one-shot title starring Duela Dent, also known as the Joker’s Daughter, but given how awful the recent Villains’ Month Joker’s Daughter story was, who cares?

While my current derision for DC Comics is well-documented, the return of Stephanie Brown and this title are two good reasons for me to consider coming back to the fold. I enjoy Lois Lane the most when she is operating on her own without Superman’s support, as it appears she will be in this story. In addition, Bennett has proven herself capable of writing compelling stories full of thrilling action and riveting plots. As long as the editors of DC don’t overburden her with their input, Superman: Lois Lane stands a chance of being a book worth purchasing.

What are your hopes for Lois’ one-shot? Are you convinced DC is sincerely trying to make smarter decisions? Let us know in the comments!

Via Comic Vine

 

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Has BatAffleck found his sidekick?

Hey, Robin! Haven’t seen you in the movies since 1997. Lucky for you, looks like you’ve got a new gig…

In what has been labeled an exclusive report, TheWrap claims that actor Adam Driver, who is known currently for his supporting role on the HBO dramedy Girls, is in serious contention to play the role of Dick Grayson in the Batman-starring sequel to Man of Steel. The character is known for being the first iteration of Robin in the Batman comics, who matures to become the superhero Nightwing and parts ways with his crime-fighting mentor, who will of course be played by Ben Affleck this time around. While Driver is being touted as a frontrunner, TheWrap says that two other unnamed actors are contenders as well. This news comes right after a rumored casting description of Grayson sent out by Warner Bros., which was looking for an actor who emulates a “young John Hawkes”. The film, still tentatively titled Batman vs. Superman, is slated to open July 17, 2015.

It’s about time Batman got a sidekick again on the big screen! While no one was really clamoring for another Robin-type after Batman & Robin (but then again, how could you have hope for the Batman film franchise after watching it back then?), I think most can agree that enough time has passed in the history of Batman on film — especially after the serious tone of the Dark Knight trilogy — to have a Boy Wonder back in the picture. Besides, DC/Warner Bros. is trying hard to build their own cinematic universe of characters, so might as well, right?

As for Driver possibly being Grayson… I’m not entirely sure. I haven’t yet seen something with him featured in it, so I can’t comment fairly on his capability to play the role talent-wise. Seeing that I have no choice but to resort to looks, I’ll say that he definitely has a unique look compared to how Grayson is drawn in the comics, in that he’s not perfectly chiseled for the face model of a young superhero. Saying that, though, I think this is a good quality in terms of cosmetic diversity in comic book films, as he truly gives off the impression of an everyday younger man going out to fight crime, much like Tobey Maguire did for Spider-Man. We’re still in the contention stage, but so far, I’d have no problem with Driver playing the role.

What do you guys think? Is Driver a good fit for the role of Dick Grayson? Can you name someone else that could be better? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Via TheWrap

 

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Big Finishing Move: ‘Doctor Who: The Light At The End’

Welcome back ladies and germs to Big Finishing Move where I take a look at Doctor Who audio dramas from powerhouse company Big Finish and tell you if they are crap or not. This November marks the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and while we wait for the BBC to release The Day Of The Doctor, Big Finish went ahead and released their own celebratory special, The Light At The End. I’ll be looking at Collector’s Edition for this review, but a cheaper Standard Edition is available as well.

TARDIS Teams:

Fourth Doctor and Leela

Fifth Doctor and Nyssa

Sixth Doctor and Peri

Seventh Doctor and Ace

Eighth Doctor and Charley

The story focuses on all the Doctors, well at least all the ones Big Finish is allowed to use (1-8) being drawn towards England on November 23, 1963, a date fans know as it is the date Doctor Who was as they say in the UK, first transmitted. The first three Doctors are barely in it with former actors from the show William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) portraying not only their companion role, but that of the Doctors from their respective eras along with passable at best sound-alike for the Third Doctor. The story proper focuses on the Doctors whose original actors remain with we the living (4-8) as they try to figure out what’s going on and what role common man Bob Dovie has in a much larger scheme.

Little snippets of dialogue make it clear that each of the Doctors is in the beginning to early middle of their respective lives and their companions for the story are still early in their days traveling with the Doctor. To give us a rough sense of where in the timeline each TARDIS team is coming from is a nice touch, adding flavor for the vets without bogging the story down. All the timey-wimey goodness allows for some fun crossover stuff to occur, a personal favorite of mine being the Fourth Doctor and Leela’s interactions with Charley.

Everyone does a good job, but the standout performance of the piece without a doubt is Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. Baker is given scenes that work perfectly for the brash and bombastic nature of his Doctor and he does not waste them. He manages to be a standout among his peers, which is all the more impressive considering who his peers are.

What really hurts the story is how pointless the Seventh Doctor is in all of this, aside from some cool zingers courtesy of Ace nothing trusty number Seven does is of any consequence. While both the Fifth and Sixth Doctor do most of the heavy lifting for the story and the Fourth and Eighth form a kind of buddy team and have some great moments together, McCoy’s Doctor does little more than run around and throw some righteous indignation at the extra crispy mastermind (hint!) behind this plot. Nothing in those scenes is stuff that isn’t covered elsewhere in the story however, so much so that you could go and delete the Seventh Doctor from the story entirely and next to nothing of the overall story would change.

Part of the problem with this story is that multi-Doctor stories are inherently hard to do, creating a scenario where the Doctors can meet and where each has something to contribute is a herculean effort . To make these stories work even halfway right requires a really clever author.

Unfortunately in this case we got Nick Briggs.

I don’t mean to pick on Briggs, by all accounts he is a nice guy, a talented actor, producer, director and one of the biggest and truest champions of Who out there, but he is far from a great author. For some reason Briggs has has decided to step up his writing duties in the last year or so, doing four out of seven episodes of the last series of Fourth Doctor Adventures and handling many of the higher profile special Doctor Who releases such as Unit: Dominion and Dark Eyes and the property has suffered for it.

Briggs suffers from one big weakness as a writer, he does not know how to trim the fat. Audio is one of the least forgiving formats for bloat because we lack the physicality of an actors performance to either distract or heighten a scene from being just filler. Long sections of scenes that ultimately go nowhere stick out badly enough already in a series as plot driven as Who is, but when you add the limitations of audio you elevate the tedium of those moments even further. A byproduct of his overstuffed stories, Briggs spends so much of his time winding intricate and complicated plots that his resolutions often feel like afterthoughts. It shows he has an ambitious and creative mind, but his endings are usually weightless puffs of nothing, taking whatever impact the story so far had on the listener and retroactively squashing it. Briggs shines brightest in short, focused pieces so he either needs to stick to those or get a writing partner/editor willing to slap his hands away from the keys from time to time and do some serious script surgery.

Again, let me be clear, I love Briggs and every Whovian owes the man a debt, but perhaps he needs to step back from writing so much and concentrate on making what he does write tighter and more focused.

The audio extras for the Collector’s Edition include two seventy minute documentaries, a 5.1 mix of the story, and a Companion Chronicle from the First Doctor’s era. The documentaries are the highlight with a wide array of stars from all of Who get a chance to reminisce on what the show means to them plus we get to hear how this story came together. Nothing of great import is said in them, but is nice that they are there. The 5.1 mix is a nice touch for audiophiles, but it comes in a different format then the audiobook and I don’t listen to these on any fancy sort of set-up so it doesn’t really mean that much to me. The Companion Chronicle also serves as a nice distraction and provides further proof at just how good William Russel has gotten at mimicking William Hartnell, but it isn’t anything I will be revisiting.

In the end, nothing on the Limited Collector’s Edition is worth the extra cash, at least in terms of the downloadable version, so save your cash and grab the standard edition instead. The Collector’s CD box set and the vinyl version (yes, they put this sucker out on vinyl) have cool cases and some extra artwork and photos so if you have the inclination and the cash it may be worthwhile to pick up a copy. While the story is flawed and may be more fun novelty than anything else, it is a piece of history and part of the grand celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who, so I say go ahead and get whatever version makes economical sense to you and enjoy it for what it is.

 

Purchase Doctor Who: The Light At The End Here:

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Next time we are once again delving into Big Finish’s past with one of their earliest Sixth Doctor stories The Spectre of Lanyon Moor.

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Along with this upcoming review will be an announcement on my plans to make Big Finishing Move bigger and better in 2014! Please also remember that Big Finish aren’t the only ones making audio dramas, One Of Us has its own show, Infinite Variations. The second episode has just been released so be sure to check it out!

 
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5 Things We Want In ‘The Hunger Games’ Theme Park

That’s right fellow OOUies, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the CEO of Lionsgate Jon Feltheimer, has mentioned that the substantial financial success of The Hunger Games has caught the eyes of investors, who want to launch this franchise in to the novelty world of theme parks. This is what Feltheimer said at a conference call:

“We have been approached in two different territories about potential theme park opportunities, which gives you a sense of the cultural impact of this franchise…”

I was confused when I first heard about this. When I think ‘Hunger Games’, the first thing that comes to mind is a brutal and cold world, where humanity has been lost, as we take joy in watching kids kill each other. I don’t think of the happiest place on earth, where families and couples go watch fireworks and talking mice. Then again, in the world of The Hunger Games, the hunger games themselves is an actual event where families gather around the television to watch. Also, the opening ceremony is a very theatrical event. So you know what? I’ll bite. Here are 5 things that would be cool in a Hunger Games theme park:

 

A Role Play Scenario

I was listening to a Halloween themed podcast one day and they mentioned going to a different kind of ‘haunted house’, that involved neither a house nor something being haunted. It was a zombie apocalypse type of scenario, where they hook you up with nerf guns and a group of people, as you follow your designated ‘tour guide’ from point A to point B, while having to complete missions to progress through a plot. (Essentially LARPING except with a higher budget) This would be an awesome idea to put in to a Hunger Games Scenario. So maybe, instead of nerf guns, you get some kind of laser tag equipment(or paintball guns for the hardcore), and you and your group could go against other groups. The goal is to find supplies and take them back to your team’s camp. People have to sneak around, because if they are seen by an enemy group member and shot by a laser, they are out. There will be a time limit, and the last team standing/team with the most supplies wins the Hunger Games. They could even control the arena like they do in the movie, shooting fire and releasing technologically engineered beasts to hunt you down!

 

A Dinner Party

I will never forget the day when I was taken to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. After we were seated in a stadium diner, we screamed and cheered with turkey legs and beer in hand, as we watched knights battle to the death. If they integrated this in to the Hunger Games theme park, that would be pretty sweet. Divide the stadium diner in to 12 different sections, each section representing a district. We would get seated at random, and as we eat our dinner, we will watch our tributes come out in that theatrical fashion, get interviewed by Stanley Tucci, and then have them battle it out. Throw in a pep rally element, trying to hype up the guests for their district tributes, and you’ve got a grand ole time. Let’s hope the food doesn’t taste strange though, because then the odds are forever in your flavor.

 

The Training Room

Kind of like the role play scenario, the training room could have designated areas for archery, ninja stars, and throwing wrecking balls etc. They could also have a cake decorating station for those Peeta fans! After some training, there could be a kind of competition to where you get to use your newly ‘learned-in-30-minutes’ skills, because watching incompetent archers is quite amusing.

 

A Fashion Show

Now, I’m not usually one for fashion shows, because high class fashion is a form of art that I don’t really understand. I find clothes and fashion to be analogous to a Christmas gift. The clothes will draw my eye for a second, but then I just become more interested in unwrapping it. The high class fashion in The Capitol however, is so bizarre and wild, that I am interested to see the different renditions on the evolution of what fashion has become in this world.

 

Peeta’s Bakery/Deli Shop

“Make me a sandwich! With pita bread!”

“Okay! Would you like a Peeta’s butter and jelly sandwich?”

“…”

Okay OOUies, what would you want to see in a Hunger Games theme park? Whatever they are, comment below and let One of Us know!

Via The Hollywood Reporter

 

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‘Introduction To Acting’ Week 2

This week, our primary focus was two fold; using our bodies in different ways, learning to train our body to escape from the norm and sense memory.

Now that we were established as a group and the dynamic was formed, today was an exercise in our physical bodies. In pairs, we took turns to follow our partners hand in absolute focus. Our head must stay the same distance at all times no matter where the hand goes. This is a test in absolute focus, communication and trust. Interestingly, there is no easier side to the exercise. My expectation was that the leading portion would be easier, but instead I found it to be more challenging as I was burdened with the responsibility of leading my partner, to keep it interesting and focused. We began to build upon this exercise, adding more followers to the group – from two, three and even four. It was exceptionally challenging. Much of the time we throw around concepts such as “feeling” the room and in this case it was entirely true. We became one with each other.

Next, was a series of balance exercises. Initially, the question was how can you balance on the floor with as little body touching the floor as possible. Sound simple enough? Well, it became how can you balance on your partner without touching the floor as much as possible. It very quickly becomes an extremely intimate exercise. Already we’re aware of how we move our bodies and how we are programmed to move in certain ways. This idea was to continue.

“Sit down, empty your bag and then repack it”. A seemingly benign task to be given (especially in Drama School) but what happens if you do the same task again but this time, our eyes are closed, or our hands are open and rigid, how does our perception of the benign task change? How does our relationship with our items change? The answer is quite profound. I found myself more aware of how things feel, their shape, my relationship with the items. My thoughts also turned to people with disability and how their senses adapt and cope with tasks we take for granted. We built on this exercise, this time by stacking chairs with different instructions. My instruction was to move the chairs across the room to stack them, on my knees. It was incredibly difficult and painful but what was interesting was how people approached the task and their instruction.

Finally, we talked about sense memory and how important it is not only for our own memories, but how it can help create and shape a character. We were collectively told a story. A simple story of one returning home and opening a gift we shouldn’t. Whilst we choose the location and the gift, the surrounding narrative is given to us. Our goal was for it to be as vivid as possible. Sights, smells, everything familiar. Then, in partners (or threes) once more, we would tell each other those stories in our own way and try and (like last week, by listening) take in as much as possible. It was incredibly interesting; each story was very different and personal. Then, having heard our partners story, we were tasked with adopting that story as our own and telling the group the story. Tapping into sensory memory, even sensory memory that is a falsehood (for us at least) made each story convincing and natural. Sense memory can help create a character and help make what that character is thinking, feeling, demonstrating “real”.

And what else, as an actor are we trying to demonstrate other than things that are “real”. At least for that character.

Conjuring ‘Annabelle’ spin off confirmed

Many people loved the Conjuring when it was released, including myself. It was a dark, creepy and engaging.

Set in 1971, The Conjuring focuses on the (real life) married paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren, who lecture at colleges across the US on all the interesting cases they come across. Just as they’re thinking of retirement cue the Perron family; parents Roger  and Carolyn are scared for their lives and the lives of their 5 daughters claiming there is something evil in their now Rhode Island home. It doesn’t take long for the Warrens to discover that the Perron’s are being tormented by something supernatural.

It was no surprise when a sequel was announced to be in the works, but today, schmoesknow has reported that a prequel, centred on the terrifying doll “Annabelle“ will also start filming later next year with Conjuring’s Director of Photography John R. Leonetti taking the directors chair.

We caught the end of Annabelle’s story in the Conjuring and the question becomes can a stand-alone film keep that intrigue and fear factor?

Are you excited about the Annabelle spin off? Conjuring 2? Or are you worried the cow will be milked too much? Comment below.

Source:  schmoesknow

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‘Doctor Who’ Two Brand New 50th Anniversary Trailers

Today, with two weeks left of waiting for the ‘Doctor Who’ 50th Anniversary two brand new trailers have hit the internet revealing brand new footage from the special.

 

 

Celebrating 50 years, the anniversary episodes official description is as follows;

“The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.”

The Day of the Doctor, which will air (simultaneously around the globe) on November 23rd, 50 years to the day after the show first appeared on screen in the UK along with special 3D screenings in cinemas. It will feature both the 10th and the 11th Time Lords, played by David Tennant and Matt Smith, and their companions Rose Tyler (Bille Piper) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), respectively. There will also be a third, more mysterious Doctor, who will be appearing for the first time, played by John Hurt. His inclusion within the timeline is certainly confusing at this point, is he between the 8th and 9th which most people believe? I’m not sure, the previous Anniversary trailer indicated the Doctor had been running away from the Day of the Doctor since his first incarnation. So does Hurt fit in there? It’s definitely clear the Time War plays a significant part in this episode but this is the 50th Anniversary, not the 8th Anniversary, So I expect there’s more to this episode that we don’t know yet.

What about you guys? What are your theories on the Hurt Doctor? Did this trailer excite you? Comment below.

Source: BBC

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