The new trailer for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1″ just dropped, and it looks epic.
While the title may be a bit unwieldy, this thing looks packed to the gills with intense drama and satisfying action.
I think we’re all ready to move past “The Fappening” and appreciate Jennifer Lawrence as a great actress and as an ass-kicking heroine once again. And this trailer will go a long way in allowing us to do just that.
The film comes out November 21, so we still have a couple months to wait. But, in the meantime, you can get a glimpse of Katniss, Peeta and one of the last performances by the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman in this trailer.
2. At one point, Dr. Selvig mentions a colleague doing work with S.H.I.E.L.D.. He described the colleague as “a pioneer in gamma radiation.” He’s talking about Bruce Banner, whose experiments with gamma radiation gave him the ability to transform into the Hulk.
6. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents initially think that the Destroyer belongs to Tony Stark. In the comic books, Tony Stark actually does acquire Destroyer armor from Asgard.
7. The Norwegian village seen in the flashback in Thor is the same village seen at the beginning of Captain America: The First Avenger.
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios
8. At one point, Jane lends Thor a shirt that she said belonged to an old boyfriend with a forgotten name tag on it that reads “Donald Blake M.D.”. Dr. Donald Blake is Thor’s alter-ego in the comic books.
9. “Puente Antiguo”, the small town in which most of the movie is set, translates to “old bridge”. This is likely a hint at the towns role as a destination for gods using the Bifrost bridge.
11. One billboard for New Mexico tourism seen in the background of one shot featured the slogan “Land of Enchantment – Journey into Mystery”. “Journey into Mystery” was the original Marvel comic book that Thor debuted in.
17. There were actually three physicists from the Science & Entertainment Exchange on staff for the film to provide scientific background. Their suggestions led to Jane Foster’s profession being changed to to a physicist, as well as the use of the term “Einstein-Rosen bridge” to describe the Bifrost.
Director and ocean explorer James Cameron announced today on the one-year anniversary of his solo dive to the the bottom of the Marianas Trench, that he is donating his submersible Deepsea Challenger to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The move comes at a time when WHOI is in the process of reassembling its three-person Alvin submersible after a two-year overhaul. Cameron’s single-person Deepsea Challenger will help the institution continue to make new advances in ocean exploring technology and highlights the value of public and private partnerships in ocean sciences.
“Jim and his team saw challenges and overcame them with forward, innovative thinking. The technological solutions they developed for the Deepsea Challenger system can be incorporated into other human-occupied and robotic vehicles, especially those used for deep-sea research,” said Susan Avery, president and director of WHOI. “We plan to make that happen.”
For example, the oceanographers plan to use the cameras and lighting systems from Deepsea Challenger on the Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle Nereus, which dove to the Mariana Trench in 2009. Nereus is scheduled to return to trenches in the Atlantic and the Pacific during the next two years.
“The seven years we spent designing and building the Deepsea Challenger were dedicated to expanding the options available to deep-ocean researchers,” said Cameron in a joint statement with WHOI. “Our sub is a scientific proof-of-concept, and our partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a way to provide the technology we developed to the oceanographic community.
“WHOI is a world leader in deep submergence, both manned and unmanned. I’ve been informally associated with WHOI for more than 20 years, and I welcome this opportunity to formalize the relationship with the transfer of the Deepsea Challenger submersible system and science platform,” he continued. “WHOI is a place where the Deepsea Challenger system will be a living, breathing and dynamic program going forward.”
Deepsea Challenger, which was built in Sydney, Australia, by Acheron Project Pty., Ltd., is the first single-person sub to allow for human exploration of the full depth of the ocean. Cameron last year was the first person to dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench solo, reaching 35,787 feet, and the first to return to what is considered the deepest point in the ocean since U.S. Navy submariner Don Walsh, and the late Jacques Piccard, a Swiss engineer, dove the abyss in their bathyscaphe the Trieste in 1960.
“Jim’s record-breaking dive was inspirational and helped shine a spotlight on the importance of the deep ocean,” Avery said. “We face many challenges in our relationship with the ocean, so there is heightened urgency to implement innovative approaches. Partnerships such as this one represent a new paradigm and will accelerate the progress of ocean science and technology development.”
Peter Quill with the Element Gun, not featured in Disney/Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’
Image: Marvel
Editor’s note: Every week Mashable presents “Let’s Talk About,” a look back at the the weekend’s new releases. If you haven’t seen the movie, be warned: This is a SPOILER MINEFIELD.
This week: Let’s talk about Guardians of the Galaxy …
Guardians of the Galaxy had it all: irresistible characters, iconic soundtrack, candy-colored palate and gaudy box office to match: Marvel’s space freakout obliterated the record for an August opening with $94 million, kicking off an altogether strange franchise as that’s already proven to be as big as Captain America.
But Guardians of the Galaxy was missing something. Something big.
If you’ve been reading the Guardians comic books, which Marvel rebooted just a few months after announcing the film at Comic-Con 2012, you already know what it is.
It’s the Element Gun, Peter Quill’s signature sidearm, a weapon of extraordinary origin and commensurate power. The Element Gun is an advantage that gives the half-Earthling a fighting change against intergalactic villains like Thanos and Ronan the Accuser, but for whatever reason, Marvel and director James Gunn decided not to give Quill the Element Gun … at least not in the singular form the most recent comics have made it out to be.
From the early 2013 Guardians of the Galaxy #1:
A page from the Marvel comic “Guardians of the Galaxy #1.”
Image: Marvel
Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis crafted Quill’s Element Gun as a composite from Guardians comics going back to Star-Lord’s origins in 1976. But in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, instead of the Element Gun, Quill has a pair of identical blasters, which suit him well when he needs them.
Still, they aren’t much of a factor in the story — Rocket Raccoon’s weaponry is more special, frankly.
A scene from Marvel/Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Image: Marvel/Disney
And let’s be honest, Star-Lord’s cinematic weapons look an awful lot like something you’d pick up at Home Depot before building a loft:
A cordless drill, not very handy in a fight against malevolent aliens.
Image: Festool
So what’s become of the Element Gun?
Quill’s special weapon may come to him yet in the cinematic universe; just because he doesn’t have the Element Gun now doesn’t mean it isn’t a part of the larger plan. (Did anybody else think the wrapped gift from his mom might have something to do with it? Nice red herring, Gunn.)
In fact, it’s hinted in Guardians of the Galaxy that Star-Lord’s father is the reason he’s more than your average Terran — his mother describes his father as “an angel, composed of light” while the Nova Corps notes at the end that Quill’s DNA is “something ancient, that we haven’t seen before here.”
What could that be? Once again, we turn to the squishy comic canon for our half-answer:
In the recent comics run, Quill’s father is J’Son, heir to the throne of a powerful intergalactic empire known as Spartax. In the midst of an intergalactic war, J’Son’s ship crash-lands on Earth, where he has a thing with Peter’s mom before he repairs his spacecraft and goes to rejoin the battle.
But he leaves behind the Element Gun, which Peter’s mother was keeping for her half-Earthling boy. Peter stumbles upon it one day when a hostile alien race know as the Badoon show up to put a stop to the Spartax bloodline. The Badoon goons kill Peter’s mom, but fail to take him out, and the orphan boy grows up to become Star-Lord.
The truth is, Quill’s origin story within Marvel is a messy mishmash of various threads that have been written and re-written in the decades since his first appearance in 1976. While he’s always had an Earth-bound mother, at one point it’s explained that his father is a celestial being known as a “Master of the Sun,” a true Star-Lord in that he possesses the power of, well … stars.
That would explain Quill’s mom’s description of his father in Guardians of the Galaxy — not to mention how he was able to hold onto the Infinity Gem as long as he did, which Gamora is quick to point out in the film’s final scenes.
The Bendis comics run — which is up to issue No. 17 now and going strong — were in that way a departure from Marvel’s older Star-Lord/Guardians lore, though it’s interesting to note that while the movie was being developed and shot, Quill’s comic-book weapon quietly went from the singular Element Gun to the power-tool-looking model — an indication that the two creative streams are being unified (and though his comic-book gun has been tailored to look like the movie version, he still only has the one).
Will this all be reconciled in the movies? Probably.
Marvel’s movie makers have never been entirely beholden to comic canon, but there is evidence that they’re bringing it around: In all likelihood, Quill will discover his father’s identity — and obtain some version of the Element Gun — in his further cinematic adventures (meantime, if you need someone to hang your galactic drywall, he’s your guy).
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Side note: Rocket Raccoon also has a major character element that was strong in the comics but quickly faded: His catchphrase. Rocket has had this thing for saying “Blammo! Murdered you!” whenever he blasts someone to bits which, in the comics, is often.
No surprise that “Murdered you!” didn’t fly in the Disney-movie version. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if it ever resurfaces, even in the comics, where it seems to have disappeared.
Before the NBC miniseries remake premieres on Sunday, here’s a reminder that some of the creepiest moments in the original 1968 horror classic had nothing to do with witches.
Satanic offerings and secret urban covens aside, the most disturbing thing about Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby is how much bullshit Mia Farrow’s isolated, fragile Rosemary accepts before finally insisting that, despite what the people around her are saying, something’s not right.
The Omaha-born, convent school-educated Rosemary is naive, biddable, and trusting — i.e., the perfect housewife. She’s frequently treated more like a girl than a grown woman, even when she’s on her way to becoming a mother herself. Her story is that of someone who’s been taught to obey and accommodate, and the occult conspiracy in which she becomes ensnared is insidious because it’s not unrelated to the treatment she’s clearly used to getting from the many figures who claim to know better, including her actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) and intrusive neighbors Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer).
More than 45 years later, Rosemary’s Baby is still a potent fable about someone battling to take back control of her life and her body.
Here’s a look at some of the more disturbing moments from the movie that have nothing to do with the supernatural. WARNING: Nearly half-century-old spoilers ahead!
3. “You’ll get used to the smell before you know it.”
It’s not just that the “good luck” necklace Minnie gives Rosemary reeks of the ominous tannis root. It belonged to Terry (Angela Dorian), the former junkie the Castevets took in, who jumped or was made to jump to her death from their very apartment building (suggesting, in the least, that it’s really not working). But Rosemary is just too polite not to accept the ghoulish bauble, as uncomfortable as it makes her, just as she’s too polite not to let Minnie and fellow neighbor Laura-Louise (Patsy Kelly) nudge their way into her apartment. And when Guy piles on to suggest it’s rude of her not to wear the pendant, since she accepted it, she doesn’t object to his point, though it takes her some time to come around to putting it on.
5. “Come on. The old bat slaved all day. Now eat it.”
Guy’s got his own nefarious reasons to want Rosemary to eat the chocolate mousse Minnie brings over — it’s drugged, and will render her conveniently unconscious for the whole demonic ritual the coven’s got planned for later in the evening. But as terrible as what’s to come is, what’s troubling in a different way is how Guy bullies his wife into finishing the dessert like a recalcitrant kid: First he tells her she’s imagining the chalky aftertaste she picks up on; then insists, again, she’s being rude; then he suggests this is the latest instance in her being difficult (“There’s always something wrong”) until she sends him on an errand and secretly dumps the mousse into her napkin rather than tell him she doesn’t like the dish.
The morning after Rosemary wakes up from being drugged and impregnated by Satan in front of a coven of her chanting neighbors, Guy chides her for drinking too much. Then he excuses the scratch marks on her back by saying he gave them to her while having sex with her unconscious body (“I didn’t want to miss baby night”). Of all of the distressing things about how Rosemary’s relationship with Guy is depicted in the film, that he doesn’t act apologetic about raping his passed-out spouse in the name of trying to conceive and that she doesn’t fight him on that may be the worst. He’s covering up something much more horrible, and this is the lie he thinks he can get away with, even joking about it while he wife groggily gets her bearings.
9. “Please don’t read books… And don’t listen to your friends, either.”
“No two pregnancies are ever alike,” says Dr. Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy), the “society” obstetrician recommended by the Castevets. From his perch of medical authority, he convinces Rosemary to disregard all the pain — “It’s like a wire inside me tightening!” — her unnatural pregnancy is about to cause her, and to listen to no one but himself (he’d have a tougher time in the days of WebMD). This includes having Minnie mix up a daily “vitamin drink,” the ingredients of which she describes as “snips and snails and puppy dogs’ tails,” that Rosemary obediently consumes. Later, he paternalistically dismisses Rosemary’s extreme symptoms as “common” and a “natural expansion of the pelvis,” telling her to take some aspirin and stop being so silly as to read books.
11. “It hurts so much. I’m so afraid the baby’s gonna die.”
Rosemary’s first big moment of rebellion comes when she throws a party and invites all the couple’s non-Bramford friends, exposing herself to the outside world and getting confirmation from everyone who’s not a witch that she looks like she’s dying and that being in nonstop agony is not just a standard part of the pregnancy process. The scene in which the women barricade themselves in the kitchen to reassure Rosemary that “pain like that is a warning that something isn’t right” hurts to watch itself because she’s so relieved to be told she’s not being ridiculous, and so terrified at the prospect that something might actually be wrong. Guy, of course, responds by saying her friends are “not very bright bitches who should mind their own business!”
13. “I don’t believe in witchcraft, but there are plenty of crazy people in this city.”
The saddest thing about Dr. Hill’s (Charles Grodin) betrayal is that he’s not part of the supernatural conspiracy. He’s just a doctor doing what he thinks is best, which is summoning his colleague Dr. Sapirstein and Rosemary’s husband to retrieve a panicked pregnant woman. Rosemary’s feverish monologue explaining how “they have a coven and want my baby” sounds legit nuts, but given how frightened she is of both the men, immediately turning around and calling them while she sleeps seems cruel, especially given how much she just wants to go to a hospital. Rosemary comes so close to having her Satan baby in the comforts of Mount Sinai, but in the end, it’s not a coven member who tracks her down and brings her back — it’s the very normal physician she goes to for help, and who decides she’s suffering from hysteria.
15. See how the NBC remake, starring Zoe Saldana, compares when it premieres on Sunday, May 11, at 9 p.m.
There is a vampire musical staring a Backstreet Boy and a male Bridesmaids counterpart with Dustin Diamond and Metta World Peace. Seriously.
Every year, while the stars and auteurs come out for the Cannes Film Festival, the international industry gathers for Le Marché du Film — the market that happens at the same time, in the same building. While the fest is glitzy and prestigious, the Marché is all about business, with companies from around the world offering up movies that are sometimes serious, sometimes schlocky, and sometimes haven’t even been made yet.
Here are 14 highlights from the market this year. Brace yourselves.
Chris Pine actually co-wrote this comedy, but it hasn’t been shot yet, so there’s still time for us to convince him that “mantivities” are not a thing.
