Netflix and Christopher Guest are teaming up on Mascots, Guest’s latest mockumentary set to premiere in 2016. The film focuses on the world of mascot championships and will likely be along the lines of his previous films, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.
Netflix and Guest did not confirm the actual release date nor who will be starring in Guest’s new mockumentary. Actors who normally show up to take part in Guest’s free-flowing films include Parker Posey, Catherone O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, and John Michael Higgins.
Per the announcement flyer: “Welcome to all the drama, intrigue and occasional excitement of The 8th World Mascot Association Championships, where a group of ‘unusual’ men and women, with big heads and furry suits, compete to win the prestigious gold fluffy award and be crowned best mascot in the world.”
Misha Collins was still in awe of the fact The CW’s Supernatural is now the longest-running sci-fi series on network TV when he sat down for roundtable interviews at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. Season 11 has put Supernatural in the record books, surpassing the previous record holder – Smallville – and still going strong. And without giving away any spoilers, Collins talked about what fans of the record-breaking series can expect when the show returns on October 7, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT.
“I can tell you that we are really picking up where we left off – right where we left off – so Cas is dealing with the effects of the attack dog spell and the stabbing of Crowley and The Darkness. All of those things are set up as imminent threats at the end of season 10 and we’re right there at the beginning of season 11. In the past sometimes the interlude between the season finale and the season premiere has been as much as a year, but this is just a few minutes.”
The new major threat to the Winchester Brothers, Castiel, and the world in general is The Darkness. So what is The Darkness? “The Darkness I can tell you that the Darkness is a pre-Biblical force so it is a very, very big bad, ominous force that angels only heard of as a scary bedtime story,” explained Collins. “But they didn’t even think that The Darkness was a real thing, so it’s that old of a force.”
Speaking of major players, Supernatural lost one with the death of Death. Asked if that will be changing things up, Collins replied, “You know, I’m not sure that it is going to mess things up much. I’d be curious to see how the writers end up dealing with that mythology point. Death is now dead. But also in the Supernatural universe, God has been absent for a long time and we seem to have dealt with that okay. I’m sure they’ll find a way to handle the death of Death without losing [anything]. Death itself as a phenomenon is going to continue to be a big part of the Supernatural universe, I’m sure.”
And if Collins had his way, he knows exactly who he’d like to work with in more episodes. “Well, I would like to see more of Claire Novak [played by Kathryn Newton]. I thought that that relationship was interesting for Castiel. I also thought that it worked well in the canon of the story, so I’d like to see more of that.”
The Weinstein Company’s released the official poster for the comedy/drama Burnt with Bradley Cooper front and center accompanied by the tagline: “Never underestimate a man with everything to lose.” The cast of Burnt also includes Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Brühl, Matthew Rhys, Uma Thurman, and Emma Thompson, although it’s only Cooper on the poster.
The Weinstein Company’s planning an October 23, 2015 theatrical release of Burnt.
The Plot: Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) had it all – and lost it. A two-star Michelin rockstar with the bad habits to match, the former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene did everything different every time out, and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive Michelin star though, he’ll need the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Sienna Miller).
Disney Channel’s Descendants has pulled in more than 15.5 million viewers since its debut on July 31, 2015 and its first showing ranked as 2015’s number one cable movie debut. The original movie featured a soundtrack with contributions by the movie’s stars including Kristin Chenoweth and Dove Cameron, and that soundtrack CD has debuted in the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition, it hit the top spot on Billboard’s Soundtrack chart as well as the Children’s, Digital Album, and Top Albums charts.
The Plot: “Disney’s Descendants stars Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart and Sofia Carson as the teenage sons and daughters of Disney’s most infamous villains. With a knowing wink at traditional fairy tales, the live-action movie fuses castles with classrooms to create a contemporary, music-driven story about the challenges in living up to parental and peer expectations. The notable cast also includes Mitchell Hope, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Maz Jobrani, Kathy Najimy and the Tony Award-winning Kristin Chenoweth. Emmy Award-winning Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) directs, choreographs and executive-produces.”
Disney’s Descendants soundtrack was released on July 31, 2015.
Disney’s Descendants Track List:
1. Rotten to the Core (Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce and Booboo Stewart)
2. Evil Like Me (Kristin Chenoweth and Dove Cameron)
3. Did I Mention (Jeff Lewis, Mitchell Hope)
4. If Only (Dove Cameron)
5. Be Our Guest (Mitchell Hope, Spencer Lee, Kala Balch, Marco Marinangeli)
6. If Only (Reprise) (Dove Cameron)
7. Set It Off (Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Mitchell Hope, Sarah Jeffrey and Jeff Lewis)
8. Believe (Shawn Mendes)
9. Rotten to the Core (Sofia Carson)
10. Night Is Young (China Anne McClain)
11. Good Is the New Bad (Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson and China Anne McClain)
12. I’m Your Girl (Felicia Barton)
13. Descendants Score Suite (David Lawrence)
Ricky Whittle was very cautious when discussing the third season of The CW’s gritty sci-fi series The 100, however he did say fans can expect to learn more about Lincoln’s backstory in the upcoming season. Describing Lincoln as a hero who fights for what’s good and for those who can’t fight for themselves, Whittle said he’s anxious for viewers to actually learn more about what drives his fan favorite character. “We know nothing about Lincoln and hopefully this season they’re going to invest more into why he is the way he is. He’s very much a lone figure. There’s good people in the grounders but Lincoln stands out and will literally put his life on the line for what he believes is right and for Octavia, and we need to know why,” explained Whittle during our roundtable interview at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con.
Whittle was able to give away clues as to what’s happening with the Grounders, Sky People, and the Arkers when the show returns in 2016. “Obviously we pick up again from the season before where all is not well amongst the Tree Crew and the Sky Crew. There’s obviously still going to be investment in those factions and those dynamics. We need to see what’s going on with those. We’re going to learn more about the politics of both groups, and other groups. We’re going to invest more into the origins of what actually happened pre-apocalypse,” explained Whittle.
Whittle also revealed that this new season will include even more sci-fi elements. “We’re going to have our two worlds running simultaneously because we like to make sure there’s something for everyone. I think it keeps a freshness to the show when you can bounce between environments, so you have Jaha and Murphy off on their travels and the AI story which is really going to blow your minds this season, I think. I’m not going to say anything because I’m so scared to spoil that. I’m not going to say a single thing but it’s going to be great. It’s a fascinating story,” offered Whittle.
“As for Lincoln, Lincoln’s obviously still not found a home, basically. He and Octavia [played by Marie Avgeropoulos] have been struggling to find a home. They’re not really accepted amongst both people, however they find themselves in amongst the Arkers at Camp Jaha. So, how do they cope with that? Are they going to cope with actually being together? The whole second season they were ripped apart and now they’re together. They’re both kind of fighting from different angles. They’re going to be hit with all sorts of challenges from the Arkers, from the politics of the Arkers,” said Whittle. “Lincoln may be trying to assimilate; Octavia may be going against that. She’s never been one to fit in. She’s always rebelled against them because they kept her under the floorboards for half her life. Lincoln just wants peace. He wants everyone to get along as always, but he’s also got to keep his lady happy. It’s all happening this season.”
Asked if he’s enjoying the complex world of The 100, Whittle replied, “I’m enjoying it – I’m just not enjoying trying to talk about it because it confuses me! But yeah, we’ve got some fantastic writers and Jason Rothenberg’s so creative. They just keep coming up with these mind-blowing storylines and layers. The one thing that I’ve said in every interview is that they give the fans what they need and not what they want, and they layer all the characters. There is no good; there is no evil. There’s only perspective. Last season we had the Mountain Men perceived as these evil people trying to drain the blood of the Sky People, but they were just trying to save their own people. Depending on what side of the fence you lay on, to the Mountain Men they were heroes. They were trying to save their people and trying to get back onto earth. Obviously the way they did it was barbaric but it was a means to an end.”
“You’ve seen the good characters as well doing bad things, the good characters taking lives for survival because that’s what the show is primarily about. It’s about survival and what it takes primarily to survive. What would you do? We all sit here and judge, ‘Oh, that’s disgusting! That’s terrible,’ but if we found ourselves in the situation – you and your loved one, you and your sister, you and your people against someone else that you don’t quite know, who are you going to choose? We’d be quite surprised that maybe we would make some of these harsh choices that we never really thought we could make. But that’s the fun of sci-fi. It’s fantasy. It’s not real. We kept a lot of real elements in there, but it is a fantasy. It’s fun to experiment and go through these different scenarios, and it’s only going to get more complicated this year. A lot more layers from a lot characters. And, a lot more layers in the world. You’re going to see a lot more layers in the actual world. Again, I’m not going to go too much because 1) it’s confusing and 2) I don’t want to spoil it.”
Keke Palmer says Scream Queens definitely has its gruesome and scary moments, but it’s also funny. Chatting about the upcoming Fox series at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, Palmer said the prospect of being involved in a project that allowed her to do some comedy was one of the appeals of being a part of the series from Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Glee). “I’d done it with True Jackson, VP when I was a teenager which was fun, but it’s in one type of genre. So when I discussed the show with him and he asked me what I was I would like to do or what I’d like to play, I was like, ‘I really would like a chance at comedy.’ When he said he’d give me that opportunity, I immediately was like, ‘This is something I have to do and be a part of.'”
Palmer also told us that it’s a challenge to tackle this series because Ryan Murphy loves to throw in unexpected twists and constantly changes things up. “Well, it’s so interesting because you never know with Ryan. He’s definitely into uncovering myths, not playing into what people think. You never really know. You never know what will happen or how things will go. Even now we’ve read up to episode six maybe now at this point and the characters have changed, things have happened that you never knew were going to happen so it’s hard to tell,” said Palmer.
“That’s part of the excitement being on this ride with Ryan with Ian [Brennan] with Brad [Buecker] is kind of like seeing what’s going to happen next.”
Palmer’s character is pledging the sorority at the heart of the series, something she never experienced in real life. “Growing up, my dad is a part of a fraternity and so I used to always hear about fraternity and sorority life and all that stuff, so it’s very cool to me to be a part of that because I didn’t get a part of that in my real life,” explained Palmer. “I didn’t go to college, definitely wasn’t involved in any sororities or fraternities or anything like that, so it’s definitely cool to play that on TV. Plus, I’ve always been into horror films. Halloween is one of my favorites, so it’s just the coolest thing ever to be a part of the show.”
What other films scare her? “Well my favorite horror film was with Freddy Krueger and I always loved how snarky Freddie was at the time when he would be killing people. Like, he’s ripping off somebody’s nose and he’s like, ‘I got your nose!’ I loved the wit that he added. I loved the characters, and that’s why I loved Halloween because there was a certain amount of the storyline and things that you expected and you hoped would get from Jamie [Lee Curtis’] character and whomever,” replied Palmer. “I love characters; I love personality. When the killer has personality that’s definitely cool to me.”
In addition to the horror, the humor, and Ryan Murphy, Scream Queens also has horror veteran Jamie Lee Curtis in a starring role. Palmer discussed her co-star, saying, “We love when we’re with Jamie because Jamie kind of always is taking us under her wings. Whenever she’s on set, we’re just in awe and watching her and how she handles the set. Literally, any time we all have to do our lines and let’s say she’s off camera, even if she’s already filmed her stuff she’ll stay after and she’ll do her lines. She’ll be a part of the whole thing. That’s probably the coolest thing.”
Ciara Renee at Comic-Con 2015 (Photo by Richard Chavez)
During roundtable interviews at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, Legends of Tomorrow‘s Ciara Renee said she couldn’t be happier that so many female comic book-inspired characters are being well represented on TV. “I’m loving all the girl power. I’m loving it. I love that there are more heroines,” said Renee. “It’s so cool to see comments and stuff saying, ‘My daughter is so excited to see a female superhero,’ because you just don’t see it. I think there’s such a demand for it now that you’re going to start seeing it. Thank the lord! I think it is definitely shifting in a really good way.”
Ciara Renee will be playing Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl when The CW series premieres in 2016, however, she says we’ll get to know her character a little before Legends of Tomorrow actually debuts. “I think there’s going to be a lot of crossovers so that when we get to January, you already have some backstory on who everyone is, so you’re not just swarmed with all of these new characters. Not ‘new’ characters but full characters who have all these backstories and all these other things so that you’ll be caught up,” explained Renee.
In order to prepare for the role, Renee has been busy doing her homework. “I’ve been rewatching all of the Justice League. I’ve been reading all sorts of comics. They were so nice to send me huge packs that I’m still going through. I’m reading the Thanagarian version; I’m reading the new 52 version. I’m just trying to get as much research as possible,” explained Renee. “I don’t know what we’re going to necessarily be using, but it will be good to know the origins of it.”
In going through the research and speaking to Legends of Tomorrow‘s writers, Renee has a good idea of Kendra’s personality.
“She’s a pretty stoic, kind of badass character a lot of the times, but I think she’s also a very conflicted character. I feel like she’s always trying to be within herself and not reach out to anybody else, but then I think obviously every human needs that, you know? I think also the conflict is being reincarnated and feeling these other lives and these other memories that are coming up. I think a lot of it is she’s just very torn between a lot of different images of who she is,” said Renee.
Renee’s looking forward to the time travel and reincarnation aspects of the character, which comic book fans are also anxious to see on the show. “I don’t know how much I can share, but I think we’re going to definitely be able to tap into who she was in these different time periods because that’s what we’re doing – we’re traveling all through the time periods trying to fix the timeline. So it just seems plausible that we would run into her at some point, so that would be really cool and such a great acting challenge to play all these different people within one,” revealed Renee. “It’s going to be really cool.”
In addition to the reading she’s been doing to figure out who Kendra/Hawkgirl is, Renee has been undergoing training to prepare for the role physically.
“Well, if you see my hands I have a lot of scars already. I started Krav Maga which is an Israeli martial arts, and I’ve been boxing for a couple of months and I love boxing. It’s so fun. But I want to try everything,” said Renee. “At this point she knows every fighting style from being reincarnated so many times. She knows everything so I want to try them all and I want to be able to do as many stunts as I can, so we’ll see.”
Legends of Tomorrow marks Renee’s first TV series, and she says playing Hawkgirl is the coolest way to kick off her TV acting career. “This is my first TV series and of course I’m a superhero and it’s amazing! But also you know I just think being in the hands of such amazing writers who already have two series that are just the bomb. They’re so good. I’ve watched them now and I’m hooked, and I would have been even if I hadn’t been a part of this. That’s just really amazing. Talking to them, they’re really trying to be conscientious about giving everyone their time. You really get to meet every character and know every character intimately so that when we see them working together or not working together, you understand it and the relationships are real and credible. I think that’s amazing. It’s going to be an incredible acting challenge and I get to work with incredible actors.”
Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams in ‘True Detective’ (Photo: Lacey Terrell / HBO)
“Woodrugh, he’s dead,” says Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) to Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) while hiding out at the motel. Ray discovered the news of Woodrugh’s death after his former boss answered Woodrugh’s phone and offered him a deal that could save his life in the season two finale of the HBO dramatic crime series, True Detective.
After Ani and Ray quickly get over the shock of Paul Woodrugh’s (Taylor Kitsch) death, the two do some solid detective work and realize the little girl who lost her parents in the jewelry heist back in the ’90s had a brother, and that her brother, Len, was working on the movie set the day Ani and Ray were there. Checking through the union website, Ray gets an address for Len and the two go to talk to him.
Meanwhile, Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) is having a hard time convincing his loyal wife, Jordan (Kelly Reilly), to leave town with Nails (Chris Kerson), even though he assures her he’ll meet up with them in two weeks or less. After way too much discussion on the topic … C’mon, she’s a gangster’s wife, and up to this moment in the series has shown she is actually smarter than her husband. She should know he has to tie up the loose ends if they even hope to survive … Jordan agrees to leave with Nails and wait two weeks for Frank to join them.
Ray and Ani arrive at the address to find Laura, Len’s sister, handcuffed and upset. They free her and she tells them Len murdered Caspere for turning Laura into a hooker and has set up a meeting with Chief Holloway (Afemo Omilami) to turn over the computer drive they took for the diamonds. Laura further explains that Len’s actual plan is to kill Holloway. Ray asks where the meeting is going to take place and Laura tells him the new train station. Ray tells Ani to stay with Laura now that they have their witness and races out the door with Ani calling out after him to wait.
Ani takes Laura to the bus depot and gives her a bus ticket to Seattle, telling her that no matter how all of this plays out she doesn’t deserve any jail time. Laura asks what about her brother and Ani tells her she lost him a long time ago. Ani leaves Laura as she walks towards the bus.
Once at the station wearing a disguise consisting of a straw cowboy hat, sunglasses, and jeans, Ray maneuvers behind Len and whispers softly in his ear that he knows what happened to him and his sister and if he makes a sudden move he’ll put a hole in him. Ray tells Len he’s going to help him get revenge for what Caspere, Holloway, and the rest of them did, but Len has to do what he tells him. The next scene shows Ray sitting in a seat with Holloway recognizing him and sitting down next to him, not realizing Len is sitting behind them with a phone recording their conversation.
As the two men talk it comes out that Caspere had an affair with Laura and Len’s mother and that she wanted more from him in the relationship (it turns out Laura was actually Caspere’s daughter). Her demands for a relationship made him order her death – along with the murder of her husband – during the robbery. Len loses his temper and attacks Holloway with a large knife while the phone recorder goes sliding across the floor and is destroyed under the feet of scared people running from the area. Holloway and Len kill each other while Ani arrives and helps Ray get out of the train station.
Out of options and now wanted for the murder of California State Attorney Katherine Davis, Woodrugh, and Holloway, Ray and Ani team up with Frank. They meet at his hideout located in a secret room at their favorite bar to make plans to leave the country and go to Venezuela. But, they’re going to need money to live off of while on the run. With Ray’s help, Frank plans on hitting and robbing Osip Agronov (Timothy V. Murphy) up at the cabin during the planned transaction. In a private moment between Frank and Ani, Frank asks Ani to do him a favor and when she gets to Venezuela, tell his wife that he’s sorry and wanted to be with her. Ani agrees.
The raid at the cabin goes perfectly, with Frank and Ray armed to the hilt and taking out the Russian mobster Osip and his goons, and escaping with $2 million. Once back at their cars in town, Frank and Ray split the money and plan on seeing each other in Venezuela.
Frank next does business with the men who’ve been working on getting him an untraceable car and passports. Driving away in his new car with his bag of $1 million in the backseat and passports in his coat pocket, Frank seems to be – for the first time since the series started – happy. He’s leaving the gangster business behind for good and starting a new life with his wife.
Meanwhile, Velcoro’s only 40 miles away from the hideout where Ani is anxiously waiting to hear. He calls her to let her know it all went well and that he’s on his way. Ani, also for the first time in the series, actually looks happy and turns to Felicia, the owner of the bar who has a crush on Ray, and tells her he’s okay. But, while driving Ray decides to go see his boy one last time before meeting up with Ani. He exits the freeway and heads toward his son’s school.
Frank is waiting at an intersection between two cars when he starts to suspect perhaps it’s not just a coincidence the car behind him is closer than usual. He reaches down to his ankle to get his small gun when his driver-side window is shattered and the Mexican crew gets in Frank’s car, guns pointed at his head, and all three automobiles drive out of town.
Ray has parked his Dodge Charger a few blocks away from his son’s school and walked to where he sees him sitting with some other boys during lunch. He notices his son has his grandfather’s badge on the table with him, the one Ray gave him to remember him by. Ray’s son looks over and sees Ray by the fence and smiles and nods at him as Ray salutes the boy. Feeling good, Ray heads back to his car to continue on to meet up with Ani when he notices a tracking device connected to the bottom of his Dodge Charger. Ray looks around but doesn’t spot anyone following him. He tries to remove the device but to no avail. Ray then drives off and heads for the freeway.
Outside of town somewhere in the California desert, Frank and the gang members meet up with the rest of their crew. The Mexican gang leader who Frank was tricked into doing business with through his clubs is waiting in this desolate spot in the desert. “What are you going to do me?! asks Frank. “I was already out,” states Frank, but the Mexican leader tells Frank he knows about the clubs burning down, meaning they can’t move their merchandise through them. Hoping to buy his way out, Frank tells the Mexican leader there are a million dollars in the car and he can have it if that will make things square. The Mexicans take his money and are about to leave when Frank says, “What? A million dollars can’t buy me a ride back into town?” to which the Mexicans tell him to take off his suit and give it to them. Frank hits the one closest to him and is stabbed and left for dead in the desert.
Ray is driving on the freeway when he calls Ani to tell her he’s running late and for her to go ahead and get on the boat with Felicia. He tells her he’ll meet up with her later. Ani refuses saying she’s going to wait for him. Ray tells Ani he messed up. That he thought it would be okay and he went and saw his boy one last time, and that’s when they put the tracking device on his car. “Ditch the car and get another,” demands Ani, adamant that she will not leave without Ray. Ray tells her to stick to the plan and to get on the boat. He tells her he’ll find a way to lose his tail and meet up with her. He then asks to speak with Felicia.
“I am going to see you again, right?” asks a frightened Ani. “Are you kidding? You’re going to need a restraining order against me,” answers Ray. “No, no I won’t,” replies Ani as she hands the phone to Felicia. When Felicia puts the phone to her ear Frank says, “I’m not going to make it. Don’t say anything just listen. You owe me, remember? I don’t care if you have to carry her, you get her on that boat.” “I will. I promise,” replies Felicia. Ray hangs up the phone and speeds down the freeway.
Frank stands up but is bleeding profusely from a stab wound to his abdomen. He begins walking with a limp toward town, hallucinating first that his hateful father is yelling at him and blaming him for Frank’s mother leaving them. Then he sees the first kids to pick a fight with him as he continues his hopeless trek back to L.A.
Ray has driven his car to the woods and ditches it after running out of gas. He leaves the car, abandons the $1 million in cash, and runs off to find some cover from the men tracking him, all while desperately attempting to send one last voicemail message to his son’s phone. Taking out two of the thugs, Ray is low on ammo and looking up into the trees, decides to go out in a blaze of glory. He steps out into the line of fire and is shot multiple times by the team tracking him which is led by Lieutenant Burris (James Frain). Miles away, Ani, who has already gotten on board the boat to Mexico, seems to feel or sense Ray’s death and breaks down in tears.
Frank is still trying to make it back to town when he sees his wife who tells him it’s okay and it’s time to stop and rest. Franks says he can’t ever stop and he always needs to keep moving. Jordan looks at her husband sadly and tells him that he stopped moving way back there. Frank looks to where Jordan is pointing and sees his own lifeless body lying on the desert ground and collapses.
About 15 months later, Ani is in a hotel room in Venezuela wrapping up telling a reporter the whole ugly true story about what happened as a montage shows Tony Chessani being sworn in as mayor and of CHP Officer Paul Woodrugh having a highway named after him. Ani leaves him the documents and what evidence she has on the case, telling the reporter it’s his story now and for him to do with it what he wants. He asks her to come back with him and testify but she says no. The reporter begins to try to say something and Ani tells him to wait an hour after she has left the room before he leaves.
The next scene shows Ani entering another hotel room where Jordan is holding Ani and Ray’s baby boy. “He’s fussy,” says Jordan. “He senses the long trip,” replies Ani, as the two ladies leave the room, with Ani carrying her baby boy in a carrier, escorted by Nails. There’s a party going on in the streets and soon the four of them blend in and disappear from sight.
Suspenseful and extremely well-acted, True Detective season two ends with the two leading ladies surviving and becoming unlikely travel companions with something to live for. Meanwhile, the men in their lives die brutally but bravely at the hands of their enemies. Slow and far too often confusing, this second season of HBO’s crime series was saved only by the stand-out performances of Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams. Farrell’s character Ray was so damaged and full of self-loathing and yet there was still a part of him that wanted to be a good cop and a good man. That part was what made the audience pull for Ray, even though it was fairly obvious early on in the series that Ray was the lost soul of the group who most likely would not find his way home.
Rachel McAdams delivered a stellar performance as Ani, the other damaged detective haunted by her past full of vengeance and issues. Ani’s eventual attraction to Ray came from the simple fact that he was the only man in her life who she could ever count on and trust. The scene where she’s on the phone with Ray asking if she’s going to see him again was touching and heartfelt, as she makes herself believe the lie Ray tells her so she can save herself.
Some scenes were reminiscent of other classic moments in movies including a desert meeting between Frank and the Mexicans which seemed to be taken straight from the first Lethal Weapon film. In addition, the scene where Ray is driving and thinking about risking everything to go see his son one last time before leaving the country is very similar to the scene in the film Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro where De Niro’s character is thinking about stopping and killing an informant before leaving town with his girl.
Still, even with a few similar scenes and a slow and confusing plot True Detective season two was worth watching for the dark, gritty, powerful performances from Farrell, McAdams, and Vaughn.
HBO has released a teaser trailer for Westworld, the series inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 Westworld film. The sci-fi drama comes from Jonathan Nolan, screenwriter of Interstellar (along with his brother, Christopher). Jonathan Nolan is executive producing, writing, and directing the one hour drama with writer/executive producer Lisa Joy. J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk are also executive producers of the new HBO series.
The cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, and Simon Quarterman.
The Plot: “Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.”
David Mazouz says season two of Fox’s Gotham will find Bruce Wayne transitioning into the superhero he’ll become as an adult. At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, Mazouz participated in roundtable interviews to discuss the popular series, which will be back for a second season on September 21, 2015.
Asked how he’s preparing physically for the transformation, Mazouz said he hasn’t really done anything special yet. “I know that training is going to happen with Alfred and with Lucius a little bit in season two. I’m excited for that,” explained Mazouz.
According to Mazouz, the Bruce Wayne in the upcoming season will be dramatically different from the one in season one.
“I think that Bruce is a different person. He’s kind of more jaded. He’s not so naive. He doesn’t think, ‘This is wrong and I need to fix it.’ He kind of knows the ways of Gotham now. He knows that he can’t do that. I feel like he had a really dark side at the beginning of season one, but that was because he was grieving and then he kind of lightened up as the season progressed. In season two, you’re going to see him…he’s done. He knows, ‘I’m going to do this. This is something I’m going to do, and whoever is going to try to stop me, I’m sorry, but I can’t have in my life.’ And that’s going to be an issue with some of the characters he’s really close to now,” said Mazouz.
As for the much-anticipated shift in his character, Mazouz is really looking forward to getting to play this new Bruce. “I’m really excited because season two is really going to start the shift toward Batman. I think in season one he was a determined kid who was grieving. He was only determined because he wanted to know what happened to his parents. He wanted to know who his father was. He wanted to know what Wayne Enterprises was, really. He wasn’t Batman. In season two, you’re going to see Batman at 14. That transformation – season two is going to be all about that,” revealed Mazouz.
And speaking of Batman, Mazouz sounded incredibly excited when asked about his reaction to seeing the secret room for the very first time. “Awesome! I was stoked, especially when I walked on set and saw that set there,” said Mazouz, enthusiastically. “I’m not going to tell you what’s in there but when I saw that I was like, ‘This is mind-blowing.'”
Watch the full interview with David Mazouz on Gotham season two:
