Just days after Ben McKenzie was cast as the lead in Fox’s Gotham, most of the major parts are being filled.
Sean Pertwee has been cast as Alfred Pennyworth.
Robin Lord Taylor will play Oswald Cobblepot
The rest of the cast includes Erin Richards as Gordon’s fiancée Barbara Kean and Zabryna Guevara as Gordon’s captain (and future mistress) Sarah Essen.
With the casting of Alfred it looks like Bruce Wayne may be more than just a recurring character and more of a series regular. I like they have brought the Essen character into the mix as well knowing her (future) history with Gordon.
YouTube’s Antonio Toscano has made a habit of making LEGO trailers out of many films including Iron Man 3, Man of Steel and Star Trek Into Darkness. Now he is back with his take on the first trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Focus your eye holes and see if you can notice all of the special appearances by other LEGO characters.
HBO is giving Game of Thrones fans a bit of a taste test with this 15 minute preview for Season 4 that includes new footage and interviews with the show’s stars.
Ladies, come for the Tyrion, stay for the fact that Jaime Lannister is back to his well-groomed self. Guys, ummm swords, blood, sex and Tyrion.
Sorry, Tyrion makes both columns.
WARNING! There are spoilers for Season 3 if you have not caught up yet.
Besides being the bane of bare feet everywhere, LEGO’s have been a part of our upbringing for over 60 years. Few companies can claim that the height of their popularity began in their second half-century, but with each new franchise Lego associates itself with, they close the cultural and age divide of their fans. This has become apparent in the fact that I was at a video game store buying Lego Batman 2 next to a mother buying it for her child or how I try to justify paying $150 for a Lego Hobbit set being (almost) in my mid-30’s.
Now the inevitable has happened; a full-length movie based on the blocks themselves. The reigns were given to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who have made a niche for themselves in two very different franchises (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs & 21 Jump Street). They have expertly combined these two vastly different types of comedy and created a very special thing: a movie that is as good to watch as an adult as it is a kid.
The LEGO Movie follows everyman, Emmet (Chris Pratt), a construction worker who gets up, goes to work, buys overpriced coffee, watches the same show as everyone else and basically conforms to the life society has told him to live. The social commentary in the first ten minutes is palpable even through the laughter. It is just the beginning of self-awareness you will watch for 100 minutes.
After work one day Emmet notices a woman snooping around the construction site and as he follows her he accidentally happens upon the Piece of Resistance. It becomes fused to Emmet and he is taken to be interrogated by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson). Soon, the woman, Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), comes to his rescue and takes Emmet to see Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) who pronounces Emmet to be the “special”. The one to take the Piece of Resistance and stop Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from unleashing the mysterious “Kragle” destroying the LEGO world as they know it.
Only problem being that Emmet is not a master builder, meaning his ideas appear to be pretty much useless.
Emmet, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius make their way to a secret meeting of master builders including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Shaquille O’Neal, Michelangelo (the artist), Michelangelo (the Ninja Turtle), Gandalf and Dumbledore to name a few.
Side note: Morgan Freeman’s dialogue with Gandalf and Dumbledore is worth the price of admission alone.
Emmet is scorned for not being the “special” and has to prove to everyone that if they all work together, they can defeat Lord Business. Their journey is a frantic one as they are continually being hunted by Bad Cop over various LEGO sets that give a good history lesson to the little plastic blocks. All the while Emmet pines for the affection of Wyldstyle who is currently dating Batman (Will Arnett), who even writes a song for his girlfriend about being an orphan and dark.
Speaking of Batman’s love song; The LEGO Movie’s soundtrack is expertly handled by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, who has also done the music to multiple Wes Anderson films as well as Nickelodeon’s Rugrats. The film’s theme song “Everything is Awesome” (written by Shawn Patterson) plays a prominent role throughout. Tegan and Sara teamed up with The Lonely Island (yes, from Jizz in my Pants) to sing what is perhaps the greatest song ever performed in human history. I oversell, but seriously, try and have a bad day listening to this.
The voice casting is as close to perfect as you can get. You already know that Morgan Freeman will be awesome because…Morgan Freeman. We also get the likes of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in a nice bit of back and forth as Superman and Green Lantern, giving fans of 21 Jump Street some fun fan service, Alison Brie, Charlie Day (who goes full-on Sunny in one scene), Will Forte and Nick Offerman. We even get Anthony Daniels and “Sweet” Billy Dee Williams as C-3PO and Lando for God’s sake!
Second side note: Liam Neeson’s Good Cop voice will haunt my dreams forever.
Even as The LEGO movie winds down with an epic battle it does something unexpected; it hits you right in the feels. I will not give anything away, but it is sufficient to say, when it is revealed what is in the abyss and the movie reaches its climax, prepare for a gut punch that only an adult can feel. I almost had a Toy Story 3 moment…almost (don’t make me go there again).
I was expecting good things out of The LEGO Movie and even those expectations were far exceeded. It is increasingly funny the farther along the story goes and will make you feel what it was like to be a kid again, then brings you back to remind you that you are an adult, but it is still never too late to be special.
Everything is awesome, indeed (at least for 100 minutes).
There is a joke here about The LEGO Movie’s success and a brick house but I will avoid that altogether. Simply put, The LEGO Movie opened HUGE.
Projections had it bringing in $45-50 million and that was blown away with $69.1 million. This is another notch in the belt of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who have already found success with the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs franchise as well as 21 Jump Street and its soon to be released sequel.
George Clooney and Matt Damon had to settle for saving the world’s art in second place. The Monuments Men grossed $22.7 million for a decent placing against its competition. The rest of the top ten fell into place like it has looked for the past month except for new release Vampire Academy which opened anemic with $4.1 million.
Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Southland) has won the role of James Gordon in Fox’s new series, Gotham.
The series will follow a young Gordon as he tries his best to be a good cop on the corrupt streets of Gotham. It has already been announced that Bruce Wayne will be a recurring character and that some of Batman’s rogues gallery will make appearances as well.
I am happy with the casting of McKenzie who shined in the short time Southland was on the air. The creators and writers should take special care and follow the Arrow blueprint for keeping comic shows interesting. Handled as a gritty cop drama, Gotham could be special, it could also become Smallville just as quickly.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron cast is getting larger as Paul Bettany, better known as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. in Iron Man and the weird monk who beats himself bloody for God in The Da Vinci Code, will become The Vision.
The Vision is an android created by Ultron to do his bidding against his creator, Hank Pym, but ultimately turns on Ultron and joins The Avengers. He then begins a relationship with Scarlet Witch which always reminds me of the “Robosexual” episode of Futurama.
Now since it appears Tony Stark will be the creator of Ultron instead of Pym in Age of Ultron, they could conceivably combine the J.A.R.V.I.S. character with The Vision in some way. With Ultron turning on Stark he could make J.A.R.V.I.S. into a android creation and call him Vision.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron releases on May 1, 2015.
File this under: Next time you give J.J. Abrams shit, remember he gets some stuff right.
There has been no confirmed casting for Star Wars: Episode VII as of yet but Gary Oldman has officially stated that he has been contacted about being in the next installment.
“They’ve called, yeah. I’m more cynical about it (casting) now, I believe it when I’m on the plane home. You know, the deal isn’t done (until then). But yeah, they’ve inquired.”
If they can get Oldman on board it has to be a huge win for Abrams and Co. for the next trilogy. Who would you like to see Oldman portray in Episode VII? A Jedi Knight? Sith Lord? Zorg? Let us know!
