Nerd Rating

Tag: Edgar Wright

  • HUGE Ant-Man News! Michael Douglas Cast As Hank Pym!

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    Marvel has officially announced that Michael Douglas has been cast in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man due for release on July 31, 2015. The casting is not that odd since Robert Redford has a starring role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, rather it is the role that Douglas is taking on.

    He will be playing Hank Pym.

    That’s right. Michael Douglas will play the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, and Rudd will be playing his successor Scott Lang. Edgar Wright had been dropping hints for weeks that he was purposely not announcing which Ant-Man Rudd would play but I assumed it was to just troll fans. Not the case!

    This could be seen as a gamble by Marvel and Wright with many people excited to see Hank Pym finally on the big screen…just in his prime. Now in the official Marvel movie universe Scott Lang will be the hero with a 60-something Pym perhaps being the villain in some way (as rumors are now saying).

    What do you think of the news that Hank Pym will be played by the Academy Award winner? Do you feel like your chance to see Pym in his heyday have been stolen or are you trusting Edgar Wright?

    Check out the official Marvel statement below.

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    Michael Douglas has stepped into some of the biggest–or should that be tiniest?–shoes of his career.

    The two-time Academy Award-winning actor will join director Edgar Wright and Paul Rudd in Marvel’s “Ant-Man,” hitting theaters July 31, 2015.

    “With Hank Pym’s rich history in the Marvel Universe, we knew we needed an actor capable of bringing the weight and stature to the role that the character deserves,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “We felt incredibly relieved when Michael Douglas agreed to step into the part with the charm and fortitude he brings to every character he inhabits, and couldn’t be more excited to see what he will do to bring Hank Pym to life.”

    The legendary actor, who earned an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role for his iconic portrayal of Gordon Gecko in “Wall Street,” has also starred in numerous modern classics including “Basic Instinct,” “Fatal Attraction,” “The Game,” “Wonder Boys,” “Traffic” and many more. In addition to acting, Douglas has also served as Producer and Executive Producer on a number of films including “Romancing the Stone,” John Carpenter’s “Starman” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” for which he also won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Most recently, Douglas earned a Golden Globe and his first Primetime Emmy Award for his role as legendary entertainer Liberace in the HBO original film “Behind the Candelabra.”

  • Review: The World’s End

    Photo courtesy totalfilm.com
    Photo courtesy totalfilm.com

    Well, here we are. Nine years after Shaun of the Dead was released and somehow, inexplicably, went from a cult following to required watching for any comedy or zombie buff, we come to the The World’s End. The third film from the trio of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright and while it may not have as many laugh out loud moments as Shaun or 2007’s Hot Fuzz, it is certainly the most heartfelt and emotional of the three films, which is something I was not expecting, but was completely glad I got it.

    Simon Pegg leads the way again as Gary King,a man approaching 40 who has never gotten past the good times of drinking and drugs that were the staples of his youth. He decides that he should get his old school mates back together and attempt The Golden Mile, a pub crawl in their hometown of Newton Haven consisting of twelve pubs that they never finished in their youth.

    Ready? Here we go: The First Post, The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands, The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King’s Head, The Hole in the Wall, The World’s End.

    That’s a lot of liquor.

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    Gary sets off to get his old mates back together and finds their lives exactly what he has always tried to avoid. Peter (Eddie Marsan) has never gotten past being bullied in his youth and is a car saleman at his father’s lot, Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a yuppie real estate agent, Steven (Paddy Considine) is an architect and was and still is a rival for Oliver’s sister (Rosamund Pike) and Andrew (Nick Frost) is a lawyer and Gary’s former best friend before a giant falling out.

    Through some manipulation and flat out lying, Gary convinces the four friends to return to Newton Haven and take on the pub crawl that bested them. The night starts out simple enough with Gary reliving the best part of his life while imbibing plenty of pints while the four friends wonder why they even agreed to tag along on the journey. When Gary’s lies begin to fall apart and the group decides to leave is where things go haywire in the form of alien robots (not robots) that have taken over the town for some (what the group thinks) nefarious reasons.

    Gary’s plan is to stick to the pub crawl sensing that if they act normally the blue-blooded beings will let them leave, but that is not the case. The five friends make their way from pub to pub getting more and more drunk as they fight groups of killer robots while working through all of their problems with each other. That is where The World’s End feels different from Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. It is about life not giving you what you thought you should have and trying to revisit the best times of your life only to realize that it can never happen. We grow up, people change, situations alter our plans and life just…happens.

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    Where The World’s End may disappoint is that it is not as slapstick funny as the previous films in the trilogy. I am not saying that the movie is not funny, far from it, but you will not be leaving the theater with a host of quotable lines that you will instantly connect with the movie. There are plenty of laughs to be had especially when the action gets frantic and everyone is completely off the wagon, it just takes its time and does not skimp on the emotional center and I applaud Pegg, Frost and Wright for doing that.

    All in all I have to say that The World’s End would be in third place when it comes to The Cornetto Trilogy with Hot Fuzz being first and Shaun in the middle. That in no way is a slight against the film because it is funny as hell in places and the cast is, once again, top notch with plenty of bit parts from Cornetto regulars and even Pierce Brosnan. The World’s End is a fitting end for the trilogy and will surprise you with the sentimental depth of the relationships.

    Plus, you know, killer robots.

     

     

  • First Poster For The World’s End

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    This year will see the release of the final film in The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, the three films written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Wright and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. Shaun of the Dead, to me, was the beginning of the rebirth of the zombie craze and its hard to believe it is already nine years old. Hot Fuzz is looked on by most as a funny movie, but not on the same level as Shaun. Here is my admission: I like Hot Fuzz more than Shaun. Don’t ask me why. While I love both movies, there is something about Fuzz that makes me want to watch it over and over.

    Now the trio is going intergalactic with The World’s End, the tale of five friends who reunite to take on a legendary pub crawl that bested them twenty years before. Small problem being that there is an alien invasion happening as they head towards the pub with the appropriate name.

    The World’s End releases August 23rd.

     

     

  • Marvel Announces Release Date For Ant-Man

    Edgar Wright’s Tale Will Follow Up The Avengers 2.

     

    Marvel Studios have officially announced that the feature film based on Ant-Man will be released in theaters on November 6, 2015 making it the first Marvel release after The Avengers 2.

    The adventures of scientist Hank Pym will be directed by Edgar Wright and no casting has been announced yet. There may be a good chance that the character will make an appearance in an Avengers sequel with the movie coming out just six months later.

    Edgar Wright has been attached to the project for some time and it looks like it will now become a reality. This isn’t Wright’s first foray into the world of comic movies having directed the amazing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He is also know for his movies with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The three are currently filming a new film titled The World’s End set for release next year.

    I don’t think that you will see Pym take his turn into domestic violence in his first movie if ever at all. He is famously know for beating his girlfriend The Wasp in comics so I don’t think the best way to convey to the world he deserves his own movie is to have him go Chris Brown in his movie. You gotta save something for Avengers 3