The New York Toy Fair held earlier this year revealed some very cool new merchandise from Mattel to coincide with the new Wonder Woman solo movie which hits theaters in June. From Wonder Woman action figures to dress-up action gear and movie themed articulated dolls, Mattel are going all out to ensure that Wonder Woman receives as much love as her male superhero counterparts.
With the Wonder Woman Black Label Barbie from the Batman Vs Superman movie not being released here in Australia (oddly enough, a version of the SDCC exclusive was available here in Australia via Toys R Us), there was some worry this new line may not make it to our shores.
As it turns out, we need not worry as Mattel have confirmed to me that Wonder Woman merchandise including those revealed at New York Toy Fair are expected to hit the market around mid April, and mega toy retailer Toys R Us have also confirmed to me that they will be stocking items including the Justice League 12″/30cm Wonder Woman figure, the Barbie Wonder Woman Collector Doll, the Wonder Woman Doll and Horse Set, Wonder Bow and the Wonder Woman assorted Fashion Doll range.
And for those interested in the DC Superhero Girl line, Mattel noted that new additions will hit the market “mid year, if not earlier”.
Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp) side with Apocalypse
X-Men Apocalypse is being reviewed and touted as “the X-Men movie for the fans” yet the way it stands, no single X-Men movie has ever fared extremely well with dedicated followers and X-Men’s latest installment isn’t going to change that.
It’s a shame however as the bones for a decent X-Men film are there and unlike Days of Future Past, there’s no real source/story line material for Apocalypse to stay true to…well with the exception of which characters pop up as his loyal horsemen, but it did allow for the writers to be a little bit more creative in this outing. That said, there is a major problem with Apocalypse – there is just way too many named characters to really do everyone justice especially for an X-Men movie where standard scene-hogger Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is literally seen in a single slash and dash scene. Characters with major story lines or backgrounds needing to be fleshed out suffer and feel like stepford wives waiting for instructions on what to do next.
Of Apocalypse’s four horsemen, it’s weather witch Storm (Alexandra Shipp), telekinetic ninja Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Angel (Ben Hardy) that suffer the most screen injustice along with good-gal and fan favorite, Jubilee (Lana Condor) who have either been relegated to single lines of dialogue (Psylocke) or virtually stripped of their powers (Jubilee) and it’s a shame considering the high visibility of these characters in advertising and posters.
With Apocalypse’s (Oscar Isaac) fourth horseman being Magneto (Michael Fassbender), the only true background fleshed out is his, which of course, has been explored in pretty much every other X-Men movie made to date but at least toggles the viewers memory as to a valid reason why Magneto would join forces with Apocalypse. Of the other three, Angel is picked up licking his wounds after escaping from an underground mutant fighting ring, Storm while as a teen thief in Cairo and Psylocke as she works with Caliban (Tómas Lemarquis) secretly transporting mutants underground. There is just not enough between those other characters to really back them to joining Apocalypse, especially with Storm whom we all know eventually becomes a fully fledged X-Man and Psylocke who we never really quite understand why she joins.
On the flip side, re-imagined characters of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are given ample amount of screen time for us to be introduced to and even like. Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler is an absolute scene stealer. And of the returning cast, Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique, James McAvoy’s Xavier and Nicholas Hault’s Beast are all there to keep a tie between the old and the new though of all the characters presented on screen during Apocalypse, it’s that of CIA agent and Xavier’s love interest Moira Mactaggert (Rose Burne) that garnered the most unnecessary screen time.
From discovering Apocalypse’s resurrection to informing the X-Men of said event to even joining them to rescue a captured Xavier, Moira Mactaggert is there along for the ride – even at one point, donning the same black leather fighting suit worn by Beast, Jean Grey and the other X-Men while piloting an escape jet.
Apocalypse will however be the one single character to really test an X-Men fans faith in the movie franchise. The comic version of the character presents a grand and powerful mutant, giant in size and ability to cause world wide damage with his special powers, in effect, Apocalypse is quite terrifying…the movie version is like 50% of the way there. His stature is not grand nor immense and he spends a bulk of the movie uttering long and drawn out speeches in a monotonous and robotic tone.
X-Men Apocalypse spends a large bulk of it’s movie building up a story that ends with a massive action sequence but it does so in a long and laborious tone that will leave many wondering when the action is going to come. When it does finally hit, those action sequences however are pretty decent though once again, reliant on the CGI. Some may feel a bit hard done by with Storm but I’ll admit, this is probably the most action scenes we’ve ever had by the character while first timer Psylocke and her electric pink telekinetic sword and whip were actually very cool to watch even if she kind of looks a bit ridiculous in her minimal vinyl outfit.
Yes, X-Men Apocalypse is a ‘movie for the fans’, many will pick up on familiar characters etched into the background, many will wonder why their favorite character was even there to begin with. Heck, I’m wondering why the cheeky nod to another comic based X-Man Dazzler was cut from the final film. I’m guessing another directors cut ‘aka the Days of Future Past Rogue Edition’ will pack even more into an already packed movie.
Looking set to be one of the most cameo filled movies ever released, the Absolutely Fabulous movie has fans gagging with glee at the official release of the movie’s trailer which dropped 10am Wednesday, UK time.
With the principal cast of Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalaha, Jane Horrocks and June Whitfield all returning to their much loved roles, series regulars including former spice girl Emma ‘baby spice’ Bunton, Lulu, Dawn French and Stella McCartney are back along with possibly the longest list of cameo appearances ever to appear in a movie. Names including Kate Moss, Joan Collins, Gwendoline Christie, Chris Colfer, Daisy Lowe, Jerry Hall, Perez Hilton, Lily Cole and Rylan Clark a listed in a myriad of around 60 confirmed cameo’s throughout the film.
The movie, set in present time, follows PR Maven Edwina (Saunders) and her long standing best friend and jaded/faded model Patsy Stone (Lumley) as they deal with the fallout and ensuing media frenzy from an ‘incident’ at a fashion launch party (i.e – Edwina accidentally pushes Kate Moss off a balcony to her death) which see’s the two flee to the French Riviera and set forth a plan to reclaim to jet setting life they once had.
Check out the brand new trailer below!
The Absolutely Fabulous movie is set for release in cinemas July 1st in the UK while us Aussies have to wait until August 11th!
Apocalypse and two of his horsemen Storm and Psylocke
I’m just going to start off with this brand new trailer that dropped during the Superbowl on Sunday night/Monday afternoon (Aussie time):
Now, how great is it to finally see long time X-Men member Psylocke getting some big screen love?! It seems to be quite clear that Olivia Munn is taking doing justice by our purple haired psychic ninja assassin and killing it in the new promo.
This new clip marks the first time we have seen Psylocke in action who has been AWOL from previous clips released that featured Storm, Magneto, Mystique and the rest of the X-Men cast but the best thing about this is just how possible it might be that Psylocke could be the most comic to screen X-Men character to date….you know….aside from Wolverine.
And speaking of cast, it seems like those familiar with the X-Men comics will be happy to see some of the morlocks appearing in the film with Plague and Caliban both confirmed as characters in the new movie.
Until X-Men Apocalypse premieres on May 27th, here’s some Psylocke love from Psylocke/Olivia Munn and some very happy fans.
Through (now) six movies, including one odd spin-off/side movie, the Paranormal Activity movies are now finally attempting to close up for good by wrapping up the series long story-line revolving around sisters Kristi and Katie, young boy Hunter and giving life to the never-before seen protagonist – Toby, with the latest and last release in the line – Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
Ghost Dimension follows the series previous outings with a ‘found footage’ feel, all seen through the lens of a camera but with the added twist of 3D special effects that funnily enough, when sporadically used, don’t offer much effect.
Picking up with a brand new family featuring husband and wife Ryan (Chris J Murray) and Emily (Brit Shaw) and their butter-wouldn’t-melt daughter Leila (Ivy George) who are getting ready to celebrate their first Christmas in their brand new house, where Ryan stumbles across an old 1980’s video camera that isn’t as vintage as it first looks. While playing around with the recorder, Ryan discovers that he is able to see things that can’t been seen with other cameras or with the human eye.
Along with the camera, Ryan also discovers boxes filled with several old VHS tapes and it’s not long before Ryan and younger brother Mike (a wonderfully mustached Dan Gill) decide to check out the contents of the old tapes (seriously, who has a working VCR these days?!) and we discover how this final movie ties into all the others. See, these old tapes are filled with eepy-cray sessions of a young Katie and Kristi (whom we first met in paranormal activity 3) being hypnotized into a trance-like state by a pony-tailed man preparing them to meet Toby.
With the cameras ability to see mysterious things, Ryan gets the idea to set up cameras around the house hoping to catch a glimpse of what is making things go bump in the night and who his daughter is communicating with which sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
known for it’s ability to scare, some of the jump-out-of-your-seat moments presented in Ghost Dimension feel expected but none-the-less, still shocking and with the visual manifestation of Toby being introduced for the very first time, while certainly creepy, it makes this movie very different from the others. Where other Paranormal outings working off the “what you can’t see” approach, being able to actually see Toby doesn’t add any extra element of fear to the movie.
As a long-time fan of the movies, the final pay-off does come – you will get your answers though I’d recommend revisiting the previous films to refresh yourself with the time-line and characters! While I may not be too keen on how it all ends (it can only go one of two ways), it’s still nice to finally get that closure. One thing I will say is that while the Paranormal Activity movies seem to have come to an end, Ghost Dimension does leave itself open to question whether a spin-off series of movies may be coming our way.
Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimensions is in select theaters Australia wide as of today.
X-Men Storm and Psylocke will be siding with Apocalypse.
As a massive fan of X-Men veteran Storm, I’ve been hanging to see just how X-Men Apocalypse director Bryan Singer would present our weather witch in this new film set in the 1980’s. While numerous set photos featuring Jean Grey, Cyclops, Jubilee and Nightcrawler have spread across the net anything Storm related has been kept under wraps….until now.
During the panel for FOX’s upcoming blockbuster movies at this years SDCC, Singer, along with the entire cast of Apocalypse were on hand to show off some rough footage (no special effects) from the film. The 5 minute clip revealed not only what Storm looks like (80’s mohawk and all) but also Olivia Munn as Psylocke and the revelation of the four characters that will play Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen.
While a full reveal of Deadpool’s trailer was leaked, it appears only a short 15 second snippet from the footage has made its way online before being pulled by Fox.
As mentioned, one of the biggest reveals was the announcement of the mutants joining Apocalypse. Angel (played by Ben Foster) – who first showed up in X-Men: The Last Stand is one (we’re assuming as Archangel) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is another with first timer Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp) taking the last two places.
So we now have our first look at Storm and for the most part, the look is pretty spot on with the punk look she sported for a large portion of the 80’s. I’m much happier with this than I have been for X-Men 3 and Days of Future Past (wtf was with those hair styles?!).
Are you surprised with Psylocke and Storm being announced as part of the Four Horsemen? Sound off in the comments below!
Update July 13th:
The full trailer has now leaked online! Check it out below before it’s gone! Nope it’s gone!
Update: July 17th
Entertainment Weekly gives us the first official look at the cast with some awesome images. Check out Psylocke! That look is on point!
Director Bryan Singer on set with Alexandra Shipp (Storm)
Entertainment Weekly Cover featuring Magneto, Psylocke and Apocalypse
Apocalypse and two of his horsemen Storm and Psylocke
The brand new trailer for the sixth and final installment of the Paranormal Activity movie series has been released and is promising, once again, to offer movie goers a few jumps and scares while tying in and finalizing the story-line that has been played out over the past 5 movies.
With this final installment, we’re being promised that Toby will finally be revealed after eluding our eyes for so many films. It’s producer Jason Blum’s way of putting an end to the series. Speaking with bloody-disgusting.com he says “It’s coming to an end. This is it, the finale. We’re saying it before the movie opens. We’re not going to grind this horror franchise into the ground. This will keep Paranormal Activity as part of this culture and this particular time in a really fantastic way”
The Ghost Dimension, directed by Gregory Plotkin, follows a new family, the Fleeges with father Ryan (Chris J. Murray), mother Emily (Brit Shaw) and their young daughter Leila (Ivy George), who move into a house and discover a video camera and a box of tapes in the garage. When they look through the camera’s lens, they begin to see the paranormal activity happening around them — including the re-emergence of a young Kristi and Katie.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension hits cinemas October 2015.
The fun part leading up-to any massive superhero movie is the guessing of which characters will make the jump from comics to the big screen and the upcoming X-Men Apoclypse is playing right into our guessing game.
With the movie set in the 80’s and taking place between Days of Future Past and X-Men 1, younger versions of Cyclops/Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan), Phoenix/Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Storm/Ororo Monroe (Alexandra Shipp) will be joined by British telepath-ninja Psylocke/Betsy Braddock (Olivia Munn) and Jubilee/Jubilation Lee (Lana Condor). Other known X-men characters also appearing include Angel/Warren Worthington III (Ben Hardy), Havok/Alex Summers (Lucas Till), Moira McTaggart (Rosy Byrne) among the usual fare of Magneto, Professor X, Beast and Mystique.
What has fans excited however is the announcement of lesser-known mutant Caliban thanks to an Instagram post by director Bryan Singer…
Caliban has been around in the X-Men universe comics since 1981 and has the ability to sense and track other mutants to which he uses his powers to build up the underground clan of mutants known as The Morlocks lead by Calisto. Does this mean Calisto and The Morlocks could be appearing in Apocalypse? Where things get interesting is (in the comics) Storm defeated Calisto in a hand-to-hand combat leaving Storm the leader of The Morlocks and Caliban was also, at one point, one of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.
Other notable X-men have also played in the Four Horsemen including Gambit (Channing Tatum), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Psylocke, Angel, and Polaris leaving us to wonder just how will Caliban come into play in the movie, does Psylocke’s (surprise) involvement and Wolverine and Gambit’s rumored involvement see them playing the Horsemen and will Polaris appear considering she is the daughter of Magneto (Michael Fassbender), half brother to Quicksliver (Evan Peters) and has been a Four Horseman?
No one has officially been announced in the role of Caliban as yet.
How do you think this news will play into the Apocalypse movie? Which X-Men character would you like to see included in the Apocalypse movie? Sound off in the comments below!
Sophie Turner as Jean Grey
Olivia Munn sporting streaked purple hair to play Psylocke
20th Century Fox | X-Men Days of Future Past – Rogue Cut
Any fan of the Uncanny X-Men comic series will happily tell a non-fan just how distorted the Days of Future Past movie was when compared to the original story that played out in Uncanny X-men issues #141-142. In the comic series, it was actually Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (portrayed by Ellen Page in the movies) that actually transfers her mind into her younger self to warn the original X-men of a fatal moment that causes anti-mutant hysteria and not wolverine. In fact, the character of Rogue (portrayed by Anna Paquin in the movie series) isn’t even involved.
That said, fans of Rogue and Paquin were up in arms to find out that virtually all of her scenes from Days of Future Past had been cut due to ‘time reasons’ which resulted in certain scenes to be re-shot and others left on the cutting room floor. Thankfully, director Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox have heard our plight and a brand new Days of Future Past ‘Rogue Cut’ extended edition is heading our way featuring 17 extra minutes of footage plus 90 minutes of special features.
DVD artwork of the Rogue Cut. 20th Century Fox
The newly added material involves the future versions of Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) rescuing Rogue from an internment camp after the scene where Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) slashes Kitty Pryde. Rogue would then absorb Kitty Pryde’s power and then take over to keep Wolverine’s consciousness in his past body. – The edited released version had Kitty Pryde sending Wolverine’s mind back in time.
The X-Men Days of Future Past Rogue Cut is set for release July 15th in Australia and is currently available for pre-order at all good stockists.
And you can clearly see why Thor is nabbing all the attention from the newly released trailer for the National Lampoon reboot..and it’s not just for the blonde locks or chiseled physique..
The reboot puts Ed Helms (The Hangover trilogy) in charge as the now grown-up Rusty Griswold whose parents are of course Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo)Griswold, the couple who famously took their kids on an ill-fated trip to WalleyWorld in the 1983 original National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Vacation see’s Ed, his wife Debbie(Christina Applegate) and family, recreate the exact same trip, though stopping along the way to visit Debbie’s sister Audrey (Leslie Mann) and her incredibly endowed husband Stone (Chris Hemsworth). Check out the redband trailer below.
ThePopHub.com 
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