Is it just us, or is Katniss channelling Victor Frankenstein as she proclaims "he's alive"?
Lionsgate have today débuted a new video clip (below) from their impending fantasy movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1. Scheduled to blaze into auditoriums across the globe a full twelve months after the franchise's second outing, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Part 1 will introduce newcomers and long-running followers of the dystopian world of Panem to those characters old and new who'll play a pivotal role in the coming war for the fate of all thirteen districts.
Don't go expecting the conflict itself to break out in full force, though, since the clip hints at a more psychological battle between politically corrupted warlords and valiant yet imperfect rebels wherein the citizens who comprise the rest of Panem may, for better or for worse, soon find themselves caught in No Man's Land. First up to the firing line is none other than Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the courageous freedom fighter who was unlucky enough to remain undiscovered when Haymitch, Plutarch and Alma Coin brought the Quarter Quell to a mercifully premature halt in order to release Katniss (whose reaction to her most loyal ally's sustained imprisonment within the Capital was depicted beautifully by the marvellously talented Jennifer Lawrence, we might add) from the clutches of resident ruthless dictator President Snow. Those who've read the climactic novel by Suzanne Collins will doubtless attest to the inner and physical struggles which Mr. Mallark will have to endure in both Part 1 and Part 2, but that's not to say that surprises aren't on the horizon for those somewhat fortunate - we say "somewhat" as the experience of reading Mockingjay can feel akin to that of watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in terms of its severe mishandling of beloved fictitious constructs - individuals; if anything, given the rumours that have been circulating about a potential alteration to the final Hunger Games instalment's denouement, it looks as if the odds are no longer in the all-too-critical original readership's favour.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 sews the seeds of rebellion in UK cinemas nationwide this November 21st. More ABC US news | ABC Health News
"It's the end - the end of the path I started us on." Tony Stark's words might apply to more than just the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Marvel Comics have today announced the publication of a series of new comic-books which could herald major changes for their long-running narrative universe of interconnected superhero storylines. Whereas Detective Comics recently rebooted their rich (if overly dense, an attribute which could easily be cast in Marvel's direction too) continuity so as to enable themselves to forge more innovative story arcs for their central players whilst simultaneously reducing the number of crossover events (albeit to debatable effect given the sheer number of DC multi-franchise tales currently available on the comic-book market), the creators of characters such as Captain America, Spider-Man and the X-Men have (up until now, at least) stuck to their guns and continued to offer yarns stuffed to the brim with references to past events, characters and locales alike.
Where and when could everything shift in this respect, then? If this tweet from the publishing house's resident Executive Editorial Director is anything to go by - and we're willing to bet that it's just that - then the times could be a'changing sooner than any of us might originally have expected (although in light of the fact that this interconnected continuity began life with the marriage of Reed and Susan Richards storyline back in the 1960s, fans would equally be forgiven for asserting that it's about time):
Now, in fairness, we'll concede that there's little to be taken away from this particular promotional image (and indeed Penagos' words) save for that the arc in question - supposedly entitled "Everything Ends" - will be with us in the early stages of 2015. What might be of more significance, however, is Marvel's recent secretive marketing scheme, wherein they've released a series of seemingly unconnected images teasing the returns of classic 20th Century storylines such as "Days of Future Past" (now going by the name "Years of Future Past" - see what they did there?) and "The Infinity Gauntlet" as well as more recent efforts like "Civil War" and "Avengers Vs. X-Men", many of which fans reckon will serve as spin-offs to the recently-announced universe-wide crossover reprisal of the "Secret Wars" arc of old. Perhaps "Everything Ends" will signal a multiverse-spanning reboot or indeed a transition towards another Marvel Universe where key events played out differently - this would, of course, allow for the all too convenient return of the recently-deceased Wolverine - and where character arcs can thus head off in a different trajectory to their predecessors a la "The New 52" (that's the brand which DC used to signify their rebooted tales, for those who hadn't already heard).
A central talking point that's likely to be raised in light of this controversial and oh-so-vague marketing campaign, however, is whether or not the potential decision to nix decades' worth of continuity will truly benefit Marvel Comics in the long run, especially given that DC look set to either renege on their own decision to do so or at least reintroduce elements from their pre-reboot multiverse in their Spring 2015 crossover event "Convergence". For all the former comics corporation's gusto, if "Everything Ends" were to be received poorly, it'd hardly bode well for such an overhaul, yet Marvel would quite likely have very little choice in the matter due to the fact that they'll presumably have mapped out a relatively rigid structure for their 2016 and 2017 output. Regardless of the immediate ramifications of their still-to-be-announced plans, though, On-Screen readers can rest assured that we'll have all the latest details on the future of Marvel and DC's printed (and digital, of course) works as and when they hit the web in the days ahead.
The opening issue of the "Everything Ends" arc will be published via all good US and UK comic-book retailers in Summer 2015.
Proof if ever any was necessitated that there ain't no party quite like a Minion shindig.
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have today unveiled the "official" trailer - they're shying away from using the adjective of "teaser" as they released one such video back in July 2013 - for their upcoming animated motion picture Minions. Acting as a direct prequel to both 2010's Despicable Me and its 2013 follow-up Despicable Me 2, this much-anticipated Summer blockbuster will follow the titular band of obedient yellow workers as they strive to find a suitable master who'll take them to new heights (or should that be new lows, we wonder?) of subordination forty years before they even stumble across an eccentric quasi-antagonised named Gru.
As any fan of all things Despicable would rightly expect at this stage, gags involving bananas, slapstick confrontations, figures of folklore who can't stand the sight of the most adorable animated characters since Toy Story's three-eyed aliens and the like litter this initial preview...for better or for worse. Suffice to say that after experiencing nearly three full hours' worth of similarly childish and satirically shallow jokes, even the most ardent franchise loyalists might justifiably begin to tire of the film's namesake come next year unless the screenwriters have held back some of the most hilarious and innovative punch-lines for the final product (and don't get us wrong, that's been known to happen in the past - Despicable Me 2 had its fair share of humorous withheld surprises). All the same, we'll endeavour to keep those interested abreast of Minions' potential as a Summer of Film contender as and when its promotional campaign kicks into gear; indeed, we'd wager that the floodgates will soon begin to open after this teaser accompanies whatever clichéd animated drivel the mainstream studios have scheduled for release during the festive season.
Minions will storm UK cinemas nationwide in search of its all-important horde of bananas on June 26th, 2015 before continuing to plunder US cinemas on July 10th, 2015.
He's faced Daleks, Half-Faced Men and Robots of Sherwood, but the Twelfth Doctor has a battle like no other on his hands with the Cybermen.
The BBC have today released a new trailer for the final episode of the eighth season of their long-running science-fiction drama Doctor Who. Going by the name of "Death in Heaven", Episode 12 centres on the Twelfth Doctor's sky-bound efforts to rid Earth of its Cyber-infestation, rescue Clara and uncover the true nature of a seemingly unstoppable scheme put into action by his newly-regenerated arch-nemesis, the Mistress.
As ever, readers can find the brief-but-insightful preview itself below, but for now, let's discuss "Dark Water" for a moment. Anyone who's followed our Twitter verdicts on the latest season of Who will doubtless know full well by now that we currently hold this run of episodes in the lowest regard since Season Two - which, as those misfortunate enough to remember will attest, featured a whole myriad of clunkers including "New Earth" (shudders), "Love and Monsters" (wretches momentarily) and (almost faints out of sheer fear of the very concept of re-watching the next serial) "Fear Her" - but there've still been highlights, particularly in the form of Episode 6 - "The Caretaker" - and without a shadow of a doubt in the form of this spectacular penultimate instalment.
Not only did both Jenna Coleman and Samuel Anderson take their already-exemplary performances to an entirely new level thanks in no small part to the incredibly stirring and realistic dialogue afforded to them by incumbent showrunner Steven Moffat, Peter Capaldi finally went the extra mile to impress and succeeded on just about all fronts, proving that the Doctor feels a profound sense of duty of care towards Clara in a pseudo-fatherly manner, hence his constant antagonism towards those such as Mr. Pink who vie for her attention and his challenging her on regular intervals in order to get the best out of her in a similar vein to what any parent might desire for their offspring. We're sincerely hoping that Capaldi's portrayal here is wholly indicative of what's to come in Season Nine, particularly as his incarnation has been depicted in a horrendously inconsistent manner (just take another look at Episodes 2-5 in order to gain a grasp on what we're referring to in this instance) to the immense discredit of the presumably ill-informed writing team who were tasked with penning this run's set of frequently unremarkable scripts last year.
Under no circumstances was "Dark Water"'s leading man its only true asset, of course; in fact, were it not for the Moff and (the incredibly accomplished) director Rachel Talalay's insistence on affording him, Coleman and - naturally - the simultaneously hilarious and disconcerting Michelle Gomez an ample amount of screen-time, the former actor might well have been swept up in the maelstrom of highlights the production team had in store for us here. Divisive yet dramatically charged revelations regarding the purpose of the so-called Promised Land (and whilst we're on the topic of Heaven, surely we can't be the only ones hoping that past allies and foes are thrown into the mix next week as a result of the resurrection-esque powers of the Time Lord technology stolen by 'Missy'?), brilliantly cathartic gags courtesy of The Thick of It's immeasurably talented Chris Addison, the expected yet perfectly executed twist regarding Missy's identity as none other than the Master himself and countless other elements worked together in seamless unison with the central implicit purpose of presenting viewers the finest outing of Who in some time and - in case readers haven't had chance to give it a watch as of yet - trust us when we say that everyone involved should currently be rewarding themselves to a substantial extent on a job thoroughly well done.
How does Moffat solve a problem like topping a 5* outing such as "Dark Water", then? We've no idea whatsoever, but if anyone's capable of such a feat aside from the great Russell T. Davies (or should that be Russell The Davies?), it may very well be the executive producer who gave us "The Doctor Dances", "Flesh & Stone", "The Big Bang" and "Day of the Moon", all of which flourished from a critical standpoint in spite of the extent to which their immediate predecessors did likewise at the time of broadcast (and indeed in hindsight as well). Unless yet another head-turning surprise or three lie in store for viewers in five days' time, it looks as if Clara's assertion that she "never existed" (as first expressed in the commendably deceptive Next Time trailer for "Dark Water") may well be swept under the rug from which our feet were yanked violently come the closing moments of last Saturday's instalment, although we'd advise against attempting to second guess the explosive events ahead, since the writer of "Let's Kill Hitler" is known across the Seven Kingdoms for his tendency to subvert the audience's expectations as and when they couldn't have been less ready for such an occurrence. Now, just one final question - can there really still be 120 hours separating us from "Death"'s broadcast?
Doctor Who will bring its eighth season to a heartbreaking close this Saturday, November 8th with the bumper-length (60 minutes, to be precise!) "Death in Heaven" on BBC One at 8pm.
War is looming for Thorin Oakenshield and this time, not everyone will exit unscathed...
Warner Bros. Pictures have today announced the official première date for the theatrical trailer for their impending fantasy blockbuster The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies via the film's Facebook account. Picking up directly where The Desolation of Smaug left off last Christmas, Battle's narrative - as its title suggests - not only chronicles the downfall of the treacherous Smaug but in addition a climactic confrontation between five relentless armadas, four of whom must eventually band together if they are to save Middle-Earth from the hordes of Sauron who now march on the Lonely Mountain with only one goal: the destruction of anyone and everyone who oppose the Dark Lord of all.
If that premise alone isn't enough to elicit a considerable deal of elation from you, then chances are that you'd be better catered for elsewhere this festive season, dear reader - why not try out Interstellar, Nightcrawler, The Imitation Game or one of the other sure-fire contenders for next year's Best Picture Academy Award? If, however, a sixth trip to the realms of J.R.R. Tolkien's rich (if at times damn near overpowering) fantastical setting and indeed Peter Jackson's remarkably faithful rendition of that landscape sounds like the most compelling Christmas present imaginable at this point, then there's no better place to stick around than On-Screen in the coming weeks as we build towards Battle's release by revealing all of the latest promo art, TV spots, plot details - including how its plot may eventually tie into the Lord of the Rings motion picture trilogy - and the theatrical trailer itself, the latter of which will debut on Thursday, November 6th. On top of all of that coverage, expect to see our definitive verdict on the piece within the context of the ever-competitive race for our much-coveted Film of the Year 2014 gong next month.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will charge into UK cinemas nationwide (after simply walking into Mordor, of course) this December 12th.
Well, this is new! Celebrate 51 years of Doctor Who with CBBC later this week...
The Radio Times have today announced the sudden 'commissioning' (re: schedule placement) of a one-off Doctor Who spin-off programme for broadcast on CBBC later this week. In Doctor Who: Best of Blue Peter, we'll apparently "celebrat[e] over 50 years of the [eponymous] Time Lord", "[looking] back at some of the best Doctor Who and Blue Peter moments from over the years" before witnessing a performance from a mysterious individual (although the mystery has mainly come about due to the On-Screen's team lack of engagement with this kid-orientated channel) named "Brett Domino".
Regardless of whether the announcement itself has come to light rather suddenly, given that the current run of Who concludes with "Death in Heaven" this Saturday, it's extremely unlikely that the vast majority of Whovians will pass up the opportunity to receive an extra dose of the BBC's longest-running science-fiction production before it leaves the airwaves for another year or so. Even so, though, it's worth bearing in mind that the show's 2014 output doesn't come to a complete halt this week, since the annual Children in Need telethon event set to air on BBC One next week will feature a contribution of some kind from Peter Capaldi's incarnation of the titular time traveller and better yet, there's still a Christmas Special to look forward to in just over a month's time as well. Will Jenna Coleman, better known as the impossible Clara Oswald, remain aboard the TARDIS for the Doctor's winter outings, though? If it wasn't already obvious, the answer is now just five short days away...
Doctor Who: Best of Blue Peter will première on the CBBC Channel this Friday, November 7th at 4.30pm.
Miranda Hart and her team of diligent midwives will return to BBC One in 2015 AND 2016!
The BBC have today announced the commissioning of a fifth season of their hit period drama Call the Midwife as well as the show's fourth festive outing. Starring Miranda's Miranda Hart, Doctor Who's Hermione Norris and (until recently) An Adventure in Space and Time's Jessica Raine, the series centres on a band of charming yet realistically imperfect post-Second World War midwifery experts, the intricately-conveyed relationships between whom seem to transcend even the bleakest of days and the toughest of challenges.
Such challenges won't be coming to an end any-time soon, however, since Midwife will be back for a grand total of nine 60-minute episodes in both Christmas 2015 - the projected broadcast window for the 2015 Christmas Special - and Spring 2016 - the traditional broadcast slot for new seasons of the programme which is therefore all but guaranteed to play host to Season Five. Raine will doubtless remain absent due to her increasingly prominent other commitments, but given that Hart, Norris and the rest of the show's key players more than proved their own without their (ex-)leading lady earlier this year in the enduringly critically acclaimed Season Three, the odds of the tide turning against one of the most viewed BBC One dramas to date are phenomenally slim. Keep it On-Screen for all the latest info regarding Call the Midwife and other Original British Drama currently in the works over at the so-called British Broadcasting Corporation.
Call the Midwife will return for its annual Christmas Special - timing details for which are sure to be announced in the coming weeks - on BBC One this Christmas Day.
