Charles Bramesco

Since the earliest news that James Mangold would direct a spinoff about Wolverine surfaced, anticipation has been high. But even as the film gained a cast, a title, a release date, and a trailer, the many fans impatiently awaiting Logan didn’t know what the film was about, not really anyway. It was understood from the jump that Mangold had drawn influence from Mark Millar’s fan-favorite run of Wolverine comics titled “Old Man Logan” for the film. Even then, however, public knowledge of its premise was spotty at best beyond “Hugh Jackman, long in the tooth, prowls around a post-apocalyptic future.”

It’s been a topsy-turvy week for awards prognosticators, relative even to the usual topsy-turviness of an industry based entirely on guesswork and speculation. Deadpool frightened and confused Oscar oddsmakers when it unexpectedly snatched up a Best Picture nomination from the Producers Guild Awards program on Tuesday, and then officially rejiggered everyone’s slate of predictions when director Tim Miller earned a nomination from the Directors Guild of America. What had been all but forgotten as a superhero oddball is staging a late-phase charge among the groups of professionals that vote for Oscar nominees — nothing is out of the question.

Before Scarlett Johansson launched a thousand essays by taking on the role of Motoko Kusanagi, the cybernetic crimefighter was nothing more than a drawing. The original Ghost in the Shell anime debuted in 1995 and blew audiences away with its futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic, influencing everything from The Matrix to the Star Wars prequels. In the film, the robotic government agent cuts through the dystopian world of 2029 in search of the Puppet Master, a sentient computer virus taking over human hosts and causing havoc. The film’s flashy Hollywood remake is only a couple months away on March 31, but before that, the original will infiltrate theaters in a special engagement.

The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of CBS and Paramount’s efforts to sue the Spock ears off of the producers of Star Trek fan film Axanar continues today, with a new development from the Los Angeles federal court system. This hullabaloo began back in December of 2015, when copyright-holding studios CBS and Paramount got wind that a fellow by the name of Alec Peters had raised nearly a million dollars (that figure is now well over a million) for an independent film project taking place in the Star Trek universe. Because studio executives did not remember selling the creative rights to Mr. Peters, they did the reasonable thing and hauled him into court, claiming the man had infringed on ‘thousands’ of copyrights. In March, Paramount tightened their case up, specifically naming the most heinous violations contained within Axanar, and come June, Paramount released a list of 10 guidelines that fan enthusiasts crafting their own homemade spinoffs can follow to avoid legal action.

Rough year for Ben Affleck, noted Jennifer Garner spouse and one-time star of Gigli. His big starring vehicle Batman v Superman made a whole lot of money but was critically reviled almost across the board, his latest directorial effort Live by Night got a quiet and unceremonious limited release that was buried in the holiday craziness, he was spotted sadly vaping in a car, and now a pall of uncertainty has been cast over his future. He’s confirmed for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League crossover, but Affleck’s relationship with the Dark Knight’s cowl and cape may be getting a bit strained. In a new interview, Affleck indicated that what was once presumed to be set in stone is, in fact, still up for debate.

With buzz reaching fever-pitch levels a full three months before the March 3 release date, James Mangold’s Logan could very well be the first true Event Film of the year. His sparse, dystopian, Western-tinged reinterpretation of the X-Men mythos has fans tittering with great expectations, and the Johnny Cash-scored trailer teased a performance of unprecedented toughness from Hugh Jackman as a battle-scarred Wolverine. A new batch of supporting characters also goosed the expectations of comics diehards, learning that they could expect to see the young X-23, Reaver leader Donald Pierce, and Morlock member Caliban. Today brings an eye-opening first look at Stephen Merchant as Caliban, and fittingly so, those eyes are mutated and inhuman.

Hong Kong Disneyland sounds like a blast, but the years to come will most likely make it increasingly difficult for American tourists to access. American visa laws with China could very well change radically under our new President-elect, and beyond that, the whole smog situation in Hong Kong could completely eradicate life any day now. But the good news is that denizens of the glorious nation that is the internet don’t have to get up off our futons to take in the latest and perhaps greatest attraction at the Happiest Place on (the other side of the) Earth.

For gentiles far and wide, yesterday was a day of rest and relaxation; Henry Cavill spent it making headlines. Today brings a twofer of Super-news in the post-Christmas lull:

Disney’s currently riding a wave of buzz for their latest release Moana, a delightful Polynesian adventure that ticks all the most essential boxes for the Mouse House: precocious princess, lovable animal sidekick, well-placed showtunes, the whole nine yards. With Disney fever at a relative high, there’s no better time for the happiest PR department on Earth to start drumming up enthusiasm for their next original project, a Pixar Animation production that sounds like it’ll be catnip for anyone charmed by the return to form of Moana. And what’s more, this feature will continue its predecessor’s mission to introduce even more diversity to the Disney/Pixar racial palette.

Take a seat, because what you’re about to read may shock and disorient you: many of the images seen onscreen during the motion picture Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are a sham. While the completed film may appear to show superheroes valiantly flying through the air and shooting lasers out of their eyes and discussing maternal nomenclature, many of those same scenes were created using sophisticated computer programs, and never happened at all! Not to destroy the magic of the cinema, but we’ve all been lied to. Superman’s not real, he’s just some unusually pretty dude who spent a couple months in a room wallpapered with green screen.