Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is released on Blu-Ray Today!

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From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

The home video release includes never-before-seen Rogue One bonus material that aims to take fans behind the scenes with the cast and filmmakers and includes an intimate collection of stories reveals how the film came to life, as well as hidden Easter Eggs and film facts that audiences may have missed in the theater.

Behind-the-scenes interviews and footage are cut together into a series of ten short featurettes:

  • A Rogue Idea – Hear how ILM’s John Knoll came up with the movie’s concept – and why it’s the right film to launch the Star Wars stand-alone films.
  • Jyn: The Rebel – Get to know Rogue One’s defiant, resourceful survivor, and hear what it was like for Felicity Jones to bring her to life onscreen.
  • Cassian: The Spy – Diego Luna shares insights into his complex, driven character, who becomes a hero through selflessness, perseverance and passion.
  • K-2SO: The Droid – Explore the development of this reprogrammed Imperial droid, from initial pitch and character design through Alan Tudyk’s performance.
  • Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills – Go deeper into the relationship between these two very different characters, with Chinese superstars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
  • Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary – Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed reflect on Saw Gerrera, the broken Rebel leader, and Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot who defects.
  • The Empire – Meet a dangerous new Imperial adversary…and cross paths once more with the most iconic villain of all time.
  • Visions of Hope: The Look of “Rogue One” – The filmmakers describe the challenges and thrills of developing a bold new look for the movie that can fit within the world of the original trilogy.
  • The Princess & The Governor – See what it took to bring the vibrant young princess of “Star Wars: A New Hope” – as well as one of her most memorable foes – back to the screen.
  • Epilogue: The Story Continues – Filmmakers and cast celebrate Rogue One’s premiere and look forward into the future, to the Star Wars stories yet to be told.
  • Rogue Connections – Uncover Easter eggs and film facts hidden throughout the movie that connect “Rogue One” to the Star Wars universe.

Review – Life (2017)

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by Nile Fortner

Is This Sci-fi Film Recycling Other Sci-fi Films?

‘Life’ is science fiction thriller, starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Southpaw), Ryan Reynolds (Safe House, Deadpool), and Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, The Girl on the Train). No, this movie isn’t a remake or re-imagining of the 1999 Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence movie of the same name. So don’t expect to see Murphy fighting over some cornbread in space or anything like that.But you can expect to see six astronauts that aboard a space station, and they discover something we’ve all been wondering since the dawn of human history. They discover new life, they discover life in a galaxy far far away, they discover extraterrestrial life on Mars.

These members of the space station name this new life force, Calvin. As these astronauts conduct research on Calvin, gather data, and all that science mumbo jumbo. They realize Calvin is evolving rapidly, gaining strength, and learning at a very alarming rate. It turns out Calvin’s life may be more intelligent and terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.  If this movie feels familiar, it just might be. Many people saw this trailer, and said to themselves, “Why are you reenacting the script of ‘Aliens’?” While watching this movie, just from the trailer alone, you feel a vibe of other science fiction films you’ve seen before.

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Review – Dave Chappelle Netflix Special

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by Nile Fortner

Is Dave Chappelle Still a Comedy King?

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, grandmothers and grandfathers, Dave Cha-Pezzy is back, the one and only Dave Chappelle is back! Dave Chappelle (Half–Baked, The Chappelle Show) the comedy icon, makes his long awaited return to the screen and to the stage. The comedian now has a Netflix Original stand-up comedy special. With new, mature, raunchy, contemptuous, and always compelling comedy material.

On November 12, 2016, Dave Chappelle hosted season 42 episode six of the late-night live comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live. That episode is literally the best Saturday Night Live episode I’ve seen in a very long time, years actually. You had the controversy, the emotion, the comedy, the music, the special guest appearances, it was civil, and you had the comeback of Chappelle.  For those who do not know this comedy legend, I’m going to tell you why he is a comedy icon, why he is one of the best. It is because he is raunchy, can feed off a crowd, he is very experienced in comedy, random, and it helps that he is really funny.

In 2003, Chappelle became more widely known with his comedy show, The Chappelle Show. The show continues to show re-run episodes all around the world, on various platforms to this day. Two years within The Chappelle Show, and Chappelle reaching the highest success in his comedy career, Chappelle walked away from the industry. In various interviews, he has stated “The show has ruined my life.” and”I hate working 20 hours a day.” He even walked away from a $50 million contract to come back to the show. Throughout the years, Chappelle was around, but kept on the down low. That was until he hosted Saturday Night Live on November 12, 2016. Now, Chappelle follows a line of comedians that have all gotten Netflix stand-up specials. Such as, Cedric The Entertainer, Mike Epps, Aziz Ansari, Jimmy Carr, Ali Wong, Patton Oswalt, and more.

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Review – Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 1

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by Nile Fortner

Does Marvel’s Iron Fist Deserve More Respect?

Netflix has been kickin’ ass with all these Marvel shows. We’ve seen some really great stuff out of Marvel and Netflix.  Many people, including myself, have been saying that Marvel, the superhero genre in general, needs to mix up the bag a little bit. All these movies, all these shows are starting to resemble one another. Marvel heard the criticism, and decided to go in different direction. Keep the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movies a little light in tone, while making their Netflix shows, that still relate to the MCU a little darker in tone.

For example, in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy you have Baby Groot, a trash talking raccoon, and a duck drinking martinis at the end credits. Netflix on the other hand, has drug dealers, mobsters, sex, violence, goons, an extreme vigilante with blood smeared on his face and a huge skull on his chest. Talk about diversity. For those who do not know, or aren’t as geeky as I am. All these Marvel and Netflix shows have been leading up to a superhero group, known as The Defenders. To keep it simple, The Defenders are like The Avengers of the suburbs. The cast of heroes consists of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Misty Knight, Claire Temple, Elektra, and Iron Fist. It was also reported that Signourney Weaver (Aliens, Avatar) has joined the cast as well.

But Iron Fist is the last piece in the puzzle before we get The Defenders.  What I personally enjoy about the MCU Netflix shows is how different they are.  Meaning, they offer something new to the genre, keep the genre fresh, and there is something there for everyone.  If you want to see a beautiful badass woman, you can check out Jessica Jones. Or if you want to see urban justice you can check out Luke Cage. Every show feels like it offers something new. Whether it be the R&B and Hip Hop soundtrack of Luke Cage or the dark tone of Daredevil.

Iron Fist has been getting a lot of hate, and has been called the worst of the Marvel Netflix shows. I watched all 13 episodes, of this series. I enjoy the MCU Netflix shows, and I was looking forward to what they do with this show.  Honestly, I would have to agree that this is one of the weaker shows. That does not mean it is horrible, because it is not. It’s just more of the same we’ve seen before, and does not offer anything new like the previous MCU Netflix shows.

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Review – Beauty & The Beast (2017)

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Beauty-Beast-2017-Movie-Posters

by Old King Clancy

Disney’s insistence to remake all their classics has been interesting to say the least, their initial design to make darken everything did not go down well but then they changed things up with Cinderella and The Jungle Book and kept them closer to the charm of the original movies which went down a lot better. With their remake of Beauty & The Beast, Disney have moved into dangerous territory, with the animated version one of their studio highlights and beloved by millions they risked upsetting a lot of people if they didn’t get it right. Well I can safely say that while it has nothing on the original, Disney have managed a solid update to their classic story that can stand as its own counterpart to the original without taking away from it.

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Review – Kong: Skull Island

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by Old King Clancy

2014’s Godzilla reboot was a film that proved America can make a great Godzilla movie by giving us probably the most bad-ass Godzilla of the modern age… it was just a shame that they had to surround him by bland characters and missed Bryan Cranston sized opportunities. With the release of Kong: Skull Island the new shared Monsterverse – because of course everything is copying Marvel now – is underway and while it does suffer from some of the same problems as Godzilla, it also kicks ass in much the same way. If this is the direction the franchise is taking then I’m happy to see where they go.

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Racing to Live: An Interview with Chuck Rush

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By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

In February 2017 NASCAR announced a new partnership with FOX and NBC to increase racing broadcast rights. The agreement ensures major network support of billions of dollars through the 2024 Monster Energy Cup Series. This initiative is not only a push to increase viewership with familiar demographics like the American South. It’s also a plan to develop fan bases across the United States. NASCAR and its cousin, IndyCar, are the most visible manifestations of a motor sports revolution that’s taken America by storm since the 1979 Daytona 500, considered by many to be the most important race in NASCAR history. But that narrative ignores the hidden figures who never achieve multi-million dollar paychecks, corporate sponsorship, or televised glory. They race for the love the sport. Viewers are lucky to get the chance to meet these heroes in Kevin Burroughs’ documentary Smash: Motorized Mayhem, which hits VOD platforms and iTunes today.

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