South Africa vice-captain Rassie van der Dussen on Wednesday said that a new look South African team will be relying a lot on IPL regulars Quinton de Kock and David Miller to put up a competitive performance against formidable India in the T20 series beginning on Sunday.
OnePlus TV launch is just around the corner and the brand with Never Settle moto has been selectively revealing some of the highlights of their first-ever TV. From the ongoing information drip, we already know that the OnePlus TV will be based on Google’s Android TV platform, will have a QLED display (55-inch), and will […]
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A disciplined Barbados Tridents registered their first win of the Caribbean Premier League 2019 with an 18-run victory over St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, who had only just achieved the second highest run-chase in T20 history in their last league match.
A Megan Schutt hat-trick, the first by an Australian woman in ODIs helped Australia to victory in the third and final women’s ODI against West Indies in Antigua on Wednesday. In the process, Australia have completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the series and taken their recent form to 15 matches undefeated, while also winning a fifth straight series.Fans of the Wrong Turn series, here’s some news that will send you running to YouTube to refresh your mutant memory: Filming has begun on the next installment of the franchise.
It all began in 2003 with Jeremy Sisto and Eliza Dushku, fresh from her run as Faith on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The first of eventually six Wrong Turn movies came out and the world once again saw how terrifying cannibals, especially inbred ones, can be. 2014 brought us the last entry, with Last Resort and since then, the franchise has been keeping pretty quiet.
But back in October of last year, We Got This Covered reported that a new installment was in the works, teasing another dark adventure. I’m not sure what you’d classify the original movies as, but that’s no adventure I’d want to partake in.
Anyways, filming on the upcoming pic will take place in New Richmond, Ohio and from what we understand, it’ll be set in the Appalachian Trail. As far as plot details go, it’ll involve a group of friends who encounter a society of backwoods folks from a community called “The Foundation.” They’ve been living there since before the Civil War, and surprise, they really, really hate newcomers. What follows will no doubt be massive amounts of mayhem, murder and human buffet lines, and we can’t wait.
Constantin Film, the studio behind the original, will return to produce and distribute, while Alan McElroy, the writer of several movies in the series, is back as well. The cast is still a mystery, but with shooting now underway, it hopefully won’t be too much longer before we learn what the Wrong Turn franchise is cooking up for us with its next outing. As always, watch this space for more.
Whether it’s because of humility or out of respect, anime auteur Makoto Shinkai scoffs at the idea of being called the next Hayao Miyazaki. But some facts cannot be ignored. His previous film, Your Name, was the highest grossing anime picture in history before Spirited Away, 18 years after its conception, had its long-awaited theatrical release. And Shinkai’s latest feature, Weathering with You, appears to be following a similar trajectory.
The movie, set in a rain-soaked Tokyo, follows a young man who meets a girl that can pray for sunshine, and has already become the sixth-highest-grossing anime film in the history of the Japanese box office.
We Got This Covered had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Shinkai after Weathering with You made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Be sure to check out our conversation down below and enjoy!
As a writer and an animator, when you begin crafting a new story, how correlated are those two styles? How often are the images that come into your head when you’re writing the ones that end up in the film?
Makoto Shinkai: I actually think of words and dialogue before any visual images come to mind. And once I draw a film, I get empty, like currently, I’m empty right now. But first, I really want to think of the dialogue that I want the characters, character or characters, to say. And that’s how I start. So, in regard to Weathering with You, I wanted Hodaka to say, “I don’t care about the weather, I’d rather have you.” I really wanted him to say that line, so then I started thinking about what kind of story it would have to be in order for him to say that line. And then after that, I come up with a visual image.
So, when we’re talking about the creative process, how did you apply that with Your Name? What was the line of dialogue that you wanted to start out with there?
Makoto Shinkai: That was so long ago, I don’t really remember. Of course, there was that “we’re switched” part, but I think, now that I remember, I think it was the line, [“I’m always searching for something, for someone”]. That comes up in the very beginning.
You’ve said that the criticism you faced for Your Name was a huge inspiration for Weathering With You. I was wondering, coming out of the gates of that film, a huge success, what did you know you wanted to do for your follow up?
Makoto Shinkai: When Your Name came out, I got a lot of criticism about how films shouldn’t be this way. For Your Name, I used four songs from Radwimps and sometimes the music was so blasted that it was in conflict with the dialogue. Some people were like, “this is just a music video, it’s not a film.” And also, “using the disaster as the motif is very horrible, and films shouldn’t be this way, they shouldn’t do that.” Or having someone come back to life. Everyone kept saying, “this was wrong, this was a mistake,” and then I was thinking, “no, I don’t think there are clear rules like that to make a film.” So, I think that emotion really came through in making Weathering With You.
You use the disaster effect again in Weathering with You. How did Japanese audiences react this time around?
Makoto Shinkai: There are some criticisms to the disaster, but not as much. So, maybe they got used to my movies. Or, in [2016] another movie came out that was based on a disaster called Shin Godzilla. After that, as the disasters became more normal, it became more used in films. So maybe they got used to that, but there aren’t as [many] as Your Name.
In addition to the criticisms, you’ve also listed Miyazaki as a huge influence on you. But with that said, you’ve also kind of renounced your comparisons to him. What do you want to tell someone who calls you “The Next Miyazaki” to separate your work from his?
Makoto Shinkai: So, I think “renounced the comparison” is a little bit off. Because I feel like Miyazaki is too great, not just his expression, but [the] way he sees the world is so great that I can’t be compared to him. It’s really like comparing an adult to a child. To be compared to him at this point in my life, I feel like my work is still too immature and too imperfect. But I guess to Japanese young kids, maybe they’re not too familiar with Miyazaki anymore – because his last film, The Wind Rises, came out about six years ago – so maybe kids feel [more relatable] to my films because they’re more available. So, I do feel responsible to take on the role of being the director to give hope and emotions [to audiences], just like Miyazaki did to us. My skills, in regard to how much I can express, may not be up to par yet, but as an adult, I do feel like I want to fill in that role and bring the emotions that he brought to me.
Before I let you go, I wanted my last question to be about your relationship with Japan, and Tokyo specifically. In your last two films, you’ve had characters from outside of Tokyo who wanted to be a part of the culture in some way. I was wondering, growing up outside of Tokyo, what were your impressions of the city?
Makoto Shinkai: I grew up [in the Nagano Prefecture] where it has a lot of tall mountains. So, it was really like walls around me growing up. So, I always wondered what was on the other side? What kind of people are there on the other side? I always had this admiration of what’s going to be up there. When I graduated high school, I used the opportunity to go to college in Tokyo. When I got there, it was actually pretty dirty, and the people were so cold; they’re not that nice; summer was so hot; it was not pleasant at all, nothing I had imagined. I didn’t like Tokyo for a number of years. But then, once I started living in Tokyo, all these memories were created – I made new friends, and [it became the place] where I first held hands with my girlfriend and walked down the street – and Tokyo became beautiful in that sense. So, when I make my films, I want to depict that beautiful side of Tokyo.
Kevin Hart fans can breathe another big sigh of relief, as can Hart himself, as he’s been released from the hospital after being held there for the last week and a half or so. The actor has a long road to recovery ahead of him, of course, but for now, he says he’s just grateful to be alive.
The world’s been anxiously awaiting more good news from Hart’s camp and according to TMZ, things are looking promising. While he’s out of the hospital though, he’s not back home just yet, as he’ll need to spend around a week at a rehab facility. This all follows an accident involving him and his 1970 Barracuda, driven by a friend. Both were badly injured and the incident resulted in back surgery for Hart, who needed three fractured areas in his spine fused.
Back injuries are no joke and even despite the good news, fans should know there’s still a long road to a full recovery for the comedian and actor. After a week at the rehab center, he’ll hopefully get to go home and at that point, he’ll start out-patient therapy.
Hart’s Jumanji co-star Dwayne Johnson has been a rock (sorry, I had to) for his friend through the whole ordeal, cutting his honeymoon short to appear on the first episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show in Hart’s place while he recovered. When asked how Kevin was doing, The Rock, knowing he’d be alright, brought out the funny guns, saying:
“Everything is good, I spoke with Kevin, I actually refer to him as my son. I connected with him today and you know what? These things happen in life and thankfully he was strapped in nicely to his car seat. That’s real love. We spoke the pediatrician and he said he’s doing very well.”
While Kevin Hart has yet to issue a formal statement himself on the matter, it’s nice to hear that he’s doing well enough to have been discharged from the hospital and with any luck, he’ll be fully back on his feet again for the premiere of Jumanji: The Next Level, which hits theaters this December.
When you think about celebrity cameos in movies, two names may come to mind before all others: Stan Lee and Stephen King. Both were and are masters of their genre, and they loved showing up in films based on their creations. But in It: Chapter Two, there’s a little bit more to King’s cameo than what meets the eye.
The sequel to the highest grossing R-rated horror movie of all time is now in theaters, creating an entire new generation of coulrophobics. And like so many other movies based on Stephen King books, the author once again shows up for a cameo. This time, though, it was kind of funny.
You see, King plays the owner of a pawn shop where grown up Bill finds “Silver,” his old bicycle. The Losers’ Club has returned to Dairy, this time, to fight Pennywise as adults. And it’s there that their leader finds himself face to face with his maker, essentially.
In the movie, like King in real life, Bill’s an author. And also in the film, like the master of horror, he faces criticism from his fans for his books’ endings. The pawn shop owner rolls his eyes when he sees Bill, throwing shade at anyone who gives King crap for the endings of his books. And as revealed in a recent interview with Inverse, it was that inside joke that Gary Dauberman, screenwriter for the film, had in mind when he put the scene in.
But Dauberman wants to make sure the world knows it is really just a joke, telling the outlet the following about how the cameo came to be:
“I wrote him into the script just along the lines of, Looks like Stephen King, early on in the drafts. You know, just kind of planting the seed,” he says. “He’s done cameos before, but it had been a very long time since he’s done one.”
“You just kind of hope, fingers crossed. If it works, great. If not, that’s fine too, but man, wouldn’t be so much better if it did work? So you plant that seed.”
“I think he has stuck the landing over and over again on many of his stories though. The proof is in the pudding on that,” Dauberman said to Inverse.
It: Chapter Two is now nearing the $200 million box office mark and is still waiting to fuel those nightmares of yours at a theater near you. So if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to catch it this weekend.
When Joker was first announced to be in the works, there were a few names that were rumored to be playing the Clown Prince of Crime. Due to Martin Scorsese being attached to produce, it was thought that Leonardo DiCaprio might be the first choice for the role. Of course, the eponymous villain ended up being played by Joaquin Phoenix, but was DiCaprio the original pick for the part?
Not according to director Todd Phillips he wasn’t. The filmmaker revealed to The New York Times that the movie’s script was written with Phoenix in mind, but it was an uphill battle to get the famously selective star to sign up for a DC flick.
“We wrote the movie for Joaquin… He was not keen on jumping into costume in any comic-book movie. I kept waiting for him to just say, ‘O.K., I’m in,’ And he never did that. You just never get a yes. All you get is more questions.”
In the end, however, it seems Phoenix was won over by Phillips’ commitment to making something “bold” and unlike mainstream comic book movies.
“I asked him to come over and audition me for it. It wasn’t an easy decision, but he kept saying, ‘Let’s just be bold. Let’s do something.’”
But even once Phoenix had agreed to do the project, the duo still had conflicting visions for the portrayal of the character. For instance, Phoenix was initially set on gaining weight for the part as he believed his Joker should be heavy-set. Phillips, on the other hand, wanted him to be very thin. The star eventually agreed with the director and ended up losing 52 pounds for the movie.
All this pre-production toing-and-froing seems to have paid off in the end, as Joker has been critically acclaimed so far, earning itself the coveted Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. What’s more, it’s on target for a big haul at the box office and could result in Phoenix getting an Oscar nod for his performance. I guess Todd Phillips will have the last laugh on this one.
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the final scenes of Avengers: Endgame. Though the fact that Steve Rogers has traveled back to the past to live out a happy life with Peggy Carter works emotionally, it does leave us with a lot of questions about the logistics of it and how it all adds up. For instance, exactly how old is Old Man Cap when he sits by that lakeside and gives Sam Wilson his shield?
Well, after four months, we finally know the answer to this enigma. In a new video from WIRED about the special effects of Endgame, it’s confirmed that the elderly Steve is precisely 106 years old. There’s actually a lot we can glean from this information, as well. For one, now we know one more enhancement that the super-soldier serum gave him: a slightly longer lifespan than the average human. Considering he’s that old, Steve’s still looking pretty spry for his age, too.
One Reddit user has also used this figure to work backwards and outline Cap’s life post-Endgame. Seeing as he was 37 when he went back into the Quantum Realm, he must’ve spent 69 years with Peggy in the other timeline. Writers McFeely and Markus have specified 1947 as the year Steve traveled back to so we can gather that, following his wife’s death in 2016, Steve then felt it was the time to hop back over to the original timeline and tell his friends what happened, jumping forward to 2023 in the process.
Now, what we don’t know is what happens to Old Man Cap after this lakeside scene. Anthony Mackie has described Disney Plus’ upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier show as seeing Sam and Bucky dealing with “life after Cap,” which suggests he may die off-screen after Avengers: Endgame. Then again, Mackie is hoping to work with Chris Evans again on the series, so that might not be the case. Time will tell, but for now at least, we’ve finally got confirmation on Old Man Cap’s age.
