Monthly Archives: May 2016
Game of Thrones Showrunners Confirm They Just Resolved Another Book Mystery
Warning: Full spoilers for the May 29th episode of Game of Thrones, "Blood of My Blood," below, along with discussion of the five books that have been released so far in The Song of Ice and Fire series.
Since Season 6 of Game of Thrones began, those who have read the books have braced themselves for "the show spoiling the books" in a much more notable way, now that the series has reached and moved past most of the big events from the Song of Ice and Fire series - and this week's episode was another big example of that, as the mystery of Coldhands was resolved.
Actually, two mysteries were resolved, since as it turned out, the mystery of who Coldhands is and the mystery of whatever happened to Ned's missing brother, Night's Watch member Benjen Stark, turned out to be one shared answer - Coldhands is Benjen Stark.
Reacting to All the Recent TV Cancellations and Renewals
Hey guys, this episode of Channel Surfing was actually recorded a full week ago - and then my computer died, with the recording on it and had to be brought in to be fixed. I was worried it wouldn't be retrievable, but happily it was! Albeit still going up very late, so apologies for that.
No time code for specific topics this week, as we have a long, general discussion about all of the big decisions that occurred in the past few weeks, as the broadcast TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and CW) made their final decisions on what shows they were canceling, which they were renewing and which new series they were ordering.
We react to some of the most notable among all the above categories, along with other interesting news of note that occurred going into the Upfronts, including Supergirl making a rare switch from one network to another.
Cap 3 Passes Deadpool as Highest-Grossing Film of 2016
Captain America: Civil War has surpassed Deadpool to claim the top spot as the year's highest-grossing film at the domestic box office.
According to Box Office Mojo, Fox's R-rated flick, which earned just over $362.8 million, has now been eclipsed by Civil War's domestic gross, which stands at just over $372.6 million.
Just over a week ago, the Steve Rogers-centric film passed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, joining The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron as the fourth MCU movie to surpass the global milestone. In addition, the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which currently includes 13 films, has eclipsed $10 billion in worldwide box office sales.
Jeremy Irons Knocks ‘Muddled’ Batman v Superman
Jeremy Irons, who plays Alfred Pennyworth in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, recently spoke out about director Zack Snyder's comic book flick, calling it a "very muddled" movie.
When asked by the Daily Mail (via TheWrap) about the slew of negative reviews the film received, Irons said Batman v Superman was "deservedly" criticized, noting "it took £800 million, so the kicking didn’t matter but it was sort of overstuffed."
X-Men: Apocalypse Tops Box Office, Alice Bombs
X-Men: Apocalypse was the clear victor at this weekend's box office, debuting with an estimated $65 million.
According to Variety, Fox's mutant centric flick is expected to rake in over $76 million by the end of the four-day weekend, failing to reach the $110.5 million figure that X-Men: Days of Future Past pulled in during its Memorial Day weekend debut in 2014.
It's also worth noting that Apocalypse only had the sixth highest-grossing opening in the X-Men franchise, with Deadpool leading the pack and The Wolverine at the very bottom in ninth place.
Animated Beauty and the Beast Writer Reacts to New Trailer
The Beauty and the Beast hype is very real. On Monday, the first teaser trailer for the live-action remake starring Emma Watson was viewed a record-breaking 91.8 million times -- which just goes to show how much Disney's animated classic has stuck with fans over the years.
I recently got a chance to speak with Alice Through the Looking Glass screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who also wrote the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast movie. While she's not involved with the new remake, she said she was very excited to see the film drawing from her take on the story and characters. "It makes me really, really happy," she said, upon learning how many people watched the teaser in such a short amount of time. "It's fantastic. I'm really excited about what they're doing."
Halo 5 Hog Wild Update Coming Tuesday
343 Industries will release its Halo 5: Gaurdians Hog Wild REQ items on Tuesday, May 31.
Though much of the larger items slated for Hog Wild were pushed to the Warzone Firefight launch in late June, the developer has a whole slew of new REQs to share this week. 343 Industries dropped its Memories of Reach update earlier in May, making this week's update the second of the month.
As expected, Hog Wild's new REQs update Halo 5's classic Warthog. The legendary REQ in the group—the Vespin Rocket Warthog—adds high-acceleration rockets with a faster reload time. The Rally Warthog is especially durable with its increased speed and heavy armor.
Outlander: Meet the Man Who Played the Biggest Jerk in Scotland
Full spoilers for Outlander's Season 2 episode "The Fox's Lair" continue below.
Outlander viewers finally met an important and infamous figure in Jamie Fraser's past: his grandfather Simon Fraser, the current Lord Lovat. There's a lot of dark history between the two that comes into play when Jamie tries to convince his grandfather to join Bonnie Prince Charlie's cause, and the interactions offer new depths to Sam Heughan's character.
Adding to the excitement about the introduction of Simon Fraser is the actor who played him: Clive Russell. Russell has starred in Ripper Street, Sherlock Holmes and The Wolfman, but is perhaps best known by fans as the Blackfish (Catelyn Stark's uncle Brynden Tully) on Game of Thrones. He got to sink his teeth into Lord Lovat, who not only is Jamie's grandfather in the fictional Outlander world but was a real-life Scottish figure, and rather infamous in actual history as well.
Batman: Arkham Knight GOTY Edition Listed by Retailer
A Game of the Year Edition for Batman: Arkham Knight may soon be on the way, as a premature listing by an online retailer has seemingly outed the title.
According to Amazon Germany, Batman: Arkham Knight - Game of the Year Edition will launch this July for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The listing does not indicate a release for PC.
Batman: Arkham Knight - Game of the Year Edition box art via Amazon Germany
Apocalypse’s 5 Biggest WTF Questions Answered
X-Men: Apocalypse has arrived, which means it’s time for yet another discussion on the biggest questions, surprises, Easter eggs, and WTF moments that went down in the latest film to feature Professor Xavier’s band of merry mutants. We’re talking full spoilers here, so click away from this page if you haven’t seen the film yet.
O.K., still with us? Then let’s use our collective mutant power of deduction and speculation to figure out what’s going on in Apocalypse.
As we said, full spoilers for X-Men: Apocalypse follow…
Look, this is perhaps the most glaring disconnect between Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. You will recall that at the end of that previous film, Mystique -- while posing as William Stryker -- fished an unconscious Wolverine out of the Potomac River. X-Men history tells us that Stryker, of course, would eventually become the guy behind Weapon X, the government research program that would in time give Logan his adamantium skeleton and claws. But when Wolvie shows up for his cameo in Apocalypse at Alkali Lake (Weapon X headquarters), he’s already undergone his Weapon X transformation… under the orders of the real Stryker, it seems. And there’s nary a mention of Mystique’s having saved Logan from the river 10 years earlier.