News

We're back with another edition of Comics Corner. This week, we start things off with a look at Monsters Unleashed #3 from Marvel Comics! Also: Aliens Defiance #12 preview pages, Z Nation #3 preview pages and three covers, Angel Season 11 #6 preview pages, Call of Duty Zombies #5, Harrow County #24, Blood Blister #3, Jeff Lemire's variant cover for Black Hammer #10, and Plastic #3.

Monsters Unleashed #3: "The Intellegentsia Is Revealed! Who are the mysterious villains obsessed with Kid Kaiju and his monsters? Can Elsa Bloodstone protect her young ward from their evil intent? Guest-starring Lady Hellbender!

Published: June 21, 2017

Rating: Rated T

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Penciler: David Baldeon

Cover Artist: R.B. Silva."

For more on this series, visit:

https://marvel.com/comics/issue/56390/monsters_unleashed_2017_3

---------

Aliens: Defiance #12: "After her return to Earth, Zula Hendricks fully expects to answer for her defiance. But instead of military tribunals, what she experiences is a chilling look into the future of warfare, courtesy of Weyland-Yutani’s R&D labs. Her mission may not be over just yet.

“Defiance . . . has the potential to be the new benchmark. Go get it.”—Hulking Reviewer

Creators

Writer: Brian Wood

Artist: Stephen Thompson

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: Stephanie Hans

Genre: Science-Fiction, Action/Adventure

Publication Date: June 21, 2017

Format: Fc, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price: $3.99

Upc:

7 61568 29850 5 01211."

To learn more about Aliens: Defiance #12, go to:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/29-861/Aliens-Defiance-12#prettyPhoto

---------

Z Nation #3: "Specialist Israel Johnson and Private Edie Cutter find themselves caught between warring factions as the remnants of the U.S. Navy board the floating zombie fortress The Empress of the Seas to capture the food substitute Soylent Z. With the Captain and his notorious Crew distracted by the fight, Israel and Edie decide their best course of action is to steal the Soylent themselves, not realizing the Navy has a secret weapon they're about to deploy. Meanwhile, in the depths of the ocean, an all-new zombie menace begins to stir.

Sea of Death is a prequel set in the world of Syfy's hit zombie series Z Nation, produced by The Asylum. Featuring Z Nation's signature blend of horror, humor, and heart, Sea of Death is a six-issue miniseries from acclaimed writer Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies, G.I. Joe) and Craig Engler, based on the long-running series Z Nation created by Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler.

Price: $3.99

Sku: C72513025570903011

Rating: Mature

Cover A: Denis Medri

Upc: 725130255709 03011

Cover B: Lucio Parrillo

Upc: 725130255709 03021

Cover C: Photo Cover

Upc: 725130255709 03031

Writer: Craig Engler, Fred Van Lente

Art: Edu Menna

Genre: Horror

Publication Date: June 2017

Format: Comic Book

Page Count: 32 Pages

On Sale Date: 6/21."

For more information, go to:

https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?Pro=C72513025570903011

---------

Angel Season 11 #6: "Aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean, Angel has not succeeded in avoiding his past self, Angelus. He must escape Angelus, keep Fred safe, and also determine what must be done with the jewel-like beetle that has ties to the future. When the beetle turns out to be something stranger than anyone could have imagined, Angel’s focus turns to survival rather than saving the future.

“Definitely an adventure you would look forward to knowing that there might be an inevitable meeting with the very reason why Angel’s past is so shameful to him.”—Geeked Out Nation

Creators

Writer: Corinna Bechko

Artist: Ze Carlos

Colorist: Michelle Madsen

Cover Artist: Scott Fischer

Genre: Superhero, Horror, Action/Adventure

Publication Date: June 21, 2017

Format: Fc, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price: $3.99

Upc: 7 61568 00112 9 00611."

To keep up on all things Angel and his comic run, visit:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/3000-595/Angel-Season-11-6

---------

Call of Duty Zombies #5: "Waves of zombies just keep coming, first in the Call of Duty®: Zombies games, and now from Dark Horse Comics!

The Tranzit crew find themselves in an unfamiliar location, scattered and disoriented. And as they face a new type of enemy, it becomes clearer than ever that they need each other to survive. Stuhlinger and Russman aren’t used to having teammates, but Misty and Marlton will have to convince them to band together if they all want to make it.

Creators

Writer: Justin Jordan

Artist: Jonathan Wayshak

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: Simon Bisley

Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror

Publication Date: June 21, 2017

Format: Fc, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

Upc: 7 61568 00082 5 00511."

For more on this series, go to:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/28-829/Call-of-Duty-Zombies-5

---------

Harrow County #24: "Emmy wasn’t paying much attention while her oldest friend, Bernice, was learning hedge magic and becoming a force to be reckoned with in Harrow County. Now the two girls must grapple with the ultimate question: is there room for both of them in one small town? And what does Emmy’s family think about Bernice’s growing power?

“A rare thing—both wonderfully charming and genuinely disturbing.”—Mike Mignola

Creators

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Tyler Crook

Colorist: Tyler Crook

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Publication Date: June 14, 2017

Format: Fc, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price: $3.99

Upc:

7 61568 26606 1 02411."

Cullen Bunn's comic run on this week's Comic Corner continues with Harrow County! To learn more, go to:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/30-893/Harrow-County-24

---------

Blood Blister #3: "You Don’T Need To Die To Go To Hell...

There’s no rest for the wicked in this new horror classic by Hester and Harris. Brand Hull's soul belongs to a devil of his own making, but his horror only intensifies when he learns the evil afflicting him can also infect the world around him. Meanwhile, a more earthly threat takes aim at Hull's estranged family.

Opening a jarring window on to a world of horror from the Eisner Award-nominated writer of The Coffin, Firebreather, and Deathstroke and the Eisner Award-winning artist of Ex MacHina and Starman."

"Blood Blister #3 Tony Harris cover

Diamond Order Code: JAN171221

On Sale: June 2017."

For more information on this haunting comic, visit:

http://aftershockcomics.com/blood-blister/

---------

Black Hammer #10: "The heroes of Spiral City have hung up their costumes and adapted to life in the sleepy town that they now call home though some call it a prison. Instead of facing unearthly monsters and galactic threats, they deal with vengeful exes, misunderstandings, and hungry farm animals. As Abraham Slam wonders if he's hit his expiration date, a new threat emerges in Rockwood that will keep him on his toes.

"Lemire, Ormston, and Stewart are doing something so special here and every comic book reader should be taking notice." -Geeked Out Nation

Creators

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Dean Ormston

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Cover Artist: Jeff Lemire

Genre: Superhero, Science-Fiction, Action/Adventure

Publication Date: June 21, 2017

Format: Fc, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price: $3.99

Upc: 7 61568 26732 7 01021."

To learn more about Black Hammer that really harkens back to the classic times in comics, visit:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/3000-880/Black-Hammer-10-Jeff-Lemire-variant-cover

---------

Plastic: "With a new girl along for the ride (who, surprisingly, is an actual living, breathing person), Edwyn continues his head-chopping rampage to save the love of his life...but the Dixie Mafia have some rather devious plans of their own.

Story: Doug Wagner

Art: Daniel Hillyard, Laura Martin

Cover: Andrew Robinson

Variant Cover: Daniel Hillyard

Published: June 21, 2017

Diamond ID: APR170847

Digital : $3.99

Print: $3.99."

For more information, go to:

https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/plastic-3-of-5

The post Comics Corner: Monsters Unleashed #3, Aliens: Defiance #12, Z Nation #3, Call Of Duty Zombies #5 appeared first on Daily Dead.

An FBI agent communicates with an eyeless woman on some cosmic, supernatural plain while a brain on a stalk issues cryptic orders. A living Goddess swallows a grown man into her vagina while in the middle of sexual intercourse. An international-waters orgy climaxes with a priest nearly forced to fornicate with a fake lioness, not long after tying up a man who claims to be God. A lounge-lizard who lives in a luxury igloo (technically, he resides in some sort of psychic limbo) swills cocktails and sprouts beat poetry. And...

Dona Nelson: Models Stand Close to the Paintings Thomas Erben Gallery, NYC Through May 6th, 2017

Dona Nelson is showing new paintings at Thomas Erben Gallery. There is no other artist in America that is a "modern painter" in so many different ways without losing her centre.

Trying to subvert its meaning seems to be part of the definition of what modern art is. There doesn't seem to be an accurate way to define an activity that is made up of a system or interelating systems that has occasional contradictions built into it, But art doesn't seem the worse for it. Modern painting in particular is like a series of interconnected temples where people are constantly entering and trying to knock down a load bearing pillar to see if it still stands or if it's now something else. It's quite often a sign that that particular approach is thriving.

Part of...

When "Arrow" kicks off its new season Wednesday, fans will undoubtedly notice that Star City's crime-fighting archer has turned over a brand new leaf -- an emerald one, to be precise.

Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) spent the first three seasons of his successful CW series battling his inner demons by shooting holes in them with arrows, but after screening the superb Season 4 premiere, Moviefone is happy to report our hero has finally learned healthier ways to cope.

Last season ended with Ollie jumping into a convertible with his ladylove Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) as the two of them quite literally took the long and windy road toward happily ever after. A few months have passed by the time Season 4 picks up, but Oliver's shiny new disposition still holds strong. He eventually winds his way back to Star City, of course, but not before rebranding himself as the Green Arrow, complete with his greenest suit yet.

Chicago – She burned like a firework in the sky, and just as quickly faded away. The unique voice of Amy Winehouse was fresh air into the music vacuum, and yet the delicate state of her destructive addictions succumbed to a sudden notoriety. Director Asif Kapadia and producer James Gay-Rees tell her story in ‘Amy.’

The documentary stands by itself as a trek into darkness, through a 21st Century life captured on video, film and photographs from childhood to superstar fame. Amy Winehouse was a girl from North London with a jazz smooth vocal styling seemingly from the gods. She was twenty years old when her first album, “Frank” (2003), brought her to a wider audience. The follow-up in 2008, “Black to Black,” established Winehouse as a one-of-a-kind singer and personality. The ironic song “Rehab” from that album was a huge hit, but couldn’t save Winehouse from her own tragic sensitivity to love,...

Ken Jacobs. Photo by María Meseguer.This past June in A Coruña, Spain (S8) 6th Mostra de Cinema Periferico hosted a retrospective of Ken Jacobs. A legend of experimental filmmaking, this New Yorker gave a master-class about the influence of abstract paintings on his work, presented a broad selection of films in his filmography to the audience, and premiered New Paintings by Ken Jacobs (2015), a new film performance using his famous Nervous Magic Lantern, consisting of a series of abstract slides that he projects with a special device of his own creation. The program focused on Jacobs’ first films, close to a kind of Brakhage-like documentary style, the long series he made along with Jack Smith as an actor/performer, and his experiments with 3D, both in film and digital formats. After all these screenings, we had a coffee or two with him and talked about the films in the program.

Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.

The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.

Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.

Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.

As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...

George Condo, "Double Heads / Black Paintings / Abstractions" Skarstedt, 550 West 21st Street Through November 8 George Condo's pizzazz-packed paintings are fun to look at and look like they were fun to make. Conglomerations of Picasso, Cubism, clown portraits, cartoons, Surrealism, dashes of Basquiat’s megawatt graphic energy, and splashes of de Kooning (especially his abstract 1950 masterpiece, Excavation) provide wall power and give viewers a lot to look at and relish. Very briefly. Anton Perich, "Electric Paintings 1978–2014" Postmasters, 54 Franklin StreetThe first sentence of this exhibition's punchy press release takes a direct shot at something I wrote, pointing out "No, Wade Guyton did not 'invent a new paint brush,' Anton Perich did it in 1978, when Guyton was six." (I stand corrected.) Indeed, once upon a time in 1976, Perich developed what the gallery refers to as "a colossal electric painting machine, a painterly precursor to the inkjet paintings of today,"...

With those off-kilter features and that bold, confident carriage, she might have stepped out of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon: Karen Black was one of the most striking and strange character actresses of the 1970s, though she became relegated to lesser roles—and, sometimes, uncharitable jokes about her failed career—in the years after. But Black at her best was really too idiosyncratic to be a huge star. Instead, the actress, who died in August after a battle with cancer, came to represent the kind of oddball beauty and cubist grace that could find a home in American movies of the '70s. No one else looked or acted like Karen Black; no one could if they tried.

It's time to reconsider Black, and BAMcinématek's eight-film retrospective, which runs ...

The invitation to the super-secret Jay-z event came out of nowhere, three days before it was scheduled to happen. The event's producer, the beloved-in-the-art-world gallerist Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, e-mailed, asking whether I'd be free Wednesday at noon. The rap artist, impresario, cultural force, and art collector would be performing his new track “Picasso Baby” at the Pace Gallery in Chelsea. For. Six. Hours. Over and over and over. Heck yes. But even though I'm a fan — The Black Album blew my mind — I had a queasy feeling about this. Though hip-hop is not exactly my bailiwick, performance art I know a little about, and this Jay-z thing sounded depressingly familiar. It had a loud echo of Marina Abramovic, the performance diva known for her marathon performances-spectacles-drudgeries. It also reminded me of the Icelandic wizard Ragnar Kjartansson’s renditions of the same song performed live non-stop for hours. Last season at...

Jay-z has finally revealed a secret he's been keeping for decades ... He Loves Captain Crunch ... but only with crunch berries (duh). Jay went on a tweet-a-thon today ... answering all sorts of fan questions, when one guy asked if he had a favorite cereal. Hova replied, "cap'n crunch growing up. I haven't had cereal in a bit #factsonly]" ... adding, "crunch berries tho."Poor Franken Berry ... Other things we learned ... Jay thinks his new album is good,...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

“The album is about, like this duality of how do you navigate through this whole thing, through success, through failures, through all this and remain yourself.” These thoughts are expressed by Sean “Jay-z” Carter in his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. The album’s announcement was by far the biggest and most welcomed surprise of the summer. On June 16, 2013, during the NBA finals, a Samsung Galaxy commercial featuring Jay-z and the worlds top record producers was presented to the world that officially announced the release his twelfth studio album and his first since 2009. In an exclusive deal with Samsung, Magna Carta Holy Grail would be available on July 4 to the first million Samsung Galaxy owners that download the official app. The rest of the world would have to wait 72 hours until it is released in stores and through digital download on July 7.

The album begins...

Deborah Kass is an artist whose paintings examine the intersection of art history, popular culture, and the self. She received her Bfa in Painting at Carnegie-Mellon University, and studied at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program and at the Art Students' League. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of Art; the Solomon Guggenheim Museum; the Jewish Museum; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; the Cincinnati Museum; the New Orleans Museum; the Weatherspoon Museum; and numerous public and private collections.

A survey show, Deborah Kass, The Warhol Project, traveled across the country from 1999 to 2001. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennale, and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. She is a Senior Critic in the Yale University Mfa Painting Program. She is represented by Vincent Fremont and the Paul Kasmin Gallery. The Andy Warhol Museum...

Henri Matisse: In Search of True Painting Metropolitan Museum of Art Through March 17, 2013   The prospect of seeing forty-nine of Matisse's finest works should be enticement enough. However, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has upped the ante by arranging this somewhat thematic exhibition in groupings that show the painter refining his personal explorations in modernist paintings through endless, subtle variations. Although the pedagogical aspects of this might seem a little staid at first flush, upon close study one becomes entranced by the intricate, reductive logic that lay at the heart of all of Matisse's works.

From the start Matisse was an equal-opportunity gatherer and collector of other artists' styles and sensibilities: Giotto, Moreau, Cézanne, and van Gogh, to name a few. This is apparent right from the start of the show.

Two paintings, "Still Life with Compote and Fruit" (1899) and "Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges" (1899), show Matisse moving already...

Some actors just weren’t born to play an action hero. Some look silly in a fight. Some sound ridiculous acting tough. He may have taken cross-dressing to successful heights, but Tyler Perry looks less foolish in a dress than he does in the action scenes of the new thriller Alex Cross. It’s a prequel to a pair of Washington, D.C.-set thrillers that starred Morgan Freeman as Cross; Along Came A Spider (2001) and Kiss The Girls (1997). The new film is something of an origin story, recounting the events that ultimately drove the clever forensic psychologist, to move to D.C. from Detroit. The new film finds Detective Cross a likeable family man, living with his wife Maria (Carmen Ejogo – an actress I liked in Sparkle also good here) and feisty mother played by Jamie Farr (Kidding ! – Cicely Tyson). Cross’ boyhood friend and partner is Thomas Kane (Edward Burns...

Reuters ‘Once’ with Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti.

In a diverse theater season with no clear frontrunner, the Tony Award nominations announced Tuesday morning swept across the board, with nods to major star vehicles like “Death of a Salesman,” offbeat newcomers including the new musical “Once,” work by Broadway veterans such as “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and classic revivals with “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”

As expected, “Death of a Salesman” scored big. The play with a...

One of the most authentic and important artists of modern Britain opens at the Hayward, while Donatello's awe-inspiring power of illusion is unleashed at the V&A – all in your weekly roundup

Exhibition of the Week: Jeremy Deller

Art is alchemy. Who can say why one work of art lives and another dies? Why one artist can create images that take flight while another works assiduously at producing entropic stuff? Or why art that once seemed magical suddenly seems gross? Like I say – it's an alchemical process that defies logic.

The most alchemical British artist of my generation is Jeremy Deller. This curator of social happenings has none of the conventional attributes of an artist at all. He does nothing by the book – this is, for instance, the first proper gallery exhibition of his works. His most famous creations are events and performances that involved large numbers of people: a...

The term “giallo” initially referred to cheap yellow paperbacks (printed American mysteries from writers such as Agatha Christie), that were distributed in post-fascist Italy. Applied to cinema, the genre is comprised of equal parts early pulp thrillers, mystery novels, with a willingness to gleefully explore onscreen sex and violence in provocative, innovative ways. Giallos are strikingly different from American crime films: they value style and plot over characterization, and tend towards unapologetic displays of violence, sexual content, and taboo exploration. The genre is known for stylistic excess, characterized by unnatural yet intriguing lighting techniques, convoluted plots, red herrings, extended murder sequences, excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. Amidst the ‘creative kill’ set-pieces are thematic undercurrents along with a whodunit element, usually some sort of twist ending. Here is my list of the best giallo films – made strictly by Italian directors, so don’t expect Black Swan, Amer or...

Director Pierre Laffargue showed a certain fondness for cultural fusion with his debut feature. An action thriller modeled after American blacksploitation, starring a French actor and set in northern Africa, Black turned heads on the festival circuit around the world in part because of Laffargue's desire to fuse western influences with African. And though the subject matter is very different with his latest effort that same desire is very much present.A musical documentary, Kinshasa Superband follows the life of a sort of international supergroup made up of western indie rockers - Konono no 1, Kasai Allstar, Juana Molina, Wildbirds and Peacedrum, and Matt Mehlan among them - joining forces with a group of traditional African musicians.They come from Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Albuquerque or Brooklyn...

*full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by Phase 4 Films.

Director: Pierre Laffargue.

Writers: Lucio Mad, Gabor Rassov, Marci Cherqui, and Pierre Laffargue.

Black was a French film then dubbed into English, which is slated for released through video-on-demand September 1st. The film begins as an action thriller, but transitions into a heist thriller early. Black has played at several film festivals since 2009 and Pierre Laffargue's first feature film is enjoyable for its dabbling into African mysticism and European colonialism. Black's ending, with a Snake man facing a Lion man, truly has to be seen to be believed.

Black (Mc Jean Gab'1), the protagonist, begins the film with a failed armoured car cash grab. Instead of grabbing the loot, Black loses his partners while escaping by train. Then, the film changes locale. Gone is Paris in favour of Dakar. Here a massive holding of diamonds...

Getty Images for Naras Amy Winehouse in 2008

What a waste–that sums up the reaction from many people to the news of the passing of singer Amy Winehouse.

“I’m not even going to say, ‘Waste of glorious sublime talent,’ which I feel,” Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, said to Rolling Stone about Winehouse’s passing.

But did Winehouse really squander her talent?

Much attention has been paid to the fact that Winehouse is one of a number of...

Comic-Con International has unleashed the full schedule for Wednesday and Thursday for the San Diego Comic-Con 2011, and there is going to be a ton of stuff to keep you incredibly busy and entertained.

Like I've been saying it's never to early to start planning, and there is a ton of stuff here that we are looking forward to checking out. I've gone through the list and put exclamation points next to all of the events that we are looking forward to attending. What panels and events are you looking forward to?

We will be at Comic-Con in full force this year, bringing you everything you need and want to know about. We will also be having a GeekTyrant meet-up this year, which we announce soon.

See you at the con!

Wednesday July 20th

!!! 6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural...

Hey Guys,

A mixed array of scoop and teasers this week from some of the bigger shows as wel as some of the smaller shows that don't get much attention. I hope you enjoy it all :)

Spartacus

The Role of Naevia is being cast and is a major character in episode 2.03 to 2.10 as well as requiring an option for season three and season four.

Naevia is a Nubian slave in her mid twenties, described as beautiful and compassionate but also emotionally damaged from the many years she has been abused in her slavery.

However she does still have a strong spirit which has kept her alive and going all these years but even that is beginning to fade...

Castle

Episode 3.24 is entitled 'Knockout.'

A small bit of scoop is that in this episode Capt. Montgomery's daughter makes an appearance. She is 9 years old and has a semi-important role in the episode.

French film Black is a rare thing; a French action film that isn’t produced or written by Luc Besson. In fact the only connection to Besson is the film’s star Mc Jean Gab’1 who appeared in both District 13 movies. Black, released on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday, marks the directorial debut of Pierre Laffargue and is produced by Marco Cherqui who also produced last year’s break out hit A Prophet.

The film opens in Paris as an armed raid on a security van goes horribly wrong and all but one of the raiders are gunned down by police. The surviving gunman, Black played by French Hip-hop artist Mc Jean Gab’1, manages to escape and goes into hiding. That is until he receives a phone call from his cousin in Senegal with information about a stash of diamonds being stored in a poorly guarded bank in Dakar.

The film is called Black… nothing more, just Black. We’ve covered it previously on this site, starting with its South By Southwest Film Festival, stateside debut back in 2009! Time flies…

It has yet to be released in the states in any format, but those of you in the UK will get a chance to check it out, if you haven’t already, when it’s released on Blu-ray and DVD on the 14th of this month.

To rehash… in short, Black is described as “a nouveau-blaxploitation adventure awash in black magic, African mysticism, mutant arms dealers, gargantuan machete-wielding mercenary armies and a truckload of diamonds.”

When his Parisian armored car holdup doesn’t go as planned, the film’s protagonist (his name is Black, played by underground French rapper Mc Jean Gab’1), is forced into hiding. He resurfaces when he receives news from his cousin in Senegal about a...

Check out the new brand new UK trailer for French actioner Black with a hilarious voiceover from sixty smokes-a-day man. We’ve also got a rather thorough synopsis for you to read, too.

Black comes from the same producer as last year’s superb A Prophet. This one looks a bit more action-orientated… check it out.

Synopsis:

The spirit of Blaxploitation classics such as ‘Super Fly’, ‘Shaft’ and ‘Truck Turner’ is given a modern day makeover in the action-thriller, Black, the directorial debut feature from Pierre Laffargue.

Produced by Marco Cherqui (A Prophet) and starring French hip-hop artist Mc Jean Gab’1 (the District 13 movies), Carole Karemera (Sometimes In April), Francois Levantal (A Very Long Engagement; D’Artagnan’s Daughter) and Anton Yakovlev (The Beat That My Heart Skipped), Black is “a slick, fun, French heist flick” (Eye Weekly) with a supernatural sting in the tail that sees its eponymous...

"It seems to me there's so much more to the world than the average eye's allowed to see. I believe if you look hard there are more wonders in this universe than you could ever have dreamed of."

The Doctor and Amy visit a Vincent van Gogh exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay, an art museum in Paris in 2010. Amy comments that the Doctor has been unusually nice to her as of late, as he has been taking her on particularly fun trips through space-time, and it borders on suspicious. The Doctor responds coyly and obviously cannot tell her that he feels responsible for the death of a fiancé that she cannot remember.

Bill Nighy plays an especially knowledgeable bow-tied museum docent named Dr. Black, who tells a nearby group of patrons about the humble life of Vincent van Gogh. Vincent's art was never appreciated during his lifetime. With Nighy in...

The brainiac author of Outliers and The Tipping Point has put philosophical musing on to the bestseller lists, but what does he enjoy when he's not working up a new theory?

Malcolm Gladwell may well be the smartest guy in the room. The Sideshow Bob-haired New Yorker journalist has topped bestseller lists all over the globe with his intuitive investigations into how social forces change the way we live and interact such as Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers. He's been namechecked by Bill Clinton, sold millions of books and is about to embark on a speaking tour of the UK. In his latest book, What The Dog Saw – a collection of his best New Yorker essays – Gladwell laterally thinks about what makes people employable; whether Enron's downfall was due to there being too much information available to curious journalists and stock analysts; and whether genius comes late, like Cezanne's,...

[This review originally ran with the film's screening at Fantastic Fest but with District 13 Ultimatum now screening at Action Fest we hereby present it to you again.]

District 13 is once again in trouble. The gangs are restless, promised changes have not come to pass, poverty and crime are as rampant as ever. And, just in case things weren't difficult and complex enough in the anarchic district, it appears as though it has a new enemy, a powerful and well financed enemy determined to bring the wrath of the establishment down upon the people and willing to kill to do so. In the face of lawlessness and rising violence there can be only one response: by-the-book supercop Damien and free roaming -- free running, I should say -- vigilante Leto must once again join forces to bring peace to District 13.   When Pierre Morel's District B13 burst on to the scene in 2004, prescient timing and clever marketing allowed the film to tap into the bubbling awareness of a new extreme sport, parkour. By casting parkour's co-creator...

The following is a list of Los Angeles-area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and acoaches organized by category and alphabetically.Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school; address; phone and fax numbers; email address and/or website; average number of students per class; whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught; whether auditing is permitted; whether classes are ongoing or by sessions; any special emphasis used in classes or coaching; whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, schoool, or coaching are provided by the instructor or institutions and edited by Back Stage.Schools or teachers who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listings, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list.Acting Technique/Scene StudyAARON McPherson STUDIOWest Hollywood, CA aaron@aaronmcphersonstudio.comwww.aaronmcphersonstudio.

The Canadian DVD release of Pierre Laffargue's heist film Black is only a couple weeks away on April 9th and is available for pre-order from Evokative Films. But first, why not see if you're as lucky as Black was in the film and enter our giveaway.

We have five DVDs to giveaway so between now and April 2nd you can email us here with the answer to this skill testing question... At which festival did Black have its Canadian Premiere (for which there are two extra features on the DVD)? 

Evokative isn't coy about where they hide their answers for their giveaways. Perhaps it could be found at the link below. This giveaway is for Canadian residents only. ...

We are right at the midway point of Survivor: Samoa. We began with twenty players; we now have ten. Our early villains, Evil Russell, and idiot Shambles, have grown into heroic (seeming) crusaders against a true villain, Evil Laura, the Sarah Palin wanna-be conservative lobbyist co-ordinator and Christer pastor, who believes she's now running the show. We've seen two players sidelined by physical collapse: elderly obese Chef Mike, and athletic, bull-like Black Russell. We've seen a lot of puzzles solved and knots untied. And now-just-Russell has shown an amazing ability to find hidden immunity idols without a clue, which is good, because a lot of these contestants still have no clue. Russell sees himself as an artist of Survivor, as Picasso -- and like Picasso -- his work is difficult to make sense of, and doesn't resemble real life. Here's Russell...

Year: 2009

Directors: Pierre Laffargue

Writers: Pierre Laffargue / Lucio Mad

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Ben Austwick

Rating: 8 out of 10

Heist movie meets magical realism in Pierre Laffargue's Black, an uneven but brave and exciting action film that starts off just about competent and ends up being quite wonderful. The way it grows into itself suggests an inexperienced director struggling to find his style, but one with enough imagination and confidence to make an excellent film with the jumble of bits he has to work with.

The film starts explosively with an armed robbery carried out by Black, a Parisian of Senegalese descent, and his gang on a security van in Paris. The robbery, a visceral and heart-popping flurry of shotgun blasts and explosions, is a disaster but Black manages to escape to Dakar where he hears from a relative of a bag full of diamonds hidden in an unsecured third-world bank.

So, the August bank holiday has passed for another year and that means one thing – The Film4 Frightfest in London has just finished. This year held a special meaning to the festival though, with it greeting its 10th year in existence having moved, during that time, from humble beginnings in the Prince Charles Cinema, to the grander Odeon Leicester Square and finally, for the first time this year, to the Empire Cinema (also in Leicester Square). The Empire houses the largest cinema screen in the UK, which was used to display the main catalogue of films this year round. Trust me, this thing is absolutely massive.

Second to this, also for the first time ever, Frightfest organisers Alan, Ian, Paul and Greg decided to commandeer a smaller screen to show those movies they felt should be in the Fest, but couldn’t be worked into the main programme. This screen...

One of the nice things at a small, but growing festival such as Toronto After Dark is that the filmmakers, producers and other guests who arrive with shorts or features are happily accessible in the lobby of the Bloor and at the pubs nearby. After showering much love on the ‘French Blaxploitation Remix,’ Black, director Pierre Laffargue was happy to sit down and talk jive turkey (I am kidding of course!) with regards all aspects of the production. Fyi, if you missed this interesting and exciting new movie at the festival and are a Toronto or Montreal resident, Evokative Films is giving it a limited commercial release. It is playing currently in Montreal, and the Toronto release is on August 21st at the AMC Yonge & Dundas. The film will be expanding across Canada throughout the rest of the year.

Kurt Halfyard: Can you talk about how the film Black came together from the very start?...

A second viewing of Pierre Laffargue’s kitchen-sink genre-mash cements the notion that if there is a reasonable successor to John Carpenter, albeit with more global leanings, Laffargue is quite possibly the man. While not as overtly funny as something like Big Trouble in Little China, his continent hopping heist film throws bank robbers, machete wielding pro-wrestlers, Snake Witches, Russian Mercenaries, loose-lipped bankers and sexy interpol warrior-goddesses all smoothly into the blender together and then, for the hell of it, hits frappe. To say that Blacks weaving and dodging plot is a mite unpredictable and crazy is the understatement of the year.

Opening in Paris with a spectacularly botched bank heist where only one of the robbers escapes slaughter by the authorities by jumping onto a high-speed train, it marks a fitting transition for musician/actor Mc Jean Gab’1 from bit-player in the Banlieue 13 films to full blown star.

Black Directed by Pierre Laffargue A strange, tonally schizophrenic, but undeniably fun concoction from France, Black combines elements of gangster and blaxploitation films, only to wind up in a different space entirely by throwing in supernatural elements with the subtlety of a machete to the face.. If that description appeals to you, you'll almost certainly enjoy it. Its shortcomings, stemming from failures of executiion rather than ambition or imagination, scream "first feature," but there's enough sheer entertainment value on display to let it slide. Mc Jean Gab'1 stars as the title character, a tough-talking but ultimately sympathetic thief who spends the film's thrilling opening minutes escaping a heist gone wrong. While in hiding, an obscure "relative" from Dakar, Black's hometown, lets him in on a huge and theoretically simple score, involving lifting a sack of diamonds from a bank vault. Of course, as it turns out, Black and his...

The 2009 edition of Montreal’s Fantasia Festival has announced their complete list of Audience Awards winners, a list that includes a whole lot of Twitch faves and more than a few films that will soon be screening here in Toronto as part of Toronto After Dark. Here’s the complete list.

Best Asian Film

Gold: Love Exposure (Japan) – Sion Sono

Silver: IP Man (Hong Kong) – Wilson Yip

Bronze: Thirst (South Korea) – Park Chan-wook

Best International Film

Gold: 8th Wonderland (France) – Nicolas Alberny, Jean Mach

Silver: Ex-aequo

Embodiment Of Evil (Brazil) – Jose Mojica Marins

Must Love Death (Germany) – Andreas Schaap

Bronze: Black (France) – Pierre Laffargue

Best Quebec Film

Gold: Sans Dessein – Caroline Labrèche, Steeve Léonard

Silver: The Ante – Max Perrier

Bronze: Crawler – Sv Bell

Best Animated Film

Hells (Japan) – Yoshiki Yamakawa

Guru Prize for Most Energetic Film of the Festival

Gold: Yatterman (Japan) – Takashi Miike

Silver: IP Man (Hk) – Wilson Yip...

The 13th edition of Montreal’s Fantasia film festival wrapped up its frighteningly successful run this week, with movie highlights aplenty and 40 percent of the screenings selling out. Now the jury and the public have spoken on their favorites, and the fest has revealed their award winners in all categories. Check ’em out below!

Jury Prizes: Feature Films

Best Feature Film: Breathless (Yang Ik-june) Jury Special Prize: Love Exposure (Sion Sono) Best Male Performance: Yang Ik-Jun, Breathless Best Female Performance: Hikari Mitsushima, Love Exposure Best Director: David Russo, The Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle Best Screenplay: Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach, 8th Wonderland Best Cinematography: Hideho Urata, The Clone Returns Home Technical Prize: IP Man Special Mention for Best Direction of Child Actors: Tom Shankland, The Children

Jury Prizes: First Features

Best First Feature: White Lightnin’ (Dominic Murphy) Special Mention: Debut performance of actress Eline Kuppins, Left Bank Jury Prizes:...

Sound on Sight co-host Al Kratina is covering Fantasia for the Montreal Gazette's Cine Files [1]blog. Read an excerpt below. Black Directed by Pierre Laffargue It must be difficult to do anything original with the urban crime drama, since most of the more familiar tropes have migrated from gritty 1970s cult films to G Unit videos and Grand Theft Auto. But with Black, director Pierre Laffargue manages to nearly reinvent the genre, by shifting the location of his heist film from the inner city to Western Africa. This allows him to approach Senegalese culture with the same fascinated reverence that can be sensed when Manhattan socialites talk about the Meatpacking District. Black follows the titular criminal, played by Mc Jean Gab'1, whose plans for an armoured car robbery end in bloodshed. Tipped off by his cousin about a briefcase full of diamonds in a Dakar bank, he heads off to Senegal with a new gang,...

The 500 Days Of Summer soundtrack.

Deschanel: We’ve been like Sid and Nancy for months now.

Gordon-Levitt: We have some disagreements but I hardly think I’m Sid Vicious.

Deschanel: No, I’m Sid.

Gordon-Levitt: Oh. So I’m Nancy?

So, Yes Man is over and forgotten and Zooey Deschanel has traded in a 47 year old Jim Carrey for a 28 year old Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Good decision. Not only because an on-screen relationship between them is, you know, fathomable, but also because Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the brightest stars of Hollywood’s undercurrent of young leading men. Sleepy La Beef can go play with robots all he likes, Gordon-Levitt makes good films (i.e. Brick) and he steals the show in all of them. So that, combined with the fact that the movie’s tagline (Boy Meets Girl. Boy Falls In Love. Girl Doesn’t.) could be the tagline for my life,...

The first wave of film titles were revealed for the 2009, Toronto After Dark Film Festival. It boasts an impressive line up which includes new horror, sci-fi, action and cult feature films. Included is the much-anticipated and long awaited Halloween set creepfest Trick 'R' Treat. First-time director Michael Dougherty (co-writer of X-men 2 and Superman Returns) directs a wildly entertaining slice of an EC Comics gem. The film follows five interwoven stories that occur on the same block, on the same night. A couple finds what happens when they blow a jack o' lantern out before midnight, a high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer, a college virgin might have met the right guy for her, a group of mean teens play a prank that they take too far, and a hermit is visited by a special trick or treater. French-Cameroonian rapper Mc Jean Gab'1 stars in Black,...

And the fine folks at the Toronto After Dark film festival have announced the first 8 films..

Trick 'R Treat? Check.

Paul Solet's "we make people faint" Grace? Check.

The visually stunning treat Franklyn (review)? Check.

Joko Anwar's incredible The Forbidden Door (review), one of my favorite films of the year? Check.

Check out all the films and the deets after the break!

Trick ‘R’ Treat

Michael Dougherty, USA, Toronto Premiere

“An Instant Cult Classic” – Bloody-Disgusting

Four creepy crowd-pleasing stories intersect in this hugely anticipated feature, set on the night of Halloween. From Producer Bryan Singer (X-men, The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) and starring True Blood’s Anna Paquin and Brian Cox (Manhunter, Bourne Supremacy).

Winner, Audience Award – Los Angeles ScreamFest

Grace

Paul Solet, Canada, Toronto Premiere

“The movie you need to see to restore your faith in the horror genre” – Dread Central

From Producer Adam Green (Hatchet) comes this...

I really hate the fact that I need a passport to get into Canada these days (stupid security precautions – I don’t want to be safe, I want to watch horror movies!) because the Toronto After Dark Festival has an incredibly badass lineup of flicks announced thus far!

Trick 'R Treat (review here)

Michael Dougherty, USA, Toronto Premiere

*“An instant cult classic” – Bloody-Disgusting*

Four creepy crowd-pleasing stories intersect in this hugely anticipated feature set on the night of Halloween from producer Bryan Singer (X-men, The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) and starring True Blood’s Anna Paquin and Brian Cox (Manhunter, Bourne Supremacy).

/Winner, Audience Award – Los Angeles ScreamFest/

Grace (review here)

Paul Solet, Canada, Toronto Premiere

*“The movie you need to see to restore your faith in the horror genre” – Dread Central*

From producer Adam Green (Hatchet) comes this creepy and shocking tale of one very desperate woman as she tries...

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival [1] is quickly approaching, and today we finally have our first announcement regarding this year's line-up. The first 8 titles have just been unveiled, and there are some interesting picks in the bunch from all over the world including Michael Dougherty's Trick 'R' Treat,Paul Solet's Grace, and Gerald McMorrow's Franklyn. All of the announced titles are listed below, with 9 more films still expected to be forthcoming. This year's festival runs from August 14th to the 21st; passes are now on sale, and single tickets will be available starting on July 29th. For more info visit the official Toronto After Dark website [2]. Trick 'R' Treat (Dir. Michael Dougherty, USA) Grace (Dir. Paul Solet, Canada) Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl (Dir. Yoshihiro Nishimura, Japan) Franklyn (Dir. Gerald McMorrow, UK) The Forbidden Door (Dir. Joko Anwar, Indonesia) Embodiment of Evil (Dir. José Mojica Marins, Brazil) Black (Dir.

Not only will our very own London correspondent Ben Austwick be there to cover the fest but it's one of the best lineups ever!

How about the world premier for Pa giant insect comedy Infestation? Check.

Sneak preview of La Horde? Check.

UK premier of Cannes premier Hierro? Check.

The surprisingly good Giallo, the latest from Dario Argento? Check.

The world premier of The Descent part 2? Check!

Full schedule after the break. (Yes we copied Dread Central's post. Thanks UncleCreepy!)

Main Programme - Empire 1

# Thursday 27 August

18.30 Triangle (World Premiere)

The Boat That Shocked! Film4 FrightFest is delighted to open this year’s festival with the first ever showing of British director Christopher Smith’s latest spellbinding horror fantasy. When Jess (Melissa George) hits a seagull driving to her local harbour little does she know it signals a harrowing omen for her yachting trip with friends. From epic ocean vistas to poignantly shocking finale,...

The UK's most amazing horror film festival Film 4 FrightFest has released what could very well be one of the best horror line-ups we've seen ever for its latest show taking place August 27th - August 31st, brimming with films we've been salivating over Stateside!

If you need any more reasons to fly across the pond check out the schedule below!

Main Programme - Empire 1

Thursday 27 August 18.30 Triangle (World Premiere)

The Boat That Shocked! Film4 FrightFest is delighted to open this year’s festival with the first ever showing of British director Christopher Smith’s latest spellbinding horror fantasy. When Jess (Melissa George) hits a seagull driving to her local harbour little does she know it signals a harrowing omen for her yachting trip with friends. From epic ocean vistas to poignantly shocking finale, Triangle is Smith’s best, polished and most mature work.

95 minutes Director: Christopher Smith UK/Australia 2009

Melissa George...

Fantasia Festival is North America [1]’s premiere (and largest) genre [2] film [3] festival [4]. It is also my favorite film festival and so I could not wait to share the highlights of this years line up. Below is just some of the films we will be reviewing on our upcoming podcasts. Best Worst Movie - Montreal premiere, hosted by director Michael Paul Stephenson and the actor George Hardy Unbeknownst to him, a dentist living in a small town in Alabama has an army of fans who worship him. The reason behind his clandestine popularity? He was a one-time actor who played a lead role in a movie that is now widely regarded as being amongst the worst films of all time: Troll 2. When he hears that the film was being shown at a rep cinema, he attends the screening. This decision leads him on a truly surprising and life-changing journey. Funny and moving,...

Ok, so I'm lazy.. I copy and pasted the press release, which is after the break, and we have reviews of quite a few of the films playing, including White Lightnin', Left Bank, Blood River, Cryptic, Deadgirl, The Horsemen, I Sell the Dead.. with Kaifeck Murder coming soon (once I can figure out what to write).

Movies I'm really interested in seeing: French Pa flick Mutants, Smash Cut, Possibility of an Island, Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, and Thirst.

But alas, I won't be there. Instead, a friend of ours will be providing some reviews for the week he is there, so everyone give a big thanks to DirtyRobot! Woop!

Check out the film greatness after the break! Oh, and there's more to come...

The past 12 months have been a treasure trove for sharp, individualistic visions of the unusual. Keep your hands on the bars as we give you a...

Attendance was down by 30 percent at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Not surprising, considering the recession still biting and Euro exchange rates keeping prices along the Croisette at ridiculously expensive levels. Yet the number of high-profile genre films in the Official Competition was a bonus for those more used to finding the most controversial entries up for distributor grabs in the Market section. While Park Chan-wook’s Thirst and Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void certainly had their followers, with Terry Gilliam’s out-of-competition The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus a similar hot ticket, the two biggest stories were Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist.

Cinema saves the world in Tarantino’s disjointed, history-bending homage to war movies, which takes its misspelled name—but very little else—from Enzo Castellari’s 1978 Italian cult exploiter. Divided into chapters, each highlighting a movie style like Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns,...