‘Fatherhood’ is a Netflix comedy film starring Kevin Hart as Matthew Logelin, a single father trying to raise his daughter after his wife passes away. While reviews have been mixed, Hart’s performance has been praised. However, the ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ actor took time to praise his baby co-star during an interview with The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, claiming the baby worked “fourteen-hour days.”
“I’m Kevin ‘The Real Baby Work-With-er’ Hart,” he retorted after Fallon joked that the baby was fake.
Hart also discussed playing against type in ‘Fatherhood.’
“The story is about a man whose life got flipped upside-down. He lost his wife after delivering a baby and was left with the idea of raising a child by himself after suffering one of the darkest moments in his life,” he said. “And there was a high level of doubt in what he could do, if he could do, and rather than giving up, he had to figure out a way to kind of bear down and stick with what life has thrown at him and make the best of it.”
“For me to take on the role it gave me the opportunity to show a Black father in a positive light,” he continued. “For some time, on the screen, on TV, if we’re not getting out of jail or on drugs or off drugs… there’s a significant struggle behind the image of a Black father. And I said, ‘This is an opportunity to just put it in a space of positivity.’ And that was my reason for taking on the role and also challenging myself to go a little deeper in acting. It’s a serious story, it’s emotional, and it has its waves, so I’m excited about the journey that I’m about to take my audience on.”
You can watch the clip below:
Kevin Hart Jokes ‘Fatherhood’ Baby Worked 14 Hour Days
Funimation UK To Stream ‘The Transformers: The Movie’ In 4K
The 1986 ‘The Transformers: The Movie’ is an animated feature film directed by Nelson Shin. It serves as a follow-up to the cartoon series launched in 1984 that is set between seasons two and three, bringing in a new generation of Autobots and Decepticons.
Funimation announced ‘The Transformers: The Movie’ will stream in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the United Kingdom and Ireland.
NEWS: Funimation Announces The Transformers: The Movie 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for UK and Ireland
Read on: https://t.co/JrZq6P5pLi pic.twitter.com/KZCnNsJgX3
— Funimation UK & IRE (@funimationUK) July 2, 2021
“In conjunction with Shout Factory, the cult 1986 film is getting the 4K touch (and power) in time for release on October 25, 2021 and will be available as a part of our Collector’s Edition 4K Steelbook and a Zavvi Exclusive Limited Edition, as well as a standard edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Pre-order your copy now,” they explained on their website. “To make this release extra special, we’ve teamed up with the incredibly talented British artist Matt Ferguson to create some all-new, exclusive artwork for the Zavvi Exclusive Limited Edition.”
The DVD release will contain all kinds of features and bonus content including new feature-length storyboards, audio Commentary with Director Nelson Shin, story consultant Flint Dille, and star Susan Blu, and optional English subtitles for the main feature.
Along with the Shout Factory release, it also includes the documentary ‘Till All Are One,’ which features interviews with “Members Of The Cast And Crew, Including Story Consultant Flint Dille, Cast Members Gregg Berger, Susan Blu, Neil Ross, Dan Gilvezan, Singer/Songwriter Stan Bush, Composer Vince DiCola And Others!”
According to the synopsis, “The year is 2005 … For millennia, the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), have been at war with the evil Megatron (Frank Welker) and his Decepticons over control of their home planet of Cybertron. However, an even greater threat – Unicron (Orson Welles), a colossal converting planet that devours everything in its path – is heading right for Cybertron. The only hope is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Will the Autobots be able to save themselves and their home world in time?
Shout Factory Announces Marathon To Celebrate Ultraman Anniversary
Shout! Factory TV is celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Japanese science fiction series ‘Ultraman’ in a huge way. On July 10th, Shout! Factory TV and its premier Tokusatsu channel TokuSHOUTsu will feature an all-day marathon which will the United States streaming premiere of the 2010 film ‘Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial.’
According to their website, the marathon will feature “19 episodes that span 55 years of the Ultraman series” and ” will stream across all Shout! Factory TV and TokuSHOUTsu platforms and feature one-of-a-kind fan engagement.”
Fans will also be able to win prizes including collectibles, toys, and other products from a variety of sources.
TokuSHOUTsu released a trailer on their official Twitter account:
Get ready for the ULTRAMAN DAY ULTRATHON! Starting Saturday, July 10 at 7am PT is an all-day adventure with 19 episodes from 55 years of the #Ultraman series, the U.S. streaming debut of Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial aaaaaand… pic.twitter.com/OfrK9k1Pky
— TokuSHOUTsu (@tokushoutsu) June 24, 2021
“As part of an all-day adventure of intergalactic battles, Kaiju, aliens, heroes and villains, Ultrathon will also include ‘In Search Of An Ultraman: The Invasion From Another Space,'” Shout! Factory continues. “A journey across time and space to save Earth from invasion, this newly produced special features top voices representing franchise fans around the world, including Kyle Anderson (Nerdist), Jason Narvy (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Linda Le (Vampy Bit Me), Mike Toole (“The Mike Toole Show” on Anime News Network), Lisa J (No Pink Spandex), Daniel Van Thomas (English voice of Ultraman Zero), Mach Dent (Vintage Henshin), Alyssa Fay (Daikaiju Legends), and Monster Island Buddies.”
They add, “Ultrathon kicks off on Saturday, July 10th at 7 a.m. PT with 19 hand-picked episodes across 9 Ultraman series – Ultraman, Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Leo, Ultra Q, Ultraman X, Ultraman Orb, and Ultraman Ginga – alongside segments of the new special, as it leads up to the 5 p.m. PT U.S. streaming debut of Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial as its grand finale.”
The official synopsis for ‘Ultraman Zero: The Revenge Of Belial’ explains the movie follows “Ultraman Zero, the rookie Ultraman from Tsuburaya’s 2009 theatrical movie returns, fully-fledged. However, he is confronted with the empowered Kaiser Belial, back from the evil Ultraman Belial whom he and other Ultra warriors battled so fiercely in Nebula M78. Can Ultraman Zero live up to the expectations of his legendary father Ultraseven?”
Superman Actor Dean Cain To Make His Feature-Length Directorial Debut
Dean Cain might be known for playing Superman in ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,’ but since the show ended in 1997, he has made continual appearances in television and film with no sign of stopping or slowing down.
Now, he is taking a turn in the director’s seat with his feature-length directorial debut via the upcoming family sports comedy film ‘Little Angels.’ Cain also wrote and will be starring in the movie which has begun production in Los Angeles.
Cain celebrated on social media, tweeting, “Sporting swag for (Little Angels.) Getting ready for my wings!!”
Sporting swag for @littleangelsmov
Getting ready for my wings!! pic.twitter.com/LnkRjupKPv— Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) May 28, 2021
Deadline reports that the story “revolves around Jake Rogers (Cain), a Division I college football coach at the top of his game who uses a female placekicker as a publicity stunt. When the player misses a field goal, the coach makes an offhand comment in the media about female athletes and is immediately suspended by the university. In an effort to get his job back, Rogers must coach a 12-year-old girls soccer team for the remainder of the season.”
The movie also stars Helena Mattsson (‘Something About Her’), Carla Jimenez (‘Spies in Disguise’), Torrance Coombs (‘Reign,’ ‘The Last Heist’), Juliet Donenfeld (‘Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’), Alex Jayne Go (‘Searching’) Ryan O’Quinn (‘A Champion Heart’), as well as Barry Brewer (‘The Power Couple ‘).
Cain shared an update on the film’s progress on Twitter with a photo of his character and the caption, “Coach Jake has a lot on his mind…”
Coach Jake has a lot on his mind…@littleangelsmov ⚽️🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/FTrwAmb5Mw
— Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) July 1, 2021
Cain starred in ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ from 1993 – 1997 along with Teri Hatcher who played the role of Lois Lane.
While the actor has not reprised his role as Superman since the 1990s, he has appeared in other comic book properties such as ‘Smallville,’ ‘DC Super Hero Girls,’ and had a recurring role as Dr. Jeremiah Danvers in the CW show ‘Supergirl.’
Cain’s first venture into directing was the 2012 short film ‘The Red Pill.’
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Morph Into An Ultimate Form!
Go! Go! Back in time to when Fox Kids was ruling Saturday morning! Who knew that redubbing some parts of a Japanese series and inserting totally ’90s American teen drama would spawn a hybrid that would last decades?
Well, here we are. We would have been exposed to Super Sentai in the early ’80s if Stan Lee had his way. Yup, he was attempting to bring over the series long before Saban got the rights. Unlike Saban’s series, Lee was going to redub the entire show rather than filming localized scenes when the Rangers were out of costume. Oh, well.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a powerhouse. I was in my teens when the series dropped and remembered the explosion of merchandise. Then the movie came out, and suddenly the Rangers were at McDonald’s, too. The series kept coming and evolving, but we owe all of that franchise’s State-side success to the very first season.
Super7’s Ultimates series is a premium action figure line. The figures come with several accessories, multiple heads, hands, and a mighty amount of articulation! Super7 is celebrating 28 years of Power Rangers by introducing the characters Ultimates premium line of action figures.
This initial wave of MMPR Ultimates contains these characters:
- Green Ranger
- Yellow Ranger
- Goldar
- Putty Patroller
- Tyrannosaurus Dinozord
The first wave of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ULTIMATES! includes FIVE exciting characters: Green Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Goldar, Putty Patroller, and – never before available in this scale – the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord!
These made-to-order, highly articulated, deluxe 7” scale action figures feature a variety of interchangeable parts and signature accessories, ready to reignite your childhood memories and send you back to Angel Grove!
Click here to pre-order your favorite Ranger, baddy, or Zord. Or order all five figures for $275.
Who or what should be in the second series of Super7’s MMPR? Billy? Gangsta Crizzab? Dennis Frogman? Let us know in the comments.
[Source: Super7]
Amazon Studios Renews ‘Good Omens’ For A Second Season
Amazon Studios has renewed its supernatural comedy series ‘Good Omens’ for a second season with Michael Sheen and David Tennant returning as Aziraphale and Crowley respectively. The former is an angel and the latter a demon who are working together to amidst the threat of Armageddon.
“The second season of the six-part humorous fantasy drama will begin filming later this year in Scotland and will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories around the world at a later date,” Amazon said in a press release. “The new season will explore storylines that go beyond the original source material to illuminate the uncanny friendship between Aziraphale, a fussy angel and rare book dealer, and the fast-living demon Crowley. Having been on Earth since The Beginning and with the Apocalypse thwarted, Aziraphale and Crowley are getting back to easy living amongst mortals in London’s Soho when an unexpected messenger presents a surprising mystery.”
The show is based on the 1990 fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The first season also featured six episodes, winning several awards including “Favourite On-Demand Show” at the TV Times Award.
Amazon confirms that “Neil Gaiman continues as executive producer and will co-showrun along with executive producer Douglas Mackinnon, who will also return to direct. Rob Wilkins, John Finnemore and BBC Studios Productions’ Head of Comedy Josh Cole will also executive produce, with Finnemore serving as co-writer alongside Gaiman.”
Sheen and Tennant also shared their thoughts on the renewal.
“Personally I’m against it, but the world isn’t going to just save itself, is it,” joked Sheen. “If David and I can manage to not fall out too badly this time it may even have a chance of getting finished.”
“The return of Good Omens is great news for me, personally,” Tennant added. “As I get to work with Michael again, and I get to say Neil’s wonderful words once more. It’s probably less good for the universe as it almost certainly means there will be some fresh existential threat to its existence to deal with, but, you know – swings and roundabouts…”
Liam Neeson Thriller ‘Unknown’ Is Getting A TV Show Adaption
In 2011, Liam Neeson starred in the Jaume Collet-Serra action-thriller ‘Unknown’ based on the French novel ‘Out of My Head’ by author Didier Van Cauwelaert. It also starred January Jones and Diane Kruger. Now we learned that Warner Bros. is developing a television adaption.
According to a press release from Warner Media,
“TNT announced today that it is developing “Unknown,” a one-hour drama based on the Liam Neeson box office hit produced by Dark Castle Entertainment. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film told the story of Martin Harris, a doctor who lost his memory after a car accident and woke up to find his identity taken and the target of mysterious assassins. The series would pick up after the events of the film and follow a new lead character that is thrust into a mind-bending adventure full of twists and turns.”
They continue, “Sean Finegan (“Free Fall”) will write the pilot and executive produce. Karl Gajdusek (“Stranger Things”) and Speed Weed (“Arrow” “Summer I Turned Pretty” “Winx Saga”) will showrun and executive produce. Ethan Erwin, Alex Mace and Hal Sadoff of Dark Castle are also executive producers, alongside Erik Olsen (“The Dirt”) and Liam Neeson (“Unknown”). Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise,” “Black Adam” “Orphan,” “The Shallows”) is attached to direct and executive produce.”
Liam Neeson discussed the film with Den of Geek shortly after its premiere.
“Well, a thriller’s a thriller,” he explained. “There were a few I was offered, but they were a little bit predictable, stuff we had seen before and that is just the beauty of this script for Unknown. I thought it was very intelligent, a real psychological thriller that just had a feel of the gritty European thrillers from the forties and fifties and of Hitchcock too. There’s a Hitchcockian element in there as well, I think.”
The 2011 film had its premiere at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival before being widely released in the United States on February 18, 2011.
While receiving mixed critical reviews, the movie was number one at the box office and made a worldwide total of $136.1 million against an estimated $40 million.
Amazon’s Algorithms Fire Drivers, but what About Bootleg Merchandise?
Amazon’s Flex is summed up as, “You use your own vehicle to deliver packages for Amazon as a way of earning extra money to move you closer to your goals.” It is currently implemented in over 50 cities across the US.
Arstechnica posted a story regarding the odd amount of automation that goes into the Flex drivers program. From driver verification to ratings to firings, much of it is determined and doled out by algorithms rather than people. Flex appears to leave contractors in a lurch if something goes wrong, though.
On the one hand, it is understandable that this system would have to be in place. These people are contractors with no true direct supervisor. With so many remote employees, the most economical route would be to automate supervisory or disciplinary actions.
Where is the oversight, though? If a Flex driver is terminated due to a bad verification selfie, who is there to readily fix the issue rather than the employee having to petition the firing? Who is reviewing why an employee’s ratings are dropping? Looking at the raw numbers does not always tell the whole story.
Unfortunately, drivers are left in the cold if they do find themselves fired. There is an appeals process. If that fails, the contractor can choose to pay $200 for arbitration. If you’re in a right-to-work state, the avenues for legal recourse may be slim-to-none.
Since the pandemic started, I’ve met quite a few people who chose to deliver packages rather than food or people. They wouldn’t go into details about the program. So, I’m assuming there’s a pretty stern NDA in effect.
I don’t blame them for keeping quiet. From what I’ve seen of Amazon’s warehouses, I am pretty turned off. When I saw how closely monitored warehouse employees were, I asked, “Do we really need that many cameras pointed at the two restrooms workers have to run to, so they don’t get a reprimand?”
The conditions these contractors and Amazon’s warehouse workers find themselves in make me wonder what the company is ultimately building towards. It’s not better for employees, and it certainly isn’t for verifying the authenticity of the merchandise the site lists/sells/ships.
Where are the algorithms that flag suspicious merchandise? Amazon is full of knock-offs, counterfeits, and collections of ROMs that are not licensed. We could argue about the positives and negatives of video game ROM files, but for this story, we’re looking at what Amazon turns a blind eye to.
During Prime Day this year, I saw the company’s official Instagram was advertising a 3DS cart with 500 games on it. All the games shown were Nintendo, Bandai, Nickelodeon, Universal, WB, and others. We all know this isn’t some official collaboration.
These 500-in-1 carts are not uncommon on Amazon. They come in all shapes and sizes, from entire game systems to NES carts, to SEGA carts, to pre-loaded arcade controllers. Who is ultimately responsible for protecting both the consumer and the copyright holder?
Does Nintendo have to comb through each listing and flag the offenders? Where is the algorithm that spots these multi-carts and instantly puts them on a list for verification?
Amazon could say that they’re not really responsible because another company lists and ships the items. However, there are plenty of other examples of these collections that are shipped by Amazon directly. Does this mean the company actively and willfully breaking the DMCA?
ROMs aren’t the only issue but were the easiest to demonstrate here.
I reached out to Amazon earlier today and asked what systems are in place to flag counterfeit merchandise or collections of unlicensed/illegal ROMs. We did not immediately hear back.
[Source: Arstechnica]
‘Mass Effect’ Was To Have A Nintendo DS FPS Space Pirate Game!
Gamespot reported on an interview conducted by MinnMax with a former Bioware employee. The person in question, Mark Darrah, let the beans spill that a first-person Mass Effect game was in the works for Nintendo’s portable DS system.
The Nintendo DS was launched in 2004 and was discontinued nine years later. The dual-screen system was no stranger to spin-offs, but the FPS genre isn’t something that immediately springs to mind when thinking of the DS. Plenty of first-person titles existed for it, but that seems like an odd way to go for something like a portable Mass Effect.
The aborted title would have been Mass Effect: Corsair. The game would have broken off from the main title’s story. Rather than Shep sexing up aliens and uniting species against the Reapers, you would have been a space pirate. Yes, please!
Free from the chains of the Council and laws in general while galavanting around in space? Man, why couldn’t we get that game? What I truly loved about Mass Effect 2 was that it stripped away a lot of the red tape of bureaucracy and let you live in the gray area for a bit. Of course, that’s what I was hoping Andromeda would do as well … but we all know what a mess that turned out to be.
Seriously, why was everyone in that game so ugly? It was like every female character stuffed their cheeks with cotton balls—such a weird design decision.
Anyway. Space pirates! Sadly, the game didn’t get too far into development. Darrah is quoted as saying the team was only starting the endeavor, “Pretty much all we had was the beginning of the flight controls; we didn’t really have the rest of that game put together.”
Why didn’t the game continue in development? EA didn’t see a profit in it. By the time the game would have launched, the DS was nearing the end of its life cycle. Rather than continuing the cost of creating a game that EA thought would ship less than 100k copies, the powers that be just shut it down.
It could have been great. It could have been terrible. We’ll never know. There wasn’t enough of a game there in the first place for us to even get to grips with its potential. The idea was jam-packed with opportunity, for sure. Maybe someday, Bioware will dig itself out of the hole Anthem and Andromeda put it in and give us something special again.
I await that day.
Let us know your thoughts on a space pirate Mass Effect title. Cool? Lame? Put your comments in the comments section that’s made for comments.
[Source: GameSpot]
Opinion: XBOX’s XCloud Gaming Is Out Of Beta. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.
It’s out of beta and into your browsers and cell phones. XCloud, Microsoft’s answer to the Stadia, is here. We can now freely stream a healthy library of games, but at what cost of quality?
We saw the story over at Arstechnica. Safari, Chrome, and Edge browsers have joined the official list of supported avenues, along with IOS devices. Click here for the comprehensive list of what will work with the new service and required PC specs.
I’ve been looking forward to this service. My Game Pass account is paid up for several years, thanks to MS’s generosity. So, I planned to take full advantage of it now that I can travel again.
The excitement took a major dip right off the bat when I tried to access the service. Even though I was signed in, the XBOX site kept asking me to repurchase Game Pass. Considering I cannot add any more subscription time to my account until 2023, I found this odd. So I searched for a couple of different links into XCloud and finally found one that bypassed this weird double-dipping paywall.
So, we tried XCloud gaming here at the Syxx Sense Media Studios. Unfortunately, it’s… not good. At first, we tried Doom Eternal because that’s a good benchmark for latency. However, if you don’t have tight controls in that game, it’s a nightmare to play. Indeed, a nightmare it was. I’d take my hands off the controller, and Doom Guy would still be walking forwards for about a half-second.
Next, we booted up Streets of Rage 4. While it does require quick reflexes, the game is more forgiving. I’ve plowed through the game multiple times on the Switch, and around halfway through my first playthrough on the XBOX One.
Notice anything weird about the gameplay? It’s sluggish. The controller latency is pretty bad. This is on a 200mb/s connection. What we experienced here is about on par with what we saw with the Stadia. PSNow is a bit better, but that service has had years to work out the kinks.
Would I pay $14.99 a month solely for this service? Not a chance. Is it a nice side feature if you have an XBOX One or Series X? Yeah. If you’ve already got a PC, I’m not sure I understand the draw of using XCloud, as many of the games are either available elsewhere or are downloadable on the XBOX app.
About two weeks ago, we gave Amazon’s Luna a shot, and it worked surprisingly well. Our first game was RE: Biohazard. It was a little more obvious that it was a stream, with some minor stuttering, but the latency was almost unnoticeable. The stall in our control inputs to movement on-screen only crept up when our connection speed dipped as the peak usage hours started.
[Source: Arstechnica]
