Tinkerer, Shocker, & Mary Jane Cast in Spider-Man: Homecoming

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Edited by Robert Beach

After weeks of actor announcements, we finally have a new casting announcement for 2017’s hotly anticipated Spider-Man: Homecoming. So far the film has assembled a murder’s row of talented actors, and that’s on top of the goodwill it’s built up from Spider-Man’s extended cameo in this year’s Captain America: Civil War. What’s more, Homecoming has consistently made headlines with their emphasis on color-blind casting and trying to make-up for Marvel’s stifling lack of diversity so far. 

For the first time, we’ve got a Marvel movie set in New York that tries to reflect the diverse make-up of that city rather than just a bunch of white people and their one black friend. Given that this casting news involves race bending a popular character, there’s been no small amount of Internet ire over it. Given this column is about speculation and analysis rather than character’s hair or skin color, I’ll just say everyone should just relax. Now let’s dive in. 

Ash vs Evil Dead S2 Trailer

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Horror movies getting made into TV shows is a bit of a thing now.  It’s hard to say when exactly this trend started though I’d probably point mostly to 2013, that was when Bates Motel and Hannibal both premiered to shocking levels of success.  Prior to that you’d had some literary-to-TV examples like NBC’s Dracula, AMC’s Walking Dead, or the horror hodgepodge Penny Dreadful but since 2013 we’ve also enjoyed an Omen show, a Scream show, an Exorcist show in the work, and today’s subject: Ash vs. the Evil Dead.

I am a huge fan of the Evil Dead mythos; I love the original trilogy, the comics are a blast, and I’ve even enjoyed some of the video games they’ve made so when I heard “Evil Dead TV show” I was there.  And season 1 turned out to be pretty good, maybe not excellent and with a little too much padding but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Now the time has come for season 2 and along with some interesting news we’ve got a trailer and it promises to double down on all the stuff that worked about season 1 and then some. 

Martin Starr & Logan Marshall Good join Spider-Man: Homecoming

Edited By Robert Beach 
Damn, it must be casting season as this is the 4^th recent article I’ve written about casting news. If you haven’t been following the slow drip of casting news coming out of Marvel/Sony’s latest Spider-Man blockbuster, here’s the deal. 

We were all introduced to the new Spider-Man, Tom Holland, earlier this year during his star-making turn in Captain America: Civil War. Since then, Sony has slowly been announcing casting for his solo film Spider-Man: Homecoming, most notably with Michael Keaton, the original Batman, signed up. More recently Donald Glover, of Community and The Martian, was rumored to be playing a role in the film much to the Internet’s engagement. 

Now, two new names have joined the cast list in the form of Logan Marshall Good, of Prometheus and The Invitation, and Martin Starr, of Party Down and Silicon Valley.

Static Thoughts - Jack of All Trades

This has been a very strange but good year for nerdy comebacks, but none stranger than Ash vs. Evil Dead.  Ash vs. Evil Dead is a TV show sequel to the cult classic film series by movie geek turned blockbuster hit maker Sam Raimi.  The fact that Ash vs. Evil Dead exists at all is a miracle given that it’s a big budget premium show made out of a no-budget 1981 horror flick but the fact that’s it’s actually really good seems like some kind of masterful alchemy or magic.  A big part of its charm definitely lies with Bruce Campbell, lord of sleaze and cheese whose career also started with the original Evil Dead.  What’s impressive and still kind of shows through is that Campbell wasn’t really an actor pre-Evil Dead, just a friend that director Sam Raimi got to star in the movie. 

That friendship has always proved strong and lucrative for both men, so in the ‘90s when Raimi hit it big as a TV producer with shows like Xena and Hercules he decided to give his old friend Bruce another shot with the starring role in a historical comedy called Jack of All Trades.  Now that Bruce Campbell is back in a leading role on our televisions and his place in our collective hearts has been reaffirmed I figure it’s a good time to look back on Jack of All Trades. 

Female-Led Blade Reboot Coming?

Edited by Robert Beach

So the rumor mill has begun cranking once more over the future plans of Marvel studios. The latest word on the comic company turned studio juggernaut is that they’re currently in plans for a new Blade film that will apparently revolve around the vampire hunter’s daughter. This would be in line with the new upcoming Blade comic slatted for release as part of the All-New Marvel branding initiative this fall. 

The initiative is part of the company’s first major universe reboot in the wake of the ongoing Secret Wars comic and is very much a continuation of the current Marvel ethos of increased diversity and representation. Film wise, this rumor says a lot about Marvel’s priorities going forward and how far in advance they’re willing to try and plan things out. If Marvel is starting work on a new Blade movie, it’d have to be slotted for release in 2019 as part of the so far unrevealed phase 4. 

Spider-man Reboot Finds Writers

Awhile back it a rumor started circulating that Marvel had chosen writers for their new Spider-man reboot.  In and of itself this may not seem like a big deal but with a character like Spider-man the writers on the film are actually a big deal.  This will be our third iteration of Spider-man and looking back over the Sam Raimi and Andrew Garfield films its easy to see how much the writing and dialogue defines the character.  In Sam Raimi’s version Spider-man is an earnest throwback to the classic silver age iteration of the character and that depiction filters down through every other aspect of the film.  Conversely Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man is emphasizes cynical sarcasm with a much sleeker and more modern bent to the character so the entire film ended up sleek and cynical in tone.