Extras! 14 March 2014

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

The upcoming Divergent is the latest flick to try and capture the YA adaptation crown for itself. While The Hunger Games franchise is arguably the current owner of said crown, due to its combination of critical and box office successes, it was actually the much maligned/loved Twilight series that kickstarted this craze. However, Divergent star Shailene Woodley doesn’t have much regard for the necrophilia and bestiality vampire and werewolf love story.

“‘Twilight,’ I’m sorry, is about a very unhealthy, toxic relationship. She falls in love with this guy and the second he leaves her, her life is over and she’s going to kill herself. What message are we sending to young people? That is not going to help this world evolve.”

Stop, drop and roll, Twilight. Stop, drop and roll.

We’re just a couple of weeks away from Game of Thrones returning to our screens with its 4th season, so maybe you want to do a recap of season 3 but just don’t have the time to sit through 10 episodes. Well, then this newly released vid from HBO is just for you, as it recaps all of the 3rd season in a relatively brief 25 mins. All of the major plot points are revisited, yes, even the Red Wedding, because apparently some of you are masochists who want to feel like you’ve been kicked in the squishy bits again.

The buzz surrounding Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been utterly insane, but in all that buzz we haven’t actually heard much said about the Winter Soldier himself. Well, I hope we’re really going to like him, because according to the man who plays the character, he’s going to be around for a very long time still, as he has apparently signed a 9-picture deal with Marvel Studios.

Hmmm… Can anybody say “Death of Captain America” story arc? Would Marvel have the balls to kill off Chris Evans and replace him though? They have recently shown their cojones to be of considerable mass, so who knows.

Speaking of people returning to roles, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen have officially signed on for Taken 3, which according to reports is going to be the final film in the franchise. Because seriously, how many times does Liam Neeson have to decimate the young male population of Eastern Europe before they get the hint that you leave his family the hell alone?

We got our first, rather good look at Matt Ryan in Constantine yesterday, but apparently some of our regular readers were immediately confused by the fact that there happened to also be other people in the picture. So for a particular Extraterrestrial Monarch, here’s a new official image released by NBC, giving us an even better look. And once again, they nailed it!

J.K. Simmons, whose moustache terrorised Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, has signed on to join director Alan Taylor’s upcoming Terminator: Genesis reboot. Simmons, most well known as newspaper man J. Jonah Jameson, will be playing a “weary and alcoholic detective who has followed a bizarre case involving Sarah Connor and robots for more than three decades.”

THR notes that Simmons’ character has been on the case since 1984, which was the year of the events from the original film.

Dear local movie houses, Wes Anderson doesn’t want you to screw up the projection of The Grand Budapest Hotel, with its three different aspect ratios – and neither do I! – so he’s drawn up some careful instructions for you. Please pay attention, there may be a quiz later.

Pete Holmes is back with the latest edition of “Street Fighter Red Tape” and this time, he’s focusing his bureaucratic gaze on Ryu and a particularly unpronounceable special move of his. And it’s hilarious!

Poster of the Day: Dredd

Like Game of Thrones? Also like beer? Then boy, are you in for a treat!

And to add a bit of balance around here, lets end with a YA adaptation, just like we started with one. Now I really enjoyed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, even calling it the best YA adaptation to date. Many critics/fans would agree with me, but apparently we should have spent less time being charmed by Jennifer Lawrence and more time noting everything wrong with it. Which apparently, was a lot.

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: March 14, 2014