Duke of Sussex records video to comfort youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for military children
The Duke of Sussex dressed up as Spider-Man in a surprise video message to try to comfort bereaved military children.
He donned the superhero outfit and only lifted his mask to reveal his true identity at the end of a specially recorded message for youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for bereaved British forces children and young people.
Continue reading...Bringing Spideys old and new together was a masterclass in giving audiences what they want, and points to what Batman v Superman got so wrong
Fan service has come a long way since 2006, when studio New Line allowed its audience to basically crowd-think the entirety of Samuel L Jackson action epic Snakes on a Plane. Back then, somebody high up thought it would be a really good idea to start borrowing lines for Jackson to say (while fighting off those airborne reptiles) from a hyped-up geek community who had been spending most of their spare time discussing the unreleased movie on fan forums and blogs. The best/worst of them ended up being the legendary (for all the wrong reasons) line: “Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!” Up there with Jackson’s famous Ezekiel 25:17 speech about the path of the righteous man it really wasn’t.
This week Marvel and Sony have shown how to do fan service properly. And all it took was a staged meme featuring all three webslingers from global megasmash Spider-Man: No Way Home pointing at each other. The image recalls a famous still from episode 19 of the 1967-1970 animated Spider-Man show, in which a Spidey-impostor – clue, he’s really a criminal – tries to impersonate the masked wallcrawler. It’s since been used millions of times in social media posts, often to illustrate moments when celebrities meet each other (according to the Know Your Meme website).
Continue reading...With his films Tick, Tick ... Boom! and The Eyes of Tammy Faye tipped for Oscars success, he discusses his inner malevolence, his mother’s death – and his ‘heartbreaking’ time as Spider-Man
Andrew Garfield is smiling beatifically and clasping his hands together as if in prayer. The pose suits an actor who has cornered the market in the holy and heroic, from a Jesuit priest in Silence to a Seventh-day Adventist saving lives on the battlefield in Hacksaw Ridge; from a man left paralysed by polio in Breathe to a credulous innocent who dies surrendering his organs in Never Let Me Go. He is a remarkable actor, but watch too many of his movies back to back and you are liable to hear celestial trumpets.
His prayer-like gesture of gratitude comes in response to my promise not to ask whether he and his fellow former web-slinger Tobey Maguire will be appearing in the new Spider-Man: No Way Home. “I appreciate that,” says the 38-year-old, speaking over Zoom from Calgary, where he is shooting the murder-and-Mormons series Under the Banner of Heaven. There seems no point posing the Spidey question when he has greeted each identical inquiry this year with a display of shrugging bafflement that may or may not be genuine. (Let’s see when the movie opens next month.)
Continue reading...The comics giant has issued lawsuits in a bid to hold on to the copyright of heroes including Spider-Man and Iron Man
Marvel has filed a series of lawsuits in a bid to retain full control of characters including Spider-Man and Iron Man.
The complaints, which were obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, came after the estate of the late comic book artist Steve Ditko filed a notice of termination with the US Copyright Office for the copyright of Spider-Man and Dr Strange. Both are currently held by Marvel Entertainment, but the estate of Ditko, who co-created both characters with the late Stan Lee, is looking to terminate the grant of copyright to Marvel by June 2023 through a clause in US copyright law.
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