Michael Douglas is *Also* ANT-MAN

When Marvel announced that Paul Rudd was the lead in Edgar Wright's "ANT-MAN" without giving the character a proper name, people just kind of assumed he was playing a version of Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, and not Hank Pym, the originator of the role. Now that appears to be official, as newly-minted Golden Globes winner Michael Douglas has been cast as Pym.

This was sort-of expected anyway: Pym is a difficult character, in that he's been kept prominent through connections to other more important figures but writers have consistently struggled to find anything to do with him (outside of having him change power-sets and secret-identities like pants) since the Marvel Universe isn't really hurting for super-scientists and Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic are all kind of more popular. Eventually an overzealous artist overdrew a scene of Pym lashing out at his wife ("The Wasp," who has the same shrinky-powers but also has wings and is a lady) and "wife-beater" became a running fandom gag and his defining characteristic for decades now.

Wright has described the film as a "heist movie." In the comics, Lang was a reformed burglar who "borrowed" Pym's Ant-Man gear to pull a job to save his sick kid; Pym let's him keep the gear and the name provided he only continue to use it for good - which, once balance, actually qualifies as sensible decisionmaking on Pym's part. Variety briefly "mis-reported" that Douglas was actually playing the villain in the film, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pym was the antagonist for the movie, or became one (he will likely not, it's already been stressed elsewhere, be the creator of Ultron for "AVENGERS 2.")

TGWTG, Chez Apocalypse & Me @ MAGFEST

Realized I didn't post it here before (busy month for me) but here's a movie panel from MAGFest mainly stocked by cool cats from That Guy With The Glasses and Chez Apocalypse that I wound up getting invited to join at the last minute - literally, I saw the group hanging out and went to say hello, they asked if I was on the panel too, I said no, they said I should be, so I did:

Escape to The Movies: DHOOM 3

Don't even ask me about "HERCULES."

Also: Five *Entertainment* Reforms Millenials Should Be Fighting For

The Escapist : Escape to the Movies : Dhoom 3

"STALINGRAD" Coming To U.S. Theaters

2013's "STALINGRAD," alternately known as "STALINGRAD 3D," is Russia's first natively-produced IMAX 3D action the highest-grossing Russian movie in history. Basic pitch: An ultra-stylized (think "300") war epic set during the famous six month battle between Nazi and Soviet forces during WWII. In yet another sign of blockbuster filmmaking's new era of globalism, the film is getting a U.S. release to IMAX screens in February.

And, holy shit... it looks pretty fucking good:

Seriously. I don't care what language or format it's in (or even how good the rest of the movie is), I can't forsee a scenario where that last bit (starting at 2:25) doesn't end up being one of the best action beats ever. Wow.

Big Picture: JUNK DRAWER 2014

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Junk Drawer 2014