The Secret DEADPOOL - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Vol. 2 Character Exchange Revealed

FOX had to trade a character back to MARVEL to make DEADPOOL.

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Interview with Actor Ben Cotton of NatGeo Miniseries MARS

By: Haylee Fisher (@haylee_fisher)

From the creative and prolific minds of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard comes tonight’s global miniseries event, MARS.

Inspired by Stephen Petranek’s book “How We’ll Live on Mars,” NatGeo’s MARS depicts the first voyage to the Red Planet and the success and tribulations that might entail through a unique storytelling format: scripted scenes set in 2033 that depict the mission intermixed with interviews with real-life scientific experts like Elon Musk and Neil DeGrasse Tyson to give accurate, documentary-style context.

Ben Cotton portrays one of the astronauts on this pioneering mission. I recently spoke to him about why the project excited him even before he auditioned, what sets this project apart from other Mars-related media, whether he would actually ever want to go to Mars, and more.

What was it about this project that drew you in and made you want to be a part of it?

I looked at the audition notice and I looked at the names on it and before I even read anything, I see “National Geographic” and as I’ve learned since we shot this thing, anywhere you go, people perk up when they hear that. They do! I’ve had the good fortune of being in many different places where I’ve spoken to people with whom it was difficult to communicate because we didn’t have a common language and we were struggling through trying to speak each others’ languages and having trouble communicating until National Geographic comes up, and it’s something everyone’s like, “Ooohhhh!” Everybody loves it. So seeing that, and seeing Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and Radical Media – I had just finished watching a few of their documentaries and loved them, actually right before I got the audition, so all of that together made it look like a very thrilling project and of course reading the scripts just helped to solidify that feeling.

Tell me about the training that went into accurately portraying an astronaut. Did you go through anything real astronauts go through?

I wish we had! We didn’t actually get to. I was kind of hoping we’d get to go on that thing – what do you call it? The vomit comet? [Laughs] The thing that flies up and down like a roller coaster and lets you feel zero gravity. We didn’t get to do all that stuff, but I certainly spent hours watching videos of astronauts and interviews with them. Lots of different videos, like things from up on the space station. And we got to spend a lot of time with Dr. Mae Jemison, who is a former astronaut with NASA. She’s also got nine Ph.D’s. Let’s just think about that for a second. Nine of them! And she is the first African American woman in space. So we had a wonderful and privileged time to hang out with her and to learn from her everything she certainly figured we would need to know to do this show. She taught us everything from what the effects are on your body when you’re in zero gravity, then what happens when you re-enter into gravity; she taught us about her training and what sort of things she went through; what you go through mentally when you have to prepare yourself for possibly not returning to Earth, because of course, as we’ve seen, unfortunately with any space travel, it’s got potential dangers to it; and she taught us how to deal with one another and how to communicate with one another, because, of course, people in the shuttles and in different areas of the space programs are taught a certain cadence and a certain way of dealing with each other so you don’t get too emotional when things are going wrong and there’s a stressful situation – you’re meant to stay calm and be very clear with one another. So she helped us understand all of that stuff and it was great.



What was the most challenging aspect from the project? The training, the research, the shoot in hot Morocco…?

Yeah, I would say that was probably the most challenging, the hot shoot in Morocco. There were days where we would go out there and it was 125 degrees on a couple of them, and I’m not a religious man, but there were times when I was looking up at the sky going, “Please, not today!” But we all made it through. They had suits inside of our suits that had cooling systems in them that would pump cold water through and cool us down and help us to regulate, which almost made it hard because you’d cool down and you’d un-tether from the ice water and you’d immediately be roasting again. But all in all, we had a great time and a lot of laughs, so it was cool.

Obviously lots of movies and TV shows explore what it might be like to go to Mars, but a more recent project to do so was The Martian. Andy Weir is even interviewed for this project, but how did y’all seek to make this show look and feel different so as not to seem like a re-hash of the same locations and stories from it?

I think it’s a very different storyline from The Martian. I don’t know how much I can give away, in terms of what the plot is like. I think when you watch it, you’ll see it’s quite different from The Martian. What I think sets this thing apart is the story for this is born out of the interviews with all of the experts we’ve got, the list of 21 “big-thinkers,” as we’re calling them. And they’ve all been interviewed about what a mission to Mars will look like and what will need to happen in order to make it happen, what sort of challenges arise, and the storyline that we have that I’m a part of is born out of those interviews, so everything that happens in the story is based on fact. You know, one of our producers was calling it, rather than science fiction, science factual. And I think they’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that everything that you do see is based on fact. Of course, it’s National Geographic, so I think that’s certainly part of their M.O., isn’t it? Making sure what you’re seeing is the truth.

Why do you think humanity is so obsessed with Mars and possibly actually going there some day?

I think there are a number of things. Any kid that’s looked up at the sky at night has sort of had a fantasy about going up there, or certainly going in to the stars, and Mars is the one place in our solar system that could possibly support us. Most of the other places will kill you dead before you even get close to them, so I think that’s maybe a big part of it – that it’s the most inhabitable thing we’ve got close to us. And also there’s the idea that, at some point in our future, there will be some sort of extinction event that will happen on the planet, as has happened a number of times already, and whether that comes from global warming or a meteor hitting the planet or could be a nuclear thing – it could be anything! – and the idea is that if we can get human beings to Mars and become an interplanetary species, we lower the risk of extinction down to nearly zero. So there are a lot of people who are looking at it that way, that this is about hope for the continuation of humankind, with or without our planet.

The cast is very diverse and it’s because in 2033 where your part of the show is set, all of the space-going nations have merged to form an international space program. Do you see something like that happening in real life and why do you think the joining of forces would be advantageous (Or disastrous! Either way.) in exploring more of space?

I think it would certainly be advantageous. You’d have the expertise coming from a lot of different backgrounds and countries and I don’t think that could do anything but help the situation. It’s also something that I think, if we are going to get to Mars, it’s going to require a lot of the world coming together and starting to think together on that goal. I don’t know that it’s a one-nation thing to do. And I think making the cast as diverse as that and the group of private and public entities coming together in the story is symbolic of where we would like to go in the future, both here on Earth and in space. The question of whether there would be problems, I certainly don’t know what they would be.



The show is a hybrid series, with some set in 2016 like a documentary, but some set in 2033 as a “what if” situation. How do you think such a creative style will influence future filmmakers to tell more and more ambitious stories?

I hope it opens up doors and gives them different ways of looking at storytelling. I think that’s been part of the goal and the aim: to break genres down and build something new. I gotta say, as we were shooting it, all I got was the scripts. We saw a few of the talking heads – the interviews – but I didn’t see all of it, so I really had no concept of how it would be woven together. So I’ve seen the first two episodes now, and to see the way they’ve woven it together, I think it works beautifully and I think it’s a really interesting way to start telling stories. Usually when you get interviews in that kind of way, people are talking about the past or an event or something that has already transpired and so to see somebody speaking about the future in the way that they are, and then to have the story go along with it, I’ve certainly never seen anything like it and we’ve screened it for a few audiences and that’s been the thing reflected back to me again and again is that everybody keeps saying how exciting it is because they’ve never seen anything like it. So hopefully that inspires storytellers to try something new.

What do you hope people learn or take away from this miniseries?

I hope they are inspired. That’s one of the main things. If this mission is to succeed in the future, and certainly there are people planning on doing it – the process is happening and people are working towards it right now – so I hope people who watch it, maybe young people watching it, get inspired and that might direct them toward science programs where they might not have gone that way before so that it will start to cultivate a new generation of people who will actually be the astronauts who go. So I hope it inspires peoples’ sense of adventure, I hope it inspires their thirst for knowledge, and I hope they’re just straight-up entertained by it.

Finally, and I know you’ve probably been asked this a million times, but would you ever want to go to Mars?

[Laughs] You know, I don’t know that it’s for me. I’ll put it this way: certainly not the mission that we’re depicting, which would be the first group to go. I don’t think I would want to be a part of that. Maybe the seventh or eighth mission? There’s nice beds and there’s a coffee shop and a movie theater and places to go and once they’ve sorted out how to deal with the water and oxygen issues that would be present. Or to shield you from the radiation. Mars is not going to be an easy place. Would you want to go?

I would not!

MARS premieres tonight at 9/8c on National Geographic Channel.

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Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Review

By: Thomas Riccardi

The Call of Duty series has taken us from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam through different titles in the series ranging from Black Ops to Advanced Warfare. The latest game to join the line-up is Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and fans hated the initial trailer. Does the game subvert those expectations and rate well enough for you to spend your hard-earned money on it, or should you go with another game that is coming out in the next few weeks?

The campaign for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare takes place in the future where the United Nation Space Alliance was formed to branch out into the galaxy. They created colonies on other worlds so that Earth could thrive and flourish throughout the galaxy. During Fleet Week in Geneva as a celebration of the UNSA and their ships, the defense cannons start to come online, but are targeting friendly ships. Amongst the chaos, the forces of the Settlement Defense Front start killing civilians and military personnel alike. This new enemy wants to see Earth punished for its actions.

The single player campaign is great as there are a lot of great moments as you choose where to strike next. This sets it apart from most of the other Call of Duty games where you had to go from one mission to the next in a linear fashion. You will also take control of the UNSA Retribution, a warship that will serve as your base of operations. You will be able to customize your loadouts and obtain new technology as you make your way through the campaign. However, the campaign is VERY short and while there are a lot of great moments, if you love the single player experience, you will be done with it rather quickly. This campaign can be done in around five hours, with around seven or eight on a harder difficulty. But this has been the norm with the Call of Duty games as of late as they are focusing on a multiplayer experience.

The multiplayer in the game is on par with the other games in the series with a few changes. The specialists that were introduced in Black Ops 3 are back, but in the form of Rigs. These combat Rigs have different abilities as you gain kills in combat. A meter fills and when it is filled, you can use that ability. There are three Rigs you start out with: the Merc (with steel dragon, a beam weapon that can hit multiple targets), Warfighter (that has a claw weapon that can shoot in a wide spread), and Synaptic (a robot that has twin machine pistols). There are a total of six Rigs in the game and while it doesn’t sound like a lot, they can be customized with various payloads to fit your playstyle. However, there are some problems with the multiplayer as well and the first has to be the matchmaking. I got the game during the week and tried to find a lobby and spent nearly a half hour looking before I gave up. My other problem is that the multiplayer maps do not flow as well as the ones in Black Ops 3. In that game, there was plenty of room to move around and some of the maps in this game feel claustrophobic. Still, there are certain choke points you can just camp in and rack up a bunch of kills.

But zombie mode has to be the saving grace of Infinite Warfare as everything about it is perfect! You are called to a creepy movie theater to audition for a part in Willard Wyler’s new horror movie. After being a recluse for years, he has come out of retirement and has chosen you to be in his new film. As you take your seat in the theater, though, a portal opens up through the screen and sucks you into the movie. The movie is called Zombies in Spaceland and takes place at an amusement park called Spaceland. You can choose to play as the nerd (Poindexter), the jock (A.J), the rapper (Andre), or the valley girl (Sally). What is great about this new zombies mode is that it takes place in the 80’s and everything reflects it, from the decor in the park to the zombies themselves – there is even a DJ spinning tunes while you play. And the DJ is played by none other than David Hasselhoff! For me, this is the best part of Infinite Warfare and I hope they come out with more content for this mode (perhaps branching out into more of Wyler’s other films?). Only time will tell.

But that’s not all, folks. If you buy the Legacy edition of the game, you will also get a copy of Modern Warfare remastered. Yes, you heard right: you can play the game that started the Warfare franchise both online and in the campaign mode. I’ve been playing the campaign and when “Charlie Don’t Surf” loaded up, I was blown away with the new slick-looking visuals. This is a great game that needs to be played both online and off, but the only drawback is that it currently cannot be purchased separately. You need to plunk down $80 for all the content and Modern Warfare remastered. If you really want to play this game, I would suggest waiting, as Activision will release a solo pack containing this game.

While Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has a lackluster campaign and a multiplayer mode rife with problems, Zombies in Spaceland is its saving grace. Hopefully Activision will correct some of these problems and release some great content for this game in the months to come.

For more information on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, head over to the official website and get ready to reach for the stars.

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Arrival Review

By Justin Jasso (@jjasso007)

As long as there has been humanoid life on the Earth, there has likely been a fear of the unknown. Imagine, the first person to ever see a sunset probably thought, “Welp, this can’t be good.” Turns out they were wrong. Yet the fear remains real. Today, with our technology and advanced sciences, we know so much more about the world, the universe, and how things work. Currently, our fears may include our global resources, fears of terror attacks, the fact that Donald Trump is actually going to be the face and voice of the United States, and what happens when we finally do make contact with people outside of our universe. Director Denis Villeneueve (Sicario) tackles the later subject with his new film, Arrival.

Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is a languages professor who also happens to be one of the top linguistics experts in the world. She goes through the motions each day after losing her husband and the death of her only daughter to cancer. During one of her lectures, she and her class observe the arrival of 12 identical alien vessels at random points around the world. With no one knowing where the aliens came from or what they want, the world is at a standstill with whether this is an act of war or something else. Because of her previous work decoding messages for the government, she has upper level military clearance and is recruited – along with theoretical mathematician, Dr. Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) – by Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to decipher the few sounds they have received of the alien language. However, knowing that language is the cornerstone of civilization, Louise must find a way to generate communication through words and begin to understand the alien’s vocabulary before the rest of the world takes steps which may lead to war and, quite possibly, the end of humanity. Will Louise and Ian break the language barrier, or will global tensions fuel and ignite an intergalactic war before time is up? The world clock is ticking…



If you’ve seen Sicario or Prisoners, then you know what Villeneueve is capable of, and he undoubtedly delivers here. Arrival isn’t an action film, it is not a real adventure film, it is not melodramatic; what this film is about is life, humanity, and a real reflection of our world and what may come. Based on the story by Ted Chiang, Villeneueve takes us step by step as Louise experiences the encounter. From her arrival in Montana, to a debriefing, gearing up to travel to the alien vessel, the ride there, and the ascension to the vessels opening – which happens once every 18 hours – we are taken through it in almost real time, building that sense of wonder and awe through the almost point-of-view type of storytelling for a good portion of the film. We do not see the alien vessel until Louise looks upon it with her own eyes for the first time, and we do not see the alien creatures until Louise does as well. I won’t spoil what the aliens look like, how they communicate, what the inside of the ships entail, or what they came to Earth for; that’s something you’ll have to experience on your own. Yet it is this creativity, this type of magic and aura that surrounds these encounters that takes the film to a whole new level. This genre of film has been approached in so many ways in the past, but this what a great director can do: he can make it come alive with new life, feel entirely fresh, and bring a truly unique experience to you, the viewer.



Amy Adams is the heart and soul of the film. She has been acting for over 17 years, and she’s had five Oscar nominations for Best Actress in that time, having played roles from quirky to serious, yet this may be one of her more psychologically complex roles to date. When it comes to Louise, the story deceives us from early on, yet that deception isn’t understood until the final act of the film, to which Adams takes us along for the ride throughout the entire process. Her character is strong and independent, a professional and the top of her field, yet her hands tremble and she is nervous and scared. She deals with not only the weight of the world on her shoulders, but the past that she cannot yet overcome and move on from. Renner is more of a sidekick to Adams, and his specialty really isn’t fully understood until he has one of those “AH HA!” moments late in the film, helping put it all together. Whitaker is also another support role to Adams, being the voice of the military who has superiors who want answers, but understanding what Adams’ character is doing takes time.

Some people may feel that Arrival may drag at certain moments, and those same people probably want more action or something to further entertain them. Yet this isn’t a film like War of the Worlds, this is one of discovery and making first contact, understanding other beings, and understanding ourselves. Considering what recently happened with our own electoral process, a film of this nature is very much needed today. Adams is brilliant, and arguably deserves another Academy Award nomination for her performance, but there are few misfires over the course of the film. It may not be 100% flawless, but Arrival is one of the better films of 2016.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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