We’ve seen several high-profile directors take shots at Marvel movies over the years, including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, but Chris Hemsworth isn’t standing for it.

While speaking with The Times, the Thor actor opened up about how it feels to hear such harsh criticism from filmmakers he looks up to. “It felt harsh, and it bothers me, especially from heroes. It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space,” Hemsworth said. “Those guys had films that didn’t work too — we all have. When they talked about what was wrong with superheroes, I thought, cool, tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?“

Hemsworth added, “Cinema-going did not change because of superheroes, but because of smartphones and social media. Superhero films actually kept people in the cinemas during that transition, and now people are coming back. So they deserve a little more appreciation.“

Chris Hemsworth will next be seen in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as Dementus. Joining the Mad Max franchise has been a long-time goal for the actor. In fact, he told Entertainment Weekly that he wanted to audition to play Max Rockatansky himself in Mad Max: Fury Road but couldn’t get his foot in the door. “[I] couldn’t even get a call or a meeting or anything,” Hemsworth said. “I just hadn’t done enough to warrant that.” When Fury Road was finally released, Hemsworth got his agent on the phone immediately. “I was completely absorbed and taken for the adventure and the ride. I said, ‘I’ve got to work with this guy, he’s a genius,’” Hemsworth said. “And then, the rest is history.“

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“ Furiosa will hit theaters on May 24th.

The post Chris Hemsworth on hearing Marvel movie criticism from Scorsese, Coppola: “It bothers me, especially from heroes” appeared first on JoBlo.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth are ready to “make it epic” when Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga barrels into cinemas on May 24, 2024! As tickets for the full-throttle prequel become available for pre-order, the final Furiosa trailer explodes onto screens with action, drama, and one particular shot that now makes me curious about an element of the film. I’m talking about the shot of the CGI-enhanced War Boy.

My knee-jerk reaction to the CGI-enhanced War Boy is one of apprehension. How large of a role does this character play in the film, and will their cartoonishness offset an otherwise incredible-looking film? I hope not. One of the more thrilling elements of Miller’s Mad Max series is the visual spectacle, and I worry the CGI-enhanced War Boy could be an “arrow to the knee.” I could be entirely off base, and I’m simply being paranoid for no good reason. It’s a small comfort that the early reactions to Furiosa are glowingly positive, so this character did not throw audiences into a tizzy. Plus, the final Furiosa trailer looks sick, doesn’t it?

Reactions to the new Wasteland fairy tale have now hit social media. JoBlo’s JimmyO posted, “#Furiosa brings us back to The Wasteland with a stunning performance from Anya Taylor Joy. The excellent script, while still bombastic and thrilling, takes a slight detour from Fury Road. Once again, George Miller presents another visual masterclass to IMAX! It’s a glorious flick, and yes, Chris Hemsworth is insanely enjoyable as Dementus! Furiosa is yet another wild and unforgettable ride!”

Directed by George Miller from a screenplay he wrote with Nico Lathouris, Furiosa has the following synopsis: 

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants are in a war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

The title character, Furiosa, is played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), who takes over from Fury Road’s Charlize Theron. Lachy Hulme (Offspring) pulls double duty, playing both Fury Road villain Immortan Joe (taking over from the late Hugh Keays-Byrne) and a character called Rizzdale Pell, who is “one of the gang members affiliated with the warlord Dementus.” We’ve heard Dementus is “a pretty horrible individual, and he’s played by Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Also in the cast are Tom Burke (C.B. Strike) and Quaden Bayles (Three Thousand Years of Longing), with Alyla Browne (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) as a younger Furiosa. Nathan Jones and Angus Sampson are said to reprise their Fury Road roles of Rictus Erectus and The Organic Mechanic.

What do you think about the final Furiosa trailer? Does the CGI-enhanced War Boy make you nervous? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth wage a full-throttle war for the Wasteland in the final Furiosa trailer appeared first on JoBlo.

There were many things to look forward to when Dune: Part Two finally landed after a bit of a delay. The sequel expanded on the lore and started to escalate the universe well beyond what general audiences could predict. There were even rumblings that Anya Taylor-Joy might have a secret role and fuel would be added to the fire as she walked the red carpet at the premiere dressed in a very desert-appropriate dress. Lo and behold, during the two-hour and forty-six-minute epic, the unborn sister of Paul Atreides, Alia, would come to him in a vision as an adult and the viewers would be greeted with Taylor-Joy’s face.

Taylor-Joy would sit down with Variety to talk about her upcoming film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga when she revealed the story of how the secret cameo came about. As she made her appearance as a pretty significant character, that led to speculation of her return for Dune Messiah. When asked if there will be another Dune in her future, Taylor-Joy simply replied, “I hope so.” Meanwhile, Villeneuve would not contain his excitement to work with her again, “Shooting with Anya in Africa was nothing short of magical,” he says. “Her generosity, candor and passion truly moved me. I can’t wait to go back on Arrakis with her.”

She had actually met with director Denis Villeneuve just prior to filming Furiosa. The meeting was for a different movie, but Taylor-Joy explained, “Before I even sat down, he was like, ‘I want you to be in Dune, but you can’t do it!’ I was like, ‘Please?’ I skipped all the stages of grief and went straight to begging I was like, ‘I can do this. I can be in Australia and Abu Dhabi at the same time.’ He wanted me to be part of the universe. We kept in touch. I just had this feeling that it wasn’t over.”

Villeneuve recalled instantly seeing Taylor-Joy in the role just as the meeting with her started, “Anya was Alia as soon as I met with her. In fact, I realized after the fact, she has always been Alia. Anya feels out of this world, as though she belongs to some other dimension, one step into the dream.” Her role was kept secret, however. It was shot with a small crew in Nambia. She revealed, “I told my husband and my parents and I took my mum.” What’s even more impressive was that it was revealed that “no one at the studio knew. My face had been blurred out” in early versions of the film.

The post Denis Villeneuve can’t wait to bring back Anya Taylor-Joy for Dune Messiah appeared first on JoBlo.

The time has come for audiences to start witnessing George Miller’s newest action epic to see if it takes them to Valhalla or leaves them scrounging for food in the desert. The latest installment of the Mad Max saga spins off from Mad Max: Fury Road and sees Anya Taylor-Joy taking up the role from Charlize Theron. It had recently been confirmed that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will also be the franchise’s longest film, with the Cannes Film Festival website confirming its 2 hour and 28 minute runtime. While that means the film is significantly longer (by a half hour) than Fury Road, it’s worth noting that this prequel tells a truly epic tale that takes place over decades. Fury Road only took place over two days. 

The reactions to the new Wasteland fairy tale have now hit social media. Our own JimmyO posted, “#Furiosa brings us back to The Wasteland with a stunning performance from Anya Taylor Joy. The excellent script, while still bombastic and thrilling, takes a slight detour from Fury Road. Once again, George Miller presents another visual masterclass to IMAX! It’s a glorious flick, and yes, Chris Hemsworth is insanely enjoyable as Dementus! Furiosa is yet another wild and unforgettable ride!”

Nick’s Flicks Fix posted a reaction that glowed about Chris Hemsworth’s performance as he plays the rare villainous character. “#Furiosa is EPIC in every sense of the word! The world building and lore expansion of the Mad Max universe is front and centre to a bombastic film that has some explosive, exciting action. Taylor-Joy is great, but Hemsworth truly shines in a way he hasn’t before!”

Doug Jamieson of The Jam Report has some significant critiques for the movie, which made it a mixed bag for him, “There’s a lot to admire about #FURIOSA. It’s gorgeously shot and the action sequences are mind-blowing. Anya Taylor-Joy is sensational and Chris Hemsworth chews every piece of scenery in sight. But the narrative lags considerably and the CGI is often ghastly. A mixed bag for me.”

Bill Bria of SlashFilm says that the film is myth-making at its finest, “LADY AND GENTLEMENS: #Furiosa is myth making at its finest. The most sprawling Mad Max Saga entry returns to the series’ roots: it’s a powerful, moving, gritty tale of revenge in the middle of a world gone wild. Also: windsurfing bombers. Anya Taylor-Joy owns, Hemsworth kills!”

John Nguyen at NerdReactor states that it’s one of the most brutal Mad Max films yet, “#furiosa is 2-and-a-half hours of colorful mayhem. Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne both get their fair share of screen time as the title character. Chris Hemsworth is like a villainous Thor with his red cape and long hair. It’s one of the most brutal Mad Max films yet.”

Dr Luke Buckmaster also had issues with the narrative, which didn’t hinder his enjoyment of the action, but it rather became his saving grace, “It’s clear very soon that #Furiosa is no Fury Road. The timing is off, the structure shaggy. It’s a little shambolic – but out of a chaotic wasteland comes some characteristically (for George) visceral, dust-baked action, and a memorable showdown between Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy”

Peter Gray of The AU Review also glows about Hemsworth, saying he proves himself as a character actor here, “Now that I can say so, #Furiosa is a BLAST! Made in the spirit of FURY ROAD, it’s still its own beast that thrives on exaggerated action and characters. Anya Taylor-Joy makes the character her own, but this is Chris Hemsworth’s chance to prove his worth as a character actor.”

therese lacson also found issues with the pacing. Miller would seemingly attempt to distance this film from Mad Max’s tales by segmenting its story, “I would and could easily watch 15 hours of Anya Taylor Joy and Alyla Browne as #Furiosa, however much of her film struggles with inconsistent pacing due to the segmented story. This won’t match up to Fury Road’s splendor but it also doesn’t need to. #IMAX”

Erik Davis teases a War Rig sequence that blew his mind, “George Miller’s #Furiosa is powerhouse action filmmaking at its absolute best! A ferocious & relentlessly paced epic that expands the story of Furiosa and the Wasteland while delivering the craziest chases, the most bombastic characters & just plain stunning cinematography. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth equally dive all the way into the Wasteland, and both deliver some incredible stuff. There’s one War Rig sequence that blew my mind – an instant classic. I love the #MadMax movies and I loved this film. Start your engines!”

Overall, it sounds like Furiosa is a blast, even if it seems to not be quite at the level of Fury Road. Then again, would that have even been possible? Look for full Furiosa reviews closer to the Cannes premiere.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th. FilmRatings.com reports the movie has been “Rated R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images.“

Are you excited to see George Miller’s latest entry into the Mad Max saga? Let us know in the comments!

The post Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga reactions race into social media as viewers witness George Miller’s vehicular action epic appeared first on JoBlo.

When a prequel to 2015’s runaway (or is that drive away?) hit Mad Max: Fury Road was announced, we knew there had to be a wealth of new characters. And Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has made good, with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke being the most notable additions – outside of Furiosa herself, Anya Taylor-Joy, of course.

Chris Hemsworth has spoken about his character, Warlord Dementus, at length before, calling him “a pretty horrible individual”, something Hemsworth isn’t entirely used to. Similarly, Tom Burke had a challenge ahead of himself on the opposite side of the spectrum, as he was approached by Furiosa director George Miller with the “noble” and “heroic” Praetorian Jack.

While CinemaCon gave fans a better look at Tom Burke’s role in Furiosa, he went into more detail with Entertainment Weekly about Jack, who he says was the exact opposite of what he was expecting to be when Miller first introduced him to the role. “I’d convinced myself that I’d be playing somebody probably fairly grotesque and covered in boils … maybe you wouldn’t even see most of me, I’d be sort of inside an old, rusted-up, converted, pimped-up washing machine or something. I just thought, ‘Oh, here we go.’ I mean, obviously, I was excited, but I was really happy that it was [not that].”

As for more details on Praetorian Jack – who Tom Burke helped develop alongside Miller while making Furiosa – the actor said, “George’s idea, which is alluded to in the script, is that Jack is very much from a military family and that they perhaps knew Immortan Joe before he was the Immortan Joe, and that there was a journey to the Citadel and a certain idea of what that life might be that was very different from what it turned out to be, and sort of charting how that happened.” He, too, has a strong connection with Furiosa herself, with a relationship that he says “gives a really nice context to some of the dynamic she has with Max in Fury Road.”

Furiosa was already one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, but now that we have a better look at some of these new characters, our engines are revved even more. What a lovely day!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will have its premiere at this month’s Cannes Film Festival, where it is screening out of competition. After that, it will hit theaters on May 29th.

The post Tom Burke details “heroic” Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga character appeared first on JoBlo.

As George Miller turned heads in the film world by being able to churn out an insane action thrill ride that rivals his younger peers, many anticipate his return to the Wasteland with the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The trailers are already showing a great deal of sequences that look as if Miller remains in top form as Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth engage in his signature vehicular warfare.

And now, it seems like Furiosa will also be the franchise’s longest film, with the Cannes Film Festival website confirming its 2 hour and 28 minute runtime.

While that means the film is significantly longer (by a half hour) than Fury Road, it’s worth noting that this prequel tells a truly epic tale that takes place over decades. Fury Road only took place over two days. George Miller’s producing partner, Doug Mitchel, recently teased that Furiosa “has one 15-minute sequence which took us 78 days to shoot,” with nearly 200 stunt people working on it each and every day. The sequence was known as Stairway to Nowhere during production and is said to mark a turning point for Furiosa.

Furiosa star Anya Taylor-Joy added, “George and I would have these big conversations about why this particular set-piece was so long. It’s because you see an accumulation of skills over the course of a battle, and that’s very important for understanding how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her grit. It’s the longest sequence any of us have ever shot. On the day we finished, everybody got a ‘Stairway To Nowhere’ wine!“

In addition to Taylor-Joy as Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth also stars as biker warlord Dementus, and it was a role that he’s called the best experience of his career. “I came into that film exhausted. I thought, ‘How am I going to get through this?’” Hemsworth said. “Week one of rehearsals with [Miller], all of a sudden it was this reigniting of my creative energy.” The actor said the production of Furiosa was “by far the best experience of my career, and something I feel the most proud of. It made me think, the work isn’t what’s exhausting it’s what kind of work it is, and how invested I am in it and if it is challenging in the right way.”

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th. FilmRatings.com reports the movie has been “Rated R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images.“

The post Furiosa running time confirmed appeared first on JoBlo.

We’ve still got a few more weeks to go before the release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but if you’d like a little appetizer from the Wasteland, Tom Holkenborg, aka JunkieXL, has released the first track from the soundtrack for your listening pleasure.

Titled “Dementus Is Gaining,” the track from the Furiosa soundtrack definitely leads me to imagine one of the franchise’s epic chase sequences. You can have a listen below, and the track is also available on Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes Store, Deezer, and Tidal.

Tom Holkenborg also composed the soundtrack for Mad Max: Fury Road, so it’s great to have him back for Furiosa. I look forward to being blown away on all fronts.

Chris Hemsworth plays Dementus, and joining the Mad Max franchise has been a long-time goal for the actor. In fact, he recently told Entertainment Weekly that he wanted to audition to play Max Rockatansky himself in Mad Max: Fury Road but couldn’t get his foot in the door. “[I] couldn’t even get a call or a meeting or anything,” Hemsworth said. “I just hadn’t done enough to warrant that.” When Fury Road was finally released, Hemsworth got his agent on the phone immediately. “I was completely absorbed and taken for the adventure and the ride. I said, ‘I’ve got to work with this guy, he’s a genius,’” Hemsworth said. “And then, the rest is history.“

A six-minute sneak peek of Furiosa was screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last month, which our own Chris Bumbray attended, that lucky bastard. Overall, it sounded pretty epic and a worthy successor to Fury Road.

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th.

The post Listen to the first heart-pumping track from Tom Holkenborg’s Furiosa soundtrack! appeared first on JoBlo.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga serves as a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road; In fact, director George Miller has said that the movie will “butt up directly into Fury Road,” so what does that mean for Max Rockatansky?

Miller has previously said that Max is “lurking there in the background” of Furiosa, but he provided more detail on this “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo” while speaking with Entertainment Weekly. The director confirms that Max and his car, the Interceptor, will appear in the prequel. “In doing what we did in the preparation of Mad Max: Fury Road, we also wrote what happened to Max in the year before we encounter him in [that film],” Miller said. “And as we get towards the end of this movie, the chronology… Basically, we had to see that Mad Max was lurking around somewhere because we do know what happened.” It sounds as though the Mad Max cameo in Furiosa is quite brief, but it will be fun to see.

Miller teased that there’s another potential Fury Road prequel dealing with what Max was up to that he’d like to develop. “The writers know what happened to Mad Max in that year before, and we have a whole story of that,” Miller said, “which I would like to do sometime if I get the chance.“

Furiosa will hopefully be successful and set the stage for more Mad Max movies, including the long-rumoured Mad Max: The Wasteland. A six-minute sneak peek of Furiosa was screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, which our own Chris Bumbray attended, and it sounded pretty epic.

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th.

The post Will Mad Max appear in Furiosa? appeared first on JoBlo.

Just before Avengers: Infinity War, many were pleased at the new life breathed into the Thor series when What We Do in the Shadows director Taika Waititi took on the undertaking of a big-budget franchise film. Thor: Ragnarok was a massive hit and it seemed like this new direction was a welcomed one for the God of Thunder. After Thor’s arc in the Infinity Saga seemingly concluded in Avengers: Endgame, it looked like some strange new adventures were on the horizon as he joined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Then, Thor: Love and Thunder would bring back Waititi and an impressive cast for what would ultimately have a less-than-stellar reception.

Chris Hemsworth’s future as the Asgardian is uncertain, but Variety reports that the Aussie actor, who will be playing the new big bad in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, recently gave an interview in Vanity Fair where he took the blame for Thor: Love and Thunder‘s divisive response. Hemsworth stated,

I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself. I didn’t stick the landing.”

He admitted that perhaps his desire to loosen the character up came out of Thor being the more serious of the Avengers. Hemsworth would recall that despite being endlessly grateful for the role, he would be growing increasingly frustrated with the character during his run in the MCU, “Sometimes I felt like a security guard for the team. I would read everyone else’s lines, and go, ‘Oh, they got way cooler stuff. They’re having more fun. What’s my character doing?’ It was always about, ‘You’ve got the wig on. You’ve got the muscles. You’ve got the costume. Where’s the lighting?’ Yeah, I’m part of this big thing, but I’m probably pretty replaceable.”

However, Iron Man himself — Robert Downey Jr. — would stick up for what Hemsworth and the first film’s director, Kenneth Branagh, had accomplished with the mythological/comic book crossover character, “First off, Thor as a character was super tricky to adapt — lots of implied limitations — but he and Ken Branagh figured out how to transcend, make him somehow relatable but godlike. Hemsworth is, in my opinion, the most complex psyche out of all us Avengers. He’s got wit and gravitas, but also such restraint, fire and gentleness.”

The post Chris Hemsworth takes blame for Thor: Love and Thunder saying he got caught up in the improv appeared first on JoBlo.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Furiosa by G.R. David

Godzilla by Huan Do

Invincible by John Dunn

Jaws by Choots

The Land Before Time by Contact Patrick

Late Night With The Devil by Chris Berning

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin by Jerry Padilla

Tomb Raider by Ton Lima

V For Vendetta by Bryan Johnson

Watchmen by Mike Fitzgerald

The post Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net: Furiosa, Invincible, Jaws, Late Night With The Devil, The Last Ronin appeared first on JoBlo.