New 'Star Wars Rebels' Short Teases Ezra's Force Powers

With Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars Rebels now about a month away from premiering, the final of their series of short movies has been released. This one is titled "Not What You Think" and focuses on 14-year-old Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), a con artist and thief who joins up with Jedi Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze) and the crew of the Ghost to battle the Empire. In this story, Ezra takes advantage of a hapless tie-fighter pilot while also flashing his Force powers. With the Jedi on the run and in hiding, those Force abilities will probably prove to be more dangerous than helpful.

My biggest complaint about this short and the others is they've all focused on making the Empire look like a bunch of clowns. I have zero interest in watching a kiddie version of Star Wars where the heroes are perfect and the bad guys not much of a threat.  If there are no stakes or consequences then what's the point of watching?

Go here for all of the other short films preceding this one. Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion airs on October 3rd on the Disney Channel, followed by the Star Wars Rebels series beginning October 13th on Disney XD.

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Zeb Embarasses the Empire in New 'Star Wars Rebels' Short "Entanglement"

Now that Lucasfilm has locked down a firm airing date for Star Wars Rebels on the Disney Channel and Disney XD, they've begun to introduce us to the series' characters in the form of brief movies. This one, titled "Entanglement" focuses on Zeb, a member of the Ghost's crew who is based on Ralph McQuarrie's original concept designs for Chewbacca.  Steve Blum voices the character, and in this short he humiliates a bunch of Imperial soldiers while running late for a meeting with Kanan.

Star Wars Rebels takes place five years before the Episode IV: A New Hope during a time when the Empire is tightening its grip on the galaxy. The motley crew of the starship Ghost are the only ones who dare to fight back and in the process become the spark needed to start the rebellion. Check out the Zeb short below, followed by the earlier films featuring the group's weapon specialist Sabine (Tiya Sircar), and the astromech droid, Chopper.

Disney Channel airs Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion on October 3rd at 9pm, followed by the series on October 13th on Disney XD.




Star Wars Rebels "Art Attack" Short by CGMeetup


Star Wars Rebels - The Machine in the Ghost by itsartmag

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Humanity Falls in Three 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Short Films

The early reviews are starting to roll in for Matt Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the buzz is overwhelmingly positive. Nearly all of them praise it as a vast improvement on Rise of the Planet of the Apes which, as you may recall, was pretty darn good in its own right and built a solid foundation for a thrilling sci-fi franchise. The end of that film saw a virus, known as the "Simian Flu" released into the atmosphere where it began to infect the human population. In the ten years that have passed between 'Rise' and 'Dawn', that virus spread and the story of what that looked like is chronicled in three new short films.

The first short, SPREAD OF SIMIAN FLU: BEFORE THE DAWN OF THE APES (YEAR 1), is directed by Isaiah Seret and here's the synopsis:

Synopsis: Amidst a widespread viral outbreak known as the 'Simian Flu', a mother is quarantined after testing positive for the virus, leaving her husband and daughter to fend for themselves.



Daniel Thron was at the helm for the second short, STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: BEFORE THE DAWN OF THE APES (YEAR 5):

 Synopsis: Five years after the Simian Flu all but wiped out humanity, an orphaned teenage girl survives by bartering things she has stolen from dead people's homes.


And finally "thirty two" directed STORY OF THE GUN: BEFORE THE DAWN OF THE APES (YEAR 10)

Synopsis: Follow the journey of a shotgun through the hands of several ill-fated owners as the 'Simian Flu' ravages the world around them.


These short films make up an entire fillm called Island of Apes, a collaboration between 20th Century Fox and Motherboard.  Here's the synopsis for that followed by a trailer, and we'll update this with the full movie when it releases tomorrow.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens July 11th.

The documentary heads to an isolated area inhabited solely by former lab-tested chimpanzees who have survived both disease and two civil wars, and today instill fear in their neighboring communities.We head to the beaches of the island to capture the chimps in their unique habitat, and discover that human interaction is far from second nature.For the first time in history, we sit down with Betsy Brotman, one-half of the testing facility's founding couple, to learn of her shockingly dark and heroic past, and why her views on animal testing have dramatically changed.

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Check Out 'The Lego Movie' Blu-Ray Short Film 'History Cops'

Is there anything Phil Lord and Chris Miller have gotten wrong yet in their careers? Ever move they've made has been golden, and this year promises to be their best yet. This weekend will see the release of 22 Jump Street, which is looking like it may surpass the original hit film at the box office and in critical response. But they've already done pretty well for themselves with The Lego Movie, which came out of nowhere, racked up $460M, and is considered by many to be the animated jewel of 2014.

While they won't be directing the sequel, handing the reins over to Chris McKay, a special feature from The Lego Movie's upcoming Blu-Ray serves as a reminder of why that film was so beloved. Lord and Miller wrote and directed this faux-trailer for Michaelangelo and Lincoln: History Cops, with Will Forte reprising the voice of Lincoln. It's pretty funny, and one more reason to pick up The Lego Movie when it hits shelves June 17th.

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Check Out Idris Elba's World Cup-Themed Directorial Debut, 'Unstoppable'

Is there anything that Idris Elba simply can't do? Seriously, Elba has proven  up to the task at just about everything he puts a mind to, obviously as an actor first and foremost, but he's also a musician, singer, and DJ under the name Big Driis. And now you can add film director to his growing list of credentials.

Elba has released the short film, Unstoppable, part of Pepsi MAX's 'Beats of the Beautiful Game', a series of World Cup themed songs and films. And frankly, it's pretty awesome and exactly the brand of cool we would expect out of the former Stringer Bell. Shot with '70s-style panache, the story follows a typical high school nerd as he gets a moment in the sun in front of the school princess and the bullies constantly harassing him. With a soulful soundtrack courtesy of R3HAB and Eva Simons this shows a ton of potential for Elba to do something even bigger. Now excuse me while I down this Pepsi™.

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Watch Full 7-Minute 'Gravity' Spinoff Short, 'Aningaaq'

The reasons why Warner Bros. decided to debut Jonas Cuaron's 7-minute Gravity short film Aningaaq at the Venice Film Festival (not even with Gravity!?!?) are still unknown. Even more, it's strange that they didn't just incorporate it into the film itself for the theatrical run, or at least include it as a post-credits sequence or something. Whatever the thought process was behind the odd rollout, the full movie is now available for everybody to check out on their own.

Written and directed Alfonso Cuaron's son Jonas for about $100K, the film focuses on the Inuit man stranded astronaut Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) made radio contact with in a desperate bid for survival. It's a pretty sweet companion piece, and should make for a nice addition to the Gravity DVD/Blu-Ray package.

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