'Goodfellas' Star Ray Liotta Joins The Cast Of Sopranos Prequel 'The Many Saints of Newark'

Two mafia movies have made their way on top many movie goers most anticipated list this year, and those two are The Irishman and The Many Saints of Newark. While the former film is being directed by Marty Scorcese himself and has put together a cast of big names stars familiar with the genre including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, the other film's cast isn't exactly who you would expect to see headlining a Sopranos prequel. Well sure enough, Ray Liotta who one would expect would've gotten the call from Scorcese to join The Irishman, is instead coming on board for David Chase's Sopranos prequel.

Deadline reports that Liotta has joined the already impressive cast which includes the likes of Jon Bernthal, Michael Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Billy Magnussen, and Corey Stoll. When asked about the project, Liotta expressed his excitement stating, "David [Chase's] talent is unmatched and the directing of Alan Taylor makes this even more exciting." Chase is of course the brains behind The Sopranos, while Taylor directed some note worthy episodes of the show and has gone on work on Game of Thrones in recent years. 

As fans of The Sopranos know, David Chase didn't really cast any big name stars in the role. Instead most of the main actors had come from smaller parts in the background of mafia movies, and this was their first time getting to play a lead. With a bigger budget and cemented reputation to back him up now, it seems Chase is using this opportunity to bring on a big name like Liotta known for his work in the genre. Many of The Sopranos main cast members including Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco all starred in Goodfellas, so it only seems right for Henry Hill himself to finally have a part in The Sopranos universe.

Liotta's career has faltered in recent years, but perhaps a role like this can really help get his career back on track. Like every other cast member who has joined this cast, we still have no idea who any of these actors will be playing aside from Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltasanti and Michael Gandolfini as young Tony Soprano. We know Tony's father, mother, and Uncle Junior will all have roles in the movie as it portrays the origins of their crime family amongst the backdrop of the Newark riots of the 1960s. Its unlikely Liotta will be playing any of these roles given his age, but he could be playing an older mentor role to the family. 

So what do you think of Ray Liotta joining the cast of The Saints of Newark? Would you have liked to have seen him in The Irishman? Let us know below!

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'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Solo Movie May Be Converted Into A TV Series For Streaming Service Disney Plus

Despite the gripes fans have with the prequel trilogy of Star Wars George Lucas developed in the early 2000s, most of them will agree Ewan McGregor made a pretty damn good Obi-Wan Kenobi. Disney has apparently taken notice of the desire from audiences to see more of this younger version of the character, and an explanation of what he was up to between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Its a part of Star Wars mythology that has been up in the air for years, and with Boba Fett and Han Solo movies in developed it looked like it was right around the corner. Sure enough, the failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story halted the breaks on any future spin-offs.

But apparently the Obi-Wan Kenobi story may still have some life to it according to Star Wars News Net, only this time as a series on the new Disney streaming service Disney Plus. The company has already shown their willingness to tell big budget stories on this platform, with a Jon Favreau helmed Star Wars series called The Mandalorian set as one of its main features. With a strong Star Wars presence already on Disney Plus, it wouldn't be surprising to see it become the home of more of their properties. Its certainly much more low risk than releasing another full spin-off film and having it flop, something that already proved costly for the studio with Solo. 

The studio is apparently waiting to see how well The Mandalorian does before green lighting the project. Currently The Mandalorian has some great buzz around it with other talented directors like Taika Waititi and Bryce Dallas Howard involved alongside Favreau, as well as big name stars like Pedro Pascal (Narcos) and Gina Carona (Deadpool). Where as The Mandalorian is based on completely new characters, an Obi-Wan series would obviously be focusing on one of the most beloved and famous characters from both trilogies. Add into that the likely hood that Ewan McGregor, now a much bigger name than he was in the early 2000s, returning to reprise his role and you have a big draw for fans to join the subscription service and watch the show.

This just adds to the already exciting programming Disney Plus will have to offer, with Marvel Studios already announcing they will have several series focusing on their smaller characters like Loki and Vision and Scarlett Witch. There's also been rumors that all the recently canceled Netflix Marvel shows such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Punisher could find new life on the platform. With so much already in the works for Disney Plus, it'll likely be a while before things move any further on an Obi-Wan series. But there's no doubt the studio would bring on the talent and provide the budget to do the character the justice a movie would, given the effort they're already putting into their other projects. 

So what do you think of the idea of an Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus? Would you rather see his story on the big screen? Let us know below!

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Will Smith's Blue Genie Finally Makes His Debut In New TV Spot For Disney's Live-Action 'Aladdin'

Well here it is. When it was first announced Will Smith would be playing the iconic role of the Genie in Disney's live-action remake of Aladdin, fans weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of the late Robin Williams in the role. As such an iconic part of my generation's childhood, it was going to be just about impossible for anyone to fill in his shoes. Funny enough, we ended up getting an actor who's also a nostalgic and charismatic figure of the 1990s, the Fresh Prince himself. We hadn't actually seen any of Smith's Genie in the first trailer for the movie, but now we finally have a look at him in his big blue form. 

Below is the new TV spot for Aladdin:

So chances are you have the same thing going through your mind that most of the internet did when they saw the trailer. Why does Will Smith's Genie look so bad? The initial photos the Entertainment Weekly released from the movie actually showed a non-blue regular sized human looking version of Smith's Genie in costume. This led to backlash from fans who thought this might just be the way he looked throughout the movie, but he assured fans that this was only how he looks in a portion of the movie. This of course got fans excited to see the final product for a version of the Genie closer to what we remember from the animated movie, but I think we all pictured it with some slightly better effects.

Something about the CGI of Smith's body and face as the Genie just seem very fake, and aren't up to standard with the effects audiences have been spoiled by these days. One can only hope this isn't the final product, and that the character will look much better on screen. Fans have argued that the character may have looked better with a more stylized cartoony look like in the animated movie, where the Genie was basically a caricature of Robin Williams. Instead this version of the character seems to just be a ballooned version of Smith's head on an awkwardly disproportionate body.

While Smith's Genie certainly stole the show in this trailer, there were some other standouts from the trailer. We get some great views of iconic sets recreated for live-action, as well as our first look at Naomi Scott's Jasmin, and Marwan Kenzari's Jafar. Kenzari's Jafar has also gotten some criticism from fans of the original movie for his much less menacing appearance and voice in the brief footage we see of him, but its hard to judge from such a scarce amount of lines. Aladdin is expected to set the tone for whats going to be a big year of Disney live-action movies including Lion King and Dumbo, so the studio can only hope it wins audiences over between now and its release.

So what do you think of the new Aladdin trailer? How do you feel about the look of Will Smith's Genie? Let us know below!

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The Avengers Aren't Moving On After Thanos' Snap In The New 'Endgame' Super Bowl Spot

Fans weren't sure what to expect from Marvel during this Super Bowl's commercial breaks. While we pretty much all expected a Captain Marvel spot with the movie's release just around the corner, we weren't sure if we were getting any footage from Avengers: Endgame or Spider-Man: Far From Home. Both movies had relatively recent trailers that gave us a decent amount of footage, but thankfully we got a spot for at least one of them. The Russo Brother's tweeted for fans to turn on their TVs, and sure enough there was a 30 second spot of all new footage from Avengers: Endgame for all of us to freak out over and speculate about.

Below is the Super Bowl spot for Avengers: Endgame:

Now as Kevin Feige has pointed out, we apparently will only be seeing footage from the first half hour of Endgame in any promotional material leading up to its release. This is of course being done to keep the secrecy of the film's plot, as well as the mystery of what characters and locations will be showing up. The marketing approach is very different from the "money shots" and impressive CGI of all the Infinity War trailers. That's also clear in this TV spot, with many of the scenes simply just showing the characters looking somber in different locations.

The trailer shows us some of the ramifications of Thanos' snap and the disappearance of a huge chunk of the Earth's population. We see Captain America in what appears to be a support group, and a sign that is meant to convince people to move on from loved ones they lost. This also confirms that there will be a time jump at some point in the movie in order to show us how much has changed since the snap. We also see the Statue of Liberty surrounded by abandoned boats whose owners probably disappeared. Earth seems much more empty then one would expect in some of the shots of The Avengers walking around, so there may also be people in hiding out of fear of Thanos return. It looks like the Russos are going to give us a perspective of how this has affected the world before throwing us straight into the action.

We also get shots of both Thor and Rocket Raccoon on what could either be Wakanda or even Thanos' shack, so maybe the God of Thunder has secluded himself following the events of Infinity War. Then there is of course Iron Man and Nebula who are still stranded in space, and Tony Stark appears to be making some kind of new suit in a call back to the cave scene from the first Iron Man movie. Lastly we get a shot of the team that includes Ant-Man, War Machine, Captain America, Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Black Widow. There's a space left that probably is meant for a new look CGI Hulk that the Russos are saving for a surprise reveal. Its also possible this could be Captain Marvel who was removed for the trailer in order to not give away the surprise. 

So what did you think of the Avengers: Endgame trailer? What are your theories about the plot given the footage we've seen so far? Let us know below!

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