The 2015 People’s Choice Awards kicked off with Mom stars Anna Faris and Allison Janney hosting the star-studded event Wednesday from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
Iggy Azalea, Lady Antebellum and Fall Out Boy rocked the crowd, while many of TV and film’s biggest stars presented at the only major awards show where fans vote to choose the winners and the categories. Ben Affleck will also receive the Choice Humanitarian Award.
Check out who the fans chose in the winners’ list below, which will be updated live as the show airs.
MOVIES
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress WINNER: Chloe Grace Moretz
Emma Stone
Meryl Streep
Reese Witherspoon
Shailene Woodley
Favorite Action Movie Actor WINNER: Chris Evans
Denzel Washington
Hugh Jackman
Liam Neeson
Mark Wahlberg
Favorite Comedic Movie Actress WINNER:Melissa McCarthy
Cameron Diaz
Charlize Theron
Drew Barrymore
Tina Fey
Favorite Comedic Movie Actor WINNER: Adam Sandler
Channing Tatum
Jonah Hill
Seth Rogen
Zac Efron
Favorite Thriller Movie WINNER: Gone Girl
Annabelle
Dracula Untold
The Equalizer
The Purge: Anarchy
TV
Favorite Actress In A New TV Series WINNER: Viola Davis
Debra Messing
Jada Pinkett Smith
Octavia Spencer
Téa Leoni
Favorite Network TV Drama WINNER: Grey’s Anatomy
Chicago Fire
Downton Abbey
Revenge
Scandal
Favorite Dramatic TV Actress WINNER: Ellen Pompeo
Alyssa Milano
Emily VanCamp
Hayden Panettiere
Kerry Washington
Favorite Comedic TV Actress WINNER: Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting Amy Poehler
Melissa McCarthy
Sofia Vergara
Zooey Deschanel
Favorite Cable TV Actor WINNER: Matt Bomer
Charlie Hunnam
Eric Dane
Sean Bean
William H. Macy
Favorite TV Icon WINNER: Betty White
Katey Sagal
Mark Harmon
Tim Allen
Tom Selleck
Favorite Competition TV Show WINNER: The Voice
America’s Got Talent
Dancing with the Stars
Hell’s Kitchen
MasterChef
MUSIC
Favorite Hip-Hop Artist WINNER:Iggy Azalea
Drake
Jay Z
Nicki Minaj
T.I.
Favorite Male Country Artist WINNER: Hunter Hayes
Blake Shelton
Brad Paisley
Luke Bryan
Tim McGraw
Favorite Country Group WINNER: Lady Antebellum
The Band Perry
Florida Georgia Line
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band
Consumers may only be a couple months away from snagging Apple’s first entry into the wearable market.
According to 9to5Mac, citing unnamed sources, Apple plans on launching its Apple Watch in March, with training for retail employees expected to begin in mid-February.
Apple unveiled the smartwatch in September during an event where it also revealed the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The device will start at $349 and be available in three models: standard, sport and a special edition.
During the event, Apple said the watch would launch early next year.
The watch features an accelerometer, gyroscopes and sensors to monitor a user’s vital signs. It also leverages several features of a paired iPhone, such as GPS and Wi-Fi from your phone.
The old saying “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it” came back to haunt many people yesterday when Tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, finally addressed the avalanche of sexual assault allegations that have been levied against her former co-star and TV husband, Bill Cosby.
In a tone at turns both combative and dismissive, Rashad defended Cosby against women who she said were engaged in a shadowy conspiracy to ruin his legacy and that of his eponymous show.
“Forget these women,” Rashad said in an exclusive interview with Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman. “What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture.”
Rashad went on to scoff at accusations against Cosby made by former supermodels Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson. Both women claimed that the comedian drugged them, with Dickinson also accusing him of rape. Rashad trampled over their tears and trauma with two words: “Oh, please.”
“Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV,” Rashad said. “And it’s worked.”
The Cosby Show “represented America to the outside world,” she continued. “This was the American family. And now you’re seeing it being destroyed. Why?”
Why, indeed.
There has been a romanticization of both Cosby and Cosby that reeks of arrogance and delusion. Despite what Rashad and others may believe, Cosby isn’t the savior of black America, and the Illuminati isn’t out to get him. The Cosby Show was not then, and certainly isn’t now, the only media depiction of a healthy black family. And the dismantling of Cosby’s benign, fatherly facade is a blow to nothing but his own image and 1980s nostalgia.
What has become glaring by omission is that while Cosby’s previously silent female supporters—including his wife, Camille Cosby; Cosby star Keshia Knight Pulliam; Debbie Allen, Rashad’s sister and former director-producer of Cosby spin-off A Different World; and now Rashad—have defended Cosby’s “legacy” both in media and philanthropy, none has attempted to defend the character of the man himself.
Rashad didn’t say, “Bill Cosby is an honorable man.” She didn’t say, “Bill Cosby is not capable of rape.” She instead evoked the memory of The Cosby Show and used it as a talisman to ward off any negative attention directed at her former co-star.
This strategy is not without precedent.
There has been this transparent attempt to blur the lines between reality and fiction—between Cosby and Heathcliff Huxtable, his on-screen character. Though I’ve previously written about Woody Allen-esque undertones of the show, for all intents and purposes, Cliff was trustworthy, paternal and loving—the opposite of a predator. And the same black community that Cosby has treated with condescension and disdain is supposed to allow him to wear that character like an impenetrable suit of armor, simply because we have fond memories of hoagies and Hillman.
Witnessing Rashad employ the victim-blaming tactics and language commonly reserved for rape apologists was disappointing, to say the least. If her long silence served as a tentative indictment of Cosby, her words served as evidence that her status as having portrayed an iconic black female TV character hasn’t precluded her from perpetuating rape culture.
It’s a culture that demands victims’ silence and loyalty for what’s presumed to be the greater good of the community. It demands that their safety is made secondary to the reputations of our “good” black men, who, in a white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy that invisibilizes (black) women, are too often the only victims deemed worthy of saving.
It is a culture that demands we treat men with respect and admiration that are rarely reciprocated.
In a recently released interview with NewsOne Now host Roland Martin, Cosby had this to say about his television chemistry with Rashad: “[Phylicia’s ex husband] Ahmad Rashad messed that thing up.
“When he married her I didn’t mind, but then she got pregnant and I didn’t want Cliff and Clair to have another kid,” he continued. “So we had to hide her body, which took me away from—took Cliff away from touching her and playing with her because I didn’t want the audience to see that.
“When that was over and she went on and had the … child—it was gone, man. Not the love for her, but it was gone in terms of now we have to get back to the touching. I just lost it.”
And what does Rashad say in her first public interview, about the sexual allegations levied against Cosby, and since he made those astoundingly sexist and territorial remarks?
“I love him,” she told Friedman.
She loves him.
Though there are critics who have argued that the Clair Huxtable character wasn’t aspirational because she sprang from the twisted mind of an alleged sexual predator, I’ve never felt that way.
As I wrote previously, in examining the legacy of The Cosby Show, “Clair Huxtable should not serve as an indictment of whom we aspire to be, rather a warning against whom we aspire to love.”
The exact same thing, unfortunately, can now be said about Phylicia Rashad.
Kirsten West Savali is a cultural critic and senior writer for The Root, where she explores the intersections of race, gender, politics and pop culture. Follow her on Twitter.
Cadillac cut prices on the most popular versions of its CTS mid-size sedan, after the new design sold poorly.
Most four-cylinder models are $2,000 less; most V-6s are $3,000 less.
The struggling General Motors’ luxury brand also made $2,200 worth of options standard on the Luxury model — the first step up from the base version.
Price cuts affect the Luxury, Performance and Premium trim levels. The starting prices for the base model and the high-end twin-turbo V-sport are unchanged, at $46,340 and $60,335, respectively.
The new prices are effective immediately and dealers have new window stickers to use on cars they have in inventory.
There is no plan, though, to compensate people who just bought a CTS at the higher price.
Cadillac sales fell 6.5% last year, Autodata reports, in a new-vehicle market up 5.9%. All three of Cadillac’s newest car models reported terrible sales in the U.S. In fact, CTS fell the least, 3.8%. ATS small sedan was down 22%. XTS big sedan was off 25.3%.
The big Escalade truck-based SUV was the only Cadillac with a sales gain in 2014.
Last month, Cadillac abruptly fired its ad agency and hired a new one.
The price cuts can be seen as an embarrassing admission that the brand’s attempt to boost prices flopped. The 2015 CTS starts at about $6,000 more than the model it replaces.
“Cadillac is moving in the right direction to challenge the best luxury brands from Europe, but GM’s premium brand is not there yet. It’s unfortunate Cadillac had to confirm this through such a high-profile series of events, as a price hike followed by a price drop only advertises the issue,” says Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.
“After Cadillac launched the entry-level ATS, it got too aggressive on moving the price up of the redesigned CTS – and too optimistic about the sales volume at that price. Despite the CTS being a solid vehicle, the Cadillac brand still does not have the cachet to charge such high premiums yet,” says Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for AutoTrader.com.
*While colleagues and friends of the late Whitney Houston were on hand Tuesday night for a screening of Lifetime’s new biopic about the singer, her family was nowhere to be found.
The premiere took place at the Paley Center for Media, located just minutes away from The Beverly Hilton hotel, where the 48-year-old Houston drowned in her guest room in February 2012. The official coroner’s report listed heart disease and cocaine as contributing factors in her death.
Relatives were invited to participate in the “Whitney” project from the start, explained Angela Bassett, the Oscar-nominated actress marking her feature-directing debut with the biopic, which debuts Jan. 17.
“And it was the family’s choice and decision, because of what they want to do and whatever their desires or their plans are, not to be involved in this one,” Bassett said. “But they didn’t have anything negative to say about it. You know, sometimes to be silent is the greatest gift.”
Bassett and Houston worked together on the 1994 big-screen drama “Waiting to Exhale,” and Bassett expressed fond memories of her co-star.
“To have had that experience of being around her,” noted Bassett, “all that came back to serve me in the making of this.”
Nevertheless, without the family’s blessing, the “Whitney” production was not allowed to use Houston’s original recordings. Bassett hired singer Deborah Cox, Houston’s one-time label mate, recording partner and long-time friend to handle the vocals.
Cox took the gig, even if it was destined to be a thankless one.
“I knew I would be judged,” Cox said, with a smile. “Everyone was going to come for me. Don’t. I come with love.”
As did actress Yaya DaCosta (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”), who said she took on the role of Houston concerned about just one critic: Houston herself.
“When we were on set, that’s all I thought about: `I don’t really care what any living person thinks. I want to make her proud,’” DaCosta recalled. “And that, for me, is all I needed to be O.K. with this project.”
On an episode of The Seth Davis Show, former NBA MVP and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley revealed why he’s no longer friends with Michael Jordan, after years of being close.
Barkley says in the video:
“I think [Jordan] was offended by some things I said about him on television. One of the reasons I don’t trust the media is you can’t have a double standard for guys you like and dislike. I said Michael wasn’t doing a good job — he’s doing a great job now, [the Charlotte Hornets have] gotten better, they’ve made some great signings — but they weren’t doing good and I thought he didn’t have good people around him. And I said that, because I was asked that question. Your job is to be an analyst. It’s not to protect your friends … no, he’s not feeling that.”
Now, in Oklahoma, wearing a hoodie in public may soon be a crime, carrying a $500 fine.
Senate Bill 13 (SB13) includes an amendment that will ban hoods in public places, supposedly to help victims of robberies.
“The intent of Senate Bill 13 is to make businesses and public places safer by ensuring that people cannot conceal their identities for the purpose of crime or harassment,” amendment author State Senator Don Barrington said.
But Oklahoma already has a law in place that prohibits hoods during the commission of a crime. It’s been in effect since the 1920s, when it was passed in response to the KKK.
The existing law does not seem enough for Barrington, however.
“Similar language has been in Oklahoma statutes for decades and numerous other states have similar laws in place,” he said. “Oklahoma businesses want state leaders to be responsive to their safety concerns, and this is one way we can provide protection.”
“I think this is a violation of an individual’s right to choose what they want to wear as long as it doesn’t violate the realm of public decency and moral values, and I think this could be very problematic,” Oklahoma-based attorney James Siderias said. “I think the legislature is just trying to make Oklahoma a little bit safer, and in doing so, I think they just overreached a little bit.”
Some locals see right through the proposed law, and believe it only gives police more reason for unnecessary confrontations.
“I don’t think that solution will work. I just think that will cause a little more tension within the community. It probably will be a reason for cops to mess with more people wearing hoodies,” one person said.
The proposal includes exemptions for Halloween costumes, protection from the weather, masquerade parties … and outdated, racist minstrel shows, which often included the use of Blackface.
*Is it really Malia Obama? If so, how did it end up on the Internet?
These are questions that have been buzzing around since the Brooklyn rap collective Pro Era shared the above photo of a teen it claims is President Barack Obama’s 16-year-old daughter rocking a t-shirt bearing the group’s name.
The photo shows the high school student — or someone who looks very much like her — mouth agape, looking directly into the camera as she arranges her long ponytail.
A rep for Pro Era member Joey Bada$$ told Gawker that the photo was received through “a mutual friend of Malia and the pro era member.”
The White House — which has guarded the Obama girls’ privacy — so far has not commented on the pic, but are reportedly looking into how the image made it onto the Internet, according to JustJared.
Bill Cosby‘s TV wife, Phylicia Rashad has not only broken her silence, she’s come out swinging … accusing the women who claim sexual assault of being part of a massive conspiracy.
Rashad told Showbiz 411she loves Cosby and never witnessed him do anything untoward with women.
Rashad said, “Forget these women … What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture.”
The actress thinks someone is pulling the strings in an effort to derail the last leg of Cosby’s career, saying, “Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV … and it worked.”
And she seems particularly upset that the scandal has had an impact on Cosby’s landmark show: “The show represented America to the outside world. This was the American family. And now you’re seeing it destroyed. Why?”
As for Cosby’s two most well-known accusers, Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson, Rashad quickly dismissed them by saying, “Oh, please.”
Below is a breakdown of those 116 seconds. Some of it’s based on quotes we’ve heard here and there, plus a healthy dollop of inference and speculation.
Be warned there might be some minor spoilers, if we’re right…
00:12: Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is caught mid-crime. He’s a decent guy, but it seems unfavourable circumstances have turned him into a thief.
00:13: Lang’s clad in black – a stark contrast to the red and blue colour scheme he’ll sport later in the film. Lang is an electronics expert – he once helped Tony Stark install the Avengers Tower security system – and film hints at this by giving him a backpack which has a compartment for his phone (see left strap).
Electronics experts wear those backpacks, OK?
00:15: The original Ant-Man, Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ Pym, stares at a bank of monitors. There’s a lot to unpack here.
Firstly, it’s interesting to note the mixture of old and new technology. The central console is composed of CRT monitors, blinking lights, and switches; it feels dated. It reminds me of the technology Captain America and Black Widow uncover in the secret SHIELD bunker in Winter Soldier.Was this the console that Pym used back in the days he used to be Ant-Man? Did Pym work as an operative for SHIELD? Does the terminal still give Pym a back door into SHIELD’s network?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
If you look closely at the middle screen in the centre you can spot a man with his arm’s held aloft. Is Pym watching a live feed (cop cam?) of Lang being arrested? As Pym says to Lang in the teaser, “I’ve been watching you for a while now.” And maybe it’s all been from the comfort of his own lab – handy when you’re 70.
But Pym isn’t stuck in the past. It’s flanked by widescreen digital monitors. He’s a brilliant biochemist, with extensive knowledge of quantum mechanics, robotics, and entomology, so it’s understandable he would embrace new technology. Maybe he keeps the central terminal since it functions as a back door into SHIELD’s (Hydra’s) extensive surveillance network. On the digital screens you can see his most famous discovery: Pym particles, a rare subatomic group of particles. The screens visualise the particles, using modelling and diffraction patterning. Is Pym still working on his serum, refining it?
It’s a curious mix of the old and the new, establishing Pym as a man with one foot in the past and the present. We know he was a superhero, but in a time before superheroes were public (Captain America being the notable exception). Pym allows Marvel to give its cinematic universe a sense of history, and we know that both Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (John Slattery) will cameo in Ant-Man. So expect Ant-Man to fill in more of these chronological gaps.
Why is Pym looking for a successor? Perhaps he realises that following on from the events of recent MCU movies the public is finally ready to embrace Ant-Man.
00:26: The Golden Gate bridge, and from the trailer it seems like the bulk of the film will take place in San Francisco. Although it served as a backdrop for Ang Lee’s Hulk and X-Men: The Last Stand, it’s not yet featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Although in Iron Man 2 it was referenced as the place where Iron Man 2’s Justin Hammer gets his favourite Italian ice-cream.
00:31: Hank Pym is talking to Lang in what appears to be an office in a prison. Does Pym pull some strings to secure Lang’s early release?
It also doesn’t look like Pym is short of a bob or two; that’s a nice, expensive suit. Why’s he so wealthy? We’ll get to that in a minute.
00:34: We’ve been told many times that Ant-Man will be a heist movie, and behind Rudd in the scene to the left looks like one of those planning boards you have in pretty much every heist movie.
00:41: Pym’s workshop? Perhaps, though it looks different to the rooms he leads Lang through later in the trailer. And if you look how it’s kitted out, it’s more low-tech and less scientific than you would expect from Pym’s. It could be Lang’s.
00:47: Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott, and the unfortunate sufferer of – at least in the comics – a congenital heart condition. In fact, it’s her ailment that drives Lang to steal Pym’s Ant-Man suit in the source material. From the trailer alone, it appears that the film will reconfigure this, with Lang being approached by Pym to become Ant-Man.
00:49: Our first look inside Pym tech. You can see research being conducted in the background, but if you look at the floor below, there’s an extensive server farm, which looks like it could be the location for one of the film’s heists based on footage later in the trailer. It features heavily in this teaser.
00:51:This is a strange shot. It’s a brief pan, but it appears to be a glimpse into the microscopic world where roots are as think as tree branches. Ant-Man’s peculiar powers can instantly transform mundane locations into epic backdrops.
00:53: Now this is definitely Pym’s personal lab. While the technology housed within might be state-of-the-art, it feels a bit like an old man’s shed. It looks like Pym’s become a hobbyist; it just so happens he’s also a genius.
From the corrugated metal exterior and exposed wiring, this definitely doesn’t feel like it’s within Pym Industries. This is definitely Pym’s private workshop. Also, he’s still has a fondness for ants – note the ant colony on his desk.
00:54: This looks like the reverse shot of the above.
In the background, we can see Pym’s work-bench. Contrast it with the one he’s seen working at earlier in the trailer, and this definitely feels more like that of a biochemist, especially with a rack of boiling tubes containing red and blue liquid. In the comics, Pym was able to distill his particles into a liquid, then later a gas before refining it into handy pill form.
Perhaps after some impenetrable explanation of how Pym particles function – syphoning matter of into another dimension – it’s simplified for Lang (and the audience) as the red serum makes you shrink and the blue one makes you grow (or vice versa).
Notice the buttons too – Pym has a thing for red and blue.
00:57: He we get a shot of Pym Tech. In a nice touch, Hank’s famous particle cluster has been stylised into a corporate logo. Presumably after his brief crime-fighting days, Hank used his intellect to build a successful company.
00:58: At last year’s Comic-Con, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) was described as a protégé of Pym and the man who inherits his company. In the comics, Cross is a self-made entrepreneur who founds his own organisation – Cross Technological Enterprise, a technology company that rivals the likes of Stark Industries and Oscorp. Did Pym willingly hand over the company or was he ousted by the ambitious Cross?
Who’s behind him? Is it the board or potential investors? Cross is probably pushing Pym’s technology without Pym’s expertise, creating something superficially impressive but inherently dangerous.
00:59: Is he leading the company in a dramatically different direction? Is he attracting the interest of military investors? Pym particles could be used to transport gigantic armies in a single plane. Maybe it’s Cross’ new project that leads Pym to seek out a more worthy successor.
01:00: First look at Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (Wasp). “I was raised by two superheroes,” Lilly told Empire. “So, I’m a pretty screwed up human being. I am also fairly capable, strong, and kick-ass, which is wonderful to play, but the most fun to play was just how messed up she was from being raised by two superheroes. And the clear message sent by my name is that I’m not a big fan of my father and so I took my mother’s name.”
Ant-Man is shaping up to be a film about fathers and daughters, with Hope and Pym’s relationship serving as a counterpoint to the central relationship between Lang and his daughter, Cassie.
01:04:Lang is attending what appears to be Cassie’s birthday party. Given her serious condition, does he realise this might be the last one they share? In Avengers parlance, maybe that’s the ‘push’ he needs to become Ant-Man.
Also, and this is pretty cute, look closely at the table and there’s an ant made from pipe cleaners. Aww… this might be cuter than you think. But let’s revisit that in a minute.
01:11:The first look at the Ant-Man suit and helmet, which allows its wearer to communicate with insects.
It’s unclear if it’s in the possession of Pym; we never see him present it to Lang. It’s possible it still lies deep within Pym Tech, and the first heist in the movie doesn’t involve the suit at all, with Pym and Lang using their respective intellects and expertise to break into Pym Industries and steal the Ant-Man suit.
01:19: A shot of what is almost certainly Rudd in the outfit. There’s definitely a retro feel to the suit, suggesting it might be the original Pym used back in the day. Look closely at the suit and on the belt there appears four slots (two on each side). Is this where you load the serums into the suit?
Also, it looks like Ant-Man’s standing in a bathtub. Is he testing the suit or escaping?
01:22: It looks like this shot follows on from the last. If he is in the bathtub, where’s he going to go except down the plughole? This could lead onto a memorable, if pretty disgusting, sequence.
Look at the background. Bathtubs are gross.
01:22: Michael Peña plays Luis. Here he’s wearing a Pym tech security badge. There’s the server farm again. What information is it containing? Do they just need to wipe it?
01:25: Using Pym’s cybernetic helmet, Ant-Man calls in a flying ant for help. At this scale, it’s striking how it resembles a chopper as it lands, throwing up a cloud of dust.
01:26: Lang in prison. The uniforms bear CDCR – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – telling us the location of his confinement. Lang’s a fighter. This scrap probably takes place just before Pym visits Lang for that much-needed pep talk.
01:27: People run from what might be the campus HQ of Pym Industries. Look at the fountains, using Pym particles as a decorative modern sculpture. It’s unclear what they’re running from, but with the police waiting outside, it’s likely a threat.
01:28: It’s a short trailer, and it doesn’t dwell on specifics, but it does its best to emphasis this is a story about a man trying to save his daughter. Lang isn’t trying to save a city or the planet. It’s an appropriately small-scale and intimate through-line for Ant-Man.
It might be nothing, but look closely at Cassie’s wallpaper. There’s a picture of a fairy with wings. I don’t know whether it’ll be a recurring conceit or cute motif, but I wonder if Lang ability’s to shrink in size and fly on a winged ant will somehow combine with Cassie’s love of fairies.
01:29: Ant-Man takes out one of Pym Techs security guards. Ant-Man is known for retaining his strength in miniaturised form, but here it looks like the suit and serums grant Lang super-strength in his natural state. That’s one hell of a throw.
01:30: The Marvel six-pack puts in a cameo. Maybe he is strong enough to throw a dude through a window.
Hope’s in the foreground. The trailer shows her training him. Has she inflicted this wound? We know Lang is estranged from the mother of his daughter. Is there room for romance between them? Will Lang help reconcile Hope with Pym? There’s a lot of family drama going on in Ant-Man.
01:31: This is one of the more baffling shots in the trailer. Everything else seems to take place in California, but this fleeting shot depicts a more exotic locale that’s hard to identify. Middle-East? South America? It’s a sandy, tropical mansion protected by tanks.
The flag hung above the main archway bears crossed rifles, stars, and a sword. Could this be the location of a nefarious investor in Pym Tech? Alternatively, it’s possible this could be an extended flashback sequence, depicting one of Hank’s earlier outings as Ant-Man.
01:31: Cross’s gets angry like CEOs tend to do in movies. He’s not been described as an out-and-out villain; he’s being presented more as an ambitious man, but perhaps Pym choosing a new successor in Lang tips Cross over the edge, becoming Yellow-Jacket, a villain who uses Pym’s tech as the basis for a new suit.
01:32: Another shot which tries to convey the unique aspects of Ant-Man’s powers. You can see he’s running at full speed and headed for the crack under the door.
01:33: Ant-Man escapes from what looks like the server farm in Pym Tech. Ant’s are at home in farms, after all. It also showcases how the mundane can take on a more cinematic, spectacular dimension when seen from this perspective.
01:34: What better getaway vehicle for a heist movie than a flying ant. Look at the bottom of the frame, some barbed wire gives a sense of scale.
01:36: Another one of those shots which shows how the microscopic world of Ant-Man can transform the perception of the world around him. The server farm behind him looks like a cityscape at night.
That’s what we spotted in the first teaser trailer for Ant-Man. Did you spot anything else? Let us know in the comments down below.
Daniel is IGN’s Games Editor over in London. He writes about movies, too. You can be part of the world’s most embarrassing cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.
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