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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Did The Dark Knight Really Influence the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

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In 2008, there were two seismic events in the superhero movie genre so close together that you’d be forgiven for thinking they signaled the same thing. Over the span of a few months, Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) via Iron Man, and director Christopher Nolan changed the perception of how seriously to take these movies with The Dark Knight. Both are credited as watershed moments for how audiences and (more importantly) the industry approached such stories; and The Dark Knight is specifically singled out as the gold standard by which all other masked crimefighter films are measured.

However, was Nolan’s haunting vision—one in which a lone avenger is the last, best hope for a major American city on the verge of collapse—really that influential on its genre? The Dark Knight certainly had a monumental impact on the culture, then and now. You saw it when Heath Ledger’s searing interpretation of the Joker made him only the second actor to win a posthumous Oscar, as well as when the film’s exclusion from the Best Picture race changed the way the Academy Awards handled its top prize. And just last year, The Dark Knight became only the second superhero movie inducted into the National Film Registry.

Yet when a friend watching last week’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere told me Marvel was returning to the “realistic” approach of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and by extension The Dark Knight, I couldn’t help but disagree. The new Disney+ series may have a slightly more grounded aesthetic than the last time we saw these characters (back when they were fighting space aliens over magic stones in Avengers: Endgame), but the medium-blending existence of the series belies the idea that Marvel took anything significant from the insular and self-contained Dark Knight Trilogy.

The Dark Knight vs. Iron Man

It’s interesting to look back at just those 2008 films since at face value they bore minor similarities. They both were focused on fantastically wealthy billionaires using their fortunes to fight wrongdoing on a potentially global scale; each movie was directed by filmmakers with indie cred thanks to Nolan helming Memento (2000) and Jon Favreau writing and starring in Swingers (1996); and each starred unexpected casting choices with Ledger as the Joker and Robert Downey Jr. jumpstarting a career comeback as Tony Stark.

But their goals and approaches were worlds apart. The obvious thing to note, besides The Dark Knight being a sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and Iron Man being an origin movie, is that Iron Man had an slyly hilarious sensibility, and The Dark Knight fancied itself an allegory about post-9/11 America. The former’s success was engineered in large part by Downey’s gift for comedic improvisation and freestyle. Indeed, co-star Jeff Bridges said in 2009 that he, Downey, and Favreau were essentially improvising their scenes from scratch every day during primitive rehearsals. “They had no script, man,” Bridges lightly complained with his Dude diction.

By contrast, The Dark Knight appears at a glance to be an exercise in self-seriousness and lofty ambition. Every scene, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, appears like a chess move, and each character a pawn or knight who’s been positioned to put contemporary audiences in a state of pure anxiety with War on Terror imagery and dialogue. Of course this clocklike presentation is itself another Nolan illusion, as smaller players like Michael Jai White, who portrayed gangster Gambol in the movie, have been quite candid about. As with almost every film, there is still a level of fluidity and workshopping on Nolan’s set.

Ultimately, the bigger difference between the Nolan and eventual Marvel approach is what each is hoping to accomplish with the film they’re currently making. More than just offering a “realistic” vision of Batman, The Dark Knight attempted to tell a sweeping crime drama epic that would stand alone, separate from its status as a Batman Begins sequel. Rather than being “the next chapter,” The Dark Knight was meant to be a cinematic distillation of Batman and Joker’s primal appeals writ large. With this approach, the film also broke away from the superhero movie template Batman Begins followed three years earlier, and which nearly all superhero films still walk through the paces of.

In essence, The Dark Knight showed that superhero movies could be dark and mature, yes, but they can also be subversive, unexpected, and genuinely surprising. Nolan’s previous superhero movie, as good as it is, followed the beats set down by Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie nearly 30 years earlier. They’re the same beats trod by Iron Man and pretty much every other superhero origin movie, including a large bulk of Marvel Studios’ output. The Dark Knight, by contrast, reached for a cinematic vernacular separate from its specific genre. The movie’s not subtle about it either. The opening scene of Nolan’s epic wears its homages to Michael Mann’s Heat on its sleeves, and the story’s structure has more to do with Jaws than Jor-El.

The approach shook audiences in 2008 after they’d come to expect a certain type of movie from masked do-gooders. In The Dark Knight, superhero conventions could be subverted or obliterated when love interest Rachel Dawes is brutally killed off mid-sentence, or stalwart Batman is forced to claim a pyrrhic victory over the villain by entering into a criminal conspiracy and cover-up with the cops. The thrill of novelty was as breathtaking as the movie’s allegorical elements about a society on edge.

And even with The Dark Knight’s open-ended finale, it stood as a singular cinematic experience, complete with then-groundbreaking emphasis on IMAX photography. Nolan was so adamant about making this as self-contained an experience as possible that he jettisoned his co-story creator David Goyer’s idea of setting up Harvey Dent’s fall from grace for a third movie. Dent’s fate, as that of everyone else’s, would be tied strictly to the events of the movie you’re now watching.

“We Have a Hulk”

In Iron Man, and then more forcefully in Iron Man 2 (2010) and the rest of its “Phase One” era, Marvel Studios demonstrated a wholly different set of priorities. Similar to how Batman Begins paved the way for Nolan to do what he really wanted with that material, Iron Man 2 came to encapsulate Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s grander designs for the type of movies he was making. Where The Dark Knight was singular, unconventional, and two steps closer to our world than its comic book origins, Iron Man 2 was episodic, entirely crafted around audience expectations for a sequel, and even more like a comic book world than our own.

In other words, the first Iron Man gently submerged audiences into the fantasy by beginning with contemporary images of Tony Stark in a Middle Eastern desert; Iron Man 2 then made sweeping strides in defining what that MCU fantasy is as quickly as possible: Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is introduced solely to establish the superspy who will be vital to The Avengers two years down the road, and the central narrative about Tony Stark fighting an old rival is put on pause to reintroduce the character Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as a supporting, and superfluous, side character. The post-credit scene even arbitrarily introduces literal magic with a glowing hammer that has absolutely nothing to do with the story you just watched. Still, it’s a hell of a teaser for Thor which was due in theaters a year later.

With the release of Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios’ emphasis became diametrically opposed to the driving concept behind The Dark Knight Trilogy. Rather than each film being an insulated, standalone cinematic experience like the Hollywood epics of old, Marvel’s movies would be interconnected episodes in an ongoing narrative saga that spanned multiple franchises and countless sequels. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unlike Nolan after The Dark Knight, Feige and his stable of writers always know where the next movie (or five) is going, and have a better idea of what the overall vision is than any single director working within this system. Ironically, this returns power to the studio and producer as the seeming authorial voice of each movie. Like in the Golden Age of Hollywood, directors are more often hired hands than influential auteurs.

However, this means the aspects Nolan really valued on The Dark Knight beyond a gritty “realism”—elements like spontaneity, subversion, and a distancing from superhero tropes—became antithetical to the type of movies produced by the MCU. For at least the first decade of its existence, the Marvel Cinematic Universe flourished by creating a formula and house style that is as predictable for audiences as the contents in a Big Mac.

When you go to a Marvel movie, you more or less you’ll get: an ironic, self-deprecating tone, a story that often revolves around a CG MacGuffin that must be taken from the villain, and a narrative in which disparate heroic characters come together after some amusing, disagreeable banter. In fact, more than Iron Man, it was Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (2012) which refined the Marvel formula into what it is today.

There are of course exceptions to this rule. Black Panther became the first Marvel movie since Iron Man to arguably tackle themes significant to the real world, in this case specifically the legacy of African diaspora. It also became the first superhero film nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture as a result; James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies might follow the narrative formula of most MCU movies, but they’re embedded with a cheeky and idiosyncratic personality that is distinctly Gunn’s; and in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016), directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, attempted to inject a little bit of that “realistic” aesthetic from The Dark Knight. But only to a point.

Particularly in the 2014 effort, there was a push by the Russos to rely on in-camera special effects and cultivate what they often described in the press as a “1970s spy thriller” style. Ostensibly, the hope may have been to make The Winter Soldier as much a spy thriller as The Dark Knight was a crime epic. In this vein, there were even attempts to graft onto the story very timely concerns about the overreach of a government surveillance state, which had only grown in the decade since the U.S. PATRIOT Act was passed, despite a change in White House administrations. However, all of these ambitions had an invisible ceiling hovering above them.

Despite having overtones about the danger of reactionary if well-intentioned government leaders, like the kind personified by Robert Redford’s SHIELD director in the movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier couldn’t become too focused on the espionage elements or too far removed from the Marvel house style. The story still needed to interconnect with other Marvel films, hence Redford’s character turning out to be a secret HYDRA double agent, and it still needed to give audiences what they expected from a Marvel movie. Thus how this “1970s spy thriller” ends in a giant CGI battle with citywide destruction as Captain America inserts MacGuffins into machines that will blow up HYDRA’s latest weapon for world domination.

It’s easy to wonder if the movie was developed a little longer, and didn’t have to play by a certain set of rules and expectations, that instead of backpedaling into comic book motivations, Redford’s character would’ve been a well-intentioned patriot amassing power “to keep us safe,” and in the process destabilized the institutions he claimed to revere.

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A Universe Without End

The Marvel method breeds a heavy need for familiarity and comfortable predictability, as opposed to disorientation and discomfort. Yet both methods are valid. While Nolan achieved near universal praise for The Dark Knight, his attempt to replicate it with the even more ambitious The Dark Knight Rises—an unabashed David Lean-inspired epic that took more from A Tale of Two Cities and Doctor Zhivago than DC Comics—left fans divided. It also was a narrative dead end for the corporate/fanbase need of an ongoing franchise. Nolan instead reached a final, artistic, and emphatic period for his cinematic interpretation of Batman mythology. By comparison, Marvel Studios has created a new cinematic vernacular that only ever uses dashes, semicolons, and commas. There is always more to tell.

Nolan reflected on these changing circumstances for superhero movies in 2017 when he said, “That’s a privilege and a luxury that filmmakers aren’t afforded anymore. I think it was the last time that anyone was able to say to a studio, ‘I might do another one, but it will be four years.’ There’s too much pressure on release schedules to let people do that now, but creatively it’s a huge advantage.”

This lines up with what Jeff Bridges said about the evolution of the Marvel method way back in ’09 after the first Iron Man: “You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script [and they think], ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together.”

Bridges’ unhappiness with the new process notwithstanding, Marvel was rewriting the playbook about how these types of movies were made. Nolan’s approach of one at a time and years-long development processes created three distinctly different and relatively standalone Batman movies. But Marvel has shifted the idea of not just what a franchise can be, but also what cinematic storytelling means.

Instead of three movies, their rules and structures have generated dozens of well-received and adored entertainments, that when combined can produce experiences as unique as Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019): two movies that were more like a two-part season finale on TV than individual stories. And the latter became the highest grossing film of all time.

The success of this approach is further underlined when one considers competitors that tried to emulate both Marvel and Nolan’s approaches, relying on a lone auteur to build a shared cinematic universe—while also arguably taking the wrong lessons from the “dark” in The Dark Knight title. In the case of the DC Extended Universe, that approach collapsed on itself after three movies, leaving the interconnected “shared” part of its universe in tatters, and fans and studio hands alike divided on how to proceed with the franchise.The Marvel Cinematic Universe took a narrower road than that of The Dark Knight. But it turned out to be a lot smoother and much, much longer.

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bearpillowmonster · 5 years

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Top 15 Movies

I made that Top 15 Games post so I decided to do movies as well, same rules apply here but you’re going to see mostly Marvel and Disney movies anyway so I made it one per franchise such as one Star Wars, One Avengers, One Guardians, with that Guardians Vol. 2, Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl, Spider-Man: Homecoming were the runner ups. No particular order.

Incredibles: I went to the theaters to see this and I feel so happy that I did, I remember being so impressed with Dash running on the water then beating those goons. It really set the bar and holds up today considering I hold it higher than it’s sequel and it made me a fan of Brad Bird.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: Am I hopping on the bandwagon here?...Nope! I was making this list and I was going to put either the first Raimi film or Homecoming and I started thinking...why not Spiderverse? I really adore the other ones but there are a few glaring problems with them, this one...I can’t actually name any.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: I really enjoyed this when I saw it, it’s one of those where I can watch it again and again and not get tired of it. I’m not sure why but it was a lot more fun than I expected, it also had ONE of the best villains of the MCU (in my opinion) as well as the worst.

The Losers: I see this as a staircase to the Marvel universe, I mean we have Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans here, what’s not to love. I think we all know what my favorite part was...

The Three Musketeers: Mickey, Donald and Goofy: It did justice to the characters and made a classic story into something new and entertaining. It’s underrated. And who can forget this part:

Tron: Legacy: This or Tron, This or Tron? Both were very good but this one has a little better effects obviously as well as doing a lot of things that the original already does, add Daft Punk’s killer soundtrack in there and you got yourself a formula for an uprising. #TronLives #FlynnLives

Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Good voice acting, cool effects, a nice aesthetic with the glowing lights, crystals, and ancient technology (I guess you can say I like blue lights judging by my previous entry) But I remember first seeing it and immediately feeling the weight from that beginning with Kida’s mom. It’s a nice adventure and makes me wish that it’s sequel wasn’t so iconicly hated because it gives the title a bad name. I refuse to watch the sequel if it really is that bad.

The Lion King: Can you blame me? Do I even have to explain? Animation is gorgeous, designs are peak, music is top notch, and expressions that they get ‘Oh so right’ that no live action remake could ever recapture. This is considered a masterpiece. I can quote it on the daily, remember even the tiniest details and just the amount of times I’ve seen it makes me want to say it IS a part of who I am.

The Avengers: Infinity War was close but this was the cake. You can walk into a room with this playing at any given moment and be like “Oh yeah this is a good part.” They spend every minute doing something interesting.

Captain America: The First Avenger: A lot of people overlook this one because of the other 2 but this one will always be my favorite. I remember seeing it the first time, just came out on DVD and my mom went to her baby shower, me and my dad watched it and she came back AS SOON as it was done, as if this was just to pass that exact amount of time. Cap is a character you want to root for, his morals are worth fighting for. Iron Man may have started the MCU but I say Cap shaped it and made it better, this was the real start (as Avengers was next. Red Skull is just a villain I like, both movie and comic as well.

Baby Driver: I was superhyped to see Spider-Man: Homecoming so I traveled just to go see it as early as I could, I said if anything went wrong, I would go see this. I ended up being fine and waited until this was on DVD. Edgar Wright has some of the best editing in his movies, the way this movie uses music, the tone, the idea of it being in the perspective of the ‘Getaway driver’ it makes it exciting and gives it spunk, it makes you like the character, the music, and heck root for a criminal. I wasn’t a big fan of the big twist everyone likes with the villain but that’s ok.

Inside Out: I went to Disney World and when I learned they were still playing this in theaters there, I dropped everything and went to go see it. Little did I know how right I was because I really enjoyed it. It’s an emotional film, gets me crying probably more than any other film, it really nails what’s it’s talking about...feelings. Mix that with glowful animation, good voice acting and a lesson that makes you think and really ponder.

Guardians of the Galaxy: I thought this would try and be like Star Wars and just be a giant battle in space. Nope! This has charm, character, and maybe a little bit of rudeness but man! I mean escape from prison in zero gravity, freezing in dead space, singing in the middle of everything and once again the villain. Why do I like the underrated villains? I think it’s a good contrast with the goofy personality of the characters to have a serious, brooding, and gritty character. As well as a proper introduction to Thanos (yeah he’s still number 1 villain in my book)

Star Wars: Somewhere, somehow, this had to be on the list. One way or the other, Star Wars is a phenomenon that can’t simply be ignored, with all the controversy and misdirection within the community right now, for some reason I keep getting tossed and turned but I find myself coming back e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e! I’ll say A New Hope is my favorite but really, I could say just about all of them. Something about seeing Luke, Vder, Leia, and Han in the same place just tops it off. The witty duo of R2 and 3PO, the original Death Star, the quotable moments that make you wish you were on that planet yet also find yourself relating with the way Luke wanting to get away but at the same time missing his old ways.

Black Panther: I’ll be honest. I don’t really like Black Panther in the comics. I felt like he was a cool secret weapon in the cartoons but I never really gained my appreciation for him until Civil War came out, then I really liked him. I figured out why too, I just really didn’t like how bland his suit was in the comics, I ended up reading a few anyway after the movie. I think he’s worthy of the Infinity Gauntlet like in the comics. Well this movie came out and I saw it opening day to a big crowd, it had good music, good style, a fresh take and blend between ancient and modern styles (kind of like how Atlantis did) as well as giving it a sense of culture, and not shying away from that. It’s almost like the Lion King, I never felt the same way about a film but those two feel similar and for that alone is a feat.

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years

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Avengers: Infinity War - Quill’s Quickies (No Spoilers)

Sometimes I think back to when the MCU first started. How excited I was that the Avengers were finally on the big screen. The attention to detail in regards to world building and character dynamics. There was no limit to the possibilities involved here. Us geeks were living the dream. Compare that to the MCU now. A bloated, cynical sequel factory churning out blander and blander movies each year, over-saturating the medium with what is, essentially, glorified B movies. Whenever I think about the MCU nowadays, I recall that scene near the end of The Dark Knight when the Joker says to Batman; “I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” That’s how I feel about Marvel movies now. I just feel this permanent sense of ennui. It’s like being trapped in a loveless marriage. Once there was passion and fireworks, but now the spark has gone out of the relationship and I’m silently praying for some kind of respite that will never come.

Avengers: Infinity War is a landmark movie in more ways than one. It represents the culmination of 10 years worth of collaborative filmmaking, it’s quite possibly the most ambitious crossover to date, but it also in many ways signifies just what a stupid, dull, incoherent mess this shared universe has turned into.

As you can probably tell by now, I didn’t exactly go into this film with high expectations. Going through the MCU in recent years has been like walking through a scorching desert without end. Black Panther provided a kind of temporary oasis, full of palm trees, beautiful lagoons and a luxury spa, but sadly I had to leave this paradise behind to brave the desert wastes once again. And having experienced that moment of sheer bliss in that oasis, the harshness of the desert sands feel all the more unbearable. But even then, as I took my seat in the cinema, I foolishly had a small glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Infinity War wouldn’t be so bad. It’s directed by the Russo Brothers after all. They made the brilliant Captain America: The Winter Soldier and pleasantly surprised me with Captain America: Civil War. I remember going into Civil War with the same pessimistic feeling, and while it wasn’t a perfect movie by any means, it was a lot better than it had any right to be. If anyone could make Infinity War work, surely it would be them, right?

Sadly it seems we’ve finally found the Russos’ breaking point. Avengers: Infinity War was utterly tedious to sit through. I was bored to tears. Not only was I struggling to make sense of what was going on half the time, I didn’t care about what was going on neither.

Let’s start with the most glaring and obvious problem. The characters. There are WAY too many of them. I swear you could easily have gotten a whole trilogy out of this. In fact I honestly would have preferred that. It would have given the story more room to breathe. Instead everything is just crammed into one overly long film that constantly jumps to different locations every couple of minutes as though the filmmakers have some form of ADHD, and none of the characters are allowed to get any kind of development. In fact they’re not characters at all. They’re chess pieces. They show up on screen, do what the script requires them to do, and then disappear once their purpose has been fulfilled.

There were some moments that could have been more impactful, like scenes involving Thanos and Gamora, Vision and Scarlet Witch, or Loki and Thor, but they don’t have nearly the emotional resonance they should have because they’re essentially fighting for space in this gigantic clusterfuck. Other characters, like Captain America and Black Panther, are forced to become these dull, shallow caricatures because the story just doesn’t have any room for them to really shine or come into their own. The focus isn’t on telling an engaging story or developing the characters, but instead on these massive, computer generated action scenes that I simply don’t give a shit about (in fact the final fight in Wakanda reminded me rather horribly of the battle on Naboo in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace). Not to mention, due to how poorly this whole arc with the Infinity Stones has been handled over the course of these movies, Infinity War spends most of its time explaining to the audience just what the fuck is going on and reminding everyone where all the characters are at. Doctor Strange in particular seems to only be there to provide exposition. (Quick side note, the Eye of Agamotto is an Infinity Stone? I’m sorry, have Marvel Studios ever even so much as glanced at a Doctor Strange comic before?!)

Oh yes. After all my ranting over the years about what a racist piece of shit the Doctor Strange movie is and how I stubbornly refuse to watch it despite being a huge fan of the comics, you’re no doubt wondering what I thought of the Sorcerer Supreme considering this is the first time I’ve properly got to see him in action. He’s... fine, I guess. Benedict Cumberbatch was about as good as I expected him to be, given what he has to work with here. Aside from a bit near the end, they don’t go nearly as psychedelic or as imaginative with the magic as I would have liked them to. All Strange ever seemed to do was just use these glowing disc things or this energy whip. Also the Cloak of Levitation seems to have a mind of its own. I don’t get the purpose behind that at all. But do you know what the biggest problem is with Doctor Strange? The same problem as most of the other male characters. They all sound exactly the fucking same. This is something a few people on Tumblr have commented on before, and it’s really noticeable in this film. The dialogue is practically interchangeable to the point where characters like Strange, Iron Man and Star Lord start to just blur together. There’s no two ways around it. This is just bad writing.

The crappiness isn’t limited to the protagonists neither. No, the villain Thanos is just as shit, although that didn’t come as much of a surprise. He’s meant to be the supposed Big Bad of the MCU, and yet there’s been no buildup whatsoever. In these 19 Marvel movies, Thanos has only appeared twice, both in post credit scenes. We have no idea who the fuck he is or what he’s doing. So the Russos have to shove in a hackneyed backstory and motivation for the fucker, and good God is it bad. Like... insultingly bad. Marvel often like to brag about how they planned all of this from the beginning, but Infinity War proves otherwise. His whole plot doesn’t make any sense and was clearly just pulled out of some hack screenwriter’s nether regions, we don’t fully understand what’s driving him to do something so mind bogglingly daft in the first place, and any attempts to wring any emotion out of us and make us empathise with the prat just end up falling flat on their face. I know Marvel have always had a villain problem, but this is just embarrassing now.

And then there’s the ending. Holy fuck do I hate the ending! Marvel have done some bad shit before, but this has got to be the most insulting thing I think I’ve ever seen from them. Without giving too much away, critics and fans (aka idiots) have been using buzzwords like ‘shocking’ and ‘gamechanging’ to describe the ending, but that’s objectively bollocks. For one thing, the Russos have had ‘gamechanging’ moments in their movies before and they never seem to stick (think back to SHIELD being destroyed in Winter Soldier or Iron Man’s dubious morality in Civil War), but the big pisstake for me is that Marvel have already announced their next set of movies. So we know what happens at the end of Infinity War isn’t permanent... and yet they still expect us to be emotionally devastated by it. Fuck off!

I’ve said a few times in the past that Marvel need to take a break. I’m now going to go one further. Marvel need to stop making movies altogether.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to end.

I’m sorry, but I’m just so bloody sick of this. I’m sick of these cut and paste movies with no thought or effort being put into them. I’m sick of Marvel’s cynical greed and utter contempt for their audience. I’m sick of fans and critics kissing their arses and saying that MCU movies are the best when they’re so clearly fucking not. Ever since Doctor Strange came out, I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody is actually watching these movies. They’re basically the cinematic equivalent of dangling your keys in front of a toddlers face. Just show a few pretty colours, some punch-ups and bad jokes, and that should keep the plebs quiet for a couple of hours. But if you were to actually engage your brain, these movies quickly fall apart. I mean just look at the sheer bloody number of news articles discussing what happened leading up to Infinity War and posing theories as to why certain characters behaved the way that they did in the movie. Shouldn’t that give just a little bit of a hint? if your story has become so stupid and convoluted that people have to read news articles and stuff to make any sense of the fucking thing, maybe you’re doing something wrong.

No. That’s it. I’m done. I’m not watching anymore of these bloody movies. Infinity War sucked donkey balls and I never want to see it or any other MCU movie ever again.

#avengers: infinity war #marvel cinematic universe #quill's quickies #no spoilers

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britesparc · 6 years

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Weekend Top Ten #320

Top Ten Things the MCU Did Right

Blimey, we’re nearly there, aren’t we? Avengers: Infinity War actually opens THIS WEEK which means I might have even seen it by the time my next Top Ten goes out next weekend.

OH MY STARS AND GARTERS.

(Sorry, that guy’s not in the MCU yet is he? Okay, how about…)

SWEET CHRISTMAS.

(I guess he’s not in the films, but the Netflix shows are allegedly canon, so it counts, it counts!)

Anyway, before everyone dies horrible deaths at Thanos’ hands this week, I wanted to celebrate Marvel’s tremendous success here. I’m not a film expert, but I just don’t think this has really been done before; not on this scale, not with this many moving parts. Ten years, nineteen films and counting, a couple of dozen principle performers, multiple directors and writers, one overall storyarc that bleeds in and out of different individual stories… it’s a remarkable, unprecedented achievement. No wonder everyone else wants a bite of the cherry, even though nobody has been successful (and, as a big DC fan, it pains me somewhat to admit that).

The MCU is a minor movie miracle and we should all be supremely grateful that it’s around, still going strong, and hopefully will be for at least another ten years. And here, for the record, are my top ten reasons why it’s been successful; what Kevin Feige and his collaborators have done right.

Read it and weep, denizens of Universal’s Dark Universe.

They walked before they could run: I believe, initially, only three or four films were announced: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. Although they started out with the intention of a shared universe, they also started small: four more-or-less origin stories focused on individual characters. There was an ambition to do Avengers, an intent, sure; but they didn’t take it for granted. They didn’t block out dozens of future release dates. By focusing on getting the first batch of films right, as individual films, it created a solid bedrock on which to build the rest of the universe.

They kept it grounded: The first batch of films were mostly set on Earth with threats that weren’t entirely world-ending. Nothing was a huge, huge deal until the Avengers happened. Eschewing the stylised world of, say, the Burton/Schumacher Batman films, the heroes of the MCU lived in the “real world”, and faced more “realistic” antagonists. This grounded the more fantastical elements; nothing was too wild or wacky. There were no talking trees, no alternate dimensions, no magic; even Asgard was presented more as a European royal kingdom in space, rather than metaphysical deities. They took their time to let viewers embrace the world, before cranking up the comic book aesthetic.

The films varied in tone and genre: This has become more apparent as the MCU has evolved, for good reason; whilst the first batch – coming out at a rate of only one or two a year – were content to be variations on origin stories, subsequent films have really tried to vary the style to avoid repetition or franchise stagnation. Even in just the Captain America films, we have a World War II movie, a 70s-style conspiracy thriller, and a globe-spanning epic action movie-cum-war film. Thor always leaned towards comedy, before fully embracing the crazy with Ragnarok; the Guardians of the Galaxy films are both action comedies, and Ant-Man is probably more comedy than action. Black Panther is practically a Bond movie. Meanwhile, the Avengers movies themselves have been content to play potentially world-ending threats relatively straight, and certainly the marketing for Infinity War has suggestions of epic tragedy. This means, even as we get three films a year, they never feel like sequels or retreads. Doctor Strange was the closest we’ve gotten in recent years to a “Phase One” style of movie, and even that was visually trippy enough to stand on its own.

Using S.H.I.E.L.D. as a bridge was a masterstroke: Represented initially by Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D. served an important plot function by being the connective tissue between films; he’d go from talking to, say, Tony Stark to uncovering Thor’s hammer in the space of the same end-credit sequence. “You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” has become an iconic scene. S.H.I.E.L.D. allowed Marvel to create independent heroes in their own stand-alone stories, but similarly build a framework across the entire franchise, seeding the Avengers before the film was even a certainty.

…and destroying that bridge was an even bigger masterstroke: by the time of The Winter Soldier, we thought we knew what to expect from a Marvel movie. S.H.I.E.L.D. probably played the biggest role we’d seen at that point; Cap was working directly for them now, and they’d just saved the world in The Avengers. But by pulling the rug on the audience and the organisation – by having them infiltrated by HYDRA and then forcibly disbanded by Cap and Black Widow – it upended the apple cart. We didn’t know where they’d go from here. True, not many main characters were dying in the films, but there was now a sense that all bets were off; if they could, effectively, kill off S.H.I.E.L.D., then who knows what else they’d do? Destroy Asgard? Reveal Wakanda to the world? It also helped establish a new MCU, where they needed the Avengers, which in turn lead to a world which required the Avengers to be compliant to the UN. These decisions were made gradually, building upon past decisions, but each was a stepping stone to a more coherent and connected MCU.

They kept it light: pre-MCU – and even during their early years, really – the most successful superhero franchise was Batman, and the most successful iteration thereof was Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. The po-faced seriousness of that, coupled with the rather morose tone of the DCU at large at that point, allowed the MCU to set itself apart with a focus on optimism, friendship, and wit. True, Bale’s Batman had the odd one-liner, but all of the characters in the MCU were funny, even straight-laced ones like Steve Rogers or Nick Fury. The colourful setting and witty repartee became a hallmark of the franchise, and a refinement of the style can be seen in increasingly sophisticated ways: Civil War is really a tragedy of misguided good intentions and conflicted emotions, yet still finds room for terrific moments of comedy, whereas Ragnarok is essentially a comedy that still gives us mass slaughter, major defeats for our heroes, corrupted patriarchs, and the destruction of an entire homeland. From the trailers for Infinity War, this style looks set to continue, with T’Challa and Okoye bantering about Starbucks before (I assume) literally everyone is murdered.

They learnt how to fly: sure, the opening films were grounded; yeah, they mostly focused on Earthbound heroes; fine, the majority of characters were either powerless or had a low-key skillset recognisable as advanced tools or peak athleticism (as opposed to a Loki skillset, which is basically great hair plus bitchy put-downs). However, as the MCU grew and became more successful, they smartly took risks, but also broadened their horizons. Guardians not only took us farther into space than was hinted at in Thor; it also gave us a talking raccoon and a living tree, multiple primary-hued aliens, a space station inside a giant head, and Peter Serafinowicz calling the good guys “A-holes”. Let’s not forget, too, that this was a full-on space opera with multiple planets, creatures, and ships, starring characters way outside the mainstream, that ended with a dance-off. Since then, the scope of the MCU has only widened, with Ant-Man giving us the Quantum Realm, Doctor Strange taking us on far-out journeys across the astral plane, and Black Panther even possibly showing us a version of the afterlife. Panther’s treatment of worldwide black history, slavery, and racism in America is also further proof of a maturing, confident, and intelligent forward momentum for the MCU.

They caught Spider-Man: seriously, however they managed it, whoever we need to thank – Disney, Marvel, Sony – bringing Spider-Man into the MCU is one of the best things to have happened. It instantly gives the character a new hook, and an identity closer to the comics: a youngster pretending to be an adult superhero, in a world where there are adult superheroes to look up to. But the scene in Civil War between Tony and Peter really epitomises all of the great ideals not just of those two characters, or the film, or the wider MCU – even though it does – but the ideals of superheroes as a fictional concept. “If you can do the things that I can do, and bad stuff happens, and you don’t do anything, then it happens because of you.” Spider-Man is utterly crucial to that film, to Tony’s arc, to the wider MCU, because he represents – in a very Superman-ish fashion, and far more Superman-ish than Superman himself has been allowed to be in movies recently – the inherent goodness of a certain breed of superhero. Having this young, vibrant, intelligent presence going forward is a tremendous achievement.

They let directors off the leash: the first few Marvels had great directors, for sure – Branagh, Favreau, Whedon – but there was a sense of sticking, more or less, to the “house style”. When Edgar Wright left Ant-Man, it was assumed his flamboyant tendancies did not fit with the tone of he MCU. But, weirdly enough, ever since then, directors have been allowed to be themselves. It seems possible for auteurs to exist within the Marvel framework, and the universe is better for it. The Guardians films are resolutely James Gunn, Black Panther is very much the vision of Ryan Coogler, and Thor: Ragnarok could not be more Taika Waititi if it was actually set in New Zealand. These more personal approaches to iconic characters have resulted in better movies, and a better franchise overall, as it allows films to shine individually and for the overall filmscape to feel less homogenous.

They cast it very, very, very well: in my opinion, above all else, the single most consistently excellent thing across the MCU is how right the casting is. RDJ is Tony Stark, in so many ways, and his casting really set the tone. Hemsworth brings so much to Thor; sure, he can play the rich royal demanding horses and drink, the self-centred swaggerer, but he brought a humour that wasn’t necessarily there on the page, and gave Thor the richness and depth he deserved. Scarlett Johannsen, Paul Rudd, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland… I could go on. Mark Ruffalo is so great as Banner you forget he was a recasting operation (ditto Don Cheadle). But far and away the best is Chris Evans. Getting Cap right was difficult, and Evans did seem like a strange choice: he played the jock-tastic Johnny Storm to a tee in Fantastic Four, but could he add the gravitas necessary for Cap? Could he make this straight-arrow guy a charismatic leader and screen presence? Yes. Yes he could. He is, in my opinion, the most perfect piece of superhero casting since Christopher Reeve, and embodies the character at least as well. He’s practically Captain America off camera, too. And he’s just one of literally dozens of well-cast roles in the series.

So there you are. My reasons why I think the MCU has been the success it is. This is my patented formula, so if any other studios want a shared universe, you’ll have to pay me. My price is a four-pack of Guinness and a Blu-ray of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

#top ten #marvel #mcu #movies #comics #infinity war #avengers

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sumukhcomedy · 6 years

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I’m So Excited to Watch “Cock Blockers”!

While walking and driving the streets of Los Angeles, I see plenty of billboards and other advertisements for movies. But none has probably affected and excited me more than the one for the upcoming movie, Cock Blockers. I’ve seen it everywhere on every street and even on the bus stops in my neighborhood. Cock Blockers looks like it’s going to be an awesome theatrical experience for the whole family.

At least I think it’s called Cock Blockers. I wasn’t sure at first given the poster. It seems to allude to that but then the cartoon rooster symbolized it to me so it must be Cock Blockers. Or Rooster Blockers? Or Cockerel Blockers? Or The Artist Formerly Known As Cock Blockers?

The movie seems to be about parents having to deal with their teenage children wanting to have sex with their boyfriends. So these parents or going to go in and make sure they block that teenage cock. I wish this movie was produced by Kirk Cameron so it could have some underlying celibacy only education messaging which is the only true way to block that teenage cock.

Cock Blockers stars the comedic genius John Cena. You may remember Cena from the award-winning, alternative, forward thinking sketch comedy show, WWE Monday Night Raw and his funny turns in Trainwreck, Sisters, and The Marine. One can only hope his catch phrase “You can’t see me” will be utilized as he portrays a father hiding in bushes and cars and closets or anywhere else deemed funny in order to block that teenage cock. Perhaps he will have to follow the same path as his character in the classic 12 Rounds and accomplish 12 challenges to ensure his daughter’s safety from Prom Night penis.

Cock Blockers has stopped at nothing to ensure that my ass, cock, and all other body parts are in a seat in a theater to watch this. I’m their target demographic given I’m getting their sponsored ads in my feed!

With all these billboards, sponsored ads, and endless assault of promoting, there is no way we can block ourselves from spending money to enjoy Cock Blockers. I have every expectation I will LOL constantly at this movie and that it will break all box office records that Black Panther did. In fact, all of the people that asked on social media, “Well why isn’t there a White Panther?” will definitely go see Cock Blockers. It is most assuredly Get Out for white people.

Cock Blockers releases to theaters on April 6, but I have a special invitation to check it out in L.A. on April 3, and I definitely will because that’s how much I want to see this movie. I can’t wait for its sequel, Bros Before Hoes but the ads will have a cartoon garden hoe instead of the word “hoe” because, remember, the American viewing public is dumb.

Enjoy watching COCK BLOCKERS!!! EGGPLANT EMOJI!!!

#blockers #john cena #wwe #cock blockers #movies #box office #monday night raw #wwe raw #smackdown #comedy #emoji #eggplant #black panther #get out

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savetopnow · 6 years

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2018-04-06 09 CELEBRITY now

CELEBRITY

A Guide to Zac Efron's Instagram Flirting: Why His Social Media Activity Is Sparking Romance Rumors

Watch Cardi B Respond to Those Pregnancy Rumors Once and for All

Be Careful, Cardi B's Makeup Artist Just Changed the Game With These Tips

Casey Affleck Has Been ''Treated Abominably'' in #MeToo Era, Kenneth Lonergan Says

Bobbi Kristina Brown's Ex Nick Gordon Won't Be Charged in Domestic Violence Case

Hollywood Life

Kim Kardashian: Why She’s ‘Laughing All The Way To The Bank’ Over Photoshop Claims

Kendall Jenner ‘Definitely Had Lip & Cheek Fillers’ & ‘Probably A Nose Job,’ Doctors Claim

‘Teen Mom’ Murder Scandal: Star’s Brother Charged With Killing Man In Fatal Shooting

Conor McGregor Violently Smashes Bus Window With Dolly Amid Wild 25-Man Attack — Watch

Donald Trump Breaks Silence On Alleged Stormy Daniels Affair: Did He Know About $130K Hush Money?

Media Take Out

Desiigner Caught Taking A PIZZ On Someone’s House!! (PICS)

Comedian Sinbad Appears To Be SNITCHING On Russell Simmons . . . Says ‘MORE WOMEN’ Are Gonna Come Out With RAPE Claims!!!

Shirley Strawberry From Teh STEVE HARVEY RADIO SHOW . . . Is Being Sued . . . For Being a ‘DEADBEAT’!!

People

'Sleepy Stormi': Kylie Jenner Shares Photos of Her 9-Week-Old Daughter on Walk with Travis Scott

Ali MacGraw Launches Her Second Clothing Line Collection - and It Gives Back in a Major Way

Cardi B Addresses Pregnancy Rumors: ‘People Cannot Expect Me to Be Open About Everything’

Lin-Manuel Miranda Says He Has Shingles & Is 'Quarantined Away' From His 8-Week-Old Son

Hour-Long Lunch with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino Auctions for $110,000

Perez Hilton

Conor McGregor 'Going To Jail' After Bus Attack Leaves Fellow UFC Fighter 'Cut To Pieces' — See The INSANE Footage!

How Adorable Are Adam Rippon & Gus Kenworthy On The Cover Of OUT Magazine?!

Channing & Jenna Dewan Tatum 'Will Not Get Back Together' — But They WILL Amicably Co-Parent Daughter Everly!

Donald Trump FINALLY Acknowledges Stormy Daniels Hush Money — With Total Denial!

Jaime King Breaks Her Silence After Son Is Struck By Glass During 'Incredibly Violent' Car Attack!

Popsugar

So, Brad Pitt Reportedly Has a New "Fascinating" Lady Friend in His Life

5 Ways Michelle Obama Is Still Working Her Ass Off in 2018

Eggs, Bunnies, and Chocolate! Here's How Your Favorite Stars Celebrated Easter This Year

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's Modern Family Is Absolutely Golden

Roseanne and Dan Have Nothing on John Goodman's 29-Year Romance With His Real-Life Wife

Reddit Entertainment

Samuel L. Jackson: How I Became an Usher at Martin Luther King Jr.'s Funeral (Guest Column)

Lord of the Rings TV Show Has a 5 Season Commitment, Potential $1 Billion Budget

How Bill O’Reilly Silenced His Accusers: Settlement agreements between Bill O’Reilly and two of his accusers — made public for the first time on Wednesday — filled in previously unknown details about tactics he employed to silence women who came forward with sexual harassment allegations against him

The Worst TV Shows of the 1990s

2017 Movies That Already Have Sequels in the Works

TMZ

Vivica A. Fox Responds to Fur Protesters with Holy Wish

Judge Judy, Another Judge Rules She's Worth $47 Million

Dana White Says Conor McGregor Is 'Going to Jail,' Fighting Future in Jeopardy

Nas Says Kelis Violated Custody Agreement Claiming She Had a Passover Pass

Steve Aoki's Nuts Get Slapped By UFC Legend Ken Shamrock

The Shade Room

#TSRThirstyThursdayz: Which One Of These Fellas Could Get It?!

Issa #BaeWatch! R. Kelly’s Ex-Boo Halle Calhoun Confirms She’s Now Dating Rapper Rocko

#HoldUpWeAintFinished!! Black Panther Will Be The First Film Shown In Saudi Arabia—Breaking The Country’s 35-Year Movie Theater Ban

#TSRUpdatez: CDC Epidemiologist Who Vanished After Leaving Work When He Got Sick Found Dead In The Chattahoochee River

Baltimore Student Accepted Into All 8 Ivy League Schools: “I Just Felt Extraordinary!”

Us Weekly

The Situation: ‘Of Course’ I’m Scared for Tax Evasion Sentencing

Melania Trump Once Dumped Donald Trump Over His Ex: Report

Kathleen Peterson's Sister Talks Crime Scene In 'American Murder Mystery' Preview

Lamar Odom: Marijuana Helped Me After Rehab

Disney Channel Stars Reunite for Epic Photo: Demi, Cole and More!

#celebrity

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cadencekismet · 5 years

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Top ten of 2018

I haven’t read as much as I usually do this year, but I should still have read ten books good enough for my top ten list.

We’re going to start with movies/tv though. I’ve only got three here.

1. Black Panther. If you’ve somehow been sleeping on this one, wake up and watch it. I’m not a big superhero movie person and even I loved it.

2. Casablanca. Took me long enough. But it’s a really good movie, with the sort of queer subtext that even my dad can pick up on (seriously, you have no idea how weird it was to me when they walked off together at the end and he gave me the old person equivalent of “I ship it”. Super strange.) Plus the morals about fighting back against the nazis. The history of this movie. Worth watching.

3. V for Vendetta. I know. Believe me, I know! I wouldn’t have watched it at all if not for a tumblr post about how V isn’t actually the main character, but I’m really glad I did. It’s super interested in queerness and it has Stephen Fry and (honestly, this was the thing that amused me the most) the entire ending of “The Empty Hearse” from Sherlock was lifted practically wholesale from this movie. If you want to be annoyed about s4 of Sherlock all over again or if you want fuel for your tinhatting, watch/rewatch this movie.

Books

1. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib. This book is my favorite thing I read all year and I wasn’t even expecting to like it. It’s a series of essays about music, and I don’t really listen to much music like that. It’s not about the music, guys. Like Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, this book is a sort of political theoretical memoir. He’s a poet, and you can tell from the way he uses language. It’s fucking miraculous. This book is published by a small press too, which means you can read it and not support Penguin Random House holding 4/5 of the publishing industry. Everyone should read this.

2. On Canaan Side by Sebastian Barry. Listen, Barry is another one who just... his command of language can take my breath away. I read this one because I had read Days Without End. This one is very different but also lovely. An old woman decides to kill herself and writes her life story to explain why. It’s bittersweet and tender.

3. Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor. This is a book of short stories. I particularly recommend the very first (titular) story, mostly because it is about languages and how they evolve and I’m so excited about that. All the stories were great, I can’t honestly think of one I disliked. It was an excellent book that everyone should read.

4. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. Um, guys, Walden wrote a masterpiece here. This is a graphic novel with an all female (and queer) cast taking place somewhere in space. It’s gorgeous, the writing is beautiful, I’m in love with every single character... I wasn’t too excited about her last book (probably wouldn’t have bought this one if I’d figured out why her name looked so familiar) but this book. Y’all, I’m so grateful that I didn’t miss out on this book.

5. Winter by Ali Smith. (I can’t remember if I included How to be Both in last year’s list or not, but if I didn’t, this item counts for both.) The second of an eventual quartet named after the seasons, (they don’t share characters so far so no need to read Autumn first) this is a story about hope and redemption. It’s... I don’t think I actually like any of the characters? They’re all a little bit conservative except for Ire. But the whole book is so compassionate and the characters mature and you get the idea that maybe they can learn to do better. Autumn was supposed to be the first post-brexit novel and you can see a lot of that same wrestling with the unexpected conservatism of an entire country here, but it feels hopeful too, like spring is coming.

6. Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older. Full disclosure, this is a kids book. It’s written for ten-year-olds. But. It’s a kickass story about prejudice and dinosaurs and kids being bullied over the color of their skin. It’s really stunning and I 100% recommend it to anyone who likes adventure. Older also wrote Shadowshaper and it’s sequel for YA audiences and Half-Resurrection Blues and its sequel(s?) for grownups. I cannot tell you how much I admire this author. He’s fantastic. I don’t use twitter, but when I do I always check up on his. He’s my hero.

7. Invisible Planets by Ken Liu. This is a collection of short Chinese sci-fi stories translated by the guy who translates the Three-Body Problem books. It’s so damn good, guys. I don’t know that anyone would like all of it, because he made a real effort to include a wide variety of stories but everyone should find something. My favorite premise is from “Folding Beijing” where the whole city folds and unfolds every day. The titular story is a spoof on Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino with more interest in the impact of colonialism. There was an excellent story on censorship whose name I can’t remember... Totally worth reading if you’re interested in sci-fi or even just willing to give it a try.

8. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare. Yeah, look, I know. It’s not that if you hate Shakespeare you’ll magically love this one. It’s just that, as someone who loves Shakespeare, this was a wonderful nuanced portrait of many terrible terrible people. (tw for rape, attempted rape, attempted gaslighting, and acephobic language, among other things. Also, there’s an ace character but he’s a dick.) I loved this play so much, I can’t even tell you, and if you’re ever looking for a super awful play about super awful people, this is the play for you. It’s fantastic.

9. The Gift Horse and Other Stories by Kate Cruise O’Brien. This book of interconnected short stories is about the after affects of trauma, both of the personal familial sort and the larger national type. O’Brien is an Irish author and this book deals with the troubles, among other things. I loved it so much that I finished it and went out and bought her next collection, even though I would be flying internationally and couldn’t carry too many books.

10. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I’ve been recommended Lahiri’s work for years but I’ve never gotten around to reading her before. I shouldn’t have waited so long. This was a great story about names and culture clash between generations. It was about assimilation and about making connections. If you get a chance, definitely pick this up.

#happy new years eve #best of #my top ten #2018

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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years

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Home Entertainment Consumer Guide: May 24, 2018

8 NEW TO NETFLIX

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" "Bridge to Terabithia" "The Kingdom" "Mamma Mia!" "Only God Forgives" "The Phantom of the Opera" "Small Town Crime" "Wanted"

11 NEW TO BLU-RAY/DVD

"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"

The steelbook phenomenon has been an interesting one to watch, as films that diehard fans already own are re-released in collectible, exclusive, limited edition packaging. Personally, I'm a big fan of keeping physical media in existence and so anything that helps is good by me, especially when they're a pair of movies this fun. I'm a huge fan of Bill and Ted, and the news of a potential third movie should hopefully rekindle interest in the first two, especially the timeless original. The steelbook packaging (right) is gorgeous, and all of the previous special features have been imported. You should watch "Excellent Adventure" again. It's funnier than you remember. And let's go collect steelbooks if it keeps physical media alive!

Buy them here

Special Features - Buckaroo "Into The 8th Dimension" – A Two-Hour Retrospective Documentary Including Interviews With The Cast And Crew Audio Commentary With Michael And Denise Okuda Audio Commentary With Director W.D. Richter And Writer Earl Mac Rauch "Buckaroo Banzai Declassified" Featurette Alternate Opening Sequence (With Jamie Lee Curtis) Deleted Scenes Jet Car Trailer Theatrical Trailer

Special Features - Bill & Ted's Audio Commentary With Star Alex Winter And Producer Scott Kroopf Audio Commentary With Writers Chris Matheson And Ed Solomon Time Flies When You Are Having Fun! – A Look Back At A Most “Excellent Adventure,”Featuring Interviews With Actors Alex Winter And Keanu Reeves, Producer Scott Kroopf, Composer David Newman, Supporting Cast Members, And More Theatrical Trailer

"Beyond the Hills" (Criterion) "Graduation" (Criterion)

Criterion's timing of new releases is always interesting. They don't pay attention to the theatrical market as much as some other studios, who commonly release special editions timed to new sequels or major projects from the same stars. But it does feel like May's releases have been slightly timed to something with which Criterion collectors are probably familiar, the Cannes Film Festival. Take for example, this pair of Cristian Mungiu films that premiered at the most famous film event in the world. Mungiu has been a darling of Cannes for the new century, winning the Palme in 2007 for "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," Best Screenplay for "Beyond the Hills" in 2012, and Best Director for "Graduation" in 2016. The latter two are now available in sturdy Criterion editions, including special features and fantastic critical essays. Mungiu is one of the more essential filmmakers of his era, and it's nice to see Criterion keeping up with his work as it's released, creating essential editions for any Blu-ray library.

Buy them here

Special Features - Beyond 2K digital transfer, approved by director Cristian Mungiu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with Mungiu The Making of “Beyond the Hills,” a documentary from 2013, produced by Mungiu Press conference from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Mungiu and actors Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, and Dana Tapalaga? Deleted scenes Trailer New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by film scholar Doru Pop

Special Features - Graduation 2K digital master, approved by director Cristian Mungiu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with Mungiu Press conference from the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Mungiu and actors Adrian Titieni, Maria Dragu?, Malina Manovici, and Rare? Andrici Deleted scenes Trailer New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri

"Black Panther"

Will "Black Panther" be the first Marvel movie nominated for Best Picture? It's very possible, but whether it is or isn't, it has already become one of the most important films of 2018. Not only did critics fall head over heels for what is aruably the best MCU movie, but it also made a fortune, captivating audiences around the world to the tune of over $1.3 billion worldwide, top ten all time. To call "Black Panther" a smash hit seems inadequate. It's a movement. It's a phenomenon. And it's a great film. And Disney/Marvel has granted one of their biggest film an expectedly lavish Blu-ray treatment, complete with deleted scenes and hours of details on the making of the film. It's one of the biggest films of 2018, and it's been given a matching Blu-ray treatment.

Buy it here

Special Features Director's Intro From Page to Screen: A Roundtable Discussion – Delve into the film's making Crowning of a New King – Explore the world of "Black Panther" in all its color and complexity The Warriors Within – Get to know Wakanda's women and the actors who portray them The Hidden Kingdom Revealed – Wakanda's diverse people Wakanda Revealed: Exploring the Technology Deleted Scenes U.N. Meet and Greet Okoye And W'Kabi Discuss the Future of Wakanda T'Challa Remembers His Father Voices from the Past Gag Reel Exclusive Sneak Peek at "Ant-Man and The Wasp" Marvel Studios the First Ten Years: Connecting the Universe Director's Commentary

"Early Man"

There are few film critics on Earth who love Aardman Animation as much as this one, but I was pretty mixed on their latest offering, a comedy about the collision between the Stone and Bronze Age. I don't just love the classics like "Wallace and Gromit" and "Chicken Run," but I'll go to bat for "Flushed Away" and "Pirates!" But the new one, while having its moments of inspired Aardman physical humor, feels shockingly thin and less ambitious than the humor that made them famous. It's more of a short film stretched to barely feature running time. Having said that, it's a perfectly serviceable family flick and certainly a better way to keep your kids occupied than a lot of garbage in the animated genre. You could do a lot worse. But most Aardman is usually better.

Buy it here

Special Features Before the Beginning of Time: Creating Early Man Nick Park: Massaging the Funny The Valley Meets the Bronze Hanging at Aardman Studios: A Workshop Exploration

"A Fantastic Woman"

The ascendancy of Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman" to such a place of critical prominence that it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film was somewhat shocking. Sony Pictures Classics has always been a major player in that category, but I didn't see voters connecting with this story as much as they did (I expected "Loveless" or "Foxtrot" to win the prize). I think history will note the success of this film, the story of a trans woman's journey after the death of her lover, spurned by his family in her attempts to mourn. It's a powerful drama, anchored by Lelio's sensitive direction and a truly breakthrough performance by Daniela Vega, who should have been in the acting races for the Academy more than she was. One step at a time, I suppose.

Buy it here

Special Features "The Making of A Fantastic Woman" Featurette Audio Commentary with director Sebastián Lelio

"Game Night"

There are so many things to like about "Game Night," the clever comedy starring a perfectly-cast Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as that couple you know that always takes game night with friends a little too competitively. When Bateman's brother, played by Kyle Chandler, initiates a murder mystery game to one-up his bro, it starts to get hazy as to what's a game and what's not. There are so many little things this comedy does right. It doesn't fall back on gross-out humor. It lets its couple act like actual couples. A lesser film would split up Bateman and McAdams instead of allowing them to work together. And it's perfectly cast down to even its minor roles. Although McAdams walks away with the movie, reminding us she has killer comic timing too.

Buy it here

Special Features An Unforgettable Evening: Making Game Night - Featurette Gag Reel

"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" (Criterion)

As Paul Schrader's brilliant "First Reformed" is getting rapturous praise in theaters, Criterion digs into the vault and gives the 4k HD upgrade to what was arguably his best film as a director before his latest, "Mishima," presented with some spectacular special features. It's interesting to watch this unconventional biopic (which Roger included in his Great Movies) in light of "Reformed" as they share some similar themes and structure. Sure, "First" isn't as fragmented as this brilliant film but it's also a piece that relies heavily on narration, often over a man alone in a room (as Roger pointed out, a Schrader motif). The Criterion release is packed with great supplemental material, especially a fantastic commentary with Schrader himself and producer Alan Poul. Most of all, the movie itself looks GORGEOUS.

Buy it here

Special Features New, restored 4K digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray Two alternate English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider Audio commentary from 2006 featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul Interviews from 2007 and 2008 with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka Interviews from 2008 with Yukio Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie Audio interview from 2008 with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a documentary from 1985 about the author Trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets

"The Other Side of Hope" (Criterion)

The thematicaly tied month for Criterion continues with another major fest premiere (this one from Berlin), the latest from the fantastic Aki Kaurismaki, whose dry sense of humor and deep humanism blend perfectly in this tale of an immigrant who finds sanctuary with a restaurant owner and his staff. This is a gentle, sweet little film that builds a surprisingly strong degree of emotional power and political statement by its final act. Criterion has a pattern of releasing more current foreign art house hits, often from IFC or Sundance Selects, and have sometimes taken criticism over some of the choices made in that department. No such criticism could be levied here. This is an excellent film that not nearly enough people saw when it was released. Make up for that now.

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Special Features New 2K digital transfer, approved by director Aki Kaurismäki, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with actor Sherwan Haji Footage from the press conference for the film’s premiere at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, featuring Kaurismäki, Haji, and actor Sakari Kuosmanen Aki and Peter, a new video essay by filmmaker Daniel Raim, based on a 1997 essay by critic Peter von Bagh, to whom The Other Side of Hope is dedicated Music videos Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu

"Red Sparrow"

The latest Jennifer Lawrence spy drama is such an unusual film in that it's MUCH darker than your average multiplex blockbuster fare and yet also has that sheen of Hollywood product that sometimes holds it back from greatness. You should be warned though that this is a violent, brutal film, featuring more than one sequence of rape and torture, and that it runs over 140 minutes. Those are not the kind of elements that Hollywood studios usually allow into their blockbuster star vehicles. And so I'm tempted to give "Red Sparrow" a bit more of a pass than some other critics just because of the risks it takes. Still, it's an often unpleasant experience. You've been warned.

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Special Features A New Cold War: Origination and Adaptation Agents Provocateurs: The Ensemble Cast Tradecraft: Visual Authenticity Heart of the Tempest: On Location Welcome to Sparrow School: Ballet and Stunts A Puzzle of Need: Post-Production Director Commentary by Francis Lawrence 10 Deleted Scenes (With Optional Commentary by Francis Lawrence) Movies Anywhere Digital Code

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Upcoming Must-See Movies in 2021

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It’s 2021. Finally. If you’re reading this, it means you’ve hopefully gotten through the wreckage of last year unscathed and are ready for a brighter future. And if you’re also a movie lover, this certainly includes a trip (or 20) back to the cinemas. Although a month into the new year, and our hope for a better tomorrow has faded a bit–especially with new COVID variants spreading. Yet there is reason to remain warily optimistic. Yes, including about theaters

For nearly a year now cinemas have remained largely dormant, and given the already shuffling 2021 film calendar, that will continue for the foreseeable future. However, studios (with one notable exception) remain mostly committed to getting new films to the theater this year, and the current 2021 film slate gives reasons to be hopeful.

Indeed, 2021 promises many of the most anticipated films from last year, plus new surprises. From the superhero variety like Black Widow to the art house with Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, 2021 could be a much needed respite. So below is just a sampling of what to expect from the year to come…

Judas and the Black Messiah

February 12

It’s kind of hard to wrap one’s head around the annual “Oscar race” in a year when little trophies don’t seem so damn important, but Warner Bros. feels strongly enough about this movie that it’s getting it into theaters and on HBO Max right in the thick of the pandemic-delayed awards season. And judging by the marketing, it’s bringing heat with it.

Shaka King directs and co-writes the story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), who became the chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s and was murdered in cold blood by police in 1969. LaKeith Stanfield plays William O’Neal, a petty criminal who agreed to help the FBI take Hampton down. This promises to be incendiary, relevant material — and it’s almost here.

Minari

February 12

Lee Isaac Chung directs Steven Yeun–now fully shaking off his years as Glenn on The Walking Dead–in this semi-autobiographical film about a South Korean family struggling to settle down in rural America in the 1980s. Premiering nearly a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, Minari had a quick one-week virtual release in December, with a number of critics placing it on their Top 10 lists for 2020.

Its story of immigration and assimilation currently has a perfect 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics lauding its heart, grace, and sensitivity. A few of ours also considered it among 2020’s best.

Nomadland

February 19

Utilizing both actors and real people, director Chloé Zhao (The Rider, Marvel’s upcoming Eternals) chronicles the lives of America’s “forgotten people” as they travel the West searching for work, companionship and community. A brilliant Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a woman in her mid-60s who lost her husband, her house, and her entire previous existence when her town literally vanished following the closure of its sole factory.

Zhao’s film quietly flows from despair to optimism and back to despair again, the hardscrabble lives of its itinerant cast (many of them actual nomads) foregrounded against often stunning–if lonely–vistas of the vast, empty American countryside.

I Care a Lot

February 19

A solid cast, led by Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, and Dianne Wiest, star in this satirical crime drama from director J. Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed). Pike plays Marla, a con artist whose scam is getting herself named legal guardian of her elderly marks and then draining their assets while sticking them in nursing homes. She’s ruthless and efficient at it, until she meets a woman (Wiest) whose ties to a crime boss (Dinklage) may prove too much of a challenge for the wily Marla. It was one of our favorites out of Toronto last year.

The Father

February 26

Anthony Hopkins gives a mesmerizing, and deeply tragic, performance as Anthony, an elderly British man whose descent into dementia is reflected by the film itself, which plays with time, setting, and continuity until both Anthony and the viewer can no longer tell what is real and what is not. Olivia Colman is equally moving as his daughter, who wants to get on with her own life even as she watches her father’s disintegrate in front of her.

We saw The Father last year at the AFI Fest and it ended up being a favorite of 2020; Hopkins is unforgettable in this bracing, heartbreaking work, which is stunningly adapted by first-time director Florian Zeller from his own award-winning play.

Chaos Walking

March 5

This constantly postponed sci-fi project has become one of those “we’ll believe it when we see it” films until it actually comes out. Shot nearly three and a half years ago by director Doug Liman, Chaos Walking has undergone extensive reshoots and was at one point reportedly deemed unreleasable.

Based on the book The Knife of Letting Go, it places Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Daisy Ridley (The Rise of Skywalker) on a distant planet where Ridley, the only woman, can hear the thoughts of all the men due to a mysterious force called the Noise.

Raya and the Last Dragon

March 5

Longtime Walt Disney Animation Studios head of story, Paul Briggs (Frozen), will make his directorial debut on this original Disney animated fantasy, which draws upon Eastern traditions to tell the tale of a young warrior who goes searching for the world’s last dragon in the mysterious land of Kumandra. Cassie Steele will voice Raya while Awkwafina (The Farewell) will portray Sisu the dragon.

Movies

How Raya and the Last Dragon Became the First Disney Movie Made at Home

By David Crow

Movies

Warner Bros. and HBO Max 2021 Film Slate Destroys Theatrical Window

By David Crow

Disney Animation has been nearly invincible in recent years with other hits like Moana and Zootopia, so watch for this one to be another major hit for the Mouse.

Coming 2 America

March 5

The notion of whether nostalgia-based properties are still viable has cropped up repeatedly in the last few years. However, streaming, which is where Coming 2 America finds itself headed post-COVID, makes golden oldies much safer. This sequel—based on a 32-year-old comedy that was one of Eddie Murphy’s most financially successful hits—sees Murphy back as Prince Akeem, of course, along with Arsenio Hall returning as his loyal friend Semmi.

The plot revolves around Akeem’s discovery, just as he is about to be crowned king, that he has a long-lost son living in the States (we’re not sure how that happened, but let’s just go with it). That, of course, necessitates another visit to our shores—that is, if Akeem and Semmi presumably don’t get stopped at the border. The film reunites Murphy with Dolemite is My Name director Craig Brewer, so perhaps they can make some cutting-edge social comedy out of this?

Godzilla vs. Kong

March 26

Here we are, at last at the big punch up between Godzilla and King Kong. They both wear a crown, but in the film that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have been building toward since 2014, only one can walk away with the title of the king of all the monsters.

Admittedly, not everyone loved the last American Godzilla movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but we sure did. Still, Godzilla vs. Kong should be a different animal with Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) taking over directorial duties. It also has a stacked cast with some familiar faces (Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, and Ziyi Zhang) and plenty of new ones (Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Danai Gurira, Lance Reddick, and more).

It’ll probably be better than the original, right? And hey with its HBO Max rollout, questions of a poor box office run sure are conveniently mooted!

Mortal Kombat

April 16

Not to be deterred by the relative failure of Sony’s Monster Hunter in theaters at the tail end of 2020, Warner Bros. is giving this venerable video game franchise another shot at live-action cinematic glory after two previous tries in the 1990s. Director Simon McQuoid makes his feature debut while the script comes from Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and the cast includes a number of actors you’ve seen in other films but can’t quite place.

The plot? Who knows! But we’re guessing it will feature gods, demons, and warriors battling for control of the 18 realms in various fighting tournaments. What else do you want?

Black Widow

May 7

Some would charitably say it arrives a decade late, but Black Widow is finally getting her own movie. This is fairly remarkable considering she became street pizza in Avengers: Endgame, but this movie fits snugly between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. It also promises to be the most pared down Marvel Studios movie since 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and that’s a good thing.

In the film, Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff is on the run after burning her bridges with the U.S. government and UN. This brings her back to the spy games she thought she’d escaped from her youth, and back in the orbit of her “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh). Old wounds are ripped open, old Soviet foes, including David Harbour as the Red Guardian and Rachel Weisz as Nat and Yelena’s girlhood instructor, are revealed, and many a fight sequence with minimal CGI will be executed.

How’s that for a real start to Phase 4? Of course that’s still assuming this comes out before The Eternals after it was delayed, again, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

May 14

Taylor Sheridan is among the best writers in moviemaking right now. Having all but cornered the niche around modern Westerns, he’s responsible for the scripts for Hell or High Water, both Sicarios, and Wind River, the latter of which he also directed. He’s back in the director’s chair again for Those Who Wish Me Dead, which has been described as a “female-driven neo-Western” set in the Montana wilderness. It is there a teenager witnesses a murder, and he finds himself on the run from twin assassins, and in need of protection from a likely paranoid survivalist. The film stars Angelina Jolie, Jon Bernthal, Nicholas Hoult, Tyler Perry, Aidan Gillen, Jake Weber, and Finn Little.

Spiral

May 21

Chris Rock has co-written the story for a new take on the Saw franchise. Never thought we’d write those words! The fact that it also stars Rock, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, is likewise head-turning. It looks like they’re going for legitimate horror with Darren Lynn Bousman attached to direct after helming three of the Saw sequels, and its grisly pre-COVID trailer from last year.

Hopefully this will be better than most of the franchise that came before, and given the heavily David Fincher-influenced tone of the first trailer, we’re willing to cross our fingers and play this game.

Free Guy

May 21

What would you do if you discovered that you were just a background character in an open world video game—and that the game was soon about to go offline? That’s the premise of this existential sci-fi comedy from director Shawn Levy, best known for the Night at the Museum series and as an executive producer and director on Stranger Things. Ryan Reynolds stars as Guy, a bank teller who discovers that his life is not what he thought it was, and in fact isn’t even real—or is it? We’ve seen a preview of footage, so we’d suggest you think Truman Show, if Truman was trapped in Grand Theft Auto.

May 28

Just when you thought this never-say-die franchise had shown us everything it could possibly dream up, it ups the stakes one more time: the ninth entry in the Fast and Furious saga (excluding 2019’s Hobbs and Shaw) will reportedly take Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his cohorts into space as they battle Dom’s long-lost brother Jakob (John Cena, making a long-overdue debut in this series). Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Helen Mirren, and Charlize Theron all also return, as does director Justin Lin, who took a two-film break from his signature series. Expect to see the required physics-defying stunts, logic-defying action and even more talk about “family” than usual.

Cruella

May 28

Since Disney has already made an animated 101 Dalmatians in 1961 and a live-action remake in 1996, it is apparently time to tell the story again Maleficent-style. Hence we now focus on the viewpoint of iconic villainess Cruella de Vil, played this time by Emma Stone. She’s joined in the movie by Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser, and Mark Strong, with direction handled by Craig Gillespie (sort of a step down from 2017’s I, Tonya, if you ask us).

The story has been updated to the 1970s, but Cruella–now a fashion designer–still covets the fur of dogs for her creations. This is a Mouse House joint, so don’t expect it to get too dark, and don’t be completely surprised if it ends up as a premium on Disney+ in lieu of its already delayed theatrical release.

Infinite

May 28

This sci-fi yarn from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) stars Mark Wahlberg as a man experiencing what he thinks are hallucinations, but which turn out to be memories from past lives. He soon learns that there is a secret society of people just like him, except that they have total recall of their past identities and have acted to change the course of history throughout the centuries.

Based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, this was originally a post-Marvel vehicle for Chris Evans. He dropped out, and the combination of Fuqua and Wahlberg hints at something more action-oriented than the rather cerebral premise suggests. The film also stars Sophie Cookson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Dylan O’Brien.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

June 4

James Wan is already directing a new horror film this year so he’s stepping away from the directorial duties on the third film based on the paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). That task has fallen to Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona), so expect plenty of the same Wan Universe touches: heavy atmosphere, superb use of sound, and shocking, eerie visuals.

Details are scarce, but the plot—like the other two Conjuring films—is taken from the true-life case of a man who went on trial for murder and said as his defense that he was possessed by a demon when he committed his crimes. That’s all we know for now, except that, intriguingly, Mitchell Hoog and Megan Ashley Brown have been cast as younger versions of the Warrens.

In the Heights

June 18

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway hit musical gets the big screen treatment (by way of HBO Max) from director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). Set in Washington Heights over the course of a three-day heat wave, the plot and ensemble cast carry echoes of both Rent and Do the Right Thing. While a success on the stage—if not quite the cultural phenomenon that Miranda’s next show, Hamilton—it remains to be seen whether In the Heights can strike a chord with streaming audiences.

Luca

June 18

Continuing its current run of all-new, non-sequel original films started in 2020 with Onward and Soul, Pixar will unveil Luca this summer. Directed by Enrico Casarosa–making his feature debut after 18 years with the animation powerhouse–the film tells the story of a friendship between a human being and a sea monster (disguised as another human child) on the Italian Riviera. That’s about all we have on it for now, except that the cast includes Drake Bell and John Ratzenberger.

Pixar’s recent track record has included masterpieces like Inside Out, solid sequels like Toy Story 4, and shakier propositions like The Incredibles 2, but we don’t have any indication yet of what to expect from Luca.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

June 25

Can anyone honestly say that 2018’s Venom was a “good” movie? A batshit insane movie, yes, and perhaps even an entertaining one in its own nutty way, but good or not, it made nearly a billion bucks at the box office so here we are.

Tom Hardy will return to peel more scenery down with his teeth as both Eddie Brock and his fanged, towering alien symbiote while Woody Harrelson will fulfill his destiny and play Cletus Kasady, aka Carnage, the perfected hybrid of psychopathic serial killer and red pile of vicious alien goo. Let the carnage begin!

Top Gun: Maverick

July 2

It’s been 34 years since Tom Cruise first soared through the skies as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and he’ll take to the air once more in a sequel that also features Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, and more. The flying and action sequences from director Joseph Kosinski (who worked with Cruise on Oblivion) will undoubtedly be first-rate, but the studio (Paramount) has to be nervous after seeing one nostalgia-based franchise after another (Blade Runner, Charlie’s Angels, Terminator, The Shining) crash and burn recently.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

July 10

With Shang-Chi, Marvel Studios hopes to do for Asian culture what the company did with the groundbreaking Black Panther nearly three years ago: create another superhero epic with a non-white lead and a mythology steeped in a non-Western culture. Simu Liu stars in the title role as the “master of kung fu,” who must do battle with the nefarious Ten Rings organization and its leader, the Mandarin (the “real” one, not the imposter from Iron Man 3, played here by the legendary Tony Leung). Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Just Mercy) will open up a whole new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this story and character, whose origins stretch back to 1973.

The Forever Purge

July 9

One day nearly eight years ago, you went to see a low-budget dystopian sci-fi/horror flick called The Purge, and the next thing you know, it’s 2021 and you’re getting ready to see the fifth and allegedly final entry in the series (which has also spawned a TV show). Written by creator James DeMonaco and directed by Everardo Gout, the film will once again focus on the title event, an annual 12-hour national bacchanal in which all crime, even murder, is legal. How this ends the story, and where and when it falls into the context of the rest of the films, remains a secret for now. Filming was completed back in February 2020, with the film’s release delayed from last summer by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

July 16

There are two types of folks when it comes to the original Space Jam of 1996: those who were between the ages of three and 11 when it came out, and everyone else. In one camp it is an unsightly relic of ‘90s cross-promotional cheese; in the other, it’s a sports movie classic. Luckily for kids today, NBA star LeBron James was 11 for most of ’96, and he’s bringing back the hoops and the Looney Tunes in Space Jam: A New Legacy.

The film will be among the many Warner Bros. pics premieres on HBO Max and in theaters this year, and it will see King James share above-the-title credits with Bugs Bunny. All is as it should be.

The Tomorrow War

July 23

An original IP attempting to be a summer blockbuster? As we live and breathe. The Tomorrow War marks director Chris McKay’s first foray into live-action after helming The Lego Batman Movie. The film stars Chris Pratt as a soldier from the past who’s been “drafted by scientists” to the present in order to fight off an alien invasion overwhelming our future’s military. One might ask why said scientists didn’t use their fancy-schmancy time traveling shenanigans to warn about the impending aliens, but here we are.

Jungle Cruise

July 30

Disney dips into its theme park rides again as a source for a movie, hoping that the Pirates of the Caribbean lightning will strike once more. This time it’s the famous Adventureland riverboat ride, which is free enough of a real narrative that one has to wonder why some five screenwriters (at least) worked on the movie’s script.

Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows) directs stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt down this particular river, as they battle wild animals and a competing expedition in their search for a tree with miraculous healing powers. The comic chemistry between Johnson and Blunt is key here, especially if they really can mimic Bogie and Hepburn in the similarly plotted The African Queen. If they can sell that, Disney might just have a new water-based franchise to replace their sinking Pirates ship.

The Green Knight

July 30

David Lowery, the singular director behind A Ghost Story and The Old Man & the Gun, helmed a fantasy adaptation of the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And his take on the material was apparently strong enough to entice A24 to produce it. Not much else is yet known about the film other than its cast, which includes Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Ineson, and Kate Dickie–and that it’s another casualty of COVID, with its 2020 release date being delayed last year. So this is one we’re definitely going to keep an eye on.

The Suicide Squad

August 6

Arguably the most high-profile of the WB films being transitioned to HBO Max, The Suicide Squad is James Gunn’s soft-reboot of the previous one-film franchise. It’s kind of funny WB went in that direction when the first movie generated more than $740 million, but when the reviews and word of mouth were that toxic… well, you get the guy who did Guardians of the Galaxy to fix things.

Peacemaker: Suicide Squad Spinoff With John Cena Coming to HBO Max

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

The Suicide Squad Trailer Promises James Gunn’s “1970s War Movie”

By David Crow

Elements from the original movie are still here, most notably Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, but the film promises to be weirder, meaner, and also sillier. The first points are proven by its expected R-rating, and the latter is underscored by its giant talking Great White Shark. Okay, we’ll bite.

Deep Water

August 13

Seedy erotic thrillers and neo noirs bathed in shadows and sex are largely considered a thing of the past—specifically 1980s and ‘90s Hollywood cinema. Maybe that’s why Deep Water hooked Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal) to direct. The throwback is based on a 1957 novel by the legendary Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), and it pits a disenchanted married couple against each other, with the bored pair playing mind games that leave friends and acquaintances dead. That the couple in question is played by Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, who’ve since become a real life item, will probably get plenty of attention close to release.

Respect

August 13

Respect is the long-awaited biopic of the legendary Aretha Franklin, with the Queen of Soul herself involved in its development for years until her death in August 2018. Authorized biopics always make one wonder how accurate the film will be, but then again, Aretha had nothing to be ashamed of. Hers was a life well-lived, her voice almost beyond human comprehension, and the only thing now is to see whether star Jennifer Hudson (Franklin’s personal choice) and director Liesl Tommy (making her feature debut) can do the Queen justice.

The King’s Man

August 20

This might be a weird thing to say: but has World War I ever seemed so stylish? It is with Matthew Vaughn at the helm.

An origin story of sorts for the organization that gave us Colin Firth and the umbrella, The King’s Man is a father and son yarn where Ralph Fiennes’ Duke of Oxford is reluctant about his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) joining the war effort. But they’ll both be up to it as the Duke launches an intelligence gathering agency independent from any government. It also includes Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as charter members.

Oh, and did we mention they fight Rasputin?

Candyman

August 27

In some ways it’s surprising that it’s taken this long—28 years, notwithstanding a couple of sequels—to seriously revisit the original Candyman. Director Bernard Rose’s original adaptation of the Clive Baker story, “The Forbidden,” is still relevant and effective today. Back then, the film touched on urban legends, poverty, and segregation: themes that are still ripe for exploration through a genre touchstone today.

After her breathtaking feature directorial debut, Little Woods, Nia DaCosta helmed this bloody reboot while working from a screenplay co-written by Jordan Peele (Get Out). That’s a powerful combination, even before news came down DaCosta was helming Captain Marvel 2. And with an actor on-the-cusp of mega-stardom, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, picking up Tony Todd’s gnarly hook, this is one to watch out for.

The Beatles: Get Back

August 27

Peter Jackson seems to enjoy making films about what inspired him in his youth: The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, his grandfather’s World War I service informing They Shall Not Grow Old. So perhaps it was inevitable he’d make a film about the greatest youth icon of his generation, the Beatles. In truth, The Beatles: Get Back is a challenge to a previous documentary named Let It Be, and the general pop culture image it painted.

That 1970 doc by Michael Lindsay-Hogg zeroed in on the band’s final released album, Let It Be (although it was recorded before Abbey Road). Now, using previously unseen footage, Jackson seeks to challenge the narrative that the album was created entirely from a place of animosity among the bandmates, or that the Beatles had long lost their camaraderie by the end of road. Embracing the original title of the album, “Get Back,” Jackson wants to get back to where he thinks the band’s image once belonged.

Resident Evil

September 3

Let’s try that again. As one of the most popular video game franchises of all-time, the original handful of Resident Evil games appeared ready made for adaptation. Visibly inspired by cult classic zombie movies from George Romero, Resident Evil once even had Romero attached. Instead we got the deafeningly dull Paul W.S. Anderson franchise starring Milla Jovovich. And those decade-spanning monstrosities lacked something any self-respecting zombie film needs: brains.

Now Resident Evil is back in a reboot helmed by writer-director Johannes Roberts. And he’s off to a promising start by apparently focusing on the plots of the first several video games in the series. The cast includes Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, and Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker. So far so good. Fingers crossed.

A Quiet Place Part II

September 17

The sequel to one of 2018’s biggest surprises, A Quiet Place Part II comes with major expectations. And few may hold it to a higher standard than writer-director John Krasinski. Despite (spoiler) the death of his character in the first film, Krasinski returns behind the camera for the sequel after saying he wouldn’t. The story he came up with apparently was too good to pass up.

The film again stars Emily Blunt as the often silenced mother of a vulnerable family, which includes son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds). However, now that they know how to kill the eagle-eared alien monsters who’ve taken over their planet, the cast has grown to include Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou. While the film has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak, trust us that it’ll be worth the wait. Is it finally time for… resistance?

Death on the Nile

September 17

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) became a surprise hit for director and star Kenneth Branagh. Who knew that audiences would still be interested in an 83-year-old mystery novel about an eccentric Belgian detective with one hell of a mustache? Luckily, Agatha Christie featured Poirot in some 32 other novels, of which Death on the Nile is one of the most famous, so here we are.

Branagh once again directs and stars as Poirot, this time investigating a murder aboard a steamer sailing down Egypt’s famous river. The cast includes Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Letitia Wright, Tom Bateman, Ali Fazal, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, and Russell Brand. Expect more lavish locales, scandalous revelations, the firing of a pistol or two, and, yes, more shots of that stunning Poirot facial hair.

The Many Saints of Newark

September 24

The idea of a prequel to anything always fills us with trepidation, and re-opening a nearly perfect property like The Sopranos makes the prospect even less appetizing. But Sopranos creator David Chase has apparently wanted to explore the back history of his iconic crime family for some time, and there certainly seems to be a rich tapestry of characters and events that have only been hinted at in the series.

Directed by series veteran Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World), The Many Saints of Newark stars Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti (Christopher’s father), along with Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Corey Stoll, Ray Liotta, and others. But the most fascinating casting is that of Michael Gandolfini—James’ son—as the younger version of the character with which his late dad made pop culture history. For that alone, we’ll be there on opening night… even if that just means HBO Max!

Dune

October 1

Could third time be the charm for Frank Herbert’s complex novel of the far future, long acknowledged as one of the greatest—if most difficult to read—milestones in all of science fiction? David Lynch’s 1984 version was, to be charitable, an honorable mess, while the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries was decent and faithful, but limited in scope. Now director Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Arrival) is pulling out all the stops—even breaking the story into two movies to give the proper space.

Movies

Dune Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

What Alejandro Jodorowsky Thinks of the New Dune Trailer

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

On the surface, the plot is simple: as galactic powers vie for control of the only planet that produces a substance capable of allowing interstellar flight, a young messiah emerges to lead that planet’s people to freedom. But this tale is dense with multiple layers of politics, metaphysics, mysticism, and hard science.

Villeneuve has assembled a jaw-dropping cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem, and if he pulls this off, just hand him every sci-fi novel ever written. Particularly, if relations between the director and WB remain strained…

No Time to Die

October 8

Nothing lasts forever, and the Daniel Craig era of James Bond is coming to an end… hopefully in 2021. In fact, delays notwithstanding, it’s a bit of a surprise Craig is getting an official swan song with this movie after the star said he’d rather “slash his wrists” before doing another one. Well, we’re glad he didn’t, just as we’re hopeful for his final installment in the tuxedo.

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga is a newcomer to the franchise, but that might be a good thing after how tired Spectre felt, and Fukunaga has done sterling work in the past on True Detective and Maniac. He also looks to bring the curtain down on the whole Craig oeuvre by picking up on the last movie’s lingering threads, such as 007 driving off into the sunset with Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, while introducing new ones that include Rami Malek as Bond villain Safin and Ana de Armas as new Bond girl Paloma. Yay for the Knives Out reunion!

Halloween Kills

October 15

2018’s outstanding reboot of the long-running horror franchise—which saw David Gordon Green (Stronger) direct Jamie Lee Curtis in a reprise of her most famous role—was a tremendous hit. So in classic Halloween fashion, two more sequels were put into production (the second, Halloween Ends, will be out in 2022… hopefully).

Movies

Halloween: A Legacy Unmasked

By David Crow

Movies

How Jason Blum Changed Horror Movies

By Rosie Fletcher

Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, along with Judy Greer as her daughter, Andi Matichak as her granddaughter, and Nick Castle sharing Michael Myers duties with James Jude Courtney. Kyle Richards and Charles Cyphers, meanwhile, will reprise their roles as Lindsey Wallace and former sheriff Leigh Brackett from the original 1978 Halloween (Anthony Michael Hall will play the adult version of Tommy Doyle). The plot remains a mystery, but we’re pretty sure it will involve yet another confrontation between Laurie and a rampaging Myers.

The Last Duel

October 15

What was once among the most anticipated films of 2020, The Last Duel is the historical epic prestige project marked by reunions: Ridley Scott returns to his passion for period drama and violence; Matt Damon and Ben Affleck work together for the first time in ages as both actors and writers; and the film also unites each with themes that were just as potent in the medieval world as today: One knight (Damon) in King Charles VI’s court accuses another who’s his best friend (Adam Driver) of raping his wife (Jodie Comer). Oh, and Affleck plays the King of France.

With obviously harrowing—and uncomfortable—themes that resonate today, The Last Duel is based on an actual trial by combat from the 14th century, and is a film Affleck and Damon co-wrote with Nicole Holofcener (Can You Ever Forgive Me?). It’s strong material, and could prove to be one of the year’s most riveting or misjudged films. Until then, it has our full attention.

Last Night in Soho

October 22

Fresh off the success of 2017’s Baby Driver (his biggest commercial hit to date), iconoclastic British director Edgar Wright returns with what is described as a psychological and possibly time-bending horror thriller set in London. Whether this features Wright’s trademark self-aware humor remains to be seen, but since the film is said to be inspired by dread-inducing genre classics like Repulsion and Don’t Look Now, he might be going for a different effect this time.

The cast, of course, is outstanding: upstarts Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit) and Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) will face off with Matt Smith (Doctor Who), and British legends Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. And the truth is we’re never going to miss one of Wright’s movies. Taylor-Joy talked to us here about finding her 1960s lounge singer voice for the film.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

October 22

While the idea of a Hasbro Movie Universe seems to be kind of idling at the moment, corners of that hypothetical cinematic empire remain active. One such brand is G.I. Joe, which will launch its first spin-off in this origin story of one of the team’s most popular characters. Much of his early background remains mysterious, so there’s room to create a fairly original story while incorporating lore and characters already established in the G.I. Joe mythos.

Neither of the previous G.I. Joe features (The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation) have been much good, so we can probably expect the same level of quality from this one. Director Robert Schwentke (the last two Divergent movies) doesn’t inspire much excitement either. On the other hand, Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) will star in the title role, and having Iko Uwais (The Raid) and Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) on board isn’t too bad either.

Antlers

October 29

Dramatic director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Hostiles) is doing a horror movie. As we live and breathe. And he’s doing it with a huge boost of confidence from Guillermo del Toro, who has opted to produce the movie. Antlers is the tale of two adult brothers, one a teacher and the other a sheriff, getting wrapped up in a supernatural quagmire that involves a young student and a “dangerous secret.” And with a cast that includes Jesse Plemons, Keri Russell, and Graham Greene, we are very intrigued… even if we must wait once again due to a coronavirus delay.

Eternals

November 5

Based on a Marvel Comics series by the legendary Jack Kirby, the now long-forthcoming Eternals centers around an ancient race of powerful beings who must protect the Earth against their destructive counterparts (and genetic cousins), the Deviants. Director Chloe Zhao (fresh off the awards season buzzy Nomadland) takes her first swing at epic studio filmmaking, working with a cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Brian Tyree Henry, and more.

Movies

Upcoming Marvel Movies Release Dates: MCU Phase 4 Schedule, Cast, and Story Details

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

Movies

The Incredible Hulk’s Diminished Legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

By Gavin Jasper

In many ways, Eternals represents another huge creative risk for Marvel Studios: It’s a big, cosmic ensemble film introducing an ensemble that the vast majority of the public has never heard of. But then, it’s sort of in the same position as Guardians of the Galaxy from way back in 2014, and we all know what happened there.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

November 11

With the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot criticized (fairly) for its lack of imagination and castigated (unfairly as hell) for its all-female ghost-hunting crew, director Jason Reitman–finally cashing in on the family name by returning to the brand his dad Ivan directed to glory in 1984–has crafted a direct sequel to the original films.

Set 30 years later, Afterlife follows a family who move to a small town only to discover that they have a long-secret connection to the OG Ghostbusters. Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) star alongside charter cast members Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and, yes, Bill Murray.

King Richard

November 19

Will Smith’s King Richard promises to be a different kind of biographical film coming down the pipe. Rather than being told from the vantage of professional tennis playing stars Venus and Serena Williams, King Richard centers on their father and coach, Richard Williams. It’s an interesting choice to focus on the male father instead of the game-changing Black daughters, but we’ll see if there’s a strong creative reason for the approach soon enough. The film is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, Joe Bell).

Mission: Impossible 7

November 19

Once upon a time, the appeal of the Mission: Impossible movies was to see different directors offer their own take on Tom Cruise running through death-defying stunts. But then Christopher McQuarrie had to come along and make the best one in franchise history (twice). First there was Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and then Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Now McQuarrie and company have set up their own separate quartet of films with recurring original characters like new franchise MVP Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) across four films.

Movies

Audio Surfaces of Tom Cruise Raging on the Set of Mission: Impossible 7

By Kirsten Howard

Movies

Mission: Impossible 7 – What’s Next for the Franchise?

By David Crow

Thus enters M:I7, the third McQuarrie joint in the series and first half of a pair of incoming sequels filmed together. The first-half of this two-parter sees the whole crew back together, including Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, Ilsa, Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), and CIA Director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett). They’re also being joined by Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, but really we’re all just eager to see what kind of insane stunts they can do to top the HALO jump in the last one.

Nightmare Alley

December 3

Director Guillermo del Toro is finally back with a film which was originally intended for release in 2020. But like so many others, Nightmare Alley saw its production frozen due to the coronavirus. Del Toro’s first film since winning the Best Picture Oscar for The Shape of Water, Nightmare adapts William Lindsay Gresham’s novel of the same name. With a script by Kim Morgan and del Toro, it tracks a mid-20th century carny played by Bradley Cooper who is also a silver-tongued grifter. But his con meets its match (and is then outclassed) by his chance encounter with a psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett). They’ll make a hell of a team.

West Side Story

December 10

Steven Spielberg has just two remakes on his directorial resume: Always (1989) and War of the Worlds (2005). While the former is mostly forgotten and the latter was an adaptation of a story that has been filmed many times, his upcoming reimagining of West Side Story will undoubtedly be directly compared to Robert Wise’s iconic 1961 screen version of this classic musical.

A few numbers in previous films aside, Spielberg has never directed a full-blown musical before, let alone one associated with such powerhouse songs and dance numbers. His version, with a script by Tony Kushner, is said to stay closer to the original Broadway show than the 1961 film—but with its themes of love struggling to cross divides created by hate and bigotry, don’t be surprised if it’s just as hard-hitting in 2021. Certainly would’ve devastated last year….

Spider-Man 3

December 17

Sony has finally gotten to a “Spider-Man 3” again in their oft-rebooted franchise crown jewel (technically though this film is still untitled). That proved to be a stumbling block the first time it occurred with Tobey Maguire in the red and blues, but the company seems undaunted since Tom Holland’s third outing is expected to bring Maguire back—him and just about everyone else too.

Movies

Spider-Man 3: Charlie Cox Daredevil Return Would Redeem the Marvel Netflix Universe

By Joseph Baxter

Movies

Spider-Man 3 Adds Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange

By Joseph Baxter

With a multiverse plot ripped straight from the arguably best Spidey movie ever, 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, Holland’s third outing is bringing back Maguire, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx as Electro (eh), and probably more. It’s a Spidey crossover extravaganza that’s only missing a Spider-Ham. But just you wait…

The Matrix 4

December 22

Rebooting or continuing The Matrix series has always been a tough proposition. While the original Matrix film is one of the landmark achievements in science fiction and early digital effects filmmaking in the 1990s, its sequels were… less celebrated. In fact, directors Lily and Lana Wachowski were publicly wary about the idea of ever going back to the series. And yet, here we are with Lana (alone) helming a project that’s been a longtime priority for Warner Bros.

Movies

The Matrix 4: Laurence Fishburne “Wasn’t Invited” to Reprise Morpheus Role

By John Saavedra

Movies

The Matrix 4 Already Happened: Revisiting The Matrix Online

By John Saavedra

The Matrix 4 also brings back Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith. This is curious since Reeves and Moss’ characters died at the end of the Matrix trilogy—and also because Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus did not, yet he wasn’t asked back. We cannot say we’re thrilled about the prospect of more adventures in Zion after the disappointment of the first two sequels, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit we’re still curious to see the story that brought Lana back to this future.

The French Dispatch

TBA

Wes Anderson has a new film coming out. Better still, it is another live-action film. While Anderson’s use of animation is singular, it’s been seven years since The Grand Budapest Hotel, which we maintain is one of the best movies of the last decade. Anderson is working with Timothée Chalamet and Cristoph Waltz for the first time with this film, as well as several familiar faces including Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and, of course, Bill Murray.

The French Dispatch is set deep in the 20th century during the peak of modern journalism, it brings to life a series of fictional stories in a fictional magazine, published in a fictional French city. We suspect though, if Anderson’s last two live-action movies are any indication, it’ll have more than fiction on its mind–especially since it’s inspired by actual New Yorker stories, and the journalists who wrote them! We missed it in 2020, so here’s hoping it really does go to print in 2021!

Other interesting movies that may come out in 2021 but do not yet have release dates: Next Goal Wins, Don’t Worry Darling, Blonde, The Northman, Resident Evil, Red Notice, Army of the Dead.

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The 'Deadpool 2' Cliches That Aren't Part of the Joke

New Post has been published on https://funnythingshere.xyz/the-deadpool-2-cliches-that-arent-part-of-the-joke/

The 'Deadpool 2' Cliches That Aren't Part of the Joke

[This story contains spoilers for Deadpool 2]

The following is a spoiler-intensive conversation about Deadpool 2 — the new R-rated superhero film starring Ryan Reynolds as a sassy, fourth-wall-breaking, self-healing potty-mouth mutant. It’s the latest installment of a monthly series of chats between between Eisner Award nominee Alex de Campi and Heat Vision contributor Simon Abrams.

The David Leitch-directed sequel includes Deadpool newcomers Josh Brolin as Cable, a gruff military mutant from the future; Julian Dennison as Russell, the teen mutant Cable is out to kill; and Zazie Beetz as the ultra lucky Domino.

There are spoilers and discussion of superhero movie fatigue ahead.

Simon Abrams, Nimrod Devotee: Before we watched Deadpool 2, I tweeted a prediction of what the movie would be like. I hastily deleted that tweet because I wanted to maintain some semblance of professionalism. Still, it’s worth noting that I didn’t expect much from the film, despite kinda liking the first one:

— Zazie Beetz and Josh Brolin will walk away with the film, and Ryan Reynolds will do far better than many expect.

— The action sequences will be better than the first one, including at least one great, probably noisy set piece since the film is directed by David Leitch, one half of John Wick‘s co-directing duo, and the solo helmer of the under-rated soviet-era spy thriller Atomic Blonde.

— Otherwise, more of the same

— Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh’s Hindi-language dub [he voices Deadpool] should be available in all territories.

Almost none of these things happened, except two: 1) I still want to hear Singh —the guy who chewed up every scene he’s in of the controversial Bollywood period romance Padmaavat — dub for Reynolds 2) Reynolds is, in fact, terrific at what he does.

But that second point is what makes me most resentful of Deadpool 2: I was already going to grade this film on a curve — but I still didn’t walk away satisfied!

Full disclosure: I used to love the look of Deadpool when I was a kid, though I never really read the X-Force comics. But when I was in first grade, I made a Deadpool-shaped paper-mache mask in art class. And when I was a teenager, I enjoyed comic book writer Frank Tieri’s take on the character. And later, in college, I thought that David Lapham and Kyle Baker’s more “adult”-oriented Deadpool — he breaks the fourth wall because he’s probably schizophrenic — was OK.

But holy crap, I walked away from Deadpool 2 feeling angry at Ryan Reynolds — a comedic actor whose work I’ve enjoyed since Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place — just because he did his job too well: giving emotional resonance to a lot of lousy ideas (which he co-wrote and co-produced) that are conceived without much inspiration.

I think the word “inspiration” is key because I spent much of Deadpool 2 worrying that I was not meeting this film at its level. I kept thinking, “This is as good as this sort of material gets.” Until Reynolds punched a bag of cocaine into his face and then made spirit fingers/jazz hands. Then he paused with great comedic effect after Wade “Deadpool” Wilson is shot to bits by Brolin’s dour future mercenary Cable. Reynolds even had great chemistry/banter with Brolin in that one scene where Wilson hugs Cable, and then notes that they’re dick-to-dick, which understandably leads Cable to reciprocate by poking an off-camera dagger into Wilson’s nuts. In these moments, I knew exactly why I disliked Deadpool 2: nobody was working as hard as Reynolds to sell me this rancid bill of goods, and that includes the otherwise good Brolin, Beetz, Dennison, and Eddie Marsan.

At this point, I’ll let you explain why the film’s tedious shift towards semi-serious melodrama doesn’t work (because I agree with you, and think you have a great point). And I’ll do it with a wink because breaking the fourth wall, and being preciously “exhausting,” as one character describes Wilson, is all part of the Deadpool 2 experience. Take it away, de Campi!

Alex De Campi, Anarchist Aficionado: I was so excited to see this film. Do you remember? Finally we were seeing something I wanted to see! And I love Ryan Reynolds as a comedy actor. I’ve loved him since Blade: Trinity, which is up there with Bad Boys 2 and Crank in terms of Terrible Films I Adore. I want Reynolds’s films to be great, because he is incredibly talented and makes things more fun whenever he shows up. But dear God in heaven, can we please have a superhero film that’s not built on the backs of dead girlfriends and daddy issues?

I’m done. I’m done with superhero films at this point. All I wanted was a big, dumb frat-boy movie with Reynolds being funny and some good fight scenes. And what I got was an X-men movie by stealth with Emotional Resonance (tm), boring, badly-paced fights, and maybe one joke in 15 landing. Oh and the girlfriend killed in the first five minutes. And sure, Zazie Beetz was in it (for about half an hour), and she was great. But hello, male filmmakers: throwing in a female supporting character does not make it okay for you to make the white male hero’s character actualization based on damage to female bodies (and/or black bodies, and/or queer bodies). Stop it. You’re not being daring, you’re just being puerile and lazy. You know what’s daring? Writing an established relationship where the woman is not damselled. Yeah, it’s HARD, isn’t it? But look at 1934’s The Thin Man, which is one of the greatest comedies of all time: Nick and Nora start off the film happily married, continue the film happy, and end it happily married! And their banter is what makes the film. If they did that eighty years ago, you can do this now, folks. I mean, there is the slight issue that Reynolds and Morena Baccarin have zero comedic chemistry on screen but hey, you cast it, you deal with it.

I have to admit I haven’t seen a lot of the recent superhero films. There are just too many, too often. Same with Star Wars, tbh — Han Solo is my favorite Star Wars character and I can’t even motivate myself to see that film because didn’t I just see a Star Wars film? I passed on Infinity War because it’s too long, has too many characters, and fave characters die at the end (yeah, I know, one of my most-loved films is Nashville, STFU).

But here’s the thing: the superhero films that have really resonated with female viewers have either starred women (Wonder Woman), or been completely without dead love interests or daddy issues. We all know that the reason Cap: Winter Soldier did so well with female viewers is 1) great fight scenes and 2) because the traditional role of the damselled girlfriend actually went to a male character (Bucky) who was, because male, then allowed to come back stronger and save the hero, right? That was radical and interesting in the context of these films. Similarly in Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Pepper is damselled but she comes back stronger, a main character/superhero in her own right, and saves Tony. In Black Panther, the female co-leads all had equal or greater screen time than Chadwick Bozeman, and storylines that gave them actual agency beyond being love interests, and ladies to be imperiled to advance the plot.

The other thing I’m 100 percent done with is screenwriters mining my childhood for brownie points rather than working to create a compelling story. My enjoyment of this film shouldn’t be predicated on getting who Shatterstar is, and understanding jokes about Rob Liefeld’s inability to draw feet, yet here we are. That’s why so many of Deadpool 2’s jokes don’t land: they’re not funny. They’re just about the film cozying up to you and trying to dole out little dopamine hits of “Ooh, I understood that reference!”. You can’t just set the Content Cannon to “Ready Player One” and batter the audience into submission with Alpha Flight jokes and Yu-Gi-Oh references. That’s not writing!

Deadpool was a genuine lowbrow delight. But Deadpool 2 feels like Marvel Studios got its claws into it as a potential launch pad for other things. There’s a line near the end where Baccarin’s Dead Girlfriend tells Wade he can’t join her in heaven yet because “these people need you”, and I legit thought they were about to pan over to Ike Perlmutter and Kevin Feige like “Yo.” Alas, it was only a pan to Wade’s “found family” in the film. Ah, man, I can’t get over how much I wanted this film to be good, but ugh. I’m tired. The massive hype of these films, the poor writing, the dull, dull fights and then the fact that it always just ends up a bunch of white men doing stuff, with token diverse supporting characters. I’m done giving you folks money.

Abrams: I’m with ya. The line in Deadpool 2 about “bad writing,” and about how “exhausting” it is to be around Deadpool — as he’s conceived in these films — set me off. A friend of mine argued that the dead girlfriend subplot wasn’t meant to be taken so seriously. But c’mon, so much of the plot relied on Wilson’s personal growth, no matter how adolescent/tongue in cheek the attendant one-liners may be. What’s next, the plot is only incidental? Then why have one at all? If Deadpool 2 is a joke delivery system, one with a rapid-fire, Naked Gun pace of gags, then how does one excuse the fact that only one in fifteen jokes land? Applauding a movie with fourteen dud jokes in about three minutes is a bit like fondling a treadmill, and arguing that the burn marks on your face aren’t as bad as they look.

Which leads me to your talking point about being done with superhero films. I used to sneer at film critics who wrote about feeling exhausted by these films. But it’s a crisis-intensive, never-ending cycle of emotionally and humorously lightweight entertainment. And after a while, I came to realize: just because you and I expect — or maybe just hope — for more from these films doesn’t mean we have to feel bad for disliking them. People who don’t write about these films understandably don’t care about this kind of thing, but I have to agree with Bilge Ebiri when he argues that “For the moviegoer — or the film critic — who dutifully trudges out to these pictures all year long, the effect is a seemingly ceaseless, soul-eating series of global and cosmic calamities that mostly stopped being bracing or suspenseful or even all that interesting some time ago.”

Simply copy-and-pasting that quote makes me feel defensive, like I’m the mean-spirited hater who’s over-thinking it, over-analyzing, over-simplifying, etc. Many critics are even, by this point, downright resentful of the same blockbuster-loving readers that they rely on for feedback. Because who wants to be constantly dismissed for picking on a mega-production that was made by people with more money than God, and have little need and less concern for our criticism? Who wants to criticize films that, after a while, start to feel critic-proof?

Deadpool 2 isn’t as bad as the Marvel movies have gotten lately, but it bored into my head with its consistent mediocrity. And for two hours, I felt like a drunk stand-up comedian was wiggling his fingers in front of my face, and boasting about how he’s not touching me, he’s not touching me. This guy used to be funny, but his act sucks now, and he’s feeding off of the energy of the room, who are — like the auditorium-full of moviegoers at last week’s screening — totally into his new loutish schtick. So for a while, I felt like I had been taken hostage, like I had to just smile politely, and then grade this childishly ineffective button-pushing act on a curve.

Then I remembered that I liked Deadpool, and thought “No, no, it’s the children who are wrong,” I mean, “No, no, this movie is just bad, and I need to focus on accounting for the many ways that it is bad.” So here we are.

Can we talk about the lousy fight scenes? And the stuff about how, as you said, a good chunk of the jokes rely implicitly on comics fans’ knowledge of super-tropes, and fan-service-y Easter Eggs, like DP’s momentarily grey costume, the taxi cab’s Alpha Flight ad, and the orphanage’s M-Day posters?

De Campi: You know, when you’re a woman in a male-dominated industry, like comics, the first thing the harasser dudes say to you when you call them on their behavior is, “Can’t you take a joke?” Oh, the dead girlfriend’s a joke, what’s the matter Alex, can’t you take a joke? Nah. And I especially don’t have to pay you money for the joke. But then it’s like the film tries to talk out of both sides of its mouth at once, since the ha-ha dead girl joke is also the underpinning of the entire film’s emotional arc: Deadpool’s search for redemption, in the person of a young mutant with anger issues who is gratingly unlikable, and whose own emotional arc also falls flat. But enough about that. Let’s talk about fight scenes and CGI.

Look, there’s no nice way to say this: the film looks cheap. The lighting is rough as old boots, the costumes and makeup look bargain-basement, the CGI is barely above “mobile gaming” standard, and just…Colossus. Colossus doesn’t work. Every time he’s on screen, I’m not thinking, “Wow, cool,” I’m thinking, “Eesh, that looks bad.” Beyond that, the fights are dull, with bizarre pacing that involves stopping in the middle for no reason. The fight choreography is nonexistent, which is a surprise, coming from one of the John Wick guys. It seems the directors can’t manage the amount of characters they have in the fights that are scripted. Deadpool had great fight scenes; Deadpool 2 doesn’t have a single memorable one. There’s not one shot I’d steal. And hey, it’s fine to not have a big budget. Then you just focus on doing simple things well, rather than big things very badly. I learned this lesson shooting music videos, and believe me, it’s the most important lesson in the business.

There’s also a lot of failures of internal logic in the film. On the one hand, it’s Deadpool, who cares. On the other hand, the one scene where I laughed until I cried was the baby-legs scene, itself a derivative of one of Deadpool’s best gags. But why, when Deadpool blew himself up early in the film and woke up in the X-Mansion, did he not have baby appendages? And when everyone starts going back and forth in time near the end, there’s only ever one of that person. So Deadpool goes back in time to fix a mistake by Past Deadpool, but it’s like Past Deadpool vanishes while Time Travelling Deadpool steps into the scene (except for once). Why aren’t both Deadpools in the scene? It would have been funnier, and then maybe they could have cut some time off that lingering and not-funny extended death scene.

I’m still mad at this movie, Simon. I feel like they had to work really hard to make it this mediocre, squandering one of Hollywood’s best comedy-action talents in the process.

Abrams: Yes, I’m increasingly upset about the sheer laziness of Deadpool 2‘s jokes and wink-wink crass-ness. Because, like we said after we saw the movie, this kind of nerd-pandering shouldn’t be so nerve-shredding. We are the target audience. We know who Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld is, and even get the in-joke about how he can never draw feet well. But do you remember when Shrek was a huge deal, and many critics understandably complained that its success established a trend for the use of pop culture references as punchlines? It’s the same problem that many people (including me) have with Family Guy‘s frat-guy gags, only their jokes hit two out of fifteen times, despite being so proudly retrograde that they make you not want to wade through the other thirteen.

Deadpool 2 has the same problem: so many of the jokes conclude where they should develop. I didn’t even like the baby legs joke because I thought that routine didn’t work as a sight gag, despite the fact that it never seems to end. As if the very idea of a computer-generated baby dick is hee-larious. The Basic Instinct reference that’s embedded in this routine is bad, but the fact that one character calls attention to it is even worse. Please stop nudging me, movie, I get the joke, I just don’t think you’re good at telling it.

Same thing with the action set pieces. Like you, I was disappointed by the fight scenes given how cluttered and busy they were. CGI Colossus was bad, but I expected that after the first film. Juggernaut was worse, I think, since he looked like he came right out of the Marvel video game advert that preceded our advanced screening. I’m also 100 percent with you about how the film has too many supporting characters, and therefore too many sub-threads to cross-cut between during the big fight scenes. That said: I laughed during the terrible “Thunderstruck” montage, where a handful of established X-Force members die horrible, premature deaths. That was funny. But, well, one in fifteen, right?

A fun parlor game for you: what comes next for the R-rated super-film now that Wolverine’s dead, and Deadpool’s already had one sequel? There are bound to be more R-rated Marvel films after Deadpool 2 rakes in a ton of booty. Also, they practically have a mandate to make more of these things now that Logan‘s Beyond–Thunderdome-Meets-Mark-Millar script got an Oscar nomination. Will Marvel/20th Century Fox stick with soft-R mutie stories, or expand to the superhero universe? Maybe we’ll get a Foolkiller story, or even a Death’s Head II programmer (stop rolling your eyes, I can see it through the Internet) Or, and maybe this is a better question: will more ever really mean more in these films? Because these films keep attracting talented performers, directors, screenwriters, etc. But lately, nothing extraordinary seems to come of it.

De Campi: Oh, please, the filmmakers have already teased an X-Force movie. This wasn’t a sequel so much as it was a platform, and boy did it feel like it. I think what I mourn most about Deadpool 2 versus Deadpool was that I was hoping for a small, focused movie with a few characters that was heavy on the funny and the action. Instead, I got another bloated Marvel film with 800 characters bouncing in and out of the story too fast for me to care.

I have this thing I call The Unified Theory of John Cassavetes: certain filmmakers do a difficult thing so well, they make it look effortless. Think about Johnny in the 1970s, running around shooting pretty, well-framed handheld in New York with Ben Gazzara and his pals improving away. Now think about all the terrible, terrible American indie film that that style spawned. Not every filmmaker is Ryan Coogler, or the Russos/Markus & McFeely, able to juggle eighty hojillion characters and make it look easy.

I just wanted to trim so much fat off of Deadpool 2. The R-rated superhero films that work are small, focused films, allowed to play in their own little fenced-off playground. But Deadpool 2 tried to go big, and that’s where it suffers: it tries to do too many things, too quickly, and in the end doesn’t do any of them well.

Deadpool 2

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njawaidofficial · 6 years

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Here's Everyone Who Dies In "Avengers: Infinity War" And What That Might Mean

https://styleveryday.com/heres-everyone-who-dies-in-avengers-infinity-war-and-what-that-might-mean/

Here's Everyone Who Dies In "Avengers: Infinity War" And What That Might Mean

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILER I am very serious SPOILERS.

Hello, the title of this post is about everyone who dies in Avengers: Infinity War, so if you don’t wanna know everyone who dies in Avengers: Infinity War, do not read this article.

Marvel

OK, by now you’re still reeling from the end of Avengers: Infinity War, the movie in which a ton of our faves literally bite the dust and disintegrate into nothing after Thanos kills half the universe’s population.

Marvel

Heimdall: Dead

Cause of death: Stabbed by Thanos

Will he be back? Probably not. He’s a huge fan favorite, his unexpected death packed quite a punch, and they can’t bring everyone back in Avengers 4 or the stakes will feel too low. His death makes sense timing-wise — Asgard was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor can dimension-hop with his Huge Fuck-All Magical Axe, and his ending was appropriately selfless and tragic. Plus, you know Idris has got bigger fish to fry outside of this small supporting role.

Marvel

Loki: Dead

Cause of death: Choked to death by Thanos

Will he be back? Hopefully not — and I say this as a true Loki stan. He’s already fake-died multiple times, and Thor’s Infinity War joke about him having “died” so many times, but this time being real, felt like a pretty solid confirmation that Loki is finally actually gone. He’s been the only longterm villain in the Marvel franchise, and with Thanos returning for the next Avengers movie, it feels like it’s time to pass the torch. Plus, it’s pretty on-brand for his final words to be, “You will never be a god.” Such a drama queen. However, Hiddelston reportedly has a six film contract (and this is his 5th appearance) with Marvel, so…you never know.

Marvel

Gamora: Dead

Cause of death: Tragically thrown off a cliff by Thanos to gain control of the Soul Stone

Will she be back? Hopefully yes, but this is a tough one to predict. She’s the fiercest warrior in the galaxy, the first woman Guardian, and SHE DESERVED BETTER. But also — hear me out — it might help the third Guardians movie if she stayed dead for a while. If she’s still dead by the end of 2019’s Avengers 4, it could lend the third Guardians movie in 2020 a breath of fresh air and a new mission: Bring Gamora back. Obviously no one wants her to suffer the fate of being fridged just to give her shitty dad and immature boyfriend motivation, so they should bring her back — just maybe not in Avengers 4. If the Time Stone brings back everyone who was killed in Thanos’s mass murder, maybe the Soul Stone can bring her back.

Marvel

Vision: Dead

Cause of death: Brain/life source/Mind Stone ripped out by Thanos

Will he be back? Yes. But probably not in the way we expect. Vision wanted the Mind Stone destroyed to prevent Thanos from getting it, and in one version of reality, he died for that cause. It’s highly unlikely the Avengers will do anything other than destroy the stones once they get them back from Thanos, which will reset the entire franchise and give us a fresh start. Shuri was able to copy some of Vision’s synthetic mind before he was killed in Infinity War, so chances are we’re going to get some humanoid version of Vision in a future movie, and it’ll be thanks to everyone’s favorite Wakandan tech genius.

Marvel

Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier: Dead