Sorry, Martin Scorsese, but Marvel Studios will continue to turn movie theatres into amusement parks multiple times a year. I think there was some genuine concern from fans that with so many Disney+ shows on the way, there would be fewer movies on the big screen. Surely, Kevin Feige can’t keep up that kind of pace, right?
According to Disney’s Alan Horn in an interview with THR, yeah, Kevin Feige can totally keep it up.
“…Kevin Feige is working away. He will be making three or four a year. And they are very different from one another, so we’ll see”, Horn said when asked if Marvel could keep up its streak of 23 hits in a row.
Next year sees the release of Black Widow and The Eternals, with Falcon and the Winter Soldier hitting Disney+ towards the end of 2020. In 2021 Marvel really kicks into high gear with Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, Spider-Man 3, and Thor: Love & Thunder. Over on the Disney+ side there’s Loki, WandaVision, What If?, and Hawkeye.
You weren’t hoping for a Marvel break, were you? Not gonna happen.
When Sony set out to do a sequel to Robin Williams’ 1995 film Jumanji, it was a risk they couldn’t predict would pay off the way it did. $962M later and it was one of the biggest hits in the company’s long history, and of course has led to another film, Jumanji: The Next Level, which does as the title promises by adding a pair of screen greats in Danny Glover and Danny DeVito.
Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black return as video game avatars, only this time a pair of grumpy old men have been sucked into the game world. Unfortunately for Johnson and Hart, they’re forced to play hosts to Glover and DeVito, which from a visual standpoint is just terrific.
Pretty much everybody is coming back for this one, too, and why wouldn’t they? Jake Kasdan is back behind the camera, with young stars Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Ser’Darius Blain, and Morgan Turner back in their previous roles. Nick Jonas and Colin Hanks are back, as well, while Awkwafina is a new addition.
SYNOPSIS: In Jumanji: The Next Level, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, they discover that nothing is as they expect. The players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game.
In virtually every depiction of legendary abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman, we see her as a little old lady, usually sitting in a chair, and not like the powerful force of nature she was in life. We’re so accustomed to this interpretation of her that, when it was proposed that she be put on the $20 bill, it wasn’t Tubman in her prime but well past it. Kasi Lemmons’ biopic Harriet occupies a special place for presenting a version of Tubman that we haven’t seen, one that is stylish and fierce and a little like a superhero. It’s just unfortunate the rest of the film fails to live up to the same unconventional standard, only to be rescued somewhat by the performance of Tony-winning actress Cynthia Erivo.
Essentially an origin story, Harriet begins in the 1840s when the future abolitionist was Araminta “Minty” Ross, just another slave on a Maryland plantation run by Gideon (Joe Alwyn), who refuses to set her free as previously promised. When faced with separation from her family and husband, Minty decides to flee up north to Philadelphia, a dangerous 100-mile journey that has become legend. Avoiding the bounty hunters and slave trackers, many of which were other blacks looking to make a profit, Minty uses her wits and a handy gift of foresight to reach her destination. There, she meets with William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), becomes a leader in his Underground Railroad, takes up the name Harriet Tubman, and the rest is history.
Well, not so fast. That’s the beginning of the stuff we all can find in a history book. Harriet explores the loneliness that comes with the incredible burden she placed on herself. Upon arriving in Philadelphia, Tubman finds herself in a place she never could’ve imagined, one where whites and blacks live and work together to build a better society. Through her friendship with business owner Maria (Janelle Monae), Tubman comes to find her true purpose. It’s also when loneliness kicks in, as well as a desire for her loved ones to share in this new world. Deciding to make the treacherous journey back to gather her husband, she comes to a powerful realization about the passage of time. This opens her eyes to the need to rescue others, and in a stirring sequence we see Tubman do just that, earning the title “Moses” that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
So much of Harriet plays out in by-the-book fashion that its one major embellishment throws the whole film into discord. Tubman suffered from seizures as the result of a childhood head injury caused by one of her masters. Since then, she said visions from God would be visited upon her during those times when she would seemingly fall unconscious. To Lemmons, these are interpreted on screen as a sort of “Spidey Sense”, getting her out of one precarious situation after another. While it’s an interesting flourish to say the least, it also denies Tubman some of the credit for her monumental achievements by attributing them to acts of God.
Choosing to take a softer approach to potentially bleak material, Lemmons largely stays away from the brutality of the era. Instead, the violence inflicted by the white slavemasters is hinted at, or seen in scars and tears. Leaving much of it to the imagination sets Harriet apart from 12 Years a Slave or similar films which are so awash in torture you can barely stand to watch. This is an imminently more watchable movie as a result, with Lemmons striking a balance between historical crowd-pleaser and sober docudrama. Terence Blanchard’s spirited score and John Toll’s lush cinematography further enhance Tubman as a mythical figure, a feminist and civil rights icon who seemed like she could move mountains. It’s Erivo who is the crucial piece that holds everything together. She provides the dignified performance Harriet Tubman deserves, expressing deep wells of emotion in only a few words.
Interestingly, Harriet hits a stride in the final chapter, during a rousing Civil War sequence where she leads a group of black soldiers onto the battlefield. As Lemmons focuses on this tiny woman, gun in hand, overpowering in her crusade to bring justice to an unjust world, the shackles of so many familiar tropes are finally broken. Harriet could’ve done more by giving this larger-than-life figure a movie that breaks the mold.
You’re not going to find the dramas of director Ken Loach in your local multiplex. Throughout his fifty-year career that’s never really been the space he’s occupied, but we need movies like Loach’s latest, Sorry We Missed You, to tell the little human stories that can be missed in the blockbuster culture we live in now.
Sorry We Missed You had its premiere at Cannes where it competed for the Palme d’Or, with the 83-year-old Loach saying it would be his final movie to do so. The story, a followup to his Palme d’Or-winner I Daniel Blake, follows a British family who are struggling to make ends meet, and the strain that puts on their relationship. Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone, and Katie Proctor lead the cast.
SYNOPSIS: Ricky, a former laborer, and his home-attendant wife Abby—who lost their home in the 2008 financial crash—are desperate to get out of their financial distress. When an opportunity comes up for Ricky to work as his own boss as a delivery driver, they sell their only asset, Abby’s car, to trade it in for a shiny new white van and the dream that Ricky can work his way up to someday owning his own delivery franchise.
But the couple find their lives are quickly pushed further to the edge by an unrelenting work schedule, a ruthless supervisor and the needs of their two teenage children. Capturing the sacred moments that make a family as well as the acts of desperation they need to undertake to make it through each day, this universal story is skillfully and indelibly told with unforgettable performances and a searing script by Loach’s long-time collaborator Paul Laverty.
Sorry We Missed You will hit U.S. theatres in March 2020.
With Disney+ launching in a couple of weeks, they really don’t need to build more hype for the anticipated streaming service. They have new content coming from all of their blockbuster franchises, and leading the pack is the first-ever live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. The buzz building around that is extraordinary, but Disney has decided to give fans one more reason to salivate over its arrival: there’s a giant Star Wars spoiler in the first episode.
The news comes from the New York Times, who say “a dramatic ‘Star Wars’-universe spoiler” will be revealed in The Mandalorian‘s first episode. They don’t give any other details, of course, and don’t really need to. The mere suggestion of a huge revelation like that is going to drive Star Wars fans into a fever pitch wondering what it is.
This is interesting because, in general, The Mandalorian is separate from the Skywalker Saga, taking place five years after the Empire’s fall in Return of the Jedi and twenty-five years before the First Order arrives in The Force Awakens. Could it be the return of a thought-dead character? Maybe a familial connection we’ve never suspected?
If the big secret is that someone built yet another Death Star I’m going to be very disappointed.
We’ll find out the truth when The Mandalorian arrives on November 12th. Unlike other Disney+ shows, there won’t be any advanced screeners for press, so we’ll all be learning this shit together.
With Black Panther breaking the glass ceiling for Marvel Studios with a Best Picture Oscar nomination, it’s no longer absurd to think they could someday win the top prize. But how much of a chance do they have this year with Avengers: Endgame? It was definitely a milestone movie, a critical and popular favorite that bested Avatar to be the highest-grossing ever. But is it a Best Picture contender? Really? Marvel definitely wants you to think so.
The awards season is really heating with Disney and Marvel Studios launching a “For Your Consideration” campaign for Avengers: Endgame, and they’re gunning for Best Picture. You can see their new ad images pushing for the nomination below…
As you can see, Best Picture is what they’re really gunning for, along with Costume Design, Sound Mixing, and Editing categories. This is just the start, though, and more ads are expected to run, probably one for Best Visual Effects. Don’t expect a Best Actor push for Robert Downey Jr., though. He doesn’t want it, and usually the studio cedes to the actor’s wishes in cases like this.
Ever since creating a cultural sensation with his Broadway hit, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda has been slowly gaining a foothold on the big and small screen, as well. From roles in Mary Poppins Returns and HBO’s His Dark Materials, as well as drafting new music for Disney’s Moana, Miranda is a force and it has always felt inevitable that he’d transition to directing. Well, it’s about to happen on an adaptation of off-Broadway musical tick, tick…Boom!, and he’s already got a big name set to star.
Deadline reports Miranda will head to Netflix for his directorial debut, tick, tick…Boom!, with Andrew Garfield set for the lead role. The film is based on the musical by Rent author Jonathan Larson, and tells the autobiographical tale of a composer living in Soho who worries about growing older and his lack of career achievement. Adapting the script is writer Steven Levenson, the Dear Evan Hansen author who also penned the recent Fosse/Verdon series for FX which Miranda was a producer on.
We haven’t seen a ton out of Garfield since Sony gave up on him as Spider-Man. He most recently starred in the offbeat mystery Under the Silver Lake, and led a couple of handful of great dramas in Breathe,Hacksaw Ridge, and Martin Scorsese’s Silence. He has a very significant film coming up, though, playing televangelist Jim Bakker opposite Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
Next up for Miranda is an adaptation of his Broadway play In the Heights, which he’ll be producing for director Jon M. Chu.
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a special screening of the upcoming Apple TV+ series, Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld in a wild, irreverent and modern take on the life of poet Emily Dickinson.
SYNOPSIS: Poet. Daughter. Total Rebel. In this coming-of-age story, Emily is determined to become the world’s greatest poet.
This special event takes place tonight, October 30th, at 7:30pm at AMC Mazza Gallerie and will be preceded by a complimentary beer and wine reception at 6:30pm. If you’d like to attend, simply go to the Gofobo site here and download a pair of passes. Enjoy the show!
Whether Nic Cage is an exotic animal collector trapped on a boat with an escaped jaguar and an assassin, or a truffle hunter tracking a kidnapped pig (both real plots of upcoming movies!!), he always gives his fans their money’s worth in straight-up crazy. You can add his upcoming film Wally’s Wonderland to the bizarre collection of projects he seems to be amassing.
Cage has agreed to star in Wally’s Wonderland, which sounds like some Five Nights at Freddy’s shit, with the actor playing an amusement park janitor squaring off against animatronic characters come to life.
SYNOPSIS: Wally’s Wonderland has a dark secret and when THE JANITOR (Cage) is forced to spend the night in the twisted amusement park he is pulled into a living nightmare. As the threatening animatronic characters come to life, The Janitor has to fight his way from one monster to another to survive until morning and get out of the park.
Is it bad that I’m extremely hyped to see this?
The film will be directed by Kevin Lewis, who goes wildly overboard in the excited statement he gives about the project, which begins shooting in January…
“For me there was always one actor and one actor only who could make this movie work, and that actor is Nick Cage. I’m thrilled to be working with him and can’t wait to see him go up against Wally and his gang of psychopathic misfits. I see this movie as ‘Pale Rider’ vs ‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space.’”
All appearances to the contrary sometimes, Warner Bros. aren’t complete idiots. They have this extensive library of recognizable DC Comics characters and they full intend to use them as content for their HBO Max streaming service. On the heels of Greg Berlanti’s upcoming Green Lantern and Strange Adventures shows, we’re now learning that Elizabeth Banks will develop live-action series DC Super Hero High.
It’s pretty much exactly what you think. The half-hour comedy series will be geared towards a younger audience and focus on super-powered teens “just trying to navigate the pressures of high school, but none of them realize that someday they will become legendary DC Super Heroes.” Basically, if you want to see what a complete tool a rich kid like Bruce Wayne probably was in high school, this is the show for you.
Banks will exec-produce the series, joined by Fuller House writer Scott Weinger. I love this as a way of introducing these characters to a different crowd, and can’t wait to see who they get to play some of DC’s most iconic heroes.
