While it doesn’t appear that Michael B. Jordan will be suiting up as Superman any time soon, Warner Bros. does have Man of Steel film featuring a Black lead in the works. Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the script with JJ Abrams producing, but there’s still a lot that we don’t know, and confirmation for any of it is probably a long ways off. But THR has some info that could clear a few things up as to where this new take on Superman is headed.
The report goes that Coates’ script is still very early and might not be finished until year’s end. In that time, a search for a director will take place and it won’t be Abrams, as a Black filmmaker is high on WB’s priority list.
What’s interesting is that WB and Marvel are both haggling over the same list of Black directors, since Marvel is trying to put together their Blade reboot right now. That group of directors includes Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II), Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), Regina King (One Night in Miami), and J.D. Dillard (Sweetheart), while Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) and Ryan Coogler are longshot hopes, especially since Coogler is busy on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Where will this Black Superman story fit, though? As part of the DCEU? Maybe in the same alternate universe as Joker or The Batman? Apparently, none of those. It’s possible it will be a 20th-century period piece, and yes, it will be about a Black version of Clark Kent/Kal-El, Krypton and all.
This is still a very long ways off, but even now it’s worth getting amped up about. While I personally hope that news on a Superman within the DCEU is forthcoming, what Coates and Abrams are putting together could be huge if done right.
Marvel Studios recently confirmed a May 5th 2023 release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s been a long time coming, making six years between movies in the franchise. Some of that delay caused by director James Gunn’s firing by Marvel, only to be rehired months later after he signed up to helm The Suicide Squad.
When Gunn kicks off shooting on Guardians of the Galaxy later this year, it will be for the last time. He recently confirmed to a fan on Twitter that this will be his last movie as part of this particular franchise, but it doesn’t mean his time with Marvel, or working on superheroes, is necessarily at an end…
It also doesn’t mean this is the final Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Thor: Love & Thunder is the only case, so far, of a title going past the trilogy point. The Guardians team is popular enough to warrant more if fans want it. The problem is that Gunn has put such a stamp on them it’d be tough to see anybody else do it. Not sure I’d want to, honestly.
Man, I didn’t realize how much I missed Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham movies until we got them again! The careers of both really had a rocket strapped on during the ’90s and early ’00s with Ritchie’s run of British gangster movies, before both went on to things definitely bigger, but not necessarily better. Wrath of Man is the first of two movies they have coming up (the other is spy film Five Eyes), and if you’re a fan of Ritchie and Statham it’s an absolute must-watch for delivering the gruff, killer action we expect while delivering something more than just your typical crime thriller.
Ritchie successfully transplants French crime flick Le Convoyeur‘s story of high-stakes thievery and vengeance to L.A., where armed robbery of cash trucks is very much a common danger. On the surface, this seems like a very simple tale of revenge, but Ritchie, who also co-wrote the script, fleshes it out with enough character detail that it can thrive even when Statham isn’t on screen, which is the case for long stretches.
Shot in vintage style reminiscent of a Golan-Globus classic, Wrath of Man swoops in to introduce us to H (Statham), a mysterious new hire at a private security firm, transporting hundreds of millions of dollars a week in armored cash trucks. Paired up with the chatty veteran Bullet (Holt McCallany), H goes through the rigorous training process that is more like what the police go through. The company has stepped it up since one of their trucks was robbed, and the guards killed along with an innocent bystander, an event shown in the movie’s opening moments. H passes the test, but something isn’t right about him. The others, who H doesn’t really get along with at all, think of him as a “dark horse.” He’s too good for this gig.
That proves true when H and the curiously-named Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett, equally curious that he’s in such a minor role) are ambushed by a heavily-armed group, one of which includes pop star Post Malone in a laughable performance. Statham vs. Post Malone? It goes exactly how you think. H, cold as ice, takes out the attackers with brutal precision. When the same thing happens again while H and Bullet are on the job, it becomes clear that we’re not being told the whole story about who this guy really is.
What surprised me most about Wrath of Man is how sprawling it turns out to be, for a film that basically revolves around only a couple of events. H’s backstory is revealed in flashbacks, clueing us into his plans for vengeance and the impressive means at his disposal. The film also takes significant time to explore another group who are destined to cross H’s path, a team of disgruntled soldiers led by the highly-intelligent mastermind Jackson (Jeffrey Donovan), and featuring loose cannon Jan (Scott Eastwood). It isn’t hard to figure out why their paths eventually converge, but it’s a collision course we’re dying to see because so much is put into establishing motivation. The dialogue is basic, homophobic “locker room” talk and that’s going to offend some but makes sense considering the world these characters inhabit. Best to just be aware of it.
It does take a bit more of an investment than your typical Statham brawler, but the payoff is worth it. As the title suggests, Wrath of Man is extremely dark, very grim stuff, with Statham playing the quiet, enigmatic killer role that he was so good at before chatting it up in films like Hobbs & Shaw. You could argue that a few minutes could be trimmed to make room for more Statham kick-ass, since most of the extreme violence (it earns the R-rating) comes from gunfights and an excessive amount of headshots. The supporting cast is tremendous although many of them aren’t given a lot to guy, including guys like Laz Alonso, Raul Castillo, and Eddie Marsan. Rob Delaney a couple of fun scenes as a real cheerleader for H’s skills, and Andy Garcia does just enough as a cop hot on H’s trail to make you wish he had a bigger part. Irish actress Niamh Algar is also a welcome addition as the tough-as-nails officer Dana Curtis, suggesting a bright future for her on U.S. shores in movies just like this.
Setting Statham’s character outside of the central heist, and yet linked to its success or failure, is an interesting move. For the final act of the film, the perspective isn’t necessarily from H, but from the criminals. As such, we have a pretty good idea how things are going to turn out. I mean, these are bad guys after all, and bad guys aren’t to be trusted even amongst one another. But Wrath of Man weaves H’s retribution into the crime seamlessly, and has us eager to see his wrath finally unleashed.
Making the jump from acting to directing seem easy, Natalie Morales has had quite the busy year already. Her feature directing debut, Language Lessons, was a standout at SXSW just a couple of months ago. And already she’s back with another film, a teen road trip comedy titled Plan B, which arrives on Hulu on May 28th.
Morales’ film makes for an interesting entry in the road trip genre. It’s rare to see one led by two women of color, and that alone should give this a different feel from others we’ve seen. The story follows two high school girls as they try to buy Plan B before time runs out, making for some pretty hilarious talk about sex…including the first time I think I’ve heard a female compare her vagine to the Transformers. I can dig it.
The cast is led by Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles, who are giving me some serious Never Goin’ Back vibes. This is about the strongest compliment I can possibly give. Looking forward to this.
After a regrettable first sexual encounter, a straight-laced high school student (Kuhoo Verma) and her slacker best friend (Victoria Moroles) have 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill in America’s heartland.
Going intoStar Wars: The Bad Batch, which debuts today on Disney+, on Star Wars Day no less, I had little hope it’d be something for me. Havind debuted recently in the final “season” of The Clone Wars, the soldiers of Clone Force 99 have unique quirks that make them different from the others, but also make them feel like an odd fit for Star Wars. To say the least, I was wary this handful of oddballs could keep my attention for the long haul, and that concern does somewhat exist. But for now you can count me in to see where this goes, because Dave Filoni and Dee Bradley Baker are exploring some aspects of being a clone that we’ve never seen before.
The first episode of The Bad Batch, titled “Aftermath” immediately captures the feel of The Clone Wars, one of the most beloved Star Wars projects ever. The familiar propaganda voiceover by Tom Kane takes us back into the conflict, as the Republic engages in battle with a separatist droid army on Kaller. It’s here that Jedi Master Depa Billaba eagerly awaits the return of her padawan, Caleb Dume, who is returning with reinforcements. If the name and voice of Dume sound familiar, it’s because he grows up to be one of the most popular recent Jedi, Kanan Jarrus, recognized from Star Wars Rebels. When he does return, it’s with just five troopers, the officers of Clone Force 99, who promptly wreck the droid army with ease.
The Bad Batch hits me right in my sweet spot with what comes next. I have a real fondness for the impact of Order 66, which is when the newly-christened Emperor Palpatine orders the clone troopers to turn on the Jedi and wipe them out. Most of the Jedi die in this period, and what The Bad Batch does is insert Clone Force 99 into it where they never were before. Immediately after their victory, the Order is made; we see Billaba realize that something is wrong and hold out just long enough to send Caleb away before she is gunned down.
What happens to Clone Force 99 after Order 66 was issued? Unlike the other clones who are all following set programming, they are equipped with genetic mutations that give them individual personality, skills, and tactics. The team, consisting of leader Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, Tech, and the recently-added Echo, operate on their own free from outside influence. So they aren’t affected by Palpatine’s commands; not that Caleb believes them. Hunter tries to help the boy flee, but Crosshair wants to follow orders and tries to shoot the kid. Hunter stuns the kid and lies to the other troopers that he died; a lie that nobody believes.
This is an interesting prospect, to explore what happens to the clone army when the paradigm has been shifted so radically. No longer a Republic, they now serve the Galactic Empire and their targets are humans. Not just Jedi, who can defend themselves, but Separatists, rebels, or whatever innocents Palpatine wants disposed of. “I don’t like to think of executing our commanders as a mission objective,” Hunter says. But it’s more than that. Their individuality, which had been such a benefit to the Republic, is now potentially a problem for the Empire who want slavish devotion. When Moff Tarkin arrives on the home planet Kamino and assesses exactly this issue, he puts Clone Force 99 to a battle test, equipping the droids with live ammo rather than training fire. Wrecker almost dies, but they get through it by being able to formulate an unpredictable strategy, something normal clones can’t do.
It doesn’t take long for Hunter and the others to figure out that Tarkin has it in for them. And when he sends them to Onderon to take out a band of insurgents, they learn that it’s a human resistance led by Saw Gerrera (that guy really gets around), who have refused to fight for the Empire. That’s why Tarkin has targeted them. Saw schools the team up about Tarkin’s true plans, and lets them know they can either adapt to the new reality or die with the past.
This causes conflict within the group as Crosshair thinks they should continue following orders. The question that lingers is whether he’s succumbing to his programming, or if this is just who he truly is? Having been spotted by a probe droid, they know Tarkin is aware of what just happened. Sure enough, when they return back to base, Tarkin has them arrested for refusing to kill the insurgents.
One aspect that I’ve left out has to do with Omega, a mysterious young girl working alongside the Kaminoan scientists. It’s clear that the Kaminoans, who invented and perfected the clone technology, see some importance in her. Omega has taken a liking to Clone Force 99, almost in a fangirl kind of way. Hunter wants her to stay away from them, but she insists, seeing in them kindred spirits. We come to learn from Tech that Omega is a clone herself, making her the first female clone that we are aware of. But there’s also something else about her, too, as if she’s been gifted some special traits of her own.
It’s because of Omega and Wrecker the team is able to escape their imprisonment, but they run into Crosshair who has had his inhibitor chip “intensified”, whatever that means. Now more loyal to the Empire than ever, he refuses to go with the team to J-19, where Hunter says he knows an old friend who can help.
At least for now, my fears about The Bad Batch are quieted. The animated, which is closer in style to Star Wars Rebels, is beautifully detailed while still having some of the extreme aspects that make animation fun to look at. I’m intrigued by Omega, as well, who I think could become an important character in Star Wars lore. I have a feeling, call it a hunch, that she’s going to be revealed as someone we know as an adult. Most importantly, they’ve done a good job of making me interested in Clone Force 99, who are no longer one-dimensional characters whose names described their personalities. What they evolve into has me very curious.
I’ve already seen episode 2 and will have a recap of that in a few days, as well. Not sure I’ll stick with doing these for the entire season. Probably depends on my interest level! Happy Star Wars Day!
Following her scene-stealing performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and the buzz she’s received on the festival circuit for the upcoming film Zola, Taylour Paige is on fire right now. And she’s captured the moment by taking on what could be her first blockbuster franchise movie, the female lead in Legendary’s Toxic Avenger.
Deadline reports Paige has joined Peter Dinklage and Jacob Tremblay in The Toxic Avenger, a revival of Troma’s cult favorite mutant environmentalist superhero. While it’s not confirmed who Paige will be playing, it’s a pretty good bet she’ll be a love interest of some kind, perhaps Toxie’s blind girlfriend/future wife Sara?
Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore) is directing this new take on The Toxic Avenger, based on the classic 1984 film. The basic premise remains the same, “a struggling everyman is pushed into a vat of toxic waste and is transformed into a mutant freak who must go from shunned outcast to underdog hero as he races to save his son, his friends, and his community from the forces of corruption and greed.”
If all goes how I hope, people will be buzzing about filmmaker Augustine Frizzell very soon. Her 2018 stoner comedy Never Goin’ Back is a prime example how that well-worn genre can have new insights and still be hilarious. And now Frizzell is looking to do something bigger, this time for Netflix, with romantic love story The Last Letter from Your Lover, starring Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley.
The Oscar-nominated Jones stars as a contemporary journalist who uncovers a trove of letters revealing a forbidden romance between a couple in the 1960s. As she reads more of the letters, she becomes obsessed with finding out where these people are and what happened to them.
Also in the cast are Callum Turner, Joe Alwyn, Nabhaan Rizwan, Ncuti Gatwa, Ben Cross, and Diana Kent.
Netflix will release The Last Letter from Your Lover on July 23rd.
A pair of interwoven stories set in the present and past, THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER follows Ellie Haworth (Felicity Jones), an ambitious journalist who discovers a trove of secret love letters from 1965 and becomes determined to solve the mystery of the forbidden affair at their center. As she uncovers the story behind Jennifer Stirling (Shailene Woodley), the wife of a wealthy industrialist, and Anthony O’Hare (Callum Turner), the financial journalist assigned to cover him, a love story of Ellie’s own begins to unfold with the assistance of an earnest and endearing archivist (Nabhaan Rizwan) who helps her track down more letters. Based on the novel by Jojo Moyes and directed by Augustine Frizzell.
What’s it going to take for fans to accept that Spider-Man: No Way Home won’t be our chance to see Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire share the screen? That’s been a fun rumor for months, but pretty much everybody involved has shit it down. Holland denied it himself, and now Garfield is dumping cold water, too.
Emphatically.
“There isn’t anything to ruin, bro!” said on the Happy. Sad. Confused podcast. “There’s nothing to ruin! It’s so crazy. It’s fucking hilarious to me.”
Alrighty then. So that’s a no?
Garfield continued, “I see that Spider-Man is trending [on Twitter], and people are freaking out about [‘Spider-Man 3’]. And I’m like, ‘Guys, guys, guys…’ I wish I could be able to speak to everyone and say, ‘I recommend that you chill.’ I can only speak for myself. They may be doing something, but I ain’t got a call.”
“I would have gotten a call by now, that’s all I’m saying,” he said when asked yet again if he was in the movie.
Here’s what we do know: Tom Holland is back as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, along with Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and more familiar faces from the previous movies. Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina are both confirmed to return as Electro and Doctor Octopus, the characters they played in previous Spidey franchises. Clearly, there’s some Multiverse aspect to the storyline, and having Maguire and Garfield makes sense. But if this is happening, Marvel has these guys are super-duper secret lockdown.
From start to finish, WandaVision was steeped in mysticism, as Wanda’s magical powers grew and spun out of control. It is, perhaps, the most thorough exploration of how that side of the MCU works, bolstered by the revelation of Agatha Harkness as a figure of immense mystical power herself. And when you’re dealing in that realm, obviously fans are going to expect an appearance by the Master of the Mystic Arts himself, Doctor Strange. With promises of some pretty big cameos, fans thought Strange would almost certainly be conjured up for an episode. According to Kevin Feige, that was actually the plan at one point.
Feige spoke with Rolling Stone and revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch was set to have a role in WandaVision, as her Chaos Magic began to go wild. It also would’ve made sense considering star Elizabeth Olsen is expected to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, Feige nixed the idea at the last moment…
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Doctor Strange,’” said Feige. “But it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’”
Later, Feige described the entire scenario as “a wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination and chaos. Chaos magic.”
The idea they came up with was to have Strange use the commercials seen within the show as ways to communicate with Wanda, only to later show up in-person. Yeah, that does sound cool, but ultimately Feige was probably right. He usually is when it comes to these things. Look at how WandaVision turned out! It’s the most buzzed-over show of the last year. Kinda hard to complain about that.
Marvel dropped a ton on us yesterday, teasing a future on the big screen that is sure to draw fans back into theaters. What’s different about the landscape now is that Marvel Studios is also showing its dominance on the small screen, and following the successes of WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, next up is Loki with Tom Hiddleston back as the god of mischief.
A new “special look” has dropped featuring some new footage from Loki, which finds him charged by the Time Variance Authority with fixing all of the fuck-ups caused by his stealing of the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. Or at least, that’s what we think the show will be about. There hasn’t been any official synopsis explaining that, but we can draw some conclusions based on all that we’ve seen.
The cast includes Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant, with Kate Herron directing.
