There have already been significant changes to the Warner Bros. lineup due to the coronavirus outbreak. The DCEU has not been spared with Wonder Woman 1984 switching dates, and most expected the same fate would befall Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Well, the hammer has finally dropped, and it has impacted not only that film, but others featuring DC Comics heroes.
The Batman has officially been delayed, moving from its June 2021 release date to October 1st. Production has been halted for some time, and initially we thought it would only last a few weeks. It became clear pretty soon that we’d have to wait a while longer to see Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, but as far as delays go this isn’t too bad.
The delay is a bit longer for Shazam 2, which returns Zachary Levi as the all-powerful superhero with the maturity of a teenage boy. Originally set for April 1st 2022, the sequel will now arrive on November 4th, a full seven months later. One would think that has to impact the progress and release of Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam film, which ties into Shazam and will eventually crossover.
On the plus side, the troubled, oft-delayed solo Flash film starring Ezra Miller is moving up instead of back. Look for the scarlet speedster to race into theaters on June 2nd 2022, two months August 1st date. Behind the camera is Andy Muschietti (It), with a script by Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson.
James Gunn has two big franchises of similarly offbeat tone on the way, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Suicide Squad. While the Marvel film will probably occupy a special place in his heart, Gunn is clearly digging his chance to play around with the DC heroes, too. In particular, he’s found a new favorite character with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and talked about her with fans during his latest Instagram Q&A…
“Oh, I love the Joker, but Harley is one of my favourite characters I’ve ever written. In fact, she’s probably my favourite comic character whose personality was well-defined before I wrote her for the screen. She’s an incredible companion to have while writing her insane actions and dialogue. Did I say I LOVED her?”
It’ll be interesting to see how Gunn approaches the Harley Quinn character after what happens to her in Birds of Prey. Although he has said in the past, and says again that you don’t need to have seen Suicide Squad to understand his film, he does confirm it takes place after the recent spinoff…
“TSS takes place in the year it comes out”, was his response to a question about The Suicide Squad’s place in the DCEU timeline. That means at some point after riding off into the sunset following her defeat of Black Mask, Harley Quinn will get into trouble again and be at the mercy of Amanda Waller (a returning Viola Davis).
The Suicide Squad opens August 6th 2021 and has not been affected by the pandemic. It appears to be one of the few Warner Bros. films that isn’t.
Does Ryan Murphy ever sleep? It seems like the Glee and American Horror Story creator always has another series on the way, and that’s because he does. Between multiple seasons of AHS and American Crime Story, plus shows including Scream Queens and The Politician, Murphy’s creative energy is boundless. So is his ability to attract big audiences no matter the genre he’s chosen to tackle. And now he’s back and exploring the dark side of fame in the new series, Hollywood.
Joined by his frequent collaborator Ian Brennan, Murphy takes a look at aspiring actors hoping to make it big in post-WWII Hollywood. It gives Murphy yet another chance to explore the seedy underbelly that comes with celebrity, in this case during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The 7-episode series features a mix of Murphy favorites, screen veterans, and stars on the rise. Darren Criss, Patti LuPone, Dylan McDermott, Laura Harrier, Holland Taylor, Samara Weaving, Joe Mantello, Jim Parsons, Queen Latifah, Jeremy Pope, Jake Picking, Rob Reiner, Mira Sorvino, and Maude Apatow star.
Netflix will premiere Hollywood on May 1st.
SYNOPSIS: A new limited series from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, HOLLYWOOD follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown — no matter the cost. Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood’s Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day. Provocative and incisive, HOLLYWOOD exposes and examines decades-old power dynamics, and what the entertainment landscape might look like if they had been dismantled.
If everything had gone according to plan and there were no coronavirus, The Lovebirds would’ve had its world premiere at SXSW, followed by a theatrical release as of April 3rd. Well, that’s just not how things turned out, and the Kumail Nanjiani/Issa Rae comedy was pulled from the schedule by Paramount, who ultimately decided to call on Netflix to bail them out as they have so many times in the past.
Well, now we finally know when The Lovebirds will be available in the comfort of our own homes. Netflix has given the action rom-com a May 22nd release date, revealed in a brand new trailer. Resembling the Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy Date Night in many ways, the story centers on a couple who find themselves wrapped up in a murder, with themselves as the suspects.
I think this looks hilarious, and Nanjiani’s face as the murder occurs is priceless. This might’ve been overlooked previously but on Netflix I think this is the sort of easy, silly comedy that could be a big hit. Who doesn’t want to spend time watching Nanjiani and Rae run from the law? Sounds like fun to me.
The Lovebirds is directed by Michael Showalter, who worked with Nanjiani on The Big Sick. Anna Camp, Paul Sparks, Betsy Borrego, and Kyle Bornheimer co-star.
SYNOPSIS: A couple (Issa Rae & Kumail Nanjiani) experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious – circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night.
Martha Stephens’ beautiful and sensitive, if very familiar drama To the Stars arrives a year after its successful Sundance debut. While its story of a bookish young woman’s liberation from stifling small-town conservative values is one we’ve seen many times before, that it still rings true for today says a lot about the material’s strength in capturing the enduring nature of intolerance and sexual repression of women. A curious aesthetic change and some overheated plotting don’t detract from two showcase performances by leads Kara Hayward and Liana Liberato.
To the Stars is set in 1960s Oklahoma, the heart of the bible belt, where mousy, quiet Iris Deerborne endures a life of being invisible. Well, that’s when she’s not being bullied by the local boys, all a bunch of moronic sex-crazed oafs; or harassed by a clique of mean girls over her embarrassing bladder problem. Even at home, Iris is met with derision by her unhappy, alcoholic mother Francie (Jordana Spiro), while her father (Shea Whigham) just wants peace and quiet.
Being the outcast in a small, gossipy town isn’t easy, but Iris finds herself drawn to the beautiful, mysterious free-spirit Maggie Richmond (Liberato). A city girl with a big, boastful personality, Maggie doesn’t mind spreading a few white lies to shake people up, like suggesting her father is a photographer for Life Magazine. But Maggie’s lies hide the real reason why she and her abusive family (with Tony Hale and Malin Akerman as her parents) uprooted themselves to get a “fresh start.”
Neither Iris or Maggie subscribe to traditional notions of what a woman is supposed to be. They don’t fit in with the popular girls and they don’t chase around the boys. While Iris kept this side of herself hidden under nerdy isolation, it’s Maggie who brings it roaring to life. Interestingly, this only upsets Iris’ mother further, as she deals with sexual repression of her own. Francie openly lusts after a local neighbor kid (one who Iris has her eye on), but it’s also clear she sees Iris’ hidden beauty as a reminder of the youth she has lost.
I remember seeing footage of To the Stars in its original black & white, and thinking it held such a haunting, even timeless quality as a result. So it’s disappointing to see it arrive now in full-color, which makes it look like every other coming-of-age film out there. That said, there’s still a great deal of beauty crafted by Stephens and cinematographer Andrew Reed. The vastness and picturesque nature of the American heartland strikes a feeling of tremendous potential and possibility. It’s when they’re outdoors, in those wide open spaces, when these women most come alive. Reed’s camera chokes that off in the claustrophobic home scenes, mirroring the freedom too many females were long denied.
A steadier hand could’ve been used down the stretch, as Stephens and screenwriter Shannon Bradley-Colleary bang their messaging pretty hard. It’s tough to ignore Iris’ formulaic evolution (a makeover!!) and the inevitable conflicts that arise with Maggie. The same goes for the town’s bigotry towards those who challenge their traditional homespun values, eventually expressing itself in violence and rage that comes too late to be properly dealt with.
To the Stars arrives weeks after the release of Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a film it shares common bond with, despite taking place in different eras. The fear of feminine power is what leads to the restrictive laws women still must deal with today. It just goes to show that, despite all of the intellectual advancements in our culture, we still have a lot left to learn. There’s a lot more To the Stars could’ve said, more that could’ve been done, if Stephens had taken the time to dig a little bit further and break away from the genre’s shackles.
Blumhouse…man they know how to do it don’t they? Outside of creating the best theatrically released horror in the last 5 years or more they’ve, somewhat quietly moved into TV…or in the case of their Into the Dark series with Hulu, some kind of hybrid. Into the Dark is an anthology series, in the sense that there are regularly released episodes with a similar theme (horror), but those “episodes” are actually full feature films. 20 “episodes” to be specific with their latest installment Into the Dark: Delivered, 20 feature films grouped into an anthology over a little over 2 years is something that only the house of Blum could do if you ask me. All of this praise aside, they haven’t really been making waves in popularity but that all started to change with Into the Dark: Crawlers which really caught genre fans with it’s B-movie feel with top tier execution, plus who doesn’t love a good alien/body-snatcher type story? This latest installment, Delivered, may have a focused fear target but those who are within the cross hairs will feel it deeply. Having a kid is a terrifying and wholly exciting time on it’s own….but if you add in outside forces with their own idea for the future of your progeny and your ventured into downright terrifying territory.
Into the Darkness: Delivered follows Valerie and Tom (Natalie Paul and Michael Cassidy, respectively) very anxiously await the arrival of their little one and seem to be the textbook young parents to-be, right down to attending pre-natal yoga class. It’s at one of these classes that they meet Jenny (played deliciously by Tina Majorino) another expectant mother who seems to be all on her own. Valerie finds some solace in having someone else to share her anxiety with in Jenny and the two become friends. It’s obvious from second one that there’s something off about Jenny, and that rolls into my only issues with this episode. It’s really a result of Mjorino’s excellent performance that borders between socially awkward and sociopathic, but because we know what we’re watching, and perhaps because we’re on higher alert it becomes obvious where the danger is from Natalie Paul and Michael Cassidy do a good job of portraying the two as nervous people looking for some comfort which helps keep you from getting angry when they make a decision that seems stupid…whenever we have those “Don’t go in there idiot!” moments in horror it’s easy to forget that the characters don’t actually know they’re in a horror movie, this is the place that Valerie and Tom really help the story along by being so normal and so relatable that you can give them a pass or two.
The end result is a twist by definition, but if you’ve been paying attention it will not come as any surprise. That doesn’t make it less satisfying, well…maybe a bit less, but not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the surprisingly gory culmination. I will say that people without children may not feel the same effect, and those that are currently with child probably want to stay away. The last thing you need when navigating the 7th month of pregnancy is to have labor induced from stress and scare! Everyone left will have a good, well at least a tense and terrifying, time with Into the Dark: Delivered. For what’s it’s worth seeing Crawlers and now Delivered has me making room in my queue to catch up on the other 18 episodes. I’ve been hearing good things about Pooku, so that’s a place to start.
If Disney had never fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, we’d likely be talking about it as one of the next Marvel films coming up. But they did fire him, and while he’s been rehired, it’ll still be a long wait for fans. Fortunately, Gunn is a chatty guy and has plenty to say about what to expect, although some of the news is going to be a downer.
Interacting with fans over social media, Gunn revealed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the end of the road for him. Even if Marvel decides to do a fourth movie, something they’ve been loathe to do with any franchise outside of Thor, he won’t be part of it…
“I absolutely never said I wouldn’t do a Vol. 2, as I planned to do a trilogy from the beginning if the first one worked,” Gunn confirmed. “I have no plans to do a fourth.”
The way the team has become so popular, and grown in its place within the MCU, I could easily see them scatter and still be relevant. Perhaps, if rumors of a New Avengers squad are true, one or two Guardians could be on it? These characters won’t be gone, that’s for sure.
Well, let me take that back. One of these characters might be gone, because Gunn also revealed that someone is going to die in the next movie. When asked straight-up “Will someone die in gogt 3?”, Gunn replied simply “Yes.”
To be fair, he could be talking about a minor character, maybe a Ravager such as Kraglin? It doesn’t necessarily have to be Star-Lord, Drax, Nebula, Groot, Mantis, or Rocket, although Gunn is a filmmaker who uses key deaths in his movies frequently. Think Groot in the first movie and Yondu in the sequel. If he’s going to kill someone off again, it’ll be someone we give a shit about.
The Guardians of the Galaxy will be seen next in Thor: Love & Thunder on February 18th 2022, and their own movie will follow sometime after.
It’s almost inconceivable that Rogue One turned out as great as it did. With all of the production problems, rewrites, stories of Gareth Edwards being fired, this was the epitome of what the ‘A Star Wars Story’ brand was meant to be, enhancing the familiar stories with brand new characters. Certainly, I’ve never paid to see a Star Wars film as much as Rogue One, and probably never will.
But Rogue One could’ve been a very different movie, and nearly was. IGN spoke with writers Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz who revealed some of the many changes it went through during production, including to the character of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who had been imagined as similar to Jessica Chastain’s investigative badass from Zero Dark Thirty.
Whitta said, “At one point Jyn was already a Rebel soldier. We toyed with various other possibilities — that she was a deserter, that she was a Rey-like scavenger, but obviously you can’t do that once you learn what the other hand of the Star Wars universe is doing.”
Jyn’s mother Lyra was also written to be a Jedi, at one point. If that had stuck it would’ve changed so much about the Jyn we saw, but the change was made pretty early. Whitta added…
“In the original version — and the kyber crystal was like the last tiny piece that was left — she was a Jedi in hiding. It was one of the first things that got killed, and rightly so. That was kind of a vestige of me as a fanboy wanting to feel like we were checking all the Star Wars boxes. I remember saying… this is going to be the very first Star Wars movie that doesn’t have a lightsaber in it. … Of course, it ended up not being true! We have an amazing lightsaber sequence at the end of the movie.”
Remember how Rogue One was the first and only Star Wars movie not to have an opening crawl? It helped set it apart and make it really feel like a war film? Well, there was an opening crawl, we just didn’t get to see it. Whitta says…
“The way the movie opens is really one of the first interesting questions that [director] Gareth [Edwards] and I had: Should there be an opening crawl? I did write one. You’ll never see it but I did. I wrote more than one. Back when we were still experimenting with the idea of maybe doing one. But one of the things that we arrived at fairly early on in the process is that it was OK to liberate ourselves from the traditional storytelling language of Star Wars. And a lot of the visual tropes — the iris wipes, the opening crawl, things like that — we felt like the standalone movies had more license than the saga films to do something a little more different.”
And what about Diego Luna’s rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor, who is due to get his own Disney+ series soon? Along with very nearly being a love interest for Jyn, Weitz says Andor was once envisioned to be a double agent working for the villainous Krennic.
Whitta revealed, “In a very, very early version of this, he was a Rebel soldier who was secretly working for Krennic. But then as he grew closer to Jyn and realized that the Empire had built this weapon, he’s like, ‘I never signed up for this. I never signed up for killing planets.’ He has a change of heart and flips to the Rebel side, but that’s after he’s exposed as a spy. And at that point in the third act, he kind of has to win Jyn’s trust back. That was all fun and interesting. I think they actually shot some of that stuff early on. But I think this version ended up being more nuanced and more interesting.”
For me, Rogue One is in the top 2 or 3 best Star Wars films, and that’s due in large part to the way it exceeded expectations. With so much free time lately perhaps it’s due for a rewatch.
If you ever wanted to know why Mindy Kaling excels at her brand of uncomfortable humor, look no further than her upcoming Netflix series, Never Have I Ever. Kaling created the sitcom based on her own childhood in suburban Massachusetts, with newcomer newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan playing a fictionalized version of her.
The plot sounds like something out of a teen sex comedy. The 10-episode series centers on Devi, a nerdy first generation Indian-American girl whose primary goal seems to be to get herself and her friends laid.
Didn’t they just make a movie about this called Blockers? Not that I’m complaining. Horny teen comedies are a part of the fabric of American entertainment, but seeing one through the personal experiences of Kaling should make this stand out.
SYNOPSIS: Never Have I Ever is a new coming-of-age comedy about the complicated life of a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl. The series stars newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, an overachieving high school sophomore who has a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations. Never Have I Ever is created by executive producer Mindy Kaling, with Lang Fisher serving as executive producer, showrunner and writer. The Universal Television project is also executive produced by 3 Arts Entertainment’s Howard Klein, David Miner, and Tristram Shapeero.
It’s been a few years since we’ve seen anything from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. His last film was 2016’s A Cure for Wellness, and he was at one point attached to Fox’s cursed Gambit movie. Now a new story from Discussing Film says Verbinski is back with an untitled animated film for Netflix.
There aren’t any details other than it’ll be CG-animated, with Verbinski directing and producing based on his own original story. No word on if he’s involved with the scripting part of it, though.
Verbinski is the director known for gigantic, bloated budgets on three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and 2013’s dud The Lone Ranger. That said, his last time doing animated was really great. That would be 2011’s Rango, featuring Johnny Depp as the voice of a pet chameleon who is also a cowboy hero. If this is anything like that, it’ll be worth keeping track of. I really need this to be a Rango sequel. Hey Netflix, can it be that, please?
