Thanks to the success of Marvel Studios, whenever a franchise starter comes around, there is usually some kind of credits scene that teases what will hopefully be the next chapter in the franchise. However, when it comes to the films of the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros. Pictures hasn’t always teased what’s coming next in their comic book franchises. Both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opted out of having credits scenes, though Suicide Squad did tease what’s to come in Justice League this fall. But what about Wonder Woman?
Warner Bros. Pictures releases Wonder Woman in just under two weeks, but should moviegoers stick around after the credits start rolling for a tease of either a Wonder Woman sequel or the arrival of Justice League? Read More »
Black Mirror season 3 was one of my favorite things I watched in 2016 and Netflix is the perfect home for a show so unsettling that you can’t look away (or take breaks between episodes). While the big-hearted and romantic “San Junipero” was the best episode of the entire series so far, it sounds like season 4 will once again deliver the show’s trademark pessimistic outlook on the near future. After all, it was just revealed that one of the episodes is based on a short story written by magician, comedian, and author Penn Jillette that was dark enough to remain unpublished for decades. In other words, it sounds about perfect for Black Mirror.
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The practice of beloved TV or movie properties getting a second life has practically become synonymous with Netflix — the streaming service made its name as an original content service by tapping into the nostalgia of popular properties like Arrested Development and Full House.
But it’s rare that Netflix will take a chance on a moderately successful movie adaptation that was met with mixed reception, and outright disdain from fans of the books. But A Series of Unfortunate Events came to Netflix, where it was spearheaded by Barry Sonnenfeld, the director originally attached to the 2004 movie. And it was a hit. The series met with rave reviews from critics and fans alike, who lauded its unique visuals, fourth-wall-breaking characters. and witty black comedy. A Series of Unfortunate Events was quite a fortunate break for Netflix.
It was too for Sonnenfeld, who was able to finally bring his vision for an adaptation to life alongside the books’ author, Daniel Handler (whose pseudonym, Lemony Snicket, is also an active character in the series). We spoke with Sonnenfeld about the runaway success of the first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events, and what we can expect for the second and now-confirmed third.
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Universal Studios is going all-in on their new cinematic universe connecting all of their classic monsters. While The Mummy is set to kick things off next month, the studio has revealed that this franchise will be collected under a single banner called Dark Universe, which will have its own logo that will appear before each movie, complete with a musical theme composed by Danny Elfman. As you can see from the image above, the logo is a shadowy version of the traditional Universal logo. You can see the whole thing in action, and hear Elfman’s bombastic fanfare, below.
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(Each week, we’re going to kick off discussion about Silicon Valley season 4 by answering one simple question: what was the most awkward moment?)
If you’re looking for cringe humor, there’s no better place than in a wedding. While Silicon Valley is not anywhere near the current champ of cringe-inducing weddings (that honor still belongs to Peep Show) this episode has one for the ages.
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Disney is practically overrun with film franchises these days, but since Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides made over a billion dollars worldwide back in 2011, another sequel was inevitable. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales arrives in theaters this Friday, but what are the early reviews saying?
The consensus: maybe this film isn’t quite as good as the early buzz coming out of CinemaCon a few months ago seemed to indicate.
Find out more in our Pirates 5 reviews round-up below.
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(Each week, we’ll kick off our discussion of American Gods by answering one simple question: which character do we worship this week?)
Bone orchards, man-eaters, fire genies, oh my! The first three episodes of American Gods gave us a lot to swallow, but episode four, “Git Gone,” following Laura Moon’s journey to and from the grave, showed us that things aren’t just not what they seem when it comes to gods, but also when it comes to (seemingly) boring, uninteresting humanity.
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The long-gestating film adaptation of the Uncharted video game series is looking to claw its way out of development hell with a new leading man and, well, let’s just say that this leading man will come as a huge surprise to anyone who played Naughty Dog’s enormously popular games. Tom Holland, best known as the new Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War and the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming, has been cast as the globetrotting thief Nathan Drake.
Or rather, he’s been cast as a young version of Nathan Drake, as the studio has decided to rebuild the project from the ground up as a prequel set before the events of the games.
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There hasn’t been enough inebriated action coming from Walt Disney Pictures, but that will change soon now that a new Pirates of the Caribbean sequel is arriving in theaters this summer.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales brings back Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow for another round of high seas adventure and drunken antics. In a batch of new clips and TV spots from the sequel, Jack Sparrow gets in trouble with the law yet again, and he’s also being pursued by a cursed pirate hunter named Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem). Plus, he finds himself accompanied by Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) the offspring of his previous partner in piracy, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).
Watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales clips and TV spots below. Read More »
(In our Spoiler Reviews, we take a deep dive into a new release and get to the heart of what makes it tick…and every story point is up for discussion. In this entry: Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant.)
In 1979, Ridley Scott unleashed Alien on unsuspecting moviegoers, creating something that would end up becoming iconic in the process. Scott, a filmmaker with a background in graphic design, took what was essentially the type of B-movie that cluttered up drive-in theaters and turned it into something greater – a haunted-house picture set in space, dripping with atmosphere and dread, heightened by grotesque creature designs from nightmare-expert artist H.R. Giger.
Alien would turn into a franchise, although Scott stayed away for most of it. He returned for the sort-of prequel Prometheus, one of the most polarizing films of his career. Fans expecting another Alien were sorely disappointed, as Scott no longer seemed interested in the simple, dread-inducing terror of his 1979 film. Instead, the filmmaker wanted to use the Alien mythology as a framework on which to build a more complex, existential examination of the origins of humanity.
Scott could’ve walked away from the Alien franchise after Prometheus, but instead he seems committed to riding this out to see how far it will go. He has returned with Alien: Covenant, which loaded its trailers and promotional material with the familiar xenomorph alien that fans are familiar with. This film, Scott seemed to be saying, would be the Alien-type film Prometheus was not. It was a trick, though. The filmmaker had more complicated, complex ideas in mind. They don’t always work, but you have to at least appreciate his willingness to experiment with them at this stage in his career.
Spoilers follow.
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