Production on all movies and TV shows was shut down in early April when the coronavirus pandemic started spreading quickly across the United States. However, late night television was able to make a comeback by producing episodes remotely. Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, Conan O’Brien, and Samantha Bee, hosted their shows from the comfort of their home and had guests appear through video chat. But two of them will be returning to the studio soon.
ViacomCBS has revealed that both The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show with James Corden will no longer be produced from the hosts’ homes. Instead, they’ll be returning to the studio, but they won’t be returning to show business as usual. Find out more below. Read More »
Whenever you watch a Netflix original movie or TV show, there’s that signature sound that plays when the steaming service’s logo appears. The recognizable sound is known in Netflix’s offices as “Ta Dum,” but it was almost something that would have been easier to describe and a lot more odd. Todd Yellin, Netflix’s VP of Product, recently revealed that one of the options considered for Netflix’s production logo was the bleating of a goat. Read More »
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Movie: Little Woods
Where You Can Stream It: Hulu
The Pitch: In a female-led neo-Western, Tessa Thompson plays Ollie, a reformed ex-con with dreams of escaping her dreary fracking hometown of Little Woods, North Dakota. But when her terminally ill mother dies and her sister (Lily James) arrives on her doorstep with an unplanned pregnancy she can’t afford, Ollie is forced to return to dealing opioids to scrounge up enough money to pay for her mother’s mortgage and for her sister’s abortion. Think of it as Hell or High Water with sisters.
Why It’s Essential Quarantine Viewing: I remember being surprised to learn that Little Woods was DaCosta’s directorial debut when I saw the movie at the Tribeca Film Festival back in 2018. The film is directed so confidently and assuredly — a bleak, powerful portrait of middle America that never veers on cloying, and handles difficult current-day issues like opioid abuse and abortion with grace. But I was less surprised when DaCosta was soon tapped to direct the Jordan Peele-produced Candyman, a buzzy project based on the cult horror film. This was a rising director to watch, and all eyes are going to be on DaCosta as the first-ever Black female director of a Marvel movie. So it’s never a better time to revisit (or visit for the first time) her powerful feature debut.
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Hot on the heels after offering pre-orders for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze action figure two-pack with the mutant villains Tokka and Rahzar, the toy wizards at NECA have another hulking figure from the comic book movie sequel on the way, and you can get it very soon.
NECA’s latest collectible toy offering from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie franchise also comes from the sequel, but this time they’re giving us Super Shredder, the massive mutated version of the the turtles’ arch nemesis. This figure is absolutely ripped, and they have the craziest eyes. Read More »
In this edition of TV Bits:
- The hilarious Hulu comedy Pen15 gets a new trailer for its second season
- A new show called Woke introduces animation after the protagonist’s run-in with the police
- Netflix’s Money Heist is coming back
- Inexplicably, so is 1980s sitcom Who’s the Boss?
- And more!
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(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The Movie: 21 Chump Street
Where You Can Stream It: YouTube
The Pitch: In a plot that mirrors the events of 21 Jump Street, a Florida police officer goes undercover and poses as a high school student in an attempt to bust the kids who were dealing drugs. But when a straight-laced, straight-A student falls for the undercover cop, the story becomes a little more complicated. This story is based on actual events which occurred less than ten years ago.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: A complex story of deception, betrayal, and misguided love, 21 Chump Street was originally a segment on an episode of This American Life in 2012. A couple of years later, Broadway breakout Lin-Manuel Miranda premiered a 14-minute, one-act musical adaptation of it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Miranda wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the short musical, which he penned after his success with In the Heights but before he became a household name with Hamilton. (Case in point: host Ira Glass, who introduces the show, literally mispronounces his name.) Watch the entire performance below. Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?
This week we revisit World War II, go on a very bad road trip, break down in joy that Don Hertzfeldt is back, look to aliens to provide meaning to our lives, and find an utterly charming escape from reality by way of South Korea.
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In 2017, Netflix acquired famed comic book creator Mark Millar‘s Millarworld company to mine it for film and TV projects. Last year, the streaming service announced it would produce an original film version of Millar’s sci-fi fantasy comic Reborn, with Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie) directing and Oscar winner Sandra Bullock producing.
Now, more than a year later, the project has finally found its writer: up-and-coming scribe Bek Smith, who has previously worked at Marvel Studios. Read More »
Want to see a demonstration of how Alex Ross paints superheroes like Spider-Man? What will the Stargirl season finale bring to The CW series? What’s the latest Marvel Comics title to get canceled? Want to see a terrifying Cheetah doll for Wonder Woman 1984? When will The Dark Knight and Batman Begins leave HBO Max? Want to see a couple clips The Boys? All that and more in this edition of Superhero Bits. Read More »
Cool Posts From Around the Web:
Maisie Williams is an out-of-her-depth burglar in The Owners, a new horror-thriller that’s bound to give people flashbacks to Don’t Breathe. Williams plays a member of a group of young home invaders who get more than they bargained for when the wealthy owners of the house they busted into arrive home. At first, the thieves think they have the upper hand – but that changes very quickly. You can probably guess what happens next.
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