(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 Series: Frozen II
Where You Can Stream It: Disney+
The Pitch: The sequel to the definitive modern Disney film continues the story of Elsa, Anna, Olaf and the rest of the crew in a new musical adventure. And while the box office tells one story (this movie is the reason the original is now the second biggest animated film in Disney’s catalog), the reaction seemed non-plussed and often tepid when it opened in theaters late last year. That’s weird, because Frozen II isn’t just a very good movie, it’s one that stands tall above its predecessor, fixing everything that didn’t quite work the first time around.
Why It’s Essential Viewing: A classic Disney Animation film has to please everyone and it has to do so invisibly. The best of them are stirring adventures, touching romances, madcap comedies, and more, all while feeling cohesive. Frozen managed the balance effectively enough. Frozen II, though, is more confident: it’s more adventurous, more touching, much funnier and, rare for a franchise sequel of any kind, prepared to radically reshape its world in ways that cannot be undone for a sequel.
Oh, and the songs are better.
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Hasbro’s Star Wars Black Series line of figures have been a hit with collectors of all ages. But the packaging for the 6-inch action figures inspired by the movies and TV shows of Star Wars always left something to be desired. It appears Hasbro felt an update was in order, because they’ve created an entirely new design for the box art that is much more collectible friendly, and it even shows which Star Wars title each figure comes from with a new colorway classification system.
Besides the new Star Wars Black Series packaging, there are also a handful of new figures on the way. Star Wars Rebels is completing the show’ss main character roster with the arrival of Zeb, and the previously revealed Black Series additions of Admiral Ackbar, Teebo the Ewok, The Mandalorian in Beskar armor, and more will be released in the new packaging as well. Check them all out below. Read More »
The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, watch the next chapter in the Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back, featuring Luke Skywalker seeking out a Jedi master on Dagobah. Plus, listen to a production designer talk through famous movie mansions and houses from The Royal Tenenbaums, Clueless, Love Actually, and more. And finally, watch Shrek making a boss battle in a Resident Evil video game even more terrifying. Read More »
What did Dafne Keen do to Hugh Jackman that made him want to cast her in Logan? How did three kids in Bolivia try to be like Spider-Man and ended up hospitalized? Will there be a lot more Jim Gordon in Zack Snyder’s Justice League? Which X-Men were supposed to cameo in The New Mutants? How did David Ayer‘s Suicide Squad play into Justice League? All that and more in this edition of Superhero Bits. Read More »
Even though production in Hollywood is still shut down, there are deals being made behind the scenes for future projects. A new action comedy feature called Shelly with Jumanji franchise stars Awkwafina and Karen Gillan attached is among them. Read More »
If you remember watching the early days of the American version of Whose Line is it Anyway? in the late ’90s and early 2000s, you probably recall a game in which performer Wayne Brady would essentially freestyle his way through a song based on a suggestion from the audience. But he wasn’t the only one doing hip-hop improv around that time.
There was also Freestyle Love Supreme, a small improv group comprised of future big names like Lin-Manuel Miranda. That group is the subject of a feature length documentary called We Are Freestyle Love Supreme which played at Sundance earlier this year, and it’s about to debut on Hulu in just a few days. Here’s the first trailer. Read More »
When Disney+ launched in November with all 30 seasons of The Simpsons available to stream, fans were overjoyed — until they realized classic episodes of the long-running sitcom had half of their frames chopped off to fit into the now commonly used 16:9 aspect ratio. This is a problem with most shows made before 2009 that have made the transition to digital, but the frame cropping with The Simpsons was particularly egregious because of show’s abundant visual gags, many of which ended up being cut out. Disney+ pledged to restore the show to its original 4:3 aspect ratio, which it is now finally rolling out, more than six months later. But there’s a reason it took so long.
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Paramount Pictures has picked up a new sci-fi film from the producers of A Quiet Place. Daniel H. Wilson‘s spec script The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever has been picked up by Paramount, with A Quiet Place producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller set to produce under their Fully Formed Entertainment banner.
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So many questions surround Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet. Just what the heck is the movie about? If it’s not about time travel, how does all the time-bending we see in the trailer work? And will the movie actually open in theaters in July? These questions still remain unanswered, but one thing we now know about the flick, directly from Nolan himself, is that it’s action-packed. In fact, Nolan says it has more action than any film he’s made before. And now there’s a new TV spot that gives us even more glimpses of all that action.
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Cool Posts From Around the Web:
YouTube swept the leg, but Cobra Kai isn’t down for the count just yet.
The streaming video site’s most acclaimed original scripted series won’t premiere its new season on that platform. Instead, Cobra Kai, the streamer’s TV continuation of the Karate Kid film franchise, is on the hunt for another home at a different streaming service, with Netflix and Hulu reportedly “leading the short list of contenders” who showed interest in picking up the show. Read More »
