After five long, wacky years, Gotham is ending. And with its bombastic upcoming series finale, we will see the beginning of Batman and the end of the weird, wild madness that is the Jim Gordon-centric Fox series.
A show that was meant to be a serious, crime procedural take on the Caped Crusader, Gotham ended up becoming the most ludicrous of all the Batman screen adaptations, and that’s saying something when you have Adam West fighting sharks with…bat shark repellant. But there’s something admirable about Gotham and how it stuck to its guns and gave up all pretense of being a serious show. And now it will all pay off in the series finale, which shows us how Batman finally begins. Watch the Gotham series finale trailer below.
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Getting a film made is one of the most challenging experiences anyone can go through. From writing the script, to securing the financing, to picking a crew, to casting the film, to finally shooting and editing it, filmmaking requires a huge diversity of technical and creative skills.
But in today’s media-saturated world, it’s arguably just as hard to convince people to care about your small indie film. If you have a tiny movie, how do you get it out there? What strategy do you use? What elements do you prioritize?
I had a chance to chat with writer/director Megan Griffiths about how she approached these problems for her latest film, Sadie, which is out now on home video (Disclosure: I consider Megan a friend, plus I did some behind-the-scenes photos for Sadie.). Check out the video of our interview read a transcript of the conversation. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
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The box office frenzy for Avengers: Endgame begins in just two days with the first sneak preview screenings beginning at 6:00 P.M. (local time) in theaters everywhere. When tickets went on sale, the demand was so high that ticketing websites had extensive waits and some theater sites even crashed. But when it comes to making sure anyone and everyone can see Avengers: Endgame as soon as possible, one theater chain has fans covered.
AMC Theatres will be keeping some of their most popular locations open for 72 hours straight in order to give fans the maximum amount of opportunities to see Avengers: Endgame. That means some screenings will be happening overnight Thursday into Friday, in the early hours of the morning, and that’s before the weekend even begins. Find out more about the extensive Avengers Endgame showtimes below. Read More »
On the April 23, 2019 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor in chief Peter Sciretta gives his spoiler-free reaction to Avengers: Endgame and shares an interview with Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo.
You can subscribe to /Film Daily on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the popular podcast apps (here is the RSS URL if you need it). Read More »
A few weeks back, I sat down with the Joe and Anthony Russo, the brother filmmaker team behind Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming conclusion to the Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame. Unlike the usual Hollywood junket, we were not shown the movie. And the directing duo would not entertain any questions about plot, so this interview is completely spoiler-free.
In my conversation with the Russo Brothers, we discuss Stan Lee‘s final MCU cameo, the movies they watched before making Endgame, the change of tone and point of view, Captain Marvel’s changing look, the challenge to create lasting stakes and impact, the tightrope walk of being honest with the press when it comes to spoilers, and the unprecedented marketing campaign for this film, which somehow avoids revealing any of the major action scenes.
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Marvel’s Shang-Chi is fast becoming one of the most anticipated movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it’s no wonder that Marvel chief Kevin Feige would want this historic film to get in our eyeballs as soon as possible. The Marvel Studios president confirmed that, after the dust settles following the release of this week’s Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi will be part of Marvel’s mysterious Phase 4.
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(Welcome to Road to Endgame, where we revisit the first 22 movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ask, “How did we get here?” In part one of our two-part look at Captain Marvel: how the movie tries, and fails, to frame memory and perspective.)
Between the two halves of its massive finale — the apocalyptic Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming Avengers: Endgame — the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels like it’s being stripped for parts.
Ant-Man and the Wasp, a smaller, more intimate entry, did away with the trappings of the Marvel formula, though it failed to supply a working substitute. Its leads no longer provided quip-laden momentum (a task that fell to supporting players independent of the plot), but the lead characters had no internal conflict either, despite pasts that so clearly called for some. The film sidestepped the usual pre-visualized mayhem divorced from story, though its climax might as well have had no stakes at all. And rather than Marvel’s half-hearted expression of meaning — often a character arc culminating in punching harder — the film had no real theme to dramatize.
Captain Marvel, on the other hand, is a swing in the opposite direction, amping up the well-worn Marvel template to the point of inducing whiplash. It’s fun in parts, and it magnifies the series’ strong-suits; though in doing so, it exposes just how low the bar was set to begin with. The film can’t help but magnify the series’ weaknesses too, since they’re often one and the same.
Everything that was missing from Ant-Man and the Wasp comes rushing back, with the studio’s very name stamped across the title, as if to parody the common through-lines of twenty prior films without the self-awareness to do so. And while it’s filled to the brim with metaphor and ostensibly political outlook, the film is both haphazardly assembled, and shackled by the same constraints as fellow military-funded entries Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Only this time, the effects of the film’s mandated propaganda are significantly stronger.
Captain Marvel is a Marvel movie through-and-through, and that’s a problem.
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Star Wars fans were rewarded for their patience earlier this month when Star Wars Celebration unveiled not only the first teaser trailer and title for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga, but also the first footage from the upcoming live-action Disney+ series The Mandalorian. But now fans will have to be patient once again before the next tease for both Star Wars projects arrives.
A new rumor says Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will bring the saga back to San Diego Comic-Con in July. But for fans waiting to see more from The Mandalorian, they might be waiting until Disney’s D23 Expo in August. Find out more below. Read More »
Before his death last year, Stan Lee shot cameos for every single movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers: Endgame. Now, to pay tribute to the late comic book icon, Marvel Studios has put together a video that goes behind-the-scenes of every MCU cameo Lee shot. There’s even footage from an unused Avengers cameo. More on the Stan Lee cameo behind-the-scenes video below.
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Movie fans are generally divided when it comes to 2014’s Godzilla, which favored stunning and evocative visuals over traditional action. With the follow-up, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, director Michael Dougherty is looking to please everyone with a movie that evokes the terror and majesty of giant monsters and devotes a great deal of screen time to those monsters stomping the crap out of each other. Watch the final Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer below.
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