Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Chris Evangelista
If you still haven’t washed the bad taste of Universal’s Dark Universe out of your mouth, this might help. A new Universal Monsters Blu-ray box set will be hitting shelves just in time for the Halloween season, offering up 30 black and white horror classics.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Candice Frederick
One of the most profound things about Crazy Rich Asians is how it shows Asian and Asian-American people simply living. It sounds basic, but when you consider Hollywood history, much of which erases Asian characters and Asian culture altogether, you know that this is major. As nearly every advertisement has read: “it’s not a movie; it’s a movement.” But beyond its breezy, romantic, and genuine laugh-out-loud moments, it also shows the power of single women — particularly single women of color. And even more significantly, it highlights the grace, strength, and sheer self-efficacy that embolden so many single mothers and their daughters.
Spoilers for Crazy Rich Asians lie ahead.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Josh Spiegel
(Welcome to The Disney Discourse, a recurring feature where Josh Spiegel discusses the latest in Disney news. He goes deep on everything from the animated classics to the theme parks to live-action franchises.)
What defines the difference between a theatrically released feature film and a feature that’s placed only on a streaming service? The fine line between the two is getting constantly redefined. Netflix constantly releases new films that, a decade ago, would have gotten a theatrical release instead. (Or, failing that, a direct-to-DVD release.) Hell, two of their 2018 releases are acquisitions they made from studios that originally intended to release the films in theaters.
Within the confines of this column, though, it’s worth looking to the future. Disney is just about a year away from unveiling its new streaming service. (You know, the one that they should call the Disney Vault. Ahem. I have no doubt that you’re reading this, Bob Iger.) It’s easy to get an idea of what kinds of movies they’ll keep on their streaming service and what will be released in theaters. All you have to do is consider the case of Christopher Robin.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Chris Evangelista
Incredibles 2 will make its way to home video this October and November. The long-awaited Pixar sequel was a summer hit, and soon audiences will be able to enjoy Brad Bird‘s latest from the comfort of their own homes, free of the sound of children running up and down the movie theater aisle like little monsters. More on the Incredibles 2 Blu-ray below.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Rob Hunter
This month marks the 15th anniversary of Freddy vs Jason, and if you’re even a mild horror fan you know the movie was a big damn deal. Not only is it the highest grossing entry in both the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, but it’s also the fourth highest-grossing slasher film ever (beaten only by the first three Scream films). It’s about more than mere box office, though, as the film was also one of the last real face-offs between genre icons. Freddy and Jason are permanent fixtures in pop culture, and while each have their own fans, the film brought them together in gory and glorious fashion for a big, fun brawl.
It’s a flawed but fun flick and we’ll get to more of it shortly, but its anniversary raises a serious-ish question. Where have all the “vs” movies gone? The short answer is to Full Moon Pictures and the Syfy Channel, but narrowing the field to big, name-brand horror characters reveals they’re something of a lost art these days. It hasn’t always been the case, obviously, and as with many things horror-related, Universal Pictures earns credit for getting that particular ball rolling.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Chris Evangelista
Amazon’s Jack Ryan is arriving next week. In anticipation of the latest Tom Clancy adaptation, Paramount has re-issued the original Jack Ryan films on 4K Ultra Blu-ray, and we have a chance for you to win the combo pack – for free. Learn how you can win the Jack Ryan Collection below.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Hoai-Tran Bui
Crazy. Rich. Asians. Every adjective in the title of Crazy Rich Asians sounds loaded at best, distasteful at worst. When trailers for Jon Chu’s movie started hitting the web, cries of racism inevitably began to surface. Why did it have to be Asians? Doesn’t that generalize an entire population of people? And does this mean that they’re crazy? Or crazy rich? What about poor Asians?
Asian-led projects are so rare in Hollywood that it becomes unavoidable that every movie, TV show, or media property will undergo intense scrutiny for how well it represents a minority group that makes up 5.6% of the U.S. population. Sure, every now and then a blockbuster will feature an Asian character (cue grumbles that it’s to appease the growing Chinese movie market), but they rarely appear as more than a supporting character or gasp, a token.
So immediately, Crazy Rich Asians is in a lot of hot water. While its protagonist is an Asian-American NYU professor, it mostly centers on the privileged Singaporean elite whose wealth and jet-setting lifestyle couldn’t feasibly represent every single Asian and Asian-American. And it doesn’t help that its tawdry title immediately calls to mind the abundance of stereotypes associated with Asians. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Chris Evangelista
Amazon hopes to strike streaming gold with Jack Ryan, their new espionage thriller based on the work of Tom Clancy. Does this Jack Ryan succeed where recent attempts like The Sum of All Fears and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit failed?
Let’s put it this way: Jack Ryan the character is the least interesting part about Jack Ryan the show, and that’s a problem.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Meredith Borders
In the penultimate episode of HBO’s Sharp Objects, it feels like we’ve learned everything we need to learn about Wind Gap’s murders and Camille Preaker’s tragic history. The show has telegraphed Adora’s toxic relationship with the girls in her life, and reminded us every week that we shouldn’t count out any of Wind Gap’s vicious women when making our lists of Ann and Natalie’s potential killers. But we still have an episode to go, and confrontations still need to be made. “She did it again, and I need to take care of it,” Camille sobs to Curry at the end of “Falling” – because Camille always was the only person who could stand up to Adora Crellin.
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2018 by Ethan Anderton
So far the footage for the upcoming Spider-Man spin-off Venom from Sony Pictures has left a lot to be desire. The movie feels unlike anything we’ve seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which likely explains why it’s expressly not part of the successful, ongoing franchise of comic book movies featuring The Avengers. But maybe that’s because we’ve already seen this movie before.
A new trailer mash-up takes footage from The Mask, audio from Tom Hardy in the latest trailer for Venom, and clips from a bunch of other Jim Carrey movies to perfectly recreate the absurd comic book comedy starring Jim Carrey as a twisted, anti-hero comic book movie like Venom. It’s absolutely amazing, and it certainly doesn’t do Venom any favors. Read More »
7/20: The Equalizer 2, Unfriended: Dark Web,
8/10: The Meg
8/17: Mile 22
8/15: Crazy Rich Asians
Future:
