General movie news thread

Just seems somebody in Hollywood would try and make a buck off of it.

 

I am currently shopping a spec script for the definitive anti-Trump film.

It is called "The Zero Hour." Tagline: "Zero experience. Zero empathy. Zero chance of success. Two impeachments."

First scene:

EXT. night: UVA campus, Charlottesville. The campus is illuminated by dozens of tiki torches carried by a long row MAGA goons. Very fine people, indeed.

 

I dunno - a more subtle approach - a middle-age couple who recently bought their first gun, who acknowledge Trump is a little "out there" but is a better answer than the "politics as usual" people in DC.

 

Been a fan of his since Dead Calm.

Sam Neill Reveals He's Being Treated for Stage 3 Blood Cancer: 'Just Pleased to Be Alive'

 

And Now Let’s Review …

AO Scott moves on from movie reviews.

 

Nicole Kidman was stunning in that movie before the knife and the needle got ahold of her. And so very young

 

Adam Sandler gets Mark Twain prize surrounded by celeb pals

I imagine the venn diagram of Sandler fans who know who Mark Twain was does not intersect. Not going to bash the guy - he seems like a good enough dude - but his comedy hasn't exactly evolved.

 

Are we past "peak Superhero movies?" You can't judge Shazam's crash and burn - or DC's output - but has Marvel done anything decent since Endgame? Something worth seeking out?

 

I think there are parts of Antman, Black Panther 2, Love and Thunder, and Dr. Strange that work. And, it depends on whether you give them full credit for "No Way Home" or not. I don't think they've found the anchor for this next generation of films, though - The death of Chadwick Boseman looms large there, since he was the obvious person to serve as the leader of this next set of films, opposite Kang.

Guardians will likely be good to excellent, although its seemingly the last hurrah for a good portion of the cast. The Marvels come out in November. I really like Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan), but they haven't done much good with Brie Larson. Captain America NWO, Thunderbolts and Blade are all too far out to really speculate much on.

ETA: Also, DC is clearly still in the "let's shove things out" period, clearing the deck for Gunn to do whatever. That Flash movie looks pretty dope, but Shazam 2 didn't seem to have much point except that they needed to make another one.

 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is very entertaining, if a bit messy. No Way Home is worth seeing. Shang-Chi is very good. I enjoyed some of the others, but I doubt I will watch any of them again.

Part of the problem is Guardians of the Galaxy. They took a team of relatively unknown characters and turned into a successful movie, critically and commercially. That doesn't mean it will work with any obscure character or characters. See Eternals.

The shared universe has become a burden rather than a bonus for some of these movies. For example, the entire Riri Williams storyline was not necessary to Wakanda Forever. The character was in the middle of the conflict, but they could have made it more direct, which would have allowed them to have a tight, focused narrative about Wakanda and its royal family recovering from the loss of T'Challa. They shoved Riri into the story so they could establish the main character for an upcoming Disney+ series. The result was a bloated story.

What we haven't seen is another Winter Soldier, which is a damn good movie that happens to involve superheroes.

We are nowhere near being done with superhero movies, but Marvel is going to have to get back to telling good stories that can stand on their own at some point or the whole bloated mess will collapse on itself.

 

That is a good point about the loss of Chadwick Boseman. They are missing Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. Chris Hemsworth is likely done with those movies, too. Tom Holland is very good as Spider-Man, but he isn't an anchor in the way that those guys were.

 

Nothing Marvel has done post-unsnap has been as good as The Batman, which isn't even part of the DCEU. lol