Tag: Movies

Destin Daniel Cretton Updates Progess on ‘Shang-Chi’ Sequel

Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings became a critical and financial success for Marvel Studios during the ongoing pandemic. To no one’s surprise, a rumored sequel was officially given the green light recently, with Destin Daniel Cretton returning to write and direct. Cretton, who is also developing a Disney+ series that spins out of the events of the first film, recently gave an update on the Shang-Chi sequel in an interview with Collider.

As is often the case, it turns out that conversations that took place during the production of the first film ended up being the genesis of a potential sequel; however, as Cretton told Collider, sequels aren’t guaranteed until Marvel Studios’ execs see how the first project is received by fans:

While we were shooting, we were throwing around joke ideas of what a sequel could be. But with Marvel, it really is gauging to see how people react to the movie and also gauging what the experience of making the movie was. We had such a good time on it that it would’ve been a shame not to have a sequel, so I’m very excited to.

And Shang-Chi was incredibly well-received. Audiences lauded the acting, action and fantasy elements and were immediately hungry for more. That demand gives Cretton an opportunity to more fully develop some of those idea thrown around during production on the first film, ideas that, as it turns out, made their way into the first film as potential sequel set-ups:

There are a lot of ideas that we had in the opener, and some of those ideas are planted as questions, by the end of our movie. There are things that we potentially want to explore in the future. Everything changes so much, so it’s hard to say how many of those ideas will actually make it to the finish line, but there are many of them there.

With all that prep work having been done, it would seem that Cretton’s sequel script might be well underway. However, Cretton told Collider that is far from the truth. When asked about the work he’d done on the script, the writer/director had this to say:

I’ve done [zero]. It’s a fun place to be right now. Everything is a possibility. We’re just tossing very loose ideas around and we’ll start to hone in on something, hopefully.

During the interview, Cretton also expressed his excitement to be able to continue working with both Marvel Studios and the cast and crew of the first film. His new deal with the studio should excite fans of the first film as we can look forward to great content for years to come.

Source: Collider

December 11, 2021
RUMOR: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s to Feature the High Evolutionary as its Main Villain

After many delays, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the next entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy film. James Gunn’s final romp into the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s galaxy will feature our favorite ragtag team of space heroes. Even after all this time, it’s surprising how little we know about the actual project, but it turns out we might’ve gotten our first hint at the main antagonist.

KC Walsh, who is famous for his work on GWW and dropped the World War Hulk news, recently appeared on the Change My Mind podcast and seemingly revealed that the upcoming threequel will feature the High Revolutionary as its main antagonist. He highlights that he is “essentially the idea in the movie is that he’s gonna be the one who created Rocket,” which has been hinted at something that the film would explore. His full quote states that:

I did hear – this is a thing that’s been floating around – the villain of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 is the High Evolutionary.
KC Walsh

Exploring Rocket’s origin sounds like a promising direction for the franchise, as he’s also been the emotional core of some of the stories. Of course, we don’t know how it continues the story out of Thor: Love and Thunder where they’ll be featured and if they continue their hunt for Gamora from a different timeline. We still have some time until it releases but it’ll be interesting to see what the future has in store for the Guardians.

Source: YouTube via The Direct

December 11, 2021
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Director Already Has Ideas for a Potential Sequel

During the Game Awards, we finally got our first look at the upcoming sequel of 2019’s Sonic the Hedgehog. We learned some time ago that Idris Elba would return to voice the character of Knuckles, but knew very little about what to expect from the sequel. Right before the event, we got our first poster confirming the return of Jim Carrey‘s Robotnik and a hint at what the future has to offer.

It wasn’t until the trailer dropped that we got a look at the Echidna and even the confirmation of the Master Emerald appearing. Of course, the greater mythology of the original series opening up does make you wonder if they mapped out with sequels in mind. Luckily, director Jeff Fowler offered some insight in a new interview with Collider. While a third entry has yet to be confirmed, it seems the director already has some ideas brewing.

Of course. Even if somebody didn’t ask me to be thinking about ideas for future installments, it would be impossible not to. Even as we’re working through the visual effects and animation on this film, it’s impossible not to already get excited and to be starting to scheme about all the directions that the story could go, what new characters coming in, the impact that they could have. It’s the best part of the creative process when it’s just kind of a blank canvas and you can really just start to have blue sky ideas, even if, again, it’ not in an official capacity. If the request comes through to start laying the blueprints for another Sonic film, I will be armed and ready with all kinds of ideas. I would just love to get that opportunity.
Jeff Fowler

Of course, he won’t give away any details on what their potential approach is going to be, especially with the sequel taking on elements from multiple franchises. Technically, Knuckles’ introduction is from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 while there were also GUN sightings, which were introduced as part of the Sonic Adventure franchise. They might take elements from the game’s original lore and mix them up in creative ways. It does make you wonder though if Master Emerald is also going to lead into the eventual introduction of Chaos.

Source: Collider

December 10, 2021
REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man 3’ is a Tale of Underperformance

It is said that movies are actually made three times: when writing them, shooting them, and then finally in the editing bay. This process helps solidify what the movie is supposed to be about, striping the project of superfluous details, sequences, or even a couple of redundant plot threads. It works as a bullshit filter, making the final product more concise, streamlining the viewing experience. It’s basically everything a late-night, tequila-induced, fanboy fever dream of a movie pitch isn’t. In that situation, anything goes and there’s room for every single character we can think of, often creating an unbalanced Jenga tower of ideas piled up on top of each other with no real structure to them. All of it is coupled with a vampiresque type of humor, the sort that isn’t likely to survive daybreak. Sadly, that’s the sort of mess that Spider-Man 3 feels like.

Whereas Spider-Man 2 is a great (and sadly rare) example of how to further explore a world beyond an already well-received first movie, Spider-Man 3 feels like an over-filled balloon that blows up in the audiences’ face leaving them with a bad case of tinnitus. It brings so much to the table that you hardly get the time to value each of the separate elements, while also not being one of those cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Aristoteles would not be impressed

Right at the start of the movie you get the natural progression of Peter and MJ’s relationship as well as Harry’s deep dive into his father’s secret room containing prototypes of Green Goblin’s gear. These threads alone would make for a pretty solid story, building from the relationships explored in the previous movie. The build-up was priming Harry to finally turn into the main villain we all knew he could become. There was no need to bring any more (relevant) characters into the fold unless the aim wasn’t so much making a good movie as it was selling a few more toys.

And so, instead of looking inward, valuing what it already had, Spider-Man 3 looked outward and tried to bite off more than it could chew. In the first ten minutes alone, the movie tries to establish Flint Marko – our future Sandman – and brings the symbiote crashing down on Earth. Soon after we are also introduced to Eddie Brock and Gwen Stacy, characters that never went beyond being a parody of themselves, serving as glorified cameos that could have been easily kept for another occasion. Gwen’s inclusion is especially remarkable since, after all the relationship drama in the previous movies, the decision was to double-down on that by having not one but two love triangles for Peter to be a part of. All with him remaining completely oblivious of how his actions affected people around him, making him incredibly unlikable along the way.

This movie ultimately became a tale of people not being able to do what they set themselves up for. The studio execs couldn’t keep out of the way (their meddling was pretty obvious and only hurt the final product) and the writers couldn’t come up with a consistent story, having to balance an unusually high amount of characters, and subplots. Also … Peter Parker can’t dance, Mary Jane can’t sing, Eddie Brock can’t use Photoshop and Harry Osborn can’t make a freaking omelet!

Above all, Spider-Man 3 just isn’t a fun movie, albeit you can certainly have fun watching it. And that’s one of the only things a Spider-Man movie simply cannot afford to be: dull. But Spider-Man 3 does have one incredibly strong redeeming factor as Stan Lee‘s cameo is probably one of his best, if not the best. “You know, I guess one person can make a difference. ‘Nough said.” I’m extremely happy Kevin Feige got the hint.

December 10, 2021
Tom Holland Hopes For Spider-Man to Clash With Wilson Fisk After ‘No Way Home’

Spider-Man: No Way Home finally releases next week. With numerous villains returning from previous Spider-Man franchises there has been a lot of discussion about future adventures for the webhead. Sony producer Amy Pascal has even suggested there is another trilogy starring Tom Holland in the works. Such a rich comic history means there are lots of suggestions out there about where this Peter Parker could go next. Vincent D’Onofrio recently revealed he’s hoping, if those returning rumors turn out to be true, his Wilson Fisk could go up against Spidey at some point in the future. Holland himself has even had a few similar ideas.

In an interview with Fandom.com Tom Holland was asked about some of his ideas for a fourth Spider-Man film could be. He mentions thinking it would be fun to do either an anti-hero version or a low-budget “film about Peter Parker that has nothing to do with Spider-Man.” Both of these suggestions seem in the realms of possibility somehow. His suggestions at a villain are also quite interesting:

I think there are some interesting villains, I think Madame Web could be something that is really interesting and we could do it in our own way. I’d really like to come up against Wilson Fisk.
Tom Holland

Sometimes fanciful ideas during the promotion of the previous film are worth taking note of to see whether they remerge as genuine continuations of the story. Spider-Man fighting the Kingpin would certainly be an exciting street-level story for Marvel fans. There are numerous rumors about Netflix Marvel characters joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kevin Feige has teased that. It could be the perfect time for Spidey to reorient himself away from multiversal Avengers level threats back down tackling crime on street level.

Source: Fandom.com

December 10, 2021
First ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Teaser Offers First Look at Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald

It was over a year ago that we heard the first rumblings that Johnny Depp was getting replaced in the third entry of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. After making his debut as Grindelwald, he exited the project after production had already begun. Mads Mikkelsen took over the role shortly after. Not too long ago, we got the title of the third entry The Secrets of Dumbledore and we finally got our first look at the entry. While it’s not the fault trailer just yet – that’s eyeing a Monday release – we did get our first look at Mikkelsen as the series main antagonist.

It’s uncertain what exactly is happening in this sequence, as it seems like he’s being cheered on or even grabbed by a massive group of people. The character has quite a different design from the previous entries, as his bleached white hair is gone with only a slither left behind. His outfit also seems a bit more reserved from Depp‘s take on the character. It’ll b einteresting to see how they tackle the transformation, as it may play similar to how he was revealed in the first one.

Source: Twitter

December 10, 2021
Tom Holland Already Pitched a ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Sequel

Spider-Man: No Way Home is just around the corner and we’re about to see the webhead’s biggest story yet. He’s going to face villains from other Spider-Man franchises as the multiverse collapses in on itself. Yet, the question also remains with his identity out there where his story is heading to next. It seems that Tom Holland might have an idea, as he revealed in an interview with Fandom that he actually already pitched an idea for the next entry, but he can’t reveal it quite yet, as he’d “be ruining this movie.”

Tom Holland hints at a mysterious idea for his next #SpiderMan outing

'There is one idea that I have pitched to the studio but by telling you that idea I’d be ruining this movie' 👀 pic.twitter.com/37Q8xtXgoP
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) December 10, 2021

So, he’s definitely teasing something that builds off of the events from how No Way Home ends. He does highlight that he is open to passing the mantle on, but it doesn’t seem likely that the actor has played Spidey for the last time. Plus, there’s a lot of potential of seeing his story as he moves to college and faces a new world. We’ll see how Doctor Strange’s actions might leave the world and what it means for the webhead’s future. It wouldn’t be too surprising that he might take a break and play on his storyline from Homecoming, where he wants to stay low and remain the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Here’s hoping that a new trilogy – if they attempt it – might focus more on our favorite webhead as he struggles with some more grounded storylines.

Source: Twitter

December 10, 2021
First ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Clip Features ‘Hawkeye’ Easter Egg

It’s all connected. That line was once carried by Agents of SHIELD as it tried to connect the Marvel TV series with its bigger brother on the silver screen. Yet, no matter what happened, the films never acknowledged events from the TV series. Avengers: Endgame was the first with James D’Arcy’s return as Jarvis but it was most likely intended as nothing more than a cameo. With the arrival of the Disney+ series, it seemed like that would change and it seems Spider-Man: No Way Home is starting that new direction.

The first clip of the threequel has found its way online and includes a very noticeable Hawkeye reference while Peter is swinging MJ to safety. For a few seconds, you can see the newly introduced Rogers: The Musical ad highlighted as they swing by. It’s a great point of continuity that the musical has a strong presence in New York City and also hints that they may take place around the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXIf8ggvK8

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Spidey is suddenly going to show up in Hawkeye – even if that would be a great little surprise – but it continues to highlight how connected Marvel Studios’ various projects are going to be. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also be the first series where events from the Disney+ series WandaVision will bleed into the latest film entry and it’ll be interesting to see how they might connect moving forward.

Source: YouTube

December 10, 2021
THE GAME AWARDS: First ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Trailer Offers First Look at Idris Elba’s Knuckles

The first Sonic the Hedgehog film has caught many by surprise as it brought the classic franchise to life. The sequel is set to add a new layer with Idris Elba voicing Knuckles and Tails making his live-action debut. The Game Awards finally gave us a new trailer for the game and our first official look at their take on Knuckles.

You can check out the full trailer here:

Source. Twitter, Twitter

December 9, 2021
REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man 2’ Remains the Definition of a Perfect Sequel

There aren’t many things that are fortunate enough to be described with what I like to call “GOAT status.” That list includes the likes of Michael Jordan, begrudgingly Tom Brady, Heath Ledger‘s Joker performance, and anything Denzel Washington-related. There’s one that I want to talk bout today that stood the test of time. For 17 years, the superhero movie to hold that very title for me is none other than Spider-Man 2. As we’re about to witness the return of some iconic faces in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s the perfect time to let you know why it’s garnered that prestige.

A couple of months ago, a debate popped up in my Twitter feed on who the best live-action Spider-Man was, especially in regard to the distinction between Parker and his alter-ego. For my money, Tobey‘s performance in Spider-Man 2 is the best rendition of a college-bound Peter, who also has garnered quite a bit of experience in crime-fighting. In the first Spider-Man film, he took the more awkward approach with the character. This time around, Maguire seems much more comfortable in bringing these two sides to life and it’s not an easy balance to capture.

This time around, he’s haunted by the life he can’t have with MJ, and you can feel that anguish throughout the film. It’s not just that, we also witness the struggle he has with his best friend slowly losing himself to his thirst for vengeance and their eventual falling out throughout the course of the film. Tobey truly sells that anguish throughout the film wheel still balancing it with the light-hearted aspects of the story and what it means to be Spider-Man.

Of course, we can’t talk Spider-Man 2 without discussing the performance of Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavius. He is a legend, to say the least, and to have him in this role lends a certain gravitas to such an important character in the webhead’s mythology. Molina delivers a standout performance and really makes you sympathize with Otto, who’s driven to this point because he’s lost everything. All of it is gone within seconds, be it the woman he loved or all the work he’s invested his entire life for.

It’s a powerful journey throughout the film. Even more so once the moment comes that he can finally overpower the tech that was changing him. He finds the inner strength to take control once again and save Peter along with the rest of the city. It is a beautiful moment that really cemented him as more of an anti-hero than a straight-up villain. Even to this day, it is one of the strongest performances in a superhero movie.

Kirsten Dunst as MJ was panned 17 years ago, but after rewatching it I can’t seem to remember why. I think she is fine in the role, especially in how she sells it that is struggling to make it as an actress and wants a normal relationship with Peter. While the first in one painted her as unattainable for Parker – following high school clichés of the time – this one twists that in its axis by having it be that they can’t be together. It’s a nice twist and one that Dunst handles well throughout the film.

Seeing Dr. Octopus in live-action was visually incredible at the time and it still holds true to this day. The score is exceptional, especially when the citizens of New York City carry Spider-Man after he stops the runaway train. An iconic scene deserves iconic notes, and this one is delivered in spades. That’s just on top of a memorable villain, great performances by the leads, and a story as personal as the original catapults Spider-Man 2 into the upper echelon of superhero films.

December 9, 2021