The Oscars can be a bit of a snobby group, and that’s okay. There are plenty of movies worthy of praise, and they come from a wide array of genres. Sometimes, though, it can feel like the Academy ignores movies that can be dismissed as mere “genre fare.” As a result, many great sci-fi performances have been overlooked come awards season, even though they were more than deserving of their fair shake at Oscar glory....
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR AHEAD. Avengers: Infinity War, the landmark movie event that Marvel Studios has been setting up for the last decade, is finally in theaters, and has the world talking. To put into perspective just how big of a global phenomenon the movie has already become, look no further than last year’s Justice League. The DC superhero team-up that brought comic book icons Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg together on-screen for the first time made $657 million worldwide in its entire theatrical run....
Peaky Blinders has resonated with audiences all over the globe. We’ve enjoyed four seasons of Steven Knight’s crime saga, and during that time, it has expanded its audience worldwide from its initial UK viewers. According to Knight, Snoop Dogg once invited him around for a three-hour meeting to talk about how the portrayal of gangs in Peaky Blinders reminds him of what attracted him to gang culture in the first place....
In a decade filled with years-late sequels to old franchises, one of the most unexpected ones to be announced is 3 from Hell: a follow-up to Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects. The third (and maybe final) installment in Zombie’s unofficial Firefly trilogy will see the return of the remaining members of the Firefly family – namely Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Otis (Bill Moseley), and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) – as they try to escape the law’s grasp once again....
Activision’s marketing strategy for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 doesn’t seem to be going according to plan. What should be a weekend of the Call of Duty community celebrating and following along with the CWL Anaheim tournament, is instead a weekend where players took to social media - and influencers to YouTube - to start a movement against the Black Ops 4’s DLC plans. And the reason? Activision and Treyarch are still requiring players to purchase a DLC season pass to access additional zombie and multiplayer maps for Black Ops 4 post-launch, and will not be selling this DLC separately....
ABC kicked off Marvel’s television movement in 2013 with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the show has just been renewed for season 5. Although the series may have struggled to find its footing at the start, it has continued to pick up the quality following the midpoint of season 1 and its massive tie-in to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Since that point, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been rebuilt in secret and brought once again into the public eye, all while introducing the Inhumans into the MCU - before Inhumans debuts later this year....
It seems Warner Bros live-action take on classic anime Akira is slowly coming together, with the news art director David Scott has joined the design team. The Akira anime was written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, based on the manga he created. Both the anime and manga take place in Neo-Toyko in the dystopian future of 2019, where the leader of teen bike gang has to rescue his friend from the military after he starts to display psychic powers - and everything does south from there....
President Joe Biden signed the $52B CHIPS and Science Act yesterday, authorizing subsidies for chipmaking within the US. The White House claims the act has spurred $44B worth of new chip fabrication plans, but many doubts have been expressed about the likely effectiveness of the measure … Background on the $52B CHIPS Act US chipmaking technology has fallen way behind that of Taiwan’s TSMC and Korea’s Samsung. That reduces the business potential of US chipmakers like Intel, while also leaving US companies like Apple dependent on foreign countries....
If the old saying “there is no such thing as an original idea” is to be believed, then it would make perfect sense to delve into the cinematic past to find material for the best new movies. And since the movies of the 1980s have a reputation for cheesiness and a lack of realism and refinement when it comes to special effects, there is no better decade to look at for stories begging to be brought into the modern world....
One way to shake things up on a television show, either for a ratings boost or if the story has stalled out a bit, is to have the main cast burst into song - maybe even with some dancing involved. The “Musical Episode” is a recognized trope in television and has been used many times over the years to varying degrees of success. However, there are many ways to break the musical episode down into further categories....
Doom is one of the most legendary franchises in video games. It first debuted in 1993, and its latest incarnation just launched on May 13th. It’s a modern throwback to the good ol’ days of FPS gaming, with unlimited weapon-carrying capacity, no reloading, and giant enemies from hell who need to be put down with extreme prejudice. Whether you’re new to the franchise or a BFG MVP, let’s indulge in some history and fun facts....
Cult movies inspire strange phenomena. Films might bomb or fall into obscurity upon release, but over time, build up a loyal, even fanatical fanbase that sees a certain brilliance in a movie. Those cult followings can help earn a movie like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Blade Runner a critical reappraisal, or can have influence on newer films that strive to channel their unique energies. And yet… and yet cult movies also have a certain notoriety for their flaws....
Brought to life in 1963 in Strange Tales #110 by Stan Lee and the incomparable (seriously, his art on this is amazing) Steve Ditko, Stephen Strange didn’t want to be a hero. While arguably his career choice of becoming a surgeon earmarked him for a certain brand of heroics, the saving lives part of his job was what meant the least to him. Strange’s main concern was how much money his patients spent on his services....
Shonda Rhimes is one of the hottest names in television these days. It’s not often that a show creator is nearly as big as the TV stars. Rhimes isn’t just the name behind one massive show, she’s the creator and producer of several enormously successful shows, many of them with overlapping actors, and all of them contained within the magical world known as Shondaland. It all began with Grey’s Anatomy in 2005....
Chances are, if you are reading this, you are within eyeshot of a few Star Wars products and toys. After all, the Star Wars franchise practically wrote the book on tie-in merchandise. The brand is a money-printing machine. Analysts, as quoted in Forbes, predict that Star Wars merchandise will end up making $5 billion dollars in 2016. That’s a whole lot of plastic lightsabers. However, while some of this merch is unbelievably cool, much of it is absolutely ridiculous, failing to capture even one iota of the magic of its source material....
Much like failed Tinder dates that seemed like a match made in Heaven prior to meeting each other, sometimes movies let us down because, while they sound amazing in theory, they turn out to be not so amazing in real life. This sort of movie makes us wonder what could have been with if certain changes had been made and certain problems had be resolved, but we’re still forced to accept sometimes optimistic dreams result in harsh realities....
Pixar has one of the most consistently high quality line ups of animated feature films of any modern movie studio. They’ve also distinguished themselves with plenty of original concepts and original characters. Pixar has made us cheer and weep for toys, bugs, fish, rats, monsters, robots, and even personified representations of joy and sadness. Another thing that sets Pixar apart is that despite producing family friendly movies, their stories don’t always center on young characters, unlike many other family movies....
Part of the fun of being a fan is reimagining your favorite characters in a variety of ways. What if your favorite cuddly creatures were epic superheroes? What if your favorite superheroes were regular dudes in a college dorm? What if your favorite movies took place years ago, or years into the future? This is the beauty of fan art, as all of these types of questions can be explored thanks to the imagination of those who love the movies the most....
The TLC reality television series Rattled focused on the struggles of new parenthood from the point of view of several couples and managed to distinguish itself by expanding its focus beyond the typical first-time parents. The backstories of each set of parents added not only to their distinct storyline, but also how they raised their children. From newlywed couples to one night stands, Rattled covered a plethora of couples from various backgrounds to try and reflect some of the unique stories of today’s society....
Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale was the recipient of two awards during the 2017 Television Critic Association Awards, which was held tonight at the Beverly Hilton. Given the almost unanimous critical support it received, the streaming service’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel was something of a favorite going in, and, despite not taking home an award for acting, it was one of two multiple award winners for the night. Acting honors were handed out to 2017 TV MVP Carrie Coon, for her roles in both HBO’s The Leftovers and season 3 of FX’s Fargo....
