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bojasonwalker · 4 years

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24 Badass Female Superheroes, From Batwoman to She-Ra and More (Photos)

Our guide to women with kick ass powers in comics, movies and TV

Margeaux Sippell and Ross A. Lincoln | October 7, 2020 @ 6:34 AM

Saving the world in spandex isn't just for guys. We've compiled a list of memorable and bad-ass superheroines. From Wonder Woman to Captain Marvel, here are some super-women you don't want to mess with.

WONDER WOMAN Whether you met her first in DC Comics, played by Linda Carter in the 1970s, or played by Gal Gadot in Patty Jenkin's 2017 hit film, if you know only one name on this list, chances are it's this one. Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter, Wonder Woman is the immortal, super-strong, magical genius daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. After moving to the world of mortals as an emissary of the Amazons, she fights for justice and equality solo and as a founding member of the Justice League against a rogues list that includes literal gods and colorful criminals like Cheetah. Good thing she has a magical lasso and an invisible jet to help her out.

The CW

SUPERGIRL Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El -- known on earth as Kara Danvers in the very excellent The CW series starring Melissa Benoist -- is another survivor of Krypton's destruction who fights for truth and some very needed social justice while protecting earth from threats like time traveling supervillains and Martian authoritarians. She's also a very good journalist. Her superpowers aren't just flight, invincibility, laser vision and so on, she's also just an excellent person.

Marvel

CAPTAIN MARVEL Originally known as Ms. Marvel (a title now used by another entry on this list), Carol Danvers assumed the Mantle of Captain Marvel in honor of her mentor, the alien hero Mar-Vell. Created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan in 1968, she's an air force pilot and feminist activist who fights supervillains as Captain Marvel, and sexism in her civilian guise. Played by Brie Larson in the 2018 film, Captain Marvel has superhuman strength, stamina, durability, and agility, and can fly faster than the speed of sound. She has the “Seventh Sense,” which allows her to predict future danger. She can also heal from injuries quickly, has immunity to toxins and poisons, and can shoot light beams from her hands.

The CW

BATWOMAN Ruby Rose played the openly lesbian superhero Kate Kane, a.k.a. Batwoman, in the first season of The CW series "Batwoman. In the series, Kane returned to Gotham to take over for the Caped Crusader and save the city. For the second season, Javicia Leslie was cast as Ryan Wilder, a brand-new character (not in the comics) who takes on the Batwoman persona.

SHURI Sister to King T'Challa, the current Black Panther, Shuri is Wakanda's top scientist -- which makes her pretty much the world's top scientist. As played by Letitia Wright in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shuri not only designs Black Panther's ultra-advanced tech and numerous other world-changing inventions, she's also a powerful warrior in her own right. Her comics counterpart, created in 2003 by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., is even more badass: she's been given Black Panther powers, she can transform into animals, and she's even managed to come back from the dead.

Marvel

BLACK WIDOW Black Widow emerged as one of the crucial heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to her portrayal by Scarlett Johansson. Created by Stan Lee, Don Rico and Don Heck, she's a former Russian spy who defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. In the comics, her powers include resistance to disease and aging, ability to suppress and replace memories, agility. In the films, she's just a run of the mill extreme badass, master athlete and martial artist with a talent for psychological manipulation -- and a great leader too. Her backstory will be fleshed out a lot more in her self-titled solo film, whose release is set for May 2021.

Netflix

JESSICA JONES Created by Brian Michael Bendis for Marvel's "Alias" comics in 2001, Jessica Jones has been a hard drinking expert private detective, an Avenger and even a high school classmate of Spider-Man. She's strong, she can fly, and she isn't here for your B.S., especially on her Netflix show, where she was played by Krysten Ritter.

Warner Bros.

HARLEY QUINN While formerly an absolute villain, Harley has since crossed over into a more heroic, or at least, non-villainous role. Introduced in the 1990s show "Batman the Animated Series," originally she was Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist manipulated by the Joker into helping him escape and joining his gang. After years of cruelty, she finally left him and since then DC comics stories have emphasized that she's an abuse survivor trying to figure out her own way in a world. Incredibly smart and immune to almost all toxins, she frequently teams up with fellow supervillains Catwoman and Poison Ivy. She's played by Margot Robbie in "Suicide Squad" and 2020's "Birds of Prey," and by Kaley Cuoco in DC's animated "Harley Quinn" series.

Marvel Studios

THE WASP More than one Marvel hero has been known as The Wasp, but the best known is Hope Van Dyne, played by Evangeline Lilly in "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp." In both the movies and comics, she's the daughter of the original Ant-Man and The Wasp, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne -- though unlike her comics counterpart, in the movies she doesn't have innate powers. No worries though. She's a gifted strategist and formidable martial artist who, thanks to some pretty sophisticated technology, is also able to shrink to the size of an insect (with proportional strength) and fly. She can also punch really, really hard.

Netflix

SHE-RA She-Ra is the superpowered alter ego of Princess Adora, long lost twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man from "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." Raised on the far away planet of Etheria, Adora uses the Sword of Protection to transform into She-Ra, leader of the resistance against the tyrannical Evil Horde. Originating in the 1985 cartoon "She-Ra: Princess of Power," She-Ra was brought back on Netflix's acclaimed ongoing series "She-Ra and the Princess of Power."

The CW

THUNDER Thunder, a.k.a. Anissa Pierce, is the eldest daughter of the superhero Black Lightning. But she's more than just a family legacy. Thunder can increase her body density at will, making her immovable and almost completely invulnerable. She is also bullet proof and can create shockwaves by stomping on the ground -- really handy when taking down bad guys. She's memorably portrayed by Nafessa Williams in the CW's "Black Lightning" series, where like her comics counterpart she's an out lesbian.

Warner Bros.

CATWOMAN One of Batman's most enduring love-interests and, like Harley Quinn, somewhat reformed from crime in recent years, Catwoman is an expert cat burglar with acrobatic prowess whose preferred weapon is her brains, and a bullwhip. Catwoman has long had an uneasy relationship with Batman, though in a recent storyline the two got engaged -- until she called it off. She's most notably been played in live action by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns" and by Anne Hathaway in "The Dark Knight Rises."

Marvel Comics/Art by Robbi Rodriguez

GWEN STACEY / SPIDER-GWEN In the Mainstream Marvel Comics universe, Gwen Stacey was Peter Parker's college girlfriend, who died tragically when she was dropped off the George Washington Bridge by the Green Goblin. But in the 2014 "Spider-Verse" storyline, it's revealed that in an alternate universe, Gwen was the one bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming that world's Spider-Woman. She got her own comic book series called "Spider-Gwen" in 2015 and played a major role in the Oscar-winning animated film "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."

LIGHTNING Black Lightning's other daughter, Jennifer Pierce, can manipulate electricity and generate it from her own body, as well as fly. So don't mess with her. She's best known for being played by China Anne McClain on The CW's "Black Lightning," a show all of you should be watching.

ABC

THE BIONIC WOMAN A spinoff of the 1973-78 sci-fi action series "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Bionic Woman" followed Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner), a tennis player critically injured in a sky diving accident whose life is saved with bionic implants including an ear, an arm and both legs, giving her fantastic abilities. Though the show lasted only three seasons, its enduing popularity led to several TV movie revivals, and it influenced a ton of subsequent female heroes.

OKOYE Created by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira in 1998, Okoye was long one of Marvel's lesser-known heroes, until she became a straight up icon thanks to Danai Gurira's performances in "Black Panther," "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." Okoye is the head of Black Panther's personal bodyguards, the Dora Milaj. And what she lacks in Black Panther's literal superpowers, she more than makes up for with martial arts expertise and a genius at tactical and strategic thinking. No wonder she not only went toe to toe against the children of Thanos and lived, she also single-handedly saved Wakanda after The Snap wiped out trillions, including Black Panther.

Cartoon Network

BLACK CANARY Black Canary has been fighting crime since her debut in DC Comics' "The Flash" in 1947, first as the alter ego of Dinah Drake -- who eventually married police detective Larry Lance -- and later by her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, who most frequently teams up romantically and crime-fightingly with Green Arrow. Originally written to have no powers, she later acquired a sonic scream called the "canary cry" that can shatter objects and kill enemies. She was voiced by Morena Baccarin in Cartoon Network's "Justice League Unlimited," and three different versions of the character have been played by Katie Cassidy, Caity Lotz, and Juliana Harkavy in The CW's Arrowverse. Jurnee Smollett-Bell will play her in the upcoming "Birds of Prey" live action film.

DC / Cartoon Network

KATANA DC Comics' Katana is a Japanese superhero whose power lies in the blade of her sword, called the SoulTaker -- which contains the soul of her dead husband, Maseo. Created by Mike Barr and Jim Aparo, Katana is part of the Justice League, the Birds of Prey, and the Outsiders, Batman's hand-picked team for black-ops missions. She's played by Rila Fukushima in The CW's Arrowverse, was by Karen Fukuhara in Warner Bros.' 2016 film "Suicide Squad."

Marvel / ABC

DAISY JOHNSON / QUAKE Aptly named because of her ability to generate earthquakes, Quake, a.k.a. Daisy Johnson, is the daughter of the super villain Mister Hyde. A high ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D. (behind only Black Widow and Nick Fury), she's best known for being played by Chloe Bennet on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.," where her powers come from the fact that she's an Inhuman (an element later imported into the comics).

DC / Cartoon Network

BIG BARDA Created in 1971 by the legendary Jack Kirby, Big Barda is one of DC Comics' New Gods. Raised on planet Apokolips to serve the cruel dictator Darkseid, she changed sides after falling in love with Mister Miracle and eventually escapes with him to Earth, where she's been a big part of teams like the Justice League and Birds of Prey. She's immortal, super strong and nearly invincible, and a highly trained soldier whose weapon of choice is the mega-rod. Audiences will see for themselves in the upcoming "New Gods" movie -- director Ava DuVernay says Barda is her favorite superhero.

Marvel

ELEKTRA Best known for being played by Jennifer Garner in 2003's "Daredevil" as well as her own standalone 2005 film, this Marvel superheroine is an expert martial artist and assassin who has worked on both sides of the law (until she eventually killed the evil aspects of her personality in a duel.) She was created by Frank Miller in 1981.

CBS

BATGIRL / ORACLE Created in 1967, Barbara Gordon, adopted daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, has been a superhero in multiple forms. As Batgirl she operates alongside Batman and Robin in Gotham. After being paralyzed by the Joker in a 1988 storyline, she because the information broker known as Oracle, who assembled the Birds of Prey and basically served as tech overlord to Gotham City's heroes. In recent years, a timeline reboot (long story) has her back in the suit as Batgirl but still capable of serving as oracle when needed.

Marvel

KAMALA KHAN / MS. MARVEL A Pakistani American teenager from New Jersey, Kamala Khan is also descended from the Inhumans, and when exposed to terregin mists developed the ability to shape shift and recover from almost all wounds. She operates under the name Ms. Marvel in tribute to the original, Carol Danvers, who has since assumed the name Captain Marvel. Created by Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie, she's the first Muslim character to headline a Marvel comic book, "Ms. Marvel," which has been praised for its writing, and for bringing greater visibility to Muslims in comics. A Disney+ series featuring in the character is due in 2021.

Disney

ELASTIGIRL Not to be left out is Elastigirl from "The Incredibles." The alter ego of Helen Parr, wife of Mr. Incredible (Bob Parr) and mother of Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack, she can stretch any part of her body and mold herself into different shapes and sizes. She's voiced by Holly Hunter.

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accras · 5 years

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Letitia Wright and John Boyega head an all-star British cast in Steve McQueen’s upcoming anthology series, “Small Axe,” one of the most eagerly anticipated dramas coming out of Britain, where it will air on the BBC. Amazon has already snagged the show for the U.S. The series from the Oscar-winning director of “12 Years a Slave” and “Widows” has been years in the making. It is set in London’s West Indian community, starting in the late 1960s and running until the early ’80s.

The series will comprise six parts and tell five different stories. Its title is derived from a Jamaican proverb with resonance throughout the Caribbean: “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” It is also the title of a Bob Marley song from his 1973 album “Catch a Fire.”

“I felt these stories needed to be shared,” said McQueen, who will also exec produce. “I wanted to relive, reevaluate and investigate the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today calling myself a black British person. What’s important about our stories is that they are local but at the same time global.

#steve mcqueen #letitia wright #john boyega #small axe

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joeygoeshollywood · 5 years

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My 25 Favorite Films of 2018

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is already coming to a close. Here’s my 25 favorite films from the year!

25. Black Panther

Roughly twenty films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise certainly needed a pallet cleanser. Black Panther was certainly the antidote. Not only did we get a standalone film from a superhero we didn’t know much about, it took us on adventure in the fictional high-tech nation of Wakanda. Chadwick Boseman brings a freshness and a unique charm to the Avengers table and he’s accompanied by a very talented cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Dana Gurira, and Michael B Jordan, who was easily one of Marvel’s best villains to date. Writer/Director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) has established himself as a filmmaker on the rise and his career will not be stopping anytime soon.

24. Boy Erased

Based on a true story, Boy Erased follows the son of a Baptist preacher and his unsettling experience at a gay conversion program. Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea, Ladybird) continues to prove he’s one of the greatest actors from the millennial generation as a young man who struggles with his sexual identity. Joel Edgerton, who wrote, directed, and starred in the film, strikes a balance between intensity and raw emotion. And Nicole Kidman also gives one of her strongest performances in recent memory as the religious mother who goes on her own journey in embracing her son for who he really is.

23. Sorry to Bother You

Sorry to Bother You cannot be defined by one genre. Part comedy, part fantasy, part sci-fi, and even part horror, this film from newcomer Boots Riley is an imaginative satire that tackles race, class, and capitalism. This marks the biggest and best role from Lakeith Standfield (Atlanta, Get Out) who stars as a telemarketer who quickly climbs the ranks only to find out that the company he works for has nefarious ambitions. There are a lot of WTF moments in this film that cannot be unseen, but it’s all worth it.

22. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

What ended up being the best animated film of the year and of the best Spider-Man movies ever, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse reimagines the origin story of this classic Marvel superhero with a new cinematic web-slinger Miles Morales, who teams up with other Spider-Men from other dimensions in order to stop the threat to all of their realities. Between the unique forms of animation, a fun script, and a solid voice cast, Into the Spider-Verse rises above in a year filled with superhero flicks.

21. The Cloverfield Paradox

When the latest chapter in the Cloverfield franchise dropped on the night of the Super Bowl, everyone rushed to Netflix for the surprise release. And while the critics weren’t exactly kind, The Cloverfield Paradox was still a wild, captivating installment. A group of scientists in space must solve the energy crisis that is causing chaos among nations on Earth, but while doing so find themselves entangled in alternative realities. Gugu Mbathu-Raw, Daniel Brühl, Chris Dowd, David Oyelowo, John Ortiz, Ziyi Zhang, Aksel Hennie and Elizabeth Debicki round out this strong, diverse ensemble.

20. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

At 56 years old, Tom Cruise continues to defy all odds as he keeps his now 20-year-old franchise alive. Ethan Hunt’s latest mission was fitting enough to be his last as his efforts to once again save the world also has him grappling with questions about his own mortality and the loved ones in his life. One of the best action films of the year, Fallout is a ton of fun and filled with well-choreographed sequences and stunts from Cruise himself.

19. Bad Times at the El Royale

What is fascinating about Bad Times at the El Royale is how much it felt like a puzzle. With its non-linear editing, every scene felt like an individual puzzle piece that once they come together give you a complete picture. Drew Goddard, the mastermind behind the modern cult classic The Cabin in the Woods, returns with a 60s-era crime thriller with a superb soundtrack, awesome production design, and a stellar cast that features Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Cynthia Erivo, and Chris Hemsworth.

18. Support the Girls

Support the Girls is a small indie comedy from Andrew Bujalski about a general manager of a sports bar and grill who reaches a boiling point with her life. Regina Hall, best known for her role in the Scary Movie franchise and more recently in Girls Trip, gives the best performance of her career as the heartwarming and heartbreaking Lisa, who while hating her job puts her young waiting staff first. Support the Girls is one of the few films that’s grounded in reality and is a comedic display of ordinary life and the struggles that come with it.

17. A Simple Favor

What was easily the most Hitchcockian film of the year, A Simple Favor marks a sharp tonal turn from director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy). Anna Kendrick stars a single mother who investigates the strange disappearance of her new friend (played by a terrific Blake Lively). Filled with unexpected turns and a few good laughs, A Simple Favor is a sexy thriller that expanded Feig’s talents.

16. Thoroughbreds

Part psychological thriller, part teenage dark comedy, Thoroughbreds resembles a contemporary Heathers. Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split) stars as a girl who relies her sociopathic friend (Olivia Cooke) to plot the murder of her awful stepfather. Newcomer Cory Finley makes an outstanding feature debut and is able to strike a balance between the tragedy and humor of this unlikely friendship.

15. A Quiet Place

John Krasinski wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his second and best feature to date, A Quiet Place. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, a family adapts to living in complete silence in order to keep themselves out of harms way from these deadly creatures who hunt their prey by the sounds they make. Despite the script with barely a page of dialogue, A Quiet Place speaks volumes with high intensity and terrifying performances from Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt as well as from child actors Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe.

14. The Death of Stalin

Veep creator Armando Iannucci knows a thing or two about satire. This time, he takes his talents to the big screen with his political comedy The Death of Stalin. As the title explains, the film follows the death of Russian dictator Joseph Stalin and the tug of war over power among his Council of Ministers. The intellectual humor in the screenplay combined with the comical performances of an ensemble cast which includes Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Rupert Friend, Andrea Riseborough, and Jason Isaacs marks one of the best comedies of the year.

13. Hereditary

Like a modern day Rosemary’s Baby, Hereditary is an unsettling horror film that surrounds the supernatural occurrences of a grieving family after the passing of its estranged matriarch. Writer/Director Ari Aster masterfully crafts a remarkable yet unexplainable thriller with the help of a career-best performance from Toni Collette.

12. Three Identical Strangers

Sometimes life is stranger than fiction and there is not a better example of that than Three Identical Strangers, a documentary that tells the real-life story about triplets who were separated at birth who discover each other’s existence in college and their journey to discover the grim circumstances that pulled them apart in the first place. What really felt more like a suspense thriller, Three Identical Strangers is an unpredictable, fascinating film about family and the bonds that hold us together.

11. Widows

Widows is a grade-a heist film from 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and Gone Girl screenwriter Gillian Flynn. Viola Davis stars as a widow who settles one final score that was all set by her dead husband (Liam Neeson). Suspenseful and emotional from beginning to end, Widows is a female-dominated drama that features one of the best ensembles of the year, including Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, and Robert Duvall.

10. Game Night

There was not a more laugh-out-loud funny comedy this year than Game Night. It surrounds a group of friends whose game night takes a wrong turn when what’s supposed to be a fun murder mystery becomes very real. Not only does the plot have plenty of twists and turns, the abundance of self-awareness in this wacky film elevates it from the rest. Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman do their best comedic work in years and they’re accompanied by a hilarious ensemble cast.

9. Overlord

You don’t often hear of WWII horror films, but Overlord certainly delivers. The J.J. Abrams-produced flick follows a troop of soldiers who stumble upon a gruesome scientific lab where humans are the unfortunate subjects. Overlord is truly an adrenaline rush and the most badass movie of the year. After all, when it comes to Americans kicking some Nazi butt, the gorier the better.

8. Annihilation

Annihilation is one of those remarkable films that is so hard to describe. Natalie Portman stars as a biologist who joins a pack of armed explorers in a territory of land where mysteriously the laws of nature are nonexistent. Thought-provoking, captivating, and extremely intense, this female-led sci-fi drama felt like an out-of-body experience.

7. Crazy Rich Asians

Easily the most enjoyable film of the year, Crazy Rich Asians offers plenty of sights, laughs, and heart. Based off the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan, this romantic comedy follows NYU professor Rachel (Fresh Off the Boat’s Constance Wu) and her struggle to win over her fiancé’s very judgmental, very crazy, and yes, very rich family. Crazy Rich Asians features eye candy visuals, a fun soundtrack, and a talented ensemble cast.

6. Roma

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men) makes his return with his most personal film yet, Roma. Set in Mexico City in the early 1970s, the Spanish-language film chronicles the life of a middle-class family a maid named Cleo (played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio). Shot in black and white and with incredible cinematography Roma is timeless story about family, class, and the human spirit. It is easily Netflix’s best original film to date.

5. If Beale Street Could Talk

Oscar-winning writer/director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) makes a strong return with a tragic love story about a pregnant young woman who struggles to get her fiancé out of jail after he was wrongfully accused of a crime. Based off the book of the same name, If Beale Street Could Talk felt more like watching a play. Along with the gorgeous cinematography and a moving score, this romance is carried by its two leads Kiki Layne and Stephen James as well as Regina King, who gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Layne’s mother.

4. Eighth Grade

Middle school is the worst and no film has captured the experience better than Bo Burnham’s debut film Eighth Grade. Despite the ever-changing times, this indie comedy manages to connect adult audiences with eighth grader Kayla Day, who struggles to navigate through her adolescence all while attempting to build her presence on social media. Young actress, Elsie Fisher gives a grounded, comical, and sometimes painful performance and Josh Hamilton gives a strong supporting performance as her single father who tries to lift her spirits.

3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

If you grew up on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, then this film will certainly hit home. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? showcases the life of a Presbyterian minister who developed of the most iconic, impactful children’s shows in television history and the struggles he faced along the way. The documentary features interviews of his family, the crew, and cast members, all who give insight of the genius that is Fred Rogers. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is an emotional film that, if you’re lucky, will restore your faith in humanity. And be warned; there was not a dry eye in that theater.

2. American Animals

Director Bart Layton has an incredible gift of making hybrid films. His underrated 2012 documentary The Imposter felt more like a mystery thriller. And with American Animals, since it’s based on a true story, he injects documentary elements into what normally would be a heist film. The story surrounds these four college kids who plan to steal an extremely valuable book from the campus library. The four leads do outstanding work, but Evan Peters (of American Horror Story fame) particularly gives the best performance of his career as one of the irresponsible thieves. With great editing and strong source material, American Animals is the best film of the year that virtually no one saw.

1. The Favourite

It’s no surprise that The Favourite is the favorite film of the year. Yorgos Lanthimos, the previously unsung filmmaker behind The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, brings the real-life 18th Century story of Queen Anne to the 21st Century and injects his twisted sense of humor. Olivia Colman stars as the neurotic, but hilarious ruler and Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz compete for her affection. Beautifully shot and superbly written, The Favourite is a remarkable, flawless cinematic masterpiece.

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blackontelevision · 5 years

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John Boyega and Letitia Wright are set to star alongside one another in yet another exciting new project.

The actors will lead the cast of Oscar-winning, Widows and 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen's upcoming anthology series Small Axe, which will appear on BBC in the UK and on Amazon in the US, reports Variety.

The six-part series, which is currently in production in London, will tell five unique stories centering on London's West Indian community. The title itself, references a Jamaican proverb that states: "If you are the big tree, we are the small axe," as well as the 1973 Bob Marley song by the same name.

McQueen, who is also executive producer on the series, spoke about the importance of examining the experiences of the Windrush Generation and Black British people as a whole, as quoted in Variety:

I felt these stories needed to be shared," said McQueen, who will also exec produce. "I wanted to relive, reevaluate and investigate the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today calling myself a black British person. What's important about our stories is that they are local but at the same time global.

I think audiences will identify with the trials, tribulations and joy of our characters as well as reflecting on the present environment in which we find ourselves," McQueen added. "The dynamic nature of the series allows us to confront injustice in the face of adversity.

The announcement comes days after the second annual Windrush Day on June 22, which marked the 71st anniversary of the arrival of the first Caribbean immigrants to the UK.

The upcoming series will also star Malachi Kirby, Shaun Parkes, Rochenda Sandall, Alex Jennings and Jack Lowden.

Last November, it was announced that Boyega and Wright, the 2019 winner of the BAFTA Rising Star Award, would star together in the upcoming sci-fi love story Hold Back the Stars.

#small axe #steve mcqueen

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the-spectatre · 5 years

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Ugh. Real respect to the folks who make red-carpet blogging their life, because it’s slim pickings for most of the year (unless you seek out every last movie premiere and all of its press events) and then all of a sudden it’s ALL THE DRESSES AT ONCE. Which is great, but hard to keep up with, especially when you’re depressed and feel guilty for posting about this shit instead of applying for jobs to support your broke ass.

Whatever, here’s my first batch of honorable mentions, with vague thoughts:

Amy Adams in Atelier Versace - girl looks like she knows she’s not getting onstage tonight. Still lovely, but she knows she’s inherited the Leo curse.

Octavia Spencer in Christian Siriano - simple, beautiful color. No complaints.

Letitia Wright in Dior Haute Couture - I don't love all the beige and nude-ness of this, but since there was plenty of bright looks on the red carpet to make up for it I can look past the color and admire the beautiful pattern. The matching bracelets were a nice touch.

Sarah Paulson in Brandon Maxwell - I feel like you have to be Sarah Paulson to pull this off. With a little editing it could work for other people, but as it is only Sarah could make it work and not come off like a belted fitted sheet.

Glenn Close in Carolina Herrera - I bet it was stunning in person, but in photographs the gold seems to weaken and wash her out. Also an example of “never wear gold if you want to win (unless you’re Meryl).”

SZA in Vivienne Westwood - Funky and true to herself but also Oscar-appropriate. And I just love Westwood corset gowns.

Meagan Good in Georges Chakra - Yes, it’s generic, but it fits her to a tee, her body is insane, and the face is perfection.

Leslie Bibb in Armani Prive - This is super lovely and maybe custom(?), but she needed some pop of color somewhere--a bright lip and big, fluffy hair?

Molly Sims in Zuhair Murad - Because I can’t resist sparkles, and the pattern that’s most visible on the hem is really quite lovely.

Awkwafina in Dsquared2 - Serving you icy Prince realness. Would have put the hair up, though, with that big ol’ bow.

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randomrichards · 5 years

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2019 Oscar Predictions Part 1: Sound and Music

BEST SOUND EDITING:

· BLACK PANTHER

· BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

· FIRST MAN

· A QUIET PLACE

· ROMA

Who Will Win?

First Man is the worthy candidate for an award centered around finding/creating sound effects. Thanks to the astounding efforts of Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan, you feel like you’re soaring in space alongside Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his crew with every rattle. I’ve previously how realistic the opening scene was, and that’s because the sound effects compliment the visual effects with utter perfection.

But there’s competition with Black Panther who faces a different challenge. Superhero movies provide opportunities for Sound Editors to flex their creative muscles to find new sounds to accompany the protagonist’s power. Boy does the world of Wakanda provide many opportunities for Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker. It also comes with the challenge of creating sounds both futuristic yet grounded in modern reality. They did an excellent job finding sound for Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) technologies.

But I place my hope on First Man.

BEST SOUND MIXING:

· BLACK PANTHER

· BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

· FIRST MAN

· ROMA

· A STAR IS BORN

Who Will Win?

If it were up to me, this award would also go to First Man. To make every flight and test sound so realistic is an astounding accomplishment to behold.

But as I’ve learned from previous wins, this award favours music themed movies, whether it’s musicals like Les Misérables and Chicago or music-related movies like Whiplash and Bird. This year our choice is either Bohemian Rhapsody or A Star is Born.

I know Bohemian Rhapsody is the more popular choice for this award, I feel A Star is Born is more deserving. As a more grounded movie centered on musicians, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow face the challenge of arranging the sound to make concert scenes sound realistic. It’s not enough to just slap on the music along with crowds cheering and calling it a day. They need to capture the correct Foley of crowds cheering and music to accompany the acoustics of various settings. The sound editors accomplish this while making sure the audience can still hear the actors sing.

But their work goes further by allowing us to experience Jackson Maine’s tinnitus. In occasional moments with him, you can hear the background sound fade out as ringing takes over.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

· Ludwig Goransson for BLACK PANTHER

· Terence Blanchard for BLACKKKLANSMAN

· Nicholas Britell for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

· Alexandre Desplat for ISLE OF DOGS

· Marc Shaiman for MARY POPPINS

Who Will Win?

That Oscar is within Nicholas Britell’s grip now that he doesn’t have to compete with Justin Hurwitz again. And a good thing to since his score puts its audience under its spell.

When you heart those enchanting strings in the opening scene, you are as in love for this film as the main characters are in love for each other. From then on Britell’s score makes the film feel like a beautiful dream.

Beale Street will be bragging about its win.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

· “All the Stars”

Performed by Kendrick Lamar feat. SZA

From BLACK PANTHER

· “I’ll Fight”

Performed by Jennifer Hudson

From RBG

· “The Place Where Lost Things Go”

Performed by Emily Blunt

From MARY POPPINS RETURNS

· “Shallow”

Performed by Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

From A STAR IS BORN

· “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings”

Performed by Tim Blake Nelson and Willie Watson

From THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Who Will Win?

A Star is Born is the top contender. It seems like every remake has one key song that becomes iconic. For Judy Garland’s film, it’s “The Man That Got Away.” For the Barbara Streisand version, it’s “Evergreen.” And now we have “Shallow”. As much pleasure as I would have in seeing Kendrick Lamar take home the trophy, “Shallow” is more deserving of the award. Not only is the song catchy as hell, but it also furthers the story as any Oscar nominated song should.

We first hear it when Ally (Lady Gaga) and Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) share their first night together. Like their relationship, the song is not yet fully formed yet emotionally raw. There’s not even any music. It’s just Ally singing a few lyrics to Jackson at a convenience store parking lot.

The next time we hear the song fully formed when Jackson brings Ally to a concert and performs it live. It’s kind of brilliant how the song plays out. At first, Ally rebukes Jackson’s encouragement to perform on stage. But as Jackson sings out, Ally finds the courage to step up and sing her song. But even then, you can hear hesitation in her soft singing. But as the crowd cheers, you can hear her confidence grow through her voice. You also see her love for Jackson grow when they sing together.

The lyrics seem to foreshadow the later storyline. Though Ally sings “I’m on the deep end/Watch as I dive in”, it’s Jackson who falls off the deep end with his alcoholism.

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kevrocksicehouse · 5 years

Photo

KevRock’s Icehouse presents THE ONLY OSCAR PREDICTION ARTICLE YOU NEED or “Put Away Those Slide Rules Boys, and Let the Old Doctor Show You How It’s Done.”

BEST PICTURE

BLACKKKLANSMAN

BLACK PANTHER

BOHEMIAN RHAPSHODY

THE FAVOURITE

GREEN BOOK

ROMA

A STAR IS BORN

VICE

Will win: ROMA. In a weirdly fractured cinema year this Netflix-generated Mexican film seems to have the most juice. Plus, another chance for Hollywood to piss off Trump.

Should win: BLACK PANTHER. Best superhero movie ever and the most exciting cultural moment of the year.

Shoulda got nominated: See Wednesday’s list. It’s right underneath.

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron – ROMA

Yorgos Lanthimos – THE FAVOURITE

Spike Lee – BLACKKKLANSMAN

Adam McKay – VICE

Pawel Pawlikowski – COLD WAR

Will Win: Cuaron. Hollywood loves this guy and this is his most personal movie. And thanks to Netflix nobody has an excuse for not seeing it.

Should win: Cuaron. Plus, after Black Panther and my beloved Blindspotting, it is the best. And he shoulda won for Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Shoulda been nominated: Debra Granik for LEAVE NO TRACE. A better use of silence than A QUIET PLACE.

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale – VICE

Bradley Cooper – A STAR IS BORN

Willem Dafoe – AT ETERNITY’S GATE

Rami Malek – BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Viggo Mortensen – GREEN BOOK

Will win: Rami Malek. In a mediocre by-the-numbers biopic Malek does the impossible. He makes Freddy Mercury seem interesting. Much industry love ensues. Maybe it’ll help him land a better movie.

Should win: Bradley Cooper. Plays a better drunk than James Mason (which ain’t easy) and sings better than Kris Kristofferson (which ain’t hard).

Shoulda been nominated: DAVEED DIGGS – BLINDSPOTTING. Genial and wary until a moment when the only right thing to do is commit an unspeakable crime. And rap a soliloquy worthy of Hamlet.

BEST ACTRESS

Yalitza Aparicio – ROMA

Glenn Close – THE WIFE

Olivia Colman – THE FAVOURITE

Lady Gaga – A STAR IS BORN

Melissa McCarthy – CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Will Win: Close. She’s due. And I hear it’s a big airplane movie which is almost as good for distribution as Netflix.

Should win: Close. She carries the film, especially in those moments when she’s not speaking a word.

Shoulda been nominated: Elsie Fisher – EIGHTH GRADE. She wears the whole movie so closely on her skin I had to check to make sure she didn’t write it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali – GREEN BOOK

Adam Driver – BLACKKKLANSMAN

Sam Elliott – A STAR IS BORN

Richard E. Grant – CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Sam Rockwell – VICE

Will win: Ali. Audiences may love Viggo Mortensen for playing a Magic Goombah and making it look easy but they’ll respect Ali’s jazz pianist who shows that it’s never been easy.

Should win: Grant. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? was dull as dishwater except for those moments that merged MIDNIGHT COWBOY and BARFLY. That is, whenever Grant’s Dickensian lush/con artist was on the screen.

Shoulda been nominated: John Cho in THE OATH. Barely conscious and bleeding to death, he was the funniest part of a very funny movie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – VICE

Regina King – IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Emma Stone – THE FAVOURITE

Marina de Tavira – ROMA

Rachel Weisz – THE FAVOURITE

Will Win: King. Giving a performance of warmth and wisdom in a movie that sorely needs both, she defined “supporting.”

Should win: Weisz. She made me empathize with the kind of Machiavellian schemer whose comeuppance would otherwise trigger schadenfreude.

Shoulda been nominated: Letitia Wright in BLACK PANTHER. That the smartest person in the world is a wiseass teenager was a great joke and boy did she sell it.

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTED

Joel and Ethan Coen -- THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty – CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Barry Jenkins – IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters. – A STAR IS BORN

Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee – BLACKKKLANSMAN

Will Win: BLACKKKLANSMAN. For what I dislike most about the film, its pumping up a great shaggy-dog story into a Profound Important Statement. It should have been one or the other.

Should win: THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS. A cheat, since only two of the anthology’s segments are based on previously published stories. But the Coens’ narrative descent from hilarity to hell has the scope of a great novel.

Shoulda been nominated: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman – SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. The worst kind of superhero movies are so overstuffed with plot they go down like yesterday’s meatloaf. This just-stuffed-enough anime-manque is a souffle.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Alfonso Cuaron – ROMA

Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara – THE FAVOURITE

Adam McKay – VICE

Paul Schrader – FIRST REFORMED

Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly – GREEN BOOK

Will win: THE FAVOURITE. Scheming and machination, barbs and insults with a prefeminist overlay. Irresistible.

Should win: ROMA. It meanders all over the place but when it’s over you’ve been somewhere.

Shoulda been nominated. Ike Barinholtz – THE OATH. Barinholtz wondered what Thanksgiving dinner would be like during a fascist takeover and never stopped running with the idea. Also Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal and Janina Gavanker for BLINDSPOTTING. But you already knew that didn’t you?

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acsversace-news · 6 years

Link

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES The Alienist Genius: Picasso The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Godless Patrick Melrose

Will Win: The Emmy voters have been known to get deeply weird, but this feels like it’s going to The Assassination of Gianni Versace almost by default, doesn’t it?

Should Win: Luckily, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is the best show in this category by a lot.

OUSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE Antonio Banderas, Genius Darren Criss,The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert Jesse Plemons, Black Mirror, “USS Callister”

Will Win: With Versace winning easily in Limited Series, you’d think Darren Criss would also be a shoo-in, but then you’d be underestimating the draw of the ‘Batch (who snagged an Emmy in 2014 for Sherlock) and of Jeff Daniels (who won an Emmy for The Newsroom; THE NEWSROOM!). Also? Don’t underestimate the chances of John Legend to snag the award for Best Only One of These Performances I Saw. If he does, that’ll be an EGOT! Still, I say Benedict Cumberbatch takes it.

Should Win: Darren Criss is so, so unsettling and great as Andrew Cunanan. He doesn’t need the award, with all his youth and handsomeness, but he deserves it.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE Jeff Daniels, Godless Brandon Victor Dixon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert John Leguizamo, Waco Ricky Martin, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Michael Stuhlbarg, The Looming Tower Finn Witrock, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Will Win: If anyone from Versace is going to win this, it’ll be Ramirez, but I wonder if he’s not a big enough star in the States to grab enough votes. Maybe this is where all those Newsroom loyalists push Jeff Daniels across the finish line.

Should Win: Honestly, they didn’t nominate the one Versace cast member who truly deserves to win, which would be Cody Fern. Barring a write-in vote, I’m saying justice for Brandon Victor Dixon!

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE Sara Bareilles, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert Penelope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Judith Light, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Adina Porter, American Horror Story: Cult Merritt Wever, Godless Letitia Wright, Black Mirror, “Black Museum”

Will Win: If you’d asked me a year ago, I’d have told you to start etching Cruz’s name on the nameplate. She’s an Oscar winner for Pete’s sake! Now, though, after having watched the series and the conversation that emerged as it was airing, I’d say she’s in a dead heat with Judith Light. But while Light may be a Tonys magnet, let’s assume Penelope Cruz‘s star power is enough to pull her across the finish line for Versace‘s lone acting win.

Should Win: In a mere two episodes, Judith Light simply gives the better performance. There’s no getting around it.

#acs versace #decider #awards talk #emmys 2018 #article #darren criss #edgar ramirez #cody fern #judith light #penelope cruz #september 2018

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

Text

The Rest of the Weekend Warrior’s 2020 Top 25… and His Terrible 12 Movies!

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that my Top 10 has already appeared over at Below the Line, and you can either go there and read those first or start with the movies that fell just outside my top 10, including a few movies you might not have heard about.

Back at the very beginning of 2020, I made a private resolution that I would watch more screeners. This is because I had become quite legendary for publicists sending me screeners and me just not getting the time to watch them with all the running around I was doing to screenings. I will never make a resolution like that ever again. (In fact, if my 2021 resolution was to have more sex, I only really need to do it once.)

This year, I wrote (no joke) slightly under 300 reviews, which may be more than I wrote in the three years prior. Part of this was having extra time from not travelling around the city trying to get to screenings, but also, once I decided to transition my weekly box office column into a review column, I decided that I was gonna watch and review as many movies as I possibly could this year. I’m sure there are others who do this all the time, but man, I don’t know how you do it. There were days where I got so burnt out at staring at my laptop for 15 hours every day that I just had to stop.

Still, when you’re watching 300 movies in a single year, any movie that can get into my annual Top 25 (or even get an Honorable Mention) should feel somewhat honored.

Anyway, onto the second 15 movies in my Top 25 (click on the title for a link to each of my reviews!):

11. Herself (Amazon Prime Video) – One of my more recent viewings is this film directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) and starring British actress Clare Dunne (who also co-wrote the script) as a mother of two young girls who got out of an abusive marriage with a man who still shares custody with her daughters. She wants to give her girls a place to live so she decides to build her own house on a plot of land given to her as a gift. It’s such a simple premise but Lloyd and Dunne have made a wonderful not-too-heavy drama that still slams you with its raw emotions.

12. Jungleland (IFC Films) – I really enjoyed Max Winkler’s earlier movie Ceremony, but this underground boxing drama about two brothers (Jack O’Connell, Charlie Hunnam) was also a solid crime-drama that follows them on a road trip to deliver a mob boss’ mistress (Jessica Barden) back to him on their way to a big match. Winker really outdid himself in terms of the storytelling and somehow managed to avoid most of the normal boxing movie cliches while allowing this to stand up to some of the greats.

13. Palm Springs (NEON/Hulu) – One of the first of this year’s Sundance movies that really connected with me, Max Barbakow’s sci-fi comedy starred Andy Samberg as a guy stuck at a horrible wedding who ends up in a Groundhog’s Day situation with the wonderful Christin Milioti was so much fun. Adding to the madness was JK Simmons as a guy who seems to be out to get Samberg’s character for reasons we don’t learn until much later. Such a brilliant and hilarious movie with so much great re-watch value.

14. Soul (Disney•Pixar) – The latest from the animation studio that seemingly can’t do wrong – but that depends on who you ask – follows jazz pianist Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) who dies and ends up “The Great Beyond” desperate to get back to earth having just gotten his big break. Helping him (sort of) is a soul voiced by Tina Fey, and things don’t go quite as Joe helped. Co-written and co-directed by Kemp Powers, the film goes in a different direction from Docter’s last animated film, Inside Out, but still retaining some of the same metaphysical fabric that made that Oscar-winning animated film connect with adults just as much as with kids.

15. Mangrove (Amazon Prime Video) – The debate on whether Steve McQueen’s latest “Small Axe Anthology” should be deemed a TV series or five separate movies continues to rage as Amazon decides to save the movie for the Emmies. At two hours long, Mangrove is the closest of the series to being a great stand-alone film, and frankly, I thought it was better than McQueen’s Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave. This told the true story of restaurant owner, Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), and how he’s persecuted by the racist local police in the late ‘60s, but when he teams with a local Black Panther activist (Black Panther’s Letitia Wright), a protest march turns into a tense court trial for a number of people involved in it.

16. I Will Make You Mine (Gravitas Ventures) – Actor Lynn Chen’s directorial debut was actually the third movie in a trilogy of indie films centered around musician/songwriter Goh Nakamura, who appeared in all three films. I watched this the first time thought it was just okay. When I realized it was part of a series of films, and I went back and watched the other two movies, I was completely blown away by what Chen did within this finale. With movies, you generally only have a limited time to explore its characters, but like Richard Linklater’s “Before” movies, this movie helped to really create depth in the characters by revisiting them. I was kind of shocked that I hadn’t seen the other movies – few critics have – and though only 18 other critics reviewed this one, the film is still 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which should tell you how good it is.

17. Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Prime Video) – Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha starred in Eugene Ashe’s 50s-60s-set romantic drama about an early television producer and a jazz musician, following their relationship after a summer fling that ends with him leaving for Paris. Separated for years, she remarries and raise the child from her former lover, but then they reconnect and… well, you’ll have to watch it for yourself. It’s on Prime Video right now, so if you’re a subscriber, you have no reason not to. (And Erik Davis of Fandango had a great idea… watch this as a double feature with McQueen’s Lovers Rock from “Small Axe Anthology”!)

18. The Traitor (Sony Pictures Classics) – Last year’s Italian section for the Oscar International Film was a fantastic The Godfather-like crime-thriller, this one starring Pierfrancesco Favino as Tomassso Buscetta, a Palermo-based Casa Nostra family member responsible for the heroin trade in the ‘80s who flees to Brazil. It’s an amazing story showing that filmmaker Marco Bellochio did his research to create a movie that didn’t really get the critical love or attention it deserved.

19. Weathering With You (GKids) – And here is Japan’s selection for the Oscar International Film, a rare Anime film, this one by Your Name director Makoto Shinkai, this one more about a fantasy-romance about a young man who meets a young woman who can control the rain, which they turn into a lucrative business. I didn’t love it quite as much as Your Name, which was a truly inventive turn on the “body-switching” movie, but this also had some of the same characterizations that make Shinkai’s work so terrific, so it was impossible not to enjoy how it translated into his latest feature.

20. Lingua Franca (ARRAY Releasing/Netflix) – Trans filmmaker Isabel Sandoval’s film was released in the same weekend as another movie with a trans lead, Flavio Alves’ The Garden Left Behind. While they were both good, Sandoval wrote, directed and starred in her movie which was about her character Olivia having a romance with a guy surrounded by transphobic bros. Olivia is also trying to get her green card, and the immigrant aspect of the film really added a lot to what seemed like a deeply personal film.

21. The Outpost (Screen Media Films) – I’ve been a fan of Rod Lurie’s work for almost as long as I’ve been writing reviews. In fact, one of my very FIRST movie reviews was for his movie The Last Castle in 2001. I’ve also been fortunate to call him friend. I’ve watched Rod transition into quite a skilled television director, but I been waiting over ten years for him to make a movie as good as his amazing political thriller, Nothing but the Truth. Working from Jake Tapper’s non-fiction novel, Lurie created a full-on and unapologetic war movie as good as Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, Blackhawk Down or any other modern war film… but also a film as personal as any others released this year.

22. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) – Aaron Sorkin’s second film as a director stepped things up, WAY up, as he decided to take on one of the more noted events that signified the famed “Summer of Love” of 1969, as a number of peaceful protesters were tried by the federal government for “inciting a riot.” The amazing cast included Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen 2, Michal Keaton, Mark Rylance, Frank Langella, Jeremy Strong and many more. It was an abundance of acting riches and when you have such a fine wordsmith in screenwriter/playwright Sorkin, it’s hard to go wrong. The thing is that by the time I saw this, I had already seen Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, which in my opinion is a far superior version of a similar story from the same time period.

23. Words on Bathroom Walls (LD Entertainment/Roadside Attractions) – A movie I didn’t expect much from but totally fell in love with was this romantic drama starring Charlie Plummer as Adam Petrozelli, a young man sent to a Catholic School where he hopes to keep his schizophrenia a secret from his new classmates. The film co-starred Taylor Russell from Waves as Adam’s friend and love interest, who also gets worried about Adam’s erratic behavior whenever he goes off his meds. Adam’s condition was shown by the personalities he interacts with, played by Anna Sophia Robb, Devon Bostick and Lobo Sebastian, but the movie also stars the great Molly Parker as Adam’s mother and Walton Goggins as her live-in boyfriend. All of this adds up to a great coming-of-age film from Thor Freudenthal that also became one of the first couple movies since March to test out theatrical waters months after the pandemic shutdown.

24. Sputnik (IFC Midnight) – An amazing Russian sci-fi thriller from Egor Abramenko (remember that name!) that’s likely to be compared to Alien but adds so much more depth by taking place in communist Russia during the ‘80s. It stars Pyotr Fyodorov as a cosmonaut who brought something back with him from space and Oksana Akinshina as the psychologist who has to figure what is happening. It starts quite, reminding you of the original Russian film Solaris, but by the end, it gets pretty insane. More than anything, it finds a way of doing something original within an overused sci-fi trope.

25. Parallel (Vertical Entertainment) - Similarly, I had pretty low expectations for Isaac Ezban’s sci-fi/horror film about a group of Silicon Valley friends who discover a mirror that allows them to travel to and from alternate versions of their own dimension, which they use for criminal activities. Soon, some of them have gotten out of control with the power and money that this access gives them, but like Palm Springs, it’s a great take on another overused sci-fi trope that’s done so beautifully. (Warning: There have been a LOT of movies with this title in the last five years. Make sure you choose the right one!)

Honorary Mentions: The Prom (Netflix), Kindred (IFC Midnight), On the Rocks (A24/Apple TV+), Yellow Rose(Sony), Misbehaviour (Shout! Factory), Premature (IFC Films), Spontaneous (Paramount), The Climb (Sony Pictures Classics)

Oh, and as a reminder, here’s my top 10, this time with links to my reviews where applicable:

10. One Night in Miami.. (Amazon Prime Video) 9. Pieces of a Woman (Netflix) 8. Sound of Metal (Amazon Prime Video) 7. Mulan (Disney+) 6. Synchronic (Well GO USA) (Tied with Disney+’s Hamilton) 5. Nomadland (Searchlight Studios) 4. News of the World (Universal) 3. Minari (A24) 2. Corpus Christi 1. Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)

And some MORE DOCS I liked that didn’t make my Top 12 over at Below the Line:

13. Robin’s Wish (Vertical) 14. PJ Harvey: A Dog Called Money 15. 76 Days (MTV Documentaries) 16. Rebuilding Paradise (NatGeo) 17. The Fight (Magnolia) 18. Collective (Magnolia) 19. Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story (Shout! Studios) 20. We Are Freestyle Love Supreme (Hulu) 21. My Name is Pedro (Sweet 180) 22. Crock of Gold: A Night with Shane MacGowan (Magnolia) 23. You Cannot Kill David Arquette (Super) 24. Feels Good Man 25. Suzi Q (Utopia Distribution)

The Terrible 12 of 2020!:

And it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for -- and the reason I guess most people are reading this -- so I apologize for making all five of you read through all the great movies and docs of 2020 before getting to the juicy stuff. Let’s get to it!

12. Superintelligence (HBO Max) – There was a time when I loved Melissa McCarthy – years before Bridesmaids – but her success after that film and her decision to keep making movies with husband/director Ben Falcone has only led to a few halfway decent comedies. (I didn’t think The Boss was that bad, but that’s cause it co-starred Kristen Bell.) So imagine if you’re one of the first big studio comedies to be dumped to Warner Media’s new streaming service, HBO Max, and that was almost SIX MONTHS BEFORE COVID HIT! How bad could a movie be to have that little support and confidence from the studio? Well, I found out that very thing, as I sat through this horrible movie that had McCarthy play another one of her usual “everywomen,” this one who encounters an Artificial Intelligence, voiced by James Corben, who has achieved sentience. Trying to learn what it is to be human, the AI starts giving McCarthy’s character everything she wants, including a relationship an old workmate, played by Bobby Canavale. The movie wasn’t very funny but it also branched into a rom-com plot that just didn’t suit either McCarthy or Canavale, so yes, quite an epic fail.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “'Superintelligence' is not a term I'd use for whoever greenlit this piece of crap.”

11. Hubie Halloween (Netflix) – I don’t think that Hubie Halloween was anywhere near Adam Sandler’s worst movies ever, and probably not even his worst for Netflix – although there have been some VERY bad ones. The problem is that any opportunity Sandler was given in this movie to show he can deliver something other than “more of the same” had him instead resorting to the physical humor that appealed to his fanbase. And yet, it wasn’t even the worst movie to come out that week it debuted on the streamer. (See below.)

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “A perfectly fine Netflix movie, not something I’d ever want to have to sit in a movie theater watching with others.”

10. Max Cloud – This sci-fi-action-comedy didn’t have a terrible premise – I mean, I enjoyed it in all three Jumanji movies -- but it was marred by being such a monumentally badly made movie that stars one of the one actors in the business, namely Scott Adkins. Set in 1990, Adkins plays the title character in a video game, in which a teen girl finds herself transported as a character. If you wondered what a Jumanji movie would look like in the hands of a completely incompetent cast and crew, well, here you go.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “Pretty awful, a bad faux video game movie that should have had its plug pulled.”

9. The Stand-In (Saban Films) – Not to be outdone by her frequent co-star Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore threw out all of the love she’s garnered from previous movies and her new talk show by playing dual roles of a raunchy comedy star best known for her pratfalls (so kind of a cross between Sandler and Melissa McCarthy?). Barrymore also played her nearly identical stand-in who didn’t get as much acclaim but gets to stand in for her famous lookalike when the latter goes on a bender and ends up hiding in her mansion for five years. Not sure why Barrymore thought this would be a good way to put her back on the movie screen, but yikes… one of her character’s big gimmicks is falling face first into a pile of horse shit – not funny and just plain gross.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “Guarantees Barrymore a double-dose Razzie nomination.”

8. The War with Grandpa (101 Studios) – For whatever reason, I decided not to review this Weinstein Co. cast-off family comedy starring Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman. Maybe that’s because I hated the movie so much I could barely get through it, and with a Friday review embargo, I just decided not to waste any more time thinking about it. So why didn’t it end up lower, you ask? I have no effin’ idea.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

7. Pearl – There have been some bad young adult romances over the past few years, and while I don’t think Bobby Roth’s is actually based on any existing book, it might as well have been, because it was very, very bad. It stars Larsen Thompson as a 15-year-old piano prodigy who is sent to live with her unemployed film director uncle, played by Anthony LaPaglia, who was so super-creepy in that role. I don’t remember much else, since I deliberately scrubbed my memory of this movie’s existence. Little did I realize that I’d be watching an even WORSE version of this movie a few months later.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “LaPaglia is way too good an actor, who deserves better than this.”

6. Black Water: Abyss – Another movie I watched late in the week and just didn’t have time or bother to review. Honestly, I remember very little about this. I think it involves crocodiles? Who knows, who cares? Not me or anyone else I expect. Everything about this movie was pretty bad.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

5. The Turning (Universal) – Probably the biggest studio movie to wind up on this list, and possibly the only reason I didn’t review this was because I interviewed the director, Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways), who is generally a pretty awesome artist. But I love the original source material on which this is based and seeing how much better Netflix’s The Horror of Bly Manor was a few months later just made me a little sore that a movie starring the great Mackenzie Davis with Finn Wolfhard and Brooklyn Prince could end up with one of the lamest endings of a horror movie in recent memory.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

4. Butt Boy (Epic Pictures) – Tyler Cornack’s comedy-slash-thriller was my worst movie of the year for many, many months until the three movies below it reared their ugly heads. Still, this one is pretty ugly as it stars Conack himself as Chip Gutchel, a man who becomes obsessed after a proctology exam so that things just keep vanishing up his own asshole. Yeah, I think my RT quote is fairly apt.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “I wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy.”

3. Buddy Games (Saban Films/Paramount) – The fact that Josh Duhamel’s directorial debut came out the same week as Superintelligence yet ended up lower on this list is fairly telling. It involves Duhamel and a group of his friends taking part in ridiculous competitions for money, and shows what happens when these friends reunite five years later to throw another Buddy Game. It was just very low-brow and disgusting and a not particularly funny take on the Jackass movies. There was scene that almost made me stop watching.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “To call Buddy Games moronic, idiotic or even asinine, would be an insult to morons, idiots or asses, who are also likely the movie's target audience.“

2. Sno Babies (Better Noise Films) – This poorly-conceived “Afterschool Special” that follows a high school senior named Kristen (Katie Kelly) and her ever-growing drug addiction was almost like a young adult version of Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream if just about everything about the movie was bad from the writing to the acting to just really horrible images that no one would want to watch or be put through. If the film just followed Kelly’s character, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but it’s a narrative that follows a bunch of characters including a couple wanting to have a baby… and when Kristen becomes pregnant due to her being on drugs, well, you can probably guess where it’s going. The only movie this year that had me literally yelling at my laptop like a lunatic.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “The people who made this movie should never be allowed to make another movie again.”

1. Dead Reckoning (Shout! Studios) – Scott Adkins makes his second appearance in the Terrible 12 with a movie in which he plays an Albanian terrorist. In fact, when I first heard about this movie and the fact it was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, the cinematographer/director behind Romeo is Bleeding and lots of trashy action flickers from the Aughts, it made me expect something in that vein. Instead, this is another young adult drama set in Nantucket with K.J. Apa from Riverdale playing Adkins’ brother who falls for a local teen lush, played by India Eisley, who proceeds to chug alcohol in every scene. Oh, her parents were killed in a terrorist act… coincidence? I think not. Eventually, we learn that Adkins’ character is planning a terrorist act by blowing up a boat on the 4th of July, and that’s maybe an hour or more into the movie. And yeah, there’s a number of action scenes awkwardly shoehorned into the story as well… Adkins’ fight with a nurse trying to help him was particularly hilarious. But the fact that the movie is being sold as “a thriller inspired by the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013” just makes the whole thing even more awkward and insulting. This one ends up in the “What on earth were they thinking, whoever financed this movie?” box.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “The only way to have any fun watching this disaster is to play a drinking game where you take a drink every time Eisley's character takes a drink.”

That’s it for this year…. Happy New Year and on to 2021!

#TheWeekendWarrior #EDsTerrible10 #EDsTop25 #Movies #Reviews

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Small Axe Cast, True Stories, Air Dates, Where to Watch: A Guide to the 5 Steve McQueen Films

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‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe’

Made famous by Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1973 song ‘Small Axe’, that’s the traditional proverb behind the title for a five-film series by Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger).

Two of McQueen’s Small Axe films were selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and in October, one opened the 64th London Film Festival. Now, all five are coming straight to BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, and Amazon Prime Video around the world. The home release has nothing to do with the pandemic; it was always the plan for these feature-length films with a cast including Star Wars’ John Boyega and Black Panther’s Letitia Wright, to air for a mainstream audience on prime time UK television.

11 years in the making, the five films were funded by BBC Studios and made to celebrate key figures in Black British history and create an on-screen record of a disappearing generation of London’s West Indian community.

Speaking in June 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a US police officer that prompted Black Lives Matter protests around the world, McQueen dedicated the films to Floyd “and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the US, UK and elsewhere.”

Here’s the information on all five films, including plot synopses, cast and release dates:

Mangrove

Synopsis: Mangrove tells this true story of The Mangrove Nine, who clashed with London police in 1970. The Old Bailey trial that followed was the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.

Cast: Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space) and Malachi Kirby (Curfew) star alongside Rochenda Sandall (Line of Duty), Jack Lowden (The Long Song), Sam Spruell (Snow White and the Huntsmen), Gershwyn Eustache (The Gentleman), Nathaniel Martello-White (Collateral), Richie Campbell (Liar), Jumayn Hunter (Les Miserables) and Gary Beadle (Summer of Rockets). Mangrove was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.

Release date: Sunday 15th November, 9pm, BBC One (UK), Friday 20th November on Amazon Prime Video (US)

Lovers Rock

Synopsis: Lovers Rock tells a fictional story of young love and music at a blues party in the early 1980s. A single evening at a house party in West London sets the scene, developing intertwined relationships against a background of violence, romance and music.

Cast: Amarah-Jae St Aubyn makes her screen debut opposite the BAFTAs 2020 Rising Star award recipient Micheal Ward (Blue Story). Shaniqua Okwok (Boys), Kedar Williams-Stirling (Sex Education), Ellis George (Doctor Who), Alexander James-Blake (Top Boy), Kadeem Ramsay (Blue Story) also star, as well as Francis Lovehall and Daniel Francis-Swaby who make their screen debuts. Lovers Rock was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen.

Release date: Sunday 22nd November, 9pm, BBC One (UK), Friday 27th November on Amazon Prime Video (US)

Red, White and Blue

Synopsis: Red, White and Blue tells the true story of Leroy Logan (John Boyega), a young forensic scientist with a yearning to do more than his solitary laboratory work. When he sees his father assaulted by two policemen, he finds himself driven to revisiting a childhood ambition to become a police officer; an ambition borne from the naïve hope of wanting to change racist attitudes from within. Leroy must face the consequences of his father’s disapproval, and the blatant racism he finds in his new role as a despised yet exemplary constable in the Metropolitan Police Force.

Cast: John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Steve Toussaint (Prince of Persia) star with talented newcomers Tyrone Huntley, Nathan Vidal and Jaden Oshenye. Red, White and Blue was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen.

Release date: Sunday 29th November, 9pm, BBC One (UK), Friday 4th December on Amazon Prime Video (US)

Alex Wheatle

Synopsis: Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, Alex Wheatle from a young boy through his early adult years. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and ability to grow his passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton Uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing.

Cast: Sheyi Cole stars opposite Jonathan Jules, with Robbie Gee (Snatch), Elliott Edusah (1917), Cecilia Noble (Black Mirror) and Johann Myers (The Lost City of Z). Alex Wheatle was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.

Release date:Sunday 6th December, 9pm, BBC One (UK), Friday 11th December on Amazon Prime Video (US)

Education

Synopsis: Education is the coming of age story of 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), who has a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the headmaster’s office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he’s being sent to a school for those with “special needs.” Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte, Daniel Francis) are unaware of the unofficial segregation policy at play, preventing many Black children from receiving the education they deserve, until a group of West Indian women take matters into their own hands.

Cast: Kenyah Sandy stars opposite Sharlene Whyte (We Hunt Together, Waterloo Road), Daniel Francis (Once Upon a Time), Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) also stars with Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). Education was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.

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Release date: Sunday 13th December, 9pm, BBC One (UK), Friday 18th December on Amazon Prime Video (US)

The post Small Axe Cast, True Stories, Air Dates, Where to Watch: A Guide to the 5 Steve McQueen Films appeared first on Den of Geek.

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lolareviews · 6 years

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Movie Review: Black Panther

Google Synopsis: After the death of his father, T'Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T'Challa's mettle as king -- and as Black Panther -- gets tested when he's drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.

My Synopsis: T’Challa returns to Wakanda to become King and the undisputed Black Panther. His time as king is anything but smooth however, when an old foe and the sins of his father come back to haunt him and his people. Betrayed and beaten, T’Challa must relay on his allies, the majority of which are strong female characters, to save his country and the rest of the world.

I know this is pretty late but still: Spoilers Ahead

Okay, so I actually had to take some time because I definitely rode the hype train to this movie. That being said, I still really like this movie. I think the characters were strong. I think the plot was interesting. I think the villain...I need to talk a bit more about the villain actually. The world building blows my mind, I don’t even think I can express how brilliantly this world got built around me as I watched. The hero is actually the least interesting person in this movie, and I still really loved him. So let’s break it down.

I think the women really stole the show this movie. Shuri, played by the brilliant Letitia Wright, was strong, funny, intelligent, and you really believe her love of her family and her work. She makes puns and that literally immediately made me love her. She knows she’s intelligent and she’s a little cocky about it, but not Tony Stark cocky and I’m here for it. But more importantly, she doesn’t fall apart when she’s faced with uncertainty. She keeps moving forward. She is obviously more of a scientist but she picks up weapons to fight for her country when need be and it’s so great. I just love her.

Okoye, played by the always dynamic Danai Gurira, is just the epitome of power and the reason I’m currently low-key questioning my sexuality. But more than that, I love that her love of her country, her convictions and what she swore her life to, were not overshadowed by her being in a relationship. There is a moment at the end, and maybe for me it was more powerful than it was to other people but, when she says “For Wakanda? Without question.” I got chills. Her unwillingness to budge when people try to manipulate her emotions, her unapologetic, unwavering strength of conviction...she’s torn when she’s faced with several issues, but she does not yield her convictions to her emotions and that’s everything.

While she’s not my favorite lady in the movie, I really appreciate that Nakia, played by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, was very well written. A lot of the time the love interest is written with no convictions of their own or passions and beliefs they abandon to be with the main character, but Nakia was having none of that. The primary issue of the relationship was that Nakia refused to give up her belief to stay in Wakanda and be with T’Challa. And while he did hope she would change her mind, T’Challa didn’t force her to give up her beliefs. In fact he ends up finding a way to have her stay and keep moving forward with her mission. And her cleverness, strength and determination are a huge part of how T’Challa wins the day.

I would like to also give a shout out to Angela Basset, playing the Queen mother Ramonda. She exudes a the sort of calm grace and quiet power one would expect from her. She’s been through a lot, but she manages to hold it together to take care of her children.

The villain of this movie are really interesting too. Killmonger, aka Micheal B. Jordan, is the main villain, but the most interesting thing about this movie is quite a few people aren’t really innocent. The late King T’Chaka is actually directly responsible for the creation of this villain. Killmonger is sort of like Loki in that, at least part of his logic and backstory are relatable for a lot of people. Like, obviously he loses points for wanting to commit mass genocide, but demanding to know why he was left behind? Asking why people with the means aren’t helping their kin? These are things people have asked time and again. And you find yourself realizing that, on some level he’s not wrong, even if you don’t agree with everything he believes.

The most interesting thing though...is that Killmonger doesn’t completely lose. At the end T’Challa does create outreach programs. He goes to Oakland, where Killmonger grew up, and opens the first outreach in the house his uncle was killed. He tells the world about Wakanda and offers help to places in need. So, even though Killmonger’s methods were wrong and the hate fueled warping of his core desire was terrible and should definitely be stopped, the actual core desire he had, that kids like him aren’t left behind anymore, began to come to pass at the end of the movie.

On the flip side, T’Challa was everything I wanted from the new king. He is on the surface calm and composed, but he has a bit of a temper and sometimes he loses control. I think my biggest issue is a lot of this story just sort of happens to him and he has to react to it. There isn’t as much agency in him as I would have expected, but he is just becoming king and learning to deal with the responsibilities of that so it makes sense.

My biggest complaint for this movie is we don’t see the funeral of King T’Chaka. I would have loved that. Also, it seems weird to not see it, since T’Challa becoming king and officially becoming the Black Panther is such a big deal.

Overall this was a really fun, interesting and pretty poignant superhero movie. I loved the characters and the world building. I loved how real Wakanda feels. I also love the conversation, for the most part, around this movie. I think Wakanda and all of it’s characters add a lot of fun and interesting opportunities for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Final Verdict: 4/5

#Movie Reviews #black panther #black panther movie #black panther review #general okoye #shuri black panther #nakia black panther #erik killmonger #t'challa

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Green Lantern: 5 Actors Who Could Play Hal Jordan (And 5 Who Could Play John Stewart) In The DCEU

There’s every chance that the DCEU’s eventual Green Lantern movie won’t revolve around Hal Jordan, since that’s the version Ryan Reynolds played in his despised 2011 movie and Warner Bros. will likely want to distance themselves from that as much as possible. So, the DCEU’s Green Lantern might be John Stewart instead. Fans have wanted to see Idris Elba play John Stewart pretty much since the Green Lantern Corps movie was announced for the DCEU, but he’s since been cast to star in The Suicide Squad in the same universe, so he’s out of the running (unless, although it is a stretch, his Suicide Squad character is John Stewart). Here are 5 Actors Who Could Play Hal Jordan (And 5 Who Could Play John Stewart) In The DCEU.

RELATED: 10 Ways Green Lantern Could Be Introduced In The DCEU

10 Hal Jordan: Jon Hamm

The role of Hal Jordan requires a standard leading man type with an extra degree of charm and humor. That’s what made Ryan Reynolds the perfect choice to play him in the 2011 movie (it’s just a shame that the movie itself turned out to be dreadful). It would also make Jon Hamm a perfect choice; Don Draper is the quintessential dude. If the Green Lantern Corps movie has an older Hal Jordan working with a younger John Stewart, then Hamm is about the right age – he’s believably older, but not too old that the physical action scenes would be unworkable.

9 John Stewart: Trevante Rhodes

Ever since Idris Elba is off the table due to his casting in another DCEU movie, Trevante Rhodes has become fans’ most popular casting choice for John Stewart. It seems as though the Green Lantern Corps movie will be a buddy cop movie with Hal Jordan as the veteran training up John Stewart as a rookie. Rhodes has both the look and the age to pull of John Stewart, and he proved with his turn in the Oscar-winning masterpiece Moonlight that he has serious talent as an actor. Prior to his acting career, he was a track and field star, proving he also has the physicality to play a superhero.

8 Hal Jordan: Karl Urban

Karl Urban has always deserved to be a bigger star than he is. He’s always brought a likable charm to roles like “Bones” McCoy in the Star Trek reboot series and even the cold-hearted, ultraviolent comic book icon Judge Dredd. He even managed to make Skurge the Executioner redeemable in Thor: Ragnarok.

RELATED: Star Trek: 5 Kelvin Timeline Actors We Hope Reprise Their Roles In Quentin Tarantino's R-Rated Movie (And 5 We Don't)

He started off as a follower of Hela, but he realized the error of his ways and sacrificed himself to save the surviving Asgardians. Hal Jordan is that guy – he’s the guy who screws up, but will then do whatever it takes to fix the screw-up and do right by people.

7 John Stewart: Michael B. Jordan

Zachary Levi has proved by playing Fandral in the MCU and then Shazam in the DCEU that it’s possible to appear in both studios’ superhero franchises and not get blacklisted in Hollywood by the one you worked for first. Granted, Michael B. Jordan’s MCU role was a lot larger and more memorable than Levi’s, but that was mostly down to Jordan himself working with Black Panther director Ryan Coogler to develop Erik Killmonger into an all-time classic villain. Jordan could play John Stewart as the by-the-books straight man trying to get the job done opposite Hal Jordan’s goofball man-child act.

6 Hal Jordan: Nathan Fillion

It’s about time Nathan Fillion finally got a starring role as a superhero in a comic book movie. He’s been rumored for pretty much every character that has made his way from the pages of comic books onto the big screen, most notably that of Hal Jordan. He has the charm and the warmth to nail Hal’s likable qualities, and he’s proved in antagonistic guest appearances on Modern Family and Brooklyn Nine-Nine that he can also play a jerk with serious personality flaws. Fillion’s acting persona is the definition of “lovable rogue,” and conveniently enough, so is Hal Jordan’s characterization.

5 John Stewart: Jamie Foxx

DC might be looking to make a potential Green Lantern movie their answer to Guardians of the Galaxy, with a lot of heart and humor, and Jamie Foxx has both of these in spades. His heartfelt portrayal of Ray Charles won him an Academy Award, while his background in standup comedy has given him expert comic timing. He’s played a number of action-based roles, like bounty hunter Django Freeman in Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed spaghetti western Django Unchained, but never with a CG-heavy sci-fi bent. John Stewart would make an interesting next chapter in Foxx’s storied career (he’s set to make his directorial debut in the coming months).

4 Hal Jordan: Armie Hammer

The role of Hal Jordan will need a cocky, confident, and ultimately heroic (heroic enough to redeem the cockiness) leading man type. Armie Hammer has played this kind of role in a couple of prospective franchise beginners – The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Lone Ranger – and both failed to take off at the box office. Hammer deserves to finally get a successful franchise with this persona. Lord knows he’s put in his time. Hammer is sort of like Brendan Fraser, but an actually good actor, as shown by his roles in The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name, which would make him an ideal Hal Jordan.

3 John Stewart: Sterling K. Brown

If the plan for the Green Lantern Corps movie doesn’t involve an older Hal Jordan and a younger John Stewart and the roles are switched, Sterling K. Brown would make a fantastic choice to play an older version of John. His star-making turn in American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson proved he could be engaging and memorable, no matter how small the role was, and his subsequent leading role in This is Us has shown that he’s even greater when the spotlight is on him. He’s also a good guy in real life; he’s the only cast member from The Predator who spoke out in support of Olivia Munn after she exposed Shane Black for casting his friend and not telling anyone he was a registered sex offender.

2 Hal Jordan: John Krasinski

Hal Jordan is lovable, charismatic, and goofs off from his responsibilities, which sounds an awful lot like John Krasinski’s beloved character from The Office, Jim Halpert. A Quiet Place proved that he has a strong grasp of filmmaking (Ben Affleck worked so well as Batman because he was putting in time behind the camera as well as in front of it), as well as the capability to shake his sitcom persona and do serious acting.

RELATED: Everything We Know (So Far) About A Quiet Place: Part II

Plus, Amazon’s Jack Ryan series has shown he can pull off action-oriented roles convincingly. Marvel Studios could be eyeing Krasinski to play Reed Richards in their Fantastic Four reboot, so Warner Bros. will have to act fast if they want to get him in the role of Hal Jordan, but he would be perfect.

1 John Stewart: John Boyega

From his starring role in Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy to his upcoming sci-fi romance Hold Back the Stars with Letitia Wright, John Boyega is no stranger to space-bound settings. As shown by his trips to a galaxy far, far away, Boyega can flit between goofy and lighthearted fun and grave, serious acting at a moment’s notice, and he has an easy charm. Plus, Attack the Block showed he’s capable of fighting aliens believably. With his Star Wars tenure set to end this year with The Rise of Skywalker, Boyega will have a gap in his schedule that could be filled with a big-screen Green Lantern franchise.

NEXT: 10 Mistakes The DCEU Made That Prevented It From Matching The MCU's Success

source https://screenrant.com/hal-jordan-john-stewart-actors/

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davidsivesind-blog · 5 years

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BEST ACTION MOVIES ON NETFLIX RIGHT NOW (JULY 2019)

Is it accurate to say that you are searching for the best activity films on Netflix at the present time? In some cases your inquiry can be futile with all the diverse advanced decisions to stream! Luckily, the administration has bounty from the class - popular culture blockbusters, adrenaline siphoning battle films, vigorous enlivened undertakings and shootout shows in abundance... on the off chance that you realize where to search for them. Furthermore, that is the place we come in with our month to month reports on the best new films on Netflix.

It couldn't be any more obvious, here you'll locate the best activity motion pictures on Netflix at the present time. There are a lot of various magnificent new discharges that are on Netflix at the present time, including huge numbers of the top ongoing activity films from 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016, just as a significant number of the unequaled most prominent works of art, misjudged b-motion pictures, all-ages experience and ultraviolent activity. They all anticipate you in our picks to look for the most sultry activity motion pictures on Netflix! So don't try to look through any further. Simply sign in on the grounds that it's a great opportunity to watch...

Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now

Street House

It's absolutely not a reasoning man's activity motion picture, what with faulty maxims like "Agony don't hurt," yet Road House is '80s schlock at its best. Patrick Swayze stars in a standout amongst his most suffering jobs as bar bouncer Dalton, a touchy man who invests his energy perusing and contemplating life when he isn't thoroughly demolishing boisterous benefactors. Dalton is only the kind of solid, certain activity legend we need in these alarming occasions.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

The best two sections of Christopher Nolan's Batman set of three are presently on Netflix, reinforcing an officially amazing lineup of superhuman motion pictures. Batman Begins figured out how to without any assistance wipe away the disgrace made by the shocking Batman and Robin, rebooting the Caped Crusader with a beginning story brimming with authenticity, gravitas and a portion of James Bond-esque cool. The Dark Knight at that point raised Batman to new artistic statures, enhancing everything that worked in the first and giving us one of the untouched extraordinary film lowlifess in Heath Ledger's Joker.

Pineapple Express

James Franco and Seth Rogen are dependably an engaging pair, particularly in this stoner activity motion picture that gives them a role as two pot cherishing numskulls who have the setback to stroll in on a homicide. At an early stage, you can contend about whether Pineapple Express qualifies as more parody than activity motion picture, however that question is rendered disputable by the blood-splashed second half. This motion picture takes two incredible tastes - Judd Apatow-delivered uncivilized comedies and savage shootouts - and demonstrates they can go extraordinary together.

Hunching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The wuxia sub-kind of hand to hand fighting films is portrayed by a chronicled setting, stories including clashes among adoration and obligation and effortless, even balletic showcases of battling ability. You'll locate every one of the three of these in bounty in this exemplary film from 2000. A standout amongst the most famous combative techniques motion pictures in the West, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon rotates around the chase for an amazing sharp edge called the Sword of Destiny, a weapon that gives incredible power yet in addition carries with it just torment. The battle scenes in this one are epic, however the twin romantic tales are similarly enchanting.

Kung Fu Hustle

Quite a while in the past, Jackie Chan demonstrated what a triumphant blend kung fu and droll cleverness can be. Barely any cutting edge combative techniques motion pictures respect that inheritance just as Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. This comedic hoodlum motion picture is essentially a real to life animation. It figures out how to spoof endless great motion pictures even as it conveys some hard-hitting battle scenes. The way that Kung Fu Hustle includes such a large number of dearest entertainers from '70s kung fu film is simply good to beat all. (Accessible 3/15/19.)

Insect Man and the Wasp

The continuation of Ant-Man is a creative and cheerful heist film, in which The Wasp hauls Ant-Man into an intricate experience including a voyage to the Quantum Realm, a structure that gets stolen amidst a vehicle pursue, and bunches of pretty much nothing, mammoth, smart activity groupings. The Ant-Man motion pictures are presumably the most beguiling MCU films, and the incredible outfit cast and special set pieces make this one emerge.

The Raid: Redemption

At the point when a SWAT group pursues a ground-breaking wrongdoing ruler, they get caught inside a structure with apparently endless executioners, every one of whom need them dead. Once Gareth Evans' astonishing activity spine chiller gets moving it never eases up. It's a debilitating arrangement of amazing battle scenes, every one noteworthy and ruthless. The Raid: Redemption increased present expectations for activity film, and most movie producers are as yet attempting to get up to speed.

Vindicators: Infinity War

The most epic real to life hero hybrid ever plays like a major spending plan, activity stuffed rendition of Robert Altman's Nashville, finished with handfuls and many significant characters, every one of whom slip into one another's accounts without anyone else way to triumph or disaster. It's the sort of rambling hero motion picture that could never have been conceivable, or even intelligible, for standard spectators to acknowledge 10 years prior, and it speaks to a huge strange scene of superhuman film later on. Furthermore, it's additionally exciting, clever, enthralling activity filmmaking for sure!

Dark Hawk Down

Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning war epic, about a challenging salvage endeavor following a messed up mission in Mogadishu, isn't tied in with clearing worldwide governmental issues or man's cruelty to man. It's about the occasion, amidst a firefight, where nothing matters except for the general population beside you. Scott catches the staggeringly mind boggling shootouts, topography, strategies and huge gathering cast with a deftness that must be respected, and by one way or another causes the riotous Black Hawk Down appear to be anything but difficult to pursue. It's not the most quick war motion picture at any point made, however it's a standout amongst the most exciting.

The Indiana Jones Series

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg worked together on the great Indiana Jones films, making the gooey move motion picture tropes of their childhoods and making an interpretation of them to the extra large screen utilizing each new, energizing, costly method available to them. The primary film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is about tantamount to activity motion pictures ever get, with adorable characters and obnoxious miscreants all scanning for the equivalent mysterious fortune, getting into one monster and remarkable set piece after another. The spin-offs are blended, however for the most part extraordinary: Temple of Doom resorts to offending generalizations yet in addition includes presumably the most amazing activity arrangements in the establishment's history; Last Crusade has notorious set pieces and the awesome Sean Connery as Indie's stuffy dad, yet the jokey tone ransacks the arrangement of its gravitas; and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is entirely idiotic from beginning to end, yet in any event it's never dull.

Hellboy

Before he won an Oscar for coordinating the frightfulness fantasy The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro carried his weirdo sensibilities to Hellboy, an adjustment of Mike Mignola's honor winning comic book arrangement. Ron Perlman is immaculate as the title character, an evil presence from damnation who was raised by people to shield us from heavenly powers. The plot is careless however the beast impacts are dynamite, the activity is cool and the lead exhibitions by Perlman and Selma Blair, as a firestarter who can't confide in herself, are anything but difficult to experience passionate feelings for.

Daring

Hand to hand fighting genius Jet Li stars as Huo Yuanjia, a genuine ace who tested warriors from around the globe to duels, and turned into a national saint in China. Stream Li has featured in numerous motion pictures since Fearless, and some of them are incredible, however this movie is by all accounts his last, genuinely extraordinary hand to hand fighting epic, instructing significant exercises about the fine art and letting the star totally trimmed free in astonishing battle groupings, coordinated by the incomparable Ronny Yu (The Bride with White Hair). Intrepid probably won't be Jet Li's absolute best film... in any case, it's nearby.

Headshot

Envision the plot of The Bourne Identity, yet with the battle scenes from The Raid. That is the misjudged activity spine chiller Headshot, which stars Iko Uwais as an amnesiac who needs to ensure himself, and his therapist, from a multitude of combative techniques professional killers who need him dead. Headshot ostensibly works shockingly better on gushing, on the grounds that the activity is so dazzling, thus savage, you may need to delay the film just to regain some composure.

Dark Panther

The greatest Marvel motion picture ever, and with great purpose. Chadwick Boseman stars in Black Panther, a film that consolidates Afrofuturism with the hero type, giving crowds something they'd never observed, on a scale that is difficult to envision. Michael B. Jordan co-stars as one of the incomparable MCU scalawags, and Letitia Wright takes every one of her scenes as an innovative virtuoso who puts Tony Stark to disgrace. This is the mix of exemplary valor, intense true to life style and significant topics that superhuman fans longed for. What's more, they got everything.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The eight section in the Star Wars adventure of sets of three is a standout amongst the most dubious, yet additionally a standout amongst the most excitedly paced, extreme and capricious. The Resistance is on the kept running from the fascistic First Order, driving Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) to separate and attempt each trap available to them - and gain proficiency with a lot of new ones - to make all the difference. The Last Jedi pursues the fundamental structure of The Empire Strikes Back, with saints isolated, appalling inversions and startling disclosures, just to change itself in the last demonstration into something new, a film that looks to the future as opposed to living completely previously.

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) get sucked onto an outsider planet, where Thor fights the Hulk and Loki's devotions are tested (for the umpteenth time), in Taika Waititi's eccentric and inventive Marvel Cinematic Universe experience, with champion exhibitions by Cate Blanchett and Tessa Thompson adjusting the amazing cast. A lot is on the line, the activity is fantastic, and each narrating choice feels like it came shouting out of misjudged 1980s space show peculiarities like The Ice Pirates or Krull. (For the record, that is a compliment.)

The Castle of Cagliostro

Before he turned into the all around acclaimed chief of movies like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki coordinated The Castle of Cagliostro, a tearing experience anecdote about a magnetic criminal named Lupin III who unearths a wild connivance including fake cash and grabbing. Miyazaki's trademark liveliness is as of now going all out, and the motion picture still feels wondrous and ageless.

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is broadly viewed as one of the best war motion pictures made in the post-9/11 time. Executive Kathryn Bigelow investigates the serious weight looked by individuals from a dangerous law evacuation group during the Iraq War, with a cast that incorporates Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse and Guy Pearce. The film commanded the 2010 Academy Awards, and in light of current circumstances. It's amazingly well-made and a genuinely instinctive encounter.

Best Movie Here

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thegeekherald · 4 years

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Black Panther 2 Trailer, Release Date, Filming, Cast, Plot Details and Namor as the Main Villain

Black Panther 2 is in works and after reaching new heights of popularity for winning Oscar award, everyone has high hopes from the sequel. Ryan Coogler is coming back to direct the Black Panther sequel and Marvel is fully confident in him. Chadwick Boseman will once again portray the character of King of Wakanda, T’challa aka the Black Panther. Here is everything you need to know about Black Panther 2 trailer, release date, filming, cast, plot details and rumors of Namor being the main villain in the sequel.

Black Panther 2 Trailer and Release Date

Black Panther 2 release date was announced by Disney at the last D23 Expo and the sequel will premiere in theaters on May 6, 2022, as the last movie of MCU’s Phase 4. It makes sense for Kevin Feige to have faith in their most popular property as Black Panther has achieved new heights of success. Black Panther 2 trailer could come out before the end of 2021 and it would be in line with the 6 months gap rule before release.

#BlackPanther 2 May Film in Australia https://t.co/5kRPeV1uyy pic.twitter.com/cI8yVaAg65

— MCU Cosmic (@MCUCosmic) February 14, 2020

Black Panther 2 Filming and Cast Details

Black Panther sequel is reported to start filming in Australia from March 2021 once the Shang-Chi and Thor: Love and Thunder wraps their schedule in the counrty. Here is the confirmed list of cast members set to appear in Black Panther 2.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther

Winston Duke as M’Baku

Letitia Wright as Shuri

Lupita Nyong ‘O as Nakia

Danai Gurira as Okoye

Daniel Kailua as W’Kaby

Angela Bassett as Ronda, the mother of T’Challa

RUMOR: The sequel to #BlackPanther may reportedly begin production in March 2021 in Australia! https://t.co/1FQad4ZcOq pic.twitter.com/Z0gv83gHfF

— MCU Direct (@MCU_Direct) February 14, 2020

Black Panther 2 Plot Spoilers: Namor will be the Villain

Black Panther 2 plot s not finalized at the moment as the script is being written but there are certain rumors on the story. There are reports that Namor, the ruler of Atlantis will be the main villain and wage a war on Wakanda and T’challa will have to defend his kingdom from a foreign attack. Namor was teased in Avengers: Endgame and it would be a great way to introduce Atlantis in MCU with the sequel of Black Panther and start Phase 5 with a bang.

The post Black Panther 2 Trailer, Release Date, Filming, Cast, Plot Details and Namor as the Main Villain appeared first on The Geek Herald.

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4yourexcitement · 7 years

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Credit: Marvel Studios

Marvel, in conjunction with Entertainment Weekly, has released a lot of information on the highly anticipated Black Panther movie. This will be available in their pre-Comic Con issue this week on newsstands.

Bless them for it because it all looks amazing.

Ever since the teaser trailer was released, fans have been clamoring to see more of Wakanda and learn more details on this movie. After all, the character had made an impression on audiences during Captain America: Civil War.

Simply put, we want more T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and we are dying to see Wakanda brought to life.

In these twenty brand new images, it certainly seems like we’re only hitting the tip of iceberg.

Or tip of the hidden society of Wakanda, whatever analogy you want to get with here.

It looks like we’re seeing nearly everyone in the film from Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia to Michael B Jordan’s villainous Erik Killmonger.

I will say on thing though. If Black Panther doesn’t get an Oscar nod for the costume design in this movie, then we all need to do a write-in ballot or something.

(If Suicide Squad can win for make-up, then we can make this happen.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Rounding out the amazing images, we also get a close look at Royal Portrait for Wakanda along with some information of the characters in it.

Credit: Marvel Studios via Entertainment Weekly

In the Royal Portrait, we learn a bit more about the core group of the film. Starting with T’Challa who sees himself more of a politician than a superhero, according to director Ryan Coogler.

“That’s the first thing on his mind when he wakes up in the morning. ‘How am I going to fulfill my duties as king of this place?’”

It definitely leads to interesting balance as he tries to rule his country and function as its protector.

He does, however, have a group of talented advisors at his side. Chief amongst them is Ramonda (right of T’Challa), his mother, played by Angela Bassett, providing insight as to how his late father would handle the problems.

“He has to look to her for some of the answers of what his father might want or might do. She may not be exactly right all the time, but she definitely has insights. She is the queen mother. And she’s that for not just him, but for everybody,” Chadwick Boseman said.

Of course, even a Queen does typical mother things. Like meddle.

“She’s has her hands in everything — even his love life.”

That leads to Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), in the center, T’Challa’s former lover whose role in Wakanda requires her to know the greater world.

It makes her the closest thing Wakanda has to 007 whose choice weapon are her “ring blades”. Producer Nate Moore promised some interesting things in the future for those weapons along with a nod to Africa’s past.

“The ones Lupita carries while in the green outfit are based on traditional African weaponry. However, she does get a hi-tech upgrade later in the film, compliments of Shuri.”

Shuri (Letitia Wright), on the far right, would definitely give Tony Stark a run for his money. The younger sister of T’Challa heads the Wakandan design group.

Kevin Feige said of the character, “She’s responsible for all these amazing technological advances that Vibranium has brought about from Wakanda.”

Benefitting from Shuri’s technology is Okoye (Danai Gurira), on the right above Shuri, the head of the Dora Milaje, the all-female special forces of unit of Wakanda. Personally, out of everything surrounding this film, it’s the Dora Milaje that I’m most excited to see.

Gurira doesn’t see Okoye as just a military role, however, instead she phrases it as more of a secret service role.

“These women, their strength is to preserve Wakanda. It’s more like the secret service in a sense that it’s not just military. She’s the head of intel.”

Naturally, as the head of intel, she probably carries the most guilt over the death of T’Chaka (John Kani) in Captain America: Civil War. While that leads to a serious personality, Gurira promises an “unexpected sense of humor” as well.

Another advisor to T’Challa is his best friend, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), on the left toward the back, who helps keep the wider world ignorant of the true secrets and wonders of Wakanda.

Moore said, “W’Kabi is the head of security for the Border Tribe. They live on the borders of Wakanda and serve as the first line of defense for the country.”

You have to admit that it is clever.

Last, but not least for T’Challa’s apparent allies, is Zuri (Forest Whitaker), seen on the far left. He’s a long-time advisor to T’Chaka and the keeper of the Heart Shaped Herb. For newbies to the Black Panther lore, the special Herb helps grant access to the powers of the Black Panther such as super strength. In comics, only those of the royal family can eat the Herb to gain the powers. No word on if that rule will survive in the movie.

To continue on to that, for all the technological marvels that Wakanda exhibits, it is also a spiritual country. From what I understand, the majority religion is a form of animism with various animal gods. The Panther god is the one who gives the powers onto the Black Panther as protector of Wakanda. No word on if this will be the case in the film, but Zuri also functions as another tie to T’Chaka for T’Challa.

Coogler said, “Spirituality is something that exists in Wakanda in the comics, and it’s something we wanted to have elements of in the film. Forest’s character, more than anything, is a major tie-back to T’Challa’s father. Zuri is someone he looks to for guidance.”

T’Challa will definitely need guidance against his foe, Erik Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) seen next to Nakia. Once known as N’Jadaka in Wakanda, he was forced out when he teamed with Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and became a weapons dealer.

Moore thinks that Killmonger will provide a good foil to T’Challa.

“I think Killmonger has his own opinion on how Wakanda has been run and should run, and what I think Michael brings to the table is sort of a charming antagonist, who doesn’t agree with how T’Challa is running things, frankly.”

In between how everything in the film looks and all this information on the characters, Black Panther definitely promises to be something new to the Marvel Universe. I definitely cannot wait to see it.

Black Panther hits theatres February 16th, 2018.

New Black Panther Info Promises The Gorgeous World Of Wakanda Along With The Dangers Underneath Marvel, in conjunction with Entertainment Weekly, has released a lot of information on the highly anticipated

#Angela Bassett #Black Panther #chadwick boseman #Lupita Nyong&039;o #Michael B Jordan

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