News Around the Net

I am over-the-moon excited by this trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City:

I’m interested in this trailer for American Born Chinese, which is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and reunites Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu:

A new Pixar movie is on its way! Here’s a trailer for Elemental:

Whoof, Marvel seems to have something of a mess on its hands with the recent surprising firing of Victoria Alonso, who’s been a key creative voice at the studio for many years.  It’s hard for me to evaluate what’s happened here and if I think future films will suffer or improve because of her departure.  Here’s Variety’s take, here’s IndieWire’s take, and here’s a follow-up piece from Variety.  

Can this be true: is Ryan Coogler (writer/director of Black Panther and Creed) developing a reboot of The X-Files…?  That sounds far out.  I’d love to see it.

So a Gladiator sequel is finally happening… and it’s going to star Denzel Washington?  OK, I’m intrigued!

I thought the Willow Disney+ series was only so-so, but I’m still bummed to learn that they’re not moving forward on a season two.  Showrunner Jon Kasdan insists that the series isn’t canceled, and what he wrote sounds reasonable… but at the same time, I am doubtful a second season is ever going to happen.  It’s a shame to leave this story uncompleted.

I’m interested to learn more about Robert Rodriguez and Ben Affleck’s upcoming film, Hypnotic.

Sad news that Lance Reddick passed away.  I became a forever fan of Mr. Reddick’s for his work on The Wire.  He was only sixty years old.

I didn’t love Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but I’m still game for more Ghostbusters films… I just hope they’re better than that one.  A good step in the right direction is to add Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt to the cast!!

I’m actually enjoying season three of Star Trek: Picard, and I was pleased by the recent announcements that the wonderful animated Lower Decks show had been renewed for TWO more seasons, as has Strange New Worlds.  (I didn’t love Strange New Worlds the way many other Trek fans seem to have… I think the building blocks are there for a good show, I hope they can improve in season two.)  But I am not excited by the official announcement of a new Starfleet Academy show, something that has been rumored for a long, long time (this idea has been around since the days after Star Trek V) and which I have always thought was a bad idea.  A teenaged Star Trek show does not sound like fun to me.  And this is apparently being set in the 32nd century, following the events of Star Trek Discovery.  I think Discovery is terrible and am not excited by a show that picks up that show’s bad stories and terrible designs.  Ugh.

But on a more positive Star Trek note, this is a nice article for Variety on the design of the U.S.S. Titan for Star Trek: Picard season three.  It’s cool to see that show runner Terry Malalas wanted to bring back the look and feel of a classic Star Trek starship, and I love that he brought back senior illustrator Doug Drexler, scenic art supervisor Michael Okuda and video playback supervisor Denise Okuda, who were all instrumental in the look of Star Trek for decades throughout the production of all the 24th-century-set Star Trek shows.  And here is another wonderfully in-depth interview with Picard season three composers Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann, who have created a fantastic score for the show that weaves in themes from throughout Star Trek’s long and wonderful musical history.  The score is one of the best aspects of Picard season three!

This is cool: Seth MacFarlane and National Geographic are working on a documentary about Carl Sagan.  I can’t wait to watch that!

I thought Netflix’s adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book series Jupiter’s Legacy was solid, and I was sad it was cancelled after just one season.  It looks like Netflix is taking another whack at a Mark Millar comic book adaptation, with the upcoming adaptation of his series American Jesus, now retitled The Chosen One.  I’m interested to see what this series is like!  American Jesus isn’t my favorite Mark Millar comic, but it’s an interesting story with some fun (and controversial) ideas…!

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

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