News Around the Net!
Let’s start with this:
Toy Story 5 is happening!! And it looks like they once again have come up with a fantastic concept. I can’t wait for this. Can the geniuses at Pixar pull off a FIFTH great Toy Story film?? I am excited to find out.
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is almost here. The kids all look like they’re thirty years old now, but nevertheless, I’m excited!
The new illustrated poster for Stranger Things season 5 is also pretty cool. Click here for an in-depth interview with the Duffer Brothers on this final season and more.
Almost a decade after the first season, The Night Manager is returning for a second season:
Interesting! I quite liked the first season, back in 2016. It’s weird and kind of neat that they’re bringing the show back after such a long break.
I am super-excited that Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is finally being released to theatres!!!
I feel like Quentin Tarantino has been teasing this forever. I can’t wait to see it.
The biggest bummer for me recently was the news that Peacock cancelled Poker Face. That first season was one of the all-time great seasons of television, and while I thought the second season wasn’t quite at the same levels of perfection, it was still pretty great. There was plenty of gas left in this show and this premise. That article says they’re shopping around a new version starring Peter Dinklage. I love Peter Dinklage, but this show without Natasha Lyonne is unimaginable to me. This stinks.
Speaking of bummers… one of the wildest news items in the past month was the revelation that Steven Soderbergh (!!) and Adam Driver developed a Ben Solo spin-off film that Bob Iger rejected. Whaaat??? Yes, Rise of Skywalker sucked and soured the whole sequel trilogy for me. But a Star Wars movie directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Adam Driver??? It might have been strange, but it would have been cool. Of all the many Star Wars movies that have been rumored or even announced over the past decade but that never got made, I think this one hurts the worst.
Alien: Earth has been renewed for a second season. That’s good news, I guess, because it means we’ll hopefully get some resolution to the cliffhanger ending of the first season. But I was disappointed by that first season, so I can’t say I’m filled with excitement to return to this show. On the other hand, Noah Hawley usually makes great TV, so I’m interested to see what he does with a second bite of the apple. I’m hoping the second season improves on the first.
This is interesting: HBO Max is developing a TV adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta. That stands as one of the all-time great comic-books/graphic novels of all time, though it was already adapted into an excellent film back in 2005, directed by James McTeigue and written by the Wachowskis. How about developing one of Alan Moore’s many other great comic books, instead of re-doing V?
I’ve never watched a minute of Doctor Who. Nothing against the franchise, it’s just not something I’ve gotten into. Nevertheless, this was an interesting read about why Disney dropped the show. I know a lot of people love Doctor Who, so I hope they’re able to find a good new home for future seasons.
Despite seeing ten billion trailers every time I see a new movie at AMC theatres, I’ve never gotten to see this fake horror movie trailer starring Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka! Bummer!
Shrinking season three is coming in January!! I can’t wait!!
I’m also thrilled that Only Murders in the Building will be back for a sixth season! (I quite enjoyed season five — my review is coming soon.)
Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk have a new podcast… I’ll have to give this a listen!
I was very sad last month to read of the death of Drew Struzan, one of the best movie poster artists who ever lived. I have had Mr. Struzan’s work hanging in my home since I was a kid (when I had some of his poster art in my room). Mr. Struzan illustrated some of the all-time greatest movie posters: for many films in the Star Wars saga, for all the Indiana Jones films, the Back to the Future films, The Goonies, and so many more!!! If you haven’t seen it, check out the documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster — it’s available to watch on streaming on Amazon Prime Video. (Click here for my review.) Mr. Struzan was an all-time talent and a true legend.
I was also saddened by the death of the great Diane Keaton, who was so wonderful in so many films over so many years, most notably Annie Hall and The Godfather trilogy, and also Play it Again Sam, Manhattan, Reds, Father of the Bride, and so many more.
To my great surprise, I have been loving the “Energon Universe” of comic book series overseen by Robert Kirkman (creator of Invincible and The Walking Dead) that reinvents Transformers and G.I.Joe (two cartoon series I loved oh-so dearly as a kid in the eighties) and merging them into a shared universe, along with his original creation Void Rivals (an excellent sci-fi adventure tale). In a cool development, Hasbro and Skybound are working together to adapt Mr. Kirkman’s adaptations into a new animated series. If this actually happens, and if it’s faithful to what Mr. Kirkman & co. have been doing in these excellent comic book series, this could be great. (But those are two very big IFs…)
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reuniting for a fourth Mummy movie…? Oookay… What a weird idea. I liked Stephen Sommers’ first Mummy movie back in 1999, but even then it was clear to me that it was sort of a silly and derivative. And the sequels were pretty lousy. I’m having a hard time imagining a decades-later sequel being any good… I guess we’ll see…!
I’ll leave you with this: The Ringer’s list of the 101 best movie acting performances of the 21st century. This is a great list (and it makes me want to rewatch all of these movies… and finally catch up with the ones I’ve never seen!!).
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