Believe it or not, the ending of Black Adam is a lot deeper than your average superhero movie. At the very least, there’s more going on, and given how little backstory it provides for pivotal characters like Doctor Fate and Hawkman, not to mention the deep DC lore tied to Black Adam himself, means that a little extra context might help you keep track of everything that went down. Let’s try to get at this…...
Generally, these happy industry tidings would be the headline and takeaway from movie theaters’ very good weekend… and yet, in addition to confirming the $80 million domestic haul and an international gross of about $78 million, Disney’s most interesting revelation is that Black Widow earned $60 million in purchases via Disney+’s Premier Access paywall. Studios and streaming services have traditionally been secretive about the number of viewers their content attracts online, particularly in a new release’s early days....
The Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon may contain literally millions of words, but there only so many times you can read the saga and watch its stellar adaptation before you need something else to add to the time travel romance adventure rotation. When this moment comes, look no further than the following list of recommendations, composed of other epic romances that span time and space… Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg A romance that defies the laws of time....
Talk to just about anyone involved with Netflix horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities long enough and EC Comics will eventually come up. The namesake of the show himself, Academy Award-winning director and monster enthusiast Guillermo del Toro, has freely spoken of his love for the classic mid-20th century comic imprint, telling The Austin Chronicle earlier this year that “I remember when I was a kid being very scared by Graham Ingels of EC Comics....
One of the most famous quality chasms involves a legend of horror cinema, Jason Voorhees. The trailer for Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan mostly consists of a single shot of Jason from behind, staring up at the NY skyline. After a series of quick cuts showing people screaming in terror, the voice over declares, “Now, New York has a new problem.” Perfect, right? Unfortunately, the actual movie mostly consists of Jason hunting down an exceptionally dull set of teens on a boat, and only arrives in New York for the final 30 minutes....
Traditionally, we all accept that film is a director’s medium and television a writer’s medium. Most people with even a basic knowledge of cinema can tell you that Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and E.T. are Steven Spielberg films, but they’re probably less sure of who wrote the scripts for those films. By the same token, Aaron Sorkin has been behind some of the most acclaimed television shows of the last two decades, but the directors involved in actualising those shows don’t immediately spring to mind....
While Netflix’s Castlevania has always ultimately been about the heroes’ eternal fight against Dracula, the fourth and final season does introduce a few new villains to the mix. One of those baddies is Varney of London, a two-bit vampire who was once one of Dracula’s generals and has now made it his mission to resurrect his master. The only problem is that the foul-mouthed bloodsucker is kind of a joke, a has-been who even his vampiric cohorts don’t respect....
Of course with everyone glued to the nostalgia emanating from what is sure to be a new family tradition—Disney+—you might be wondering what holiday gems are hidden in its streaming bag of goodies. Well, we’re here to answer that question and offer you a recommendation on the best holiday cheer to be had in the Mouse House. Frozen (2013) Disney+ Frozen, an animated movie you might have heard of, technically takes place during summer....
Counterpart Episode 2 Viewers of Counterpart could be forgiven for sharing Howard Silk’s frustration in not being told what’s really going on in the series in these opening episodes, but the truth of the matter is, this show isn’t about to hold anyone’s hand as they get up to speed in the espionage game between parallel worlds. The appreciation is in the small details that are being given out now that the exposition of the premiere, such as it was, is over and done with....
It’s rare to have a movie as focus-tested and committee-approved as Disney’s Cruella surprise you. But in my case, it did. Filled with vamping swagger and fabulous charm, this reimagining legitimately does something fresh with its premise, and broke down my curmudgeonly skepticism toward a Cruella de Vil origin story in the process. Dodging the boring impulse to just remake 101 Dalmatians (which Disney already did once in 1996), this is an eccentric blend of heist movie twists, 1970s decadence, and even shades of All About Eve....
Dark Matter Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 The return of Dark Matter for season 3 could have easily been the 14th episode of season 2, so seamless was the transition. However, although the action surrounding the sabotage at the multi-corporate summit will certainly have its consequences in the long term, the series seems to have pivoted into new territory, especially when the two episodes of this double premiere are taken together....
Chief among these is Green Lantern, the ambitious show about three generations of space cops. Created by Arrowverse architects Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and The Lego Batman Movie writer Seth Grahame-Smith, Green Lantern demanded a budget to rival those of HBO’s prestige programs, such as Game of Thrones. With such high costs, Green Lantern seemed exactly like the type of show new Warner Brothers CEO David Zaslav wants to eliminate as he works to reset DC properties and better compete with the MCU....
“We had a cast of incredibly talented people, who we just let do their thing,” Racioppa says. “We trusted them, and they gave that trust back with incredible work. Everybody gave 110%. I can’t speak highly enough about the crew, our directors and designers, our cast, animators, and everyone on our post-production team. Everybody just came together to get this done.” Awkwafina, Kumail Nanjiani, Justin Roiland, Andy Samberg, Michael Cera, Don Cheadle, Kieran Culkin, Giancarlo Esposito, Ben Schwartz, Kevin Smith, Simon Pegg, Christian Slater, and Aisha Tyler are just some of the names attached to these unique stories, and Racioppa tells us that The Boys’ executive producer Seth Rogen was key to bringing them all onboard, making phone call after phone call to notable creators and celebrities who he already knew were fans of the live action series....
This month is highlighted by the arrival of Moon Knight on March 30. Oscar Isaac stars as the latest Marvel hero, a man with a fracturing personality and awesome power imbued by the Egyptian god Khonshu. Tonally, this seems like a really divergent take from the studio and the trailers promise some compelling mystery and bone-shattering punches if nothing else. The big cinematic release this month is Turning Red on March 11....
Despite what its title promised, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delivered a relatively limited view of alternate universes. Most of the action took place either in the main MCU reality (dubbed Earth-616, much to the chagrin of some comic book fans) or on Earth-818, home to the Illuminati, Billy and Tommy Maximoff, and, of course, Pizza Poppa. We did get a brief glimpse of several different realities as Strange and America Chavez blasted through the multiverse, but most flashed by so quickly that we couldn’t make sense of what they were....
Chibnall – and there’s a joke here in the comments section if you want it – knows exactly what he’s doing. So, most obvious idea first: is Chris Chibnall, embarking on a series that consists of an eight-episode long story, bringing back the Swarm from ‘The Invisible Enemy’? This Season 15 story from 1977 featured a parasitic virus taking over victims through their eyes. The Swarm are mostly remembered for the character of the Nucleus of the Swarm, who resembled a hybrid of living prawn and cooked/peeled prawn, and the story is not thought of especially well (though it did introduce K9)....
Doom Patrol Episode 10 This is definitely one of the weirder, and perhaps grossest, episodes yet of Doom Patrol. And though not the best, “Hair Patrol” is still a satisfyingly shaggy story that delivers a Niles Caulder origin story, and brings in one of comic book’s oddest villains, Beard Hunter. I did not expect to see Timothy Dalton’s Chief squatting for a poop in the woods in this episode – or ever – but the scene is only the beginning of the actor’s impressive work this week....
Doom Patrol Episode 5 “Honey, I just traveled all the way from Jersey to Barcelona, cut open a priest, climbed inside him, and landed in a snow globe, and now I’m standing here talking to a friggin’ robot man.” And that is Doom Patrol, friends. The weirdness, and dark humor, make it a fun ride, but the emotional arcs of these characters makes it a great show. After all, in this week’s hero/villain team-up – with a “bit wonky” plan to start a religion to stop a cult — we have prophetic cockroach Ezekiel debating the production of cheese post-apocalypse in the same episode as a younger Jane endures abuse at a mental facility, and Larry continues to unravel due to his own self-loathing, and identity crisis....
Odds are you know about Martin thanks to his Song of Ice and Fire novels (and the HBO series those books spawned, Game of Thrones). He has, of course, also worked on numerous other projects, most notably the Wild Cards book series, but it seems fair to say that most audiences still associate him with his hit novel-turned-tv show franchise. The director of Dark Souls and Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, was certainly one of those people....
Initially, players can only summon a pack of Lone Wolves (and a duo of imps if they picked the Fanged Imp Keepsake), but as you progress, you will find plenty more ashes that allow you to summon far more powerful ghostly minions. Most Spirit Ash allies are actually based on enemies and bosses scattered throughout Elden Ring and thus adopt those characters’ stats and tactics. Because there are so many Spirit Ashes to choose from (and relatively few chances to see them in action and test them out), it can be hard to know which ones are your best options....
