"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" Trailer & "The Multiverse Saga" Timeline

by Nathaniel R

Queen Bassett contemplates the future of Wakanda (as we contemplate the future of the MCU)

We try not to care about the MCU because it's become so dominant as to be oppressive on movie culture BUT we did grow up reading Marvel comic books so it's hard to look away. Phase Four of Marvel's Cinematic Universe has brought (comparatively) mixed reactions with people griping that the work is getting sloppier, particularly vfx and action-wise, in their rush to have literally dozens of subfranchises under the overall MCU umbrella. We'd also argue that they're getting a bit lazier in character development, trusting that comics lore and general fan culture will sell everything rather than putting the personality onscreen where it needs to be.

We hope it improves soon and if it's going to, Wakanda Forever (trailer below just dropped) would be the ideal place to right the ship what with a strong proven director and cast (Ryan Coogler and several cast members returning), a beloved property, and one of Marvel's most intriguing characters (at least on the page) being introduced...

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Streaming May 2021: The Mitchells vs. Dancing Girls at the Commune

Yes it's time for another round of streaming roulette where we point out titles that are new(ish) to streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar and whatever comes up we share. Let's start with Netflix...

It's too dangerous out there. We need to stay here and play it safe!"

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Showbiz History: Battleship Potemkin, Fantastic Four, and Kevin's Bacon

Ten random things that happened on this day (July 8th) in film history for your edification or amusement

1905 The mutinous soldiers of the Russian battleship Potemkin surrender to Romanian authorities. The event later becomes the subject of one of the most influential films ever made, Sergei Eisentein's Battleship Potemkin (1925).

1907 Zeigfeld stages the very first "Ziegfeld Follies" on a New York theater roof. The elaborate theatrical revue becomes a showbiz institution and the subject or setting of major movies, most famously the Best Picture winner The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and the Best Actress winning Funny Girl (1968)

After the jump Cary Grant, Kevin Bacon, Fantastic Four and more...

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The Razzies Are Here (Though You Wish They Weren't)

Kieran, here. The Razzie Awards, “honoring” the worst cinematic offerings of the year have announced their nominees and it’s pretty much as expected—knee-jerk, steeped in misogyny and patriarchal nonsense (more on this later) and generally indicative that they don’t care about quality filmmaking any more than the offenders they’re highlighting. A little background on who votes on the Razzies—voting is actually open to the public. People who want to vote pay an annual fee or you can pay a whopping $500 for lifetime membership. Why would anyone ever pay to be part of this unseemly orgasm of fruitless schadenfreude, you ask? To quote Sarah Paulson’s Abby in Carol, “I can’t help you with that”.

Anyway, here are the nominees...

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Cinematic Lumps of Coal: 15 Worst of '15

They've been naughty. So we shan't be nice. Rather than choosing the 15 worst movies (we skip a lot of stuff that looks atrocious), here are 15 matters of annoyance within the movies of 2015, whether the movies were decent or terrible. Vague/light spoilers ahead.

15 Lumps of Coal From '15
Links go to past articles about the film or reviews if they exist

15 Grab Bag of Undelights
Afew I couldn't fit in below: Chris Hemsworth's wandering accent in In The Heart of The Sea often within the same scene. Is this First Mate Australian, British, or from the Bronx?; The way Mother Malkin's (Julianne Moore) red hair stays that way when she shifts into dragon form in The Seventh Son. That was cute with Madame Mim in The Sword in the Stone but in "realistic" cgi not so much; and, the perpetual agony of trailers that take you from the beginning to the end of a movie (Room and The Revenant are the latest victims) spoiling every story beat.

14 Longwindedness
In nearly great movies (Clouds of Sils Maria 124 min), good movies (Saint Laurent 150 min.), divisive movies (I'm still making up my mind about The Revenant okay? 156 min), and arthouse curiousities (Arabian Nights, Vol II 131 min., Love 135 min.) alike the tendency in contemporary cinema is to let the camera linger here and there and everywhere and also to include entire sections that add nothing particularly new to the plot or our understanding of character or theme if narrative isn't the movie's main thrust. Don't misunderstand: a good lingering camera can be among the greatest of things but if you're running over 90 minutes please justify it with new information. Shave 10 minutes (or a lot more in some cases) off any of these movies and they're instantly improved. 

13 more after the jump...

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