Movies

Before Mystery, Inc, there was Ridgely High -- where two students, Daphne Blake (SARAH JEFFERY, WAYWARD PINES) and Velma Dinkley (SARAH GILMAN, LAST MAN STANDING), first meet in real life after having been online BFFs.

Daphne has just transferred to Ridgely, a high-tech school that would make a Jetson's jaw drop. She's led a charmed life where everything has always worked out and good things come easily to her. She also believes in ghosts and aliens. But there's a secret behind Daphne's good luck that gets stripped away, leaving her to her own devices for the first time in her life.

When ballerina Dominika Egorova (JENNIFER LAWRENCE) is injured during a sabotaged dance recital, her financial status is thrown into jeopardy. Needing the money to continue caring for her ailing mother, she allows her uncle, Vanya Egorov (MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS) to recruit her into Russian intelligence. As an attendee ast the so-called "Sparrow School" -- something Dominika later refers to, not wrongly, as "whore school" -- she learns to read people, determine what they want, and use her body to accomplish her goals.

JASON BATEMAN and RACHEL MCADAMS are a perfect pair in the Warner Brothers adventure-comedy, GAME NIGHT.

Max (Bateman) and Annie (McAdams) met over bar games. Both are sharp-minded, quick-witted, and competitive, and they continue their game night tradition with their friends into their marriage. But lately they've begun to exclude their neighbor, Gary (JESSE PLEMONS), following his divorce, which has left the police officer seeming a bit on the creepy side, so the friends have to do their game nights with less fanfare.

Complicating matters for Max is the arrival of his older, better-looking, and more successful brother, Brooks (KYLE CHANDLER), who opts to host the next game night at a house he's renting while in town. The game is a murder mystery, so when the house gets broken into and Brooks is kidnapped before their very eyes, the players all believe this is the beginning of the game. Except it's very real, and Brooks is in deadly danger.

From BBC:

Marvel have a new film "in the works" in the shape of Muslim superhero Ms Marvel.

It won't be the studio's first female-led film - Brie Larson is already set to enter the franchise as Captain Marvel in 2019.

Avengers Infinity War producer Kevin Feige told the BBC: "Ms. Marvel... is definitely sort of in the works."

He explained she is "another character in the comic books, the Muslim hero who is inspired by Captain Marvel".

Honestly, I’m not sure why we, the movie going people, do it to ourselves. We see a movie that we really enjoy, say, Deadpool and immediately we jump on social media and say how great it was and how we want more. The studios see that and they green-light a sequel if not more likely a full three to five movie franchise, by the end of which the lead actor will have become disillusioned with the long commitment, the writers ran of things to say about the character two films back, the critics complain that the sequel doesn’t break new ground in the industry while also criticizing it for being more of the same, which is ultimately what we, the movie going people, demanded in the first place, right? So really, you have no one to blame but yourselves for Deadpool 2. It is exactly what you wanted, and the critics of course loved it. Hey, waitaminute, that can’t be right.

From Entertainment Weekly:

The Mad Titan is coming for Fortnite.

This isn’t one of those fun fan-made mashups for the YouTube crowd. Epic Games and Marvel have an unprecedented crossover event in the works, and EW can exclusively give away the deets! Thanos, the villain of Avengers: Infinity War, will drop into Fortnite‘s Battle Royale mode for a limited time starting Tuesday, May 8

...

The “Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup” mode for Battle Royale will feel just like a standard slugfest — with one major difference: One hundred players will descend upon the map and fight until one player is left standing, as usual, but this time you’ll do so with the Infinity Gauntlet in play.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR's CHRIS HEMSWORTH headlines this film as Captain Mitch Nelson, a military team leader who has never seen real combat and who has just disbanded his team to take a desk job. It was a good plan, and a good career.

But 9-11 got in the way.

Following the attacks on the World Trace Center in 2001, Nelson fights to get his Special Forces team back together and sent to the Middle East. Over objections, he is successful, and his team join up with one of the Afghan warlords, General Dostum (NAVID NEGAHBAN), to take on the Taliban. Their specific mission is to advance and capture the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which is a stronghold of the Taliban.

With Marvel's AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR tearing up the box office, the timing couldn't be more perfect for Marvel Studios to release the trailer for ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink. In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from the past.

As villains go, Thanos is the best Marvel villain to date. Unfortunately, because the bar is so low, that's still not saying much.

I had originally planned on writing "5 Things That Ruined Avengers: Infinity War" but as I started with my first point, it morphed into its own article. So I may hit on my other four points at a later date. For now, though, I present to you the biggest moment that ruined the movie.

***SPOILER WARNING***

Too often in comic book stories, the villain is motivated by greed or power. They not only are evil, but they know they are evil, and you will submit to them or fork over all your cash, depending on the depth of their megalomania.

The best villains, however, see themselves as the heroes of their own story, and act accordingly. Thus it is with Thanos, in a lifetime achievement role for actor JOSH BROLIN. All Thanos wants to do is eliminate poverty, make sure there are plenty of resources for people to live on, and see the universe at peace. And to do this, the only thing he needs to do is simply cut the existing population in half.

There are a lot of tidbits out there that add up to a full story when you connect the dots between Henry Cavill and director Christopher McQuarrie.

With CinemaCon happening and Henry Cavill doing press tours for the upcoming Mission Impossible: Fallout movie, directed by McQuarrie, the Superman actor is having a hard time dodging questions about his future in the DCEU. He has been asked about when we'll see him as Superman again and another question was asked about a potential sequel to 2013's MAN OF STEEL. This episode of "Superman Talk" discusses his answers and how McQuarrie plays a potential role in the return of Superman on the big screen.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Kino Industries' Ctrl Movie, a technology company billed as a "collaborative cinematic experience," is partnering with 20th Century Fox.

The tech allows the in-theater audiences to control the characters' actions throughout the film using the app that offers people dual commands during pivotal points in the films' action. Depending on the audiences' choices, the film will have a different plot, ending and even running time.

Thanos. The name alone strikes a chord with Marvel comic aficionados. It’s like sitting at a WWE event when the lights all go out, a lone, deep bell peals, and the arena is bathed in eerie blue light and theatrical fog, signaling the arrival of The  Undertaker. When Thanos shows up in a comic book, someone is going to die. If Thanos had his way, everyone would die.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a bit different than the Marvel Comic Universe, but Thanos is still the ultimate cosmic antagonist. Up until know he’s been relegated to talking head spots, chiding Loki in Marvel’s The Avengers, putting Ronan the Accuser in his place in Guardians of the Galaxy, and so forth. With The Avengers: Infinity War Thanos finally takes center stage against the entire host of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s expansive cast. And if Thanos had his way, nearly everyone would die.

BEN WHISHAW returns to lend his voice to the delightfully courteous and thoughtful-to-a-fault Paddington Brown, a talking bear who lives in London with the Brown family -- Henry (HUGE BONNEVILLE), Mary (SALLY HAWKINS), Judy (MADELAINE HARRIS) and Jonathan (SAMUEL JOSLIN).

Paddington's Aunty Lucy (IMELDA STAUNTON) is having an important birthday coming up, and Paddington wants to get her the perfect present. He finds it in an antique shop -- a pop-up book of all the London landmarks, created by a very famous carnival owner. Alas, the book is very expensive, and Paddington sets out to earn the money to buy the book.

Is there a proper escape from reality? Wouldn't it be wonderful to live a life of dreams rather than face the consequences of life's choices? If only the technology existed to find a way to gratify the desires of the flesh, or to discover enjoyment in safely pursuing a hobby, alter-ego, or living a lifestyle exceeding our own personal potential.

The creation of a true virtual reality, where anyone could do or be anything limited only by the imagination, seems like a syfy movie or television series. But wouldn't the existence of this technology be a great advancement, for all mankind? Science focusing on the betterment of our human existence controlled by corporate greed. Can you only imagine!

Escape from Reality: Enter the Oasis. 

From CNet:

20th Century Fox is changing around its movie release dates for the X-Men sequel "Dark Phoenix" and the X-Men character film "The New Mutants." 

...

Both comic book films are delayed until 2019, so "Bohemian Rhapsody," a biopic on the band Queen, can hit theaters on Nov. 2 instead of its original Dec. 25 opening date. 

From Hollywood Reporter:

Captain Marvel is going to be a blast from the past in more ways than one. The '90s-set film will not only see Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) back, but also a number of familiar faces, Marvel Studios revealed Monday.

Ugh. It's just another boring sequel.

Those were my initial thoughts. I mean, when is the last time a sequel to a good action movie actually succeeded in living up to the expectations or originality of the first movie? I was glad I was proven wrong with PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING! I actually enjoyed this feature. It revived great memories of my childhood favorite cartoons, like Voltron, Transformers, and even GI-Joe. This kid was brought back to imagining being the  hero with--not superpowers--but the extraordinary opportunity to pilot a giant robotic weapon created as a last defense to save the world! Who doesn't want to learn to pilot a giant fighting robot against evil alien creatures? Kabaam! Pow! Rockets! Super Punch! Another victory for the hero!

Exciting! 

The name of the movie is Tomb Raider, but name of the game is franchises. That’s the word that makes Hollywood drool like Pavlov’s pooches. Some are obvious, like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe that everyone in Tinseltown is scrambling to emulate.  Tomb Raider would seem to be an obvious candidate, considering it’s essentially Indiana Jones as a British woman. Born from the multi-billion dollar videogame industry, Tomb Raider’s lead character Lara Croft has driven a long parade of console videogames, a successful comic book series, and two reasonably successful films starring Angelina Jolie. After more than a decade, Hollywood decided the time was right to reboot the cinematic arm of the Tomb Raider franchise.

MATT DAMON (JASON BOURNE) stars in this ALEXANDER PAYNE vehicle about a world where the capability of shrinking living beings is made a reality.

Being able to become five inches high, while irreversible, comes with many advantages, which fall into the categories of ecology and economy. Requiring less to sustain yourself scales what might be a meager savings for a full-size individual into a fortune for a miniaturized one, allowing for a retirement to leisure much earlier. Likewise, the less one uses, the less waste produced, so it's a win-win.

Payne does a wonderful job exploring the downsides of the technology as well -- particularly with political dissidents being shrunk against their will, and the challenges to illegal immigration if refugees can simply be shipped overseas by Federal Express.