Extended Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Trailer Debuts

Not one to be outdone, Marvel Studios also capitalized on Super Bowl weekend with a new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The one-minute ad introduced the new villain Ayesha, as well as our returning favorites Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Baby Groot. We also got looks at the trio of newcomers who will be joining them - Michael Rooker’s blue-skinned space redneck Yondu, Karen Gillan’s bald cyborg Nebula, and telepathic antennae-toting Mantis. There are shots of each character getting their moment to shine, in addition to a scene with all of them together. Yondu still has his floating whistle arrow thing, Gamora gets to fire a gun that’s bigger than her, and Drax takes on some giant intergalactic monster with nothing but his twin knives. Director James Gunn’s wacky, colorful visuals and off-beat humor were on full display as well, along with that rockin’ soundtrack that helped make the first film such a hit. There’s still no plot details, but the movie looks like it will be a lot of fun. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will hit theaters on May 5, 2017.

Stranger Things Season 2 Teaser Debuts During Super Bowl L1

This past weekend was the Super Bowl, which meant a lot of things to a lot of people. For Atlanta fans, it was a day that will live in infamy until the heat death of the universe. For Lady Gaga fans, it was the closest many of them will ever get to being able to afford seeing her perform live. For the rest of us, it was a prime opportunity to see some of the biggest commercials and movie trailers of the year. Chief among those was a roughly 30-second spot for Season 2 of Netflix’s runaway hit original series, Stranger Things. The show’s retro 80s aesthetic was on full display as footage from a vintage Eggo ad glitches and morphs into a shot of the main characters - Mike, Lucas, and Dustin - dressed up as Ghost Busters. We also get a few snatches of the boys riding around on their bikes, Sheriff Hopper doing some dirty work, and what appears to be more Department of Energy personnel before dropping a very appropriate release date.

Hint: It's the only time of year this is appropriate school dress.

If anything’s clear from the bits and pieces I’ve seen so far, it’s that Eleven is still nowhere to be found, the rift to the Upside Down is still open, and things are still coming through. One of the final shots of the teaser shows a many-legged creature, several stories tall, towering over the suburbs of Hawkins. Whatever it is, it makes the Demogorgon from Season 1 look like an action figure by comparison.

We're gonna need a bigger slingshot...

Some more plot details about the second season also came out in Entertainment Weekly later in the week. Some choice tidbits: as hinted at the end of Season 1, Will Byers is still seeing visions of the Upside Down. Whether this is real or all in his head remains to be seen, but my money’s on the former. His mother Joyce, to cope with the events of the last year and give her sons some sense of normalcy, is dating an old high school classmate, Bob, played by Sean Astin of Goonies and Lord of the Rings fame. Sheriff Hopper is also struggling to adjust, tasking himself with trying to cover up all the weird things that happened. But the characters carrying the most baggage from the first season are going to be Mike and Nancy Wheeler, who both lost someone to the Upside Down. There will also be some new additions to the cast. Brother-sister duo Billy and Max move into town, and while Max is immediately friendly with the group - possibly sparking a love triangle between her, Lucas, and Dustin - her brother is decidedly more antagonistic. A non-human addition is in the mix as well, with Dustin forming a bond with some presumably cute extra-dimensional critter. This still leaves plenty of questions. What’s up with the new guy running the lab? What is the spindly-legged creature? Where the heck is Eleven? All those answers, and probably some new questions, will arrive when Season 2 hits Netflix on Halloween.

Movie Review: Imperial Dreams

This week I’ll be reviewing the Netflix Original film Imperial Dreams. Starring John Boyega, the story follows an ex-con turned aspiring writer who attempts to secure a better life for his son after being released from prison. Ghosts from his past and bureaucratic obstacles in his present conspire against him as he tries to break out of an endless cycle of poverty and violence in LA’s notorious Watts projects. Although it initially debuted to strong reviews at Sundance in 2014, the film is just now receiving a wide release on Netflix. The three year delay does nothing to diminish the film’s emotional power or its social relevance. In under 90 minutes, Imperial Dreams manages to touch on income inequality, police harassment and recidivism, all filtered through the lens of a father’s love for his son.

In its opening moments, we are introduced to Bambi Jones, a 21-year-old ex-con returning to his old stomping grounds after being granted parole. As he shuffles along the sidewalk, belongings in a bag, retrieves his keys from the bumper of his beat-up sedan, and reunites with a son who was barely an infant when he left, Bambi’s internal monologue narrates, reading from the pages of his journal. “You can’t splash back into the hood...you have to slide back in.” Bambi’s efforts not to make waves are short-lived, however, as he finds himself surrounded by people and situations that tempt him to return to the life of violence he once knew. There’s the amoral figure of Uncle Shrimp, a drug dealing slum lord and the only father figure Bambi’s ever known, who offers to let Bambi and his son stay in his house, but expects his former protege to contribute to his operation. Detectives Gill and Hernandez, the cops who landed Bambi in prison and are more than willing to send him back if he doesn’t stay out of trouble. Wayne, Bambi’s half-brother who has landed a partial scholarship to Howard, but still needs some funds to make up the difference and is increasingly drawn to Shrimps’ line of work. Not to mention the catch-22 of needing a license to get a job but also needing money to pay for said license, and a million similar pitfalls that the system sends his way. Through it all, Bambi must try to hold onto his dream of making it as a writer and providing a safe environment for his son.

This movie is no cake walk.

Boyega is electric as Bambi. Although he is still a year or so removed from his introduction to wider audiences in a galaxy far, far away, his talent and charisma already shine through in every scene. You feel his tenderness when he cradles his son to his chest, his delight when he is able to provide for him, and his rage when their chaotic surroundings threaten to tear them apart. Matching him scene for scene is Glen Plummer as Uncle Shrimp. Unlike Bambi, Shrimp is more than comfortable with his lot in life, and openly contemptuous of his surrogate son’s attempts to leave. He is toxic relationships personified, just as likely to shoot you as hug you. The rest of the ensemble turns in solid performances as well, including a turn from Anika Noni Rose as a no-nonsense social worker and an appearance by Kellita Smith as Bambi’s alcoholic mother Tanya that will be extremely jarring for anyone who remembers her from The Bernie Mac Show. During your short time with them, it’s almost impossible not to feel for these characters and become invested in their well-being. From its quiet beginning to its heartbreaking but hopeful conclusion, Imperial Dreams is a deeply affecting and emotionally rewarding journey. You can catch Imperial Dreams streaming on Netflix.

Runaways Cast Revealed

In TV news, the cast of Hulu’s adaptation of Marvel’s Runaways has finally been revealed. Fans of Brian K. Vaughn’s graphic novel series about a group of teenagers who find out their parents are supervillains, myself included, were driven into a frenzy by news that the property was finally making its way to the screen. Production is set to begin this month, and Hulu has finally lifted the veil on the group of young actors and actresses set to play the titular team of heroes. Rhenzy Felix will play Alex Wilder, a strategic genius and the team’s leader. Lyrica Okano will play Nico Minoru, a goth girl whose parents turn out to be evil sorcerers. Virginia Gardner will play Karolina Dean, a girl whose actor parents are revealed to be alien invaders. Ariela Barer will play Gertrude Yorkes, the daughter of time traveling criminals from the future. Gregg Sulkin will play Chase Stein, a jock whose parents turn out to be mad scientist inventors. Allegra Acosta will play Molly Hernandez, the youngest of the group and a child of mutants with psychic powers. Just as with the original comic book characters it is based on, I appreciate the diversity of this show’s cast. I’m excited to see what Hulu and creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have in store for audiences when the show hits our watchlists sometime in the future.

Antoine Fuqua Leaves Scarface Reboot, Diego Luna Set as Lead

In development news, Antoine Fuqua has stepped down as director of Universal Studios’ upcoming Scarface remake. Fuqua had been attached to the project since last year, but was forced to leave due to scheduling conflicts. A sequel to his 2014 thriller The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington, has been moved up the slate at Sony Pictures, forcing him to choose between the two. Now that he has opted for the latter, Universal is on the hunt for a replacement so that they can begin pre-production immediately. While it has lost a director, the project shouldn’t bleed too much momentum after announcing Rogue One’s Diego Luna will star in the lead role. This will mark the third rendition of the original 1932 immigrant tale chronicling the rise and fall of a gangster trying to make it in America. The original followed Italian-American Tony Camonte, while Brian De Palma’s 1983 remake gave us Al Pacino at his scenery-chewing “Say Hello to my little friend” best as the Cuban-American Tony Montana. This time around the story will follow a Mexican-American immigrant trying to wheel and deal his way to the top of the organized crime world, but there’s no word on which Tony Diego Luna will be playing.

Aquaman Casts Its Black Manta

Work is getting underway on Aquaman’s solo film. The movie about nobody’s favorite Justice League member has just cast its villain. The Get Down’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen is set to play Black Manta, Aquaman’s archnemesis.

Leaked footage of the climactic dance battle for Atlantis.

The casting comes only a month or two after news that Patrick Wilson had been cast as Orm, Aquaman’s half-brother who takes up the mantle Ocean Master and fights him for control of Atlantis. Having two adversaries could make for an overstuffed debut film, but I think I know I know how Warner Bros is going to play this. Much like a certain Asgardian and his brother in the Marvel universe, I think Aquaman and Orm will start out as allies fighting against Abdul-Mateen’s Black Manta before turning against each other. No story details on the James Wan-directed project have leaked yet, so this is pure speculation, but it would make for a compelling twist. Aquaman is slated to hit theaters on Oct 5, 2018.

Ben Affleck No Longer Directing Batman, Script Being Rewritten by Chris Terrio, Everythin Awful

Sad Affleck is sad

This week in the DC Extended Universe being a hot mess, Variety is reporting that Ben Affleck will no longer direct the upcoming solo Batman film. The announcement comes after a series of soundbites from Affleck where he appeared uncertain that the project would come together. The latest development came earlier this week, with Warner Bros announcing that Affleck would step aside and focus on starring in the lead role, while an as-yet-undecided replacement takes over directing duties. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves is allegedly at the top of that list. Deadline has also reported that Batman v Superman scribe Chris Terrio has already turned in a rewrite of the script Affleck and DCEU Creative Director Geoff Johns had originally written. It’s no secret that I am often left scratching my head when it comes to DC movies and how they are being made, but this one has actually caused me to throw up my hands. Fans and critics have been split on the look and tone of these films, but nobody but nobody has had anything nice to say about the story in any of them. As I watched Batman and Superman growl and grimace their way through Dawn of Justice’s two and a half-hour runtime, I had little to no idea why they were doing so. Suicide Squad subjected audiences to around 20 minutes of character introductions before convincing them to care about maybe the most fleshed out of the two. So when I first heard the Batman solo film was having troubles getting started, I suspected narrative issues were to blame. In an interview with the Guardian, which I quoted a few weeks ago, Affleck said verbatim “...there’s no script. If it doesn’t come together in a way I think is really great I’m not going to do it,” all but confirming my suspicions. And now this week, lo and behold, he’s not doing it. This is not to say Chris Terrio is a bad writer; I don’t think you can win an Oscar for anything, especially writing Argo, and be considered bad at that thing. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he’s good at writing a particular genre of film; his track record with superhero films is short and spotty. I’d trust Quentin Tarantino to write a hyperviolent crime drama, but I’m not going to have him write a children’s book (although that would be interesting). I could be wrong. The film has yet to even receive a title, let alone a release date. But given the brief, turbulent history of this cinematic universe, I’m not filled with an abundance of hope. Is Wonder Woman here yet?