By George Robbins
It should be no surprise to anyone at this point that there are issues cropping up involving the coronavirus where large gatherings of people are not allowed to come together. This has been a thing since the middle of March and it is unknown just how long it will end up being before people will be allowed to gather for things again. People are going against that rule now for the sake of protests, but that still doesn’t mean that there is no risk or anything of the sort. Gatherings are still incredibly dangerous, and while some businesses have been able to adapt to the new health and safety rules, there are some that simply cannot make changes due to how they are structured.
There is almost no better example for a situation that can’t be worked on properly due to the virus than an award ceremony. More specifically, something like the MTV Movie and TV awards, since they rely on viewership to make the ceremony worth anything to them. Award ceremonies themselves can still be held, but the awards would have to be announced with no one present and the awards themselves sent to the winners. Since setting something up remotely would be far too much of a hassle and would be bound to go wrong, it would make more sense just to postpone the ceremony. This wouldn’t be the first major event to be postponed and it probably won’t be the last one either.
This pandemic is a fluid situation that is constantly changing with no clear end in sight which is resulting in more major events to be postponed or cancelled entirely if they haven’t been already. The 2021 Oscars are among the events that have yet to be postponed due to the fact that they don’t take place for another 8 months, but it is seriously being considered that they should be postponed. Many concerts have already been cancelled since there is no other way to have them than to put large crowds of people in one place for a few hours and that absolutely will not be allowed. Sporting events have been completely cancelled due to the close contact involved with them, but recently the NBA has made its announcement that they would be restarting in Walt Disney World with no crowds in attendance. There is hope yet that there are ways for people to deal with not having crowds, but for some things it is just necessary.
Like all other award ceremonies for movies or television shows, the enticing part of it is the chance for people to see the winners take to the stage and give their speeches. This is still somewhat possible through the use of livestreaming, but the chances of technical difficulties happening with something on that large a scale are high. So then why take a risk when they can simply postpone the awards and hope that things will clear up enough for the awards by December of this year when they try to have them again. This is a move the broadcast company has apparently been trying to make even before the onset of the virus. There is still the chance, however, that the awards are canceled completely this year, but like everything else at this point, it is a wait and see situation.
By George Robbins
The very much anticipated sequel to the 2018 hit animated film ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2’ has been on people’s minds since the first film released. The ending of the first film suggested that we could actually end up seeing a sequel to the film, but it wasn’t decided upon until late 2019 that there would actually be one. The production for the movie would be similar to the production of the first film, so whenever it started, we knew it would take awhile to finish. So with that in mind, it would appear as though the sequel to the critically-acclaimed film has started its long production process as of now. It is still a long time off before we actually get to see a release for the film, but this is a huge step forward considering everything currently going on in the world.
With the coronavirus pandemic currently affecting the world there was no telling when the actual production would begin for the movie. Luckily, many businesses are finding ways to get back to work even if it isn’t at full capacity for a little while longer. There is a lot of work to be done if the first movie is anything to go off of and it is likely that due to the state of world affairs that there will probably be some issues that crop up during production. The first film was a visual marvel that played out like an actual comic book and it took a long time and a lot of hard work to develop the film into the masterpiece we ended up with. Hopefully we will not see any delays hit the film and eventually we will get another incredible film to watch.
The first film did something that we haven’t had the chance to see in another Spider-Man film up to that point, and that is seeing someone else be the titular web-slinger. ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ gives the role of the main character to Miles Morales who takes up the mantle in the Ultimate Spider-Man universe. The plot of the film revolves primarily around Miles as he learns what it means to be Spider-Man and he learns to reign in his powers that he had thrust on him. He isn’t alone in his adventure as he is joined by a number of Spider-People from other universes that do their best to teach him in order to save his home city. There is no telling what the plot of the second film will be, but it will be worth seeing considering how the film played out.
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2’ will end up being a film that will no doubt have crowds of people lining up to watch it considering how well the first film did. While no where in sight, the release date for the film has been set for October 7th, 2022 and hopefully it will end up keeping that date. The first film managed to get a release set a little less than a week earlier than its original release date, but considering the difficulty involved in getting it done right now, there is no telling if the film will release on time. There is a lot going on in the world right now, and it is impressive that they are managing to work on the film at all right now. With this, we could end up seeing other films similar to it starting up production as well and when things start getting back to normal, we might just end up with a lot of content to keep us busy.
By George Robbins
Later this year, we are supposed to be getting a movie that many fans have been waiting for ever since it was first announced a few years back. Legendary’s MonsterVerse is one that has managed to maintain a steady fanbase ever since its original inception due to the fact that they do a pretty good job with the fight sequences. ‘Godzilla vs Kong‘ is a match-up for the ages that people have wanted for a long time that pits two incredible monsters up against one another for a battle that would rock the world. After the ending of ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters‘ people can only guess what the reason is for the two titans to square off against one another in the upcoming film. With no trailers and no proper synopsis, it is kind of difficult to guess the plot for the film.
There really is no telling just what will happen plot-wise for the upcoming film since a fight between the two monsters doesn’t seem right given the past movie plots. Both monsters serve a “protector” role for the world and it seems unlikely that they would fight one another for no reason whatsoever. This means that there will end up being some plot point that we can only currently guess about being brought up almost immediately after the movie begins. As of now, the only thing we have to go off of is a small synopsis that reads, “As the gigantic Kong meets the unstoppable Godzilla, the world watches to see which one of them will become King of the Monsters.” This gives us very little to go off and sometimes these early synopses’ are usually wrong.
So where will the movie end up going from here because we have no content pertaining to the upcoming release of the film other than the fact that the rating is set to PG-13. Other than that, we can only try and compare it to the original ‘King Kong vs Godzilla‘ movie that released in 1962. In that movie, King Kong is brought in to fight a Godzilla who has made it his mission to attack people on a regular basis. The end result of the showdown between the two titans in the original film is a narrow victory for Kong after a long fight between the two. With no clear titan being a “villain” in the upcoming movie, there is definitely going to be a lot of interest going into this new film. The movie is set for theatrical release on November 19th of this year, so let’s just hope it stay that way.
By George Robbins
The world we live in is currently in turmoil, but some of it is for a good reason and shouldn’t be ignored by anybody. The Black Lives Matter movement is one that brings with it a lot of deep-seeded issues that must see the light of day. In order for these things to be recognized they must be dredged up in order to allow people to have a voice that they should have had all of this time. Among the countless issues that can easily be pointed out by the community is the issue of representation in media. Many young Black men and women don’t have many different people that they can look up to in the media and it is an issue that makes people feel inferior due to the fact they have no one to relate to out in the world.
Actor Michael B. Jordan gave a speech recently during a BLM protest in which he stated as an open declaration that Hollywood should be doing what they can to hire more Black talent. Children look for icons outside of their familial and social circles to relate to when they are young. They look for people that look like them and sound like them and it helps develop their character from a young age. If there are no people in a field or position that a child can relate to, then they end up not trying to go into it at all and the world could lose out on a tremendous opportunity. Actors and actresses help give people something to look towards as they grow up and help them identify who they are. It is a problem that there are not as many prominent Black or Hispanic actors in media as there are Caucasian actors.
If there is an increase in diversity when it comes to actors, then we could see children growing up being able to reflect themselves in a better position in life. The better young people can relate to others in powerful positions, the better off the world will be in the end. More Black talent being hired by Hollywood would give more role models for younger generations to look up to and could give us even better future talent. Hollywood shouldn’t be the only place where this is happening, but it is most certainly a prominent one that could help make a difference. With the BLM protests, the message should be clear that everyone should be treated equally by everyone and eventually things will have to change.
By George Robbins
Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie ‘Tenet‘ is as much a mystery to the actors portraying characters in the film as the audience who will be watching it. That is not to say that the actors don’t have any idea whatsoever as to what is going on in the film, but they don’t know just what all of the details are. Recently, there was a trailer that gave us an idea as to who the villain would be for the movie, and it appears the villain would be the character portrayed by Kenneth Branagh. The problem is that it appears as though even Branagh doesn’t know if he is the villain in the movie. The only way to tell who the real villain would be in the film is to actually go and see the film when it hits theaters.
Ever since the first trailer for the film released, ‘Tenet’ has been a film that has remained on people’s minds due to the strange nature of the film. Nolan is known for making a number of different high grossing and relatively well reviewed movies that have people excited to see them. This film is akin to his other movie, ‘Inception,’ that nobody knew a thing about until they watched and dissected the movie. It seems that the same type of thing will end up happening with this film as well and we will end up seeing something interesting from it. The question right now is whether the film might just be too confusing for people to understand.
As of now, people understand that the film has something to do with the manipulating of time and the prevention of World War 3. No one is sure how time manipulation is meant to work in the film, but that isn’t the only thing that is confusing about the way the film plays out. Branagh has said that due to how Nolan usually tries to reinvent the wheel with some of his films, there is no telling if his character is actually the villain. To put into perspective how confusing this film might just end up being, Branagh has said that out of all of the screenplays he has had to read for a role, this is one that he had to read over more than any other. This means that we could end up with twists and turns galore throughout the film that we never would have imagined.
‘Tenet’ is currently sitting as one of the only films that has kept its original release date of July 17th, while many others have been forced to change due to the pandemic. However, this seems to be tentative since it seems like Warner Media might be changing the date of release, but this is still an unknown. Nolan has been doing his best to ensure that this movie would be among the first to end up releasing to theaters when they were reopened. The release of this movie would mark it as the first major blockbuster to be available when theaters reopen and it would gain even more traction given the circumstances. Whether it ends up delayed or not will not at all change the fact that this film will, in fact, see a theatrical release in its lifetime. ‘Tenet’ is most definitely a movie that holds a lot of interest and it will draw people in due to its supposed originality. All we can do until it releases is speculate and hope that it is as interesting as it appears to be.
By George Robbins
It is of absolutely no surprise to anyone at this point that studio interference is what caused issues for the DCEU thus far, at least for one movie. Though there is no telling whether they got too involved in other films as well, they have been known to get too involved in the ‘Suicide Squad‘ movie. This has been something that was speculated from the time the movie was first released, but has only been revealed recently amidst director David Ayer’s attempts to have a director’s cut released. The studio had decided that they wanted to make the movie more of a comedy before it was released so they scheduled reshoots and it is apparently the reason why the film ended up with such an all-over-the-place plot and tone.
Ayer has said that the original plot of the film actually was much more coherent and a lot of the characters had better stories, but the studio felt otherwise. This resulted in a film that many DC fans were excited for getting thrown to the wayside. Many people ended up disliking the film and it received generally poor reviews that meant that it would just end up being one of those films most people are disappointed to see. This failing is one that Ayer does not want to let go, since he put so much time into the original cut of the movie and he wants his version of the film to get its own release. It is up to the studio whether the version he wants out there will get released, but it should be more of a duty to them at this point to release it.
The fact that they suddenly decided to do reshoots to begin with just shows how little they care about the direction of the cinematic universe they are working on. They tried to play off of how well the ‘Deadpool‘ movie did by trying to make their anti-heroes more comedic to draw in audiences which doesn’t fit in with most of the characters to begin with. This ultimately ruined the movie and showed the audience that they are doing whatever they can to try and draw audiences in by appealing to familiarity. Instead of just trying their own thing and building a universe off of that, they are trying to copy other established universes and it shows.
Fans have been constantly disappointed by the DCEU due to the fact they are trying to make it seem like the universe is already established, even though people know it isn’t. Without building a proper universe, it is hard for any of the movies to seem like they were planned very well. No movie did a better job at showing how poorly planned it all is than ‘Suicide Squad.’ Hopefully, moving forward, they will start formulating a proper plan to keep people interested and to make sure that thee universe isn’t all over the place. There is no telling where the DCEU will go moving forward, but maybe it will be able to have some sort of coherent storyline for people to start following.
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