Recently, and for a good chunk of the foreseeable future, we are pretty much all stuck indoors. As such, we must find ways to entertain ourselves; with a large majority of our time, we spend it on streaming services. Eventually, some people are going to get bored with some of the shows or movies that are on those services and will want something new. If that ends up being the case, and you like teen drama, then Amazon has a movie coming soon. This movie is ‘Selah and the Spades.’
The movie focuses primarily on the titular character and her control of the most dominant faction in her school’s student body, the Spades. In the closed world of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school, Selah is a 17-year-old girl in charge of the faction that supplies students with illegal alcohol and pills. Selah takes on a protégée, sophomore Paloma, when the school’s factions are at odds with one another and her best friend/right hand, Maxxie is distracted by love. Selah, however, discovers just how intoxicating having so much power really is with graduation coming up quickly and her ward learning exceptionally quickly.
‘Selah and the Spades’ stars Lovie Simone, Celeste O’Connor, Jharrel Jerome with Jesse Williams and Gina Torres. The movie was written and directed by Tayarisha Poe with a wholly unique story. The movie was produced by Lauren McBride, Drew Houpt and Lucas Joaquin. ‘Selah and the Spades’ is being distributed through Amazon Studios and will be available through Amazon Prime Video streaming services on April 17th of this year with no delay.
We are now going into April and with that, one year ago the biggest blockbuster of all time released. Avengers: Endgame was a film which was built up to for years with the remainder of the the MCU being the stepping stones to reach that point. As such, with the one year anniversary coming up, I thought that some facts about the film might be interesting and maybe you don’t know these facts.
- Robert Downey Jr. was really the beginning and the end of the saga and as such, he was the only cast member to receive a full copy of the script for Endgame.
- Endgame was a massive project that was shot on the heels of Infinity War, but did you know Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly shot Ant-Man and the Wasp at the same time. Also Brie Larson shot her scenes before she started Captain Marvel.
- Avengers: Endgame actually broke ticket reservation websites like Fandango due to the sheer number of pre-sale tickets being bought. After six hours, it managed to become the biggest pre-sale title ever with some theaters adding extra shows in order to accommodate viewers.
- One of the cuter lines in the films is when Tony Stark’s daughter says “I love you 3000.” This made it into the movie when Robert Downey Jr. told the Russo brothers what one of his own children had said to him.
- This one is a twofer with both Endgame and Infinity War; they were both shot on IMAX cameras, making them the first films to ever be shot entirely on IMAX cameras.
- Captain America has always been able to wield Thor’s hammer according to director Anthony Russo. The reason that he didn’t pick it up in Age of Ultron was because he didn’t want to hurt Thor’s ego.
- Some people may have noticed at the end of the film, there was a teenage boy at Tony’s funeral. That teen was Harley Keener, the one who let Tony use his shed when he needed to repair the Iron Man suit in the third Iron Man film.
- For those who may remember, Age of Ultron showed a vision of the future in which the Avengers have fallen and Cap’s shield was shattered. That prophecy ended up being fulfilled in Endgame with Hulk too injured to fight, Thor nearly being killed by Thanos, Natasha lying dead the same way as the vision, and Thanos breaking Cap’s shield.
- Anthony Mackie found out about the ending of his character, Falcon, in Endgame at Chris Evans’ house when Chris told him the fate of his character and showed him that part of the script.
- Some other easter eggs in the film include Scott Lang’s storage unit number being 616, the number used for the main universe in the comic series. Hawkeye testing the particles for time travel is a nod to his being the character Goliath in the comics who grew with Pym Particles. Then we have the song “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath being fulfilled “when he traveled time, for the future of mankind.”
As we are all well aware by now, Covid-19 has caused numerous delays and is responsible for pretty much grinding most of the entertainment industry to a halt. With their parks shut down and movies delayed, Disney has had no choice but to send employees home. Which means that many people are unemployed and have no way to pay their bills. However, Disney announced that even after people were forced to stay at home in isolation, they would help by continuing to pay them. That is what leads us to the news that was recently announced with Disney execs taking pay cuts to help.
Disney, like most entertainment companies right now, is suffering due to movie delays and their parks being closed indefinitely. To keep their employees from suffering as well, they promised to keep paying them. Their commitment to that cause has just been shown to a degree as Executive Chairman Bob Iger is forgoing his paycheck and CEO Bob Chapek is taking a 50% pay cut. Vice presidents for the company will have salaries cut by 20%, senior vp’s will have a 25% cut in salaries, and executive vp’s will have their’s cut by 30% starting April 5th.
All of this comes after Disney was forced to push back the release dates for their movies for the next few months. On top of that, parks will remain shut down even longer with an amount of time ahead that nobody knows. Not everything that is happening with Disney is so terrible though since they have gained nearly 3x more subscriptions for their Disney+ streaming service. That is just a natural course of events given the fact most people are stuck at home all the time now. The streaming service itself hasn’t really been affected by the viral outbreak and this will ensure that everyone will not lose their free time.
With these pay cuts, employees will receive a bit more aid to help them in these times. Hopefully this will be enough for everybody to get through these trying times. Nowhere to go and nothing to do means that people need entertainment and streaming services sit at the top now. These services are currently one of the only forms of entertainment and will stay that way for an uncertain amount of time. As long as people do as told, this whole thing can end sooner and we can get our numerous forms of entertainment back.
Many people may not know the story, The Secret Garden tells a tale about an orphaned girl going to live with her uncle. The book that the titular story is based off was released in 1911. What would then follow were two films, one, a silent film, was released in 1919 and the other was released in 1949. The book would then go on to become a classic of English children’s literature which would be so popular that soon there will be a total of 4 films adapted from the books.
As stated, there was a more recent film, the third one that was made from the book, that was released in 1993. The film is a fantasy drama showing how difficult adjusting to a new life can be and that you have to make the best of any situation put before you. The main character of the novel is a young girl who discovers a magical garden on her uncle’s estate. She then uses that garden in order to help her family heal itself while trying to find a home for herself.
The newest iteration of ‘The Secret Garden’ is set later into the 20th century in 1947 as opposed to being set near the beginning of the century. The film follows a young orphan girl who, after being sent to live with her uncle, discovers a magical garden on the grounds of his estate. If the story is anything like the original the girl, Mary Lennox, must find her bearings after moving in with her uncle, Archibald Craven. Craven distances himself from the home, so she explores and finds a magic garden that helps her cope with her new surroundings. The garden also helps her extended family finally heal after losing a loved one.
Stars for the newest take on the classic tale include Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Dixie Egerickx. Marc Munden is directing the film, which was adapted for the screen by Jack Thorne based off the original story by Frances Hodgson Burnett. David Heyman (Harry Potter franchise, Pattington 1,2) and Rosie Alison (Paddington 1 ,2) are producing the movie and Jane Robertson (The Danish Girl, Bridget Jones’s Baby) is co-producing the film. As of now, and hopefully this doesn’t change, the film releases theatrically on August 14th after being delayed by Covid-19.
The Ghosbusters Franchise is one that has been around for a long time now, though most people don’t count the most recent reboot a part of the franchise. The two original Ghostbusters films were incredible films that audiences loved the world over. Thus, with happiness, I can say I’m looking forward to the new movie which was executively produced by Dan Aykroyd. With Aykroyd working so closely with the film when he was one of the original writers for the first films, it will hopefully stick to the established universe. ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ will hopefully give us a long awaited sequel that will go down as a classic.
For those unaware of the original film, it follows three college researchers as they open up a ghost hunting business following an encounter with one. What ends up happening is a being considered a god breaks the barrier between our world and the afterlife releasing ghosts all over New York City. Then, in the second film, an ancient evil conqueror tries to return to the world using an infant as a vessel. This brings an ocean of slime into the city which, in turn, makes ghosts appear in the world again that need busting.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. The story follows a single mom and her two kids arriving in a small town to clean up her father’s old place. They begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters, and the kids find a secret legacy their grandfather left behind. The film features an original story that continues the Ghostbusters story in an entirely new era. This gives hope that the movie can give us a story with comedy woven in that is similar to the originals.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd. The movie was directed by Jason Reitman, who is known for Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air. Reitman wrote the film alongside Gil Kenan based on the 1984 film “Ghostbusters,” an Ivan Reitman film written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It is being produced by Ivan Reitman and executively produced by Dan Aykroyd, Gil Kenan, Jason Blumenfeld, and Michael Beugg. As of now, the film is set to release on July 10th of this year.
For those unaware, Dwayne Johnson has been working on getting a Black Adam film for some time now. Johnson has started developing the Black Adam movie back in 2008 and recently found his chance to make the movie. Now that the DC Extended Universe is a thing that dream was capable of becoming a reality. However, production of the movie may end up getting heavy delays should this pandemic keep going the way it is currently. Principal photography for the film was to begin during the summer of this year, but it’s looking less likely.
Black Adam is, in actuality, an antihero in the DC universe and more specifically he is the arch-nemesis of Shazam. The most recent iteration of the character sees him as a corrupt antihero attempting to clear his name and reputation. Adam has a unique background as a protector tricked into becoming a villain and fighting the man he used to be friends with. Black Adam is a character that regularly does things considered evil and then doing something that is good. Thus, the premise of the film would probably be his origin story since Shazam will not appear in the film.
There is no way of telling when things will return to normalcy in the movie industry, but hopefully it isn’t too long. A Black Adam film would be one of the most unique hero or villain movies out there. Johnson working on the film most certainly makes it a source of buzz in the industry. He recently stated that it is looking very likely that the production will be pushed back. With most early estimates showing how unlikely it is that productions will be able to start up again until just prior to summer. As of now, the expected release date for the film is some time in December 2021.
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