Dont Tell NetflixDont Tell Netflix

by Emily Nagle

Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of March 4-6, 2022
5. Death on the Nile ($2.7 million)
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home ($4.5 million)
3. Dog ($6.1 million)
2. Uncharted ($11.1 million)
1. The Batman ($134 million)

Having debuted in theaters on Friday, “The Batman” serves as a reboot for the character that’s been around for more than eight decades. It stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, with other cast members including Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, and John Turturro. The film follows Batman as he investigates corruption in Gotham City, all while pursuing the Riddler. Having received praise for its excellent performances, engaging story, and thrilling action sequences, the only aspect of “The Batman” that some critics found an issue with was its length: the film clocks in at 176 minutes – nearly 3 hours.

While “The Batman” triumphed at the box office this weekend, “Uncharted” was booted from number-one for the first time in two weeks. Tom Holland’s other recent film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, also moved down in the ranks, moving down from the third-highest-grossing film of the weekend to the fourth. All other films from last weekend’s top 5 each moved down one rank.

by Emily Nagle

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Last Thursday, the new historical comedy “Our Flag Means Death” premiered on HBO Max. Created by David Jenkins (“People of Earth“) and directed by Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit“, “Thor: Ragnarok“), the show follows a fictionalized version of Captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), also known as “The Gentleman Pirate”. Having abandoned his family and lavish aristocrat lifestyle for a risky life on the high seas, Bonnet has no clue what he’s doing, but it’s up to him to lead his ragtag pirate crew and prepare them to fight off enemies.

Personally, the humor isn’t for me. I’ve seen other viewers comment on how the jokes are very on brand for Waititi, and that it’s very much New Zealand humor. There were only a couple of moments that I found to be lightly goofy. I’d say the humor is more cute than anything else. You probably won’t be rolling on the floor laughing at it, but it might give you a chuckle or two.

Despite the humor falling more or less flat for me, what kept me watching this show was Captain Bonnet’s backstory. Bonnet constantly second-guesses his abilities to lead his crew, and there’s moments where we’ll see a flashback to his childhood, giving a deeper insight as to why he feels all this self-doubt. We’re also shown a flashback to the night he left behind everything he’d ever known to become a pirate captain.

But this isn’t a show that’s focused on a dramatic story. Rather, it’s more lighthearted, with Bonnet and his crew partaking in goofy activities in each episode. During the pilot, Bonnet holds a flag-making contest for his crew in an effort to make their ship look more intimidating to enemies, and the end products come out looking like summer camp art projects – one design depicts a giant skull vomiting buttons onto a skeleton. The way this show took a historical figure and made him into this goofy, childlike man reminds me a lot of Waititi’s portrayal of Hitler in “Jojo Rabbit”. Like how Bonnet is shown to read bedtime stories to his crew (complete with silly voices!).

So, the first few episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” weren’t particularly impressive. But sometimes shows can take a little while to find their footing and turn into something truly incredible. With that being said, I might give it another shot and see if it gets better later on. At the time of writing, only 3 episodes of the show have been released – three more episodes are set to premiere on the platform this Thursday. My hope is that as we get deeper into season one, we’ll get to see more of Bonnet’s backstory.

All episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” are available to stream now on HBO Max.

by Emily Nagle

John DiMaggio has signed on to reprise his role as Bender in the “Futurama” revival on Hulu following fans protesting on Twitter for the past month.

“I’M BACK, BABY! So damn grateful for the love and support of fans and colleagues alike during this whole time (especially my wife, Kate), and I cannot wait to get back to work with my Futurama family,” DiMaggio excitedly announced in a statement. “#Bendergate is officially over, so put it on the back of a shelf behind Xmas decorations, or maybe in that kitchen drawer with all of the other crap you put in there like old unusable crazy glue, or maybe even put it in a jar you save farts in. Whatever floats your boat, I don’t care, you get the picture. I’M BACK, BABY! BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS!”

It was first reported last month that DiMaggio was possibly not returning to “Futurama” due to pay negotiations. In the last update on the show from Hulu and 20th Television Animation, it was stated that Bender would be recast, but Matt Groening said it best: “From the moment John DiMaggio auditioned last century, we knew we had our Bender.” Details on the pay agreement reached by the two parties have not been released, but sources said they were able to come to a happy medium.

The new season of “Futurama” will have 20 episodes, and is set to premiere on Hulu in 2023. This will mark the third time the series is revived, with Comedy Central bringing new episodes of the show back to television twice after it got cancelled by Fox.

by Emily Nagle

Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of February 25-27, 2022
5. Jackass Forever ($3.1 million)
4. Death on the Nile ($4.5 million)
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home ($5.8 million)
2. Dog ($10.1 million)
1. Uncharted ($23 million)

This weekend saw the continued success of video game adaptation “Uncharted”, which maintained its number-one spot for the second weekend in a row. Tom Holland has been carrying ticket sales for the past couple of weeks, with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still in the top 5 after two months in theaters. The latter recently got nominated for Best Visual Effects at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place on March 27, 2022.

Paramount re-released “The Godfather” in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary, with 156 theaters across the United States screening it over the weekend. Although it was only the 12th highest-grossing film for the weekend, the iconic Mafia crime flick was among the top 3 for all theaters that screened it. Since its release in 1972, “The Godfather” has grossed $248.2 million worldwide.

by Emily Nagle

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Last week, Netflix released “The Cuphead Show!“, based on the award-winning shoot ’em up game “Cuphead“.

I remember a couple of years ago, the news broke that Netflix had greenlit a series based on the game. Initially, I was psyched; I had played quite a bit of “Cuphead” while holed away in my tiny freshman year dorm room, so it held a special place in my heart. I couldn’t wait to see what creative direction the show would go in, and what kinds of stories would be told. Although the game has a story (you have to defeat a bunch of villains in order to repay your debt to the Devil), it’s not like the characters were super fleshed out, due to the emphasis being on gameplay as opposed to its story. So I figured the show would have some fun developing the characters’ personalities by putting them into crazy situations.

As it turns out, this one isn’t particularly story-driven. Instead, it relies more on slapstick and visual gags, drawing from early animation like classic Disney and the original Looney Tunes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it still took me a little while to get used to. Sometimes it’s nice to have a show you can watch that’s simple and episodic, where you don’t have to follow a big, overarching story. Due to this format, I’d go so far as to say you don’t even need to know what “Cuphead” is to enjoy this show, because it’s a little bit different from its source material. The only thing it really does regarding the game is use the characters, but you won’t feel lost if this show is the first time you’re seeing them.

With that being said, the visuals in “The Cuphead Show!” are super fun. Compared to other animated shows in recent years, this one looks a bit more traditional, despite being computer-animated; it’s still got the rubber-hose animation style used in the game, although of course the frame rate is much lower due to it being an animated show. The color palette for the entire show is a little bit darker, adding to the old-timey feel.

My favorite part of the animation, though, is the incorporation of claymation elements. An example that comes to mind is the episode “Ghosts Ain’t Real”, which follows Cuphead and Mugman as they spend the night in a graveyard that’s occupied by mischievous ghosts. The brothers are shown walking through a 3D graveyard backdrop, and later on when the ghosts are making them open doors, the doors are 3D but the things behind them aren’t. Although it took away from the 1930s vibe a little, the combination of two-dimensional and clay elements looked super cool together. It’s not often you see something like that in modern animation. The only other show I can think of that did something similar is Cartoon Network’s “The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack” back in 2008.

This one was definitely created with kids in mind, as opposed to the teens and young adults who make up most of the game’s players (“Cuphead” is NOT an easy game, folks!). But even if you’re not a kid, you’ll get a kick out of “The Cuphead Show!”. It’s fast (each episode is about 15 minutes long) and fun, making it easy to watch. I’d recommend “The Cuphead Show!” to animation enthusiasts, and anyone who’s a kid at heart.

by Emily Nagle

The 2021 documentary film “Hell or High Seas” takes viewers along on an emotional adventure with U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Grieger and his friend Stephen O’Shea. A former rescue swimmer, Grieger suffered from PTSD that continued years after he left the military. After a failed suicide attempt, Grieger took surviving that experience as a sign. He sprung into action, deciding to chase a lifelong dream. He turns to “the YouTube Academy”, as he refers to it, following video tutorials to patch up a ramshackle sailboat (later dubbed The Old Lady) in an effort to raise awareness for veterans like himself battling the psychological adjustments of a return to civilian life. Grieger brings O’Shea and the audience on a dangerous sea voyage around Cape Horn at the tip of South America; this is considered by many sailors to be the most difficult trip of all.

Grieger’s journey ends up being more than just a sailing trip – over the course of the film, he makes strides in healing from PTSD, and readjusts to civilian life after being away from traditional society for so long. He and O’Shea encounter numerous challenges aboard the rickety ship, as they endure extreme temperatures, push through a hurricane (with a busted engine!), and fight off pirates. It’s through hell and high seas that the duo defies odds, healing from battle wounds along the way.

Also part of the production team are director Glenn Holsten and producer Chayne Gregg. In an interview at the film’s premiere, Holsten revealed that upon viewing O’Shea’s footage for the first time, he was instantly captivated by Grieger’s cause of helping fellow veterans, and wanted to bring the story to the big screen to spread the message to as many people as possible.

Not only does the production share Grieger’s message through a compelling, heart-wrenching story, but also through stunning visuals. The cinematography in “Hell or High Seas” is unique in the sense that it’s not shot like a traditional documentary – instead of simply explaining things, it’s more like a video diary that showcases Grieger’s journey. This more spontaneous filming style only supplements the story by giving viewers a raw look into Grieger’s experience. It’s rich and colorful, with breathtaking shots that include glaciers and the ocean – you’ll want to watch this one on the biggest screen you can find!

“Hell or High Seas” brings inspiration and hope to not just veterans, but anyone dealing with PTSD or healing from trauma. The film weaves the moving story of one man channeling his trauma into something constructive, following his passion after years of struggling mentally. Grieger’s story is one that will resonate with many, instilling strength and hope in them while also raising awareness for veterans.