Early Reactions to “Godzilla vs. Kong” Revel in the Monster Melee

If you’re going to make a movie called Godzilla vs. Kong, you know the most important thing to do is get the title fight right. It sounds as if director Adam Wingard succeeded in that first and most crucial respect. It almost goes without saying that in almost all of these mega-monster movies, the human characters are often filler (and also very often a snack for the titans). It’s hard to share the screen with someone forty,

“In The Heights” Coming to Theaters & HBO Max One Week Early

Good news on a Friday is extra sweet. Director John M. Chu’s In the Heights will be arriving a full week early. Chu’s film, adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s musical was slated for a June 18 release, but you can now expect it in theaters and on HBO Max on June 11. The change comes a few days after the release of two new trailers, which jacked up the already considerable excitement for the film.

New “Godzilla vs. Kong” Photos Reveal Fight of the Century

Warner Bros. has released a Godzilla-sized cache of new photos for their upcoming battle of the titans, Godzilla vs. Kong. We’ve seen enough footage now to know that director Adam Wingard’s film is at least setting us up to root for Kong here. That was made evident in the first trailer, where we learned that Kong seemed to be the protector of an orphaned girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle).

An Update on How “Black Widow” Will Be Released

So the good news is, we are going to see director Cate Shortland’s Black Widow, almost certainly in theaters, this year. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this fact. As with all the major, would-be 2020 releases, Black Widow underwent several delays due to Covid-19 and was eventually moved entirely to 2021. As of today, it’s slated for a May 7 release.

The question has been exactly how Disney will release Black Widow.

“Justice League” Premiere Day: Ryan Reynolds, Jared Leto’s Ad-Lib & More

Don’t worry, we haven’t just spoiled Ryan Reynolds making a cameo in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. Now that we’ve made it to premiere day, a final flurry of Justice League reveals feels like a fitting capstone to our countdown. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder reveals, among other things, that yes, he had envisioned Reynolds appearing in Justice League,

How “Justice League” Producer Deborah Snyder Re-Assembled Superheroes

You may have heard we’re one day away from the premiere of a little film called Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max. It’s been a long, winding road from the theatrical release of Justice League back in 2017 to March 18, 2021, and there would be no new-and-improved superhero epic without producer Deborah Snyder. Snyder worked alongside her husband Zack to not only convince WarnerMedia that a Snyder Cut was worth it but to make it possible to pull it off in the midst of a global pandemic.

Oscar Nominees Mia Neal & Sergio Lopez-Rivera on the Hair & Makeup of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

I got a chance to speak to hair department head Mia Neal and makeup artist Sergio Lopez-Rivera about their work in George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom before the Oscar nominations were announced. Tasked with, among other challenges, turning Oscar-nominee Viola Davis into the real-life Ma was no easy feat, least of all because there wasn’t a ton of photographic evidence to work with. Add to that scorching temperatures during much of the shoot (they filmed in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2019) and the heavy makeup,

New “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Images Reveal Super-Sized Epic

We’ve shared the early reactions, the final trailer, and now, a huge cache of new photos—all there’s left to do is watch the darn thing. At long last, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is upon us, premiering on HBO Max on March 18. With a runtime of four hours, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is easily the longest superhero film ever released—longer than both Avengers: Infinity and Avengers: Endgame. Yet thanks to these strange times we live in,

“The Mauritanian” Director Kevin Macdonald on Telling Mohamedou Slahi’s Story

The Mauritanian director Kevin Macdonald has plumbed the depths of state-sanctioned terror before, notably in his riveting 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, featuring a ferocious performance by Forest Whitaker playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. His work in The Mauritanian might seem, on first blush, to be another trip to the dark side. Yet Macdonald’s film, led by stellar performances from Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, and, most crucially,

Your 2021 Oscar Nominations are Here

The 93rd Academy Awards will air live, on ABC, this April 25, and your nominees are officially in. This year marked the first time the Academy waived the requirement that a film had to have a limited theatrical release in order to qualify, a nod to our shared reality in which the pandemic laid waste to the film release schedule, thousands of theaters were closed, and many big titles were delayed.

Without further ado,

The First Reactions to “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Are Here

Earlier we shared what’s likely the final trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and now we can provide the early reactions to the film from critics and journalists. With only a few days remaining until Snyder’s second crack at Justice League bows on HBO Max, there are people out there who can actually tell us whether all this hype and hoopla has paid off. We know Snyder’s film is a four-hour extravaganza (luckily,

“The Batman” Wraps Filming as Director Matt Reeves Shares Image From Set

And that’s a wrap, folks. Writer/director Matt Reeves The Batman has finally wrapped, which means that its March 4, 2022 release date feels entirely realistic now.

The last Batman-related news we got was in early January when it was revealed that Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck, and Michael Keaton would all be playing the Caped Crusader in 2022. DC Films president Walter Hamada confirmed that the three actors will portray Gotham’s greatest in films set in parallel worlds.

New Trailer for “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Reveals Darkseid’s Evil Plan

We are a mere three days away from the long-awaited release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. To that end, HBO Max has released the second trailer, with Snyder’s return to his epic superhero ensemble premiering this Thursday, March 18, on HBO Max.

The new trailer brings Darkseid (Ray Porter) into the center of the action, with his mission to maul a divided planet finally revealed. The basic gist of Darkseid’s plan seems very solid,

Ryan Coogler Shares Heartbreak of Writing “Black Panther 2” Without Chadwick Boseman

Writer/director Ryan Coogler spoke to Jemele Hill on a recent episode of her podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered and shared the heartbreak, and the difficulty, of writing the script for Black Panther 2 without Chadwick Boseman. Boseman’s passing on August 28, 2020, at 43 years old, shocked his millions of fans worldwide, as it did the filmmaking community where he so respected and adored.

Future Critics: Elisa Monagas on the “Frozen” Franchise, Hermione Granger & More

In our first installment of our Future Critics series, sixth-grader and East Coaster Benji Cherukuri schooled us on the work of composers Nicholas Britell and Hans Zimmer. In our newest installment, eighth-grader and West Coaster Elisa Monagas gives us the goods on two epic film series, Frozen and Harry Potter, as well as sharing what she plans on being when she grows up (reader,

“Cherry” Composer Henry Jackman Lets Loose on the Russo Brother’s New Film

Composer Henry Jackman began composing his first symphony at the age of six. He has since risen to become one of film’s top composers, by leveraging both his classical training and his experience as a record industry producer. His diverse credits include working with Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight, as well as many scores of his own, including Wreck-It Ralph, Kong: Skull Island, and Captain Phillips.

Tahar Rahim on Playing With Brutal Truths in “The Mauritanian”

The Mauritanian boasts performances from Jodie Foster, a legend who has earned the right to be picky about her roles, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Shailene Woodley. All are predictably excellent—Foster as the dogged defense attorney Nancy Hollander, Cumberbatch as the military prosecutor Stuart Couch, and Woodley as Hollander’s tenacious assistant Teri Duncan. Yet director Kevin Macdonald’s film hinges on the performance of its’ titular Mauritanian, the French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim, who plays Mohamedou Ould Slahi,

Actress Taylour Paige Gets Into the “Boogie” Spirit in Eddie Huang’s Directorial Debut

Boogie, Eddie Huang’s directorial debut, proves to be a different kind of coming-of-age story. Best known for penning the autobiography that inspired the hit TV series Fresh Off the Boat, Huang draws upon two subjects near to his heart – his Chinese heritage and his love of basketball — to weave an offbeat tale of a Chinese basketball phenom nicknamed Boogie (Taylor Takahashi) who aspires to become an NBA superstar.

It was the unique nature of the script,

“Cherry” DP Newton Thomas Sigel on the Russo Brothers First Post-Avengers Film

Joe and Anthony Russo’s latest project is a far cry from Avengers. The hopes and dreams of the titular hero of Cherry (premiering on Apple TV+ on March 12), played by Tom Holland, are earth-bound, centered around getting high, getting money, or getting clean. In the film’s first chapter (there are six in total, each introduced by a blood-red title page), Cherry is at his worst—strung out,

The Flash is Front & Center in New “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Teaser

Last week we learned what those six chapters are titled that mark the narrative arc of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Now, Snyder has served up a teaser focused on Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen, better known to the world as the Flash.

When Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne recruits Barry Allen to join the Justice League, the youngster is initially reluctant. There’s the possibility (or more accurately, the probability) of death that he’s not so keen about.