“Dune” Review Roundup: A Majestic, Astonishingly Vivid Epic Made for the Big Screen

Writer/director Denis Villeneuve’s hotly-anticipated Dune made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this past Friday, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation. Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, based on Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 book, has been on our radar since we first learned he was taking on Herbert’s notoriously dense tome. It was always going to be an immensely challenging adaptation, but one that Villeneuve, fresh off back-to-back sci-fi knockouts with Arrival and Blade Runner: 2049 was ideally suited to take on.

By The Credits  |  September 7, 2021
Jason Momoa Reveals New Stealth Suit For “Aquaman 2”

You just had to know that Aquaman would be getting some fresh duds for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Momoa shared the new look on Instagram, where he posed side-by-side shots of the previous suit and his new “stealth suit,” and you’ll notice some big changes.

The first thing you’ll note is the suit’s new color, which eschews the first film’s shimmering green and orange hues to go a bit darker,

By The Credits  |  September 7, 2021
Best of Summer: The Luminous Final Trailer For Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals”

We’re including the final trailer for Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals” in our “Best of Summer” recap because, well, it’s Chloé Zhao and it’s her first Marvel film. 

And now we finally have our first really good look at Chloé Zhao‘s EternalsMarvel Studios has just released the final trailer for Zhao’s first MCU film, and it’s unsurprising that it looks ravishing—Zhao has made her name,

By The Credits  |  September 3, 2021
Best of Summer: Daniel Craig’s Final Mission as James Bond is Nigh

Unlike most of our “Best of Summer” series, this is not an interview. But, it is a taste of what’s to come—Daniel Craig’s final mission as James Bond in the upcoming, long-awaited “No Time To Die.”

In the pantheon of iconic movie lines, few have the potency of the three words that make up “Bond, James Bond.” It’s this classic introduction that animates a brand new No Time To Die teaser,

By The Credits  |  September 3, 2021

Interview

Best of Summer: How the “A Quiet Place Part II” Sound Team Turns the Viewer Into Prey

This interview is part of our “Best of Summer” series. It was originally published on June 1. 

Don’t make a sound. The utterly frightening creatures of A Quiet Place are back in a terrifying sequel thirsty to tear your body apart. In this new chapter, the story picks up right where it left off with the Abbott family having destroyed their home in order to stay alive.

By Daron James  |  August 31, 2021
Trailer Heaven: 9 of the Year’s Most Exciting Films

The last four months of the year are going to be an epic one for movie lovers. From superheroes to cardsharps, from the mean streets of New York to the distant planet of Arrakis, the year will end with a thrilling mix of genres and stories from some of the best filmmakers in the business. (If Candyman hadn’t just been released, it would have made our list—but we’re sticking to films that haven’t premiered yet.) We’ve got films from living legends like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott on the horizon,

By The Credits  |  August 30, 2021

Interview

Composer

How “Candyman” Composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe Manipulated Madness Into Music

It’s hard to believe that someone as soft-spoken as Brooklyn musician Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe could be responsible for the dread-inducing soundscape that underscores the return of cinema’s most horrific throat-slashing boogeyman. And yet, that’s exactly what Lowe has achieved in his score for Candyman (opening Aug. 27). The film, from co-writer/director Nia DaCosta and co-writer/producer Jordan Peele, updates the original 1992 horror movie by tracking artist Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as he tries to wrap his bee-stung arms around the mysterious re-emergence of the murderous Candyman in Chicago’s newly gentrified Cabrini Green neighborhood.

By Hugh Hart  |  August 27, 2021
See Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in First “Spencer” Trailer

The moment we heard director Pablo Larraín was helming a film about Princess Diana starring Kristen Stewart, we were intrigued. Adding to the intrigue was the fact the script was from Peaky Blinds creator Steven Knight, and that the film would focus not on the entire, tragic saga of Princess Di’s marriage, divorce, and death, but a snapshot in time when Diana’s world was starting to unravel. Spencer focuses on just a few days in Princess Di’s life,

By The Credits  |  August 26, 2021
“The King’s Man” Red Band Trailer is Bloody Good Fun

You’ll know this is a red band trailer within the first 20-seconds. 20th Century Studios has released a raunchy, rude, and rollicking red band trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s The King’s Man, his long-awaited third installment in his The Kingsman franchise. After some pandemic-related delays, The King’s Man is finally nearing (ish) its premiere date, and the red band trailer will intrigue those of you who were already fans of the irreverent spy franchise and,

By The Credits  |  August 26, 2021
“Candyman” Review Round-Up: Searing, Strikingly Beautiful, & Savage

The reviews are in for writer/director Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, and they only further cement DaCosta’s status as one of the rising stars of her generation. It’s easy to shock viewers with splatter but the old gut-and-run gets awfully boring awfully fast. Far better is the slow creep, the horror that teases and then threatens,” writes The New York Times’s Manohla Dargis. DaCosta’s film teases,

By The Credits  |  August 26, 2021
New “Dune” Images Reveal One of the Year’s Most Anticipated Films

Writer/director Denis Villeneuve is already hard at work on the script for Dune 2, while we all patiently await the arrival of the first part of his (we hope) two-part epic. Warner Bros. has revealed a new slew of images from Dune, which is the first attempt at a big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s monumental sci-fi novel since David Lynch gave it a shot—with mixed results—way back in 1984.

The images speak to the sweeping epic that Villeneuve,

By The Credits  |  August 25, 2021
The Matrix 4 Gets Official Title As Warner Bros. Teases Trailer at CinemaCon

We are probably very close to see the first trailer for The Matrix 4, which Warner Bros. revealed during their CinemaCon event in Las Vegas but has yet to appear online. As we wait for the goods, we at least now know the film’s title—The Matrix Resurrections.

The Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon highlighted their indisputably epic upcoming slate. Not only did they reveal the first trailer for director Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections (premiering December 22),

By The Credits  |  August 25, 2021
An Epic Crossover Awaits as Sony Unveils Their Spider-Man Universe

It was only last May when Sony Pictures announced that their shared universe of comic book properties would be known as the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, but the acronym SPUMC didn’t quite have the same zing as MCU. But now, having officially jettisoned that name and rebranded with the much smoother Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, the studio has signaled that the near future will almost certainly give us the collision between Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Tom Hardy’s Venom folks have been waiting for.

By The Credits  |  August 25, 2021
Early Reactions to “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” Call Jason Reitman’s Film Nostalgia Done Right

Sony Pictures screened Ghostbusters: Afterlife for critics as part of their CinemaCon event, giving us a very early taste of what to expect for a film that doesn’t premiere until November 11 (after repeated delays due to the pandemic). Obviously, full reviews will be embargoed for quite some time, but these early reactions are an indication of how writer/director Jason Reitman approached this sequel to his dad’s two iconic 1980s films.

As a brief refresher,

By The Credits  |  August 24, 2021
First “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Images Reveal Peter Parker’s Multiverse Adventure

The first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home revealed that Peter Parker’s about to have the strangest adventure of his life. Yes, pun included (Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is a major player in the new film), but also, we mean it. Even though Peter Parker has, before even graduating high school, traveled to distant planets and fought intergalactic psychopaths (paging Thanos), none of his adventures were as mind-meltingly bizarre as what he’s about to experience in No Way Home. 

By The Credits  |  August 24, 2021
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” Trailer Reveals Peter Parker’s Strange Trip

For the first time ever in a Spider-Man film, everyone’s favorite web-slinger is no longer working undercover. Sony Pictures has revealed the first trailer for director Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home, revealing that the repercussions from Spidey’s exposure at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home will have major implications in the new film. If you’re having trouble recalling what happened at the end of Far From Home, 

By The Credits  |  August 24, 2021
Why The Action in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is So Epic

The quality of the action in director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the aspects that the critics, in spoiler-free early reactions, have raved about. Whether it’s Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) fighting Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu) or Shang-Chi facing off against his own father, Wenwu (Tony Leung), the fight choreography is next level. A new behind-the-scenes featurette just released by Marvel gives us the best look yet at what makes the action in Shang-Chi so sensational.

By The Credits  |  August 23, 2021
New “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Video Teases a Power Stronger Than the Avengers—Combined

Just how powerful are the ten rings? In a new video released by Marvel, the power of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings titular magical trinkets are said to be more potent than any force in the universe. When this statement is made by Michelle Yeoh’s Ying Nan, who do we see? The assorted Avengers, including one very ticked off Hulk, making plain just how much power the MCU’s newest member,

By The Credits  |  August 23, 2021
Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals” Will Introduce A Brand New Mythology Into the MCU

Yesterday Marvel Studios released the final trailer for Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao’s first-ever MCU film Eternals, and it was as sweeping, lush, and epic as we’d hoped. It also revealed quite a bit more of the film’s plot than we’ve gotten before.

The film’s titular superheroes, the Eternals, came to Earth some 7,000 years ago to protect the planet from a vicious threat—the Deviants. Eternals promises to expand the MCU in ways no other Phase 4 film will because its central characters have been so outside the MCU.

By The Credits  |  August 20, 2021
“Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” Reveals New Track From Swae Lee

We’ve already heard how seriously good director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings is, and one of the many facets of the film the critics called out for praise is the film’s soundtrack. In fact, time and time again critics wrote that not since Ryan Coogler’s 2018 game-changer Black Panther has an MCU film had this killer of a soundtrack. Now, Marvel Studios has revealed another song from Cretton’s epic,

By The Credits  |  August 20, 2021