Inside the Cursed Wedding in “House of the Dragon” Episode 5
The only thing more dangerous than a war during an episode of Game of Thrones? A wedding. In last night’s fifth episode of House of the Dragon, the first GoT prequel kept up its end of the bargain with yet another bloody celebration, and while the body count wasn’t as high as GoT‘s infamous “Red Wedding,” the results were still gruesome and grim.
“Every Game of Thrones season needs its wedding that doesn’t quite go right in the end,”
“The Woman King” Costume Designer Gersha Phillips on Outfitting History’s Fiercest Female Army
Intensity and discipline were trademarks of the Agojie warriors who defended the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. Their caliber of combat was so unmatched that one of their most unexpected traits often went undetected by their enemies.
“They fought with male warriors, so they would disguise themselves and look like men,” costume designer Gersha Phillips shared from her research. “There are several accounts of people who said when they came through their camp,
“The Woman King” Director Gina Prince-Bythewood on Her Singular, Sweeping Historical Epic
When director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s most recent film, The Old Guard, premiered on Netflix in July of 2020, the critically acclaimed action drama became one of the top 10 original launches in the platform’s history. Prince-Bythewood is following that with one of the most anticipated films of 2022, the historical epic The Woman King, the story of the Agojie, an elite all-female warrior unit charged with protecting the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s.
“Blade Runner 2099” Series Coming to Amazon
Amazon has officially ordered a Blade Runner 2049 sequel series. This is huge news for the legion of Blade Runner fans, sci-fi fans, and Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve fans. The new series, Blade Runner 2099, will be set (as the title makes clear) 50 years after Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, although plot details will be a tightly held secret—for now.
The series has been in the works for a little while now.
Watch Naomie Ackie Channel Whitney Houston in First “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” Trailer
Talk about big shoes to fill and an unmatchable voice to attempt. In fact, Whitney Houston’s singing chops were so out-of-this-world that she was also known as The Voice. Rising star Naomie Ackie accepted the colossal challenge of playing Houston in director Kasi Lemmons’ I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and Sony Pictures has just released the first trailer. Folks? It passes the “induces chills test” the second we get to the first tune.
“The Woman King” DP Polly Morgan on Lensing Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Thrilling Epic
A sweeping historical epic that blends intimacy and adventure is the kind of movie that The Woman King cinematographer Polly Morgan dreamed about making while growing up in West Sussex, England.
“My earliest memories were Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun. Spielberg captured my imagination like many of my generation,” said Morgan over the phone from the Toronto International Film Festival, where The Woman King had its world premiere.
“Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” Taps Writer Jeff Loveness
The first new Avengers film since Endgame has its writer.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Marvel Studios has named Jeff Loveness its writer for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. We only just learned the title and the director of the fifth Avengers film back in July, when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told the crowd at San Diego Comic-Con that Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors) would be the centerpiece of the film and that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton would be helming the epic.
“Shantaram” Trailer Finds Charlie Hunnam as a Fugitive in 1980s Bombay
We’ve finally got a peek at Apple TV+’s new series Shantaram, based on the international bestselling novel by Gregory David Roberts. That sprawling novel, some 900+ pages of intrigue, was fertile ground for showrunner Steve Lightfoot (Hannibal) and executive producer/co-writer Eric Warren Singer (co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick). Charlie Hunnam takes on the role of Lin Ford, a fugitive who escapes to Bombay in the 1980s trying in an attempt to find a new path forward and,
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Reactions: Rian Johnson Delivers Another Delicious Whodunnit to Unpeel
Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend, which means that reactions and reviews have already flooded online. Johnson has asked that those who saw the film (and those who reviewed it) to please, please, please keep its many secrets hidden until audiences far and wide get a chance to see it on December 23 on Netflix (it’s getting a theatrical release in select theaters,
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Stars Winston Duke & Tenoch Huerta on the Emotional Sequel
It goes without saying that when Ryan Coogler assembled the squad to start filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it was going to be an emotional shoot. The sequel to Coogler’s cultural and commercial juggernaut, 2018’s Black Panther, was forging ahead without its lead, Chadwick Boseman, who tragically passed away at 43 on August 28, 2020. The script had to be rewritten, and although the process has been kept largely under wraps,
“The Mandalorian” Reveals First Images From Season 3
One of the big reveals to come from Disney’s D23 Expo was the first trailer for The Mandalorian season 3, which revealed that Mando and Grogu would be heading back to Mandalore, where Mando has made a few enemies. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to spend quality time with Din Djarin/the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne) and the Child, considering The Mandalorian season 2 capped off in December of 2020 when the pair were saved at the last second by a young Jedi master named Luke Skywalker.
“Babylon” Trailer Reveals Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie Getting Wild in 1920s Los Angeles
Writer/director Damien Chazelle is one of the best in the business at threading music through his films, whether in brutal (but astonishing) fashion as he did in Whiplash or of the more elegiac, bittersweet variety as he did in La La Land. In his new, star-studded feature Babylon, Chazelle seems to have found a middle ground between the two, focusing on the depraved, debauched, and delirious times, good and bad,
“Avatar 4” Has Begun Filming
James Cameron is already in production on Avatar 4 (and Avatar 3, mind you), while the world awaits Avatar: The Way of Water, the second film in his epic, decades-in-the-making franchise. The planning alone for Cameron’s three-film follow-up to his 2009 smash hit is astonishing.
Cameron made the announcement at Disney’s D23 Expo, beaming in from New Zealand to give an update on the sweeping production of his Avatar films.
“Squid Game” Star Lee Jung-jae & Zendaya Make Emmys History
Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor ever to win an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama, marking one of the telecast’s highlights. Lee became only the fourth Asian actor to ever win an Emmy in any of the performance categories.
“Thank you to the Television Academy, thank you to Netflix, and thank you to the director for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen with a great script.
Eric K. Thomas of “The Quintessential Gentleman” on Creating a New Kind of Space for Black Men
Eric K. Thomas was about to go to law school when an internship at a radio station gave him his first taste of the entertainment industry.
“I was like, before I cut this check [for law school] in terms of student loans, let me see if this is something that I actually wanted to do.”
What Thomas actually wanted to do, he found out, was create a space for Black men he didn’t see anywhere else online or on the magazine racks.
“The Mandalorian” Season 3 Trailer Reveals Mando & Grogu’s Return to Mandalore
As part of the Star Destroyer’s worth of news coming out of Disney’s D23 this past weekend was The Mandalorian season 3 trailer, revealing that everybody’s favorite bounty hunter (all due respect to Boba Fett fans) is back. Din Djarin/the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne) and his charge, Grogu (also known as The Child), are returning to Mandalore, only they won’t be welcomed by everybody on the planet. The two have made a few enemies along the way.
“House of the Dragon” Episode 4: Sex, Lies, & High Treason
For Game of Thrones fans, you knew coming into House of the Dragon that it wouldn’t be long until things got very weird within the Targaryen household. And while the first three episodes provided plenty of intrigue and danger within the halls of power at the Red Keep and beyond, it was episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea,” that finally dipped into officially taboo territory.
“You Targaryens do have queer customs,”
“Captain America: New World Order” Reveals Cast at Disney’s D23
There were Marvel Cinematic Universe announcements aplenty at Disney’s D23 this past weekend, and one of the most significant was the reveal of some of the headliners in Captain America: New World Order, the first feature film to star Anthony Mackie as the new Cap.
Joining Mackie is Tim Blake Nelson, returning to the MCU after he appeared in 2008’s Incredible Hulk, now playing The Leader. Carl Lumbly returns as the original super soldier Isaiah Bradley after his emotional,
Marvel Reveals “Secret Invasion” Trailer Led by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury
Marvel Studios has revealed, at long last, our first look at their upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L. Jackson as a weathered, wearied Nick Fury. The official trailer was revealed during Disney’s D3 this weekend and opens with the arrival of a spaceship and a strange alien figure emerging from its glowing interior. That figure turns out to be Nick Fury, fresh off a years-long adventure off-planet. Fury arrived to meet with his former #2,
“Star Wars: The Acolyte” Adds “Squid Game” Star Lee Jung-Jae
The Star Wars galaxy adds yet another rising star to its firmament.
Just a few days after learning that Jodie Turner-Smith was joining the upcoming series Star Wars: The Acolyte, Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae has found his first major American studio role, Deadline reports. The news comes at an opportune moment for Lee, as he’s vying for an Emmy for Oustanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work in Squid Game,
