In this episode of DC Revisited, we reexamine Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and try to determine whether or not it’s the best Superman movie.

There’s been a lot of drama surrounding Henry Cavill’s tenure as Superman. Too much. In 2013, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel premiered to excellent box office, and fans loved Cavill as the new Superman. To them, he was the best of both worlds, as he had brought some of the same heart to the role that Christopher Reeve did in the Richard Donner movies but also did enough of his own thing that it wasn’t a full-scale homage. This was a common criticism levelled at Brandon Routh when he played the role in Superman Returns. Yet, some fans took issue with director Zack Snyder’s darker take on the Superman mythology. The film ended with a polarizing climax that saw most of Metropolis destroyed during a battle between Superman and Michael Shannon’s General Zod.

Of course, the divide between fans grew exponentially following the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, to the extent that Zack Snyder’s Justice League was taken away from him, reshot and released in a shockingly revised version by Joss Whedon that almost ended the DC Universe on the big screen. In the end, Cavill, despite almost reprising the role following a cameo in Black Adam, would find his run as Superman truncated.

In this episode of DC Revisited, we reexamine the movie that started it all, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Does the film hold up ten years later, and did Henry Cavill ever truly get his due as Superman? As host/editor/writer Tyler Nichols explains, this was a role Cavill was seemingly born to play, with him having already come close to playing the part in a version of the character depicted in the abandoned project Superman: Flyby by J.J. Abrams. We examine Man of Steel’s reception and enduring legacy, with Michael Shannon’s General Zod and Antje Traue’s Faora-Ul set to return as antagonists in the upcoming, much-hyped DC-reset movie, The Flash.

Do you think Man of Steel is, arguably, the best Superman movie? Let us know in the comments.

With the announcement that new Lord of the Rings films are due out, there doesn’t seem to be any competition with the Amazon show or content.

It was an interesting turn of events when Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, the studio that initially brought forth the live-adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, directed by Peter Jackson, had announced plans to release new movies in the franchise after signing a deal with Embracer Group AB’s Middle-earth Enterprises. The clincher was that Peter Jackson would, once again, be involved with these projects in some capacity.

Variety is now reporting the boss of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, who is releasing the Lord of the Rings show, The Rings of Power, does not feel threatened by this announcement as they were shortly the sole source for new Lord of the Rings material. Salke recently spoke on the red carpet of the Creed III premiere about the newly announced projects. When Variety asked her if all these new Tolkien works would be too much for the market, she responded, “We’ll see. We love our original series. We’re extremely proud of it, and invested long term. So, we definitely think there’s enough fan love to sustain ours for a long time.”

Salke had attained the position of Amazon Studio head back in 2018 and had gone through great lengths to acquire the rights to produce television adaptations of the Rings series, also at great cost. However, the Tolkien estate has certainly had a great working relationship with New Line Cinema after the giant successes of the initial trilogy and the more recent Hobbit trilogy. The former Rings movies would gross $5 billion worldwide and win an Oscar for Best Picture for Return of the King.

Peter Jackson gave some reassuring news when it was announced that there would be more entries by stating, “Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way… we look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.” Mike DeLuca and Pamela Abdy, the heads of Warner Bros. Pictures, and former MGM executives, which was incidentally absorbed by Amazon, gave the explanation, “For all the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored.”

A new promo for the spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City, starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, confirms a June premiere

While the very short teaser trailer (embedded above) for the upcoming spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City simply says the show is “coming soon”, we’ve known for a while now that the show is expected to premiere sometime in June 2023. Now a new, also very short promo for The Walking Dead: Dead City has arrived online – you can check it out at the bottom of this article – and it confirms that this is expected to be a June premiere. We just need AMC to announce a specific date.

Eli Jorné, who has been a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead for multiple seasons, serves as showrunner on The Walking Dead: Dead City, which centers on Maggie and Negan, the characters that have been played by Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan since season 2 and 6 (respectively) of The Walking Dead. This show will see Maggie and Negan traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror. The new promo seems to explain why Maggie has Negan join her on this journey, and why they need to go to Manhattan in the first place.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cohan revealed that The Walking Dead: Dead City will pick up “a few years” after the conclusion of The Walking Dead.

Joining Cohan and Morgan in the cast are Mahina Napoleon (NCIS: Hawai’i), Zeljko Ivanek (Madam Secretary), and Jonathan Higginbotham (Shining Vale). Details on their characters are being kept under wraps, but we do know that Gaius Charles (Fright Night Lights) is playing Izaak, who is “confident, ruthless, and unyielding in the pursuit of what he believes is justice, with the force of his will and his menace. Izaak enjoys his work and intersperses humor with the terror he incites. This is a family man, devoted to building a safe world for his wife and daughters. His journey unearths a loss he is haunted by. He has patience and resilience and walks rather than runs from his mistakes.”

Undead Walking suggests that Karina Ortiz (Orange Is the New Black) and Caleb Reese Paul (The Other Two) may be in the cast as well, but their involvement hasn’t been officially announced at this point.

Cohan, Morgan, and Jorné are executive producing The Walking Dead: Dead City with Scott M. Gimple, the Chief Content Officer of the Walking Dead Universe.

Other Walking Dead spin-offs in the works include The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne.

Are you looking forward to The Walking Dead: Dead City? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below. I watched all of The Walking Dead, so I will be tuning in to this spin-off to see what Maggie and Negan get up to next.

A poster for director Tim Story’s horror comedy The Blackening has been unveiled. A trailer will be released online tomorrow

Director Tim Story’s horror comedy The Blackening is said to take place during a Juneteenth weekend getaway, and Lionsgate is going to give the film a wide theatrical release on June 16, 2023 – which happens to be Juneteenth weekend. With the release date just three and a half months away, a poster for The Blackening has arrived online – and it came with the promise that a trailer is going to be released tomorrow! So while we wait to see the trailer, you can take a look at the poster at the bottom of this article.

Story directed The Blackening from a screenplay by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins. Inspired by a Perkins-scripted 3Peat comedy sketch that aired on Comedy Central in 2018, the film is about a group of Black friends who go away for the weekend only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who forces them to play a game with life-or-death consequences. The idea asks a reasonable question: since it seems that Black characters are usually the earliest victims in horror films, what happens when all the characters are Black?

Perkins (The Upshaws) stars in the film alongside Antoinette Robertson (Dear White People), Sinqua Walls (Shark Night), Grace Byers (Empire), X Mayo (The Farewell), Melvin Gregg (The Way Back), Jermaine Fowler (The Drop), Yvonne Orji (Insecure), Jay Pharoah (Unsane), and James Preston Rogers (Pixels).

Lionsgate’s Jason Constantine has said that The Blackening is “a wildly entertaining horror movie that delivers jump-out-of-your-seat scares while also hilariously subverting the genre.” Story and Oliver produced the film with Marcei A. Brown, Jason Clark, E. Brian Dobbins, and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett. Perkins co-produced, and Vicky Story is associate producer.

Story’s previous directing credits include Barbershop, Taxi, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hurricane Season, Think Like a Man, Ride Along, Think Like a Man Too, Ride Along 2, Shaft, and Tom & Jerry.

How does The Blackening sound to you, and what do you think of the poster? Are you looking forward to seeing the movie in June (and the trailer tomorrow)? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The long awaited sequel to the Mel Brooks classic is chock full of celebrities, comedians, and jokes, but not enough of them are all that funny.

Plot: After waiting over 40 years there is finally a sequel to the seminal Mel Brooks film, “History of the World, Part I,” with each episode featuring a variety of sketches that take us through different periods of human history.

Review: I was beyond excited when it was first announced that Hulu was bringing the long awaited sequel to Mel Brooks’ comedy History of the World Part I. I was less enthusiastic when I learned that the ninety-six year old would only be involved in a limited capacity. Spread over eight half-hour episodes, History of the World Part II has all of the hallmarks and style of classic Mel Brooks but without the spark that made Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein into masterpieces. With a reliance on quantity versus quality, History of the World Part II throws everything at the screen to see what sticks, resulting in a very uneven anthology of skits that pales compared to the 1981 movie that inspired it.

The trailers immediately show that History of the World Part II employs the same anachronistic humor as the feature film. With jokes taking contemporary elements and technology and putting them into various eras throughout history, the trademark approach that Mel Brooks’ movies have become synonymous with are heaped into each of the eight episodes of this series. While the 1981 film had four main segments set in the Stone Age, Roman Empire, Spanish Inquisition, and French Revolution, they each had short skits that bridged one chapter to the next. in History of the World Part II, the eight episodes chop up the main segments through the entire season. This means that each half-hour episode has six to ten skits that move back and forth through the timeline rather than showcasing a linear progression like the movie did.

The main skits focus on Jesus and the Apostles, The Civil War, The Russian Revolution, and Shirley Chisholm’s campaign as the first female and African-American presidential candidate. The consistent stars of the series are Nick Kroll, Ike Barinholtz, and Wanda Sykes, who each serve as writers and producers. Each episode also showcases Mel Brooks as narrator of each segment despite the legendary comedian not having any writing credits on these episodes. But, the creative talent writing this series are indebted to Brooks and his filmography. Do not hesitate to skewer and satirize everything from religion and documented historical record to racism, social media, reality television, and the divide between Brooks’ generation and Millennials, Zoomers, and beyond. There are jokes on The Beatles, Jackass, TikTok, YouTube, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and even Brooks’ classic Blazing Saddles. With four hours of running time to fill, many jokes here work, and many of them are the shorter skits, while the longer ones are chopped up into too many segments.

So many of the jokes in this series are rooted in Jewish culture and mock both Judaism and Christianity that this series is bound to offend some viewers, but if you have ever seen a Mel Brooks production, you know what you are in for. Airing on Hulu, History of the World Part II has plenty of drugs on display and copious profanity, but is surprisingly light on the nudity. The sheer size of the cast, many of whom are not shown in any of the trailers and will surprise people, is impressive. Some work better than others, with Jay Ellis and Zazie Beetz a highlight as Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Most of the actors in History of the World Part II appear for a single skit and some for a single line of dialogue. There are also some pretty hilarious connections to Part I, but I won’t spoil any details about what audiences are in store for.

Directed by Alice Mathias, David Stassen, Nick Kroll, and Lance Bangs, amongst others, History of the World Part II boasts a staff of fourteen writers, including Kroll, Barinholtz, and Sykes. I am still confused as to why they chose to split the main stories across the eight episodes rather than dedicate an entire episode to a single story with some skits between them. Maybe this was to contend with the low attention spans of modern viewers, or maybe it was to try and get people to tune in for the entire series, but with some stories crossing a handful of episodes and others broken into all eight, the inconsistent structure of this series ends up making it feel more redundant and repetitive instead of the quicker pace they were aiming for. It may also have to do with the longer segments needing filler. Still, in either case, History of the World Part II could have benefited from being either half as long or using a more traditional episode structure.

More jaded viewers enjoying the prevalence of comedy available on cable and streaming platforms in the four decades since History of the World Part I debuted on the big screen may not find much in this sequel series that they have not seen before. The most significant difference between History of the World Part II and the humor of Saturday Night Live, South Park, and even The Simpsons and Family Guy is the heavy reliance on jokes about Jewish people, which may fly over many viewers’ heads. For me, the highlight of this series was seeing Mel Brooks back in action, even if a limited capacity. This series does not hold a candle to Brooks’ movies and works more as a love letter to his career and importance to both movies and comedians. Undoubtedly, everyone involved in making this series had a lot of fun doing so, but I wish it had been more cohesive and less repetitive.

History of the World Part II premieres on March 6th on Hulu.

6

We speak to the legendary Don Johnson about his career and new film A Little White Lie co-starring Michael Shannon.

Don Johnson is a personal hero of mine. One of my prized possessions is a framed, autographed copy of his 1987 album, “Heartbeat”, which I have hanging on my living room wall. Being a child of the eighties, I always thought he was the coolest of the cool. As a youngster, I got into Miami Vice in a big way through re-runs, and I loved him in action flicks like 1989’s Dead-Bang, and 1991’s Best Movie You Never Saw fave Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. Plus, there was Nash Bridges!

This week, Johnson, who’s been carving out a terrific niche for himself as a character actor in recent years, stars alongside Michael Shannon and Kate Hudson in the comedy-drama A Little White Lie. In it, Johnson plays a famous writer whose big personality hides a certain degree of insecurity. I was lucky enough to sit with Johnson for a great interview where, among other things, he revealed that he based his character on his friend, the legendary Hunter S. Thompson. He discusses how the film was a week away from wrapping when the Covid pandemic began and how it took 400 days before they were finally able to wrap the movie. He also teases his upcoming action thriller Rebel Ridge, which is being directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room) for Netflix, which he thinks might be a really special film, even if it was the hardest physical shoot of his life due to an injury.

Johnson, who it must be said is a terrific guy, also indulged me in a little talk about his 1989 action flick Dead-Bang, which was directed by the legendary John Frankenheimer. In it, there’s this amazing foot chase that climaxes with Johnson puking all over a perp, and Johnson, to my delight, not only remembers the scene but admits it was his idea. He also told me some great stories about the director as well as folks like M. Emmett Walsh, the late Gregg Allman, and more. This was my second time interviewing Don Johnson (the first time was for Brawl in Cell Block 99), and both times he was as friendly of an interview subject as you can hope for, and he ended the interview by paying me a super nice compliment that made my day.

A Little White Lie is in theaters, on digital and on demand Friday March 3rd.

Here’s the studio synopsis (which to be honest doesn’t really reflect the actual film all that well):

Shriver (Michael Shannon), a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life, is mistaken for a famous writer that has been in hiding for over 20 years. With nothing to lose, he accepts an invitation to attend a college literary festival and finds himself surrounded by adoring fans and an English professor (Kate Hudson) who captures his heart. Shriver must do whatever it takes for his shot at love in this fish-out-of-water comedy.

It’s a nice little gem of a movie (review to follow soon) and worth checking out.

Disney releases new teaser trailer for Peter Pan & Wendy, a live-action reimagining of the animated movie from David Lowery.

Get ready to return to Neverland… again. Disney has released the new teaser trailer for Peter Pan & Wendy, a live-action reimagining of the original J.M. Barrie novel and the studio’s own animated classic. Peter Pan & Wendy will debut exclusively on Disney+ on April 28th.

While Disney has no shortage of live-action remakes under their belt (with more to come), Peter Pan & Wendy should be on your radar as it’s helmed by David Lowery, best known for Pete’s Dragon and The Green Knight. In addition to directing, Lowery also penned the screenplay alongside Toby Halbrooks. “In making ‘Peter Pan & Wendy,’ we set out to craft a film that honors both the original J.M. Barrie text and Walt Disney’s animated adaptation,” Lowery said. “We wanted to invigorate our retelling with emotional sincerity, an open heart, and a grand yearning for adventure. Hundreds of incredible artists spent many years bringing this film to the screen; I’m excited for audiences to see their work, to go on this ride, and to rediscover an evergreen tale from a new perspective.“

Peter Pan & Wendy introduces Wendy Darling, “a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind, who meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling and dangerous adventure that will change her life forever.” Ever Anderson stars as Wendy, with Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell, Jude Law as Captain Hook, Jim Gaffigan as Mr. Smee, Alan Tudyk as George Darling, and Molly Parker as Mary Darling. I’ve got to admit that I didn’t remember that Jude Law was playing Captain Hook until I read it in the press release; the actor looks nearly unrecognizable in the role, but it looks like he’s having a lot of fun with it.

You can check out a poster for Peter Pan & Wendy below, and let us know what you thought of the teaser trailer in the comment.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s release date has been moved forward slightly. Voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have announced that the animated feature The Super Mario Bros. Movie is getting an earlier release date… but only slightly earlier. Previously scheduled to reach theatres on April 7th, The Super Mario Bros. Movie now has a release date of April 5th in the United States and in more than sixty other markets around the world (including China, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, the U.K., and Ireland). The film will reach additional markets in April and May, with its Japan release set for April 28th.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (collaborators on Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Minions: The Rise of Gru), the film has a voice cast that includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.

Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie with Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. The film has been co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo.

As we have noted before, Nintendo acquired Dynamo Pictures in July of 2022 to establish a CG animation company, Nintendo Pictures. The studio plans to adapt more of Nintendo’s IPs. Nintendo has yet to reveal what properties the studio intends to adopt. If you’re unfamiliar with Dynamo Pictures, they’ve worked on projects like Ghost in the Shell, Studio Ghibli’s Earwig and the Witch, Nier Replicant, Mega Man, Death Stranding, and titles in the Resident Evil franchise. While Nintendo has yet to reveal any potential plans for the studio, fans may eventually see adaptations of The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Animal Crossing, or Luigi’s Mansion.

Are you looking forward to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and are you glad it has an earlier release date? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I have fond memories of playing several of the Mario games (and not-so-fond memories of watching the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie), so I will be watching this movie at some point.