Skip to main content

Between the Streams: ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ the beautiful ‘Shape of Water’

DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what’s ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!

badge_itunes-smallest   stitcher-smallest   rss-smallest

This week, we’ve got Avengers on the brain. Not only did the first major trailer arrive for the superhero smorgasbord Avengers: Infinity War, slated to premiere in May 2018, but we also got some serious insight on how the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe will fundamentally change following the second film, the fourth in the Avengers lineup, coming in 2019. In short, somebody gonna die, leave, or plunge into exile in some form or another, and the arcs of some of our favorite Marvel goodies will effectively come to an end on screen. (Until their characters are rebooted with different actors, of course.)

We’ll be digging into our predictions for just who will go (Chris Evans, Robert Downy Jr., and Mark Ruffalo are all fairly safe bets given their contract situations), who will stay, and how the next slate of 20 (!) Marvel films to follow 2019’s judgment day will evolve.

While that will no doubt eat some serious screen/commute time for today’s podcast, we’ve got plenty more to discuss, not the least of which is the latest creature feature from one Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water. While your hosts have yet to see the film (there are rumors of a DT holiday party taking place last night), our reviewer Rick Marshall got an early look at what he calls “an old tale with a bizarrely beautiful del Toro twist.” The film has been heralded as the Mexican director’s best work since his breakthrough film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Marshall says the performances from lead actors Michael Shannon, Doug Jones, and Sally Hawkins alone are enough to justify the price of admission.

In other weird films premiering this weekend, James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, a biopic about the making of one of the worst films ever made, is also getting killer reviews. In fact, there are a host of films in theaters this week above the 90 percentile line on Rotten Tomatoes, including the two we mention above, as well as the wider release of Frances McDormand’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing. Add in Pixar’s visual feast, Coco, and continued screenings of Thor: Ragnarok, and it’s a great time for fans of entertaining, critically acclaimed films to hit the theater. In other words, that’s all of us.

Also this week, we’ll be discussing the new Hulu superhero series, The Runaways, Black Mirror season 4 teasers, Jurassic World 2 news (hint: The news rhymes with Shmoldblum), a first look at the big screen adaption of A Wrinkle in Time, and much more.

So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top.

Ryan Waniata
Former Home Theater & Entertainment Editor
Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…
Why Prime Video may be getting more annoying for some folks
The Amazon Prime Video home screen.

If you're a paid-up member of Amazon Prime and watch stuff on Prime Video, have you noticed anything different lately, such as more ads interrupting your viewing experience?

The video streaming service is now showing up to six minutes of ads per hour, double what it was showing when it introduced ads in January 2024, according to a report by AdWeek.

Read more
Webb Telescope gets the star treatment in new NASA documentary
The Pillars of Creation, imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope

The pages of Digital Trends are filled with breathtaking images of deep space captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, including the beautiful Cosmic Tornado, the gorgeous Ring Nebula, the incredible Carina Nebula, and a stunning spiral galaxy. 

The Webb telescope -- the most powerful ever built -- launched in 2021 and has been scanning the far reaches of space ever since. Besides beaming back amazing infrared imagery, the telescope is also helping scientists to learn more about the universe’s first stars and galaxies, the formation of numerous stars and planetary systems, and the origins of life itself, by exploring distant places with unprecedented clarity. 

Read more
3 underrated HBO Max movies you should watch this weekend (June 13-15)
A woman stands over a railing in Parthenope.

One of the biggest box office flops of the year, Alto Knights, is now on HBO Max. In a dual role, Robert De Niro stars as Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two mob bosses battling for control in 1950s New York. One seismic decision leads to a war between Vito and Frank, and only one man will be left standing.

A positive effect of streaming is that a failed movie like Alto Knights can still find an audience on streaming platforms. Other films with lesser profiles can also find audiences, including Parthenope, Paolo Sorrentino’s beautiful Italian drama. Watch Parthenope and two more underrated movies on HBO Max below.

Read more