Well, weekend box office, you need to get your act together — it’s damn-near summer! Not much is going on out there, but luckily there is one very intriguing movie that could be a fun little escape this weekend — though we probably wouldn’t go out of our way to see it. We’re talking about Colossal, another prime example of the genre-bending trend that is lighting up Hollywood these days, and this one’s among the weirdest yet.
The Colossal premise: A gigantic monster has invaded South Korea, Godzilla-style. Nothing new there, but this monster has a very odd quirk. A so-called party girl (Anne Hathaway) finds out that, bizarrely and beyond all reason, she’s unconsciously able to control the monster with her own actions like some sort of apocalyptic puppet master. While the movie isn’t getting stellar reviews, it is “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, and the mix of its odd premise and Anne Hathaway’s killer performance are being heralded as good enough reasons to give this one a go. Throw in a few of our favorites in Jason Sudeikis and Legion’s Dan Stevens (that Stevens is so hot right now!), and you’ve got enough positives to hit the theater — or at least the remote on VOD.
Other than that, there’s not much new worth seeing at the theater this weekend, but there are plenty of little nuggets of news to discuss from the week that was. How about some Star Wars rumors, Episode VIII style? We’re still waiting for some help unlocking the mysteries of Rian Johnson’s try at the Skywalker canon, The Last Jedi, but we did get some cool news this week on Benicio Del Toro’s character and, spoiler alert, it sounds like he’ll be playing some sort of odd, quirky character. (Who’d have guessed?) According to the Making Star Wars website, Del Toro will play a character named D.J., which is supposedly a production code name. The character supposedly will be wearing all black (sort of like Luke did in Return of the Jedi), and is expected to be a somewhat shady fellow stuck somewhere between hero and villain. He’s rumored to be living on a new planet to the Star Wars universe called Canto Bight, described by the site as a “casino planet,” which sounds pretty fun to us. We’ll also be chatting about the new “gorilla walkers,” said to be like AT-ATs, but with more stable legs so they’re much harder to take down.
We also got our first look at The Defenders this week, as Netflix prepares the last leg of its five-part superhero series, the first four of which were unfortunately capped by what many deem the weakest link in the chain, Iron Fist. In keeping with the topic, Netflix also began filling out the cast for Jessica Jones season 2, including adding acclaimed actress and Golden Globe winner Janet McTeer in a new mystery role that EW claims will have “an enormous impact” on the show’s titular heroine.
And speaking of Marvel, how about that New Warriors series coming to little known cable channel Freeform. The live-action show will reportedly be a 30-minute comedy about six young superheroes living and working together, and will include fan-favorite Squirrel Girl who has, as you may have guessed, the powers of a squirrel. If that means she loves peanuts and climbing around on telephone wires, we’re already intrigued. The comic first launched in 1990, featuring younger heroes with quirky powers who were set up as a teen version of The Avengers.
When it comes to Marvel-style cinematic universes, everybody wants a shot. That includes Universal Pictures, which is digging up its long-held monster properties like Dracula, The Invisible Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon for its own, deeply connected monster universe. The first keystone (after an already botched attempt at resurrecting Dracula with 2014’s super-bomb, Dracula Untold), will be a reboot of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe (as Dr. Jekyll) and Sofia Boutella as the Mummy herself. While it’s easy to scoff at this blatant attempt to capitalize off the Marvel way, the latest trailer looks pretty damned entertaining to us, so color us interested.
As you might imagine, Universal and DC comics partner Warner Bros. are far from the only studios looking to get in on Marvel’s sprawling, cinematic goldmine. But the latest comes from a place you might not expect: Call of Duty. That’s right, Activision’s epic first-person shooter game franchise is diving into the treacherous waters of going from a record-breaking gaming empire to a sprawling film universe, led by former Disney/Marvel vet and current Activision co-President, Nick van Dyke. All we can say about this one is, good luck!
There’s plenty more to talk about this week, including Showtime’s new offline viewing feature, Amazon’s play for Thursday Night Football, YouTube’s YouTube TV live-streaming service launch, the new Dick Cheney movie, and a farewell to one of the greatest of all time, comedian Don Rickles.
We’ll have all that and more on today’s show, so join us live today at 2 p.m. PT, or take our podcast along by subscribing via one of the links above!
