Film
The Pandemic Has Changed Movies, But There’s Still Big Bucks in Blockbusters
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with a deep dive into how COVID-19 has changed “event” movies. As December rolls along, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. Spider-Man: No Way Home, which hit theaters in the US on December 16th, is poised to shatter box office records. One of the most anticipated blockbuster films of 2021 (maybe even of the last five years), all eyes are on Peter Parker and Co. to rake in the kind of cash that superheroes typically did in the Before Times. Of course, the film is about to smash said records in a very different world than when pre-production on it began in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic has done astronomical damage to countless businesses, and the movie industry was n...
Matthew Vaughn Says “F*cking Nuts” Kick-Ass Reboot Coming in Two Years
With no power comes no responsibility — but it does come with a reboot. Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has revealed that he has eyes on a “big reboot” of the cult favorite R-rated comic book movie franchise Kick-Ass. Speaking at a virtual press junket for his upcoming The King’s Man, Vaughn was asked about another of comic book creator Mark Millar’s other successful film adaptations: Kick-Ass. The black comedy came out in 2010, just at the genesis of the superhero movie craze. Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicolas Cage, and Chloë Grace Moretz in her breakout role, the film brought a level of ultra-violence and foul language to crime fighting that received as much outrage as it did fan appreciation. A sequel followed in 2013, and Vaughn is now looking to restart the blood...
Keanu Reeves’ 10 Most Iconic Roles
The best blockbuster stars have a quality that sets them apart: the funny way that Bruce Willis gets pissed off; the moments of doubt when Denzel Washington bets on himself; and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love of language, his tremendous joy in pummeling enemies with words as well as fists. With Keanu Reeves, it’s his listening. Whether it’s a mad bomber, a flirty stranger, or a messenger from a different reality, Reeves is always utterly convincing as a man who needs to hear more. From the beginning of his five-decade career, Reeves’ characters have been animated by an effortless curiosity, starting with the naive wonder of his breakthrough role, 1989’s Bill and Ted, and continuing through the reality-bending The Matrix. Even his off-screen choices seem bathed in curiosity, includi...
Here’s a Timeline of Tom Holland and Zendaya’s Relationship, Because We’re Chasing Joy Where We Can
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with a Tomdaya timeline, because why not? As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. Look, we all needed a win this year. Happy release week to Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is allegedly exciting and fresh and an impressive moment for the MCU and all that. Anyway, let’s talk about two of its leads: Spider-Man and MJ. Peter Parker and Mary Jane. Tom and Z. Tom Holland (a golden retriever who was accidentally transformed into a lovable young man with the gifts of song, dance, and acrobatics) exploded to full-fledged stardom when he was just nineteen years old. The former Billy Elliot switched out the curtain call tutu for an iconic spidey suit in C...
Keanu Reeves’ Mother Designed Dolly Parton’s Playboy Outfit and He Wore It for Halloween
Not all parents will have the opportunity to dress their children for Playboy Magazine, but we can all aspire to be as supportive — literally and figuratively — as Keanu Reeves’ mom Patricia Taylor. A costume designer, Taylor created the bustier that held in Dolly Parton on her iconic Playboy magazine cover, and as Reeves revealed in a new appearance on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk, after Parton was done with it, he wore it for Halloween. The episode of Red Table Talk served as a Matrix reunion. Smith appeared in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions alongside Reeves, and they were joined for the conversation by Reeves’ The Matrix Resurrections costars Carrie-Anne Moss and Priyanka Chopra Jonas....
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem Tried to Back Out of Being the Ricardos
When word got out that Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem would be playing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, many scratched their heads: Kidman isn’t exactly the spitting image of Ball, and Bardem isn’t exactly Cuban. Turns out, the actors were a bit confused by the casting themselves. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kidman and Bardem said they actually tried to get out of the film before shooting began. “I wasn’t aware of how big it was,” Bardem, who grew up in Spain, said of I Love Lucy, Ball and Arnaz’s sitcom-inventing television show. The actor mostly knew of Arnaz from his music with Spanish musician Xavier Cugat. “When I really started digging into him, the deeper I got, the more I knew how iconic [the show] was … i...
Guillermo del Toro Reveals Plot of His Abandoned Pacific Rim Sequel
Guillermo del Toro co-wrote the screenplay to the 2013 science fiction smash Pacific Rim, but by the time its sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising, hit theaters in 2016, he was no longer attached to the project. In a recent interview, the director revealed what Pacific Rim 2 would’ve looked like if he had the final say. “The villain was this tech guy that had invented basically sort of the internet 2.0. And then they realized that all his patents came to him one morning,” del Toro told TheWrap. “And so little by little, they started putting together this and they said, ‘Oh, he got them from the precursors.’ The guys that control the kaiju.” He continued, “And then we found out that the precursors are us thousands of years in the future. They’re trying to terraform, trying to re...
Lady Gaga Reveals She ‘Absolutely’ Took Bradley Cooper’s Advice for ‘House of Gucci’ Role
Lady Gaga‘s friendship with Bradley Cooper is still going strong. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly‘s The Awardist podcast on Monday (Dec. 13), the superstar opened up about how the A-lister’s support ultimately led her to her current starring role in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Bradley Cooper believed in me for the role of Ally Maine in A Star Is Born, and the way that he empowered me to take helm of that character … it really was the success of our artistic collaboration, I think, that landed me where I am now,” Gaga said during the phone interview. “Absolutely,” she added when asked if she had consulted her one-time co-star and director before tackling the part of Patrizia Gucci. “You know, I’ve c...
Michelle Yeoh Must Save the Multiverse, Do Her Taxes in Everything Everywhere All at Once Trailer: Watch
Michelle Yeoh is an exhausted Chinese American woman tasked with not only saving the whole multiverse but also doing her taxes in the bonkers trailer for Everything Everywhere All at Once. The new film from A24 is directed by the duo behind Swiss Army Man, Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) and comes to theaters on March 25th. The trailer for Everything Everywhere All at Once opens with Evelyn Wang (Yeoh) zoning out before a distant voice snaps her back to reality. “Mrs. Wang, are you with us?” a wigged Jamie Lee Curtis asks over a mountain of paper receipts. “Now you may only see a pile of receipts, but I see a story,” she says. “I can see where this story is going, and it does not look good.” At these stressful words, unseen hands suddenly pull Evelyn throug...
Return of the Jedi, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and WALL-E Among 2021 National Film Registry Honorees
The Library of Congress unveiled its annual list of new additions to the National Film Registry on Tuesday. Only 25 films make the cut per year, and the 2021 selection boasts some beloved classics spanning from 1902-2008. Among those are Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), WALL-E (2008), and many more well-deserving must-sees. Each year, the Librarian of Congress selects films for the National Film Registry from thousands of public nominations, with input from members of the National Film Preservation Board and Library film curators. Some other additions for 2021 include What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, the 1962 psychological horror-thriller starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Fantasy geeks will be pleased to see The Lord o...
Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald Revealed in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore First Trailer: Watch
Another dose of magic is on the horizon: Warner Bros. has unveiled the trailer for The Secrets of Dumbledore, the next installment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. A prequel to the beloved Harry Potter series, the film will hit theaters on April 15th, 2022. As its title implies, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore follows the tribulations of future Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (long before The Boy Who Lived received his acceptance letter). The clip shows Dumbledore (Jude Law) assembling a team of wizards, witches, and one Muggle in an effort to stop dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) from seizing control of the wizarding world. With Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) leading the efforts, they encounter a slew of magical beasts as Gr...
Spider-Man: No Way Home Review: A Daring Narrative Feat With a Lot to Say About the Web-Slinger
The Pitch: It’s very very hard to make specific references to much of what happens in Spider-Man: No Way Home without spoilers. But at one point, while discussing the memory spell that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has agreed to perform for Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Peter voices his concern over his beloved MJ (Zendaya) forgetting that he’s Spider-Man. Doctor Strange then points out that if MJ is only Peter’s girlfriend because he’s Spider-Man, then what does that say about their relationship? It’s perhaps the smartest thing Doctor Strange says in the entire movie, and evaluating No Way Home leads to a similar dilemma. What director Jon Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have done with this film is an unprecedented piece of corporate-produced art. But attempting to ...
