Disney is turning the original Star Wars movies into animated shorts for children
‘Into the Spider-Verse’ is the best Spider-Man movie yet
Since Tobey Maguire first donned the red and blue spandex suit in 2002, there’s been a steady stream of Spider-Man films starring him, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. Some are great (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), some have weird emo dance sequences (“Spider-Man 3”), but they’ve all told the same repetitive story: Spider bites man; man bites crime. However, it’s the latest one, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” that unleashes the acrobatic arachnid’s full emotional and creative potential. The movie proves a New York teen superhero can do more than just excitedly swing around. He can move us, too. It’s the best stand-alone film to feature the iconic character so far.
Jordan Peele is working on a ‘Candyman’ sequel
Remember Candyman? If you happen to have grown up in the 90s — or even if you’re just a horror fan — chances are you’ll have heard of it. Based on Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden”, the 1992 movie about a killer who can be summoned when someone says his name five times has become something of a cult classic in the genre. Well, splendid news — Jordan Peele is working on a sequel to it. The screenplay has been written by Peele and Win Rosenfeld, Deadline reports, and Nia DaCosta (whose directorial debut, Little Woods, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year) is going to direct. The film will be set in the same neighbourhood as the original, and Deadline reports it will be a “spiritual sequel”. It’s set to come to US cinemas on June 12, 2020.
You Can See Aquaman a Week Early…If You Have Amazon Prime
The Amazon takeover has officially entered the DC cinematic universe. Amazon has announced special week-early screenings for Jason Momoa’s solo debut, Aquaman, but only for folks with Amazon Prime. According to a press release, about 1,000 theaters across the United States will hold special screenings for Aquaman on December 15, one week before its official release on December 21. It’s still one day after audiences in the UK get to see it, though, so we’ll still be a bit behind. However, you have to be an Amazon Prime member to buy tickets for the showing (each member can buy up to 10 tickets, so if you have a friend with Amazon Prime, be sure to hit them up). Coming on the heels of the Doctor Who episode “Kerblam!,” where a mega-corporation had a presence in nearly every aspect of people’s lives, this doesn’t feel at all like a monopoly apocalypse (or “monocalypse”) is on the horizon.
Mary Poppins Returns: Why Disney’s new film is the spoonful of sugar we all need
Out of the sky, borne on that very kite, there will come a familiar figure, with a turned-up nose and a parrot-headed umbrella: Mary Poppins has come to take charge at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, where the Banks family are in the dilapidated house at the end. And just as she came, she will eventually go, borne on a west wind with her umbrella held up. But this time it’s an unfamiliar figure under the hat: Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns, Walt Disney’s sequel to the 1964 original, which will be released just in time for Christmas on December 21. There are other changes. This time Mary Poppins returns to London in the depressed Thirties, although, mind you, PL Travers’s first Mary Poppins book was published in 1934. And this time the Banks family is that of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), the little boy of the stories who has grown up and has three children of his own.
