James Gunn is the only director that is currently creating movies in both the Marvel and DC Universe. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and The Suicide Squad are the three upcoming superhero movies in Gunn’s lineup.
In an interview with Jake Hamilton, an entertainment anchor who now hosts a Youtube Channel called Jake’s Takes, James Gunn revealed his enthusiasm to have a cinematic crossover between the Marvel and DC universe. He also revealed his ideal crossover project which would be a Harley Quinn and Groot movie.
Harley Quinn is one of the main characters in Gunn’s new Suicide Squad movie and Groot is a founding member of The Guardians of the Galaxy team. Both characters in a movie together would make for a quirky, tongue-in-cheek adventure but is this crossover even possible? Or is it just wishful thinking?
Gunn has actually had conversations with the head of Marvel, Kevin Feige, and DC, Toby Emmerich, and stated that they both were open to the possibility of a crossover.
“I’ve actually talked about that to the heads of both Marvel and DC, but, you know, it’s like, they — you know, everybody’s open to everything, but whether anything would ever happen, who knows? But the idea of being able to bring Marvel and DC together in a movie is, that would be really fun for me.”
James Gunn stated further that the idea of a Marvel and DC crossover was well received by Feige and Emmerich. Although, the reality of a crossover has a few barriers. Namely, the large amount of legal obstacles that the crossover would bring. However, Sony and Disney managed to bring Spiderman into the MCU and while a deal with Warner Bros. and Disney seems unlikely, the potential profits that could come from a Marvel/DC crossover may be enough motivation to make it happen.
James Gunn’s upcoming DC movie, The Suicide Squad, will be released in movie theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th.
It’s not surprising that music and film are two of the biggest industries alive today. The two industries are vastly different from each other but the artistic mediums have a powerful effect on their audiences. They both evoke emotion. Music appeals to your ears while films appeal to your eyes and when music and film come together, they can create experiences that are like no other. Of course, this isn’t new. Music videos are visual and sound plays an essential role in movies, but musical movies have a distinct style. Here are the 10 best musical movies released in the 21st century.
10 Best Musical Movies To Be Released In The 21st Century
10. Hairspray
Hairspray begins our list of best musical movies. The movie is a cheerful and campy musical that also deals with serious topics such as racism and the civil rights movement. Starring John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Hairspray is good fun and the musical performances are lively. Lastly, John Travolta plays Edna Turnblad, the mother of the main character, and plays the role in a convincingly fun way.
If you are a millennial or a Gen Z-er, then the High School Musical series probably holds a special place in your heart. The stories of each movie are basic and the characters are simple but none of that stopped the High School Musical series from becoming an iconic cultural sensation. The director, Kenny Ortega, created memorable music and choreography that sticks with viewers to this day. The HSM franchise launched the careers of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens.
Enchanted is a movie musical that subverts the classic tropes we all expect from fairy tales. Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Idina Menzel star in this musical romance. Delightful is the best word to describe Enchanted. It has witty dialogue, sharp animation, and seamless casting. The music gives a tribute to a Disney era that is no more and brings that music into the modern era.
Frozen took the world by snowstorm. It transcended being just a movie and became a worldwide phenomenon. The song “Let it go” was played and sung by audiences everywhere. Frozen is an animation that appeals to both kids and adults. It has all of the elements of a Disney classic. Great music, story, and a quirky script.
Rent The Musical was created by the late Jonathan Larson. Larson was a playwright and composer who won several Tony Awards and Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He created Rent to loosely contain elements of his own experiences in New York City. Rent revolutionized the Broadway musical scene and is one of the longest-running shows on Broadway. Unfortunately, Larson would never see the legacy of his work as he died on the morning of Rent’s first premiere. Rent the movie is an adaptation that received mixed reviews by critics but was embraced by audiences all around the world, especially teenagers and young adults. Rent found its audience and is now cemented as one of the best musical movies.
Epic and intimate. Les Misérables is a rollercoaster that will leave you emotionally drained at the end. It’s filled with breathtaking performances from Amanda Seyfried, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russell Crowe. The music is emotionally raw and although Crowe isn’t as musically talented as his co-stars, his acting is still a cut above the rest. Anne Hathaway managed to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress even though she was only in the film for 15 minutes.
In The Heights is one of the best musical movies to be released in recent years. This was the first original musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. In The Heights wasn’t as large of a phenomenon as Hamilton but the musical is a personal celebration of Latin American culture. In The Heights is a light-hearted story filled with vibrant music, romance, and a tribute to family.
Hamilton was one of the most-streamed movies of 2020. The movie musical was released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic which may have added to its revolutionary effect on audiences. Like many other musicals on this list, Hamilton spread like wildfire on its release. Hamilton was created by Lin-Manuel Miranda who also stars as Alexander Hamilton. Although watching the Hamilton theatrical play on Disney plus loses some of its vigor, the music blends together hip hop, pop, and traditional show tunes into a joyful 160min experience.
From the screenwriter of Chicago, Dreamgirls is energetic and filled with stellar musical numbers that capture the old-school glamour of Motown. The best aspect of Dreamgirls is the clever casting. As a newcomer to Hollywood, Jennifer Hudson stole the show with her powerful performance and even more powerful voice. The songs from Dreamgirls are guaranteed to stay in your head for at least a week.
Chicago is a Broadway musical that opened in 1977. The musical was based on a 1926 play of the same name created by Maurine Dallas. Dallas was a reporter who based the play on actual crimes that she reported. The original play was a black comedy that played with the concept of a celebrity criminal. The 2002 movie is more of a drama but the themes about fame and the criminal justice system are still there. Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere, the movie adaptation won several Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Every once in a while, a movie based on a Broadway musical steals the spotlight and takes audiences by surprise. Lin-Manuel Miranda is the recent architect of many of the best musical movies that have been well received by audiences and critics alike. He will be directing another musical movie set to be released later this year. The West Side Story remake, directed by Steven Spielberg, is also set to be released this year in December.
Published on July 26th, 2021, updated on March 23rd, 2022
After 3 successful seasons, NBC’s Manifest was canceled unexpectedly by the network. The cancellation was announced last month and ever since then, the creator of the show, Jeff Rake, along with thousands of fans have been in an uproar about the show’s cancellation.
Since many other shows on networks have been picked up by streaming services, Manifest could be too. Netflix already streams Manifest so it only makes sense that Netflix would be the potential saving grace for the series. Netflix was in talks with the studio behind Manifest, Warner Bros TV, to potentially continue the series on the streaming platform but those conversations ended after encountering the hurdles of international distribution rights.
However, Netflix and Warner Bros TV are in talks again. Netflix had a change of heart after Manifest topped their streaming ratings for weeks. Netflix is now determined to continue Manifest as a Netflix original but the hurdle of distribution rates is still there. Netflix has successfully transitioned network shows onto their streaming platform before. Most notably with Lucifer.
After FOX canceled Lucifer, Netflix picked up the show and has continued it for 2 more seasons so far. Jeff Rake has plans for Manifest to continue for 3 more seasons, making the 6th season the last.
Whether Manifest gets picked up by Netflix or not, it’s clear that the series has developed a cult following that will only grow in time. The show may not be picked up today or tomorrow but the following may allow the show to get picked up years down the line.
Manifest is about a commercial airliner that suddenly reappears after going missing five years ago. Those aboard reintegrate into society and they experience visions of events yet to occur and soon a deeper mystery unfolds. Manifest stars Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, J.R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, Parveen Kaur, and Matt Long.
Horror movie tropes (similar to cliches) are seared into our brains. The tropes are overused to the point where if we find ourselves walking alone at night and our phone dies, we’ll start getting a little nervous. Not because we believe we are in actual danger but because this is the forewarning that takes place in almost every horror movie.
What is a trope? A trope is an expected use of characters, situations, settings, and time periods within a specific genre. For example, movie tropes can have the main character walk away from an explosion in slow motion or transform from geek to good-looking in a rom com. There are good tropes, tropes that are received positively, and negative tropes otherwise known as cliches.
Horror movies today can feel like they are using a checklist of movie tropes to include and it can get tiresome to watch the recycled characters, situations, and settings in every scary movie. We have created a list of 10 horror movie tropes that you’ve probably seen once or 10 times before.
Common Horror Movie Tropes List
10. Creepy But Adorable Child
Any time a creepy child is singing a nursery rhyme, immediately run away. The horror movie trope of the deranged but adorable child has gotten increasingly popular in the modern era and is practically a staple in modern-day horror movies. Children are supposed to be blissfully unaware, innocent, and in need of an adult’s protection but sometimes the children in horror movies are very aware and are the ones adults need protection from.
The time of landlines has passed. We live in the most interconnected time of human history, yet characters in horror movies will still lose service regularly or refuse to charge their cell phone fully. Usually, the characters realize this information at inconvenient times, like as they are being chased in the woods. This is one of the most important rules of being in a horror movie, get a good cell phone plan and keep your phone charged.
8. Running and falling
Horror movies tend to treat women as if they are incapable of saving themselves. Often, the women in horror movies will have ample time and space to escape the killer but suddenly, they forget how their legs work and begin falling. It’s a bizarrely frustrating phenomenon where the characters keep tripping over air. Personally, I’ve never been chased by a serial killer so I can’t say with 100% certainty that I won’t forget how my legs work if I’m chased by a killer but I’ll give myself the benefit of the doubt.
7. Don’t Go In The Bathroom
Bathrooms are some of the most vulnerable places in our lives. We undress in the bathroom, use the toilet, take a shower; the bathroom is in many ways a place of privacy. It only makes sense that it’s also the place movie killers love to stake out their victims. Also, the stall is possibly the worst hiding place for anyone except, of course, the killer. It rarely works out for the main characters to hide in stalls in horror movies.
6. The Expert: The Character Who Knows Everything
This character is usually an older man or woman that is discovered by the main characters. The expert has all of the knowledge on the killer, monster, spirit, etc. After the main characters find the expert, they have a newfound motivation to stop the horror villain and usually a semi-decent plan to survive.
5. The Villain Is Invincible
There’s no better way to kill tension than to make the antagonist unstoppable. This is a bad habit horror movies have fallen into, particularly slasher movies. Many horror villains are unphased by bullets, vehicles, and falls at any height. Nothing stops them from getting their target. Halloween II is the best example of this slasher movie trope. John Carpenter has expressed several times that his script for Halloween II was an abomination and he particularly didn’t like Michael Myers becoming invincible and being unphased by 6 gunshots. This detail was retconned in the 2018 reboot along with many others.
4. Jump Scares
Jump scares are a staple of horror movies. Rarely, will you see a horror movie without a jump scare. Now, I’m not saying jump scares aren’t effective because they are. Even if you know what’s coming you still jump. It can be argued that the modern-day jump scare originated from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The iconic scene in the shower (see number 7) contains all of the elements: the slow music ramp up, the building suspense, and a loud sound at the reveal to top it off. However, modern-day horror movies overly rely on jump scares and now they feel like a cheap imitation of actual horror.
3. The Final Girl
Despite women being portrayed as utterly helpless in horror movies, typically it is a woman that is the hero of the story, somehow prevailing over the monstrous villain. The final girl is the last remaining protagonist who is also a representation of innocence. In 80’s movies, you’ll see this slasher movie trope in details like the woman being a virgin or being the responsible character in the friend group. Rarely will you find a man in this role.
2. The Vengeful Spirit
Oh, what’s this? An abandoned house? Why’s it abandoned? Someone was tortured and murdered here? These are all bad signs that point to an aggravated ghost living inside the premises. This movie trope can also exist in a story with a recently bought house that a family is moving into but will soon regret. Of course, after a few mysterious skirmishes with the supernatural, the family reluctantly tries to move out if they try to move out at all. In recent years, it seems that vengeful spirit movies have become more popular than slasher movies.
1. One Last Scare
If you think you killed the villain, you didn’t. Their body may not be moving but once you check their pulse they’ll jump up for a final attempt to attack you. This is the final horror movie staple. The first time the horror movie villain “dies” is never a real death. A lot of the time, even when the horror villain dies a horrible death it’s not a real death. This results in one last jump scare where the villain’s hand emerges from his grave.
The Great Thing About Horror Movie Tropes
Horror movie tropes can get repetitive and irritating to see in movies day in and day out. However, the good thing about horror movie tropes is that filmmakers can subvert them and surprise the audience. Cabin in the Woods is a great example of a film that uses horror movie tropes to enhance the story. Scream is an iconic example of how movies can use tropes to elevate the movie experience. With the horror genre being so new, only time will tell how horror movie tropes will evolve.
Published on July 20th, 2021, updated on March 23rd, 2022
There have been plenty of new Star Trek TV shows that have been running since 2017 but when it comes to feature films, a Star Trek film hasn’t been released in 6 years. Star Trek Beyond was the last Star Trek movie to be released in 2016. There have been attempts to create a new Star Trek film, including an attempt by Quentin Tarantino, but they all fell through for various reasons.
Now, Paramount and Bad Robot have announced an upcoming Star Trek film with Matt Shakman tapped to direct. Matt Shakman is a television director who has worked on shows like Game of Thrones, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and most notably, WandaVision.
Shakman’s work on WandaVision has gotten the show 15 Emmy nominations and also himself a nomination for Outstanding Directing. Shakman has quickly become a highly wanted director and chose the Star Trek project over various other offers.
The full-length script for the Star Trek project was written by two up-and-coming writers, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer. Robertson-Dworet previously wrote the screenplay for Captain Marvel and Tomb Raider while Beer previously wrote the screenplay for the Netflix original Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.
The Untitled Star Trek film will be Matt Shakman’s feature film directorial debut. There isn’t a lot of information available surrounding the upcoming project, but JJ Abrams is attached as a producer and according to IMDb, it has an estimated release date in 2023.
After the successes of Loki, WandaVision, and Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios is releasing its first-ever animated series. The series will give Marvel fans a look into the multiverse and how the Marvel Cinematic Universe could change in what if scenarios. Hence, the title of the Marvel series, What If…?
What If…? will explore the multiverse with altered versions to classic MCU movies such as if Peggy Carter became Captain America or if Kilmonger met Tony Stark at the beginning of Iron Man. There are unlimited possibilities to what the series could cover. The trailer shows unlikely alliances that Marvel fans would never expect. The trailer also includes reimagined scenarios of pivotal Marvel moments.
The series will be released through Disney+ starting on Wednesday, August 11th. New episodes of What If…? will drop weekly similar to the other Marvel series released on Disney+. The series is led by A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews.
The voice cast of What If…? has many actors and actresses from the MCU returning to voice their character. The late Chadwick Boseman voices T’Challa for one episode where T’Challa leads the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, The Collector, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel appear in the series but are voiced by different voice actors than their live-action counterparts.
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9. No Cell Phone
