Dr. Manhattan, Your 2026 Recap is Here!
(in the style of Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, with regards to Watchmen the 2019 HBO adaptation, and also year-end recap lists)
Continue reading “Dr. Manhattan, Your 2026 Recap is Here!”Author: Dominic Mah
@Dommah's pop music group 12 VALENTINES makes catchy songs about comic books and superhero stuff. He co-hosts the HARD NOC LIFE podcast with NOC co-founder Keith Chow, and enjoys space casinos.
‘Wolverine’ PS5 Game Trailer: Snikt, Snikt, Boom
A new trailer for the much-anticipated Wolverine game from Insomniac Games debuted at Playstation’s State of Play showcase. Many X-Nerds were gratified to see that Omega Red, Mystique, and a big ol’ Sentinel are glimpsed, along with ultra-violent gameplay:
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‘Americana’ is a Dark Comedy About Cultural and Literal Theft, For Our Times
I got to chat with director Tony Tost and star Paul Walter Hauser about Americana, the new Western/heist/comedy opening this week from Lionsgate Films. The interviews and my review of this thoroughly enjoyable genre-mashing romp, featured below. Americana also stars Halsey (yeaaah, “Without Me,” “Closer,” “Boy With Luv,” that Halsey!), Sydney Sweeney, Zahn McClarnon, Eric Dane, and Simon Rex.
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NOC Interview: Beatrice Grannò on ‘Daniela Forever’ and Dream Duets with Henry Golding
I got to chat with Beatrice Grannò about Daniela Forever, the new film from writer-director Nacho Vigalondo, starring Henry Golding. Grannò plays the title character Daniela and also sings on the soundtrack by Hidrogenesse, a Catalan electronic pop group. Audiences may remember Grannò as Mia in White Lotus Season 2. Here’s our interview:
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Keanu and Aziz Give Nurturing Dude Vibes in ‘Good Fortune’ Trailer
I wasn’t aware of the “Goodnight Bro” trend happening on TikTok, until yesterday. I also recently became aware that Good Fortune is a film coming out in October from Lionsgate, written and directed by Aziz Ansari, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Oh, Keke Palmer, Seth Rogen, and Ansari.
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NOC Review: ‘Daniela Forever’ is Henry Golding’s Indie Star Turn
What a lovely film is Daniela Forever, the latest effort from Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo, starring Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò as the titular character. Vigalondo’s last feature as writer-director was 2016’s Colossal, which found Anne Hathaway clairvoyantly mind-linked to a gigantic city-stomping kaiju monster. Daniela Forever operates from a science-fanciful premise that is slightly less strange, but more gracefully executed:
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Maggie Q on ‘Ballard’ and the Los Angeles Duality
We got to chat with Maggie Q about playing the title character in Ballard, the upcoming TV series based on Michael Connelly’s Bosch novels. Maggie gave insights on the casting process, creating believable action sequences, and the special duality of Los Angeles. Watch to the end if you are curious about Maggie Q’s favorite karaoke tune! (It is not from Avenue Q, but does involve stage musicals.)
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Henry Golding Lucid Dreams of Lost Love in ‘Daniela Forever’ Trailer
Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo gave us Anne Hathaway psychically linked to a giant kaiju monster in 2016’s Colossal, and that was good fun. His new film Daniela Forever features a grieving Henry Golding using a science-fictional sleep therapy following the death of his girlfriend Daniela. His lucid dreaming may bring him back into contact with her, or is it a simulation?
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138 Awesome Things About ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’
Because, honestly, I think this game is pretty awesome. Also, it’s a vast sprawling open-world experience. Story SPOILERS follow.
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‘Andor’ and the Asian Soul Within ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Rogue One’
The final episodes of Andor Season 2 no doubt will lead many to rewatch Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, because Andor adds so much meaning and context to its 2016 predecessor. Rogue One’s story begins a matter of days after Andor S2 concludes. Those in full completist binge mode may then feel compelled to watch Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (a.k.a. The First One), because its story starts about five minutes after the end of Rogue One.
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‘Freaky Tales’ is a Love Letter for Funny Folks Fighting Fascism
The Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Lakers last night, as they do in the closing act of the new film Freaky Tales from filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, set in the East Bay Area (Oakland and Berkeley mainly) in 1987, in which many cultural rivalries are lovingly recreated. The genre-bending mixtape movie from the directors of Captain Marvel and Half Nelson is timely, nostalgic, punk rock and old-school hiphop, inspiring and often hilarious.
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10 Future Nostalgic Marvel/DC-Movie-Related Questions For 2025
With apologies to Dua Lipa, 2025 ought to be a good year to assess the state of superhero movie fatigue and/or fervor in our pop culture landscape. After all, there’s a new Superman film coming out, and he’s pretty central to the whole concept, que no? With my personal queasy feeling about 2025 noted for the record, let’s start this escapism-focused listicle with the question of Anthony Mackie’s America:
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The ‘Suicide Squad’ Game Declares its Premature End With Deathstroke
Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the teamup shooter video game with the title that describes exactly what happens, announced recently that it will be ending its content updates in January of 2025.
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‘Interior Chinatown’ vs the “Chinatown Episodes” of ‘NYPD Blue’ and ‘Law & Order’
Part II of a three-part series looking at the Hulu series Interior Chinatown in relation to the Asian American-themed media it references, satirizes, and interpolates. The meta-comedic film-set motif of the show pointedly focuses on the “Chinatown Episode” featured in numerous crime-procedural shows, in which the protagonists investigate a murder in Chinatown, which brings them into contact with Asian exotica, typically at the rate of 1.5 murders per season.
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‘Interior Chinatown’ vs the Asian American Canon, Part I
An Epigraph, Which May Be Innocently Mistaken For Deep Eastern Wisdom:
A “trope” isn’t a bad thing. If we (fashionably) describe a show as “trope-y” we might mean stereotype-ish. Stereotypes usually come from archetypes, and stereotypes aren’t inherently a bad thing, but they often end up being tropey… in the undesirable way. Then there’s typecasting, which on-screen Asians contend with often, and we’ll get into that, below. Fade up to:
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12 Songs to Play the ‘Suicide Squad’ Game With as You Un-Kill the Justice League
As Harley Quinn (as voiced by Tara Strong) says at some point in the video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, “Hear that? That’s the empowering feminist anthem of my internal soundtrack starting.” Begging the question, what anthem is she referring to? Compulsive pop-song-playlist-maker that I am, I have needledropping thoughts.
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‘Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’ Adds Deadshot’s Daughter, Arkham Environs
Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (a.k.a. SSKTJL) recently began a new season of content for the DC Comics-themed squad-shooter game. Season 3: “Season of Lawless” starts with Episode 5: Thieves, introducing the titular new character Lawless and adding familiar but fancied-up environments to its main map and its Incursion side missions.
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Ming-Na Wen, Gabrielle Nevaeh, James Hong, and Others on ‘Gremlins: The Wild Batch’
Gremlins: The Wild Batch, the second season of the animated Gremlins series based on the Amblin films of the 1980s, premieres this week on Max. I got to talk with actors from the voice cast and the creative team about Gizmo the titular Mogwai, horror movies vs. kid shows, the Chinese American roots of the Gremlins universe, and of course, karaoke.
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Natasha Ofili of ‘Miles Morales’ and ‘Spider-Man 2’ on Working as a Deaf Black Actor
Natasha Ofili is a deaf Black actor who portrays Hailey Cooper in the Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 video games from Insomniac Games. My talk with Natasha and ASL interpreter Gabriel is up at the NOC YouTube channel now.
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Lady Gaga Drops ‘Harlequin’ Because Comics-Themed Concept Albums are Cool
In a pleasantly surprising move, Lady Gaga revealed this week that she would release a Harley Quinn-themed concept album to accompany the imminent opening of Joker: Folie à Deux.
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‘Star Wars Outlaws’ is More Than IX, Less Than V
Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws occurs between Star Wars Episodes V and VI, which is to say, in the period after Empire Strikes Back and before Return of the Jedi, when Han is in Carbonite, Luke is processing his parentage, Leia is working with an Easy Ubese Phrase Book, and the Empire is generally winning.
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‘Agatha All Along’ Producers Preview Marvel’s ‘Heated’ Witch Series
We got to interview two of the producers for Marvel Studios’ Agatha All Along, Brad Winderbaum and Mary Livanos. The first two episodes of the witch-centered series premiere on September 18 at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET on Disney+, starring Kathryn Hahn as the titular supernatural maven.
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‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Early Impressions: Revenge of Canto Bight
Long time ago, far far away….
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