Star Wars has always been more than a space opera. It mixes in different genres from action-adventure to space westerns. It even takes inspiration from the great Akira Kurosawa. And The Mandalorian brings a lot of what we love about Star Wars and throws in a brand-new story that doesn’t have much to do with the Skywalker saga.
Continue reading “‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 is Off to Bold New Adventures”
The Mandalorian finally makes its season three debut tomorrow after a year-long hiatus. The season promises to be its most ambitious as Din Darjin (Pedro Pascal) seeks redemption for breaking the Mandalorian code after he had to off his helmet twice in season 2.
Continue reading “‘The Mandalorian’ Director Rick Famuyiwa on Ambitious Season 3 and Easter Eggs”
Today marks the 30-day countdown to the season 3 premiere of The Mandalorian. Starring Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, the critically acclaimed, original, live-action series sees its titular protagonist reunited with his cute but very powerful Grogu — let’s face it, his real name is Baby Yoda — and going on new adventures across the galaxy. To mark such an occasion, Disney has released a brand-new poster along with a featurette centered on the show’s legacy.
Continue reading “‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Poster and Featurette Celebrate Din and Grogu”
Though The Mandalorian season two finale saw Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) part ways with Grogu, their separation was short-lived as the two were eventually reunited in the final episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. Together once again, they’ll travel across the galaxy in pursuit of adventure. And a new trailer reveals more of the overarching plot and character drama, which sees Din trying to make amends for his past transgressions and the Republic making an effort to move away from its dark past.
Continue reading “Din Djarin Finds His Way Home in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Trailer”
If yesterday, you were to tell me the best video game adaptation ever put to any screen was Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the truth of the matter would sadly be that you’d likely be accurate. The subgenre has been suffering ever since the first Super Mario Bros movie from 1993 caused Nintendo to embargo any film rights to their games for at least three decades.
Continue reading “NOC Review: ‘The Last of Us’ is a Game Changer”
When you’re Gabriel Luna, and you’ve already been a Terminator and a Spirit of Vengeance, what’s the next logical phase in your life? How about surviving a hostile post-apocalyptic wasteland of zombies, cannibals, and marauders! Luna plays Tommy Miller in the new HBO adaptation of the Naught Dog masterpiece video game The Last of Us. And we were fortunate enough to speak with him about the series and his role as Tommy.
Continue reading “Protecting ‘The Last of Us’ with Star Gabriel Luna”
With all the snobbery online today, people will likely get triggered by the use of the term “masterpiece.” Granted because people do have a tendency to throw the term around a lot, even if something is truly a masterpiece to them subjectively, someone has to cynically rain on their parade and go “that’s not a real masterpiece” (which is obnoxious by the way). However, I frankly believe no one will object to me calling The Last of Us video games masterpieces. They truly are. And at CCXP, HBO and Naughty Dog revealed a trailer for the video game adaptation that shows that the masterpiece is finally coming to life in stunning live-action.
Continue reading “Trailer for ‘The Last of Us’ Showcases a Faithful Adaptation of a Masterpiece Game”
It’s no secret that The Mandalorian reignited the Star Wars fan base with its shiny gun-slinging attitude add very cute Grogu taking on a Lone Wolf and Cub vibe. Though the two were separated temporarily in hopes that Luke Skywalker could train Grogu in the ways of the force, the two eventually reunited. Now it’s time to see what new adventures they will embark on as they head to season 3. And series creator Jon Favreau shared brand new trailer at the D23 Expo.
Continue reading “D23Expo: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Trailer Gets Ready For New Adventures”
The long rumored remake of The Last of Us: Part 1 arrives on the PS5 later this year on September 2 and PC at a later date. Announced at this year’s Summer Games Fest, Naughty Dog Co-President and The Last of Us creative director, Neil Druckmann spoke with Geoff Keighley about the remake, the announced multiplayer spin-off, and the upcoming TV series after the new trailer aired.
Continue reading “Updates on ‘The Last of Us’ from Summer Game Fest”
Judd Apatow’s newest comedy started the April Fools Day pranks early this year! Netflix brought the fictional Cliff Beasts franchise to life, making the announcement of The Bubble all the more fun. The new film within the film stars Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Pedro Pascal, Peter Serafinowicz, Vir Das, Rob Delaney, Galen Hopper, Samson Kayo, Guz Khan, Nick Kocher, Ross Lee, Harry Trevaldwyn, and Danielle Vitalis.
Continue reading “Here’s All the Details on Netflix’s New Comedy, ‘The Bubble’”
I realize there’s been controversy from haters who disliked the second game. But to be quite frank, I’m not one of those people, and for my money Neil Druckman’s The Last of Us remains one of my favorite video games of all time! It is a beautiful story about humanity, love, loss, mistakes, regrets and redemption. The relationship between Joel and Ellie is one of the most beautiful human stories ever developed in any game.
Continue reading “Production Begins on HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’”
We talk about Gina because we were big supporters of her initial inclusion in The Mandalorian cast and now we definitely are not. How do we fandom when some of your faves suck?
We are joined by the wonderful Hanna Flint to discuss Wonder Woman 1984 in this special bonus episode! We discuss the various ups and downs of the film, how well we thought the actors did with the script and story they had, and whether this movie did Diana Prince/Wonder Woman justice. We also discuss the many racist and Orientalist aspects of its depiction of Egypt and Egyptian people, and how detrimental it is for MENA representation. There’s a LOT to discuss, and we go through it all. Enjoy listening!
Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 begin around 11:26.
TW for discussion of rape and sexual assault 11:44 -12:57
Continue reading “The Middle Geeks Episode 21: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ and its MENA Issues”
A year ago, when Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon emerged from a wrecked Tie Fighter wielding the Darksaber in the end-credits stinger to season one of The Mandalorian, it was a signal to the audience that season two would tie more directly to established Star Wars canon than initially expected. Fast forward to the end of season two and it’s safe to say no one was prepared for just how extensive those ties would be.
In a season full of cameos and call backs to every installment of the franchise’s four-decade history — from the return of Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett to the live action debuts of Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan and Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano — The Mandalorian season two proved to be as integral a part of the Skywalker Saga as each of the episodes released in theaters since 1977. None more so than the events of the second season finale, titled “The Rescue.” Spoilers for The Mandalorian season two finale from here on out.
Continue reading “What the Season 2 Finale Means for the Future of ‘The Mandalorian’”
So real talk time: I’m sure this won’t make me very popular, but I’m not a fan of 2017’s Wonder Woman. I think it’s a movie with a lot of really good ideas, some really terrible villains, a lot of bad acting (the terrible, cartoony “Boris and Natasha Show” that is Danny Huston and Dr. Poison, along with Mortal Kombat Lupin at the end), and a terrible final act that invalidates some of the best themes introduced in the first two-thirds of the movie (Steve explains to Diana that wars don’t just end because one person dies, then 20 minutes later she kills Ares and the war ends). So for me to go into Wonder Woman 1984 expecting more of the same, but coming out, not just surprised, but actually quite happy should be a testament to how much I think the film improves on its predecessor. As a film, I think it’s not only going to make the millions of fans of the first happy, but also make believers out of the skeptical, like myself. And that, I think, all comes from the incredible storyteller that is Patty Jenkins (with a great assist from Geoff Johns).
**Please note, it’s a bit difficult to get into the intricacies of what I liked about the movie without diving into some spoilers, so please be warned, and feel free to skip ahead to the final verdict if you don’t want details spoiled for you! (Then come back and read this after you see it.)**
Continue reading “NOC Review: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Wish Granted”
You may be looking at the title of this article and saying to yourself, “yeah… but what does that really mean?” Truth be told part of it was my self-indulgent way of pretending to be clever by using the double entendre about the long-awaited screen return of Diana Prince, courtesy of the amazing duo of director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot.
Continue reading “Bringing the ‘Wonder’ Back with Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’”
By Contributing Writer, Stephanie Wu
Wonder Woman 1984’s second trailer debuted at DC FanDome, kicking off DC Comic’s first virtual fan event. With a generous sprinkle of sweet moments shared by Diana and a much more wondrous Steve after their reunion, the film’s second trailer featured several fight sequences and gives a solid glimpse at Cheetah, Diana’s colleague-turned-villain played by Kristen Wiig.
Dominic and Keith weigh the pros and cons of Disney+ and review The Mandalorian on this week’s Hard NOC Life.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Is ‘The Mandalorian’ Maclunky?”
For fans of Star Wars, today will be a day long remembered.
The arrival of Disney+, the Mouse House’s foray into the Streaming Wars, is finally here! And with it comes the first live action Star Wars television show to hold people over for the month between now and Rise of Skywalker in December. Luckily, that show is The Mandalorian, and it’s one of the best incarnations of Star Wars mythology to ever be put to film.
Continue reading “‘The Mandalorian’ is an A+ ‘Star Wars’ Story”
Star Wars fans are already excited over the anticipated release of Disney+ on November 12 because it will premiere the first episode of The Mandalorian, a whole new story about a lone Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) five years after the fall of the Empire.
With an entire new story and new characters, Star Wars fans may be looking for any reminiscence of the Star Wars canonical history.
“I didn’t realize there were a lot of [Easter eggs]. I guess there is,” Executive producer and writer Jon Favreau mused during The Mandalorian press conference last month.
Continue reading “‘The Mandalorian’ Serves Up a Bunch of Easter Eggs”
On a new episode of Hard NOC Life, our intrepid Star Wars correspondent Constance Gibbs reports back on her snowy adventure in Chicago for Star Wars Celebration.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: The Rise of Star Wars Celebration”
Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
All that is lacking in substance is made up for with gorgeous imagery in a Zhang Yimou’s new and pointless film, The Great Wall. Whomever his set people are, give them all the awards because they bring their A-game when it comes to costume and set design. But I digress.
I’m not sure what I expected, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the Silk Road version of Edge of Tomorrow featuring giant Komodo Dragons. Shouldn’t a larger budget allow more time to work on perfecting the CGI? How many Adobe-editing programs did they use to get these monsters to look as fake and silly as they do? Zhang Yimou should stick to martial arts dramas because he is out of his element with The Great Wall.
Continue reading “The Great Wall Review: Is It Worth The Watch?”
