DCEU Blog - Wonder Twins Deactivated, Gotham Knights A Go And More

Well, we are definitely living in some murky times with DC as certain projects are getting the axe, others are unknown and one we probably didn't need has gotten the go ahead. Let's break it down, shall we?

Wonder Twins went from announcing it's leading cast to being dropped in the ace of a fortnight. The movie will no longer go ahead. The budget was reported to be 75 million, which David Zaslav felt was too much for a streaming movie.

Amber Heard has admitted that her role in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom has been reduced to ten minutes of screen time while the movie itself will have both Arthur and Orm working together.

Though yet to be confirmed, it's likely that Batgirl will now be a theatrical release. Jacob Scipio has confirmed he will be playing mob boss Anthony Bressi in the movie.

Filming outdoors has confirmed the costume reveal for Blue Beetle. Carlos Ponce, Jon Z and Mercy have also been added to the cast.

Black Adam's first trailer will be released on June 8th while Funko Pips have revealed the first look of the villain Sabbac, played by Marwan Kenzari.

The comic tie in for The Flash has been put on hold until closer to the movie's release in 2023.

HBO Max are considering a project focusing on Amanda Waller to be written by the Watchmen series writers as well as executive produced by James Gunn and Viola Davis.

Seth Green will now voice the role of Thunderbolt for the upcoming season of Stargirl. The third season will air in the autumn and have a murder mystery storyline.

It seems the while scripts for the Constantine and Madame X series have been submitted, there's rumours that the WB and David Zaslav are getting frustrated with JJ Abrams lack of movement with his DC projects.

The CW have picked up Gotham Knight for a series, but the show will debut in 2023, along with the next seasons of The Flash and Superman And Lois.

The current seasons of both Superman And Lois and The Flash will conclude on June 28th and 29th, respectively.

Naomi has been cancelled after one season.

A rumoured casting call for the upcoming The Penguin may see the limited series featuring a version of Clayface.

That's it for this month. Oh and be sure to check out the 2022 DC Pride, released today.

Doctor Who - 60th Anniversary Filming Begins (Massive Spoilers)

It's been a while since there has been major excitement in the world of Doctor Who, and while we're still months away from Jodie Whittaker's final episode airing (which will be 90 minutes, according to Russell T. Davies), it's still time to look at the future and it's certainly exciting.

In possibly the worst kept secret going, it was finally confirmed that David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be reprising their roles as the Tenth Doctor (or is he another version?) and Donna Temple-Noble for the 60th anniversary. The diamond celebration in question has been rumoured to be comprising of three specials, due to air in 2023.

With both actors currently filming, executive producer and showrunner Russell T. Davies teased certainly possibilities as to why this beloved duo are back. Teases include a forgotten story, a parallel universe, a fllashback or even a dream sequence. However other bits of casting does seem to point to the Doctor and Donna reunion being more of a present day scenario.

Meanwhile we can add a new face to the Doctor Who universe as well as a welcomed return of another one. While filming pics have confirmed the return of Bernard Cribbins as Donna's grandfather, Wilfred Mott, the BBC themselves didn't confirm his appearance. 

However, the BBC did confirm that Heartstopper's Yasmin Finney has been cast in the special, playing a character with a very familiar name. In a press release, Finney's character was confirmed to be named Rose and despite the lack of a surname, it has some fans (myself included) speculating that this Rose might be the daughter of Donna Temple-Noble. Russell T. Davies for now hasn't confirmed anything but it seems like the most logical guess at this moment.

As for Ncuti Gatwa, between the fourth season of Sex Education as well as filming Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie, it's going to be a while before he will starting filming for Doctor Who. In the past week, we've seen former cast members congratulate him on bagging the role as the new Doctor with Gatwa even thanking fans for their support. In terms of what will lie ahead for the new Doctor, it's still early days for any major news but at last week's BAFTA's, Russell T. Davies did confirm some new monsters while Ncuti himself suggested bringing back the Master. We're in for some truly exciting times ahead.

Filming for the 60th anniversary specials will continue during the summer with filming for the fourteenth series due to start towards the end of the year. The 13th Doctor's final special will air in October on BBC1 and BBCAmerica respectively.

My Review of Friday The 13th (1980)

 

Written by Victor Miller And Ron Kurz

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham

Mrs. Voorhees: "Kill her, Mommy! Kill her! Don't let her get away, Mommy! Don't let her live! I won't, Jason, I won't."

I've been waiting for an appropriate to review this movie and guess what, that has finally come. There are many classic horror franchises I've touched on with this blog and now, it's time to pay attention to one that I previously haven't.

As a franchise, this has been one with a lot of movies, most of which have gotten more batshit that you almost forget how grounded and rather straightforward this original feature truly was. A simple tale of mother's desire for revenge following the death of her son at the hands of irresponsible workers at a summer camp.

Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) was a mother trying to provide for her son, Jason (Ari Lehman) by working as a cook at the camp in question. However when her son drown while the workers weren't doing their job, she snapped and went on one hell of a killing spree. As a result, the camp closed down and she kept an eye on things from afar.

However over two decades later, the camp reopened with a new generation of workers, all as hedonistic as the previous ones and Pamela decided to pick up where she left off. Needless to say, most of the young cast, including Kevin Bacon found themselves being taken out by the grieving and rather murderous mother, still avenging her son all these years later.

Of course, while Pamela had plenty of characters to kill at will, at least one character had to pose a threat to her murder spree. Every horror franchise needs a final girl and while this one has a few of them (and a final boy in later movies), the ball got rolling with fellow camp worker, Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) who came afoul of Mrs Voorhees and managed to live to tell the tale.

I wouldn't say Alice was the most compelling of final girls in either the horror genre in general or even this franchise but she does a decent job but it's undoubtedly Betsy Palmer's Pamela Voorhees that's the most compelling. A sympathetic but deeply psychotic villain with a wonderfully over the top performance, making the character truly memorable despite being overshadowed by her not so dead son from the second movie onwards.

- Is this the only horror franchise where the signature killer was not actually the main villain of their first movie?

- Betsy Palmer originally thought the movie was a 'piece of shit' but has seemingly softened towards it in later years.

- There have been rumours of the movie being inspired by the real life Lake Bodom murders in Finland back in 1960.

- Chronology: July 1957 for the flashbacks and June 1980 for the present day stuff.

Friday The 13th's a modest start to a horror franchise that will take  many crazy turns before coming to a halt. The story's a simple but effective one, with solid performances from the leads and the right amount of gore and scares.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Blundering Up A Deathstorm

Usual thing, it's been a while but here are some shows I've watched in the meantime.

911: Season 5 has been ticking over rather nicely as a season with the last few episodes adding some new recruits to the station with Lucy and Jonah, Buck's relationship with Taylor revealing more on her own past and the much needed returns of both Maddie and Howie along with Eddie dealing with his past traumas. As usual, there's some way cases along the way and heartwarming moments from various characters. 

Bridgerton: Season 1 of this glossy period piece was appointment television and one of the biggest boosts for Netflix and Season 2 managed to do it all over again. I thought the show  might have trouble topping the Daphne/Simon story but the Anthony/Kate (and Edwina, breaking from book lore) managed to be even more compelling while the consequences of Lady Whistledown's getting on Queen Charlotte's nerves definitely came to a head during an incredible confrontation between Penelope and Eloise.Other highlights included Benedict getting high as a kite, the flashbacks for Papa Bridgerton, Newton the dog and of course, Lady Featherington trying to outsmart Jack throughout the season. Needless to say, I'll definitely be watching the next season.

Derry Girls: Four episodes into the third and final series of this gem of a show and it's been some of the best comedy in the last decade. While creator Lisa McGee is definitely right to end the show on a high instead of overextending it's natural life span, I am going to miss these characters and I know, there's three episodes left to go but still. So far, this series we've had the girls and James pass their GSCEs along with talent shows, train journeys and clearing out the wrong house. Not to mention sublime guest appearances from the likes of Liam Neeson, Damien Molony, Amy Huberman, Sinead Keenan and Conleth Hill. I'm confident the finale will absolutely stick the landing. 

Killing Eve: What an absolute train wreck of a final season this turned out to be. If you thought that Game Of Thrones ended on a bad note, then this one surpassed it. This whole season was little more than an absolute snorefest and I had a horrible feeling the moment the show decided to go there with Eve and Villanelle, something would undercut it. Needless to say it did and in a rather spectacularly bad way. Both Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer tried their best but not even their talents alone could say this season from ending the show on a needlessly unpleasant note.

Moon Knight: On to the sixth Disney+ MCU show and I have to be honest, this one was something of a mixed bag for me. While Oscar Isaac does a great job as Steven Grant/Mr Knight and Marc Spector/Moon Knight (and very briefly, Jake Lockley), the pacing for this show felt somewhat sluggish in parts and it really took a while for things to properly get going. Still, we got a good villain with Ethan Hawke's Arthur Darrow, Kayla's transformation into Scarlet Scarab was nicely handled and I'm all for more horror and supernatural elements in the MCU.

The Flash: Quick note: I'll see out the remaining episodes of this season but after that, I am done with this series. I've been trying my best but I've genuinely gotten to the point where I can no longer watch this show. It's become far too much of a chore to sit through and it desperately needs to end now, regardless of it's ratings on the CW. The Deathstorm arc was mostly a mess,, Frost's death had no real impact and the time sickness story with Iris has been dragging out for far too long. The only plus has been brief returns of Sue, Ronnie and Eddie in recent episodes. 

• Max Greenfield, Gabourey Sidibe, Nico Greetham, Bella Thorne and Dominique Jackson are some of the actors appearing in the second season of American Horror Stories.
• American Horror Story's eleventh season has been rumoured to have some filming in New York, a first for the series.
• House Of The Dragon will premiere on HBO from August 21st and on SkyAtlantic the next day.
• Jack Ryan will end after four seasons on Amazon.
• Filming for the seventh season of Outlander has begun while the sixth season has recently finished airing on Starz.
• And Just Like That has been renewed for a second season.
• The Nancy Drew spin off, Tom Swift will premiere on the CW from May 31st.
• Maisie Williams will star in the upcoming Apple show, The New Look.
• Julia has been renewed for a second season by HBO Max.
• Jason Isaacs and Lior Raz have joined Apple anthology series, The Crowded Room.

Doctor Who - Ncuti Gatwa Is The 14th Doctor

It's been nearly ten months since the BBC announced that Jodie Whittaker would be stepping down from the role as the Doctor and with her final special due to air in October, now seemed to be the right time to be looking towards the future.

Today, the BBC announced that Sex Education actor Ncuti Gatwa will be taking on the role of the next Doctor, succeeding Whittaker in the role. Gatwa, who currently will be filming the fourth season of the hit Netflix series, will then start filming for the fourteenth series of Doctor Who towards the end of the year. However, going by some of returning showrunner Russell T.Davies comments, it does seem we will be seeing the new Doctor in the rumoured 2023 specials, which will comprise of the show's 60th anniversary celebrations.

Upon his casting, Ncuti Gatwa had this to say about taking on the iconic role .... 

"This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care. I will endeavour my upmost to do the same.

Russell T. Davies also added ....

"Sometimes talent walks through the door and it's so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars."

This is certainly the start of an interesting new era for the show and with production well underway, we can expect more announcements of the next few months. Are you excited?

Fourteenth Doctor Announcement: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61371123

Doctor Who will begin filming for the 60th anniversary this month with Series 14 due to film later this year. The  next special will air in October, marking the departure of the 13th Doctor.

My Review of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

 

Written by Michael Waldron

Directed by Sam Raimi

Wanda (to Strange): "You break the rules and become a hero. I do the same and I become the enemy. That doesn't seem fair."

Ah, yes, the double standards of what can and can't be done with the laws of magic. Are both Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizbeth Olsen) both in the wrong for their meddling of magic? Well, the obvious answer would be yes and this movie definitely explores the consequences of recent magical decisions the pair have made.

For Wanda, she's been in an exile of sorts since the events of Westview but since the finale of her own Disney+ show she also became the Scarlet Witch and found herself in possession of the Darkhold. That possession hasn't done wonders for her sense of judgement either as she had a singular mission in mind for this movie and anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way didn't stand a chance.

To start Wanda does have a sympathetic motivation in the sense that all she wanted to do was to reunite with her sons, Tommy (Jett Klyne) and Billy (Julian Hilliard) but in order to do, not only did Wanda need to travel to the Multiverse for her goal, but she needed to absorb the power of dimension hopping America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) in order to do so, this putting her in direct conflict with both Strange and the actual, Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong) and the more the latter two oppose Wanda, the less reasonable she became as a result.

Seeing Wanda in full villain mode and make no mistake, she's absolutely the villain of the piece was fascinating to see unfold. Elizabeth Olsen definitely didn't hold back as Wanda resorted to every trick in the Darkhold and a creepy temple in order to achieve her goal and if you didn't know this was a Sam Raimi movie beforehand, you definitely did as soon as Wanda started piling the bodies in a bid to get to America Chavez.

A part of me was surprised with how dark Wanda truly went in the movie because while she rightly pointed Strange's hypocrisy, it certainly took until the last minute and thanks to America to truly see the error of her ways. Will we see Wanda again after the events of this movie? I have no doubt but it's certainly going to take a lot to get her back on the lunchbox after her antics in this one.

As for Stephen himself, it wasn't that long ago he had helped cause havoc with the Multiverse himself and here when he wasn't attending the wedding of ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), he found himself taking on the tole of protector of America Chavez (someone who hasn't met more than one Strange) and trying to reason with Wanda before trying to track down the antithesis of the Darkhold.

Strange's arrogance was something the movie needed to challenge and it did it here rather nicely. Yes, we had Wanda calling him out on his own hypocrisy as we did with the variants of Christine and Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) but it really the Illuminati scene comprising of variants of Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Reed Richards (John Krasinski), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Captain Marvel (Lashanna Lynch)that truly highlighted the dangers of a Strange unchecked. 

Benedict Cumberbatch definitely brought his A game to this movie and seeing some of the Strange variants was a delight to behold. With Stephen gaining closure over his failed romance with Christine, bringing about the end of Wanda's reign of terror and mentoring America, this movie covered a lot of needed ground with the character. Not to mention the fact that his own dabbling with the Darkhold will clearly have it's own consequences down the line.

- Being a Sam Raimi movie, of course Bruce Campbell made an appearance as a pizza ball vendor who cam afoul of one of Strange's more pettier of spells. It wore off in the post credit scene.

- The mid credit scene introduced Charlize Theron as Clea while reminding audiences that Strange will be getting a third movie.

- America is the only version with no Multiverse equivalent. We also learned that her mothers were lost when she first used her powers by accident.

- Spider-Man was referenced by Strange and Wong but America had no idea who he was. 

-  We did briefly get to see Shuma-Growth, but due to a right issue, the character was renamed Gargantos.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of WandaVision and Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness might not have been loaded with the maximum amount of cameos that I think we were all guilty of setting ourselves up for,but at the same time, the ones we got actually worked and the focus on both Stephen and Wanda made the movie all the more better to watch. Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen knocked it out of the park here and Sam Raimi gave the MCU a much needed shake up in terms of what can be done with this franchise. I hope this won't be the past time we see his talents here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Superman And Lois 2x11: "Truth And Consequences"

 

Written by Andrew N. Wong

Directed by David Ramsey

Lana (to Clark): "You're Superman?"

With another month long break to contend with before the final four episodes of the season, we certainly needed a good moment to end on with this episode. Fortunately that came with Lana finally learning that her best friend is Superman and as far as I'm concerned, it wasn't a moment too soon.

Being on the Bizarro world certainly got Clark thinking about the pros and cons of maintaining his secret life and with Jonathan largely pointing out the cons aspect of it, the time had finally come to at least tell someone of note. Lana of course made the most sense to do so.

She's been both Clark's best friend and his ex-girlfriend and like Sarah with Jordan, Lana was also aware that there was a side to Clark that he wasn't being honest about. Clark being evasive with Lana and the latter getting kidnapped by Jon-El also made the moment more timely too. How will Lana react to her best friend being Superman?

Come to think, Lana might have more to worry about as her Bizarro version made an appearance in Smallville and went toe to toe with John and Natalie. While she seemingly got sent back to her own world, there's no way that Lana won't be encountering her doppelganger before the season finale. That in itself should be a fun confrontation to see.

As for the rest of the episode, with everything going on, Jordan really had the worst timing with Sarah as I actually didn't blame the latter for not wanting to deal with him. Fortunately Jordan did have better scenes with his battle with Jon-El and even managed to hold his own during those fight scenes. Jon-El however didn't go back to his own world.

As for John and Natalie, their working together was nice as was their confrontation with the Bizarro Lana but there does seem to be the issue of John not entirely letting Natalie know everything he's planning. Then again, Natalie also went his back too.

- Sarah ended up getting a nice car from her parents. I loved the conversation that both her and Lois before the latter realised Jon-El had taken Lana.

- I'm also surprised that Jon-El didn't out Clark to Lana.

- No Kyle, Chrissy or Sam this week.

- Chronology: 33 days since Superman had gone through the portal.

Truth And Consequences did a good job with it's title here. We saw the consequences of Clark maintaining his secret with Jon-El's presence ultimately forcing his hand into letting Lana in on things. With only,four episodes left, it's going to be interesting to see how this storyline will get wrapped up.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Constantine: The House Of Mystery (2022)

 

Written by Ernie Altbacker

Directed by Matt Peters

Constantine (to the Spectre): "I accept my punishment. No more tricks."

It's been less than a year since John Constantine (Matt Ryan) got benched from Legends Of Tomorrow and only a few days since the show's cancellation was announced. Fortunately,in animation form, this particular version of the character has some life left in them as this particular showcase demonstrated.

Following the events of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the Spectre (Lou Diamond Phillps) has decided that John can spend eternity in the House of Mystery for his interference in the universe. While it's later revealed that the Spectre's decision was meant to be merciful, Constantine's experience was anything but that.

Trapped in the magical house, Constantine had all of his friends and even a family with Zatanna and two kids named Della and Jack but rather repeatedly they turned into demons. Also repeatedly was the way that Constantine kept getting himself killed by his loved ones every time he learned more about his punishment.

The deaths are inventive and if this was a live action feature, they'd be wonderfully gory, silly and definitely meriting an R Rating. Saying that, I've never been a fan of the Constantine/Zatanna pairing and nor do I buy the 'love of my life' bit here. With the comics embracing Constantine with male characters in varying continuities, it's high time these animated movies did similar and no, a joke about King Shark doesn't cut it. Get with the times, DC animated.

Outside of that though, we did get an amusing bit where Constantine managed to set Nergal, Beezelbum and Ashok against one another in order to escape the House of Mystery. It's a classic Constantine bit, followed by a revealing confrontation with the Spectre and Constantine getting a grim reminder that the universe isn't quite done with him yet. 

- The showcase clocks in at 26 minutes with accompanying shorts for Blue Beetle/The Question  and The Losers and Kamandi.

- I really don't like the animation for Constantine in this one. Definitely a downgrade compared to his previous looks in the animated universe.

- Let's just say toilet water can be used for a spell when no other source of water is available.

- Chronology: A hell of a time for Constantine in his predicament. 

Constantine: The House Of Mystery has it's moments. Some top notch voice acting, inventive kills (loved the tree eating him) and proper consequences for previous actions. It's solid stuff and hopefully a reassuring sign that even if we've lost Matt Ryan in live action, we still have him in animated form as John Constantine for the foreseeable future.

Rating: 7 out of 10