Whose Your Spider-Man?
BY Paul Anthony
I had been wanting to do this blog for a long time now but decided to wait until we were out of the spoiler zone for the Spider-Man fan base. We now know that Spider-Man: No Way home is killing it at the box office even when it finally dropped to second place it is still making money, even as this blog is being typed. We saw both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return as Spider-Man. Which shocked the world in some ways because there were so many rumors regarding the both of them. We of course now know that everyone came back, and it made me wonder who I consider my Spider-Man to be? Afterall, I have seen all the modern Spider-Mans. However, before my time there was one actor who played Spider-Man for the television movies from the late 70’s to the early 80’s. His name is Nicholas Hammond and if you have seen his films then you might consider him your Spider-Man and if you do than that is fine but since his films weren’t in the theaters sadly, he won’t count for this blog.
we will first start with the first of them all and that would Tobey Maguire who was cast as the hero in the summer of 2000 and even manage to beat out the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Freddie Prinze jr, Chris O’Donell, Jude Law, Chris Klien, Wes Bentley, Health Ledger, James Franco, Scott Speedman and even Joe Manganiello. Though James and Joe would still be cast in other roles. Nevertheless, Tobey won the job and filming was set to begin in November of 2000, it got pushed back to January of 2001. Though we didn’t have insight to contract details back then we do know he was offered 3-4 million and higher salary for two sequels. In this time frame there had only really been a few successful comic book movies outside of Batman and Superman. No doubt this was going to be a challenge. Now it’s lifetime the film managed to gross 825 million dollars and managed to spawn two more films with Maguire starring as Spider-Man. The series ran from 2002 to 2008. At this point we had nothing to compare to Maguire’s performance as Spider-Man because there really wasn’t another Spider-Man. Sadly we never got a Spider-Man 4 for a number of reasons regarding contracts and creative direction, at this point the series that was a big hit was left for dead. Until just four years later a reboot came out titled The Amazing Spider-Man.
Here we now had a new actor taking the role from Maguire and that was none other than Andrew Garfield who got the role just two years after Spider-Man 3 came out. Now the film was released in the summer of 2012, and it seemed like that film series wanted to show Peter Parker true intelligence by having him design his own web shooters which did go more towards the comic book. This film series wanted to keep Spider-Man in high school though he was already 17 and in his junior year. At first, I know was bitter about the reboot, I so bad wanted to see part 4 and not see a reboot but I have to admit Garfield sold me on it. His performance gave us a nerdy but funny Peter Parker and a Spider-Man that truly moved like a Spider-Man. two years later we got the sequel and it seemed like that Maguire/ Spider-Man was a thing of the past. Though Sony failed to learn from their mistakes with adding too many villains and changing Parker’s parents’ deaths and so forth, though the lone bright spot was for the first time on the big screen Spider-Man failed to save Gwen. Now No one knocked Garfield’s performance, but this film managed to become the lowest grossing spider-man film and had very high budget which was around 293 million and you knew what was coming and that was a reboot and another failed ending.
Now at this point just a year later in a shocking turn of events Sony worked out a deal with Marvel to Allow the character to return home as long as Sony gets something out of the deal. This shocked the world because we knew that at this time the MCU was in full swing and killing it at the box office and we knew Sony own the film rights, but we didn’t know was that Sony needed to release a spider-man film every 5.75 years to keep the film rights. The original plan was to find a way to bring Garfield’s Spider-Man in the MCU but both Sony and Marvel agreed to go a different direction and that was to reboot the character once again and truly make a film series of Peter Parker in high school, but they needed a young actor which they found that in Tom Holland who was 17 at the time of the casting to play a 15-year-old Peter Parker which was close enough. Tom made his appearance as Spider-Man in 2016 hit film Captain America: Civil War and Marvel did a good job at introducing him and getting away from the beginnings that we saw Sony do twice, instead we see him, and he has only been Spider-man for 6 months and just been doing the small things well the Avengers fight Aliens from Space. a Year later we get Spider-man: Homecoming, which I loved the title and found it Ironic. This was Tom Holand’s first full film as Spider-Man, and we managed to make it a third solo film and with a bright future and maybe a part 4!! In all Tom has played Spider-Man for 6 films, Maguire 4 films and Garfield in 3 films, the latter two also starred in Spider-Man No Way Home. Now it is time to ask ourselves, who is your Spider-Man?
I catch myself asking that question over and over again and I have to keep breaking things down, since this one a few cases where there have been three actors in one generation which most cases its one actor per generation. Now With Maguire I believe he was the better Peter Parker; he was quiet but innocent at the same time, he was very smart but not enough to brag about it. Him as Spider-Man almost was the same as Peter Parker which goes against the alter Ego situation. Now we have Garfield and his Spider-Man. What stands out to me is when he is under the mask, he seemed to become the spider and his movements were based on an actual spider, we can argue that the technology wasn’t fully there for Maguire to do this but then again that series went away from a few things regarding the comics. Garfield performance as Peter was hilarious with his jokes but sometimes came off as a creep regarding Gwen, it was one thing to be nervous because we all have been there but being a little creepy wasn’t a Peter thing. Then we have Tom Holland. who seemed to have blended the two previous spider-man’s together which might have been the right thing to do? He moves like Maguire with hints of Garfield in it, He does show his intelligence but at times seems to be a fan boy and amaze at the same time, which can go overboard at times and that is both as Peter and Spider-Man, Now the good thing is that the character was able to grow as the series went on which makes me more excited to see where the character goes from here at No Way Home.
Now who is my Spider-Man? Well with watching all three and knowing I am only in my early 30’s, I would have to say now it is Holland because he has the time to keep evolving the character and that is something we didn’t see from the other two. Now Maguire is the OG and no one will take that away from him and Garfield proved he could step out of Maguire shadow and cement his legacy and of course Holland proved that he respected those character of the past. In The end Holland is my Spider-Man, so now who is yours?
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
By: Justin Hopkins
**SPOILER WARNING**
When we did our review on the first Venom movie, I had some serious reservations about going in. All my doubts were proven wrong and ended up being a really good movie. Going into this one… all of those doubts had come back. Wasn’t to thrilled by what I had seen in trailers. Wasn’t keen on Woody playing Cletus. Thought he could do it, just thought younger would have been better. Then I saw the rating and wasn’t keen on that. My love of the Venom character was always going to get me in the door though. So, lets dive in and discuss shall we.
Synopsis
The movie opens at a reform house, where Young Cletus is talking to Young Shriek, Florence. Who is upset that they are going to be taking her away. Her powers were growing to strong to safely keep her locked away here. When they do come for her, Cletus is enraged. Banging on a window. They get her loaded into the van and start to drive her away. When she tries to escape with a supersonic screech. Only for the cop to shot her. Believing her to be dead. Except, she survived and is locked away in Ravencroft. We jump to today and we see Eddie talking to Officer Mulligan. Telling him that Cletus wants to meet with him. Venom is agitated and Eddie has to stop him from taking a bite out of Mulligan and actually pull him into the bathroom. After a brief argument. They are on their way to meet with Cletus. Who makes him a deal to give his life story if he publishes his words first. Which is a hidden message to Florence. On their way out, they spot sketches etched into the wall. Which Venom is able to draw later and uses that to find a slew of buried bodies. Which puts Cletus on Death Row. Back at home, Eddie and Venom are bickering. Venom is hungry and is fueled on something called Phenethylamine, which is found in brains and chocolate. Since they are out of chocolate. Eddie wants him to eat the chickens, but Venom refuses to eat Sonny and Cher. Caving in and they go to the store but don’t have any chocolate so it’s off to a chicken factory. Which Venom reluctantly raids. Taking control after. Running around. Arguing that they should be heroes and eating bad guys. Even breaking up a mugging that he didn’t need to get involved in. Only stopping his trek when Ann calls. Wanting to meet where they learn that she is engages. Which is devastating to them both. The next morning Venom is trying to take care and cheer him up. They receive a letter from Cletus. Wanting them to be present for the execution. Venom doesn’t want them to but Eddie insists. When they get their. Cletus starts in on him which sets off Venom. Who grabs Cletus, pulling Eddie against the bars and then Cletus against said bars. Allowing him to bite Eddie’s Hand. Getting a bit of his blood on his face. That we see begin to sprout into a Symbiote. That he eats. Eddie and Venom argue all the way home. Which turns into name calling and then a fight. Stuff starts getting thrown out of the window, chickens threatened and finally, Eddie sets off the fire alarm. Ensuing sound sends Venom Fleeing out of the window. Where he attaches himself to a passerby and leaves, but not before destroying Eddie’s bike and flipping him off. On death row, Cletus is hooked up and procedure for Lethal Injection begins when the Symbiote is awoken and Carnage is born. Killing everyone is his path as they escape and that is where I will leave it for now.
Review
One of best part of the movie is the relationship between Eddie and Venom. Outside of the fact that it gives some hilarious moments. The fact that it is a rocky relationship. They each have their own wants and desires. Eddie trying his best to help Venom, but with keeping them hidden and off the radar. While Venom wants to be out. Enjoying the Earth, being able to be a hero and feast on bad guys and it all adds so much to the movie and some of the best parts come from their dynamic.
I do like what they did with them. Him embracing Earth and genuine love fore life. His love of Anne was a nice touch. Thought I would hate the rave scene, but was quite wholesome. Just him liking being around people and then missing the fact that Eddie wasn’t around to enjoy it with him. The look was a lot nicer. CGI looked a lot better. Especially, when it came to the fight scenes.
Then there is the little things. Two of which jump to mind right away. One, they doubled down on the chocolate tease from the first and went into detail on why it was so important to Venom. Having the same chemicals as Brains and compatible of sustaining him. Then showing that Carnage is capable of accessing the internet. As much as I am okay with them changing the characters up, I love it when they get those little details.
The cast was pretty spot on. Tom Hardy does a great job as Eddie Brock and the voice of Venom. Same with Michelle Williams as Anne. Woody has always done Crazy well, and his work with Cletus is no different. Chemistry between him and Tom made for some great scenes. Naoime Harris was a nice addition as Shriek. Adding a menacing presence to her performance and the way she bullied the other characters and handled herself. And got love seeing Peggy Lu return as Mrs. Chen. Was a small role, but was fun when she was on the screen.
Okay, so I do have a few negatives. Two minor and one major one. So, lets start with the minor in Shriek. Now, yes, Naoime really was good, but the way they used her at the end was confusing and dumb. She knew screaming would upset Carnage and upset them both so they start the fight with her screaming. Then what felt like a random, arbitrary moment decided Carnage went to far and wanted him to stop. I get that they needed her around to round out the end, but could have been handled a lot better.
Second, and sure there are people who will disagree with this one, but it really needed that R rating. The first Venom worked with the PG-13 and Venom himself can work like that, but we are talking about Carnage. A character so heinous that Spider-Man questioned his no kill policy and really7 thought it over in the moment. That killing him may have been the way to go. Carnage killed a diner full of people when a reporter got his name wrong. Sure he has a body count, but it does not hit the same as it would have to see him get bloody and he needed that.
” That’s a red one.” That is what Venom said when he encountered Carnage. The reason that he did not want to fight him was because he is a red one. It is silly and Carnage does call him Father, in what felt like a throw away line. Venom talks so much in this movie and all they had to do was put a few more lines of him actually calling him his son and each generation is stronger then the last, but nope. That’s a red one was all we got. This is a short movie. Could have added a couple more minutes and this negative doesn’t exist.
So, after a day thinking it over. Breaking down the things I didn’t like about it and at the end of it all. They are not very damaging ones. I had a lot of fun with this movie. Especially the interactions between Venom and Eddie. The back and forward with Eddie/Venom and Cletus/Carnage. Movie had some great laughs and solid action and I would suggest going to check it out in theaters. Final Grade – B+
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You For Reading!
Saturday Sequel Presents Goosebumps 2 Haunted Halloween
By Paul Anthony
Let’s be honest, if you wee a kid in the 90’s growing up you know you read a Goosebumps book and even watched the show, heck to this day I still read the books and watch the show and I was even pumped to learn the show was coming back, which the wait is just getting longer and longer because of this virus but as a fanboy I have to say I was super excited when I heard about a movie that was being made. At first I was wondering if they would do the books in order which they would have tons of material for, however I was wrong, when the first film was released it was about the goosebumps book monsters coming alive, after the release I finally got behind that film and even the ending had set up a good plot for part 2. I knew there would be a part 2 because the film made 158 million from a budget that was around 84 million, with a story in place, we got a stand alone sequel that barely had any ties to the first. The film had a budget of 35 million and grossed 93 million which was basically on par with the first film. The movie went through 2 title changes, when it was first announced it was called Goosebumps: HorrorLand then got changed to Goosebumps: Slappy’s Revenge, only to get changed to Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween. Though this was a stand alone sequel it more felt like soft reboot with only mentioning that Slappy was involved in another situation like this.
The film starts in a small town in New York, here we meet the main characters of Sarah, whose trying to get into college and her brother Sonny and his best friend Sam. One day as Sonny and Sam was picking up trash in which they want to start garbage cleaning up service, they stumble on a book and Slappy without knowing they read a few words from this unfinished book that awakes Slappy. At first Slappy appears to be nice to them calling them his family but begins to use his powers to cause problems and harm around the people that are close to Sarah including her boyfriend. At this point Slappy heightens his powers to bring the monsters of Goosebumps alive and pretty much all Halloween decorations alive and turn them into monsters as well, story basically comes out that Slappy plans to Sarah’s mom into a dummy like him so he can have a mother who won’t abandon him like his father who it’s revealed to be R.L. Stine himself. Much like the first film the key to stopping Slappy is the unfinished book to catch him with. Unlike the first film Stine doesn’t need to finish the book to catch him, they just need to open the book and it will suck him in and of course the battle begins but the kids managed to save the day but when Stine returns home he see’s Slappy waiting for him and use the book on Stine which sucks Stine into the book leaving Slappy with the last laugh.
I did enjoy the movie but would have enjoyed the movie more if it was the first film. The fact that this film did feel like a soft reboot and nearly ignored all of the events of the first film only to reword the plot felt lazy to me. When you considered that nothing was explain on how Slappy got to New York and Stine not having his daughter with him and everything. The rumor was that there was two scripts with this film one with Jack Black and the other without him, I feel like they decided to mix the two scripts because Black was hardly in the film and was pretty useless in the film. This may have not been a reboot but it felt like one. In the end though I am giving it B for a grade it had it moments and potential to be even better but someone got lazy.
Good Boys Review
By Paul Anthony
When this movie came out like 9 months ago I really did want to see it but just got side tracked. At first glance I really thought this film going to be a bomb because it was in the summer and it had kids and I know this film was rated R but in the end you can only do so much with kids. The film did have a fan base from Seth Rogan who helped produced and they advertised the film from the producers of Superbad, Neighbors and Sausage Party, which all were fun comedies tom watch, with Superbad being the best. The question I thought was could this film follow in Superbad’s footsteps. Now we all know that film’s legacy, could this film live up to that film? This was the question that I kept asking myself. The cast was pretty much a bunch of people that no one heard of which was a good thing because it kept the budget down. The Budget was bein reported around 20 million and the film manage to gross 110 million which isn’t bad for that budget. Now I go back to my question if it would live up to the legacy of Superbad. The Budgets and grosses were pretty much the same with Superbad doing better at 170 million and launched everyone into stardom.
The movie follows 3 boys who enter the 6th grade and realize they need to do things they have never done before in order to fit in. These things include kissing and taking a sip of beer. To learn these things the boys start to spy on people to learn how to kiss. But one misstep leads to another and another and the boys must find away out of before they get into anymore trouble. During these missteps the boys begin to question their friendships when they realize they have nothing in common. The only thing they have in common is that their parents are friends and they live close together. After their exciting night ends and they get caught for skipping school and damaging the one boys drone and his house, they all get grounded and begin to go their one ways. One gets into the dating field and has three relationships in a month’s time. The next one joins a group that helps people from bullies and the third one who loves to sings gets to star in a musical. With each friend now in their own groups they reunite for the one’s play and agree that they can be best friends still and be there for the big stuff and then they part ways again only to get on a sex swing together.
The movie use a decent plot with the three kids learning how life works. It gave it a good twist on how the youth go through things and do whatever they think they can to fit in. However this is a comedy and for me some of the humor just wasn’t there. Which when I watch a comedy I do think that the comedy should be there and when it is not then it hurts the film. The Acting was average when it came to the boys because all they had to do was act their age. I don’t thing this film had that Superbad feel to it nor will it have the same legacy. In fact this film might have already been forgotten about. Overall I am giving this film a good B, it would have been higher if their was more comedy to it.
Friday Roundabout 1/17/20
By Paul Anthony
Welcome back to another edition of our Roundabout, let’s not waste anytime shall we! Early this morning the rap Legend Eminem dropped another surprise album just like he did back in 2018Â when he released Kamikaze now he released Music To Be Murdered By where he continues his attack on the world that said he was washed up and threw some bars at people that attempted to diss him for his previous album insults. This is the rap legend 11th studio album and 2020 also marks his 21st year in the rap game, how crazy is it that he still going strong congrats!
Here is some sad news we learn this week and if you are an wrestling fan then you know the name. This pass week Rocky Johnson passed away. Now many of the younger fans will know him as The Rock’s father but he in his own right was his own person and made a name for himself, he got into a business and broke color barriers and paved the way for his son and many others as well and for the family here at Smash we are sorry for your loss.
Wendy Williams from The Wendy Williams Show in under fire for making a comment regarding Oscar winning Actor Joaquin Phoenix’s cleft, she basically said he look sexy in a weird way or something in that order, I am not fan of her show nor do I ever watch but I will say this much, these comments don’t make her a bad person or anything like that. I don’t believe she deserves to get any backlash for but social media took it upon themselves to take it an extra step. Now She did have to apologize for it but still she wasn’t mocking him or anything like that, let’s grow up people.
Will Smith has been a busy man in the passed year or so. We got Bad Boys three opening this week which has to be the final film of the series but he did say something that caught my attention. He admitted that during the promotional tours he sometimes has to pretend to like his movies though I don’t believe he admitted which films he didn’t like. Will has a long career in film but he has had plenty of misses. Does this really shock you that some people have to do this? I mean there are just as many of bad films as there good films in one’s career, they can’t like every single film they star in.
Justin hates Tom Cruise but I am pretty sure he likes Jack Reacher, well good news is Reacher will be coming back but not in a film form instead he will be coming to Amazon Prime and this makes me pumped because here is why the show Jack Ryan has been a hit for Amazon so why not bring in another fan favorite character. Jack Ryan has been in a number of films but never could gain steam so let’s see if magic can strike again!
Sony release the trailer for their film Morbius, which stars Jared Leto as the main character. Sony struck gold with Spider-Man films from Disney and Venom was sleeper hit with that being said Sony really wants to build their villains up and let’s see if this film can be any good!
Okay let’s wrap this up with some humor here and there is a man who is deaf is now suing Porn Hub for not having closed captioning on their porn. Of all the things to sue for and to go public with it has to be funny. I have to wonder what closed captioning would look like with porn, I am guessing a lot single words and letters!
Friday Roundabout 1-10-2020
By: Justin Hopkins
Hello and welcome to another roundabout. Hope you all had a great week. As always, bringing my thought on rumors and news from around the entertainment world in the past week, and a little longer to touch on one rumor. With all of that said, let’s jump right in with the big Marvel story from the week, in Doctor Strange and the loss of the director.
It is a shame to see Scott Derrickson dropping out of the Multiverse Of Madness, sequel to Dr. Strange, especially due to creative differences. Was a big fan of the first movie, and felt Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in Infinity War and the climax of Endgame definitely hyped up the urge to see his return. At the same time, not going to panic over it at the same time. Marvel has been a consistent machine at pumping out solid movies and with them having similar issues with the first Antman, they have some experience in righting the ship from creative differences with Directors. Hope that they can find a way to reconcile with Scott, but if not. Still hyped for this sequel.
Going from the big screen to the smaller one and movement on a remake of the classic 1981 Werewolf movie, The Howling, coming to Netflix. The announcement came in the form of Director Andy Muschietti working on an adaption for Netflix, which I find really exciting. Andy has said before that The Howling was a dream project for him to work on, and The Howling does have a rich story with some room to grow and take into different directions, and like all remakes, even if they don’t live up to expectations. Still have the classic to enjoy.
From there we go to the world of Video Games, and before I go into this one, need to stress that this is just a rumor. I tried to find something official but at this point, all I can find is speculation, but as a Sony player. Feel the need to give my two cents on this one. It has to do with various sites reporting that the PS5 will be backward compatible. Going all the way back to Playstation 1. If this is true, I would be elated. Would be satisfied with PS3 and over the moon to access PS2, but getting them all would be fantastic, and they really need that feature to compete with Xbox, who has announced that the X Series will do just that. With the PS5 due up later this year, really wish Sony would put out some official statements to curb some of the rumor trains. In the meantime, I have my fingers crossed that this rumor carries weight.
Speaking of games, we got a bit of what to expect from Resident Evil Nemesis. This is such a small thing to be excited for a game that I am pretty much Pre-Ordering the first chance I get, but they were talking about Nemesis himself, and to not expect what you remember. Learning from their time working on Mr. X in the remake of Resident Evil 2, and he will not work in scripted terms, but as he sees fit. Making him unpredictable and increase the horror factor. Also, Carlos will have a playable section, which will add even more new content. Truth be told, I am super excited for this game and any reason I can find to talk about it; I jump. Releases on April 13th, barring any delays and please, don’t let there be any delays. Need a new game to play.
There is a few trailers that have dropped. New Mutants and Birds of Prey seem to be the big ones, but have given up trailers for New Year Resolutions. Going to do my best to avoid trailers, after the first ones, because I am tired of them spoiling aspects of the movie after the first trailer drops, and encourage everyone to follow my example. #Nomorespoilersintrailers.
In close, want to congratulate Frozen 2 on becoming the highest grossing animated movie of all time, and hope you all enjoyed this week’s edition of the roundabout. As always…
Thanks for reading.
Spider-Man Far From Home Review
By Paul Anthony
Its a new month and we using a tier system to rank our movies, so before we get started let me explain a little about this tier system. we will be using letters to give our rating, think about it like being in school, S will be used as the top of the top movies in this case S will be Super or 100plus percentage next will A or Awesome like 90 to 100 percent rating, B will be Basic or 80 or 90 percent rating, next will be C for careful which will be 70 to 80 percent. Then we got the Letter D for Drool or 60 to 70 percent. Now we are really getting low here now we Have E for effort which is 50 to 60 percent, and now we have the lowest rating which is F which is failure which is 0-50 percent. Now that we got that out of the way let’s get to the review!
Since Marvel took over Spider-Man he has been getting many positive reviews despite there being so many films with Spider-Man since 2002, but this is Marvel second solo Spider-Man film and trust me they did deliver! For starters I am giving the film the rating of A right around 95 percent. Tom Holland continues to grow as Spider-Man and Peter Parker, its important to note that despite the two being one a key to a secret identity is being different from your alter ego. Tom Holland does a great job at growing into both roles. In Here we now seem him going through the idea of him not wanting to be the big hero yet still being a hero and wanting a normal life with his friends which makes sense because he is only 16 and been through tons. These films set a good tone with decent humor but also let Holland shine with showing how much he misses Tony, which is a good touch because Tony did want he did for Peter.
Now I am not the biggest fan of Jake Gyllenhaal but he did do a good job at Quentin Beck/ Mysterio, The trailers made it seem like he was going to be a hero pretty much every trailer made him look like a hero now not spoiling for anyone here but he is a Master of Trickery and Illusion and Marvel can’t stress that enough.
Another thing that I did like was in this film we saw more of Peter Parker rather then Spider-Man and like I said before we needed this because we saw more of Spider-Man the last few films. Usually I would knock it for that but it made sense to do that. They also explain the aftermath of the snap and explain that it is called “The Blip” and explain those who faded and came back had to start where they were before they faded so if you had a younger brother he would basically be your older brother now. Let’s get to the post credit scenes more importantly the first. We know j. Jonah Jameson is big in the Spider-Man universe and people really loved him after J.K. Simmons portray him from 2002 to 2008 in the Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man with reboots we know there will be new actors for roles but then Marvel and Sony gave us a treat With J.K Simmons reprising the role! Yes its a spoiler but who cares this was just such an awesome thing to get this treat! Either Please go see the movie, the movie budget is 150 million and just in two days according the stats it has already made 130 million not bad!
The R. Kelly Reign of Terror
By Paul Anthony
I don’t know what it is like to have women throw themselves at you, nor do I want to but I do know one thing messing with Underage women is wrong, the problem is R. Kelly does not. R. Kelly is famous for two things, one which is his music which shot him to stardom and for having sexual relationship with young women who are more like girls then women because of their age which the rumor is that the youngest one could be as young as 13.
As we know R. Kelly landed in jail last month when Chicago Prosecutors charged him with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse which three of the four victims are in fact under age. If you don’t pay much attention to him, you may think this is something new but in fact it is not. Let’s go back to 1994 when Kelly who was 27 at the time wrote and collaborated with a new R and B singer called Aaliyah who was only 15 at the time, the song was called Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, which seems to be Kelly slogan. Working together is one thing, sleeping together is another. Kelly was accused of forging a marriage certificate to make Aaliyah 18 so they could get married though they got divorced months later, Kelly claimed he never had sex with her, okay but yet you still married a little girl.
Aaliyah was the most famous one but that doesn’t mean she was the only one because she was there was countless of other girls who accused him of abusing them. Yet this was going on he mange to avoid trouble and work on his career which continue to grow and he became a bigger and bigger name in the music industry, things really came crashing on him in 2002, when he was charged with child pornography, it took six years for everything to end when he was acquitted of all charges. Still his career was going strong he was still producing hits and no one thought twice.
However we are now in a era where people can’t get away with the things he did or being accused of, in the 90’s he got away with it but now it’s different because fame can’t even save him, after being acquitted you would thing he would stop but now we know that’s not the case. Kelly got in trouble this time when someone in his camp turned a tape into police and the video shows Kelly with a 14 year old girl which during the video she refers to her private areas as 14 year old p****several times.
We know Kelly was abused as a child and we know victims offended become abusers themselves, this might be the case for him as well but it still doesn’t make it right or give him an excuse because now he is denying everything and blaming it on the families of the alleged victims. It’s one thing to deny but another to put blame on other people. We know this process will be a long one we can only hope that this is the end of his terror for good.
What A Year
By Paul Anthony
Some would say going to the movies is the thing of the past here in the States. Well 2018 are in and the numbers proves that at least last year that was not the case. The numbers also prove that if you produce a good film people will go out to the movies and not do something else. Last year was one of those years where it seems like so many good movies came out and with that being said 2018 set a new record. Last Year Hollywood made 11.9 billion dollars, so I would say business is doing just fine.
In 2018 there were 140 films that made a difference, now within those films Disney released 13 films, Warner Bros released 49 films, Sony released 28 films, Universal released 38 films and then there is Fox with 17 films and Paramount releasing 12 films. Disney may have only released 13 films but they lead the way with 3.092 billion in the Domestic box office. Universal was close with 1.959.76 billion, Warner Bros was next at 1.940.69 billion. Then Sony at 1,283.72 billion and Paramount at a low 757 Billion.
If we think these numbers are just a fluke then guess again because these studios have some big titles coming out this year and could even top 2018. Disney has films like Captain Marvel, Dumbo, Avengers: EndGame, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Artemis Fowl, Frozen 2 and Star Wars 9. Warner Bros has titles like The Lego Movie 2, Shazam, Detective Pikachu, Mine Craft, Godzilla king of the Monsters, Shaft, IT 2, Joker and the gold Finch and another Conjuring film. Sony could have a great year as well with titles like Men in Black: International, Spider-Man: Far from Home, ZombieLand 2 and a third Jumanji film. Universal might have an off year with small titles like US and Happy Death Day 2U but could rebound with titles like How to Train Your Dragon three and Hobbs and Shaw as well as The Secret Life of pets part two. This could Be Fox.s last year before they join Disney and they will ride the Marvel way with Dark Phoenix and New Mutants and Alita. Paramount is banking on films like What Men What, Pet Sematary, A Terminator film, Rocket Man, Dora explorer and Sonic.
Now we know these titles sound good but could flop we can look at Alita right now though it open at number one the numbers haven’t been there just yet. But it is hard to believe with certain titles won’t do good or even great but in any case let’s sit back and enjoy the year.
The Reboot and Sequels that got Our Attention
By Paul Anthony
Last Month we saw some big Movie News regarding two franchises and one that is becoming a franchise. Here is why these three films caught our attention, Final Destination is getting rebooted, GhostBusters 3 and Coming to America 2.
Let’s Dive into the reboot of Final destination, This was announced just a few weeks ago in which they officially announced that they would reboot rather then do a sequel. Warners Bros have been playing with this idea since part 5 came out in 2011. The Writing was on the wall for there to be a sixth film. The fifth film Made a decent profit. It grossed 157 million off of a 40 million dollar budget though only 42 million came from the States. Nonetheless the film made money. The numbers for the series have been up and down but each film made money. With the fifth being the highest reviewed film in the series at 62 percent. The series seems to be going strong but yet that was back in 2011 and rebooting a film can be tricking, by the time this film happens it could be ten years, can they recreate the magic or will this just be a waste of time. There is no doubt that this series does have a cult following because the idea was so new but now it is not. If they want to make it work then the film has to be done right and we know that is easier said then done.
In the 80’s and 90’s Eddie Murphy was all over the place, his movies were hits and his stand ups were on fire. Murphy was gold but nowadays he will do anything to keep his name out there. Back in 1988 Murphy starred in the hit comedy film Coming to America. Now new Broke that after thirty years they decided to make a part 2. Certain films shine because stories are a one off thing meaning its better to be one and done and times have changed. Audiences have changed and Murphy isn’t the same. Sure the entire cast is returning but that doesn’t always mean the charm and magic will. Sadly I believe this film won’t recapture the magic like the first film did.
Now the biggest news is the announcement of GhostBusters 3 and no this film won’t be the sequel to the 2016 film, no this is sequel to the first two. This film will have the original cast returning in more then a cameo of a different character, they will be returning as the characters we came to love. This film will act as a passing of the torch film, theam will also feature two boys and two girls learning from the old team. This is what I believe hurt the 2016 film, The women did nothing wriong and was great but it felt like a reboot that we never wanted and with that it underpreformmed and never will get a sequel, The old and new team will hit the theaters in 2020!
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