Despite its stunning backdrops and inspired new designs, Smurfs: The Lost Village is a smurfing waste of time. The only thing bluer than the main characters are the poor saps who pay to see this manic drivel.
Broadcast television is divided between conformity and progression. Stations like CBS and NBC, for instance, largely refuse to diverge away from comfortable original programming, without relevance or (for the most part) originality, while stations like ABC and Fox have gone out of their way to challenge and develop a social conscious. Shots Fired, Fox's latest, most timely event drama, is not comfortable television. It's urgent, thoughtful, political, poignant, intelligent and, above all else, filled with relevancy and bleeding sincerity. If only it didn't need to digress so readily into melodramatics and convoluted narratives. If there's a show that desperately needs to ground itself squarely in reality, it's most definitely this one.
Fox's Making History doesn't quite live up to its bold title, but the enthusiastic leads and the progressively stronger episodes make it a blast from the past, present, infinity and beyond.
Based on the phenomenally bestselling novel of the same name, The Shack tells a spiritual story of faith, perseverance against and acceptance towards life's unspeakable cruelties. It's all told through the perspective of Mack (Sam Worthington), a husband and grieving father, fighting to release months upon years of pain and inner torment through one-on-one interactions with Papa (Octavia Spencer), a.k.a God, Jesus (Avraham Aviv Alush) and Sarayu (Sumire), a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, in the titular shack which once housed unfathomable evil. It's blatantly religious, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. In fact, if anything, The Shack's conversational, philosophically-ambiguous approach makes it more universal and all-encompassing than other prayer-filled works of cinema of late. Notably, anything from Pure Flix.
At this point, who doesn't want to join the Marvel Cinematc Universe? Nearly every actor and their brother are either already in the ongoing massive franchise, in some capacity or another, or vying to get into it. Donnie Yen finds himself in the latter category, and alongside his loyal fans, he's campaigning to work his way into the MCU as Namor the Sub-Mariner, who might just get his own film in the near future.
In case you didn't get the memo, Logan is pretty awesome. Like, really awesome. A formidable, fitting finale to Hugh Jackman's long-running personification of the endearing superhero character, the movie itself is worth the price of admission alone. But if you need extra incentive, you've got it today. That's because James Mangold's threequel might also bring with it the final trailer for a completely different 2017 superhero film, if from another studio: Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman.
Mary Poppins Returns is positively brimming with talent. Emily Blunt takes on the titular role Julie Andrews once played, while Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Julie Waters and Dick Van Dyke round out the ensemble. Now, they'll be joined by another tremendous screen presence, as Angela Lansbury enters the newest live-action Disney sequel.
What would horror films be without endless sequels? The Purge franchise is among the most profitable in the genre today, so you better believe there's a fourth installment. That's right, Universal has now confirmed that The Purge 4 will hit theaters on July 4, 2018. Prepare yourself accordingly. It's coming.
My admiration for Silicon Valley isn't necessarily a secret. On multiple occasions, I've called the sensationally funny hi-tech satire one of the most pointed, quippiest, intelligent and observational series on television, and I can't wait to see it return. Thankfully, there's not too much longer to go now, as the nerdy comedy airs its next season in April, and as seen in this latest trailer, it'll try something new.
Samuel L. Jackson doesn't starve for work. Maybe I should've included explicit language in that remark, to make it more appropriate, but we can't change the past, so let's move on. The 68-year-old workaholic is constantly bouncing between Hollywood's biggest and newest properties, and that won't be changing any time soon. The mega-popular actor will be reprising his supporting role as Frozone in Brad Bird's The Incredibles 2, and while details are scarce, he's revealed some brief teases regarding the icy superhero companion's return to the big screen. Appropriately, it sounds pretty cool.
