Thoughts on the Disney/Marvel announcements

 Disney has just emptied a bucketload of new series and film announcements onto the internet to gear everyone up for the next phase of its media empire. Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new wave of Star Wars properties and more, there's a lot to take on, but he's my thoughts on the MCU revelations. (I'll get to Star Wars eventually, but I'm not even up to date on The Mandalorian yet. However, really suspicious of the idea of bringing back Hayden Christiansen.)

MARVEL PHASE 4

She-Hulk: Confirmed to be starring Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, this will be a Disney+ series. I was hoping for Gina Camaro, but Maslany is a solid choice (presumably the She-Hulk herself will be at least partly CGI). No surprise that Mark Ruffalo will be appearing as Bruce Banner/the Hulk, but very surprised and pleased that Tim Roth is back as Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination. He was the best thing about The Incredible Hulk back in 2008.

Secret Invasion: Good news, but no surprise. The involvement of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos pretending to be Nick Fury all pointed to the Secret Invasion storyline coming to fruition. Presumably this will have an impact on the films in time, but for now, this is another Disney+ series. Marvel have tried to tie together their TV and cinematic productions before to limited success, but this looks like a far more sophisticated effort. Mendelsohn and Sam Jackson both confirmed back for this.

Ironheart: The occasionally controversial (for small-minded people) new Iron Man comic treatement, Ironheart features Riri Williams as a young genius who creates her own biomechanical armour suit. The Disney+ series will star Dominique Thorne. Could be well worth watching.

Armor Wars: Less interested by this one. Do we need both? This has Don Cheadle back as Rhodey/War Machine dealing with the fallout from Stark's death when his technology falls into unscrupulous hands. Should be good, but just not sure these need to be separate series.

I am Groot: This sounds very silly: a series of Disney+ shorts revolving around Baby Groot, with "new and unusual characters." Could be a good chance to involve the more ridiculous and out-there ideas from the Marvel universe (Howard the Duck please!) No word on whether Vin Diesel will voice Groot.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Now this is just fabulous. Prior to the third Guardians of the Galaxy film in 2023 (finally confirmed to have James Gunn onboard without a doubt), this is a wonderfully daft thing to do. A homage to the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special, this is bound to be all kinds of ridiculous. Lined up for 2022, presumably for Christmas unless they bring it forward for a Thanksgiving drop.

Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel 2

Really looking forward to this one. I adored the first couple of runs of Ms. Marvel comics, and I'm stoked to see her on screen. Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan, and from the brief glimpse here, she seems perfect. She'll also appear with Ms. Marvel's idol in Captain Marvel 2, confirmed to star Brie Larson (so much for the stupid rumours that she was being recast), with Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau.

What If? and Loki

Not going to overload this post with videos, but here's the link to the dazzling trailer for What If? and a fun first look at the Loki series. Both are set for Disney+ next year, dealing with the MCU's expansion into the Multiverse. What If? looks particularly fun, with some of the best of the MCU cast involved (although clearly not everyone is voiced by their original actor). Hayley Atwell as Captain Britain? The inevitable introduction of Marvel Zombies? I'm in. Loki looks like it's going to embrace the alt-reality elements as well, with the introduction of the Time Variance Agency. A crime thriller with time travel and Tom Hiddleston? Can't go wrong.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

This is going to be fabulous, but the news today is the casting: Rachel McAdams is returning as Christine Palmer, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo and Benedict Wong as, well, Wong. We already knew that Elizabeth Olson was onboard as Wanda Maximoff, but the big news is the confirmation that dimension-jumping America Chavez is involved, played by newcomer Xochitl Gomez.

Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania

I love how silly these titles are getting. We expected a third Ant-Man film, but it's good to get confirmation of the title, which implies some exploration of the Quantum Realm, aka the Microverse. It was revealed a little while ago, but I'm still excited for Kang the Conqueror to finally make his big screen debut played by Jonathan Majors.

Fantastic Four

The least surprising but most welcome revelation, the Fantastic Four property is now back with Marvel following Disney's acquisition of Fox. Jon Watts, set to direct the third MCU Spidey film, is on to helm this. No cast news yet, but we can expect some crossover elements, if not with this film, with a follow-up, given the close links in the comics between the FF and Spider-Man, Kang and the Secret Invasion.

Casting round-up!

Almost out of breath now, so a quick rundown of casting news. Hailee Steinfeld is Kate Bishop in the new Hawkeye series on Disney+ (I foresee next gen crossovers with Ironeheart and Ms. Marvel). Hilariously, Christian Bale's role in Thor: Love and Thunder is Gorr the God Butcher, an alien being committed to killing every god in the universe. They won't be recasting T'Challa for the second Black Panther film due in 2022, instead "honouring his legacy." I presume that means a new Black Panther, but I think we can rule out Shuri, since Letitis Wright's in trouble these days for stupid online behaviour.

Spider-Man 3 casting round-up!

Now this is ridiculous and wonderful. The third, as-yet-untitled Spidey film is clearly taking Tom Holland's requested route and piling straight into a live-action Spiderverse story. Presumably they got sick of him spoilering things in interviews so just went with his idea from the outset. Holland is confirmed, of course, along with Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon and Marisa Tomei. But there's also official confirmation that Jamie Foxx is back as Electro (from The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and now Alfred Molina as Doc Ock (from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2). Emma Stone is in negotiations to return as Gwen Stacy, and rumour has it that Andrew Garfield, Tobye Maguire and Kirsten Dunst have been approached to reprise their version of Spider and MJ. Plus Benny Cumber as Dr. Strange, presumably handling the interdimensional stuff.

REVIEW: Aladdin (2019)

Disney's remake juggernaut continues apace, and while I'm not that bothered by the new versions of Dumbo or The Lion King (supposedly a live action version - they're not actually real animals you know, just fancier cartoons) this was one I didn't want to miss. Aladdin is one of my absolute favourites in the Disney collection, and one that was ripe for a reinvention. From the outset I was intrigued by this one, not least because Guy Ritchie directed it. He's definitely not the sort of director you'd expect to take on a musical fantasy for children, but his version works. It's not on a par with the original (which is to say, the 1992 film, I realise the original story is several centuries old), but it's pretty brilliant.

Naturally, the biggest deal was always going to be the Genie. Robin Williams was the absolute star of the original, and going forward without him was always going to be a challenge. (Not that it's the first time the Genie has been played by someone else; in the straight-to-vid sequel The Return of Jafar and the underrated Aladdin TV series, it was Dan Castallenetta.) Hats off, then, to Will Smith for firstly taking up the daunting challenge, and secondly making such a success of it. He wisely doesn't try to ape Williams's performance, but stated he wanted to pay tribute to it, and he totally pulls it off. Smith's Genie is cooler, surprisingly camp and very much Smith's own. The CGI version of the character almost works, but dips into the uncanny valley where the integration of Smith's face onto the animated form. He's better when he gets to play him in human guise. I love that the Genie gets a new subplot in this version, with his own chance at romance. The object of his affections, Jasmine's handmaiden Dahlia, is a new addition to the story, and in the hands of actor-comedian Nasim Pedrad provides some of the biggest laughs in the film. In fact, I feel the addition of her character is one of the best things about the film, making it a great deal less male-centric and humanising both the Genie and Jasmine.

While the Genie was the big challenge, it was also vital to get the rest of the cast right. Mena Massoud is incredibly likeable as Aladdin. He has an easygoing but awkward charm, and has great chemistry with both Genie and Jasmine, and wow, he's got moves. Marwan Kenzari is a younger, more handsome Jafar than we're used to (although I once knew a girl who had a big thing for the original Jafar). He's still as sinister as hell, judging well when to be softly spoken and when to scream in rage. I love the extra background we have on Jafar's character. He's from the same background as Aladdin, a thieving pauper who's slowly dragged himself up into a position of power, and now refuses to ever settle for being the second most powerful person in the room. It gives him a rationale for his supervillain behaviour, and shows us how easily Aladdin could become corrupt if he makes the wrong choices when he is presented with power.

Naomi Scott is exceptionally good as Princess Jasmine. She gets two solo songs, something the character lacked in the original, and while they're never going to be rattling round my head the way "Prince Ali" does, they're pretty powerful and Scott's voice is incredible. Jasmine gets to have a lot more impact on the plot this time round as well, being far more involved in the climax of the film (and I'm pleased that her cringe-inducing fake seduction of Jafar has been excised). It's also easy to see why men would be falling over themselves to marry her (aside from the obvious consolidation of power aspect). I'm not saying that Naomi Scott is the most beautiful woman in the world, but it's definitely possible.

The animated Aladdin's gender politics were pretty good by 90s Disney standards, but this update gives Jasmine a greater status in the story. Rather than purely trying to find someone she'd be happy to marry, here Jasmine campaigns to have a voice in her kingdom's future, to actually be the ruler of Agrabah rather than merely marry him. We also get more background about her, learning that her mother was from another kingdom and that her death is what has led the Sultan to keep Jasmine confined to the palace. I guess this was vaguely implied in the original, but it's good to have some more depth to the setting - Jafar's intention to conquer Agrabah's neighbours also makes for a more realised world.

There aren't many family blockbusters that feature barely any white faces. It's absolutely right that the cast are predominantly from Arabic backgrounds, although there are also a number of people of other ethnicities (Scott's mother is Ugandan-Indian, Pedrad is Iranian by birth, and Smith of course is African American). While I understand some people being dissatisfied by this, seeing it as Hollywood's generic interchangeable dark skin approach, Agrabah isn't a real place and who's to say exactly what ethnic make-up it would have? Jasmine, especially, is explicitly the daughter of someone from another country. The diversity of the cast is a strong element in its favour, and it's not like the story of Aladdin was ever set in a real version of Arabia (the original story was set in China, albeit a China that was suspiciously Arabian). One oddity is the inclusion of Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders, from some Scandinavian-esque kingdom, and while I understand some people seeing this as whitewashing, he's one character and I saw it more as illustrating how men were willing to travel from all over the world to meet the Princess. Anyway, Aladdin's probably set ten thousand years in the future and can feasibly reflect all sorts of influences.

The pacing is admittedly off, with some scenes dragging a little, but on the whole the film balances story and song effectively. It's astonishingly beautiful, wonderfully colourful, and the song-and-dance numbers are spectacular, almost Bollywood-esque in some cases. There are some tweaks to the lyrics of the classic songs as well, some correctional (changing "Sunday salam" to "Friday salam" because someone finally remembered they were dealing with Muslim characters) others funny ("I hear your princess is hot, where is she?"), and they make the most of Smith's skills as a rapper by tweaking the style of his songs to make them more his own. (Although I'd have guessed we'd see the Genie beatbox, I wasn't expecting it from Jasmine.)

I was pleased to see the original climactic defeat of Jafar was retained, although the final confrontation was extended for greater effect, albeit perhaps a little too long. Absolutely delighted that Frank Welker returned to voice the Cave of Wonders, and uncredited, provided the squeaks and grumbles of Abu and Rajah. Alan Tudyk makes a decent Iago the parrot, although it's a reduced role compared to the original. In spite of heavily following the '92 film, the new Aladdin strikes a balance between recreating the original and being its own thing. A great success in my eyes.

REVIEW: A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is one of those books that it took me ages to get around to reading. Part of this is that it's just never been the huge hit in the UK as it is in America, where it's a commonly read book in schools and the favourite childhood book of many. I finally read it a few years ago, reading my friend's battered school copy on a visit to the States. It's a beautiful book, a wonderfully creative and empowering story for youngsters, about courage and acceptance, and while it's clearly very heavily influenced by Madeleine L'Engle's strong Christian beliefs, it's about being open to other cultures and ways of doing things.

Given its reputation, it's surprising the novel hasn't been adapted for cinema before now. Disney made a previous attempt, a fairly terrible TV movie fifteen years ago, and there have been various stage versions, even an opera. Still, a big budget treatment seems well overdue for such a rich fantasy story. Disney's new treatment has skirted some controversy, having removed the Christian undertones and also cast the Murrys as a mixed race family, with predictable results in some quarters (don't read the comments sections on any site covering the movie, unless you enjoy reading white men crying over how casting black people in these roles is somehow “racist”).

To be fair, while the race of the central characters isn't actually important to the story as such, having a mixed race family in such a prominent Disney production is a big deal, and it represents a move forward in both race and gender representation in front of, and behind, the camera. There are more films lately with heroic female protagonists, but how many where the hero is a young girl of colour? Added to which we have Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing her mother, Dr. Kate Murry (it would have been extremely unusual for a black woman to hold a prestigious academic position in 1960 when the book was written, albeit not unheard of, but while it is less remarkable now it is still something of note). Behind the camera is Ava DuVernay, the first black woman to direct a megabudget film (a production with a budget of over $100 million). While not the point of the film, the multiracial production is worth celebrating.

The cast is impressive throughout. Storm Reid is central as Meg, devastated by the disappearance of her father but still a gifted and exceptional young girl. She goes through more of a developmental journey here than in the book, learning to accept both her strengths and weaknesses and massively improving her confidence as she goes through her adventures. This is the sort of character arc only boys usually get. Her younger and even more remarkable brother, Charles Wallace, is played by Deric McCabe, with a very assured performance. Charles Wallace, here an adopted member of the family rather than Meg's biological brother, is such a genius that he innately understands the motions of space and time that allow the characters to “tesser” across the universe.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is as excellent as always, while Chris Pine makes a strong impression as her husband Dr. Alex Murry, the brilliant but headstrong physicist (or perhaps metaphysicist) who loses himself across the universe. After his performance here, I can finally see him as playing Captain Kirk long into career, as Shatner did. We also have a strong turn from the young Levi Miller as Meg's new friend/potential boyfriend Calvin O'Keefe, who takes on some of her more openly adventurous spirit from the books, while she takes on his lack of trust.

The alien cast is an unusual one. Reece Witherspoon is absolutely not how I imagined Mrs. Whatsit, but her scatty, irritable mad woman next door works really well, and in fairness, Witherspoon is far weirder than her usual roles ever let her be. Mindy Kaling, who more often performs voice-only roles, here plays the largely silent Mrs. Who, who only speaks in wise quotes, like a sort of living meme. The strangest casting is that of Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, a decision I was quite ready to mock. I'm not the biggest fan of Oprah, by a long chalk, but she's actually really very good here, as the powerful and noble alien. She's another major divergence from the novel, though, in which Mrs. Which is mostly unseen and incorporeal, although having the movie version unable to settle on a reasonable size when she first manifests is a nice touch.

There are other major changes. The Murry twins are gone completely, although their role in the novel is not particularly vital and can be absorbed by other characters. The sidetrip to the planet Ixchel is excised completely, meaning that we miss out of the incomparable Aunt Beast. The Happy Medium is still there, thankfully, but played unexpectedly by Zack Galifianakis and quite unrecognisable as the same character. The events on the dark planet Camazotz are very different as well, although suitably unsettling and exciting.

Overall, I'm left with the conviction that this film just doesn't feel like A Wrinkle in Time. It's a very different thing to the book, and I can imagine that most of the book's committed fans will find it hard to love this. However, I found it very enjoyable, as a family fantasy film in its own right, and it's certainly a visual treat, with strange vistas from across the universe. Watch it with your daughter, or if you're man enough to watch a film targeted at little girls.

REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I don't have a problem with remakes. Remakes are a time-honoured Hollywood tradition. Even straight, shot-for-shot remakes weren't uncommon in the golden days of film. It wasn't unusual for a successful film to be remade with a bigger budget, either with the same cast or a more star-studded one, and then rereleased to rake in even more money. Stage plays were frequently adapted to film, older movies were revamped for the age of colour, and once television became the entertainment behemoth of the twentieth century, TV films were reshot for cinema. By the seventies, even sitcoms were being remade virtually shot-for-shot for film. 

There is, however, the risk of alienating the very people who loved the original. We can become very attached to our favourite films, and take them more seriously than they were ever intended. Beauty and the Beast is, of course, an adaptation of La Belle et la Bete, a gothic fairytale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve way back in 1740. There were doubtless outcries from purists when her original novel was rewritten to be more child-friendly in the 1750s and again in the 19th century. Even then, Barbot's novel was based on traditional folk tales dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Still, there's something about that romantic, cutesified Disney Classic from 1991 that's never been beaten. I was initially reluctant to go see a new, live-action version, particularly after the disappointment that were Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. 

I'm happy to say that Beauty and the Beast was a huge success. It recreates the animated original just enough to hit the same highs but adds enough to make it something new. I still prefer the original, but the live action version is a very enjoyable film in its own right. It's absolutely gorgeous, with wonderful locations, sets and CG animation. (Live action might be an exaggeration for this film, considering about a quarter of the characters are CG.) There was a risk that the songs would come across as disappointing cover versions, but there's a pleasant feel of a stage musical to the big numbers. 

The cast are generally pretty fine. Luke Evans is probably the best as Gaston, managing to make him genuinely quite likeable, at least until he becomes a murderous psycho. Josh Gad is hugely entertaining as LeFou. Keven Kline is perfect as Maurice, rewritten as a highly skilled and engaging artisan, rather than the senile old man of the original (it's harder to see why he's so quickly written off as a nutter in this version). The enchanted objects are all pretty good, although Ewan MacGregor's French accent is, somehow, slightly worse than his attempt at Alec Guinness in the Star Wars prequels.  (Why are Lumiere and Plumette the only ones with French accents?) I love Stanley Tucci's new character, Cadenza, the harpsichord. 

Dan Stevens and Emma Watson are both fine. There's nothing wrong with either of their performances, but neither do they light up the screen. They're likeable and they work well together, but they're probably the least interesting members of the cast. Looks-wise, the Beast is a little more human in this version, which is sensible if we're dealing with a more realistic design than a cartoon, but he still looks better before his regeneration. (You don't think that's a regeneration? Watch it alongside an equivalent scene on Doctor Who, and tell me where RTD got his ideas from.) At least Belle lampshades this (but then , these days, every guy has to have a beard.) The iconic scenes are recreated, but the most memorable, the ballroom scene set to the song "Beauty and the Beast," just doesn't compare. For a start, yellow just isn't Emma Watson's colour.

I'm not particularly keen on any of the new songs, although at least the Beast gets his own number this time round, which was something that in retrospect was sorely missing from the original. Gaston's song is possibly even better this time round, if that's actually possible (it uses a slightly different set of lyrics from an earlier draft of the original script). I do like the extra backstory for the characters (with the exception of the Beast's, who was better off just being a shallow arsehole). Belle and Maurice have some family history, and we find out why Belle's mother isn't around. Gaston isn't beloved just because he's handsome and barge-sized, he's an actual war hero. LeFou is an actual character, not just comic relief. The enchanted objects have some humanity behind them. It's additions like this that make it a little deeper, and that's exactly the kind of changes that benefit the film.

One character who is developed is the Enchantress, who actually becomes a character here rather than just part of the film's own backstory. She's revealed as Agathe, an impoverished old woman in Belle's village who displays compassion towards Maurice - the compassion that the prince so lacked. She's a deeper version of the original Enchantress, but she's still a vindictive old witch. While her cursing of the prince is given more reasoning in this version, it's still viciously capricious, especially as she seems even more powerful here. She rocks up at his castle in the middle of a party looking for shelter, when all the while she has power over the elements and the ability to zap herself wherever she wants. Bloody witch is looking for trouble. Then she turns the prince into a buffalo, all his staff into furnishings even though they've done nothing wrong at all, splits up a community and devastates an ecosystem. Maybe they'll do a sequel where they burn her.

Both versions of Beauty and the Beast are gorgeous, and they both have the same story issues. Even more of Belle's desire to leave her provincial life and explore the world are made in the new version, and still she settles down with a rich guy in a big house up the road. Still, the French Revolution will be along soon, so let's hope they don't have puppies.

Hurt

Britain has lost one of its most remarkable and respected actors. Sir John Hurt has died, aged 77, following an ongoing battle with pancreatic cancer. While he previously announced that he was in remission, pancreatic cancer is a particularly vicious form of the disease and it would seem that it has now taken him.

John Hurt was one of the most beloved actors of his generation, instantly recognisable by his distinctive voice, which only grew more gravelly and cultured with age. His presence added an element of class to even the most beleaguered production - even Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull was improved by his involvement. Over the course of fifty-five years, Hurt appeared in over a hundred films, including some of the most respected and influential in British and Hollywood history.

I'm not alone in citing his performance as John Merrick as a personal highlight in this long career. Although quite loosely based on the life of the real Joseph Merrick, David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980) is a truly powerful and moving film, that hinges on Hurt's incredible performance. Being able to deliver such pathos and heart while so buried in make-up is a testement to his skills as an actor. It's clearly a role that made an impact of him. Hurt later became patron of the Proteus Syndrome Foundation, which researches into the rare condition that Merrick is thought to have suffered from, and also Project Harar, which supports children living wtih disfigurement in Africa.

Hurt revealed the hardship of his childhood later in life, having been brought up in a strictly religious household, and also abused at school. Although his mother had been an actress, he was banned from visiting the cinema as a boy. Nonetheless, he developed ambitions to become an actor, something that was, as seems to be traditional, poo-pooed by his schoolmasters. Nonetheless, he proceeded to art school, and won a scholarship to RADA in 1960. His first film role, in The Wild and the Willing, followed in 1962.

Over the years Hurt took on some of the greatest roles in film and television. He was Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and its latter-day sequel. He became the first victim of the eponymous creature in Alien (1979), in one of the greatest and most shocking scenes in cinem history. He appeared in such acclaimed films as Midnight Express (1978), for which he won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, The Field (1990) and Contact (1997). One of his most celebrated roles was as Winston Smith in the film adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, released in its eponymous year. Years later, as something of a counterpoint, he played the High Chancellor in the film of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (2006).

Hurt lent his vocal talents to numerous animated productions. Some will remember his performance in the, frankly terrifying, 1978 adaptation of Watership Down, others for the same year's animated version of The Lord of the Rings. He voiced the Horned King, the monstrous villain of the underrated Disney epic The Black Cauldron (1985), while people of more recent childhood's may recognise his voice best from his role as the dragon in the BBC series Merlin.

Hurt was one actor I was always desperate to see play the Doctor. I felt that, if ever there was a modern Doctor Who movie, then he would be the perfect choice for the role. In 2013, for the series' fiftieth anniversary, he was drafted in to play the War Doctor, a previously unknown, secret incarnation of the Time Lord, and was absolutely, utterly perfect in the role. In the last couple of years, Hurt has returned to the role on audio, for Big Finish Productions.

John Hurt is one of those rare celebrities who no one seems to have a bad word against. An absolute treasure. He will be missed.