Not Much Mystery in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Carolyn Keene's girl detective is getting another shot at live action adaptation, this time coming to the screen with the help of IT girl, SOPHIA LILLIS as the titular Nancy Drew.
Nancy lives in a small town, having moved there from Chicago with her father, attorney Carson Drew (TRUE BLOOD's SAM TRAMMELL), following the death of her mother. She's a tomboy with a penchant for getting into trouble due to her sense of vigilante justice (which ranges from dying a bully blue to actual breaking and entering).
Despite her short time in town, she's made some friends in plucky George Fayne (ZOE RENEE) and scientific genius Bess Marvin (MACKENZIE GRAHAM). She's also made an enemy in rich girl Helen Corning (LAURA WIGGINS), the girlfriend of said bully-turned-blue.
Long Live the King: Aquaman Comes to Blu-ray and DVD
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe was being birthed, there were labor pains. How could they have a successful franchise, when their top selling titles -- Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men -- were already franchised out to other production houses?
It's hard to imagine it now (and for longtime comic boom fans, it was even hard to imagine it then), but at the time all this was going down, Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America were not top-tier characters for the House of Ideas. There was literally nowhere to go but up with these guys, and so that's where they went.
Mary Poppins Returns is a Spoonful of Sugar and More
ROB MARSHALL has accomplished the rare privilege of getting to direct a classic of the Disney variety. MARY POPPINS RETURNS pops off the screen, with a color palette right out of a fantasy and a soundtrack firmly in tune with the songs from the original 1964 film that gave us such unforgettable songs as "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
EMILY BLUNT steps into the impeccable shoes of the unflappable Mary Poppins, arriving at a time when the two Banks children, Michael (BEN WHISHAW) and Jane (EMILY MORTIMER) have grown up. Jane, like her mother, works to promote women's suffrage, while Michael is a struggling artist who has taken a job at the bank to make ends meet after the loss of his wife. Michael's three children, John, Annabel, and Georgie, do their best to help out, but can accomplish very little when the family learns they have until the end of the week to come up with the money to save their family home before the bank forecloses on it.
What are the Crimes of Grindelwald? Perhaps This Latest Fantastic Beasts Film is One of Them?
EDDIE REDMAYNE returns as the gawky and awkward (gawkward?) Newt Scamander in this second installment of the Pre-Potter series, FANTASTIC BEASTS. The unlikely hero is saddled with a quest from no less a personage than Albus Dumbledore, making his appearance in this series thanks to JUDE LAW, to track down and... I don't know, stop, protect, capture, talk to a person named Credence Barebone (EZRA MILLER, JUSTICE LEAGUE). We don't really know why until the end of the movie, which is too long in coming.
Thanos Has Already Won--Captain Marvel Fizzles!
It seems so long ago, but it was only just one year ago when Marvel made cinema history. Just a couple of months prior to last year's Avengers: The Infinity War, Marvel released Black Panther. Director/screenwriter Ryan Coogler set the bar impossibly high, crafting not just a tremendous super hero movie but a cultural sensation. The film was the 18th in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the ninth highest grossing film worldwide of all time, and was nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. The huge, galaxy-spanning scope of Avengers: The Infinity War kept that film from being overshadowed by Black Panther, and the Russo Brothers had an embarrassment of riches when crafting their first installment of the climactic finale to the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vols.
Instant Family an Instant Favorite
Yes, it's true. INSTANT FAMILY is, in fact, an instant classic. But don't let that lead you to believe it's an instant family classic. The film is rated PG-13 for a reason, and that's because the film is, above all else, brutally honest in its depiction of fostering and adoption, including the troubles of the children involved and the temporary recriminations of the parents who step up to the challenge.
When Pete and Ellie (MARK WAHLBERG, ROSE BYRNE), a pair of house-flippers, decide that they've waited too long to have biological children, they decide to go the adoption route. Surprisingly, and perhaps shockingly, the process is very much like shopping, complete with online browsing of available children and a visit to a fair-like event where potential parents can interact with the kids until they find one they click with.
Takashi Miike's Audition a Solid Blu-ray Release from Arrow
Submitted by That Umbrella Guy on Sun, 02/24/2019 - 19:09
After seven years a widower, Shigeharu Aoyaama decides he will take his son's advice and look for a new wife. A colleague decides to help by setting up a situation -- an audition -- to allow Shigeharu to screen and judge potential candidates, and that is when Shigeharu notices Asami.
Everything about Asami seems intriguing, and Asami seems responsive to Shigeharu's advances. But the fairytale soon turns nightmarish, and keeps going off-course.
Click the video below to get our full review on this Takashi Miike film, from Arrow on Blu-ray.
Wakanda Forever: Chadwick Boseman Takes Best Film Actor for 2018
Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Sun, 02/24/2019 - 13:18
While it's been the norm for actors in superhero films to rank highly in our annual "Best Of" Awards, as decided by the readers of CriticalBlast.com, this year's crop of nominees saw most of the costumed actors take a backseat to talent like RAMI MALEK (BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY) and CHRISTIAN BALE (VICE). And to be sure, we had some strong showings by TOM HARDY (VENOM) as well as JASON MOMOA and AMBER HEARD (AQUAMAN), proving our readers aren't tired of the superhero genre yet.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Selected as Critical Blast Best Movie of 2018
Every year, Critical Blast asks its readers to tell us what they believe are the best of the best in entertainment -- movies, television, books, and comics. Readers are presented with a list of potential nominees, with the ability to write-in their own favorites. The idea is, it's all fan-driven.
And this year, when we asked our readers to tell us what they felt the best movie of 2018 was, we had a number of responses. AQUAMAN, BLACK PANTHER, and AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR all put in strong showings.
But it was another superhero who beat them all out -- even if he needed an army of himself from across multiple parallel dimensions.
With a sizeable 28% of all votes, the Best Film of 2018, as decided by the readers of Critical Blast, goes to the Marvel Entertainment animated feature, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE.
Dole Alliance with Captain Marvel Commemorates Female Superheroes in Food, Health and Wellness
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2019 - 12:07
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (Feb. 18, 2019) — While Carol Danvers fights to save Earth from a galactic battle as Captain Marvel, Dole is celebrating other female superheroes for their battles waged a bit closer to home.
"Powering the Hero Within" (#DoleHero) is a 10-week empowered-living alliance between Dole and Marvel's Captain Marvel inspired by Danvers' dramatic transformation into the title character of the much-anticipated March 8 release. Taking its cue from Danvers, Dole is acknowledging influential women in food, health and wellness plus female-focused nonprofit groups working toward a healthier, more heroic world.
Ralph Breaks the Internet Astutely Skewers Online Culture
When we met Wreck-It Ralph (JOHN C. REILLY), we entered a world of boomer nostalgia. The videogame culture of the 80s came back to all of us who had lived through it, and introduced it to a new generation who now enjoy playing the retro, 16-bit arcade classics as much as the modern high-definition games. Our personal game collection here has added a classic wood-grain Atari 2600 console as well as a Nintendo 64, and are getting regular play.
Pratt & Company Build More Fun In LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART
Lego toys--everybody loves 'em, unless you step on one. Tiny plastic bricks embedded in your foot will send you from serene to swearing instantly. Did you ever once think, "You know, these fun little bits of plastic and the yellow, stiff-limbed action figures that often come with them would make for an absurdly funny and at times touching film nearly everyone, regardless of age, would enjoy. Why, it would be so popular, in fact, that it would spawn a full-fledged Hollywood franchise, spin-off movies, a TV show, and theme park rides?"
Cloverfield Producers Need to Look up Definition of Paradox
The Earth is having a critical energy crisis. It's only hope lies with the experiments on an orbiting space station, where an international group of astronauts tries to fire up a super collider. If they are successful, they will provide a limitless source of free energy.
Of course, they may also rip a whole in space time, interact with parallel realities, and unleash demons on the world -- but those are just the ravings of Internet conspiracist Mark Stambler (GOTHAM's DONAL LOGUE), a theory he calls "The Paradox."
After some unsuccessful attempts, the collider works -- and then overloads. And the Earth is gone, and common knowledge has gone with it.
Goosebumps 2 Fun, Family-Friendly Goof-fest
GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN is a film that's quite obviously going to be enjoyed more by kids than by grown-ups. The horror comedy is based not on any single book of R.L. Stine's, but rather on the series as a whole, presenting them as actualities that Stine chronicles or, in this case, inadvertently creates.
The adventure begins when two friends, Sonny (JEREMY RAY TAYLOR) and Sam (CALEEL HARRIS) are hired to clean the junk out of an old abandoned house, and find a locked book in a trunk, as well as a familiar-looking ventriloquist dummy. Yes, it's Slappy, and he's looking to bond with the boys and become a brother to them. But he shows his true colors when he gets overprotective of Sonny's older sister, Sarah (MADISON ISEMAN), sending her jerk boyfriend tumbling from a tall ladder.
Smallfoot Teaches Audiences to Question Everything
Migo (CHANNING TATUM) is a yeti, who lives in an advanced society of yetis on the top of a mountain. And Migo knows the laws: that the mountaintop was pooped out of a giant bird, that it rests on the back of giant animals, that the gong must be rung every morning to wake up the giant burning snail so it crawls across the sky.
These laws are written in stone -- literally -- and taught to all by the Stonekeeper (COMMON). And among those stones is the law: There is no such thing as a Smallfoot.
But as Migo trains with his father, Dorgle (DANNY DEVITO), to be the next ringer of the gong, he overshoots his target (the only way to ring the gong is to be slingshotted into it, head first) and ends up outside the city. There he spies a small aircraft crashing, and inside of it -- a Smallfoot! Or, as we would say, a human.
When nobody believes Migo saw what he saw, Migo is exiled from the city to think about what he's saying, and ends up falling off the mountain.
Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Tue, 01/01/2019 - 10:08
Another year has come and gone. 2018 is officially in the rear-view mirror, and we've gone hurtling into 2019 like the Sweet Meteor o' Death.
But before we get too deep into the New Year, we've reached that point where we reflect on all that happened in the previous year that was good and notable, and cast our votes as to what was the best of the best ("of the best, sir!")
So here we go again! It's time to pick the Critical Blast Best of the Year for Movies, Television, Actors, Books, and Comics -- and, of course, to pick our CRITICAL BLAST BOMBSHELL OF THE YEAR! So use the handy form below to pick from this year's nominees -- or suggest one that you think is deserving that we missed (so long as the work happened during 2018). Voting is open through the end of January, and on February 1 we'll start tabulating the results and announcing the winners!
So long, 2018! You gave us some great entertainment!
Aquaman A Solid Effort In The Stormy Sea Of The DC Extended Universe
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name, "Aquaman?" The 1970s Super Friends cartoon, where the superhero of the seven seas was voiced by Norman Alden? The Mego action figure that had to sometimes stand in for your sister's Ken doll when the real Ken was MIA but Barbie just couldn't take another ladies night? Maybe all you know of the character is that he's in the lyrics to "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies. Thanks to Warner Brothers and DC Comics, that's all about to change in a big way.
Despite Rave Reviews "Spider-Verse" is Failing at the Box Office
According to The Numbers, a website that tracks financials and rankings for movies, with a production budget of $90 million Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse may turn out to be a financial bust.
Full disclaimer: I haven't seen the animated Spider-flick at the time of this article. I'm sure it's very good. As a matter of fact, I want to see it and plan on going while it's still in theaters. That being said, it may not last much longer as this weekend marks the official opening of both Aquaman AND Bumblebee.
Spider-Man may not have enough legs to make it's budget back from ticket sales.
A Beautiful Planet (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
Submitted by Paul Schultz on Fri, 12/14/2018 - 15:27
With ardent narration, Jennifer Lawrence pleads with listeners with patronizing charm to stop destroying planet Earth with your stupid antics. Okay, that was harsh and unwarranted, but such sentiments are subtly sprinkled like glitter from a Christmas card throughout this IMAX documentary, "A Beautiful Planet." In this follow-up to her "Hubble 3D" (which featured voiceover work by Leonardo DiCaprio), Toni Myers writes, directs, produces and edits another 45-minute spectacle of large-scale natural beauty and innocuous propaganda.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Explores Classic Hero Myth With Ultra Modern Pizazz
Marvel superheroes are beloved around the world, but perhaps none is more beloved than Spider-Man. The character is far more intricate and interesting than most, coming from humble begins to experience personal tragedy that drives bookish Peter Parker to become one of the best superheroes his world—or any other—has ever seen. Sony's new animated feature, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is remarkable not only for its technical prowess and excellent acting but for exploring the nuances of the hero archetype in ways both subtle and profound.