The PlayStation 5 has entered the latter stage of its lifecycle, Sony announced back in February. The fourth anniversary of the console has been marked by impressive victories and surprising setbacks. 2024 felt like an inflection point for the PS5, with Sony unofficially turning the page on the PS4 and paving the way…
The PlayStation 5 has entered the latter stage of its lifecycle, Sony announced back in February. The fourth anniversary of the console has been marked by impressive victories and surprising setbacks. 2024 felt like an inflection point for the PS5, with Sony unofficially turning the page on the PS4 and paving the way…
What do Tom Holland, Mark Ruffalo, Owen Wilson, and Denzel Washington have in common? You could say the Marvel Cinematic Universe and be on the right track, but we’re really talking about Marvel spoilers here. That’s right, even though Denzel hasn’t officially joined the MCU, he did let it slip that he was offered a role in Black Panther 3 well before he was supposed to reveal any involvement with Marvel. And the man feels really bad about it.
Appearing on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast (via EW), Denzel Washington admitted he knew he goofed when he said that Ryan Coogler had a role lined up for him at Marvel. With nothing confirmed – and knowing that Marvel doesn’t take spoilers lightly – Denzel knew he had to make things right. “I called him the other day. I forgot what it was about — no, I called him to apologize. That’s right. I called him. I said, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ He’s like, ‘No, man, it’s all good.’ I FaceTimed, and right there next to him was his lady. They were editing. They were hanging out.”
So is Denzel going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We can probably assume so, but he is being much more coy now, following Coogler’s lead. “I don’t know what he’s got cooking for me. I love Ryan, because he’s like, he won’t say things. ‘You know what I’m saying? Like, you know what I’m saying?’ Well, at least that’s when he talks to me. It’s like, ‘You know what I’m saying?’” At this point, no, we don’t know what anybody is saying about Black Panther 3, but that’s probably for the better.
Denzel Washington has been teasing his retirement as of late, with a one-off for Marvel looking like it could be one of his last films alongside a pair of Shakespeare adaptations and Spike Lee’s remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low. As for Black Panther 3, it’s not officially on the calendar but with Wakanda Forever raking in $850 million worldwide – one of the biggest hauls of the last 10 MCU entries – it seems like a given.
Do you see Denzel Washington being a good fit for Marvel? What sort of role would fit him best in Black Panther 3? Give us your thoughts below.
What do Tom Holland, Mark Ruffalo, Owen Wilson, and Denzel Washington have in common? You could say the Marvel Cinematic Universe and be on the right track, but we’re really talking about Marvel spoilers here. That’s right, even though Denzel hasn’t officially joined the MCU, he did let it slip that he was offered a role in Black Panther 3 well before he was supposed to reveal any involvement with Marvel. And the man feels really bad about it.
Appearing on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast (via EW), Denzel Washington admitted he knew he goofed when he said that Ryan Coogler had a role lined up for him at Marvel. With nothing confirmed – and knowing that Marvel doesn’t take spoilers lightly – Denzel knew he had to make things right. “I called him the other day. I forgot what it was about — no, I called him to apologize. That’s right. I called him. I said, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ He’s like, ‘No, man, it’s all good.’ I FaceTimed, and right there next to him was his lady. They were editing. They were hanging out.”
So is Denzel going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We can probably assume so, but he is being much more coy now, following Coogler’s lead. “I don’t know what he’s got cooking for me. I love Ryan, because he’s like, he won’t say things. ‘You know what I’m saying? Like, you know what I’m saying?’ Well, at least that’s when he talks to me. It’s like, ‘You know what I’m saying?’” At this point, no, we don’t know what anybody is saying about Black Panther 3, but that’s probably for the better.
Denzel Washington has been teasing his retirement as of late, with a one-off for Marvel looking like it could be one of his last films alongside a pair of Shakespeare adaptations and Spike Lee’s remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low. As for Black Panther 3, it’s not officially on the calendar but with Wakanda Forever raking in $850 million worldwide – one of the biggest hauls of the last 10 MCU entries – it seems like a given.
Do you see Denzel Washington being a good fit for Marvel? What sort of role would fit him best in Black Panther 3? Give us your thoughts below.
PLOT: The true story of Olympic boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny).
REVIEW: Everyone loves a good, inspirational sports biopic, especially around the holidays. Amazon/MGM has had a lot of luck in that department, with Creed III being one of their highest-grossing movies, while last year’s The Boys in the Boat became an unlikely box-office success. They’ve got another solid one this year with The Fire Inside, which tells a story that feels tailor-made for the big screen.
Women’s boxing (along with MMA and wrestling) has become increasingly popular over the years, and Claressa Shields has quickly become a legend. The Fire Inside, which is written by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, and directed by famed cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther) tells her life story in an intriguing way that departs from the usual sports biopic formula.
For those who don’t know, Shields won gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, despite only being sixteen when she won her first medal. That alone would have been enough fodder for one movie, but while most films would have ended with that moment of triumph, The Fire Inside does something different. Instead, it follows Shields and her trainer, Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), as they try to somehow secure their financial futures in the wake of the Olympics, a time when many athletes would be able to secure endorsement deals.
For Shields, who has to support her recovering alcoholic mother, ex-con father, and pregnant sister, the need to make a living is at least as depicted as perhaps the biggest hurdle of all, with her Olympic training going relatively smoothly. It raises an interesting question, as athletes who compete this way are still amateurs and thus aren’t allowed to make any money other than (sometimes) a meagre stipend. If they can’t at least support themselves, then Olympic events run the danger of one day becoming something only the privileged can participate in, robbing us of potential legends, such as Shields.
As such, The Fire Inside works as both a drama and sports movie, with Ryan Destiny a real find as Shields. With no boxing experience before the film, she looks natural in the ring, with Morrison and the trainers choreographing the bouts in a way that keeps them exciting but also doesn’t blow them up to the point that they’re larger-than-life, such as in Creed. Destiny makes you feel for Shields’s plight, even if, as a teenager, she has moments of hard-headedness the movie doesn’t shy away from.
Brian Tyree Henry, who’s quickly becoming one of the best character actors in the biz, is superb as her coach, who starts training her as a child, and has to make his own sacrifices for her dreams to pay off – with little hope of any kind of reward for himself. Again, though, there’s a version of this movie where he could have been portrayed as an almost saint-like figure. Here, they make him feel like a real person, prone to moments of anger and frustration, with Henry giving a nuanced portrayal.
While The Fire Inside is likely too low-key to ever win a massive audience, I could also see it turning into a bit of a word-of-mouth sleeper, as Shields’s story is a good one, and the performances are top-notch. This is a well-assembled flick, and I think audiences looking for something inspiring but less cookie-cutter than some other movies out there ought to give it a shot.
The Fire Inside Review: A rock-solid, inspirational boxing drama
PLOT: The true story of Olympic boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny).
REVIEW: Everyone loves a good, inspirational sports biopic, especially around the holidays. Amazon/MGM has had a lot of luck in that department, with Creed III being one of their highest-grossing movies, while last year’s The Boys in the Boat became an unlikely box-office success. They’ve got another solid one this year with The Fire Inside, which tells a story that feels tailor-made for the big screen.
Women’s boxing (along with MMA and wrestling) has become increasingly popular over the years, and Claressa Shields has quickly become a legend. The Fire Inside, which is written by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, and directed by famed cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther) tells her life story in an intriguing way that departs from the usual sports biopic formula.
For those who don’t know, Shields won gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, despite only being sixteen when she won her first medal. That alone would have been enough fodder for one movie, but while most films would have ended with that moment of triumph, The Fire Inside does something different. Instead, it follows Shields and her trainer, Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), as they try to somehow secure their financial futures in the wake of the Olympics, a time when many athletes would be able to secure endorsement deals.
For Shields, who has to support her recovering alcoholic mother, ex-con father, and pregnant sister, the need to make a living is at least as depicted as perhaps the biggest hurdle of all, with her Olympic training going relatively smoothly. It raises an interesting question, as athletes who compete this way are still amateurs and thus aren’t allowed to make any money other than (sometimes) a meagre stipend. If they can’t at least support themselves, then Olympic events run the danger of one day becoming something only the privileged can participate in, robbing us of potential legends, such as Shields.
As such, The Fire Inside works as both a drama and sports movie, with Ryan Destiny a real find as Shields. With no boxing experience before the film, she looks natural in the ring, with Morrison and the trainers choreographing the bouts in a way that keeps them exciting but also doesn’t blow them up to the point that they’re larger-than-life, such as in Creed. Destiny makes you feel for Shields’s plight, even if, as a teenager, she has moments of hard-headedness the movie doesn’t shy away from.
Brian Tyree Henry, who’s quickly becoming one of the best character actors in the biz, is superb as her coach, who starts training her as a child, and has to make his own sacrifices for her dreams to pay off – with little hope of any kind of reward for himself. Again, though, there’s a version of this movie where he could have been portrayed as an almost saint-like figure. Here, they make him feel like a real person, prone to moments of anger and frustration, with Henry giving a nuanced portrayal.
While The Fire Inside is likely too low-key to ever win a massive audience, I could also see it turning into a bit of a word-of-mouth sleeper, as Shields’s story is a good one, and the performances are top-notch. This is a well-assembled flick, and I think audiences looking for something inspiring but less cookie-cutter than some other movies out there ought to give it a shot.
The Fire Inside Review: A rock-solid, inspirational boxing drama
Many of us, myself included, grew up with Kevin, Paul and Winnie. In a way, it was like their unnamed neighborhood was ours, so devoted we were to who they were and what growing up in American suburbs meant. Going into the series finale of The Wonder Years, there was one question we all had: will Kevin and Winnie end up together? As we found out in the closing narration, they did not, with it being revealed that Kevin married someone else and had a kid. It seemed unnatural yet, in a way, perfect. But Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, thinks things could have changed with the passing decades.
Remembering the ending to The Wonder Years, which some fans felt was sang out of tune, McKellar echoed the older Kevin’s closing voiceover, saying, “Most of our lives don’t turn out the way we wanted them to, or thought they were going to, so in that same way, Kevin and Winnie did not end up together. I like to say, though…All we know is what the narrator said happened…He had a baby with his wife and they were the first to greet me off the plane.” With that, we have to assume that that is where the rest of Kevin and Winnie’s separate lives went. But McKellar has some hope for the two, adding, “That’s only the beginning of the story. Personally, I am divorced and remarried and a lot of people are. Maybe Kevin and Winnie ended up together after all.”
With nothing to support that – after all, we do have to go with how the show ended, not what our imagination feels like conjuring up – we do just have to accept that Kevin and Winnie didn’t end up together on or after The Wonder Years…and that Paul is still allergic to everything.
The series finale of The Wonder Years, which aired as a two-parter in May 1993, may have struck some controversy during its initial airing, but it is one of the most beautifully handled finales ever. And to me, the show itself is one of the greatest ever, even though it’s conspicuously absent from far too many “best of” list. It was also for too long unavailable to see due to music rights, something I was writing about a dozen(!) years ago for JoBlo.com. Thirty years on, you could stream it on Hulu and Disney+, but I would recommend tracking down StarVista/TimeLife’s incredible 26-disc box set…even if it still contains knockoffs of The Doors.
What did you think of The Wonder Years finale when you first saw it? Is it a fitting conclusion or should Kevin and Winnie have ended up together?
Many of us, myself included, grew up with Kevin, Paul and Winnie. In a way, it was like their unnamed neighborhood was ours, so devoted we were to who they were and what growing up in American suburbs meant. Going into the series finale of The Wonder Years, there was one question we all had: will Kevin and Winnie end up together? As we found out in the closing narration, they did not, with it being revealed that Kevin married someone else and had a kid. It seemed unnatural yet, in a way, perfect. But Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, thinks things could have changed with the passing decades.
Remembering the ending to The Wonder Years, which some fans felt was sang out of tune, McKellar echoed the older Kevin’s closing voiceover, saying, “Most of our lives don’t turn out the way we wanted them to, or thought they were going to, so in that same way, Kevin and Winnie did not end up together. I like to say, though…All we know is what the narrator said happened…He had a baby with his wife and they were the first to greet me off the plane.” With that, we have to assume that that is where the rest of Kevin and Winnie’s separate lives went. But McKellar has some hope for the two, adding, “That’s only the beginning of the story. Personally, I am divorced and remarried and a lot of people are. Maybe Kevin and Winnie ended up together after all.”
With nothing to support that – after all, we do have to go with how the show ended, not what our imagination feels like conjuring up – we do just have to accept that Kevin and Winnie didn’t end up together on or after The Wonder Years…and that Paul is still allergic to everything.
The series finale of The Wonder Years, which aired as a two-parter in May 1993, may have struck some controversy during its initial airing, but it is one of the most beautifully handled finales ever. And to me, the show itself is one of the greatest ever, even though it’s conspicuously absent from far too many “best of” list. It was also for too long unavailable to see due to music rights, something I was writing about a dozen(!) years ago for JoBlo.com. Thirty years on, you could stream it on Hulu and Disney+, but I would recommend tracking down StarVista/TimeLife’s incredible 26-disc box set…even if it still contains knockoffs of The Doors.
What did you think of The Wonder Years finale when you first saw it? Is it a fitting conclusion or should Kevin and Winnie have ended up together?
Plot: Famed opera singer Maria Callas retreats to Paris in the 1970s after a glamorous yet tumultuous life in the public eye.
Review: Pablo Larrain‘s loose trilogy about famous twentieth-century women, beginning with 2016’s Jackie and 2021’s Spencer, comes to a close with Maria. Based on the life of revered opera singer Maria Callas, Larrain’s biopic focuses on the least recognizable of the three women. That Callas’ notoriously short life is not as easily remembered compared to Jackie Kennedy or Princess Diana affords Maria the ability to examine the singer’s life from a vantage point that is less sterile and distant than the previous two films. With a direct connection to Jackie, Maria retains some of the languid pacing and uneven creative choices that prevented Larrain’s prior biopics from being as strong as they could have been. However, after solid performances from Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart, Angelina Jolie delivers a stunning and achingly beautiful performance as Maria Callas, which will surely rank as one of the best of the year and career.
Rather than tell a linear story or a complete biography, Maria centers on the final days of Maria Callas’s life (Angelina Jolie). Born in New York and raised in Athens, Greece, Callas became the most famous opera singer of the century, with copious recordings available as a testament to her vocal range. Maria focuses on the singer’s solitary life in 1973, living in relative seclusion in Paris with her butler, Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), and housemaid Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). Addicted to multiple medications, Maria deals with daily hallucinations and frail health as she imagines interviews with a documentary filmmaker named Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Callas also attempts to revive her singing voice with aid from conductor Jeffrey Tate (Stephen Ashfield), despite warnings from doctors. As Maria contemplates her own mortality, she confides in Mandrax about her life, notably her affair with Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer).
Maria is full of musical recreations, most lip-syncing by Angelina Jolie. Jolie trained for seven months to hone her skills in singing opera, but the sheer talent of Maria Callas required the use of her actual voice. Towards the film’s end, Angelina Jolie’s voice is heard, which lends some realism to the musical moments. Outside of one scene set during her childhood, most of Maria centers on Callas in her thirties through her untimely death at the age of fifty-three. We meet her older sister, Yakinthi (Valeria Golino), but most of the screen time is shared between Callas and her servants, who are also her closest friends. Flashbacks connect Callas with the love of her life, Aristotle Onassis, despite the business magnate’s marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy. While Jackie is never seen, Larrain does orchestrate a full circle connection to his 2016 film with a scene featuring John F. Kennedy, once again played by Caspar Phillipson. JFK and a distant view of Marilyn Monroe are the sole celebrities whose names are checked in the film.
Angelina Jolie’s acting roles have been sparse in the last five years, limited to voice work and roles in Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead and Chloe Zao’s Eternals, but Maria is the actress’ most powerful performance in years and possibly her entire career. Rarely raising her voice in the entire film, Jolie fills every scene with a presence and stature that hints at the emotional turmoil the singer struggles with inside her own mind. Adopting a transatlantic accent that hides her New York City or Greek upbringing, this is not an in-your-face portrayal but instead a controlled and measured one that erupts when Callas begins to sing. This film is full of quiet moments that rest on the give-and-take that Maria Callas has with everyone in her life. Her repeated requests of Ferruccio to move her grand piano from room to room or refusal to listen to her recorded performances add quirks to Callas. At the same time, her chess-like conversations with her doctor and Onassis himself represent the strength that Maria Callas had through judgment from critics and fans alike at her sudden career downturn.
Director Pablo Larrain reunited with his Spencer screenwriter Steven Knight for Maria and the chemistry they forged allows for this film to feel more fluid and natural than that 2021 film. Maria still boasts surreal visuals evoking Maria Callas’ memories and hallucinations, which are augmented by Larrain’s penchant for off-kilter editing and the use of visual styles to shift perspective. Much of Maria shifts from black-and-white to sepia film footage and multiple aspect ratios as it moves through five decades of Callas’ life. Clocking in at just about two hours, Maria moves at a better pace than either Jackie or Spencer and is a more engaging and accessible story despite being about the least familiar of the three subjects. The sung sequences are the weakest part of Maria, a surprise for a film about a music icon, but it may be that Angelina Jolie’s measured performance just does not match the range of the actual Callas.
Angelina Jolie’s performance is stunning in its restraint as the actress conveys a remarkable range of emotions, even as her character barely controls her mental and physical deterioration. The film’s final scene is heartbreakingly powerful, something I wish I could say about the entire film. Pablo Larrain’s ultra-specific approach to this trilogy of biopics has been hit-or-miss as the director often tries to convey visually what he fails to relate through the protagonists’ performances and vice versa. Maria is the best of Larrain’s three films, thanks to Angelina Jolie, who deserves all of the acclaim coming her way. Maria, unfortunately, does not match the heights of Jolie’s performance. I knew little of Maria Callas as a singer before seeing this film, and I know little more after watching this film. Still, Maria does offer a haunting look into the last days of a beloved icon that will hopefully introduce a new generation to her singular voice.
Plot: Famed opera singer Maria Callas retreats to Paris in the 1970s after a glamorous yet tumultuous life in the public eye.
Review: Pablo Larrain’s loose trilogy about famous twentieth-century women, beginning with 2016’s Jackie and 2021’s Spencer, comes to a close with Maria. Based on the life of revered opera singer Maria Callas, Larrain’s biopic focuses on the least recognizable of the three women. That Callas’ notoriously short life is not as easily remembered compared to Jackie Kennedy or Princess Diana affords Maria the ability to examine the singer’s life from a vantage point that is less sterile and distant than the previous two films. With a direct connection to Jackie, Maria retains some of the languid pacing and uneven creative choices that prevented Larrain’s prior biopics from being as strong as they could have been. However, after solid performances from Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart, Angelina Jolie delivers a stunning and achingly beautiful performance as Maria Callas, which will surely rank as one of the best of the year and career.
Rather than tell a linear story or a complete biography, Maria centers on the final days of Maria Callas’s life (Angelina Jolie). Born in New York and raised in Athens, Greece, Callas became the most famous opera singer of the century, with copious recordings available as a testament to her vocal range. Maria focuses on the singer’s solitary life in 1973, living in relative seclusion in Paris with her butler, Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), and housemaid Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). Addicted to multiple medications, Maria deals with daily hallucinations and frail health as she imagines interviews with a documentary filmmaker named Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Callas also attempts to revive her singing voice with aid from conductor Jeffrey Tate (Stephen Ashfield), despite warnings from doctors. As Maria contemplates her own mortality, she confides in Mandrax about her life, notably her affair with Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer).
Maria is full of musical recreations, most lip-syncing by Angelina Jolie. Jolie trained for seven months to hone her skills in singing opera, but the sheer talent of Maria Callas required the use of her actual voice. Towards the film’s end, Angelina Jolie’s voice is heard, which lends some realism to the musical moments. Outside of one scene set during her childhood, most of Maria centers on Callas in her thirties through her untimely death at the age of fifty-three. We meet her older sister, Yakinthi (Valeria Golino), but most of the screen time is shared between Callas and her servants, who are also her closest friends. Flashbacks connect Callas with the love of her life, Aristotle Onassis, despite the business magnate’s marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy. While Jackie is never seen, Larrain does orchestrate a full circle connection to his 2016 film with a scene featuring John F. Kennedy, once again played by Caspar Phillipson. JFK and a distant view of Marilyn Monroe are the sole celebrities whose names are checked in the film.
Angelina Jolie’s acting roles have been sparse in the last five years, limited to voice work and roles in Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead and Chloe Zao’s Eternals, but Maria is the actress’ most powerful performance in years and possibly her entire career. Rarely raising her voice in the entire film, Jolie fills every scene with a presence and stature that hints at the emotional turmoil the singer struggles with inside her own mind. Adopting a transatlantic accent that hides her New York City or Greek upbringing, this is not an in-your-face portrayal but instead a controlled and measured one that erupts when Callas begins to sing. This film is full of quiet moments that rest on the give-and-take that Maria Callas has with everyone in her life. Her repeated requests of Ferruccio to move her grand piano from room to room or refusal to listen to her recorded performances add quirks to Callas. At the same time, her chess-like conversations with her doctor and Onassis himself represent the strength that Maria Callas had through judgment from critics and fans alike at her sudden career downturn.
Director Pablo Larrain reunited with his Spencer screenwriter Steven Knight for Maria and the chemistry they forged allows for this film to feel more fluid and natural than that 2021 film. Maria still boasts surreal visuals evoking Maria Callas’ memories and hallucinations, which are augmented by Larrain’s penchant for off-kilter editing and the use of visual styles to shift perspective. Much of Maria shifts from black-and-white to sepia film footage and multiple aspect ratios as it moves through five decades of Callas’ life. Clocking in at just about two hours, Maria moves at a better pace than either Jackie or Spencer and is a more engaging and accessible story despite being about the least familiar of the three subjects. The sung sequences are the weakest part of Maria, a surprise for a film about a music icon, but it may be that Angelina Jolie’s measured performance just does not match the range of the actual Callas.
Angelina Jolie’s performance is stunning in its restraint as the actress conveys a remarkable range of emotions, even as her character barely controls her mental and physical deterioration. The film’s final scene is heartbreakingly powerful, something I wish I could say about the entire film. Pablo Larrain’s ultra-specific approach to this trilogy of biopics has been hit-or-miss as the director often tries to convey visually what he fails to relate through the protagonists’ performances and vice versa. Maria is the best of Larrain’s three films, thanks to Angelina Jolie, who deserves all of the acclaim coming her way. Maria, unfortunately, does not match the heights of Jolie’s performance. I knew little of Maria Callas as a singer before seeing this film, and I know little more after watching this film. Still, Maria does offer a haunting look into the last days of a beloved icon that will hopefully introduce a new generation to her singular voice.