Author Archives: JD DeLuzio

The Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel made several announcements at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend regarding the next phase of things. Obviously, Spider-man will continue to swing around the MCU, but we’re also getting the Black Widow movie (May 1, 2020), an unidentified movie later in fall, The Eternals (November 2020) Shang-chi (Feb. 12, 2021), with the actual ringed Mandarin opposing Canadian actor Simu Liu as the Master of Kung-Fu (February 2021), the next Doctor Strange film (May 2021), a new Thor film (November 2021) that will reportedly feature Natalie Portman rejoining Chris Helmsworth to become the female Thor, and the previously announced Scarlet Witch/Vision, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Loki series all appearing in 2021.

They’ve also confirmed we’ll see a new Blade, sequels to Captain Marvel, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and an MCU Fantastic Four. They just don’t have dates yet for these blockbusters.

What do you want to see from the next phase?

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Trailer Thursday: Cats

I have a secret I must share.

I liked Cats. I had soundtracks (on cassette) of the original London and New York productions and went to see the original Toronto run. Someone bought me a Cats t-shirt and I wore it, unironically. I know, right? The Ramones, The Beatles, Mozart, and… Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even if it’s the Baron scoring T.S. Eliot’s whimsical book for the godchildren– a book referenced, mind you, in Logan’s Run— it remains a tad embarrassing.

So now there’s a movie, due out next Christmas. Leading actors, singers, and dancers have been CGI’d into Furry feline aliens.

And I’m not certain what to make of it:

Some viewers may think this is the cat’s meow. Others may find this quest into the Uncanny Valley haunts their memory for a long, long time.

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Ad Astra 2019 SF Con, Toronto

I’ll get around to completing Stranger Things, and I’m going to do a “remainder of the season” review for Handmaid’s Tale, which doesn’t get much attention here. Meanwhile, I recently attended and paneled at Ad Astra in Toronto. Naturally, I made a short video:

That last clip shows the moon and Jupiter. The sky was clear enough to see the four largest Jovian moons quite nicely with a telescope.

Mad Magazine, R.I.P.

After nearly seventy insane years, satiric Mad Magazine will cease publishing new material after August of this summer.

Issues of reprints will contain new cover art, and Mad may survive in some form.

I can’t say that I’ve paid much attention to it in decades, but I speak for many here when I say it played a huge part in my childhood.

But magazines have become difficult to maintain– and real life has grown nearly impossible to satirize!

UPDATE: Tom Richmond chronicles the fall of the House of Mad here.

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Summer Weekend Review: Doom Patrol, Season One

“…I, for one, am grateful a disembodied Chumbawamba has brought us all back together.”
–Cliff Steele

While our Summer Reviews often dig quite far into the sands of time for cinematic treasure, the final weekend of June, 2019, brings us a recent, brilliant bit of media: The Doom Patrol, Season One.

Spider-man will swing in here at the start of next week. Tomorrow, we may even get a review of Yesterday. In the meantime, a crazed corner of the DC-verse awaits:

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