Looking Ahead to...Film in 2020

2020!
The decade is done/new! Funny how that works. Most of these movies clearly have no information besides release dates and titles, but I do this every year.

PUSHED BACK, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

My Spy's original release date was  August 23rd, the Friday of the week I'm starting this issue, before being pushed back to our old film friend, "Fuck You, It's January".

Of course, Sonic The Hedgehog has been pushed from this November to next February. Not much farther to wait, considering they have to redesign the titular character.

The Gentlemen, yet another STX property in a lackluster year, was pushed from this fall to next January.

For the second year in a row, Artemis Fowl is my most anticipated movie. Not because it was so good, I want to anticipate it again - Because it didn't come out August 9th, 2019, with a pushback to May 29th, 2020.

For the eleventh-thousandth time, The New Mutants has been pushed back to April 3rd, almost two years to the date of it's original release. Will it finally make it to theaters, or be pushed back again  - or even put on Disney+ or Hulu?

Book Look: The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures by Michael Hoeye

I have always loved the cover. I picked it up because it didn't have pictures on it. Little did I know, it was called 'minimalism in that funky 90's, wavy way with the scrawly font.

Hands down the most obscure book I've mentioned here, and undoubtedly the one that has influenced me the most. These were much more popular in Europe; That is to say; They heard of them over in France and Germany. USA, well, we were all on the Harry Potter train, and rightfully so.

Before there was "Geronimo Stilton", before there was "Redwall", before there was "Mistmantle", there was this: Hermux Tantamoq.

A watchmaker who leads a simple life; Coffee, his job, funny suits, his pet ladybug, reading. He inadvertently ends up as a pseudo-detective. There's still an appeal of having a fairly ordinary job and talent for something you love, while also being head-first in something else that's wilder.

And being able to own a lovely apartment on what must be a middling salary. 90s kids can't relate.

Because yes, this was for kids. And looking back at it, I'm not sure it was intended to be.

#26: Overlord

2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" + 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" = 2018's "Overlord".

By the way, it is not part of the Cloverfield universe.  Nor directed by J.J Abrams, only produced.

 Funny how people pitched a fit about a black Stormtrooper and I recall no qualm about a black person from Louisiana speaking French and fighting in World War II.

Have people evolved? Not likely. They let it pass because he was fighting for 'Murrica. Or they accepted revisionist history easier than fake history.

More likely that no one saw this movie.

Though, surprisingly, it did make its budget back with a whopping 41$m worldwide.

(Also, maybe because of the growing acceptance of nazis in America under various other names that all boil down to "white supremacist". Disney itself has reservations about anti-hate satire film "Jojo Rabbit" because 'it's not for kids', or... is it because it is clearly anti-nazi, and they want that alt-right money? It can be released it under the Fox Searchlight banner...I don't think anyone would be against it.)

#25: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Remember when Zack Snyder - yes, that Snyder - made a kickass movie about owls. It remains the single best-looking CG animated movie on a 'realistic' scale that has ever been made. The fact that there aren't humans helps immensely.

And this budget was only 100$m? There are movies today that look worse and cost more.

 Funny how this and the only other CGI movie I will say looks different and stylish ("Into The Spider-Verse") are within a 10$m budget of each other.

Unfortunately, it's bogged down by a lot of elements to make this more palatable to a mainstream audience; Because everything about this movie is half-assed except the visuals.

And it didn't even work.

139$m return Worldwide on that 100$m budget. Probably doesn't even cover advertising. 

Hey, Netflix, since you like spending money, get a budget that's even 3/4ths on par with this one, hire Snyder, and let him make a damn CGI "Redwall" series. If you don't want him to retread the ground that the Nirvana series did in 2004 (They covered "Redwall" and "Martin the Warrior", and "Mattimeo"), there's another 19 books you can pick.

Why "Redwall" over "The Chronicles of Mistmantle", you're asking?


You're probably asking "What are either of those?"

#24: Blindspotting

There's something wonderfully miraculous about the human connections that made me love nearly

everybody after they were on the screen for 5 seconds.

 Not the shithead cop though.

 I was especially surprised by Rafael Casal after initially only watching this for Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, "Black-ish") 

 Another day, another time the editor doesn't want to cooperate.

Will Smith - Friend Like Me (From "Aladdin")

I don't normally just post plain music videos from movies here, but this was far and away my favorite part of "Aladdin", which, if you remember, I quite enjoyed.

This is just surreal every time I watch it.

Book Look: Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden

Oh look, another Star Wars novel, the first one I've read that's not by E.K Johnston or Claudia Grey.

Very surprised to see a bit of Anakin in here. Are there any canon novels that actually focus on him? I've read more books about Obi-Wan and Padme than him (A surprise, but a welcome one).

#23: Osmosis Jones

Back in the 90s, there was a trend. Yes, this came out in 2001, but you don't think it takes 7 months to animate a movie, right?

It involved 'urbanizing' cartoons with slang, but more often music.

Some movies did this better than others. "Osmosis Jones" is not one of those movies.

The songs involved use some slight sampling of more popular songs they clearly couldn't get the rights to, because the artists and producers had a shred of dignity.

The art style is simple and somewhat effective, though there are moments where Jones (Chris Rock) will try and pull off some expression that really elevates how odd it looks with the art style. It's almost uncanny valley.

Both a blessing and a flaw with the animation is the CGI inclusion of Drix, the pill. There are moments you know David Hyde Pierce is acting his heart out (Or, I know, mainly because I watched a ton of "Frasier" as a child and know he's no stranger to physical displays of emotional reaction. Watch my favorite episode, "Dial M For Martin" for a great example), but the limited facial expressions (of a pill) just make him look wholly disinterested.