The Movie Paradise

Back when Godzilla hit theaters in 2014, we knew it would be part of a larger MonsterVerse that would result in King Kong vs. Godzilla in 2020. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Godzilla, I actually quite enjoyed Kong: Skull Island. I know I'm in the minority, but I found to be incredibly fun and entertaining, and it did a fantastic job of reintroducing us to Kong. You can read our full review here. Since then, we have learned that Krampus director Michael Dougherty will be helming Godzilla: King of the Monsters, due out in early 2019. I didn't like Krampus all that much, so I'm not that big on the idea of Dougherty doing the film. However, with the cast that they've assembled, I am certainly looking forward to seeing the movie. King of the Monsters is the final movie before the (supposed) conclusion in 2020. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But with the release of Skull Island this year, the future of the MonsterVerse has gone under consideration. Righ…

I have never been a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. I loved the first film when I was younger. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember it being fun and adventurous. I was going to re-watch in preparation for this new one, but I just never got around to it. I saw the second film a while ago, but was bored by it. And I never ended up seeing the third or fourth installments. For the longest time, I had zero interest in this fifth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. I thought it was going to be just like all the others. But then it was screened at CinemaCon a couple months back, and people came out of it saying that the franchise had finally course-corrected back to what made the first one so much fun. After hearing that, I suddenly gained interest in seeing this one. I thought that there was a good chance I would be entertained, and would end up enjoying myself. So I went in actually pretty excited. And, unfortunately, it ended up bein…

Welcome to this week's The Movie Paradise Nerd Round-Up. Essentially what we do here is we take a look at all things nerdy. We break down everything in the world of nerdom, ranging from superheroes to Star Wars and every other geeky thing in between, and analyse the smaller bits of news that weren't big enough stories to necessarily warrant an entire article, but are still significant and important. Perhaps it's casting news, a contract detail, a set image, or something else that's more on the minor side, but is definitely worth checking out. Then we have a little bit of fun with some movie-related videos and clips. It's a time and place for all of us unabashed nerds to come together and talk about the things that we love so much. So, without further ado, let's get started with this week's Nerd Round-Up. 
The News

It was just announced the other day that Tom Hardy would be starring in Sony's Venom (you can read more about that here), which will be the f…

Since Netflix has completely dominated television with runaway hits like House of Cards and Stranger Things, they have since been turning their attention to movies. They just dropped close to $200 million dollars to make Martin Scorsese's next film, The Irishman. So you could say that they're pretty serious about making a dent in the film industry. Their first real release was Beasts of No Nation in 2015, which I rather liked. It wasn't fantastic, but it was a really good movie with a great performance by Idris Elba. There was even some serious talk about him gerting an Oscar nomination, but that didn't end up happening. In regards to this year, they have a whole bunch of original movies coming out, and it's going to be the real test as to whether Netflix will actually be a significant player in the movie industry. Last month saw the release of The Discovery, which I was really excited for. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be very good. You can read our fu…

I knew nothing about Chuck prior to seeing it in the theater. I knew the basic premise, and that was it. I hadn't even seen a trailer. Every once in a while, I'll have an experience like this where I get to see a movie knowing virtually nothing about it. And it's fun. In an age where blockbusters will get four or five trailers that spoil the entire plot, where we follow every little detail that makes its way onto the internet, sometimes it's nice to just watch a movie completely fresh. Needless to say, I didn't know what to expect out of Chuck. I was hoping to learn some history about the making of Rocky, a film I really love. I was also looking for some great performances. And with a stacked cast like Liev Scrhieber, Jim Gaffigan, Naomi Watts, Elisabeth Moss, Ron Perlman, and Michael Rapaport, I knew I was bound to get some really good performances. And I walked out getting precisely that. Ironically, Chuck isn't nearly as good of a film as Rocky is, but it s…

While DC has been trying to set up their cinematic universe with movies like Wonder Woman, Justice League, and The Flash, there has also been development with some other properties. Aside from their universe is the Justice League Dark film, which sees different supernatural characters such as Constantine, Deadman, and Zatanna team up. The movie has been in production for a while. Guillermo del Toro was attached for a long time to direct, but had to drop out due to his ever expanding list of future projects. After bouncing around a bunch of different directors, it ultimately landed with Doug Liman, and has been with him for some time now. Liman even made recent comments about how he wanted it to be a smaller film, and to ultimately be a character-driven story. This made it all the more puzzling when Liman suddenly up and left the project the other day. 
According to Variety, Liman has left Justice Leauge Dark due to scheduling conflicts involving his new film Chaos Walking, and DC'…

When the first teaser trailer dropped for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, I wasn't a big fan of it. It didn't really show us anything new or memorable. It was simply a montage of shots that easily could have been from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Other than the brief shot of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), there was nothing about the teaser that uniquely pertained to The Last Jedi. But my dislike for the teaser did nothing to hamper my overall excitement for the movie. I think it's going to be incredible, and I can't wait to see director Rian Johnson's vision realized on screen. The Force Awakens was really good, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was even better! So, at this rate, The Last Jedi should be incredible! Right? Well, I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I am very excited for the movie. But since the teaser trailer dropped, I've been waiting for something new to really get me excited for the movie. And now we have it!
In…

After the mixed reaction to Man of Steel and the overall disappointment of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, fans have been hesitant about director Zack Snyder's involvement in the upcoming Justice League film, which is currently set for a November release. I personally really liked Man of Steel, but I wasn't as big of a fan of Batman v. Superman. So, in terms of this new DC Universe, Snyder is 1:0 in my book. But I've been hopeful for Justice League. I don't know if it's going to be great, but I've been hoping that DC has learned their lesson, and that this movie will, in fact, be awesome. But, just a matter of months before the film's release, there has been a major shake-up. After a personal tragedy, Snyder is stepping down from Justice League, and will not be involved for the rest of the production. Instead, the recently announced Batgirl director, Joss Whedon, will be stepping in to oversee post-production and reshoots. 
This is an incredibly sad t…

Alien: Covenant hit theaters this past weekend, and I walked in with really high expectations. I am a huge fan of the franchise, and couldn't wait to see Ridley Scott's latest entry into the series. I wasn't pleased with Prometheus as a whole. I thought it had good ideas and good elements, but it overall didn't come together as I had wanted it to. But with Alien: Covenant, I had a lot of faith that the franchise would return to the excellence it once had. However, Covenant wasn't as great of a movie as I wanted it to be. It's a decent film, and it is better than Prometheus, but it wasn't the mindblowingly awesome movie that I thought it frankly needed to be. In the days that have passed since I saw Covenant, I have been able to discern specifically what parts of the movie didn't work for me. And thus, I am releasing a new entry in my occasional editorial series where I break down my issues with a newly released film. 
There will be spoilers for both Pro…