The Movie Paradise

For those who have not kept up to date on the Han Solo spin-off film, now titled Solo: A Star Wars Story  (read about that title announcement here ), here is a quick recap. With filming almost done, directors Phil Lord  and Chris Miller  were fired from the then untitled project, as Lucasfilm  head Kathleen Kennedy  was not satisfied with how the movie was turning out. It was allegedly becoming far more of a comedy than Kennedy had wanted, and it was deviating from the original script written by Lawrence Kasdan . Shortly after Lord and Miller were let go, Ron Howard  was brought on to finish the job. He's been shooting ever since, and just recently wrapped. The question on everyone's mind has been exactly how much did Howard shoot? We knew he was salvaging Lord and Miller's footage, and filming new scenes to connect it all together, but my concern has always been that Howard and Lord and Miller have very distinct styles. How can we go from a very clear Lord and Miller

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 still definitely worth checking out and talking about. This is a time and place for all of us unabashed nerds to come together and talk about the things that we love so much in the movie-sphere. So, without further ado, let's get started with this week's Nerd Round-Up.  It is being reported that DC  is in talks with The Raid  director Gareth Evans  to write and direct a Deathstroke  film, with Joe Manganiello  in the leading role. Mangan

Ever since it was first announced, I have been apprehensive about Bright . While Netflix  has had some good original films, such as The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected ) [read our review here ], they have also had plenty of sh*tty original movies. I don't think Netflix has quite locked down how to do their original movies yet, and so anything that they put out I'm immediately cautious of. But Bright  has more going against it than just that. It is also directed by David Ayer , who I'm mixed on as a director. While he's had some great films with End of Watch  and Fury , he has also had some absolutely horrendous movies with Sabotage  and Suicide Squad . He's a director who I can't immediately get excited for anymore, because I never know exactly what kind of film he is going to give us. We've had one trailer for Bright  so far, but it was a teaser trailer. It didn't give us enough of a taste of the film to know exactly how it's going to play

I've been interested in seeing  Professor Marston and the Wonder Women  for some time, though I was initially apprehensive. It tells the true story behind the creator of Wonder Woman, and his rather unique sexual and romantic relationships. With Wonder Woman having her feature film debut earlier this year (read our review here ), I was afraid this movie was simply a cash grab in order to capitalize on the DC  film's release. The litmus test for me came down to the rating. This is a story that requires an R rating in order to do it proper justice. If the rating was PG-13, then it was clear to me that this movie was only coming out to piggyback off of Wonder Woman 's success. However, Professor Marston  did receive an R rating, which made me incredibly interested to see it. It stars Luke Evans  and Rebecca Hall , who are two of the best second tier actors working in the business today. They've never attained A-list status, but they have always turned in excellent per

While Logan  took many people by surprise earlier this year, one of the most remarkable parts of the film was Dafne Keen  as Laura/X-23. Keen came out of nowhere, and crushed this role that required a lot of nuance and subtlety. Not only did she pull off the physicality of the character, but she also gave us a lot of under-the-surface, bubbling emotion that is rather complex for such a young actor. Keen really proved herself as an incredibly capable performer, and gave us probably one of the best child actor performances I have personally ever seen. You can read my full thoughts on Logan  as a film here . But with Logan  being as striking as it was, the question has come about whether Dafne Keen would get to reprise her role as X-23 in a later movie. Logan  certainly felt like a stand-alone story, but that doesn't stop Fox  from telling a new story with X-23. Logan 's finality also allows Fox to leave the character and the story alone, should they choose to do so. For a wh

Welcome to our new weekly podcast! Here, we'll be talking about the latest news in the film industry, as well as getting into deep discussion about different movie issues. Each episode will have roughly 2-3 guests, as well as me, the host. This is not a replacement for our written site; instead, it will work alongside the website to keep you up to date on what's going on the the world of movie news! Episodes will be uploaded weekly on YouTube, and will subsequently be shared here. Please check us out, and enjoy the podcast! Today, we'll be talking about, in the wake of Harvey Weinstein , should we separate the person from the art? This week's guest:  Connor  and Nick . What do you think? Did you like the podcast? Do you have any suggestions of how we can improve the show? Do you think film fans should separate the person from the art? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.  Written by:  Nathanael Molnár Email us your movie questions at:  them

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 still definitely worth checking out and talking about. This is a time and place for all of us unabashed nerds to come together and talk about the things that we love so much in the movie-sphere. So, without further ado, let's get started with this week's Nerd Round-Up.  It is being reported that X-Force  will be filming at some point next year. We've been hearing about this movie for a while now, and the last thing to come out was th

With Battle of the Sexes , you have Oscar winner Emma Stone  and Oscar nominee Steve Carell , which is exciting to think about in of itself. We saw them before on screen in Crazy, Stupid, Love , but this film will have them together in an entirely new context. The film explores a famous tennis match in the early 70's orchestrated to have the "man's man" go up against the feminist. This wasn't just about tennis; it was about showmanship, and more importantly, it was about furthering women's equality in society. Other than the story, what drew me in from the trailers was the performances. This looked like a perfect role for Steve Carell; he could incorporate a lot of his comedic sensibilities, while also adding the dramatic flare that he's been developing over the past few years. And this looked like a completely transformative role for Emma Stone, who I'll see in anything after what she did with  La La Land . With a compelling story and great actor

Even before the director troubles, I have never been overly excited for a Han Solo  spin-off film. I think the character works best with a mysterious past, and I don't really need to know more about him. He's fine just the way he is. That being said, I like the talent they've brought on. I think Alden Ehrenreich  is one of the best people you could have gotten to step into Harrison Ford 's shoes. Not only is there a physical similarity, but I think Ehrenreich will be able to pull off the iconic gruffness excellently. You also have Donald Glover  as Lando Calrissian, which I am very excited to see on screen. Included in the supporting cast is Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke,  and Paul Bettany , who are all great actors. So they do have a good team working on it; I'm just not on board with the concept. Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller , who were part of the reason why I was excited for the film, were fired, and Ron Howard  came on the finish the job. That shook m

Ever since he first popped up in Captain America: Civil War , I have been excited to see Chadwick Boseman  in his own standalone Black Panther  movie. He was so well realized in that film, that it only made me want to learn more about him. And with the talent brought onto Black Panther , how could you not be excited? You have Creed 's Ryan Coogler  directing, and with Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, Angela Basset, Daniel Kaluuya, and Phylicia Rashad  rounding out the cast, this is going to be one hell of a film! We had a trailer drop a few months back, and I liked it a lot. The production and costume design looked phenomenal, as did the action choreography. It was a really good trailer, and I enjoyed it. But my biggest criticism was that most of the CGI wasn't finished, which is expected for a movie that was still months and months and months away from being released. And with the movie's February release date, and T

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 still definitely worth checking out and talking about. This is a time and place for all of us unabashed nerds to come together and talk about the things that we love so much in the movie-sphere. So, without further ado, let's get started with this week's Nerd Round-Up.  Last week, we reported that Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski  was in talks to helm the long delayed Gambit  movie, starring Channing Tatum  (you can read

I've actually been looking forward to seeing this film for a long time now. I've been intrigued by the concept ever since I first head about it. Adam Sandler  is a guy who I detest as a comedian, but who I think is absolutely brilliant as a dramatic actor. I still stand by my claim that he should have been nominated for Best Lead Actor at the Academy Awards  for his role in Reign Over Me . He was phenomenal in that! So to see him return to a dramatic role here was an exciting prospect. Ben Stiller  is another comedian who I think is talented at doing drama. I find him to be a lot better at comedy than Sandler is, but whenever Stiller takes on more dramatic roles, I'm always interested to see what he does with them. And, of course, Dustin Hoffman  is Dustin Hoffman. To see all these actors, of varying degrees of talent and stature, come together for this one movie is truly remarkable. It also happens to be a Netflix  original film. I haven't been on board with Net

Welcome to our new weekly podcast! Here, we'll be talking about the latest news in the film industry, as well as getting into deep discussion about different movie issues. Each episode will have roughly 2-3 guests, as well as me, the host. This is not a replacement for our written site; instead, it will work alongside the website to keep you up to date on what's going on the the world of movie news! Episodes will be uploaded weekly on YouTube, and will subsequently be shared here. Please check us out, and enjoy the podcast! Today, we'll be talking about the best directorial debuts. This week's guest:  Connor . Films discussed: Monsters Inc., District 9, Following, The Shawshank Redemption, Nightcrawler, and Citizen Kane . What do you think? Did you like the podcast? Do you have any suggestions of how we can improve the show? What are some of your favorite directorial debuts? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.  Written by:  Nathanael Mol

The idea of The New Mutants  has been a very interesting prospect for a while. Writer/director Josh Boone  has been pitching it to us as a horror movie since the beginning, making it a very different comic book movie than we've seen before. But after the success  Fox  had with Deadpool  and Logan , it makes sense that they would take another big risk with this one. And New Mutants  is undoubtedly a risk. It's a property not many people know about, with unfamiliar comic book characters, starring small to obscure actors. There are no proper X-Men in this film (as far as we know). They don't even have "X-Men" in the title! Fox is putting a lot on the line with this movie, and that level of risk excites me. I'm glad to see Fox taking such big chances with their films, because it helps keep the comic book movie genre fresh. I appreciate the Marvel Cinematic Universe , and while each film is different, they all adhere to the same basic formula. Fox is going off