Film & TV Friday: A Tale of Two Ryans

On the eve of one of the most intriguing nerd movies ever and the return of two tv shows that are all about dead things trying to kill living things, welcome to Film & TV Friday.

Last week, I promised a couple of things. I promised a review of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and that happened. I said I'd write a review of Black Panther, and I haven't seen it yet. I also promised a proper news segment, which will be present, but a little slim. It has been A Week.

The Top Story

Black Panther is, obviously, the top story in nerd entertainment this week. The first superhero film with a black director and a mostly black cast is set to have a huge boxoffice in the US. $150,000,000 is the low end of estimates. This film is a cultural moment. It is unprecedented.

It's Ryan Week! Images source: Wikimedia Commons

More Ryan news

If Ryan Coogler's film is the top item, a close second is Ryan Murphy's new overall Netflix deal. Following Netflix' signing of Shonda Rhimes, this is another huge shift towards Netflix. Now, personally? Not a huge fan of Murphy's work. I abandoned Nip/Tuck and Glee early. American Horror Story is too horror-y for me. But I'm still curious to see what he'll do with the artistic freedom (and money) the Netflix deal provides.

TV has long been a writer's medium, and these massive overall deals Netflix is handing out just make that trend stronger. I am very keen to see what the domino effects will be.

Wide Release Films Opening This Weekend:

Film	# of Theaters
Black Panther	4,020
Early Man	2,494
Samson	1,249

Source: BoxOfficeMojo

While I'm obviously most stoked about Black Panther, don't sleep on Early Man. It's the first Aardman Studio film in some time, and with Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, director Nick Park has proven he can do amazing work.

TV Show Premieres This Week

Show	Season	Country	Network or Service	Day	Time
Troy: Fall of a City	1	UK	BBC One	Saturday	9:10PM
Mosaic	1	UK	Sky Atlantic	Saturday	10PM
Hold the Sunset	1	UK	BBC One	Sunday	7:30PM
The Tick	1b	US	Amazon	Sunday	NA

Sources: TV Guide, Geektown

Yeah, this is obviously not the most exciting premiere week in TV history. I want to get excited about Hold The Sunset. I mean, a new John Cleese sitcom? Wow! But... I have a feeling it will be a show about retirees FOR retirees. And a thriller mini series starring Sharon Stone? Exciting! But... Mosaic doesn't sound very exciting. Oh, well, next week's premiers will have lots of zombies.

Trailers

There were some really fun trailers this week! Let's go!

Pacific Rim: Uprising

I love Pacific Rim. It's the movie 10 year old me never knew he was waiting for. While I'm a bit worried del Toro isn't directing the sequel, he was still heavily involved, and John Boyega is great. Super into this.

Rampage

Who thought adapting the game in which giant animals destroy buildings, a game with no plot to speak of, is a good idea? I don't know. It's a terrible idea. But then they cast The Rock, and I have to admit I have some mild curiosity.

Uncle Drew

Speaking of terrible ideas, who thought making a film based on a fun series of commercials is a good idea? Why would you do this? Was the world clamoring for the acting return of Shaq? For Kyrie Irving's feature film debut?

Incredibles 2

This, on the other hand? Is gonna be huge. And hopefully great.

Ready Player One

I have complex feelings about this film, based on a novel I translated into Hebrew. It's the most blatant nerdboy pander ever, but I AM a nerdboy. So... I dunno. We'll see.

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