Film & TV Friday: DC's New Plan Is To Not Suck

DC's choices of writer and director for Harley Quinn and The Birds of Prey are cause for optimism, and some big TV shows are coming back. This is Film & TV Friday.

The News

Yan to direct Harley Quinn movie

Suicide Squad was a terrible film. Just an utter train wreck of a thing. But Margot Robbie's portrayal of the terribly written Harley Quinn was really good, and helped catapult her stardom. Importantly, it gave her the leverage to insist DC hire a woman to direct her next film as Harley: Birds of Prey. They picked Cathy Yan, whose direcorial debut, the indie Dead Pigs was well received. It seems the success of Wonder Woman has made DC reconsider their original "make terrible movies, what can possibly go wrong?" plan. And I am here for it.

Spielberg to direct Blackhawk

In other "Maybe this DC film won't suck" news, Steven Spielberg will direct a film based on old timey DC comic Blackhawk.

Westworld and Handmaid's Tale are back for seconds

depressing prestige SF shows are super hot right now, and the two hottest are coming back for a second season this week. I didn't watch the first season of either, because I am afraid of being bummed out.

Wide Release Films Opening This Weekend:

Film	# of Theaters
I Feel Pretty	3,440
Super Troopers 2	2,038
Traffik	1,046

Source: BoxOfficeMojo
Looking at this week's releases and on to the next few weeks, it seems very obvious that Hollywood is clearing a path for the oncoming juggernaut that is next week's Avengers: Infinity War. So this week we get a couple of comedies (I know some are super excited about Super Troopers 2, and more power to you, and I used to be an Amy Schumer fan) and a low budget thriller to fill the time.

TV Show Premieres This Week

Show	Season	Country	Network or Service	Day	Time
Westworld	2	US	HBO	Sunday	9:00PM EST
Into The Badlands	3	US	AMC	Sunday	10:00PM EST
The 100	5	US	The CW	Tuesday	9:00PM EST
The Handmaid's Tale	2	US	Hulu	Wednesday	3:01AM EST
Archer	9	US	FXX	Wednesday	10:0PM EST
Quantico	3	US	ABC	Thursday	10:0PM EST
3%	2	Worldwide	Netflix	Friday	3:01AM EST

Source: The Futon Critic

Some huge shows are coming back this week. Westworld and The Handmaid's Tale are the two biggest. People tell me Into The Badlands is super fun.

Trailers

Two amazing looking heist movies top the bill for me. One of them is a Star Wars film.

Hotel Artemis

Well, this looks super fun! Jodi Foster and Dave Bautista as co-workers? Who doesn't want that?

Hereditary

This looks WAY too scary for me.

Anon

I'm curious about this film, because I think Andrew Niccol is an interesting director, and the international trailer is good. There's also a US trailer that is way less good.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Humans are bad, mkay?

Life Of The Party

Welp, it's a gender flipped Back To School. Now, I love me a gender flip, but can we maybe just leave bad things in the past?

Deadpool 2

I'm almost sorry I watched this, because it's great and now my expectations are high.

The Equalizer 2

Huh. A second Equalizer film. Will wonders never cease?

Blindspotting

I am intrigued. And also very happy for Daveed Diggs.

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