"F9" and "Jungle Cruise"

Minor spoilers ahead.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm not a fan of the "Fast and Furious" franchise, though I've seen every entry in this series since the fifth.  While I've gotten to know the characters and admire many of the performances, I don't have any investment in where this series is going.  The films are far too haphazard, and the storytelling is far too silly for me to do any more than admire their excesses.  I was glad that Justin Lin was coming  back to direct this installment, and that John Cena was coming onboard to play the villain, but my expectations weren't high.  However, "F9" is on track to be one of the biggest blockbuster films of the year, and since it's one of the only major films that is getting an exclusive theatrical release I felt obligated to give it some attention.   

So here we are again, following Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew of fellow car enthusiasts turned super spies, as they go up against Dom's estranged younger brother Jakob (Cena), who is of course a mercenary assassin and terrific driver - but somehow not allowed to do anything interesting onscreen.  This installment spends a lot of time on flashbacks to Dom's troubled youth, and checking in with a ton of minor characters that the franchise has accumulated over the years, everyone from Kurt Russel's Mr. Nobody to Nathalie Emmanuel as hacker Ramsey.  A few of the bigger name stars and the more obscure ones show up, but it wouldn't be fair to reveal which ones.  The absurdity of the action scenes, including cars jumping impossible chasms, cars being sent flying by giant magnets, and cars being launched into the atmosphere, has been ramped up to infinity and beyond.  The plot really feels like it's beside the point.

On the other hand, there's a sloppiness to the characters constantly switching sides and faking their deaths that is starting to get very long in the tooth.  Secondary characters Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) get a lot of mileage (ahem) out of meta commentary on how ridiculous their lives have become, and how they really should all be dead by now.  This is a lot of fun, but drawing attention to the series' flaws may not be the best tactic here.  While "Fast and Furious" hasn't run out of gas for me yet, it's getting steadily more difficult to forgive all the little moments where we have to put aside basic logic and internal continuity for a cool moment.  And Vin Diesel's Dom keeps getting less and less interesting and charismatic with each installment.  I've been quietly hoping for him to pass the torch to one of his co-stars - any of his co-stars - for a while now.      

A notable actor who doesn't show up in "F9" is Dwayne Johnson, who is starring in Disney's "Jungle Cruise" with Emily Blunt.  I don't think anyone is going to be surprised that this is essentially a "Pirates of the Caribbean" revamp, with Johnson playing an affable steamboat captain named Frank, who makes a living ferrying tourists around the Amazon in the 1910s.  Blunt plays Dr. Lily Houghton, a botanist intent on finding a magical cure-all called the Tears of the Moon, which was apparently found by the conquistador Don Lope de Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez) before he disappeared into the jungle in the sixteenth century.  Jack Whitehall is also along for the trip, playing Lily's foppish brother MacGregor, while Jesse Plemmons, Paul Giamatti, and a lot of CGI critters are on hand for villainy.     

"Jungle Cruise" is exactly the kind of movie you'd expect it would be, a family friendly action-adventure comedy with a lot of banter and a lot of slapstick.  Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are very good separately, but not so much together, which is a shame.  They're set up to be a screwball comedy couple, but don't quite have the chemistry to pull it off.  The movie hums along in happy mediocrity, occasionally redeemed by a good moment like Plemmons hamming it up mightily as a German noble, or Johnson making nice with a cuddly CGI jaguar.  As someone who is perhaps a little too familiar with the Disneyland Jungle Cruise ride, I appreciated that there were some callbacks, but I also appreciated that they were dispensed with very quickly.       

The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who made his name in much lower budget horror and action films.  It's likely thanks to him that there's so much nightmare imagery and visceral body horror that you wouldn't expect in a film like this.  However, the execution is tripped up by some oddly underwhelming CGI and effects work that looks unfinished in many shots.  However, the machinery of the film's roller coaster ride narrative is well oiled, and avoids ever feeling slow or tedious.  The writing is just clever enough to spring a few surprises and keep your attention, but trots out all the old cliches exactly when you know it will.  

---

My Favorite René Laloux Film

Beloved French animator René Laloux's films are all these psychedelic, fantastical adventures that take place on other planets, and are populated by casts of aliens, mutants, and otherworldly beings.  The most famous, "Fantastic Planet," wowed audiences with its wildly imaginative visuals, mind-bending concepts, and trippy score.  Laloux stood out as a producer of more high-minded, experimental, adult animation, coming to prominence around the same time as Ralph Bakshi in the 1970s.  Laloux's work was often in collaboration with other famous French artists and illustrators, with deep roots in French science-fiction and comics.  With Roland Topor, he made "Fantastic Planet," with Caza he made "Gandahar," and with Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, he made "Time Masters."

"Time Masters" is often looked upon as the least of Laloux's films because it is not immediately visually impressive next to the others, and has a rather meandering story before it pulls off a very good twist.  The animation was primarily produced in Hungary by Pannonia Film Studio, best known for Marcell Jankovic's animated films like "Son of the White Mare" and "The Tragedy of Man."  However, I find it the most entertaining and engaging of Laloux's films, with the best characters.  "Fantastic Planet" and "Gandahar" are these grand epic adventures, featuring larger-than-life, god-like heroes.  These protagonists are very beautiful and charming, but also very bland.  The characters in "Time Masters," on the other hand, are much rougher and more relatable.  We have an odd collection of characters on a spaceship - a roguish pilot, his two fugitive passengers, and an elderly eccentric - who are trying to help a small boy who has been stranded alone on the hostile planet Perdide.  They are only able to talk with him through a small communication device, dubbed Mike.  There are encounters with aliens and monsters and science-fiction phenomena, but "Time Masters" maintains very approachable, very human points of reference to its storytelling throughout.    

As a fan of a lot of the 70s and 80s animation, "Time Masters" may not be as ambitious or as spectacle-based as something like "Gandahar," but it is extremely well executed.  The translation of Moebius's style into animation is excellent, and the film manages to nicely integrate both the caricatured and the highly realistic visual elements together.  The animation doesn't cut corners the way that similar films of the time period often do, and holds up very well.  My favorite characters are the two comic relief "gnomes," Jad and Yula, who comment on the action and largely stay separate from the rest of the crew.  They're telepathic, childlike, and have the ability to fly through the air like sprites and change their forms for comedic emphasis.  Though they move and act in ways that are much more cartoonish than the other characters, there's nonetheless always a real weight and gravity to their forms, so they still feel like they are a part of this universe.  Conversely, the same is true of the monstrous inhabitants of the planet Gamma 10, which look like faceless, identical, stark white angels.  They're stylized just enough that they come across as unreal and fantastical, while also exuding a real menace and danger.    

The story of "Time Masters" is messy, and its worldbuilding could certainly be better.  It feels like random things keep happening to the characters, and the whole adventure on Gamma 10 is like some of the crew just wandered off into a different movie for thirty minutes - a movie that is more reminiscent of the allegorical struggles against tyranny and evil seen in Laloux's other films.  Nobody ever lays down any rules in this universe.  Rather, we're just told how and why things are happening as they happen, often due to cosmic forces like mysterious time controlling aliens, or a sinister hive mind that can be defeated with enough self-hatred and abnegation.  It can be frustrating to watch, but if you give yourself over to the experience, and just accept the strangeness and the weirdness of the film, there is a lot to love.  And while I admire "Gandahar" and "Fantastic Planet," I can't help but prefer "Time Masters," as rough and scruffy as it is.  What it lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in daring.            

What I've Seen - René Laloux

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Time Masters (1982)

Gandahar (1987)

---

My Top Ten Films of 1951

This is part of a series of top ten lists from the years before I started this blog.  Entries are listed below in no particular order.  Enjoy.

Scrooge  - I truly feel that every subsequent cinematic adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," including the ones featuring Mickey Mouse, CGI Jim Carrey, and Kermit the Frog, owe something to this version, featuring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge.  This is the version that establishes so many of the visual tropes and familiar images that we all know and love.  And Sim himself is such a perfect, curmudgeonly Scrooge, whose transformation into a benevolent man is such a joy to behold.  

Bellissima - A very different film about fame is Luchino Visconti's neorealist drama about a woman intent on making her unexceptional little daughter famous.  The mother is played by Anna Magnani, giving a committed performance that is all nerves and anxiety.  As her hopes are continuously strung along, Visconti gives us a critical look at the way show business works in Italy, and how dreams of stardom can make even the most devoted mother lose sight of what's most important for their child.   

Ace in the Hole - One of Billy Wilder's most cynical films explores the dark side of news media sensationalism.  Kirk Douglas is memorably awful as a jaded reporter who seeks to profit off of an accident that has left a man trapped in rubble.  Though the methods and the media are different, the appalling lapses in journalistic ethics are all too familiar.  Wilder does a fantastic job of depicting how the situation spins out of control, and how easy it is to be swept up in the excitement of the crowd.         

The River - A lovely film about a white girl growing up in India, about a first love that goes sour, and about social divides that aren't as insurmountable as they seem.  There are difficult subjects lingering around the edges of the story related to colonialism, exploitation, and colonial strife, but Jean Renoir is able to present a sensitive, thoughtful portrait of adolescence that acknowledges the troubled waters that the children will have to navigate, while still their celebrating their momentary innocence and joy. 

A Streetcar Named Desire - The melodrama feels very tame today, but at the time of its release, this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play was considered one of the most shocking, daring films ever made.  Simply making veiled references to Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski's sexual impropriety and psychological issues was considered pushing boundaries.  The intense performances, especially on the part of Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh make "Streetcar" a striking piece of cinema to this day.   

The African Queen - Famously, this is the film that Humphrey Bogart finally won his Oscar for, and it was well deserved.  The story of the behind-the-scenes madness of the making of this film is the stuff of movie legend.  John Huston shot much of "The African Queen" on location in extreme conditions, but the resulting images were worth it.  The chemistry between the leads, however, is what really makes the film a great watch, and helped to set the template for so many adventure film romances that followed.  

M - The Joseph Losey remake of Fritz Lang's crime classic is a fantastic film in and of itself.  I especially appreciate it for the way that it transplants the action from Berlin to Los Angeles, and is largely shot on locations.  Thus, it is able to serve as a time capsule for the city during the 1950s, preserving views of neighborhoods that don't exist anymore.  And while it does a great job of recreating segments of the original "M," the remake comes up with a few of its own - including the fantastic Bradbury building heist.

Death of a Salesman - This adaptation of Arthur Miller's play has become fairly obscure over time, but I enjoy it greatly for its stellar cast and its intense, dramatic filmmaking.  I also find the story of Willy Lohman and his family more poignant when it's being told using the familiar dramatic devices of the time period from which it was originally conceived.  The bleak cinematography pairs beautifully with Miller's language, and I appreciate the film retains certain sequences other adaptations tend to remove.

Strangers on a Train - The critics didn't like this Alfred Hitchcock thriller much when it was first released, as they thought it was too sensational and too contrived.  However, the precisely orchestrated thrills and chills, and the outre characters are so clearly the point of the film, and Hitch used them to create some of his most wonderful moments of cinema.  My favorite is the tennis match sequence, where the crowd is watching the ball go back and forth - except for one man, whose steady gaze is instantly disturbing. 

An American in Paris - Possibly the apex of the Gene Kelly musical extravaganza.  The dance sequences were never bigger or more elaborate, with a full blown ballet serving as the film's thrilling climax.  The art direction, which not only recreates Paris, but multiple artists' versions of Paris, is absolutely spectacular.  The George Gershwin music is, of course, a marvel.  And then there's Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, falling in love through song and dance in a way that could only happen in the movies.  

Honorable Mention:

The Steel Helmet 

---

The State of the Superhero, 2022

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I feel like it's a good time to take a look at what's coming up in superhero media in the next year, now that everyone's made their schedule adjustments and we have a better idea of what's actually coming out in 2022.  I'm not going to talk about every single superhero film and show coming our way, but hopefully cover enough of them to get a good sense of what the landscape looks like right now.

Let's start with the MCU, which had an okay 2021, but one with some significant ups and downs.  "Black Widow" clearly suffered from being one of the first blockbusters back in theaters, "Shang-Chi" did a bit better than expected, "Eternals" had a mixed reception at best, and "Spider-man" wiped the floor with everyone.  Fortunately for their pocketbooks, the MCU film slate is all sequels this year - "Doctor Strange" and "Thor" in summer, and "Black Panther" for the holidays.  "Black Panther" is going to be the really interesting one because of the absence of Chadwick Boseman and some of the behind-the-scenes drama that's been going on.

The more interesting MCU media is going to be on Disney+, which is moving into series based on new characters like Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk, plus Sam Jackson will finally get top billing in a "Secret Invasion" series.  "Moon Knight" is the project that I'm most looking forward to, and the one that easily could have been a feature with the talent they have onboard - Oscar Isaac as the titular Moon Knight and Ethan Hawke as the villain.  Oh, and we can't forget about the "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," which is expected in December, and will help set up their next sequel in 2023, or the Gael Garcia Bernal Halloween werewolf special… yeah.

Sony, meanwhile, still has "Morbius" delayed from 2020, and the highly anticipated "Spider-Verse" sequel is expected in the fall.  The Venom sequel did very well for them, and we can probably expect another one somewhere down the line.    

"New Mutants" is, alas, probably the end of the cinematic "X-men" universe for a while.  Deadpool popped up in a "Free Guy" promo last year, but the third "Deadpool" movie remains MIA.

On to DC.  They had a rough pandemic with "Wonder Woman 1984" and the surprising failure of James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" over the summer, despite strong reviews.  It looks like Warners is done with "Suicide Squad" as a franchise, or they would be if it weren't for the "Peacemaker" spinoff miniseries with John Cena, that's already been prepped to premiere on HBO Max in a few weeks.   I don't think we'll be seeing much of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the future, which is too bad.  

DC is also releasing a ton of films in 2022: "The Batman" starring Robert Pattinson in March, "Black Adam" starring Dwayne Johnson in July, "The Flash," in November, and  "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" in December.  Out of all of these, I'm looking forward to "Flash" the most, because the character has been fun in his DCEU appearances so far, and I can't resist some Tim Burton's "Batman" nostalgia.  I thought "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" was further along in production, but if that's being held back to be a summer tentpole for 2023, I'm not going to complain.  Oh, and there's also the "DC League of Super-Pets" animated film, which looks adorable.  

Finally, I'm keeping  an eye on a handful of other film projects, including the original  "Secret Headquarters" with Owen Wilson at Paramount, and "Samaritan" with Sylvester Stallone at UA, which is based on graphic novels from Mythos Comics.  Legendary also has their "Toxic Avenger" reboot with Peter Dinklage in the works, expected to be a comedic family film.

---

Rank 'Em: "What If…?" Year One

The MCU's first animated series was mostly a success, as I enjoyed most of the installments.  The animation style is a little bland, but certainly executed well.  The stories are often much darker than I expected, and it was nice not knowing where anything was going from week to week.  This is very much a show aimed at the fans, however, because it assumes a lot of knowledge of the MCU.  Casual watchers may get lost.

I think the best way to talk about this series, as with any anthology, is to tackle every episode on its own merits.  Hence, a "Rank 'Em" post.  So here they are, from best to least.  Many, many spoilers ahead. 

1. "Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" - This is the darkest episode of the series, but also the one where I felt the show really justified being told with animation.  We see Strange's life and his whole world literally collapse because he can't let go of Christine.  And while I'd ordinarily be unhappy with the dead girlfriend trope, Strange being unable to accept the death is the whole point of the story.  And honestly, Christine is put to better use here than she was in the "Doctor Strange" movie.

2. "The Watcher Broke His Oath?" - It is super satisfying to see all the callbacks to all the different stories as everyone teams up for the final showdown.  The big battle is a lot of fun, with its multiple twists, and the ending feels earned.  However, what really makes this episode so memorable is the use of characters like Killmonger, Doctor Strange, and Black Widow.  I was surprised how invested I was in their stories.   I even like frat boy Thor in this as comic relief, much more than I liked him in his own episode.

3. "Ultron Won?" - And here's the penultimate episode where The Watcher finds a threat too big to ignore, and has to get involved.  For the first half of the episode, Ultron's victory over the Avengers is appropriately chilling, even if his easy takedown of Thanos is sort of hilarious.  Ultron gaining enough power to start breaking through the barriers of the different universes, however, really gives the story an extra punch in the third act.  The cliffhanger with Doctor Strange is the icing on the cake.  

4. "Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?" - Killmonger is one of the best MCU villains, because he has an interesting backstory and stance on how the world should work, and I was excited to see him get more screen time.  Pairing him up with Tony Stark was a great choice, giving Killmonger a chance to show off his brainier side, and Michael B. Jordan's performance is excellent.  I also like the way this one resolves, leaving multiple characters at a crossroads and making good use of the Chadwick Boseman cameo.  

5. "Zombies?!" - The twists and turns in this one are great, and I appreciate that we get a different mix of featured characters than the norm - Wasp, Spider-man, Bucky, Ant-man's roommate, and Doctor Strange's cloak?  It ends exactly when it should, leaving room for more adventures in this very morbid reality.  I like that so many of the "What If…?" installments offer a good look at how each new universe operates, but doesn't resolve neatly.  It lets some of the stories go to some very un-MCU places.

6. "T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" - It's one running joke throughout, but it's a good one.  T'Challa doesn't just become a Star-Lord, but evidently the greatest guy in the universe who is able to win over everyone he meets - including Thanos!  Really, I don't know if this one would have worked without the charisma of Chadwick Boseman.  There are some awkward bits, like these specific versions of Nebula and the Collector, but otherwise this is a lot of fun to watch, especially if you're a "Guardians of the Galaxy" fan. 

7. "Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" - The premiere episode is devoted to easing viewers into the series with a fairly straightforward, one-to-one substitution of Sharon Carter for Steve Rogers.  And it's got some nice action sequences and one-liners, but it's all pretty predictable and obvious.  I like Captain Carter as a character, but I just wish that she got more interesting things to do here.  Fortunately, the finale gives her a much better capper to her story than her actual episode.    

8. "Thor Were an Only Child?" - The silliest installment of the lot, that keeps compounding the visual gags and the cameos and the jokes as Thor goes on an epic party bender, wrecks Earth, and is finally forced to shape up by Captain Marvel and his mother.  I like Jane Foster in this quite a bit, since it shows her getting giddy and flustered from her encounters with Thor, but I don't think I've ever liked Thor less.  Even if he's supposed to be ridiculous, frat boy Thor's goofiness is way out of proportion in this one. 

9. "The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" - I was onboard for the morbid whodunit premise, but I didn't like the way that the story panned out, or the ultimate villain of the piece.  It also feels like this was added to the series at the last minute, as it's the only episode that isn't directly referenced in the finale.  

---

My Most Anticipated Web and Television Series of 2022

This looks like the year that many of the big budget, ambitious, blockbuster size shows are finally going to premiere.  There have been many delays, such that I've already written about many of the big titles of 2022 in previous posts, including "Sandman," and "Lord of the Rings."  However, there's plenty more television headed our way, and I'm also very interested in several returning series.

"Kids in the Hall" (Amazon Prime) - They're coming back!  The trend of reviving shows from the '80s and '90s continues with the return of the entire original cast of beloved Canadian sketch comedy show "Kids and the Hall" for at least eight more episodes.  I love these guys, and while they're all much older and grayer now, they're not too decrepit yet that I can't see them wringing a few more laughs out of some familiar material.  I can't wait to catch up with Buddy Cole, Gavin, Chicken Lady, and all the rest.  

"Moon Knight" (Disney+) - Most of the Disney+ MCU series of next year will revolve around new characters, and the most promising one on the list is definitely Moon Knight.  I know almost nothing about this superhero, except that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder and headlines one of the trippier, weirder titles in the Marvel universe.  However, somehow they convinced Oscar Isaac to play the title character, with Ethan Hawke onboard, probably as a villain.  Is it too much to hope that "Moon Knight" could be the MCU version of "Legion"? 

"The Essex Serpent" (Apple TV+) - Ooh, it's been a while since I've seen anything from Clio Barnard, who has made some fantastic films, including "The Arbor" and "The Selfish Giant."  This is a Gothic thriller, based on Sarah Perry's bestseller, that will star Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleson as a Victorian era pair who are on the trail of a mythological sea serpent.  However, the dangers that they face aren't of the supernatural variety.  Apple has a ton of interesting titles headed our way, and their track record has been pretty good so far, so I'm feeling good about this one.      

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" (Disney+) - I would be kidding myself if I didn't include this series on the list.  This was originally planned as a feature, but was shelved after "Solo: A Star Wars Story" didn't perform well.  I was not a fan of the "Star Wars" prequels, but Ewan McGregor was always the best thing about them, and the prospect of a six episode sequel series providing a coda to those films piques my interest.    Having a few key returning cast members from Episodes I-III is also very encouraging, though I'm more interested in the new characters played by Sung Kang, Indira Varma, and Kumail Nanjiani.  

"Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake" (HBO Max) - My dilemma with "Adventure Time" was always that my favorite part of the show was the distaff versions of the main characters, Finn and Jake, who appeared once only in a long while, as Fionna and Cake.  And now they're getting their own series!  The two characters, along with our old friend the Ice King, will be traveling the multiverse in a new adventure.  This will be a good opportunity for me to get back into this universe, as I've kinda lost track of the "Adventure Time" mythology over the last few years.

"The Crown" Season 5 (Netflix) - I've been very satisfied with the show so far, and we're looking at another cast and era change, which will bring Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, and Dominic West as Prince Charles.  The timeline will finally catch up to events that I actually lived through, which Peter Morgan also previously covered in his 2006 film, "The Queen."  I'm very curious as to how he's going to tackle the material this time.  Netflix has already set this for November of 2022.

"House of the Dragon" (HBO) - Okay, HBO.  You've got a fabulous cast that includes Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, and Matt Smith in place for your  big "Game of Thrones" prequel.  You've got Miguel Sapochnik onboard as a showrunner.  You've decided to use George R.R. Martin's own history of the Targaryen family (unfinished of course) as the basis for the story.  All the pieces are in place for something that should be pretty watchable.  Please don't screw this up the way you did last time.  Thanks.  

---

My Least Anticipated Movies of 2022

I skipped writing  this feature last year, when everything going on in the film world was still very up in the air, and it was very iffy as to whether particular films were going to see a release at all.  However, there were plenty of bad movies that came out in 2021, and if we include all the junk that finds its way to streaming, the options are really endless.  It's time to indulge my worst, snobby elitist impulses and point out some of the minefields I intend to avoid this year.  Please keep in mind that I sincerely hope that I'm wrong about all of the movies mentioned in this post, and that they beat the odds and actually turn out to be decent cinema. But if past years are any indication, it's likely this will be the last time you see discussion of any of these titles on this blog.  Let's get our snark on!

First, let's run down the big franchises.  "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" has lost Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg, and just about any recognizable tie to the prior "Transformers" movies except the actual Transformers.  It looks like we're getting into the "Beast Wars" material, the only "Transformers" series I actually watched, but I have absolutely no interest in this.  I have no goodwill left for "Transformers" of any stripe.  Then there's the third "Fantastic Beasts" movie, which I feel everyone was contractually obligated to make and release, and we'll all feel a lot better when it's over and done with, and we can ignore the Wizarding World and J.K. Rowling for a while.  Finally, we have "Jurassic Park: Dominion," which will mark Colin Trevorrow's return to the franchise.  And this is where I remind you that he hasn't directed a film since "Book of Henry."

Crummy animated children's films are a major bane of my existence these days.  Sometimes these high-numbered sequels turn out to be unexpectedly good, because the creators get an unexpected amount of creative leeway to go a little nuts.  "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" looks like a good candidate for this.  However, I don't see that happening with "Minions: the Rise of Gru," the sequel to "Minions" (2015) and prequel to the "Despicable Me" series.  And if you think that gap between sequels seems a little extreme, there's also "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" which comes eleven years after "Shrek" spin off "Puss in Boots."  There's also a "Sonic the Hedgehog" sequel, but the first one was good enough that I'll probably give that one a shot.  Franky, I'm less sure about giving  "Avatar 2" the time of day, which is currently supposed to be released in December.  And yes, I count the first "Avatar" as an animated film.    

Delays are never a good sign, even though we're still in COVID times. And films expected to be major blockbusters showing up too early in the year is bad.  So, the endlessly drama-plagued "Uncharted" movie coming out in February signals a lot about its expected quality.  Frankly, I'm amazed that this one actually got made after all this time.  We also have "Morbius," the Jared Leto starring superhero film that is part of Sony's Spider-verse, being moved to January, despite originally being intended to come out in the summer of 2020.  It's actually kind of comforting to see a Roland Emmerich disaster film showing up in theaters again.  This one is "Moonfall," where the moon will get knocked out of orbit and crash into the Earth, causing plenty of CGI-enhanced disaster for the celebrity cast to navigate.  But will it be any good?  Probably not.      

Oh, and I should mention that "Jackass Forever" and "A Madea Homecoming" are both set for 2022 releases, but I've made peace with those movies serving their respective audiences in a way that I will never understand or appreciate.  So, shine on you crazy diamonds.  Shine on.

---