Mad Love: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Gets a Trailer

 

It’s wild to me that Todd Phillips’ Joker was released nearly five years ago but, then again, it’s been a wild five years. Given its dark subject matter, it’s not a film I’ve revisited often over the years – I think I’ve only seen it once more at home since its theatrical run – I’ve always appreciated Joaquin Phoenix’s excellently nuanced portrayal of Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian whose own struggles with reality make him an unreliable narrator. What’s real? What isn’t? Who is truly the villain? Lots of questions, no real answers. Is it a tad derivative of Martin Scorsese? At times. But there’s a lot of craftsmanship there, too.

Given Joker’s tenuous-at-best connection with the larger Batman mythos (it takes place in Gotham, the Wayne family lives there, and a murderous clown winds up in an asylum called Arkham), it didn’t seem like it was laying the foundation for a franchise. Yet, here we are, with Joker: Folie à Deux teaming Phoenix’s Fleck with Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn … or at least a version of Harley that’s apparently an inmate at Arkham when Joker meets her and not a psychiatrist like in most iterations of the character. But, hey, like the original, this is its own thing and picking nits is annoying.

The trailer for Phillips’ Joker sequel is out, and it looks unhinged. From apparent musical numbers to wanton destruction to Lady Gaga being, well, Lady Gaga, this is one that we’re going to be talking a LOT about when it arrives in theaters October 4.

Check out the trailer below!

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is as Messy as it Looks

Godzilla is having a moment. The classic kaiju is in the middle of a monster renaissance following the critical and commercial success of Toho’s $15 million Godzilla Minus One – which also netted the big guy his first Oscar for special effects – and now his American counterpart is stomping the box office alongside King Kong in Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

I will preface this by saying I’m not always the biggest fan of the films in this MonsterVerse franchise. Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla left me cold when I first watched it – I still struggle with its pacing – and its sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, was exciting to me at first but it doesn’t hold up on rewatches. Meanwhile, Kong: Skull Island is criminally underrated as a fun creature feature period piece with a wild ensemble cast.

This brings us to Godzilla vs. Kong which, I feel, is the strongest film in this franchise. Despite the weird Hollow Earth science (more on that later), this movie gave me everything I wanted out of a movie in which Godzilla and Kong, well, fight each other. The set pieces are satisfying, the human cast doesn’t get in the way, and the inevitable conclusion in which the Titans team up to battle a common foe – in this case, Mechagodzilla – was great even though we all saw it coming. Director Adam Wingard nailed it, and I was confident that Godzilla x Kong would be just as big of a crowd pleaser. It is … but it also very much isn’t.

To start with what I liked most about this movie, I thought the finale was FANTASTIC. Seeing Godzilla and Kong form the biggest tag team of all kind against common enemies – all while a baby Kong-esque ape named Suko scurries around the battlefield – is an absolute delight. I sat with a stupid grin on my face watching monsters pull off honest-to-goodness wrestling moves, use buildings as weapons, fight in  zero gravity, and perform crazy anime-esque team-up attacks. And sometimes, that’s all you need to walk out of a theater happy.

Unfortunately, that action only accounts for a few minutes of the overall running time. In fact, Godzilla and Kong don’t even really interact with each other until the final battle as the film inexplicably chooses to keep them separated for most of the movie. You see, even though Kong saved Godzilla’s life in the last film, Big G would absolutely MAUL Kong if he ever left Hollow Earth. So, while Kong is dealing with Hollow Earth ape adversary Scar King, his captive ice monster Shimo, and an army of simian servants, Godzilla is … sleeping.

Yes, Godzilla sleeps a lot in this movie. Whether he’s celebrating a victory over a giant spider in Rome by napping in the Coliseum or he’s powering up with an arctic catnap to change into his new, slimmer, and massively toyetic new form, Godzilla spends a lot of time not being in the movie at all. This serves a narrative purpose for the most part (he senses danger in Hollow Earth and is evolving so he can deal with it), but one wonders why you would sideline the dude with top billing in the title for so much of the film.

That danger in Hollow Earth leads us to the human cast. Rebecca Hall and Kaylee Hottle return as Kong expert Dr. Ilene Andrews and her adopted daughter Jia, who has a strong connection with the native people who inhabit Hollow Earth. Brian Tyree Henry is back as Titan-obsessed conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes and Dan Stevens joins the group as Trapper, who is introduced while extracting and replacing a broken tooth from Kong’s mouth. Yep, kaiju dentistry is a thing.

The human cast does a fine job – Henry gets most of the one-liners and laughs here – but unfortunately the movie stops dead whenever it focuses on them. I know that’s a given in these types of movies, but I can’t stress enough how boring this movie is whenever it isn’t showing us giant monsters. And yet, here are the humans droning on and on about Hollow Earth science, gravitational wells and, oh, a “Chosen One” prophecy that both pulls the attention even further away from the main stars and seemingly retcons another movie in this franchise. Cool, cool, cool.

But from the Hollow Earth to the haphazard expansion of Titan lore, it’s beginning to feel like these movies are becoming a lot more complicated and confusing than they need to be. Although it’s almost unfair to compare the two at this point, I can’t help but think of how Godzilla Minus One told a compelling human story with characters that I cared about while also delivering on the spectacle I would expect from a modern Godzilla movie. There’s something to be learned here.

Overall, though, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a bewildering homage to the kaiju flicks of yesteryear – for better and for worse.  You’ll probably love the giant monster fights when they actually happen, but you’ll be tempted to look at your phone during just about everything else.  

 

Sony Releases New ‘Spider-Verse’ Short Film, ‘The Spider Within’

In a move that was wildly surprising to me (admittedly, much of my free time has been eaten up by hours and hours of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth the past few days), Sony just released a short film featuring Miles Morales, titled The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story. The short, directed by Jarelle Dampier, was originally screened at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and is available to the general public for the very first time.

Although brief at just over seven minutes, the film does an excellent job showing the chaos Miles regularly contends with as his universe’s solo Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man along with the accompanying psychological toll it takes on him.

Like all things Spider-Verse, The Spider Within is visually arresting with surprising depth. It also has me climbing the walls for Beyond the Spider-Verse … whenever that finally gets here.

Watch The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story below!

‘Frozen Empire’ is the ‘Ghostbusters’ Sequel I’ve Always Wanted

Let’s be honest, the history of sequels to Ivan Reitman’s groundbreaking sci-fi/comedy Ghostbusters has been as tumultuous as the Tunguska Blast of 1909. Following the wild success of the original film and the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and toy line, Ghostbusters II released in 1989, and despite the love so many of us have for this sequel – developed as a course-correction cash-in for troubled Sony Pictures – general audiences and critics saw it as a by-the-numbers retread of its funnier predecessor. It also had the misfortune of releasing the same summer as mega-blockbuster Batman, which came out just one week later.

Then there were the ‘90s and the swirling, omnipresent rumors of a third Ghostbusters movie that persisted into the 2000s. Dan Aykroyd insisted it would happen, news of script drafts kept interest alive, but aside from a surprisingly solid video game in 2009, anyone hoping for further adventures of Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore were left in the spectral dust.

And then the 2016 remake happened … and there was much online toxicity. We don’t need to go over that, but I will say that the movie didn’t deserve the hate it receive.

That leads us to Ghostbuster: Afterlife, Jason Reitman’s sentimental tribute to both his father and the late Harold Ramis. I thoroughly enjoyed the film for what it was, appreciating the introduction of the Spengler family (Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard), the always affable Paul Rudd, and other new characters set to continue the franchise for the foreseeable future. I loved seeing the returning original cast, I dug the new surprises (namely the insanely toyetic Mini-Pufts), and I thought it was a competent story that blended the original Ghostbusters lore with a dash of Stranger Things and a sprinkle of The Goonies. I wasn’t as crazy about the third act, which was mostly a retread of the original 1984 film (sound familiar?), but I also acknowledged that this movie was more a soft reboot for future sequels than a true Ghostbusters 3 in the traditional sense.

That future, my slime-soaked friends, is here. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now playing in theaters, and despite what many critics have been saying, this movie is an absolute blast.

The film opens with the Spengler family now operating as New York’s premier paranormal investigators thanks to a little help from the entrepreneurial Winston. They’re living in the classic Tribeca firehouse, they’re responding to calls in the Ecto-1, and they’re dealing with a certain ugly little spud who’s been squatting in the attic. Ray’s still running an occult bookstore and now a YouTube channel thanks to the tech-savvy Podcast (Logan Kim), Winston’s running a research lab to develop new Ghostbusters tech where Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) from Afterlife has been interning, and Peter is … well, he’s doing Peter stuff. But when a mysterious object enters Ray’s shop, weird things start happening … heralding the forthcoming arrival of an evil deity named Garraka poised to command an army of ghosts and unleash a new Ice Age.

Perhaps what I like most about Frozen Empire is that it feels like a long episode of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon which, according to director Gil Kenan, was entirely the point. From wacky new ghosts to wild new gadgets, this movie is jam-packed with interesting things to look at. Kumail Nanjiani is fantastic as a con artist who could very well hold the key to saving mankind, while Patton Oswalt – though barely in the film – injects some much-needed giddiness into the expository scenes as a folklore expert confined to the basement of the New York Public Library.

McKenna Grace’s Phoebe gets an interesting story arc as the ‘buster who is too young for actual field work, and it’s that alienation from her family/team that leads her to develop a relationship with a kindred spirit – pun intended – in the form of the spectral Melody (Emily Alyn Lind). Grace does a lot of the emotional heavy lifting in this film, and she was more than up to the task. I also never anticipated seeing a storyline like this in a Ghostbusters film, which was refreshing.

As Frozen Empire reaches its effects-laden finale – which features Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) donning  Ghostbusters gear for the first time in a film, there is unfortunately a sense that the cast is a little too crowded, with about a dozen Ghostbusters of all ages battling Garraka during the climax. Should this series continue, and I hope it does, there will come a point in time when we must trim the roster a bit. Not everyone needs to zip up a tan jumpsuit and throw on a proton pack every time there’s busting to do … even though it makes them feel good after all these years.

And that overstuffing isn’t just limited to the Ghostbusters themselves. It occasionally seems like the filmmakers felt pressured to include a reference to the original two films every few minutes out of fear that longtime fans would be bored. This tendency was especially prevalent during a sequence that took place at the aforementioned New York Public Library, but I won’t spoil that here.

Overall, Frozen Empire does an excellent job building off what Afterlife accomplished, expanding the Ghostbusters mythology while adhering – at times to its detriment – to what came before. It’s funny, it has heart, and it takes some bold risks. Let’s hope they keep taking them.

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Brings High Republic Era to Live Action

Fans of Star Wars: The High Republic are FEASTING right now.

Launched in 2021, The High Republic is a multimedia project spanning books, comics, audiobooks, and other media – including the charming Young Jedi Adventures animated children’s series – that’s set long before The Phantom Menace. Jedi are swashbuckling peacekeepers and adventurers protecting the galaxy from space vikings, evil monster plants and other nefarious forces that threaten peace and prosperity in the Republic.

The books and comics are a lot of fun, and if your complaint about Star Wars media outside the shows and films is that nothing of consequence can really happen to the main characters since we already know their fate, you might want to start with Charles Soule’s Light of the Jedi and keep going. Bad stuff happens throughout this era, and unless their name is Master Yoda, there’s always a sense that a major character might die at any given moment.

This brings us to Star Wars: The Acolyte, Lucasfilm’s first live-action project set during the High Republic era. Created by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland, The Acolyte revolves around a mysterious, rampaging Jedi killer, and if the official trailer is any indication, we’re in for lots and lots of martial arts and lightsaber fights when The Acolyte debuts June 4 on Disney+. I like exploring stories outside The Skywalker Saga, and I like it even more when Star Wars takes risks. I’m so here for this. 

Side note: Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi Master just feels so, so right.

Check out the trailer below!

Non-Spoiler Review: ‘X-Men ‘97’ Is So Much Better Than You Think It Is

At first, I got a tear in my eye from the lovingly updated intro. Then I got misty watching the team take down Sentinels just like they always did. Then, someone must have been cutting onions during the final five minutes of the second episode.

But yes, I watched the two-episode premiere of X-Men ’97 on Disney+ and, yes, it’s everything I wanted this series to be and more.

From the modern animation that showcases the X-Men’s powers like never before to suitably grown-up storytelling to the moments that massively impact the futures of these characters, this series is a worthy sequel to the cartoon that got so many of us hooked on Marvel in the 1990s.

With Professor X gone, Cyclops assumes leadership of the X-Men as the group continues their fight against the bigoted anti-mutant group, The Friends of Humanity. But, as was revealed in the trailer, that leadership is called into question when Magneto appears and reveals that Charles Xavier’s last will and testament left everything – including his school – to The Master of Magnetism. What ensues in the second episode is too juicy to spoil here, but I will say that team, personal, and family dynamics are set to shift dramatically.

As was the case with many of you, X-Men was a cornerstone of my ‘90s childhood, and I awaited this sequel series with enthusiasm, trepidation and, at moments, dread. After all, we’ve seen beloved ‘90s series brought back with disastrous results in recent years. But I’m happy to report that Marvel Animation crushed it, and we’re in for an X-citing ride.

Does ‘Dune: Part Two’ Live Up to the Hype?

Um. Yeah. Pretty much.

Much is being said about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, the latter half of his epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, which began in 2021. The performances! The scale! The popcorn bucket! Like sand in the Arrakis desert, excitement around the Dune saga is everywhere … and rightfully so!

But I’ll come right out and say it: I was never a Dune fan. The original, MASSIVE book felt impenetrable to me and there wasn’t a lot drawing me to the David Lynch Dune earlier in life, what with its cat milking and battle pugs. Of course, as the first film neared release, I scooped up a copy of the book in the summer of 2021 to ride the hype train like a Fremen atop a sandworm.  I made it about 40 pages in. I was lost. It sat on my nightstand for two years.

I have since seen Dune: Part 1 at least three times, and I enjoy it overall! Villeneuve transformed a tome that was for half a century considered to be unfilmable into a beautiful and raw piece of cinema. Sure, it’s a tad slow and heavy on the worldbuilding. And sure, the movie ends just when the story starts to get really good. But that first installment proved to general audiences – and perhaps most importantly, to Warner Bros. Discovery – that Dune was a blockbuster franchise. Now, nearly three years later, we’ve got our conclusion. Or, at least, the middle chapter of a Dune trilogy given how it ends.

Picking up right where the first film left off, we catch up with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), embedded with Arrakis’ native Fremen, a group that includes the faithful Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and the skeptical Chani (Zendaya). After the Atreides family was decimated by the nefarious Harkonnens in the first film, Paul seeks seek to strike back against the cruel and revolting Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), whose nephews Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) are hardly lacking in cruelty of their own. Meanwhile, the calculating Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) and his daughter, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), look on with great interest as the conflict over Arrakis’ spice – one of the most powerful substances in the universe – continues to escalate. Perhaps that’s all thanks to their own machinations. But you didn’t hear that from them.

Of course, there is much knife fighting, worm riding, and Ornithoptering throughout the film’s 2 hours and 46-minute running time, but what truly propels this film is the performances. From Chalamet’s simmering malevolence to Butler’s unhinged menace to Skarsgård’s literal and figurative sliminess, everyone is at the top of their game. Zendaya in particular elevates Chani as the story takes her character on a journey that’s slightly different from the Chani of the book, and I can’t wait to see where she goes next.

And speaking of where Dune goes next, this is where media literacy comes in or, perhaps, our collective lack of it. It’s startling to see how many people on social media have completely misinterpreted Paul’s messianic ascent, viewing him as a heroic conqueror by the end of the film despite Villeneuve’s dedication to Herbert’s original intent. If they don’t get why the end of this movie means very bad things for the universe, they’ll understand completely when Villeneuve’s Dune: Messiah rolls around … I hope.

Dune: Part Two is already being considered one of the greatest genre sequels of all time – up there with The Dark Knight, Aliens and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I’m not sure I agree just yet, but I will say that Dune: Part Two is one of the best films I’ve seen lately, and it deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. As for the popcorn buckets, hey, I won’t judge.  Don’t be afraid to buy one. As they say, “Fear is the mind-killer.” 

SNIKT! ‘X-Men ‘97’ Trailer Hints at Suitably Epic Return for Classic Cartoon

 

Wait … did Gambit just charge up Wolverine’s CLAWS?

Wait … is Jean Grey PREGNANT?

Wait … did that Daily Bugle headline mention the HELLFIRE GALA?

Wait … is Magneto now in charge of the X-MEN?!

These were the questions I asked myself when I first laid eyes on the debut trailer for Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97, arriving on Disney+ March 20. The new series picks up where the original 1990s X-Men cartoon – arguably one of the best children’s animated series of all time – left off nearly three decades ago. With Professor Xavier gone, Cyclops assumes leadership of the team, which is tasked with continuing his fight for mutant equality … while also scrapping with some giant purple-and-pink robots while they’re at it.

The animation is updated, the character designs are tweaked, some of the voices have changed and the animation has a more modern and almost anime style, but this trailer affirms my hope that the new series will be more than worth the wait based on the, well, waits I listed above. 

Speaking of the trailer, watch it below, bub!

Marvel Studios Reveals ‘Fantastic Four’ Cast, Release Date

 

Marvel loves us. Clearly.

Just days after the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer sent fans into a foaming frenzy, Marvel Studios celebrated Valentine’s Day with a big, sloppy kiss to fans in the form of a Fantastic Four movie cast reveal.

Following months of speculation, Marvel finally confirmed who will be playing Marvel’s First Family in the anticipated film.

·        Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, The Last of Us) – Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic

·        Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Napoleon) – Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman

·        Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, Andor) – Ben Grimm/The Thing

·        Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) – Johnny Storm/The Human Torch

I have no notes. There’s a lot riding on this film – aside from the X-Men, this is the team that we’ve all been waiting for to make its debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, we haven’t really gotten a great or arguably a good Fantastic Four film yet, so the pressure is on for this one to deliver. But based on the cast, we’re off to a tremendous, nay, a FANTASTIC start.

Marvel Studios also revealed the Fantastic Four release date: July 25, 2025.

Marvel Studios Introduces Disney’s Greatest Love Story with First ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Teaser Trailer

 

Sure, the Super Bowl ended in fairytale fashion with Travis Kelce celebrating a hard-fought gridiron victory by smooching his pop megastar girlfriend Taylor Swift, but let’s be real: The night’s true power couple was a cantankerous clawed Canadian and a foul-mouthed mercenary with a thing for Crocs and unicorns.

Yep, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool is back … and this time, he’s very much in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The trailer for the third Deadpool film – now named Deadpool & Wolverine – brings us up to speed on Wade Wilson, whose last film was somehow six years ago. When agents from Loki’s infamous Time Variance Authority come knocking at his door, DP is pulled into a self-aware adventure that promises to change the MCU as we know it … or just s*** all over it, I’m not quite sure yet. 

But what I am sure of is that we’ll get at least one scene featuring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in his most comic book-accurate costume to date, plenty of meta humor, and more than a few familiar faces popping in. Hell, they brough back Pyro from the original 2000s X-Men trilogy, and if the rumors are true, he’s not the only surprise character from the 20^th Century Fox Marvel films who will be making their return. I can’t wait. This thing is gonna be BONKERS. 

Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters July 26. Watch the teaser below!

P.S., was I hallucinating, or was there a trailer for a Twister sequel during the Super Bowl? What a time to be alive.

Disney and Epic Games Collaborate on New Universe Connected to Fortnite

As a 40-year-old man with far too many hobbies, I’ll warily admit that I dabble in Fortnite from time to time. Whether popping in to spend way too much money on a new Star Wars skin or killing time while another game downloads, Fortnite serves as an easy-to-pick-up palate cleanser that’s a lot more fun and immersive than a lot of people my age assume it is. I’m also pretty terrible at it.

Well, I might be spending a lot more time getting one-shotted by buff Peter Griffins following news that Disney and Fortnite makers Epic Games are teaming up to bring us “an all-new gams and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences.”

According to the press release, which you can read in full here, the new experience will connect to Fortnite, and “the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love. This will all be powered by Unreal Engine.”

Disney is also investing $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games as part of this multiyear project.

So might we soon see Lightning McQueen do the griddy through Pandora as Babu Frik wields a Keyblade against Goofy in Iron Man armor? God, I hope so.

Watch the announcement video below!

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Trailer Reaction: More Slime, More Ghosts, More Bustin’

 

I’m gonna be real with you: I didn’t love the first trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the much-anticipated follow-up to Jason Reitman’s surprisingly good and immensely tear-inducing Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Based on that initial trailer, the new film seemed like a lifeless retread and, at worst, generic.

Having seen the new trailer for Frozen Empire – I still don’t love the title – I’m a lot more optimistic. Could it be because it’s absolutely loaded with fan service? Probably. But it’s also got a miniature Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man happily getting his arm shredded in a pencil sharpener. See? Franchises can give you something new these days, ya cynics.

But, yeah. About the absolute smattering of fan service … We’ve got William Atherton back as Walter Peck, we’ve got Janine Melnitz in uniform. We’ve got Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson involved for more than an end-of-movie cameo. We’ve got a return to the New York Public Library and the re-emergence of the Librarian Ghost that’s been giving me nightmares for 37 years. We’ve also got Slimer, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Paul Rudd slinging a particle throw and a brand-new ghost villain who ISN’T Gozer.

But perhaps my favorite thing in the trailer is the fact that Rudd’s character actually seems to quote the Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters theme, which means that it actually exists in-universe. And based on Carrie Coons/Callie Spengler’s reaction, they have the same mixed emotions about that “bustin’ makes me feel good” line as we do in our world.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is directed by Gil Kenan and hits theaters March 22. Watch the trailer below!

‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 3 Promises Big Return, Big Finale

When people talk about Star Wars steward Dave Filoni’s best works, they often leave out The Bad Batch, his Clone Wars spinoff featuring a toyetic group of genetically augmented clone troopers who find themselves on the run from the Republic-Turned-Empire. And you know what, those people are wrong! The Bad Batch is a great show, and despite having some slower and more deliberate episodes during its two-season run, this is a solid entry in the animated Star Wars canon and I’m sorry to see it go.

But it’s going out with a bang if the new trailer is to be believed. Following the heart-wrenching loss of Tech, Season 3 is set to feature the remaining members of Clone Force 99 rescuing Omega – a young, female clone of Jango Fett – from Imperial imprisonment. But they’ll be facing other enemies in that galaxy far, far away … namely Count Dooku’s former apprentice, Asajj Ventress! And she’s got a cool new hairstyle!

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 begins Feb. 21. Check out the trailer below! 

The Mandalorian and Grogu Head to Theaters

 

Although I wasn’t particularly enamored with The Mandalorian’s third season – it was fun but didn’t quite reach the meteoric highs of the first two seasons – I’m intrigued by news that Din Djarin and his little, green, and marketable buddy Grogu are going to star in a feature film entering production this year.

StarWars.com reports that Jon Favreau will direct The Mandalorian and Grogu (likely a working title), with Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni joining him as producers.

“I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” said Favreau in a statement. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.”

"Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen," added Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm.

My hope here is that the film looks, feels, and plays out like an honest-to-goodness Star Wars film and is not merely an extended and slightly more expensive-looking episode of the series. Plus, with Mando and Grogu’s story tying up nicely in the final moments of Season 3, I’m curious as to what this “new story” will entail and how much money I will be somehow compelled to spend on new Grogu merchandise when it gets here.

In other news, Ahsoka Season 2 is officially in production, and the below concept art featuring Ahsoka Tano and her apprentice Sabine Wren standing on one of the mammoth statues featured in the first season’s finale sets up what just might be the best “pull my finger” joke of all time!