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.”