• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Bg Elvis 10

      Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1973-1975)

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2017
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    The Big Movies of 2021: July-December

    By Matthew Martin
    | February 9, 2021
    Movie Blogs

    After 2020 there’s nowhere for Hollywood to go but up, right? Surely we can’t go down any lower…I suppose we can stay at the bottom, though. There’s a depressing thought.

    No, let’s not. Let’s be positive. Let’s hope and pray that we get all the movies promised to us this year because there are many and many of them look great. Here are just a few of the films I’m most excited about seeing, whether sincerely or ironically, scheduled to release in the second half of 2021.

    This is part two in the look-ahead at the movies of 2021. You can see the previous article here, which covered the films coming in the first half of the year…

    The Big Movies of 2021: January-June

    Or not, because half of those movies have already been bumped to the second half of 2021.

    Sigh.

    JULY

    TOP GUN MAVERICK

    Top Gun Maverick Movie Logo

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s a punchline. It’s the end of a joke about sequels and reboots. It’s the 1980’s macho-explosion with sweaty volleyball, aviator glasses, cheesy dialogue, and an absolutely incredible soundtrack. It’s going to be all of that but thirty-five years later. It’s an excuse for Tom Cruise to continue his dancing on the thin line between “stunt” and “attempted suicide.”

    It’s going to be terrible.

    HYPE LEVEL: 11/10

    Shut up.

    Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

    YouTube privacy policy

    If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

    I can’t wait.

    SHANG CHI

    Shang Chi Movie Logo

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s Marvel’s next new hero movie. The origins of the character are fascinating, in that he did not spring out of the mind of Stan Lee (as most of the heroes of the MCU did). Instead, back in the 70s Marvel tried to buy the rights to make comics based on the Kung Fu TV show. Warner Bros (owners of DC comics) controlled the rights, however, and didn’t want to sell to their comic rival. So Marvel instead acquired the rights to Dr. Fu Manchu and related characters (from a series of novels by Sax Rohmer). Working from the outside-in, Marvel developed a complex backstory and mythology around the Shang Chi character and even though he never reached the heights of, say, Iron Man or Thor, there is a lot of potential in the new franchise.

    HYPE LEVEL: 9/10

    Assuming it retains its Kung Fu roots, this can be a lot of fun, mixing MCU-heroism and old school martial arts adventures.

    AUGUST

    THE SUICIDE SQUAD

    New Suicide Squad Poster 2

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s a part-sequel, part-reboot of Suicide Squad, a film so frustratingly bad it managed to win the DCEU an Academy Award…because the only plausible explanation for the universe is that Loki himself is running things. In the director’s chair is James Gunn, of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. During his short hiatus from the MCU, he was hired to make this, and evidentially the work was highly rewarding, with the writer/director calling it the best story he’s ever written. The cast is big, audacious, and colorful. The teasers shown so far show Gunn’s trademark dark sense of humor on full display. All signs point to a winner.

    HYPE LEVEL: 8/10

    I’m hyped, but I’m also a bit wary. Warner/DC hasn’t had too many hits to build up enough goodwill, and Gunn’s non GOTG movies are hit and miss, in my opinion (if not outright terrible).  I want this to succeed but I also can envision a scenario where everyone walks away disappointed. Hopefully not.

    SEPTEMBER

    DEATH ON THE NILE

    Death On The Nile Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s the expected-sequel to the mild hit Murder on the Orient Express, greenlit off the heels of the hugely successful Knives Out. If this movie is a hit somewhere in between those two films, Hollywood will surely greenlight a bunch more of “whodunit” movies in response. That’s alright with me. Death on the Nile is not as famous as Murder on the Orient Express but it’s just as beloved by Agatha Christie fans.

    HYPE LEVEL: 9/10

    Orient Express was wonderful. Everyone involved in that production is back, the source material is just as great, the cast is excellent. How can this fail to be at least as good?

    A QUIET PLACE 2

    A Quiet Place Part 2 Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s the sequel to the unexpectedly “better than a horror movie should be” movie of 2018. The first movie was co-written and directed and starred John Krasinski who, after The Office, has become quite the versatile man in Hollywood. Between this and Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime, he’s broken free of the typecasting.

    Of course, he died in A Quiet Place so he’s just co-writing and directing this one, though I expect we’ll get some flashbacks with him in it. The bulk of the story is set after the events of the first and the monsters, who were defeated already, are apparently not going down without a fight.

    Most recently it was slated for April of this year, before being bumped (again) to September. Hopefully, it happens this time.

    HYPE LEVEL: 9/10

    Horror sequels rarely have the same impact as the first but I’m cautiously optimistic. The first one wasn’t just “dumb plot go boo” as it had solid acting and good themes at work. If you have the components of a good movie (story, acting, editing, direction), you can survive being a sequel. I think this one will.

    OCTOBER

    DUNE

    Dune Movie Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    Well, it’s Dune. It’s one of the biggest, most ambitious, and debatably best-selling science-fiction works ever. Dune is the latest in a long line of “un-adaptable” books, but that was a tag previously applied to such things as Lord of the Rings, Watchmen, and Game of Thrones. Dune was tried in 1984 and it proved to be “too soon.” David Lynch was in charge then, and his ambitions simply couldn’t be achieved with the technology of the day.

    The 2020 version is helmed by Denis Villeneuve, who made the incredible Arrival and the beautiful (and criminally underseen) Blade Runner 2049. The Dune series is much bigger than a single story but whether or not this becomes a film franchise to span the 20s will depend on the success of this movie. My heart says yes but my head says no. We’ll see.

    HYPE LEVEL: 10/10

    I know this: Even if the movie is a flop, commercially, Denis Villeneuve will make an excellent film. He’s the exact right person to tackle the project and I can’t wait to see what he does.

    NO TIME TO DIE 007

    James Bond No Time To Die Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s James Bond!

    HYPE LEVEL: 10/10

    It’s directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who helmed every episode of True Detective’s (stunning) first season. It’s also got Rami Malek playing the villain who may or may not be Dr. No. It’s going to be great. If you like James Bond, it’s going to be great.

    This movie has been delayed more times than I can count. Most recently it was slated for April but now it’s set for October. We’ll see.

    HALLOWEEN KILLS

    Halloween Kills Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s the sequel to the sequel of the original that pretended like all the original sequels never happened. In the previous film, Michael Myers died in the most “this guy is really dead for real” way possible. He was burned alive in a building as sealed-shut as Fort Knox.

    Naturally, he’s alive and back for more.

    HYPE LEVEL: 8/10

    The last one was a great coda and would have been a great end to the franchise. Will this spoil the moment or provide an actual “great end” to the franchise? We’ll see but I don’t have as much enthusiasm for it as I did the previous.

    LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

    Last Night In Soho Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s the next Edgar Wright film.  That’s all I need to know.

    HYPE LEVEL: 10/10

    It’s an Edgar Wright HORROR film! Hard not to be hyped. Plus it has Anna Taylor-Joy, who was mesmerizing in The Queen’s Gambit. It was supposed to come out this spring before getting pushed to October. A pattern is emerging.

    NOVEMBER

    ETERNALS

    Eternals Movie Logo

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s Marvel’s next mega-hit film. In canon, they were created to be the original defenders of Earth and their story spans eons. Whether or not this becomes a franchise unto itself or serves as a suitable launching pad for Richard Madden’s Ikaris will depend on how many hundreds of millions the film makes.

    HYPE LEVEL: 9/10

    The premise doesn’t appeal to me as much as an MCU Fantastic Four movie does, but I never doubt Kevin Feige.

    MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 7

    Mission Impossible Movie Logo

    WHAT IS IT?

    The latest in the long-running film franchise. There’s no plot synopsis released as of yet, but this isn’t the kind of film series that relies on the audience knowing the story beforehand. All you need to know is there will be scenes of Tom Cruise running, yelling, leaping, running, falling, hanging, running, and nearly dying. The plots are secondary in these movies, and the movies are always excellent (with the exception of part two).

    HYPE LEVEL: 10/10

    It’s hard not to be pumped when a film series has a track record like this. The past three in particular have been some of the best action-spy movies…ever. If this one even comes close to those it’ll be worth the wait.

    DECEMBER

    SPIDER-MAN (MCU) 3

    Spider Man Far From Home Peter Parker Tom Holland 4

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s the next Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movie. This will be the young actor’s sixth film as the wallcrawler, meaning he will have played the role in more movies than the previous two actors combined. This is also his third starring role as spidey, a feat only matched by Tobey Maguire. Let’s hope this “Spider-Man 3” is better than the last one (there’s no reason to doubt Kevin Feige or Jon Watts). The previous movie left things in an absolute mess for Peter Parker. Would fans of the character have it any other way?

    HYPE LEVEL: 10/10

    The MCU Spider-Man has been one of my favorite characters in the Disney playhouse. I’m excited to see where they take the hero in what will certainly be a big, character-upending story.

    BLACK ADAM

    Black Adam Poster

    WHAT IS IT?

    It’s DC’s next big comic book movie, a quasi prequel to Shazam, a vehicle for megastar Dwayne Johnson, and the introduction of a comic book character that’s arguably as layered and versatile as Marvel’s Dr. Doom. Black Adam can be a pure villain, an anti-hero, or a pure hero. He can tussle with Shazam, Superman, Green Lantern, the whole Justice League, or—as in this movie—the old Justice Society. If the movie’s a hit, and if DC is smart, they will start building Black Adam up as a Thanos-type villain, big enough to appear in multiple movies and require a major team-up to take down. Then again…

    HYPE LEVEL: 7/10

    …DC is not smart, and even with Dwayne Johnson’s star-power, there’s no guarantee of anything. My hype is restrained because Wonder Woman 1984 gets worse after each viewing, and I wouldn’t recommend watching it more than twice. Who knows, maybe Zack Snyder’s Justice League will reinvigorate my interest in the DCEU.

    That’s where we are now. That’s what we’re putting our hopes in.

    * * * * *

    So there’s the second half of 2021. Anyone want to take bets on whether or not they all release on time?

    Here’s to seeing movies…somehow, someway, somewhere.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    2021 Movies

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    0 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    You might also like

    • The Movies of 2020: For better or worse

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 11, 2021
    • Every Christopher Nolan movie ranked!

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 14, 2020
    • About the direction of Star Wars under Kathleen Kennedy…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 10, 2018

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Movie Topics

    Recommended for you

    • REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
    • Spirited Away remains Studio Ghibli’s “greatest” film

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 16, 2022
    • Read the Book Instead: The most disappointing book-to-film adaptations

      By Oliver Johnston
      | September 20, 2021
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz