March madness

roundup

From Marvel’s shakeup amidst internal turmoil to Pedro Pascal’s continuing world domination and Gwyneth Paltrow’s curious choice of eyewear, here’s what went down in the world of entertainment during the month of March.

Film

- Everything Everywhere All at Once won everything everywhere all at once, and all was right with the world multiverse.

- We marked the one year anniversary of The Slap by wondering … how has it been a year already, and holy heck, where did the time go??

- Netflix continued making movies that were best classified under the “why even bother” genre of filmmaking.

- Marvel gave us lots of drama; unfortunately almost all of it was of the backstage variety. Disney decided to merge Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios and fire controversial Chairman Isaac Perlmutter (supposedly as part of its cost-cutting layoffs), soon after getting rid of Victoria Alonso (because she breached her noncompete clause and/or clashed with Disney over censoring LGBTQ+ content overseas). 

The behind-the-scenes drama was more interesting than the last several MCU films combined.

- Lucasfilm cancelled several upcoming instalments of the Star Wars franchise, then announced some more so that they have something to cancel in a couple of years.

- Shazam! Fury of the Gods x (The Rock + the Snyderverse + the James Gunn DCU reset + superhero fatigue + the overall averageness of the movie) = box office bomb.

- John Wick 4 sucker-punched us with that ending, while reaffirming the series’ central theme: don’t mess with someone’s dog, yo.

- Gwyneth Paltrow showed us that a ski-crash trial is probably not the best platform for Jeffrey Dahmer cosplay. If this was an attempt to audition for the role of the serial killer in a biopic though, then … yeah, the Oscar pretty much wins itself.

- And Kamli, Joyland, and What’s Love Got to Do with It? were among the winners at this year's Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival. Because yes, we are awesome. Thank you for finally noticing, world!

Music

- Collaboration sets were in vogue this month as artists teamed up with each other because we all need someone, you guys. There were releases by Kaskade and Deadmau5 (as Kx5); Talib Kweli and Madlib; Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro; and Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily, among others, and we are not complaining. 

- Album announcements: March revealed that coming to our ears soonish will be new offerings from Alison Goldfrapp (May), Yusuf / Cat Stevens (June), Jenny Lewis (June), and Christine and the Queens (June). Also, Def Leppard announced that they have teamed up with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a collaborative album featuring new versions of their classic songs (May). And Matchbox Twenty revealed that they will release their first new album in over a decade (May).

- Brendon Urie effectively broke up with himself when his band, Panic! at the Disco – an outfit with literally one remaining permanent member – performed its final concert.

- Nearly five decades after her death, Mama Cass continued to inspire everyone to make your own kind of music.

- Miley Cyrus’s stupid ‘Flowers’ continued to be stuck in our stupid head as we continued to lose our stupid will to live.

- And yeah it’s been a month and a half, and no we still don’t know how Harry Styles won that Grammy either.

Television

- The Mandalorian released its third season, which is really season 4 because The Book of Boba Fett, but whatevs.

- Between The Mandalorian and the massively popular The Last of Us, Pedro Pascal's world domination continued. (And no, we should not focus on Harry Styles, Pedro!)

- Swarm created quite a buzz.

- Up Here was bafflingly unawesome.

- Tyra Banks announced she was leaving her Dancing with the Stars co-hosting gig. Julianne Hough will serve as her replacement. Who still watches DWTS though and what went wrong with their life is basically what our question is.

- Netflix made its foray into live events with its first ever livestream in the form of the Chris Rock stand-up comedy special Selective Outrage. So now there’s another thing Netflix can be aggressively mediocre at. 

- By Sameen Amer

Instep, The News on Sunday - 2nd April, 2023 *

In the picture: John Wick: Chapter 4

movie review

The fourth film in the very entertaining John Wick series delivers lots more action and even some affecting consequences.

John Wick: Chapter 4 ★★★1/2

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Ian McShane

Directed by: Chad Stahelski

Tagline: Baba Yaga.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is basically a 3-hour long string of action sequences. And what a glorious string of action sequences it is!

The movie continues the tale of Keanu Reeves’ titular super-assassin as he attempts to settle the score and find the peace – whatever form it may take – that has eluded him since whatshisface made the very unfortunate decision to kill Wick’s dog.

Familiar faces return as we go around the world, from New York to Osaka to Berlin to Paris, with The High Table – represented this time by Bill Skarsgård’s odious Marquis Vincent de Gramont – still trying to eliminate Wick, while the protagonist continues his quest for revenge against the nefarious criminal organization.

Lots and lots of fighting ensues. You’ve got skirmishes of all varieties with some innovative choreography on display here, the body count soaring with each well-crafted, well-performed, hyper-stylized action set piece.

It does feel a little overlong and there are times when the epic run of violence starts to border on tedium, but what keeps Chapter 4 riveting is the fact that we are already invested in the fate of its characters. (There isn’t enough character building in this instalment on its own, so make sure you watch the previous three films first if you really want to enjoy this episode.)  

The wins make you cheers, the losses resonate. Reeves is always easy to root for, the supporting performances are terrific – Donnie Yen (playing a blind assassin) and Hiroyuki Sanada (portraying the manager of the Osaka Continental) particularly stand out; and there are characters – like Rina Sawayama’s Akira – who have so much potential as the franchise goes on.

Chad Stahelski makes sure that everything, from the adrenaline rush to the sombre tones, hits its mark. 

All in all, Chapter 4 is yet another entertaining instalment of what has been a solid action series. Enjoy the impressive fight choreography and stunt work, and feel quite a few emotions as the film reaches its tragic but satisfying conclusion.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

- By Sameen Amer

Instep, The News on Sunday - 2nd April, 2023 *