Cillian Murphy is not thrilled to be here

Here’s something I completely disposed of while suspended in the year-end liminal space, the sequel to 28 Years Later, itself a late entry into the 28 Days Later franchise, opens this week. The premiere for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was held in London tonight/this afternoon (time is a construct etc etc).

In case you, too, forgot about this movie, here’s the trailer:

 

This is the film that brings Cillian Murphy back to the franchise, and let me tell you, he looks thrilled to be at the premiere!

I believe every story about Cillian Murphy being a chill dude who just doesn’t enjoy the promotional aspect of being a modern-day actor. Cillian Murphy would’ve loved the vaudeville circuit. He would love having someone else do the promo for him, a good old-fashioned barker to announce his latest show and he doesn’t have to face public until he steps on stage. Cillian Murphy is for the revues! Not the reviews!

The premiere also brought out director Nia DaCosta, who has been enjoying post-Marvel success with Hedda and now Bone Temple. Really, really glad that Marvels mess didn’t stick to her. I don’t think she was the problem, partly because The Marvels isn’t THAT bad—it’s not great, but perfectly watchable—but mostly because the problems it has are all the same MCU bullsh-t we’ve seen for almost two decades: poorly developed villain, too much stuff shoved into the story to set up other stuff, pacing, bland finale, you know the drill. Anyway, just glad to see DaCosta moving on and doing good work elsewhere. Marvel never deserved her.

What else happened today…

An unsurprising story in the Heated Rivalry universe, Hudson Williams says closeted athletes have reached out to him. I am sort of fascinated by hockey’s hold on romantic/erotic fiction, because the NHL is the one major US sports league with no out queer athletes, current or former. It’s not a very welcoming space yet romance writers and readers have embraced it as a whole ass genre. Could Heated Rivalry open some doors? Or will the NHL double down on their, er, less than stellar reputation for acceptance? How will the NHL handle an influx of new fans who come through Heated Rivalry? I am interested to see how this plays out in real hockey. (Celebitchy)

There was entirely too much stuff going on last weekend, including the BAFTA Tea Party. Some people tried (Teyana Taylor, Tramell Tillman, Rhea Seehorn), other people didn’t (Gwyneth Paltrow). Supriya Ganesh from The Pitt was there. She’s so good as Doctor Mohan, but also, on a completely shallow level, every time I see her, her face just floors me. She’s so crazy beautiful. Very much looking forward to seeing what she does beyond The Pitt. Also in attendance, Keri Russell looking like a hot boss. (Go Fug Yourself) 

Would I believe the Stranger Things finale didn’t have a finished script? Yes. Absolutely, I would and do believe that. It was so long, some parts were rushed, there were five endings. All signs point to “finishing on the fly”. The new making-of documentary on Netflix, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, also seems to show the Duffer Brothers relying on ChatGPT, embarrassing for professionals.

My conspiracy theory is that Ross Duffer divorced Leigh Janiak, a filmmaker and writer in her own right (she’s the writer/director behind the terrific Fear Street trilogy), and Duffer’s work suffered accordingly. I’m not saying Ross Duffer was borrowing his wife’s work for the show, but F. Scott Fitzgerald stole from Zelda, so it’s not like, unheard of for men to help themselves to their wife’s work when it’s convenient. Just saying. (Pajiba) 

Uh oh, there’s a report that Tatiana Maslany is done at Marvel. Much like The Marvels, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law isn’t THAT bad, it’s got a lot of good stuff in it, and it’s a pretty faithful adaptation of the meta, fourth-wall breaking comic book. It’s just that it came along at the exact moment that 1) everyone got sick of Marvel, and 2) the backslide to pre-2010s levels of inclusivity were thoroughly abandoned.

It’s not like we ever made huge gains in the first place, but we have entirely backslid on any progress that was achieved, and She-Hulk, a cheeky, self-referential, female-fronted show took major hits for just existing in that specific time. Just like Nia DaCosta, Tatiana Maslany deserves more than Marvel gave her, I hope she’s onto bigger and better things. (Comic Book Resource)