American Utopia 🌎 + Breaking down all that MCU news
American Utopia 🌎 + Breaking down all that MCU news
Happy Monday! It’s the week before Christmas and you know what that means, I still haven’t bought or sent out any gifts. Please instead enjoy this gift of today’s movie recommendation and all the movies I’ve ever recommended.
🍿 Today’s movie: American Utopia is a bit of musical hope in a disconnected world
Today’s movie is Spike Lee’s concert film of David Byrne’s American Utopia, which was performed on Broadway from October 2019 to February 2020—it’ll be back on Broadway next fall. Here’s what it’s about:
David Byrne (of the Talking heads) leads a troop of musicians all clad in his signature grey suit and barefoot as they dance, sing, and perform their way through a modified version of the album American Utopia on Broadway touching on themes of social justice, hope, and change. [Trailer]
Why you should watch it: Before performing the song “I Zimbra” off the Talking Heads album Fear of Music, David Byrne explains the poem that inspired the lyrics: “they were using nonsense to make sense of a world that didn’t make sense.” That is the moment that American Utopia begins to make sense. It’s not about what Byrne and his troupe of musicians are saying, it’s about what they’re doing: having fun with each other, the audience, and appealing to our collective consciousness.
American Utopia, captured with all its energy and excitement by Lee, has a lot to say. Byrne himself has a lot to say about the state of our country. However, above all else, it stands for hope, change, and joy. What it presupposes is that the opposite of despair is not just hope but connection. As Byrne and the musicians perform, all carrying their instruments as they dance around the stage in brilliant choreography by Annie-B Parson, it’s almost impossible to not smile and hope that one day we can dance together in darkly lit rooms.
🎁 If you’re looking to donate this holiday season, consider The Actors Fund to help the theater community during the shutdown.
🦸♀️ Black Panther II, Fantastic Four, and the most important MCU updates from Disney’s Investor Day
There was, to be frank, an aggressive amount of news out of the Marvel section of Disney’s Investor Day. So, here’s a breakdown of what I found to be the most interesting information:
I’ll start with the *most important* news: All Marvel Cinematic Universe movies will premiering exclusively in theaters. That includes Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals. That’s welcome news after the Warner Bros. and 20th Century/Searchlight bombshells recently.
Black Panther II will be released on July 8, 2022 (a little later than expected) and will be helmed again by Ryan Coogler. In honor of star Chadwick Boseman, who passed this last summer, the role of T’Challa will not be recast.
The third iteration of The Fantastic Four will be hitting the MCU with Spider-Man Homecoming director Jon Watts. It’s only up from here, right?
Ant-Man III will be titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantaminia with Kathryn Newton taking over the role of Cassie Lang. Da 5 Bloods and The Last Black Man in San Francisco star Jonathan Majors will be playing the villain.
Iman Vellani, previously announced star of Ms. Marvel on Disney+, will appear in Captain Marvel II. The movie is helmed by Nia DaCosta. Teyonah Parris will also appear as Monica Rambeau alongside Brie Larson.
Last (and least? I don’t know) Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth (who we last saw in that Hulk movie we don’t talk about anymore) will appear in She-Hulk with previously announced star Tatiana Maslany.
What news are you most excited about?
Hey you! Yeah, you. You are a great person and I hope you have a terrific week.
See you Thursday —
Karl