End Credits Show Notes for Thursday December 7, 2017

It seems like all Hollywood is about these days is franchises, and it seems like this week’s End Credits is going to prove it. Well, we’ll prove it and then we’ll disprove it. In the first half of the show, we’ll talk about a cinematic universe that never came to be, an indie film festival everyone in Hollywood attends, and the latest chapter in one of the most successful film series of all time. To counter that, we’ll review a wonderful new film that is not based on any previously existing property, but is funny and touching and surprising all at the same time.

This Thursday, December 7, at 10 am, Adam A. Donaldson with Vince Masson and Tim Phillips will discuss:

1) Monsters del Toro? You may remember earlier this year when we reviewed The Mummy, a reboot of the Universal Monster movie that was supposed to launch the Dark Universe. That did not go according to plan. Suppose though that master monster maker Guillermo del Toro had instead signed on to making the Dark Universe, and consider the wonders that such a cinematic craftsman would have created. We know that he regrets turning it down, and it turns out the panel regrets it too. We’ll talk about the missed opportunities and why the Dark Universe was a promising endeavour until they pooched it up.

2) Come Sundance with Me. There’s still about a month left in 2017, but we’re already thinking about next year, and it all begins with the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah at the end of January. Some of this year’s biggest, most acclaimed movies started out of Sundance including Get Out, The Big Sick, and Mudbound, so what wonders may the 2018 Sundance provide for movie lovers by this time next year? We’ll talk about the hot tickets and the trends we see, and we’ll talk about how the biggest indie film festival isn’t really all that independent (not that this revelation is a big secret mind you). Plus we’ll have some anticipatory awards talk.

3) Infinity Watch. After months of hype, the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was released to eager Marvel fans ready for the next phase of the storied superhero franchise. Not only will the release of the third Avengers movie feature just about every character that’s appeared so far in the series, but it will also mark the tenth anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; a decade since Robert Downey Jr. told the world that he was Iron Man! So does the new Avengers trailer deliver big on expectations, or could it be that after a year of superhero movies that shook up the genre that another Avengers might feel too much like going back to the well?

REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). Filmmaker Martin McDonagh returns to the big screen with another collection of oddball characters brought together by tragedy and their own moral failings only to find genuine humanity in each other. This time, McDonagh takes us to the fictional Ebbing where the grieving and raging Mildred blames the local police chief for not solving her daughter’s vicious murder. When Mildred buys three billboards with a message for the chief, it sets into effect a chain of events that reshape the lives of the people of this sleepy town. But can they change their nature? A powerhouse Frances McDormand leads an incredible cast in one of the year’s best!