deerstalker
https://www.thenerdelement.com/2023/08/17/the-nerd-element-talks-to-brendon-small/
It’s been ten years since the saga of Dethklok, the fictional death metal band at the center of the brutally funny and epic animated show, “Metalocalypse,” ended on a cliffhanger in “Metalocalypse – The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera.” It seemed as if that would be it—Adult Swim had canceled the show and nixed a wrap-up set of episodes to give the show a proper send-off. Despite the show’s popularity—and the fact that it spawned a successful live version of Dethklok lead by the show’s co-creator, Brendon Small—it seemed done.
Small, however, never gave up the mission to finish Dethklok’s journey. The result is a full-length movie, “Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar,” which picks up where “The Doomstar Requiem” left off, with the band dealing (or not) with the events surrounding the rescue of their rhythm guitarist, Toki Wartooth (voiced by show co-creator Tommy Blacha).
Featuring a stacked cast which includes Small, Blacha, Mark Hamill, Juliet Mills, Malcolm McDowell, Amy Lee, and Jon Hamm, the film brings the band’s destiny to a deliciously satisfying conclusion.
The Nerd Element recently spoke to Small, who wrote and directed “Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar.” Because of the current strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, certain topics were off-limits; however, Small had plenty to share about directing the movie, some of the techniques used in the animation, and the music of Dethklok, including the new single, “Aortic Desecration,” that plays a big part in Dethklok’s journey.
The pride and love he feels for the ambitious project definitely shows. In addition to the film, there’s also a new album, “Dethalbum IV,” as well as the film’s soundtrack. As Small notes in our discussion, all three are important elements of the whole experience of “Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar.”
Small’s career includes another beloved animated show, “Home Movies,” which he co-created with Loren Bouchard, and he’s done lots of acting in shows such as “Bob’s Burgers,” “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” and “The Venture Bros.” In addition to Dethklok, Small has a solo musical project, Brendon Small’s Galaktikon, which includes fellow live-version Dethklok band members Gene Hoglan and Bryan Beller.
“Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar” will be available on Blu-Ray and digital on August 21, 2023. “Dethalbum IV” will be available on August 22, and the soundtrack to the film will be available on August 25, 2023. “Metalocalypse: The Complete Series” is already available for purchase.
See our Review of the movie Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar here
The post The Nerd Element Talks to: Brendon Small! appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Many MCU fans did a full franchise rewatch ahead of Avengers: Infinity War. That meant revisiting 18 movies, roughly ten years worth of Marvel Studios releases. Not an easy task, but far from an impossible one. That’s not the case anymore. As of this writing there have been 32 big screen entries in the series, with a whole lot more on the way. Wading through all of them again would take a whole lot of time. But do you even need to? If you’re not a completist, or simply want to/must cut back on your total viewing commitment, there are some you can omit on your next go-round. These are the nine MCU movies—including some of the best, most beloved in the series—you can now skip on a rewatch.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Right off the bat this list feels sacrilegious because we’re omitting the origin story for one of the MCU’s foundational characters. Plus, the movie is really good! But at this point there are few elements from Captain America: The First Avenger that still matter to the franchise’s future. And those do—like Bucky’s story—are explored in other entries. We gotta start somewhere, and the First Avenger is fittingly our first cut.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Captain America: The First Avenger: Anything you want. And you can do it all day.
Iron Man 3
I’m an Iron Man 3 convert, but before Extremis played a minor role on the very forgettable Secret Invasion, what long term impact did this film have on anything that happened after? It ends with Tony destroying all of his extra suits, which he completely rebuilds by Civil War. His entire Iron Man 3 character arc is entirely undone immediately. None of the villains stuck around for future entries, either. The only real long-term impact came from Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery. He returned for more comic relief in Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, a movie we’re not sure Disney even remembers it made.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Iron Man 3: Read about why it should have been set at New Year’s Even instead of Christmas.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Forget being an Iron Man 3 convert. I am an Age of Ultron truther. The Avengers second film, arguably the one that most captures the feel of the team’s comic dynamic, is much better than it gets credit for. It also has the great James Spader as the titular sentient robot. But unless you just want to watch for pure enjoyment, the only thing you really need to remember from this film is what it means for Vision’s understanding of mankind. That gets covered in future films and shows.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Avengers: Age of Ultron: Watch the Seinfeld episode Spader guest-starred on. It’s still hilarious and only 22 minutes.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Baby Groot, we’re sorry. We love you. We also love seeing Nebula take her first real steps towards becoming a hero. In fact, we love all the Guardians, including Mary Poppins, y’all. But if we’re looking to trim some time from a lengthy rewatch schedule we can leave out the second Guardians film, even if it’s still really good. Infinity War, Endgame, and their Holiday Special give us everything we need to know ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Dance off, bro.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
If you’re angry seeing Tom Holland’s first solo outing included on this list, I don’t blame you. I personally think it’s the best of his three movies. So why is it on this list then? Because the character development Peter Parker undergoes in his next two installments are considerably more important. In Far From Home he has to deal with no longer having his mentor Tony around, and No Way Home marks the death of Aunt May. Everything important from this first film is also addressed in those films. And let’s face it, it’s not like we don’t spend too much time watching Spider-Man movies in general. There’s no shortage of friendly neighborhood Spider-people in our lives.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Spider-Man: Homecoming: Reach out and thank a teacher you definitely scarred as a kid.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
There’s an argument to be made the original Ant-Man is more skippable, especially because the sequel introduces both generations of the Wasp to the superhero franchise. But Scott Lang is still too important to the MCU to omit his origin story. It also matters more to the events of Quantumania than his second movie. And since he series’ third installment also covers all of the important stuff you need to know from Ant-Man and the Wasp, if you pass over it you’re not really missing anything other than meeting Ghost, who won’t seemingly appear again until Thunderbolts. See, you forgot about Ghost! And now you already remember everything you need to know about her.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Ant-Man and the Wasp: We’re not legally allowed to say try your hand at burgling, but we can say, “Try something new and exciting that might be a little dangerous.” Then get back to us in 3-5 years to tell us how it went.
Black Widow
Black Widow is a beautiful farewell to Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, an original MCU Avenger who sacrificed her life to save the entire universe. It also introduced Yelena and Red Guardian to the franchise, both of whom will return to the MCU soon. And yet, you don’t really need to watch this Infinity War prequel if you want to shorten your rewatch. It’s more a goodbye than another chapter in a story, and Yelena’s arc on Hawkeye covers her story.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Black Widow: Visit Budapest, but for pleasure not work.
Eternals
Remember anything that happened in Eternals? No? Me neither, which is weird because I remember going to the theater to see it. Did Disney use the Men in Black Neuralyzer on us collectively to erase it from out memories? The MCU itself certainly hasn’t done anything to remind us that movie existed. Until it does you can leave it off your rewatch list.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Eternals: Watch Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao’s Best Picture triumph Nomadland, a movie you won’t be able to forget.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Unlike Eternals we remember everything about Thor: Love and Thunder. Only by leaving it off our MCU rewatch can we start to remedy that.
What to Do with the Time You Save Skipping Thor: Love and Thunder: Watch Thor: Ragnarok a second time.
The post MCU Movies You Can Skip on a Rewatch appeared first on Nerdist.
The term “star-crossed lovers” takes on a new meaning in The Becomers, the new film from writer-director Zach Clark. The movie, which I saw at Fantasia International Film Festival 2023, is gory and fairly upsetting at times, but at heart is a romance, with very weird comedy thrown in. “Weird” is perhaps the best adjective for the movie, but at no point do you cease to understand the heart at the center of the story—that finding your soulmate transcends bodies, space, and suburban death cults. Usually.
The story follows a pair of aliens from a doomed world who end up on Earth, specifically middle America. In the tradition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, they can only appear in human form if they kill and replicate a living person. So the beginning is pretty gruesome. Everywhere the alien goes and every interaction they have in their new body becomes a sinister experience. Our lead alien narrates the movie, in the voice of Sparks’ lead singer Russell Mael, which adds a particularly strange element.
As we continue on, we learn the alien is looking desperately for its mate. They send a signal out to hopefully find each other again. Though the alien takes on the appearance of several different people throughout the story, the bulk of the time is spent in the body of a suburban housewife (Molly Plunk). In this guise, they piece together from neighbor interactions that the husband (Mike Lopez) might be up to some bad stuff. Worse than killing innocent people to take over their bodies? Maybe.
Part of the fun of The Becomers comes from the aliens having to take on the personas and lives of the people they have overtaken. Plunk’s performance specifically as a worried alien trying not to seem alien is astoundingly good. She has a supremely effective deer-in-the-headlights expression any time she has to speak to a regular human. You can’t help but laugh any time this happens. The escalating wildness of the situations leads to the movie’s best comedic beats.
But at its heart—its surprisingly soft heart—is the story of two lovers looking for each other across the universe, proving they’re stronger together than apart. Clark presents the story as an incidental, though likely intentional, LGBTQ+ allegory. The aliens are in love, regardless of whether they’re in male of female human bodies. It never once becomes an issue for them, and it’s never played for comedy or awkwardness. The exception, of course, is a very purposely gross sex scene utilizing alien physiology while still wrapped in human husks.
I really liked The Becomers and what it has to say about the profoundness of love amid the absurdity of human existence. It’s a tough time for the world. If we can find a person or people to whom we can connect, it’s somehow slightly less bleak. An oddly hopeful message for a movie with so much wanton murder and dissolving body parts.
The Becomers ⭐ (3.5 of 5)
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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