Tower of Babble

Following an eventful D23 Expo, and a less eventful Emmys, the boys are back to break down the latest in film and TV news, and they have a very special guest to help them do it - Axel Foley from the DVR Podcast network! On the docket is Marvel and Lucasfilm's plethora of announcements from this years D23, that includes the reveal of the 'Thunderbolts' lineup, trailers for 'The Mandalorian' S3, 'Secret Invasion' and 'Tales of the Jedi', and even a first look at 'Indiana Jones 5', which of course didn't get put online (bummer). Plus the guys break down the Emmy wins for this year, do a quick "Agree or Disagree" and dive into some initial reactions for 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power', and 'House of the Dragon'. All that and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

• ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ will hit Paramount+ by the end of 2022 according to Paramount CEO.

• First trailer for the Rian Johnson Netflix exclusive, ‘Knives Out’ sequel, ‘Glass Onion’ has been revealed.

• “National Cinema Day” was a success!

• D23 Recap - Deadline

  • https://deadline.com/2022/09/d23-expo-2022-recap-what-we-learned-1235114097/ 

Batgirl star Brendan Fraser has hit out at the DC film’s cancellation, calling it "the canary in the coal mine" for the battle between streaming and theatrical feature releases.

“The fans really wanted to see this film made,” he said. “Leslie Grace is a dynamo. The movie was shot and conceived for a smaller screen. In this age that we’ve come out of now between streaming service versus theatrical release, it wound up being the canary in the coal mine.”

Variety (via IGN) - https://www.ign.com/articles/brendan-fraser-batgirl-cancellation-canary-in-the-coal-mine

Is it really a sign of what’s to come? Or just a blip as WBD continues it’s restructuring?

• Emmy winners - Variety

  • https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/2022-emmy-winners-list-1235354826/ 

• Netflix reportedly is looking to move away from the binge model to a weekly release model.

• ‘House of the Dragon’ creators say they have a “fairly good plan” and have a sense as to where and when the show will end.

• Netflix will host another “Tudum” event on September 24th.

• ‘Halo’ S2 starts production in Iceland.

• Goldeneye 64 is getting a remaster on Xbox and a re-release on Nintendo Online for its 25th anniversary.

• Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

• House of the Dragon

• A League of their Own - Amazon

• Kobra Kai

• She-Hulk

Another episode, another dump of bad news out of WBD. This time, following their investors call, we learn that they've been pulling content from HBO Max liberally, while 'Shazam 2', and 'Aquaman 2' get pushed again. Have no fear, they have a 10 year plan they say. Fortunately, HBO seems to have been spared the knife so far, featuring 'House of the Dragon' pulling in record numbers for it's premiere. In fact, prosperity seems to be abound across the nerd world when it comes to adapted material, with 'Sandman' on Netflix hitting the mark, and 'She-Hulk' at Disney+ capturing even Jeremy's attention. The guys sit down to discuss all of that and more, including 'Avatar's' return to theatres, 'Green Lantern: Beware My Power', and a final word on 'Prey'.

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

• WBD

  • HBO Max and Discovery+ officially merging. Need to find $3 billion in savings.

  • The CW is being sold to Nextstar Media, updating their programming to reflect their average age of 58.

  • With projects being cancelled left and right, we also learn that content is being pulled from from HBO Max - at least 36 titles.

    • ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ seems to be spared.

  • Zaslov vows that they have a 10 year plan for DC.

  • ‘Aquaman 2’ is pushed to December 25, 2023. ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ will take over the vacant ‘Aquaman 2’ premiere date of March 17, 2023.

  • DC courting Dan Lin to steer their film slate.

• Matt Shakman to direct the MCU’s ‘Fantastic Four’ film.

• King Kong is in his heyday. A Disney+ series coming from James Wan’s production company is in the works, while another Godzilla and Kong film is greenlit.

• ‘Avatar’ returns to theaters, September 3. Meanwhile it’s been pulled from Disney+.

• ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story’ coming to Netflix on December 23rd.

• Rian Johnson gives an interview, doubles down on how he feels about ‘The Last Jedi’

• A24 celebrates 10 years.

• Sony is making a ‘Days Gone’ movie.

• Jeffrey Dean Morgan cast in ‘The Boys’ season 4.

• Disney passes Netflix in subs. 

• Only Murders in the Building S2

• Sandman

• She-Hulk

• Green Lantern: Beware My Power

• Bullet Train

• Prey

• House of the Dragon

Our film club circle grows once again! This month we have a very special guest joining us to review their absolute favourite movie, another cult classic hit, 'Swingers'. Which comes to us from all the way back in 1996 (which also plays into our primarily 90's heavy selections recently). A movie that launched the careers of Doug Liman, Jon Favreau, and Vince Vaughn. A couple names you might have heard of. A true "bro movie" in that it's really just a bunch of dudes hanging out and partying, but it brings a level of truth and honesty to the situation, with deep characters that you want to root for. It wears its heart on its sleeve as we watch Mikey struggle get over his ex-girlfriend, with Favreau bringing an essential performance to the part, and really being the beating heart of the picture. Join the usual cast of characters, Julian, Rachel and Jeremy, with special guest Matt Tworek, as they unpack it all in this month's ToB Film Club!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

The turmoil at Warner Brothers Discovery continues, this time in the form of bloodletting. News broke early this week that the HBO Max original ‘Batgirl’, which was finished shooting and in late stages of post production. was going to be cancelled by the studio. Shortly after, an official statement was released and the outcry online was loud. This comes amongst rumours of further shakeups coming to the studio, specifically around their HBO Max streaming service, as they apparently look to pivot away from scripted programming nearly across the board, in favor of cheaper unscripted options. Naturally, Julian and Jeremy break down all the details surrounding this unprecedented decision and what it means for the future of DC on the big and small screens. Meanwhile, on the fun side of the news, over at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel held no punches as they discussed the next 2 phases of the MCU, and announced A LOT of new movies and shows, while finding time to drop a spectacular trailer for ‘Black Panther 2’, amongst a whole pile of other announcements. Oh and a new trailer for ‘Andor’ dropped. The show looks stunning, but you’ll have to wait an extra 3 weeks as they have pushed the premiere to September. That pretty much takes up all the time this episode, but trust us, it’s more than enough.

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

• WB shelves the ‘Batgirl’ movie amongst rumours of further shakeups to come at HBO Max. 

  • ‘Aquaman 2’ Will See Ben Affleck Return As Batman.

  • Layoffs likely coming to HBO Max, and ‘DC FanDome’ is likely cancelled.

  • ‘Joker 2’ is set for release Oct 4, 2024.

• MGM Loses the Rights to ‘Tomb Raider’ and Alicia Vikander Is Out as Lara Croft - The Wrap

• ‘John Wick 4’ teaser

• The upcoming Star Wars show, ‘Andor’ receives a stunning new trailer as well as some changes to it’s release. It will now premiere on September 21 instead of its original premiere date of August 31, and that premiere will feature 3 episodes dropping on the same day, as opposed to the original 2.

• DC’s lackluster presence at SDCC:

  • Boos for the Rock, plus new trailer for ‘Black Adam’. 

  • New trailer for ‘Shazam! Furry of the Gods’

• Marvel:

  • Phase 6 Confirmed, it will Begin with ‘Fantastic Four’, and end with ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Secret Wars’.

    • Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi, will be taking the reins for ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’.

  • ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ gets a first Trailer and plot details. Will feature Namor.

  • The fourth Captain America film, ‘Captain America: New World Order’ is coming in 2024.

  • ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Black Panther’ will conclude Marvel's Phase 4, plus details on Phase 5 are revealed.

  • Marvel shows, ‘Loki Season 2’, ‘Ironheart’, ‘Echo’, ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’, all get potential release windows.

  • ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ trailer shown.

    • ‘Guardians 3’ will be “more mature” according to James Gunn.

  • New Daredevil series starring Charlie Cox officially announced, will start with 18 episodes in spring 2024.

    • Spider-Man and Daredevil will remain “grounded” according to Kevin Feigie.

  • ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania’ is a “hard left turn” for the franchise according to director Peyton Reed. Also Bill Murray will co-star in the film.

  • Marvel's ‘Thunderbolts’ will conclude Phase 5 in the summer of 2024.

• Nope

• Cocktail

• Sea Beast

• Grey Man

The era of shady business practices continues it seems in the Hollywood world. This time it's not just WB involved, but their own "distinguished competition", at Marvel that's up to no good this week. Rolling Stone released a piece on the Snyder Cut movement, identifying 13% of the online activity being attributed to bots. This on it's own is not big news, as it was largely known, but it's the timing of the piece that's most questionable. Over at Marvel, they're up to their usual tricks of not properly compensating comic book creators, now being accused of "bait and switch" tactics to stiff writers and artists when their characters appear on the screen. Julian and Jeremy break down both stories, while also diving into a plethora of more lighthearted fare, including: news on 'Mortal Kombat 2' and 'Top Gun 3', a Powerpuff Girls animated reboot, a fun "Agree of Disagree" segment, and much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

• WB claims that a portion of the online Snyder Cut movement were bots. -   Vanity Fair/Rolling Stone

• WB executives never told the directors of ‘Batgirl’ why they had characters from different universes in their film. Walter Hamada reportedly told them “not to worry about it” and that “they have a plan”.

• It’s not all sunshine and rainbows over at Marvel with an Artist Saying that Character Royalty Payments For Creators Are 'Bait and Switch' - IGN

• ‘Mortal Kombat 2’ is in the works at WB, Simon McQuoid is reportedly slated to direct once again. - Deadline

• Miles Teller has apparently had some conversations with Tom Cruise about a possible ‘Top Gun 3’.

• Alex Garland has wrapped his follow-up to ‘Men’, called ‘Civil War’, and told the NY Times that it’s probably the last movie he’ll direct. 

No Film School: https://nofilmschool.com/campion-netflix-comments 

• An animated ‘Powerpuff Girls’ reboot is in the works from the original creator Craig McCracken.

• FX has renewed ‘The Bear’ for another season. Yes Chef!

• ‘Only Murders in the Building’ renewed for a season 3.

• Someone has edited together ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ into a 2.5 hour long movie, designed to fix the “awkward pacing, and goofy dialogue and directing choices”.

• Rumour has it that the ‘Hawkeye’ spinoff series ‘Echo’ will also star Daredevil as he looks to find a former ally, Jessica Jones. - THR

• Thor: Love and Thunder

• Westworld

• The Boys S3 finale

• Ms. Marvel

It feels like a lifetime since we did a news show. What with ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ coverage, reviews of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Dr Strange’ sucking up all of our time, it’s no wonder it’s been so long! Ultimately, this means that Julian and Jeremy have a smorgasbord of movie and TV news to unpack. Not the least of which being the all sorts of fun stuff coming out of the mounting ‘Avatar: The Way of the Water’ press barrage, which includes not only the teaser trailer, but also some VERY fun comments from the legend himself, James Cameron. Next up, is another round of DC related news out of Warner Bros. Between the ‘Flash’ movie now being in limbo, the lackluster trailer for ‘Black Adam’ and the constant befuddlement of their new CEO, there’s practically enough there for a whole episode on it’s own. But we have more! The guys also cover the odd reactions to Marvel’s CG in ‘Thor’ and ‘She-Hulk’, the box office success of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, another ‘Game of Thrones’ spin-off series (this time it’s interesting I promise!), and a metric ton of “what we’ve been watching”. All that and so much more on this week’s Tower of Babble Podcast!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

• Avatar: The Way of the Water

• Clerks 3

• Prey

• Black Adam

• Warner Bros:

  • Ezra Miller continues to get himself into trouble. WB announces that they will not be bringing him back for any future DC projects, but hasn’t decided what it will do with the ‘Flash’ movie.

  • David Zaslov is reportedly frustrated by the inconsistent output of DC films and that there hasn’t been sufficient long-term planning in terms of rolling out sequels. - Variety

  • The Joker 2 is in the works, and has a title, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’. It is also rumoured that Lady Gaga might join as Harley. Also it might be a musical?

  • Matt Reeves revealed that the unmade Batfleck film was an “action driven James Bond style film”.

  • A ‘Peacemaker’ spin-off series centering on Amanda Waller is in the works at HBO Max.

  • The ‘Wonder Twins’ movie has been is canceled.

• ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has passed the $1B mark at the box office, and it keeps on going.

  • Is Tom Cruise’s biggest premiere in his career

• Netflix is shifting its focus to “bigger, fewer, better” films.

• Marvel

  • Tarren Edgerton has spoken to Marvel about playing Wolverine in the MCU.

  • ‘She-Hulk’ trailer.

  • A new ‘Daredevil’ series is in the works at Disney+.

• HBO has officially ordered ‘True Detective’ season 4 with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis.

• A ‘Jon Snow’ spin-off series is in development at HBO, that was pitched by Kit Harrington. 

• Star Wars

  • Kathleen Kennedy on ‘Solo’; She learned the wrong lessons about why that movie didn’t work, saying that they “shouldn't try recasting younger versions of their stars”. 

  • ‘Andor’ Season 1 will cover a timespan of one year, in universe. Season 2 will cover four years, leading into ‘Rogue One’.

  • Obi-Wan Kenobi

    • Potential for a sequel series.

    • The original plans for Obi-Wan Kenobi included the potential of it being a a movie trilogy, and had a buddy cop style role for Commander Cody.

• ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 3 will drop July 28th on HBO Max with a 3-episode premiere followed by week-to-week releases through September 15th. Plus there’s a trailer. 

• Netflix has given the green light for ‘Squid Game’ season 2.

• ‘Raised by Wolves’ has been canceled at HBO after 2 seasons. 

• Sony Studios

  • There is a ‘Horizon’ series in the works on Netflix and it’s set to begin filming in August.

  • A ‘God of War’ series is coming to Amazon.

  • Oh and a ‘Gran Turismo’ show is being made as well. 

• Kevin Feige confirms that they’ll be returning to San Diego Comic Con. Nature is healing.

• Top Gun Maverick, Joseph Kosinski, director, says that we can probably blame Star Wars and Marvel for the reason that Tron 3 never got made.

• Live action ‘Speed Racer’ series in the works with Bad Robot for AppleTV+.

• Jurassic World Dominion

• Undone (seasons 1 and 2) - Amazon Prime

• The Bear - Hulu

• Ms. Marvel

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S1

• The Boys S3

• Halo S1

• Straight out of Compton

Well that's all folks! Only five short weeks later and we're now looking back at 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' in full context. Following an epic 2-episode premiere, it was a bit touch-and-go there in the middle. Fortunately, they pulled it together for the conclusion and absolutely nailed the final episode. Not only does it live up to the "rematch of the century", as it was billed, but it's character moments are just as strong (if not stronger), and gives the appropriate amount of closure not just to the characters, but to the fans as well. Julian and Rachel break it all down scene by scene (and even break down granular lines of dialogue!), and discuss the conclusion to a mini-series that by no means was perfect, but as a whole largely works, with satisfying character arches and interesting choices that did more than enough to justify the shows existence. Join us as we discuss it all!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

'Obi-Wan Kenobi' returns to form this week with one of the strongest entries since the 2-part premiere. With the Empire baring down on Ben, Leia, and friends, we are treated to flashbacks of Obi-Wan and Anakin training, pre-clone wars (an era not often enough explored in my opinion) . This not only justifies bringing back Hayden for Vader, but also acts as an exciting, and insightful, framing for the larger "modern" story being told. Despite some odd dialogue moments, this episode feels concentrated on Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship, and how that is reflected in Vader and Ben's choices, it's fascinating. Plus, there's also some very good action here (even some inspired by the Clone Wars I might add), with enough moments that will make you audibly exclaim, "that's cool", to largely overshadow some of the flaws this week. On to the finale!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

As we pass the half-way point of the season, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Part 4 of 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' was only just over 30 min. With only 6 episodes for the full season, 30 min episodes, in my opinion, really need to justify the truncated length. Unfortunately, Part 4 ultimately still felt rushed, despite also having some very cool moments. Of course seeing Obi-Wan skulk around an Imperial instillation never really gets old, but it's everything around that core setup that felt under baked this week. We are introduced to new characters who we barely get any time to get to know, and despite some interesting allusions to a more interesting story with them, we are rushed off to a set-piece far too quickly. After the events of last week's big confrontation with Vader, I would have liked a little more time to let those moments breath, but alas, the show must go on!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.

We see Obi-Wan face off with Vader much sooner than we might have expected. But with only 6 episodes to work with, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised, as we're already half way through. And just as Ben reunites with Anakin this week, so to does Julian reunite with Rachel, following her return from Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim (though with much less death and agony). They break down the return of Vader, Ben's fear, Leia's intuition and much more in this over-stuffed review!

If you enjoy the show please subscribe and leave a nice review on Apple Podcasts, and check out Patreon.com/TowerBabbleCast to become one of our latest patrons.