Just in case you needed more evidence that James McAvoy is one of the most charming actors in Hollywood, the actor recently made his pitch to MTV News about why he should play the young version of Jean-Luc Picard in the upcoming Star Trek series that will see Patrick Stewart reprise the iconic role.

“I will take you where no Star Trek fan has gone before,” McAvoy joked. “I will reveal things about Jean-Luc Picard that nobody even wanted to see. I will rip this Captain to shreds.”

McAvoy plays the younger version of Stewart’s Charles Xavier character in the X-Men franchise, so he is pretty qualified for the role. In the interview, he also displays a pretty impressive depth of Star Trek: The Next Generation knowledge, offering his takes on some of Picard’s most quotable catchphrases, including: “make it so,” “engage,” and “tea, earl grey, hot.”

What are the odds of McAvoy actually appearing in the new Star Trek series, which will join the current Star Trek docket of Star Trek: Discovery, as well as a planned Michelle Yeoh spin-off and at least two animated series already in the works?

“No, I’m not expecting to get a call to play the young Jean-Luc, unfortunately,” McAvoy said. “But I will be tuning in and I can’t wait to see what he does because he’s a brilliant actor and he’s amazing in that role and it’s just nice that Star Trek are looking forward to more than just spaceship and a crew, do you know what I mean? They’re doing something different, and that’s awesome.”

You can check out the actual interview here, which you obviously should because McAvoy does multiple impressions and is just generally delightful…

DC superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 remains our primary focus of speculation as we move towards its 2020 release. However, director Patty Jenkins already seems to have some idea about what she wants to achieve with the far-off Wonder Woman 3, specifically when it will take place.

Looking far ahead, it appears that DC/Warner Bros’ third solo feature run of Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince/Wonder Woman will see the Themysciran thrasher in a setting – at least, by the time we get to the film – in we will have only seen her tangentially: the present. Indeed, franchise helmer Patty Jenkins – who returned to direct the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984, and will presumably repeat the process for the untitled Wonder Woman 3 – has revealed to THR that she’s done with flashback settings for the character.

While Jenkins qualifies her statement with the fact that plans are far from final, she explains:

“I’m not set, but I’m not doing another period piece.” She adds, “It’s definitely one of the things we talked about. I’m not planning to put it in the past again, because where are you going to go? You have to go forward. It’s definitely a contemporary story. That’s all I can say. Where we put it and how that gets figured out, I haven’t totally nailed down.”

While Warner’s cinematic endeavours in the comic continuity, dubbed the DC Extended Universe, have been seen as hit-or-miss, Wonder Woman (and now Jason Momoa’s Aquaman,) have emerged as critical and financial winners. Yet, for the current Wonder Woman, the shifting of time periods is becoming the norm, emphasising the immortal nature of the Amazonian. We saw her debut in 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice in the present, followed by a smash solo debut in 2017’s Wonder Woman primarily set (bookended by contemporary-set scenes,) in 1918 in the midst of World War I, and 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 will take us to the “Frankie Says Relax” epoch of the eponymous Orwellian year.

Consequently, it will probably feel refreshing to see a Wonder Woman film that’s firmly affixed in the present after two flashback efforts. Yet, by the time we get to Wonder Woman 3, the landscape of the DCEU could be facing a major overhaul, seeing as the canon’s kickoff star, Henry Cavill, is hanging up his cape, and Ben Affleck, for all intents and purposes, appears to have permanently put down his Batman cowl. While that still leaves the franchise in successful hands – with 2017’s Wonder Woman garnering nearly $822 million worldwide, this past November’s Aquaman recently crossing the $1 billion mark, and this 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 poised to mark similar territory – the gaping holes in the Justice League roster will be a distraction until the tough task of filling them is complete.

For now, Patty Jenkins’s latest work can be seen on television with the limited series, I Am the Night. After that, Wonder Woman 1984 is set arrive at theaters on June 5th, 2020.

If you’ve been waiting patiently for some more Spider-Man PS4 news, then today is the hallowed day you’ve been anticipating: following the announcement that something “fantastic” was coming to the game, two Fantastic Four-themed costumes have popped up thanks to a new patch; and, on top of that, the game’s creative director is working on something new.

Let’s start with the suits, shall we? It’s another fan-pleasing patch for Insomniac, who previously appeased a lot of vocal gamers by adding the much-requested ‘Raimi Suit’ into Spider-Man PS4, as two separate Fantastic Four outfits have been added to the game.

One of these is a Future Foundation suit (which calls back to a comic book run in which Spidey joined Reed Richards in a new team with snazzy white outfits), and the other is the fan favourite Bag-Man costume (referring to a time when Peter Parker had to dump the symbiote-powered black suit at the Baxter Building and leave in some hastily assembled new threads). Bag-Man has shown up in loads of games before, making this a callback that works on numerous levels.

Fans who are lucky enough to not be at work right now have already started playing with and snapping photos of these new suits, and you can take a look for yourself here…

Further to these exciting new additions, Spider-Man PS4’s creative director, Bryan Intihar, tweeted about something very intriguing at the end of last week. Without sharing what his new project is, Intihar revealed that he is pitching some sort of new story content to his colleagues…

Is it possible that Intihar has been working on the story elements of Spider-Man PS4’s proper sequel while other departments at Insomniac have been working on stuff like the Fantastic Four suits? Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure what’s going on, so we’ll keep our ears to the ground in the hope of hearing an official announcement. 

Whatever it is that Intihar is working on, we’ll keep you updated as we hear more. And in the meantime, let’s have fun with the new Spider-Man PS4 suits!

At the start of Destroyer, Nicole Kidman’s Detective Erin Bell wakes up bleary-eyed behind the wheel of a car parked in the outskirts of bright and sunny Los Angeles. After stumbling out of her car and following her fellow detectives on foot, she happens across a crime scene. Much to the derision of her colleagues, Erin only has to examine the body and a dye-stained banknote before she claims to know who the killer is.

Despite the darkness of director Karyn Kusama’s relentlessly grim crime story, this sun-scorched opening sets a tone that the film maintains ferociously for the entire running time. Although it’s primarily being praised as a character study, with a powerful, “glammed-down” performance by Kidman, you can rely on the filmmakers involved to do more than simply explore the exploits of a cop with a vendetta.

The film takes place across two timeframes. The first takes place 17 years ago, with Erin as a fresh-faced FBI recruit who takes part in an undercover sting on a cult-like gang of bank robbers, along with her partner Chris (Sebastian Stan). The present-day action follows Erin as she seeks to prove that the charismatic leader of that gang, Silas (Toby Kebbell), has become active again, and put a stop to him once and for all.

As promised, Kidman is terrific in the lead role, charting a progression over time that’s far more than the skin-deep visual trickery used to distinguish the young Erin from the present-day one. The former is represented in utterly seamless digital work by Lola VFX (the company that does Marvel Studios’ de-ageing effects) in complete contrast with the latter, which is held up by Bill Corso’s transformative make-up work.

Both Corso and Kidman should have received recognition in this year’s Oscar nominations, not least because their efforts don’t overpower one another. Some have called the make-up distracting and argued that Kidman doesn’t need it, but these criticisms have the ring of being too conscious of the movie star playing the part, even as she utterly disappears into her role.

Writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (the duo who wrote the script for Kusama’s underrated psychological horror gem The Invitation) explore recognisable frustrations at the state of the world as it is. Erin is hardly squeaky clean in either her professional or personal life, but her righteous anger in the face of an obvious moral collapse fuels the film’s journey into purgatory.

Although Kidman is easily the headliner, there are excellent performances all round, not least from Stan, who has made a superb showing as a character actor between this and last year’s I, Tonya. Elsewhere, Kebbell elevates a character that might usually be played by a piss-taking James Franco, and Tatiana Maslany gives Kidman a run for her money with a chameleonic turn as his acolyte girlfriend.

The cast is further rounded out by Bradley Whitford, as a corrupt lawyer who perfectly lays out the film’s rotten worldview with just a few precise one-liners, and Scoot McNairy and Jade Pettyjohn, who shine through as Erin’s bitterly estranged husband and daughter respectively. Overall, the film’s ambitious scope is more than matched by its stars.

There are few things about Destroyer‘s plot that you could call unique, at least without getting into spoiler territory. If you expect that the team behind The Invitation might do more with the gang and their cultish adoration of Silas, you may come away disappointed, but then they’re not trying to repeat their own past films either.

Throughout its running time, it’s Kusama’s direction that keeps this juggernaut of an LA noir on course, and the decision to keep all of the seedy, scrungy nature of the plot out in broad daylight, in the unforgiving sunshine, informs the prickly personality of the piece.

Keeping on top of the non-linear structure, Kusama and editor Plummy Tucker move the film along towards a profoundly futile finale that still feels completely true to the story. Combined with the ceaselessly serious tone, the result is a film that often feels self-conscious in its subversions but boasts undeniable technical prowess all the same.

Destroyer is oppressive and impressive fare that also serves as a welcome reminder of how tolerable these actor-friendly character studies are when they’re not dragged out across 10 hours or more for a season of “cinematic” prestige television. Even though it feels too direct in its tagging of LA noir touchstones at times, it’s well worth seeing for the unsettling way in which it nails its most crucial beats.

This review contains spoilers.

4.11 Blood Memory

Supergirl feels like it’s accelerating as various stories start to take shape and even tie into one another in exciting ways. An excellent benefit of being in the fourth season of this world is that there’s a lot to play with, and it feels like this season’s various plot threads started in very different places but are now working their way toward one another with promising opportunities for connections. Even the Children of Liberty and bizarro Supergirl stories, which had been way on the back burner, reignite with intrigue.

I’m very interested in how the story with Lena’s genetic enhancement is being developed, particularly the way it’s gathering speed and picking up other narrative threads as it goes, like a snowball that grows as it moves. This episode entangles James in a dangerous way, rather pointedly demonstrating why titans of industry shouldn’t own the media, and why they shouldn’t date the editorial heads of those media companies, whether they own them or not. James unintentionally compromised himself when he fell into the thrall of the Children of Liberty earlier the season, and I fear he’s compromising himself again, this time for a very different reason.

Last season of Supergirl struggled in the back half when the various storylines couldn’t quite come together, but this episode acts as an excellent rebuttal. The powers-for-humans plot picks up another smart development that knits it into out Soviet Supergirl and accelerates the timetable for bringing in the Children of Liberty, even if they don’t have access to Lena’s actual development. I can’t wait to hear next episode whether her rather naïve conception of the powered drug has changed.

Nia finally got to take centre stage in a big way, finally pushing her character toward her destiny as Dreamer. While I’ve loved seeing the supportive responses to Nia, it also felt authentic to show her struggle against stigma. Nia’s sister (and to a lesser extent, her mother) went from subtly undermining Nia’s gender to outright transphobic and hateful comments. One thing that I did love about this, though, was the way that Nia’s dreaming powers completely affirmed her identity – these powers go from mother to daughter, and somehow those powers knew, even when biology didn’t, where they belonged. Sometimes, science fiction gets to do and say powerful things.

It’s also exciting to see Kara finally reveal her identity to Nia. It’s a big development for Kara to understand the difference between who needs to be protected from this information and who doesn’t, who is a danger to Kara herself and who isn’t. If only Kara could extend this good judgment to her best friend Lena…

It’s easy to see the parallels between Maeva/Nia and Kara/Alex, particularly when Kara says, “you didn’t choose to be the sister with powers. You didn’t take anything from her,” and, “keeping a secret from your sister will only hurt you.” Now that the truth seeker has finished its job, why does Alex need to remain in the dark? Keeping her unaware is dangerous to everyone. Without Kara as an alien in her childhood, Alex’s empathy has shifted away from aliens. She has a deep feeling of being powerless, wanting to not be vulnerable, and that’s making her dangerous to herself and others. She’s missing things in her role as Director of the DEO, but she’s also verging on radicalising.

I agree with Kara in that I have faith in the love between sisters – ultimately, this is a show built around the love of the Danvers sisters. But it’s frustrating to watch the writers trade one secret Kara keeps from a loved one for another. I’m also with Kara in that I question how Alex could have her close relationship with J’onn intact, knowing he’s an alien, and have the sort of blind animus we’re meant to think she harbours. What I saw was a mistrust of Supergirl specifically and unchecked power more generally, which could morph into more, similar to Lena’s feelings. I hope the writing doesn’t do Alex too much of a disservice here.

All around, this was a rich episode that moved the story forward for Nia, Kara, and Alex, raised some concerns about Lena and James, and even gave us some fun moments with frat bro Brainy.