Remembering Sean Connery, One of Our Greatest Movie Stars

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

For a certain subset of males around the globe, James Bond is the pinnacle of masculinity. His style and swagger have long served as an exceedingly aspirational template since his creation in 1953 by novelist Ian Fleming. Fleming may have made Bond a household name, but Sir Thomas Sean Connery made Bond a legend.

Connery, who passed today at the age of 90, was everything you could want and imagine from a movie star. It’s overwhelmingly cliché to say that they don’t make movie stars like Connery anymore, but there’s often truth in well-worn phrases: Connery created the mold of a modern action star. His inherent magnetism, rugged bravado, effortless wit, endless sex appeal, and an overwhelming sense of style form a totality that’s hard to top—certainly by Bond standards, let alone by modern performers. Connery’s impact lingers in the edges of every action performance, whether intentional or otherwise, to this day.

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'The Mandalorian' Hyperdrives Deeper Into 'Star Wars' Universe in Season 2 Premiere

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

When The Mandalorian first premiered last year, it caught viewers by surprise. Sure, the trailers and pre-show conversation around the Jon Favreau-helmed series gave the audience an idea of its Western-influenced roots. But the real surprise—Baby Yoda!—was left until the premiere’s final few seconds. Now, a full season later, The Mandalorian doesn’t have quite the same element of shock as it had when it debuted, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t find new ways to be exciting. 

Anyone who thought The Mandalorian’s Season 2 premiere, titled "The Marshal," might try and ease new watchers into its world are in for a rude awakening. The episode picks up in media res after the first season’s finale events with titular Mandalorian Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) on the hunt for information that could lead him to another underground network of Mandalorians. The tip sends him, and us, back to the start of Star Wars—and brings its own level of wonders worthy of George Lucas’ original movies.

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Couch Review: 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

I would imagine the most ardent fans of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat scratched their heads when news of a sequel trickled out earlier this summer. Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 social satire feels like a lifetime ago, with its lasting impact reduced to memeification. The biggest question facing a follow-up seemed to hinge around whether or not it’d be able to chart new territory 14 years later. Turns out the truly unprecedented events of this year yielded the exact conditions needed for a compelling sequel.

The plot of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan—its full title, out now on Amazon Prime—matters only in the broadest sense. Upon returning from the events of the first movie, Borat’s actions overseas have embarrassed his home country of Kazakhstan. His punishment comes in the form of a sentence to a lifetime of hard labor—until he receives a shot at redemption. Having familiarity with the U.S., Borat is tasked to bring a gift in the form of a celebrity monkey to Vice President Mike Pence to restore Kazakhstan’s standing with America. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the monkey doesn’t make it alive. So Borat’s estranged, 15-year-old daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova, providing a masterful and fearless comedic performance), who has stowed away on the trip over, becomes the gift instead.

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Couch Review: 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Leave it to a historical, political, and legal drama to bring out some of Aaron Sorkin’s best work. The Trial of the Chicago 7—formerly a Paramount Pictures release sold to Netflix in the wake of COVID-19—is filled with The West Wing creator’s favorite topics: progressive ideologies, the importance of democracy, the triumph of rightness, the value of good trouble—all those facets, and more, are on display as the movie reminds the audience that the “whole world is watching.” In short, Trial is about what you’d expect from an Aaron Sorkin project.

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'The Social Network' Tried to Warn Us

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Making a movie about Facebook seemed like a baffling choice in 2010. A decade ago, the social media platform was in its halcyon days, a few years out from moving past its invite-only exclusivity, CEO Mark Zuckerberg focused on leveraging his website as the way to connect people across the globe. It was a site for people to stay in touch, share photos, relive moments, figure out if that person in your chemistry class was dating someone, talk about your day, and more. Facebook was, in a sense, pure—insofar as the Internet can be pure. It was hard to comprehend what a “Facebook movie” might even look like, let alone who would write, direct, and star in such a project.

Those concerns seem quaint now. A full decade out from its initial release, The Social Network not only continues to hold but somehow becomes even better with age. The David Fincher-directed, Aaron Sorkin-scripted, Jesse Eisenberg-, Andrew Garfield-, Justin Timberlake-, and Armie Hammer-starring film is a Shakespearian look at friendship, loyalty, jealousy, class, betrayal, power, creation, the desire for connection, and so much more. In my estimation, the movie is a masterpiece and the defining cinematic work of the last decade, offering a prescient look into the future of American society.

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What 'Tenet' Taught Us About Moviegoing During a Pandemic

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Tenet was supposed to be the chosen one. After months without a new theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopher Nolan’s latest and greatest was the foundation upon which the future hopes and dreams of the theatrical experience were built. Not unlike Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, Nolan himself is a brand; a household name studios like Warner Bros. can leverage to draw moviegoers—both casual and hardcore—to theaters to great financial success. It was a smart business strategy to have a known quantity like Nolan and Tenet be the movie to open back up theaters (which is why it was delayed many times). The marketing wrote itself: Big movies are back! It’s safe to return to theaters! See Nolan’s film the way it was meant to be seen! Or so we thought.

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Couch Review: 'Fargo,' Year 4

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Noah Hawley’s Fargo on FX has always been about history. Whether it’s the previous relationship audiences have with the Joel and Ethan Coen movie the show was adapted from, or even the way the anthology series has engaged with itself over the last three installments, Fargo has been keenly aware of the preconceived notions audiences automatically have about it just by merely existing. Fargo (the show) has mostly stuck to the "formula" of what audiences expect from this specific kind of Midwestern crime series. That is, until now.

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What We Learned From DC's FanDome Announcements

This article originally appeared on Complex.com

Without a traditional San Diego Comic-Con this year (canceled because of you-know-what) to showcase a bunch of new projects, Warner Bros. and DC decided to take matters into their own hands and set up a brand new virtual event for fans. Called the DC FanDome (get it, fandom?), the live experience featured a series of Zoom panels with the cast and creative talent behind the scenes of anticipated movies like The Batman, Wonder Woman 1984, the Snyder Cut of Justice League, and more.

FanDome successfully translated what it’s like to sit through panels at Comic-Con, while also packing the day’s events full of new announcements, trailers, and footage for DC’s entire cinematic slate from now well into 2022. For the first time since the end of Justice League, the future of the DCEU is starting to come into focus—and it’s an exciting time, full of promise.

A lot of info and teases were given out, so instead of sifting through it all across different articles, we’re here to break down all the highlights in one place and contextualize a few things along the way. Let’s dive in below.

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