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BGN News Beat: The Week’s Biggest Headlines and Year in Review

BGN News Beat: The Week’s Biggest Headlines and Year in Review

BGN News Beat
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What’s going on in the TV world?

In Doctor Who‘s Christmas Special, the Twelfth Doctor regenerated. That isn’t anything new. We’ve seen a few of those since the show was rebooted in 2005. What is new is the form his newly regenerated form took. The Doctor is finally a woman. The news was dropped this summer and people have not stopped complaining or yelling in excitement ever since. Now we finally get to see her in action, if only for a small scene at the end. If you missed the episode, you can check it out below.

FX has found success with Ryan Murphy. From American Horror Story to Feud to American Crime Story, he’s given them hours of popular entertainment. Now his latest project, Pose, has been ordered to series by the network. Season 1 will initially have eight episodes and is set to premiere next summer. Pose is a dance musical that will star Evan Peters, Kate Mara and James Van Der Beek. It will feature the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted TV show as well as the largest transgender cast of regulars including MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross. The show is described as “set in the 1980s, Pose looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world. Peters and Mara star as New Jersey couple Stan and Patty, who get sucked into the glamour and intrigue of New York City in the 1980s, along with Van Der Beek, who plays Peters’ financial kingpin boss Matt.” Tatiana Maslany was also originally part of the cast but her role was reimagined as a 50-year-old African-American woman who will be played by Charlayne Woodard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=BvUl6FoMv0A

The CW’s Black Lightning has a new promo and description. The expanded description now goes into the history of the titular character. “Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning, but he left the Superhero days behind. Almost a decade later, Pierce’s crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought.” By day Cress Williams’ Jefferson Pierce is the principle of a charter school and father. By night… a superhero returning after a long break. Black Lightning premieres January 16 on The CW.

Season 2 of BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will serve as the final season. BBC decided not to renew the show after the second season wrapped. The series was an adaptation of the popular novels by Douglas Adams. Max Landis was the creator and Robert Cooper the showrunner. Samuel Barnett starred as the titular character with Elijah Wood as the assistant who was dragged into this strange mess. Jade Eshet, Hannah Marks, Mpho Koaho, Fiona Dourif, Dustin Milligan, Michael Eklund, Osric Chau, Viv Leacock and Zak Santiago also starred.

BGN TV Recappers have worked hard this. We have reviewed a lot of shows covering a variety of genres and networks. We’ve reviewed CW shows including Riverdale, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, andthe lead up to Black Lightning. We’ve covered widely popular shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Others shows we’ve covered include Black-ish, This is Us, Insecure, Queen Sugar, Mr. Robot, Preacher, Doctor Who, and anime titles like RWBY. Don’t forget to tune in for your favorite shows and check out our take on them later. And that’s not even counting all of the shows we live tweet.

In Movie News…

Universal

We have a new image for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The sequel to the wildly Jurassic World takes place 10 years after the original. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt are reprising their roles. The movie is once again directed by J. A. Bayona based on a script by returning writers Derek Connolly and Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow.

Warner Bros.

There’s also a new image of Aquaman. Jason Momoa stars as the titular character. He made his debut in this year’s Justice League. The movie also stars Amber Heard as Mera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as David Hyde / Black Manta, Patrick Wilson as Orm, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Temuera Morrison as Thomas Curry, and Nicole Kidman as Atlanna. Director James Wan spoke about the plot and Aquaman’s situation: “He doesn’t quite fit in, but as the story progresses, he realizes he’s the best of both worlds. Circumstances allow him to grow as a human being and then realize the bigger picture of it all and what it means to have these abilities.” Aquaman will premiere December 21.

Marvel

Thanks to USA Today, we also have a new image from Avengers: Infinity War. In it, we see the crossover of our two space dwelling franchises hinted at in the trailer. In it we see Mantis reading an unconscious Thor while Rocket watches on. Infinity War stars pretty much everyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You can expect to see it May 4.

The sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwaldal dropped a few new images this week. The images feature Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as a young Dumbledore. In the film, Dumbledore recruits Scamander in the fight against evil wizard Grindelwald. It was revealed at the end of the first film that Grindelwald was secretly the villain. Despite the controversy surrounding the actor he will continue to be played by Johnny Depp. Both the director David Yates and J.K. Rowling have come to his defense. You can see him pictured with his sidekick Vinda Rosier played by Poppy Corby-Tuech.

Despite horrible reviews, Netflix’s original movie Bright received 11 million viewers in the first three days of it’s released. Directed by Suicide Squad‘s David Ayer from a script by Max Landis, the movie stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. Netflix has been notoriously secretive about their viewership numbers. We do know that Stranger Things 2 unsurprisingly drew more viewers with 15.8 people tuning in; however, Netflix’s critically acclaimed show The Crown drew less. These numbers are according to Nielsen, who has recently said they were tracking Netflix numbers, but Netflix has disputed these numbers. Bright is currently sitting at a 26% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read our review of it here.

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A year ago this week Carrie Fisher died at the age of 60. Fans, family and friends took to social media to pay tribute. You can read BGN’s reaction post from last year here. Below are two messages from Star Wars co-star and longtime friend Mark Hamill and her daughter Billie Lourd.

The L.A. Times released the cover for the Envelope, their entertainment industry news section. Emblazoned with the caption ‘A Shift in Focus: actresses call for a change in the way may stories are told’ the cover features a group of actresses. What’s noteworthy about it is that all the actresses are white. If they are calling for a change in how stories are told this change doesn’t seem to take into consideration race. Rebecca Carroll tweeted about the lack of diversity, specifically calling out Jessica Chastain who has been outspoken on the need for diversity. Chastain responded a day later. BGN founder, Jamie Broadnax wrote about how this issue was addressed in the media and the way criticism made by black women are routinely swept under the rug. You can read the article here.

This has been a great year for BGN getting exclusive content and interviews with stars of some of the biggest or best-reviewed movies of the year. It’s the end of the year, so let’s highlight some of the work we’ve done starting with the movies in theater now.

BGN staffer, Jacqueline Coley sat down with Aaron Sorkin to talk about his new film Molly’s Game. You can watch the video here. Molly’s Game is the true story of a woman who went from running private poker games for the Hollywood elite to being the target of an FBI investigation. Jacqueline also sat down with stars Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba. Check it out here. Joi sat down with some of the Bellas to talk about Pitch Perfect 3. Check out the interview with Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp and Brittany SnowHailee Steinfeld, and Ester Dean, and Hana Mae Lee and Chrissie Fit.

We spoke with producer, director, and writer of Get Out Jordan Peele on the podcast. Listen here. You can also read Leonardo Faierman’s amazing review of it here. DaVette See spoke with Girls Trip Director Malcolm D. Lee and Producer Will Packer as well as with stars Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett SmithRegina Hall and Tiffany Haddish, and Lorenz Tate. You can read her review of the movie here.

BGN attended the Toronto International Film Festival. We reviewed movies and interviewed cast members. Kyndal Wilson interviewed director Angela Robinson and Luke Evans star of Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. You can read Joi Child’s review of it here. You can see the rest of our TIFF coverage here including Kay-B’s early review of Netflix’s Mudbound, Joi Childs’ review of I, Tonya, Jamie Broadnax’s Roman J. Israel, Esq., and Kay-B’s The Mountain Between Us. Also check out Kay-B’s interview with the stars  and director of The Mountain Between Us. Lauren Warren interviewed the cast and director of Call Me By Your Name. You can read Jacqueline’s review of it here.

BGN founder Jamie Broadnax talked to director Taika Waititi about Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. You can read Joelle Monique’s review of Thor: Ragnarok here. You can read Cat Combs’ interview with Blade Runner: 2049‘s Lennie James here and Leonardo Faierman’s review of the movie here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=48&v=88EB0TEGQDA

Finally, in other news…

Jay-Z released the video for his single “Family Feud” from his critically acclaimed 4:44 album last night. The seven-minute video has a mini-movie feel to it which isn’t surprising considering it was directed by none other than Ava DuVernay. In addition to Jay-Z, Beyonce and their daughter Blue Ivy, the video features a star-studded cast. Michael B. Jordan, Trevante Rhodes, Thandie Newton, Jessica Chastain, Irene Bedard, Omari Hardwick, David Oyelowo, Emayatzy Corinealdi, America Ferrera, Aisha Hinds, Henry G. Sanders, Storm Reid, Mindy Kaling, Rashida Jones, Rosario Dawson, Janet Mock, Brie Larson, Constance Wu, Niecy Nash, and Susan Kelechi Watson all make appearances. The video is exclusive to Tidal so you need an account to watch it for now. Ava tweeted about her inspirations and the process behind making the video. You can follow the thread below and get an idea of what the video is about.

If you have anything I missed, email me at mel@blackgirlnerds.com or tweet me at @jane_anon. Check back in next Monday for all the exciting news happening next week.


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