The First Trailer for The Latest Odyssey Adaptation

The Christopher Nolan adaptation of The Odyssey has a trailer out.

The Odyssey | Official Trailer by Universal Pictures on YouTube

Right. The biggest thing staring at me are the colors. They are too muted, IMO—by now there’s plenty of evidence that the ancient world was awash with color. Some of it is explained by the weather in the trailer scenes, but there really should be more color. Even the glimpse of Penelope’s (Anne Hathaway) turquoise gown is left in the shadow of her head, making it appear darker.

(This is a tendency in some modern films I just can’t abide; wash-out tones like sepia have never appealed to me. History was colorful! And don’t get me started on the pervasiveness of black. Like slapping on unnecessary buckles and straps, pretensions of historicity while choosing black clothes for earlier periods has started to seriously irk me. Sure, if your film is about puritans, go for it. The antiquity? Black is certainly not as omnipresent as this!)

Otherwise, we see hints of several scenes from the epic. Perhaps too many; the whole feels jumbled, disorganized, and erratic. I am likely to want to see the movie, but unfortunately this trailer did nothing to encourage me to visit a theater to do so. Endless dark scenes of men in dark costumes glancing apprehensively around in dark surroundings, while I myself am sitting in a dark auditorium, holds no attraction for me. (For that much dark, we have Finnish winters, thank you very much.) I might as well wait for the disc and see it at home in greater comfort to offset all of that gloom.

The Odyssey will open on July 17, 2026.

Jane Austen’s Period Drama

While browsing Frock Flicks, I came across a 2024 short comedy called Jane Austen’s Period Drama.

Content note: icky female bodily fluids are depicted (faked, obviously, but nevertheless) and discussed. Beware, hereinafter there be cooties!

The short is both written and directed by Julia Aks and Steve Pinder. Furthermore, Aks stars as Miss Estrogenia ‘Essy’ Talbot. According to IMDB, the farce is introduced thus:

“England, 1813. In the middle of a long-awaited marriage proposal, Miss Estrogenia Talbot gets her period. Her suitor, Mr. Dickley, mistakes the blood for an injury, and it soon becomes clear that his expensive education has missed a spot.”

JANE AUSTEN’S PERIOD DRAMA / 2026 Oscar®-Nominated Short Film by Julia Aks on YouTube

Don’t let the film’s short duration fool you: Jane Austen’s Period Drama has very impressive sets and props plus acting and filming, but it’s the writing that takes the cake. (Chocolate cake, obviously, considering the topic.)

Reader, I laughed and laughed!

First Trailer for Masters of The Universe Reboot

Oho—another upcoming movie that I’ve missed: He-Man and pals are getting a reboot. Here’s the first Masters of The Universe trailer:

Masters of The Universe – Official Teaser Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

Well, now. This is clearly an origin story. I’m hazy on how—and why—would little Adam be sent to Earth to hide and what, exactly, there is at Castle Grayskull to protect in this version of the story. Perhaps that’ll become clearer in future trailers.

The protagonist is played by Nicholas Galitzine, a complete unknown to me, but the supporting cast has some very big names like Morena Baccarin, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, James Purefoy, and Kristen Wiig, and smaller familiar ones like Alison Brie, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.

Like Molly Templeton said at Reactor magazine, so far it “looks like the generic version of Thor: Ragnarok, as ordered from a questionable website.” Agreed! Also, some clips and effects look almost like they’re copy-pasted from other Marvel Cinematic Universe content.

I haven’t bothered to dig up the MCU cinematographers or visual effects companies for comparison, to see whether there is a real overlap or whether this could be a case of a visual language being increasingly adopted within the genre movie industry in general. (It could also be a blatant case of stylistic copying to try and lure in MCU fans, of course.)

But I do have to wonder, if visuals across big productions are starting to resemble each other to this extent, what does it forebode for future genre action movies? I’ve gotten quite tired of the stagnant action movie structure, to be honest. For a while the larger story arc across the separate MCU movies was interesting, since it had never been done before on that scale. (In fact, MCU reminds me of Babylon 5, the first to introduce really extensive story arcs for SFFnal tv shows.) But is there going to be anything interesting that’ll define action franchises anymore? Thematic differences like fast custom cars (vroom vroom!) or superpowered individuals or big monsters will remain, sure, but anything worth caring about? I guess I’m hankering after a paradigm shift in action movies, really.

Annnyway. 🙂

Travis Knight is directing a script by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and Dave Callaham. Callaham at least I recognize from the 2014 Godzilla, Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The release date for the U.S. and U.K. for MotU is listed as June 05, 2026.

Trailer for The Death of Robin Hood

Oh, I had not come across this—a new Robin Hood adaptation is coming to the big screen. It involves an old, wounded Robin, and they’ve scored quite a big name for the titular role: Hugh Jackman.

Here’s a trailer:

The Death of Robin Hood | Official Trailer HD | A24 by A24 on YouTube

There are some impressive locations and cinematic beauty, like when the little girl (who sounds like one of the protagonists) and Robin meet in the woods and he promises to make her a bow. Sadly, though, I find the trailer a bit too vague; too many flashbacks to Robin’s past, perhaps? Also, some of the scenes are too dark to see. While that’s a benefit for me when really graphic violence is depicted, I can’t say I really care for either. (I wish the movie business would get out of the if-it’s-fantasy-it-must-be-explicitly-violent-because-Game-of-Thrones-was-and-that-did-great rut already!)

It seems that Jackman is the only name I know from the cast. Even the writer-director Michael Sarnoski is completely unknown to me, so I can’t even guess at the style of story this might be. I do like what I see of the adult and young female protagonists, though (played by Jodie Comer and Faith Delaney, it looks like).

While there is something to be said for a tale where a man and a girl form a meaningful connection, this doesn’t look like a movie for me. (Like I implied in my post about the 2025 Red Sonja reboot, there is no longer a need to see absolutely everything SFFnal if you want to see anything, since the selection has grown so much.) We’ll see if that changes with further trailers.

According to IMDB, The Death of Robin Hood has only two release dates at this writing: one for Mexico on May 28, 2026, and merely 2026 for United States.

A New Version of Sense and Sensibility Is Coming

2025 saw the beginning of production on another new screen adaptation of a Jane Austen story besides Netflix’s Pride and Prejudicea remake of Sense and Sensibility is also in the works.

The film is directed by Georgia Oakley (who is, sadly, completely unfamiliar to me both as director and writer), and bestselling author Diana Reid wrote the screenplay (ditto).

Elinor is played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Marianne by Esmé Creed-Miles, Margaret by Bodhi Rae Breathnach, and Mrs. Dashwood by Caitríona Balfe. Outside the Dashwood family, we’ll have George MacKay as Edward Ferrars, Frank Dillane as John Willoughby, and Herbert Nordrum as Colonel Brandon.

2026 Adaptation SnS Mashup

I’ve seen Balfe in a few random episodes of Outlander, but otherwise the core cast is unknown to me. (Well, technically I have seen Dillane as a 16-year-old version of Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 15+ years ago, but don’t remember a thing of such a fleeting experience.) It’s actually rather refreshing to get to see a production without preconceptions.

Also starring will be Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Jennings, whom I really like as Mrs. Croft in the 1995 Persuasion and as Maarva in Andor. (I always forget her truly excellent performance as Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter adaptations because the character is so repulsive.) The funny marvelous thing is that Shaw has also been cast in Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Her performances alone should be worth seeing both new versions!

The new S&S adaptation by Focus Features and Working Title Films is in post-production at this writing. The shooting started in July 2025 and, according to IMDB, the U.S. and U.K. release dates are set in September 2026.

Yay! Good times for us Jane Austen fans. 🙂

Images via IMDB, mashup by Eppu Jensen: Esmé Creed-Miles. Frank Dillane by Jesse Grant / Getty Images. Daisy Edgar-Jones by Faye Thomas. George MacKay by David M. Bennett / Getty Images.

Star Trek: Discovery Theme as Disco!

There’s a brilliant version of Star Trek: Discovery theme—in disco style:

Star Trek Discovery Theme but the theme is DISCO by Craven In Outer Space on YouTube

It really packs a lot into its minute-and-a-half running time. I can’t figure out a single thing that’s extraneous or out of place; everything fits either into disco or Discovery, even the tempo change at the end. Ha! 🙂

Found via Daniël Franke on Mastodon.

Thumbs & Ammo Nopes Out of Gunplay

The other day, I was rummaging around in some old stuff when I found this. The blog Thumbs & Ammo collected movie posters or screencaps with firearms replaced by a thumbs-up.

Some of my favorites are below.

Thumbs n Ammo Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond by Pulai A. via Thumbs & Ammo
Thumbs n Ammo Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne in Matrix Reloaded by Jonathon J. via Thumbs & Ammo
Thumbs n Ammo Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens by Elliot D. via Thumbs & Ammo

And saving the best for last:

Thumbs n Ammo Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope by James L. via Thumbs & Ammo

Epically hilarious! 😀 Looks like the blog hasn’t been updated in a good while, though. Shame.

Images via Thumbs & Ammo

Official Trailer for the Rebooted Red Sonja

The Red Sonja reboot I mentioned a while back has a trailer out now:

Red Sonja | Official Trailer HD by Samuel Goldwyn Films on YouTube

Hm. Not very many fantasy elements, merely the large cyclopian monster on the arena. Other than that it reminds me of Game of Thrones and not in a good way, sadly.

I’m looking forward to another trailer—at least I’m hoping we’ll get another one—and a few more details, since at this writing it still doesn’t look like there will be a theatrical release in Finland.

Finally, a PSA since some people on the Internet seem to need it: this version of Sonja does not wear a chainmail bikini. I am not an expert in armor, but I do know what chainmail looks like, and this isn’t it. This is scale mail of some sort.

According to IMDB, this version of Red Sonja is already out in Australia, Greece, and Kazakhstan, with releases coming in the U.S. (Aug 13, 2025), Ireland (Aug 18), and Thailand (Aug 21).

Murderbot Season One Is Over

So, the first season of Murderbot tv adaptation ended. I have thoughts and feelings! But: more importantly, the announcement was already made via multiple channels that the series has been renewed for season two!

Tumblr mysticalalleycat Premium Quality Entertainment

Yaaaaay!

Tumblr improbabledreams900 Murderbot S1E10 Smile

I will want to binge the whole series through one more time at least and ruminate on some of the changes before I can say anything sensible.

For those interested who might’ve missed it, Reactor has published a free Perihelion story by Martha Wells.

Images: Premium quality entertainment via mysticalalleycat on Tumblr. Smile via improbabledreams900 on Tumblr.

This post has been edited to correct a typo.

Repurposing Old Wind Turbine Blades as Bike Shelters

Apparently, for a good long while, retired wind turbine blades were difficult to deal with. (Sounds like recyclable blades have since been created.) They were made of materials that can’t easily be recycled and are bulky to just dump.

Repurposing used blades has been an obvious solution. But as what? Among others, they’ve been turned into utility poles, playground equipment, bridge girders, and park benches, for example. In addition, in Aalborg, Denmark, sections of old, disused wind turbine blades have been set up as bike shelters.

WEF Siemens Gamesa Turbine Bike Shelter

This is an older project by now, but I thought it clever and worth noting. Also, it’s cool how the shape of the repurposed section nods just a tiny bit towards the Art Nouveau spirit.

Image by Siemens Gamesa, found via World Economic Forum