movies

Trailer for The Death of Robin Hood

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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.

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A New Version of Sense and Sensibility Is Coming

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2025 saw the beginning of production on another new screen adaptation of a Jane Austen story besides Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice—a 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.

Thumbs & Ammo Nopes Out of Gunplay

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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

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Official Trailer for the Rebooted Red Sonja

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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).

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Trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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For a long time, superheroes and mutants were kept apart in Marvel Cinematic Universe screen adaptations due to contractual hassles. No more! Wolverine & Deadpool started opening doors and pulling characters from their earlier, separate silos into a more comprehensive world.

The Fantastic Four is now getting a new adaptation. The group’s gone through a few attempts before. I haven’t seen the 1994 version, but it looks like the lovechild of ST:TOS, the original MacGyver series, and Indiana Jones. I am okay with the 2005 and 2007 adaptations as far as the characters and actors are concerned. Alas, the 2015 abomination was dreadful all round, except for Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara.

The upcoming movie looks to integrate the Fantastic Four into the MCU. Here’s the teaser trailer…

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Official Teaser | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

…and the first full trailer…

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Official Trailer | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

…and the final trailer:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps | Final Trailer | Only in Theaters July 25 by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

It seems quite cheesy at first—very sixties, and the tv show intro that the full trailers start with is so corny. The Silver Surfer and Galactus seem appropriately celestial, but these clips don’t really give us much; they just imply a run-of-the-mill slugfest. I’ve gathered that’s not all, though, that the multiverse is somehow involved.

I do like Pedro Pascal’s work, but I can’t quite see him as Reed yet. Vanessa Kirby should also be fine as Sue, but I know next to nothing of Joseph Quinn (playing Johnny Storm) or Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm; although technically I have seen him in Andor s1, but am drawing an absolute blank on his role).

A month to go and I still have no idea whether it’s worth seeing this on the big screen. MCU’s really struggling lately.

FF:FS is set to premier on July 25, 2025.

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Representation Chart: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 4

Erik

We all know that the representation of people of different genders and races is imbalanced in popular media, but sometimes putting it into visual form can help make the imbalance clear. Here’s a chart of the Phase 4 movies of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (Black Widow, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Characters included

(Characters are listed in the first movie in which they qualify for inclusion under the rules given below. Multiple versions of the same character played by the same actor are not counted separately.)

  • Black Widow: Natasha Romanof / Black Widow, Melina, Yelena Bolova, Alexei / Red Guardian, Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster, Dreykov
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Xu Wenwu, Ying Li, Xu Shang-Chi, Katy, Razor Fist, Xu Xialing, Trevor Slattery, Ying Nan
  • Eternals: Sersi, Ikaris, Ajak, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, Thena, Gilgamesh, Kingo, Sprite, Dane Whitman
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home: Peter Parker / Spider-Man 1, MJ Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, May Parker, “Happy” Hogan, Ned Leeds, “Flash” Thompson, Stephen Strange, Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus, Norman Osborne / Green Goblin, Flint Marko / Sandman, Curtis Connors / Lizard, Max Dillon / Electro, Peter Parker / Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker / Spider-Man 3
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: America Chavez, Christine Palmer, Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
  • Thor: Love and Thunder: Gorr, Thor, Jane Foster / Thor, Valkyrie, Axl, Zeus
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Shuri, Namor, Namora, Attuma, Ramonda, Okoye, Nakia, M-Baku, Everett Ross, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Riri Williams / Ironheart

Rules

In the interests of clarity, here’s the rules I’m following for who to include and where to place them:

  • I only count characters portrayed by an actor who appears in person on screen in more or less recognizable form (i.e. performances that are entirely CG, prosthetic, puppet, or voice do not count).
  • The judgment of which characters are significant enough to include is unavoidably subjective, but I generally include characters who have on-screen dialogue, who appear in more than one scene, and who are named on-screen (including nicknames, code names, etc.)
  • For human characters that can be reasonably clearly identified, I use the race and gender of the character.
  • For non-human characters or characters whose identity cannot be clearly determined, I use the race and gender of the actor.
  • I use four simplified categories for race and two for gender. Because human variety is much more complicated and diverse than this, there will inevitably be examples that don’t fit. I put such cases where they seem least inappropriate, or, if no existing option is adequate, give them their own separate categories.
  • “White” and “Black” are as conventionally defined in modern Western society. “Asian” means East, Central, or South Asian. “Indigenous” encompasses indigenous peoples of the Americas, Oceania, Australia, and other indigenous peoples from around the world.
  • There are many ethnic and gender categories that are relevant to questions of representation that are not covered here. There are also other kinds of diversity that are equally important for representation that are not covered here. A schematic view like this can never be perfect, but it is a place to start.

Corrections and suggestions welcome.

Image: Diagram by Erik Jensen

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News on a Red Sonja Reboot

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If I ever heard of a Red Sonja reboot project, I must’ve immediately forgotten it, for the fate of movie projects is unknowable and often fickle, and that is multiplied for genre projects starring women.

Now, though, it sounds like Millennium Media’s Red Sonja is due for release later this year in the UK and Ireland. This version is directed by M.J. Bassett and written by Tasha Huo and Roy Thomas on the basis of Robert E. Howard’s original comic book characters. Matilda Lutz plays Sonja.

At this writing, IMDB doesn’t list much information and has only 10 photos for the production, including a poster.

IMDB 2025 Red Sonja Poster

Interestingly, IMDB also lists Roy Thomas as an uncredited writer for the comic book. Thomas’s latest big-name project is Deadpool & Wolverine.

I hazily remember the previous adaptation from 1985 starring Brigitte Nielsen. ‘Twas the time when there were so few SFFnal movies and tv series in the boonies where I grew up that you pretty much had to see everything coming your way if you wanted to see anything. If I recall, it was like the 80s Conan adaptations—Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and Conan the Destroyer in 1984—which is to say pretty campy, but attempting very, very, very earnestly to bring epic fantasy to screen.

Bassett’s version is filmed in Bulgaria and Greece, and reportedly will have a different tone from male-gaze versions of the character. While both of these details sound promising, and while I would love to see more genre projects led and directed by women, somehow I seem to doubt the movie will be released on the big screen here in Finland. We’ll see.

Image via IMDB

Captain America: Brave New World Featurettes

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In the past few weeks, Marvel has been actively marketing Captain America: Brave New World—understandably, as the movie opens next week. (Already!) I thought these two featurettes below were worth linking to. (Note that a spoiler warning is in effect!)

Captain America: Brave New World | Get Tickets Now by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Captain America: Brave New World | First Look by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

We get a few more glimpses of President Ross’s Red Hulk, more walk talk—in fact, SO much war talk—and perhaps a few second’s worth more of Sam Wilson.

More tantalizingly, however, a fleeting hint that appears at the very end of the older of these clips (the one saying Get Tickets Now—cue to the 1:20 mark) seems to be saying that Joaquin Torres from the MCU series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (played by Danny Ramirez) will get his own wingsuit. And, indeed, the IMDB cast listing confirms it: he’ll become the next Falcon. That should be interesting, since we’ve only ever seen Sam’s take on how to make use of the wings.

BNW releases on February 14, 2025 in the U.S.

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Universal Pictures and Christopher Nolan to Adapt The Odyssey

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It’s been ten years since a Lionsgate screen adaptation of The Odyssey by Homer was announced. Sadly, that project didn’t get off the ground.

Now there are news of a Christopher Nolan adaptation. Nolan is to write, produce, and direct a “mythic action epic”, with backing from Universal Pictures.

Unlike the ill-fated Lionsgate project, this time more than one actor were reportedly already attached by the time the adaptation was announced. (At this writing: Zendaya, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, and Lupita N’yongo—gosh!) On the basis of the big-name initial cast, it sounds likely that this time there will actually be a movie.

Flickr Gary Todd Hellenic War Museum Penteconter Sm

Also, judging by the current publicity poster, there will be some ship action (maybe even ship-vs-monster action!) and in IMAX, no less. Writing in Nolan’s movies is either a hit or miss for me, but at least there’s usually been something interesting to see, so the sailing scenes might look truly magnificent. On the other hand, action sequence special effects in recent block busters have sometimes been—shall we kindly say—too implausible (and sometimes just badly made) for my enjoyment. I’m hoping that the effects teams, Nolan, other producers, and the studio can strike a sensible balance.

At this writing, the release day is set to July 17, 2026.

Image: a Greek penteconter ship by Gary Todd via Flickr (CC0 1.0 Universal), edited by Eppu Jensen

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Official Trailer Offers More on Captain America: Brave New World

Eppu

Besides the teaser trailer, there’s now a new, official Captain America: Brave New World trailer:

Captain America: Brave New World | Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Sounds like the plot will be grimmer than the teaser intimated. There are a few funny moments, too, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe prefers, for instance when Sam lands with a *whump* in the middle of a handful of soldiers guarding a mansion, quips “Wait for it”, and just pauses while the concussive blast from his landing knocks the soldiers back.

Liv Tyler makes a comeback as Betty Ross according to IMBD, even if we haven’t seen her yet—yay! In the cast listing there is also a whole bunch of new-to-me characters with superhero names, like Sidewinder (played by Giancarlo Esposito), Rachel Leighton / Diamondback (Rosa Salazar), Samuel Sterns / The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), and Ruth Bat-Seraph / Sabra (Shira Haas). Looking forward to finding out more about them.

On one hand, topic-wise this would not be my nr. 1 pick for entertainment while two wars are being fought in Europe: the teaser mentioned shifting global power, and now this official trailer straight-up talks about coordinated terrorist attacks and President Ross being a wartime president. Brr.

They are also clearly trying to imply something by the repetitive division of the screen into two halves during the trailer. It could be just a way to stuff more material in, of course, but I suspect something more nefarious is intended, especially with the line about the President’s inner circle being compromised, the scratching “Reset Ross Reset America” on the wall, hints of brainwashing or other kinds of manipulation, etc.

On the other hand, the MCU movies really aren’t that deep or complex even when they pretend to be. I’m sure they’ll serve a nicely enough wrapped-up solution, if not in this movie, then in a future installment. A simple, black-and-white action romp may be just the thing to while away a couple of hours.

Just one little snarky hint to President Ross, though: if you don’t want a variable out there that you can’t control, do not be a president. A soldier should know that.

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