In 2019, Mahershala Ali was cast in the title role of a new Blade movie to be developed in the MCU. He was quite energized in his involvement for a time, but after several years of stalled development and creative clashes over how to approach the project in the M arvel mold, it completely fell apart. But Ali had already done a lot of the physical action training and had built up a good relationship with Bassam Tariq, who had been hired to direct the film. Rather than let all of that preparation go to waste, the two of them decided to pair up for a comparable project, one that would have personal significance to both of them. There has very probably never been an American movie like Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother , an action-thriller film rooted in the faith and cultural traditions of Islam. And indeed I doubt any studio would have greenlit it without the involvement of a name star like Ali. The title is taken from a particular Islamic proverb in which a man asks the Prophet Muh...
Wildwood is the new high watermark for stop-motion animation. After all the years and effort that was put into it, it would pretty much have to be. The latest film from the extraordinary Laika studio, and their first in seven years has been in development since 2011, back when the company had just one movie to their name -their only true hit Coraline . Based on the book by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, it was always an ambitious project -even for Laika; an epic fantasy adventure story that demanded an intensity of craft like nothing they had done before. That it took fifteen years and virtually all of the studio’s resources to make it to the screen is unsurprising. It is perhaps just as much so that the finished film is indeed a creative, artistic, and technical triumph like nothing else in American animation. But just because its successes may have been anticipated, doesn’t make the film any less a marvel to behold. Directed by Laika CEO and perfect nepo baby Travis Knight, Wildwood...