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borg’s Best of 2020–The Best on TV

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December 16, 2020

Today we move from the big screen to the small screen with the Best TV Series of 2020. If you missed it, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2020 here and the best Kick-Ass Heroines of 2020 here. We watch a lot of television, and probably love a good series even more than a great movie. We preview hundreds of series, but outside big franchise content you want to know about, we only review what we recommend–the best genre content we’re watching. The theory? If we like it, we think you may like it. The best shows have a compelling story, a full range of emotions, great characters, tremendous action, a sharp use of humor, and all kinds of well-executed genre elements that satisfy and leave viewers feeling inspired. Even better if we see richly detailed sets and costumes.

Without further ado, this year’s Best in Television:

Best Borg Series – Altered Carbon (Netflix). Showing life in a world well past the merger of the organic and inorganic via stacks placed in human individuals’ vertebrae in the back of the neck, the second season of the series further revealed the dark side of being able to live forever. What parts of life have the most value in a cybernetic world? What crimes emerge when body and mind can be separated and re-shuffled? Honorable mention: Star Trek: Picard (CBD All Access)–revisiting Star Trek’s old nemeses The Borg and introducing the cyborg-like nonbiological humanoids called Synths, the same term used in the BBC’s Humans.

Best TV Borg, Best TV Villain – Darth Maul (played by Sam Witwer and Ray Park), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Disney+). The athletic performer Ray Park provided the best-ever lightsaber duel scenes in his co-starring performance in The Phantom Menace. Watching the animated series this year it was clear Darth Maul wasn’t just another animated character. Add another great duel to the books–Park’s motion capture abilities live on and continue to set the bar for Star Wars action sequences, and Witwer voices a character we never want to see go away again. Honorable mention for Best TV Villain: Grand Moff Gideon, Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian (Disney+).

Best Sci-fi TV Series, Best TV Fantasy, Best Western TV Series – The Mandalorian (Disney+). Not a lot needs explaining with this series, which continues to be compared to the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back more than anything with the Star Wars label on it since. The Western motif is still alive, not all that hidden here in space fantasy garb. And we won’t get started on the impact of The Child (aka Baby Yoda) now called Grogu, on the genre-loving world and beyond. Credit Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau’s visible enthusiasm and love for the original movies for a series that only gets better with each episode, despite their short lengths. Honorable mention for Best Sci-Fi TV Series: Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access).

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Tags: Alex Høgh Andersen, Altered Carbon, Amazon Studios, Anya Taylor-Joy, Baby Yoda, Best Genre TV 2020, Best of 2020, best soundtrack, best superhero series, Best TV 2020, best TV series, Best TV Shows 2020, Boba Fett, Boba Fett returns, borg, BritBox, Broken Pieces, CBS, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Chris Conner, Cobie Smulders, Cybermen, Cyborg, Darth Maul, DC Comics, DC Universe, Derry Girls, Doctor Who, Drag Me to Hell Sabrina, Harry Melling, Isa Briones, Ji-Hoon Ju, Jonathan Frakes, Kiernan Shipka, Kingdom, Kingdom Netflix, Luke Wilson, Marielle Heller, Moses Ingram, Netflix, Orla Brady, Patrick Stewart, Pedro Pascal, Queen's Gambit Fork episode, Rachael Stirling, Ragga Ragnars, Ray Park, Rob Lowe, Sam Witwer, Santiago Cabrera, South Korea television, Star Trek: Picard, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Stargirl, Stumptown, Temuera Morrison, The Clone Wars final season, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, The Mandalorian, The Phantom Apprentice, The Queen's Gambit, Vikings, Vikings TV series, Wild Bill

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borg’s Best of 2020–The Best Movies

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December 15, 2020

When we created last year’s preview of 2020 movies we were pretty sure we were going to have some great movies this year, but we were surprised by what ended up being the best, mainly because what were to be the big box office hits were delayed to 2021 because of the covid pandemic. All year we wondered what we’d get to see and what we wouldn’t–and thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vudu, and similar streaming services, an impressive array of movies kept us entertained, especially by way of genre content. Ultimately we think the Best Movies of 2020 will stand up against any other year.

Genredom. As always, we’re after the best genre content of the year–with our top categories from the Best in Movies. There are thousands of other places that cover plain vanilla dramas and the rest of the film world, but here we’re looking for movies we want to watch. What do all of this year’s selections have in common? In addition to those elements that define each part of genredom, each has a good story. Special effects without a good story is not good entertainment, and we saw plenty of films this year that missed that crucial element.

Come back tomorrow for our best on television and later this week for our print media picks and our annual borg Hall of Fame inductees. And if you missed it, check out our Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines of 2020 here. Wait no further, here are the Best Movies of 2020:

Best Film, Best Sci-Fi Film, Best Drama, Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Writing, Best Suspense/Thriller, Best Retro Fix – The Vast of Night (Amazon Prime). The man of many hats, writer-director-producer-editor Andrew Patterson dazzled us this year with the sleeper sci-fi film The Vast of Night, from Amazon Prime. Amazon hadn’t before stunned us with a feature film, but this one sure blew us away. We knew this was the #1 science fiction offering of the year at first viewing, but when we went back and watched films again, it also stood out as the clear winner for top prize. Part American Graffiti, part The Twilight Zone and The X-Files, and filmed as faithfully to the era as a Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece (with Orson Welles flair), this story sneaks up on the audience thanks in part to its two talented young lead actors. The script is impeccable and rich, dotted with great jargon that dances artfully like music from the characters’ lips. Expert Chilean cinematographer Miguel Menz adds just the right lighting and camera angles for a film we hope can get recognized by the Oscars, if only so we can see more of these filmmakers and actors in the future. Honorable mention for Best Sci-Fi Film: Altered Carbon: Resleeved (Netflix).

Best Borg Movie, Best Superhero Movie, Best Borg – Bloodshot (Sony Pictures). The story of slain soldier Ray Garrison provided the year’s best look at life as a borg. What do you do with cybernetic enhancements, how do you use them, and what toll does take from your humanity? Jeff Wadlow’s story really kicked in once the audience slides into the plot twist. The Six Million Dollar Man didn’t get to decide to get his bionics, and neither does Ray. Once you give up control of yourself to someone else, more and more of you vanishes. Especially if the person in control is using you as a tool of evil. The best superhero films tend to be about the B-level superheroes, and Bloodshot proved that true again this year. Honorable mention for Best Superhero Movie: The New Mutants (20th Century Studios).

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borg’s Best of 2020–Kick-Ass Genre Heroines

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December 14, 2020

Once a year at borg we ask: What makes a great screen heroine? It’s time for borg′s annual look at the Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines in film and television. Despite delays in releases due to the covid pandemic, nothing kept Hollywood from including great female characters on the screen, even if that meant moving movies to the small screen for a while. We’re highlighting the very best from a slate of fantastic heroines, with characteristics to learn from and root for. Determined, decisive, loyal, brave, smart, fierce, strong, you’ll find no one here timid or weepy, but all rely on their individual skills to beat the odds and overcome any obstacle that comes their way. Over the years we have expanded the list to include any tough, savvy, gritty character played by a woman, so villains are welcome here, too. (Want to see previous years’ kickass genre heroines to see how 2020 compares? Here are 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015). Some may be frazzled, put-upon, war-weary, or human, but all have fought, some against difficult circumstances, others against personal demons (literally, figuratively, or both), and some against gun and laser fire. And they all showed what a tough, kick-ass, and often badass, character is about.

This year we add masked superheroines, a CDC epidemiologist, aliens, assassins, martial artists, warriors, cyborgs, a telephone operator, an engineer, a bounty hunter, and a frog and a pig–with a roster evenly split between television and movie characters. Credit goes to both the writers, costumers, and other creators of the characters and the actors and performers that brought them all to life.

These are the Best Kick-Ass Genre Heroines of 2020:

Bo-Katan Kryze (The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars). In the animated series she would let nothing stand in her way. In a galaxy with villains like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Grand Moff Gideon, we’re lucky to have Bo-Katan on our side. Leading a team to find the Darksaber and restore Mandalore, she’s also willing to enlist a lone straggler, and help him for his efforts. With Katee Sackhoff, the actress behind Starbuck, in the armor, the coolness factor goes up by a factor of 100. Great heroines are great leaders, and, like Bo-Katan, they wield an incredible arsenal of skills. (Disney/Lucasfilm)

Sheriff Nicole Haught (Wynonna Earp). Katherine Barrell’s tough, savvy, and friendly sheriff is one of the best reasons to watch Wynonna Earp, now four seasons running. She’s the girlfriend of Wynonna’s sister Waverly, she is plugged into the local supernatural happenings, and she’s always available to lend a hand, when she’s not carrying out her sheriff duties. She’s an investigator who is loyal, driven, and smart. She’s also fun and friendly, making her the heart of the series. In a show about supernatural people, she holds her own as law enforcer simply by her own human wits. (Syfy)

Seven of Nine (Star Trek Picard). More than forty years of Star Trek have revealed some exceptional women leaders. This year we were lucky to see the re-appearance of one of the best, a character who was captured as a child and trapped in what amounts to a technological cult. With the help of a strong captain, Seven was able to break free, and re-learn what it means to be human. This year that meant helping a legendary former admiral, avenge the death of her closest friend, and fight for good long after her call to duty. (CBS All Access)

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Tags: 20th Century Studios, Abby Arcane, Ahsoka Tano, Altered Carbon, Amazon Studios, Anya Taylor-Joy, badass women of 2020, best female character 2020, Beth Harmon, Bloodshot, Blu Hunt, Bo-Katan, Brec Bassinger, Cara Dune, CBS All Access, Courtney Whitmore, Crystal Reed, Dani Moonstar, Dichen Lachman, Disney, Eiza González, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, Fay Crocker, Frog Lady, genre heroines of 2020, Gina Carano, Gong Li, Gunnhild, Hayley Law, Illyana Rasputin, Jeri Ryan, Jett Reno, Julie Estelle, Katee Sackhoff, Katherine Barrell, Katheryn Winnick, kick-ass heroines of 2020, kick-ass women, kick-ass women of 2020, Kristen Stewart, Laris, Lizzie Elliot, Lucasfilm, Maisie Williams, Michelle Yeoh, Miss Piggy, Misty Rosas, Mulan, Muppets Now, Narissa Rizzo, Netflix, Nicole Haught, Orla Brady, Peyton List, Quellcrist Falconer, Ragga Ragnars, Rahne Sinclair, Ray Crocker, Reileen Kawahara, Renee Goldsberry, Rosario Dawson, Samara Weaving, Seven of Nine, Sierra McCormick, Sony Pictures, Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek Picard, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Stargirl, The Mandalorian, The New Mutants, The Night Comes for Us, The Operator, The Queen's Gambit, The Vast of Night, Tig Notaro, Trepp, Underwater, Vikings, Wildcat, Wolfsbane, Wynonna Earp, Xian Lang, Yifei Liu, Yolanda Montez, Yvette Monreal

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All the movies you’ll want to see in 2021, and a look back at the releases and delays of 2020

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December 7, 2020

Happy holidays!

It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2021! But wait! Next year’s list sure looks a lot like the the films we previewed last December. The covid pandemic has delayed hundreds of film projects, but some made it through. When you walk back through last year’s list and compare it to movies released after theater lockdowns, you get some insight into how Hollywood thinks. Big movies and movies predicted to be successes were universally held back, while less popular films were released to low box office returns from theaters that remained open, and yet other films went directly to home streaming or related media platforms.

Last year we pulled 85 of the hundreds of films then slated for the 2020 movie calendar. The first two dozen made it to theaters (films like Underwater, Dolittle, and Birds of Prey) before the national shift began on March 11 with news of the NBA reacting to the pandemic by suspending pro basketball–the first national awareness of the scope of the problem. Suddenly we saw Vudu and other home platforms coming to the rescue for our entertainment fix, adding a new Theater at Home option, which captured movies like Anya Taylor-Joy’s Emma, Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot, and the animated Scoob! Disney began an interesting tiered release of Mulan, which for half the year showed a studio doing its best to maximize returns on what would have been a key release in any other year. After another delay The New Mutants made it briefly to theaters followed by home release after three years of getting kicked aside as the last vestiges of the Disney-Fox merger were shaken out. Other films, like Vast of Night, Extraction, The Old Guard, Rebecca, Radioactive, and Fantasy Island safely premiered on Netflix and Amazon Prime, with Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction standing out as the clear popular winner–the entire world needed some new entertainment and after what would only be the first of several months of shelter-at-home, it tentatively filled the void.

So our predictions for the year’s big genre films were flat wrong, every single one except Mulan was delayed to 2021, including Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Black Widow, No Time to Die, a new Fast & Furious, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, and superhero flicks Venom 2, Eternals, and Morbius. Wonder Woman 1984 is expected to have a theatrical release by year end. Altogether 35 of last year’s 85 movies previewed on our annual list are back again below, plus we found more than 35 new genre films we think will appeal to borg readers.

So what’s left and what’s new?

Grab your calendar and start making your plans–here are the movies you’ll want to see in 2021. Then compare the below list to our 2020 list, and look back to the 2019 list, 2018 list, 2017 list, 2016 list, 2015 list, or 2014 list. Last year we noticed studios moving genre content from the big screen to the small screen via streaming services, and the pandemic only stepped up that migration. Note: Warner Bros. has reported it will issue its 2021 releases simultaneously on HBO Max. Netflix has mostly dramas slated for 2021, but a few genre films are in pre-production, so expect a few surprises throughout the year. Amazon Studios has fewer, most partnerships with Blumhouse Productions.

As we learned well this year, many of these films will have revised release dates, and even get pushed to 2022.

January

Mortal Kombat. Based on the video game. New! Tentative release date: January 15, 2021. HBO Max.

Wrath of Man. Next Jason Statham action flick. New! Tentative release date: January 15, 2021.

The French Dispatch. Wes Anderson and his familiar actors in new quirky film about journalists. New! January 28, 2021.

The Dig. A film about a woman finding archaeological treasures on her land, starring Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, and Carey Mulligan. January 29, 2021. Netflix.

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Tags: 2020 movies, 2021 movie release schedule, 2021 movies, 2021 official movie posters, Adria Arjona, Alex Winter, Alexander Ludwig, Ali Fazal, Alice Braga, Alice Krige, Alicia Silverstone, Alison Brie, All the movies, All the movies 2021, Allan Arkin, Amanda Seyfried, Amazon 2021 movies, Amazon Studios, Amy Adams, Ana de Armas, Andrea Riseborough, Andrew Koji, Angelina Jolie, Anna Kendrick, Anne Dagg, Anne Hathaway, Annette Bening, Antebellum, Anthony Michael Hall, Antoine Fuqua, Antonio Banderas, Anya Taylor-Joy, Armie Hammer, Army of the Dead, Arsenio Hall, Awkwafina, Úrsula Corberó, Bad Boys for Life, Ben Affleck, Ben Whishaw, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benh Zeitlin, Bill Murray, Bill Nighy, BIOS, Birds of Prey, Black Adam, Black Widow, Blake Lively, Bloodshot, Bloodshot movie, Bob's Burgers: The Movie, Brian Tyree Henry, C.S. Forester, Carey Mulligan, Cassie Steele, Charles Dance, Charlie Heaton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt, Christopher Plummer, Cillian Murphy, Claire Foy, Clancy Brown, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Clive Owen, Cloris Leachman, Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, Colleen Camp, Common, coronavirus delays, Dakota Fanning, Dan Aykroyd, Danai Gurira, Daniel Brühl, Daniel Craig, Daniel Mays, Dann Mintz, Danny DeVito, Darby Camp, Dave Bautista, David Harbour, Dawn French, Death on the Nile, Deep Water, Denis Villeneuve, Dev Patel, Diana Rigg, Disney, Dixie Egerickx, Djimon Hounsou, Dolittle, Donnie Yen, Downhill, Dune movie 2020, Dwayne Johnson, Dylan O'Brien, Ed Harris, Eddie Murphy and James Earl Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Edgar Wright, Eiza González, Elle Fanning, Emily Blunt, Emma, Emma Mackey, Emma Thompson, Ernie Hudson, Eternals movie, Eugene Merman, Ewan McGregor, Fantasy Island, Fast & Furious 9, Finn Wolfhard, Florence Pugh, Forest Whitaker, Frances Hogson Burnett, Frank Langella, Free Guy, G.I. 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Simmons, James Corden, James Marsden, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Austin's Emma, Jane Krakowski, Janelle Monae, Jared Harris, Jared Leto, Jason Isaacs, Jason Momoa, Jason Scott Lee, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Saunders, Jessica De Gouw, Jessica Henwick, Jet Li, Jim Gaffigan, Jodie Foster, Joe Keery, Joel Kinnaman, John Amos, John Cleese, John Krasinski, John Roberts, Jon Benjamin, Jon Bernthal, Josh Brolin, Josh Gad, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Judy Greer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Julie Walters, Jungle Cruise, Karen Gillan, Keegan-Michael Key, Keely Hawes, Kelly Marie Tran, Ken Jeong, Kenan Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, King Richard movie 2020, Kristen Schaal, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kyle Chandler, Kyle Richards, Larry Murphy, Last Night in Soho, Letitia Wright, Li Gong, Lily James, Lois Lowry, Louie Anderson, Louis Wain, Luca movie, M. Night Shyamalan, Maggie Q, Maisie Williams, Manuel Garcia-Rolfo, Margot Robbie, Margot Robbie movie, Marie Curie, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Lawrence, Martin Short, Marvel, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Matt Damon, Matt Smith, Mckenna Grace, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Caine, Michael Jai White, Michael Keaton, Michael Rooker, Michael Sheen, Michelle Williams, Milla Jovovich, Millie Bobby Brown, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Miranda Otto, Monster Hunter, Morbius, Mortal Kombat, Movies in theaters 2020, Mulan, Nathan Fillion, Netflix, Netflix 2020 movies, Netflix 2021 movies, Nicholas Cage, No Time to Die, Octavia Spencer, Oscar Isaac, Paramount Studios, Patrick Wilson, Paul Rudd, PAW Patrol movie, Pedro Pascal, Peter Dinklage, Pixar, Promising Young Woman, Rachel Weisz, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Ray Liotta, Raya and the Last Dragon, Rebecca, Rebecca Ferguson, Respect movie, Richard Armitage, Robert Pattinson, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Perlman, Rose Leslie, Rufus Sewell, Russell Brand, Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Sam Rockwell, Samara Weaving, Samaritan movie, Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel Leakey, Scarlett Johannson, Sebastian Stan, shelter at home 2020, Sigourney Weaver, Skeet Ulrich, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sophia Lillis, Sophie Okonedo, Soul movie, Space Jam New Legacy, Spirit Untamed, Steve Carell, Sylvester Stallone, Tatiana Maslany, Tenet movie, Terence Stamp, The Call of the Wild, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Croods 2, The Dig, The French Dispatch, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, The King's Man, The Last Duel, The Many Saints of Newark, The Mauritanian, The New Mutants, The Old Guard, The One and Only Ivan, The Personal History of David Copperfield, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, The Suicide Squad, The Tomorrow War, theater at home, theater at home 2020, Timothée Chalamet, Tom & Jerry, Tom Clancy, Tom Cruise, Tom Hardy, Tom Holland, Top Gun: Maverick, Trolls World Tour, Universal Studios, Vanessa Kirby, Venom 2, Venom There Will Be Carnage, Vera Farmiga, Vin Diesel, Wendy movie, Will Forte, Will Smith, Wish Dragon, Without Remorse, Wonder Woman 1984, Wyatt Russell, Yifei Liu

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The New Mutants–Finally streaming and worth the wait

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November 27, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Sometimes a movie is exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re a fan of the coming of age or teen horror genres and the Xavier school superheroes weren’t exactly your thing, you have a new darker team of superheroes arriving on home streaming platforms this month in The New Mutants. The most eagerly awaited movie in years is here, one we’ve previewed and re-previewed new trailers for so many times we’ve almost lost count, all due to the 20th Century Studios merger into Disney and a pandemic. Much better than X-Men: Dark Phoenix and X-Men: Apocalypse, those who are bored with over-the-top, end-of-the-world plots and love the personal stories of the X-Men in the pages of Marvel Comics–and were really, really patient–will find it was worth the wait.

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The Queen’s Gambit–An astounding series about gaming like it’s never been done before

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November 12, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

If you play D&D, love video or board games, if you consider yourself a gamer or you like to compete at all for fun, drop everything and watch The Queen’s Gambit right now, streaming on Netflix. Chess may not be your game, but it doesn’t matter. The writer of The Hustler created a heckuva story and character in orphan prodigy Beth Harmon, and the 1960s tale perfectly translates to 2020. Harmon is a quick-witted, fast-thinking, intense young girl, taking the driver’s seat, she becomes a smart young woman in a parallel type of world to The Hustler’s pool hall, where she competes and wins against Bobby Darin-era boys and middle-aged men in tweeds. Adapted by one of the best screen writers around, Scott Frank, writer of the movies Logan, The Wolverine, Minority Report, Malice, Dead Again, and the similar-themed Little Man Tate, and also director of the series–don’t skip this because a series about chess may sound boring to you.

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Radioactive–Rosamund Pike stars in new Amazon Studios biopic

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July 29, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

The price of knowledge is often great and grim. If you like your historical biopics about scientific discoveries of the inspiring and motivational variety, Amazon Studios and Studiocanal’s latest film Radioactive, a barely recognizable adaptation of the Lauren Redniss graphic novel, Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout, may not be for you. Yet exceptional performances by Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Jack Reacher, Die Another Day) as Maria Skłodowska aka Madame Marie Curie and Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma, Split, The New Mutants) as her daughter Iréne, and a dearth of new films this summer, will likely make this 2018 production worth your time. It arrived in the U.S. for the first time this week streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Comic-Con@Home–More footage from The New Mutants, a new trailer, Bill Sienkiewicz, and yet another opening date

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July 25, 2020

The most eagerly awaited movie in years received some nice treatment this week as part of San Diego Comic-Con@Home. We’ve previewed and re-previewed new trailers for The New Mutants probably more than any other movie in our past decade of coverage here at borg (just type The New Mutants in the search box to the right and you’ll see it all). The new and improved, post-merger 20th Century Studios even nicely mocks the delayed release dates in its Comic-Con@Home panel footage below, which features the director, cast members, and the legendary comic artist most closely aligned with The New Mutants by way of his 1980s artwork, Bill Sienkiewicz. It also previews the entire opening scene and a trailer with new content from the film. All in all, some good stuff for a very patient fanbase for a film made in the summer of 2017.

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New trailer–Finally! X-Men origin story The New Mutants is almost here

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January 7, 2020

Disney and Fox have no expectations for this one, so it would be great for X-Men fans to see it in the theater and make known the X-Men are as important to fans as the Avengers, twenty years after the first X-Men movie arrived in theaters.

We’re hoping The New Mutants was worth the wait. At last we have a trailer that shows the potential of these characters, with this week’s release of the final trailer for the final film of the longest running continuous superhero movie franchise, Fox’s X-Men. This is movie #13, and with it, the first horror superhero movie for Marvel. April 13, 2018, was the original release date for the movie, but it was bumped a few times by the studio to accommodate bigger superhero stories including Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and then Marvel movies after the merger of Fox and Disney. We previewed it here at borg more than two years ago. It looks like M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass (and even co-stars that movie’s Anya Taylor-Joy) merged with the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton carrying forward the Johnny Depp look. Or a really haywire The Breakfast Club. As a result of the success of modern horror stories like Get Out and It, the original cut is in final reshoots by director Josh Boone to make it scarier. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s also easy to envision these mutant kids as an offshoot or tie-in story related to the lab that produced Laura aka X-23 in James Mangold’s Academy Award-nominated Logan.

And speaking of Anya Taylor-Joy, the film was made before these young actors’ careers really took off. Taylor-Joy filmed Split just before this and then Glass, was a lead voice (of Brea) in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and in Playmobil: The Movie, starred in Peaky Blinders, and filmed the lead role in a new remake of Emma, with five other films coming out in the next year. Maisie Williams grew up on Game of Thrones. And since filming The New Mutants, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, and Blu Hunt have appeared in several movies and TV shows. The bad news of the reshoots is that Jon Hamm’s character Mister Sinister was reportedly cut entirely.

It’s the original roster of New Mutants (Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane), plus Magik from the second roster. Finally! Check out this great new trailer for The New Mutants:

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All the movies you’ll want to see in 2020

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December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas!

It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2020. Are you going to see them all? Heck no. These are the genre films we think borg readers will want to know about to make their own checklists for the coming year–and they are only the films we know about so far. We pulled 85 of the hundreds of films that have been finalized or are in varying stages of final production, slated for next year’s movie calendar.

What looks to top the list for most fanboys and fangirls? Ghostbusters: Afterlife! Scarlett Johannson solo in Black Widow! A new James Bond movie, No Time to Die. Vin Diesel in Bloodshot and a new Fast & Furious. The original Tom Clancy novel series is finally continuing with an adaptation of Without Remorse. Comic book adaptations are in less supply in 2020, but look for Venom 2, Wonder Woman 1984, Eternals, The New Mutants, Morbius, Birds of Prey, The Old Guard, and did we mention Black Widow? Compare the below list to our 2019 list and even the 2018 list, 2017 list, 2016 list, 2015 list, or 2014 list, and your takeaway may be seeing the studios moving genre content from the big screen to the small screen via streaming services.

Do you like sequels? There are far less coming to theaters in 2020 than in 2019, but many more remakes of movies, books, and TV shows are on the way. In fact, with all the blockbusters in 2019, 2020 looks pretty tame as the cinema marquee is concerned. Some films don’t have locked in release dates yet: Amazon Studios and Netflix haven’t revealed dates for the following 2020 releases (those we know you’ll find on the calendar below):

7500, a film about a highjacked airplane, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Amazon Studios)
The Dig, a film about a woman finding archaeological treasures on her land, starring Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, and Carey Mulligan (Netflix)
Horse Girl, Alison Brie stars and directs this story about an awkward girl who fuses her dreams with reality (Netflix)
Jingle Jangle, an animated Christmas story with the voices of Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, and Hugh Bonneville (Netflix)
Louis Wain, biopic of the 19th century artist starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, and Andrea Riseborough (Amazon Studios)
The Old Guard, adaptation of comic book story, starring Charlize Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Netflix)
Radioactive, a film about Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike and Anya Taylor-Joy (Amazon)
Rebecca, adaptation and remake of the Daphne Du Maurier classic novel, starring Lily James, Keely Hawes, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Armie Hammer (Netflix)
Welcome to Sudden Death, sequel to Jean-Claude van Damme 1995 movie starring Michael Jai White (Netflix)
The Willoughbys, animated adaptation of the Lois Lowry book, with voices of Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, and Jane Krakowski (Netflix)
Wonderland, murder conspiracy mystery starring Mark Wahlberg, Allan Arkin, and Colleen Camp (Netflix)

Some of these films will have revised release dates, or get pushed to 2021.

So grab your calendar and start making your plans–here are the movies you’ll want to see in 2020 (and some you might not!):

January

The Informer – Thriller, starring Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Ana de Armas, Common, and Clive Owen – January 10.

Underwater – Thriller, stars Kristin Stewart in underwater horror story – January 10.

Dolittle – Family/Comedy, stars Robert Downey, Jr. in remake of the classic, with voices of Tom Holland, Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, Emma Thompson, Antonio Banderas, Ralph Fiennes, and Michael Sheen – January 17.

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