Latest news with #JossWhedon
Tatler Asia
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
13 of the campiest, silliest and best musical episodes on TV
2. 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Once More, with Feeling (Season 6, 2001) Why it exists: A demon compels everyone in Sunnydale to sing their deepest truths. The gold standard of TV musical episodes. Creator Joss Whedon wrote the lyrics and music himself (which, against all odds, is good). Each song pushes the plot forward and reveals inner pain, especially Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar). The fact that this became a cult sing-along classic proves musical episodes can be transcendent if they're sharp, meta and a little bit haunted. 3. 'Scrubs': My Musical (Season 6, 2007) Why it exists: A patient hears everything as a musical due to a brain aneurysm. Funny, sweet and strangely moving, Scrubs nails the musical format without losing its slapstick soul. The episode's showstoppers—'Everything Comes Down to Poo,' anyone?—blend humor and hospital drama with surprising grace. And it helps that Broadway veteran Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q) leads the vocals. 4. 'Xena: Warrior Princess': The Bitter Suite (Season 3, 1998) Why it exists: Emotional trauma drives Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) into a musical dreamscape. Forget camp; this is operatic fantasy. After a dark betrayal, the heroines fall into a magical land (Illusia) where emotions transform into fully orchestrated songs. Think Les Misérables meets sword fighting and sapphic tension. This is ahead of its time, extra in the best way and still deeply beloved by fans. 5. 'Riverdale': Too many to count (2018–2023) Why it exists: 'Why not?' is more like it. From Carrie: The Musical to Heathers and Next to Normal , Riverdale turned every teen trauma into a Broadway cover band. The musical episodes were campy, clumsy and chaotic, but also impossible to look away from (which is the show's entire appeal anyway). They often made zero narrative sense, but that was the charm. It's like watching a school talent show with a CW budget. 6. 'The Magicians': All That Hard, Glossy Armor (Season 4, 2019) Why it exists: Fantasy trauma, of course. This SyFy gem didn't need to go full Broadway, but it did. And it worked. When Margo (Summer Bishil), the show's acid-tongued queen, sings 'Don't Get Me Wrong' in armour while slaying a magical beast, it's part empowerment anthem, part emotional exorcism. The show had multiple musical moments, but this one was peak chaotic majesty. 7. 'Community': Regional Holiday Music (Season 3, 2011) Why it exists: To roast Glee with precision, pitch and painful honesty. This wasn't just another one of those musical episodes. It was a lovingly savage takedown of Glee -style sentimental manipulation. The students of Greendale are slowly seduced into joining a glee club that's clearly a cult, one genre-bending number at a time. From Abed's (Danny Pudi) holiday rap to Annie's (Alison Brie) breathy, borderline-inappropriate burlesque, every song is both a bop and a barb. 'Regional Holiday Music' stands as one of the smartest musical episodes on television because it sings while it stabs. 8. 'That '70s Show': That '70s Musical (Season 4, 2002) Why it exists: Eric (Topher Grace) gets knocked out, and the writers said, 'Why not disco?' It is the '70s, after all. After a stage accident in drama class, Eric dreams the whole cast into a Technicolour variety show where they perform groovy covers of classic hits. The result? A fever dream of bell-bottoms, glitter and hair flips that barely makes narrative sense—but delivers era-appropriate kitsch. 9. 'Fringe': Brown Betty (Season 2, 2010) Why it exists: Walter (John Noble) gets high and tells a noir bedtime story to cope with guilt. In this ambitious genre-bender, Fringe 's eccentric scientist escapes reality by spinning a detective tale starring his colleagues—with a healthy dose of singing. The musical moments are surreal, the visuals stylised and the heartbreak real. A rare episode where science fiction pauses to sing the blues. 10. 'The Flash': Duet (Season 3, 2017) Why it exists: A magical villain traps Barry and Kara in a jazz-hands dreamscape to help them process their feelings. When you have two main characters with serious Broadway chops, the only appropriate question is: why not? The Music Meister (played with Broadway flair by Darren Criss) zaps the two superheroes (Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist) into a 1940s-style musical fantasia. Why? Because apparently, singing about your trauma fixes everything faster than therapy or super speed. All three are also Glee alums, so this crossover practically wrote itself. 11. 'Psych': Psych: The Musical (Season 7, 2013) Why it exists: The show always flirted with musicals, and then finally said, 'Let's just do it'. A long-teased musical episode turned two-part event, it sees Shawn (James Roday Rodriguez) and Gus (Dulé Hill) investigating a murderous playwright while singing their way through clues. This wasn't a dream or a spell, but the show embracing its own campy, theatre-kid heart. The result? A Broadway-lite murder mystery full of tap, tunes and tenacity. See more: From 'The Pitt' to 'Grey's Anatomy': 10 medical dramas for every kind of viewer 12. 'Once Upon a Time': The Song in Your Heart (Season 6, 2017) Why it exists: Because a magical wish from Snow White makes music a weapon and a wedding gift. In a flashback, Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) wish for their daughter to grow up with hope, and the wish manifests as a musical spell cast over the kingdom. Back in the present day, that spell gets activated during Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) wedding. The logic is loose, but the songs are unapologetically Disney—and the payoff is pure fairytale catharsis. 13. 'Ally McBeal': The Musical, Almost (Season 3, 2000) Why it exists: Ally's (Calista Flockhart) therapist suggests she channel her feelings, so they committed to the bit. After being told to express herself musically, Ally finds her inner life bursting into song. Her friends and coworkers are suddenly backup singers and belting soloists. It's half group therapy, half VH1 Divas Live. However, it is somehow perfectly on-brand for a show where hallucinations and unspoken desires already danced at the edges.
Geek Feed
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Feed
Skeleton Crew's Ryan Kiera Armstrong to Star in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reboot
News came out back in February that there was going to be a revival of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , and though Sarah Michelle Gellar is expected to return, the show is set to focus on a new protagonist. As per Gellar's IG post, the new lead of the Buffy revival is going to be Ryan Kiera Armstrong , best known for her role as Fern in Star Wars ' Skeleton Crew . Here's a video of Gellar telling Armstrong that she's going to be the new lead of the show: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar) Gellar said this about casting Armstrong in the series, 'From the moment I saw Ryan's audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side,' Gellar said in a statement. 'To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room.' Besides Gellar coming back to play the part of Buffy Collins, the series is also going to be bringing in Chloe Zhao ( Eternals, Nomadland ) to direct the pilot. The script will also be provided by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, who had worked on Peacock's fantastic Poker Face series. Admittedly, you can't think of Buffy without its creator Joss Whedon, and it's been reported that he won't be involved in this revival, what with him being in Cancelled Jail and everything since the whole fiasco with Justice League . As for the reboot, there's no official title yet, but the series is expected to focus on a whole new batch of Slayers with Buffy acting as their mentor. We don't have a release date yet, but hopefully we get more updates in the following months.
Buzz Feed
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
43 Hyped Movies That Completely Disappointed Fans
A while back, we asked the BuzzFeed Community* about the movies that people were super excited for everyone to genuinely hate them upon actually seeing them. Here are 43 movies with wild hype that fell disastrously short. It Chapter 2 Prometheus And Alien 3 Justice League This was before we knew the DCEU was unsalvageable and how terrible a person Joss Whedon is. I thought the guy who gave us the first Avengers movie was going to give us an equally great movie with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Instead, we got Henry Cavill's CGIed mouth."—chienychienchien The Dark Tower Incredibles 2 Downsizing "This movie had a very misleading trailer, and the movie itself just seemed rather pointless. Despite the intriguing concept, the actual 'downsizing' aspect of the characters deciding to get shrunk down is basically only relevant in the first 20 minutes or movie then just collapses, loses any sense of direction, and becomes a depressing mess about social, political, and environmental issues. It's almost like they welded two or three movies together with about 20 different plots going on at the same then it just tries to do everything and ultimately does nothing."—[deleted] Jurassic World And also Jurassic World: Dominion Quantum of Solace The Flash Suggested by overtheloveMaybe this is on me, but I genuinely thought this movie was going to be good. Warner Bros. and DC pushed it SO hard, despite all the Ezra Miller drama, that I thought it must actually be too good to let disappear. Plus, if nothing else, the movie featured the return of Michael Keaton!!!But the movie ended up being an awful CGI mess. It was mostly only good for the memes. The whole newborn-babies-falling-to-their-deaths-before-being-saved scene was actually so completely over the top (and the CGI babies were so bad!) that I felt like I must be watching some D-list horror movie and not one of the biggest superhero films of the year. Who even came up with that?!? The Matrix Reloaded Wonder Woman 1984 Ender's Game Suicide Squad Army of the Dead "The trailer promised a big, fun action zombie romp set in Las Vegas. What we got was a bloated, contrived mess of ham-fisted scenes that had way too much build-up for not enough payoff, and a tone that was far too serious for a film of this sort. Zack Snyder seems far more interested in cramming in as many Easter Eggs as possible in the hopes of creating a franchise instead of making a film that can stand on its own Bautista is actually a good actor when he has good material to work with and a director who knows what he is doing. He has good screen presence and decent charisma, but was completely wasted here. As another review once said, it just looks like he's holding in a sneeze when he is trying to convey Zack Snyder could have just exercised a little restraint when it comes to his ideas, he could have given us a tight, fun little 90-minute film. Instead, he's so convinced of his own brilliance that he refuses to cut out any of his multitude of potential ideas, no matter how unrelated they are to what's actually presented as the plot. It's like making soup, but instead of just leaving it with chicken, vegetables, and noodles and having a perfectly decent final product, Snyder insisted on adding chocolate and olives just because they were available."—Cursedbythedicegods Batman v Superman Thor: Love and Thunder Looper Spider-Man 3 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief "I adore the books and was so excited when they announced there would be a movie... and then I saw the first trailer and immediately knew it was going to be horrible. The characters suddenly went from 11 to 21, huge chunks of the plot were missing, and the big reveal at the end felt like it was just thrown in there at the last second. The whole movie was just trash."—marisak4212bc09f Eragon The Last Airbender "I was beyond excited that there was going to be a live-action movie of a beloved animated series. Then all the reviews I read made it sound (and rightfully so) like one of the worst movies of all time. I was so sad to read such bad reviews."—joannaw4377e18ce Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace Also, Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force really all of the sequel trilogy Mulan (the live-action version) And the live-action version of The Lion King Artemis Fowl "I loved every single book growing up — thoughtful, funny sci-fi with some serious themes. The movie? Garbage."—sheeplosion"I like to forget that movie exists because it was my favorite series growing up, and they did the books sooo dirty with the CHEESY, CRINGEY, AND UNWATCHABLE special effects and bad screenwriting and acting."—moco98"I loved the AF books; they remind me of Terry Pratchett books. The film was unwatchable."—nevl Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Death Note "Some of us were willing to give it a chance. You had Willem DaFoe as Ryuk, and LaKeith Stanfield as L. How. Could. We. LOSE?!?? I have never, in my many years on this earth, ever felt so disrespected by a movie of a CHERISHED manga AND anime. Just…the straight up audacity!!!!"—smileyk Godzilla (1998) And Godzilla (2014) Kung Fu Panda 3 Glass "Glass. My answer to this question will always be Glass."—[deleted]"The trailers were so fucking hype. Props to whoever made the trailers, because they really made the movie look good."—[deleted] Terminator Salvation The Giver "The Giver was horrifically disappointing; even more so because there were actors I love in it. Brilliant book, godawful movie (that had little to do with the brilliant book).—denisef13 Wild Wild West "People forget how HUGE of a star Will Smith was at one point. He was the highest paid actor and the highest grossing actor in the world — then came Wild Wild West. You know the movie was terrible when the soundtrack was better."—jamesarthurwrites Overlord "Overlord (2018) — a WWII horror film. The trailer had me looking forward to seeing it as I was in the mood for a scorch-the-earth type of horror adventure. It had a great opening, but though it wasn't bad, the rest of the film was a bit of a let-down. Not only did it have a slower pace, but overall, it was pretty much a patchwork of famous scenes from earlier WWII and horror films, and the ending was eh."—prolix Hocus Pocus 2 "I had waited years for it, wanted something that continued the storyline, yearned for something that continued the lore, but NO, what I got was a ham-fisted, mediocre musical combined with bad Disney Channel-esque sitcom dialogue. They even retconned how the sisters became witches in the first place. The Sanderson Sisters were evil; that was the point of the first movie. They were fiend-worshipping women who wanted to steal the youth and vitality of children, killing those children in the process. Clumsy execution, awful writing, even worse direction, and MASSIVE overhyping led to a bitter disappointment of a movie. It could've been so, so much better."—SarahDaugherty The King's Man "I love the first two films — I even have a Kingsman tattoo — and was super excited for the prequel, really loved the idea of learning more about this spy society and seeing adventures with it in the past. Instead I got such a dull movie, with an unlikable protagonist and such a dumb twist. The action scenes, still very cool, but otherwise, I was so let down."—constanvee Ghostbusters (the 2016 version) Pearl Harbor And finally, all three of The Hobbit movies What movie was super-hyped that you ended up hating? Let us know in the comments!
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scarlett Johansson Says Filming ‘The Avengers' Felt ‘Like a Big Mess' and ‘Didn't Feel Cool': ‘We All Looked Insane. What Are We Doing?'
Scarlett Johansson joined Vanity Fair for a career retrospective video interview where she remembered feeling really uncool on the set of 2012's 'The Avengers.' The actor had already made her Marvel debut as Black Widow in 'Iron Man' two years prior. 'When we made the first 'Avengers' none of us knew what the potential would be,' Johansson said. ''Iron Man' was massively successful. It was huge. It built the studio of Marvel. 'Iron Man 2' was also successful. There was 'Thor,' but that character felt like it was from a completely different universe. It was such a different tone from the 'Iron Man' movies. The 'Captain America' movie had its own identity as well. When you added the characters all together, plus Hulk and Hawkeye, it just felt like a big mess to be honest. Even on the set it felt crazy. We all looked insane. What are we doing? I don't think anybody knew if it was going to work or not besides Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon. The cast had blind faith in them.' More from Variety Scarlett Johansson Was Offered 'Sex Object' Roles 'For Years' After 'Lost in Translation,' Says Bill Murray Was in a 'Hard Place' on Set: 'Life Has Humbled Him' Now Scarlett Johansson Calls Out Oscars for Snubbing 'Avengers: Endgame' for Best Picture, Says 'I Miss' Marvel Co-Stars but 'Won't Mess' With Black Widow Return 'Ironheart' Trailer: Riri Williams Makes Her Own Iron Man Armor in Disney+ Series Executive Produced by Ryan Coogler It wasn't until the 'Avengers' actors filmed the icon moment where the camera spins around the superheroes as they prepare to fight that Johansson realized there was great potential in the comic book team-up film. 'I remember the scene where we all are in that 360 of the characters together,' she said. 'That was the moment where we all thought this maybe could work. It felt powerful. When we watched the playback it looked really cool, but so much of it didn't feel cool when we were shooting it. We were young. We were having such a great time. We became such great friends. It was a blast.' 'The Avengers' opened in summer 2012 to critical raves and $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office. While 'Iron Man' had started the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, it was the blockbuster frenzy that greeted 'The Avengers' that proved the studio's plan to create an interconnected universe of movies could actually work with moviegoers. Watch Johansson's full interview with Vanity Fair in the video before. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Scarlett Johansson slams 'mess' Avengers film despite superhero movie grossing 1billion
Scarlett Johansson has controversially branded the first Avengers film a 'mess' despite the movie grossing more than $1billion. The actress, 40, has starred as Black Widow in the MCU since 2010 - with 2019's Avengers: Endgame becoming the second highest grossing film of all time. However, the two time Oscar nominee has mixed feelings about 2012's Joss Whedon directed The Avengers due to the huge ensemble cast - which included Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Chris Evans as Captain America - and their 'insane' looks. She told Vanity Fair: 'When we made the first Avengers, none of us knew what the potential would be. Iron Man was massively successful. It was huge; it built the studio of Marvel. And then Iron Man 2 was also very successful. 'There was Thor, and that character felt like it was from a completely different universe... It was such a different tone [from] the Iron Man movies. And then, of course, the Captain America movie had its whole own identity as well. 'And then when you added the characters all together, plus Hulk and Hawkeye, it just felt like a big mess, to be honest. Even on the set, it felt crazy, because we all looked insane. It was like, "What are we doing?"' 'I don't think anybody knew if it was gonna work or not. [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige knew it was gonna work; Joss Whedon knew it was gonna work. But the cast... it was blind faith, basically, that we all had in Joss and Kevin Feige.' The Oscar nominee said the cast's opinion changed when they filmed the 'powerful' Battle of New York scene. She said: 'The big scene where you see the 360 of all the characters together — that was the moment where all of us were like, 'I think this is maybe gonna work,' " Johansson said. "It felt powerful." 'It was an impossible movie that should not have worked, that really works as a film. Also, it's one of the most successful films of all time.' The movie raked in more than $1.5billion at the box office and is the 12th highest grossing film of all time. Elsewhere in the chat the star touched on the impact tech has had on not just the movie industry but also the Academy Awards. The mother of two even made a dig at the awards show. 'These are people that are funding studios. It's all these big tech guys that are funding our industry, and funding the Oscars, and so there you go,' said the ex-wife of Ryan Reynolds. 'I guess we're being muzzled in all these different ways, because the truth is that these big tech companies are completely enmeshed in all aspects of our lives. I don't know how you fight that.' The Marvel star also said she is worried about AI having not enough limits. 'There has to be some agreed-upon set of boundaries in order for [ AI ] to not be detrimental. I wish more people in the public eye would support and speak out about that—I don't know why that's not the case,' said Scarlett. And the former child star also addressed working as a kid. 'Making decisions on your own—like, adult decisions as a kid—it's a dangerous thing, right?' she asked. Scarlett said she was proud of herself for handling a tough star while filming Lost in Translation: 'I'm pretty proud of how I handled myself. I really just did the work, you know? It's a good tactic for pushing through stuff. Eyes on the prize.' And she also touched on costar Bill Murray. 'Bill [Murray] was in a hard place,' Johansson said. 'Everybody was on tenterhooks around him, including our director and the full crew, because he was dealing with his…stuff.' She'd never encountered an actor in that kind of 'headspace. Earlier this year, Johansson ran into Murray at Saturday Night Live's 50th-anniversary special. 'He's such a different person now,' she noted. 'I think life has humbled him.' When asked about the recent allegations of misconduct against Murray, Johansson said, 'That was really bad. But I also know COVID was a hard thing for him. Life—all these things have led up to him being held accountable for that kind of behavior…But you know what? How wonderful that people can change.' Scarlett will star in Jurassic World Rebirth, premiering July 2 and her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, premiers this week at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
