ANOTHER PACIFIC MONSTER MASH
The fighting in this unneeded sequel is out of this world, Chris Lackner writes.
MOVIES
Big releases on March 23: Pacific Rim Uprising; Sherlock Gnomes
Big picture: Poor humans. The Pacific Rim sequel finds us “caught in a war between the monsters that destroyed our cities and the monsters we created to stop them.” (Rule of thumb: Creating monsters never ends well.) Turns out the giant, piloted robots we built to combat giant alien monsters (Kaiju) have developed a life of their own. They’re no longer taking orders from their human pilots. John Boyega (Star Wars) stars as Jake, a rebel pilot with daddy issues (his pops was a famous fighter who sacrificed his life to beat the Kaiju). Jake is like Maverick from Top Gun without the sense of humour, or the down time for flirting and Righteous Brothers impersonations. Before you can stop to think, a new crack team of pilots is assembled to helm our robots that haven’t gone over to the Dark Side. They appear to live off a pure diet of energy drinks and clichéd morale pep talks.
Meanwhile, Sherlock Gnomes is the animated sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet. It finds the garden gnome duo employing the help of the titular gnome detective (voiced by Johnny Depp) to hunt down missing lawn ornaments. This animated franchise can be summed up as “garden gnomes come to life whenever humans aren’t looking ” meets bad gnome puns.
Forecast: The Kaiju aren’t vanquished yet — this “uprising ” will have multiple enemy fronts. But the Pacific Rim sequel lacks another larger-than-life figure: recent Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro directed the original, but stepped back into a producer role for the followup.
TV
Big events: Krypton (March 21, Space); Station 19 (March 22, ABC,); The Detail (March 25, CTV, )
Big picture: Krypton is Game of Thrones meets Superman meets science fiction. Released on the Man of Steel’s 80th anniversary, this prequel is largely set in Krypton decades before its famous destruction — and the release of the escape pod that dropped a super baby on the Kents’ Kansas farm. The plot centres on Superman’s grandfather, Seg-El — as played by Britain’s Cameron Cuffe. Seg-El and his family take up arms against tyranny on their home world. We even get a time-travelling human in a ball cap to explain the stakes: “Someone has come from the future to destroy Krypton because, where I’m from, your son becomes the greatest hero in the universe.”
Meanwhile, Shonda Rhimes unveils a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff called Station 19 set near the soapy hospital: “three blocks down and into the fire,” to be exact.
This one has all of Grey’s hallmarks. Jaina Lee Ortiz plays a driven firefighter who inherits the mantle of leadership from her father, but who still has time to be in a love triangle.
Finally, The Detail follows three female homicide detectives at different stages of their lives and careers. Angela Griffin, Shenae Grimes-Beech and Wendy Crewson co-star. They’re not angels and they don’t answer to anyone named Charlie. From the executive producers of Saving Hope and Rookie Blue, it promises “cop life, real life” as they balance work, home, friends and personal crises.
Forecast: Superman’s familial origin story follows the success of Batman’s own coming of age on Gotham. What’s next? An story about Aquaman’s early life as a bearded tadpole?
MUSIC
Big releases on March 23: Jack White (Boarding House Reach); Toni Braxton (Sex and Cigarettes)
Big picture: White recently revealed to Rolling Stone that one of his new tracks was inspired by a musical manuscript written by gangster Al Capone in Alcatraz. White purchased it, interpreted it and recorded it as the song Humoresque.
Meanwhile, as far as I can tell from the title, R&B star Toni Braxton went back in time to the 1970s to create her new album — the ninth studio effort for the multi- Grammy winner. Her last album was a collaboration with Babyface called Love, Marriage & Divorce — so I suppose we shouldn’t begrudge her all the sex and cigarettes.
Forecast: A visit to White’s musical house — even if the decor isn’t white stripes — is always a welcome invitation.