The Penguin Early Reviews are Epic?! – Did You Hear? week of Friday, October 13th, 2024

Did You Hear? is a weekly examination of headlines in the entertainment industry and a take on what they could mean for the future of the industry and (often), the little geeky bubble that we occupy!

Early Reviews for The Penguin TV Show Skew Positive

A week ahead of the September 19th, 2024 release date early reviews for HBO’s The Penguin television series (starring Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot and spinning directly out of 2022’s The Batman), began dropping online on Wednesday and they – shockingly – positive!

If you are looking forward to watching The Penguin and worried about spoilers, fear not, Spoilerites! I’m not going to share anything revealing in this article today!

Variety led the way with their review titled:

Colin Farrell’s ‘The Penguin’ Is a Mesmerizing Crime Drama That Moves Beyond Batman: TV Review

For anyone not sure what a Penguin show could look like Variety lets us know:

HBO’s limited series — created by Lauren LeFranc — revolves around the rise of Oz “the Penguin” Cobb (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell), whose fixation on power blossoms into something so grotesque it becomes uncontainable. A masterful examination of criminality, the show is twisted, disturbing and deeply enthralling.

… praise for the creative team extends both above and below the line with multiple outlets praising makeup artist Michael Marino for handling an intense physical transformation for Farrell. This exact transformation has drawn criticisms of fat phobia in HBO failing to cast a larger actor, but Marino’s talent appears to be flexed throughout the series.

Variety concludes their review:

Though “The Penguin” revolves around Oz’s compulsion to achieve power and status, it’s also about cycles of trauma. People like Oz and Sofia don’t sprout up out of nowhere; their environments foster them. Criminals must learn to adapt to survive those more volatile than them. But withstanding brutality forces transformations. After all, devils aren’t born; they are created.

Other titles from notable outlets include:

NPR crows:

Yes, ‘The Penguin’ is yet another Batman spin-off. It’s also one of 2024’s best shows

… and The Hollywood Reporter diverts from praise::

‘The Penguin’ Review: Cristin Milioti Steals HBO’s Too-Familiar ‘The Batman’ Spinoff Right Out From Under Colin Farrell’s Beak

… THR’s opening paragraph addresses what many of us were thinking:

I’m not saying HBO’s The Penguin is derivative, but it’s the second TV show in less than six months in which Colin Farrell plays a character obsessed with the glamour of black-and-white Old Hollywood movies — specifically using clips from Gilda to evoke nostalgia for a period that our hero is too young to have experienced firsthand, a poignant yearning for a world with mystique and morality that no longer exist.

… and continues in the same vein.

Respectfully, I’m surprised to see this much positivity around and idea that felt DOA when it was announced and certainly now, years later, when it has finally debuted. I’m certainly interested to see th evolution of critics and audience as the series goes on. This year we’ve seen House of the Dragon garner praise and The Rings of Power garner criticism playing in the same – as previously mention – “derivative” space.

Venom: The Last Dance Drops Final Trailer

Can you believe we live in a world with three Venom movies? Can you believe we live in a world where Andy Serkis is directing the third Venom movie!? What a treat, what a dream! 

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE – Final Trailer (HD)

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Eagle-eyed Spoilerites will have spotted (or paused and watched over and over and over and over again), the relatively new Venom foe, Knull whizz by! 

More details will surely unravel when the movie debuts in cinemas worldwide on October 25th, 2024.

Amazon Shelves Good Omens Season 3

Earlier this week Deadline exclusively broke the news that Amazon has paused production on future seasons of Good Omnes due to sexual assault accusations surrounding creator Neil Gaiman.

Deadline had previously reported Gaiman has “stepped back” from the third season of Good Omens:

Deadline understands Gaiman’s offer is not an admission of wrongdoing following a podcast from Tortoise Media that chronicled accounts of two women, with whom he was in consensual relationships, who accused him of sexual assault. Another two have since come forward.

This week’s update goes on to state Good Omens is not the only project Amazon is reconsidering given the circumstances:

News about the future of Good Omen comes less than a week after Disney put a planned feature adaptation of Gaiman’s 2008 YA title The Graveyard Book on pause amid a series of sexual assault allegations against the award-winning author. (Insiders said multiple factors went into the decision). Gaiman has denied the allegations and said he was “disturbed” by them.

… with the season 3 update being as follows:

Production has been paused on the third and final season of fantasy drama Good Omens, the Neil Gaiman drama for Amazon that’s shooting in Scotland.

Deadline is hearing there are discussions about possible production changes. A spokesperson would not comment.

Given the violent nature of the accusations and the high profile of Gaiman, himself, my guess is what has already been shot will live on a harddrive tucked away in a production office for quite some time before it inevitably gets tossed and Good Omens is heading for cancellation any day now.

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