Hello, everyone! It’s One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we take a look at the latest trailer for The Peanuts Movie, some Star Wars: Rogue One casting and Daredevil’s impact on the American Foundation For the Blind.
The Peanuts Movie Trailer
Directed by Steve Matino (Horton Hears a Who!) and written by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, The Peanuts Movie is the fifth full-length feature film based off of Charles Schultz’s award-winning comic, Peanuts. The film follows Charlie Brown’s quest to talk to the Little Red-Haired Girl, who Charlie has fallen madly in love with, and Snoopy’s final confrontation with his ultimate enemy, the Red Baron.
A lot of people were worried that CGI versions of Schultz’s beloved 2-D characters would remove some of the magic of what made the original animated series and television films so special. However, after actually watching the trailer, it appears that the film is trying to be just as quirky, charming and uniquely depressing as the cartoon. Though Charlie Brown and the gang have been given the 3D treatment, there’s no immediate indication that the filmmakers have attempted to update their personalities or lifestyles for the modern age. The trailer clearly shows that Lucy is still a jerk, Linus is unbelievably insecure and Charlie Brown is as depressed as ever.
The Peanuts Move will fly into theatres November 6, 2015.
Forest Whitaker Joins Rogue One
Seems like everyone’s coming to Star Wars. Variety announced that Forest Whitaker will join the upcoming Star Wars anthology film Rogue One in an unspecified role. The film concerns a team of rebel soldiers performing a heist to steal plans for the Death Star. Whitaker joins a cast that includes Academy Award nominee Felicty Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed and Ben Mendelsohn, all of whom will be directed by Gareth Edwards.
With this Star Wars franchise, it’s nice to see the franchise get a second chance to impress after so much disappointment with the prequels. So, it’s only natural that someone like Whittaker will get a chance to jump start his career with a new Star Wars film in the same way. Don’t get me wrong; Forest Whittaker can be a fantastic performer. However, as of late he’s taken plenty of horrendous genre films like Taken 3 or forgettable Oscar bait like Lee Daniels’ The Butler that have left him in relative obscurity following his brilliant Oscar winning turn in Last King of Scotland. So, hopefully it can give him the same boost that the original films managed to give to people like Sir Alec Guinness. Then again, the last space based sci-fi film I remember him being in was Battlefield Earth, so hopefully we get less of this in that galaxy far far away;
Charlie Cox Honored With Helen Keller Achievement Award
While attending the 19th Annual Helen Keller Achievement Awards, Charlie Cox was honored by the American Foundation for the Blind and received an award for his portrayal of Matt Murdock and Daredevil. Though Cox is not blind, the AFB considered his role as the blind attorney as an overwhelming positive influence for the blind community. Cox expressed his thanks and commented on reactions he had been receiving in regard to his portrayal of the superhero.
“Since the show has been released, I’ve had a great number of emails and letters from people in the blind community experiencing degrees of vision loss. I had one particular stranger in London who was understandably stressed by her decreased vision. The woman, he said, was more concerned with losing her independence than losing her vision. I remember thinking that that is actually far away from the truth. Based on the experience that I’ve had on the show and being so amazed by the amount of tools and the support and education … that is not the case.”
First of all, it’s great that Cox has been receiving so much love for his work on Daredevil, but it’s even better to hear that the show and Cox’s performance has been viewed as a source of inspiration. I think as comic book fans we sometimes forget that Daredevil as a character is exceptionally unique, due to the fact that he has managed to overcome his disability. He’s not helpless, and I believe the AFB recognizes that fact and wants the general public to know that though someone may be blind, it is in no way a debilitating condition.
Daredevil will return to Netflix in 2016.
