Geekiary News Briefs: Oscar 2020 Nominations! “Morbius” Teaser Trailer & More!

Welcome to the latest Geekiary News Briefs! Of course, we have to talk about the recently revealed Oscar 2020 nominations. Sony also released a trailer for Morbius. YouTuber Nikkie de Jager came out as a transwoman. And there’s still a lot more to cover!

Sticking to tradition, we have to open with the recent box office results. It looks like the success 1917 had at the Golden Globes Awards 2020 helped at the box office. The film got an expanded release and topped the domestic chart with $37 million. It got a number of Oscar nominations today. But we will get to those later.

As for the newest releases, women-led comedy Like a Boss (distributed by Paramount Pictures) got a respectable opening with $10 million. The movie stars Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Rothwell, Billy Porter, and Salma Hayek. So, good for all of them!

However, another women-led film, Underwater (distributed by 20th Century Fox), drowned with only $7 million. The sci-fi/horror Underwater ended up being the second consecutive flop for actress Kristen Stewart after the Charlie’s Angels reboot.

The results got certain people talking about whether or not she has what it takes to be a box office star. Perhaps she should stick to the indie scene where she continues to garner a lot of success?

I mean, I like Stewart as an actress. In my opinion, she’s the kind of talent that needs a director that can help her display her acting chops onscreen. That’s why she needs to be cast in the right projects to really shine.

Her role as an action star in Underwater has been praised. It reminded certain critics of Ripley from Aliens. So, that’s high praise right there. Here’s to hoping Stewart gets a good film down the line.

While we are on the subject of films, Sony (in association with Marvel) has released the teaser trailer for Morbius. The lead is played by Oscar-winner Jared Leto. If you don’t know who Morbius is, don’t worry because a whole lot of people are in the same boat regarding the said comic book character.

A quick rundown of his character is that he’s (kind of) a vampire and he might end up being part of Sony’s Sinister Six live-action film.

At least, Jared Leto does look pretty because duh! it’s Jared Leto. So, there’s that. The film is currently scheduled to be released in the US on July 31, 2020.

As for YouTube’s beauty guru Nikkie de Jager, she decided to tell the world she’s a transwoman. And you know what? Good for her!

The reason behind her sharing the truth deals with blackmail and I’m so happy she took hold of the situation. Do watch the video she posted.

Now, onto the Oscar 2020 nominations.

Remember how the 2020 BAFTA nominations were called out for having all-white acting categories? Well, the Oscars tried to lessen the backlash by adding some diversity. But, understandably, some people aren’t happy with the safe choices and a number of unfortunate snubs.

Cynthia Erivo getting a Best Lead Actress nomination for playing Harriet Tubman in Harriet has caused people to roll their eyes at the Academy’s problematic trend. It seems as if black actors are unable to be nominated unless their roles deal with racial inequality while being featured in a white-friendly narrative.

Halle Berry, who is (as of yet) the only African-American actress to win the Best Lead Actress Oscar, got it for Monter’s Ball. Similarly, Lupita Nyongo’o and Octavia Spencer won Supporting Acting Oscars for roles that dealt with slavery and racism.

So, it is understandable why some think that Erivo’s nomination is another example of such a trend.

Also, it’s good to see actor Antonio Banderas keeping the ‘straight-actors-playing-queer-roles-for-Oscars‘ trend alive with his role in Pain and Glory.

Sigh!

Furthermore, many feel that Greta Gerwig should have been nominated for Best Director, especially when her film Little Women is up for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and other categories for a total of six nominations. It’s not like the movie ended up being made on its own, right?

And yes, I agree that Jennifer Lopez should have garnered a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Hustlers. 

But I guess the Academy just had to nominate my POC icon Scarlett Johansson in Best Lead as well as Supporting Actress categories because she is just that good!

Joker, without it being much of a surprise, earned 11 nominations for the Oscar 2020 event. However, actor Dylan O’Brien does seem surprised about it.

Fans are trying to figure out if his tweet is in support of the nominations or not. In my opinion, O’Brien is more of a Parasite, Little Women, and The Farewell kind of guy. So, as far as I’m concerned, he was dragging the film, which, yay!

Basically, the 2020 Oscar nominations are all about validating narratives featuring violent men or trying to mansplain their behavior. So, in a sense, I’m not that surprised by the current nomination list. Regardless of Hollywood trying to be better, in the end, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

No love for The Farewell is a travesty.

Over on the television side of things, while fans will continue to wait for a Hannibal season 4, the lore will continue with a potential series focusing on the iconic Clarice Starling. A pilot has been ordered by CBS.

Westworld season 3 got a date reveal trailer and yes, the new content is still kind of confusing and mysterious. The series will premiere on HBO come March 15, 2020.

Showtime also revealed the teaser trailer for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and I am screaming! It will premiere on Sunday, April 26, 2020, at 10/9c. The first Penny Dreadful series was everything. So, I hope this one is good, too.

Showtime announced it has renewed Shameless for an eleventh and final season. While I’m sad to see the series end (it features a lot of queer representation), I think we all kind of expected it to happen soon. The viewing numbers haven’t been great, and it’s always better for a show to end on a respectable note than trying to drag itself toward a slow and agonizing finish.

I am doing reaction and review videos featuring the Ian and Mickey (Gallavich) scenes over on YouTube if any of you are interested. Because let’s be real, most of us are only watching Shameless for those two.

Showtime will still continue to deliver queer content, though. It has renewed queer dramedy Work in Progress and Generation Q for second seasons.

And that brings us to the end of our latest Geekiary News Briefs.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Oscar 2020 nominations. Which projects did you think were snubbed?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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