Geekly Roundup #6 – ‘American Gods’ Renewed for a Second Season and More
What’s up Nerds, and Welcome, Once Again, to the Internet.
This week is full of new tidbits in the world of film and TV. American Gods has been renewed, Martin Scorcese is working on his new gangster film, The Irishman, and so much else is going on that I’ll just let you take it in on your own, at your own leisure. As always, I will be your comic partner in crime, your unflinching paragon of geeklyness, your Captain Ahab to the Moby Dick that is Nerdery! Read on, friends!
Gaming
- Overwatch‘s Anniversary Event is Imminent!
- Square Enix Dropping Hitman – future of franchise uncertain
- Dynasty Warriors 9 First Screenshots Leaked
- The Surge Robotic fighting game trailer revealed!
Film and TV
- Deadpool 2 reportedly casting more X-Force characters
- New Tupac Documentary announced
- Scorcese teases details from The Irishman
- Kylo Ren’s Tie Fighter concept art teased
- American Gods Renewed for a 2nd Season (In Depth Article)
- Wonder Woman box office estimates lowest for DCEU so far
- 20th Century Women the iTunes 99 cent move of the week!
- Jordan Peele Signed on to direct another thriller with Universal
- Everything coming and going Netflix in May!
Books, Tech, and Comics
- James Patterson’s 16th Seduction is the #1 on the NYT Bestsellers list
- Great car gadgets for your daily commute
- All the comics released this week!
‘American Gods’ Critically Lauded – Renewed for a Second Season
Neil Gaiman’s novel, American Gods, seems like it was destined for TV. Its themes are big and grandiose – as big and grandiose as the American Midwest, where much of the story has thus far taken place. It deals with Gods, immigration, narrative, and the power of belief. Which, given today’s social and political climate, have given the story extra bite.
And the critics, as well as the general public, have eaten it up. The show was critically lauded and although only on the second episode, has already been renewed for a second season. The show, which stars Ian McShane, Peter Stormare, Emily Browning, and others – including cameos from Gillian Anderson, is star-studded, highly stylized, and has a big-budget feel. The scenes are grand, the sets epic and claustrophobic simultaneously, the lighting saturated – with heavy blues and reds (I’m beginning to detect a trend with this colored lenses approach). It doesn’t take much to see what Starz is trying to do here – by throwing money and a reputable, well-liked author’s best work in the mix, they are hoping to take on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Will they succeed? That’s up to the American public. I think they have an excellent shot. While this work is less literal than Game of Thrones, it is more mythical, pensive, and slowly paced. That’s not a bad thing, however. The story plods along well and just when you think you have it pegged, an unexpected, wonderful scene is thrown at you that puts the entire show in a new light. The real epicenter of the action, the fun, it seems, is not centered around Shadow, the protagonist, but on his master, Votan, or Mr. Wednesday, who is, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Odin. Ian McShane plays him with a dastardly relish – as a cad, a trickster, and a brutally honest demagogue of the Old World – much like you’d think a real God would be like, if you just so happened to meet one.
It’s on Starz every Sunday at 9pm. I highly recommend it.