12
Dec
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every few years, a new on-screen adaptation of The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew will arrive. Since the franchises’ first appearances on the page (1927 and 1930, respectively), we’ve all been collectively fascinated by the stories of spirited teens solving crimes that range from neighborhood theft to international espionage. But this year is perhaps the first time we’ve seen two appear so close to one another. Hulu’s 2020 The Hardy Boys adaptation is the fifth time the famous sleuthing siblings have appeared onscreen. The CW’s Nancy Drew, which is set to return for…
04
Dec
First published in 1927, The Hardy Boys series of books created by Edward Stratemeyer has sold more than 70 million copies and been translated into more than 25 languages. The novels have been revised, rebooted, and reimagined at least four times since their debut and the eponymous characters have appeared in everything from comic books and TV shows to video games and cartoons. Possibly the real mystery here is why there hasn’t been a television adaptation of this story on-air since the late 1990s, particularly when remakes and reboots have been all the rage for years. The CW currently has…
12
May
Capone is the last movie you’d ever brand as a “traditional gangster pic.” While the infamous mobster’s seven-year reign of terror as head of the Chicago rackets in the 1920s has been chronicled in movies like The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) and The Untouchables (1987), the final stages of Capone’s life — addled by dementia and neurosyphilis at his Palm Island, Florida estate after his release from prison — have been explored less than his earlier, more colorful exploits. Enter Josh Trank. After bursting onto the Hollywood radar in 2012 with his found-footage deconstruction of superhero and comic book…
11
May
There’s a cathedral on Chicago’s North Side that I liked visiting as a kid. In its cornerstone, a bullet hole still lingers nearly a century after it shattered the rock: a leaden forget-me-not of the day Al Capone’s gunmen executed Earl “Hymie” Weiss on the church steps. Growing up, it was like communing with a mythological past. But then the less you know about wiseguys and gangsters, the grander they can appear. The real Al Capone was obviously not a mythic figure or a comic book supervillain; he was a thug with a gun and a big mouth who died…
15
Apr
We’ve been excited to get a look at Josh Trank’s upcoming movie Fonzo for a while now. The film, Trank’s follow up to his disastrous Fantastic Four reboot, is set to portray notorious mob boss Al Capone (Tom Hardy) as the “ruthless businessman and bootlegger who ruled Chicago with an iron fist,” having earned a reputation as “the most infamous and feared gangster of American lore” but the story is to follow a less explored and potentially far weirder aspect of the gangster’s life, as the effects of syphilis turn past to present, and “harrowing memories of his violent and…
