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2021 Academy Awards — ABC
Broadcasting live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the 93rd annual Academy Awards will be hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on April 25 at 8 p.m. on ABC. At the time of writing this, the Academy Awards is still being planned as an in-person event for guests and talent that will take COVID-19 safety measures into consideration. While this is technically next week, it is before the next issue of the Collegian, so this is a reminder to tune in. The nominees for Best Picture are as follows: “The Father,” produced by David Parfitt, Jean-Louis, Livi and Philippe Carcassonne; “Judas and the Black Messiah” produced by Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler; “Mank,” produced by by Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski; “Minari,” produced by Christina Oh; “Nomadland,” produced by Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao; “Promising Young Woman,” produced by Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara; “Sound of Metal,” produced by Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” produced by Marc Platt and Stuart Besser. A full list of nominees can be found here, and the Collegian will release a winner recap piece on April 28. The Arts and Entertainment section of the Collegian has been running a series of articles over the last few issues titled “Academy Awards Season” in which staff writers review some of the films nominated for best picture. You can find those articles here.
“Mortal Kombat” — HBO Max
After a one-week delay, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Mortal Kombat” will release in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously on April 23. The film, based on the 28-year-old arcade-fighting video game series, will adopt fan favorite characters from the franchise and put a modern spin on them. The film will star Lewis Tan (“Deadpool 2,” “Wu Assassins,”) as a new character and protagonist Cole Young; Jessica McNamee (“The Meg,” “The Vow,”) as Sonya Blade, a soldier-turned-fighter; Joe Taslim (“Fast and Furious 6,” “Star Trek Beyond,”) as the fan-favorite ninja Sub-Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada (“The Wolverine,” “Avengers Endgame,”) as the series’ mascot, Scorpion. Although there have been several “Mortal Kombat” movies in the past and the games’ story is extensive, this film will act as a reboot to the franchise, retelling the story from the beginning. This is the first film in the series to receive an R rating, likely because it features the games’ signature “fatalities” in which characters are killed or brutally injured by their opponent in combat.
MLB The Show ‘21 — PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series
The newest entry in the “Show” series comes out on April 20 on Playstation systems and, for the first time ever, Xbox systems. The Show is an annually serialized series of Major League Baseball simulation games that consistently review highly with critics. Since 1998, the “MLB” series, later known as “The Show,” has been locked to PlayStation platforms, with their most recent release, The Show ‘20, boasting record sales numbers, being released shortly after the MLB postponed their baseball season, leaving fans wanting baseball content. The new entry in the series, which features Fernando Tatís Jr., the shortstop player for the San Diego Padres, on the cover is not only the first entry in the franchise that will be featured on Xbox, but on next-generation hardware. This means that the new versions will cost $69.99 instead of the standard $59.99. Another notable point is that The Show ‘21 will launch on Xbox Gamepass, meaning subscribers there will get the game for no extra charge while Playstation owners will have no choice but to spend the $70.
The La Salle Collegian 