Latest news with #ABlade
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Mahershala Ali Gives Unfortunate Update On MCU ‘Blade' Delay
Luke Cage A Blade movie starring Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali seemed like as much of a slam dunk as anything in the MCU. But after delays and departures and tests of the star's patience, it still seems to be nowhere. Six years after Ali was brought out on stage at San Diego Comic-Con to announce his role in a Blade film, the actor has given an update that suggests the movie remains stuck, despite him still being up for playing the part. Ali is now starring in Jurassic World Rebirth and was asked on the red carpet a few times about Blade: 'Call Marvel,' he told Variety. 'I'm ready. Let them know I'm ready.' 'I would love for it to happen, we'll see, I don't know where Marvel is at right now,' he told THR. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 13: Actor Mahershala Ali attends the 11th Hamilton Behind The ... More Camera Awards at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on November 13, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/FilmMagic) The fact that the star does not appear to be looped into whatever is going on with the film is not promising. Blade is not slated for any release date, and the film has now lost two directors since 2022. Years ago, the movie was supposed to be out in November 2023. Then it was pushed to November 2025. Now it's been pushed off a cliff, seemingly. Another bit of news was made this week with writer of the original Blade, David S. Goyer commented on the delay, even saying he tried to help Marvel out himself, but was rebuffed. "In my mind, I think Blade is a relatively simple story," Goyer said on Happy Sad Confused. "It's not complicated. And I always think when you embark on a movie like this, you have to distill down what is the promise of the movie." "It should have insane ass-kicking," he said. "It should be pretty scary. Might be R-rated. And it doesn't have to be, it should not be complicated." Blade And speaking to Variety: 'I had my agent call Marvel and say, 'Do you guys need any help?' And they said, 'We love you, but we think we've cracked it now, and we're in a good place.' And then the latest thing happened. And so no, they haven't contacted me.' Goyer was a writer on all three Wesley Snipes Blade films and directed Trinity. The first being released in 1998, the modern superhero landscape owes a lot to those films, as that was pre-Spider-Man, even pre-X-Men, and way, way predating the MCU that can now not figure out how to make this work despite a 'simple story' and an Oscar-winner waiting for them to get it together. It seems like they never will at this point. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
The Guardian
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Alabaster DePlume: A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole review
Alabaster DePlume's seventh album comes with a statement of purpose. 'What is it FOR?' asks the accompanying blurb, written by the artist, born Angus Fairbairn. 'To inspire and facilitate our independent healing … Recently I told everyone to 'go forward in the courage of your love' and 'be brazen like a baby'. Following this incitement to boldness it is only fair that I offer a perspective on healing whatever comes as a result.' There is more – a lot more, including a poem – but you get the gist. An album arriving with an explicit mission statement is an unusual occurrence, but to anyone familiar with Fairbairn and his work, the obvious response is: well, of course it does. The only variable is whether you say that in a tone of delight or with a roll of the eyes. Since his 2020 breakthrough with the soothing To Cy and Lee: Instrumentals Vol 1, the saxophonist – known for his tremulous, vibrato-heavy style – and spoken-word artist has carved out a unique small space, so specific that it's almost bound to be divisive. There are those who find his whole shtick delightful and inspiring, who would argue that it's not a shtick at all, merely the unguarded expression of an open-hearted personality: refreshing in a world of irony and artifice. Equally, there are sceptics, those for whom everything from his wacky stage name to his mission statements to the interviews that occasionally begin with him thanking the journalist for merely existing, carry the tang of affectation; for whom his words often sound remarkably like something you might see on a poster for sale on Etsy: 'We can only forgive each other once we forgive ourselves.' There are brief moments during A Blade … where you concede the latter faction might have a point. Admittedly an outlier, the acoustic guitar-driven Invincibility recalls the flower-power era's self-styled 'humble minstrel' Donovan at his most whimsical, not a reference one reaches for often in 2025. Fairbairn's vocals, meanwhile, are an acquired taste – so much so that you find yourself wondering if To Cy and Lee: Instrumentals Vol 1 might not be his most successful album because of the instrumental aspect. On A Blade … they're delivered in a sprechgesang that draws equally on time-honoured hepcat declaiming, rap and performance poetry, and occasionally bring to mind not Lawrence Ferlinghetti in the company of Stan Getz, but Faithless's late frontman Maxi Jazz. But they occupy less than half the album, and when they do appear they're usually thickly framed with instrumental passages that are diverting enough. On closer That Was My Garden, the vocals are over almost before the track has begun, leaving room for a lengthy passage that slowly changes its mood from scrabbling and tentative to striding and triumphant. Even Invincibility shifts away from its initial singer-songwriter style into an intoxicating eddy of Middle Eastern-influenced strings that may have its roots in the period Fairbairn spent in Palestine – his 2024 EP Cremisan: Prologue to a Blade featured two tracks recorded in Bethlehem. And therein lies the rub: Fairbairn's divisiveness is rendered beside the point in the face of the music he makes. It's tempting to say that his greatest skill lies not in his vocals nor his trademark sax playing, but as a writer of melodies: entirely gorgeous, cyclical tunes that rise and fall in intensity. His saxophone carries them, but is regularly and very effectively doubled with wordless vocals or strings, testament to the simpatico skills of arranger Macie Stewart. Sign up to Sleeve Notes Get music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras. Every genre, every era, every week after newsletter promotion As opener Oh My Actual Days ebbs and flows, or Fairbairn's sax soars over a backing that views jazz through the lens of dub reggae on Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem, it's hard not to think that even the most cynical would feel ambushed by what they're hearing. At heart, A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole is packed with beautiful music – the string-laden backing of Form a V that tilts gently in the direction of reggae and lusciously upholstered soul; the gently insistent waltz-time motion of Who Are You Telling, Gus. It's music that seems to affect listeners emotionally far more effectively than the words. You could take that as a failing, but it isn't: after all, that's what music is for. Listen to tracks from A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole on Apple Music or listen on Spotify This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Adore – Stay Free Old Stranger Produced by Gilla Band's Daniel Fox, Stay Free Old Stranger sounds like raging garage-y alt-rock, until the tempo suddenly drops, there's a spoken-word interlude and it returns reborn as ferocious hardcore punk. Familiar yet surprising.
