The Woman in the Window has been staring out that joint for a long ass time. The film, which stars Amy Adams and is directed by Joe Wright, was originally to be released by 20th Century Studios back in October 2019. But the initial test screenings were…well, shitty. So the film was delayed. Then COVID-19 hit and it got bumped across release dates for months before being acquired by Netflix, who have now finally given it a firm date.
Netflix will debut The Woman in the Window on May 14th 2021. The film stars Adams as “an agoraphobic psychologist befriends a neighbor across the street from her New York City brownstone, only to see her own life turned upside down when the woman disappears and she suspects foul play.”
Also in the cast are Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Julianne Moore. Tracy Letts also has a role and adapted the screenplay from A.J. Finn’s novel.
Oh, what might have been. There was a time when Ben Affleck’s version of Batman was meant to be part of the DCEU for the long haul. A potential trilogy of films was in the works, directed by Affleck himself, and his role in Justice League was to continue in multiple sequels by Zack Snyder. Well, fans of Bat-fleck will have to settle for one final appearance in The Flash, and an expanded role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Snyder has dropped a new Batman-centric teaser for the film, and there’s a lot of new footage here. In fact, I would say if you’re someone who wants to go in as clean as possible, it might be a good idea to avoid this. All of this footage was left on the cutting room floor when Joss Whedon took over on the film, and Snyder has incorporated it back in to assemble his new 4-hour cut.
There’s also a new poster featuring Batman, and I’m willing to bet there will be other character-specific teasers.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max on March 18th.
Y’know, sometimes it’s best to say as little as possible when you’re talking about the Marvel project you’re currently starring in. Paul Bettany is learning this the hard way. A few weeks ago he teased one final cameo for the final episodes of WandaVision, a major actor that he had been dying to work with. Well, as the big finale draws near, and a “new” character was introduced last episode, fans have begun to wonder if Bettany was pulling a fast one.
Turns out, yep, he was.
So in the most recent episode of WandaVision, a “new” version of Vision was revealed. This is the classic white, emotionless Vision who will undoubtedly cause all sorts of heartbreak for poor wanda. But that couldn’t be the big cameo Bettany had been referring to, right? And what about the actor he was so eager to work with and found “fireworks” with on set? Was he actually talking about himself? Well, yeah.
Appearing on Good Morning America, Bettany fessed up that the whole “cameo” thing was a big joke…
“Yeeaahhhhh,” replied Bettany guiltily. “You know when you think something is going to be funny and you say it and actually panic about it? Which is what I did because fans started guessing who it might be and they were guessing people like Benedict Cumberbatch or Patrick Stewart. And I was thinking, ‘My God, that’s a good idea! They’re going to be so disappointed when they find out it’s me.’”
Bettany then faked a poor Zoom connection when hosts asked if he were pulling their legs once again.
That’s a damn shame. I’ve sure as Hell been tossing theories around and it appears it was all for nothing. Then again, does anybody really think a show that has been so full of surprises will end without one more? Me neither.
The season (series?) finale of WandaVision is tomorrow on Disney+.
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free virtual screening of Amazon Studios’ Coming 2 America, a sequel to the classic comedy and once again starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall!
SYNOPSIS: Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi(Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began.
The virtual screening takes place Thursday, March 4th at 7:00pm EST. If you’d like to attend this special GOFOBO event, simply send an email to punchdrunktrav@gmail.com with your full name and “Coming 2 America contest” in the subject line. 10 winners will be selected to receive a “seat” to the screening.
Coming 2 America will be available on Amazon Prime beginning March 5th.
Netflix and the Russo Brothers are definitely ramping up the star power and sex appeal of spy film, The Gray Man. Already set to star Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Ana de Armas, the most expensive project in the streamer’s history has now added Bridgerton breakout, Regé-Jean Page.
Deadline reports Page will stay under the Netflix umbrella by joining The Gray Man, the $200M blockbuster that has Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Ana de Armas starring. He’ll be joined by Alfre Woodard, making her return to Netflix after her role in Luke Cage, and Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. The cast also includes Wagner Moura, Jessica Henwick, Julia Butters and Dhanush.
If you’re going to lay down that much coin on a movie, better not skrimp on the star power.
The Gray Man is directed by the Russo Brothers, who have reteamed with Avengers writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus. They’ve adapted Mark Greaney’s book about “deadly duel between killers as a freelance assassin and former CIA operative named Court Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry’s at the CIA.”
With all of the buzz out there from fans who want Page to be the next James Bond, this might be the perfect spot to see what he can do in the world of espionage. Page has been busy since Bridgerton made him such a hot commodity. He recently joined the cast of Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons movie.
Look, casting Tom Hanks in Disney’s live-action Pinocchio is the easy part. The most beloved actor, possibly in the world, who we all see as the protective father-figure, is perfect for the role of Gepetto. And now comes the challenge of casting up the other colorful roles in the story of a marionette who longs to be a real boy. Fortunately, that challenge has been met pretty darn well.
THR reports Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lorraine Bracco, Keegan-Michael Key, and young Benjamin Evan Ainsworth have joined the cast, with Ainsworth taking on the title role. Erivo, who can be seen later this week in Chaos Walking, will play the Blue Fairy, with Gordon-Levitt voicing Jiminy Cricket, and Key as Honest John. Disney will also introduce a new character, Sofia the Seagull, that will be voiced by Bracco.
This version of Pinocchio has Robert Zemeckis behind the camera, meaning you can expect a heavy dose of CGI to go with the live-action elements. When the film is ready to go, probably next year, it will be on Disney+.
This past year has been no stranger to long-delayed films that have finally been kicked out into the wild. Chaos Walking is perhaps the oddest of them all, an adaptation of the first book in Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go series, it began life nearly a decade ago (!!!) when Charlie Kaufman of-all-people was hired to draft the script. Seriously? The writer infamous for cinematic mind-fuckery like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich on a YA franchise? Get outta here! Well, many have come and gone since then. Many new scripts, a couple of directors, finally settling on Doug Liman, who waited so long to finish this he did something entirely different (HBO Max film Locked Down) in the meantime. His skills at big-budget action at least promised this wouldn’t be boring.
Right?
Well, yes and no. Chaos Walking is by no means breaking the mold of the YA genre that saw its peak years ago with The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. The disappointment comes in the extraordinarily long wait for something that is, ultimately, fairly generic when there’s potential to be so much more.
Chaos Walking may be set in the far-off future, but its themes of privacy, misogyny and toxic masculinity are extremely relevant. In virtually every one of these young adult adaptations, there’s an all-powerful female who is the only one who can set the world right. Well, imagine that except there’s an entire village of men who hate outspoken women, and those same men can’t keep their ugly thoughts secret.
Tom Holland plays Todd Hewitt, and he, of course, is the exception. Like all of the other males in Prentisstown, Todd is afflicted by The Noise, which is basically unfiltered stream of consciousness. Every man’s thoughts rise out of their head like a cloud of smoke, for all to see. There are no secrets on this planet, a place the remnants of humanity occupied when Earth became inhabitable. There are also no women in Prentisstown, all of them supposedly killed by the planet’s native species. That includes Todd’s mother, but he is too young to remember that tragic day.
David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen) seems to be the only man alive who can control his Noise. He keeps it wrapped inside his head, or surrounded by literal walls that erect around his thoughts. As the mayor of Prentisstown, David is just about the only person Todd looks up to. That is until their entire world is upended by a crash-landing spaceship, and the arrival of Viola (Daisy Ridley), a thoughtful, resourceful, and tough female whose thoughts nobody can hear. Todd, who has never seen a woman in his life, is immediately smitten, and some of the movie’s best laughs come from his inability to control his feelings for her. Most of it is pretty innocent, like admiring her smile and hoping she’ll kiss him. When the other men catch wind of her existence, they set out to capture her, with Todd the only one who will help Viola escape.
Chaos Walking, despite its title, isn’t that chaotic at all. You’d be surprised given the troubled production, which suggested this would be a complete mess. But Liman is a filmmaker who has repeatedly made excellence out of embattled productions, with The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow two prime examples. He does the same here in putting together a competent, well-made chase movie, because that’s essentially Chaos Walking turns out to be. The men of Prentisstown are convinced Viola is a threat, none more so than an enraged cleric (David Oyelowo) whose thoughts emanate as burning flames.
As a thriller, Chaos Walking works when it makes the most of The Noise as a visual cue. Hiding from their pursuers becomes a problem because Todd’s thoughts can be seen by everyone, no matter where he goes. There’s also tension in his relationship with Viola, who has to deal with the horror of being able to see what every man thinks of her. And I don’t know if you knew this, but we dudes can be pretty cruel and disgusting.
It’s unfortunate the film doesn’t show us more from Viola’s perspective because she really is the most interesting character by far. There are only a couple of major female characters, the other being Cynthia Erivo’s iron-willed Hildy Black, leader of the peaceful Farbach settlement, who resent everything Prentiss stands for. The film does well to put both Viola and Hildy in positions of heroism, where they can show the smarts and toughness the aggro dudes in Prentisstown wish they had.
There just aren’t any surprises. Yes, the action moves crisply and there’s a terrific near-capture sequence set against surging rapids. We expect no less from Liman, while Holland and Ridley are no slouches at this stuff either. As the film hurtles to a conclusion, the wheels start to come off a little bit. You can see where all of the complications may have led to the dropping of some storylines and character beats are dropped. Nick Jonas as Prentiss’ lame son is especially affected by this, but others feel like they were edged out at the last moment. Overall, Chaos Walking is enjoyable enough to have you anticipating Liman’s next big action movie, which will be an insane journey to space with Tom Cruise and Elon Musk. What the film doesn’t do is make enough of a case for there to be more. As an exploration of men who can’t hide their hatred towards women, it doesn’t do much but lead to a fight scene. And if that’s all Chaos Walking has to say, what makes it different than the rest? It makes you wonder what Kaufman’s continued guidance would’ve amounted to.
Superhero movies should be fun. Yeah, for a while there was an obsession with making them grim ‘n gritty, but ultimately they should make us dream about the coolness of having superhuman powers. And that, hopefully, is what the upcoming Netflix comedy Thunder Force will do. With Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer starring as the two heroes, it should at least be funny. Right?
Well, there’s reason for concern. The film is written and directed by McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone, who unfortunately has been behind her worst projects including the recent HBO Max comedy, Superintelligence. So maybe it’s a good idea to temper expectations.
McCarthy and Spencer star as former best friends who join forces to battle supervillains when one develops a formula to give powers to ordinary people. McCarthy’s character gains super-strength, while Spencer turns invisible like Susan Storm.
The cast is terrific, too, with Jason Bateman, Melissa Ponzio, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff, Melissa Leo, Sarah Baker, Tyrel Jackson Williams, and Bobby Cannavale as a villain known as The King.
Thunder Force hits Netflix on April 9th.
In a world where supervillains are commonplace, two estranged childhood best friends reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers to protect their city.
The late 1930s were a time of immeasurable change around the world. Hitler was on the rise, those who would be affected by that on a global level were also feeling it on a personal level. As seen in this exclusive clip from Julius Sevcik’s The Affair, one woman in 1930 Czechoslovakia sees her fortunes turned for the worse by the political climate of the time.
Game of Thrones actress Carice van Houten stars as Hana, who sees her way of life and the forbidden passion she holds for her married best friend, Liesel (Hanna Alström), threatened by the rise of Nazi power in Czechoslovakia.
In this scene, we see how far Hana’s idyllic life has fallen as she’s forced to barter away a precious gift from Liesel just to get some milk for her baby. Meanwhile, the sound of planes and the dropping of bombs serves as a stark reminder that things will never be the same.
The Affair also stars Claes Bang as Liesel’s husband Viktor, along with Alexandra Borbély and Martin Hofmann. The film opens On Demand beginning March 5th!
THE AFFAIR begins in 1930s Czechoslovakia, as newlyweds Viktor (Claes Bang) and Liesel Landauer (Hanna Alström) are filled with optimism and happiness in their new home. But all too soon, extramarital temptations bring out their darkest secrets and desires. As Liesel turns to her sensual friend Hana (Carice van Houten) for the passion she lacks in her marriage, Nazi troops enter the country, threatening the Landauer’s lives and the burning desire between the two women.
Let’s say you’ve watched all of Jack Ryan and you just can’t get enough of that Tom Clancy world. Well, Amazon Studios has you covered with their new film, Without Remorse, and this one stars Michael B. Jordan who is way more exciting than John Krasinski. Just sayin’.
Without Remorse stars Jordan in the role of Sr. Chief John Kelly (aka John Clark), an elite Navy Seal who must stop an international conspiracy that could set off a war with Russia, while at the same time finding those who murdered his family.
It’s pure Clancy stuff, and just recognize that Kelly is typically seen as the “dark side” to Jack Ryan. You can see some of that in this trailer, as Jordan looks like he’s about to go apeshit on everybody.
Behind the camera is Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) from a script by Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water) and Will Staples (Sweet Girl). Joining Jordan in the cast are Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Brett Gelman, Colman Domingo, and Guy Pearce.
Without Remorse hits Amazon Prime on April 30th.
An elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife in Tom Clancy’s ‘Without Remorse’, the explosive origin story of action hero John Clark – one of the most popular characters in author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan universe. When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.
