Reese Witherspoon has been killing it on the small screen lately with Big Little Lies and The Morning Show, two programs she was integral in putting together. Now she’s back again, this time with Hulu, for an adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere, a series which shares more than a few thematic and tonal similarities to Big Little Lies.
Little Fires Everywhere pairs Witherspoon with Kerry Washington, who is no stranger to prestige TV herself. The series is based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling book about a seemingly perfect white family and its matriarch who come to the rescue of an underprivileged black single mother. Her efforts to help only create tension in their relationship, culminating in what appears to be attempted murder by arson.
All eight episodes are directed by the great Lynn Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister), and co-stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Joshua Jackson, Jade Pettyjohn, Jordan Elsass, Gavin Lewis, Megan Stott, Lexi Underwood, Huang Lu, and Jesse Williams.
SYNOPSIS: Based on Celeste Ng’s 2017 bestseller, Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. The story explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
Little Fires Everywhere comes to Hulu on March 18th.
I thought this was a no-brainer given DB Weiss and David Benioff’s exclusivity with Netflix, but apparently not. A couple of years ago the Game of Thrones duo stirred up controversy when they announced a new series, Confederate, which would take place in an alternate history where the Confederate states seceded and maintained slavery. The backlash was immediate, the show shelved, and that was pretty much it. Well, now it’s officially dead.
TVLine reports HBO boss Casey Bloys has confirmed Confederate is no longer in the works at the network. That effectively cuts all ties between the duo and HBO, because to the best of my knowledge they had nothing else in development there.
SO yeah, Confederate was quite a thing in 2017. Personally, I found the premise intriguing and didn’t buy into those who claimed it would present slavery in anything other than a negative light. They were probably aiming for something similar to The Man in the High Castle, which presents a world in which the Nazis are victorious in WWII. However, HBO should’ve known better than to have two prominent white guys like Benioff and Weiss, who didn’t deal with ethnicity too great in Game of Thrones, on a project this divisive. That was just a dumb move.
It’s always possible Benioff and Weiss pitch Confederate elsewhere, but I don’t know if they have the clout anymore. They were riding high a couple of years ago and could’ve gotten anything greenlit at the time. Now? Not so much.
I know, you’re thinking “What’s up with all the David O. Russell news suddenly?” and I’m with you, but for now this story and the last one don’t have any connection. For now. According to DailyMail, Russell will be reuniting with screen legend and his Silver Linings Playbook star Robert De Niro for a movie about John D. Rockefeller, the self-made billionaire whose last name has become synonymous with personal wealth.
Russell will be directing the film based on a script by Bombshell writer Charles Randolph, with De Niro playing Rockefeller, the self-made billionaire who struck it big with his Standard Oil Company in the 19th century.
Given that De Niro, whose performance in The Irishman got overlooked by the Oscars, is about to shoot Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, this Russell project is likely a ways off. That works out anyway because Russell has the previously-mentioned film with Christian Bale shooting in April. The last time De Niro and Russell worked together it was for Joy in 2015. De Niro earned an Oscar nomination for Silver Linings Playbook in 2012.
It’s taken a while, but Christian Bale and David O. Russell are together again. Given the 17 Oscar nominations of their two previous collaborations, The Fighter and most recently American Hustle, it’s just a wonder it has taken this long.
As for what the two will be collaborating on, Deadline doesn’t have any info at all. Honestly, when it’s Bale and Russell details don’t matter all that much. We’re going to be down for it no matter what. Collider does have some possible info on it, beginning with the title Amsterdam, and a cast that could include Margot Robbie, Jamie Foxx, and Angelina Jolie. All are reportedly being sought, while Jennifer Lawrence was considered at one time.
Bale has continued to be on a roll since their last pairing, with an Oscar nomination for Vice and acclaim for his roles in The Big Short and Ford v Ferrari. Things haven’t been quite as hot for Russell. His previous movie, 2015’s Joy, failed to measure up to past accolades. Perhaps a reunion with Bale is exactly what’s needed.
Production is expected to begin in April, whatever this turns out to be.
We’re still a couple of years away from seeing Jason Momoa’s Aquaman return to the big screen, but the King of the Seas has some other action going on with HBO Max. Director James Wan is set to produce an animated Aquaman event series titled Aquaman: King of Atlantis.
The three-part miniseries will pick up on the environmental and ethical themes touched upon in 2018’s $1B hit, Aquaman. It’s unclear if Momoa will return to voice Aquaman, but given his environmental activism this seems like a project he would naturally want to be a part of.
The series’ family-friend tone is clear in this synopsis: The series begins with Aquaman’s first day on the job as king of Atlantis and he’s got a lot of catching up to do. Luckily, he has his two royal advisors to back him up – Vulko, the scholar, and Mera, the water controlling warrior-princess. Between dealing with unscrupulous surface dwellers, elder evils from beyond time and his own half-brother who wants to overthrow him, Aquaman is going to have to rise to the challenge and prove to his subjects, and to himself, that he’s the right man for the trident!”
Based on this, there’s the possibility Willem Dafoe and Amber Heard reprise their roles. Between this series and spinoff The Trench, Warner Bros. is doing everything they can to keep up interest in Aquaman until the sequel. [Deadline]
Defying the odds, HBO and Damon Lindelöf’s Watchmen series wasn’t just a great followup to arguably the greatest comic book series ever, it was one of the best shows of the year. For me, it WAS the best show of the year, with nothing really coming close. Of course, HBO would like to see that success continue, but Lindelöf has always expressed doubt over a second season and now more than ever it looks unlikely to happen.
According to USAToday, Lindelöf told them he’s” told the story he wants to tell and has no interest in a second season.” However, he’s given HBO his “blessing” to pursue a second season with someone else as writer and producer.
But HBO programming boss Casey Bloys isn’t really interested in a Watchmen without Lindelöf’s involvement…
“It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do. If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a ‘Fargo,’ ‘True Detective’ (anthology) take on it, or if he wants to do something different altogether. We’re very proud of ‘Watchmen,’ but what I’m most interested in what Damon wants to do.”
Bloys then added, “It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way.”
The first season of Watchmen ended on a cliffhanger, but it was the kind of cliffhanger that could be picked up any time. To me, Watchmen is a generational work of art. It shouldn’t be relegated to annual seasons like a normal TV series, but should arrive at times of significant cultural advancement. Maybe do another Watchmen in 20-30 years when we have a President Lizzo or something like that.
In short, it doesn’t look like anybody will be watching the Watchmen anytime soon.
Nobody wants to see an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower succeed, I guess. A couple of years after a failed movie with Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, the TV series followup has now been rejected by Amazon Studios.
The decision was made by Amazon after viewing the pilot episode, with producers expected to shop the two completed scripts to other outlets. This probably shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. Amazon already has the hugely expensive Lord of the Rings series to focus on, and adding King’s fantasy epic might have been just a bit too much. It’s also possible it just didn’t look very good. Considering all that has happened with The Dark Tower over the years, that’s got to be a consideration.
For a long time while The Dark Tower was being pursued as a feature film franchise, there was also a TV series component that would provide background or flesh out storylines. That was to be the case with the 2017 movie, as well, but the show changed into a complete reboot when the movie tanked. The story of gunslinger Roland Deschain (reportedly to be played by Sam Strike) and his battle with the evil Man in Black (Jasper Pääkkönen) would still be followed, albeit at the beginning of his journey.
With so many platforms out there somebody is going to throw a ton of cash to make The Dark Tower happen, and in a way that will make the most of King’s epic vision. There’s simply too much potential in it becoming the next Game of Thrones-sized hit, and King adaptations are more popular than ever. [Deadline]
There may not be a director more beloved all-around right now than Taika Waititi. His latest, Jojo Rabbit, is an Oscar contender for Best Picture, and that followed his hilarious Marvel film Thor: Ragnarok, acclaimed indie comedies like What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Not to mention his stint on The Mandalorian as actor and director. He literally checks all of the boxes, and he’s an incredibly nice guy, as well. So it’s no wonder Disney is keen on keeping him around, and not just for Thor: Love & Thunder, but for a future Star Wars movies.
THR reports that Lucasfilm is attempting to court Waititi to direct a Star Wars movie. Which one? That’s anybody’s guess. Could it be the one vacated by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss? Or perhaps the project being spearheaded by Marvel’s Kevin Feige? We really don’t know, but it does look as if The Mandalorian is being used as a training ground of sorts. Deborah Chow, who directed a couple of episodes, has since moved on to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Jon Favreau’s name has been out there, too, and he’s pretty much Disney’s golden boy.
There’s a Star Wars movie expected to arrive in December 2022, but that’s far too early for Waititi to get involved with. He’s still finishing up on sports comedy Next Goal Wins, which will be followed by Thor: Love & Thunder. So if this pans out, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Waititi do a Star Wars movie someday, it’ll be pretty far off in the distance.
Quentin Tarantino may have idled on his Star Trek film, but with multiple Oscar nominations for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood he’s staying busy as ever. While he’s talked about extended additions of that film, plus ideas about doing a play and writing a book, one of the more intriguing possible moves was to TV. In a recent conversation with Deadline, Tarantino sounds like he’s confirmed a move to the small screen, and it’ll be for a project that’ll tie-into Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton.
Tarantino says he has written and plans to direct a 5-episode series of Bounty Law, the fictional series seen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton built his career on
“As far as the ‘Bounty Law’ shows, I want to do that, but it will take me a year and a half. I ended up writing five half-hour episodes. So I’ll do them, and I will direct all of them.”
“It got an introduction from ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ but I don’t really consider it part of that movie even though it is,”he said. “This is not about Rick Dalton playing Jake Cahill. It’s about Jake Cahill. Where all this came from was, I ended up watching a bunch of ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive‘, and ‘The Rifleman,’ and ‘Tales of Wells Fargo,’ these half-hour shows to get in the mindset of ‘Bounty Law,’ the kind of show Rick was on. I’d liked them before, but I got really into them. The concept of telling a dramatic story in half an hour. You watch and think, wow, there’s a helluva lot of storytelling going on in 22 minutes. I thought, I wonder if I can do that?”
This sounds amazing, but only if DiCaprio can be convinced to return for it. If this puts off his Tarantino’s 10th and supposedly final movie for a while, I’m more than okay with that.
There’s a sketch in John Mulaney’s Netflix comedy special John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch that breaks down what an audience can expect from a modern “kid’s” movie. Set in a focus group for the made-up “Bamboo 2: Bamboozled,” John Mulaney goes around the table asking precocious kids questions about the film “Raise your hand if knowing Mark Ruffalo is doing the voice of the cockatiel advanced the movie experience?” The sketch touches upon the tropes that work for kids but not adults, from the over-packed cast of characters clearly there to sell tickets, to the potty humor, to the song thrown in at the credits that has nothing to do with the film. Dolittle, the new film adaption of Hugh Lofting’s children book series, easily falls into those tropes and then some, creating a beautiful looking pile of “meh”.
Inspired by Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle children’s book series, the third film adaption after 1967’s Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison and 1998’s modern version Dr. Dolittle starring Eddie Murphy, this one takes the character back to Victorian England. As a young man, John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) traveled the world helping animals, developing the ability to speak to them and eventually falling in love with his future wife. After her death, Dolittle closed the doors to his government-funded veterinary practice and goes to live in solitude with his animal friends. This changes when Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) falls ill, forcing Dolittle and his new young apprentice, Stubbins (Harry Collett), to find a possible cure. Needing to find the Eden flower, a plant no one has seen, from an island that no one has been to, that will definitely cure the queen, Dolittle sets off on an adventure with Stubbins and the rest of his animal friends as new enemies from the crown (Michael Sheen) and strange lands (Antonio Banderas), threaten to stop him.
Like a lot of kid’s movies, this one has an oversaturation of characters that pop in to save our heroes in their time of need and then disappear once their usefulness is gone. Besides Rami Malek’s gorilla, Chee- Chee and the second in command Poly, a parrot voiced by Emma Thompson, all the other animals sort of blend together and fade away. This is true for Selena Gomez’s giraffe, Betsy, and Marion Cotillard’s fox, Tutu, the film clearly using star power to sell itself. Some of the lines spoken by the animated characters sound more like a series of punchy catchphrases rather than cohesive dialogue. However, there are moments of real hilarity, especially from Craig Robinson’s Kevin, a squirrel who is accidentally shot by Stubbins, saved by him, and now out for revenge against him.
Unfortunately, the real problem of the film besides a lacking script is Robert Downey Jr. Donning a Scottish accent, the veteran actor, known for playing Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, lacks the spark that we are used to him having. Downey Jr. loses the character in the Scottish accent. It’s distracting and, in an attempt to fix it, produces some of the worst dubbing and ADR work in recent years. Does he really need that accent? Is the target demographic of children such fans of the original source material that they would riot if he did not sport a Scottish accent? I can only assume that maybe Downey Jr.and director Stephen Gaghan thought that a more understandable English accent would be too similar to Downey’s accent in Sherlock Holmes. Whatever the reason, the film lives and dies by its central character, and however you say it, the accent provides a big enough distraction to detract from the character’s emotional growth.
On the production side, the bar is set high. Danny Elfman’s score provides the film with a sense of earnest whimsy and emotional warmth. The set and costume design are a brilliant breath of fresh air in an otherwise mundane story. The beginning’s exposition is told through beautiful illustration, making you wish the entire film was told like that. While the acting and script could have used more work, the actual look and feel of the film is quite pleasing, leaving you to wonder how more prominent elements got so overlooked.
January is always an interesting time to go to the movies. You have the leftover Oscar-nominated films from December still lingering in theaters and you have new movies that are less than stellar hoping to make a few bucks. Despite the film’s obvious shortcomings, it won’t be the worst thing in theaters this January and not the end of the world if you are forced to see it one cold Saturday with your kids.
