Baltimore’s urban dirt-bike culture was explored in the acclaimed 2013 documentary, 12 O’Clock Boys, revealing a side of African-American life that most people simply don’t know about. Now that story is coming to the big screen again in the narrative adaptation, Charm City Kings, which is expected to be one of the biggest world premieres at Sundance later this month.
Meek Mill, Teyonah Parris, and Jahi Di’Allo Winston star in the coming-of-age drama, which expands on the documentary by telling the story of Mouse, who wants to join the Midnight Clique, the same crew of dirt-bike riders his older brother was part of before his untimely death.
The film is directed by Angel Manuel Soto, from a story developed by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins. One can easily see why Jenkins would be attracted to another movie that brings attention to an unexplored aspect of black culture.
SYNOPSIS: Fourteen-year-old Mouse (Winston) desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. His older brother, Stro, was their top rider before his tragic death—a loss that consumes Mouse as much as his passion for bikes. Mouse’s mom (Parris) and his police mentor, Detective Rivers (William Catlett), work overtime to help the charismatic teen reach his full potential, but when the Midnight Clique’s leader, Blax (Mill), takes the boy under his wing, the lure of revving his own dirt bike skids Mouse toward a roadway past the straight and narrow.
Charm City Kings will have its world premiere at Sundance on January 27th, before hitting theaters on April 10th.
Olympic Dreams promises to be a one-of-a-kind film. For starters, the title gives the impression it’s just another underdog sports story, but there’s a lot more to it. Shot during the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first ever to be filmed within Athletes Village, it stars Olympian long-distance athlete Alexi Pappas and comedian Nick Kroll as two people who find more than just snow melting during the global games.
The film is based on Pappas’ own experiences during the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She not only stars but co-wrote the script alongside her Tracktown director Jeremy Teicher, as well as by Kroll. Pappas plays Penelope, a young cross-country skier who has a disappointing competition, and finding herself finished early, she begins hanging out in Athletes Village where she befriends and soon falls for Ezra, an outgoing volunteer dentist who is looking to move past a troubled relationship. Both are in a similar predicament, having achieved their dreams and unsure of where to go next.
I’m not going to lie, I had doubts about this movie but it’s giving off a serious Before Sunrise vibe that has me intrigued. Kroll isn’t the first person anybody thinks of as a romantic lead. To me, he’ll always be Ruxin on The League, but this looks like a great role to show his dramatic chops. Pappas and Teicher’s previous Olympic-themed film, Trackdown, was lightweight stuff that showed some promise. This looks like a step up for them both, and judging by the early reviews out of SXSW they turned out a medal-worthy little romance.
Olympics Dreams hits theaters and VOD on Valentine’s Day!
So for a few short moments, I wish I had been watching CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. Don’t message me saying how good it is, my interest is zero except for this one incredible moment when the Arrowverse connects to the DCEU via Ezra Miller’s version of The Flash.
The big event happened just as the multi-dimensional chaos appeared to have been solved. Grant Gustin’s Flash returned to STAR Labs in his superhero gear, only to find Ezra Miller’s Flash waiting for him, clearly trapped between dimensions or something. The two exchange confused greetings, with Miller’s scarlet speedster asking if this was a cosplay thing and if Gustin needed an autograph. That’s when Gustin reveals that he, too, is The Flash, which seems to boggle Miller’s mind as if his version of the hero had never thought of that name before.
The two then get awfully touchy-feely admiring their “breathable” costumes, which is maybe the least meaningful thing that happens during this encounter. Because it’s then that Gustin’s Flash begins to question how this could be happening, and Miller’s speedster gets confused…
Gustin’s Flash says, “This should be impossible now,” to which Miller responds, “This should be impossible NOW?”
Miller sounds like he has no clue about the Crisis event, which means it must not have impacted the DCEU. As he begins to fade away, Miller’s Flash says “I told Victor this is possible,” a clear nod to Victor Stone aka Cyborg, who we’re probably never going to see in another movie again. At least not for a long time. At least he gets a mention here.
Could this lead to future crossovers between the TV shows and movies? Warner Bros. is probably open to this now more than ever, but what happens when the TV versions are more popular than the movie ones?
If you’re one of those who loved Ana de Armas in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, the next year is going to be pretty good because she’s everywhere now. While a huge role in No Time to Die awaits, de Armas will also be at Sundance for the upcoming biopic Sergio, a film Netflix hopes we’ll be talking about well into awards season.
Sergio is based on the life of UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, who finds his life thrown into upheaval during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The role of Sergio is played by Narcos star Wagner Moura, with de Armas as the woman he hopes to build a future with, until duty calls one final time.
Behind the camera is Greg Barker, making his narrative directorial debut after documentary films including his acclaimed Obama doc The Final Year. His films have frequently been political, which should make this an easy transition.
SYNOPSIS: Charismatic and complex, Sergio Vieira de Mello (Wagner Moura) has spent the majority of his storied career as a top UN diplomat working in the world’s most unstable regions, deftly navigating deals with presidents, revolutionaries, and war criminals for the sake of protecting the lives of ordinary people. But just as he readies himself for a simpler life with the woman he loves (Ana de Armas), Sergio takes one last assignment — in Baghdad, newly plunged into chaos following the US invasion. The assignment is meant to be brief, until a bomb blast causes the walls of the UN headquarters to come literally crashing down upon him, setting into motion a gripping life-or-death struggle. Inspired by a true story, SERGIO is a sweeping drama focused on a man pushed to his physical and emotional limits as he’s forced to confront his own divisive choices about ambition, family, and his capacity to love.
Netflix debuts Sergio on April 17th, but has its world premiere this month at Sundance. This is one of the movies on my shortlist so hopefully, I’ll have a review for you soon.
How did reading that make you feel? If you’re excited for a sequel to 2018’s surprise blockbuster, then this new trailer is for you. Otherwise, you’re probably not going to care about the further adventures of a talking rabbit who sounds a lot like James Corden. At least he’s not a fat Jellicle cat this time.
The sequel finds Peter leaving the farm for an adventure in the outside world, joined by other members of his family. Joining Corden are the returning Domhnall Gleeson and Rose Byrne as Peter’s human friends Thomas and Bea, with David Oyelowo also in the cast. Elizabeth Debicki, Margot Robbie, Daisy Ridley, and Lennie James voice the other animal characters.
SYNOPSIS: In PETER RABBIT™ 2: THE RUNAWAY, the lovable rogue is back. Bea, Thomas, and the rabbits have created a makeshift family, but despite his best efforts, Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous reputation. Adventuring out of the garden, Peter finds himself in a world where his mischief is appreciated, but when his family risks everything to come looking for him, Peter must figure out what kind of bunny he wants to be.
The 2018 movie hopped it out to a massive $351M worldwide, and it simply would not go away. Chalk it up to the consistency of director Will Gluck, who has yet to have a flop movie in his career stretching all the way back to Easy A. The guy cranks out hit movies that are easily accessible and people don’t mind revisiting.
Here’s an idea, let’s make Bad Boys into the next Fast & Furious.
That seems to be the mandate for Bad Boys for Life, which is one of those movies fans of the 1995 buddy cop flick and its 2003 sequel have been begging for, but not more than co-star Martin Lawrence. Now they have it, with Lawrence and Will Smith much older and grayer, but they’re still quick with the trigger and a one-liner, making for a surprisingly exciting and funny sequel that shows there’s still a lot of bullets left in the chamber.
But yeah, they’re totally trying to turn this into Fast & Furious.
Hype cars, hot women, cartoonish villains, an emphasis on family, more characters, over-the-top action, and the promise of bigger cases to come are the fuel that drives Bad Boys for Life. Don’t be fooled by any “one last ride” nonsense, assuming this is a hit there will be plenty more. Smith is back as Detective Mike Lowery, he of the inexplicably expensive tastes for a police officer (surely his trust fund has run out?), with Lawrence as his ride-or-die partner Marcus Burnett. After 25 years of busting heads, and apparently not getting promoted very much (Shouldn’t one of these dudes be a Captain or something?), Marcus is ready to call it a career and spend time with his growing family. Mike’s still into his cowboy shit, and isn’t ready to hang up his gun, even when somebody tries to put him in the ground.
One of the things that separates this Bad Boys from others, and certainly makes it a step up from the ridiculous Bad Boys 2, is the personal stake for Mike. A past conviction comes back to haunt him in a big way, and suddenly the legendarily bulletproof cop isn’t so invulnerable. Nobody expects a deep exploration of Mike’s brush with mortality but it’s more than I expected, and at least acted with some degree of examination by Smith who always brings it no matter the role. We’re so used to Mike thriving in the chaos that it’s at least different to see another side, while Marcus is just as cautious as ever. The dynamic is a bit worn but it still works.
It’s strange to have a Bad Boys movie that isn’t directed by Michael Bay. His explosive style of Bayhem was literally established with the first movie, for better or for worse. In his place are Belgian filmmakers
Adil El Arbi
and Bilall Fallah, who have clearly been reading from Bay’s playbook but ratchet the violence up to gruesome levels. These films always had a high body count, pinpoint car chases, and wild gun battles, which are replicated pretty well here, along with some slick slo-mo transition scenes. None of the stunt choreography is bad, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that sticks out. When the most memorable scene is the classic “Shit just got real” Bad Boys 360 shot, you know this is still Bay’s house even when he ain’t home.
Adding to the Fast & Furious feel of this latest entry is the introduction of AMMO, a specialized high-tech force led by an aggressive team millennials you would only find in big-budget Hollywood movies. Their base looks like something out of Justice League, and holds armored vehicles that would’ve made more sense in The Rise of Skywalker. The AMMO squad all have distinct, one-note personalities perfect for future appearances and spinoffs. Vanessa Hudgens is the stalwart Kelley, with the heavily-muscled Alexander Ludwig as the team’s unlikely tech guy/bruiser, while Riverdale standout Charles Melton is the obnoxious ladies man, Rafe. Their team leader Rita, played by Paola Nunez, shares a past with Mike and might be the woman who finally gets him to slow down.
But these are Bad Boys…for Life!!! There is no such thing as slowing down. Who knows how long this can keep going, but Bad Boys for Life delivers what fans of these movies have been waiting for and will want to see again, hopefully without the sixteen-year gap.
Being a fan of Star Wars’ O.G. killer droid, IG-88, I was skeptical of this new Taika Waititi-voiced IG-11 in The Mandalorian. But it turns out IG-11 turned out to be one of the show’s best characters, from his first appearance in the pilot where he’s helping Mando gun down enemies and find what would turn out to be Baby Yoda, to the season finale when he overcomes his murderous programming and becomes a protector. It could be argued IG-11 had the most complete story arc of the first season.
Too bad he can’t come back, right? Self-destruct is a helluva thing.
Well, Waititi thinks there’s hope, but he needs fans to pitch in. Waititi, who not only directed episodes but voiced IG-11, told TheWrap he’d definitely return if fans petition hard enough for the droid to make a comeback…
“I feel we just need to start a petition because I think that character, really, he held up the entire season, didn’t he? From episode one all the way through, he was the hero.”
He’s sorta joking there, but not really. Like I said, IG-11 had a pretty dramatic evolution and it would be a shame if that was all we got to see of him. Droids can be rebuilt, right? Maybe they can transfer IG-11’s consciousness into Mando’s ship? Oh, that’s been done already and fans didn’t like it? My bad.
The Mandalorian returns to Disney+ this fall, probably with 100% less IG-11.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings TV series won’t be loaded up with much star power, but then it doesn’t really need to be. Most of us had no idea who the Game of Thrones cast were when it started; they became huge stars because of their work on that acclaimed HBO series. Clearly, Amazon is hoping to do the same and they have even recruited some Game of Thrones alums in that goal.
The full cast has been revealed, and it begins with some confirmations of names we had already heard about. Robert Aramayo, who replaced Will Poulter some weeks back, is set to play the series’ hero, Beldor. Aramayo is best known for playing young Ned Stark on Game of Thrones. He’s joined by Crawl actress Morfydd Clark, who will play the elf royal Galadriel, previously played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s films. Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark on Game of Thrones) is believed to be the series’ villain, Oren.
Others in the cast include Markella Kavanagh (True History of the Kelly Gang) as the female lead, Tyra; Ema Horvath (The Gallows Act II), Nazanin Boniadi (Bombshell), Tom Budge (Son of a Gun), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Miss Bala), Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman.
I’m sure they’re all excellent.
The series will be set long before events in The Fellowship of the Ring, and so far Galadriel is the only returning character. Rumors continue to swirl that others are being kept under wraps. Perhaps there’s a young Gandalf in there, somewhere? Sauron for sure, right?
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has been out for a few weeks and, despite the $1B+ box office, is being looked at as a disappointment. I have thoughts on that, namely that the movie is just bad enough to ward off repeat viewings, but have discussed what’s right and wrong with it more than enough. The film does feel sortof cobbled together, and part of the reason is that so many writers took a shot at getting it right. Remember, this began as a Colin Trevorrow joint, until he left in the fall of 2017, shortly after Jack Thorne was brought on for rewrites. But now details of what Trevorrow’s movie would’ve been have leaked, and honestly, it sounds like the movie I hoped for. Just being straight-up about that. I’m biased as fuck.
I won’t go into all of the details, but basically this info has been confirmed by multiple sources close to the project, including a leak of Trevorrow’s script acquired by filmmaker Robert Meyer Burnett. Reddit then went and broke the whole thing down, while ThePlaylist confirmed the script leak based on inside sources who can confirm their investigation’s findings.
Right off the bat, one thing we know is the movie was titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, and here is what the opening crawl would’ve been…
The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts are punishable by death.
Determined to suffocate a growing unrest, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has silenced all communication between neighboring systems.
Led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, the Resistance has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom…
Already, this is a completely different movie. No mention of Palpatine, while Kylo Ren and the First Order remain the primary threat to the Resistance. One of the most egregious errors made by The Rise of Skywalker is that the First Order are punted aside and all but forgotten in favor of a random force we have no investment in. Hello, they spent five years building up the First Order, not only in movies but in books and animated shows, and they aren’t a factor in the final battle? Ugh.
So let’s go through some of the key story beats, and I can’t cover everything here so you’ll want to check out Rob’s two-hour video or the Reddit thread for everything. What’s obvious is that Finn and Rose’s relationship is crucial to the story, unlike in TROS where they are basically sidelined or just tagging along. In Duel of the Fates, the two actually go on an important side mission to Coruscant, a key location as Star Wars fans know, in order to light an ancient signal in a Jedi Temple that calls the galaxy to war.
And this leads to another big difference: the ending of The Last Jedi mattered. That film concluded with Luke Skywalker’s sacrifice during the Battle of Crait, sparking the flame of rebellion as seen by the Broom Kid with the obvious Force powers. In ‘Duel’, that rebellion is surging and the First Order are fighting to stop it. They’ve shut down all communications between planets, and the Resistance’s main goal is to re-establish it so others can join in the fight. Luke’s ghost is a presence throughout, and haunts Kylo just as much as it does Rey.
Finn, who began as a First Order trooper who betrayed the Dark Side, gets his chance to come full circle. In an early scene in which he, Rose, and BB-8 are stealing a Star Destroyer containing weapons, Finn encounters a fallen Stormtrooper and recognizes him. This drives his internal conflict about killing others who are in the same predicament he was in. Later, after he and Rose are captured, Finn manages to escape by gathering other Troopers who are as disillusioned as he was. During this sequence, Rose is interrogated by General Hux, who is decidedly not a Resistance spy. The Troopers gathered by Finn join him and become his army during the final ground assault in Coruscant. An air assault also takes place, led by General Poe Dameron, with the Resistance joining in with stolen fighters and the help of smugglers led by Lando Calrissian.
Later, Finn and Rose (there she is again, all important and shit) take all of the Force-sensitive children, including the Broom Kid, to a distant planet where they can be trained by Rey.
As for what Rey was doing this entire time, she carries a double-bladed lightsaber, probably similar to Darth Maul’s or perhaps the one seen in TROS, and is on a separate mission with Poe Dameron. Picking up on threads left by TLJ, she still believes in Kylo Ren’s goodness, even as both are on similar quests to end the Jedi and the Sith once and for all. Palpatine? He gets mentioned but is definitely not Rey’s grandfather. Kylo is in search of a Sith Holocron that leads him into a Sith Lord and a fight with a Force Ghost version of Darth Vader. It’s eventually revealed that it was Kylo Ren who murdered Rey’s parents. Rey gets help from the spirits of Luke Skywalker, Yoda, and Obi-Wan in her final battle against Kylo Ren, who is too far gone to be redeemed.
If you’re wondering why there isn’t more of Leia, who it has been rumored would be a central figure prior to Carrie Fisher’s death, that’s not in this version of the script. Either those rumors were false or this script comes after her passing when changes needed to be made.
You can check out the entirety of the leak yourself and judge what it all means. The Rise of Skywalker is going to be discussed forever, that’s just the truth, and knowing this is what might’ve been will only enflame the conversation further. I have major doubts whether Trevorrow could’ve pulled this movie off behind the camera, let’s not forget the problems he apparently caused with Kathleen Kennedy, but at least the ideas he had for concluding the epic Skywalker Saga read like they would’ve embraced everything contributed by both JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson.
On the surface, any one particular aspect of a TV show episode costing $5M would seem expensive, but when that thing is our Meme and Merchandising Lord and Savior aka Baby Yoda, it’s all worth it. That said, those who had to interact with the pricey Force wielder had to be cautious while on set of The Mandalorian.
The price tag was revealed by actor Adam Pally, who you may recognize from Happy Endings, his small role in Iron Man 3, or one of my favorite recent comedies, Band Aid. Pally was in The Mandalorian‘s season finale, and became a target of Internet scorn when he, along with Jason Sudeikis, pummeled Baby Yoda in the episode’s opening moment. Pally said at at the TCA winter press tour…
“I remember the first take that I did when I punched him. They called ‘Cut!’ and Jon, who was watching on a monitor in his office, he came down from this office and said, ‘I just want to let you know that this is the hero Yoda [the main prop used for close-ups] and it costs, like, $5 million. So while I want you to hit it, I just want you to know that.’ Because I think I took a big swing at it. And the next three takes I missed, because I was so nervous.”
Probably a good idea to whiff on those blows, but why were they using the actual Yoda anyway? He’s totally hidden in the scene, unless Favreau is striving for such realism that he felt it necessary? I guess it’s possible there was more to those scenes initially, and some had to get left out. Either way, it’s good for Pally that he didn’t do too much damage. The Internet’s wraith can be brutal and eternal. [EW]
