Sam Mendes’ latest film 1917 is one of a kind, for a number of combined reasons. First, you don’t get alot of war films dealing with The Great War/WWI, it’s older (or is it younger) brother WW2 gets all the silver screen glorification. Second, the film is shot as one continuous take, meaning there’s no jumping from place to place. You start the film with two characters and you’re with them the whole way. It’s something that you can almost not notice unless you’re looking for it but really creates an all-encompassing experience. That first point though, that’s where this trailer shines. While we don’t really get a lot of all-out trench warfare you can see how clearly the film illustrates the life of a front line soldier in World War 1. 1917 is a film that war film fans will not want to miss and I think after checking out the clip below you’ll agree.
Side note: Is it just me or did they cast Sgt. Slaughter at :28?
1917 opens Christmas Day and stars George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Richard Madden.
The wait for the next Christopher Nolan film can be long and tough, but fortunately for us we’re getting an early Christmas gift. EW has dropped new images from Tenet, the espionage drama he’s been keeping under lock and key.
The pair of photos feature stars John David Washington, and a blonde-haired Robert Pattinson kinda looking like Christopher Nolan himself. In the background of one image you can just make out a blurry Elizabeth Debicki.
Neither of these images tells us much of anything, though, which is exactly how Nolan likes it. He does say that we should look at Tenet as more than just another spy movie…
“We’re jumping off from the point of view of an espionage film, but we’re going to a number of different places. We’re crossing a few different genres in a hopefully exciting and fresh way. [Producer] Emma [Thomas] and I have put together a lot of large-scale productions, but this is certainly the biggest in terms of international reach. We shot in seven countries, all over the place, with a massive cast and huge set pieces. There’s no question, it’s the most ambitious film we’ve made.”
It’s been a banner year for Awkwafina, earning accolades for her starring role in The Farewell, and joining the blockbuster sequel Jumanji: The Next Level. And now she’s flexing her newfound muscle to develop a new film about a little-known influence of Chinese-American culture.
Awkwafina will produce and star in a feature film about the impact of Chinatown restaurants on the west coast punk scene. Madeline Leung Coleman wrote the script, which his based on the Topic.com article “How Chinese Food Fueled the Rise of California Punk”.
Here’s how Deadline describes it: “the article explores how, during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Chinatown restaurants from Sacramento to San Francisco started renting their banquet halls for rehearsal space and booking the young bands of nascent West Coast punk as dinner entertainment to bring in additional business. The article puts shine on these Chinese and Filipino restaurants and how they became some of California’s most important venues and the focal point of the seminal West Coast punk music scene.”
No director is attached at this point, but this is likely to be a sought-after project. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Awkwafina select an Asian filmmaker to more authentically bring this story to life.
It’s time to keep your voice down and re-enter the world of A Quiet Place. Following news of an exclusive teaser playing last weekend, we now get our first look at the Abbott clan in John Krasinski’s sequel, and they’re still doing their best to stay silent
This looks to be that teaser which was shown ahead of Black Christmas, as it features the returning Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. We see the three surviving Abbotts walking cautiously along a path littered with noisy leaves. Blunt’s character still has her foot taped up, after that ugly incident with the rusty nail from the prior movie, so not a lot of time has passed.
Unseen in this brief clip are new castmembers Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou. Krasinski, who played the family patriarch before, will return strictly as writer and director.
A Quiet Place: Part II opens March 20th 2020. The full trailer drops on New Year’s Day.
Things are starting to come full circle with the seventh episode, titled “The Reckoning”, as old friends return and Baby Yoda is in danger like we’ve never seen before. The aptly-titled episode sees Mando and Baby Yoda’s return to planet Navarro, where it all began, and the situation has gotten markedly worse since they last caused a ruckus there.
But first, Mando receives a message from Greef Carga (Carl Weathers), who tells him that the Client (Werner Herzog), who Mando screwed over when he ran off with the Child, has filled Navarro with Imperial stormtoopers, making Guild business exceedingly difficult. So Greef proposes a truce of sorts; return to Navarro with the Child, use it as bait to get close to the Client and kill him. If it all goes well, Mando gets to keep the Client and the bounty on his head will be rescinded. Everybody wins! Although Mando has little reason to trust Mando given they almost killed one another, it only takes him a few moments to make a decision. This is the only way they’ll be safe, once and for all.
Realizing he can’t pull something like this off alone, Mando makes a quick stop at Sorgan. No, it’s not to make out with Omera (who is probably there pining away for her Mandalorian crush), but to recruit Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who is enjoying herself by taking on all challengers willing to fight her for money. She’s reluctant to join Mando for a job so risky; she’s found her slice of peace in this galaxy, but agrees when he tells her the Client is Imperial. Whatever the empire did to the ex-Shocktrooper it must’ve been pretty bad because she holds a grudge.
For those wanting a bit of Baby Yoda cuteness, Jon Favreau and director Deborah Chow give it to you, perhaps realizing The Mandalorian has been quiet in that department, lately. Aboard the Razor Crest, Mando and Cara go and check out the weapons locker, with her wondering if Baby Yoda will be safe all alone. Mando says “Sure”, only to find the ship rocked by turbulence just seconds later. Have the bounty hunters found them? Are they locked in an Imperial tractor beam? Nope, it’s just Baby Yoda playing around with the ship’s controls. That little scamp! Clearly, somebody needs to be watching over him.
The perfect person to do that? Personally, I would’ve chosen Amy Sedaris’ junker Peli Motto, but instead Mando turns to his Ugnaught friend Kuiil (Nick Nolte). As before, Kuiil doesn’t want to get involved in Mando’s dangerous business, but he’s also compelled to stop the Empire and their evil plans. We learn more about Kuiil and his backstory as an indentured servant, spending multiple lifetimes to earn the freedom he enjoys now. We also see the sudden reappearance of another old “friend”, the bounty hunter droid IG-11 (voiced by Taika Waititi). No longer a killer robot, Kuiil has repurposed and retrained it to be servile and peaceful. Naturally, Mando doesn’t trust IG-11 one bit. His dislike of droids is hammered home pretty hard this episode, which makes me think he’s going to be proven right at some point. For now, Kuiil is offering a different perspective, saying that droids are merely a reflection of their owners. It’s akin to children, who are brought into this world neither good or bad, but are shaped by the people who raise them. I can’t help but feel this is a point that will prove critical to the future of Baby Yoda. As of right now, we all think of him as good, and perhaps he will stay that way under Mando’s care. At the same time, he’s surrounded by nothing but battle and fear and death. What kind of effect could that have on him?
As if right on cue, we get what could be clue exactly what that means. As Mando and Cara are enjoying a friendly arm wrestling match, Baby Yoda stretches out its little hand and begins to Force choke her. Why? Because he thinks she is trying to hurt Mando, and we’ve seen Baby Yoda react to protect him in earlier episodes. But who else do we know that uses their Force choke powers on others? Yeah. That Darth Vader guy. The Sith use their powers like that. It might mean nothing, but I have a feeling this is going to be very important later on.
Following this, we get another glimpse at how little the Star Wars universe knows about Baby Yoda’s species, and the Force at large. Kuiil says he’s heard rumors about such powers while serving in the Empire, but doesn’t know enough to say more. It’s interesting to see how ignorant most are of the Force in this specific time period. During the Star Wars prequels, the Jedi were everywhere, even part of government. That dwindled when the Jedi Order was destroyed, but we’re seeing now how thorough the Empire was in wiping out any memory of their existence, their culture, their abilities. It’s pretty amazing, when taken in totality.
Meeting up with Greef on Navarro, it’s pretty tense all around. Greef has come with his own group of loyal bounty hunters, while Mando, Cara, and Kuiil stand opposed. Agreeing to put their mistrust aside, they hole up in a cave only to attacked by what appear to be mynocks. It’s a cool sequence that seems to be kinda pointless, until you realize Greef has been poisoned by one of the creatures. Just as it looks bleak for him, Baby Yoda does something amazing. Using his little tiny paw, Baby Yoda uses his own life force to heal Greef’s injuries. He’s done a little of this in the past but not on this scale. His life saved, Greef suddenly blasts his friends and reveals to Mando the truth of their mission. The original plan was to betray Mando and turn him and Baby Yoda over to the Client. However, he’s now seen what Baby Yoda can do, and so he’ll just betray the Client, instead. The plan is to proceed ahead: use the kid as bait, get close, kill the Client. Easy peasy. Except in this new scenario, Kuill will go back to the Razor Crest with the Child, and they’ll use its floating carrier as the bait.
Nothing goes as planned, naturally. With Mando acting as Cara and Greef’s prisoner (a nice callback to Chewbacca playing pretend prisoner in A New Hope), they meet the Client and he’s coolly delighted to see them. We can tell, because he’s relaxed enough to wax poetic about the efficiency of Imperial authority, and how everything has turned to shit since they were destroyed. He also compliments Mando’s new armor, questions the Mandalorian’s rebellion, and offers Greef a drink. But just as he’s demanding to see the Child (“We’ll all be quiet”, he says when told the kid is asleep), he gets message (“I need to take this call”) from Moff Gideon, played by the great Giancarlo Esposito. Turns out, Moff Gideon, a character newly-introduced to the Star Wars canon as far as I know, is the guy who really wants Baby Yoda. He drops a couple more battalions of troopers into Navarro, and they begin blasting away at the Client’s bar. Not only do they kill the Client, but pin down Mando, Cara, and Greef. As Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter lands, we also see a pair of troopers pick up Mando’s distress call to the escaping Kuiil. Realizing he’s got Baby Yoda, they take off after him in speeder bikers.
And here is where your heart may start to sink, True Believers. As Kuiil gets closer to the Razor Crest and its heavy weapons and impenetrable defenses, the speeding troopers close in on him. And just as he’s about to reach the ship’s doors, over the desperate cries of Mando asking if he got away, Kuiil is killed by what appears to be blaster fire. A stormtrooper races over in his speeder and scoops up Baby Yoda and flies away as Kuiil’s body smolders.
What’s unclear, at least to me, is whether he was shot by the troopers or by the IG-11, which may in fact still be designed to kill. Much of this episode finds Mando arguing that certain droids are dangerous by nature. It goes against all sensible logic, a logic that Kuiil defended right up until the moment of his death.
Another strong episode of The Mandalorian, with Chow the right choice to direct this particular episode. It moves along very quickly, and while clearly the first part of a larger story, it works as an integral cog to the season. With only one episode left, there hasn’t really been an outright bad chapter yet, but all that’s going to matter is the big payoff.
On a side note, one of the lasting legacies of The Last Jedi (hate it, but leave me out of it) is an expansion of our understanding of the Force. So much more than a way to jump really far, or to have clearer intuition, or to lift ships out of swamps, we’re seeing just how deep its mystical aspects go. This shouldn’t be a surprise given some of the things we’ve seen (Leia surviving the vacuum of space), but with The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker (no spoilers!!) we’re seeing Lucasfilm placing the Force in an increased place of prominence similar to what we saw in the Star Wars prequels. That makes this series critical viewing if you’re going to understand what’s going on in the future.
After a little break, The Mandalorian returns on December 27th.
There’s nothing I like less than beginning a Star Wars review with a negative, but I have to say this: if you were a fan of Rian Johnson’s risk-taking approach to The Last Jedi, chances are you’re going to come away disappointed with The Rise of Skywalker. Let’s face it, JJ Abrams had an impossible task ahead of him no matter what he chose to do. Wrapping up a 40-year odyssey that millions have been invested in since childhood is a weight you can feel in virtually every scene. So Abrams took the easy way out. He gave fans a safe, comfortable story that checks all the necessary boxes, answers questions that have been fanboy fodder since 2015’s The Force Awakens, and delivers moments that are undeniably breathtaking. The Skywalker Saga has been brought to an end, and sadly that was the only goal The Rise of Skywalker seemed to have.
It really does feel at times like Abrams is just trying to get this movie over with while annoying as few people as possible. The pacing is weird, to say the least. Both too busy and at times pretty shallow, it mirrors The Return of the Jedi as a conclusion which is…well, merely okay and not that taxing. Unlike that movie, though, The Rise of Skywalker is so indebted to its fans, the ones who Johnson pissed off two years ago, that it flows by in paint-by-numbers fashion. There’s absolutely nothing that will surprise anybody here. Some will find that comforting, to know that all of their favorite characters end up exactly where they were expected to.
And I’ll admit, that’s pretty hard for me to deal with after The Last Jedi, which upset the apple cart in ways I never knew I wanted. It set up a massive conflict between the trilogy’s two Force powerhouses, Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). It set forth on a number of character connections that were fresh and new, plot points that deviated from the norm established by two prior trilogies. It even redefined the way we look at the Force and what it means to the universe.
That stuff is way too complicated for Abrams to deal with, though. He keeps it simple, and to be fair, there is tremendous enjoyment seeing the band reunited. Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) are the heart and soul of this latest stretch of films, and when together so much feels just right. They have a chemistry that matches Hamill, Fisher, and Ford; you truly believe these three can take on an unstoppable evil and win. Some of their interactions are a little too heavy, as if they all know they’re in the final chapter of a movie (I kept waiting for someone to literally say “It’s the rise of Skywalker!!!”), but that’s just Abrams wringing every bit of emotional juice from this monumental story that he can. Most of the time it works. Others, you can tell there is simply too much to do in the 140-minutes they’ve got. Some huge emotional beats get lost in the sauce, and sadly one of those is the final appearance of Carrie Fisher as General Leia. Leia’s arc was meant to be crucial to this story, but her untimely death forced Abrams to change course. While the footage of Fisher used works sufficiently for Leia’s brief scenes, there’s so much going on that it’s cut haphazardly. The full impact of her time on screen is never truly felt. Other characters don’t fare so well, either. Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico is basically brushed aside early on, a sign of things to come for anything created by Johnson in The Last Jedi. She still pops up every now and then but her journey is off the rails and should prove free from controversy. Keri Russell as cool-looking new character Zorii Bliss will probably need to have her story told in a Star Wars novelization, and the same goes for Naomi Ackie as the promising Resistance fighter Jannah. Abrams does something odd with her at the end which suggests a much-larger story to tell, but then ideas like that pop up often and then go absolutely nowhere. There is simply too much going on.
On the other hand, Adam Driver (who is having a Jedi-level year, by the way) makes the most of his time as Kylo Ren, even though his storyarc ends in a less interesting place than where it was headed. Driver still manages to project Kylo Ren’s pain, desperation, and confusion, even behind his newly-rebuilt mask. A new dynamic between Kylo Ren and Rey, as well as that of the revived Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), has allowed Driver to show a much fuller range than in the previous Star Wars films.
Those looking for action will be happy to know this one picks up some of The Force Awakens’ rhythms, bounding from one big setpiece to the next in rapid fashion. In particular, the early part of the movie jumps to so many locations and introduces so many “important” items to find it’s like something from out of a Star Wars video game. But these scenes are also a lot of fun and display the colorful array of planets and species we’ve come to love these movies for. Lightsaber fights have been better in this trilogy than in any of the earlier ones, and that continues here. Rey and Kylo Ren have an incredible fight in the heart of a raging ocean that is simply beautiful. Later on, it does seem as if Abrams gets less interested in the visuals. By and large, this is the least impressive of the three films, with even the gigantic final battle, fought in the blackened atmosphere of a long-hidden planet, coming across as dull on the eyes.
But what are you going to do? It’s Star Wars! How can you not yelp with glee at the return of Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian? His joy at being back in the Millennium Falcon cockpit is so infectious. Will the flash of a lightsaber ever not be cool? The sound of an X-Wing locking into attack position always gives me chills. There are times when The Rise of Skywalker delivers on those things that we love so much about Star Wars, and it makes you forget that it can be more than that. It can create something new. But maybe the end of the Skywalker Saga isn’t the place for that. It’s just the place to say good-bye, and saying good-bye is always hard.
If you’re a fan of Zoey Deutch, (and who isn’t?), the last couple of years have been pretty great. She’s starred in a number of films, bringing her infectious charm and spirit to all of them, even the ones that maybe aren’t so great. The word out of Tribeca was very strong for her upcoming comedy, Buffaloed, which finds Deutch putting that charm to use for Hysteria director Tanya Wexler.
In Buffaloed, Deutch dons a thick accent to play a young woman eager to get out of South Buffalo and her blue-collar life. But to achieve her dream of being accepted into an Ivy League university will take a lot of money she doesn’t have, and leads her into the shady underground world of debt collecting.
The film was penned by The Wolf of Wall Street actor Brian Sacca, and co-stars Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, and Jai Courtney.
SYNOPSIS: Buffalo is the debt collection capital of America, though Peg Dahl (Zoey Deutch) never saw herself in that world. She’s bet on her sharp mind—and even sharper mouth—to get her out of town and into an Ivy League university. But when an acceptance letter to the school of her dreams arrives, she quickly realizes the cruel impossibility of paying tuition. A chance phone call changes everything and leads her into the lucrative yet complex and shady business of delinquent debt collection. She’s a natural and soon running her own shop, but at what cost? Also starring Judy Greer, Jai Courtney and Jermaine Fowler, BUFFALOED is a hilarious and timely comedy about one woman rewriting the rules of The Man’s game.
Will Ferrell and Netflix are staying in business together, and this time he’s starring in a remake of one of the streamer’s own documentaries. Deadline reports Ferrell will produce and star in a feature film version of documentary The Legend of Cocaine Island, and yeah, that title is appropriate for the wild true story being told.
The film is based on Theo Love’s documentary from 2018, which centered on Rodney Hyden, a family man and small business owner who saw everything he had wiped out in the Great Recession. He becomes obsessed with the legend of cocaine stash worth $2M buried somewhere on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra. Together with a band of misfits, he sets out to find it, only for problems to arise when the FBI catches wind of what he’s up to.
Writing the script will be Peter Steinfeld (Analyze That), and the story will focus on the band of oddballs Hyden brings together. So far no director is attached, but that should change soon.
This is Ferrell’s second collaboration with Netflix, following the singing competition comedy Eurovision which should arrive in 2020. He’ll be seen next in the Force Majeure remake titled Downhill, premiering at Sundance.
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen creators and stars alike take potshots at Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The film, which was a huge hit and critically-acclaimed, was also polarizing among fans for going in unexpected directions. People are still pretty upset about the risks Johnson took. Don’t even think about defending him on Twitter or you can say goodbye to your @’s.
Well, Johnson got a chance to fire back, mere days before the release of The Rise of Skywalker, a film that many expect to retcon away what was done in The Last Jedi. Speaking on the Swings & Mrs. show, Johnson says movies should do more than just give fans what they think they want…
“Even my experience as a fan, you know, if I’m coming into something, even if it’s something that I think I want, if I see exactly what I think I want on the screen, it’s like, ‘Oh, okay,’ it might make me smile and make me feel neutral about the thing and I won’t really think about it afterwards, but that’s not really going to satisfy me… I want to be shocked, I want to be surprised, I want to be thrown off-guard, I want to have things recontextualized, I want to be challenged as a fan when I sit down in the theater… What I’m aiming for every time I sit down in a theater is to have the experience with Empire Strikes Back, something that’s emotionally resonant and feels like it connects up and makes sense and really gets to the heart of what this thing is and in a way that I never could have seen coming.”
Having literally just walked out of The Rise of Skywalker minutes ago, I don’t want to say too much. All I’ll say is that it’s good Johnson got to create something new, original, and completely his own in Knives Out. As for the next Star Wars movie from JJ Abrams, it opens on December 20th and you will have my review tomorrow morning.
I can’t believe this is actually happening, but the first images from Bill & Ted Face the Music are here. No more denying the much-anticipated sequel’s existence. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are reunited as Theodore “Ted” Logan and William “Bill” S. Preston, Esq., who are much older but probably not much wiser. What kind of movie would it be if they were?
The images reveal the two dudes looking confused in a…what is that thing? A phone booth? We also see the return of William Sadler as Death. More importantly, we see Ready or Not‘s Samara Weaving as Bill’s daughter Thea, and Brigette Lundy-Paine as Ted’s daughter Billie. Kid Cudi is there, as well, playing himself as he gets tossed around through time.
The film is directed by Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) from a script by Bill & Ted creators Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson. They’ve been holding onto this plot for ages, too.
SYNOPSIS: Following 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, the stakes are higher than ever for William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. (Winter) and Theodore “Ted” Logan (Reeves). Yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure, when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe. Along the way, they will be helped by their families, old friends and a few music legends.
Bill & Ted Face the Music opens August 21st 2020. [EW]
