I don’t know what came over Hollywood in 1989, but that year they suddenly (and briefly, thankfully) became obsessed with dog and cop buddy comedies. It was then that the heated Turner & Hooch vs. K-9 debate began. Both movies actually did really well at the box office, too, scratching an itch nobody knew we needed. Well, Disney has put their finger on the scale all of these years later by choosing Turner & Hooch to be revived as a Disney+ series.
Deadline reports that Burn Notice and The Gifted creator Matt Nix has been hired to develop a Turner & Hooch series for Disney+. The original movie starred Tom Hanks (He made the best of it) as a California detective who takes in a French mastiff named Hooch, and together they solve crimes and shit. Yeah, I mean…the transition from the ’80s to ’90s was kinda rough for studio comedies.
As for K-9…well, that one’s still in the doghouse. I hear Apple TV+ is in need of new programming, though.
Chris Pratt and Tom Holland are together again! No, it’s not the Spider-Man/Star-Lord teamup you may have been hoping for, but the Infinity War duo are teaming up for something that looks nearly as fun, and definitely more emotional. Why? Because the movie is Onward, and it’s from those geniuses at Pixar, who know how to create a big, epic journey that tugs at the heartstrings.
Directed by Dan Scanlon, Onward stars Pratt and Holland as teenage elf brothers Barley and Ian, who road trip through a suburban fantasy world. Their goal: to find a way to connect with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him.
The film features the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Lena Waithe, Bonnie Hunt, and Ali Wong.
SYNOPSIS: This spring, Ian & Barley’s quest beginneth. Watch the new trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Onward now. Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there. Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new original feature film is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae—the team behind “Monsters University.” “Onward” releases in theaters on March 6, 2020.
Check out the trailer below followed by more character posters.
Rosario Dawson in a slick, stylish mystery series? Yes, please! I don’t have much reason for tuning into USA Network on non-WWE nights, but they’ve got me hooked with the trailer for Briarpatch, which looks the most entertaining murder mystery since Knives Out. So long ago, I know!
Boasting the talents of Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail as a producer, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night‘s Ana Lily Amirpour as pilot episode director, Briarpatch is the creation of writer/podcaster Andy Greenwald. Joining Dawson in the cast are Alan Cumming, Jay R. Ferguson, Brian Geraghty, Kim Dickens, and Edi Gathegi.
SYNOPSIS: BRIARPATCH follows Allegra Dill (Dawson), a dogged investigator returning to her border-town Texas home after her sister is murdered. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees. The season celebrates the beloved genres represented by Thomas’ book — a stylish blend of crime and pulp fiction — while updating his sense of fun, danger and place for a new generation.
The 10-part Briarpatch hits USA Network on February 6th.
Coming off the ten Oscar nominations for The Favourite, director Yorgos Lanthimos is going back to his creepier roots. THR reports Lanthimos is in talks to direct an adaptation of Richard Brautigan’s book, The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western, becoming the latest filmmaker to attempt pulling this one off.
Just the genre-bending title should tell you this is perfect for Lanthimos, who blends styles and tones with every film. The story, set in 1902 Oregon, follows two gunmen who are hired by a woman named Magic Child to destroy a “monster” living in some ice caves underneath her house. If only it were even that simple.
So yeah, this promises to be very weird, and the characters are just begging for Lanthimos to have some fun with casting. Colin Farrell, who has worked with him on The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, would be amazing as one of the two gunslingers. Perhaps Rachel Weisz, also a Lanthimos favorite, could play Magic Child and her twin sister Miss Hawkline?
Previous attempts to adapt Brautigan’s novel have fallen by the wayside. Jeff Bridges and Harry Dean Stanton were attached to one that would’ve been helmed by Harold and Maude’s Hal Ashby. Tim Burton later made a go of it with Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson. Sadly, that one went nowhere, too.
Sandra Bullock is going to get some help from another Oscar-winning actress in Netflix’s film adaptation of British series Unforgiven. Deadline reports Viola Davis has joined the cast, and she won’t be coming alone. The Nightingale actress Aisling Franciosi and Netflix mainstay Rob Morgan are joining, as well.
Unforgiven has nothing to do with the Clint Eastwood classic. It’s based on the 2009 British drama series about a woman released from prison after serving 15 years for the murder of two policemen who had tried to evict her. She re-enters society looking for a fresh start, but is targeted for revenge by the family of her victims. Her only hope for redemption is to find the estranged sister she was forced to leave behind.
This project has been in the works for years, once with Mission: Impossible‘s Christopher McQuarrie set to write and direct. Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher) has since taken over, but McQuarrie’s script remains.
Davis will be seen early next year in Amazon’s coming-of-age comedy Troop Zero, and will return as Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad. Morgan is basically the busiest man on Netflix, having appeared in Mudbound,along with a recurring role in Stranger Things and all of Netflix’s Marvel shows. He can be seen alongside Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx in Just Mercy. Aisling led Jennifer Kent’s brutal period drama The Nightingale earlier this year.
At this point, we should know to give Phil Lord and Chris Miller the benefit of the doubt. They’ve managed to make gold from concepts most would’ve thrown away, including The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. And so when we hear they’re developing a horror-comedy featuring bears, we oughta just sit back and trust in them.
THR reports Lord & Miller will team up with Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (collectively known as Radio Silence) for a horror-comedy described as “ a unique bear-driven horror comedy — with heart.” Okay, sure. That sounds right up their alley. Based on a script by Jimmy Warden, the film is being billed as Good Boys meets The Revenant which sounds pretty damned amazing.
Not much else is known, but do we really need to? Ready or Not was one of the most enjoyable horrors of the year, and we already know what Lord & Miller can do. Kinda hard not to be excited about this one.
David Ayer, who has shown more than a lot of talent with efforts like End of Watch and Fury is a bit of a weird choice for a remake of the classic WW2 film The Dirty Dozen. Why? Well, let’s go over the synopsis of the original. Basically, a group of war criminals is tasked with an unwinnable situation and can possibly win their freedom if they succeed. That’s right, it’s the proto-suicide squad. The film version of which was much maligned and also….directed by Ayer.
Word is that the film won’t be set in WW2 like it’s predecessor, so that takes out the skills he honed on the underappreciated Fury. Still, it would be unfair to say that Ayer can’t kill this job just because of the DCEU’s failings. Suicide Squad fell victim to many of the DCEU’s early misses and mismanagement of creativity. Ayer has shown that he can do gritty, and he can do war and honestly, that’s enough for me. He’ll write the script, as well, and will be joined by X-Men producer and Dark Phoenix director, Simon Kinberg. [THR]
Lucasfilm is more than just Star Wars and Indiana Jones. They have other beloved projects, and arguably at the top of the list is Willow, Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy/adventure that starred Val Kilmer and Warwick Davis. A few months ago fans were introduced to the possibility of a return as a Disney+ series, and an update from the LA Times bodes well for that happening.
In a new profile of upcoming Lucasfilm projects, it was revealed that Jonathan Kasdan has already finished a first script for the Willow series. Kasdan is the son of Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan, the two of them teaming up to pen last year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. Kasdan is also writing Indiana Jones 5.
As far as details go, well, there aren’t any except that Warwick Davis is expected to reprise his role as sorcerer dwarf Willow Ufgood. At this point, Disney looks set on revisiting the world of Willow, and all I can do is hope they’ve placed a call to Val Kilmer to start sharpening Madmartigan’s sword.
Well, Damon Lindelof did it. He shut me up and everybody else who thought his Watchmen series would be a disaster. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most acclaimed shows of the year, managing to pay homage to the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons classic comic, while telling a story that was uniquely for the time we live in. Brilliant stuff, and it’s got fans clamoring for a second season.
That may or may not happen, but don’t count on Lindelof being part of it if it does. He throws some cold water on the idea in an interview with EW…
“I feel for someone who’s wildly inconsistent in general, I’ve been fairly consistent on this point,” Lindelof says. “When we first went public with the pilot at New York Comic-Con, I wanted to make sure that everybody who was going along for the ride knew what the design of the season was. Especially after what happened with Lost, and the way that a lot of serialized dramas unfolded, where the audience doesn’t know how thick the book is when they pick it up. This is a love letter and an examination of the original Watchmen … I wanted everyone to know this is not the middle of the trilogy, this is not the beginning of a seven-season run. In my opinion, the best iteration of any season of Watchmen would mirror the original [graphic novel] in that it would be a self-contained story with the resolution of a fundamental mystery. There’s always going to be space for more Watchmen. I feel like this world is so expansive — hopefully more expansive now than it was before. You could call something “Watchman” and not even feature any of the characters who were in the original or in this season as long as they all occupy the same world.”
Lindelof compared Watchmen to Fargo and True Detective when pitching the show to HBO. The series doesn’t need him on it to continue and still be Watchmen, and at the moment he doesn’t have the inspiration to do another season…
“If I was going to do another season of Watchman, I would need to have a really cool idea and a justification for doing it. I don’t have either of those things right now. It doesn’t mean that they won’t come at some future point. I just finished the show four weeks ago. My antenna is up, but it’s like only getting static. I can’t say that there will definitely not be a second season and I can’t say there definitely will be. That’s kind of where my head’s at.”
Personally, I’d be VERY happy if this season finale turned out to be a series finale. To me, Watchmen is a once-in-a-generation story. Tell it when society needs to see its dark reflection and not every year when HBO has investors to please. Lindelof couldn’t have ended things any better. He did the impossible and stuck the landing. Here’s hoping will be allowed to take a bow and go away gracefully, showered in deserved accolades.
Quentin Tarantino fans have been plagued by the thought Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was his ninth feature film, with plans for him to retire after number 10. With only one more movie to go, it was unfathomable his career would end on an R-rated Star Trek film, but that’s exactly what we’ve been hearing about for months. Tarantino wouldn’t really end things on a sci-fi franchise movie, would he? Well, based on an interview with Consequence of Sound, Star Trek is becoming less likely by the day…
“I think I’m steering away from Star Trek, but I haven’t had an official conversation with those guys yet. In a strange way, it seems like this movie, Hollywood, would be my last. So, I’ve kind of taken the pressure off myself to make that last big voilà kind of statement.”
With Paramount hiring Noah Hawley to direct the fourth Star Trek movie, the chances are slim Tarantino will wait around to put his spin on the franchise.
Tarantino’s statement there is interesting, and he’s right. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is such a huge, sprawling love letter, encompassing so much of Tarantino’s love of cinema and fantasy, that it would make a perfect button to his career…
“I mean to such a degree there was a moment when I was writing and went, “Should I do this now? Should I do something else? Is this the 10th one?” No, no don’t stop the planets from aligning, what are you, Galactus? If the Earth is saying do it, do it. Not that it was an argument, but a little thought, like, “Well, if I’m gonna go out like Max Ophüls style, Lola Montez, this is it, and if It’s not good, then all my other work is trash, alright.” This would have been the one. But in a weird way, it actually kind of freed me up. I mean, I have no idea what the story of the next one’s going to be. I don’t even have a clue.”
Might I suggest Kill Bill 3, sir? Tarantino’s been talking about this recently, but when I met him a couple of weeks ago while in Hollywood, the only movie I asked him about was Kill Bill 3. His exact words were “I’m thinking about it! I have ideas!” Not a promise by any means, and no different than the shit he’s been saying for years, but I’m happy to do my part to keep him talking about a sequel.
