We’re coming down to the wire on Stephen Amell’s time on CW’s Arrow, and while wrestling fans may hope he jumps into the squared circle full-time as part of All Elite Wrestling, chances are he’ll spend more time making movies like Code 8. The independently-financed flick finds Stephen and his cousin Robbie Amell (who played Firestorm on The Flash) staying in a dark and moody world of superhumans.
An expansion of Jeff Chan’s short film which also starred the Amells, Code 8 takes place in a futuristic society where a small percentage of the population are gifted with superhuman abilities. These people don’t turn out to become rich and famous superheroes; most end up in poverty and ostracized from the rest of civilization. Robbie plays Conner Reed, a young man who uses his powers in a heist led by Garrett (Stephen Amell) that goes terribly wrong, leading to his being pursued by a specialized task force.
Also returning from the original short is Fast & Furious actor Sung Kang, joined by Covert Affairs star Kari Matchett.
We buy one another flowers for all sorts of reasons. They can be a symbol of love on Valentine’s Day, an opening gift on a first date, or a way of showing sympathy for someone who is grieving. Now imagine if there was a flower that could literally cure depression? How much would ProFlowers upcharge your ass for those? The new film Little Joe imagines that such flowers exist, but as you probably guessed the bloom comes off the rose pretty quickly.
Little Joe stars Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw as plant breeders who develop this new strain of flower that guarantees to make the owner happy. What looks to be a tremendous scientific breakthrough soon gives way to something ominous, because damn if we have anything good in this world.
The film marks the English-language debut of Austrian director Jessica Hausner, and made quite a splash at Cannes where it competed for the Palme d’Or and won Beecham the Best Actress Award. The color schemes are beautiful but also slightly off, like a wildflower plucked before its time. The tone reminds me of Gremlins for some reason. Maybe it’s the whole taking care of the plant OR ELSE thing it has going on, but I dig it.
SYNOPSIS: Alice (Emily Beecham) is a single mother and dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species. With the help of her colleague Chris (Ben Whishaw), Alice has engineered a special crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value: if kept at the ideal temperature, fed properly and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. Against company policy, Alice takes a plant home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe. They christen it “Little Joe.” But as their plant grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creation may not be as harmless as its nickname suggests.
Perhaps more than any other genre, horror is known for going through phases. Phases in quality, phases in style, but the movies we’re seeing now don’t resemble the early 2000s when The Grudge was one of the defining horrors of that period. That makes the franchise’s revival from director Nicolas Pesce, whose The Eyes of My Mother and Piercing are two of today’s best, all the more interesting.
Pesce directed and wrote this latest take on The Grudge, which will star Andrea Riseborough as a single mother and detective who finds herself the target of a house with a chip on its shoulder. Don’t call this a reboot, either, because events are said to take place at the same time as the 2004 movie which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. Horror icon Sam Raimi has even lent his name to it as a producer.
Also starring Demian Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver, and William Sadler, The Grudge opens January 3rd 2020.
SYNOPSIS: A single mother and young detective, Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough), discovers that a suburban house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death. Now, she runs to save herself and her son from demonic spirits from the cursed house in her neighborhood.
The cop thriller Black and Blue opened with $8M this weekend, which may not sound like a lot but is a pretty good chunk of its reported $12M budget. Numbers like those have taken director Deon Taylor and his production label Hidden Empire Film Group pretty far. His previous film, The Intruder, earned $36M and was budgeted for only $7M, while comedy Meet the Blacks cost $900K and made $9M.
Now Taylor hopes to keep the momentum going with Free Agents, an NFL-based heist flick that Taylor will direct and co-write with Joe Bockol. Lionsgate has stepped up to the plate to distribute the film, banking on Taylor’s consistency and topical subject matter. The film centers on a group of NFL stars who decide to level the playing field after deciding they’ve been exploited by team ownership.
This continues Taylor’s partnership with Lionsgate as they recently picked up his noir thriller, Fatale, which is set to star Hilary Swank. Taylor has found his lane, and is quietly building an empire that could someday rival that of Tyler Perry. Worth keeping an eye on. [Deadline]
1. Joker– $18.9M/$277.6M
After slipping to #2 last week, Joker continues its historic run by claiming the top spot once again. You may have missed it, but a few days ago it surpassed Deadpool and Deadpool 2 to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all-time, and the first to ever break $800M. Currently, the Todd Phillips-directed supervillain film has $849M worldwide and really, the sky is the limit. With Joaquin Phoenix a frontrunner for Best Actor it could be sticking around for a long time yet.
2. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil– $18.5M/$65.4M
Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil swapped places with Joker and took the #2 slot with $18.5M. After two weeks the $65M number looks kinda small, and that’s because it is compared to its 2014 predecessor, which ended its run with $758M. The sequel won’t come close to that, even with a strong overseas showing. Currently, it stands at $293M globally, which I guess says a lot for Angelina Jolie’s remaining star power internationally.
3. The Addams Family– $11.7M/$72.8M
4. Zombieland: Double Tap– $11.6M/$47M
5. Countdown (review)- $9M
Truth: I had never heard of Countdown before this week, and chances are most people hadn’t. That didn’t stop the STX thriller from earning $9M, which ain’t bad against a $6.5M budget. The film centers on an app that tells its users exactly when they’re going to die, giving it a certain Final Destination-esque vibe and I’m sure that played a big part in drawing audiences.
6. Black and Blue (review)- $8.3M
Cop thriller Black and Blue opened with just $8.3M, although one might’ve thought it the new release with the most box office potential. It’s still a decent start for the Deon Taylor-directed movie, which stars Naomie Harris as a rookie cop who records a cop-involved murder and must get to safety with the evidence. This is Taylor’s second movie this year after the campy home invasion film The Intruder, which ended its run with $36M. I can see this one legging it out long enough to match or even surpass that. Reviews have been solid, and there simply isn’t a lot out there targeted for the black audience right now.
7. Gemini Man– 4M/$43.3M
8. The Lighthouse (review)- $3.1M/$3.6M
Moving into the top 10 with an expansion of 578 theaters was The Lighthouse, the latest insane horror movie from The Witch director Robert Eggers. This one had the benefit of Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as lighthouse keepers who go crazy while on the job. Shot in black-and-white and unapologetically weird and grim, this one was always going to have a very targeted audience and they seem to be responding.
9. The Current War– $2.7M
Two years ago director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon premiered The Current War while in Toronto, and it didn’t go well. Notoriously, the film was edited into oblivion by Harvey Weinstein as one of his final acts before the roof collapsed in on his life and career. Fortunately, Gomez-Rejon was able to secure his own cut of the movie and release it into theaters this weekend, although the results ain’t great with just $2.7M. The film does boast the talents of Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, and Tom Holland, telling the story of a rivarly between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over the future of electricity. I hope to check it out in the next few days since I stupidly missed this week’s screening by going to the wrong theater. Oops.
10. Abominable– $2M/$56.8M
Filming has wrapped on No Time to Die, and seeing as this is (probably) Daniel Craig’s final time as 007, it’s a little bittersweet. Empire has dropped a brand new image of Craig in the film, and it’s notable for how dressed-down Bond is in this particular scene.
Sporting a bruised dome and a pair of suspenders that make it look as if he just finished bailing hay, Bond is a far cry from the tuxedo suits and shaken drinks we’re accustomed to. That said, a big part of this story is Bond’s retirement in Jamaica, so we shouldn’t expect him to be dressed to the nines all of the time, right? Nobody expects him to go through the entire movie looking like an extra from Witness, do they?
The conclusion to 2015’s Spectre saw Bond riding off into the sunset with Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) in his favored Aston Martin. Seydoux is part of the cast returning for the sequel, along with Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Whishaw. Rami Malek plays the film’s mysterious villain, Ana de Armas plays someone named Paloma, while Lashana Lynch is Nomi, a female agent who has taken over the 007 codename.
The coven continues to grow, as Zoe Lister-Jones’ remake of The Craft has added Michelle Monaghan to its cast. The Mission: Impossible and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang actress is taking a mystery role in the film, but we can assume she’ll be someone who runs outside of the inner circle of teen witches.
Monaghan joins a cast that already includes Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna as the coven of high school witches, with Nicholas Galitzine and David Duchovny in other roles. My guess is Monaghan will play someone’s parent, a teacher, or perhaps the woman who runs the curio shop the girls frequent to buy their spell-crafting ingredients.
Here’s the new film’s synopsis, which reads a lot like the 1996 cult classic: A remake of the 1996 supernatural teen thriller. When starting at a new school, Hannah befriends Tabby, Lourdes, and Frankie & quickly becomes the fourth member of their clique. Hannah soon learns that she somehow brings a great power to the quartet.
I’ve always been a big fan of Monaghan, although too often she’s been relegated to secondary roles in blockbuster movies. The rare times she’s had a chance at the spotlight, like in the little-seen drama Fort Bliss, she’s knocked it out of the park.
The Craft should hit theaters sometime next year. [Deadline]
We’re happy to offer our readers the chance to win one of five digital copies of Disney’s The Lion King!
SYNOPSIS: In “The Lion King,” pioneering filmmaking techniques bring treasured characters to life in a whole new way. Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother — and former heir to the throne — has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his. The all-star cast includes Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Billy Eichner as Timon.
To enter, simply complete the Rafflecopter contest form below. Five winners will be selected on Tuesday, October 29th and notified by email. Good luck!
Basic rule of horror is to take something everyone can
relate to and make it scary. Everyone dreams right? Boom A Nightmare on Elm Street. Babysitters are pretty standard right?
Hello Micheal Myers, and so on and so on. Up to this point the attempts at
adding a scary twist to the mobile revolution have been mediocre to stale.
Justin Dec is trying to change that with Countdown,
a film about an app that can tell you when you are going to die, or more
politically put, your life expectancy. The movie starts with a group of kids
who find an app on the dark web (I know we see dark web all the time now, but I
still feel like that’s a trough that hasn’t been sifted through enough) and run
it to see their life expectancy. Happy day all around, well almost all around.
While most of them get news that they’ll be around for decades a few get the
news that they don’t have long to live. Using this knowledge to try and defeat
fate, they soon find, is pointless as, when it’s your time, it’s your time.
I wanted to dislike this movie, I know that’s unfair and I
shouldn’t admit it but I did. I suppose I’m still recovering from the
validation of my thoughts when seeing Truth
or Dare. So much about this movie could have gone down a path to
sucksville. First, the tech angle, which has seen more strikeouts then the San
Francisco Giants…I guess, I don’t really follow baseball. Then there’s the
second piece which borrows heavily from the Final Destination series, this time
in the form of “The Angel of Death” but hears the truth, this is a very
standard but very serviceable horror flick that does it’s job and does it well.
It takes the most overused trope in horror, the jump scare, and employs it with
skill. There is nothing wrong with a jump scare…hell even if you’re making Jump Scare: The Movie and that’s all
you’re relying on, that’s fine, as long as you know what you’re about and you
do that one thing well. The other thing I was surprised about is the story, it’s
actually pretty engaging and while it does stay on a standard level the inclusion
of the angel of death gives a face to the evil that seems to elevate the story
around it. Some people are going to undoubtedly find the “lore” behind the app
silly, I mean even I can laugh a bit at the term “Latin Source Code” but the
film, and to their credit the actors, play it just seriously enough to keep you
from getting out of the film space.
If you’re going to start listing the negative side of things
you’d start with how thin the story itself actually is. While I did enjoy the
lore that was created for the movie I really felt like there could have been a
more original take, as I said earlier it borrows heavily from the Final
Destination series and I wasn’t lying, the movie could be seen as Final Destination
7 (or whatever number we stopped on) with a cell phone angle. This even goes
right down to the whole ‘upset the order to stop the bad guy’ idea that drove
the finale of so many of those movies. Lastly, while you couldn’t really call
it a happy ending, I was kind of hoping for less of a “walk into the sunset”
situation before the credits rolled.
You’re not going to see Countdown
reunions 20 years from now but as far as a Friday night date movie near Halloween,
you could do worse. It’s 90 quick minutes of adrenaline amping shock and scare,
can you really ask more from a horror film like this? Well, I should rephrase,
you should always ask for more from these movies but expect nothing less. You’ll
leave the theater having jumped no less than 5 times and be running on a pseudo-high
from the adrenaline, the movie pulls out of you. That’s worth 10 bucks if you
ask me.
The ship hasn’t sailed on Pirates of the Caribbean just yet, and with the franchise making billions for Disney over the years, who really thought it had? A sixth movie is definitely moving forward, a reboot that’ll probably be without any sign of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, but production stalled when Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick jumped ship. So Disney is going in a different direction, with a brand new story they hope will steer the franchise into fresh waters.
THR reports veteran Pirates scribe Ted Elliot and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin have been hired to pen a new story, although it’s too early to tell how connected it will be to the earlier movies. The franchise has earned Disney over $4B worldwide, with Elliot having a big role in that as writer of the first four movies. Jerry Bruckheimer will return as producer. Mazin also wrote the final two Hangover films, and has a writing credit on the upcoming Charlie’s Angels.
Let’s keep it real, these movies ain’t goin’ nowhere as long as they keep hauling in treasure for Disney. 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales was the lowest-grossing yet, and it still made $794M. As the Fantastic Beasts folks will tell you, having Depp in your movie is a sure way to tank the bottom line. Maybe kicking him out to sea is just what is needed for a rebound.
