So far Venom has earned Sony a whopping $780M with plenty left to go, and so it’s no surprise they’re moving quickly on a sequel and an expansion of their Spidey-free cinematic universe. Today they’ve announced two new Marvel release dates, and it’s pretty easy to figure out that one of them will feature the return of a certain brain-eating alien symbiote.
The first date is for an “Untitled Sony/Marvel” movie on July 10th 2020, and that one is likely to be Morbius the Living Vampire, which we already knew was next on the list with a rumored early 2019 start. That film will be directed by Daniel Espinosa with actual vampire Jared Leto (He is, right? Or have I been mistaken all these years?) taking on the title role. There’s a good chance we’ll see more of Leto as Morbius than we’ll ever see of him as the Joker.
And the second is an “Untitled Sony/Marvel Sequel” opening on October 2nd 2020. Um, unless Sony is suddenly planning to revive Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s Spider-Man franchises, this could only be Venom 2. Since the first film hit it big opening in October of this year, Sony is sticking with what they know works and not wasting any time. Tom Hardy can start taking his crazy pills right now, because that date means production should be starting sometime around the middle of next year, perhaps around Comic-Con time? That would be perfect, wouldn’t it? [TheWrap]
December is always a busy month as studios try to fit in awards season favorites right down to the wire, but also see the holiday season as the perfect time to draw families in to see blockbusters. And next month we’re looking at one of the busiest Decembers in recent memory, just looking at the major studio flicks alone. And that makes it necessary to do whatever it takes to get some elbow room from the crowd. A few days ago we learned Warner Bros. would be making Aquaman available to select fans a week early, and now today Paramount has done something similar with their Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee.
You’ll be able to check out Bumblebee for a special one-night-only event on December 8th, a full two weeks before it gets a full theatrical release. That’s also well in advance of any press screenings, making this a pretty sweet deal. For the record, I’ve already bought my ticket and you can do the same by going to Bumblebeemovie.com now.
Bumblebee is a prequel to Michael Bay’s Transformers flicks, and it will be directed by Travis Knight, best known for his stop-motion animation film Kubo and the Two Strings. With the core franchise in a rut, this film takes a lighter, more nostalgic tone, with Hailee Steinfeld playing the silent Autobot’s friend who helps him foil a Decepticon plot.
Bumblebee looks awesome to me, and like the live-action Transformers movie I always hoped Bay’s would be. The film opens wide on the busy week of December 21st.
Like Adonis Creed in Creed II, director Steven Caple Jr. has a lot to prove. When he was named as the replacement for Ryan Coogler who was busy with Black Panther, I was particularly excited about the news. Caple had directed a Cleveland-set indie drama titled The Land, which had a lot of buzz at Sundance a few years ago. It wound up high on my must-see list for that year, so I knew he had the goods to fill Coogler’s shoes.
But it was about more than just being capable of living up to Coogler’s standards. The Rocky films were mostly directed by Sylvester Stallone, and for a time it looked like he would take over on Creed II, as well. This was a story he personally oversaw the creation of, centering on the return of Rocky’s nemesis, Ivan Drago, and the man who killed Adonis’ father Apollo in Rocky IV.
If the Rocky and now the Creed movies are about legacy, then that goes just as much to the cast and crew. I had a chance to sit down and chat with Caple about directing Creed II, and he talks about being recruited by his friend Coogler, and any pressure in joining the Rocky family. Also part of the interview was boxer Florian Munteanu, who makes an impressive acting debut as Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago and the man to challenge Adonis Creed.
You can check out my interview with Caple and Munteanu below, and my review of Creed IIhere!
I had the pleasure of being among the first to see Stan & Ollie, a biopic on legendary comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They became a force in the late 1920s and were a powerful comedic force for decades, becoming famous all around the world. But if you’re expecting a typical drama about the height of their careers, think again. This film is interested in telling a very different story.
Starring Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and an unrecognizable John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy, the film focuses on the twilight of their careers, as they embark on one last tour of the U.K. in a bid to stay relevant. It’s a tough story that explores their decades-long partnership, which as you might have guessed was full of personal ups and downs. Along for the ride as their wives are Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson, with Danny Huston as renowned producer Hal Roach.
Directed by Jon S. Baird, Stan & Ollie opens December 28th. You can check out my early review right here.
If you were worried the end of the Resident Evil franchise (at least until the inevitable reboot) also meant the end of Milla Jojovich and husband Paul W.S. Anderson making video game movies, you can relax! It was a few years ago that we broke the news of Anderson’s intention to adapt Capcom’s Monster Hunter video game series, and of course, he brought along Jojovich to star, alongside Ong Bak‘s Tony Jaa.
IGN has revealed the first official look at Monster Hunter, featuring Jojovich and Jaa, carrying weapons bigger than their entire bodies. Jaa plays Hunter, the main character of the video game franchise, whose sole task is hunting and trapping dangerous monsters. Jojovich plays an original character, Captain Natalie Artemis, a soldier for the United Nations. Fans of the game will recognize the weapons and armor as being lifted straight from it.
The film also stars Tip “T.I.” Harris, Ron Perlman, Meagan Good, and Diego Boneta.
Here’s the synopsis: Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When Lt. Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her loyal soldiers are transported from our world to the new world, the unflappable lieutenant receives the shock of her life. In her desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies with incredible powers and unstoppable, revolting attacks, Artemis will team up with a mysterious man who has found a way to fight back.
*NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from the Middleburg Film Festival*
If Alfonso Cuaron was looking for a film as far away from his special effects dynamo and Best Picture winner Gravity, he couldn’t have chosen better than Roma. When the project was announced as just a small, intimate movie, set in Mexico and shot in black & white, it gave the impression of an intentional departure for the filmmaker, a retreat from the blockbuster epics of his recent past (Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men, Gravity) and a return to the intimate filmmaking of Y tu Mama Tambien.
This is true, but Roma is also something more. This doesn’t feel like a director just remaking the era of his youth, we’ve seen that before. The portrait Cuaron paints is so deeply personal, so painstakingly detailed, and specifically focused that it’s as if he’s finally gotten to a place in his life where he must thank those who got him where he is. Cuaron, never one given to understatement isn’t content to drop a simple “Thank You” at the end of one of his movies. For him, the only way to pay real tribute is to make an entire movie of the everyday strengths, joys, and pains of the woman so integral to his development. Empathic, sentimental, and technically dazzling, Roma could be seen as a coming-of-age story, Cuaron’s coming of age, but the director turns his attention away from the children in one upper-middle-class household and onto Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), their housemaid, caretaker, nanny, pretty much anything the family needs her to be.
Cleo’s story is, on paper, rather unremarkable. In the titular Mexican city in turbulent 1970, she is one of an entire class of poor indigenous women who leave their homes to take care of another family. We see her mopping the floors (Cuaron indulges with an extended shot of mop water splashing across the floor tiles), doing laundry, giggling with her co-worker and best friend, going out on dates with martial artist boyfriend Fermin, and caring for the household’s four children. She shares a particularly strong bond with young Pepe, who we imagine is the young Cuaron, talking about his odd dreams and playing games with him under the sun.
There’s a strong connection with the family matriarch, Sofia (Marina de Tavira), as she struggles to keep her family together after the father leaves on a “research” trip. Both women find their lives shaped by no-good men, which unites these women of vastly different backgrounds and economic status.
“No matter what they tell you, women, we are alone,” Sofia tells Cleo after discovering the truth of her husband’s indiscretions. While Cuaron doesn’t dip into overly sentimental territory, the real truth is that neither woman is really alone. Sofia has a family to support and be strong for, and Cleo discovers that she has that same family to lean on in her time of need. For someone who has been away from her village for so long, it’s something she had not considered having again. Cuaron’s admiration for both women shines through in every affecting moment they share.
Taking the visual reins himself and shooting in gorgeous 65mm, Cuaron luxuriates in every frame. His use of wide angles and long takes can give an impression that he’s taking things too slowly; do we need to track Cleo as she moves from room to room turning off houselights? Probably not, but it all looks so beautiful that we don’t really care, and Cuaron fills up the screen with so much. Even a simple scene of Cleo folding laundry has some eye-popping detail, and when the director takes the action outside into the bustling vistas it’s like a fiesta for the senses. Reminding us he’s still capable of epic filmmaking even on such a small-scale drama, Cuaron sweeps us through dilapidated shantytowns where rows of men practice hand-to-hand combat, he guides us into an impromptu conga line at an uproarious Christmas festival, he reminisces over the movie theaters of his youth where the film that inspired Gravity (1969’s Marooned) still plays, and holds our hand through a harrowing account of the Corpus Christie massacre. Tragedies big and small (including one of the most traumatic birth scenes I’ve ever seen) leave bruising marks on both women, but it’s the strength they show in moving past them that Cuaron sees as their greatest virtue.
On my way out of tonight’s screening at the Middleburg Film Festival, a husband and wife were in front of me discussing their reactions to the film. While he enjoyed it she was less convinced, saying that all of Cuaron’s memories didn’t add up into a story. It’s true that Roma does not feel like a typical movie, but like we are sticking our noses into the private lives of others. This is more than simple technical authenticity and it’s more than just personal. Plenty of movies are personal and don’t come close to the feeling we get from Roma, that we are literally walking through Cuaron’s fondest memories. Nobody else could have made this movie; it is uniquely his and we are lucky to have it shared with us.
If you read that headline and thought, “Why the Hell are they making a fourth xXx movie? It bombed, didn’t it”? Well, no. It didn’t. While xXx: The Return of Xander Cage only made $44M stateside, it killed overseas with over $300M, with $164M of that just from China. And those numbers are why the sequel was announced last year, and why this new piece of casting makes a lot of sense.
Joining Vin Diesel in the action flick will be Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou, who you may recall from The Green Hornet and Now You See Me 2. Chou is a multi-talented actor, producer, director, and singer who should only enhance xXx presence in the Asian markets. If you don’t believe it, his presence in Now You See Me 2 was a big reason why that film earned $97M in China, the most it made anywhere.
xXx 4 will once again be directed by DJ Caruso, who Chou praised in his comments on the new gig…
“I’ve met DJ [Caruso] a number of times over the past few months and it’s very clear how talented he is as a director. I am looking forward to working with him and Vin in bringing this film to global audiences. This is an incredibly exciting film which I’m beyond happy to join.”
Ahh, Danny Trejo, the national treasure and one of the most prolific character actors working today. Danny’s a friend of the PDC, hell he even gave us our first exclusive some 10 years ago. It would suffice to say that we’re happy for any work that Trejo gets but Machete is something special. Born from a fake trailer during the intermission of the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse experiment Machete is a Mexican federale who kicks ass and takes names. The original film relished in it’s rediculousness putting every Grindhouse stereotype on the table and dialing it up to 13, it was not a quality film by any stretch but damn was it fun. Machete Kills, the direct sequel brought more of the same and added Mel Gibson as a psychopathic business man bad guy that wreaked of the funniest parts of all 60s and 70s Bond villains and concluded with a promise that “Machete will return in… Machete Kills Again in Space, something that could have easily been taken as a joke. Well, in a recent interview with Popcorn Talks, which we got via the good folks at Joblo.com, Trejo let loose that it may not have been such a joke after all. Years after the last time Machete graced the screen (to mediocre box office mind you) it appears that the bladed bad-ass has not been forgotten, Trejo said:
Robert [Rodriguez] is working on it. When that comes out, it’s gonna just be unbelievably crazy.
So yeah, it’s not a trailer or a relase date, and truth be told I”m sure Rodriguez is working on 20 things all the time (someones got to write the next Spy Kids movie), but it’s cool to know there’s a possible world ahead where we get more Machete. I’m all for quality, classy, film but we have to mix the trashy and fun in there with it. All I know is that I’ll be in line whenever this hits theaters.
If you had doubted the Sopranos prequel film would actually happen when it was first announced in March, I’d be right there with you. So many of HBO’s best shows tease feature films after they leave the air, with very few actually becoming a reality. When Alan Taylor was hired as director, that was when it really started to turn the corner. And now today we have the first official piece of casting news, and it’s for a character whose legacy on The Sopranos was often felt, even though he was never actually seen.
Alessandro Nivola is in talks to play Richard “Dickey” Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel film from series creator, David Chase. For those unaware, Dickey is the late uncle and mentor to eventual boss Tony Soprano, and the father to his oft-troubled nephew, Christopher, played by Michael Imperioli. Dickey is credited with being one of the guys who helped bring the Soprano Crew into the big time. Dickey was said to have been murdered by a cop when Chris was still an infant. Much later on, Tony delivers Dickey’s killer to Chris as a means of bonding the boy to him and easing him into the mob life.
Nivola is an actor who has been around a long time, usually in showy supporting roles. He’s appeared in everything from Face/Off to Jurassic Park III, American Hustle,Selma, and The Neon Demon, where he gave us the awesome gif you see above. I think for a time Hollywood toyed with the idea of making him a top leading man but it never really took. He starred in Amy Adams’ breakout film, Junebug, and this year has been seen in Disobedience and You Were Never Really Here, so he stays plenty busy.
No word on when The Many Saints of Newark will roll, but with the cast coming together expect more news on that soon. [Variety]
The road to a solo Flash movie has been anything but swift, with directors coming and going while star Ezra Miller stays busy with other projects, like a certain Fantastic Beasts franchise you may have heard of. It’s unclear where a movie on the Flash would fit in the DCEU in the wake of Justice League‘s failure, or if the DCEU even exists anymore, but Miller is confident when it happens it will be badass.
Speaking with Playboy, Miller hyped his Flash movie, while also suggesting all of the rumors we’ve heard about his Justice League co-stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill leaving the DCEU may not be true.
“When there are these leaks of information—or however people get stuff—it’s pretty unreliable,” Miller said when asked about Affleck and Cavill’s future in the DCEU. Reports have swirled for well over a year that Affleck was on the way out, while Cavill was recently said to be exiting, as well, with Warner Bros. shelving any plans for Superman.
As for his own Flash movie, Miller has faith all of the delays will have been worth it in the long run…
“Nothing is ever certain in this world, but as certain as things get, we’re making a fucking crazy-dope Flash movie. It’s one of my great life dreams, and just the fact that we’re on the way—anyone who knows about Barry Allen knows he may arrive late, very late, but once he gets there, it’s all solved. We have to trust.”
Trust in the DCEU might be tough to come by, but at least there does seem to be a plan in place for now. Vacation directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are the latest attached to helm the Flash movie, with a start date planned for late 2019 to accommodate for Miller’s busy Fantastic Beasts 3 schedule.
