When Chris Pratt was rumored to be taking over the role of Indiana Jones from Harrison Ford, it made sense. I would classify his performance in Jurassic World as very Ford-esque, and he seems to be everyone’s favorite adventure hero right now, just as Ford was for an earlier generation. Pratt has both denied this rumor and kinda acknowledged it, so who knows whether this was or is in future plans. One thing we know for sure is that Ford isn’t down with Pratt taking over, not in the least.
Ford was recently honored by SAG-AFTRA Foundation with the Artists Inspiration Award, and while walking the red carpet he was approached by Variety. Did they want to know about the awards? Not so much; they wanted to ask him about Indiana Jones 5, which was recently bumped to 2021 so a new take on the script could be written. On that score, Ford didn’t really have much to say…
“…We’ve got a script in production that we are all very excited about, and [I’m] looking forward to it.” Yeah, okay. Nothingburger right there. But when the reporter asked Ford about Pratt possibly replacing him as Indiana Jones, the veteran actor replied with…
“I think it’s him or me.”
Damn! Bare knuckle brawl for Indiana Jones! My money’s on Harrison Ford, f’real. He’s got a shank hidden in his goatee.
Honestly, I can’t tell if Ford is being serious here or not. He takes the characters he plays very seriously, and may not want to entertain the idea of anyone else playing Indy. He may also know something we don’t, and this is his way of ending the conversation emphatically. We all know at some point the torch will have to be passed, right? And surely Ford knows that, too.
Indiana Jones 5 opens July 9th 2021, directed for the final time by Steven Spielberg.
It’s almost here, folks. Disney’s streaming service is coming and soon it’ll be time to add another must-have subscription. Yeah, they’re piling up, right? But Disney knows you’re going to want what they’re selling, and recently CEO Bob Iger finally gave us some confirmations on what to expect from the service they are now calling Disney+.
Iger made it clear the title of their Disney streaming plan is Disney+, and it will launch in the U.S. in late 2019. The service will come loaded with tons of original content from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. That includes multiple event series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Iger confirming Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki for a show centered on the Asgardian trickster. No word on when the timeframe might be, but the assumption is a prequel of some kind, given the events of Avengers: Infinity War. This is on top of minis centered on Scarlet Witch and Vision, Bucky and Falcon, and possibly more.
Star Wars will be represented with two confirmed shows, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and the newly-revealed Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna. With big screen spinoffs in a freeze expect more series set in the Star Wars universe to be announced. Disney+ will also include live-action movies, such as Lady and the Tramp which has Tessa Thompson, Kiersey Clemons, Justin Theroux, and more already cast. Iger also revealed that other Disney+ projects will be set in the worlds of Monsters, Inc. and High School Musical.
Presumably, Disney will begin subscription signups early but no word on when that might be.
Who needs 13 Reasons Why, anyway? While the Netflix teen drama may have been Katherine Langford’s big breakout role, she left after a less than stellar second season. It hasn’t hurt her in the least, either, as she’s already been reported to have a role in Avengers 4, and now the young actress has landed a part in Rian Johnson’s star-studded mystery, Knives Out.
Langford joins Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Jaeden Lieberher (maybe) and Ana de Armas. Details are slim, but the modern-day mystery said to be in the vein of Agatha Christie will follow Craig as a detective investigating a murder.
Knives Out is expected to open sometime in 2019. [THR]
While the job title of ‘War Correspondent’ has been well known since the Vietnam War (with military journalists mostly taking the role in World War II, with little to no civilian involvement), it’s mostly come to wide recognition during and following the Gulf War in the early 90’s…the first time a war was covered live with the 24 hour news cycles. I may be ignorant, but I always had the idea of these men and woman being attached to units that were in danger, yes, but not in the thick of it, gathering the story from a somewhat less dangerous position. A Private War serves a dual purpose; first it serves to shine a light on Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike) a legend in the field and a thoroughly badass human being, second it continues her mission and gives a realistic look and the ground level events she was trying to make known to the rest of the world, mainly the decades of tragedy in Syria. The film follows Colvin from the turn of the century during an assignment in Sri Lanka that ended up costing her an eye and lead to the distinctive eye patch, which did nothing to hurt her eventual legendary status. Just to really nail home the type of woman this was the film points out that Colvin lost an eye….and then still delivered a 3000 word story by her assigned deadline. Guess I’ll think twice before calling in sick because of a tickle in my throat next time. We continue through the high and low lights of the next decade in her career, from an interview with Ghadafi, to her strained attempt at balance. Wanting a family life but being unable to dull the call of the front lines. It shows Colvin as a woman deeply affected by PTSD but fighting through to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves nonetheless. Colvin lost her life in 2012 during the siege of Homs while reporting on the starving families that were being deprived of food, and we stay with her right until the end.
Rosamund Pike was an excellent choice by director Matthew Heineman, who’s already made a name for himself with the astounding documentaries Cartel Land and City of Ghosts both of which were made with the same fearless spirit Colvin was known for making Heineman uniquely qualified to tell her story. Pike, who’s tall, blonde and beautiful, carries with her that air of competency that lets you know she is not going to be anyone’s damsel in distress. She’s a wonderful actress but it’s this unique quality that really makes her a fit for the role. Heineman and Pike together, along with some amazing support from Stanely Tucci, who plays Colvin’s boyfriend, and Tom Hollander as her editor deliver a film that’s engrossing for it’s entertainment purposes but also makes you feel more worldly when you’re done, like you’ve learned something you felt bad for not already knowing.
Heineman does something with the film that’s subtle enough to be overlooked but I found to be one of the most important. He devotes time and thought to the subjects of Colvin’s story, the people she constantly put her life on the line to protect. It’s by way of little touches but their important none the less. Generally speaking, in films like this the westerner is the prime focus and the background players are no more than that…set dressing. A Private War, however, takes it’s time to deliver not just detail about those around Colvin while on the front lines but deliver detail that’s accurate. It would have been easy to simply gloss over every soldier, translator, doctor and embattled civilian but Heineman really strives to give them a real identity in the film, and that in itself, seems like proof enough that he made this film with the intention of respecting the life goals of Marie Colvin.
While A Private War seems a bit like a film divided, not knowing whether to devote it’s time to Colvin’s personal struggles or the bigger picture of the injustices she was trying to highlight, I think that this is oddly appropriate and helps to reflect Colvin’s internal struggles. This film is not going to leave you with a smile on your face and a sunny outlook on the world but it does remind you that there are people out there, just like you, who devote themselves to something larger. People that are driven to help those who can’t help themselves. Marie Colvin is a name that I hadn’t heard before I saw this film and I thank Heineman and Pike for bringing her to life so the sacrifices and the spirit of this amazing person are brought to life.
How has Disney not bought this project for themselves? Stars from two of the Mouse House’s biggest franchises are coming together as Star Wars’ John Boyega and Black Panther’s Letitia Wright are set to star in melancholic sci-fi romance, Hold Back the Stars, which is being described by Deadline as “Romeo & Juliet meets Gravity.”
Mike Cahill, known for his Brit Marling-led sci-fi films Another Earth and I Origins, will be at the helm working from a script by Christy Hall. The story is adapted from the Katie Khan book about a man and woman who reminisce about their love affair on a utopian Earth while trapped in the void of space with only 90 minutes of oxygen left. Take away their vibranium and their X-wing and see what happens?
This is probably the closest we’ll get to a Finn/Shuri crossover, although I wouldn’t put anything past Disney. I look at this as a good test of Boyega and Wright’s star power outside of their respective blockbuster films. No word on a start date, but that’s not a shock. Boyega will be back as Finn for Star Wars: Episode 9, while Wright will be back as Shuri in Avengers 4 and Black Panther 2.
For two seasons Jessica Henwick was the best thing about two seasons of Marvel’s Iron Fist, and look where it got her. The show was canceled just as fan hopes were being fueled for a Daughters of the Dragon spinoff with Misty Knight. *sniffle* Fortunately, Henwick hasn’t had to wait long for her next big role and it’s a doozy as she’ll be joining Legendary’s MonsterVerse as part of Godzilla vs. Kong.
Henwick’s role is unclear, the same as the rest of the cast which includes Millie Bobby Brown, Julian Dennison, Alexander Skarsgard, Brian Tyree Henry, Rebecca Hall, and more. The film is directed by Adam Wingard and will be a sequel to Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and next year’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
The giant jaegers of Pacific Rim are coming to a small screen near you. Netflix has announced plans for a Pacific Rim anime series, part of a bunch of new anime shows they hope will expand their influence with Japanese audiences.
We’ve known about plans for a Pacific Rim animated series for a few years now, as Guillermo Del Toro began chatting it up around the time of the first movie. Of course, that was when he was still involved with the property. This one will have Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) and Greg Johnson (X-Men: Evolution) as showrunners, and will expand on the universe established in the two hit movies. It will follow two siblings – an idealistic teenage boy and naïve little sister– who are forced to pilot an abandoned Jaeger across a hostile landscape in a desperate attempt to find their missing parents.
The original Pacific Rim opened in 2013 directed by Guillermo Del Toro. It wasn’t as big of a hit as many expected, earning $411M on a budget near $200M. That led to a seriously scaled-down sequel without Del Toro, Pacific Rim Uprising, which made $290M earlier this year. Both films saw their biggest audiences overseas, in particular in Asian territories, which could make this new series a wise investment for Netflix. [Variety]
Uh, what in the world were The Coen Brothers doing with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs? An oddity from the duo with a penchant for the offbeat and macabre, this Western anthology bears few resemblances to their previous stabs at the genre, True Grit and No Country for Old Men. While Western aspects have frequently been tucked away in some of their other films, Buster Scruggs is like every half-baked idea they’ve had rolling around like tumbleweeds for years. Said to have been conceived as a miniseries but converted into a feature for Netflix’s awards season push, it amounts to a very frustrating, wildly uneven 130 minute experience.
Your mileage with Buster Scruggs will vary depending on which version of the Coens you prefer. For me, the further they drift into the absurd and farcical the better, which is why the opening segment, featuring Tim Blake Nelson as the titular Scruggs is the film’s high point. With guitar in hand and a smile two counties wide, the Gene Autry-esque cowpoke Buster Scruggs is the model of charm and civility, which is his great cover. Nobody would take the lanky and unimposing Scruggs seriously, although when they learn his name it has always somehow preceded him. He’s just as efficient with a gun as he is with a tune, and Scruggs comically dispatches those who underestimate him. The violence here is cartoonish, an illegally-armed ornery cuss played by Clancy Brown soon finds out when he faces the unarmed Scruggs.
If there are over-arching themes they are karma, chance, and irony, one of which leads Scruggs to a fateful encounter with a hotshot rival. Those ideas form the barest of connective tissue to the transient second chapter, Near Algondones, which stars James Franco as a comically-doomed bank robber who gets more than he bargained for from the manager, played by Stephen Root looking like a distant cousin of Office Space‘s Milton. As Franco’s would-be bank robber goes from one terminal misfortune to the next, he winds up in a hilarious conundrum involving a Comanche attack, the horse he’s sitting on, and the noose he’s hanging from.
Tom Waits shines in the brilliant and soulful All Gold Canyon, in which the Coens reflect on nature and man’s tendency to bring violence everywhere it goes. Waits plays a gruff, filthy old prospector who has discovered a virtual paradise, a peace of land untouched by man. So of course he hitches up his mule and begins mining the stream for gold, tearing up this once idyllic corner of the country on a greedy quest for riches. The Coens wisely let this story play out in deliberate fashion, allowing us to take in the enormity of Waits’ performance and the terrible destruction being committed by this man who, undoubtedly, is not engaged in such broad considerations. It almost moves too slow, but this is all a cover for a perfect twist that buttons up all of the Coens’ concerns in a neat little bow.
Zoe Kazan does her best to carry the meandering tragic romance, The Girl Who Got Rattled, about a lonely woman on a wagon train to Oregon. This one, perhaps more than others, feels like it had been originally designed to be a complete episode of a show, or maybe a short film. The titular lady is rattled for a reason as he suffers one tragedy after another, but ultimately does find reluctance romance with the handsome cowboy, Mr. Knapp (Bill Heck), however it’s a latter attack by Native Americans (a recurring event, it seems) that reveals a different hero and yet another ironic twist of fate.
Other installments left me scratching my head, when I wasn’t looking at my watch. In Meal Ticket, Liam Neeson plays a grizzly old traveling showman whose act is an armless, legless man (Harry Melling) who performs live reads of poetry, the Bible, Shakespeare, whatever will draw an audience. However, those audiences are dwindling and the showman is forced to consider whether it’s worth it to keep dragging the poor guy along, or look elsewhere for more lucrative talent. This ponderous episode features little dialogue other than Melling’s sonnets, while Neeson seems to be going through the motions.
Lastly, The Mortal Remains ends on a sour note, one that finds the Coens dabbling in a genre they haven’t done before and probably shouldn’t again. The gothic, Twilight Zone-esque story features Brendan Gleeson, Tyne Daly, Saul Rubinek, and more as passengers on an eerie carriage ride exchanging unpleasantries the entire way. This particular segment is such a vast departure from the rest of the film, which is already lacking in connective tissue, and comes off as an attempt by the Coens to be unpredictable. The problem is that nothing about this story is, and the paranormal direction it eventually veers towards is obvious from the start. Other than Gleeson breaking into a mournful song part way through there’s very little to stop you from cutting this one off early.
Anthologies are always difficult to pull off. If you take each segment individually you can find a little bit of the Coens at their best, but as a whole Buster Scruggs is too often like a gunfighter firing nothing but blanks.
The last we’d heard anything of a live-action Jonny Questfilm, Robert Rodriguez had been attached to bring the classic cartoon to the screen. Clearly things have shifted in the three years since because Rodriguez is no longer involved and The Lego Batman Movie‘s Chris McKay is now on board to direct.
McKay will direct the big screen adaptation of the 1960s cartoon which centered on the titular young hero, who travels the world solving mysteries with his adoptive brother Hadji, scientist father Dr. Benton Quest, badass bodyguard Race Bannon (I can see John Cena for this role), and pup Bandit. Cartoon Network revived it for a short-lived run in the 1990, and the franchise has spawned movies, comic books, and more.
The script was previous written by Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans) and Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean), but it’s unclear if someone else will take a shot. Next up for McKay is a Dungeons & Dragons film, so we could be waiting a while for Jonny Quest to take shape. He’s also attached to a Nightwing movie for Warner Bros.’ DCEU, but that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. [TheWrap]
The subject of gay conversion therapy, and the fallacy at its core, has become a popular one of late, with two films about it this year alone. The first was Chloe Moretz’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a solid effort that only suffered from a sarcastic tone and a lack of focus on the struggles of its title character. These aren’t problems that affect Boy Erased, the latest film from actor-director Joel Edgerton, aide by an incredible lead performance by Lucas Hedges, who conveys the fear and confusion of a young man stuck between living his truth, and losing everything he has ever known.
Hedges looks poised for another Oscar nomination, this time for his portrayal of Jared, an 18-year-old college kid coming to grips with his homosexuality. For his father, Marshall (Russell Crowe), a Baptist preacher who runs an auto dealership in their tight-knit conservative community, this is unacceptable. He can’t allow Jared to stay under his roof, so at the advice of two religious elders, he basically threatens to exile his own son from the family and life he knows. Is it any wonder Jared enthusiastically agrees to a 12-day crash course at a gay conversion therapy facility, where he’ll learn to overcome his sinful thoughts?
The facility itself is practically anonymous; to see it from the outside you’d never know what was going on inside. It gets worse once you go inside and meet the facility’s lead counselor, Victor Skyles (Edgerton), who preaches fire and brimstone but whose qualifications are dubious at best. Shockingly, the course is hardly rooted in scientific evidence, but we see how Skyles’ approach could be suitable for some but not for others. He believes homosexuality is rooted in failures of the family, whether immediate or distant relatives, and encourages Jared to find blame in his parents. This is when Jared begins to question the program’s veracity, and it doesn’t help that the other charges don’t really appear to be improving that much. The worst ones are shunted off to another part of the facility, rarely to be seen
Boy Erased isn’t so much about Jared’s coming to grips with who he is; it’s about his attempts to find common ground with his parents. The best scenes are interactions between Jared and his mother, Nancy (Nicole Kidman), who at all times has her son’s best interests at heart. Her view of what that is evolves over the course of the movie, and it’s fair to say she has the most definitive transformation of them all. Kidman is terrific in the role, balancing Nancy’s values, her subservience to Marshall, and her son’s happy future all at once. It’s a difficult character to play and Kidman nails it.
But this movie belongs entirely to Hedges, whose Jared is being torn apart trying to live up to the ideals set by his father. He’s a good kid, played basketball in high school, had a girlfriend, and went to church regularly. Jared did everything his father would have wanted him to do, and Marshall even wanted him to run the business someday. You can see that Jared wants all of these things, and even as he laments the reality of who he really is you can tell it’s tearing him apart. It’s a tour de force performance and Hedges continues to raise the bar for himself.
Sincerity and empathy course through every frame of Edgerton’s film, but you can still see where his relative inexperience as a director is an issue. Too many of the scenes in the conversion center come across as too ridiculous, bordering on comical, which detracts from the gravity of the situation. Granted, the entire idea of changing a person’s sexual preference through speeches and homework assignments is laughably absurd, but it shouldn’t be for the people in such desperation as to be subject to it. Other times Edgerton nails the horror of what Jared is going through just right, as with an encounter with Henry (Joe Alwyn), a college pal whose friendship suddenly turns aggressively violent. Edgerton shoots Henry’s atrocious act like the nightmare it is, and it should be noted that Hedges is particularly amazing in this scene, in capturing Jared’s shock and disappointment.
What Boy Erased doesn’t do is look down on those who pin their hopes on conversion therapy’s success. Even when exposing how wrong the practice is it does so with a warmth that has become far too uncommon of late.
