On this week’s show, I’m joined by Hannah Buchdahl of Blogtalkradio’s Cinema Clash podcast to talk about Jennifer Garner’s long-awaited (??) return to action flicks with PEPPERMINT! Was the wait worth it? Or is there nothing sweet about this comeback?
Plus, the Academy decided to delay the controversial Best Popular Film category, but should it have been introduced in the first place? And will it now be quietly shelved in hopes everybody forgets about it? And where does this decision leave films like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War?
Five years after Wu-Tang Clan member Ol’ Dirty Bastard passed away suddenly, his friend and fellow founding member RZA began developing a biopic to celebrate his life. Titled Dirty White Boy, it would feature the Wu-Tang crew as themselves, and Michael K. Williams cast as Russell Jones aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Ever since then we’ve heard nothing about it, while RZA’s Hollywood career has taken off. Now it seems he’s finally ready to get moving on the film, but it won’t be with him behind the camera.
THR reports that RZA is working with Sony to make the ODB biopic a reality, looking at the success of Straight Outa Compton as the obvious model. Surprisingly, RZA will merely produce while a new director is found to take on the project. RZA has kept himself busy over the years, making his directorial debut in 2012 with The Man with the Iron Fists. He most recently directed the New Orleans crime thriller Cut Throat City starring Wesley Snipes.
No writer has been named for the ODB film, which would tell an exciting but tragic story of one of the rap game’s most eccentric figures. His off-the-wall personality and rap style helped him stand out among the legendary Wu-Tang lineup, and he went on to release a number of successful solo albums, as well. But his career was frequently interrupted by arrests, or marred by his personal demons. He succumbed to them in 2004 when he died due to a drug overdose.
Whatever happens, you know RZA isn’t going to let anybody step in and fuck up a movie on his longtime friend. Hopefully it gets off the ground soon in much the same form as before because the casting of Williams was a little too perfect.
While “reshoots” has become a dirty word to film fans because of the occasional production that ends up a trainwreck, Marvel Studios has a good track record for doing so with the minimum of fuss. Last year the Russo Brothers shot both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 basically back-to-back, and now the gang is getting back together for reshoots which are turning out to be pretty significant. Might it be that Dave Bautista’s warning from a few days ago is coming true?
Mark Ruffalo had this to say during a recent Marvelists podcast about the Avengers 4 reshoots…
“Well we’re doing reshoots starting in September. And then we’ll go back into the international tour, we’ll go on tour… Then you guys will get [‘Avengers 4’]. Which we don’t even know what it’s gonna be yet. We’re not just doing reshoots, we’re going to finish the movie, which we really didn’t get to finish totally when we left it last year.”
Wait…you don’t even know what the movie’s going to be yet? You haven’t finished it? Yeah, that sounds a lot like changes being made that could seriously impact Guardians of the Galaxy characters now that their sequel is on indefinite hiatus, just like Bautista said. Drax…well, seeya. It was nice knowin’ ya, ya big lug.
Obviously I don’t know if Bautista is really going to be axed or not but he’s sure done enough shit talking to warrant it, hasn’t he?
With their series Patrick Melrose earning them Emmy-nominated acclaim, it’s no wonder Benedict Cumberbatch and director Ed Berger are looking to work together again. And this time they’re doing it on the big screen, and with Jake Gyllenhaal in tow.
Berger will direct Cumberbatch and Gyllenhaal in Rio, a film that features a script by Locke and Eastern Promises writer, Steven Knight. Details on the story are being kept under wraps, but we know it’s set in the titular city and centers on two brothers, one a journalist and the other a successful financier. There’s room for a strong female lead character, as well.
Hugely promising stuff, especially when you consider the multi-faceted Knight, who has The Girl in the Spider’s Web coming up soon. It’s also interesting because now both Cumberbatch and Gyllenhaal can be counted as cogs in the Marvel machine, with the latter joining Spider-Man: Far From Home in the role of villain Mysterio. [Deadline]
One of the biggest questions that any movie should attempt to answer is “what is its point?” What is its reason for existing?” Unfortunately, this movie doesn’t seem to know and neither do I.
Age of Summer follows the life of a young, teenaged boy, named Minnesota, as he works as a lifeguard at the local beach during the summer of 1986 and that’s pretty much it. There’s nothing fresh, thought-provoking, or heartfelt about this movie. I kept waiting for something to happen that would grab me and pull me in to the life of this young boy, but sadly that never happened.
Sure the argument could be made that since it revolves around teenagers who at this point in their life don’t know their reason for existing, the movie itself doesn’t necessarily have to either; it’s taking a page out of the realism handbook, but that’s just lazy writing. Outside of one random conversation where Minnesota and Brooke, the object of Minnesota’s affection, ponder that very idea of making life meaningful and being afraid of what’s next we honestly don’t get much.
The movie is simply filled with a bunch of happenings that I, on more than one occasion, have to question if they’re occurring in one day or not (and I say this because the movie makes a point of having Minnesota get written on with a black marker by his boss, but the writing never seems to make its way off of his back or even fade throughout the course of the movie. That says something either about the lack of establishing a proper setting or the character’s hygiene, neither of which settles well with me).
Because of the movie’s lack of meaning, the emotions, conclusions, and anything else that it culminates to feels completely underserving. Nothing was really built up in a way to where someone being angry with someone else, someone being reduced to tears because of something that happened in their past, or someone having an arbitrary epiphany felt right. “Where is this coming from?” was a question that I asked often while watching this movie.
The movie itself wasn’t as hard of a watch like a lot of others that I have had to review; it had an entertainment factor to it that may not have been the most appealing thing, but it also wasn’t completely boring either. It’s just sad that this movie had nothing more to offer to it outside of a bunch of “and then” moments.
The Nun, the
newest chapter in the Conjuring series,
is set in 1950’s Romania. Chronologically, it is the earliest film in the Conjuring universe, taking place a
couple years earlier than the bulk of the events that occur in Annabelle: Creation. The film centers
around a Monastery located deep within the woods outside of a remote Romanian
town that the local’s fear is cursed. When a townsman named Frenchie (Jonas
Bloquet) stumbles upon the body of a nun who had hung herself outside of the
Monastery, word quickly spreads to the Vatican. The church decides to send Father
Burke (Demián Bichir) to investigate and see if the Abbey is still holy. The
church also wants Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), a young woman who is training
to become a nun, to accompany Father Burke. Sister Irene has had visions in her
childhood of a nun that the church believes may be directly linked to the Abbey
and can help Father Burke in his investigation. Father Burke and Sister Irene travel
to Romania and enlist Frenchie to take them to the Abbey. When they arrive,
they find that the body of the nun that Frenchie found has moved and is now placed
in a different position. Upon examining the body, Father Burke finds that she
is clutching an old key that he keeps, thinking it may come in handy. As they begin their investigation, it quickly becomes
clear the that there is indeed an evil presence throughout the Abbey. This evil
presence reveals itself to be Valak, the demonic nun that was introduced to the
series in The Conjuring 2. Valak
begins to torment Father Burke and Sister Irene and they vow to do whatever they can
to try and destroy it.
The Nun features
multiple nods to former films in the franchise. These are more of a bonus to
those of us who have seen the other films and in no way would detract from
viewers who are taking their first plunge into the Conjuring universe. The Nun
has its moments, and it is a decently entertaining film, but the scares are
overly lacking. There are only so many times you can enjoy watching a character see a shadow or
creepy possible apparition walking away from them and decide absentmindedly
that it would be in their best interest to follow it. I know this is common in
horror movies, but it seems played out and by the second or third time this
exact situation arises in The Nun, I
was ready to see something else. The lack of scares aside, the most
disappointing part of the film was the fact that it’s peak suspenseful moment was
ruined by the trailers that have been in rotation for weeks. The Nun does have a good balance of
comedy and horror with Frenchie primarily serving as a source of comic relief.
I would personally trade in some of the humor for a greater dose of memorable
scares, but that is not the direction that the film takes.
The creative team behind The Nun features Corin Hardy directing with Gary Dauberman penning
the screenplay based off of James Wan’s story. Dauberman and Wan have
extensive knowledge of the Conjuring universe with Dauberman writing Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation and Wan writing the Conjuring 2 and directing both Conjuring
films. The Nun on the other hand
seems different than its predecessors. The Conjuring
and Annabelle films felt more
creative, like they somehow tried more. The
Nun came off a bit lazy in that regard, as if the success of the Conjuring universe would be enough to
propel it. This was evident throughout, especially when instances arise where
future scares become so obvious that everyone in the theater can see them
coming a mile away. After Annabelle: Creation,
what I thought was an incredibly successful installment in the series, I was very
much looking forward to The Nun and
the film ultimately fell very short of my expectations. It is by far the
weakest chapter in the Conjuring
universe, but I have no doubt that future installments will be able to rise to
the level of earlier films in the series.
Harmony Korine, the director who made “Spring Break Forever!!” an unexpected summer anthem six years ago with Spring Breakers. Matthew McConaughey, who exemplified the drugged-out, arrested development attitude of an entire generation in Dazed and Confused. On the surface, Korine and McConaughey seem like kindred spirits, destined to team up on The Beach Bum, which looks like a film that could only have been made while high as a friggin’ kite.
And maybe that’s exactly the case? Stories surfaced a while back about McConaughey smoking actual weed in his role as Moondog, a Miami poet living in a haze of marijuana smoke and alcohol. So what was up with that? Turns out McConaughey’s co-star Snoop Dogg switched out the fake weed with some of that real sticky icky shit without telling anybody, and I imagine that’s just the kind of thing that happens when you let Snoop on any movie set. The film co-stars Isla Fisher, Zac Efron, Stefania Owen, Jonah Hill, Jimmy Buffet, and some guy named Martin Lawrence.
The result is what appears to be another classic character creation by Korine and McConaughey, opening with Moondog asking a store clerk if the guy sells acid. Funny stuff, and I already just want to grab a lawn chair and max out with this movie somewhere.
20 years ago this month Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan, and for
better or for worse, Brett Ratner were launched into the world of international
super-stardom following the blockbuster reception of Rush Hour. Before you jump down my throat, I’m fully aware that
Jackie Chan was an international superstar long before 1998, but this is the
film that made him a legit American movie star, in fact it was the first film
where Chan delivered his lines in English himself, rather then having them
dubbed over. It took place in New York but the spoken language was Chinese and
felt like an imported Jackie Chan flick. So what elevated Rush Hour from fun summer film to action classic? Quite a bit more
then you may think.
While it may seem
like, and is, a silly buddy-cop action movie it’s also much more than that.
First and foremost, it was a major Hollywood production without a white guy in
either one of the lead roles, this was the 90s #OscarsSoWhite was a LONG way
away and though it was more progressive then any decade before there was still
a long way to go. You wouldn’t think a film like Rush Hour would be driving edge in diversifying who gets lead
roles, but it was just that. It’s really hard to tell someone you cast a white
guy because that’s all audiences want when a movie lead by an African-American
and Chinese man makes $141M at the box office. It may not have been their
intention but by proxy or by design they proved that audiences just want a fun
film, regardless of what the lead looks like.
Bouncing off that, and possibly because of the films
different take on a tired trope, Rush
Hour revitalized the buddy-cop sub-genre. Coming off its hay day in the 80s
buddy-cop flicks were dying, only producing the ridiculous in an attempt to do
something different. With movies like Stop!
Or My Mom Will Shoot! which teams Sylvester Stallone up with Estelle “Oldest
Golden Girl” Getty and Cop and a ½ in
which Burt Reynolds (RIP) partners with, I kid you not, an 8 year old. The once
loved genre seemed to be all out of tricks. What they hadn’t tried was teaming
up a legit funny funny and upcoming comic actor with a legit “beat
the brakes off your ass” action star. Chris Tuckers lightning delivery gave us
such quotable moments as “DO-YOU-UNDERSTAND-THE-WORDS-THAT-ARE-COMING-OUT-OF-MY-MOUTH?”
and “Don’t you ever touch a black man’s radio” that people still, albeit
rarely, recite today. Then you have Jackie Chan who sent a roundhouse kick full
of “How in the hell did he do that” right into the frontal cortex of everyone
in the theater with his logic defying martial arts and stunt work. Most importantly
though, it was the chemistry of the two that really made the movie work. I
could type up a list of things supporting this statement but you really need to
look no further then this clip of Carter teaching Lee about War:
The last gift given to us by Rush Hour was the post-film blooper reel. It had been done before,
for sure, but only sporadically and they were never something that made a
lasting impression. Just as you are getting ready to leave the theater you’re
treated to 4 minutes of the absolute funniest outtakes any movie has produced
up to that point. This addition to the films credits inspired countless movies to follow suit, it was the Marvel post-credits scene of its day. From Chan’s botched stunts and missed attempts at speaking
English to Tucker trying desperately to deliver the line “Who you think you
got? Chelsea Clinton” It was the perfect button to an awesome film that gave us
a peek behind the scenes to see how much fun they had filming the movie and how
genuinely funny Jackie Chan is. Stay to the end when Jackie Chan gets his just
desserts while watching Chris Tucker fail miserably at trying to deliver one
single line in Chinese.
Christmas is right around the corner, and who needs another Nutcracker movie? Not me. So how about something a little different? Okay, a lot different? How about a Scottish holiday musical zombie comedy? That’s what the new trailer for Anna and the Apocalypse promises, and it looks like an unexpected yuletide treat.
This is what I would expect a zombie comedy from John Carney (Once, Sing Street) to look and sound like, but it’s actually directed by John McPhail with Ella Hunt (Intruders) as the title character. While the footage doesn’t reveal the source of the zombie outbreak, it doesn’t really need to. It’s enough to see people singing, dancing, bowling (?) while the undead lurk all around them, occasionally getting their zombie brains bashed in. The comparisons to Shaun of the Dead are pretty obvious, but I think this might hold up pretty well on its own.
Anna and the Apocalypse opens in select cities on November 30th, followed by a nationwide rollout on December 7th.
The curtain is finally lifting on Captain Marvel, the first female-led superhero movie to hit the MCU. It took long enough, and this is one of the few areas where Marvel can said to be followers, rather than leaders. Regardless of that, Marvel is treating the character like the big deal she should be, teasing her appearance at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and a future role in Avengers 4. So what took so long to get to this point? Marvel’s Kevin Feige has probably been fielding that question every day, but he gave an answer to EW that helps explain his side while promising more movies with female heroes to come…
“With [‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’] and now with ‘Captain Marvel’ and many movies to be announced in the near future, I’m anxious for the time where it’s not a novelty that there is a female-led superhero movie, but it is a norm. And it is less a story of, ‘Oh, look, a female hero,’ and it’s more a story of, ‘Oh, what’s this about? Who’s this character? I’m excited to see that.’ And I think we can get there.”
And as for the long wait, Feige says there are a number of factors, all of which he mostly dances around…
“I think there are a lot of reasons, not the least of which was fighting for many years the erroneous notion that audiences did not want to see a female-led hero [film] because of a slew of films 15 years ago that didn’t work. And my belief was always that they didn’t work not because they were female-led stories — they didn’t work because they were not particularly good movies.”
That’s probably a shot at the old guard over at Marvel Studios, aka the previous chief Ike Perlmutter. Feige basically usurped authority from him three years ago and now reports directly to Disney. The results speak for themselves as Marvel Studios has seen unprecedented growth not only in box office but in quality.
Feige has never been a big partaker of the silly Marvel vs. DC rivalry, cheerleading their films when they find success. He does so again by recognizing the gains made by Wonder Woman are felt by all, including Marvel…
“I’ve always said, I root for all genre movies because the success of those movies helps us. Because not everybody knows the difference between what studio makes what movie or what comic book company what character comes from. So I’m very pleased when any film in our genre [does well] — not just superheroes, but action or sci-fi or anything. The success of Wonder Woman made me very happy because as I’ve said before in the press, I’d much rather the question be, ‘Oh gosh, what did you think about that successful female-led hero that came out a few years ago?’ Rather than the question I used to get, which was, ‘Are you afraid that people don’t want to see a female hero?’”
