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‘Star Wars” Kelly Marie Tran Responds To Online Harassment, Says She’s “Just Getting Started”

By
John Nolan
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi actress Kelly Marie Tran, the target of online bullying who deleted her social media presence a few months ago, is finally speaking out against her attackers. And I’m glad to see she isn’t using Twitter or Instagram to do it; she’s taken it straight to the New York Times opinion pages.

As the first woman of color to ever lead a Star Wars movie, Tran was the target of racist attacks on her Instagram page. Her role as Rebellion member Rose Tico caused some angry fans to disparage her ethnicity and looks, continuing even as her co-stars rallied to her defense. In fact, any show of support for her seemed to egg them on further. But now after vanishing from social media in June, Tran has broken her silence, and talks about how the experience has forced her to gain a new perspective on her identity.

Here’s just a small piece of the article, which you should definitely read in full here.

It wasn’t their words, it’s that I started to believe them.


Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories.


Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was “other,” that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them. And that feeling, I realize now, was, and is, shame, a shame for the things that made me different, a shame for the culture from which I came from. And to me, the most disappointing thing was that I felt it at all.


You might know me as Kelly.


I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a “Star Wars” movie.


I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair.


My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started.


Tran will be seen next in Star Wars: Episode IX in December 2019. I hope they make Rose a Jedi just to piss off the haters.

‘Hold The Dark’ Trailer: Jeffrey Wright Tracks Killer Wolves In ‘Green Room’ Director’s Latest

By
John Nolan
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Having established himself as one of the most unique voices in genre filmmaking with Blue Ruin and Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier is expanding his repetoire considerably with Hold the Dark. A film he’s described as having his “highest body count” yet, it takes the director into the frigid wilds of Alaska and features his starriest cast yet, led by Alexander Skarsgard, Riley Keough, James Badge Dale, and Jeffrey Wright.

The Netflix thriller takes place in a remote Alaskan village where a number of children have been killed in what are reported to be wolf attacks. Wright plays an experienced tracker brought in to stop the wolves, only to be pursued by the vengeful father of one of the dead boys.

After the claustrophobic siege style of Green Room you can see how Saulnier relished the open air freedom Alaska afforded. The script was written by his longtime friend and collaborator, I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore‘s Macon Blair, who also takes a small role, continuing his streak of appearing or starring in each of Saulnier’s movies.

Here’s the synopsis: Retired naturalist and wolf expert Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) journeys to the edge of civilization in northern Alaska at the pleading of Medora Slone (Riley Keough), a young mother whose son was killed by a pack of wolves. As Core attempts to help Medora track down the wolves who took her son, a strange and dangerous relationship develops between the two lonely souls. But when Medora’s husband Vernon (Alexander Skarsgård) returns home from the Iraq War, the news of his child’s death ignites a violent chain of events. As local cop, Donald Marium (James Badge Dale), races to stop Vernon’s vengeful rampage, Core is forced on a perilous odyssey into the heart of darkness.

Hold the Dark hits Netflix on September 28th.

‘Slice’ Trailer: Chance The Rapper And Zazie Beetz Take On A Pizza Delivery Serial Killer

By
John Nolan
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I guess in a world that has Ice Cube, Ice T, Common, and LL Cool J as major Hollywood actors, Chance the Rapper joining their ranks shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Slice, the hip-hop artist and Kit-Kat spokesman’s debut feature as well as that of music video director Austin Vesely, was basically shot in secret a couple of years ago, then dropped an animated teaser months after its completion. But now we have the first real trailer for it, and I have to say it looks like a lot of fun, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer levels of horror enjoyment.

Chance stars along with Zazie Beetz as a pair of pizza delivery drivers who have survived the murders of other pizza delivery boys. Together they team up to catch the culprits behind the crime spree, but one of them has a secret and clearly there’s more than just murder going on here. The cast for this includes Stranger Things‘ Joe Keery, comedian Paul Scheer, Hannibal Buress, Will Brill (The OA), and Y’lan Noel (The First Purge).

Slice has yet to get a release date but expect A24 to announce that soon.

Sebastian Stan Heads To Greece For ‘Monday’, ‘Dora The Explorer’ Casts Eva Longoria’, Laurence Fishburne Joins Football Drama ‘Brother’s Keeper’

By
John Nolan
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Before he returns from wherever Thanos sent him Avengers: Infinity War, Sebastian Stan will head to the Greek Isles for the indie romance, Monday. He’ll star alongside Denise Gough (Colette) in the steamy flick about the intense relationship between two self-destructive Americans living in Athens and the Greek islands. The film is directed and co-written by Argyris Papadimitropoulos (Suntan), with filming to kick off in Greece this summer. Should be a gorgeous movie. [Deadline]

The live-action Dora the Explorer movie has added Eva Longoria to the cast as Dora’s mom, Elena. She joins Isabela Moner in the title role, a grown-up version of the backpack wearing adventurer who joins with her monkey sidekick and cousin Diego on a quest to save her parents and solve the mystery of a lost Inca civilization. James Bobin (The Muppets) is behind the camera, with the film hitting theaters on August 2nd 2019. [Deadline]

Another Marvel alum, Laurence Fishburne, will join with Milo Gibson for football drama Brother’s Keeper, based on the true story of West Texas’ underdog 2009 Abilene High School football team which battled the odds to win the state championship. The film is directed by Todd Randall and based on the book, and of course is being compared to Friday Night Lights, which may explain why major studios are eager to pick it up for wide release in 2019. Suddenly I’m seeing Gibson’s name everywhere. The son of Mel Gibson, he had his debut  role in his father’s war drama Hacksaw Ridge, and recently signed on for Rod Lurie’s The Outpost. Fishburne has been busy, recently starring in both Ant-Man & the Wasp and Last Flag Flying.

Chris Hemsworth Doesn’t Think Much Of ‘Thor: The Dark World’, Either

By
John Nolan
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Marvel’s track record is pretty good but it ain’t flawless, no matter how hard your buddy in the Groot t-shirt tries to convince you otherwise. There are definitely some oddballs within the MCU, films that for whatever reason just didn’t live up to the same quality standards and feel completely out of place. I would say the Thor franchise has two of those, the first two Thor movies actually, and star Chris Hemsworth would agree…well, at least when it comes to Thor: The Dark World.

Speaking with GQ (Are they always interviewing him? I feel like he’s always in GQ about something.), Hemsworth gave his honest assessment of the Thor franchise before they decided to shake things up with Thor: Ragnarok. In short, he digs the first movie but doesn’t think much of The Dark World…

“The first one [Thor] is good, the second one is meh,” he admits. “What masculinity was, the classic archetype — it just all starts to feel very familiar. I was so aware that we were right on the edge.”

One of the big changes made for Ragnarok was to deconstruct the idea of Thor as this masculine hero, this literal god. He’s tough and heroic, for sure, but it’s his flaws that are the most glaring. Whatever, it was the right move because fans loved it, and who knows? Maybe Thor will be the first Marvel character with a solo franchise that goes beyond a trilogy? We should find out after the events of Avengers 4 next year.

Podcast: The Success Of CRAZY RICH ASIANS, The Failure Of MILE 22

By
John Nolan
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On this week’s Cinema Royale it’s a tale of two very different potential blockbusters. Hollywood has been buzzing about CRAZY RICH ASIANS and what it could mean to have the first all-Asian romantic comedy in years be a huge success, but does it actually live up to all of the hype? And what does its box office success this weekend mean?  Plus, Mark Wahlberg, Ronda Rousey, and The Raid’s Iko Uwais team up for the explosive action flick MILE 22. Is it possible to screw up a cast like that? Can’t be, right? Well…I’ll be talking with special gues Roxana Hadadi of Punch Drunk Critics and Pajiba who definitely has some thoughts on it.

All this and more, so tune in and join us for another great show!  And be sure to follow my podcast Cinema Royale here on Blogtalkradio as part of Critical: The Movie Critics Network!

General Leia To Appear In ‘Star Wars Resistance’, Its Place In Timeline Revealed

By
John Nolan
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Disney’s Star Wars Resistance arrives in a couple of months, and for fans kinda upset over Solo: A Star Wars Story or the cancellation of Star Wars Rebels this might be the saving grace. Ignoring the outcry of angry nerds upset over the anime-style animation, the series has a ton of potential. Not only does it fill in the gaps pre-The Force Awakens, but after name dropping her in the teaser, we now know that General Leia Organa will be a regular presence. The news was confirmed by voice actress Rachel Butera on Twitter…

Pretty big shoes to fill. We don’t know how big of a part Leia will have, but it’s good to know that even after Carrie Fisher’s untimely death the character she helped define will last forever.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm has accidentally revealed the exact spot in the timeline where the series fits. A Twitter user with not enough to do decided to dig into the trailer’s code and found where it says the show is set “about six months” before The Force Awakens.  It was buried in a secret synopsis in the code, and has since been removed. Why? You got me, but that’ll teach them to underestimate how much time some people have on their hands.

Star Wars Resistance hits the Disney Channel on October 7th.

Disturbing Teaser For TIFF Sci-Fi/Thriller ‘Freaks’ With Emile Hirsch And Bruce Dern

By
John Nolan
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One of the buzziest titles to debut at TIFF is Freaks, a sci-fi/thriller that looks like a combination of Signs and The Cabin in the Woods. But what is it really? Well, that’s hard to say, and the new teaser, while heavy on disturbing imagery, doesn’t reveal very much…

The cast is pretty great for this one, led by Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, and newcomger Lexy Kolker. Behind the camera are Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, the latter having previously worked on the awful Leprechaun: Origins. Together they’re currently co-directing the upcoming live-action Kim Possible movie, so it’s tough to tell what to expect from these two.

The story centers on a 7-year-old girl locked away in the house by her disturbed father who warns of grave dangers outside their door. When a mysterious man awesomely-named Mr. Snowcone arrives he convinces the girl to run away, which is when she discovers “bizarre, threatening, and mysterious new world beyond her front door after she escapes her father’s protective and paranoid control.”  

In only a few seconds we see things being set on fire, claws outside a window, terrified cops ready to shoot something, bleeding eyes, a mysterious vapor-like substance, and more. There’s a lot going on here, and hopefully we learn more when a longer trailer is released.

Peter Berg Says His Rihanna Documentary Will Be Ready By Year’s End

By
John Nolan
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After a soft debut weekend it looks like Mile 22 will be another whiff for Peter Berg, but it won’t be a long wait before he’s got another film out there in hopes it can do better. Berg first mentioned a few years ago his plan to do a documentary on chart-topping singer/actress Rihanna, with hope it would reach the level of classic Bob Dylan doc, Don’t Look Back. Berg hasn’t shown much to suggest he can reach those heights, but it turns out we’ll find out for sure very soon.

Speaking on radio station Hot97, Berg revealed his Rihanna doc will be completed and revealed by the end of the year…
“I think [Rihanna’s] an extraordinary young woman and it really is kind of a pretty comprehensive profile of what goes in to making her this talent that she is. The work ethic, the talent, luck, the hustle, the vision. She’s a really, really interesting woman and the movie will be out in about a month and half, two months we’ll be able to start showing it.”

Rihanna seem like an odd choice of topic for the director who usually makes “bro” action flicks with Mark Wahlberg? Don’t forget the two worked together on 2012’s box office dud Battleship, and that’s apparently where Berg took a liking to her. Let’s just hope this documentary turns out better than the expensive flop that inspired it. 

Tim Miller’s Version Of ‘Deadpool 2’ Would’ve Included The Fantastic Four

By
John Nolan
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Nowadays it’s really tough to make a Marvel movie that bombs as hard as 2015’s Fantastic Four did. A disaster from top to bottom, it not only saw the ruination of director Josh Trank’s career (for now) for reasons both personal and professional, it somehow only made $168M worldwide and ended the franchise before it ever got going. But there was a chance Marvel’s First Family could have been saved, courtesy of the Merc with a Mouth.

Deadpool 2 concept artist Alexander Lozano revealed images that show then-director Tim Miller planned to include the Fantastic Four, same actors and all but with different costumes. He also released images that showed different take on Cable, Deadpool, Juggernaut, and apparently Cable’s mentor Blaquesmith was nearly in the movie, too.  Damn, we might’ve had a classic Juggernaut vs. Thing matchup on Yancey Street. That would have been amazing,
Unfortunately, Miller departed Deadpool 2 over the dreaded “creative differences”, and was replaced by David Leitch who wanted to do his own thing. Disappointing but understandable, and the film turned out great.
Chances are the next time we see the Fantastic Four will be when/if Marvel Studios relaunch the franchise after the Fox/Disney merger. Maybe then it’ll be “clobberin’ time” for Aunt Petunia’s ever lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. Check out some of the art below, followed by a dirty new teaser for the Deadpool 2 Super Duper Cut which hits stores tomorrow.

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