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‘I Saw The Devil’ Director Kim Jee-Woon Returns With Explosive ‘In-Rang: The Wolf Brigade’ Trailer

By
John Nolan
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South Korean director Kim Jee-woon made a splash here in America with his stylish thriller I Saw the Devil, but when he tried to go Hollywood with the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick The Last Stand…well, things didn’t go so well. He hasn’t returned since and who knows if he ever will, but his next film is guaranteed to have fans all around the world, assuming it gets that far. A new international trailer has been released for In-rang: The Wolf Brigade, a live-action adaptation of the bestselling Jin-Roh manga/anime franchise by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii.

Set in an alternate future 2029 when South Korea and North Korea are to form a united government after 7 years of preparation, it follows a special police force tasked with stopping a terrorist movement against the reunification.

As you’ll be able to see from the trailer, the director’s flair for big action and eye-popping visuals is still there. I’ve always felt he would be a natural for a blockbuster studio film like Mission: Impossible, but I have a feeling his previous stab at Hollywood left him with a bad taste.

In-rang: The Wolf Brigade opens in Korea next month, but has no other distribution at this time. Hopefully that changes because this looks fantastic to me.

Punch Drunk DVDs: ‘Blockers’, ‘Beirut’, ‘Borg vs McEnroe’, And More!

By
John Nolan
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NEW THIS WEEK

Blockers

The new hit comedy Blockers follows three teenage girls
who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night, and their overprotective
parents (Leslie Mann John Cena and Ike Barinholtz) who will stop at nothing to
ruin their daughters’ plans. Together, they join forces on a chaotic journey to
“block” their daughters.

We Said: “Cena’s earnest
dorkiness is just about perfect if slightly overused, while Mann and Barinholtz
are natural cornballs. It’s impossible to overlook how much more enjoyable
Blockers is when it gets away from the younger actors. Not their fault as they
are all pretty good, but clearly the adults had more to work with.” Rating: 3 out of 5

BUY NOW



Beirut

In 1980s Beirut, a former US diplomat (Jon Hamm) is called
back into service to rescue a former coworker from the terrorists he holds
responsible for the death of his family. Things get further complicated when an
undercover CIA agent (Rosamund Pike) is tasked with keeping him alive and
ensuring that the mission is a success.

 We Said: “Beirut could be the start of a
comeback for this old school genre, one that Gilroy himself helped usher into
oblivion with his Jason Bourne screenplays. In a way it’d be fitting if this
years-old script for Beirut helped change things to how
they once were. We’ll just have to wait and see if audiences are ready to turn
back the clock.” Rating: 3 out of 5

BUY NOW
Borg vs. McEnroe

Based on the legendary true story, Borg vs. McEnroe follows
the lead up to the epic tennis showdown. Set in the  summer of 1980, the world’s top tennis player
Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) is prepared to win his record-breaking fifth
Wimbledon championship. The only thing standing in his way is the highly
talented but ferociously abrasive young American John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf).
With three days until the tournament begins, the fiercely professional and
obsessive Borg trains religiously for the event.

We Said: “Beautifully shot
and performed with ferocious athleticism, every serve, every volley, every
split second decision is fueled by all that we’ve come to learn about these two
ambitious players. It’s as the match winds down to the inevitable conclusion
that the excessive backstory pays off. Borg vs McEnroe becomes something
deeply personal and more than just a cinematic recreation of a classic tennis
match you could just as easily watch on YouTube.” Rating: 4 out of 5

BUY NOW


Also Available: 7 Days in Entebbe,
The Cured, Journey’s End, Midnighters, Where is Kyra?, The Female Brain,
Submission, The Lullaby, The Jurassic Games, Alex & The List, Trek: The Movie, House Shark, and Another WolfCop

Toxic Fandom Has Killed Christopher McQuarrie’s Desire To Direct A ‘Star Wars’ Movie

By
John Nolan
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It’s a sad reality that some extremely vocal “fans” get off on ruining things for other people. The worst are the Star Wars fans, who have grown so toxic over the years they accomplished the seemingly impossible act of running George Lucas and others away from the beloved franchise. With the reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi they’ve become even worse, recently driving star Kelly Marie Tran off social media. And now it appears they’ve done the same to Mission: Impossible-Fallout director Christopher McQuarrie, and he isn’t even part of the franchise yet.

We don’t know if McQuarrie ever would have directed a Star Wars movie, but his name has certainly been out there. But if it were ever going to happen it’s not anymore, as a bizarre Twitter exchange with beleaguered The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has seemingly cured him of any desire to direct one. And who can blame him?

It all started when Johnson innocently steered aspiring filmmakers to follow McQuarrie because of the helpful writing/storytelling tips he offers on Twitter. That led to a discussion of The Twilight Zone‘s Rod Serling on the anniversary of his death, and one fan took offense to the “social justice warrior” stuff that he thinks should be removed from all fiction. That’s ridiculous in itself, but it soon led to Johnson and McQuarrie becoming the targets of online attacks of a personal nature. Johnson may have been used to it after dealing with this kind of crap for months, but for McQuarrie it was too much.

I posted the essential tweet below, plus one of the more outrageous comments by a supposed “fan”, but if you want to see how quickly these things can get out of control just check out McQuarrie’s feed. Homeboy got the full dose of Haterade and he didn’t even direct The Last Jedi! Johnson knew to get the Hell out of dodge and the infection spread to McQuarrie’s Twitter.

I’m actually pretty pissed about this and hope McQuarrie changes his mind.  Not that I think he was goinig to make a Star Wars film, but he’ll likely avoid anything with a rabid fanbase, and that includes Marvel, DC, whatever. We’re missing out.

‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Targets $80M Debut Weekend

By
John Nolan
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If you thought the Marvel train would slow down after Avengers: Infinity War, think again. While nobody expects this week’s Ant-Man and the Wasp to match those numbers, or even to come close to them, the projections show it is definitely reaping the benefits of the MCU’s continued success. According to Variety, industry analysts are projecting as high as $80M for the Ant-Man sequel’s opening weekend.

That number may seem small by Infinity War comparisons, and they are, but it’s significantly better than the $57M debut of Ant-Man in 2015. That film went on to earn $519M worldwide, with more than $300M of that coming from overseas. Unless there’s some unforseen crash we should expect the followup to best those numbers overall, and perhaps bust $200M on the domestic market.

If that pans out it will be music to Marvel’s ears. The Ant-Man movies have lower stakes, less star power, and generally are presented as being off to the side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang failing to make an appearance in Infinity War, there’s some added curiosity about his whereabouts. Fans know there has to be a connection between the movies and that is probably playing a role in the ticket sales boost.

Ant-Man and the Wasp opens July 6th, and you can check out my review of it here.

John Krasinski Will “Definitely” Return For ‘A Quiet Place 2’, But It Won’t Be Rushed

By
John Nolan
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John Krasinski’s horror A Quiet Place took everybody by surprise earlier this year. The low-cost flick earned $330M at the box office and received near universal acclaim, and of course Paramount wanted to take a second bite of that apple with a sequel.  There were questions, though. Such as what the story could possibly be given the nature of the film’s conclusion, and what role, if any, Krasinski might play.

Well, now we have at least a little bit of an answer direct from producer Andrew Form, who tells Collider that Krasinski will definitely be involved…

“Oh [Krasinski is] definitely involved. We’re lucky on this one. I’ve had movies where the studio says to you, ‘Here’s your date. Let’s go!’ and on this one we’re not rushing anything, which is amazing. So we’re gonna take our time, we’re gonna figure out where to go, but there is no rush on it and we’re just starting to talk about it. We’re figuring out what everyone’s involvement’s gonna be and what the actual next movie’s gonna be. The first one is so special to us that we really want to take our time with this and not rush anything…“It’s such a special movie to us, the experience and everything. It’s easy to rush these and we’ve made movies in the past where we’ve rushed them through and we’ve felt it, and we just don’t wanna do it on this one. We really don’t. We really just wanna take our time and as long as it takes, it takes. It has to be the right story, just like the first one. It just has to be.”

Form is definitely saying all of the right things here. Whether he’s in front of the camera or not, Krasinski is a part of this franchise and that shouldn’t go away. A sequel wouldn’t feel the same without him. And it’s also good to see that Paramount isn’t breathing down anyone’s neck to speed up the process. Screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods say they have ideas where the story could go, and they should have time to pick just the right one.

A Quiet Place is available on digital now and hits Blu-Ray/DVD on July 10th.

Kimberly Peirce Added To ‘Black Widow’ Shortlist Of Possible Directors

By
John Nolan
-

You can add another director to the list of candidates to helm Marvel’s Black Widow movie. Collider’s Jeff Sneider says Boys Don’t Cry’s Kimberly Peirce can be considered a contender. Most recently we’ve heard Cate Shortland, Amma Asante, and Maggie Betts were shortlisted, while Chloe Zhao and Deniz Gamze Erguven have been mentioned previously.  Peirce’s most recent film was 2013’s Carrie remake starring Chloe Moretz.

Marvel has been teasing fans with a Black Widow movie for years, but they took the first big step when Jack Schaeffer was hired to write the script. It’s way too early for any details but early rumors are that an origin or prequel is the direction Marvel has chosen to take with the character. All of the directors listed have experience with period dramas and would be a tremendous addition to the MCU.

My guess all along is that Shortland (Lore, Berlin Syndrome) would take the job, and it seems Variety’s Justin Kroll agrees with me.

Black Widow doesn’t have a release date yet but if you want to see the Russian agent in action check out Avengers: Infinity War. Or you can wait until next year’s Avengers 4.

Sterling K. Brown And Lucas Hedges To Star In Musical Drama ‘Waves’ From ‘Krisha’ Director Trey Edward Shults

By
John Nolan
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Krisha director Trey Edward Shults followed up his breakout indie drama with the buzzy horror, It Comes At Night, and gained his share of mainstream attention in the process. That it didn’t exactly break the box office bank, the film showed enough promise that Shults is already gathering an impressive lineup of talent for his third movie, a musical drama titled Waves.

Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Emmy nominee Sterling K. Brown (This is Us), and It Comes At Night‘s Kelvin Harrison Jr. will star in the dramatic musical about two young couples as they navigate the emotional minefield of growing up and falling in love. As if that’s not enough, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won an Academy Award for scoring The Social Network, will provide the music, both contemporary songs and original that the movie will be tightly synchronized to.  Variety describes the film as “a dramatic musical with a fresh spin” and “an energetic, affecting anthem of contemporary teenage life.”

Shults, who will write and direct Waves, plans to begin filming next month in Florida. Hedges will be seen later this year in Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid 90s, and awards season drama Boy Erased. Brown was last seen in Black Panther and has The Predator coming up. Harrison has an awards season drama of his own later this year with Monsters and Men. [Variety]

Matt Damon And John Krasinski Reteam For Marc Rich Biopic ‘The King Of Oil’

By
John Nolan
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Matt Damon and John Krasinski are teaming up on their third movie together after 2012’s Promised Land, which they co-wrote and starred in, and Manchester by the Sea in which they were producers. The duo are now working together on The King of Oil, which finds Damon starring in the role of disgraced billionaire businessman Marc Rich.

Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse will adapt Daniel Ammann’s book The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich, which centers on the wealthy hedge fund manager and commodities trader who in 1983 was indicted on 65 counts including tax evasion. Rather than stay to face charges he fled the country and never returned. On the final day of his presidency Bill Clinton controversially pardoned Rich, who would later die in 2013 at the age of 78.

Damon is in talks for the lead role while Krasinski is only set to produce at this point. However, there’s still a chance he could eventually direct. Krasinski is red-hot right now after writing and directing A Quiet Place, and he’s set to star as agent Jack Ryan in Amazon’s upcoming Tom Clancy series. Damon is coming off the dual disappointments of Suburbicon and Downsizing, so he could use a change of pace. [Deadline]

‘Bumblebee’ Is First ‘Transformers’ Movie Ever To Hit Comic-Con

By
John Nolan
-

This is something I hadn’t really thought about, but in all of my time going to San Diego Comic-Con there has never been a Transformers panel. Not for Michael Bay’s live-action movies, anyway. That’s wild. It seems like such an obvious stop for them to make, but then most of the films come out before the event takes place each year. And it’s not as if the franchise has needed the boost….well, they didn’t before Transformers: The Last Knight. Well, Transformers is coming to Comic-Con for the first time next month when Bumblebee motors into Hall H.

I speculated recently that Paramount may bring the Transformers spinoff to Hall H this year and now Deadline has confirmed it.  On hand will be director Travis Knight, no stranger since he’s brought Laika films there in the past. Joining him will be stars John Cena, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. No Bumblebee, of course, but I expect there will be something gimmicky cooked up to make up for the CGI robot’s unavailability.  I expect Bumblebee will have an even larger presence on the showfloor as part of the Paramount booth. If there isn’t a replica Volkswagon Bug to hop into I’ll be sorely disappointed.

Bumblebee opens December 21st.  Comic-Con runs from July 19th-22nd.

*UPDATE* Frances McDormand Not Part Of ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Cast

By
John Nolan
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*UPDATE: This is why we say to take stories from unconfirmed sources with a grain of salt. And you know that I’ve been suspicious of That Hashtag Show as a source for a while now. It’s because of stuff like this. They’ve just had to make an embarrassing retraction of this story, and honestly their attempts to explain it away didn’t help them.  Original story is below, and after that you can see the string of tweets from Collider’s Jeff Sneider, an actual reporter, that reads them the riot act.*

The cast for Godzilla vs. Kong may have just gotten some Oscar-winning help. The monster crossover film has reportedly added two-time Best Actress winner Frances McDormand, according to That Hashtag Show. Of course, take that with a grain until it’s been confirmed by the folks at Legendary.

If this turns out to be solid, McDormand would join a cast that is already very impressive. Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, and Julian Dennison are set for what would be the fourth movie in the franchise, following Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters which opens next year.

While this may seem like an outlier for McDormand, let’s not forget she’s previously starred in both Aeon Flux and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, she isn’t averse to the occasional blockbuster studio flick. She won her most recent Oscar for her lead performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and won previously for 1997’s Fargo.

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