In the new thriller Siberia, Keanu Reeves trades in stolen diamonds the way John Wick trades in bullets.Written and directed by Matthew Ross, it finds Reeves as a diamond trader who heads to Russia on a deal that goes south, only to become a target of Serbian hitmen.
It’s a familiar-looking movie for Reeves, one that probably wouldn’t go very far without his name attached. Ross is only making his sophomore effort behind the camera, and this couldn’t be more different from his debut, the romance-thriller Frank & Lola. He’s assembled a cast that includes Molly Ringwald in a rare screen performance, plus Pasha D. Lychnikoff and Ana Ularu. Here’s the official synopsis:
An American diamond merchant travels to Russia to sell rare blue diamonds of questionable origin. As the deal begins to collapse, he falls into an obsessive relationship with a Russian cafe owner in a small Siberian town. As their passion builds, so does the treacherous world of the diamond trade from which he is unable to extricate himself. Both collide as the American man desperately looks for escape in a world with no exit.
There have been so many sequels and reboots of Halloween already, including Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake and panned 2009 followup, that you’d be forgiven for taking a wait-and-see approach to David Gordon Green’s movie. So what is it that makes this one different, anyway? Hasn’t Jamie Lee Curtis already been called back to the franchise before? What’s the big deal?
Well, besides having an auteur like Green behind the camera, and Danny McBride as a co-writer, the film is a straight-up sequel to the classic 1978 slasher film, ignoring everything else that came after. John Carpenter is back on board for the first time since 1982, taking a producer role this time, while Blumhouse have added their horror mastery to the production, as well. But does the movie look good? Take a look at the first trailer and judge for yourself:
I’ve said before that horror isn’t really my bag, but a good slasher film will get me every time. It’s good to see Michael Myers back and actually terrifying again, with a look that honors the original movie but acknowledges the many years that have gone by. The story takes place forty years later as Myers and Laurie Strode (Curtis) ready for their final showdown after she narrowly escaped their first encounter. Judy Greer, Will Patton, Nick Castle, Andi Matichak, Virginia Gardner, and Omar J. Dorsey co-star.
It’s safe to say Matthew Vaughn has fallen in love with the genre-busting comics of Mark Millar. Together they’ve collaborated on adaptations of Kick-Ass, and two Kingsman movies, with multiple projects teased over the years. As Vaughn prepares to launch Marv Studios, he’s expanding that relationship with multiple sequels, reboots, spinoffs, and even a new TV series.
Speaking with Empire, Vaughn says that he has ideas for a Kick-Ass reboot, one that would likely center on African-American single mom and war veteran Patience Lee. In Millar’s latest reboot of the comic she is the one under the Kick-Ass mask, attempting to clear up family debts by robbing criminals. There are also plans for a solo Hit-Girl movie, an idea that has been going around for a long time now. It’s unclear whether this would follow an older Mindy Macready, or take place during her early years under Big Daddy’s tutelage. Chloe Grace Moretz’s breakout role came when she played Hit-Girl in the first Kick-Ass movie, but who knows if she would want to return to something like that.
Vaughn is also looking to grow the Kingsman franchise, which has already had two movies combine for over $800M. Not only will there be the sequel that wraps up the trilogy, which he says will be “the conclusion of the Harry Hart-Eggsy relationship”, he wants to explore the Kingsman organization’s early period in the 1900s with Kingsman: The Great Game. Vaughn says the two Kingsman movies will shoot back-to-back. Also, an 8-episode TV series, and a Statesman film that centers on Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, and Halle Berry’s characters.
Talk about ambitious! If Vaughn gets even half of this stuff done it will be a huge triumph. Hopefully we’re going to hear more about this in the near future, but are you excited for more Kick-Ass? More Kingsman?
It’s “jam sesh time” urges Nick Offerman’s Frank in Brett Haley’s sweet, low-key dramedy Hearts Beat Loud, one of the most popular films to emerge from this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Offerman, known for his droll, everyman frankness that made him a Parks & Rec star, is unusually chipper and childishly eager, which takes some getting used to. But get used to it we do, as Frank jams out with his musically gifted daughter Sam (the delightful Kiersey Clemons) on their way to becoming local sensations.
The third hugely successful film by Haley about starting over and finding a new lease on life (I’ll See You In My Dreams, The Hero), Hearts Beat Loud is like a mini playlist of comfort tracks. It eases the mind and gives you a reason to smile; the troubles of its handful of Red Hook-based characters never stretch into anything resembling serious, and that’s perfectly okay. Frank is a widower and a record store owner, still thinking about the musical career that could have been. His shoplifting mom (Blythe Danner, a Haley veteran at this point) keeps getting arrested and can’t be left alone. His wife and stage partner died years ago in a bike accident, but her talent has obviously been passed to Sam, who is a natural at the keyboards and on the microphone. She’s only days away from leaving for medical school, and all Frank wants to do is keep her home so they can continue to jam out together.
With his business on its last legs, despite the support of his friendly landlord Leslie (Toni Collette), Frank is at a crossroads. Closing the store, Sam moving away…it’s the end of everything musical in his life. But when a random jam session with Sam produces a fluttering love track “Hearts Beat Loud” that goes viral in a hurry, all of his dreams come flooding back. They aren’t necessarily Sam’s dreams, though, while other life complications get in the way.
A somber air hovers over Haley’s film as it deals with loss in a myriad of different forms; loss of a loved one, of dreams past, of a career. But it’s balanced by laid back charms as chill as Frank’s bartender pal Dave (Ted Danson), who is always looking for his next high. Love blossoms in the air between Sam and starving artist Rose (American Honey‘s Sasha Lane), and those bubbling feeling are what Frank encourages her to use as lyrics. Sam pours her heart out into the words while Frank crushes it on guitar. When he hears their song on some random Spotify playlist while buying his morning pastry, his excitement is infectious and sooooo anti-Offerman.
This heartwarming confection is easy to take in because of its affable cast and a light-hearted script by Haley and regular collaborator Marc Basch. You don’t have to concern yourself with the details of the music business; just sit back and watch Offerman and Clemons’ beautiful chemistry together. Their scenes as father and daughter are soulful and real, but they click most while performing from Keegan DeWitt’s catchy tunes. Offerman’s musical skills are well known but Clemons’s gifts as a singer are a surprise, making the case for her to not only get bigger roles but a true musical to show them off.
A different movie would hit us over the head over the death of the record store business. A different, lesser film would make this a movie about Frank and Sam soaring to the top of the music charts. Another movie would dwell longer on the many hardships Frank has endured. Those are complications too deep for Hearts Beat Loud, thankfully. At its core this is the story of a father and daughter reconnecting over a shared love of music, and the genuine feeling this film creates is one that you’ll want to keep coming back to.
“Awwwwww, he’s baaaad! Mmmhmm! The man is outta sight!”
If you don’t know the lyrics to 1975 Blaxploitation classic Dolemite, that’s okay. The film starred Rudy Ray Moore, and while the film launched a number of sequels (including one as late as 2002) featuring the vengeful pimp anti-hero, it hasn’t held up as well as Shaft or Super Fly. Moore is still seen as a pivotal figure of the era and a major influence on hip-hop culture today, which is why it’s pretty cool that a Netflix movie is being made about him with Eddie Murphy in the lead role.
Murphy will star in a biopic about Rudy Ray Moore, to be directed by Hustle and Flow‘s Craig Brewer. Damn. Even better, it features a script by The People vs. Larry Flynt duo Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Moore’s story is pretty cool, too. A former comedian and musician, he got the idea for Dolemite after having a Jamaican deejay rap (better known as “toasting”) about a local urban legend and decided to take him on as an alter ego. He would take on this persona during his stage performances before bringing it to the big screen, financing the movie himself. Moore also co-wrote the movie’s soundtrack, which was composed by Soul Train‘s Don Cornelius, by the way.
This will be Murphy’s first screen role since 2016’s drama Mr. Church. He doesn’t take a lot of roles anymore so this is pretty exciting, and shows the kind of impact Moore had. [Deadline]
It’s funny and kind of disturbing how much the stunt that broke Tom Cruise’s foot factors into every trailer for Mission: Impossible-Fallout. And yet here it is again in the new international trailer, kicking things off (no pun intended) as Ethan Hunt makes a dangerous leap from a tall building.
Turns out, Cruise was hurt on what was probably the tamest stunt of all, and if you don’t believe that then you haven’t seen enough Mission: Impossible movies. Cruise is always upping the ante, and this time he takes part in a crazy HALO (High Altitude Low Open) skydiving sequence that I guarantee you had the insurers sweating bullets.
Here’s the synopsis for this the sixth installment of the high-octane franchise: The best intentions often come back to haunt you. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies in a race against time after a mission gone wrong.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie and co-starring Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Angela Bassett, and Alec Baldwin, Mission: Impossible-Fallout opens July 27th.
I wouldn’t normally post this trailer for Showtime series Kidding, but there are two reasons I felt it was an absolute must. First, it reunites Jim Carrey and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry. Second, it looks fucking fantastic, with Carrey playing some kind of offbeat Mister Rogers.
Gondry is listed as an exec-producer but he clearly had some significant creative input because this trailer looks like one of his imaginative creations. The series stars Carrey as Jeff, better known to millions of kids as children’s show host Mr. Pickles. It’s a weird, semi-serious role that Carrey looks perfectly suited for, and with a cast including Catherine Keener, Judy Greer, and Frank Langella he’s going to have a lot of hilarious support.
Here’s the synopsis: In his first series regular role in over two decades, Jim Carrey stars as Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds, who also anchors a multimillion-dollar branding empire. But when Jeff’s family begins to implode, he finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through the crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
Showtime will debut Kidding on September 9th. I’ll be watching.
Considering Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood already boasts the talents of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Burt Reynolds, you’d think the addition of one more big name wouldn’t be a huge deal. But it always means something extra when that name is Al Pacino, and yep, he’s the latest to join the Manson era film.
Pacino will take the role of Hollywood agent Marvin Shwarz, who works for DiCaprio’s TV star as he tries to break into the movie biz. The film takes place in the 1960s right around the time of the Manson Family’s murder of Sharon Tate and others. Will Pacino also fall victim to the murderous cult?
This continues a flurry of casting news that began with Damian Lewis, Dakota Johnson, Luke Perry, Emile Hirsch, Clifton Collins Jr, Keith Jefferson and Nicholas Hammond joining up yesterday. Others announced previously include Timothy Olyphant, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood opens August 9th 2019.
Hereditary tells
the story of Annie Graham (Toni Collette) and her family trying to recuperate
after the passing of her mother. Annie’s mother was an extremely private and
secretive woman with large portions of her life not known by the rest of
the family. Annie’s family and upbringing were steeped in tragedy and mental
illness, and Annie’s husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) did not want these issues to
plague Annie or their children, so he tried to separate his family from Annie’s mother. He was successful in doing so until the guilt overwhelmed Annie and she let her mother into their lives as she became sick. Annie’s daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro) developed a bond with her grandmother, and the strength of this bond caused her to be devastated by her grandmother’s passing. Charlie has always
been a loner, getting lost in her drawing pads and fantasies – not caring to
interact with other children, and the death of her grandma only exacerbates
this. Charlie and Annie both begin to see visions of Annie’s mother as they
fall deeper into a state of mourning. Annie’s son Alex (Peter Graham) did not
have the connection to his grandmother that Charlie did, but he deals with the
loss in his own way. As tragedy continues to strike the family, Annie’s
desperation leads her to the spiritual world, one that may change the lives of
her family forever.
Hereditary
manages to build dread throughout its entire runtime. It is almost as if there
is an eerie, ominous, fog that hovers over the film. The audience dreads what
is coming, but you are never quite sure when the terror will strike, and how. Inside
of the Graham household we see muted colors and darkness, usually one small
light or area of light trying its best to illuminate a room. Only outside the
house, when the children are in school or Annie makes it to a grief counseling
session, do we see brighter colors creeping into the film. These moments are
few and far between and typically manage to turn sinister. Writer and director
Ari Aster successfully builds a terrifying environment within the Graham’s
house that leaves you short of breathe every time they are home. From the lack
of colors to the melodic ticking of clocks, the audience is pulled into their
world, almost feeling like we are there with them. The sounds that Aster employs throughout the film are masterful, they are soothing but each note seems to have something sinister behind it.
The film highlights how a family deals with loss, individual
and as a unit, and how this loss can tear them apart. As Hereditary progresses we move into the more blatant supernatural.
From the inner trances and possible visions the characters experience to the
communication and contact with the spiritual world. Aster manages to seamlessly
create this shift, without taking away from the buildup or suspense that
proceeded it. Aster has you believing in what you are seeing, just as Annie
does. The acting for a majority of the film is top notch, with Collette’s
performance standing out. She exhibits a wide range of emotions, but it is
those moments where she is in a trancelike state – almost emotionless – that
really stick with you and make your skin crawl. Hereditary may not reinvent the genre, or go down as a horror
classic, but it is an overly successful thriller and quite the ride.
Easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Drew Goddard’s awesomely-titled Bad Times at the El Royale reunites him with Chris Hemsworth, who is a much bigger star now than when he was in The Cabin in the Woods. The two films share a little something else in common; namely a group of people stranded in an isolated and very dangerous place. But this movie has something the other definitely doesn’t have, and that’s 1960s Jon Hamm pimping vacuum cleaners. It’s like Mad Men all over again.
Bad Times at the El Royale stars Hemsworth, Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Nick Offerman, Cynthia Erivo, Lewis Pullman, and Cailee Spaeny, this wild ensemble takes place in 1969 as a group of mysterious strangers seek redemption during a stay at the titular Lake Tahoe hotel.
This is only the second feature directed by Goddard, who also earned an Oscar nomination for writing The Martian. He also wrote Cloverfield, World War Z, and will take on Fox’s X-Force movie next. There’s a reason he’s so busy and why he has so many fans. He tells smart, innovative stories with big, bold characters; and his films are just a lot of fun, too. This one looks no different.
