With so many known properties coming out of the Disney offices it’s becoming harder to find original work that are worth talking about. That’s one of the reasons why Wreck-It Ralph was such a fun breath of fresh air a couple of years ago, that and it found a novel way of bringing video games to the big screen without delivering us another lousy adaptation. We’re starting to see a lot more of the sequel, the horribly-titled Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, including a scene where many of the Disney princesses are being held captive just sort of hanging out. And now we’re getting a new trailer and poster that are taking us deep into world of online gaming.
John C. Reilly is back voicing the ham-fisted video game villain, although truthfully he’s a really nice guy just playing a role. Ralph is really a hero, and the sequel finds him teaming up with rowdy sidekick Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) to leave their video arcade home and into the world wide web to find something that will save her game, Sugar Rush. Vanellope does seem to be the cause of a lot of Ralph’s troubles, maybe he should think about ditching her in some defunct chat room somewhere?
The highlight of this trailer, besides the many references to many familiar Internet staples and Disney franchises, is an extended look at the princesses gathered together. It’s almost game over for Vanellope by an angry Cinderella who looks like she would totally cut a….well, you know.
Rich Moore and Phil Johnston are co-directing with Taraji P. Henson and Alan Tudyk new additions to the voice cast, joining Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch. Get ready to plunk down quarters for Wreck-It Ralph 2 when it opens on November 21st.
Around this time last year we learned that Jeremy Renner had suffered an arm injury while shooting a movie, and naturally our first thought was “Damn, Avengers: Infinity War must have Hawkeye doing some crazy shit!” Of course, that was FAR from true because the archer isn’t even in the damn thing, and perhaps we should have taken the hint when word got out that he was actually hurt while shooting Tag, the goofy and harmless-looking comedy.
Well now we’re finding out just how badly Renner was injured. Co-star Jon Hamm was on Ellen and revealed the moment when Renner’s got hurt, and also realizes the irony of the Avengers star getting banged up in a movie about playing a game of tag…
“Jeremy Renner who broke both of his arms at the same time. Day three of production. We had 40 more days to go. Keep in mind this is a man who’s done a hundred ‘Avengers’ movies and been fine. And he does a movie about playing tag… both arms, like firewood, just snapped like a matchstick.”
So how does a guy with broken arms star in a movie where reaching out and tagging others is essential? Why, with the help of CGI magic, that’s how…
“No, he wore greenscreen casts that were eventually painted out in the edit,” explained Hamm.
Okay, so if this shit looks terrible I hope Renner gets as much grief as poor Henry Cavill has had to endure over a stupid mustache.
Tag, which opens June 15th, stars Renner alongside Hamm, Isla Fisher, Jake Johnson, Rashida Jones, Ed Helms, and Hannibal Buress in the story of lifelong friends engaged in a years-long game of tag, with Renner as the only one who has never been “it”.
Last year’s Power Rangers movie didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but it was hardly a disaster. The $100M film earned just $142M worldwide, but that seemed to be enough to get some talk about a sequel started. All of that changed last month when Hasbro bought the entire Power Rangers line, toys, movies, and TV rights included, from Saban Entertainment for over $500M. So what does that mean for the future of the franchise?
Hasbro already has a movie deal in place with Paramount, and are building a new cinematic universe with GI Joe, MASK, and other toy brands, along with their lucrative Transformers franchise. Would Power Rangers be joining that? We don’t know that much for sure yet, but what has been confirmed is that more Mighty Morphin movies are on the way. Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner revealed as much to Tokunation…
“The fact that we can acquire Power Rangers brand and plug and play that right into our strategy where we activate it in entertainment, motion pictures in the future and then of course across toys and games and consumer products and do so globally. We felt the brand was very under leveraged and undervalued. We feel we can exploit it to a much greater extent and it was a great opportunity to acquire the brand.”
Yeah, he pretty much spells it out, doesn’t he? Goldner says that he thinks the previous rights holders didn’t do nearly enough with the brand and Hasbro intends to “exploit it to a much greater extent.” So expect to see not only movies but a multiplatform agenda that will have Power Rangers everywhere whether you like it or not.
I think this is also a good way for Hasbro to say they’ll be moving forward with a reboot and not a sequel to the Dean Israelite-directed movie. It makes the most sense, doesn’t it?
For an idea of how influential Dario Argento’s giallo classic Suspiria is, one need only look at the talent involved in the upcoming remake and the length of time trying to make it a reality. The past decade has been spent on this film, with David Gordon Green initially attached before Luca Guadagnino took over in 2015 with the plan of casting his four stars from A Bigger Splash. Of that original plan only Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton remain, while Guadagnino has basically removed the giallo qualities of Argento’s film to make it more his own.
The result is a film that terrified the crap out of original Suspiria star Jessica Harper, who returns in a different role altogether. She posted on Facebook, “I have seen this movie–the most brilliantly scary film I have ever seen. Luca’s ‘Call Me By Your Name‘ does not prepare you for it, but throws into relief the director’s brilliance and versatility.”
You may recall hearing about an early preview shown at CinemaCon which left audiences traumatized. Stories like that get out all the time and usually they are some kind of coordinated marketing ploy but I believe it when it comes from Collider‘s Steve Weintraub who said at the time, “It’s one of the most fucked up things I’ve ever seen at #CinemaCon. People at my table turned away from the screen. All I can say is it’s beyond extreme and gross and I need to see more.”
Johnson plays an American ballet dancer who joins a prestigious European dance company, only to discover something sinister and supernatural. Along with Johnson, Swinton, and Harper the cast includes Mia Goth (A Cure for Wellness, Marrowbone), Chloe Grace Moretz, and Sylvie Testud.
We haven’t seen anything from Steve McQueen since he won Best Picture five years ago for 12 Years a Slave. It’s not that he’s been loafing around, instead he’s been working on his next film, a screen remake of the British crimes series, Widows. With an all-star cast and a script co-written by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, it promises to be a major player this awards season. Today we’re getting the first trailer and images from the film which stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Kaluuya, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson.
Inspired by McQueen’s desire to make a female-driven movie, Widows centers on four women who attempt to complete the same dangerous heist that got their crooked husbands killed. The film’s starry roster also includes standouts Carrie Coon, Brian Tyree Henry, Garret Dillahunt, Jon Bernthal, Jacki Weaver, Manuel Garcia Rulfo, and Lukas Haas.
Zhang Yimou has been dividing his time of late, balancing films in his native China with Hollywood efforts such as The Great Wall and The Flowers of War. His latest, titled Shadow, not only brings him back home, but it finds Yimou returning to his roots of the gorgeous martial arts epics that earned accolades both here and abroad.
While the film does appear to be of a similar genre as Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower, one look at the new trailer and it’s clear the visual style very different, using what is known as “Chinese watercolor.” Set in medieval China, Shadow is a mystical action thriller about a violent, ambitious king and his people who will aspire to reclaim their homeland after being expelled from it. Along with the king we’ll see this battle through the eyes of his general, who plots in secret; the women entrapped in the palace who have no place in society; and a commoner. Deng Chao (The Mermaid), Sun Li (Fearless), Zheng Kai (The Great Wall), Guan Xiaotong (To Be A Better Man), and Qianyuan Wang co-star.
Shadow will be released in China later this year, and given Yimou’s track record we should see it stateside soon after.
The Italian style of thriller known as giallo seems to be making a comeback. One of the most well-known films of the genre, Dario Argento’s 1977 horror Suspiria, is getting a remake from Luca Guadagnino later this year. The hardcore fans of giallo are probably already well aware of married directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, who have cornered the market on modern forms of giallo with films such as Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears. Now they’re back with Let the Corpses Tan, and this new trailer promises one of the most visually arresting experiences of the year.
That’s an amazing trailer, all quick cuts and extreme close-ups making for some breathtaking images. The violence is off the charts but so is the suspenseful atmosphere, and I love how it combines classic giallo sensibilities with that of neo-Westerns. I don’t expect to see much in the way of plotting or character development here, if the Belgian filmmakers’ previous films are anything to go by, but the style is undeniable. Those less familiar with their feature length work may recognize them from the “O is for Orgasm” segment in 2012’s The ABCs of Death.
Here’s the synopsis:
Belgian filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani trade in the crushed velvet and creeping shadows of their giallo-worshiping first two films (Amer, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears) for blistering sun, creaking leather and raining bullets in this glorious homage to 1970s Italian crime films. After stealing a truckload of gold bars, a gang of thieves absconds to the ruins of a remote village perched on the cliffs of the Mediterranean. Home to a reclusive yet hypersexual artist and her motley crew of family and admirers, it seems like a perfect hideout. But when two cops roll up on motorcycles to investigate, the hamlet erupts into a hallucinatory battlefield as both sides engage in an all-day, all-night firefight rife with double-crosses and dripping with blood. Based on a classic pulp novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette and featuring music by Ennio Morricone, Let the Corpses Tan is a deliriously stylish, cinematic fever dream that will slamfire your senses like buckshot to the brain.
Let the Corpses Tan, which features music by the legendary Ennio Morricone, opens in NY and LA on August 31st.
The idea of a Heathers remake always seemed like a bad idea, whether it was to be a movie or a TV series. The original movie, which is brilliant and a personal favorite to ’80s kids like me, took a tongue-in-cheek view at school violence which was destined to rub people the wrong way nowadays. It went forward anyway and seemed to have found a home on the Paramount Network, but a few months ago they delayed the premiere after the Parkland shooting, a move that was understandable. Now the network has decided a delay simply isn’t good enough.
Viacom has decided to pull Heathers completely off their slate with no plans to release it on any platform. They have begun a search to sell the anthology series to another network. The action comes in response to the Sante Fe high school shootings last month. Here is Paramount Network president of distribution Keith Cox…
“This is a high school show, we’re blowing up the school, there are guns in the school, it’s a satire and there are moments of teachers having guns. It’s hitting on so many hot topics. This company can’t be speaking out of both sides of its mouth, saying the youth movement is important for us and we’ve done all these wonderful things to support that and at the same time, we’re putting on a show that we’re not comfortable with.”
He added that this is a “bold” decision that they stand by. The network had already greenlit a second season which would have gone a totally different direction, focusing on Marie Antoinette’s court.
This version of Heathers is similar to the 1988 classic and centers on Veronica (Grace Victoria Fox, in the role made famous by Winona Ryder), a high school insider who grows disenchanted being part of the popular but vicious Heathers clique. She and her rebel boyfriend JD (James Scully, not Christian Slater) take it upon themselves to fight back against the high school hierarchy. The reboot saw the return of OG Heathers star Shannen Doherty in a supporting role as JD’s mom.
I imagine if this show is going to move forward it’ll be somewhere like Netflix, which already airs the controversial teen drama 13 Reasons Why. But if a deal can’t be worked out there then I expect we’ll see Heathers die a quiet death. On the one hand I’m not sad to see this reboot go away, I think the original movie is more relevant right now than ever, especially its commentary on school bullying. But at the same time I’m against shows like this being shelved because they’re too hot for some people to handle. These are probably the same folks who blame TV and video games for mass shootings.
Cox is worried the show hits on too many hot topics, but what he really means is the show hits on too many hot topics in a satirical way and some people are dumb and will take it as literal. I think there are too many dumb people out there and we should be attempting to educate them through smart, high quality shows. Not saying that Heathers is one of those, we haven’t seen it to be able to judge, but we also may never get the chance to find out and I suspect this happens more often than we know. I suspect there are a lot of great ideas that never make it past the pitch stage for fear of exactly what is happening now. What Paramount is doing is cowardly, not a show of respect. The latter would be to take on the issues of school violence head on, not to turn and run from it the way Paramount is doing now.
Thanks to the holiday last week, we had a little bit of a break on Fear The Walking Dead. But have no fear, Fear The Walking Dead is back this week and in rare form! When we last saw everyone (in the past), there was once again a race to have resources. Lucky for everyone at the Stadium, they were finally able to get a win in Madison’s battle of ideologies against Mel and The Vultures as they landed a score of supplies that would ensure their survival. As we know, eventually that wasn’t going to turn out well for everyone at the stadium. In the current timeline, Alicia, Strand, and Luciana continued their quest to enact revenge against The Vultures with John, Morgan, and Althea forced to tag along. As there was a standoff against The Vultures, Naomi, who was with Alicia and them, turns out to have sided with The Vultures. John had been looking for her and was happily reunited, but then Alicia takes a shot at her, hitting John instead as he jumped in the way to protect his beloved.
The episode begins with very brief quick cuts from past episodes, specifically the one that centered on Naomi and John showing them being together, only to then come to the present where John has just been shot. Now they are in the middle of a firefight between The Vultures and our heroes. As Naomi pulls John out of the way with Morgan’s help, Alicia continues to try and stalk her down Terminator-style. Strand has to pull her back so she doesn’t get caught in the crossfire. Naomi is just trying to ensure that John is safe, so when Mel tells her to pull out with the rest of the Vultures, she doesn’t go with him. She does know that Mel has medical supplies that she needs so she tries to chase after him as he’s driving away, only for his van to explode. Alicia, having used a grenade launcher demolished the truck, and Naomi’s hopes of helping John get medical attention. Meanwhile, Luciana and Strand are engaging other members of The Vultures in the firefight. Luciana comes across little Charlie. For some reason, she hesitates to take her shotgun to the little eight-year-old girl, even though she killed Nick. However, she does kill another member of The Vultures, which allows Charlie to escape. Althea, who has been recording the firefight on her camera and not getting involved is sitting off to the side when Morgan enlists her help to help John get some help. Naomi knows where she can get some medical supplies, at the Stadium. Mel has survived the explosion, only to be confronted by Alicia who asks him how long Naomi was with him. She doesn’t even wait for his answer as she put him out of his mystery. Althea manages to rescue Joe, Morgan, and Naomi. Morgan even tells Charlie to come along so she won’t get killed by Alicia and them, and their off to the stadium.
In the past, everyone is starting to plant their crops at the stadium. Thanks to their last haul, they will be able to get back to a semi-normal life. While they won’t be able to harvest them for some time, they still have rations to keep them fed for the meantime. Everything is looking better for them, that’s when little Charlie comes back to the stadium needing their help. Now, they should have shoved that little turncoat brat out as soon as she came, but Madison and everyone are the forgiving types. Charlie tells them about an injured Mel. They take both Charlie and Mel inside.
As Naomi is treating Mel, he warns them that it’s not he who they should worry about. Instead, the real threat is other members of The Vultures, who aren’t too happy about them being able to sustain themselves at the stadium. They want to now take it by force. As evidenced by Mel’s injury, there has been a disagreement within the ranks of The Vultures. Mel doesn’t want to stay there as he knows an attack is coming. He just wants to get Charlie and flee the upcoming onslaught. He even tries to take a knife to Naomi’s throat, only for her to use her nursing skills to bunch him in his badly bruised chest. But she knows that Mel’s not wrong when he says that the stadium will fall. Naomi even tries to convince Madison that they should leave, but she’s fought too hard to keep this place and will not abandon it.
Madison has everyone fortify the community for the upcoming attack. They have enough guns to hold people off, so she believes they will survive it. Mel asks that he and Charlie be able to leave. She grants him to leave, but says that Charlie will stay at the stadium with her. She even gives him a walkie-talkie and limited supplies. Charlie, who is still very fond of Mell asks Alicia and Nick to do something about it as she knows he’s not in the position to survive on his own. They realize it’s the right thing to do, so they go out searching for Mel.
Of course, The Vultures are ready for their attack. All those trucks that they have been loading zombies on are now being put to good use. Nick and Alicia find Mel and try to take him back to the stadium, but they are surrounded by the trucks, which they have now opened the back out of them and unleashed the zombies to take down the stadium. The zombies quickly surround their car. Madison is frantic as she can only helplessly watch hordes of zombies surround them. Madison decides to go outside and rescue her children, Luciana and Strand also accompany her.
In the present, Naomi leads them to the stadium to get some supplies. However, the stadium is a shell of its former self. As they drive her SWAT van through the gates, they see that it’s been overrun with zombies. Looks like the stadium has fallen!
Next week, on the mid-season finale, we get to see what happened to the stadium and hopefully find out Madison’s fate in the present.
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story– $29.2M/$148.8M Solo managed to stay on top for a second week with $29.2M, but the steep 65% tumble is a terrible sign for the Star Wars spinoff. What hurts most is that this wasn’t even a huge week for new releases and yet it couldn’t manage a decent hold. At $264M worldwide after two weeks it’s clear this is going to be the worst-performing movie the franchise has ever had by a long shot. It’s almost inconceivable that a Star Wars film wouldn’t top $200M domestic but that’s the very real scenario we’re looking at right now.
2. Deadpool 2– $23.3M/$254.6M
It was another strong week for Marvel’s Merc with a Mouth as Deadpool 2 earned $23.3M for $254M domestic. Most impressively it now stands at $598M worldwide with a lot of mileage left in the tank.
3. Adrift (review)- $11.5M
The biggest new release of the week belongs to Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin with Adrift, the survival thriller from Everest director Baltasar Kormakur. The film opened with a solid $11.5M which isn’t bad for the $35M movie. That’s slightly better than last year’s $10.6M debut of The Mountain Between Us which would seem to appeal to exactly the same audience.
4. Avengers: Infinity War– $10.3M/$642.8M
5. Book Club– $6.8M/$47.3M
6. Upgrade (review)- $4.4M
Blumhouse looks to have another small-budgeted success on their hands with Upgrade, Leigh Whannell’s fun, hyper violent revenge movie about a paralyzed man who bonds with a dangerous A.I. and seeks revenge for his wife’s murder. I’m somewhat surprised they only released this into 1457 theaters and hope we see at least a small expansion next week. The reviews have been good and I think there’s an audience out there looking for something to escape into that isn’t Marvel or Star Wars. This is their best bet.
7. Life of the Party– $3.4M/$46.3M
8. Breaking In– $2.8M/$41.3M
9. Action Point– $2.3M
Not that I should necessarily expect to see a Johnny Knoxville stunt-fest get screened for critics, but I had hoped for something different out of Action Point. Instead the film was dropped out into theaters without much support or buzz, unless you’re familiar with the real amusement park known for its dangerous rides and attractions. Otherwise this movie probably slipped by without your notice, and the $2.3M start at over 2000 theaters is a bumpy start that can only go downhill from there.
10. Overboard– $1.9M/$45.5M
