Deadpool 2 opened last week with a gigantic $300M worldwide, and looks poised to have another big weekend through Memorial Day. And..what? You thought because the sequel was already a huge hit that the wildly entertaining promos would just stop? Nah, because Ryan Reynolds and Co. now want to say thank you to the fans who made it all happen. And they’re doing it in the style of a Golden Girls parody.
This is a great video, and I absolutely hated Golden Girls. And I like that they use the characters’ real names, which we don’t really hear in the movie. So you get “Nathan Summers as Cable”, “Neena Thurman as Domino”, and Colossus whose name is annoyingly long even for a Russian.
Check it out, have a laugh, and wonder what Betty White could be like as a member of X-Force.
Not to be confused with last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin, Marc Forster’s Christopher Robin is a different take on the boy who inspired author A.A. Milne to create Winnie the Pooh. In this film, Robin is all grown up and has lost the imagination that sent him into the Hundred Acre Wood for amazing adventures with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and the others. So guess who comes back to remind him of the child he used to be?
No, it’s not Mary Poppins. That’s the plot of Mary Poppins Returns, although…yeah, kinda doing the same thing, aren’t they? Of course, it’s Pooh himself who shows up to set Christopher Robin back on the right path. Ewan McGregor stars, along with Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones as Owl, Chris O’Dowd as Tigger, Brad Garrett as Eeyore, Peter Capaldi as Rabbit, and Jim Cummings as the voice of that silly ol’ bear. Forster returns to the literary dramas that led to his most successful film, 2004’s Finding Neverland, which earned seven Oscar nominations and one win.
The Last Witness is one of those movies where if you’re not incredibly interested in the source material, then there’s a high chance that this may not be the movie for you. The movie is set in late 1940’s England as a young journalist named Stephen Underwood, played by Alex Pettyfer, strives to uncover the slaughter of 20,000+ Polish officers during WWII after the Soviets invaded Poland in 1939. It’s directed by Piotr Szkopiak and also stars Talulah Riley, Robert Wieckiewicz, and Michael Gambon
Now, this isn’t to say that movies revolving around world war happenings can’t be interesting or told in a captivating way because we all know that that’s simply not true. However, the way in which they go about presenting the story, which is based on true events, is not done in an interesting or captivating way.
The events in this story are I’m sure events that the average person does not have a ton of knowledge on. When people think World War II, they more than likely think Nazis, Germany, Holocaust, Pearl Harbor – not necessarily the time when the Soviet Union invaded Poland and killed a bunch of their officers, and I feel like the filmmakers were definitely aware this.
The movie knows that because this isn’t the most talked about WWII event that they have the duty of presenting a ton of information to the viewer who like I said more than likely has very little knowledge on it. Where the problem arises is in the way in which the filmmakers went about providing that information throughout the movie – it all just feels like some boring, bulleted, history lesson lecture from a professor that doesn’t really know how to engage their students and get them interested in the material at hand, but once you actually go back over the material you realize that it is pretty interesting and that maybe had you had a different professor your investment in the material may have been a lot greater.
And I don’t mean this as a huge diss to the filmmakers, but this movie was a tough watch; it was just incredibly boring. If the whole purpose of the movie was so that it could be used during some history lesson where students are meant to follow along and answer questions as they watch, then I think that it could’ve fulfilled its purpose. However, as a movie that’s meant to pull you in and have you actually care about the story and its characters? It definitely drops the ball.
Even though it’s a fictional re-telling of true events, the filmmakers seemed to be more focused on making sure that the events and material were accurate rather than giving more focus to making something that people would actually want to see. There was entirely too much dialogue. The narration and other ways in which they give you details of the story was done lazily; there’s a lot of telling and not showing. So, if you happen to not be paying attention during any one time, then you’ll probably end up in some state of confusion.
The film is also described as being a thriller which was surprising and also a bit ironic to me because there was no real thrill that was a part of this movie, so that led me to believe that the choice to make it a “thriller” wasn’t an idea that they had from the start. The filmmakers probably realized that what they had crafted up until a certain point wasn’t the most captivating thing, so they added in the “thriller” element to help with that problem, but when it came to the finished product, it did anything but.
I don’t want to say that the movie was set up from failure from the beginning because I’ve already said that these kinds of stories can be interesting, but this particular story isn’t the most entertaining and known thing, and when you have something working against the movie in that way it does put more pressure on the filmmakers to present it in a more appealing way; unfortunately, with this movie the filmmakers crumbled under the pressure.
In Darkness is a thriller that lacks a lot of what makes a traditional thriller work, namely genuine thrills and consistent escalation of tension. But what it does have is Natalie Dormer, the fiery Game of Thrones actress with the unforgettable smile who gets one of her strongest characters in a movie she developed and co-wrote herself. Directed with considerable nerve by Anthony Byrne, who also co-wrote the screenplay, In Darkness takes some intriguing cinematic risks that serve to accentuate Dormer’s illuminating performance.
Dormer takes on the challenge of playing blind pianist Sofia, who lives alone in London and doesn’t seem to have much of a life outside of her craft. She’s fond of making small talk with Veronique (a sensuous Emily Ratajkowski), the daughter of a Serbian war criminal (Jan Bijvoet) whose sexual and violent appetites are well-known. When Veronique is found dead, hurled from apartment balcony, Sofia is the only known witness, which puts her life in considerable danger. Deadpool villain and Brit charmer Ed Skrein plays the handsome figure who always seems to be around when Sofia is in danger. He could be a potential love interest, the murderer, or both as these things often go. Joely Richardson steals the show as his venomous sister, who relishes putting Sofia through her paces. There’s also a detective on the case but the only thing of value he can add is to wonder if Sofia’s blindness has turned her into Daredevil with enhanced senses.
If it did, this would be a much more exciting movie. This is one of those thrillers where every single character’s motivation is veiled in a thick fog, and there’s so much murk to wade through we never sense the screws tightening around Sofia. Byrne, who is best known for helming episodes of Peaky Blinders, takes on a voyeuristic style common to erotic thrillers. His camera lingers over Dormer’s curves, the lens fully accepting of her cat-like eyes and pouty lips. It would be normal, even expected to some degree, if it wasn’t for Sofia’s blindness, which makes the whole thing feel uncomfortably one-sided. It’s a sensation that I wish Byrne and Dormer had capitalized on more. This classy genre film needs a bit more dirt under its nails. What few twists there are don’t amount to much as the story is pretty rote from the beginning, despite the best efforts of its star.
Mostly In Darkness works because Dormer goes so far to play against type. We’re used to seeing her play characters who use their beauty and sexuality as weapons but that wouldn’t have made sense for Sofia, so Dormer takes an understated, passive approach. This is a woman who approaches the world with great caution, just as she must consider her every move with tremendous care. Early on we see her in her neatly organized apartment, a necessity when a misplaced object could lead to any number of mishaps. Not that being safe keeps her free from danger, and the film does a good job of using music to emphasize Sofia’s perspective, in which she is physically blind to the dangers circling her but not ignorant of them.
Flawed but with glimmers of inspiration, In Darkness will probably be remembered best for the platform it gave to Dormer to show what she could do when allowed to shoulder a star’s burden. If Hollywood doesn’t take notice, and let’s be honest there’s a good chance they won’t, then hopefully Dormer can continue to create these opportunities for herself.
In case you forgot, Shia LaBeouf is making a biopic about himself, but at least he’s got the decency not to actually play himself. While he does have a role, the rest of the cast is turning out surprisingly well with Manchester by the Sea star Lucas Heges in the lead, and now It Follows breakout Maika Monroe coming aboard.
Titled Honey Boy, the film takes a look at LaBeouf’s relationship with his father through two important stages of his life. A Quiet Place‘s Noah Jupe plays the actor as a young boy just starting out in Hollywood, while Hedges plays him as a young man with a skyrocketing career. LaBeouf will play his own father in the movie, while Monroe is an aspiring actress named Sandra. Natasha Lyonne, Martin Starr, Byron Bowers and Laura San Giacomo co-star. The script was written by LaBeouf, but he tried to say it was co-written by someone named Otis Lort, who turned out to be somebody he made up then named the main character after. Weird, right?
Monroe was recently seen at SXSW in Hannah Marks’ comedy, Shotgun, and will be seen later this year in Neil Jordan’s The Widow alongside Chloe Moretz.
Logan Marshall-Green gets a bad rap for being the “poor man’s Tom Hardy”, but he’s doing a pretty good job of charting his own course. He was scary good in The Invitation a few years ago, and now he gets a chance to lead a kickass-looking action flick in Upgrade, from The Conjuring 3 director Leigh Whannell.
This new red band teaser gives you a good looking at the man/machine insanity, which finds Marshall-Green as a man who is given an experimental Artificial Intelligence upgrade that turns him into an unstoppable killing machine. As he sets out on a quest to avenge his wife’s murder, he discovers that the A.I. has, *shocker*, a mind of its own.
I saw this a few days ago and really dug how Whannell embraces the haywire concept, while also giving fans of his horror work some decent gore to indulge in. Also keep an eye out for my interview with him.
Upgrade opens June 1st. Watch the red band trailer below.
“From the darker side of Paul Feig” says the new teaser for thriller A Simple Favor. Do we really want to see Feig’s dark side? His thing has always been light, female-led comedies like Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy. Now he’s turning his attention to a Fincher-esque mystery with stars Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, and something about it just seems off.
The film stars Kendrick as a mommy vlogger who becomes obsessed with her glamorous and mysterious neighbor (Lively), who then suddenly goes missing. The investigation into her disappearance reveals dark secrets that nobody could have foreseen. Feig is clearly going for a Gone Girl/The Girl On the Train vibe, but I hope he’s not simply aping those movies and has something different to bring to the genre.
While Lively works because I think she has a certain enigmatic aura, something about Kendrick just isn’t quite working. That said, I tend to like her in movies she doesn’t make much sense in, like The Accountant. While she’s great in fun, offbeat comedies Kendrick is most enjoyable for me when she’s going against the grain.
A Simple Favor opens September 14th and co-stars Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini, Jean Smart, and Rupert Friend.
Under normal circumstances Danny Boyle directing a James Bond movie would just be big news, and it is. But the logistics of this thing is going to make it very interesting to watch, because I’m not sure how Boyle is going to do it. Anyway, it’s now official that Boyle will direct Bond 25 after months of “will he/won’t he” speculation. He’ll be collaborating with frequent partner John Hodge (Trainspotting) on the script, which will again feature Daniel Craig as 007. Annapurna Pictures is joining MGM to release the film on the expected date of November 9th 2019.
The news was confirmed in a press statement, with these words from Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson:
We are delighted to announce that the exceptionally talented Danny Boyle will be directing Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as James Bond in the 25th installment of the franchise. We will begin shooting Bond 25 at Pinewood Studios in December with our partners at MGM and thrilled that Universal will be our international distributor.
So what’s the big deal? Well, Boyle is currently working on his musical comedy with Love Actually writer Richard Curtis. That film, which stars Lily James, Ana de Armas, and Kate McKinnon, is to open in September 2019. How can Boyle realistically be expected to shoot and edit two movies released so close together? Boyle has always been fast and lean with his productions but this would seem to be too much even for him. A James Bond movie isn’t going to be fast and certainly won’t be lean. Production begins this December, with the film opening first in the U.K. in October 2019. Not a ton of time.
This should be fun to keep an eye on. I expect we should start hearing casting rumors for this new James Bond movie very soon.
That Boba Fett movie we’ve been hearing about for years is finally happening. THR reports Logan director James Mangold will write and direct a solo movie about Star Wars’ most infamous bounty hunter. Simon Kinberg, who has been involved in the project since 2012, will also contribute although it’s unclear in what capacity.
You may recall it was set in motion a few years ago with Chronicle and Fantastic Four director Josh Trank, until he quite famously imploded. If everything had proceeded normally we would be seeing it this weekend rather than Solo. It was to be officially announced at Star Wars Celebration, with stinger reel to accompany it, but none of that came to be.
I feel we know a lot about Fett already, despite his only having brief scenes in the original trilogy, beginning in The Empire Strikes Back. He was then supposedly killed off in Return of the Jedi, albeit in really shitty fashion, and later inserted into A New Hope via George Lucas’ tinkering around. We also went on to learn waaaaay too much about him and his father Jango Fett in the Star Wars prequels nobody liked. So it’ll be interesting to see when this story takes place. Maybe it’ll begin with him stuck in the Sarlacc Pit’s maw?
*According to THR, Hathaway is now confirmed to star in Dee Rees’ The Last Thing He Wanted, a political thriller picked up by Netflix. This is Rees’ second pairing with the network after they teamed up on Mudbound, and filming is set to begin this summer. Original story is below!*
Dee Rees’ latest film Mudbound has a shot to win four Oscars at next month’s Academy Awards, solidifying her as one of today’s most accomplished filmmakers. But even so, she isn’t sitting around waiting to see what’s next. Instead, Rees is preparing to adapt political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted, and she’s in talks with Anne Hathaway to star.
Based on Joan Didion’s 1996 book and adapted by Mark Villalobos, the story would find Hathaway as “a woman alone and unrelenting in a race against time. At the tipping point of the Iran Contra affair’s arms for drugs plot, hardscrabble journalist Elena McMahon finds herself on dangerous ground when she abandons coverage of the 1984 presidential campaign to fulfill her bed-ridden father’s last wish. “
This is still pretty early on but already the combination of Rees and Hathaway sounds like a winner. Next up for Hathaway is this summer’s Ocean’s 8. [Deadline]
