Just when we thought Danny Boyle’s musical ambitions would derail any chance of him directing the next James Bond movie, he’s apparently decided to try and do everything. According to DailyMail’s Baz Bamigboye, Boyle could direct musical comedyAll You Need Is Love and Bond 25 if certain conditions are met.
So what are those conditions? Part of it depends on Bond producers accepting the script Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge are developing. If they like it, and Daniel Craig digs it too, then all that needs to happen is for them to agree to move Bond into later in the year.
That would give Boyle time to direct the newly-titled All You Need Is Love, which Variety says has Lily James (Darkest Hour, Baby Driver) in talks to star. Richard Curtis wrote the script which is set in the ’60s or ’70s and follows a struggling U.K. musician. Plans are for Boyle to direct it this summer, meaning this will likely be his next movie no matter what happens with Bond.
So we’ll see what happens. Bamigboye says Craig and the Bond team are willing to move the film back, which goes to show how badly they want Boyle at the helm.
Wonder Woman is about to get a lot funnier. If there was a complaint about Patty Jenkins’ film it’s that the villain, Ares, didn’t have much personality. Like no personality at all. That looked to change when rumors surfaced that Kristen Wiig was up to play Cheetah in the upcoming sequel. Surely she would bring the funny, right? Well now Jenkins has taken to Twitter to make the news official. Welcome aboard, Kristen Wiig!
So excited to confirm the most thrilling news. Yes! It’s true! So incredibly lucky to welcome the sensationally talented Kristen Wiig to our Wonder Woman family. Can’t wait to finally work with one of my favorites. And SO excited by what we have planned. #Cheetah!!! @GalGadotpic.twitter.com/Gn0jICiIAH
Wiig will go toe-to-toe (lasso-to-paw?) with Gal Gadot in the sequel, which will reportedly take place in the 1980s during the Cold War. Cheetah is arguably Wonder Woman’s greatest foe, or at least her most recognizable having appeared in multiple cartoons and video games. Real name Barbara Ann Minerva, Cheetah was a British archaeologist who becomes an avatar of an African cheetah god. It’s as bizarre as it sounds, and if they stick with that I can see Wiig having a lot of fun with it.
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 stunner The Strangers struck quite a nerve with genre fans, but I think its impact was felt more in people like me who are less devoted to it. The reason for it was simple: there was simply no rhyme or reason to the terror these masked killers were inflicting on poor Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. The senselessness of it was itself blood-curdling, made worse by the glee they took in drawing out the experience. Was there violence? Absolutely, but by the time it arrived you almost welcomed it. A sequel was announced soon after but nothing ever happened, and now a full decade later we have The Strangers: Prey at Night, not so much a sequel but a continuation that is more than worth the wait.
Directed by Johannes Roberts, who scored a sleeper smash with last summer’s shark thriller 47 Meters Down, the film doesn’t bother catching us up with prior events. And who would want it to, anyway? We know what’s going down here. Three masked assailants, two women in creepy doll masks and one bruiser in a burlap sap, find their latest victims in an abandoned RV park in the middle of nowhere. The prey are a family of four who, at least for a while, think the worst of their problems is dropping daughter Kinsey (Bailee Madison) off at boarding school. Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson are parents Cindy and Mike, with Lewis Pullman (You can tell he’s Bill’s son instantly) as Kinsey’s older brother, Luke, clearly the favored child. They go through the typical rigmarole of family squabbles that we’re meant to relate to, but it isn’t long before they have much bigger concerns.
“Is Tamara home?”
Fans of the first movie will know those words aren’t just somebody who went to the wrong address, and they’ll likely get the same sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach as they had the first time they heard it. When the mysterious girl’s query is rebuffed, only for her to return moments later, it’s already too late for the family to do anything. The chase is on.
The Strangers movies have never been about gore and they aren’t about body count. Prey at Night only has a handful of characters and its predecessor had even fewer. Building up dread and disorienting the audience are its greatest weapons and Roberts proves incredibly effective. Cinematographer Ryan Samuel, a frequent collaborator of Jim Mickle’s (Cold in July), understandably gives the film a lo-fi 1980s look shrouded in darkness. He uses the cover of night and uncertain dimensions of the already-ominous killing field to keep the audience, and the killers’ prey, all turned upside down. While Roberts does a pretty good job incorporating the style Bertino (now just the screenwriter) brought in 2008, he has a couple of inspired moments of individual brilliance. An edge-of-your-seat sequence at a swimming pool, set to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, has a surprisingly intense, shocking brawl, an unexpected moment of heroism, and some seriously slick camerawork.
Heroism is something we didn’t really get a lot of in the first film but this one finds the victims at least putting up a fight against their tormentors. It’s an interesting move that gives this sequel a bit of breathing room from its predecessor. Otherwise there aren’t a lot of surprises here. The killers seem to be everywhere and nowhere all at once, while the targets make bone-headed, illogical decisions. You’ll laugh at the number of times Kinsey goes somewhere she shouldn’t, all alone, only to have it be a really dumb move. But hey, that’s what these movies do. We laugh at the tropes but we also love them. The dumbest insult, which I’ve already heard in regards to this film, is that the characters make stupid mistakes all of the time.
Just a note: If I’m ever chased by a giant ax-wielding guy in a burlap mask, I’m liable to make a wrong turn somewhere. Or trip and fall. Or hit my head on a low hanging branch. Just sayin’.
The cast are all solid, but Bailee Madison has the goods to be a budding scream queen. She’s got enough experience already, having previously starred in Guillermo Del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark at a younger age. If there’s a star of this film it’s her, otherwise the praise falls on Roberts’ direction and Bertino’s simple, effective plotting that packs a lot of scares in just 80 minutes. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another ten years for The Strangers to go hunting again.
Marvel’s The Defenders should have been a can’t miss series from Netflix, but somehow they managed to make it as mediocre as possible. Even at a shortened length it fell victim to the same pitfalls as the other shows, and never made the best use of its popular characters, and Iron Fist. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Krysten Ritten, who is out hyping the newly-released second season of Jessica Jones, thinks we’ve seen the last of the Defenders as a team.
Speaking with Vulture, Ritter talked about the likelihood of the series’ return and her involvement if it were to happen…
“Well, I think Jessica was pretty well received. People were excited to see her again, so that made us happy because Jessica is the next up […] “Y’know, I had a great time doing The Defenders and honestly, it was such a good experience that I would even do it again. I don’t think we are doing it again. It was never intentioned to do it again, but, you know, if I was given another opportunity, I would.”
Yeah, okay. Something tells me she’s being diplomatic by saying it was never meant for a second season. If it were as big a hit as it should have been we’d have already heard about a renewal. Hopefully Marvel will turn their attention towards building a closer bond between the Netflix shows so they feel as cohesive as CW’s Arrowverse. I think that’s the best model when it comes to TV. Look at that, so DC does have something it can teach Marvel after all.
When Martin Scorsese’s name was attached early on to Todd Phillips’ Joker origin movie, it only made sense if we thought Leonardo DiCaprio was being sought to star in it. But we know that’s not the case, and although Joaquin Phoenix denies knowing anything about it, he’s the guy reportedly in talks for the role. But now a new report from The Wrap sheds light on another reason for Scorsese’s involvement.
Apparently, Phillips’ storyline will have the Joker portrayed as a failed comedian in the 1980s who becomes a crime boss in Gotham, bearing echoes of Scorsese’s The King of Comedy. It’s also very similar to Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel, The Killing Joke, considered by most to be the definitive Joker origin story. In the comic, Joker is a standup comedian who has a really awful day, and turns to crime just to be able to feed his family. Phillips is co-writing the script with 8 Mile writer Scott Silver, and the film is expected to be outside of DCEU continuity for some strange reason.
I get that DC publishes comics outside of continuity all of the time but movies are different and so is the audience. There’s no reason why this storyline couldn’t have been done within the DCEU. But it’s hard to argue with names like Scorsese, Phillips, and Phoenix. Audiences may not understand why this Joker isn’t being played by Jared Leto but they’ll show up for a DC Comics film with those names attached.
Goldstone is an Australian film from Ivan Sen starring Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, and Michelle Lim Davidson; about a detective named Jay Swan (Pedersen) that find himself in the small, desolate, country town of Goldstone, much to the dismay of the locals, in an attempt to sole the case of a missing girl named Mae (Lim Davidson). It is there that he runs into opposition as he soon discovers that a missing girl is just the tip of iceberg. Things like trafficking, corruption, and land rights, are just some of the things that his unwanted and intruding presence threatens. In an attempt to shake up the status quo and bring justice to the small town, the fight rests in the hands of Jay and a young, local cop named Joshua (Russell), two people who couldn’t be any more different from each other.
This isn’t one of those kinds of gritty, cop, crime dramas that we’ve seen time and time again. I do think that given the description that I gave that some people would get that idea. Though it does fall victim to some of the same tropes it is a lot more quieter and subdued and the description of it being “‘a Neo-Western crossed with Outback Noir” couldn’t be anymore on the nose.
The film, I must say, is a bit slow especially in the beginning, However, once we, the audience, learn that there’s more to this town than meets the eye it does pick up a bit. With that being said I do think that the overall slowness of the film may work against it in some people’s eyes.
I think that the characters in this film were one of the more noticeable flaws; I thought that they could have been a bit more developed. When we first meet Jay Swan, he’s arrested for driving drunk, but after that one incident the film never toys around with that vulnerability in the way that you would think that they would. By the end of the you’re left think to yourself “What was the point of showing him that state if it wasn’t going to be explored more?” We never find out why/how Mae went missing. We also never find out Joshua’s motivations for being a cop and putting himself in this corrupt world in the first place. Maybe it wasn’t integral to the story at hand, but it still would’ve been nice to know these things. I also found the development of a character named Tommy to be poor. One minute he’s a bad guy and the next he’s not; it just left a lot to be desired.
The thing that surprised me the most and I would have to say is my favorite thing about the film is its message. The film explores the idea of trying to make a difference. No matter one’s view on corruption, trafficking, land rights, in this small town of Goldstone, those are some of the things that keep the town running. People go there initially and may be morally righteous, but after a while they like everyone else fall victim to those same corruptions because that’s just the way things are; “the world is not made for you, you were made for it” and it’s all about figuring out where your place is.
Because of that mentality and also the consequences that come from one’s need to be a savior of truth, that is what stops any real justice from taking place; people are too scared and caught up in their own ways and ego to even try to think about making a difference for the better. I like that this film not only explores that, but also makes a definitive statement about it when it’s all said and done.
Though, this isn’t one of the best films that I’ve seen, there weren’t a ton of flaws that completely turned me off from it. I also like that is made me contemplate that idea of standing up/fighting for what’s right vs. just staying in line so as to not upset the status quo and the powers that be. I could sit here and say, as I’m sure a lot of people would, that if I/they found ourselves in a situation that brings up that dilemma that would the do the right thing, but the truth is is that thinking that you would do something vs. actually being in a real situation where the pros and cons are very visible and tangible and the decision actually has to be made are two completely realities. We truthfully do not know how we would react and I like that this film (at least for me) made me aware of that and made me question my own morality in the process. We need more films like that.
When The Golden Compass opened in 2007 it was expected by some to be as big a hit as the Harry Potter movies. It had a star-studded cast that included Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, plus imaginative characters and creatures (polar bears!!) that should’ve appealed to the same demographic. But the film bombed, and whatever hopes there were for more vanished. Until now, as The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper is planning an 8-part series of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books for BBC One, and it will star Logan breakout Dafne Keen.
Hooper, who also directed The Danish Girl and Les Miserables, has been trying to angle his way into this job for a couple of years, and finally has done it. Jack Thorne (Wonder) wrote the script back in 2015, and it will likely adapt all three of Pullman’s core novels, Northern Lights (previously adapted as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. But as an 8-parter there is a chance he will include material from the various shorts and prequels set in the same universe.
Meanwhile, DailyMail’s Baz Bamigboye adds that Lin-Manuel Miranda may also have a role in the series as balloonist/adventurer Lee Scoresby, previously played by Sam Elliott.
As for Keen, she’ll be taking on the role of Lyra Belacqua, the lead character in the series. The role was played previously by Dakota Blue Richards. Here’s a synopsis for the novels:
These thrilling adventures tell the story of Lyra and Will—two ordinary children on a perilous journey through shimmering haunted otherworlds. They will meet witches and armored bears, fallen angels and soul-eating specters. And in the end, the fate of both the living—and the dead—will rely on them. Phillip Pullman’s spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy has captivated readers for over twenty years and won acclaim at every turn. It will have you questioning everything you know about your world and wondering what really lies just out of reach.
This is going to be huge, and one of the most expensive projects BBC One has ever undertaken. For fans of Pullman’s novels they’re probably just happy to see them get another shot, without the pressure of achieving Harry Potter levels of success.
Vin Diesel potentially has another action franchise under his belt to go along with Fast and the Furious, XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Guardians of the Galaxy. In January we learned he was top of the list to star in Sony’s Bloodshot, based on the Valiant Comics character. And now today it’s been made official.
Bloodshot was a hot character for a while, and should make for a more interesting hero to follow than anything from Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Universe. The film will be directed by Dave Wilson, a colleague of Deadpool director Tim Miller, and star Diesel as the nanite-powered super soldier with the powers of regeneration, technomancy, and metamorphosis. He eventually turns on his creators at Project Rising Spirit because that’s what always happens in these stories.
Most recently Jared Leto had been in talks for the film, although it’s up for debate whether it was to play Bloodshot or a villain. Either way, Leto doesn’t seem to be involved any longer, denying us the Groot vs. Joker matchup we’ve been denied for too long.
Last week Arrow returned with the much-anticipated showdown between Team Arrow and the Outsiders. Earth-2’s Laurel Lance was what they had a beef over. Dinah wanted some much-needed justice over the death of her lover by Black Siren’s scream. However, Laurel also knew where the city’s missing $70 million stolen by the late Cayden Hames, so he was forced to keep her alive. In the aftermath of their battle, Renee was permanently injured and Black Siren suffered a gut shot but managed to escape. She was found at a rest stop by a trucker where she revealed that she was “Laurel Lance” and was held captive for the last two years.
This week’s episode picks up with “Laurel Lance” returning back into the spotlight. Remember, Earth-1’s Laurel Lance died at the hands of Damien Darhk and was honored as a hero, revealing herself as the Black Canary. With her “miraculous” return, this causes all sorts of problems for Oliver. Number one, he’s still under suspicion of being the Green Arrow and the press was hounding Earth-2 Laurel if Oliver really was the Green Arrow. Once she has some privacy with Oliver and Quentin, she threatens to out him unless he plays ball with her being the “real” Laurel Lance.
Meanwhile, Oliver still has to deal with the investigation against him being the Green Arrow. Renee is no longer a witness against him as the information about him being Wild Dog came from Cayden James, and with him as a criminal (and dead), it’s no longer admissible. However, the prosecutor has a new witness that can out Oliver as the Green Arrow: Roy Harper. Roy hasn’t been seen for two years since he went on the run and left Star City. However, he was now back in town and the state’s witness against Oliver. Oliver realizes he needs to investigate what’s going on with Roy and get from under this mess.
Unfortunately for Roy, he’s not the most welcome witness. He’s under the loving care of corrupt police officers who are in Diaz’s pocket and have been torturing him over and over for a confession. Roy is holding out, but he’s getting brutally beat up in the process. Thea, who hasn’t been in the mix all season, realizes that her long lost love is in need of help, and she’s more than willing to save him. She and Oliver go to a hotel where he’s being held for the purpose of doing recon, but she quickly springs into action to try and save him. Oliver has to pull her out after a SWAT team storms their location so that she and Oliver won’t have to fight (and probably get killed by) the armed team. Thea, while angry at Oliver talks with him revealing that she’s been in a run since Roy left. Oliver proposes that when they rescue him, she leave Star City with him so that she doesn’t get bogged down with vigilante activities.
Realizing that there are way more corrupt cops than expected, Oliver realizes that Diaz is responsible for Roy’s kidnapping and launch a second rescue. Thanks to a tip from Earth-2 Laurel of all people, they learn where Roy is being held and launch a rescue attempt to fight both Diaz and Anatoly. Just as they cornered in on Diaz, his paid police come in forcing Oliver to escape. Roy is able to escape with Thea. While it’s not revealed if they will leave Star City together or not, someone has noticed Thea, a spy for the League of Assassins. The spy reports that they have found the “heir to the Demon.” Looks like we aren’t done with Thea just yet.
Next week, Nyssa and the League of Assassins returns, now recruiting Thea to be their leader.
Gringo tells the story of Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) – one of the good guys. He
keeps his head down and follows his boss’s orders, he loves his wife and does
all he can to provide for her, and he doesn’t break any laws. Yet for some
reason, things just don’t seem to be shaking out for Harold. His accountant
lets him know that money is drying up and his wife is the cause of a lot of the
debt. He gets word that his company might be absorbed by another one, leaving
his job in jeopardy. He works in middle management at a pharmaceutical company
and if the rumored deal comes to fruition, he will be easily replaceable. He
tries to get some reassurance from his boss Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton), but
Rich just feeds Harold bullshit lines and tells him to trust him. Then one day
there are problems with the pill inventory from a Mexican factory that happens
to be one of Harold’s clients. Harold, Rich, and the other top dog at the
company – Elaine Markinson (Charlize Theron) – head down to try and sort out the
problem. This trip will set forth a series of events that might change their
lives forever.
It turns out that while Harold is a straight shooter, some
of the people he surrounds himself with might not be on the straight and narrow
like he is. Rich and Elaine had an agreement with Celerino Sanchez (Hernán
Mendoza), the branch manager at the Mexican factory, to sell some of
the inventory to a local drug cartel lead by Villegas (Carlos Corona) – also
known as the ‘Black Panther’. When money was tight, the company needed these
shady business dealings to survive. Now that things are good and there is a
potential acquisition on the line, Rich and Elaine need to make sure that the
inventory gets shored up so no red flags are noticed to trip up the deal.
Sanchez warns them that it is not a good idea to change your agreement with a Mexican
drug Cartel, but Rich and Elaine have their heads up their asses and don’t heed
his advice. During the Mexican trip things get even worse for Harold. His wife
tells him she is having an affair and he finds out that he will in fact lose
his job after the acquisition and that Rich will do nothing to try and stop
that. Harold decides to stage a kidnapping of himself to collect five million
dollars in ransom money and start anew. The only problem is, he might get
actually kidnapped before he can set his plan in motion.
From the lead characters to the minor side roles, everyone
in Gringo is fantastic. Oyelowo delivers a stellar performance, showcasing
a wide range of emotions that Harold experiences throughout the film. The
audience connects with Harold and genuinely cares about what happens to him.
Edgerton is perfect as the jerkoff boss, who is only concerned about himself
and is fine with burning anyone in his way. Theron hits a homerun as the
cutthroat Elaine, who will always be “daddy’s blue ribbon girl.” Amada Seyfried
plays a carefree and goodhearted soul – aptly named Sunny – that is tricked
into going to Mexico by her boyfriend Miles (Harry Treadaway) so he can smuggle
pills back into the US for a hefty payday. Of course, those pills happen to be
produced at the same factory that is Harold’s client – such a small world!
Although neither of them are essential to the plot or have too big of a role,
they both take advantage of their screen time as well. I would be remiss if I
didn’t mention Rich’s brother Mitch – played by Sharlto Copley. Mitch is a
former mercenary who is trying to get out of that field and turn his life
around. Rich convinces him to go to Mexico to get Harold back because Rich
certainly does not want to pay five million dollars to do so. Mitch is a great
addition to the film. He may be partially insane, but he is a hoot. The film is
full of action and laughs and there is never a dull moment. The music is great
and helps pace the scenes. The characters are over the top and at times
ridiculous, but they fit perfectly into the world that director Nash Edgerton
and writers Matthew Stone and Anthony Tambakis created. As you can tell there
are a lot of moving parts in Gringo,
but they all manage to fit well with each other. The end result is a hell of a
ride and quite the good time.
