Those who read my top 20 movies of 2017 know that Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was very high on my list. And the Oscar voters would seem to agree as the film is a favorite to win Best Picture this weekend. While it has faced backlash due to the supposedly sympathetic portrayal of Dixon, a racist cop played by Oscar nominee Sam Rockwell, I think most of that is a very small, vocal minority. Ya’ll need to relax.
Anyway, the film is now available on digital and Blu-Ray/DVD (you want it, order it now), and if you want an example of how great it is just check out the first ten minutes below. It’s uncensored and super NSFW, but you get a taste for Frances McDormand’s fiery, possibly Oscar-winning performance. She’s great here, along with the entire ensemble.
I’ll admit to not watching Star Wars Rebels since the midseason premiere, and the reason is that I just don’t want to see the series end. But whether I watch it or not the series finale is coming up, and Disney XD has revealed a new trailer for it. Excuse me while I wipe away a tear.
The series finale will be broken up into two episodes, “A Fool’s Hope” and “Family Reunion – and Farewell.” It will find Ezra Bridger finally living up to his destiny, and coming face to face with Emperor Palpatine, who will be voiced by Ian McDiarmid.
Star Wars Rebels has been a consistently great and integral addition to the Star Wars canon. It’s going to be sad to see it go, but as we saw with Rogue One, these characters are going to play a major role for a long time to come.
The finale airs Monday, March 5th on Disney XD beginning at 8:30pm. *sniffle*
Fox is speeding right along with their X-Men movies, but not without some changes. While Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix are still on tap for this year, a third movie, Josh Boone’s New Mutants, was pushed to early 2019. Reason for concern or a shrewd bit of maneuvering? Who knows, but Fox is taking that time to make one huge change.
In THR‘s report about Fox’s upcoming Silver Surfer movie, they also dropped a nugget that New Mutants will undergo some major reshoots this summer. How big are we talking? Well, they will introduce an entirely new character into the story. Say what? No word on if this is a new X-Man, a villain, or just a secondary character but that’s a pretty significant change to a story that seemed well established. We’ve already had rounds of trailers and a number of other promos for Boone’s superhero horror movie. Is this new character because the film wasn’t testing well or what?
I’m sure more will come to light on this in the next few months. New Mutants opens February 22nd 2019.
Nominated for Best Animated feature at the Academy Awards,
Pixar’s new heartwarming adventure Coco tells the story of a young boy
who wishes to become a musician despite his family’s generations-old ban on
music. Determined to prove his musicianship and unlock the secrets of his
family history, the young Miguel finds himself trapped in the Land of the Dead,
racing against his ancestors to prove himself before his musical idol.
We Said: “By expanding in
scope, and touching on hurdles all families must face in their own time, Coco
shows how all of us are alike regardless of our ethnic backgrounds. The final
moments, joyously plucked to the strings of a guitar, are guaranteed to strum a
few heartstrings, as well.” Rating: 4 out
of 5
Nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture, the controversial Three
Billboards follows a single mother (Frances McDormand) on a quest for
justice after the brutal murder of her young daughter. Emptying her bank
account, she erects the titular signs challenging the inactive police force
(Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) for the little action they’ve taken in
solving the cold case, and violent hypocritical attitudes they force on the
town as a whole.
We Said: “Throughout, [writer/director
Martin] McDonagh’s deft screenplay keeps us on our toes, never letting us get
comfortable for even a moment.The
result is a film that is as much a crowd-pleaser (That ending!!!!) as it is
extremely difficult to watch at times, and no matter what Three Billboard Outside Ebbing,
Missouri is always rewarding.” Rating:
4 out of 5
Based on the classic novel, Murder on the Orient Express is
a stylish, star studded whodunit. When a mysterious murder and a sudden
avalanche derails a train through Europe, it’s up to the self-proclaimed “world’s
greatest detective”, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), to piece together the
clues and solve the case before time runs out. With an all-star cast featuring
Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom
Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley, Murder on the Orient Express is
endless suspenseful fun.
We Said: “There’s a lot to
love about Kenneth Branagh’s handsome but slightly messy adaptation of Agatha
Christie’s 1934 mystery, Murder On the Orient Express. Lushly
detailed, as much in production value as with the beautifully-assembled cast,
the film is gorgeous to look at from start to finish; as elegant as the dainty
morsels of food served in the titular train’s dining car. And while it helps if
you’ve never read Christie’s story before, even those who have will come away
hoping to see more of Branagh as the thickly-mustachioed detective, Hercule
Poirot.” Rating: 3 out of 5
Another best Picture nominee, Darkest hour stars Gary
Oldman in one of his most acclaimed and transformative roles yet: Winston
Churchill. Set in the middle of the second world war, the film gives you a
thrilling glimpse inside the turbulent first weeks Churchill spent in office.
We Said: “Visually, [director
Joe Wright] literally rips through the critical month of May 1940 to convey the
urgency of events, and only occasionally does the film bog down into excessive
conversation. But even when it does, Oldman is there to power through with a
big, bold performance that will define how Churchill is portrayed on the big screen.” Rating: 4 out of 5
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free early screening of The Strangers: Prey at Night, the sequel to 2008’s horror hit, The Strangers! The film stars Christina Hendricks, Bailee Madison, and Martin Henderson.
SYNOPSIS: A family’s road trip takes a dangerous turn when they arrive at a secluded mobile home park to stay with some relatives and find it mysteriously deserted. Under the cover of darkness, three masked psychopaths pay them a visit to test the family’s every limit as they struggle to survive. Johannes Roberts directs this horror film inspired by the 2008 smash hit THE STRANGERS.
The screening takes place on Monday, March 5th at AMC Mazza Gallerie at 7:00pm. If you’d like to enter for a chance to win, simply complete the required steps in the Rafflecopter form below. Winners will be selected on Thursday, March 1st and notified by email. Good luck!
While many have cheered the Fox/Disney deal for giving fans the chance to finally see Marvel’s Avengers and X-Men universes united on the big screen, it’s still wide open as to if the merger will happen. Other players are in the works to pick up Fox’s lucrative properties, and as we’ve seen over the last few months it hasn’t stopped the studio from launching new projects as if no deal was imminent, like Tim Miller’s Kitty Pryde solo movie. And now you can add another hot comics adaptation into the mix.
THR reports that a Silver Surfer movie is in development, with Y: The Last Man and Runaways creator Brian K. Vaughn penning the script. Hot damn. There also remains that Doctor Doom movie from Legion creator Noah Hawley, an X-Force film from Drew Goddard that begins shooting next fall, and Gambit, assuming it ever keeps a director around.
Insiders state that it’s “business as usual” around the Fox lot, with one executive saying “We are going 100 miles per hour”in developing new films. There still remains some doubt that any of them will see the light of day if the deal with Disney goes through, especially the R-rated ones.
Silver Surfer is one of Marvel’s most popular cosmic characters, and has close ties to the Fantastic Four. The last time he appeared on screen was in the 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which earned $289M at the time but was a damn sight better than the 2015 reboot.
The last time we saw Adam Sandler on Netflix it was for Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories, showing the dramatic potential he’s so often flashed but never really capitalized on. It’s probably not the kind of thing his fans really want to see him in, but fortunately for them they won’t have to wait much longer for his next sophomoric joint. The Week Of reunites Sandler with his SNL and Grown Ups pal Chris Rock for a wedding comedy that Netflix hopes you’ll save the date for.
Looking like a juvenile combination of Meet the Parents and Father of the Bride, the film centers on two dads and the hijinks that ensue in the days leading up to their kids getting married. This looks pretty harmless; not especially funny but harmless. Rachel Dratch, Steve Buscemi, Allison Strong, Rob Morgan (Dude, I love you for basically appearing in anything that will pay.), and Noah Robbins co-star. Here’s the synopsis:
The Week Of tells the story of a devoted, middle class father (Adam Sandler) determined to pay for his daughter’s wedding despite the prodding of the wealthier father of the groom (Chris Rock). A series of calamities forces the dads (and their families) to come together and endure the longest week of their lives.
Remember when Disney purchased Lucasfilm a few years ago they also set out to streamline the Star Wars canon. Gone were all of the novelizations, comics, and TV specials, and all that remained were the original trilogy, the prequels, Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars, with anything new outside of that designed to fit within the new framework. It was all so neat and clean back then, but already shit’s pretty damn complicated. They put out like a million books a year and that doesn’t include comics. With the new spinoff movies it’s even tougher to figure out, but at least now we know exactly where Solo: A Star Wars Story will fit.
You can always find a timeline out there that puts everything into order, but publish DelRey Books has dropped an official one that places Solo: A Star Wars Story during the three year gap between novels Star Wars: Tarkin (set 14 years before 1977’s A New Hope) and Star Wars: A New Dawn. Basically, it comes before Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One, which means its the first story to take place closest to the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which is when the Empire rises to power. Han Solo would be around 18 years old or so at the time of the upcoming movie, and spans the next 6 years of his life. That leaves plenty of open ground left to cover before the rogue shows up in his Millennium Falcon for A New Hope.
One of these days I’m going to set out to read all of these books, but already the prospect of doing so is daunting. Solo: A Star Wars Story opens May 25th.
It’s funny how quickly things turn around. A year ago Warner Bros. was soaring on the news they had hired Joss Whedon, the architect of much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to work on Justice League and then to do a solo Batgirl movie. Well, one was a dud and the other was put in limbo when Whedon dropped out of directing Batgirl due to a lack of story. While a number of female writers immediately threw their hats in the ring to take over, there won’t be any rush to make this movie a reality.
The Wrap reports that a new director won’t be attached to Batgirl any time soon as the project is no longer a priority for DC Films. The reasoning is solid. The plan had been to launch solo movies featuring the core Justice League characters: Flash, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Batman, Aquaman, etc., before taking on spinoff movies of others. That doesn’t just include Batgirl, but other percolating projects like Nightwing, Deathstroke, and Lobo. No matter what, the film wasn’t going to shoot before Reeves gets The Batman off the ground, and we’ve seen how long that has taken.
Of course, there’s also the fact that DC Films is on shaky ground internally. Besides the failing box office for everything other than Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. faces an uncertain fate due to a possible merger with AT&T.
Armie Hammer is back playing an American in a beautiful European locale, only for a much different experience than he had in Call Me By Your Name. Hammer stars alongside Geoffrey Rush in Final Portrait, Stanley Tucci’s drama about the real-life friendship between writer James Lord and painter Alberto Giacometti.
Tucci’s first directorial effort since 2007’s Blind Date takes place in 1964 Paris, as Lord is asked by his good friend Giacometti to sit for a portrait that would only take a few days. The artist demands considerably more of his time, though. Giacometti would pass away shortly after their sessions were completed, and twenty years later Lord would pen a massive biography of his late friend.
The film co-stars Clemence Posey, Tony Shalhoub, and Sylvie Testud. Here’s the synopsis:
FINAL PORTRAIT is the story of the touching and offbeat friendship between American writer and art-lover James Lord and Alberto Giacometti, as seen through Lord’s eyes and revealing unique insight into the beauty, frustration, profundity and sometimes the chaos of the artistic process. Set in 1964, while on a short trip to Paris, Lord is asked by his friend, Giacometti, to sit for a portrait. The process, promises Giacometti, will take only a few days and so Lord agrees —ultimately wondering “how much longer can it go on like this?”
