I believe my dream of seeing Monica Rambeau, aka Pulsar, aka Photon, aka Spectrum, and aka the black Captain Marvel, on the big screen is one step closer to reality. Deadline reports that DeWanda Wise, star of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It series on Netflix, has joined the cast of Captain Marvel.
Is it confirmed Wise is playing Monica Rambeau? Not yet, but just you wait. Rambeau not only has shared the powers of Carol Danvers, who I played by Brie Larson in the Marvel film, but they are also really close friends. It makes sense that Rambeau would be in the story somewhere. I’ll be honest, I always wanted Teyonah Parris to play her but Wise is a pretty damn good choice, too.
Wise joins Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ben Mendelsohn in the film directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. It will be set in the ’90s and reportedly has the alien Skrulls as the primary villains. Captain Marvel opens March 8th 2019.
The wide-release, low-budget, horror scene of the last decade
has been driven by a single studio…Blumhouse. Jason Blum and his company has
done more for horror then any other single studio that I can think of, at least
any other studio dealing exclusively in horror…certainly Dimension is up there as
well. Under that Blumhouse banner there have been three heavyweights, the
Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers of the 2010’s, with The Conjuring, Sinister
and, of course, Insidious. Insidious:
The Last Key, the fourth entry in the spirit-centric series, is a prequel
of sorts bridging the gap between the last movie…which was also a prequel, and
the first movie in the series. Following Elise (Lin Shaye), who started the series
in a secondary role as the token parapsychologist, has slowly become the protagonist
of the series. She and the rest of the Spectral Sightings crew, Specs and
Tucker…the series R2 and C3PO, investigate a disturbance in New Mexico in her
childhood home. This is no ordinary childhood home, in flashback we see it’s
full on 50’s creep fest. Sitting just a stone’s through away from the penitentiary
where Elise’s abusive alcoholic father worked, the home featured such amenities
as lights that would flicker when a prisoner was being executed with electrocution,
total Norman Rockwell. It got so bad that Elise was forced to run away and
abandon her brother, never to come back until she is brought in to investigate
the supernatural shenanigans going on.
The Insidious series started out with a unique take on the
ghost world and the whole “ghost hunter” thing. Prior to the series it was
always something that was shown on screen by having a medium close their eyes, flickering
some lights and speaking ominously, Poltergeist
being the template for all of those to come after it. When Insidious first hit
it was, for lack of a better term, groundbreaking. This shadow world, a mirror
dimension, where all manner of ghostly horrors lived. The problem is they didn’t continue the innovation
or even build on it. Insidious: The Last
Key follows the same road, I get it…they’re going to the same place so why
would it be different. Because we need it to be that’s why. The thing about
horror is the draw lies in the surprise, it’s the main reason sequels are
inferior, the surprise is gone, we are just given flourishes on the original
concept. Had there been some effort given to a new ghost dimension experience I
would be able to watch a new one of these flicks every year but as it stands it
seems they’ve run out of steam, or at least new ideas. That may seem like a
small gripe but it’s honestly such a big part of the draw of these movies it
becomes paramount, when you take the atmospheric and claustrophobic terror away
you are just left with another demon-based jump scare flick. While I’m sure
they have their fans, I also just can’t get onboard with Leigh Wannell and
Angus Sampson’s Specs and Tucker, Elise’s crew and the film’s obvious comic relief.
I just don’t think the movie needs it, there’s a chance for it to be a real
dour, dark, and terrifying experience…which, honestly doesn’t sound like much
fun, but trust me the flick would benefit for those looking for a true horror experience.
The film does have it’s shining points, Lin Shaye is the
most obvious. While I’ll never be able to see her without thinking of her role
as Roy Munson’s landlady in Kingpin,
she’s managed to become the elder stateswoman of scream queens in the past 1o
years. She brings a level of talent and performance to the role that simply isn’t
expected so it’s always a pleasant surprise. The filmmakers also brought in
some real-world horror to make things more uncomfortable in the form of Elise’s
abusive childhood. The creature design is also a high point. The film’s primary
demon, a creature with keys for fingers that can lock the scream in your very
throat and use those keys to open the door between worlds, is unsettling. This
is an area that Insidious and really
Blumhouse overall, has always excelled at and I was happy to see that they
continue to innovate and deliver fresh monsters when it’s so easy to fall down
that generic baddie pot hole. Lastly, what would be a negative for some, I’m putting
in the positive list…the jump scares. Now I love horror movies, but I’m not one
of those guys that’s going to tell you I don’t still get scared. I may not,
generally speaking, get that lasting, up at 2am looking at the slightly open
closet door with terror, type of fear, but a good jump scare will get me
everytime. I’m always surprised when film’s can catch me off guard, Insidious: The Last Key caught me at
least 4 separate times.
Not the best of the franchise by any means Insidious: The Last Key is a fun watch
packed with quite a few thrills and a hell of a lead actress. Here in the
doldrums of January cinema Insidious is a flick that is worth it’s ticket price
if your looking for a few hours to turn your brain off and spark some of that fight
or flight adrenaline. I think it goes without saying but if you haven’t been a
fan before, this one’s not going to change your mind. It’s not for everyone but
if you saw the trailers and thought it was something you might like, you wont
be disappointed.
As Game of Thrones fans we are used to long waits between seasons. It’s tough, as desolate and cold as I imagine winters at The Wall tend to be, but this wait before the eighth and final season is going to be particularly long and especially hard.
We’ve seen this coming for a while, but HBO has confirmed the final season of Game of Thrones won’t arrive until 2019. Somebody unleash the Dothraki on them fools!!!
Aaargh! No hard start date or anything, either, so we don’t know if we’ll see it in the spring as we did for six seasons, or in the summer heat as the delayed seventh season was. What we know is that the final season will only be six episodes, however they’ll be extended in length and similar to little Game of Thrones movies, which is good because we’ll probably never get an actual movie in theaters or anything.
In this world of reboots, remakes and re…fried beans? It’s amazing to me that there are still legitimately interesting stories out there that have yet to be translated to the screen. THIS, is in my top 2 (the other being HH Holmes murder house which is also on it’s way to theaters), the real story goes that Sarah Winchester, widow of William Winchester heir to Winchester Arms fortune, became so obsessed with the ghosts of those killed by her husband’s companies rifles that she began having additions built on her mansion that were completely non-sensical and meant to confuse the spirits. I’m taking doors that open to a wall, staircases to no where, rooms with wallpaper (really who does that?), she reportedly spent millions (in 1800’s money) to build the mansion until it became an amazing if not crazy labyrinth…like a windstorm blew through an architectural firm and someone scooped up the plans and just built whatever was there.
Obviously the woman was simply mad, but you can see the appeal. I’m split on this film. On one hand I’m seeing it happen and with Helen Mirren in the title role. On the other it’s coming out February 2nd, dead in the middle of “horrible movie months” so more then likely it’s going to be a stock horror flick. The trailer looks atmospheric as hell, as well it should…a film like this should feature the house as it’s main character and with Mirren leading you’d hope something good will end up on screen. Obviously I’ll reserve judgment but I can’t help but to think of what this could be had it been a high-brow Del Toro/Pan’s Labyrinth type flick.
Check out the trailer below and you can see Winchester on February 2nd, 2018~
Netflix isn’t satisfied just ramping up the number of original movies they release each year, they are steadily increasing the size of their productions. While Bright was their first real swing at a blockbuster-style action flick, which turned out to be a home run and the start of a franchise, they’ve long since been cranking out broad studio comedies. Most of those have been through their deal with Adam Sandler, but now the Workaholics gang are giving it a go with Game Over, Man!
No, it isn’t about Bill Paxon’s Alien character, nor does it seem to be about video games. Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Blake Anderson reunite for an action-comedy about three friends who gotta go all “Die Hard” when their workplace is taken over by armed gunmen. We saw a teaser for this back in May that didn’t reveal much, but this gives us a better sense of how silly things are going to get. The answer: very friggin’ silly. Somebody help poor Shaggy out!
Directed by Kyle Newacheck, Game Over, Man! hits Netflix on March 23rd.
You don’t expect to see the name of Alex Ross Perry attached to something as obviously sentimental as Nostalgia, the new film from Henry Poole Is Here director Mark Pellington. The guy who gave us the venomous screenplays for Queen of Earth and Listen Up, Philip is clearly working on a different wavelength here, and along with the all-star cast those are reasons enough to take interest.
Starring Jon Hamm, Catherine Keener, Nick Offerman, Amber Tamblyn, John Ortiz, Chris Marquette, Patton Oswalt, Ellen Burstyn, Annalise Basso, Larry Wilmore, Bruce Dern, and James LeGros, the film tells a mosaic of stories about how the things in our lives can shape our memories and who we are. Like any anthology piece there are probably going to be some tales better than others, but it’s hard to deny the talent involved, even if the trailer looks a little on the sappy side.
There needed to be some big changes over at DC Films, and change has finally come. Following the critical and box office disappointment of Justice League, Warner Bros. pushed out co-heads Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, to nobody’s surprise. Berg went on to become a producing partner alongside Roy Lee (The Lego Movie), while Johns saw his role reduced to more of an adviser. Now a permanent replacement for them both has been found and it’s The Conjuring and It producer Walter Hamada.
You probably don’t know his name and, honestly, neither do I. Working for New Line, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., Hamada has been a production executive on the aforementioned flicks as well as Annabelle, and has a close relationship with James Wan, who just happens to be directing Aquaman, the next big DC Films release. That can only help if the film does well and WB hopes to keep Wan around. Hamada will exit New Line and take over as head of DC Films and all of the studio’s comic book-related movies.
Hamada’s got a tough uphill climb ahead of him. Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad are the only true success stories in a sea of misfires. Here’s hoping that putting one guy in charge of all of it will help to minimize some of the confusion surrounding DC Films projects. Like, how many Harley Quinn and Joker movies are coming up? Three? Four? Ask any fan what Marvel movies are coming and they can probably rattle them all off, plus give you their release dates. Warner Bros. needs to find a way to get the DCEU to that level of simplicity.
Oh, “She ready” alright. Tiffany Haddish was the toast of the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner last night, with multiple nominees mentioning the hilarious Girls Trip breakout in their speeches. And in one case, Phantom Thread director P.T. Anderson even mentioned in a note that he’d like to work with her. Hello! How can we make that happen post-haste?? But the best came from Haddish herself, who turned her acceptance speech for winning Best Supporting Actress into an extended 18-minute comedy bit.
In the comic routine, Haddish touched on multiple things, from her newfound fame to taking criticism to religion, and how different the awards were be if black people ran that joint…
“That might have been too much information, but I don’t care. If this was a black party, everybody would be laughing and having a good time. I’m teaching you all something today.”
She’s going to be fun to have around, and let’s hope she sticks around for a long time. You can watch some shaky handheld cam footage of her speech below.
Are audiences ready for another gritty take on the story of Robin Hood? Lionsgate sure hopes so, and with production well underway on the potential blockbuster formerly known as Robin Hood: Origins, a handful of new images have been released.
The images feature Kingsman: The Golden Circle star Taron Egerton as Robin Hood, alongside Jamie Foxx as Little John. Also pictured is Ben Mendelsohn as the most suave version of the Sheriff of Nottingham that I’ve ever seen. His suit seems to be a mix of medievel and modern styles, which is what I think director Otto Bathurst is going for, a setting that can’t be completely nailed down.
The film also stars Jamie Dornan as Will Scarlet and Eve Hewson as Maid Marian, who is also Scarlet’s wife. Something tells me that will be the cause of some drama. Clearly this won’t be a traditional take on the Robin Hood story. It will take place after he’s returned home from war, and according to a producer it will find Robin disillusioned and possibly suffering from PTSD.
That’s fine, just as long as they keep the adventure and fun we expect from a Robin Hood story. Robin Hood opens on September 21st. [Collider]
Honestly, I think James Bond will always be a white dude. I’m not offended by this in any way, I really don’t even care, but the Bond producers are traditionalists despite what they claim, which leads me to think hopes of ever seeing Idris Elba as 007 are slim. That said, longtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has left the door open to a person of color or a female to suit up as the iconic secret agent. She tells The Daily Mail…
“These films tend to reflect the times so we always try to push the envelope a little bit,” she said. “Anything is possible. Right now it’s Daniel Craig, and I’m very happy with Daniel Craig, but who knows what the future will bring?”
At this point we don’t even know who will direct the next James Bond movie, and it does seem like Craig’s time in the role is drawing to a close. While names have been floated as possible replacements, including Elba’s, there isn’t a clear frontrunner and certainly no women are in the mix. Again, I’m doubtful that we’ll see a change of such magnitude any time soon, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Want to really drive people crazy? Make Bond a black woman. Better yet, a black gay woman. The earth will shatter, up will be down, light will be dark, dogs and cats living together…
