As you may have heard me say since returning from Sundance, this year’s festival was a bit of a downer. Fewer films overall, and definitely fewer movies that we’ll be shouting about during the awards season. But there were still a few highlights and one of the most electrifying films at Park City was Love Lies Bleeding, Rose Glass’ pulpy queer crime-romance starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brien.
Love Lies Bleeding is a queer romance set within a small-town crime thriller. Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager (we liken her performance to Mickey Rourke-esque) who enters a steamy relationship with Jackie, a nomadic bodybuilder with a dream of winning a bodybuilding competition in Vegas. The two find themselves swept up in a web of violence, pulling them closer to Lou’s criminal family ties.
I was at the world premiere of Love Lies Bleedingand loved it. Gritty and surreal at the same time, I think it’s the film that takes Glass into the mainstream and makes a star out of O’Brien.
The film also stars Dave Franco, Ed Harris, Jena Malone and Anna Baryshnikov.
Glass made waves with her debut feature, Saint Maud, which earned her a ton of new fans. O’Brien is best known for her roles on The Mandalorian and Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania.
Here’s the synopsis: From Director Rose Glass comes an electric new love story; reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
A24 will release Love Lies Bleeding in theaters on March 8th.
If a Predator movie was set in the Stone Age period, it might look something like Out of Darkness. To me, that’s high praise considering my love of that action franchise, which through multiple films combined man vs. nature thrills with the visceral horror of monster movies. First-time director Andrew Cumming makes good use of the rarely-seen setting (2018’s Alpha a notable highlight) to craft an atmospheric and tense survival film that, like the Predator spinoff Prey, puts its female characters in the spotlight.
Set 45,000 years ago, Out of Darkness opens with a group of Paleolithic travelers around a campfire. They have survived a dangerous voyage to find a mythical “promised land”, but it isn’t as bountiful as they hoped. On the verge of starvation, they are growing desperate in this barren, frigid, unfamiliar land of endless mountains and hills. As if it wasn’t bad enough in the daytime, at night it’s even worse. Fearful that it is plagued by demons, their worst fear comes true when a shrill shriek heralds the arrival of an unknown predator, who snatches away the most defenseless member of their clan.
Adem (Chuku Modu) leads this small pack, having encouraged this fruitless venture. With his spear, and apparent ego, he believes he can repel any danger that comes their way. He also believes they will find the haven they’ve been looking for. Adem has a son, Heron (Luna Mwezi), with another on the way with Ave (Iola Evans), who worries about giving birth to a female. A female will have to “earn her place” among the largely-male tribe, and it sounds as gross as you think it does. Our suspicions are confirmed in teen stray Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), who, after getting her first period, is lustily told by Adem and sinister elder Odal (Arno Luning) that she exists “for whatever we need.” They don’t mean foraging for berries. Adem’s younger brother Geirr (Kit Young) is the timid one, treating the women with a respect they won’t get elsewhere.
Working with a minimal budget, Cumming makes smart use of lighting, sound, and shadow to mask the deadly creature. The Scottish Highlands are intimidating in the best of circumstances, but they are downright terrifying when the flicker of firelight is all there is to go by. A quibble that I had is that the actors don’t look like Stone Age travelers struggling to survive. The costumes, mostly made of animal pelts, are too fresh and dare I say stylish in some cases. It momentarily took me out of it but was forgotten once the gloomy atmospherics took hold, and Oakley-Green stepped up with a fearless performance as Beyah proved her mettle to the men.
Further immersing you into this desolate world is a unique subtitled language dubbed “Tola” that was created for the film by historical advisors Daniel Andersson and Rob Dinnis. It just goes to show the level of care and detail paid to the film, which had its world premiere back in 2022 and was originally titled Origin. Probably a good move to change that title, although Out of Darkness is a title so bland as to be forgettable and confused with about a thousand other horror movies.
A familiar rhythm is established as the creature hunts the tribe down, one by one. And like Predator before it, their various personalities and quirks often play into their demise. Fans of this particular type of survival horror will appreciate the mounting tension among the prey as they each look for a way out of certain death. The showdown is an appropriately chaotic life-or-death fight, backed by the glimmer of cave light. But the reveal of the hunter is a disappointment, as Cumming seeks to deliver a clumsy message than give audiences a satisfying introduction to a new screen monster. Cumming does so much right in crafting an exciting, precarious adventure that you can mostly forgive the misstep, and hope that Out of Darkness is the start of a long, successful career.
Bleecker Street opens Out of Darkness in theaters on February 9th.
It’s been ages since we heard anything about Moon director Duncan Jones’ next project, an animated adaptation of the Rogue Trooper comic book. Not only is the film still very much in the works, but the voice cast has been revealed, and it’s an impressive lineup.
Variety reports that Aneurin Barnard will voice 19, the titular Genetic Infantryman on the planet Nu-Earth who is the sole survivor of an invasion. Desperate to find the traitor to sold out him and his squadmates, 19 is accompanied by three of his fallen comrades whose personalities are kept in biochips attached to his helmet, backpack, and rifle.
Also leading the cast are Hayley Atwell and Jack Lowden. Others lending their voices include Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry, Diane Morgan, Alice Lowe, Sean Bean, Asa Butterfield, Daryl McCormack, and Reece Shearsmith.
Barnard is best known for his roles in The Goldfinch and Dunkirk; Atwell most recently starred in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Lowden was also in Dunkirk and Fighting with My Family.
The film marks Jones’ first feature since Warcraft in 2018. Interestingly, Rogue Trooper‘s animations are being developed using Unreal Engine 5, which is primarily used for video games and includes motion-capture elements. As video games grow in size and budget to become more like movies, and movies adapt more and more video games, we are now starting to see them sharing the same technology.
Perhaps Alex Garland had a change of heart about retiring from directing after his upcoming film, Civil War? Because he’s suddenly very busy, working with Danny Boyle on the long-awaited 28 Years Later, and now Deadline reports Garland has signed on to co-direct a new project that has a popular leading man already aboard.
May December star Charles Melton is set to star in an untitled war film co-written and co-directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. Garland and Mendoza most recently worked together on Civil War, where the latter served as military supervisor. A24 is backing the project and will eventually release it.
Melton is on fire right now after his supporting role in May December opposite Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. He arguably stole the movie from them both, with many thinking he should’ve been nominated for an Oscar. For his performance, he earned a Golden Globe nomination and won many regional critics awards. The Riverdale actor could’ve chosen just about anything he wanted, and he decided that working with Garland was the right move.
As for Garland, we’ll see where this takes him. After directing Ex Machina, Annihilation, and the FX series Devs, Garland’s star seemed to be on the rise. It’s his experience on Men, which was bruised pretty badly critically and at the box office, that appears to have changed him. Civil War looks amazing and like the most easily accessible to mainstream audiences. We’ll see how it does when it opens on April 12th.
Two MCU veterans are teaming up for the first time. Deadline reports Samuel L. Jackson and Dave Bautista will star in Afterburn, an adaptation of the Red 5 graphic novel set in a post-apocalyptic future. The comic was created by Scott Chitwood and Wayne Nichols.
Afterburn takes place one year after a solar flare wipes out all technology around the world. Bautista will take on the lead role of Jake, an ex-soldier “who works as a treasure hunter recovering valuable objects from the old world for powerful clients. His latest mission is to team with freedom fighter Drea to recover the Mona Lisa before an unhinged warlord gets there first.”
Jackson will take on the supporting role of Valentine, a freedom fighter.
A producer on the film is Neal H. Moritz of the Fast & Furious franchise. This is a longtime passion project for him and the other producers, who first tried to get the film going in 2018.
The action picks up when Jake and his fellow treasure hunters venture into the Burn Zone, facing mutants, rival raiders, and more to secure big payoffs.
Behind the camera is director JJ Perry, a former actor who previously directed Jamie Foxx in the underrated vampire film, Day Shift. He and Bautista are familiar with one another as they recently wrapped up the action-comedy, The Killer’s Game.
Filming on Afterburn is to begin in April. Coming up for Bautista is Dune: Part Two and the My Spy sequel. Jackson can be seen in theaters right now in Argylle.
I’m posting this just because I know it’ll make our writer Cortland Jacoby very happy, as she has been saying since last year’s Sundance that Fancy Dance was Lily Gladstone’s best movie of 2023. Well, after going this long without distribution, the film has landed at Apple, which happens to be the home of Killers of the Flower Moon, which made her an Oscar nominee for Best Actress.
Fancy Dance is the directorial debut of filmmaker Erica Tremblay, whom Cortland spoke with at Sundance following its world premiere. The film stars Gladstone alongside Isabel Deroy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Shea Whigham, Crystle Lightning and Audrey Wasilewski.
Apple has global rights and plans a theatrical release followed by Apple TV+ streaming later this year.
Here’s the synopsis: Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of losing custody to Jax’s father, Frank (Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world and at the mercy of a failed justice system.
You can check out Cortland’s review of Fancy Dancehere.
While Joel Coen has pretty much established his solo directing career already, brother Ethan Coen is hoping to go from 0 to 60 with Drive-Away Dolls. The queer road trip comedy stars a to-die-for cast of Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Beanie Feldstein on an impromptu journey to Tallahassee. Of course, everything goes wrong and they get mixed up with a bunch of criminals.
Coen directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with his wife, Tricia Cooke. Along with the core trio, there are a lot of fun cameos including Matt Damon, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Miley Cyrus. You can tell this one was a blast to shoot.
The talent in front of the camera is matched on those on the other side. Carter Burwell, a Coen Brothers favorite, is back to compose the score. The cinematography is by Ari Wegner, whose incredible work can be seen in The Power of the Dog, Zola, The Wonder, and Eileen.
Here’s the synopsis for Drive-Away Dolls: Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, this comedy caper follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian, who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way. Directed by Ethan Coen.
Focus Features will release Drive-Away Dolls into theaters on February 23rd.
Don’t get the two imaginary friends movies confused with one another, because they couldn’t be more different. As seen in yesterday’sIF teaser, that one is a fun, surreal father/daughter comedy starring Ryan Reynolds. But Imaginary…well, it comes from the folks at Blumhouse, and it sees imaginary friends as decidedly more sinister.
In the new trailer for Imaginary, we see that a lonely young girl’s imaginary friend, a creepy teddy bear named Chauncey, could have evil lurking in its stuffed heart. The film stars DeWanda Wise, Pyper Braun, Taegen Burns, Tom Payne, and Betty Buckley.
Behind the camera is Jeff Wadlow, who got his start directing the underrated horror Cry_Wolf. He worked with Blumhouse previously on Fantasy Island and Truth or Dare. He also directed Kick-Ass 2, and the martial arts flick Never Back Down. He last directed the Netflix kiddie film The Curse of Bridge Hollow, which has one of the weirdest casts ever assembled.
Here’s the synopsis: From Blumhouse, the genre-defining masterminds behind FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S and M3GAN, comes an original horror that taps into the innocence of imaginary friends – and begs the question: Are they really figments of childhood imagination or is something more terrifying lying just beneath? When Jessica (DeWanda Wise) moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) develops an eerie attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey she finds in the basement. Alice starts playing games with Chauncey that begin playful and become increasingly sinister. As Alice’s behavior becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realize Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.
Believe it or not, last year’s Cannes was the place for two movies built around treasure seekers. Of course, the one we all remember was the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, such as it was. But the other, lesser-known film was the one that competed for the Palme d’Or; Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, and the trailer for it has just arrived.
Starring Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher, and Isabella Rossellini, La Chimera centers on a group of archaeologists, grave robbers, and thieves on a quest for riches and redemption, and even a lost soulmate.
Rorhwacher has earned many accolades in her career, including the Grand Prix at Cannes for The Wonders. Her previous film, the live-action short Le pupillewas an Oscar nominee in 2022.
Here’s the synopsis: Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goand es inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.
NEON plans to release La Chimera in theaters on March 29th.
A controversial entry at last year’s Cannes, Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero stars Mia Wasikowska as a teacher pushing an extreme diet plan on her students. As long as there are people in the world who feel bad about themselves, there will be nutritional experts around to hook them on a new diet plan that will fix everything. It’s gotten worse in the era of YouTube celebrities and social media, where it’s easy to connect with susceptible people. But what if you’re someone who is in a position of power speaking directly to those under your guidance?
In the new Club Zero trailer, we see Wasikowska as a nutrition teacher who joins the staff at a prestigious boarding school, where she begins pushing her “conscious eating” plan on a new class. But her lessons soon spiral out of control and reach sinister levels, drawing the attention of parents and the faculty.
The film also stars Mathieu Demy, Elsa Zylberstein, Amir El-Masry, and Sidse Babett Knudsen.
Hausner directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Géraldine Bajard. She last directed 2019’s Little Joe with Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw. Like Club Zero, it also competed for the Palme d’Or.
Here’s the synopsis: At an international boarding school, an unassuming, yet rigorous, Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on “conscious eating.” Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class – to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak’s discussions soon become increasingly disordered and extreme. A suspicious headmistress, concerned parents and the failing health of her students lead everyone to question the inscrutable Miss Novak’s motivations for teaching the class. As a few devoted pupils fall deeper under her cult-like tutelage, they are given a new, even more sinister goal to aspire to – joining the ominous “Club Zero.”
