It feels good to be getting major, star-powered casting news again, and the upcoming drama Nuremberg has a lot of big names attached. Variety reports that Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon will star in the film. That’s a pair of Oscar winners and one Oscar nominee. The film will be written and directed by Scream and Scream VI writer James Vanderbilt.
Nuremberg is based on Jack El-Hai‘s book The Nazi And The Psychiatrist. The story centers on “Malek as an American psychiatrist tasked to determine if Nazi prisoners are fit to stand trial for their war crimes. He finds himself in a battle of the wits with Hitler’s right-hand man, played by Crowe. Shannon will portray Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials.”
Vanderbilt is best known for screenwriting blockbusters, including David Fincher’s Zodiac and The Amazing Spider-Man. This is his sophomore effort behind the camera. His debut was 2015’s journalism drama, Truth.
“What an absolute honor it is to be working with such a tremendously talented group of actors,” Vanderbilt said in a press statement. “Our partners at Bluestone and Walden have been incredibly supportive, and I cannot wait to bring this amazing true story to the screen.”
Vanderbilt begins shooting Nuremberg next February in Hungary.
For months I’ve been bemoaning the lack of The Raid-style action flicks. No offense to John Wick fans; I love those movies, too, but they don’t quite scratch the same itch. Well, Mayhem! might be the movie I’ve been waiting for. And it comes from an expected source: French director Xavier Gens.
Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. Gens recently directed three episodes of Gangs of London, the series created by The Raid director Gareth Evans. He also directed Hitman, Cold Skin, and Frontier(s).
One look at the Mayhem! trailer and you can see why I’m excited, and why the film has so many rave reviews. Set in Thailand, the story centers on a former professional boxer and parolee who runs afoul of a local crimelord and must exact brutal vengeance after a deadly attack.
The footage we’ve got features gruesome violence and some incredible fight choreography. Yes, please!
The film stars Nassim Lyes, Olivier Gourmet, Loryn Nounay, Sahajak Boonthanakit, and Only God Forgives star Vithaya Pansringarm.
Here’s the synopsis: “Sam (Nassim Lyes) is a professional boxer about to be released from prison in France, but while on parole, his past catches up with him and he is forced to flee the country. Five years later, he has rebuilt a simple life on an exotic island in Thailand with his wife Mia and her daughter Dara, working multiple jobs to support his family and buy a piece of land to build a restaurant. As his life begins to improve, a job gone wrong puts Sam in the crosshairs of local crime lord Narong (Olivier Gourmet), who retaliates with brutal violence. Crushed but still alive, Sam is left with only one purpose: to seek merciless and bone-breaking vengeance.”
IFC Films will debut Mayhem! in select theaters + on VOD starting January 5th, 2024.
That Barbenheimer is a thing that happened in 2023 is still pretty amazing. Two blockbuster movies, as different as they could possibly be, became attached at the hip making it essential to see them both in theaters with all of one’s friends. There were memes, thousands of think pieces written, and Tik-Toks of eager young moviegoers in attendance. Personally, I think Oppenheimerwas helped out significantly more by the connection, but undoubtedly Barbiereached people it probably wouldn’t have.
And yet, Barbenheimer might not have happened at all if an Oppenheimer producer had his way. Speaking with Cillian Murphy for a Variety piece, Margot Robbie revealed that producer Charles Roven, who she is friends with, called and asked her to move the Barbie release date so as to avoid a showdown. Robbie wasn’t having it.
“One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects,” Robbie said. “And he was like, ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.’ And he’s like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving!’”
Roven knows a thing or two about blockbuster movies, but then again so does Robbie. As a producer herself, she had the power to make that kind of decision to keep Barbie right where it was. It didn’t always look like it would be this way, either. Oppenheimer had the date first, then Warner Bros. made a bold counterprogramming choice that obviously paid off. Barbie is the highest-grossing movie of the year with Oppenheimer not far behind. Barbenheimer mission accomplished.
Remember Renate Reinsve? She was a superstar last year for her Cannes Award-winning performance in The Worst Person in the World, her first-ever performance, insane as that might be. Well, now she’s back and coming to Sundance with the indie horror, Handling the Undead, which will be part of an impressive Midnight lineup.
The film takes place during an Oslo summer when strange events begin occurring, and a collective migraine headache strikes the people. As these bizarre events spread through the city, something awakens the dead and a trio of families are forced to deal with the fallout of seeing their loved ones return.
Norwegian director Thea Hvistendahl’s feature debut is based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of the classic vampire story Let the Right One, which was later adapted into two movies.
Here’s the brief synopsis which doesn’t reveal much…
On a hot summer day in Oslo, the newly dead awaken. Three families faced with loss try to figure out what this resurrection means and if their loved ones really are back. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Handling the Undead makes its world premiere next month at Sundance, and will then be distributed by NEON shortly thereafter.
Dan Levy is moving from Schitt’s Creek to the director’s chair. The actor’s feature directorial debut, Good Grief, finds him exploring themes of loss and friendship following the death of a significant other. It’s a definite change of pace for Levy, but based on the new trailer he seems to be handling it in stride.
Not only does Levy direct, but he wrote and stars in the film as Marc, a London man settled in his life with his husband, Oliver, a grandiose figure played by Luke Evans. When Oliver suddenly dies, Marc must find a way to pick up the pieces and carry on. To do it, he’ll need the help of his best friends, played by Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel, who take him on a Paris getaway.
Also in the cast are Celia Imrie, David Bradley, Arnaud Valois, Emma Corrin, and Kaitlyn Dever, so it’s quite a line-up that Levy has put together.
Good Grief is set to open in theaters on December 29th, before hitting Netflix on January 5th 2024.
The Sundance Film Festival‘s 40th anniversary is right around the corner, marking the official start of the 2024 film calendar. And this year promises to be a big one, coming out of two strikes and a deluge of movies with celebrity star power to spare. This year sees the return of several stalwarts of the indie movie scene, such as director Steven Soderbergh, filmmakers Anna Fleck and Ryan Boden, not to mention actors including Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Steven Yeun, Aubrey Plaza, Jesse Eisenberg, and Kristen Stewart who has two major films slated.
Stewart, who has previously hit Park City with 2014’s Camp X-Ray, 2016’s Certain Women and 2018’s Lizzie, returns with Love Me. The film pairs her up with Steven Yeun, and is directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero.
Check out this wild synopsis: “Long after humanity’s extinction, a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love.”
Whoa! Are you sure this isn’t a movie by The Daniels???
Also coming up for Stewart is Love Lies Bleeding, and if that sounds like a bleak, dark romance then you just wait. The film is by Saint Maud director Rose Glass, so you know it’s going to be wild. Stewart is joined in the cast by Katy O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco, Jena Malone, and Anna Baryshnikov.
Here’s the synopsis: Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Two very different films for Stewart, who has done some of her best work at the festival.
Soderberg, who made his breakout feature debut with 1989’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape, is a Park City regular. He returns with Presence, a mystery thriller starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan (who worked on Soderbergh’s The Knick), Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland .
Soderberg reunites with his Kimi writer David Koepp, who penned what is apparently a ghost story by the sound of this sparse synopsis: A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone.
Fleck and Boden have been at Sundance with Half Nelson, Sugar, and 2015’s Mississippi Grind. They’re back with Freaky Tales, starring Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis, Normani Kordei Hamilton, Dominique Thorne, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ji-Young Yoo.
Here’s the synopsis: In 1987 Oakland, a mysterious force guides The Town’s underdogs in four interconnected tales: Teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score. Basically another day in the Bay.
A film that’s high on my list just from the title and premise is The American Society of Magical Negroes. Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer (killin’ it on Wipeout!) star in this surreal story that lives up to the title: A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier. The film is written, directed, and produced by comedian Kobi Libii, and I sense we could be looking at the next Dear White People.
Saoirse Ronan is set to star in The Outrun, a new film by German filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt, who last directed Sandra Bullock in 2021’s The Unforgivable. Ronan is joined in the cast by Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Dillane, and Saskia Reeves.
Here’s the synopsis: After living life on the edge in London, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot.
It wouldn’t be a Sundance without an Aubrey Plaza movie, and she delivers with My Old Ass, a comedy from writer/director Megan Park. Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, and Kerrice Brooks join Plaza in the cast.
Here’s the synopsis: The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott comes face-to-face with her older self during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny and heartfelt journey of self-discovery and first love as Elliott prepares to leave her childhood home.
Chiwetel Ejiofor follows up his 2019 directing debut The Boy Who Harnassed the Wind with a new film that tells a tragic true story of a brilliant young man whose life was cut short. Rob Peace stars Jay Will, Mary J. Blige, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Camila Cabello, Michael Kelly, Mare Winningham, and is based on Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography.
Here’s the synopsis: Robert Peace grew up in an impoverished section of Newark and later graduated from Yale with degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry while on scholarship. Peace led a dual life in academia and research while also earning six figures selling marijuana.
Bleecker Street recently announced they will distribute David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset, starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg. The film will have its world premiere at Sundance. The Zellners have delivered some of the weirdest critical favorites of the festival with two of my favorites, Damsel and Kumiko the Treasure Hunter. They are staying secretive on this one, as the synopsis simply reads, “A year in the life of a singular family.”
Another I’ve got my eye on is Winner, starring CODA‘s Emilia Jones as whistleblower Reality Winner. Yes, it’s the umpteenth Reality Winner film in about a year. Behind the camera is Susanna Fogel, who brought Cat Person to Sundance last year. Jones is joined by Connie Britton, Zach Galifianakis, Kathryn Newton, Danny Ramirez.
Here’s the synopsis: Reality Winner is a brilliant young misfit from a Texas border town who finds her morals challenged while serving as an NSA contractor. A sarcastic, gun-lovin, vegan, yogi, and CrossFit fanatic, Reality is an unconventional whistleblower who ends up being prosecuted for exposing Russia’s hacking of the 2016 election.
And one more that I’m taking a lot of interest in is I Saw the TV Glow, a Midnight horror from writer/director Jane Schoenbrun,along with producers Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCary. Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler star, so this cast is straight up legit.
Here’s the synopsis: Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
The 91 projects revealed today are just the beginning. The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 18–28, 2024, and of course we’ll be there.
Ticket packages and passes are available now and single tickets will be available beginning January 11 at https://festival.sundance.org.
It’s a really good time to be a professional wrestling fan who also loves movies. As Hollywood begins to realize that there are some great fictional and real-life stories to emerge from the squared circle, The Iron Claw arrives to shake up the awards season with the tragic tale of the doomed Von Erich wrestling family.
Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White lead The Iron Claw as brothers Kevin Von Erich and Kerry Von Erich. The Von Erichs are basically professional wrestling royalty based out of Texas, and in the ’80s and ’90s they went toe-to-toe with the WWF. But the family, led by patriarch and brutal ex-wrestler Fritz Von Erich, met with a series of tragedies that shook the brotherhood to its core and led to stories that they had been cursed.
There’s some buzz out there for Efron to earn his first Oscar nomination for his performance in The Iron Claw. Certainly, he bulked up big time to face the rigors of the ring. He’s not alone. The entire cast is fantastic, including White, Harris Dickinson, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany, Maura Tierney, and Lily James.
The film was written and directed by Sean Durkin, who has explored family in different forms with Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest.
I had the overwhelming pleasure to attend the world premiere a few weeks ago in Dallas, and was blown away by the film, the critical eye it casts on pro wrestling, and its focus on the bond between brothers. It’s a tough watch, though, and will leave you exhausted from the misfortune they endure.
Here’s the synopsis: The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
Nine years ago legendary Studio Ghibli animator Hayao Miyazaki “retired” with his final film, a perfect magnum opus in The Wind Rises. It told a real-life story of ingenuity, creativity, and genius put to the benefit of others, and it exemplified everything about Miyazaki’s storied career, while echoing aspects of his life. Almost immediately reports surfaced about his un-retirement, and while it has taken some time, the master has returned with The Boy and the Heron, a film that fits neatly into Miyazaki’s canon and will bring joy to his legion of fans.
It’s hard to complain about Miyazaki not trying to extend himself with The Boy and the Heron, considering it’s the kind of fantastical, message-heavy adventure he is so adept at making and that viewers enjoy. At the same time, I couldn’t help but wish to see something that wasn’t just a lesser version of Spirited Away or any number of his other stories set in magical worlds separate from reality, where distressed human children interact with strange talking animal creatures and the laws of physics don’t exactly apply.
Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel How Do You Live? inspires and even makes an appearance in The Boy and the Heron. Set during the Pacific conflict of WWII, the film begins in surreal fashion as Mahito awakens to the sound of a firebombed hospital, one where his mother happens to be working. Still in his pajamas, he rushes out to save her, only to watch her be consumed by the flames, vanishing like an apparition. Years later, Mahito is struggling to get over her death. His father, a manufacturer of weapons parts (Miyazaki’s own father did the same), has moved on and is married to his former sister-in-law, Natsuko, who is now pregnant.
They have moved to a robust estate tended to by seven old diminutive maids, not unlike the Seven Dwarfs, who wait on them hand and foot. Miyazaki loves his misshapen old grandmother characters! Mahito is harassed by a mysterious grey heron with human characteristics, and can’t connect with Natsuko who is trying her best to relate to the boy. When she goes missing, Mahito wanders into a strange tower that leads to a trippy Miyazaki-esque alternate world, confronting the mischievous heron, battling giant parakeets, meeting younger versions of familiar faces, and all sorts of other weirdness that will be heartening to lovers of Studio Ghibli.
Miyazaki has always moved at his own pace, but even for him The Boy and the Heron is deliberate in execution. Once Mahito crosses over into that strange new world, the film is overwhelmed by the sheer number of bizarre phenomena and creatures that need to be explained. Such as the warawara, cherubic little marshmallow creatures that drift into the sky, consume everything in sight, and will eventually transform to become human spirits in our world. This is just the tip of the iceberg, especially as we begin to learn more about that annoyingly silly heron with his big nose and human features.
The search for Natsuko parallels Mahito’s quest to find his missing mother. Drawing from his own love for his mother, Miyazaki tells a downbeat story of a son who must learn to grow up, get over the selfishness that causes him to act out (Mahito injures himself with a rock for attention), and toughen up in a war-ravaged world where pain and loss are everyday occurrences. Mahito is such an uncommon Miyazaki protagonist. Reserved and quiet, he’s a far cry from the spirited, fearless female characters of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and others. He might be closer in personality to Miyazik’s childhood but Mahito isn’t the most compelling character to follow. Only when dealing with that pest heron or granny sidekicks does he truly come alive.
Miyazaki often explores grief in this way, by having his characters flee from the harsh reality into places unbound from it, where death is the start of something new. The Boy and the Heron doesn’t stray from the master filmmaker’s well-worn path, but underlines it one more time, perhaps for the last time. If that’s the case, then Miyazaki went out telling the kind of soulful story that he loves to tell, and that he knows people will be comforted by.
The Boy and the Heron opens in theaters on December 8th.
The moment I knew Warner Bros.’ Wonkawas in good hands was during the rousing opening number. As Timothée Chalamet sings of all the chocolate and opportunity he will create when he settles in this new city, there is a moment where the music slows down. Donned in Wonka’s iconic top hat, he starts walking down the stairs before taking two quick steps back up. It’s an early nod to the beloved and brilliant Gene Wilder performance of the original.
Wonka is full of these small little references meant to reassure you as you venture further into this new story. Following Willy’s origins as a young chocolatier, his kindness and naivete quickly lead him to have little money and be trapped by the gasly motel and workhouse owner Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) and her besotted henchman Bleacher (Tom Davis). There he meets a young orphan, affectionately called Noodle (Calah Lane), and the rest of the indentured occupants (Jim Carter, Natasha Rothwell, Rakhee Thakrar, and Rich Fulcher), before sneaking out every day to try and sell his magical chocolate in the market square.
Wonka’s presence quickly threatens three chocolate makers who run a candy mafia – Prodnose (Matt Lucas), Fickelgruber (Matthew Baynton), and Slugworth (Paterson Joseph). They bribe the Chief of Police (Keegan-Michael Key) to threaten and intimidate the young man who is not deterred by any of his setbacks. Meanwhile, Wonka is stalked by a tiny orange man (Hugh Grant), stealing his chocolate stock in the dead of night.
Director and co-writer Paul King and co-writer Simon Farnaby gained recognition and the love of millennials everywhere when they teamed up for the brilliant Paddington 2 a few years back. This creative duo turns out to have the perfect recipe for carrying on the Wonka legacy. The production design is magical, combining the whimsy and charm of the Paddington and Harry Potter franchises (David Heyman is a producer on all three projects). The songs are witty and the wordplay is often. King and Farnaby seamlessly combine Roald Dahl’s novel with timeless and vital elements from the Gene Wilder version.
Speaking of, Chalamet brings a sweetness to the iconic chocolatier that previous performances didn’t. Combined with unbridled enthusiasm, his Wonka is endearing, optimistic, and filled with childlike wonder. He lacks the bite that Wilder brought to the role, but in doing so makes the part his own.
There has been much debate over this film and the upcoming Disney live-action remake of Snow White and how their studios did not cast little people in roles historically meant for them. While Wonka feels like a missed opportunity to take a stereotypical archetype and give it agency, the creative team doubles down on negative body representation with Keegan-Michael Key’s Chief of Police.
To show his corruption and chocolate addiction, Key’s size gets enormously bigger throughout the film. He wears a fatsuit and prosthetic face makeup akin to Ben Stiller in Dodgeball or Eddie Murphy in Norbit. Could his downfall be visually represented in another way? Absolutely. Do the fat suit and inevitable fat jokes push the narrative forward in any way? No, it serves no purpose other than a visual gag that is unworthy of Key’s comedic prowess. The whole bit (if you can call it that) almost derails the whimsical and charming dynamic King and Farnaby have created, taking you out of the story whenever Key is onscreen.
While no film can capture the magic that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory gave children over the last five decades, Wonka finds its stride creating its own whimsical world. It is proof that Paul King is becoming the go-to auteur director for children’s movies, running on well-executed stories and pure imagination.
Wonka is in theaters Dec. 15. Watch the trailer below.
It’s been a rough year for Disney. The Mouse House has struggled in just about every way, with both Marvel and their vaunted animated films disappointing critically and at the box office. Truthfully, they’ve never really bounced back from the pandemic, which saw many potential blockbusters going straight to Disney+. Pixar was affected most by the move to streaming, with three films in a row to hit theaters. Well, that’s all about to get corrected in 2024.
Disney has announced that in 2024 we’ll finally see the theatrical release of Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. All three Pixar films were relatively well-received, but never got a chance on the big screen. It all begins in January with the release of Soul, followed by Turning Red in February and closing out with Lucain March.
Keep in mind that these films have been available for quite a while. Will audiences show up and pay for them in theaters now? We’ll just have to wait and see. But you never know; movies get re-released all of the time and do quite well. Surely there are a few people out there who don’t have Disney+, right?
Check out the release dates followed by a fun announcement promo. Personally, I’m pretty eager to see Turning Red again, and think it might be even better this time.
