A bit like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but a whole lot weirder, Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s surreal Strawberry Mansion was one of the belles of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Music Box Films quickly picked up the rights and while they haven’t set a release date yet, it’s coming soon enough that a trailer is here.
Written and directed by Audley and Birney, Strawberry Mansion is a sci-fi love story set in a world where dreams can be taxed, audited, and preyed upon by advertisers. The story follows a government auditor who begins to fall in love with an aging artist while swimming through VHS tapes of her subconscious.
Told you it was weird.
The cast includes Audley, Reed Birney, Penny Fuller, Grace Glowicki, and Linas Phillips. Check out the Strawberry Mansion trailer below.
To be honest, I haven’t paid a ton of attention to Shazam: Fury of the Gods as it has gone into production. The casting is what’s caught my eye, mostly, with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu joining the cast as villainous siblings Hespera and Kalypso, and Rachel Zegler in a mysterious key role. But we haven’t heard much about the rest of the Marvel Family, but good news as all of them will be returning and director David F. Sandberg has gathered them all together for a first look.
Don’t know how long we can keep the new suits from leaking so here’s a pic I took the other day pic.twitter.com/41wStJ6oe2
The image features Adam Brody as Freddy, Meagan Good as Darla, Ross Butler as Eugene, Zachary Levi as Shazam, Grace Fulton as Mary, and D.J. Cotrona as Pedro.
Sandberg confirmed that Fulton now plays both versions of Mary, the teen and the mature. Michelle Borth played the adult Mary in the first movie.
Who we don’t see are Rachel Zegler, who is expected to be a villain, as well, plus stars Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer.
Okay, this is why you can never take guys like Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg seriously when they start waxing apocalyptic about the end of theatrical or something. Not only did Scorsese cut bait and start making movies for Netflix and Apple, but now Steven Spielberg is, too.
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin has teamed up with Netflix to produce multiple projects, according to Variety. Feature films will be part of this deal, too, with Spielberg possibly directing some of them.
“At Amblin, storytelling will forever be at the center of everything we do, and from the minute Ted [Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO] and I started discussing a partnership, it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways,” Spielberg said. “This new avenue for our films, alongside the stories we continue to tell with our longtime family at Universal and our other partners, will be incredibly fulfilling for me personally since we get to embark on it together with Ted, and I can’t wait to get started with him, Scott [Stuber, head of Netflix Original Films], and the entire Netflix team.”
So I guess he’s all good with streaming now? He certainly didn’t think so back in 2019, and now he’s moving to Netflix at a time when theaters are struggling to recover from the pandemic, with many already having closed forever.
Spielberg is free to change his mind however he wants, whether it be for personal or professional reasons. However, he has to know he’s going to eat a lot of shit for this, too.
Perhaps no studio has done a better job of taking international films by foreign auteurs and turning them into domestic hits than Neon. They’re hoping to have found their next Parasite or Portrait of a Lady on Fire with the latest film from Julia Ducournau. Titane is her follow-up to the critically-acclaimed 2017 horror Raw, and it too is bound for a Cannes premiere.
Starring Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon, Titane comes with an extremely vague synopsis that tells you nothing about the story, which is about the sudden return of a long-lost child and how that ends up becoming a nightmare.
TITANE: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often used in medical prostheses due to its pronounced biocompatibility.
Here’s a more detailed description from Cineuropa, although this may have changed in the past year:
“Written by the director, the script opens on an airport where custom inspectors pick up a young man with a bruised face. He claims his name to be Adrien Legrand, a child who disappeared ten years ago. For Vincent, his father, this marks the end of a long nightmare, and he brings him home. Simultaneously, a series of gruesome murders places the region under pressure. Alexia, model in a car showroom, has all the characteristics of the ideal victim…”
Titane will premiere at Cannes in July. Check out the teaser below!
Ted Lassoemerged out of nowhere as arguably the greatest critical success for Apple TV+, a surprise given the Jason Sudeikis character’s humble beginnings for a commercial. And while the show certainly went above and beyond expectations for season one, winning multiple awards including a Golden Globe for Sudeikis, the real pressure comes now with season two.
Sudeikis is back as the overly optimistic Ted Lasso, the American football coach struggling to get his team AFC Richmond over the hump. They didn’t quite get there at the end of last season and got demoted for it, which leaves plenty of room for them to finally win the big match this time. Or perhaps not?
The previous cast returns including Juno Temple, Hannah Waddington, Jeremy Swift, and Brett Goldstein, while Sarah Niles joins as the new team psychologist who doesn’t appear to be a fan of Lasso’s.
As Paramount looks to rebuild their G.I. Joe franchise in the same way they have Transformers, they’re starting with the most popular Joe of all. Henry Goulding stars in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, and while the title invokes unpleasant memories of Wolverine: Origins, this film looks like it might actually be pretty good.
Goulding stars as the Joe team’s resident preeminent ninja warrior, in a story that explores his beginnings as a loner recruited into the Arashikage clan, where he encounters future rival Storm Shadow (Andrew Koji), Cobra agent Baroness (Úrsula Corberó), and fellow teammate/love interest Scarlett, played by the red-hot Samara Weaving.
This isn’t the first time Snake Eyes has been portrayed on the big screen. Ray Park, best known as Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace and Toad in the X-Men movies, played the character in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. This is the most physically demanding role yet for Goulding, who became something of a sex symbol for his performance in Crazy Rich Asians and A Simple Favor.
Directed by Robert Schwentke, Snake Eyes opens on July 23rd.
“Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins” stars Henry Golding as Snake Eyes, a tenacious loner who is welcomed into an ancient Japanese clan called the Arashikage after saving the life of their heir apparent. Upon arrival in Japan, the Arashikage teaches Snake Eyes the ways of the ninja warrior while also providing something he’s been longing for: a home. But, when secrets from his past are revealed, Snake Eyes’ honor and allegiance will be tested – even if that means losing the trust of those closest to him. Based on the iconic G.I. Joe character, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins also stars Andrew Koji as Storm Shadow, Úrsula Corberó as Baroness, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Haruka Abe as Akiko, Tahehiro Hira as Kenta and Iko Uwais as Hard Master.”
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend tomorrow’s free advance screening of F9: The Fast Saga! The ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise reunites Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, and more, along with Charlize Theron and John Cena! Justin Lin returns as director, having taken the helm for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters.
SYNOPSIS: Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty and his son, little Brian, but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he’s going to save those he loves most. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve ever encountered: a man who also happens to be Dom’s forsaken brother, Jakob (John Cena, the upcoming The Suicide Squad).
The screening takes place tomorrow, June 22nd, at 7pm at AMC Tysons Corner. If you’d like to attend, simply register at the Gofobo site here! Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you will want to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (review)- $11.6M/$17M
To no one’s surprise, the top movie of the week was The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard with $17M. That’s with a Wednesday debut, mind you, and when taken in totality it’s only $3M short of 2017’s launch of The Hitman’s Bodyguard. The original was something of a surprise $176M hit, powered almost entirely by the star power of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. Well, that and an ad campaign that boasted of its foul-mouthed promised. The sequel gives more presence to co-star Salma Hayek, while adding Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman into the mix. It’s functionally the same damn movie, with similarly negative reviews, but this is one of those rare original franchise creations that studios clamor for. Lionsgate will hold on tight to this one.
2. A Quiet Place Part II– $9.4M/$125.2M
Continuing to be the biggest smash of the summer, A Quiet Place Part II has now hit $221M worldwide.
3. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway– $6.1M/$20.3M
4. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It– $5.15M/$53.6M
5. Cruella– $5.1M/$64.7M
6. In the Heights– $4.2M/$19.6M
The stumble sadly continues for In the Heights, which fell 63% for just $4.2M and a $19.6M haul after two weeks. Sadly, the rave reviews have also given way to negative buzz due to “whitewashing” allegations and complaints that a Latinx filmmaker wasn’t behind the camera. I find both of these arguments silly, but they exist and they’re factoring in to peoples’ decisions to watch it on HBO Max, if at all.
Entering the top 10 with an expansion this week is 12 Mighty Orphans, a Depression-era football drama starring Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen, and Vinessa Shaw. The Ty Roberts-directed film added $870K in just over 1000 locations for $1.2M total.
9. The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2– $604K/$2M
Lynne Ramsay’s newest project, her first since 2017’s You Were Never Really Here, is going to be chockful of reunions. Titled Polaris, the film will reunite her with Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix. In turn, he will be reunited on screen with his real-life partner, Rooney Mara, with whom he’s starred in Her, Mary Magdalene, and Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot. It’s like they can’t stay away from one another or something.
The news was revealed by Ramsay to El Espanol while attending the Valencia International Film Festival aka Cinema Jove.
“He’s crazy, but he’s the best actor I’ve ever met. Everything he does on the set has a reason,” Ramsay said. “It’s much more difficult when you come up with an original idea like this, but it’s impossible not to get excited when you’re preparing a movie with Joaquin.”
It could be a while before we see Polaris take shape, however. Phoenix is busy shooting Disappointment Blvd from Midsommar director Ari Aster, followed by Ridley Scott’s Napoleon biopic Kitbag.
Meanwhile, Ramsay has a lot on her plate, too. An adaptation of Stephen King’s The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon was announced last year, but she’s also added Stone Mattress, an adaptation of the 2011 short story by The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood. Ramsay first teased the latter project in 2020 but was reluctant to say anything about it at the time.
Stone Mattress centers on Verna, who has had several husbands die of “natural causes.” She decides to take an Arctic cruise to find a new mate, encountering several possibilities. One of them is a man who raped her when she was 14 years old, but he does not recognize her. Verna decides to kill him using a 1.9 billion year-old stromatolite, which is basically ancient rock and microorganisms compounded over time.
While Sony is steadily building up their own universe of Marvel characters on the big screen, recently we learned they would be teaming with Amazon to bring them to television. The first series we learned about was Silk, a Spider-Man spinoff based on the Korean-American hero. Once imagined as a feature film, the show has now taken a big step forward with the naming of a Watchmen producer as showrunner.
Deadline reports Tom Spezialy has taken the showrunner role on Silk, as part of his new overall deal with Amazon. Lauren Moon (Atypical) will write and produce the series, which follows Cindy Moon, a high school classmate of Peter Parker’s and was bitten by the same radioative spider. Her powers are virtually the same as his, except her webbing is organic.
Silk joins a growing list of Marvel projects at Sony, including a Kraven the Hunter film starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, a rumored Spider-Woman movie directed by Olivia Wilde, plus Black Cat, Silver Sable, Madame Web, and possibly the Sinister Six.
