Ahh, the odd couple comedy, it sits high on the list of genres handed down from the Hollywood Gods and, if done right, is one of the few scenarios that really never gets old. At it’s core is a simple lesson…yes, people are different, but they are also the same. Probably something we could all stand to remind ourselves of a bit more these days. Here Today, a new comedy starring Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish, is that very special type of odd couple comedy that aims to make you cry as often as it makes you laugh. Crystal plays veteran comedy writer Charlie Burnz and Haddish takes on the role of Emma Payge, a New York City street singer.
I can tell you three things from watching this trailer. 1. This is going to be a very formulaic movie. 2. It won’t matter because Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish are apex predators in the comedy game and they both seem to be on their A game. 3. There will be tears, oh so many tears.
As a quick side note, I had no clue how much I had been missing seeing Billy Crystal on the big screen until I watched this. Keep working Billy! You’re a national treasure.
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Of all the filmmaker pairings I never thought to see, Martin Scorsese and musical director John Carney is definitely near the top. And yet it is indeed happening, as the two are collaborating to bring a George Gershwin-inspired movie to the screen.
Variety reports Scorsese and Carney are teaming up for Fascinating Rhythm, titled after one of the composers many songs and inspired by his extensive music catalog. However, this is not a direct biopic about Gershwin, despite Scorsese’s long-running attempts to make one. It is, instead, more in line with Carney’s past efforts and will follow a woman as she goes through a magical, musical journey through past and present New York City.
Scorses is on board as a producer while Carney will direct and co-write with Molloy writer Chris Cluess. Those unfamiliar with Carney need to fix that shit right away. He’s the filmmaker behind such incredible movies that celebrate a passion for music, including Once, the underrated Begin Again, and Sing Street. All are excellent, really.
This is still pretty early on but an intriguing pair as Scorsese and Carney can’t be ignored.
Just as Marvel’s Disney+ shows have all featured incredible casts so far, the same is definitely in order for Star Wars‘ next series on the streamer. Obi-Wan Kenobi, which features Ewan McGregor’s return as the Jedi Knight, has now added PEN15 creator/actress Maya Erskine.
Deadline has the news of Erskine’s addition to the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast, but they also have a little something extra. While we have no details on Erskine’s role, she’s said to be in at least three episodes. Furthermore, the outlet says the series is definitely six one-hour episodes that will take place ten years after Revenge of the Sith and nine years before A New Hope. It’s during this time that the Jedi order has been wiped out by the Empire, and Obi-Wan has gone into exile on Tatooine.
Erskine is really blowing up. Not only did she create and star in Hulu’s high school comedy Pen15, but she’s had roles on HBO’s Insecure, Scoob!, and Amy Poehler’s directorial debut Wine Country.
The cast includes Moses Ingram, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, Joel Edgerton, and most importantly Hayden Christensen who returns as Obi-Wan’s former friend and future Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker. Expect a rematch between those two.
Marvel has taken over Cinema Royale this week! We talk about the penultimate episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and whine about it ending so damn soon! Plus, we look at that awesome Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer, the incredible Secret Invasion casting, and more. There’s so much we totally forgot to do what we were supposed to do this episode and that’s select the video games we want turned into movies. Oops!
All this and more! You can subscribe to Cinema Royale wherever you get your podcasts! Follow the Punch Drunk Critics and Cinema Royale!
We’re happy to offer our readers the awesome opportunity to attend the April 29th virtual World Premiere of Amazon Prime’s Without Remorse, starring Michael B. Jordan as Tom Clancy’s elite hero John Clark. The film is directed by Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) and co-stars Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lauren London, Brett Gelman, Jacob Scipio, Jack Kesy, Colman Domingo, Todd Lassance, Cam Gigandet, Luke Mitchell and Guy Pearce.
An elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife in Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, the explosive origin story of action hero John Clark – one of the most popular characters in author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan universe. When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.
To enter, send an email to punchdrunktrav@gmail.com with your full name, favorite Tom Clancy film, and “Without Remorse World Premiere” in the subject line. Two winners will be selected randomly to win the grand prize to attend the World Premiere event on Thursday, April 29th at 8pm EST, attended by the movie’s stars, filmmakers, and other VIPs. In addition, ten winners will be chosen to attend the standard screening on the same day, April 29th, beginning at 7pm EST.
Winners of the grand prize will be chosen tomorrow, April 23rd, at noon and notified by email. Winners of the standard screening will be chosen on Monday, April 26th. Good luck!
Without Remorse opens on Amazon Prime Video on April 30th.
*NOTE: This is a reprint from this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival.*
The biological clock doesn’t always toll for women, at least not in Nikole Beckwith’s charming, understated Together Together. It’s an interesting idea; most movies cast men of a certain age as resigned to their ways, even dismissive at the idea of parenthood. To see that idea flipped and played for low-key laughs by stars Ed Helms and indie-comedy fave Patti Harrison is definitely a feather in its cap, even if the results are modest at best.
In true Helms fashion, he plays a loveable dorkball in need of something more in his life. The film opens on his middle-aged Matt, having an awkward meeting with Anna (Harrison), a trendy 20-something who is looking for something, too. Desperately wanting a relationship, but finding himself alone, Matt isn’t letting his single status stop the plans he had in mind. Most of all he wants to be a father, and Anna is there interviewing to be his pregnancy surrogate. She’ll use the money, which Matt earned from selling a popular dating app (so current!!!), to get her own life on track. Anna’s past as someone who gave up a child for adoption would seem to complicate matters, but it’s hardly an issue. An odd choice for a movie that stays fairly muted throughout. Her dry sense of humor, on the other hand, proves to be both a gift and a curse for Matt.
Beckwith explores this odd gender dynamic with a decided lack of the usual Sundance quirkiness. She plays it straight-up for the most part, and never angles in for easy laughs. It’s a wise idea; the concept is already unusual enough that to go any further would be forced. However, there’s no real effort to explore why Matt’s decision is so strange. Conversations between them rarely raise above the level of “cute”. Split into three trimesters, we see Anna initially try to keep her relationship with Matt on a professional level. Of course, that isn’t truly possible. He’s always around, nosing around in her life, including her sex life, that he comes across as insufferable. There’s also the way he controls her diet, and keeps tabs on where she’s going.
It’s in the second trimester where Together Together starts to become something more, and we see the bonds form between Matt and Anna over, what else, choosing paint colors for the baby room. His demanding nature doesn’t really tone down, but there’s insecurity and fear behind it, which he begins to open up about. Through Friends binges and therapy sessions, which is where the hilarious Sufe Bradshaw and Tig Notaro spice things up as therapists/referees, they become something more than individuals in a business transaction and something closer to platonic love.
Curious choices are made along the way, however. When Beckwith reaches too hard for laughs, she injects a sexual tension that doesn’t fit with the rest of the film. You could almost miss it if not paying attention, but as Matt gets hurt by Anna’s dismissive response to someone mistaking them for a couple, it adds an ugly wrinkle to the closeness they had already formed by then. There’s also a weird fascination Beckwith has with Woody Allen movies, as if comparing the age difference between Matt and Anna to the director’s problematic tendencies. But there is no comparison, and a dissection of his films comes across as unnecessary sermonizing.
There’s a wealth of comedic talent here that Beckwith uses in fits and starts. Helms doesn’t get lead roles to himself very often, but when he does it tends to be in films that dial down the goofy sidekick antics. He’s much closer to Cedar Rapids territory here than The Hangover. It’s a well-calibrated performance, one that evolves as the movie goes along. It’s Harrison who is the breakout star here, though, bringing an edginess and depth to Anna as her investment in the pregnancy deepens. Notaro and Bradshaw make the most use of their few minutes on screen, while Rosalind Chao is a welcome presence as Anna’s doctor. While some may find the weird deadpan energy Jose Torres brings as Anna’s coffee shop co-worker, it’s more often he grinds what little momentum the movie has to a halt.
Together Together is an imperfect film that holds its share of rewards as a new kind of love story. There’s also the film’s surprisingly beautiful childbirth scene, featuring a trans actress in a role usually carried by cis women. I don’t know if that’s something I’ve seen before, but it felt like something special was happening there, and it was completely unexpected from such an unassuming film.
Together Together opens on April 23rd and in digital on May 11th. And do check our our interview with stars Ed Helms and Patti Harrison here.
Has it really been five years we last saw Ed and Lorraine Warren on the big screen? Well, not quite. The Conjuring has splintered off into so many horror franchise that it’s easy to forget the ghost-hunting duo actually appeared in 2019’s Annabelle Comes Home, which centered on their daughter who is definitely getting into the family business. But in terms of “proper” Conjuring appearances, yes, it’s been a little while. But that changes this summer with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, which as the lengthy title suggests, is about more than just scary spirits in haunted houses.
Once again based on an actual case from the Warrens’ files, The Devil Made Me Do It returns Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the married demonologists who were brought into the 1981 Connecticut murder trial of Arne Johnson. It was the first recorded attempt by a defense to use demonic possession as proof of innocence.
This is the first of the Conjuring films to have someone other than James Wan behind the camera, with Michael Chaves taking over. Chaves directed another Conjuring-verse horror, The Curse of La Llorona. Wan stays on board as a producer.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opens June 4th in theaters and HBO Max.
More compelling, at least to me, than your average everyday survival thriller is the subgenre of space survival. Most sci-fi movies fall into this category one way or another; how could they not when you’re dealing with the outer reaches of unknown territory with no help for light years away? But in recent years we’ve seen these movies really take a step forward (thank you Gravity and The Martian) in prevalence and in smarts. Another strong entry is Joe Penna’s Stowaway, an intense, logical, and yes thrilling small-scale film that feels bigger for the way it realistically handles disaster in an unbelievable situation.
It’s a small ensemble for this one, led by Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette (you just know she’s a team leader, right?), and Daniel Dae Kim as astronauts on Hyperion’s Mars expedition. Right off the bat you sense how weird it is to see such a small crew for a journey like this. Each member of the team hold multiple functions, with Zoe (Kendrick) as the medical researcher and physician, Marina (Collette) as mission leader, and David (Kim) as biologist. They are scientists on a specifically scientific mission, with years of training and analysis having gone into it. Still, the size of the crew tickles at the back of your brain as counter-intuitive.
However, there’s someone who shouldn’t be there. Shortly after launch, a wounded engineer named Michael (Shamier Anderson) is discovered and the crew must decide what to do with him. Why can’t they just…y’know, let him tag along? Well, they try that for a while. Michael, who had worked on the ship and always wanted to be on one of these expeditions, is basically made a part of the team. He works to earn his keep, and befriends the others. But when it’s discovered that a malfunction has severely limited their resources and oxygen to sustain just three people, Michael’s place on the ship is suddenly under threat.
The ship, having only been designed to carry two crewmembers (!!!) was outfitted to allow for three, but sacrifices had to be made for that to happen. The ship’s outer hull was reduced, providing less protection in the case of…let’s say a cosmic storm, and the interior has only the most basic functionality. All of this comes into play when Michael’s arrival fucks up the inner workings. Hyperion might be a government agency looking to save the tax payers a few bucks, who knows? Or a corporation with frugal stockholders. Whatever the reason, they made a bad call, Ripley.
Stowaway is a survival thriller in the trust sense of the word, because not only are these people forced to deal with the unknown threat of space, but their own natures. Conflict arises when two members of the crew decide Michael is expendable, but one chooses to fight against that, even though his presence puts all of their survival at risk.
Director Joe Penna and co-writer Ryan Morrison, who previously worked together on another survival thriller, the Mads Mikkelsen film Arctic, take aims to put everyone’s perspective in the spotlight without a ton of weighty exposition. Nobody comes across as a villain here; in fact, they are all quite likeable in their own ways. We’re trained to be suspicious of Michael because we’ve all seen too many movies like Sunshine where somebody goes nuts and tries to kill everyone, but that’s not really what Stowaway is going for. It is a moral and ethical dilemma in deep space, where sacrifices are made on both ends of the debate, with ultimate survival the goal they wish to achieve. For the most part this is hard sci-fi more than it is a nerve-racking psycho-thriller.
If you had Kendrick pegged as the movie’s conscience then you know her filmography all too well. She’s quite good as our surrogate to the action, so to speak, and as the one who befriends Michael the most. It’s also interesting how Penna places Zoe above David in terms of physical capability, establishing early on that she is stronger and more resilient than him, a fact we know will rear its head at some point. Personally, I adore any chance to have Collette use her native Australian accent, and she gets to here as the crew’s beleaguered commander, weighing their rapidly dwindling options against her own principals.
Penna saves Stowaway‘s big fireworks for a couple of Gravity-esque scenes in the final act, but the tension outside the ship is nothing compared to what had been going on inside. And so the finale can’t quite measure up, ending on an unsatisfying whimper that nobody will hear because in space nobody can hear you in the first place.
Pixar’s Soulis considered by many to be a frontrunner to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this weekend, and if that’s the case it’ll put some big time heat behind the upcoming prequel short film, 22 vs. Earth.
We’re getting our first look at the Soul prequel 22 vs. Earth, coming to Disney+ on April 30th. Tina Fey returns to voice 22, the jaded soul who was content to stay in the Great Before and not return to Earth until convinced by Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) to do so. Before that happened, 22 enlisted other souls to spark a rebellion in the Great Before, which leads to some unexpected revelations.
The film is directed by Pixar veteran Kevin Nolting, who had this to say…
“I think the new souls make the short so fun—the contrast of their pure innocence and delight with the cynical expectations of 22,” said Nolting. “The other new souls are what 22 once was before she took another path—purely innocent, blank slates to be guided by the counselors in their mostly uneventful journey to the earth portal. 22 sees an opening in that and attempts to guide them herself into her way of thinking.”
“While making Soul, we talked about the why of a new soul not wanting to live on Earth, but it didn’t ultimately belong in that movie,” Nolting continued. “22 vs. Earth was a chance to explore some of the unanswered questions we had about why 22 was so cynical. As a fairly cynical person myself, it felt like perfect material.”
Pixar has done its share of short films based on their main franchises, but this is a bit different. The difference is I’m not sure we’ll be seeing any Soul sequels, so it may only be in shorts like 22 vs. Earth that we get to revisit these characters.
Soul is currently available on Disney+ and on Bluray/DVD.
The Avenger’s most put upon hero has finished his final day of shooting on the upcoming Disney+ series bearing his character’s name, Hawkeye. The big news from the shoot had to be the set pics showing Clint Barton in an obvious mentorship role with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), who becomes Hawkeye in the comics. Side note, poor Barton, finally gets his own series and it turns out it’s not even about him. Renner took to Instagram to announce he had finished filming his part of the series, saying:
“Last day for now, this is not goodbye, but a see you soon”
So, while this series will almost definitely be a passing the torch story it’s sounds like Clint Barton will still be a part of the MCU when the finale hits. Now, we all know the iron clad NDA’s that those folks involved with Marvel projects have to sign so it’s not like he would tell us if this series is the last we see of Barton, so take from that what you will.
While a full synopsis hasn’t been released all of the things we DO know about the series points to it being, at least in part, a preamble to the Young Avengers. First, obviously, is Kate Bishop, the new Hawkeye. Then it was confirmed that Florence Pugh will be featured as Black Widow and Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez aka Echo. While no other Young Avengers members have been announced we’ve been seeing possible members pop up in WandaVision with Wiccan and Speedand Elijah Bradley aka Patriot in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Hawkeye doesn’t have an official release date yet but smart money is on late 2021/early 2022.
So, while this series will almost definitely be a passing the torch story it’s sounds like Clint Barton will still be a part of the MCU when the finale hits. Now, we all know the iron clad NDA’s that those folks involved with Marvel projects have to sign so it’s not like he would tell us if this series is the last we see of Barton, so take from that what you will.
While a full synopsis hasn’t been released all of the things we DO know about the series points to it being, at least in part, a preamble to the Young Avengers. First, obviously, is Kate Bishop, the new Hawkeye. Then it was confirmed that Florence Pugh will be featured as Black Widow and Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez aka Echo. While no other Young Avengers members have been announced we’ve been seeing possible members pop up in WandaVision with Wiccan and Speed and Elijah Bradley aka Patriot in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.