Sony’s Classic ‘Spider-Man’ Franchises Are Coming To Disney+ As Part Of New Deal

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April 21, 2021

Just a few weeks ago Netflix and Sony struck a deal that would see the latter’s films move exclusively to the streamer once their theatrical runs were finished. We noted that it was weird to have Sony Marvel films such as Venom 2, Morbius, and Into the Spider-Verse 2 going to Netflix and not Disney+, given their working relationship with Marvel Studios. Well, maybe something was always in the works, or maybe someone else thought it was weird, too, because that has been rectified somewhat.

Disney and Sony Pictures have made an agreement to have the latter’s upcoming movies between 2022-2026 on Disney+ following their runs on Netflix. While that’s cool, what’s even better is that Sony’s vast library will also be available, and that means all of the previous Spider-Man franchises will be on Disney+.

So that means not only will Tom Hollan’s current run as Spider-Man be available to watch on Disney+, but also Sam Raimi’s trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield’s two films as part of Amazing Spider-Man.

The timing couldn’t be better with Maguire and Garfield rumored to appear alongside Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which arrives this December. How much you want to bet those earlier films pop up in the Disney+ library around the same time?

‘Soggy Bottom’: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Latest Film Will Reportedly Arrive This Christmas

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

Fans of director Paul Thomas Anderson, and I’m definitely one, although less so lately, have a special gift coming to them this holiday season. According to The Film Stage, who hit up United Artists Releasing, Anderson’s upcoming film Soggy Bottom will hit theaters in limited release on November 26th, followed by an expansion on Christmas Day.

Soggy Bottom is only a working title for now, and could change when we finally start getting some production stills, notes, and promos. The 1970s film returns Anderson to Southern California, the setting of his earlier (and better) work, to tell the story of a high school kid as he looks to become an actor.

Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper, Alana Haim, and Benny Safdie star, although it’s possible there’s more we don’t know about. Sean Penn has been rumored for a role after being spotted on set. Anderson has frequently had larger ensembles so I expect a few additions will be revealed at a later date.

This will be Anderson’s first feature since Phantom Thread, which earned six Oscar nominations and a win for Best Costume Design.

‘New Order’ Trailer: The Rich Come Under Assault In Michel Franco’s Acclaimed Venice Thriller

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

Y’know when somebody tells you to “read the room”, and take stock of how your actions look to the people around you? Well, imagine that on a much larger scale and you have the basic gist of Michel Franco’s New Order, a film that critics were raving about after its premiere in Venice last year.

Written and directed by Franco, New Order centers on a wealthy couple’s marriage in the middle of nationwide protests against the wealthy and powerful’s mistreatment of the working class. So yeah, they might’ve wanted to read the room because when the protestors invade the ceremony all Hell breaks loose.

The film stars Terminator: Dark Fate‘s Diego Boneta, Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Samantha Yazareth Anaya, Dario Yazbek Bernal, and Patricia Bernal. Franco is known for films Chronic, April’s Daughter, and After Lucia.

New Order opens in theaters on May 21st.

Conceived six years ago, Michel Franco’s near-future dystopia feels ripped from headlines that haven’t yet been written. While protests rage in the streets, Marianne’s high society family prepares for her wedding. At first, only splatters of green paint and the appearance of Rolando, a former employee seeking emergency medical funds, intrude on the festivities. But soon the party is unable to keep the reckoning at bay, and what follows is a swift disintegration of law and order defined first by class lines, then by disastrous government recapitulation.

‘Oxygen’ Trailer: Melanie Laurent Is Trapped And Running Out Of Air In Alexandre Aja’s New Netflix Thriller

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

There are some fears that almost anyone can understand, even if they don’t suffer from it themselves. Heights, the dark, and definitely being enclosed in tight spaces count as just a few. That last one is what befalls poor Melanie Laurent in the upcoming Netflix thriller, Oxygen, which has dropped its latest trailer.

Directed by horror maestro Alexandre Aja (High Tension, Crawl), Oxygen stars Laurent as a woman who wakes up in a confining contraption with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She’ll need to figure it out quick as only 90 minutes of breathable air are left before finding a means of escape becomes a moot issue.

Also in the cast are Mathieu Amalric (The French Dispatch) and Malik Zidi, with the cast understandably small for this one. Fans of single-location thrillers such as Buried, Triangle, and Frozen might dig this.

Oxygen hits Netflix on May 12th.

Oxygen is a French survival thriller directed by Alexandre Aja. The film tells the story of a young woman (Mélanie Laurent, 6 Underground, Inglourious Basterds), who wakes up in a cryogenic pod. She doesn’t remember who she is or how she ended up there. As she’s running out of oxygen, she must rebuild her memory to find a way out of her nightmare.

Marvel’s ‘MODOK’ Trailer Has The Big-Headed Supervillain Dealing With Divorce, World Domination, And Iron Man

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

One look at Marvel’s incredibly weird supervillain MODOK and you just know, even if you’ve never read a comic book in your life, that his backstory is full of really bad jokes about the size of his head. Well, you’re right. And not only that, but Hulu’s upcoming animated series MODOK has them, too. Like, a lot of them.

And that’s perfectly alright because the trailer for MODOK looks hilarious. The Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, voiced by Patton Oswalt (continuing his Marvel association following Agents of SHIELD), is having it pretty rough balancing his world-dominating goals with his home life. His wife (voiced by Aimee Garcia, we just did another story on her) is ready to call quits on their marriage, and is already out there bangin’ Wonder Man, who is voiced by Nathan Filion as he continues to fulfill fanboy dreams.

Also lending their voices are Melissa Fumero, Ben Schwartz, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Beck Bennett, Jon Daly, Sam Richardson, and Jon Hamm as Iron Man. Yeah, this looks pretty great.

MODOK will take over Hulu beginning May 21st!

In “Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.”, the megalomaniacal supervillain M.O.D.O.K. (Patton Oswalt) has long pursued his dream of one day conquering the world. But after years of setbacks and failures fighting the Earth’s mightiest heroes, M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground. Ousted as A.I.M.’s leader, while also dealing with his crumbling marriage and family life, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is set to confront his greatest challenge yet!

‘Together Together’ Interview: Ed Helms And Patti Harrison On Surrogacy Comedy And Subverting Expectations

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

I had no idea what I was in for when sitting down to watch Nikole Beckwith’s Together Together at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival. Beckwith’s first film at the festival since Stockholm, Pennsylvania six years ago, her followup is completely different and yet shows her continued ability to subvert expectations. The film stars Ed Helms and comedian Patti Harrison, and centers on a single, middle-aged man who wants to have a child. In what sounds like a perfect, traditional rom-com setup, he hires a younger woman as surrogate.

What unfolds is a story that you think will be a familiar romantic-comedy, but is anything but that. Their relationship grows by leaps and bounds, changing the way we look at true, pure platonic love. And yes, it’s also very funny. How could it not be with Helms and Harrison exploring something we’ve never seen before on the big screen; the male biological clock?

I had the chance to speak with Ed Helms and Patti Harrison about Together Together, what drew them to the project, and how they forged such incredible chemistry.

Together Together opens this Friday, April 23rd. You can check out my early review here and the interview below!

‘We Broke Up’ Interview: Filmmakers Jeff Rosenberg And Laura Jacqmin Talk Romantic Comedy With William Jackson Harper and Aya Cash

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Cortland Jacoby

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April 21, 2021

Unlike most things from middle school, Jeff Rosenberg and Laura Jacqmin’s relationship was built to last. After meeting in childhood and working on each other’s plays, they grew up and moved to Hollywood where Rosenberg worked on NBC’s The Good Place and Jacqmin wrote for Grace and Frankie.

Now the duo are releasing their first movie together as co-writers, with Rosenberg directing and Jacqmin producing. Starring Aya Cash (Scare Me, The Boys) and William Jackson Harper (The Good Place, Midsommar), We Broke Up centers on a longtime couple who break up the day before a family wedding and try to act like nothing happened.

Rosenberg first conceived the break-up comedy idea back in 2012 and quickly knew his childhood friend would be perfect to help him write it. I sat down with Rosenberg and Jacqmin to discuss their collaboration, the joke the other person wrote they wish they’d written, and the magic of their strong supporting cast.

Watch our interview below. We Broke Up is On Demand this Friday, April 23rd.

‘Werewolves Within’ Trailer: ‘Scare Me’ Director Brings Horror Video Game To The Big Screen

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

Announced as part of the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival lineup, Josh Ruben’s Werewolves Within had my attention long before that. It’s an adaptation of the popular Ubisoft video game which basically follows the Among Us model, except you’re deducing who is the werewolf among the medieval townsfolk. It’s a fun setup that should make for a helluva movie, and Ruben, who directed the horror-comedy Scare Me, seems like the right guy for it.

The first trailer for Werewolves Within features a cast of comedic actors to go along with the funny premise. Sam Richardson (Veep), Milana Vayntrub (Other Space, those AT&T commercials), Michaela Watkins (Brittany Runs a Marathon), and more star with Ruben directing from a script by Mishna Wolff that replaces the fantasy setting for a small-town. Ruben talks about that change and what it means in his director statement:

“I grew up near the same small town where we shot Werewolves Within. As a kid, I’d freak myself out, making up monster stories, running through the woods, pretending I was Chief Brody, fighting creatures in the brush (I LOVED Jaws — hell, I loved horror). That hometown experience, where neighbors knew your business (whether you liked it or not), is so much of what makes Werewolves so personal. But, as much as I love horror movies, nothing scares me more than people. And as much as this movie is an homage to my love for Hot Fuzz, the Coen Brothers, and Arachnophobia, it’s also about the monster in all of us.”

SYNOPSIS: After a proposed gas pipeline creates divisions within the small town of Beaverfield, and a snowstorm traps its residents together inside the local inn, newly arrived forest ranger FINN (Sam Richardson), and postal worker CECILY (Milana Vayntrub) must try to keep the peace and uncover the truth behind a mysterious creature that has begun terrorizing the community.

Werewolves Within is one of the Tribeca films that already has distribution and a release date, arriving on June 25th in theaters and VOD on July 2nd.

’47 Ronin’ Sequel In The Works From Former WWE Champ AJ Lee And ‘Lucifer’ Actress Aimee Garcia

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Travis Hopson

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April 21, 2021

There are a number of aspects to this story that I find fascinating and fairly unbelievable. The first is that a sequel to the 2013 Keanu Reeves samurai flick 47 Ronin is happening at all. I quite enjoyed it, but the movie was a flop. The second is that it will be co-written by former WWE Women’s Champion now best-selling author AJ Mendez aka AJ Lee.

Damn.

Deadline reports the 47 Ronin sequel will be co-written by Mendez along with Lucifer actress Aimee Garcia. The two are also currently writers on the GLOW comic book series, based on the Netflix wrestling series. Behind the camera will be Mulan actor Ron Yuan, having previously directed Step Up: Year of the Dance, and international action flick Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin.

47 Ronin was previously directed by Carl Rinsch and was a fantastical, epic retelling of the real-life 18th-century samurai who set out to avenge the murder of their master by a brutal shogun. The film starred Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rinko Kikuchi. Box office wasn’t pretty, as it managed to earn just $151M against a budget north of $200M.

Mendez is also the wife of one of my all-time favorite wrestlers, Phil Brooks aka CM Punk. His career has turned towards acting and I’m hoping there’s a way to get him into this, even in a small role. Fingers crossed.

‘Ted Lasso’ Season 2 Teaser: The Charming Comedy Is Making A Comeback

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Cortland Jacoby

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April 20, 2021

The Diamond Dogs are back. Apple just released the season 2 teaser of Ted Lasso, the beloved television comedy following the titular midwestern football coach as he tries to coach a professional British soccer team. The show, which premiered on Apple TV Plus last August and has won Golden Globes, SAG, and Critics Choice Awards, has slowly won an audience through its silly humor, dynamic characters and kind message.

So what should we expect out of AFC Richmond in season 2?

When we last left Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and the rest of the Greyhounds, they had just been demoted from the Premiere league after a devastating loss. “I don’t care what our record is. It’s all about believing that everything is gonna work out in the end exactly as its supposed to,” Ted tells the team in the new trailer.

While those words are nice, it may not be enough to shake AFC Richmond from their funk. Newcomer Sarah Niles is cast as the team’s sport psychologist and its looking like the crew may need some therapy. It was hinted last season that veteran player Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) would retire after a sports injury in the season’s final match. Brett Goldstein is spotted multiple times in the trailer sans AFC Richmond jersey. Up and coming player Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) may be transferring to a different team. As assistant coach Nate (Nick Mohammed) says, “The team is just a little unlucky.”

What is lucky is that the show is set to return to Apple TV+ sooner than expected – July 23. Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Juno Temple also join Sudeikis Goldstein, Mohammed, Niles, and Jimoh for the penultimate season.

You can catch the first season of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ now to prepare yourself for July 23rd.