Ridley Scott’s historical epic The Last Duel has been hit by delays like every major production, and won’t open until late next year. But the 83-year-old filmmaker has long since begun developing his followup, a film on the assassination of Maurizio Gucci with Lady Gaga already on board. And now she’s being joined by an all-star cast that may be the best Scott ever assembled.
Joining Lady Gaga in Ridley Scott’s film Gucci are Adam Driver, Robert De Niro, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Jack Huston, and Penny Dreadful actor Reeve Carney. The film centers on the 1995 assassination of Maurizio Gucci, businessman and head of the storied fashion house. Gaga will play his wife, Patrizia Reggiani, who was later convicted of hiring a hitman to commit the murder.
Deadline has no info on who is playing which role, but with that cast does it really matter? You’ve got legends in De Niro and Pacino, teaming up again so soon after The Irishman, and we don’t need to talk about how big Driver’s star is right now.
Scott most recently directed 2015’s All the Money in the World, another film that explored the dark side of a wealthy, iconic family.
In 2005, film critic Nathan Rabin officially coined the term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl,” a film archetype describing a female character that “exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” While I’d like to think that female characters have developed passed existing to teach the male protagonist to “live,” I’d like to point out a new archetype I’m seeing sprout out of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Instead of a girl existing purely to teach the male character how to let loose and “be”, I’m seeing characters that are there to teach the male heartbreak and try to be fixed. Depressing girls with tragic backstories, looking for respite from everyday teen life, getting caught up in romance with someone who goes out of their way to try to fix them. Instead of a hero learning how to live through the heroine’s quirks, we’re seeing the hero learning to live through the heroine’s tragedy and pain. Nowhere is this idea more present than in Chemical Hearts, writer/director Richard Tanne’s newest depiction of young love since Southside With You. Besed on Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland, the muted and weighty Chemical Hearts takes the drama and seriousness you feel as a teenager and completely sucks the fun out of it, making it seem like tragic young love is the only thing you get out of that time.
One day, senior Henry Page (Austin Abrams, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark) is pulled into his advisor’s office and told that he will be sharing the Lit mag’s editor-in-chief position with a new girl, Grace Town (Lili Reinhart, Riverdale, Hustlers). She’s moody and mysterious and walks with a limp. Henry is intrigued and though she tries to push him away, the more he learns about Grace the more he wants to be closer to her. Of course, Grace is dealing with her own painful past, a car accident that impaired her mobility and took the life of her boyfriend. Despite this, Henry tries his hardest to open her up, the two getting closer in the process.
Austin Abrams has been bouncing from supporting part to supporting part for the last couple of years now, playing Ben Stiller’s son in Brad’s Status and Nat Wolff’s best friend in Paper Towns. Last summer, he played the rejected but sweet Ethan in the highly acclaimed drama Euphoria. What Chemical Hearts tries and fails to do, taking teens and making them seem like fully-fledged individuals while exploring a rarely depicted side of their lives, Euphoria succeeds in. In both projects, Abrams takes what he is given and squeezes what he can from it. His Henry is engaging and empathetic, even if the script sometimes hinders his ability to do so.
Lili Reinhart is best known for her portrayal as Betty Cooper on Riverdale, the once-promising teen soap that has since jumped the shark. On Chemical Hearts, she jumps into the producer’s chair, desperately in need of a win if the way her eyes glaze over when any interviewer brings up the CW drama is any indication. Though Reinhart does play Grace a little too seriously, she does inject the character with intense raw emotion that’s captivating to watch. Do you want to shake both Grace and Henry and yell, “Being a teenager doesn’t have to be all misery and could actually be fun?” Yes, you do. There’s no levity in this film and while the subject matter is rather dark, other films have been able to combine heavy subject matter with the joys of being young (i.e. The Perks of Being a Wallflower).
Like most teen-centered films, both Henry and Grace are overly smart and seem to know the art of Japanese pottery and obscure poetry. It’s not that those traits don’t exist in real teenagers but it seems like every teen in these movies has to have some weird hobby that indicates some secret about their psyche. To paraphrase comedian and director Bo Burnham, most teenagers are not poet laureates. Despite Abrams and Reinhart’s best acting efforts, Tanne’s script can’t seem to depict Henry or Grace with any realistic qualities, painting them more as idyllic beings with tragic backstories.
Like the subdued tones that seem to paint over the screen, Chemical Hearts probably won’t be remembered passed its released date. It’s a shame that this won’t be the jumping-off point that launches Abrams passed supporting roles or the vehicle that helps Reinhart shed her Riverdale persona, but it might be nice to look back on it and once their careers get on the trajectory they’ve been working so hard towards.
You can catch Chemical Hearts on Amazon Prime Video. Watch the trailer below.
What kind of man knows exactly how many online dates they’ve been on without being able to find a girlfriend? That level of obsession with finding someone is the sort of thing Hollywood loves telling stories about, and it’s the kind of person Damon Wayans Jr. plays in the upcoming Netflix rom-com, Love, Guaranteed, in which he decides to turn the tables against the online dating apps that have failed him.
The film teams up Wayans with Rachael Leigh Cook, who in the ’90s and 00’s was all about these kinds of movies. This will be her first big movie in years, playing a lawyer to Wayans’ character, a man who has been on exactly 986 online dates without landing a girlfriend, so he decides to sue. You won’t be surprised that the attorney/client privilege comes to mean a lot more than it normally does.
Cook helped develop the script with writers Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy, who penned the Netflix rom-com Falling Inn Love. Behind the camera is Ghost Rider and Daredevil director Mark Steven Johnson. More appropriately, he’s also the filmmaker on the Kristen Bell comedy, When in Rome.
Love, Guaranteed hits Netflix on September 3rd.
SYNOPSIS: Earnest, hard-working lawyer Susan (Rachael Leigh Cook) has taken one too many pro bono cases. To save her small law firm, Susan begrudgingly takes a high-paying, high-profile case from Nick (Damon Wayans Jr.), a charming new client who wants to sue a dating website that guarantees users will find love. But Susan and Nick soon find themselves in the middle of a media storm, and as the case heats up, so do their feelings for each other — which could jeopardize everything.
Sony’s Spider-Man cinematic universe can’t be stopped. Last night we learned Olivia Wilde would be taking on what appears to be a Spider-Woman movie. And now today another Spidey spinoff centering on classic villain Kraven the Hunter has JC Chandor as its brand new director.
Deadline reports JC Chandor will direct Sony’s Kraven the Hunter movie. Kraven, aka Sergei Kravinoff, is a big game hunter who targets Spider-Man as the ultimate prey. In the iconic “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline, he actually captures and seemingly kills Spider-Man, only to have the hero return. Kraven has gone on to be one of Spidey’s most enduring foes and an original member of the Sinister Six. However, he’s also been portrayed as an antihero, which is what Sony will want to do just as they did with Venom.
Chandor is an interesting choice. He first broke onto the scene with his Oscar-nominated screenplay for Margin Call, which he used to springboard to a run of incredible movies that included All is Lost and A Most Violent Year. He most recently directed Triple Frontier, which was one of Netflix’s most-watched films of 2019. This should scratch the superhero itch for Chandor after he passed on directing Fox’s failed Gambit film.
Expect Kraven the Hunter to take a pretty dark tone. If Chandor’s past resume didn’t give that away, having The Equalizer screenwriter Richard Wenk on the script should drive the point home.
Oh, 2020! You are a funny funny creature. Ben Affleck is returning as Batman. That’s right. Never say never. Affleck will don the Bat-suit once more as part of Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie, making him the second Batman to appear along with Michael Keaton’s version.
So what brought this on? Director Andy Muschietti tells Vanity Fair…
“His Batman has a dichotomy that is very strong which is his masculinity—because of the way he looks, and the imposing figure that he has, and his jawline —but he’s also very vulnerable,” Muschietti said. “He knows how to deliver from the inside out, that vulnerability. He just needs a story that allows him to bring that contrast, that balance.”
“He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before. It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in.”
The film is said to be based on the “Flashpoint” storyline, in which Barry Allen messes up the timeline by going back to save his mother. That opens up the door for all of the different Batmen he’ll be encountering.
But could there be more to it? You may really the first rumors ever about The Flash were that it would be used as a means of writing out Ben Affleck’s version of Batman. While the film has undergone numerous rewrites and directors since, it seems that part of it has stuck. Things have changed, however. Affleck is in a much better place in his life than he was a few years ago, and maybe this is a means of keeping him around for the long haul?
In what capacity, though? Robert Pattinson has the role nailed down in The Batman, although that takes place in a separate universe from the DCEU. Let’s not forget Affleck was originally supposed to star in, direct, and write that movie all by himself. Perhaps he takes on role similar to Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU after Iron Man 3? He can be a cornerstone without having everything heaped on his shoulders?
All the more reason to tune in to DC FanDome this weekend because this isn’t over by a long shot.
Maggie Q gets what none of us want in the trailer for her new film Death of Me. When she an her boyfriend (Luke Hemsworth) watch a video that appears to show him killing her things begin to spiral into a world of premonition and what appears to be voodoo of some sort. There’s not much insight as to the details of the story in this 3 minute clip but it really is one of those extreme end concepts, it’s either going to be mind-bending and utterly enjoyable….of complete crap, depending on how they handle it. The concept really is impressive, especially in today’s world of deep-fakes and Photoshop. How strong would you trust be for your significant other if you saw evidence that they eventually killed you, knowing that seeing the future isn’t a thing. Even the most logical person, with 0 stock in the paranormal would be sleeping with one eye opened. There seems to be a good bit of mythos to what they’re doing here as well, but again, nothing’s entirely made clear so I can’t be sure.
Remember a few months ago, back at the beginning of our long global COVID nightmare, when you’d see images of vacant cities, empty buildings, playgrounds that looked like the aftermath from that scene in Terminator 2? It really did look like we were trapped inside of a zombie movie, one in which the plague had spun rapidly out of control. That makes it weird timing for a movie like Peninsula, a sorta-sequel to the hit South Korean zombie film Train to Busan, because if we don’t shape up it’s a prospect that could become a reality.
Okay, perhaps I’m being a bit hyperbolic because the truth is the people in Peninsula largely did what the f**k they were told. After the zombie outbreak four years ago, the most infected parts of South Korea have been evacuated, leaving a ruinous husk from which only the bravest, or the poorest who couldn’t afford to flee, dare to tread. Others, who fled the devastation, are headed back into the undead terrain seeking opportunity, and that’s where this exciting, if somewhat generic post-apocalyptic sequel picks up.
Peninsula is the third zombie film from writer/director Yeon Sang-ho, along with animated prequel Seoul Station and 2016’s Train to Busan. While they are all set in the same undead-infested universe, they don’t share much else in common other than a blistering pace that grabs you by the throat. We’re catapulted into the lives of ex-soldier Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won), who is racing to get his family out of Seoul and to Japan where they will be safe from the mysterious viral outbreak. He’s so singularly focused that a desperate mother and her two kids pleading for help isn’t enough for Jung-seok to slow down, much less stop. But karma is a bitch, and shortly after getting to the boat a single infected passenger causes a violent outbreak that consumes his sister and nephew.
Four years later, Jung-seok and his widowed brother-in-law Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon) are barely keeping it together. Hong Kong doesn’t appreciate the flood of Korean refugees, who they blame on causing the plague in the first place. Gee, that sounds familiar. “China Virus”, anyone? It’s here that we see the director’s world-building vision isn’t as thought-out as it probably could’ve been. A load of ponderous talk show-style exposition gets dumped on our heads all at once, with it being revealed that North Korea is somehow zombie free. No real explanation is given, and Yeon basically leaves that piece of information hanging in the air like a lollipop curveball, waiting for a swing that never comes. With few prospects, Jung-seok and Chul-min are hired by a gangster to go back into zombie-infested territory to find a truck containing bags of illegal cash.
Of course, it all turns out to be a shit show right from the start. Yeon’s vision of a dystopian, quarantined Incheon is ripped straight from Mad Max: Fury Road, with a little bit of World War Z thrown in for good measure. Those are two pretty good movies to pull from if you have the budget to manage it. But the landscapes are pretty dull and lack personality, a stark contrast to the colorful characters and break-neck action that keep Peninsula moving. The first big action sequence is a hazy, midnight chase through a city that looks like every stretch of road in The Walking Dead, times one million. Weaving around broken down vehicles through cracked streets with an army of rogue soldiers on their tale is one thing, but literal waves of zombies pouring from the tops of skyscrapers create a nightmarish scenario.
Jung-seok and Chul-min are eventually split up, and Peninsula diverges into two separate stories that explore the two men’s differing philosophies on sacrifice. Two rambunctious, zombie-killing girls, Joon (Lee Re) and Yu-jin (Lee Ye-won), come to Jung-seok’s rescue with an arsenal of clever toys to trick the stupid zombies. Their mother, Ming-jung (Lee Jung-hyun), turns out to be, wait for it, the same woman Jung-seok left behind earlier. Already racked by guilt, he’s forced to confront his actions and make up for what he’s done, although it goes against his instinct of self-preservation.
Meanwhile, Chul-min is captured by the soldiers who are as dangerous as they are dumb. These guys force their captives into a Gladiator-style arena fight to the death against unleashed zombies, all for their own sick entertainment. It makes for a cool visual, Chul-min fighting off the undead alone while the men around him eagerly shove one another into the hungry horde.
Yeon may have teased a wider agenda, one that explores how overcoming our greed and selfishness can defeat a threat to all humanity. Peninsula isn’t really about any of that. Instead, he relishes every opportunity to create ridiculously over-the-top scenarios for his characters to survive, like some madman’s idea of torture. The zombie fight club is just one part of it, and while that feels familiar (How many times have we seen zombies kept for entertainment?) he throws in a couple of wrinkles, like a bunch of creatures stapled together to create one giant, heinous, walking mass of bloodstained teeth and fingers. By the time we get to the cartoonish action-packed finale, in which our heroes drive through masses of rotting flesh with the steeliness of Dominic Toretto, he’s long since given in to video game mayhem
Peninsula might be an awkward, gripping transitional chapter, a bridge to a sequel that may or may not arrive. Similar to 28 Weeks Later, which took a more action-oriented view than its predecessor, there’s a recognition of Train to Busan‘s depth of character and social commentary, but Yeon chooses to plow through rather than embrace. Assuming he’s influenced by the coronavirus rampage as other filmmakers have been already, Yeon may still have some interesting places to take this franchise, and in so doing enhance Peninsula‘s importance as part of the whole.
With DC FanDome arriving this weekend, news seems to be dropping on just about every DCEU movie that’s coming up.The Batman is perhaps the biggest of them all, and today we not only got a look at the movie’s logo, but some slick Jim Lee art and a confirmation of its return to production after COVID-19 delays.
Deadline reports production on The Batman will resume in the UK next month. This isn’t a shock as many film shoots are already coming back online across the pond, including Jurassic World: Dominion although that has been met with challenges. Shooting had come to a halt back in March like so many others.
While we’re expected to get some actual footage of The Batman during this Saturday’s panel event (Matt Reeves says as much in the recent DC FanDome trailer), the director has revealed the movie’s official logo, sporting a crimson red look and a bat right in the middle. Also, DC’s Chief Creative Officer and comic book legend Jim Lee provides some concept art that offers a glimpse at what Robert Pattinson may look like in the Bat-suit.
The Batman panel at DC FanDome takes place Saturday, August 22nd at 8:30pm EST.
Sean Baker, the inventive filmmaker behind Tangerine and The Florida Project, teaming up with the always-daring Bella Thorne? Yes, please. That’s what’s going down, as Baker will direct a doc on Thorne’s foray into the X-rated subscription service, OnlyFans.
This comes on the heels of Thorne announcing her participation in OnlyFans yesterday with a sultry striptease.For those who are unaware, OnlyFans is a subscription service in which fans pay $20 per month for Thorne to send them sexually suggestive content way too hot for Instagram. It’s estimated Thorne could make up to $1M a year through this new venture.
Thorne has never been shy about her sexuality, which is one of the reasons why I dig her. The ex-Disney Channel alum (Having interviewed her, I know she hates being reminded of it) has put her beauty and sex appeal out there on front street in pretty much every role, including her recent film, Infamous. She drew a lot of attention and no shortage of controversy for making her directorial debut with the Pornhub film Her & Him. When a hacker threatened to expose sensitive images, Thorne beat him to the punch by leading the nudes herself. The connection she has with fans has gone a long way in her evolution from actress to entrepreneur.
It’s been a few years since Baker’s The Florida Project, and people have been wondering what he would do next. He’s made movies on IPhone and used other wild filmmaking techniques. Surely, there will be something new he brings to the table for this documentary, which makes it all the more intriguing. [Paper]
There’s so much happening at DC FanDome this weekend that it would be easy to miss something. But nobody, and I mean nobody, who is interested in the fan event will pass on Zack Snyder’s panel where the first look at his cut of Justice League will finally arrive. But before that happens, Snyder has dropped a teaser for what fans can look forward to.
So what’s the big deal with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, anyway? Chances are if you’re reading this you already know. After principal photography, he was forced to exit due to a family tragedy. Joss Whedon was brought in to replace him and did extensive reshoots. While Snyder was given directorial credit, the movie belongs neither to him or Whedon. After years of fan petitions, Warner Bros. rehired Snyder to make the movie he always wanted to make, and he’s doing it without a single bit of footage from Whedon’s cut.
Because the big reveal is so close, you won’t find anything major happening in this brief footage. However, you’ll notice a never-before-seen shot of Superman examining the monument erected in his memory. We should also take note that Snyder is reusing his unfinished footage, which means a lot of VFX enhancement is going on here, too.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max next year. Snyder’s DC FanDome panel takes place Saturday, August 22nd at 5:30pm ET.
