MacGruber has had one hell of a life-cycle so far. Starting out as a fairly popular SNL skit and getting a greatly underappreciated spin-off film, it looked like that was all she wrote for the flannel encrusted hero of the people until it was announced that Peacock would be mounting a spin-off TV show for their network/app. When streaming happened, it happened big, with every major media holder rolling out their own streaming service it’s only a matter of time before every under-appreciated cult property gets it’s turn to shine in the sun a second time. I have to be honest, the crazy cult status it’s earned since the film was first released baffles me. I really dug the movie and thought it was funny as hell but there are groups that will put this in their top 5 comedies, it’s not that. I have to think it’s got something to do with the appreciation people have for Will Forte now, that they didn’t have then. I can’t be mad at that, Forte’s endlessly watchable and really goes for it as MacGruber, so at least it’s someone that’s worked hard for that appreciation.
In terms of content, there’s not much…it’s a teaser. What we do get is confirmation that they are staying with the theme of MacGruber being about as corny and delusional as one can be while wearing a puffy vest. Check out the teaser below and look for MacGruber on Peacock in 2021!
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Get ready, Netflix has another teen melodrama comin’ in hot! The streamer can barely go a couple of days without dropping another one, and who can blame them when they’ve had so much success? The latest, All Together Now, might be the most intriguing one in a while, as it’s based on a book by Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick, is directed by Hearts Beat Loud’s Brett Haley, and stars Moana voice star Auli’i Cravalho.
Already there’s more talent than these YA films typically get, but you add Justina Machado, Fred Armisen, Judy Reyes, and the legendary Carol Burnett and this becomes a must-watch situation. Cravalho, who we know from Moana and the short-lived series Rise has a terrific singing voice, plays a teen juggling troubled family life with high school and her musical aspirations. Looks like she’ll be cozying up to Runaways star Rhenzy Feliz, as well.
All Together Now hits Netflix on August 28th.
SYNOPSIS: Amber Appleton (Auli’i Cravalho) remains an optimist even when her personal life is far less stable than it appears on the surface. A musically gifted high school student with aspirations to attend Carnegie Mellon, Amber balances her beloved high school drama club helmed by Mr. Franks (Fred Armisen) with working long hours at a donut shop to help support herself and her down-on-her-luck single mom (Justina Machado). She also spends time at the local retirement community, giving care and attention to her favorite pessimistic resident (Carol Burnett). When new obstacles present themselves that threaten her dreams, Amber must learn to lean on the strength of her chosen family to move forward. Directed by Brett Haley (All The Bright Places, Hearts Beat Loud) and based on Matthew Quick’s novel “Sorta Like a Rock Star,” ALL TOGETHER NOW is a story of finding hope in the darkest of times. The film co-stars Rhenzy Feliz, Judy Reyes, Taylor Richardson, C.S. Lee, Anthony Jacques Jr., and Gerald Isaac Waters.
Well, you know that Tron sequel with Jared Leto which was rumored to be making a comeback after years on ice? It now has a director, and a damn good one.
Lion director Garth Davis is directing Tron 3, according to a report by Deadline. There aren’t many details about the story, but expect it to take place in a similar video game world as 2010’s Tron: Legacy and 1982’s Tron. It’s unclear how connected to earlier films this will be, or if prior stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, or Olivia Wilde will return. Jesse Wigutow wrote the most recent script.
This will be the largest studio effort from Davis. He’s best known for his 2016 film Lion, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. He followed that up with 2018’s Mary Magdalene, which boasted Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix but failed to catch on.
Leto has been attached to Tron since 2017, but Disney has been reluctant to keep the franchise moving. Tron: Legacy wasn’t the gigantic hit they wanted it to be, although with $400M at the box office it was hardly a dud they could ignore. A short-lived animated series followed, and Disney reportedly scrapped plans for a live-action show from 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley.
While the future of the Star Wars franchise remains clouded in mystery, we do know that Disney+ is going to be a big part of it. And one of the many shows being developed for the streamer is Cassian Andor, a prequel to Rogue One that returns Diego Luna as the Rebellion intelligence officer. And now with Lucasfilm confirming the previously-revealed cast and adding one more lead role, the series inches closer to reality.
Deadline reports Adria Arjona has taken a lead role in Cassian Andor, although it’s unclear the details on her character. She joins Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, the latter reprising his voice role as droid K-2SO, plus the previously-announced Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard and Kyle Soller.
Considering the way Rogue One shook out, it’s obvious why Cassian Andor is a prequel series. However, it does pose some interesting questions as to what stories will be pursued, and what their impact to the Star Wars universe as a whole will be.
Arjona had her first big break in HBO’s True Detective, then went on to star in The Belko Experiment, 6 Underground, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Triple Frontier. She has a lead role coming up in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff, Morbius.
When you have a cast that includes Booksmart‘s Kaitlyn Dever, Luke Cage himself Mike Colter, Orange is the New Black‘s Taylor Schilling, and Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran, you don’t mess around. Put them right out front. That’s what Hulu has done in these first images from their horror/fantasy anthology series, Monsterland.
Created by Mary Laws and based on the series of short stories by Nathan Ballingrud, Monsterland follows human encounters with mermaids, fallen angels and other strange beasts that drive these broken people to desperate acts, revealing a thin layer between man and monster.
Tran, who can be seen in her image sporting a blood-stained wedding dress, stars in an episode titled “Iron River, MI” in which she’ll play Lauren, who returns to her small Michigan hometown to be married. She had managed to build a new life for herself after her best friend, Elena, went missing when they were 16.
With just a couple of weeks until DC FanDome is to give eager fans a sneak peek at Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the director has dropped a brand new image of the movie’s villain, Steppenwolf. Yes, we’ve seen the character before in the original cut, but as you can see from the below image, things are a bit different.
Zack Snyder continues to be a lifeline to the VERO app by dropping fresh teases of his cut of Justice League, as he’s done for the last couple of years. But with the movie hitting HBO Max next year, Snyder has picked up the pace. This spikier look at Steppenwolf is the third such image we’ve seen over the last few weeks. Snyder also provided a clip of the biggest-baddie of all, Darkseid, as well as Superman in his black suit.
Snyder’s image came with this caption: “Just working today. Pulled this out of the editorial. Sorry he’s low-resolution, but I’ve seen him in all his hi-res glory and he’s a thing to behold. Quick question… how many f@*ks do you think he gives???”
Steppenwolf was crazy lame before, but you can bet Snyder is going to try and make him cool for his version. We’ll see how well he succeeds when Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max in 2021.
Ozark and The Outsider‘s Marc Menchaca looks creepy as Hell in the new trailer for Alone, playing a serial killer on the hunt for Bloodline actress Jules Wilcox. The film is by director John Hyams, and penned by Mattias Olsson, who has a track record with exactly this kind of movie, except in another country.
In Alone, Wilcox plays a woman wrecked by grief over the loss of her husband, so she flees the city to get some distance. However, she’s stalked and kidnapped by a mysterious man, played by Menchaca, and must navigate the harsh forests of the Pacific Northwest while fleeing her captor.
So this looks like an English-language version of Olsson’s 2011 Swedish film, Gone, which had virtually the same plot.
Alone hits select theaters and VOD on September 18th, courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
SYNOPSIS: Set in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, the film follows recently widowed Jessica who, fleeing the city in a desperate attempt to cope, is kidnapped and locked away in a mysterious man’s cabin. Her escape from the clutches of this murderous captor lands her in the heart of the untamed wilderness, with only her wits to rely on for survival as her pursuer closes in.
If you’re looking for a little less “sci” in your sci-fi, then perhaps the Netflix series Away is for you. That’s not a knock, mind you, but it does seem to be a concerted effort lately, and I’ll include a film such as Lucy in the Sky in my calculation, to focus less on the interstellar aspects of space travel than on the cost of what’s left behind.
Oscar-winner Hilary Swank stars in Away as an astronaut leading humanity’s first mission to Mars. But in so doing, she’s also leaving behind a family that needs her most. The cast is pretty great surrounding Swank, as she’s joined by Josh Charles, Talitha Bateman, Mark Ivanir, Ato Essandoh, Ray Panthaki, Vivian Wu, and Monique Curnen.
The series was created by Andrew Hinderaker, and boasts an impressive list of exec-producers that includes The Batman director Matt Reeves and Blood Diamond director Ed Zwick.
Away hits Netflix on September 4th.
SYNOPSIS: From Executive Producer Jason Katims, the Netflix series Away is a thrilling, emotional drama on an epic scale that celebrates the incredible advancements humans can achieve and the personal sacrifices they must make along the way. As American astronaut Emma Green (Hilary Swank) prepares to lead an international crew on the first mission to Mars, she must reconcile her decision to leave behind her husband (Josh Charles) and teenage daughter (Talitha Bateman) when they need her the most. As the crew’s journey into space intensifies, their personal dynamics and the effects of being away from their loved ones back on Earth become increasingly complex. Away shows that sometimes to reach for the stars, we must leave home behind.
The age of social media celebrity, and the unfortunate confluence with a rise in violence captured on cell phone, has led to a new genre of nihilist cinema. Think of it as a modernized take on Natural Born Killers or Bonnie & Clyde, where fame is gained through murderous rampage, branded and live streamed to a willing audience just waiting to shoot you a “Like” or give you a “Follow.” Writer/director Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Spree, a buzzy title that premiered at Sundance early this year, is only the latest to set a marginalized, wannabe Youtube superstar into the role of homicidal savior for the Twitch crowd.
So while the idea of Spree is hardly new, it has quite a lot going in its favor. The first is Stranger Things loverboy Joe Keery as the overly-earnest bordering on desperate unfortunately-named Kurt Kunkle. I’m going to assume that his name sounds as goofy as Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle is just a coincidence, but then again probably not. Kurt’s been toughing it out with his super-lame @Kurtsworld96 brand, barely snagging any new follows and definitely nothing viral over ears of self-hype videos and pathetic pleading.
In a crash course montage, we see that Kurt’s actual world kinda sucks. He barely tolerates his drug-addicted DJ of a father (David Arquette), and hovers around popular social media influencer @bobbybasecamp (Josh Ovalle), an arrogant kid who Kurt used to babysit. Bobby has figured out how to build his brand through a variety of staged gimmicks and stunts; Kurt wishes he could “find himself” that way.
“It’s, like, really hard to keep making great content, you know? It’s a numbers game and right now I feel like a zero.”
Kurt comes up with a plan he thinks will work. Taking advantage of his side-hustle as an Uber-like Spree driver, he comes with a scheme he brands #TheLesson, in which he covertly murders his customers live on-camera. But to his amazement, Kurt discovers that nobody really seems to care that he’s killing people, because HE is still pretty lame. The revelation drives him to up the body count in greater, more gruesome ways, ultimately becoming fixated on rising star comedian Jessie Adams (SNL‘s Sasheer Zamata), who has a huge Instagram following but is having doubts whether she wants that kind of fame.
Keery’s over-the-top exuberance as the deeply amoral Kurt Kunkle matches the chaotic split-screen blend of natural filmmaking with found-footage techniques and the picture-in-picture style of movies like Searching and Open Windows. It’s an appropriately disorienting experience, one that lends itself to the movie’s mix of horror and satire.
Spree‘s examination of the social media pecking order is less scalpel-like and more like a meat cleaver, slashing and burning every which way. Mostly, that works in its favor as Kotlyarenko rips into Kurt for his bloody devotion to Internet infamy, but also those who revel in the movie’s violence, the same violence Kurt thinks will deliver him the RTs and Likes he’s been craving. Kurt is an interesting case, as the entirety of his every interaction amounts to sizing up their worth to his audience. When a passenger turns out to be a white supremacist, Kurt doesn’t disavow him because it’s the right thing to do, but because viewers might not like a racist. Other encounters like this follow, but it’s a soft-peddle step by Kotlyarenko that all of Kurt’s victims are just as deplorable as him; racists, misogynists, Mischa Barton, Ariana Grande’s hyper-annoying big bro. We don’t care much when they bite it.
Kotlyarenko is considerably less focused when looking at Jessie and her view of Internet fame from a view at the top. Having built her fanbase with the catchy “All eyes on me!” slogan, her frequent encounters with Kurt, a chauvinist a-hole, and a grabby colleague (played by Zamata’s SNL pal Kyle Mooney) begin to change her thinking whether it’s good to always be seen. But her evolution is inconsistent, sporadic, and eventually discarded in a way that might fit the movie’s cynical view even if makes little sense from a storyline perspective.
Keery has always been my least favorite part of Stranger Things, but here he nails Kurt’s sad, manic, hilarious descent into serial killer land. If there’s anything scary about Spree, it’s the way it mirrors real-life instances of tech-influenced murder, including a series of killings by a rideshare driver in 2016. Otherwise, the film is an enjoyably brazen attempt to court controversy and get itself noticed. Kurt Kunkle would be proud.
Jason Bateman seems to be everywhere right now, and not just in front of the camera. On top of earning Emmy nominations for his work on Ozark and HBO’s The Outsider, Bateman has been keeping busy with a variety of projects. And now he’s taking on the world of superheroes with Superworld, a film that will be a reunion with Game Night writer Mark Perez.
THR reports Warner Bros. has set Bateman to direct Superworld, which Perez will adapt from Audible Original audiobook by Gus Krieger. The story will be familiar to anybody who has seen the criminally-underseen (and need of a sequel) 2005 film Sky High. It is “set in 2038 where every person on the planet has superpowers, except for one man names Ignatius Lohman. Lohman is stuck in a white-collar job while his father is one of the most powerful people on the planet and leader of defense organization Peerless. But Lohman will get his chance to step up when he is forced to face a corporate overlord whose power is neutralizing anyone with a superpower.”
This could be a lot of fun. The film is described as being similar in tone to The Incredibles, and if true I like Bateman and Perez operating in that arena. Game Night was a movie I didn’t think would amount to much, but turned out to be one of the year’s best surprises. It’s still funny, too, after multiple viewings. If they can manage something half as good Superworld could be a big hit. I’d love to see Bateman take on an acting role in this, too.
Bateman has developed into quite a director since his debut film, Bad Words. He most recently directed 2015’s The Family Fang. Currently, he is working with Perez on a Netflix movie starring John Cena, and centers on a family that get stuck in a movie studio where the sets come alive.
