On the latest episode, we don’t throw away our shot to talk HAMILTON on Disney+! We heat tons of praise on Rod Lurie’s war film THE OUTPOST, Travis teases his MONEY PLANE review, plus what’s up with all this heat between Ray Fisher and Joss Whedon over JUSTICE LEAGUE??
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Charlize Theron created one of the most badass characters in movie history when she played Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Ever since, people have not only been clamoring for a sequel, but to see her return to the role she made famous. Unfortunately, we recently learned George Miller is casting a younger actress for what will be a prequel story, and Theron expressed her regret over that in an interview with THR.
Theron talked about her decision to star in Fury Road, and what it meant to her considering the action films of her early career that failed to connect with audiences…
“A lot of women don’t get a second chance, but when men make these movies and fail miserably, they get chance after chance after chance to go and explore that again,” explained Theron. “That doesn’t necessarily happen for women.”
‘Fury Road’ came a good decade after ‘Æon Flux,’ and there’s always been that voice in the back of my head that still somewhat responds to that. I’m still influenced by that, and it’s one thing that drives me. It’s unfortunate that we feel like the opportunity will be taken away from us in a heartbeat if we don’t succeed, but that is the truth. It’s not a very forgiving genre when it comes to women.”
And as for not appearing Miller’s Furiosa prequel…
“It’s a tough one to swallow. Listen, I fully respect George, if not more so in the aftermath of making that film with him. He’s a master, and I wish him nothing but the best.”
“Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking, for sure. I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly. Obviously, I would love to see that story continue, and if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner. We get so hung up on the smaller details that we forget the thing that we emotionally tap into has nothing to do with that minute thing that we’re focusing on.”
Although nobody has officially been cast, the names currently topping the list to play Furiosa are Anya Taylor-Joy and Jodie Comer. Fortunately, this isn’t stopping Theron from continuing to create kick-ass new characters. She’ll be seen as the immortal warrior Andromache in The Old Guard, which hits Netflix on July 10th.
If the world weren’t in chaos right now, we would have already digested Marvel’s Black Widow. Instead, we’ve still got another four months to go before we can see Scarlett Johansson return as the Avengers’ resident Russian spy. But her solo movie isn’t all about her, it’s about her past, and more specifically, it’s about her family. The role of Natasha’s sister Yelena is being played by the red-hot Florence Pugh, and it’s clear there are big plans.
When Pugh was cast as Yelena in Black Widow, fans of the comics immediately suspected this would be a “passing the torch” opportunity. While previous reports have cooled those notions, director Cate Shortland has lit them back up with her recent comments to Empire…
“[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction. And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett [Johansson] is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
“Handing her the baton”, eh? In the comics, Yelena was trained at the same Red Room as Natasha, and wanted to take the mantle of Black Widow for herself. While they started as foes, Yelena and Natasha eventually became reluctant allies, with Natasha often referring to her as “little one.”
Shortland also talks about Natasha’s controversial death in Avengers: Endgame, and why her lack of a funeral was appropriate and something that actually fit with what she’s doing in Black Widow…
“In ‘Endgame,’ the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
It doesn’t matter whether he’s on the battlefield, on teaching children as Mr. Rogers, sailing the high seas in Captain Phillips, or commanding a naval fleet as he does in Greyhound, Tom Hanks is always a calming influence. His presence has the effect of making a movie as adrift as this WWII thriller one that is still admirable and imminently watchable, with Hanks doing something he hasn’t done since Larry Crowne, which is writing a role for himself. And in typical Hanks fashion, he casts himself in the role of the faithful, humble caretaker seeking to shepherd his flock from the wolves at the door.
The shepherd analogy comes from C.S. Shepherd’s 1955 book, The Good Shepherd, from which the movie is based, and it’s an apt title. Only in this case, the shepherd is U.S. Navy captain Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), the flock are the sailors at his command, and the wolves are German U-boats seeking to blow them out of the water during the height of WWII. It’s Krause’s first command, and the assignment to protect supply ships in the Atlantic is a dangerous one he might not return from. There’s a heartbreaking moment in an otherwise stale prologue where Krause’s marriage proposal is rejected by the woman he loves (Elisabeth Shue). She wants to wait until the world isn’t in chaos, he shoots her a look that says “That day might not ever come.”
Otherwise, Greyhound spends very little time with the many men aboard Krause’s ship. Hanks made it a point not to make this another one of those movies where he plays the unflappable hero, but of course, he turns out to be that nonetheless. Krause is a religious man, we know it because he says prayer before every meal. We know he’s a good, decent man because he actually speaks with the black man (Rob Morgan) who serves his meals. It’s a little bit problematic that the only two black characters are both cooks who make Krause his eggs and coffee, but the easy shorthand to characterization is across the board, and we get the point even if they leave Hanks’ role pretty bland. This is, after all, only a 90-minute movie and it’s clear Hanks, and Get Low director Aaron Schneider have a specific vision for what Greyhound is to be.
If you’re looking for naval warfare, ship vs. ship combat, that’s what Greyhound offers and on that score it’s tense and exciting. The film is entirely about battles in the middle of raging sea waters. Cannons fire, torpedoes are launched, and there’s a lot of “Hard right to seaboard!” as Krause maneuvers to help as many as he can from the German attack. The ships of the Allied front are being hunted, in keeping with the “wolves” analogy, and it’s up to Krause to protect them any way he can. But this being his first command, Krause doesn’t always know if he’s up to the task. He relies on his faith and the seaworthiness of his crew to get by, but even they might not be enough against the relentless Nazi assault. The only time it feels less than authentic is when the Nazi predators break into the radio frequency and begin taunting the Allies in English. It’s like something out of a bad serial killer movie and not a WWII film that thrives on detail.
It’s been turbulent waters for Greyhound to get to this point. A long, expensive, oft-delayed project that Sony had originally planned for theaters, Apple took it off their hands recently at the cost of $70M. It’s an unfortunate development, one echoed by Hanks himself, as the film really would’ve seen benefit from the widescreen treatment. On home screens it’s the kind of movie that men of a certain age will admire. Hanks’ performance is reminiscent of classic Hollywood, and it’s safe to say he eyed those golden age war films as the model for what he wanted Greyhound to be. But times have passed, and it would be a lie to say Hanks hasn’t made a movie that feels old-fashioned. It’s possible Sony saw that, as well, which is why they were willing to unload it so easily.
While Greyhound is on target when it comes to putting audiences in the heat of the action, it isn’t enough for a film that frustratingly refuses to submerge deeper beneath the surface.
“I cannot help but ask myself … is this a hopeless crusade?”
These are not the words any die-hard Transformers fan expects to hear from Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, who always finds a way to be the “energon is half full” kind of Autobot. But then, he wasn’t in the darkest hours of the war against the Decepticons, as he is in the apocalyptic new trailer for Netflix and Rooster Teeth’s Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy.
The anime-inspired series is the darkest thing we’ve ever seen from the Transformers franchise, at least that I can remember. Even in the gloomiest stretches of Transformers: The Movie it wasn’t quite like this, with the toll of war paid in the carcasses of many familiar Autobots. At least my boy Ultra Magnus is still alive. For now. This one isn’t going to be any joyride, hence the title “Siege” of the first six episodes, each lasting twenty-two minutes. Here’s the synopsis:
The war that has torn apart their home planet of Cybertron is at a tipping point. Two leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron, both want to save their world and unify their people, but only on their own terms. In an attempt to end the conflict, Megatron is forced to consider using the Allspark, the source of all life and power on Cybertron, to “reformat” the Autobots, thus “unifying” Cybertron. Outnumbered, outgunned, and under SIEGE, the battle-weary Autobots orchestrate a desperate series of counterstrikes on a mission that, if everything somehow goes right, will end with an unthinkable choice: kill their planet in order to save it.
“Siege”, Part 1 of Transformers: War for Cybertron hits Netflix on July 30th. Part 2, titled “Earthrise”, and Part 3 have yet to be dated.
With John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Hobbs & Shaw, and Deadpool 2 on his resume, David Leitch has quickly established himself as one of the top action directors around, and any new film worth getting excited about. Recently we learned of a new one, Bullet Train, about a bunch of assassins on a, you guessed it, speeding train. While that sounds like a lot of fun already, it gets even better when you toss Brad Pitt into the mix.
Deadline reports that Brad Pitt will star in Bullet Train, with filming set to begin later this year. There aren’t any new details about the story, but considering it’s based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by author Kotaro Isak, there may be some clues to be found. Here is the book’s synopsis:
Five assassins find themselves on a fast moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. They discover their missions are not unrelated to each other. The question becomes who will make it off the train alive and what awaits them at the terminal station?
Leitch will be overseeing a rewrite of Zak Olkewicz’s script. This is the perfect moment for Leitch to work with Pitt, who is coming off his first acting Oscars victory for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Last year, he also starred in the vastly underrated Ad Astra and received some of the best notices of his career.
With Pitt on board, it stands to reason the other four assassins will be equally big names. Hopefully we hear more soon.
Who doesn’t love Kevin Hart as an action-comedy sidekick? Ride Along, Jumanji : Welcome to the Jungle, I mean, c’mon! Well, Kevin Hart, that’s who doesn’t like it and he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to be the leading man on Quibi’s upcoming series Die Hart. First, let’s get the shade out of the way….Quibi’s still around? Ok, now that that’s out of the way, this trailer has me ready to get that Quibi subscription, even if only for the run of this show. In the last 10 years Kevin Hart has become the industries go-to man for guaranteed comic-relief/sidekick success. Die Hart portrays a fictionalized Kevin Hart who’s tired of being that guy and wants to be hero. What does one do when they want to become a Hollywood action star? Well, they go to Ron Wilcox’s action star school….obviously. If they idea of Kevin Hart running around an “action star school” trying to be more like the Rock, and less like the pebble doesn’t guarantee a laugh. If you’re not convinced there are two more things moving this to the top of my list. First, the unnaturally beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel in her first major role post-GoT and then add in that Ron Wilcox is played by none other then John Travolta and your dead inside if you’re not lining up to see it. Personally I’ve always preferred Travolta with a side of funny and I’d watch Emmanuel do just about anything.
Check out the trailer below and look for Die Hart to premier on Quibi July 20th, 2020 with new chapters every weekday until July 29th!
Sign up for Quibi HERE and get 14 days free!
Emilia Clarke has done enough outside Game of Thrones that we shouldn’t be shocked when she plays someone who isn’t the royal Mother of Dragons. But in the new trailer for Above Suspicion, hearing her rock a Kentucky accent is still a little bit odd.
In the new film from veteran director Philip Noyce (Salt), Clarke plays a Kentucky woman who gets into an illicit affair with an FBI agent, only for shit to go downhill with violent repercussions. This is actually based on a non-fiction by author Joe Sharkey, and that may lend it some cred, but it might be hard to look past Clarke in a role that seems ill-suited for her. The rest of the cast is solid, as well, with Johnny Knoxville, Sophie Lowe, Thora Birch, and Jack Huston.
Above Suspicion hits digital and VOD soon, after filming wrapped more than two years ago. Sharkey has been pretty chatty about the headaches getting it released, if you want to check that out.
SYNOPSIS: Nothing is more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose.Based on the chilling true story of a newly married FBI poster boy assigned to an Appalachian mountain town in Kentucky. There, he is drawn into an illicit affair with an impoverished local woman who becomes his star informant. She sees in him her means of escape; instead, it is a ticket to disaster for both of them. This scandal shook the foundations of the nation’s top law enforcement agency, ending in the first-ever conviction of an FBI agent for murder.
Back in 2009, directors Charles and Thomas Guard directed a horror-thriller titled The Uninvited, making a name for themselves in their debut. It’s been more than a decade and they are finally back with Borderland, and the cast they’ve put together makes you wonder what the long wait was for.
Deadline reports Borderland will star John Boyega, Felicity Jones, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Jack Reynor. Damn. Based on the book The Road To Balcombe Street by Steven S. Moysey, it’s a revenge story about an Irish paramilitary soldier (Reynor) who witnesses his pregnant wife’s murder by an SAS sergeant (Boyega), and joins a ruthless group wreaking havoc in London as a means of getting vengeance.
The film will be co-written by the Guard brothers and Public Enemies writer Ronan Bennett.
This is a lot of star power, suggesting a movie that we should probably be keeping a close eye on. Boyega and Jones are both Star Wars alums. He has been pretty quiet, other than his recent activism since the trilogy ended. Jones is an Oscar nominee last seen in The Aeronauts. Reynor was most recently part of Ari Aster’s Midsommar, while Turner-Smith played one half of the Queen & Slim duo.
Being stuck indoors has offered many of us a chance to branch out and try new things. Some have taken up baking, some have started sewing, and in the case of Brie Larson she’s started her own Youtube channel, where she hopes to connect with her fans and hold “deep conversations” on a variety of topics.
Turns out, one of those topics is her own career, and Larson revealed that while she was on the rise she tried out for some pretty big franchises. Not only did she audition for The Hunger Games, but also Terminator Genisys, and at least one Star Wars movie…
“I auditioned for ‘Star Wars’ too… I auditioned for ‘Hunger Games,’ I auditioned for the ‘Terminator’ reboot. I actually was thinking about the ‘Terminator’ reboot today because I got a flat tire and I was like, ‘Oh the last time I got a flat tire was when I was driving into my audition for ‘Terminator.’ Got a flat tire at the audition, and then didn’t get the job.”
I don’t know if you remember that stretch when they were trying to cast the role of Katniss Everdeen, but it’s likely every able young woman in Hollywood tried out for it, with Jennifer Lawrence obviously grabbing the career-making job. As for Terminator, I definitely remember Larson and Emilia Clarke being the two finalists for the Sarah Connor role and wanting Larson to get it. Probably best for her that she didn’t.
As for Star Wars, it’s unclear what she auditioned for. The casting for Rey in The Force Awakens was so secretive that when Daisy Ridley was cast it came as a big surprise. Perhaps Larson tried out for Jyn Erso in Rogue One? Or maybe she went toe-to-toe with Emilia Clarke again for the role of Qi’ra in Solo?
Anyway, it looks as if Larson’s channel will be a lot of fun for those who are into that sort of thing. Me, I’m more interested in the celebrities who have started Twitch streams.
