Leigh Whannell has been a part of so many hit films, from the Saw franchise to Insidious, that it’s somewhat surprising that The Invisible Man is what really put him on the map. That said, it was his insane body horror Upgrade that has fans begging for a sequel, and well, they’re going to get it on the small screen courtesy of Blumhouse TV.
It was a few months ago that Whannell and Blumhouse showed interest in an Upgrade sequel, and now Deadline reports it will happen as a TV series. The original movie starred Logan Marshall-Green as a paralyzed man who has an artificial intelligence called STEM implanted into his body, giving him mobility, extreme combat skills, and it turns out, a thirst for revenge against those who murdered his wife and left him injured.
Whannell is on board as a producer, joined by writers Krystal Ziv Houghton and James Roland. Acting as exec-producer, writer, and showrunner is Tim Walsh, late of USA’s canceled Bourne spinoff Treadstone. It’s unclear if Marshall-Green will come back, but I sure hope so.
It may still be a couple of years before the next Jumanji sequel, but some of the old gang is getting back together early. Jumanji: The Next Level‘s Karen Gillan and Awkwafina are set to reteam on Shelly, an action-comedy described as Barry meets Mean Girls.
Deadline says Shelly centers on a woman who leaves town after a prom night prank, only to return a decade later as an ice-cold hitwoman. Good fortune smiles on Shelly when the next target is the mean girl who pranked her years earlier. Instead, they become friends and she is part of the cool crowd for the first time in her life.
Behind the camera will be Jude Weng, who has directed episodes of The Good Place, Black-ish, and recently wrapped the Netflix film Finding Ohana. The script is by Michael Doneger and Liz Storm.
Jeremy Hersh’s The Surrogate was to have made its premiere at this SXSW a few months ago before the event was canceled. And like so many films in a similar situation, the complex drama is finding itself with a “virtual theatrical release” in the coming weeks, and to announce it the first trailer has been released.
The Surrogate takes an already complicated issue, surrogacy, and takes it to another emotional level by throwing friendship and more into the mix. Two men hire their close friend to be the egg donor and surrogate for their child, only to learn weeks in that the child may be special needs. The film stars Jasmine Batchelor, Chris Perfetti, and Sullivan Jones. Hersh not only directed by wrote the screenplay.
SYNOPSIS: Jess Harris (Jasmine Batchelor, “The Good Fight”), a 29 year old web designer for a nonprofit in Brooklyn, is ecstatic to be the surrogate and egg-donor for her best friend Josh (Chris Perfetti, “Looking”) and his husband Aaron (Sullivan Jones, Slave Play). Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, a prenatal test comes back with unexpected results that pose a moral dilemma. As they all consider the best course of action, the relationship between the three friends is put to the test.
The Surrogate hits virtual cinemas on June 12th, followed by TVOD on September 1st.
At this late stage of his career, Martin Scorsese has decided he no longer wants to concern himself with budgets. The Irishman was a huge investment for Netflix, and just weeks ago we learned his upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon was also booming in cost. So much, in fact, that Paramount was willing to let Scorsese shop it around to other distributors, trending towards streaming. And one of the director’s targets, Apple, has decided to foot the bill.
Deadline reports Apple with join with Paramount to co-finance and distribute Killers of the Flower Moon. The alliance will give the $180M project, which has Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro attached, a full theatrical run by Paramount before heading to Apple TV+ exclusively. That’s something The Irishman never had with Netflix.
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on David Grann’s book, set in the 1920s and following the murders of the Osage people, whose land had been discovered to be sitting on precious oil deposits. The case was one of the earliest to lead to the formation of the FBI.
So far there’s no word on an official start date but we’ll let you know when Scorsese is ready to roll cameras.
According to Deadline‘s sources, Cavill will return as Superman even though Man of Steel 2 is not officially in the works at this time. It’s unclear where exactly the Kryptonian will pop up, but there are a couple of options. He could turn up in sequels to Shazam (he had a funny non-cameo in the original) or Aquaman, possibly even in the Black Adam film led by Dwayne Johnson. Cavill vs. Johnson? Yes please. It’s too late for him to make an appearance in Wonder Woman 1984 and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad as both are already wrapped. And he’s definitely not showing up in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
For the last couple of years Cavill’s place in the DCEU has been a mystery. While he has never written off a comeback as Superman, WB’s unclear path with the character left his status up in the air. But in recent months it’s been clear that Cavill has maintained a good working relationship with the studio. Rumors of late have a Supergirl movie put on hold in favor of moving forward on Man of Steel 2, and I’d say those prospects are looking pretty good right now.
The big draw for this anthology horror film is the inclusion of Emilia Clarke, who has been somewhat quiet since the finale of Game of Thrones. If you thought this was an odd next move for the Khaleesi then you may not be surprised to find out she’s only in about 10 minutes of the film. Usually this is where I’d tell you that any film that bases it’s marketing around someone that’s in 10% of the film is a red flag. It still is, but if you get Emilia Clarke you don’t NOT tell someone. For what it’s worth the rest of the trailer seems more than creepy enough to fill most coffers. It seems like the film is structured in 8 stories that are based around the different pieces of planning and executing a murder but it’s somewhat hard to tell. The official synopsis will probably do a better job then me so check it out below and let us know what you think of the trailer, which comes to us courtesy of ScreenRant
One of the beautiful little bonuses of Disney+ has undoubtedly been reconnecting with the animated series you loved as a kid. For some people that’s Disney’s Gummy Bears, but for me it was the show that kick-started my love of comic books, X-Men. An amazing and layered animated series that was part of Fox’s awesome animation run in the early 90’s, the show was popular for many of it’s heroes but one of my favorites was the dastardly looking incarnation of evil, Mr. Sinister. Sinister has long been a fan favorite and one that we’ve all wanted to see on the big screen. Turns out, according to Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg, that the plans were in place but the movie fell through. Sinister was to have been the bad guy in the alive then dead, then alive….nope still dead Gambit movie that was set to star Channing Tatum. This film really would have been the movie that the animated series birthed, both characters featured heavily in that series and owe alot of their popularity to its fans.
Oh what would have been…. Not to fret though kids, there is no way that Disney/Marvel let’s these two go unused for long. If there’s one thing Marvel has proven it’s that they can take a B or C level character and catapult them to super-stardom.
Remember Treadstone? That was the Jason Bourne TV series that was expected to continue the long-running franchise. Well, it didn’t last very long, canceled after just one season by USA. So what happens to Bourne now? Producer Frank Marshall has an idea, and you’ll be shocked to know that plans are in the works to bring the sleeper agent back.
Marshall told Collider that Bourne is far from dead, and is the perfect vehicle for filmmakers to come in and make their name…
“I do like the ‘Bourne’ series, and I do think that’s an opportunity for different filmmakers to come in now. So, I’m hoping that we can find a new story for ‘Bourne’ and a new filmmaker. We are looking.”
Scoring top directors has hardly been a problem for the Bourne franchise, though. It began with Doug Liman on The Bourne Identity, followed by Paul Greengrass on the next two sequels, then longtime franchise writer Tony Gilroy on the lackluster spinoff The Bourne Legacy. Finally, Greengrass returned for Jason Bourne, which also failed to reinvigorate despite the reunion with Matt Damon.
So what this sounds like to me is Bourne producers reaching out to up ‘n coming filmmakers, like the Bad Boys for Life duo of Adil & Bilall, to give the franchise a new look and feel. We’ll see, but I think it could use a few years off.
In 2018, President Trump announced a new branch of the military, one that would militarize space. Instead of rolling their eyes and making jokes on twitter like everyone else, actor and comedian Steve Carell and writer Greg Daniels decided to turn those jokes into a script called Space Force. With it, they ask, “What would a Space Force actually look like and how would it run?”
Following the lives and shenanigans of those sworn to protect and fight for us among the stars, General Niard is an alien out of orbit in Wild Horse, Colorado. Dealing with a shake-up in his marriage at home and teen angst from his daughter (Diana Silvers, Booksmart), he must also figure out how to navigate the many personalities and struggles that come with running a whole military branch. There’s the head scientist, driven by reason and moral obligation (John Malkovich), and his underlings (the main one played by Jimmy O. Yang from Silicon Valley and Crazy Rich Asians). There are the “spacemen,” completely unprepared soldiers who will fight for the American dream in Space. There’s an unpredictable President, commanding overall, completely unseen. All to get “boots on the moon.” Trying to be the bridge between a Veep like political satire and workplace comedy like The Office, (to which creators Steve Carell and Greg Daniels are known for), the series ends up fumbling, taking giant leaps where it should have taken smaller steps.
When Space Force tries to be a biting satire or a relationship comedy, the show works. Whether it’s with the show’s version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or the clear pettiness of our actual president, the show is genuinely funny. When it comments on the bureaucracy of running a military branch, like which gun should be the official weapon for mass shootings on the moon, it’s genuinely funny. Later in the season, when the comedy starts to come from characterization, it’s genuinely funny. It’s when the show gets caught in the tedium of military procedure and the petty politics of it all, it feels too real and a little boring.
A good example of this is in episode 5 when the branch squares up against the Air-Force in a mock-battle. The characterization is still being developed, the whole episode focuses on this one event, and there aren’t enough zingers parodying our government for the comedy to land. The issue clearly comes down to writing rather than direction, as the next episode, one of the season’s best and emotionally satisfying, were both directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dee Rees (Mudbound).
Like an actual dying star, the show’s star power is really dense and at times weighs everything down. Jane Lynch, Patrick Warburton, Noah Emmerich, and Kaitlyn Olsen pop up and are given varying degrees of too much and too little to do. Lisa Kudrow’s role however doesn’t pay off. As Naird’s wife Maggie, she’s not on screen enough for her character or her performance to be fleshed out, coming off as one-note. Fred Willard gives us the comic relief he is known for as Naird’s ailing and slightly deranged father. It’s a bittersweet final performance for the comic legend who past away on May 18th.
Though are a few storylines that Space Force would be better without, which seems to be pretty normal for a Netflix show, the main cast tries their best with the material. In her first real big television role, Tawny Newsome gives a reserved but strong performance as Captain and Spaceman Angela Ali. Though the show doesn’t really know what to do with her or the equally endearing Jimmy O’Yang until the latter half of the season, when they do find a space for them, the knock it out of the park. Arguably the heart of the show, John Malkovich is given the opportunity to play a calmer role than we’ve seen from him, one as a logical scientist, a complete foil to Naird’s General. Malkovich still finds ways to be John Malkovich, yelling when provoked and being a smart ass. However, he still provides a lovely performance that will get you through the first couple of shaky episodes.
Carell, on the other hand, has the reverse effect. As the well-meaning General, who has good instincts and no idea what he’s doing, he takes a couple of episodes to find the character’s complexities. Not knowing whether to play him as a complete doof at first, Carell eventually gets the audience on his side but with plenty of turbulence during the show’s takeoff.
There are a surprising amount of musical moments for a show about militarized space. From Carell’s wonderful falsetto covering Newbeats’ “Bread and Butter” to Malkovich’s sweet lyrical rewrite of “What A Wonderful World,” the device works surprisingly well. It adds charm and emotion to where the show was lacking.
Overall, if you like comedy, are a fan of The Office, or slight political satire, the show is worth checking out. However like the actual Space Force, the show struggles to justify its execution.
Space Force will premiere on Netflix this Friday. You can watch the trailer below.
Another regret from Sundance is that I passed up on Run Sweetheart Run, a date night horror from Country Strong and Boundaries director Shana Feste. Reviews praised Feste’s unnerving flick, as well as stars Ella Bolinska (Charlie’s Angels) and Pilou Asbaek (Overlord), and it obviously caught the attention of Amazon who have now picked it up.
Amazon Studios has acquired Run Sweetheart Run, which was written and directed by Feste. The film centers on a first date gone wrong, with Asbaek’s character turning out to be an epic creep. Why anybody would go anywhere with Asbaek is beyond me considering his role as that bastard Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, not to mention his vile characters in Overlord and Ben-Hur (he was friggin’ Pontius Pilate!). Of course that was going to turn out bad.
SYNOPSIS: Timid and hardworking single mother Shari (Ella Balinska, Charlie’s Angels) brushes away hesitations and decides to dip her toe back into the dating scene after being spurred on by her coworkers. She’s thrilled when her boss sets her up on a blind date with Ethan (Pilou Asbæk, Game of Thrones), who initially proves every bit as charming and magnetic as his photo. Ethan can’t hide his true nature for very long though—and when things quickly turn sinister, Shari must find a way to escape. Forced to navigate the streets of LA after hours on foot, Shari learns Ethan is far more connected and violent than she ever imagined.
Feste said, “As crazy as audiences may find the film protagonist’s experience, I wrote and directed a film that is based on a very personal story for me and I’m thrilled that a global audience will have the chance to see it soon on Amazon Prime.”
The cast includes Aml Ameen, Dayo Okeniyi, Clark Gregg, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Betsy Brandt. No word on a release date but given the overall lack of content out there I expect it’ll be pretty soon.
