Netflix Scores Dwayne Johnson/Emily Blunt Superhero Film ‘Ball And Chain’, Adds Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Our Man From Jersey’

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May 15, 2020

The next time Jungle Cruise duo Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt team up, it’ll be at Netflix. As expected, the streamer has scored the rights to superhero film Ball and Chain, which stars Johnson and Blunt as a married couple with superhuman problems. Think The Incredibles meets Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Ball and Chain is based on the comic book by Uncanny X-Men and Happy Death Day writer Scott Lobdell. Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick) will adapt the story of a superhero couple struggling with their marriage, which is a problem because their powers only work in tandem. Johnson and Blunt will also produce the film, making this the latter’s debut as a producer.

Meanwhile, Netflix has spent a whopping seven figures to pick up the Mark Wahlberg spy flick, Our Man from Jersey. Described as a “blue collar 007”, the film will be written by David Guggenheim (Safe House) and produced by Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, the latter having cooked up the idea. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but safe to say Wahlberg will be throwing around a bad Jersey accent (he can’t do anything but his native Boston) while beating people up. The deal makes sense for Netflix as Wahlberg’s recent film Spenser Confidential has been viewed in more than 85 million households. Perhaps they should just go ahead and have Wahlberg crossover into Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2? [THR/Deadline]

Review: ‘Scoob!’
Building A Cinematic Universe Is A Mystery Too Big For Scooby-Doo To Solve

By
Travis Hopson
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Warner Bros. hopes to build themselves a new cinematic universe of Hanna-Barbera characters with Scoob!, the animated always-hungry canine’s first CG adventure. It seems far-fetched until you realize the classic cartoons already had their own mega-franchise of sorts. I mean, what was Laff-A-Lympics other than the Saturday Morning cartoon version of The Avengers? Still, creating one in the mold of Marvel proves a little bit problematic as the endearing qualities of Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc. are overwhelmed by ambitions too big to be solved.

The friendship between Scooby-Doo and his loyal stoner pal Shaggy (less stoner here, just a natural slacker) has always been central, and so it makes sense for veteran director Tony Cervone to start there. Voiced by Frank Welker (the original Fred Jones and longtime Scooby voice actor), a young Scooby is a stray causing chaos as he steals food, as in massive salami rolls, just to survive. That’s when he encounters someone just as lonely as him, a friendless Shaggy (Will Forte), who also shares his massive appetite. On Halloween they make a group of new friends who will set them on the path we all know: Fred (Zac Efron), Velma (Gina Rodriguez), and Daphne (Amanda Seyfried). Together they stumble into a haunted house and solve a mystery that had been plaguing Venice, California, and so the Mystery Inc. team is born. He wold’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids!!

The pint-sized adventures of Scooby and his pals would’ve been sufficient, and charming enough, for kids stuck at home in quarantine. But Scoob! has loftier goals that get in the way. Originally set for a theatrical release, hence the big-name celebrity voice cast, the film is all about franchise-building ahead of story, which quickly goes off the rails as more characters are introduced. Fast-forward to the present, and the gang have started to splinter. The bumbling Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are ostracized from the team for being useless, only to have that duo attacked by miniaturized killer robots with a serious Minions complex. Scooby and Shaggy are fractured further by the arrival of superhero Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg) and his robo-canine sidekick Dynomutt (Ken Jeong). The crime-fighting tandem are joined by whiz kid Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons), normally a regular of the Captain Caveman cartoons.

A massive scheme unfolds involving the villain Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs), an abundance of Simon Cowell (playing himself, and yet sounding unlike himself), ancient Roman history, a random jaunt to a prehistoric island for a gladiatorial battle with Captain Caveman (a wildly miscast Tracy Morgan), and the prevention of a literal Dogpocalypse. As the team dodges lasers, deals with their own insecurities, and crosses paths with a who’s who of Hanna-Barbera characters, there isn’t much room left for Scooby-Doo and his pals. Cervone and an army of screenwriters also have trouble melding the various comic styles of this universe of characters. The simple down-to-earth shenanigans of Mystery Inc. don’t necessarily gel with the mustache-twirling villainy of Dick Dastardly, who certainly has no business manning an army of death drones, and doesn’t really fit with the superheroics of Blue Falcon. That said, this Blue Falcon is far from the one we’re accustomed to, with Wahlberg’s hilariously self-absorbed take very reminiscent of Will Arnett’s Lego Batman. A live-action version might be a fun way to go.

Where Scoob! really scores is in the updated visuals. The geniuses at Reel FX previously worked on the gorgeous Mexican film The Book of Life, and their expertise and attention to detail shows here. The look they’ve captured has the feel of classic hand-drawn 2D animation, really emphasizing the cartoony world these characters exist in, while adding 3D elements to make it more contemporary. Colors pop from the screen, especially when Blue Falcon and Dynomutt enter the scene, and it’s safe to say this is the best a Scooby-Doo mystery has ever looked. The voice work is strong for the most part, although Morgan’s Captain Caveman sounds like somebody trying to do Mel Brooks, and try as he might, Forte doesn’t make you forget about Matthew Lillard in the live-action movies from the early 2000s.

A straight-to-digital release could ultimately be a saving grace for Scoob!, as it might tap into the same well that led Trolls World Tour to box office heights. While it doesn’t quite work as the launching pad for a cinematic universe, as colorful entertainment for homebound kids it’s pretty easy to swallow like one of Scooby and Shaggy’s oversized sandwiches.

Scoob pics

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George Miller Confirms Prequel ‘Mad Max: Furiosa’ Will Be Without Charlize Theron

By

Travis Hopson

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May 14, 2020

THere’s been a lot of talk about George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road now that we’ve hit the 5-year anniversary of that insanely great film. Also insane? The entire freakin’ production process, with so many issues both natural and manmade that it’s a wonder the movie ever got finished. But it did, and fans have been anxiously hoping all of the talk about a sequel would come to fruition. Well, Miller says it’s time to get back into the driver seat.

A New York Times followup with Miller after their epic anniversary piece from a couple of days ago (our write-up sadly vanished. Stoopid malfunctions.) confirms what has been the rumor for some time. Charlize Theron will not be coming back for the next film, a prequel centered on a young Furiosa. Recently, Anya Taylor-Joy’s name was mentioned as a likely candidate to take on the role. Killing Eve star Jodie Comer is also being talked about as a possibility. A second script centered on Furiosa had been written before filming took place on Fury Road, just to help flesh out Theron’s character who practically stole the show from Mad Max.

Miller had been in a dispute with Warner Bros. over some money he felt owed to. Those legal issues behind them now, he has been given the go-ahead to begin on Mad Max: Furiosa, and has even started the audition process. Although for a while he considered bringing Theron back and using a similar de-aging process as in The Irishman…

“For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet,” Miller said. “Despite the valiant attempts on ‘The Irishman,’ I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particular Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”

As for what to expect, production designer Colin Gibson says the scale will be “even more” than before. Hoping to recapture the wild look of Fury Road will be returning cinematographer John Seale, who is semi-retired and coming back just to work with Miller again…

“I’ve had wonderful opportunities to work after ‘Fury Road,’ as you can imagine, and I’ve passed on all of them,” Seale said. “But on ‘Fury Road,’ I told George, ‘If anybody else rings, I’m retired. If you ring, we’ll have lunch.’ And seven years later, he rang.”

Whoever does take the Furiosa role is going to have a tough time escaping Theron’s shadow.

Don’t expect Mad Max: Furiosa any time soon. Miller needs to first complete his delayed romance Three Thousand Years of Longing with Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

Review: ‘Blood And Money’
Tom Berenger Gets His Liam Neeson-Style Action Comeback

By
Khalil Johnson
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Ever since it peaked in 2008’s Taken, we entered a new genre aptly coined by comedian W. Kamau Bell as “Old Man Action.” There, our heroes aren’t the young twenty or thirtyish super-jacked model-esq people, but instead are older, got a perfect dad bod, but still can kick all sorts of ass. While Neeson is the king of this film genre, Denzel Washington, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise (who really doesn’t age), and countless others, including the now-aged action stars of the 1980s showing they still got it, have taken a stab at these type of films, and now it’s Tom Berenger’s turn in Blood and Money.

Originally titled “Allagash” for the northern Maine town the story takes place in and later renamed to Blood and Money, the film centers on Jim Reed (Tom Berenger), a retired, recovering alcoholic, sick, veteran, who lives in his RV and just wants to spend a few weeks in the quiet isolation of the Maine woods with the hope of shooting a buck. His only would be friends Bill (Paul Ben-Victor), a park ranger, and Debbie (Kristen Hager), the waitress at the diner he frequents in town. That all changes when he comes across a bag of cash that just happens to belong to a violent group of thieves that just robbed a casino and are trying to escape to Canada, and they want their money back!

Now if this sounds similar to No Country for Old Men, that’s where the similarities between Blood and Money and the Oscar-winning film stop. In this film, Jim is not being hunted by Anton Chigurh… he is the story’s Anton Chigurh. At first, he tries to run, but after they disable his RV, Jim has to fight back. As each of the thieves come after him, he defends himself with utmost prejudice to the point that the hunted becomes the hunter and the bad guys become his prey. Unlike most similar films, James doesn’t have many mano-a-mano punching matches, but he’s great with a rifle, pistol, machine gun, and even a knife. It’s assumed that James was one lethal badass when he was in Vietnam, and it shows as he mercilessly takes out the gang.

While Blood and Money is entertaining in regards to the cat-and-mouse game played as well as the shootouts, this film is rather light on the dialogue. Besides his interactions with his friends, and yelling at the bad guys, there isn’t much talking. While it’s mostly a solo show by Berenger, Maine itself is another character. Shot in the Maine towns of Bethel, Rumford, and Mexico (yes Mexico) by first time director and Cumberland, Maine native John Barr who has worked previously as a cinematographer and camera operator on such films as Frost/Nixon, Capote, and Greenberg, the wilderness feels like an additional character in Blood and Money. The directing is also great as the film has some great tense moments as things heat up. It’s shot incredibly well and makes you feel as though you are right there with Jim as everything’s going on.

Blood and Money does force you to strain your suspension of disbelief as when James (who the film suggests has a terminal illness and is coughing up blood) is able to square up against someone 30 years younger and realistically beat him and shrug off punches. There’s a reason James is an expert marksman, so he can take care of his enemies from afar. Some of Jim’s backstory surrounding him killing his daughter from a drunk driving incident is meant to display how scarred, sorrowful, and broken Jim is in the film, but he’s also very cold-blooded as he opts for the double-tap in some situations. Overall, Blood and Money is a little thin on plot and dialogue, but it is saved by a strong performance by Tom Berenger as he delivers great.

Blood and Money is available on VOD on May 15th.

Luca Guadagnino To Direct ‘Scarface’ Remake From Coen Brothers Script

By

Travis Hopson

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May 14, 2020

For much of the time that a Scarface remake has been in the works, Antoine Fuqua was to direct Diego Luna as the infamous cinematic druglord. But time has passed, both Fuqua and Luna are out, and there has been a significant new addition: Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino.

Deadline reports Guadagnino will direct Scarface, and he’ll use the most recent rewrite by the Coen Brothers. The new take will follow the same basic premise of a petty criminal’s rise to power through violence, only this version is expected to be set in Los Angeles. Brian De Palma’s 1983 “classic” (I find it overrated as shit) was set in Miami, while the 1932 movie in Chicago.

Guadagnino is an interesting choice. This makes for his second recent remake, following 2018’s Suspiria. Don’t be surprised if he takes some liberties with certain aspects of the story while maintaining the spirit of prior versions. He’s currently working on an HBO miniseries, an adaptation of Lord of the Flies, and a supposed sequel to Call Me By Your Name that I don’t think will ever happen.

‘Da 5 Bloods’: Spike Lee Reveals First Images, Talks Black Patriotism In The Time Of Trump

By

Travis Hopson

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May 14, 2020

Spike Lee isn’t letting the coronavirus keep him from staying busy. If all things had remained normal, he’d be leading the jury at Cannes right now, but instead he’s home and completing short films on his beloved New York City, and preparing for the release of his upcoming war movie, Da 5 Bloods.

While there have been set photos floating around for a while, Lee has dropped the first official images from Da 5 Bloods. The Netflix film stars Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Paul Walter Hauser, Jean Reno, and Melanie Thierry, telling the story of black Vietnam War vets who return to the country years later to find the remains of their fallen squad leader, and possibly buried treasure.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Lee talked about the film and how he sees it as highlighting the patriotism black people are rarely shown to have. He also sees it as a message against Trump, who he refers to as “Agent Orange”…

“We’ve always believed in this country. That is why we fought for this country, even knowing we were slaves, in the Civil War. That is the reason why I show Milton Olive III, 18 years old, the first African American to be awarded the Purple Heart in Vietnam. That’s why I show Crispus Attucks, the first American, not just a black person, the first American to die for the United States in the American Revolutionary War at The Boston Massacre.”

“That’s why when Agent Orange talks about, ‘If you don’t like America you can leave…’ Fuck that! We built this motherfucker! I mean, we’ve been nothing but patriotic! And this great, great country has not really made its promise yet to people of color.”

He does make clear that one of the characters, played by Lindo, is a supporter of the current occupant of the White House.

“It’s something that my mother taught me very early on,” he said. “She’d say, ‘Spike, all Black people ain’t the same. All Black people don’t look alike, or think alike.’ So we’ve got this group, and I had to show some type of diversity amongst these African American men. They can’t be all alike—that’s not only stupid, it’s not dramatic. […] And there are a small minority of Black folks who drank the orange Kool-Aid. To make him more dramatic, Paul is a MAGA-hat-wearing motherfucker.”

Da 5 Bloods hits Netflix on June 12th.

Da 5 Bloods1

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Should Filmmakers Be Able To Appeal Their RT Scores? Wayne Kramer Thinks So

By

Travis Hopson

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May 14, 2020

How many times have you changed your mind on a movie? It’s probably happened to all of us, possibly quite often. Sometimes it takes years and multiple viewings for us to find something we like, perhaps even love, in a movie. But if you’re a critic who gave something a bad review on Rotten Tomatoes years ago, that score sticks. And there are some great movies with shitty RT scores that have become cult classics. Wayne Kramer’s awesome 2006 thriller Running Scared is a prime example, and he thinks something should be done to change this problem.

Kramer posted on Facebook that he feels filmmakers should be able to appeal the RT scores for their movies after a period of ten years. His reasoning is simple and, I think completely accurate, that it takes a long time for opinion to set in on a movie and that should be taken into account. Here’s what he wrote…

“Here’s an idea for ROTTEN TOMATOES. Allow filmmakers to lodge an appeal over their RT score for a film that is over TEN YEARS-OLD and currently scores more than 6.5 on IMDB. It takes a decade (or longer!) to know the real impact of a film and I’m sure quite a few critics might reverse themselves after ten years. I’ve heard from several critics who feel they got it wrong on RUNNING SCARED and might consider it differently today. Unfortunately, their original score is still shackled to the film on RT – and every filmmaker knows that a RT “rotten” score is worn by a film (and the filmmaker) like a Scarlett Letter.
The Rotten Tomatoes score is visible on most streaming sites right next to the title of a film and I, personally, find it insulting. I’ve never been a fan of Rotten Tomatoes. I hold firmly that the site has contributed to the dumbing down of movie criticism – and ultimately movies themselves. When a film is judged like a gladiator in the ring with the emperor giving it a very black & white thumbs up or thumbs down, compounded by occasional critics’ herd mentality – which, trust me, is a real thing – then all the nuance involved in reviewing goes out the window.

SCARFACE gets an 81 on the Tomatometer today — but that’s a completely revisionist review. SCARFACE was trounced by critics upon its initial release in 1983. A film I regard as one of the finest crime/action films of all time, Tony Scott’s MAN ON FIRE (2004), is rated a paltry 34 percent on RT with a 7.7 on IMDB. HOW CAN THAT FUCKING BE POSSIBLE? MAN ON FIRE is a freakin’ masterpiece, up there with Michael Mann’s HEAT, and in no way deserving of a rotten score on RT. My own film, RUNNING SCARED – the most popular of my films and rated 7.4 on IMDB – rates rotten on RT with a 41 percent score. Antonine Fuqua’s underrated BROOKLYN’S FINEST (2009) is another candidate: 6.7 on IMDB and 44 percent on RT. I’ll add another undervalued Fuqua as well: TEARS OF THE SUN. 6.6 on IMDB, 33 percent on RT. I’m sure I can find many other examples — feel free to add them in the comments below.

I’m not joking. If anyone has access to the execs at Rotten Tomatoes, please forward them my proposal. I’m sure hundreds of filmmakers would sign on — as well as more than a few critics. It can be called ROTTEN TOMATOES ON APPEAL. Just like a misguided NC-17 rating might be changed to an R or an R to a PG-13 on appeal with the MPAA, I believe RT can – and should! – reevaluate certain films that have proven themselves with audiences after a decade of being scorned on RT.”

That Man on Fire has a 34% (it’s up to 39% since Kramer’s post) on RT is a disgrace and reason enough to take Kramer’s proposal seriously. That said, critics can go into RT and update their scores right now if they feel like it. Perhaps RT’s management should do something like require critics to review their past scores each year as part of a renewal process? I’d be down for that.

What do you think? Chime in, folks.

‘The Short History Of The Long Road’ Trailer: Sabrina Carpenter Finds Her Way In Coming Of Age Drama

By

Cortland Jacoby

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May 14, 2020

Actress: Sabrina Carpenter. Cinematographer: Cailin Yatsko.

It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey. That seems to be Sabrina Carpenter’s (Disney’s Girl Meets World) mentality in the new trailer for The Short History of the Long Road. She plays Nola, a girl living with her father in an RV traveling around the US doing odd jobs. When that dynamic suddenly changes and she winds up alone, Nola finds herself working for a mechanic. As she adjusts to her new normal, she finds herself living instead of surviving.

Full of vast landscapes, small towns, and a cute RV, The Short History of The Long Road is sure to be a touching coming of age film. And so far critics and festival audiences agree. The film debuted last year at the Tribeca Film Festival where it received a special jury mention for best screenplay.

This is not the first time the Disney actress has stepped outside the brand. She had supporting roles in both The Hate You Give and Netflix’s Tall Girl in and outside. This is her first project with writer and director Ani Simon-Kennedy, who has previously worked on Midnight in Paris and What’s the Story, Morning Glory. Leading the supporting cast is action star Danny Trejo, known for his Machete films. This is an exciting week for Trejo, who last week received a loving musical homage on SNL.

The Short History of the Long Road is available for download on June 12th. You can watch the trailer below.

‘The Matrix 4’ Cast Extend Contracts In Hope Of July Return Date

By

Travis Hopson

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May 14, 2020

Hollywood productions have mostly been stuck in place since March due to the coronavirus, but in recent days we’ve begun to hear about the restrictions being lifted. Warner Bros. has targeted a July return date for one of the biggest movies on their slate, Lana Wachowski’s anticipated sequel to The Matrix, and have extended the contracts of their cast to keep them in place until that time.

Filming on The Matrix 4 began in February in San Francisco, but the outbreak of COVID-19 derailed a Berlin shoot in March before it could even get started. That has meant stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and others have been sitting idle all of that time, with no idea when they will get back to work. One of the little issues that have popped up during this crisis is keeping busy actors locked-in while productions are on hold. Hence the need for Warner Bros. to set a clear start date and extend the casts’ contracts through July.

Of course, nothing can be truly set in stone when the pandemic is concerned. WB could find that July is too soon, which would mean figuring something else out. Perhaps they’ll need to move filming to a new location, or extend contracts to cover a longer stretch of time. It really all depends on when international governments feel it’s safe, and the timing on that changes depending on the country. New Zealand, for instance, feels things have turned around enough that James Cameron is preparing to shoot his Avatar sequels again.

If Warner Bros. is comfortable with July, and things go off without a hitch, expect the other major studios to follow suit.

The Matrix 4 hits theaters on May 21st 2021, assuming the date sticks. [Variety]

Akiva Goldsman Talks Shelved ‘Batman Vs. Superman’ Movie With Jude Law & Colin Farrell
Says It Was "The Darkest Thing You've Ever Seen"

By
Travis Hopson
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May 14, 2020

In the pre-DCEU years Warner Bros. was throwing everything against the wall to see what stuck. There were some oddball ideas out there, most of which never came to be, like Nicolas Cage as Superman or Justice League: Mortal. One film that you may have forgotten about, because I sure did, was a Batman vs. Superman movie years before Zack Snyder’s epic dud.

Collider caught up with screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman to talk about the canned Batman vs. Superman flick, which would have put Jude Law in the Superman costume and Colin Farrell as Batman, with Wolfgang Petersen (Troy) directing. If you thought Snyder’s movie was too dark and grim, Goldsman assures that his version was “the darkest thing you’ve ever seen.” And he’s not kidding around…

“I wrote on […] this version of Batman v Superman [around 2001 or 2002 when Colin Farrell was cast as Batman and Jude Law was cast as Superman and Wolfgang Petersen was directing. We were in prep and it was the darkest thing you’ve ever seen. It started with Alfred’s funeral and Bruce has fallen in love and renounced being Batman, the Joker kills his wife, and then you discover it was all a lie. Just that the love itself was constructed by the Joker to break [Bruce]. It was a time where you would be able to get these sort of stories together in script form but they couldn’t quite land in the world. Somehow, the expectations of the object — whether they be audience or corporate or directorial — it wasn’t landing quite in the way I think we imagined when we put them on the page.”

Holy crap. With stuff like this it’s hard to remember that Batman was a pretty upbeat character through until about the 1970s. Goldsman later compared his film to The World’s Finest comics of the Golden Age, which featured Batman and Superman in all sorts of crazy stories.

“It was really The World’s Finest, in a kind of dark and interesting way. I think it could have been lovely. On the other hand, none of me is sad that Nic Cage’s Superman didn’t get made. So, I guess in that whole period of time, there were wins to be had and losses to be avoided (laughs).”