I hope this doesn’t cost us readers but I have a confession to make….I have never seen Rick and Morty, the colossal cult hit on Adult Swim that every fan of all things geek seems to live for. I caught half of an episode one time and just never got past that point. It’s not that I didn’t like it…I think I just jumped in on a weird episode. That being said I’m well aware of the rapid fandom and the torture they’ve been through for new episodes. I haven’t seen this kind of blowback from scheduling since those final couple seasons of The Sopranos. Well, good news for the quarantined, five more episodes of TV’s top animated duo are hitting Adult Swim starting Sunday May 3rd at 11:30 PM. I have to admit, the sheer insanity of this 1 minute clip was enough to re-pique my interest…looks like I have some streaming to do!
Earth Day is only a few weeks away and…well, let’s just say this whole COVID-19 thing has thrown it quite the curveball. While we aren’t able to go out and appreciate nature the way we would like to, protecting our planet and the environment is more important now than ever. And Apple TV+ is helping to teach that lesson with their star-studded animated movie, Here We Are.
Featuring the voices of Chris O’Dowd, Ruth Negga, Jacob Tremblay, and Meryl Streep, Here We Are is based on the children’s book by Oliver Jeffers. It centers on a precocious 7-year-old whose parents teach him about the planet and all of its wonders on the eve of Earth Day.
The animation is gorgeous, reminding me a little bit of The Little Prince. This should be something wholesome and enlightening for families as a way of celebrating the planet. Hey, it’s the only one we’ve got.
The Intrigo trilogy is one that has yet to really break into the U.S. mainstream, and I’m curious if that’s about to change. The first movie, Intrigo: Death of an Author (the unopened Bluray is literally sitting about a foot away from me) starred Ben Kingsley, and like all of the films is based on a series of books by Håkan Nesser. The entire trilogy is being directed by Daniel Alfredson, best known for the Swedish Millennium adaptations. Now the second film is on the way, Intrigo: Dear Agnes, and it’s led by Crazy Rich Asians and Captain Marvel actress, Gemma Chan.
Chan stars alongside Wetlands breakout Carla Juri and Jamie Sives, telling the story of a wife who enlists a friend to murder her husband. All over money, of course. The film is directed by Alfredson, who co-wrote the script with Birgitta Bongenhielm. The next Intrigo movie is Intrigo: Samaria.
SYNOPSIS: From bestselling author Håkan Nesser and the director of The Girl Who Played with Fire comes this intense thriller about good friends and evil deeds. With the death of her husband, Agnes (Carla Juri, Blade Runner 2049) is desperate for money. Then she runs into her old friend Henny (Gemma Chan, Captain Marvel), who is enraged at her unfaithful spouse, Peter (Jamie Sives, “Chernobyl”). Henny makes Agnes a shocking offer—enough cash to live a better life, if she will murder Peter—leading to an explosive, unforgettable climax.
Intrigo: Dear Agnes hits select theaters and VOD on May 8th.
It’s probably a good idea to assume that you’ll be waiting a bit longer for all of your most anticipated movies. If you’re a Tom Holland fan, it might be a couple of them that’ll be on the backburner for a while, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We already know about the delays that have impacted Uncharted, but now Spider-Man 3 is facing a setback..
Production on Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far from Home sequel was to begin this summer, but has reportedly been postponed. BFI‘s story doesn’t have any info on when filming could commence, and that’s to be expected. Nobody knows anything about how this coronavirus thing is going to go. Setting down a firm start date could be problematic and costly if it doesn’t go as planned.
The problem is that Holland also needs to finish up on Uncharted, which was shooting at the time its shoot was halted. Sony has moved the release date to October 2021, which means they are going to expect Holland to return before he takes on anything else, and that includes Spider-Man 3.
For now, the July 2021 release date for Spider-Man 3 holds, but don’t expect it to stick.
Do cult leaders ever really go out of style? At least in the world of cinema, there’s always a fascination to the charismatic, Messiah-like figures, especially when it comes to their grip over women. The Other Lamb casts Michiel Huisman (The Invitation solidifying his cultish bonafides) in the role of Shepherd, who rules over his harem like a god from on-high. Unfortunately, his command over them doesn’t extend to a strong enough presence to keep this film from feeling very tired and overly familiar.
The Other Lamb doesn’t actually center on Shepherd; the lead role belongs to Raffey Cassidy (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) as Selah, who is making the awkward transition into womanhood under his “guidance”. It’s in this move away from girlhood that Selah finds conflict, taught by Shepherd that her youth is her purity, and she relishes his favor as a result. The older women hold power within the female hierarchy but go unloved. And then there is the outcast, Sarah (Denise Gough), a discarded wife who knows far more than she is letting on.
Directed by Malgorzata Szumowska without the needed paranoid anxiety, The Other Lamb presents a bland, female-centric view of the cult experience. The women under Shepherd embrace his good, bad, and truly horrific qualities, with the maniacal leader acting as a sortof physical embodiment of the corrosive male patriarchy. He delights in teasing, flirting with his flock, but also in using them as sexual objects (he selects one to have sex with at dinner, “duck duck goose-style”) and as tools. Playing the women against one another, selecting favorites, is another useful weapon in his horrible arsenal. His grotesque interest in Selah seems to be that she so-closely resembles her dead mother, only more wide-eyed and naive. As Selah comes of age, she begins to realize how confining her existence truly is. Teenage rebellion and fanatical cults don’t really mix.
Random shots of dead animals blur together with long, arduous treks through dull forests and hillsides. Flashes of horrific violence suggest a break from reality, but tension is at a minimum. Selah is the least interesting character in her own story, her move into adolescence overshadowed by the complex, fascinating Shepherd. Huisman portrays Shepherd as the true monster in human form that he is. He is commanding, gorgeous, insecure, pathetic, and literally the only reason The Other Lamb should even be on your radar.
With the title Love Wedding Repeat, you’ve probably already figured out the weird twist behind the Netflix rom-com led by Sam Claflin and Olivia Munn. Taking its cues from Edge of Tomorrow and Groundhog day, the film is definitely not your typical wedding comedy, and that may be part of this movie’s charm.
Without giving away too much about Netflix’s twisty romantic comedy, Claflin plays Jack, who tries to ensure his sister’s wedding goes off smoothly. Hijinks ensure when he encounters his ex, an uninvited guest, and the girl of his dreams, while experiencing “alternate versions” of the same day. Can Jack somehow make his sister’s special day go without a hitch while also finding happiness for himself?
The trailer keeps much of this stuff under wraps, which leaves me with questions about Jack. Is he really experiencing these branches from reality, or are they figments of his imagination? Glimpses into his heart’s desire? I’m curious to know more, so obviously someone is doing things right.
Dean Craig wrote the script and makes his directorial debut. He previously wrote Carrie Pilby and both versions of Death at a Funeral.
Also starring Eleanor Tomlinson, Freida Pinto, Yesterday standout Joel Fry, Allan Mustafa, Tim Key, and Jack Farthing, Love Wedding Repeat hits Netflix on April 10th.
For whatever reason, details on Space Jam 2 are extremely hard to come by, which makes this little nugget from Paul Scheer seem like a big deal. We know LeBron James will be teaming up with Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters in the b-ball comedy, but Scheer has revealed that Don Cheadle might be his nemesis.
Scheer, who co-stars with Cheadle in Showtime’s Black Monday, let the info slip while on the Clip City Podcast…
“Actually Don Cheadle, who I do ‘Black Monday’ with, he’s the bad guy in ‘Space Jam,’ and he said LeBron’s really great. He was great in ‘Train Wreck’ too.”
What we don’t know is if the Avengers star will be playing a live-action villain or voicing an animated one. Assuming Scheer isn’t blowing smoke, Cheadle joins a cast that includes Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) as LeBron’s wife, and Ceyair J. Wright as his son. Hopefully, we’ll get to see Cheadle show the court skills he displayed 1996′ Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat” Manigault.
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Lola Bunny are just a handful of the Looney Tunes characters that will show, because Taz absolutely needs to be there, too. A slew of NBA stars will appear, including the Great One himself, Michael Jordan. Other Warner Bros. characters including Pennywise, Lord Voldemort, Agent Smith, and the Joker are rumored, as well.
Edgar Wright is keeping himself pretty busy, with his thriller Last Night in Soho coming up this year. That’s followed by a sequel to his biggest hit, Baby Driver, at some point. But one film may get in the way of that, an adaptation of upcoming novel Set My Heart to Five, and it sounds, frankly, insane.
Set My Heart to Five is based on the book by Simon Stephenson, and it centers on a robot named Jared who goes on a remarkable journey of the soul. THR‘s synopsis attempts to explain it best:
“According to a synopsis, the story is “set in an all-too human 2054″ and follows Jared, an android that works as a dentist, as he undergoes an emotional awakening that is sparked by an introduction to ’80s and ’90s movies. He then embarks on a quest to convince humans that he and his kind should be permitted to feel. It’s a quest that leads to an unforgettable adventure across the West Coast of America, determined to meet to programmer that created him and write a film script that will change the world.”
I mean…what??? There is so much that sounds like it could go wrong from a storytelling standpoint. Perhaps that’s what makes Wright perfect for it? I can’t imagine anyone else who could’ve wrangled an overstuffed story like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and yet Wright did it with flair. He had some help in crafting that screenplay, however. Set My Heart to Five, on the other hand, will be adapted entirely by Stephenson.
It doesn’t matter. I’m down for anything Wright does. Curious if he’ll bring his Cornetto pals Simon Pegg and Nick Frost into this. It sounds like a story where they could play some of the colorful folks Jared meets along the way.
Gerard Butler is always saving the world from SOMETHING. Just two years ago it was out-of-control weather patterns or something in Geostorm. And now with the upcoming disaster flick Greenland it’s a comet that threatens a global catastrophe.
Greenland is directed Ric Roman Waugh, who co-wrote the script with Buried writer Chris Sparling. The film finds Butler as a father attempting to get his family to a safe haven in Greenland before the comet strikes. The cast includes Deadpool‘s Morena Baccarin, Daredevil‘s Scott Glenn, plus Andrew Bachelor and David Denman.
Butler is a known commodity at this point. One look at the trailer and you’ll know everything about the character he’s playing. Waugh isn’t a big name filmmaker but he’s done some really good work on Felon, Shot Caller, Snitch, and London Has Fallen, arguably the best of that Butler-led franchise.
SYNOPSIS: A family struggles to survive when a comet rages against the earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his separated wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan embark on a perilous journey to their only hope of safety. While several cities around the world are leveled with the earth from the comet’s fragments, the family experiences the best and worst humanity can offer, while battling the growing panic and lawlessness around them. As the countdown to the global apocalypse approaches zero, their last chance is a desperate flight to a possible safe haven in Greenland.
Lately, a lot of content meant for theaters is being released early on streaming services. Well today, Fandango’s youtube channel has released the first eight minutes of Sonic the Hedgehog, to celebrate the movie’s availability on digital platforms.
A lot happens in the first eight minutes. We get Sonic’s backstory, meet Officer Tom (James Marsden), and are introduced to other residents of Green Hills, Montana. Voiced, by character actor and comedian Ben Schwartz, Sonic shows off his comedic chops in the short time span, running with turtles, chasing crazy old men and keeping his identity a secret. Missing from the first eight minutes is Jim Carrey, who was positively praised for his performance.
The film, first released in theaters on Valentine’s Day, earned $306.8 million at the box office. Check out our review of Sonic the Hedgehog here and the first eight minutes of the film below.
