‘Beauty And The Beast’ Prequel Series Coming to Disney+

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March 7, 2020

Disney has found a way to keep alive their live-action Beauty and the Beast, which earned an incredible $1.2B at the box office. A prequel series is in the works for Disney+, and it will return Josh Gad and Luke Evans to the roles of LeFou and Gaston.

The six-episode series will be a musical prequel set before the events of Beauty and the Beast, exploring the lives of the narcissistic Gaston and his long-suffering sidekick LeFou. Gad will join with Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Ed Kitsiss to act as showrunners. Makes sense, considering that show featured new takes on classic fairy tale characters, including many in the Disney stable.

The door is open for others to appear, such as Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, but nothing is set as of right now.

The live-action movie hit some controversy over its depiction of LeFou as a gay man, as many felt that aspect was purposefully underplayed. It will be interesting to see if this series will expand on that, as well as his backstory with Gaston in the French military.

Christian Bale Confirmed As ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Villain

By

Travis Hopson

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March 6, 2020

When Christian Bale’s name began to surface for Thor: Love & Thunder, the rumor was that he might be playing the sequel’s villain. There wasn’t even confirmation he was in the movie at the time, but today we not only get that, we also know he will indeed be showing his evil side.

Tessa Thompson confirmed with ET that Bale will be joining the MCU as a supervillain in Thor: Love & Thunder. She doesn’t go so far as to say which villain, but I don’t think it matters. While some are probably hoping he ends up playing Beta Ray Bill, as I myself did at one time, it might be better to have a big, flashy, undeniably heelish role similar to Cate Blanchett’s in Thor: Ragnarok.

Thompson said, “Christian Bale is going to play our villain, which is going to be fantastic. I’ve read the script. I can’t tell you much. Lots of exciting text messages exchanged between Natalie and I. We’re going to have fun. Taika is writing [and] directing. Some familiar faces. Some new people coming into the mix.”

Bale joins Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman who will be coming back as Jane Foster, in this film taking on the powers of Thor. Obviously, this won’t be Bale’s first run in a superhero film. He makes the jump from DC and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy over to Marvel where he can be a bad guy. Pretty cool.

Thor: Love & Thunder opens November 5th 2021.

Review: ‘Only’
Post Apocalyptic Drama Tries To Imagine World Without Women

By
Cortland Jacoby
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Women. They say you can’t live with them or without them. Well, in the new film Only from Writer/Director Takashi Docher takes that turn of phrase and transforms it into a bleak post-apocalyptic survival tale. In a world where a giant comet lands on earth containing a deadly disease that only affects women, couple Ava (Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto) and Will (Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr.) decide to leave their sterile and quarantined apartment to have one last camping trip before the enviable happens.

With a bounty on every surviving woman’s head, they travel to a waterfall, Ava’s last wish. As they try to stay hidden and savor their last moments together, the timeline alternates between the present and the past, focusing on both the government’s response to the comet and Will’s growing paranoia and shift in the couple’s relationship. Touching upon real emotional and societal questions, this sci-fi drama fails to find the cure for its fundamental ailments.

Despite being an independent film with a limited budget, Docher creates a pretty solid, believable world. Dark and dreary, the lack of women and the devastation of that loss on the world is well thought out and well-executed. Need to know exposition is told effectively through flashbacks and news reports. The measures that the government takes to restart the population, hunting women and harvesting their eggs for future embryos to putting a two million bounty on any healthy females, doesn’t seem that far-fetched, especially under current political circumstances. Docher raises really interesting philosophical questions within the sci-fi genre, that would have been even more effective with some sort of emotional core.

Despite the effectiveness of its worldbuilding, this film is really a love story. Its whole premise rides on the chemistry and connection between the leads. As individual performances, Odom Jr. develops a commanding tone as a loving boyfriend turned overbearing father/predictor/doctor/cop figure to his girlfriend. Ava is supposed to be the emotional anchor of the film, however, there doesn’t seem to be much behind Pinto’s portrayal of the character. There’s nothing really endearing about her other than being the only woman left on earth that we know of. Thus the chemistry between Eva and Will is severely lacking. There are a few moments of reprieve towards the end of the second and third act, but not enough to redeem itself or make an impact.

Already bleak, the film feels heavier with an overdramatic score and combined with its chemistry problems, it seems to take its self too seriously. The resulting film is one of great potential but also one that can’t survive its execution.

Review: ‘Extra Ordinary’
Original Comedy Shows Ghostbusters Aren't The Only Ones Who Can Deal With The Paranormal

By
Jake Sokolsky
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Extra Ordinary explores the world of ghosts all around us and those that have the ability to see and interact with them in a small Irish town. One of the lucky few is Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins), a lonely driving instructor who has shelved her supernatural talents (known as ‘the talents’) of communicating with the dead after a horrible accident that killed her father, the “famed” ghost whisperer Vincent Dooley (Risteard Cooper). Rose blames herself for what happened to her father, which of course involves the paranormal, a dog, and a puddle – I’m sure just how you envisioned it.

The local townspeople know of Rose’s gifts and always try and enlist her help with small hauntings – trashcans, ghosts rummaging around the house, and the fryer at a local restaurant just to name a few – but she refuses to put anyone else in danger after her father’s death. That is until Martin Martin (Barry Ward), an equally lonely woodworker whose wife Bonnie passed away, is given an ultimatum by his daughter Sarah (Emma Coleman) that he needs to get Rose to vanquish Bonnie’s spirit or she will move out.

Rose initially refuses, but when Sarah falls under a spell of a satanic ritual Rose realizes that she must put aside all her fears and help Martin. What she doesn’t know is that the source of the spell is once famous one hit wonder artist Christian Winter (Will Forte) who has made a pact with the devil to deliver a virgin in exchange for his career to flourish once again. Christian and his wife Claudia (Claudia O’Doherty) live in a castle at the edge of town and are preparing the ritual for Sarah’s arrival during the blood moon. When Christian realizes that Rose has decided to help Martin, he must do whatever he can to make them fail so he can bring another hit single to the world.

Extra Ordinary tackles a blend of genres rarely seen – the mix of horror and romcom. Not only do writers/directors Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman step up to this challenge, but they knock it out of the park. Extra Ordinary is hilarious, but it is the type of subtle humor – the quick glances, the perfectly delivered dialogue, the ridiculous actions by the film’s stars – that are so successful. I can’t forget to mention all of the fantastic references to supernatural films of the past woven throughout Extra Ordinary, some obvious and others more elusive, but all appreciated.

Ahern and Loughman splice old footage of Vincent Dooley’s public access ghost television show with the film itself, a clever and humorous way to move the narrative along. They also employ unique scene transitions, camera shifts, and continuous shots – some little touches that help set Extra Ordinary apart. The relationships between Christian and Claudia as well as Martin and Rose are handled perfectly. All their interactions are hysterical, and the actors involved really seemed to be enjoying their roles. The cast and budget for this film are both small, but Extra Ordinary proves that you don’t need a big budget and hundreds of extras to deliver a truly quality product. Do yourself a favor and go see Extra Ordinary, It is a refreshing and original laugh-out-loud comedy and one that will not soon be forgotten.

Review: ‘Spenser Confidential’
Mark Wahlberg And Winston Duke Rampage Through Boston

By
Jake Sokolsky
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Marky Mark is back protecting the streets of Boston in the new Netflix action flick Spenser Confidential. Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) is finally out of prison after five years serving for a litany of charges including disturbing the peace and aggravated assault of a police officer. The only thing is, Spenser was a police officer himself and the officer he assaulted was Captain Boylan (Michael Gaston) of the Boston Police Department – a cop that Spenser believed was dirty and was starting to build a case against when his emotions took over and he decided to take justice into his own hands. Now Spenser aspires of taking his aging beagle Pearl to Arizona and becoming a truck drive.

Until those dreams can become a reality, Spenser is living at boxing club owner Henry Cimoli’s (Alan Arkin) house while sharing a room with Hawk (Winston Duke) and doing all he can to hide from his ex-girlfriend Cissy (Iliza Shlesinger). Hawk has a checkered past himself, but Henry believes in him and his fighting abilities and asks Spenser to train him in the ring. Spenser and Hawk got off to a rocky start, with Pearl having taken very kindly to Hawk during Spenser’s absence, but Henry believes they can get past that and work together.

The night Spenser is released from prison the shit hits the fan. Boylan is found murdered in an execution-style killing and officer Terrance Graham (Brandon Scales) is the main suspect in what the police are calling a murder-suicide. Due to their history, Spenser is at the top of the suspect list and even his old friend on the force Driscoll (Bokeem Woodbine) is forced to check on Spenser’s whereabouts the night of the murder. Luckily for Terrance and his wife Letitia (Hope Olaide Wilson), Spenser has no doubt in his mind that Terrance is being framed and decides to do a little digging himself with the help of Hawk and Henry. Before long Spenser starts to untangle a corrupt scheme involving a local gang (the Trinitarios), dirty cops, drugs, and a whole lot of money – the only question is how deep does the corruption go?

Spenser Confidential is based on the novel Wonderland by Ace Atkins featuring characters made famous by the late Robert B. Parker. Robert Urich portrayed Spenser in a popular TV series in the 1980s, followed by a short-lived Hawk spinoff led by Avery Brooks of Deep Space 9 fame. Peter Berg is at the helm of the film and he and Wahlberg are quite familiar with each other – this being the fifth Berg directed film that Wahlberg has stared in (and fourth since 2016!). Berg knows how to get the best out of Wahlberg and what the people want to see from him. There is absolutely no need to be testing any of his acting chops in Spenser Confidential and Berg realizes that – he goes with the silly humor, over-the-top fight scenes, and shirtless Wahlberg combo that has made him so near and dear to millions around the globe.

It’s interesting that the film is called Spenser Confidential in the first place when Spenser and his investigation is as brash and obvious as possible. He goes running headfirst into situations like a bull in a china shop, finding himself fighting against multiple people at once time and time again, continuously getting his ass kicked. These fight scenes typically involve some sort of classic rock blaring in the background, of course featuring at least one Boston hit. Berg has some great comedic touches throughout the film – from bits of dialogue, scene changes, framing, and flashbacks he manages to keep the audience engaged and laughing. Spenser Confidential isn’t revolutionary by any means, but it is a solid action flick that is worthy of a watch, and there is absolutely a place in this world for movies that are simply a fun ride.

‘Trolls World Tour’ Fills Void Left By 007, Releases Brand New Trailer

By

Travis Hopson

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March 6, 2020

The vacancy left by No Time to Die has created opportunities for other films to fill the void. Universal and Dreamworks have plugged in the animated sequel Trolls World Tour for April 10th, moving it up a week to cover for James Bond’s absence. And with that move comes a brand new hard-rockin’ trailer.

Trolls World Tour returns Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick to the roles of Branch and Poppy, who learn their musical tribe is but one of many. The other Troll tribes have very different tastes in music, but only one wants to wipe out all of the others and rule.

The voice cast includes Rachel Bloom, Ozzy Osbourne, James Corden, Kenan Thompson, Anthony Ramos, and many more. You’ve got George Clinton and Mary J. Blige reprenting the land of funk, Kelly Clarkson as the queen of country, and that’s just the start but you get what Dreamworks is layin’ down.

SYNOPSIS: Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake return in an all-star sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s 2016 musical hit: Trolls World Tour. In an adventure that will take them well beyond what they’ve known before, Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) discover that they are but one of six different Troll tribes scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a
whole lot louder.

A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), aided by her father King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne), wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme. With the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends – Biggie (James Corden), Chenille (Caroline Hjelt), Satin (Aino Jawo), Cooper (Ron Funches) and Guy Diamond (Kunal Nayyar) – set out to visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who’s looking to upstage them all.

‘Loki’ Adds ‘The Walking Dead’ Actress Cailey Fleming, Role Possibly Linked To Young Avengers

By

Travis Hopson

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March 6, 2020

The cast of Marvel’s Loki series continues to grow, and with this latest addition I think we can cement its eventual tie-in to the debut of Young Avengers. The Walking Dead‘s Cailey Fleming, known for playing Judith Grimes on the zombie series, has joined Loki in the role of young Sylvie, at least according to the show’s IMDB profile.

So how does this have anything to do with Young Avengers? The role of Sylvie probably alludes to Sylvie Lushton aka the Enchantress. But not the adult Enchantress who is a constant thorn in Thor’s side. This version is much younger, and was given her powers by Loki so she could aid in his schemes. Sylvie would later go on to join the Young Masters, who are the villainous foils of the Young Avengers.

Fleming joins Tom Hiddleston, back in the role of an unrepentant pre-Infinity War version of Loki. Others in the cast include Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Sophia Di Martino who is rumored to play the female version of Loki.

Loki arrives to Disney+ in spring 2021.

‘No Time To Die’ Delay Could Cost MGM Big, Other Studios Standing Firm For Now

By

Travis Hopson

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March 6, 2020

Delaying No Time to Die seven months all the way to November is going to cost MGM big, like the budget of a couple of mid-range movies.

According to THR’s sources, MGM could lose anywhere from $30M to a high of $50M for delaying the James Bond film’s release due to coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns. This came after the studios and producers’ “careful consideration” of the worldwide markets, which have essentially shutdown since the pandemic.

A big chunk of the losses will come from marketing that had begun for the April release. However, estimates were that a loss of 30% could be possible if it opened in the current climate, where many of the largest international movie markets are on lockdown. The hope by MGM is the film will be big enough in November to offset the losses.

One thing to consider, however, is that No Time to Die could be the start of a trend. We could see a bunch of major spring releases move deep into the fall, and if that’s the case there will be an increased competition that could affect them all. It’s also possible the coronavirus fears haven’t abated, and then it’s unclear what will be left to do.

That said, Disney says they have no plans to push back their live-action Mulan, opening later this month. The same goes for Black Widow, which some rumors had being moved to November on the same date as Marvel’s Eternals. Universal also has no current plans to shift F9, and Paramount is holding firm, too.

For now, No Time to Die is set to open on November 25th.

The Obamas Team With The Russos For Netflix Film ‘Exit West’

By

Travis Hopson

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March 6, 2020

How is this for a pair of power duos? Barack and Michelle Obama are in talks with Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo to produce an adaptation of Exit West, a Netflix adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s bestselling book. The news comes from Collider, noting multiple sources.

On board to direct is Yann Demange, coming off his recent film White Boy Rick. He replaces Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) who had been previously attached. Rogue One and Venom actor Riz Ahmed will star, which is interesting because he also starred in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which was an adaptation of another Hamid book. The story follows Middle Eastern couple Saeed and Nadia, who live in an unnamed city undergoing civil war and finally have to flee, using a system of magical doors, which lead to different locations around the globe.

Of course, the Obamas and the Russos are powerhouse forces in their respective fields, but as producers they are proving just as effective. The Obamas are coming off their Oscar-winning film American Factory. That was followed by the acclaimed doc Crip Camp which debuted at Sundance.

Following on their many blockbuster films for Marvel, the Russos launched production banner AGBO. They produced the Chadwick Boseman film 21 Bridges, and have the Chris Hemsworth actioner Extraction coming up for Netflix. As directors, the Russos recently wrapped on Cherry, an opioid drama that reunites them with Tom Holland.

Oddity Abounds In The Trailer for ‘Judy & Punch’

By

John Nolan

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March 6, 2020

If it is the job of a trailer to make a movie interesting, then this trailer for Judy & Punch deserves employee of the month. I didn’t know what to expect from the film, starring Mia Wasikowska, and after watching the trailer below I’m not quite sure what I saw…but I do now I want to see more. Going from something resembling The Princess Bride to a quirky murder mystery all I can say for sure is that this movie is going to be unique. Seriously…I have to know, what happened to that baby?

Judy & Punch is the directorial debut of actress Mirrah Foulkes and co-stars Damon Herriman. The film opens on April 24th.