It’s only been a few months since word broke that HBO’s classic mob drama The Sopranos was getting a prequel movie, and in that span of time I’d already forgotten about it. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t think it would actually happen, but color me stupid because not only is it moving forward but now has a director in Alan Taylor.
Taylor, who might be familiar to fans of the show for directing numerous episodes, will be at the helm of The Many Saints of Newark. Series creator David Chase co-wrote the script with Lawrence Konner, and will take place decades earlier during a war between Italian and African-American residents of New Jersey. Characters from the show are expected to appear, although the same actors probably won’t because of the obvious time difference.
The last few years Taylor has been having one lousy experience after another on Hollywood blockbusters. He essentially had control of Thor: The Dark World yanked from him in post-production, and Terminator: Genisys was just plain lousy and killed the franchise. That said, his TV work is actually quite good. Besides The Sopranos he also directed episodes of Six Feet Under, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and Deadwood.
No word on a start date but now that Taylor is in place expect things to move swiftly.
Through what are now four wildly successful movies, The Purge franchise has been plugged into the raw anger being felt in this country like nothing else before it. There’s no coincidence that the previous film, The Purge: Election Year, dropped in 2016 during the most “deplorable” political campaign ever. Its premise of an annual event in which all violent crime is legal for 12 hours highlighting the split between the defenseless poor and the bloodthirsty one percent who both created the Purge and use it to advance their agenda. And now we have The First Purge, which takes us back to the night of murder’s origins, and the biggest surprise isn’t how the Purge was started, it’s how the first one ends.
Franchise writer/director James DeMonaco handles scripting duties only this time, passing the directorial reins over to Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands), but you’ll never know the difference. Dumpster fires still litter every street corner while masked killers stalk their prey, while rich white politicians in ivory towers plot the downfall of the less fortunate. As these movies have become scarily timely, DeMonaco’s digs at our so-called democracy have become more overt. The marketing campaign for The First Purge featured prominently a red “MAGA” style Trump hat, and depending on who you ask these movies are the current Presidential administration cranked up to 11. In a sense they could be seen as a warning of what could happen if the most extreme, hardline strain of conservatism is ever allowed to go unchecked. There’s undoubtedly an audience out there who see The Purge as the one good idea ever to come from Hollywood. They probably won’t like the most blatant shot taken at Trump, a “Grab ’em by the pussy” moment that had the crowd howling.
No matter where you fall on the ideological spectrum, The First Purge will scratch your itch for politically-charged ultra-violence. The least complex and thus least creative film in the franchise since its debut, the inaugural Purge rolls out almost exactly as one might expect. With the economy in a shambles and crime at an all-time high, a third political party known as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) get elected into office with the support of the NRA and other shadowy organizations. Newly-elected President Bracken, with the help of psychologist Dr. May Updale (Marisa Tomei, Aunt May created the Purge!!!?), decide Staten Island is the perfect test vehicle for the first Purge, taking advantage of the poor by paying residents to stay in town through the evening’s killings. Or in other cases, paying residents to go out and do the dirty deeds themselves.
The city’s residents rise up in opposition once the government starts taking steps to escalate the body count. There’s local drug kingpin Dmitri (Insecure‘s Y’lan Noel) who is forced to reconcile his criminal activities with the love he has for his ‘hood and the people in it, like Nya (Lex Scott Davis), his ex who has always stayed on the straight and narrow path. She fights to protect her brother Isaiah (Joivan Wade), who may be following too closely in Dmitri’s footsteps. All of that gets pushed aside when there are roving packs of KKK members with military grade weapons, and entire squads dressed like members of Hitler’s S.S.
The First Purge feels all too familiar until the final act when suddenly it starts to resemble an old school Blaxploitation flick. This gangbangers vs. Nazis riff is when DeMonaco is most inspired, and Noel does his best Wesley Snipes impression. There’s something about a badass black action hero cutting a path through a bunch of Nazi assholes. It’s a genius move both as a statement against those who foment the kind of racist hatred that gave birth to the Purge, but also just as a tonal change of pace for the franchise which could go on forever, shifting as the political winds so often do. It’s funny to think back to how different these movies felt five years ago in the time of hope and change. And now they are the eerie reflection in a mirror. With a new TV series coming up this fall, it’s a reflection we may be forced to look at a lot more, at least until DeMonaco gives us the inevitable Final Purge.
South Korean director Kim Jee-woon made a splash here in America with his stylish thriller I Saw the Devil, but when he tried to go Hollywood with the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick The Last Stand…well, things didn’t go so well. He hasn’t returned since and who knows if he ever will, but his next film is guaranteed to have fans all around the world, assuming it gets that far. A new international trailer has been released for In-rang: The Wolf Brigade, a live-action adaptation of the bestselling Jin-Roh manga/anime franchise by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii.
Set in an alternate future 2029 when South Korea and North Korea are to form a united government after 7 years of preparation, it follows a special police force tasked with stopping a terrorist movement against the reunification.
As you’ll be able to see from the trailer, the director’s flair for big action and eye-popping visuals is still there. I’ve always felt he would be a natural for a blockbuster studio film like Mission: Impossible, but I have a feeling his previous stab at Hollywood left him with a bad taste.
In-rang: The Wolf Brigade opens in Korea next month, but has no other distribution at this time. Hopefully that changes because this looks fantastic to me.
The new hit comedy Blockers follows three teenage girls
who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night, and their overprotective
parents (Leslie Mann John Cena and Ike Barinholtz) who will stop at nothing to
ruin their daughters’ plans. Together, they join forces on a chaotic journey to
“block” their daughters.
We Said: “Cena’s earnest
dorkiness is just about perfect if slightly overused, while Mann and Barinholtz
are natural cornballs. It’s impossible to overlook how much more enjoyable
Blockers is when it gets away from the younger actors. Not their fault as they
are all pretty good, but clearly the adults had more to work with.” Rating: 3 out of 5
In 1980s Beirut, a former US diplomat (Jon Hamm) is called
back into service to rescue a former coworker from the terrorists he holds
responsible for the death of his family. Things get further complicated when an
undercover CIA agent (Rosamund Pike) is tasked with keeping him alive and
ensuring that the mission is a success.
We Said: “Beirut could be the start of a
comeback for this old school genre, one that Gilroy himself helped usher into
oblivion with his Jason Bourne screenplays. In a way it’d be fitting if this
years-old script for Beirut helped change things to how
they once were. We’ll just have to wait and see if audiences are ready to turn
back the clock.” Rating: 3 out of 5
Based on the legendary true story, Borg vs. McEnroe follows
the lead up to the epic tennis showdown. Set in thesummer of 1980, the world’s top tennis player
Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) is prepared to win his record-breaking fifth
Wimbledon championship. The only thing standing in his way is the highly
talented but ferociously abrasive young American John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf).
With three days until the tournament begins, the fiercely professional and
obsessive Borg trains religiously for the event.
We Said: “Beautifully shot
and performed with ferocious athleticism, every serve, every volley, every
split second decision is fueled by all that we’ve come to learn about these two
ambitious players. It’s as the match winds down to the inevitable conclusion
that the excessive backstory pays off. Borg vs McEnroe becomes something
deeply personal and more than just a cinematic recreation of a classic tennis
match you could just as easily watch on YouTube.” Rating: 4 out of 5
It’s a sad reality that some extremely vocal “fans” get off on ruining things for other people. The worst are the Star Wars fans, who have grown so toxic over the years they accomplished the seemingly impossible act of running George Lucas and others away from the beloved franchise. With the reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi they’ve become even worse, recently driving star Kelly Marie Tran off social media. And now it appears they’ve done the same to Mission: Impossible-Fallout director Christopher McQuarrie, and he isn’t even part of the franchise yet.
We don’t know if McQuarrie ever would have directed a Star Wars movie, but his name has certainly been out there. But if it were ever going to happen it’s not anymore, as a bizarre Twitter exchange with beleaguered The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has seemingly cured him of any desire to direct one. And who can blame him?
It all started when Johnson innocently steered aspiring filmmakers to follow McQuarrie because of the helpful writing/storytelling tips he offers on Twitter. That led to a discussion of The Twilight Zone‘s Rod Serling on the anniversary of his death, and one fan took offense to the “social justice warrior” stuff that he thinks should be removed from all fiction. That’s ridiculous in itself, but it soon led to Johnson and McQuarrie becoming the targets of online attacks of a personal nature. Johnson may have been used to it after dealing with this kind of crap for months, but for McQuarrie it was too much.
I posted the essential tweet below, plus one of the more outrageous comments by a supposed “fan”, but if you want to see how quickly these things can get out of control just check out McQuarrie’s feed. Homeboy got the full dose of Haterade and he didn’t even direct The Last Jedi! Johnson knew to get the Hell out of dodge and the infection spread to McQuarrie’s Twitter.
I’m actually pretty pissed about this and hope McQuarrie changes his mind. Not that I think he was goinig to make a Star Wars film, but he’ll likely avoid anything with a rabid fanbase, and that includes Marvel, DC, whatever. We’re missing out.
My friend, After five minutes of this, I don’t know why you’re still on Twitter.
I would have loved to make a Star Wars film someday. I’m cured.
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) June 29, 2018
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) July 2, 2018
Nah, after tonight I think I’m good.
And thank you. Excited for you to see it.
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) June 29, 2018
Much appreciated. And it saddens me, too. I consider myself first and foremost an entertainer. I work for the audience. Tonight I found people I could never work for.
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) June 29, 2018
If you thought the Marvel train would slow down after Avengers: Infinity War, think again. While nobody expects this week’s Ant-Man and the Wasp to match those numbers, or even to come close to them, the projections show it is definitely reaping the benefits of the MCU’s continued success. According to Variety, industry analysts are projecting as high as $80M for the Ant-Man sequel’s opening weekend.
That number may seem small by Infinity War comparisons, and they are, but it’s significantly better than the $57M debut of Ant-Man in 2015. That film went on to earn $519M worldwide, with more than $300M of that coming from overseas. Unless there’s some unforseen crash we should expect the followup to best those numbers overall, and perhaps bust $200M on the domestic market.
If that pans out it will be music to Marvel’s ears. The Ant-Man movies have lower stakes, less star power, and generally are presented as being off to the side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang failing to make an appearance in Infinity War, there’s some added curiosity about his whereabouts. Fans know there has to be a connection between the movies and that is probably playing a role in the ticket sales boost.
Ant-Man and the Wasp opens July 6th, and you can check out my review of it here.
John Krasinski’s horror A Quiet Placetook everybody by surprise earlier this year. The low-cost flick earned $330M at the box office and received near universal acclaim, and of course Paramount wanted to take a second bite of that apple with a sequel. There were questions, though. Such as what the story could possibly be given the nature of the film’s conclusion, and what role, if any, Krasinski might play.
Well, now we have at least a little bit of an answer direct from producer Andrew Form, who tells Collider that Krasinski will definitely be involved…
“Oh [Krasinski is] definitely involved. We’re lucky on this one. I’ve had movies where the studio says to you, ‘Here’s your date. Let’s go!’ and on this one we’re not rushing anything, which is amazing. So we’re gonna take our time, we’re gonna figure out where to go, but there is no rush on it and we’re just starting to talk about it. We’re figuring out what everyone’s involvement’s gonna be and what the actual next movie’s gonna be. The first one is so special to us that we really want to take our time with this and not rush anything…“It’s such a special movie to us, the experience and everything. It’s easy to rush these and we’ve made movies in the past where we’ve rushed them through and we’ve felt it, and we just don’t wanna do it on this one. We really don’t. We really just wanna take our time and as long as it takes, it takes. It has to be the right story, just like the first one. It just has to be.”
Form is definitely saying all of the right things here. Whether he’s in front of the camera or not, Krasinski is a part of this franchise and that shouldn’t go away. A sequel wouldn’t feel the same without him. And it’s also good to see that Paramount isn’t breathing down anyone’s neck to speed up the process. Screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods say they have ideas where the story could go, and they should have time to pick just the right one.
You can add another director to the list of candidates to helm Marvel’s Black Widow movie. Collider’s Jeff Sneider says Boys Don’t Cry’s Kimberly Peirce can be considered a contender. Most recently we’ve heard Cate Shortland, Amma Asante, and Maggie Betts were shortlisted, while Chloe Zhao and Deniz Gamze Erguven have been mentioned previously. Peirce’s most recent film was 2013’s Carrie remake starring Chloe Moretz.
Add Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) to the shortlist of possible directors for Marvel’s BLACK WIDOW.
Marvel has been teasing fans with a Black Widow movie for years, but they took the first big step when Jack Schaeffer was hired to write the script. It’s way too early for any details but early rumors are that an origin or prequel is the direction Marvel has chosen to take with the character. All of the directors listed have experience with period dramas and would be a tremendous addition to the MCU.
My guess all along is that Shortland (Lore, Berlin Syndrome) would take the job, and it seems Variety’s Justin Kroll agrees with me.
You can add whoever you want, Shorltand is getting this job
Black Widow doesn’t have a release date yet but if you want to see the Russian agent in action check out Avengers: Infinity War. Or you can wait until next year’s Avengers 4.
Krisha director Trey Edward Shults followed up his breakout indie drama with the buzzy horror, It Comes At Night, and gained his share of mainstream attention in the process. That it didn’t exactly break the box office bank, the film showed enough promise that Shults is already gathering an impressive lineup of talent for his third movie, a musical drama titled Waves.
Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Emmy nominee Sterling K. Brown (This is Us), and It Comes At Night‘s Kelvin Harrison Jr. will star in the dramatic musical about two young couples as they navigate the emotional minefield of growing up and falling in love. As if that’s not enough, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won an Academy Award for scoring The Social Network, will provide the music, both contemporary songs and original that the movie will be tightly synchronized to. Variety describes the film as “a dramatic musical with a fresh spin” and “an energetic, affecting anthem of contemporary teenage life.”
Shults, who will write and direct Waves, plans to begin filming next month in Florida. Hedges will be seen later this year in Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid 90s, and awards season drama Boy Erased. Brown was last seen in Black Panther and has The Predator coming up. Harrison has an awards season drama of his own later this year with Monsters and Men. [Variety]
Matt Damon and John Krasinski are teaming up on their third movie together after 2012’s Promised Land, which they co-wrote and starred in, and Manchester by the Sea in which they were producers. The duo are now working together on The King of Oil, which finds Damon starring in the role of disgraced billionaire businessman Marc Rich.
Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse will adapt Daniel Ammann’s book The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich, which centers on the wealthy hedge fund manager and commodities trader who in 1983 was indicted on 65 counts including tax evasion. Rather than stay to face charges he fled the country and never returned. On the final day of his presidency Bill Clinton controversially pardoned Rich, who would later die in 2013 at the age of 78.
Damon is in talks for the lead role while Krasinski is only set to produce at this point. However, there’s still a chance he could eventually direct. Krasinski is red-hot right now after writing and directing A Quiet Place, and he’s set to star as agent Jack Ryan in Amazon’s upcoming Tom Clancy series. Damon is coming off the dual disappointments of Suburbicon and Downsizing, so he could use a change of pace. [Deadline]
