Yesterday the Cannes Film Festival made a surprising last-second addition to its upcoming slate. Gotti, the long troubled drama starring John Travolta as the head of the Gambino crime family. It’s been developing for years and has undergone numerous changes (remember when they were courting Joe Pesci?) and filmmakers before settling on Entourage star Kevin Connolly. Yeah, him. There’s reason for skepticism, but that Cannes would make room for it suggests we might need to start taking it seriously.
Travolta has been attached from the beginning and clearly feels something for the material. He’s joined by Stacy Keach, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Kelly Preston, Leo Rossi, and Spencer Lofranco in the story of John Gotti’s rise to the head of the New York underworld. Here’s the synopsis:
John Gotti rises to the top of the New York underworld to become the boss of the Gambino crime family. His life takes a tumultuous turn as he faces tragedy, multiple trials and a prison sentence.
The script hails from Lem Dobbs, a frequent Steven Soderbergh collaborator who wrote The Limey, Haywire, and Dark City. Those are some impressive creds.
Although I’ve never seen a single episode of Doctor Who, I’ve often heard David Tennant referred to as the “destroyer” version of the character. I’m assuming the others are more benevolent? Whatever, because of the chaotic roles Tennant has been playing of late, in particular as Killgrave in Marvel’s Jessica Jones, I can’t really see him as anything other than a psychopath. And Tennant’s twisted, unhinged performance in Bad Samaritan only goes to solidify him as a go-to guy when relentless mania is called for.
Tennant’s maddening, balls-to-the-wall performance is the chief reason to see Bad Samaritan, a B-movie thriller that marks a slight improvement for director Dean Devlin. He gave us last year’s shit storm of a disaster movie, Geostorm, but is wise enough to lean heavy on Tennant here, who is positively Nicolas Cage-like. Robert Sheehan stars as Sean Falco, a petty thief using his resteraunt valet gig as a cover for his illicit activities. Alongside his partner-in-crime Derek (Carlito Olivero), they use the GPS in their clients’ cars to locate their homes, then break in while the owners are enjoying the meal.
It’s a gig too sweet to last forever, but Sean couldn’t have known when he broke in the crib of flashy Mazerati-driving douchebag Cale Erendreich (Tennant), it would make him regret all of his poor life choices. Busting up into Cale’s home, Sean discovers a woman (Kerry Condon) bloodied and held hostage, with it becoming abundantly clear that this was not an isolated incident. Selfishly he leaves her behind, only to have a change of heart and goes back to free her, only to find that it’s going to be more difficult than he imagined because Cale knows what is happening.
Give screenwriter Brandon Boyce credit for not going the obvious route of turning this into a straight siege thriller, with Shane trying to stay alive within the madman’s home. It’s broader than that, though, as Cale goes along way in shredding what little bit of credibility Shane has, making it impossible for anyone to believe what he’s telling them about the kidnapped woman. “You reap what you sew” is a common message which Bad Samaritan relays in an uncommon way, which keeps the film interesting as you try to get over how shoddy and low-rent the whole thing looks.
Devlin’s name is probably familiar to you; it’s been attached to huge hits like Independence Day, Stargate, and The Patriot. As a director he seems to be trying to channel a trashy “so awful it’s great!!” dopey kind of vibe and he just barely succeeds here, mostly due to Tennant. He chews up scenery with gusto and keeps the Insane-O-Meter cranked up to high. From one moment to the next you never know which brand of lunacy you’re going to get, showing just how light on his feet as an actor Tennant can be.
Most likely it will be the Tennant fanatics, of which there are many, who will go out of their way to see Bad Samaritan. It has a chance to be a minor success as a result and those who do check it out will, at the very least, leave impressed by Tennant’s continued ability to play those unshackled from sanity.
After my second viewing of Avengers: Infinity War, my first with a public crowd, I noticed that everybody filed out of the theater in dead silence. It was like we just attended our best friend’s funeral and just needed to be left alone. There was a pall in the air, and understandably so. The ending of that movie was brutal, man.
But what does any of it mean? Almost immediately the thinkpieces started going up about “How will the dead heroes come back?” and “Who is really dead?” and so forth. Of course, none of us expect so many major characters to remain piles of ash, do we? We’re talking about the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange…these are MAJOR characters with sequels on the way! Well, the film’s writers say otherwise. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely tell Buzzfeed that every death is “real”, and fans better start getting used to it…
“[‘Avengers 4’] doesn’t do what you think it does,” states Markus. “Also … [the deaths are] real. I just want to tell you it’s real, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to move on to the next stage of grief.”
Yeah, okay, that sounds like bullshit plausible.
My immediate thought is that, no matter what Markus says, there’s still a little wiggle room in there. The deaths are real? Okay, I believe you…in regards to the characters whose physical death we saw. Loki, Heimdall…I think they are dead and gone. Gamora…well, I think the Soul Stone may even be playing some tricks there, but most likely she’s not coming back.
The others? The ones who turned to dust after a snap of Thanos’ fingers? They were never killed in the first place, just sent off to another dimension or something. Thus, Markus isn’t lying when he tells us the deaths were real. If the Time Stone is use to reverse time, won’t the deaths still have been real even if they come back?
Or, maybe Marvel is ballsier than we thought and those characters aren’t returning. Now THAT would be some impressive shit. Black Panther 2 with Shuri in the suit? I’m down for that.
It’s taken years for fans to finally get the Black Widow movie they’ve been asking for, and Marvel is going to extreme lengths to make sure the wait was worth it. While Jac Schaeffer has already been hired to pen the script, and a trio of top notch directors have apparently been spoken to, Variety’s Justin Kroll says the director search is much broader than that. By dozens.
Fun fact: More then 65 directors have met for the BLACK WIDOW job. Marvel being extremely thorough on this one
The directors we know about are Amma Asante (Belle), Chloe Zhao (The Rider), and Deniz Gamze Erguven (Kings), so at least we know 3 of the 65 are female. Presumably most of the others are, too, but clearly Marvel is talking to some male filmmakers for the job. Here’s hoping they go with the best choice regardless of gender.
Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 there may be some questions as to where a Black Widow movie could go. A prequel has already been rumored, which would be perfect if she were to meet her tragic end. It’s also suggested that it may be a teamup movie, with Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier mentioned as a potential partner. Personally I’d rather see what she can do on her own because Widow has so rarely had the spotlight, but if not then why not make it an unusual duo? Like Black Widow and Scarlet Witch? That could be weird and fun.
Deadpool 2 is only a couple of weeks away and judging by early estimates it could come close to topping the $152M opening weekend of its record-breaking predecessor. With numbers like that flying around you would think Deadpool 3 is a sure-fire leadpipe lock. But not so, according to star Ryan Reynolds, who told two outlets that he doesn’t think a third film will happen. Here are Reynolds’ two separate quotes, one to EW and another to StarNews…
“For Deadpool 3, you know, it’s an odd thing to say but I don’t think there will be a Deadpool 3. I think going forward it would be an X-Force movie, which would be his team, so to speak.”
“I don’t know that there would be a ‘Deadpool 3.’ I really don’t. I feel like the character, in order for him to function properly within his own universe, you need to take everything away from him. I don’t think that you can keep doing that. I do see him as being a part of ‘X-Force,’ obviously. I would love to see him in a team-up sort of thing, like a mano a mano or a great female character from the ‘X-Men’ universe. I just think if you’re going to do another Deadpool solo film, you’ve got to really, like, get that budget down to nothing and just swing for the fences, and break all kinds of weird barriers, and do stuff that no one else can do.”
The plan has always been to have Deadpool be part of an X-Force movie, but I think we all assumed it would be in addition to Deadpool’s solo adventures. That may not be the case, though, and it’s a little weird to have the star of such a huge franchise talking about it ending. I don’t think Ryan is looking at it that way. He might see X-Force as a continuation of Deadpool’s story rather than something totally separate.
I guess we’ll find out more after Deadpool 2 hits on May 18th.
If you don’t recognize the name of Major League Baseball player Morris “Moe” Berg, that’s alright. While a solid player throughout his sixteen year career, he wasn’t known for his activities on the field. Berg was also a spy, who used his frequent international trips on behalf of the League to cover for his covert activities. And that extraordinary true story is the basis for Ben Lewin’s The Catcher Was A Spy, which finds Paul Rudd playing a different kind of hero than his Ant-Man persona.
Rudd stars alongside Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Paul Giamatti in the film about Berg’s double life, which sounds like it was tailor made to be a Hollywood movie. And yet I flat out didn’t like it when I saw it at Sundance, noting that Lewin, who previously helmed The Sessions, was unsuitable as a maker of espionage movies. Worse, it badly miscast Rudd who despite his charm and good looks is completely flat and charisma-free in a role that demands the opposite. The newly-released trailer is much better than the finished product, I’ll put it that way.
Here is the official synopsis: “The Catcher Was a Spy” tells the true story of Morris “Moe” Berg (Paul Rudd), the Major League Baseball player, Ivy League graduate, attorney and top-secret spy who helped the U.S. defeat Nazi Germany in the race to build the atomic bomb.
With fifteen seasons of Major League Baseball under his belt, Moe Berg walks away from his catcher’s career and the love of his life to dedicate his supreme intellect, linguistic skills and athletic prowess to U.S. intelligence’s wartime efforts. After excelling at the rigorous training mandatory for intelligence officers in America’s pre-CIA agency, Moe convinces O.S.S. Chief Bill Donovan (Jeff Daniels) that his unique capabilities will serve the nation singularly well in espionage matters abroad. Soon Donovan tasks Moe with a deadly overseas mission: to head to war-torn Europe and infiltrate the inner sanctum of the Nazi atomic program’s gifted lead physicist, Werner Heisenberg (Mark Strong). Backed by U.S. military specialist Robert Furman (Guy Pearce) and renowned Dutch-American physicist Samuel Goudsmit (Paul Giamatti), Moe traverses the embattled villages of Italy and the upper echelons of Swiss academia on the hunt for the elusive Heisenberg. But once Moe ascertains exactly how close Heisenberg is to building an atomic bomb for the Nazi enemy, he is to make a life-or-death decision that will impact the very future of humanity.
Warner Bros. has never had a problem attracting talent, it’s been putting that talent to the best possible use. With James Wan under their umbrella and working on this December’s Aquaman movie, they’ve decided he’s too good to limit to just one DC Comics hero. So they’re also letting him take a stab at Swamp Thing, but it won’t be on the big screen.
Wan is set to exec-produce a new Swamp Thing series for Warner Bros.’ upcoming streaming service. Everybody’s got one! He’ll be joined by writers Mark Verheiden and Gary Dauberman, making for one Hell of a creative team. Wan’s the creative force behind The Conjuring, Saw, and other top-grossing horror franchises, not to mention Furious 7. Verheiden is a veteran comic book scribe and TV writer who has worked on Battlestar Galactica, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Daredevil, and more. Dauberman co-wrote Stephen King’s It, and is basically the driving force behind a number of the ‘Conjuring‘ spinoff movies.
The series will follow CDC researcher Abby Arcane, who returns to her childhood home in Louisiana to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. She develops a relationship with scientist Alec Holland, only for him to die shortly after. However, the swamp’s mysterious and mystical properties revive him as the Swamp Thing, defender of the environment against those who would endanger it.
I guess this is one way for DC to utilize Swamp Thing since that live-action Justice League Dark movie will probably never happen. The character has been adapted on multiple platforms before, most notably in Wes Craven’s 1982 movie that deserves to be remembered fondly, I think. It’s not great, but there have been worse comic book movies during that time period (*cough*Captain America *cough*). And with Wan, Dauberman, and Verheiden there’s every reason to think the character will be done justice.
Warner Bros.’ service, now known as DC Universe, arrives later this year. The Swamp Thing logo is below.
There may be some quid pro quo going on between Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg. Just yesterday we learned of Gibson’s next directing gig, the WWII Naval film Destroyer. But in that story was also news that his Daddy’s Home 2 co-star had pushed for Gibson to be added to The Six Billion Dollar Man cast. Now Gibson is returning the favor.
The Wrap says Gibson wants Wahlberg to star in Destroyer, which centers on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa and the USS Laffey, which withstood the most devastating kamikaze attack in military history, earning it the nickname “The Ship That Would Not Die.” Gibson’s friend Rosalind Ross wrote the script, adapted from John Wukovits’ book Hell From the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack.
After being a pariah in Hollywood for years I guess it’s good to see Gibson making friends again? The Six Billion Dollar Man would be first up as it’s due to open on May 31st 2019.
Paul Feig is doing something a little bit different with his latest film, A Simple Favor. Veering away from the female-led comedies he’s turned his attention to something a little more Gone Girl-esque. Well, maybe with a tiny dash of Spy thrown in for good measure? Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively star in the film about a pair of mismatched friends and the mystery that emerges when one goes missing.
Kendrick plays Stephanie, a mommy blogger whose son befriends the child of the chic and glamorous Emily (Lively). The two moms become martini buddies, but when Emily goes missing Stephanie begins to realize she doesn’t know her friend as well as she thought. The film is based on Darcey Bell’s bestselling novel and it promises twists and betrayals galore, like any good mystery should. Is she a secret agent? Is she having an affair? Or is it something far worse?
Also starring Henry Golding, Jean Smart, Eric Johnson, and Linda Cardellini, A Simple Favor opens September 14th.
The majority of Star Wars movies have taken place months or years after events of the prior film, but that hasn’t been the case with the last two. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Last Jedi picked up immediately from preceding stories, but we probably shouldn’t expect the same from J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode 9 for a variety of reasons. And based on new comments by John Boyega we might be seeing the film jump ahead in time quite a bit.
Speaking with Yahoo Finance, Boyega teased a physical transformation that suggests a time jump for Finn may be in the works…
“I can’t wait to start shooting the next and final leg of the franchise. The first step is growing out my hair, so you can wait for the trailer to see why.”
So…Finn is either dying, hence the “final leg of the franchise”, or he’s growing out his hair because of a jump forward in time. Possibly both. I’ve never understood why long hair is equated with advanced age but whatever, that’s the movies for ya. A significant passage of time would be restoring Star Wars to its traditional mode of storytelling, much like Abrams did with The Force Awakens. It’s not the least bit shocking that he may return to that with Episode 9 since The Last Jedi was so divisive. Lucasfilm may want to get some distance from it, and Abrams may want to use the passage of time to clear the decks and make it easier to “fix” some of what Rian Johnson did. Remember, Johnson threw out most of the story ideas Abrams left for him and went in an entirely different direction.
Or maybe Boyega’s comment doesn’t mean shit. Maybe Finn has been on the run with little access to a barber. Captain America knows what’s up. You think he grew that beard on purpose?
