There was an error at the screening of Pixar’s Coco I attended a couple of weeks ago. The lights went down on the packed theater, surprisingly to us, the short film Olaf’s Frozen Adventure began to run. It went on for about two minutes before it was shut off. It was only meant for general audiences, not the screening crowd. While there were some groans of disapproval, it turns out we were the lucky ones for being spared.
Disney is pulling the not-so-short Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, which clocks in at 21 whopping minutes (!!!), from showing of Coco. There has been an uproar about it for some time because, let’s face it, who the f**k wants to sit down for one movie only to be forced to endure 20 minutes of commercials and trailers, followed by 21 minutes of Josh Gad’s annoying snowman character from Frozen. I’m surprised their weren’t riots and demands for refunds. Think about that; would you sit through 40 minutes of anything before a movie that wasn’t Star Wars or Avengers or something like that? Probably not.
Mashable has confirmed the news, saying the short film will be pulled as of December 8th. It’s such a stupid error for Disney to make. Shorts are fine, and we are accustomed to them ahead of animated movie, but 21 minutes? Why not just turn it into a TV special to air on ABC? Duh. Or make it part of the Coco home release? People are legit excited for Frozen 2, which opens in 2019, so why annoy them with a stunt like this? Come on Disney, I expect smarter from you.
This week’s episode has betrayals, revelations, kidnappings
and another episode with no Bruce Wayne! Good thing Gotham is filled with plenty of delightful characters that can keep
us entertained.
Jim Story arc
featuring Professor Pyg– “Jim, I’m a reflection of you”:
We begin this week’s episode in good ole Arkham Asylum where
Pyg is introducing a little culture and class by playing classical music. Not
all the patients are fans of the music choice, but Pyg quickly gets them in
order.
Back at GCPD, Lucius shows Jim x-rays of Pyg’s face and lets
him know that Pyg has undergone numerous surgeries including having titanium
plates grafted on his face. All of these surgeries have led to Pyg’s appearance
changing significantly. Jim wants Lucius to try and work backwards and see if
he can construct an image of what Pyg used to look like before all of the work
was done.
Sofia comes to visit Jim at the precinct and tells Jim that
she wants to be with him and is planning on removing Penguin from the picture.
Much to her dismay, Jim once again shoots her down. Every time he has done this
in the past, she still somehow manages to get him interested again, so we will
see how long it lasts this time.
Jim goes to visit Pyg at Arkham and Pyg is delighted to see
him. Jim tries some mind games on Pyg, telling him that no one remembers him or
cares about him anymore. As Jim turns to leave, Pyg demands that he stops in a
completely different accent (a Southern one) – giving Jim a glimpse at who he
really is. Jim heads back to GCPD and Lucius shows him the finished sketch of
what Pyg originally looked like. Jim asks him to send it nationwide, but
starting with the South.
Lucius gets a hit from the picture of Pyg. His real name is Lazlo
Valentine and he was being held for murder in the South, but Lazlo did not have
a Pyg persona and did not target Police officers. Lazlo managed to escape from captivity
in the prison he was in and Jim is worried he will do the same at Arkham, so he
races to make sure that Pyg is still in his cozy cell. When Jim gets there, he
sees that he is too late and Pyg is back in the wild.
My thoughts: It’s interesting that Pyg tells Jim that
they are a reflection of each other and Sofia tells Jim that they are the same.
Jim definitely has his demons, and we’ve seen them come out at times – but he
has been able to control them. In recent seasons Jim has rediscovered himself
and has been much more pure of heart. Pyg getting out of Arkham is great for us
viewers, I am looking forward to his continued antics.
Lee story arc – “I
want you cleared out of the Narrows by the end of the day“:
We get a glimpse at Lee as the new head hancho, taking
Cherry’s place. She has created a court and is serving as a pseudo judge
presiding over a case with Grundy and Nygma at her side. A man comes barging in
warning Lee that someone named Sampson has attacked her turf. Nygma suggests
sending Grundy to solve her problems, but Lynn wants to try and handle the
situation civilly.
Lee goes to visit Sampson to try and come to a deal. Sampson
lets her know that he is not negotiating, he is planning on taking everything
from her. Sampson is clearly sick and Lynn uses that to her advantage. They
finally agree that Sampson will take 30% of the fight night money to leave
Lynn’s territory alone. Lynn goes back to her clinic to see it wrecked. Clearly
Sampson did not honor their agreement.
Lee poisons Sampson and she offers to give him the antidote,
only if he and his men leave the Narrows by the end of the day. Sampson quickly
agrees, he didn’t have too much time not to. Lee tells Nygma that there is
nothing wrong with him physically. His issue is all psychological. Nygma is in
the bathroom, and just as he did the first time we met Riddler, sees Riddler
behind him in the mirror.
My thoughts: It looks like Riddler is finally back!
That is not good news for Penguin, who already has his hands full. I also
wonder what this means for Grundy, but I’m assuming Riddler will keep want to
keep him around. This new badass Lee has been a great addition to the show. I
know we’re all anxiously waiting for Jim and her to cross paths.
Penguin story arc – “You
wanted a war, you got one“:
Penguin is waiting for Sofia at her house with Zsasz. After
Martin let Penguin know that Sofia and Jim were kissing at the previous
episode, Penguin realized that Sofia is indeed his enemy and he is on a mission
to make her pay. Penguin has discovered that Jim went down South right before Sofia
arrived in Gotham – he believes that this was the beginning of the two of them
plotting against him. Penguin has brought in ‘the dentist’ to torture Sofia and
find out her plan.
After a brief oral exam, the dentist prepares to begin the
procedure. Sofia spouts some intimate knowledge of the Dentist and his family,
causing him to pause. Sofia lets the Dentist know that if anything happens to
her, his family will be killed. The Dentist lets Sofia go, and Sofia – the
master manipulator – strikes again. As Sofia walks out of the house, she gets
kidnapped by Selina, Barbara, and Tabitha.
Penguin is celebrating taking down Sofia with Martin. He tells
the boy that he can be the heir to his throne. Martin admits to Penguin that Sofia
told him to spill the beans about kissing Jim. Penguin realizes that this must
mean Sofia knew how he would respond and is planning something. Right at that
moment, Barbara calls and lets him know that they have Sofia. If Penguin agrees
to let Barbara & co. operate autonomously, they will return Sofia to him.
Penguin sends Zsasz to take care of the problem and Zsasz uses a rocket
launcher to blow up the gun shop, but not before the four ladies escape. They
hatch up a plan that involves Sofia using Jim and Barbara & co kidnapping Martin
to try and get to Penguin.
Sofia goes to visit Jim asking him to take down Penguin. Jim
realizes that her plan was to pit him and Penguin against each other and start
a war between them (which a certain someone may have hypothesized in a Gotham recap a few weeks ago). Jim
instead decides to visit Penguin to make a deal. Jim wants to put Sofia on a
train out of town, but wants guarantees from Penguin that he will not get
involved. Penguin agrees to let Jim handle the situation. I don’t see why Sofia
couldn’t just take a train back to Gotham, but that’s neither here nor there.
As Sofia is leaving town, she tells Jim that they are the
same and both want power. She believes that Jim is just sending her away
because it is easier for himself. Jim doesn’t let that phase him and puts Sofia
on a train home with a Police escort. On the train, Zsasz comes, demanding to
know where Martin is. Sofia tells him that Penguin should meet her under the
Crown Point Bridge in an hour. Zsasz lets Sofia go, and delivers the message to
Penguin.
Penguin and Zsasz go to meet Sofia and Barbara & co
under the bridge. Sofia demands that Penguin pass control of the underworld to
her or she will kill Martin. Penguin submits and Sofia allows Martin to go to
Penguin, who tells him to wait in the car. Penguin blows up the car and Martin
so Sofia cannot use him as a pawn against Penguin anymore. A firefight ensues,
but all the major players manage to get away unscathed. Shortly after the
fight, we find out that Penguin had a trick up his sleeve, and did not kill
Martin – instead he has Zsasz take him to a safe location. Zsasz wants Penguin
to let him stay and go after Sofia while she is on her heels instead of taking
Martin – but Penguin ensures him that he has a plan for Sofia.
Barbara & co go back to Sofia’s house to try and sort
through the mess. Sofia wants to attack Penguin immediately, while the others
think she is crazy and want to cut her loose. Sofia lets them know if they desert
her, they will never get a piece of Gotham when she is in charge – but who really
knows if that day will ever come?
My thoughts:After
weeks and weeks of Penguin going back and forth on whether he can trust Sofia
or not, the game is finally over. Or you could say it has finally started.
Either way, no more speculating, no more guessing. It’s time to go to all-out
war. We got a glimpse at how dark Sofia can be when she was threatening Martin’s
life, something I did not expect. I think Sofia has a lot of tricks up her
sleeve, and let’s be honest – we really don’t know anything about her or what
she is capable of.
Next weeks on Gotham:
Next week is the fall finale! You know that the episode will be wild, but it also means we’re going to have wait some time before we get our weekly Gotham fix back. It looks like we’ll get to see Bruce and Alfred exchange blows. Joker is back?!? A war is brewing. Man oh man will we be in for a treat!
The guys and gals on the left coast spent their day naming the winners of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, and it turns out they really love Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name.
The swoony summer romance won three awards, Best Picture, Best Actor for Timothee Chalamet, and Guadagnino tied in the Best Director category with Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape of Water. Speaking of which, Del Toro’s fantasy/horror/romance also earned Sally Hawkins a Best Actress victory, in what is becoming an increasingly clouded race for an overall frontrunner. The film also won Best Cinematography, which I think is a surprise given how much praise there’s been for Roger Deakins’ work on Blade Runner 2049. Greta Gerwig got her wish and Laurie Metcalf won Best Supporting Actress for her tremendous work on Lady Bird, and I’m happy to see the momentum continuing to build for Willem Dafoe who is the true champion at the heart of The Florida Project. And I’m happy to see some love being shown to The Breadwinner, when it could, and probably will, be overshadowed by Pixar’s Coco.
Full list of winners and runner-ups are below!
PICTURE: “Call Me by Your Name”
Runner-up: “The Florida Project”
DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water” and Luca Guadagnino, “Call Me by Your Name” (tie)”
1. Coco– $26.1M/$108.6M
The week after Thanksgiving is generally pretty soft, and with no new wide releases it made an easy lane for Pixar’s Coco to repeat. The Mexican-themed film earned another $26M and has topped the $100M mark domestically. More importantly it has absolutely soared internationally, topping $280M worldwide.
2. Justice League– $16.5M/$197.3M
In three weeks Warner Bros.’ Justice League has hit $567M, which isn’t terrible but far from what should have been expected by a film of this magnitude. This is not the way they hoped to really expand their cinematic universe, and clearly there needs to be a fix of some kind.
3. Wonder– $12.5M/$88M
4. Thor: Ragnarok– $9.6M/$291.4M
5. Daddy’s Home 2– $7.5M/$82.8M
6. Murder On the Orient Express– $6.7M/$84.7M
7. Lady Bird– $4.54M/$17M
8. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri– $4.53M/$13.6M
9. The Star– $4M/$27.2M
10. A Bad Moms Christmas– $3.4M/$64.8M
In just 19 theaters James Franco’s buzzy The Disaster Artist (review), a loving recreation of Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room, earned $1.2M in just 19 locations. That’s a tremendous start for the well-reviewed film that has Oscar talks swirling around Franco’s over-the-top performance. I’m not sure it’ll connect with a larger mainstream audience who may not have heard of Wiseau’s movie, but maybe if the word-of-mouth is strong enough that could change.
In only 2 locations Guillermo Del Toro’s masterful The Shape of Water opened $166K, while Woody Allen’s 1950s melodrama Wonder Wheel hit $140K in 5 sites.
Can there be a really good, perhaps Oscars worthy movie about one of the worst movies ever? And can it be done by James Franco? This week on Cinema Royale I’ll be reviewing James Franco’s THE DISASTER ARTIST about the making of Tommy Wiseau’s bizarre, atrocious THE ROOM! And I’ll be saying “Oh hai Hannah Buchdahl” as the co-host of The Cinema Clash joins in on the fun.
Plus I’ll run down by five favorite “Movies About Movies”, and I’ll have news on Masters of the Universe, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Daisy Ridley’s Star Wars future, and more!
ll this plus news on Shazam, secret Marvel projects, Lord of the Rings, the impact of Hollywood’s sexual misconduct scandals, and more! Tune in and follow Cinema Royale on Blogtalkradio as part of Critical: The Movie Critics Network!
There’s something strange going on with Bryan Singer and his upcoming Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Production on the film, which stars Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, has been shut down over what 20th Century Fox calls an “unexpected unavailability of Bryan Singer.”
Uh, okay?
A rep for Singer has issued a statement that says the director’s absence is over a “personal health matter concerning Bryan and his family.”
That may very well be true, but it has already brought up reminders of the allegations that have haunted Singer for years. With the wave of sexual misconduct allegations hitting Hollywood power players, many have expected Singer’s name to come up in association with them. In fact, Jessica Chastain, who is set to star in the Singer-produced X-Men: Dark Phoenix, reminded everyone about those claims just last month…
But Singer’s absences are apparently not a new thing. Production shut down because he failed to return on set after Thanksgiving, but he had routinely been showing up late or not at all in some cases. In one instance, shooting had to be picked up by the movie’s cinematographer because Singer no-showed. These are the same types of stunts Singer pulled during Superman Returns and X-Men: Apocalypse, which leads one to question why it’s been tolerated as long as it has been.
In any case, Malek and Fox have clearly grown frustrated by it, and we’ll just have to see where this goes from here. If and when Singer returns he might see his power on set severely reduced, or perhaps the studio will take a more hands on approach to overseeing things.
Bohemian Rhapsody is, for now, set to open next year on Christmas Day. [THR]
James Franco is currently enjoying the best reviews of his career, on either side of the camera, for The Disaster Artist and it may be enough to carry him through to the Oscars. Really. No more making fun of his questionable directorial choices (for now), it’s time to start taking him more seriously. And that means paying attention to what comes next. Right now that looks to be A Boy Named Shel, an adaptation of Lisa Rogak’s book about poet, songwriter, and “The Giving Tree” author Sheldon Silverstein. Franco will both direct and star. Here’s a synopsis for the book:
In A Boy Named Shel, Lisa Rogak tells the full story of a life as antic and adventurous as any of his creations. A man with an incurable case of wanderlust, Shel kept homes on both coasts and many places in between—and enjoyed regular stays in the Playboy Mansion. Everywhere he went he charmed neighbors, made countless friends, and romanced almost as many women with his unstoppable energy and never-ending wit.
His boundless creativity brought him fame and fortune—neither of which changed his down-to-earth way of life—and his children’s books sold millions of copies. But he was much more than “just” a children’s writer. He collaborated with anyone who crossed his path, and found success in a wider range of genres than most artists could ever hope to master. He penned hit songs like “A Boy Named Sue” and “The Unicorn.” He drew cartoons for Stars & Stripes and got his big break with Playboy. He wrote experimental plays and collaborated on scripts with David Mamet. With a seemingly unending stream of fresh ideas, he worked compulsively and enthusiastically on a wide array of projects up until his death, in 1999.
Shel lived an incredible life without boundaries, and those seem to be the kinds of people Franco is interested in making movies about right now. The script will be written by Chris Shafer and Paul Vickair, writers of the Chris Evans films Playing it Cool and Before We Go. [THR]
If you’re eagerly awaiting Quentin Tarantino’s 9th feature film, the one that will have Charles Manson as part of the plot, then you won’t have to wait much longer. Sony Pictures, which won a fierce bidding war for the rights, have set the release date for August 9th 2019. That date is a significant one for a couple of reasons.
First of all, that date marks the 50th anniversary of the murder of actress Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson Family. It’s still unclear how much Charles Manson will have to do with the story, but we know Tarantino has been wanting Margot Robbie to play Tate. Others being courted for the film are Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lawrence, and Samuel L. Jackson.
The other signficance of that date is that it falls in the heart of blockbuster season, which is unusual for a Tarantino movie. But this one, which is said to cost $100M with a rumored $375M needed just to break even, will need to be one of the biggest hits of career. Sony dropping it in the middle of summer is there way of trying to bump up expectations and potential box office. Basically it needs to do triple the business of The Hateful Eight which barely cracked $150M worldwide.
Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall, two stars who pop up in a ton of movies, are getting a chance to share the screen together. The duo headline the romantic comedy, Permission, which debuted at Tribeca earlier this year and has been pretty quiet ever since. But this trailer suggests this isn’t your typical rom-com to be seen and quickly forgotten.
Written and directed by Brian Crano, the film centers on a couple on the verge of marriage who are encouraged to explore other options, to make sure they are truly with “the one”. It’s an interesting premise, with Hall and Stevens always worth checking out. Here’s the synopsis:
Anna (Rebecca Hall) and Will (Dan Stevens), were each other’s first every-things: first kiss, first love, first and only relationship. Now, 10 years in, at Anna’s 30th birthday party, as Will is about to propose, the couple’s best friend makes a drunken toast, suggesting that they should sleep around before their inevitable marriage. The joke lands like a lead balloon, but the thought lingers until Anna proposes that they try opening their relationship – as a sexual experiment. Together, they venture out of the purely monogamous boundaries of their relationship and, along the way, evolve.
Most romantic comedies center on this notion of finding the perfect match, but rarely do we see it from the perspective of partners in a loving, established relationship. Color me interested in seeing where this goes. Also starring Gina Gershon, David Joseph Craig, Jason Sudeikis, Bridget Everett, and Morgan Spector, Permission opens February 9th 2018.
24 Hours To Live tells
the story of Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke) – a retired hitman who is out of the
game and trying to live in peace. Travis’s wife and son have been dead for a
year and their deaths still haunt him. Travis resorts to drugs and alcohol to
try and cope with his loss. Out of the blue, a former colleague, Jim
(Paul Anderson), pays Travis a visit. Jim passes along a job that their old boss
Wetzler (Liam Cunningham) demands Travis accept. With the money being too good
to pass up, Travis decides it’s time to come out of retirement.
The target that Wetzler sends Travis to kill is a former assassin of the company named Keith (Tyrone Keogh). Keith has turned
against them, and will be testifying to the UN. This testimony can bring down
the whole organization and Wetzler can’t have that. Keith is somewhere in
Africa, and Travis must find him immediately to silence him. The only thing
standing in Travis’ way is Lin (Qing Xu) an Interpol agent with a particular
set of skills of her own. Travis ends up using Lin’s son and mother to track Lin
down and get Keith’s location. In a moment of weakness, brought upon by not
wanting to break up a family, Travis does not kill Lin and she ends up taking advantage
of this and kills Travis.
Travis wakes up on an operating table where Jim tells him
that the company used an experimental procedure to essentially bring him back from
the dead. Unfortunately this procedure is only a minor fix and the surgery leaves
Travis with only, you guessed it, 24 hours to live. Travis provides Jim and
Wentzler with the address of where Keith will be. Getting all the information
they needed from Travis, they decide that he is expendable and are going to…kill
him again. Travis escapes and realizes that his mission is to take down
Wentzler and he will stop at nothing until he does.
24 Hours To Live
can essentially be broken down into two acts. Act 1 is before Travis undergoes
this experimental surgery and Act 2 is the ridiculous ride that follows post-surgery.
Now the title, 24 Hours To Live, should
be taken as literally as possible. During the surgery, Travis is implanted with
a countdown timer in his forearm counting down from 24 hours. It comes off as silly, but throughout the film we see Travis glance at it to get an idea of how much time he has left. The
surgery also involves some negative side effects – mainly hallucinations of his
wife, and especially his son, that get more vivid as the timer ticks
away. Going up against an evil organization with endless means and trained
assassins is already quite the task, but doing so while dying and suffering
from hallucinations of his deceased wife and child really ups the ante.
Now when you think of a former hitman – who is of course the best at what he does –
that comes out of retirement to go on a murderous revenge rampage, does that sound familiar? 24 Hours To Live is a poor man’s John Wick, but where Wick has class and
elegance, 24 Hours To Live has
grittiness and grime – and not in a good way. 24 Hours To Live tries to play around with the idea of their protagonist
being on a countdown timer, thinking that this might distinguish it enough, but
this idea falls short. The film does have a lot of close up shots and shaky
cams that are successful in adding to the grit and style of the film, but that isn’t enough to set the film apart. In
the end 24 Hours To Live falls short.
It is a mindless action film that gets muddled and ridiculous at times. If you
want to turn your brain off and enjoy some action scenes and explosions, it’s
not a terrible option, but there are far better out there.
