There was an awkward moment just as our screening of Justice League was beginning. Listed among the film’s producers was RatPac-Dune Entertainment, which is the label run by Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct. His name was also attached to the hugely successful Wonder Woman, but Warner Bros., like pretty much everybody in Hollywood, has been doing their best to distance themselves from him. And that was rumored to go double for star Gal Gadot, who reportedly wouldn’t sign on for a sequel unless she had assurances Ratner had nothing to do with it.
But since then, Warner Bros. has not only moved Wonder Woman 2 up a couple of months, they’ve also confirmed Gadot’s return. Sure, the studio has already parted ways with Ratner, but was Gadot’s threat legit? She gave her side of the story on The Today Show and this is what she had to say…
“Everyone knows the way that I feel because I’m not hiding anything. But the truth is, there’s so many people involved in making this movie — it’s not just me — and they all echoed the same sentiments. Everyone knew what was the right thing to do. But there was nothing for me to actually come and say because it was already done before this article came out.”
So basically she got what she wanted, but it wasn’t a decision that was really up to her. Fortunately, those in the position to do something felt the same way she did, and Gadot can back into the business of lassoing up bad guys as Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman 2 opens November 1st 2019, but you can see Gadot in Justice League this weekend.
WATCH: Gal Gadot responds to report she didn’t want to work with Brett Ratner, who has faced sexual harassment allegations, on next installment of Wonder Woman pic.twitter.com/rBuSH2CE2Z
We haven’t seen or heard anything on The Mercy in so long I forgot it was even coming out. The film, which stars Colin Firth as doomed yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, began shooting two years ago and was completed last year. It has always had the ingredients for a potential Oscar contender: harrowing true story of man vs. nature, a renowned director in James Marsh (Man on Wire, The Theory of Everything), a script by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion), and a co-star in Rachel Weisz. And yet its release is timed to hit as wide of any awards consideration as possible, which isn’t a good sign.
Fortunately, the first trailer has arrived and it looks pretty solid. Then again, I thought Firth’s Railway Man would be an awards player, too, and that turned out to be the complete opposite. The Mercy tells the true story of Crowhurst, an amateur boater who lied his way into racing the around-the-world 1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Turns out the stories he told would be his ultimate undoing.
Apparently there is expected to be a huge marketing campaign for this from StudioCanal, but I’ll believe it when I see it. As of now it’s due to hit the UK in February while the U.S. has no date set.
I swear, this is really a trailer for Deadpool 2, not just some super silly prank by Ryan Reynolds. You won’t think so at first because before you get to the actual footage there’s a disturbingly long, but sorta brilliant, tribute to serene art icon Bob Ross. But don’t give up, once you get past Reynolds’ shenanigans the trailer is there and it’s pretty badass.
Toldja. While all too brief, what we do see features tons of guns, our first glimpse at Zazie Beetz in action as Domino, Negasonic Teenage Warhead sporting a new ‘do that only makes her more awesome, and a brief look at new addition Julian Dennison of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. What we don’t get? Anything of Josh Brolin as Cable, which is disappointing, but I guess they’re holding him for an actual trailer and not a teaser hidden inside of a Bob Ross skit.
Here’s the brand new synopsis which also might be a joke: After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.
The breakout year for Girls Trip‘s Tiffany Haddish continues, just days after she became the first African-American standup comedian to host SNL. She’s become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars, and has now signed on for two lead roles: Universal’s The Temp from Girls Trip producer Will Packer, and mob flick The Kitchen.
The Temp is a female-driven comedy based on an original pitch from writer Dana Fox, but there don’t seem to be any further details. Can we make an assumption based on the title? Is it a remake of the 1993 thriller with Timothy Hutton and a devious Lara Flynn Boyle? Probably not, but one can hope.
Meanwhile, Haddish is also set to lead The Kitchen, marking the directorial debut of Straight Outta Compton screenwriter Andrea Berloff. Berloff adapted the popular Vertigo Comics series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle that is set in Hell’s Kitchen of the 1970s. When members of the Irish Mafia are swept up in an FBI raid, their wives take over the business and run it more ruthlessly than their husbands.
Haddish recently completed filming on Night School, a comedy that teams her up with Kevin Hart. Sadly, my hopes of it being a remake of the 1981 slasher flick have also been dashed. [Variety]
Hey, what’s Mel Gibson’s second highest-grossing movie? Is it…Lethal Weapon? Nah. Braveheart? Nope. Mad Max? Not that, either. It’s the 2000 romantic comedy What Women Want, which earned a whopping $374M worldwide, split fairly evenly on a domestic and international basis. It’s so popular, rather inexplicably if you ask me, there was a Chinese remake back in 2011, and rumors of a sequel have been out there for a while. Although it’s looking unlikely now, because an American remake is in the works, only this one won’t star Gibson; it will instead feature Taraji P. Henson.
That’s right; Cookie Lyon herself is starring in What Men Want, an updated version of the rom-com that centered on a male chauvinist who could literally hear women’s innermost thoughts. That should be fun to tackle from a female perspective, I think. Henson will play a sports agent who gains the ability to hear what men think (Sex….sports…food…sex), and uses it to get an advantage over her male colleagues.
The timing couldn’t be better for a reimagining like this and the studio knows it, fast-tracking it for release on January 11th 2019. Henson will be seen next in the action flick, Proud Mary. [Deadline]
At times it feels like the jury is already out against any DC Comics movie long before it ever opens. If I heard once “Well, let’s hope Justice League isn’t too terrible” or “I just hope it isn’t Batman v Superman”, I heard it a thousand times. Skepticism is what these movies are met with, and strangely enough, Justice League is in an even worse position than it would be if the universally-beloved Wonder Woman hadn’t existed, because now that is the standard it must live up to. It’s an unfair one; the two films only share a single character between them and nothing else, but we expect it to carry the same hopeful ideals and vision.
Justice League has more in common with Wonder Woman than it doesn’t. First of all, the aversion to telling jokes is, thankfully, no longer there. Warner Bros. stepped in it by trying to emulate Christopher Nolan’s gloomy Dark Knight Trilogy, but with the less competent Zack Snyder, and it set them back. Snyder’s here again and many of his usual directorial tics are firmly in place. But as anyone who has been following the production knows, he left in the middle of shooting to tend to a family tragedy, with Joss Whedon stepping in to handle reshoots and a partial script rewrite. The question has always been whether their two vastly different styles could merge into a seamless, enjoyable superhero movie. While you can see some of the stitching around the edges, and I bet you can pinpoint the moment where Snyder ends and Whedon begins, Justice League is DC’s biggest guns in a movie fans can be proud of enjoying.
If Wonder Woman reminded us of the power in what these superheroes can represent, Justice League hammers home that idea even further. Snyder’s trademark music video opening, set to a version of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”, shows us how humanity has been devastated by the loss of Superman. Without him, fear has begun to grow and spread, with Batman (Ben Affleck) fighting to keep the ensuing crime wave in check. I’ve often said that Superman’s storyarc has been one of the best things they’ve done, and even in death that continues to be true here. If Man of Steel was Superman learning to be a hero, and Batman v Superman was him learning to be part of humanity, then Justice League is about Superman as a symbol of hope. The power vaccum left by his absence brings the insect-like parademons, emissaries of the powerful intergalactic villain Steppenwolf , a CGI monstrosity voiced by Ciaran Hinds.
Like Marvel, DC still has trouble nailing the bad guys.
Steppenwolf, who isn’t nearly as rockin’ as his rock band namesake, has arrived to find the three Mother Boxes, cubed McGuffins that will give him the power to destroy the planet or something. It doesn’t really matter. He just needs to be stopped, and so Batman must put together a team, his Justice League, because it’s too much for him to handle alone. The plot isn’t too dissimilar from practically every Marvel movie, in particular The Avengers; just replace Infinity Stones with Mother Boxes and wallah! And of course, that team isn’t going to get along well at first, but thankfully they don’t mimic Marvel with the same oil ‘n water mixture of combustible personalities. For instance, Barry Allen aka the Flash (Ezra Miller) is a ball of lightning whose mouth runs almost as fast as his legs. He literally jumps at the chance to join the team, showing the rabid enthusiasm of a child high on Pop Rocks. Arthur Curry aka Aquaman (Jason Momoa), is the team’s wildcard and punk rock protector of the seas. Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is the strong, silent type who was literally born from the power of the Mother Box, making him arguably the most powerful and important member of the squad.
And then of course there’s Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who isn’t on the best of terms with Batman and initially wants no part of any team-building exercises. But this turns out to be as much her story is it is Batman’s or Superman’s. The Diana who saved the day in WWI hasn’t been seen in decades, but this movie is about her quest to be that leader again. Snyder, try as he might, has never been able to get the female voice right (*cough*Sucker Punch *cough*), and while Wonder Woman kicks lots of ass she feels a little bit off at first. That changes later on and you can probably sense that’s when Whedon started adding his two cents, moving her into the forefront and giving the film a feminist power boost it sorely needs. The team is tiny but there’s a Krypton-sized amount of testosterone going on.
While assembling the team is slow-going and the first hour a series of expository montages punctuated by splash pages, it pays off once Steppenwolf steps up his game. There’s a blisteringly awesome sequence on the isle of Themyscira as the Amazons battle the villain and his flying army, reminding you why a movie following the female warriors is an absolute must. Snyder still hasn’t added any new tricks to his visual palette; for the most part everything is choreographed with a “throw everything at the wall” strategy. Cram as much onto the screen as possible and hopefully the audience can sort it out. There at individual sequences that are dazzlingly brilliant, though, including one with the Flash that owes a lot to the Quicksilver scenes from the X-Men movies, only better because this character has more personality. Some will find Ezra Miller’s performance too amped-up but that’s exactly the point. He’s a live wire, he’s always “on” so to speak, and that he clashes awkwardly with everyone is why Flash is so much fun.
The rest of the cast fare pretty well, amd I think this is by far Affleck’s best performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Finally able to shed the nihilism of the previous movie, Affleck’s Caped Crusader is looser, funnier, but still has Batman’s loner mentality. Gadot continues to be excellent as Wonder Woman, slipping back into the role as if she never stopped. Fisher finds a sliver of humanity within Cyborg’s cold metal exterior, and Momoa is having more fun than anybody. Does he even know he’s making a movie? Or was he just showing up to trade shots with Affleck? Aquaman, who like most of the team are due for solo movies in the near future, has the biggest laugh of the movie when he delivers an unusually emotional speech at an unusual time.
While I think the vitriol towards Batman v Superman, Man of Steel, and Suicide Squad are overblown (audiences liked them, but critics didn’t), it’s still a low bar to say that Justice League is simply better than those movies. It’s substantially better; imperfect but another clear step towards the DC Universe taking its rightful place as Marvel’s equal. There’s still some way to go, but at least we have reason to hope.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Trav’s Tip: Not that you need me to tell you, but stick around for both a mid-credits and post-credits scene, one that’s basically fan wish fulfillment and another with sequel implications.
It’s extremely difficult to get Nintendo to license out their video game characters. There’s a reason why you’ve only seen Bowser, briefly, in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph when everybody wants Mario or Luigi. And that reason is 1993’s Super Mario Bros. live-action movie, arguably the worst video game adaptation ever and still a laughingstock to this very day. I don’t think anybody thought Nintendo would dare risk another Mario movie again, but it’s happening, and the people behind it should get fans hopping in their raccoon suits.
Nintendo is close to striking a deal with Universal and Illumination for an animated Mario Bros. movie. That’s right, the folks behind Despicable Me are bringing Nintendo’s iconic Italian plumbers to the big screen, where they will no doubt rescue Princess Peach for the umpteenth time. I think she’s out there looking for trouble.
The deal has reportedly been in the works for a year, and it helps that Universal and Nintendo are working on theme parks together. Whatever it takes, man. Even if this means we never get Mario in a Wreck-It Ralph movie, I’ll take it. Because if we’re getting Mario now, then The Legend of Zelda can’t be far away. [WSJ]
Last week on The Gifted, Director Turner turned up the heat on the Mutant Underground. Nothing like knowing the mutants messed with your mind and erased the memory of your dying daughter to into you into Captain Ahab. After striking a deal with independent contractor Campbell, he was back in play at Sentinel Services and laws be damned. Because Sentinel Services was cracking down on everyone who was even remotely possible of being a mutant, many people who thought they were safe were shacking up at Mutant Underground headquarters. While Caitlin was striving for some normalcy for the young mutants by teaching them studies, Polaris was training them to be the next generation of X-Men. Lauren befriended one of her fellow trainees while her brother Andy went with their father Reed and Marcos on a mission to Baton Rouge to find out what was going on with the government using mutants to fight against other mutants. After the successful caper, Marcos received a call from former girlfriend-now-Cartel-boss Carmen that he had to pay her what is due, meaning he has to use his mutant powers for her illegal activities.
This week was an interesting episode. We got to see a darker side of Marcos as he’s forced to revisit his past life for the sake of Polaris and keeping his promise to his ex. However, given how normal it was for him to go back to death and destruction, him doing this on a consistent basis will probably force him back to the dark side. Blink and John went on their own adventure as well. While this was good as she finally is back with the Mutant Underground, it seems that it’s John who now is starting to develop feelings for her, complicating things with him and Dreamer. We got to see a little bit of what Campbell is doing and how he is using mutants for his own nefarious means, to the point where it even disturbs Turner. Reed gets the chance to play controlling father as he comes in between Laura and her new crush as well.
Let’s take a look at a few highlights from this week’s episode “eXtreme Measures:” Flashbacks:
As usual, the episode opens up with a flashback. This time we focus on Marcos before he joined the Mutant Underground. This was before Polaris was rocking her green ‘do as she and John Proudstar try to recruit him to join the Mutant Underground. The comment that even though he was in the employ of the Cartel at the time, he helped coyote mutants across the border. Why not do that full time and not work for a murderous drug dealing organization and give your life some meaning? In the past, it seemed as though he and Polaris were polar opposites, but given current events, we know that this was the beginning of a strong relationship as the two of them
Blink and John Go On A Road Trip:
Last week Blink left the Mutant Underground thanks to Dreamer messing with her memories and John keeping it a secret. And who can blame her? Not only does she feel violated for Dreamer implanting a memory in her head for the sole purpose of making her focus and control her teleportation powers, but John opts not to tell her. From her perspective, she’s just a tool for them and not a group that actually cares about her and her well-being. However, she hasn’t gotten really far. Thanks to his tracking abilities, John is able to find her quickly and despite her pushing him away, he feels he owes her. When she was going through her kamikaze teleportations a few weeks back, she kept trying to teleport to a random country road. John decides that he will help her find that place. Good thing he’s a tracker.
The place is a former safe space for mutants who could not fit in and appear “normal” and a place that she had been at in her younger years. When they finally find the place, someone else has been there before they have. Turns out that the Sentinel Services already got there. It looks like they did not take any prisoners as inside it was properly sprayed with bullets and there’s blood everywhere. This causes Blink to break down as her family that she depended on have been killed. The Mutant Underground’s battle with the Sentinel Services might not have been hers before, but now it is. She opts to go back with John and they give each other a warm hug. Later on, when John runs back into Dreamer and kisses her, he has some concern on his face. Looks like a new love triangle is brewing.
Reed Gets Involved In Laura’s Relationship:
As Reed and Sage are going through the hard drives taken from the Baton Rouge location, he sees files on mutants that Sentinel Services have been tracking. One face/power set catches his eyes: Wes, the young mutant that is wooing Laura. Turns out, Wes has a criminal file. Who would want their daughter dating a criminal? Reed steps in and tells his daughter about Wes’ background. Still, head over heels for Wes, Laura rejects her father saying that he is just being his usual prosecutor, prosecuting mutants for being mutants.
It’s only until she confronts him out of curiosity. Wes tells her that he did commit crimes when he was revealed to be a mutant, he had to fend for himself. Having the ability to create illusions is a great gift for anyone wanting to pull off a con, so he did what he had to do to in order to survive. This makes Laura mad with her. Seeing the consequences of his actions, Reed talks with Wes and they come to an understanding. Wes fesses up to the rest of the Mutant Underground about his past and they forgive him. By the end of the episode he leaves to go to another Mutant Underground location, but not before he and Laura finally get the chance for a passionate kiss.
Campbell Employs Mutants In A Dangerous Way:
Now that Turner is back in the fold at Sentinel Services and trying to track the Mutant Underground, he has a new enemy: legal rights and government bureaucracy. Since Turner is going after the Mutant Underground without warrants, this attracts the attention of the Department of Justice. When he is confronted by one of the lawyers, she warns him that he will have a fight on his hands.
During a meeting discussing options, the lawyer steps up to confront him. It is then that she starts feeling pain in her head. One of Campbell’s associates was concentrating hard during the meeting, meaning that he was a mutant Campbell is controlling and using his powers to telepathically attack her. Turner is the only one who notices this and in a later phone conversation confronts Campbell about this, but Campbell assures him that nothing bad will come out of it. Even if a new Justice Department official comes forward, it’ll be a few weeks, so they have breathing space to do whatever they want. Campbell, later on, shows Turner a secret room where brainwashed mutants are being held, meaning they have their own army to take on the Mutant Underground.
Marcos “Breaks Bad:”
Much of the episode focused on Marcos as he had to pay his due to Carmen, his former Cartel Girlfriend. Since Carmen helped him find out where Sentinel Services was holding Polaris, he now has to do what she wants, and what she wants his him to be her muscle.
Marcos lies to Polaris and says he is going on a run to help another Mutant Underground location (are we going to see these other places?). Before he leaves, he puts on his Cartel signature necklace “Santa Muerte” (Holy Death). When he meets up with Carmen, she’s goading him to embrace his dark side, recalling their “good old times” together. He tells her that he’s not going to kill anyone in her name. She doesn’t need him for that. She wants him to use his “Eclipse” powers to destroy a rival’s drug supply. She tells him that others will do the killing as she has another mutant in her employ.
When Marcos goes into the action, he lights up all the drugs and when he attacks the Russians, there’s a certain glee in his face. He may not want to go to that lifestyle, but he seemingly enjoys it. Polaris arrives just when she sees him in action, and seen Carmen give him a kiss on the cheek, further angering her. When she asks him how everything went at the other Mutant Underground place, he continues the lie until she catches him forcing him to fess up. He tells her he did it for her, but she’s not too happy about it.
Next week, Reed confronts his father, who it turns out is responsible for some of Sentinel Services’ activities.
Quentin Tarantino is still in search of a new home for his upcoming film, which was previously described (via Thompson on Hollywood) as being about the Manson Family. That’s not actually the case, as we recently learned, and now Tarantino describe it this way, “It’s not Charles Manson, it’s 1969,” which makes it sound like a period piece rather than a crime movie. That’s perfectly fine, and both A-list stars and big time studios are falling over themselves to be a part of it. The latest name you can add to this? Well, it’s the biggest name of all: Tom Cruise.
Deadline reports that Cruise can be added to the group of contenders that includes Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Can’t they all join, pretty please? Cruise is said to be up for one of two male leads, one of which probably won’t be Charles Manson. Sounds like he’s barely a part of the story at all.
Sony, Paramount, and Warner Bros. are all taking their best shots to land this thing, with Tarantino keeping online distributors such as Netflix and Amazon out of the mix. Apparently the bidding war is getting a little contentious, according to Variety…
….with Warners engaging in some splashy wooing in hopes of landing the film. When Tarantino arrived at the studio’s Burbank lot, he found the circular entrance in front of the administration building adorned with cars from the late 1960s. The Warner Bros. logo circa 1969 was on the marquee outside the studio, and the executive conference room was outfitted with vintage furniture from the era and mock posters for the movie.
Not to be outdone, Sony cooked up a multimedia presentation discussing how it would handle the release of the film, as well highlighting what it saw as its competitive advantages. Studio chief Tom Rothman used his time in front of Tarantino to talk up Sony’s marketing team and to take the director through the efforts that the company has made in recent years to bolster its international distribution. He emphasized that Sony could help the film succeed at the domestic box office, as well as internationally. Rothman was flanked by the studio’s senior staff, including Columbia Pictures President Sanford Panitch.
Considering Tarantino’s movies are hardly massive blockbusters why are studios falling all over themselves to get him? My guess is that his movies are basically instant classics at this point, and will live long lives on Bluray, subscription services, etc. Tarantino is one of the few directors left whose films command that level of respect, and you can’t put a price on having someone like that in-house.
Atomic Blonde is a vehicle for Charlize Theron to beat up bad guys to an 80’s
pop soundtrack, and it’s every bit as awesome as it sounds. This Cold War
thriller sees Theron as a mysterious and morally ambiguous British spy, sent to
the East side of the Berlin Wall to retrieve a loose-cannon rouge agent (James
McAvoy) and protect the information a Soviet defector has the only known copy
of.
We Said: “Atomic
Blonde isn’t lacking for style, attitude, and sex appeal, especially
with a heavy European punk/synth soundtrack vibing throughout. Too bad nearly
all of it is embodied by Theron, and not enough of it can be found anywhere
else.” Rating: 3 out of 5
Written and directed by the acclaimed screenwriter of Sicario,
and Hell
or High Water, this cold and intense thriller follows Cory Lambert (Jeremy
Renner), a lone-wolf wildlife officer who will stop at nothing to avenge the
murder of an 18 year old Native American woman in the snow covered reservations
of Wyoming. Helping him solve the case is young FBI agent Jane Banner
(Elizabeth Olsen), who wants nothing more than to solve the case and bring
justice to the isolated and overlooked community.
We Said: “The rhythm between
violence and cultural reflection is where [Writer/Director Taylor] Sheridan
continues to make his mark, not only as a writer but as a director to keep a
close eye on.” Rating: 4 out of 5
From the twisted mind of SNL’s Kyle Mooney, this comedy-drama
is just as bizarre as it is heartwarming. When a sudden and traumatic
realization thrusts sheltered young man James (Mooney) into the world of
adulthood, he’s shocked by several aspects of modern life; particularly that Brigsby
Bear, his favorite children’s TV show, is no longer making new episodes.
Fearing the saga he loves would be left incomplete, James sets out to make his
own Brigsby Bear movie that would serve to wrap up loose ends. Helping him in
this quest are his estranged sister and her misfit high school friends, who
grow to love the joys of filmmaking, Brigsby Bear, and most of all James.
We Said: “Brigsby Bear is unapologetically
and aggressively weird […] This is a subversive, dark, and unusual movie. It
may not a big crowd-pleaser, but I personally loved it.” Rating: 4 out of 5
