Chris Rock has reason to celebrate today! Deadline reports that Rock will develop and direct an English-language remake of Another Round, the 2020 Thomas Vinterberg dramedy that starred Mads Mikkelsen and won Best International Feature award at the Oscars.
The original Another Round starred Mikkelsen as one of four high school teachers who engage in a social experiment to be inebriated all day every day. Why? So they’ll be more creative and energetic for their students. But the plan doesn’t go nearly as planned, affecting their professional and personal lives.
Leonardo DiCaprio is among the producers through his Appian Way label.
Rock will direct and co-write the script, rewriting the first draft by Stuart Bloomberg. This will be Rock’s first time behind the camera since 2014’s critically acclaimed Top Five. He also directed Head of State in 2003, and I Think I Love My Wife in 2007.
Don’t be fooled; Rock is a serious filmmaker and has made directing his priority. He’s also developing an adaptation of Jonathan Eig’s novel King: A Life about Martin Luther King, Jr. There’s also an untitled screenplay that Rock is writing but it’s unclear what that project is at this time.
If there’s one film that everyone was talking about at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, it was Thelma. Written and directed by newcomer Josh Margolin, the heist action comedy gave 94-year-old June Squibb the starring role she’d never received in her decades-long career.
Inspired by a close-call experience with his own grandmother, Margolin’s Thelma follows a 90-something grandmother as she journeys to get back the money scammers took from her. Joining Squibb is the late Richard Roundtree as the Bonnie to her Clyde. Fred Hechinger plays her directionless grandson determined to find her, while Parker Posey and Clark Gregg play his helicopter parents.
There’s a lot to talk about with the film. From it being Squibb’s first starring role to Richard Roundtree’s last to action-packed scooter chases. I had the opportunity to chat with Thelma’s star and director at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival where they told me about the love and passion that went into this project.
The SAG-AFTRA delays continue to do a number on Marvel’s Thunderbolts, which is gearing up to start production soon. Ayo Edibiri is the latest to depart the villain film due to scheduling conflicts, and Deadline reports her replacement has already been found. Blockers and The Broken Hearts Gallery star Geraldine Viswanathan has stepped into the open role, which remains a mystery.
This is the second such casting move in recent days, as Lewis Pullman was added to replace Steven Yeun who had also left due to scheduling issues.
Viswanathan joins an ensemble that includes Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, Harrison Ford as General Thunderbolt Ross, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster.
So one thing we can surmise is that Viswanathan’s role is a funny one, because she’s replacing Edibiri who is also known for her comedy chops. She had been rumored for the Ms. Marvel role that ultimately went to Iman Vellani, but now she’s officially under the Marvel umbrella.
Thunderbolts is expected to open in July 2025, directed by Jake Schreier. Coming up for Viswanathan is Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls opposite Margaret Qualley, and comedy You’re Cordially Invited with Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon.
Has anyone put together that the trouble always seems to follow the Ghostbusters around? Especially in New York? In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the descendants of Egon Spengler have left their small town behind for New York City where, of course, supernatural danger threatens everyone and everything with the cold snap from Hell.
The film brings back the cast of the prior movie, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim. Now that they’re official Ghostbusters, they’ll reunite the original crew Dan Akroyd, Bill Muray, Ernie Hudson, and even Annie Potts whose Janine Melnitz finally leaves the secretary desk to get in on the action. We even see hated sub-villain Walter Peck, played by William Atherton. And Slimer, too! New additions to the cast include Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt.
With Jason Reitman exiting as director, he passes the torch to co-writer Gil Kenan who directs his first movie since 2021’s A Boy Called Christmas.
Here’s the synopsis: In “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the Spengler family returns to where it all started- the iconic New York City firehouse- to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes evil forces, Ghostbusters, new and old, must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hits theaters on March 22nd.
For eight seasons on Arrow, Emily Bett Rickards and Stephen Amell were a power couple as Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen. Interestingly, she was only meant to be there for a single episode, but her popularity kept her around for the long haul. For fans who may have missed their favorite superheroic duo, a reunion is happening over in the upcoming Western film, Calamity Jane, which finds Rickards and Amell as two of the most legendary figures in Old West history.
Rickards plays the titular legendary gunslinger, while Amell is Wild Bill Hicock, outlaw, showman, and shootist. The film centers around his murder at the barrel of Jack McCall’s gun during a poker match, and Calamity Jane’s efforts to get revenge. But first she must break out of prison, then avoid Deadwood‘s sheriff who is hot on her trail.
Also in the cast are Wynonna Earp‘s Tim Rozon, Priscilla Faia (You Me Her), Gage Marsh (It Lives Inside), Garrett Black (Riverdale), Christian Sloan (Star Trek Beyond), Troy Mundle (Prey), and Spencer Borgeson (EXMas).
The film is directed by Terry Miles (Dawn Rider) and co-written by Leon Langford and Collin Watts (Hot Seat).
SYNOPSIS: After Wild Bill (Amell) is killed in a poker game, Calamity Jane (Rickards) must break out of prison and seek revenge before the Deadwood’s Sheriff (Rozon) can arrest them.
Calamity Jane arrives in theaters and digital from Tubi Films on February 2nd.
It’s easy to see why Alessandra Lacorazza’s intimate, profound debut feature, In the Summers, was a festival favorite at Sundance this year, winning the Grand Jury Prize for drama. This lovely little family film packs a lot of authentic emotion into its tiny frame, and features a wealth of strong performances by actors of multiple generations. The simple truths it reveals will hit hard for those who have experienced similarly complicated relationships with estranged families who are both loved and resented.
When we first meet Vincente (rapper Residente aka René Pérez), he’s nervously shifting around in his car. He looks like someone in need of a fix or a stiff drink. And maybe he does, but in this case, he’s anxious at the arrival of his young daughters, Violeta and Eva (Dreya Castillo and Luciana Elisa Quinonez respectively), dropped off by their mother to hang with their father for the hot Las Cruces summer. In their formative years, both girls race to hug their dad upon seeing him. We see Vincente’s house, inherited from his late mother and frequently littered with beer cans. He fills their days with fun; letting them swim in the backyard pool, taking them out for pizza, and teaching them to shoot billiards at his favorite local bar.
Vincente seems like a cool dad, but it’s in the little details that we know something is off. He orders a full pitcher of beer at the bar, much to the chagrin of his friend and bartender, Carmen (Emma Ramos), who becomes a sort of surrogate mom to the girls. He also likes to drive erratically and gets easily frustrated when things don’t go perfectly. When Violeta cuts her hair tomboy short, an early sign of her burgeoning queerness, Vincente flies into a rage.
In the Summers is about family legacy and the lessons passed down over the years. So while Vincente teaches his girls to shoot pool, they’re also picking up things from him that he might not have intended. The next time we see Violeta and Eva (now played by Kimaya Thais and Allison Salinas), they have grown up enough to know that dad is far from perfect. Violeta is becoming more independent as she explores her sexuality, something Vincente doesn’t seem to care about; while Eva still yearns for her father’s love and affection, but finds his alcoholism to be a detriment, not to mention his attention on another family he is building with a new woman (Leslie Grace). But Eva is also her father’s daughter, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Lacorazza breaks down In the Summers into four distinct chapters, four summers in the trio’s lives. It’s unclear how much time has passed between them, but each segment builds upon the last. So by the time we get to the fourth, when the girls are young adults (played by Mutt breakout Lio Mehiel and The Flash star Sasha Calle), they have become women with their eyes wide open about Vincente. With each visit, the pool gets a little more shallow, the water dirtier than the last, a visible metaphor for their fraying relationship.
Violeta and Eva always have one another, though. One can imagine the other months when they don’t have to deal with Vincente, and these summers become like a tortured obligation they must suffer through. As the girls get older, Vincente becomes increasingly uncomfortable around them, as if he can only relate to them on a childlike level. And we see that dynamic repeated later when a new addition to the family arrives to complicate matters. But this causes Violeta and Eva to grow closer, even as they couldn’t be more different.
Nothing about In the Summers is uncomplicated. Vincente is a bad father but not the stereotypical Hollywood version of one. He doesn’t hit them or physically abuse them; he doesn’t deny Violeta’s queerness, and he genuinely seems to try and be the best father he can be. But he’s also a macho guy who doesn’t know how to express his feelings; he parties and drinks too much, and can’t relate to his daughters as adult women. Vincente is a smart man; he knows science and math so well that he tutors on the side. But he struggles to put things into words with his daughters. Lacorazza has him switch languages, from English to Spanish, to show this frustration. He’s more comfortable speaking Spanish, even if his daughters aren’t. At times, you can see in his face this realization that he’s failed them but doesn’t know how to put it into words. You can see it in their faces that they know what he wants to say.
But Lacorazza doesn’t make them say anything. They don’t need to make things easier for Vincente. When he screws up in a nearly-fatal fashion, one of the sisters simply doesn’t show up the following summer. It’s a consequence that shows their independence from Vincente, but also from one another. In the Summers, which features a revelatory performance by Residente and all of the actresses playing Violeta and Eva, is about embracing the pain of having a dysfunctional family and getting stronger from it. If Lacorazza occasionally goes too far in teasing the most ominous turns, and the dialogue is a bit cliche, the subtle insights more than outweigh them. Being a parent is tough, but being the child of a parent who isn’t equipped for the job is tougher. In the Summers isn’t concerned with assigning blame, but it does suggest that living a rich, full life with those you can count on is the best response.
That’s right, there’s another Despicable Me movie on the way, and while every part of me knows I should say something catty about that fact, I just can’t, these movies are so much fun. Sure, I know the minions are annoying to a lot of people but let’s be honest, it’s not the minions you hate, is their misuse in unfunny memes posted by middle-aged housewives everywhere.
Despicable Me 4 catches up with Gru & Co a short while (well, at least 9 months) after the last film and their little group has now grown by one. That’s right, Gru Jr. is here! When Gru and his family are rushed to a safe house after being warned their lives are in danger from a face from the past out for revenge Gru decides it’s time for that most classic of family moments, the first heist.
Honestly, there’s just something about Steve Carrell’s voice in this that just makes me smile. It seems this fourth film is keeping all of the things that made the last three (4 if you count the spin-off) so much fun. I have no doubt that this one will fully continue the tradition and rake in ALL the money while it’s doing it.
Look for Despicable Me 4, only in theaters July 2nd, 2024
Official Synopsis:
The world’s favorite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mayhem. A new chapter has begun as Gru, Lucy, and their girls —Margo, Edith, and Agnes welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. As Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina, the family is forced to go on the run.
Almost seven years ago, Wonder took the children’s film and book world by storm. Focusing on a kid with facial differences and starring Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts, and Jacob Tremblay, the Stephen Chbosky-directed piece was lauded for its depictions of disability. There was backlash for casting a child without the character’s condition in the main role, but for the most part, it became a staple in children’s disability representation.
Casting is not an issue for Out of My Mind, the latest film from director Amber Sealey which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and will be released on Disney Plus later this year. Centering on a six-grader with cerebral palsy named Melody, the film is a first for newcomer Phoebe-Rae Taylor who has the same condition as her character.
When we first meet Melody we find her communicating at a minimum with her family and peers using a rudimentary picture and word chart. Though voiceover provided by Jennifer Aniston, she is clearly capable of more, something her dad (Luke Kirby) senses. Her mother Rosemarie DeWitt is an advocate and tough-cookie used to fighting for her child but holding realistic expectations of her abilities.
After a PhD student (Courtney Taylor), realizes her potential during an IEP meeting to discuss Melody’s future in her special education class, she is placed in a sixth-grade history class with other students her age. Through that opportunity, her desires for typical things such as cute clothes and a first kiss start to become undeniable.
With an unsupportive teacher (Michael Chernus), a passionate neighbor (Judith Light), and the help of her family, she starts to express herself through a Medi-talk communication device and reveals how bright she is.
One thing worth noting here is that writer Daniel Stiepleman (based on Sharon M Draper’s young adult novel of the same name), keeps the 2002 setting of the book, where the standard of care for those with cerebral palsy was much different than it is now. Melody is placed in a special education classroom, learning the same thing year after year. Anyone with any familiarity with special education knows that many things have changed in two decades including a push for inclusion among special education students. This depiction feels antiquated now, especially given its target audience being upper elementary and middle school students. Maybe keeping a modern setting would help with its disability representation.
Luke Kirby is a standout here. Adding a sweet parental humor, you buy him as a devoted but stressed-out father. Stiepleman’s script glosses over the parental difficulties but that doesn’t stop Kirby from giving a moving performance. Worth noting too is the chemistry between DeWitt and Kirby. Similarly to how CODA showed two parents who clearly still yearned for each other, Out of My Mind subtly shows the same.
Jennifer Aniston provides Melody’s inner voice. Unlike most movies that use the narrative device, Out of My Mind’s voiceover is meant to actually service the story. In some scenes, Aniston’s presence is distracting and doesn’t feel like it fits. Storywise, Melody picks her voice because of her love of Friends. But because we don’t constantly get Melody’s voice in every scene, the voiceover sometimes feels like an afterthought.
While not a perfect depiction of disability representation, Out of My Mind is accessible for children and a good start to show how those who are differently abled have the same wants and fears as everyone else. Phoebe-Rae Taylor gives a knockout and endearing performance you can’t look away from. In terms of representation, you can’t get better than that.
Just about everything that can be done with the zombie genre has been done. Comedy, rom-com, action movies, drama, and even arthouse cinema have put a spotlight on the returned dead. We’ve even shows such as The Walking Dead place emphasis on the living, and how they cope with a world overrun by zombie hordes. But Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead, while hardly breaking the mold, does something slightly different. The dead walk again, yes, and the emphasis is on the living, but it’s on their emotional state, their grief, and the lengths they’ll go to believe their loved ones are truly back.
John Ajvide Lindqvist’s book serves as the basis for Handling the Undead, which tells three stories of families rocked by the living dead. On a relatively normal summer day in Oslo, a series of strange power surges rocks the city. Shortly after that, the recently dead begin to rise again. While this is briefly confirmed to be a global phenomenon, the film centers on only a handful of specific cases, each unfolding in somber, melancholic tones.
The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve plays a single mother, suicidal after the death of her child. She is saved from another attempt to take her own life by her father (Bjørn Sundquist) who reveals that her dead child is alive…or something like it, after being dug up from his grave. When a mother (Bahar Pars) dies in a terrible car accident, her husband (Reinsve’s Worst Person in the World co-star Anders Danielsen Lie) arrives at the hospital only to find that she is still living. After attending the funeral of her longtime partner, an older woman (Bente Børsum) is stunned to find her back in their home later that night.
A minimum of dialogue is used to convey the mixture of grief and gratitude these people are feeling. But their loved ones aren’t acting like themselves. They are essentially rotting corpses that can walk, but little else. They don’t speak, or act for themselves. And we watch as each person handles the returns differently. All are stunned with disbelief, but some handle the reality better than others. Grief will do that, though. Some selfishly cling to the returned and refuse to consider the larger implications. Others struggle to come to grips with this silent, decrepit version of the person they once knew and loved. In one horrific scene, a disgusting act of animal cruelty by one of the undead is made worse by the poor creature’s squeals, but also by the inaction of those watching who can’t fathom that the person they love could commit such an act. Those with a sensitivity to such things might want to steer clear. I certainly felt the urge to.
Co-written by Hvistendahl and Lindqvist, the film takes on the gloomy, muted tone of the latter’s other, more famous novel and its many adaptations, Let the Right One In. While Reinsve makes a strong impression as a mother forced to grieve for her dead child a second time, the other stories lack a strong central focus. The slow pacing makes the 90-minute runtime feel longer, but the final act, which shifts gears into more traditional horror territory, is more than worth it. As the lethal consequences of denial are felt, the film never loses its reserved aura. Such sorrow has a grip that lasts beyond death.
Neon will release Handling the Undead later this year.
It didn’t take long for A24 to establish a reputation for working with filmmakers with unique cinematic vision. They might’ve found the next great directorial voice in Daina O. Pusić, whose new film Tuesday is a fairy tale about love and death that looks like nothing else out there.
Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew, the film centers on a mother and her ailing teenage daughter, forced to confront the reality of death when a mysterious talking parrot arrives.
Pusic made her directorial debut on the film and also wrote the script. Tuesday premiered at Telluride last year, and at BFI London Film Festival.
Petticrew is an Irish actress and still a relative unknown here in the States. She recently had a role in the critically acclaimed film She Said, and is a regular on the BBC series Bloodlands.
Also in the cast are Leah Harvey, Arinzé Kene, Ellie James, Taru Devani, Jay Simpson, David Sibley, and Nathan Amzi.
Here’s the synopsis: A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird. From debut filmmaker Daina O. Pusić, Tuesday is a heart-rending fairy tale about the echoes of loss and finding resilience in the unexpected.
A24 will release Tuesday in theaters later this year.
