Lewis Pullman, son of actor Bill Pullman, is definitely a star on the rise after roles in Top Gun: Maverick, The Starling Girl (for which we interviewed him), and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. But if a new story by Deadline is true about Pullman joining the MCU, he’s about to get a lot busier and a lot more famous.
Pullman is reportedly Marvel’s top choice to replace Steven Yeun in Thunderbolts and has entered early discussions. If everything pans out, Pullman would be taking on the role of the supremely-powerful Sentry. Earlier this year, Yeun was forced out of the role due to scheduling conflicts, and Marvel is wasting no time in finding someone to take over.
If Lewis Pullman joins, he’ll be part of an ensemble that includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes aka Winter Solder, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker aka USAgent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova aka Black Widow, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Harrison Ford as General Thunderbolt Ross, and Ayo Edibiri in an undisclosed role.
Jake Schreier is set to direct Thunderbolts from an Eric Pearson script. The film is expected to arrive in July 2025.
Matthew McConaughey hasn’t starred in a feature film in four years, not since Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. Paul Greengrass hasn’t directed anything in four years, as well, not since News of the World. Remember that one? As for Jamie Lee Curtis? Well, she’s been busy winning Oscars and slaying Michael Myers, so busier than the both of them. But all three are coming together now for a new movie, wildfire drama The Lost Bus.
Deadline reports Greengrass will direct McConaughey and Curtis in The Lost Bus. This is a project that Curtis has been developing since 2022, as she’s been wanting to adapt Lizzie Johnson‘s book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle To Survive An American Wildfire. Brad Inglesby (Out of the Furnace) will pen the screenplay, with Curtis aboard as a producer alongside Jason Blum of Blumhouse.
For Greengrass, this would be his next project.
The Lost Bus centers on the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California that killed 85 people. Amid the blaze, a local schoolteacher sought to find an escape route and save a busload of children.
Apple is in talks to acquire the film, and assuming all goes well, production could begin later this year for a 2025 release.
Of all of the plot devices reused in cinema over the last 50 years, the underdog youth sports team has to be in the top 10. Starting with the iconic Bad News Bears we seem to have a run of these every decade with a few that hit all of the right notes. The 70s kicked it off with the aforementioned Bad News Bears which set the foundation by which all of these films are made, the 80s brought a more serious twist with The Karate Kid, the 90s made things more silly again with The Mighty Ducks, fast forward 30 years and we have what should end up being the reference point for the 2020’s, The Underdoggs starring Snoop Dogg, Mike Epps, and Tika Sumpter.
Snoop plays Jaycen “JJ” Jennings, a former star football player whose best sporting days are far behind. After a reckless driving arrest (this is very The Mighty Ducks), JJ is ordered to atone by completing community service in his old stomping grounds. JJ finds the inspiration for the service he’ll perform when he runs into his ex, Cherise (played by the gorgeous Tika Sumpter). When he learns that Cherise’s sons football team is about as hopeless as they come he formulates a plan to pay his debt to society, rehab his image in the public eye, and win back his former love.
Look, these films are not original. It’s not just The Underdoggs, of all formula based films none so consistently hit the key points as the youth sports underdog film. Those points? 1. Former player (or single adult male) who makes some mistake, usually out of selfish ness. 2. A youth sports team that isn’t just average but so far below that you wonder if they even know what sport they’re playing, 3. A key player on the team, usually the one with undiscovered talent, will have a single mother with whom the coach will fall in love. This is known and accepted, and I want to stress again as I have before that being “formulaic” isn’t a bad thing as we’ve been lead to believe. The devil is in the details, you can follow those exact points listed above and as long as the details are solid and the emotion is real you’re going to have a winner on your hands. I’d be lying if I told you I had high hopes for The Underdoggs going into it, I was prepared for a stinker and, you know what? I was pleasantly surprised.
I think one of the reasons this film works so well is that it draws from something Snoop is very passionate about in his real life, coaching youth football. Back in 2005 the D O Double G created the SYFL, or Snoop Youth Football League, as a way to help mold young lives and make sure kids had something constructive to do with their time. Snoop will never be accused of being an excellent actor, but his familiarity with the setting and his care for the topic combine to make this his best performance to date. Granted, his best performance prior to this was 2004’s Soul Plane (which, haters be damned, I had fun with). Easily the best “actor” of the group is Tika Sumpter, and while she’s relegated to a standard side role, does everything she can with what she has. Of course, my favorite performance comes from Mike Epps who I would literally watch iron his pants because there’s no doubt he’d make it hilarious. Epps is right at home in his standard comedic sidekick role and though he hasn’t done much on the big screen as of late, doesn’t seem to have lost a step since his heyday in the early aughts.
The Underdoggs doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but what it delivers it delivers well. Funny from end to end and able to pull the emotional strings in a highly effective way I would be surprised if people walked out of this film feeling cheated. This being the type of film that I would usually recommend for a family theater outing, there is one glaring problem that deserves mentioning, the movie’s R rating. A lot of folk’s are likely to be surprised by just how vulgar the language is, the bulk of vulgarity being delivered by the films younger cast. Make sure that your household doesn’t take a hard stance against dropping an F bomb or two before buying tickets for a Sunday matinee. To get a feel for what I mean, check out the unrated red band trailer below.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close, and it means it’s time to hand out some Audience and Jury Awards! The interesting thing about this year is that the online component of the festival is still going on, and I think there’s about to be a mad rush on a few films that just got a major boost from awards victories.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic and the Directing Award was Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, starring The Flash actress Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel, and Leslie Grace. Sean Wang’s Didi won Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic category and a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble.
The newly-minted Festival Favorite Award went to Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s film, Daughters, which also took U.S. Documentary Audience Award.
Of the films we saw, Jesse Eisenberg won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for his film, A Real Pain, while the upcoming Hulu film Suncoast earned star Nico Parker a Special Grand Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance.
The full list of Sundance Film Festival Award winners is below! You can find the entirety of our festival coverage here.
This has come out of left field! Christopher Nolan is reteaming with Warner Bros. for a theatrical re-release of Tenet. Beginning on February 23rd, it’ll play in IMAX and 70mm theaters as part of the build-up to Dune: Part Two on March 1st, with exclusive footage from Denis Villeneuve’s sequel attached.
Surprising news, indeed! Nolan famously parted ways with Warner Bros, his longtime studio home, in the aftermath of Tenet‘s release in 2020. Initially, WB had planned to open the film in July, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was repeatedly delayed and nearly opened in streaming, something Nolan fought hard against. Ultimately, it was released into theaters on September 3rd and earned just $365M against a $200M+ budget. The film was a bust, but due to the lack of releases that year it still ended up the fifth highest-grossing of 2020.
Following Tenet‘s struggles, Warner Bros. announced that it would simultaneously release all of its remaining 2020 and 2021 into theaters and streaming. Nolan pushed back on this hard, and decided to leave the studio for Universal where he would work on Oppenheimer, which just earned 13 Oscar nominations.
The beef between Nolan and WB has cooled, though, and now they are working together on this Tenet re-release.
“Seeing the way audiences responded to our large format presentations of “Oppenheimer,” I’m thrilled that Warner Bros. is giving audiences a chance to see “Tenet” the way it was intended to be seen, on the largest IMAX and large format film screens, and I’m honored to have our movie warm up the film projectors for Denis’ jaw-dropping “Dune: Part Two,”” said Nolan.
Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth Debicki in the story of a CIA agent who uncovers a vast shadowy conspiracy as objects from the future begin arriving into the present.
I was one of the few who ventured out to theaters to screen Tenet in the midst of the pandemic. It was not a worthwhile trip, as the film was bloated, poorly mixed, and sorta dull. But at least I got to chat with Nolan and Washington, so it wasn’t all for nothing. I’m admittedly very curious to see it again now, as I might be in a better frame of mind and not in a total panic.
We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free early screening of Argylle, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Sofia Boutella, with Ariana DeBose and Catherine O’Hara and Samuel L. Jackson.
SYNOPSIS: Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World franchise) is Elly Conway, the reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels, whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books—which center on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate—begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past.
The screening takes place on Tuesday, January 30th at 7:00pm at Regal Majestic. If you’d like to attend, RSVP at the Gofobo link here. Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you’ll need to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!
It feels like hardcore revenge cinema is making a comeback, but I doubt anyone would’ve pegged Dev Patel as someone to be behind it. His directorial debut, Monkey Man, looks like a brutal action flick with stylish flourishes that draw comparisons to John Wick and James Bond. That’s a tough combo to pull off, but you know who believes Patel has done it? Jordan Peele, whose Monkey Paw production banner has boarded the film, announced in today’s brand new trailer.
Directed by Patel, who also co-wrote the script, produced the film, and starred in it, Monkey Man follows Kid, an ex-felon in India as he seeks vengeance against the sinister elite who attacked his family and continues to erode society’s values.
A striking image finds Kid battling in an underground fight club while wearing a gorilla mask. Badass. I can’t wait for this!
The film also stars Sharlto Copley of District 9 fame, plus Indian actors Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Makarand Deshpande, and Ashwini Kalsekar.
Here’s the synopsis: Dev Patel achieves an astonishing, tour-de-force feature directing debut with an action thriller about one man’s quest for vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor and powerless. Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him. Packed with thrilling and spectacular fight and chase scenes.
I don’t think that it’s unfair to say Russell Crowe’s career has been hit or miss over the last decade. One thing can be certain though, he is never the issue. The movies themselves maybe average but Crowe seems to always bring the same gruff fortitude to every role he takes. Couple that with my love of noir and you’ll begin to understand why his upcoming film Sleeping Dogs is quickly moving up my most anticipated list.
Crowe stars as a retired homicide detective with a growing memory loss issue. As a way to keep his mind active he begins to look into an old case that never sat right with him. As the title would imply, sometimes its best to let sleeping dogs lie and Crowe’s character becomes embroiled in much more then he bargained for.
Personally I have always been more of a mid-budget thriller/drama Crowe fan then a Blockbuster Crowe fan (Gladiator being the obvious exception). The trailer below paints a picture of a film rife with twists and turns and a theme reminiscent of something like Se7en. While I immediately thought “oh, it’s a Memento rip-off”, and to be fair if the twist is the same at the end I will be disappointed, I think Sleeping Dogs is going to be a worthwhile time at the theater.
Look for Sleeping Dogs when it hits theaters March 22nd, 2024
Official Synopsis:
An ex-homicide detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder he can’t recall. But as evidence uncovers secrets tied to his forgotten past, he is led to a chilling truth – sometimes, it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.
So after going solo and directing the acclaimed Best Picture winner, Green Book, Peter Farrelly seems to be slowly reverting back to goofy comedy form. Following the underwhelming Greatest Beer Run Ever, Farrelly reunites with star Zac Efron for Ricky Stanicky, a wild story about friendship, imagination, and when a lie grows beyond your control.
Efron stars alongside John Cena, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, Lex Scott Davis, and William H. Macy in the story of three childhood friends who invent the imaginary character, Ricky Stanicky, to blame for all of their misdeeds over the years. John Cena looks to be having way too much fun in the role of “Rock Hard” Rod, an actor hired to play Stanicky when the friends’ partners start to become suspicious.
Farrelly directs from a script he helped co-write with Jeff Bushnell and others. Bushnell has been attached to the project for quite a while. It first began life in 2010 with James Franco attached, followed a few years later by Joaquin Phoenix who eyed it for a while, followed by Jim Carrey.
After Farrelly, Efron, and Cena came on board, Amazon swooped in to acquire the rights. Ricky Stanicky will hit Prime Video exclusively on March 7th, and is Rated-R. They really want you to know that.
Here’s the synopsis: When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to bring him to life. But when Rod takes his role of a lifetime too far, they begin to wish they’d never invented Ricky in the first place.
Ian McShane never misses his target. The 81-year-old actor has been plying his trade for decades, but he has arguably never been better than as Wilson, the enigmatic hitman at the heart of American Star, McShane’s reunion with Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego. The two previously worked together eight years earlier on The Hollow Point, a new take on the Western genre. For American Star, they offer a fresh spin on the “one last job” hitman film, with McShane once again the coolest killer in the room.
McShane’s Wilson arrives on the island of Fuerteventura, off the coast of Africa, to complete one final assignment. But when the mark isn’t home, Wilson decides to kick his feet up at a nearby resort, where he makes friends with a number of locals, including the beautiful, free-spirited Gloria (Nora Arnezeder), who shows him around the island. As Wilson lets his guard down, those who employed him start to get nervous, and they send someone to keep an eye on him to make sure the job gets done. Meanwhile, Wilson is left to contemplate the life choices he has made, and what a future for someone like him could be.
This was a true labor of love for McShane and López-Gallego, who worked together closely to bring American Star to life and tell this story in the emotionally impactful way they did.
I was fortunate to spend a few minutes speaking with Ian McShane about American Star. We discussed how the project came together, his close working relationship with López-Gallego, his idea of the hitman movie genre, and of course, how he manages to always be so damn cool.
American Star is available now in theaters and VOD. You can check out my review here and the interview below.
