‘The Bride’: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein Film Casts Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, & More

By

-

January 13, 2024

Gyllenhaal's THE BRIDE cast includes Buckley, Bale, Cruz, Bening, and Sarsgaard

I hope the Mary Shelley estate is getting some cash from all of these Frankenstein reimaginings. Between The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, Lisa Frankenstein, and Poor Things, there’s a wealth of Frankenstein-related projects, many of themabout and from women. Guillermo Del Toro’s Netflix movie is obviously a bit different. And Maggie Gyllenhaal is getting into the mix with The Bride, and man, the cast she’s put together is loaded!

Deadline reports that Gyllenhaal’s film will star Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Benning, Penelope Cruz, and her husband, Peter Sarsgaard. Damn! World of Reel notes a rumor that John Mulaney could be involved, too. The film is rumored to be a remake of the 1936 classic The Bride of Frankenstein, and the logline goes a long way to confirming that…

A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.

Gyllenhaal came roaring out of the gates as a director in 2021 with The Lost Daughter, which also starred Buckley and Sarsgaard. That film went on to earn three Oscar nominations, including for Gyllenhaal’s screenplay.

The plan is for Gyllenaal to shoot The Bride very soon, so look for this one to be a major player when it’s ready to drop.

‘Cold Copy’ Trailer: Bel Powley, Tracee Ellis Ross, & Jacob Tremblay Star In Drama About Journalistic Integrity And Ambition

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 12, 2024

Stories about journalists with questionable ethics and integrity used to be plentiful around Hollywood; some of them are stone-cold classics, too. But you don’t see them much anymore, which is odd considering the lack of faith in our media right now. The new film Cold Copy looks to change that with its story about a journalist who will do anything to get the scoop.

Directed and written by first-time filmmaker Roxine Helberg, Cold Copy stars the underrated Bel Powley as an ambitious journalism student who is eager to impress her mentor played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and to do it she takes advantage of the son of a writer who died under mysterious circumstances.

Also in the cast are Jacob Tremblay, Nesta Cooper, and James Tupper. The film debuted at Tribeca last year to mixed reviews.

Here is the official synopsis: An ambitious journalism student falls under the thrall of an esteemed yet cutthroat news reporter whom she’s desperate to impress, even if it means manipulating her latest story… and the very idea of truth itself.

Powley is currently a regular on The Morning Show, but has been great in everything since her breakout film The Diary of a Teenage Girl. She’ll also be seen in the anticipated Apple series, Masters of the Air. Ross can be seen right now in American Fiction, while Tremblay will always be the kid from Room no matter how old he gets.

Cold Copy opens in theaters on January 26th.

Review: ‘Destroy All Neighbors’
A Gory Throwback to a More Fun, Less Serious Time in Horror

By
John Nolan
-

We’ve all had bad neighbors, right? You know, stealing your paper, being way too loud, coming back to life after you kill them… Ok, so maybe that last part is unique to Shudder’s new horror film Destroy All Neighbors.

Director Josh Forbes tells the story of a struggling musician, William Brown (Jonah Ray) whose only goal in life is to finish his prog, prog-rock (prog squared according to him) album. Things go from bad to worse to nightmarish when William gets a new neighbor, a Muppet of a man named Vlad (the most excellent Alex Winter) who checks just about every single box on the bad neighbor checklist. Fed up with life, but mostly with Vlad, William goes to confront Vlad and accidentally kills him. Except he doesn’t, Vlad, now undead, continues to wreak havoc in Williams life leading him on a hellfest fever dream of a journey.

Just, off the top, let me say WOW, what fun! They really just don’t make them like this anymore. The film’s ultra-liberal use of practical effects, from blood packs to full on puppetry transports you to another time. Honestly, it’s the weirdest thing, an easy argument could be made that CGI just looks more realistic but somehow our brains can separate what was on set and what wasn’t. So while a CGI talking charred skeleton would look 100% accurate, a puppet version like what we get in Destroy All Neighbors feels more right. I guess that’s the difference, it’s what’s real vs what’s right. I seriously applaud Josh Forbes for diving in head first and fully committing to what ends up a faithful homage to splatter-core films of the 80s. Early Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi would be proud.

I suppose I should mention that there were live people involved in the making of this film. More then 2 of them even! Names like Thomas Lennon, Jon Daly, and Kumail Nanjiani pop up in cameos throughout but this film belongs to Alex Winter and Jonah Ray. Jonah’s William Brown is such a fed-up loser you can literally start to feel angry by proxy. The beauty of it is that he doesn’t approach it in the obvious, “I’m so mad I can’t take it anymore” route but rather the far more reserved “I’ve already given up” route, which makes everything happening in the second and third acts all the more insane. Then there’s our antagonist, Vlad, played wonderfully by Alex Winter (Winter Also plays a second, uncredited role). Padded in enough makeup and prosthetic that you wouldn’t know it was him unless I told you, Winter turns it to 11 in the role making Vlad this ultimate chaotic force. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “You can tell they were having fun making this”, you are looking at a prime example.

And when you’re done watching the movie on Shudder, make sure to check out our interview with director Josh Forbes, as well as stars Jonah Ray and Alex Winter!

‘Veni Vidi Vici’ Trailer: Billionaire Family Hunts Human Prey In Satire Premiering At Sundance

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 12, 2024

It’s been suggested to me that Veni Vidi Vici, a social satire with a dark central premise, is something I want to make time for at Sundance. And now I’m starting to see why thanks to the newly-released trailer for Julia Niemann and Daniel Hoesl’s film, which looks like The Hunt meets Succession.

Directed by Niemann and Hoesel with a script by Hoesel, Veni Vidi Vici centers on the billionaire Maynard family, who live their lives completely free from consequences. They are able to do whatever they want thanks to their wealth, including patriarch Amon who is an avid hunter…but doesn’t hunt animals. When the family secret gets out to the community, will there be actual repercussions?

The film stars Laurence Rupp, Ursina Lardi, Dominik Warta, Johanna Orsini, Markus Schleinzer, and Olivia Goschler.

In a statement, Hoesl talks about the inspiration for the film and the very real feelings behind it…

“The situation is serious,” Hoesl said. “To create a parable, you have to exaggerate, paradoxically enough. I remember Donald Trump saying he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and it wouldn’t stop people voting for him.”

And now I know why people think I would like this. It deals with awful, rich, entitled people running wild with no consequences, and may or may not get what’s coming to them. One year ago at Sundance this is a core theme of Infinity Pool, one of my favorite films ever at the festival.

Hopefully, Veni Vidi Vici will get distribution following its Sundance premiere later this month.

David Gordon Green Exits ‘Exorcist: Believer’ Sequel As Universal Pulls Its Release Date

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 12, 2024

Well, given the lack of success of The Exorcist: Believer, and the quick-to-follow reports that David Gordon Green might not direct any future sequels, this news should surprise nobody. Universal and Blumhouse are in need for a new director as Green has officially exited the franchise, a rebooted legacy sequel to the classic 1973 horror.

Titled The Exorcist: Deceiver, the film had already been set for an April 18th 2025 release, but it has been yanked off the schedule. Instead, Universal has placed Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic on that date. It seems like a major retooling effort is needed before Exorcist is given a new date.

Exorcist: Believer was a huge flop at the box office, earning just $136M worldwide. That number is especially painful because Universal dropped a hefty $400M to acquire the rights and launch a trilogy, but the plan is off to a rough start and who knows if Exorcist: Deceiver even happens.

While it was previously suggested Green could turn his focus to a Garbage Pail Kids movie, THR says his attention will actually go to season four of The Righteous Gemstones, as well as Nutcrackers, a comedy he’s doing with Ben Stiller.

It’s possible Blumhouse quickly recovers from this and Exorcist moves forward without much delay. If anyone can pull it off, it’s them.

‘Fountain Of Youth’: John Krasinkski And Natalie Portman To Star In Guy Ritchie’s Adventure Film

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 12, 2024

Are people still asking for Guy Ritchie to do another Sherlock Holmes movie? Because I think it’s time to give that up now. Ritchie has been doing anything and everything except that, working faster than ever in his career. Since 2019 he has been on a roll with Aladdin, The Gentleman, a pair of Jason Statham films in Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, along with his critically-acclaimed The Covenant, while this year he has The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and another action movie with Jake Gyllenhaal on the way. And now you can add another, Fountain of Youth, with one heck of a cast lined up.

Set to star in adventure movie Fountain of Youth are John Krasinski and Oscar winner Natalie Portman. The film centers on estranged siblings who set on a global heist to find the legendary Fountain of Youth, using their knowledge of history to decipher the clues and possibly lead them to immortality.

The film has a script by James Vanderbilt, whose diverse screenwriting career includes the recent Scream films, The Amazing Spider-Man, Truth, and David Fincher’s Zodiac. Dude can write anything, most of it pretty well.

This is a big money package being put together, which is why Apple and Skydance Media have come together to make it happen. Production begins in the first quarter of 2024, and at the rate Ritchie is currently working we could see it by the end of the year or early next. [Deadline]

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Sequel In The Works, Tom Cruise Joined By Returning Miles Teller And Glen Powell

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 12, 2024

There’s a lot of news surrounding Tom Cruise right now, and they’re all connected in some way. Earlier this week, Tom Cruise signed a non-exclusive deal to join the Warner Bros. Discovery family and develop theatrical projects he could star in. That strikes against his longtime home with Paramount, which distributes the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun movies, the highest-grossing in Cruise’s storied career. Amidst reports that Cruise made this deal due to strife with Paramount, we’re now learning from Puck that a sequel to Top Gun: Maverick is in the works…and it will be at Paramount, NOT at Warner Bros.

So, we’ve got Top Gun 3 happening now, with Cruise obviously returning as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. He’ll be joined by a returning Miles Teller as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, and Glen Powell as Jake “Hangman” Seresin. The film will either be directed or produced by Joseph Kosinski.

It took almost forty years for a sequel to Top Gun, but after Maverick made $1.49B at the box office in 2022, the most ever for Cruise, there was no chance of waiting too long for another. The film also won an Oscar for Best Sound, along with six total Oscar nominations.

Review: ‘Lift’
Kevin Hart Gets Serious-ish In Netflix's High-Flying Heist Comedy

By
Travis Hopson
-

Kevin Hart isn’t an action star, but he keeps creeping his way towards becoming one. Typically, he does it through comedy in such films as Ride Along, The Man from Toronto, his parody series Die Hart, and cameo in Hobbs & Shaw. But Hart comes closest to reaching the destination in Lift, another of those bloated, big budget, entertaining star-driven spectacles that Netflix loves so much and that audiences will quickly forget, like Red Notice and The Gray Man before it.

If Now You See Me wasn’t itself a heist movie, then I’d say Lift was the Now You See Me of heist movies. Utterly consumed by its star power and the gimmick-driven plot, the film stars Hart as Cyrus, leader of a ragtag group of elite thieves, each with their own special skill. The cast is full of actors firmly settled under the Netflix umbrella. There’s Vincent D’Onofrio as Denton, a master of disguises with multiple personalities to match; Billy Magnussen as Magnus, the team’s wild card safecracker; Ursula Corbero as Camila, the team’s resident wheelwoman/pilot; and a handful of others willing to take big risks for the big score.

We meet the crew as they’re pulling off a Venice auction house theft of an NFT; and no it’s not one of those special Donald Trump brand NFTs. This is from N8 (Jacob Batalon), a mysterious Banksy-esque digital artist whose work sells in the millions. It doesn’t totally go off without a hitch. They’re spotted by dogged Interpol agent Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who shares a brief romantic past with Cyrus. A wild boat chase ensues, but the team is dead to rights. They’re afforded one chance at freedom, and it’s to pull off a near-impossible job. Steal $500M in gold from a terrorist (Jean Reno) who is having it transported in a vault at 40,000 feet aboard an airplane.

The plot is ridiculous, and to screenwriter Daniel Kunka’s credit, the solution is just as absurd. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Lift is the most enjoyable of Netflix’s globe-hopping genre films. They all sport a familiar pattern; lots of exotic locales, and visually appealing international stars who are hard to look away from. When the gang gets together, they bounce jokes off of each other rapid fire, displaying their single character trait easily. You won’t find much to separate Lift from a raft of other “cool” heist movies, but you’ll have a good time with it nonetheless.

It’s been five years since F. Gary Gray directed The Fate of the Furious, twenty years since his remake of The Italian Job, and twenty-seven years since his debut, Set It Off. You could say that Lift is almost an amalgam of all three. Gray isn’t the most exciting filmmaker around, but he’s better at capturing the chase than he’s given credit for, and moves the action at a breezy pace while affording his stars the spotlight they deserve. As such, Hart stands head and shoulders above, even in a packed ensemble such as this. Dropping fewer punchlines than I think he ever has before, Hart is the steady center of Lift‘s ridiculous high-flying robbery plot, and helps it to stick the landing.

Lift is streaming on Netflix now.

Isabela Merced To Play Dina In HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2

By

Travis Hopson

-

January 11, 2024

Isabela Merced to play Dina in THE LAST OF US season 2

Another day, more casting for season two of The Last of Us. It’s clear that things are ramping up quickly now, and the latest to join the growing cast is Isabela Merced, taking on the role of Dina.

Merced has been one of the best young actresses rising up through the Hollywood ranks, thanks to her roles in Sicario 2, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, and Father of the Bride. She’ll play the Marvel hero Araña in the upcoming Madame Web movie with Dakota Johnson.

So who is Dina? In The Last of Us Part II video game, she is the ex-girlfriend of Jesse, recently cast with Beef actor Young Mazino, and the eventual love interest of Ellie, played once again by Bella Ramsey. In the game, Dina is another, along with Jesse, who joins Ellie on a very personal mission. Also recently cast was Kaitlyn Dever in the critical role of Abby. Pedro Pascal is set to return as Joel.

The film is a reunion between Merced and Dever who starred together in the Romeo & Juliet reimagining, Rosaline.

“Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable,” said Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us‘ co-creators, writers, executive producers and directors. “You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away. We couldn’t be prouder to have her join our family.”

It looks as if The Last of Us season two will begin production soon, and we can probably expect to see it hit HBO in 2025. [Deadline]

Review: ‘Mean Girls’
The Iconic High School Comedy Gets A Toothless Musical Makeover

By
Cortland Jacoby
-

Almost twenty years ago, Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, and Paramount released the seminal high-school comedy Mean Girls. It brought us iconic lines like “You go Glen Coco,” “She doesn’t even go here,” and “On Wednesdays we wear Pink.” Ten years later after its initial release, Tina Fey, her husband composer Jeff Richmond, and lyricist Neil Benjamin announced that a Broadway musical version was in the works. After a successful run, the Plastics are returning to the silver screen, this time in song.

For those who don’t know or are die-hard fans of the film, the story of 2024 version follows very closely to the original film. High-school student, Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), moves from her home in Africa to a Chicago suburb when her mother (Jenna Fischer) gets a job at Northwestern. Unaccustomed to school life she struggles to fit into an American high school and falls back on two outcasts in her class, Janis ‘Imi’ike (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (Jaquel Spivey).

They introduce her to the Plastics, the clique top of the social hierarchy, consisting of queen bee Regina George (Renee Rapp), lackie and gossip Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood), and hot weirdo Karen Shetty (Avantika). After they offer Cady an open lunch invitation, Janis eventually convinces her to sabotage the group from within leading to disastrous physical and emotional consequences.

Your mileage may vary with this version of Mean Girls. Going in not knowing the original film (but how could you not?) or with some familiarity with the staged version is probably the safest bet. The orchestrations are stipped away slightly from the musical, so some fans may have issues with that. But for those whose only touchstone to this world is the beloved Lindsay Lohan version, this attempt may fall short.

Carrying the vocals and story along are Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey. Both give heartfelt performances. The latter’s version of Damian is on par with his predecessor, which is an issue with this film. I wanted more screen time for both of them. Renee Rapp’s voice carries this very beautiful but sinister tenor to it but there’s an aloofness about her Regina that doesn’t quite work here.

Tina Fey and Tim Meadows return to their roles as math teacher and principal respectively, and both still knock it out of the park for the little time they are onscreen. Comedian Connor Ratliff, Ashley Park (who played Gretchen on Broadway), and Jon Hamm pop up as critically underused teachers.

The musical version needs the bite and sharp wit of the original. The lyrics lack the insightfulness and depth that Lohan’s voice-over provided. In Janis’ triumphant song “I’d Rather Be Me,” she sings “I won’t twist in knots to join your game/ I will say, ‘You make me mad. And if you treat me bad/ I’ll say ‘You’re bad.’” Besides rhyming ‘bad’ with itself, it doesn’t have the same impact that the speech Lizzie Caplan delivers before diving off the table in the 2004 version. There’s no humor and gall to it. Its hollow.

Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.’s visuals are hit or miss. There’s a brilliant black-and-white French film nod during the Christmas talent show that made me laugh hard. However, how they handle the transitions into song feels jarring. The choreography feels very forced and sometimes tonally out of place. The updating of material from 2004 for a Gen Z audience doesn’t always hit. They rely heavily on the TikTok format, something I’m sure won’t age well in five years.

Musicals can be known for their earnestness which can hurt a film about the bitchiness and cruelty of growing up. I still don’t know if Mean Girls was the best source material to adapt into a musical and this cinematic version proves it.

Mean Girls hits theaters Friday. Watch the trailer below.