We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free early screening of Prime Video’s new film, A Million Miles Away, starring Michael Pena as real-life NASA astronaut José Hernández.
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, A Million Miles Away follows him and his devoted family of proud migrant farm worker on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station. With the unwavering support of his hard-working parents, relatives, and teachers, José’s unrelenting drive & determination culminates in the opportunity to achieve his seemingly impossible goal. Acclaimed writer and director Alejandra Márquez Abella has created a dazzling tribute to the loyalty and tenacity of the entire Hernández family, as well as anyone who dares to dream.
The screening takes place this Saturday, September 9th, at 11:00AM at AFI Silver Theater. If you’d like to attend, RSVP at the Amazon site here. Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you’ll need to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!
A Million Miles Away premieres September 15th on Prime Video.
Argentinian horror maestro Demián Rugna is a name genre fans might not be familiar with yet, but that is about to change. Making its Midnight Madness TIFF premiere in just a few days is Rugna’s latest, When Evil Lurks, which offers an interesting twist on the tired old exorcism formula.
Starring Ezequiel Rodríguez and Demián Salomón, the story centers on brothers who accidentally unleash an epidemic of demonic possessions when they improperly try to exorcise a demon infection from their land.
Pretty cool idea, right? Not only do IFC Films and Shudder think so, but so does AMC Studios who are eyeing an expansion of the When Evil Lurks universe into television. Rugna’s made such an impression that Guillermo Del Toro is aboard a remake of his award-winning 2018 hit, Terrified.
Here’s the synopsis: When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse — its very proximity poisoning the local livestock — they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now, they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.
When Evil Lurks hits theaters on October 6th, followed by Shudder streaming on October 27th.
A week following the world premiere of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders at Telluride, the film’s first trailer has dropped. Starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and Nichols favorite Michael Shannon, the film centers on 1960s motorcycle culture and a legendary Midwest biker club.
Here’s the official synopsis: Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, “The Bikeriders” immerses you in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy, a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny, recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny. Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, and Emory Cohen. Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace, Norman Reedus, and Happy Anderson complete the cast.
Nichols had his busiest year ever in 2016 when he delivered both Midnight Special and Loving, both receiving critical acclaim. He has been on a bit of break since then, although he was briefly attached to a spinoff of A Quiet Place, but dropped it to pursue other projects including this one.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s there was a deluge of movies about the crack cocaine epidemic. It was the time of the “War on Drugs” and Hollywood capitalized on the moment, to good and bad results. Today it’s the opioid crisis that is sweeping the country, and interestingly we’re getting a ton of projects that are focused on the corporate aspect of its explosion, and the people who have gotten rich at the expense of others.
Enter Netflix’s star-studded Pain Hustlers, which is set to have its world premiere at TIFF in just a matter of days. Chris Evans and Emily Blunt star as pharmaceutical reps who are at the forefront of the opioid epidemic.
Catherine O’Hara, Chloe Coleman, Jay Duplass, Brian d’Arcy James, Amit Shah, Aubrey Dollar, Willie Raysor, and Andy Garcia co-star. David Yates, best known for his lengthy run of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies, is behind the camera. Wells Tower adapts Evan Hughes book of the same name.
Here’s the synopsis: Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) is a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope. A chance meeting with pharmaceutical sales rep Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) puts her on an upward trajectory economically but dubious path ethically as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme. Dealing with her increasingly unhinged boss (Andy Garcia), the worsening medical condition of her daughter (Chloe Coleman), and a growing awareness of the devastation the company is causing forces Liza to examine her choices. Pain Hustlers is a sharp and revealing look at what some people do out of desperation, and others do out of greed.
Pain Hustlers hits select theaters on October 20th, followed by Netflix a week later.
It’s been a long time coming the wait for Taika Waititi’s soccer comedy Next Goal Wins. First announced in 2019 and completed shooting in 2020, the film saw huge delays when accusations against Armie Hammer led to his role being recast with Will Arnett. But now three years after we should’ve seen it, the film is finally arriving in theaters on November 17th.
Fox Searchlight confirmed the news today, dropping the first clip and a new poster. Michael Fassbender leads the cast as Thomas Rongen, a down-on-his-luck coach hired for the impossible task of turning around the woeful American Samoa squad in time for World Cup qualifiers.
The film is based on Rongen’s true story, captured in the 2014 documentary of the same name.
Also in the cast are Oscar Kightley, Elisabeth Moss, David Fane, Rachel House, Kaitlyn Dever, Kaimana, Uli Latukefu, Beulah Koale, Luke Hemsworth, and of course there’s a role for Waititi, too.
Next Goal Wins will have its world premiere at TIFF in just four days, so we won’t have to wait long to hear the early buzz.
Now this is more like it. After a mediocre blip on the radar last week, Ahsokareturns with another action intensive episode with lots of lightsaber duels, near-death encounters, and awesome displays of the Force. What was great about the first two episodes is that they felt like pieces of a much larger story, or a really long movie. This episode, titled “Fallen Jedi” recaptures that feeling, while also finally clarifying some things about the villains.
The episode begins with Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and the droid Huyang (David Tennant) attempting to fix their downed ship. Ahsoka is desperate to get communications back up so they get a message for help out to General Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) are in possession of the map that will lead them to the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and possibly the lost Ezra Bridger. Ahsoka suggests strongly to Sabine that if they can’t retrieve the map, they would be wise to destroy it so that nobody can use it. Sabine, who doesn’t want to risk losing Ezra forever, doesn’t think it’ll come to that. Ahsoka says it may already have.
A battle erupts when Huyang is attacked by one of Morgan’s HK assassin droids. Ahsoka and Sabine enter the fray and decide to go on the offensive. They are soon confronted by Shin and the mysterious Marrok, breaking off into one-on-one engagements. As Sabine and Shin duel fairly evenly, with the Mandalorian using her twin blasters and lightsaber skills effectively, Ahsoka quickly gets the upper hand on Marrok and turns him into…a puff of Jedi smoke? Seriously, she slashes him wide open and a burst of green air erupts out of him. So I guess he wasn’t anyone important, after all? Shin seems pretty upset by Marrok’s demise, suggesting they might’ve had a personal connection. Ahsoka and Sabine then split up, with the former going off to get the map and the latter continuing her fight with Shin.
Now, this goes explicitly against what Huyang had said to them. Before they left, he warned Ahsoka and Sabine to stay together, because they tend to do better that way. And that was true all the way through the fight. Huyang proves prophetic, because once divided things go all to Hell. Ahsoka comes face-to-face with Baylan, and they have a crucial chat about Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and the true nature of the Jedi Order. It’s clear from his words, and the title of this episode, that he is truly a fallen Jedi who has turned to the Dark Side. He questions why Ahsoka quit as Anakin’s padewan, but she’s not into a walk down memory lane. Their fight is a contrast in styles. Ahsoka with elegant aggression and Baylan using brute force and power. She manages to wrest the map, disrupting the process that will reveal Thrawn’s location to Morgan and her hyperspace ring.
Meanwhile, Hera has acted in true “Rebels” form and bucked orders. Rather than sitting around and dealing with more politics, she wrangles up Phoenix Squadron led by the welcome presence of Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), hops in the Ghost with her son Jacen (Evan Whitten), and of course Chopper, and heads to Seatos to the rescue.
The situation continues to go to Hell for Ahsoka and Sabine. In the battle with Shin, it’s very clear that Sabine can’t measure up to her lightsaber skills. But Sabine’s Mandalorian tricks are pretty clever, and she gets the drop on her. Shin manages to escape and return to Baylan’s side, which causes Ahsoka to believe that Sabine has been killed. Fighting desperately with a badly damaged hand, Ahsoka is backed to a cliff’s edge overlooking a deadly drop. Deadly even for a Jedi. Sabine arrives and gets ahold of the map, threatening to destroy it unless Baylan lets Ahsoka go. He does, after a fashion. He overpowers Ahsoka and knocks her over the edge to her apparent death.
An interesting turn here, as Baylan then brings up Ezra as a means of convincing Sabine to let him go through with the plan. Surprisingly, Sabine accepts this notion, but is nearly killed by Shin, anyway. Baylan stops his bloodthirsty ward, then completes transmission of the location to Morgan. Morgan then powers up her hyperspace ring and blasts straight through the path of Hera and the Phoenix Squadron, destroying many of their ships and nearly killing them all. There’s a moment where Hera seems to come to grips with the thought that she almost got her son killed. Baylan, Shin, and a captive Sabine escape with Morgan, while Huyang tries to communicate with his friends to no avail.
Finally, we see that Ahsoka is not dead. She wakes up in what is clearly the World Between Worlds, a place that Star Wars Rebels fans will recognize immediately. There she’s encountered by Clone Wars-era Anakin Skywalker, who says that he was not expecting to see her so soon.
So, what is the World Between Worlds? Without going too far into it, it’s basically a nexus point for the Force, existing outside of time and space. Introduced in Star Wars Rebels season 1 episode 10, it was a place that Ahsoka was accidentally drawn into while battling Darth Vader, who of course is the older Anakin. There, she saw many crucial moments in her life and the wider Star Wars universe, learning more about herself and Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side.
Ahsoka has a link to the World Between Worlds so it’s no surprise she ended up there. In a Star Wars Rebels season 4 episode, Ezra Bridger entered into it and saved Ahsoka Tano from death at the hands of Darth Vader. Realizing what he could do with it, Ezra wanted to go back and change the fates of others, but it was Ahsoka who helped him see that the entrance to the World Between Worlds was best closed, although she did manage to find another pathway.
What I’m loving about Ahsoka is that it’s not overly burdened by plot. The episodes are lean and to the point. There’s a singular destination and it’s not going to take a lot of story mechanics to see it through to the end. The teasing of Thrawn and Ezra’s arrival only gets tiresome when things are dragging, as they were in episode 3.
Dave Filoni is doing what he does best, which is focusing on meaningful character interactions and adherence to continuity. We get a slight advancement in the growing connection between Ahsoka and Sabine, acknowledging they work best together, while at the same time sticking true to their roots and defying expectations. I was also happy to see some clarification of Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati. No need to keep us in suspense when it comes to those two. And I guess the whole Marrok thing was a big ol’ waste of time? I guess he’s not Barris Offee or Ezra in disguise as some speculated? I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Marrok, though.
Filoni also got to introduce one of his favorite pet ideas, the World Between Worlds, which he borrowed from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia books. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of it anymore even if I was during the Star Wars Rebels episodes. The difference is that there weren’t a deluge of multiverse-heavy projects at the time, but now they are everywhere and Disney in particular seems obsessed with them. I hope Filoni doesn’t jigger with time and alternate universes too much. Star Wars is best when kept simple, and we don’t need a bunch of time travel stories complicating things just as Ahsoka Tano is being established as the centerpiece of this franchise.
Damn it! Just when I was ready to put this movie down as another Neeson Taken wannabe the trailer takes me to a place I desperately want to be. In the Land of Saints and Sinners from director Robert Lorenz sees Liam Neeson in his native Ireland as a hitman named Finbar Murphy. After a lifetime of killing and all manner of other sins he’s ready to hang it up and show the world another side of him. Unfortunately, as you can probably guess, his past has other ideas as it comes back to haunt him. The past, in this case, takes the shape of a bad ass and compelling Kerry Condon.
While I don’t think this is going to be an Oscan nominated film I do think it feels alot like a return to form for Neeson, and honestly a place where he seems to fit. I don’t have an issue with him taking action based roles but if he does they should do two things; 1. Be Believable and 2. Showcase the man’s talent. I feel like it’s been so long since we’ve seen a true Liam Neeson performance, and this feels just like that.
In case your wondering where you know that long haired brunette man with the thin mustache is, well friends that would be none other then Joffery Baratheon himself, Jack Gleeson, in his return to film.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners premiers tomorrow, September 6th, 2023 at the Venice Film Festival and will be distributed by Netflix shortly thereafter.
Official Synopsis:
In a remote Irish village, a damaged Finbar is forced to fight for redemption after a lifetime of sins, but what price is he willing to pay? In the land of saints and sinners, some sins can’t be buried.
There are some great filmmaker/actor duos out there that are well established and have movies coming out this fall. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are together again for Killers of the Flower Moon, while Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore have reunited for May December. But we can’t forget Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone who are following up their acclaimed film The Favourite with Oscar hopeful, Poor Things. While we know they’ll team up again for And, it turns out they’ve already shot another film in secret.
In a Cineuropa interview with Lanthimos it was revealed that he and Stone have already completed an entirely new movie. What’s it about? We don’t know, but Lanthimos says it’s “much simpler and very different in comparison to ‘Poor Things’ because that story needed that particular style.”
On top of that, Lanthimos will be working again with Poor Things and The Favourite cinematographer Robbie Ryan.
If this new movie is already done, then we should probably look for it to arrive soon after Poor Things drops on December 8th. Might as well strike while the iron is hot, right?
You know what will never not be in style? Young, innocent-looking women who reveal a much darker side. It’s a big part of the reason Jenna Ortega (Scream, Wednesday) is so hot right now. Well, now it’s Doctor Who actress Jenna Coleman’s turn in the upcoming series Wilderness, in which she plays a wife whose shit list you really don’t want to be on.
Written and created by Marnie Dickens and based on B.E. Jones’ novel, Wilderness is the story of a woman scorned, and her vicious plot to get revenge. Oliver Jackson-Cohen is a guy who has an extramarital affair, and then makes the terrible mistake of going on a road trip with his spouse who plots his demise.
So Young Kim (Lovesong) directed the series episodes.
Here’s the synopsis: The series tells the story of British couple Liv (Jenna Coleman) and Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who seem to have it all. A rock-solid marriage. A glamorous new life in New York. Until Liv learns about her husband’s infidelity. And the lies don’t stop there…
The trailer reveals the striking backdrop of the series as the couple embark on the American road trip that Liv’s always dreamed of, from the Grand Canyon to Yosemite, before ending with a wild weekend in Las Vegas. The series exclusively features Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version)” as the song of the opening titles.
This looks like one of those must-see shows that we’ll all be buzzing about around the water cooler (do people still do that?) and on social media. Wilderness hits Prime Video on September 15th.
What’s that old saying? “You can’t go home again”? In the case of Kaitlyn Dever’s character Brynn Adams in the sci-fi thriller No One Will Save You, she’ll really wish she had stayed away.
As seen in the new trailer, Dever plays a creative but troubled young woman who moves back into her childhood home. But before she can get settled in, she is confronted by decidedly extraterrestrial invaders. Not only must she fight to survive, but the aliens force her to confront a past she’s not yet ready to deal with.
The film is written and directed by Brian Duffield, and he’s quietly becoming a filmmaker whose stuff I really look forward to. He wrote the excellent adventure rom-com Love & Monsters, as well as The Babysitter, the Kristen Stewart horror Underwater, and the Netflix MonsterVerse series Skull Island. He last directed the 2020 teen horror-comedy Spontaneous. Duffield is a pro at finding new ways to keep horror light and entertaining, although I have to say this looks a bit edgier.
Dever has been killing it ever since her breakout role in Short Term 12. She’s also starred in Booksmart, Rosaline, and Dear Evan Hansen.
Hulu will debut No One Will Save You exclusively on September 22nd.
Here’s the synopsis: “No One Will Save You” introduces Brynn Adams (Dever), a creative and talented young woman who’s been alienated from her community. Lonely but ever hopeful, Brynn finds solace within the walls of the home where she grew up—until she’s awakened one night by strange noises from decidedly unearthly intruders. What follows is an action-packed face-off between Brynn and a host of extraterrestrial beings who threaten her future while forcing her to deal with her past. Written and directed by Brian Duffield, the film features music by composer Joseph Trapanese. Tim White, Trevor White, Allan Mandelbaum and Duffield produce, and Dever and Joshua Throne executive produce.”
