Wes Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City, can still be found in theaters and his fans are absolutely loving it. But they won’t have to wait long for something new from the eccentric filmmaker. As part of a ridiculously-stacked Venice International Film Festival lineup announced yesterday, we received a first look at Anderson’s Netflix short, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which will have its world premiere at the festival.
The image features three of the anthology short’s stars, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, and Dev Patel. Missing are Benedict Cumberbatch who plays the titular Henry Sugar, and Ralph Fiennes as author Roald Dahl. This is Anderson’s second Dahl adaptation after Fantastic Mr. Fox, which remains one of his most beloved films.
Clocking in at just 39-minutes, the film features multiple stories that build to the central one surrounding Henry Sugar, a gambling man who discovers a unique ability and uses it to gain a fortune, but it comes at a cost.
The Venice Film Festival kicks off on August 30th.
The second season of Apple’s hit sci-fi series Invasion has a slighly different focus this time around. The first season chronicled an alien invasion of Earth from multiple perspectives, preluding the war itself. But going into the next, time has jumped forward 121 days after the attack, as humanity prepares a counter-offensive, while also trying to figure out a means of communication with the extraterrestrials.
Simon Kinberg and David Weil created the series, with Golshifteh Farahani, Shioli Kutsuna, Shamier Anderson, India Brown, Billy Barrett, Azhy Robertson, Paddy Holland, Tara Moayedi, Enver Gjokaj, Nedra Marie Taylor, and Naian González Norvind part of a huge ensemble cast.
Invasion hits Apple TV+ for a 10-episode second season on August 25th.
An inconsistent six-episode run of Marvel’s Secret Invasion comes to an end with a middling finale, one that featured no shocks, a disappointing battle with the villain Gravik, but some encouraging developments for Fury, Rhodey, and Sonya Falsworth.
Clocking in at just 38 minutes, the episode 6 finale, titled “Home”, doesn’t waste any time. Rhodey (Don Cheadle), who we know is really a Skrull, is doing his best to convince the bed-ridden President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) to nuke the Skrull outpost in Russia, still believing it was the Russians who attacked him. This would, of course, start WWIII which is exactly what Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) wants. Rhodey is kinda being a dickhead about the whole situation, too, especially when he gets a phone call from Falsworth (Olivia Colman) telling him that Fury is on his way there to kill the President. Rhodey starts to freak out a little bit and gets his men together to mount a defense.
The problem is that Fury is also in Russia at New Skrullos, confronting Gravik. The radiation there is slowly killing him, and while he downs mouthfuls of pills to counteract it, nothing seems to be working. Fury, in his weakened state, admits to Gravik that he failed the Skrulls in finding them a safe harbor there on Earth. Gravik reminds Fury that he’s actually wearing the face of the first man he ever killed for Fury, a man with a family who probably didn’t need to die just because he made some mistakes.
Fury then does the unthinkable. He hands over to Gravik exactly what he wants; the Harvest, the collection of super-powered DNA harvested from Captain Marvel and the Avengers. Gravik takes it and activates the machine that will upgrade his Super-Skrull powers. Fury remains inside with him, and while we think it’ll kill him, he remains alive. Gravik, now fully souped-up with new powers, goes to finish Fury once and for all. But Fury shocks him by stopping the killing punch, revealing that he too is a shapeshifting Skrull using Hulk powers. We then come to realize it’s not actually Fury, but Gi’ah (Emilia Clarke) who has been impersonating. The fight begins!
That can only mean the real Fury is there at the hospital. After knocking out the guards, Fury and Falsworth try to convince the President of who Rhodey actually is. Ultimately, Fury just shoots the phoney Rhodey and the President calls off the nuclear strike, just in time.
There’s a problem that emerges from this, though. Now radicalized by what he’s been through, Ritson demands that all extraterrestrial species on Earth to be humanity’s enemies, and they will be hunted down and killed. This inspires armed vigilante groups to start acting on their own, killing off-worlders and humans alike with no regard. Oops!
The fight between Gravik and Gi’ah finds both using all of their Super-Skrull powers in a scene that Marvel was clearly saving up the visual effects budget for. The Hulk, Groot, Ghost, a frost giant, Captain Marvel, Mantis, Korg, and more all have their abilities utilized in a brief battle until Gi’ah finally has enough and blasts a hole right through Gravik’s heart. Presumably he’s dead but with this show one never can tell.
So where are all of the folks who have been replaced, anyway? Well, Sonya finds them in an underground bunker under New Skrullos. Dozens of world leaders are there, including the real Rhodey, and also Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), who pointedly asks Rhodey how long he’s been captive. Because Ross doesn’t seem to give a shit about how long he himself was there, or anybody else for that matter, we can surmise this was a way of setting up Rhodey for the upcoming Armor Wars movie on Disney+.
Fury meets with his wife Varra/Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard) and tells her that he’s leaving soon. She knows who she is without him, and intends to let him go without her. However, when the moment finally does come, Varra arrives to join him but not before Fury accepts being with her in her true Skrull form. Oh, and Fury gives Ritson shit for being a dumbass who has inspired violence around the globe. Fury also tells Varra that the Skrulls and the Kree are going to enter peace talks, and things could be looking up for once.
Secret Invasion was a project I was really looking forward to, being that it was in the espionage thriller space which is a personal favorite. Marvel has done this sort of thing very well before. After a slow but promising start, the series struggled to build tension and mystery, which is really the main thing it needed to accomplish. Fury was haphazardly characterized until the final two episodes, while the use of an amazing actress like Olivia Colman in a fun role was too infrequent. Gravik wasn’t the most compelling villain, even if Ben-Adir did a good job of capturing his desperation and menace.
I think I expected more from Secret Invasion than Marvel was ever prepared to deliver on. I should’ve known when they made this a TV show, a six episode one at that, rather than a pair of major Avengers crossover movies. That’s what a story of this scope really needed.
What would you do if you had the ability to control time? If you could go back and fix the mistakes of the past, would you do it? This is a question that has dominated sci-fi movies literally for decades, up to and including this year’s The Flash. In the new film 57 Seconds, it’s Josh Hutcherson and Morgan Freeman’s turn to rewind the clock, with predictably disastrous results.
Hutcherson plays a tech blooger who, with the help of the scientist he just saved, acquires the ability to go back in time 57 seconds. With this new gift, he decides to go back in time and rewrite history to stop the greedy pharmaceutical company that destroyed his family. The film is based on the short Lucifer by E.C. Tubb.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about 57 Seconds is the duo of filmmakers behind it. The film is co-written and directed by Rusty Cundieff, who made a huge cultural splash in 1993 with Fear of a Black Hat, followed Tales from the Hood in 1995. Joining him on the film is co-writer/actor Macon Blair, who most will know from Blue Ruin, Green Room, and most recently a key role in Oppenheimer.
Also in the cast are Lovie Simone and Greg Germann. Here’s the synopsis:
Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) and Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) star in this heart-racing action thriller. When a tech blogger discovers a time-altering device, he unleashes its power to rewrite the past and seek revenge against the ruthless corporate empire that destroyed his family. But his actions soon trigger a terrifying chain of events, propelling him into a pulse-pounding battle for survival where every second counts.
57 Seconds opens on September 29th in theaters and digital.
There was a bit of controversy when Helen Mirren was named to star as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the new biopic, Golda. But let’s be honest; when you have a chance to land one of the best actresses in the world to star in your film, you take it. And so far, early reviews out of Berlin have heralded her performance, making this one to keep an eye out for when it arrives next month.
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Guy Nattiv, Golda centers on Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, and her handling of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The film also stars Camille Cottin, Liev Schreiber, Emma Davies, and Ed Stoppard.
Here’s the synopsis: Golda is a ticking-clock thriller set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), faced with the potential of Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical cabinet, and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber), with millions of lives in the balance. Her tough leadership and compassion would ultimately decide the fate of her nation and leave her with a controversial legacy around the world.
“I’m different, but I have something to offer” – Stephen Curry
Unless you have been living under a rock (or have zero interest in basketball), you pretty much know who Steph Curry is. The point guard for the Golden State Warriors has led his team to countless NBA Finals (including leading the Warriors to win 4 championships), and he can seemingly hit miraculous three-point shots pretty much at the drop of a dime. In fact, Curry makes hitting impossible shots look so easy he can do it in his sleep. Curry currently has the all-time three-point scoring record in the NBA. But can you imagine there was a time when he was deemed too “small,” to even be in consideration for even playing college ball? A24 and Apple TV teamed up with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media, as well as Curry’s own Unanimous Media to provide insight into Curry’s game in Stephen Curry: Underrated.
Instead of being a standard documentary focusing on Curry’s past, Stephen Curry: Underrated divvys up it’s time by focusing on Curry as a young man (who went from a barely recruited and small high school player to pretty much unknown Davidson College and led them all the way to the NCAA tournament) and current times where he finally was the NBA Finals MVP after a lackluster season plagued with injuries as well as him finally earing his college degree. While the current stuff is interesting and intriguing, it’s him going from “is this kid serious” to “this kid will be one of the greats” really is informative and inspirational, because it’s almost 100% due to Curry’s drive.
Utilizing a lot of archival footage as well as interviewing former coaches, teammates, and family, director Peter Nicks helps paint a picture of a young man who pretty much nobody wanted. The son of a former NBA player stood at 6’2” and maybe weighed 150 “soaking wet with shoes on” as one of his college teammates commented, he doesn’t exactly scream “Division 1” when it comes to basketball. Nevertheless, he was driven to try and do whatever he needed to do in order to step up his game to be a competitor. His father, who knows the game, pushed him hard to change his game, and after a great deal of hard work, he was recruited by little-known Davidson College. While he did want to go play at his father’s alma mater Virginia Tech, they weren’t exactly checking out this skinny short kid from North Carolina, so he went with Davidson College, who had actively recruited him since he was in the tenth grade (he was all-state after all). If you are saying “What is Davidson College?” Then you are like me and 90% of the country. But of course, Curry and his teammates under the tutelage of coach Bob McKillop (who just “knew” what Steph was capable of) managed to turn this small college that no one could even find on a map all the way to the Elite Eight and a pitch-perfect example of a Cinderella Story.
But this wasn’t an easy climb for Curry and Davidson College. There were many hiccups along the way. Stephen Curry: Underrated juxtaposes the many roadblocks Davidson College had to some that have come up during his NBA career (especially during the 2021-2022 NBA season when he was injured and the Warriors seemed to be in a permanent slump) to display that even with his back against the wall, Stephen Curry is no quitter and will put in overtime to make sure he’s competitive and can take the thing to the next level. Another interesting part of the documentary was Curry’s drive to finally obtain his degree (a promise he made to his mother who stressed the importance of education) and all the hard work that went in for him to finally get his degree in Sociology in 2022.
Stephen Curry: Underrated isn’t necessarily a groundbreaking documentary as we really won’t learn much that we couldn’t glean from a customary Wikipedia search, but it is an inspirational story. Just learning about just how much Curry was counted out now boggles the mind, it shows just how Curry persisted to change the game of basketball as we know it shows exactly why he is an underrated basketball player.
Stephen Curry: Underrated is currently streaming on Apple TV+
When David Gordon Green joined with Blumhouse to revive the Halloween franchise, nobody could’ve expected it to be so successful. The first movie in 2018 led to a completed trilogy in 2022 and nearly $500M worldwide. Now Blumhouse is hoping Green can do it again with The Exorcist.
The Exorcist: Believer is Green’s attempt to do exactly what he did with Halloween. Basically, make a direct sequel to the 1973 classic while ignoring everything else that came after.
Starring in the film are Leslie Odom, Jr., Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, and Ellen Burstyn. Green co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Sattler.
Here’s the synopsis: Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar® nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.
Universal will release The Exorcist: Believer this October, Friday the 13th!
Interestingly, as TIFF and Venice announce their slates for the upcoming fall festival season, studios are contemplating moving many of their films, possibly into 2024. The reason, of course, is the SAG strike which prevents actors from promoting upcoming projects, which is why you also saw next to nothing coming out of Comic-Con last weekend.
Bloomberg reports that Disney is one of those studios weighing potential delays to much of its upcoming slate. This week sees the release of Haunted Mansion, which has had practically zero publicity due to both strikes, SAG and WGA, but it’s too late to change anything about that. How that movie performs will say a lot about the impact these strikes are having on the bottom line.
But Disney has other big films coming up, such as Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, the controversial Jonathan Majors drama Magazine Dreams, animated fairy tale Wish, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things with Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo.
In the case of Poor Things, that date has now just been moved from September 8th to December 8th. The Victorian tale stars Stone as a young woman brought back to life by a brilliant but unorthodox scientist, but eager to see the world, she runs off with a debauched lawyer on a whirlwind adventure.
It’s possible we could see Disney pull these movies from the festival circuit, or move them to others later into the season.
You can live a little bit of that pink life with this limited edition Barbie lunchbox and thermos, which we’re giving away courtesy of our friends at Alamo Drafthouse! Both items come with a unique Barbie design, and will fit perfectly into your own Malibu Dream House.
To enter, simply complete the steps in the Rafflepress contest form below! One winner will be selected on Friday, July 28th and notified by email. Good luck!
San Diego Comic-Con may have been a stripped-down affair this past week, but it wasn’t without its share of powerhouse projects for fans to get excited about. One of those was Gen V, a spinoff of Prime Video’s ultra-violent, explicit superhero hit The Boys. And based on the new teaser, expect all of the same gore, mayhem, and vulgarity, only now in a college setting.
We’ve seen the established heroes of The Seven, the world’s most popular superheroes. But what about the up ‘n coming heroes? The ones who are still in university, learning how to become the heroes the world needs? Well, if you’ve seen The Boys then you know heroes are mostly pretty shitty people, who will stab one another in the back as soon as help them, or let someone they’re meant to save die if they’re not in a good mood. It’s at Godolkin University where these awful traits get instilled in them.
The cast includes Jaz Sinclair and Chance Perdomo who are reunited from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, plus Lizze Broadway, Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas, Marco Pigossi, Clancy Brown, Alexander Calvert, and Jason Ritter. Look for some familiar faces from The Boys to show up, too.
Here’s the synopsis: From the world of The Boys comes Gen V. Young, aspiring heroes have their physical and moral boundaries put to the test while competing for Godolkin University’s highly coveted top ranking. When the university’s dark secrets come to light, the students must come to grips with what type of heroes they are going to become.
