Soul is an American computer-animated fantasy adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is directed by Pete Docter, produced by Dana Murray and stars the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad and Daveed Diggs. The film is scheduled to be released on June 19, 2020.
Bad Boys for Life is an American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Will Smith and starring Smith and Martin Lawrence. The sequel to Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003) and the third Installment in the Bad Boys trilogy, the film follows detectives Lowrey and Burnett reuniting once again when a Romanian mob boss exacts revenge on the duo just as they are about to officially retire.
The Invisible Man: a science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by Leigh Whannell. It is a very loose modern adaptation of both the novel of the same name by H. G. Wells and a reboot of the 1933 film adaptation of the same name. The film stars Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid and Harriet Dyer.
Hala is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Minhal Baig. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It is scheduled to be released in a limited release on November 22, 2019, followed by digital streaming on December 6, 2019, by AppleTV+.
Screen legend Bruce Willis plays Lt. Wakes, a vengeful police detective determined to solve the murders of his partner and informant. Wakes joins forces with Madison (Whelan), a witness injured during the shootings.
Is Rian Johnson only a Master of the Sci-Fi Action Genre or is he a Jack-of-All-Genres?
Given his recent body of work, writer-director Rian Johnson has become known predominantly for sci-fi action projects. From “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” to “Looper” to some of the most impactful episodes of “Breaking Bad,” you could reasonably expect Johnson’s next idea to follow in the same vein of blockbuster intensity. In fact, Lucasfilm has already signed him up for his own Star Wars trilogy project.
Before Jonson gets to work on that next big-budget Disney assignment, though, he has been having some fun pursuing a passion project with Lionsgate that will come out on November 27th. The film is called “Knives Out,” and while it may not be the cinematic epic that audiences have come to know Johnson for, it just might satisfy us all the same.
The Answer is Yes — He Masterfully Blends Comedy, Mystery, and All-Star Cast For this Fun-Filled Thrill-Ride
The premise of “Knives Out” has nothing to do with space battles or time travel. The movie is an action-comedy-drama about a family whose patriarch dies under suspicious circumstances and an eccentric detective who’s tasked with figuring out the truth. However, rather than having the film be a straightforward hard-boiled noir story, Johnson borderline parodies the genre, with hilariously hyperbolic characters moving the twisty plotline along with on-the-nose dialogue and wit.
These funky characters are portrayed by an all-star cast. Foremost, Daniel Craig plays the detective: a super-serious, inquisitive leading man dead-set on unraveling the mystery. Endearingly, Craig almost seems to poke fun at himself in this role, mocking his own performances as the latest, ultra-stoic version of James Bond.
Standing alongside Craig as members of the family are Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, and many others. Additional recognizable faces in the film include that of young Jaeden Martell from “It,” veteran Don Johnson from “Miami Vice” and legendary puppeteer, director, and actor Frank Oz, who reprised his famous role as Yoda in Johnson’s last Star Wars film.
Although it Came after Great Success Elsewhere, ‘Knives Out’ is Certainly a Passion Project Worth the Wait
Johnson first pitched the idea for “Knives Out” way back in 2010. He wanted to create a classic murder-mystery style film, drawing inspiration from Agatha Christie stories and retro thriller-comedies such as “Murder On The Orient Express” and “The Private Eyes.” The film was not officially announced until September 2018 and began filming in October 2018, wrapping at the end of the year.
“Knives Out” finally premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival and met excellent reviews, being praised for its originality, humor, and star-studded performances. While the film mostly satirizes the bygone murder-mystery genre, it manages to keep the audience engaged and interested all the same. To sum it up in a word—critics deem the film incredibly fun, a thrilling treat bound to make viewers smile and enjoy themselves throughout.
So before we settle in for Johnson’s new Star Wars project, let’s return to something in the spirit of his earlier, indie-style work. Let’s be reminded of the filmmaker’s affinity for screenwriting, comedy, and getting the best out of talented actors. Let’s put franchise fandom and studio divisiveness on hold for a minute and have some fun.
An Eco-thriller told through the Eyes of a True American Underdog
In the latest upcoming movie from Focus Features and “Carol” director Todd Haynes, Mark Ruffalo plays corporate attorney Rob Bilott, a corporate defendant who represented DuPont for the better part of his career. When a small West Virginia town shows Bilott the chemicals that DuPont is dumping in their water, though, he changes allegiances, embarking on a harrowing true story that becomes the central narrative for “Dark Waters.”
“Dark Waters” is an eco-cinematic adventure disguised as an intense, informant style crime movie. While most “environmental films” center on either the vast wonders of the natural world or post-apocalyptic nightmares, “Dark Waters” takes the sub-genre in a more grounded and familiar direction.
There is nothing sublime about “Dark Waters”—except perhaps the performances and the cinematic art. The film’s setting switches off between a corporate office and a lowly West Virginia town. There are no beautiful mountaintops or thrilling action fights; just a daringly authentic image of America meddling in corruption. It may be slow moving, but that measured pace creates suspense and an uncommonly candid depiction of what it takes to fight people in power for the sake of eco-friendly reformation—something we’ve come all too familiar with in the modern fight against the climate crisis.
An Honest Look at Real life Environmental Heroism
As Ruffalo’s character turns his back on DuPont and starts to file cases against the company he once worked for, he uncovers more and more disturbing details about the conglomerate’s lack of environmental consideration. In the small West Virginia town, he learns that cows are dying in fields, that the streams are running with chemicals, and eventually, that this contaminated substance may be in the community’s drinking water. All throughout the investigation, though, DuPont grows more suspicious and Bilott more paranoid, believing that the company may stop at nothing to hide their wrongdoings.
The movie has echoes of “All The President’s Men” and “The Post,” but with a plot placed on a much smaller scale. Bilott is not a celebrated hero that earned national praise for his bravery. He is an unsung hero who did the right thing, and challenged the almighty masses for the sake of a few defenseless people.
Rob Bilott is a real person. He is still alive today. Sadly, you probably won’t find his name in the history books. On the other hand, DuPont remains a multi-billion dollar company and a household name in America. In today’s movie market filled with superheroes and warriors, “Dark Waters” gives us an honest illustration of what heroism really looks like, and the thanklessness that can often come with making the right decision.
Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson Star in Period Drama focused on the Real Estate Accessibility Issues African Americans Faced in the 1960s
Based on a true story about Bernard Garett and Joe Morris, Apple’s upcoming original film will take a look inside their plan for African Americans to gain access to real estate deals and bank loans during the 1960s.
This plan included hiring a white front man for their real estate and banking endeavor, while they posed as a janitor and chauffeur, to establish a loan business for African American homebuyers who otherwise had restricted access to finances, which were virtually owned by every other white man in America. However, their incredible success eventually brought their business to the federal government’s attention, which led to the case, Bernard S. Garett and Joseph B. Morris v. United States of America, that shut them down.
“They were charged in a two-count indictment. The first count alleged a substantive violation of the statute; the second charged a conspiracy to violate the statute in the same manner. They were convicted on both counts and received concurrent sentences.”
Bernard S. Garrett and Joseph B. Morris, Appellants, v. United States of America, Appellee, 396 F.2d 489 (5th Cir. 1968), Justia US Law
After its limited theatrical release beginning on December 6th for the film to qualify for awards season, it will be available to stream on AppleTV+ a few weeks afterwards in January. It’ll be the third to follow Apple’s theatrical release schedule after “The Elephant Queen” in October and “Hala” in November.
Everything You Need to Know before the Launch of Full Throttle Entertainment Competition
Over the past ten years, online streaming has changed the course of television history. Services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have transformed the way that we consume media, taking the physical TV out of TV and replacing it with laptops and handheld devices. In the upcoming months, however, history is about to take another enormous leap forwards, as the addition of several new streaming services will take entertainment to entirely new, competitive, and corporately segregated levels.
Enter the New Players: Every Other Major & Minor Studio
While Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu have more or less reigned supreme as the premiere streaming services since they launched, they will soon meet a new lineup of fierce rivals on the battlefield. Over the next few months, Disney, AT&T’s WarnerMedia, Apple, and NCBUniversal will all be entering the streaming world, respectively with the launches of Disney+, HBO Max, Apple+, and Peacock… and that is just a handful of them.
For the most part, each of these new streaming platforms will feature all of the content owned and created by their respective parent companies. With a Disney+ subscription, one can watch everything from Marvel movies to Star Wars to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” HBO Max will offer every episode of “Game Of Thrones” and “Friends.” Peacock will give you every episode of “Saturday Night Live” and “The Office.” And so on.
How will Disney Juggle their Family-Oriented Brand with their Monolithic IP Collection?
Of course, there are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, Disney plans to keep its streaming service relatively family-friendly, and therefore will not be offering some of its more mature properties—i.e. 20th Century Fox content such as “Deadpool” or Miramax titles such as “Pulp Fiction,” all of which are technically under the wing of Disney, but do not fit their wholesome brand.
Owning intellectual properties from Fox, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, National Geographic and beyond, Disney+ is bound to be the biggest juggernaut in this oncoming streaming war. The service also comes at the most affordable price, costing only $7 a month as opposed to HBO’s estimated $15/month or Netflix’s current $12/month.
The Walt Disney Company is not underestimating the significance of Disney+’s launch. CEO Bob Iger has frequently mentioned that it is Disney’s most important development in the fifteen years that he has led the company—and this is the man who spearheaded the Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm acquisitions. As a testament to its importance, Disney has also dropped over a billion dollars into marketing for Disney+, recently even releasing a 3-hour long trailer showing a taste of everything the service will offer.
Corporate Segregation and the IP Divide Demands Consumer Loyalties
Disney is doing all this because they know that they will have to compete with some very skilled rivals. While Disney may have a wide breadth of content in their libraries, they are limited to their own intellectual properties. If someone is a fan of DC over Marvel, then they may take their money over to Warner’s HBO Max. Likewise, if someone is a die hard Trekkie rather than a Star Wars enthusiast, they may opt to subscribe to CBS All Access so they can watch the new episodes “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Piccard.”
This is where the corporate segregation becomes a limitation for streaming. When it was just Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu in the ring, these services would license out content from larger film studios. Netflix, for example, could write a check to Warner Brothers to have their movies and TV shows on their site. Because of multiple deals like this, subscribing to a streaming service used to mean getting access to a wide-range of content made by many different companies.
Now that the larger companies are creating services exclusively for their own libraries, taste and target audiences will play a larger role in the world of streaming. The streaming playing field is not just about to get far more competitive, but it is also about to get far more divisive. Rather than subscribe to a seemingly arbitrary collection of movies and shows via Netflix or Amazon, subscribers will have to chose based on the company whose work they prefer the most.
Will Content Variety that Consumers Crave Disappear?
Unfortunately, this means that if someone is a fan of both Harry Potter and Star Wars, they are out of luck and will have to pay for two different services to get them both. This could even lead to an issue of oversaturation, as people are unlikely to pay for five different services just so they can get the variety they desire. If that is the case, they might as well go back to paying their cable bill.
Thus, the future may lie in mergers and bundles between the services. For small additional prices, subscribers could get extra content or access to more than one streaming platform at a time. Disney has already started offering bundle plans with Hulu, which will give subscribers access to some of those less wholesome titles excluded from Disney+. This may be the only way to keep streaming sustainable and affordable in such a corporately stratified landscape.
Who’s going to be the Winner? Bet on Creativity to come out on top, every time
What will really determine who gets out of this streaming war alive, however, will be original content. Regardless of how good Disney’s library is, viewers can only rewatch the Marvel and Star Wars movies so many times before they desire something new to keep them subscribing. Therefore, original shows and films will be the key to keeping audiences invested. Netflix and Amazon have already been slowly transitioning towards this, focusing more on their own productions of lately as the licensing model fizzles out.
Likewise, Disney+ is promoting itself in part with new movies and shows—among them a live action “Lady and the Tramp” remake, a Marvel series focused on Tom Hiddleson’s Loki, and Star Wars’ “The Mandalorian.” Meanwhile, HBO Max is promising a “Game of Thrones” prequel series. It is products like this that will be available exclusively through the streaming platforms that will keep certain companies’ services afloat over others.
All in all, each company best saddle up with their best writers, directors, casts, and crews, because creativity will be the most powerful weapon in the streaming war. Whoever wields it best is most likely to stand triumphant in the end.
Black Panther Goes Blue—Chadwick Boseman Plays New York City Police Officer In “21 Bridges”
“You got twenty-one bridges in and out of Manhattan, shut ‘em down; Three rivers, close ‘em; four tunnels, block ‘em; Stop every train and loop the subway. Then, we flood the alley with blue.”—This is the plan that Chadwick Boseman’s character devises to catch a pair of cop killers in the new Brian Kirk directed and Russo Brothers produced action-thriller “21 Bridges.”
Over his illustrious acting career, Boseman has been prominently casted to play historical black figures in movies that thematically center around race. In this decade alone, he has portrayed Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His most recognizable character, however, is the fictional superhero Black Panther, who appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a story that focuses on African culture and global race relations, Black Panther’s standalone movie raked in over a billion dollars at the box office and earned Marvel its first Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Needless to say, Boseman has been a major supporter of contemporary black cinema, frequently playing the leading man in movies that celebrate the African and African American experience. Whether he is belting out “Get Up” or leading a chant of “Wakanda forever,” the forty-one year old Howard University graduate actor is bound to bring elements of black pride and dignity to his roles.
Anti-hero set-up suites, ultimately and makes for a strong performance
It is therefore somewhat curious that Boseman’s newest character is a member of the New York City Police Department. In “21 Bridges,” Boseman plays Detective Andre Davis, the son of an NYPD officer who died in the line of duty years ago. Now, Davis is but a disgraced investigator, but when eight cops are killed during a Manhattan armed robbery, he is recruited to find the culprits and possibly redeem himself in the process.
To carry out this task, Davis locks down the island, and the movie becomes a game of cat and mouse as he tries to squeeze out the criminals. As Davis digs deeper, though, he uncovers greater truths about the situation and realizes that he may be a part of something much larger than the events occurring around him.
On the surface, “21 Bridges” does not seem to have anything to do with race. Superficially, it looks like nothing more than a generic police-centered crime movie. At the same time, though, given the theme of cop-killing and Chadwick Boseman in the lead role—not to mention that most of the other law enforcement in the film are played by white folks and one of the culprits is played by Stephan James from “Selma,” “Race,” and “If Beale Street Could Talk”—it seems safe to say that one of the film’s many twists will eventually put us face to face with race-related conflicts.
The movie’s trailer hints at this ever so fleetingly. In a brief shot where Boseman is standing off with James in a subway car, we hear James say “You’re the only cop tonight who speaks first and shoots second.” Because Boseman plays what seems to be the only black cop in New York and that James plays a black man in jeopardy, this statement is likely not without racial undertones. Thus, although it may not be noticeable at first, “21 Bridges” could very well be a movie that engages in racial themes.
If Boseman delivers on the role and the plot is compelling enough, then it could add to the actor’s ongoing filmography that so far specializes in bringing black stories to wider audiences and starting crucial dialogues about race and society in American cinema and culture.
The Current Successes of Disney’s Imperially Strategic IP Expansion Overshadows its Origins as ‘Walt Disney Animation Studios’
With Disney+, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar movies dominating Disney’s current agenda, it can sometimes be hard to remember that Walt Disney Animation Studios still exists and produces its own titles. Not only that, but for several decades Walt Disney Animation was essentially what fueled the company. Since the days of Walt himself, Disney’s animation department is what made the company stand out, producing revolutionary cartoons from the groundbreaking Alice Comedies, to Mickey Mouse’s initial appearance in “Steamboat Willie,” to the first animated feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”
Over the years Disney Animation has had its peaks and valleys. From the 1930s through the 1960s, the department created countless classics, with titles such as “Pinocchio,” “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and more. Following Walt’s death in 1966, the company faced some difficulties with corporate competition and creative transformations. 1989, however, kicked off what is known as the Disney Renaissance with “The Little Mermaid,” and across the 1990s, Disney Animation rose back to the top with stunning new cartoon movies from “Aladdin,” to “The Lion King,” to “Mulan,” to “Beauty and the Beast,” and so on.
After the Notorious Pixar Acquisition, Disney’s Original Animation Studio has Struggled to Compete with its Own Company
In the 2000s, Disney’s acquisition of Pixar pushed Walt Disney Animation Studios down to being a secondary cartoon juggernaut in its own company. 2D animated features fizzled out with the 1990s Renaissance, as Pixar’s 3D animation became mainstream with one successful project after another.
Disney Animation struggled to make its own transition to 3D animation throughout the decade. Early titles such as “Chicken Little,” “Meet The Robinsons,” and “Bolt” were fun, but far from the Disney standard, and they paled in comparison to Pixar’s releases. It wasn’t until 2010 that Disney Animation had its first glimmer of 3D style reformation with “Tangled.”
Disney’s live-action remakes of its 1990s classics may overshadow its Animation Studio’s place across the 2010s. Nevertheless, Walt Disney Animation Studios has quietly been making a comeback in our current decade, with creative, original stories that have done well on both critical and commercial fronts—and if “Frozen II” meets the success it anticipates, then it could solidify the fact that we are living in a second Disney Animated Renaissance.
Second Installment will Strive to Match the much loved Original
Although “Tangled” was a fair initial entry for Disney Animation in the 2010s, and they followed it up well with “Wreck-It-Ralph” in 2012, it was not until 2013 that the department struck gold with the empowering, fantastical, and sensational “Frozen.”
Revitalizing the Disney Princess genre with a few modern twists, “Frozen” was a bona fide hit. It was one of the most successful movies of the year and did wonderfully in ancillary markets, with characters that made for popular toys and musical numbers that made their way into everyone’s hearts. It’s song “Let It Go” won Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards, not to mention that the movie as a whole won Best Animated Feature.
Both children and adults appreciated “Frozen” and its bubbly aesthetic was reminiscent of Disney’s traditional animation style, only updated for the modern 3D appeal. The company carried this look into 2014’s “Big Hero 6.” Based on Marvel comics, but not being a part of Disney’s live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Big Hero 6” may not have had the cultural impact that “Frozen” did, but fans and critics loved it. It earned Walt Disney Animation another Best Animated Feature Oscar, making the company back-to-back champions in the category and proving that “Frozen” was not a fluke.
The studio won again in 2016 with “Zootopia,” and received a nomination for “Moana” that same year. Like “Frozen,” “Moana” was a princess movie with an infectious soundtrack and received lots of attention for its celebration of Polynesian culture.
Last year, the company released its first sequel in this contemporary animation cycle: “Ralph Breaks The Internet.” This movie earned Disney Animation another Oscar nomination, showing that they could pull off sequels and giving us reason to believe that “Frozen II” can live up to its predecessor.
Will ‘Frozen II’ Launch Another Disney Animation Renaissance?
And thus, we come full circle. Under our very noses, Disney Animation has pieced together a library of contemporary classics and placed themselves back in the game of major animation studios. “Frozen II” comes out November 22. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee return from the original as directors along with voice actors Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad. Like the first film, “Frozen II” will focus on sisterhood and wintery magic, but will add more universe building and fantastical elements to the storyline.
So, are we in a second Disney Animation Renaissance? It seems too early to tell, really. Unlike the first Disney Renaissance, Disney Animation is not yet the number one studio in town; it is still behind Pixar and Illumination at the moment. Likewise, despite its recent successes, Disney Animation does not currently define Disney like it did in the past. At the moment, Disney is largely defined by its vast intellectual properties and acquisitions; its animation department is but a tertiary element. Still, Walt Disney Animation Studios is currently pointed in the right direction and has subtly been making progress over the decade. They also just recently signed directors for four additional upcoming film projects. 2019 has already been one of the most financially successful years for Disney, and “Frozen II” is likely to skyrocket them to astronomical heights. If the sequel is as commercially successful and culturally impactful as the first “Frozen,” then it could very well put Disney Animation back in the running for a self-revitalization.
Kasi Lemmons Aims High With Ambitious Historical Drama Based Off Harriet Tubman’s Extraordinary Life
Actress and director Kasi Lemmons has been a champion of black American cinema for a while now. Ever since she won the Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award in 1997 for “Eve’s Bayou,” she has been making stellar films starring predominantly black casts focusing largely on black experiences.
Diverse, Seasoned Crew Behind the Camera Adds to the Film’s High Expectations
On November 1st, her latest and most ambitious project in that same vein will hit theaters. “Harriet” is Lemmons’ fifth movie and it tells the story of Harriet Tubman. Part bio-pic, part heritage film, and all parts historical drama, “Harriet” focuses on the slave-turned-abolitionist’s radical acts of unparalleled bravery in the pre-antebellum era that solidified her as a hero in one of America’s darkest hours.
Making a movie about Harriet Tubman is a bold undertaking. When the project was first proposed in 2015, Viola Davis was supposed to direct and star in it. Once that fell through, though, it was handed off to Lemmons. Given her filmography and her academic background—she briefly studied history at UCLA—Lemmons seemed like the perfect fit for the job. Gregory Allen Howard also wrote the story for “Harriet.” A black screenwriter from Virginia, Howard has written other race-themed films such as “Remember The Titans” and “Ali.”
Controversy over Heritage and yet Critics point out lack of Innovation and Pace
Nevertheless, when a movie centers on such a complicated period and such an iconic figure, even the biggest feet can struggle to fill the shoes. “Harriet” had its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and although Focus Films picked it up for distribution, the movie received nothing more than adequate reviews, getting criticism for being slow and offering nothing new to the biopic genre.
Likewise, even before the movie even came out, Black American activists groups backlashed and protested the film for Cynthia Erivo playing the title character. Erivo is Nigerian-American, and while she is certainly black, she does not have any lineage of enslavement in the United States. Many black activists expressed distaste for this casting decision, deeming it inappropriate for a woman with no slavery in her ancestry to play one of the most important black abolitionists of all time.
The Film’s Release Date could allow for ‘Harriet’ to find a Niche
On the other hand, to the film’s benefit, it will be coming out on a somewhat sleepy weekend at the box office. On November 1st, its competition will be “Terminator: Dark Fate,” “Arctic Dogs” and “Motherless Brooklyn.” None of these films are really similar, and therefore “Harriet” will be able to stand on its own.
Shortly afterwards, though, “Doctor Sleep” will come out on the 8th and then Disney+ will launch on the 12th, both of which may dwarf “Harriet” in terms of audience size.
Being an indie-film from a longtime indie director, it is unlikely that “Harriet” was made with the intention of breaking the box office. Still, it would be shame for a movie that chronicles such an important story to go unnoticed.
It goes without saying that Harriet Tubman deserves a movie made about her, one that is truthful to her remarkable life and celebrates all of the courageous acts she committed for America’s enslaved people. Evidently, however, even with the right director and writer, creating such a movie is incredibly difficult.
For a mix of reasons, some of them within and some of them outside of her control, Kasi Lemmons may have bitten off more she could chew with this project, and the final product may unfortunately reflect something below her talents and beneath our ungraspable expectations.
Sony Scraping The Bottom Of The Barrel Of Intellectual Property With “Charlie’s Angels” Reboot
It was over forty years ago on ABC when three dissatisfied police-academy graduates became private detectives for the Charles Townsend Agency, thus becoming Charlie’s Angels and kicking off one of the most popular female-led television series of the 1970s. From TV writer-producer team of Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, the original “Charlie’s Angels” ran for 110 episodes, garnering a strong cult following in its time.
Since the original program left TV in 1981 due to diminishing popularity, there have been a couple attempts at reviving the franchise. In the early 2000s, Sony’s Columbia Pictures produced two filmic reboots, the 2000 McG directed “Charlie’s Angels” and its 2003 sequel “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.” With an updated plot and cast, these playful adaptations faired alright at the box-office, but were critically underwhelming, being nothing more than lighthearted rehashes of the bygone original series. In 2011, ABC again tried to refresh the series on television, but immediate low ratings got it canceled after only seven episodes.
Perhaps you’d expect Sony to take the hint and realize that people are not as nostalgic or invested in “Charlie’s Angels” as they were in 1976. However, in the current state of Hollywood, every major production company is looking for whatever intellectual properties they have in their libraries to capitalize on. Thus, here in 2019, yet another rendition of “Charlie’s Angels” is coming to theaters.
With Diverse Females Both Behind and In Front of the Camera, Angels Promise to Bring Feminism to the Franchise in Ways the Others Did Not
Kristin Stewart, Ella Balinska, and Naomi Scott play the three title characters in the 2019 “Charlie’s Angles.” Happily, this is a much more diverse version of the angels than we’ve ever seen before on screen—conventionally the angels have all been white excluding Lucy Lui’s character in the 2000 and 2003 movies.
Furthermore, Elizabeth Banks directs the film and is playing a version of the character Bosley. With a woman behind the camera for the first time, it is likely that the new “Charlie’s Angels” will also shed some of the misogyny and sexualization that defined previous installments in the franchise. If the trailer is any indication, the new movie will keep the original series’ tongue-and-cheek humor, but it will also be a bit self-referential, mocking the past incarnations’ flaws and turning them on their heads to empower the female protagonists.
Thus, “Charlie’s Angels” one salvation may be the fact that it will be a progressive film, an action-comedy that will defy a whitewashed Hollywood and radiate with crucial feminine energy in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Despite Creative Innovation, the Franchise has Minimal Chance for Popular Revival
This is all worth celebrating, but from an industry perspective, we have to question whether or not audiences will actually take the time to go see the new “Charlie’s Angels.” Make a reference to the original series, drop the name Bosely or the Charles Townsend Agency to young people at Comic-Con and you will probably receive blank stares. Perhaps older audiences are interested in the “Charlie’s Angels” universe, but they are not the main demographic going to the movies—especially not big-budget action movies like this one.
Elizabeth Banks, who also wrote the screenplay for the new movie, is setting the flick in the same diegesis of the original series, with direct ties to that universe. She is essentially trying to do with “Charlie’s Angels” what JJ Abrams did with “Star Trek.” The difference is that “Star Trek” has one of the most committed fan bases on earth and when Abrams revived it in 2009, there were still millions of people curious to see more of that same universe. “Charlie’s Angels” does not have that same longevity to it. The title is remembered as nothing more than an outdated show from the seventies, and a so-so couple of films from the turn of the millennium.
In the best of circumstances, “Charlie’s Angels” will take the route of Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” and be an unexpected hit based off of a B-rate property. More likely however, it will fall into the ether of glossy Hollywood magic paired with quality talent, but not having enough of an audience for it to gain much momentum.
Money, Cars, Engineering, Sexy Racing scenes, what could go wrong?
From “Logan” and “Walk The Line” director James Mangold, “Ford v Ferrari” follows the true story of American engineer Carroll Shelby who is solicited by Henry Ford II to build a car that can beat Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans World Championship in France. Shelby, determined to complete Ford’s ambitious task, insists on putting the wild and loose British driver Ken Miles behind the wheel. What ensues is the fast-playing tale of a couple eccentric and erratic people infiltrating a world filled with professional industrialists to take on the impossible.
Matt Damon will play Shelby in the film and Christian Bale will play Miles. Rather than one being the lead and the other being a supporting role, both actors are co-leading the film, making them both eligible for Best Actor in a Leading Role nominations at the Oscars come February.
With Two Top Tier Hollywood Veterans Co-Leading, Will this mean “Damon v Bale” at the Oscars?
Neither Damon nor Bale is a stranger to the Academy Awards. They each have a trophy and several nominations under their belts. Bale won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 2010’s “The Fighter.” He was nominated in that same category for his 2015 performance in “The Big Short,” and has two Best Leading Actor nominations for 2013’s “American Hustle” and 2018’s “Vice.”
Damon on the other hand has never won an Oscar for acting. His only win was for 1997’s “Good Will Hunting” in the Best Original Screenplay category. That same year, however, he was nominated for Best Actor in “Good Will Hunting” and received the same nomination eight years later for his role in “The Martian.” He also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in 2009’s “Invictus” and a best picture nomination for producing “Manchester By The Sea” in 2016.
Both actors are evidently prestigious and immensely talented. At the same time, though, it is safe to assume that they are also both hungry for that Best Leading Actor award. If they both deliver in “Ford v Ferrari,” then it could become Damon v Bale at the Oscars.
June Release pushed back and now will fight Streaming Wars for Audience Attention
“Ford v Ferrari” debuted at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this year and played again at the Toronto Film Festival. The film received favorable reviews following both festivals. In particular, critics praised the movie for its race-like rhythm and the performances from its two stars. Additionally, while Mangold’s previous work has been generally dark in tone, “Ford v Ferrari” has an upbeat energy and a good sense of humor.
Under the banner of 20th Century Fox, the movie was originally scheduled to come out on June 28th. However, after the merger between Fox and Disney, the release date was pushed back to put it closer to Hollywood’s awards season. It’s new November 15th release date does not give it much rivalry for opening weekend at the box office. However, it is sandwiched between the release of “Doctor Sleep” the week before and “Frozen 2” the week after. Likewise, Disney+ comes out on the 12th, which could very well keep people away from the theaters for a few days. Thus, when it comes to “Ford v Ferrari,” the key word may be competition. It is a movie about the clash between two automobile tycoons, focusing on the strained relationship between a radical engineer and a hostile driver. Furthermore, upon release, “Ford v Ferrari” will have to prove itself against other forms of entertainment coming out in November, and come award season, we may see Damon and Bale taking the stage against each other for their two performances in the same film.
Nostalgia Gives Birth to a Biopic that Demands a Celestial Talent to Honor his Halo-like Memory
After last year’s Oscar nominated documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” stirred up nostalgia for the retro children’s show “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” and its wholesome host Fred Rogers, it was only a matter of time before we saw the loveable man portrayed in a feature.
In January 2018, Sony’s Tristar Pictures bought the rights to a screenplay titled “Are You My Friend.” Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster wrote the script over six years ago and it earned a place on the 2013 blacklist. Centered on Fred Rogers, the story focuses on his relationship with a skeptical Esquire reporter who finds a transformed outlook on life when he sits down to interview the endearing kids show host.
The project was retitled “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” and from the earliest stages of development, one question was on everyone’s mind: who could portray the renowned Mr. Rogers on the screen? Being a legendary figure for an entire generation’s childhood and holding an unparalleled demeanor of authenticity, gentility, and kindness, not just anyone could fit Mr. Rogers’ white-laced, sky-blue sneakers.
Therefore, one of TriStar’s first decisions in pre-production was to cast somebody who could accurately and effectively capture Mr. Rogers’ quasi-celestial star power. The studio also also needed to find somebody who could portray Rogers in his middle ages, as the film takes place in the mid-nineties, towards the end of his career.
Rather than go for an unknown to play the lead, Sony aimed high and casted the incomparable Tom Hanks, turning the project into an image of an icon playing an icon.
Make no mistake, Tom Hanks has more than enough talent to play Mr. Rogers. With two Oscar wins and three additional nominations under his belt, the sixty-three year old actor seems up to snuff for any role thrown his way. Over the years he’s been in everything from comedies to dramas to action flicks to musicals. He’s played diverse fictional characters from the dim-witted Forrest Gump to a literal man-child in “Big,” and has portrayed several real figures such as Captain Richard Phillips, Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, Ben Bradlee, Walt Disney and more—not to mention his unmistakable voice-acting as Woody in the “Toy Story” franchise.
Icon portrays Icon—The Dilemma of Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers
Indeed, nothing seems beyond Tom Hank’s abilities, and his talent is appreciated widely enough that his mere presence on screen is likely to draw an audience. That being said, it is possible that when it comes to playing Fred Rogers, Hanks’ strength may actually be his weakness, and his recognizability may paradoxically end up detrimental to the performance.
As aforementioned, Mr. Rogers is an icon. There can only be one of him. No matter who plays him, audiences will naturally notice inconsistencies between the actor’s portrayal of the man and the man himself. If an unknown actor played Rogers, however, then at least there would be a blank canvas on which the film could project their depiction of him.
With Tom Hanks being an icon as well, audiences will inevitably see him within the character. No matter how well he portrays Rogers, Tom Hanks will always be Tom Hanks to the audience. Thus, viewers may struggle to overlook the actor when aiming to appreciate the character.
This is already somewhat evidenced in the film’s trailer. While Hanks seems to be doing a good job playing the lead character, there is one noticeably uncanny element—his voice. Both Hanks and Rogers have recognizable voices, but they are very different in tone. When Hanks tries to impersonate Rogers’ light, gentle voice, we cannot help but hear traces of the actor’s signature deep drawl underneath. This is just one manifestation of the dilemma that comes with Hanks as Rogers.
None of this is to say that Tom Hanks will not be able to pull the role off. Stranger casting choices have surprised us in the past, and “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” already received positive acclaim following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. We are just noting that despite the star power that Hanks brings to the project, there is a cost to that star power in a role like this. The actor will have to deliver something truly above and beyond to convince us that he is the real Fred Rogers and not just Tom Hanks sporting a red-sweater, white shirt, tie, and khakis, singing along in the Land of Make-Believe.
Another Lovely Addition to the ‘Hyper-Masculine Buff Guy’ goes Paternal Trope
Watching the trailer for John Cena’s new Nickelodeon movie “Playing With Fire,” one might think that it looks familiar. A movie about a macho guy played by a buff actor being left in charge of a bunch of kids is certainly something we’ve seen before. From Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Kindergarten Cop” to Vin Diesel’s “The Pacifier” to Dave Bautista’s “My Spy,” this is a trope that has been done time and time again.
Each film and each actor brings something new to this micro-genre, however, so the ultimate question is really what John Cena and the people at Nickelodeon and Walden Media will do differently with it.
Experienced Children-Oriented Cast & Crew brings Much to Look Forward to
Andy Fickman is directing “Playing With Fire.” Fickman has directed a number of live-action kids movies from “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2,” to “She’s The Man” to “Race To Witch Mountain.” This is not even Fickman’s first film where a hyper-masculine leading man falls into a father position, as he directed “The Game Plan” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson back in 2007. The film is also based off of a screenplay by novice writer and comedy actor Dan Ewen, and Matt Lieberman of “The Addams Family.”
What will really be stealing the show in “Playing With Fire” however will be John Cena, who plays firefighter Jake Carson. After Carson and his fellow unit members rescue a family of three children from a burning building, they must care for the kids until they reunite them with their family. Given the fact that the children are roughly three, nine, and sixteen years old, a whole lot of hilarity takes place when they are put in the hands of these inexperienced paternal figures.
John Cena has worked with children before. After becoming famous as a WWE wrestler, Cena moved into film acting in 2006 in the action-war movie “The Marine.” He swiftly moved over to starring in more wholesome comedic content, though, hosting Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards and the revival of “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” Known as a gentle giant both on and off screen, the massive Cena, standing six feet tall at 250 pounds, has an enormous heart beneath his muscly exterior, making him the obvious choice for the lead role in “Playing With Fire.”
Alongside Cena, Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo play fellow firefighters in the movie. These two comedians are bound to provide some great banter, playing the two goofy sidekicks next to the hardened Cena. Likewise, the children in the film will be played by Finley Rose Slater, Christian Convery, and Brianna Hildebrand.
All the Kids Love John Cena, He’s basically a Giant Goofy TV Dad Already
Being hardly more than a toddler, Slater has never been in a movie before. At ten years old, Convery has appeared in a couple projects, including “Venom” and “Beautiful Boy.” Hildebrand, however, you may recognize as the comically apathetic Negasonic Teenage Warhead in “Deadpool” and “Deadpool 2.” Overall, there is a lot of talent in the film backing Cena up, both old and young, familiar and new.
This is the second time that Nickelodeon Movies joined forced with Walden Media this year. In August, the two production companies teamed up for “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” which received positive reviews and delivered as a fun comedy for the whole family. Joining the party for “Playing With Fire” is also Broken Road Productions, which has produced classic family films such as “Daddy Daycare,” “Are We There Yet?” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
In total, “Playing With Fire” may be a story that has been rehashed multiple times, yet it still seems promising in its own right. There is enough talent to keep the adults entertained and enough slapstick, kids humor to keep the children laughing. The movie comes out on November 8th and currently has no other major children’s movies to go up against. Thus, if everything goes right, “Playing With Fire” could spark an audience and ignite itself as a hit.
Number 1: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. No one’s ever really gone… Rey’s journey continues and the Skywalker saga concludes in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” coming December 2019.
Second: Cold Brook. This is the story of two ordinary guys in a small town who embark on an extraordinary adventure. It’s a story about coming home, which is something that everyone, everywhere has an innate desire to do.
Third: Rise of Jordan Peterson. A rare, intimate glimpse into the life and mind of Jordan Peterson, the academic and best-selling author who captured the world’s attention with his criticisms of political correctness and his life-changing philosophy on discovering personal meaning. “The Rise of Jordan Peterson” intimately traces the transformative period of Peterson’s life while visiting rare moments with his family, friends and foes who share their own versions of the Jordan Peterson story.
Fourth: Girl on the Third Floor. In this slow-burn haunted house movie, Don Koch is an inadequate husband who tries to renovate a rundown mansion with a sordid history for his growing family, only to learn that the house has other plans of its own, especially when a mysterious and seductive woman appears and refuses to leave.
Fifth: Autonomy. In this brief history of the development of self-driving cars, we see an even-handed look at the pros and cons of giving up human control for something that has been a significant part of people’s lives for more than 100 years. “Autonomy” suggests that we are at a significant cultural and economic turning point.
Sixth: Arctic Dogs. Hawkeye’s Jeremy Renner gets animated as Swifty, an Arctic Fox who works in the mailroom of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service. But, he has much bigger dreams: he yearns to become a Top Dog, the Arctic’s star husky.
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Reshoot Aims To Overcome The Weinstein Company’s Creative Stains
At the end of this week, David Glasser’s young 101 Studios will release director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s latest film, “The Current War: Director’s Cut”—and the second half of that title is just as crucial as the first.
“The Current War” first came out way back in 2017, debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival. Despite having an impressive cast featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, and Tom Holland, the film received strikingly negative reviews following the festival. Honestly though, Gomez-Rejon expected nothing else at the time.
‘The Current War’ before the ‘Director’s Cut’ Messed Up by Harvey Weinstein
Although Gomez-Rejon did direct this initial cut, the film was edited under the domineering influence of executive producer Harvey Weinstein. Initially a product of The Weinstein Company, “The Current War” may have been Gomez-Rejon’s vision to begin with, but Weinstein reportedly gutted the project into something that the director ended up feeling ashamed of.
“The Current War” was thus stuck in a rare state of pre-release limbo, with its primary distribution company all but vanishing before it could hit screens across the globe. While Gomez-Rejon could have taken this opportunity to bury the past and try to forget about the film’s initial failure, he instead decided to make the most of his unique situation. With Weinstein out of the picture, he resolved to reshoot and re-edit “The Current War” to fit his original vision.
With #MeToo chucking Weinstein out, Gomez-Rejon’s Original Vision is In: A Compelling Story that Does Justice to its Historical Roots
Two years after production first wrapped on “The Current War,” Gomez-Rejon was able to get all of the primary actors back on set in London to help him recreate his cut of the film. The new version includes additional scenes that did not make it past development under Weinstein’s control. Likewise, it refocuses the film as a character-based story rather than a jargony historical drama.
Narratively, “The Current War” is about the notorious rivalry between radical inventors Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Shannon) at the end of the nineteenth century. In the movie’s dramatization of true events, the two visionary minds compete for the honor of lighting the 1893 Chicago’s Worlds Fair, Edison relying on the Direct Current system for electric light and Westinghouse committed to the Alternating Current system. Also featured in the movie will be historical figures such as inventor Nicola Tesla (Hoult), businessmen Samuel Insull (Holland) and J.P Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen), and spouses Mary Edison (Tuppence Middleton) and Marguerite Westinghouse (Katherine Waterston).
The new director’s cut will retain the bones of the same story, but it will tell that story in a way that Gomez-Rejon sees fitting and just. This is why distinctly adding “Directors Cut” to the title, rather than just putting it as an afterthought, is so important. By specifically calling the project “The Current War: Director’s Cut,” Gomez-Rejon is rebranding the film as something separate from the infamous picture that aired at Toronto in 2017.
Of course, this cut would not be possible without a few powerful allies in Gomez-Rejon’s corner. 101 Studio bought the film’s rights in April, promising to spearhead its wide release. Likewise, long time electricity buff, Timur Bekmambetov, director of “Ben-Hur,” “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter,” and “Wanted,” stepped in to help Gomez-Rejon finance the reshoots.
‘The Director’s’ Allies helped make the ‘Cut’, especially Martin Scorsese who Saved the Day
The most prestigious help came from none other than Martin Scorsese, who took over as an executive producer in the wake of Weinstein’s downfall. Unlike Weinstein, though, Scorsese took a hands-off approach to the project, helping out when needed, but letting Gomez-Rejon follow his own path. A director himself, Scorsese had respect for the creative process and did not overstep with his authority as producer.
A few lucky viewers have already attended pre-screenings for “The Current War: Director’s Cut” and the verdict has been positive. Most say that the new version vastly exceeds the quality of its predecessor. So rest easy filmgoers, historians, and electricity connoisseurs, for the story of Edison and Westinghouse may finally be told with justice, and regardless of critical reception altogether, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will be able to continue his career knowing that “The Current War” exists the way he wants it to.
Number 1: The Turning. At a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside, new nanny Kate (Mackenzie Davis, “Terminator: Dark Fate”) is charged with the care of two troubled orphans: Flora (Brooklynn Prince, “The Florida Project”) and Miles (Finn Wolfhard, “Stranger Things”). Quickly though, Kate discovers that both the children and the house are harboring dark secrets and things may not be as they appear. Directed by Floria Sigismondi, Steven Spielberg also serves as an executive producer.
Second: The Song Of Names. Martin Simmonds (Tim Roth) has been haunted throughout his life by the mysterious disappearance of his “brother” and extraordinary best friend, a Polish Jewish virtuoso violinist, Dovidl Rapaport, who vanished shortly before the 1951 London debut concert that would have launched his brilliant career. Thirty-five years later, Martin discovers that Dovidl (Clive Owen) may still be alive, and sets out on an obsessive intercontinental search to find him and learn why he left.
Third: Three brilliant visionaries set off in a charged battle for the future in The Current War, the epic story of the cutthroat competition that literally lit up the modern world. Benedict Cumberbatch is Thomas Edison, the celebrity inventor on the verge of bringing electricity to Manhattan with his radical new DC technology.
On the eve of triumph, his plans are upended by charismatic businessman George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who believes he and his partner, the upstart genius Nikolai Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), have a superior idea for how to rapidly electrify America: with AC current.
As Edison and Westinghouse grapple for who will power the nation, they spark one of the first and greatest corporate feuds in American history, establishing for future Titans of Industry the need to break all the rules.
Fourth: Uncut Gems. From acclaimed filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie comes an electrifying crime thriller about Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score.
When he makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime, Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides, in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
Fifth: The Etruscan Smile stars Brian Cox (HBO’s Succession and current Broadway leading man in The Great Society) as Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment.<p> Moving in with his estranged son, Rory’s life will be transformed, just when he expects it least, through a newly found love for his baby grandson.
Sixth: Last but not least, In PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY, the lovable rogue is back. Bea, Thomas, and the rabbits have created a makeshift family, but despite his best efforts, Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous reputation.
Adventuring out of the garden, Peter finds himself in a world where his mischief is appreciated, but when his family risks everything to come looking for him, Peter must figure out what kind of bunny he wants to be.
The film stars the voice of James Corden as the title character, with Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Daisy Ridley, and David Oyelowo also starring.
In “Joker”, Batman’s Gotham City is a cesspool of dirt and depravity where Arthur appears doomed to live and die encircled with nothing but depression and humiliation. Mentally Ill and mercilessly tortured by the “sane” members of society all around him, he finds some respite in his chosen career of clown-for-hire and hopeful comedian wannabe by night.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is a follow-up to the 2009 zombie-horror-comedy “Zombieland.” It has been ten years since the first movie hit theaters and surprised audiences with its humor and fresh take on the genre. Fortunately, despite how long it has taken to produce a sequel, the aforementioned original cast and director are back in their rightful places for the new film.
“IT: Chapter 2” is the sequel to Warner Brother’s 2017 blockbuster hit, “IT”, and it was the most anticipated horror movie of the year. Splitting the extensive story into two chronological films will likely be a more enthralling and digestible way to appreciate It, even if it does deviate from King’s literary form. Therefore, what makes this film an anomaly in the world of direct sequels, is that it takes place twenty-seven years after the events of the first film.
Set in the 1890s, this upcoming black-and-white horror movie follows the story of two lighthouse keepers as they battle cabin fever, intoxication, madness, mystery, and mayhem on a secluded New England island.
“The Addams Family” is based off of Charles Addams’ famous 1960s live-action TV series of the same name. Just like the series, it focuses on the title family, which is made up of ghoulish versions of American nuclear family archetypes.
“Sleeping Beauty” is certainly a timeless tale, and thus Maleficent is an everlasting villain. However, there is one recent performance of the antagonist that stands above the rest. And that is Angelina Jolie’s.
“Mary” is not the pleasant melodrama that we might have been expecting or even hoping for. Instead it is yet another horror movie, and while the ship setting looks somewhat original, the possessed little girl trope and the cursed old relic convention cannot help but render the film a little clichéd.
“Sleeping Beauty” is certainly a timeless tale, and thus Maleficent is an everlasting villain. However, there is one recent performance of the antagonist that stands above the rest. And that is Angelina Jolie’s.
Set in the 1890s, this upcoming black-and-white horror movie follows the story of two lighthouse keepers as they battle cabin fever, intoxication, madness, mystery, and mayhem on a secluded New England island.
“Jojo Rabbit” is about a young boy in the Hitler Youth. Like many German kids of the time, he aspires to be a Nazi soldier when he grows up. He buys into the party’s ideologies and believes their propaganda. That is until he comes face to face with a Jewish girl and learns, despite what the Nazis have taught him, that she is harmless, pleasant, and appealing.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is a follow-up to the 2009 zombie-horror-comedy “Zombieland.” It has been ten years since the first movie hit theaters and surprised audiences with its humor and fresh take on the genre. Fortunately, despite how long it has taken to produce a sequel, the aforementioned original cast and director are back in their rightful places for the new film.
In this feminist dystopia, critics recognized that the women in “Paradise Hills” went beyond simple archetypes, and offered an array of original voices.
What’s in the 2nd Official Trailer that wasn’t in the 1st
The first trailer, which was more like a teaser, was released for the film in late August, and it left a lot unsaid with the short, two-minute clip that viewers first saw. This week’s newest trailer release now showcases the key details of the movie’s core plot: the real life Fox News Scandal of the women who brought down one of the most powerful media executives, Roger Ailes.
2nd official trailer for “bombshell”
“Bombshell” stars Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, and John Lithgow, and it will be released in theaters at the end of the year on December 20th.
Listen and watch our curated songs below that we have compiled for you. It’s a great way to groove into the Halloween season this October!
1. Time for the “Monster Mash”
The monster mash – bobby “boris” pickett
This novelty song first came out in the early 60’s, and yet it has been remade by the likes of The Beach Boys and punk band The MisFits. The song is narrated by a scientist whose monster rises from the dead to preform a new dance…. “the monster mash”.
2. Who you Gonna Call? “Ghostbusters!”
walk the moon
The Ghostbuster theme song and opening song to the 1984 movie about a team of scientists who, upon accidentally opening a gateway to another dimension and releasing evil spirits to the city, become “ghostbusters”.
3. Stumble into the Rocky Horror “Time Warp”
time warp
Time Warp stems from the horror, rock, comedy, musical, cult favorite movie about a couple that come across an eerie mansion after their car has a flat tire. The night is filled with wild and bizarre characters, including the likes of the one and only Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
4. ‘Cause this is “Thriller!” Thriller Night!
thriller – michael jackson.
In a nearly 14 minute long song, translated into a horror musical, Michael Jackson, while walking home after a movie, is confronted by zombies, gets turned into one, and dances with the horde of the undead.
5. And Let’s Not Forget . . . “The Addams Family”
the addams family – vic mizzy
The theme song for “The Addams Family” was composed for the 1960’s TV sitcom and has been reused throughout its various iterations across time. The family is comprised of Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley, Lurch, Grandma, Uncle Fester and Cousin Itt.
6. Ever Feel Like “Somebody’s Watching Me”?
somebody’s watching me – rockwell
The song shows a paranoid man, perfect for the Halloween season, with a haunted house theme filled with a floating head, gravestones, ravens and a freaky shower scene reminiscent of the movie Psycho.
7. The Strange One-Eyed “Purple People Eater” Just Wants to Rock ‘N’ Roll in the Band Just like the Rest of Us
purple people eater – sheb wooley
How more bizarre and quintessential for this coming holiday than a one-eye, one-horned, flying, purple people-eater, a strange creature that comes down to earth to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
8. “This Is Halloween!” “This Is Halloween!”
this is halloween – danny elfman
The anthem sang by Halloween Town residents in the 1993 animated movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
9. Does a Special Someone Haunt Your Mind? “I Put A Spell on You”
i put a spell on you – screamin’ jay hawkins
This music video is very freaky, channeling a voodoo like mood, casting a spell on a “special” someone and sporting his skull in tow.
Edward Norton Returns to Director’s Chair for 1950s Detective Drama
The last time Edward Norton directed, it was nineteen years ago for a forgotten Ben Stiller romantic comedy called “Keeping the Faith.” Since then, the three time Oscar nominated actor has remained primarily in front of the camera, starring in several iconic movies across the twentieth century and only occasionally dabbling in producing, cinematography, or editing.
On November 1st, however, Norton returns to the director’s chair once again, this time for a gritty, 1950s detective drama based off of a screenplay he wrote. The film is called “Motherless Brooklyn.” It is an adaptation of a 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel by Jonathan Lethem. Norton’s screenplay of the story will go down as his first writing credit.
Starring a Detective with a Disability, Never-Before-Seen on the Silver Screen
“Motherless Brooklyn” is about a private investigator working in mid-twentieth century New York City—Brooklyn, obviously. Played by Norton himself, the private eye is named Lionel Essrog, and despite his daring profession, he is an estranged and lonely man who suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome.
Stuttering, twitchy, and seemingly nervous all the time, Essrog is not your everyday Hollywood protagonist. He is vulnerable and smitten with anxiety, as the movie will show by telling the story from his point of view. Essrog is a new kind of character for Norton as well, for the actor usually plays the serious, smart, but oftentimes devilish lead. Not since “Primal Fear”, where he played a schizophrenic murder suspect, with a severe stutter, has he dabbled in this type of over-the-top character portrayal. That performance was his career debut, and breakthrough, earning a Golden Globe supporting actor win and an Oscar nomination for same.
In the film, Essrog’s only friend is Frank Minna, his mentor played by Bruce Willis. After Minna is murdered, the crux of the story centers on Essrog trying to figure out who done it. Using his condition not as a disability, but as a resource for understanding and analyzing situations, Essrog employs his Tourette’s to his advantage, and they aid him in cracking the case.
Classic Oscar Bait Elements, perhaps, but Will it Play in 2020?
It is a classic detective story with an original twist. Everything about “Motherless Brooklyn” fits in with the bygone noir genre, but instead of having the leading character be overly hard-boiled, he is highly susceptible and must navigate a corrupt urban world while also dealing with his own inner-turmoil.
Alongside Norton and Willis, Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe also star in the film, making the cast pretty star studded. On top of disability, the movie’s themes will also include power, its limits, its ethics, and the layers of depravity that surround it. While the conventional noir genre may be dead in the twenty-first century, those themes have proven themselves timeless. Like any good noir film, “Motherless Brooklyn” is labyrinth-like in its structure and bound to throw a couple of unexpected narrative turns our way.
Although film noir may not be on the brink of a revival, “Motherless Brooklyn” could still be a stimulating project. The movie has clear talent and thematic relevance on its side, and the script is based off of popular source material that feels both familiar and fresh.
Given its 1950s setting and retro noir aspects, “Motherless Brooklyn” is not exactly doing anything to combat a whitewashed Hollywood. However, assuming that the movie handles it with appropriate sensitivity, we applaud Norton for bringing matters of disability to the big screen. Let’s hope that he plays the part with the grace it deserves, does right by the misunderstood trope, and perhaps even demystifies a few assumptions about the condition in the process.
Springsteen’s Introspective Brilliance Rocks onto the Big Screen in Lieu of a Concert Tour
Rock-n-roll legend Bruce Springsteen has appeared in films before. From dancing with Courtney Cox in his own music video, to chiming in on different rockumentaries, to making a hilarious cameo in “High Fidelity,” the Boss is no stranger to the screen. This is not even to mention the nearly three hundred movie soundtracks that he has appeared on—winning an Oscar for his original song “Streets of Philadelphia” in 1993 and more recently having a film made directly about his music in 2019’s “Blinded By The Light.”
On October 25th, Springsteen invites his audience to enjoy a new kind of filmic experience to compliment his music. Springsteen’s latest album, “Western Stars,” came out in May, and like all of the rocker’s work, it is ruggedly poetic and grippingly suggestive of something that feels fundamentally American. Instead of going on a tour to promote this album, though, Springsteen is releasing a film to accompany it.
A Documentary-Music Video that Expands Upon Bruce Springsteen’s Latest Album
“Western Stars” (the film) is a cinematic endeavor that combines many different kinds of footage and stories, all set to the music from Springsteen’s latest record. It is partially an elongated music video that goes on for the album’s entire twelve tracks. At the same time, it is also a documentary, using found-footage and voice over narration to create a commentary about Springsteen’s life and career. Then again, it is also a concert video, as it incorporates live performances from several Bruce shows.
A conglomeration of mediums and modes, “Western Stars” is a unique project. Given its motley style, the film is very hard to pin as a particular art form. It is just as musical as it is cinematic—a visual album with Springsteen as the glue holding everything together.
A Nostalgic Directorial Collaboration Rooted in Springsteen’s Earliest Years
Springsteen himself directed the movie alongside longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. In addition to Springsteen’s brilliant lyric-writing abilities, the singer also published a memoir in 2016 and curated his own Broadway performance in 2017. Both of these projects were highly esteemed, demonstrating that he knows how to communicate a story or message in more than just a musical medium.
Zimny, on the other hand, is a filmmaker first and foremost. He has been with Bruce since 2001, when he directed the concert video, “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live In New York City.” Since then they have worked together on numerous documentaries and music videos. “Western Stars” however, is a first for both of them—an unprecedented blend of all the cinematic forms they’ve worked in so far.
“Western Stars” debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year, and it received positive reviews. It is praised for the way it captures and expands upon everything Springsteen says on the album. Although the musician hails from New Jersey, the film has an appropriately Western energy, with desert-country imagery that compliments the songs’ themes regarding growing up, growing old, and navigating your inner-American frontier through solemn ballads and explosive hard rock.
