Review Roundup: Vince Vaughn Slays in Body-Swap Movie “Freaky”
One of the prime joys of the body-swap comedy premise is just how simple it is. Two people suddenly finding themselves—well, their conscious “selves”—inside the other’s body. In 1988’s Big, it was a young boy making a wish to be “big” and ending up in the body of an adult (Tom Hanks, no less). In 2003’s Freaky Friday, based on a novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers, a mother and daughter switch bodies after a magical Chinese fortune cookie does the work.
Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” Coming Home in December
Even if you managed to make it to a theater to catch Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, having Tenet in your home seems like a no brainer. The reason, aside from the pleasure of plunging into Nolan’s complex, confounding spy thriller again, is being able to pause it, rewind it, puzzle it out on your time. The film is a trip, and the more time you get to stroll its switchbacks and MC Escher-like corridors,
“The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special” Official Trailer Promises Much-Needed Cuteness
For a certain type of Star Wars fan, the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special holds a special place in their heart. It came just a year after George Lucas’s 1977 game-changing first film, Star Wars IV – A New Hope, and was the first official Star Wars spinoff, set between the events in A New Hope and 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. It was…not well received,
What’s Coming to HBO Max This November
Do you need something to take your mind off, well, everything? Well, there’s a bunch coming to HBO Max this November that will help you focus on stuff that’s containable, right there on your screen, and that option feels very good right about now. The streaming service has just released a video teeing up all their upcoming series, specials, and films, and it gives us some hope we’ll be able to find good stuff to feed into our souls.
See How The Monster in “Come Play” Was Created
“I grew up on Amblin movies, and they made movies that are very scary,” says Come Play director Jacob Chase in this new featurette from Focus Features. “And they weren’t afraid to scare children,” he adds.
Scaring children is one of the goals of Chase’s new film, and to that end, he utilized the kind of old-school production design and practical effects in which the hand-built and hand-made becomes deliciously creepy.
“One Night In Miami” Cast Split Between Lead & Supporting Categories for Awards Race
Regina King‘s stellar directorial debut One Night in Miami features a quartet of very strong lead performances. With the film already buzzed as one of the early contenders to take in a haul of award nominations, Amazon has recently announced how they’ll position their four lead actors. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. will head into awards season vying for a mix of leading and supporting nominations,
Michael Myers is Back in Chilling New Teaser for “Halloween Kills”
The biggest reveal in this brand new Halloween Kills teaser is that Judy Greer’s Karen is still wearing that Christmas sweater from two years ago! Okay, there are juicier things happening in this glimpse at David Gordon Green’s follow-up to his sensational 2018 Halloween sequel of John Carpenter’s iconic 1978 original, namely that Karen and the indomitable Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) are once again facing the unkillable killing machine that is Michael Myers.
“You Should Have Left” Production Designer on the Lasting Allure of the Haunted House
The haunted house has been a staple of the horror genre since the early days of silent films. There’s just something about creaky doors and shadows dancing around in dimly lit hallways that send shivers up our spines — especially when it’s a dark and stormy night.
And with most of us homebound for Halloween, what better time to celebrate the haunted house?
“You never know what’s around the corner,” says production designer Sophie Becher during a zoom interview.
“His House” Writer/Director Remi Weekes on his Gut Punch Feature Debut
Back another lifetime ago, writer/director Remi Weekes‘ His House celebrated its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this past January. Netflix quickly acquired it, and the future was looking bright for the talented filmmaker and his debut feature. You know what happened next.
Yet here we are, months later and living in our nightmarish world, with Weekes’ stunning horror film set to debut on October 30. “I’m excited,” Weekes said from London when I asked him what it felt like to finally see his film released into the wild,
“The White Tiger” Trailer Reveals Ramin Bahrani & Priyanka Chopra’s Searing Drama
If you never read Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize-winning 2008 novel “The White Tiger”—and you still should—director Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation offers another way to experience Adiga’s phenomenal, searing story. Bahrani, the talented director behind 2014’s home foreclosure drama 99 Homes, adapted the book himself, and he’s populated his cast with both major and up-and-coming stars. Those include your three leads—rising talent Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, and Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao. This is one of the rare cases where it really seems like Bahrani was the only choice to adapt this story—Adiga dedicated the novel to him upon its publication.
Composer Steven Price on Scoring David Attenborough’s Plea to Humanity & Glen Keane’s “Over the Moon”
Those who work in the arts have an innate ability to invoke emotions through their work— to cause an audience to connect with a certain theme or issue. But what if that issue is the inevitable destruction of the planet told through the life story of one famed historian and world traveler? That was the daunting task presented to Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Gravity, Suicide Squad, Baby Driver).
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet serves dual purposes as both Attenborough’s witness statement — his plea to humanity to save the Earth — and an autobiography of sorts.
Writer/Director Zoe Lister-Jones on her Bewitching Horror Film “The Craft: Legacy”
Many fans of 1996’s The Craft still watch it with great regularity. Now writer/director Zoe Lister-Jones brings a new story, The Craft: Legacy, told very much through the female lens. Though inspired by the original, Legacy speaks to a new generation of young women wishing to stand in their power, be they Wiccan or not. Starring young actors Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna, all of whom are poised to become huge stars,
Behold the Official Trailer for George Clooney’s Sci-Fi Film “The Midnight Sky”
And now we’ve got our first look at George Clooney’s upcoming sci-fi film The Midnight Sky—as promised, Netflix has dropped the full trailer this morning. The film features Clooney as a lonely scientist named Augustine, marooned in the Arctic after some kind of global catastrophe. Augustine is trying to reach the Ether, a spaceship that “we hoped would be our future,” Augustine says, “I have to warn them about the conditions on Earth.”
“One Night In Miami” DP Tami Reiker on Regina King’s Stunning Directorial Debut
Tami Reiker has had a very busy year. She was the cinematographer on Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, one of the most-viewed movies ever on Netflix, and just finished work on One Night in Miami, Regina King’s feature debut as a director. The fact-based story is about the night four friends, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Cassius Clay, and Sam Cooke spent together on February 25th,
See First Footage From George Clooney’s Sci-Fi Film “The Midnight Sky”
Okay, so the footage is as sparse as the arctic setting depicted, but it’s exciting nonetheless to get our first peek at George Clooney’s upcoming sci- film for Netflix, The Midnight Sky. The teaser consists of some attempted radio communication from a scientist named Augustine (Clooney), marooned in the arctic, and a shot of Augustine trudging through his lonely, ice-covered world. The Midnight Sky is based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s book and was adapted by Mark L.
Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Wraps Filming
Big news over the weekend—Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings wrapped filming, the first-ever MCU movie with an all-Asian cast. We know this thanks to some exuberant social media posts from the film’s director Destin Daniel Cretton and its star Simu Liu. Each took to Instagram, and Liu released a passionate statement on Facebook, too, about wrapping production on their film for Marvel’s Phase 4.
Cast and crew finished filming down in Sydney,
Simon Kinberg Will Write & Produce “Battlestar Galactica” Film for Universal
One of television’s most beloved series, a cult favorite among sci-fi fans, is finally getting a proper big-screen adaptation. Longtime X-Men scribe, producer, and recently director (Dark Phoenix) Simon Kinberg will be writing and producing Battlestar Galactica for Universal. The Hollywood Reporter scoops that Kinberg and producer Dylan Clark will be adapting the nuanced series about humans on distant planets trying to outrun the sentient machines hellbent on destroying them.
Tom Hanks and Director Paul Greengrass Re-Team for “News of the World”
Director Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks delivered one of the more riveting films of the early 2010s with 2013’s Captain Phillips, which took on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama, which he captained, by Somali pirates. It was the first hijacking of an American cargo ship in 200-years, and in Greengrass and Hanks’ hands, Captain Phillips retold that story in a taut,
“A New York Christmas Wedding” Writer/Director Otoja Abit on His Debut Feature
When we attended the Savannah Film Festival in 2018, one of the filmmakers we covered was Otoja Abit, an actor who had roles in television series (The Defenders, The Night Of) and film (Stonewall), who was in Savannah to screen his short, Jitters. The 12-minute film centered on Abit’s central character, a man undergoing some last-second concerns in the moments before his wedding.
Jared Leto Reprising Joker Role in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”
That sound you hear is tens of thousands of “Snyder Cut” Justice League fans going nuts. The Hollywood Reporter has multiple sources that confirm that Jared Leto will be reprising his version of the Joker in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League for HBO Max. Leto played the iconic supervillain in David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad, and now THR says Leto has joined Snyder as he shoots additional footage for his long-awaited “Snyder Cut,”
