Matthew Monagle
God Gets Cranky in Neill Blomkamp’s Latest Oats Studio Short ‘God: Serengeti’
Despite the runaway success of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, the writer-director has faced increasingly diminishing returns as a filmmaker ever since. Whiz-bang visuals and an impressive cast weren’t enough to save Elysium, while Chappie has become better known in film circles as an internet meme (“That’s Chappie!”) than a film worth seeking out. Add in Blomkamp’s failed attempt at an Alien sequel and it seemed the director’s star had fully faded… that is, until Blomkamp announced his decision to create a serious of outrageous and expensive short films at zero cost to the public.
James Gunn Has Narrowed His ‘GotG3’ Soundtrack Down to ‘181 Songs’
If you spend enough time reading interviews with writer-directors, you may find yourself wondering how big a role music plays in the creative process. Hollywood is littered with movies that were written under the influence of a particularly strong playlist; filmmakers who have been given control over every aspect of production, from screenplay the final cut, can sometimes appear to be writing to the music that influenced them along the way. That’s one of the beautiful things about the work of James Gunn. Not only does he exhibit a delightfully eclectic taste in ’70s and ’80s music, he often finds ways to bring those songs directly into the action of his Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
Will Ferrell Confirms Mariah Carey’s ‘The House’ Cameo Horror Story
In a summer where most raunchy comedies seem to be flopping at the box office — Rough Night and Baywatch have certainly disappointed with their reviews and box office ratings — it looks like it might all come down to The House. The Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler comedy certainly has what it takes to win over fans; Ferrell and Poehler are both comedy stars in their own right, and the supporting cast features a mix of comedy veterans and rising stars who can and should sell every joke in the film.
Circle Michael Keaton’s Vulture in This New ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Feature
Is it strange that Marvel keeps releasing features for Spider-Man: Homecoming? The film is already riding a wave of critical and audience praise; many who have seen it have suggested that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is the best of the bunch, with the movie itself sitting near the top of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Homecoming has been the subject of trailers, features, commercials, and everything in between, and if I have any complaint with the way Disney operates, it’s this: don’t keep selling after you close the deal, my dude! We’re all super excited to see the continuing adventures of Peter Parker on the big screen.
Watch ‘The Mummy’ Cast Film That Zero-g Sequence in This 11 Minute, 360 Degree Feature
Most cinephiles have heard that old Gene Siskel chestnut about a movie needing to be more interesting than a dinner table conversation between its stars. I would like to add the following qualifier to that adage: any Tom Cruise movie should be more interesting than a behind-the-scenes interview on Cruise performing some of the film’s biggest stunts. Cruise’s attention to detail for action sequences is legendary, and while I may not have enjoyed The Mummy, I’ve honestly had a blast watching Cruise talk about the filmmaking process in every video that Universal Pictures has released.
Watch Charlize Theron Cut Loose in These ‘Atomic Blonde’ Clips
As excited as we are for this summer’s Atomic Blonde — you can read our own glowing review from this year’s SxSW if you still need a gentle nudge — you’d think we’d be all over every new piece of footage from the movie. But it seems a few clips managed to slip through our fingers this past week, so I’m taking this opportunity to bring you back up to speed. Two new Atomic Blonde clips, each themed to a piece of period-appropriate music? Plenty of Charlize Theron kicking [expletive] and taking names? Yeah, that’s definitely worth circling back a little bit for those of you who may have missed these clips.
Antonio Banderas Gives His Best John McClane Impression in the ‘Security’ Trailer
Look, we all know that there’s a moment for every movie. Sometimes you want to watch the challenging documentary about a group of people struggling against a broken system; sometimes you want to watch the award-winning foreign film that exposes injustices in another country. And sometimes, just sometimes, you want to watch the movie where Antonio Banderas plays a mall cop who shoots a bunch of bad guys in the head. We may not be able to help you with the first two, but today? Today we’ve got enough Banderas goodness to make your Sunday just a little brighter.
Melissa McCarthy Is Set to Save Christmas in ‘Margie Claus’
Rejoice, parents: you’ll soon have a new Christmas movie to add to your family’s holiday rotation. If your family was anything like my own, you probably grew tired of placating screaming nieces and nephews with the same ratty DVD copies of A Christmas Story, Elf, or Home Alone. That makes any new holiday movie — regardless of quality — a welcome change of pace. Arthur Christmas? Fine. Rise of the Guardians? It’ll do in a pinch. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale? Maybe save that one for the time in the evening when the uncles break out the adults-only eggnog. But a Melissa McCarthy Christmas comedy? That could be quite a boon for tired family members everywhere.
Noomi Rapace Goes Full ‘Orphan Black’ in the First Trailer for ‘Seven Sisters’
One of the few upsides of living in our current political climate is the uptick in dystopian film and television we’re about to see. From the successful run of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu to HBO’s planned adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, we are quite possibly entering in a new golden age of dystopian fiction, with every screenwriter who ever jotted down an idea about a broken society pitching their brains out with their original idea. That may not seem like much of a silver lining, but hey, it’s better than nothing!
Tom Cruise Is Probably Gonna Die in These 3 New ‘The Mummy’ Clips
We’re less than a week away from Universal’s latest attempt to launch a Dark Universe, and fans are still uncertain as to what’s in store for their favorite iconic horror characters. With stars like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe on board, will The Mummy be more action-packed than horrific? Does Cruise have another hit franchise on his hands — to go along with the Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher films — or will fans wish that this particular mummy had remained dead?
Things Get Awkward (and Sexy!) in the ‘Deadpool’ Gag Reel
Behold, the gag reel. Long a staple of the home video market, the gag reel was perhaps at its most popular in the 1990s, when Jackie Chan released a string of movies that included painful outtakes during the closing credits. When studios realized that they could package an entire DVD release around the special feature menu, the gag reel became a mainstay of any comedy releases over the last 15 years. And because Deadpool was one big improvised joke with enough physical humor to make Mel Brooks blush, it was a natural fit for the film’s Blu-ray release as well.
See Our Horrifying Future Through Dan Stevens’ Eyes in the New ‘Kill Switch’ Trailer
To a certain extent, first-person cinema has always been Hollywood at its most uninspired. “What do kids like? Video games. What do video games have? First-person camera angles. Therefore, if we create first-person movies, then all that sweet, sweet video game money is ours for the taking!” The truth, of course, is a little trickier than that. The format can work when a filmmaker finds a way to give its perspective narrative importance — Unfriended is a strong example of this — but too often, the first-person perspective is a neat trick that quickly tired audiences out (sorry, Hardcore Henry).