Tag Archives: Netflix

‘Gerald’s Game’ Review: Netflix’s Stephen King adaptation is as unsettling as ‘It’

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What’s as scary as Pennywise the Dancing Clown snatching up children in the sewers? A husband (Bruce Greenwood) and a wife (Carla Gugino) on a short getaway trip to spice things up and, after the wife has been handcuffed to the bed, the husband dying from a heart attack, leaving the wife trapped with no one coming for days. Netflix’s Stephen King adaptation, Gerald’s Game, directed by Mike Flanagan (Ouija: Origin of Evil), could never be the sort of crowd-pleaser that It has turned out to be, but it is undoubtedly as gut twisting, expertly crafted and emotionally engaging.

Despite being set almost entirely in one room, Gerald’s Game turns out to be a deeply visual and physical film, one about a character who is as fleshed out, if not more so, than those of most typical feature length pictures. Flanagan mines the progression of fear brought on by the situation, utilizing careful framing to solidify the peril, dynamic editing and abrasive close-ups to evoke the hallucinatory panic and bluntly lengthy shots when drastic measures must be taken.

Yet, Flanagan needed the level of commitment that Gugino and Greenwood bring for the elements to gel. Greenwood is mesmerizingly intense and Gugino is particularly moving, channeling a quiet vulnerability to sell her character’s arc. Her desperation is pitch perfect, adaptive to what’s emotionally at stake in each moment and never over the top just for desperation’s sake.

Similarly to It, this film deals with parental sexual harassment. Thankfully, it never verges into the exploitive. While a few tropes present here are definitely tiresome, a majority of the work done to frame the character’s journey is sensitive but direct, fully aware of the stance it needs to consistently take but also willing to venture into uncomfortable territory to justly tackle certain aspects. Take a careful look at the camera work. It’s never intrusive or excessive, used simply to augment the character’s emotions and the story’s elements of tension.

Gerald’s Game is the type of horror movie we need more of — an interesting concept, a story and a character that feel organic within that conceit and some purely cinematic filmmaking to make us want to look away, but never be able to.

Grade: B-

 

Featured image via Netflix.

2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

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After shocking snubs of supposed heavyweight contenders Jane, the PGA winner, and City of Ghosts, the DGA winner, and the BAFTA being given to a 2016 US release, I Am Not Your Negro, the documentary feature category is, essentially, without precursors to illuminate a likely winner.

In this case, it comes down to politics and buzz. A producer of Last Men in Aleppo, for a period of time, was not going to be able to attend the ceremony because of President Trump’s travel ban. Last year, The Salesman director Asghar Farhadi was also barred, and the narrative pushed his foreign film to a win. The producer ended up obtaining a Visa, but it wasn’t announced until after voting had closed. The same type of narrative could’ve cleared a path for the film to win.

Faces Places isn’t the most overtly political film, but it is certainly a contender because of the personality of Agnes Varda. Varda is a legendary filmmaker and a beloved figure, and many might want to see her take home an Oscar.

Strong Island might gain some traction, as it is a documentary about the murder of a young Black man and filmmaker Yance Ford is the first transgender director to receive an Oscar nomination.

And Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is about the Wall Street crash and the local, family run, Chinatown-based bank that ended up being the only bank the US government attempted to prosecute.

But the pick I’m going with is Icarus. The film comes from Netflix, a definite documentary force, and the voting period hit almost exactly at the same time as the Winter Olympics, an event many Russian athletes were banned from because of the very events that the film tracks. And with “Russia” in the headlines almost daily, voters might’ve been drawn to Icarus pretty easily.

The Nominees
Icarus
Faces Places
Strong Island
 Last Men in Aleppo
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

Will win: Icarus
Could win: Faces Places
Should win: Icarus
Should’ve been nominated: Jane

 

Featured image via Cohen Media Group

Who should Lucasfilm hire to direct ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’?

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With Colin Trevorrow exiting ‘Star Wars: Episode IX,’ who should Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm hire to replace him? Our staff offers some suggestions:

Levi Hill (Deputy Editor and Co-Chief Film Critic) — Rian Johnson

Gage Skidmore/Courtesy

To me, this was a tough choice. Why? Because there are quite a few big-budgeted directors that I think could make one hell of a Star Wars movie. Take, for example, what Guillermo del Toro could do with a massive budget and the freedom of world-building that Star Wars has been able to conjure up. Yet del Toro is also an idiosyncratic director that, in my opinion, works best when working from his own deliciously imaginative script. Then, rumored directors or writers like Sam Esmail or Stephen Daldry wouldn’t be bad choices, with Esmail in particular being an intriguing prospect — due to his love for one of the greatest sci-fis of all time (Fritz Lang’s Metropolis) as well as showrunning for the smartest sci-fi (sort of) show on TV right now, Mr. Robot.

Also, who wouldn’t want to see Ava DuVernay follow up A Wrinkle in Time with the biggest franchise of all-time?

But all of that to me is superfluous, because as much as any of us want to see another director take on Star Wars, the answer is likely right in front of us — and it’s not a bad thing. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi hasn’t even been seen by the public yet (and anyone, probably), but the film has already generated an immense amount of buzz from its one unbelievably beautiful and rousing trailer. To be fair, anything Star Wars related will generate buzz, but I know I’m not the only fan with the belief that the Johnson directed film could end up being the best in the entire series. But most importantly, Rian is an auteur that Lucasfilm has seemingly had no problems with on or off set. There have been no rumors about temperamental producers, slow-paced editors or wayward actors. That alone proves that Rian is passing in flying colors and that, to me, means he is the right and only choice to finish this highly touted new trilogy.

Kate Halliwell (Editor-At-Large) — Mimi Leder

Sarah E. Freeman/Courtesy

I’m not going to waste my time complaining about how male directors like Colin Trevorrow continue to fail upward in Hollywood, managing to turn flops like whatever The Book of Henry was into massive blockbuster deals, while talented female directors go to movie jail after just one underperforming film.

Okay, actually… just a quick rant.

Television is full of incredible female directors right now, many of which started in film and had to transition to TV after being shut out of opportunities in Hollywood. Since the news about Trevorrow broke, names like Ava DuVernay, Mimi Leder, Michelle MacLaren, Lesli Linka Glatter, Reed Morano and many more have been bandied about online — but how reasonable is it to think that a female director may actually get this job?

For my money, I’d give the film to Mimi Leder in a heartbeat. Whether crafting incredible shots on HBO’s The Leftovers or directing high grossing blockbusters like her 1998 film Deep Impact, Leder has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable directors for decades.

But let’s be real — it’s a pipe dream. Would someone like Leder, MacLaren, Morano or Linka Glatter absolutely slay this job? Of course. Do they deserve it? Absolutely. Will they actually get it? Not on your life.

When the untitled Han Solo film went through a similar director swap just a few months ago, the studio turned to Ron Howard — basically the safest, least inspired choice in the book. Press releases concerning Trevorrow’s exit have cited irreconcilable differences with Kathleen Kennedy and other producers of the film. Obviously, these directors aren’t getting the opportunities to do what they want with their Star Wars movies, no matter how inspired (or not) their vision may be. So as much as I’d like to see a female director take on Episode IX and show all of Hollywood what they’re missing, I’m selfish enough to want to keep my favorite female directors where they have the freedom to do what they want. And, for the most part, that’s on TV.

From The Handmaid’s Tale to HBO’s new (and incredible) The Deuce to Homeland and Breaking Bad, these ladies have proven themselves incredibly valuable in helping create and maintain the peak TV era. While Leder and others are still making movies — Leder’s upcoming Ruth Bader Ginsberg biopic starring Felicity Jones is set for 2018 — it’s TV where they can really strut their stuff.

So I’m not getting my hopes up. Give it to Howard, or Rian Johnson, or whatever white man will make the studios happy, if you must. I’ll be hanging with my girls at home on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon and wherever else they can truly do their thing.

Harrison Tunggal (Associate Editor and Co-Chief Film Critic) — Patty Jenkins 

Gage Skidmore/Courtesy

Do fired Star Wars directors become Force ghosts? Is this gif, this gif or this gif a better representation of the current state of Lucasfilm? Regardless, the production company behind the galaxy from far, far away continues to lose directors like Anakin loses limbs. A tentpole film losing its helmer is nothing new though, and somewhat analogously, Wonder Woman lost its first director, Michelle MacLaren, because of her creative differences with Warner Brothers. As we all know, Patty Jenkins replaced MacLaren and delivered one of the best superhero films of all time, suggesting that Jenkins knows how to cooperate with the demands of a studio. Whether Jenkins’ sock-folding can live up to Kathleen Kennedy’s high standards remains to be seen, but Jenkins has demonstrated an aptitude for storytelling within the rigid confines of an established universe. Hiring Jenkins would also allow her to close a trilogy hinged on Rey, a move that could make Rey even more inspiring and iconic than she already was. Just imagine the “No Man’s Land” scene but with the Force-wielding awesomeness of Rey. I want that scene more than Luke wants his power converters. Additionally, choosing Jenkins is a choice predicated on the assumption that Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be a darker film, just like The Empire Strikes Back. With that in mind, what was Wonder Woman if not a film that lifted its titular heroine from the darkness of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Jenkins’ Episode IX could do something similar, bringing Rey out of the darkness of The Last Jedi. If the tone of Wonder Woman was any indication, Jenkins can meld rollicking excitement and fun with darker moments of dramatic weight — if that doesn’t scream Star Wars, then I’m a trough of bantha fodder.

Kyle Kizu (Editorial Director) — Spike Jonze

aphrodite-in-nyc/Courtesy

I’m going to mutter the three words that doom anyone making a pitch for something/someone they know will likely fail to sell: Hear me out. If not for anything else, I’d want Lucasfilm to choose Spike Jonze simply because of the endless “wait, what the fu**?!” reactions on Twitter. But honestly, Jonze could do something wildly special with a Star Wars film. His four films are all intensely visual (as are all of his music videos) with Where the Wild Things Are showing that he can manage large scale CGI and Her displaying his absolutely masterful visual and stylistic rendering of setting (his Los Angeles is a quite distinct and singular futuristic vision). If he were to have the galaxy to play with, we could surely expect a captivating manifestation of bizarre — Star Wars needs bizarre — and utterly delightful imagination, the likes of which, after two merely decent visual Star Wars films, the franchise desperately needs. But visuals only matter so much and, thankfully, Jonze handles character with care and grace. With Her, the director offers one of the most tender, joyful and tragic character journeys of recent memory, and those three qualities are absolute must-haves when it comes to the final installment of any trilogy, let alone a Star Wars one. Jonze could dig deep into the vulnerable emotion of both the galactically massive, nearly 40 year journey of Luke, which might come to a close in Episode IX, as well as the intimate, explorative and raw discovery that is the journey of Rey unfolding before us. Now, the only thing that’s left to prove for Jonze is his ability to direct action, and I have an odd place in his career to point to. Spike Jonze has dabbled in feature films, music videos and documentaries. But he’s also directed skateboard videos. Yes, you read that right. Skateboard videos. And one particularly breathtaking shoot that handled intense choreography of action is the introduction to Fully Flared. Am I crazy? Maybe. But I think he could shoot the hell out of an explosive X-Wing dogfight and an epic lightsaber duel.

 

Do you agree with any of these choices? How would you have answered this week’s question? Sound off in the comments below.

Photos via aphrodite-in-nyc, Sarah E. Freeman and Gage Skidmore.

Feature image via Gage Skidmore.

Christian Bale is a Western cavalryman in first ‘Hostiles’ trailer

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Christian Bale and writer-director Scott Cooper have reteamed, after Out of the Furnace, for the upcoming Western Hostiles, which follows Captain Joseph J. Blocker (Bale) as he reluctantly escorts a Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) and a grieving woman (Rosamund Pike) through hostile territory. The film premiered this weekend at Telluride Film Festival to incredible acclaim, with The Hollywood Reporter and Variety saying that Bale could be a very strong Oscar contender for his performance. Riding that buzz, Hostiles has dropped its first trailer, released through Deadline Hollywood.

Hostiles finds itself in a very unique position this fall, currently without a distributor, which may be why the trailer landed with Deadline instead of being released through a film company online. The film accompanied a tribute to Christian Bale’s career at Telluride, which started the buzz of who might acquire the title — with companies such as Annapurna (new to distribution), Sony Pictures Classics and Netflix rumored as in the mix. But Variety says that Telluride isn’t particularly a festival where titles get picked up and suggests that there won’t be any official news until, at the earliest, Toronto International Film Festival, where the film is set to screen next on September 11.

With a trailer dropping, it seems as though the film is eyeing a 2017 release, considering that, with the Oscar buzz, it would be a strange move to release a trailer now and then wait over a year to release it next fall. A distributor would have to act fast to put together a marketing campaign that can get enough people in the theater to then realize that awards potential. And it also seems, with the subject matter, that 2017 is the prime window for a release, as the film deals with themes of hatred, racism and reconciliation, and can compare to today’s times, as talked about by Scott Cooper in Variety’s film podcast Playback.

Featured image via Lorey Sebastian, Le Grisbi Productions and Waypoint Entertainment.

Ed Skrein leaves ‘Hellboy’ reboot due to issues of whitewashing

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Last week, British actor Ed Skrein, recently of Deadpool, joined the Hellboy reboot currently underway with David Harbour (Stranger Things) set in the lead role and Neil Marshall (The Descent, Game of Thrones) in line to direct.

The casting, broke by The Hollywood Reporter, was an example of whitewashing because the character, Major Ben Daimio, is Japanese-American in the source material.

After the casting was announced, Jeff Yang, a CNN contributor and Editor-In-Chief of secretidentities.org, made a popular Twitter thread calling out the whitewashing, not only in Hellboy, but also within Hollywood in general. He offers various Asian actors that could’ve played the role of Daimio.

This year has seen plenty of controversy, of both whitewashing and cultural appropriation, with Ghost in the Shell, Iron Fist and Death Note, the last of which Netflix released this past weekend. Last year, Marvel and Tilda Swinton also encountered whitewashing backlash in regard to Swinton’s character in Dr. Strange.

While those actors stuck with their projects, Skrein is the first to step down from a role with consideration to whitewashing, at least of a major studio project. He made the announcement on Twitter this afternoon.

Skrein states that he was “unaware that the character in the original comics was of mixed Asian heritage” and that, once it had been brought up, he decided to leave the film because of the “worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts.” He says: “It is our responsibility to make moral decisions in difficult times and to give voice to inclusivity.”

Lionsgate also released an official statement along with Skrein’s exit, which can be found with The Hollywood Reporter‘s story.

“Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision.  It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”

Look below for Skrein’s official statement from Twitter:

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore.

‘Death Note’ Review: A boring, misguided and troubling adaptation

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Death Note has some minor positives — the rendering of the demon Ryuk is terrifying and visually perfect. Since this is a demon based in Japanese culture, he should’ve been voiced by a Japanese actor, but Willem Dafoe is, admittedly, wickedly and deliciously good. Lakeith Stanfield, Shea Whigham and Margaret Qualley are also all fairly serviceable in their roles.

But everything else about Netflix’s most recent original release is shockingly bad. No matter how well the supporters performed, they couldn’t make up for Nat Wolff. Not only does Wolff struggle to deliver his lines convincingly, and not awkwardly, but his facial expressions border on camp, which might’ve been an interesting choice had it been on purpose.

Wolff’s character, Light Turner, doesn’t receive any help from the writers or director Adam Wingard either. The story fails to sell Light’s motivations and never frames him in any way where audiences can feel any sort of sympathy for his psychological downfall. In fact, it’s difficult not to hate him intensely.

Death Note had a shot to be morally fascinating and, for a second (it was only a second), it seems like it might pull it off. But instead of thoroughly investigating the psyches of characters with the power of death in their hands, the film reverts to a cat and mouse game that also fails to be engaging.

For Death Note to have succeeded in its themes of morality, however, it would’ve had to be moral itself. The handling of Margaret Qualley’s Mia is sexist  — the character is merely used as a tool to progress Light’s journey. At one point, the film even goes so far as having Mia say that cheerleading is meaningless. And her fate, nonsensically and grossly explained, is infuriating.

The whitewashing and cultural appropriation are also embarrassingly bad. Death Note sells itself as an American adaptation, but the simple presence of Ryuk invokes Japanese culture and ethics. The film shamefully uses Japan and Japanese people at its convenience, even having the only named Japanese character put under mind control before being murdered. Both aspects disqualify it from being an “American adaptation.” It’s horrifically ignorant and entirely offensive.

Grade: F

‘Girls Trip’ crosses $100 million at the domestic box office

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Girls Trip, the comedy starring Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Reginal Hall and Tiffany Haddish, has just crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, making it the first film produced, directed, written and starring African Americans to do so, according to Blackfilm.com. Helmed by Malcolm D. Lee, director of Barbershop: The Next Cut, Undercover Brother and The Best Man, Girls Trip has been wildly successful in its run.

Releasing the same weekend as Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, on July 22, the film pulled in a domestic opening of $31.2 million and only dipped 37% in its second weekend.

Rough Night, another all-female comedy from this summer, merely opened to $8 million domestically and finished its North American run at $22 million. According to Box Office Mojo, Girls Trip had a $19 million production budget and Rough Night had a $20 million production budget.

Baywatch, the male driven comedy starring apparent superstars Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, was also beaten by Girls Trip. The remake opened to just $18.5 million domestically and left US and Canada theaters at $58 million.

At the moment, Girls Trip sits as the 20th highest domestic grossing film of the year. Other notable films that it has beaten are Ghost in the Shell, The Dark Tower, The Emoji Movie, Alien: Covenant, The Mummy and Power Rangers. It should pass Baby Driver, which sits at $100.8 million, and has a chance at passing Fifty Shades Darker, which sits at $114.4 million.

In fact, the current top two domestic grossers of the year are female-led films Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman.

Regina Hall can be seen in Netflix’s Naked, which stars Marlon Wayans and released on the streaming site on August 11.

First reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Tiffany Haddish will join Kevin Hart and repair with director Malcolm D. Lee for Night School, which is set to open on September 28, 2018.

‘Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone film in development — Report

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After years of speculation, Star Wars fans are finally getting one of their biggest wishes: an Obi-Wan Kenobi film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm and Disney have begun development on their next standalone entry, centering on the Jedi made famous by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy and Ewan McGregor in the prequels.

Stephen Daldry, the Oscar-nominated director of Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader, is in talks to direct. There’s currently no script, but if Daldry were to sign on, he would work with the team at Lucasfilm to develop one, the report suggests. Daldry recently directed two episodes of the first season of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated The Crown, one of which, Hyde Park Corner, he’s in contention for. He also directed two episodes of the second season, which will air in December.

For years, Ewan McGregor has enthusiastically stated that he would play the character again in a future film. However, due to the project’s stage of development, McGregor has yet to be confirmed, nor has any other actor.

Lucasfilm and Disney are currently in the home stretch of production on their untitled Han Solo standalone, helmed by Ron Howard after the firing of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, of 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie. The film, starring Alden Ehrenreich as the gunslinging smuggler alongside Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, holds a May 25, 2018 release date. Yoda and Boba Fett have been rumored to be subjects of future standalone films.

This next picture does not presently have a release date. Some have speculated that, keeping in line with release strategies of the episodes and the anthology films, Obi-Wan Kenobi may be gracing the screen as early as the summer of 2020 after the May 24, 2019, release of the untitled ninth episode, set to be directed by Jurassic World‘s Colin Trevorrow.

 

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