#it straight up feels like original content has become a crime in hollywood and I am SICK OF IT

[essektheylyss]

just muttering to mutter cuz I find it fun to have meaningless opinions but having watched the trailer for The Fall of the House of Usher, I really just feel like everyone should sit down and read What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher instead

[letterboxd]

Natural Woman.

Filmmaking power-couple Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz chat to Jack Moulton about exploring untouched female perspectives in genre films, a fateful viewing of Michael Mann’s Thief, the humbling magic of babies on set, and Letterboxd’s small role in their filmmaking process.

I’m Your Woman puts the gangster’s moll, a classically underwritten character, at the heart of the action. We barely meet the gangster himself in this taut, 1970s-set crime thriller from director Julia Hart and her co-writer and producer husband Jordan Horowitz. Rachel Brosnahan occupies a tense and unusual space as Jean, wife of Eddie, a no-good chap who turns up one day with a very young baby then abruptly disappears, leaving her to raise this unnamed child.

In other versions of the story, we’d follow Eddie to a guns-blazing conclusion, but this is a Hart-Horowitz jam, so we’re quickly on the run with Jean and the baby, and we stay with her. I’m Your Woman is a compelling, unsettling twist on the genre. “What impressed me most … was how well it keeps its cards close to the vest,” writes Mikey on Letterboxd. It’s also an empathetic portrayal of new-motherhood in all its exhausting confusion, where getting a baby clean, fed and sleeping is as much a priority as finding the next safe house. “Despite valuing tension quite highly, Julia Hart still has the wherewithal to let it sit in its more tender and thoughtful moments,” writes Paul. “The ending really sneaks up on you in terms of the specific feeling it elicits.”

Marsha Stephanie Blake and Rachel Brosnahan in ‘I’m Your Woman’.

Hart and Horowitz have children, aged two and six, who have grown up around film sets. Before becoming a filmmaker, Hart spent her days with other people’s kids as a teacher; her 2016 debut, Miss Stevens, stars Lily Rabe as a high-school educator, but her follow-up films have been wider-ranging, from Fast Color to this year’s Stargirl. Hart credits this genre-jumping to her absolute love of movies. “I don’t have a favorite genre. I love musicals, Westerns, crime dramas, coming-of-age movies, superhero movies. It was so fun getting to learn about how to create musical numbers in Stargirl and how to direct a car chase in I’m Your Woman.”

Horowitz, meanwhile, is known for producing The Kids Are All Right and La La Land. Yes, he’s the “Guys, guys, I’m sorry, no, there’s a mistake” guy. Horowitz is also a Letterboxd member, and a hunt back through his diary reveals the date he first watched Moonlight, along with his wholesome reviews of Julia’s films. “I always tried to remember to log my movies in so many different ways,” Horowitz explains, “and then once Letterboxd came out it was a very easy solution.”

Jordan Horowitz corrects that famous Oscar mix-up.

Horowitz keeps diligent lists of references for his upcoming films, years before they’re even announced. It’s here that the roots of I’m Your Woman are found, if you’re looking closely: a fateful viewing of Michael Mann’s Thief nearly seven years ago was the primary influence on I’m Your Woman, “especially Tuesday Weld’s character, and the moment where she is basically asked to leave the movie before James Caan burns everything to the ground,” he tells me. “Our hope with this movie was to follow some of the women in those movies that don’t necessarily get the spotlight and shift the gaze of the camera to follow this car as it drives away with her in it, instead of staying with the criminal of this movie.”

Hart picks up the thread, naming Diane Keaton in The Godfather, Ali MacGraw in The Getaway, Theresa Russell in Straight Time. “Those were interesting characters played by incredible actresses but they only have a handful of scenes so I loved the idea of exploring a woman in that world and time but telling the story through her perspective.”

Horowitz defines master filmmakers Sidney Lumet, Martin Ritt and Jonathan Demme as Hart’s “spirit animals”, for their humanist takes in multiple genres. A particular recommendation of a Lumet classic from an Amazon executive changed the way they looked at their writing. “Running on Empty has this great scene where they all sing [James Taylor’s] ‘Fire and Rain’ together. Originally in our script, the ‘Natural Woman’ scene was just [Jean] singing. After watching that movie it inspired us to consider what if the Cal character joins in with her? What happens to the moment if it becomes a bit more of a community moment?”

Bill Heck in ‘I’m Your Woman’.

When talking about their writing process, Horowitz admits that he always has his producer hat handy: “I’m never thinking about writing for the sake of writing. I’m always keeping how we make this thing in mind. Do we have too many extras? Is this location gettable? That can help me when we get into production because I’ve already considered some of those things, but I do wish sometimes that I could just sit down as Julia does and just write.” Once the duo makes it into production, Horowitz admits “[I] definitely put writer mode behind me, to the point where we’ll be on set and someone will ask me something about the script and I’ll be like ‘I don’t know, ask Julia’ and they’ll say ‘didn’t you write it too?!’”

However, Horowitz credits Hart as the “idea generator” of the two. The premise to have Jean struggling to connect with her adoptive baby was always part of the conception of the character, largely based on conversations Hart had with mothers, pre-lockdown. “It sometimes feels like Hollywood sees mothers as a monolith where there isn’t much nuance and subtlety, especially when it comes to negative feelings about motherhood, so they’re often shamed into not talking about them,” Julia laments. “It was really important for me to explore a side of motherhood that isn’t talked about as much and make sure that mothers know that they are seen and heard.”

The decision to have a baby (performed by brothers Justin and Jameson Charles) in almost every scene was a big risk, and not one Hart took lightly. “Movie people can think what they’re doing is very important, but there’s nothing more humbling than when you’re on a whole set with hundreds of people [and] you’re waiting for a baby’s dirty diaper to be changed. It made everything feel so real and immediate, so everyone on set really had to live in the moment and adapt. You prepare, and prepare, and prepare, but you have to throw out so much if the baby is sleeping instead of crying, or crying instead of smiling. I think it’s important to portray babies as real people, because as a society we often forget that.”

Lead actress Rachel Brosnahan came on as a producer many years after the script was already in Hart and Horowitz’s heads, but Hart explains that Brosnahan brought a history and interior life, “more in the wordless moments of acting than in dialogue itself.” Along the way, Jean meets Cal and Teri, who guide her to refuge. They’re the heart of the film, and Hart elaborates on their importance to the narrative: “they have been through the hell that Jean is currently going through and her circumstances force them to go through it again, but this time they have honesty, truth and love on their side. In watching Teri and Cal, Jean starts to understand what real love, family and support are.”

Rachel Brosnahan with director and co-writer Julia Hart.

When you examine Hart’s filmography, it’s impressive how productive she’s been in such a short time, releasing four films within five years, with those pre-schoolers under foot. Horowitz makes a comparison to a prolific filmmaker like Steven Soderbergh, who advises to “fail as fast as you can”. Horowitz acknowledges that “I don’t think we set out like, ‘we’re gonna have two children and we’re gonna make four films in five years.’ If we knew that we were gonna do that we would’ve said, ‘wow, that’s a little bit insane, maybe we shouldn’t do that!’” But they did, and the film world is richer for it.

We always like to ask about the film that made filmmakers want to become filmmakers, and Hart lands on All That Jazz. “I’ve always been a fan of Bob Fosse since his [early] work. How he turned moving your body in a way that people haven’t really moved their bodies before into an empire is very inspiring. [Roy Scheider] is also my favorite actor, which doesn’t hurt. He’s so good.” Horowitz, meanwhile, is a huge fan of Back to the Future. “That was the movie when I was a kid that just opened my eyes to the power of movies, to make you obsess and dream about what other movies could be.”

“I remember going with my parents to see Back to the Future Part II on the Friday night it opened and when we got there it was sold out. We saw some other movie, but I was so upset so all I was thinking about was Back to the Future Part II. As we were leaving the movie theater, I saw through the back little window of the screen where Back to the Future Part II was playing and watched the end scene where Marty is standing in the rain and someone comes and gives him a letter. I did not sleep the entire night. That feeling of anticipation and imagination defines the way I like to look at movies and the way they can make me feel.” A subsequent look at Horowitz’s Letterboxd diary reveals that this conversation perhaps inspired him to take a trip back in time the following day.

Related content

Jordan Horowitz’s list of research for I’m Your Woman

She did THAT!—A list of women who kill

Mothers, Mommy Issues, Moms, Matriarch, Grandmothers

Letterboxd’s Top 200 Crime Films

Disillusionment in Sun-drenched 1970s American New Wave Cinema

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

‘I’m your Woman’ is on Amazon Prime Video now.

[d-criss-news]

Ryan Murphy’s (Kinda) True ‘Hollywood’ Story: 1940s Meets Gay Stars, Interracial Romance and (Gasp!) a Female Studio Chief

The prolific TV creator and Netflix unveil a revisionist take on the golden age of movies, showing how much (and how little) has shifted in entertainment and beyond: “'Hollywood’ can change the world.”

On an abnormally cold January evening, on the steps of Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, history was being rewritten.

Two actors, one playing Rock Hudson, the other Hudson’s African American screenwriter boyfriend, Archie, were tucked inside a teal blue Packard Club Sedan, awaiting their cue. Outside, it was Oscar night, 1948, and despite warnings of grave backlash, the pair was prepared to step out as a couple for the first time.

Archie exited first, his eyes wide with trepidation, then Rock. In matching white tuxedos, they grabbed for each other’s hands and shuffled nervously down the red carpet.

The press box erupted in hisses, then boos.

“Are we doing the right thing?” Archie whispered.

“Absolutely we are,” Rock replied.

The two exchanged smiles, exhaled and made their way into the theater. Then they stopped and did it again. And again.

Ryan Murphy, the scene’s chief architect, was a few miles east, buried in one of his dozen other projects, but his fingerprints could be detected everywhere. The reimagining — part of his new Netflix anthology series, Hollywood — offers a world in which Hudson (played by Jake Picking) walked openly as a gay man, as opposed to the real-life heartthrob who remained closeted until his death from AIDS in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere in Murphy’s revision of history, an African American actress, played by Laura Harrier, is cast as the star of a major studio picture, written by Hudson’s black boyfriend (Jeremy Pope), helmed by a half-Asian director (Darren Criss) and greenlit by a female studio chief (Patti LuPone) and her gay head of production (Joe Mantello).

If Pose was Murphy’s effort to champion the marginalized, Hollywood’s his shot at imagining such marginalization was undone decades ago. The series, his first without his longtime collaborators at 20th Century Fox Television, drops in its entirety May 1, with a sprawling ensemble of real and fictional characters. It was supposed to feel timely, its period backdrop a reminder of how much and how little has changed in 70-plus years; now, landing in a world grappling with a global pandemic, its 1940s setting could be the escape so many are seeking.

“I’ve always been interested in this kind of buried history, and I wanted to create a universe where these icons got the endings that they deserved,” says Murphy, 55, who’s been waiting out the virus at his home in Los Angeles, with his husband and two young sons, who now require homeschooling. “It’s this beautiful fantasy, and in these times, it could be a sort of balm in some way.”

The Netflix executives who shelled out roughly $300 million for Murphy’s services in 2018 can only hope so. Already, they’ve had to cancel influencer screenings, scrap subway ads and punt on potential plans for a premiere benefit for the now hard-hit Motion Picture Television Fund, which houses several stars of the era in its L.A. retirement facility. As for the show itself, it’s certainly not the broad-sweeping, four-quadrant fare that Netflix is widely thought to prefer. The pilot episode alone features six sex scenes — a mix of gay and straight — and nearly all involve some sort of financial transaction. By episode three, which the show’s writers have nicknamed “night of a thousand dicks,” the characters have found their way to one of director George Cukor’s infamous pool parties.

Still, Netflix head of originals Cindy Holland says that Hollywood is exactly the kind of elevated, inclusive and ultimately hopeful programming that the company wants from Murphy, and the seven-episode limited series was fast-tracked as a result. “What I love,” she says, “is that Ryan is creating a world that he wants to will into existence.”

***

Murphy’s first inkling for Hollywood came over a celebratory dinner with Criss following their fruitful awards run for the Versace installment of American Crime Story. With rosé flowing, the two began discussing a next possible collaboration. Murphy wanted to do something young and hopeful; Criss proposed 1940s Hollywood. The 33-year-old actor had been fascinated by the lore surrounding characters like Scotty Bowers, the L.A. hustler who operated out of a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard, along with golden age stars like Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and he was eager to explore the era with Murphy.

“There’s a blinking red light on it that says, ‘Ryan Murphy, Ryan Murphy,’ ” says Criss, “because it’s sexy, it’s fun, it’s glamorous, it’s dangerous and it has resonance now.”

Murphy didn’t disagree. As a student of Hollywood history, he’d already gone down the road with his FX series Feud, which centered its first season on Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. This would simply allow him to dig deeper on figures who’d long captured his attention, from Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star, who was effectively run out of Hollywood, to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Oscar and not be allowed to sit with her cast in the theater. “I’m always moved by these characters who weren’t fully seen or didn’t get their moment,” says Murphy in an interview on the Paramount lot earlier this year, where he was directing Meryl Streep in The Prom, another Netflix production. At one point, he’d even toyed with the idea of doing a Biography-style anthology series with an episode devoted to each.  

Not long after that dinner, Criss was at a bachelor party when his phone rang. It was Murphy. “He says, 'Do you mind if I just do my thing on this?’ ” says Criss. “And I’m like, 'You’re Ryan fucking Murphy. Do whatever you want!’ ”

So, Murphy picked a collaborator, Ian Brennan, with whom he’d worked on Glee, Scream Queens and The Politician, and the two began quietly tossing around ideas. With the help of a few researchers, they landed on a story that revolved around a Bowers-esque service station, with a staff full of actors and directors looking to be stars. “It was super fun and sexy and salacious,” says Brennan, “but it was also about the #MeToo underbelly of 1940s Hollywood, which felt very, very contemporary.”

The men found it exhilarating to depict sex so explicitly and in every possible combination. “To be able to describe exactly what is happening is really, really cool,” says Brennan. And despite the appetite for such racy content varying dramatically around the globe, Netflix brass was passionate about its inclusion — a marked difference from his and Murphy’s experience on previous shows, where they fought tooth and nail over the mere mention of sexual terms. “I hope this isn’t speaking out of school,” he adds, “but the one thing [Netflix’s vp original series] Brian Wright said to me, was, like, 'Thumbs-up on the sex. If anything, dial that up.’”

From the Pose writers room, producer Janet Mock would see Murphy and Brennan huddled in a nearby room and wonder what the latest “secret Ryan Murphy project” was all about. At one point, Mock found herself pumping intel out of a writers’ assistant, who told her, “It’s a thing called Hollywood, it’s about this gas station.” Having seen the 2017 documentary Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, she figured, “OK, there’s no place for me in that. I’ll continue with Pose.”

But that would soon change, beginning with an eye-opening discussion in the writers room about which of the ensemble’s contract players would be picked to star in the film at the center of Hollywood. The role was that of real-life actress Peg Entwistle, a blonde Brit who jumped to her death from the famed Hollywood sign. “At first, we were like, “Well, it can’t be the black girl [Harrier’s Camille], they wouldn’t have done it. …’ And then it was like, 'Well, wait a second, what if it actually was? What if Peg becomes Meg,’ ” says Brennan. One what-if led to another and then another, and before long they’d decided to go back in and start revising history — this time, with Mock as a credited writer.

Now, rather than use the series to, say, showcase the powerlessness of a studio head’s aging housewife, in this case LuPone’s Avis, they tweaked the story so that suddenly it explores what would happen if Avis gained control of her husband’s studio. It was the same for several others, including Rock Hudson, says Murphy’s co-creator. Instead of telling the tragic tale of a person forced to hide, they allowed themselves to explore what would happen if he refused to do so. “Once we began asking, 'What if?’ it became a different show,” says Brennan, with Mantello adding: “It became a fable of what could have been.”

With Netflix execs eager to get the series up on the service, Murphy began loading the cast with his usual mix of familiar names — from Jim Parsons, as Hudson’s real-life closeted agent Henry Wilson, to Rob Reiner, as the head of the fictional Ace Studios — and newer discoveries, like Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) as Reiner’s daughter, or Picking as Hudson and Pope as his fictional boyfriend. As with other recent ensembles, he listed all of them not in order of importance or seniority but rather alphabetically on the call sheet. The message was clear: “The star of the show is the show,” says Murphy. Still, initial hires Criss and David Corenswet, who’d made his debut on The Politician, were given executive producer credits, along with backend points on the series. (There’s already talk of a season two, which would pick up in the late 1960s, with many of the same actors in entirely new roles.)

At some point in the production process, Murphy found himself scaling back the graphic nature of the series, too — a byproduct of his own personal recalibration, he says, having spent so much of his pre-Netflix life fighting to show so much as a woman’s nipple. “When you’re finally free, you have this tendency to go full tilt boogie, but ultimately I became much more interested in the emotion of the characters, and, frankly, I became protective of them,” he explains, suggesting every episode had an X-rated version, an R-rated version and a PG version, and, to the delight of participants like Corenswet, who plays an actor-cum-sex worker, Murphy would almost always select the R one.

“I think Ryan realized as we were shooting that the best part of the sex was the romance — and that’s always great to hear as an actor, especially when it applies to your five-page sex scene with Patti LuPone,” says the 26-year-old Corenswet. LuPone, for her part, was just thrilled she was still asked to do a sex scene at age 71. “Finally!” she bellows, praising Murphy for having both the vision and the courage to take the risks he does: “Ryan’s fearless,” says the Tony winner, who also popped up in Pose, “and I’m so happy to be in his world." 

***

Long before Murphy was a household name, with a big fat Netflix deal to ostensibly take all the risks he wants, he was a frustrated former journalist fighting to change a system that wasn’t built for him. His own secret had been revealed at just 15, when his mother found a drawer full of love letters from his then-22-year-old boyfriend at their home in Indiana. Horrified, she and Murphy’s father threw their son into counseling, hoping he could be "fixed.”

A decade or two later, after his first career as an entertainment writer, Murphy carved out a place for himself in television, where he could exist comfortably as a gay man — so long as he didn’t try to write anyone like himself into scripts. “There were lots of words that they’d use to discriminate against you,” he says, “too flamboyant, too camp, too theatrical, and they were all code.”

By the mid-1990s, he’d joined forces with 10 or so other out or soon-to-be-out creatives, a group that included Nina Jacobson, Greg Berlanti and A Beautiful Mind’s Bruce Cohen. Giving themselves the name “Out There,” they’d meet in courtyards and living rooms to swap horror stories and try to plot a path forward. “We were young and didn’t have much money, but we had a lot of energy and a need to connect with and support each other as gay people working in a straight environment,” says Jacobson, who’d later collaborate with Murphy on American Crime Story and Pose. “And for a lot of us, it was, for the first time, that feeling of community.”

In time, Murphy, like the others, found a way to “monetize [his] pain.” His first creation, Popular, debuted in 1999, and other opportunities followed. Popular begat Nip/Tuck, Nip/Tuck begat Glee, and before he knew it, Murphy had moved from TV’s fringes to its red-hot center. As The New Yorker once wrote, “He changed; the industry changed; he changed the industry.” In early 2018, he signaled that power by signing a nine-figure deal, among the most lucrative in the medium’s history.

So it is perhaps fitting that Murphy’s first project wholly for and from the service includes a scene that trumpets what he calls “the thesis statement” of his career. It begins with Criss’ character, Raymond, being regaled by the story of Anna May Wong’s awe-inspiring screen test for the lead role in the 1937 adaptation of The Good Earth, a part that ultimately went to a far less deserving Caucasian actress. Suggesting it was one of the saddest stories Raymond had ever heard, a film executive played by Mantello responds:

“What’s so sad about it? The picture was a hit. [They] were right. You can’t open a picture with a Chinese lead or a colored one, a number of theaters won’t run it.”

Raymond: “But you said she deserved the part?”

Exec: “Yes, but the hard fact is, had she gotten it, the picture is not a hit.”

Raymond: “How do you know that? You never made the movie, so how do you know it’s not a hit?”

Criss’ character continues with a monologue that is so perfectly Murphy you can almost close your eyes and picture him saying it.  

“Sometimes I think folks in this town don’t really understand the power they have. Movies don’t just show us how the world is, they show us how the world can be. If we change the way that movies are made — you take a chance and you make a different kind of story, I think you can change the world.”

Criss himself would argue that Murphy already has. “His dial is always in extremes. So, if he’s doing Glee or Scream Queens or this, it’s at an 11, almost as a middle finger to reality,” says the actor. “It’s like he turned the dial over to say, 'This is how I’d like to see the world in my wildest dreams. Ain’t it fun?’ ”

In the past two years, since he moved his creative hub from 20th Century Fox TV, where he still maintains a considerable roster, Murphy been responsible for producing roughly 200 LGBTQ characters, many featured as leads. At least a third of his Hollywood cast is older than 70 (“Seventy is the new 40,” he teases), and nearly every project he launches is fronted by a woman — and that’s just in front of the camera. “If you see it, you can be it,” Murphy says often.

It’s a worldview that appeals to Netflix’s Holland, for whom he’s already prepped two films (Prom, The Boys in the Band), two docuseries (Circus of Books, Secret Love) and five seasons of inclusive television, including a Halston miniseries that, along with his 20th programs Pose, American Horror Story and American Crime Story, shut down care of COVID-19 in March. In the weeks since, when he isn’t toggling between Tiger King and MSNBC, Murphy’s kept busy writing two new decidedly hopeful series, each with the express purpose of providing viewers and himself an escape. “Ryan’s the rare creator who speaks to many audiences,” says Holland. “It’s not just gay people or straight people or older people or younger people, it’s really all people who are interested in the human condition.”

To date, Murphy claims he has yet to hear the word “no” from his Netflix bosses, though he’s definitely been nudged in certain directions. “They don’t want me to do small, niche things,” he says, acknowledging that not too long ago a project like Hollywood would have been deemed just that. “But they know how to market this,” he explains, noting that Netflix will push his latest series on viewers who also like love stories, young adult series and LGBTQ fare.

For those who worried the ultra-competitive producer would chafe in a system that doesn’t provide a public report card (aka ratings), he argues that that’s been liberating. Brennan backs him up, revealing how they received initial numbers for The Politician a week or two after it premiered late last summer and then another trove of data a month or so later; and though the latter could effectively game out how many people would watch the series over time, Brennan says, “We were sort of like, 'I don’t think that’s helpful.’ ”

Murphy takes it a step further, insisting he’s no longer interested in the old metrics, like how many people are watching or how many awards a series has generated. “All the things that people tell you will make you feel successful … I have those things, they don’t,” he says. What matters to him now is being able to tell stories that he wishes he or others could have seen. To that end, he can’t help but wonder what his own life would have been had he witnessed Rock Hudson walking the Oscars red carpet as an openly gay man — and though it’s too late to change his own experience, Murphy would like to be able to improve the experience of others. So, he took a chance and made a different kind of story. “Hollywood,” he says, “can change the world.”

[aion-rsa]

Kraven the Hunter: Marvel Stories That Could Inspire the Spider-Man Spinoff

https://ift.tt/3khheq9

Sony’s Spider-Man expanded universe is a fairly bizarre corner of the realm of superhero movies. Back when Marvel’s Avengers showed what kind of money could be made with an expanded superhero universe, Sony looked at their Spider-Man playset and got a bit drunk on their own hype. Using their ill-fated Amazing Spider-Man movies as a foundation, they intended to make a bunch of spinoffs. Then it died before it could really start thanks to Amazing Spider-Man 2 being a dud that did okay blockbuster money, but not-so-okay money for a property that intended to spread its wings.

Their fortunes changed, both due to their agreement with Marvel to let Spider-Man be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and with the release of 2018’s Venom. Venom showed that they could make a successful movie based on a Spider-Man property without, y’know, actually featuring Spider-Man in it. They’re now following up on that with Venom: There Will be Carnage and Morbius. It’s even becoming apparent that these movies may sorta/kinda be attached to the MCU.

Whatever the case, their plans now include giving Kraven the Hunter his own movie. Not, say, make Kraven the villain for the next MCU Spider-Man movie. I mean putting him front-and-center where he’s the protagonist.

That’s certainly an interesting choice. Kraven is different from Venom and Morbius. Despite being Spider-Man’s Vegeta, Venom spent years being a vigilante with his own comic. Morbius has long been an antihero who occasionally interacts with Spider-Man. Kraven, on the other hand, is a full-on Spider-Man villain. He has, at most, only flirted with being a good guy.

Hey, that reminds me. Remember when Kraven and Sabretooth were on a secret Avengers team that existed at the tail end of the 1950s? No? Just me? Fair enough.

As out of left field as it is, Kraven still makes for a prime candidate to get his own movie. Get past his desire to kill Spider-Man and you have the same driven, hyper-competent, super-skilled, overly-prepared badass type that comic fans love. He’s over-the-hill Batman stomping on Superman’s face. He’s the Punisher killing the Marvel Universe. He’s Dr. Doom defeating the Beyonders. He’s the reason why the Predator went from slasher villain to a race of extraterrestrial cyphers that we cheer on.

So where do you go for inspiration for a Kraven-based movie? Here are some ideas that come to mind.

KRAVEN’S LAST HUNT

“Kraven’s Last Hunt” is THE defining Kraven storyline. It’s to Kraven what “Knightfall” is to Bane.

In it, Kraven defeats Spider-Man, buries him alive, dresses as Spider-Man, does some crimefighting, beats up a villain Spider-Man’s had issues with, feels content in his superiority, digs Spider-Man back up, and then…commits suicide.

A cool story, but how do you make it about Kraven and make it, at best, tangentially about Spider-Man? You could always try and add emphasis on Vermin and make him Kraven’s “white whale,” but would that really work in the long run?

Probably the most important aspect to translate to film would be Kraven’s complete misunderstanding of what being a superhero is about. That part where he’s wearing Spider-Man’s tights and acting like a lunatic on the streets? Take out the cosplay part and you might have something. You could effectively make the Punisher movie that nobody’s had the guts to make. The one that shows him succeeding at hunting and killing his prey, but makes it entirely apparent that this is NOT a good thing, even if the bad guys have it coming.

Read more

Movies

Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy Writer David Koepp Reveals Original Plans

By Joseph Baxter

Games

Marvel’s Avengers Review: It’s No Spider-Man

By Bernard Boo

Seeing him utterly fall apart as a vigilante and get arrested for it would at least help work towards building that long rumored Sinister Six team-up.

GET KRAVEN

Even though Sergei Kravinoff was dead for a while, he still got the Landfill from Beerfest treatment. In other words, he was replaced with another Kraven the Hunter who, for a time, was borderline interchangeable with the original.

Kraven’s son Alyosha picked up where his father left off for a while, but then decided to turn away from his life of crime. In the early 2000s, he got his own miniseries called Get Kraven, which was the only time any version of Kraven has had his own comic. The comic is about Al Kraven and his girlfriend Timber going to Hollywood with the intent of making their own movies. They end up running afoul of two brothers who are very obviously based on Harvey and Bob Weinstein.

And hey, that’s a movie concept that’s strangely relevant in today’s age. Kraven vs. Harvey Weinstein. Predator vs. Predator!

Read more

TV

The Amazing Spider-Man TV Series Deserves an Official Release

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Spider-Woman Movie Coming From Olivia Wilde

By David Crow

That’s pretty much the only part of the comic that is salvageable, unfortunately. The suicide jokes, rape plot point, and transphobia are best left out of well…just about anything…including a Spider-Man spinoff movie.

Anyway, Al Kraven fell into semi-obscurity and got killed off when regular Kraven was resurrected.

ULTIMATE KRAVEN

Ah, Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Memories. Before it spun out of control, it was such a cool testing ground for new twists on classic characters. Years before Miles Morales became Spider-Man, it gave us the Samuel L. Jackson design for Nick Fury, Hulk as a failed super soldier experiment, and generic-looking Hawkeye. Kraven only appeared a few times, but they were memorable showings.

Read more

Games

How to Get Spider-Man in Marvel’s Avengers

By John Saavedra

Initially, Kraven was a reality TV star, loosely based on the then-popularity of the late Steve Irwin. As the ultimate game hunter, he was going to chase ratings by hunting down Spider-Man. This did not work out well for Kraven as after all this hype, he chose to attack Spider-Man while the hero was rescuing people and Kraven got taken out by a single punch.

That in turn ruined Kraven and he got roped into joining the Ultimate Sinister Six. Due to desperation and the fact that he was totally out of his league against Spider-Man, Kraven started undergoing genetic experiments that turned him into something that was more beast than man.

Spider-Man has a lot of animal-themed villains and enough low-ranking ones that you could easily have Kraven spend a movie trying to hunt them down. Give him the depiction of a struggling TV star looking for new challenges and you might have a decent antihero concept.

STORM HUNTER

I’ll admit that this isn’t so much a suggestion based on an existing story, but one that was hinted at.

About ten years ago, Daredevil went kind of crazy, turned into a villain, and took over Hell’s Kitchen with an army of ninjas. He later got his head on straight and left the area behind, but needed someone to take his place. Marvel built up this new series via a bunch of teaser images wondering, “Who is the New Man Without Fear?” Was it going to be Gambit? Nova? Falcon?

Kraven, fresh from being resurrected and needing a new direction in his second life, also had his own teaser image. Kraven the Hunter Without Fear? Hunting down criminals in the concrete jungle and making Wilson Fisk nervous? Trying to be a better Daredevil after once trying to be a better Spider-Man? How awesome would that have been?

Instead, the spot went to Black Panther.

Kraven still showed up during the run for a two-issue storyline based around how cool a Black Panther vs. Kraven the Hunter fight would be (enough that Ryan Coogler initially wanted this in the Black Panther movie). Otherwise, Kraven’s deal is that he’s owed a debt to a doctor that saved his life years earlier. While he has his own sense of honor to complete her mission, he’s ultimately disturbed by the doctor’s horrific actions.

Namely that she likes to create nightmarish human/animal hybrids.

Anyway, Kraven chooses to do the right thing in the end because he’s not a total dick.

THE UNHUNTABLE SERGEI

Kraven’s most optimistic days have come from his friendship with Doreen Green, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Unfortunately, while Squirrel Girl is a Steve Ditko co-creation, she probably doesn’t count as a Spider-Man-adjacent character, so we sadly won’t be seeing any movie team-ups any time soon.

Their adventures by themselves wouldn’t really make for a good Kraven movie, especially since they’re mostly based on him trying to redeem himself for his checkered past. It’s the in-between-the-lines adventures that can be mined for inspiration. At one point, Kraven decides to become the Hunter of Hunters, turning him into an on-land version of Aquaman. He’s all about kicking the asses of poachers and…er…dudes quietly minding their own business while fishing.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What’s important is that this run features the ridiculously metal Kra-Van. If anything, can we PLEASE get the Kra-Van in one of these movies? And can I have it when they’re done?

The post Kraven the Hunter: Marvel Stories That Could Inspire the Spider-Man Spinoff appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mrmichaelchadler]

Thumbnails 1/25/19

Thumbnails is a roundup of brief excerpts to introduce you to articles from other websites that we found interesting and exciting. We provide links to the original sources for you to read in their entirety.—Chaz Ebert

1. 

"Still grieving, Anton Yelchin's parents try to move forward with new documentary": Amy Kaufman of The LA Times reports on "Love Antosha," scheduled to premiere at Sundance.

“Perhaps the biggest revelation in the film is just how much Anton struggled with cystic fibrosis — a diagnosis he hid from the public and the entertainment business. As a precocious kid, he was pink-cheeked and enthusiastic, shooting short films with childhood friends and constantly performing impressions for his parents. He never seemed sick and barely demonstrated any signs of someone with the progressive disease, which causes mucus to form in the lungs. In fact, he appeared so healthy that his parents decided not to tell him the full details of his diagnosis — CF patients have a life expectancy of around 37 — until he was 17. ‘I didn’t want to introduce him exactly to what it was, because he was so artistic and so sensitive,’ said Irina. ‘I was just afraid that he would go into it and he would get panicked or get affected by it too much. He didn’t even know what it was for real, how difficult and dangerous that illness was. Only after 17, 18, that’s when we talked, because I said: ‘You can’t go to this club. They are smoking there.’ You feel good, but it doesn’t mean you cannot get worse.’’ Upon learning about his illness, Anton worked hard to stay healthy, constantly running up and down the stairs and researching herbal remedies to try on top of his prescribed medications. Before long days on set, he’d wake up two hours early to put on an inflatable vest that helped him to clear his airways.”

2. 

"John Fricke on the 80th Anniversary of 'The Wizard of Oz'": The Emmy-winning Oz historian/author chats with me at Indie Outlook, in anticipation of the film's return to the big screen January 27th, 29th & 30th, courtesy of Fathom Events.

“For the last half century, you could start talking about ‘The Wizard of Oz; to just about anybody over the age of three, and there would be an immediate, shared reference point. People levitate from their chairs when they start discussing the movie. About six or seven years ago, The Weather Channel did a special on the 100 Most Pivotal Moments in Weather History, and at number 53, they listed the tornado in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ That sequence actually inspired people to become meteorologists. There’s no question that the film has impacted all ages on a multitude of levels. If you grew up watching it on TV, every time you revisit the film, you think, ‘That was the one night we were able to stay up late, put on our pajamas and have popcorn and orange soda with our family, and we all watched it together.’ I remember one poignant story about a man who grew up in a very troubled house. He said that the ‘Oz’ broadcast was the one very peaceful night of the year, because both of his parents loved that movie. As you say, Margaret Hamilton nailed it, as did Ray Bolger when he was a guest on ‘The Judy Garland Show.’ He spoke of growing up with the Oz books, and the great philosophy that they expressed. His mother had pointed out to him the message of these books: ‘Everybody has a brain, everybody has a heart, and everybody has courage. These are the gifts that God gives people on earth, and if you use them properly, they lead you home. And home isn’t a place. It’s the people you love and the people who love you. That’s a home.’”

3.

"Stephen Reinhardt (1931-2018): The Liberal Judge With a Fighting Spirit": Politico's Lara Bazelon eulogizes the late judge, who passed away in December, while honoring his extraordinary legacy.

“Judge Stephen Reinhardt, 87, reigned for 38 years as the liberal lion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation’s largest appellate court with jurisdiction over nine states. Nothing, it seemed, could kill him. Not triple bypass surgery in 1982, not quadruple bypass surgery in 2001. Not the execution—over his fierce objection—of individuals he believed had been wrongfully convicted, nor the Supreme Court’s numerous other reversals of his most famous decisions—decisions upholding the right to die, striking down the requirement that students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, declaring unconstitutional a law prohibiting late-term abortions. Not the slow loss of his beloved wife, Ramona Ripston, to dementia, and the stress, sadness and loneliness that came with it. Not even the election of President Donald Trump, whose rhetoric and policies targeted the very people—immigrants, the criminally accused, the powerless—whose rights the judge had done everything he could to protect. But in March, after he had gotten a clean bill of health from his cardiologist, Reinhardt’s heart stopped suddenly. His death left the hundreds who knew and loved him—his family, his law clerks, his colleagues and large circle of friends—grief stricken and in shock.”

4. 

"You ain't seen nothin' yet, but there's nothin' aplenty": Martha P. Nochimson reviews Adam McKay's Oscar-nominated satirical drama, "Vice," for Eye on Media.

“‘Vice,’ Adam McKay’s interpretation of Dick Cheney’s reign of terror, comes to a false ending in the middle of his film. The music rises to a mock triumphant crescendo, and credits roll over a montage of happy family scenes in which the actors we have seen portray the infamous Dick (Christian Bale) and his wife Lynne (Amy Adams) luxuriate in the lap of domestic affluence as they cavort with children and dogs. The credits are the actual credits of Vice, but prematurely displayed. The faux closure falsely celebrates the Cheneys’ permanent exit from politics when, after Carter’s win as president and the loss of Gerald Ford, Cheney’s prospects for running for and winning high political office began to seem impossible. What? It’s a tease. The movie isn’t ending; rather it winks at us about how stories work, and continues on to document the most destructive period of Cheney’s political life. It’s a mysterious rhetorical move by McKay. But it isn’t the only one, and it isn’t the first one. ‘Vice’ is a film about Dick Cheney and his partner in crime Lynne, to be sure, but it’s also about the way we talk about history, how we know what we know, how we fill in the gaps in our partial knowledge with our own fictions, and who has a voice in creating historical narratives.”

5. 

"Aaron Sorkin remembers William Goldman: 'He was the dean of American screenwriters and still is": An exclusive essay from the Oscar-winning screenwriter, published at The LA Times. 

“When I was starting out in my 20s, Bill Goldman saw something in me and took me under his wing, where I’ve remained and where I’ll continue to remain despite his death. I’m not the only writer he mentored — Scott Frank, Tony Gilroy, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are just a few he tutored personally, and countless others have been and will continue to be taught by his examples. ‘Kid, the next time I say, ‘Let’s go someplace like Bolivia,’ let’s go someplace like Bolivia.’ ‘They could always surrender.’ ‘For a second there I thought we were in trouble.’ Those three quotable lines aren’t just from the same movie (‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’), they’re from the same scene. ‘You keep thinkin’, Butch, that’s what you’re good at.’ ‘Who are those guys?’ ‘Well we tried goin’ straight, what should we try now?’ ‘The fall’ll probably kill you!’ A movie about two outlaws coming to grips with a world that’s changing around them won Bill his first Academy Award. Deep Throat never said, ‘Follow the money.’ It was a line Bill wrote for the character of Deep Throat in his screenplay ‘All the President’s Men,’ for which he won his second Academy Award.”

Image of the Day

At Vanity Fair, Donald Liebenson hails Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts as the greatest female comedy team of classic Hollywood, and explains "why they still pack a punch."

Video of the Day

The invaluable YouTube channel, Be Kind Rewind, has a wonderful series of videos dissecting that circumstances that resulted in various Best Actress triumphs at the Oscars. The video embedded above focusing on Joan Crawford's 1946 victory, where she finally won the accolade for "Mildred Pierce," also serves as an exceptional introduction to the icon's career bereft of camp. 

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[theantisocialcritic]

This AntiSocial Life: The Most Exciting Upcoming 2018 Film Releases!

2017 was one of the largest years for film i’ve ever seen. While many major blockbuster films underperformed the median quality of the films we’ve seen in just this past year have been startling. 

With the deliberation and thoughts regarding last year now finally in the mirror it’s well worth starting to look into the new year with excitement for what the new year has to offer. There are quite a number of big budget blockbusters to get excited for for the duration of the year: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and Wasp, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Incredibles 2, Ralph Breaks The Internet and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald. What you don’t tend to expect going into the near year are the films that come out of left field. Art films, dramas, Oscar-bait and all matter of cinematic surprises tend to come from left field without much forethought or warning. I wouldn't have ever guessed i’d walk away from 2017 with Ladybird and Darkest Hour being amongst my favorite films of the year. 

That said, I think a bit of a pre-planned spelunking session might be in order to dig into a few of the major film releases on the horizon that we momentarily know about. Without further ado, there are the films that I am most looking forward to seeing in 2018! 

15:17 to Paris

Directed by Clint Eastwood, February 9th

The controversial success of films like American Sniper and Lone Survivor speak to speak to something deep boiling in the culture right at the heart of America’s cultural bifurcation. The average person in the working class thinks it’s become iconoclastic to be proud of your country and has turned to drastic measures to see to it that they can be loud and proud while the coastal hubs have largely come largely disregard the sentiment. It speaks to our current lack of communication as a society that we’ve become, as Patton put it, two peoples separated by a common language. 15:17 to Paris probably won’t help the discussion but look to it as a cultural benchmark. Compared to it’s spiritual predecessors it could be a fascinating show to watch play out. 

Annihilation

Directed by Alex Garland, February 23rd 

YOU should be paying attention to the works of Alex Garland. Under all of our noises he was quietly building his body of work with films like 28 Days Later, Dredd and Ex Machina to slowly become one of the most complex and fascinating science fiction writers on the independent market today. His newest film drops next month and everyone should see it this time! It doesn’t deserve to get choked out by another Marvel movie. 

Deathwish

Directed by Eli Roth, March 2nd

Charles Bronson was a God amongst men and his action movies made him a national treasure for his time. It would be excessively difficult to get me excited for a remake of any of his films but somehow this remake is hitting all the right cues for me. Back in the 1970s vigilante revenge films like Deathwish and Dirty Harry became popular specifically as a result of the degrading and hostile political climate pervading life in the United States. In the modern age as the continual bifurcation of American society continues its only natural that at some point our elderly action stars would crash in at some point to set America straight whether it wants to be or not. Good grief the think pieces on this are going to be scorched earth��

Red Sparrow

Directed by Francis Lawrence, March 2nd 

The director of the Hunger Games franchise is teaming up once again with Jennifer Lawrence for an spy thriller about Soviet era espionage. Considering her previous work with Darrin Aronofsky on mother! this is probably going to be a much safer film for her. 

Tortured for Christ

Directed by John Grooters, March 5th

The story of Richard Wurmbrand is one of the most heart wrenching autobiographies i’ve ever read in my life. His firsthand depictions as a missionary attempting to preach in the Soviet Union only to be tortured and thrown into a gulag offer us one of the most terrifying depictions of the worst unseen side of communism. Despite some fascinating details such as the film adaption being filmed on location in Romania in the original gulag the film is sadly being adapted as a low budget Christian film. That’s rather unfortunate given how much the “Christian film” stigma has come to define spiritual filmmaking on the independent scene. Hopefully at least some of the original book’s power survives the adaptation. 

A Wrinkle in Time 

Directed by Ava DuVernay, March 9th 

I haven’t read the original Madeleine L'Engle novel of the same name that seems to be where much of this film’s enthusiasm seems to be coming from. I’m also not terribly enthused by what i’m seeing in the trailers with it’s Alice in Wonderland fever dream production design and unclear stunt cast story. What interest I do have in the film comes from it being Ava DuVernay’s second major feature film after her critically acclaimed debut on Selma. For that her I will give this a chance. 

The Death of Stalin

Directed by Armando Iannucci, March 9th

This upcoming critically acclaimed french comedy sounds rather promising. Anything with a title that bold has to be at least a little fascinating and considering the rave reviews and universal acclaim it’s earned on the indie scene there’s reason to be excited for this! 

Tomb Raider

Directed by Roar Uthaug, March 16th 

2016 was supposed to be the year that video game films broke out into the mainstream with Warcraft, Ratchet and Clank, Angry Birds and Assassins Creed. All of them failed on their own terms for various reasons. Whatever hope a clean transition of mediums would have of being accomplished has largely beached and probably won’t come to fruition for a long while. That being said there is at least a chance that Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft might be successful to some degree. 

7 Days in Entebbe 

Directed by José Padilha, March 16th 

This isn’t the first film about it’s subject matter (cough cough Delta Force) but it is at least offering an interesting retelling of a violent moment in the recent history of geopolitics. 

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Directed by Steven S. DeKnight, March 23rd

Pacific Rim is one of the coolest blockbuster films of the last half decade. Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to Godzilla and anime was a well crafted, lusciously crafted blockbuster that etched out a perfect space in the culture for it’s own wonderful cult follow and it’s highly anticipated sequel is something to watch going into this year. While the trailer has proved a bit contentious so far the actual content of the film doesn’t look too bad. I have a lot of faith going into this one! 

Isle of Dogs

Directed by Wes Anderson, March 23rd

Wes Anderson’s last two films of Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel have been among his best work. Now for the first time since Fantastic Mr Fox he returns to the realm of stop motion animation with this now comedy about an island of dogs! 

Ready Player One

Directed by Steven Spielberg, March 30th 

I have several apprehensions about this big budget adaption of Ernst Cline’s famed science fiction novel. It looks overly CGI’d, the cast has a teeny-bopper young adult fiction feel to it and it’s weird that a film about video games is predominately occupied by famous movie memorabilia. That being said, the film’s credentials aren’t in question. If Spielberg can pour the same love and affection he has into Lincoln and Bridge of Spies into this we’ll be looking at a modern classic. 

Chappaquiddick 

Directed by John J. Curran, April 6th

This is really where the rubber is going to meet the road in terms of hot button political discussion in regards to film in 2018. The story of Ted Kennedy’s morally abhorrent actions in 1969 have been a long running stain on the legacy of the powerful, beloved and infamous Kennedy family and seeing them play out on film now is going to put quite a bit of ink to paper. 

Cloverfield: The God Particle

Directed by Julius Onah, April 20th 

We don’t know much about Bad Robot’s potential third film in the Cloverfield “franchise”. The only reason a third entry is a huge deal at this point is because 10 Cloverfield Lane is an unabashedly fantastic film that came completely out of left field from a nearly first time director. If JJ Abrams wants to keep giving young talented directors the opportunity to build and reshape the flaccid world of Cloverfield i’m all for it! 

Rampage

Directed by Brad Peyton, April 20th 

Maybe the grand secret to directing video game movies just lies in stripping things down. This movie is just about The Rock fighting a giant albino gorilla. It’s about as scaled back as humanly possible into the base archetypes of the monster/action movie genres so maybe tehres some potential here. 

Slender Man 

Directed by Sylvain White, May 19th 

2018 is treating us to the final legs of the Slender-man meme. Few films have looked as generic or disposable as this but it’s as honorable as anything to use as kindling to kill this meme once and for all. 

Ocean’s 8 

Directed by Gary Ross, June 8th 

I’m all for a fourth canonical Oceans heist film but i’m very nervous about seeing it get handled by a director other than Steven Soderbergh. I would not be surprised if this film ends up being 2018′s equivalent of the all-female Ghostbusters reboot. Based solely on whose directing it I suspect it’ll be a mostly ineffectual sequel that’s going to either be falsely elevated/berated based on the politics of the film. 

Sicario 2: Soldado

Directed by Stefano Sollima, June 29th 

The first Sicario was terrifying, suspenseful and immoral. That film’s screenwriter Taylor Sheridan is back and promising to make it darker and less restrained than it’s predecessor. What happens when the US declares the Cartel a terrorist group and completely throws ethics out the door to stop them? We’ll see… 

Alita: Battle Angel

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, July 20th

Yes internet… Her eyes are weird. Can we move onto something else now?

I understand the internet’s apprehension with anime adaptions after DragonBall Evolution and Ghost in the Shell but at some point you need to have a little faith. This is being written by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez, based on a critically acclaimed classic manga. At it’s best we could be looking at another Edge of Tomorrow.

The Predator

Directed by Shane Black, August 3rd 

The Predator franchise is finally coming full circle in some ways. The one time side character in the original John McTiernan classic has now grown into one of the most critically acclaimed directors in Hollywood with films like The Nice Guys, Iron Man 3 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang under this belt. It’s hard to tell where his fourth iteration of the franchise will go but knowing my original pitch for A Very Predator Christmas has been shelved I can only hope for the best… 

The Equalizer 2 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, August 10th

The original film in this franchise was one of the coolest hard knuckkle action films of the past few years. It was brutal, meticulous and led by a character way smarter and well read than you. Fuqua’s built up filmography of ultra gritty action movies like Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen, The Magnificent Seven and Southpaw have helped him build his reputation as the best there is at a very specific kind of grind house blockbuster action and there’s reason to suspect that once again he’ll be returning with another great Denzel Washington film. 

The Kid Who Would Be King 

Directed by Joe Cornish, September 28th 

The last time Joe Cornish hit the directors chair he gave us the masterpiece that was Attack the Block. Where as that film was all the fun of Edgar Wright mixed with John Carpenter, he now turns his attention to more classical fair. Only time will tell where he is taking this but there is so much promise in this film! 

First Man 

Directed by Damien Chazelle, October 12th 

The critically acclaimed creator of La La Land, Whiplash and Grand Piano has an incoming biopic about Neil Armstrong. The awards season will be exciting next year! 

Halloween 

Directed by David Gordon Green, October 19th 

Blumhouse’s John Carpenter approved sequel to Halloween will be hitting theaters later this year. While there is no shortage of terrible sequels to the original classic but with the director of Nicolas Cage’s Joe and Pineapple Express behind the camera and with John Carpenter’s approval himself this could shape up to be a fascinating entry in the storied franchise. 

The Jungle Book 

Directed by Andy Serkis, October 19th 

2016′s Disney adaption of The Jungle Book was a quiet surprise with some of the best CGI special effects ever put into a major film. Now that the greatest motion capture artist in cinema history has started directing his own movies he’s taken it upon himself to one up Disney. While his storytelling chops remain to be scene there’s certainly something to be anticipated here. 

The Women are Marwen

Directed by Robert Zemekis, November 21st 

The critically acclaimed director of Back to the Future is back with another major late in the year release after the back to back successes of The Walk and Allied. There is a great deal of potential with this! 

Mortal Engines

Directed by Christian Rivers, December 14th

Say whatever you will about Peter Jackson’s King Kong or The Hobbit Trilogy, he is one of the best curators of young talented filmmakers in the modern age. His shepherding of Neil Blomkamp gave us the sci-fi masterpiece District 9. Now he’s producing this big idea adaption of the book series of the same name. This has promise! 

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse 

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, December 21st 

The LEGO Movie and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs veterans Phil Lord and Christopher Miller provide the script to this highly stylized and potentially fascinating animated film. The film brings fan favorite Miles Morales to the chair for the lead role and seems to be drawing upon the highly popular recent Spiderverse comic storyline for inspiration. 

Aquaman

Directed by James Wan, December 21st 

The DC Extended Universe is going to be slowing down a bit as Warner Brothers slows down and reevaluates it’s plan going forward after Shazam, Batman, Wonder Woman 2, Suicide Squad 2 and Flashpoint. For this year the only solo film we’re getting is the solo Aquaman film. Whatever can be said for Jason Momoa’s portrayal in Justice League, the real interesting side of this is coming from Furious 7 and The Conjuring veteran James Wan whose recent filmography has set him apart as one of the most energetic and talented genre directors working in Hollywood. That’s where the potential in this film lies. 

Transformers Universe: Bumblebee 

Directed by Travis Knight, December 21st 

The first post-Michael Bay Transformers film is going to be hitting theaters this year. Considering how much (more) the franchise has been running off the rails of late it should be fascinating to see how Paramount’s last true tent pool action franchise is going to somehow get worse. 

Mary Poppins Returns

Directed by Rob Marshall, December 25th 

Chicago and Into the Woods director veteran Rob Marshall is back with what might be the most bizarre and unnecessary sequel in cinematic history. Disney has the right to do whatever it wants with it’s franchises of course and there’s a good chance this could be quite the musical in the making but it’s certainly going to kick a few people in the gut when the trailer first drops. 

Sweet Country 

Directed by Warwick Thornton, 2018 

I’m a sucker for a good western and this year is bringing us a new and fascinating western from the land down under. This looks to be an excessively depressing film. What is it with Australia and depressing westerns like Mad Max and The Rover? On a bit of a side note, its interesting to see how Sam Neil’s career has shifted so radically in his later years. He’s like a modern Sean Connery without all the overt casual sexism! 

Psychokinesis 

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, 2018

The 21st century really has marked a renaissance for the Korean film industry. Brilliant directors like Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) and Bong Joon-ho (Snow Piercer, Okja) have really taken to prominence in the past decade in the international market and created a unique space for their work. Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan was a complete surprise and one of the most quietly competent entries into the zombie genre in decades. His next film is a black comedy/superhero film dropping this month in South Korea and getting an international release later in the year. 

Backseat 

Directed by Adam McKay, 2018 

Adam McKay’s recent turn into political filmmaking with The Big Short ended up being one of the most interesting turns as a director considering how much of his filmography is defined by his work with Will Ferrell like The Other Guys, Talladega Knights, Step Brothers and the two Anchorman films. His upcoming biopic about former Vice President Dick Cheney seems like it could be very much riding a serious of sensitive lines that could take it in a lot of directions. It’s definitely promising though! 

Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Directed by Morgan Neville, 2018

Fred Rogers is one of my favorite human beings. He was a man of incredible virtue and kindness who's public and private image were that of loving christian kindness. While he never wrote an autobiography there are plenty of secondhand books about his life and personal philosophy and his is shaping up to be a fascinating character biography of the man. 

Ballad of Buster Scruggs 

Directed by the Coen Brothers, 2018 

I just finished up an extensive breakdown on the entire filmography of the Coen Brothers just in time for their newest project to drop. The catch this time is that their newest project is a television show for Netflix instead of a film. This is their second western property after the wonder True Grit and is promising to be one of the most interesting things to drop this year. 

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Directed by Terry Gilliam, 2018 

Of everything coming out in 2018 nothing is more exciting to me than the fruition of Terry Gilliam’s 17 year journey to completing his most anticipated film. The critically acclaimed genre director of Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, Brazil, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Zero Theorem has had his longwinded adaption of Don Quixote trapped in development hell for nearly two decades. It’s rare that we ever see a film this doomed to failure rise from the grave. Usually what we ever see of a film like this comes in the form of tell-all documentaries like Jodorowsky's Dune, The Death of Superman Lives, Lost Soul and appropriately Lost in La Mancha. Thanks in part to Amazon Studios we are not going to be blessed with a long overdue revival of the doomed film starring Adam Driver (Star Wars, Logan Lucky, Paterson). Even if it can’t live up to two decades of waiting it’ll be worth it just to close the book on such a gut wrenching saga of artistic failure. 

Thank you all for reading!

If you would like to see more reviews, articles and podcasts lemme know by tweeting me at @AntiSocialCriti or commenting below. Check out my review show The Fox Valley Film Critics! Also check out my articles on Geeks Under Grace!

Live long and prosper!

[callmehawkeye]

Watched in 2017

Kids For Cash (2013): It’s easy to sit here as someone without a personal stake in this documentary’s focus, but, what I took away from it is the Luzerne County scandal contained nothing but very human individuals working out their own perspectives and self interests within justice and school systems set up to fail; or those holding office who don’t have proper insight. People fighting shades of grey with black and white theories. Children’s lives were disrupted during peak development years and even though their records were expunged, you can see the damage being impossible to reverse.

Capturing the Friedmans (2003): An introspection of a family in crisis; I believe in the 14 years since this documentary released there’s enough information available for armchair detectives to see through any biases this film presents and displays the depth trauma and denial can go.

The Jinx (2015): A miniseries focused on the life and crimes of Robert Durst where the man himself is interviewed and occasionally forgets he is wearing a hot mic.

Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado (2016): A great standup special that made me smile and cackle. Can’t wait to see more of Buress.

Other People (2016): Sure, it’s another cancer movie, but the family relationships and performances make this such a lovely film to watch.

Fences (2016): Play-turned-film about a family in the 1950s and the metaphorical fences they put up to keep each other safe but also to stop from connecting. Lots of great monologues put in by the cast.

Westworld (Season 1): Called all the big twists, but it’s still a great show with wonderful storytelling, scenery, and acting.

The Straight Story (1999): Best film I’ve seen by David Lynch. Poignant and moving.

Suicide Squad (2016): UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I’m not much of an original storyline purist, but if there’s a strong story handed to you ready-made on a silver platter -- why make it weaker? Why not attempt to understand the context at all?

American Honey (2016): Gorgeously shot, but I really found the story content to be a bit cliché and done before but better.

Vampire’s Kiss (1989): I don’t know so much about the comedic part of this labeled black comedy when it really comes off as a quite disturbing account of a lonely, mental ill man’s downward spiral. But fun, bizarre, and unique nonetheless. 

Pete’s Dragon (2016): Not the best kid and their dragon story. Not the worst. Not the best Disney remake. Not the worst. Eff gritty reboots. I want the kid to stay with their dragon.

Killer Legends (2014): Documentary uncovering the true stories behind urban legends; the man with a hook for a hand, the babysitter with a call coming from inside the house, poisoned Halloween candy, and a killer birthday party clown.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017): While I liked The Lego Movie, I was more about Batman and how he was voiced by Will Arnett. This movie is a cesspool for in-jokes and references and I was crying nearly the entire time with laughter.

Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016): Oh my god. Oh my god, why.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003): A moving story about three homeless individuals who discover an abandoned baby in the snow around Christmastime. Their search for the mother displays beautiful animation and storytelling.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017): I’m so happy the sleeper buzz of the first one got to me a few years ago. I’m so beyond thrilled with the product of this sequel that doesn’t lose its self-awareness and bite.

Train to Busan (2016): Best zombie movie I’ve seen in years and years.

Newsies Musical (2017): A lot of missteps and overacting; but still the lovely show I know and adore with flawless dancing.

Hidden Figures (2016): A film showcasing the overshadowed and overworked women of color NASA employees. Superb acting all the way.

Night of the Demons (1988): 100% ‘80s horrible, but I kind of loved it?

Michael Bolton's Big Sexy Valentine's Day Special (2017): I want to write individually, uniquely written thank-you cards to everyone who made this possible.

Get Out (2017): Gorgeously shot, acted, and written; full of detail, homages, symbolism, and foreshadowing. I’m obsessed. I’m so proud of Jordan Peele and cannot wait to see what he does next.

La La Land (2016): More like Blah Blah Land.

Moonlight (2016): A gorgeously shot character study of a young man’s dichotomy of black masculinity and homosexuality.

The Belko Experiment (2017): A clever and funny horrorfest of a desk jockey company locking its employees in and pitting them against one another for a battle to the death.

Logan (2017): THIS is the Wolverine we’ve wanted. My creyes. Thanks or all the years of dedication, Jackman.

A Monster Calls (2016): For such an imaginative story as a boy’s imagination assisting his grief, it’s rather dull and removed.

The Imposter (2012): A documentary of a French national faking the identity of a missing, and much younger, American boy.

Best in Show (2000): This is literally my life now.

Tangled: Before Ever After (2017): Such a cute continuation I’ve always wanted from one of my favorite Disney films. Sweet songs, characterizations, and animation.

Ordinary World (2016): Billie Joe Armstrong in his first starring role as a man hitting a midlife crisis. It’s been done. But there’s something particularly charming about its cast and execution.

Beauty and the Beast (2017): ...Eh. It’s pretty? Some of the additions are cute and thoughtful. But it feels like a shot for shot remake.

Christine (2016): A dramatization of the real life story of Christine Chubbuck, a news correspondent who committed suicide while live on-air.

Arrival (2016): Amy Adams was robbed from a nomination. In my opinion, this is her best work ever.

Beware the Slenderman (2016): HBO documentary covering the true crime of the Slenderman-inspired stabbing and the young girls who conspired together to commit it.

The Fits (2015): A young girl in Cincinnati observes others around her spiraling into epileptic-like episodes as she joins a dance team and undergoes many pre-teen milestones. 

The Queen of Katwe (2016): The true story of the chess world’s Woman Candidate Master Phiona Mutesi.

The Love Witch (2016): I love literally everything about this ridiculous movie? With its purposeful presentation acting and romantic aesthetic? 

Jackie (2016): Natalie Portman was spellbinding.

An American Wereolf in London (1981): Took me forever to watch, but reignited my love for werewolves.

Loving (2016): True story of interracial couple Mildred and Richard Loving who got married in the late 1950s.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016): I’ve lived this genre. I grew up with this genre. I devoured hundreds of films, television series, and novels about this genre. If it were the first I ever saw, maybe I’d have liked it better. It’s fine. Just not for me.

 The Founder (2016): What a wonderfully expensive and affective commercial for McDonald’s. Now put Michael Keaton in more movies!!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016): I’m excited for the extensive look in Rowling’s universe. While hard to not compare to Harry Potter and lacking the groundwork of connection to a book series I grew up with since 11 years old, it certainly grew on me.

The Boxtrolls (2014): Late to the game on this one, but another fine film from the Laika company. I’m becoming a huge fan of theirs.

The Lost City of Z (2017): A refreshing movie to watch that’s driven by characters more than plot and with minimal CGI. Gorgeous acting. Gripping motivations and convictions. Beautiful scenery and set designs. Reminiscent of an old Hollywood epic.

Tickled (2016): Frustrating documentary about the online “competitive tickling” community and the shadiness of key players.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016): I’d probably have enjoyed this more if I hadn’t watched the Lego Batman Movie first, but I got thorough amusement from the in-jokes and returning cast of talent.

Cat People (1942): Oh look, it’s the most I can hope for in my near future.

Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017): HBO documentary about Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blancharde.

Drag Becomes Him (2015): I fucking love Jinx Monsoon.

A Star is Born (1954): Judy at her best.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Season 3): I wish this season was more focused, but it gave me some moments I’ll never forget.

Wonder Woman (2017): I already plan to go see this again and make it my theme for my 30th birthday this year. I love it that much.

The Girl on the Train (2016): Zzzzzzzzzzz

House of Cards (Season 5): You can always tell when a showrunner leaves. Robin Wright saved this show for me.

Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016): I don’t know many comedians who can make me instantly switch from laughing to crying.

Papillon (1973): There’s something captivating about this film that you don’t see every day. True storytelling epic.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1976): Sidney Poitier is charming, and the behind the scenes turmoil for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy had me sobbing.

Who Took Johnny (2014): The true crime story of the abduction/disappearance of Johnny Gosch.

Master of None (Season 2): There was something so maddening about Dev this season. Well, not “something.” He fucked up a lot and was quite unlikable. The directing and international film homages were second best to Denise’s single background episode.

The Beguiled (2017): Quite beautiful, great acting. Typical Sofia Coppola and entertaining enough. Not necessary for me to view again.

Baby Driver (2017): This is a standout film for me this year. It made me incredibly happy and so proud of Edgar Wright.

Orange is the New Black (Season 5): Justice for Poussey.

Excalibur (1981): I hear this is both the best and definitive version of the King Arthur myth. But everything else is really bad, and this is acceptable. It has some strong elements and covered the largest span of the myth’s time.

The Old Man and the Sea (1958): The most simply shot and presented film I’ve ever seen. Spencer Tracy is an absolute dear.

HitREcord on TV (Season 1): Such a satisfying and inspiring series to watch.

Atomic Blonde (2017): A lot more spy noir than I expected, but the action I went in anticipating was thrilling and impressive in its choreography. Loved the aesthetic and loved the soundtrack even more.

HitREcord on TV (Season 2): It’s really motivating to watch people go through the creation process in this.

Adam’s Rib (1949): Such a silly story, but Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy’s dynamic is ev. er. y. thing!

BUtterfield 8 (1960): The behind the scenes story is much more compelling and interesting.

What a Way to Go! (1964): This is honestly the most perfect movie I’ve seen in years. There is nothing about it I didn’t love nor recommend.

Detroit (2017): Not exactly the best thing to watch after Charlottesville, but it is a story that needs to be heard and not forgotten. Nothing has changed.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017): The runtime felt too long. But it’s still the best portrayal of Peter Parker so far. Such a refreshing Marvel movie to watch in the midst of my over-saturation outlook on their films. A smaller spec story was very-much needed.

T2 Trainspotting (2017): Most sequels made 20 years later aren’t anything to write home about. But man. This exceeded expectations.

Hurricane Bianca (2016): Just the kind of movie I want from a drag queen. Just the right amount of camp, message, humor, and fabulousness. 

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017): I don’t think there’s anything that makes me consistently laugh this hard.

Ma Vie de Courgette (2017): Stop-animation about the connection and imagination of orphaned children in a healthy home environment.

Brigsby Bear (2017): The most unexpectedly unique and heartfelt movie I’ve seen all year.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977): Oh, so that’s why people like this movie so much.

Shameless (Season 5): More Ian, please.

Cat Women of the Moon (1953): Masterpiece. Aesthetic. My future.

Last Action Hero (1993): I feel like I unwittingly wrote this exact story as a teenager. Loved it.

The Bodyguard (1992): I will always love Whitney.

Table 19 (2017): Legitimately charming.

Kingsmen: The Golden Circle (2017): Not as good as the first, but plenty of strong ideas that I enjoyed with a lovable cast.

mother! (2017): Fucking horrifying and sent me into an anxiety attack that lasted longer than a day -- ethereal and quite the theater-going experience.

Sunshine on Leith (2014): Proclaimers musical. Pretty by the numbers, but very eagerly genuine and sweet.

The Powder and the Glory (2007): PBS documentary about Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. -- I’m Team Rubinstein, by the way.

It (2017): A great retelling of the original story with a strong and likable cast. I’m excited to see who they cast as the older counterparts in Part 2.

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017): An interesting perspective of who is left behind during wartime. 

Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution (2017): PBS documentary on my boys.

Fist Fight (2017): 90 minutes of line-o-rama comedy. But I love the lead actors.

Gilda (1946): My, my, my Hayworth. Finish him.

I Am Heath Ledger (2017): A retrospective of Ledger with interviews by those legitimately closest to him. Very touching and insightful.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017): The most visually stunning film I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Personal Shopper (2017): Kristen Stewart stars as a woman living in France, waiting for a sign of life from her deceased twin brother.

Gifted (2017): I’m here for Evans and Evans alone.

XX (2017): Four horror shorts directed by women, each uniquely shot and told.

The Promise (2016): The movie was sold short by a misdirection in advertising; it’s more -- and interestingly so -- about the Armenian genocide than just another wartime love triangle. Come on, guys. Polyamory. Polyamory is always the answer.

The Circle (2017): Unwatchable. The film itself doesn’t even know what it’s trying to say.

The Public Enemy (1931): Mostly watched this because of the closing of The Great Movie Ride, above all else.

Leverage (Season 1): Race to finish all 5 seasons before it’s taken off of Netflix. I love this team.

Leverage (Season 2): I have so many feelings about these characters and their relationships with each other.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017): Polyamory. I told you. The answer is always polyamory. And bondage.

Stranger Things (Season 2): I’m so happy this is finally here, and so mad I’m already finished.

Leverage (Season 3): I love the slow development and bonding the team has gone through.

Leverage (Season 4): The more ridiculous and implausible the mission, the more I love the episode.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017): I don’t care that it was “too funny.” It was exactly what I wanted out of a Marvel movie.

Leverage (Season 5): Well. It’s official. I’ve been Stockholm-syndromed by a show.

The Foreigner (2017): It was fine. It was another misleading trailer, so not what I was expecting. But it was fine.

The Thing (1982): Mmm mmm mmm ‘80s Kurt Russell in a solid John Carpenter thriller/horror.

To Have and Have Not (1944): Bogart and Bacall is goals.

Alien: Covenant (2017): Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017): This is actually a solid sequel I greatly enjoyed. It’s been a few years since I’ve enjoyed a Marvel movie, and now I have two!

The Librarians (Season 1): Okay, this is a good Leverage replacement.

The Librarians (Season 2): This show is super endearing and I’m pleased it exists.

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992): Going to the My Favorite Murder live show encouraged me to finally watch this.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003): An update and deeper delve into Wuornos. Super upsetting to watch her mental deterioration unfold onscreen. 

The Librarians (Season 3): All caught-up for season 4 in December!!

Sleight (2016): I had a difficult time watching this movie. There was something about the sound-mixing that triggered some anxiety and auditory stress. But I liked what I could see of it.

Cujo (1983): Probably my second-favorite King movie now. Very simple, yet effective.

Lady Bird (2017): I’m happy to have seen this before the hype got too big. It was so relatable and enjoyable.

Christine (1983): Quite entertaining, great music, top camp.

Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie (2017): Mostly made up of callbacks, but I DO NOT CARE. Such a satisfying nostalgia bookend.

Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017): Fantastic dialogue and performances. I feel so many side stories and characters were meant to build up the main storyline and give context, but I feel it left a lot of characters wanting and left used. 

Novitiate (2017): I had no idea the Catholic church did the sisters so dirty with Vatican II. Very tense film and makes you quite sympathetic for the women in it.

Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016): Spectacular HBO documentary of my goddess and the mother goddess. I cried a lot.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012): Documentary follows Chinese artist and figure, Ai Weiwei, as he uses social media and activism in his art and to hold the government accountable.

Shameless (Season 6): Needs more Ian. Tired of everyone else’s bullshit. Will I last much longer?

Calamity Jane (1953): Casting Doris Day as the butch Calamity Jane is the most hilarious and gay thing I’ve ever seen and I love it.

Murder on the Orient Express (2017): It’s beautiful, but such a terrible adaptation that guts any tension, stakes, and even mystery as well as gives little for the talented cast to cut their teeth on.

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang (2016): The attempts and execution of a 1,650 foot ladder made of fireworks.

Monster (2003): Ohhhh, THAT’S why Charlize won the Oscar...

The Big Sick (2017): So charming and such a legit romantic comedy.

The Disaster Artist (2017): I watched this in the same way I watched the room: Through my fingers, curled up on my side, and whispering, “Stop. Stop. Stop.” I loved it.

Coco (2017): Well, Pixar fucked me up once again.

My Friend Rockefeller (2015): Documentary about con artist and murderer Christian Gerhartsreiter.

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 1): De. Light. Ful.

Shameless (Season 7): Finally caught up!

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017): Yes. I see the faults. I understand. I just don’t care. I absolutely loved it. 

The Greatest Showman (2017): Probably my biggest disappointment of the year. The cast and musical numbers were great, but everything in-between was so weak and uninteresting. For a non-diagetic musical, they never earned their musical moments. I’d rather have watched a non-Barnum circus movie all about ZEfron and Zendaya for 2 hours with Jackman in the Master of Ceremonies role. It felt like every non-musical scene was trying to sprint through to get to the next song.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017): I didn’t expect to adore this as much as I did? Jack Black was the standout and was so endearing and respectful towards teenage girls!

The Little Hours (2017): My forever mood/aesthetic in film form.

Gook (2017): Black and white film about the ‘92 L.A. riots from the perspective of two Korean-American brothers.

Carnage (2017): Mockumentary made by Simon Amstell told from the future where veganism is the norm.

Good Time (2017): An epic told over the span of 24 hours of a bank robbery gone wrong.

Dave Chappelle: Equanimity & The Bird Revelation (2017): Chappelle’s latest Netflix specials, back to back. I don’t agree with a lot of what he said and didn’t always laugh. But when he reached me, he did it right.

Battle of the Sexes (2017): That haircut scene helps fuel my Emma Stone fantasies. 

I, Tonya (2017): While I do believe Harding never takes responsibility for herself when she should, I still can’t begrudge her place in media history.

The Shape of Water (2017): This movie was fucking everything to me.

2016 | 2015 | 2014