#the trailer looked mid (story wise and as some one who's actually read most of the book)

[ladyelainehilfur]

I am preemptively forecasting reviews of DreamWork's "The Wild Robot" that say it's ironic that the studio created a movie about an AI for us to sympathize with in a time where many in the creative industry consider AI potentially disruptive to their careers.

[bunny-heels]

of course im talking about that graffiti screenshot im not a fool

so Valve had released three new in game screenshots for Half-Life: Alyx on their twitter. the most important one (aside from the one that features our lord and savior ERROR) is this;

under a bridge, classic blue truck on the edge, headcrab on a stick in the back, and of course, the fucking beautiful graffiti on the sides of the tunnel that are just, glowing in the dim light. for reasons outside of graphics and map structure, this is the most important screenshot we've gotten lore wise. here's a good run down as to why.

first, the graffiti on the far left;

depicted is a large Citadel placed in between a Vortigaunt and a tall skinny human. the interesting thing is that the Vortigaunt and Citadel have their own defining features to them, such as the Vortigaunt's individual small eyes placed above their big one in the center of their head, and the Citadels ropes connected to the ground and the small outward unfinished parts that havent been constructed yet. however, the person on the far left has no defining features to them.

people have speculated that, because what is depicted is a Vortigaunt and the Citadel, the human figure might be Gordon. this could also be because the figure itself is bulky, so you'll see it more as a male figure. however, I have high speculation myself, from analyzing the little details we had on them, that the person is Alyx.

similarities they share is not only what seems to be the crooked belt she has around her hips, which is even crooked in the same angle as her actual belt, but also, the crudely drawn Black Mesa symbol on the chest.

of course, this is only an analyzed assumption, but i believe that since the game is literally going to be about Alyx, it's safe to guess that its her.

as for what the entire image is suppsoee to mean, that can't be made certain just yet. it could be a foreshadowing to the Vorts getting her and Gordon out of the Citadel in the beginning of Episode 1, but then I don't understand why Gordon wouldn't be depicted in the image as well. alternatively, it could just be a general depiction of her reaching the Citadel later in-game once you've seen this graffiti. nothing is concrete, though.

next, is this;

depicted, on the top of the wall is the honeycomb like Antlion's ness, surrounded by Antlions. at the bottom is a group of Vortigaunts reaching towards one that is resting on the ground. behind that resting Vort is what looks like a pile of eyeball spheres. what they actually are is unknown.

the graffiti as a whole is much more important than what it can be first guessed. if you were to remember the Antlion mission in Episode 2, where you are to collect extract from the Antlion's nests with a Vortigaunt on your side, the Vort mentions that their kind used to perform 'husbandry' with the Antlions' larvae. meaning they farmed it for the extract.

what should be noted is that this is an 'ancestral practice', meaning a pre-evolved version of the Vorts commonly farmed the extract, which then got passed down to their more evolved counterparts. they likely couldn't continue the farming due to the Combine invasion of their homeworld.

as well, the Vortigaunt says it 'dissolves false veils that divide the vortessence', and that 'all this you(Gordon) shall witness when-', then is cut off. then, when at the table, the Vort that traveled with you eats the extract, and they, including the others around the table, begin to glow purple and gain blue eyes. the same energy is seen in the beginning of Episode 1. the vortessence that is 'divided' described by the Vortigaunt is that shared energy they use when doing very powerful things, such as bringing people out of a frozen time state, stopping someone like the G-Man (albeit having to use over 10 of them to hold him back), and bringing someone borderline back to life by connected them with a lifelink of another human.

i think it's extremely important that we recognize, as well, that this piece of information is very, very briefly mentioned in Episode 2, and could've been easily forgotten about. but it wasn't. so you can have high hopes that they bring back other briefly mentioned details that you may think they'd forgotten. what this also means, obviously, is that this particular piece of lore to the Vortigaunts' history is going to be very important, more than we thought it was before.

one last detail, if you look above that wall, you can see what looks like eyeballs on that curved part of the under bridge. however, it looks much more different brightened up;

they seem to be relatively flat disks with an iris and pupil lookalike style on the flat part, and they are coming out of the wall by a thin rigid stem to keep them attached. they almost loon like satellite dishes, without the signal spikes. they could also resemble cameras. it seems that they also look similar to the pile of eyes behind the resting Vortigaunt at the bottom of the wall. still, what they fully are is completely unknown to use.

to add some more speculation, i would like to add this screenshot from the trailer in relevance;

me and my bf have soeculated this being a Vortigaunt made base, due to its structure and the eye image on the door.

what it actually is, in terms of the area and who inhabits it, are not confirmed. but, i believe with the graffiti on the wall, which already look to be done by the Vortigaunts due to its telling of their history, this could very well actually be a Vortigaunt base.

finally, as you can see in the whole screenshot, there are orange rhombus shapes around variously placed glowing green large dots, and coming out the wall, in the best way i can describe it, look like vertically squished down mid-eruption volcanos. i, personally, have no clue what this is supposed to mean, let alone what it actually is. so there's nothing i can really say on it other then, artistically, it looks cool.

thats all i can really get out of the image. a reminder that all of the speculations i made are not concrete to what could actually be in the game's story. as well, i don't claim any of those speculation to be fact (even though i probably wrote the sentences in a way that makes it look like i claim them as fact but i'm a big stinky doo doo brained ADHD chick so just bare with me here man i'm trying).

if there's anything that i might've missed or you believe i have speculated incorrectly, or you just have general theories of your own that you believe in strongly, i'm open to reading them.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 8/20/21 - REMINISCENCE, PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE, THE PROTÉGÉ, THE NIGHT HOUSE, FLAG DAY, DEMONIC and More

Ugh.

Apparently, we have four or five new wide releases this weekend, just as we get into what I always lovingly referred to as “The Dog Days of Summer.” Thanks to COVID, that could be referring to almost every weekend this summer, but it definitely becomes more true as we get to the end of summer as many kids are returning to school, some of them wearing masks, others social-distancing, some just getting us closer to the herd immunity we were always heading towards… ha ha… that’s one way to see if anyone is even reading this column. Get Political!!

Presumably, the widest release this weekend will be the sci-fi noir, REMINISCENCE (Warner Bros.), starring Hugh Jackman, Thandiwe Newton, and Rebecca Ferguson, which is the feature directorial debut by Lisa Joy, the co-creator of HBO’s popular series, Westworld. Like The Suicide Squad, In the Heights, and every other Warner Bros. movie this year, Reminiscence will be released concurrently on HBO Max this Friday. Unlike any of those other movies, I honestly don’t think anyone will give a shit about getting off their asses to risk COVID in order to see this. And I say that a.) without having seen it; b.) knowing almost nothing about it; c.) not believing the poppycock that movie theaters are the death traps some claim; and d.) I already have a ticket to see it on Friday.

In fact, I almost feel like I shouldn’t do a lot of research into what this movie is about, because despite having seen the trailer a few times, I still have no idea. All I know is that it stars Hugh Jackman, and it’s science-fiction, and that’s enough for me! (I haven’t even watched that much of Westworld beyond the first season for no other reason except that I haven’t.) The plot according to IMDB is, “A scientist discovers a way to relive your past and uses the technology to search for his long lost love.” Good enough for me.

Okay, then, so basically it sounds like a Christopher Nolan movie like Tenet or Inception from a lesser-known director -- who also happens to be Nolan’s sister-in-law, because she’s married to the other Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan. See how Hollywood works?

Because of all the Nolan connections, maybe we need to look at something like Transcendence, the 2014 sci-fi thriller directed by Nolan DP Wally Pfister, which starred Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall (coincidentally), and Paul Bettany. The movie opened in mid-April (a known dumping ground) to about $10.9 million in 3,455 theaters, and then tanked, making just $23 million domestically. (It made about $80 million overseas.) The fact that the title Reminiscence bears more similarity to Pfister’s movie brings another level of foreboding.

At the time, Depp hadn’t completely destroyed his career, and he still had a few bit hits under his belt, including Into the Woods and his final Pirates of the Caribbean movie in 2017, as well as Murder on the Orient Express. Jackman, on the other hand, is still in a better place career-wise, although he still owes much of his career to playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies for nearly two decades. He’s had one significant hit since Logan’s swan song, fittingly enough in 2017’s Logan, which grossed $226.3 million domestically. That was the PT Barnum musical, The Greatest Showman, which made $174.3 million over the holidays that same year, and that really centered around Jackman as a leading man. His next movie, the Gary Hart movie, The Front Runner, didn’t fare very well (less than $2 million gross), nor did the animated Missing Link, although the latter did get an Oscar nomination. The question is whether Jackman can do much to get moviegoers into an original science fiction movie with his mere presence.

Even the rest of the cast that includes Ferguson from Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies, Newton from… well, another one of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies, and Daniel Wu from the series Into the Badlands and the most recent Tomb Raider movie. Again, take these three out of a franchise and who knows if there’s really much left?

I’m not even sure how many theaters Warner Bros. is releasing… sorry, I hate spelling out the title of this movie… into, but I have a feeling it won’t be that much more than 3,000, especially with the movie being readily available on HBO Max and all the week’s other movies being theatrical only.

Because of that, I’m very dubious about this movie making $10 million this weekend. In fact, I’m not even sure it can make $8 million this weekend. No, I’m probably going to go closer to $6 to 7 million on this, and even that might be overly optimistic.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Reminiscence in advance, so we'll just have to see what other critics who see it think about it. I’m not really expecting it to get too many good reviews, since it seems like the kind of movie that critics go to see begrudgingly, because they were assigned to see it, more than having any interest in it. And I was right.

On the other hand, I’ve already been seeing rave reviews about the animated PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE (Paramount), which I also haven’t seen, and in fact, I can guarantee that I will never see it. Why? Because I don’t have kids. Nor will I ever have kids. Nor do I know anything about this other than it’s about police dogs?

In fact, opening in 2,700 theaters, I wouldn’t be surprised if this rare G-rated movie ends up winning the weekend, or at least comes in second to Free Guy, despite many kids being back in school, kids being unvaccinated and more likely to get COVID by going to movie theaters, etc. etc.

If you can’t tell, I’m writing this while on a mini-vacation and I’m kind of in a “I just don’t give a shit” kind of mood right now, but as I said, I don’t have kids, and the only reason I know what “Paw Patrol” is because the people I know who have kids seem to know of the movie’s existence. Maybe even some of them will take their kids to see it or at least wait until it’s on Paramount+, which you know is coming.

I’m going with this making somewhere around $8 million this weekend, taking second place behind Free Guy, which should continue to do well with little other direct competition.

On the other, other hand (I have three arms, you know), I have had a chance to see the action flick, THE PROTÉGÉ (Lionsgate), directed by Martin Campbell of Casino Royale acclaim and Green Lantern… what’s the opposite of acclaim? That.

The movie stars Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton, but more importantly, it stars… the awesome Maggie Q from Mission: Impossible III! (See a pattern in this week’s Weekend Warrior?) Most will probably know Ms. Q from her run as Nikita on the show of the same name, and she’s definitely back in that mode for this action-thriller in which she plays an assassin looking for the killer of her mentor (Jackson) which puts her at odds with another assassin, played by Keaton. I loved the fact that Maggie appeared in three very different movies last year from Sony/Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island and two other movies that ended up going to VOD, but the former of these shamefully opened with just $12.3 million over Valentine’s weekend and then it quickly got destroyed, first by the release of Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man in its third weekend and then by COVID, because theaters shut down in its fourth weekend. It made less than $50 million worldwide, which is a shame, because I actually liked it.

This is another case where I don’t know how many theaters it’s getting, although I do know reviews are embargoed until sometime Thursday evening, which is never a good sign, and actually, I can’t even tell you if I liked it or hated it until then, so… I guess we’ll have to go blind on this one, assuming Lionsgate will dump it into around 2,300 theaters with very little promotion. Even though action has been faring well this year, I have a feeling this will struggle to make $3 million this weekend.

Mini-Review: As I’ve probably mentioned, I love Maggie Q whenever she’s in any movie, but she’s particularly good in this sort of action role that requires a little more of a dramatic touch than we’d normally get from a man in this type of role. Sure, we can be slightly worried when there’s a movie with a female lead both written and directed by men, and some of those worries are founded, but Ms. Q always finds a way to bring more to her roles, and that’s the case here as well.

The general plot is that her Anna is an assassin and when her mentor Moody (Jackson) is murdered, she sets out to find his killer or killers, which brings her back to Vietnam where she runs headlong into another known as Rembrandt, played by Michael Keaton. At the same time, Moody has set Anna on a mission to find a boy whose father was assassinated 30 years earlier, as she learns that the two things are connected.

Written by Richard Wenk, who has quite a bit of experience with this sort of action movie, having written Denzel’s The Equalizer movies, as well as a few of The Expendables movies, he gives the movie enough story and characterization to separate it from the normal trashy action movie where that stuff isn’t important. For instance, giving Maggie’s Anna a full backstory with Samuel L. Jackson’s Moody, her blues guitar-playing mentor, or having her be interested in books and running a bookstore.

Unfortunately, the movie is kind of erratic, comical sometimes but deadly serious for the most part and the flirtatious relationship between Anna and Keaton’s character leads to some super cringe-worthy moments. While the action and fight choreography is pretty solid, the fact that 69-year-old Keaton doesn’t seem to be doing much of the actual fighting is a little too obvious. (Is he trying to be Liam Neeson now?) The way the violent fighting leads the two of them into bed also feels problematic. I generally abhor any sort of violence against women, but at least Maggie Q makes her character look super-tough and able to handle anything.

I wasn’t as keen on the film’s multiple twists in the ending or the flashback to Anna’s past, which seems to come far too late in the movie. In general, women are going to HATE this movie and I know exactly why, but men will probably enjoy it for just as many obvious reasons. All-in-all, it’s not a terrible throwback action movie that only sometimes goes off the rails. Rating: 6.5/10

Next, we have another highly-acclaimed horror film that played back at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2020 (like the recent Nine Days) with David (The Ritual) Bruckner’s THE NIGHT HOUSE (Searchlight Pictures), starring Rebecca Hall as Beth, a teacher whose husband Owen shot himself but not after designing and building their house on the lake. Shortly afterwards, weird things start happening and Beth thinks the house is haunting, but then she discovers a mysterious mirror image on the other side of the lake, and things start getting even weirder.

Definitely don’t want to say too much about this, because whether you like it or not might rely on whether you like the twist(s) in the movie, and I’m not sure that average moviegoers will like them as much as the type of person that goes to the Sundance Film Festival.

Hall is one of my favorite actors, because I feel she can do anything but she’s also very underrated. I mean, she can play a role in Iron Man 3 (one of the best things about that movie) or a movie like Transcendence (mentioned above) or Godzilla vs. King Kong or do comedy like ...um… Holmes and Watson, if anyone would consider that “comedy.” What she hasn’t been able to do is really get people out to theaters with her presence, although one of her more successful non-Marvel movies was Joel Edgerton’s The Gift, and she’s done a couple other good thrillers.

On top of that, the movie is still sitting pretty with 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes one wonder if Sundance buzz is able to transcend the 20-month gap since a movie’s premiere, and Nine Days seems to say otherwise. Another thing going in The Night House’s favor is that there’s been quite a bit of horror movies in recent months, which means this trailer has played in front of a lot of them.

I’m not really sure why Searchlight didn’t put this concurrently on their streaming partner Hulu, but maybe they’re giving theatrical another chance even with COVID still being a concern to many, but maybe not the fan of horror who might want a little escapism. This is only opening in about 2,000 theaters, and I think that might make it tough for it to make more than $3 or 4 million.

Mini-Review: Like with Maggie Q above, Rebecca Hall is an actress who I honestly think can do no wrong. Therefore, David Bruckner’s thriller might already have a bit of an advantage, because I assumed (correctly) that this movie will feature a lot of the filmmaker’s camera trained on her at all times capturing her every emotion, every fear and facial twitch.

As mentioned above, I don’t want to say too much about the plot beyond what you can easily watch in the trailer, but this is only partially the movie you might be expecting. Sure, there’s a good amount of eerie creepiness as Hall’s character tries to find whatever is haunting her house after her husband’s suicide, as well as discovering the identical house that may or may not be in a dream. (It's that kind of movie.)

Much of the film is kind of slow and mopey, and even funny in a weird way, since Hall’s character seems to be going crazy and her behavior (and performance) is quite erratic because of it. Think of it a bit as if you can imagine Hall going into crazy Nicholas Cage moments over the course of the movie or acting that way towards her friends, including Sarah Goldberg’s Claire, who always seems to be saying the wrong thing around her BFF.

One of the things that tends to work about Bruckner’s film is that you’re never quite sure what exactly is happening, but it keeps you interested enough to want to know where it might be going. The other great thing that works even moreso is the film’s amazing score and sound design that helps to keep the viewer on edge through all of the film’s ups and downs.

As the film went along, I presumed correctly that there would probably be some sort of semi-inane M. Night Shyamalan twist, and in some ways, I was right. I certainly didn’t hate the twist when it showed up (or the second or third twist), but I know plenty of fans of more straight-ahead (translation: bad) horror that might be thrown off and even perturbed by so many twists.

The Night House may ultimately be too smart or clever for its own good, since it’s being sold as a straight-ahead ghost story with the twist of this mirror house, but that’s really something that’s very much only on the surface. Any problems with the movie are countered by the fact that Hall is just so good at selling its strange concept.

Rating: 7/10

Lastly, there’s Sean Penn’s film FLAG DAY (MGM), which may or may not get a wide release -- I'm going to guess not, but just in case it does, I might try to figure out how it might do. It tells the story of lifelong criminal and con-man Jon Vogel (Penn) as seen through the eyes of his journalist daughter Jessica (Penn's daughter, Dylan Penn). Based on Jessica Vogel's book "Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life,” the movie covers Jessica's entire life from when her father left her and her brother Nick (played later by Hopper Penn) and mother Patty (Kathryn Winnick) through her own troubled life to when she takes back her life to succeed as a journalist. Also starring Josh Brolin, Dale Dickey, Regina King (blink and you'll miss her), Eddie Marsan and more, it's opening on Friday.

Without knowing whether Flag Day actually is getting any sort of wide release or will just be put into a few hundred theaters, but as you'll read in my review below, it's a very strange movie for MGM (or rather, United Artists Releasing) to have picked up before it premiered at Cannes, because it's just not that great, and it certainly isn't something that might do well in a wide release. Even if somehow MGM gets this movie into 1,000 theaters this weekend, I’m not convinced it can make a million dollars, because I just don’t think many if any people really know about it. Maybe it didn’t turn out to be the awards contender MGM hoped to release it later in the year, but it’s also strange for it to be opening a week after Respect, which I expect to do quite well in its second weekend. I’m just going to assume this will be in a few hundred theaters, and that’s about it.

Mini-Review: I really didn't know much about this movie going into it, other than the fact that it was directed by Penn, co-starred his daughter Dylan, as well as his son, Hopper. (Okay, maybe I didn’t know that last part.) What I didn’t know was that it was about a notorious counterfeiter named Jon Vogel, as seen through the eyes of his journalist daughter Jessica, and as with most of these type of memoir adaptations, it’s only going to be as interesting as how the story is told.

Penn has proven himself to be a decent filmmaker and storyteller, but here, he’s going for something arty that’s almost Terrence Malick-like at times, but needlessly so, because it just feels like he’s trying to make up for the flaws in the story by throwing in things like shaky camera work, overusing voice-over narrative and frequently leans on its soundtrack to try to make up for the weak storytelling.

On the other hand, if Penn was trying to create a great showcase for his daughter Dylan, Flag Day does a great job doing just that, and when you first see her on screen, you might be thrown off by how much she looks like her mother Robin Wright when she was much younger. It’s somewhat interesting to note that Sean Penn has never appeared in a movie he directed, which is only odd because you would think that being in scenes with other actors would make it easier to direct them. (I learned that from Jason Bateman, oddly.) In fact, the very best moments in Flag Day are those between Penn and his daughter, although there's still a lot of overacting and melodrama.

Honestly, I’ve met people like Jon Vogel, who are just constantly trying to make money however they can without worrying about who they hurt with their dishonesty. Because of this, I couldn’t fully get behind the father-daughter aspect of the story vs. just being interested in Jessica’s own personal growth.

In other words, maybe Flag Day should have been prefaced by "Based on a Dull Story,” because it just never really connected with me even though there were a scattered few moments that worked.

Rating: 5/10

Presuming that Flag Day isn’t going nationwide into over 500 theaters (and even if it does, it won’t be in the Top 10), here’s what the Top 10 should look like.

1. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $15 million -47%

2. Paw Patrol: The Movie (Paramount) - $8.4 million N/A

3. Reminiscence (Warner Bros.) - $6.2 million N/A

4. Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney Pictures) - $5 million -45%

4. Respect (MGM) - $4.8 million -45%

5. Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) - $4.6 million -57%

7. The Night House (Searchlight) - $3.3 million N/A

8. The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) - $3.2 million -57%

9. The Protege (Lionsgate) - $2.6 million N/A

10. Old (Universal) - $1.4 million -41%

District 9 director Neil Blomkamp returns with the horror film, DEMONIC (IFC Midnight), in which Carly Pope plays Carly Spenser, who learns her estranged mother Angela (Nathalie Boltt) who disappeared years earlier is now in a coma, although new technology has been created as therapy that will allow Carly to enter her mother's brain and communicate with her. What could possibly go wrong? I mean, read the title and take one effin’ guess.

I went into this one fairly hopeful that maybe Blomkamp had figured out a way of getting out of director’s jail after the last few duds by essentially going the M. Night Shyamalan route i.e. making a super low-budget horror movie without stars that can let him show people that District 9 wasn’t a fluke. But unfortunately, kids, Demonic does the exact opposite, because it’s one of those horrible high concept tech-driven horror movies (not unlike the Blumhouse model) that gets so bogged down in a premise that should thrive on its simplicity that it just fails to keep the viewer entertained, let alone scared.

As soon as Carly enters the mindscape that is her mother’s brain, you know you’re in trouble, because it looks like a scratched DVD or an old video game that’s gotten dirty and is now skipping or crashing just as you’re almost past the hardest level. Yeah, it’s that kind of movie, and after Carly’s first horrific experience in her mother’s brain -- I mean, just writing that and knowing my own mother makes this a scary idea -- you wonder why she’d go back and do it again.

On top of that, there’s just so much exposition with Carly talking about her mother’s disappearance, but before you can get bored, something weird happens like her best friend turns into some weird creature and gets pulled into the mix of whatever is possessing Carly’s mother. I won’t say too much more, because like with The Night House above, you shouldn’t know too much. Unlike that movie, as you learn more, you become more annoyed with the whole idea.

Then on top of that, Pope just isn’t a particularly dynamic actress, so she does little to elevate the weak material, and when her dumb-ass BFF shows up at 3 in the morning, the banter between them is so cringeworthy, you might wonder who wrote this crap. (Surprise: Blomkamp did, so he can’t even blame how bad this movie is on the script.) There’s also what looks like a scary chicken, which just makes the whole thing more laughable than scary.

Demonic is a truly awful movie, taking Blomkamp further down the spiral of a filmmaker that was obviously a one-trick pony and doesn’t seem to be able to prove otherwise.

Rating: 4/10

Now available on digital is Gracie Otto’s documentary, UNDER THE VOLCANO (Universal Pictures Content Group), which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March, and I absolutely loved it, though that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone who knows about my background working in recording studios. The doc is in fact about the Air Studios Montserrat that the late Sir George Martin built in the Caribbean in the ‘70s where some amazing artists like The Police, Duran Duran, Mark Knopfler and others recorded some of the classic rock records of the ‘80s. Of course, like the movie Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm about Rockfield Studios in Wales, I’m a complete suck for these movies about legendary recording studios where great music was recorded, because it feeds one of my primary interests in life: music and specifically the history of rock music. I’m actually going to have an interview with the filmmakers over at Below the Line sometime soon, so you can read a lot more about the movie then.

Because I was away this weekend, I wasn't able to get to any of these. Sorry, publicists!

ON BROADWAY (Kino Lorber) MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY (Good Deed Entertainment) BARBARA LEE: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER (Greenwich) CONFETTI (Dada Filims) CRYPTOZOO (Magnolia) COLLUSIONS (Vertical) Next week, we're back to just a single new wide release -- thank you, God! -- and it's the Universal/Blumhouse remake of the cult horror classic, CANDYMAN.

Incidentally, I couldn’t write this column weekly without the fantastic data found at The-Numbers.com. The site continues to maintain one of the best box office databases on the internet, and I appreciate that being available to us.

[mrmichaelchadler]

The 20 Most Exciting World Premieres of TIFF 2018

For a few years now, there’s been a creeping sense that the Toronto International Film Festival was losing a bit of its luster due to major films premiering the week before in Venice and Telluride. For example, last year’s Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” started their award-caliber momentum not in Canada but in Italy. Sure, there are always some major films that bypass Europe and Colorado to start in Toronto (“I, Tonya” did last year, for example), but could TIFF regain some of that power this year? It looks like that might be the case. Yes, there are films doing the earlier fests that will matter this year including “A Star is Born” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” (and we will hit those from multiple festivals) but the slate of World Premieres at TIFF 2018 is the best in the five years that I’ve been going. Alphabetically, the 20 films we’re most excited to cover for you, and come back for full-length reviews, dispatches, interviews and more by yours truly, Monica Castillo, Tomris Laffly, and Vikram Murthi.

“Beautiful Boy”

Fans of Timothee Chalamet’s Oscar-nominated breakthrough in “Call Me By Your Name” hope he builds on that with this year’s “Beautiful Boy,” based on a true story. Chalamet co-stars with Steve Carell, an actor clearly hoping for a big, possibly Oscar-inclusive Fall, with this entry and “Welcome to Marwen.” There are rumors in the ether that this was turned down by Venice—not a good sign—but let’s hope they just got this one wrong.

“Ben is Back”

Speaking of hot young actors who appeared in “Lady Bird,” Lucas Hedges is not even remotely close to letting the opportunities afforded him by his “Manchester by the Sea” Oscar nod pass him by. Hedges appeared in that Best Picture nominee in 2016 and landed two more in 2017 (Gerwig’s film and “Billboards”). Could he make it a hat trick in 2018? He appears in three TIFF films, one of which is actually premiering at Telluride (“Boy Erased”) and arguably looks the most promising of the three, and he’s in Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, “Mid90s,” which you’ll find further down this list. “Ben is Back” has a mysterious plot summary that’s really right there in the title. Hedges’ son Ben returns to Julia Roberts’ mother Holly after an extended absence. Watch for our review and we’ll offer some more hints on what happens next.

“The Death and Life of John F. Donovan”

Cannes golden boy Xavier Dolan couldn’t hold his latest until next year’s festival, choosing instead to World Premiere his English-language debut at his home country’s #1 festival. Love or hate the Quebecois enfant terrible of the cinema scene, you can’t deny the cast he’s assembled here, which includes Natalie Portman, Jacob Tremblay, Bella Thorne, Thandie Newton, Sarah Gadon, Kit Harrington, and Susan Sarandon. We’ll be there day one.

“Fahrenheit 11/9”

Anyone else surprised that it took Michael Moore almost two whole years to release his first film explicitly about the 2018 election and the unrest it unearthed in this country and around the world? One of Roger’s favorite documentarians, Moore is unapologetically releasing this Trump takedown in time to influence the mid-term elections in November. I’ve been a little cold on his last few works, but this project feels like it could bring back the heat of his best projects, films like “Roger & Me” and “Bowling For Columbine.”

“Gloria Bell”

Sebastian Lelio made waves last year with two films at TIFF 2018, the acclaimed “Disobedience” and the future Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, “A Fantastic Woman.” A late announcement to this year’s line-up he returns with what could easily be another Oscar vehicle for star Julianne Moore in this remake of Lelio’s own 2013 film, which starred Paulina Garcia (and you really should see if you haven’t yet). A Moore star vehicle is always worth a look—after all, “Still Alice” premiered here in 2014 and earned one of the best living actresses her first Academy Award.

“Green Book”

Peter Farrelly, the auteur behind “Dumb & Dumber” and “Hall Pass,” may not seem like an obvious choice for a TIFF dramatic premiere, but here we are. The filmmaker helms this true story about a white bouncer driving a black pianist on a tour in the 1960s in the South. Hopefully, this is not mere manipulation but a film with something to say about race 50 years ago and today. The most promising thing about it? The two leads are played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and shoulda-been-an-Oscar-winner-by-now Viggo Mortensen.

“Greta”

He may not get the attention he did in the years after “The Crying Game,” but we’re here to tell you that a Neil Jordan movie is always something to which cinema fans should pay attention. Even some of his recent, less-seen films like “Ondine” have been interesting. And this thriller pairs the filmmaker with the timeless Isabelle Huppert, who plays a widow who befriends a younger woman, played by Chloe Grace Moretz. That’s about all we know and that’s all we want to know. A Neil Jordan thriller starring Isabelle Huppert? Sign us up.

“Halloween”

Is it really time for another remake of arguably the best horror film of all time? It hasn’t really been that long since the two Rob Zombie movies, has it? And what more could really be added to the original saga? Wait, you say Jamie Lee Curtis is returning? And David Gordon Green is directing? And Danny McBride is co-writing?!?! What the HECK is this going to look like? Even if it’s a failure, it’s almost certain to be an interesting one. Yeah, we can’t wait either.

“Her Smell”

Alex Ross Perry reunites with the star of his best film, “Queen of Earth,” Elisabeth Moss, for this mysterious project that casts the “Handmaid's Tale” Emmy winner as a “self-destructive punk rocker” (there are really no other kinds of rockers in movies). Perry found a different angle of Moss’ repertoire in their previous collaboration, and we’re hoping he does the same here.

“High Life”

Just as Xavier Dolan is doing with “Donovan,” Claire Denis, the recipient of this year’s Ebert Tribute, bypassed the European festivals for Toronto as the place to launch her English-language debut, which has one of the most intriguing plot summaries we’ve ever read: “A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.” The father? Robert Pattinson. The cast also includes Juliette Binoche, Andre Benjamin, and Mia Goth, but it’s the potential that it feels like Denis could tap in Pattinson that makes this one of the most exciting projects of TIFF 2018.

“Hold the Dark”

Jeremy Saulnier made waves with his previous two thrillers, “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” and he’s back with another adventure to the dark side in this adaptation of William Giraldi’s book by regular Saulnier collaborator Macon Blair. The star this time around is the phenomenal Jeffrey Wright, joined by Alexander Skarsgard, Riley Keough, James Badge Dale, and Blair in this thriller set in in the icy elements of the Alaskan wilderness. We can’t wait. (Note: Dale is also in another TIFF World Premiere called “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek,” which we’ll be covering. Nice to see him doing so well.)

“If Beale Street Could Talk”

How do you follow up the best Best Picture winner in years? What could Barry Jenkins possibly do after “Moonlight”? We’ll find out early next week when this adaptation of the James Baldwin novel hits Toronto for this highly-coveted World Premiere. It’s hard to put into words how excited most cinephiles are for this flick, so we’ll just the trailer do the talking for us:

“In Fabric”

Peter Strickland’s “The Duke of Burgundy” made waves at TIFF back in 2014, and it’s taken four years for him to return with a just-as-kinky follow-up, this one about a cursed dress. There are echoes of Argento and Hammer in what promises to be one of the most divisive and truly strange World Premieres of TIFF 2018. It feels like one of the films this year that people will be talking about, love it or hate it.

“Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy”

Justin Kelly’s recent output has been a little mediocre (sorry, “I Am Michael” and “King Cobra” fans) and I wasn’t a big fan of the documentary “Author: The JT Leroy Story” about the fascinating story of JT Leroy, but there’s something about this that feels like the perfect blend of filmmaker and subject matter that has us intrigued. Of course, that intrigue is enhanced greatly by the participation of Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart in the lead roles. Like most logical people on Earth, we love both of them.

“The Land of Steady Habits”

Speaking of women we love, it’s been too long since Nicole Holofcener had a new movie, but her latest drops on Netflix before TIFF is even over, landing on the service on 9/14. The writer/director of “Enough Said” and “Please Give” directs Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel, and Connie Britton—an ensemble that could be called Actors We Love. We’ll have a full review and an interview with Holofcener right after the World Premiere.

“Loro”

Hiding in the Masters program is the latest dramedy from the writer/director of the Oscar-winning masterpiece “The Great Beauty.” Paolo Sorrentino’s latest reunites him with star Tony Servillo, the man who anchored his best films, “Beauty” and “Il Divo.” His last film, 2015’s “Youth,” was something of a disappointment, but this feels like an obvious bounceback flick, especially since it’s about Silvio Berlusconi, and Sorrentino excels at capturing insecure men in positions of extreme power.

“Mid90s”

Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is what sounds like a personal project in that it’s about a 13-year-old kid in L.A. in the titular decade when, well, Hill would have been a 13-year-old kid in L.A. Hill wisely avoids the likely draw of casting his celebrity buddies for an ensemble of largely fresh faces, allowing his involvement to be the major draw. Can he transition from being in front of the screen to becoming a major player behind it? We’ll know soon.

“Outlaw King”

The Opening Night film has been a movie that could most politely be described as “meh” over the last few years. Think “The Judge,” “The Magnificent Seven,” and last year’s “Borg vs. McEnroe.” But this year’s entry holds more promise than any of those because it’s directed by a Scotsman who has yet to make a bad film, David Mackenzie, the director of “Hell or High Water” and “Starred Up.” Reuniting Mackenzie with “Hell” star Chris Pine, this is a period piece about Robert the Bruce defeating the English army. Could this be Pine and Mackenzie’s “Braveheart”? Or will it fall victim to the TIFF Opening Night curse?

“Skin”

There are a few films at this year that seem to be speaking to the moment of race relations in 2018, including the aforementioned "Green Book," the adaptation of “The Hate U Give” and this drama about a skinhead (Jamie Bell) who decides to leave his life of hateful violence behind. Co-starring Danielle Macdonald, Bill Camp, and Mike Colter, and produced by the always-interesting Oren Moverman (“The Messenger”), this is one of those projects that feels like it could easily sneak up on people in Toronto.

“Widows”

There will be no sneaking for Steve McQueen’s long-anticipated follow-up to “12 Years a Slave.” Again, much like we did with Jenkins’ film above, it feels like the trailer can do all the hyping we possibly could in words. This movie looks incredible. Let’s hope it lives up to the 2:24 below:

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Hwarang: Poet Warrior Youth Ep 05

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether you need to rapidly alter your strategy when you realize that your ‘nemesis’ actually turns out to be the ‘brother��� of the girl you like?

Whether Ji Dwi (Hyungsik’s character) and Sun Woo’s bromance is far, far, far more interesting than the romantic story lines?

Whether introduction to school/training should involve consuming copious amounts of strong alcohol to pick roommates?

Whether the pretty guy randomly showing up as a Hwarang is believable?

Whether there is always some prissy biatch being a total tattletale at the start of a new project?

The Rule(s):

Yes obviously. *notice how Ji Dwi’s face changes when he realizes how Sun Woo is related to Aro*

Hell yes. It’s the beginning of a beautiful bromance.

Probably? But because all we see is chaos and more chaos which is probably why the administration organizes the roommate situation.

Uhh No. Like where did he come from? He had like 2 seconds of screen time in a random episode. Wtf?

OH MY GOD YES. There is always that person. Always.

Application:

RedRosette J Sidebar: HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR READERS!! May your 2017 be much more awesome than 2016! Thank you for reading and following us! We promise to keep bringing the sass in 2017!

Jubiemon J Note: Happy New Year! May everyone have their wishes granted in 2017 and be in good health! We are looking forward to the new dramas in 2017 and hope to bring more laughter. Thank you for tuning in with us and join us in 2017 as well!

RedRosette J: This episode was an interesting one for me because time-wise, there was more bromance and Hwarang’s first day than this whole pointless romance. There were a lot of LOLs with the dangling from the ceiling like meat stuff (Honestly, these two should really just do comedy) and some more time spent with the awkward “you’re-my-‘brother’-but-you-look-super-hot-with-your-shirt-off” stuff. I’m slightly disappointed because I thought we’d be getting more of Taehyung and we really haven’t been seeing much of him. He wasn’t even in the inauguration scene! Does that mean he’s such a minor character that he’s not even important enough to be in it? Also, for me it still feels a bit slow and draggy. It’s 5 episodes and there’s still barely any Hwarang antics. Let’s get a move on already!

Jubiemon J: I was conflicted with this episode because the dangling meat and fighting scenes were kind of dragged out. However, I did enjoy some parts of it because Hyungsik waking up surprised that he was dangling there was hilarious. I’m also kind of disappointed about Taehyung’s lack of appearance and the feminine character’s sudden appearance at the very end. I feel like those two characters, especially the feminine one, did not get a proper introduction. I know that it’s hard to pave the background stories of all characters, but when the trailer and interviews kept suggesting that each would have their own story, I was quite disappointed that that wasn’t the case. I felt like they really put Taehyung out there to grab the BTS fans’ attention, when really he’s only in like 6 mins from ep 1 – now. I also agree with RedRosette that not much as happened, so I do hope that the plot carries forward faster.

Literally a piece of meat

This is basically a ‘How do you like me now’ face

Seriously. Where was Taehyung?!?

Hubba Hubba

Too close for comfort

Can these two just like….NOT?

Issue 1: Whether you need to rapidly alter your strategy when you realize that your ‘nemesis’ actually turns out to be the ‘brother’ of the girl you like?

RedRosette J: This development was a long time coming. I mean if you decide to go on the faux-brother path, other characters have to be brought up to speed so the awkwardness can continue. You can literally see Ji Dwi’s face change when Sun Woo says that Aro is his sister. I think at that point he was doing some serious mental calculations as to how much of an ass he’s been to this guy who potentially could make or break a future with the girl. It’s funny how even though it’s been said out aloud, Ji Dwi doesn’t really seem to believe that they are just brother-and-sister. (The whole rescue scene where he’s just over the affection? LOL! yea he’s not buying it). I think this bit of information is also important for Ji Dwi to know so that he realizes that Sun Woo is not really a threat to him per se and start being friends. Yea I think recalculations are in order when a situation like this arises. I mean, you need this guy to be on your side, if anything else is to progress. Am I right?

Jubiemon J: Yes, I think this strategy change makes sense. We all want to suck up to our crush’s sibling to hopefully get a good word in from the sibling. I think the change from Ji Dwi’s face was really a great job done by Hyungsik. At first I thought Ji Dwi really didn’t like Aro because he mentioned how she was half-blood and that Sunwoo should stay away from her because of that. That seemed to be out of character in my opinion. Then that statement from Ji Dwi made a whole lot of sense as soon as he became friendlier to Sunwoo upon hearing that Aro is Sunwoo’s sister. Ji Dwi is really just sneaky. Hahaha. (I’m not convinced that his love for Aro is actually love; it’s more like lust or a crush.)

Uhhhh okayyy?

* tries to help and gets hit in the jaw*

Not buying this brother/sister crap for a second

Issue 2: Whether Ji Dwi (Hyungsik’s character) and Sun Woo’s bromance is far, far, far more interesting than the romantic story lines?

RedRosette J: I think so. Especially because I think that both characters are very similar and have a lot to share if they only stop this pointless pissing contest and fighting over a girl. Both characters were essentially abandoned and grew up outside the home, both characters have issues with self worth, both characters are dealing with existential crises at the same time. I think that if they lean on each other that they could be great friends. The start of which we saw when Ji Dwi piggybacked a drunk Sun Woo back to their room (OMG they’re roomies too!!!!). I think that having a friendship form between these two characters will be a far more interesting journey to watch than the romantic love lines.

Jubiemon J: I like their bromance a lot! I think they have more chemistry than Aro x Ji Dwi or Aro x  Sunwoo. I find their bickering to be funny and cute. I found it hilarious when Ji Dwi kept whistling. I was hoping for a horse but who knew he had some assassin around? I agree with what RedRosette said about their similarities and how they could relate to each other. I’m waiting for the moment when they really become bffs.

*fights in mid-air* LOLOLOL!

By far the most interesting part of the show so far

Besties 4eva!

Issue 3: Whether introduction to school/training should involve consuming copious amounts of strong alcohol to pick roommates?

RedRosette J: Although in theory this sounds like so much fun and could lead to some super hilarious living situations, I feel like the reality of this is probably not going to be so great. There’s a reason that the administration at universities pick your roommates for you (most of the time). Just imagine if this scenario actually happened? OMG. Please No. But then again, if there were no rules and you could literally fight people for the best rooms, it would seriously end up being a Hunger Games-esque scenario like in this episode and in reality, no one wants that. I think the alcohol for introduction sounds fun (this exists already pretty much. It’s called Frosh Week or Freshers Week) but let’s just leave it at fun and not involve the roommate sorting.

Jubiemon J: I feel like this scene reminded me of some initiation when you’re joining a frat/sorority. I didn’t quite enjoy this scene that much. Plus, they made all the guys turn into fighting drunkards. There are so many different drunks. I’ve met people who just sleep, who start talking a lot and repeating things, who strip, and more. I wished that they had shown different types of drunk people. Where was Taehyung in this scene as well?

Intro to Hwarang

Yup it’s nasty…

The roommate situation from Hell

Issue 4: Whether the pretty guy randomly showing up as a Hwarang is believable?

RedRosette J: Where did this guy come from? He was in an earlier episode for like a second and now all of a sudden he’s sharing a room with the main characters? Huh? What? Why isn’t Taehyung’s character sharing a room with the main characters? At least he had more screen time than Pretty Boy!! I’m not okay with this. It is so not believable that this guy just randomly shows up. Ugh.

Jubiemon J: I was really surprised when I saw this character pop out. Even Ji Dwi freaked out. I would too. I really don’t think this introduction was believable and it just seemed to come out of nowhere. Magic?

Where did you come from?!?

Even Ji Dwi is like ‘WTF’?

Issue 5: Whether there is always some prissy biatch being a total tattletale at the start of a new project?

RedRosette J: Why is there always this person? In the drama-verse and in real life too! It’s impossible to start doing anything without there being some prissy biatch hell bent on making everyone’s lives miserable by taking everything way too seriously and being a total tattletale about everything. The Assistant Person is the definition of a prissy biatch. I can’t even. I guess drama really does reflect life. Also, I guess they need a prissy biatch to make Sung Dong Il’s character stand out more as a rebellious ‘I-give-zero-shits’ teacher.

Jubiemon J: Ah, there’s always that one person doing all the annoying stuff and bitching to someone else. That’s life.

RedRosette J Aside: Also, for future reference, all conference tables should look like this. Kthanksbye.

Dat tiger tho

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 3 = MM. Okay. Fine. (Only because of Hyungsik and Seo Joon’s awesome bromance scenes)

File No: Hwarang: Poet-Warrior-Youth- Ep-05 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Hwarang: Poet Warrior Youth Ep 05 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***