Disney’s Snow White is on track for a disastrous opening weekend in the $40 million-ish range, while Alto Knights is doing even worse.
Last Updated on March 24, 2025
The box office numbers are starting to roll in, and so far, it looks like Snow White is underperforming badly for Disney. Whether it was the toxic word-of-mouth or middling reviews, the family audience that typically allowed the Mouse House’s animated-to-live action remakes to open in the $90-100 million range just are turning out for this one. Early this week, we predicted that Snow White would make $55 million – which itself would have been disastrous for a $300 million movie, but Deadline is reporting the numbers are far worse. According to them, the movie will only open in the mid-40s, which is about the same level Disney’s Dumbo remake opened to, with that being considered a notable flop that led to Tim Burton quitting directing for several years. And that movie cost about half of what Snow White did.
The only silver lining for Disney is that the movie has an okay B+ CinemaScore. Over the holidays, Mufasa opened even worse with $36 million, but it was able to hang in there at the box office, making over $250 million domestically. Snow White would be very lucky to get to that level, although there’s not a lot of competition for family movies coming out over the next few weeks.
Warner Bros’s big piece of counter-programming, The Alto Knights, is proving to be yet another disaster for the studio. The $50 million gangster flick will only open to about $3 million, with it bound to go down as one of the biggest box office disasters in recent memory. What went wrong? I believe that audiences were confused by Robert De Niro playing both roles. Also, a movie like this depends on critical raves, and Barry Levinson’s film is too stately. The fact is, a movie like this needs a really dynamic director. Scorsese could have made this into a masterpiece, but under Levinson, it was only ok, although it could play a lot better after it makes its Max debut in a few weeks.
Anyway, you slice it; this is proving to be another terrific weekend for the 2025 box office, which badly needs to be resuscitated.
Nick Fury may not have been such a presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe if it wasn’t for Bruce Willis.
I’m here to talk to you about Nakatomi Plaza…Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis shared credits on numerous movies, whether they appeared onscreen together or not: Pulp Fiction, M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable and Glass, National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1…But the dynamic is in full force in 1995’s Die Hard with a Vengeance. And it was here that Willis gave advice that inadvertently led to a fan-favorite character: Nick Fury.
Jackson recently recalled working with Willis on Die Hard with a Vengeance, joining John McClane as Zeus, an electrician who gets pulled into the hero’s attempts to thwart Simon Peter Gruber. During that time – in which they presumably also bonded over the power of delivering a good “motherf*cker” on the big screen – Willis told his co-star that franchise characters would be the path to solidifying his reputation. “He told me, ‘Hopefully you’ll be able to find a character that, when you make bad movies and they don’t make any money, you can always go back to this character everybody loves. He said, ‘Arnold’s got Terminator. Sylvester’s got Rocky, Rambo. I’ve got John McClane.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.’ And it didn’t occur to me until I got that Nick Fury role – and I had a nine-picture deal to be Nick Fury – that, Oh, I’m doing what Bruce said. I’ve got this character now.”
But Jackson has taken it much farther than any of those action heroes, playing Nick Fury in nearly a dozen (or a third of) movies in the MCU, along with a handful of shows. Compare that with Schwarzenegger and Willis’ five outings as The Terminator and John McClane, and Stallone’s eight at Rocky Balboa, and it’s pretty obvious that Jackson took Willis’ tips to heart – and the bank.
Bruce Willis – who played John McClane for the final time in 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, 25 years after introducing moviegoers to the tanktopped hero – recently celebrated his 70th birthday, an occasion marked and celebrated by his family across social media.
Where would you rank Die Hard with a Vengeance in the series? Drop your definitive ranking in the comments section below.
A couple of decent songs from Sink aren’t enough to save this Rock Opera from floundering in a cheesy dystopic world.
PLOT: A farm girl in search to recover a cherished family heirloom. She travels to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love. To save his soul, she must put the power of destiny to the ultimate test.
REVIEW: Rock Operas aren’t an easy type of film to pull off. The operatic nature of them can be a bit intimidating as they can be a bit more abstract in concept. I tend to lean more towards them due to the nature of the music involved versus a standard musical. I like more soulful versus showtunes. So O’Dessa intrigued me by putting a Stranger Things star who does a lot of Broadway in the lead and putting her in a colorful, dystopic world. But is that enough?
Sadie Sink stars as the title character, a farm girl who decides to depart on a journey to find an old family heirloom once her mother passes away. On her journey, she has her guitar stolen and she meets the mysterious Euri (Harrison Jr). Sink is a phenomenal singer and the film makes the most of her range. But I really had a hard time connecting with her or her journey. The heirloom is a really weak plot device that feels forgotten but then the romance adds nothing of value. It feels like the film checking a box versus actually working out a genuine connection between the two.
And I know it’s a minor moment, but why on earth did O’Dessa just leave her Llama alone in the pen when she left on her journey? I get that she unlocked the gate but it’s an odd choice for your lead actor. Feel like it’s indicative of the problems that would come with her character later. Because it’s just odd choice after odd choice. Murray Bartlett and Regina Hall feel like cartoon characters and not in a good way. In a different movie, it would have been fun but this is trying to be far too serious for such hammy performances.
I’m a bit conflicted when it comes to the music. There are some songs that work and feel like they connect on some kind of emotional level. But I was taken out of it every time people were going crazy for a mediocre song. It’s also a strange mix of genres that didn’t work for me. They seem to miss out on the “rock” element and go for more slow ballads. There’s an inherent silliness to any narrative where music has some kind of mystical power but this just takes it overboard.
I really liked the look of O’Dessa, with its colorful yet not overly saturated landscapes. The dreamlike visuals helped me buy more into the world. It actually reminded me of the Street Trash remake with its visuals. It’s easily the best aspect. But even then, there’s too much repetition and a lack of connection with the world as a whole to present a cohesive vision. The filmmakers don’t have a grasp on when they don’t have the money for something and it results in some really wonky VFX/poor set quality.
There were some soulful moments in O’Dessa that I enjoyed, and Sadie Sink is a very likable lead, but little else about this movie worked. It’s hard to care about Odessa’s plight as it all feels so melodramatic. Time passes in a way that lessens the impact of any dramatic arc and can never get a grasp on communicating that with the viewer. It never seems to know what it wants to be outside of being bombastic. And that’s just not enough to warrant a feature-length film.
Tyler Nichols is a horror fanatic who resides in Michigan and is always on the hunt for the next great film. When not scouring the internet for movie news, he is usually off watching something dark, writing nonsensical musings, or playing in some fantastical video game world. While horror takes up most of his time, he still makes time for films of all types, with a certain affinity for the strange and unusual. He’s also an expert on all things Comic Book Cinema. In addition to reviews and interviews here on JoBlo.com, Tyler also helps with JoBlo Horror Originals where he’s constantly trying to convince viewers to give lesser-known horror films a chance.
Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass star in the adaptation of the true story that shocked the world.
Plot: Told from multiple points of view, as a means to explore issues of perspective, bias, and trauma, this compelling drama is inspired by the disturbing stories surrounding a Midwestern couple who adopts a girl with a rare form of dwarfism. But as they begin to raise her alongside their three biological children, mystery emerges around her age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is. As they defend their family from the daughter they’ve grown to believe is a threat, she fights her own battle to confront her past and what her future holds, in a showdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom.
Review: The idea that there are two sides to every story has never been truer than in the bizarre saga of Natalia Grace. Adopted at the age of seven, Natalia Grace’s story became national news when it was discovered that she was abandoned by her parents, who claimed she was actually a twenty-two-year-old posing as a child. The subsequent court case and DNA testing revealed the truth, but there is still a divide between Natalia Grace’s claims about herself and those of her adoptive mother, Kristine Barnett. While a Max documentary series centered on Natalia Grace’s story, the new Hulu dramatized series Good American Family tackles multiple points of view, including those of the Barnetts. Led by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass, Good American Family is a pulpy and overwrought melodrama straight out of the classic primetime made-for-television fare of the Eighties and Nineties.
Good American Family follows Kristine Barnett (Ellen Pompeo), a devoted advocate for children with special needs who is opening a center for disabled kids in honor of her autistic son, Jacob (Aias Dalman). Having recently lost out on adopting a daughter, Kristine and her husband, Michael (Mark Duplass), are experiencing a rift in their marriage. When the sudden opportunity arises to adopt a young girl in desperate need of a foster family, Kristine and Mark jump at the chance and bring Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid) into their home. Knowing she suffers from a form of dwarfism, the Barnetts are caught off guard by Natalia’s bizarre behavior, including tantrums, outbursts, and physical threats. While Michael is still enamored with having a daughter, Kristine begins to think that Natalia is actually an adult posing as a child to con them, something seemingly inspired by the film Orphan.
The early episodes of Good American Family show Natalia’s bizarre behavior and the growing suspicion held by Kristine, which she convinces her family and friends to believe. As the behaviors get worse, Kristine and Michael legally get Natalia’s birth date changed from 2003 to 1989 before renting her an apartment and abandoning her. Natalia is forced to fend for herself to survive before she is taken in by Cynthia (Christina Hendricks) and Antwon Mans (Jerod Haynes). The Mans family believe Natalia’s story and assist her in taking legal action against the Barnetts. This fight takes the series through the 2022 legal proceedings against Kristine and Michael. Showing us the events as they occurred and flashbacks to different perspectives through the years illustrates the story in a way that does not draw any concrete conclusions but delivers a more balanced story than I anticipated.
While the intensity and shocking elements of Natalia Grace’s story are enough on their own to build a dramatic series around, Good American Family leans heavily into the melodramatic and pulpy side of the narrative. At times, Mark Duplass and Ellen Pompeo seem to be acting in an overwrought series that borders on comedy. There are more nuanced performances from Dule Hill as Detective Brandon Drysdale and Sarayi Blue as Kristine’s friend Val, but the most impressive turn is from Imogen Faith Reid. Reid, a 27-year-old actress, plays Natalia Grace from age seven through sixteen, convincingly acting progressively more mature as the timeline advances. In the early episodes, some of her mannerisms and outbursts play on the horror movie paranoia experienced by Kristine Barnett. Still, it does not go so far over the top that it defies believability. The same cannot be said about Pompeo and Duplass, who often feel like caricatures of the real Barnetts. Pompeo, who has spent almost twenty years starring on Grey’s Anatomy, often wavers between Joan Crawford in Mommy Dearest and a more balanced portrayal of who Kristine Barnett actually is. Because of the nature of the real events, Good American Family does not take sides but convincingly leaves the interpretation open to the audience as to who is telling the truth.
Created by Katie Robbins (Sunny, The Affair), who serves as co-showrunner alongside Sarah Sutherland (Nine Perfect Strangers), Good American Family was also written by Eoghan O’Donnell, Jaquen Tee Castellanos, and Samantha Levenshus. Directing duties fell to Liz Garbus (Yellowjackets), Stacie Passon, Seith Mann, Eva Vives, and Iain MacDonald. Each of the eight episodes takes the story in near-sequential order through the adoption of Natalia Grace through the results of the much-publicized trial. Suppose you are unfamiliar with how things have turned out for Natalia and the Barnetts. In that case, the series outlines the events pretty well while also laying enough theories and alternative ideas that you may question who is telling the truth. The hard facts are closely aligned with what the media has revealed, but that does not stop the series from posing some wrinkles in the story that elevate the drama for entertainment purposes.
Remembering that this series is inspired by the truth rather than a true story is a good disclaimer going into things. Whatever you believe about what happened to Natalia Grace, Good American Family offers a balanced portrait of who was responsible for which acts. At the end of the day, whether Natalia or Kristine, and Michael Barnett were to blame for what took place during their familial bond, no one looks good by the end. In fact, a closing note at the end of the finale reveals another shocking fact that came to light during the production of the series, making Good American Family even more tragic. As intriguing as the story is, Good American Family too often embraces performances and storytelling that feel inauthentic and silly, undermining the sadness of this story. Anything involving children being harmed is hard to watch, but how callously this production treats it sometimes makes it feel inappropriate and borderline disrespectful.
The latest clip for upcoming FX series Alien: Earth has landed, with a doomed crew headed towards our planet.
If we’re going to get a full-blown revival of the Alien franchise, believe us when we say we are all in. While Ridley Scott’s most recent attempts to resurrect the series – 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant – were huge letdowns (even Scott thinks so), Fede Álvarez did his part in generating genuine interest with last year’s Alien: Romulus. Now, the franchise is getting its first-ever live-action show via Alien: Earth, which is set to air on FX on Hulu later this year.
While we have seen multiple looks at Alien: Earth, this latest clip shows off the sort of suspense and design that makes the Alien franchise so distinct, with a character banging on the doors of a spacecraft screaming, “Let me in – it’s coming!” as another updates the crew status. Spoiler: they’re probably going to be losing one real soon…
One of the more alluring aspects of Alien: Earth is that it takes place most on, yes, Earth. Admittedly, we know the series doesn’t have the best track record with this (see: Alien vs. Predator), but showrunner Noah Hawley may know what he’s doing here. Look, Alien fans have every right to be skeptical, but based on what we have seen so far, I’m going to remain optimistic and hope this is just the latest expansion of the universe. As for the timeframe, Aline: Earth takes place in 2120, so just a couple of years after the events of Ridley Scott’s original Alien.
Alien: Earth has the following plot: “When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat in FX’s highly anticipated TV series Alien: Earth from creator Noah Hawley.” Chandler is joined by the likes of Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babous Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, and more.
Alien: Earth lands this summer.
What do you think of the latest teaser for Alien: Earth? Are you going to check out the show? Where do you see the future of the franchise going?
If you were alive and paying attention in the early 2000s, chances are you remember Tim Burton’s Big Fish. Or maybe you don’t. That’s kind of the problem. Here we are, over twenty years later, and Big Fish remains a cinematic anomaly—loved by those who saw it but often forgotten in broader conversations about Burton’s filmography. How did one of the director’s most ambitious, heartfelt, and visually stunning films fade into relative obscurity? And why does it deserve to be remembered as his second-best film, right behind Ed Wood? Let’s dive into this weird, wonderful, and sadly overlooked masterpiece to figure out just what the fuck happened to Big Fish.
Released in 2003, Big Fish hit theaters when Tim Burton’s career was at a crossroads. He was still riding high from his ‘90s dominance—where he cranked out Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and Ed Wood—but the 2001 Planet of the Apes remake had left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Burton needed to prove he still had the magic touch, and Big Fish was supposed to be that comeback. It was a fantasy-tinged drama about a dying father (Albert Finney/Ewan McGregor) and his estranged son (Billy Crudup), wrestling with the blurred line between truth and fiction in a life full of tall tales.
On paper, this was a dream project. Based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel of the same name, Big Fish had all the elements of a Tim Burton classic—whimsical visuals, offbeat characters, a dreamy, melancholic atmosphere—but with an emotional depth rarely seen in his work. Unlike the gothic weirdness of his earlier films, Big Fish had a warm, golden glow. It was sentimental but never saccharine, fantastical but deeply human. It was Burton’s most personal film to date, inspired by his complicated relationship with his own father, and it resonated in ways his other movies hadn’t.
When Big Fish premiered, critics ate it up. Roger Ebert called it “a delight for the eyes, the heart, and the imagination.” It was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy) and an Academy Award (Best Original Score), and it even found its way onto some critics’ best-of-the-year lists.
But audiences? They were a bit more hesitant. The movie made a respectable—but not earth-shattering—$122 million worldwide on a $70 million budget. Not a flop, but not the kind of hit that guarantees cultural longevity. It came out in late December, right in the middle of the Return of the King juggernaut, and against competition like Cold Mountain, Lost in Translation, and Mystic River, Big Fish struggled to make a lasting impact.
So why didn’t Big Fish achieve the pop culture status of Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice? The answer is complicated, but here’s some key factors. While Big Fish had the director’s signature flair, it lacked the macabre, gothic sensibilities that defined his biggest hits. There were no pale, brooding protagonists or eerie German Expressionist-inspired sets. For fans who expected something like Sleepy Hollow or Batman, this softer, more emotional Burton film might have felt out of place.
What is Big Fish exactly? A fantasy? A drama? A father-son story? A road movie? The marketing struggled to define it, which hurt its ability to find a core audience. People who wanted a fantasy epic found it too sentimental, and those looking for a straightforward drama might have been thrown off by its whimsical detours.
Many of Burton’s films gain their staying power from dedicated cult audiences. Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Edward Scissorhands all had merchandise, Hot Topic-fueled fandoms, and annual Halloween revivals to keep them in the public consciousness. Big Fish didn’t lend itself to that kind of branding, so it never had the same longevity in pop culture.
In 2013, Big Fish was adapted into a Broadway musical. You didn’t see it? Neither did most people. The stage version flopped, closing after just three months. While some musicals can breathe new life into their source material (Heathers, Beetlejuice), this one failed to reignite interest in the film.
Despite its lukewarm box office run and relative lack of cultural staying power, Big Fish is, without a doubt, Tim Burton’s second-best film. Unlike his usual outsider-focused narratives, Big Fish is about something deeply universal: the struggle to understand our parents, the way stories shape our memories, and the fear of becoming them. It’s introspective in a way Burton’s films rarely are. Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor bring Edward Bloom to life with equal parts charm and heartbreak. Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, and Helena Bonham Carter all deliver standout performances, making this one of Burton’s best-acted films. From the giant Karl the Giant to the dreamy town of Spectre, every frame of Big Fish is packed with gorgeous, fairy-tale imagery. It’s Burton at his most colorful and visually inventive.
That ending. If you’ve seen Big Fish, you know what I’m talking about. The final sequence, where Will finally embraces his father’s stories and sends him off with a fantastical farewell, is one of the most touching moments in Burton’s career. It’s a gut-punch that stays with you long after the credits roll.
While Ed Wood remains Burton’s best film (for its sheer love of filmmaking and misfits), Big Fish feels like its emotional counterpoint. Where Ed Wood celebrates the joy of storytelling, Big Fish explores its necessity. Both movies show how stories shape us—one through Hollywood’s most infamous director, the other through a son trying to understand his father.
So what the fuck happened? The truth is, Big Fish was a victim of bad timing, tricky marketing, and a fandom that didn’t quite know what to do with it. But time has been kind to the film. More and more people are discovering it (or rediscovering it), and it remains one of the most heartfelt, beautifully crafted movies of the 2000s. Maybe it was never meant to be a Nightmare Before Christmas-style phenomenon. Maybe Big Fish was always supposed to be a quiet classic, living in the hearts of those who connected with it, waiting to ,be found again. So if you haven’t watched Big Fish in a while, do yourself a favor: go back and revisit it. Let yourself get lost in Edward Bloom’s stories. And when you get to that final scene—when the music swells, and the tall tales become real—just try not to cry. I dare you. Because Big Fish isn’t just one of Tim Burton’s best films. It’s one of the best films, period.
Peter Sarsgaard has signed on to play John Ashpool in 10-episode Apple TV+ series adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer
Forty years ago, author William Gibson brought the world a cyberpunk novel called Neuromancer – and an adaptation of that story has been trudging its way through development hell pretty much ever since. Versions of a feature film adaptation have passed through the hands of directors like music video maker Chris Cunningham, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob‘s Chuck Russell, Torque‘s Joseph Kahn, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali, and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller. An adaptation of Neuromancer is currently moving forward as a 10-episode series that’s set up at Apple TV+, and Variety reports that Peter Sarsgaard of Garden State and The Batman has signed on to play a character named John Ashpool.
In the source material, John Ashpool was a character who wakes up delusional and paranoid after a thirty-year cryogenic sleep.
We’ve previously heard that BAFTA Award-nominee Callum Turner of Masters of the Air and The Boys in the Boat will be playing the lead character, Henry Dorsett Case, while Briana Middleton of Sharper and The Tender Bar takes on the role of Case’s partner Molly, “a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes.” Mark Strong of Dune: Prophecy and The Penguin has been cast as Molly’s employer Armitage. Joseph Lee of Beef and Star Trek: Picard plays Hideo, who was a ninja bodyguard in the novel. Clémence Poésy of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and Tenet plays a character named Marie-France Tessier, the matriarch of the Tessier-Ashpool clan.
Emma Laird of A Haunting in Venice and The Brutalist is also on board, playing an unspecified character. Laird told Collider, “The character’s really cool, and I read half the book, and they’ve managed to capture what is in the source material really, really well. There are a lot of characters. It’s very complex. It’s a very confusing book, but I think somehow bringing that onto the screen helps tell that story maybe a bit more clearly.” She added that her character’s costume is insane, and the hair and makeup is crazy.
Created for television by Graham Roland (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) and JD Dillard (The Outsider), Neuromancer will follow a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high stakes crime with his partner Molly, a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes, aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.
Gibson’s novel has the following description: Case was the sharpest data thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people, and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction. Neuromancer was the first fully realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.
Gibson, Roland, and Dillard are executive producing the series with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Matt Thunell of Skydance Television, Anonymous Content; Drake, Adel’ Future’ Nur, and Jason Shrier of DreamCrew Entertainment; and Zack Hayden.
Are you a fan of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, and are you looking forward to the Apple TV+ series adaptation? What do you think of Peter Sarsgaard taking on the role of John Ashpool? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Borderline review: Film is a bit uneven but features fantastic performances from Ray Nicholson and Alba Baptista and a riveting opening.
PLOT: Follows a dangerously persistent stalker (Ray Nicholson) who invades the home of a ‘90s pop superstar (Samara Weaving) with grand delusions of a wedding. With her life on the line and help from her loyal bodyguard, she must escape the stalker’s sinister grip before they tie the knot
REVIEW: Samara Weaving is a staple of the horror genre at this point. It’s not a matter of if she’ll star in a new horror movie, it’s always when. Because there are few actresses that have shown the genre as much love as Weaving, and fans have returned the favor. Now, she’s taking on a less flashy role and allowing the actors around her to really shine. Borderline rides the line between more than just damaged personalities, and skirts so many genres, it almost takes on the same quality of its stalker lead. And as such, it may prove difficult to find a big audience.
Borderline is a tale of a man, Duerson, hopelessly in love with a pop star named Sofia…resulting in him stalking her and routinely making trips to her home. Thankfully Duerson is caught, but when he escapes from a mental hospital, his true plan can finally be set in motion, with the end goal being a marriage to Sofia. As you can guess, things do not go well for anyone in Sofia’s orbit, as Duerson proves to be quite persistent. And there’s an oddly likeable aspect of him that makes the events all the more confounding as a viewer. I was obviously on Sofia’s side, but I still found myself rooting for Duerson due to his charisma.
Samara Weaving’s Sofia is a self-obsessed musician who comes across a bit dull due to the personalities surrounding her. She’s more of the straight man here, allowing the others to go crazy around her and accentuate their wonderful performances. It means her role is a bit less showy, but she still rocks it. I was also very impressed with Eric Dane, who plays Sofia’s bodyguard. The narrative falters a bit when his family gets involved, but Dane does a great job through it all. The introduction between he and Duerson is the best scene in the film, and sets up the narrative brilliantly.
Ray Nicholson is absolutely phenomenal in Borderline to the point where I feel like this may be his coming out party. He plays Duerson as someone who is so lost and delusional, yet still manages to be likeable. Ironically, I’d even say there are shades of his father’s performance as The Joker present. There’s a phenomenal showcase moment for him that reminded me of a shot from Strange Darling where we see Willa Fitzgerald go through a range of emotion. Just like that scene, this feels like the first time we’re truly seeing the real Duerson, and it’s a showcase for Nicholson’s acting ability.
Alba Baptista comes into the movie like a freight train, with her character Penny maybe even more unpredictable than Duerson. While he clearly plans things out, Penny acts on impulse and can change her mind in an instant. She feels like even more of a threat than the massive cousin (Patrick Cox) due to her being an absolute psychopath. There’s a moment with a bit of fire that cements her as one of the craziest women in all of cinema. There should be a mental ward named after her.
Writer/Director Jimmy Warden (who is also Weaving’s husband) makes his directorial debut here and does a decent job. I’m not entirely convinced that the film needed to be set in the 90s, as it could practically be modern day with how it’s presented. Cell phones always complicate horror films, so I understand that aspect, just seems like the 90sness could have been more at the forefront. There are some dumb moments like the power going out and being explained away with a simple “They were supposed to fix this weeks ago!” Or the random duet between Weaving and Baptista that goes on way too long. It’s stuff like this which really holds it back from being truly great and makes for an uneven experience.
Borderline doesn’t quite reach its potential, but it still has a lot going for it. Wonderfully psychotic performances from Nicholson and Baptista really give this the film its identity. The opening is absolutely spectacular and sets up the movie perfectly. It just loses that momentum and struggles to get it back outside of short bursts until the ending, which does manage to work as a great bookends to the chaos.
BORDERLINE IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON MARCH 14TH, 2025.
Jack Quaid fights to get the girl of his dreams back in the action comedy Novocaine, which is on track to win the weekend box office.
Novocaine, which stars Jack Quaid as the reluctant hero who can’t feel pain, was initially being projected to take the top spot this week with an estimated $10 million to $12 million from 3,300 North American theaters in its first weekend of release. Early projections also saw it overtaking Mickey 17, which was expected to drop by 55% to 60% after its $19 million debut from the past week.
Variety now reports that Novocaine is on track to make its $10 million to $12 million as early Thursday screenings have already totaled $1.75 million. $10 – $12 million in its first week is pretty optimal for the action comedy as its price tag came out to about $18 million. The premise is a fresher one, and Jack Quaid’s star is on the rise due to his run on the hit Prime Video series, The Boys. Quaid is also just coming off of the critically acclaimed horror flick Companion.
Novocaine is already getting good buzz for capitalizing on its brutal fun premise. Our Tyler Nichols had a blast, as he said in his review, “I feel like whenever some action movie comes along that impresses, it’s always “this reminds me of the kind of film from a different era” but that doesn’t apply here. Novocaine feels very modern, and builds off of all the similar movies that have come before it. There were some twists and turns that I never saw coming and it helped keep the film fresh. While it doesn’t break from the norm too often, when it does, it gives the film a lot more personality. Jack Quaid has added yet another character type that he can pull off effortlessly: action star.”
JoBlo also recently got to sit down and talk with the cast and crew of Novocaine and they couldn’t have been more gracious. Check out our interview with Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, Ray Nicholson, Dan Berk and Robert Olsen HERE.
This week also sees the releases of Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller Black Bag, which stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, and Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich’s surrealist satire Opus.
About the Author
E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.
We talk with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Rege-Jean Page, and Naomie Harris about Black Bag
Steven Soderbergh is undoubtedly an inspired and original filmmaker. From his critically acclaimed debut feature Sex, Lies, and Videotape to the recent Presence, he always approaches his work with style and generally a strong script without catering to the norm. Black Bag is a spy thriller. There is a little mystery, but more than anything, it offers a unique way to explore the genre. The cast is exceptional. It includes Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Marisa Abela, Rege-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, and Pierce Brosnan. It’s a sharp feature that examines a little treachery with top-notch performances. Soderbergh continues to impress with his two very different, recent releases.
As you can imagine, it’s quite the feeling to sit across a Zoom screen with folks like Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. Having admired both of their work from the beginning, talking about this sharp thriller was extra special. First up, I spoke with Fassbender, Marisa Abela, and Rege-Jean Page. The trio gave high praise to the director and screenwriter David Koepp. I was especially impressed by Ms. Abela’s work opposite Mr. Page, the two opened up about creating their on-screen story.
Then came Ms. Blanchett, Tom Burke, and Naomie Harris. For Cate, I asked her about taking on a familiar genre, yet one that is far more intimate than what we’ve come to expect from spy flicks. Both Tom and Naomie discussed bringing the characters to life, and yes, there was much praise for Steven Soderbergh. All six of these incredible talents gave terrific insight into the filmmaker. And yes, they all are excellent in the film. Don’t let the lengthy dinner scenes scare you; Black Bag is a fantastic thriller that moves effortlessly until its final frame.
Black Bag opens in theatres this Friday. It’s well worth a trip to the movies.
