Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected].

The Big Lebowski by Craig Stirling

Cheech and Chong by Cloxboy

The Evil Dead by Ryan Button

Fallout by Callum Seymour

Gambit by Mauricio Herrera Rojas

Jurrasic Park by Phase Runner

Kill Bill Vol. 1 by Jaime Ventura

Monkey Man by John Dunn

Nightcrawler by Sorin Ilie

The Wolf Of Wall Street by Jean-Baptiste Roux

It’s 4/20, and if you’re looking to chill out and have some laughs, check out the best 80s comedy you never saw – Summer School!

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

THE STORY: A goofball gym teacher (Mark Harmon) is forced to teach a remedial English class over the summer.

THE PLAYERS: Starring: Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Dean Cameron, Courtney Thorne-Smith & Shawnee Smith. Music by Danny Elfman. Directed by Carl Reiner.

THE HISTORY: Hollywood spent a couple of years trying to make Mark Harmon happen as a movie star. Fresh off an arc on “St. Elsewhere” which infamously had his character contract AIDS from a one-night stand, his career was red hot. For a while, he was seriously considered to replace Don Johnson on “Miami Vice” after contract negotiations fell through, and in 1987-88, we got a bunch of starring vehicles that would try him out in a variety of genres to see if one would stick. He did action in The Presidio (even doing his own stunts – although the film was stolen by co-star Sean Connery), drama in Stealing Home, and zany comedy in this week’s film, Summer School (1987).

Freddy Shoop! No, I get that. People wanted a teacher like Freddy Shoop. Heck, I wanted a teacher like Freddy Shoop. [Laughs.] I give all that credit, every bit of it, to Carl Reiner. He was so special, and it was so much about his opinion. I had an agreement with him going into that movie. He was the one who grabbed me and said, “I want you to do this role. You, specifically.” And it’s funny: He made that decision based on an interview he saw me doing on The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel when I was promoting The Deliberate Stranger (where he played Ted Bundy). – Mark Harmon –  The AV Club Interview

Directed by Carl Reiner, this was another youth-oriented comedy featuring a wild cast of characters, not unlike the then-popular Police Academy series, albeit done with a lot more style by guys like Reiner and writer Jeff Franklin (famous for creating “Full House”). Harmon was cast against type In a role that seems like it was tailor-made for a guy like Steve Guttenberg, and while not a smash hit, the PG-13 flick grossed a solid $35 million in the U.S, not bad at all and coming in ahead of classics like The Lost Boys, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and The Princess Bride.

WHY IT’S GREAT: While Summer School did pretty well at the box office and was also a video hit, it’s not a movie that’s often talked about when we discuss classic eighties comedies. Fair enough, as it’s no Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or even especially funny, but it’s a pleasant programmer that made me pretty happy as a kid. Reiner’s got a big heart, and made Summer School into a movie that’s aged well and stands as a prototypical eighties comedy, but with a leading man who’s distinctly not a jerk.

You see, a lot of the eighties comedy leads come off as assholes through a modern lens. There’s a reason for this. Bill Murray was able to make palatable and even cool this kind of iconoclastic, take no shit leading man, and he’s great – but there’s only one Bill Murray. When people tried to ape him – oh man were the results not pretty. I feel like if virtually any other untested lead had played Mr. Shoop in Summer School, he would have tried to ape Murray, but Harmon makes the part his own. Rather than do the smart-ass thing, he opts to show off a goofy sweetness that makes him appealing. Sure, he doesn’t want to be teaching summer school and wants to be the “cool guy”, but he does it without a shred of meanness. Of course, he’s got the dickweed superintendent to show up in order to get Kirstie Alley as the teacher next door, but he does it just by being chill. Harmon makes the character legitimately cool.

A couple of years ago, they called and were going to reissue Summer School on DVD as a special edition after 20 years or whatever. They said, “We’d like you to do a commentary with Carl.” I said, “Are you kidding me? A chance, now that I’m older and wiser, to get to sit down with Carl Reiner and just tell him personally what he means to me? Yeah. Sign me up. Count me in.” [Laughs.] So, yeah, that’s what I’ll take from that experience. Mark Harmon –  The AV Club Interview

It’s weird that Harmon never quite made it as a leading man after this, but the issue probably was that his follow-up movies were just never as good, with him never again working with the caliber of talent he did in his two most successful flicks, this and The Presidio. No matter, he’s done pretty damn well for himself on NCIS, but again, with consistently good material he could have been a movie star.

Otherwise, Summer School sports a strong teen cast of likable kids, with the standouts being Dean Cameron as Chainsaw and Gary Riley as his buddy Dave, maybe the first modern film geeks to ever show up in movies. The two are horror obsessed, “Fangoria” reading guys that should bring back a lot of nostalgia for anyone that loved gore in that era. Plus there’s Courtney Thorne-Smith as a surfer, Shawnee Smith as a pregnant teen, and more. And oh yeah, Danny Elfman does the soundtrack, which is pretty perfectly eighties and arguably has a stronger cult following than the film it comes from.

BEST SCENE: My first exposure to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came through Summer School when Chainsaw organizes a class screening, and I dig the way Reiner seems to understand the cult around Hooper’s film, not dismissing it as trash, like many other older directors of the era might have.

PARTING SHOT: Again, Summer School isn’t a classic, but it’s still a pretty pleasant piece of eighties nostalgia with a cool leading man (with a great dog sidekick), a great soundtrack and a real sense of fun. It’s a nice little gem.

Johnny Depp has expressed gratitude at Jeanne du Barry director Maïwenn for casting him as Louis XV in the film.

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Johnny Depp has been on the longest hiatus of his career ever since making it in Hollywood. Even with his defamation case with Amber Heard having settled, fans wondered just when he would step in front of the camera again. That came at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, when Depp and director Maïwenn unveiled Jeanne du Barry, the actor’s first film since 2020’s Minimata. Now, Depp is giving due credit to his director for standing by his side and giving him the chance that even some of his closest collaborators were hesitant to.

Posting on Instagram, Depp shared a photo from a red carpet event for Jeanne du Barry – in which he plays Louis XV – along with the following caption: “Endlessly grateful to the incomparable Maïwenn for choosing me as her King of France in ‘Jeanne du Barry’. Now playing across the UK & Ireland. JD.X”

While we still await confirmation on whether or not Johnny Depp will hit the high seas again with Disney after their falling out, the actor is indeed looking to mark his return to film. In addition to Jeanne du Barry, Depp will also direct his first feature in more than 25 years, helming biopic Modì, about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

During Jeanne du Barry’s premiere last year, Johnny Depp recalled feeling “exposed”, which is really saying something considering the non-stop press he was getting during the trial. It probably didn’t help that it received a seven-minute standing ovation, which must be simultaneously overwhelming and awkward. As mentioned in Johnny Depp’s post, Jeanne du Barry is currently out in select regions. It is due out in North America on May 2nd, while Modì is also expected to be released this year.

The official plot of Jeanne du Barry: “Jeanne du Barry follows Jeanne Vaubernier (Maïwenn), a working-class woman determined to climb the social ladder, using her charms to escape her impoverished life. Her lover, the Comte du Barry (Melvil Poupaud), wishes to present her to King Louis XV (Johnny Depp) and orchestrates a meeting through the influential Duke of Richelieu (Pierre Richard). The encounter goes far beyond his expectations for it was love at first sight for the King and Jeanne. Through this ravishing courtesan, the king rediscovers his appetite for life and feels he can no longer live without her. Making Jeanne his last official mistress, scandal erupts as no one at Court will accept a girl from the streets into their rarified world.”

How do you feel about Johnny Depp’s return? Do you want him to take on more mainstream projects than what he’s focusing on or are you just happy he’s back? Share your thoughts below!

It looks like both Abigail and Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare aren’t likely to make much of an impact at the box office.

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

It looks like this weekend’s two big, original IP, new releases, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Radio Silence’s Abigail, are struggling to find an audience at the weekend box office. While we predicted that Abigail might have a chance at cracking $20 million this weekend, the film will make closer to half that, with Deadline’s numbers suggesting it’ll likely only make about $10 million, despite decent reviews (including ours). Why is it struggling? It’s hard to say, but part of the reason might be that A24’s Civil War, which was last weekend’s box office champ, is having a better hold than expected. It’s looking like it will only slip about 57% in week 2, which is a surprise as everyone thought the B-minus CinemaScore and controversial premise meant that the film would be front-loaded. Rather, it looks like the film has become a must-see, with the controversial word-of-mouth helping make it a movie people need to see. Sometimes, controversy can be a good thing, folks (check out our chat with Alex Garland, who weighed in on the movie’s California/ Texas team-up here). 

Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is having a devil of a time finding its audience, with it currently being trounced by Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in its fourth week. Due to its complicated financing structure, the movie isn’t out on Canadian screens, which is certainly hampering its box office potential, and as of right now, it looks like it’ll open with $8.7 million. That’s not a great number for the movie that was supposed to help launch Henry Cavill as a leading man, but the notion of it hitting streaming in Canada and in most international territories (including the UK – where it should have done its best business) is a mind-boggling choice, although I suppose that’s how those movies are financed these days.

What did you go see this weekend? Let us know in the talkbacks.