Nic Cage is at his Cagiest here with random screaming, intense eye contact, and an accent you don’t want to miss. Film’s not half-bad either.
REVIEW: After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.
PLOT: Sympathy For The Devil will constantly play with your expectations from the opening frame. Every bit of information given, is a means to manipulate you into thinking one way or another. And this is what makes the film is so interesting, even when very little is happening. Because it allows you to examine the small moments that have the potential to snowball into much bigger ones. And even as I say that, I wouldn’t be shocked to hear that the film is polarizing to audiences. But aren’t those some of the best?
Like most cat-and-mouse thrillers, there’s a lot of reliance on the chemistry between the two leads in Sympathy for the Devil. Thankfully, this film has Nic Cage and Joel Kinnaman in those roles. Cage’s performance is one that may seem odd at first, but the more the film goes on, the more it makes sense. Sure, you have to be a fan of unhinged Cage for it to land, but I am, so it did. Even so, there are some intense moments where Cage strikes a more subtle chord. And I love his Boston accent which comes and goes in the more heated moments but leaves a big impact. Joel Kinnaman gives a layered performance as The Driver that will only improve with repeated viewings. The less said of his character, the better.
The biting dialogue is where the film is at its most entertaining. Whether it’s Cage talking to a police officer that just pulled them over or Cage talking to a waitress about cheese on a tuna melt. Really, Cage talking about anything here is absolute gold. I could have watched this man interact with people for the entire duration. Then there’s Las Vegas which always serves as such a great setting due to the city having a personality all its own. This is more on the outskirts but the glimpses really help to create an interesting visual language, whether through reflections or downright neon signs.
Sympathy for the Devil will likely play entirely different on a rewatch. And I find those to be some of the most fascinating types of films as they allow you to dissect them in a unique way. Because, unless you have a terrible memory, you’re never going to have an experience quite like that first viewing. And yet, this film still manages to hold up on another watch. Which, to me, says that it’s a well-thought-out and executed twist. And I have a hard time even calling it that as it’s just a natural progression of the story. But even still, it’s a massive spoiler, so I won’t be getting into it here and highly suggest you avoid it.
If you’re going into this wanting amped-up Nic Cage then you’re going to enjoy yourself for the most part. But be prepared for plenty of slower moments and a lot of talking between the Driver and the Passenger. There are some story beats that are sure to make some people squirm in their seat. But ultimately, this is a character piece where the actors are really given some room to work. And sometimes that’s all you need to make for an interesting time at the movies.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL releases to theaters on JULY 28TH, 2023.
With delays, cast drama and ongoing strikes, a lot remains unclear about the final season of hit western Yellowstone.
As the Dutton family and the cast of Yellowstone face uncertainties amid the hit series coming to an end, fans are also wondering not just what to expect in the final season but when they can expect it. But it looks like between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, casting issues and more, we might want to hold our horses…
One of the biggest problems facing the final season of Yellowstone stems directly from those strikes, as creator Taylor Sheridan had yet to complete the scripts. Of course, even if they were done, the SAG-AFTRA strike would prevent any filming from taking place until that gets resolved. Still, The Hollywood Reporter remains hopeful that the last set of episodes will air sometime next year. As for how many episodes there will be, while it was originally planned that there would be six (compared to the first part’s eight, which concluded in January), Sheridan says he has the freedom over at Paramount to make as many episodes as he needs to.
But how much will Kevin Costner be involved in the final season of Yellowstone, especially if more episodes get tacked on? Yellowstone made more headlines than ever when it was revealed that Costner wanted to put in fewer hours during the final season partly so he could focus on his passion project Horizon: An American Saga. Once it was out that Costner would officially be leaving the ranch, word came that the show itself would not be returning after its fifth season. While we wait for the last set of episodes, CBS announced that Yellowstone re-runs would be part of their Sunday night schedule this fall, hopefully holding fans over until we get more concrete answers.
But don’t think that the final season of Yellowstone will mark the conclusion to the expanded universe, as there are still a lot of projects to lasso up, including an upcoming sequel series starring Matthew McConaughey. No word yet on what the series will involve, but you can be sure that John Dutton won’t be tipping his hat – both because of Costner and, come on, Dutton has to die in Yellowstone, right?
What do you expect to see in the final season of Yellowstone? Which character(s) do you think won’t make it out alive? Let us know!
James Gunn says Superman: Legacy is the first movie in the new DCU canon, even though actors from the previous iteration will return.
Orchestrating a reboot of a single property is tricky, but reintroducing audiences to a universe is far more complex. Do you start from scratch? Do you keep certain characters because of their established history and fan appeal? Does rewriting a world mean everything that came before is moot? These likely are some of the questions DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran asked themselves when shaping the new DC Universe. Thankfully, Gunn isn’t shy about engaging with fans and recently clarified when the new DCU canon begins.
When Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, and Nathan Fillion joined the cast of Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, Fillion’s casting confused those following DC’s cinematic superhero output for the past decade and then some. Previously, Fillion played Cory Pitzner, a.k.a. T.D.K. (The Detachable Kid), in The Suicide Squad. Given this, how does the actor play a Green Lantern in Gunn’s forthcoming Superman film? To help explain how the new DCU works, Gunn responded to a fan post on Reddit to shed light on the situation.
“Soooo excited James, this is going to be the greatest Superman movie,” a fan wrote to Gunn on Reddit. “But what about Nathan’s character in The Suicide Squad??? (TDK) is supposed to be alive? ?? You are rebooting that part? How does it fit everything?? I cannot understand. Can you explain it? I’m confused. Thanks for everything boss, DC fans are with you!”
“DC Studios movies (and canon) start with [Superman:] Legacy,” Gunn responded to the enthusiastic query.
Although Gunn and Safran are rebooting the DCU, some actors will return to the universe to portray their old roles. However, Gunn will rework the characters to match his signature tone for the DCU, which will differ from before. A handful of actors are making the jump from the DCEU to Gunn’s DCU, including Peacemaker castmembers John Cena’s Christopher Smith, a.k.a. Peacemaker, Freddie Stroma’s Adrian Chase, a.k.a. Vigilante, and Steve Agee’s John Economos. Viola Davis remains in the role of Amanda Waller, and Xolo Maridueña, who plays Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. Blue Beetle, remains the actor with a scarab attached to his spine. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, and Jason Momoa might not make the cut, but that remains to be seen.
Does this help clear up any confusion about the state of the DCU? Are you excited for Gunn and Safran to wipe the slate (mostly) clean? Let us know in the comments below.
Ms. Marvel actress Iman Vellani is co-writing a new Ms. Marvel comic that reintroduces the character as a member of the mutant community.
Much like the Goonies, superheroes never say die. Exciting comic book news comes from Entertainment Weekly this Friday, with word that Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani is co-writing a new Ms. Marvel comic as a part of the character’s embiggened reintroduction to Marvel Comics. Before we share the details, you should know that Marvel recently killed Ms. Marvel after the character sacrificed herself earlier this year in Amazing Spider-Man #26. Ms. Marvel’s death elicited mixed reactions from fans, but like most things in comics, there’s always a plan.
Vellani will co-write a new Ms. Marvel comic alongside Ms. Marvel TV writer Sabir Pirzada. Carlos Gomez and Adam Gorham supply the art, with Sara Pichelli creating covers for the series.
“This was way scarier than joining the MCU for me,” Vellani tells Entertainment Weekly. “Those projects feel like they live in their own dimension, so I guess I can separate myself easier. But you can hold a comic book! I’ve never written anything before in my entire life, but I have read many comics, so I just wrote what I would want to read. I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.”
The new comic is titled Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, which refers to Kamala Khan’s second life on the printed page. Kamala’s mutant lineage was teased in the final episodes of Ms. Marvel, a plot detail continued in the comics. Even though Kamala is dead, Professor X and some of Marvel’s mutant community live on Krakoa, home to a complex system that allows the island’s inhabitants to cheat death. Thanks, Egg and the rest of the Five!
Before you sharpen your pitchforks, Vellani and Pirzada won’t be doing any Inhuman erasure regarding Ms. Marvel’s heritage. Instead, Kamala’s mutant awakening adds to her complex past, giving the character a more complex background than your garden-variety Child of X.
“I want to make it very, very clear that we are not retconning her Inhuman origin. That’s a part of Kamala’s identity that Marvel editorial and myself would very much like to keep and protect,” Vellani says. “Our book will absolutely reflect all those core themes of identity that the Ms. Marvel comics have consistently explored — only now there’s a whole new label that Kamala has to learn to accept. It’s going to be pretty crazy.”
Vellani continues, “Hopefully those readers who are kind of getting into the comics after the Disney+ show are are going to have something fun to look forward to on shelves.”
Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant features a costume redesign by Jamie McKelvie, who designed the character’s original costume. In discussing his collaboration with Vellani, Pirzada says the young actress knows her stuff better than he does. “She was throwing out references to specific comics that came out before either of us were born. She has a very great eye for what makes for a good sequence on the page as drawn by an artist. It was very impressive to me to see her throw out all these references to different artists that she’s been following through the years.”
As a hardcore Ms. Marvel fan, I can’t wait to see what Vellani and Pirzada bring to the character upon her return. Kamala is one of Marvel’s most essential characters in decades, and it’s nice to see her legacy grow with each new idea and evolution. Bring it on!
Seasons three through six of Friends had some of Chandler Bing’s funniest and most character-defining moments. There he is handcuffed, without pants, to a filing cabinet; remaining in “time out” in a box for nearly a full episode; hooking up with—and later marrying—Monica…We all remember them fondly. The one who doesn’t? Matthew Perry, who says these seasons were a blur due to his problems with substance abuse.
But to truly understand what the fuck happened to Matthew Perry, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on August 19th in Williamstown, MA, the son of two prominent people: actor John Bennett Perry and mother Suzanne, who later served as press secretary to Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau (father of Justin, who Perry says he beat up in school).
Perry developed an interest in acting after he served it up on the tennis court as a youth, moving from Canada to L.A. to live with his father, starting with small bits on shows like 240-Robert (1979)—a series that starred his father and is considered lost—and HBO sketch series Not Necessarily the News (1983), along with more popular fare like Charles in Charge and Silver Spoons. After TV movie Morning Maggie, Perry got his first consistent acting job on the Fox sitcom Second Chance aka Boys Will Be Boys, retitled to focus more on Perry’s character, Chazz. It only lasted one season, but the year it ended, 1988, was a turning point for the actor.
Although most of us haven’t heard of the titles, Matthew Perry was getting steady work. There was TV movie Dance ‘Til Dawn alongside Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano and Tracey Gold; a one-off on sitcom Just the Ten of Us; a two-episode stint on fantasy Highway to Heaven; and his feature debut, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (River Phoenix was Jimmy). In 1989, he appeared in the Tony Danza-starring comedy She’s Out of Control, not to mention a three-episode arc on Growing Pains, playing Gold’s boyfriend who drinks and drives, resulting in his death—as part of the “very special episode” craze.
Around this time, he would call it quits on being credited as Matthew L. Perry, which seemed like sort of a good luck charm, since he landed his first lead in a sitcom, co-headlining CBS’ Sydney (1990, with Valerie Bertinelli and Craig Bierko, the fool who turned down Friends a few years later). But it was hardly a good luck charm, with Perry looking to becoming trapped in a series of TV movies and shows, playing Desi Arnaz Jr. in Call Me Anna (1990) and doing one-offs on Beverly Hills 90210 (1991), Dream On (1992), Sibs (1992) before sticking another series, 1993’s Home Free, for ABC, which lasted just 11 episodes (with two unaired). There would also be TV movies such as Deadly Relations (1993) and Parallel Lives (1994), as well as L.A.X. 2194, an unaired pilot that he was too busy doing to initially take a little show called Six of One…He, too, did Doug Liman’s DTV Getting In…And yes, Perry would be getting in the business in a major way that same year…
After Bierko dropped out, Matthew Perry joined the cast of Six of One fortunately renamed to Friends, as the youngest member, playing Chandler Bing, the sarcastic one of the group. Either way, he was a fan favorite. Perry and the cast would end up earning up to $1 million per episode in the last two seasons (up from $22,500 in the first season). This money, tragically, would come in handy…
It was during this run that Perry went full-on with his drug addiction—he always wanted to be famous but neglected to take into account some of its trappings—first becoming addicted to Vicodin following a jet ski accident in 1997, something that later turned into a 55-pill/day habit, only enhanced by the mounting pressures of shooting Fools Rush In (1997), an innocent yet generic flick that proved a major departure from the TV environment. In 1998, Perry co-starred opposite Chris Farley in Almost Heroes. Far from a Farley/Spade pairing, it remains a tarnish on Farley’s filmography. 1999 would bring another non-challenging rom-com, Three to Tango, while the next year saw the decent enough The Whole Nine Yards, which excels more due to Bruce Willis and his chemistry with Perry and everyone else in the cast. The same year, Perry suffered from pancreatitis, brought on by alcohol abuse, something his Friends co-stars tried and failed to get him off of. By 2001, Perry was heavily into alcohol, Vicodin, methadone, and amphetamines.
This came to a head in 2002 while Perry was filming Serving Sara with Elizabeth Hurley. With less than two weeks left in production, his addictions truly started affecting his work, as his quart of vodka/day habit sent him to much-needed rehab…but only because he thought he would die. To date, Perry estimates he spent around $9 million to get sober, going to rehab more than 60 times.
The next few years would see a two-episode stint on Ally McBeal and Perry giving drama a legit go, with three episodes on The West Wing (2003)—earning two Emmy nods—and co-starring in his first play, David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago (more commonly known for its big screen adaptation, About Last Night). But he couldn’t avoid comedy, next starring in the pointless sequel The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and directing an episode of Scrubs alongside his father.
Following Friends’ end in 2004, many in the cast wondered what would come of their careers. Perry waited until 2006 to get in front of the camera, starring in TV movie The Ron Clark Story to Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations. So began a fairly reliable pattern of passable but still forgettable TV and movie work that still seems to be active. There was the promising but failed, one-season Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, playing the head writer of an SNL-esque show; 2007’s Numb, which went DTV in the US despite a strong enough turn as a depressive with depersonalization disorder; indie attempt Birds of America (2008); the casually charming 17 Again (2009) with Zac Efron—which capped off the decade and surprisingly and unjustly still remains his most recent feature.
The 2010s started off with potential, with the creators giving him a voice in the video game Fallout: New Vegas based on his avid love for the series. 2011 brought another series, ABC’s Mr. Sunshine—which Perry co-created and wrote episodes of—but that was canceled after just nine episodes. Perry again returned to drama with a four-episode arc as an attorney on The Good Wife (2012-2013), which he’d reprise for a 2017 three-episode run on The Good Fight. Perry yet again was given a shot at headlining a sitcom, playing a sportscaster on Go On, which, yes, was canned after one season. The same year that ended, Perry gave back in a most noble way, opening a Malibu rehab center that unfortunately shut down in 2015—but that’s twice as long as most of his shows at least…That same year, Perry latched onto the Oscar Madison role in an Odd Couple reboot, which miraculously lasted three seasons. In 2016, Perry returned to the stage, writing The End of Longing, which played London and off-Broadway. In 2017, Perry seemed to want to let his fans in more on his personal life, playing famous boozer Ted Kennedy in TV movie The Kennedys: After Camelot.
And then his colon exploded. No, really. His aggressive OxyContin abuse in the latter part of the decade led to an exploded colon, leaving him with a colostomy bag. His abuse also put him in a coma with two weeks on life support, with doctors giving him a 2% chance of survival, detailed graphically and effectively in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
And still Matthew Perry survived and has been sober since 2021. Could he be any luckier?
Kill Her Goats director Steve Wolsh and his company Living Dead Media are developing a reboot of The Return of the Living Dead
Almost forty years ago, writer/director Dan O’Bannon delivered one of the most highly entertaining zombie movies of all time with The Return of the Living Dead (watch it HERE)… and in the process, spawned a franchise. There was the goofy comedy of The Return of the Living Dead Part II, the “Romeo and Juliet with zombies” love story Return of the Living Dead ///, and a couple sequels nobody paid much attention to, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave. The franchise has been dormant for eighteen years – but it may be revived very soon. It has come to our attention that Muck and Kill Her Goats director Steve Wolsh, who also happens to be the CEO of the company Living Dead Media, is developing a reboot of The Return of the Living Dead.
The only information on this reboot can be found on the Living Dead Media website, where it says: Our reboot of Return of the Living Dead will expand the existing world created by the original 5 films, while staying true to the R-rated, sci-fi, horror, dark comedy roots adored by fans of the cult classic around the world for the last 35 years. We are excited to resurrect this storied franchise for current fans and new generations of zombie fans.
Also listed as potential projects on the website are a National Lampoon collaboration called Dead Serious (described as “Animal House in a funeral home”), a version of The Return of the Living Dead that would use the original script for the film, and sequel to Night of the Living Dead called The Night Returns.
Night of the Living Dead alums Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, and Russell Streiner crafted the initial story for The Return of the Living Dead, intending for it to be a follow-up to Night. Then O’Bannon got involved and did a complete overhaul, telling the following story: When foreman Frank shows new employee Freddy a secret military experiment in a supply warehouse, the two klutzes accidentally release a gas that reanimates corpses into flesh-eating zombies. As the epidemic spreads throughout Louisville, Ky., and the creatures satisfy their hunger in gory and outlandish ways, Frank and Freddy fight to survive with the help of their boss and a mysterious mortician.
The film stars Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., John Philbin, Jewel Shepard, Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Mark Venturini, Jonathan Terry, and Allan Trautman.
We’ll keep you updated on Living Dead Media’s Return of the Living Dead reboot as more information is revealed. In the meantime, let us know: are you interested in seeing a new Return of the Living Dead movie? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
The latest issue of Fangoria magazine gives a good look at the version of Dracula played by Javier Botet in The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Universal Pictures will be giving the horror film The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is based on a single chapter, the Captain’s Log, from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, a theatrical release on August 11th. If you don’t want to wait another month to get a good look at the version of Dracula that Javier Botet of the It films plays in the movie, all you have to do is take a look at the cover for the new issue of Fangoria magazine! Botet’s Dracula is featured on the cover in all his glory, and you can check it out at the bottom of this article.
Escaping development hell twenty years after the script was first written (Bragi F. Schut, Stefan Ruzowitzky, and Zak Olkewicz all receive writing credits on the finished film), The Last Voyage of the Demeter tells the story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo – fifty unmarked wooden crates – from Carpathia to London. Strange events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship. When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.
The film stars Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) as Clemens, a doctor who joins the Demeter crew; Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) as an unwitting stowaway; Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) as the ship’s captain; and David Dastmalchian (the Ant-Man franchise) as the Demeter’s first mate. Also in the cast are Jon Jon Briones (American Horror Story), Stefan Kapicic (Deadpool films), Nikolai Nikolaeff (Stranger Things), and the aforementioned Javier Botet.
Directed by André Øvredal, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is coming to us from DreamWorks Pictures. The project was produced by Brad Fischer and Mike Medavoy and Arnold Messer for Phoenix Pictures. Matthew Hirsch serves as executive producer.
What do you think of The Last Voyage of the Demeter‘s version of Dracula? Are you looking forward to watching this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Our own Chris Bumbray had the chance to see some footage from The Last Voyage of the Demeter at CinemaCon last year, and he said the movie looks epic, gory, and classy.
Plot: More than a century after the season one finale, tension mounts throughout the galaxy in “Foundation” season two. As the Cleons unravel, a vengeful queen plots to destroy Empire from within. Hari, Gaal, and Salvor discover a colony of Mentalics with psionic abilities that threaten to alter psychohistory itself. The Foundation has entered its religious phase, promulgating the Church of Seldon throughout the Outer Reach and inciting the Second Crisis: war with Empire. The monumental adaptation of “Foundation” chronicles the stories of four crucial individuals transcending space and time as they overcome deadly crises, shifting loyalties and complicated relationships that will ultimately determine the fate of humanity.
Review: Isaac Asimov’s iconic Foundation novels are not Game of Thrones. Foundation has long been considered unfilmable, an intelligent blend of science fiction and philosophical drama. The first season adaptation, created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, bridged the gap from the written page to the screen by adding a heaping dose of sex and violence to offset the dialogue-heavy exercises in math and politics. The resulting series boasted solid production values and top-notch special effects while missing out on a level of energy from the narrative to make it worth investing in for multiple seasons. Thankfully, the second season of Foundation ups the ante on the story’s emotional resonance while maintaining the action, sex, and violence from the first run. The result is a solid sophomore season that will keep fans happy but may not be enough to win over new ones.
Picking up 138 years after the primary time period of the first season, the new season of Foundation opens with Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) learning that Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) is her daughter, and the duo works to free themselves from their exile. At the same time, the radiant of Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) is put through trials by an alien intelligence testing his resolve. The bulk of the season featuring these characters feels like a side quest rather than the season’s main arc and feels like a secondary plot in the overall narrative of Foundation. As great as Jared Harris is, Goyer and Friedman’s take on Hari Seldon is far different than the character from Asimov’s novels. Seldon, a major character throughout the entire series, exists mainly in the form of recordings and memories in the books. On-screen, that would not work and has been changed in a way that gives Seldon a legitimate reason to appear on screen but still is bogged down by countless monologues weighed down by unwieldy technobabble.
What works the best this season is the enhanced palace intrigue centered on Empire, played again by Lee Pace as Brother Day, Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk, and Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn. Pace, who played multiple iterations of Brother Day in the first season here, portrays Cleon XVII, five generations past his role as Cleon XII. While Pace played one hell of a villain in the first season, this sophomore run opens immediately with an action-packed sequence that sets the pace and tone for all of the Trantor-set moments this season. Echoing Game of Thrones’ early seasons and the diabolical games between the warring families, we are given an assassination attempt, a prospective marriage that would combine the Empire with a powerful dominion as an ally, and multiple secret alliances that forge the best part of this season’s arc. While Terrence Mann once again plays Brother Dusk as the elder and wiser leader, Cassian Bilton’s Brother Dawn becomes more significant as the youthful heir. Pace, a stellar actor in everything he does, chews the scenery wonderfully through this entire season and commands the screen in every scene he appears.
The shift between the Trantor scenes and those in the galaxy’s far reaches showcases the vast disconnect between the two elements of this series. Like Succession and Yellowstone, we love to watch those in power implode, and seeing how the Empire begins to show cracks after twelve thousand years in power is deliciously entertaining. But, unlike Star Wars and other similar science fiction series, the rebellious faction we are meant to root for in Foundation is not nearly as rousing as it should be. I continually enjoyed the shared screen time between Jared Harris, Lou Llobell, and Leah Harvey, but their plotlines feel like they drag to fill the ten-episode season order. Conversely, Laura Birn is the best of the cast this season as the android Eto Demerzel becomes more prominent than before this year. This season’s additions to the cast, including Ella-Rae Smith, Ben Daniels, and Isabella Laughland, accentuate the ensemble.
Director Alex Graves, who helmed three episodes of the first season, returns to maintain the visual tone and style this year. The direction is solid throughout, but the writing does show some improvement thanks to the addition of Jane Espenson (Game of Thrones) and Liz Phang (Yellowjackets, The Haunting of Hill House). Working alongside David S. Goyer, who co-wrote five episodes this season, Espenson and Phang have credits on eight of the ten chapters. Both writers bring a stronger voice to the complex narrative of Asimov’s books which includes updating characters and plots, further taking Foundation away from the source material while staying true to the overall plot of the novels. Overall, this season of Foundation is stronger than the first but still piles so much into these ten episodes that each chapter feels twice as long as its hour-long running time. The finale works as a satisfying conclusion should Apple elect not to continue this series for a third season, but it also keeps the door open with yet another massive time jump.
Foundation continues to feel like a series that wants to be epic yet cannot quite grasp how to do it. Lee Pace’s performance alone makes the second season of this series worth checking out, but I am again left feeling somewhat hollow after watching the season finale. Foundation takes inspiration from a book series that has been beloved alongside Dune, The Lord of the Rings, and countless other works of genre literature, but there is just not enough here to earn my viewership outside of a reviewer capacity. I feel like I should love Foundation, and giving it a bad review is hard. There is nothing inherently wrong with the series; it just doesn’t come close to being as good as it should be.
Season 2 of Foundation premieres on July 14th on AppleTV+.
Marvel’s Deadpool 3 production halted after SAG-AFTRA members joined the WGA in striking for better film industry terms and conditions.
You might want to put your chimichangas in the freezer because it will be a while before we’re eating them in celebration of the arrival of Deadpool 3. Unfortunately, the Marvel threequel is the latest tentpole project to fall victim to the SAG-AFTRA strike. News about the project’s hibernation comes after Ryan Reynolds shared a photo of himself and Hugh Jackman in full costume for the upcoming superhero buddy-action comedy. Fans can expect delays for the project until negotiations between the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and AMPTP resolve.
The upcoming Deadpool sequel will see the return of Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter. Deadpool 3 will also star Emma Corrin, who is expected to play the villain, and Matthew Macfadyen in an undisclosed role. The film also finds Jennifer Garner returning as Elektra for a “cameo-like” appearance. In addition to Garner’s Elektra, rumors say Ben Affleck was spotted on the Deadpool 3 set, leading fans to believe he’ll cameo alongside Garner as Daredevil. That said, Affleck’s participation is not confirmed.
Of course, the most significant addition to the cast is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who finally broke down after being pestered by Ryan Reynolds for many years. Reynolds said that Deadpool 3 will present a new challenge for Jackman. “I think [Jackman] was excited and what we pitched him was enough of a divergence from the character that he knows and the character that he’s left behind,” Reynolds said, “that it gives him something completely new to play and something that he’s really excited to do. “Clearly, all that pestering paid off. “I mean, I never stopped,” Reynolds said. “I was just pestering him like a gnat over the last many years. I actually just think… I believe in timing … and I think he was ready.”
Marvel’s Deadpool 3 is scheduled for a May 3, 2024 release. However, the film could be delayed with production grinding to a halt. We’ll bring you any updates we find as they happen.
A clip from the Seth Rogen-produced horror film Cobweb offers a preview of a scene involving an awkward house visit
Four and a half years ago, Lionsgate – a studio that had once been a prominent force in the horror genre, with releases like The Devil’s Rejects, Cabin Fever, the Hostel films, and of course the Saw franchise – announced that they were developing a genre project called Cobweb with the intention of taking back their “ownership” of horror. We’re now just one week away from having the chance to see the finished film, as Cobweb will be receiving a theatrical release on July 21st… and now a clip from the movie has arrived online, offering a preview of an awkward house visit scene. You can check it out in the embed above.
Directed by Samuel Bodin, who created Netflix’s short-lived French horror series Marianne, from a screenplay by Chris Thomas Devlin (Leatherface), Cobweb has the following synopsis: Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall – a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter’s fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?
We previously saw a synopsis that said a boy’s abusive parents have always told him the voices he hears in the walls of his house are only in his head. But when he discovers that they’re real, he conspires to let them out.
The film stars Lizzy Caplan (Fatal Attraction), Antony Starr (The Boys), Cleopatra Coleman (Infinity Pool), and Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon).
Cobweb was produced by Point Grey’s Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver, along with Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee. Vertigo’s Andrew Childs serves as executive producer with Jonathan McCoy and Josh Fagen, who oversaw the project for Point Grey. Jim Miller and Meredith Wieck oversaw the project for Lionsgate. Rogen isn’t an obvious producer for an intense horror project, but we’re also living in a world where Kevin Smith made a horror movie about a man being surgically turned into a walrus and where Danny McBride has co-written three Halloween sequels.
What did you think of the Cobweb clip? Are you looking forward to seeing this movie next week? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
