Paul Schrader is one of the most iconic voices in cinema today. From his brilliant script that created a legend with Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver, to the thought-provoking First Reformed with Ethan Hawke, he’s a true master. His latest effort is a thoughtful and intriguing tale about a man with a secret past who embarks on an unexpected love triangle. Yet this is a Paul Schrader feature, so you will find several layers with these characters. Master Gardener features an incredible cast including Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, and the terrific Quintessa Swindell. And not surprisingly, it features a sharp script from the writer/director himself.

I recently sat down with Sigourney Weaver and Joel Edgerton to discuss their latest. And while my camera took a moment to click, once it did, it was a fascinating chat. Both of these incredible talents opened up about living in this world, and working off of a Paul Schrader script. In fact, it was refreshing hearing them talk about working with such a legend. For Ms. Weaver, this is a very different role than we’ve seen her in before. It’s the type of role that she’s avoided, until now, for very good reasons. As for Mr. Edgerton, he talked at length about bringing such a layered character to life. Master Gardener is currently in theaters, and worth checking out for fans of Mr. Schrader.

Master Gardener has the following synopsis: A meticulous horticulturist is devoted to tending the grounds of a beautiful estate owned by a wealthy dowager. When he’s told to take on her troubled great-niece as an apprentice, his life is thrown into chaos and dark secrets from his past emerge.

A new Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny 4DX poster offers a stylish look at the hero’s return to the silver screen.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is taking theaters by storm on June 30, 2023, and Dolby Cinema is celebrating with an outstanding new poster featuring key players from the cast. The latest promo harkens back to the Indy posters of old, using a light film grain effect to give the image a classic feel. The Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny 4DX poster depicts Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw, Mads Mikkelsen as Jürgen Voller, Boyd Holbrook as Klaber, Antonio Banderas as Renaldo, John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, Toby Jones as Basil Shaw, Sahunette Renée Wilson’s Agent Mason, and more!

You can check out the new Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 4DX poster below:

“We’re thrilled to showcase the exclusive Dolby Cinema artwork for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” said Jed Harmsen, Head of Cinema and Group Entertainment at Dolby. “The breathtaking visuals of Dolby Vision and the immersive sounds of Dolby Atmos will have you on the edge of your seat, as you’ll feel right at the center of the film’s heart-pounding chase sequences and treasure hunting escapades. There is no better way to experience this chapter of the iconic Indiana Jones series than at Dolby Cinema.”

Tickets for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny are on sale now at Fandango.

Oddly, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the lowest-rated film in the series on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 52% rating from 31 reviews. However, it’s essential to consider that this number hails from a small handful of critics. Public perception has yet to weigh in, which is a more measured test of a film’s quality. Some reviewers say Dial of Destiny makes an admiral attempt at recapturing the magic of Indy’s adventuring but ultimately comes across as stale and uninspired.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny stars Harrison Ford as the legendary hero archaeologist, as well as Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Toby Jones (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther), Thomas Kretschmann (Das Boot), Olivier Richters (Black Widow), Ethann Isidore (Mortel), and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark). James Mangold directed and co-wrote the script alongside Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth.

What do you think about the new Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 4DX poster? Will you see Ford’s final turn as the intrepid archaeologist in theaters? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

Sigourney Weaver hasn’t been asked to reprise the role of Dana Barrett in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel

The sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (watch it HERE), which is scheduled to reach theatres on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, has been filming for a while now – and while cameras are rolling on that project, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II star Sigourney Weaver, who had a quick cameo in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, is doing the press rounds for the film Master Gardener. (You can see our own Weaver / Master Gardener interview at THIS LINK.) While talking to the folks at Collider about the film, Weaver revealed that she hasn’t been asked to come back for the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel.

When asked if she’s returning to the world of Ghostbusters, Weaver said, “No, I mean, I wasn’t asked to be in this Ghostbusters, and I think, you know, a little of us goes a long way.”

Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace are back for the sequel, reprising the roles of Trevor and Phoebe. They’re joined in the cast by Carrie Coon, playing Trevor and Phoebe’s mom Callie; Paul Rudd as his Afterlife character Gary Grooberson; Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore, one of the original Ghostbusters; William Atherton as Walter Peck, the antagonistic EPA inspector from the first Ghostbusters film; and new additions Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens), James Acaster (Hypothetical), and Emily Alyn Lind (Doctor Sleep).

At first, Afterlife director Jason Reitman was expected to take the helm, once again directing from a screenplay he was writing with Gil Kenan – but then it was revealed that Kenan will actually be directing the new film. He previously directed the animated movie Monster House, the live-action films City of Ember, A Boy Called Christmas, and the remake of Poltergeist, and an episode of the Scream TV series.

When he took the directing job, Kenan said, “It’s an absolute honor to pick up the proton pack and step behind the camera for the next chapter of the Spengler family saga. I just wish I could go back to 1984 and tell the kid in the sixth row of the Mann Valley West that one day he was going to get to direct a Ghostbusters film.“

Reitman added, “A few years ago, my father (Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman) handed me the keys to Ecto-1 and together we made Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Words will never express how grateful I am to have made a film with my father by my side. It’s now time to hand those keys to my creative partner and fellow Ghostbuster Gil Kenan, a brilliant director who will keep the Spengler spirit alive. I can only hope to provide him the same producorial care and support that my father showed me.“

Were you hoping to see Sigourney Weaver in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel, or are you fine with Dana Barrett sitting this one out? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Ron Perlman and Rosanna Arquette are in the cast of the horror thriller Succubus, which is now filming with R.J. Daniel Hanna at the helm

Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction), Brendan Bradley (A Tale Told by an Idiot), Rachel Cook (The Hack Job), Olivia Applegate (Love & Death), Derek Smith (What/If), Emily Kincaid (Hard Miles), and Finley Rose Slater (Playing with Fire) make up the cast of the horror thriller Succubus, which is currently filming. This one is coming our way from Shout! Studios and Convoke Media, and Shout! will be distributing the film in North America.

Written and directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna (Hard Miles), Succubus centers on a new father going through a marital separation who joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman… whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.

Todd Slater of Convoke Media is producing the film with Ari Novak and Anna Elizabeth James. John Rhodes, Jennifer Ambrose, and Braden Duemmler serve as executive producers with BondIt Media Capital, the company handling the financing.

Jordan Fields, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Originals at Shout! Studios, provided the following statement to Deadline: “My favorite horror thrillers are ones that have something to say about human beings, and in Succubus, Daniel has crafted a chilling metaphor for the clutch that screens have on us. This will disturb and resonate, like the best of the genre.“

Hanna added: “Succubus is a first-and-foremost a wild and brazen mystery-horror film about the most terrifying series of events that could ever befall a guy who let his nether regions do the thinking for him. But beyond the body horror, which is ample, it also comments on the very real vampire that’s sucking us all dry — our screens. As our hero is drawn by an online siren into her dark yet enticing world, he’s forced to face all he’s left behind, his whole real, meaningful life beyond the glowing rectangle he keeps in his pocket, and try to find a way back to it.“

And Slater had this to say: “Daniel has crafted a story like none that this genre has seen before. He is an incredible storyteller and has created something that I know will make an impact when audiences watch. I’m thrilled to be a part of his vision and the amazing ensemble cast on this one.“

Succubus had my attention as soon as I read that Perlman and Arquette were in the cast, but the filmmaker really sold me when he described his story as “the most terrifying series of events that could ever befall a guy who let his nether regions do the thinking for him”. I look forward to seeing how the movie is going to turn out, and to watching those series of events.

Does Succubus sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The free movie we’re sharing as this week’s Friday Fright Nights feature is the suspense thriller American Apocalypse

A full Free Movie of the Day is posted on the JoBlo Horror Movies YouTube channel every other day during the week – but on Fridays things get even freakier and a little more fun. Get your weekend started the right way by indulging in Friday Fright Nights! Every Friday, we’ll be taking a look at another genre movie you can watch in its entirety, free of charge, either on the YouTube channel linked above or in the video embed here.

The Friday Fright Night feature we have for you this week is director Andrew Robertson’s suspense thriller American Apocalypse, which takes place after a pandemic that went even worse than the one that shut down the world in 2020. And given that it tells a story set in a wasteland where society has crumbled, this is a film that takes me back to my childhood.

That may seem odd to say, but the reason American Apocalypse is a cinematic time machine for me is due to the fact that few story concepts fascinated me more in my youth than the idea of apocalypse. An event that has wiped out most of the world’s residents, and the few remaining survivors still have to make their way through the countryside… and they still have to deal with how dangerous other people can be. However the apocalypse happened, whether the cause be plague (Stephen King’s The Stand), zombie outbreak (Romero’s Dead films), or nukes (The Road Warrior), stories like this have always captured my imagination. They still do to this day, but the interest started when I was young – some would say I was too young to be watching these movies and reading these stories that made me so interested in the end of the world.

For his take on the apocalypse, Robertson chose to wipe out humanity with a plague. And you can witness his vision of the apocalypse in the embed in this article.

Scripted by Robertson and Lilly Kanso, American Apocalypse is also known by the title Refuge (and in fact, that’s how you’ll find it listed on IMDb). The film follows a family’s struggle to survive and rebuild a life in the absence of civilization. In the wake of a catastrophic plague, the family lives a lonely existence, struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst a lawless world of roaming gangs and dwindling resources.

Robertson appears in the film alongside Carter Roy, Amy Rutberg, Eva Grace Kellner, Chris Kies, Sebastian Beacon, Travis Grant, Reed Pendergrass, Sam Smith, Vinny Gandolfi, Tom Thon, Cary Strongwater, Seth Scofield, Aimee Kellner, John Thomas Long, Nabil Kanso, Mark Ashworth, Christopher Payne, Anthony B. Harris, Sofia Nour Kanso-Robertson, Joe Manus, Brennan Collins, Mike Altmann, Josiah Staggers, Shane Rahmani, Andrew Burn, Sam Green, Rob Stroud, Rock Heindel, Edwin Vicente-Ortega, Sam West, Tony Gandolfi, Shane Tepper, Andrew Wobertson, Robert Ballew, and Andrew Richards.

Before making American Apocalypse / Refuge, Robertson directed a documentary about the 2008 Presidential election that was called The Battle for Georgia. In the decade since he made this movie, his only credits have been on an episode of the TV show The Food Flirts.

So check out American Apocalypse – it’s free! – and let us know what you thought of it by leaving a comment below or on the YouTube page. Would you like to see another movie from Andrew Robertson?

Steven Spielberg’s daughter, Destry Allyn Spielberg, is bringing her directorial debut, Please Don’t Feed the Children, to the Cannes market.

Lookout Hollywood! Another Spielberg is ready to take Tinsel Town by storm! Steven Spielberg’s daughter, Destry Allyn Spielberg, is about to make her feature directorial debut with Please Don’t Feed the Children. The project is heading to the Cannes market, with Altitude managing international sales and WME Independent managing North American deals.

The feature-length genre piece stars Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), with filming in New Mexico on May 30. The team is finalizing additional cast members now for a story that hits close to home in a post-pandemic world. According to Deadline, Please Don’t Feed the Children takes place after a viral outbreak ravaged the country’s adult population. In the film, a group of orphans heads south, searching for a new life, only to find themselves at the mercy of a deranged woman harboring a dangerous secret.

Described as a psychological thriller, Paul Bertino wrote the script, with production happening courtesy of Jason Dubin through Perry Street Films, Josh Kesselman, and Michael Hagerty.

Before readying her feature-length directorial debut, Spielberg won Best Thriller at the City of Angels Women’s Film Festival in 2022 for her short film Let Me Go the Right Way. The film, co-written by Spielberg and Owen King, focuses on a young veteran whose sense of reality is crumbling and the psychiatrist who treats him. Hopper Penn, Brian d’Arcy James, and Pooya Mohseni star.

“I am so grateful to have the opportunity to bring this story to the screen with such a collaborative and inspirational team. This picture is so much more than just a horror film. It’s a dream come true to work with a talent such as Michelle Dockery. I am excited to the genre with our incredible cast and crew.” Spielberg said about prepping Please Don’t Feed the Children.

Have you ever seen any of Destry Allyn Spielberg’s short films? I can’t imagine the pressure of being the daughter of Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest living filmmakers of several generations. I’m eager to see Destry’s work on the feature-length stage and discover her growing talent for myself. How about you? Are you ready for the next generation of Spielberg to take center stage?

Charlie Day’s directorial debut is a throwback to old school comedy with an all-star cast that doesn’t quite work.

Plot: A down-on-his-luck publicist gets his lucky break when he discovers a mute man recently released from a mental health facility looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer.

Review: Charlie Day’s directorial debut has had a long road to the big screen. Originally announced in 2018, Fool’s Paradise began as a project called El Tonto. After assembling an all-star cast, the pandemic forced the film into a hiatus which turned into rewrites by Day and, eventually, the filming of new scenes. The finished project boasts a massive cast of famous faces, including the late Ray Liotta, for a satirical look at Hollywood reminiscent of countless films from the 1960s and 1970s. With his sense of humor in the right place, Day makes a valiant effort in his debut behind the camera but falls short of delivering a consistent finished product.

When I started Fool’s Paradise, I was immediately reminded of one of my all-time favorite movies: Hal Ashby’s Being There, starring Peter Sellers. Like that film, Charlie Day’s comedy follows a simple-minded man who is swept up through a series of circumstances to become far more famous and respected than he ever expected to be. Where Being There mocks politics, Fool’s Paradise satirizes the Hollywood machine. From Method actors to rehab, paparazzi to superhero movies, everything is teased, mocked, and spoofed in this film. At the center of it all is Latte Pronto (Charlie Day), the mysterious vagrant who is susceptible to suggestion by anyone and somehow becomes one of the most famous actors in the world. Over the course of the film, Latte goes from star to has been while a cast of acclaimed actors appears in varying capacities throughout the story, with Ken Jeong appearing the most as the mute Latte’s publicist, Larry.

While Hollywood has always been game for making fun of itself, the satire in Fool’s Paradise is less biting than Robert Altman’s The Player, The Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink, or David Mamet’s State & Main. Charlie Day is more content to tell many jokes while allowing himself to emulate Peter Sellers, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton. Donning a stylish hat and mugging for the camera, Day glides through each scene as a silent performer who adopts the personality of those around him. Whether that be the party-hard lothario Chad Luxt (Adrien Brody), the sexy Christiana Dior (Kate Beckinsale), or the big-budget filmmaker Lex Tanner (Jason Sudeikis), Latte glides through each sequence with wide eyes and a smile. In fact, through the entire film, Day utters only a handful of lines, limiting the trademark voice we have come to love in his animated performances. Instead, Day allows all famous faces around him to do the heavy lifting, mostly mocking themselves and their industry.

Day called in every person he has worked with, including his It’s Always Sunny buddies Glenn Howerton, David Hornsby, Jimmi Simpson, and wife Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Horrible Bosses co-stars Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman, as well as icons like John Malkovich and Ray Liotta, as well as Edie Falco, Common, Travis Fimmel, Alanna Ubach, Dean Norris, Katherine McNamara and many more. From small cameos to substantial supporting roles, no single actor is afraid to mock themselves or the cast and crew they have worked with. The film’s narrative flow packs a lot into just over ninety minutes and often feels rushed to accommodate the full arc that Day had wanted to follow. This leads to joke after joke being played regardless of whether they work or not.

Fool’s Paradise is a collection of funny moments that play like Charlie Day, jotted down ideas for jokes in a notebook, and then filmed them all. The overall story is more of a loose narrative that connects standalone bits that serve as a mixtape of the filmmaker’s comedy influences. Several moments are beautifully shot and hint at Day’s blossoming talents as a director. It is surprising that this is his debut, as Day has not used the long-running It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as a training ground to build his directorial experience. Day does get some excellent performances from Ray Liotta and Kate Beckinsale, as well as an earnest musical score from Jon Brion. Fool’s Paradise may not be a massive hit or end up on anyone’s radar in the long run, but it is impressive in other ways.

While Charlie Day does make a valiant effort as a triple threat in this film, he does not quite stick the landing. The final act of Fool’s Paradise is the weakest part of the movie and overshadows a lot of highlights in the first two-thirds of the film. It is very apparent that this movie was a passion project for Day and that he took everyone willing to appear in his project and didn’t want to waste any of their presence. Fool’s Paradise could have used tighter writing that would have accented the satire more than the silly jokes. This movie is peppered with funny moments that showcase Day’s directorial career potential. At the very least, this movie has its heart in the right place, even if it doesn’t quite bring it all together to amount to more than a fun diversion.

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The four-part docuseries Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 has been picked up by The CW and will air this summer!

1982 was an incredible year for movies, with the line-up including E.T., Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Conan the Barbarian, Friday the 13th Part III, The Beastmaster, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Blade Runner, Swamp Thing, Megaforce, The Sword and the Sorcerer, the U.S. release of The Road Warrior… the list of awesomeness goes on and on. That’s why Mark A. Altman, Roger Lay Jr., Tom Vitale, and host Scott Mantz teamed up to craft the four-part docuseries Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982… and that’s why JoBlo Movie Productions got involved with the project as an executive producer. We’ve been promoting this documentary for a while, and now we’re happy to announce that it has been picked up by The CW!

Deadline broke the news that Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 is part of The CW’s slate of original scripted and unscripted programming that will debut on the network throughout this summer. Here’s the information:

An inside look back at the greatest geek year in cinema ever, 1982, with stars, directors, writers, producers, critics and pop culture historians sharing their insights about such classic films as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, Tron, and many more. Filled with exclusive interviews, rare behind the scenes footage and incredible never before seen clips in a fun, lively, no holds barred celebration of the legendary moviegoing year, GREATEST GEEK YEAR EVER: 1982 will take viewers behind the scenes of the biggest and most influential movies ever made at a time when fandom was in its infancy. GREATEST GEEK YEAR EVER: 1982 is written and produced by Mark A. Altman, directed and produced by Roger Lay, Jr. and executive produced by (JoBlo founder) Berge Garabedian. Scott Mantz, Thomas P. Vitale, Eric Carnagey and Aaron Rattner also serve as producers.

Our interview with Altman can be seen in the video embed at the top of this article. And here are a couple clips from Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 that we’ve shared in the past: you can check out a piece on The Sword and the Sorcerer at THIS LINK and a segment on Megaforce can be seen HERE.

Will you be watching Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 when it airs on The CW? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Ashley Moore and Camren Bicondova star in the Soska Sisters’ Night of the Living Dead follow-up Festival of the Living Dead

George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so a lot of people have made their own sequels and remakes to the film over the decades, put out their own releases of it, colorized it, animated it, etc. It’s a property that has never been dormant… but these days it seems like its undead ghouls are livelier than ever. The George A. Romero Foundation and the Cinedigm-backed Bloody Disgusting are making a podcast sequel called The Dead. Nikyatu Jusu is directing a film sequel that will be released by MGM. Greg Nicotero is planning to make a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead. And now Deadline has revealed that twin directors Jen and Sylvia Soska are taking the helm of their own Night of the Living Dead follow-up called Festival of the Dead, and Ashley Moore (I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Camren Bicondova (Gotham) have signed on to star in the film.

Scripted by Helen Marsh and Miriam Lyapin, Festival of the Dead has the following synopsis: It has been over 50 years since Night of the Living Dead’s original zombie attack and the horrific event has become the subject of morbid nostalgia. Looking for fun, Ash and her friends attend the Festival of the Living Dead, but it is disrupted when a blast of radioactive space dust hits the festival and they must defend themselves or be devoured by the living dead. So it sounds like this movie will be fully buying into the idea that the original zombie outbreak was caused by the crashing of a Venus probe, something that was mentioned as a potential cause in Night of the Living Dead but never confirmed and never given any credence in Romero’s own follow-ups.

According to Deadline, Moore is playing Ash, who has been accepted to college and is getting ready to reluctantly leave her old life behind as she is torn between her boyfriend and his friends, and her old friends. When her boyfriend gets her tickets to the Festival, she jumps at the opportunity to see her favorite band. Bicondova’s character is Iris, who has been Ash’s closest friend for years, though they are starting to drift apart — especially because Iris knows Ash is leaving to go to college. She agrees to watch Ash’s brother, Luke, so Ash can go to the festival. 

Also in the cast are Andre Anthony (The Night Agent), Christian Rose (Holiday Baggage), Shiloh O’Reilly (The Haunted Museum), Gage Marsh (You Me Her), Keana Lyn Bastidas (The Hardy Boys), and Maia Jae Bastidas (Rabbit Hole).

Coming our way from Enlighten Content, Festival of the Living Dead is being produced by Jacob Nasser. The movie will be released through the Tubi streaming service sometime this fall.

Will you be watching Festival of the Living Dead? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The Soska Sisters have previously directed Dead Hooker in a Trunk, American Mary, See No Evil 2, Vendetta, Rabid, On the Edge, and a segment of the anthology ABCs of Death 2.