Radioactive U.S. trailer debuts ahead of Amazon Prime premiere

Amazon Prime Video has released the full Radioactive trailer for director Marjane Satrapi’s biographical drama film, featuring Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike as she portrays renowned scientist Marie Curie. The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and will be available for streaming on Friday, July 24. Check out the video in the player!

RELATED: Westworld Creators Adapting Fallout TV Series for Amazon

From the 1870s to the modern era, Radioactive is a journey through Marie Curie’s enduring legacies – her passionate relationships, scientific breakthroughs, and the consequences that followed for her and for the world. After meeting fellow scientist Pierre Curie, the pair go on to marry and change the face of science forever by their discovery of radioactivity. The genius of the Curies’ world-changing discoveries and the ensuing Nobel Prize propels the devoted couple into the international limelight.

The film stars Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) as Marie Curie, Sam Riley (Maleficent, Control) as Pierre Curie, and Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma, New Mutants) as Irene Curie. It will also feature Cara Bossom, Aneurin Barnard, Simon Russell Beale, Tim Woodward, Jonathan Aris, Mirjam Novak, and Michael Gould.

Based on Lauren Redniss’ graphic novel of the same name, Radioactive is directed by Marjane Satrapi from a screenplay written by Jack Thorne. It is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Paul Webster. The film is a co-production by Working Title Films and StudioCanal in partnership with Shoebox Films.

RELATED: Rosamund Pike Joins Amazon’s Wheel of Time Series Adaptation

Marie Curie is a Polish-French physicist and chemist who was the first one to develop the theory of radioactivity, which is a term she coined. She is also best known for discovering two elements: the polonium and radium. Because of her incredible work, Curie was awarded two Nobel Prize Awards in 1903 and 1911, making her the first woman to win the award. At the age of 66, she died in 1934 due to aplastic anemia which was caused by her too much exposure from the radiation during the course of her extensive scientific research.

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Review: Despite Obvious Faults, Money Plane Is Still A Wacky, Entertaining Heist Flick

WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard shares his review for Quiver Distribution’s action film Money Plane, featuring WWE Superstar Adam “Edge” Copeland. Available to order now, you can check out Pritchard’s review for the movie below (via WZ)!

Money Plane sees a far-fetched story about a group of thieves pulling off the ultimate heist by robbing a futuristic airborne casino to pay back a $40 million debt and saving their leader’s family in the process.

Out now on video-on-demand services like Amazon, Adam Copeland (aka WWE’s Edge) plays Jack Reese, a high-level thief attempting to leave the business after one last score. It sounds easy enough for a master criminal, but as we find out a few minutes into the film (a prologue, if you will), the ‘one last job’ doesn’t go as planned and it leaves Reese in debt to Darius Emmanuel Grouch (Kelsey Grammer), a notorious crime boss nicknamed ‘The Rumble.’

With a movie and premise like Money Plane, you should go into it expecting an over-the-top and (as Copeland’s Reese puts it) “bat-shit crazy” plot, similar to Snakes On A Plane but not as crazy as the Sharknado films. It’s still a heist film and the idea that there’s a top-secret flying casino filled with gangsters is absurd, but not as much as some of the names and character stereotypes.

Darius “The Rumble” Grouch just seems like a mafia trope at times, as does Matthew Lawrence’s Texan character, The Cowboy. The latter does provide a great ‘punchline’ to a gag in the film, but the rootin’-tootin’ Cowboy is just one of a few typecasted roles that seem out of place in a ‘serious’ movie. Andrew Lawrence, the youngest of the acting brothers, directs the film and also appears on-screen as part of Copeland’s crew and Joey Lawrence (Whoa!) also sees some screen time as a game host or concierge, drawing some comparisons to Lance Reddick’s Charon in the John Wick series. The cast is rounded out with some big names like Denise Richards, who plays Reese’s wife, and Thomas Jane, who ends coming into play later in the film (and really should have been used much more than he was).

Money Plane’s biggest problem is that it struggles to find its identity and switches things up too much to maintain that balance. It starts as a serious heist film and flip-flops between campy action flick and high-tech thriller as it progresses. It’s well cast, but every character outside of Reese and his team vary from threatening villain to outright goofy as the film moves on. It doesn’t help that the score is also very cheesy at times, some tracks sounding like it’s stock and others that are very obviously a rip-off of some other popular song. There’s one scene, in particular, that was very awkward as it tried to add a “cool” vibe in the form of a very obvious rip-off of New Order’s “Blue Monday” during a poker game. There are a few other instances where this happens and it really takes away from some otherwise great action scenes and fights.

Despite the issues with the score and theme, Money Plane is still a fun watch if you don’t take it too seriously. The titular “futuristic airborne casino” isn’t very futuristic as much as it is an exclusive club for the criminal underworld, but there are some good one-liners, fight scenes and Copeland is well-cast as the straight man to all of the wackiness going on around him, with Jane also providing some strong scenes.

One of the first things Money Plane lays out is the rules of a job well done and its three critical parts.

• Have a great team
• Have a proper diversion
• Have a backup plan

All three come into play towards the end of the film and based on those points, Money Plane is successful. Reese and his team are likable and competent, and the diversion and back-up provide a couple of good twists at the end of the film.

It has a solid resolution—but it also leaves a little room for a sequel if the studio was planning that. With that in mind, Money Plane could work if it was more balanced. Whether it’s zany or serious, it should lean more towards one than the other and not bounce back and forth throughout the film. Money Plane has its faults, but it’s still an entertaining movie with a solid cast and some good gags and fight scenes.

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Monster Hunter: Paul W.S. Anderson teases action film’s 50-60 feet tall Monsters

In a recent interview with Empire Magazine (via Syfy Wire), director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed new details about Sony Pictures’ forthcoming film adaptation of Monster Hunter, teasing the 50-60 ft. tall monsters that action star Milla Jovovich will have to face in the film.

“All our monsters are 50-60 feet tall. They’re really amazing. We’re building them in even more detail than the dinosaurs of Jurassic World,” Anderson said. “And they look even better, because we shot on real locations in South Africa and Namibia, which gives the animators something to really match into: real wind, real dust, real sun-flare. The monsters are the only CG thing in there.”

RELATED: CS Plays: Get Ready to Find Herbs in Resident Evil 3 Walkthrough

Monster Hunter centers on the leader of a UN military team named Artemis, played by Jovovich, who is transported to another realm populated by monsters. There she meets the Hunter (Jaa), with the two teaming up to close a portal to prevent monsters from attacking earth. The movie will be a highly stylish big-screen adaptation of the video game.

The film adaptation will be led by Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil franchise) and Tony Jaa. It will also star Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Drive), T.I. Harris (Ant-Man and The Wasp), Diego Boneta (Luis Miguel, Rock of Ages), Meagan Good (Code Black), and Josh Helman (X-Men: Days of Future Past).

RELATED: Monster Hunter Film to Stay Faithful to the Video Game’s Creatures

Monster Hunter is written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film is a production by Sony Pictures, Constantin Film and Impact Pictures with Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Robert Kulzer, Martin Moszkowicz, and Dennis Berardi serving as producers.

Pick up your copy of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition here!

The video game series consists of action role-playing games where players and their friends work together to take down larger-than-life beasts in a living, breathing ecosystem. Since the first Monster Hunter title made its debut 14 years ago in 2004, the series has attracted a dedicated fan base, and grown into a global mega-hit with Monster Hunter: World, the latest title in the series, shipping 10 million units worldwide, with cumulative sales of the series exceeding 49 million units as of August 20, 2018.

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Luke Evans gives update on Beauty and the Beast prequel series

Last March, it was announced that Disney+ was developing an untitled Beauty and the Beast prequel series which will center around Gaston and LeFou with Luke Evans (The Hobbit trilogy) and Josh Gad (Frozen) attached to reprise their villain roles from the 2017 live-action film. In a recent interview with Collider, Evans has finally opened up about the project by revealing the status of the series’ current development, while also confirming that scripts for some episodes have already been completed as well as some new music from award-winning composer Alan Menken.

“Now, we’re in fully fledged development. The second and third episodes have been written and we’ve heard some of the music by Alan Menken,” Evans said. “We’re just so honored to have him on board, writing the music, which is extraordinary, in itself. We feel so lucky to have this talented group of people creating a story about two much loved and much hated characters, but that’s the excitement. There are a lot of questions about, where we will start? What we will tell? Who are these people? When you visit them, where will they be? So, it’s going to be a really fun experience. Me and Josh are literally vibrating with excitement to shoot it.”

In addition, he also shared that the idea for a Gaston and Lefou series came from his and Gad’s desire to be able to work together again. Following their stint on Beauty and the Beast, the duo tried for a long time to search for other projects they could work on. “In the back of our minds, we definitely had thoughts about revisiting Gaston and LeFou in a different story, obviously. So, when the idea really came to fruition and we got on board some incredible writers, and Josh, especially, had an incredible idea that, once it was born, it just flew itself. And when we pitched the idea to Disney+, they were very excited about it.”

RELATED: Percy Jackson: Rick and Becky Riordan Reveal Current Status of Disney+ Series

The series, which is being penned by Once Upon a Time creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, will be a six-episode limited series musical event with composer Alan Menken also in talks to return to craft music for the series. The project is currently in early development, with no other stars currently attached, but sources are reporting that there is a possibility they could appear in guest spots.

Horowitz and Kitsis are going to partner with Gad to serve as showrunners on the series, with the trio writing all six scripts and executive producing alongside Evans, while ABC Signature Studios is funding the project.

This prequel series will mark the second extension from a live-action Disney remake for the streaming service as a spin-off film focusing on Billy Magnussen’s Prince Anders from last year’s Aladdin is currently in development, while reboots of The Mighty Ducks and Tucker and Hooch are also in development.

RELATED: Ewan McGregor Voicing Jiminy Cricket in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Beauty and the Beast starred Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle; Oscar winner Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s eccentric, but lovable father; and Josh Gad as Lefou, Gaston’s long-suffering aide-de-camp. The film also featured Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, Audra McDonald as Garderobe and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts.

Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast hit theaters in March 2017 to generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised the visual effects and faithfulness to the original while also receiving some criticisms for its lack of doing anything new with the material. It went on to be a major box office success, grossing over $1.25 billion worldwide on a production budget estimated between $160-255 million.

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CS Video: Relic Interview with Emily Mortimer

ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with star Emily Mortimer (Doll & Em, Mary Poppins Returns) to discuss her role in the Sundance horror darling Relic, which is now available on digital platforms and in select theaters! Check out our interview in the player below and rent your copy of the movie here!

RELATED: Relic Review: Poignant Terror Albeit Uneven Script

Written and directed by Natalie Erika James in her feature debut, the film focused on elderly mother Edna as she inexplicably vanishes and sees her daughter Kay (Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back.

As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her. All three generations of women are brought together through trauma and a powerful sense of strength and loyalty to face the ultimate fear together.

Alongside Mortimer, the film’s cast includes Robyn Nevin (Top of the Lake, The Eye of the Storm), Bella Heathcoate (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Pieces of Her) and Jeremy Sanford (Satisfaction, Worst Year of My Life).

RELATED: IFC Films Debuts Poster & New Clip For Dave Franco’s The Rental

Relic is produced by Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riva Marker, with the Russo Brothers, Mike Larocca, Todd Makurath, Wang Zhonqiun, Wang Zhonglei, and Hu Junyi all attached as executive producers. The film, which made its debut to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and is in select theaters, drive-ins, and VOD and digital platforms now!

The post CS Video: Relic Interview with Emily Mortimer appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

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Jurassic World 3: Universal denies claims of another filming shutdown

Yesterday, rumors circulated online that production on Jurassic World: Dominion has reportedly suffered another shut down after recently restarting its filming in the UK due to a crew member testing positive for COVID-19. However, Universal Pictures immediately responded by reassuring fans that the rumors aren’t at all true. Speaking with Comic Book, the studio also confirmed that the highly-anticipated third installment is now on its fifth day of shooting.

“Any reports indicating that Jurassic World: Dominion has halted production are categorically untrue,” Universal Pictures said in a statement. “The production is headed into its fifth day of shooting tomorrow, and we’re thrilled to be back in front of the camera on this incredible project.”

RELATED: Bryce Dallas Howard Calls Jurassic World: Dominion “Exhilarating”

Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow return to executive produce Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Dominion, with Trevorrow once again directing the next chapter in one of the biggest franchises in the history of cinema. Producers Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley once again partner with Spielberg and Trevorrow in leading the filmmakers for this installment.

The upcoming threequel will be starring returning cast members from the first two Jurassic World films include Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith as well as original Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Campbell Scott. It will also feature Mamoudou Athie (Sorry for You Loss), DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Dichen Lachman (Animal Kingdom, Altered Carbon), Scott Haze (Venom, Antlers).

RELATED: Mission: Impossible 7 Might Restart Filming in September

Joining the Jurassic team for the first time is Emily Carmichael (Pacific Rim Uprising, The Black Hole), who will craft the Jurassic World 3 screenplay with Trevorrow. They will work off a story by Derek Connolly and Trevorrow, who together co-wrote Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Jurassic World: Dominion is currently set to debut in theaters on June 11, 2021.

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Rating: 

9.5/10

Cast:

Andy Samberg as Nyles

Cristin Milioti as Sarah

J. K. Simmons as Roy

Camila Mendes as Tala

Tyler Hoechlin as Abe

Meredith Hagner as Misty

Dale Dickey as Darla

Chris Pang as Trevor

Peter Gallagher as Howard

June Squibb as Nana Schlieffen

Directed by Max Barbakow; Written by Andy Siara

Palm Springs Review:

The time loop genre has seen an incredible comeback in the past few years thanks to thrilling new takes on the concept with films including the sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow and slasher comedy Happy Death Day. While there has been a minor resurgence in quality romantic comedies, the genre is still one begging for more fresh offerings and Andy Siara and Max Barbakow have found the best of both genres in their electrifying and outstanding new film Palm Springs.

As reluctant maid of honor Sarah (Cristin Milioti) finds herself trying to get through her sister’s Palm Springs wedding, she has a chance encounter with Nyles (Andy Samberg), a carefree partier and boyfriend to one of the bridesmaids. But after a wild night in the desert together away from the craziness of the wedding, they find a mysterious cavern and wake up on the day of the wedding again and realize they are trapped in a time loop, unable to escape the venue, themselves or each other.

There have been a few comedic attempts at the time loop concept in the past, the most notable of course being the Bill Murray-led Groundhog Day, but rarely have past efforts actually taken the time to offer both an interesting setup AND realistic explanation for their cyclical story and Barbakow and Siara have found a way to do both. Sure leaving the reason behind the loop ambiguous is often more fun and allows the film a chance to focus on its characters and their antics, but the duo expertly balance both as we’re still kept in the dark on many of the details regarding the loop while also offered a unique and reasonable answer for why these characters are being put through the temporal ringer.

When the film isn’t reveling in its more fantastical element, it delivers a very moving and hilarious character study on two very real people suffering from easy-to-connect-to problems and their budding romance. Romantic comedies always seem to want to pit two characters against each other to eventually fall in love or throw some obstacle in the way of them clearly being head-over-heels for each other, but the setup for Sarah and Nyles feels fresh and far more interesting than most, making for a much easier to connect to and enjoyable development of their feelings for one another.

It also certainly helps that the script allows the romance to naturally flow from their situation and experiences with one another rather than forcing some cheesy series of pick up lines and cutesy dates onto the characters. The comedy also benefits greatly from this natural character development, and the core concept driving the plot, as the characters react in thoroughly believable ways to every hurdle and obstacle thrown their way, from their individual experiences in the loop to time spent together.

The brilliant script is only further elevated by the outstanding performances from Samberg and Milioti, who unsurprisingly shine in their individual performances while also displaying incredible comic chemistry together. Though we’ve seen Samberg take on more care-free and outrageous characters in the past, his performance here feels unique and shows an extra bit of versatility in his range, marking one of his best turns yet. Milioti has delivered plenty of great performances over the year, but this feels like her chance to truly shine in a more lead capacity and in a role that gives her just as much agency and compelling development as her male counterpart.

The only real flaw in the film lies in some of its more predictable formula points for its respective genres, from the impassioned speech by a total stranger for the guy to chase after the girl to a few revelations in each character that we’ve seen before. This walk down familiar lane isn’t enough to truly take away from Palm Springs‘ overall originality or irreverent take on the Groundhog Day concept, but keeps it just one step from soaring into the territory of a perfect rom-com, landing in the near-perfect realm and proving to be a moving, hilarious and breathtaking work.

The post Palm Springs Review: A Breathtaking Twist on the Rom-Com Genre appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

CS Interview: Tony Dean & Ryan W. Smith on sci-fi thriller Volition

ComingSoon.net recently got to delve into the minds of co-writer/director Tony Dean Smith and his brother and co-writer Ryan W. Smith for their time-bending sci-fi thriller Volition, which is now available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and other digital platforms. Pick up your copy here!

RELATED: CS Interview: Toya Turner Talks Netflix’s Warrior Nun

ComingSoon.net: What were the biggest creative challenges in tackling the various genres on display in the film? 

Tony Dean Smith: Our aim was to ground the characters in their respective worlds.  Since we use clairvoyance as an affliction as opposed to a superhero ability, our protagonist needed to behave and inhabit a world that naturally extended from his behaviour.  So the cross into thriller/gangsters came quite naturally.  We knew James wasn’t using his ability to help others, so we thought it’d be a natural fit to have him hang out with other self-serving characters, who were also just trying to survive and make ends meet.  The fun was in treating the science-fiction element as a character flavor/trait/wound, not as a genre-tell in itself.

CS: What were some of your biggest inspirations in developing and shooting the film? 

TDS: There’s such a melange of inspirations for me in the development of the film, often highlighting the genre-bending nature of the movie.  I love and respect what Christopher Nolan does so much.  He’s literally making esoteric blockbusters, and I can’t think of anyone else but the late, great Kubrick who could do that.  So Nolan’s Memento had an early influence on me, as did Tony Scott’s True Romance.  In hindsight, I can see that Volition is the distant love-child of those two movies.

CS: What were some of your fondest memories in bringing this to life? 

TDS: Truthfully, it’s been such a fantastic and eye-opening experience for us, that the favorite memories are still coming in!  However, one highlight was travelling with the film to London, England – where it played to packed theatres for the 20th FrightFest Film Festival.  I just loved experiencing the joy and passion from that audience, and all of our audiences, to be fair.  We always hear that cinema is a universal language, but not until going to another county with a piece of your own work does it really dawn on you.  That is an experience I’ll forever cherish.

Ryan W. Smith: We had such an incredible cast and crew, which made the production process so special.  Yes, it was probably the hardest any of us had ever worked, with intense, sweaty days (that turned into nights), but the set had a real family feel.  We each saw each other at our tiredest. Those moments of creative delirium will stick with me, where we each enjoyed the madness of this creative endeavour.

CS: What do you hope audiences can take away from the story, aside from just the entertainment factor? 

TDS: The movie is a non-stop thrill-ride, so we hope people enjoy the high-stakes game of fate vs. free-will that James has to play. On a deeper level, I think we can all find a place in our lives where we might be stuck. Like James, I hope we all get inspired to do the hard thing; to evolve those areas in our lives that we feel trapped by. Our free-will can push through our limitations, but to do so, we have to go through the fear we see — not around it. That’s the message of the film to me.

RWS: We also hope the conversation keeps going.  We’d like the film to spark debate.  There’s definitely a fair amount to discuss and unpack, particularly in the ending.  We’re both on Twitter @volition_movie and we’re excited to connect.

Warning: The Following Questions & Answers Do Contain Some Spoilers For Volition

CS: The time travel concept is always an ambitious idea to tackle, how did the story idea come to your minds? 

TDS: Yes, it’s subject matter that any sane person should steer far away from.  Having said that, this was an idea that developed organically over a number of years.  The kernel of a clairvoyant seeing a fixed future came to me back in film school, but it wasn’t until a few years later, when I could add in my own life experience, that the film started to take shape.   At that time, I was feeling quite stuck in my life, almost resigned to the fact that maybe I could never make the movies I wanted to make.  That I was a prisoner of my own perception is what allowed me to create James.  He’s also a prisoner of his own design and it takes a vision of his own death to finally wake him up from his pre-determined worldview.  When I realized how similar James was to me, I knew I had stumbled upon a story and character that was both grounded – and personally resonant.  

RWS:  Tony approached me with his first draft, which I loved and I was excited to hop on board.  We took the core of that draft and then went down far too many rabbit holes, as we struggled to create the unique structure of the current film.  It’s a complex puzzle that involved a ridiculous amount of drafts and mind-mapping.  For all the writers out there, be warned, playing with time will take years off of your life. 

RELATED: CS Interview: Tobin Bell on Chilling Possession Pic Belzebuth

CS: Given there are multiple timelines on display in the film, how did you keep them all organized in building the structure? 

TDS: Ryan can speak to our endless pie charts and diagrams, but from a director’s standpoint, I used every color-coding trick and mnemonic device available to know who I was filming, where they were and when they were.  It was an incredible exercise in precision and planning – and it’s something that actually came quite easy to us, as we built it from the ground up.  Our cast and crew, on the other hand, had moments of confusion, not knowing when they were… but they trusted in us as filmmakers, which was both generous and brave of them!

RWS:  The graphs and charts were very really and very mind-numbing, but we needed them to reach the finish line.  In truth, we reached the finish line many times over, as once we’d get to the end of the script, we’d come to see that the ending required re-writing the beginning, and vice versa.  It was a long process of iterating and improving over time, in some ways mirroring the film itself.  Our one constant was our lead, James, who was always at the front of his personal timeline, so that was helpful.

When you know your world is predetermined, it’s hard to care about your choices. This is true for James Odin. On a rain-soaked night in 1991, two cars collide, leaving all drivers dead on the scene, including the mother of the lone survivor, a child James Odin. It’s a tragedy, but what’s more tragic is that seven-year-old James foresaw the accident happening two months prior. He tried to prevent it, but who’s going to believe a kid who claims to see the future?

Twenty-plus years later, James is a product of the failed foster care system, knowing that the events of his future are predestined, he’s getting by using his ability for petty crime and cheap thrills. But when a pre-sentient vision reveals to him his own imminent murder, James must go on the run. Together with a new friend, Angela, he must change the fate he knows is fixed.

Co-written by Ryan W. and Tony Dean Smith and directed by the latter, the cast for the film includes Adrian Glynn McMorran, Magda Apanowicz, John Cassini, Frank Cassini, Aleks Paunovic and Bill Marchant. Volition is now available on digital platforms!

The post CS Interview: Tony Dean & Ryan W. Smith on Sci-Fi Thriller Volition appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Rating: 

8.5/10

Cast:

Emily Mortimer as Kay

Robyn Nevin as Edna

Bella Heathcote as Sam

Chris Bunton as Jamie

Jeremy Stanford as Alex

Steve Rodgers as Constable Mike Adler

Co-written and directed by Natalie Erika James; Co-written by Christian White

Rent your copy of the movie now!

Relic Review:

The horror genre is one rife with potential to cover more dramatic topics in powerful fashion and some have done so with flying colors, such as both of Ari Aster’s previous works and Robert Eggers’ The Witch, while some have faltered at one or the other in balancing the terror with the story’s themes. Though Natalie Erika James’ Relic features some solid terror and powerful storytelling, its script can’t quite find the proper balance between the two.

When elderly mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) inexplicably vanishes, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her. 

The pacing of the film is nothing short of a tense, slow-burning affair that nicely offers a look into this multi-generational dysfunction, spotlighting all three women and their various inner struggles in life. As things get worse, the pace may not ramp up in any extreme fashion, but it’s not necessarily a negative for the film, because even in some of its more terrifying moments the reason behind the sinister nature of things isn’t something so devastating like a demonic presence that it requires a faster pace.

The story is certainly a topic previously touched upon in other films, namely in the chilling found footage project The Taking of Deborah Logan, but it’s handled in a much more poignant and haunting fashion in Relic than in most other efforts. James and White’s script does a brilliant job of introducing audiences to Kay and Sam and the former’s troublesome relationship with Edna, making it immediately clear the struggle she has with her desire to unconditionally love her while also having a problem with forgiving her for their past without endless lines of dialogue or scenes dumping exposition on everyone’s motives.

When the sinister presence in the home slowly begins to make itself known via the moldy walls, odd behavior and bumps in the middle of the night, this character development is unfortunately thrown to the wayside in favor of trying to tap into some of the genre’s best haunted house/possession tropes, and though it expertly brings some of them to life, it just feels so imbalanced with what came before. With Eggers’ Witch, the film always put the drama before the horror while also finding ways to meld the horror in, but the problem here is that it can’t seem to find a natural and organic segue between the two, kind of feeling like a jarring shift in tone and genre in many moments.

Should the two have found a better way to complement each other, the terror would’ve felt much more amplified and the drama much more heightened, but instead the feeling that viewers will be left with in a number of scenes is one of trying to figure out whether they should be saddened by what they’re seeing or horrified or both. Additionally, a lot of the story starts to become very convoluted and hard to connect to as things go on, with its subtle messages becoming a little too obvious and its answers becoming fewer and fewer. Keeping audiences in the dark on answers is certainly a great thing when it comes to horror, but there’s not even any hinting of what’s terrorizing the family, creating a sense of general confusion about the events and hauntings that have occurred leading up to its ending.

Even if the story falters in its tonal balance, the performances from Mortimer, Heathcote, and Nevin prove magnetic across its near-90 minute runtime, keeping audiences compelled to continue watching the characters as they come to terms with a potentially very real and disturbing situation. James’ direction also proves to be stellar, with cinematographer Charlie Sarroff helping deliver an elegant and artful look to the whole affair, making even the mismatched storytelling interesting to watch.

Relic is certainly a chilling film and one full of heartbreaking explorations of humanity, aging and dementia, with moving central performances and skillful direction, but much of its script can’t quite find the right balance between its terror and drama.

The post Relic Review: Poignant Terror Albeit Uneven Script appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Watched at Home: Top 20 Streaming Films for the Week of July 3

Welcome back, couch potatoes! And welcome back Trolls! The DreamWorks Animated comedy jumped back to number one, silencing last week’s champ, Yellowstone Season 3. Fans need not worry about Kevin Costner, though, as his dramatic series took up the next three spots.

Screen Media Films’ The Outpost followed in the No. 5 spot, while long-running champ Sonic the Hedgehog and The Invisible Man rounded out the Top 7.

Not surprisingly, Roland Emmerich’s 1996 blockbuster Independence Day snuck its way on the list over the Fourth of July weekend. I watched the film again this weekend and, surprisingly, the alien invasion flick holds up pretty well. Aside from all the Randy Quaid bits and a rather lackluster third act, that is.

Mad props to you Harry Potter fans for keeping the film floating around the Top 20. Truly astounding stuff for an increasingly aging franchise.

1 Trolls World Tour (Universal)
2 Yellowstone: SSN 3 (Paramount)
3 Yellowstone: SSN 1 (Paramount)
4 Yellowstone: SSN 2 (Paramount)
5 The Outpost (Screen Media Films)
6 Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount)
7 The Invisible Man (Universal, 2020)
8 Independence Day (Fox)
9 Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony)
10 Bad Boys for Life (Sony)
11 Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (WB)
12 The Call of the Wild (Disney, 2020)
13 Jungle Beat: The Movie (Sandcastle Studios & Sunrise Productions)
14 The Gentlemen (STX/Universal, 2019)
15 1917 (Universal)
16 The Hunt (Universal)
17 Force Of Nature (Lionsgate)
18 Bloodshot (Sony, 2020)
19 Harry Potter (WB, complete 8-film Collection)
20 Onward (Disney)

The post Watched at Home: Top 20 Streaming Films for the Week of July 3 appeared first on ComingSoon.net.