CS Recommends: The Alienist, Plus Video Games, Toys & More!

Stuck inside? Don’t know what to watch/read/play/listen to? ComingSoon.net has got you covered. In this week’s CS Recommends our staff gives you solid tips on the best media to consume during your downtime, including The Alienist and more! Check out our picks below!

RELATED: July 21 Blu-ray, Digital and DVD Releases

MAX EVRY’S RECOMMEND: My First 3D Pen Dolphin Starter Kit

Click here to purchase!

Looking for a fun and safe activity for your kids at home? This 3D pen is a good bet. It’s lots of fun and very crafty. Because all the heating of the PCL color filament happens inside the device it won’t burn anyone’s fingers. There are many colors to choose from, and lots of templates in the booklet that comes with. Recommended for ages 8+, although for younger kids should definitely be parent-led, at least on the first try until they get the hang of it.

KYLIE HEMMERT’S RECOMMEND: The Alienist Season 1

Click here to purchase the first season on Blu-ray!

Click here to purchase Caleb Carr’s The Alienist novel!

Following the premiere of the second season of The Alienist on TNT, I implore anyone who has yet to discover this impeccable mystery series to dive in immediately and find out what you’ve been missing! Based on the novel by Caleb Carr, the psychological thriller set in 1896 centers on the hunt for a serial killer responsible for the gruesome murders of boy prostitutes that have gripped New York City. The Alienist features a stellar cast including Dakota Fanning, Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Ted Levine along with some of the most gorgeous and detailed production designs on television. History buffs will love the mixture of fact and fiction as the show features historical figures, such as Theodore Roosevelt, that only makes the storytelling more engaging. Besides its atmospheric settings and exploration of criminal psychology, what draws me into the world of The Alienist the most is its unique (and sometimes subversive) characters and the super-talented cast that brings them to life.

GRANT HERMANNS’ RECOMMEND: Baby Driver

Click here to purchase!

We may still be stuck indoors, but summer is certainly here and now is as good a time as any to revisit one of the best films to hit summer theaters in the past few years: Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. Focused on the titular, tinnitus-afflicted getaway driver as he seeks to leave his life of crime and start anew with local diner waitress Debora, the action crime-thriller frequently breaks free of its genre and story trappings thanks to Edgar Wright’s visionary direction and killer soundtrack. Choreographing every scene to a specific tune, including a number of pulse-pounding action set pieces, Wright finds himself at arguably his most stylish with the film that makes for an easy-to-revisit title elevated even further by brilliant performances from its ensemble cast.

MAGGIE DELA PAZ’S RECOMMEND: Little Nightmares

Click here to purchase for PS4!

For Nintendo Switch!

For X-Box!

Developed by Tarsier Studios, Little Nightmares is a puzzle horror video game that will take you on a journey deep inside a giant vessel called The Maw where strange and terrifyingly large creatures roam in every room and corner. As you start the game, you’ll get introduced to the protagonist, a little girl in a yellow raincoat named Six, who gets trapped in The Maw’s prison along with other captive children. Now, she must cleverly and quietly find a way to make her escape while trying to hide and run away from the ship’s children-eating occupants.

This breakout game of 2017 is best known for its graphic visual style and grim atmosphere that greatly helped players to get immersed throughout the game’s unique and dark story. For those of you who haven’t checked this game out, now is definitely the perfect time to play this game through PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC or Nintendo Switch ahead of the upcoming release of Little Nightmares II which is scheduled to debut sometime this year.

JEFF AMES’ RECOMMEND: The Highwaymen

Click here to watch on Netflix!

Netflix’s The Highwaymen doesn’t break any new ground in terms of storytelling, but the crime drama about two of the men responsible for taking down the infamous Bonnie and Clyde, features tremendous performances from Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson; and offers a contemplative look at the repercussions of murder in a similar manner as Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Add on another sublime score from the great Thomas Newman and you have yourself a must-see motion picture that stirs the mind and the soul.

ComingSoon.net recommends all readers comply with CDC guidelines and remain as isolated as possible during this urgent time.

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CS Interview: Dan Stevens on Dave Franco’s passion project The Rental

ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with Legion and Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens to discuss his role in the upcoming psychological horror-thriller The Rental, co-written and directed by Dave Franco (Neighbors) in his directorial debut, which is now in select theaters and on VOD! Click here to rent the chilling new film!

RELATED: New The Rental Clip Reveals a Shocking Discovery

The film is certainly not Stevens’ first time venturing into the horror and thriller genres, with previous works including Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s acclaimed The Guest and Gareth Evan’s well-received Apostle, but in signing on for The Rental, he found his biggest interest was Franco’s “passion and his drive.”

“He was bringing together a really cool team, and obviously, a big fan of Alison Brie and also Sheila Vand from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, I was really excited to get to work with her,” Stevens noted. “I’m always intrigued by first-time directors, especially actors turned directors, and very supportive of them. So yeah, I was just really, really excited to see what he was like as a director, and I was super impressed with the results as well. He was very, very passionate about this and I love a good genre movie and a nice horror thriller. And I was surprised that he was picking this as his genre for his first film. But also, really excited to jump in.”

The 37-year-old actor recalled he was first introduced to the Jump Street and Now You See Me franchise star through a mutual friend and didn’t know the other cast members prior to signing on and though they didn’t have a lot of time to get things done, he found a lot of enjoyment building the rapport with the rest of his cast.

“With any film, especially with that scale, you’ve just got to jump in and you just very quickly become family, and especially in such a remote location,” Stevens explained. “We were in this beautiful locale, and a pretty small crew. A lot of the crew were either from Portland or local. A few of us up from LA or New York, but mostly Oregonian crew, quite small, in the middle of nowhere, and barely any cellphone reception at that house. And so, you just kind of hunker down and get cozy. It was absolutely beautiful, being up there. And one of the things I loved about moving to this country, and I’ve lived here for over eight years now, on jobs like this, you get to see a totally different side of the country and just how sort of varied and beautiful the landscape is here. And I’d always heard about the Oregon coastline. And so, it was great. On my days off, just doing some really epic hiking and exploring and the beaches and rock pools and cliffs and forests around where we were shooting. I absolutely adored it.”

Having been filmed a full year before the pandemic quarantine underway across the world, in which people find themselves isolated, Stevens found its connection to the current state of the world was “very, very far from our mind” during production, but rather felt there was a different and still timely social aspect being explored in the story.

“I guess one of the scenes, and the sort of underlying ideas behind it was really this idea of like trust of human beings, really,” Stevens described. “Dave sort of exploring the paranoia that could be associated with where we are now, where we, just through an app, we just click on a thing and suddenly we have the keys to somebody else’s house and we can stay there and do whatever we like and often behave in ways that we might not behave in our own house. That, combined with obviously a growing paranoia about surveillance culture and the fact that we all now just have little cameras carried around with us at every corner of our house, and how that could be abused. I think that’s one of the great things about the playfulness of a horror genre like this is that you take those ideas and you run down the scary field with them and see where that takes you.”

This exploration of trust extends even outside of the screens audiences will be watching the film on as not only does the film hold a number of twists and surprises, but also is sure to shock by just who is and isn’t safe from the opening shots to its chilling end credits crawl, and Stevens found a lot of enjoyment from this rug pull.

“Dave was very, very keen for the first half of the film to be almost defensively pretty straight, almost playing like a sort of very kind of run of the mill sort of relationship drama, two brothers,” Stevens recalled. “And I was particularly interested in that angle, and talking to Dave about that and just exploring that as actors and what I enjoyed from a performance point of view is that actually the insanity that we’re experiencing as a viewer, there’s only a fraction of the film where that is really happening to Charlie or to us. And obviously Sheila Vand got the sort of raw deal at the very end, having to sort of limp through the woods for many long night shoots.”

In looking at taking on his role and diving into his character, Stevens found one of his biggest creative challenges to be giving himself over, as a performer, to “Dave’s outlook” and “his way of seeing and really kind of submitting to that,” though also noting that didn’t prove to be much of a challenge to him.

“It was pretty plain sailing and he has a great way of working with Ali, his wife, which could’ve gotten in the way, but it was, I think very successful,” Stevens opined. “Jeremy Allen White is a fantastic actor and I was very lucky to have him play my brother. He is super, super easygoing and has very natural instincts, very, very sharp. And Sheila Vand, who is just a delight. And like I said, I’m a huge fan of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and was very excited to get to work with her. So it was a pretty easy team to jump in on this with, really. And I guess, you know, the main challenge was just that sense of isolation and just letting out in the middle of nowhere and driving through the woods in the middle of the night to get to work.”

A month ahead of its July release, IFC Films brought the film to ArcLight Cinemas for a special preview screening at select drive-ins and will keep it in drive-ins beginning this Friday and Stevens described the experience as “so cool,” namely as it was his first time heading to the retro theater experience.

“First of all, I didn’t think anybody was going to show up because I thought people would be reluctant to get out of the house, I was so wrong,” Stevens recalled. “People are so ready to get out of the house and just go do something, you know, collective. Also, just the sound quality coming through the car radio, the picture quality, it was actually not as bad as Dave was — he was very concerned that we were going to get a sort of a low res version of the movie. Actually, I think it came across really, really well. It plays very well in that kind of environment. But yeah, there’s something about the collective experience with a movie like that and hearing people kind of shrieking and laughing and clapping from their cars across the lot, you know, at various points in the film. It was so cool. And I was really happy that I went along.””

Co-written by Franco and Joe Swanberg (You’re Next), the film follows two couples as they embark on a weekend getaway to a seemingly perfect house they’ve booked online, but what begins as a celebratory weekend for the four close friends turns into something far more sinister as secrets they’ve kept from each other are exposed and they realize they may not be alone.

In addition to Brie and Stevens, the cast of the film features Jeremy Allen White (Shameless), Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Snowpiercer) and Toby Huss (Halloween). Franco is best known for his acting work on the big screen, starring in such hits as Neighbors, the Jump Street and Now You See Me franchises and indie darlings The Disaster Artist, The Little Hours and If Beale Street Could Talk.

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

“I’ve admired the IFC brand and their films for as long as I can remember,” Franco said. “I couldn’t be more excited about partnering with them for my directorial debut. They have such a strong track record when it comes to elevated genre films, which makes them the perfect home for The Rental.”

The Rental is produced and financed by Black Bear Pictures with Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, Teddy Schwarzman, Ben Stillman, Swanberg and Christopher Storer serving as producers and Michael Heimler and Sean Durkin attached as executive producers. IFC Films is now available in select drive-ins, theaters and on demand!

(Photo Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

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George Clooney in negotiations to helm Amazon’s The Tender Bar

George Clooney is keeping his directorial docket full after wrapping production on Netflix’s The Midnight Sky as the two-time Oscar winner has entered talks with Amazon Studios to direct and produce a feature adaptation of The Tender Bar, according to Deadline.

RELATED: The Nun’s Demián Bichir Joins George Clooney’s Good Morning, Midnight

Based on the J.R. Moehringer memoir of the same name, the story centers on an eight-year-old boy growing up in Long Island who seeks out his father at a local bar, only to instead build bonds with patrons at the bar that he looks up to as father figures and tries to find a way to move forward in his life and accept the love of his single mother.

Click here to purchase your copy of the novel!

The script for the film is written by William Monahan, best-known for his Oscar-winning work on the Martin Scorsese-helmed ensemble crime thriller The Departed, as well as Body of Lies and Edge of Darkness. The film adaptation was originally set at Sony with Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures) attached to direct, but after he departed the project the studio put it into turnaround with Amazon acquiring the rights shortly after.

RELATED: Amazon In Talks to Acquire Michael B. Jordan’s Without Remorse

Clooney was set to follow up Midnight Sky, in which he stars and produces, with MGM’s adaptation of Boys in the Boat, but sources report that with the complexity of shooting the Olympics sports drama in the midst of a pandemic, he has chosen Tender Bar as his next project though is still attached to Boys. It’s currently unclear if Clooney will also star in Tender Bar, but given his appearance in all but one of the films he’s directed in the past 18 years, be it supporting or starring role, chances are high he’ll find a role to take on.

(Photo Credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

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Amazon Prime Video August 2020 TV & film titles announced!

The full calendar of film and TV titles coming to Amazon Prime Video in August has been unveiled, which will include fan-favorite hits such as Top Gun, Steel Magnolias and the premiere of the Aisha Tyler-hosted aftershow Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys! The full calendar can be viewed below!

RELATED:  BritBox Unveils What’s Coming to the Streamer in August 2020

New Originals:

• Jessy and Nessy is a series about Jessy, an innately curious little girl and her best friend, Nessy, a five-and-a-half-thousand-year-old purple sea monster. Jessy happens to see the world a little differently through her magical glasses called ‘Inspectacles’. Together this unlikely duo explore life’s curiosities and reveal how all of these seemingly everyday curiosities have fantastical answers. New episodes streaming August 7. 

• From the creator of Survivor and hosted by Bear Grylls, World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji tells the story of the ultimate expedition race, in which 66 teams from 30 countries race non-stop for 11 days across hundreds of miles of rugged Fijian terrain complete with mountains, jungles, rivers, and ocean. For the veteran teams the goal is to win – but for most, the dream is to finish and prove to themselves and the world, that they can prevail in the World’s Toughest Race. Streaming August 14.

• Chemical Hearts follows seventeen-year-old Henry Page (Austin Abrams) who has never been in love. He fancies himself a romantic, but the kind of once-in-a-lifetime love he’s been hoping for just hasn’t happened yet. Then, on the first day of senior year, he meets transfer student Grace Town (Lili Reinhart) and it seems all that is about to change. When Grace and Henry are chosen to co-edit the school paper, he is immediately drawn to the mysterious newcomer. As he learns the heartbreaking secret that has changed her life, he finds himself falling in love with her — or at least the person he thinks she is. Available in HDR. Streaming August 21.

• More adventures are in store in Clifford The Big Red Dog as Emily Elizabeth and Clifford embark on an expedition for a lucky coin, open a pet daycare, and walk the entire island backwards! From leading baby sea turtles safely to the ocean to singing a rock ballad on their mission to the Moon, the friends learn that looking at life from a different perspective can help save the day and that change isn’t always scary. New episodes streaming August 21.

• Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys is an aftershow that brings fans inside the making of The Boys and gives them a safe space to freak the &@#$ out about what they just saw. Each week host Aisha Tyler is joined by cast, crew, and surprise guests to take a deep-dive look into the latest episode, dissecting the plot twists, basking in the spectacular gore, exploring the themes and comic book origins, and getting to know more about the (clearly disturbed) people behind the show. Fans will also get exclusive teasers and hints on upcoming episodes to fuel their alarming totally normal obsession. Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys will debut on August 28 with a look back at season one. The aftershow continues on September 4 to dive into each episode of Season 2 as it rolls out through the October 9 season finale. Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys is from Amazon Studios, Embassy Row and Sony Pictures Television and executive produced by Michael Davies, Aisha Tyler, Julia Cassidy, Eden Sutley and Jennifer Ryan. Streaming August 28.

Fresh Films

• When her parents (Eva Longoria and Michael Peña) disappear in search of the Lost City of Gold, Dora (Isabela Moner) swings into action on a wild quest to find them. Follow Dora and her friend in Dora And The Lost City Of Gold as they navigate the jungle, outrun treasure hunters and unlock the mystery of the fabled city. Streaming August 3.
• In Clark Duke’s directorial debut, Arkansas, Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) and Swin (Clark Duke) live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog (Vince Vaugh), whom they’ve never met. But when a deal goes horribly wrong, the consequences are deadly. Streaming August 5.
• The Peanut Butter Falcon follows a young man with Down syndrome (Zack Gottsagen) who escapes from an assisted living facility and befriends a wayward fisherman on the run (Shia LaBeouf); as the two men form a rapid bond, a social worker (Dakota Johnson) attempts to track them. Streaming August 6. 
• Capone chronicles the final days of notorious gangster Al Capone (Tom Hardy) as he succumbs to dementia and relives his past through tormenting memories. Streaming August 10.

 ‘80s Throwback

• Top Gun follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a young flyer who’s out to become the best, but his reckless attitude and cocky demeanor put him at odds with the other pilots, especially the cool and collected Iceman (Val Kilmer). Streaming August 1. 
• Rain Man tells the story of an idealistic young wheeler-dealer (Tom Cruise) whose life is changed forever when he discovers he has an autistic savant older brother (Dustin Hoffman). Streaming August 1.
• An adaptation of Robert Harling’s play of the same name, Steel Magnolias centers on the bond a group of women (Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirly MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts) share in a small-town Southern community, and how they cope with the death of one of their own. Streaming August 1.

 New to Buy:

• Based on the CW Seed series, Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons follows master assassin Slade Wilson (voiced by Michael Chiklis) as he leads two lives: a relentless killer known as Deathstroke and a family man. Can he atone for the sins of the past – or will his family pay the ultimate price? Available for purchase August 4.
• Originally premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, The Fight gives an inside look at the legal battles that lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are facing during the Trump administration. Available for purchase August 7.
• The King of Staten Island is a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about Pete Davidson growing up in Staten Island, including losing his father during 9/11 and entering the world of stand up comedy. Available for purchase August 11.
• From writer/director Jon Stewart comes Irresistible, a comedy about a Democrat political consultant (Steve Carell) who helps a retired Marine colonel (Chris Cooper) run for mayor in a small Wisconsin Town. Available for purchase August 18.
• From Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment, Superman: Man of Tomorrow follows the fledgling hero (voiced by Darren Criss) as he engages in bloody battles and fights for his life. The world will learn about Superman, but first, Superman must save the world. Available for purchase August 23.

RELATED: New to Stream: Arrow Video Channel’s August 2020 Lineup

New in August – Available to Prime members at no additional cost to their membership

August 1

Movies

3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)

Inception (2010)

Margin Call (2011)

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Rain Man (1988)

Rustlers’ Rhapsody (1985)

Safe (2012)

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Spare Parts (2015)

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Steel Magnolias (1989)

The Holiday (2006)

Top Gun (1986)

Series

Beverly Hillbillies: Season 1 (Best TV Ever)

Beyond Scared Straight: Season 1 (A&E Crime Central)

Bitchin’ Rides: Season 1 (Motortrend)

Blood: Season 1 (Acorn TV)

Californication: Season 1 (Showtime)

Chesapeake Shores: Season 1 (Hallmark Movies Now)

Dusty’s Trail: Season 1 (Best Westerns Ever)

Fifth Ward: Season 1 (Urban Movie Channel)

Ice Road Truckers: Season 1 (HISTORY Vault)

Lego Jurassic World: Legend Of Isla Nublar: Season 1

Les Miserables: Season 1 (PBS Masterpiece)

Moveable Feast: Season 1 (PBS Living)

Riviera: Season 1 (Sundance Now)

The Berenstein Bears: Season 1 (PBS Kids)

The Teacher: Season 1 (PBS Masterpiece)

August 3

Movies

Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (2019)

August 5

Movies

Arkansas (2020)

August 6

Movies

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

August 7

Series

Jessy & Nessy – Amazon Original Series: Season 1B

August 10

Movies

Capone (2020)

Hard Night Falling (2019)

Lucky Day (2019)

August 14

Movies

Bernie The Dolphin 2 (2019)

Master (2017)

Series

World’s Toughest Race: Eco Challenge Fiji – Amazon Original Series: Season 1

August 18

Movies

The Cup (2012)

August 21

Movies

Chemical Hearts (2020) – Amazon Original Movie

Series

Clifford – Amazon Original Series: Season 2B

August 22

Movies

The Legion (2020)

August 28

Specials

Prime Rewind:  Inside The Boys – Amazon Original Special

August 31

Movies

Primal (2019)

The Courier (2019)

RELATED: New to Netflix August 2020: All Movies & Shows Coming and Going

New in August – Available for Rental or Purchase on Prime Video                     

August 4

Movies

Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons (2020)

August 7

Movies

The Fight (2020)

August 11

Movies

The King of Staten Island (2020)

August 18

Movies

Irresistible (2020)

August 23

Movies

Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)

The post Amazon Prime Video August 2020 TV & Film Titles Announced! appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

CS Video: Radioactive interviews with director & stars!

Ahead of its debut on Amazon Prime, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with director Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and stars Rosamund Pike (A Private War) and Sam Riley (Sometimes Always Never) to discuss the Marie Curie biopic Radioactive. Our interviews can be viewed in the player below! Click here to watch Radioactive on Amazon Prime!

RELATED: Radioactive Review

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 Makes Groundbreaking Science in Radioactive Clip

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.

The post CS Video: Radioactive Interviews With Director & Stars! appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

CS Interview: James Purefoy on Fisherman’s Friends & possible sequel!

Ahead of its debut for American audiences on digital platforms and VOD, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with star James Purefoy to discuss his role in the British music dramedy Fisherman’s Friends and the potential sequel in the works! Click here to rent or purchase the feel-good hit!

RELATED: Exclusive Fisherman’s Friends Clip From the New Comedy Drama

Purefoy may have starred in a number of comedies in the past, but audiences are generally used to seeing the 56-year-old star take on more dramatic roles such as The Following or Altered Carbon but when it came to wanting to be a part of this project, he found it was more the story that drew him in than the change of genre scenery.

“I live in the west country of England, which is that middle bit that sticks out from the bottom left-hand corner, and Cornwall, where the movie is based, is not far from me,” Purefoy explained. “It’s only a couple of hours’ drive, and one of the things I’ve really enjoyed doing in my time as an actor is playing myself. The story is about our region of England, where we come from. And because it’s wildly underpopulated in terms of the cultural landscape over here, we don’t get much stuff set in the west country of England. So, whenever you do get a good film coming along, that is able to tell one of our stories, then you kind of work it in there and be in it because it makes you proud to be part of where I come from.”

The Hap and Leonard alum also joked that he wanted to be in the film as it gave him the opportunity to sing, remarking he is “a terrific singer in the shower” and that he “should be centerstage at the Royal Opera House” when in the shower, but noting the second he steps out, he’s “terrible” and required some training to hone in on the vocal talents needed for the film.

“It’s an awful, awful sound like dogs being killed or something, it’s an awful sound,” Purefoy laughed. “I was able to find a film where I could sing and extend that muscle, if you like, and train that muscle, because as you get older as an actor, you tend to get asked to do the same thing over and over, whether it be serial killers or billionaires or men with swords, they’re the same kind of part oftentimes. And this wasn’t the same kind of part, and it was about somebody that I knew very well. So that’s the reason I wanted to do the film. I’ve never done a musical on stage. I’ve barely sung on film, and certainly not in front of audiences. So it was a good experience, though, and it was something that I came out of it going, ‘Oh, okay. I can do that. I’m not so bad at that. I’d enjoy doing that again,’ is how I came out of it.”

Though the smaller nature of the production didn’t allot him the chance to get to work with a singing coach for the film, he did recall his singing rehearsals being in the same vein as what the characters in the film would most likely have done whilst growing up in the small town.

“What we did do is there is a pub in the middle of the village called the Golden Lion, and in the middle, it’s very, very small, this beautiful, incredibly picturesque Cornish fishing village,” Purefoy warmly described. “But it is very small, it’s got one road in and one road out and that’s it. And there is a pub, sort of snuggled in down in the village and we would rehearse late into the night with the Fishermen’s Friends themselves. They’d teach us the songs. We got on very, very well with them. I’d count them as my friends now, they’re good guys. Then, we were very fortunately billeted only a short crawl away from the pub, all of us, you know, our own sets were little cottages. But no, it was terrific. I mean, the crimps of my knees suffered somewhat after the shoot was done. But it was instructive, learning the songs from them.”

With the film’s story taking a somewhat loose approach to the true story of the Port Isaac music group, the majority of the group characters seen on the screen are an amalgam of the real band members, with Purefoy saying believes he knows which his role was based upon but shut down stating who, cheekily citing the reason as “they’d love the press, but I don’t think the should have it.”

“They are 10 fiercely independent men, the Fishermen’s Friends,” Purefoy noted. “All of them have got good sized egos, and I don’t mean that in any kind of critical way, I just mean that that’s the truth of it. They’re all very strong men. I think the writers felt that if we actually did tell the story of one or two or three or four of those men, that it was going to cause trouble with the rest of them. So it would be better to make an amalgam of composite characters of all of them. But there are two fellows and they’re both very, very strong-willed individuals, and Jim is a very strong-willed individual. He’s a man who’s quite cantankerous and he’s stubborn and he’s a bit difficult, but he’s also incredibly honorable and faithful to his community and he only wants the best for his community. But he’s a man who doesn’t suffer fools very gladly, particularly London music industry types who come down to the Village to try and sign them. So yeah, he’s not big on London folk, unless they’re coming down to rent his cottages.”

Much like his connection with the real group members themselves, Purefoy found building a rapport with his fellow cast members came easily and believes it stems from many English actors being “used to forming an ensemble” as many are “trained for the stage.”

“The idea of ensemble and how that works and you’re all working for the scene rather than for yourselves, that makes it a much more complete experience, when you’re trying to build rapport with people,” Purefoy opined. “You’re just very aware that that’s the important thing. The important thing is that we all play a group of people who are very hard to get into, if you are an outsider, if you are what they call in Cornwall, they call tourists emmets. An emmet is a Cornish word for an ant, which is, you could have plenty of them, and they will say that you have plenty of them, but they’re a bugger to get rid of. So that’s what they’ll call tourists coming in. And they present a very united front, so it was just important that we did that as a group of actors ourselves, coupled with the fact that we were filming in Port Isaac off season. There were very few tourists around. There wasn’t much to do apart from sit in the pub and learn the songs.”

In addition to having been somewhat familiar with the story of the group, Purefoy said he was familiar with some of the music while also relating that sea shanties “have an odd and beguiling way” of embedding themselves in people’s minds at a younger age, especially when growing up in the area.

“Despite the fact that I probably would not have known any sea shanties word for word when I started the film, within a matter of days, these sea shanties were imprinted on my brain very, very quickly,” Purefoy chuckled. “Coupled with remembrances of singing them in the car or on vacation with my family or in pub gardens when we were kids or around bonfires or on campgrounds. They’re very much part, I think, of a British DNA that is buried deep within us and only a little film like this comes along, and suddenly everybody comes out of movie theaters singing them.”

Aside from the singing element of his role, Purefoy found it “wasn’t as hard for” him to step into the role and get to the heart of Jim, being able to rely on his upbringing in which he knew “these men of old” from the west country of the United Kingdom.

“I know what men in the west country are like and it doesn’t take me long to understand them, and especially if they’re well written, and Jim was very well written,” Purefoy stated. “I think some of it was based on one of the writers, Meg, her father was, shall we say, a challenging man. And she had came from Wales and a similar, sort of very small community in the valleys in Wales. And I think that she knew that kind of man, a man who likes to be alone, you know, a man who can walk the fields all day with a gun under his arm, or in Jim’s case, out on the ocean catching lobsters and do that for 16 hours straight and never complain about it and never even think to worry about the fact that he’s out there on his own. You know, so those kind of men. And I think if you come from that background, you understand those men a lot easier than some people who might not have come from that background.”

Earlier this year, following its debut in the film’s home country of the UK, word initially began swirling that a potential sequel was in the works for the box office smash and Purefoy has confirmed that the filmmakers and producers involved are “looking at a sequel” but assured that they plan to “get the script right” before moving forward with anything.

“You know, I’m not somebody who wants to flog a dead horse, I think it’s really important that we make sure that the story we’ve got to tell tells us something new and fresh about these people,” Purefoy expressed. “But they are so extraordinary, the Fishermen’s Friends. And one of the big things that they did is they went and played at the Glastonbury Rock Festival and in front of 100,000 people. And they were the support act to Beyoncé, if you can believe it. So, that was a big moment in their lives. And I think that we might be making a film somewhere based around that story. But as I say, you know, as long as we get the script right and we feel that we’re doing it for a good reason other than just to cash in, then that’d be a good reason to do it.”

A fast-living, cynical London music executive (Daniel Mays) heads to a remote Cornish village on a stag weekend where he’s pranked by his boss (Noel Clarke) into trying to sign a group of shanty singing fishermen (led by James Purefoy). He becomes the ultimate “fish out of water” as he struggles to gain the respect or enthusiasm of the unlikely boy band and their families (including Tuppence Middleton) who value friendship and community over fame and fortune. As he’s drawn deeper into the traditional way of life he’s forced to reevaluate his own integrity and ultimately question what success really means.

RELATED: Exclusive Dirt Music Clip Featuring Garrett Hedlund & Kelly Macdonald

The movie stars Daniel Mays (1917), Purefoy, David Hayman (Blinded by the Light), Dave Johns (Blithe Spirit), Sam Swainsbury (Fearless), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8), Maggie Steed (Paddington 2), Vahid Gold, Christian Brassington (Poldark) and Noel Clarke (Bulletproof).

Fisherman’s Friends was directed by Chris Foggin (Kids in Love) from a script by Meg Leonard (Finding Your Feet, Blithe Spirit) and Nick Moorcroft (Blithe Spirit).

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Exclusive Deep Blue Sea 3 Clip From Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

ComingSoon.net is debuting an exclusive Deep Blue Sea 3 clip for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s next installment in the horror sci-fi franchise. You can check out the clip now in the player below and pre-order your copy of the movie here!

RELATED: Deep Blue Sea 3 Coming to Shelves in August

In the clip, Miya sees trouble on her computer screen showing a male Bull Shark in the nursery where Emma, Richard, Miya, Lucas, Brown, Schill and Earls are diving.

Emma Collins, an eminent marine biologist, and her crew have set up a mid-ocean laboratory over a sunken island town in the ocean where they are observing the first known Great White mating area. Unfortunately, the enhanced Bull Sharks that escaped in Deep Blue Sea 2 are also there with their own evolutionary goal: cross-breeding with the bigger faster Great Whites. The mission’s patron, Richard Lowell, believes that the Bull Sharks contain the key to intelligence enhancement, which he secretly intends to sell for big profits. Now, Emma and her crew are trapped on crumbling stilt houses mere feet over the ocean, caught between predators above and below the water.

Deep Blue Sea 3 stars Tania Raymonde (Lost, Goliath) as Emma Collins, a marine biologist who is committed to making the world a better place and Nathaniel Buzolic (The Vampire Diaries, Hacksaw Ridge) an ex-boyfriend who has chosen money over ethics. Other cast includes Emerson Brooks (MacGyver), Bren Foster (The Last Ship) and Japanese star, Reina Aoi as Miya, a grad student who is part of Emma’s small research team that is working on an island sinking in the Mozambique channel.

RELATED: Zack Snyder Discusses Justice League’s DCEU Continuity

The film is directed by John Pogue (The Quiet Ones) and written by Dirk Blackman (Outlander). Tom Keniston (Deep Blue Sea 2) serves as executive producer and is produced by Hunt Lowry (Donnie Darko) and Patty Reed (Pure Country Pure Heart)for Roserock Films. The creative team includes cinematographer, Michael Swan, production designer, Franz Lewis, costume designer, Ruy Fillipe and casting by Harriet Greenspan in the US, Annelie Powell in the UK and Bonnie Rodini in South Africa.

Deep Blue Sea 3 will hit digital platforms on July 28 and physical shelves in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on August 25.

The post Exclusive Deep Blue Sea 3 Clip From Warner Bros. Home Entertainment appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Amazon in talks to acquire Michael B. Jordan’s Without Remorse

After announcing a few months ago it had delayed the release of the Michael B. Jordan-starring thriller by a month, it now appears Paramount’s Without Remorse may forgo a theatrical release all together as Amazon is entering final negotiations to acquire the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

RELATED: Paramount Pushes Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse Release Date

Though not finalized, should the deal go through it would mark the third major film that Paramount has sold off to a streaming platform in the middle of the ongoing pandemic after the romantic comedy The Lovebirds and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 were both acquired by Netflix.

Jordan is set to play the role of Clancy hero John Clark, a recurring character in Clancy’s novels. Clark is an ex-Navy Seal who became a CIA operations officer. At first, he was a secondary character who helped Jack Ryan’s missions but the novel Without Remorse made him the lead and told his thrilling, yet tragic, origin tale. In the film, Clark seeks revenge after his girlfriend is killed by a Baltimore drug lord.

The film will be directed by Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) from a screenplay adapted by Taylor Sheridan. The cast also includes Jamie Bell (Jumper), Luke Mitchell (Blindspot), Cam Gigandet (Ice), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), Brett Gelman (Stranger Things), Jack Kesy (Claws), and Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead).

It will be produced by Jordan, Akiva Goldsman (Transformers), Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec. Paramount Pictures is developing two film adaptations of Tom Clancy’s thriller novels Without Remorse and Rainbox Six with Jordan also set to star in the planned sequel.

RELATED: Paramount’s The Saint Reboot Lands Chris Pine to Star

John Clark has appeared in a number of Tom Clancy’s novels dating back to 1988’s The Cardinal and the Kremlin, as the darker side of the Jack Ryan character who works primarily in the field and typically operates by his own personal brand of ethics. The character was played by Willem Dafoe in Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford, and by Liev Schreiber in The Sum of All Fears starring Ben Affleck.

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Rating: 

6/10

Cast:

Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie

Sam Riley as Pierre Curie

Anya Taylor-Joy as Irene Curie

Ariella Glaser as Young Irene Curie

Indica Watson as six-year-old Irene Curie

Cara Bossom as Ève Curie

Aneurin Barnard as Paul Langevin

Katherine Parkinson as Emma Jeanne Desfosses

Simon Russell Beale as Gabriel Lippmann

Tim Woodward as Alexandre Millerand

Jonathan Aris as Hetreed

Mirjam Novak as Nurse Francoise

Corey Johnson as Adam Warner

Demetri Goritsas as Dr. Perkins

Michael Gould as Judge Clark

Directed by Marjane Satrapi; Written by Jack Thorne

Click here to watch Radioactive on Amazon Prime!

Radioactive Review:

After making her feature debut in 2002’s polarizing Die Another Day, Rosamund Pike fluctuated between the world of big budget blockbusters and indie critical darlings, culminating in her masterful work in Gone Girl. In the years since, she has mostly been seen in more biographical fare and after turning in some of her best work in 2018’s A Private War, she has delivered yet another fantastic performance as Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie in Radioactive, unfortunately the film around her can’t quite live up to the same merits.

From the 1870s through our 21st century, Radioactive tells the story of pioneering scientist Marie Curie (Pike) through her extraordinary life and her enduring legacies – the passionate partnerships with late husband Pierre Curie (Sam Riley) and Paul Langevin (Aneurin Barnard), her shining scientific breakthroughs, and the darker consequences that followed.

The scientific pioneer’s 66 years of life on this Earth was one full of complicated relationships and empowering milestones for both the world of science and especially for women in the field, but the problem is the film can’t quite find a way to honor these accomplishments and explore these seemingly tricky areas of her life in any compelling or even truthful fashion. Be it moving up the timeline on some of her discoveries or leaving out key events in her life, namely a few that followed the death of her husband such as becoming the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, it feels like the script can’t quite determine whether to touch more on Curie’s scandalous moments or her brighter days.

In addition to an imbalance of scandal and honor, the script feels far too on-the-nose in a number of scenes that takes its themes of love for the world of science and a drive to further explore this world and Curie’s determination to get the recognition she deserves and just shoves them in our face and down our throats rather than letting them naturally flow from the dialogue and actions. Instead we’re treated to camera shots slowly pushing in on an actor or two actors arguing about their characters’ motives, which may as well be a fourth wall break of these real people stating what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it. It just feels so forced and sucks the tension and believability out of every scene, leaving audiences to wonder whether they should care about Curie in the film or just go read her history and determine it from that, especially given the film starts at the end and chooses to tell her story as one long flashback.

Poor writing aside, though, the film is frequently supported by Pike’s central performance as the two-time Nobel Prize winner, as even some of her weakest dialogue is further elevated by her commitment to the role. From her enthusiasm over her field of study and discoveries to her passion to stand out in a male-dominated field, Pike captures every characteristic of Curie with expert precision, beautifully bringing her to life on screen in a truly honorable fashion. Though some of her fellow co-stars may not get nearly as much screen time or development as her, Sam Riley does prove to be an excellent screen partner for Pike, pushing her buttons to spark that fury and passion in compelling fashion, while also holding plenty of scenes on his own.

Radioactive is a mishmash of wasted potential, from some truly stylish direction to its breathtaking lead performances and intriguing central subject, but despite its flaws it does prove to be a rewarding and honorable watch in moments.

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