Don’t Look Up: DiCaprio, Streep, Chalamet & More Join Adam McKay’s Comedy

According to Deadline, Adam McKay’s comedy Don’t Look Up has added Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Ariana Grande (Scream Queens), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street), Himesh Patel (Yesterday), Kid Cudi (Bill & Ted Face the Music), Matthew Perry (The Ron Clark Story), and Tomer Sisley (Balthazar) to its cast. The group will be joining the previously announced Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), and Rob Morgan (Mudbound) in the Netflix feature.

RELATED: Caste: Ava DuVernay Writing & Directing Feature Adaptation at Netflix

Don’t Look Up will be written and directed by Adam McKay, who is also set as a producer Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Messick. The film will center on two low-level astronomers who have to embark on a media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that is going to destroy Earth. According to Variety, Lawrence and DiCaprio are expected to play the two astronomers but the streamer has not yet confirmed the roles.

McKay has had a successful run in the satire genre over the past few years, earning one Oscar nomination and one win for 2016’s The Big Short and three Oscar nominations for 2018’s Vice, including Best Picture.

RELATED: Hillbilly Elegy Trailer Starring Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams & Glenn Close

Don’t Look Up is expected to begin filming before the end of the year.

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, Christopher Polk/Getty Images for TNT & Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The post Don’t Look Up: DiCaprio, Streep, Chalamet & More Join Adam McKay’s Comedy appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Sylvie’s Love Trailer Starring Tessa Thompson & Nnamdi Asomugha

Amazon Prime Video has released the official Sylvie’s Love trailer for the romance drama starring Tessa Thompson (Creed, Thor: Ragnarok, Westworld) and Nnamdi Asomugha (When the Streetlights Go On, Crown Heights). Launching worldwide on Prime Video on December 25, you can check out the trailer in the player below along with the new poster!

RELATED: Sylvie’s Love: First Look at Amazon’s Romance Drama Starring Tessa Thompson & Nnamdi Asomugha

In Sylvie’s Love, the jazz is smooth and the air sultry in the hot New York summer of 1957. Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), a saxophonist, spends late nights playing behind a less-talented but well-known bandleader, as a member of a jazz quartet. Sylvie (Tessa Thompson), who dreams of a career in television, spends her summer days helping around her father’s record store, as she waits for her fiancé to return from war. When Robert takes a part-time job at the record store, the two begin a friendship that sparks a deep passion in each of them unlike anything they have felt before.

As the summer winds down, life takes them in different directions, bringing their relationship to an end. Years pass, Sylvie’s career as a TV producer blossoms, while Robert has to come to terms with what the age of Motown is doing to the popularity of Jazz. In a chance meeting, Sylvie and Robert cross paths again, only to find that while their lives have changed, their feelings for each other remain the same. Writer/director Eugene Ashe combines romance and music into a sweeping story that brings together changing times, a changing culture, and the true price of love.

The movie also stars Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, and Jemima Kirke and is written and directed by Eugene Ashe.

RELATED: Eric Kripke Reveals The Boys Season 3 Premiere Title & New Details!

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CS Interview: Star Jeffrey Donovan on action-thriller Honest Thief

Ahead of the film’s debut in theaters, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with star Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice, Let Him Go) to discuss his role in the Liam Neeson-starring action thriller Honest Thief, which hits select theaters this Friday!

RELATED: Exclusive Honest Thief Clip Featuring Liam Neeson & Jeffrey Donovan!

Much like many performers in the acting world, when it came to finding his interest in the project Donovan noted “it always starts with the script and it did with this one,” most notably in the fact it’s a character he’s never “really played before.”

“I often play the alpha in the room, and I thought it was really refreshing to me to play something where he wasn’t the fastest draw, he wasn’t the best in fighting,” Donovan expressed. “He was sitting behind a desk going through a messy divorce. So that was the first thing, and then the cherry on top was to get to work with Liam and with Kate and they added such an incredible cast of Robert Patrick, Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos. I was just kind of like, a kid in a sandbox, just so happy to be playing with all of these cool toys.”

Given his lack of portraying “a broken man” before, the 52-year-old star looked back and found that the biggest creative challenge for getting to the heart of his character came in trying to build his backstory, that was developed off-screen and off the page.

“I just wanted to kind of fill in his back story as much as I could, and you know, who had bought the dog and who gets the dog and why are they getting divorced, all that stuff,” Donovan explained. “That was a big challenge because it wasn’t on the page, we had to kind of make up that history. You know, it’s always a collaboration. It starts with their design and their story, and then, you make up your own history, and as long as it doesn’t run counter to what the story’s kind of presenting, then that collaboration is going to work. I think what was the fun part was bringing a certain amount of humor to Agent Meyers that I think Mark didn’t know was kind of there, and I was really happy that I was able to do that.”

Though bringing the sense of humor to his character that co-writer/director Mark Williams (Ozark) wasn’t fully aware of, the Burn Notice alum also sought to ensure his Agent Meyers was never “cartoonish” at any point in the film and sought to find the right balance between “grounded and funny.”

“I think that the storyline held onto him because he really was the opposite of Carter,” Donovan opined. “I mean, he was a guy who didn’t know where his life was going and didn’t know what his choices should be made and thought everything he did was right. Whereas Carter thought everything in his life that he did was wrong, and he wanted to make amends. So it was an interesting parallel that we got to play.”

Another of the elements of the film that Donovan found to be both challenging and fun was returning to the world of action sequences after starring in a number of more dramatic roles and supporting turns in the Sicario films.

“Those action sequences, they’re tough, you know, you get beat up and that’s real hands,” Donovan chuckled. “Liam’s a big guy, and once accidentally he got me one time, punched me right in the chest. But I had just accidentally punched him in the face, so I think he was just trying to make the playing field even [laughs].”

Working with Neeson also gave Donovan the opportunity to work alongside the 68-year-old’s celebrated stunt coordinator/double Mark Vanselow, who he’s worked with going all the way back to 1997’s The Haunting.

“They’ve got a history there and a shorthand, and you bring your own two cents to it,” Donovan stated. “Having done Burn Notice for seven years, I had a little bit of experience for action, so it was a great collaboration because when you work with someone who trusts you as much as you trust them, the process just goes so much smoother.”

When reflecting on his excitement for audiences to see the film in select theaters this week, Donovan describes how “when you’re making movies, you think it’s really important what you’re doing” but noting that “the health of our country is more important.”

“Trying to find that balance between people going to see it and staying healthy is a challenge,” Donovan expressed. “I hope people will go see it, as long as it’s safe and the theater has done everything it can to ensure that safety. But in the end, it’s your own personal choice what you do, and I wish it was a different time, but it is what it is.”

Donovan is best known to audiences for his lead role as Michael Westen on USA Network’s Burn Notice, in which he made his directorial debut, as well as helming the prequel spin-off film The Fall of Sam Axe, and in reflecting on the possibility of taking on a feature-length project he feels uncertain about doing so.

“As soon as I see how much work it is I politely tell myself, you’re out of your mind,” Donovan joked. “It’s so difficult. I mean, what Mark did to not only write it, then produce it and direct it, I mean, it’s a year of your life. My acting is hard, but it’s not digging dirt and mining coal. We’re just pretending on an air conditioned set most of the time. So I’m getting older and I’ve got a big family and I’m just trying to be home as much as I can and acting allows me to do that, whereas directing would just take me away from them for too long.”

In addition to seeing the actor next in Honest Thief and the forthcoming Kevin Costner and Diane Lane-starring Let Him Go, which he calls “a beautiful film,” Donovan recently wrapped production on Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man, previously titled Cash Truck, and though he couldn’t give many details aside from he and star Jason Statham being “on the other side of the law,” he did express excitement about the shoot and the film.

“I just had to go shoot some additional photography last week in London, so I got to see Guy and it was great to be back on the set, albeit a social distanced set,” Donovan noted. “It was kind of crazy how much testing my nose got in three days [laughs]. I enjoyed working with Guy, he has a real particular style, not only on screen, but how he makes that product. I’m such a fan of his movies, and now that I’ve done it, I want to just keep working with him. I love his films and I hope I can work with him again. Look, it’s Jason Statham, it’s Holt McCallany and Scott Eastwood, it’s myself and it’s a heist movie. And, kind of like Honest Thief, there’s a lot more depth to it than just an action film, but with Guy, you’re going to get a lot more humor, which again, I think is a lot of fun to do.It’s a kind of a thick as thieves type of film, and what a dad will do to avenge a death in the family. Hopefully in January or February or whenever it comes out, the world has righted itself and people can go back to the movie.”

RELATED: Let Him Go Trailer Starring Kevin Costner & Diane Lane

Written by Steve Allrich (The Canyon) and directed by Mark Williams, the co-creator of the hit Netflix crime thriller Ozark, Honest Thief will follow a bank robber (Neeson) who after attempting to turn himself in after falling in love with an employee from where his loot is stashed must deal with the complications that arise when his case is taken on by corrupt FBI agents, played by Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos.

In addition to Neeson in the lead role, the cast for the film features Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad), Kate Walsh (The Umbrella Academy), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgement Day), Jeffrey Donovan (Lucy in the Sky), Anthony Ramos (In The Heights) and Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton).

Williams produced Honest Thief alongside Tai Duncan, Stephen Emery and Myles Nestel of Solution Entertainment Group, which sold the international rights to the film to Briarcliff and Open Road in June.

Neeson has found large success in recent years in the action genre, starring in the fan-favorite Taken trilogy and starring in this year’s box-office hit The Commuter, the fourth collaboration between him and director Jaume Collet-Serra. The 66-year-old actor will next be seen in the upcoming comedy Made in Italy, the directorial debut of James D’Arcy (Avengers: Endgame), which is scheduled for an August 7 release.

Honest Thief is set to hit theaters on October 16.

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Caste: Ava DuVernay Writing & Directing Feature Adaptation at Netflix

Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Ava DuVernay (13th, When They See Us, Selma) is set to write, direct, and produce the film adaptation Caste, based on the novel Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents written by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, according to Variety.

RELATED: Hillbilly Elegy Trailer Starring Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams & Glenn Close

Caste will use a “multiple-story structure to examine the unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how our lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions dating back generations.”

Pick up your copy of the novel here!

DuVernay will produce the feature adaptation alongside ARRAY Filmworks’ Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes. Netflix executive Tendo Nagenda is partnering with DuVernary for the project. The two previously collaborated on Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time.

Wilkerson’s book was published in August 2020 and became a New York Times bestseller and became an Oprah’s Book Club selection.

RELATED: CS Video: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Interviews With Strong & Rylance

The filmmaker’s previous projects with Netflix include the documentary 13th, which won BAFTA, Emmy, and Peabody Awards and earned DuVernay an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature, becoming the first Black woman director nominated for an Oscar, and 2019’s When They See Us, a four-part limited series that received 16 Emmy nominations. DuVernay’s next collaboration with Netflix is a series she is producing based on Colin Kaepernick, Colin in Black & White.

(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Glamour x Tory Burch)

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Hillbilly Elegy Trailer Starring Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams & Glenn Close

Netflix has released the official trailer for the upcoming drama Hillbilly Elegy, starring Gabriel Basso (Super 8, The Big C) and Oscar nominees Amy Adams (Sharp Objects, American Hustle) and Glenn Close (The Wife, Fatal Attraction) and based on the inspiring true story and bestselling novel by J.D. Vance. You can check out the trailer now in the player below along with the teaser key art in the gallery!

RELATED: CS Video: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Interviews With Strong & Rylance

J.D. Vance (Basso), a former Marine from southern Ohio and current Yale Law student, is on the verge of landing his dream job when a family crisis forces him to return to the home he’s tried to forget. J.D. must navigate the complex dynamics of his Appalachian family, including his volatile relationship with his mother Bev (Adams), who’s struggling with addiction. Fueled by memories of his grandmother Mamaw (Close), the resilient and whip-smart woman who raised him, J.D. comes to embrace his family’s indelible imprint on his own personal journey.

Pick up your copy of the novel here!

Directed by Academy Award-winner Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind), Hillbilly Elegy is a powerful personal memoir that offers a window into one family’s personal journey of survival and triumph. By following three colorful generations through their unique struggles, J.D.’s family story explores the highs and lows that define his family’s experience.

Written by Oscar nominee Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water), the movie also stars Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, and Owen Asztalos.

RELATED: The Haunting of Bly Manor Episode 4, Episode 5 & Episode 6 Recap

The drama is produced by Brian Grazer, Howard, and Karen Lunder. Executive producers include Diana Pokorny, Julie Oh, William M. Connor, and J.D. Vance.

Hillbilly Elegy will release in select theaters and on Netflix on November 24, 2020.

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Dwayne Johnson-led Black Adam adds Sarah Shahi to cast

After landing Aldis Hodge (The Invisible Man) to star as Hawkman late last month, New Line Cinema’s Black Adam led by Dwayne Johnson (Jungle Cruise) has expanded its cast with the addition of Person of Interest alum Sarah Shahi, according to Deadline.

RELATED: Aldis Hodge in Talks for Hawkman in Black Adam!

The 40-year-old actress, who most recently appeared in a recurring role on Showtime’s City on a Hill and ABC’s The Rookie, is set to star as a university professor and freedom fighter who is leading a resistance in Kahndaq.

During its appearance at last month’s DC Fandome event, it was revealed that the film would feature the appearances of Hawkman, Doctor Fate and Cyclone to set up the Justice Society of America, while also bringing word that Hawkgirl would have to remain absent for the time being. Over the years, many superheroines have assumed the secret identity of Hawkgirl. The only recurring element is her partner/romantic interest Hawkman since it’s nearly impossible to see one without the other. Recently, fans saw the Shiera Sanders Hall version of Hawkgirl as part of the Justice Society of America in the Stargirl television series. Sadly, she lost her life to Brainwave on the night the Injustice Society attacked the JSA headquarters.

Recommended Reading: Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis 

Dwayne Johnson has been working on Black Adam for 10 years. The character was originally supposed to appear in this year’s Shazam! but decided to save his highly-anticipated debut for a later film in order to let each character get some breathing room. However, despite not appearing in Shazam!, his character was teased with the wizard Shazam, played by Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy), telling his origin story to Billy Batson.

Based on the DC Comics character created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck, Black Adam will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows) with Johnson starring as the titular anti-hero and Adam Sztykiel having written the current script. Noah Centineo will play Atom Smasher in the movie. The film will be the second collaboration between Collet-Serra and Johnson, who have also been working together on Disney’s forthcoming adventure film Jungle Cruise.

RELATED: New Line’s Black Adam Adds Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher!

The film will be produced by Johnson and FlynnPicturesCo’s Beau Flyn along with Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions. Scott Sheldon will be overseeing the project for FlynnPictureCo.

Black Adam was slated to hit theaters on December 22, 2021, but was recently pushed back to an unspecified release date due to production delays from the global pandemic

(Photo Credit: Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles)

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The post Dwayne Johnson-Led Black Adam Adds Sarah Shahi to Cast appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Exclusive Last Three Days Trailer Starring Robert Palmer Watkins

ComingSoon.net is debuting the exclusive trailer for the action mystery movie Last Three Days, starring Robert Palmer Watkins (The Walking Dead: World Beyond). You can check out the trailer now in the player below along with the official poster!

RELATED: Exclusive The Walrus and The Whistleblower Trailer: Meet the Tiger King of Marine Mammals

Jack (Watkins) is a police officer with a marriage on the rocks working undercover to take down a Japanese crime syndicate. One night things go south and he wakes up to discover he’s missing his partner, his wife, and the last three days of his life.

The movie, written and directed by Brian Ulrich, also stars Thomas Wilson Brown, Deborah Lee Smith, Roy Huang, and Gina Hiraizumi.

RELATED: The Argument Trailer Starring Dan Fogler, Maggie Q & Danny Pudi

Last Three Days was produced by Julianna Ulrich and Brian Ulrich, and executive produced by Todd Slater and Grant Slater. The movie is a Brotherhood Studios and Slater Brothers Entertainment Production.

The film will release in theaters and on VOD on November 13, 2020, from Gravitas Ventures.

The post Exclusive Last Three Days Trailer Starring Robert Palmer Watkins appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

BEGIN SLIDESHOW

CS Video: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Interviews With Strong & Rylance

Ahead of The Trial of the Chicago 7‘s debut on Netflix, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with Emmy winner Jeremy Strong (Succession) and Oscar winner Mark Rylance (Dunkirk) to discuss their roles in the long-awaited courtroom drama from writer/director Aaron Sorkin. Our interviews can be viewed in the player below!

RELATED: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Trailer: Democracy Refuses to Back Down

Based on a true story, The Trial of the Chicago 7  follows protesters who disrupted the 1968 Democrat party convention with an anti-Vietnam war “carnival” that turned nasty. Demonstrators threw bricks, police responded with tear gas and the center of Chicago was engulfed in flames. Curfews only escalated the violence.

After the clashes, independent investigators blamed eight police officers and eight protesters including Abbie Hoffman, who had already disrupted the New York Stock Exchange with showers of fake money. The police were not charged but the protesters were accused of inciting a riot. One was jailed for contempt, leaving the seven to fight the charges.

Sorkin’s second directorial effort will feature Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald) as Tom Hayden, Oscar-nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (Who is America?) as Abbie Hoffman, Jeremy Strong (Succession) as as Jerry Rubin, Golden Globe-nominee Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Snowden) as Richard Schultz, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) as Bobby Seale, Alex Sharp (The Hustle) as Rennie Davis and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Luce, Waves) as Fred Hamptom. It will also star Michael Keaton, William Hurt, Thomas Middleditch, John Carroll Lynch, Daniel Flaherty, Noah Robbins, Mark Rylance, J.C. MacKenzie and Max Adler, who also serves as an executive producer.

RELATED: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Trailer Promises Crazy Antics!

The film will also be executive produced by Matt Jackson. Marc Butan and Anthony Katagas. The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be produced by Oscar nominee Marc Platt (Bridge of Spies, La La Land), Stuart Besser, and Tyler Thompson.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 hits Netflix this Friday!

The post CS Video: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Interviews With Strong & Rylance appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Stanley Tucci and John Bradley Join Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall

According to Deadline, Stanley Tucci and John Bradley have signed on for Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall just in time for production to kick off in Montreal this month. The duo join a cast that includes Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry, Charlie Plummer and Randy Thomas.

Tucci will play a character called Tom Phillips, described as a rich car dealer who is married to Wilson’s ex-wife, while Bradley will play KC Houseman — a role previously filled by Josh Gad until scheduling conflicts forced him out of the picture — the eccentric genius who discovers that the moon has fallen out of its orbit.

In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact, and against all odds, a ragtag team launches an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love and risking everything to land on the lunar surface and save our planet from annihilation.

Wilson will play a disgraced former NASA astronaut whose last mission, which ended in tragedy, holds a clue about the impending catastrophe. Berry will play a NASA astronaut-turned-administrator whose previous space mission holds a clue about an impending catastrophe. The Conjuring and Insidious vet is set to star as a disgraced NASA astronaut whose previous mission ended in tragedy but holds a clue about the impending disaster. Plummer will play Wilson’s teenage son in the film.

Directed by Emmerich, Moonfall begins production this fall in Montreal with a script written by Emmerich, his 2012 co-writer Harald Kloser, and Spenser Cohen. Emmerich is producing the independent feature film under his Centropolis Entertainment banner with Kloser producing through his company, Street Entertainment. Executive producers are Dennis Wang, James Wang, J.P. Pettinato, Marco Shepherd, Ute Emmerich, Carsten Lorenz, and Stuart Ford.

RELATED: Lionsgate Lands Rights to Roland Emmerich’s Sci-Fi Action Film Moonfall

Like last year’s #1 box office hit Midway, Emmerich and Centropolis are independently producing and financing Moonfall, overseeing all aspects of production, financing, delivery, and distribution and marketing in collaboration with Lionsgate, AGC International, and the film’s distribution partners around the world.

Tucci will next be seen in Robert Zemeckis’ remake of The Witches alongside Anne Hathaway, while Bradley, best known for his role as Samwell Tarley in Game of Thrones, last appeared on the TV series Urban Myths.

Moonfall is slated to be released theatrically by Lionsgate in North America in 2021.

The post Stanley Tucci and John Bradley Join Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Nightstream Reviews: Dinner in America, Bloody Hell & more!

Though some of the best genre film festivals may have been axed for the year due to the global situation, Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, Overlook and Popcorn Frights partnered up to bring us Nightstream, a new virtual festival full of exciting titles in everything from the horror to thriller to comedy worlds and ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to check out some of the films in its catalogue. Check out our reviews for the films below!

RELATED: [Beyond Fest] Synchronic Review: A Mesmerizing Albeit Heavy-Handed Trip

Dinner in America

• Written & Directed by: Adam Rehmeier
• Starring: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Brittany Sheets, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Mary Lynn Rajskub
• Rating: 9/10

The punk film genre is one that’s been mostly dead or waiting for the right film to come along and give it a jolt of fresh energy to bring it back to life and after a variety of misguided attempts over the past 20-plus years since James Merendino’s incredible SLC Punk!, Adam Rehmeier is ready to answer the call with Dinner in America and delivers a kinetic, energetic and outright joyous ride. The film follows a punk rock singer seeking an escape and a young woman obsessed with his band who unexpectedly cross paths and begin a journey together across America’s vast deteriorating suburbs. While the plot itself may play out somewhat routine for the coming-of-age genre, there’s a really nice unpredictability that comes from Kyle Gallner’s Simon and Emily Skeggs’ Patty that allows the viewer to still find themselves questioning just what’s coming next in the story of their lives. The two wholly own their characters and bring such an incredible power to depicting the wildly different yet intimately similar personas that is breathtaking to watch, with Gallner truly looking and acting the part of an on-again-off-again addict punk musician with a few wires loose in his head and Skeggs delivers on every cringeworthy and gut-busting moment of her awkward burgeoning punk. With a mostly consistent pace, appropriately quick editing, solid humor and stellar lead performances, Dinner in America is inarguably the best punk film since the Matthew Lillard-starring cult classic.

Bloody Hell

• Directed by: Ailster Grierson; Written by: Robert Benjamin
• Starring: Ben O’Toole, Caroline Craig, Matthew Sunderland, Travis Jeffery, Jack Finsterer, Meg Fraser, Ashlee Lollback
• Rating: 9/10

Let’s be honest here, you’re probably a bit weird if you DON’T talk to yourself in some capacity, but what if this extended to seeing a dual version of yourself and having a conversation with them while trying to escape a murderous family. That’s what Alister Grierson and Robert Benjamin explore in their wild, bloody and outright hilarious thriller Bloody Hell, which centers on Rex Coen, a man recently released from prison after his attempt at thwarting a bank robbery goes wrong and as he flees his country in search of a new life, he finds himself trapped in a much more shocking situation he has limited time to escape. Alright, Hollywood, time to listen up because Ben O’Toole is officially done sitting on the sidelines and needs to be cast in more leading roles going forward after this film because he is given the chance to show he can carry a 95-minute movie almost entirely on his back and he absolutely kills it. Whether he’s simultaneously panicking over his situation and calculating how to escape it or laughing at his own jokes or debating whether to throw a table at invasive paparazzi, O’Toole brilliantly taps into the manic and smart-ass nature of Rex and displays so much charisma that the film was already such a thrill hanging on his figuring out a leave from his new imprisonment before we start to learn the reasons behind it. Mixed with a delightfully offbeat tone in its Helsinki setting and solid direction from Grierson, Bloody Hell may not inherently break new ground in its genre but it goes a long way to try with its central gimmick further elevated by a stellar performance from O’Toole.

Detention

• Directed by: John Hsu; Written by: John Hsu, Fu Kai-ling, Chien Shi-keng
• Starring: Gingle Wang, Fu Meng-po, Tseng Ching-hua, Cecilia Choi, Hung Chang Chu, Hsia Ching-ting, Jessie Chang
• Rating: 6/10

Video game adaptations are notorious for being the most hit-or-miss genre in the film world, delivering highs such as Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog to the lows of the Resident Evil franchise and Uwe Boll filmography, and now Red Candle Games’ Detention is getting its screen due and it falls fairly square in the middle of the best and worst of the bunch. Set in 1962 during Taiwan’s White Terror period, two students are trapped at their hillside high school at night, while trying to escape and find their missing teacher, they encounter ghosts and the dark truth of their fate. The side-scrolling video game was a fairly fresh breath of air in the horror gaming genre, delivering a heartbreaking and moving story through its disjointed narrative but this structure unfortunately isn’t carried over to the film adaptation, which instead settles for a pretty routine and mostly predictable series of events. There was a real air of mystery as to the nature of why the characters of the game are suffering from their disturbing situation, but the film’s opening minutes tries far too hard to establish certain elements of the characters and story that it loses the fun of putting the pieces of the puzzle together and makes it easy for audiences to figure out what’s to come. This all being said, the film does get a number of things right translating the game to screen, including some of its more terrifying imagery and monsters, moody setting and tragic true ending, all adding up to a relatively enjoyable adaptation still miles above most other entries in the genre.

RELATED: CS Reviews Fantastic Fest 2020: The Stylist, How to Deter a Robber, Possessor & Bloodthirsty

Survival Skills

• Written & Directed by: Quinn Armstrong
• Starring: Stacy Keach, Vayu O’Donnell, Spencer Garrett, Ericka Kreutz
• Rating: 8/10

In a time in which so much of Hollywood is looking to take their stories back to the analog days of the ’80s and ’90s, the film and TV worlds are becoming a bit too over-saturated with similar nostalgia-heavy projects relying on old genre tropes and while Quinn Armstrong’s meta-heavy Survival Skills may be a tad too ambitious for its own good, it is one hell of a blend of old and new school filmmaking. Structured as a lost police training VHS tape from the ’80s, the film follows the “fictional” character of Jim, the ideal police academy graduate who becomes self-aware and disillusioned with his training after encountering a troubling domestic abuse case and takes matters into his own hands. The story is nothing really new for the police genre, a rookie police officer descending into a mental hell early into the job, but the way the film handles it through its decidedly meta narrative, chock full of menacing fourth wall breaks from Stacy Keach even as he tries to keep on his human resource-demanded smile. It’s an energetic, offbeat and thoroughly compelling ride whose only shortcomings arise in some of its more far-fetched self-aware sensibilities.

Come True

• Written & Directed by: Anthony Scott Burns
• Starring: Landon Liboiron, Julia Sarah Stone, Tedra Jones, Carlee Ryski, Christopher Heatherington
• Rating: 8/10

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street shook audiences to their core as they realized they couldn’t trust their own dreams to keep them safe from evil and while plenty of films in the years since have toyed with the concept of dreams and hallucinations crossing into the real world, none have done so to great terrifying or intriguing effect as Anthony Scott Burns’ Come True. The film centers on a teenage runaway as she takes part in a sleep study that becomes a nightmarish descent into the depths of her mind and a frightening examination of the power of dreams. Given his prior work on other ethereal films such as Netflix’s In The Tall Grass and Our House, Burns continues to display a strong grip on the feast of dark imagery behind the camera, with the dreamscapes on display proving to be some of the most beautiful every put to film that, despite obviously being fake locations, feel incredibly practical and mesmerizing to be a part of. The story itself is where the flaws are generally on display, with some of its more ambiguous elements, especially its ending, feeling a little too convoluted and others feeling odd or borderline gross, namely the relationship that forms between the 30-something mad scientist behind the experiment and the supposedly 18-year-old runaway whose reasons for leaving are never expounded upon enough.

32 Malasaña Street

• Directed by: Albert Pintó; Written by: Ramón Campos, Gema R. Neira, David Orea, Salvador S. Molina
• Starring: Begoña Vargas, Iván Marcos, Bea Segura, Sergio Castellanos, José Luis de Madariaga, Javier Botet
• Rating: 6/10

A film touting itself as the Spanish answer to The Conjuring comes with a high bar to reach and a few expectations for its story and scares and much like many genre films in the wake of James Wan’s masterful horror pic, the film goes through a number of motions to set up jump scares and an emotional family drama but can’t quite find the right balance of either to set themselves apart amongst the bunch. The Olmedo family gets more than they bargained for when they move into a suspiciously low-priced apartment in Madrid, circa 1976, and quickly find themselves in a living nightmare. Reportedly based on a true story, the film takes a relatively grounded approach to its series of events, from turning to the police as a child goes missing to losing jobs as caring for family members can only go so far in the eyes of an employer before they must cut the chord. There’s some odd bits of relationship issues amongst the family, namely the rebellious eldest daughter claiming the patriarch is not her father before quickly turning it around halfway through the film, and despite spending plenty of time introducing who these characters are and their personalities, none are really that interesting or entirely likable to get audiences to completely care about them. The scares themselves prove to also be very hit or miss, with Albert Pintó doing an effective enough job of keeping the atmosphere moody and lighting dim to try and effectively set up scares but also utilizes the same formula time and again of turn the camera away, bring it back for something there, rinse and repeat, and it loses its luster really quick and frequently doesn’t even work the first time.

RELATED: [Beyond Fest] Saint Maud Review: A Masterwork in Religious Psychological Horror

Honeydew

• Written & Directed by: Devereux Milburn; Co-Story by: Dan Kennedy
• Starring: Sawyer Spielberg, Malin Barr, Barbara Kingsley, Stephen D’Ambrose, Jamie Bradley
• Rating: 4/10

Over 45 years later and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre still proves to be one of the most chillingly effective rural South horror films in the genre’s history and though many have tried to reach the same success to varying degrees over the years, most have fallen well short of the mark and Devereux Milburn’s Honeydew proves to be another lackluster effort. Strange cravings and hallucinations befall a young couple after seeking shelter in the home of an aging farmer and her peculiar son. The lead characters of the film are actually a breath of fresh air for the genre as a whole, being twentysomethings on a cross-country trip for something that will be meaningful for their lives rather than simply for the partying and debauchery, and once they’re introduced to Barbara Kingsley’s Karen, the tension is certainly ratcheted up to levels of hallucinatory oddity and absurdity, but the problem is that it doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere and instead wants to revel in its bizarre nature. If executed with more overall originality and far less predictability, this goal could’ve been great, but instead it comes across as a gross and generic offspring of Texas Chainsaw and Midsommar that never quite reaches its ambitious goals.

Lucky

• Directed by: Natasha Kermani; Written by: Brea Grant
• Starring: Brea Grant, Hunter C. Smith, Dhruv Uday Singh, Kausar Mohammed, Kristina Klebe
• Rating: 7.5/10

Since its inception, the horror genre has been a home to both those looking to deliver chilling tales to its audiences as well as those looking to tell symbolic stories of the human experience from a diverse crowd of creative talent and with her writing/starring effort Lucky, Brea Grant has certainly tapped into a real terror women face every day and the result is a mostly effective treat. Grant stars as a self-help author who struggles to be believed as she finds herself stalked by a threatening figure who returns to her house night after night and when she can’t get help from those around her, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. From the opening moments to the final credits, Grant’s central character is an endlessly likable heroine, from her subtle sense of humor to crafty ability to fight against her mysterious attacker, and the 38-year-old 12 Hour Shift writer/director also does a fantastic job in the role of allowing audiences to empathize with her and her situation. The film is also rather elevated thanks to its skillful use of the tropes of the home invasion and semi-time looping genres, delivering a number of stylishly shot and thrillingly-paced sequences, but the film’s biggest highlight also brings out its biggest flaw: the nature of the attacker. The identity and thematic symbolism of the attacker is one certainly well-rooted in the real world and in theory is a brilliant concept, but there are moments in the film preceding the revelation that almost make the reveal itself feel somewhat redundant for this theme, something that’s been on display so frequently and more effectively subtly that the ending feels more like a heavy-handed dose of message-delivering than an eye-opening relation.

The Night

• Written & Directed by: Kourosh Ahari; Story by: Milad Jarmooz
• Starring: Shahab Hosseini, Kathreen Khavari, Elester Latham, George Maguire
• Rating: 8/10

• Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura; Written by: Lior Chefetz, Joe Swanson, Harry Winer; Story by: Greg Williams, Mat McAllester
• Starring: Ruby Rose, Jean Reno, Louis Mandylor, Rupert Evans, Askel Hennie, David Sakurai
• Rating: 2/10

Click here to rent or purchase The Doorman!

Die Hard clones are pretty unsurprising for the action genre 30 years later, but what makes so many of them forgivable, most notably the Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx-starring White House Down, is that they at least have a sense of humor with their protagonist(s), but unfortunately Ryuhei Kitamura’s The Doorman is missing this key ingredient. A former Marine turned doorman battles mercenaries intent on destroying her apartment building to retrieve precious artwork hidden in the walls. The story borrows from a number of generic action thrillers over the years alongside Die Hard, even fellow clone Skyscraper, the characters are not only uninterestingly written but also blandly performed and the action, the one thing a film like this needs to get right, is limply executed. One of the worst things this film has going for it is the semi-incestuous bond between Ruby Rose’s Ali and her nephew Max, with the teenager, whose performer can’t act to save his literal life, creepily walking in on Ali as she changes into more battle-friendly clothes and gives her really gross and weird looks throughout that may have been an attempt at humor, but is really just another reason to want to turn it off early. 

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