Here’s the latest trailer for the film that has already been named by many as the front runner in this year’s Oscar race!
Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation tells the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. They went crazy about it at Sundance and you’ll be able to judge it for yourself in October.
I will be the first to admit that it feels strange to admit that I’m actually looking forward to a movie featuring Shia LaBeouf.
(You ever notice how I always say stuff like that, despite the fact that Lawless wasn’t terrible and I enjoyed Fury about as much as I can enjoy any movie about war. Despite the fact that he’s actually appeared in a lot of decent films, I will always think of Shia as being the whiny kid from The Battle of Shaker Heights. That is the revolting power of Shia LaBeouf…)
However, I am very much looking forward to American Honey!
And you know why?
Because it’s the latest film from Andrea Arnold, who previously directed the absolutely exquisite Fish Tank. Fish Tank is one of those films that I watch and I just see myself, who I’ve been and who I could have become. It’s an amazing film.
Will American Honey be just as amazing?
I hope so! Check out the trailer below:
Okay, before you watch the trailer for War On Everyone, there are three things you should know!
Number one, this is a red band trailer. That means that, if you watch it at work or in a public place, you will be immediately arrested and deported to Vermont. That is not something you want to risk because, as we all know, Vermont is an evil, evil place.
Secondly, this is the latest film from the brilliant Irish director, John Michael McDonagh. McDonagh directed two of the best films in recent cinematic history, The Guard and Calvary! (He’s also the brother of Martin McDonagh, who directed both In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths.) From what I’ve heard, War on Everyone is another McDonagh triumph!
Third, Michael Pena and Alexander Skarsgard play corrupt cops! After what happened to his honest cop in End of Watch, can you blame Pena for going bad?
Anyway, here is the red band trailer! It’s full of cursing and all sorts of fun stuff.
Is Tim Burton ever going to make another good film?
That’s a good question. For whatever reason, we are always expected to get excited whenever Tim Burton announces that he’s directing a new movie. Every year, someone says that Burton’s latest movie is going to be an Oscar contender. Somehow, Burton has gotten a reputation for being one of our greatest directors, despite the fact that it’s been a while since he’s really done anything that memorable.
(I did like Frankenweenie but both Dark Shadows and Big Eyes put me to sleep.)
(Tim Burton probably should have, at the very least, received several Oscar nominations for Ed Wood but that movie came out a long time ago.)
Anyway! The latest Tim Burton film that people are getting excited about is Mrs. Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. This is being called Tim Burton’s X-Men. It’ll probably be better than Apocalypse.
You can watch the new trailer below!
Hi, everyone. You’re going to have to excuse me if I’m not as articulate as usual in this post but right now, I am in a state of shock. A few minutes ago, I took a look at twitter and I saw that Anton Yelchin was trending.
I joked to myself for a minute about how, whenever a celebrity is trending on twitter, it usually turns out to be something bad. I clicked Anton’s name and the first tweet that came up read: ‘Star Trek’ actor Anton Yelchin dies in car crash at age 27.’
I’m still trying to catch my breath.
Just last month, I saw The Green Room and I spent the whole movie thinking about what a truly great actor Anton Yelchin had become. I know that almost everyone knows Anton primarily for playing Chekov in the Star Trek films but my favorite Anton Yelchin performance remains his sensitive and often heart-breaking work in Like Crazy. That’s also my favorite of the films in which he appeared.
I’m sorry. I’m so stunned right now that I barely know what to say. Right now, I’m struggling to get my mind around the end of both a life and a career that held so much promise. 27 years old is too young for anyone to die, regardless of whether he’s an actor you like or just the neighbor two houses down.
Here are links to a few of the Anton Yelchin films that we have reviewed here on TSL. Some of the films are better than others but all were improved by Yelchin’s presence:
Though I haven’t written reviews of either of them (yet), I would also recommend Yelchin’s work in both The Green Room and Alpha Dog. In particular, his poignant performance in Alpha Dog was underrated.
My heart goes out to Anton Yelchin’s friends, family, and fans.
I’m going to watch Like Crazy later and cry.
Earlier tonight, I turned over to Lifetime and I watched the much hyped remake of Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? Having watched, what can I say about it?
*sigh*
Seriously, I had such high hopes. My hopes for this film were almost as high as I was the day I graduated from high school. That’s pretty freaking high!
And really, can you blame me? First off, the film was a remake of one of my favorite Lifetime films. And, while I usually hate remakes, the original Mother, May I Sleep With Danger was so over-the-top and melodramatic that it practically demanded a Deadly Adoption-style remake. The idea of mixing the original’s stalker plot with lesbian vampires just sounded so promising! And, on top of that, James Franco was involved!
Up until I saw the movie tonight, I was under the assumption that James Franco would actually be directing the remake. Well, he didn’t. Mother, May I Sleep With Danger was directed by Melanie Aitkenhead and, considering that this was her feature debut, she actually did a pretty good job. The film is full of atmospheric shots and Aitkenhead gets a surprising amount of mileage out of simply showing the movie’s vampires moving across the screen in slow motion.
Instead of direcing, James Franco served as executive producer and is credited with coming up with the film’s “original story.” (The actual screenplay is credited to Amber Coney, who also plays one of the vampires.) Franco also plays a theater professor who directs a production of Macbeth. In his production, Macbeth is played by a woman and you know what? That’s a great idea! In fact, there were times that I found myself thinking that, if I had to choose between watching Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? and James Franco’s Macbeth, I would definitely pick Macbeth.
As for the rest of the film — well, it actually has absolutely nothing in common with the original Mother, May I Sleep With Danger. The original film’s stars — Tori Spelling and Ivan Sergei — both show up in different roles but it would have been a lot more interesting if they had been playing the same roles. What if Sergei’s psycho stalker actually didn’t drown at the end of the original and ended up teaching a college class on Victorian literature? And what if his favorite student just happened to be the daughter of his former obsession (played, of course, by Tori Spelling)? That would have been interesting! Instead, Sergei is playing just any professor and Spelling is playing just any mother.
The majority of the film deals with Spelling’s daughter, Leah (Leila George), attempting to work up the courage to tell her mom that 1) she’s a lesbian and 2) she has a new girlfriend, named Pearl (Emily Meade). What Leah doesn’t know is that Pearl is actually a vampire and is being pressured by her blood-sucking friends to turn Leah into a vampire too. As well, nerdy and creepy Bob (Nick Eversman) has an unrequited crush on Leah. When Bob discovers that Leah has a girlfriend, he starts plotting to break them up.
And there’s a lot that I liked about Mother, May I Sleep With Danger. I liked that the film, unlike a few other Lifetime films that I’ve seen, was unapologetic about being sex positive. I liked that the film presented an unambigiously positive portrayal of a same-sex couple. I liked that the vampires were all stylish and enjoyed hanging out in cemeteries. The film’s best scenes featured the vampires infiltrating frat parties and feeding on the date rapists within. These were hugely satisfying scenes and I would have been happy if the entire movie had just been scene after scene of vampires attacking Brock Turner.
But despite all that worked about the movie, Mother, May I Sleep With Danger left me feeling disappointed. After all the hype and the raised expectations and the commercials promising us a masterpiece from “the twisted mind of James Franco,” there was really no way not to be disappointed by the final product. Unlike last year’s A Deadly Adoption, Mother, May I Sleep With Danger never managed to establish a consistent tone. It didn’t seem to be sure whether it wanted to be a comedy, a drama, a horror film, or an elaborate send-up of the Lifetime aesthetic. Whereas A Deadly Adoption was clearly a labor of snarky love, I couldn’t help but feel that Mother, May I Sleep With Danger had probably been made by people who don’t particularly like Lifetime films. As such, it worked as neither an homage nor a parody. Instead, it was just another movie about vampires and not a particularly original one at that.
And, hey, I like movies about vampires! I’ve seen a few hundred of them. I’ve certainly seen enough to know that Mother, May I Sleep With Danger didn’t bring anything new to the genre.
That said, I still love James Franco! Seriously, how can’t I?
(From 1972’s An American Hippie In Israel)
Pete’s Dragon looks a lot less dangerous than those dragons from Game of Thrones.
Pete’s Dragon will be released on August 12th.
Last night, I gathered together with my three older sisters and I tried to make them watch Killing Mommy on Lifetime! They all abandoned me after thirty minutes but I stayed for the entire film.
Why Was I Watching It?
(Awwwwww! That is one of the greatest tweets in which I’ve ever been mentioned! Everyone please be sure to check out Awards Watch!)
What Was It Aboot?
Killing Mommy was the latest in a long line of Canadian-produced Lifetime thrillers. It tells the story of two twin sisters! Deb has dark hair, a tattoo, and a bad attitude. She’s a recovering drug addict and she divides her time between having anonymous sex and going to jail. Julianne has red hair and is about to graduate from college. She is always smiling and she’s always spending money!
When Deb and Julianne were younger, their father died when a car mysteriously fell on top of him. Now, their mom — who runs a charity of some sort — is on the verge of remarrying. Deb is upset. Julianne is supportive. Soon, someone with dark hair is attempting to kill mom. Is it Deb or is it just Julianne wearing a Deb wig?
What Worked, eh?
Killing Mommy was one of those films that got better the longer it lasted. During the first hour, I thought it was way too slow and awkwardly acted. But, during the second hour, the film got enjoyably weird and over-the-top. It’s as if, during the 2nd half of the movie, the filmmakers suddenly realized that they just had to stop pretending like the movie would ever make any sense. They decided to embrace the melodrama and good for them!
What Did Not Work, eh?
The second hour of Killing Mommy is a lot of fun but that first hour — oh my God. See, the main problem with having a great second hour is that you have to get through the first hour to reach it and, if you first hour moves too slowly or features some less than impressive acting, you’re increasing the chances that viewers will never make it to that second hour. The first hour of Killing Mommy was a real struggle to get through. If you look at my twitter timeline, you’ll see that I tweeted a hundred times more during the second hour than the first hour.
Some of the acting, especially during that first hour, left a lot to be desired. I think I may have compared some of the performances to the acting that you typically find in one of those “You got insurance? With your health problems?!” MetLife insurance commercials. However, I now think that some of what seemed like bad acting may have instead just been foreshadowing of the film’s 2nd hour twist.
Speaking of twists, there’s a flashback where a man working on a car yells at his daughter so much that she finally gets so annoyed that she lowers the car down on top of him. (That’s not really a spoiler because what happened is pretty obvious from the minute the car crushing is first mention, especially if you’ve ever seen a Lifetime movie before.) Anyway, I started giggling during that scene and I’m not sure if I was supposed to.
“OMG! Just like me!” Moments, for sure
Julianne has red hair and she loves to shop! How could I not relate to her?
On the other hand, Deb often wears black and has a sarcastic attitude. How could I not relate to her, as well?
Seriously, other than all the murders, this whole movie had me going, “Oh my God! Just like me!” over and over again.
Lessons Learned
I love, Canada!
Well, it’s Sunday again and that mean that it’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film trailers!
Usually, on Sunday, I share trailers that feature a lot of violence. That’s just the nature of grindhouse trailers. But, today, I’m not in the mood for violence, even if it is deliberately over-the-top grindhouse violence.
That’s why these 6 trailers are all for comedic films. They are full of the promise of laughter and good cheer. Well, somewhat good cheer. There really aren’t that many truly cheerful grindhouse trailers.
Laughter, of course, is not the solution to the world’s problems. But, at the very least, it can make it easier to live from day to day.
Even the grindhouse understands that!
1. Beach Ball (1965)
2. The Groove Tube (1974)
3. The Chicken Chronicles (1977)
4. The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Our own Gary Loggins reviewed this film last year!
5. The Beach Girls (1982)
I reviewed this one last year as well.
6. Young Doctors In Love (1982)
