Daniel Day-Lewis “retired’ from acting in 2017, following his acclaimed performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. However, later this year, he will be returning to the big screen in Anemone. Anemone was directed by Ronan Day-Lewis, Daniel’s son. Ronan and Daniel collaborated on the script. Perhaps not coincidentally, Anemone features Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, playing father-and-son.
Anemone will premiere at the New York Film Festival in September before then moving onto a theatrical release in October.
Somehow, I missed that a film version of The Long Walk is on the verge of being released.
The Long Walk is one of Stephen King’s best novels, even if it is one that he wrote under the name of Richard Bachman. In a dystopian future, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest. They have to walk a certain number of miles an hour (four in the book but apparently three in the film) and, if they fall behind or stop, they are executed by the soldiers following them. The Walk continues until there is only one survivor. The Long Walk feels like a distant cousin to The Running Man (the book, not necessarily the film adaptation).
The film version of The Long Walk was directed by Francis Lawrence, who previous directed The Hunger Games sequels, and has a cast that includes Cooper Hoffman, Charlie Plummer, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill as the main bad guy. Who knows if the film will do justice to the book’s bleak tone. The trailer offers some hints. The film will be released on September 12th.
After years of being an underrated actor, Guy Pearce finally got his first Oscar nomination earlier this year for The Brutalist. He didn’t win but at least it reminded people of the fact that he’s a damn good actor. Will Killing Faith also remind people of that? The trailer below features both Pearce and another underrated actor, Bill Pullman.
Emma Thompson and Judy Greer aren’t the first names that come to mind when you think of survival horror but maybe (?) that will change after the release of Dead of Winter. The trailer finds Thompson alone in a frozen Minnesota landscape, apparently trying to escape her grief. As you can see in the trailer, she’s not alone for long.
Scarlett Johansson is making her directorial debut with EleanorTheGreat, a film that stars 95 year-old June Squibb as Eleanor Morgenstein, an elderly woman from Iowa who moves to Manhattan after a devastating loss and who gets involved in the lives of Chiwetel Ejiofor and his daughter. Though it’s not obvious from the trailer, the reviews from Cannes indicate that Eleanor is not quite who she claims to be.
Many actors have tried their hand at directing, often with mix results. Ron Howard enjoyed directing so much that he gave up acting. Kevin Costner made his debut with a bang and he’s been struggling to match it ever since. Robert Redford is a far more interesting director than actor. You could probably make the same argument about Warren Beatty, Sean Penn, and Jon Favreau. But then there are countless other actors who directed one forgettable film and then quit. How will Scarlett Johansson’s debut play out? Watch the trailer and try to judge for yourself.
Timothee Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a young man who dreams of being the world’s greatest ping pong player.
Normally, that is not the type of plot description that would catch my attention but Marty Supreme is directed by Josh Safdie, so you know it’s going to be about much more than just ping pong. The cast is also intriguing. Along with Chalamet, the cast includes everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Fran Drescher to Penn Jillette and director Abel Ferrara. Is Kevin O’Leary playing himself? Who knows with Safdie directing?
Judging from the trailer, this might be the most intense ping pong film ever made.
It’s comforting to know that every year is going to bring us a new Liam Neeson action film. He’s already got his film for 2026 in the can and ready to go. Judging by the trailer, ColdStorage finds Neeson battling zombies and leaning into the comedic skills that he’s currently displaying in The Naked Gun.
Who thinks that a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW, directed by Spike Lee, and starring Denzel Washington, sounds intriguing? I do! The duo’s fifth film will be released on August 15th, 2025.
I’m happy to see Edgar Wright back making movies. It’s been a while since 2021’s Last Night in Soho, and this time around, he’s remaking 1987’s The Running Man. Based off the story by Stephen King, Ben Richards (Glen Powell, Twisters, Hit Man) is a man who needs some help, living in the slums with his wife (Jayme Lawson, Sinners, The Batman) and child. To earn a high stakes reward, he joins The Running Man, a tv show that puts him in the spotlight for 30 days while everyone hunts him down. Should he survive, his family will be set. The movie looks like it has a good cast, with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) and Josh Brolin (Dune) also in the mix. Admittedly, I’m curious of what the soundtrack to this will be like, given Wright’s flair for pairing scenes with music.
The Running Man will be in theatres this November.
Way back in 1984, the Coen Brothers were trying to raise the $75,000 that they would need to produce and direct their first film, Blood Simple. Sam Raimi, with whom the Coen Brothers had worked on Evil Dead, suggested that they put together a fake trailer to draw the interest of investors.
The Coens and their cinematographer, Barry Sonnenfeld (who would later go on to have his own directorial career), took Raimi’s advice and put together a trailer that, to be honest, has more in common with Evil Dead than with Blood Simple. Then again, that was a smart move on their part. Evil Dead made a lot of money.
Bruce Campbell appears in the trailer, playing the role that was later played by Dan Hedaya in the actual film. (It’s hard to imagine Campbell playing that role, just because Hedaya gave such a perfect performance as Julian Marty. That said, I could very well see Campbell in the role played by John Getz.)
Here is the fake Blood Simple Trailer, featuring Bruce Campbell! (Admittedly, because of the way the trailer is shot, you don’t actually see Bruce’s face. But you’ll recognize the hair immediately.)
And, for the sake of comparison, here’s the trailer for the actual film:
Through the Shattered Lens 