I have to admit that my initial reaction to the trailer for Hotel Transylvania 4 was to say, “They’ve done four of these!?”
And it’s true. For an animated franchise that has never exactly been a critical favorite and which isn’t backed by PIXAR, there’s been quite a installments in the HotelTransylvania saga. Regardless of what the critics may think, the films do well enough at the box office. I’d be lying I said I could remember much about the previous few installments but I do recall that they were cute if not particularly ground-breaking.
The fourth film explores what happens when all the monsters get transformed into human beings. It’s a good look for Frankenstein but less so for Dracula. Adam Sandler, who voiced Dracula in the previous three films, does not return in this installment and he has been replaced by YouTuber Brian Hull. As well, Kevin James will not be returning as Frankenstein and has been replaced by Brad Abrell. Selana Gomez, however, does return to voice Mavis and the great Steve Buscemi will be back as Wayne the Werewolf.
Hotel Transylvania4 will be replaced on October 1st.
When I first heard that there was a film called Beckett due to be released in August, I assumed that it was a biopic of Samuel Beckett. I’m sure that you did as well. I was definitely looking forward to seeing how much time the film would devote to the writing and original production of Waiting for Godot.
Well, it appears that I’m going to have to wait a while for that film because this Beckett is actually an action thriller, starring John David Washington as an American tourist in Greece whose girlfriend (Alicia Vikander) goes missing after a devastating car accident. The trailer is smart enough not to reveal too much of the story, beyond the fact that Washington is going to spend a lot of the film running and being shot at. It also appears that there might be a bit of a political subtext to this film. Myself, I’m just hoping that this film will be a better showcase for Washington’s talents than Malcolm & Marie.
The trailer makes sure to point out that Beckett was produced by Luca Guadagnino. I still haven’t forgiven Guadagino for remaking Suspiria but I’m sure that his involvement will be a selling point for some people. That said, Guadagino did not direct the film, which should be evident by the fact that Alicia Vikander plays the missing girlfriend and not Dakota Johnson. Instead, this film was directed by Guadagino’s former partner, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino. Cito Filomarino also did second unit work on the Suspiria “remake” so …. well, I will try not to hold it against him. I just hope Beckett’s good!
The Many Saints of Newark, which is finally going to be released on October 1st after being delayed by the pandemic, is a prequel to The Sopranos. It features Tony Soprano as a teenager, struggling to decide between entering the family business or going to college and — if The Test Dream episode is to be believed — maybe becoming a teacher or a coach. That’s a big decision for anyone to make. Of course, since The Many Saints of Newark is a prequel, we already know that’s going to happen. That’s kind of the problem with prequels. You can drag out the story for as long as you want but, eventually, you’re going to reach the point where everyone originally came in.
As you may have picked up on, I’m not totally sure that this film is really necessary. As I say this as someone who loves TheSopranos and who is planning on rewatchinng the entire series later in July. Thanks to the show’s use of flashbacks and the scenes of Tony talking to Dr. Melfi, it’s not as if we don’t already know about Tony’s childhood. I’m not sure that there’s a lot for the prequel to show us, beyond maybe clearing up who was actually responsible for the death of Dickie Moltisanti. If Tony ends up killing Dickie, it’ll cast his later treatment (and murder) of Christopher into an entirely new light.
Still, I’m definitely going to watch The Many Saints of Newark when it’s released on October 1st. Vera Farmiga as Livia Soprano seems like perfect casting and I’m also interested in seeing how Michael Gandolfini does at playing the young version of the character made famous by his father, the much-missed James Gandolfini. Apparently, Billy Magnussen will be playing the youngish version of Paulie Walnuts. In what world does Billy Magnussen grow up to be Tony Sirico? Ray Liotta also has a role in The Many Saints of Newark, which feels appropriate considering how much The Sopranos owed to the success of Goodfellas.
The trailer for The Many Saints of Newark was released today. And here it is:
The trailer for Halloween Kills was released yesterday and it was greeted with a fairly positive reaction on twitter. A lot of people commented on the fact that Michael appears to be extremely angry in this trailer which …. I don’t know. I’ve always felt that Michael’s come across as being pretty angry, or at least that’s been the case ever since the first sequel. In Carpenter’s original film, Michael just come across like a soulless manchild playing an elaborate and deadly prank. But in every film since then, he’s come across as being someone who definitely has some anger at the world. Don’t even get me started on the version of the character who appears in the Rob Zombie films. You don’t kill Danny Trejo unless you’re pissed off about something.
All that said, Michael certainly does kill a lot of people in the trailer below. I guess that’s a good thing. In the past, I’d probably comment on how intense the kill scenes look but I have to admit that, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a little bit less enthused by graphic violence. Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in right now. By the time October comes around, I’m sure I’ll be more enthusiastic about watching the elderly get murdered. We’ll see.
Halloween Kills is set to be released on October 15th of this year and here is the trailer!
If you’re in the States, this David E. Kelley-produced miniseries will be premiering on Hulu on August 21st. If you’re outside of the States, it’ll be premiering on Prime at some point.
Free Guy is due to be released on August 13th. It stars Ryan Reynolds as a cheerful bank teller who discovers that he’s just a character in a ….
“Wait a minute, is The Truman Show?”
No, no. The Truman Show was about reality TV and it starred Jim Carrey, who was kind of annoying in the film, if we’re going to be honest. Free Guy is about someone who discovers that he’s a character in a video game and it stars the always wonderful Ryan Reynolds! So, as you can see, they’re totally different. Plus, The Truman Show was all about Truman trying to reach the real world, whereas Free Guy features Reynolds taking control of his artificial reality.
“So, it’s like The Matrix?”
Well, maybe. But it seems to be a lot less pretentious.
Some things just make you cringe and that was kind of my reaction after watching the teaser for the upcoming musical adaptation tick, tick …. BOOM! I say this as someone who likes musicals, though I should admit that I usually prefer to see them on stage as opposed to on film. On stage, it’s very easy to get caught up in the magic of the music and the dancing. On film, it’s more of a balancing act. Just one misstep on the part of the filmmakers can doom the entire enterprise.
Despite my own less than enthusiastic reaction to the teaser, there are quite a few people who do seem to be looking forward to tick, tick …. BOOM! Not only is it the feature film directorial debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda but it’s also based on both the work and the life of Jonathan Larson, the writer and composer of Rent whose tragic death contributed in no small amount to that show’s legendary and rapturous initial reception and continuing popularity.
While I’m sure some people initially assumed that this musical was an adaptation of the 1970s Jim Brown film, tick …. tick …. tick, it’s actually something very different. In tick, tick …. BOOM!, the very talented and guaranteed-to-win-an-Oscar someday Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson, who is portrayed as being nearly 30 and frustrated that he has yet to write a masterpiece. He can hear the time ticking away. Well, you can see for yourself in the teaser below. Now, as I said earlier, this teaser made me cringe but it’s hard for me to explain why. I think some of it is because the trailer has a definite Smash-feel to it. In case you’ve forgotten, Smash was the heavily-hyped and ultimately very poorly planned NBC series that spent a good deal of it’s second season following the production of The Hit List, a show that was obviously very much based on Rent. The scenes of Garfield exhorting the wonders of bohemia have a very Smash/Hit List feel to them. My other problem is that “Boy Genius” line which is just such an obnoxious line.
But who knows! There’s a lot of musicals coming out this year and tick, tick …. BOOM! does look a bit better than Dear Evan Hansen. Here’s the teaser:
tick, tick …. BOOM! will be released on Netflix this fall. Considering the wonders that Netflix did for The Prom, well …. let’s just hope for the best.
I will admit that I was a little bit concerned when I first heard about the upcoming Fear Street trilogy, just because the whole thing sounded a bit like American Horror Story and I was worried that the end result would be more Ryan Murphy-like than R.L. Stine-like. Even though Murphy wasn’t actually involved in the production of the film, American Horror Story, with its heavy-handed approach and it’s somewhat condescending attitude towards the genre, has influenced several recent horror films and series and very rarely has that influence been for the better.
However, I just watched the trailer for the Fear StreetTrilogy and it looks pretty good. It looks like they captured the feel of Stine’s books while also thematically updating them a bit for the present age. It also looks like they avoided most of the overly cutesy stuff that often makes American Horror Story such a struggle to slog through. The trailer features plenty of scenes that will warm the heart of any regular reader of R.L. Stine’s. There’s Sunnyvale! There’s Shadyside! There’s a witch! There’s a dark and haunted night! There’s mayhem on a school bus! There’s a mall massacre! There’s a haunted camp! There’s a bloody murder! There’s teenagers in danger! There’s a man with an axe! There’s a landline phone!
Anyway, Fear Street is actually three connected films. Much like the Red Riding Trilogy, each film takes place in a different year but they share certain characters in common and they all add up to tell one big story. They were originally scheduled to come out last year but, like so many films, they were delayed by the pandemic lockdowns. (Ironically, they were delayed because they were originally meant for a theatrical release. However, the delay was so long that 20th Century Fox’s deal to distribute the films expired and they were then picked up by Netflix. So, even with the pandemic ending, the Fear Street Trilogy will still mostly be seen by people sitting in their living rooms. Seriously, just think about how much fun your lockdown would have been last year if you had three new R.L. Stine movies to watch. Sometimes, life is unfair.)
The three films will be released during the first three weeks of July, on Netflix! Here’s the trailer:
Well, Shazam, that seems to be the current state of comic book cinema. Hopefully, if your first film was any indication of the future, you can help to lighten things up a bit. Anyway, this is obviously a teaser. It’s not a trailer. This is just a reminder that there’s a character named Shazam and he’s got a movie coming out at some point in the future …. actually, it’s not coming out until June of 2023!
Well, hopefully, they’ll find a way to turn on the lights in the next two years. Also, hopefully, people will still remember Shazam in 2023. In the film’s defense, though, production was delayed due to the COVID pandemic so it’s going to be hardly the only sequel coming out a bit later than one might expect.
It’s a new month and that means that it’s time for a new Black Widow trailer. How long have we been waiting for this film now? Where that old lady from Titanic? Has it really been over 80 years? I think that’s an exaggeration but we have been waiting for quite a while now.
Personally, I just hope this movie provides some sort of justice for the character. I’m still massively annoyed with how Natasha was treated in Avengers: Endgame and hearing that Black Widow 1) takes place before Endgame and 2) features Florence Pugh as the character who took Natasha’s place in the comic books does not particularly make me happy. At this point, though, I’ve been waiting so long to see the film that I’m just hoping Scarlett at least gets to beat a few people up with style.
Here’s the latest trailer. Black Widow will finally be released on July 9th!
Through the Shattered Lens 