I just want to get out in front of this - I know it's newly April, but I will not be perpetrating any April Fools goofs upon you, my readers. I REALLY WANT TO because it is in my nature to goof, but I won't. Things are still too ...weird. They're just too off-kilter already to properly goof. So I won't. That's my promise to you. So, armed with that knowledge, I want you to relax and read on.
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PREMIERS
The movies and series making their debuts this month
1st:
Creepshow: Season 2
Where: Shudder
Though it's premiering on April 1st, Shudder isn't kidding around with the 2nd season of anthology series revival of the 1982 anthology flick from Stephen King and director George Romero. Except when they are. That's the thing with Creepshow as a brand - it's as fun as it is, well, creepy. For every giant spider, or voodoo doll, or powerfully dangerous artifact (that may in fact unleash some form of Hell on live TV no less!), you've got top tier genre actors like Keith David, Ted Raimi, and even Hellraiser's Ashley Laurence (!) lending the stories their chops as well as a bit of "hey I know that guy" enjoyment! Being an anthology series, your enjoyment may vary from installment to installment, but over all I was a big fan of the first season and am excited for them to get back to the format after releasing two seasonal specials through the end of last year.
Train to Busan: Peninsula (dir. Sang-ho Yeon)
Where: Shudder
Taking place four years after the original film (released 4 years earlier irl) Peninsula follows a new group of people who survived the original zombie outbreak as they are "asked" by mobsters to venture back into the quarantined peninsula to retrieve a truck with $20 million. Things, as you might expect, don't seem to go perfectly smoothly and they end up on the run from not only zombies but also other humans (who are the real monsters?) who're playing some kind of survival game using uninfected humans as game pieces. There seems to be some extra attention paid to light in this one - as in the zombies being drawn to it? Or scared of it? - which I don't remember being a thing quite so much in the first one. There's also a few hyper-brief shots where I think the zombies may have started to kind of get stuck in/to one another maybe forming like a zombie rat king? Which is maybe the coolest thing I've ever heard - HUGE IF TRUE. Again, I don't know that to be the case, I'm just going on my presumptions. The trailer is very action heavy and has some incredible visuals, and I'm a HUGE fan of the original Train to Busan (I cry) so I'll absolutely watch this.
16th:
Mortal Kombat (dir. Simon McQuoid)
Where: HBO Max
I am weirdly excited for this adaptation of the fighting game phenomenon that flying kicked it's way into the public consciousness in 1992 by simply adding blood to the equation. There was a uproar but that didn't hurt Mortal Kombat at all and it has remained a popular (and fun!) franchise ever since. Like most fighting games, there's little by way of plot: a clandestine fighting competition attracts fighters from all walks of life, each with their own goals. Some want power, some want glory, some want conquest and some want revenge. Yadda yadda yadda. Over the years characters have changed, backstories have expanded to the point that now MK has a whole mythology of its own that's no longer just "Bloodsport, but with magic". This trailer smartly leans into some of the "sillier" aspects in a straight-faced way that I think is going to allow it to just be a blast. For example: Why don't we chuckle at Jax's (Mehcad Brooks') cyborg arms? Because nobody else is, because of course he has cyborg arms; his human arms were frozen by an ice ninja and then shattered! It would be rude of you to mock the hardships this man has suffered! Plus, the focus is on the "Kombat" which you'd think would be a no-brainer, but then you would be surprised. Joe Taslim (who plays the aforementioned ice ninja Sub-Zero and whom you may know from The Raid or The Night Comes For Us) is one of the best physical performers - fighting, stunt work, choreography - maybe ever and I cannot wait to see how well this MK utilizes him! So I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but I would kindly ask you to "Get over here" and watch Mortal Kombat with me.
23rd:
Shadow and Bone
Where: Netflix
Books. We all love 'em (right?), and if you've bought enough of them from Amazon, you probably get notifications like "Hey we thought you'd like to know we have more books for you to buy". That is basically my entire relationship with the first book in author Leigh Bardugo's "Grisha" universe of books and stories, but I will say the book has been on my To Read list for a while now because it sounds interesting: a fantasy world, but instead of using medieval Europe as the setting - which is often the case - Berdugo uses Tsarist Russia, which lends the whole thing a pseudo-steampunk feeling that I dig. This trailer for the Netflix series showcases that quite well, too! There's gunplay and a train car of some kind as well as the grand sailing ships you could find in almost any other fantasy world. The plot here is that classic heroine with a special ability who must be trained in how to use it to help save the world. Here, her name is Alina (Jessie Mei Li) and she's a "sun summoner" meaning she has the ability to summon and control light (but she is also full of it to the point that when cut, a blinding light shines through), which is not only rare but exactly what is needed to fix/dispel/cure an area of the nearby sea permanently cloaked in darkness and therefor full of monsters! This set-up seems a bit obvious and over-simplified, so I'm actually betting that there's more going on than what we're seeing here. It also looks a little Avatar: The Last Air-Bender-y, which like, we already have one of those and it rules! (I have not yet seen Legend of Korra, so no spoilers) Regardless, this looks decently fun but not something I'd exactly think of as "appointment viewing", though I am definitely likely to check it out because I love a good fantasy world. I just do, y'all. That's just something you have to accept about me.
25th:
Wild Mountain Thyme (dir. John Patrick Shanley)
Where: HULU
Based on the play "Outside Mullingar" by writer/director John Patrick Shanley (who has one of the weirdest big screen resumes ever - more on that in a moment), this is the story of a father (Christopher Walken) whose son (Jamie Dornan) is a bit of a weirdo and has been dragging his feet about marrying the girl next door (Emily Blunt) who's obviously - for some reason - head over heels in love with his weird ass. BUT ALSO, poppa Walken doesn't think Dornan is capable of taking over the family farm, so he invites Dornan's American cousin (Sir Jon of Hamm) to see if he'd be a better option. There seems to also be a bit of a Dornan-Blunt-Hamm love triangle as well because in contrast to flighty Dornan, Hamm is very direct. This all seems very charming and cute but I've gotta be honest: this trailer had me inside of the first 5 seconds because *ahem* Christopher Walken narrates it in an approximation of an Irish brogue! Sold. Now, just to clue you in to J.P.S.'s credits: he has written such notable films as Moonstruck, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, and the film adaptation of Congo and has directed Joe Versus the Volcano and the adaptation of Doubt - both of which he also wrote! You CANNOT box this man in!
30th:
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse (dir. Stefano Sollima)
Where: Amazon Prime
To be honest, these kinds of movies are a hard sell for me. I've got nothing against a decent military-set flick, and I'm deep in the pocket for a specific type of action movie, but something about the frequent Tom Clancy narrative of "this great patriotic killing machine is just the coolest, right gang?" just turns me off. This story seems to follow that familiar path by having Michael B. Jordan survive an attempted assassination which left his wife dead and him on a path of revenge. Y'know how one of the things that made John Wick work was that it showed by contrast how trite and well-worn this particular revenge narrative is? Just wanted to mention that. What this movie does have going for it is: Michael B. Jordan. I will watch this man in anything. I can't imagine that he doesn't have a massive career ahead of him and in that regard I guess doing a Clancy is a smart move. The other thing going for this is that some of the action (well, one scene in the trailer) looks pretty great: MBJ traps a target in a car, lights it on fire and then ... GETS INTO THE CAR! I mean, that is pretty rad. I guess it really *was* a pleasure to burn (this joke is in reference to MBJ having appeared in 2018's Fahrenheit 451 adaptation).
SPOTLIGHT
A few EOINA-appropriate flicks that aren't new but still might deserve a look
1st:
The Warriors (Director's Cut) (dir. Walter Hill)
Where: HBO Max
You may have seen Walter Hill's influential cult film The Warriors (based on the 1979 novel by Sol Yurick where gangs in a post-apocalyptic future New York decide to "Come out and plaaaaay...!" by fighting each other). You may have in fact seen it many times, but perhaps you haven't seen the director's cut? I'm honestly not sure which version(s) I've seen, but any time I've thrown The Warriors on to watch, I've been fully engrossed. It's sometimes hard to watch what's happening, but I still can't drag myself away! If by some chance you've never seen The Warriors - settle in.
Bug (dir. William Friedkin)
Where: Hulu
My other recommendation is a bit of a weird one, especially at a time when out country is only just now approaching the end of a massive year-long viral pandemic, that has seen most of us stuck inside and losing perspective on reality, but: Bug is based on the play by Tracy Letts about two people who lock themselves in a motel room on a bender and slowly lose perspective on reality! Fun! Actually, no. It isn't. It's directed (masterfully) by William (The Exorcist / Sorcerer / The French Connection) Friedkin, constantly ratcheting up the tension as the two leads Ashley Judd and a young Michael Shannon (!!!) go crazier and crazier. It might be tough to watch but it is an absolute firm recommend from me.
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Well there you have it for April. We've hit an odd part of the film landscape where studios are starting to eye the nearby horizon for places to stake their tentpoles and set up financial camp, so potentially future installment of the column will begin to have more Coming to Theaters entries, but for now this is what we're working with.
Thank you as always for reading, and thanks to MovieJawn for hosting and posting. Please visit the MovieJawn Podcast Network and listen to some pods, and if you're especially into my points of view you can find me on Hate Watch/Great Watch alongside Allison Yakulis. Until next time - Long Live the Movies!
