THE RADLEYS (2024)

 The Radleys

Directed by Euros Lyn
Written by Talitha Stevenson, Jo Brand, based on a novel by Matt Haig
Starring Harry Baxendale, Damian Lewis, Kelly Macdonald, Bo Bragason
Running time 1 hour and 55 minutes
Rated R by the MPA

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, contributor, host and podcast czar

Based on the 2011 novel by Matt Haig, The Radleys is about a normal-seeming family - doctor dad Peter (Damian Lewis), active housewife mom Helen (Kelly Macdonald), gay photographer son Rowan (Harry Baxendale), and vegan, sorta bitchy (*) sister Clara (Bo Bragason) - with a big secret. When Clara accidentally kills an attempted rapist in the woods, the parents find themselves forced into at least three tough spots. Not only do they have to come clean to their kids about the "family disease", but they have to dispose of the body to keep Clara out of jail and keep their vampirism a secret. To accomplish this, they have to call Peter's twin brother Will (also Damian Lewis) who rolls up in an RV full of absolute chaos.

(*) I am willing to attribute Clara's turn to being just The Worst hormonal and attitudinal teenage stereotype to her beginning to drink blood.

I've been watching a LOT of vampire films this year, gearing up for Vamp-tober on the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast, and one thing that's dawned on me is that playing with "the rules" of vampires is as much of a staple of vampire fiction as anything else. The TV Tropes page for Our Vampires Are Different is chock-a-block with examples great and small. In The Radleys, vampires find sunlight irritating but not deadly, and are able to choose to abstain from drinking blood at the cost of most of the usual vampire abilities.

Blood is treated somewhat like alcohol and/or drugs within the world of The Radleys. Clara's attitude after starting to imbibe - which is so shitty and petulant that she can't even keep her cool long enough to avoid tipping the cops off that she was involved in the murder - supports this read, as does Rowan's sneaking little airplane-size bottles of blood from Uncle Will's fridge to work up the courage to talk to the boy he likes. Obviously, Helen & Peter's abstaining and keeping the vampirism from the kids parallels hard partiers giving up the life to raise a family.

All of this is called into very high contrast by the presence of Uncle Will. His hair is longer than Peter's, he wears lots of open shirts, and generally "doesn't see what the big deal is" about everything. But there's a sinister edge to him. He encourages the kids' more negative instincts and almost immediately brings up some past relationship between he and Helen, which doesn't totally make Helen uneasy. Pretty shortly, Peter starts on his journey, straight out of American Beauty: sneaking blood in the garage, seeking (or at least being open to) extramarital relationships, all while being kind of oblivious to all the tumult in his family unit.

The Radleys is an odd duck, but not a bad time. Four of the five family members are pretty well-developed. The exception, weirdly, is Clara who is mostly a walking inciting incident and has less development than some supporting characters, like the boy Rowan likes (Jay Lycurgo) and his ex-cop dad (Shaun Parkes) who fully believes The Radleys are vampires and blames then for his wife's disappearance years ago! They're not exactly well-rounded, but they are given enough screen time to develop their characters via performance, and as a result you're pulling for Rowan's relationship to work out, and the ex-cop dad feels like a real threat.

Tonally, The Radleys touches on a lot of vampire films. The teen romance of Twilight (2008) mixed with The Lost Boys' (1987) male bonding; the grounded suburban setting of Fright Night (1985) and the metaphorical lens of The Addition (1995). It's darkly funny at times, and steamy in parts, but since each family member has their own Vampire Movie going on, it can't quite commit to being any one thing. Nevertheless, the cheap and nasty thrills have an almost Lifetime Movie vibe at times, which is nothing if not crowd-pleasing.

The variety of tones and plot lines gives The Radleys a good chance to appeal to a wide segment of audiences, but also means most of those characters don't get a ton of time in the spotlight. When the closing credits rolled, I'd had a good time, but felt ever so slightly unsatisfied.

The Radleys will be in Theaters, On Digital and On Demand October 4, 2024.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN - Vol. 45

Everything Old Is New Again
Volume 45 - November 2022

By “Doc” Hunter Bush, Podcast Czar

The Phillies are going to the World Series! I’m not a sports guy, typically, but I will always support when my city is doing well. I don’t pretend to be a lifelong fan, either; proudly bandwagonesque, but I’m happy for us. I do typically associate November with sports as well as scarves, hand-turkeys, and pumpkin pie. But this column isn’t about that. I just wanted to note a specific moment in time.

This is Everything Old Is New Again, my column on upcoming film and series releases that are based on pre-existing intellectual properties. Welcome! Put your feet up and make yourself comfortable while we look at what’s coming. I started this column when adaptations, remakes, and long-gap sequels - essentially recycling stuff audiences are familiar with instead of taking chances - was on an upswing.

Hollywood has always adapted other stories, and that’s fine, but things used to be different all over. Less algorithmic; less designed specifically to seek success from some “market”. Things were adapted because maybe they would hook audiences in general, as opposed to only please certain segments of them.

Over the course of its life, I’ve tried to use EOINA for two purposes: to bitch about the movies that I personally feel exhausted and annoyed by - because everyone deserves to let off a little steam - and to point folks towards flicks that might have less public awareness but are still within the column’s parameters. I hope that I help you find something to get excited about! Let’s get started!

<>

PREMIERES - New films or series based on older works

November 4th

My Policeman (dir. Michael Grandage)
Where: in theaters

Based on a 2012 novel by Bethan Roberts, My Policeman is the story of a love triangle in England in the 1950s. Tom (Harry Styles) the titular policeman, is gay and in keeping with societal norms of the era, is married to Marion (Emma Corrin) while secretly being in love with Patrick (David Dawson). The trailer - which is awash in one of my most loathed trends in film trailers of the current century: slow breathy pop covers (*) - shows Marion catching Tom & Patrick and has some fisticuffs and a shot of someone (presumably Tom) tossing a cop’s uniform on a bonfire, so I’m guessing Marion outs him and he has to end his policing career. The tail of the trailer shows the three characters aged up (played by Linus Roache, Gina McKee, and Rupert Everett respectively) and perhaps having some sort of closure-seeking conversation between them.

The IMDb has the characters credited in an interesting fashion: Styles, Corrin, and Dawson are credited as “Young (Whomever)” and Roache, McKee, and Everett as just “(Whomever)”, which leads me to believe that the elder versions will act as a framing device, with their shared youth coming in flashback. Perhaps there will be a sort of Rashomon-like difference of opinion, or some revelations betwixt the unwilling triangle? That could be interesting. I’m sure this is fine, and I am told that Harry Styles is a very engaging performer but it seems like you’d spend the whole run time waiting for an end you know is coming (and will be bittersweet at best).

(*) This one uses Cat Power’s cover of “Sea of Love”, which you may have heard previously in Juno, and is a fine song, but just: please not. No more. I am so tired of down-tempo breathy pop covers.

11th

Wakanda Forever (dir. Ryan Coogler)
Where: in theaters

The sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, based upon the Marvel comics character and more and more just a cog in a monoculture machine that is the Mouse House / MCU, this flick has some big shoes to fill. Black Panther was easily one of the best of the MCU films from all angles. The characters, POV, performances, messaging, and even the manner in which it changed things for the MCU; all were excellently handled. Sadly, Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020, leaving this flick in an unenviable position, which director Ryan Coogler and co. have chosen to just address head on.

In the world of Wakanda Forever, T’Challa (Boseman’s character and the original Black Panther as far as on-screen representations) has likewise passed away, leaving his frenemy-turned-ally M’Baku (Winston Duke) to fill the position for the time being while T’Challa’s family mourns. Unfortunately, they are attacked by Namor (Tenoch Huerta), the leader of a rival army. In the comics, Namor is the king of Atlantis (yes, that Atlantis), while the film seems to be differentiating it and naming their kingdom Tlālōcān (an Aztec concept similar to a Heaven, but (I think) not the only afterlife paradise the Aztec people believed in). They might still throw out some line about how Namor’s people are the basis for the myths of Atlantis, but that’s nowhere in here.

I’m not really sure what Namor wants, but it seems like he floods Wakanda (the Black Panther’s home) and starts a war. I’m guessing there will be a “real” villain that Namor will team up with the Wakandans to battle, and I’m guessing a lot of this conflict will be based around Vibranium, the fictional strongest metal in the MCU that is a powerful resource for numerous reasons with as many military and scientific applications.

This is going to be a passing-the-torch movie with T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) inheriting the Black Panther mantel and suit, as well as a team-up movie because we have to front load all the Marvel movies/shows with characters who will appear in other Marvel movies/shows or else (gasp! shock! horror!) the perpetual motion money machine could stop! So Shuri is going to team up with a young inventor from Chicago named Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) who will become the Iron Man-esque, mechanical super-suited heroine Ironheart.

DISCLAIMER: I’ve lost interest in the vast majority of the Marvel shows, so if Ironheart has already made her appearance in one of those, I am unaware of it.

This looks overstuffed to me. Too many brand new characters, too much story, too much silly comics stuff all being thrown at us at once. On the other hand, as I said above, Coogler & co. made one of the best single Marvel movies yet, so I am cautiously hopeful. I also enjoy the reworking (as far as I can tell) of Namor’s backstory and people, and the casting of Huerta. I’ll be seeing this one just as soon as it streams into my home.

14th

Teletubbies (series)
Where: Netflix

Yup. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the cultural zeitgeist, those four …things living in their aggressively pleasant native world where they are observed by a burning infant in the sky are BACK! Created in 1997 by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC (who were seeking programming aimed at preschoolers) the Teletubbies are fascinatingly (and terrifyingly) strange.

If you’re unfamiliar, they’re four creatures of varying heights. Each is a different color and has a different shaped antenna on its head, which presumably connects to the television screens in their stomachs. They live in a seemingly endless plain of rolling green hills, in a habitat that looks like a Hobbit hole designed by Ikea, all overseen by a sun that has a baby’s face in it. They take video-calls (via their stomach televisions) from children and children-adjacent individuals who talk about educational things and serve as field trips for the seemingly captive ‘tubbies.

My theory is that they are aliens - or possibly extra-terrestrial beings, I’m open to that as a possibility - who have been captured and are being tranquilized and observed by the government or possibly some organization not unlike the SCP Foundation. The overly pleasant environment, the sun-with-a-baby’s-face, they’re all meant to keep the ‘tubbies at ease. Perhaps they are, as they seem, young and are being indoctrinated to have a better understanding of humanity, possibly as a means of convincing them that we are worth saving/protecting/not actively destroying. Perhaps even one instance of negativity, fear, or violence would see them transform into eldritch, unstoppable avatars of our ultimate destruction. Who’s to say?

Well, this version is narrated by Tituss Burgess, so if anybody would be the one to warn us that the Teletubbies have gone rogue, or are achieving their final form, it would be him. I will not be watching this for entertainment, but I might get really really high and refine my theories.

15th

R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned (dir. Paul Leyden)
Where: physical media / digital rental

2013’s R.I.P.D. (Rest In Peace Department) starred Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as Nick and Roy. Much like in Men in Black, Nick was the new recruit, a Boston cop killed in the line of duty and recruited to help police the afterlife, bringing rogue souls to justice alongside Roy, the veteran old west sheriff who’s been on the job a long time. It was based on a comic book from 1999 by Peter M. Lenkov which I’ve never read and I never saw the movie but from what I know it wasn’t well-received.

So it’s getting a prequel! And the Roy character portrayed by Jeff Bridges will be played by Jeffrey Donovan! The plot seems to be that either this is the first time any souls have escaped, or that it’s the largest jailbreak so-to-speak and they’re recruiting Roicephus “Roy” Pulsipher to help!

I dunno. I like Donovan, but I have no interest in DTV prequel really. Having said that, if/when I ever see this sitting there on a streaming service I already have access to, I’d probably throw it on.

16th

The Santa Clauses (miniseries)
Where: Disney+

The 1994 family comedy saw Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) accidentally murder Santa Claus and thus, replace him. What this says about the tyrannical dictatorship of Santa Claus is interesting to ponder, but this isn’t about that. Two sequels, in 2002 and 2006 followed, vaguely expanding on the mythology of the world created. Now, in 2022, comes this apparently 6-episode miniseries.

The trailer is sparse. Calvin calls a meeting of his elves and announces “For the good of Christmas and for the good of my family I am retiring”. The majority of the rest of the trailer is Peyton Manning goobering his way thru an audition to be the next Santa Claus. David Krumholtz briefly appears, reprising his role from the first 2 Santa Clause films, but that’s about it.

Which leaves me to wonder… What happened to make Santa abandon his life’s purpose? The trailer tells me nothing, so allow me to guess: Santa is arrested in the Kalamazoo airport with a pound and a half of cocaine and, to avoid a lengthy prison sentence, decides to rat out a dozen other drug dealers he knows. But he didn’t do it because he’s AFRAID of going to prison, of course not! He’s Santa Claus and he’s a tough, macho dude! The last beacon of traditional masculinity in a world increasingly caving to “wokeness” (which I think must also have been invented for the film series, because it’s certainly not real). The last Santa standing, you could say.

No, he did it for the children. If Santa was to go to prison, Christmas would have to be canceled. And if there’s one thing Santa will not stand for, it’s Christmas cancel culture. So he’s choosing to retire before the scandal gets out, tarnishing the good name of Christmas. Also presumably the various drug dealers would be sending magical hitmen to the North Pole to break his kneecaps and pour boiling hot cocoa down his throat, so he’s gotta beat feet before that happens.

Again, these are just guesses. Anyway, I would have zero interest in an instant more of anything starring warrior against wokeness/coke rat Tim Allen, let alone a six episode miniseries? Fuck outta here.

24th

Disenchanted (dir. Adam Shankman)
Where: Disney+

The 2007 film Enchanted seemed like a very promising direction for the Disney empire. A self-aware, wry look at the fairy tale archetypes popularized by Disney themselves (itself?) the film took the clichés from those films - wicked stepmother, true love’s kiss to break spells, etc. - and turned them on their head. It even briefly brought hand-drawn animation back to the Mouse House before pulling a reverse Pagemaster (*) and transposing the formerly animated characters into the real physical world.

(*) The Reverse Pagemaster is also a sex act I once heard described by Sir Alec Guinness.

As you might expect, Enchanted ended in a “happily ever after” with fairy tale princess Giselle (Amy Adams) and new York lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) falling in love and living together to raise Morgan, Robert’s daughter from a previous marriage. What Disenchanted asks is: “But what if the real world was dogshit?” So now Giselle, Robert and Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino) have to move to Monroeville (which is in NJ, but doesn’t look like NJ in this trailer, just sayin’) into a “fixer-upper” home.

A visit from Edward (James Marsden) and Nancy (Idina Menzel) - coming from the fairy tale world - inspires Giselle to use a magic wand to wish her problems away, which backfires and something something something wicked witch problems.

I’ve never seen the first one, but I’ve heard a lot of good things and I could easily be talked into a double feature presuming they’re both available on Disney+ because I like the concept and I like the cast, which for Disenchanted also features Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown, Oscar Nuñez, and Griffin Newman (as the voice of a chipmunk).


25th

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Dir. James Gunn)
Where: Disney+

This holiday-themed featurette (clocking in at “around 40 minutes”, similar to last month’s Werewolf By Night) finds the cast of the Guardians movies (Pom Klementieff, Dave Buatista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel) traveling to Earth to kidnap Kevin Bacon as a present for the depressed Starlord (Chris Pratt). That’s pretty much all the trailer gives away aside from the fact that Kevin Bacon will actually appear!

Writer/director James Gunn has made the Guardians of the Galaxy a stand-out in the MCU, injecting some much-needed oddness into the increasingly more cookie-cutter landscape, and giving him a Holiday Special in which to play seems like a no-brainer. In general, I’m in favor of these MCU Holiday Specials, as they potentially allow for a little extra world-building without eating into the storylines of the main films (which is my single biggest problem with the recent “phases”).

I’ll definitely be checking this out, but I might wait until closer to Christmas proper, or at least a snowy night.

SPOTLIGHT - Not brand new, but available via streaming and definitely still worth looking up

November 1st

Adaptation. (2002) (dir. Spike Jonze)
Where: Hulu

The mother of all literary adaptations, Adaptation. is written by Charlie Kaufman, and is technically based on the book “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean, though in actuality it is more based on Kaufman’s failure to actually write an adaptation of Orlean’s book while struggling with writer’s block. The film stars Nicolas Cage as (hold on to your hats if you don’t know) Charlie Kaufman, a screenwriter attempting to adapt the book “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean but struggling with writer’s block. Cage also portrays Charlie’s twin brother Donald who, while crashing with Charlie, decides to become a screenwriter as well and quickly finds tremendous success. If you can believe it, things spiral from there.

Adaptation. is very much a product of its time, and our cultural fascination with the concept of “meta” but don’t let that stop you. “Meta” as a concept hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just no longer the novelty it once was. But on top of that the film is full of great character actors and a pair of performances that once again made the general public stop and take note: “Hey, that Nic Cage guy really is some kinda actor”.

<>

That’s a wrap on EOINA for this November. I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. It seems like most people have mentally put COVID far in their rearview but I still implore you to be safe when/if you’re gathering for the holidays.

That aside, I as always thank you for reading and thank MovieJawn for hosting & posting. If you’d like more from me, the Hate Watch/Great Watch podcast - which I cohost with Allison Yakulis - is dropping three episodes. On the 2nd you can hear us talk about Dirty Dancing (1987) with frequent guest Tina Dillon, then on the 16th we have a guest-free episode on seasonally appropriate tear-jerker Sweet November (2001), and we close the month with Bryan Bierman, another frequent guest, to discuss the children-playing-detectives oddity Hawk Jones (1986)! Allison and I will also be rolling out articles on some of the films we saw at this year’s Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival, so keep your eyes out for those!

Until next time - Long Live the Movies!

_________________________________________

This piece was written for MovieJawn, a fabulous site where you can find tons of other excellent movie-centric writings, a shop where you can subscribe to the quarterly physical zine, or listen to me on the  Hate Watch/Great Watch  podcast! Support the MovieJawn Patreon here!
_________________________________________

"ANIARA (2019)"

The old axiom "There's just no winning the human race" reoccurred to me frequently throughout my viewing of Aniara, the pessimistically meditative new Swedish sci-fi feature from writer / directors Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja, based on the epic poem by Harry Martinson. Combining modest means with a truly grand scope, the filmmakers have managed to come away with a surprisingly multi-faceted work.

"DONNYBROOK (2019)"

DONNYBROOK (2019)
By: Hunter Bush
For: Moviejawn



Donnybrook is like standing around a parking lot after the bar closes, watching everybody make bad decisions. Like listening to two blowhards talk about how they're gonna fight each other, but the logic only kind of makes sense and then when they do, finally, throw hands, it's over in ten seconds. And just as everyone is dispersing, you see that one of them had secretly been carrying a crowbar with the phrase "SOCIAL COMMENTARY" written on it.

"Hm..." you think to yourself, "I don't know if that would've been better if they'd utilized this secret weapon or not but it sure couldn't have hurt."

EVERYTHING OLD is NEW AGAIN 2

Everything Old is New Again

Vol. 2 - March & April 2018

By: Hunter Bush

For: MovieJawn

Hello there! Welcome to Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 2: March and April, 2018. If you're new to the column, EOiNA is where I spotlight some upcoming films that are inspired in some way by a previously existing concept, work or franchise; remakes, adaptations or long-gap sequels.

How was your January and February? Did you see that Eagles Super Bowl win? I did (Go Birds!). Did you catch any of the Winter Olympics or snag any deep discount day-after-Valentine's Day candy? More pressingly: Did you see any good movies? And hey, were any of them ones I covered in EOiNA Vol.1: Jan. and Feb. 2018? If you did, I'd love to hear what you thought. Leave a comment below why dontcha?

I saw Them Horse Boyz (I mean 12 Strong) btw, and was pleasantly surprised. Not enough Michael Shannon though.



Alright, who's ready to look ahead a bit? There’s a lot, so let’s jump right in.

EVERYTHING OLD is NEW AGAIN 1

EVERYTHING OLD is NEW AGAIN
Vol. 1: January & February of 2018
by Hunter Bush
for MOVIEJAWN

Hello, all and welcome to Everything Old is New Again, my new and improved regular column on Moviejawn dot com! As Jerry Seinfeld once wondered aloud (about Tide detergent no less) "How can something be both New AND Improved?", well I can't speak about Tide, but as far as this column goes, I can actually explain.

Everything Old is New Again is where I take a look at upcoming movies based in some way on an existing intellectual property: Remakes of older or foreign films, Adaptations of stories from other media (most commonly bestsellers, but comicbooks & videogames aren't exactly rare) and Long-Gap Sequels to older films attempting to revive their fanbase. There'll be a lot of speculation and more than a little of my personal opinions as well.

I have, technically does this type of column before on MJ, but it was twice a year (six months apart) and didn't have a fancy title. There were, fair to say, some drawbacks in this format. The first being: I had to sift through a LOT of movie descriptions and trailers (if I was lucky) all at once and then, even after all that, sometimes the movies would get pushed back. Now, I'm not so egotistical as to think that anyone would be bookmarking my li'l old articles as firm proof of a release date, but as any decent person would, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret at having passed on the wrong information. Just so you know, I'm nothing even resembling a Hollywoo Insider, I'm just a guy toiling away over a laptop in a house in South Philly full of spooky bric-a-brac and the smell of good baking, so I'll still not have any control over if the flicks make it to screens (or VOD) when I've said they're supposed to, but in an attempt to keep on top of any last-minute changes like those, Everything Old Is New Again will be gracing your screens every other month.

Thus is it both New AND Improved.

Honestly, I just hope you dig it. Enough preamble, let's dive in.

JANUARY 2018:


5th :

MOLLY'S GAME - Based on Molly Bloom's book, Aaron Sorkin directs and adapts the screenplay about Molly's time running the most exclusive high-stakes poker game in the world. Jessica Chastain & Idris Elba lead the cast as Molly & her lawyer Charlie Jaffey, respectively. This one has the vibe of a pretty standard biopic, with a star-bedazzled cast (Kevin Costner as Molly's father, Graham Greene as the judge and Michael Cera as Player X, a composite of Hollywoo bigwigs like DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck & others) but trying to give to appearance of greater inclusivity. Melissa Strong feels in her review that ultimately Molly's Game falls short. What do you think?

DAY OF THE DEAD: BLOODLINE - This View On Demand remake of the late, great George Romero's 1985 original Day of the Dead seems to follow roughly the same plot: A med student / scientist (Sophie Skelton) hunkered down in a military bunker in a post-zombie-apocalypse world, working on a cure for the zombie virus with a Very Special Zombie (Jonathan Schaech) chained up to experiment on. As you may expect, things don't go well. This remake, from director Hector Hernandez Vicens, isn't getting the best reviews but for a $7 rental fee (on Google Play, Vudu & the Playstation Network) it sure beats braving the chilly aftermath of that Bomb Cyclone to hit a theater, right?


12th :

PADDINGTON 2 - Based on the long-running book series written by Michael Bond and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum starring the very polite anthropomorphic bear, Paddington. In this sequel to the 2014 Paddington, Pads wants to buy a pop-up book of London for his aunt who is also a bear who has always wanted to come to London but can't, so he takes odd jobs. Then the book gets stolen by Hugh Grant who's doing a very Count Olaf-y character (a la Lemony Snicket). Pads gives chase, but gets the slip and the cops think he stole the book so the bear goes to jail. I don't know if this mirrors any plots from any of the books, but with 150+ books since 1958, chances are... maybe? Either way, the tone works for me and with the added zany vibe of Grant's costume-swapping character, I'm sold.


19th :

MARY AND THE WITCH'S FLOWER - Based on the novel The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, this traditionally animated film from Studio Ghibli regular (and Secret World of Arrietty director) Hiromasa Yonebayashi follows the seemingly average Mary (Ruby Barnhill) a young girl who one afternoon finds the titular flowers that give you special, magical powers for one day. She attends what appear to be witch classes, meets Flanagan the talking fox (Ewan Bremner) and becomes integral to an older witch's plot to find the rare flowers. This seems like a pretty standard fairy tale story, but as with anything with that Ghibli pedigree, I am there for it. It also has a solid voice cast (which also features Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent) and some really cool visuals and character designs!

12 STRONG (THE DECLASSIFIED TRUE STORY OF THE HORSE SOLDIERS) - I've seen this trailer a bunch in theaters the past 2 months or so and every time, I'm struck by the thought "This should really just be called Horse Soldiers, that's a better title!". Based on the book (correctly titled Horse Soldiers) by Doug Stanton, this flick has a phenomenal cast, featuring two of my favorite Michaels (Shannon and Pena), William Fichtner, Rob Riggle and Chris Hemsworth (among others) playing the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. I'm usually skeptical of military films and all, but, like, Michael Shannon so... y'know. Yes, gimme them Horse Boys!


26th :

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE - I know next to nothing about these Maze Runner movies, but from the trailer, there appear to be no mazes in this one and honestly not that much running. Based on the book series by James Dashner, the plot appears to be the Maze Runner & his friends (or maybe they're all Maze Runners?), having escaped from an oppressive society run by a company called WCKD, now have to break back in for some reason I didn't really catch. There's dialogue about a cure to a plague that the Maze Runner(/s) are immune to, but I can't imagine WCKD have a cure, as it's implied that Thomas Brodie-Sangster's character Newt will have to decide whether to sacrifice himself to make one, so... why? On the plus side: Walton Goggins, Patricia Clarkson, Giancarlo Esposito & Ki Hong Lee are among the cast. If I'm being honest, while I never like to say something "isn't for me" until I give it a fair shake, The Death Cure just looks soooo much like all these other young adult dystopia movies / book adaptations that it just makes me want to nap. Maybe one day I'll catch them on TV on a Sunday afternoon or something and regret skipping them, but then again maybe not.



FEBRUARY 2018:


9th :

MONSTER FAMILY - Based on the book Happy Family by David Safier, this animated film is the story of a regular-degular human family who mistakenly get an invitation to an all-monsters costume party (where the monsters dress up as humans, you dig?) where they get outed as monster impostors (better title) and cursed by a witch to become the costumes they're wearing. So Mom is a vampire, Sister is a mummy, Brother is a werewolf and Dad is a (farting. Ugh.) Frankenstein's monster and they can't turn back until they're a "happy" family. UGH. This one looks bad, gang. The writing seems immature and lazy: if the Franken-fart wasn't bad enough, there's a bit in the trailer where the Sister mishears another Mummy's name (Imhotep) as "Johnny Depp". UGH. Worst of all, the voice talent is pretty great, with Emily Watson, Jason Isaacs, Nick Frost and Catherine Tate all lending their pipes to ....whatever this is.

PETER RABBIT - If you're the kind of person who thinks things like "Y'know, those timeless children's books by Beatrix Potter sure could use a modern reboot", this may be the movie for you. Also you're a monster and I don't want to know you. For real, there's a scene where Peter Rabbit (voiced by Carpool Karaoke guru James Corden) makes it rain cabbage leaves like he's in a strip club! Get right the fuck out of town with that bizness! Now, I'm not saying this will be awful, but it sure is being presented to the audience that way. Casting Domhnall Gleeson and Sam Neill as your Farmers McGregor is a good choice though and the voice talent isn't lacking: Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie and even Sia, among many others, all voice various critters

THE 15:17 TO PARIS - Based on the book by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone (with Jeffrey E. Stern) this biopic tells the story of the three men foiling a terrorist incident on the titular train in 2015. Clint Eastwood directs Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone as themselves with character actors like Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Jaleel White, Thomas Lennon and Tony Hale playing various parents, teachers and etc. in the more historical autobiographical sections. This one is a bit of mixed bag for me. I like a lot of the people involved but I get some real questionable vibes from this (a Gung-Ho Patriotism vibe and an Award Thirtsy vibe specifically) that kind of leave me cold.

50 SHADES FREED - In this the final (?) film based on the final (?) book in E.L. James' 50 Shades series, Ana (Dakota Johnson) & Christian (Jamie Dornan) are living the married life. They have a gorgeous house (yet are going to have a gorgeous-er one built?) and still enjoy their oh-so kinky lifestyle until... something something kidnapping? Apparently Ana's old boss has some vendetta against her and Christian, both, so he kidnaps Ana's sister. Meanwhile Ana suspects Christian of infidelity possibly due to the reappearance in his life of Elena (Kim Basinger), the woman who first introduced him to BDSM. Cards on the table, y'all. I have never read (and have no plans to read) the 50 Shades books, nor have I seen any of the movies, so when this trailer played in a darkened theater, I honestly didn't know what movie it was I was laughing at. Afterwards when the titled rolled, the realization of what I'd been watching only made it funnier / more outlandish / better. I would consider actually seeing this one, if only because it looks batshit stupid crazy.


16th :

BLACK PANTHER - I am so excited for this movie, fam! Besides adding some much-needed diversity to the Superhero Franchise Blockbuster genre, after Chadwick Boseman's scene-stealing appearance in Captain America: Civil War, I'm so excited for him give BP his own film! Directed by Ryan Coogler, the story looks like it expands on newly King T'Challa (Boseman)'s place in the larger Marvel universe, debuting his home, the hidden land of Wakanda, and a boatload of amazingly-costumed supporting characters (the cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker as well as returning MCU alums Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis). Plot details are scarce, but it seems like a group of T'challa's enemies rise up and attempt to dethrone him possibly? My big takeaway from the trailers is how incredibly sick all the costuming is! Like the Amazons' armor in last year's Wonder Woman, this was a visual itch I didn't realize needed to be scratched until I saw this trailer. Design-wise, comics are an incredibly diverse medium but after a while, it's easy not to notice how similar everything looks. Obviously, that applies to the casts as well, so, on both fronts,  I'm incredibly excited to see Black Panther to shake things up!


23rd :

EVERY DAY - This one looks pretty weird, y'all and I'm ...kinda intrigued. Based on the novel by David Levithan, this is a movie about Rhiannon, a teenage girl whose been having relationship troubles with her boyfriend Justin until one day when they go to the beach and have a heart-to-heart, really opening up to each other. Only that wasn't Justin, it was some kind of wandering spirit called A that can inhabit people's bodies; a new one (wait for it) ... every day. Now A has fallen in love with Rhiannon and has to not only convince her of the truth but also find a way to stay with her. Now, I get the impression that this is gonna lean a little too far into Christian fiction for me (and way too far away from a horror movie, obvs) but I think this one could be a real fun stay-at-home and yell-at-your-TV movie night.

ANNIHILATION - I'm not the only Jawnie who's excited about this one! Based on Jeff VanderMeer's novel (the first of his Southern Reach trilogy), this film directed by Alex Garland (who also adapted the screenplay) follows Natalie Portman who plays The Biologist (no proper nouns appear in the novel) who is part of the 12th expedition into an area (known as Area X in the novel / apparently called The Shimmer in the film) where the laws of nature don't seem to function as we normally experience them. The Biologist's Husband (Oscar Isaac) was a member of the previous expedition and returned seriously ill. The Biologist and other characters played by Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Gina Rodriguez comprise a 12th expedition who explore The Shimmer to find what it is and what is happening within it. This is a killer cast, working with a smart, genre savvy director who isn't afraid to make challenging work, telling a story full of creativity, mood and invention; I will be in theaters for Annihilation!



These are by no means the only Everything Old is New Again -applicable movies coming in the next couple of months, but they're the more widely-available ones and the ones I found most attention-grabbing. What do you think? Any of these you'll be seeking out? Any you'll be skipping?

Article: Remakes, Adaptations and Long-Gap Sequels part 2

————————————————————————————————

The following is my original, unedited article written in June, 2017.

Plus some pictures for added pizzazz.

The final, finished & edited version can be found here at Moviejawn.

————————————————————————————————

Moviejawn 2

Remakes, Adaptations & Long-Gap Sequels Part 2:

The Return of the Revenge (July to Dec, 2017)

By Hunter Bush

This summer, in theaters all across the country, if not the globe, Spider-Man is wall-crawling onto screens for the 7th time in 15 years, meanwhile a (Wonder) Woman carries a comic book movie without the help of a man (neither Super nor Bat), and by the time you read this Apes will be at War for the Planet.

Yes, it’s summer time at the Remake, Adaptation and Long-Gap Sequel roundup and I’m here to break down what’ll be coming at you in the ensuing months. This summer will bring Atomic Blondes and Dark Towers (or at least one of each) and we’ll have the chance to see films based on books, comics, movies (some as much as 35 years old) and even a podcast.

I’ve watched these trailers and wherever possible have researched the source materials in an attempt to discern how closely the films may or may not be sticking to those materials. There will be, fair warning, some speculative spoilers though I promise to try and keep it to a minimum. Also, as with my first article on the subject, I will be using certain words and phrases (‘presumably’, ‘apparently’ and ‘it seems’ and their ilk) a lot so if you’re looking for a drinking game… have at it.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against any specific kind of movies and I’m not throwing shade at any of these films just for being a remake or what have you.

-----------

JULY

-----------

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (July 21) - Based on the French comic series Valérian and Laureline created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières that ran from 1967 to 2010 (at first in a serialized format, and later as a sequence of miniseries), VCTP is director Luc Besson’s take on the immense source material. The listed plot of the film deals with a threat to Alpha, the titular City of a Thousand Planets (meaning a galactic melting pot and meeting place for travelers) that must be found out and defeated by Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) who work as agents presiding over travel through both space and time. The trailers themselves are visual rollercoasters (as you’d expect from the director of The Fifth Element) but don’t give away much beyond that rather vague plot description. Nevertheless, it looks like an absolute blast and a visual spectacle.

The Girl Without Hands (July 21) - Based on a short story collected by the Brothers Grimm (originally Das Mädchen ohne Hände) this animated French language production covers the story’s basics: A Miller makes a deal with the Devil (always a fine idea) for “what stands behind (his) mill”, which the Miller thinks is a tree, but is actually his Daughter (common mistake). Yadda yadda yadda, the Daughter ends up handless rather than become the plaything of the Devil. This adaptation, by Sébastien Laudenbach, is animated in a semi-abstract, ink wash style reminiscent of sumi brush art. It is absolutely gorgeous and I encourage you all to give the trailer a watch.

The Emoji Movie (July 28) - As I mentioned in my previous article, this film is based on the (*shudder*) hit texting phenomenon. Listen, I don’t even know if this technically counts as an adaptation, but I’m listing it because I just can’t wrap my head around it. The exciting-as-dry-toast plot description is as follows: T.J. Miller voices a “multi-expressional” emoji who sets out to become a “normal” Meh. emoji like his parents. Educated guess: he will learn that you should just be yourself and feel how you want to feel, with the help of an all-star voice cast? UGH!

Atomic Blonde (July 28) - Based on the graphic novel The Coldest City by Antony Johnston, Atomic Blonde is a Cold War spy thriller from director David Leitch. Agent Lorraine Broughton (played by Charlize Theron in the film) is dispatched to investigate the killing of a double agent in Berlin. There she is joined by David Percival (another agent, played by James McAvoy) and the two must unravel who killed the double agent as well as track down a missing list of other such agents still in play. Director Leitch co-directed John Wick (sharing duties with Chad Stahelski) so I have high expectations for the action in this flick, though it will be opening opposite The Emoji Movie, which features Sir Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji, so… stiff competition.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (July 28) - The sequel to 2006’s eco-centric documentary An Inconvenient Truth, AIS sets out to bring us up to date on the current state of the world’s global warming problem. Does common knowledge count as spoilers? Cuz if so, Spoilers: things… aren’t great.

-----------

AUGUST

-----------

The Dark Tower (Aug 4) - I’m going on the record right now to tell all you good people that I am wildly excited for this film. The Dark Tower book series is Stephen King’s magnum opus; 7 main novels (plus a cornucopia of related works, spinoffs and adaptations) about one Gunslinger’s quest through a strange, yet familiar world that has “moved on” to reach the titular Tower, with the fate of all things riding on the outcome. Idris Elba is Roland Deschain, last in a long lineage of Gunslingers with Matthew McConaughey as The Man in Black (not Johnny Cash, a different one) the main obstacle to his quest. Along the way Roland meets Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) a boy from our world who has been seeing visions of Roland and his quest for the Tower. Conceptually, King uses an ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ approach to the novels, with horror, high fantasy and several different types of sci-fi all rubbing shoulders therein. The trailers seem to show locations, events and characters from most of the books but not all of them, so your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what will actually end up on screen.

The Glass Castle (Aug 11) - From the memoir by Jeannette Walls, which apparently spent 261 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, this film stars Brie Larson as Walls, and Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts as her dysfunctional parents. The trailer shows the family, which includes Jeannette’s siblings as well, bouncing from place to place just a step ahead of bill collectors, whom Harrelson’s Rex refers to as “the Feds”. The memoir has some very unsettling elements in it, of which I see no trace in the trailer, so it remains to be seen exactly how faithfully the script follows the book. Definite Oscar Bait material here, but the cast, especially Harrelson seem to really be swinging for the fences. Could be worth checking out.

Open Water 3: Cage Dive (August 11) - Just when you thought it was safe to go back in theater… it actually is, because this long-gap sequel to 2006’s Open Water 2 appears to be a direct-to-DVD / VOD release. It seems to fit nicely in the found footage / shark attack niche with the series’ other offerings, following the (inexplicably as always, captured on amateur video) story of a boat party capsized by a surprise squall and what awaits them in the waters. This trailer is the first I’ve encountered in this round-up to use a slowed-down pop song (well, it’s Row, Row, Row Your Boat but you catch my drift) which is a trend I cannot wait to see become passé.

Tulip Fever (Aug 25) - Based on the novel by Deborah Moggach, the film is a (forbidden) love story set against the backdrop of the Netherlands’ 17th century tulip mania (it was a real thing!). Wealthy gentleman Christoph Waltz hires artist Dane DeHaan to paint Alicia Vikander (Waltz’s wife)’s portrait. The two fall passionately in (forbidden) love and attempt to use the booming “tulip market” to carve out a little nest egg for themselves.

Death Note (Aug 25) - based on the much-adapted manga by Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (illustrator), this Netflix original production tells the story of an average boy (Nat Wolff) using the titular notebook to kill people who he decides are detrimental to the world at large. The book is able to do this because it belongs to- and can control- a shinigami (Japanese death spirit) portrayed by Willem Dafoe. Despite the uproar against the whitewash casting, director Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) has a fantastic visual and atmospheric sense and I’m incredibly stoked for this to hit screens. Fingers crossed it has as rad a soundtrack as I’m hoping (another usual for Wingard).

Birth of the Dragon (August 25) - Boy, August 25th seems to be the day to release movies accused of whitewashing (as this was over both casting and story focus decisions). All that aside, this is the story of that one time Bruce Lee had a short, private one-on-one fight with a Shaolin Monk and T’ai chi ch’uan instructor Wong Jack Man in front of a bare handful of witnesses. This trailer is Hot Trash® complete with faux dramatic voice over dialogue and cliche imagery that comes across almost as though it were a fake trailer from a genre-savvy comedy. That said, it just might be a perfect Bad Movie Night group viewing experience.

Polaroid (August 25) - This film sees director Lars Klevberg adapting his own 2015 short film of the same name in which two girls discover an old Polaroid camera in a box during a sleepover. The camera appears to photograph an unseen presence that menaces (and maybe kills?) them. The 2017 version expands upon that by having the camera end up at an antiques store where it is found by another high school age girl, who begins to suspect a strange shadow in the photos it takes is directly linked to the mysterious deaths of the photo’s subjects. Despite the definite Final Destination vibe I got from parts of the trailer, one sequence demonstrating why you can’t just destroy the camera / photos is actually pretty cool.

Crown Heights (August 25) - adapted from a story covered by the This American Life podcast, Crown Heights tells the true story of Colin Warner and his best friend Carl King. After Warner is wrongfully convicted of murder, King devotes his life to getting Warner freed. There’s no official trailer up yet but some footage is available in connection to the film winning an audience award at the Sundance Film festival earlier this year. Lakeith Stanfield is playing Colin Warner and for my money he’s an actor to keep your eye on.

9/11 (August 25) - Based on a play by Patrick James Carson, this film (starring Charlie Sheen! And Whoopie Goldberg! And others!) follows 5 people trapped in an elevator in the World Trade Center North Tower on September 11th. I couldn’t find any footage of this anywhere but I considered it part of my civic duty not to let it go unremarked. This movie exists.

-----------

SEPTEMBER

-----------

It part 1: The Losers’ Club (Sept 8) - It is the story of seven unpopular kids, The Losers’ Club, who confront and seemingly defeat a supernatural evil that has been lurking underneath their small hometown of Derry, Maine. When, 25 years later, they are drawn back home by a tragedy they become aware that they had ultimately failed as kids and ‘It’ is back. This is kind of a unique entry as It is both an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 doorstop of a novel and a remake of the 1990 ABC two-night miniseries event. The novel and miniseries both devote their first halves to the exploits of the Losers’ Club as children (with a bookend sequence of them in adulthood) and this seems to be doing likewise, though the kids’ pre-adolescence has been moved from the late 50’s to the tail end of the 80’s. There will no doubt be some changes as a result of this, for example a sequence where the kids encountered It via a suddenly possessed picture album has been updated to an equally haunted slide projector, but otherwise this adaptation seems to be even more faithful to the source material.

American Assassin (Sept 15) - Based on the book by Vince Flynn (11th in his Mitch Rapp book series, though chronologically the first) AA follows Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) as he is recruited from “normal” CIA black ops service to a special counterterrorism group with the help of a veteran operative played by Michael Keaton to hunt, essentially one of their own, the mysterious Ghost (Taylor Kitsch).

Stronger (Sept 22) - Based on the book by Jeff Bauman about his experiences after losing both legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Bauman, with Tatiana Maslany as his girlfriend and (be still my beating heart) Clancy Brown as his father. Gyllenhaal has been doing fantastic work the last few years and this looks like a remarkable story.

The Lego Ninjago Movie (September 22) - Based on toy line and bolstered by the successes of  2014’s The Lego Movie and this year’s Lego Batman Movie, this 3rd Lego animated adventure sees a group of teens-by-day, ninja-by-night defending the land of Ninjago from all manner of threats including Justin Theroux as the warlord Garmadon who seems somewhat ambivalent that one of the Ninjago teens, Lloyd (Dave Franco) is his son.

Victoria & Abdul (September 22) - Based on the book Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant by Shrabani Basu, Dame Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria and Ali Fazal plays a servant, Abdul. After breaking protocol and making eye-contact with the Queen, Abdul becomes her personal “footman” and over time, her friend. This seems like a fascinating story and the film has an excellent cast (Michael Gambon, Olivia Williams & Eddie Izzard appear as well) my only quibble is the titles in the trailer that read “The Servant Becomes a Teacher” and “The Queen Becomes a Student” which I find not only insulting but wholly redundant.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (September 29) - I wrote about TGC in my first write-up, but had very little to go on. Now, after having moved the release date back a few months, they’ve finally put out a trailer. So. Based on the graphic novel The Secret Service by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, the 2014 Kingsman film followed Taron Egerton as the newest recruit into the Top Secret Kingsman espionage organization. After being betrayed by his mentor (Colin Firth) and narrowly avoiding the mass-murder of the human race via colorful head-explosions, TGC follows the Kingsman across the pond to team up with Stateman, their U.S. counterpart. The trailer displays the same bombastic action and stylized visuals that, I hope, become the trademark of the series. I wouldn’t skip this one for a fun time.

Flatliners (September 29) - Based on the 1990 film of the same name, directed by Joel “Nipples on the Batsuit” Schumacher, this film looks almost identical plot-wise: med school students convene in a basement lab and use a sciency machine with head-diodes to kill each other “momentarily” and “for science” but, as you’d expect, traversing from one side of the life/death divide to the other has some… spooky side effects. This time the cast includes Ellen Page & Diego Luna, but (SPOILERS) this film is being listed as a sequel and not a remake, as I initially suspected, so odds are at the very least that Kiefer Sutherland (star of the ‘90 film) will appear...

-----------

OCTOBER

-----------

Blade Runner 2049 (Oct 6) - Another two-fer similar to It, but this Blade Runner is the 35 years out sequel to the 1982 adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a 1968 short story by Philip K. Dick. The first Blade Runner was a loose adaptation at best, following Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) as he tracks down and “retires” android Replicants for the Tyrell Corporation. BR2049 sees Ford return, as Deckard is brought out of isolation by a younger Blade Runner (a term not present in the short Dick story, for bounty hunters who specialize in replicants) played by Ryan Gosling. The trailer is full of incredible visuals but not a lot to go on, though I get the impression that exploring what exactly it means to be human will be on the menu (a theme prevalent in both DADoES & BR).

The Mountain Between Us (October 6) - Based on the novel of the same name by Charles Martin, TMBU is the story of strangers Dr. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) and Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) who decide to charter a last minute flight out of Salt Lake City that will get them to their destinations in time for Bass to return to his patients and Martin to attend her wedding. Unfortunately the pilot suffers a fatal heart attack and the plane goes down in a mountain range. Now they’ll have to depend on each other to survive the elements. This trailer paints a thrilling picture, I’ve gotta say, and the one perfect tag-line bit of dialogue “We can go 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water and 3 hours without shelter” really hooked me.

My Little Pony:The Movie (October 6) - Based on the TV cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, itself a relaunch of the MLP 1980’s toy / cartoon juggernaut, this latest incarnation will see everyone’s favorite (new generation) Pony’s on the big screen. Rainbow Dash! Twilight Sparkle! Crimley Jambo! Jub-Jub! Ok, I might have made a few of those names up, but regardless, they’ll all team up to protect their home of Equestria from whatever threats it may face.

The Snowman (Oct 13) - Based on the novel by Jo Nesbø the film follows detective Harry Hole (ugh) (Michael Fassbender) as he investigates a seeming cold case that he believes is still active, the titular Snowman. A great ensemble cast including Chloë Sevigny, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, Charlotte Gainsbourg and J.K. Simmons rounds out this thriller that, despite looking rather run-of-the-mill, is from a writer praised for the intellectual nature of his crime fiction.

The Foreigner (October 13) - Based on the novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather (I know, that title is pretty unwoke, but it was 1992, a full 6 years before John Goodman’s Walter Sobchak would remind us all “Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.”) I saw this trailer in theaters before I was aware it was an adaptation and it looks pretty great. Jackie Chan plays Quan, the titular Foreigner, a man whose daughter has recently died in a terrorist attack and who believes government official Pierce Brosnan may know more than he lets on about the terrorists. The two engage in a cat-and-mouse game where Quan’s less than savory past is put to violent use. Jackie Chan playing even half a villain? Sold.

-----------

NOVEMEBER

-----------

Thor Ragnarok (Nov 3) - The latest in the series of films inspired by the Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (Stan’s brother) and artist Jack Kirby in 1962, the trailer shows us Thor (Chris Hemsworth) defeated and his home of Asgard destroyed by Hela (Cate Blanchett). Presumably later, Thor (now sporting a much more GQ haircut) does gladiatorial combat with the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) for an otherworldly audience including Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster. The film’s plot seems to take its inspiration from a number of different comics sources. Firstly, Asgard has been destroyed a handful of times since its creation, some of them directly in connection with Ragnarok (which is based on the Norse concept of creation-wide destruction and rebirth; a natural fit for comics) and/or occasionally involving Hela. The gladiatorial sequence is what interests me most because while Hulk did end up doing time in a combat arena in the 2006 storyline Planet Hulk, he never battled Thor there and the Grandmaster (a cosmic entity with a thing for games) wasn’t involved.

Blade of the Immortal (November 3) - Based on manga series of the same name (originally Mugen no jūnin literally The Inhabitant of Infinity, which ran from 1993 - 2008) by Hiroaki Samura, it tells the story of Manji, an immortal samurai on a quest to kill 1000 evil men, and Asano Rin, a young girl whose family have been rendered outcasts by the murder of her father and his entire dojo. The trailer (live action, btw) seems to follow this plot fairly faithfully and looks to be filled with over-the-top violence, as you’d expect from (gasp!) The 100th Film by Takashi Miike!

Justice League (Nov 17) - The concept for the Justice League of America was created by Gardner Fox in 1960, and while a great number of DC Comics’ assorted heroes have been members from time to time, the line-up of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman (usually joined by Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter) are the core group, Cyborg not becoming a member until 2009. The film’s plot seems to be Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Godot) assembling the others (Henry Cavill’s Superman is conspicuously absent from the trailer) to combat some sort of threat from Darkseid (a really bad guy from the planet Apokalips presumably played by Michael McElhatton).

Murder on the Orient Express (Nov 22) - Y’all better be at least passingly familiar with Agatha Christie’s famous 1934 detective story starring Hercule Poirot in which investigates the titular murder using his sometimes eccentric methods… cuz it’s great. The trailer is fairly brief but gets the plot across, as well as projecting a fairly quirky vibe to the world and performances. The cast, lead by Kenneth Branagh as Poirot also features Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Dame Judi Dench, Olivia Coleman, Penélope Cruz and Willem Dafoe looks stellar.

-----------

DECEMBER

-----------

The Disaster Artist (December 1) - Based on Greg Sestero’s autobiographical novel describing his experiences filming the instant-cult-classic The Room (2003) alongside bonkers auteur Tommy Wiseau, this film stars brothers Dave & James Franco as Sistero & Wiseau respectively and while there isn’t an official release trailer yet the brothers Franco have put assorted bits & bobs online for interested parties to watch. I have to say it looks pretty fantastic and as an unironic fan of whatever-the-hell The Room is (I have many interesting theories) I will be in theaters for this one.

Ferdinand (December 15) - Based on the 1936 children’s book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, which tells the story of Ferdinand the bull who would rather lay around peacefully smelling flowers than stamp, snort and compete. One day, after being stung by a bee he is mistaken for a dangerous, fearsome wild animal and taken to “play in the big game” as it were (in this case, appearing in a bullfight against a famous matador). This computer animated film features the voice talents of my favorite new Ghostbuster Kate McKinnon, former Dr. Who David Tennant and WWE superstar John Cena (as Ferdinand).

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Dec 20) - Based on the children’s picture book by Chris Van Allsberg from 1981 (and with no seeming connection to 1995 film starring Robin Williams (R.I.P.) but, y’know, don’t hold me to that) this reimagining finds four kids doing detention in the school basement / storage shed / what-have-you where they inexplicably find a Jumanji arcade console and get sucked into the game into the bodies of the respective avatars (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan & Jack Black respectively). The big change I can see is that by having the kids drop wholesale into the world of the game we’re losing the magical feeling of the game transforming the players’ reality. Still looks fun.

**********************