Spider-Man: Homecoming continues to add to its ever growing cast, now with the acquisition of Fargo season 2 star Bokeem Woodbine. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Woodbine joins the cast in a villainous role alongside, Michael Keaton and Logan Marshall-Green both confirmed as villains.
Woodbine is best known for his appearance in Fargo, where he played season 2 antagonist, Mike Milligan. Woodbine’s other credits include, Ray (2004), Devil (2010) and Total Recall (2012).
Woodbine joins recent cast additions, Donald Glover, Martin Starr and Hannibal Buress who will all appear alongside Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei as Peter Parker, Tony Stark and Aunt May respectively.
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is directed by Jon Watts and set for a July 7, 2017 release.
There was no bigger comedy superstar in the 1990s than Jim Carrey. The guy had one helluva 1994, bursting on the scene with the trifecta of Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber spaced evenly across the calendar year. He was on top of the world, and in 1995 his Riddler dominated the incredibly bizarre Batman Forever. Then there was a mediocre Ace Ventura sequel, but it didn’t hurt his star power; the toothy grins and rubber-faced manic genius of Jim Carrey had already defined comedy for an entire decade, so some cash grab sequel wasn’t going to ruin that.
But then, Carrey decided to step away from the goofiest of goofball comedies, turning in his crazy hairdos for a black buzzcut and a lisp in Ben Stiller’s The Cable Guy. He went darker, more threatening, and the shift in persona was too jarring for audiences expecting to see their favorite court jester play lovably stupid again. The result was a middling box office, flaccid reviews, and general dismissal from critics and audiences. The experiment proved to be Carrey’s first true misstep.
The Cable Guy turned twenty this month, and over the years it’s aged better than just about anything in Jim Carrey’s comedy portfolio. Carrey has evolved into an actor with much more than physical comedy in his bag, and the roots of his later diversity trace back to Stiller’s sharp, weirdly offbeat tale of a mentally-unstable cable guy just trying to make a friend.
That friend is Matthew Broderick’s Steven Kovacs. All Steven wants is cable, and what he gets instead is a borderline psychotic stalker named (allegedly) Chip Douglas. Carrey plays Chip as a person we all sort of know, and all know to avoid. He’s the kid in school who aggressively tries to shoehorn his way into cliques or pretends to like things in order to curry favor with literally anyone who takes the time to acknowledge him. He’s the co-worker who finds out you enjoy baseball and subsequently beats you into submission with baseball talk, despite the fact he has no interest in the sport.
In other words, Chip Douglas is an incredibly lonely individual. And that’s what Stiller and writer Lou Holtz Jr. understand with the character. Much like the people we all know in life, what begins as weird can evolve into mockery; you laugh about the guy’s obsessive need to make friends with you actual friends. Then it turns more desperate, less amusing. Then what if it becomes dangerous? Amusement becomes worry, which eventually becomes a desperate sadness. That’s the sort of path The Cable Guy takes, albeit through pitch perfect dark comedy and moments of absurd, heightened reality.
Chip just starts showing up. He calls Steven, he interferes in his life. He makes an appearance at the gym for a pick-up basketball game, which becomes the greatest moment in the entire picture. And if that’s up for debate, it’s between that scene and the dinner scene at Medieval Times, a true time capsule of mid 90s pop culture. Even at the time, Medieval Times was a joke, and Stiller knows this. But he doesn’t play up the absurdity of the scene, he simply allows the audience to snicker under their breath at the exasperation of Janeane Garofalo’s Pepsi wench.
The intrusive acts grow more desperate and threatening, and the film itself grows more ominous. Chip interferes with Steven’s love life. He buys a hooker (unbeknownst to Steven) and stages a party with stolen goods, he sabotages him at work, and his intrusiveness becomes more profoundly damaging than merely an annoyance. There are stark tonal shifts in The Cable Guy, which is often times a recipe for disaster. But here they work perfectly to mirror the fractured psyche of Chip and his increasingly dangerous exploits. The entire film is drab and washed out, creating a sinister foreboding palette which, for 1996 audiences, may have been too much. And it treads into some genuinely frightening waters, none more so than the nightmare sequence.
After twenty years, the film is rather striking and the cinematic language feels precise. This is a lean picture, a comedy shaped by thriller tropes, and Stiller balances everything brilliantly.
The Cable Guy also examines the TV Generation. Adults in 1996 grew up with sitcoms shaping their lives, sometimes more than their own parents, and in Chip’s case being raised by TV was most severe. After some investigation, Steven and his friend (Jack Black) figure out Chip isn’t his name – it’s a character from My Three Sons – and Steven begins piecing together the fractured childhood of his stalker. It invites sympathy into the story right when things are getting almost too bleak. And then there’s the riff on the Lyle and Eric Menendez trial, always on TV in the background. It’s a deft satirical touch and works as connective tissue between the troubled childhood of Chip and the continuous obsession with television.
Carrey has always been a dedicated actor, both physically and mentally. Here, he pushes all his crazy chips to the center of the table and gambles on a challenging role very early in his rising stardom. He may have failed initially. But time is often kinder to films like this, which lives on the fringes of so many genres without falling into the standard identifiers of any of them.
The Cable Guy is deserving of a new life, maybe even a cult following… and wouldn’t that be ironic?
Most of the recent news surrounding True Detective has been negative; the show is basically dead in the water, and season two left sour tastes in most people’s mouths. There are plenty of things HBO can do to revive the series, and it sounds like Matthew McConaughey would be game to reprise Rust Cohle from season one.
In an interview with Rich Eisen for DirecTV, McConaughey discussed season one, and mentioned he’s spoken to Nic Pizzolatto about bringing back the enigmatic cop from the terrific debut season. Under the right circumstances, of course:
Why not? I know HBO’s original plans for True Detective were to move form place to place and story to story, but season two proved they didn’t need to abandon the misadventures of Rust Cohle. Matthew McConaughey’s performance remains one of the very best of all TV performances in recent memory. I doubt any fan of the first season would not be excited to see the character make a comeback.
It would take some tricky contextual storytelling. Unless we went back into the past again, which is unlikely, we’d have long-haired crazy, Lone Star slamming Rust Cohle to deal with. That might be wild in and of itself.
Inferno, Tom Hanks and Ron Howard’s third foray into the world of Robert Langdon, has a full-length trailer. Your mother-in-law is gonna love this movie:
“When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.”
Joining Hanks in Inferno is Felicity Jones, Irrfan Kahn, and Ben Foster, who judging by the trailer won’t last long. This feels like one of the most unnecessary third entires into a franchise that’s never been very good to begin with. But I’m sure there are fans out there.
Inferno hits theaters October 28, so skip your Halloween parties!
The new ‘Ghostbusters’ film has received tons of unwarranted flack before the movie has even been screened, but Fall Out Boy’s remake of the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme song is just horrid and doesn’t help Paul Feig’s cause.
Listen at your own risk:
If you would like to get that nasty taste out of your mouth watch Ray Parker Jr.’s original.
‘Ghostbusters’ makes its long-awaited return, rebooted with a cast of hilarious new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. This summer, they’re here to save the world! The film is produced by Ivan Reitman and Amy Pascal, and written by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig, based on the 1984 film “Ghostbusters,” written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman.
‘Ghostbusters’ will be released in theaters nationwide on July 15, 2016
DC Comics writer Sam Humphries talked about his new book ‘Green Lanterns’ with Monkeys Fighting Robots podcast host Matthew Sardo. The book stars Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz two of the newest Green Lanterns to protect sector 2814. During the conversation about the book Humphries expanded upon the relationships of Simon and Jessica with the Justice League and teased a multi-book crossover that includes Bryan Hitch’s ‘Justice League.’
“I had a great conversation this week with Bryan Hitch writer of ‘Justice League’ and we talked a lot about these two characters (Barry Allen and Jessica Cruz). We talked a lot about the other characters in the ‘Justice League.’ How they’re all going to relate to each other and came up with some pretty exciting ideas. Justice League is going to be an insane book in Brian’s hands. I’m really excited to have Simon and Jessica in the mix, and he’s really excited to write them. There is going to be a lot of cool stuff going back and forth between these two books and some other books in the DC Universe, and I’ve probably already said too much, so there’s your exclusive,” said Humphries.
Humphries also reconfirmed that Batman wants the new mysterious power ring introduced in ‘Green Lanterns: Rebirth.”
“I think Batman and Simone will have some interesting connections to make, and we will be building on that,” said Humphries. “Batman is a strategist, and he is a guy who likes his toys. So, there is a new power ring in play I think it makes sense that he would be very interested in this ring.”
‘Green Lanterns #2’ hits your local comic book shop on July 20.
“RAGE PLANET” Chapter Two: In issue #2, the world descends into rage! Crowds are rioting while Simon and Jessica find themselves powerless to stop the carnage. With their backs against the wall and no other options available, Earth’s rookie Green Lanterns take the fight to the Red Lanterns’ Bleez!
Listen to the complete Sam Humphries interview below:
Tom Hardy is already in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming war epic Dunkirk. Now, it seems he’s heading back into the genre, playing famous war photographer Don McCullin in a film for Working Title.
The film will reportedly be based on McCullin’s autobiography, Unreasonable Behavior. From the Deadline report:
The book is an unflinching account of McCullin’s journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in wartime London to becoming one of the most famous war photojournalists. Working for the Sunday Times from the late 60’s to the early 80’s, he risked his life to photograph the harsh realities of war from Vietnam, Cambodia, to Biafra and Uganda, one black and white image at a time.
Gregory Burke has adapted the book and McCullin is an executive producer. There’s no news regarding a potential director or any costars, but this has potential to get Hardy an Oscar down the road… Not that he seems like the kind of person who’s caught up in all that.
If you’re putting together a big tentpole franchise blockbuster film or a cinematic universe, odds are Dwayne Johnson is somewhere on your list of potential stars. The guy is everywhere, doing everything, and a quick blip in a recent Deadline news story indicates Johnson might be Universal’s first choice for The Wolf Man.
The story was about Dwayne Johnson’s involvement with Son of Shaolin, a graphic novel adaptation he’s producing and potentially starring in. But in the article was a rumor that Universal wants The Rock to join their new Monster-verse: “[T]here are persistent rumors Universal wants him howling at the moon when it gets around to the Wolf Man movie that is part of its classic monsters franchise revival plans.”
So they’re rumors, but hey they’re persistent. Universal is kicking off their new Monster Universe next year with Tom Cruise in The Mummy, and The Wolf Man has been rumored in the past to be the next one in line. Dwayne Johnson would be a good option because, frankly, he’s a good option for just about anything. But, I do wonder how a yoked Larry Talbot will look in this new universe.
San Diego Comic Con is around the corner and the trolleys are wrapped promoting the fourth season of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’
The blazing chain in the promotion is reminiscent of Ghost Rider and it would be an awful idea to introduce the character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on network television. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. started off as a cute idea but has since been a thorn in the side if the MCU by destroying the origin of the Inhumans. As a fan of Clark Gregg and Agent Coulson, I feel bad that he’s stuck in a wasteland of a show. If the ABC show was decent you would expect Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to reintroduce fan favorite Coulson back into the films, but that has yet to happen. Furthermore, with the addition of the MCU on Netflix the bar has been raised on the cinematic expectations on television and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just doesn’t make the cut.
There has been no official announcement from Marvel Studios that Ghost Rider will be introduced on the show, as comingsoon.net points out a Hellfire chain was the weapon of choice for the Secret Warriors‘ character J.T. James, aka Hellfire. James made his television debut, played by Axle Whitehead, on the series last year.
Ghost Rider is a character that needs a Netflix series to properly introduce and understand the complexities of his world. Also, he’s a dark character by nature and to put him on ABC would an injustice far worst than Nicholas Cage as Johhny Blaze. Now that Marvel has the rights to the character, let us treat him with the respect and dignity that Ghost Rider deserves and keep him as far away from the abomination that is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
We are not sure where Mephisto’s film rights fall as his first appearance was in Silver Surfer #3 (December 1968), and Silver Surfer is controlled by 20th Century Fox.
If you are watching Robert Kirkman’s Outcast on Cinemax (and you should), the horror-religious element would be a perfect template for a Ghost Rider series on Netflix.
Do you want to see Ghost Rider on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or would you rather the character get its own Netflix series.
Between ‘Jaws’ and ‘Deep Blue Sea’ Lies The Intense Fun That Is ‘The Shallows’
I admittedly love shark movies. Hoping to get something with more substance than 2003’s ‘Open Water‘, there was a happy surprise to see that ‘The Shallows‘ is campy horror that knows exactly what kind of film it is.
The story is simple: Blake Lively plays Nancy Adams, a young girl with a heavy heart and a need to find peace. She believes surfing this hidden spot in Mexico is the way to that peace. What she finds is a great white shark who doesn’t enjoy her entering his feeding area. Stranded on a rock, she fights nature & a shark to survive.
My biggest compliment has to be the way it strings together different elements of the horror genre. Intense gore, great suspense, and some jump scares can be found within this film. ‘The Shallows‘ also leaves room for some genuine humor within this twisted situation. Summer horror films needs to have this sense of dread while remaining entertaining; this is something not many films do well but director Jaume Collet-Serra pulls it off. He totally used the most of his PG-13 rating.
Also, the breathtaking cinematography from Flavio Labiano has to be noted. I can recall many times where I was just taken back with how jaw-dropping the scenery was or applauding sleek stylistic shot choices. The scene where Nancy is first attacked and the water turns red; the entire scene becomes red and you instantly feel the pain and panic. All the masterful work from Labiano is showcased from beginning until the very last frame.
“What was once in the deep is now in the shallows”
Blake Lively really impressed throughout the film. While her exposition scenes are clunky, Lively’s “fish out of water” All-American girl character was perfectly used here. That is until her survival instinct kicked in & we saw her go from bubbly girl to a determined mad-woman. There was a quirk the creators gave her and that was this medical background. It was hinted her character wanted to drop out of med-school but that training is what kept her alive during this ordeal. Filling dialogue within the film, the character Nancy Adams would verbally walkthrough her self-performed medical procedure step-by-step. Lively also worked well with her seagull sidekick…told you got it a little campy at times.
Now it’s time to talk about the shark.
The shark films of recent have relied heavily on their computer generated creatures. While obviously the good chunk of the shark’s screen-time was CG, the practical moments were superb. Animatronics or prop effects used in 70’s masterpiece ‘Jaws‘ still have a place within the film world so there’s admiration for seeing it used here. That’s not to take away from the visual effects as they were stellar. In particular when it came to the epic ending fight scene.
Many will call them over-the-top but the underwater sequences were the most suspenseful moments. The build up to the shark attacks was slow; the audience was treated beautiful surfing shots with fake-out scares along the way. A great one being a slow brooding build & it just turns out to be adorable dolphins. When you finally see the shark underwater, you’re sucked into the moment.
Final Thoughts:
Look, you don’t go into a film like this knowing the story will be the shining star but the script was backed by original thrills & stunning visuals. The third act becomes a bit slow but all of the earlier exposition paid off with emotion and plot development.
I have to recommend this fin-tastic horror film.
‘The Shallows‘ comes out June 24th, 2016. Starring Blake Lively and Óscar Jaenada.
