Thursday, August 31, 2017

'You Were Never Really Here' Trailer: Joaquin Phoenix And Lynne Ramsay Team Up For Revenge



Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher, We Need to Talk About Kevin) hadn’t even finished her latest film, You Were Never Really Here, before bringing it to Cannes earlier this year. But it still managed to win Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor award and tie for Best Screenplay with Yorgos Lanthimos’ Killing of a Sacred Deer. At this point, it doesn’t appear that it’s going to hit any of the fall film festivals, but as the international release date creeps up, there’s an incredible new trailer.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

'Blade Of The Immortal' Trailer: Takashi Miike's 100th Movie Looks Appropriately Nuts



Does Takeshi Miike sleep? He must as some point, but it can’t be all that much, the guy is busy. The gonzo Japanese auteur of the outrageous has directed 100 movies. That’s insane. His hundredth, Blade of the Immortal, screens at Fantastic Fest next month and just dropped an appropriately loony new trailer.

'Downsizing' Teaser Shrinks Matt Damon And Kristen Wiig



Shows about tiny houses are all the rage on deep-dive cable home improvement channels. But Alexander Payne’s Downsizing takes that to a whole new level. It’s one of my most anticipated movies still to come in 2017, and it just premiered at the Venice Film Festival. To mark the occasion, we also have a short burst of footage to look at.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

'Brawl In Cell Block 99' Trailer: Vince Vaughn Beats Up A Car In 'Bone Tomahawk' Director's Latest



S. Craig Zahler’s cannibal western Bone Tomahawk is nasty, brutish, and violent. And the director’s follow-up, Brawl in Cell Block 99, looks to take those qualities and transport them to a man-in-prison narrative. Sans cannibalism. Maybe. At least we don’t see any in this first trailer.

'Blade Runner 2049' Short Film Examines Replicant History And Jared Leto's Monotone



It’s been a few years since Ridley Scott dropped Blade Runner in 1982. By the time Blade Runner 2049 hits in October, that’s 35 years. The first film takes place in the still-distant future of 2019, while the long-gestating sequel follows a similar timeline to reality, and occurs 30 later, hence the numerical title. Obviously, that leaves a lot of ground to cover in between the two. To fill in some gaps, check out a short new prequel, Nexus: 2036.

Friday, August 25, 2017

'Housewife' Trailer: 'Baskin' Director Returns To Deliver Even More Horrific Nightmares



Hey horror fans, if you didn’t start paying attention to Turkish director Can Evrenol after his debut, Baskin, you may want to change that. If not, the trailer for his follow up, Housewife, should certainly pique your interest. I’ll wait.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

This Clip From Badass South Korean Revenge Film 'The Villainess' Is Just Sword Fighting On Motorcycles



Frequent readers likely know my proclivity for South Korean action and revenge films. So, yes, you’d be correct to assume I’m rather jazzed for Jung Byung-gil’s The Villainess. It debuted at Cannes in May, but a proper release is almost upon us. Check out a badass new action clip if you need a refresher about why you want to see this.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

'Good Time' (2017) Movie Review



Coming from a studio these days, a film like the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time would likely turn into an action-packed caper. But in the Safdie’s hands—and fronted by a performance from Robert Pattinson that should be in the awards conversation come the end of the year, but probably won’t—it’s a gritty, off-kilter, singularly propulsive crime drama that synthesizes John Carpenter and the French New Wave and showcases New York as a dingy, grimy, overall fucked up and nasty place.

'Five Fingers For Marseilles' Trailer: Check Out This Gritty South African Western



To be honest, most years around this time, I’m bummed I won’t be at the Toronto International Film Festival (or Fantastic Fest for that matter). Money, time, day job, blah, blah, blah. While any number of future awards contenders usually show up at TIFF, it also skews heavily towards the genres and types of grim fare I favor. And this year, holy crap, I really wish I was there to see Five Fingers for Marseilles, a spare, gritty, lovely modern South African western. Check out the trailer below and tell me you’re not into this.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

'Ingrid Goes West' (2017) Movie Review



Though tempting, calling Ingrid Goes West Single White Millennial is low-hanging fruit. While it feels like a natural impulse, and gives a broad-ish understanding of the plot, it doesn’t capture everything; there’s much more than that simple reductive comparison. While not a straight up horror movie, it’s a creepy, awkward dive into the perils of the social media junkie set.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

'The Hitman's Bodyguard' (2017) Movie Review



I have way more complicated feelings about The Hitman’s Bodyguard than I initially expected. On one hand, it’s a modestly entertaining 1980s style action throwback about two-mismatched bros in the vein of Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, 48 hrs., and really any movie of that era where a white dude and a black dude—one stuffy, one impetuous—team up. And it delivers a fair approximation of those movies.

'Beyond Skyline' Trailer: Frank Grillo, Iko Uwais, And Yayan Ruhian Fight Aliens



The 2010 alien invasion film Skyline is not, how to put this delicately, good. In fact, it’s bad. Which is a shame. It had potential, but instead it’s just shitty. It was, however, cheap ($10 million). And it did make some money ($66 million worldwide), but not the kind of scratch that automatically makes one think of sequels. But against all odds, a sequel has been in the works for a while and this trailer for Beyond Skyline has everything I like: sci-fi, Frank Grillo, Iko Uwais, and Yayan Ruhian fighting aliens. Go figure.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer' Trailer Burns This Shit To The Ground



If not the most interesting (read: weirdest) filmmaker working right now, Yorgos Lanthimos has to be near the top of the list, just between Dogtooth and 2015’s The Lobster. So his next offering, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, is obviously one of our most anticipated movies of the year. Especially as it’s been described as a revenge horror. And this first trailer only makes me with is was in my eyeballs right now.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Turkish Horror 'Siccin 4' Drops A Terrifying New Trailer



I’ve said it here before, but it bears repeating and is no less true today, but Turkey isn’t currently fucking around when it comes to horror. Over the last few years, I’ve written about the Siccin movies, and there’s now a bonkers-ass trailer for Siccin 4 to warp your fragile little horror-loving mind. (I apparently missed Siccin 3 somewhere along the line.)

Monday, August 14, 2017

Sean Baker's 'The Florida Project' Trailer Is Full Of Magic And Wonder And Willem Dafoe



Sean Baker’s last film, Tangerine, is one of the best movies of 2015. (It’s also on my list of best movies of the 21st century so far.) Crushing and hopeful, and shot on an iPhone, the story of two transgender prostitutes trying to find a pimp on Christmas Eve is gorgeous and moving and should be required viewing. Based on nothing more than that, I’m all in on his follow up, The Florida Project. And A24 doesn’t often steer us wrong. And then it went and dropped this first trailer and I can’t even.

Friday, August 11, 2017

The 'Ad Astra' Cast Makes Me Wish I Didn't Hate 'The Lost City Of Z'



I’m beginning to wish I didn’t hate James Gray’s The Lost City of Z. Which I despised. A lot. (Usually, if I hate a movie everyone else loves, I can understand the appeal. For instance, I didn’t like Baby Driver, but I get why people do. Z, however, I have no clue why people love it so much. To the point where I want to watch it again because I feel like someone played a prank on me and showed me a completely a different film.)

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

'Annabelle: Creation' (2017) Movie Review



Horror is an odd bird. As much as the genre gets unfairly maligned for quality reasons, it does, admittedly, squeeze out more hack sequels than any other cinematic subset. Take Annabelle for instance, the quick, slapdash cash-grab of a prequel to James Wan’s The Conjuring. It’s not particularly egregious, just bland and uninspired. As opposed to The Conjuring 2, the proper follow-up, where the filmmakers took their time and made a movie that’s actually good, some may argue better than the first. All of this adds up to many folks being surprised that Annabelle: Creation, a prequel to the prequel, is actually a solid horror joint.

'Wind River' (2017) Movie Review



Taylor Sheridan won acclaim for writing recent crime dramas Sicario and Hell or High Water, which afforded him the chance to direct his own script, Wind River. Beginning with the murder of a young woman on an isolated Wyoming Indian reservation, the story follows Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a tracker grieving his own loss, as he helps Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), a newbie FBI agent, stalk the killer. As he says early on, he “hunts predators.”

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

'mother!' Trailer: Jennifer Lawrence Gets Some Terrifying House Guests



A Darren Aronofsky movie, any Darren Aronofsky movie, is enough to get to the theater. The fact that he made a horror thriller, mother!, just sweetens the deal. We saw a quick tease a while back, which is all we really needed. But a full trailer is here, and if you’re into such things, give it a whirl below.

Friday, August 4, 2017

'Boyka: Undisputed' (2016) Movie Review



Fans of direct-to-video action know Scott Adkins well, and know well that he rules over that particular roost. They also know that his Undisputed films sit at or at least very near the top of the mountain in terms of quality, awesomeness, and general badassery. And the long-awaited fourth installment, Boyka: Undisputed, is just the kick in the face that fans have been after.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

The Trailer For Eli Roth And Bruce Willis' 'Death Wish' Is Here



I want to like Eli Roth, I really do. Dude adores horror, and listening to him talk, his enthusiasm is infectious. I love that he champions the genre, but I can’t stand his movies. So when I heard he was remaking Death Wish with Bruce Willis, I cringed. Well, the first trailer is here, and it’s exactly what I expected.