The Last Of Us season two begins filming in just a few days, meaning the cast are now joining the crew, arriving in Canada for what you have to assume will be a pretty grueling few weeks. To celebrate the moment, a photo was taken of some of the cast and crew, including Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced and Young Mazino.…
Plot: Jaycen “Two Js” Jennings is a washed-up ex-professional football star who has hit rock bottom. When Jaycen is sentenced to community service coaching the Underdoggs, an unruly pee-wee football team in his hometown of Long Beach, California, he sees it as an opportunity to rebuild his public image and turn his life around. As Jaycen works to transform the foul-mouthed Underdoggs into top-notch champions, he reconnects with his past, including an old flame and a few of his ex-teammates, and rediscovers his love of the game.
Review: Underdog stories have always been popular fodder for movies. Redemption stories about athletes and tales of scrappy kids needing a mentor are equally popular. From The Bad News Bears to Little Giants and The Mighty Ducks, sports comedies have always found success. With The Underdoggs, that appeal is tested by taking the formula that made those aforementioned films successful and injecting them with enough profanity to garner an R rating. Inspired by Snoop Dogg’s love of sports, including his experience as a coach and running a league for underprivileged youth in Los Angeles, The Underdoggs has all the hallmarks of classic sports movies. It also, unfortunately, has all of the cliches as well. With a cast of child actors who seem to be having a blast dropping f-bombs and emulating Snoop himself, this movie is just too generic to be inspirational.
The concept, down to the dee oh double gees in the title, comes from the story pitch with Snoop Dogg and Constance Schwartz-Morini. With Snoop aboard as producer with Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and others, The Underdoggs was originally envisioned as a theatrical release, Snoop Dogg’s first since 2004’s Soul Plane. A shift was made to Prime Video when the producers realized an R-rated comedy would be a hard sell at the post-pandemic box office. This was likely the best decision as the film is not all that funny. The film opens with a disclaimer about the profanity in the film before saying this is how kids really talk and dropping some f-bombs of its own. We then get a crash course in the rise and fall of Jaycen Jennings, a high school football player who makes an amazing catch and parlays it into a college and NFL career. Long looking out for himself, Two Js alienates himself from every team he plays for and is relegated to making a podcast, hoping his agent, Ryan Kaufman (Kal Penn), can get him a commentator role on television. When things don’t pan out, Two Js is involved in a car accident and sentenced to community service in his old Long Beach neighborhood.
Two Js run into his old friend Kareem (Mike Epps), high school coach (George Lopez), and former girlfriend Cherise (Tika Sumpter) while visiting a pee-wee football team in need of a new coach. Realizing that the good PR from coaching underprivileged kids could get him back in the limelight, Two Js anoints himself as their new celebrity mentor. Right off the bat, Two Js learns that coaching is much more challenging than expected. Each of the kids on the team has their own issues they are dealing with, which allows Two Js to give them nicknames in accordance with their issues. There is Ghost (Kylah Davila), who never removes their helmet; Tony (Adan James Carrillo), who drops the ball and thus earns the name Titties; and Cherise’s son Tre (Jonigan Booth), whom Two Js shares a lot in common with. The rest of the kids on the team check off the formulaic cliches every movie like this has, including the nerdy kid, the flashy kid who can’t ball, and the poor kid hiding that he lives in a trailer park. As the challenges ramp up, including the rival team, the Colonels, who are coached by Two Js’ nemesis Chip Collins (Andrew Schulz).
You can tell that The Underdoggs had higher aspirations than a direct-to-streaming debut, as evidenced by the big-name NFL cameos, including Tony Gonzalez, Deion Sanders, Terry Bradshaw, Curt Menefee, Michael Strahan, Howie Long, and Jay Glazer. Aside from some scenes filmed inside the NFL on FOX sets, most of the action in this series takes place on a small football field. Much of the charm of this movie is reliant on Snoop Dogg learning lessons and giving things to the kids both in mentorship and blinged-out swag, like new jerseys sponsored by Raising Canes Chicken Fingers. There is certainly ambition to tell a feel-good story here, but it is stunted by the unnecessary profanity that earned this film its R rating. Snoop plays a lot of himself as Two Js, including unrelenting swearing and weed smoking. While the drugs and kids don’t mix on screen, the swearing loses its charm pretty quickly and cannot hide the weak script beneath it.
The creative talent behind The Underdoggs is shocking in that they didn’t help the finished product become more than a cookie-cutter project with extra swearing. Producers Kenya Barris and Jonathan Glickman (Creed III) have solid track records with successful and well-made films and series, but that does not help this movie. Screenwriters Isaac Schamis and Danny Segal, veterans of Barris’ series Grown-ish and film #BlackAF, mine the countless sports films before The Underdoggs and reuse all their tropes and jokes. Early in The Underdoggs, there is even a direct reference to Emilio Estevez in The Mighty Ducks, so it was not lost on the writers where these ideas came from. Director Charles Stone III made his directorial debut in 2002 with the solid film Drumline before making successful comedies like Mr. 3000 and Uncle Drew while working on the NBC series Friday Night Lights and Kenya Barris series Black-ish and Mixed-ish. Stone is familiar with sports movies and comedies and working with the producers and writers of The Underdoggs. Yet, even he cannot overcome the mediocre material he was given.
The uneven first half of The Underdoggs makes it very difficult to give the movie an opportunity to rise above its weak script, but it starts to find some momentum when Two Js realizes the error of his ways. Still, the kid characters never really get to develop past superficial challenges, and the romance between Two Js and Cherise barely rises above a simmer. Mike Epps seems to be having the most fun of anyone in the cast, and when Snoop Dogg stops trying to act and is just natural, the film works better. Unfortunately, it is a little too late as the ending of The Underdoggs is much better than the movie that came before it. As the end credits played photos from Snoop’s youth football league and shared a positive message about teamwork, sports, and supporting underprivileged kids, I was touched and wondered why there wasn’t more of that in the movie I had just watched. The Underdoggs is mediocre at best despite having its heart in the right place.
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If you’ve ever wanted to visit Hyrule in theme park form, take heart: rumors and speculation are floating around that you might soon be getting the chance to do just that. Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, has been spotted in a video from Universal Studios on-site at one of the parks. It could…
If you’ve ever wanted to visit Hyrule in theme park form, take heart: rumors and speculation are floating around that you might soon be getting the chance to do just that. Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, has been spotted in a video from Universal Studios on-site at one of the parks. It could…
The new spy thriller Chief of Station is set to hit stateside. The film, which stars Aaron Eckhart and Olga Kurylenko, comes from the production companies Bee Holder Productions and Concourse Media Film. The movie has now also secured a distributor as Vertical purchased the U.S. rights and has plans to release the project domestically in May 2024. Matthew Shreder, a producer on the film, says, “Chief of Station is an elevated spy thriller that delivers impressive action, suspense and Bond-esque vibes. Vertical is the perfect partner to bring this film to audiences nationwide and we look forward to seeing them launch it in a few months.”
According to Deadline, in the plot of the film, “Eckhart plays Ben, a former CIA European Station Chief whose world comes crumbling down after his wife, a former operative, dies in a terrible accident. After receiving cryptic information that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, Ben heads back into the shadowy underworld of Eastern Europe, teaming up with a former adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew about his wife and the agency he worked at for more than 20 years.”
Along with Eckhart and Kurylenko, Chief of Station also stars Alex Pettyfer, Nick Moran, Chris Petrovski, Daniel Bernhardt, James Faulkner, Laetitia Eido, Isobel Wood and Nina Bergman. Jesse V. Johnson, who has helmed action films such as Triple Threat, Accident Man and Avengement, directs the spy flick from a screenplay by George Mahaffey, whose credits include Heatseekers. Steve Lee Jones of Bee Holder and Matthew Shreder of Concourse are the producers on the film. The executive producers on board include Jack Christian, D.J. McPherson, Rob McGillivray, Ben Stranahan, Julien P. Bourgon, Matthew E. Chausse, Juliana Lubin, Walter Josten, Patrick Josten, and Joseph Lanius. Co-producers include Tyler Condon, Kevin Human and Evangelo Kioussis.
Vertical’s SVP of Acquisitions, Tony Piantedosi, spoke of the film, “After our recent success working with Aaron on our release of The Bricklayer, we’re looking forward to bringing another must-see film to action fans looking for their next adrenaline hit. And Chief of Station certainly delivers it.”
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A few months ago, right before the horror film Stopmotion had its world premiere screening at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, we learned that IFC Films had acquired North American and select International distribution rights to the film, with the plan being to give Stopmotion a theatrical release before it heads over to the Shudder streaming service. Now we know the exact dates for those releases: the movie will be reaching theatres on February 23rd, then will be available to watch on Shudder as of May 31st. With the release date information comes the unveiling of a trailer, and you can check that out in the embed above.
Aisling Franciosi of The Nightingale and The Last Voyage of the Demeter stars in Stopmotion, taking on the role of Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Suddenly alone in the world, she creates a macabre new puppet film, while struggling to maintain her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her animated film take on a terrifying life of their own, and the unleashed power of her imagination threatens to destroy her.
IFC Films and Shudder are both owned by AMC, and AMC Networks’ Scott Shooman had this to say about the distribution deal: “IFC and Shudder are ecstatic to bring Robert Morgan’s riveting live-action/animation hybrid to audiences everywhere. Stopmotion is excellent as it weaves together a unique, psychological-horror with unbelievable visuals. The film joins the ranks of critically acclaimed titles such as Mad God and The Wolf House – breaking ground for how we perceive stop-motion in horror. We are thrilled to distribute Robert Morgan’s first full-length feature for its theatrical release and presence on our streaming platform, Shudder.“
As Shooman mentioned, this is the feature debut of director Robert Morgan, who also wrote the screenplay with Robin King. Morgan has directed multiple short films over the last thirty years, including the “D is for Deloused” segment from the anthology film ABCs of Death 2.
Morgan provided the following statement: “IFC’s superb back catalogue speaks for itself, and Shudder’s embracing of the weirder and distinctive side of horror cinema means this is the perfect home for my first feature. I’m thrilled to be teaming up with them, and I’m excited to share Stopmotion with audiences very soon.“
Stopmotion was produced by Alain de la Mata and Christopher Granier-Deferre of BlueLight.
What did you think of the Stopmotion trailer? Does this look like a movie you’d want to watch? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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One of the great laments of the Pokémon TCG in 2023 was its return to brutal, unforgiving pull rates. After 2022’s Sword & Shield big finish, Crown Zenith, the Scarlet & Violet era ushered in the guarantee of a holo, but a vast diminishing in the chances of scoring anything better. Sets like Pokémon 151 and Paradox…
One of the great laments of the Pokémon TCG in 2023 was its return to brutal, unforgiving pull rates. After 2022’s Sword & Shield big finish, Crown Zenith, the Scarlet & Violet era ushered in the guarantee of a holo, but a vast diminishing in the chances of scoring anything better. Sets like Pokémon 151 and Paradox…
Kevin Spacey is set to make his first convention appearance next month, appearing at the Mad Monster Party in North Carolina less than one year after he was acquitted of sexual assault charges. However, the reaction from fans attending the convention has been mixed to say the least.
In a Facebook post from Mad Monster, the group announced that Kevin Spacey will be available for a few gimmicky photo ops for fans, “Mad Monster is excited to welcome Two-Time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey (Se7en, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, House of Cards). Kevin will be joining us all 3 days, and he does NOT offer table selfies. We will be offering House of Cards, The Usual Suspects “Line Up,” and Se7en “What’s in the Box?” Pro Photo-Ops.” According to TMZ, the photos – which can only be taken by the professional on-hand – will cost $225.
While some were excited for Kevin Spacey’s con appearance, many expressed their anger with Mad Monster over an apparent support of the actor, whose reputation and career took a nosedive when allegations of sexual assault began coming out publicly in 2017. It’s important to note that while Spacey was acquitted in London courts last year, the two-time Oscar winner will always have that cloud hovering over him.
Really, it is hard to believe that Kevin Spacey is eager to be part of a convention like this, even at this point in his career when he’s essentially Hollywood poison. One imagines that he had to realize this event would draw a ton of scrutiny. And yet there he is on the Mad Monster website, right between The Dukes of Hazzard’s John Schneider and Kiefer Sutherland. It is worth mentioning that Spacey is pretty far down on the website, just barely edging out The Dukes of Hazzard’s Tom Wopat…
Kevin Spacey’s next movie, Peter Five Eight, comes out in March. Given the reaction, we were wondering what our readers felt about Spacey showing up at such a convention. Do you think Spacey is a victim of “cancel culture?” While many are condemning the con for inviting Spacey, doesn’t he still have the right to earn some kind of living given how limited his acting opportunities have become? Does someone like Spacey deserve redemption? These are all loaded questions, so we’re throwing them out to you dear readers.
Let is us in the comments what you think of Kevin Spacey hitting the convention scene and whether you would ever grab a photo with him at this point.
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Back in 2021, a Netflix production called The Mothership was filmed with Halle Berry in the lead role and Bridge of Spies writer Matthew Charman at the helm, making his feature directorial debut. Unfortunately, there have been “multiple delays in post-production” for unspecified reasons… and now Variety has confirmed that Netflix has made the decision to scrap the film instead of completing post-production.
Most people thought it was a questionable move when Warner Bros. decided to scrap the films Coyote vs. Acme, Batgirl, and Scoob! Holiday Haunt for the purpose of tax write-offs, but apparently Netflix thought it was a good idea, since they’ve decided to do the same thing with this project.
If we had the chance to watch The Mothership, we would have found that the story of the sci-fi movie took place one year after the husband of Berry’s character mysteriously vanishes from their rural farm. Now a single mother, Sara Morse and her children discover an extraterrestrial object underneath their home. It (hopefully) leads them to discover the truth about the patriarch’s disappearance.
Berry was joined in the cast by Molly Parker, John Ortiz, Sydney Lemmon, Omari Hardwick, and Paul Guilfoyle.
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger produced The Mothership, with Berry serving as executive producer alongside Gemma Levinson and Daniel M. Stillman.
Despite this mess with The Mothership, Berry is set to work with Netflix again on the Mark Wahlberg action movie The Union, in which “a construction worker is roped into the espionage world by his former high school girlfriend”. Netflix also backed Berry’s 2020 feature directorial debut Bruised, a sports drama about “a disgraced MMA fighter who reconnects with her estranged son and reclaims her power”. After the successful release of that film, Netflix and Berry made a multi-picture deal. As of this writing, Berry hasn’t yet made a comment about Netflix deciding not to finish The Mothership.
What do you think of The Mothership being scrapped, and this new trend of movies being tossed aside after they’ve already been filmed? Share your thoughts on all of this by leaving a comment below.
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