From side-scrolling Metroidvanias to upbeat, humorous soulslikes, from the depths of the sea to the stars above, this week’s reviews run the gamut. Read on to find out what we thought of this week’s releases.

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From side-scrolling Metroidvanias to upbeat, humorous soulslikes, from the depths of the sea to the stars above, this week’s reviews run the gamut. Read on to find out what we thought of this week’s releases.

Read more…

If you were a kid growing up in the ’80s, one thing was true. Video games were the spawn of Satan. Okay, we know that isn’t true. But our parents? Adults were terrified of your Atari and your Nintendo, and filmmakers made all sorts of movies that painted games in a negative light. In Wargames a nuclear war was damn near started! While there were plenty of films that understood the imagination and the creative spirit that video games could foster, such as Tron and The Last Starfighter for examples, there’s also a film such as Cloak & Dagger, which goes to some really dark territory to teach  a lesson to kids that, honestly, everyone could stand to learn.

Cloak and Dagger starred Henry Thomas. Y’know, the E.T. kid (who we recently profiled on WTF Happened to this Celeb), who grew up to become the Suicide Kings dude and the Midnight Mass guy. He plays 11-year-old Davey, a lonely kid who retreats from his troubled life into an espionage video game called Cloak & Dagger. His father Hal is a military man who is gone for long stretches, and his mom is dead. So Davey is all alone most of the time. A true latchkey kid, his only real friend is his imaginary pal Jack Flack, an American spy who, like Davey’s father, is played by the great comedian Dabney Coleman.

The decision to have Coleman pull double-duty on Cloak & Dagger was genius, for reasons that become clear later. The unkillable, unflappable Jack Flack manifests in the real world, which is convenient timing. Helping out a local video game dude, and look at this dude and what a stereotypical dork he resembles, Davey and his nosey neighbor friend Kim witness and FBI agent’s murder. But before the guy dies, he hands them a Cloak & Dagger game with a secret microchip in it that others are willing to kill for. And kill they do, because people die all over the place in this grim grim adventure for kids. Starting with that poor video game dude, who was never given the chance to evolve past his stereotypical looks.

But others die, too. And that’s sorta the point, because it’s Jack, supposed hero, who drags Davey into being just as violent as he is. Cloak & Dagger has all of the trappings of a fanciful spy movie for kids, but it’s actually a lot smarter than that. Jack tries to get Davey to be just as violent as he is. But Davey’s a good kid. His gun is a water pistol and he uses a baseball as a grenade, for Pete’s sake. But after Jack tricks him into killing one bad guy, it begins to dawn on the kid that hey, this violence stuff kinda sucks! He begins to understand that all of the make-believe violence of his video games is actually quite horrific in real life. And that part of being an adult is learning to find other solutions to problems. Crucial to Davey’s understanding is who the real heroes are. Jack Flack is admittedly dashing and funny and every kid’s dream idea of a hero, but it’s his father, a hard-working military guy who works hard to take care of his family, is what a true hero looks like.

Awwwwwww. I know, right? But let’s be honest, there are some adults out there who could stand to learn these lessons even now. Still, this is a really clever script from writer Tom Holland, who Joblo fans might recognize as the writer and director of other classics, Fright Night just a year later, and Child’s Play in 1988. This guy made one Hell of a mark on a lot of kids in the ’80s, and I personally don’t think he gets enough credit. “Leave when they stop believing”, Jack Flack always says, and it’s genuinely sad to watch the imaginary agent fading away as he realizes Davey doesn’t need him anymore. Holland doesn’t save this crucial learning moment for the end of the movie. The mission is still on, and suddenly Davey is all alone to rescue Kim, keep the cartridge safe, and save the world. Honestly, this is when the movie actually does start to feel like a movie for kids, as Davey uses more playful subterfuge. It’s still deadly dangerous, but the tone is definitely less dark at this point.

The film was directed by the late Richard Franklin, and I won’t pretend he does anything particularly novel here. His direction was pretty basic, with Holland’s screenplay doing most of the heavy lifting. But Franklin is another director who had his moment and made a mark with films such as F/X2, Psycho II, and the bizarre ape horror Link. A devotee and scholar of Alfred Hitchcock, Franklin has appeared in multiple documentaries on the legendary director and like him, steered his style towards psychological thrillers and tense character studies, of which Cloak & Dagger is both.

Franklin does prove pretty good at capturing chase sequences, though, and there’s a good one with multiple facets to it later in the movie. Set in San Antonio, there’s a tense chase set at the busy River Walk, where Davey eludes capture, hopping on and hopping off of boats, befriending a dubious elderly couple, while the bad guys are in hot pursuit and shooting to kill.

I used to look at Henry Thomas as the Elijah Wood of his day. He seemed to be more mature than other child actors, and I’m unsure that anyone else could’ve handled such a complicated film as Cloak & Dagger. His Davey is really put through the wringer, and gets taught some harsh lessons with his life on the line. But the real star of the show is Dabney Coleman. Yes, he was in WarGames, too, but the future Slap Maxwell was one of the most brilliant comedic actors around, and he had the chance to show what he could do as a James Bond-level superspy. He had the tough task of playing the flashier version of a regular guy, which also meant having two very different kinds of interaction with Henry Thomas. The two are wonderful together, and it’s interesting to watch their chemistry remain intact as Davey pulls away from Jack Flack, and begins to listen more to the teachings of his father.

As for the video game at the heart of this deadly spy plot? Well, it’s a real thing. However, the Cloak & Dagger video game was only in the arcades at the time, so they basically faked it so it looked as if Davey was playing it at home. A home version was eventually released in 2022, nearly 40 years later, in the Atari 50 compilation.

Cloak and Dagger was released in  1984 during the summer Olympics, with Universal figuring that kids would skip the Games and go to the movies, instead. That plan didn’t really work out as the film only made $9.7M at the box office. It became a bigger hit later on VHS and on cable television, although it’s a tough one to find now. I recently hosted a special screening of the film at Alamo Drafthouse here in DC, trying to introduce it to a new generations of fans. You should check it out, too. Cloak & Dagger is a really special coming-of-age movie that combines childish wish fulfilment, deadly action, pathos, and emotional growth into a nifty spy movie. It’s still shocking to me that there hasn’t been a remake yet, but that makes seeing the original even more meaningful.

The post Cloak and Dagger: Henry Thomas’s OTHER 80s classic appeared first on JoBlo.

Is there any current director who is more controversial than Zack Snyder? It’s wild how divisive a figure he is, with his fans nearly cult-like in their devotion, while his detractors are just as fervent. Here at JoBlo, we’ve always been ardent supporters, even if we haven’t unquestioningly praised all of his films. Thus, we thought it would be interesting to do an all-around ranking of his films (although we’ve left the animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole off the list). So, without further ado, here’s our ranking from worst to best.

Sucker Punch:

I’ll admit to not knowing precisely what Snyder was trying to pull off when I saw this movie in 2011. It remains the most obscure of his live-action films. It is a tough nut to crack, being that it’s a fantastical, hyper-surrealistic fantasy centred around a woman’s flight into fantasy as she’s committed to a mental asylum. It has many classic Zack Snyder hallmarks, and I’m sure some of his most devoted fans consider it underrated. He has teased doing a Snyder cut that would emphasize the musical elements toned down by the studio, so it’s possible that cut might be an improvement. But, for me, this is his least successful film.

Army of the Dead:

I’m not sure any zombie movie needs to be 150 minutes, but Snyder wanted to make an epic for his first Netflix flick, and he did. While it was (predictably) slammed by his detractors, the action in the film is intense, and Dave Bautista is a great lead. It’s worth noting that Fallout star Ella Purnell got her start fighting zombies in this one, and it did manage to spawn a pretty fun heist film follow-up, Army of Thieves. 

Rebel Moon:

This one comes with a caveat, as I think the two “Snyder Cuts” coming this summer will make this a much better sci-fi epic than the PG-13 version we got. I’m counting this as one movie, although I must admit that I found the first instalment, A Child of Fire, much more compelling than The Scargiver, which I wasn’t crazy about. Hopefully, the “Snyder Cut” makes a significant difference, so when it comes out we’ll revisit this list.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League:

To some, this remains Snyder’s ultimate achievement, as it was infamously taken out of his hands and largely reshot by the now cancelled Joss Whedon, which has since gone down as one of the worst decisions in modern studio history. “Restore the Snyder Cut” became a movement, especially during the early days of the pandemic when, let’s face it, none of us had anything better to do. While I liked the Snyder Cut, I would be curious to see what he would have delivered had he not been removed from the project initially, as there’s no way he intended to give Warner Bros a four-hour movie. I can’t help but think a slightly punchier version would be an improvement, although it’s a million times better than the horrible Whedon version.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:

Interestingly, last week, we published a poll asking readers what their favourite movie of his was, and it was one of our most popular polls in a while. Shockingly, the winner (by a landslide) was this, a movie whose reception was so controversial that, in many ways, it cost Snyder his place in the DCEU. It’s cool to see a film go from being universally loathed to loved, but likely the fact that the three-hour “Snyder Cut” is so much better played a role in its enhanced reputation among fans. We all agree on two things: the score is incredible, and Ben Affleck is one heck of a good Batman, no matter what anyone says.

Man of Steel:

Speaking of good casting, Henry Cavill’s treatment by WB has to go down as one of the most inexplicable studio decisions on record, as he was a great Superman (easily the best since Christopher Reeve). Many fans didn’t like Snyder’s darker treatment of the character, which ended with an infamously violent climax that saw the Man of Steel kill Michael Shannon’s General Zod. Still, I maintain that the people wanting a happy-go-lucky Superman in the vein of Richard Donner are misguided. Bryan Singer tried this with Superman Returns, and audiences stayed away. Maybe James Gunn will have better luck, but in my opinion, Snyder is the only director (so far) to nail a modern Superman movie.

Watchmen:

Fans eagerly anticipated Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel, but its box office (and critical) reception was underwhelming. Time has been kind to Snyder’s well-cast adaption, with Jackie Earle Haley a standout as Rorschach. My only issue is that Snyder uses too many needle drops, with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during the Nite Owl/ Silk Spectre II love scene being particularly silly. Nevertheless, it’s about as good of a big-screen adaptation of Moore’s work as we ever could have expected. 

Dawn of the Dead:

Like many, I was dead set against a remake of George A. Romero’s classic zombie flick, but Snyder made himself a director of note when he nailed the adaptation. It’s incredibly well-cast and possibly his most propulsive movie to date, with it holding up as one of the better modern zombie flicks, with the highly nihilistic ending being one that will stick with you for a while after.

300

What else could it be? While some believe 300 hasn’t aged particularly well, with the then cutting-edge technology seeming quaint seventeen years later, it was massive when this came out in 2007. It made Gerard Butler a star, put Michael Fassbender on the map, and turned a whole new generation onto the work of Frank Miller. It also proved there was a massive audience for R-rated fantasy epics, paving the way for HBO’s Game of Thrones. 

What do you think of our rankings? Let us know in the comments!

The post Zack Snyder Movies Ranked: From Worst to Best appeared first on JoBlo.

With folks flocking back to the Appalachian wastelands of Fallout 76, we’ll help you survive and thrive with some great builds. We’ll also help you optimize your build in Mario Kart, make Cait Sith crush it on the battlefield in FF7 Rebirth, and more.

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With folks flocking back to the Appalachian wastelands of Fallout 76, we’ll help you survive and thrive with some great builds. We’ll also help you optimize your build in Mario Kart, make Cait Sith crush it on the battlefield in FF7 Rebirth, and more.

Read more…

The summer movie season officially kicks off next weekend with the release of the big-budget tentpole flick, The Fall Guy. Pretty soon, theaters are going to be jampacked with megabudget blockbusters, so we want to know what you think is the best movie of 2024 so far. Is it Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two? Or do you prefer more under-the-radar fare like Late Night With the Devil, or even the streaming hit Road House? Take the poll and let us know!

The post Poll: What’s The Best Movie of 2024 (so far)? appeared first on JoBlo.

Stanley Kubrick was a peculiar man and so it’s really no wonder that his list of favorite films is so diverse. There are works by Welles and Chaplin and Bergman, but he also dug White Men Can’t Jump and The Jerk. Kubrick, too, apparently took to True Lies – so much so that he sat director James Cameron down and asked just how he pulled it off.

Back in the ‘90s, James Cameron decided to give himself a special 40th birthday present: the chance to meet Stanley Kubrick. And so after he gave him a call, he finally did so, encountering the legendary director between Full Metal Jacket and what would be his final film a few years later, Eyes Wide Shut. But Cameron was in for a surprise, as Kubrick was less interested in expounding on the depths of 2001: A Space Odyssey or playing chess but rather discussing Cameron’s most recent movie. As Cameron recalled, “So I went to see this reclusive guy knocking around this big house and he just totally wanted to know how True Lies was made. He had a print of it on his KEM down in his basement, and made me sit there and tell him how I had done all the effects shots. So I spent the whole time talking about my movie with Stanley Kubrick, which was not where I thought the day was going to go.” But Cameron found a lesson in his sitdown with Kubrick, adding, “But I want to be like Stanley, I want to be that guy. When I’m 80, I want to still be the guy trying to figure it all out.”

Kubrick may have been such a huge fan of James Cameron’s True Lies that one moment in Eyes Wide Shut is nearly identical to the 1994 action flick, with one character intimately asking another, “Do you like the period?” to which their partner responds, “I adore it.”

If he was blown away by True Lies (Cameron’s best, in my opinion), one can only wonder what Stanley Kubrick would have thought of the Avatar movies and what they did for sci-fi cinema and special effects.

Stanley Kubrick was always an immensely – and intensely – curious guy, not above calling younger filmmakers to learn their secrets. Another example found him giving Ridley Scott a ring to find out how he pulled off the famous chestburster scene in Alien, a moment that gave Kubrick one of his biggest scares at the movies.

It must be humbling and bizarre to have one of cinema’s masters grilling you for behind-the-scenes revelations. But that Kubrick stayed curious enough despite having helmed some of the finest examples of film’s key genres is pretty incredible and surely a moment that James Cameron could never forget.

The post Stanley Kubrick once grilled James Cameron about True Lies appeared first on JoBlo.

Foxy Brown may be the meanest chick in town and Coffy the baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit it, but Pam Grier is one of the most down-to-earth actresses on the planet. Still going 50 years into her career, Grier has worked with some premiere directors, most of whom wanted to collaborate because they were fans of her iconic work in the ‘70s. Take John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, for example, who directed Grier in 1996’s Escape from L.A. and the next year’s Jackie Brown, respectively. But who does Pam Grier prefer when it comes to these genre-loving filmmakers? Oh, she knows what’s goin’ down!

Comparing both John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier said, “Quentin is more reality, John is fantasy. Because he got me to play Hershe Las Palmas, where I was a female actor playing a man who becomes a woman,” referring to her character in Escape from L.A., although we shouldn’t neglect that she appeared in 2001’s Ghosts of Mars as well. “So they’re both unique in so many ways, and I was honored to work with both of them.”

Still, for Grier, it’s Tarantino that takes it. While she did respect that John Carpenter is a musician, she just clicks with Quentin Tarantino. “Quentin watched all my videos, and he and I can talk movies for three days, five days. Just style, black and white. Everything that he taught me to be a filmmaker as I’m going to direct and produce. But the fact that there’s things that we missed, and he does not. Quentin can find the smallest essence of a word, dialogue, a bell bottom, a shoe…and when he [referenced] me in Reservoir Dogs – c’mon now. How’s he going to bring Foxy Brown in Reservoir Dogs, a show full of men and named after colors…?”

We all know that Tarantino is a massive Grier fan, but did you know that he even opened up a coffee joint next to his Vista Theater called, appropriately enough, Pam’s Coffy? Grier, too, has had nothing but positives about her director, recognizing his ability to take an actor to somewhere they’ve never been and channel a part of themselves that they have yet to put on the big screen.

But Carpenter and Tarantino aren’t the only great directors that Grier has worked with. How can you forget the likes of Jack Hill, Jack Clayton, Tim Burton, and so many more?

Who is your favorite director that Pam Grier has worked with? Who got the most memorable performance out of her? Drop your pick below.

The post Pam Grier compares Quentin Tarantino and John Carpenter appeared first on JoBlo.

It’s been a long time coming, but a remake of the 1994 film The Crow (which was based on the comic book series created by James O’Barr) will finally be making its way out into the world on August 23rd, which is when Lionsgate will be giving the film a theatrical release. With that release date swiftly approaching, we figured we should gather together all the information we have on this movie… and here it is, Everything We Know About The Crow Remake:

DEVELOPMENT HELL

When the original The Crow was released, it was successful enough to spawn a franchise, with three sequels following over the next eleven years. We got The Crow: City of Angels in 1996, The Crow: Salvation in 2000, and The Crow: Wicked Prayer in 2005, with several other potential sequels (including one that would have been written and directed by Rob Zombie) being developed and scrapped along the way. But in 2008, the producers shifted gears. Rather than move forward with another sequel, they announced they would be making a “reinvention” or a “remake.” The first director attached to the project was Blade director Stephen Norrington – but he was far from the last. For the next decade, filmmakers would drift in and out of the world of The Crow while the project got bogged down by creative differences, scheduling issues, studio disagreements, and even the bankruptcy of a production and distribution company.

After Norrington left the project, directors Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, F. Javier Gutierrez, and Corin Hardy came and went. Multiple drafts of the script were written by the likes of Norrington, Nick Cave, Alex Tse, Jesse Wigutow, Cliff Dorfman, and even James O’Barr. The plan was always to have Eric Draven, the character Brandon Lee played in the original film, at the heart of the film. This is a retelling of his story. And actors who were either signed on to play Eric or considered for the role over the years include Mark Wahlberg, Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Ryan Gosling, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, Alexander Skarsgard, Luke Evans, Jack Huston, Nicholas Hoult, Jack O’Connell, and Jason Momoa. Kristen Stewart was considered for the role of Eric’s girlfriend Shelly Webster, whose murder he sets out to avenge. Jessica Brown Findlay was cast in the role at one point. Norman Reedus and Forest Whitaker were up for supporting roles. Andrea Riseborough was going to play a female version of the villain Top Dollar. None of this panned out.

DIRECTOR AND SCRIPT

The creative team that was finally able to get The Crow remake into production in 2022 was headed up by director Rupert Sanders, who previously directed Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell. Sanders told Vanity Fair that he was drawn to the project because it was an “opportunity to make a dark romance, something that dealt with loss, grief, and the ethereal veil between life and death and reaching through that. Look, I grew up listening to Joy Division and The Cure, and this movie is a bit like a Cure song—the beauty of melancholy.” The initial draft of the screenplay was written by Oscar-nominated King Richard writer Zach Baylin, with William Josef Schneider stepping in to handle revisions.

While Eric Draven and Shelly Webster were murdered right up front in the original film, the approach Sanders and the writers took for the remake was to build up their romance before the violence. We can expect to see Eric and Shelly’s love story play out for a while before danger enters their lives… but, of course, they are eventually killed, and Eric rises from the dead to seek revenge.

Here’s the official synopsis: Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgard) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.

CAST

Although Alexander Skarsgard was an Eric Draven contender in the past, the final choice for the role ended up being his younger brother Bill Skarsgard, best known for playing the evil clown Pennywise in the recent adaptations of Stephen King’s It. While Eric was a goth rocker in earlier versions of the story, the remake gives the musician a new style that’s partially inspired by modern real-world musicians Post Malone and Lil Peep (along with Sanders’ personal style when he was squat-raving in London back in the day). This look has proven to be quite controversial with a lot of The Crow fans – but this project has been controversial from the start, since many fans aren’t exactly enthusiastic about seeing the Eric Draven story retold.

Singer/songwriter FKA Twigs was cast as Shelly Webster, the love of Eric’s life. Danny Huston (the uncle of Jack Huston, who was once attached to play Eric) plays the villain, with the supporting cast including Isabella Wei, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, Jordan Bolger, and David Bowles.

TRAILER AND STORY INFO

A trailer for The Crow remake dropped online in March, and that can be seen in the embed above. Another trailer, which revealed more about the story, was shown to attendees of the CinemCon event in April – and JoBlo’s own Lance Vlcek was there to see. Lance wrote in that attendees were told this version of The Crow is “a complete re-imagining that is not meant to compete with the original. The Lionsgate rep made mention how the original graphic novel is different than the beloved movie and made a point that the trailer was divisive, but they want to tell this story for a new generation.” As for what was shown in the new trailer, Lance said, “An afterlife way-station where a man (David Bowles) gives him the rules. Reminds me of the Skull Cowboy (not in look, as Bowles looks like a normal guy) but in terms of explaining the rules and what needs to be done. Shelly Draven is heading ‘down,’ hinting she’s heading to a dark place and that if Eric wants her back, he must ‘Put the wrong things right.’ It’s here he gets the power of the Crow and he assignment on how to fix things and bring Shelly back. He heals slowly, and he feels everything. It’s a pain he must bear in order to go through the ‘mission’ of taking down the crime family who killed him and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs). There is a big focus, like in the first trailer, about how Eric will be going through a lot of pain, and be a very violent and aggressive character while getting revenge. It has that new action style that John Wick and similar movies have made popular. It had a bit more focus on the love between Shelly and Eric, and it looks like maybe the first act is their story. Meeting in a corrections facility, getting out and starting a life together. We don’t get any new info on the bad guys or exactly what transpired that ended both of their lives.“

This all lines up with SPOILER information that surfaced online at the end of last year. Someone who caught a test screening reported that the film is very different from the James O’Barr source material, carrying over only a few characters and the basic concept. They said the film has a very slow pace and vibe reminiscent of Drive or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Eric / Shelly love story is the focus for the first act, but then Danny Huston is introduced as a powerful businessman with supernatural abilities – and Shelly and Eric are murdered after Shelly witnesses him using those abilities. When the resurrected Eric sets out for revenge, he still feels pain from the wounds he receives and his healing abilities are much slower than those demonstrated by Brandon Lee’s version of the character. They also said that he doesn’t fully obtain the traditional “The Crow” look until the final act of the film – but whether he has that look or not, Bill Skarsgard is said to deliver a great performance.

ALEX PROYAS

Alex Proyas, the direct of the 1994 film, has let it be known that he is not happy that the producers decided to move ahead with a remake. He has mocked the look of the new Eric Draven and, when the first trailer was released, he dismissed the new film as “Crow Wick.” He went on to explain, “I really don’t get any joy from seeing negativity about any fellow filmmakers work. And I’m certain the cast and crew really had all good intentions, as we all do on any film. So it pains me to say any more on this topic, but I think the fan’s response speaks volumes. The Crow is not just a movie. Brandon Lee died making it, and it was finished as a testament to his lost brilliance and tragic loss. It is his legacy. That’s how it should remain.“

And that’s everything we know about The Crow remake. Not everyone is happy that it exists, but we’re getting it nonetheless, and it’s going to be in theatres very soon. So leave a comment below and let us know – are you looking forward to this movie?

The post Everything We Know About The Crow Remake appeared first on JoBlo.