It’s a big day here at JoBlo.com because our YouTube channel, JoBlo Originals, has officially surpassed the 900,000 subscriber mark! That’s a ton of subscribers, and we’d like to thank every single one of you who has taken the time to sign up. We’re an independent company (one of the last in this industry), and we appreciate your support.
Of course, passing 900k puts us well on the way to our next big hurdle, the ONE MILLION SUBSCRIBERS mark. That would be a major milestone for us and one we won’t be able to pass without your help. If you enjoy our content, please consider heading over to ourYouTube Channel, and hitting that subscribe button. If you’re new to JoBlo Originals, let us tell you a bit about the channel.
JoBlo Originals is our flagship channel for original content. We started it way back in 2017 with just a handful of shows, and since then, it’s just grown and grown. We currently post original videos each and every day (including weekends), and some of our most popular shows include What Happened to This Movie, What Happened to This Celebrity, The Best Movie You Never Saw, Awfully Good Movies, James Bond Revisited, and so many more. The channel was so popular that we ended up launching a horror-centric sister channel, JoBlo Horror Originals, which you can check out right HERE!
As we close in on a million subscribers, we have a whole slew of new shows in the pipeline, including an all-new video version of our old-school column C’Mon Hollywood, which is set to premiere its explosive debut episode soon, plus more from some of your favourite personalities here at the site. And, we’re also going to be starting up an all new FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE TALK LIVE STREAM. Stay tuned for more info on that! Plus, we’re also running more Shorts, New Movie Reviews, and lots more so make sure to hit that subscribe button. And, of course, if you check out a video make sure to hit the like button and leave a comment. We often interact with the comments and would love your feedback.
So once again, thanks, everyone, for your support as we hit 900k subs. Now – we’re off to ONE MILLION! Check out some of our best recent videos embedded below!
EA has been on a tear of releasing high-quality single-player titles the last few years, and perhaps no series has fared better than Respawn Entertainment’s third-person action-adventure Star Wars Jedi games. Starring Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) as a young Jedi survivor of Order 66, the series follows his character,…
EA has been on a tear of releasing high-quality single-player titles the last few years, and perhaps no series has fared better than Respawn Entertainment’s third-person action-adventure Star Wars Jedi games. Starring Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) as a young Jedi survivor of Order 66, the series follows his character,…
Russell Crowe recently played real-life exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth in the supernatural horror film The Pope’s Exorcist, which could turn out to be a franchise starter… but before Crowe made that movie, he made a different supernatural thriller that deals with exorcism. Four and a half years have gone by since it was announced that Crowe had signed on to star in a film that was then known as The Georgetown Project, with Joshua John Miller directing. Now retitled The Exorcism, that film has been acquired by Vertical for a North American theatrical release that’s scheduled for June 7th. The streaming rights are in the hands of Shudder.
Coming our way from Miramax, producer Kevin Williamson, and Outerbanks Entertainment, The Exorcism sees Crowe taking on the role of Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.
Crowe is joined in the cast by Ryan Simpkins (Fear Street Part Two – 1978), Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water), Chloe Bailey (Praise This), Adam Goldberg (The Equalizer), David Hyde Pierce (Frasier), Samantha Mathis (Broken Arrow), Tracey Bonner (Creepshow), and Adrian Pasdar (Near Dark).
Miller directed the film from a screenplay he wrote with M.A. Fortin. The duo previously wrote The Final Girls and developed the USA television series Queen of the South. A former actor with several horror credits to his name (including Near Dark), Joshua John Miller also happens to be the son of Jason Miller, who played Father Karras in The Exorcist, a supernatural horror film that was partly filmed in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. So it’s interesting to see that elements of this story reflect Miller’s own life. The Final Girls was also about the child of a popular genre star.
Miller and Fortin had this to say about the distribution deal, “Vertical has been a great partner in helping us complete and realize our vision for this story. Their level of enthusiasm and support are rare to find.”
Vertical Partner Peter Jarowey added, “Joshua has a profound expertise in this genre, and we applaud his creation of a film that reverently nods to classic horror while adding a fresh twist. We want to thank everyone at Miramax for their partnership and are looking forward to bringing the film to theatres nationwide this summer.”
Williamson produced The Exorcism with Ben Fast and Bill Block. Padraic McKinley, Scott Putman, Andrew Golov, and Thom Zadra serve as executive producers.
Are you interested in The Exorcism? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Netflix will be playing catch-up with its slate of films in the latter half of 2024 due to last fall’s dual union strikes. And their slate of animated projects is set to be previewed at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France this June. Last year, the streamer had achieved a high-profile attendance for their showcase of Nimona along with their teasers for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and Blue Eye Samurai. According to Deadline, this year’s presentation will feature directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham as they give a sneak peek of Aardman’s upcoming new Wallace & Gromit project, which has yet to have an official title.
Additionally, just after his newest sci-fi epic, Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver, debuts on Netflix, Zack Snyder will be joined by executive producer Deborah Snyder and Xilam Animation Director Slimane Aniss to reveal clips from his upcoming animated series that is meant for adult viewers, Twilight of the Gods. The Netflix presentation is also set to feature clips from projects such as The Twits and Skydance Animation’s Spellbound, which is directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek) and features the voice talents of Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem and John Lithgow in the cast. The Wallace & Gromit project will also be featured in the wider festival, not limited to animation, and will be exhibiting the original puppets along with the preview.
Netflix will feature a project for the “work in progress” sessions of the festival with their animated film That Christmas. For this film, Richard Curtis (known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually) will be attending with animation director Simon Otto (Love, Death & Robots, How to Train Your Dragon) and producer Nicole Hearon as well as production designer Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn.
The studio is also set to premiere the upcoming Ultraman: Rising feature as part of its official lineup just before it hits streaming on June 14. The film comes from directors Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima. Tindle wrote the screenplay with Marc Haimes and features a cast that includes Christopher Sean (You, Hawaii Five-O), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles), Tamlyn Tomita (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Keone Young (Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels), Julia Harriman (Camp Rock). The animated feature is produced by Tom Knott and Lisa M. Poole.
Amazon Prime’s Fallout series has been out in its entirety for almost two weeks. In that time, the incredible adaptation has sparked endless conversations and theory-crafting from everybody who watched it. That includes Tim Cain, best known as the creator of Fallout. Cain took to YouTube to talk about what he thought…
Amazon Prime’s Fallout series has been out in its entirety for almost two weeks. In that time, the incredible adaptation has sparked endless conversations and theory-crafting from everybody who watched it. That includes Tim Cain, best known as the creator of Fallout. Cain took to YouTube to talk about what he thought…
PLOT: The new live-action event series follows Knuckles on a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-discovery as he agrees to train Wade as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior.
REVIEW: It is hard to believe that Sonic The Hedgehog premiered on the big screen just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. What is even harder to believe is that the movie was actually pretty good. With a sequel released two years later and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 slated for December 2024, the world is chock full of SEGA goodness these days. To bridge the wait until the end of this year, the six-episode limited series Knuckles highlights the Idris Elba-voiced echidna warrior’s journey to find his place in our world. Featuring limited connections to the movies, Knuckles has its moments but overall feels like an attempt to tread water until the third film comes out thanks to an inconsequential plot and surprisingly limited screentime for the titular character. More of a showcase for Adam Pally, reprising his minor role from the first two movies, Knuckles is going to draw in a large audience of kids excited to see the animated heroes but who will be underwhelmed by how little they appear on screen.
Of the six episodes of Knuckles, the first episode is by far the best. Directed by Sonic the Hedgehog helmer Jeff Fowler, the opening episode is the sole entry that features Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Maddie (Tika Sumpter). After the events of the second film, Knuckles is still struggling to find his place on Earth, specifically within the confines of Green Hills, Montana. While Tom Wachowski is out of town, Knuckles (Idris Elba) causes chaos around the house and must find a place for himself, thanks to the spiritual guidance of his fellow echidna, Pachamac (Christopher Lloyd). Knuckles decides that his mission is to help Deputy Wade Whipple (Adam Pally) on his journey to win a bowling tournament in Reno, Nevada. You read that right: Knuckles is a video game-themed twist on the Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid-led film Kingpin. Almost immediately after leaving Green Hills, Knuckles shows up on the radar of two G.U.N. agents, Mason (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi) and Willoughby (Ted Lasso‘s Ellie Taylor) who work for one of Doctor Robotnik’s former employees who calls himself The Buyer (Game of Thrones‘ Rory McCann). The Buyer, like Robotnik, wants to harness the extraterrestrial power of Knuckles’ quills and has created some gadgets for Mason and Whilloughby to use.
If that were the core plot of Knuckles, it would probably be a pretty decent series. The first episode boasts solid action between Knuckles and the two G.U.N. (Guardian Unit of Nations) agents; the next five episodes are very hit-and-miss. Many of the series follow a road trip format, with the direct showdowns between the hero and the villain taking a backseat to Wade’s personal journey. This includes a side trip to Wade’s childhood home where he and Knuckles celebrate the Jewish sabbath with Wade’s mother, Wendy (Stockard Channing), and his FBI agent sister, Wanda (Edi Patterson). Knuckles comes to appreciate the Jewish customs, and Idris Elba continues to do great work as the stoic warrior, but each episode seems to use Knuckles as a plot device to tell Wade’s story. We get a little background on Knuckles aside from his spiritual messages with Pachamac and a couple of well-placed action sequences in the first, third, and final episodes. There are long stretches across the series that do not even have Knuckles in them as Adam Pally takes center stage as the goofy Wade. Pally is a good comedic actor, but his arc just does not seem worth devoting three hours of screen time when audiences want to see Knuckles kicking ass and beating up bad guys.
The supporting cast here is better than it has any right to be, but everyone seems to be appearing in different series. The first episode is the most similar to the Sonic movies, while subsequent episodes are all over the place. Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) plays Wade’s friend, Jack Sinclair, an overly dramatic bounty hunter. Scott Mescudi barely registers as Mason, while Ellie Taylor is oddly sexy as the severe-haircut-wielding Willoughby. Rory McCann appears in just a couple of scenes and not nearly enough to justify his character as a villain, while Cary Elwes does his best as the Bill Murray-surrogate villain bowler, Pistol Pete. Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel appear as the commentators for the bowling tournament in a nod to Jason Bateman and Gary Cole in Dodgeball, but their appearance will go over the heads of younger viewers. Every person in the cast is funny and plays their roles well, but they all feel like they were cast and then picked their roles out of a hat to populate this series.
The series, created by John Whittington, boasts scripts by Whittington, Brian Schacter, and James Madejski. Directing duties fall to Sonic the Hedgehog helmer Jeff Fowler on the premiere, with Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone, and Carol Banker on the remaining five. The production values are limited to a couple of action set pieces, one inside Wade’s childhood home and the other on the streets of Reno, Nevada. Most of the rest of the series relies on interiors or green screen exteriors. The animation quality of Knuckles is as good as the movie, but his limited time on the screen should tell you how much budget was allotted for this show. Only Idris Elba is consistent and good in this series, with everyone else feeling more like a cartoon than the animated character does. If this had been compressed into a feature film that gave us more of what we get in the first and last episodes, Knuckles would have worked better for me.
The six episodes of Knuckles each clock in right around thirty minutes each which means we mercifully do not need to spend an inordinate amount of time with this series, but it still feels overlong and does not have enough Knuckles in it. I started having a blast with the series, but as each episode progressed, I became less and less enthusiastic about it. What starts out as a solid spin-off from Sonic the Hedgehog quickly devolves into an unnecessarily convoluted story about a character most people do not even remember who happens to hang out with Knuckles. If this had been an origin story or had featured more of Idris Elba, I likely would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, Knuckles is a short batch of six episodes that still feels about an hour-and-a-half too long. There is not enough action or development related to the title character with an uneven focus on secondary characters. Kids will be disappointed, and adults will be bored. It is a shame because I laughed at multiple moments that will stick with me that did not overcome the lackluster project as a whole.
Like the original Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth lets you play some tunes on a piano. And as is to be expected with Rebirth, it’s a far more elaborate mini-game this time around. With pianos spread throughout the world and rewards to earn, you might be wondering whether or not it’s worth investing your time into mastering…
Like the original Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth lets you play some tunes on a piano. And as is to be expected with Rebirth, it’s a far more elaborate mini-game this time around. With pianos spread throughout the world and rewards to earn, you might be wondering whether or not it’s worth investing your time into mastering…
