Ron Perlman is set to star in a revenge action thriller from Luis Gabriel Beristáin titled The Gentleman. This is not to be confused with Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. This film is a Spanish-Mexican co-production that has Perlman joined by a cast of international actors. It will be produced by Spanish company Esto También Pasará, whose credits include Ferocious Wolf and The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth, and Mexican company SDB Films, which is known for The Deal. Principle photography on the film has already commenced in San Sebastián, Spain, and will run for six weeks. The film is scheduled to be released by Universal in Spain in 2025. Variety is reporting that the film rights have been picked up by the company Film Factory.
The plot to The Gentleman involves “an aging former U.S. soldier named Theo (Perlman), who spends his days dreaming about better times that are now years behind him. Each week, Theo meets with Olga, a prostitute he pays to talk with him about who he once was and what he might have been under different circumstances. When Olga is murdered, Theo embarks on a blood-soaked revenge tour that quickly catches the attention of an alcoholic police inspector named Iborra and the cold-blooded hitman Herodes.”
The screenplay has been written by Uruguay’s Juma Fodde, who is known for such films as You Shall Not Sleep and Lobo Feroz. The script was adapted by Carlos Augusto Casas’ Spanish novel Ya no quedan junglas adodnde regresar. Esto También Pasará producer Álvaro Ariza has stated, “I fell in love with the story when I first read the book and immediately thought it deserved to be told on the big screen.” And the director, Beristáin, adds, “Entering into this world of feelings, of those who grow before adversity, being able to work hand in hand with the actors and being able to confront the novel and translate it into the audiovisual language from a new perspective, is an exciting challenge. I hope that all the international experience I have gained throughout my career can be reflected in my work.”
It shouldn’t come as an enormous shock that Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show is getting picked up for a second season, given the combination of its enormous popularity and its being surprisingly actually-good, but you never know with these mercurial streamers. Still, good sense prevails, and it’s been officially…
It shouldn’t come as an enormous shock that Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show is getting picked up for a second season, given the combination of its enormous popularity and its being surprisingly actually-good, but you never know with these mercurial streamers. Still, good sense prevails, and it’s been officially…
While the dual union strikes of the writers and the actors postponed some projects, once the studios and unions reached an agreement, there was a lot of catch-up to play. The postponed schedules meant that this year is seeing a delay in several releases. It also looks as if some studios are going to see some releases grouped together. According to The Hollywood Reporter, popular Netflix shows that would have seen a more dispersed schedule are now bunched for later 2024.
The latter half of the year will see the continuation of Netflix’s slate of popular original programming like the anticipated new season of Squid Game, the streaming platform’s biggest series of all time. The schedule will also premiere The Night Agent as well as the final season of the popular Karate Kid sequel series, Cobra Kai. The new season of Outer Banks is also on the dock, plus Emily in Paris and Ryan Murphy’s Monsters anthology, which will have the second season focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, the famous case of brothers who murdered their parents. Netflix will be premiering a bevy of new shows in the second half of 2024 as well. Among those are Peter Berg’s Western American Primeval, limited series Senna — about legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna — and an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel The Perfect Couple, starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber.
Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced the plan to release this group of content during the company’s first-quarter earnings call, but he has yet to announce the specific premiere dates for the shows. He eluded to a slightly narrow window “sometime in 2024.” THR relays that Sarandos acknowledged “’the floodgates have opened a little more’ when it comes to Netflix licensing shows from other media giants, à la last year’s streaming champion Suits and several HBO shows that have popped since being added to Netflix. But he doesn’t see the company becoming overly aggressive with licensed programming: ‘We’ve always been disciplined in the way we invest in content,’ he said, and that the company will focus on licensing series ‘that we think will drive the business. … The budget is the budget.’”
When rumors began circulating that Target would officially be removing every piece of physical media from their stores, it really wasn’t all that much of a surprise. After all, Best Buy – once a go-to for all of our DVD and CD needs – cleared their shelves this year. Think about it: what does your local Target’s Blu-ray section look like? It’s probably not what it used to be, no matter how limited. Heck, the last time I went to Target, the DVD/Blu-ray section was just the end of an aisle not that far from the Chex Mix. But the store has now responded to the speculation, saying they won’t be entirely doing away with discs.
According to a spokesperson for Target (via IGN), the primary resource for shoppers will be online, although you can still buy certain releases in the store. “Based on our guests’ shopping patterns and broader industry trends, we’re transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs we carry in our stores to Target.com, where guests will continue to find thousands of titles. Moving forward, we’ll offer select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays.” So don’t worry, you can still pick up your $4.99 copy of Christmas with the Kranks come October…
OK, so maybe few of us were ever used to buying our Blu-rays at Target, but it’s still yet another blow to physical media and an experience unique to in-store shopping – who is scrolling on their website only to have to wait three days to get the movie? No, it was perusing the shelves and seeing if that new release was there or you can find one of your favorite flicks to take home that minute. With Target enacting such a move, that really only leaves Walmart as far as the big names go. But how long will it be before they take a similar route? How long before the discount DVD bin – what fun to huddle around with your friends and find a hidden gem to take home! – goes away forever?
Physical media still exists, that’s for sure, but we are nearer than ever to the point of relying on boutique labels to give us new releases. The latest Mission: Impossible won’t have a problem finding a home, but what about films like Killers of the Flower Moon, which might need the help of a Criterion Collection to ever receive a Blu-ray?
What do you think of Target’s decision to limit how much physical media they sell? Is this spelling doom or does it make sense at this point? Share your opinions with us in the comments section below.
Plot: He’s a spy. She’s an assassin. Together, Loid and Yor keep their double lives to themselves while pretending to be the perfect family. However, their adopted daughter, Anya, a telepath, knows their exciting secrets unbeknownst to them. Under the guise of taking his family on a weekend winter getaway, Loid’s attempt to make progress on his current mission, Operation Strix, proves difficult when Anya mistakenly gets involved and triggers events that threaten world peace! Hilarity and slick spy action ensues.
Review: Pack your bags because the Forger family is on vacation! Loid (the spy), Yor (the assassin), Anya (the telepath), and Bond (the soothsayer Pyrenean Mountain dog) are off to Frigis. In this snow-covered town, ingredients to create the delectable Meremere-fū Remon Taruto (Melemele-style Lemon Tart) reside. If Anya can bake the perfect treat for the President of Eden Academy, she’ll earn a coveted Stella star, bringing Loid one step closer to completing Operation Strix. It’s the Forger’s most dessert-centric mission yet, and procuring the components will be more complex than they’d assumed.
Spy x Family Code: White is directed by Takashi Katagiri from a screenplay by Ichirō Ōkouchi and produced by Wit Studio and CloverWorks. The feature feels more like a two-hour episode of the hit anime series than a big-budgeted upgrade of the beloved source material. In other words, you won’t find any lighting enhancements as we’ve seen with movies like The Chipmunk Adventure (1987), Ducktales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990), or TheBob’s Burgers Movie (2022). Yes, I’m old. What of it?
Katagiri and Ōkouchi do a fine job setting up the characters in the film’s opening scenes. Still, it will serve you well if you have a working knowledge of the characters, including the Forger’s family dynamic and unique skill sets. Characters like Anya’s petulant rival, Donovan Desmond, Loid’s gopher, Frankie Franklin, and Yor’s taboo-tinged, sibling-obsessed brother, Yuri, cameo in the film but take a back seat to the Forgers and Westalia Intelligence Services agents Sylvia Sherwood and Nightfall.
By zeroing in on the Forgers and their culinary-focused mission, the first hour of the film brings the cozy something fierce with a beautiful snow-blanketed town, bone-warming fashion, and food that looks as if the art team got take-out from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirit Realm. Time spent with the Forgers in Frigis informs new audience members about the family and how their affection for each other is the heart of Spy x Family. The first act reveals Anya’s mysterious side and how she fancies herself as a junior spy alongside her adoptive father, Loid. Still, when she accidentally eats information intended for a sinister group of ne’er do wells led by the ruthless Military Intelligence officer Snijder, Anya becomes the target of a wild goose chase. While there are plenty of spy games, intrigue, and SHOCK expressions from Anya at the front end of the film Spy x Family Code: White eventually explodes into an epic spy thriller with dirigible fortresses aflame, a Killzone-style soldier with a flare for theatrics, and acrobatic anarchy courtesy of Yor Forger.
Set against (K)now Name’s rousing score, Spy x Family Code: White knows what the franchise’s manga and anime series fans want. Anya is undeniably adorable in her curiosity and desire to feel like she’s a part of something larger than herself. Loid is a master of disguise, always cunning and forever charming with his penchant for caving to family pressures. Finally, Yor plays the lethal assassin posing as a doting housewife, but once the veil drops, she’s an unstoppable killing machine leading the film’s best action scenes. The Forgers anchor a heartfelt, brilliantly-paced action comedy that anime enthusiasts will enjoy and Spy x Family fans will scream for. I laughed my ever-loving ass off throughout the film and even teared up a little at the end once the smoke had cleared.
While I prefer to watch my anime with Japanese-language audio and English subtitles, the English-language dub is also an excellent option for Spy x Family Code: White. Whether you’re listening to the dulcet tones of Takuya Eguchi / Alex Organ (Loid Forger), Saori Hayami / Natalie Van Sistine (Yor Forger), Atsumi Tanezaki / Megan Shipman (Anya Forger), or other cast members, the voice talent behind the film brings their A-game with passion for the material, spot-on comedic timing, and sincerity in the film’s more tender moments.
During the film’s first half, I was concerned that Ôkouchi was doing Yor dirty by presenting her to newcomers as a subservient, fretful mother figure. However, Yor abated my fears after dropping her matriarchal mask during Code: White‘s larger mission. Yor’s action-packed scenes deliver several of the film’s most breathtaking moments as she squares off against a prideful Robocop while flames lick at her somersaults and Naruto-run bum rushes. The dynamic camera movements during this battle had my blood pumping and my eyes glued to the screen.
As I’d said, Spy x Family Code: White is another thrilling adventure featuring some of Japan’s most endearing characters of recent years. The film pays attention to the vibes of the animated series and packs a technical punch that elevates the experience without taking the presentation too far. If you were not a Spy x Family fan at the start of this film, you will be by the time the credits roll.
PLOT: Kora (Sofia Boutella) and the rebels she recruited prepare to battle with the full force of Atticus Noble’s (Ed Skrein) Imperium.
REVIEW: I took a bit of heat for my positive review of Rebel Moon Part One a few months ago, but I make no apologies for the fact that I found it an immersive, entertaining epic. I liked it a lot more than the last few Star Wars movies (particularly The Rise of Skywalker). So, I was eager to see the story reach its conclusion with Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. While an entertaining, action-packed end to the saga, it’s also a clear-cut case of why Snyder’s longer director’s cuts should have been the only ones hitting Netflix. Even more than in the first film, this feels awkwardly fast-paced and anti-climactic at times due to the story having no room to breathe.
Indeed, many of the more intriguing plot points hinted at in the first film, such as the robot Jimmy’s resistance to the Motherworld, are only given a half-baked examination here. Rather, the film plunges you right back into the action without taking much time to breathe. It’s also worth noting that Snyder’s Seven Samurai/ Magnificent Seven inspirations are even more on the nose here, with whole sequences seeming lifted out of those movies, especially as our rebel heroes make themselves known on The Veldt.
In my interview with Snyder, he mentioned that each director’s cut runs an hour longer, meaning you’re essentially getting a new film tacked on, and I have no doubt the longer cuts of the films will work better. Especially in this case, you feel like you’re watching a tease for a much better, longer movie.
That said, a lot of it still worked for me on a basic level, with Sofia Boutella again an action heroine you can root for as the self-sacrificing, haunted Kora, whose past transgressions make her a more tortured heroine this time. The burgeoning romance between her and Michiel Huisman’s Gunnar comes to a fitting conclusion, with him emerging as one of the most heroic of the rebels, even if he’s not really a warrior on par with any of them. Dijmon Hounsou finally gets his due, with Titus’s backstory filled out, and he more-or-less emerges as the second lead. Yet, some of the other rebels, particularly Staz Nair’s Tarak, are given little to do, with it feeling like the movie is overstuffed with plot lines. Of everyone, only Boutella, Huisman, Hounsou and Doona Bae’s Nemesis are allowed to make much of an impact.
As the returning villain, Ed Skrein plays Noble a bit differently this time, with him somewhat more desperate and humbled since his defeat in the first film. This is a nice added layer for a baddie who initially came off as two-dimensional. Again, though, we needed a lot more time with the forces of the Motherworld, particularly Fra Fee’s Belisarius, who only gets one big scene to show off his menacing side.
As far as the action goes, this is very much in the vein expected from a Zack Snyder epic, with tons of slow motion and self-sacrifice. Some may find this cheesy, but if you jump into this expecting anything else, you must not really know what Snyder’s all about, so why bother?
While I enjoyed Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver overall, I’ll admit that, taken together, the movies feel like a tease for something bigger and better. No doubt, the director’s cuts will be the true judge of whether or not the franchise has worked for Snyder and Netflix. If you felt the first part of the movie felt compromised, this won’t feel any more complete. As much as I had a decent time watching the two movies, it’s maybe not the worst idea to wait for the director’s cuts to come out this summer and watch the full, proper version of these movies.
This shouldn’t come as a big surprise, but Fallout has officially been renewed for season 2. The Prime Video series debuted last week and quickly became the most-watched season globally on the streaming service since The Rings of Power.
“Praise be to our insanely brilliant showrunners, Geneva [Robertson-Dworet] and Graham [Wagner], to our kick-ass cast, to Todd and James and all the legends at Bethesda, and to Jen, Vernon and the amazing team at Amazon for their incredible support of this show. We can’t wait to blow up the world all over again,” said executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy in a joint statement. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner added, “Holy sh*t. Thank you to Jonah, Kilter, Bethesda and Amazon for having the courage to make a show that gravely tackles all of society’s most serious problems these days — cannibalism, incest, jello cake. More to come!“
Based on the video game series from Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them. The series stars Ella Purnell as Lucy, an optimistic Vault-dweller; Aaron Moten as Maximus, a young soldier looking to advance in the Brotherhood of Steel; and Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard, a legendary Ghoul who still retains some of the person he used to be.
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, added “Jonah, Lisa, Geneva, and Graham have captivated the world with this ground-breaking, wild ride of a show. The bar was high for lovers of this iconic video game and so far we seem to have exceeded their expectations, while bringing in millions of new fans to the franchise. The cast led by Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, and Kyle MacLachlan have knocked it out of the park! We’d like to thank Jonah and Lisa and our friends at Bethesda for bringing the show to usas well as Geneva and Graham for coming aboard as showrunners. We are thrilled to announce season two after only one week out and take viewers even farther into the surreal world of Fallout.“
You can check out a rave review of the first season of Fallout from our own Alex Maidy right here.
We typically think of any actor who has appeared in movies and television as having it made, but that’s not the case for most working actors. In fact, before Giancarlo Esposito landed the role of Gus Fring on Breaking Bad, he was so broke that he was considering arranging his own murder for the life insurance money.
While speaking on Sirius XM’s Jim & Sam show, Giancarlo Esposito revealed that the year before Breaking Bad, he was in dire financial straits and desperately looking for a way out. “My way out in my brain was…’Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?’” Esposito said. “My wife had no idea why I was asking this stuff. I started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death by misadventure, [my kids] would get the insurance. I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. It was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so they could survive. That’s how low I was.“
Esposito was hardly an unknown actor at the time, having appeared in movies such as Do the Right Thing, King of New York, Malcolm X, The Usual Suspects, Ali, and much more, so it’s upsetting that he got to such a low point. “That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn’t be here to be available to my kids,” Esposito said. “Then I started to think that’s not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and there’d be lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma I’m trying to move away from. The light at the end of the tunnel was ‘Breaking Bad.’“
After Breaking Bad, the actor reprised the role of Gus Fring for the prequel series Better Call Saul and went on to have major roles in The Mandalorian, The Boys, and more. Esposito will next be seen in Abigail, which follows a group of kidnappers who capture the daughter of a powerful underworld figure and must watch over her while awaiting the ransom. Unfortunately, they get more than they bargain for when they realize she’s no ordinary little girl. You can check out a review from our own Michael Conway right here.
If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
If you saw the premiere of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in theaters back in 1999, you’ll know that the lightsaber duel which pitted Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jin against Darth Maul was unlike anything you’d ever seen. The lightsaber duel is considered to be one of the best in the franchise (I’d argue that John Williams’ Duel of the Fates is a big reason why that is), but the upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte hopes to give it a run for its money.
Dafne Keen, who plays Jedi Jecki Lon, told Entertainment Weekly that the cast and crew of The Acolyte frequently spoke of wanting their lightsaber battles to “match or exceed” the iconic duel from The Phantom Menace.
“Yeah, that was a very frequent conversation we had,” Keen explained. “It was very much: We want to top the Darth Maul fight — the most iconic fight, I think, in the Star Wars cinematic universe. It’s such an amazing fight and we were all so excited about the saber fights. There’s such a skill and a craft to it that it feels so OG Star Wars and feels so impressive when you see it as a viewer.“
Keen added that her favourite moments on the set were the lightsaber battles. “It was my favorite part of filming. I loved the whole training process of it,” she explained. “Everyone was very excited about it, which then made it much more fun. Our incredible stunt team created this kind of fusion of different martial arts and we were really trained in how to use the sabers. I feel very comfortable with a sword now, and I know that Charlie does too, and I know that JJ does too. We were all in there for hours a day training, and it was really fun to kind of explore also a different side to the characters within the fighting.” Like many actors who have played Jedi in the franchise, Keen’s enthusiasm did get the best of her at times as she was told to stop making lightsaber noises and to stop smiling during battles. “I was so excited and they kept having to come up to me and be like, ‘Dafne, you need to stop smiling. You’re fighting someone,’” she said. “And I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m sorry. This is just so fun. I love this.’“
Will The Acolyte be able to top the epic Darth Maul duel? I suppose we’ll have to wait and find out for ourselves when the series premieres on Disney+ on June 4th.
What’s your favourite lightsaber duel in the Star Wars franchise?
