Louis Leterrier may be gearing up for Fast 11, but he still has other projects ready to go. The key one right now is sci-fi horror flick 11817, which is expected to begin filming this summer. As such, we have received some casting news, with Kingsley Ben-Adir and Greta Lee lined up for unspecified roles.
No other cast has been announced at this time for 11817 but kicking it off with the likes of Kingsley Ben-Adir and Greta Lee does add some serious talent to the project. Ben-Adir has really made his mark over the past few years, playing Malcolm X and Bob Marley to much praise. Lee, meanwhile, co-led Best Picture nominee Past Lives (and probably deserved an Oscar nod herself) and has Tron: Ares set up.
Louis Leterrier will be quite busy this year, saying that once he finishes up this “little horror movie” in mid-September, he will be jumping right into Fast 11 the next day, which will ultimately lead to the 25-year franchise coming to an end. As for plot details, 11817 shows us what goes down when “inexplicable forces trap a family of four inside their house indefinitely. As both modern luxuries and life or death essentials begin to run out, the family must learn how to be resourceful to survive and outsmart who – or what – is keeping them trapped…” 11817 is written by Matthew Robinson (Love and Monsters).
As reported by Deadline, 11817 will be introduced at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which launches on May 14th and runs until the 25th. The movie is produced by Leterrier’s Carrousel Studios, along with Rocket Science, Chernin Entertainment, Thank You Studios, and 3 Arts Entertainment.
While Louis Leterrier is hardly known for exploring the world of sci-fi and horror, he does have some experience in genres like fantasy, having directed all 10 episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Other directing credits include the first two Transporter movies and Clash of the Titans.
What do you think of Louis Leterrier’s upcoming movie 11817? Does he have potential to lead a strong genre movie such as this? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Playing retro-inspired games is like returning to a beloved theme park as an adult. Instinctively knowing where to go first, remembering what it was like to be there as a child—it plays to a very specific kind of nostalgia. Retro-inspired games often include familiar mechanics, recognizable art styles, and tropes of a…
Playing retro-inspired games is like returning to a beloved theme park as an adult. Instinctively knowing where to go first, remembering what it was like to be there as a child —it plays to a very specific kind of nostalgia. Retro-inspired games often include familiar mechanics, recognizable art styles, and tropes of…
Plot: Five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head into the mountains hoping to find their informant still alive.
Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a personal connection for Bana’s character to a more traditional police procedural, Force of Nature fails to live up to the first film despite solid performances from all involved.
Sharing no connection to The Dry aside from the main character, Force of Nature does not have very much that is not damp, wet, or drenched. Set within the rainforests in Victoria, Force of Nature follows Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) and his partner, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), as they are drawn to an executive retreat with a participant missing in the wilderness. That missing person is Alice Russell (Anna Torv), who has been working as an informant for Falk and Cooper as they investigate embezzlement within Alice’s company, owned by Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh). Theorizing her disappearance may be connected to what she was acquiring for the agents, Falk and Cooper begin to question the all-female group led by Bailey’s wife Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness). As the search for Alice intensifies, Falk begins to assemble a picture of what transpired based on the stories of the coworkers who made it back to camp.
One of the elements that made The Dry so interesting was the personal connection that Aaron Falk shared with the victims of the crime he was investigating and how his past ran parallel to it. Force of Nature relegates Eric Bana to asking questions merely to further along the story’s narrative. Falk feels some guilt in pushing Alice harder to garner the evidence he needs to take down Daniel Bailey, but it never rings true that he would push as hard as he does. To try and amplify that guilt, flashbacks show another angle from Falk’s past involving his mother also disappearing in the same general region of Victoria, which multiplies Aaron’s personal stake in trying to save Alice before animals, weather, or even a potential serial killer could end her life. That last bit is a tacked-on element to the story that is forced from the first mention of it and, thankfully, barely comes back up over the course of the film. The majority of Force of Nature does not even include Falk, as he serves as a facilitator for the narrative rather than an active participant.
The heavy lifting in Force of Nature falls on the coworkers, led by Anna Torv and Robin McLeavy. A lot of Eric Bana’s screen time is spent asking the cast questions, which segue into flashbacks where the bulk of the mystery unfolds. While Sisi Stringer and Lucy Ansell are good as siblings Beth and Bree and Deborra-Lee Furness as their boss, Torv and McLeavy are the strongest in the cast. Torv, best known for her roles in Fringe and Mindhunter, plays Alice as a difficult coworker who does not have positive relationships in the workplace. Alice also harbors a past connection with McLeavy’s Lauren, a factor in the plot. McLeavy was great in the horror flick The Loved Ones and AMC’s western Hell On Wheels, and here she makes for a sympathetic character more connected to the plot than it appears at first glance. There is also a brief appearance by Ingrid Torelli, who recently appeared in a major role in Late Night With The Devil.
Writer and director Robert Connolly makes great use of the outdoors, a distinct character in the story. With the literal dryness that played a role in the first movie, Force of Nature has elements of a survival thriller baked into the narrative but never to the point that it shifts the story’s momentum. Clocking in at nearly two hours, I kept expecting something to happen, but it never did. This mystery has little mystery, with the story unfolding like an episode of Law & Order or NCIS. As each witness is questioned and conveys what they know, we are given more and more of the real story. By the time the twist is revealed, it is underwhelming at best. Robert Connelly does what he can with the source material, and there are some well-acted pairings in various scenes throughout the film, but none amount to enough to sustain a feature film level of interest.
With a title like Force of Nature, you would expect a certain caliber of energy throughout the film. Instead, this movie wastes the great introduction to Aaron Falk that was The Dry and never comes close to replicating the intensity of that movie. Eric Bana is a far better actor than he is credited for, and I had hoped this movie would cement a resurgence in his career. Force of Nature is a barely passable mystery with nary a thrill on display. A quick scan through any network police procedural series would give you more entertainment than this movie, which wastes a solid cast on a forgettable plot. Maybe Bana and Connolly will reunite for an adaptation of the third and final novel featuring Aaron Falk, if only to redeem The Dry franchise from this disappointing follow-up.
SPOILERS: In addition to Scream 2, this article will have spoilers for every other movie in the franchise.
We all know that one of the big draws of the Scream franchise is Ghostface’s identity. But some are a lot harder to figure out who is behind the mask than others. The big surprise in 1996’s original wasn’t that it was Billy or Stu, it was that it was Billy and Stu (despite some red herrings, we all knew those dudes were wackos). And nobody was surprised when freaky Tarantino film student Mickey turned out to be one of the killers in Scream 2. The same could be said of Debbie Salt – after all, why put a prominent actress like Laurie Metcalf in a seemingly thankless role? But Metcalf thinks her Scream 2 reveal still ranks as the best in the franchise’s history.
Speaking with Collider, Laurie Metcalf stated bluntly, “I think in the Scream movies, my character has the best reveal.” The more important reveal wasn’t that she was one of the Ghostfaces but that she was Billy’s mother, a final act revelation that also just made most of the audience realize that Sidney had had no interactions with her up to that point, thus couldn’t have outed her.
Metcalf appeared to have a lot of fun during her time playing the “dual” role in Scream 2, saying, “I mean all I had to do was — I guess I just sort of, in my head, split her apart and Debbie Salt, I just played as a villain. And then Nancy, I played as a rabid mother avenging her son. They were very separate in my head… There was no overlap… If you’re good at playing the lunatic, you basically, as an actor, you have a free pass to be as crazy as you want to be.”
As for other Ghostface reveals outside of Scream 2 (a movie that truly holds up) and the original, I’d still like to give a shoutout to Roman Bridger in Scream 3, which gave us not only a surprise choice as Bridger was seen “dead” not long before but also more history for Sidney. As for Scream 4, those Ghostfaces were just rehashes of all that came before it, as yet another relative and movie-obsessed maniac were given the knives. 2022’s Scream’s killers were pretty obvious to those paying attention, while last year’s Scream VI had more Ghostfaces than ever, with the most obvious being the one dude who would have access to all of that police evidence…
How would you rank the Ghostface reveals across the Scream trilogy? Is Laurie Metcalf’s Scream 2 twist near the top? Give us your list below!
It’s been a long road for the fourth and final season of Snowpiercer, but AMC has finally given the conclusion of the sci-fi series an official release date. It was previously reported that the final season of Snowpiercer wouldn’t arrive until 2025, but that date has been bumped up as it was announced today that the new season will premiere exclusively on AMC and AMC+ on July 21st at 9pm ET/PT.
“We can’t wait to share the final season of this thrill ride of a series with this vibrant fan community and new viewers starting July 21 on AMC and AMC+, with plenty of time built in to catch up on previous seasons on a variety of on demand platforms and AMC+ before then,” said Courtney Thomasma, Executive Vice President of Streaming for AMC Networks. “Snowpiercer is an entertaining drama with a great cast and seeing how the ride ends will be a highlight of summer viewing worthy of a 1001-car train.“
This has been a long time coming for fans, as the third season of Snowpiercer concluded over two years ago. The show had already been renewed for a fourth and final season at the time, but it was later announced that it would not be airing on TNT, which is where the first three seasons aired. “We can confirm that TNT will not air season four of Snowpiercer,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said in a statement in 2023. “This was a difficult decision, but our admiration for the talented writers, actors and crew who brought Snowpiercer’s extraordinary post-apocalyptic world to life remains strong. We have been working collaboratively with the producers since last year to help the series find a new home where fans can continue to enjoy the compelling story and exceptional visual experience. We look forward to working with them on future projects.“ It took over a year, but the final season of Snowpiercer finally found a home at AMC earlier this year.
Based on the 2013 movie of the same name directed by Bong Joon-ho and the 1982 graphic novel LeTransperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette, Snowpiercer deals with class warfare, social injustice, and survival as it follows the passengers of the Snowpiercer, a gigantic, perpetually moving train that circles the globe carrying the remnants of humanity seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland. The series stars Daveed Diggs, Jennifer Connelly, Mickey Sumner, Iddo Goldberg, Alison Wright, Sean Bean, and more. Snowpiercer season 4 features a few new additions to the series, including Clark Gregg and Michael Aronov.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was on the top of its game for so long that it seemed as though it always would be, but following the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, the franchise has stumbled and even released a couple of box-office bombs. Louis D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios, is well aware that the franchise has been struggling, particularly in 2023, as he told Empire, “It’s been a rough time.“
Thankfully, the MCU will be taking a breather as Deadpool & Wolverine will be the only Marvel movie in theaters this year, and D’Esposito believes it will help get them back on track. “If we just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us,” he said. “We took a little hit, we’re coming back strong.” We should also see fewer MCU movies and TV shows moving forward. “Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit,” D’Esposito said. “We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows.” This echoes what Disney CEO Bob Iger said this morning about scaling back the amount of Marvel projects per year.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige is also choosing to look on the bright side, saying he’s “much more comfortable being the underdog. I prefer being able to surprise, and exceed expectations. So it does seem like the last year, which has not been ideal, has set us up well for that.” Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy didn’t mince words, adding, “You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did,” he said. “We do come along at an interesting time. And we are decidedly something different.“
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania got 2023 off on the wrong foot with mixed reviews and a disappointing box-office take of $476 million worldwide, which made it one of the few MCU movies not to break even in theaters. Then came The Marvels, which also received mixed reviews and was a certified box-office bomb, grossing just $206 million, making it the lowest-grossing movie in the entire franchise.
Deadpool & Wolverine will hit theaters on July 26th. Will it help put the MCU back on track?
Things in the world of Helldivers 2 are going back to normal after Sony reversed course on a controversial PSN login requirement for the popular sci-fi shooter on PC. But not everyone appears to have made it out of the public relations fiasco in one piece. Arrowhead Studios community manager Spitz is seemingly no…
On May 7, Xbox announced that it was closing three studios: Arkane Austin (Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush), and Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom). Support studio Roundhouse Games was also being absorbed by Zenimax Online Studios (Elder Scrolls Online). The news is yet another example of Xbox—which has spent…
Things in the world of Helldivers 2 are going back to normal after Sony reversed course on a controversial PSN login requirement for the popular sci-fi shooter on PC. But not everyone appears to have made it out of the public relations fiasco in one piece. Arrowhead Studios community manager Spitz is seemingly no…
