It has been too long since Demi Moore has had a role worthy of her talents or made headlines outside of stories about Bruce Willis’ health and G.I. Jane jokes. But now that body horror movie The Substance is making its waves at the Cannes Film Festival, Demi Moore is getting – along with the latest season of Feud – some overdue recognition once more.
Speaking with IndieWire, Demi Moore seemed well aware that this was just the sort of character that can show what she has inside of her. “What I love is this was a rich, complex, demanding role that gave me an opportunity to really push myself outside of my comfort zone, and in the end to feel like I explored and grew not only as an actor, but as a person.”
So, what does Demi Moore hope comes of The Substance as far as where her career is headed? “If there’s any hope, it’s really just to kind of re-engage in a way. I feel like I took a real step back for a long time and really questioned even whether or not this is what I should be doing. This was a part of waking myself up.” And thankfully she did, because her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle – an actress who has aged out of her prime – is being praised as her all-time best.
Building on this – and perhaps something that might have drawn Demi Moore to the film – here is how one promo for The Substance goes: “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger, more beautiful, more perfect? One single injection unlocks your DNA, starting a new cellular division that will release another version of yourself. This is The Substance.”
While it’s possible Demi Moore takes home Best Actress at Cannes this year, The Substance is also competing for the Palme d’Or. The film comes from French director Coralie Fargeat (2017’s Revenge) and also stars Margaret Qualley, Hugo Diego Garcia, Phillip Schurer, Joseph Balderrama, and Dennis Quaid, who replaced Ray Liotta after he died in 2022. Mubi has acquired the rights to the film.
Do you think The Substance can mark a true comeback for Demi Moore? Is she officially part of the Oscar conversation?
As I mentioned in my early box office report yesterday, the Memorial Day holiday box office is a disaster. This weekend’s number 1 movie, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, will be the lowest-grossing new movie to top the charts on this holiday weekend since Return of the Jedi back in 1983 (not adjusted for inflation). Indeed, the opening for George Miller’s epic Mad Max prequel has drastically fallen short of industry expectations (including our own), with no one thinking this could possibly open to less than $40 million. In the end, Furiosa is looking at only $25.55 million for the weekend, which is even lower than what The Fall Guy opened with earlier this month.
The good news—for now—is that Furiosa at least beat The Garfield Movie, with the animated flick grossing $24.775. However, the margin is so slim that many think the Chris Pratt-voiced movie will top the four-day box office due to holiday matinees.
So what happened?
Both Furiosa and Garfield managed good (but not great) B+ CinemaScore ratings, which prove their intended audiences mostly like (but don’t love) the movies. Furiosa seems to be provoking very mixed reactions, with some hating it and others absolutely loving it. We’re in the “loving it” camp here. Still, as our own Tyler Nichols wrote in his think piece yesterday, the studio likely made a mistake marketing the film around Anya Taylor-Joy, as it had people thinking it was a star vehicle for her. She’s really just part of an ensemble (she only shows up an hour into the movie). In fact, some box office prognosticators think the girl power vibe of the marketing might have hurt the film, which is a shame as the movie defies easy categorization. Also, Anya Taylor-Joy is wonderful in it. Hopefully, word-of-mouth will pick up in the coming weeks, as we need movies like this to be hits.
As for The Garfield Movie, while it only opened with a fraction of what The Super Mario Bros Movie did, it will make a solid amount of coin for Sony, who kept the budget in the $60 million-ish range. The furry orange feline’s only real competition until Despicable Me 4 opens in July is John Krasinski’s IF, which showed strong staying power (thanks to that A CinemaScore) only falling 52%. With a $58 million gross so far, it will certainly make more money domestically than most of this month’s other films, including The Fall Guy and Furiosa.
So far, the summer’s only bonafide hit has been Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which still managed over $13 million this weekend despite losing all its premium format screens to Furiosa. With a domestic total of $122.8 million, it should finish with a solid (but not exceptional) $160 million. The Fall Guy, which has already hit VOD, lost over 800 screens this weekend, finishing in fifth place with $5.9 million, with a domestic total of $72 million. It should end up with around $90 million total, falling shy of $100 million.
Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 1, lost less of its audience than anticipated, with the 53% decline putting it in sixth place with $5.6 million, for a $21 million total. It should top out north of $30 million, which is solid for a low-budget horror flick, and bodes well for the rest of Renny Harlin’s already-shot trilogy. In a bit of counter-programming, Angel Studios released the faith-based Sight, but a lack of marketing doomed it to a lacklustre 7th place opening, with only $2.6 million. It seems unlikely this will be the next Sound of Freedom, which had the benefit of appealing to action fans as well as the Christian audience.
In eighth place, Challengers, which also hit VOD, starting to wrap up its run with $1.3 million, with the $46 million total coming close to a $50 million finish, which put it in the same zone as MGM-Amazon’s Air, which turned into a blockbuster when it hit Prime Video. The same seems to be in the cards for this Zendaya-movie. Meanwhile, Neon’s comedy, Babes, failed to break out, with a weekend just north of $1 million. At the same time, the Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, continued to show serious weakness at the box office, coming in tenth place with only slightly over $1 million for a $4.9 million domestic total.
Given that it’s a holiday weekend, we’ll be back with a full wrap-up of the box office tomorrow. Do you think Furiosa can hold on to first place? Let us know in the comments!
The 80s and 90s were a great time for character actors. Guys like Gene Hackman, Brian Dennehy, Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman and many others occupied this really interesting place where they could lead their own movies and be just as comfortable playing supporting roles – whether large or small – in bigger films without worrying about things legit movie stars have to, such as bankability. Of that era, one of the biggest character actors was no doubt the fast-talking James Woods. In the eighties, his star rose thanks to movies like Videodrome, Salvador, True Believer and many others. While he never became a legit box office superstar, he was in that niche place where he could lead his own movies, such as the underrated Best Seller, while also playing plum supporting roles in movies like Chaplin, The Specialist and Casino. He was noted as one of the town’s biggest scene-stealers, and he was so beloved that he was invited to voice himself on not one but two iconic animated sitcoms, The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Yet, in 2024, when you say the name James Woods, people think of a Twitter blowhard rather than the great actor we all considered him to be back in the day. One downside to the reversal of fortune to his career is that many of his films don’t get a lot of play now, no matter how entertaining they are, such as this week’s Best Movie You Never Saw: The Hard Way.
This 1991 action-comedy teamed Woods with Michael J. Fox for their take on the classic buddy-cop thriller, with a twist. Only one of the buddies is actually a cop, with James Woods’ hardboiled New York detective, John Moss, being forced to take a Mel Gibson-style action star, Nick Lang, under his wing to show him what being a cop is really about. The formula was actually spoofed by Woods himself on a famous episode of The Simpsons when he goes to work at the Kwik-E-Mart to prepare for a role. The movie is directed by one of the biggest directors of the era, John Badham, who’s shockingly obscure nowadays despite churning out hit after hit for about 15 years. I mean, Saturday Night Fever, Blue Thunder, WarGames (starring the late Dabney Coleman), Stakeout – these are iconic movies! Yet, it seems like everyone always forgets who directed them.
The Hard Way followed another action comedy he made the year before, Bird on a Wire, which co-starred Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. Fox’s Nick Lang seems to be a loving parody of Gibson, with him frequently mentioning Gibson as his box office nemesis and sporting a very Gibson-style ponytail, which he wore in Bird on a Wire.
In The Hard Way, Fox’s Nick Lang is coming off a sequel to his biggest hit, Smoking Gun, and is fed up with not being taken seriously as an actor. He badly wants to star in a hard-boiled cop movie, but the studio doesn’t think he has the depth needed, so he buys his way into an apprenticeship with Woods’ Moss. The only problem is that Moss has no interest whatsoever in babysitting Lang, with him on the trail of a psycho serial killer named The Party Crasher, who’s played by an unhinged (and jacked) Stephen Lang.
There are a lot of very good reasons why The Hard Way works. For one thing, Badham expertly juggles the movie’s tone. He was known to be an expert as far as action comedies went, with Stakeout, Bird on a Wire and this one always taking the action seriously, with the comedy emerging from the mismatched chemistry of its stars rather than heightened or silly shenanigans. The action scenes in The Hard Way are surprisingly potent, with Woods slimmed down for his shot at being an action star and making a convincing and intense hero. The same thing goes for Fox’s Nick Lang, who never becomes a joke. Sure, he’s a weakling when the movie starts, but as it goes on, he becomes tougher and more heroic, with him getting a great action sequence where he pretends to be totally unhinged (in Mel Gibson-fashion) when he’s taken hostage by The Party Crasher, turning the tables on him in a cool, but not totally unbelievable way. Lang also makes for a really solid villain, with him legitimately scary as the insane killer they’re after, and he and Woods have a few really cool fights.
Indeed, the movie is so well cast. While Woods wasn’t anyone’s idea of an action hero, given how his fast-talking nature always had a narcissistic/ villainous edge to it, casting him against type really works. Moss is supposed to be an insecure, macho mess of a man, with him trying to woo a divorcee (played by the lovely Annabella Sciorra) whose daughter (a very young Christina Ricci) hates him. The nearly psychotic vigour he attacks his duties with makes him an interesting lead, and the fact that he’s not an invincible Superman makes him all the more appealing. His attitude is what makes the movie, in my opinion. Michael J. Fox is just as good, even if, in my opinion, this is Woods’ movie. Again, Nick Lang is wimpy – at first – but doesn’t become too much of a joke. Fox brings some heart to the role, such as a heartbreaking moment where he thinks Moss has taken the wrap for him on a shooting but was just being set up as a punchline and a way to get him out of the precinct while they focus on the real work. Their chemistry is great, with Woods noting many times, while promoting the film, that he found it challenging playing a character that’s supposed to be annoyed by Fox, as he found him very likable as a co-star.
Indeed, Fox’s likability might have been what doomed the movie at the box office, as in ’91, he was known for his family-friendly fare. As a kid, I remember gearing up to see The Hard Way in theaters but then being unable to go due to the R-rating and how strictly the rules were enforced in Canada at the time. I did see it on video, and sure enough, the non-stop F-bombs and hardcore violence made it an instant classic for my action-junkie 10-year-old self. Sadly, it whiffed at the box office, only grossing $25 million domestically. That said, it was actually a hit overseas, with it more than doubling its lacklustre box office. It also became a hit on home video and TV, oddly bypassing HBO to have a TV debut (in a highly censored version) on NBC, which aired frequently and posted blockbuster ratings.
Watching it now, the film holds up quite well, largely thanks to the acting, the stylish direction, and a great supporting cast that includes an early role for Delroy Lindo as Woods’ star-struck captain and LL Cool J as a cop. Interestingly, LL Cool J was only supposed to have a walk-on role as part of a deal to acquire “Mama Said Knock You Out” for the soundtrack, but he was such a natural as an actor that Badham expanded his role to co-star status. Ironically, LL Cool J is now arguably better known as an actor than a rapper.
While some may not rush to dig into James Woods’ cinematic oeuvre in the wake of his online persona, I think he’s great in this movie, and it holds up well more than 30 years since its release. If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot.
Richard Sherman, the youngest sibling in the iconic songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers, has passed away at the age of 95 from an age-related illness.
Richard and Robert Sherman – who passed away in 2012 at the age of 86 – provided moviegoers with some of the great songs in cinema, boosting every Disney or family-driven production they worked on and helping solidify them as classics.
The Sherman Brothers won the Best Original Song Oscar for “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from Mary Poppins, earning four other nominations in the category, including the title song for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and “The Age of Believing” from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Mary Poppins would also land Robert and Richard Sherman the Best Original Score Oscar, a category they received four nods in. Retrospectively, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was featured on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movie songs ever.
In a statement, The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said, “Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives. From films like Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book to attractions like ‘it’s a small world,’ the music of the Sherman Brothers has captured the hearts of generations of audiences. We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family.” The Sherman Brothers were named Disney Legends in 1990.
Richard and Robert Sherman would team up for more than 200 songs over the course of their career. Outside of films, they had numerous stage credits and even wrote “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” for Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room and the repeated song for the It’s a Small World ride…which is now in your head for the rest of the day.
Richard Sherman was played by Jason Schwartzman in 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks, with B.J. Novak playing Robert.
What are some of your favorite Richard Sherman works? Leave your picks and condolences for the legend in the comments section below.
This week saw the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which we praised in our review for its rich narrative, stunning visuals, and second-to-none audio design. Here, we’ve got tips for mastering its visceral combat, as well as suggestions for making it look its best on PC, and getting the most out of its story.…
This week saw the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which we praised in our review for its rich narrative, stunning visuals, and second-to-none audio design. Here, we’ve got tips for mastering its visceral combat, as well as suggestions for making it look its best on PC, and getting the most out of its story.…
Yesterday, we posted our Mad Max movie rankings, and some readers took issue with some of the more controversial choices on the list, including putting The Road Warrior at number one. So, now’s the time for you all to have your own say counted in this week’s movie poll. What’s your favorite Mad Max movie? Let us know!
He who watches the watchmen must light the lantern. Damon Lindelof, who ran HBO’s adaptation of Watchmen, will now take charge of a Green Lantern series titled Lanterns. And he’s not the only major name attached.
As James Gunn posted on social media over the weekend: “Yes, it’s true. The Lanterns DCU series is putting together a crack team of writers, based on a wonderful pilot script and bible by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof. A hearty welcome to Chris and @damonlindelof as they join the DC Studios family (no welcome necessary for old @tomking_tk, who has been here nearly since inception).”
Outside of Watchmen, Lindelof was of course a key contributor to Lost. As Gunn noted, Lanterns will also feature work by Ozark’s Chris Mundy and DC comics staple Tom King. Others that have been tied to the show include The Strain’s Justin Britt-Gibson, The Penguin’s Brennah Gibson and Animal Kingdom’s Vanessa Baden Kelly.
Lanterns is the most recent attempt to get the DC property on the small screen. It had previously undergone a significant retooling even after then-showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith had completed writing eight episodes. But James Gunn and company hadn’t given up on the series despite rumors to the contrary stemming from behind-the-scenes turmoil, pushing forward under this new iteration.
As for what to expect from Lanterns, Gunn stated prior, “This is a story of a couple of Green Lanterns: John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and we have a few other Lanterns peppered in there, but this is really a terrestrial-based TV show, which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over precinct Earth. In it, they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our larger story of the DCU.”
No cast has been announced at this point but Hal Jordan was previously played by Ryan Reynolds while John Stewart has mostly appeared in animated series but was originally set to appear in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Do you have high hopes for Lanterns? What do you expect the team to bring to the series and DC Universe?
It was only a matter of time before Martin Scorsese and Timothée Chalamet worked together. But unfortunately, it’s not for a big screen project; instead, it’s for a Chanel ad. This might not be the project we were all hoping for but it’s still a compelling commercial and hopefully the start of a genuine working relationship.
The Scorsese and Chalamet Chanel ad briefly opens with an almost Who’s That Knocking at My Door? rawness, with Chalamet waking too late for an appointment and being rushed into a waiting car, where he’ll be taken to a late night talk show appearance. Complete with a nearly constantly moving camera and a charismatic turn from Chalamet, it’s actually a pretty snazzy ad for a product most of us will never buy.
As described by Chanel, the commercial offers “an invitation to discover the many facets of a man who is forging his own path. An actor’s conflict between celebrity and staying true to himself. A dialogue between Timothée Chalamet’s artistic sensibility and Martin Scorsese’s virtuosity.”
Prior to Chalamet, Scorsese actually directed Gaspard Ulliel during his own Bleu de Chanel campaign. He, too, has helmed ads for the likes of Armani, American Express and Squarespace (with daughter Francesca). His most famous commerical might be The Audition, which had a staggering budget of $70 million, partly due to its cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro and Brad Pitt.
On working with Scorsese, Chalamet told GQ, “I think the commercial was sort of a great creative setting to meet on. It wasn’t really a high-pressure thing. Obviously there’s a greater purpose to create something for Chanel there, but on a much more basic elemental level, it was getting to meet as two creatives, and do what he does masterfully, and me acting, and on a playing field that doesn’t have the pressures and realities of working on a movie for three to six months that has some sort of bottom line to it.”
While no reunion is currently planned for Scorsese and Chalamet, the actor did say he was grateful enough to have the chance to do a commercial with the director, especially since it was filmed in New York. Chalamet has another New York-centric project on the horizon, playing Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown.
The 77th Cannes Film Festival has come to a close. As with every year, the festival was host to its share of standing ovations, divisive screenings and debates over just which films and performances would take home awards at the end of the 12-day event, widely considered the most prestigious in the entire world. This year, Sean Baker’s Anora took the Palme d’Or while India’s All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix, generally considered the runner-up.
So, who else won out at this year’s Cannes Film Festival? While below is only a partial list of winners, you can check out the complete and extensive list here.
Palme d’Or: Anora, Sean Baker
Grand Prix: All We Imagine as Light, Payal Kapadia
Best Director: Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
Best Actor: Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Best Actress: Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Best Screenplay: The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
Special Award for Best Screenplay:The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof
Jury Prize:Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard
Special Jury Prize:The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof
Un Certain Regard Prize:Black Dog, Guan Hu
Un Certain Regard Jury Prize:The Story of Souleymane, Boris Lojkine
Un Certain Regard Best Director: The Damned, Roberto Minervini / On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Rungano Nyoni
Un Certain Regard Performance Prize: Anasuya Sengupta, The Shameless / Abou Sangare, The Story of Souleymane
Un Certain Regard Youth Prize: Holy Cow, Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: Norah, Tawfik Alzaidi
Camera d’Or:Armand, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Special Mention:Mongrel, Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin
FIPRESCI Prizes:
In Competition:The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof
Un Certain Regard:The Story of Souleymane, Boris Lojkine
Palm Dog Award: Kodi, Dog on Trial
Grand Jury Prize: Xin, Black Dog
Twenty-two films vied for the Palme d’Or, with works by Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paul Schrader, Paolo Sorrentino, David Cronenberg, Andrea Arnold, and more all competing. Greta Gerwig served as jury president, while Lily Gladstone, J. A. Bayona, Eva Green, and more served on the jury.
Of note, the triple win for Emilia Pérez marks the first time since 2006 that a film had multiple winners in the Best Actress category; that year, Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver had a staggering six women share the award. On the Grand Prix front, All We Imagine as Light was the first India-tied film to win that award. Sean Baker previously competed for the Palme d’Or with 2021’s Red Rocket. Anora is the first American production to win since 2011’s The Tree of Life.
What do you think of this year’s Cannes Film Festival winners? Does a victory bump the film up on your list of anticipated movies? Share your thoughts with us below.
