Private equity vultures made Toys ‘R’ Us go bankrupt in 2017. All its U.S. stores closed in 2021. But the zombie brand is still around thanks to a licensing deal with Macy’s. Now it’s using generative AI to reanimate its corpse with an origin story ad that puts its 70-year history in a machine learning blender, just…
If you happened to be passing through Times Square in Manhattan on Monday, June 24 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, you might have seen some images of Venture, the newest hero from Overwatch 2 , on one of the big screens. The digital billboards included pics of the drill-sporting, non-binary archeologist playing with their…
If you happened to be passing through Times Square in Manhattan on Monday, June 24 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, you might have seen some images of Venture, the newest hero from Overwatch 2 ,on one of the big screens. The digital billboards included pics of the drill-sporting, non-binary archeologist playing with their pet…
Season 2 of the Netflix series Wednesday is currently in production – but in between working on the two seasons of that show, Emma Myers, who plays Wednesday Addams’ werewolf roommate Enid Sinclair on Wednesday, has also managed to fit in a season of a show where she plays the lead character: a series adaptation of the Holly Jackson novel A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (pick up a copy HERE), a project we first heard about nearly one year ago to the date. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder to set to premiere on July 1st on BBC iPlayer in the UK, Stan in Australia, and ThreeNow in New Zealand, with a Netflix release to follow on August 1st. With those dates right around the corner, a trailer for the show has made its way online, and you can check it out in the embed above.
The six-episode first season, which was adapted by Poppy Cogan and directed by Dolly Wells, sees Myers taking on the role of 17-year-old Pip Fitz-Amobi. Smart and single minded, she isn’t sure about whether, five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend Sal Singh. But if Sal Singh isn’t a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
Here’s the official logline: The series takes place five years after a murder-suicide shook the town of Little Kilton. Popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. At least, that’s what everyone believes, including the police. Case closed, right? But Pip Fitz-Amobi (Myers), now a high school senior herself, sees how the gruesome murder still has a grip on her hometown, and she thinks there’s more to the story. Pip begins an investigation of her own as she looks into the case for her senior project, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. But if Sal didn’t do it, that means a murderer is still out there — and Pip herself may now be in danger.
Myers is joined in the cast by Zain Iqbal, Anna Maxwell Martin, Gary Beadle, Mathew Baynton, India Lillie Davies, Rahul Pattni, Henry Ashton, Mitu Panicucci, Orla Hill, Ephraim O.P. Sampson, Carla Woodcock, Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Jessica Webber, Matthew Khan, Georgia Aaron, Oliver Wickham, Adam Astill, Annabel Mullion, Jude Morgan-Collie, Raiko Gohara, Asha Banks, and Yali Topol Margalith.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is coming our way from Moonage Pictures and producer Florence Walker. Jackson, Wells, and Cogan serve as executive producers alongside Moonage Pictures’ Matthew Read, Matthew Bouch, and Frith Tiplady, as well as the BBC’s Lucy Richer and Danielle Scott-Haughton.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was the first in a series of three novels. The other two books in the series are Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good as Dead. There’s also a prequel novella called Kill Joy. Author Jackson provided the following statement: “I hope viewers will love discovering (or rediscovering) all the secrets and lies of our small English town — Little Kilton. Viewers can expect laugh-out-loud moments from all the teenage antics, but also all the pulse-pounding twists you’d find in the darkest of thrillers. Heartbreak, tears, gasps, swooning at all the PipRavi moments brought to life, watching behind a cushion, cursing my name … be prepared for it all when A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder hits your screens later this year.“
What did you think of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trailer? Will you be watching this show? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder trailer: Wednesday’s Emma Myers stars in series coming to Netflix in August appeared first on JoBlo.
When was Bruce Willis at the peak of his popularity? It’s hard to say because, truth be told, the man has been a superstar for almost as long as I’ve been alive. When I was in Kindergarten, he was rockin’ the airwaves on Moonlighting and cutting an album, peddling Seagram’s Wine Coolers and starring in hit movies like Blind Date, and this was BEFORE Die Hard. Yet, that 1988 movie took him to another level, with Die Hard 2 and The Last Boy Scout solidifying him as a major, major action star. Yet, one movie almost always overlooked in his filmography is a thriller he did for Sony Pictures that was sandwiched between two against-type turns, one being in Death Becomes Her, the other being in Pulp Fiction. The movie is Striking Distance, and it’s the subject of this month’s The Best Movie You Never Saw!
Striking Distance is one of the least-known Bruce Willis action movies. During his career heyday, Willis was keen on mixing up the types of films he made. He’s often carved time out for supporting roles in dramas like Nobody’s Fool, Mortal Thoughts, or Billy Bathgate to work with people he admired or to take a chance on directors like Tarantino, Terry Gilliam and M. Night Shyamalan, who each directed him in classics. But, the studios liked him in action thrillers, so he made a few of those too, but curiously, movies like this one, Mercury Rising, The Jackal and a few others tended to be less successful than the ones he stuck his neck out for – go figure.
Yet, as a Bruce Willis fan, I watched all the movies growing up and liked them well enough. Striking Distance was a legit star vehicle for Bruce, although it was a movie that went through a tortured production history as it made its way to the screen, and the seams are pretty visible throughout, even if it’s still a good time.
In it, Willis plays a Pittsburg cop named Tom Hardy – yes – just like the actor, who’s unpopular on the force because he just testified against his partner, Robert Pastorelli’s Jimmy Detillo – who’s also his cousin – for police brutality. He’s also been on the trail of a serial killer dubbed The Polish Hill Strangler, who he’s convinced is a cop. On their way to the policeman’s ball, Jimmy and his cop father, Vince (played by the great John Mahoney) get a tip and wind up in a car chase with the killer, leaving his dad dead and Jimmy convinced that the suspect they eventually nab is the wrong guy. At the same time, Jimmy commits suicide, alienating him further from the boys in blue, with him losing his detective’s shield and being assigned to the city’s River Rescue Squad.
Three years later, the Polish Hill Strangler, who’s supposed to have been caught, re-emerges and starts killing women, all of whom are former lovers of Tom’s, leaving him as the prime suspect. So, what’s a guy to do? Clear his name, of course.
The story goes that Striking Distance was initially designed as more of a Jagged Edge-style thriller called Three Rivers, signifying the rivers the bodies of the dead women are being dumped in. Watching the movie, it’s not hard to imagine that Tom’s innocence might have been more in question in original cuts, but somewhere along the way, the studio financing the movie, Sony, who was coming off several flops, had the co-writer/ director, Rowdy Herrington, of Road House fame, reshoot chunks of the film to make it more of an action movie.
If you watch the version that’s out, there are a few dead giveaways about when the re-shooting happened. Throughout most of the movie, Willis sports a receding hairline with a relatively thin crown of hair that looks natural. After shooting the film, he shaved his head to do Pulp Fiction. To match the continuity in reshoots, they gave him a wig, which, I believe, is why his hair looks thicker in many of the action sequences, particularly the showdown with the killer, where his wig falls off during the big kill sequence.
In many ways, Sony might have gotten nervous. It was because audiences liked Willis in action roles, and the thriller aspects of the movie were middling at best. Yet, it’s still entertaining. I especially like the cast, which is led by Sarah Jessica Parker, Jimmy’s new partner, who makes eyes at him from the moment they meet. It turns out she’s an IA agent investigating him, which makes her one of the most unprofessional, morally compromised cops of all time, but then again, she and Willis look good together and have a sexy love scene, so it’s okay. The supporting cast is top-shelf, but here’s where it gets sad. Nearly all of them are dead. Dennis Farina plays Willis’s Uncle and adversarial captain. Dead. Tom Sizemore plays one of his cousins – the good one. Dead. Robert Pastorelli plays the other cousin – the bad one. Also dead. Then there’s John Mahoney as his father. He’s dead, too. Even Brion James, as a cop giving Willis a hard time, is long dead, as is a baby-faced Andre Braugher, who has a small role as an IA cop. It’s pretty sad, although director Rowdy Harrington is still with us, with him having written a Michael Douglas movie called Blood Knot.
So, is Striking Distance a Bruce Willis classic? No, but it is fun, with a fantastic car chase at the beginning of the movie, some classic Bruce Willis attitude and a terrific cast that includes a standout performance by Murphy Brown’s Robert Pastorelli as the movie’s way too easy to predict bad guy. With Willis retiring due to medical issues, we’re all pouring over his cinematic legacy and re-evaluating some more obscure titles. This has always been an enjoyable one, and if you love the guy – as we all do here at JoBlo – it’s worth checking out.
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After two years of waiting, the dysfunctional Targaryens are back as two rulers stake claims to the Iron Throne.
After two years of waiting, the dysfunctional Targaryens are back as two rulers stake claims to the Iron Throne.
The Bone Bow is a Light Bow found in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Though it may not seem particularly exciting at a glance, its Ash of War provides you with homing arrows, making it a fun bow for both PVE and PVP encounters, especially given its low stat requirements make it work with nearly any build.
The Bone Bow is a Light Bow found in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Though it may not seem particularly exciting at a glance, its Ash of War provides you with homing arrows, making it a fun bow for both PVE and PVP encounters, especially given its low stat requirements make it work with nearly any build.
Lionsgate will be bringing a new version of The Crow to theatres on August 23rd – and while we had previously been referring to this project as a remake, Lionsgate recently let it be known that this is not to be called a remake, but rather a new adaptation of the source material, the comic book series created by James O’Barr. Whatever you want to call this franchise reboot, one thing we know for sure about this take on The Crow is that the Motion Picture Association ratings board has given it an R rating for strong bloody violence, gore, language, sexuality/nudity, and drug use.
Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) directed this version of The Crow, working from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Zach Baylin (King Richard). The film is produced by Victor Hadida, Molly Hassell, John Jencks, and Edward R. Pressman. Dan Farah serves as executive producer. Here’s the synopsis: Soulmates Eric (Bill Skarsgard) and Shelly (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.
As the synopsis mentions, Bill Skarsgard plays the lead character and is joined in the cast of The Crow by singer FKA twigs, who takes on the role of Shelly, the love of Eric’s life. Danny Huston (Yellowstone) plays the lead villain. David Bowles (Brothers), Isabella Wei (1899), Laura Birn (A Walk Among the Tombstones), Sami Bouajila (The Bouncer), and Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders) are also in the cast.
Based on the comic book series created by James O’Barr, the first version of The Crow was released in 1994. Following the production of three sequels (each about a different resurrected character), a redux was first announced in late 2008… then it had to make a long journey through development hell. Several screenwriters came and went, scripts were written and scrapped, studios went bankrupt, and directors like Stephen Norrington, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Corin Hardy, and Francisco Javier Gutiérrez were all involved along the way. Actors up for the lead role during the long development period included Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, Jason Momoa, and Jack Huston.
Are you looking forward to The Crow reboot? What do you think of the reasons given for the film’s R rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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