Palworld feels like gaming’s ultimate troll. It’s a troll on the concepts of IP and copyright as it so brazenly mimics Pokémon with its creature design. And it’s a troll on Pokémon fans, given it’s really just yet another tree-bashing survival game. But oh boy, has it been a success, and as Nintendo and The Pokémon…
Palworld feels like gaming’s ultimate troll. It’s a troll on the concepts of IP and copyright as it so brazenly mimics Pokémon with its creature design. And it’s a troll on Pokémon fans, given it’s really just yet another tree-bashing survival game. But oh boy, has it been a success, and as Nintendo and The Pokémon…
John Krasinski’s IF was released into cinemas on May 17 and last month, the family film was already announced to be available on digital streaming outlets for rent or purchase. The studio had also planned for a physical media release with a 4K Blu-ray set to hit stores on August 13. However, in between, the Ryan Reynolds imaginary friend comedy has just been made available to stream for subscribers of the service Paramount+.
This film is one of the many this year that has seen fast turnarounds from movie theater screenings to home video availability. It was recently announced that the epic Kevin Costner Western, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One, will be made available to rent or purchase on streaming on July 16, which is mere weeks after the movie premiered in theaters. Other movies like the Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action film, The Fall Guy, as well as films like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and, most recently, The Bikeriders, have had small theatrical windows before heading to streaming. The unfortunate distinction of all these movies is that they underperformed at the box office. Inversely, the latest sequel to Krasinski’s popular horror franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One, is faring well at the box office, so it remains to be seen how the release strategy will differ.
Meanwhile, other notable movies this year, like Road House and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, are titles that are seemingly ripe for big-screen releases. Both studios behind the films, Amazon and Netflix, have both released their original titles in theaters prior to streaming on their services, so there has been a clear precedence for both of these cases and yet, they were not given the opportunities to be experienced in a movie theater.
The synopsis for IF reads, “Starring Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, and John Krasinski, IF is a heartwarming and hilarious tale about a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, known as IFs. She embarks on a magical journey to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids, before they disappear. An adventure you’ll need to believe to see, IF is perfect for the whole family. Written and directed by John Krasinski, the film also features a stellar voice cast, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Steve Carell.”
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We don’t get a ton of Gothic or romanticized horror anymore, at least not in the sense of the old days. The old days had a bit of a stretch too as I’m talking about the Universal classics and Val Lewton all the way through at least the early run of Hammer Films. To that end, what creature is more romantic or at least romanticized than Dracula and any of his vampire off shoots? While many of the vampiric screen adaptations have that feel to them from Frank Langella to Gary Oldman and David Bowie sandwiched in between, there are few vampires who embody that ideology more than those found in the writings of Anne Rice. While her novel Interview with the Vampire came out all the way back in 1976, it would take nearly 20 years for the adaptation to hit theaters with the movie of the same name coming out in November of 1994. While this could have been a look at how the adaptation fared between the two, with it being the 30th anniversary of the movie I thought we could look at just the film and decide if Lestat, Louis, and the rest fared in the daylight and still stood the Test of Time
Plot
The movie rights to Interview with the Vampire were actually purchased by Paramount just before the novel was published. Yes, that’s with a “the” not an “A” even though this movie is one of the most mispronounced titles ever. She wrote the script for the movie and had French actor Alan Deleon in mind for the part but of course the movie would end up in development hell for nearly two decades. It would eventually pass to Warner Brothers who wanted director Neil Jordan to take the project after his massive success with The Crying Game, a movie that netted him an Oscar for best original screenplay. While he was intrigued by the script when he read it, it wasn’t until he tore through the novel that he fully agreed. His agreement included the fact that he would be able to re-do the script to his liking. Warner Brothers was fine with this even though he didn’t get any kind of credit for it.
The cast was made up of what we now see as ultra heavy hitters, including Oscar winners and nominees. Tom Cruise, who Rice vehemently disagreed with at first, actually won her over with his portrayal of Lestat. Brad Pitt plays Louis, Antonio Bandera plays Armand, Kirsten Dunst who steals the show might I add, plays Claudia, and Christian Slater plays the reporter Daniel. Slater was a late addition though as River Phoenix was supposed to play the part but sadly died a few weeks before principal shooting. Slater donated his part of the money to Phoenix’s services and the movie has a dedication as well. Even the smaller parts have great talent with Thandie Newton briefly showing up and the great Stephen Rea plays an out of his mind vampire in the service of Armand. For other horror output by Jordan, look no further than fellow drama horror hybrid The Company of Wolves and In Dreams starring Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr.
The cast all have horror or horror adjacent titles to their names with Brad Pitt having stuff as early as an episode of Freddy’s Nightmares and the underseen slasher Cutting Class. Slater has Tales from the Darkside and Alone in the Dark among others, Banderas has The 13th Warrior, Cruise has Legend and The Mummy, and Dunst has Melancholia. Not all horror for sure but they all have a little something from the genre under their belt. Rice doesn’t have much even if some of her other works were turned into TV or movies like Queen of the Damned or the more recent Interview with the Vampire TV series.
The movie follows a reporter named Daniel who meets a man claiming to be a vampire named Louis who wants to tell his story. He begins with his wife and child dying in childbirth and his wanting to join them in death after. When he is about to be killed, he is rescued by a vampire named Lestat who gives him the choice of death or living in undeath as a vampire. Louis decides to become a vampire and then continues the story of how Lestat was cruel and loved killing humans for his food even though animals would suffice. Louis struggles with what he has become even as time marches on. They turn a young girl named Claudia whose mother has died of plague and will probably die herself anyway. The three move around as the years pass but Claudia gets upset that she ages emotionally but stays in her child’s body.
She tricks and kills Lestat, or so she thinks, until he comes back in a weakened state. He is still older and stronger than both of them but is lit on fire and they think he is finally gone. They search many places across the globe for vampires like them but find nothing until Armand finds them and introduces them to his coven of creatures like them. They find out that Claudia and Louis killed Lestat and that vampires killing other vampires is a crime punishable by death. The group puts Claudia and her new mother, a human who can’t get past her daughter dying and agrees to become a vampire to be with Claudia, into a cell that has sunlight come down and burn them to death. Louis is put in a coffin and is to remain until he wastes away but is rescued by Armand. Louis kills the entire coven except Armand whom he leaves as he could never be with someone who allowed the death of Claudia.
Louis walks the world alone until he returns to New Orleans in the late 80s where he finds Lestat still alive and feeding off rats. He leaves him and concludes his story with Daniel who wants to be a vampire himself. He soon gets the option when a reinvigorated Lestat attacks him and gives him the same choice he offered Louis a couple hundred years prior. The movie was a smash hit that earned 2 Oscar nominations and 223 million on its 60-million-dollar budget.
Signs of the Time
This is a period piece but also an adaptation. Yes. Neither of those were wholly new inventions for the mid 90s but boy, were both of them coming back in vogue. Jurassic Park had blown the doors off of novels being adapted the year before and it would be crazy to think that that had nothing to do with this movie suddenly climbing its way out of development hell. Period pieces, especially in the horror realm, had also been popular with both Coppola’s Dracula coming a couple years prior and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein releasing the same month as Interview. What do those have in common? The return of Gothic horror was also a sign of the times as all of these titles tried to capture that same Hammer magic that was around from the late 50s to the late 60s.
Another surprising sign of the times, at least for successful movies, was the deft usage of CGI. While CGI has always and will always be imperfect, it’s about how and when you use it and who is in charge. Stan Winston handled the practical effects which of course look amazing but what little cgi is used here looks good and not out of place at all. The final sign of the times is Brad Pitt. The dude feels like he has been around forever, but this is when he was making movies in droves. He had 3 movies in 1990, 2 in 91, 3 in 92, 3 in 93, and 3 in 94. You really couldn’t go to the theaters or see advertisements without that good-looking fella being somewhere.
What holds up?
The movie just looks all around great. It’s directed well, written well, shot well, scored well, and has great makeup and effects. The cast is an epic collection of talent that mostly puts it together in every scene and this group would be hard pressed to be able to show up together again with how busy they all would become. The score by Elliot Goldenthal is appropriately epic and the fx by Stan Winston holds up really well. One of the things I really like is how it subverts your expectations not only about the vampire mythos but also what you would look for in a horror movie. Yes, there is a lot of blood but there are also scenes that don’t use or require it like when they explain that Claudia and Lestat killed an entire family and we don’t see it happen, only the coffins being taken out of the house. Speaking of coffins, they change how vampires work here and its good stuff. Louis jokes about how he likes looking at crosses and that stakes are a silly notion. Coffins and avoiding sunlight are a necessity however as we see with the deaths of some of the characters.
As good as most of the cast is, Dunst stands out. This wasn’t her first role as she had done some TV at this point and was in mega bomb The Bonfire of the Vanities, but this was a big deal and a huge contrast to her other 1994 role in Little Women. Her anger and emotions as a woman trapped in a child’s body are great and you can really see her evolve when she is more taken care of by Louis than Lestat. Lestat makes he into a serial killer while Louis tends to ground her and help her find what she needs, not what she wants. She even uses this malice that Lestat imbues upon her when she decides that his death is the only way she can be free. Theres a coldness to it that is matched by her genuine fear when she is about to die. It’s a fear that is both childlike and the type of bargaining and denial that an adult might go through.
What Doesn’t Hold Up
We discussed how good much of the movie is in terms of its production design, score, FX, and everything else but there are flaws to be sure. The acting is mostly very good with the exception of these very American actors attempting to say French words, particularly Cherie. I’m not looking for Gambit from the X-Men cartoon levels of good, but it just stands out against the ears. Christian Slater is also mostly good, but this was still during his early career where he had a sort of stigma that he was a “We have Jack Nicholson at home” type of actor. As good as most of the choices here are, the fire effect, while perhaps looking fine in 1994, looks awful 30 years later. It’s a shame as all of the other minor CG looks good and the practical are great. Apparently, they had the actors hang upside down so they could see what veins would pop up and traced those to use in the makeup chair. That’s commitment.
Another choice that really could have ended the movie on a high note was the song. They use sympathy for the devil, which is great, right? RIGHT?! Well, it’s not the stones and while the budget for this movie was pretty big, they could have shelled out just a little more for the rights to the OG version. Look what it did for Denzel and Fallen. Made a good movie even better! Finally, and as you can see, I really like the movie, it can be a tad slow at times. I don’t have a problem with this, hell, Italian Horror is one of my favorite genres, but I can see this as being a roadblock for younger generations to get into it.
Verdict
While Anne Rice probably should have been much bigger on the big and small screen, particularly during her lifetime, there is no doubt about the validity and legacy of this film. Interview with the Vampire is a unique film with a stellar collection of talent in front of and behind the camera that has been able to last and maybe even get better with age. If it’s been a while or you are looking for something a little different from the blood sucker genre, check out this Neil Jordan classic. Just like its eternal vamps, it stands The Test of Time.
A couple of the previous episodes of The Test of Time can be seen below. To see more, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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Nintendo posts new trailers for upcoming Switch games all the time on its YouTube channel, but not like this. On Wednesday morning, the company uploaded a teaser titled “Emio” that’s only fifteen seconds long, stars a person with a creepy paper bag over their head, and appears to tease an unannounced horror game…
One of the most brilliant screen debuts I’ve ever seen was, no doubt, Andrew Garfield’s performance in the movie Boy A. While largely obscure now, in this British indie, Garfield played a young man re-entering society after fourteen years in a juvenile prison for a heinous crime. The movie never really reveals his crime until we, as an audience, have absolutely fallen in love with this sensitive, kindly young man, and it’s one of the most potent explorations of society’s failure to allow former prisoners to rehabilitate themselves that I’ve ever seen.
Since then, Garfield has become a big star thanks to his underrated turn as Peter Parker in the Marc Webb Spider-Man films, with Spider-Man: No Way Home teasing the fact that his time in the spider-verse may be far from over. He’s also done modern classics like The Social Network and Martin Scorsese’s Silence, but now is re-teaming with his Boy A director John Crowley for what looks to be a touching romance, We Live in Time. In it, he stars opposite one of the hottest young actresses to come along in years, Florence Pugh.
In the trailer, we see Pugh’s Almut and Garfield’s Tobias have a unique meet cute, with her hitting him with her Mini Cooper, leaving him hospitalized with multiple broken bones and contusions. When she arrives to apologize, he immediately turns on the charm, and soon, the two are madly in love, with them having a child and juggling their careers, with her a chef on the rise. But, as the trailer teases (in tear-jerking fashion), when Almut receives an ominous diagnosis, time may not be on their side, leaving both to make the most of the time they have left.
Certainly, this looks like a real winner, as Garfield and Pugh are electric to watch in almost anything they do (Pugh was superb in the largely unseen A Good Person), and this looks like a lovely, old-fashioned romance – a Love Story for 2024. The movie is set to have its world premiere at TIFF, and it marks something for a comeback for Crowley. His romantic drama, Brooklyn, established him as one of the biggest directors of the moment, but he stumbled with his big-budget follow-up, The Goldfinch, which got murdered by critics at TIFF a few years ago. It’s cool that he’s coming back, Rocky-style, to once again show how good of a director he is (seriously – Boy A is a masterpiece), and I’m all for it.
We Live in Time hits theaters on October 11th, 2024.
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Canadian rockers, your favorite headbanger is coming back in the comedy Deaner ‘89! As you can tell from the title, this one is set in 1989, and it stars Paul Spence (FUBAR and FUBAR 2) as his legendary character Dean Murdoch – who, in ’89, was a teenager growing up in suburban Manitoba. A press release lets us know that Deaner is “Captain of the hockey team, with a pretty girlfriend and a great adoptive family – he’s got it all… until a gnarly trunk of his recently deceased birth father’s belongings arrives. Deaner’s life changes when he learns about his heritage and identity in one fell swoop.“ Deaner ’89 will be reaching theatres across Canada on September 6th – and today, we here at JoBlo are proud to premiere the new trailer for the film! You can check it out in the embed above.
Directed by Sam McGlynn from a screenplay by Spence, who drew inspiration from his own family past, Deaner ’89 has the following official logline: Hard-luck metalhead Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence) reveals how he finally made it, taking us back to the ’80s – when being a hockey jock was a badge of honour, Jazzercise was a national movement, seatbelts were optional, and teachers were as drunk as their students.
Spence is joined in the cast by Will Sasso (CBS’ Young Sheldon, The Throwback) and comedy legend Mary Walsh (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) – and the film features a cameo from Kids in the Hall’s Kevin McDonald. The press release promises, “You’ll laugh your ass off with this charming, hilarious origin story!“
Coming our way from Eagle Vision and PSA Productions, Deaner ’89 is produced by Kyle Irving and is executive produced by Lisa Meeches and Rebecca Gibson. Financing was provided by Telefilm Canada, Eagle Vision, Mongrel Media, the Indigenous Screen Office, and Manitoba Film and Music.
What did you think of the Deaner ’89 trailer? Are you a fan of Paul Spence, and will you be catching this movie on the big screen when it’s released in September? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Here’s an image to check out while you’re scrolling down:
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It’s time to go back to work for the team at Lumon. Apple TV+ today unveiled the premiere date for season two of its Emmy Award-winning and globally celebrated workplace thriller Severance, and shared a sneak peek showcasing what’s in store for the highly anticipated second season. Directed and executive produced by Ben Stiller and created, written and executive produced by Dan Erickson, the 10-episode second season of Severance will debut globally on Apple TV+ with the first episode on Friday, January 17, 2025 followed by one episode every Friday through March 21.
In season two, Mark (played by Scott) and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe. Season two reunites its ensemble cast of stars including Emmy Award nominee Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Academy and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, and new series regular Sarah Bock.
Severance is created and written by Dan Erickson, with Ben Stiller serving as director and executive producer. In a statement when the series initially kicked off production, Stiller said, “We are thrilled and delighted to be back on set for the exciting second chapter of Severance. Though we don’t know how long we’ve been gone or who we are outside, we are told people enjoy the show and we couldn’t be happier. Praise Kier!” The first season was a big success for Apple TV+, scoring 14 Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Writing, and Outstanding Lead Actor.
Our own Alex Maidy reviewed the series when it debuted in 2022, calling it a “disturbingly dark cross between Black Mirror and Office Space.” He also said that “the series is by far one of the most original I have seen in some time and will absolutely give you chills in equal measure with some pretty bleak laughs.” You can check out the rest of Maidy’s review right here.
The complete first season of Severance is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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Goonies never say die! But we’re still interested in what else they have to say. And this will all come true for die-hard fans of The Goonies, as a feature-length documentary on the making and legacy of the 1985 adventure favorite is currently in development through a Kickstarter campaign. With less than two months until the campaign ends, none other than Mikey Walsh, Sean Astin, is calling for any remaining support there is and ensuring he’ll take part.
Posting on social media to promote the documentary – currently titled Life After The Goonies – Sean Astin wrote, “I enthusiastically support this Goonies documentary. I hope you all can donate a few bucks so it can get made. I can’t wait to participate. I can’t wait to see the interviews she’s already done…in particular with Richard Donner our Director. I’ve never seen it. Only a couple days left on the campaign…” Not long after his post, the doc exceeded its $83,150 goal – that’s good enough for me!
Launched by director Lisa Downs, Life After the Goonies hopes to capture the spirit of the movie through interviews with both those involved and some of The Goonies’ biggest fans; it will also serve as a tribute to the late, great Richard Donner, who passed away in 2021. As of now, Downs has footage from some convention panels and even a Corey Feldman concert, so that should be interesting…
The cast of The Goonies has gone on to venture onto their own endeavors, ranging from Oscar-winning performances (Ke Huy Quan aka Data) to successful law careers (Jeff Cohen aka Chunk). But considering they all still have an appreciation for the movie and what it means to fans, we hope to see everybody who is still around reunite for the doc.
In addition to her forthcoming project on The Goonies, Downs has also been behind documentaries on The Neverending Story, Flight of the Navigator and Flash Gordon. There, too, are projects on Goodfellas and Grease in various stages of development.
What are your memories of watching The Goonies as a kid? What is your favorite scene? Let us know in the comments section below!
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Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) are suiting up to investigate what could be their final case. Warner Bros. has set a September 5, 2025 release date for The Conjuring 4, which is said to be the final installment of the main series.
The untitled Conjuring movie is set to be directed by Michael Chaves, who is no stranger to the franchise. He helmed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, as well as The Nun II. Chaves also directed The Curse of La Llorona, which is often mistakenly included in the franchise. While the film has several notable connections to The Conjuring Universe (including an Annabelle easter egg and Tony Amendola reprising his role as Father Perez), Chaves confirmed last year that it’s not part of the franchise.
“There’s so much debate about it and I think I’ve played coy in the past,” Chaves said. “The idea was that [the Annabelle cameo] was going to be this little hidden thing that you were going to discover as you watch the movie. One of the reasons that it couldn’t formally be a part of the Conjuring universe is it didn’t include one of the key producers, which is Peter Safran. The Conjuring is his baby, him and James, and they are still the two core producers on it.“
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who penned the screenplay for the third installment, will return to write this final sequel. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are naturally expected to return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, with production looking to start shooting this summer in Atlanta. Plot details are being kept under wraps at this point, but a few ghostly apparitions and demonic possessions are a good bet.
The studio has also pushed up the release date of The Bride!, the Frankenstein movie directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film was previously set to hit theaters on October 3, 2025, but will now be released a week earlier on September 26, 2025. The film “sees a lonely Frankenstein travel to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.” Christian Bale stars as Frankenstein’s monster alongside Jessie Buckley as the Bride. Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, and Jake Gyllenhaal will also star in the movie.
Back to The Conjuring; although the fourth movie could be the end of the Warren’s, the franchise will continue. I’m certain there will be more theatrical spin-offs, but there’s also a Conjuring TV series which is still in development for Max.
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