Astonishingly, this is the fourth year in a row Kotaku has celebrated Indie-Penance Day, since the holiday was invented to mark the liberation of gaming from the cruel rule of the British monarchy. To mark the occasion, we’ve picked a selection of some of the most interesting, enticing, unknown upcoming indie games…
It looks like Steve Carrell’s Gru and his Minions are still a huge draw at the box office, with Deadline reporting that Despicable Me 4 grossed $27 million on Wednesday night, with a potential $120 million 5-day start in sight. It’s going head-to-head with Disney’s smash hit, Inside Out 2, which crossed half a billion dollars domestically yesterday.
So, if Despicable Me 4 makes $70 million this weekend, how does it compare to other films in the franchise? Decent, but its opening will actually be on the lower end, with the last film, Minions: The Rise of Gru, opening to a gigantic $107 million over the same holiday weekend in 2022, and that was just as moviegoers started going back to theatres after the pandemic. This opening should align with Despicable Me 3, which opened with $73 million in 2017 before legging out to a big $264 million domestically.
Inside Out 2 shouldn’t have much of a problem holding on to number 2, with it likely to make in the $30 million range. A Quiet Place: Day One posted a franchise record last weekend, but will word of mouth give it a good hold this weekend? I see it dropping in the 55% ish range, meaning it should do around $23 million. Kevin Costner’s passion project, Horizon, is depending on solid word of mouth from older viewers to give it a decent hold. Anything under 50% would be good, although I’m thinking it will fall north of that number to about $5 million. It will likely be beaten by Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
Here are predictions for the weekend:
What are you seeing this weekend?
The post Box Office: Fourth of July update & predictions: Despicable Me 4 off to a big start appeared first on JoBlo.
One of the most unique honors in all of cinema is the Palm Dog Award, given annually at the Cannes Film Festival to the pooch who left the biggest mark on film that year. It’s a quirky award given at the most prestigious festival there is; but there’s nothing like that at the Oscars. Could you imagine the Academy voters nominating a dog? Well, they actually did – albeit in name only – thanks to Robert Towne. In the wake of Towne’s death this week, let’s take a look at the time he got so pissed off over Greystoke that he ensured his dog would be on the Oscar ballot.
In the ‘70s, Robert Towne was tasked to pen Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, later taking on directing duties at his own insistence. Towne hadn’t directed before so in the time being, he took on Personal Best, which was partly meant to prove to the studio that he was the perfect man for Greystoke. Unfortunately for Towne, Personal Best was plagued with issues, including the 1980 Screen Actors Guild strike and a major clash with David Geffen (the movie being a David Geffen Company production) that led to a sticky $110 million lawsuit over fraud, breach of contract and more. In order to salvage Personal Best, Towne gave up both his screenplay for and shot at directing Greystoke.
Robert Towne disliked the final product of Greystoke – which would end up being directed by Chariots of Fire’s Hugh Hudson – so much that he took his name off of it and instead gave credit to P.H. Vazak, Towne’s Hungarian sheepdog. And Vazak – or rather, Towne – would be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, marking the only time a dog was nominated for an Oscar.
Greystoke would be the last time that Robert Towne earned an Academy Award nod, having been nominated for The Last Detail and Shampoo and winning for Chinatown. Just a couple of weeks before his death, Towne said he had completed writing all episodes planned for the Chinatown prequel series.
So as we remember the tremendous career of Robert Towne, let’s not forget the also-late P.H. Vazak, who goes down in history as the only “good boy” to bark up an Oscar nomination.
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2003. It’s an era of action movies where we’re living in a post-Matrix, post-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon world. Those films’ major success and notoriety prompted Hollywood to try bringing Kung Fu wire work to more of their action films (Daredevil, Charlie’s Angels, The Musketeer, Bulletproof Monk). Meanwhile, two of the biggest names in the genre – Jackie Chan and Jet Li – were attempting to expand their brand into the American market — with films that many of their fans considered to be watered-down versions of their previous works. Around the same time, Doug Liman debuted a newer visceral style of action in his film, The Bourne Identity, which would make its own mark on action films to come. However, somewhat hidden in all that activity was a budding star in Thailand who had taken his amazing physical skills and called back to some of the classic, acrobatic action that defined Hong Kong’s most beloved period of martial arts movies. That star was Phanom Yeerum, but he would soon adopt the stage name Tony Jaa, and his movie Ong Bak would give action films the kick in the pants that it needed.
Allow me to backtrack to where I said Ong Bak threw back to the kind of action that defined Hong Kong cinema. A lot of the action in Ong Bak strongly resembles the kind of daredevil stunts and hardcore fighting that Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan would become famous for. However, in the late 70s and early 80s, Thai action cinema had their own champion in Panna Rittikrai. Although Jaa and Ong Bak would only take influence from classic Hong Kong movies, Panna had actually been doing similar action when he broke out around that same era. He had started his own stunt team while he was in college and in 1978, they would show off their skills in a movie Panna directed and starred in called Born to Fight. And in Born to Fight, you can see the seeds being planted for what would eventually be the kind of style that Tony Jaa’s movies would adopt – like the slow motion take which emphasizes full contact made by the fighters or the instant replay of a dangerous stunt so the audience can soak it in and rewatch in amazement. It’s hard to say if it was influence or perhaps it was the general style of action movies at the time, but Panna’s gritty display of fight scenes implemented similar tactics that were incorporated in Sammo and Jackie’s movies. However, the more limited reach of Thailand’s cinema would keep Panna and his team in shadow for a while. Add to that, Sammo and Jackie had the benefit of their Peking Opera training to give them a more showy display of their action, thus giving them an entertaining edge with their weapons play and the acrobatic ability to sensationalize movements. Having said that, Panna could go toe-to-toe with their brutality and insane stunt commitment.
Panna would eventually take a young Tony Jaa under his wing as one of his stuntmen and occasional actor. Jaa was a huge asset on the stunt team as his athleticism and skills made him a stand out talent. This would actually lead Jaa into breaking out in Hollywood early on with an uncredited role as Robin Shou’s stuntman in the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. There are even some moments of foreshadowing his signature dynamic moves. In Ong Bak, while Jaa would take the spotlight as the lead star, Panna still played an integral part in shaping the action scenes.
The plot of the film is a simple, but an effective one. It’s very fairytale-like in nature. The title Ong Bak refers to the sacred Buddha statue that resides in a small, humble Thai village. The people of the village have thrived for years on the crops and good fortune that the statue has brought upon them. Then, one day, a visitor from the city steals the head of the statue in order to sell it. The residents are devastated and the crops begin to die out, so a young villager, who has been proficiently trained in Muay Thai, volunteers for the task of traveling into Bangkok and getting the head of the statue back. This young warrior is Ting, who is played by Jaa. Ting was an orphaned child who was found and raised by a monk who has the guilt of once killing a man using his Muay Thai. Ting, himself, has become quite the fighting specimen and is on the journey to also becoming a monk since he’s been uncorrupted by outside forces. Although now, he must face a trial by fire with this mission.
Ting ventures into Bangkok and the audience is almost immediately hit with all the evils of the city. There’s illegal street racing, gambling, prostitution, drug use, gangs who have affinity for American movies like Serpico…and…um, Spy Game? Once Ting arrives, he runs into George, a hapless conman who gets by from running scams all over the city. He also happens to be an outcast from Tings village. However, he denies the connection when Ting tries to latch onto him for any semblance of an ally. George is played by Phetthai Vongkumlao (pʰét.tʰāːj wōŋ.kʰām.lǎw). And I do apologize if I mispronounce any of these Thai names. George is the comic relief of the film. He tries and mostly fails to run scams with his partner Muay, played here by Pumwaree Yodkamol (Phum-wari Yotkamon). Again, I apologize. George attempts to evade Ting, but in an effort to make money in an underground fight club, Ting unknowingly becomes a cash cow. He is also well equipped to protect George from any reprisals from his cons, so when George realizes he can use Ting, he agrees to return the favor by helping him look for those responsible for taking the Ong Bak head. And that’s your basic plot right there — Thief steals thing, Jaa fights to get it back. What else do you need?
The movie is unapologetically a thinly veiled showcase for Jaa’s skills. While there are vanity projects that can get quite egregious when it’s obviously plagued with narcissism, Jaa takes a cue from stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li by not playing the badass, but a simple, peaceful man who only fights when he has to. This makes it easier for us to cheer for him. Ong Bak happily flaunts not only his fighting prowess, but his physicality for parkour-type action in a time that barely predates Parkour. The movie kicks off with a cool capture the flag sequence on a grand tree in the village. Here, we get a glimpse of Ting’s athleticism as his climbs and navigates through the complicated pattern of branches all while trying to evade and fight off challengers trying to take the flag. We are shown right off the bat that the stuntmen will take some hard falls for the sake of the action. It’s a crazy madcap sequence and there’s actually a similar scene in one of Jackie Chan’s earlier movies called Dragon Lord where hordes of fighters try to get to a golden egg on top of a bamboo pyramid.
Jaa would aim to carry on the tradition of Jackie’s style of interacting with his environment in a foot chase scene that was specially designed to show off his similar abilities. Ting helps out George when some guys try to rough him up, when they show up with more guys, the chase is on and George and Ting try to weave their way through the busy streets of Bangkok. There are many obstacles in Tings way including food markets with some dishes being cooked, a bevy of items being loaded onto trucks, and cars making their way through the streets. In the making of Ong Bak, you can see how the obstacles were designed around Jaa’s ability to flow through with various acrobatic techniques.
The movie isn’t just a coming out party for its star. Ong Bak also proudly aimed to showcase to the world some of the more authentic practices of Muay Thai. In Van Damme’s 1989 movie, Kickboxer, a lot of attention was paid toward the art. While there are traditions shown, the action itself was more or less of what can be found in his other movies. In an early scene in Ong Bak, there’s a nice introduction to the style when Ting performs a kata using a list of offensive and defensive moves. He shouts the name of the moves as he performs, which makes this scene a “Muay Thai 101” for viewers. You can see the major emphasis the style places on elbows and knees for maximum damage. What makes this part even more impactful is that later in the movie, he uses all these distinctive moves during some of the fight sequences.
The fight design doesn’t have too many complicated hand-to-hand choreography like a lot of Hong Kong martial arts films. The combat scenes are an interesting mix of grit and spectacular moves. This includes Jaa displaying his amazing jumping ability to soar across the room for big hits or pulling off some really showy kicks. In between all that, the choreography can get surprisingly grounded. There are times where the hits hold a lot more weight since they aren’t film graceful and they don’t instantly put down the opponent. The sound design even holds back on typical bombastic movie sound effects for some realistic impact sounds. The final fight between Ting and another Muay Thai fighter particularly has some impressive moments of realistic exchanges that emulate the spontaneity and chaos of a real fight in a way that doesn’t seem choreographed.
One interesting aspect to note is sometimes in these fights, Ting looks seemingly invincible as he takes multiple hits but keeps coming. Some may call this out as him being too unrealistically invulnerable. However, the mentality of Muay Thai displayed here is one that’s rarely depicted in films, where fighters are conditioned to be “hardened.” They will not emphasize defense. They’ll just eat punches and kicks in favor of looking “harder” than the opponent. To those not familiar, it may seem like a cop out that our hero is just unfazed and it makes him look less of an underdog, but this is more of an element that’s somewhat lost in translation.
Ong Bak made Jaa a star in his native Thailand. He, Panna and the film’s director, Prachya Pinkaew, wanted this movie to bring Muay Thai into the mainstream around the world. So, they would insert little easter egg messages into the film to shoutout to international directors. There’s a scene in the movie that features a chase through the streets with compact Thai vehicles called Tuk Tuks. And it’s like the filmmakers are making it their own special Thai version of a Blues Brothers chase with these Tuk Tuks. During this sequence, there’s a shot that features a message to French director Luc Besson that reads, “Hi, Luc Besson. We are waiting for you.” And in the footchase scene mentioned earlier, there’s a shot where some writing on the background shouts out to Steven Spielberg and reads, “Hi, Speilberg. Let’s do it together.” Not only is the message hilariously translated, but they spell Spielberg’s name incorrectly. While Spielberg didn’t respond, Luc Besson, who dabbles in martial arts action here and there, even collaborating with Jet Li on a few occasions, would become the one to help distribute this movie internationally as the “Besson cut” became available everywhere. His version added new music and trimmed some scenes. The company Magnolia would distribute his version in America in 2005, and they would send Jaa around the country in a press tour to introduce himself to U.S. audiences. Even performing a demonstration during halftime at a Dallas Mavericks game.
While I can’t say specifically if Ong Bak was thee major influence, but after the release of the film worldwide, shortly, the popularity of Parkour and Muay Thai would skyrocket. Besson would even produce a French action movie called that seemed to emulate Jaa’s style while it featured French martial artist, Cyril Raffaelli and Parkour founder, David Belle. It’s hard not to make the distinction, Tony Jaa does make both practices look awesome, so it would be easy to see his movie as being a big contributor to both movements. Ong Bak made it seem like he could do anything. It’s surprising they didn’t let him rap in the movie.
Jaa would reunite with the dream team of Panna and Prachya for the next movie, Tom Yum Goong, or The Protector. The success of their first movie got them a much bigger budget for this sophomore effort. Where Ong Bak had Jaa going to the city to get back his statue head, The Protector had him traveling to Australia to get back his stolen elephant. Yup, his stolen elephant. In that film, he constantly shouts, “Where’s my elephant?” Which is a pain that only Bart Simpson can relate to. The Protector would follow similar story cues, even having Phetthaireturn as another comic relief character. But the action is turned up with more elaborate and jaw dropping sequences. There’s even a bit where Jaa bumps into Jackie Chan. However, Chan is played by a lookalike.
There would be two sequels made to Ong Bak that were filmed somewhat back-to-back in 2008. Here, Jaa also took a seat in the director’s chair. Those films would be sequels in name only as Jaa played a completely different character in an unrelated story that took place in the year 1431. The reception of both Ong Bak 2 and 3 would not be as warm as the first film (Ong Bak 2 was one of the first movies JoBlo ever covered at TIFF).
Jaa would eventually break into several Chinese and Hollywood productions. These include American films like the Vin Diesel movies, Furious 7 and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. He could also recently be seen in The Expendables 4. And on the Chinese side, he would also co-star in the sequels to SPL aka Kill Zone and the Ip Man spinoff, Master Z.
Ong Bak looks crudely made by modern standards. It doesn’t have a lot of flash, but it doesn’t need to. It has an ace up its sleeve with Jaa. The confidence the film has in its star and its native traditions makes this film an entertaining watch, even if it gets silly at times. It’s simple. It’s raw. It’s hard-hitting. Much like the style of Muay Thai itself.
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PLOT: A newly minted FBI Agent (Maika Monroe) winds up becoming embroiled in the pursuit of a serial killer named Longlegs, with ties to the occult.
REVIEW: Seeing Longlegs at a 10 am press screening was pretty wild. When you’re a film critic, you get used to seeing these kinds of ultra-dark, nihilistic horror movies at a deceptively sunny time of the day. Heck, I’ll never forget watching Ari Aster’s Hereditary at the ungodly hour of 830 am at the Sundance Film Festival one day, and, after being badly shaken by the terror onscreen, walking out the door to a sunny festival full of young folks in ski jackets happily going about their business.
Longlegs was a similar experience. Osgood Perkins, the son of the iconic Psycho star Anthony Perkins, has crafted one of the darkest, most nihilistic horror movies I’ve seen in years. As the credits rolled, a fellow critic turned to me and asked me, “dude, did we just see a classic?” While it’s too early to say, I nevertheless found myself deeply shaken by this nightmarish thriller.
However, your enjoyment (if that’s even the right word) of Longlegs depends on going on in relatively fresh, so to avoid spoilers, I’m going to stick to only the barebones elements of the plot, as previously revealed by Neon. The movie is divided up into chapters, and somewhere around chapter three, the movie takes a hard left and turns into something quite different than what the studio is selling – to my eventual delight.
As it is, Longlegs is a slow-burn, with it being character and atmosphere-driven. One could classify it as part of the new wave of elevated horror, with Perkins, who’s already made a name for himself in indie horror with his previous films, including I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, taking a huge leap forward. This will put him in the upper echelon of genre directors, with the film proficient in the same way something like Se7en or Silence of the Lambs was, although Longlegs ultimately has less in common with either film than you might think.
Maika Monroe has another great part as an uneasy FBI agent named Lee Harker, who occasionally finds herself almost supernaturally attuned to the crime scenes she investigates, with her boss, another agent played by Blair Underwood, calling her “half psychic.” Monroe’s been the darling of indie horror for years thanks to The Guest, and It Follows, with her delivering a largely unseen but excellent performance in last year’s God is a Bullet. She plays Harker as quiet and unassuming (and possibly on the spectrum), with her cold and collected at the various horrific crime scenes she investigates, making you think there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Underwood ably supports her as a warm family man agent who tries to get her to open up a bit. At the same time, Alicia Witt delivers a knockout performance as Harker’s devoutly religious mother. Indeed, Longlegs should reestablish Witt as an A-level character actor, with her role ultimately proving to be one of the movie’s most unforgettable elements.
As for Nicolas Cage, Neon has been careful not to give away his look or voice, but suffice it to say this is the actor as you’ve never seen him. How can I best describe him? Imagine a satanic, hideous seventies glam rocker. Cage seems to relish playing such an evil character, but to dig more into his performance would be a disservice to viewers, as, again, you need to go in fresh.
Another element of the movie that needs to be singled out is the incredible production design and art direction, which make this one of the most atmospheric horror films in recent memory. The sparse score by Zilgi, about whom I could find very little information online, is appropriately dread-inducing.
To note, as far as legitimately scares go, Longlegs, by design, is a slow burn. Rather than knock you over the head with moments designed to make you jump, the movie slowly builds a sense of dread, which becomes incredibly potent as it comes to its horrifying conclusion. Once the credits rolled, I found myself surprisingly shaken up by what I’d just seen, and it’s a film I’ll need to chew on in the coming weeks. Expect this one to make major waves among horror fans when it opens on July 12th. Will it be considered a new classic? Time will tell, but for me, this was a pretty dazzling piece of work.
The post Longlegs Review appeared first on JoBlo.
For a certain type of film nerd (and lord knows I’m one), Michael Mann is a god. The man (Mann!) has directed some of the most potent, ultra-macho dramas and crime thrillers of the last forty-plus years, including a whole laundry list of classics, including Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Collateral, and many more. Plus, he’s the guy behind one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Miami Vice, and its underrated 2006 big-screen remake (to which we recently paid tribute). His influence can be felt in everything from Sam Levinson’s Euphoria to, shockingly enough, the films of Wes Anderson.
And now, Mann has joined the Mecca of film worship, Letterboxd, opening an account that includes a list of fourteen of his favourite movies. The selection is quite eclectic, including works from Sergei Eisenstein to Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, Denis Villeneuve, and even Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things.
Mann joins a slew of other famous folks who’ve hit the platform in recent years, including indie actress Dylan Gelula, Mike Flanagan, Ayo Edebiri, and more. And, yes, let me include a shameless plug for my own Letterboxd account, too.
Michael Mann’s coming off the recent biopic Ferrari and seems poised to start shooting Heat 2, the long-awaited sequel to his 1995 masterpiece, pretty soon. Adam Driver seems poised to be taking over Robert De Niro’s role as Neil McCauley. At the same time, Austin Butler is the current favourite to take over for Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, who is essentially the lead if they follow the book closely. Butler’s posted videos of himself undergoing weapons training, and has been cagey about whether or not he’ll be playing the role in the past. Hopefully, Heat 2 happens because the book is absolutely outstanding.
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In May, 2022, Variety reported that Netflix was developing a series based on hit PlayStation game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Part of the flurry of announced adaptations following the success of HBO’s The Last of Us, showrunner Steve Blackman was attached to the project that would see a live-action Aloy and her fight against…
In May, 2022, Variety reported that Netflix was developing a series based on hit PlayStation game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Part of the flurry of announced adaptations following the success of HBO’s The Last of Us, showrunner Steve Blackman was attached to the project that would see a live-action Aloy and her fight against…
YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat finished a livestream with MrBeast in style: He, seemingly, had his streaming room blown up by fireworks. The stunt, because of course it was, terrified the vast numbers of live viewers.
YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat finished a livestream with MrBeast in style: He, seemingly, had his streaming room blown up by fireworks. The stunt, because of course it was, terrified the vast numbers of live viewers.