There are three new Xbox consoles coming out this fall featuring alternate colors and bigger SSDs. Microsoft announced pre-orders are available now with the hardware launching on October 15, just a day after confirming that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, its biggest game of 2024, will also be coming to…
There are three new Xbox consoles coming out this fall featuring alternate colors and bigger SSDs. Microsoft announced pre-orders are available now with the hardware launching on October 15, just a day after confirming that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, its biggest game of 2024, will also be coming to…
Games are ever-increasingly more beautiful, with many featuring life-like art that just begs to be admired. With that in mind, numerous developers have made it a point to include photo modes in their titles, granting us all the option to become amateur photographers in-game and showcase our favorite moments. Game…
Games are ever-increasingly more beautiful, with many featuring life-like art that just begs to be admired. With that in mind, numerous developers have made it a point to include photo modes in their titles, granting us all the option to become amateur photographers in-game and showcase our favorite moments. Game…
Midsommar (watch it HERE) is a wild, bloody, psychedelic and disturbing display of horror- it’s a swelling anxiety that ebbs and flows through the screen and into your brain with every brightly colored frame. And, did I mention that it’s also a great breakup movie? Ari Aster has carved quite a name for himself into the horror cannon with three original features that all explore deep and intimate themes under the guise of what the kids are calling “Elevated Horror”- Which, honestly- might make sense for Aster. In his debut feature, Hereditary, Aster explored guilt and grief through a deeply flawed family who belongs to an ancient cult. In Beau is Afraid, he calls back to his family dynamic themes and tells a story of a man realizing his mother’s flaws while trying desperately to make her proud- And in Midsommar, Aster explores the falling out of a toxic relationship through the ritualistic practices of a Swedish cult. And today, we’re going to talk about it. I’m Kier with JoBlo Horror Originals- and you’re watching Deconstructing.
2019’s Midsommar follows Dani (played by Florence Pugh), a college girl who is left devastated by the news that her suicidal younger sister has just killed herself, and their two parents in a very sinister mass carbon monoxide poisoning. This (obviously) shakes Danny to the core and drives an increasingly bigger wedge in her relationship with her boyfriend, Christian (played by Jack Reynor). Christian is a selfish, but seemingly just pre-occupied boyfriend and is constantly looking for ways to minimize his time with Dani. But when Dani gets herself invited on a guys trip to Sweeden for the once-in-a-lifetime event of the Midsummer festival, their relationship, and wellbeing will be tested in ways more twisted and graphic than you could possibly be prepared for.
If you know this movie, you know what I mean what I say when I say that we’re about to get all the way into the guts of it. And my goal is to breakdown why this movie serves as a fantastic horror film, and an almost comforting and (dare I say) cozy breakup movie. I’m realizing now that that is a VERY tall order- but I’m up to it. So, today we’re going to breakdown the themes and occurrences of Midsommar and talk about why it stands as one of the most interesting “elevated horror” movies in recent history. Let’s go.
ORIGIN
The concept and title of Midsommar were originally brought to Aster as a traditional slasher film that would be set in the compound of a Swedish cult. Aster, being hot off of the success of Hereditary, didn’t see a way into the script that would make it interesting for him to take on. That was, of course, until Aster would go through a difficult breakup of his own which left his heart set on expressing those otherwise inaccessible feelings and spinning them into something with style, shock, and hours of entertainment. Around this time, Ari was already hard at work on penning a story about two American lovers whose already rocky relationship would reach peak turmoil while visiting a Swedish compound during Midsummer. This would allow for the story to have it’s slasher elements (and believe me, it does) while also providing an engaging look into a very unsteady relationship between two people who clearly want two different things. In fact, Aster has even gone on record stating that Midsommar is “A breakup movie dressed in the clothes of a folk horror film.” Which plays more on the movie’s rewatch when the shocking imagery is less surprising and attention pulling.
Filming began in Budapest in July 2018 and went on until October that same year. With initial filming being done in the sweltering heat of the summer, wasps and bees were a common nuisance on set and would frequently cause already complicated tasks like directing hundreds of extras, actors, and crew- to be even more difficult with insects crashing the shoot. And all while going through an actual difficult breakup in real life. Yikes. Most reports of working on the film are ultimately positive while by all accounts challenging and not without its less glamorous moments. All things to be expected if you’re looking to make your audience authentically uncomfortable.
The film wrapped near the end of 2018 and was swiftly edited and released in time for summer blockbuster season in July of 2019.
THE HORROR
Now, this movie doesn’t hold anything back when it comes to the horror piece of it. The very opening scene is exactly the kind of shit that makes you perk up in your theater seat and try to chock down the lump it puts in your throat. We see the murder/suicide of Dani’s family and Dani’s gut-wrenching reaction which still sends chills down my spine. Very much the same kind of energy as Toni Collette in Hereditary. It’s rough to watch but by God does it make for a good hook to the story. Once in Sweden, the American crew and their friend/guide Pelle begin experiencing the horrors that await them right away, but slowly.
Dani has a bad trip after taking mushrooms on the first day and this brings her straight into panic mode. A feeling that she will not be able to shake for the rest of the film. Of course, probably the most horrifying scene in this film comes from one of the festival rituals that celebrates the passing of your physical life into your spiritual life. I mean, there are so many ways to fuck up my day but this scene here… It’s a special kind of deranged. Not to mention the subtle anxiety you feel from the constantly moving cult members in the background of the film that very carefully add context-clues and information to the story. There’s a show going on in the background of almost every scene that you’re kind of not supposed to notice but your brain is registering. The constant movement just out of focus creates a sense of restlessness and action that contradicts the slow burn pace of the movie. It’s what gives you that tingling sensation in your spine when you watch it.
To balance out the horror, we have characters like Mark (played brilliantly by Will Poulter) who provides comic relief and a sense of comfort in the sense that he feels like a classic side-character in a slasher film. He’s the one who’s just there to party and hook up with weird cultist chicks. Then there’s Josh (played by William Jackson Harper) who really feels like he should have been more important in this movie. He just works, it’s hard to explain.
THE BREAKUP
There are moments of horror throughout the movie that make it easy to classify as just that- a horror. Which, it definitely fucking is. I saw a dude literally get sewn into a bear carcass and burned alive… so.
Just like Sydney and Billy, this is a breakup that will be remembered by horror fans for a very long time. Christian and Dani are clearly drifting apart from each other from the very beginning. Just before Dani gets the news about her family, she calls Christian for support, and he blows her off to hang out with the boys. This is understandable, as Christian is clearly not serious about his feelings for Dani- but even after she gets the news and her entire life is torn apart, he seems eager to skip the grieving process and brush her feelings aside. Not to mention his growing disinterest once they get to the festival. At first, Dani doesn’t even seem to notice that Christian isn’t into her. And if she does notice, she certainly doesn’t care at first. But through their intense and unique experiences at Midsummer, she evolves past her need for Christian’s approval and validation and finally accepts that she is the one who decides how far the relationship goes.
Dani as our central character comes into her own by the end. Her arc is not that different from say, Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall with our protagonist accepting that they never really liked what they had to begin with, and letting it go on their own terms. The difference being that her version of closure is to watch Christian die brutally (yet, poetically) as she takes her place as May Queen at the festival. A true coming of age ending for a true horror final girl.
THE X-FACTOR
This movie is challenging to narrow down because it’s one that isn’t quite as rewatchable as something like Halloween or Scream, but it’s also something that seems to stick with you- and that’s what I’m looking for. So to me, it’s simple. This movie’s X-Factor is the fact that despite contradicting the concept of slashers by focusing on character development, not having the killers be a secret, taking place mostly during the day, and even focusing on the romantic disenchantment of the main characters over the horrific cult activity going on right in front of the camera- It somehow STILL feels like a classic horror movie with all the good, bad, and bloody elements that come with it.
Folks, that’s a wrap on Midsommar and I must say, this movie is strongly recommended for anyone that wants a little something different for their next movie night.
A couple of the previous episodes of Deconstructing… can be seen below,. To see more episodes, and to check out our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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If there’s a way to spin some less-than-stellar early word of mouth, this is a pretty unique way to do it. Francis Ford Coppola’s ambitious new vision, Megalopolis, is set to bestow upon us in a few weeks and the marketing has chosen to lean into the potentially off-putting quotes from sources who found the film to be underwhelming. Early reviews for Coppola’s self-financed film have been divisive with quotes that say it’s “windy and overstuffed, frequently baffling and way too talky.” However, the critiques have usually paired some positive views, saying it’s also “often amusing, playful, visually stunning, and illuminated by a touching hope for humanity.” The eccentric marketing for the film has now jump started and the marketing department has been tasked by Coppola to “implement specialty marketing, word-of-mouth, and non-traditional theatrical distribution initiatives targeting moviegoers.”
Lionsgate has now released a new trailer for Megalopolis that wants you to stay ahead of the curve as it reminds audiences that Coppola’s previous works, which are now beloved, such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, had their fair share of negative reviews upon their releases. These reviews very closely mirror the same negative buzz that surrounds Megalopolis. Then, Laurence Fishburne, who stars in the film, also provides the narration in the trailer, stating, “One filmmaker has always been ahead of his time.”
Here’s the official synopsis for Megalopolis courtesy of Lionsgate:
“Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”
Megalopolis boasts a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.
Megalopolis will be released in domestic theaters and IMAX on September 27.
The post The new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis reminds you that the director’s films are ahead of their time appeared first on JoBlo.
Season 2 of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s world-famous manga One Piece (you can read our 6/10 review of the first season HERE) is already a couple months deep into its production, and one character that fans have been eagerly looking forward to seeing in the new episodes is Dr. Kureha. Many were also hoping to see Jamie Lee Curtis bring the character to life, and Curtis let it be known that she would be lobbying to play the part… but it didn’t work out. Deadline reports that Curtis wasn’t able to fit the show into her schedule, since working on it would have required her to spend a couple of months in South Africa, where filming is taking place. So instead of Curtis, the role has gone to Katey Sagal, who is best known for the roles she has played on Married… with Children, 8 Simple Rules, Sons of Anarchy, and The Conners.
Deadline adds that Mark Harelik of Presumed Innocent has also joined the cast and will be playing a character that almost shares his last name, Dr. Hiriluk.
Kureha, an ally of the Straw Hat Pirates, is a doctor on Drum Island where she is the head of the Isshi-100. Hiriluk is a thief-turned-Drum Island doctor.
One Piece is a legendary high-seas adventure unlike any other. Monkey D. Luffy is a young adventurer who has longed for a life of freedom since he can remember. Luffy sets off from his small village on a perilous journey to find the legendary fabled treasure, ONE PIECE, to become King of the Pirates! But in order to find the ultimate prize, Luffy will need to assemble the crew he’s always wanted before finding a ship to sail, searching every inch of the vast seas, outpacing the Marines, and outwitting dangerous rivals at every turn.
Season 2’s returning cast includes Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy,, Mackenyu as Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero as Usopp, Taz Skylar as Sanji, Ilia Isorelys Paulino as Alvida, Jeff Ward as Buggy, and Michael Dorman as Gold Roger. Sagal and Harelike’s fellow new additions are Brendan Sean Murray as Brogy, Callum Kerr as Smoker, Camrus Johnson as Mr. 5, Clive Russell as Crocus, Daniel Lasker as Mr. 9, David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3, Jazzara Jaslyn as Miss Valentine, Julia Rehwald as Tashigi, Rob Colletti as Wapol, Ty Keogh as Dalton, and Werner Coetser as Dorry.
Are you a One Piece fan, and are you glad to hear that Katey Sagal has been cast as Dr. Kureha in season 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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If you’re avoiding Alien: Romulus SPOILERS, turn away, because we’re about to talk about the ending – which the studio wasn’t sure about, and which director Fede Alvarez compares to the ending of his feature directorial debut, the 2013 take on Evil Dead.
It has been said that the story Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues crafted for Alien: Romulus is not directly connected to the other films in the Alien franchise (which isn’t exactly true), but it’s not ignoring any of the other entries, either. Alvarez has been clear about the fact that his story takes place within the established franchise continuity. In fact, it slots right in between the events of Alien and Aliens. It has the following official logline: The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
The cast includes Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home).
If you’ve seen the movie, you saw the characters played by those actors deal with facehuggers and xenomorphs, as expected… but then things take a turn toward the end and we get a last minute sequence involving a brand new hybrid creature called The Offspring. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Alvarez revealed that the studio questioned that ending, which he sees as a version of the same thing he already did at the end of his Evil Dead.
Alvarez told THR, “All my movies have a fourth act. It’s the way we write. There’s a moment where the movie feels like it’s over, and then there’s a fourth act, which is fitting because Alien has a fourth act as well. You could even argue that Aliens has a bit of a fourth act with its last set piece. It’s when you think it’s all done and the movie could have ended, but it just gives you a last set piece that tends to go to really extreme places. Last night (at the premiere), I felt like that’s what was happening. We got into the end of the third act and everybody was relaxing and going, ‘Okay, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.’ But if they turned around and looked at me, I’m taking my jacket off and rolling up my sleeves, because I’m about to really give it to them and go where it has to go. And, by contrast, it hopefully feels terrifying and intense. I could do that the whole movie, but it would be unbearable. It would be too much. It would be one of those experiences where you go, ‘I can’t do that again.’ But, because of that good dose at the end, it hopefully gets you out of the theater with your heart beating. I’m looking to make you feel things and give you emotions that stay with you. If I give you a script and you read it and go, ‘Let’s do it!’ then I feel like I failed. I need the studio to go, ‘Are you sure about this? Do you really want to do that?’ This is what happens with me and the studios on each one of my movies. They asked me about many things in Don’t Breathe and the blood rain in Evil Dead and were like, ‘How can we even do that? How are we going to do all that stuff?’ So when I get pushback, that’s really when I go, ‘Okay, that’s good. We’re on track. The studio is pushing back on it.’ And they did [push back] at the beginning [with regard to The Offspring], but not because they didn’t like it. They just thought, ‘Is it too much? Do we really have to go there?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, now that you said that we shouldn’t, I know that I will.’ So that’s exactly what we did here. If you’re given an Alien movie by a corporation that is owned by Disney and they immediately say, ‘Yeah, let’s make it,’ then you are failing somehow. So we really pushed it to the limit, and I’m glad we did.“
Speaking with Collider, Alvarez added, “If you look at Evil Dead, it is exactly the same ending. An abomination rises from hell. It is actually similar. I would love to see a meme of The Abomination and The Offspring sharing a coffee and a cigarette. They’re very similar creatures and approached in a quite similar way technically. I knew that I wanna make sure that I would save the most radical, the most scary stuff for the end. I had this perverse enjoyment of imagining the audience thinking the movie’s over, having heard it gets really scary and thinking it wasn’t that scary, and then suddenly an alarm triggered — boom — and they go, ‘Oh f—k, here we go.’ That’s what I felt last night, particularly because I’m happy that people have been hyping that ending.“
What did you think of the Alien: Romulus ending and the addition of The Offspring? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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A little while back, we ran a special WTF episode about the 1979 Disney movie, The Black Hole, an uncommonly adult film for the family-friendly studio. It kicked off an experiment for the studio to move into adult fare, eventually spawning no less than three subsidiaries that produced some of the most influential movies of the 80s, 90s and 2000s. These off-shoots paved the way for Disney’s place as the most powerful motion picture studio in the world, with them owning Lucasfilm, Pixar and the MCU. This summer, the Mouse House released an uncommonly bold MCU movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, which sported an R-rating, and has done blockbuster business. Many are wondering if perhaps this could have the way for Disney to tackle some adult fare, but it wouldn’t be the first time, and maybe now is the time to bring back Touchstone Pictures.
So, what’s Touchstone Pictures some of you may be asking?
Jump back to 1983, when Disney put out a now obscure comedy called Trenchcoat, starring Airplane’s Robert Hayes and Superman’s Margot Kidder. A comic mystery, it was produced by Walt Disney Productions but was considered so adult that the company released it under a subsidiary called Buena Vista Distribution. The name Walt Disney was nowhere to be found in the film. The movie flopped, but other more-adult-oriented Disney films like Tron and Never Cry Wolf did pretty well, yet fell short of their full potential. The common thought was that the Walt Disney brand was considered too childish and that whenever people saw the company name, they assumed they would be seeing a kid’s movie.
In 1984, the company released their first movie under Touchstone, which the company intended to be their more adult-oriented arm. That film was Splash, which became a smash hit, launching the careers of stars Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah and John Candy, and director Ron Howard. Despite their early success, the first year or so of operations for Touchstone was rocky, with them producing movies like Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and My Science Project, which felt like slightly risqué Disney films and nothing more.
Their fortunes began to turn when they focused on lower-budget R-rated comedies starring people who, arguably, were considered washed up. That’s why you had actors like Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler lead films like Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People and Stakeout, all of which were smash-hits that revitalized careers. Suddenly, they were hip.
This led to the golden age of Touchstone, with them producing the Martin Scorsese classic The Color of Money, Good Morning Vietnam, Cocktail, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and so many others. The studio became such a success that Disney opened another subsidiary, Hollywood Pictures, which was initially a pipeline for lower-budget fare like Encino Man, but eventually released larger films like Judge Dredd, Dangerous Minds, The Rock and The Sixth Sense. Finally, Hollywood Pictures was folded into Touchstone, but, as Disney itself became willing to release PG-13 rated movies on their own, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the Marvel films, and R-rated adult dramas became a business the studio no longer had any interest in, they folded.
With Touchstone only a memory, on the 100th anniversary of Disney, we thought it would be fun to make a list of 10 underrated, quasi-obscure Touchstone movies worth checking out.
If people enjoy watching Danny DeVito play the notorious Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, they should check out 1986’s Ruthless People, which almost serves as a prequel to that show. In it, he plays a heartless business person who plots to do away with his rich, shrewish wife, played by a memorably unhinged Bette Midler. Lucky for him, she gets kidnapped, and being the bastard he is, he refuses to pay the ransom, hoping they just kill her. Yet, the kidnappers prove to be a likable young couple (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater) who actually rebuild Midler’s self-esteem, and eventually, the three turn the tables on him. It’s a hilarious little movie.
This John Badham action-comedy was a favorite of mine as a kid. Still, it is perhaps not all that PC in 2023, with it mainly about two horny cops on a stakeout who, to their delight, discover that the frequently naked woman they’re spying on is the smoking-hot Madeleine Stowe. Yet, the movie is a ton of fun, with Richard Dreyfus cast against type as a heroic male lead, while young Emilio Estevez tries to look grown up by wearing a cop stache. One of the best things about Stakeout is how well it juggles the comedy and the action, veering back and forth from zany antics to hard-R eighties action with aplomb. Aidan Quinn also makes for a menacing bad guy. That said, the sequel, Another Stakeout, really sucks.
Tom Selleck plays a wrongly accused man set up by two corrupt cops and spends three years in a super-max prison. The experience changes him from a gentle airline mechanic to a hardened killer looking for revenge, and the film is surprisingly hard-edged for a 1980s Tom Selleck vehicle. David Rasche from Veep, Succession and Sledge Hammer makes for a loathsome villain, while F. Murray Abraham is excellent as the lifer who shows new fish Selleck the ropes. Think of this as a less grim Shot Caller, albeit one with a Hollywood-style happy ending.
Kurt Russell sends up Snake Plisken as an eye-patching-wearing boat captain hired by Martin Short’s harried family man. This movie has a lot of hilarious bits, with Russell effective in a rare comic turn. Notably, Russell and Short became lifelong friends after this was made, which seems a recurring thing for the always genial Short.
Director J. A Bayona’s Society of the Snow was a major hit for Netflix earlier this year, with it telling the true story of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash in the Andes. But, it wasn’t the first. The 1993 version put out by Touchstone holds up well thirty years later. While Ethan Hawke may not be the first name that comes to mind when making a film about the Uruguayan rugby team that crash-landed in the Andes and were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive, this is nonetheless a terrific movie. It’s a highly empathetic tale of survival, beautifully directed by Frank Marshall.
This film was a hot-button topic when it came out in 1993. A dark examination of the pressures of College football, the movie contained an infamous scene where players sat on a lane divider in traffic as a macho stunt. This scene was excised from all prints while the movie was still in theaters after a couple of teens got killed copying it. While that tragedy led to the film being somewhat shelved by the studio, it’s a pretty thrilling sports film with great performances by the late James Caan and the hulking Andrew Bryniarski.
Spike Lee’s epic examination of the hysteria surrounding the Son of Sam murders that rocked New York City in the summer of 1977 ranks as one of his finest films. If you ever wanted to see what a film like Goodfellas or Boogie Nights would have been like had it been directed by Lee, this is the movie for you. John Leguizamo gives the performance of his life in the lead role. At the same time, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito and Adrien Brody are all so good that, were the movie better received in ’99, I think they all would have gotten Oscar nods. This is a legit forgotten masterpiece.
While it was a box office hit in 1998, Enemy of the State remains one of the more obscure entries in the combined filmographies of Tony Scott, Will Smith and Jerry Bruckheimer. This is a terrific nineties update of classic seventies paranoia thrillers, with Gene Hackman stealing the show as a character that might just be the guy he played in the Francis Ford Coppola classic The Conversation.
This old-fashioned swashbuckler was a sleeper hit in the winter of 2002. A fresh take on the Alexander Dumas classic, the now controversial Jim Caviezel plays our swashbuckling hero, Edmond Dantes, who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and escapes decades of imprisonment to wreak havoc on his accusers. A very young Henry Cavill plays his son.
One would think that a post-apocalyptic dragon movie starring Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey and Gerard Butler would be better known, but this movie sank like a stone in the summer of 2002. While the CGI hasn’t held up well, this movie is a total blast, and I’m convinced it was one of the reasons why Christopher Nolan wanted Bale to play the lead in Batman Begins.
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Black Myth: Wukong is a thrilling action role-playing game that borrows elements from the soulslike genre, while expanding and iterating on various elements of the genre fans so enduringly loved by its fans. One of these expanded features is a large and varied selection of skill trees which give you the ability to…