The legendary Shelley Duvall sadly passed away back in July at the age of 75 – but not long before she passed, she returned to acting after a twenty year break to take a role in the creature feature The Forest Hills (and, by the way, the creature in question is a werewolf). That movie is now set to reach theatres in the United States and Canada on October 4th, and with that date right around the corner, a trailer for The Forest Hills has arrived online. You can watch it in the embed above.
Written and directed by Scott Goldberg, The Forest Hills tells the story of a man who is tormented by nightmarish visions after enduring head trauma while camping in the Catskill woods.
Duvall is joined in the cast by Chiko Mendez (Smothered by Mothers), Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Dee Wallace (Critters), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Stacey Nelkin (Halloween III: Season of the Witch), Marianne Hagan (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers), and Linda Flores (Cops and Robbers). Duvall’s character is “the mother of the mentally and emotionally disturbed Rico (Mendez), who serves as his inner voice.”
Goldberg told Deadline he was inspired to cast Duvall in The Forest Hills because she “contributed to The Shining being an absolute masterpiece by giving her all, and performing in a way that really showcased the fear and horror of a mother in isolation.“
Goldberg has previously directed multiple short films, a few documentaries (including the Scream Factory Blu-ray bonus featurette Underground: A Look Into the Day of the Dead Mines), and the horror feature Dead End Massacre.
Scott Hansen produced The Forest Hills with Dreznick Goldberg Productions and Digital Thunderdome Studios. Goldberg serves as co-producer.
What did you think of the trailer for The Forest Hills? Are you looking forward to watching Shelly Duvall’s final performance on the big screen in October? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
To find out if The Forest Hills will be showing in your area (and to purchase tickets if it is), head over to TFHScreenings.com.
PLOT: A family is invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, unaware that their dream vacation will soon become a psychological nightmare.
REVIEW: I, like many, was very confused when they decided to remake Speak No Evil. The original film was released in 2022 and was mostly in English, so it seemed more logical to just put a spotlight on the Danish film. But given how few people have watched the film since I’ve been swayed toward this remake being a positive. Then the trailer played about 5000 times this summer and I just wanted it to release to save me from having to witness those teases again. This had nearly everything working against it yet somehow, against all odds, this remake kicks ass.
Speak No Evil follows a couple and their daughter as they’re invited out into the countryside by a family they just met. What starts out as a normal vacation gets increasingly weirder as violent tendencies start to reflect in their hosts. James McAvoy is absolutely the star of the show and gives a riveting performance as Paddy. He’s electric from one moment to the next and brings such a chaotic energy. This is an all-time performance from McAvoy and will likely stand out as a career-best. As evil as the trailers make him out to be, the performance is much more nuanced and he draws you in. He’s like a dog playing with a new toy, just testing how best to tear it apart.
Mackenzie Davis is a great foil to McAvoy, even if her character isn’t the most likable. Though Scoot McNairy‘s Ben may just be the most frustrating person in existence as he is such an immense pushover. At every turn, he’s unable to stand up for himself or his family. All of this is purposeful but it had me uninterested in the fate of the couple. Thankfully Davis becomes more likeable as Ben becomes more insufferable, as her actions almost seem reasonable. I said almost. There are some iffy character decisions throughout that feel purposeful if not still frustrating. I ultimately liked how the film ended up so it’s hard to go too hard on the logic of getting there.
Aisling Franciosi really impressed in Stopmotion, so it’s great to see her pop up in a big horror release. She plays crazy well and adds some interesting wrinkles. The original film was mostly focused on the darkness of the situation and big moments of horror. The characters are just surrogates for the events and don’t really have much personality outside of husband, wife, and child. Here, everyone feels so much more fleshed out, with Paddy and Ciara not screaming evil off the bat. The children are probably the most benefited by the script changes and actually get some moments to shine.
Writer/Director James Watkins was more than up to the task here, shooting a beautiful film that moves at a steady pace. He’s not afraid to recreate certain scenes but shows a surprising amount of restraint towards avoiding others. All of the changes feel like improvements and result in a more satisfying narrative from start to finish. I love how much he stayed on shots, ramping up the tension with every passing moment. It’s even acknowledged in the film that what you don’t see, can be even more exciting and he takes that to heart when building tension. It’s often what we don’t see that is the most terrifying.
As much as the trailer gave away, and as much as this is a fairly faithful remake, there’s still plenty different about Speak No Evil. The third act is entirely changed, which gives a different texture to the entire narrative. There are some uncomfortable moments but everything comes together in an interesting way. McAvoy is the clear standout but Davis also really impresses. I imagine this striking a similar chord as The Strangers did in 2008, as it feels just logical enough that it could happen. And isn’t that always the scariest kind of cinema?
SPEAK NO EVIL IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2024.
The new documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is certain to be an incredibly emotional ride. One aspect that audiences will be learning details about is the close friendship between Reeve and one of the most beloved comedians ever — Robin Williams. Not only would both actors have their population of fans, but they would be some of the most respected and loved people in the entertainment industry. The story of their friendship will be recounted in the documentary through family members and Christopher Reeve’s son is already endearing people with one of the sweetest of stories.
Variety reports that Will Reeve, Christopher’s son, had recently told People Magazine about a particular time when Williams was the first to visit Reeve in the hospital following his fateful riding accident. Williams would cheer Reeve up by making him laugh through a comedy bit where he played a Russian proctologist. Will stated, “Our dad and Robin had a singular bond. They had a friendship that someone should make a movie about, but what shone through in that was just their love and respect for each other, and that never wavered. … No one was better at showing up with love and with the right dose of humor than Robin Williams and his wife Marsha, who we call our fairy godmother. We are still so incredibly close with her.”
Reeve’s other son, Matthew, told Variety about how closely the family worked with the filmmakers on the documentary as the film features a large collection of archival footage. Matthew would explain, “It is a gift. We’re so lucky. We not only have his films to look at but a collection of home movies to dig up and go through and interviews on YouTube of him to pull up. Seeing things I hadn’t seen before didn’t change my perception of him but enhanced it…like some rare Australian interview done in 1977 that was uploaded and I didn’t know existed. It was pretty cool to see that and uncover a lot more material than we knew about.”
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will be presented by Warner Bros. Pictures and Fathom Events in select theaters September 21, followed by an Encore Presentation on Christopher Reeve’s Birthday, September 25.
The latest Fortnite missions have arrived for Chapter 5, Season 4. This week’s batch of jobs will once again have you running tasks for Jones and Hope in their long-term plans for defeating Doom, while going toe-to-toe with another of the Marvel baddie bosses. This guide will detail everything you need to know about…
The latest Fortnite missions have arrived for Chapter 5, Season 4. This week’s batch of jobs will once again have you running tasks for Jones and Hope in their long-term plans for defeating Doom, while going toe-to-toe with another of the Marvel baddie bosses. This guide will detail everything you need to know about…
The waiting really is the hardest part. Four decades after it was made, Cameron Crowe’s debut film, Heartbreakers Beach Party – which looks at Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers less than a decade into their career – will return to the public eye. Long missing from availability, the documentary aired just once on MTV back in 1983.
As per Sacks & Co., Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party has a new 4K remaster coming from Crowe’s 16mm source. For the film – which Crowe filmed in 1982, the same year his debut script was made into a little movie called Fast Times at Ridgemont High – the director looked at the band and rock and roll through the lens of the first part of the decade as they worked on and toured their Long After Dark album, which featured singles “You Got Lucky” and “Change of Heart.” The presentation will also feature a new intro by Crowe and a 20-minute cut of unreleased outtakes.
As Crowe noted, “Heartbreakers Beach Party occupies a special place in my heart. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers leaned into the making of the film with a kind of hilarious music-filled honesty that still feels fresh forty years later. It was also my first experience as a director. Thanks to Adria Petty and the Petty Estate, along with our co-filmmakers Danny Bramson, Phil Savenick, Doug Dowdle and Greg Mariotti, I’m so happy we’re bringing it back in all its reckless glory. The fact that it was yanked from MTV after only one airing at 2:00 A.M. just shows that it was indeed an outlandish feast for fans in all the best ways. Let that sucker blast!”
Crowe is one of the most well-versed music lovers out there. That he made a feature-length documentary as his first project – especially one on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – shouldn’t be a surprise, but since the film has been hidden for so long, it is. As a fan of both the band and the director, I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it. So you better believe I’ll be there on October 17th or 20th, which would have marked Petty’s 74th birthday. Petty sadly passed away in October 2017.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were most notably documented in Peter Bogdanovich’s Runnin’ Down a Dream, which chronicled the history of the band over the course of four hours – pretty good coming from a director who had no interest in Tom Petty going into the project.
The 4:30 Movie, the sixteenth feature film from director Kevin Smith, is now in theatres (you can read a review by JoBlo’s own Alex Maidy at THIS LINK), and to mark the occasion we have decided to look back over Smith’s entire directing career and assemble a list of Kevin Smith Movies Ranked, from #16 to #1. This list doesn’t represent everything Smith has done; you won’t find movies he did uncredited rewrites on (like Overnight Delivery) or wrote for someone else to direct (Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie), or even the segment he contributed to the anthology horror film Holidays. For this list, we’re only covering the features that had him at the helm. And here we go…
KillRoy Was Here (2022)
While recording an episode of the Edumacation podcast, Smith and co-host Andy McElfresh “accidentally brainstormed a Christmas horror anthology” that would revolve around the child-eating creature known as Krampus… but when Michael Dougherty’s Krampus movie was released, the anthology script was reworked and Krampus was replaced with a new character called KillRoy, inspired by the “Kilroy was here” graffiti that became popular during World War II, showing a long-nosed man peeking over a fence. This KillRoy was a cannibalistic soldier in the Vietnam War who was locked up in a mental institution and left to burn when the place caught on fire. Now he’s a supernatural being who stalks the Florida swamps – and this movie, which was made on a minuscule budget as a project with film students at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida (and has only been released through NFTs and special screenings), lets him slash his way through a few different bloody stories. This was a fun concept with franchise potential, even though the mythology doesn’t always hold up from one story to the next.
Yoga Hosers (2016)
With his walrus horror movie Tusk, Smith kicked off what he referred to as his True North trilogy, a trio of movies about weird events occurring in Canada. The second chapter in this trilogy, Yoga Hosers centers on Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose Depp) and Colleen McKenzie (Harley Quinn Smith), teenage clerks from the Canadian convenience store Eh-2-Zed who had minor roles in Tusk. Here, they find that something evil is lurking around their place employment – so the girls, aided by Johnny Depp as Quebecois manhunter Guy Lapointe, a role he previously played in Tusk, have to fight back to keep the evil at bay. Yoga Hosers has been described as “Clueless meets Ghoulies” because the evil in question involves tiny terrors called Bratzis, foot tall Canadian Nazis made of sentient bratwurst who have concentrated sauerkraut for blood and kill people by crawling up their asses and out their mouths. As you can tell from that description, this is a wild and weird movie, although it’s only about as edgy as a Disney Channel special. Fans are still waiting for Smith to complete the True North trilogy with the killer moose tale Moose Jaws.
Cop Out (2010)
Cop Out is an anomaly in the career of Kevin Smith, as it’s the one feature film he has directed that he didn’t write. The screenplay was written by Robb and Mark Cullen and had been going around under the title A Couple of Dicks for a while by the time Smith signed on. James Gandolfini and Robin Williams were up for the lead roles at one point and Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell were in the running at another, but Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan ended up starring in this story of buddy cops, drug smugglers, an extravagant wedding, and a stolen baseball card. Smith did this movie as an experiment, because he wanted to see how the big studio marketing machine worked (this was a Warner Bros. release) – and also because he was a big fan of Willis. Unfortunately, he had a miserable time working with the icon, who was grumpy and uncooperative on the set. But even though Willis wasn’t “there to play” and Cop Out has a terrible reputation, it’s a fine, middle-of-the-road movie with some funny moments and some nice action. Smith assembled a great cast around Willis and leaned into the fact that he was working in a sub-genre that was perfected in the ’80s, even hiring Harold Faltermeyer, the composer known for his work on Beverly Hills Cop and Fletch, to provide the score.
Clerks III (2022)
Seven years after the first attempt at making Clerks III fell apart, and a few years after suffering a near-fatal heart attack, Smith was able to get the clerks back together for this long-awaited sequel… which turned out to be a surprisingly downbeat heartbreaker of a flick that turns the Dante Hicks character (played by Brian O’Halloran) into one of the most tragic characters to ever lead (or co-lead) a franchise. Clerks III is way more of a bummer than it needed to be, but there are entertaining aspects to it, as we get to watch Dante and his longtime pal Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) make a movie at the Quick Stop Groceries convenience store after Randal decides he needs to finally do something with his life after he suffers a near-fatal heart attack. It’s a Clerks movie about the making of Clerks, with some heart issues added in. But why is it so depressing?
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
Smith was going to make Clerks III in 2015, but one of the clerks dropped out at the last minute. He was hoping to make Mallrats 2, but Universal wasn’t giving the greenlight. He wanted to play with his old toys again – and if Clerks and Mallrats were a no-go, at least he could get another Jay and Silent Bob movie into production. And since reboots and remakes have become the norm lately in Hollywood, why not do a reboot that in itself makes fun of the whole concept? Jay and Silent Bob Reboot has the same basic set-up as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: a new Bluntman and Chronic movie is being made and Jay and Silent Bob want to disrupt the production, so they go on another road trip. This time, the adventure involves a fan convention, the KKK, a Russian terrorist, Kevin Smith himself… and the unexpectedly emotional revelation that Jay has a daughter, played by Smith’s own daughter, Harley Quinn Smith. The writer/director uses pop culture to send up the superhero genre while also poking fun at himself and all of his films, and it’s a lot of fun to reunite with these characters and see where they have gone in the years since Clerks II.
Zack and Miri Make A Porno (2008)
Smith’s brand of humor was something unique when he first showed up on the scene, but then everyone else started making comedies that were a lot like Smith’s – and while his box office receipts remained comparatively low, the other guys were making hits that raked in over $100 million! Starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks (with Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, and Katie Morgan in supporting roles, plus a show-stealing cameo from Justin Long), Zack and Miri Make A Porno was Smith’s attempt to achieve a $100 million box office haul of his own. But thanks to the word “Porno” being in the title and a bad marketing campaign, it fell far short of that goal. Of course, the financial disappointment has no bearing on the quality of the movie, which blends inspiration from a couple of scrapped porn-related story ideas Smith had come up with years earlier with the experience of making Clerks to tell a funny and heartwarming story about friends falling in love while making smut together.
Jersey Girl (2004)
After Chasing Amy, Ben Affleck was hoping Smith would do another intimate story that focused on relationships rather than the over-the-top ideas he had been working on with films like Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In his first film outside of his View Askewniverse, Smith did just that. Affleck plays the father of a young girl whose mother (played by Jennifer Lopez in the opening minutes) dies during childbirth. He is forced to quit his high-profile job and move back in with his father, who is played expertly by George Carlin. Caught up in the media circus of the “Bennifer” relationship, Jersey Girl was unfairly written off as a glossy, sappy misstep that Smith used as a punchline for several years after its release. It’s a shame it wasn’t given a better reception, because it’s a great story about three generations of a family trying to find their way in the world.
Tusk (2014)
The Bruce Willis issues on Cop Out, the disappointing box office of Zack and Miri Make A Porno, and the backlash to his Red State release strategy stunt at Sundance led Smith to consider leaving filmmaking altogether… but then, revitalizing inspiration struck. On an episode of their SModcast podcast, Smith and Scott Mosier riffed on a classified ad (which turned out to be a hoax) where an old man was looking for a lodger who would be willing to dress up as a walrus so he could relive some pleasant memories he had from a time when he was shipwrecked and only had a walrus to keep him company. Smith saw horrific possibilities in this scenario, and just months later he was on set shooting the film. Smith brought Red State villain Michael Parks back to play the madman at the heart of Tusk, and Parks gave a mind-bending performance as the old man who is looking for someone to become his old animal friend – and surgically turns an unwilling victim into a walrus. The film takes dark and weird turns throughout its runtime that keep the viewer wondering just how far the insanity will go.
Dogma (1999)
Many fans will call it blasphemy that Dogma isn’t ranked higher on this list, as it’s often cited as a top favorite, but the biggest movie of Smith’s career – it features a star-studded cast (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Alanis Morissette, etc.) and deals with a potentially apocalyptic situation – has elements that make it feel like it’s falling short of its potential. The scope of the story exceeds the budget, some of the action beats are awkward, and a miscast Fiorentino manages to drain the life out of most of her scenes. Still, there is fun to be had with this movie, as the actors around Fiorentino do great work and we get to see Jay and Silent Bob help save the world. Written when the Catholic-raised Smith was experiencing a crisis of faith, the film caused the Catholic League to stage protests (which Smith himself attended). While on the outside it may look like the film is lambasting religion, it actually encourages people to ignore the sideshow aspect of religion and find something to hold onto for your own personal benefit.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
After seven years of making films set in his own cinematic universe, the View Askewniverse, Smith decided to close the book on those characters (sort of; he did leave himself a loophole to return to them eventually) and move onto other films that would let him tell different stories. The Askewniverse goes out (for the time being) with a wild, over-the-top, cartoony adventure that sends Jay and Silent Bob off to Hollywood to disrupt the production of a movie based on a comic book where the title characters, Bluntman and Chronic, were inspired by them. Characters from all four of Smith’s previous movies appear along the way, as do diamond thieves, an orangutan named Suzanne, Star Wars cast members, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, and a goofball Federal Wildlife Marshal played by Will Ferrell. Most unexpected of all, Jay finds love! Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a victory lap of a movie, a celebration of all that came before, the Avengers of Askewniverse movies.
The 4:30 Movie (2024)
When Kevin Smith was growing up, his local movie theatre was the Atlantic Moviehouse in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. He took ownership of that theatre in 2022, renaming it SModcastle Cinemas, and once he had full access to a theatre, he figured he should come up with a movie he could film inside the place. Set in 1986, the resulting film centers on a trio of teenage friends who plan to spend their day screen-hopping at their local theatre, watching all three movies the place has to offer. For Brian David (Austin Zajur) it’s going to be a special day, because he has invited his crush Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong) to the 4:30 movie… but things don’t turn out quite as he had planned. A love letter to the movie-going experience, the 1980s, childhood friendships, and young love, The 4:30 Movie is a nice, charming, fun, and funny flick that’s packed with heart.
Mallrats (1995)
Following the triumph of Clerks, Smith secured a deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal Pictures!) to make his own take on the sex comedies of the ‘80s; as producer James Jacks liked to say, they were aiming to make “a smart Porky’s.” Like Clerks, this movie is about two buddies – Jason Lee as the comic book-loving Brodie Bruce, Jeremy London as his mopey pal T.S. Quint – spending the day hanging out, this time at a mall instead of in a convenience store, and dealing with romantic issues while Jay and Silent Bob do their thing on the side. Unlike Clerks, Mallrats was a financial failure and took a beating from critics. The sophomore slump. But since this was a bigger budgeted studio movie (in color!) and more widely accessible than its predecessor, with a goofier sense of humor and slightly less vulgar dialogue, it ended up reaching a large audience over the years. For many fans, Mallrats is the movie that introduced them to Kevin Smith. Elements of the story also reveal that this film takes place firmly in the same world as Clerks – and while we’re used to this type of synergy now, at the time it was almost unheard of to see films take place in the same cinematic world if they weren’t direct sequels. The View Asknewiverse was established – fittingly, with a movie that features Marvel legend Stan Lee.
Red State (2011)
Smith wrote the scripts for Zack and Miri Make A Porno and Red State back-to-back, but while Zack and Miri received a greenlight immediately, getting Red State made was more of a struggle. It was something different than what was expected from Smith, a dark and bleak horror thriller – and it was considered to be too bleak by many who read the script. It eventually came together as an independent production that Smith then decided to self-distribute (a plan he announced after the Sundance premiere screening, to the outrage of some in attendance). The film tells the story of a confrontation between the ATF and a small church that has been designated a hate group (loosely inspired by a real-life church that picketed screenings of the movie), with a group of teens stuck in the middle. Michael Parks is captivating as Abin Cooper, the hate-spewing preacher at the head of this religious organization that tries to rid the world of perceived evils by any means necessary. This was an interesting departure for the writer/director, and he created a tense film that is not out of the realm of possibility.
Clerks II (2006)
Clerks II brings back the characters of Randal and Dante to dive into a story about getting older, taking responsibility for your life, and taking stock of what’s important. The setting shifts from the world of retail at the Quick Stop convenience store to the equally life-draining world of fast food at a Mooby’s restaurant (with Jay and Silent Bob following the clerks over to their new job). Dante is working his last day at Mooby’s and has plans to leave New Jersey with his fiancée (Jennifer Schwalbach) and work for her dad’s company in Florida… all the while being head over heels with his co-worker Becky (Rosario Dawson). It’s a lot of fun to catch up with the characters and see where their life ended up a decade after the events of Clerks, and Trevor Fehrman is a great addition to the mix as fellow Mooby’s worker Elias. Highly entertaining and deeply emotional, Clerks II delivers the laughs while featuring some of the best dramatic scenes in the Smith filmography. Plus, there’s a dance sequence!
Chasing Amy (1997)
Kevin Smith has said that many of his films have been such personal stories, they were like he was tearing out chunks of his heart and having it projected on the screen. That personal connection is especially apparent in Chasing Amy, the most intimate and heartbreaking story of his entire career. Drawing inspiration from his life – a straight male friend having a crush on a lesbian, the love life problems he was dealing with at the time, and what it was like to see critics turn against his second film – he crafted the story of a straight male comic book creator who falls in love with a female comic book creator whose sexuality hasn’t always been as clearly defined as his has. Playing the lead characters, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee deliver incredible performances in a film that stands as one of the truest cinematic presentations of what it’s like to be in a messy, complicated relationship.
Clerks. (1994)
The movie that launched not only Kevin Smith’s career, but also the careers of many filmmakers who have been inspired and emboldened by him to create their own art over the decades. Shot on a budget of $27,575, which was charged on credit cards, and filmed in Smith’s place of employment, the Quick Stop Groceries convenience store and the next-door video store, this acerbic film skewers the day-to-day mundane of the register jockey as we spend some hours with clerks Dante Hicks and Randal Graves. We also occasionally drop in on drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob, who spend their day standing outside. While it’s not surprising that the people that wait on you every day can’t stand all the annoying stuff customers demand, this was the first time it had been presented as raw and unfiltered on screen. Add in some surreal shenanigans (knocking over a casket at a lunch break funeral, a chewing gum salesman causing a near-riot, and one of the clerks’ ex-girlfriend having sex with a dead guy in the bathroom), and you get a film that makes you laugh while being far too relatable at the same time.
And there you have it, our list of Kevin Smith Movies Ranked. Is this how you would have ranked them? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
Plot: Dwight and his crew continue to build up and defend their growing empire in Tulsa, but just as they get their bearings, they realize that they’re not the only ones who want to stake their claim. With looming threats from the Kansas City mob and a very powerful local businessman, Dwight struggles to keep his family and crew safe while keeping track of all his affairs. Plus, he still has unfinished business back in New York.
Review: Taylor Sheridan has diversified his retinue of television series beyond the world of Yellowstone to include historical epics, Michigan-set crime stories, and this unique tale set in Oklahoma. The first season of Tulsa King was a welcome small screen project for big screen star Sylvester Stallone, who embodied Dwight Manfredi as a New York fish out of water in the Midwestern city of Tulsa. With a new local crew, Dwight’s exploits were a nice blend of comedy and action, vastly different than any other Sheridan-produced project. With the second season, Taylor Sheridan’s influence has diminished. At the same time, Winter and Stallone’s creative input has increased, creating a solid evolution for the series from mafia drama to a distinct foray into a familiar genre thanks to new antagonists in Frank Grillo and Neal McDonough.
At the end of the first season of Tulsa King, Dwight (Sylvester Stallone) had amassed a nice crew in Oklahoma and began cornering the weed business to the chagrin of new boss Chickie Invernizzi (Domenick Lombardozzi), who killed his father, Pete (A.C. Peterson) to take over the family business. With his sights set on getting rid of Dwight, Chickie may be in luck as a gift given to ATF agent Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage) gets Dwight arrested on bribery charges. As season two opens, Dwight is in jail, his crew scrambles to get him out, and Tulsa is unprepared to learn they have a mobster in town. Over the first three episodes of the new season, Dwight prepares to go to trial while learning about new avenues to expand his business interests in the Midwest, including wind farms, car dealerships, and more. This leaves Chickie irate back in New York while also creating rifts inside Dwight’s crew.
While I have only seen the opening episodes of Tulsa King‘s sophomore run, the series has already included substantial improvements that have shifted the story from another variation on the Yellowstone formula into a new take on the familiar tropes of mobster narratives. The culture shock of a New Yorker relocating to a suburban and rural environment has been done before in films like My Blue Heaven. Still, the tone and style of Tulsa King is ripe for giving us a metropolitan area rarely seen in mainstream programming. Like the Albuquerque of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the Tulsa that Dwight now calls home is a blend of the cowboys like on Yellowstone and the gangsters like in The Sopranos, all wrapped with a sense of humor. The first episodes this season offer some good chuckles, mainly from Stallone himself, as well as the new and returning cast that includes Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, and Garrett Hedlund.
The two new antagonists this season are Kansas City gangster Bill Bevilaqua, whose territory includes Tulsa and whose family is in competition with the Invernizzi clan, and Cal Thresher, the local Tulsa businessman whose business Dwight is encroaching on. Frank Grillo has been a fan favorite in recent years due to his countless action movies and his inclusion as Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Grillo has the right grittiness as Bevilaqua, a solid counter to Stallone’s energy. Neal McDonough equally serves as a sinister force, something he has become recognized for after portraying villain Damien Darhk on The Flash and Arrow, Robert Quarles on Justified, and Malcolm Beck on Taylor Sheridan’s own Yellowstone. Thanks to their local presence in Tulsa this season, both will certainly present a stronger opposition to Dwight’s plans. On the more positive side, Dana Delany gets a stronger role this season as she takes over the main interest role opposite Dwight now that Andrea Savage’s Stacy Beale has been revealed as an ATF agent.
While the first season saw five directors helming nine episodes, the second season employs Craig Zisk (Halo, Interview with the Vampire) on multiple episodes, with Joshua Marston (Ray Donovan, Billions) and Kevin Dowling (The Americans, Mayans MC) tackling entries as well. Rather than have a conventional showrunner, Tulsa King‘s second season has Zisk overseeing the series as director and executive producer. Terence Winter, who left after a season one rift between himself and Taylor Sheridan, returned to help script the second season but outside of the direct supervision of Taylor Sheridan. As such, Sheridan has no writing credits this season, while Winter wrote one episode and collaborated on six episodes, two of which were co-written by Sylvester Stallone. The odd arrangement between writers and directors does not impact the finished product as this season feels a bit more balanced than the first as it continues to forge a distinct voice from the Sheridan-produced series that came before it.
While the behind-the-scenes tension and controversy leading up to Tulsa King‘s premiere made me concerned about how the new episodes would turn out, I am happy to report the series is as good if not better than last season. Sylvester Stallone is fully engrained in playing Dwight Manfredi, and his energy and sense of humor are only rivaled by his intensity as the new boss of Tulsa, Oklahoma. With Frank Grillo and Neal McDonough already proving to be worthy adversaries, this new season further distinguishes itself from other Taylor Sheridan-created series rather than getting lumped in as another show from the guy who made Yellowstone. Tulsa King is violent, funny, and the best mob series to hit the air since The Sopranos.
Tulsa King‘s second season premieres on September 15th on Paramount.
Much like terrifying alien births, creepy children are a horror movie staple. There’s something about the juxtaposition between their tiny innocence and their menacing actions that is very unsettling—whether they are possessed by something supernatural or just born that way.
Much like terrifying alien births, creepy children are a horror movie staple. There’s something about the juxtaposition between their tiny innocence and their menacing actions that is very unsettling—whether they are possessed by something supernatural or just born that way.
