As Saturday Night Live hits its 50th anniversary, those who have been around since the beginning – whether as viewers or cast members – will no doubt have their takes on how the show has changed. The latest comes from Garrett Morris, who was not only in the original lineup but was also the show’s first Black cast member. And for Morris, the show just doesn’t have the bite it used to.
While Garrett Morris does still watch Saturday Night Live every week, he has noticed that the punches and satire have grown weaker throughout the decades. Speaking with The Guardian, he said. “I don’t see the courage, the experimental impulses. That was the whole core of what happened the first 10 years. I keep expecting it to attack in a funny way and bring out the foibles not only of individuals but of the government and all that. And nowadays, although people still check it out, I think they’re catering to too many people too much of the time.”
No doubt the pot shots on SNL have changed since Garrett Morris left in the early ‘80s. And while there are still no doubt targets, he might have a point in that it tends to cater to a certain audience. It, too, can be seen as being less on the offensive with something intelligent to say and more just putting our society in funny wigs. But hey, it’s been on the air for 50 years, so it must be doing something right…
As a key player on the first season of SNL, Garrett Morris – who, like fellow OG cast members Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner, left after season five – is of course featured in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, chronicling the making of the very first episode. In it, he’s played by Lamorne Morris (no relation). Check out our 8/10 review here.
Unfortunately, despite his role in the evolution of SNL, Garrett Morris tends to get overlooked as far as his actual contributions, with most highlights showing the likes of John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner. But I would highly recommend bits like Bad Clams, White Guilt Relief Fund and his incredible lead on “Winter Wonderland” from season one, showing off his Juilliard-trained chops.
What do you think of Garrett Morris’ take on Saturday Night Live? Does the show still have an edge to it or is it too concerned about catering?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s institution of the multiverse and variants shows that anything is now possible. Deadpool & Wolverine blew the door down and showcased some delightfully unexpected possibilities. One of those possibilities was Channing Tatum finally getting to play X-Man Gambit after so many false starts in getting his own movie. Tatum is holding out hope that the positive responses to his appearance might lead to something as he’s said, “I sure hope so. From your mouth to God’s ears. Write it into existence, my friend. Please.” He had also told Marvel that he still wants to make the movie. “I’ve course I’ve said it. I’ve been saying I want it for the last 10 years. It’s in Bob Iger and Kevin Feige’s hands. I pray to God.”
Ryan Reynolds proclaims that Tatum’s dreams may be on the path to realization as he tells Entertainment Weekly that Marvel is obsessed with him in that character. Reynolds explained,
I honestly don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in the bookkeeping sessions at Marvel, but I do know that they’re obsessed with him in that role. It’s kind of like the same situation I went through. Once you show that it works well, that’s really what they need. Sometimes they just need to see it in action.”
The Deadpool & Wolverine star continues, “And Channing is so singular in how he plays that character. but also he’s so beautiful physically, the way he moves and the way he can pick up steps.”
Additionally, earlier this year, Reynolds has called on Marvel to give Wesley Snipes a Logan-like send off to the Blade character. Reynolds posted, “There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market. He’s Marvel Daddy. Please retweet for a Logan-like send off. #DeadpoolAndWolverine.” Then, he would make another push, saying, “The reaction when Wesley Snipes enters the movie is the most intense thing l’ve heard in a theater. People screaming with uninhibited joy and love is also the sound of a legacy. More Blade please. #DayWalker.” He later went back and edited his post to add a P.S.: “A Logan-style send off, specifically.“
The world of Stephen King adaptations runs the gamut across nearly every aspect of filmmaking. You have theatrically released ones and straight to video ones. Stories stretched into TV miniseries and short stories used as segments of anthology movies. Of course, there are features that do well with critics but fail with audiences and vice versa, fail with critics but are eaten up but movie goers worldwide. 1408 came at the beginning of the King renaissance in 2007 and was a success with both critics and audiences but somehow stands alone in the mid 2000s horror pantheon as a successful but forgotten movie. Who was originally going to star in the title role? How many endings does the movie technically have? How meticulous was the production about the number 1408? Grab your room keys as we find out what happened to 1408.
Stephen King had released books in several different ways throughout his career by 1999. These included being published in magazines, standard novels, short story collections, and even a damn calendar in the case of Cycle of the Werewolf. He would break up The Green Mile into easily digestible entries for younger readers and in 1999 he would release an audio collection called Blood and Smoke. It would only include 3 stories but one of them would be the hotel ghost story 1408. That story would move to print in the short story collection Everything’s Eventual along with its Blood and Smoke brethren as well as a handful of others. King properties tend to do well one way, or another so Dimension optioned the story rights at the end of 2003. They sat on it for a bit until October of 2005 when they announced that Mikael Hafstrom was going to direct with a script done by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. These two would eventually be joined by Matt Greenberg.
Hafstrom is a Swedish writer and director who before this movie had done a fair amount of TV and was first seen widely by American audiences when he directed the thriller Derailed starring Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen. This movie would help him get The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins and Escape Plan with Sly and Arnie. Greenberg has a fun resume including writing the third Children of the Corn movie, The Prophecy II, and Halloween H20. Alexander came from a different part of the film world with things like Man on the Moon, The People vs Larry Flint, and Agent Cody Banks. He does have some horror roots with episodes of both Monsters and Tales from the Crypt on the small screen. The third writer, Karaszewski, is a writing partner of Alexander and has nearly identical credits and recently wrote every episode of the second season of American Crime Storry.
These three were tasked with coming up with the shooting script for 1408 and had a field day making references to both the number 1408 and 13. 1408 is the title of the story and 13 is seen as unlucky in many facets of life to the point where some buildings don’t even have a 13th floor. Many numbers that appear on screen add up to these numbers and it is easy to notice when you know the creators goal. The cast is a small but effective group with John Cusack as writer Mike Enslin, Sam Jackson as the hotel manager and Tony Shalhoub as Mike’s publicist. In smaller roles we have Isiah Whitlock Jr. as a hotel engineer and an Mary McCormack as Enslin’s ex-wife. McCormack wasn’t the first choice and actually replaced Kate Walsh who had to exit due to commitments on the show Grey’s Anatomy. Cusack wasn’t originally attached either as originally Keanu Reeves was to portray the non-fiction horror writer.
Cusack has done other horror and other King properties with roles in Stand by Me and The Cell which also co-starred Jackson. Shalhoub is probably most famous for Monk or Wings but had a large role in the remake of 13 Ghosts from 2001. Jackson had done some horror and horror adjacent titles like a cameo in Exorcist III and Snakes on a Plane and would go on to co-star in Spiral. The basic conceit of a man staying in and being stuck in a haunted hotel room was very short, hence being in a collection of short stories, but it was almost merely a footnote. King originally wrote a very short premise as a sort of guide for one of the many types of horror stories there are for his second nonfiction work On Writing but he liked it so much that he ended up fleshing it out for a proper short story to include in a collection.
The story follows Mike Enslin, a skeptic who makes a living writing about supposed supernatural events. He is a very cynical man who seems to loathe both his audience’s belief in what he writes about and the very subject matter itself. While promoting his latest release he gets a postcard from a hotel named The Dolphin with an ominous warning not to go into room 1408. He heads there and requests the room before being told no as well as its dangerous and frightening history. He gets into the room eventually and begins a battle of wits with the very room itself. He faces off against both ghosts from the rooms’ past as well as ones that haunt his own personal history before the whole thing resetting and the room reverting to what it was when he first entered. He is told he can relive the last hour over and over again or he can take himself off the board permanently and “Check Out”. Mike declines this and sets the room on fire with a makeshift firebomb and then, depending on what version you are watching, you would be treated to one of 4 endings. Yes. FOUR.
The original ending that was shot was a downer for audiences according to director Hafstrom. The original shot ending has Mike dying as a result of the fire but killing whatever evil had hold of the room as well. At the funeral, the hotel manager brings a box of tape recordings to try and give to Mike’s ex-woife, but she refuses, and Olin sees a burnt corpse ghost version of Mike before seeing another apparition of a father and daughter walking away together. The scene switches back to the hotel when ghost Mike is pleased that he has beaten the room, but we also get the happy end that Mike and his daughter, who passed from cancer, are reunited at last. Finally, the room being beaten has allowed all the other souls to be freed as well. While this sounds like it has happy written all over it with a reunion of father and daughter and the trapped ghosts being freed, audiences just hated seeing Mike die.
The ending that theaters got and that shows up in a lot of streaming platforms in addition to the theatrical DVD release is Mike actually surviving the ordeal and ending back up with his ex. They play a recording that has them hear their daughters voice which also confirms Mikes account of what happened. A slightly altered version for ending number 3 has only Mike hear his daughters voice which could confirm his journey or confirm that maybe he is a little crazy. The 4th ending that was shot includes Mike still dying but instead of a funeral we get to see his publicist find the manuscript and recordings only to have his office door supernaturally shut and Mikes fathers voice give an ominous warning. While the theatrical ending was the only one available on the DVD release, the two disc Blu-ray has the director’s cut ending as well as all of the other endings as special features on the discs.
Cusack would go on to say that he based his performance of a man going crazy and seeing things that shouldn’t exist on his own experiences tripping on LSD. While his character is certainly tripping in a way throughout the performance, the audience isn’t crazy if they notice an over abundance to both the number 13 and the number 1408. In terms of the number 1408 we have things like the DVD run time being 104 minutes and 8 seconds, the frequency for the clock radio being 104.8 mhz, and an ad on the back of a plane ending in the number 1408. 13 is a lot more prevalent but also takes more detective work on the part of the viewer. These can get into the weeds a little like with the Jim Carrey vehicle The Number 23 but there are still quite a few. Radio clock digits ad up to 13 in multiple scenes, the Bible verse Mike opens up to is Samuel 2:11 which add up to 13, the classical music selection that plays during a scene is Serenade Number 13 and the list goes on. While the movie is called 1408, the number 13 is more prevalent even in that there is no 13th floor due to superstition, and that 1408 also adds up to 13. One last real piece of information is found when Mike threatens legal action against the hotel for not allowing him to go into the room. This is based on fact that hotels can kick people out for infractions or not rent specific rooms due to damage, but they can’t refuse a guest a room for any other reason.
1408 was released on June 22nd, 2007, and was a massive success. While the budget was 25 million, the film opened at number 2 with a take of over 20 million. This is not your typical summer blockbuster fare, but it would go on to gross 133 million in its theatrical run and make millions more with its multiple releases both for rent which gave Blockbuster an exclusive version to get to customers, and its dual platform retail release. It is still in the top 10 all time for King related movies at the box office and considering just how large that list is, that’s no small feat. We may never know exactly what drove the horror in that room in the Dolphin Hotel but we do now know what happened to 1408.
A couple of the previous episodes of What Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Who else had Macaulay Culkin reportedly being cast in season two of Fallout on their bingo card? Just me? Weird. According to Deadline’s mysterious sources, the Uncle Buck star is set for a recurring role in the new season of Amazon’s mega-hit Fallout TV series. He will, the site claims, play a “crazy genius-type…
Who else had Macaulay Culkin reportedly being cast in season two of Fallout on their bingo card? Just me? Weird. According to Deadline’s mysterious sources, the Uncle Buck star is set for a recurring role in the new season of Amazon’s mega-hit Fallout TV series. He will, the site claims, play a “crazy genius-type…
It’s no mean feat to adapt an acclaimed play for the screen. Stay too true to the source material, and it becomes claustrophobic and uncinematic. Veer too far away, and you lose the original’s magic. In many respects, Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play lands in the middle. Its stage roots are evident, but he has a handle on the filmmaking craft expands beyond what can be done in a theatrical space.
It’s a handsome work, one that features a cast that is a veritable who’s who of people who should have won Oscars by now. In 1936 the fast-talking Boy Willie (John David Washington) and his naïve pal Lymon (Ray Fisher) make their way from Mississippi to Pittsburgh with a truckful of watermelons, hoping that the proceeds accrued from selling the ripe fruit and an ornate piano in the possession of his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) will be enough to purchase a plot of land. Their uncle Doaker (Samuel L Jackson) remains the pragmatist in this situation and attempts to hold the peace between his at-odds family members, but Berniece stands firm, recruiting her reverend love interest Avery (Corey Hawkins) to purge the piano of its ghostly hold upon generation after generation of her family.
The piano itself is one of the film’s most bewitching details, carved with their family’s history and seeming to scream out with the pain of their enslaved ancestors. But tonally, the film is not able to play from as wide a range of keys, moving from twinkly romance to gothic horror to righteous fury. The seams are exposed, and with a plethora of flashbacks also in the mix, each shift feels like the film is adopting a new instrument rather than born of a single orchestra.
The intimate way that Malcolm Washington frames each of his actors’ faces as they speak and manoeuvres light from fields at dusk to mahogany-lined rooms at dawn is exquisite, yet the film never entirely justifies its own existence. It lands as more of a showcase of assembling the many talents on board rather than an adaptation shining a new light on an already treasured work.
Closing the chasm between art conceived for the stage and screen is a noble endeavour, particularly in a world where tickets to see Wilson’s work live are, at best, extortionately expensive and, at worst, entirely inaccessible. It’s a truly warming thing to see Netflix invest in bringing complex films for grown-ups based on African-American classics to the masses and to see Jackson doing subtle, well-directed work without his MCU-mandated eye patch. But much like what the film’s themes speak to, this debut alludes to a brighter future, and serves best as the foundation upon which Malcolm Washington’s greatness will be built upon rather than a monument to it.
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Ridley Scott is currently on the promotion circuit for his latest epic, Gladiator II. The filmmaker has been hyping throughout the whole production about the grand scale of the film and has even called it the biggest movie he’s ever made. Scott recently spoke about making such a film at 86 years old (he turns 87 this month) and how he doesn’t plan to slow down. Scott explained, “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t be doing it [if directing felt like work]. It’s my passion and therefore my pleasure. I think it actually keeps me going. I’ve damaged myself with too much tennis. I’ve got dodgy knees and I’m now getting injections in them — I can’t be the old guy staggering around the set because when we were doing Gladiator II we’re in 112 degrees and I have to be out there.”
Variety reports that Scott nearly had a problem on his hands on the first film when Joaquin Phoenix was getting cold feet about the movie. Scott told The New York Times, “[Joaquin] was in his prince’s outfit saying, ‘I can’t do it.’ I said, ‘What?’ And Russell said, ‘This is terribly unprofessional.’” The director then revealed how he talked Phoenix down and was able to get him to follow through, “I can act as a big brother or dad. But I’m quite a friend of Joaquin’s. Gladiator was a baptism of fire for both of us in the beginning.”
This revelation comes just as Phoenix had publicly left a Todd Haynes project abruptly as filming was set to start. Haynes’ film revolves around two men who are intense lovers and leave California for Mexico. The reason for Phoenix’s exit is unclear. Still, some have wondered if the project’s intimate and explicit content was a factor. Phoenix would be inquired about the situation surrounding his abrupt exit and he would reply, “If I do, I’d just be sharing my opinion from my perspective and the other creatives aren’t here to share their piece so I don’t think that would be helpful. So I won’t.”
Additionally, James McAvoy would reveal that he had to quickly prepare for his role in Split after Phoenix would also drop out of that film a couple weeks before filming commenced.
The reason patent attorneys get paid so much money is that no one in their right mind would ever want to be a patent attorney. Thus, we can all nod and smile as if we understand as Palworld developers Pocketpair releases a statement about precisely which patents Nintendo is claiming the Pokémon-alike game is violating.
The reason patent attorneys get paid so much money is that no one in their right mind would ever want to be a patent attorney. Thus, we can all nod and smile as if we understand as Palworld developers Pocketpair releases a statement about precisely which patents Nintendo is claiming the Pokémon-alike game is violating.
PLOT: Two Mormons (Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher) on a mission knock on the wrong door and find themselves fighting for their lives, faith, and sanity.
REVIEW: Heretic is the latest horror flick from A24, and like many of their genre efforts, it’s a provocative one. Questions of theology and faith are always timely, and much of this diabolical and impressively harsh horror film deals with whether or not – in the face of great conflict – you can maintain your faith or be swayed by both the desire to save your own life and the evidence you’re being presented with.
In this, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) are young Mormons fulfilling their duties as missionaries by essentially going door-to-door to try to convert people to their faith. Neither is a particular stickler for Mormon theology, with the movie opening with them discussing pornography and condoms, and neither is so naive that they don’t know that many of the people they’re approaching will raise an eyebrow at them.
Of the two, East’s Paxton is younger and more impressionable, while the slightly older Barnes is somewhat more street-smart. Both are excellent, with Thatcher emerging as a future scream queen between this, The Boogeyman, Yellowjackets, and an appearance in MaXXXine. East, who made a big impression in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, is as delightful as the sunny, optimistic Paxton, having the same manner and vibe Amy Adams did in some of her earlier work, like Junebug.
However, the movie is dominated by Hugh Grant in his first foray into horror. As the initially affable Mr. Reed, he lures the two girls out of a storm by promising them blueberry pie and tells them he has a wife so that the two, who aren’t allowed to be alone with a man, will be more comfortable. His initially friendly questions about Mormonism turn into a more existential debate about philosophy, only for his manner to darken as the girls realize they are his prisoners and may not be able to escape with their lives.
It’s certainly a far cry from the stammering rom-com roles that made him such a heartthrob, but in recent years, Grant has excelled at playing darker characters. However, none have been as hardcore as this one, and at times, he reminded me of a great British character actor from the 60s, 70s, and 80s who used to excel in genre roles like this – Patrick McGoohan (Scanners and The Prisoner). He radiates fiendishly clever intelligence, and he’s given a sadistic streak I didn’t see coming, which feels bold for a mainstream horror flick.
This comes from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who are most famous for writing A Quiet Place. Their scripts always have a great hook, and Heretic has one that I won’t spoil here. An interesting thing about this is how limited the locations are, and the movie could almost be adapted as a stage play, albeit a particularly gruesome and scary one.
While their last directorial effort, 65, wasn’t a big success, their work here is nonetheless confident, with good cinematography and a good soundtrack that includes memorable use of The Hollies’ “The Air I Breathe” and Radiohead’s “Creep.” Yet, it’s the script and performances that make Heretic a fun horror romp, even if, at close to two hours, it feels like it’s spinning its wheels a bit too much and maybe (occasionally) gets a little too clever for its own good.
Heretic should be another solid horror hit for A24, with the provocative concept likely to inspire a lot of talk among the growing A24 cult. I thoroughly enjoyed catching it at TIFF, and I hope Hugh Grant keeps taking on darker roles. They really suit him.
