The Dream Team is back! Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up again for Animals, a kidnapping thriller for Netflix. Affleck will direct Animals from a script written by Connor McIntyre with revisions by Billy Ray. In addition to his directorial duties, Affleck will produce alongside Damon, Dani Bernfeld of Artists Equity, Brad Weston, and Collin Creighton of MakeReady, who set the project up with Fifth Season.

Plot details remain a mystery, though we know it focuses on a kidnapping. Michael Joe of Artists Equity and Kevin Halloran executive produce with Fifth Season.

Last year, Affleck and Damon delighted audiences with Air, a sports drama following the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. The emotionally charged film performed like gangbusters for Amazon and banked $90 million at the global box office.

Here’s the official synopsis for Air:

From award-winning director Ben Affleck, AIR reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.

Air stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Matthew Maher, Marlon Wayans, Jay Mohr, and Julius Tennon, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis.

As the streaming wars continue to rage into 2024, Animals significantly boosts Netflix’s library of original feature-length entertainment. Audiences enjoy watching projects from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as the duo has entertained the movie-going public for decades. If Animals is nearly as popular as Amazon’s Air, Netflix will laugh on its way to the bank.

Are you excited about Affleck and Damon teaming up for Animals? What do you think the tone of the project will be? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Animals: Ben Affleck to direct Matt Damon in a kidnapping thriller at Netflix appeared first on JoBlo.

We’ve previously seen a sneak peek teaser trailer (you can watch it in the embed above) and a first look trailer for AMC’s upcoming limited series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, a show that will be catching up with The Walking Dead characters Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln, and Michonne, played by Danai Gurira. The series is scheduled to begin airing on February 25th, and with exactly one month to go until that date arrives, the final trailer has been released online. You can watch that one in the embed at the bottom of this article.

The Walking Dead wrapped up its eleven season run on AMC last year, and now we are in the era of spin-off follow-ups. The first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City, focusing on the Maggie and Negan characters, played out early last year. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon recently reached the end of its first season run (and will adding the Carol character into the mix for season 2). The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is the next in line.

Gurira co-created the mini-series and is also one of the writers on the show. Consisting of six episodes, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will present an “epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?“

Gurira worked on the mini-series with Scott M. Gimple, Chief Content Officer of the Walking Dead Universe. Lincoln, and Gurira are joined in the cast by Lesley-Ann Brandt (Lucifer) as a character named Pearl Thorne, Terry O’Quinn (Lost) as Beale, newcomer Matt Jeffries as Nat, and Pollyanna McIntosh, reprising her The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond role of Jadis.

Let us know what you think of the final trailer for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – and whether or not you’ll be watching this show when it starts airing on AMC – by leaving a comment below. (If the video below is blocked in your area, you can also find it on YouTube.)

I stuck with The Walking Dead for all eleven seasons, and I’m still on board to watch the spin-offs to see what the characters are up to these days.

The post The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live gets its final trailer ahead of February premiere appeared first on JoBlo.

Sony has revealed a release date for the PC version of Horizon Forbidden West Complete, along with a bunch of top-tech features for computers beefy enough to handle them. Come March 21, the epic action adventure will be available to play with unlocked framerates and DLSS 3 upscaling.

Read more…

Sony has revealed a release date for the PC version of Horizon Forbidden West Complete, along with a bunch of top-tech features for computers beefy enough to handle them. Come March 21, the epic action adventure will be available to play with unlocked framerates and DLSS 3 upscaling.

Read more…

New survival sensation Palworld, which earned the nickname “Pokémon with guns,” has taken the darn internet by storm. Though its popularity is complicated by clear similarities to that other monster-catching game, many are finding absolute joy in its gameplay. That gameplay is due for some evolution itself in the near…

Read more…

New survival sensation Palworld, which earned the nickname “Pokémon with guns,” has taken the darn internet by storm. Though its popularity is complicated by clear similarities to that other monster-catching game, many are finding absolute joy in its gameplay. That gameplay is due for some evolution itself in the near…

Read more…

Grab your hard hat and a can-do attitude because an animated Bob the Builder film is under construction! Hammering away at the silver-screen adaptation are Mattel Films, ShadowMachine (Little Demon, Tuca & Bertie, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, and Anthony Ramos. The team plans to reimagine Bob the Builder for international appeal with a story that resonates with multicultural audiences.

Anthony Ramos will star in Bob the Builder in addition to his producer status. Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico of ShadowMachine join Ramos for the high-profile animated project, with Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions co-producing. The movie boasts a script written by Felipe Vargas (Afterimages, Distant, Vessel), with Kevin McKeon, Ivan Sanchez, and Arturo Thur De Koós of Mattel Films and Natalie Haack Flores of Nuyorican overseeing production.

The story follows Roberto, aka Bob, who picks up his toolbox and ventures to Puerto Rico for a substantial construction gig. While hammering away on his latest project, Bob encounters challenges around the island and gains a new appreciation for the art of fashioning new constructs. Aspects of Bob’s story include highlighting the Caribbean Latin nations, including the people and their inspiring heritage.

Bob the Builder began as an animated 12-season series from 1997 to 2011. The animated show focuses on Bob, a building contractor, and his enthusiasm for creating exciting new places to explore and live. Bob’s machine team joins him on his mission to build impressive constructs. They demonstrate the power of positive thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork. The show also breaks the fourth wall by inviting the audience to become “little builders” alongside Bob and his team. The show features colorful characters, gorgeous and fluid animation, and creativity that nurtures young viewer’s imaginations.

Did you or your kids watch Bob the Builder when it was on the air? What do you think about Ramos and Lopez bringing Roberto to the silver screen for a larger-than-life adventure set on the sunny and festive island of Puerto Rico? One assumes this could be a franchise starter if audiences fall in love with Bob again. “Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”

The post Bob the Builder animated film under construction from Anthony Ramos, Jennifer Lopez, Mattel Films, and ShadowMachine appeared first on JoBlo.

A year and a half ago, it was announced that Sydney Sweeney – whose credits include Euphoria, the recent romantic comedy release Anyone but You, and the upcoming Sony Marvel movie Madame Web – was going to re-team with Michael Mohan, who directed her in the erotic thriller The Voyeurs, for the psychological horror film Immaculate. Last month, NEON acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film and let it be known they’re planning to give it a theatrical release. Yesterday, a poster was unveiled (you can see it at the bottom of this article), and with it came the promise that a trailer for Immaculate would be arriving online today. Sure enough, the trailer is now available, and you can check it out in the embed above to help you figure out whether or not this is a movie you’ll want to see on the big screen when it reaches theatres on March 22nd. 

Scripted by Andrew Lobel, Immaculate sees Sweeney taking on the role of Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Her warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside is soon interrupted as it becomes clearer to Cecilia that her new home harbors some dark and horrifying secrets.

Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus), Alvaro Morte (Money Heist), Benedetta Porcaroli (Baby), and Dora Romano (The Hand of God) are also in the cast.

Sweeney produced the film through her company Fifty-Fifty Films, alongside Jonathan Davino. Also producing are Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler of Black Bear and Middle Child Pictures’ David Bernad, who developed the project with Sweeney after they worked together on the Emmy-winning series The White Lotus. Will Greenfield and Black Bear’s John Friedberg and Christopher Casanova serve as executive producers. Black Bear provided the financing.

What did you think of the Immaculate trailer? Are you a fan of Sydney Sweeney’s work, and are you glad she’s working with the director of The Voyeurs again? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Religious horror ranks down there as one of my least favorite sub-genres, but I’m willing to give Immaculate a chance.

The post Immaculate trailer: Sydney Sweeney horror film reaches theatres in March appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: A man, Fallon (Alex Pettyfer) roams the land as a creature of the night as he comes to terms with tragic loss of his family at the hands of a brutal demagogue, Reynolds (Guy Pearce).

REVIEW: “The Sun Never Sets On Evil” may just be the most generic tagline for a vampire film possible. So I understand if you, like myself, are trepidatious when it comes to Sunrise. The basic vampire formula has been used time and time again but I always appreciate it when someone has an interesting new vision. On the surface, this is a simple story of a vampire helping a family get justice. But it’s so much more than that. I’ve always believed that it doesn’t matter how generic the story is, so long as it executes those ideas. And Sunrise provides a beautiful tragedy with some wonderful performances.

While I know he’s got a bit of a reputation for his behavior, I quite enjoyed Alex Pettyfer as the vampire, Fallon. He has a good presence to him and is quite stoic. It works extremely well. There were elements of his character that I wasn’t expecting. Ultimately, he managed to take a fairly bland role and give it a little intrigue. I also enjoyed Crystal Yu as Yan, the matriarch of the Loi family. Their acceptance of Fallon’s help is believable and how she plays those moments of stillness is really impressive.

Guy Pearce is one of the most underrated actors working today and he’s a standout in Sunrise. Reynolds is a slimy and despicable man, and Pearce seems to revel in it. There’s a reserved wickedness to him that makes him intimidating. It’s clear that he’s known to do some bad stuff with how the townsfolk act around him. They aren’t entirely able to keep the momentum going with his aura and go in an odd direction with his character. I liked where he ended up, but the journey to get there had some strange twists and turns. He’s an obvious highlight.

It’d be hard to talk about Sunrise without mentioning the racial element. Reynolds is a white supremacist and is very comfortable making it known to others. His conflict with the family is entirely based on race, with him not wanting Asian farmers to “pollute the lands.” It adds another layer of evil to Reynolds while commenting on a very real issue. It can be a little on the nose, but I don’t think it ever entered the territory of unbelievability. And I’m not going to delve too deeply into the plot, because I think the mystery is what makes the film work.

I’m not familiar with director Andrew Baird’s prior work, but I was extremely impressed with his command of Sunrise. It’s a beautifully shot film that manages to be grounded while dealing with some fantastical elements. I loved all the little details, like the coat that Fallon wears being absolutely frayed from usage. There was clearly plenty of love and care put into this one, with some truly stunning shots.

It’s not all sunshine, though, there are some subplots that don’t entirely land. I won’t provide context out of fear of spoilers, but it made for a frustrating second half. I get what they were trying to accomplish with the son, but everything involving him slides into convoluted territory. Reynolds’s daughter is introduced, and her entire arc is handled in a very confusing way. I understand trying to raise the stakes, but I wish the film had continued its less-is-more approach. Another draft would have done wonders for this script.

There’s a little bit of sloppiness in the third act that takes away a bit of the shine. I’m not sure why they felt the need to ramp up the story to such a degree, as the more subtle approach was working well in the first half. There are several events that could have been handled better but thankfully, they don’t ruin the overall narrative. Several shots are burned firmly into my mind as the visual language really appeals to me. I quite enjoyed my time with Sunrise and could see this showing up on lists for Underrated Vampire flicks for years to come.

SUNRISE IS OUT IN THEATERS AND ON DEMAND/DIGITAL ON JANUARY 19TH, 2024.

Sunrise

GOOD

7

The post Sunrise Review appeared first on JoBlo.

Danielle Harris is an absolute legend in the horror space, having been a part of the genre for nearly 40 years. She always stuck out as a child actor in films such as Halloween 4 and The Last Boy Scout. But she continued that success into her adulthood with films like Hatchet and the Rob Zombie Halloween films. I was lucky enough to talk with Danielle about her latest horror film, Project Dorothy. She plays a rogue AI, so she’s just a voice here, but that’s also something she has plenty of experience with (she was Debbie on The Wild Thornberrys). While she’s a small part of the film, I was also able to talk with her about her podcast with Scout Taylor Compton and their planned trilogy of films. This was a great conversation; she gave some nice insight into the difficulties of acting in something you’re also directing. It’s an honesty I don’t think happens a ton in this kind of setting, so I really appreciated it.

Project Dorothy plot synopsis:

James and Blake, small-time criminals, flee the police and take refuge in an abandoned scientific facility. Their attempt to restore power activates an AI, DOROTHY (voiced by Harris), responsible for the former occupants’ demise. They realize their predicament is worse than evading the law; they must use their streetwise instincts to thwart DOROTHY’s escape into the world.

PROJECT DOROTHY DEBUTS ON CABLE AND DIGITAL VOD ON JANUARY 16TH, 2024.

The post Interview: Danielle Harris Talks Project Dorothy + A Jamie Lloyd Legacy Sequel appeared first on JoBlo.