When it comes to the greatest years in film, 1999 is tough to beat. Personally, I remember it as the year which made me serious about the art of film, as I was just finishing high school at the time, and had begun to go see movies on my own more often. This was the year I got to see movies like Three Kings, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, The Insider, Magnolia, Any Given Sunday and so many more theatrically, and it’s a year I’ll always look back at fondly.
What’s interesting to me is which movies have had the most staying power. If you were around back then, you’ll remember that the most anticipated movie of the year was Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. While a hit, it was totally overshadowed by The Matrix, which came out on Easter Weekend that year, and ended up being the definitive sci-fi movie of that entire generation. Yet, even movies that flopped back in ’99, like Doug Liman’s Go, Galaxy Quest, and a whole slew of others have had massive cults spring up around them. As such, we wanted to find out which movie turning 25 this year (ouch) is the best. Take the poll below and let us know!
Recently it was announced that Mike Flanagan would be adapting Carrie for television. And I’m sure most of us are aware of the development hell that Crystal Lake (the Friday the 13th series) has been through, losing its showrunner amidst rumors of mismanagement. And we were very sad to see the Chucky series get canceled after three seasons. But it’s hard out there in the land of television and horror franchises haven’t exactly fared well there. Several years ago, Fox brought us The Exorcist TV series which had an incredible first season, fell off in the second, and was abruptly canceled.
The concept of a girl being possessed by a demon and saved by priests seems like a story that could theoretically work on television. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that slashers do not tend to make for good television. Sure, we’ve seen shows like Scream and Slasher come along to somewhat success, but the subgenre based around murder just doesn’t lend itself to the format. It’s the same issue that slashers have when they get sequels. Most slashers take place in a very short period of time and have very similar structure. Taking place over one to three days to allow a killer to stalk some victims, kill them one by one, and a final girl to save the day in the end. There tends to be a mystery element, meaning there’s a lot to keep hidden to last a whole 8-10 episodes. Suspension of disbelief gets harder and harder the more time passes. The lack of police involvement becomes more noticeable. I’d point to Ryan Murphy shows that add such convoluted plotlines to stretch out a season.
It’s why every time we hear about the Friday the 13th series, it’s some strange backstory about Pamela or a one-shot gimmick episode. Making a show about a summer camp being ravaged by a hockey mask-wearing psycho in the woods would start to feel pretty samey after a while (as much as I would absolutely fucking love it). So instead they’re focusing on the background of Pamela and Jason and seeing how they can expand upon that. Does it mean we won’t get an episode that feels like a Friday the 13th? No, but I think it’d be silly to expect more than that. And it’s why I don’t have much interest in the series. Who cares about their backstories? I want Jason killing people! At least Chucky understood the assignment.
But the more I think about it, there is one “slasher” series that would translate well to television. One that relies on its creativity over all other elements. A Nightmare On Elm Street. It’s already so high concept compared to its contemporaries and the dream element would allow for such drastically different episodes. It can either be Anthology style like the 80’s show or even just an expanded Nightmare story being put into a season. Could you imagine the story of Elm Street from the original, to Dream Warriors, past Dream Master, and concluding with Dream Child? I’m not saying do a one-to-one, more pointing out that the bones are already there for an expanded, episodic story.
And the television landscape has changed a lot since Freddy was last on TV. The Walking Dead has blown the doors off of gore on cable TV, showing that you can get pretty crazy without much censoring. Then when you include streaming services and the possibilities for creative violence get even more tantalizing. It’s also no longer a place that big stars avoid, meaning some big stars may be open to getting killed by Krueger. We’ve already seen the crossover potential with the Chucky series. Would I want it to that degree? Probably not, but I’m just trying to show how financially viable it could be for a studio. Capitalism and all that.
There are so many ways to go about it that would be interesting: a continuation of the franchise a la Chucky where various members of the Elm Street franchise can potentially appear. Alice and Jesse are still hanging around and fans love them. Heck, throw in Lori from Freddy vs Jason. Or they can even make Freddy into a woman because that would be progressive and fresh (note: this is a joke. Please don’t change Freddy’s gender. We don’t need Francesca Krueger). I don’t even think the concept of recasting Krueger will be controversial so long as they get it right. Jackie Earl Haley may not have pulled it off in the remake, but people were genuinely excited at his casting. The Elm Street fanbase is more pliable than they’re given credit for. So there are so many things you can do that would still be in line with the series at its core. And I’ll always vote for a return to the anthology format.
Really this whole article is just a plea to bring back Freddy’s Nightmares and do it right. It’s such an interesting concept that could solve the problem of putting Robert Englund behind the makeup once more. Just bring him back as an episode as some kind of Alpha Freddy. Or hell, have Englund narrate and cast someone else as Krueger (an inevitability at this point). Episodes can be drastically different as the dream/nightmares would reflect the victim. Some victims can die, and some can vanquish Krueger. It doesn’t matter because, just like the Elm Street film, we always know that Freddy will return at the start of the next one. Now just imagine it happening in 10 one-hour episodes that we can binge. That’s a dream I want to live.
What do you think? Should the Nightmare on Elm Street series be brought to television? Is the Friday the 13th series doomed? Let us know in the comments!
What Do We Know About the upcoming series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy? More thank you may think. The Paramount+ original series will be the latest edition of the Star Trek universe and the first sequel series of Star Trek Discovery. With casting announcements, rumors, and more, we know a lot of what is to come. So, let’s jump in!
The series is set in the 32nd Century.
The twelfth Star Trek series since Gene Roddenberry’s original CBS show debuted in 1966, Starfleet Academy is the sixth small screen entry in the franchise since the debut of Discovery in 2017. Overseen by franchise-runner Alex Kurtzman, the new series was co-created with Noga Landau, who created the four-season-long Nancy Drew series for The CW. In development since Kurtzman’s original deal with CBS back in 2018, the series has gone through many iterations and timelines before settling on the future setting used since Discovery’s third season. Writers on the series include Gaia Volo and Lower Decks star Tawny Newsome. Newsome is the first Star Trek actor hired for a staff writing position in franchise history.
New stars and Trek veterans will lead the cast.
While the series is set a thousand years after the familiar eras of James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, Starfleet Academy is bringing back familiar faces from beyond just Star Trek: Discovery. While Discovery veterans like Mary Wiseman, Tig Notaro, and Oded Fehr will appear in their respective roles as Sylvia Tilly, Jett Reno, and Admiral Charles Vance, the new series is bringing back The Doctor, the holographic creation from Star Trek: Voyager, who Robert Picardo will once again play. The series will also feature Gina Yashere as an instructor with the young cadets played by Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner. Discovery star Doug Jones has voiced his desire to appear in the series and may guest star at some point.
Paul Giamatti playsthe villain, with Tatiana Maslany and Holly Hunter in key roles.
The big names attached to the series include Holly Hunter, who will portray the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law star Tatiana Maslany in an unidentified guest role. The big name attached to the series is Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti, who plays the first season’s main antagonist. Alex Kurtzman initially approached Giamatti during the actor’s promotional rounds for 2023’s The Holdovers, during which he proclaimed his love for all things Star Trek and his desire to play a Klingon. Kurtzman gave Giamatti his roles in the new series, but details remain under wraps.
The series will not be about space exploration.
If the title does not give it away, Starfleet Academy will focus on the recruits to the new school to train cadets for the United Federation of Planets branches. Following the cadets from new recruits through graduation, the series will be set after the cataclysmic event forced Starfleet to regroup and start over from scratch. Early in 2024, production designer Matthew Davies oversaw the building of the set for Starfleet Academy’s atrium, the largest set ever built for a Star Trek series. Filling 45,900 square feet of the biggest soundstage in Canada, the atrium set is two stories tall and boasts a mess hall, amphitheater, multiple classrooms, catwalks, trees, and a view of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
Season two is already greenlit.
Despite being slowed by the 2023 Writer’s Guild and Actor’s Guild strikes, Starfleet Academy began production in August 2024 with Alex Kurtzman helming the first two episodes and Discovery director Olatunde Osunsanmi. Jonathan Frakes was offered the chance to helm an episode but could not do so due to a personal conflict. Frakes did express a desire to direct a season two episode, which may happen as Paramount has already greenlit a second season of the series. The first season is set to include ten episodes, keeping the content focused on a main narrative, which Tawny Newsome said will be about the younger generation, a tone and approach vastly different to any Trek project to date outside of the animated series Prodigy.
Starfleet Academy will premiere no earlier than the end of 2025.
Production on the first season of Starfleet Academy is underway, with Kurtzman stating he expected to helm his entries in October. Because the series is in front of cameras right now, it seems highly unlikely to be done with visual effects and post-production until well into the new year. Paramount still has the already filmed third season of Strange New Worlds and the Michelle Yeoh-led film Section 31 ready to premiere in 2025, so it is possible they may save Starfleet Academy until early 2026. Still, we likely will not know more until September 2025 during the annual Star Trek Day celebration.
Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming season of Starfleet Academy? Let us know in the comments, click like, and subscribe to follow all our latest original videos.
Plot: Based on Charles Yu’s award-winning book of the same name, the show follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural called Black & White. Relegated to the background, Willis goes through the motions of his on-screen job, waiting tables, dreaming about a world beyond Chinatown and aspiring to be the lead of his own story. When Willis inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, he begins to unravel a criminal web in Chinatown, while discovering his own family’s buried history and what it feels like to be in the spotlight.
Review: Interior Chinatown is an interesting approach to telling a meta-fictional story. Rather than breaking the fourth wall or setting a story within a story, this series takes the approach of interconnecting characters often relegated to the background and showing how they can break free of their stereotypical and cliche constraints to become fully realized protagonists in their own stories. Based on the novel by Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown is awash in the tropes of television cop shows, past and present, and uses them to explore the idea of identity within a blend of comedy and mystery. With Taika Waititi aboard as executive producer and director, Interior Chinatown is a unique series with standout turns from the ensemble cast by Jimmy O. Yang and Chloe Bennet.
Set across ten episodes, each titled after a generic background character often seen in police procedurals, Interior Chinatown centers on Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a hapless waiter working in his uncle’s restaurant. Willis lives in a one-bedroom apartment near his mother, Lily (Diana Lin), an aspiring realtor, and his father, Sifu (Tzi Ma), a martial arts instructor. Willis’ older brother (Chris Pang) disappeared years earlier, and his absence still serves as a rift for the family. When Willis spots a woman getting kidnapped by masked men, his life is drawn into the police investigation led by Detective Sarah Green (Lisa Gilroy) and her partner Miles Turner (Sullivan Jones). Green and Turner have been assigned to work with a Chinatown expert, Detective Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet), who seeks out Willis to help her investigate. Willis encounters challenges in trying to break out of the mundane and banal life he leads in more ways than one.
Having seen the first five episodes, I was unsure what to expect from Interior Chinatown. Adapting the National Book Award-winning novel, which has its own way of illustrating the complex world these characters inhabit, seems like it would have been a challenge. Still, Charles Yu and Taika Waititi opened this series by setting up some of the rules of this world. While there are some parallels with the world of Free Guy in which the non-playable characters take center stage, the twists show how the world of Interior Chinatown functions are all built on lighting, camera styles, visual tone, and creative set design. Anyone who has seen an episode of Law & Order will recognize the visual cues of that series and similar cop shows, but the transition from that world to the world of Willis Wu is done seamlessly without overtly telling audiences what is going on. As each episode progresses, we follow Willis as he evolves from a waiter to a delivery guy, then a tech guy, and beyond as his ownership of his life expands. At the same time, the reason for his brother’s disappearance and why Lana Lee has entered Willis’ story become more apparent.
Jimmy O. Yang, who has had memorable turns in Silicon Valley and Space Force and success as a stand-up comedian, brings a layered performance to Willis Wu. Having to balance the surreal nature of this story along with some comedy, drama, and martial arts never phases the unexpected lead. Yang’s success is also due to a solid ensemble cast, including veteran actors Tzi Ma and Diana Lin as Willis’ parents, reuniting after playing a couple in The Farewell. Lisa Gilroy and Sullivan Jones are perfect as the procedural cops slowly realize something is off in their routine. Chloe Bennet plays Lana Lee with a hidden agenda that comes into focus as the series progresses. Bennet is initially seen through the male gaze, but her character becomes more integral to Willis’ journey in each episode. Archie Kao, Lauren Tom, and Chris Pang are great is supporting roles, but the standout is Ronny Chieng as Willis’ best friend, Fatty Choi. While Fatty’s journey is far different than Willis’ at the start of the series, The Daily Show correspondent gets to be incredibly funny as the best on-screen waiter I have seen in a long time.
Taika Waititi directed the first episode of the eight-episode series. Stephanie Liang and John Lee each directed two entries, and Ben Sinclair, Jaffar Mahmood, Alice Wu, Anu Valia, and Pete Chatmon each helmed an episode. Charles Yu led the adaptation of his own novel, which was a massive undertaking as this story was already complex as a book. Yu scripted the first and final episode of Interior Chinatown, enlisting Eva Anderson, Matt Okumura, Tiffany So, Saba Saghafi, Naiem Bouier, Keiko Green, Lauren Otero, Alex Russell, and Greg Cabrera to faithfully adapt the less-than-three-hundred page novel by adding new characters and exploring the mystery at the center of the series in a way that works on screen. The visual tricks used to transition between the worlds are mostly technical in nature. They may not have been as readily apparent during filming as they are in the finished product, but across the five episodes that I have seen, it is handled in a manner that I have not seen done in any other series or film before.
Interior Chinatown takes the idea of stereotypes and flips them on its head, offering a story about more than Asian-American identity. It also pays deep heed to the journey of immigrants from abroad to the United States. Jimmy O. Yang is a great choice to play the unassuming lead in a story he would usually have been a supporting player in. Without seeing the second half of the season, I anticipate that Interior Chinatown will become one of the better stories of identity and culture clashes, finding a place alongside Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Farewell, and The Sympathizer. Interior Chinatown is a truly unique approach to storytelling that brings comedy, mystery, drama, and surreal fantasy together to tell a great story as well as a story about storytelling.
Interior Chinatown premieres on November 19th on Hulu.
Just as we predicted earlier this week, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s mega-budget Christmas action-comedy, Red One, is set for one of the star’s lowest debuts. While the $30 million Deadline is predicting isn’t quite as bad as the $25 million we called earlier this week, given the movie’s $250 million price tag, this has to be seen as an embarrassing failure for The Rock. When all is said and done, he hasn’t had a legitimate box office smash since Jumanji: The Next Level back in 2019.
The one glimmer of hope for Red One is the fact that the movie has a surprisingly excellent CinemaScore, with the A-minus rating suggesting those who are going to see the movie are actually enjoying it. While I slammed it in my review, even if the movie fails theatrically, it will likely be a solid hit once it hits streaming, with it set to debut at some unspecified date on Prime Video (it was originally designed as a streaming exclusive). Given the holiday theme and the poor box office showing, I’d expect it to drop on Prime Video sooner rather than later.
Ironically, Red One may not actually be all that big of a flop for Amazon-MGM when all is said and done, as Christmas movies typically have a long shelf life. Movies like Jingle All the Way and The Polar Express were branded as failures when they came out, only to eventually become perennial favourites. If anything, the only one who really suffers is The Rock, with the poor opening likely seen as another ding against his waning star power. However, his Moana 2 will likely be a smash hit when it comes out in a few weeks, and his A24 drama, The Smashing Machine, may give him a boost of credibility. It might just be that audiences are sick of this kind of fare coming from him, as Red One has little going for it to distinguish it from Red Notice, Jungle Cruise or Jumanji.
Did any of you reading this see Red One this weekend? Let us know what you thought in the comments!
You come at the queen, you best not miss. After Martha Stewart spoke out against R.J. Cutler and his latest doc, Martha, the director was all but forced into defending himself. And in doing so, he also went to bat for the entire documentary filmmaking process.
Speaking on The Town podcast (via EW), Cutler said he and Martha Stewart had a collaboration of sorts during the documentary but their discussions would only play so far into the finished product. “Guess what? Martha saw the film and she told me what she thought about it. It wasn’t surprising to me that she would’ve made a different film that I made. She gave me her feedback, and she was upset that I didn’t make the changes she wanted to make. But this is the process.”
Some of Martha Stewart’s key criticisms over her namesake documentary were that Cutler focused too much on her 2004 trial as well as spinning it that the subject was in a frail state, using both as hooks to distract or mislead the viewer. On a less damning note, Stewart requested there be a hip hop-centric soundtrack.
Continuing to defend his film, Cutler added, “The subjectivity of being Martha Stewart in this situation, the vulnerability that you’re in, has to be responded to with empathy and support. That doesn’t mean it has to be responded to with changes to the film…It takes a tremendous amount of courage on her part to trust me, I respect that. In return, I share the film with her and have conversations with her about the film. If she has ideas that I think are good ideas and will help the film that I’m making, I’ll take a good idea from anybody.” In other words, it doesn’t seem that Cutler thought Martha Stewart had a whole lot of good ideas…Now come on, R.J., what’s wrong with an all-Snoop score?
Ultimately, it’s R.J. Cutler’s film; and while it would be unethical if he used certain tactics to purposely deceive the viewer – especially in what is ultimately yet another Netflix-backed celeb doc – he can approach the topic however he chooses, even with Stewart’s input. He, too, probably recognized that a lot of people will tune in not for Stewart’s entrepreneurialism but rather her trial and life that followed.
Have you seen Martha? Do you think Cutler did a good job with the subject?
This week saw the classic shootersUnreal and Unreal Tournament, with publisher Epic’s blessing, made permanently free and accessible via the Internet Archive. Meanwhile, Blizzard held a stream celebrating the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, at which it revealed that the first two games in the RTS series have been…
This week saw the classic shootersUnreal and Unreal Tournament, with publisher Epic’s blessing, made permanently free and accessible via the Internet Archive. Meanwhile, Blizzard held a stream celebrating the 30th anniversary of Warcraft, at which it revealed that the first two games in the RTS series have been…
Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.
$3.8 billion. That’s the amount of money Clint Eastwood’s films have grossed at the North American box office throughout his career. A superstar since the 1960s, Eastwood is rare in that almost all of his biggest blockbusters, including all the Dirty Harry movies, were all made for Warner Bros. It’s been his home studio since about the time he made The Outlaw Josey Wales. He’s made everything from Oscar-winners (Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby) to action movies (Firefox, Sudden Impact, Best Movie You Never Saw fave The Rookie), to movies where he’s chilling with his pal Clyde the Orangutan for them, and they almost always ended up at least breaking even. Sure, he’s had a few flops, but even in his golden years, he still cranked out smash hits for them, with American Sniper making over half a billion dollars, while The Mule and Sully both made over $100 million domestically. Even when his movies didn’t do well, Eastwood keeps his budgets so low that the red ink was minimal. Even something like The 15:17 to Paris managed to make about $56 million worldwide.
With such a solid track record, you’d think that Clint Eastwood, who just made what might be his last movie for Warner Bros, Juror No 2, deserved a little better than having his movie dumped in just a handful of theaters on the way to a quick bow on streaming. Indeed, with solid reviews and a pretty bankable cast, which includes Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette re-teaming for the first time since About a Boy, you’d think Juror No 2 could have gotten a nice release fitting Clint’s legacy as a director. But no, WB’s dumped the film in so few theatres that they haven’t even been reporting its box office take.
Now, some will say that WB’s head honcho, David Zaslav, won’t give it a wide release because he thinks it’s going to lose money. He previously slammed the studio for agreeing to make Cry Macho, which he called a flop, even if it wasn’t really. Considering it came out during the pandemic and was day and date with HBO Max, its $10 million U.S. take wasn’t awful. Heck, it made more than Reminiscence, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Many Saints of Newark, and Judas and the Black Messiah did that year, and those movies included huge stars like Hugh Jackman and Angelina Jolie. It grossed only slightly less than The Little Things, starring Denzel Washington, and no one is questioning his star power.
Here’s the ironic part. While WB hasn’t been reporting Juror No 2’s box office take – overseas the film has overperformed, making $10 million (so far) despite a low-key release. There’s a very good chance it would have made a decent amount of money domestically (there’s reason to believe it’s per-screen average has been quite good despite the minimal marketing). The fact is, Eastwood has always had a solid sense of what his audience wants to see. Juror No. 2 isn’t one of his best, but it’s a sturdy morality tale with terrific performances from Hoult, Collette, and supporting cast members like Kiefer Sutherland, J.K. Simmons, and Cedric Yarborough of Reno 9-11, who is powerful in an against-type part.
I think none other than Guillermo Del Toro summed it up best when he posted on Bluesky:
“Went to the theatre to see Juror#2, Clint Eastwood’s latest film. We enjoyed it tremendously. It’s – in some ways- his Crimes and Misdemeanors. The film is precisely and assuredly filmed, and it’s Nicolas Hoult’s to lead. The cast delivers beautifully, and it has an ending that sets the theatre abuzz-Its central dilemma reminded me of the quiet turmoil boiling under Dana Andrews in Preminger Noir of your choice (for me- Where The Sidewalk Ends). It wrestles with it supported by a well-paced structure and well-pondered twists. Why was this not released widely in the States? We saw at the Grove with a significant crowd that was vocal and responsive all the way. I truly hope WB can hold it longer. Eastwood is a master filmmaker and the steady, unfussy craft reveals him still in great form. Go see it on the big screen!”
Have you seen Juror No 2? Let us know what you think in the comments!
