Back in November, we here at JoBlo received a pretty intriguing invitation. We were invited to Los Angeles to get an early look at Nickel Boys, a film based on the novel by Colson Whitehead. Directed by RaMell Ross, the movie’s gotten a ton of Oscar buzz, both for its director and the movie’s stars, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. In it, Herisse and Wilson play Elwood and Turner, two young men sentenced to a reformatory in the Jim Crow-era South. Once there, they realize there’s a good chance they won’t live through their respective sentences, with the punishment inflicted on them far outweighing the petty crimes they’re supposed to have committed. 

It’s undoubtedly one of the boldest movies of the year, with it shot entirely in a first-person point of view, where the camera literally takes the place of Herisse and Wilson at different points in the narrative. While this technique takes a good deal of getting used to (Ross has admitted that the movie really takes two viewings to take in), it’s immersive in ways few other movies are – and considering the hell Elwood and Turner go through, that aspect makes Nickel Boys a rough, but necessary watch.

Yet, for all of the film’s weight, when we were invited to interview the cast and director afterwards, we were delighted to see how laid-back, easygoing and friendly they all were. In our interviews, we speak to Herisse and Wilson about what it was like acting directly into a camera for the entire shooting schedule, while Ross explains just how he and the DP were able to pull off some of the film’s amazing shots. Finally, the great Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor reveals how she openly campaigned for the role she plays in the movie, having been a huge fan of Ross’s last film, Hale County This Morning, This Evening. Check out the interviews embedded above, and check back for our full review of Nickel Boys later this week as it begins its expansion into more theatres this weekend. 

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ANTICIPATION.

Excited to see Kieran Culkin in a film role post-Succession.
4

ENJOYMENT.

An amusing and compelling inquiry into human pain and suffering.
4

IN RETROSPECT.


Culkin turns in a truly touching and unforgettable performance.
4

Directed by



Jesse Eisenberg

Starring



Jesse Eisenberg,

Kieran Culkin,

Will Sharpe

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“Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Paul.” That’s all Adrien Brody had to say when he hosted Saturday Night Live. Instead, he went full Jamaican, donning a wig, taking on an accent and grooving in a way that nobody expected or wanted. As such, he got a lifetime ban from the show. Or did he? While the moment is undoubtedly one of the more questionable moments to happen on SNL, Adrien Brody isn’t so sure that he is actually banned.

As far as Adrien Brody remembers, his one-time hosting stint on SNL was going well enough, finding the confidence to pitch his faux Jamaican character to the cast and Lorne Michaels. “I think Lorne wasn’t happy with me embellishing a bit, but they allowed me to. I thought that was a safe space to do that, weirdly.” With that sort of confidence, Brody took the stage at Studio 8H and introduced Paul, set to perform “Get Busy.”

The general belief was that the blatant goof had immediately lumped Adrien Brody with the likes of Martin Lawrence, Milton Berle, Steven Seagal, and more with having a lifetime ban from SNL, especially since most don’t realize that Brody did the bit during dress rehearsal. And while Brody hasn’t been on since that May 2003 episode, he’s not convinced he couldn’t pop in again. “But I also have never been invited back on. So I don’t know what to tell you.”

Adrien Brody’s SNL spot has once again gone viral following his Golden Globe win for The Brutalist. And while the infamous moment came after he won the Best Actor Oscar for The Pianist, there’s the belief that his shot at another Academy Award might be hindered because he can’t head back to Saturday Night Live as part of the awards circuit. I personally don’t think that Adrien Brody not landing another SNL hosting gig will hurt his chances at another Oscar, as he is now the odds-on favorite. If he does happen to win again, he would join the likes of Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman and Spencer Tracy, although only Brody would have gone two for two.

What do you make of Adrien Brody’s infamous SNL moment 20+ years on? Do you think he will win another Oscar?

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Amy Schumer is back with a new Netflix comedy. Schumer recently worked with the streamer when she appeared in Jerry Seinfeld’s breakfast comedy Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story. This time, she co-writes and stars in Kinda Pregnant. The synopsis reads, “Jealous of her best friend’s pregnancy, Lainy wears a fake baby bump…and accidentally meets the man of her dreams.” Netflix has just released a trailer for the movie, which is written by Schumer and Julie Paiva. The script also comes from a story by Paiva, and Tyler Spindel helms the film as the director.

Kinda Pregnant also stars Jillian Bell (Brittany Runs a Marathon, Murder Mystery 2), Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth, MacGruber, Bodkin), Damon Wayans Jr. (Players, Love, Guaranteed), and Brianne Howey (Ginny & Georgia). Also joining the film are Alex Moffat (Saturday Night Live, Bad Monkey), Joel David Moore (Avatar), Lizze Broadway (Gen V), Urzila Carlson (upcoming Ozi, Voice of the Forest) and Francis Benhamou (Arranged, “Prayer for the French Republic”).

Spindel recently directed the Happy Madison production The Out-Laws and Adam Sandler also produces this film along with Tim Herlihy, Judit Maull, Kevin Grady, Eli Thomas for Happy Madison, Molly Sims for Something Happy Productions, Amy Schumer and Alex Saks for Saks Picture Company. The executive producers on the comedy include Barry Bernardi and Michael D. Robins.

Schumer’s film career never quite outdid her debut with Trainwreck, which was a Judd Apatow film. That movie had gotten a positive reception by critics and grossed $140.8 million on a $35 million budget. Her next two starring vehicles, Snatched and I Feel Pretty, made profits, but fizzled pretty quickly in the public’s attention. Schumer was once attached to make Barbie before Greta Gerwig signed on, but Schumer revealed that there were creative differences. She told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, “I think we said it was scheduling conflicts, that’s what we said. But yeah, it really was just creative differences. But you know, there’s a new team behind it, and it looks like it’s very feminist and cool so I will be seeing the movie.” She also said, “They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it.” While she still hasn’t offered specifics, she did tell Cohen that her own movie didn’t have that “feminist and cool” vibe.

Kinda Pregnant starts streaming on Netflix on February 5.

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It’s trendy these days to take a character from popular children’s stories and given them a horror twist. Lately we’ve been hearing about horror movies based on the likes of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Bambi, Pinocchio, Three Blind Mice, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears… and like I said the last time I wrote about this, when one set of filmmakers decides to make a horror film featuring a beloved kids’ story character, there are sometimes multiple other sets of filmmakers working on horror films that center on the same character. We’ve seen this happen with Mickey Mouse, and now the character who’ll soon be seen in more than one horror movie is Popeye the Sailor Man. Back in November,  it was announced that Alpeke Entertainment is working on a slasher horror comedy called Shiver Me Timbers, which puts a horror twist on Popeye. Then a trailer dropped for Popeye the Slayer Man, from director Robert Michael Ryan. We also heard of another Popeye horror movie, Popeye from ITN Studios – and that project, which is now going by the title Popeye’s Revenge, has now unveiled its own trailer! You can watch it in the embed above.

William Stead, who previously directed the World War II horror film Children of the Night, is at the helm of Popeye’s Revenge, which is described as being a “raunchy and gory slasher.” Here’s the synopsis: The legend of Popeye haunts a group of counselors as they intend to open a summer camp. I can’t say I ever imagined that Popeye would someday become a summer camp slasher.

Rene August is producing the film, which is coming our way from ITN Studios. Although ITN is the company behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and the rest of the “Poohniverse” that’s being built around those films, our friends at Bloody Disgusting were informed that this movie is not part of that cinematic universe.

Popeye himself is being played in the film by Steven Murphy.

Popeye’s Revenge is aiming to be released sometime this month. Will you be watching it? Share your thoughts on the trailer by leaving a comment below.

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Before the Resident Evil franchise ended up in the hands of Paul W.S. Anderson, the filmmaker who was developing a cinematic adaptation of the zombie video game series was the one who first brought us the concept of flesh-eating zombies: Night of the Living Dead (and Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead) director George A. Romero. For decades, fans have been pondering what it would have been like if Romero had been able to bring his vision of Resident Evil to the screen – and that’s the subject of the documentary George A. Romero’s Resident Evil, which has just been given a Digital and On Demand release today (you can rent or buy it on Amazon at THIS LINK). To promote the release, a trailer has also dropped online, and you can watch that in the embed above.

Directed by Brandon Salisbury, George A. Romero’s Resident Evil was produced by Key 13 Films in association with Point Five Films. Here’s the synopsis: George A. Romero’s Resident Evil delivers an immersive, stylized experience, weaving together archival footage, newly uncovered documents, and fresh interviews with key personalities. Taking inspiration from documentaries like Jodorowsky’s Dune, Salisbury crafts a compelling narrative that revisits the people and the creative vision behind this unproduced adaptation. Through candid interviews with industry insiders, George A. Romero’s Resident Evil brings to light the enduring mystery and the ambitious spirit that could have redefined the franchise’s journey into Hollywood.

George A. Romero’s Resident Evil received some input from Romero’s personal assistant Jason Bareford. As the story goes, Romero had an assistant play through Resident Evil so he could watch the gameplay while writing the adaptation – and Bareford was that assistant. When the project was first announced, Bareford said the mission with this documentary was to set the record straight on what really went on behind the scenes when Romero’s version of Resident Evil was in the works. He was in the room when decisions were being made, and when Romero was informed that Constantin Film no longer intended to make the movie with him.

Salisbury provided the following statement: “George Romero gave birth to modern horror, the modern zombie, and ultimately Resident Evil. I am honored to bring fans the untold story of his most important unmade project, to celebrate the legacy of the man that inspired me to pursue filmmaking as a career. I hope fans enjoy this ultimate experience in survival horror.“

Keith Leopard, President of distributor Uncork’d Entertainment, had this to say: “Uncork’d is honored to bring George A. Romero’s Resident Evil to fans who have long awaited the untold story behind this legendary, unmade project. This documentary pays homage to Romero’s incredible vision and the power of storytelling that transcends what could have been. We’re excited for audiences to finally experience the mystery and legacy of his work in a whole new way.“

Will you be watching George A. Romero’s Resident Evil? Check out the trailer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain is getting major attention for the actor. In addition to starring in A Real Pain, Eisenberg also wrote and directed the film. It received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, with Culkin winning the latter award. Culkin’s acceptance speech was just as quirky and funny as his performance in Eisenberg’s movie as he said, “Oh thanks, this is incredible. I’m feeling a little – my wife and I did a shot of tequila with Mario Lopez, definitely feeling that.” 

The Hollywood Reporter has recently held its Writer Roundtable discussion, where Eisenberg, Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers and Queer), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light), Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Reijn (Babygirl) and Jason Reitman (Saturday Night) gathered to talk shop about their careers and the film industry. Eisenberg revealed during this session that his writing sensibilities used to be slightly different until Bob Odenkirk had something to say about it.

When asked about getting his start in writing, Eisenberg explained, “Starting out, I was writing little jokes because I was interested in comedy. Then in my late teens, I started writing screenplays of the Adam Sandler ’90s-era style. I figured out the formula, and I could reproduce it. I even had some of these scripts optioned — I’d send them to agents — but nothing would ever get made. I was also acting.”

Eisenberg continued. “When I was 20, I got a part in a movie that Bob Odenkirk was directing, and I gave him my scripts because I knew he was in the comedy world and had worked at SNL, so I thought, ‘He’ll send them to Adam Sandler.’ He took about two weeks to read them and then called and yelled at me for an hour, but in an incredible way. I’ll never forget what he said because it changed my life. He said, ‘Buddy, why are you writing this? This is something that I’d get hired to write in a weekend. There’d be three of us sitting in a room at Happy Madison doing this. You’re a thoughtful, sensitive guy. Why is this your art?’ It killed me because those scripts represented years of my life. But right after that, I went to Poland for a movie and went to visit my family’s house, as we do in A Real Pain. And I came back and wrote a play.”

Our own Chris Bumbray raved about A Real Pain and said in his review, “One of the impressive things about A Real Pain is how Eisenberg doesn’t seem to be overreaching with his narrative. He’s not trying to break your heart or rivet you. He’s simply showing you an intelligent, empathetic slice of life that says a lot without needing to say much at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if this film turns into a nice little hit for Searchlight, with both Culkin and Eisenberg delivering superb performances.”

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A couple of years ago, Florence Pugh said that she felt she had “abused herself” working on the 2019 horror film Midsommar (watch it HERE)… and that’s a feeling she has reiterated in a new interview on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, saying she couldn’t work on something like that movie again.

Pugh said (with thanks to Variety for the transcription), “There have been some roles where I’ve given too much and I’ve been broken for a long while afterwards. Like when I did Midsommar, I definitely felt like I abused myself in the places that I got myself to go. The nature of figuring these things out is you need to go, ‘Alright, well, I can’t do that again because that was too much.’ But then I look at that performance and I’m really proud of what I did, and I’m proud of what came out of me. I don’t regret it. But, yeah, there’s definitely things that you have to respect about yourself.“

In case you need a reminder, Midsommar had the following synopsis: Dani and Christian are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing. The film was written and directed by Ari Aster.

Pugh previously said, “I’d never played someone that was in that much pain before, and I would put myself in really shitty situations that maybe other actors don’t need to do but I would just be imagining the worst things. Each day the content would be getting more weird and harder to do. I was putting things in my head that were getting worse and more bleak.” Despite her rough times on Midsommar, she has nothing but praise for Aster, calling him a mad genius and a stand-up comedian at heart.

Pugh will soon be seen in the Marvel movie Thunderbolts*, which is set to reach theatres on May 2, 2025 and probably gave her much more pleasant, less emotionally troubling material to work with.

What do you think of what Florence Pugh has said about her experience working on Midsommar, and the fact that she won’t be working on anything else like that movie in the future? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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There’s a reboot of the classic Universal Monsters property The Wolf Man coming our way from Blumhouse Productions and The Invisible Man (2020) director Leigh Whannell, aiming for a January 17, 2025 theatrical release – and while there has been some uncertainty about this one, as fans have been underwhelmed by the glimpses we’ve seen of a Wolf Man design, the first reactions have now made their way online, and they indicate that there’s nothing to worry about. According to these reactions, Wolf Man is an excellent, suspenseful, and emotional horror film. You can read some of them in the embeds below.

The leads of this version of Wolf Man are Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, both of whom were in the 2011 film Martha Marcy May Marlene. Abbott is taking on the role of a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator. Garner is playing his wife. Sam Jaeger is also in the cast, along with child actress Matilda Firth, playing a character named Ginger: “Female, 10 years old, white. Blake and Charlotte’s daughter. Smart, precocious, and strong. When her family decides to leave the city for a quieter life in a remote area, she faces her biggest fear, the possibility of losing one or both of her parents forever.”

When Wolf Man was first announced in 2020, Ryan Gosling was set to star in it – and in fact, it got rolling when Gosling pitched this take on the concept of The Wolf Man to Universal, and his idea was then fleshed out into a screenplay by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, a writing duo that previously worked on Orange Is the New Black. (Blum also happens to be married to Blumhouse founder Jason Blum.) At the time, it was said the story was “believed to be set in present times and in the vein of Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller Nightcrawler with an obvious supernatural twist.” The final version of the script is credited to Blum and Angelo, as well as Whannell and his wife Corbett Tuck.

Whannell first signed on to direct the film in 2020, but dropped out the following year. That’s when Gosling’s Blue Valentine and Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance came on board. Gosling and Cianfrance both stepped away from Wolf Man early last year… and then Whannell came back. A collaboration between Blumhouse and Motel Movies, Wolf Man is being produced by Jason Blum. Gosling receives an executive producer credit alongside Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner, and Whannell.

Here are some of the first reactions to the film:

The Wolf Man reboot was recently given an R rating for bloody violent content, grisly images and some language. This isn’t the first time a reboot of The Wolf Man has been given an R rating, as the 2010 reboot that was directed by Joe Johnston and starred Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt was also rated R, for bloody horror violence and gore.

Are you looking forward to Wolf Man? What did you think of these reactions to the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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On Halloween, Sony Pictures unveiled a red band teaser trailer for the Valentine’s Day-set horror romantic comedy Heart Eyes – and last week, the film’s director, Josh Ruben (who previously brought us Werewolves Within and Scare Me), took to social media to let it be known that the full trailer would be dropping online this week. Sure enough, the full trailer for Heart Eyes has now been unveiled, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Heart Eyes is set to reach theatres on February 7, 2025. February 14th is a Friday, so that would seem to be the perfect choice for this movie’s release date, but it was already taken by Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, so Sony had to move it to the week before Valentine’s Day. Its competition on that date is the Universal action movie Love Hurts, starring Ke Huy Quan.

Heart Eyes has the following synopsis: When the Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives. Ruben previously provided the following statement: “My love of horror is rivaled only by my love of romantic comedies. I’m excited as hell to mount my most challenging genre bender to date: a brutal slasher in a nostalgic rom-com universe.“ Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, a duo that had previously worked together on the body swap slasher Freaky and the time travel slasher Time Cut, wrote the screenplay with Phillip Murphy (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard).

Olivia Holt of Totally Killer and Mason Gooding from the two most recent Scream movies star alongside Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious), Devon Sawa (Final Destination), and Gigi Zumbado (The Price We Pay).

Heart Eyes is set up at Spyglass, and Republic Pictures has picked up distribution rights to the film outside of the U.S. and Canada. Landon is producing the film with Divide/Conquer’s Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks. Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Chris Stone serve as executive producers with Murphy and Mel Turner. The film has been rated R for strong violence and gore, language and some sexual content.

What did you think of the Heart Eyes trailer? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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