Streaming services have spent the last year making unpopular decisions, including cracking down on passwords and introducing ad-supported tiers to their programming. Hulu recently sent out notices to all their subscribers that they would start implementing account restrictions that prevent anyone with a password from signing into an account if they do not reside in the same household. The decision originated with Netflix and, although the move seemed controversial with consumers, the streaming giant saw a massive uptick in subscriptions.
Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney+ have taken to raising their prices along with offering additional tiers that limit picture quality and feature advertisements. Unfortunately for Disney+, this would result in a major subscription hit. According to Variety, “Disney+ Core subscribers (which include U.S. and Canada customers, as well as international users, excluding the India-based Disney+ Hotstar) dropped to 111.3 million from the 112.6 million reported in the previous quarter, according to Disney’s quarterly earnings results released Wednesday.”
However, the Magic Kingdom is also projecting a spike in subscribers for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Disney is predicting that they’ll be adding somewhere between 5.5 million and 6 million subscribers to the Disney+ Core by the end of the current quarter, which is spanning from January to March. Meanwhile, the India-based Disney+ Hotstar has added around 700,000 subscribers during the October-December quarter, this brings their total to 38.3 million from the 37.6 million that had been subscribed at the end of September.
The Disney-owned Hulu streaming service is also being paired up with Disney+ for an all-in-one bundle so audiences can access content featured on both platforms, which can span from family-friendly to more mature content. Bob Iger is currently making many changes to the House of Mouse in order to improve performances. One of his decisions was to crackdown on password sharing on both Disney+ and now Hulu services. The returning CEO planned out the move in August. Last year, Iger would outline at a company earning’s call, “We’re actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. We will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”
Season 2 of the HBO series adaptation of the video game The Last of Us has officially started filming in Vancouver, Canada, and a while back (before filming began) the show’s star Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, said that one of the things she was most looking forward to about the new season was getting the chance to play out “the Dina storyline”. Last month, we learned that Isabela Merced – who can be seen in this weekend’s release Madame Web – had been cast as Dina, Ellie’s new romantic interest. While attending the world premiere of Madame Web, Merced took a moment to confirm that she has already done a day of work as Dina.
Merced told Deadline, “The stars are truly aligning. I had several of my friends that I’ve worked with in this industry for a long time join the cast. I can’t say who just joined. But he’s amazing. And he’s a future superstar and already a superstar in my eyes. We’ve had one day of shooting for me as Dina and I gotta say, we kind of ate, I’m not gonna lie. I was a huge fan of the second game. I played it in, like one weekend. And then I wondered, how is this going to translate onto TV. And (showrunner) Craig Mazin is one of the most brilliant people, actually, I think, a genius. I’m sure if they did the test, they would find out that it’s true. And he’s just has a way of bringing these characters to life that no one could ever just come up with in such a short amount of time. I love him. He’s amazing.“
Merced is of a younger generation than I am, so I had to look up what this “ate” slang means. According to a Google search, if someone “ate”, they “did a great job; pulled it off well; had a lot of success with something”.
Merced’s fellow new additions to the Last of Us cast include Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart and No One Will Save You) as Abby Anderson, a major character from the video game who is described as being “a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved” and Young Mazino of Beef as Jesse, “a pillar of his community who puts everyone else’s needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost.” (Jesse also happens to be Dina’s ex.) Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara is also in there, in an unspecified role. Merced said Dever is “one of the most talented actors I’ve ever worked with.”
The story of the The Last of Us video game is set years after a fungal plague wiped out much of humanity, transforming most into vicious zombie-like monsters, the story follows Joel, who’s living in a militarized quarantine zone. He has a close relationship with Tess, who operates in the black market of this community. Together, they’ve become known by the local criminal underworld for their ruthlessness. On a mission to reclaim their stolen guns, they run into the leader of the Fireflies, a resistance group, who tasks them with smuggling a young girl named Ellie out of the zone. This mission soon becomes much more than they were prepared for.
For the HBO series, Pedro Pascal plays Joel, who is “tormented by past trauma and failure. He must trek across a pandemic-ravaged America, all the while protecting a girl who represents the last hope of humanity”. He is joined in the cast by Bella Ramsey as Ellie, “an orphan who has never known anything but a ravaged planet and who struggles to balance her instinct for anger and defiance with her need for connection and belonging… as well as the newfound reality that she may be the key to saving the world”; Anna Torv as Tess, “a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world”; Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, “a former soldier who hasn’t lost his sense of idealism and hope for a better world”; Merle Dandridge as Marlene, “the head of the Fireflies, a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime”; Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah; Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, “a rebel in a quarantine zone”; Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as Bill and Frank, “two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town”; and Storm Reid as Ellie’s best friend Riley.
Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who did the motion-capture performances for Joel and Ellie in the video game, are also in the cast of the show. Baker plays James, “a senior member of a group of settlers who must fight to keep their community alive in the face of increasingly brutal odds.” Baker also hosts a podcast that serves as a companion to the TV series. Johnson’s character is Anna, “a pregnant woman, alone and on the run, who must give birth under the most terrifying of circumstances.”
Are you looking forward to The Last of Us season 2, and are you glad to hear that the cast and crew “ate” during Isabela Merced’s first day on set? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Isabela Merced reveals she has begun shooting #TheLastOfUs Season 2 as Dina and compliments co-star Kaitlyn Dever and showrunner Craig Mazin, plus she teases a good friend of hers is joining the cast pic.twitter.com/FuCaz4wwBo
The final season of Stranger Things started production about a month ago, but in the meantime, Netflix has the fix for your Eleven withdrawal. The new trailer for Damsel, starring Millie Bobby Brown, has just dropped online. The fantasy action film co-stars Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brooke Carter, with Angela Bassett and Robin Wright. Brown has also worked with the streamer on the Enola Holmes movies in addition to Damsel. The movie was initially planned for a 2023 release, but Netflix has confirmed that the film will now come out on March 8, 2024.
A summary of the film from Netflix reads, “As the determined and courageousElodie, Brown flips the script on the traditional fairy tale as a princess whose happily ever after is brutally interrupted when her Prince Charming sacrifices her to a dragon. Forget what you’ve heard about tales that begin with ‘Once upon a time…’ — this damsel has only herself to rely on.”
The new film promises lots of large-scale action courtesy of director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who previously helmed the excellent 28 Days Later sequel, 28 Weeks Later. He directs from a script penned by Dan Mazeau. Sue Baden-Powel, Zack Roth, Millie Bobby Brown, Robert Brown, Dan Mazeau and Mark Bomback are on board as executive producers. Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum and Chris Castaldi are producing along with co-producer Emily Wolfe.
Brown explained what separates her character from traditional fairytale Princesses, “She’s a damsel who doesn’t need to be saved. She saves herself in many ways. It subverts what you expect: You’re expecting the prince to turn around and save her, and… no. Don’t wait for the prince.”
The director, Fresnadillo, tells Tudum, “What I really loved in the script from Dan Mazeau was embracing the idea of a fantasy adventure and a princess and dragon story, but taking it into a place [where] it’s completely upside down. It was a very intense journey that I was so excited to design and to develop. At the core, this is such a beautiful story about a young woman becoming a strong, independent, and empowered adult. Elodie doesn’t have any kind of support. It’s a real survival experience.”
Director Doug Liman‘s time loop / alien invasion sci-fi adventure Edge of Tomorrow (watch it HERE) did not set the box office on fire – in fact, compared to another notable under-performer starring Tom Cruise, it made less money than 2017’s The Mummy, on a higher budget. But that hasn’t stopped talk of a sequel from popping up every now and then over the ten years since the film’s release. Liman has let it be known that he has been working on a script, and Cruise’s co-star Emily Blunt has even previously said that she has read the “really promising and really, really cool” script. That was a few years ago… and in a new interview with Blunt, she has said she still thinks an Edge of Tomorrow sequel could be good.
Blunt was interviewed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, and said, “I think when we were first talking about the sequel it was right before I was about to do (the 2018 film) Mary Poppins Returns, so it was quite a while ago. I think if we’re going to do one, we’d have to reimagine what the sequel would look like. It feels like it could be good.“
Whether or not the sequel ever happens, Blunt looks back on Edge of Tomorrow fondly. “It was exciting to go through it. It was not for the faint of heart. I think we all loved making it so much. It was such a kinetic, exciting experience working with Doug Liman, who is so off his rocker in the best way and such a brilliant filmmaker. And Tom, in that role, where there’s nothing heroic about that part and, yet, actually he becomes so heroic because of his vulnerability in it. We loved it. We were shells of our former selves by the end of it, but it was awesome.“
Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s manga All You Need Is Kill, the first Edge of Tomorrow was set in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop — forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again… and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.
Liman has said the sequel’s title may be Live Die Repeat and Repeat, a play on the first film’s tagline “Live Die Repeat” (which some felt should have been the movie’s title instead of its tagline).
Coming Soon notes that when Tom Cruise signed a deal to partner with Warner Bros. last month, studios chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy were hoping that an Edge of Tomorrow sequel will be one of the projects that comes out of their deal. So it might end up happening one of these days after all.
Would you like to see an Edge of Tomorrow sequel? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Top 10? Hell, the only 10! Well not quite, but damn close! We’ve actually tallied a solid list of ten horror/thrillers that happened to be set on Valentine’s Day itself. Now, some spend the entire day reveling in lovelorn lethality, some merely glance past the February 14th date, but in just about every case, old cupid’s shooting an arrow in the head, if not the heart. Ah hell, you’ve heard enough. Here’s the Top 10 Valentine’s Day Set Horror/Thrillers!
#10. LOVERS LANE (1999)
Before Anna Faris was spoofing SCARY MOVIEs and wooing the world as THE HOUSE BUNNY, she happened to stroll down LOVERS LANE, a listless paint-by-numbers slasher flick about a man who went on an indiscriminate murder spree on Valentine’s Day 13 year prior, only to return to town to stalk and slash the victims’ children, foully disemboweling them with his hook-handed murder weapon. Lovers Lane refers to a place for lovebirds to park their cars and make-out, which is where the sadistic slasher shows up for slaughter (hence the tagline: there is no such thing as safe sex). Now, this is clearly a bad and poorly made movie, but far more fun for ardent slasher completists than one might expect. GET HERE
#9. MY BOYFRIENDS BACK (1993)
I can’t be the only 10 or 12 year old one besieged by the inveterate run of MY BOY FRIEND’S BACK on HBO, can I? Not buying it! Thing is, I always dug the lighthearted tone and slapstick humor, almost playing like the best of a cheesy Tales from the Crypt episode crossed with a zanily cartoonish Sam Raimi flick. It’s a perfect intro for budding preteen horror fanatics. Love that shite! Of course, it would take decades to realize the film was directed by Bob Balaban, bringing his own mordant sense of humor to the flick, a la PARENTS. Granted, it would have been killer to see what Peter Jackson could have done with the script (he was offered to direct). Props to late greats Ed Hermann and Phil Hoffman for appearing in the film, and for Matthew McConaughey for making his big screen debut! GET HERE
#8. VALENTINE (2001)
No bullshit, I adore VALENTINE far more than most. Yes, it’s abjectly terrible, but so what, it has a damn good bit of fun knowing just how derivatively lame it is. Moreover, the first time you see it, I’d argue the mysterious whodunit element of the plot actually works more than many of its ilk. Look, I love slasher flicks so much that I have the lowest bar of expectations to enjoy one. Just give me a gaggle of deplorably annoying teenagers, a cool location and a unique array of profligate death-styles and I’m a happy boy. To this end, VALENTINE checks off the most basic of slasher film rubrics, boasting a plot-line about a rejected childhood Valentine’s Day suitor out to vengefully vitiate his female deniers decades later. The cherubic Cupid mask is a cute touch, but nothing tops Denise Richards getting drilled by the killer in a hot tub harder than Charlie f*cking Sheen! GET HERE
#7. HOSPITAL MASSACRE (1981)
Also known as X-RAY, as well as BE MY VALENTINE, OR ELSE, the little known obscure early 80s slasher flick HOSPITAL MASSACRE just might be your required homework assignment for the week. As in, see this f*cking movie stat! Why? It features a vilely vengeful Valentine’s Day subplot, in which a gorgeous gal (Barbi Benton) visits an L.A. hospital for a routine checkup, only to be horrifically hunted by a sick psychopath in O.R. scrubs who she jilted on Valentine’s Day 19 years prior. It’s essentially the plotline for VALENTINE, but directed with beguiling verve by the Israeli madman Boaz Davidson (THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN). Oddly, the movie was made and released in Mexico in 1981 but had to wait until April of 1982 to arrive stateside. Props to Shout! Factory for issuing HOSPITAL MASSACRE on Blu-ray as a double feature with SCHIZOID! GET HERE
#6. PONTYPOOL (2008)
Okay, so of all the flicks on our list, this one portrays Valentine’s Day with the least amount of romantic prominence. And yet, technically, PONTYPOOL is indeed set on Valentine’s Day, as a deadly viral outbreak threatens the small Ontario town on February 14th. What’s so coolly original here, other than the kickass performance by stellar Canadian actor Stephen McHattie, is how the aforesaid virus is detected through radio transmission, as a shock-jock radio DJ begins filtering ferocious bits of info through his airwaves as the night wears on. Half of the flick takes place in the claustrophobic radio station, the other half in the Canadian frigidity, with the sum total likely equaling the most unique Valentine’s Day horror flick to date, using the unofficial day of love as a background to explore the threat of universal death! GET HERE
#5. DOWN (2019)
We’re happy to report that our most recent Valentine’s Day themed horror flick on the list is qualitatively good enough to rank among the upper-half. True talk, the fifth episode of Hulu Original’s Into the Dark series, DOWN, is a deeply duplicitous two-hander that gets stronger as it progresses, setting up a wildly unpredictable finale that atones for a few early cliché-ridden scenes. Directed by Daniel Stamm (THE LAST EXORCISM), the story centers on a man and women who happened to get stuck in a parking lot elevator afterhours, on a three-day holiday weekend (V-Day coincides with President’s Day here). Of course, it turns out this was no accident at all, but rather an elaborate kidnap and hostage scheme plotted by the man, in order to bed his stalked-upon female obsession. A solid back-and-forth cat-and-mouse match of wits that pays off handsomely and horrifically!
#4. ST. VALENTINES DAY MASSACRE (1967)
Codify it a crime thriller or a gangster picture all you want, the semantic argument does not change the fact that a real life massacre took place at the hands of mafia magnate, Al Capone, in 1929 Chicago. That is, swap the tommy-guns for knives and you’d easily have one of the gnarliest real life horror stories of all time. The gist? Simple. In order to strike his most formidable foe, Bugs Moran, Capone orchestrated a sneak attack, in which he sent his men in hot, guns-a-blazing, disguised as policemen, until his rivals were mowed the f*ck down into a gory morass of bone, blood and viscera. The great Roger Corman directs, but the real reason to see the flick is for the powerhouse performance of the late great Jason Robards as Capone! GET HERE
#3. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)
Few filmmakers have conjured such a mystifying air of ambiguity the way Peter Weir did with his lyrical curio, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. Having seen the flick for the first time fairly recently, the story about three students and their schoolteacher suddenly disappearing while taking a walk on Valentine’s Day in 1900 is as fascinating a movie mystery as I’ve ever seen. Part of this is due to the pacing, putting us in a time and place where time moved like molasses, which lends a kind of eerie hypnotic quality to the viewing. The unspeakable haunting of the townsfolk trying to solve what happened feels palpable, and we’re just as vexed trying to piece together the maddening puzzle, all the while steeped in the beauteous Australian idyll! GET HERE
#2. MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D (2009)
One of the most difficult Original Vs. Remake face-offs we’ve seen in the past has to be that between MY BLOODY VALENTINE and its three-dimensional redo in 2009. It’s a tough call, as certain aspects of Patrick Lussier’s version – about a psycho killer in a miner’s mask slaughtering Pennsylvania townsfolk on Valentine’s Day – actually reigns supreme. The whodunit mystery is just as adroitly maneuvered as in the original, keeping us guessing the identity of the killer all the way to the end. The acting goes a long way toward preserving the mystery, and the resplendent grue of the uncut version rivals the uncut version of the original, where the unflinching profusion of graphic gore was forced to be excised by the MPAA on both accounts. Simply put, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D is the rare case of a remake being on par with its predecessor, the original of which ranks…
#1. MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981)
…Number one with a mother*cking bullet! Indeed, the one and only definitive Valentine’s Day horror film, George Mihalka’s MY BLOODY VALENTINE really deserves rank as one of the all time best slasher films as well. At least, 1980s slasher flicks, from which the majority of them derive. In addition to brilliantly setting the film on a holiday meant for lovey-dovey romance and horny courtship, thereby subverting the happy holiday in favor of something far more sinister, the setting of an underground mine is a sheer stroke of genius. It gives the murderer reason to don the mining mask, and gives us reason to organically guess who among the miners is moonlighting as a pickaxe wielding murderous madman. The iconic heart-shaped candy boxed filled with a carved out heart, or a gruesomely decapitated head lolling around in a washing machine (both of which were affectionately called back by Lussier in the redo) easily prop MY BLOODY VALENTINE as the most beloved February 14th horror salvo to date! GET MBV ’81 HERE, ’09 HERE
Last year, we heard that Gene Simmons of the rock band Kiss would be launching a new production company with Gary Hamilton (so the company is appropriately called Simmons/Hamilton Productions), and the first project they had given the greenlight was a shark thriller called Deep Water – with Deep Blue Sea director Renny Harlin attached to take the helm of the film! That film has since made its way through production, and a press release reveals that the cast includes Aaron Eckhart of Harlin’s The Bricklayer, Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Molly Wright (Netflix’s True Spirit), Angus Sampson (Mad Max: Fury Road), Kelly Gale (Plane), singer and actor Li Wenhan, who is a member of the Chinese-Korean K-Pop group UNIQ, and Nashi (Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms).
Scripted by Pete Bridges and John Kim, Deep Water centers on an eclectic group of international passengers whose plane, en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai, is forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. The terrified group is forced to work together and overcome their differences if they hope to escape their sinking plane and the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.
Arclight Films’ Ying Ye, Gabba Post’s Neal Kingston, Aristos Films’ Grant Bradley and Dale Bradley, and Nostromo Pictures’ Adrian Guerra and Xavier Parache produced the film, while Brian Beckmann and Ryan Hamilton from Arclight Films serve as executive producers alongside Vladimir Artemenko from Top Film Distribution, as well as Rob Van Norden and Johanna Harlin. Arclight Films will be presenting the project to potential buyers at the European Film Market. Filming took place in New Zealand and Spain, wrapping at the end of 2023. Post-production work is being done in Australia.
Harlin had this to say about the project: “Deep Water offered me an epic canvas to work on, which I’ve dreamed of since seeing the original The Poseidon Adventure in a movie theater as a kid in Finland. My superb cast stood by my side valiantly through a rigorous shoot of barrel rolling planes, tidal waves of water and ferocious sharks. This film is my tribute to all the action, imagination, emotion and beauty that made movie making the first love of my life. I can’t wait to show the audiences around the world what an emotional rollercoaster we have created.“
Hamilton added: “Fortune has smiled on us and we are delighted to be working with some of the most talented and creative individuals in the world from New Zealand, Australia, and Spain. We have such a superb ensemble cast led by the talented Aaron Eckhart and Sir Ben Kingsley. With action maven Renny Harlin at the helm, Deep Water is a non-stop thrill ride for the ages, with depth, emotion… and sharks!“
Simmons provided the following statement: “I am pumped and excited to be launching Deep Water as our first project together with Gary Hamilton and the team at Arclight Films. Director Renny Harlin is bold and fearless and is truly in his element in this intense and suspenseful survival thriller – it’s a high-octane, seat-of-your-pants adventure that audiences love.“
Grant and Dale Bradley said they expect the film to become “a great action classic”.
Are you interested in seeing a new shark thriller from Renny Harlin? Share your thoughts on Deep Water by leaving a comment below.
Mark Ruffalo is no stranger to unknowingly spoiling Marvel secrets. He and Tom Holland have a humorous reputation of being the two least trusted actors at the movie studio due to some amusing slip-ups. In 2017, Ruffalo would notoriously accidentally stream the first few minutes of Thor: Ragnarok from the premiere after his pre-show red carpet social media livestream was unknowingly left rolling as the actor put his phone back in his pocket and 2,500 online viewers could hear the live audio of the premiere audience watching and laughing at the jokes from the film.
Recently, Ruffalo attended a Q&A that reflected on his career at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday. Anne Thompson, the moderator, asked him if he would be appearing in the upcoming film, Captain America: Brave New World. Ruffalo answered, “Yeah.” and nodded his head. Thompson responded, “Are you allowed to talk about that?” Ruffalo replied, “Yeah. It’s going to be great!” His answer started to catch excitement among fans. However, according to Variety, it was revealed by sources that the Academy Award-nominated actor of Poor Things had misspoken at the Q&A.
Multiple sources have assured Variety that “Ruffalo is not actually going to be in Brave New World. Instead, he misspoke, thinking he was agreeing that Brave New World is one of Marvel’s next films, not that he was going to be in it.” This news walking back the comments does not appear to be coming from Ruffalo himself. Could it be damage control from Marvel Studios? In 2021, prior to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a leaked on-set picture of Andrew Garfield in the Spider-Man suit made its way online, which prompted the actor to deny any claims that he would be appearing in the film. Fast forward to 2024 and Garfield is now known to have a sizable role in that film and the leaked picture was legit.
Captain America: Brave New World was also reported to be going through extensive reshoots after some test screenings and even hired a new writer to punch up some of the script. Perhaps an effort was made to connect the Hulk to the film. Or even just a quick cameo in a post-credits scene like in Shang-Chi.
PLOT: Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson) is a New York EMT who acquires clairvoyance after a brush with death. She uses her powers to stop a spider-powered villain (Tahar Rahim) hunting three girls who, he believes, will eventually end his life.
REVIEW: Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Not every Marvel movie by Sony has been bad. For my money, they’re behind the two greatest Spider-Man movies ever made, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse. And there’s the Venom movies. Those are elevated B-movies, but they’re a decent amount of fun thanks to Tom Hardy’s merciless scenery chewing, and the grosses for those flicks have been astronomical. Clearly, someone likes them. But Morbius…
Of course, one of the reasons people aren’t hyped about Madame Web is that the character isn’t exactly a household name. For those who aren’t in the loop, in the comic, Madame Web is a paralyzed, blind clairvoyant, which is distinctly not what Dakota Johnson is playing here. She’s already appeared, in a manner of speaking, in Across the Spider-Verse as a guidance counsellor, voiced by Rachel Dratch.
So it seems Sony’s taken a loose approach in adapting the character to the big screen, which is fine. I think people have been down on it because of the meme-worthy trailer. Those posters, which looked whipped together, didn’t help, with everyone assuming this would be just another B-superhero movie.
So what’s the verdict?
Madame Web is, unfortunately, a big mess. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the four credited writers, who include director SJ Clarkson, aren’t able to make a compelling addition to the Spider-verse. Like so many films of its ilk, it teases the movie fans actually want to see, which is a full-on Spider-Women team-up film, which is something we seemed to be promised by the trailer. Instead, this prequel establishes how Cassie Webb meets the three girls who later become costumed superheroes. There’s not much in the way of super-heroics here at all. Here, they are “teens” hunted by Tahar Rahim’s Ezekiel Sims, who has powers similar to Spider-Man.
We learn in the opening, which boasts a cameo by Kerry Bishé of my beloved Halt and Catch Fire as Cassie’s mother, that he murderously stole a sacred spider in the Amazon. He acquired certain powers, but they came with a curse. He’s clairvoyant, but he can see his death at the hands of three costumed heroines, who here are played by Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and, hilariously, Sydney Sweeney, who wears thick sweaters and glasses to fool us into thinking she’s 16. Given how much of a star she’s become, audiences may find her playing such a young character unintentionally hilarious, but that’s not the only goofy part of this movie.
It has to be said that some of the dialogue here is ROUGH. It’s jam-packed with so much exposition and references to other Spider-Man characters that it becomes cheesy. Adam Scott plays a guy – whose identity I won’t spoil here – who is a major character in the Spider-Man universe, so his full name is awkwardly said out loud a few times, just in case we don’t get the many hints being dropped, I suppose that’s for the benefit of those whose attention might waver. Fair enough, because that happened to me here more than a few times.
In the lead, Dakota Johnson does all she can but seems an awkward fit for a superhero movie. She’s always seemed more at home with edgier fare, such as the Suspiria remake, but she gives it a go. She gives Cassie some attitude and is entertaining until the abysmal epilogue, where her performance becomes quite campy, which does not bode well for this hoped-for franchise. She’s being set up as the Professor X of the Spider-verse, but I’m not sure the role will fit her well. Merced, O’Connor and Sweeney bring the requisite spunk to their roles and may be excellent choices for a future team-up movie, hopefully allowing them to play the characters closer to their own age.
Of everyone, the only one who comes off poorly is Tahar Rahim. He’s an excellent actor, having delivered a stunning performance in the film A Prophet, but something is very off, with it seeming like a lot of his dialogue was changed in post-production looping. It’s very noticeable and makes him come off as very stiff.
Indeed, it’s the writing that dooms this smaller-scaled film. Early on, Cassie is established as being on the run from the cops, but she can jet off to Peru without worrying about being caught. The movie is set in 2003, so it can justify the lack of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, allowing them to pepper the film with needle drops that mostly date back years before the film takes place. The only exception is an action scene set to Britney Spears’ “Toxic” because it’s set in the early aughts. You’ve got to have Britney.
Director SJ Clarkson is noted for her excellent TV work, which includes the great Netflix Marvel show Jessica Jones. Still, the style she brought to that is absent here, with some strange choices, including a distracting use of shaky cam that comes in during some dialogue scenes. Perhaps it’s fitting it takes place in 2003, as that style was pretty dominant back then, but it seems bizarre now. Given the modest budget, there’s also very little in the way of action until the finale, which sets up future adventures for the cast. But I don’t know – I doubt anyone will walk out of this with a franchise.
Ultimately, Madame Web could have been a decent little B-side of a superhero film, but the terrible, cornball dialogue and lacklustre pace doom it early on. To note, the version of the movie I saw had no post-credits scene, so when the credits roll – you’re free!
Eric Idle may have written “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, but that doesn’t mean he has taken that into this 80s. Idle went on a social media tear early this week, taking former Monty Python members Terry Gilliam and John Cleese to task.
Posting on X on Monday, Eric Idle confessed that funds have dried up from his Monty Python days, writing, “I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.” He then pointed to the Gilliams: former Python member Terry and his daughter Holly, who handles management of Monty Python. “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.” Idle also confirmed that it was indeed Gilliam that forbids a Spamalot movie from happening.
We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company. https://t.co/J5tQauTH2D
Monty Python would have numerous reunions following their official 1983 split, including Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go in 2014, which was notably missing Graham Chapman (as alluded to in the title). Terry Jones would pass away in 2020, leaving just four original members today. That event would also mark one of the last times Eric Idle spoke to John Cleese. As he also wrote, “I haven’t seen Cleese for seven years…It makes me happy.” Ouch…At the same time, Idle did note that he wish he had worked with another troupe at least once: The Muppets. Perhaps he’s a little jealous of Cleese’s appearance on The Muppet Show…?
Unfortunately, it all runs so much deeper than that. It’s always tough to see longtime collaborators not only split but talk poorly about each other. This is especially so now, as all surviving Monty Python members are in their 80s. It would seem a fine time to reconcile, to put aside any issues in the past as they approach their final act.
When one of his followers suggested that Monty Python be the subject of a Netflix doc that could highlight the tumultuous nature of the comedy team, Idle responded, “F*ck Netflix and f*ck documentaries.” Oh come on, Eric, don’t grumble, give a whistle!
What do you make of the continued feuds within Monty Python? What remains your favorite sketch or scene?
Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last September, and THR reports that MPI Media Group will release the movie in the U.S. on April 5th, followed by a Digital/VOD release on April 12th.
The film is Woody Allen’s 50th theatrically released movie and has already made the rounds in many European markets. The official synopsis reads: “Fanny and Jean have everything of the ideal couple: fulfilled in their professional life, they live in a magnificent apartment in the beautiful districts of Paris and seem to be in love as on the first day. But when Fanny crosses, by chance, Alain, a former high school friend, she is immediately capsized. They see each other again very quickly and get closer and closer.” The film stars Lou de Laâge (The Mad Woman’s Ball) as Fanny, Niels Schneider (Sybil) as Alain and Melvil Poupaud (In Bed with Victoria) as Jean.
Coup de Chance, which translates to “stroke of luck” in English, received largely positive reviews upon its release at the Venice Film Festival last year, but I would imagine that not everyone is eager to check out Allen’s latest movie thanks to the sexual abuse allegations that have gained more and more attention over the years.
While Woody Allen may not be retiring quite yet, the director isn’t nearly as prolific as he once was, and many mainstream actors have now refused to work with him. Despite this, he has denied that he’s been canceled. “I don’t know what it means to be canceled,” Allen told Variety last year. “I know that over the years everything has been the same for me. I make my movies. What has changed is the presentation of the films. You know, I work and it’s the same routine for me. I write the script, raise the money, make the film, shoot it, edit it, it comes out. The difference is not from cancel culture. The difference is the way they present the films. It’s that that’s the big change.“
Will you be watching Coup de Chance when it’s released in the U.S.?
