Jude Law doesn’t seem like the type to lead a Star Wars installment, but he is going all-in for the upcoming series Skeleton Crew, headlining as Jod Na Nawood. It’s also only one of a handful of shows Law has been in.
Speaking on why he decided to finally join the Star Wars force, so to speak, Jude Law said it took a lot of contemplation because of the scale of the series. “I don’t think I would have dived in willy-nilly. I wanted it to be right. I didn’t want to be the guy that dropped the ball on Star Wars.” Oh, don’t worry, Jude, plenty of people have beaten you to the punch on that one…
Undergoing the filming process of shooting a big-budget Star Wars project — the first season has been pegged at over $130 million by some reports — Jude Law said there were plenty of challenges in bringing it to the screen. “It’s technically complicated to get those things right — you’re dealing with animatronics and puppets and machines and huge, complicated worlds. I’m the guy that wants to see how the wizard does it.” He, too, got to see how the cinematographer worked in a way like he has never seen before, which further alllwed himself to be immersed in the saga. “There are certain shots they don’t allow you to do if you’re the director. You can’t pass through the glass of the spaceship; you have to stay on the outside or inside. I love that. You see the shot and go, ‘Oh, I’m in Star Wars.”
Outside of Jude Law, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew doesn’t have much wattage to it, with Encanto voice actor Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Firestarter’s Ryan Kiera Armstrong supporting. Nick Frost and Urkel himself, Jaleel White, also have roles.
The Star Wars saga has seen plenty of drops and questionable moves as of late, so we’re genuinely hoping that Skeleton Crew can help turn things around. And we will when it arrives on Disney+ on December 3rd.
Are you looking forward to Skeleton Crew? Do you expect it to be a worthwhile endeavor in the Star Wars franchise?
Fall is upon us, and that brings the changing of the leaves, apple cider, and of course, scary movies. Seeing scary movies when you’re a little kid is the best. Really wanting to see what all the bigger kids are seeing but also being scared of what you just saw. It’s a magical time to be alive… and now is a great time to run down the best kid’s films for Halloween. These are guaranteed to frighten your little ones but not leave you unable to sleep after they crawl into your bed at night.
While this film was a mainstay of my childhood, if you look at it today, some of the language hasn’t aged very well. I still love this film, as I can look past its flaws and remember the absolute glee I would get watching it over and over again. Plus, there is a scene of a child using a shotgun, which can be a little much in today’s climate. I would say it’s up to the parents on this one, but be warned. A group of kids has a club called The Monster Squad, where they talk about monster movies and decide who could beat who. It’s a lot of fun until some very famous and very real monsters show up in their town. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gill-man arrive, searching for an amulet, and they won’t let anyone stand in their way of getting it. No one believes the kids, so they have to take on the monsters themselves. Think The Goonies meets the classic Universal Monsters.
Another classic Halloween film for kids. The lovable oaf Ernest finds himself in the middle of a curse that transforms kids into dolls. He accidentally lets loose a troll that wreaks havoc upon his town. He has to find a way to imprison the troll once again and release the children from the horrible spell. Ernest is funny in his usual slapsticky way, and the creature designs by the Chiodo Brothers look fantastic. It’s fun to go back and see their great practical effects work from this time.
Neil Gaiman teams with Henry Selick to bring to life this stop motion animated story of a young girl who finds a way to cross over to another world that is closely similar to ours but finds that things are a little… off. She feels neglected by her own family, but their doppelgangers in the other world have buttons for eyes and can’t stop expressing their love for her. When offered a chance to stay in their world, she refuses. She quickly finds that the inhabitants will not take no for an answer. It’s a great, creepy film that both kids and parents can enjoy.
Fred Savage might be canceled nowadays, but when he was a child star, he made this fun film with Howie Mandel. Savage plays Brian, who finds that monsters are real but, for the most part, harmless. They enjoy a few good scares but also enjoy having a good time. When things at home get tough to take, Brian climbs into the portal under his bed and hangs with his new monster friend Maurice. They get into all sorts of adventures until Brian discovers that the longer he hangs out in the monster’s world, the more he starts to become one. Little Monsters is a fun family movie with lots of funny monsters but very few actual scares.
Norman is a kid that loves horror films. He also has a special gift that lets him see the dead. He is told of an ancient curse on his town of Blithe Hollow. In order to keep his town safe, he must perform a ritual that only his recently deceased uncle used to know. Things obviously don’t go well. The voice cast is fantastic, with John Goodman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Casey Affleck, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse lending their talents to the film. This comes from the same animation studio as Coraline and looks beautiful, as you would expect.
Jack Black stars in this fun film as R.L. Stine, the famous author of all the Goosebumps books. When a kid named Zach moves to town, he befriends Stine’s daughter Hannah. He quickly learns that, in reality, Stine’s monsters are real and he keeps them trapped in his books. Zach lets them out by accident, and now they all have to go across town to trap them back into their books. If you’re a fan of the Goosebumps series of books or the 90s TV series, then you’ll see a lot of familiar monsters throughout the film. It’s a lot of fun and a great watch. One of the best kids films to watch for Halloween.
Three kids learn that the house which belongs to the mean old man that lives on their street is actually a giant living monster that likes to eat kids. They have to find a way to destroy the house to protect kids everywhere. This fun movie is written by Dan Harmon of Rick & Morty fame and has another great cast list. Steve Buscemi, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Jason Lee, and Kevin James all voice the characters in this fun film.
A young boy that is obsessed with horror stories finds himself trapped by a witch. To keep her from killing him, he offers to tell her a new scary story every night. When he finds another girl trapped there as well, he begins to formulate a plan to escape the witch’s house, which won’t let them leave. Krysten Ritter stars as the witch and does a great job of scaring the children in this film without traumatizing the viewer. Sort of an updated version of the Arabian Tales story.
Victor’s dog dies unexpectedly, and he turns to science to reanimate the pup. After the dog comes back to life, his friends and neighbors are terrified. The boy has to convince everyone that his dog is the same lovable companion they have always known. This animated film, directed by Tim Burton, was based on a live-action short film that he made back in 1984 starring Shelly Duvall and Daniel Stern.
Eli Roth is mainly known as the splatter horror director for such films as Cabin Fever and Hostel, but he directed this children’s movie starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. After being orphaned, a young boy moves in with his uncle. He quickly learns that his uncle is a warlock and has been trying to find a clock constructed by an evil wizard. The clock was put in the house’s walls, and if it reaches the end of its countdown, then the world will end. This is a lot of fun and a surprising entry from Roth.
Another one from the mind of Tim Burton. We meet the residents of Halloween Town as their king Jack Skellington begins to tire of all the Halloween cheer every day. While walking in the woods, he stumbles upon a Christmas tree-shaped door. Once he enters, he finds Christmas Town. Intrigued by the new world he has stumbled upon, Jack decides to bring the Christmas spirit to Halloween Town in the only way he knows how. A great cross-over film as the Halloween season winds down and we begin to look towards Christmas. The spooky elements are quintessential Tim Burton, but the Christmas heart of the film makes you remember what the holiday season is all about. A must-watch every year between seasons.
What kid’s films do you watch on Halloween? Let us know in the comments.
If Hollywood is good at anything, it’s seeing what hits big at the box office and then churning out a hundred clones of that product until it gets driven into the ground. We see it all the time. One such incident came around the release of the 1978 film Halloween. Once it began to rack up box office numbers, everyone scrambled to put out their own slasher film, preferably built around a holiday. This led to a glut of slasher films – which, if you’re a slasher fan like myself, was a fantastic time to be alive. Let’s look at the best Halloween rip-offs.
Offerings might be the most egregious rip-off Halloween there could be. A young kid accidentally falls down a well while playing with a group of kids. Some of them scare him as he’s walking along the edge, and he hits his head. He will end up killing his mother before he is shipped off to a mental hospital. Years later, he escapes to get revenge on the kids who caused his accident. He takes a body part from each person and leaves them as presents to the one girl who was always nice to him. Of course, a doctor from the hospital is hot on his trail to try and stop his killing spree. If only his name was like Lam Soomis, then the homage would be complete. The plot is only minorly tweaked to avoid a lawsuit, but they barely make any effort to hide the fact that they are mimicking the score from Halloween. Some parts even sound like they lifted it right off the soundtrack. It’s pretty blatant and the filmmakers didn’t seem to care. They put the movie out and I assume made some money off of it.
This film tries to throw some “modern” technology into the plot but at its base, Edge of the Axe is still just another Halloween rip-off. Someone in a small California town is murdering women. Laura thinks it might be her cousin, who recently escaped from a mental hospital. The women he seems to be targeting have all worked at psychiatric facilities. Laura and her new boyfriend use his high-tech computer system to determine who the killer is. Without the computer story, this whole thing is just Halloween, but the killer likes to use an axe instead of a butcher knife. He even wears an all-white mask. If anything, the kills are fun to watch. The incompetent police force is laughable but all in all the film is still a good time.
What’s better than one psychopath escaping from a mental hospital and going on a murder spree? How about four? This movie has a great cast, as Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, and Erland van Lidth play the killers. Donald Pleasence gets to play on the other side of the film this time and Erland van Lidth will be known to most genre fans as the opera-singing Dynamo from The Running Man. During a town-wide blackout, four known killers escape from a mental institution and head to their new psychiatrist’s house. They believe he killed their former doctor and want to get revenge. Dwight Schultz of The A-Team and Star Trek fame plays the psychiatrist. Along the way, we meet young people who are trying to have fun during the blackout but end up being fodder for the killers.
While it didn’t come out during the slasher boom of the 80s, it did hit during the smaller slasher boom of the 90s after Scream hit big in theaters. It borrows more from Halloween than any other slasher of the time, including Scream. It may be a little cliche even for the time it came out, but it is still a lot of fun. Thirteen years ago, a man committed a series of murders. Now, he has escaped from a mental institution and is hunting down the children of his former victims. This film has a couple of ‘before they were famous’ actors involved. Anna Faris plays Jannelle Bay in this. The following year she would star in the slasher spoof Scary Movie, which would catapult her to stardom. Sarah Lancaster plays Chloe Grefe. She would go on to earn acclaim in the WB series Everwood. Most probably know her as Chuck’s sister Ellie on the series Chuck.
George is released from a mental hospital after being deemed fit to rejoin society. Years before, he murdered a family. Ever since then, he has been having horrible nightmares that his medication can’t seem to fix. Not long after being released, his killing spree begins again as he drives down to Florida to find his ex-wife. Along the way, his murders become more and more violent. George does end up killing a babysitter and her boyfriend at one point in the film, and wears an old man mask while doing it. The film has the typical slasher methodology in it while also throwing a few curve balls with mischievous children for a final touch. The old man mask looks like a creepy Telly Savalas killing people. It’s a weird addition.
Four college students volunteer to help clean out a dorm building that is going to be demolished. As they begin their work, someone starts to stalk them around the abandoned dorm. One of the best lines from the trailer, if you look it up, is: “The only thing you will learn is how to die!” The film is super cheesy but a lot of fun. Just don’t take it too seriously. The killer uses a baseball bat with spikes driven into it. It’s a great time.
While the title doesn’t tell you, this is actually a Thanksgiving horror film. When twins Todd and Terry were younger, one of them killed a man at a drive-in. Terry blamed it on Todd, and he was sent to live in a mental hospital. Ten years later, Todd decides to escape from the hospital so his mom will know the truth. This causes Terry to once again feel the urge to kill. The film is a lot of fun and has the usual twin hijinks. Look for a young Ted Raimi in his first film role as a guy selling condoms at the drive-in. The special effects for the film are great and worth celebrating. Arrow Films put out a good disc set of this film that even has a cut of the film with the old title card Slasher from before it was changed to Blood Rage.
During the senior prom, a killer is stalking students who participated in the accidental death of a classmate years earlier. Now, as their big night is here to celebrate their upcoming graduation, they are being killed off one by one. This one even includes Jamie Lee Curtis as the final girl of the film. While there is nothing that just screams Halloween rip-off in the film other than Jamie Lee Curtis, Prom Night plays on all the horror tropes that were established just two years earlier. If you have sex, you die. If you drink or do drugs, you die. It’s a simple formula but it makes for a fun watch. The killer in this film is almost the inverse of Michael Myers. They are dressed all in black, including a black ski mask. The killer moves quickly and strikes fast. A fun time, if you are into slasher films.
A mining accident trapped six people underground. When they are able to dig them out, only Harry Warden survived, but in a deranged state. He is sent to a mental hospital but escapes on Valentine’s Day to kill those he felt were responsible for the accident. Decades later, a young crew is set to have a Valentine’s Day party. People start dying again and think Harry Warden may be back. Killer in coveralls and a mask? Check. Killer killing on a specific holiday? Check. Killer possibly coming back after escaping from a mental hospital? Maybe. The film checks off all the boxes that make for a great Halloween rip-off but still manages to make the movie its own thing. The killer in the film looks great and is genuinely frightening at times. A great film to watch at just about any time of the year, but especially around Valentine’s Day. The fact that Scream Factory was able to release a Blu-ray with a bunch of cut footage of gory attacks restored makes it all the better.
Yes, even the juggernaut that is Friday the 13th is a Halloween rip-off. Producer/director Sean Cunningham has admitted that after Halloween hit box office gold, he looked around for a holiday that he could build a slasher film around. He settled on Friday the 13th and the rest is history. The series obviously came into its own but it was born as a way to cash in on Halloween’s fame. A group of teenagers helps set up a camp that is about to reopen. It was closed for decades after a young couple was murdered during camp season. Someone is not happy that the camp is about to reopen and begins to kill off the teens one by one in order to keep the camp closed. Friday the 13th would garner its own popularity and spawned a slew of rip-offs like The Burning, Sleepaway Camp, and Madman. Once Jason came into the series in the second film, it hewed even closer to the Halloween films with a silent killer that has a penchant for covering his face. Eventually, it would go the more supernatural route and completely work, while any time Halloween tried to move that way it completely fell flat.
What are your favorite Halloween rip-offs? Let us know in the comments.
Who would have thought that we’d be ending the year with the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez? Of course, it’s not a done deal yet, but the Menendez brothers have several options on their path to freedom, one of which is directly petitioning California Governor Gavin Newsom for clemency.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón released a letter he sent to Newsom, asking the governor to step in. “I write in strong support of Lyle Menendez’s petition for clemency submitted to your office on October 28, 2024,” Gascón wrote. “Mr. Menendez is currently 56 years old serving his 34th year in prison at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility.” In a separate letter, the DA said: “I write in strong support of Erik Menendez’s petition for clemency submitted to your office on October 28, 2024. Mr. Menendez is currently 54 years old serving his 34th year in prison at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility.“
Gascón added that the brothers “have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates.” The Menendez brothers have a new hearing set for December 11th, where L.A. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic will consider resentencing the pair on a voluntary manslaughter charge. As the brothers have already served more than 30 years in prison, they would immediately be eligable for parole and could be home in time for the holidays.
However, there is one snag to that plan. As Gascón is up for reelection, he may no longer be in office by December 11th, which means the resentencing request could be withdrawn.
The renewed interest in the Menendez brothers skyrocketed after the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix. New pieces of evidence also drove the push for their resentencing. One of those new pieces is a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano eight months before the murders. “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I just can’t stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy,” said Erik in the letter.
Erik Menendez took to social media (through his wife Tammi) to slam Monsters co-creator Ryan Murphy for including “ruinous character portrayals” of both him and his brother. Murphy hit back, saying that they should be sending him flowers for giving them so much attention again. “I’ll tell you my thoughts about the Menendez brothers. The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers. They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case,” Murphy said. “I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did. There is no world that we live in where the Menendez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, ‘You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.’ That was never going to happen, and I wasn’t interested in that happening.“
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is currently streaming on Netflix and you can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
If you’re ready to experience the puffy shirt, the soup nazi, and Festivus in the glory of 4K, then I have some good news for you! Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced that they will release Seinfeld: The Complete Series on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on December 17th in honour of the show’s 35th anniversary.
However, collectors will want to know that the two home-media releases offer very different presentations of the iconic series. The Blu-ray edition will feature the series in a 1.78 format, while the 4K Ultra HD edition will feature the series in its original 1.33 aspect ratio. The 4K set is also being billed as a limited edition, so if you want the original aspect ratio, you might not want to sleep on this.
The Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD sets will include all nine seasons on 24 discs. Both sets will also include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers, insider looks, and “alternate versions” of select episodes. Going by the SRP, Seinfeld: The Complete Series on Blu-ray will cost $149.99, while Seinfeld: The Complete Series on 4K will cost $249.99.
Given Seinfeld‘s popularity, it’s surprising that this marks the show’s first leap into high definition (in a physical release). The show was released on DVD season by season, starting with seasons 1 & 2 in 2004 and concluding with season 9 in 2007.
Jerry Seinfeld has been in the news recently, taking back comments he made blaming the “extreme left” for the demise of the TV sitcom. “I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. That’s not true,” Seinfeld said. “It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and you’re going to make the gate. That’s comedy. Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is where is the gate and how do I make the gate to get down the hill.“
Seinfeld continued, “Does culture change and are their things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target. You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian…So I don’t think, as I said, the ‘extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.“
Will you be adding Seinfeld to your Blu-ray or 4K collection?
If you were hoping the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise would return, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Eddie Redmayne, who stars in the Fantastic Beasts franchise as Newt Scamander, gave a less-than-optimistic update while speaking with ComicBook.com.
“I think they probably have [seen the last of Newt],” Redmayne said. “That was a very frank answer, but yeah. And that’s as far as I know. I mean, you’d have to speak to the people at Warner Bros. and J.K Rowling, but as far as I know, that’s it. I think he may come back in a glimpse in the Universal world in Florida that they’re opening up, in which you may catch a glimpse of what he was up to in Paris.“
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them got the franchise off to a good start, grossing $811 million worldwide. Unfortunately, the sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, found that number falling to $648 million. The third installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, fell even further, grossing just $407 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the entire Wizarding World franchise. It was announced early on that the Fantastic Beasts franchise would consist of five movies, but those diminishing returns make that very unlikely.
Jude Law, who played Albus Dumbledore in the last two movies, also recently acknowledged that the series isn’t likely to continue. “I know it’s certainly on hold,” Law told Variety. “My guess would be that, now that they’re doing ‘Harry Potter’ as a TV show, they’ll probably put their energy into that. I certainly haven’t heard that there’s anything on the horizon.” The actor added that J.K. Rowling did tell him about Dumbledore’s complete arc, so he “had a pretty clear sense of where it was going to go.“
As Law mentioned, Warner Bros. is currently developing a Harry Potter TV series for HBO, with each season covering one of Rowling’s novels for a total of seven seasons. While the movies were able to fit quite a lot in, there were plenty of moments cut from the novels that the TV series will finally be able to bring to life. Last year, the studio released a statement saying, “Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.“ As this seems to be the priority for the Wizarding World franchise, the Fantastic Beasts franchise does appear to be dead.
You may notice a change to your Disney+ home screen as the streaming service is rolling out a Top 10 Today feature. It will showcase “what is popular on the service in each country or territory on any given day, while driving engagement and discovery of new titles.” It will feature both movies and TV series.
As for how the titles will be determined, the Disney+ press release states: “Top 10 Today will be reflective of Disney+’s on-demand catalog – factoring in both the content available to you based on your subscription (like Hulu on Disney+ for Bundle subscribers) and settings based on your profile (like content ratings). On any given day, the set will feature 10 different series and/or films that are currently popular on Disney+ in your country or territory. For series, engagement is reflected at the episode level, which comes in handy when you need help identifying when new episodes have been released.“
The Disney+ Top 10 Today feature will take several factors into account, “including total views at the episode and movie level within a day and the growing popularity of new titles released during that time frame.” If you’re a bundle subscriber, your Top 10 Today banner will include all content available to you based on your subscription plan. Depending on our profile settings, including content rating level, the Top 10 Today list may be different for each individual profile. It also won’t be available on Junior Mode profiles, at least for now.
The streaming service hopes this will increase engagement among its subscribers. Netflix launched its own Top 10 list feature in 2020 and now publishes it on a dedicated website.
We can probably predict what the Disney+ Top 10 Today list will include in just two weeks. It was announced today that Deadpool & Wolverine, one of the most popular films of the year, will be available to stream on Disney+ on November 12th. The sequel has grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, and it is sure to be a big hit when it finally lands on Disney+.
The BuzzFeed Studios-produced comedy thriller F Marry Kill is set to receive a digital, VOD, and limited theatrical release on December 6th – and just in time for Halloween, a trailer for the film has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above. Laura Murphy, whose previous credits include Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery and episodes of the shows Adam Ruins Everything and Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, directed F Marry Kill from a screenplay by Meghan Brown and Ivan Diaz, who are both earning their first feature writing credit on this film. Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars, Scream 4, Truth or Dare?, and Fantasy Island takes on the lead role.
Here’s the official synopsis: When true-crime junkie Eva Vaugh (Hale) is shoved into the dating app world by her besties on her 30th birthday, she suddenly finds herself at the center of a real-life murder case. As new details about the murders are revealed on her favorite podcast, she realizes that one of the three men she’s dating could be the infamous ‘Swipe Right Killer’ terrorizing the city. Now it’s up to Eva and her ride-or-die friends to figure out which date is a f***boy, a potential husband, or a killer in this comedy-thriller.
Hale is joined in the cast by Virginia Gardner (Halloween 2018), Brooke Nevin (I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer), Samer Salem (The Expanse), Bethany Brown (The Good Doctor), JayR Tinaco (Another Life), Jedidiah Goodacre (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Haley Victoria Hunt (The Charisma Killers), RJ Fetherstonhaugh (Wayward Pines), Brendan Morgan (Meet Me Next Christmas), Edem Nyamadi (Death and Other Details), Spencer Borgeson (When Mom Becomes a Murderer), Laura Yenga (Living with My Mother’s Killer), Brad Abramenko (Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story), Pete MacLeod (Hitler’s Land Stand), Kyle Mosonyi (Devil in Ohio), Cam Woodman (Food for the Heart), and Kendra Hesketh (Puppy Love).
What did you think of the trailer for F Marry Kill? Does this comedy thriller look like a movie you’ll be wanting to check out in December? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Apple Original Films has announced that Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan are set to return for a sequel to The Family Plan. The 2023 action comedy follows Dan Morgan, a suburban dad and car salesman whose secret past as an elite government assassin comes back to haunt him. For a while, the film was Apple’s most-viewed movie until George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s Wolfstook the title.
The Family Plan sequel will take place at Christmas in Europe, where Dan has planned the perfect vacation for the Morgans, but his past continues to haunt them in unexpected ways. “I am beyond excited to step back into the shoes of Dan Morgan again alongside my brilliant co-stars, and with Simon and David returning,” Wahlberg said in a statement. “Making ‘The Family Plan,’ and seeing it become an instant success with global audiences in the way that it did, has been incredibly rewarding. We can’t wait to collaborate with our partners at Apple and Skydance again on this next chapter for the Morgan family as their European holiday inevitably goes awry.“
Simon Cellan Jones is returning to direct from a script by David Coggeshall. “I’m thrilled to be back with The Morgans as they tear through Europe in search of the perfect action-packed family Christmas,” Cellan Jones said.
Cellan Jones spoke of a potential sequel shortly after the debut of the first film and hinted that it would be an international story.
“They’d all be older and wiser. But, you know, it would definitely be a road movie. I don’t know whether it’d be Europe or South America, somewhere crazy like that,” Jones told The Direct. “Yeah, but I think it would look it would be a different story, but it would be the same family, and it would be because family never cures its problems. It just sort of puts them on hold for a while. I think they’d still be tons and tons of great material.“
Our own Alex Maidy enjoyed The Family Plan for what it was but wasn’t overly thrilled. “There is fun to be had in this movie, but it is perfectly suited to be watched on AppleTV+ rather than on a big screen,” Maidy wrote in his review. “I guarantee you will find some things to like in this movie but I sincerely doubt that you will love it. Enjoyed for what it is, The Family Plan is a solid timewaster when wrapping presents this Christmas season.” You can check out the rest of Maidy’s review right here.
THE STORY: After causing a deadly accident while driving drunk, a family man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is sent to a maximum security penitentiary. There, he’s recruited by the Aryan Brotherhood, and coerced into acts of violence that threaten to erase any trace of the man he once was.
THE PLAYERS: Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal, Emory Cohen & Jeffrey Donovan. Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh.
THE HISTORY: Shot Caller was released with very little fanfare last summer. A low-key VOD release from Saban, which nonetheless received some pretty good reviews when it played the festival circuit, it forms a loose trilogy for director Ric Roman Waugh, following his earlier FELON and SNITCH. Originally a Relativity production, that company’s bankruptcy sent the finished film into a tailspin, hence the limited release. Given how VOD numbers are rarely revealed, it’s impossible to know how the film did financially, but it seems to have been a heavily pirated title, cutting into the bottom line – although that aspect also gave the film a certain cult notoriety which seems to be growing.
I didn’t know much of Saban Films when we were looking for a new home — I just thought of Haim Saban and the “Power Rangers” franchise. I ended up meeting with the team at this new independent distributor and had suddenly found partners that were super passionate about the film and understood what the movie was and the marketing enhances it in that way. I feel like we traded up. I knew it wasn’t going to be a massive box office hit but I hope it makes enough to make everyone happy. – Ric Roman Waugh Variety interview
WHY IT’S GREAT: As I wrote when I initially reviewed this title, Shot Caller is the reason I review so many VOD films. Usually, they’re crap, but occasionally, a great little sleeper, such as this one, hits the platform, and makes the digging worthwhile. A tough-as-nails prison thriller, Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau gives the performance of his life as the comfy, white-collar family man turned hard as nails killer.
I knew I had to get a guy that could straddle both lines — believable as a white collar guy, yet surprise you when they become violent. When I talked with Nik, it really was one of the greatest conversations I’ve had with an actor. All he talked about for three hours was the subtext of the character, what the movie meant and nothing about any of the cool stuff the character would do. It had nothing to do with that. It was all about what the movie was trying to present, and I knew right there I had my partner. – Ric Roman Waugh Variety interview
Shot Caller never begs you to sympathize with Coster-Waldau’s Jacob (or – as he’s called in the slammer – “Money”). It’s made clear that it’s his own fault that he wound up in prison, having driven drunk and then refused a plea which would have saved him from his fate. It reminded me a bit of the old Tom Selleck vehicle, An Innocent Man, although Jacob’s not, in fact, innocent. Yet, you still naturally empathize with him, even when he makes horrible choices, such as affiliating with the Aryan Brotherhood. Even then, there’s an escape, with their chapter head (an unnerving Jeffrey Donovan) advising him to keep his head down and do what they tell him, but his own machismo gets the better of him. Soon, his thirty-month sentence becomes a decade, and the film crosses back and forth between his eventual release, where he’s now a high-ranking gang member, to his prison career. He’s our hero, yet you never really root for him to get back to his family, as they really are better without him – giving the film a palpable sense of tragedy.
At the same time, Shot Caller works as a thriller, with brutal action scenes, and an amazing supporting cast, including Lake Bell as Jacob’s wife, Donovan, and Jon Bernthal as another gang member – plus Omari Hardwick of Power as the probation officer on Jacob’s trail. Waugh gives it a gritty, stripped-down feel, and earns the two-hour plus running time. In a better marketplace, this would have been an A-level studio release.vi
SEE IT: Shot Caller is available on most streaming sites, and on Blu-ray.
PARTING SHOT: Given the low-key release, this is likely one of the few movies in this column I wager a lot of people genuinely have never seen, but it’s an under-the-radar gem and a must see. Check it out!
