Film

The Toxic Avenger will avenge once again in new reboot

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Those who grew up in the ’80s, and even the ’90s, no doubt remember Troma’s disgusting anti-hero The Toxic Avenger. Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman’s 1984 splatter superhero film spawned three sequels, a musical, a video game, and, yes, even a children’s cartoon. Well, Toxie is back, as Variety reports that actor, screenwriter, and director Macon Blair has grabbed hold of the slimy toxic drum and will write and direct a new reboot for Legendary. Even better, Kaufman and Herz will serve as producers to make sure it’s as grimy and despicable as ever. Blair, who starred in Jeremy Saulnier’s indie thrillers Blue Ruin and Green Room, has recently made some waves as a screenwriter and filmmaker. In 2017, he won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore, and has since penned Netflix’s Hold the Dark and Small Crimes. Rest assured, this will be brutal, and Blair will certainly add another edge to the janitor-turned-toxic crusader. Revisit the original film’s trailer below, in addition to the trailer for his award-winning directorial debut shortly after. [embedded content] [embedded content] Consequence of Sound RSS Feed

SXSW Film Review: Stuber Thrives as an Action Movie, Not So Much as a Comedy

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(Editor’s note: The following review concerns a work-in-progress cut of Stuber at SXSW 2019. As such, a final grade will be held until the film’s release this summer.) The Pitch: Hardened Los Angeles detective Vic (Dave Bautista) is supposed to be at home recovering from a recent LASIK procedure. But when Tejo (Iko Uwais), the drug lord who killed his partner six months earlier, is reported to be back in town, he disobeys doctor’s orders in an attempt to seek revenge. Because Vic is barely able to see, he ends up enlisting the help of a pushover Uber driver named Stu (a.k.a. Stuber, played by Kumail Nanjiani), to be his eyes, navigator, and reluctant sidekick. The tension between the unlikely crime-fighting team threatens to explode as the danger increases, and the two men begin offering unwanted advice about each other’s personal lives. Four Stars for Action: Taking a page from so many R-rated buddy-cop films of the ’80s and ’90s, Stuber refuses to pull its punches when it comes to the violence. The knockout opening sequence contains all the bullet dodging, spurting blood, and crushed bones you could ever want from two onscreen powerhouses like Bautista and Uwais. There’s an artistry in the […]

Luke Perry Redefined Cool and Slayed My Heart

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“I always felt like something of an outsider, but I identified with people on the screen.” –Luke Perry Hearts didn’t just stop at the sight of Luke Perry; they doubled, at least for this writer. As a young and easily confused six-year-old, seeing Dylan McKay show up on the third episode of Fox’s Beverly Hills 90210 was confounding. Here was this loner, this rebel, this real James Dean type, who was a complete juxtaposition from the rest of the hunks — from Jason Priestley’s kindhearted braniac Brandon Walsh to Ian Ziering’s insufferable Steve Sanders. He defined “slacker chic”: he was effeminate, he wore his heart on his sleeve, and he won over the coolest of the West Beverly girls. It was an instant first sell, too. When we first meet Dylan, he’s literally surrounded by bolts of electricity as he slinks out of the shadows of West Beverly’s computer lab. From there, he scares off two jocks, gets Brandon to cut school, cruises around in a vintage Porsche convertible with a copy of Byron, surfs the big waves, breaks the big boards, and orders hamburgers in his millionaire father’s hotel suite with some Beverly babes. Though, as we all learn […]

Steven Spielberg wants more rules for Netflix to win Oscars

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This year’s Oscars was a big deal for Netflix. With Alfonso Cuaron nabbing Best Director for Roma, the streaming giant is essentially one level removed from a Best Picture win, which is quite a feat for their original content. Most have celebrated this progress, but others aren’t so happy. Among them is Steven Spielberg, who’s sounding a lot like Shooter McGavin these days, essentially running around The Academy saying, “Yeah, yeah, everyone seems to be coming around … Well, I’m not, Dawn!” Prior to the Oscars, Spielberg made a not-so-subtle jab at streaming services while accepting the Filmmaker Award at the Cinema Audio Society’s CAS Awards for last year’s Ready Player One. As he explained: “I don’t believe that films that are just given token qualifications, in a couple of theaters for less than a week, should qualify for the Academy Award nominations. Fewer and fewer filmmakers are going to struggle to raise money, or to compete at Sundance and possibly get one of the specialty labels to release their films theatrically. And more of them are going to let the SVOD [Streaming Video On-Demand] businesses finance their films, maybe with the promise of a slight, one-week theatrical window to […]

New trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix gets furious: Watch

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With the forthcoming Disney-Fox merge, the X-Men franchise — at least as it exists right now — remains in flux. As we learned earlier this month from producer Lauren Shuler Donner, it’s likely that X-Men: Dark Phoenix may very well be the last rodeo in the long-running X-Men universe. If so, it’s fitting then that the much-delayed follow-up to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse serves as a complete redo of 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, arguably the worst entry in the series and one that completely botched the Phoenix storyline. Similar to the first trailer from this past September, this new one proves Jean Grey’s (Sophie Turner) epic chapter will finally be told the right way, which should give fans solace as those Cerebro doors close for potentially the last time. Watch below and also consult the swanky new poster shortly after. [embedded content] James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), and Alexandra Shipp (Storm) all return to the save the day. Joining them is Jessica Chastain as a mysterious shapeshifter. Simon Kinberg serves as writer and director, while composer Hans Zimmer will score the damn thing. Dark Phoenix lands June 7th via Fox. Consequence of Sound RSS Feed

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote finally gets a release date, and it’s for one night only

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Terry Gilliam can finally sleep at night. After being pushed and pulled out of development hell for decades, the veteran filmmaker’s stroke-inducing passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will finally hit theaters on April 10th for a one-night special event. Tickets can be purchased via Fathom Events. If you recall, the Chinese Democracy film equivalent stars Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce in a wild and zany adventure that likely won’t come close to its sordid production history that’s already been well documented (see: 2002’s Lost in La Mancha). Even so, we’re beyond stoked to finally see the damn thing, and that one-night only release only adds to its mythical status. Catch a new trailer for the film below and read its official synopsis shortly after. [embedded content] Toby, a cynical advertising director, finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures, Toby is forced to confront the tragic repercussions of a film he made in his idealistic youth – a film that changed the hopes and dreams of a small Spanish village forever. Can Toby make amends and […]

Pet Sematary to close SXSW 2019 Film Festival

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Sometimes dead is … best saved for last. South by Southwest has finalized their film programming with the announcement of their Midnighters, Festival Favorites, and other flavorful additions. Among the many highlights is Paramount’s Pet Sematary closing out the festival. “Programming the SXSW Midnighters section is always a favorite part of my job, and this year was no exception,” said Jarod Neece, SXSW Senior Film Programmer, in an official statement. “We get to peek into the collective consciousness of the world of genre filmmakers working today. “This year’s selections are a mix of horror, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy with a good dose of feral children, haunted houses, extraterrestrial creatures and the undead to creep out SXSW audiences late into the night,” he continued. Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer’s reimagining of Stephen King’s 1983 novel will serve as a fitting bookend to the festival, seeing how Jordan Peele’s Us will tip off the festivities a week prior. It’s also something of a sentimental graduation for the two filmmakers as their breakthrough film, Starry Eyes, originally made its world premiere at the festival’s 2014 installment. Other highlights include Lupita Nyong’o’s Little Monsters, Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell, highly anticipated documentary I Am […]

Confirmed: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper to perform “Shallow” at Oscars

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Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper will take the stage at next month’s Academy Awards to perform “Shallow”, their duet from A Star is Born. “Shallow” is one of five nominees in the Best Original Song category. Other contenders include Kendrick Lamar and SZA for “All the Stars” (Black Panther); David Rawlings and Gillian Welch for “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs); Diane Warren for “I’ll Fight” (RBG); and Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman for “The Place Where Lost Things Go” (Mary Poppins Returns). Along with Gaga and Cooper, the telecast promises Jennifer Hudson, who will sing “I’ll Fight”, and Rawlings and Welch, who will perform “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”. Additionally, the Oscars is teasing a performance of “The Place Where Lost Things Go” by a “surprise special guest.” For what it’s worth, Emily Blunt sings the song in the film. As of now, it’s unclear whether Kendrick and SZA will also take the stage, though we certainly hope that will be the case. The 2019 Academy Awards takes place Sunday, February 24th and will air live on ABC. Last month, Gaga and Cooper performed “Shallow” together live for the first […]