Matthew Monagle
Watch Tom Cruise Beat Himself Up in a New ‘The Mummy’ Stunt Video
If we’re being honest with each other, I’m not typically a big fan of behind-the-scenes videos and features. These days they all seem the same: an actor jumps in front of a blue background and lands on a blue foam pad, and everyone stands up and smiles at each other for a job well done. My one big exception is Tom Cruise movies. Cruise’s action films are a testament to doing things the hard way, so every highlight reel of the actor slamming into cars, hitting his head against walls, or getting punched in the face is a testament to a dying trade.
New ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Photos Highlight Peter Parker’s High School Experience
One of the peculiar things about the current slate of superhero movies it how thoroughly they nail the big moments and sometimes slip on the small ones. Take Iron Man, for example. The films have routinely nailed Tony Stark’s arrogance and desire to protect the world from all threats foreign and domestic, but some of the underlying reasoning behind that drive — Stark’s history as an alcoholic and addict — have routinely been shoved to the background of the movies. The same could be said of Spider-Man. While the last five films have given us epic moments of slingin’ webs, they’ve often lost the high-school camaraderie that explains so much of Peter Parker’s superhero worldview.
Internet Boyfriend Dan Stevens Goes First-Person in the ‘Kill Switch’ Trailer
Back in 2009, director Tim Smit released What’s in the Box?, a first-person short film about a mysterious government quarantine. The film was an instant hit with audiences, especially those looking to form connections between the short and established franchises such as Half-Life or Lost; Entertainment Weekly even ran an entire feature breaking down the connections between Smit’s film and Damon Lindelof’s series. And while nothing much came of those rumors — hey, sometimes a cool video short is just a cool video short — What’s in the Box? has been given its own big-screen adaptation set for release the summer.
‘The Godfather’ Cast Reunites for an Evening of Production Stories
Despite its prime location in the heart of New York City, the Tribeca Film Festival has always been regarded more as a regional film festival than a destination for big world premieres. That being said, Tribeca does have one thing that other festivals lack: unfettered access to Robert De Niro, the festival’s co-founder and cinematic advocate for all things New York. This has made Tribeca a prime destination for anniversary screenings of some of the actor’s biggest films; in 2015, for example, Tribeca hosted a 25th anniversary celebration of Goodfellas with the cast and crew in attendance. And this year, De Niro has topped himself, bringing together the men and women behind The Godfather for a frank discussion about the film.
Fox Releases Another Short Teaser for Tomorrow’s ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Trailer
Last week, 20th Century Fox teased the first footage from Kingsman: The Golden Circle via ten glorious seconds of accelerated action. There were gunfights, and Julianne Moore making burgers (I think), and plenty more blink-and-you’ll-miss-it looks as the exciting new world of Matthew Vaughan’s film. So, secure in the knowledge that studios never release trailer teases without the trailer following shortly thereafter, we all gathered around our computers the following day and waited for our first look at the highly anticipated sequel. And waited. Aaaaaaand waited.
Sean Bean Brings Death From Afar in the First Trailer for ‘Drone’
Hollywood tends to operate with a little bit of a delay. A few years ago, it became public knowledge that the American government uses drone strikes to carry out attacks on enemy combatants from halfway around the world. As such, we’re now seeing a handful of movies that use those headlines to make a statement about the dangers of modern warfare. In 2014, IFC Films released Good Kill, a drama starring Ethan Hawke about a family man who begins to question the morality of killing people from halfway around the world. The latest film to tackle this issue is Drone, the new film starring Sean Bean with a similar premise but a decidedly more lurid execution.
Pennywise Is Mighty Hungry in This New ‘It’ Production Photo
Studio math might be one part proprietary data and one part alchemy, but here’s something I feel pretty confident saying: when your trailer sets the all-time record for most views in a day, you’re about to make some moolah. We all remember that the first teaser trailer for It had 197 million views in its first 24 hours online, shattering the previous (albeit short-lived) record of 139 million set by The Fate of the Furious. Those would be extraordinary numbers for any movie, but for an unapologetic horror film about a demon clown? Not even the most aggressive Warner Bros. projections could have predicted that.
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Director Answers Questions About Rey’s Parents and the Plurality of ‘Jedi’
One of the most debated plots points of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been the lineage of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. Could she be the daughter of Luke Skywalker? The daughter of Obi-One Kenobi? The daughter of… actually, come to think of it, those are the only two human Force-users we’ve met since the original Star Wars movie, so it’s either a very familiar face or someone totally out of the blue. Regardless, fans have now spent two years not knowing something about their favorite character, and that’s a long, long time for knowledge to be withheld in 2017. They’re ready for answers.
Tom Cruise Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop in These ‘Mission: Impossible 6’ Set Photos
Look, I know that Tom Cruise must be getting older. There are lines on his face that weren’t there before and, like many gym rats, he’s been forced to trade leanness for bulk over the years just to maintain his active lifestyle. And I know that, someday, Tom Cruise will reach an age where the aches and pains catch up to him and he’ll no longer be able to pull off at least three incredible stunts per movie. But you know what? Today is not that day, and if this new batch of Mission: Impossible 6 set photos is to be believe, this is not that movie.
The Cast of ‘The X-Files’ Will Reunite for a New Audibook
Here’s a little bit of free relationship advice for you: find someone who loves you like David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson love playing Mulder and Scully. It’s been more than two decades — two decades! — since both actors debuted their iconic characters on Fox’s The X-Files, and even after nine seasons, a movie, another movie, and a sorta-miniseries, neither one shows any signs of slowing down. In an era where audiences seem to demand that actors love their characters as much as we do, there’s something refreshing about two performers who come by such affection naturally. Anderson in particular is a powerhouse star of stage and screen, but get her talking about Dana Scully and she’s just as passionate as any of us.
Dave Bautista Goes Full Dothraki in the First ‘Enter the Warriors Gate’ Trailer
It must be nice to be Luc Besson. The French filmmaker has been pretty successful by whipping together a half-baked story idea and giving someone else a little bit of money to turn it into a movie. Sometimes, these result in delightfully goofy pieces of pulp; lawsuit or no, I dare anyone to deny that Lockout is anything other than the perfect blend of camp and B-grade action. More often, though, Besson’s efforts are the cinematic equivalent of candy corn, something that always sounds good in theory but often makes you sick as you go along.
The ‘Chuck’ Trailer Promises the True Story of the ‘Rocky’ Inspiration
While nobody would argue that Hollywood needs to make more movies about Hollywood, there does seem to be an opening for Hollywood to make more movies about the impact of movies in general. We spend hundreds (even thousands) of hours each year watching films, and yet, many of these movies don’t really explore the impact that movies themselves have on our lives and our culture. At the risk of getting a little too meta, a smart screenwriter might tackle the notion of how the movies affect the life of someone on the outside of the industry.