Film
Netflix Releases Trailer for Chadwick Boseman’s Final Film Role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: Watch
Chadwick Boseman’s final on-screen role comes in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Ahead of the film’s December 18th release, the first trailer has been released. Watch it below. Originally written as a play by August Wilson in 1982, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom explores race, art, religion, and the exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers through the eyes of Black blues singer Ma Rainey. Like the play, the film will be set over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago. “Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music, reads a plot synopsis shared by Netflix. “As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal ...
Room 237: The Shining Pop-Up Experience Opening in Chicago
All work and no play can make anyone feel dull, especially in 2020. That’s why Consequence of Sound, Morgan MFG, and The Losers’ Club invite all Chicagoans to Room 237, a new, massive pop-up experience and lounge inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Starting October 15th, the West Loop hot spot will be transformed into The Overlook Hotel, where guests can take a tour of its haunted rooms, enjoy some themed cocktails in the Gold Room, and, of course, get lost in its giant hedge maze. The immersive experience was co-created by Heaven Malone, who designed the original Gold Room pop-up bar that entertained thousands of guests throughout the Winter of 2018 at Chicago’s The Rookery. This time, he went bigger. “During the shutdown, I was isolated in my apartment with all of these Room 237 p...
Marvel’s Avengers Cast to Assemble for Joe Biden Fundraiser
Fictional or not, Marvel’s The Avengers are assembling in support of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. As Variety reports, the blockbuster stars behind Disney’s billion-dollar franchise will soon get together for a virtual fundraiser. Set for October 20th at 6:45 p.m. ET, the event will see Don Cheadle, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, and the Russo brothers reunite for some Q&A and trivia with Harris. Most of these names should come as no surprise for anyone. After all, both Evans and Ruffalo alone have been incredibly vocal over the importance of this election. Some have even pestered Cap on whether he might one day run himself. Of course, that roster is about a third of the actual on-screen Avengers, which certainly leaves the door open for countless...
Bruce Willis Returns as John McClane for Epic Die Hard Car Battery Commercial: Watch
Yippee-ki-yay, folks: John McClane is back — and in a car battery commercial of all places. Today, Advance Auto Parts dropped a wildly epic commercial that finds Bruce Willis back in the saddle as his iconic Die Hard hero. The crossover makes sense, however, as the automotive market is highlighting a new line of — you guessed it — DieHard batteries. Like the best blockbusters, the gist of the commercial is pretty simple: McClane is stuck in a rock and a hard place as he car breaks down. Fortunately, he’s near an Advance Auto Parts, where they just so happen to have those aforementioned DieHard batteries. The catch? He just so happens to face all of his old foes and even one of his former sidekicks. Fans of John McTiernan’s 1988 original classic will no doubt notice a couple of familiar fac...
Sacha Baron Cohen Says Borat 2 Reveals America’s “Dangerous Slide to Authoritarianism”
In an interview with The New York Times, Sacha Baron Cohen spoke about his goals for the Borat sequel and what he learned while filming. Speaking to Maureen Dowd, Cohen said the “aim is to make people laugh, but we reveal the dangerous slide to authoritarianism.” Cohen highlighted the differences between America now and when the original film taped in 2005. “In 2005, you needed a character like Borat who was misogynist, racist, anti-Semitic to get people to reveal their inner prejudices.” But that’s not necessary any more. “Now those inner prejudices are overt. Racists are proud of being racists.’’ He added that President Trump is “an overt racist, an overt fascist,’’ which “allows the rest of society to change their dialogue, too.” The sequel is titled Borat Subsequent Movi...
The Bride of Frankenstein Returns With Debut Vinyl Release and New Figurine
It’s a perfect season for mystery and horror and spooky merch. Waxwork Records is delivering on all three with their forthcoming releases tied to Universal’s 1935 Gothic masterpiece The Bride of Frankenstein. In celebration of the film’s 85th anniversary, they’re bringing Franz Waxman’s score to vinyl and evolving their new series of figurines. Proving it’s always better late than never, the debut vinyl release of Waxman’s score features re-mastered audio, new artwork by Phantom City Creative, black and white vinyl, a booklet that includes artwork and original scoring session photography, in addition to liner notes by album producer and restoration engineer Mike Matessino. As they’re wont to do, Waxwork sourced the audio from both Waxman’s archives at Syracuse University and the original m...
Chadwick Bosemen Died Without a Will, Widow Files Probate Case to Oversee Estate
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman left behind new legal will upon his death this past August. However, by marrying his wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, in the months prior to his passing, Boseman ensured she would inherit his assets. According to TMZ, Boseman’s widow filed a probate case in Los Angeles on Thursday and requested the judge grant her limited authority over his estate. According to court documents reviewed by TMZ, the estate is estimated to be worth $938,500, though additional assets are thought to be held in separate private trusts. The docs also indicate that the actor is survived only by his parents, Leroy and Carolyn Boseman. Much like the film star’s stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis, the public wasn’t aware of Boseman and Ledward’s marriage until Boseman’s death. No...
Shudder’s The Mortuary Collection Offers Halloween Horror With a Morbid Mean Streak: Review
This review originally ran as part of our Fantasia Festival 2020 coverage. The Pitch: “The world is made of stories…” and they are left behind by the dead. Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown) is an aging mortician tasked with not only caring for the bodies of his recently deceased clients but for the stories of their deaths. These he collects and keeps in the massive library of his sinister and dilapidated mortuary. After officiating the funeral of a child, he meets Sam (Caitlin Custer), a young woman looking for a job. Her interview takes a turn for the macabre as she asks Montgomery to scare her with his tales, setting the stage for this spooky anthology. It was a Dark and Stormy Night… Set in the vague past, The Mortuary Collection feels like Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark for twenty-some...
Netflix’s Rebecca Is Haunted by Better Adaptations: Review
The Pitch: As recalled in Daphne du Mauier’s famed 1938 Gothic novel of the same name, our narrator and young, nameless lady’s companion (Lily James) meets, falls in love with, and marries a wealthy, older Englishman and widower, Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), while on holiday in Monte Carlo and returns with him to his lavish Cornish estate, Manderley. She soon begins to notice the long, profound shadow her husband’s recently dead wife, Rebecca, hauntingly casts over Maxim; family and acquaintances; household servants, including cold, austere housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas); and even the animals. As the second Mrs. de Winter grows increasingly frustrated with the strange power her predecessor possesses, even from beyond a watery grave, she slowly begins to learn the truth ...
Joaquin Phoenix to Play Napoleon in New Ridley Scott Film Kitbag
After nailing his big role in Joker last year, Joaquin Phoenix is now preparing to portray a comparatively smaller character: Napoleon. The Oscar-winning actor has been cast as the 5’6″ French emperor in the new film from Ridley Scott, Kitbag. Kitbag is an “original and personal” feature film about Napoleon’s story — from his time as a military leader to his rapid ascent to Emperor of France — told through the lens of his volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine. According to Deadline, the goal of the movie is to “capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition, and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.” Scott, who previously worked with Phoenix on Gladiator, is onboard as director and producer. Joining him is screenwriter David ...
Netflix Just Released the Trailer for Hillbilly Elegy and It’s Rightfully Getting Skewered: Watch
ddNetflix has released the first trailer for Ron Howard’s new film Hillbilly Elegy. The multi-generational addiction drama stars Amy Adams and Glenn Close, a pairing alone that should make the movie a highly anticipated feature — but instead, it’s already been met with a mixed reaction on social media. Hillbilly Elegy follows Gabriel Basso, a former Marine and current Yale Law student, as he returns to his Appalachian home in southern Ohio to take care of his mother Bev, as played by Adams, who’s struggling with addiction. During the trip, he’s forced to reckon with his childhood, his upbringing, and his troubled family, including his terse grandmother, played by Close. Both Hans Zimmer and David Fleming contribute to the score. The trailer sees Adams and Close bringing this plot to life i...
Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up Casts Leo and Meryl and J-Law, Oh My!
It’s as if Adam McKay clicked his ruby slippers together and said, “There’s no place like the Oscars.” His new Netflix film Don’t Look Up had already secured the talents of Cate Blanchett and Rob Morgan; now, via The Hollywood Reporter, the project has added three more heavyweights in Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Her Gloriousness Meryl Streep. Don’t Look Up is written and directed by McKay. It follows a pair of scientists who make the apocalyptic discovery that a meteor will impact the Earth in six months. They embark on a media blitz to warn the world, only to discover that most people either don’t believe them or don’t care. This definitely-fictional and not-at-all-based-on-real-events story will star DiCaprio and Lawrence as the unfortunate scientists. In addition to t...
