The last few years have probably felt familiar to many, with a constant blame game in the media attributing violence and crime to one thing or another. Those who lived through the 1980s likely remember the Satanic Panic that spread through the United States, where politicians blamed all sorts of things on kids and teenagers becoming obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal music. This panic was reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials, which in turn were like the Red Scare of the 1950s. Now, we get to look back at this crazy era through a modern lens, thanks to Hysteria!

Created by Matthew Scott Kane, Hysteria! looks at a small Michigan town in the 1980s where the disappearance of a popular high school student leads to theories of devil worship and supernatural influences in the community. While some parents begin to experience strange phenomena, a trio of teens decide to pretend to be Satan worshippers to get popular and boost their band’s credibility. Needless to say, things go awry when actual Satanists are involved in the town and the rash of murders. As the supernatural evil comes into play opposite the very human evil that exists every day, everyone must face the truth threatening their town.

I got the chance to talk to the cast and creators of Hysteria! about their new series. The one and only Bruce Campbell talked about playing a role much more serious than the ones he is known for and what being a “special guest star” really means. Anna Camp and Nikki Hahn talked about playing mother and daughter, while Camp talked about iconic horror mothers that may have impacted her character. Creator Matthew Scott Kane talked about where he got the idea for Hysteria! while producer and writer David A. Goodman talked about his favorite parts of the series. Stars Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia, and Kezii Curtis talked about similarities between their characters and those in Harry Potter and Stranger Things. Check out the full interviews in the embed above.

Hysteria! is now airing on Peacock. Read our review!

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What Do We Know About the upcoming DCU original series Lanterns? More thank you may think. The Max original series will be the first live-action project on television from James Gunn’s rebooted DC cinematic universe. With casting announcements, rumors, and more, we know a lot of what is to come. So, let’s jump in and discuss Lanterns.

We will see multiple Green Lanterns.

While we met several members of the Green Lantern Corps in the Ryan Reynolds-led feature film, this new series is intentionally plural, as we will meet more than just Hal Jordan. According to James Gunn, Lanterns will center on Jon Stewart, who briefly appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in a non-speaking role. We also know that James Gunn’s longtime friend and collaborator Nathan Fillion is portraying Lanterns hero Guy Gardner in the upcoming Superman movie and will potentially appear.

Kyle Chandler is Hal Jordan, but it was almost Josh Brolin.

Over the last few weeks, many casting rumors have been bandied about, with the Mayor of Kingstown and Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler being officially linked to the role of Hal Jordan this week. We previously had heard that Josh Brolin was offered the role but turned it down. Rumors have also circled around Matthew McConaughey and Ewan McGregor for the Jordan role, which is expected to be that of an established Lantern rather than the origin story we saw in the 2011 film.

Aaron Pierre will play the role of Jon Stewart.

Jon Stewart was the next major character needing to be cast, and reports had it down to two contenders. Aaron Pierre, who recently starred in the Netflix action movie Rebel Ridge, and Stephan James, star of Homecoming, are both up for the lead role in Lanterns. Reports also had Snowfall actor Damon Idris in contention, but he has since been removed from the running for the role. In the comics, Stewart has become the most powerful Green Lantern ever, but the series looks poised to set him as a rookie in the Corps learning how to wield a Power Ring under the mentorship of Hal Jordan. With Pierre landing the role, it is only a matter of time for the rest of the ensemble to fall into place.

Damon Lindelof and Chris Mundy are showrunners.

Employing solid creative talent is the bedrock for a project like Lanterns, so James Gunn has enlisted two of the best. Chris Mundy, showrunner of Netflix’s acclaimed Ozark, is working on Lanterns alongside Damon Lindelof, the man behind HBO’s critically acclaimed Watchmen and The Leftovers and the iconic series Lost. Lindelof and Mundy, alongside Tom King, wrote the pilot for Lanterns and the series bible, setting the show for long-term success. This is the latest iteration of a Green Lantern series after Greg Berlanti’s previously announced show had been scrapped with Gunn’s DCU reboot.

Plot details are under wraps.

Gunn has not revealed much about Lanterns other than that it would be a mystery along the lines of True Detective. Following a couple of Lantern Corps members, the heroes would investigate an Earth-based mystery. While having a pair of space cops with rings that allow them to make amazing weapons seems like overkill for a police procedural, I would expect some fun twists to come from the new series. It would also allow the series to differentiate itself from the slew of other comic book properties coming from DC, which is aiming to diversify its catalog of properties. DC Studios co-leader Peter Safran has also revealed that the investigation in Lanterns will tie directly into the main storyline of the new DCU.

Lanterns will likely debut in 2026.

James Gunn has only confirmed release dates for Superman in 2025, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and The Batman: Part II on the big screen in 2026, along with the animated series Creature Commandos later this year. It does appear that the casting call underway is intended to have the series ready to shoot in early 2025 and wrapping by July. With heavy special effects needed, it seems unlikely we will see the Lanterns debut until 2026.

Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about Lanterns and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming Lanterns season? Let us know in the comments, click like, and subscribe to follow all our latest original videos.

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What Do We Know About the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe series Daredevil: Born Again? More in recent weeks than ever before. The sequel to the Netflix street-level superhero series has been one of the most anticipated MCU projects since it was announced. With Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox already having appeared in Hawkeye, Echo, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have a tease of what they can expect from this new dive into Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what we know about Daredevil: Born Again.

Season one will have nine episodes and has a release date

Development on Daredevil: Born Again began back in March of 2022. At the time, Matt Corman and Chris Ord were hired as head writers with the aim to create a lighter tone and episodic structure compared to the Netflix series. When filming began in March 2023, it was suspended months later because of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Marvel Studios decided in September to release Matt Corman, Chris Ord, and the directors brought aboard and replaced them with new showrunner Dario Scardapane with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, the helmers behind episodes of Moon Knight and the second season of Loki, aboard as primary directors. Scardapane shifted the series to a more serialized structure with direct connections to the Netflix series. Season one will now consist of nine episodes, and the series premieres on March 4th, 2024 (as revealed at New York Comic Con).

What is it about?

The exact plot of the series is unknown, but the numerous returning cast members from the Netflix series will likely mean a direct continuation of that storyline. Based on Matt Murdock’s appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Echo, he is still out fighting crime at a street level. The conclusion of Echo saw Wilson Fisk returning to New York watching a news broadcast about a need for new leadership in the Big Apple. This could potentially mean the series is adapting the comic book arc that found Kingpin running for Mayor of NYC. The title itself, Born Again, could be a reference to the religious faith of Matt Murdock or it could be an homage to the Frank Miller comic of the same name which saw Kingpin manipulating Matt’s feelings for Karen Page to destroy Daredevil. With Karen and Matt not an item on the show, this could be changed.

Netflix characters will make appearances

Fan favorites Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll will be appearing in the series, reprising their roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. Jon Bernthal was spotted in character as Frank Castle, but it remains to be seen how significantly The Punisher will factor into the plot. We also know Ayelet Zurer will be back as Vanessa Fisk and Wilson Bethel returns as Benjamin Poindexter who turns into the MCU version of Bullseye. New additions to the cast include Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn, Matt’s new love interest, with Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blade. Lou Taylor Pucci has joined in an undisclosed role with Clark Johnson, Nikki M. James, Zabryna Guevara, Harris Yulin, and Michael Gaston in additional roles.

Wait, is this a sequel series or a reboot?

The original vision for Born Again was to make it stand apart from the Netflix series, but when Marvel Studios scrapped the completed episodes that had been filmed, the new direction follows directly from the original Daredevil. With a new tone and the 18 episode series being split into two sections, this series is being envisioned as a standalone arc for the characters. Once we know more of the plot we will have a more definitive answer about where this show fits into the MCU as a whole and whether this means that Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders are officially canon.

Are we sure?

Truthfully, no. Charlie Cox’s comments back in 2022 stated that this series is not the fourth season of Daredevil but rather a whole new thing, a true reboot. But. With casting changes, showrunner updates, and trashed footage, we won’t know for certain until Kevin Feige takes the stage this year to tell us what is going on.

This will likely be another Marvel Spotlight

The opening of Echo showcased Marvel’s new standalone projects in the MCU which are labeled as Spotlights. All signs point to this series being among them rather than an ongoing new series focused on Daredevil. Marvel Studios’ Brad Winderbaum indicated how X-Men 97 honored where it came from while forging a new direction and made that comparison with the upcoming Daredevil Born Again.

When will we see the trailer?

Honestly, it’s a surprise we haven’t seen an official release already, as both the trailer that showed at D23 in August, and a special NYCC trailer both leaked online within minutes of their respective panels. With the show now having a release date, expect to see it soon.

Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about Daredevil: Born Again and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming Daredevil series? Let us know in the comments and click the like and subscribe to follow all of our latest original videos.

The post Daredevil Born Again: Release Date Announced & Everything We Know appeared first on JoBlo.

Plot: After his younger second wife leaves him and enters a 90-day rehab program, Los Angeles art dealer Andy Goodrich seeks out his adult pregnant daughter Grace for help with raising his nine-year-old twins.

Review: I love Michael Keaton movies. In the 1980s and 1990s, Keaton was the ubiquitous leading man in everything from comedies and dramas to his game-changing turn in Tim Burton’s Batman. In the early 2000s, Keaton’s roles dried up a bit, aside from voice roles in the Cars and Toy Story franchises. After his awards-worthy role in 2014’s Birdman, Keaton had a resurgence with acclaimed films like The Founder, Spotlight, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 to a very different comic book character in Spider-Man: Homecoming. After reprising his Batman role in last year’s The Flash and making his directorial debut with Knox Goes Away, he resurrected his iconic Beetlejuice this year and is following it up with Goodrich. Goodrich is not a remake or a sequel but does harken back to Keaton’s popular 1983 film Mr. Mom, in which he played a dad experiencing the life of a stay-at-home parent while his wife gets a high-powered job. Goodrich shifts the perspective to a man in his seventies experiencing a similar responsibility under different circumstances but benefits from Keaton’s wit, presence, and charisma despite a somewhat cliche script.

Goodrich centers on Michael Keaton as the title character. This sixty-something is awakened in the middle of the night to learn that his wife, Naomi (Laura Benanti), has entered a rehab program due to an addiction to pills, something that Andy overlooked. Naomi also tells her husband she is leaving him, sending Andy into a whirlwind of coordinating school drop-offs, pick-ups, playdates, parent-teacher conferences, and more. Andy tries to enlist help from his adult daughter, Grace (Mila Kunis), who is pregnant with her first child with her husband, Pete (Danny Deferrari). Andy must also contend with a massive downturn in profits at his namesake art gallery while navigating single parenthood at an age when most are retiring to spend time with their families. As typically happens with films like this, Andy comes to terms with his failures as a parent and a spouse while trying to find a path forward in his new world. Like writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s previous film, Home Again, Goodrich mines schmaltz and sentimentality to deliver a story from the Nancy Meyers playbook, which is apt as the Father of the Bride and The Parent Trap director is her mother.

As with many films that fall into this genre of comedy-dramas, Goodrich shows how out of his element Andy is with all of the parental responsibilities that he pawned off on both of his spouses. At the same time, he focused on running his art gallery. Now that he has no one to lean on, Andy realizes what he missed in the last four decades. Much of this is told to him directly by Grace, who feels mixed emotions seeing her absentee father, now a doting dad for her two much younger half-siblings. Andy also forges a friendship with Terry (Michael Urie), the father of his twin children, Mose (Jacob Kopera) and Billie (Vivien Lyra Blair). At first, Andy tries to muddle through the way he always does, and the precocious Billie calls him out at every turn. He relies on a babysitter, Tali (Noa Fisher) and Grace, but eventually, Andy must step up to be the dad he needs to be. At the same time, Andy tries to persuade Lola (Carmen Ejogo), the daughter of a famous artist, to allow him to show her mother’s art in a last-ditch effort to save his gallery. At first, the film seems to be trying to set up a romantic element for the film, but soon, the plot melds into a more formulaic tale of a guy realizing what he has missed and resetting his personal expectations and goals.

Make no mistake that Goodrich is intentionally designed to tug at the heartstrings. There are funny moments throughout the film, but Goodrich depends on the sentimentality of parents and grandparents as they reflect on their lives. This is absolutely the type of movie that screams mid-life crisis cinema while delivering a satisfying story. Yes, it is cliche, and yes, it is melodramatic, but it also rests on the shoulders of Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis. While Kunis’ role is far smaller than the trailers may have you believe, she is solid in all of her screen time, delivering several key monologues that call her character’s father out on his actions. Michael Keaton has always delivered roles like this, going back to films like Clean and Sober, My Life, and the aforementioned Mr. Mom. Keaton does not play Andy as a bad guy or someone with any malicious intent but who is truly a decent person inside that made some poor choices along the way. Goodrich also provides for a nice Multiplicity reunion thanks to Andie MacDowell briefly appearing as Andy’s first wife and Grace’s mother.

Writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer brings a maturity to Goodrich that goes far beyond her thirty-seven years. It evokes a solid portrait of a man later in his life coping with some life-altering milestones. Goodrich hits many expected beats we have seen countless times before, signaling some of the more emotional moments. However, they still hit thanks to the authenticity of Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis’ performances. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get a little choked up at the ending despite knowing exactly what the filmmakers were trying to do. But that is what makes movies like this enjoyable to watch: they hit your emotional pressure points, and you cannot stop yourself from feeling for the characters. I also applaud that despite Goodrich‘s happy ending, it does not get there through happiness.

Goodrich is a movie that would have played way bigger in theaters twenty years ago and is bound to find great success on streaming after it runs in theaters. Michael Keaton continues to show that he has the breadth to play a likable guy stuck in an unenviable position. There are no broad moments in this film that rival the vacuum cleaner scene in Mr. Mom or any of his big moments in films like Gung Ho, but even in his seventies, Keaton has a presence that makes you take notice. This emotionally-centered film is nowhere near the caliber or quality of Keaton’s more acclaimed films. Still, it is a solid and enjoyable movie that deserves a watch.

Goodrich is now playing in theaters.

Goodrich

GOOD

7

The post Goodrich Review: Michael Keaton shines as an older Mr. Mom in this endearing comedy appeared first on JoBlo.

Plot: Brothers tells the story of a reformed criminal whose attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his sanity-testing twin brother on a cross-country road trip for the score of a lifetime. Dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother along the way, they must heal their severed family bond before they end up killing each other.

Review: Some of the best dramatic actors have started as comedic performers. The same can not always be said about the reverse. Peter Dinklage has proven himself skilled at any genre he puts his talents to, while Josh Brolin has not appeared in a role like this in a long time. Brothers boasts the creative team behind the time loop hit Palm Springs and the upcoming remake of The Toxic Avenger but lacks the creativity nor distinctiveness of those projects. Brothers feels like a relic from decades ago, with jokes that fall flat, an uneven tone throughout, and a bizarre subplot involving a masturbating orangutan that feels beneath everyone involved. Brothers is buoyed by the charming on-screen presence of Dinklage and Brolin, who do everything they can to save this movie from the annals of forgettable streaming fare.

Opening with brothers Moke and Jady as teenagers, we see their mother, Cath, played by Yellowstone‘s Jennifer Landon, stealing some priceless emeralds before running from the cops. Left to their own devices, Moke (Josh Brolin) and Jady (Peter Dinklage) grow from delinquents to full-fledged criminals. Jady gets caught and sent to prison, where he spends five years before getting sprung by a crooked guard, Farful (Brendan Fraser), who wants the stolen emeralds. Moke has since gone straight and has a pregnant wife, Abby (Taylour Paige), and leads an uneventful life. With Jady back in his life, Moke joins his brother on his journey to find the stones before Farful catches up with them. Along the way, they run into Cath (Glenn Close) and have some heartfelt moments as they trek to recover the jewels while trying to find their familial connection lost over the years.

Clocking in at under ninety minutes, Brothers is lean to begin with and yet still feels like it is missing something to give it purpose. Brendan Fraser, who filmed this movie close to his Osar-winning turn in The Whale, is incredibly over-the-top in a way we have not seen since his Furry Vengeance days. Glenn Close is equally slumming it again in a weird role, even for her. Cath is an unlikeable character whose motivations waver through the film and make little sense in the end. Close also wears gloves throughout her entire performance, which is completely inexplicable. There is also a bizarre cameo from Marisa Tomei as a woman who lives with an orangutan named Samuel. The primate, who gets a prominent place in the Brothers trailer, maybe the strangest part of this movie and could be a low point in Josh Brolin’s career. The trailer does a good job of teasing what takes place in that particular scene, but the reason for its inclusion remains a mystery to me since it does not seem to serve the plot and is not that funny.

Part of me hoped that Brothers would be the next best thing to a Twins sequel, but it only works because the lead characters have a believable sibling relationship. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage do not outwardly look like they are related. Still, the Brothers duo both have striking jawlines and substantial onscreen presence. Dinklage is the funnier of the two here, with Brolin mostly playing it straight, but it is still an unusually comic turn for the No Country for Old Men and Avengers star. Both actors are in their mid-fifties, which makes these characters feel about twenty years out of their league. However, after seeing Brolin’s recent hosting stint on Saturday Night Live, it is apparent that he has the chops for fare like this. It takes a solid half of the film before Brolin finds his footing as Moke, but just as the brothers find some rhythm, the film throws in a weird golf cart chase that is straight out of a Farrelly Brothers movie.

Directed by Mark Barbakow, who made an impressive debut with the Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg time travel movie Palm Springs, Brothers is inconsistent in tone, style, pacing, and everything else. Brothers reunite Peter Dinklage with Macon Blair, the writer-director of the as-yet-unreleased remake of The Toxic Avenger. Blair has appeared on screen for directors ranging from Christopher Nolan to Steven Soderbergh and Jeremy Saulnier. He has written solid films like I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore and Hold the Dark but is out of his league with Brothers. Based on a story by Tropic Thunder‘s Etan Cohen, Brothers thinks that seeing career criminals getting tossed around and punched is the height of comedy while still trying to deliver an emotionally resonant family story. The film misses on all fronts.

While Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin try their very best to save this movie, there is not enough chemistry to salvage Brothers. After sitting on the shelf for three years, it is no wonder this movie is being dumped on streaming despite a solid trailer promising a fun time. Brothers is decidedly not fun and is immediately forgettable. If it succeeds at anything, it proves that while some actors are a natural fit for comedy roles, the script is ultimately more important than whether the talent can be funny. Also, animal masturbation is creepier than it is funny.

Brothers is now streaming on Prime Video.

Brothers

TERRIBLE

3

-

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The post Brothers Review: Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage cannot save this mediocre comedy appeared first on JoBlo.

Plot: When a beloved varsity quarterback disappears during the “Satanic Panic” of the late 1980s, a struggling high school heavy metal band of outcasts realize they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings, and reported “supernatural activity” triggers a leather-studded witch hunt that leads directly back to them.

Review: There have been many 1980s-set retro horror movies in recent years, ranging from My Best Friend’s Exorcism to Totally Killer and more. The 80s were a bastion of paranoia about the impact of Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal, a thread used in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The new series Hysteria! goes back to the heart of the Satanic Panic to see how one small town in Michigan deals with its own devilish challenges. Led by genre legend Bruce Campbell along with Julie Bowen, Anna Camp, Garret Dillahunt, and more, Hysteria! has a sense of humor but is at its heart a creepy horror romp through a period in recent history that eerily parallels our contemporary culture of fake news, misinformation, and widespread panic about what our neighbors could be up to.

Set in the town of Happy Hollow, Hysteria! centers on Dylan Campbell (Emjay Anthony), a mild-mannered and somewhat nerdy teen who is part of a heavy metal band with his friends, bass player Jordy (Chiara Aurelia), and drummer Spud (Kezii Curtis). When a popular football player disappears and a pentagram is painted on his family’s garage, the town begins to suspect evil may be lurking in their suburban paradise. Dylan decides this may be the time to lean into the Satanic side of their musical tastes, which conjures attention from his crush, Judith (Jessica Treska). Dylan’s mother, Linda (Julie Bowen), is unsure how to feel about her son’s new style, nor is local religious zealot Tracy Whitehead (Anna Camp). Heading the investigation is Chief Dandridge (Bruce Campbell), who must quell the fears of his constituents while addressing the seemingly supernatural goings-on in Happy Hollow.

I can say with sincerity that Hysteria! caught me off guard. Based on the trailers and the cast, I anticipated a comedy, but this series is a dark and semi-serious horror story involving demons, possessions, and the danger of crowdthink. The eight-episode series starts with some tongue-in-cheek moments, gradually giving way to some truly scary imagery and a more complex web involving most of the ensemble cast. Anna Camp echoes great horror zealots from Carrie‘s Piper Laurie to The Mist‘s Marcia Gay Harden, while Julie Bowen delivers a performance I did not think she had in her. Equally, the great Bruce Campbell is deadly serious as the lead law enforcement officer without any hint of Ash lurking in his demeanor. Hysteria! plays it straight, accentuating the horror while adding to the sense of dread as the story goes in a direction I did not anticipate.

The benefit that Hysteria! has over other period-set horror projects is the multiple narratives, none of which feels weak compared to the rest. While the adults focus on blaming Satan and trying to find a scapegoat, there is a sinister plot lurking underneath. Meanwhile, the three main teens, Dylan, Jordy, and Spud, get to play Harry Potter and investigate both to clear their names and figure out what is happening in their town. There is also another thread involving the teens and the cult they manufacture as the paranoia grows. All of these stories culminate in the final episode, which offers closure to the story without leaving anything hanging. Some of the plot elements are wrapped up too neatly, but they work overall.

Creator Matthew Scott Kane makes an impressive debut as a showrunner with this project influenced by the last decade of political and social division in the United States and around the world. There is most definitely an ulterior motive hiding in this story that is not too in your face to detract from the horror of Hysteria! but helps drive it home. Hysteria! includes a solid writer’s room, including Mike Flanagan’s sibling Jamie, who boasts a writing credit and appears in a supporting role. Longtime Seth MacFarlane collaborator David A. Goodman is involved as a writer and producer, but don’t let his resume fool you, as Hysteria! is not a Family Guy-style project. The series also boasts a top crew of directors led by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Kong: Skull Island, who directs the first and final episodes.

Full of classic rock tracks from the 1980s and a neon aesthetic full of big hair, acid-washed jeans, and Reagan-induced fear, Hysteria! has just the right amount of fun to complement the scary. This series unfolds and teases a lot of relevant themes while doing so in a fun and entertaining way. You may be looking for just pure terror this Halloween season, but you will get your fair share of blood and jump scares from Hysteria! but this series is possessed of something altogether more terrifying: a message. Enjoy Hysteria! for the scares, you may learn something eerily true about how easy it can be to convince the world the sky is falling or even that the Devil is among us.

Hysteria! premieres on Peacock on October 18 with a simulcast on USA Network and SYFY. USA Network will air episodes each Friday.

Hysteria!

AVERAGE

6

The post Hysteria! Review: Bruce Campbell leads the rocking ’80s horror TV series appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: Tom is a scholarship student desperate to break free from his working-class background. He is charmed by the prestigious KNA fraternity’s promises of high social status and alumni connections that open doors. But upon beginning a romance with Annabelle, a classmate outside of his social circle, and the manipulative schemes of his fraternity president unfolding during the hazing of new members, Tom finds himself ensnared in a perilous game of ambition and loyalty.

REVIEW: Few cultures have proven as toxic as fraternities and sororities. Over the years, hazing has transformed from comedy fodder in films like Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds to the notorious stuff of headline news. Countless frats across the United States have been shuttered due to criminal activity that has resulted in jail time and even deaths. The Line is a story that is a damning indictment of frat life and the personalities that are a part of it. While a case can be made that not every fraternity is populated by characters, as we see in The Line, the point of the film is one focused on the psychological profile of who would want to be a part of a brotherhood and how that could alter their own abusive tendencies. It is shocking, disturbing, and hard to look away from.

Adopting a North Carolina twang, Alex Wolff stars as Tom Backster, a suburban kid who has made it into the prestigious fraternity at his university. As sophomores, Tom and his best friend Mitch Miller (Bo Mitchell) look forward to berating and debasing the freshmen who come into KNA after them. Under the leadership of fraternity president Todd Stevens (Lewis Pullman), Tom and Mitch are instructed not to haze the new pledges as the campus culture has shifted. But, while most of the freshman pledges abide by the bizarre and abusive tasks set forth by the frat brothers, Gettys O’Brien (Austin Abrams) refuses to subjugate himself. This flaunting of tradition and rites of passage enrages members of the frat, namely Mitch, and results in even more intense treatment of the incoming class.

Much of The Line centers on Tom as he finds success in KNA despite his close friendship with Mitch, whom the other brothers do not like very much. Mitch has the backing of his wealthy CEO father, Beach Miller (John Malkovich), so the others merely tolerate his rude behavior and wild mood swings. Todd gives Tom more responsibility as a leader, and he looks to run KNA in the future, which is a golden ticket to a better life. While Tom struggles to get Gettys to abide by KNA traditions, he also begins a relationship with a classmate, Annabelle (Halle Bailey), whom his brothers demean as a Black lesbian. Tom realizes that the persona he has adopted to fit in with the KNA brothers may not be who he wants to be. Alex Wolff brings an intensity and naivete to Tom that feels like college classmates I had back in the day, combined with a haunted quality he put to great use in Hereditary. Equally good is Bo Mitchell, who could have been dismissed as a common, entitled rich kid but gives more to Mitch than I anticipated.

While The Line boasts a pretty stellar line-up of talent, most of them appear for minimal screen time. Lewis Pullman has less than ten minutes on screen, while John Malkovich, Denise Richards, Cheri Oteri, and Scoot McNairy each show up for two scenes or less. The credibility of these veteran performers is not needed as the main ensemble is more than up to the task of this project. The late Angus Cloud is good as one of the frat bros, while Will Ropp and Graham Patrick Martin augment the performances of Bo Mitchell and Alex Wolff. Austin Abrams, most recently stealing scenes in Wolfs opposite George Clooney and Brad Pitt, is excellent as the pledge who refuses to be intimidated purely for the chance to join KNA. Equally good is Halle Bailey, who is wasted in a role that does nothing for the main plot. Had they integrated the relationship between Tom and Annabelle more directly into the plot, I may have found Bailey’s performance more striking. Still, as it stands, it feels out of place in the film’s main narrative.

An impressive directorial debut from Ethan Berger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alex Russek, The Line has the energy of a far bigger production. There are glimpses of David Fincher’s visual style from The Social Network throughout the film, a credit to cinematographer Stefan Weinberger. Berger never pushes The Line into an overt social commentary until the film’s final scene, but the message comes through loud and clear. Setting the film in 2014 gives some space to show that frat culture has not changed even as social norms have become more pronounced and transparent. The characters here all talk like real people and college students any of us have come into contact with, making their actions all the more horrifying. Much of what happens in The Line has been happening for a century, and this story’s fictional nature is not far from actual documented events.

The Line is an intense and challenging story that goes to dark places while never sacrificing character development for the sake of social commentary. Anyone with even a remote connection to fraternity life will see the reality within this fictional story. Alex Wolff, Bo Mitchell, and Austin Abrams deliver a chillingly realistic horror story of what unchecked privilege and abuse can lead to when perpetrators are not held to task. The Line could have developed some elements further to enrich the overall film, but as it stands this is a powerful debut from Ethan Berger that will be hard for some people to watch but should be requisite viewing for future college students.

The Line

GOOD

7

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Plot: Skilled in the art of killing, a young assassin defies her mentor to save a boy from a ruthless crime syndicate — and she’ll destroy anyone in her path.

Review: Indonesia has long had a strong film industry that has gotten more and more global exposure thanks to streaming and the success of Gareth Evans’ 2011 film The Raid. In the years since, we have seen many impressive action and horror films from Southeast Asia, many of them by director Timo Tjahjanto. Whether as a solo writer-director or part of the duo known as The Mo Brothers, Tjahjanto is known for his complex action choreography and brutally violent gore. Today sees the release of the director’s latest movie, the epic The Shadow Strays. Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, The Shadow Strays is big in every way. From the numerous action set-pieces across Asia, the film is an impressive feast for genre fans as Tjahjanto raises the bar on how creative he can kill thugs and mercenaries. With a lot of time to fill, The Shadow Strays works more than it doesn’t but still suffers from an imbalance in the non-action sequences.

Combining the excess of John Woo’s heyday with buckets of blood usually reserved for horror films, The Shadow Strays looks and feels like a big-budget studio action movie, albeit one with very over-the-top histrionic exposition. Opening with a sequence set in Japan, we are introduced to the concept of “Shadows,” assassins trained for anonymity. During a brutal massacre of a Yakuza clan, a Shadow trainee code-named 13 (Aurora Ribero) is chastised by her teacher, Umbra (Hana Malasan), after she loses focus when a civilian is caught in her crossfire. Relegated to the bench where she must continue taking emotion-regulating medication, 13 returns home to Jakarta and stumbles across a young boy named Monji (Sebastian Sero), whose mother is killed by a gang, leaving him an orphan. Feeling parallels to her own past, 13 takes Monji under her wing. When he is kidnapped by the criminals who killed his mother, 13 seeks to rescue him and takes down every person in her path.

A lot is going on in The Shadow Strays, much of which does not make much sense. There is an attempt by Tjahjanto to make the Shadows a blend of super-soldiers and righteous warriors, but we spend so little time seeing them on mission that it feels unnecessary. The bulk of the story centers on 13 using her training to exact merciless vengeance upon the criminals who kidnap Monji, and that is more than enough for this movie to make sense. Equally, the villains spend a lot of time monologuing about their dastardly plans, which include rape, murder, and political ambition. The crooked cops and gangsters are working together to rule Jakarta, but 13 and Monji are in their way. There is a subplot halfway through The Shadow Strays that tries to shift the focus and give 13 a detour, but it mostly adds another substantial action sequence to the already overlong running time. Because The Shadow Strays is deliberately melodramatic, the exposition scenes border on comical, which some viewers may find detracts from the pacing of the film, delaying us from getting to more bone-crushing violence.

While some elements of The Shadow Strays feel a bit outdated, namely the fact that a female assassin shocks some of the male characters, most of it is grisly, over-the-top fun. From the first scene, the CGI blood pours in abundance, with every weapon you can think of being used, from guns, knives, swords, and household objects. When weapons don’t do it, teeth and fingers rip at flesh as the bodies hit the floor. Aurora Ribero and Hana Malasan are excellent as they blend the mentor/mentee relationship with an understated familial bond that never slides into anything formulaic. The majority of the weakness in this movie falls to the villains. Every bad guy in this movie is a stereotype from a Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal movie. Yes, it is fun to watch them die, but when they try to wax philosophical, it just drags down the pacing of the entire film.

Timo Tjahjanto has proven his style relies on going up to the line and sometimes crossing it spectacularly. As a director, he has given us some truly scary moments, notably in The ABCs of Death and both V/H/S/2 and V/H/S/94, but his work on May The Devil Take You and as part of The Mo Brothers with Headshot, Tjahjanto feels both like an inspiration for the trend of John Wick-inspired films. That is likely why Tjahjanto recently wrapped production Nobody 2 with Bob Odenkirk, which will hopefully boast some of this signature violence. Tjahjanto is a filmmaker who feels destined for Hollywood greatness if he had come in twenty years ago when studios were more willing to grant budget dollars to R-rated fare. This is a solid production from a logistical and creative standpoint, even if the script suffers from cliche dialogue and overwrought dramatics.

The Shadow Strays is brutal, bloody, and badass as an action film, with over an hour of running time easily wasted. I found myself almost fast-forwarding through dialogue to get back to the action, something I am sure most audiences will be tempted to do. You can easily skip to the fights and still understand most of what is going on, which is the biggest problem with The Shadow Strays as a movie. Netflix is notorious for having films that overstay their welcome a bit too much. Still, this movie is so good in the action department that you will not want to risk missing a single roundhouse kick or decapitation. The Shadow Strays is one of the better action movies to come out this year and will have your jaw repeatedly dropping as each sequence outdoes the previous one.

The Shadow Strays is now streaming on Netflix.

The Shadow Strays

GOOD

7

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Plot: In the sixth and final season of the Emmy-nominated comedy, Nandor, Nadja, Laszlo, Colin and Guillermo will enter the workforce, visit New Hampshire, go to a human dinner party, fête The Baron and conjure a demon — all while trying to find their place and their purpose in this crazy, mixed-up world.

Review: Since it debuted in 2019, What We Do In The Shadows has consistently been one of the funniest television shows. Taking a cue from the mockumentary film of the same name starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, What We Do In The Shadows has followed the Staten Island-based vampires Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Prosch), and Nandor’s familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) as they have explored the day to day life of the bloodsuckers and their interactions with the human world. The series has been consistent in tone and style and has developed a broad narrative over the years. Now that the series is coming to an end, the show is as funny as it has ever been. With new cameos and characters, revisited plot elements from prior seasons, and the same biting sense of humor, the final season of What We Do In The Shadows never misses a beat.

Over the first five seasons of What We Do In The Shadows, there has been a recurring mention of the mission for the vampires to take over North America, something they have failed to do for decades. In the first episode of this season, the housemates realize their fifth roommate, Jerry (Mike O’Brien), has been in a deep sleep since the 1970s and awaken him. Jerry calls out everything that the vampires have not accomplished in the last five decades which prompts them all to reevaluate what they have done with their lives. In the first three episodes of the final season, they all try to get back to tasks they dropped when Jerry went to sleep, providing the writers and cast the chance to probe back into the quirks and misadventures of this crew while still keeping the focus on standalone episodic tales connected with an overall thread leading to the series finale.

While you would think that it would become difficult to keep storylines fresh, especially when you set the season-long narrative to be about what happened in the past, What We Do In The Shadows is still just as funny as ever. Mark Prosch continues to shine, and Colin Robinson takes a more prominent role each successive season. The series does also revisit Laszlo’s sex addiction, porn collection, and scientific exploits while Nandor contemplates his Relentless title and Nadja remains frustrated by the idiotic men surrounding her. We even got a visit from Baron Afanas (Doug Jones) and The Sire, who have always provided fun moments. Kristen Schaal remains a main cast member this season, but The Guide has limited screen time in the first trio of episodes, something the plot indicates will expand in the remaining chapters. While I won’t spoil anything that happens in these first episodes, they are overall a strong opening for the final season that seems like any other season and not contemplative or focused on ending the storylines of these characters.

The last two seasons of What We Do In The Shadows have closed with a feeling of completion to the character arcs, only to return for another solid year of adventures for these characters. The first three episodes this season strike a balance between the characters bickering and in-fighting within their mansion, with the second episode venturing outside of the home and into a workplace. I have always been lukewarm about the vampires interacting in public places, as it borders on ridiculous, but this season works within the plotline being developed for Guillermo. It is also interesting that this season directly addresses the documentary crew that has been chronicling the vampires since the first episode, which leaves me wondering if What We Do In The Shadows will reveal anything about the filmed footage as they did in the final season of The Office. I hope they do not and just let the season end with some questions left unanswered.

Kyle Newachek and Yana Gorskaya each directed five episodes of the final season, with DJ Stipsen on one episode, bringing the final season to a total of eleven episodes rather than the ten in each of the first five seasons. Writers include returning scribes Paul Simms, Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis, Marika Sawyer, Jake Bender, Zach Dunn, Max Brockman, William Meny, Shana Gohd, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick, Amelia Haller, and Lauren Wells, with producers and series creators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waiititi not returning to help close out the final season of the show. Regardless, this talented creative group has managed to mine this concept consistently for over half a decade without ever wasting an episode. I know these first three chapters do not go nearly far enough into the season’s overall arc, but they set things up well, and I never once felt like the cast or crew were giving anything less than their best effort. The jokes are strong, and these actors know their roles inside and out, which makes this series the best comedy on the air next to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

While only the first three episodes of the final season of What We Do In The Shadows were made available for this review, it is impossible to judge how the series finale will or will not wrap things up. Based on how these opening episodes nail every joke and set up the narrative direction for the last run of the series, I am confident that What We Do In The Shadows will leave fans happy with where Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja, Colin Robinson, and Guillermo will be in their journey to take over North America. Few shows have remained this funny over six seasons, with many series continuing too long with diminishing returns. By going out on top, What We Do In The Shadows sets itself up to be considered one of the funniest sitcoms of all time and leaves the door open to revisit these characters in the future.

The final season of What We Do In The Shadows premieres on October 21st on FX.

What We Do in the Shadows

AMAZING

9

-

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The post What We Do In The Shadows The Final Season TV Review: The vampire comedy goes out on top appeared first on JoBlo.

Plot: Follows a grieving therapist who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own.

Review: When the first season of Shrinking premiered in January 2023, I called it one of the year’s best shows. Audiences felt the same as the follow-up series from Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence alongside Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel. It was warmly received for its balance of humor and emotional storylines. Almost two years later, the sophomore run of Shrinking is finally debuting on AppleTV+ with the main ensemble back for more psychological shenanigans. Segel and Harrison Ford continue to shine alongside Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Michael Urie, Ted McGinley, Lukita Maxwell, and Luke Tennie, with some new faces joining the cast. Shrinking continues to shine a light on the harder aspects of love, grief, illness, and relationships while doing so with a positive bend that echoes the inspirational and aspirational tone of Ted Lasso.

Season one of Shrinking found therapist Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) surfacing from a drug and alcohol-fueled bender after the death of his wife. Jimmy discovered that when he shifted his perspective from safe therapeutic practices and took risks, it worked to help his patients while also giving him the boost he needed to function as a doctor, friend, and parent to teen daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell). Despite warnings from his mentor, Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), Jimmy took on Sean (Luke Tennie), a war vet suffering from PTSD. Not only did Sean move into Jimmy’s home, but he became a family friend. As the season progressed, Jimmy began a sexual relationship with his wife’s best friend and fellow therapist, Gaby (Jessica Williams), while re-engaging with his best friend Brian (Michael Urie). Jimmy also got closer to his nosy but loving neighbor, Liz (Christa Miller). At the end of the first season, Jimmy dealt with his patient Grace (Heidi Gardner), almost murdering her husband based on his advice.

Season two picks right up from where the first left off. Gaby is struggling with her relationship with Jimmy, while Alice is worried her father may backslide into his addictive behavior. Paul is doing well with his girlfriend, Julie (Wendy Malick), and Sean is successfully running his own food truck. Jimmy is finding it hard to deal with Grace’s actions last season, but he is pushing through until the return of the drunk driver responsible for Tia’s death. This season shows new relationships forged, especially the stronger friendship between Gaby and Liz, which affords Jessica Williams and Christa Miller a lot of solid back and forth. Ted McGinley also gets a larger role this season, while Michael Urie is charming as always as Brian and Charlie pursue adopting a baby. We get more time with Jimmy’s more unique patients, including Wally (Kimberly Condict). All of the storylines move well through the season, changing a lot across the twelve-episode run.

The main additions to this season are Damon Wayans Jr and Brett Goldstein. I won’t spoil who either actor plays in the series, but they fit well into the dynamic of this ensemble. As co-creator of the series, Goldstein is very different than his Ted Lasso character Roy Kent. Some may expect him to be gruff and vulgar, but this character shows Goldstein’s range as an actor. Damon Wayans Jr is equally good at playing for laughs but handles the dramatic side of this series as well. The central cast continues to gel as an ensemble, especially Lukita Maxwell and Luke Tennie as the younger cast members, but this is still a solid showcase for both Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. Ford is more natural and likable as the gruff Paul than he has been in any big screen role in his career. The mentor/parental bond between Paul and Jimmy really drives this series forward, with the interplay between any combination of characters working seamlessly. This is a testament to the talented actors as much as the writers.

Jason Segel does not boast any writing credits this season; Bill Lawrence is credited as a co-writer on the finale, and Brett Goldstein on two episodes. Zack Bornstein, Kyra Brown, CJ Hoke, Sasha Garron, and Ashley Nicole Black join the writing team alongside all of the returning scribes from season one. At the same time, Zach Braff returns to direct episodes, continuing his relationship with Bill Lawrence from their Scrubs days. Randall Keenan Winston returns as director for the longer season as well. Everyone behind the scenes does solid work here. Shrinking continues to mine the positives and pitfalls of therapy, using the inspiration of psychiatrist Phil Stutz to lend realism to this story. There is so much going on in each half-hour episode that you will need a few minutes to unpack what develops for each character. I have never been more thankful to Apple for releasing episodes weekly than as a binge.

Shrinking continues to thrive as a comedy that is about feeling good as much as it is about just feeling. Emotions and mental health are not always easy topics to handle, and while Ted Lasso found a unique way to deliver positivity through the lens of sports and team camaraderie, Shrinking is a more direct look at the licensed mental health experts in our lives and how their own personal networks of friends and family can help them cope with their own ups and downs. Shrinking is once again one of the year’s best shows, thanks to Jason Segel and Harrison Ford fronting an ensemble that does not have a single weak spot. It is impossible not to like this show or these characters because they reflect our real lives, albeit much funnier.

The second season of Shrinking premieres on October 16th on AppleTV+.

Shrinking

PERFECTO-MUNDO

10

The post Shrinking Season 2 TV Review: Jason Segel and Harrison Ford continue to shine appeared first on JoBlo.