Chris Bumbray https://www.joblo.com/author/chris-bumbray/ The JoBlo Movie Network features the latest movie news, trailers, and more. Updated daily. Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:10:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Disclaimer: We Interview Sacha Baron Cohen & Leila George https://www.joblo.com/disclaimer-we-interview-sacha-baron-cohen-leila-george/ https://www.joblo.com/disclaimer-we-interview-sacha-baron-cohen-leila-george/#respond Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:10:35 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=803745 We interview the legendary Sacha Baron Cohen and Leila George about their roles in Alfonso Cuaron’s Disclaimer.

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For those who haven’t dug into Apple TV Plus’s Disclaimer yet, let me tell you that you’re missing out on one of the most provocative shows of the year. Written and directed by the legendary Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men), with cinematography duties split between Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, it’s an impeccably crafted limited series. It ranks up there with Twin Peaks: The Return and True Detective: Season One in how it’s proof that the limited series can indeed be a director’s medium if they’re given free rein, and how the long format can push them toward storytelling experimentation they’d never get the opportunity to try in a conventional film. 

In Disclaimer, Cate Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a celebrated journalist being harassed by a retired school teacher (Kevin Kline), who is convinced she’s responsible for the death of his son. Over the course of seven episodes, we see how Blanchett’s character had an illicit affair many years ago while on holiday and how its fallout destroyed several lives. Recently, I was lucky enough to interview two of the key players involved with Disclaimer

First up was the legendary Sacha Baron Cohen, who delivered a powerful, dramatic performance as Robert Ravenscroft, Catherine’s wealthy husband, whose world comes apart when he realizes Catherine was unfaithful to him and may have been involved with the death of the person she had an affair with. It’s a strong, dark-edged performance for Cohen, and speaking to him was a real treat.

I also got to chat with up-and-coming actress Leila George, who plays the young Catherine and has one of the show’s meatiest roles. It’s a star-making performance for her, and she spoke glowingly of her work with Cuaron, who she mentioned shot all seven hours of the show as if it was one long move rather than conventional TV.

Are you watching Disclaimer? Let us know in the comments! Check out our own Alex Mandy’s review HERE

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Under Siege: Steven Seagal only had 41 minutes of screen time https://www.joblo.com/under-siege-steven-seagal-only-had-41-minutes-of-screen-time/ https://www.joblo.com/under-siege-steven-seagal-only-had-41-minutes-of-screen-time/#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 22:11:58 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=692237 While it's usually considered Steven Seagal's best movie, in Under Siege, the pony-tailed star's screen time was limited.

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Under Siege Steven Seagal

Andrew Davis’ Under Siege is usually considered Steven Seagal’s best movie (and also his last good film – as explained HERE). However, at the time, most critics singled out Tommy Lee Jones’s performance as the baddie, Strannix, as a scene-stealer. According to Nick de Semlyen’s new book, “Last Action Heroes”, Jones dominating the film was intentional, as Seagal was somewhat reluctant to sign onto the movie. To help entice the star, his screen time was kept to only about 41 minutes. As Davis tells de Semlyen, “Between the Pentagon stuff and all the other cutaways, Tommy is actually in the movie more than Steven.”

According to Davis, Jones took the lead in reworking his bad guy, who he remembers was “flat” and “boring” in the original script. “Tommy said, ‘Why can’t I be a rock n’roll kinda guy? It was a little weird, but Tommy made it work.” Indeed, Jones’s performance would elevate his career, and just a year later, he would reread with Davis on The Fugitive, a movie that earned him a best supporting actor Oscar.

While Seagal’s screen time may have been limited, his contributions to the action scenes were still highly praised at the time, with Seagal mentioning that Dan Inosanto, the famed martial artist renowned for battling Bruce Lee in Game of Death, approached him at Brandon Lee’s funeral to praised the knife fight between him and Jones. The movie became Steven Seagal’s biggest hit ever, grossing $83 million domestically and $156 million worldwide. The sequel, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, would be made without Davis and would only gross $50 million domestically, although it did better business overseas, earning $104 million worldwide. Recently, WB was talking about doing a reboot. We also recently interviewed Mr. Davis to celebrate the 30th anniversary of perhaps his greatest movie, The Fugitive!

If you want more cool stories about all the 80s and 90s action icons we grew up with, pick up de Semlyan’s book. Buy it here!

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Conclave Review: Ralph Fiennes stars in one of the year’s best thrillers https://www.joblo.com/conclave-tiff-review/ https://www.joblo.com/conclave-tiff-review/#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:17:08 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=793273 Conclave is a riveting thriller that should wind up one of the year's big Oscar contenders.

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PLOT: When the reigning pope unexpectedly dies, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must assemble the College of Cardinals to elect a new pope during a Conclave that grows increasingly bitter and deceitful. 

Conclave was originally reviewed at TIFF 2024.

REVIEW: Back at TIFF 2022, one of the festival’s biggest surprises was director Edward Berger’s powerhouse new take on the classic WWI story, All Quiet on the Western Front. It was a movie that no one expected much from, but it won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars and was a major Best Picture contender up to the eleventh hour. It marked Berger as a prominent director, and now he’s back at TIFF with another stunning drama, Conclave.

Based on the novel by Robert Harris (“Fatherland”, “The Fear Index”, etc.), what could have been a dry, talky drama becomes a riveting piece of work in Berger’s hands. While working from admittedly solid material, Berger expertly (and muscularly) directs one of the year’s best casts in a movie that – metaphorically – is more timely than ever in this election year. 

Indeed, with over 1.39 billion Catholics worldwide, a position as pope would make the man elected perhaps the most famous and influential person on earth. In Conclave, the Vatican is being torn apart by an incredibly bitter battle between traditional clergy and a more liberal wing, which included the deceased pope, whose lifelong mission was to modernize the church. Fiennes’s Cardinal Lawrence is shown to be in the midst of a crisis of faith, with him even seeking to leave his position, only to be denied by the pope, who knew he was the only Cardinal crafty (and selfless) enough to make sure the wrong man doesn’t get elected pontiff. 

The film centers around four central cardinals with a strong chance of being elected. On the more liberal side, there’s Stanley Tucci’s Bellini, who seems the most worthy candidate but lacks the killer instinct of John Lithgow’s Tremblay, a Canadian cardinal who, while vaguely liberal, isn’t above using dirty tricks to get his way. On the more conservative side is Lucian Msamati’s Adeyemi, who would be the first black pope and would be a good candidate were it not for the fact that he’s a raging homophobe. Finally, there’s Sergio Castellitto’s xenophobic Tedesco, who wants to undo all modernization within the church and take a step backward in time.

The liberal Lawrence is shown to be divided between his wish to see Bellini get elected and the fact that he emerges as a dark horse candidate at the eleventh hour. Fiennes delivers an incredible performance as the sharp-witted Lawrence, who has to become something of a detective amid his duties, with his performance bringing to mind Sean Connery in the classic In the Name of the Rose. Fiennes expertly depicts Lawrence’s humanity and increasing disillusionment with some of his fellow men of God.

Conclave review

Everyone is expertly cast, with Tucci striking as the liberal Bellini who isn’t without his Machiavellian side. While playing a character with repugnant views, Msamati as Adeyemi also has moments that allow him to come across as somewhat sympathetic, as opposed to Castellitto’s Tedesco, who is depicted as a nightmarish candidate. Then there’s John Lithgow, as the seemingly pious Tremblay who goes on to show his ruthless ambitious as the film bolts towards its fantastic final act. Carlos Diehz also makes a big impression as Benitez, the Cardinal of Kabul, whose arrival is met with suspicion but strikes an almost Christ-like figure. 

While undeniably talky, every line of dialogue is potent, and Conclave is anything but boring. Berger keeps the movie tense and does a remarkable job depicting how cut off the conclave has to be, even when it’s suggested that terrorists might attack Rome.

One of Berger’s critical collaborators on All Quiet on the Western Front, Volker Bertelmann, returns for Conclave, contributing another evocative score, albeit one done differently from his memorable electronic work that film. I fully expect this to wind up with a Best Original Score nomination. While Conclave probably doesn’t sound like an ultra commercial movie, I think it might surprise people when Focus puts it out in theatres, as it’s phenomenally entertaining and has a knockout ending that should generate a lot of talk. It’s one to watch for and seems like an Oscar contender. 

Conclave

AMAZING

9

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Twilight Zone: The Movie – what really happened on set? https://www.joblo.com/twilight-zone-the-movie-what-really-happened-on-set/ https://www.joblo.com/twilight-zone-the-movie-what-really-happened-on-set/#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:06:31 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=803505 We take a look behind the scenes of one of the worst tragedies to ever happen on the set of a major movie - the Twilight Zone heliocpter crash.

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The Twilight Zone Helicopter Crash is one of the most infamous accidents in Hollywood history. It claimed the lives of three people – veteran actor Vic Morrow and two child actors – Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6). It led to a nine-month involuntary manslaughter trial, and numerous lawsuits and was considered the moment Hollywood finally started to take child labour laws seriously. It’s become a permanent stain on the legacy of director John Landis, and ghoulish footage of the incident is on permanent record, proving how complicated sequences can have deadly outcomes in only a split second. Indeed, in this episode of JoBlo Scandals, we’re digging into the Twilight Zone accident and the man at its heart, director John Landis.

Before the accident, Landis was one of the top directors in Hollywood. Two movements were going on in seventies films that forever changed the medium. One was the “New Hollywood” movement, where directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin and Martin Scorsese challenged the old way of doing things, generating a whole slew of masterpieces. Yet, as the decade went on and the grim New Hollywood movies started to fail at the box office, the other movement, “the movie brats” began to take hold. This generation of talent included directors who grew up obsessed with Hollywood classics and yearned to make pure entertainment. There were some directors, such as George Lucas, who straddled the two lines, but of the Brats, the two biggest were Steven Spielberg and John Landis. 

After the accident, Landis’s career initially rebounded quite nicely, with him directing two of his biggest hits ever: the music video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Trading Places. But, the fallout from the accident eventually hit Landis hard, especially once he went on trial for involuntary manslaughter. In the video embedded above, we dig into what happened on set, and what happened after the accident to all involved.

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Weekend Box Office: Smile 2 grins its way to the top of the charts https://www.joblo.com/weekend-box-office-smile-2-grins-its-way-to-the-top-of-the-charts/ https://www.joblo.com/weekend-box-office-smile-2-grins-its-way-to-the-top-of-the-charts/#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 16:50:55 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=803435 Smile 2 managed to (narrowly) outgross its predecessor with a $23 million weekend.

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Paramount Pictures’s decision to turn Smile, which was originally meant to be a streaming-only film, into a wide theatrical release has continued to pay handsome dividends for the studio. Smile 2, the critically acclaimed sequel, managed to (narrowly) outgross its predecessor’s opening weekend, making a handsome $23 million this weekend (just slightly ahead of our predictions). With a budget in the $27 million range, that’s a solid result for what could become the studio’s first big horror franchise since the Paranormal Activity series ran out of steam some years back.

For the sequel, director Parker Finn expanded the scope, with star Naomi Scott (in an excellent performance) playing a Taylor Swift-style pop star who winds up cursed. Given the ending, Finn may return for a third film with an even broader scope, but one has to wonder how long he’ll stay committed to the franchise. He’s getting some big directing jobs (including the star-studded Possession remake) and might want to leave the franchise as is – although Paramount likely will make a third with or without him.

Damien Leone defends the lengthy running times of the Terrifier sequels, saying Art the Clown's gore sequences are to blame

According to the Comscore numbers, The Wild Robot pulled ahead of Terrifier 3 for a third-place finish, making $10.1 million for a $101 million North American haul. Terrifier 3 had a good hold in its second weekend, only slipping 51%, with a $9.3 million weekend and an excellent $36 million domestic total. Given the movie cost in the single-digit millions, this franchise (check out our rankings) has been minting cash, and it will likely be one of the year’s most profitable movies. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice mania also continued this weekend. Despite being on VOD, it earned $5 million for a $283 million total, with a $300 million domestic total within reach, especially with Halloween coming up. A24’s romantic weepie We Live in Time made a strong $4.5 million despite being open on less than 1000 screens. Younger audiences are embracing this date movie, which is carried by the star power of Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. 

Joker: Folie à Deux, box-office bomb

However, star power isn’t saving Joker: Folie a Deux, which fell another massive 69% this weekend to gross only $2.1 million for an atrocious $56 million total. Rumor has it the movie might lose WB $200 million. The Lego-animated Piece By Piece, which is a documentary about Pharrell, made $2.1 million for a $7.6 million total. Poor Transformers One is winding down its run, with a $1.9 million weekend, for a total of just over $56 million. It’s too bad audiences didn’t embrace this pretty good animated prequel. 

Another good movie struggling to find an audience is Saturday Night, about the early days of SNL. It lost 47% of its audience and only made $1.8 million for a domestic total of just over $7 million. Finally, the Tim Burton re-release, The Nightmare Before Christmas, made a solid $1.13 million for a $4.8 million total (to note, this only reflects the gross of the re-release).

Next weekend, we should see the first $50 million-plus opener in some time, with Sony’s latest addition to the Spider-Verse, Venom: The Last Dance, coming out. Do you think it will end the franchise with a bang? Let us know in the comments! 

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Shot Caller is the Best Prison Movie You Never Saw! https://www.joblo.com/the-best-movie-you-never-saw-shot-caller-239-02/ https://www.joblo.com/the-best-movie-you-never-saw-shot-caller-239-02/#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 14:13:45 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/the-best-movie-you-never-saw-shot-caller-239-02/ Shot Caller barely got a release when it came out in 2018, but it's gone on to become a cult film well worth checking out.

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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!

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POLL: What late fall release has you the most hyped? https://www.joblo.com/what-late-fall-release-has-you-the-most-hyped/ https://www.joblo.com/what-late-fall-release-has-you-the-most-hyped/#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=803391 The late fall movie season is upon us, with studios releasing awards-fare and prestige blockbusters. Which one are you most excited for?

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As we head into the late part of the fall, studios are starting to put out their awards-worthy fare, in addition to prestige blockbusters, which they hope will play well throughout the holiday movie season in late November, December and early January. One of the biggest movies coming out this fall, Gladiator II, got its first screenings this weekend, with raves all around for what many are calling director Ridley Scott’s best movie since Black Hawk Down. With October almost finished, we want to know what late fall release has you the most hyped! Take our poll below and let us know!

What late fall release has you the most hyped?

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Shoot to Kill: The Best 80s Action Movie You Never Saw https://www.joblo.com/shoot-to-kill-the-best-80s-action-movie-you-never-saw/ https://www.joblo.com/shoot-to-kill-the-best-80s-action-movie-you-never-saw/#respond Sat, 19 Oct 2024 17:04:24 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=745163 1988's Shoot to Kill, starring Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Clancy Brown and Kirstie Alley, is a lost 80s action gem.

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Recently, I wrote an article about movies that were surprisingly hard to find on streaming or Blu-ray, and one of the movies I mentioned was a little-remembered 1988 thriller called Shoot to Kill (aka Deadly Pursuit in the UK). The film was a decent box office hit in its day, but outside of a DVD release many years ago, it has sunk into obscurity. 

This is a shame, as Shoot to Kill is a nifty little movie. After a few comments praised the film, I decided to revisit it for myself, as I honestly hadn’t seen it since the nineties and had no idea if it would hold up. To my surprise, not only did it hold up, but Shoot to Kill is a bit of a lost 80s action classic.

The film stars Sidney Poitier as a veteran FBI agent investigating a strange robbery where the owner of a diamond broker robbed his own store. It turns out the desperate man stole his own diamonds to pay off a man holding his beloved wife hostage. Poitier’s G-man underestimates the criminal, and in the end, he murders the man’s wife, his maid and even his dog. Shaken up by the fact that this jewel thief would kill so many innocent people, he becomes obsessed with finding him, only to discover that the man has hightailed it into the Pacific Northwest wilderness and has infiltrated a group of fishermen who are being led through the mountains by a female guide named Sarah Renell, played by a young Kirstie Alley, who was on Cheers at the time and would star in Look Who’s Talking the following year. Luckily, Sarah’s boyfriend, Jonathan Knox, is an expert tracker and mountain man, and the two team up to track down the fishing party before the killer, whose identity we don’t know at this point, can be revealed.

Now, this is an excellent premise for an action flick. It has all the elements. It has perfect motivation for the two heroes, with Poitier’s Warren Stantin feeling guilt over the people he couldn’t protect, while Berenger’s Knox wants to rescue his girlfriend. The two are also a classic mismatched pair, with Poitier a sophisticated, older urbanite with no wilderness experience. At the same time, Berenger plays a total loner who has never had to kill or been pitted against a monster despite his skills in the mountains. This makes the film work on many levels, being a straight-ahead thriller with tons of action while also having elements of a mismatched buddy comedy worked in.

It’s expertly directed by Roger Spotiswoode, who made a slew of exciting thrillers in the 80s, including Terror Train, Under Fire and Air America, before taking an ill-advised stab at comedy with Stop or My Mom Will Shoot. He bounced back when he directed Tomorrow Never Dies

But what makes Shoot to Kill work is how exceptionally well-cast it is. Younger viewers may not appreciate how big of a star Sidney Poitier was when Shoot to Kill was made but suffice it to say he was a legend. Poitier was the first black movie star, winning an Oscar for Lillies in the Field and having starred in a slew of classics, including In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Shoot to Kill was his first time in front of a camera in 12 years, as he had prematurely retired from acting to try his luck as a director. He was the first black director to make a movie that grossed over $100 million when he made the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor comedy classic Stir Crazy

Shoot to Kill

When he made Shoot to Kill, Poitier was sixty, and this was a pretty bold role for him to take, as by the nature of the film, it’s highly physical. He spends most of the movie in the mountains, hiking, climbing rocks, and doing a lot of pretty physically taxing stuff that, impressively, he wasn’t doubled for. More than anything, his gravitas gives the film an extra oomph, as he has the aura of a man who’s been through a lot, as by his age, his character would have been one of the first black FBI agents and, as he tells Berenger at one point, he’s faced off with the Mafia, the KKK and the KGB. Indeed, Poitier has – onscreen, that is. You also buy him as a man who’s haunted by his failure, and near the end of the film, his pursuit of the villain becomes almost suicidal, as he doesn’t want another innocent life to be taken. But Poitier is also hilarious, reacting with disbelief at the various things he encounters in the mountains, such as a moose and a grizzly bear that he manages to scare away. Berenger is just as good in a rare action role, playing a rugged mountain man with a soft side. Kirstie Alley could have been saddled with a generic woman-in-p peril role. Still, her character is tough and resourceful, and even once the bad guy has been revealed and she gets taken hostage, she constantly tries to get free and never allows herself to become a victim. In some ways, she’s the star of her action movie happening simultaneously. 

No, as for the villain, this is where it gets tricky. The film goes through great pains to hide his identity so that you don’t know who the bad guy is when he infiltrates the fishing party. Three other fishermen are played by well-known character actors who have played villains before, including Dirty Harry’s Andrew Robinson, Richard Masur, Frederick Coffin and the Kurgan himself, Clancy Brown. Ok, so to someone in 2024, it may not be that much of a mystery who the killer is, as one of these guys has become a legendary big-screen villain, and I’m not talking about Richard Masur. Even still, this mystery aspect works well.

Overall, Shoot to Kill is a pretty stunning piece of old-school action filmmaking, with good performances, hair-raising stunts, and excellent location shooting in BC and San Francisco. My only complaint is that the musical score by John Scott is a tad cheesy, with too much saxophone – but alas, that’s the era. Part of me thinks it would be a classic if Michael Kamen, Alan Silvestri, or Jerry Goldsmith had scored this. This winter of 1988 was a good-sized hit at the box office, making more than twice its budget back, and it was a popular VHS rental. So why is it out on Blu-ray? It seems to have fallen into a gray zone of unavailable movies released by Disney’s adult label, Touchstone Pictures, in the 80s. Many of these movies are available on Disney Star internationally, and Shoot to Kill was streaming at one point, as there’s a good HD copy floating around out there – it’s just not available at the moment. That’s too bad because this movie is a little gem worth rediscovering, especially given that Poitier passed away not too long ago. If you can find it, you should give it a shot. 

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Gladiator 2 earns early raves after the first public screening https://www.joblo.com/gladiator-2-earns-early-raves-after-first-screening/ https://www.joblo.com/gladiator-2-earns-early-raves-after-first-screening/#respond Sat, 19 Oct 2024 13:46:05 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=803354 Gladiator II finally had its first publc screening, and the buzz from critics suggests it might be an all-timer on par with the original.

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gladiator II

Over the past few months, buzz has steadily been building for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II. While various news stories mentioned that the budget for Scott’s Roman epic had spiralled out of control, word from early test screenings suggested that whatever it cost, it might be worth it, with Paramount having enough confidence in the movie that they’re positioning it for awards season with a prime November release date. And now, the studio has finally started showing the film, and critics in attendance raved about what they saw, with many saying it’s Ridley Scott’s best film in many years.

In it, Paul Mescal plays the now-grown Lucius (the son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus from the original), who finds himself forced to fight as a gladiator for Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, a former slave plotting to take control of Rome. Pedro Pascal co-stars as Marcus Acacius, a Roman general Lucius fights in the Colosseum. 

Clayton Davis, the awards editor at Variety (and a key tastemaker during Oscar season) is calling the movie Ridley Scott’s best since Black Hawk Down, writing on X, “I found Paul Mescal’s work as Lucius to be one of the film’s most honest surprises. This is Denzel Washington, having the time of his life in one of his most killer roles yet. A third Oscar could very well come his way. Sound, visuals, costumes, you name it, this movie’s got it. Another blockbuster the Academy can most definitely embrace.”

Influencer Matt Ramos was even more vehement in his praise, not only pegging it as the best film of the year but possibly (in his words) one of the best of all time! He writes, “It’s one of those films that will reinvigorate your love for cinema. It defies expectations, the performances are outstanding (Denzel just locked in another Oscar), the score is just as great as the original, the writing is incredible, & there’s a lot of action on such a massive scale; it’s unreal. I could go on and on but prepare to witness greatness this November.”

Drew Taylor of The Wrap writes, “Rest easy, Romans. #Gladiator2 is the kind of large-scale filmmaking excellence that only Ridley Scott could corral. Everything about it just works. Big #Maverick vibes in its ability to conjure the past while adding something new. Bold, muscular filmmaking from a legendary talent.”

And finally, Scott Mantz of KTLA writes, GLADIATOR II is indeed the REAL DEAL! An epic sequel worthy of its Oscar-winning predecessor — great action, amazing visual effects, stellar performances across the board (esp. PAUL MESCAL & DENZEL WASHINGTON)! A return to form for director RIDLEY SCOTT! I was ENTERTAINED!”

Indeed, X is loaded with raves from the screening, so it sounds like even if it took Scott nearly a quarter of a century to make a sequel to Gladiator, it might have been well worth the wait!

Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22nd. 

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JoBlo Friday Night Flicks: Our Live Stream Digs Into Terrifier 3! https://www.joblo.com/joblo-friday-night-flicks-live-stream-returns/ Fri, 18 Oct 2024 23:16:13 +0000 https://www.joblo.com/?p=774912 Tonight! Join Kier Gomes on JoBlo Originals on YouTube for our latest Friday Night Flicks Live Stream at 8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST.

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The OFFICIAL JoBlo Originals’ Live Stream, Friday Night Flicks with Kier Gomes, is back, and this time he’s unpacking the movie that destroyed Joker 2 at the box office, Terrifier 3! Yes folks, this scrappy little indie isgoing to go down as one of the most profitable movies of the year, and our host Kier Gomes has seen it, and is ready to dig into all the ultra-gory details.

If you saw Damien Leone’s flick and you have thoughts, now is your opportunity to chime in. But, BEWARE, this is going to be a SPOILER-FILLED episode. However, Kier will also be covering all the latest movie news as well and will give viewers a warning before the SPOILERS start!

So, make sure to come check out the episode! You can see the show on our JoBlo Originals channel (or via the embed above) – TONIGHT at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.

So make sure to WATCH LIVE and participate in the chat!

What else would you like to hear Kier weigh in on the Live Stream tonight? Make sure to tune in TONIGHT at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT right HERE! Let us know in the comments!

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