Month: April 2021

Pixar’s new animated feature Luca is like Call Me By Your Name meets The Little Mermaid, if Call Me By Your Name was a kid’s movie and The Little Mermaid had gelato in it. That’s my number one issue with The Little Mermaid: not enough frozen desserts. Luca is a coming-of-age story set in a seaside town in Italy about two sea monsters, best friends Luca and Alberto, who travel above the surface as human boys. They learn to ride bikes, jump off cliffs, and befriend a young girl, all while keeping their true form a secret. It looks fun and colorful and, most importantly, there’s gelato. Ariel could never.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Disney and Pixar’s original feature film Luca is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta, and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

Luca, featuring the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Marco Barricelli, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan, released on June 18 on Disney+.

Pixar’s next film, Luca, will be released this June (right now it looks like Luca will follow the Soul plan and be available to Disney+ subscribers, but as we have learned over the last year everything is fluid). We got an early look at around 30 minutes of the (gorgeous looking) film, which introduces us to Luca, a young teen sea monster (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who lives off the coast of an Italian fishing community – who is warned by his family of the dangers of ever going on land. Of course, Luca does go on land when he meets another teen sea monster named Alberto. And Luca learns from Alberto that, once on land, their sea monster looks disappear and they look like human teenage boys. So these two new pals hop around town with the idea in their head that if they can land themselves a shiny Vespa to ride around on, they will both have it made. They just have to avoid the townsfolk finding out their secret and have to avoid the wrath of Luca’s family for disobeying their wishes.

Ahead we spoke with Luca director Enrico Casarosa, who previously directed the Pixar short film La Luna, and producer Andrea Warren. They give us an early look at the influences of Luca, many of which come from Casarosa’s own childhood and a plethora of classic films, including Stand By Me. Also, they give us a peek inside how movies get made at Pixar these days. And are pretty clear that things have certainly changed about the kinds of movies Pixar makes since Pete Docter took over those decisions.

With Pixar, I’m always curious about the actual pitching of this movie, and how long you’ve wanted to make this, because you’ve been at Pixar a very long time.

Enrico Casarosa: After making La Luna, I certainly started thinking about “what if.” It was such a fun experience. It certainly made me eager to try my hand at a feature. Usually, there’s always a pitching of a few ideas. “Here’s the kind of stories I’m interested in,” is really what happens.

So you pitched this idea?

Enrico Casarosa: The idea itself has had a few transformations, but there was always something about the place. And there was always some sort of a changeling character at the heart of it. I’ve always been fascinated by stories that are like, is there more than meets the eye? Is that a man just fishing? Or is he going to jump in the water? There’s a whole other world there. Those were the heart of it, of the concept. That’s been a little bit in my head from that time. And then it kind of came together with the friendship, the personal story, as I started developing it. Because then the other thing is this important sense of what’s the heart of the relationship? What do you want to talk about? What are the themes? Friendship came as a strong, hard spine to it, right then as I pitched it. And then, of course, the journey actually happens quite a bit in the first year, you start putting it up and you start seeing what works, and what doesn’t. So the major changes have been in development in the first few screenings that we have in storyboard versions.

So I always have it in my head during the pitch you giving this impassioned speech about your vision and what it means to you. And then the next person just goes, “I don’t know, what if we made another Cars movie?” And then everyone’s like, “Yeah, that will make a lot of money.”

Enrico Casarosa: I think you can give more credit to some of the leadership at Pixar because there is more of a sense of, what is sparking…

I just mean it sounds like it would be hard to get a new idea in when there are so many proven commodities there, if that makes sense.

Enrico Casarosa: But I don’t think you’re going to get as easily excited if you were only making sequels, right?

Oh, I agree.

Enrico Casarosa: You always find the heart of it. If I get excited about a sequel, it’s about the idea. That has happened, and has happened plenty of times. I think we want new voices and I feel that’s important. I think Pete Docter is wonderfully open to fostering us new directors. That’s so cool, and that is different. Like Domee Shi, she’s directing the movie right after us [Turning Red]. It’s very different from ours. And we are very different from Soul. And that is really Pete Docter completely embracing that and fostering it. It’s been really wonderful to see them wanting new things. And the crews are really excited about making new things, so there’s a little lightening in the bottle that you have when you’re trying to do new things within making it.

You mentioned Pete Docter. Was there a noticeable shift when he started making the decisions? Did you feel it? Like, okay, we’re going to be doing some new stuff here?

Enrico Casarosa: There was a shift. In the sense of, a certain openness to solutions. We’ve always had good leadership that had good instincts, but sometimes we might have felt like I need to fix it this way. I think what’s wonderful is that Pete Docter is going to tell you: you have a problem here, you need to find a way to fix it. He’s all very open to the ways you can do it. Sometimes he’s like, “I’m not sure about this,” but maybe you have it. He’s a very open to different points of views, person. There isn’t a whole lot of edicts coming down other than, “let’s make an awesome movie.” He loves quirkiness. I think that’s a little bit of extra power there, that he loves different things. It’s enabling us to really open up a little bit, our style and our stories.

Andrea Warren: I’ve known Pete for years, and Enrico has as well. We’ve both been here a while, as you mentioned. I think Pete stepping in, he has a very clear vision of openness. He’s a very available mentor.

Because from the outside looking in, it does seem like we’re getting a lot of different kinds of stories now.

Andrea Warren: Yeah. And I think you’ll see that. Like you said, and Enrico mentioned: Soul, and there’s our film, and there’s so many behind us and, obviously, even more in development that are trying to embrace a lot of different new filmmakers and new perspectives. And I think it’s very exciting.

Are there other films that inspired Luca?

Enrico Casarosa: There are so many wonderful coming-of-age stories, that focus on friendship. We watch Stand By Me a lot.

That’s surprising. Because that movie has a darker tone to it.

Enrico Casarosa: For sure. Totally. We originally had a slightly larger cast, we had a third kid. But we then decided that we wanted to focus more on Luca and Alberto. I mean, we knew Luca was a protagonist, but we had the funny third wheeler…

I feel bad for the funny third-wheeler. We’re now never going to know.

Enrico Casarosa: Well, he’s in the movie, in a different incarnation. There are just so many amazing coming-of-age movies that I love. I think we watch so many. And then Italian movies. Seeping myself into the Italian fifties Golden Era was a big part of this. Fellini, and De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. La Terra Trema I mentioned often because it’s very much of the small fishing town with non-actors, so we looked at it very carefully. Beautiful, beautiful, specific design and the true working-class. Those are the inspirations for a lot of what we’ve done. I’m trying to think of any other movies. Of course, I’m a huge Miyazaki fan. Visually speaking, I kind of love it: Think in those terms and this intention also for nature that I love. And I want to portray a kid who was experiencing beautiful nature and a beautiful Italian town for the first time. It gave us this opportunity, for not only imagination, but also wonder and attention.

Luca will be released on June 18th and stream via Disney+. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Marvel Comics’ Colossus is no stranger to different looks. The Fox movies even handled the frequently metal-skinned mutant differently in the X-Men films (he was portrayed by Daniel Cudmore) than in the two Deadpool flicks, where he was joint-portrayed by five different actors (including Stefan Kapicic). The comics have now further refreshed his look, though, and it’s one that’s prompting remarks akin to those Infinity War-era Thicc Thanos jokes. The thing is, though, these new remarks sound much more serious. People are genuinely thirsty over the new Colossus look that’s grabbing all kinds of attention for the upcoming “Hellfire Gala” crossover event.

Marvel Entertainment didn’t even need to put him in the center of the other attendees (Sunfire, Synch, Wolverine and Cannonball) because he’s grabbing all of the attention. “One era ends as a new one begins,” the Marvel tweet read.

As Entertainment Weekly reveals, the Hellfire Gala will gather up all manner of mutants “to celebrate their ascendancy following the foundation of an independent mutant nation-state on the living island of Krakoa.” This is poised to be one hell of a party, given that it will spread across a dozen X-Men comics, which will be followed by the emergence of a new X-Men team. And they are fashionable types, but it seems like everyone is only looking at Colossus. As one Twitter user wrote, “colossus really said i’m gonna make you forget all the bad things i’ve done by looking sexy… i’m not forgetting but i am looking.”

This comparison between Bucky’s arm and a certain part of Colossus’ anatomy is, well, relevant. Thank goodness for comic-book artists who simply cannot help themselves. Let the dreamcasting begin.

Violet Grohl and her father Dave released their first collaborative single a few days ago, a cover of X’s “Nausea.” The younger Grohl sounded like a seasoned pro singing on the track, and she delivered a similarly confident performance of the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. She and her father were joined by Krist Novoselic (Dave Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate), Dave Lombardo (of bands like Slayer and the Misfits), and Greg Kurstin (a regular Foo Fighters collaborator as a producer and a member of The Bird And The Bee).

In a recent post, Dave Grohl explained the familial significance of the song and wrote of recording the track with his daughter:

“It felt so meaningful to have the first song Violet and I record together be a tribute to our Bonebrake heritage. I crossed my fingers and awaited her response. Around 9 pm she answered with an excited ‘Yes!’ so I ran upstairs to my little demo studio and recorded the instrumental tracks as fast as I could. After about half an hour, I was done, and I brought her into the vocal booth to sing her part. As nervous as she was, she stepped up to the microphone and sang with the power and confidence of a seasoned pro as I engineered the session like a proud father, encouraging her to let it all out. I then sang my harmonies over her vocal in the chorus, our two voices blending perfectly in the mix, and we smiled upon listening to playback at full volume. It was a moment that superseded anything musical. A life moment that I will cherish forever. A family moment.”

Watch the Grohls and their supergroup perform “Nausea” above.

Much of the curiosity on my end regarding Apple TV+’s The Mosquito Coast involved whether it could justify being remade (or rebooted, or relaunched, or whatever term you wanna use). The 1986 film (based upon Paul Theroux’s 1981 novel) starring Harrison Ford turned out to be a box-office non-entity, which is telling, considering that Ford should have been a huge draw at the time after the original Star Wars trilogy and the first Indiana Jones movie. Here, too, he played a renegade type, Allie Fox, albeit in a role that pushed hard against his charismatic rogue characters. His Fox was a brilliant and idealistic but paranoid and frighteningly erratic inventor, a guy who railed against everything that America stood for but arguably became the embodiment of what we now know as the Ugly American stereotype. In retrospect, the film’s an interesting character study; and I imagine that a series could have been an intriguing project, had it committed to exploring an even deeper emotional terrain with its extended runtime. Worth stressing: this is brought to the small screen by, you know, the same conglomerate that pushes out different iPhones almost every year.

In a way, the timing of the series starring Justin Theroux is awkward. It’s (unintentionally) releasing almost immediately after consumers saw the star player of the most recent Apple event — the purple edition iPhone that is visually stunning (like this show) but kind-of has no reason to exist other than to entice people to trade in older phones. To Apple’s credit, they’ve got a serious recycling policy, but there’s no denying that the company’s frequent phone upgrades encourage the rabid consumerism that’s tackled in Paul Theroux’s novel and the faithful Ford film. Hell, I would have been interested to see how Apple would put up a worthwhile exploration about an eccentric, overbearing, and eventually psychotic patriarch who drags his family to Mexico as a grand statement against the evils of consumerism. Yet the series resembles the film in set-up only. Actually, it bizarrely feels like the show doesn’t wish to remake the film or reimagine Paul Theroux’s book nearly as much as it wants to be the next Breaking Bad.

More like Breaking Worst. I know: worst joke ever, but the reason why this show chose that direction is confusing, considering that star Justin Theroux is the nephew of Paul Theroux, so presumably, this series was a labor of love. Both are executive producing, too, so they must have wanted the pseudo-Walter White thing to happen. Unfortunately, the show omits the element that made Heisenberg compelling and downright irresistible: Walt began as a character that viewers could identify with. Never, even for a moment, is Justin Theroux’s Allie Fox someone that people can relate to or feel sympathy for or even comprehend, especially since his ultimate cause remains a mystery. So, it’s hard to care about Allie at all. In fact, it’s very easy to despise him.

Worst adventure ever, Dad.

Granted, there are worse approaches out there than aiming for the Breaking Bad mold. Ozark has successfully done so without appearing too derivative, but The Mosquito Coast TV series feels derivative of both shows. And that might not have been an issue, either (the family-man-turned-criminal-to-provide-for-his-family template’s one that viewers enjoy), but the fatal problem is that the show does not successfully pull a Walter White with Allie Fox. As with the film, Fox remains unlikeable overall, but the film portrayed an incrementally deteriorating mental state, whereas the series starts Allie off as balls-out, wild-eyed crazy. He’s profoundly unsympathetic from the beginning. This tweaked-up Allie seems to exist so that Justin Theroux can be, like, the edgiest character ever. So unhinged, so insufferable, yet so magnetic! Yes, Justin Theroux can’t help but bring a magnetic presence to any project, but dude, it’s too much here.

I could not warm up to this new Allie Fox, which crushes the whole point of a Walter White character, given that the Vince Gilligan-created series began with an objectively good man whose initial goal — to deal with his cancer-stricken state by raising some cash and doing exactly what the show title suggested — was, if not honorable, at least semi-understandable. Walt’s transformation into ruthless meth kingpin felt so incremental that the end result worked, and the audience couldn’t help but root (at least a little bit) for Heisenberg. Whereas Allie Fox is the type of character that I want to shove into an elevator shaft. There’s nothing likable about this guy, and it’s impossible to guess the process by which his wife, Margot (Melissa George), fell under his spell to the degree that she conceded that it’s feasible to push their kids, Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie (Gabriel Bateman), though a never-ending nightmare that will f*ck them up for life.

More to the point: why on earth are the NSA and drug cartels after Allie? Why must his family live this existence? No one seems to know, or at least, no one will clarify a thing. It’s frustrating to sit through countless chase scenes, brutal action layups, and perpetually suffering family members, along with the absence of any real character development. There should have been plenty of time for that in seven hours to add texture. Instead, the family members seem shell-shocked and numb with Theroux’s madman popping wheelies around them. It’s exhausting to witness.

The Mosquito Coast turns out to be an uncomfortable watch. For seven interminable installments, we watch these poor teens receive zero relief as they’re pulled along on an unwanted “adventure” (that word’s from the Apple TV+ synopsis) with Dad and Mom. Granted, it’s not unexpected for a show that wants to be prestige TV to claim some epic-style adventure-approach. Yet Allie practically terrorizes his family, and what they go through most certainly qualifies as abuse, starting with being uprooted for a mystery reason, and suddenly, dad’s hanging with cartels and coyotes. And my goodness, this show looks expensive, yet it feels like, despite the often-gorgeous surroundings, an anti-ASMR show, even as background noise. Fox’s delusions grow to the point where it’s sometimes hard to believe what’s happening, and it makes less of a statement about consumerism and the dangers of a free market than it, as I said already, does the Walter White thing in a misfired manner. It’s a stressful series to behold, and that’s probably not the vibe that both Paul and Justin Theroux were aiming to achieve here.

Apple TV+’s ‘The Mosquito Coast’ debuts on April 30.

Chris Pratt hasn’t appeared in a movie since the highest-grossing film ever, Avengers: Endgame. (You only hear his voice in Onward.) I fully realize that was only two years ago, but it feels much longer. He has a bunch of upcoming projects, though, including Thor: Love and Thunder (May 2022) and Jurassic World: Dominion (June 2022).

But before those, there’s The Tomorrow War, where he plays a high school teacher who’s recruited by time-traveling soldiers to jump 30 years into the future to help mankind fight alien invaders. A movie with a wild premise, based on an original idea, from the director of The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay), starring Andy Dwyer, Betty Gilpin, Yvonne Strahovski, Sam Richardson, J.K. Simmons, and Doughboys host Mike “Spoonman, a.k.a. Mr. Slice” Mitchell? Count me in. You can watch the teaser above.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

In The Tomorrow War, the world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.

The Tomorrow War premieres on Amazon Prime Video on July 2.

The 100% Club on Rotten Tomatoes lost a member: Citizen Kane. After the recent unearthing of a negative 80-year-old Chicago Tribune review, the 1941 Orson Welles film lost its perfect rating on the review aggregation website, slipping all the way to 99 percent. I wrote about this news yesterday with the headline, “Citizen Kane Lost Its Perfect Score On Rotten Tomatoes, Making Paddington 2 The New Greatest Film Of All-Time.” This silly post proceeded to break Film Twitter. So let’s get a few things straight:

#1. Citizen Kane is a masterpiece.
#2. Paddington 2 is also a masterpiece.
#3. There are many movies in the 100% Club, including Modern Times, The Terminator, and Tokyo Story. I went with Paddington 2 because see: #2.

The Museum of the Moving Image gets it:

The Hollywood Reporter even got in touch with Paddington and Paddington 2 writer and director Paul King, who was asked about The Godfather Part II of marmalade-loving talking bear movies toppling Citizen Kane.

“It’s extremely lovely to be on on any list, which includes Citizen Kane, but it is obviously quite an eccentric list that goes from Citizen Kane to Paddington 2, so I’ll try not to take it too seriously,” he said. “I won’t let it go too much to my head and immediately build my Xanadu. But I have been cooking up a model just in case.” King also joked that if Welles was still alive, he might have made something “nearly as good” as Paddington 2, “but he had [to] muster his meagre talent into merely knocking out Citizen Kane.”

As for Paddington 3, King isn’t directing the trilogy capper, but he did write the script, which is “well developed and coming on nicely. It’s tough to get right and we certainly don’t want to make a film just for the sake of making a film… Maybe this is where Orson went wrong – he just needed to have spent a little longer on the script!”

Congratulations to Paddington, a very good bear.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Lana Del Rey’s latest album, Chemtrails Over The Country Club, is only a handful of weeks removed from its March release. Del Rey is already preparing for its follow-up, though, and it’s set to come quickly: Last night, she shared the cover art for Blue Banisters and announced its release is set for release on July 4. It will be her second album of the past calendar year (the third if you count the poetry audiobook).

Del Rey has teased multiple post-Chemtrails albums, so it’s not definitively clear which one this is yet, or if it’s something else entirely. In February, she said she recorded a covers album of country songs, as well as a collection of “other folk songs.” What seems most likely, though, is that Blue Banister is the new name of Rock Candy Sweet, which Del Rey announced in March: The photo used in the Blue Banisters art is an edited version of the one she shared for Rock Candy Sweet. Responding to a Harper’s Bazaar article titled “Lana Del Rey Can’t Qualify Her Way Out Of Being Held Accountable,” she said, “Just want to say thank you again for the kind articles like this one and for reminding me that my career was built on cultural appropriation and glamorizing domestic abuse. I will continue to challenge those thoughts on my next record June 1 titled Rock Candy Sweet.”

Blue Banisters is out 7/4 via Polydor.

Polo G is one of today’s hottest rappers and the recent success behind his “Rapstar” single is proof of that. In the midst of this celebration, Polo G called out producer Murda Beatz for claiming that he worked on “Rapstar.” The Chicago rapper took his Instagram Story to address the matter. “OK…RAPSTAR that’s currently on YouTube was Only Produced By Einer & Synco,” he wrote. “Not only that, But Yk Damn Well ain’t no n**** Help me write shit So Fa Murda [Beatz] & his camp to keep postin That shit is lame asl.”

Murda Beatz caught wind of Polo G’s comments and offered his own response. “Proud of this song we made a couple years ago and now it’s a global hit,” he said. “Original creators always get credited on songs even if remade. Nothing but love.” He also shared a screenshot from Spotify that listed him as a songwriter on “Rapstar.”

The back and forth began after Murda Beatz shared an Instagram post celebrating “Rapstar” coming in at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart for a second consecutive week. “Another #1,” he wrote in the caption. “Been A Crazy Week. Proud Of This One Congrats To Everyone Involved #RAPSTAR.” For what it’s worth, it should also be noted that Murda is labeled as a songwriter and composer for “Rapstar” on Tidal.

You can read the posts from Polo G and Murda Beatz above.

The New Orleans Pelicans are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Western Conference playoff picture. Though there is plenty of optimism for the future with Zion Williamson performing at a star level, the Pelicans are just 27-34 this season, and it is fair to say New Orleans has at least mildly underperformed when compared to their preseason projections. However, Bill Simmons of The Ringer took things a step further on Monday, and Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy seemingly took exception.

Simmons spoke to his friend Joe House during an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast on Monday, and he expressed some pretty aggressive sentiments. Among them, Simmons suggested that Van Gundy is “the worst coach in the league” and said that the Pelicans “should just apologize to America” for their performance.

“The team that has no excuse and should just apologize to America is New Orleans,” Simmons said. “They’re 26-34. I have personally witnessed them blowing 12 games late because of bad coaching…. They just always do the wrong thing in the last four minutes of a game. Van Gundy, I think is the worst coach in the league. I really do. I think he’s the worst coach in the league. That team, they’re getting 50 points a game from Zion and Ingram. Zion is completely unstoppable at the end of the games… I just can’t believe that team is eight games under .500.”

From there, Van Gundy was prompted on Simmons’ comments, and he chose to reply.

Van Gundy didn’t go out of his way to quote tweet what Simmons said or fire off a full-blown rant. With that said, it is clear that he isn’t impressed with what the podcast mogul had to say, insinuating that he doesn’t “concern” himself with the opinion at hand.

Of course, Van Gundy has a lengthy track record of success at the NBA level and, even if criticism could be warranted for the team’s performance, it is certainly an outlier opinion to think he is actually at the bottom of his profession. It will be interesting to see how the Pelicans finish their 2020-21 campaign, especially with an eye toward the future, but it may be a while before Van Gundy appears on Simmons’ podcast.