From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, “Mickey 17.”
The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living. Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, “Mickey 17” stars Robert Pattinson (“The Batman,” “Tenet”), Naomi Ackie (“Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker”), Steven Yeun (“Nope”), with Academy Award nominees Toni Collette (“Hereditary”), and Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”).
Watch the first trailer below.
The film is produced by Dede Gardner (Oscar winner for “Moonlight,” “12 Years a Slave”), Jeremy Kleiner (Oscar winner for “Moonlight,” “12 Years a Slave”), Bong Joon Ho and Dooho Choi (“Okja,” “Snowpiercer”). It is based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. The executive producers are Brad Pitt, Jesse Ehrman, Peter Dodd and Marianne Jenkins. The director of photography is Darius Khondji (Oscar nomination for “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” “Okja”). The production designer is Fiona Crombie (Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” “Cruella”). It is edited by Yang Jinmo (Oscar nomination for “Parasite,” “Okja”). The visual effects supervisor is Dan Glass (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”). The costume designer is Catherine George (“Okja,” Snowpiercer”).
Warner Bros. Pictures presents An Offscreen Production / A Kate Street Picture Company Production, A Film By Bong Joon Ho: “Mickey 17.” The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, in theaters only nationwide on January 31, 2025, and internationally beginning on 28 January 2025.
Things have certainly gotten interesting recently with the Summer box office. Usually, we’d be talking about the records being broken by the superhero franchises or the big action-adventure “tentpoles”. Then a big switch happened last weekend when the first two spots in the weekly BO “Top Tens” were animated features. Studio wisdom was the notion that animated flicks would “cancel each other out” hurting the ticket sales on both. Nope, not this time, though the rapid downhill trajectory of a certain scarlet speedster aided their performance. Could this brand-new animated feature snag a spot in the top five with the other two holdovers? Mind you, that globetrotting archeologist will crack his bullwhip into the upper slots on the roster. However, families may want to return to the sea after that recent Disney live-action remake and dive into the adventures of another mythical nautical being, RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN.
Wait a sec, isn’t the Kraken a monstrous destructive demon from the ocean’s depths, from CLASH OF THE TITANS, as in “Release the…”? Well, the savvy narrator at the start of this story sets us straight. It seems that the Krakens are really the protectors of the sea, battling other “beasties’ including those savage mermaids (so they’re “baddies”). Plus it turns out that a family of Krakens lives on the land in the port city of Oceanside as the Gillmans (figures). They can “pass” as long as they stay out of the water, and cover their gills with high collars and turtleneck sweaters. The title character, Ruby (voice of Lana Condor) is a high schooler sharing a home with her bratty kid brother Sam (Blue Chapman), crafting wizard and shop owner dad Arthur (Coleman Domingo), and successful real estate agent mom Agatha (Toni Colette). Ruby really wants to go to the upcoming prom with her crush Connor, but Agatha nixes the notion since the dance is on the deck of a big tourist touring ship. But then Ruby’s rebellious pals decide to attend the party “ironically”, so Ruby sets her sights on her dream guy. Oh, but she botches the “prom-posal” and knocks Connor into the “drink”. Ruby saves him, but the seawater transforms her into a multi-tentacled, Godzilla-sized monster. After she dries off and shrinks back to normal (away from the hundreds of digital devices that captured her “rampage”), Ruby confides to her visiting Uncle Brill (Sam Richardson). To answer her questions he guides her deep beneath the surface to get the answers from his mother and her “Grandmamah” (Jane Fonda), the Kraken Quenn. It seems that Agatha gave up her title to live on the land. Ruby returns home hoping to confront her mother. But a new girl shows up at school to complicate things. Perhaps Chelsea (Annie Murphy) has a similar secret. Could she derail Rby’s big night with Connor? More importantly, will Ruby embrace her royal nautical heritage before she’s “discovered”?
The diverse vocal cast, composed of big-screen newcomers and veterans, enhance this whimsical tale. Connor is quite impressive as the teen hero, full of emotion with her pals and in her budding romance, while also showing us her anger over the family history denied to her. Collette as her mum Agatha revels in her hectic balance of sales and family dynamics, loving her new “land” life, but finally realizing that she must embrace her “warrior princess” past. A big part of the latter is Grandmamah, who is given a feisty and haughty tone by Fonda, is thrilled by her newly discovered grandkids, and revels in a bit of mischief with Ruby. Richardson brings an endearing goofball charm to the flaky and fun Uncle Brill. Another comedy pro, Will Forte, is aboard as an old local “salt” who seems to be somewhat related to the Simpsons’ sea captain (“Argh, matey”) and the talking “seadog” picture in the attic of Seth Myers during his “late night lockdown” a couple of years ago. However, Gordon (as in Gordon Lighthouse…clever) has an over-caffeinated mania to his guttural rants.
As with many animated features, this is overseen by a directing “tag team” duo, Kirk Demicco and Faryn Pearl. They’ve created a dazzling colorful world on land and underwater, offsetting soft pastels with bouncy bursts of near-fluorescent hues of violet and deep blue. The Gillman family has a “loosey-gooey” way of movement, a rubbery lurch as though their inner frames were a variation of a classic toy of my youth, the Slinky (“fun for a girl and a boy”), so I’m officially ancient. As with other recent CG flicks (LUCA for one), the artists have done variations of anime facial designs and expressions, which work well to convey the ultra-dramatic teenagers. Unfortunately, the script loses focus around the midpoint to set up a big fantasy action-packed showdown finale. Plus it explores many of the themes of maturity (really puberty) that were better discussed in Pixar’s TURNING RED a few years ago (from giant red panda to towering tentacled “beastie”). And much like the overrated THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, too many slapstick sequences are slowed down (like “bullet-time” in THE MATRIX) in order for the characters to “get in your face” with distorted bits of “mugging”. The preteen set may find this engaging, but after the marvels of the Spider-Verse, animation aficionados may be “treading water’ in the familiar “depths’ and “shallow” interludes at the “surface” of RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN. “Glub, glub”.
2 Out of 4
RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN is now playing in theatres everywhere
Hmmm, now this is a strange bit of film release synergy. Now the big studio-wide release this weekend is RENFIELD which can be called a horror/comedy hybrid (though it’s also an action thriller satire). The other small studio (an “indy”, to be sure) flick also blends comedy with another very popular genre, crime. To be more specific it’s a crime-family comedy, hence the use of that “reviled” (to some) word. Oh, and there’s a “gender-switch” as a woman takes the seat at the head of the table for the “sit-down”. Hey, if there can be a godfather, then why not a MAFIA MAMMA?
The story kicks into high gear “across the pond” in the “old country”, Italy, soon after a gun battle that produces lots of casualties for both warring factions. This prompts a long-distance phone call from the Balbano family “advisor” Bianca (Monica Bellucci) to a relative in the States, harried working mom Kristin (Toni Collette). This contributes to her stress-filled week. The male execs are hostile to her marketing ideas, she’s sending her only son off to college, and she catches her “man-child” rock star wannabe hubby Paul (Tim Daish) with a really enthusiastic “fan”. Bianca is insistent that Kristin hops on a plane to attend her grandfather’s funeral. After a bit of nudging from her lawyer pal Jenny (Sophis Nomvete), Kristin is in Italy enjoying a “meet cute” with hunky Lorenzo (Giulio Corso). It’s cut short when her new “bodyguards” rush her to the church for the memorial. And then the coffin’s processional is attacked by a hit squad from the rival Romano family. Luckily Kristin’s crew makes it back to the family villa where Bianca insists that Kristin meet with the Romano “head”, since the late elder Balbano, via a DVD will, has given his title to his only granddaughter, much to the ire of hotheaded cousin Fabrizio (Eduardo Scarpetta), who wants to run the “family business”. Kristin wants none of this, but the sooner she can broker peace, the sooner she can get with Lorenzo. This leads to a couple of attempts on her life as this unexpected “getaway” turns into a gang war that may just spill over into the States and threaten her boy. Maybe with Bianca’s consul, Kristin can bring honor to her tarnished legacy.
Over the last few decades, Toni Collette has firmly established herself as one of the most accomplished character actors in film. She commands the screen in drama and horror, but she’s had little chance to headline a comedy. The role of Kristen provides that with a great deal of slapstick and screwball. Unfortunately, she can’t make the poorly written script’s heroine work as she flits about like a frenzied teen in much of the first hour, popping her eyes wildly and gesturing frantically and sounding like a manic “figgerygibbit”. Kristin is more of a comedy construct than a believable mature career woman as she spews out the wrong thing in every setting, funerals, gunbattles, dates, wherever. As a grounded counterpart, Bellucci exudes a sultry earthy sexiness recalling Sophia and Gina, though she only pops in to put Kristin on the right track. Nomvete is the sassy rom-com stereotype there to push Kristin to “Go, gurlfriend!!”, and brings some needed energy. Daish is the dim hubby dragging Kristin down making it easier for her to “hook up” with Corso amongst others. And Scarpetta struts and swaggers as the always aggressive Fabrizio, who just loves to scream in his enemy’s faces during the showdowns.
Wow, this is a long way from the “sparkly” teen vamps of TWILIGHT. Yes, it’s the same Catherine Hardwicke, who’s trying her hand at screwball saucy comedy. And due to the lackluster, meandering script, it’s a “swing and a miss”. Mind you, it’s not that the “genre mash-up” doesn’t work. Way back in 1935 Edward G Robinson had some fun with his gangster persona in A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER. And in the post-GODFATHER (Kristin’s never watched it…hilarious) it’s worked with MARRIED TO THE MOB and the ANALYZE flicks, but this strained farce isn’t even up to the level of 1998’s MAFIA! (from part of the ZAZ team). The story never seems to follow through on anything, as it tosses out different motivations and agendas. It veers into the area of a “woman’s awakening” as the put-upon Kristin finds her “calling” in the vineyard (yes, she stomps grapes ala Lucy) and then funnels low-cost meds for seniors (really). And though much of the shootouts are bloodless (lots of grazing), there’s a very graphic set piece where Kristin is threatened with sexual assaults before a Tarantino-esque gorefest with lots of eye trauma (and do we need to see a barfed-on cell phone). Plus there is a suggested blossoming romance between the female leads that is tossed aside (perhaps that’s why all the men, aside from Kristin’s son, are dullards or braying bullies). Maybe it’s just a way to reveal Bianca’s silly secret to be exploited in the big last act face-off. Sure, the locations are gorgeous, and the food looks delicious, but it doesn’t soften the sound of the jokes falling flat on those ancient cobblestones. Collette and Bellucci are deserving of a much better screen pairing. With apologies to Abba, MAFIA MAMMA, oh mamma mia! Or as the characters respond to an enemy’s name in unison in a lousy running (literal) gag: ptewy!!
“NIGHTMARE ALLEY IS ALL AROUND BRILLIANCE” – Jazz Tangcay, Variety
Academy Award Best Picture Nominee Nightmare Alley Appears on Digital March 8 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on March 22
From the imaginative filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and Searchlight Pictures arrives an electrifying film noir,Nightmare Alley. Available on Digital March 8 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on March 22.
The suspenseful psychological thriller is nominated for 4 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, 8 Critics’ Choice Awards, a Screen Actors’ Guild Award for Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett, and BAFTA, SDSA, MPSE, ADG, CDG, VES, and WGA Awards.
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When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.
Del Toro co-wrote the enthralling film with Kim Morgan, based on William Lindsay Gresham’s novel.
Bonus Features*
Del Toro’s Neo Noir – Writer-director Guillermo del Toro and his standout cast decipher the dark, complicated world of Nightmare Alley. The filmmaker reveals how his take on noir is rooted in classic cinema but offers an accessible, modern narrative.
Beneath the Tarp – Production designer Tamara Deverell and her talented team skillfully delivered both a decaying traveling carnival world and a gilded Art Deco high society with striking visuals. We explore how this design supported del Toro’s genre-bending filmmaking.
What Exists in the Fringe – Costume designer Luis Sequeira unravels his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro and reveals the symbolism that’s constantly at play in the film’s carefully crafted wardrobe’s design.
“Step right up and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe! Is he a man or beast? “
A 35mm print of the Black and White Version of Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY called NIGHTMARE ALLEY: VISION IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT is currently showing at The Plaza Frontenac (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard # 210 PLAZA, Frontenac). It is showing daily at 3:40pm and will be carried over through next week. The Frontenac’s site can be found HERE
Experience NIGHTMARE ALLEY in the classic film noir style of black and white for a limited time. Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY follows charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) who endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York Society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.
“Although we shot Nightmare Alley in color, we lit it as if it were black and white,” del Toro said. “You can see exactly the same level of design, and we wanted to give viewers this special vantage as a take of the classic noir genre that the film is part of.”
“Step right up and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe! Is he a man or beast? “
A Black and White Version of Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY called NIGHTMARE ALLEY: VISION IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT opens in St. Louis Theaters Friday January 28th. It will be showing at The Marcus Ronnies and Plaza Frontenac.
Experience NIGHTMARE ALLEY in the classic film noir style of black and white for a limited time. Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY follows charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) who endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York Society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.
“Although we shot Nightmare Alley in color, we lit it as if it were black and white,” del Toro said. “You can see exactly the same level of design, and we wanted to give viewers this special vantage as a take of the classic noir genre that the film is part of.”
WAMG’s Jim Batts says in his review that NIGHTMARE ALLEY is “a truly wild, and wonderful, walk on the “wild side”.
Win tickets to see Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY.
In NIGHTMARE ALLEY, an ambitious carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is. The film also stars Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman and David Strathairn.
Step right up, folks. Even though the temps are dipping (in most states), the fine folks in “Tinsel-Town’ want you to take in the wonders of a traveling carnival. Oh, you’ll also have to take a long trip back in the past, when these operations drew in the rubes…er..crowds. Say around 85 years or so ago. So besides the usual oddities of nature and games of chance, there’s plenty of duplicities, fraud, and even a murder or two. And just who’s running this group of startling attractions? Why it’s none other than an Oscar-winning director. He’ll be making sure you get your ticket for a stroll down NIGHTMARE ALLEY. If you dare….
But first, we’re introduced to the story’s protagonist (I almost said “hero”). Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) is “hoofing it” on the rural backroads of 1930’s Depression-era America. He stumbles upon a traveling carnival trying to pack up the tents before a big storm hits. The show’s ” big boss” Clem (Willam Dafoe) promises Stan a “hot meal’ if he’ll join the “rousters”. Later the duo teams up to track down and capture the escaped “geek”, an animal-like drunkard who bites the heads off of live chickens to earn a bottle of “hooch”. An impressed Clem decides to “take on” Stan. But he needs to get the “road grime” washed off. Luckily the next “set-up” is nearby the cabin of boozy Pete (David Strathairn) and his wife Zeena (Toni Collette) who offer their bathtub for a “dime a dip”. As Pete “sleeps one off”, Zeena makes sure that Stan is “thoroughly clean” (if ya get my drift). As he becomes a frequent houseguest, Stan learns that the couple once had a phony “psychic’ act, one that involves Zeena using “code words” to get the proper response from Pete. The ambitious Stan decides that he’ll help them “revive” the bit after ‘selling” it to Clem. But that’s not the end of Stan’s interests. He starts pursuing the lovely young Molly (Rooney Mara) who pretends to take on thousands of volts as the “Electric Girl”. Deciding the carnival’s not big enough, Stan swipes the prized psychic act “codebook” and takes the “grift” on the road with Molly as his aide. Eventually they’re the big deal at nightclubs, with Stan looking suave in spats and tails. So sharp that he attracts the attention of the psychiatrist to the “swells”, Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett). She knows he’s a “phony”, but still enlists him to “con” several of her wealthy “patients”. After he hooks a grieving couple, the duo set out to “hook a whale”, ultra-rich Ezra Grindle (Richard Jenkins). But Lilith warns him that this fish “bites back”. Can the former “carny'” bamboozle him? Or, is it possible that Stan can actually contact ‘the great beyond”?
Whew, talk about an “all-star” cast, as they’d tout in Hollywood’s “heyday”. Ah, but first and foremost, driving the tale is Cooper as the man with a dark past whose morality careens towards utter blackness rather than the light. And all in pursuit of the almighty “buck”. We see him almost literally stumbling along until the carnival gives him purpose. He becomes more confident, as Cooper clears up his “Oakie” mumblings in order to sell his new “skills”. He has a shot at redemption with the somewhat innocent Molly, but she’s just another way to get to the top. No amount of fancy tuxedos can hide his devious ambitious nature. But he almost meets his match in Blanchett’s Lilith, a classic film femme fatale, wrapped up in a scholarly guise. Her silky seductive line delivery spins a tempting web of high-style heresy. And she knows she can make Stan jump for her “bait”. Mara, as Molly, seems to be the only character capable of escaping “the life”, as her misplaced love for the smooth-talking Stan pushes her into repugnant duplicity. Mara shows us how that light in Molly’s eye slowly dims as they go for the “brass ring”. Zeena, played by a sultry Collette, has given up on that ring until the hunky young Stan flashes his eager smile making her take down her “guard”. Jenkins gives the “mark” Ezra an interesting duality. Grief has him obsessively clinging to a chance to correct his past, but his seething cruelty overrides any empathetic feeling toward the lonely tycoon. Dafoe is full of energetic bluster as the blowhard barker, scoring with a terrific monologue on how to “groom a geek”. Strathairn makes Pete a sad confused sotted cuckold, while Ron Perlman is an intimidating physical menace as the over-protective (of Molly) sideshow strongman.
Just for fun here’s the poster for the first version of the story…
Oh, the Oscar winner “pulling the strings” behind the camera is the modern master of movie macabre, Guillermo del Toro, in a quite different follow-up to that “swoony” fantasy love story/monster fable THE SHAPE OF WATER. There’s little romance in this stylized “fever-dream” full of lust and avarice. Ah, but what style is to be savored. The story’s almost slashed in half, with the opening carnival sequence showing the “low”, sleazy squalor, while the second half bathes in rich colors and textures as the actions shift to “high” gear in plush offices (Lillth’s “den of debauchery”), the flashy nightclubs, and the fortress-like mansion of Ezra, all accented by the swirling soundtrack by Nathan Johnson. And if the story sounds a touch familiar, then you’ve been a fan of the old “late, late film shows”, or more recently TCM or the Fox Movie Channel. While there’s an excellent black and white film from 1947 (worth seeking), del Toro insists that this isn’t a “remake”, but rather a different take on the celebrated novel by William Lindsay Gresham. (this version ends more honestly than the censors then would allow) The screenplay shifts the actions from the 1920s to the still economically desperate mid-1930s (rumbling of unrest in Germany), and del Toro (who co-wrote it with Kim Morgan) really plunges into the twisted nature of the main characters. All the while, exploring the fascinations of “seedy show biz”, especially in the traveling carnival. The attractions lure in the “rubes’ with promises of sex and, oddly, death (the Electric Girl could be “fried to a crisp’, but. wow, she’s almost in her “undies”). Though the pace bogs down a bit in the third act, the expert art direction, incredible costumes, and the superb cast makes this a truly wild, and wonderful, walk on the “wild side” via a jaunt through NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Now, move along folks…the exit is right this way…
3 Out of 4
NIGHTMARE ALLEY is now playing everywhere including the Hi-Pointe Theatre in St. Louis, MO
“Step right up and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe! Is he a man or beast? “
The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave in St. Louis), the best place in St. Louis to see movies! The Hi-Pointe has the best popcorn, the biggest screen, and a great beer selection! No reservations required at The Hi-Pointe. Just show up! uillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEYopens this Friday December 17th at The Hi-Pointe. They will be hosting advance screenings of NIGHTMARE ALLEYWednesda ythe 15th and Thursday the 16th at 7pm. The Hi-Pointe’s site can be found HERE
NIGHTMARE ALLEY tells the story of an ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words who hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is. Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY is a remake of a classic 1947 Film Noir that starred Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell.
Searchlight Pictures has released the brand-new trailer for director Guillermo del Toro’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY.
When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.
Good night nurse, what a cast Del Toro has put together. The filmmaker is best known for Hellboy, Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak as well as his Academy Award-winning fantasy films Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. He won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture in 2018 for The Shape of Water at the 90th Academy Awards. The fantasy film received 13 nominations.
The screenplay for NIGHTMARE ALLEY is by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan and based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham. The film’s score is from Nathan Johnson who was recently nominated for an Hollywood Music in Media Award.
