Tag: Alden Ehrenreich

WEAPONS – Review

As we get past the majority of Summer (Two months down, one to go before Labor Day), perhaps we can cool down a bit from the still sweltering temps by taking a trip into some Halloween-like fare at the multiplex. Why not, since this big cinema season kicked off with the jazz-loving bloodsuckers of SINNERS, and the trick ‘r’ treat supplies are starting to take over lots of retail shelf space (really, Walgreens). And speaking of those lil’ “candy-demanders”, this new flick utilizes them for the frights. Yeah, the movies have been showcasing scary kids for many decades. Wow, those blank-eyed British tots for VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED were in my “nightmare rotation” long before Regan MacNeil spewed pea soup in THE EXORCIST. Now an acclaimed horror director has mixed terror tykes with some small-town scandal and a big-time mystery in (the title is another puzzler) WEAPONS.


A soft-voiced pre-teen narrator introduces us to the town of Maybrrok, USA. Everything’s “off” at the elementary school (grades kindergarten through fifth) since seventeen of the students in Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class ran from their homes at 2:17 am and seemingly vanished into the night. No clues, no leads other than some front door security camera footage (eerily silent) of several fleeing in a weird way (arms sort of dangling dead at their sides). But Ms. Gandy still has one student left, the somber, stoic Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher). The police grill both of them, but they don’t provide any answers. The town’s parents aren’t satisfied with that and start hounding and harassing her, the loudest being home contractor Archer Graff (Josh Brolin). Flustered principal Andrew Marcus (Benedict Wong) tries to diffuse the tension, while Justine turns to booze, reality TV, and an old beau, now-married policeman Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich). But he has to deal with a drug-addled, thieving drifter named Anthony (Austin Abrams), who might know something about those missing kids. Ditto for the eccentric elderly aunt of Alex, the brightly garbed and heavily “made-up” (think Bozo in a tracksuit) Gladys (Amy Madigan). Can any of these victims and suspects lead to the location of those dearly missed children? And what sinister forces compelled them to disappear?

Adding her considerable acting chops to another spooky scenario, Ms. Garner (fresh off the surfboard in the F4 flick) brings a compelling vulnerability to the shunned Ms. Gandy. But we see that she’s no quivering victim. Garner also gives her a tough outer shell as she ventures out of her comfort zone, rather than cocooning in her home or “hoteling” miles away, she stands her ground against her accusers. Yeah, she can “blow off some steam” as she ignites a “former flame”. Now, not all the parents of “the missing” are shrill harpies. Brolin projects another kind of strength that somehow remains despite her crushing grief, spending nearly sleepless nights in his boy’s bedroom. We also see the anguish taking a toll on his work. Then Brolin shifts into the proactive mode, as Archer uses his work skills to follow a chancy lead. As that “flame” Paul, Ehrenreich conveys a man on the “edge”, desperate to stay on the right path, but frustrated by not only the “kid case”, but having to deal with a now listless marriage, then trudge to deal with his father-in-law (the Chief of Police) at work. He aims some of that anger at Abrams, who brings a nice twitchy energy to the “small potatoes” criminal nuisance. Kudos to the strong performance by the gifted young Christopher, who makes Alex a sad enigma, briskly trudging to and from the school where he somehow escaped that chaotic night. Also quite good is Wong as the school’s overseer, pushing back against the panic while trying to hold in his own worries and concerns. The bravest, nuanced work may be from screen vet Madigan, who makes the clown-like Gladys a lot more than a senior citizen caricature, projecting a quiet, menacing mania in every encounter.

Following up his surprise horror hit from 2022, BARBARIAN, writer/director Zach Cregger, has cooked up a delicious premise, building on the remarkable visuals of the kids almost gliding from their cozy suburban homes into a dark oblivion. He keeps us on our toes with his non-linear storytelling style, relaying info in chapters named after the characters, shifting the timeline, and often repeating scenes from different angles and viewpoints. And as with most thrillers, he piles on the shocks with lots of nightmares, with “was that actually real” payoffs. Yes, the “jump scares” work without much of the usual reliance on sound mixing (though it’s good along with the cinematography that works well in both night and day). It’s such an inspired “how” and “whodunit”, full of tension and suspense, that the final act resolution doesn’t have the strength of the “setup” and the small town “sinning”. Without giving anything away, I keep wondering if the final moments were going for horror or for humor (it can be a thin line between the two), making me question the filmmaker’s true intentions. Sure, there’s nervous laughter early on, but the titters in the finale could have leaked over from the theater next door running THE NAKED GUN. Still, the big ending veers away from the now-standard “wrap-ups” in genre flicks, so that’s to be applauded along with the cast and the overall feeling of dread and gloom hanging over these cursed villagers. For fans of these flicks, it quickens the pulse, but a convoluted third act somewhat muffles the considerable “firepower” of WEAPONS.

3 Out of 4

WEAPONS is now playing in theatres everywhere

Listen To The Score For WEAPONS By Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay And Zach Cregger Before Seeing The Movie This Weekend

WaterTower Music has announced the release of the Weapons (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), featuring an original score by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, and filmmaker Zach Cregger.

The highly anticipated horror/thriller from New Line Cinema, Weapons will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and hits theaters and IMAX nationwide on August 8, 2025, with international release beginning August 6.

The soundtrack is available digitally now. Vinyl & CD will be available for Pre-Order starting 8/8 through Waxwork Records. The LP features deluxe packaging that includes colored vinyl, heavyweight gatefold jackets, custom artwork, and a premium 3D lenticular cover.

Unusually for a modern production, composing for Weapons began as soon as editing commenced. The Holladay brothers relocated to New York and set up their scoring suite just steps away from the editorial and VFX teams—allowing for a uniquely fluid, collaborative process. Music was integrated directly into the evolving picture, resulting in a score that was organically built alongside the film itself, with minimal reliance on temp tracks.

“Having known Zach since childhood and played together in a band (Sirhan Sirhan), we had a musical shorthand that helped us to work quickly,” explains Hays Holladay.

“Zach really wanted us to be there throughout the post-production process, so we flew to New York soon after filming wrapped and were part of the edit for the next five months. And because we started so early, the three of us were constructing the score as the edit was still coming together. So, Zach would jump between our room, the VFX room and the edit. As a result, there was hardly any temp score throughout the process, so even in the very first test screenings, it was all original music we were making.”

“We went to New York with three suitcases full of synths, sound sculptures and samplers and built everything just a few steps down the hall from where they were creating the visual effects and editing the picture. The process felt like the opposite of working remotely – we were having lunch with the whole post-production crew every day.”

When it came to crafting the score and building the tension, mystery and musical disorientation, Ryan Holladay had this to say:

“We wanted to create a score that felt intense and energetic when it needed to be, but also captured the mystery and the longing for answers that runs throughout the story without overstaying its welcome. In some cases, it took a few tries to get the tone right. One instance that comes to mind is ‘The Flight,’ which happens in the big running scene where you finally see where all the kids are headed. We tried a few attempts, going dramatic and sweeping at first. But in the end, what connected was something that feels, to me, like ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ meets Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops.’ It’s very unsettling.”

Weapons (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Tracklisting:
1. Maddie
2. Main Theme (from Weapons)
3. Who’s There?
4. Following
5. Newspaper
6. Don’t You Find It Odd?
7. What Could’ve Happened
8. Nightmares
9. Snip
10. Daybreak
11. Troubled Person
12. Where Are You?
13. Map
14. Waiting Game
15. Gasoline
16. Stop Right There
17. Serious Hot Water
18. Donna
19. James
20. Room to Room
21. What Did I Tell You?
22. On a Mission
23. Drag
24. I Think She Cut My Hair
25. Gasoline II
26. Homesickness
27. Are You Watching?
28. Campbell’s
29. If I Got Better
30. Nametag
31. The Flight
32. Into the Lair
33. One Shot
34. Locked
35. Swarm (feat. Mary Lattimore)
36. I Found You


From New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons.

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at 2:17 a.m., a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.

Cregger directs from his own screenplay, and also produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, with Michelle Morrissey and Josh Brolin executive producing. The filmmaker’s creative team behind the camera includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, production designer Tom Hammock, editor Joe Murphy and costume designer Trish Summerville. The music is by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Zach Cregger.

New Line Cinema Presents A Subconscious/Vertigo Entertainment/BoulderLight Pictures Production, A Zach Cregger Film, Weapons. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in theaters and IMAX nationwide on August 8, 2025, and internationally beginning August 6, 2025.

https://www.maybrookmissing.com

Watch The Second Trailer For WEAPONS – Get Ready For A Horrifying Ride And Go To maybrookmissing.com For More Info

2025 has been filled with some great horror movies! From the recent 28 YEARS LATER and SINNERS, to PRESENCE, FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES and ASH, just to name a few, now comes the highly anticipated WEAPONS.

Warner Bros. Pictures has dropped a new trailer that gives us a few more clues into the mysterious story, along with some terrifying new scenes. This looks so GOOD!!

What’s with the creepy eyes!!

Head over to the site: https://www.maybrookmissing.com/

From New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons.

In the April 2025 EW interview with the director, he says: Similar to Barbarian, a surface-level logline description about missing kids is but the tip of a massive and wildly complex iceberg.

“That mystery is going to propel you through at least half of the movie, but that is not the movie,” the filmmaker divulges. “The movie will fork and change and reinvent and go in new places. It doesn’t abandon that question, believe me, but that’s not the whole movie at all. By the midpoint, we’ve moved on to way crazier s— than that.”

https://ew.com/weapons-first-look-barbarian-follow-up-julia-garner-josh-brolin-zach-cregger-exclusive-11721483

Photo by Quantrell Colbert/JOSH BROLIN as Archer in New Line Cinema’s “Weapons,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.

Cregger directs from his own screenplay, and also produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, with Michelle Morrissey and Josh Brolin executive producing. The filmmaker’s creative team behind the camera includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, production designer Tom Hammock, editor Joe Murphy and costume designer Trish Summerville. The music is by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Zach Cregger.

New Line Cinema Presents A Subconscious/Vertigo Entertainment/BoulderLight Pictures Production, A Zach Cregger Film, Weapons. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in theaters and IMAX nationwide on August 8, 2025, and internationally beginning 6 August 2025.

FAIR PLAY (2023) – Review

Now what would be more cozy on a brisk Fall evening than a film about an office romance? Y’know, just like Pam and Jim on that TV sitcom set in the previously mentioned locale. The flirting, the smoldering glances, and the eventual declarations of affection. Ah, but what if employee intimate relationships are frowned upon, or just plain verboten, at the company? That too has been fodder for sitcoms like “The People’s Choice” and “Occasional Wife” and…I’m really, really aging myself. In this week’s new release, that notion isn’t played for laughs as the stakes are truly high. So, if all’s fair in “love and war”, then what could truly be considered FAIR PLAY when the “going gets tough” and desperate?


This tale starts with the story’s main couple full of the excitement of, often physically exhausting, romance. Twenty-somethings Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) twirl away from the dance floor of a wedding reception into the ladies’ lavatory! They don’t get “busted”, instead Luke “pops the question”. Emily gives him an excited “yes”, but insists that they keep it “under wraps” for a bit (except for their folks). The passion continues at the NYC apartment they share, allowing themselves a brief slumber before they get to work. The duo go their separate ways out of the subway. Luke arrives at the headquarters of the hedge fund firm One Crest Capital and hops into an elevator. Before the doors close, Emily also jumps in. Ah, they both work at OCC, which has a no “inter-office romance” policy (they hope to “prepare” everyone, and maybe have a “back-up plan”, before “coming clean). At their desks (several feet apart), the two, along with the rest of the staff, observe the firing of an MP (management partner) who has disappointed OCC’s tyrannical owner Campbell (Eddie Marsan). As the former MP is led away, Emily overhears some “scuttlebutt”, which she passes on to Luke: he’s next in line for the vacated spot. That night in the apartment is celebratory, only interrupted by constant nuptial calls from Emily’s abrasive mum. Finally, an important call comes through from one of the other MPs at OCC. Emily needs to join him at the preferred “watering hole”. Though it’s late she jumps in a cab, and enters the pub, but can’t find him. Oh oh, she does see Campbell. Joining him for “last call”, he offers her the MP job. She giddily accepts, but how will Luke react? Can he handle being passed over…for her? And can their engagement handle this added stress, or will “love conquer all”?

After her breakout role on the Netflix streaming sensation “Bridgerton”, Ms. Dynevor confidently dives into a most modern romance, as a woman doing her best to balance her personal and professional lives. Her Emily is smart and savvy, but never cutthroat as she tries to maneuver through the big business “boys club”. Through Dyvenor’s darting eyes and hesitant line delivery, she conveys that Emily is “weighing her words” She tiptoes, briskly, through that stock market minefield. Somehow she seems to be most careful and deliberate in her dealing with her true “partner” Luke. It’s great to see that the engaging Mr. Ehrenreich has bounced back professionally from the box office “drubbing” he endured after trying to fill some big “space boots” as Chewy’s co-pilot. Only a few months ago he shined as part of the big OPPENHEIMER ensemble, Ehrenreich utilizes that leading man charisma as the likable Luke who believes he can keep treading water and evading “the sharks”. We’re rooting for him even as we can almost smell Luke’s sweaty desperation as he strains to make the “big score” in order to be on the same level as his lady love. But can anyone keep their cool when they’re on the receiving end of a dead-eyed glare from the thuggish Campbell, played by the always impressive Mr. Marsan? He’s the seething barrel of venom as he appears to sniff out weakness and failure in his “fiefdom”. At his side is the cold-blooded sycophant, and “hatchet-man” Paul played with creepy passive-aggressive spite by with equal evil banality by Rich Sommer, in quite a change from his affable “Mad Men” role. Speaking of that classic series, one of his co-stars, Patrick Fischler has a tasty cameo as a self-help guru who seems to be throwing out a life preserver to the floundering Luke.


This modern cautionary fable marks the feature film debut of TV series veteran writer/director Chloe Domont. She has an excellent ear for workplace dialogue, matched by the quieter scenes after hours. Domont keeps the action and exchanges in low light, giving the film a claustrophobic and often intimate aura. This makes the greatest impact in those moments of raw passion, whether Emily and Luke are exploring each other’s bodies or verbally hammering away at their inner demons. Some viewers may feel quite queasy by the sexual content, but the intense emotions may prove the most unsettling. Fragile egos and ambition prove to be the true destroyers of this couple. This makes the story’s final act so frustrating as the lead characters go “off the rails” while these big “blow-ups” have consequences that don’t mesh with the established setting. And then it sputters with a final encounter that feels exploitive and violent (from verbal to visceral). The actors are compelling while in the political “Thunderdome” of Wall Street, but the script’s collapse will have many screaming foul play at the uneven FAIR PLAY.

2.5 Out of 4

FAIR PLAY is now playing in select theatres and is streaming exclusively on Netflix

Cast And Filmmakers Discuss The Experience Of OPPENHEIMER In New Six-Minute Featurette

There was a chance that when they pushed that button, they’d destroy the world.

Get a behind-the-scenes, six minute look at OPPENHEIMER with Christopher Nolan, the cast and filmmakers.

Experience the movie on the largest screen possible July 21.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.

The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Academy Award® nominee Florence Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano plays Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence. Oppenheimer also stars Oscar® winner Rami Malek and reunites Nolan with eight-time Oscar® nominated actor, writer and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh.

The cast includes Dane DeHaan (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Dylan Arnold (Halloween franchise), David Krumholtz (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises).

L to R: Florence Pugh is Jean Tatlock and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

© Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan.

OPPENHEIMER is filmed in a combination of IMAX® 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analogue photography.

Nolan’s films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations.

OPPENHEIMER, written and directed by Christopher Nolan

COCAINE BEAR – Review

As the forced hibernation of an often (in some parts of the US) ends lots of folks, besides the college kids, are making plans for the big “Spring break”. Aside from hitting the beaches, a good percentage will haul out the camping gear and make their journey into the woods to commune with Mother Nature. Oh, but what if “mama’ is not very welcome, especially those animal residents? These “humans vs. the wild” showdowns have been film thriller fodder for decades with the “king” JAWS, FROGS, NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY, and DAY OF THE ANIMALS, And you remember how THE REVENANT grabbed a load of Oscars in 2015. Perhaps its most shocking scene pitted the story’s hero against a ferocious bear (the producers tagged as “Judy”). Now she was protecting her cubs, while the title star of this new flick, which is “inspired by true events” has a very different motivating “fuel”. This tale’s forest is truly frightening because it’s the lair of the COCAINE BEAR (sniff)!


This weird bit of recent legend begins in the hard-partying year of 1985 when a drug smuggler tosses dozens of duffel bags full of bars of blow out of his rapidly descending twin-engine plane (gotta’ lighten the load). Oh, but he still crashes in Tennessee, which sends a local narcotics officer on a mission. Bob (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) believes it’s connected to a St. Louis drug kingpin named Syd (Ray Liotta). And he’s right since Syd has assigned his best “muscle” Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Syd’s depressed son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) to head to Chattahoochee River National Park, home of Blood Mountain, to recover the “merch”. As the cop and the “crew” hit the trail, a good deal of the “product’ has been consumed by a rampaging black bear, about which the locals are clueless. That includes the park’s oblivious ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and “nature advocate” Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Also in the dark is single mom Sari (Keri Russell), who heads off to her nursing job as her preteen daughter Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) joins her pal, the nervous Henry (Christian Convery) for a day of “hookey” in the nearby park to “paint the rainbow”. Throw in a trio of local toughs (a gang dubbed “The Duchamps”), and that over-medicated ursine predator could enjoy a tasty buffet, once he mellows out (if ever).

As you might’ve guessed, this is pretty much a raucous rowdy farce, which the talented cast fully embraces. However, a couple of the actors also get a chance to flex their dramatic “chops”, especially Russell as the struggling single mom who has to channel her own inner “mama bear’ to find her only child. She conveys the spirit of an average woman suddenly facing down her fears. And then there’s Jackson’s Daveed, who begins to see the despair of his henchman role as he must become a big brother to Ehrenreich’s Eddie, who’s going down for the “third time’ as the grief over his wife’s recent passing suffocates his spirit. Their adversary is the engaging Whitlock as Bob, the low-level cop determined to finally capture his “white whale”, Syd played with grit and gusto parodying his iconic gangster roles by the much missed Liotta in his final film performance. The comic MVP might be Martindale as the gruff, Yosemite Sam-like ranger with a short fuse and an itchy “hair trigger” temper. Ferguson also scores some laughs as the “tree hugger” who is ill-prepared for the full fury of the forest. Kudos also to the comic duo of Kristofer Hivju and Hannah Hoekstra as the Nordic hikers who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time (“Ve are lucky wit’ nature!”). Ditto for the “kids in peril”, Prince as the sassy, smart Dee Dee, and Convery as the “desperate-to-seem-cool” Henry.

With this, her third feature film, actress Elizabeth Banks is proving to be an equally talented director. She keeps the pace brisk, spacing the frantic action sequences with bits of character dialogue, giving us a chance to catch our breath before the beast strikes. Sure, this is almost a live-action cartoon, though closer in spirit to the old EC horror comics (this story would make Dr. Wertham’s eyeglasses shatter) like “Tales From the Crypt”, with several of the characters enduring Wile E. Coyote-style injuries, though they lack his “rejuvenating skills”. However, Banks doesn’t go for the splatter stuff too much, perhaps to make it a bit more “kid friendly” (but it’s really not a family flick). Those audiences jazzed by the high (oops) concept title are getting just what they want, but at around 95 minutes it begins to feel a bit forced. much like an extra-long SNL sketch stretched to feature length (I could almost hear Chevy’s “…land shark.”). Plus there’s a nagging feeling throughout that the producers really want this to be a “super-sized” and big-budget “midnight movie” to inspire a cult (maybe wearing big furs to showings), and trying to be “edgy” (really, ten-year-olds dropping “F-bombs”). But the “core demographic’ will be pleased with the CGI “mo-cap” critters, even as the star gets revived by the “nose candy’ much as Popeye did with the smell of spinach (I’m aging myself). So, if you’re in the mood for a campy horror comedy, the best “pick-me-up” may be the chemically chaotic COCAINE BEAR (so he snorts and s*#ts in the woods).

2.5 Out of 4

COCAINE BEAR is now playing in theatres everywhere

Win Passes To The St. Louis Advance Screening Of COCAINE BEAR

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500- pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow … and blood.

Cocaine Bear stars Keri Russell (The Americans), O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (BlacKkKlansman), Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones), Hannah Hoekstra (2019’s Charlie’s Angels) and Aaron Holliday (Sharp Objects), with with Emmy winner Margo Martindale (The Americans) and Emmy winner Ray Liotta (The Many Saints of Newark).

Directed by Elizabeth Banks (Charlie’s Angels, Pitch Perfect 2) from a screenplay by Jimmy Warden (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), Cocaine Bear is produced by Oscar® winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, The Mitchells vs. The Machines) for Lord Miller, Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect franchise) and Max Handelman (Pitch Perfect franchise) for Brownstone Productions, Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) for Jurassic Party Productions and Aditya Sood (The Martian) for Lord Miller. The film is executive produced by Robin Mulcahy Fisichella, Alison Small and Nikki Baida.

COCAINE BEAR Opens In Theaters February 24.

https://www.cocainebear.movie/

Advance Screening is February 22 at the Alamo Drafthouse at 7pm. Winners will be chosen on the 20th at 5pm.

The screening will be filled on a first come first served basis, so we encourage you to arrive early. Seats will not be guaranteed. Rated R.

Enter at the link below.

SWEEPSTAKES LINK: http://gofobo.com/QbJmr28657

Get Ready For COCAINE BEAR! You Won’t Believe This Trailer!!

On a rampage for blow and blood. Meet COCAINE BEAR.

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500- pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow … and blood.

COCAINE BEAR stars Keri Russell (The Americans), O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Christian Convery-Jennings (Sweet Tooth), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (BlacKkKlansman), Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones), Hannah Hoekstra (2019’s Charlie’s Angels) and Aaron Holliday (Sharp Objects), with with Emmy winner Margo Martindale (The Americans) and Emmy winner Ray Liotta (The Many Saints of Newark).

Check out the trailer now!

Directed by Elizabeth Banks (Charlie’s Angels, Pitch Perfect 2) from a screenplay by Jimmy Warden (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), Cocaine Bear is produced by Oscar® winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, The Mitchells vs. The Machines) for Lord Miller, Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect franchise) and Max Handelman (Pitch Perfect franchise) for Brownstone Productions, Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) for Jurassic Party Productions and Aditya Sood (The Martian) for Lord Miller. The film is executive produced by Robin Mulcahy Fisichella, Alison Small and Nikki Baida. 

COCAINE BEAR is in theaters February 24.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – Review

As the Marvel Heroes “space-hop” to thwart the master plan of Thanos, another Disney acquisition beckons film fans to return to that “galaxy, far, far away’, you know the one that doesn’t have Guardians. Wow, ease up on those thrusters, this is Spring (though it feels like Summer). Aren’t those high-tech fantasies released near the start of Winter, usually a dozen or so days from Christmas? Those clever movie marketers have decided to launch this flick on another holiday. Yes it’s Memorial Day weekend, but it’s also a special day near and most dear to film geeks and nerds the world over. You see, this May 25th is the forty-first anniversary of the (then limited) theatrical release of STAR WARS, now tagged as EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE. Movies would never really be the same after that Friday in 1977. This is apropos since the new release focuses in on the origins of a beloved character from that iconic flick. That’s because it’s not one of the canonical “episodes”, so no Rey, Finn, and Poe for another 18 months or so. No, it’s the second of the “Star Wars Anthology” films, the first being that critical and box office smash of 2016, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. It was a “one-off”, a prequel expanding on an incident mentioned in Episode IV. This year’s “spin-off” isn’t really a “one-shot’, but possibly the start of a new franchise all set in the past of that smuggling “scoundrel”, or “scruffy Nerf-herder”, our man Han in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY.

 

After a brief introduction, we’re plunged into the action as teenage Han (Alden Ehrenreich) “hot wires” a “hover car” and tries to evades some crooks he’s just double-crossed. The young orphan, along with countless others, tries to survive under the thumb (or is it a tentacle) of crime syndicate boss Lady Proxima. After an altercation with her goons, Han escapes with his lady love Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), while more thugs try to prevent them from getting to the massive transport ship about to leave the planet. Ah but now they must get past entrance gate that’s manned by the Empire (you know, the one that struck back). But fate can be cruel to young lovers, and the two are separated. As she’s dragged away, Qi’ra pleads with Han to keep going on. Our hero vows that he’ll return to her after amassing a fortune as the best pilot ever. But where will he get the training? He signs up with same Empire (say it ain’t so). But Han is no model stormtrooper. On the battlefield he realizes that a fearless soldier is actually the boss of a smuggling ring. After escaping certain death and dismemberment at the hands, er paws, of a hungry wookie named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Han and his new furry friend join that same bandit named Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his cohorts on a train heist. They’re out to steal a car full of power fuel on a snowy mountain-filled planet, then deliver it to the head of the mob called the “Crimson Dawn” that’s run by the ruthless Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). Beckett’s plans are thwarted by a group of pirates and the cargo car is destroyed. Dryden is furious, and as his men are about to shoot Beckett’s crew, Han comes up with a new plan. They’ll steal the unrefined fuel from a less fortified mining planet, process it at another factory, and deliver it to the angry gangster. It’s a deal. As he begins this new job, Han rekindles a romance as he meets the legendary space swashbuckler, Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and hops aboard his prized ship, the equally famous Millennium Falcon.

 

 

The big question for most fans has been, “How’s the new guy (or kid, depending on the fan’s age)?”. Followed by, “Can he fill Ford’s shoes?”. As if anyone could measure up to the coolest cat in the cosmos. Well, Ehrenreich’s really putting forth an effort. Yes, a near impossible task, and though he had charm to spare in 2016’s HAIL, CAESAR (his scene with Ralph Fiennes may be the highlight of that flick), Mr. E comes up short. I know this isn’t the same guy that was cracking wise with Luke and Leia in that golden trilogy, but there’s nothing compelling about this scrappy hustler. He works best in the film’s first act as the urchin yearning for greatness as the best “star pilot”. Unfortunately by the big finale’ his bluffing and bluster become tiresome. The lack of a real spark between Han and Qi’ra doesn’t help. Of course, it’s impossible to become really invested in this romance knowing that Han’s one true love is so many years in the future. Canon insists that it must end somehow. Clarke is convincing as the scared girl on the run that’s transformed by fate years later into a tough noirish femme fatale, but the script never really tells us what changed her. . Harrelson’s grizzled tough-talking mentor is a sober variation of his Hamish role from the HUNGER GAMES franchise, with a much better toupee, but he’s mired with conflicting motivations. At one point it looks as though he’ll make Han part of the family he’s creating with accomplice/lover Val (The terrific Thandie Newton in a far too brief appearance), but that’s tossed aside during the next big “score”. Bettany does his own take on the sophisticated gentleman kingpin who can turn on a dime into a brutal enforcer, his facial scratches giving us more of a hint of the ugliness within his heart. Phoebe Waller-Bridge provides some needed comic relief as pilot droid L3-37 who dishes out verbal put-downs as she tauts “robot equality” (though the similar K-2S0 voiced by Alan Tudyk had more of a brutal comic edge). So who’s good, no great, in this flick? Why that’s easy, almost “childish”. The casting of Glover as the smoothest dude in space was truly inspired. His drawling slow line delivery, with his eyes always at “half-mast”, Lando is the movie’s secret weapon, particularly when his curtain of cool is pulled back to reveal the devious con man beneath the colorful capes. Now here’s a character, and an actor, that truly deserves his own “spin-off” franchise.

 

This may be the Star Wars flick with the most turmoil behind the scenes. The media was put on high alert when original directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord (THE LEGO MOVIE) were shockingly ousted weeks into production and quickly replaced by Ron Howard. We’ll never know Miller and Lord’s spin on this space saga , but you can’t help but wonder. Howard has a had a rough last few years, but his work here is not in the same league as the dismal Dan Brown trilogy, nor the flops THE DILEMMA or IN THE HEART OF THE SEA. But it’s not close to the heights of RUSH or CINDERELLA MAN either. After an interesting opening half hour, the story chugs and sputters toward a big showdown full of annoying, aggravating triple and quadruple crosses. This is more the fault of the script from Lucasfilm vet Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathon, which tries to check off a list of Han’s future quirks and props much like the unending list of pop culture references in READY PLAYER ONE. Fans can revel in these (oh, that’s his blaster…and he speaks “wookie”) while the story bounces from one planet to the next, many in close to total darkness (can’t imagine how dull it’ll look upconverted to 3D). This is truly frustrating in the opening scenes. The credits are filled with loads of talented artists and craftspeople whose work can barely be seen! Despite the marvelous performance by Glover, this back story is nearly devoid of any real spark of life, though it’s an interesting break from the Jedi/Force subplot that nearly smothered the recent episode THE LAST JEDI (no Sith, though a couple of pseudo lightsabers flicker). Speaking of former entries, this is miles beyond that turgid trilogy, episodes one thru three, but nowhere close to the moving spectacle of ROGUE ONE. This title could be prophetic. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY may be solitary indeed, “one and done”. Ah, but we’ll always have the fabulous Ford’s four flicks.

 

3 Out of 5

 

Buy Your Tickets for SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY Today! Here’s a Brand-New Clip

Tickets for SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY are now on sale everywhere tickets are sold. For more information about in-theater events and giveaways visit StarWars.com.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY opens in U.S. theaters on May 25,  2018.

Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo befriends his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and meets the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.

Check out this new clip:

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY stars Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, and Paul Bettany.

Ron Howard directs “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are the producers. Lawrence Kasdan, Jason McGatlin, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller serve as executive producers. Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay.