Apple Original Films has unveiled the trailer for the upcoming romantic drama ALL OF YOU, starring Emmy Award winner Brett Goldstein, Imogen Poots, Steven Cree, Zawe Ashton and Jenna Coleman.
Best friends since college, Simon (Goldstein) and Laura (Poots) drift apart when she takes a test that finds her soulmate despite years of unspoken feelings between them. Over the years, as their paths cross and diverge, neither can deny the feeling that they’ve missed out on a life together. Faced with the uncertainty of changing the course of their lives, are Simon and Laura willing to risk everything to experience the love that had been between them all along, or should they accept their fate? “All of You” explores whether one person can ever be your everything in this humorous and heart-wrenching romantic drama.
Co-written by Goldstein and Emmy Award winner William Bridges (“Black Mirror”), who also makes his directorial debut, and hailing from MRC, the Apple Original Film “All of You” is produced by Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett. Bridges and Goldstein also produce, with Alexander Black and Jon Rosenberg serving as executive producers.
ALL OF YOU is in Select Theaters and on Apple TV+ September 26.
See Michelle Pfeiffer in her Golden Globe-nominated performance in FRENCH EXIT, now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
“My plan was to die before the money ran out,” says 60-year-old, penniless Manhattan socialite Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), but things didn’t go as planned. Her husband, Franklin, has been dead for 12 years. With his vast inheritance gone, she cashes in the last of her possessions and resolves to live out her twilight days anonymously in a borrowed apartment in Paris, accompanied by her directionless son, Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), and a cat named Small Frank—who may or may not embody the spirit of Frances’ dead husband.
BLU-RAY, DVD AND DIGITAL BONUS MATERIALS
Deleted and Extended Scenes
FRENCH EXIT stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Valerie Mahaffey, Imogen Poots, Susan Coyne, Danielle MacDonald, Isaach de Bankolé and Tracy Letts
NOMINATED FOR SIX ACADEMY AWARDS – WINNER OF ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (ANTHONY HOPKINS) AND WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY) – Available on Digital today and to Own on Blu-ray May 18th
A man (Anthony Hopkins) refuses all assistance from his daughter (Olivia Colman) as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.
BLU-RAY, DVD AND DIGITAL BONUS MATERIALS
Deleted Scenes
Homecoming: Making THE FATHER
Perception Check: Portrait of THE FATHER
CAST AND CREW Directed By: Florian Zeller Screenplay By: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller Based on the Play “The Father” By: Florian Zeller Producers: Christophe Spadone, Simon Friend, David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, Philippe Carcassonne Executive Producers: Héloïse Spadone, Alessandro Mauceri, Lauren Dark, Ollie Madden, Daniel Battsek, Tim Haslam, Hugo Grumbar, Paul Grindey Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams
Hey, have you “re-couped” after last week’s virtual comic trek along the East Coast, which despite its title I didn’t consider at all a BAD TRIP? Feeling a bit more adventurous, enough to leave the good ole’ US of A? Well, the “Silver Screen Travel Agency’ has an excursion that might be the cure to your “lock-down” laments. Let’s get those virtual bags re-packed, ’cause the movies are taking us over Spring Break to one of the jewels of Europe, Oh and you’ll be in the company of one of the true cinema goddesses, a talented beauty who has mesmerized movie audiences for five decades now. Quite a “clincher”, eh? She’s our guide and a teacher who can train us on how to execute the perfect FRENCH EXIT.
But before we meet her character, we’re first introduced to her movie son. Malcolm Price (Lucas Hedges) is part of Manhattan’s elite, a drifting twenty-something who can’t be bothered with employment, which would take time away from his “non-committal” relationship with the ever-patient Susan (Imogen Poots). In a flashback, we learn that his big parental influencer is his eccentric glamorous mother Frances (Michelle Pfieffer). He became her constant companion soon after the passing of his father, her hubby Franklin. That’s when she scooped up pre-teen Malcolm and “busted” him out of a snooty prep school. And now things are going to change. After constant pleading with her, the family accountant informs Frances that Franklin’s “financial legacy” has almost evaporated. What to do now? Luckily a close friend offers a radical solution. After liquidating the assets of the plush Price NYC home, Frances and Malcolm can live in the spacious apartment she keeps in Paris. After Malcolm dismisses Susan over the phone, he joins his mother at the harbor loading gate. If they can smuggle in their family’s newest addition, a pet black cat that Frances insists is Franklin reincarnated (it speaks to her in his voice, which sounds just like actor/playwriter Tracy Letts), the two will travel across the Atlantic in a luxury cruise ship. Onboard, Malcolm has a romantic fling with the ship’s “entertainer”, Madeline the Medium (Danielle Macdonald). Upon arrival, the Prices occupy their temporary, loaned new home. Soon they begin collecting a group of new friends and acquaintances including another displaced American, Mme Reynard (Valerie Mahaffey), and quiet intellectual Julius (Isaach De Bankole). Eventually, their lush apartment will include the fired Madeline and Malcolm’s ex Susan who brings along her annoyed preppy boyfriend Tom (Daniel di Tomasso) in her quest for “closure”. They’re all part of the new world that Frances has made for herself and her son.
Since her film roles have been a tad sporadic (sometimes a new project every other year) and of a supporting nature (a small part of the Marvel Studios flicks), Ms. Pfeiffer’s decision to take the lead in this current release is ample cause for celebration. The camera still adores her, helping to draw us in to savor her impeccable line delivery as she recalls the charisma of the icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Although she’s always a delight, Frances is just not worthy of her precious time and talents. Perhaps she’s intended as a modern “spin” on the unconventional matriarch in AUNTIE MAME, but the widowed Price is often a spiteful indulgent arrested adolescent. She seems to aimlessly drift from one situation to the next, her half-opened eyes hidden in a perpetual cloud of cigarette smoke. Pfieffer deserves so much more. The character’s casual irresponsibility extends to her son Malcolm who seems to be in a near-constant stupor, an accessory to Frances’ chic fashion ensemble. Hedges plays him with a cool disaffected demeanor but feels too detached. Hopefully, Mr. Hedges will tell his “people” to pass on another role as the escort of an actress “of a certain age” as they embark on an ocean cruise (feels like we just saw him with Meryl Streep in LET THEM ALL TALK). It’s hard to understand his “fling” with Madeline, a character that drains the delightful energy and infectious charm of the usually compelling Ms. Macdonald. At least she fares better than Poots who does her best to bring life to Malcolm’s ex Susan whose intense devotion is so puzzling. A similar loyalty engulfs Mme. Reynard, a character who’s little more than a doormat for the Price duo, and doesn’t make use of the deft comic skills of Mahaffey.
Director Azazel Jacobs makes excellent use of the locations, beginning in NYC, highlighting the excesses of the cruise ship before the wonders of Paris. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to inject much energy into the meandering script by Patrick DeWitt, who adapts his novel. They want us to embrace the Price family as nonconformist rebels who push against those boring “norms”, but the two really come off as spoiled brats sneering at the “worker drones”: the family accountant, the school headmaster, and a hapless waiter (Frances actually starts a fire at the dining table). This attitude is countered by Frances treating the street dwellers as nobility, showering the panhandlers with cash that could be used to reimburse those that have extended a hand to them (living rent-free, for instance). And though Pfieffer can be a truly delightful diva (still the best movie Catwoman ever), after spending nearly two hours with the Prices, you’ll be more than ready to make a hasty FRENCH EXIT.
1.5 Out of 4
FRENCH EXIT opens in select theatres everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas and the Hi-Pointe Theatre on Friday, April 2, 2021.
With Spring and its school semester breaks looming, the studios are flooding our few operating theatres and streaming apps with lots of frothy fares, from kids’ animated fantasies to “brand-name” comedy sequels and prequels. But we’re not quite done with more somber serious offerings, as the biggest movie award is still several weeks away. That’s an apt description for this stark family drama, whose major themes are so familiar to so many today. But as the pandemic shuffles along, a huge invisible fence has been placed between loved ones in crisis. This dilemma concerns the loss of an elder, not from a swift reaper’s strike, or even a slow shutdown of physical functions. Rather it’s an achingly slow mental dissolve into darkness. And in this new work, that cruel fate is reserved for the family patriarch, THE FATHER.
The title character in question is Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), a retired literary man in his early 80s who seems quite content in an opulent apartment overlooking a quiet English village. He’s preparing a nice spot of tea after a grocery run when a noise has him reaching for a kitchen blade. Ah, but it’s only his middle-aged daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman), who has dropped in for a visit and will probably try to get him to sell his beloved comfy “flat”. But she has somewhat of a bombshell, as she informs him of her intent to move to France with her boyfriend. As Anne putters about in another room, he goes into his den and discovers a mysterious man (Mark Gatiss) reading the paper. Upon questioning him (and bluffing away his responses), “Tony” is informed that the “reader” is Anne’s hubby, who is the actual owner of the place. Anthony’s at a loss at to the cause of his confusion, until the private conversation between Anne and her husband reveals that “father” is battling dementia and is losing grip on reality, unable to recall his own circumstances, as the past morphs into the present. One afternoon Anne brings in a twenty-something woman named Laura (Imogen Poots) for a casual interview (to be her dad’s live-in caregiver). Laura is at first charmed by Anthony’s antics (he does a lil’ “soft shoe”) until he begins a vicious verbal assault. As Laura hurriedly exits, Anne nearly gives in to despair as another unfamiliar (to father) face appears, the pragmatic Paul (Rufus Sewell). Eventually, Anne dissolves into a woman (Olivia Williams) whose brusk demeanor adds to Anthony’s near-constant state of agitated panic. Will his waking nightmare ever end, or is this Anthony’s “new normal”?
In a film career now entering its seventh decade, Hopkins continues to astound and surprise, particularly in this, perhaps his most vulnerable and human character. His Anthony (interesting that the role takes his own first name) is proudly independent, keen on “getting things done”, though he realizes the need to get a bit of support from his family. But his anger often gets the best of him as his frustration boils into a fury, lashing out at those who care. He thinks he can escape his constant fog by the sheer force of his will, but his intellect fails him. In the heartbreaking final act, Anthony finally slides into childhood regression and fear. And even when his patriarch crosses the line, or gives in to selfish taunts (“Why would you go to France? They don’t even speak English there.”) Hopkins elicits compassion and his superb work captivates us. He has a most gifted scene partner in another Oscar-winner. Colman as Anne has a delicate balancing act, trying not to debase Anthony while gently steering him back into reality. And though she loses her patience, her affection for him is clear. This makes her conflicted feelings so agonizing. She wants to be there for him, but still wants to lead her own life. This is driven home by the two very different aspects of her “mate”: the affable Gatiss and the forceful and determined Sewell. A bright light of hope is illuminated by the radiant Poots as Laura. She makes us feel as though her nurturing spirit restores the glow to Anthony, who then ruthlessly snuffs out her “flame” by his bombastic insults. As his last act ‘angel”, Williams mixes the right amount of gentle compassion and clinical supervision for Anthony’s final “holiday”.
Filmmaker Florian Zeller directs this adaptation of his celebrated stage play (with screenplay assist from Christopher Hampton) with a gentle guiding hand. He never “sledgehammers” the tale’s tragic elements, but avoids “softsoaping” the emotional conflicts. He’s unafraid to show Anthony’s verbal nastiness, as his pride runs roughshod over those that help, especially Anne. And without showy camera tricks or effects, Zeller conveys that disorientation, as we, along with Anthony, have the “rug pulled out from under us” as recognized faces reveal a new identity or agenda. He’s a proud lion who is finally faced with the idea of being in a cage made by his mind. No matter how he claws and roars, these bars don’t budge. Sure, we can almost feel its stage origins, as the brunt of the action happens in the apartment living room and kitchen, but Zeller never makes the film claustrophobic. The story glides and soars on the wings of the gifted ensemble. This is indeed one tough trek, one that many of us will be part of someday if not now, but thanks to that cast and a sensitive script, THE FATHER is an emotional journey worth taking.
3 Out of 4
THE FATHER opens in select theatres everywhere on Friday March 12, 2021
Castle in the Ground Starring Alex Wolff (Hereditary, “The Naked Brothers Band”), Neve Campbell (Scream, “House of Cards”) and Imogen Poots (The Art of Self-Defense, Black Christmas) and from writer/director Joey Klein (The Other Half), the drama, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, will be available on demand on May 15th. Check out the new trailer:
A grieving teenager (Alex Wolff) befriends his charismatic but troubled next-door neighbor (Imogen Poots), only to become ensnared in a world of addiction and violence as the opioid epidemic takes hold of their small town.
CASTLE IN THE GROUND is Written & Directed by Joey Klein and stars Alex Wolff, Imogen Poots, Tom Cullen, with Keir Gilchrist and Neve Campbell.
VIVARIUM is now on Digital VOD and available on Blu-ray and DVD May 12th
Review by Stephen Tronicek
Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium takes place in an ever-expanding closed loop of a suburb called Yonder. In Yonder, all the houses look the same as something has been copied and pasted over. That’s a pretty good way of describing the film. Sadly, after a strong start, Vivarium soon starts to copy and paste elements of sci-fi horror onto a weak frame propped up by great actors playing noncharacters and some incredible production design.
That frame is built strongly at the start. Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) are a couple looking for a new house. When they are lead into the Yonder development, they are left in house #9…and they can’t leave. Soon, whatever is running the place leaves them a “child” to raise.
This is a really interesting premise, one that could either go the nasty simple route or one that could expand into trying to say something about the heavy-handed suburban themes that the film’s premise necessitates. Vivarium opts for the nasty simple route, which there’s nothing wrong with. Many films that take the nasty simple route to access wider thematic themes work out just fine. In fact, that may be the preferred route to do so…but the good ones have a clear escalation of conflict and actual characters at the center of them.
This is where Vivarium starts to fall apart. While the wonderfully hazy production design creates a solid mood, two of the best performers working today throw what they can at the material, and Finnegan lends some solid direction it becomes apparent by the hour mark that Vivarium doesn’t have an interest in an escalating sense of conflict. The middle act starts well enough but soon crumbles as the repetition starts to expand.
It doesn’t help that certain elements of the film feel rehashed. The suburban imagery, the still hypnotic framing that doesn’t ask us to engage with the characters, and the creepy but sparse score all suggest better sci-fi horror films. By the time the film drags itself into the third act, it goes full-tilt in a way that seems overdone and far more terrifying elsewhere, even if the actors try to sell it.
Vivarium certainly tries its best to outrun the story problems at its center but it can’t quite. Instead of creepy and alive, it feels stagnant and reheated. By the time you get to the top of the frame, there’s nothing there. The final images of the film only seem to suggest meaning, rather than containing it.
Look for a review of VIVARIUM soon here at We Are Movie Geeks
The suspenseful and nerve-rattling thriller Vivarium arrives on Digital March 27 and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD May 12 from Lionsgate. This film is currently available On Demand. Vivarium had its world premier at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival with overwhelmingly positive critical praise, and is Certified Fresh™ by Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Lorcan Finnegan (Foxes, Without Name), Vivarium stars Academy Award® nominee Jesse Eisenberg (Best Actor, The Social Network, 2010) and Imogen Poots. The VivariumBlu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.
Tom and Gemma (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) are looking for the perfect home. When a strange real-estate agent takes them to Yonder, a mysterious suburban neighborhood of identical houses, Tom and Gemma can’t wait to leave. But when they try to exit the labyrinth-like housing development, each road takes them back to where they started. Soon, they realize their search for a dream home has plunged them into a terrifying nightmare, in this taut thriller filled with white-knuckle suspense.
BLU-RAY / DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary with Director Lorcan Finnegan and Executive Producer Brunella Cocchiglia
“Creating the Suburban Nightmare of Vivarium” Featurette
CAST Jesse Eisenberg Zombieland, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Social Network Imogen Poots TV’s “Roadies,” 28 Weeks Later, Green Room
While the big-budget action blockbusters duke it out for the box office bucks at the multiplex a very different kind of action flick is popping up at the “art house” and “indie” cinemas. As the title suggests, there are a good number of physical altercations, but it mixes those elements with a true quirky sensibility. Plus it’s a comedy, but a much, much darker, twisted one than say last week’s STUBER. And it has a lot of things to say (often in a satiric tone) about the concepts of masculinity (emphasis on confidence and focus). It all about one average guy’s attempts to learn and hopefully master THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE.
The man in question is quiet, “mild-mannered”, socially awkward office drone (a high-ranking accountant) Casey (Jesse Eisenberg). When he returns to his apartment after a soul-draining humiliating workday, his beloved dachshund demands to be fed. Seeing that he’s out of dog food, Casey shuffles into the night, walking to the grocery store. Unfortunately, he encounters a violent biker gang. One of the thugs chases him down and beats him into unconsciousness. Casey wakes up in the hospital to hear a radio news report about his attack. After he’s discharged, Casey decides to buy a handgun and fills out the background check forms from a local firearms dealer. Casey’s prepared to wait several days, but on his walk home, he notices a karate training center. He goes inside the dojo and observes the end of a lesson taught by the Sensei (Alessandro Nivola). After dismissing the class, he invites Casey to return the next day for a complimentary first lesson. The next morning Casey arrives in time to see the last minutes of a children’s’ class taught by the surly, ill-tempered Anna (Imogen Poots). Luckily the Sensei intervenes, and the free lesson begins. Despite some blows that send him to the floor, Casey is enthralled (mainly due to Sensei’s charisma) and quickly signs up for the program. In no time he goes from white to yellow belt (and often wears it while driving). Sensei is soon counseling Casey in private, triggering a big personality change. As Casey devotes more and more time to the dojo, he becomes aware of his mentor’s rivalries and secrets, which may just cost him his life.
This weird wonder of a film provides another showcase for the uniquely odd Mr. Eisenberg. His twitchy take on Casey may be his most “tightly repressed” since, well, his “whacked-out” riff on supervillain Lex Luthor. Of course, Casey starts out with none of LL’s grandiose aggressions. This little “cog” in the corporate wheel almost seems to have a target tattooed on his bent-over backside. When the world finally unloads on him, Eisenberg shows us the panic in Casey’s squinting eyes. He knows he must make some radical changes. At the dojo we actually see him regaining a zest for life, which makes a parking lot humiliation heartbreaking. Then his karate and now spiritual guide verbally flips a switch on him. The transformation of Casey from prey to predator is an astounding bit of physical acting from Eisenberg as he becomes a nearly emotionless robotic bully (complete with machine-like movements and an almost monotone voice issuing threats). We also see Casey as a detective and eventually as a dispenser of justice (we see his brain exploring scenarios through Eisenberg’s more alert eyes). This is one of his most complex and compelling film roles. Plus he’s a great contrast to the more “low-key” mannered performance by Nivola whose tonally flat lectures (his story of the “Grand Master’s” accidental demise is truly strange) masks his seething ambitions. He lets his rapid martial arts moves replace any need for bombastic bellowing. Nivola gives the Sensai a feline quality, as though he enjoys playing with his mice before devouring them, bouncing between praise and passive-aggressive put-downs (“I’m disappointed with your work today, Casey”). As he teases his class and co-workers with promotions and rewards, this mentor acts like a most perplexing “papa”. Most confused by him may be Poots as Anna, who has great hostility toward Casey at the start, but gradually opens up and becomes his biggest ally. There’s’ a whiff of attraction between the two, but Anna keeps her protective guard in place.
With his second feature film, writer/director Riley Stearns gives us maybe the most unhinged, off-kilter comedy of the year (for those that put MIDSOMMAR firmly in the horror genre). He’s taken the basic premise of a modern KARATE KID (although Casey’s closing in on middle age), though the dojo feels closer to Cobra Kai, and folds in elements from FIGHT CLUB while sprinkling in just a dash of WANTED and KICK ASS. Stearns maintains a languid pace, perhaps to hammer in the banality of Casey’s “humdrum” existence. There’s the slightest change in tone inside the karate center, as many training sequences go in and out of slow-motion (to accent the pain, perhaps) while the colors “pop” a bit more (that coveted yellow belt almost shimmers). Speaking of that belt, one very funny sequence has Casey special ordering a yellow dress belt he can wear at work (the cloth one would stand out there) and revealing that he had to place a bigger order. He then proudly gifts Sensai with a black dress belt (who would sell those). The whole “belt promotion” theme adds an extra layer of tension in the locker room. That setting becomes truly absurd, careening from homophobia to homo-eroticism (especially at the mysterious “night classes” as they “cool down”). All this builds to a wild weird final showdown that may have some audiences laughing and cheering, while others may feel “cheated”. It’s not everybody’s cup of herbal tea, but for those looking for a flick that’s truly far away from the typical Summer film fare, THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE is a one-of-a-kind action-comedy. Just don’t try any of the stunts if you run into trouble outside the cinema (here’s a tip: the answer to the bikers is always, “Yes, I do”).
Blumhouse recently took Halloween to that franchise’s highest performance and now returns to another genre classic with an upgrade engineered for today: Black Christmas.
Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. One by one, sorority girls on campus are being killed by an unknown stalker. But the killer is about to discover that this generation’s young women aren’t willing to become hapless victims as they mount a fight to the finish.
This December, on Friday the 13th, ring in the holidays by dreaming of a Black Christmas.
From director Sophia Takal (Always Shine) from the script she wrote with April Wolfe (Widower), comes a bold new take on the 1974 horror classic starring Imogen Poots (Green Room, The Art of Defense), Aleyse Shannon (Charmed), Brittany O’Grady (Star), Lily Donoghue (The Goldbergs, Jane the Virgin) and Caleb Eberhardt (Broadway’s Choir Boy).
Black Christmas is produced by Jason Blum (Halloween, Split) for his Blumhouse Productions.
Blum is a three-time Academy Award®-nominated
and two-time Primetime Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning producer. His
multimedia company is known for pioneering a new model of studio filmmaking:
producing high-quality micro-budget films.
Blumhouse is widely regarded as a driving force in the current horror renaissance, with its recent hit Ma, the horror, thriller film starring Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silver, Luke Evans, McKaley Miller, Missi Pyle, Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, and Dante Brown.
Blum’s 2019 film Glass from M. Night Shyamalan, the 2017 blockbuster Split from M. Night Shyamalan, and Get Out from Jordan Peele, with combined budgets of less than $35 million, went on to gross more than $730 million worldwide. Glass was also Blumhouse’s 11th film to open at No. 1. In addition, Get Out was nominated for four Academy Awards® in 2018—including Best Picture—and won the Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay. In October, the company’s Halloween posted the second-highest opening ($76 million) for a horror movie after IT.
Blumhouse has also produced the highly profitable The Purge, Insidious, Sinister and Paranormal Activity franchises, which together have grossed more than $1.6 billion at the global box office. Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and grossed close to $200 million worldwide, launched the Blumhouse model and became the most profitable film of all time. The company’s titles also include The Gift, Unfriended and The Visit. Blum, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for producing Whiplash, has appeared on Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment List” each year since 2015, has received the 2016 Producer of the Year Award at CinemaCon and was named to the TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people in 2017.
BLACK CHRISTMAS is also produced by Ben Cosgrove (The Good German, Rumor Has It) and by Adam Hendricks (Cam, Bloodline, Lucky) for Divide/Conquer. Hendricks’ partners in Divide/Conquer, Greg Gilreath (Cam, Bloodline) and Zac Locke (Adopt-A-Highway, Bloodline), will executive produce.
