NEON is already crushing it in 2024.. First the horror film IMMACULATE, and now this summer comes CUCKOO.
Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.
Following his festival sensation LUZ, German director Tilman Singer has once again succeeded in creating an atmospheric and visually outstanding horror trip with an original plot and perfidious twists. The film, shot on 35 mm, features EUPHORIA’s star Hunter Schafer alongside a brilliant and terrifying Dan Stevens.
Watch the trailer for CUCKOO now.
The film also features Jessica Henwick and Marton Csokas.
Look for CUCKOO in theaters August 9.
Image courtesy of NEON / Photography by Felix Dickinson of Studio AAA
On December 23rd, Netflix will premiere GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY.
In the follow up to Rian Johnson’s KNIVES OUT, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.
Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista, check out the brand new teaser.
According to Johnson, Blanc’s penchant for bombast is partly to thank for the film’s title, which pays homage to the 1968 Beatles song of the same name. “I’m always fishing for something fun that Blanc can grab onto as an overwrought metaphor that he can beat to death,” he says. “This is all in plain sight from the very start. So, the idea of glass came to me, something that’s clear. I’ll be very honest. I literally got out my iPhone and searched my music library with the word glass.“There’s got to be some good glass songs.”I was like, “Oh, is it a glass fortress? Is it a glass castle? Is it a glass man?” The first thing that came up, because I’m a huge Beatles fan, is ‘Glass Onion.’” Read more on the new mystery here: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/glass-onion-knives-out-2-release-date-photos
Image courtesy of NEON / Photography by Felix Dickinson of Studio AAA
NEON has wrapped production on Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo, the feature film debut of Hunter Schafer (Euphoria). The horror film, written and directed by Singer, was shot on 35mm in Germany.
With plot details being kept under wraps, post-production is currently underway for the film’s 2023 release. Following his 2018 debut Luz, Singer became one of the most sought-after up-and-coming filmmakers. Lauded as a “major new talent” in cinema, Singer has been critically acclaimed for his genre-bending storytelling and wholly unique approach to horror.
The ensemble cast, led by Schafer, includes Dan Stevens, along with Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, and Greta Fernández.
Cuckoo reunites Singer with Luz lead actor Jan Bluthardt, as well as cinematographer Paul Faltz and production designer Dario Mendez Acosta. Simon Waskow will also return as composer and Henning Hein as sound designer.
Executive produced by Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman, Emily Thomas, and Ryan Friscia for NEON, Cuckoo is produced by Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, and Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell and Ben Rimmer, in a cooperation between FICTION PARK (Germany) and Waypoint Entertainment (USA). Additional funding led by the Film und Medien Stiftung NRW, HessenFilm and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).
Schafer made her acting debut portraying Jules in the HBO Emmy-winning series “Euphoria.” After co-writing and co-executive producing a special episode of the critically acclaimed series, Schafer expanded her resume, directing Girl in Red’s music video for ‘hornylovesickmess’. In 2021, Time named Schafer to its Next list of 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future. She recently joined the cast of The Hunger Games prequel: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Schafer is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Dan Stevens photo by Sam Jones
Stevens starred in I’m Your Man, Germany’s official Academy Award submission for Best International Feature, which made the 2022 shortlist. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received multiple nominations at the German Film Awards including Best Actor for Stevens. Stevens currently stars in the Starz political thriller series, “Gaslit,” alongside Sean Penn and Julia Roberts.
He was recently announced as the lead of Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong sequel.
Henwick will begin filming NEON’s Kitty Green film, The Royal Hotel this summer alongside Julia Garner. She was most recently seen in the Warner Bros. box office hit Matrix: Resurrections, as well as in Blade Runner: Black Lotus. She will next be seen in the Russo Brothers film The Gray Man for Netflix this summer and Knives Out 2 this Fall.
Jessica Henwick photo by Matthew Berberi
After graduating from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1989 with a Diploma in Acting, Csókás has worked extensively in film, television and on stage across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. With notable roles such as Celebron in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and working opposite Denzel Washington in The Equalizer, Csókás was last seen in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and stars along Russell Crowe in Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher.
Greta Fernandez is an exciting and talented Spanish actress who is currently shooting Carlos Lopez’s highly anticipated Netflix series “Santo.” She is likely best known as the lead of Belen Funes’ critically-acclaimed feature La Hija De Un Ladron, for which she won a Concha de Plata in the category of Best Actress. The film was part of the official selection for the 2019 San Sebastian Film Festival and won Greta a handful of international awards and recognitions. Additionally, for her fiery supporting role in Isaki Lacuesta’s The Next Skin, Greta received a nomination in the 2017 Gaudi Awards. With over 15 films and TV shows under her belt, Greta has proven herself a force to be reckoned with across the new wave of Spanish cinema.
Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, directors of The Gray Man and the Captain America and Avengers movies, explain what filmmaking elements they used to capture the essence of the film’s action, humor, and Chris Evans vs. Ryan Gosling star power in a short trailer.
Ryan Gosling is THE GRAY MAN and Chris Evans is his psychopathic adversary in the Netflix/AGBO spy thriller directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
Also starring Ana de Armas, with Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura and Alfre Woodard. Based on the novel The Gray Man by Mark Greaney, the screenplay is by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
THE GRAY MAN is CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka, Sierra Six. Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death. But now the tables have turned and Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back. He’ll need it.
Warner Bros. Pictures has released a first teaser poster along with the website for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, prior to the first big trailer release this Thursday. In the original movie, Neo (Keanu Reeves) was told by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne): “You take the blue pill…the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo chooses the red pill and joins the rebellion.
The long-awaited fourth film in the “Matrix” universe, the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre, “The Matrix Resurrections” reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity, the iconic roles they made famous in “The Matrix.”
The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the “Aquaman” franchise) Jessica Henwick (TV’s “Iron Fist,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” TV’s “Mindhunter”), Neil Patrick Harris (“Gone Girl”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s “Quantico,”), Christina Ricci (TV’s “Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”), Telma Hopkins (TV’s “Dead to Me,”), Eréndira Ibarra (series “Sense8,” “Ingobernable”), Toby Onwumere (TV’s “Empire”), Max Riemelt (series “Sense8”), Brian J. Smith (series “Sense8,” “Treadstone”), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Angel Has Fallen,” TV’s “Gotham”).
Lana Wachowski directed from a screenplay by Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis. The film was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski. The executive producers were Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman. Wachowski’s creative team behind the scenes included “Sense8” collaborators: directors of photography Daniele Massaccesi and John Toll, production designers Hugh Bateup and Peter Walpole, editor Joseph Jett Sally, costume designer Lindsay Pugh, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, and composers Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer.
In theaters and IMAX and on HBO Max on December 22. Available on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.
One of the best monster movies has invaded the screens from director Michael Matthews, LOVE AND MONSTERS.
Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, Joel Dawson (Dylan O’Brien), along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick), who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony, Joel begins to fall for her again. As Joel realizes that there’s nothing left for him underground, he decides against all logic to venture out to Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way. The fun-filled and action-packed adventure also stars Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt.
LOVE AND MONSTERS starts out with a bang. Literally. The exposition puts you squarely in the “you are here” of the story, and so minimal time is wasted on trying to figure it all out. Dylan O’Brien is a very “Hiccup” type character, but less useful, and his new survivalist family have great affection for him, but little respect, appropriately so. He bumbles and exposits, with no skill apparently other than making great minestrone soup, and having a lot of heart. But this cannot go on forever. Having spent his last seven years underground with this survivor lot, he begins to feel the need to more than hide and live, and makes it his life’s goal to find his high school sweetheart, Aimee, and, against all odds, finds out that not only is she alive, but he knows WHERE she is too. And so begins the Hero’s journey type story.
In a way, this movie plays out like a well made video game. Our intrepid hero has a mission, a pack, and a weapon, and the monsters he has to get through to reach his goal increase in difficulty as his journey progresses. This premise may not sound great, but it’s well put together, the actors are all high quality, and the production values and beautiful on-location shooting in Queensland, Australia, along with the lush cinematography by Lachlan Milne, make this seem like an A-list movie, and LOVE AND MONSTERS is enjoyable from front to back.
There are some fantastic surprises too, the monsters are out of the rule book of Ray Harryhausen, and O’Brien always comes across as likeable, and you find yourself rooting for him even when he does stupid stuff.
The fact that his one USEFUL skill is sketching and cataloguing the monsters as he goes along lets you know that his sketchbook will become a valuable commodity in this new and dangerous world. Along the way, he picks up a dog named Boy, a mentor (Michael Rooker, subdued, but played like a master), and a sage (unexpectedly a little girl, played by Ariana Greenblatt, offers simple wisdom), and director Matthews’ (Five Fingers For Marseilles) eventful trip is way more interesting than his destination.
The on-screen chemistry between Greenblatt and O’Brien is sweet and they really seem like a big brother and little sister finding their way through the end-of-the-world circumstances. Looking forward to see what’s next for the very talented Greenblatt.
Somehow though, the relationship he has with Aimee is about the driest part of the movie, despite the two young actors talents. It’s impossible to not root for him each and every leg of this journey, as you can see that no word, picture, or memory, is without use in the future.
The film is also enhanced by the fantastic monster-like score from composers by Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp. Listen HERE.
While it may not beg for a sequel, LOVE AND MONSTERS is well worth the investment in time and harkens back to the fun days of the Saturday matinee that filled the cinemas. Come for the apocalypse and stay for the monsters!
3 1/2 out of 4 stars
Rating: PG-13 for action/violence, language and some suggestive material
Available on digital platforms: Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNow, Google Play, Xfinity and more
A casual glance at this film’s poster art may lead you to think you’re headed back to the deep, dark reaches of outer space, with the photo of the flick’s leading lady peering out from a big bulky spacesuit, minus the “bubble” glass helmet ala’ Natalie Portman in LUCY IN THE SKY or Brad Pitt in AD ASTRA. But then, you’d glance down to the film’s title. Hmmm… that’s odd, this costume looks nothing like a wet suit or the scuba gear that Lloyd Bridges made familiar on TV every week in the classic “Sea Hunt”. And later, James Bond would use to do battle starting with THUNDERBALL. That’s because all of this flick takes place, not in deep space but in the deep, dark, black (not blue) sea. And that big cumbersome outfit is made to protect the story’s characters from the enormous pounds of pressure miles and miles from the sun and oxygen, not above the sky, but down, down in the very dangerous unexplored depths of the UNDERWATER part of this planet.
We’re brought up to speed (and tossed into the “deep end”) via the montage of maps and news stories that are the “backdrop” for the film’s opening titles. In the deepest part of the world’s waterways, the Mariana Trench an energy company has erected an oil drill at the very bottom, nearly seven miles down with a crew of 300, the Roebuck rig. Hundreds of feet above that, connected to it is the Kepler station where scientists do research and keep everything running smoothly with tons of monitoring equipment. That’s where we first encounter an engineer named Norah (Kristen Stewart) as she brushes her teeth at the beginning of another day, though without the sun it’s tough to tell. She’s on edge after seeing a spider (how did it get there) crawling out of the sink. Then she feels a drop of water from above. Suddenly the place erupts in chaos as the walls begin to collapse, no doubt due to an earthquake. She and another crewman, Rodrigo (Mamoudou Athie) race to find other survivors. They pull the unusually jovial Paul (T.J. Miller) out of the rubble. The trio makes it to the escape pod (tiny craft that zips up to the surface) station where the Kepler’s Captain Lucien (Vincent Cassel) informs them that the pods are damaged beyond repair. Their only chance for life is down to the Roebuck facility. After finding a pair of biologists, Emily (Jessica Henwick) and Liam (John Gallagher, Jr.), the group dons the deep-diving suits and jump in the transport which will only take them to the bottom, hundreds of feet from the drill rig’s entrance. They’ll have to walk along the ocean’s floor in near darkness and follow the pipe to the Roebuck’s front door. But something else is down there with them. Even if they make the long trek, can they survive an assault from these mysterious forces from a depth never fully explored by man?
Stewart is in full-out action hero mode (like a just out of space college Ellen Ripley), building on the more dynamic screen persona from last year’s little-seen reboot of CHARLIE’S ANGELS, though this flick was made nearly two years prior. Unfortunately, she’s given little to do other than barking encouragements (“C’mon, you can make it, lessgo’!”), cracking open computers, and squeezing through tight space (well, she is the most petite of the surviving crew). A bit of her back story is hinted as she gazes at a well-worn photo of her and a lost love (she does get to tell of their tragic parting right before the big finale’), but her main function is to be tossed about by the “beasties” and the quake aftershocks. The same could be said for Cassel’s battered Captain Lucien (he’s got an arm in a harness when we first meet him). He’s the “family man”, but he’s hiding some dark secrets as he attempts to be realistic while not adding more gloom to their slim chances. Also trying to take the ‘edge’ off is Miller as the flick’s “comic relief”, a big gum-chewing wiseguy who’s toting around a stuffed bunny (?), which may be meant to give him a child-like quality. Henwick (so great on the Netflix/Marvel “Iron Fist” show) gets to do most of the “damsel in distress” screaming that the filmmakers think adds to the tension, but becomes grating ( Stewart wisely opted out of the hysterics). Still, she fares better than Gallagher as her mate, who spends most of the second half injured and dragged about like a delirious duffle bag. Most of them function as the teen in a slasher flick making us guess which one will be picked off and when.
Director William Eubank shows great promise as he switches from silent “haunted old factory” desolation to collapsing Hellscape in those opening minutes (kudos for the terror not being Norah’s “day-mare”) until the too familiar gathering for the “quest for escape” marches on. Its influences then begin to be evident. The obvious inspirations are ALIEN and its sequel ALIENS, though it’s more reminiscent of the undersea variations of 1989, not the terrific one, THE ABYSS. No, this is closer to the twin soggy cheese-fests DEEP STAR SIX and LEVIATHAN. The gang lumbers about in the heavy “Michelin-man” outfits as the whispy snaggle-fanged fleshy CGI fleshpots lunge from the darkness (except for Norah who can actually dash at a brisk pace if needed by the soggy script). Much is made of the fragility of these deep pressure suits (early on, one expendable’s helmet begins to crack right after locking it into place), but one of the more aggressive creatures halfway swallows a human who emerges with barely a loose stitching. I suppose the blackness of the depths hides the video game “rubbery bounce” of the beasts, though the dim lighting frustrates the audience more than it frightens. This is certainly the case when the main monster, kind of a “cut-rate” Kraken, sloshes over the busted -down drilling rig. This all adds to the tedium, making the film feel much longer than its meager 90 minutes. This is all SF-style action antic we’ve seen before, done with more skill and drama. UNDERWATER never swims or even floats. It sinks and it stinks. Glub. Glub.
