TCM’s film reference library of books has looked at the best sci-fi and horror movies, dynamic actresses, Christmas movies, summer hits, noir and war movies, plus it’s highlighted more than 100 movies that are the best of the best–with another book that looks at the best of a century of movie directors. Tomorrow movie fans finally get the first exploration of the greatest stunt work from a century of film and the people behind it all inDanger on the Silver Screen: 50 Films Celebrating Cinema’s Greatest Stunts(available for pre-order now here at Amazon). From an icy peril in 1920’s Way Down East to a harrowing drive through Atlanta in 2017’s Baby Driver, readers will see how it’s done from contemporary accounts and new interviews. Continue reading →
Before you go out and read the novel the movie Bullet Trainis based on, check out my review here at borg from last year. Perhaps the English edition is a poor translation of Kotaro Isaka’s novel Maria Beetle, but I’m thinking it’s just simply a dry novel with a good title. Either way, for a title like Bullet Train, it was lacking in many ways. Happily, the first trailer for the movie adaptation starring Brad Pitt looks nothing like the novel, which was an homage to Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons (seriously!). In the movie trailer Pitt appears like he’s stepping back into the role of Cliff Booth, that badass brawler from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (who was even better in Quentin Tarantino’s novel than in the film). So the good news is director David Leitch, known for actual action content like Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, and John Wick, seems to be disregarding the book and focusing on what audiences would expect from that title: a big action movie.
Full of style and color (and action!) backed by a Japanese version of the BeeGees’ Staying Alive–check out the trailer for Bullet Train:
The biggest action film of the summer is easily the most enjoyable film of the year. That’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a movie that gets so many genre formulas right it just can’t miss. Certainly one of the better entries in the Fast & Furious franchise, it knows what works and uses it. That’s a sure-bet cast of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, Mission: Impossible–Fallout’s Vanessa Kirby, Idris Elba in the ultimate badass role as a James Bond spy gone bad with Superman powers, lots of futuristic cyborg tech, and an understanding of why audiences come to the movie theater in the first place. Hobbs & Shaw is a movie for people who like movies.
The trailers gave audiences a glimpse at what to expect, and they delivered on all promises: laugh-out-loud funny dialogue, nonstop action, road races and camera angles that the franchise is known for, and lots of surprises and callbacks, and a script that doesn’t take itself seriously. There’s something for everyone here. If you’re after only the fast cars, action, and speed of the franchise, this entry measures up. And that family drama that the regular franchise leads Diesel, Paul Walker, and Jordana Brewster built the franchise on is here, too. This time that includes digging into the past between Statham’s Deckard Shaw and sister Hattie, played by Kirby, and Helen Mirren back again as their mother (Luke Evans’ brother Owen from the last film may or may not be mentioned this time), and Johnson’s Luke Hobbs is pals with his young daughter at home and returns to the family he left behind years ago in the Samoan Islands.
But stuntman-turned-director David Leitch(Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, John Wick) and script writers Chris Morgan (writer of five prior Fast & Furious films) and Drew Pearce (Hotel Artemis, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation) know why audiences are really buying tickets, and you just need to drift over their previous film credits to see why they were tapped for Hobbs & Shaw. Hattie is a badass equal to Charlize Theron’s Atomic Blonde (Theron also co-starred in the most recent sequel), any of the four lead characters could give Leitch’s John Wick a run for his money, and moviegoers will hardly remember last year’s much-lauded Mission Impossible: Fallout’s action scenes after they see this. (A few casting spoilers follow).
It emerges from the nearly 20-year franchise about cars and action that began in 2001 with The Fast and the Furious. The ninth movie in the Fast & Furious franchise is on its way to theaters this summer, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, and Universal Pictures has released its second trailer–check it out below. The five leads have ample action movie street cred, beginning with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, not only from their previous roles in the franchise. In addition to his Time Magazine cover appearance as one of the most influential people of today, Johnson has busted heads in films including Walking Tall, The Mummy series, Get Smart, The Other Guys, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Central Intelligence and the new Jumanji series, and, of course, there’s his wrestling days (and he wrestled Seven of Nine in a memorable Star Trek Voyager episode). He’s already played Hercules, but coming soon look for him as Black Adam, Doc Savage, and he’s said to be in talks to play Jack Burton in a Big Trouble in Little China remake. Statham’s own on-screen fight record goes back to three action movie series: The Transporter, The Expendables, and The Mechanic, plus The Italian Job, The Bank Job, and a bunch more, from Parker to last year’s The Meg.
Although she hails from Plaza Sésamo, Eiza González earned her action film cred in Baby Driver, Alita: Battle Angel, and the From Dusk Till Dawn TV series. Vanessa Kirby climbed the big peak in Everest and had her breakout performance just last year in Mission Impossible: Fallout. As the film’s villain, you couldn’t ask for a better tough guy than Idris Elba, playing Heimdall in the Marvel movies, plus key roles in Star Trek Beyond, Prometheus, 28 Weeks Later, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Pacific Rim, and The Dark Tower). And that’s Helen Mirren in the trailer, too, who also has a slate of badass roles in action films including the RED series, The Fate of the Furious, years of Prime Suspect, and the coming Luc Besson action movie Anna.
The Fast & Furious series has seen plenty of break-out performances along the way, including the span of the career of Paul Walker, and memorable roles for Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ted Levine, Ludacris, Lucas Black, Sung Kang, pre-Wonder Woman Gal Gadot in four of her first films, John Ortiz, Luke Evans, and Kurt Russell. Former Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme stunt double-turned-director David Leitch(John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) is directing this entry, bringing even more action movie experience to the film.
Check out the second trailer for A Ninth of Furious, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw:
It’s a nearly 20-year franchise, all about cars and action in the world of illegal street racing, and it’s fun moviegoing from the first movie, 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, to the latest, 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. The ninth movie in the Fast & Furious franchise is on its way to theaters this summer, Fast & Furious Presents:Hobbs & Shaw, and Universal Pictures released its first trailer today. The latest is a spinoff focusing on two of the newest characters joining the series, with Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs, a Diplomatic Security Service agent who began pursuing ex-con Dominic Toretto, played by series star Vin Diesel, his close circle of friends, and their turbo-charged, four-wheeled co-stars beginning with 2011’s Fast Five. Along the way Hobbs adjusts his loyalties, and in 2015’s Furious 7, Hobbs pursues Deckard Shaw (played by Jason Statham), on a mission of vengeance for Toretto murdering his brother. For the 2019 sequel, Hobbs and Shaw are joined in an unlikely alliance, as it’s Shaw’s turn to switch loyalties and he redeems himself, at least partially, in The Fate of the Furious. For the first look at what’s happening next, check out the trailer for Hobbs & Shaw below.
Former Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme stunt double-turned-director David Leitch(John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) is directing this entry, which should mean fans are in store for a new level of action within the series. Idris Elba(Thor: Ragnarok, Star Trek Beyond, Prometheus) plays the show’s villain and superhuman, Brixton. Eiza González(Baby Driver) and Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Fallout) co-star.
If you decide to jump in and get caught up on the previous eight films in the series (and why wouldn’t you?) you need to know that you’ll find some bouncing around of characters throughout the series. It’s Universal’s biggest franchise of all time and currently the eighth-highest-grossing film series of all time, so it’s worth diving into. Take it from someone who watched the series in the order in which the films were released, you’re better off watching the series with one movie pulled out and added back in later. And that film is 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. As the third film in the series, Tokyo Drift came as a bit of a surprise, a detour from the regular cast to pull in a new character (and the result of actor and studio conflicts), but once you climb onboard it’s another fun ride on par with the rest of the series. But there’s a twist at the end of Tokyo Drift that doesn’t get explained until the end of Fast & Furious 6. So skip the third film and view it sixth. Got it?
First, check out the first trailer for Furious’s ninth, Hobbs & Shaw:
In all the flurry of late spring and early summer movie releases, don’t forget to see that X-Men movie sequel that drifted into theaters with less fanfare than the original two years ago. That’s Deadpool 2, still in theaters nationwide in its fourth week, but probably phasing out soon. So get to the theater before it’s gone. More Ryan Reynolds sass and wisecracking, less of the supporting cast from the original, but more new characters fans of Marvel Comics and Marvel Comics-at-the-movies will want to see more of, Deadpool 2 has one big surprise you won’t glean from the trailers: It’s a classic X-Men comic book story.
Take away the R-Rated humor and the jokes and you’ll find the backbone is a plot bringing the entirety of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise full circle. The themes of that very first story from the first film in 2000, the movie called X-Men, return. In X-Men we met young teenager Rogue (Anna Paquin), struggling with her abilities and the burden they place on her. Despite the superhero vs. superhero storyline, the real villain was Senator Kelly, trying to pass a federal Mutant Registration Act (similar in plot development as the legislation that divides the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War). Here we meet an out-of-control and mistreated mutant from New Zealand called Firefist (Julian Dennison), and the villain is another Senator Kelly-type trying to do-away with the mutants, played by familiar British actor Eddie Marsan. Coming back to this theme 18 years later is a smart move–even in a flurry of humor we’re reminded that the stories were sourced in an effort to address teen readers trying to fit into the world.
New characters Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz) are perfect transformations from comic to screen. Cable is an expertly realized cyborg, not just a fill-in character but a fully developed new player in Marvel Studios’ arsenal. Domino is a reminder that members of Marvel’s B-team line-up can steal the show (like Evan Peters’ Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past) when written well. Any kid or kid at heart will appreciate a battle scene between Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Juggernaut (Ryan Reynolds) complete with its own humorous operatic accompaniment. Time travel plays a key element in the story and Brolin’s cyborg is every bit as compelling as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s from the Terminator series, and the writers and director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick) tap into that with dropped references every chance they get.
At the beginning of Daniel Craig’s first foray as James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale, Craig redefined Bond as viewers were taken back to his first kill, the event that earned Bond his 00 status. The scene instantly set the standard for the modern fight-or-die scene. This is the exact level of hand-to-hand combat viewers will be treated to in the new summer release, Atomic Blonde. Charlize Theron terrifically portrays what everyone always wanted to see: a woman in the role of James Bond. Sure, she has a different name, but Theron is believable just the same as a spy being interrogated by heads of MI6 at the end of a mission. As she tells her story, in every way she convinces us that she could go head-to-head with, and maybe even knock out Craig’s tough and bloody version of the Brit master spy. Only don’t think this is a typical Bond movie. It isn’t. It’s layered, more like The Usual Suspects or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, only better–less cerebral and more fun. And Theron chalks up another badass cinematic heroine, resulting in a film that is easily worth the admission price.
Based on Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City from Oni Press, Atomic Blonde follows the original, focusing on several nations’ spies trying to recover a secret list of agents being smuggled out of East Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a no-nonsense top-level spy, with attitude and style, battered and bruised from some recent epic encounter when we meet her at the beginning of the movie. She’s being interrogated and debriefed by both British and American agency heads, with John Goodman (Argo, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Big Lebowski, Monsters, Inc.) as the American and Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger, Snow White and the Huntsman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Doctor Who) as the Brit. What unfolds is a smartly constructed Cold War thriller, more complicated than Ian Fleming but not as complicated as John le Carré, but enough so that it may lose viewers a few times along the way. Ultimately Broughton finds herself trying to smuggle out of the country a German officer who memorized the secret spy list, played by Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, The Illusionist, V for Vendetta, The World’s End). The rewards and payoffs come not only at the resolution but in several scenes along the way, as Theron punches, kicks, hammers, fires, splatters, mows down, stabs, punctures… everything but bites her way through dozens of bad guys trying to kill her. The violence is extreme, but it all works–it’s great fun much like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s or Chuck Norris’s blockbuster rampages in the 1980s–and it’s not gratuitous like a Quentin Tarantino bloodbath (blown-off heads aside).
The Atomic Blonde of the title comes from Broughton’s short, 1980s style hair, and that length allows us to see that much of the time Theron is actually doing her own punching, and taking plenty of punches, from all these men. She’s quicker, and she prepares herself for many of her punches and bruises by soaking in a tub of water filled with ice cubes–a concept that helps her more than once throughout the film. The story and action really kicks in as Broughton begins to smuggle Marsan’s character out of the country and as the steps are laid out in a subplot involving her mission to assassinate Satchel, a double agent known for selling secrets to the Soviets. It’s exciting like the real-life story told in Ben Affleck’s hit film Argo, where a spy smuggled a group of would-be hostages out of Iran in 1980. Atomic Blonde has less subtlety and nuance than Argo, but Atomic Blonde similarly displays an early, retro style of storytelling compelling enough to keep viewers interested. Does it feel like a comic book adaptation? Sure. Like History of Violence and Road to Perdition. In fact Broughton could be Hit Girl from Kick-Ass all grown up.
In The Italian Job Charlize Theron played a tough and edgy thief. In Aeon Flux she was a decisive assassin. In Snow White and The Huntsman and The Huntsman: Winter’s War she was a ruthless, evil queen. In Mad Max: Fury Road she was a rebel road warrior. This year she adds another badass to her repertoire, an anti-hero named Lorraine Broughton, in the 1980s Cold War movie Atomic Blonde. Theron gets to play Jason Statham in any number of action films. Or the latest James Bond type. A bit Jack Reacher or John Wick. Or Van Damme in his heyday.
Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood wish they had moves like Theron’s portrayal of a cold-blooded spy in this new action spy thriller from stunt man-turned-director David Leitch (John Wick, Dead Pool 2). The latest trailer reveals a stylish, gritty, crazy-fun flick that any fan of Theron will be after.
The latest movie to be based on a graphic novel, Atomic Blonde is from Antony Johnston’s 2012 book. A great supporting cast boasts John Goodman, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and another great actress taking Hollywood by storm: Star Trek Beyond and The Mummy’s Sofia Boutella.
