It should go without saying that the existence of superhero fatigue is a real thing. The question is how far has it gotten? Many believe a good barometer with be Marvel’s upcoming film “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”. The feature will bring Marvel’s first family into the MCU for the first time although exactly how remains somewhat of a mystery. Today Marvel Studios released their first teaser trailer and what we see seems to capture the spirit of the early source material while differing in some notable ways.
Fitting for the team’s 1961 comic book debut, the story is set on a 1960s retro-futuristic alternate earth (different than the MCU’s mainline universe). In the trailer it appears that the Fantastic Four (Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are already established in their world with the story referencing their origins rather than retelling them. Everyone gets to showcase their powers with the odd exception of Reed Richards, and we get a brief glimpse of the film’s antagonist, Galactus (voiced by the great Ralph Ineson).
It’s an interesting teaser with the aesthetic being the real highlight. But it doesn’t move the needle much for me. In some ways the whole multiverse concept still feels like a crutch and so far the returns have been pretty underwhelming. But as a fan of the Fantastic Four and of some of the casting, I’m curious to seeing where Marvel takes the characters and the audience.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” releases in theaters July 25th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced the release of “Juror #2” on home video. Much controversy surrounded the release of the legal thriller and not because of anything relating specifically to the movie itself. It was due to the decision to skip theaters and send what may be director Clint Eastwood’s final film straight to streaming. But now this captivating feature will be available to own and it’s absolutely worth it. (Read my review of the film HERE).
This Blu-ray edition of “Juror #2” includes a digital copy and will be available to purchase on February 4th. See below for a full synopsis and release info including a list of special features.
About the Film:
Year: 2024
Runtime: 113 Minutes
Directors: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriters: Jonathan Abrams
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Keifer Sutherland, Cedric Yarbrough, Leslie Bibb, Amy Aquino, Adrienne C. Moore, Francesca Eastwood
Rating: PG-13
“Juror #2” follows family man Justin Kemp (Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict—or free—the accused killer.
Academy Award winner Eastwood directs from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams (“Escape Plan”). The film is produced by Eastwood, Tim Moore, Jessica Meier, Adam Goodman and Matt Skiena, and executive produced by David M. Bernstein, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell.
Eastwood’s creative team includes such frequent collaborators as director of photography Yves Bélanger, production designer Ron Reiss, Oscar-winning editor Joel Cox (“Unforgiven”) and editor David Cox, BAFTA-nominated costume designer Deborah Hopper (“Changeling”); Mark Mancina created the original score.
Dreux and Alyssa are best friends and roommates who are in a pickle and need money fast in “One of Them Days”, a female buddy comedy from first-time feature film director Lawrence Lamont. Even more, the script is from first-time feature screenwriter Syreeta Singleton. What’s best is that despite their film’s flaws, you get the sense you’re seeing two emerging filmmakers with big things ahead of them.
“One of Them Days” gets a lot of its comic energy from its terrific cast. Keke Palmer plays Dreux and SZA plays Alyssa and both share a fun chemistry that is essential to making the movie work. Dreux is a hardworking waitress who’s about to interview for a franchise manager position. Alyssa is a talented and aspiring artist who is struggling to get her work noticed. The pair share a Los Angeles apartment with Alyssa’s deadbeat sneaker-obsessed boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua Neal).
Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
Dreux and Alyssa find themselves in trouble after Keshawn takes their rent money and disappears. They plead for more time, but their impatient landlord (Rizi Timane) only gives them nine hours to pay their rent or they will be evicted. This sets the best buddies on a whirlwind adventure across town that starts with finding Keshawn. To no surprise, they discover he has blown their money which means they need some way to make $1500 before 6PM or they’ll be out on the streets.
“One of Them Days” is highlighted by an entertaining collection of supporting characters, from the other tenants in Dreux and Alyssa’s apartment complex to the colorful variety of people they meet across town. Some add hilarious sparks including an obnoxious loan officer, Kathy (Keyla Monterroso Mejia), a pseudo street prophet, Lucky (Katt Williams), and their oblivious white neighbor, Bethany (Maude Apatow). But others can be overcranked to the point of being one-note caricatures.
Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
As far as the humor, the film delivers some legitimate laugh-out-loud gags and there are funny lines scattered throughout the dialogue. At the same time not everything works, most notably some cringe-worthy raunch and a few instances of slapstick that falls flat. But Palmer and SZA keep the comedy anchored and afloat. Either individually or together, they both are well-calibrated for what the filmmakers are going for.
The movie is almost undone by an over the top final act and an ending that’s way too tidy. It’s unfortunate and a bit deflating, but it doesn’t fully undo the better parts that come before it. And it doesn’t undermine how good Palmer and SZA are or how much promise is shown from Lamont and Singleton – two legitimate up-and-comers worth keeping your eye on.
This Week in Movies is a feature that highlights some of the big news stories from the world of movies that dropped over the past seven days. Below you’ll find a small handful of the week’s headlines you might have missed.
Here are some of the top stories from the week of January 25th – 31st …
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival kicked off with a full slate of feature films and shorts from a variety people and countries. Several big titles came in with distribution already secured. Others are premiering with hopes of snagging a distribution deal. Among the most talked about movies from this year’s batch include another adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”, this one starring Jennifer Lopez, “Rabbit Trap” starring Dev Patel, a Josh O’Connor tearjerker titled “Rebuilding”, the star-studded “Train Dreams”, the gonzo cult thriller “Opus”, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Thing With Feathers”.
Filmmaking auteur and cinema enthusiast Quentin Tarantino announced his next project and it just might surprise a few people. It was originally reported that Tarantino was working on his tenth and final film which would be called “The Film Critic”. However he cancelled the project last year leaving everyone wondering what was next. Well, it appears he’s heading to the stage. During a sit-down with Elvis Mitchell in Park City, Utah, Tarantino revealed he’s currently writing a play and it’s likely going to be the next thing he does. He went on to say if it succeeds he could adapt it into what would be his final movie. We shall see.
We found out that Denis Villeneuve is currently deep “in the writing zone” with “Dune: Messiah”, the third film in his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science-fiction classic. We also learned that filming is expected to start sooner than first expected. The movie will be set twelve years after the events of “Dune: Part Two” and will bring the Paul Atreides story arc to a conclusion. “Dune: Messiah” is currently slated to hit theaters December 16, 2026.
In 2023 Jonathan Majors seemed to be on top on the movie world with a skyrocketing career that included big roles in the Creed franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, his movie “Magazine Dreams” garnered significant praise including talk of a possible Oscar nomination. But everything derailed after his arrest and conviction for domestic assault and harassment. “Magazine Dreams” was dropped by distributor Searchlight Pictures and left without a release date. This week a new trailer was dropped along with news that the film is now set for release on March 21st via Briarcliff Entertainment.
This past week a true screen legend celebrated a birthday. Gene Hackman turned 95 on January 30th. Hackman’s magnificent career began in 1961 and over its course he appeared in countless big screen classics including “Bonnie and Clyde”, “The French Connection”, “The Conversation”, “Superman”, “Hoosiers”, “Mississippi Burning”, “Unforgiven”, and “The Royal Tenenbaums”. In 2004 the two-time Academy Award winner announced his retirement from acting. Since then he and his wife have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he has enjoyed cycling and architecture. Happy Birthday Mr. Hackman.
The new horror film “Companion” is the latest entry into the ever-growing artificial intelligence genre. Much of what has come down the assembly line has been throwaway entertainment (“M3GAN”, “Subservience”, etc.). But occasionally we get something interesting and unexpected. “Companion” falls somewhere in between. It has just enough creative juice to stand out from the crowd. Yet it’s not as original or insightful as it clearly wants to be.
“Companion” is the feature film debut for writer-director Drew Hancock. His movie falls in line with several others from this current phase of modern horror that simply aren’t that interested in actual scares. “Companion” isn’t the slightest bit creepy, chilling, or unsettling. In fairness, Hancock doesn’t hide his intentions. He’s just as much interested in delivering a black comedy and a twisted revenge fantasy. So don’t go into it expecting to be on the edge of your seat.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Unfortunately as Hancock admirably attempts to corral all of his ambition, his film stumbles in areas that are hard to miss. For starters, “Companion” begins with what would have been quality table-setting if its first major reveal hadn’t been routinely spoiled during its promotion. Yet to the movie’s credit, it still manages to entertain while we wait for its story to catch up with what we already know.
But as the story progresses you begin to see its seemingly tight story slowly begin to unravel. By the end the movie struggles to stay on the rails, hampered by glaring plot holes and leaving us with obvious questions that never get unanswered. Meanwhile its overall message is a familiar one that hinges on a few popular well-worn themes without really expressing anything about them that we haven’t seen before.
The story centers around a group of friends who gather at a secluded lake house for a weekend getaway. They’re possibly some of the dumbest characters you’ll encounter on a screen this year. The lone exception is the sweet yet timid Iris (Sophie Thatcher) who arrives with her boobish boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). Waiting for them at the house are Josh’s friends Kat (Megan Suri) and her Russian sugar daddy Sergey, and Eli (Harvey Guillén) who brought along his significant other, Patrick (Lukas Gage).
It’s best that you know as little as possible going in. But since it was such a big part of the promotion I’ll go ahead and say it – we learn pretty early on that Iris is actually an AI-driven robot that Josh purchased from a tech company. He’s able to control her through an app on his phone that allows him to adjust everything from her intelligence to her affection to her aggression. Here’s the catch – she doesn’t know she’s a robot which means she doesn’t realize the emotions she feels is little more than programming.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
But everything comes to light when an act of violence leaves one person dead. Soon after, a shocked Iris learns the truth about her existence. She also learns that Josh and his friends aren’t who she thought they were. Wacky plot turns and lukewarm reveals follow, sometimes making sense but not always. And as more twists are thrown at us, things only get sillier and bloodier. Of course that’s not always a bad thing. But here, none of it feels rooted in anything worthwhile.
There’s enough bonkers material in “Companion” to make for some breezy entertainment and Hancock smartly (and thankfully) moves us along at a fairly swift pace. But it’s hard to turn a blind eye to its shortcomings which only seem to mount the farther we go. And there’s not enough meat to its message or satirical bite to give the story the punch that it desperately needs. “Companion” is in theaters now.
Based on a harrowing true story of courage under fire, “Valiant One” is an action war thriller directed, produced, and co-written by Steve Barnett. This lean and modestly budgeted feature clocks in at just barely over 80 minutes. But it does some good things in its short running time, most notably telling a story about overcoming fears in the face of death and putting your life on the line for those under your command.
At Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, United States Army Sergeant Edward Brockman (Chase Stokes) is surprised when he is assigned to a field operation to repair a radar unit in the demilitarized zone near the North Korean border. But their routine in-and-out mission turns into a nightmare after wind shears from a storm causes their helicopter to violently crash outside of allied air space.
Image Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment
With his superiors killed, a reluctant Brockman is next in the chain of command. The first thing he discovers is that he and the other survivors are inside North Korea meaning headquarters can’t send a chopper to pick them up. So Brockman is tasked with leading the team’s medic, Selby (Lana Condor), infantrymen Ross (Jonathan Whitesell) and Lee (Daniel Jun), and a civilian engineer, Josh Weaver (Desmin Borges) across the border to an extraction point where Delta Force is waiting.
“Valiant One” starts off a little shaky as it introduces its core characters through an early sequence hampered by unconvincing tough guy banter. But it gets on track as the soldiers begin making their way through enemy territory. Barnett effectively emphasizes the intense pressure that comes with making split-second decisions. And he’s not afraid to show fear and even panic. That’s because his soldiers aren’t sketched from action movies. They’re grounded in real life.
Image Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment
At the same time, not much is shared about the region’s tensions or the geopolitical interests of the United States. Pretty much all that’s conveyed is we are the good guys and the North Korean army are the bad guys. So don’t expect to learn anything about the conflict beyond that. It doesn’t kill the intensity of watching the soldiers navigate the dangers they repeatedly face. But it does leave the story feeling light on context.
Aside from that, there are a few other blemishes that you can’t help but notice. While most of the performances are serviceable, they aren’t always up to par. And there are a handful of scene-sabotaging music choices that stick out like a sore thumb. But Barnett and company pull it off where it matters most. They make the soldiers their focus, highlighting the in-the-moment courage a soldier must possess despite the emotional consequences that will eventually come with their actions.
Keith & the Movies 