It was somewhat of a surprise when it was announced that streaming giant Netflix would be releasing the next installment in the Beverly HillsCop franchise. The long dormant action comedy film series was last seen 30 years ago. Eddie Murphy has been trying to get a fourth movie made since shortly after wrapping “Beverly Hills Cop 3”, but production sputtered and studio interest waned. Following the departures of numerous writers and directors, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” finally got its green light.
Today Netflix dropped a new trailer that shows Murphy reprising his role as street-smart and wisecracking Axel Foley, a Detroit cop making his return to the posh and pampered Beverly Hills after his daughter’s life is threatened. Familiar faces Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot also return while Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, and Kevin Bacon add a little fresh blood. Can Murphy and company recapture the same mix of action and comedy that once made Beverly Hills Cop a household name? We will know soon enough.
“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” releases July 3rd on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
The current trend of bringing back movies from the 1980s continues. A steady diet of sequels, prequels, reboots, and remakes have been coming our way including TWO new trailers today. One of them is for none other than “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, Tim Burton’s follow-up to his 1988 surprise hit “Beetlejuice”. I’m not sure there was a large number of faithful fans calling for a “Beetlejuice” sequel. Yet here we are 36 years later with me, a moderate fan of the original, surprisingly intrigued by this new installment.
I’m guessing many will go see “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” just to revisit Burton’s wacky supernatural world. For me, the biggest draw is the return of the great Michael Keaton. Even at the age of 72, Keaton still shows signs of that madcap energy that was such a big part of his early movies. I can’t wait to see that unleashed once again. The new trailer gives us a taste for what we can expect, including the returns of Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hits theaters September 6th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
A man named Nathan wakes up to find himself lying in the middle of a winding mountain road. “I made it”, he utters after seeing what’s left of his wrecked car, “I’m not hurt”. But then he’s startled by a voice. “What a crash,” says a man standing in the ditch. His name is Daniel and he was riding the motorcycle that Nathan hit head-on. Now they both stand in the road having a conversation with no soreness, no wounds, and no signs of injury. “We didn’t make it,” Daniel says, informing Nathan and us that they are indeed dead.
That startling sequence opens “Pandemonium”, a chilling and enigmatic nightmare from the mind of French writer-director Quarxx. His latest film plays like an interconnected horror anthology – one built around a supernatural premise that uses elements of genre and theology in its examination of such subjects as death, grief, regret, and suffering. There’s almost a Poe-like quality as the movie cavorts with the macabre. But there’s also a strong human component leading to the film being surprisingly philosophical in addition to being frighteningly surreal.
Image Courtesy of Arrow Video
The story of Nathan (Hugo Dillon) and Daniel (Arben Bajraktaraj) takes up roughly one-third of the film and serves as a fascinating launching point. As the two interact the reality of their predicament takes hold and truths about their lives begin to surface. It’s made even more real with the sudden appearance of two doors, one gleaming like beautiful flawless crystal; the other made of cold and austere metal. The Heaven and Hell representation is obvious, but it’s Quarxx’s dialogue mixed with the ominous setting that makes the scene hauntingly effective.
Without giving away too many details, we end up following Nathan as he enters his door and descends into Hell. There he’s greeted by a dark and desolate sight – falling flakes of ash, the distance rumble of thunder, and corpses littering the dusty ground, each with their own horrifying story to tell. Among the bodies is that of a little girl named Jeanne (Manon Maindivide). A short distance away lies the body of a woman named Julia (Ophélia Kolb). From there Quarxx breaks off to tell each of their stories starting with Jeanne.
Jeanne’s segment is shown (mostly) from the little girl’s perspective and at times plays like some grim and twisted fairytale. But the truth behind what we see is far more sinister and deranged. We follow Jeanne as she gleefully tromps through her family mansion, the bloody bodies of her murdered parents laying in the study. Jeanne blames their deaths on her deformed friend Tony the Monster (Carl Laforêt) who lives deep down in their basement. But what really happened in the house proves to be much more ghastly.
From there we move to Julia (Ophélia Kolb), a mother who has snapped after discovering the lifeless body of her teenage daughter Chloé (Sidwell Weber) who has committed suicide. Quarxx gives us a handful of revealing flashbacks showing Chloé being relentlessly bullied by a group of girls at school and neglected at home by Julia who was too absorbed in her career to see that her daughter was in pain. Unable to bear her daughter’s death, the distraught Julia goes to some pretty dark and twisted places.
Image Courtesy of Arrow Video
The movie eventually returns to Nathan, putting a fantastical and gruesome cap on his story while attempting to provide an ever so slight glimmer of hope. The ending doesn’t answer many questions. In fact you could say it poses far more. But that’s part of what Quarxx is going for. With “Pandemonium” he wants to challenge our first impressions and push us to wrestle with what unfolds over time. He offers no easy interpretation or cut-and-dry solution. And he adds subtle yet distinctly different points-of-view which add layers to some of the deeper themes.
While the story itself is challenging and thought-provoking, just as much is conveyed through the striking visual presentation and sound design. Forbidding imagery, inspired practical effects, the disquieting score from composer Benjamin Leray – it all feeds into the eerily captivating vision of a filmmaker who wants us to think as well as squirm. “Pandemonium” opens May 27th in select theaters and on VOD.
Netflix’s “Hit Man” is almost here. This action rom-com from director Richard Linklater (a long time favorite of mine) made a big splash at Venice, Toronto, and Sundance. Now it’s coming to select theaters this weekend ahead of its upcoming release on the streaming platform June 7th. To get us ready, Netflix has dropped some hilarious new character posters featuring the many faces of the film’s star, Glen Powell.
Powell has been everywhere since appearing in the box office smash “Top Gun: Maverick”. In “Hit Man” he plays Gary Johnson, a college professor moonlighting as a tech guy who helps the police with sting operations. Through some unexpected circumstances he’s asked to fill in for a suspended cop and go undercover – a job he proves to be surprisingly good at. Linklater and Powell have worked together a few times before and their creative chemistry is undeniable. As for the posters, they give us just a taste of the wackiness we can expect in this fun and steamy thriller.
Only a few days after receiving a mysterious new teaser, the star-studded “Megalopolis” has dropped a full trailer ahead of its upcoming May 16th premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. “Megalopolis” is an epic science-fiction drama written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It’s Coppola’s first feature film since 2011 and a passion project that the acclaimed filmmaker first conceived way back in 1977. The new trailer gives us a deeper yet even more cryptic look into this wild $120 million creation.
Adam Driver plays Cesar Catilina, an accomplished architect who can control time. He sets out to rebuild a decaying city into a thriving utopia but is met with constant opposition by the corrupt Mayor (played by the wonderful Giancarlo Esposito). A fantastic array of talent fills out the cast and includes Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf, Grace VanderWaal, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Dustin Hoffman, and Kathryn Hunter. It’s still hard to figure out exactly what this movie is. But in many ways that only adds to the intrigue.
“Megalopolis” is set to release exclusively in theaters sometimes in 2024. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Now here’s a movie I’m really looking forward to that’s just around the corner. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the two Quiet Place movies, the wonderfully original horror thrillers from John Krasinski. This summer the third installment hits theaters, “A Quiet Place: Day One”. It’s a spin-off prequel set in New York City on the very day of the alien invasion that saw society crumble. An exciting (and mostly new) cast are set to tell this nail-biting survival story, led by the always absorbing Lupita Nyong’o.
With its release a little over a month away, Paramount Pictures is ramping up their marketing with a killer new poster to go hand-in-hand with the exhilarating new trailer. Check it out below and let me know what you think.
DIRECTOR – Michael Sarnoski
WRITER – Michael Sarnoski
STARRING – Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou, Alex Wolff, Eliane Umuhire,
Keith & the Movies 