First Look At Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest

I love when a new trailer drops. Whether it’s for a movie I’m anticipating or one I couldn’t care less about, I love when a trailer drops. It feels like a mini Christmas where instead of walking down the stairs to see presents, you open Twitter to see a new look at an upcoming movie. My mini Christmas of the this past week was getting the trailer to Spike Lee’s latest joint, Highest 2 Lowest.

Highest 2 Lowest, which is an English reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low, stars Denzel Washington (Training Day, Malcolm X), who is a frequent collaborator of Lee, rappers A$AP Rocky and Ice Spice, Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, American Fiction), Ilfenesh Hadera (Billions, Chi-Raq), and Dean Winters (Law & Order SVU, John Wick). Here’s the trailer:

After watching that, I’ll confirm that Highest 2 Lowest jumps into my top five most anticipated movies of the rest of the year. It joins a (potentially) elite group of films like One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, 28 Years Later, and Blue Moon, for what I’m most excited for and I can assure you I’ll have my ass in a seat for opening night. That’s unless A24 botches the release, which is entirely possible.

Highest 2 Lowest will be in theaters on August 22nd and on Apple TV+ on September 5th.

Robert De Niro and Jenna Ortega Teaming Up In David O. Russell’s Shutout

Have you ever seen the Color of Money and thought “Wow, I liked this, but I wish there was a movie similar to it made by a hack with two actors who probably won’t have any chemistry”? Well, to that small subsection of people, I have some news for you. David O. Russell (American Hustle, The Fighter) will be directing the Alejandro Adams screenplay that is “follows a pool master who finds a young prodigy who he begins to train in the game of pool.” In the role of the pool master is Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, The Irishman) and his prodigy is played by Jenna Ortega (Death of a Unicorn, Wednesday).

From the start, this project feels like it has no legs. De Niro seems to be mailing in all of his recent roles, Killers of the Flower Moon being the exception, and while Jenna Ortega is a talented actress, she does a brutal job picking projects and not working with talented directors. And then when you look behind the camera, there’s the hack David O. Russell.

O. Russell, who in my opinion, has one palatable film in his filmography (The Fighter) is both a bad director and an even worse person. He’s admitted to groping his 19 year old transgender niece in 2011 and has been cited as a nuisance in Hollywood. From putting Christopher Nolan in a headlock in 2003 to making Amy Adams’ life a ‘living hell’ on set of American Hustle to nearly fist fighting George Clooney on the set of Three Kings, it seems like more people have an issue with O. Russell than those who like him. I’ll see this movie when it hits theaters with a clear mind, but my hopes aren’t high at all.

Boyd Holbrook and Mads Mikkelsen To Star In Last Meals

According to Variety, Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, Another Round) and Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown, The Bikeriders) will be teaming up to star in Last Meals, which’ll be directed by Oscar nominated director Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes, The Tiger White). Last Meals will follow a former White House chef who now cooks last meals for death row inmates, but everything changes when one of the inmates goes on a hunger strikes and the chef believes the inmate could be innocent. It’s reported that Mikkelsen will play the chef and Holbrook the inmate.

Sure, the premise feels a bit wonky and in my mind I’m picturing schlock, but the casting makes me excited. And the choice of Bahrani as the director also intrigues me because while 99 Homes isn’t a great movie, it’s rather ruthless. Bahrani does a good job examining characters emotions, feelings, and weaknesses in that movie so this gives me a little more hope that this could be good. Then again, putting Mikkelsen in a project guarantees it’ll at least be palatable. He’s one of the most unique actors of the last three decades because whether it’s in the Bond franchise, MCU, Thomas Vintenberg films about characters finding themselves, or gritty Nicolas Winding Refn pictures he always kills it.

Variety reports that principle photography will start later this year in Ireland.

First Look At Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk

For Stephen King fans, 2025 might start feeling like 1983. This year we’re getting not one, not two, not three, but four adaptations of the legendary authors work. The Monkey, which received mixed feedback (I really enjoyed it) was released earlier this year and then later in the year we’ll be getting The Life of Chuck directed by Mike Flanagan and The Running Man directed by Edgar Wright. The other King adaptation that’s releasing is The Long Walk. Earlier this week we got our first glimpse of it. Here’s the trailer:

Sure, why not? I’m in. Outside of this being a King adaptation, I think a big draw is having Francis Lawrence behind the camera. Lawrence has directed all of the Hunger Games films, so this genre or type of movie falls right into his wheelhouse. Starring in it is David Jonsson (Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus), Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), Charlie Plummer (All The Money In The World), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), and Roman Griffin Davis (JoJo Rabbit). I like this group of actors in this project. It’s not sensory overload of every huge named young actor, but it’s enough star power to drive people to the theaters.

I’m a fan of Stephen King. I’m a fan of Francis Lawrence. And I’m a fan of Cooper Hoffman, so I’ll definitely make seeing this in theaters a priority. It looks gritty as hell and super tense, so seeing it on the big screen to induce the most anxiety feels as a viewer feels important.

The Long Walk will be in theaters on September 12th.

We’ve Got A New Trailer For Celine Song’s Materialists

For everyone out there who shed many tears and loved Past Lives in 2023, we can celebrate because Celine Song is back with her sophomore film, Materialists. The first trailer dropped about a month ago and then yesterday we got the second trailer. Here it is:

Materialists stars Dakota Johnson (Madame Web, Cha Cha Real Smooth), Chris Evans (Knives Out, Captain America), and Pedro Pascal (Gladiator II, The Last of Us) and follows a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker (Johnson) who finds herself torn between the perfect match (Pascal) and her imperfect ex (Evans). My initial concern was that this doesn’t seem as deep as Song’s previous film Past Lives. But then I stepped back and realized not every love story has to be Past Lives. Some love stories can be lighter and don’t need to fully bludgeon your heart.

I will say that I’m not in love with any of the actors in this. Dakota Johnson is fine. I don’t look too much at Madame Web because in all honesty, it’s not that bad and she’s not that bad in it. Chris Evans however isn’t really an actor anymore. He used to be in Danny Boyle and Bong Joon-ho films, but at this point he’s a glorified superhero. And I don’t think Pedro Pascal is a good actor. Not much more to say. Regardless, I’m loyal to Celine Song.

Materialists hits theaters on June 13th.

What’d I Watch This Week?

Collateral (2004) dir. Michael Mann

The other night I embarked on a long awaited rewatch of Michael Mann’s 2004 film, Collateral. I remember the first time I watched it I didn’t love it, but upon a rewatch, I was simply amazed. It amazed me how good Tom Cruise was as a villainous hitman rocking silver hair and how his chemistry with Jamie Foxx was outstanding. The action sequences are top tier, especially in Mann’s body of work and you could make an argument that the night club shootout scene is a top three scene in his filmography (Heat diner scene is obviously first and then maybe the ending of Manhunter are better). If you’ve never seen it or haven’t in a while, you should go seek it out now. It’s currently streaming on Paramount+.

5/5 Stars

Crimes of the Future (2022) dir. David Cronenberg

I’m deep diving into Cronenberg. Crimes of the Future was one of three films I watched from the Canadian director this week and it was my clear favorite ahead of Dead Ringers and The Brood. Late in the game Cronenberg is an interesting animal. He still harnesses the raw sexual material that he’s used early in his career, just in different ways as he’s aged, and sometimes it works, like here, but other times it flops. For me, I saw Crimes of the Future as a spiritual sequel to Videodrome. Both films are repulsive to look at, yet they’re so intriguing that you can’t take your eyes off the screen. It was also nice to see another collaboration between Cronenberg and Viggo. I believe this was their fourth time working together. Currently streaming on Hulu, if you’ve got the stomach for it, go watch it.

4/5 Stars

Dawn of the Dead (2004) dir. Zack Snyder

One of the most toxic fan bases in movie culture right now is Snyder Bros. Sure, they’re loyal and defend their “king”, but they only defend him over his Superman films. Snyder Bros should be sticking up for his 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead because it rips. It’s super messy, tense, and has a ton of sauce with great characters in a confined space evading zombies. What more could you ask for? If you’re looking for a thrilling zombie filled watch this weekend then stream Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead on Netflix.

4/5 Stars