Let’s try something (sort of) new. Admittedly, I’ve been slacking with my writing. Part of it is that I’ve been searching for jobs since graduating. Part of it is because I have a girlfriend now and I’d rather be going places and spending time with her instead of sitting in front of a laptop for multiple hours a day. But that doesn’t excuse why my outputs been on a steady decline since finishing college.
With that being said, I want to have a thing that keeps me honest and accountable. That thing will be my Friday Film News Dumps that I’m starting. In the past, I’ve done Film Friday News Dumps, but they were sporadic. My thinking is that if I know that each week I need to deliver one of these to the sites main page, then I’ll hold myself responsible and in turn, my desire to write more will return. So, welcome to the first (not really) recurring Film Friday News Dump. It’s a doozy.
Christopher Nolan’s Next Film Will Star Matt Damon
The king is back. After making $977 million dollars at the box office and winning seven Oscars for Oppenheimer in 2023, Christopher Nolan is getting back to work as he’s in the early stages of developing his next film. According to Variety, this film will not be in the sci-fi genre, but is speculated to be a pivot into the espionage genre, which Nolan has sort of tackled in the past with Inception.
With the framework and genre being semi-set, the next step is to assemble a cast, which for Nolan, isn’t difficult. Everyone wants to work with him and he’s worked with a ton of stars. From Al Pacino to Christian Bale to Robin Williams to Anne Hathaway to David Bowie to Robert Pattinson, he works with the best. In the same Variety article, they reported that Matt Damon would be starring in this presumed espionage picture. If true, this’d mark the third collaboration between the two. The first coming in 2014 with Interstellar and the second being nine years later with Oppenheimer.
What excites me most about the project from the limited news we have is the espionage angle. It’s always circulated that Nolan wanted to direct a Bond flick, but according to Variety, “Nolan has come close in the past to directing a James Bond film, but it’s unlikely to happen because saga producer Barbara Broccoli won’t give him the creative freedom he wants.” Bummer. A true bummer. But this also works in Nolans favor to not follow the Bond framework and make his own spy thriller. Nevertheless, I know I’ll be seated on opening night for whatever Nolan releases next.
Alana Haim’s Impressive Slate of Future Projects
A fun category of celebrities that I like to keep tabs on is musicians who attempt to act. Usually, musician can make the transition with ease or fall completely flat. There’s no in between. A few of my favorite performances in film are from musicians like Justin Timberlake in The Social Network or David Bowie in Twin Peaks and The Prestige. Then, there’s examples of musicians falling on their face when they try to act, like Harry Styles in Don’t Worry Darling or Taylor Swift in Cats. A musician who’s seemingly made the transition with ease is Alana Haim, the guitarist and keyboardist from HAIM.
Alana Haim’s breakthrough performance came in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 film, Licorice Pizza. While I don’t think the film is good, a rare miss from PTA, I found that Haim was a natural. A true entertainer and her talents are clearly coveted by big name directors as her slate of projects is packed. Haim is teaming back up with Anderson in, what’s described as his most commercial film yet, The Battle of Baktan Cross, which is set to release in 2025. Her role is currently undefined, but PTA is a generational talent of a director that gave Haim her stardom in acting and it’s sick to see that they’re back collaborating.
The next director Haim will be working with is the up-and-coming Kristoffer Borgli. Haim will star alongside Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Mamoudou Athie in The Drama, a romantic drama with a plot described as “A couple, in the days leading up to their wedding, faces a crisis when unexpected revelations derail what one of them thought they knew about the other“. I’m in. Borgli has a weird mind and I know this is because I watched his film from last year, Dream Scenario. It’s a funny and wonky flick that’s also creepy in an entertaining way.
Project number three for Alana Haim is Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind. In this crime drama that’s “an audacious art heist against the backdrop of the Vietnam War“, Haim will star alongside Josh O’Connor, who blew up this year after his roles in Challengers and La Chimera. I’m less in on this. Don’t get me wrong, I like Haim and O’Connor, I’m just not a fan of Reichardt. I had high hopes for Showing Up, but was left thoroughly disappointed by it. Maybe this’ll be different. I’m just speculative of it.
Charlie Kaufman Is Set To Write Bennett Miller’s Next Film
When I saw this news get announced, I felt like the Vince McMahon meme. I first saw Charlie Kaufman’s name and was intrigued. This guy is easily one of, if not the most innovative screenwriter of the last thirty years. When your bag includes Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York and I’m Thinking of Ending Things, not much more needs to be said. So, now I’m at like half mast. The bloods flowing south pretty quickly and I read that the script Kaufman is writing is for Bennett Miller. BOOM! FULL STAFF, WOOD. Since 2005, Miller has directed three feature films; Capote, Moneyball and Foxcatcher. Guess what? All three bang.
Over his career, Kaufman has had a tight knit crew who he’s written films for. Himself, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, the two exceptions being George Clooney and Sean Charmatz. And those scripts have elements that bend the genre it’s looking to fit in. Adaptation. could easily be framed a movie about working hard and having writers block, but Kaufman elevates it to putting himself as the main character and layering the film the way he did was brilliant. No other screenwriter does what he does. As for Miller, he hasn’t worked since 2014, but his approach to real life events, which all three of his films are about, is second to none.
Apparently, according to TheInSneider, the untitled project is set to tackle the matter of artificial intelligence. Along with Kaufman and Miller being apart of the project, Megan Ellison is set to produce. She worked with Miller in the past on Foxcatcher, in addition to films like Her, The Master, Booksmart and Everybody Wants Some.
Yorgos Lanthimos Adds To The Cast Of ‘Bugonia’
Over the past few years, we haven’t seen a director working as hard as Yorgos Lanthimos. Since 2018, he’s released three feature films, which have garnered multiple accolades, and two shorts. Of those five projects, four of them have had Emma Stone at the helm of them. Lanthimos’ next film, Bugonia, is no different as Stone is once again working with the Greek director, but we’ve already known that since the film was announced. Along with Stone in Bugonia, a film described as a sci-fi comedy where “Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth“, Jesse Plemons has been cast. Again, this isn’t new news.
While we knew Stone and Plemons were in the cast, we didn’t know who else’d be joining the duo. Yesterday it was announced that Alicia Silverstone, who has worked with Lanthimos in the past on The Killing of a Sacred Deer, was added to the cast. Her role is currently unknown, but she’s the latest piece to the twisted directors latest puzzle.
Bugonia is in theaters on November 7th, 2025.
Josh Brolin To Star Alongside Glenn Powell In ‘The Running Man’ Remake
My final piece of news that I’ll leave you with is an update on Edgar Wright’s The Running Man remake. A little back ground, in early 2021, Wright signed on to direct a remake of the 1987 dystopian action film, The Running Man. Later, it was announced that Glenn Powell signed on to play the Arnold Schwarzenegger role in the movie that “is set in a dystopian United States between 2017 and 2019, featuring a television show where convicted criminal “runners” must escape death at the hands of professional killers“.
Yesterday, according to Deadline, the cast for the remake grew as Josh Brolin signed on to play the films villain. Brolin, who was in Dune: Part Two this year, is no stranger to playing a villain. He was Thanos in the recent Avengers films, but also played characters with villainous traits who isn’t large, strong and purple in films like Sicario and True Grit. He played a terrible villain in the 2008 Oliver Stone flick, W., when he starred a war criminal George W. Bush. With that being said, it’s exciting to have Brolin back in the villain role and should be a nice foil to Powell’s charismatic protagonist.
What’d I Watch This Week?
SPOILERS AHEAD!
– A Different Man (2024) dir. Aaron Schimberg
Sunday I went to Amherst Cinema to catch a screening of A Different Man. The day was dreary and the Vikings had a bye, so I decided to not watch football and instead, sunk into a movie theater seat with a diet Pepsi in hand.
A Different Man is a cautionary tale about self-loathing and ideas of greener pastures. It follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), a lonely actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes a risky procedure to remove facial tumors. In the process, he befriends beautiful playwright, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), and the two bond. When Edwards procedure works and he becomes a different man, he assumes the name Guy, claiming Edward committed suicide. Inspired by the loss, Ingrid writes a play about Edward. Guy auditions for the role of Edward and gets the part, but when he struggles with his lines, a confident individual named Oswald (Adam Pearson), who also has neurofibromatosis, steps in. Seeing Oswald’s confidence, Guy begins to spiral, realizing the life he wanted wasn’t what he expected.
What’s enthralling about the film is Schimberg’s blend of genres (comedy, romance, body horror) into a heartfelt picture. He makes jokes, like Edward acting in an infomercial about how to treat disabled people at worked, but brings you back to feeling bad for him when you see his somber lifestyle. That’s the dichotomy of the film. Before surgery, Edward was insecure due to his deformity. After surgery, he’s a handsome bachelor with a great job, but you realize that insecure personality still lingers. When Oswald, who’s extremely confident, even with neurofibromatosis, enters his life, he sees that Oswald’s a better version of what he wanted to be. Throughout the film, you wrestle with your feelings toward Edward, making it emotionally complex. If you’re free this weekend, catch A Different Man in theaters.
4/5 Stars
– The Long Goodbye (1973) dir. Robert Altman
We’re approaching November, or as I like to call it Noirvember. Don’t worry, for the start of that month, I’ll have a calendar that will direct you to watch some of the greatest noir and neo-noir films ever for the whole month, but I started early with a Robert Altman classic. The Long Goodbye, a brilliant crime mystery flick from the 1970s, that doesn’t get the same love a film like Chinatown gets, is getting a big recommendation from me. Who doesn’t want to be immersed into the life of PI Philip Marlowe as he uncovers corruption and deception from those closest to him?
While The Long Goodbye is one of the, maybe twenty best, detective films ever and also has a shocking, yet satisfying ending, it’s a fun movie about a man and his pet. Elliot Gould as Marlowe loves his damn cat and that resonated greatly with me. I want to break down some of what happens in this movie, but even giving you an insight of the first twenty minutes would takeaway from your first time viewing it. The Long Goodbye is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and would serve as an elite late evening watch this weekend.
4/5 Stars
– Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) dir. Woody Allen
I struggle with late in the game Woody Allen. And while you might ask “Oh, you don’t struggle with his actions?“, I do. I’ve just learned to separate the art from the artist, and while I don’t care to compare sexual deviants, his sins aren’t as bad as others (Spacey, Polanski, Singer). Getting past that and back to my original point, I struggle with late in the game Woody Allen. Midnight In Paris is one of my fifty favorite movies of the 2010s, but outside of that, Allen sort of composes rehashed slop time and time again with enough of a difference in the plot to market it as a new film. I felt this way about Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
In Woody fashion, it’s a love story. There’s the struggle of infidelity. And also everyone’s hot. Scarlett Johansson is hot. Javier Bardem is hot. Rebecca Hall is hot. Penélope Cruz is hot. THEY’RE ALL FUCKING HOT. Aside from everyone being hot, my biggest takeaway is that the character Rebecca Hall plays is diabolical. She’s snide towards Bardem’s character due to his lack of maturity and sexual prowess, yet she feels like she settled for her fiancé, who has a great job and is actively calling her the whole movie and wants to marry her so badly and buy a house with her. She feels like she settled so much that she sleeps with Bardem and he becomes the focal point of her thinking. Just a bad character.
All in all, while I wasn’t overly fond of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it’s a fine, mindless watch for the weekend is currently available on TUBI.
