Austin Butler Has Found His Next Projects

One of Hollywood’s hottest actors, both by looks and current notoriety, Austin Butler, has found his next projects. He’s set to star in both Ari Aster’s Eddington and Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing. As a fan of Butler and both directors, this has me pumped. But what’s I immediately thought of when I saw the castings announced was how mature Butler is when it comes to picking projects and directors to work with. Over the past few years, he’s worked with Quentin Tarantino, Baz Luhrmann, Denis Villeneuve, Ryan Fleck, and Cary Joji Fukunaga. And those four projects, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Elvis, Dune: Part Two and Masters of the Air, received warm reviews and favorable treatment from critics. Not many young actors have the tact that Butler has to pick projects like the ones he’s been in (CC: Tom Holland).

We’ve been hearing a lot about Ari Aster’s Eddington for a while. The plot that we know thus far is that it, “Follows a small-town New Mexico sheriff with higher aspirations.” We also know that Butler joins a cast comprised of Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Deirdre O’Connell. Aster is a king at making weird and disturbing films and I’m sure he’ll match the energy of is latest film Beau Is Afraid, which split audiences down the middle. Some loved it. Some weren’t fond of it. I’m in the crowd of not being fond of it. But Hereditary is one of my favorite movies ever so I’m excited for more Aster.

Butler will go from one director who makes sicko movies to another by starring in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing. The plot of Caught Stealing is, “Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, is unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ’90s NYC.” I’m in. Say less because I am in. Aronofsky has directed films like Requiem For A Dream, Black Swan, and The Wrestler which makes the viewer squirm. Now it seems like we’re getting another with 1990’s NYC as the backdrop. That aesthetic mixed with Aronofsky’s twisted brain should make anyone excited. Now you bring Butler into the mix and my excitement goes through the roof.

The Trailer For Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kind of Kindness Has Been Released

We didn’t have to wait long for more Yorgos Lanthimos. Much like Steven Soderbergh does year after year, Lanthimos is set to release his newest film, Kind of Kindness only seven months after releasing the Oscar winning film Poor Things.

The premise that Searchlight Pictures has put out of Kind of Kindness is “a triptych fable with segments following a man without choice who tries to take control of his life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing at sea has returned and seems to be a different person; and a woman who is determined to find a specific someone destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.” Set to star is Emma Stone, a frequent collaborator of Lanthimos, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, and Hunter Schafer. Personally, I’m still a little lost on the plot, and that’s perfectly find, but the cast is great. It’s packed with Academy Award nominees and is coming from the mind of an Academy Award nominated director.

While those facts have been known, we did get the first trailer of Kind of Kindness this week.

My initial reaction was excitement. Lanthimos’ latest two films have felt very disconnected from real life while still covering human characters with human qualities like love, lust and jealousy. But if you look before Poor Things and The Favourite, you’ll find films with a dystopian or supernatural feeling set in the real world. Whether it’s The Lobster or Dogtooth, we’re dealing with characters who feel more relatable. That’s what it feels like Kind of Kindness will be — a deep study on the human condition through multiple stories.

Kind of Kindness releases in theaters on June 21, 2024 in the United States.

We’re Getting A Pop-Tart Movie

Yes, you read that write. From the brain of Jerry Seinfeld, we’re getting Unfrosted released on Netflix on May 3, 2024.

While it sounds ridiculous, there’s a few positives. From the trailer, you can tell it’s a satire. That’s a good thing. But satire is risky. Last year, Charlie Day released his satirical film, Fool’s Paradise, and it was terrible. However, every so often you get a satire film like Network, This Is Spinal Tap, or American Fiction. If Seinfeld and company can nail the satire aspects while not going over the top then we’re going to see a surprisingly good film.

Along with the positive that it’s a satire, the cast is filled with funny people like Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Fred Armisen, and Hugh Grant. When you assemble a cast like that in a satirical film, you are cooking with fire. But my main concern is that it’s a movie about a Pop-Tart. Or the creation of Pop-Tart. Not 100% sure.