Mike Flanagan To Adapt Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ Into An Eight Episode Series

Earlier this week, it was reported that Mike Flanagan, the writer and director of Doctor Sleep, Hush and Midnight Mass, would be adapting the Stephen King novel, Carrie into an eight episode series for Amazon. A commonly asked question in the movie world nowadays, especially when it comes to remakes is do we need this? My short answer’s no, we don’t. Brian De Palma directed the original Carrie film in 1976 and it’s widely regarded as a horror masterpiece. In 2013, Kimberly Peirce directed a contemporary remake of the film and it was, to be nice, utter dog shit. A stain on both King’s novel and De Palma’s original direction. Now, Flanagan, who is a highly respected horror director is taking a stab at Kings source material.

While I don’t think a remake is necessary, Flanagan is approaching it in a way he knows he can succeed by turning the Carrie story into a series. Since 2018, Flanagan has created four horror series and all four have received positive reviews. The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher have an average Letterboxd rating of 3.92/5 stars.

With the announcement being so recent, no one has been cast yet. Usually I’m all for fan casting or predicting who will play a certain role, but I have no clue who Flanagan will make the lead. Someone like Victoria Pedretti could make sense as she’s collaborated multiple times with Flanagan. The only thing, she might be too old. Lulu Wilson’s another good option as she fits the age range and also worked with Flanagan twice in the past. I don’t know though. I’ll keep you posted on any updates.

Christopher Nolan Casts Tom Holland For His Upcoming Film

Last week I wrote about the casting of Matt Damon in Christopher Nolans upcoming film. Since then, more news has broken about more casting and the potential plot.

Joining Damon is Tom Holland. I’ll be honest, when I saw this announced on the DiscussingFilm Twitter account, I thought it was a joke. Despite Holland being a box office success due to the Spider-Man and Avengers movies, he’s not a serious actor. Whether he was in The Crowded Room or The Devil All the Time or Pilgrimage, he hasn’t been particularly good. The lone bone I will throw Holland is he hasn’t worked with many serious directors. If anyone can pull a serviceable performance out of Holland’s boyish corpse, it’s Christopher Nolan.

The other news involving Nolan’s next film is the potential plot. In an article from Gizmodo, they wrote that there’s two potential plot rumors. One is that it’s a remake of the 1983 action film Blue Thunder. While I haven’t seen it, it does seem like the write approach for a remake. Blue Thunder wasn’t a box office success in 1983 as it made $42.3 million dollars and it also hasn’t been seen by many people. According to Letterboxd, only 15,000 users have logged the film.

Then there’s the other plot rumor we also see in the Gizmodo article and it’s a complete 180 from a Blue Thunder remake. Like Ryan Coogler, Nolan might be making a vampire horror flick set in the 1920s. I don’t know if it’d work, but I know one thing… I’m all in on that. I hope Nolan can make both of these films, but selfishly, I want a Nolan vampire flick with horror elements. As we learn more about Nolan’s newest project, I’ll make sure to keep you fine readers in the loop.

Richard Linklater’s ‘Blue Moon’ Will Reportedly Release In May 2025

When you look at a directors filmography, you’ll usually find a few bad films, a handful of mediocre and maybe one or two good to great films. When it comes to Richard Linklater, that’s not the case as he rarely misses. You can go back to the birth of his career and see transcendent masterpieces like Dazed and Confused and Before Sunrise. His 2000s and early 2010s had Oscar nominated films and cult favorites like School of Rock, Before Sunset, A Scanner Darkly and Boyhood. And then you can see his last ten years and realize that he continues to not miss with movies like Everybody Wants Some!!, Apollo 10 1/2 and Hit Man. Not many directors are on the level of Linklater, nor do they work as frequently as him.

Next year, Linklater looks to add to his legacy with his next film Blue Moon, which reportedly will be ready to debut at Cannes in May 2025. Linklater’s twenty third film is going to be a historical drama in the world of music. The Letterboxd plot synopsis states “In Broadway hotspot Sardi’s restaurant in 1943, ailing musical theater songwriter Lorenz Hart attempts to save face while celebrating his former partner Richard Rodgers’ success on the opening night of his hit musical “Oklahoma!”, which has paired him with a new writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein.” As of right now only four actors are attached to the film. Frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke is in the cast along with Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott making their Linklater debut.

‘Dune: Part 3’ Will Begin Filming In Early 2026

In February of 2024, Denis Villenueve and Warner Bros., released Dune: Part 2 which was a wild whirlwind of sci-fi action, and one of the best sequels ever. After Dune: Part 2 came out, it was reported that Villenueve might jump right back into the world of Paul Paul Atreides and try to shoot by 2025. Time passed and that report died down after Villenueve said that he wanted to goto the woods for a bit. That gave fans the notion that we wouldn’t get Dune: Part 3 until 2030. The most recent reports from this week feel concrete that Villenueve and company will begin shooting in early 2026.

Obviously it’s great news that we’re getting the third installment of Villenueve’s Dune saga earlier than anticipated, but it’s even better news because with filming set to happen in 2026, that means there’s a higher possibility that cinematographer Greig Fraser could return. When it was announced that filming could happen in 2025, fans noted how The Batman – Part II was set to be filmed at the same time. Now, it seems like that conflict is off the table. If Fraser isn’t able to work as Villenueve’s cinematographer, I wouldn’t be shocked if he tapped in his frequent collaborator Roger Deakin’s who he worked with on Blade Runner: 2049, Sicario and Prisoners.

What’d I Watch This Week?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

– Saturday Night (2024) dir. Jason Reitman

Friday night, my girlfriend and I double featured at the movies with Saturday Night and We Live In Time. We started with Saturday Night, a movie I’ve soured on in the last week. Initially leaving the theater, I wasn’t huge on it, but the more I’ve thought about Reitman’s latest picture, I find more that doesn’t particularly hold up. My biggest gripe being that Reitman completely fabricated a great deal of the film. I know that to make the film more compelling, Reitman had to embellish a bit, but we reached the ridiculous level of Winning Time and Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez. Lorne Michaels wasn’t in a bar ten minutes before air signing a writer. John Belushi wasn’t ice skating. In reality, David Tebet was supportive of SNL. I could go on. Those inaccuracies made me angry in the moment and angrier in the following week.

Another aspect I hated was the attempt to shoehorn every big name from the cast. This should’ve strictly been about Lorne’s struggles of assembling the show. Not about Billy Crystal doing bits, Jim Henson defending his puppets and everyone pretending Andy Kaufman is hilarious. My final gripe was it was too manic for its own good. At its core, this felt like Reitman wanting to direct an episode of The Bear based in the world of entertainment. A somewhat cheap rip-off.

Aside from all of that, there were portions I enjoyed which came from the performances. The two best came from J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle and Willem Dafoe as David Tebet. Then I’d say Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase is a close third. All in all, if you’re thinking of seeing Saturday Night in theaters, I’d wait. Just stream it.

3/5 Stars

– We Live In Time (2024) dir. John Crowley

After seeing Saturday Night, we re-upped on pop corn and diet Coke and shuffled into a different theater to see John Crowley’s romantic drama, We Live In Time. Unlike Saturday Night, I didn’t know too much about We Live In Time. I hadn’t seen a trailer for it and only really knew that it starred Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Despite all that, I found We Live In Time to be a pleasant surprise. It’s told in non-linear format (which I didn’t love) and chronicles the rocky, yet beautiful love story between Pugh and Garfield’s characters where we get the whole layout of love from the early stages of butterflies to making hard decisions to loss.

I don’t want to spoil too much of We Live In Time because I think people should go in droves to see it while it’s still in theaters, but it does have one of the funniest scenes of maybe the whole year. Again, not trying to give too much away, but it involves a flustered Andrew Garfield, a gas station bathroom and a very pregnant Florence Pugh. For not being a rom com, there are funny, awkward moments that represent the true essence of love and for that reason, like I stated prior, you should catch this while it’s still in theaters.

3.5/5 Stars

– Hardcore (1979) dir. Paul Schrader

Paul Schrader’s been on my mind lately. I don’t know why, but the last week has led my down a Schrader rabbit hole of not just watching his movies, but reading about him and listening to podcasts he’s appeared on (there’s a great episode of the Bret Easton Ellis podcast where, for about fifteen minutes, Schrader and Ellis talk about Schrader’s feuds with certain directors). This past week, I watch two Schrader films, The Card Counter, which I loved, and Hardcore, which I also loved.

There’s an interesting dynamic in Hardcore where on the surface it’s a very horny movie. George C. Scott finds himself stumbling into peep shows, sex shops and porn shoots in search of his runaway daughter. Everywhere you look there’s tits and women ready to pop their top in the hopes of making a buck against the backdrop of neo-noir Los Angeles. But past those obvious horny elements, Hardcore is an anti-horny film. Scott, a devoted Christian father, is forced to stomach the grotesque underbelly of sex trafficking and pornography and in turn, it makes you sick. Why I think the nudity and exploitation of young women turns your stomach more than any other movie is because you’re seeing this women from the eyes of a father who only sees his little girl.

Hardcore is currently streaming on Tubi. However, if you want more Schrader recommendations, checkout Master Gardener on Hulu, Light Sleeper on Amazon Prime and Bringing Out The Dead (a movie directed by Scorsese, but was written by Schrader) on Paramount.

4.5/5 Stars