Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ Has Been Delayed… Again
Fuck you David Zaslav. First you put Juror No. 2 in fifty theaters nationwide. Now, you push Bong Joon-ho’s next film, Mickey 17 once again. I would like to say that Zaslav and Warner Bros. can’t keep fucking up, but I know I’d be wrong in saying that.
Bong Joon-ho’s followup to Best Picture winning Parasite was slated to come out on March 29th of this year. Obviously, that didn’t happen. According to Variety, the reasoning to push the film was “to allow more time to finish the project, which had been affected due to last year’s strikes and other various production shifts.” Disappointing, but I guess it’s understandable. It only becomes for frustrating because of the extra extensions and trickery Zaslav continues to pull. After getting bumped from March 29, 2024, Mickey 17 was pushed to January 31, 2025. Again, that’s not happening. The updated reasoning for prolonging the films release is apparently to get it into IMAX theaters and capitalize on the potential Easter box office, so now it’ll be hitting theaters on April 18, 2025.
Despite my disappointment, I am pumped for Mickey 17. Based on the novel Mickey7, the plot is described as “Mickey Barnes has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.” Starring Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Naomi Ackie, we’ll have to wait just a little longer to see it. Hopefully the wait is worth it. If it’s not, you better watch out David Zaslav.
Steve McQueen Is Being Eyed To Direct The Next James Bond Film
According to The Sun UK Edition, 12 Years A Slave and Shame director Steve McQueen is being eyed to direct the next James Bond film. For many film fans, this has been a hot button issue. Everyone wants to know who will direct the next James Bond movie and I’m one of the most eager. Rumors have swirled about maybe Edward Berger (Conclave, All Quiet on the Western Front) or Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) could direct it, but those seemingly fizzled out. Then there was the push for Christopher Nolan. But those whispers were snuffed out when saga producer Barbara Broccoli wouldn’t give him the creative freedom he desired.
I’ll be honest, I don’t hate the idea of McQueen directing a Bond film. While he doesn’t have a spy thriller in his background, that doesn’t disqualify him in my mind. Sam Mendes didn’t have that background when he directed arguably the best Bond film of the 21st century with Skyfall. McQueen directs films that are character driven and make the viewer feel strong emotion. His style along with background of directing films about Ireland and the UK does give him a leg up.
While it’s not unlikely for McQueen to direct a Bond film, my next request feels extremely unlikely. McQueen has worked with one of my favorite actors, Michael Fassbender, three times and I’d like Fassbender to be the next Bond. He kicked ass in David Fincher’s The Killer and I think would make an awesome Bond as he’s not perfect. Alas, that’s a blog for a different day.
Updates On Josh Safdie’s ‘Marty Supreme’
May I interest you in a ping pong centric biopic directed by one half of the duo who did Uncut Gems? Okay, okay, I get it sounds crazy, but Josh Safdie’s upcoming film for A24, Marty Supreme, is “a fictional story set in the world of 1950s ping pong culture, loosely inspired by the life of professional ping pong player Marty Reisman.” You still might be skeptical. But let me sweeten the pot. Safide stated that the film will be setup as a high paced comedy, likened to Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.
If you’re not in already or you are teetering on the fence, the oddball cast will decide if you’re excited or fully out on Marty Supreme. Timothee Chalamet will play Reisman and from leaked photos of filming, it appears that Gwyneth Paltrow will play the love interest. After that, the next few names are ones you couldn’t envision. Safdie has cast rapper Tyler the Creator, Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, Fran Drescher (This Is Spinal Tap), juggler and comedian Penn Jillette, Sandra Bernhard (The King of Comedy) and director Abel Ferrara (King of New York). If you’re not in, I get it. This seems a tad off the rails. Personally, I’m heavily invested. I love Josh Safdie as a director and Chalamet is probably the best actor of this generation.
Another update, apparently, Marty Supreme is the most expensive film A24 has ever made. It has a budget of $70 million dollars. There’s currently not a release date for Marty Supreme yet, but we can expect it in 2025.
What’d I Watch This Week?
SPOILERS AHEAD!
– Conclave (2024) dir. Edward Berger
I went to a Cinepolis theater on Saturday to see Edward Berger’s Conclave. My first takeaway isn’t even about Conclave, it’s about the Cinepolis setup. While it’s a cool setup to see a movie, no one, and I mean no one should be killing a burger or a grain bowl or wings in a dark theater. I always say that people should goto the movies and Cinepolis makes a business model to bring more people in, but having waiters running in and out of rows through the whole movie is a nightmare.
Okay, now on to Conclave. In short form, I liked it. It’s a solid, politically adjacent thriller that was enhanced due to the gossipy nature of the cardinals. Conclave presents you with a conundrum of ethics and implements the seed of things not being what they appear to be right off the rip and it keeps you questioning until the final twist lands. Throughout, there are twists orchestrated by these cardinals in order to achieve one thing: become the next Pope. When you’re presented with all of that, you think this will be a tense thrill ride. At times, that’s what it is. Yet in many portions, we find Berger meandering and also trying to insert too much plot to the film, and ultimately, that hurts the viewing process.
I like Edward Berger and won’t dunk on him the way some people do and say he’s sauceless because I find his remake of All Quiet on the Western Front is a masterpiece. At the end of the day, Conclave is carried by the various great performances given by Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Carlos Diehz and Sergio Castellitto, but it falls flat too often to make it a great film.
3.5/5 Stars
– Hold The Dark (2018) dir. Jeremy Saulnier
If you’ve been a loyal reader of the Film Friday News Dumps, you know that the last few weeks have been co-opted by Paul Schrader. That kick has sort of worn off, mainly because I’ve watched just about all of the films from him available on streaming. In the time of me getting in the Schrader rabbit hole, I was also watching Jeremy Saulnier films. It started with Rebel Ridge when it came out on Netflix and then rolled into Blue Ruin and Green Room. I took one of my final steps in completing his filmography this week by watching Hold The Dark.
Hold The Dark is stylistically far different from his other films, but at its core is similar. We see the plot of revenge laid out, the same way we see it in Blue Ruin and Rebel Ridge, the only difference is that this time, the main character, Jeffrey Wright, isn’t the one with a grudge. It’s his employer, Riley Keough. Then Saulnier plays with you and you realize that the revenge in play isn’t what you think it is. Along with that, Saulnier changes the theme from being a bloody, gruesome vengeance style picture to be more about a man understanding the wilderness and his empathy towards who and what he hunts. Frankly, it’s quite brilliant.
Out of all of Saulnier’s films, this was my least favorite. By no means does that mean I didn’t like it. It’s just not what I was expecting. Hold The Dark is currently on Netflix and would make for a good watch this time of the year as you become entrenched in the isolated Alaskan countryside.
3/5 Stars
– Flight (2012) dir. Robert Zemeckis
When the final credits rolled, my first thought was that this should’ve been a good movie. It’s a fine film that’s elevated purely by two performances: Denzel Washington and John Goodman. Goodman, who plays a coke dealing, booze guzzling wild man was probably too over the top, but in the context of a film as mundane at times as Flight is, it works. Then there’s Denzel in the lead. If you look at his body of work, he’s been in more subpar films than a lot of A-list actors and time and time again, he kills it. He’s always delivering show stopping performance in films that have slop for plots. It’s almost a super power he has. In Flight, Denzel kills it. He’s drunk the whole film, but shows empathy in many ways while still possessing a scumbag undertone.
Like I mentioned, Flight should be a good movie. In many parts, mostly when Denzel is drunk and navigating his case, it’s fun. Then you remember that Robert Zemeckis is the director. He somehow finds a way to ruin so many of his films by inserting wannabe feel good fluff or character dynamics that immediately take you out of the film and that’s what happened here in Flight. Whether it was Denzel’s relationship with Kelly Reilly or any of his family dynamics, when that stuff came up, I immediately checked out.
3/5 Stars
Happy Birthday Dad
Today is my dads birthday. There’s so much I can say about him as he’s had such a big impact on my life as a friend, a coach and a father, but in recent years, one of the things I’ve grown to appreciate most was the movies he showed me. When I was younger, I had such disdain for black and white war movies or prolonged masterpieces from pre-1980. Nevertheless, he’d show me those movies and they’d become ones I revisited in recent years. Some of them are now a few of my favorites. For that, I want to say thank you dad.
To celebrate his birthday, I asked him his five favorite movies of all time and I figured I’d list them for you guys.
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998) dir. Steven Spielberg
The only movie on this list that I didn’t watch with my dad for the first time is Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Personally, I find the old Matt Damon aspect of the movie to be extremely corny, but all-in-all, I understand why people tab it as the best war movie of all time. My dad’s a huge Band of Brothers fan (he showed me that too) and Saving Private Ryan feels like the film version of it.
4. To Sir, With Love (1967) dir. James Clavell, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967) dir. Stanley Kramer
My dad lumped these two together because Sidney Poitier is the lead in both. These two were both showed to me first by my dad and both times he mentioned how he saw these in a film class he took in high school. The reason he loves both is because of Poitier’s presence in the face of adversity. In To Sir With Love, Poitier plays a teacher in a school of rejects who don’t respect him. While this isn’t necessarily the culminating moment of the film, the scene my dad always harps on is the boxing scene. The powerful presence that Poitier commands is second to none and stood out to me at a young age. In Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Poitier and Katharine Hepburn (CT Native) breakdown racial norms. Hepburn may be the scene stealer, but Poitier again exudes such poise that you gravitate towards the character.
This was my introduction to Poitier and my dad later introduced me to Best Picture winning In the Heat of the Night, which we both also love.
3. The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
In just about any dads top five movies, you’ll usually find The Godfather. What can be said about the trilogy that hasn’t been said already? For my dad and I, we really loves these movies because some of the films moments have become common references around the house. If one of us rats to my mom about something, they’re Fredo. Actually, that’s the main one. That and an occasional horse head reference or look at how they massacred my boy.
2. Cool Hand Luke (1967) dir. Stuart Rosenberg
A borderline top fifty film all time for me is Stuart Rosenberg’s Cool Hand Luke. It’s a movie I’d have never found at a young age if it weren’t for my dad. Another one he saw in his film class, we bonded big time over the egg scene and he loves pointing out that Newman poses like Jesus on the cross once he conquers the eggs. That symbolism stuck with me and clearly stuck with my dad.
1. James Bond Films (Sean Connery and Daniel Craig Only)
The movies that my dad and I bonded over the most is the James Bond films, primarily the ones starring Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. I’ve seen all of the original Connery ones, but the one my dad mention the most is Goldfinger. Whether it’s joking about dropping a ball like Oddjob in golf or quoting “No Mr. Bond! I expect you to die.“, that’s the one the resonates the most with us. Fast forward past Connery, I think the first Bond film I saw in theaters was Spectre for my dads birthday. It’s regarded as one of the lower tier Daniel Craig Bond films, but being in the theater seeing Christoph Waltz as the villain in 2015 was electric.
