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From the (used to be) legendary John Woo... fans of the original, look away now.
35 years on, if anyone has the right to do an English-speaking remake of the Hong Kong action classic for streamers who haven't heard of Chow Yun Fat, 'the legendary John Woo' does. Thing is, he's had a patchy record over the last 15 years, but almost burst back onto the scene in style last year with Silent Night, which wasn't bad and almost worked. It showed he could still put together an action sequence, but (personal preference only) cgi blood still looks awful and is no substitute for an old-fashioned squib; the excessively digital look and all-round made-for-streaminess didn't do it any favours.
So I'm predicting a similar outcome for The Killer. It's made for streaming and, since Woo has shown he doesn't mind reverting to cgi, I suspect this will be full of it. The biggest problem though is the casting. Recasting the mighty Chow Yun Fat as... Nathalie Emmanuel? F**k off! A couple of her action shots in the trailer just had me laughing and her snatches of dialogue confirm it. Nah. Originally Lupita Nyong'o was cast, and that could have been interesting because she's a very good actress. Emmanuel is just a pretty face with (at best) a lightweight presence, and was carried through Game of Thrones. Also, Sam Worthington is in there sporting an Oirish accent, and while that should not be considered in any way a good thing, I'm now replaying certain bits of Avatar in my mind with Irish blue stick insects, and it's amusing me.
I'm not a huge fan of the first 2, despite liking zombie action generally ... But with Danny Boyle + Alex Garland, plus Ralph Fiennes + Jodie Comer, it might just turn out OK ...
(I broke my 'no trailers' rule, as this isn't at the cinema for another 6 months).
I broke my rule too, and didn't even know there was another on the way. Bloody good trailer.
It's not out till June, and this is only the 50s teaser, so ... go on, you know you want to ! 😁
Haven't even bothered to watch part 4 (have I seen number 3?).
go on, you know you want to !
I beg to differ! They should have stopped at 3 (the third had the perfect ending for the toys). 4 was unnecessary and the only one I have no wish to watch again. 5 will be just a franchise-extending product from a studio whose best work is long behind them. I love parts 1-3 but really have no wish to watch any more.
Oooh ... I see KILL BILL has had a re-edit and re-release ...
Upcoming in the sense that it's just come up on Netflix - you've read all about the BAFTA incident and meltdown, now I Swear is streaming. It's the life story of Tourette's syndrome campaigner John Davidson, and it's well worth a watch. Robert Aramayo, who till this I had only seen as crap Elrond in Amazon's crap Tolkien saga, is absolutely brilliant in the lead. I was rooting for him at the BAFTAs and was glad he nabbed the award, as he fully deserves it. He's as good as Daniel Day Lewis was in My Left Foot, in that you completely forget he's acting and just go with it. It's a very good film all round, but he really is astoundingly good. I'm not sure it's been theatrically released in the States yet, but if not it is going to be; here's hoping that some of the morons mouthing off on social media will watch it and be educated (looking at you, Jamie Foxx).
I had a bad feeling about this, from my fave director ... But early reviews are in, and very positive! 🎉
Gonna be amazing in IMAX ...
Judging from the trailers alone it's the Nolan I've looked forward to the least - but I don't think he's really ever put a foot wrong, and I include the incomprehensible Tenet. It's not the casting choices that the usual dark corners of youtube have been crying about, and it's not the anachronistic dialogue (as long as no-one says 'bro'), and it's not even the odd-seeming choice of casting Brit actors and having them talk in American accents (which I'm sure I'll get used to in five minutes). It's just that nothing I saw in the trailers excited me. Nothing made me think 'I can't wait to see that'. I'm thinking they purposely left out all the good stuff. It's Nolan after all, so people will go see it anyway. From the point of view of ability to put spectacular crowd pleasers on screen that don't insult the audience, he's pretty much untouched. Only Denis Villeneuve comes close right now.
I'm sad that the BBC is treating standard presskit marketing as news, but how far standards have slipped at that corp is another story.