by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of October 8-11
1. No Time to Die
2. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
3. The Addams Family 2
4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
5. The Many Saints of Newark
In only its first weekend in theaters, the James Bond film “No Time to Die” climbed to the number-one spot for this weekend’s box office rankings. The 25th installment in the nearly 50-year-old spy franchise stars Daniel Craig as a retired Bond, who suddenly finds himself having to return to service when a friend from the CIA (played by Jeffrey Wright) needs help rescuing a scientist (played by David Dencik) from the mysterious Safin (played by Rami Malek). It’s only been out for 4 days, but has been met with mostly positive reviews, and is already the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2021. “No Time to Die” has raked in $314.3 million worldwide, and $55.2 million in the United States.
Currently in its second week of release, the sequel to 2018’s “Venom”, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”, grossed $31.7 million across the United States over the long weekend. This superhero film follows journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) as he adjusts to life as the host of the alien symbiote Venom. When a serial killer (played by Woody Harrelson) escapes from prison after becoming the host of Venom’s spawn Carnage, it’s up to Brock and Venom to put an end to Carnage’s reign of terror.
In addition to “No Time to Die”, the Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend saw the release of two other new films. Also rolling out to theaters this weekend were mystery horror “Lamb” and the Fran Kranz-directed drama “Mass”.
by Emily Nagle
On Sunday afternoon, Timothée Chalamet posted a sneak preview on Instagram at his starring role in the upcoming Willy Wonka prequel, “Wonka”. Scheduled to release in spring 2023 and co-written by Paul King of the “Paddington” film series, the story will precede the events of Charlie Bucket finding the golden ticket in Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s novel. Instead, it will follow “a young Willy Wonka and his adventures before opening the world’s most famous chocolate factory.”
Celebrities and fans alike reacted to the photos on Instagram and Twitter, which were accompanied by the caption, “The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last … 🏭WONKA🍫”. Kiernan Shipka of “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” commented, “OH MY GOD”, and a fan wrote, “I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED FOR ANYTHING”.
Chalamet will be the third actor to play the chocolatier, with earlier roles being played by Gene Wilder in 1971’s “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” followed by Johnny Depp in the 2005 reboot “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory“. Like the previous films, “Wonka” will be a musical, with Neil Hannon of the Irish pop band The Divine Comedy on board to write original songs for the film.
Other actors confirmed for the upcoming film include Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman and Jim Carter – their roles have not yet been announced.
On October 1st, HBO debuted the long awaited prequel to The Sopranos, called The Many Saints Of Newark. While the production is well shot and somewhat well cast, The Sopranos it ain’t.
Perhaps not since the Star Trek franchise recast characters from the original series run, have the stakes been as high. Michael Gandolfini took the brunt of that scrutiny by stepping into the role of Tony Soprano, made famous by his late father, James Gandolfini. As a young teenaged Tony, Michael Gandolfini essentially nails the character with nuance rather than the bombast his father demonstrated after Tony had made his bones in later years. Other standouts include Jon Bernthal (who isn’t given much to do), Vera Farmiga (as Tony’s volatile mother), and John Magaro (as Silvio).
Leslie Odom Jr. has a somewhat meaty role here and he does everything he can with it. The fact that his character comes off as a pivot point for the storyline makes his effort seem like it is held back. Odom’s character could have filled a movie of his own without being relegated to a background character who seems to live to facilitate the story which is set in Newark amidst racial hostilities in a crime-riddled community.
Dickie Moltisanti is the protagonist here. He’s the father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli portrayed Christopher in the series and also provides some voiceover in this film). Dickie also serves as a surrogate father to young Tony Soprano while his own father is unavailable. Alessandro Nivola has a lot of gravitas in this role. He isn’t lacking for personality but his mannerisms feel a bit out of place and at times, too cartoonish for the subtlety of The Sopranos. His portrayal seems more Andrew “Dice” Clay than it does Sopranos-esque especially in the 1960-70s setting.
Junior Soprano is portrayed by the always standout, Corey Stoll. He lays the groundwork for much of the angst his character later (?) demonstrates in the series. Stoll’s Junior has a “who me?” quality in a crowded room only to show hair trigger anger a split second later. The actor even throws in some laughable moments in an otherwise dark story.
Michela De Rossi as Giussepina shows more evolution than most of the characters in the film. She immigrates from Italy hoping for a storybook life in America. Instead, she settles into a life of broken promises and physical abuse at the hands of Aldo Moltisanti and later, his son. She moves from wide-eyed beauty queen to a calculated and conniving existence simply trying to survive.
Ray Liotta is underutilized and makes a confusing and poorly explained reappearance after disappearing early in the film. His role almost feels like an afterthought.
Saints misses plenty of opportunities to further develop characters who are unavoidably known to fans of The Sopranos. Setting the storyline against the fiery backdrop of race riots in Newark only serves to distract from the stories each of the characters brings to the mix. The Sopranos was always about the interaction between the key players. It didn’t need to feature historic eras to attract attention. Perhaps those character stories weren’t what the filmmakers wanted to tell? Fair enough. It just isn’t clear if they succeeded in telling the other stories they began telling here either.
Expectations are astronomical when you associate a film with an established brand like The Sopranos. Maybe there is no way to satisfy the appetite of someone coming to The Many Saints Of Newark who is invested in the core Sopranos brand? I’m just not sure that the story would stand up independently without that star to hitch itself to. Hopefully some of this serves as a nucleus for another story (or stories) to be told in this time and place.
by Emily Nagle
Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp, best known for her roles in “A Faithful Man” and Invincible’s “Yoga Hosers”, has been casted in HBO’s upcoming drama “The Idol.” Depp will star as the female lead alongside series co-creator The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye).
Created by Tesfaye and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson, “The Idol” is about “a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who is the leader of a secret cult”, according to Deadline.
Other confirmed crew members include Joseph Epstein of “Health and Wellness” for writer and showrunner, in addition to Mary Laws of “Succession” and the Weeknd’s manager Wassim Slaiby as co-executive producers. HBO has not commented regarding details on the upcoming series.
This news was first reported by Deadline on Wednesday afternoon.
Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
By Dana Foster
So it’s been rather dissatisfying “Lady Action-flick Summer”… we were inundated with marketing for that dynamite milk-shake misstep (“Gunpowder Milk-Shake”), let down in the opening 10 minutes… We were upset by the audacity of “Jolt”… and we haven’t viewed “The Protégé,” but we have hope because we like Maggie Q and adore Michael Keaton…
but so far “Kate” is the one 
Hot-wiring elements from similarly successful narratives, Hit-Woman-For-Hire, trained from childhood, “Kate” finds herself poisoned with a day to live at most… the plot is structured into 5 parts mirroring the 5 doses of stimulant “Kate” uses to keep her body from shutting down before righteously ending things with those responsible for her condition.
We’ve always been enamored by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and thought she’d make an incredible action performer. “Kate” is your typical derivative revenge fair that, with style and charisma, raises the bar if ever so slightly within the genre, in a visceral and tight 90 minutes of the level of action choreography the mainstream audience has come to expect from “John Wick” producer David Leitch. We would’ve paid full price to this in theaters…
by Emily Nagle
The release date for the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel “Furiosa” has been delayed a year, and is now set to premiere on Memorial Day 2024 instead of June 23, 2023.
While little is known about the film’s story, the cast has been confirmed to star Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of Furiosa, as well as Tom Hardy, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Also delayed by the studio is upcoming horror film “Salem’s Lot”, based on Stephen King’s best-selling vampire novel. Its release date has been shifted forward from this winter to September 2022.
By the time “Furiosa” speeds into theaters, the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger that began over the summer will be completed. The media conglomerate will soon be known as Warner Bros. Discovery.
Get Some Strange!
