America’s greatest and only daily column at Daily Grindhouse is back for another day. Many technicians and craftspeople work hard behind the scenes to bring you the best in bizarre takes and demented opinions. Here are some movie-type things that happened today:
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER!
One week later, it has arrived! I don’t know about you, but to me, this looks glorious. Still hard to tell exactly what this is about, but that doesn’t trouble me a bit. I’m excited to find out more. Tonally, the one this feels closest to so far is INHERENT VICE. That’s a good thing. Another thing I couldn’t help but notice is that it’s nice to see Black people in a PTA film again. He’s one of the few white directors who is able to create really memorable Black characters, whether they’re bit parts or huge roles. That’s a small club that includes… uh, John Carpenter. Nobody else comes immediately to mind. Maybe Michael Mann.
This is arguably not my place to argue. I am very pale. But it’s something I think about, representation, because my own life is more than white people, and I respect movies that can reflect something closer to my own reality. Obviously HARD EIGHT (SYDNEY) has got Sam Jackson, and BOOGIE NIGHTS has Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) and Becky Barnett (Nicole Ari Parker). MAGNOLIA has Marcie. (“For what?”) That performance by Cleo King is on another level! It gets pretty scarce after that, until I think Brenda in LICORICE PIZZA. (She’s the girl in the water bed store.) Is it just me, or wouldn’t it have been kind of cool if that movie had followed that character for a while?
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER features Regina Hall, an American treasure, although she doesn’t get much to do in the trailer than react. It’s more of a showcase for Teyana Taylor, who was brilliant in A THOUSAND AND ONE. As much as I enjoy DiCaprio in manic mode, and Benicio Del Toro doing that stuff than only Benicio Del Toro can do, it’s Teyana Taylor who I’m most excited about seeing in this movie. And, again, Regina Hall, who is perfect in every single film. The movies may not always be perfect, but you can count on Regina Hall to be right on time.
MICHAEL MANN!
Speaking of Michael Mann, the great and thoughtful Bilge Ebiri has a new interview with him over on Vulture. It’s primarily centered around Mann’s debut feature, 1981’s THIEF, but there’s a question about HEAT 2 for those who are curious about that project. (Spoiler: The answer is exciting.) Reading Heat 2 in novel form is kinda sorta like getting a look at the screenplay, as different as those forms are, so it’s fun to think about getting to see that story at the movies.
MARTIN SCORSESE GOES HAWAIIAN!
So it’s looking like Scorsese’s next movie is going to be a crime movie set in 1960s Hawaii, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Blunt, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It doesn’t have any title yet, or at least, none has been announced. The idea reportedly came from Blunt. To me, it sounds suspiciously like one of those Adam Sandler movies, you know, “Let’s take a vacation in Hawaii, film whatever, and have 20th Century Fox foot the bill.” I’m just being cranky about it because we probably only have so many Scorsese movies left, and I am not hearing enough about this yet that makes it sound more worth doing than so many of the other movies to which Scorsese has been attached. Looking at the bright side, however, this is almost certainly a lock for the finest movie The Rock has ever been in. It’s this, THE OTHER GUYS, and maybe RAMPAGE.
LAZARUS!
I’m not much of an anime guy, but this series from Adult Swim has Chad Stahelski of JOHN WICK fame choreographing the action scenes and this opening sequence, with theme music from Kamasi Washington, is pretty rad!
RONNIE SPECTOR!
A24 is moving ahead with a biopic of legendary singer Ronnie Spector from Barry Jenkins as director, with Zendaya in the lead role. I have to wonder if they’re at least considering bringing Pacino back in as Phil Spector, but maybe it’s better if they go another way.
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Tags: Benicio Del Toro, Chad Stahelski, Cleo King, Columns, Don Cheadle, Jon Abrams, Kamasi Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Mann, Nicole Ari Parker, Regina Hall, Samuel L. Jackson, Teyana Taylor, Trailers
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