Film News

"Heartbreaking": Why Is George Miller Replacing Charlize Theron for "Furiosa"?

The acclaimed director seems to not even be considering Theron for Furiosa, which the star describes as "a tough one to swallow."

Mad Max: Fury Road

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Charlize Theron recently expressed her sadness that director George Miller is casting a younger actress to play the titular character in Furiosa.

In one of the most memorable roles of the decade, Theron embodied a fierce survivor's energy as Furiosa in 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, teaming up with Max to lead a dramatic escape of women from Immortan Joe's Citadel. But Furiosa, the prequel currently in pre-production, is set to cover the character's early life, and Theron, 44, is reportedly going to be replaced by an actress in her 20s.

Theron, who says she "really love[s] that character," described the decision as "a little heartbreaking, for sure," and "a tough one to swallow," adding, "I fully respect George, if not more so in the aftermath of making Fury Road with him. He's a master … if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him."

Keep ReadingShow less
Satire

What Movies Will God Quiz You on When You Get to Heaven?

Apparently God is a major movie buff.

Gods of Egypt Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites Movie HD

Chances are pretty good that if you...*checks news*...live literally anywhere in the world, you're probably quarantined and maybe dying from COVID-19 right now.

I probably am right now. Sure, some psychologists are saying, "Don't let coronavirus tip society into panic," but panic is a natural response to unseen threats that make us question our survival and why we even exist. So if you're going to be stuck in your bedroom during what very well might be your last two weeks on earth, you might as well catch up on all the movies that God quizzes you on when you get into heaven.

Wait, what? That's right, dear reader, God is a major movie buff, according to a prophetic vision I had last night while quarantined, and let me assure you that I immediately and accurately jotted His favorite titles down so you can ace the test and not be cast into the fiery pits of Eternal Damnation. Remember, if you don't die as a seasoned movie buff, God will not let you in. Look it up in The Bible.

Noah

www.youtube.com

According to God, high-budget Hollywood retellings of biblical stories are His favorite form of worship. So it almost goes without saying that Darren Aronofsky's Noah epic, starring Russell Crowe, made the list. While many of the other Hollywood bible epics take too many liberties for God's liking, God assured me that Noah is a spot-on interpretation, and that Noah's real adopted daughter actually did look a little bit like Emma Watson. God also mentioned that flooding the world was one of the coolest things He ever did, so it was pretty fun to watch on the big screen.

The Passion of the Christ

www.youtube.com

Mel Gibson's poorly received Jesus Christ biopic may be a slog to get through, but honestly, we should have seen this coming. After all, when a guy who vocally hates Jews decides to direct a movie about God's son, you better believe God's going to take notice. The funny part is that God didn't like it either. God made it crystal clear that Mel Gibson failed to capture Jesus' mannerisms and that the main point in having us watch is so we can all make fun of it together from an informed perspective.

God's Not Dead

www.youtube.com

With a paltry budget of only two million dollars, and a very silly cameo appearance from Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson, God informed me that even though He hates to use the term, He couldn't help feeling like God's Not Dead took His name in vain. The movie's premise that God actually cares whether or not some dumb college students believe in Him was deeply offensive, especially when the only thing He actually cares about is whether or not we can pass his cinematic litmus test. He hopes that we can use take this movie as a lesson in what not to do.

Gods of Egypt

www.youtube.com

Straight up, God would not stop praising Gods of Egypt. This is a direct quote from God during my quarantined vision: "Dude, Gods of Egypt is so underrated. Realizing there wasn't going to be a sequel was the exact thing that made me start coronavirus." God clarified that while it's technically a good-bad movie, it's so good-bad that it might actually just be amazing. He's really into good-bad movies, so that's probably a useful thing to keep in mind when you kick the bucket. Also, if you happen to be Tommy Wiseau, he's going to talk your ear off. Like, he loves you, man.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

www.youtube.com

Okay, this was a surprise. It turns out that God's favorite movie, in the history of the medium, is Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He doesn't even like it ironically; he actually thinks it's good. I asked him if he had ever seen the comparisons between Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Neon Genesis Evangelionand, I kid you not, God says, "Who do you think came up with that first?" Admittedly, when God first said that Paul Blart: Mall Cop was his favorite movie, I doubted his taste in film for the briefest moment, but oh God, did God prove me wrong. The dude is absorbing cinema at a whole different level. I mean, this is the same guy who came up with mountains and diamonds and fish, of course He knows what He's talking about. I should never have doubted God, and now I know that when I die from COVID-19, God will be gaining another little film bro in heaven.

Culture Feature

Why Does Chrissy Teigen Keep Dragging John Legend?

We're not saying Chrissy Teigen bullies John Legend... But if she does, he probably likes it.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend

Photo by Matt Baron (BEI/Shutterstock)

John Legend has received a distinction no man has ever earned.

Sure, he's achieved a full EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), he stars in an Emmy Award-winning TV show, and he's only the fourth person of color to be named People's "Sexiest Man Alive," but his most impressive credential by far is having Chrissy Teigen as his wife.

"My secret is out," she tweeted in 2019. "I have fulfilled my dream of having boned @people's sexiest man alive!! an honor!!!!"

Legend is arguably a trailblazer in this new avenue; as a baby-faced 40-year-old, his new "sexy" honor tips the balance in the eternal battle between being "cute" or "hot" but never a hybrid of both. Legend commented right away on the vacuous nature of the "Sexiest Man" title, "Everyone's going to be picking me apart to see if I'm sexy enough to hold this title," he told People. I'm [also] following Idris Elba, which is not fair and is not nice to me!"

No, it's not nice. But with Chrissy Teigen as his wife, Legend knows better than to expect niceties; because it's clear that no one, absolutely no one, is better at dragging John Legend than his wife.

Twitter

John Legend: The Icon, the Meme, the Aardvark

The Internet's love of the "John Legend looks like Arthur" meme doesn't compare to Chrissy Teigen's. She's returned the public's attention to it when it simply wasn't being appreciated enough, especially in reference to their daughter. Once upon a time, it seems Legend could appreciate the joke, even dressing up as the children's cartoon for a commercial once. But marriage is long and arduous, and not even eternal vows can't prepare you for having the Queen of Twitter as a spouse. Really, John Legend's exasperation in his wife's Instagram comments is the delicious coda to every little dig.


Chrissy Teigen: John Legend's Worst Fear

Shortly after being crowned the most symmetrical face in mainstream media, Legend guest-hosted the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Inevitably, during one of the interludes, Chrissy Teigen popped out of the fake piece of furniture that's always lying around Ellen's set so nearly every celebrity guest can be caught on camera having a moment of pure, animalistic fear. This is John Legend's fear face:

Chrissy Teigen Scares Guest Host John Legendwww.youtube.com


Even scared, he looks so carefree. How? I don't trust it.



After bantering about the uncomfortable logistics of sitting in a box so you can yell "boo" at your husband, whom you probably live with and could do a better job of scaring the next time he's emerging from the shower, Teigen seemed to believe that her husband genuinely had no idea she was in the studio. Teigen asked him, "You didn't hear me banging around the box?" "No, I did not," Legend answered. Teigen lamented to the audience, "This helps because he's very unaware of anything around him. Like we get in fights on the airplane and stuff. He'll hit people with his bag. And I'm like apologize!"

Chrissy Teigen Isn't a Huge John Legend Fan

What makes that Ellen scare even better is that Chrissy Teigen seems to alternate between flippantly sharing intimate details about her and John's love life and also not knowing pretty basic, very public information about her own husband. Why? Because she's busy. No, she never saw Selma, despite her husband taking home his first Oscar for writing the moving score. Why? Because she didn't feel like it, mind your business!

Chrissy Teigen Doesn't Know Jack About John Legendwww.youtube.com


Chrissy Teigen: Not Afraid to Challenge Idris Elba

In order to clearly communicate his deep feelings of inferiority compared to Idris Elba, John Legend took to Twitter to compare a picture of himself at 17 to the aesthetic pleasure that is the one and only Idrissa Akuna Elba, OBE. To her credit, Teigen wrote an encouraging response that magnanimously pointed to the fact that we all have old photos of ourselves in which we look like a half-transformed Animorph beast...except Idris Elba. "Yeah but let's see an @idriselba pic from 1995 (prob still very hot)," she wrote.

And indeed, Elba accepted her challenge and posted a photo of himself as a smoking hot twenty-something year old in 1995, which at a certain point is honestly tantamount to an attack on society, because who needs to look like this?




Yes, Chrissy Teigen tried, but must you, Idris Elba?! One day I'm going to start a movement to dismantle beauty biases in Hollywood and all of American culture just so I can shame people for being so hot. Oh, what? That's already a toxic take that's historically targeted women who vote and write and have senses of humor while daring to look better than an unwashed bridge troll? Much like former Sports Illustrated model-turned-author-turned-beloved-TV-personality Chrissy Teigen? who has the honor of being the target of Trump's Twitter rampages??? Nevermind, then. Clearly, Chrissy Teigen bullies John Legend, the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2019, as an ironic commentary on beauty biases and shame that pervades American media. I get it now.

Welcome back to "Now in Theaters: 5 New Movies for the Weekend."

This week we have Jordan Peele's highly anticipated movie, Us.

WIDE RELEASE:

Us

Director Jordan Peele's follow up to his 2017 hit, Get Out, Us, features a family of four who find themselves targeted by an evil group of strangers who look exactly like them. The trailer suggests a movie chock full of terrifying, borderline-surreal imagery alongside the genuinely hilarious comedic notes that made Get Out such a success. The movie currently boasts a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so if you can stomach the horror, this is my main recommendation for the weekend.

LIMITED RELEASE:

Ramen Shop

Ramen Shop Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Indiewww.youtube.com

A Singaporean film, Ramen Teh or Ramen Shop, tells the story of a Japanese ramen chef who travels to Singapore after discovering his Singaporean mother's notebook amongst his recently deceased father's belongings. He travels with the purpose of learning more about his family history, ultimately finding romance and a greater connection to food. The trailer features some gorgeous shots of ramen, so if you're into stories about the power of great food, Ramen Shop may be worth your while.

Dragged Across Concrete

Dragged Across Concrete (2019 Movie) Official Trailer – Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenterwww.youtube.com

Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson star as two cops gone bad in director S. Craig Zahler's newest crime thriller. After Gibson's act of police brutality leads to his and his partner's suspension from the force, the disgraced cops use their underworld connections to secure financial support while they're off-duty. Zahler has a knack for depicting violence, as evidenced by his previous feature Bone Tomahawk, so it stands to reason Dragged Across Concrete will have a similar flair.

Hotel Mumbai

HOTEL MUMBAI Official Trailer (2019) Dev Patel, Armie Hammer Moviewww.youtube.com

A thriller based on the real 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India, Hotel Mumbai stars Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as a hotel employee working his shift when the terrorists strike. Now, Dev, his fellow staff members, and a number of guests, including Armie Hammer, must band together to survive and escape the bloodshed. If you're a fan of thrillers and dramatizations of true events, Hotel Mumbai should be right up your alley.

Out of Blue

OUT OF BLUE Official Trailer (2019) Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones Mystery Movie HDwww.youtube.com

In mystery/suspense drama Out of Blue, Academy Award-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson plays Mike Hoolihan, a cop investigating the murder of a renowned astrophysicist. The trailer is baffling. The dialogue seems really bad, so bad it might be a joke, although it's honestly hard to tell. For instance, when a man utters, "Jesus Christ," Clarkson responds, "I don't think Jesus had much to do with this." Could that line have possibly been written seriously? If you're brave enough, watch the movie and find out.


Dan Kahan is a writer & screenwriter from Brooklyn, usually rocking a man bun. Find more at dankahanwriter.com


POP⚡DUST | Read More...

The Stranger Things Season 3 Trailer Takes Things In a New Direction

Fetishizing Autism: Representation in Hollywood

5 Romantic Movie Gestures That Are Actually Super Creepy