Blog Post: Dead Reckoning

The Mogul's Blog:

30 May 2018 - Dead Reckoning

It's been a busy couple of weeks at Castle Mogul. In preparation for the boss' birthday party we've been rushing around to sharpen the swords, give the dungeon a good spring clean and teach the hellhounds new tricks. Still we've found some time to catch up on the latest film news, previews and review the new releases. Read on below for our latest updates.

Reviews:

It was Mother's Day in the USA not that long ago so what better way to celebrate the miracle of parenthood than by watching Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody's new comedy-drama Tully where Charlize Theron grapples with the stresses of motherhood. Click the below poster to see what we thought of it (outside of having a strange urge to call our mother's to apologise for being born)

Shortly after that a group of us went to Cineworld VIP screening of Deadpool 2 where The Mogul gorged himself on so much free pizza and popcorn in a warm crowded screen that, after nipping to the bathroom during the credits, he fainted, tore a cubicle door off it's hinges, pissed on the ceiling and woke up screaming on the floor with his jeans round his ankles. He described it as 'a perfect epilogue to the film.' If that doesn't sell you on Deadpool 2 then maybe his review will. Click below to see what he managed to actually remember from this experience.

And finally, our latest home viewing review is Brawl In Cell Block 99 where an intimidating Vince Vaughn tears into his fellow prisoners with the primal rage he no doubt feels towards whoever told him starring in The Internship was a good idea. Click below to see how we felt about Vaughn's brutal attempt to reinvent himself as a grindhouse star.

In Cinemas:


The big film release this week is Solo: A Star Wars Story. We would comment more on it but due to being very busy of late we've only just seen it ourselves and quickly working on our review as we speak. Expect it to drop in the next few days.

Also out is Show Dogs, a comedy about a talking police dog who goes undercover in a dog show to bust some canine criminals. It basically looks like Miss Congeniality but with all of Sandra Bullock's natural charm replaced by poop bags and leg humping. It recently courted controversy when the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation pointed out that a scene where Ludacris' Rottweiler protagonist is convinced to simply zone out and allow a dog show judge to examine his genitals against his will is likely to send worrying messages about consent to an impressionable young audience. The scene has since been cut but, regardless of whether you feel it is problematic or not, does a film whose humour appears to be mostly inspired by "Ow! My Balls!" really sound entertaining?

The other big release this week is Book Club a film which feels like a feature length advertisement for the 50 Shades of Grey 'novel' series. It's a comedy about a book group of retired women who decide to mix up their usual reading fare with E.L. James' raunchy tales of, um, non-disclosure contracts with occasional spanking. The main drama of the film appears to be based on the ridiculous idea that people finding out that a woman 'of a certain age' is reading 50 Shades of Grey will cause shock and outrage at their ability to still recognise the existence of sex rather than simply a shrug of the shoulders or mild surprise at their embarrassingly lack of literacy. (Seriously people, there has been erotic fiction being written for longer than words have been put onto paper and some of it is brave, groundbreaking, shocking and/or beautifully written. Any book group worth it's salt should already know this.) Worst of all, this film has somehow convinced Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen to star in it. Surely they all had better things to do? Still, who know, maybe it has hidden depths and I'll be eating my words if I'm ever convinced to see it. Maybe we'll go see Show Dogs instead. The trailer is below if you wish to make your own mind up.

Newest Trailers:

We have been absolutely spoiled for trailers of late so there's a lot to cover. Let's get right to it!

First we have Bohemian Rhapsody, the new biopic of Freddy Mercury and the extravagant career of his band Queen. I've been worried about this production since Sascha Baron Cohen quit the project amid rumours that it downplayed Mercury's bisexual lifestyle and his battle with AIDS (worryingly both this trailer and blurb appear to skirt around acknowledging either) and also that it wasted screen time on the post-Freddy version of Queen that no one cares about. That said, this is just a teaser trailer and not only does Rami Malek look the part in the lead but it's near impossible to hear all these classic tunes mashed together and not feel at least a twinge of excitement. Click below to see if they will Rock You...

Next we have BlacKkKlansman, the latest film from Spike Lee. Lee's movies are always interesting and often controversial but can sometimes come across a bit didactic. However, despite an awkward title, this new project (which is also produced by Get Out's Jordan Peele) looks like one of his most mainstream and fun films in a while. It stars John David Washington who, in what could be a breakout role is channelling some of his father's moviestar charisma, plays a black police officer who poses as a white supremacist in order to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. It also features Adam Driver as the Jewish cop he convinces to place the 'face' of this ruse and Topher Grace who appears to be perfectly weaselly to play Klan leader David Duke. We were sold on it this from the badass afros alone.

Also out is the trailer for Destination Wedding. It feel's oddly strange to be seeing a trailer for a straightforward Rom-Com (seriously, when was the last big name Romantic Comedy which didn't have some sort of high concept gimmick attached?). It feels even stranger to be looking forward to it. Most of that is from the casting of Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder as the leads (which certainly appeals to a certain age group of geeky former goths who are fairly highly represented here in Castle Mogul!) This pair are playing a couple of off-putting loners who are both invited to the same wedding and seemingly dumped together to stop them bothering anyone else with their weirdness. Obviously they hate each other at first but will no doubt fall into a strange kind of love by the end. Keanu seems to spend the whole film speaking in the one flat monotone while Winona cycles through all the various reactions she famously ran through during David Harbour's acceptance speech for Stranger Things at the SAG awards. It all looks strangely charming.

A second trailer has now dropped for the new Tom Cruise action movie Mission Impossible: Fallout. We're big fans of the Mission Impossible series here at Castle Mogul. Although Ethan Hunt has never been the most compelling of leads the M:I movies have been a reliable source of solid entertainment and some genuinely impressive action sequences. This new trailer promised more of the same along with the addition of Henry Cavill's Superman-destroying moustache. We're particularly fond of the nonsensical but nonetheless awesome moment where he appears to 'reload' his arms before punching the living shit out of Cruise. Two tickets to the gun show please!

We also just had our first real look at The Happytime Murders, Brian Henson's latest attempt to bring adult humour to his late father's puppet empire. Based in a world where Muppets co-exist with humans it follows a pair of cops on case to solve a series of brutal puppet murders. It's a premise that could bring some clever laughs but this trailer seems to be too excited by the idea of our felt-based friends swearing and shagging to actually bother with many actual jokes (culminating in one filthy bit of visual humour that we're genuinely surprised they were allowed to get past censors!) The lead human role has been given to Melissa McCarthy which is slightly disconcerting since, despite having talents, her recent outings have ranged from the flawed but fun (like Spy) to the gratingly unwatchable (looking at you, Identity Thief!) Whether this film surprises us and ends up the new Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or is merely a more raunchy and childish Bright only time will tell.

On a more wholesome puppet note, we have the full new trailer for Christopher Robin. Telling the story of Winnie the Pooh and friends coming back to save a now adult Christopher (Ewan McGregor) it is certain to tug on the heartstrings of a certain audience who grew up watching the portly Pooh-bear and pals. We're made of sterner stuff here and have resisted shedding a tear but we do love the scrappy, stitched together look of the threadbare characters and can't get bored of endlessly rewatching that moment when McGregor spins in his chair, stares right at us and exasperatedly exclaims "Pooh?"

And finally we have the trailer for Skyscraper, a film where a one-legged Dwayne Johnson has to break into a towering inferno to fight terrorists and save his family. We could go on but if you're not already interested based on that 'Die Hard + The Rock' premise then we really don't know what to say to you.

Other News:

Unfortunately, as in previous weeks, we have to start with some tragic news. Shortly after our last update we heard of the sad passing of Margot Kidder.

Kidder was a prolific actress but was also a fierce political voice and powerful role model to many people struggling with mental illness. She is best remembered for her iconic turn as Lois Lane in four Superman movies starting with the 1978 Richard Donner classic however we're particularly fond of her spiky performance as the sorority girl Barb in Black Christmas. She was 69.

While on the subject of depressing news, we are also at pain to bring up the story that Morgan Freeman, and actor who we have previously held in high esteem, has been accused by eight women of sexual harassment and similar inappropriate behaviour. We are supporters of the #MeToo movement here at Mogulamania and we hope that one day the film industry finally feels like a safe place where young women (and men also) can feel that they can live out the dream of a life in movies without fearing assault, unwanted attention or persecution. Sadly the transition from this world into that one will likely be a painful one as many of our previous heroes are revealed to be not as noble and innocent as we had hoped. We will keep an eye on this story as it unfolds but feel horribly disappointed by this latest revelation.

On a more positive note we have some exciting news about new releases!

First of all is Missing Link the fifth project from Laika studios. Laika have greatly impressed us with their previous work of horror-twinged family films which combine the emotional power of Pixar with stunning stop motion animation. (Coraline and ParaNorman being particular favourites of ours.) The press release describes Missing Link as the story of Sir Lionel Frost, a scientist and adventurer, who sets out in the dark forests or America's Northwest to seek out a Bigfoot like creature and prove mankind's primitive ancestry. It is set to star Hugh Jackman as Sir Lionel and also features the voices of Zoe Saldana, Zach Galifianakis, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas and David Walliams. We look forward to seeking this one out ourselves.

Also bringing together an interesting cast of characters is John Wick: Chapter Three,  the third instalment in the beloved franchise about the laconic killing machine with a love for dogs. Keanu Reeves is obviously set to return and so are Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick and even Common and Ruby Rose who have somehow survived the end of John Wick: Chapter Two. Also joining the absolutely stacked cast are Halle Berry, Angelica Huston, Jason Mantzoukas and, the bone-crushing stars of the ultraviolent The Raid 2, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. If anyone can stop Reeves' indomitable assassin, our money is on Adrian Pimento!

Another sequel with an unexpected name attached is the next movie in the Bond franchise. Not only will the currently untitled 25th film in the Eon Productions series be bringing back Daniel Craig as the suave secret agent (the same Craig who once claimed he'd rather 'slash his wrists' than play Bond again) but has scooped Danny Boyle to direct. Yes, that Danny Boyle. We look forward to a Bond theme by Underworld now.

Finally we also have latest announcement from Disney/Lucasfilm of the subject matter of their next standalone 'Star Wars Story.' Against all fan expectation, this will not be about the years after the prequel trilogy when Obi Wan Kenobi spent enough time under the desert suns of Tatooine to turn from Ewan McGregor in to Alec Guiness. This next film will instead be focussed on the life of masked bounty hunter Boba Fett. It has not been revealed if this will be another prequel to the original trilogy or if it will follow a Fett who has escaped from the Sarlacc which he was swallowed up by during the events of Return of the Jedi. Either way, there is potential for an interesting story here. Fett's popularity stems mainly from the implication of what his character is capable of (inspired almost entirely by his reputation, confidence and great costume design) than by anything he actually does or say during his pretty limited screentime so there is both a wide canvass to play with and impossible to reach expectations. James Mangold has been tipped to direct which is a fairly straightforward choice. Mangold is comfortable working within studio restraints and is unlikely to cause any of the sort of issues Lucasfilm had during the production of Solo. However if he approaches the material with the same love and care he did with Logan we may have something quite special to look forward to. (That said, we still have our fingers crossed that the next announcement is a teenage Princess Leia spy thriller starring Millie Bobby Brown!)

And Finally:

Our friends over at Raptors In The Kitchen have just released their latest episode. This week they reveal their reactions to the new Star Wars release Solo: A Star Wars Story. We haven't listen to it yet ourselves this time to avoid it influencing our own imminent review but we're sure it will feature their usual blend of irreverent humour and smart film chat. Give it a listen: