Crime thrillers that blend action and crime are nothing new, but few offer the sci-fi twist that BenDavid Grabinski’s new movie can boast.
It sometimes comes off as a throwback 1990s thriller comedy, full of pop culture references (a ‘Gilmore Girls’ discussion might be the funniest) and needle drops from the era and beyond.
Written and directed by Grabinski, this has a script that moves at a fair clip, throwing a variety of different characters at us, who all provide various levels of entertainment value. Sometimes it all feels a little Tarantino-lite, but it has its own appeal.
Cinematographer Larry Fong helps give this one some visual panache, and if it occasionally leans too hard on certain styles, the movie certainly delivers in a way that fans of directors such as Edgar Wright will appreciate.
It’s the casting that really helps this one –– Vaughn delivers his trademark witty attitude (with an extra version of his character for good measure thanks to the movie’s time travel twist). Marsden is appealing nervy and if González doesn’t always get as much to do, her Alice is still a solid character.
Around them, there is a deep bench of comedy acting talent, including Stephen Root, Ben Schwartz and Jimmy Tatro, who all steal scenes.
Two gangsters and the woman they love try to survive the most dangerous night of their lives. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one wild ingredient added to the mix: a time machine.
Who is in the cast of ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’?
John Krasinski in ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
There was a time in the 1990s when big-name actors could be tempted outside their usual attempts to win awards with challenging dramatic work and have some fun appearing in rip-roaring adventures after ancient artifacts, dodging life-threatening peril and trading quips.
And before that, the 1980s brought us all manner of satisfying throwback adventures, led by the immaculately directed delights of the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise. These days, the genre tends to paddle in the shallow end of straight-to-home entertainment releases or, as in the case of ‘Fountain of Youth,’ streaming.
But can this new offering live up to that grand tradition?
Script and Direction
(L to R) Director Guy Ritchie and star John Krasinski behind-the-scenes of ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
A big issue with the new movie lies in its script. Crafted by James Vanderbilt, whose career has swung wildly between the acclaimed likes of ‘Zodiac,’ the fun action nonsense of ‘White House Down’ and misbegotten misfires including ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ this new ‘Fountain’ sputters more than it should.
Vanderbilt cobbles together a blend of the aforementioned Indy franchise entries, the more high-tech and fight-orientated world of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and the “path to something important hidden within esoterica” plot fuel of Dan Brown.
Yet it’s not a mixture that always works. Yes, there are the requisite globe-trotting action sequences, a few moments of entertaining banter for the leads and of course some twists and turns, but it’s all so off the peg, an uncomfortable patchwork of seen-it-before wannabe thrills and lucky escapes.
It’s all very well to try and stand on the shoulders of giants –– we see you, veiled reference to Doctor Jones in the name of Krasinski and Portman’s characters’ name: Harrison Purdue –– but you have to have something innovate in exchange. This new outing doesn’t ever hit that stride.
How many times can our heroes stumble on their latest clue, only to be ambushed by their antagonists, and then turn things around for a lucky (and more than one instance, logic-defying) escape? If the evidence of ‘Fountain of Youth’ is to be believed, it’s many more times than is believable, and indeed it all becomes tiring by the end.
(L to R) Natalie Portman, Benjamin Chivers, John Krasinski, Domhnall Gleeson and Michael Epp in ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
Guy Ritchie, meanwhile, has been a genre-hopping directorial journeyman for some time now, but seems to flourish when he’s given full reign to embrace his violent, jokey style as seen in recent Netflix series ‘The Gentlemen.’
Here, it’s as if he’s working with kid gloves on; while he’s certainly produced effective, family-friendly material in the past, this is a poor example of him toning himself down. A few of the set pieces are solid with some diverting stunts, but all in all, this is a blandly clockwork chore.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Natalie Portman, John Krasinski, Domhnall Gleeson, Carmen Ejogo and Laz Alonso in ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
While you can absolutely imagine John Krasinski seeing this as solid extension to his nice-guy-turned-action-hero brand after years spent playing Jack Ryan, the character of treasure hunter Luke Purdue only sometimes works to his strengths.
Krasinski certainly doesn’t lack for charisma and he sells some of the cheesier lines; he’s also decent when it comes to the action (again, partly thanks to his time as Ryan).
And when he and Natalie Portman are trading sibling barbs, the movie feels like it more lives up to its promise, the pair sharing some entertaining on-screen family chemistry.
Portman is a more surprising performer to show up in a movie like this, though we imagine the appeal of having fun on set with Krasinski and a solid Apple-backed payday is probably more the reason she took the gig rather than something she saw in the script.
Eiza González in ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
As the third main character, Eiza González does just enough to make her relatively stock badass character watchable –– she’s also effective when it comes to the action, but as one of the “protectors” looking to stop Luke on his mission for seemingly noble reasons, it’s not always enough to overcome a generic role.
Likewise Domhnall Gleeson, who has little to do as Owen Carver, the ailing rich mogul bankrolling Luke’s search. Gleeson has a couple of moments, but it’s largely a waste of a decent actor.
Still, he comes off better than Laz Alonso and Carmen Ejogo, who play Murph and Deb, Luke’s support team. They’re mostly there to deliver the exposition, and that’s usually provided in big, ungainly lumps around tables.
Beyond a few memorable moments as driven Interpol agent Abbas, Arian Moayed likewise is given little chance to shine.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) John Krasinski, Domhnall Gleeson and Natalie Portman in ‘Fountain of Youth,’ premiering May 23, 2025 on Apple TV+.
Does ‘Fountain of Youth’ keep the flame of fun adventure movies from the 1980s and 1990s burning? Not really.
This is a less-than-thrilling example of the genre which certainly starts promisingly and has a few decent lines or moments here and there (fans of ‘Knight Rider’ might be happy at one, and no, we don’t mean The Hoff shows up), but it’s not enough to keep it from feeling stale.
You could certainly watch this. But you’d choose… poorly.
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What’s the story of ‘Fountain of Youth’?
The new movie follows two estranged siblings (John Krasinski and Natalie Portman) who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth.
They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives… and possibly lead to immortality.
(Left) Eiza González in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release. (Right) Aaron Paul in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eiza González and Aaron Paul about their work on ‘Ash’, their first reaction to the script, their approach to the characters, and working with director and composer Flying Lotus.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eiza González and Aaron Paul about their work on ‘Ash’, their first reaction to the script, their approach to their characters, and working with director and composer Flying Lotus.
Aaron Paul in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
Moviefone: To begin with, Aaron, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and why did you want to be a part of this project?
Aaron Paul: Well, really because of Eiza, I am obsessed with her. I’ve been dear friends with her for many years. We got sent this script at the same time, and before I read it, I hit her up. I said, “Have you read this? How is it?” I was just hoping that it was incredible because it was a dream of mine to be able to tackle something with her. So, we both read it at the same time. It was just such a fun ride. We both sat down with Fly Lo, our incredible director, and we just had each other’s backs from the beginning. To be able to witness Eiza and how she tackles projects was really inspiring. She is just such a boss. You know what I mean? She cares for every single moment of the movie. Her preparation is just unbelievable. The number of notes that she has is amazing. She cares deeply. It was thrilling.
(L to R) Aaron Paul and Eiza González in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
MF: Eiza, what was your experience working with Aaron on this project?
Eiza González: I love him. I’m so grateful to be on this journey with him. I really am. I can’t expand enough on how lucky I am to have him in this film and as a friend.
Eiza González in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
MF: Eiza, can you talk about your approach to playing Riya, and because she suffers from memory loss, is that freeing to perform as an actor or more complex?
EG: I think it’s both. I think it’s a combination of those things. It is my biggest fear. I think that who I am is an amalgamation of my memories, right? We all are, and my identity, my growth, comes from my memories. My expansion as a human being, as an artist, it all stems from memories. There’s nothing that scares me more than losing all that. There’s a beautiful juxtaposition of meeting a character the way that we meet Riya, which is this covered in blood, obviously lethal human being, while simultaneously being incredibly soft and vulnerable. I find it challenging, especially in this genre, being able to find female characters that feel so flushed out in such a simplistic way, and without having to explain themselves. But also, it’s two underlying currents happening simultaneously, and that is a dream as an actress. We just struggle to find characters like that, that are not necessarily tied to incredibly grounded roles. I love that. I felt like a little kid, like a child, doing things for the first time. I didn’t want to forget that, while I was sort of in the journey of looking for answers, I still wanted Riya to feel like a raw soul, lost and confused, because that’s where you connect with her. It was challenging. It’s a challenging movie, and at plain sight, it doesn’t look like it, but it has so many layers and so many undercurrents, that the director and the actors must be really in sync to be able to fill in the blanks and make sure that every little place has a moment that the audience can hold on to. Because you’re asking for audiences to sit for an hour and a half with a movie that only is in one space with two characters. That’s challenging. That’s a hard thing to achieve.
Flying Lotus in Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
MF: Eiza, I was really impressed with Flying Lotus’ work as both a director and composer on ‘Ash’. What was it like to work with him and watch him execute his unique vision for this project?
EG: Oh, it was a dream. Aaron has worked with some of the best directors in the industry, and I’ve been very lucky to work with some of the best who direct. You can tell from the get-go when someone knows and when they don’t know. He was fearless, and sometimes that comes in different ways. You don’t have to come in with overwhelming overconfidence. It doesn’t mean that you must walk in with confidence, it just means you must have passion about something and a very clear passion. He just was so excited, but with really grounded ideas, and with a very clear point of view. He had built a team around it that really envisioned that. Once you’re with someone like that, you’re on the other side. You must drop into it and bring your knowledge. He is a new director, and Aaron has a lot of experience, and I’ve had a fair share amount of experience. He had an attitude of, “I want to learn.” Sometimes you have resistance both ways as an actor, because you have a very clear idea. I can imagine, as a director, you have an idea, but he was always open. He’d be like, “Oh, okay, let’s do it this way and then let’s try it your way.” Then some of the times it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. But it’s collaboration. That’s just a dream come true.
Flying Lotus’s ‘Ash’. Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
MF: Finally, Aaron, what was your experience like working with Flying Lotus on this film?
AP: It really is a dream, and you can see every frame of the film was just so well thought out and just the glow of the set every day. Every day everybody was talking about, “My God, it’s just so amazing to be here.” Because you don’t see anything like that. It has such a new look, you know? It’s a brave swing, and it’s just such a fun, crazy, artsy film to be part of.
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What is the plot of ‘Ash’?
On a distant planet, an astronaut wakes up to find the entire crew of her space station has been killed. Riya (Eiza González) has no memory of herself or of the situation in which she finds herself, jogged by only quick, nightmarish flashes of her partners and their mission. Feeling paranoid, she must decide if she can trust the man (Aaron Paul), whom she supposedly knows, sent to rescue her after he received a distress signal from her location.
This new movie certainly sees him channeling the tone of those initial efforts, but while that provides plenty of thrills and chuckles to begin with, midway through it seems to decide that is not worth sticking with and becomes something more like ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (though never reaching the quality levels of that).
Does ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ prove to be a fun mission?
Alan Ritchson in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
It’s something of a mystery when you have a movie that offers Henry Cavill in particular with the most charismatically entertaining character he’s played in a while (with, unlike in ‘Argylle’, the screentime to fully embrace it) but somehow lose confidence in the jokey tone that is established early on.
True, the subject of war, especially in a real-life context, is one to be taken seriously, but that later gear switch grinds noisily midway through the running time. And yes, there are the real people to be considered (a closing credit sequence includes imagery and potted histories of the personalities after the time of the mission portrayed), but the two tones of the movie simply don’t mesh well enough to make the whole work.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Script and Direction
Eiza González in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Ritchie here adapts Damien Lewis (not the actor, different spelling)’s book with the help of Paul Tamasy and Arash Amel, adding his own particular flare to the story of a group of real-life, under-the-radar heroes helped turned the tide of World War II when things were looking their bleakest for the Allied forces.
But, as we’ve said before in this review, the script’s tone takes a dive somewhere around the point that the mission itself starts to go off the rails. It’s as if the characters shrug off their colorful personalities and adopt much blander, generic war movie archetypes instead. Moments of humor do poke through still, and there are obviously moments where the darker tone requires a more serious approach. The movie, though, doesn’t completely recover.
In the director’s chair, Ritchie certainly brings plenty of his usual style to the proceedings, and he frequently gets the best out of his cast in the early going. The movie also looks good, the budget clearly up on the screen in scenes where the team engages with battleships or enters the port that is their main objective.
Yet he still can’t stop his own movie from turning into something that is far less effective in its final third. As the action ramps up (which has its own ticking clock tension, to be sure), the compelling character work fades and some of the interest starts to wane.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Performances
Henry Cavill in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
This is most certainly Henry Cavill’s film, and when he’s allowed, he jumps in with both feet. His Gus March-Phillips is a wily, snarky sort, well aware of his reputation even as he’s ready to give his life in service of his country. He’s not above stealing cigars from his superiors or mouthing off to Nazis who are pointing guns at him (and why not?) At full power, he’s the charismatic center of the movie.
But he’s ably supported by the ensemble, especially Alan Ritchson as the hulking Anders Lassen. Right there with Cavill’s character, he’s always ready to enjoy his missions, and dishes out violence like a funnier ‘Reacher‘.
Henry Golding has less to do as explosives expert Freddy Alvarez, but he’s handed some fun chunks of scenes, and Golding makes the most of them. Eiza González, meanwhile, has a better character in the early going, but is soon reduced to either being a femme fatale or a damsel in distress.
From the supporting cast, Babs Olusanmokun stands out as the college educated man of letters who has set himself up as king of the mercenaries in the port where the team has to take out U-boat supply chain. It’s a winning performance and Olusanmokun makes it look effortless.
Elsewhere, Til Schweiger is suitably menacing/ridiculous as BDSM-obsessed Nazi commander Heinrich Luhr (one of the characters who feels very Ritchie-fied with his verbal diarrhea) and Cary Elwes is a suitably eyebrow-raising “M”.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Final Thoughts
Cary Elwes in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Ritchie’s latest release shows signs of the director warring within himself more than the movie itself is about conflict. It’s as if he started out fully intended to make an engaging romp of an action comedy before a side of him worried about what people would think about the historical accuracy might think.
The result is a compromised effort that rather falls between two stools –– but has enough value to make it worth sticking out. Especially if you like Henry Cavill sticking his tongue out as a he shoots a machine gun.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’?
Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ is an action-comedy that tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming.
The top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately their audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern Black Ops warfare.
Who stars in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’?
(L to R) Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham talk ‘3 Body Problem’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham about their work on ‘3 Body Problem’, the book the series is based on, how they approached playing their characters, and shooting the game sequence.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Wong and Cunnigham, as well as Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Alex Sharp, Rosalind Chao and Zine Tseng.
Moviefone: To begin with, Benedict, were you familiar with the book the series is based on before you signed on for the project?
Benedict Wong: No, I wasn’t. I met the guys on Zoom whilst I was filming ‘Doctor Strange.’ I was just immediately very suspicious, why did they need three showrunners for this project? Then delving deep into the first novel is so dense, this science and this world of the game world. I was thinking, I don’t even know how this is going to be filmed. It’s such a challenge. I just picked up the gauntlet and ran with them.
MF: Liam, did you read the book before you started shooting?
Liam Cunningham: No, I’m going to wait till I’m done. I generally don’t do it. Even the last project I did with David and Dan (‘Game of Thrones’), I never read those books. I didn’t want two voices in my ear. My blueprint was the scripts and that’s what I was employed to deliver. If I read the books, if I’d had trouble with any of it, I would’ve used that as a reference. But that’s when I think I might be in trouble when I must go somewhere else for information. So, I didn’t want two voices in my ear, the book voice and the script voice. So, I am going to keep that treat until we’re all done on this. Then I’ll sit down on a beach somewhere under a palm tree and I’ll dig deep into the book.
MF: Liam, can you talk about your preparation and approach to playing this role?
LC: We do enormous amounts of preparation. Enormous amounts, but we prepare for the scene. Our showrunners are very good at formulating a character that is not about, he went to school here or anything like that. In fact, I had a couple of small questions, but I don’t think I ever talked about where he comes from.
MF: Benedict, how did you prepare to play your character?
BW: I think the world builds around you and within this center of your universe, you have everyone at your command. The calls that you make are answered and there’s so much power within that, and that builds that level of who this person is. We did get the blessing of Cixin, the author, and he knew that this was going to be inspired from the books because they were telling a global story but then it still had this Asian spine of myself, being from Manchester and Jess (Hong) being from New Zealand, and then the character of Ye Wenjie played by Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao. But to tell much more of a global story of look, we have someone who’s Irish in command with this duo and its fascinating to watch because it’s almost like, well, how did they get there? And they have every right to get there too.
MF: Finally, Liam, can you talk about shooting the game sequences?
LC: It was very much what the guys are very good about it, but they kept it to a minimum. So, these cinematics as they call them, the room we were in was very high-tech. It wasn’t that volume that they used on ‘The Mandalorian,’ that semicircular LCD wall. It was a very particular lighting setup on an enormous level. They gave us this huge amount of room to wander about in this place. There were minimal sets. What you hang your hat on is what happens. What’s the information that’s given? You’re seeing this AI representation of whatever word the threat is. So, there was a certain amount, and you did have to use an enormous amount of your imagination and paint the pictures in your head, which can be interesting if it’s very important to the storytelling. It was a joy to do. It was quite a challenge, but a real joy.
Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) is an astrophysicist who saw her father brutally murdered during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Later, she was conscripted by the military because of her scientific background and sent to a secret radar base in a remote region. Her fateful decision at the base echoes across space and time to a group of scientists in the present day, forcing them to face humanity’s greatest threat.
Launching on Netflix with all eight episodes on Thursday March 21st, ‘3 Body Problem’ represents two gigantic challenges all at once: how do the creators of the ‘Game of Thrones’ TV adaptation follow their mammoth fantasy undertaking, and how do they do it using one of the most acclaimed science fiction novel series of recent years?
As it turns out, the answer is: with an abundance of brains and style, putting together a quality cast and fully using the resources offered by Netflix’s deep pockets to bring the novels’ story (or at least the first in the ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy, which in book form is known as ‘The Three-Body Problem’) to life.
‘3 Body Problem’ is excellent right out of the gate, even more so than ‘Thrones’. It’s audacious, detailed, emotional and sweeping, hooking you with a teasing mystery (at least for those who have not read the books) that slowly and logically unfolds.
A hefty challenge is that a chunk of the narrative revolves around some big physics concepts, but the show smartly explains them in ways that anyone can understand. You won’t feel like you have to have ‘A Brief History of Time’ open on your lap as you watch.
The story weaves its way towards big revelations, but never feels out of reach, grounding its concept in human behavior and satisfying character interactions –– the main group all feel like people you want to spend time with as you take this journey alongside them.
D. B. Weiss and David Benioff know plenty about adapting sprawling stories with big casts, but here, even more than with ‘Thrones’, they smartly choose to follow a (relatively) small group so as to keep viewers engaged.
So while the story trips through two different time periods and focuses on a few different places across the planet (plus an advanced, immersive video game system that becomes key to the plot), you’re never left wondering who is doing what and why.
Working alongside fellow showrunner Alexander Woo (‘True Blood’), they stay mostly faithful to the book while making necessary changes for the new medium. Thanks to certain moments, they do get to indulge in what you might expect given their previous show –– the series kicks off with some serious head trauma and there is some nudity (though not sexual) in a future episode.
And with luck, they’ll avoid the pitfalls of ‘Thrones’ controversial final season, as the ‘Remembrance’ novel trilogy has an actual ending (no disrespect to George R.R. Martin there).
The show employs ‘Thrones’ veteran director Jeremy Podeswa plus Minkie Spiro, Derek Tsang and Pixar leading light Andrew Stanton, who has been building his live-action directing career steadily with the likes of ‘Legion’ and ‘For All Mankind’, and they all contribute some fantastic visuals as well as subtle and entertaining character work.
There are moments in this series that will have your jaw drop, though we won’t spoil anything here –– trust us, though, you’ll be sorely tempted to watch all the episodes as soon as possible.
Having clearly been happy with a lot of their cast on ‘Game of Thrones’, a few of key actors carry over here.
John Bradley plays Jack Rooney, a man who has hit it rich with his snack business but is still close to his college friends. Rooney offers Bradley the opportunity to play a polar opposite of ‘Thrones’ Samwell Tarley, a cocky but still loveable sort who is one of the first start playing the mysterious game that will be a core element of the early chunk of the story.
Liam Cunningham, meanwhile, feels more like his ‘Games’ character of Davos Seaworth, sharing the cunning brain and salty tongue of the Westeros resident, but as Thomas Wade, a man with a definite mission to protect humanity (no matter the cost), he’s authoritative and darkly funny –– suffering zero fools.
‘Thrones’ High Sparrow, Jonathan Pryce, meanwhile, plays a character who… Well, that would be telling.
On Wade’s team is Benedict Wong’s Da Shi, and this is honestly the best role the actor has enjoyed for years. He knocks it out of the park as the world-weary but funny not-quite-cop who is investigating what is happening to scientists in the UK. While we’re big fans of Wong’s role as, well, Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he has more to do in one scene here than most of the movies he’s shown up in.
The core of the characters is the scientist group who are friends with Rooney, who all feel like actual buddies instead of actors swapping dialogue. And they’re all very different personalities, brought to life by the likes of Eiza González, Alex Sharp, Jess Hong and Jovan Adepo.
‘3 Body Problem’ is a show blessed with a near note-perfect cast: everyone is worth watching here.
Our advice for this one is: if you’ve yet to read the books, stay away from them and avoid Wikipedia! It’s absolutely recommended to go into this one knowing as little as possible, so the surprises hit harder, and the characters feel fresh.
Book readers are likely to be happy with the adaptation, which certainly doesn’t embarrass itself when put up against the literary source. But having seen the whole series, we’re confident in saying that this is a superior, satisfying piece of science fiction TV we can easily see ending up on Best of 2024 TV lists.
‘3 Body Problem’s story begins in 1960s China when a young woman makes a fateful decision that reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel, a tight-knit group of brilliant scientists must join forces with an unflinching detective to stop humanity’s greatest threat.
Who is in ‘3 Body Problem’?
The ‘3 Body Problem’ cast includes Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce.
The new film doesn’t yet have an announced title, but Deadline has learned some information about it; written by the director, it’ll reportedly will revolve around two extraction specialists who must plan an escape path for a high-level female negotiator. And while the subject sounds serious, Ritchie has apparently laced the story with humor.
We also know the main cast: Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal and Eiza González are all on board to star in the movie, which is set to kick off shooting in Spain this summer.
Here’s what Ritchie had to say about his choices:
“There’s something special that happens when you collaborate with the same partners regularly: you build a shorthand and a trust that lets everybody do their best work. Jake, Henry and Eiza are all astonishingly talented, committed, and engaging actors. This is going to be an action-packed movie that is both intellectually stimulating and physically exhilarating.”
And this is just the latest project that represents Ritchie drawing from the pool of people he’s worked with before. Gyllenhaal, of course, was the lead in war drama ‘The Covenant’, which was in theaters just last month. Cavill and González, meanwhile, are part of the sprawling cast for ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’, which also features Alan Ritchson, Cary Elwes, Alex Pettyfer, Henry Golding, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Freddie Fox.
That movie’s screenplay, by Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson (who wrote the original script and pitched it to producer Jerry Bruckheimer back in 2015), Ritchie and Arash Amel, is based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’ popular book of the same name.
(L to R) Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in film ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,’ directed by Guy Ritchie.
The movie, inspired by real events, will chart British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s and James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s secret World War II combat organization. The clandestine squad’s unconventional and entirely ‘ungentlemanly’ fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and in part gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit.
Cavill, of course, has a connection with the director that goes even further, since he co-starred in 2015’s ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’.
Also on Ritchie’s schedule? Overseeing post-production on ‘The Gentlemen’ the spin-off TV series from his eponymous 2019 crime caper.
With the new movie at a very early stage, there’s no release date set yet, but the distribution rights are on sale now at the Cannes Film Market (should anyone have a spare few million dollars lying around). ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’, meanwhile, should be out next year.
“Baby Driver” breakout actress Eiza Gonzalez is joining the cast of the “Fast and Furious” spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Filming has already begun on the movie.
Variety reports that executives wanted Gonzalez for the project all along but had to work around her schedule for “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which is about to begin shooting.
The movie pairs agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) with onetime-antagonist Deckard Shaw (Statham) . The two weren’t exactly friends in the “Fast and Furious” films, but will have a common enemy in Idris Elba, who plays an international terrorist leader named Brixton. They’re joined by Deckard’s sister, Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby), in taking the criminal mastermind down. It’s unclear what Gonzalez’s role will be.
“Hobbs and Shaw” opens in theaters August 2, 2019.
The latest installment in Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse series, “Godzilla vs. Kong,” has officially started production, and has also revealed its full cast list and film synopsis.
The flick, which will unite the two titular beasts for an epic showdown, has actually been in the works for several years, and is set to be a follow-up to last year’s “Kong: Skull Island” and next year’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” Two stars of that latter film, Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler, are the only returning actors from either movie who will be appearing in “Godzilla vs. Kong.” (Is that considered a bit of a “King of Monsters” spoiler?)
In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity’s fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans’ origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.
“Godzilla vs. Kong,” directed by Adam Wingard (“You’re Next,” “Death Notice”), is due in theaters on May 22, 2020.
“Baby Driver” runs as much on non-stop music as it does on gasoline, with getaway driver Ansel Elgort racing away from crime scenes while falling in love with waitress Lily James to his personal soundtrack blasting in his iPod earbuds.
Which had Made in Hollywood reporter Kylie Erica Mar wondering what the stars listen to in their own cars.
“I actually love the Disney music,” says James, who gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up from costar Eiza Gonzalez, who plays part of a husband-and-wife heist team with Jon Hamm.
“I was going to say the same thing: ‘Frozen.’ I’m definitely like, ‘Let it go!’” says Gonzalez, who adds that her favorite, though, is “Little Mermaid.”
But if they were to come up with a soundtrack reflecting their experience shooting this high-octane car chase/romance mashup, they would stick to the movie’s eclectic selection of music from artists including Simon and Garfunkel and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
“The soundtrack in this film is so flawless and killer that I couldn’t pick another song other than what would exist in the film,” says James. “It’s just so perfect.”
