Deadline is now reporting that Dance will play Christopher Dent, the imposing (and, if lore holds, abusive) father to Harvey Dent, who will be brought to screens this time by Sebastian Stan.
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And we now also know that Scarlett Johansson, whose part until recently has been a mystery, will be Dent’s wife.
Little is known officially about what Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Farrell is back as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) is also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
When will ‘The Batman: Part II’ be in theaters?
Following a variety of release date shifts as Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin honed the script, the movie is currently set to land on screens on October 1, 2027.
Andy Serkis is returning for ‘The Batman: Part II.’
He’ll be back as Alfred Pennyworth.
Matt Reeves is once more directing.
While Andy Serkis already has one big movie job he’s busy with –– that would be preparing to direct and play Gollum once again in new ‘Lord of the Rings’ film ‘The Hunt for Gollum’, (not to mention promoting his animated ‘Animal Farm’) he’ll apparently find time in his schedule to revisit another previous gig.
“I’m pretty certain it’s all going to work out. Yeah, we’re working on it, but I think it’s all looking good. I won’t be joining them immediately, but by the end of the year, I will be”.
(L to R) Director Matt Reeves and actor Robert Pattinson on the set of ‘The Batman’. Photo: Warner Bros.
Little is known officially about what Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Colin Farrell is likely to return as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) is also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
Following a variety of release date shifts as Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin honed the script, the movie is currently set to land on screens on October 1, 2027.
As with Johansson, Stan’s casting is neither confirmed, nor do we know what role he might play. Though if you ask us, he’s a possible candidate for Harvey Dent/Two-Face, assuming Reeves is even including the character.
Little is known officially about what Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Colin Farrell is likely to return as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while ‘The Batman’ actors Andy Serkis (Alfred) and Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) are also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
And there had been chatter about Clayface, but with the character set to get his own movie within the main DC Studios universe (as opposed to ‘The Batman’, which falls under the ‘Elseworlds’ banner of movies/TV that don’t fit there), we’d expect someone else to threaten our hero.
Following a variety of release date shifts as Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin honed the script, the movie is currently set to land on screens on October 1, 2027.
Scarlett Johansson may be joining ‘The Batman: Part II.’
Her potential role is unknown for now.
Robert Pattinson will return as the Caped Crusader.
With a script in hand and filming set to kick off tomorrow, ‘The Batman: Part II’ writer/director Matt Reeves is building the ensemble around returning star Robert Pattinson (back as Bruce Wayne/Batman).
If Johansson –– who was famously part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff –– does make the leap to DC, we’ll have to wait to learn which role she’ll take as there are no details yet.
Little is known officially about what Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Colin Farrell is likely to return as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while ‘The Batman’ actors Andy Serkis (Alfred) and Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) are also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
And there had been chatter about Clayface, but with the character set to get his own movie within the main DC Studios universe (as opposed to ‘The Batman’, which falls under the ‘Elseworlds’ banner of movies/TV that don’t fit there), we’d expect someone else to threaten our hero.
Could that someone be Johansson?
Where else can we see Scarlett Johansson?
Scarlett Johansson as skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’, directed by Gareth Edwards. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Next up, Johansson will be seen in James Gray’s ‘Paper Tiger’ opposite Miles Teller and Adam Driver. She also has a variety of other projects in development or making their way towards production, including her potential role as Mother Gothel in the live-action ‘Tangled’ for Disney.
Following a variety of release date shifts as Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin honed the script, the movie is currently set to land on screens on October 1, 2027.
(L to R) David Harbour and Jeffrey Wright in ‘Quantum of Solace’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Quantum of Solace continues the adventures of James Bond (Daniel Craig) after ‘Casino Royale.’ Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (Judy Dench) interrogate Mr. White, who reveals that the organization that blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.
Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), now a vice-presidential candidate, is the hero he remembers him being. As Marco’s doubts deepen, Shaw’s political power grows, and, when Marco finds a mysterious implant embedded in his back, the memory of what really happened begins to return.
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues what he thinks is a young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.
The story of the eventful life of George W. Bush (Josh Brolin), his struggles and triumphs, how he found both his wife and his faith—and the critical days leading up to his decision to invade Iraq.
Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Rutledge in ‘Source Code.’ Photo: Summit Entertainment.
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor (Russell Crowe). Billy’s relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force – and the mayor’s worst nightmare.
With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin), and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.
When her idyllic vacation takes an unthinkable turn, Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep) begins investigating a fake insurance policy, only to find herself down a rabbit hole of questionable dealings that can be linked to a Panama City law firm and its vested interest in helping the world’s wealthiest citizens amass larger fortunes.
Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.
(L to R) Fisher Stevens, Jeffrey Wright, Tony Revolori, and Bob Balaban in director Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features.
The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday (Wright) is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon), a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.
Louis Menkins (Wright) is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Dirty tricks stand to soil an ambitious young press spokesman’s (Ryan Gosling) idealism in a cutthroat presidential campaign where ‘victory’ is relative.
Bond (Daniel Craig) has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter (Wright) from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
(L to R) Samuel L. Jackson and Jeffrey Wright in 2000’s ‘Shaft’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
New York police detective John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) arrests Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale) for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted — especially since he’s paid a drug kingpin (Wright) to kill the witness.
In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay (Will Smith). Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali’s personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.
A depressed musician (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover (Tilda Swinton) in the desolate streets of Detroit. Though their romance has endured several centuries, it is tested by the arrival of her capricious and unpredictable younger sister (Mia Wasikowska).
The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
Activist Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo) faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.
Denzel Washington in ‘Highest 2 Lowest’. Photo Credit: David Lee.
When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.
Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker to the world’s terrorists, is scheduled to participate in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where he intends to use his winnings to establish his financial grip on the terrorist market. M (Judi Dench) sends Bond (Daniel Craig) on his maiden mission as a 00 Agent—to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning. With the help of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and Felix Leiter (Wright), Bond enters the most important poker game in his already dangerous career.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman,’ starring Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Gotham City’s vigilante detective and his alter ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne.
‘American Fiction’ is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
Miller’s 1949 prize-winning two-act play first premiered on Broadway in February 1949 and ran for 742 performances.
The story follows aging traveling salesman Willy Loman (Wright’s role in the film, while Spencer will play his wife, Linda) who tries to fix his life with the family he always put down as he put work first.
‘Salesman’ won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play, and focuses on themes of infidelity, truth and the American Dream.
There have been myriad adaptations for TV with Dustin Hoffman, Warren Mitchell, Brian Dennehy among those to have played Willy Loman. The 1951 movie adaptation starred Fredric March as Willy and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Amblin is producing this one alongside Focus Features.
What else are Jeffrey Wright and Octavia Spencer working on?
Jeffrey Wright attends the Los Angeles Premiere of MGM’s ‘American Fiction’ at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on December 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for MGM.
Wright was seen this year across screens big and small. He played the role of Isaac in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 (with more expected from the character when Season 3 eventually appears) and espionage thriller series ‘The Agency: Central Intelligence’.
And while it hasn’t been officially confirmed, he’s likely to be back on comic book duty for ‘The Batman: Part II’, once that finally starts filming.
As for Spencer, she was seen in ‘Tow’ and heard as a character in ‘Smurfs’.
She has several projects coming up, including a sequel to 2019 thriller ‘Ma’ and TV limited series ‘Ride or Die’.
When will ‘Death of a Salesman’ be on screens?
With the movie still to go before cameras, Focus has yet to announce a release date. But we’d be shocked if it didn’t find a prime awards season spot next year.
Octavia Spencer in 2019’s ‘Ma’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
His latest movie, ‘Highest 2 Lowest‘, which marks his fifth collaboration with Denzel Washington, opens in theaters on August 15th before debuting on Apple TV+ on September 15th.
In honor of ‘Highest 2 Lowest’, Moviefone is counting down every film Spike Lee has ever directed from worst to best, including his latest.
Damon Wayans in ‘Bamboozled’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Frustrated when network brass reject his sitcom idea, producer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) pitches the worst idea he can think of in an attempt to get fired: a 21st century minstrel show. The network not only airs it, but it becomes a smash hit.
Zack Homer (Monty Ross) takes over managing the barbershop after Joe (Horace Long) is killed for trying to rip off his “investor”, Mr. Lovejoy (Tommy Redmond Hicks). All Zack wants to do is run a traditional barbershop giving traditional haircuts, but modern styles have passed him by and business is slow. One evening, Mr. Lovejoy shows up to offer Zack the same deal he gave to Joe. It could turn his business around, but what will he have to give in return?
Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) becomes cursed by a mysterious ancient African artifact and is overwhelmed with a newfound thirst for blood. Soon after his transformation he enters into a dangerous romance with Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams) that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status.
When his mom deposits him at the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn to spend the summer with the grandfather he’s never met, young Flik (Jules Brown) may as well have landed on Mars. Fresh from his cushy life in Atlanta, he’s bored and friendless, and his strict grandfather, Enoch (Clarke Peters), a firebrand preacher, is bent on getting him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Only Chazz (Toni Lysaith), the feisty girl from church, provides a diversion from the drudgery. As hot summer simmers and Sunday mornings brim with Enoch’s operatic sermons, things turn anything but dull as people’s conflicting agendas collide.
A scene from ‘Get on the Bus’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Several Black men take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in 1995. On the bus are an eclectic set of characters including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop who is of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the march, including manhood, religion, politics, and race.
Miracle at St. Anna chronicles the story of four American soldiers who are members of the all-black 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II.
A man (Josh Brolin) has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher (Alfre Woodard), her stubborn jazz-musician husband (Delroy Lindo) and their five kids living in ’70s Brooklyn.
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams). But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
The story of Nola Darling’s (Tracy Camilla Johns) simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being “owned” by a single partner.
Denzel Washington in ‘Highest 2 Lowest’. Photo Credit: David Lee.
When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.
Four African-American Vietnam veterans (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. These heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while confronted by the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam War.
Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo). When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother (Isaiah Washington) turns himself in as the killer. Detective Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.
A successful and married black man (Wesley Snipes) contemplates having an affair with a white girl (Annabella Sciorra) from work. He’s quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.
(L to R) Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster in ‘Inside Man’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective (Denzel Washington) assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
In New York City in the days following the events of 9/11, Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a convicted drug dealer about to start a seven-year prison sentence, and his final hours of freedom are devoted to hanging out with his closest buddies and trying to prepare his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson) for his extended absence.
A tribute to Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the ’50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
(L to R) Richard Edson, John Turturro and Spike Lee in ‘Do the Right Thing’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Salvatore “Sal” Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria’s Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin’ Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin’ Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.
Remaking what is regarded as one of Akira Kurosawa’s best, bleakest, and most cynical films is a big swing, and Spike Lee boldly puts his own imprint on Kurosawa’s 1963 gem ‘High and Low.’ He updates it to the modern era and New York City, makes some changes to the story while keeping the central premise and dilemma more or less intact, and includes his usual grab-bag of distinctive trademarks – both for better and worse.
In the end, the biggest attraction is watching Lee once again collaborate with Denzel Washington for the fifth time and first since 2006’s ‘Inside Man.’ The latter delivers for his director in towering fashion, making this version of the story perhaps more of an epic character study than police drama. It remains compelling material, thanks in particular to Washington and Jeffrey Wright, even if Lee meanders off course with distracting asides, some uninspired staging, and one of the most overbearing and ill-fitting scores of the year.
Story and Direction
Denzel Washington in ‘Highest 2 Lowest’. Photo Credit: David Lee.
The plot of ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ follows that of ‘High and Low’ in the broad strokes. Washington plays legendary music mogul David King, who’s on the verge of selling his famous independent label, Stackin’ Hits Records, to a larger corporate concern (the protagonist owns a shoe company in the original). King’s peak years, when he made the cover of magazines regularly, are behind him, but he’s still worried that the sale will stamp out the label’s identity and “drain Black culture.” So he instead lays down his own personal assets – his savings, his stocks, and his properties, including his family’s luxury high-rise apartment in a riverfront Dumbo skyscraper – to buy Stackin’ Hits on his own, with the reluctant approval of his wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera) and business partner Patrick (Michael Potts).
The deal is about to go through when calamity strikes. David gets a call from a kidnapper (A$AP Rocky) who says he’s seized David and Pam’s teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) and wants $17.5 million in Swiss francs in exchange for his life. David is ready to pivot from his deal and lay out all his money for his son’s safe return. But then it becomes apparent that Trey is okay and the kidnapper has mistakenly taken a boy named Kyle (Elijah Wright) – the son of David’s lifelong friend and driver, Paul (Jeffrey Wright).
Therein lies the moral dilemma at the heart of both film versions of this tale, as well as ‘King’s Ransom,’ the Ed McBain novel on which both are based. When it’s David’s son’s life on the line, he’s ready to pay up at a moment’s notice. But when it’s someone else’s child – even that of one of his closest friends – all of a sudden the loss of all that money that David was going to use to buy back Stackin’ Hits looms much larger in his mind. What makes ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ different from ‘High and Low’ is that this dilemma is resolved rather quickly – after a bit of soul-searching by David and some silent suffering from Paul, who seems to always be in the corner of David’s eye – and the moral aftermath is left more or less behind as ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ turns into a story of a once-powerful, gifted man who learns how to get his mojo back.
A$AP Rocky in ‘Highest 2 Lowest’. Photo Credit: David Lee.
That a lot of it works is a tribute to both Washington’s train-like forward motion and Lee’s increasingly energetic direction. The opening scenes of the film are weirdly static, not in an elegant fashion like the work of Kurosawa himself, but in a perfunctory, ‘just stick the camera here’ way. But Lee seems to find his rhythm as he goes along, and no one can shoot New York City quite like him (with the help of ace cinematographer Matthew Libatique). Speaking of trains, there is a suspenseful scene on an elevated car that homages the original movie but is undercut by cross-cutting to both an admittedly lovely Puerto Rican parade (and a few distracting cameos) plus throngs of Yankees fans filling up the train on the way to the stadium. These are things that Lee loves about his city but they prove a little jarring here. A later, climactic fight scene, also staged atop an elevated line, is much more successful.
Along the way, Lee touches on changes in the music industry, the content of music itself, whether fame on social media is a good thing or not (“attention is the biggest form of currency,” David says to his son), and the tensions inherent between the elite and working classes. It’s a lot, it doesn’t always cohere well, and it’s not helped by one of the most intrusive scores we’ve heard in some time. Howard Drossin’s loud orchestral cues continually threaten to swamp the movie, incessantly braying in the background to irritating effect.
Cast and Performances
Denzel Washington in ‘Highest 2 Lowest’. Photo Credit: David Lee.
Denzel Washington is in powerhouse form here, exuding a looseness and spontaneity that also charged his performance in 2024’s ‘Gladiator II.’ He embodies David King almost perfectly from start to finish, from the man’s narcissism to his empathy to his pride. In the end, King is a decent man of multitudes and action, even if he sometimes acts on impulses that can get him in trouble, making the moments when he shows uncertainty or selfishness all the more striking. Washington handles the character’s transformative arc with the skill and dexterity that only one of our greatest living actors could provide.
Equally sensational is Jeffrey Wright as Paul, another three-dimensional character whose pain over the fact that his child’s life is in the hands of the man who has been his benefactor up to this point is evident in his face and body. Paul and David are lifelong friends but separated in many ways by experience and fortune, and the former’s fear and anger are made palpable through Wright’s excellent portrayal. The two leads’ scenes together are among the best in the film.
The rest of the cast is a bit of a mixed bag. Ilfenesh Hadera is poised, warm, and elegant as Pam King, but the sense of her position and power in the family structure and as David’s trusted adviser is only intermittent. A$AP Rocky, meanwhile, makes a sharp impression as Yung Felon, the rapper-turned-kidnapper whose own life story is inextricably linked to David’s in ways that the latter only belatedly realizes. John Douglas Thompson, Michael Potts, and Wendell Pierce all bring regality and gravitas to their relatively minor roles, while Aubrey Joseph and Elijah Wright – as the two teen boys at the center of the story – are raw and real if somewhat unpolished.
While it’s a “remake” in the loosest sense of the word, any movie that finds Denzel Washington in a rhyme battle with A$AP Rocky with his life possibly on the line can’t be described as anything but original. But this also isn’t Spike Lee at either his sharpest or tightest (more recent examples of that would be ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and ‘BlacKkKlansman’), and the fact that the movie ends with not one but two musical numbers (each representing a direction that David could take with his career, toward easy commercialism or something more soulful) is a hint that Lee’s cinematic instincts are not always what they once were.
Still, those performances and Lee’s vaunted, improvisatory aesthetic keeps the movie crackling even when it threatens to collapse within itself. And the ideas contained within are thoughtful, important ones. Despite its name, the movie never hits either the highs or lows of the rest of Lee’s filmography – but with due respect to Kurosawa, it’s all Spike Lee.
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What is the plot of ‘Highest 2 Lowest’?
When a legendary music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business,” is targeted with a ransom plot, he is caught up in a life-or-death moral dilemma in this reimagining of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller ‘High and Low,’ now played out on the mean streets of modern-day New York City.
Matt Reeves will start shooting ‘The Batman: Part II’ in Spring next year.
Robert Pattinson will be back as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The movie will be in theaters in October 2027.
Looks like co-writer/director Matt Reeves is finally ready to light the Bat-signal.
While it wasn’t announced with the most fanfare, Warner Bros. Discovery’s executives confirmed in a letter to shareholders that ‘The Batman: Part II’ will start shooting in Spring next year.
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Reeves had been busy writing the script for the sequel with Mattson Tomlin, and DC Studios co-chief James Gunn commenting that he’d been waiting to see drafts from the pair, but confirming that he was content to wait until the director was happy. With Reeves having delivered the first full draft, things are moving forward.
Little is known officially about what Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Colin Farrell is likely to return as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while ‘The Batman’ actors Andy Serkis (Alfred) and Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) are also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
And there had been chatter about Clayface, but with the character set to get his own movie within the main DC Studios universe (as opposed to ‘The Batman’, which falls under the ‘Elseworlds’ banner of movies/TV that don’t fit there), we’d expect someone else to threaten our hero.
What else is happening with DC Studios?
James Gunn at CinemaCon 2025. Photo: Warner Bros.
One other interesting nugget from the shareholders letter is a comment from WB CEO David Zaslav about how Gunn will be both the writer and director on a new instalment for what said features the ‘Super Family’.
Which does echo Gunn’s previous comments that he’s working on a follow-up to this summer’s ‘Superman’, but one that won’t directly feature David Corenswet’s hero in the lead (though he will be part of the movie).
(L to R) Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera star in ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton about their work on ‘The Phoenician Scheme’. Del Toro discussed his experience reuniting with director Wes Anderson and what he enjoys about working with him, while Cera talked about what it was like to join Wes Anderson’s company of actors and explore the unique worlds he creates on screen, and Threapleton discussed her character’s estranged relationship with her father and why she accompanies him on his journey.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
Moviefone: To begin with, Benicio, can you talk about reuniting with director Wes Anderson after ‘The French Dispatch’ and what do you enjoy about working with him?
Benicio del Toro: Well, I enjoy everything, especially the final product. But the character for ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ is a much more challenging character, full of contradictions, with a hell of an arc that it required a lot of motivation to say the least. It kept me up at night, put it that way, to make sure that I deliver what needs to be delivered day in, day out. But I think that Wes’s foundation as a filmmaker, aside from the fact of the visionary he is, also, he’s an incredible writer. He really is. We were talking about this. The script reads like a novel. You could publish it and it would read like a novel. Usually, I get many scripts, I’ve done many movies, and in many of them, I create the backstory of my character. Here, I think you get the backstory of all our characters that have arcs. Michael’s, Mia’s and me, we all have arcs, but we also get the backstory, which it reads like a novel would do that. So, I think that’s the thing that makes Wes’s projects for me so powerful, beyond just a comedy or a beautiful story. Something that his movies always have, is that you can touch them, but the foundation is a story and the writing, and I think that’s really one of his strengths.
MF: Michael, what was it like for you to join Wes Anderson’s company of actors and have an opportunity to explore the unique worlds he creates on screen?
Michael Cera: It’s such a wonderful group to join. Wes just populates his productions with the most amazing people you can think of, and Mia included in that. It’s so much fun to come in. It’s always an exciting thing about jumping into a project that has this caliber of people working on it, and yeah, the worlds are just so much fun. This movie is an anthology in a way where it’s like the three of us are this unit that hop from story to story, and each one of those was brought to life by the various guest players that would come in for that week or two weeks to work on their sequence and inject a whole new energy and atmosphere into the movie. It was just amazing, and it’s great seeing those people show up and bring that character to life in front of your eyes too, and see what they look like suddenly, and sound like.
MF: Finally, Mia, can you talk about Sister Liesl’s estranged relationship with her father and why she decides to help him on his journey?
Mia Threapleton: I think when we meet her, she has her own reasons for agreeing to meet with him, which are not just because she’s been invited, but she has a lot of unanswered, long time burning questions. Because he’s invited her, I think she realizes, “Okay, he wants something from me. Well, I will acquiesce to this, but I can also get him to give me the answers that I want as well.” So, it’s a little bit like a business negotiation initially, and then by the end of that conversation, I think she realizes, “Okay, actually this is a lot larger than I thought that it was going to be, and maybe he can give me more answers over time. Maybe I’ll find out more information.” I think because of her upbringing within a convent, she literally says it. “I forgive you. We’re taught to.” So, I think there is this forgiving side of her, but I also think that she sees that he is very complex and complicated and wants to understand that more. But perhaps that’s one of the many reasons why she decides to stick it out with this rapscallion, if you will.
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What is the plot of ‘The Phoenician Scheme’?
Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) appoints his only daughter, a nun (Mia Threapleton), as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins.
