Moviefone Editorial

Tag: john-c-reilly

  • HBO Lakers Series ‘Winning Time’ Cancelled

    Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Quentin A. Shropshire as James Worthy, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Joel Allen as Kurt Rambis in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    (L to R) Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Quentin A. Shropshire as James Worthy, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Joel Allen as Kurt Rambis in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    Given that the show A) was about one of the most famous sports dynasties in the history of basketball and B) that its first season –– on HBO, no less, a channel not given to the whims of advertisers and more likely to show faith in a series –– had been generally well received, it was not outrageous to believe that viewers would learn of a Season 3 for ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ as the Season 2 finale was about to air.

    Instead, what we got was news that it was cancelled.

    To rub salt into the wounds, Season 2 ends as the Lakers suffer a historic defeat at the hands of huge rivals the Boston Celtics, leaving the show on a seriously down note.

    Michael Chiklis as Red Auerbach in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    (Center) Michael Chiklis as Red Auerbach in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    What was the story of ‘Winning Time’ Season 2?

    Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson and Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    (L to R) Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson and Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    Season 1 kicked off with hard-living businessman Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) taking a financial gamble on the Lakers and clashing with coaches over drafting certain players. It covered the 1979-1980 NBA season and ended in triumph with the Lakers winning against the Philadelphia 76ers.

    Though it was thought that the show might use the one-season/one NBA season model, Season 2 was different, partly tackling 1984, but also winding back the clock to cover 1980/82/83 across roughly half the episodes. It ends, as mentioned, with the 1984 defeat by the Celtics.

    Sadly, it appears the show’s future was derailed by a combo of cost-cutting at the network and strike delays, since it was an expensive show to produce and hadn’t quite broken out the same way as, say, ‘Game of Thrones’.

    What would have happened in Season 3?

    Sean Patrick Small as Larry Bird in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    (Center) Sean Patrick Small as Larry Bird in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    In an interview with The Wrap conducted before the series’ fate had been determined, executive producer Kevin Messick outlined his plans for a third season –– and beyond.

    Here’s what he said:

    “In real life, the Lakers come back and beat the Celtics the next year. So that would absolutely be at the heart of any Season. In terms of the longevity of the show, there’s a lot more Laker stories to tell, a lot more characters, larger than life, as big and bigger than Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that have yet to enter onto the stage.”

    Adrien Brody as Pat Riley in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    Adrien Brody as Pat Riley in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    Related Article: Oscar Winner Adrien Brody Talks ‘Clean’

    And he also outlined plans to keep mining sportswriter Jeff Pearlman’s book ‘Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s’ for more material, along a host of other sources.

    Here’s Messick on that:

    “If the show is successful, we bought the rights to Jeff’s books that keep chronicling the adventures. We’ll keep creating great seasons, hopefully that allow us to come back and fight another day, but we’re gonna take it one season at a time.”

    Pearlman himself was eager for the show to return, writing on twitter last month about his hopes…

    https://twitter.com/jeffpearlman/status/1693018537168626085

    As it is, viewers had to make do with a series of pictures with title cards showing what happened to the various players, coaching staff and other team members would get up to in the future, including the Lakers winning their next two Finals matchups with Boston, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holding the NBA career scoring record for nearly 40 years, temperamental Jerry West coming into his own as Lakers’ GM and eventually trading for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson being diagnosed with HIV, Magic and old flame Cookie still being married today after 32 years, and, the Jeanie Buss-run (Jerry’s daughter) Lakers winning another title in 2020.

    It’s telling that the montage version was one of two delivered to channel executives, suggesting that the writing may have been on the wall, at least internally. A disappointing ending, then –– a little like the real-life events portrayed in the season, now series, finale.

    John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss and Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss in HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.'
    (L to R) John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss and Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss in HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.’ Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO.

    Other Movies Similar to ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’:

    Buy John C. Reilly Movies On Amazon

    Please click on the video player below to watch our interview with Magic Johnson about his Apple TV+ series ‘They Call Me Magic.’

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  • ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Directors Phil Johnston on Rich Moore About How the Film Once Opened with a Funeral

    ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Directors Phil Johnston on Rich Moore About How the Film Once Opened with a Funeral

    Disney

    “Ralph Breaks the Internet” was one of the most delightful surprises of last year. The follow-up to 2014’s “Wreck-It Ralph” saw Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) transported to the Internet, where their friendship was tested and they met a bunch of Disney Princesses. It’s a hoot. We were able to sit down with directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore and producer Clark Spencer about the movie’s deeper themes, the upcoming “Zootopia” land, and how at one point the movie (an Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature) once began on a very, very different note. 

    So at one point the movie used to open like the classic Disney storybook, right?

    Johnston: Yeah.

    Moore: For about 30 seconds.

    Johnston: It could have worked, actually.

    Moore: Ralph had written his own book about their friendship. It was his book about Ralph and Vanellope. It was kind of a recap of what happened in the first movie but through Ralph’s point of view. It was a little skewed.

    Johnston: Yeah, it was arrogant. It’s as if he were the white night. I was so convinced that was going to work. I think it could have. I’m trying to remember why we took it out.

    Moore: Well, it skewed the story. He kind of looked like a jerk. It was so full of himself in that version. And it was a little confusing to people who hadn’t seen the first movie. Because it wasn’t the right story. So they would say, “Is that what happened in the first one?” No!

    It also started with a funeral at one point, right?

    Moore: Yeah. Tapper was unplugged and they were having a memorial. And Ralph and Vanellope were making the eulogy all about themselves. Then Gene got mad and started booing the eulogy.

    Johnston: That also worked!

    Disney

    Also, in the Oh My Disney scene with the princesses, there was a moment when Vanellope jumped on Dumbo’s back and got into a dogfight with some TIE fighters right?

    Johnston: She had a clickbait pop-up sign and was flying on Dumbo and bopping people on the head to force them to click on it.

    Moore: It was a little too long.

    Johnston: It made the scene too big.

    Moore: It turned more into her getting clicks. It was too much story.

    Spencer: And it was an issue of – how do we enjoy the website before she meets the princesses? But the princesses are really the scene. So we would always be balancing that. Like people wanting to see more of the website before the princesses and then we’d spend more time in it and make a big scene. And then they’d say, “Well what is this scene about?”

    Disney

    There’s a lot of great, brave subtext in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” just like there was in “Zootopia.” This time it’s about toxic masculinity and online bullying. How important is that stuff to why you made the movie?

    Johnston: The first idea was always going to be about their friendship and that they would go to the Internet and the Internet would test their friendship in some way. Once we landed on the story of it being Vanellope falling in love with this pace on the Internet and wanting to stay there for the rest of her life, that idea of Ralph’s insecurity becoming a force of antagonism sort of fed naturally into toxic masculinity. Because so many of the traits he shows on the negative side of his personality are textbook. In the same way we didn’t want “Zootopia” to be a message movie, this is a feminist story about Vanellope finding her voice as a woman and relying on other strong women to help her along the way. Without ever going, “We must make this message movie about toxic masculinity and feminism,” that’s definitely baked into the subtext.

    Moore: While we loved the relationship and feel like this is a relationship worth fighting for, we wanted to portray it as it was broken. They had fallen into a codependent friendship that they weren’t even aware of. It was going to the Internet that exposed how weak their friendship was at that point and that they were both feeding into negative aspects of it. But it was going to the Internet that sped up bow broken this was and that if not cared to was just going to fall apart.

    Clark was this ever anything you had to fight for?

    Spencer: Well I think the great thing is that these guys push hard on their ideas and stories and how they can go further. That’s what’s nice about having a story trust that pushes on us. So there’s always a discussion of, “Have we gone as far as we can go?” And “What else can we dive into?” But I think, to their point, we felt that if we were going to go into The Internet, we have a responsibility to show the good and the bad side of it and delve into these tougher topics. I think “Zootopia” is a great example of a film that was willing to tackle racism. So I think it gave us the belief that we could do that also.

    Disney

    Speaking of “Zootopia,” Tiny Lister has been out there talking about subsequent sequels.

    Moore: I’m not sure where Tiny is getting this information from.

    Johnston: I’m going to announce right now: there is a “Zootopia 5” in the works. Not “2,” “3,” or “4.” Just jump to “5.” Kind of like “Big Hero 6.” It’s going to be huge.

    Moore: Finnick is the star. Tiny plays all the characters. It’s going to have a $3 trillion budget.

    Johnston: It’s like “My Dinner with Andre.”

    Moore: I like how Tiny Lester was throwing out numbers and everything. Where is this coming from Tiny?

    Well something that is slightly more concrete – literally — is the “Zootopia”-themed land coming to Shanghai. How excited are you for people to enter the world of “Zootopia?”

    Moore: I’m excited for me to enter the world of “Zootopia.”

    Spencer: The cool thing is that we make these movies and if we create characters the audience falls in love with, then hopefully they live on in the parks. Sometimes that’s walk-around characters, sometimes that might be an attraction.

    Moore: Or a special funnel cake!

    Spencer: But this is a land, which is amazing. I think they’ve outlined what they want to do with the land and it’ll be up to these guys to help with the characters and everything else.

    “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is out now on digital HD Blu-ray!   

  • ‘Holmes & Watson’ Leads Razzie Awards For Worst of 2018

    ‘Holmes & Watson’ Leads Razzie Awards For Worst of 2018

    Columbia Pictures

    Just as the Oscars celebrate the best movies of the year, the Razzies call attention to the very worst of the worst, including box office bomb “Holmes & Watson.”

    Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are nominated as Worst Duo for “trashing two of literature’s most beloved characters” in the comedy that prompted mass walkouts.

    Melissa McCarthy, who just received an Oscar nomination (her second) for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is also up for a Worst Actress Razzie for “The Happytime Murders” and “Life of the Party.”

    It happened before to Sandra Bullock, who proudly accepted her Razzie for romcom “All About Steve” the day before she won an Oscar for “The Blind Side. ”

    Zings also delivered to Johnny Depp for his voiceover work in “Sherlock Gnomes” and “his fast-fading film career.”

    Here’s the full list of this year’s Razzies nominations:

    WORST PICTURE
    “Gotti”
    “The Happytime Murders”
    “Holmes & Watson”
    “Robin Hood”
    “Winchester”

    WORST DIRECTOR
    Etan Cohen, “Holmes & Watson”
    Kevin Connolly, “Gotti”
    James Foley, “Fifty Shades Freed”
    Brian Henson, “Happytime Murders”
    The Spierig Brothers (Michael and Peter), “Winchester”

    WORST ACTRESS
    Jennifer Garner, “Peppermint”
    Amber Heard, “London Fields”
    Melissa McCarthy, “The Happytime Murders” and “Life of the Party”
    Helen Mirren, “Winchester”
    Amanda Seyfried, “The Clapper”

    WORST ACTOR
    Johnny Depp (voice), “Sherlock Gnomes”
    Will Ferrell, “Holmes & Watson”
    John Travolta, “Gotti”
    Donald J. Trump (as himself), “Death of a Nation” and “Fahrenheit 11/9”
    Bruce Willis, “Death Wish”

    WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
    Jamie Foxx, “Robin Hood”
    Ludacris (voice), “Show Dogs”
    Joel McHale, “Happytime Murders”
    John C. Reilly, “Holmes & Watson”
    Justice Smith, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”

    WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    Kellyanne Conway (as herself), “Fahrenheit 11/9”
    Marcia Gay Harden, “Fifty Shades Freed”
    Kelly Preston, “Gotti”
    Jaz Sinclair, “Slender Man”
    Melania Trump (as herself), “Fahrenheit 11/9”

    WORST SCREENPLAY
    “Death of a Nation”
    “Fifty Shades Freed”
    “Gotti”
    “Happytime Murders”
    “Winchester”

    WORST REMAKE, RIPOFF or SEQUEL
    “Death of a Nation” (remake of “Hillary’s America”)
    “Death Wish”
    “Holmes & Watson”
    “The Meg” (ripoff of “Jaws”)
    “Robin Hood”

    WORST SCREEN COMBO
    “Any two actors or puppets (especially in those creepy sex scenes),” “Happytime Murders”
    “Johnny Depp and his fast-fading film career,” “Sherlock Gnomes”
    “Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (trashing two of literature’s most beloved characters),” “Holmes & Watson”
    “Kelly Preston and John Travolta (getting ‘Battlefield Earth’-type reviews!),” “Gotti”
    “Donald J. Trump and his self-perpetuating pettiness,” “Death of a Nation” and “Fahrenheit 11/9”

  • Judd Apatow’s 17 Funniest Movies, Ranked From ‘Anchorman’ to ‘Bridesmaids’

    Judd Apatow’s 17 Funniest Movies, Ranked From ‘Anchorman’ to ‘Bridesmaids’

  • 9 Movies You Should See Over Thanksgiving Break

    9 Movies You Should See Over Thanksgiving Break

    In terms of the winter movie cycle, Thanksgiving is a great time to get caught up.

    You have a couple of days off, are probably stuffed with, er, stuffing, and want to be prepared for the Christmas movie onslaught that is just around the corner, when both Mary Poppins and Spider-Man will be vying for your attention (amongst many, many others). So we’ve prepared a handy viewing guide for the Thanksgiving break, for when you want to escape to the theater with your loved ones, or leave them behind while they digest their turkey and watch whatever football game is on. And don’t worry, if you want to watch Netflix instead, we’ve got that covered, too.

    ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald‘

    Warner Bros/Wizarding World

    Remember “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” 2016’s ambitious but somewhat confusing fantasy romp that was supposed to serve as an extension of the lucrative Warner Bros. franchise but instead was kind of just huh? Well, they made another one! And this one is much better.

    With Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, again) dispatched to Paris to track down the powerful Credence (Ezra Miller) and foil the plot of villainous wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), the movie adds some international intrigue, a more admissibly knotty plot and, thanks to an appearance by sexy young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), some concrete connections between the various strands of this franchise. Just be warned — before you pile the family into the station wagon, it might be a good idea to re-watch the first movie. Consider that your magic spell for understanding “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

    ‘Widows‘

    Fox

    Given the pedigree, it’s very clear that “Widows” isn’t your run-of-the-mill thriller. Based on a British prime time series from 1983, it concerns a group of women (among them: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo) who are forced into a sticky situation when their criminal husbands are killed in a heist-gone-wrong.

    Directed by Academy Award-winner Steve McQueen and co-written by Gillian Flynn (who wrote “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects”), this is a movie that thrills on both an intellectual and visceral level. “Ocean’s 8” it is not.

    ‘The Favourite‘

    Fox

    This is the time of year when the studios unleash their stuffy period movies and, yes, there are even a few of those this year. But “The Favourite” is not one of them.

    Rambunctious, sexy, and unpredictable, it’s the antithesis of every boring costume drama that they throw Oscars at with willful abandon. This is electrically alive in a way few films, period or otherwise, ever are, anchored by a trio of brilliant female performers (Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) and some of the finest direction this year (courtesy of Greek genius Yorgos Lanthimos). Set during the reign of Queen Anne (Colman) in the early part of the 18th century, it features palace intrigue, love triangles, and people getting pushed into muddy ditches. What more do you want?

    ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet‘

    Disney

    In the sequel to the hit 2012 animated film, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) head to the Internet, where they fall in with online auctions, meme-creation, and a particularly violent “Grand Theft Auto”-style game called “Slaughter Race” that is lorded over by a bad-ass, leather-clad ringleader named Shank (Gal Gadot). Also, the Disney Princesses show up. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of fun.

    “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is one of those rare family sequels that won’t leave you with a toothache from it being so sweet, there’s actual pathos and emotionality but nothing feels syrupy or forced and it’s honestly one of the most visually ravishing animated features you’re ever likely to see.

    ‘Green Book‘

    Universal

    Up until this point, Peter Farrelly has directed as one-half of the Farrelly Brothers — serving as the tag-team provocateurs behind gross-out extravaganzas like “Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary,” and the underrated classic “Kingpin.” So it’s interesting to see Farrelly emerge as something of an Oscar frontrunner for his work directing “Green Book,” a based-on-a-true-story racial drama starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.

    In the film. Ali plays Don Shirley, a classical pianist, who hires New York tough guy Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen) to escort him on a tour of the South. This could be the feel-good movie of the fall, which makes it a perfect after-Thanksgiving family outing.

    ‘Creed II‘

    MGM

    Finally. The follow-up to 2015’s brilliant “Rocky” refresh “Creed” is now upon us. Let us give thanks.

    In “Creed II,” Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, who this time turns to going toe-to-doe with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who famously killed Apollo in the ring (in 1985’s Cold War classic “Rocky IV“). Oh, and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is still around! So there’s that. Hopefully the sequel builds on the intensity and excitement of the first film, while supplying some new wrinkles as well. We can already feel ourselves getting inspired.

    ‘Roma‘

    Netflix

    Yes, “Roma” is a Netflix movie. But in a rare move, the streaming service is debuting the movie in theaters first, before it hits the platform in mid-December. And, really, you should do everything in your power to see it on the big screen. In fact, try and see it on the biggest screen possible. Because this movie is absolutely jaw dropping.

    An epic on a miniature scale, the highly autobiographical film from “Gravity” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron follows a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s dealing with heartache, political upheaval, and the day-to-day domestic drama that every family deals with. What makes this story even more captivating is that it’s told through the eyes of the family’s housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, giving one of the year’s best performances even though she’s not a professional actor). You have to see this with an audience in a theater. It just won’t be the same on your iPad.

    ‘Overlord‘

    Paramount

    If your family is really annoying you over Thanksgiving, it might be time to watch a little more muscular movie at the multiplex. Perhaps something like “Overlord,” a high-concept World War II romp that features thrills, chills, and the cathartic experience of watching sweaty hunks brutally murder Nazis.

    Conceived by mystery box magnate J.J. Abrams, “Overlord” is a hard-core horror movie mixed with an equally hardcore war movie, wherein a group of Allied soldiers (among them Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell) parachute into France to take down a radio tower on the eve of D-Day and wind up finding a gnarly zombie conspiracy. You know, that old story. But there are some definite grindhouse pleasures to be had as Nazis get shot, blown-up, and lit on fire and then come back from the dead to do it all again.

    ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘

    Fox

    Because who doesn’t love Queen?

  • ‘Ralph Breaks The Internet’ Review: Disney’s Much-Anticipated Sequel Is a Wild, Unpredictable Ride

    ‘Ralph Breaks The Internet’ Review: Disney’s Much-Anticipated Sequel Is a Wild, Unpredictable Ride

    Disney

    The long-awaited sequel to “Wreck-It Ralph” is titled “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” but it’s probably more accurate to say that the internet breaks him.

    After years of gameplay in the 8-bit world of “Fix-It Felix Jr.,” the character’s first foray into the weird, wild world of the Web is as cacophonous and overwhelming as you might expect. But of the many goods and services provided at the click of a button, the most dangerous for Ralph — and the most needed — is a mirror for his own behavior. John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman return as the anchors of this delightful digital journey, but for such a vivid and energetic look inside the internet, directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston offer a shrewd and surprisingly unsentimental look at the dangers of focusing on just one thing in a world full of endless opportunities to connect.

    Six years after the events of the first film, Ralph (Reilly) and Vanellope (Silverman) have settled into a familiar routine — “working” in their games by day, boozing it up at Tapper’s at night. But when the Sugar Rush game breaks in the real world, Mr. Litwak (Ed O’Neill) shuts it down, forcing Vanellope and her fellow drivers to seek shelter elsewhere in the arcade. Ralph, determined to help his best friend, infiltrates Litwak’s newly acquired internet connection and the two venture into its new and overwhelming landscape in search of replacement parts. What they soon learn, however, is that even digital characters need money, and after inadvertently driving up the price of the part, they need lots of it.

    Crossing paths with J.P. Spamly (Bill Hader), who promises opportunities to score quick cash playing video games, Ralph and Vanellope start doing what they do best in other worlds — including Slaughter Race, a brutal Mad Max-like racing game where Vanellope meets her match, and possible new BFF, in Shank (Gal Gadot), its head driver. But when Ralph becomes threatened by Vanellope’s burgeoning curiosity about a world outside not just their respective games but the friendship he holds most dear, he begins to discover just how fickle the internet can be. Soon, he is forced to consider whether his insulated life of routine is protecting him from the rest of the world, or keeping him from exploring it.

    If you’ve seen a single pixel of footage from the movie in advertisements, then you know that the Disney princesses make an appearance — a sly and hilarious display of corporate synergy that sends up not only the internet’s bottomless reservoir of time-wasting crossovers, but also many of the bygone conventions applied to the studio’s animated heroines. Moore and Johnston don’t quite always fall on the right side of when to include a “real world” company like Google or Ebay and when to make one up, but the movie is most successful when it’s skewering not just the companies and properties that comprise our great electronic unifier but the method and rhythms of our interactions with it. Ralph’s efforts to generate “hearts” in exchange for cash is hysterical and sort of wonderfully depressing in its pandering desperation — he will literally do anything, no matter how shameless — but it connects the movie to some real and unflattering truths about the web, and via the title character, some of the folks who spend the most time on it.

    Specifically, Ralph has built himself a comfortable existence as Vanellope’s best friend, and just as he feels complete satisfaction from that dynamic, he expects her to feel the same way — and when she doesn’t is when the whole internet comes crashing down. The movie explicitly articulates some simple, important truths — “never read the comments” — but the more oblique ones are probably the most essential to heed, especially as Ralph’s determination to “protect” and “help” Vanellope manifests itself in increasingly unhealthy ways. Such lessons are of course relevant in electronic space where cruelty and kindness can be dished out carelessly and be dismissed (especially by the perpetrator) as intangible. They feel particularly necessary, however, and astute, in a real world where “finding one’s tribe” can lead easily to a sense of isolation — and marginalization.

    That this culminates in a literal 800-foot Ralph, constructed from a swirling mass of smaller Ralphs, chasing Vanellope unfortunately threatens to overshadow such messages. Few animated movies in recent memory, much less from the likes of Disney, seem to wholeheartedly embrace the outlandish and fully bizarre visual opportunities that premises like this one introduce, but indulging them also makes for a wild and unpredictable ride. But then again, that’s sort of the point of the whole film, certainly for Vanellope — if you knew what you were getting into, or you’d already gotten into it, why take the ride again? And of course, per Ralph, there’s also something to be said about the security, and the reassuring familiarity, of experiencing something that’s at least somewhat like something you’ve done before.

    But ultimately, that’s why as discordant and unconventional as it sometimes is, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” resonates powerfully — because in addition to having a healthy perspective about both the pluses and minuses of the web, it takes some significant virtual epiphanies and applies them to characters who feel truly human.

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  • Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly Wreak Havoc in ‘Holmes & Watson’ Trailer

    Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly Wreak Havoc in ‘Holmes & Watson’ Trailer

    Sony Pictures

    In the first trailer for “Holmes & Watson,” comedy duo Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are just as bumbling and inappropriate as you’d expect as the legendary Sherlock Holmes and his not-so-bright sidekick.

    In this comedy (from “Get Hard” director Etan Cohen), they must save Queen Victoria from a death threat — while trying not to  accidentally kill her themselves. Or get stung to death by killer bees.

    The best bit of casting: Ralph Fiennes is Holmes’s archnemesis Moriarty and Hugh Laurie is Sherlock’s brilliant brother, Mycroft.

    The movie opens December 21.

    Sony Pictures
  • Exclusive: Go Behind-the-Scenes with ‘The Sisters Brothers’

    Exclusive: Go Behind-the-Scenes with ‘The Sisters Brothers’

    Annapurna

    “The Sisters Brothers” is one of the year’s very best movies, dark and hilarious, contemplative and wild, and very soon it’ll be coming to a theater near you. And in celebration of that rollout, we are absolutely thrilled to debut an exclusive featurette about the making of the movie and the history that inspired it. This clip gives a great outline of what the central storyline is, with great anecdotes by costar and producer John C. Reilly. If you aren’t excited about seeing “The Sisters Brothers” yet, after watching this, you will be positively jazzed.

    In “The Sisters Brothers,” Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix play outlaw siblings hired by their boss to kill a prospector (Riz Ahmed), who has come up with a scientific formula for discovering gold. This puts one of the brothers’ confederates (Jake Gyllenhaal) in a sticky situation; he’s been hired by the brothers to keep an eye on the prospector. At turns violent, hilarious, and deeply beautiful, Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers” is a movie you simply cannot miss and while it’s playing in Los Angeles and New York City now, it’ll be rolling out more and more in the next few weeks (see the complete list below). Yee-haw!

    Annapurna
  • How ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Will Blow You Away

    How ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Will Blow You Away

    Disney

    A few weeks ago, at the beautifully redesigned Walt Disney Animation Studios campus in Burbank, we were treated to a special screening of select footage from “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” the sequel to 2012’s hit videogame-themed comedy “Wreck-It Ralph.” And let me tell you, it looks stunning.

    The basic gist of the sequel is this: There’s trouble at Litwak’s Arcade. Sugar Rush, the kart racing game that counts Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) as one of its racers, has a broken steering wheel. This leads Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly), the videogame ogre with a hart of gold, to launch a mission to get a new steering wheel; otherwise, the game will be unplugged and Vanellope, his best friend, will go poof.

    And where do they head to find that steering wheel? That’s right: the Internet.

    Far from the way that the internet has normally been visualized (in something like “Hackers“); this isn’t dense columns of ones and zeroes. Instead, it’s a living, vibrant city, and you can tell that much of the art department carried over the lessons they learned on “Zootopia,” in terms of bringing an entire metropolis to life. One of the scenes we saw had Vanellope bidding on a velvet cat painting on eBay, which, in the movie, looks like a typical auction house.

    Another scene, which serves as something of the emotional fulcrum for the movie, saw Ralph — after rising in popularity as an instantly meme-able personality — reading negative comments about himself, his large heart breaking. (Co-director Rich Moore said the Internet was the perfect dramatic place to put Ralph, a person whose entire sense of self is based off what other people think of him.)

    Disney

    And, of course, there was the princess sequence, which has been screened at D23 and teased in recent promotional materials, wherein Vanellope comes face-to-face with all of the classic Disney princesses (everyone from Snow White to Moana). It’s still a hoot and as the production works to complete the sequence, has become even more visually stunning and comically precise.

    We were also lucky enough to sit down with Moore, co-director and co-writer Phil Johnston, and producer Clark Spencer, but, alas, there was some kind of malfunction in the recording and only a few minutes were saved. Lucky for me, I’ve got a great memory, and can recount some of the awesome anecdotes that the team shared with me.

    First and foremost, in the princess sequence, they approach a glowing version of the Walt Disney Animation Studios campus, sorcerer’s hat and all. At the top of that building, there’s an animated sorcerer Mickey, posed like he was in Walt Disney’s experimental classic “Fantasia.” It turns out that none other than Mark Henn, the legendary Disney animator who worked on Belle, Princess Jasmine, and Mulan (Jeffrey Katzenberg once called him “the Julia Roberts of animation”), was responsible for that little snippet of classic 2D animation. And that is very, very awesome.

    They also told me that major videogame elements would be woven into the narrative, taking up much of the third act. (All the footage we saw was from the first and second acts.) This was, of course, before Disney announced that Gal Gadot would voice a character named Shank from a hardcore racing game called “Slaughter Race.”

    Overall, the footage that we saw and the conversation that I had with Moore, Johnston, and Spencer, let my jaw on the floor. This is some seriously next-level stuff. And like “Zootopia,” it’s not just a visual feast. There were moments we saw, like the one with Ralph reading all of the mean comments, that were genuinely affecting. We can’t wait until November, when we can see the whole movie. On pins and needles over here.

    Disney

    Moviefone: You started working on this sequel back in 2014 and it got sidelined by the production of “Zootoptia.” When you came back to it, did you start over or pick up where you left off? [Clark nods yes to the “starting over” comment.]

    Spencer: We had to take a big step back.

    Johnston: I had written a screenplay before “Zootopia” and we really liked it and started working on it. We then went off to do “Zootopia” for a year-and-a-half, came back, read that script, and went — “meh.” There are parts of that script that are good, one huge part we completely threw away and now we put it back in like three years later. But we can’t tell you what that part is. So nothing fully ever goes anywhere. It’s the circle of life, man.

    Moore: All the parts of the buffalo!

    What was the biggest change from those earlier versions of the movie?

    Moore: There was definitely a part where, we knew we wanted to explore social media as an aspect to the story. So there was a back-and-forth about who was going to be roped into it — was it going to be Ralph or was it going to be Vanellope? Initially, we said: “It’s got to be Ralph. He’s got the total personality of, ‘Please tell me you like me, I will define myself by the way you feel about me.’” That seemed obvious. But we thought, are we doing ourselves a disservice? Because Vanellope, who you think wouldn’t be susceptible to that, is actually the one who gets swept up in social media. We pursued that idea for a while and it seemed pretty good, but at the end of the day, it didn’t feel genuine. It didn’t feel like her character, like she would make those decisions. It didn’t feel like her character anymore.

    Johnston: That was the very first draft, actually, where she became susceptible and started buying into that. But that comment scene we showed you guys, [it] happened to Vanellope. That idea was in there and there was a later version where they got captured and they became a meme. But we found as they were chasing fleeting fame, it felt like the audience was ahead of them. Like, We know this is a bad idea. It felt like schmuck bait. Like lazy storytelling.

    Moore: And it seemed like would you just get to the point.

    Check out the new trailer below!

    “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is everywhere on November 21. We’ll have more from the long lead day before then.

  • Exclusive: New ‘The Sisters Brothers’ Poster Has One of the Best Taglines Ever

    Exclusive: New ‘The Sisters Brothers’ Poster Has One of the Best Taglines Ever

    Annapurna

    John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix fans? The latest poster for their new film,”The Sisters Brothers,” is tailor made just for you.

    Marking the English-language directorial debut of Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”), this Western is poised to give audiences a very fresh and inspired take on the Wild West, with two of our favorite actors along for the ride.

    In addition to the crazy-talented cast and director, what also makes this one of the fall’s most anticipated movies is that it comes from distributor Annapurna, the folks that can’t stop putting out good things (“Zero Dark Thirty” and “Sorry to Bother You,” just to name a few.)

    Check out the poster below:

    Annapurna

    We’ve seen the movie — it’s pretty great — so we won’t spoil it for you here. But here’s the official synopsis:

    It is 1851, and Charlie and Eli Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly) are both brothers and assassins, boys grown to men in a savage and hostile world. They have blood on their hands: that of criminals, that of innocents…and they know no state of existence other than being gunmen. The older of the two, introspective Eli (Reilly) rides hard with his younger sibling, yet dares to dream of a normal life. The younger of the two, hard-drinking Charlie (Phoenix), has taken charge with gusto as lead man on the duo’s assignments. Each increasingly questions, and quibbles with, the other’s methods.

    The Sisters brothers find themselves on a journey through the Northwest, bringing them to the mountains of Oregon, a dangerous brothel in the small town of Mayfield, and eventually, the Gold Rush land of California — a journey that will test the deadly family ties that bind. But, can it also be the path to rediscovering what remains of their humanity?

    This awards contender also features Jake Gyllenhaal (!) and “Rogue One‘s” Riz Ahmed.

    “Sisters Brothers” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Sept. 21.