(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star in ‘Splitsville’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in person with Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona to talk about their work on ‘Splitsville’, their first reactions to the screenplay, their characters, and working with actors and filmmakers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Johnson, Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.
Moviefone: To begin with, Dakota, the movie is very funny. Can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay, and did it read funny on the page?
Dakota Johnson: I mean, yes, especially because I had the tone of in my head because I had seen ‘The Climb’ and I feel like when you know their voices and you know their candor, you implement that into reading the script. So, it’s a very specific tone of comedy, you know.
MF: Just to follow up, do you think you found a lot of the humor in the movie organically on set?
DJ: Yeah, there was a lot of improvisation and a lot of moments like that. I feel like the funniest moments in the movie are the devastating ones where it’s like humans not getting it right with each other and feeling so uncomfortable, rather than like a set-up and joke.
Adria Arjona in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.
MF: Adria, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and what were some of the characteristics of Ashley that you were excited to explore on screen?
Adria Arjona: When I read it was like, “What in the world am I reading?” Especially the opening of this film, it’s probably one of the craziest openings of any movie I’ve ever read. In the first 10 minutes, the movie kind of just slaps you in the face in the best way possible. So, it was funny, and I had also watched ‘The Climb’, so it was one of those things that it was an undeniable, yes for me. Then, you know, Ashley, she just goes through so much in this film. She starts off having everything she ever wanted and taking it for granted in ways and then jumping through hoops to realize that maybe she was wrong or maybe she was right. She dives into the definition of what an open relationship is, and she’s excited about it. She’s a woman in her 30s that’s trying to discover who she is and feels like she’s letting herself go, she doesn’t have this exploration, which is something that I bet a lot of women who get married kind of feel, and then she teaches you this beautiful lesson. So, I was interested in kind of exploring that.
(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.
MF: Finally, Dakota, as a producer and an actor, what was it like working with Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino as both actors and filmmakers on this project?
DJ: Contentious. I think it’s kind of what I love so much about this movie is the contention that you see between the characters on screen, it also was happening behind the scenes with producers and the filmmakers and the DP. Everyone was heightened creativity, and it just was a very collaborative experience, but fiery. Everyone was quite into their own opinions. I mean, I think we made a good movie, so ultimately in a good way.
(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Simon Webster and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.
What is the plot of ‘’Splitsville’?
When his wife Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends (Michael Angelo Covino and Dakota Johnson) for support, only to learn that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all their relationships into chaos.
Who is in the cast of ‘Splitsville’?
Kyle Marvin as Carey
Michael Angelo Covino as Paul
Dakota Johnson as Julie
Adria Arjona as Ashley
Nicholas Braun as Matt the Mentalist
David Castañeda as Fede
O-T Fagbenle as Brent
Charlie Gillespie as Jackson
(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona on the set of ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.
(Left) Sydney Sweeney in ‘The White Lotus’ season 1. Photo: Mario Perez/HBO. (Right) 1979’s ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’. Photo: Nippon Sunrise.
Preview:
Sydney Sweeney is in talks to take a lead role in ‘Gundam.’
It’ll be the first live-action adaptation of the long-running anime franchise.
‘Sweet Tooth’ series boss Jim Mickle is aboard to write and direct.
Having lingered around development limbo for a few years now, the live-action adaptation of giant anime franchise ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ looks set to get an upgrade in its star power.
While a sci-fi movie about hulking, mechanized suits doing battle might seem like an odd turn for her career, Sweeney has shown an admirable willingness to hop around genres, embracing horror and others.
It also marks the first real signs of movement for the movie itself.
One of the most revered animé, ‘Gundam’ is thought of as the ‘Star Wars’ or Marvel Universe of Japan, and is the pioneer of the mecha genre of IP.
Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the ‘Gundam’ franchise spans 83 animated series and movies. Its toy and retail business are huge, with the various products and projects generating over $600 million annually.
The original anime, 1979 series ‘Mobile Suit Gundam,’ is set in the Universal Century, an era in which humanity’s growing population has led people to emigrate to space colonies.
Eventually, the people living in the colonies seek their autonomy, and launch a war of independence against the people living on Earth. The battles in the story are fought by the characters piloting robots known as mobile suits.
Part of the mecha genre, the sci-fi subgenre that centers on robots in combat (and usually they are giant robots), it veered from the formula followed by its mecha predecessors in a manner that added dramatic new tones and textures to the genre.
Previously, the giant robots in mecha stories were presented as almost magical devices with celebrity pilots who operated them via remote control or command. Tomino found those Aladdin-with-a-robot tales flimsy so he re-envisioned them as colossal weapons at the center of a complex military epic.
The giant robots, like Flying Fortress, had crews with ace pilots and everyman mechanics, which lent new perspectives, pathos, and battlefield energy to the saga and then to its genre.
Back in 2019, we learned that ‘Y: The Last Man,’ ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Runaways’ comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan (who has worked on the TV likes of ‘Lost’ and shows spawned from his titles) was hired to start work on a screenplay for Legendary’s live-action take on the ‘Gundam’ adventures –– the first to move it from the animated sphere.
But by the time 2024 rolled around, neither Netflix nor Vogt-Roberts were attached, and Legendary had instead hired ‘Sweet Tooth’ showrunner (and horror movie ‘Stake Land’ director) Jim Mickle to tackle the story instead.
He was brought in to also write a new draft of the script; presumably it’s this that has sparked Sweeney’s attention.
Still, it really needs to stand out to make it on to her crowded To Do list…
What else is Sydney Sweeney working on?
(L to R) Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney in ‘Anyone But You. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Sweeney’s current schedule is as packed as anyone’s in Hollywood.
Last year included the continued success of hit rom-com ‘Anyone But You’ opposite fellow rising star Glen Powell and Neon horror thriller ‘Immaculate.’
She followed those up with one that she might wish to vanish from her resume, misfiring Spider-Man spin-off ‘Madame Web.’
The actor also filmed the Ron Howard-directed thriller ‘Eden’ about a society of people who opt to start a new life in the Galapagos islands, only for things to wrong. That one should be in theaters this year.
She has shot the Lionsgate adaptation of the novel ‘The Housemaid,’ which has Paul Feige in the director’s chair, and has worked on two other movies, ‘Echo Valley’ about a woman (played by Julianne Moore) whose life is turned upside down when her daughter (Sweeney) shows up covered in someone else’s blood, and a biopic of real-life boxer Christy Martin, with Sweeney in the lead role (not to mention it’s another movie she produced).
(L to R) Brandon Sklenar, Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney and director Paul Feig at the Lionsgate presentation at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas.Photo: Lionsgate.
And that list doesn’t even include the potential movies to which she is attached: that list includes a remake of sci-fi comedy ‘Barbarella,’ thriller ‘The Caretaker’ and a drama called ‘The Registration.’
Finally, we have HBO series ‘Euphoria,’ whose much-delayed third season which is finally filming now for a 2026 release.
Here’s what she told Cosmopolitan about the show’s return:
“We did have a long time between season one and season two, but especially now with the time jump, it’s a new process for me. I’m kind of just learning as I go and being open for whatever’s to come. But I’m also really excited. I love Cassie. She is always such a thrilling character to play, so I’m really looking forward to what’s gonna happen in her life.”
Legendary has yet to announce when the movie might hit screens, and given that the company usually partners up with a studio for distribution, we’ll have to wait and see where it lands.
But if Sweeney does sign on, it’ll certainly get a boost in the right direction.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
And if all comes together for A24’s new planned production, Poe’s short story ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ could be headed to cinemas.
The production company is partnering with Picturestart to back the new effort, and they have rising star Sydney Sweeney –– who already proved her horror thriller chops with ‘Immaculate’ –– in negotiations to star.
What’s the story of ‘The Masque Of The Red Death’?
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
The story follows Prince Prospero’s attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, which has brought gruesome symptoms sweeping over the land. Victims are overcome by sharp pains, sudden dizziness, and profuse bleeding at the pores, and die within half an hour.
Prospero and some friends decide to wait the plague out in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms.
And here we get into spoilers for those who haven’t read the story…
Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose “costume” proves to contain nothing tangible inside it. The guests also die in turn.
Yep, sounds like the basis for a knockabout comedy if ever we heard one!
Yet according to Deadline’s story on Sweeney’s entering negotiations, the plan is for something wildly revisionist and darkly comic, so we could see something more along the lines of Flannigan’s ambitious and impressive Poe opus.
It’s not yet known how the story will be tweaked for the new movie.
Who is working on ‘The Masque Of The Red Death’?
Sydney Sweeney talks ‘Immaculate.’
Charlie Polinger is aboard to write and direct the new movie.
The playwright-turned-filmmaker has another movie called ‘The Plague’ due in theaters at some point, though it doesn’t appear to share a theme with the Poe story despite its title.
Featuring the likes of Joel Edgerton and Everett Blunck in its cast, it’s reportedly about a socially awkward tween who endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.
Polinger’s back catalogue includes short films such as ‘Sauna,’ ‘A Place to Stay,’ ‘Good People’ and the upcoming ‘Hiawatha.’
He’s aiming to shoot ‘The Masque Of The Red Death’ this year.
What else is Sydney Sweeney working on?
(L to R) Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney in ‘Anyone But You. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Sweeney has a busy schedule as is usual for an in-demand performer.
2024 included the continued success of hit rom-com ‘Anyone But You’ opposite fellow rising star Glen Powell and the aforementioned Neon horror thriller ‘Immaculate.’
She followed those up with one that she might wish to vanish from her resume, misfiring Spider-Man spin-off ‘Madame Web.’
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The actor also shot the Ron Howard-directed thriller ‘Eden’ about a society of people who opt to start a new life in the Galapagos islands, only for things to wrong. That one should be in theaters this year.
She is currently filming the Lionsgate adaptation of the novel ‘The Housemaid,’ which has Paul Feige in the director’s chair, and has worked on two other movies, ‘Echo Valley’ about a woman (played by Julianne Moore) whose life is turned upside down when her daughter (Sweeney) shows up covered in someone else’s blood, and a biopic of real-life boxer Christy Martin, with Sweeney in the lead role.
And that list doesn’t even include the potential movies to which she is attached: that list includes a remake of sci-fi comedy ‘Barbarella,’ thriller ‘The Caretaker’ and a drama called ‘The Registration.’
Finally, we have HBO series ‘Euphoria,’ whose much-delayed third season should finally kick off filming this year for a 2026 release.
Here’s what she told Cosmopolitan about the show’s return:
“We did have a long time between season one and season two, but especially now with the time jump, it’s a new process for me. I’m kind of just learning as I go and being open for whatever’s to come. But I’m also really excited. I love Cassie. She is always such a thrilling character to play, so I’m really looking forward to what’s gonna happen in her life.”
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel ‘Kraven the Hunter’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
Are we finally done with of the Sony Universe of Spider-Man Movies Not Featuring Spider-Man for good? We can only hope, because 2024 has surely brought us the nadir of this cash-grabbing MCU-adjacent nonsense with ‘Madame Web’ and now ‘Kraven The Hunter.’ Yet another pointless origin story for a Spider-Man villain that really serves no purpose without Spider-Man to fight against, ‘Kraven The Hunter’ wastes a serviceable performance from Aaron Taylor-Johnson (playing his second Marvel character in less than 10 years following his appearance as Quicksilver in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’) and smashes any hope of a real Kraven-Spidey face-off in the foreseeable future.
Like ‘Madame Web,’ ‘Morbius,’ and the ‘Venom’ movies, ‘Kraven The Hunter’ is dragged down by a laziness that infects every aspect of the production. A badly written script, lousy editing, miserable-looking CG, underwhelming acting, and even sloppy dialogue looping (yes, just like in ‘Madame Web’) hinder the film’s modest attributes, like Taylor-Johnson’s work and the occasional flash of electrifying violence. And it’s all directed by J.C. Chandor – who’s made some good movies, like ‘A Most Violent Year’ – with the energy of a weak wind blowing across a desolate Siberian plain (where much of the film takes place).
Story and Direction
‘Kraven the Hunter’ director J. C. Chandor.
‘Kraven The Hunter’ makes its points with such thudding heavy-handedness that the movie produces unintentional laughter almost from the start. Russian martial music blares over the opening scene to make sure we know we’re deep in the Russian countryside, as a transport brings the title character (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to a prison that would make Rikers Island look like the Four Seasons.
Kraven is there on purpose, however, to execute a Russian gangster operating within its walls, a plot point that will make more sense later as we first must endure an extended flashback from 16 years earlier. Here we meet the younger Kraven, real name Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller), who is pulled out of school along with his half-brother Dmitri by their brutish father Nikolai (Russell Crowe), who informs his sons that their mother has taken her own life because she was “weak.”
Dad decides that accompanying him on a hunt is just what the grieving boys need, although the rather timid Dmitri prefers singing and doing uncanny vocal impressions of Nikolai and others (he’s a “real chameleon,” as he and others tell us two or three times, just in case we don’t get the hint). Sergei is gravely injured by a legendary lion his dad has been tracking, and although he nearly succumbs to his wounds, a combination of the lion’s blood with a mystical potion given to him by a young African girl named Calypso — who just happens to be there with her parents — brings the young man back from the brink and imbues him with a range of special powers (enhanced strength and speed, better hearing, and eyes that change color).
Also bestowed somehow with a new moral code by that heady brew, Sergei decides he’s not going to join his father’s business and takes off for the Siberian wilderness, where he sets up house in a dome-like cabin left behind by his mother and protects the local animals from poachers. Now grown into the impressive shape of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kraven hunts bad guys as a sort of mercenary but is soon called back to help defend his estranged father, who’s being threatened by a man he once dismissed named Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), whose bizarre skin condition and own monstrous powers have led him to be called the Rhino.
Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel ‘Kraven the Hunter’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
“A man who kills a legend becomes a legend himself,” gravely intones Nikolai at one point, as ‘Kraven’ deploys all the usual cliches about fathers and sons and the definition of “real” masculinity. Perhaps J.C. Chandor envisions this all as some sort of operatic Russian crime epic, but he’s undercut every step of the way by a ludicrous, coincidence-filled script from Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway (the latter two are credited on the first ‘Iron Man’ for Marvel Studios). Kraven/Sergei steps out of his brother’s apartment for a nap just as a bunch of the Rhino’s thugs come to kidnap him; Kraven calls a now-grown Calypso (Ariana DeBose) to warn her that the Rhino is coming for her just as she happens to look outside her office and see those same thugs bursting in. Plot points are simply stacked atop each other without any real development just to clumsily get people from point A to point B.
Speaking of Calypso, who works as a lawyer, why does Kraven need her help in tracing bad guys if he’s supposedly the world’s greatest hunter? Why does her one notable fighting skill happen to come in handy just when Kraven needs it most? Does she even need to be in the story? And why the hell is the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott), an assassin who can hypnotize people by staring at them and counting to three, necessary here when the plot is already weighed down with multiple villains?
In the end, these questions don’t matter because the rest of the film is so haphazardly done. For starters, there’s a CG lion that looks like it was discarded on a zip drive by someone at Disney and found by somebody else working on ‘Kraven.’ In fact, all the animals look terribly fake, a common problem in CG that’s exacerbated here by the sheer amount of them. And let’s not get started on the final version of the Rhino, who looks like the VFX folks just digitally stuck a horn and some rough gray skin over the superstructure of Rhys Ifans’ Lizard and called it a day.
We can harp on the film’s other problems – shockingly sloppy dialogue looping (especially when Chameleon, I mean Dmitri, sings in different voices), shockingly dumb dialogue, and unshockingly predictable plot turns like Sergei getting his powers from magic blood, an idea that goes back to the Andrew Garfield era of Spider-Man. But all these other issues pale next to the movie’s main drawback: it’s just dull. Chandor can’t wring anything resembling real energy out of these tired old tropes, and the movie just grinds along for better than two hours like a broken-down train groaning into its final station.
The Cast
(L to R) Aaron Taylor Johnson and Russell Crowe in Columbia Pictures and Marvel ‘Kraven the Hunter’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
If there is a saving grace to ‘Kraven The Hunter,’ it’s the title character himself. Aaron Taylor-Johnson does a very commendable job against the odds; even though this is a far cry from the Kraven of the comics in many ways, he does have a moral code, a sense of honor, and a thread of compassion that’s in conflict with his naturally violent tendencies. Taylor-Johnson is also quite physically suited for the role, even if the editing of the fight scenes leaves something to be desired (maybe he just said the hell with it and figured he’d use this for his James Bond audition tape). Kraven’s ultimate objectives are vague and kind of muddled, but that’s the script’s fault.
Fred Hechinger (seen this fall as the mad emperor Caracalla in ‘Gladiator II’ and the sadistic Harper in ‘Nickel Boys’) also does a decent job as Dmitri, although his eventual transformation into the Chameleon at the end is rushed and jarringly handled. One great shame about this movie is that it wastes three classic members of Spidey’s rogues gallery – Rhino, Chameleon (the very first villain Spider-Man ever faced!), and Kraven himself – on a movie that does these illustrious villains little justice.
The rest of the cast doesn’t fare very well. Alessandro Nivola ingests the scenery as the Rhino, camping it up and all but twirling his moustache, while Russell Crowe alternates between phoning it in and chewing the sets around him as well, his heavy Russian accent like something out of a Cold War movie. As for Ariana DeBose, there’s no nice way to say it: she’s just bad here, spouting every line in flatly declarative fashion as if she’s reading them for the first time. She seems lost at sea, but again, that may be a function of the script, which offers no real function for Calypso.
Final Thoughts
Aaron Taylor Johnson in Columbia Pictures and Marvel ‘Kraven the Hunter’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
The sad part about ‘Kraven The Hunter’ is that Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s fur-clad killer might have made a formidable nemesis for the current Tom Holland iteration of Spider-Man (in fact, Kraven was allegedly the back-up plan for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ if the multiversal thing didn’t work out). But this laughable movie all but ensures that this version of Kraven won’t cross over into Spidey’s corner of the MCU, despite the handful of painfully obvious Easter eggs scattered throughout the film.
As we noted above, we can only hope that the seven-year excursion into mediocrity that was the Sony Spider-Man Universe Not Featuring Spider-Man, which began in 2018 with ‘Venom,’ ends here with Kraven’s first and last hunt. The whole idea – to create a universe of movies starring Spider-Man villains without having Spider-Man show up in them – was a misfire from the beginning, the brainchild of two producers (Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach) desperate to hang onto whatever piece of the Marvel pie they could. Nearly half a billion dollars in production costs and six films later, their slice of that pie is moldy and spoiled and needs to go into the trash.
‘Kraven The Hunter’ receives 2.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Kraven The Hunter’?
The son (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) of a Russian crime lord (Russell Crowe) rejects his father’s empire and sets out to track down criminals on his own and enact justice upon them, using his enhanced powers to make himself a feared and powerful hunter of men.
Who is in the cast of ‘Kraven The Hunter’?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven
Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili
Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov / The Chameleon
Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino
Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner
Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff
‘Kraven the Hunter’ opens in theaters in October.
List of Movies and TV Shows in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe:
While the sight of Sydney Sweeney costumed in a nun’s habit might be jarring enough for viewers of her more provocative work in series and movies like ‘Anyone But You,’ ‘Euphoria’ or ‘The Voyeurs,’ there’s a lot more that will rattle you in director Michael Mohan’s creepy and entertainingly lurid ‘Immaculate.’
A religious horror thriller with a seasoning of nunsploitation, a generous topping of gore, and a go-for-broke attitude right out of the 1970s, ‘Immaculate’ might be in need of a few less jump scares and plot holes, but will hold your attention with its grisly twists and a ferocious performance by its star.
Director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Right up front, ‘Immaculate’ (written by Andrew Loebl) lets us know that not everything is divine at My Lady of Sorrows, a remote Italian convent where younger nuns care for their older, dying colleagues. Following an intro in which a panicked nun named Mary (Simona Tabasco, ‘The White Lotus’) meets a horrifying fate while trying to leave, we are then introduced to Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), who has pledged to devote her life to Christ ever since she nearly drowned in an accident and was miraculously returned to life after seven minutes.
Cecilia has been invited to the convent by Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) and is given a kind if stern welcome by the Mother Superior (Dora Romano), while immediately bonding with another young nun, Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli). Although there are fleeting glimpses of something perhaps darker going on under the convent’s relatively placid surface, Cecilia finds herself settling in – until she wakes from a deeply disturbing nightmare to find that her life is about to irrevocably change.
Cecilia, you see, is suddenly getting morning sickness (including one macabre moment where she vomits out a tooth). The convent’s doctor examines her and the truth is revealed: Cecilia is pregnant, despite the fact that she is a virgin and has never had any kind of sexual contact with a man. That kind of announcement can only mean one thing in a Catholic convent, of course, but is a certain someone really growing inside her? And why did He pick her in the first place?
(L to R) Sydney Sweeney and director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
‘Immaculate’ pays tribute to a number of classic horror films of the late ‘60s and ‘70s – you’ll find nods to ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ ‘The Omen,’ and even the brutal ‘Mark of the Devil’ (which was “rated V for violence” in its day) scattered throughout its tight 89-minute runtime – but the narrative doesn’t exactly go in the direction you might imagine. Loebl’s script takes some interesting thematic turns, even if director Michael Mohan (‘The Voyeurs’) is almost less interested in those than he is in the next jump scare or gore effect he can conjure up.
While he overdoes it on the jump scares – veering close to the edge of irritation – he’s quite liberal (small “l”) with the blood and other liquids, as the prim and proper Cecilia eventually finds herself wallowing in gallons of blood, amniotic fluid, and ethanol (don’t ask). We won’t divulge details of how she gets there, but the third act of this movie goes truly off the rails in a good way, leading to an ending that may make even the non-faithful cross themselves with its implications.
Mohan may rely on those aforementioned jump scares too much in the film’s first two acts to create terror where there isn’t much; the movie is better when the director lets it soak in the setting and its dread-laced atmosphere. The narrative itself is rickety in spots, with a number of plot turns not quite adding up if one stops to think about them. But the film barrels along despite this, thanks to Sweeney’s believable journey from devout servant of God to unstoppable angel of vengeance.
The Sweeney Factor
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Sydney Sweeney apparently auditioned for this role a decade ago, when the movie was first in development, and since then she has assumed a role as producer on the film as well as star. But kudos to her: she bravely goes anywhere the story takes her, including some very dark places, and there is one long take at the end of the film that is somewhat jaw-dropping in the level of her intensity.
It’s clear also that her talents and range benefit from being in sync with her director. Not to kick ‘Madame Web’ when it’s already as down as it can be, but Sweeney visibly did not bring her A-game in that film (more like her B-game). Yet in work like ‘Reality’ and now this, she’s genuinely much more invested in the material and it shows. The rest of the more anonymous cast in ‘Immaculate’ are fine – some of the performances are a bit overripe, which is perfectly suited to a film like this – but this is Sweeney’s show all the way.
A Heritage of Horror
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
As noted earlier, ‘Immaculate’ features a ton of horror influences, most of them stemming from the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to the films mentioned above, director Michael Mohan tapes into the tradition of Hammer horror, while also drawing from a lot of other Eurohorror and religious horror of the period, as well as the works of Italian masters of the macabre like Mario Bava and Dario Argento.
Then there’s the weird little subgenre of “nunsploitation,” which peaked around the same time and generally revolved around repressed nuns experiencing religious persecution, supernatural terror, and/or sexual shenanigans (sometimes all at the same time), usually in foreboding convents like the one in ‘Immaculate.’ While this film doesn’t quite hit the same depths of depravity as movies like ‘The Nun and the Devil’ (1973), ‘Satanico Pandemonium’ (1975), or ‘Alucarda’ (1976), the influence is surely there.
Final Thoughts
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
‘Immaculate’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way, shape, or form, but that’s not the point: the movie proudly wears its many horror influences on its sleeve and also unashamedly delivers a lurid, often wickedly entertaining good time for genre fans. The director does overuse the jump scares and the script has more than a few spots where narrative logic is noticeably lacking, but have faith: the film’s overall intensity, gory action, and a compelling central performance from its star will get you through the rough spots to a truly insane ending.
‘Immaculate’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Immaculate’?
A devout young nun named Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) travels to a remote convent in Italy, where she intends to devote her life entirely to her faith. But after initially fitting into the daily lives and routines of the nuns, a shocking personal revelation and a series of sinister events send Cecilia on a journey into horror from which even God might not be able to save her.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with actress and producer Sydney Sweeney to talk about her work on ‘Immaculate,’ her first reaction to the screenplay, why she wanted to make the movie, her character, working with director Michael Mohan and why she loves horror films.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to the screenplay, and as a producer and actress why did you want to make this movie?
Sydney Sweeney: My first reaction, I was quite young, I was 16, and I was so enthralled with the character’s journey. She was such an unexpected “final girl” almost, where you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s an unexpected turn, she’s scared, she’s quiet, and then she finds this inner strength that she completely loses it. It’s so fun as an actor. So, seeing a character in a horror genre be able to have such a cool arc, I was really intrigued by it. Then, I also love horror films, I grew up watching them with my dad. So, I felt like this one was just unique and cool. I love that a lot of the elements also were fear of reality, which I thought was interesting.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: Cecilia had a traumatic experience before the movie starts. Can you talk about that, why she moves to the convent and what she’s hoping to get out of that experience?
SS: So, when she was young, she had a near-death experience and she always questioned why she was saved. She felt like God really touched her in a way and saved her life, and she felt like she owed it to someone greater than who she was. She never really found her place where she grew up, within her family. She never really felt like she belonged. She felt like an outcast. So, she started going to church and felt a community that she’s never felt before. It grew into something greater than herself. So, she wanted to serve God in a more impactful, meaningful way. She got ahold of different priests that moved her around and then, she wound up in Italy.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: You are running, screaming, and crying throughout the movie. Was this an emotionally and physically demanding role for you to play?
SS: It was, but I was so excited. I was on such an adrenaline rush of just being a part of this project in such a big way that I didn’t want the day to end. I hated when we called wrap. I wanted to be there just helping and doing anything that I possibly could.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: You mentioned that you love horror films. I’m curious, is it fun making a horror movie, and what do you love about the genre?
SS: It is fun. It’s always funny because whenever people ask like, “Is it dark and hard? Is it hard to jump out of it?” I always find that sometimes the most heartbreaking or darkest scenes, everybody’s just having a really great time. When I’m drenched in blood, we’re all laughing and running around. But I love the horror genre. I love that you can just push the boundaries, like there’s no rules to the world. I think that that’s just fun to play with cinematically, character-wise, storytelling-wise, and I think it’s a lot of fun.
(L to R) Sydney Sweeney and director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: Finally, what was it like collaborating with director Michael Mohan on set?
SS: I love Michael. I’ve worked with him since I was 19. This is our third project together. He is such an incredible collaborative person because he truly listens and he cares about everybody else, and he is super thoughtful. But then also, he has such a vision, and he sticks to that vision, but then also listens and puts me at the table as well.
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What is the Plot of ‘Immaculate’?
A devoutly religious woman named Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is offered a role at an illustrious convent in the Italian countryside. Her seemingly picture-perfect new home is soon revealed to hold horrifying secrets.
(Left) Nicolas Cage (“Nick Cage”) contemplates his career while poolside in Mallorca, Spain in ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.’ Photo credit: Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate. (Right) Nicolas Cage as Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.’ Photo: Sony Pictures.
Preview:
Nic Cage could bring his ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’ character to live-action.
Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Oren Uziel are all involved.
The series is in development at Prime Video.
This past week has not seen Sony’s attempts to make Marvel content showered in glory. ‘Madame Web’, the latest movie from the company to feature a side-character from the ‘Spider-Man’ universe, has gone down in flames with critics and audiences.
There is some good news for the studio, though, as word has emerged that its developing live-action ‘Spider-Man Noir’ series, set up at Amazon’s Prime Video service might be getting a shot of cool from Nicolas Cage eyeing a deal to star.
The show, which would adapt the hard-boiled, tough-talking comic book character mainstream audiences really came to know via ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, has been in development since at least last year with ‘Spider-Verse’ duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller working alongside ‘The Lost City’s Oren Uziel to craft it.
2018’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.’ Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Nothing has been officially released about the storyline for the potential show, but if it even roughly follows the character’s narrative, we’ll be seeing a grizzled, older take on Peter Parker patrolling the streets of a monochrome 1930s New York as he seeks to avenge the deaths of his uncle Ben Parker to the hands of the cannibal Adrian Toomes and his mentor Ben Urich by the city’s major crime lord, Norman Osborn.
His Spidey origin story? He’s bitten by a seemingly venomous spider he unearths while investigating a smuggling ring, awakes inside a cocoon and emerges from it, now possessing super-human abilities similar to a spider. So yeah, that old tale.
Noir (as he’s sometimes simply known) made his paper debut in the pages of his eponymous comic in 2009, created by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky Carmine Di Giandomenico and Marko Djurdjevic, but he’s become best known via ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ where he helped Miles Morales, Gwen Stacey and the others sort out the multiversal issues caused by the Kingpin’s machinations.
How is Nicolas Cage involved in the ‘Spider-Man Noir’ series?
‘Nicolas Cage’ (Nicolas Cage) greets ‘Javi Gutierrez’ with a ‘Palm Hold Fist’ salute as he arrives in Mallorca, Spain. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate.
Cage provided the gruff vocals for Noir in his ‘Spider-Verse’ movie scenes, and while sequel ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ used archive recordings as Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacey gathered the team from the first movie to launch an attempt to help Miles Morales, signs are Cage will have a larger role in the next one, ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’.
Of course, the series version will all depend on Cage actually making a deal, but The Ankler reports he’s in serious talks.
That series, about Cindy Moon, a Korean American classmate of the more contemporary Peter Parker’s, who is similarly bitten by a radioactive spider and possesses an advanced Spider-Sense (known as Silk Sense), is seemingly being paused for a creative overhaul with ‘The Walking Dead’ veteran show-runner still on board developing that show alongside Lord and Miller.
2018’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.’ Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans are starring in ‘Materialists’.
This is the new movie from ‘Past Lives’ director Celine Song.
It’ll be a New York-set rom-com.
It’s fair to say that with ‘Past Lives’, Korean writer/director Celine Song has announced herself as a new cinematic voice.
Her romantic drama feature debut, which stars Greta Lee, Teo Woo and John Magaro, first garnered attention at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where its quietly powerful story of old friends and potential lovers reconnecting hit a chord.
It has since gone on to win numerous awards and dominate critics’ Best Of lists for the year and is in the running for two Oscars –– Original Screenplay and Best Picture.
You can imagine, then, that big-name talent would be beating down the down to work with her, and for the director’s next film, ‘Materialists’, she’s scored quite the potential cast in Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, who are all in talks to star.
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What’s the story of ‘Materialists’?
Here’s the official synopsis for the new movie:
“Set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, a city that never sleeps and is known for its diverse and dynamic relationships, ‘Materialists’ provides a unique glimpse into the lives of the city’s elite. Lucy’s expertise in matchmaking is highly sought after by those willing to pay a premium for her services. However, with a broke actor-waiter in her romantic past and a new attachment to a wealthy man, all signs point to a toxic love triangle that threatens to unravel the lives of all involved.”
According to the director, the new movie is inspired by the sort of spiky romantic comedies such as ‘Broadcast News’ that James L. Brooks specializes in, which makes us even more eager to see what Song could do with a film like this.
Who is backing Song’s new movie?
(L to R) Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in ‘Past Lives.’ Photo: A24.
The new movie reteams the director with distributors A24 and with producers Killer Films, both of which shepherded ‘Past Lives’ to screens.
Just when you thought the “Sony Spider-Man Universe” (as the Sony Pictures cinematic pool of movies starring Spider-Man villains and minor characters has come to be known) couldn’t get any sillier and more generic than ‘Morbius,’ now ‘Madame Web’ comes along to say “hold my beer.” Despite a promising cast and director, ‘Madame Web’ – based on a little-known yet powerful psychic in the Marvel canon – ends up deadly dull.
(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Director S.J. Clarkson at a Photo Call for Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web’ at the Fasano Rio De Janiero. Photo: Renan Olivetti.
There’s the kernel of an interesting – if hardly original – idea at the center of ‘Madame Web’: if you could see your future and knew who was going to kill you, would you kill them first? That is what fuels Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim of ‘A Prophet’ fame), who we first meet in the Peruvian Amazon, circa 1973, alongside a woman named Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé). Sims is ostensibly providing security for the very pregnant Webb, who’s on a mission – via some exceedingly clumsy expository dialogue — to find a rare spider whose DNA can provide incredible strength, healing and regenerative powers.
In the first of many thuddingly obvious and overly telegraphed plot points, Constance is betrayed by Sims once she finds the spider. After he takes off with the arachnid and leaves her for dead, Constance is rescued by an Amazonian tribe, once thought mythical, who apparently derive their powers from the spider – the “Spider-People.” Their English-speaking leader cannot save Constance, but does manage to save her baby.
Thirty years later, that baby has grown up to be Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic who prefers being alone despite the affection of her partner, Ben Parker (Adam Scott), and his efforts to get her to be part of the world. Cassie’s life, however, takes a turn for the bizarre when she nearly drowns while rescuing an accident victim on a bridge – an incident that somehow triggers in her an ability to see glimpses of the future.
At the same time, Ezekiel Sims – who is apparently now incredibly wealthy, although it’s never exactly explained how – has the same power, as well as super-strength and sticky hands and feet, no doubt thanks to giving himself some spider-cells. He keeps seeing visions of being sent to his death by three young costumed women – in a sort of teaser for films yet to come – and sets out to stop them by any means necessary. This puts him on a collision course with Cassie, who is inexplicably drawn to the three teenage girls as well: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor).
What follows is a tediously exposition-heavy story (much of the dialogue, particularly Sims’, seems re-recorded in post-production) that strains to explain unsuccessfully how and why Cassie’s powers work, why this connects her to a larger history of so-called “Spider-people,” and how her life will interconnect with those of the other three women. The explanations fail to provide any real spark for the story, while other questions — like why Sims wears a Spider-Man outfit 15 years before Spider-Man did, or why Cassie drives around the entire second half of the movie in a stolen cab and manages to fly to Peru despite being wanted for kidnapping three teen girls – remain unanswered.
‘Madame Web’ is all plot: one story beat just gets hooked to the next, and there’s no interest on the part of the four credited screenwriters (plus one who gets “story by” credit) in trying to make any truly credible or emotional connections between any of the characters. Any way in which they connect is happenstance: after Cassie, a total stranger, saves their lives on a subway train, the three girls just completely put their fates in her hands because the story requires them to.
Even when she abandons them in the woods at one point, or abruptly leaves them with Ben and his very pregnant sister-in-law Mary (Emma Roberts) while she zooms off to Peru — apparently a journey one can make in a matter of hours — no one seems to question any of this except in the most casual way. That’s because none of these characters even remotely seem like people – they’re just pawns being pushed around so Sony can make another Spider-Man-adjacent movie (and yes, Easter eggs abound here, including the egregious inversion of perhaps the most famous line in Marvel lore).
‘Madame Web’ comes across as a desperate attempt to make something, anything, out of whatever scraps of Marvel canon the filmmakers can pull together. The movie assumes that fans will nod knowingly at the names of the girls, but it doesn’t give us any reason to care or wonder why they’re drawn together in the first place. Making her feature debut, director S.J. Clarkson (who has helmed episodes of ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘The Defenders’) is competent enough, but she can’t enliven these connect-the-dots proceedings with any genuine life (the final action scene – a mix of Cassie’s precognition and what actually happens – is sadly nearly incomprehensible).
Of course, ‘Madame Web’ is all mostly set-up by the end, and one can almost hear the producers high-fiving each other over the multiple Spider-sequels that they set up. But the creative exhaustion that seeps from the screen tells another story.
As with a lot of recent movies, the cast for this looks good on paper, but are limited in what they can do with the material. Dakota Johnson works hard to elevate the character and script – she is an intelligent and witty actor, as well as a graceful beauty – but she seems lost at times and unsure just what kind of tone she’s supposed to be playing.
Her co-stars aren’t given nearly enough character development, and while the idea of an all-female super-team is long overdue on the screen (we’re still waiting for the MCU’s ‘A-Force’ movie), this is not the launchpad it needs. Sydney Sweeney proves again that while talented and occasionally inspired, she needs solid direction. Isabela Merced doesn’t much improve on her work in ‘Transformers: The Last Knight.’ Celeste O’Connor manages to show some spunk as Mattie, making her shine the brightest.
As for Tahar Rahim, he’s working with a strange accent and a lot of looped dialogue, his usual air of quiet menace only occasionally peeking through. And while we always have time for Adam Scott, we wish he wasn’t saddled with a character whose eventual fate is pre-ordained and well-known.
The Sony Spider-Verse Problem
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
‘Madame Web’ is the ultimate distillation of everything that’s wrong with the “Sony Spider-Man Universe,” which as we mentioned above, essentially features lesser-known Spider-Man characters (usually villains, but sometimes not) in stories that do not feature Spider-Man except in the most tangential, offscreen way.
Madame Web is such a relatively minor character, so little-known outside diehard Marvel fans – in the comics, she’s a blind, elderly mutant with tremendous precognitive powers — that her story is just not that dynamic. She doesn’t have the weight of other top-shelf Spider-Man characters. She is often there mainly as support, and has never been featured all that prominently.
As a result – and thanks to the producers’ insatiable need to somehow connect these movies to a Spider-Man who never appears in them – we get a story that’s contrived even by the standards of comic books. In this case, the limits of the Spider-Man mythology are pushed to create an entire ancient history where none existed. The beauty of Spider-Man is that he’s just a kid who randomly stumbles into having great powers; make him part of a longer, bigger history and what makes him unique is diluted.
And frankly, as Marvel fans, we worry that movies like ‘Morbius,’ ‘Madame Web,’ and the upcoming ‘Kraven the Hunter’ simply dilute both the Spider-Man and Marvel brands more and more. At a time when superhero movies are facing genuine headwinds for the first time in a decade, low-quality, low-rent spinoffs are not what’s needed. Our advice to Sony? Keep making Spider-Man movies with Marvel Studios, continue with the animated ‘Spider-Verse’ films, and lose all the rest.
Final Thoughts
Dakota Johnson attends the ‘Madame Web’ photocall at Claridge’s Hotel on January 31, 2024 in London, England. Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.
We’ve ranted on a bit about this Sony/Marvel cinematic universe being a dead-end, so we won’t say much more. But ‘Madame Web’ plays unfortunately like a movie that could have been spit out by AI, with performances and direction not much above that. There are a few bright spots, and Marvel completists will feel obligated to check it out, but ‘Madame Web’ is ill-conceived and trapped in a web of pointlessness.
‘Madame Web’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Madame Web’?
Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) is a paramedic working in New York City who discovers she has the power to see the future – and also to change it. Finding her destiny intertwined with that of three young women also possessing extraordinary powers, she must find a way to protect all of them from a mysterious enemy.
Moviefone has compiled a list of the most anticipated movies opening in theaters and/or streaming in 2024, which not only includes major studio releases but also smaller independent films that you won’t want to miss.
Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) is a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness. He moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Kerry Condon) and their two children. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.
Struggling to find a better life, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is captivated by the power of the rising Messiah and soon risks everything to carve a path to a divine existence.
New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called ‘The Plastics,’ ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Renee Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Woods) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers”.
(L-R) Kaley Cuoco as “Emma” and David Oyelowo as “Dave” in the action comedy, ‘Role Play,’ a Prime Video release. Photo courtesy of Prime Video.
Emma (Kaley Cuoco) has a wonderful husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey—she also has a secret life as an assassin for hire, a secret that her husband David (David Oyelowo) discovers when the couple decide to spice up their marriage with a little role play.
(L to R) Nat Wolff and Lucy Hale in ‘Which Brings Me To You.’ Photo: Decal.
Two romantic burnouts, Jane (Lucy Hale) and Will (Nat Wolff), are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
(L to R) Dolph Lundgren as “Johansen” and Christina Villa as “Rosa” in the action thriller, ‘Wanted Man,’ a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
Johansen (Dolph Lundgren) is an aging detective, whose outdated policing methods have given the department a recent public relations problem. To save his job, he is sent to Mexico to extradite a female witness (Christina Villa) to the murders of two DEA agents. Once there, he finds not only his old opinions challenged, but that bad hombres on both sides of the border are now gunning for him and his witness.
(L to R) Jon Bernthal as Brett Hamilton and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson in director Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin.’ Photo: Neon.
While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, writer Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery.
(L to R) Scott Haze and Kate Lyn Sheil in ‘The Seeding,’ a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
In ‘The Seeding,’ a hiker lost (Scott Haze) in the desert takes refuge with a woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) living alone, and soon discovers that she might not be there willingly.
(L to R) Martin Freeman as Jonathan Miller and Jenna Ortega as Cairo Sweet in ‘Miller’s Girl.’ Photo Credit: Zac Popik.
A talented young writer (Jenna Ortega) embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher (Martin Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web. As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while straining to preserve their individual sense of purpose and the things they hold most dear.
(L to R) Henry Cavill, Dua Lipa, and John Cena in ‘Argylle,’ directed by Matthew Vaughn.
When the plots of reclusive author Elly Conway’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) fictional espionage novels begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past. Accompanied by her cat Alfie and Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a cat-allergic spy, Elly races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Conway’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur.
‘The Tiger’s Apprentice’ hits Paramount+ on February 2nd. Photo: Paramount+.
A young boy (Brandon Soo Hoo) in San Francisco who meets a talking tiger named Mr. Hu (Henry Golding) and discovers he is the latest in a long line of guardians who protect an ancient phoenix from evil-doers.
In 18th century Denmark, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) – a proud, ambitious, but impoverished war hero — sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on which seemingly nothing can grow. He seeks to start farming crops, build a colony in the name of the King, and gain a noble title for himself. This beautiful but forbidding area also happens to be under the rule of the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, a preening nobleman who realizes the threat Kahlen represents to his power. Struggling against the elements and local brigands, Kahlen is joined by a couple who have fled the clutches of the rapacious De Schinkel. As this group of misfits begins to build a small community in this inhospitable place, De Schinkel swears vengeance, and the confrontation between him and Kahlen promises to be as violent and intense as these two men.
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley in ‘Bob Marley: One Love.’ Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Celebrates the life and music of an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. Discover Bob Marley’s (Kinsley Ben-Adir) powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music.
Russell Crowe as Reaper in the action film, ‘Land of Bad,’ a release by The Avenue. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
When a Delta Force team is ambushed in enemy territory, a rookie officer (Liam Hemsworth) refuses to abandon them. Their only hope lies with an Air Force drone pilot (Russell Crowe) as the eyes in the sky during a brutal 48-hour battle for survival.
Hilary Swank as Sharon Stevens in ‘Ordinary Angels.’ Photo Credit: Allen Fraser.
Based on a remarkable true story, ‘Ordinary Angels’ centers on Sharon Steves (Hilary Swank), a fierce but struggling hairdresser in small-town Kentucky who discovers a renewed sense of purpose when she meets Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchson), a widower working hard to make ends meet for his two daughters. With his youngest daughter waiting for a liver transplant, Sharon sets her mind to helping the family and will move mountains to do it. What unfolds is the inspiring tale of faith, everyday miracles, and ordinary angels.
(L to R) Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian” in director Ethan Coen’s ‘Drive-Away Dolls,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Wilson Webb / Working Title / Focus Features.
Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.
Follow the mythic journey of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) as he unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, Paul endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
As an astronaut (Adam Sandler) sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust finds his earthly life falling to pieces, he turns to the only voice (Paul Dano) who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.
(L to R) Jermaine Fowler, Zac Efron and Andrew Santino in ‘Ricky Stanicky.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
When three childhood (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino and Jermaine Fowler) best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble. Twenty years later, the trio still uses the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. But when their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire a washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator (John Cena) to bring him to life.
(from left) Po (Jack Black) and Zhen (Awkwafina) in ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ directed by Mike Mitchell.
Po (Jack Black) is gearing up to become the spiritual leader of his Valley of Peace, but also needs someone to take his place as Dragon Warrior. As such, he will train a new kung fu practitioner for the spot and will encounter a villain called the Chameleon (Viola Davis) who conjures villains from the past.
Zach Braff as Gordon Kinski in the romantic comedy, ‘French Girl,’ a Paramount Global Content Distribution Group release. Photo courtesy of Paramount Global Content Distribution Group.
Gordon (Zach Braff), a hopeless romantic, finds his proposal plans are thrown into chaos when his girlfriend (Evelyne Brochu) is swept away to Quebec by a job offer from her ex, a sophisticated celebrity chef (Vanessa Hudgens). Determined to keep their love alive, Gordon leaves Brooklyn for her hometown, only to find himself hilariously out of his depth in attempting to charm her hard-to-impress, French-speaking family.
Russell Crowe as “Roy Freeman” in the Action/Crime/Thriller film ‘Sleeping Dogs,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe), who is undergoing a cutting-edge Alzheimer’s treatment, is forced to grapple with the impact of an investigation from his former life after a death row inmate that Freeman arrested 10 years prior starts to proclaim his innocence. Intrigued and fighting to regain his memory, Freeman enlists his former partner to help him revive the case and discover the truth. Together, they set off to unravel a tangled web of secrets, forcing Freeman to make some horrific discoveries.
(L to R) Justice Smith as “Aren”, David Alan Grier as “Roger” and Aisha Hinds as “Gabbard” in writer/director Kobi Libii’s ‘The American Society of Magical Negroes,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Tobin Yelland/Focus Features.
‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’ is a fresh, satirical comedy about a young man, Aren (Justin Smith), who is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.
‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.’ Photo: Sony Pictures.
The Spengler family (Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon) returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.
This latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins, and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ opens in theaters on April 19th. Photo Credit: Daniel Smith.
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 UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox). 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.
Based on a remarkable true story, ‘Unsung Hero’ follows David Smallbone (Joel Smallbone) as he moves his family from Down Under to the States, searching for a brighter future after his successful music company collapses. With nothing more than their seven children, suitcases, and their love of music, David and his pregnant wife Helen (Daisy Betts) set out to rebuild their lives. Helen’s faith stands against all odds and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs. With their own dreams on hold, David and Helen begin to realize the musical prowess in their children, who would go on to become two of the most successful acts in Inspirational Music history.
From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, ‘Challengers’ stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist – ‘West Side Story‘), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor – ‘The Crown‘) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.
(L to R) Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in ‘The Fall Guy,’ directed by David Leitch.
He’s a stuntman (Ryan Gosling), and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?
(L to R) Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘IF.’
The story of a girl (Cailey Fleming) who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and what she does with that superpower — as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids.
(L to R) Froy Gutierrez as “Ryan” and Madelaine Petsch as “Maya” in ‘The Strangers’ Trilogy, a Lionsgate release. Photo Credit: John Armour for Lionsgate.
After their car breaks down, a couple driving cross-country to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest is forced to spend the night in a secluded rental, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Teenager Riley’s mind headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira), who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
Kathy (Jodie Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Austin Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Tom Hardy). As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
‘Borderlands.’ Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
After returning to her home-planet Pandora, infamous outlaw, Lilith (Cate Blanchett), is given a dangerous mission and forms an alliance (and potential friendship) with other criminals; including former mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart), demolitionst Tiny Tina and her protector Krieg, insane scientist Tannis, and the wisecracking robot Claptrap (Jack Black). The mission: find and protect the missing (and important) daughter of a very powerful man named Atlas. Although, things may not be as they seem, as the girl holds the key to great power, one that can change the fate of the entire universe.
‘Horizon: An American Saga: Chapter 1.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
Chapter 2 continues to explore the lure of the old West and takes audiences on a treacherous journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
‘Kraven the Hunter’ is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.
Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry), better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
(L to R) Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / Joker and Lady Gaga as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn in ‘Joker: Folie à Deux.’ Photo: Todd Phillips’ Instagram Account.
Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), an ostracized but defiant girl born with green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a privileged aristocrat born popular, become extremely unlikely friends in the magical Land of Oz. As the two girls struggle with their opposing personalities, their friendship is tested as both begin to fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and The Wicked Witch of the West. The first of a two-part film adaptation of the Broadway musical.
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn Elessar in director Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.’
Focused on the mighty King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, and a legendary battle which helped shaped Middle Earth leading into the events of ‘The Lord of the Rings.’
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
‘Kraven the Hunter’ is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.
