Luke Wilson as Bill and Carla Gugino as Shelli in ‘Roadies’ (Photo: Katie Yu / Showtime)
It’s one and done for Showtime’s Roadies. It seems audiences just aren’t into shows centering on the behind-the-scenes lives of people in the music industry. First, HBO gave Martin Scorsese’s Vinyl a second season order only to take that back a few months later. FX just opted not to renew Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll for a third season. And now Cameron Crowe’s Roadies has not been renewed by Showtime.
The one-hour drama/comedy ended its run after airing 10 episodes. Roadies premiered on June 26, 2016 and finished its first and only season up on August 28th.
The series was executive produced by Crowe, J.J. Abrams, and Winnie Holzman. The cast included Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino, Imogen Poots, Rafe Spall, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Peter Cambor, Machine Gun Kelly, Luis Guzman, and Ron White.
Crowe wrote about the cancellation on his official website:
“Thanks to Showtime and J.J. Abrams for the opportunity to make the one and only season of Roadies. My mind is still spinning from the giddy highs of working with this epic cast and crew. Though we could tell a thousand more stories, this run ends with a complete ten-hour tale of music and love. Like a song that slips under your skin, or a lyric that keeps speaking to you, we hope the spell of Roadies lingers. It was life-changing experience for all of us.
So much appreciation goes out to the sensational actors and crew who lived and breathed these stories and characters with their whole hearts. We became a family, our own music-loving troupe. Thanks also to the musicians who lived so comfortably in the world of acting. And thanks to all at Bad Robot, and Winnie Holzman, great collaborators all. Big thanks to our fans for watching and cheering us on. We’ll see you soon with a new project… and many of the same actors, I’m sure. Here’s a little glimpse of the last night of filming. This is what every day felt like.”
Carla Gugino responded to Crowe’s statement via Twitter:
The Plot:Roadies gives an insider’s look at the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of roadies who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. The series chronicles the rock world through the eyes of music’s unsung heroes and pays homage to the backstage workers who put the show on the road while touring for the successful arena-level group, The Staton-House Band.
Cameron Boyce as Carlos, Sofia Carson as Evie, Dove Cameron as Mal, Booboo Stewart as Jay and Mitchell Hope as Ben in ‘Descendants 2’ (Disney Channel/Bob D’Amico/Craig Sjodin)
The Disney Channel’s released the first photo from Descendants 2, the sequel to – obviously – Descendants. The made-for-TV movie centers on the lives of the teenage sons and daughters of classic Disney villains. The cast includes Cameron Boyce as Carlos, son of Cruella de Vil; Sofia Carson as Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen; Dove Cameron as Mal, daughter of Maleficent; Booboo Stewart as Jay, son of Jafar; and Mitchell Hope as Ben, King of Auradon, son of Beast and Belle. Filming is currently underway, with Disney Channel aiming for a 2017 premiere.
In addition to releasing the first photo, director Kenny Ortega explained King Ben’s “Isle of the Lost” look in the first official picture of the cast. “When Ben realizes Mal has left Auradon, he decides to go after her. Mal’s friends — Carlos, Evie and Jay — decide to go with him to help, but first they have to teach him their wicked ways so he can sneak around the Isle of the Lost without being recognized.”
The Plot: The story deepens in the music-driven sequel to the global smash hit Descendants, as the teenage sons and daughters of Disney’s most infamous villains — Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay (also known as Villain Kids or VKs) — try to find their place in idyllic Auradon. When the pressure to be royally perfect becomes too much for Mal, she returns to her rotten roots on the Isle of the Lost where her archenemy Uma, the daughter of Ursula, has taken her spot as self-proclaimed queen of the run-down town. Uma, still resentful over not being selected by Ben to go to Auradon Prep with the other Villain Kids, stirs her pirate gang including Captain Hook’s son Harry and Gaston’s son Gil, to break the barrier between the Isle of the Lost and Auradon, and unleash all the villains imprisoned on the Isle, once and for all.
Melissa Leo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Wilkinson, and Zachary Quinto in ‘Snowden’ (Photo Credit: Jürgen Olczyk / Open Road Films)
“My name is Edward Joseph Snowden,” says Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) into the camera of a documentary crew set to record the story of how and why he hacked and leaked thousands of classified NSA documents involving the U.S. government spying on the American public in the dramatic film, Snowden.
When the film begins, Snowden is in the military but is deemed physically unfit to serve after breaking his leg. Upset but still determined to find a way to be useful to his country, Snowden applies to join the CIA. He’s hired after a set of grueling interviews and brought into the training program by Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans). There Snowden excels and impresses his teachers and hire-ups.
Soon, Ed is working assignments for the CIA alongside Agent Geneva (Timothy Olyphant). When Snowden learns about and participates in the sneaky and underhanded ways the CIA gets a person to become an asset, it doesn’t sit well with him and he decides to leave the CIA and go work for the NSA instead.
While working at the NSA, Snowden makes a new friend in one of his co-workers and discovers that the agency has the technology and ability to spy on American citizens across the entire country and around the world. Once again Snowden struggles morally and ethically with the amount of power the government, and those in charge behind the scenes, seem to have over invading lives. His career and growing paranoia also takes a serious toll on his relationship with his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley).
After quitting both the CIA and the NSA, Snowden goes back to work as a consultant for the NSA hoping and believing that with the changes in Washington – Obama is now President – things will have gotten better. But he quickly discovers while being stationed in Hawaii that it’s actually gotten worse. Finally, not being able to deal with the paranoia he feels and fed up with all the illegal spying, Snowden commits treason by finding a way to steal classified documents and leak them to the press so the American public will know what its government is doing. Snowden then flees the States, becoming a fugitive.
Directed by Oliver Stone and based on a compelling true story, Snowden should be an engaging, powerful, and suspenseful film but instead is a slow, tedious, and melodramatic bore. Stone might get all the details on how the government built computers and machines to be able to spy on people right, but the film’s systematic approach and plodding pace eliminate any sense of urgency and tension from the movie.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a good job of capturing Snowden’s unique speech pattern and tone as well as his body posture, but his portrayal ends up coming across more like a caricature of the man instead of a real performance. In the scenes in his hotel room in Hong Kong where his paranoia of the government listening in or finding him is supposed to be running high, Gordon-Levitt as Snowden seems to be almost indifferent to telling his story to the press and the documentary filmmaker. Sadly, this is not one of Gordon-Levitt’s stronger performances and nowhere near his memorable and impressive performances in films including The Lookout, Looper, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and 50/50.
Shailene Woodley is horribly miscast as Snowden’s girlfriend, Lindsay. She has zero chemistry with Gordon-Levitt and seems to have no other purpose than to try to get Snowden to become a liberal politically while asking the same question over and over again…”Are they listening to us? Who might be watching us?” Even the early scenes where Ed and Lindsay meet and begin dating feel incredibly forced and unrealistic.
With ponderous pacing, one-dimensional characters, zero tension, and a portrayal that’s more mimicry than a real performance by Gordon-Levitt, Snowden is a tiresome and forgettable film that should be skipped in favor of watching the Snowden documentary.
GRADE: D
MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexuality/nudity
Peter (Brandon Scott, left), Ashley (Corbin Reid, center) and James (James Allen McCune, right) in ‘Blair Witch’ (Photo Credit: Chris Helcermanas–Benge)
Fans of The Blair Witch Project will find a lot to love about the 2016 sequel, simply titled Blair Witch. Pretty much everything that worked in the original horror film that was responsible for launching a wave of found footage movies can be found in this sequel, including those creepy stick figures hanging from trees and freaky noises at night in the woods. There’s a lot of déjà vu moments, but there’s also enough twists and turns to keep Blair Witch from falling into the trap of being basically just an updated copy of the 1999 sleeper hit.
The filmmaking team of director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next) take the original as a starting point and move the story forward by following Heather’s much younger brother, James (James Allen McCune), as he attempts to figure out what happened to his sister in the woods all those years ago. The emergence of a tape that could possibly show Heather in the witch’s house prompts James to gather supplies and head out to the Burkittsville woods.
Joining him are aspiring filmmaker Lisa (Callie Hernandez); his best friend, Peter (Brandon Scott); and Peter’s girlfriend, Ashley (Corbin Reid). The local guy who supposedly found the tape that may have included a brief glimpse of Heather invites himself and his girlfriend along for the trip into the woods. The locals, Lane (Wes Robinson) and Talia (Valorie Curry), know the area well and are up on all the Blair Witch stories and legends, so James and his friends very reluctantly let them tag along. A decision which you know is going to bite them in the butt before the witch hunt is over.
The first half an hour of Blair Witch goes overboard with the shaky cam to the point of distraction. But the film does settle into a bit of a smoother groove as the gang actually enters the woods. Once there, there’s plenty of jump scares and spooky shenanigans going on. There’s also a weird twist that puts a unique spin on the events on screen. Also working in the sequel’s favor is the incorporation of new technology including a drone that expands the view of the world for the gang in the woods.
Even with the new technology, it’s still the old-school off-screen noises that generate the most scares. Wingard and Barrett push all the right buttons, letting the action outside of the camera’s lens help build up the terror.
The Blair Witch Project effectively used the found footage format, igniting a genre that’s since been ridiculed and pushed aside because of its overuse. Blair Witch may not win back those who’ve grown tired of shaky cams/found footage, but at least it has a legitimate reason for using the technique. And, the chills and thrills served up in the film’s final half-hour make this sequel nearly as scary as the original The Blair Witch Project.
GRADE: B
MPAA Rating: R for language, terror and some disturbing images
Warner Bros Pictures has released the official trailer for the comedy film Bastards starring Ed Helms and Owen Wilson. Directed by first time feature film helmer Lawrence Sher, the R-rated comedy was written by Justin Malen (Bad Teacher 2) and features Glenn Close, J.K. Simmons, Terry Bradshaw, Katt Williams, June Squibb, Kate Aselton, and Ving Rhames. Bastards will open in theaters on January 27, 2017.
The Plot: Helms and Wilson play Peter and Kyle Reynolds, two brothers whose eccentric mother (Glenn Close) raised them to believe their father had died when they were young. When they discover this to be a lie, they set out to find their real father, learning more about their mother than they probably ever wanted to know.
Kyla Kenedy, Mason Cook, Micah Fowler, and Minnie Driver in ‘Speechless’ (ABC/Nicole Wilder)
ABC’s Speechless is a new half-hour comedy that deserves to have people tuning in and talking about the show. One of the best cast new series of the fall 2016 primetime season, Speechless deftly avoids clichés and sentimentality in its focus on a quirky family that includes a teen with a disability. The family of five at the heart of the story, the DiMeos, each have their flaws and the pilot episode proves each family member will also have fully fleshed-out personalities and won’t just be cookie cutter stereotypes.
Maya, played by Minnie Driver, is a mile-a-minute talker whose switch quickly flips from loving mom to dangerous momma bear at the mere possibility of a potential injustice involving her family, especially when it could involve her son with a disability. John Ross Bowie plays the ever-tolerant dad, Jimmy DiMeo; Mason Cook is the frequently embarrassed son, Ray; and Kyla Kenedy from The Walking Dead is Dylan, the daughter who doesn’t always get the attention she deserves. Micah Fowler takes on the role of J.J., a high school student with cerebral palsy. J.J. is non-verbal and uses an electronic device to communicate. He also uses a wheelchair to get around. However, Speechless breaks away from most television and film representations of a teen with a disability so don’t expect J.J. to be an angel with a heart-of-gold. J.J. is sarcastic, has a good sense of humor, and is occasionally a pain in the butt. In other words, he’s a typical teen.
Speechless kicks off with the DiMeo family moving into a dilapidated house in a good neighborhood in order to enroll J.J. in a better school. Ray compares the family’s new home to a crack house and it’s not much of an exaggeration. The kids are used to constantly moving and changing schools in Maya’s continuing quest for the perfect school for J.J. The latest move came because this particular school stresses inclusivity and will supply a full-time aide to help J.J. out, reading out what he types and helping him navigate through his school days. Unfortunately, the aide assigned to J.J. has a squeaky voice which prompts J.J. to continuously make her say things as if she’s the fairy godmother from Cinderella. Fortunately, by the end of episode one a new male aide (Cedric Yarbrough) has been found who’s more in tune with J.J.’s personality.
The series approaches uncomfortable subjects head-on, calling out the oftentimes ridiculousness of being too politically correct. A prime example of PC that’s gone overboard in the pilot episode is the New Generations school’s decision to change its mascot to the sea slug just because it has both female and male genitalia. And J.J., played with real finesse by Micah Fowler who faces the challenges of cerebral palsy on a daily basis in real life, is more often than not the one who shuts down attempts to make him feel special simply because he’s living with a disability. On his first day in the new school, his classmates – without even getting to know him – launch a “J.J. for President” campaign. His response is to type out “Eat a bag of sh**” which his aide refuses to say out loud.
As played by Minnie Driver, Maya DiMeo is a fiery, fierce, and loving mother who often embarrasses her kids and alienates potential friends and supporters. John Ross Bowie, Mason Cook, and Kyla Kenedy are all terrific and it’ll be entertaining to see the them develop further outside their relationships within the family. Speechless has a lot to say but it does so with so much heart and humor that it’s practically irresistible. Smartly written, well-acted, and with a premise that hasn’t been done to death, Speechless is one of the most entertaining new comedies of the fall 2016 season.
GRADE: B+
Speechless premieres on ABC on September 21, 2016.
The nightmare-inducing possessed doll is back in New Line Cinema’s Annabelle 2 and today the first teaser trailer for the horror sequel has arrived. The teaser trailer confirms the theatrical release date for the Annabelle sequel (which was a spin-off of the original The Conjuring) is May 19, 2017. Annabelle 2 was directed by Lights Out‘s David F. Sandberg from a script by Annabelle screenwriter Gary Dauberman. The cast of the sequel includes Stephanie Sigman, Alicia Vela-Bailey, and Miranda Otto.
The Plot: In Annabelle 2, several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.
Portia Doubleday as Angela Moss in ‘Mr. Robot’ (Photo by Michael Parmelee/USA Network)
Season two episode 11 of USA Network’s Mr. Robot is the first part of a two-part finale. It begins with Elliot (Rami Malek) musing that Mr. Robot is always one step ahead. He thinks that lucid dreaming will help him learn what Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) knows. During lucid dreams not only are dreamers aware that they are dreaming but they can exert some control over the characters and events in the dream. To enter this state Elliot chants “mind awake, body asleep,” and invites viewers to chant with him perhaps to enter the dream state with him.
Much of the episode does have dream-like qualities. Angela (Portia Doubleday) is transported in a van with a security partition. After she arrives at a residence, Angela is led past a stark kitchen with white cabinets and black counters, past a living room decorated solely in black and white, and locked in a dark room lit only by a fish tank and skylights. Red is a key color in the series and the carpet and seat cushions are red as is the old rotary phone on the desk. It is notable that in Elliot’s mental transformation of the prison to his mother’s house earlier in the season, he spoke to Tyrell on a red rotary phone. Perhaps this entire segment with Angela is part of Elliot’s imagination or lucid dream.
That Angela is interrogated by a child (who looks like a young Angela) using an old Commodore computer adds to the surreal setting. At one point the phone rings and a computer-generated voice on the other end asks her about a key. Angela finally says that the key was in her fist. Dreams are full of imagery that may seem illogical during waking hours and there is much imagery in this scene: the key; the outdated computer; the fish tank with one fish that dies (Elliot had Querty); the outdated red phone; and the Lolita book on the desk. Whiterose enters the room and suggests that Angela’s mother and Elliot’s father died for a reason—that they were sacrificed for the greater good. Whiterose says that without their deaths, Angela and Elliot would be different people.
The idea of alternate realities was introduced earlier in the season when the FBI operation to find the perpetrators of the 5/9 hack was dubbed ”Operation Berenstain” (see episode 8 recap for explanation). Whiterose tells Angela that she wants her to drop her revenge mission to destroy E Corp (which would shut down Whiterose’s project) and to believe that simply by willing something it can come true.
The next scene has Elliot saying “Mind awake, body asleep,” and wondering how long he was asleep which supports the idea that the segment with Angela was Elliot’s lucid dream. He observes Mr. Robot going through his mail and finding a “Red Wheelbarrow BBQ” flyer. A red wheelbarrow has appeared previously, (e.g., hot Carla in prison/recreation yard segment among others). Elliot watches over Mr. Robot’s shoulder as he deciphers the multi-step code leading him to a phone number. They both listen to a computerized voice (one of many this episode) giving instructions to a cab waiting at 25th and 8th streets.
Meanwhile, FBI Agent Dom DiPierro (Grace Gummer) is in the hospital and her boss, FBI Agent Santiago, speaks with her in private. An agitated Dom tells him that she warned him that the Dark Army would come after Cisco and that the Chinese government is involved. It now is a matter of national security and an act of war, Dom says. Agent Santiago tells her that he believes her, but that the US will do nothing because of the two trillion dollars in no-interest loans China has extended to E Corp.
At home a tired Dom is having difficulty sleeping and asks Alexa a series of questions. A lonely Dom tearfully asks if Alexa is happy, or alone, or if Alexa loves her. Alexa, in another computerized voice of the episode, responds that she is not capable of that.
In another subplot, Phillip Price (Michael Cristofer) is told by a US government official that it is unconstitutional to make his own currency (i.e., E coin). In response, Price says that hard cash is fading rapidly and that unlike bitcoin, E coin wouldn’t be controlled by the Chinese, and in fact, E coin could be used against China. Furthermore, he would provide visibility in loans and every wallet to the government and rebuild the banking sector without federal funds.
Evidently Price was persuasive because on the TV at Angela’s lawyer’s home, the newscaster is discussing the E coin loan program designed to provide the economy with a much-needed jump start. Angela knocks on the lawyer’s door, which happens to be red. Angela tells the lawyer not to call her anymore. During the conversation, there is a brief rewind in the TV broadcast.
In the final scene, Elliot gets in the cab as directed by the earlier phone call to find Tyrell there. Elliot doesn’t believe that he is really seeing him. In fact, Tyrell doesn’t quite feel real; his voice and looks seem off. This Tyrell (perhaps imaginary) tells him that the Dark Army said that stage 2 is ready and that Elliot will be pleased. As they walk off, he says, reminiscent of the last line of the film Casa Blanca, “This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”
As in past episodes there were recurring elements in this episode: the color red; the red phone; the red wheelbarrow; and the computerized voices. In the finale next week, perhaps we will see Dom interview Darlene (Carly Chiakin), learn the fate of Cisco, Mobley, and Trenton, learn more about Joanna’s role, or perhaps it will end with another cliffhanger.
Marvel and Disney have just released a new featurette for Doctor Strange directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Deliver Us From Evil). The new video features Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch talking about his character and the journey he goes on in the comic book-inspired film. In addition to Cumberbatch, the Doctor Strange cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Scott Adkins, Amy Landecker, and Mads Mikkelsen. Doctor Strange opens in theaters on November 4, 2016.
The Plot:Doctor Strange follows the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.
Malin Akerman and Orlando Bloom in ‘Easy’ (Photo Credit: Patrick Wymore / Netflix)
Netflix’s new series Easy has unveiled a definitely not safe for kids or viewing in the workplace trailer. The anthology series comes from Joe Swanberg (Happy Christmas, Drinking Buddies, Digging for Fire) and will premiere on September 22, 2016.
Easy, written and directed by Swanberg, features Orlando Bloom, Malin Akerman, Jake Johnson, Marc Maron, Dave Franco, Hannibal Buress, Emily Ratajkowski, Michael Chernus, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Aya Cash, Jane Adams, Elizabeth Reaser, and Evan Jonigkeit.
The Plot:Easy explores diverse Chicago characters as they fumble through the modern maze of love, sex, technology and culture. From a husband and wife reigniting their sex life with gender-defining role play, to a graphic novelist navigating the blurred lines of artistic privacy to a couple soliciting a partner for a threesome, Easy is an honest, comedic look at the landscape of modern relationships.
