Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) pops in a road mix CD, loads a shotgun, and announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines,” in the first teaser from Peacock’s Twisted Metal series. The one-minute video shows Mackie on the road and ends with a creepy clown in a rundown Las Vegas.
Peacock dropped the trailer along with a poster, and announced a July 27, 2023 premiere date.
Joining Anthony Mackie in the action comedy based on the Playstation game are Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church, Will Arnett, and Joe Seanoa. Neve Campbell, Richard Cabral, Mike Mitchell, Tahj Vaughans, and Lou Beatty Jr. guest star in the 10-episode first season.
Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai) writes, executive produces, and guides the series as showrunner. Anthony Mackie, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Will Arnett and Marc Forman (Electric Avenue), Jason Spire (Inspire Entertainment), Peter Principato (Artists First), Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions, and Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, also executive produce.
Twisted Metal‘s a Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Universal Television production.
The Plot, Courtesy of Peacock:
Twisted Metal, a half-hour live-action TV series based on the classic PlayStation game series, is a high-octane action comedy based on an original take by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick and written by Michael Jonathan Smith, about a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.
Who is Dante? A man obsessed with revenge who will do whatever it takes to destroy Dom and his family in Fast X. The new three-minute featurette focuses on Jason Momoa’s approach to playing a villain, something he hasn’t done in a decade, and his joy at joining the Fast and Furious franchise.
Returning franchise stars include Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Nathalie Emmanuel. Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, John Cena, Scott Eastwood, Oscar winner Helen Mirren, and Oscar winner Charlize Theron also reprise their roles for the 10th film of the saga.
Newbies to the F&F include Oscar winner Brie Larson as Tess, a rogue representative from the Agency; Alan Richtson (Reacher) as Aimes, the new head of the Agency who doesn’t hold the same fondness for Dom’s crew as his predecessor, Mr. Nobody; Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad) as a Brazilian street racer with a powerful tie to Dom’s past; and legendary Oscar winner Rita Moreno as Dom and Mia’s Abuelita Toretto.
Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans, The Incredible Hulk) directs from a screenplay by Justin Lin, Zach Dean, and Dan Mazeau. Diesel, Lin, Neal H. Moritz, Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Samantha Vincent serve as producers. Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr., David Cain, Chris Morgan, Amanda Lewis, and Mark Bomback executive produce.
Fast X, the tenth film in the Fast & Furious Saga, launches the final chapters of one of cinema’s most storied and popular global franchises, now in its third decade and still going strong with the same core cast and characters as when it began.
Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto (Diesel) and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything — and everyone — that Dom loves, forever.
In 2011’s Fast Five, Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante (Aquaman’s Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price.
Dante’s plot will scatter Dom’s family from Los Angeles to the catacombs of Rome, from Brazil to London and from Portugal to Antarctica. New allies will be forged and old enemies will resurface. But everything changes when Dom discovers that his own 8-year-old son (Leo Abelo Perry, Black-ish) is the ultimate target of Dante’s vengeance.
A scene from ‘Dear Mama’ with Tupac Shakur (Photo CR: FX)
FX’s critically acclaimed Dear Mama premiered to the largest audience of any unscripted series in FX’s history. The docuseries comes from executive producer, writer, and director Allen Hughes and focuses on the lives of Tupac Shakur and his mother, Afeni.
Dear Mama debuted on April 21, 2023, with new episodes of the five-episode series airing on Fridays at 10pm ET/PT.
“It’s only fitting that Allen Hughes’ definitive piece on Tupac and Afeni Shakur delivered a record performance for us, and it speaks to Tupac’s enduring legacy,” stated Nick Grad, President, FX Entertainment. “Allen’s examination of Tupac viewed through the prism of his mother Afeni is a fascinating take that really gets beneath the education and experience that shaped his life and inspired him to become one of the greatest artists ever.”
Additional executive producers include writer Lasse Järvi, Quincy Delight Jones III (QD3), Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles King, Peter Nelson, Adel “Future” Nur, Jamal Joseph, and Ted Skillman.
Dear Mama Synopsis, Courtesy of FX:
From Allen Hughes, the award-winning director of critically acclaimed The Defiant Ones, comes FX’s Dear Mama, a deeply personal five-part series that defies the conventions of traditional documentary storytelling to share an illuminating saga of mother and son, Afeni and Tupac Shakur.
Afeni Shakur was a revolutionary, an intellect, and a voice for the people. She became a feminist darling of the ’70s, a female leader in the movement amidst the macho milieu of the Black Panther Party. Tupac was a rapper and poet, a political visionary and philosopher who became known as one of the greatest rap artists of all time. In addition to becoming a global sex symbol and media favorite for his outspoken and sometimes outrageous antics, he would eventually become the poster child for modern Black activism.
Their story chronicles the possibilities and contradictions of the United States from a time of revolutionary fervor to Hip Hop culture’s most ostentatious decade.
FX’s Dear Mama is both an audio and visual experience. Tupac’s timeless message is undeniable as beats evaporate into soundscapes and his lyrics revealed to be mantras of passion and politics. It eschews strict chronology for a style that slides back and forth in time, finding linkages between mother and son, 1970s and 1990s, Black activism and Hip Hop, that highlight how much has and has not changed in the struggle for human rights. Through this technique, the eras speak to each other and melt time away, shifting the dual narratives into one definitive portrait of a global superstar and the woman who shaped him, forever linked by love and fate.
Jamie Chung (Dexter: New Blood) guest stars as a murder suspect on CBS’s So Help Me Todd season one episode 19, “86’d.” Directed by Larry Teng from a script by Lisa Kyonga Parsons, episode 19 will air on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 9pm ET/PT.
Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden stars as Margaret Wright, Skylar Astin plays Todd Wright, and Tristen J. Winger is Lyle. Madeline Wise plays Allison, Inga Schlingmann is Susan, and Rosa Arredondo stars as Francey.
Jordan McGraw guest stars.
“86’d” Plot: Margaret represents Lauren (Chung), Susan’s good friend, in a hostile work environment lawsuit after she quits her job at a Michelin-starred restaurant, but it unexpectedly turns into a murder trial when the head chef is found dead. Also, when Todd gets sick, Margaret must go undercover as a dishwasher in a fancy restaurant while Todd acts as a restaurant critic to gather more intel on the possible suspect.
Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin star as razor-sharp, meticulous attorney Margaret Wright and Todd, her talented but scruffy, aimless son whom she hires as her law firm’s in-house investigator. As the black sheep of the well-heeled Wright family, Todd is a laidback, quick-thinking, excellent former private detective who fell on hard times after his flexible interpretation of the law got his license revoked. Margaret’s penchant for excellence and strict adherence to the law is at complete odds with Todd’s scrappy methods of finding his way through sticky situations: by the seat of his wrinkled pants.
When Todd inadvertently teams with his mother on a case, she’s surprised to find herself duly impressed by – and proud of – his crafty ability to sleuth out information with his charm and his wide-ranging tech savvy. At last, Margaret sees a way to put her son on a “suitable” path to living an adult, financially solvent life she approves of, and she asks him to join her firm. Todd agrees since it means getting his license back and once again doing the job he excels at and loves.
Mother and son working together is a big first step toward mending their fragile, dysfunctional relationship, and they may even come away with a better understanding of each other at this pivotal point in their lives. But whether Todd and Margaret will be able to accept each other for who they are is another case entirely.
Will we find out who murdered Alberta? Our best chance of discovering the killer’s identity comes on CBS’s Ghosts season two episode 21 which finds Sam and the ghosts attempting to put together all the clues. “Whodunnit” will air on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 8:30pm ET/PT.
Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar lead the cast as Samantha and Jay, the living residents of the mansion. Playing the mansion’s resident ghosts are Brandon Scott Jones as Isaac, Richie Moriarty as Pete, Danielle Pinnock as Alberta, and Asher Grodman as Trevor. Román Zaragoza stars as Sasappis, Sheila Carrasco plays Flower, Rebecca Wisocky is Hetty, and Devan Chandler Long plays Thorfinn.
“Whodunnit” Plot: Sam, Jay, and the ghosts go into detective mode when Sam’s podcast editor gives her one last episode to wrap up Alberta’s murder. Also, Trevor, Flower, and Pete discover an email from a Nigerian prince asking for help.
Ghosts is a single-camera comedy about Samantha and Jay, a cheerful freelance journalist and up-and-coming chef from the city, respectively, who threw both caution and money to the wind when they decide to convert a huge rundown country estate they inherited into a bed & breakfast – only to find it was inhabited by the many spirits of deceased residents who now call it home.
The departed souls are a close-knit, eclectic group that includes a saucy Prohibition-era lounge singer (Pinnock); a pompous 18th-century militiaman (Jones); a ‘60s hippie fond of hallucinogens (Carrasco); an overly upbeat ‘80s scout troop leader (Moriarty); a cod-obsessed Viking explorer from 1009 (Devon Chandler Long); a slick ‘90s finance bro (Grodman); a sarcastic and witty native from the 16th-century (Zaragoza); and a society woman and wife of a 19th-century robber baron who is Samantha’s ancestor (isocky), to name a few.
The opening of the B&B is a source of intrigue, anxiety, and curiosity among the spirits, but they’ll gladly put up with the commotion as long as they can continue to interact with a living inhabitant – Samantha.
Rachel McAdams as Barbara Dimon and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon in ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ (Photo Credit: Dana Hawley)
Finally, 50 years since the publication of the well-loved and iconic coming-of-age novel, a movie adaptation of Judy Blume’s popular book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is set to hit the theaters.
The film, set in 1970, begins with 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) returning to her New York home from summer camp only to discover boxes in the living room and her bedroom. Sylvia (Kathy Bates), Margaret’s grandmother, abruptly informs her that they’ll be moving to New Jersey because Margaret’s father received a big promotion. Margaret is taken aback and distressed by the news.
“Please don’t let New Jersey be too horrible,” prays Margaret to God as her parents pack up the car and head out to the suburbs.
Upon arriving at their new, spacious home, Margaret answers the doorbell and meets her new neighbor, Nancy (Elle Graham), who invites her to run across the sprinklers with her. After asking her mom, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), for permission, Margaret visits Nancy’s house, borrows a bathing suit, and has a blast. Nancy decides to invite Margaret to join her secret club and makes her promise to meet after school. Margaret agrees and meets the other secret club members: Gretchen (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) and Janie (Amari Alexis Price).
Soon, the four young girls are engrossed in conversations about boys, gossiping about their fellow schoolmates, and, oh yes, deciding that wearing a bra is a prerequisite for joining their club.
At school, Margaret’s teacher, Mr. Benedict (Echo Kellum), assigns her a year-long class project to learn and write about religion. He believes it’ll be a good topic for her since she wrote she didn’t like religious holidays in her “getting to know you” paper. Margaret’s mother was raised Christian, and her father is Jewish, but they have raised Margaret as an agnostic until she is 18 and can decide for herself.
Because of the assignment, Margaret’s prayers to God increase, and she begins to search for him – or at least to feel his presence. Her research includes attending a Jewish service with her grandmother during a sleepover. She also follows a student into a Catholic Church and spies on her in the confessional. Sadly, the harder Margaret tries to find and understand God, the less she seems to feel any connection to him.
Adapted and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a touching, insightful, and funny coming-of-age film with stellar performances by its two leading ladies. Young Abby Ryder Fortson is wonderful as Margaret, the slightly awkward, likable 11-year-old girl who’s starting her journey from being a child to becoming a teenager in a new home, new school, and with new friends. Fortson portrays Margaret as a sweet, fairly innocent, good-natured, but occasionally selfish girl who’s desperate to just be “normal like everyone else” and prays to God to help her achieve that goal.
Rachel McAdams shines as Barbara, Margaret’s loving and supportive mother who’s adjusting to being a homemaker/housekeeper and being involved in the PTA while putting away her paintbrushes and creativity of her younger days. McAdams steals every scene she’s in and has real chemistry with Fortson. Their genuine connection is evident in a powerful and moving scene in which Barbara explains to Margaret why she has never met her parents (Margaret’s grandparents). McAdams holds back tears as she explains that her parents are devout Christians and disowned her for marrying a Jewish man. It’s just heartbreaking and feels so authentic.
Hans Zimmer’s musical score is compelling and enhances both the light and funny scenes along with the movie’s tough, emotional, and painful moments.
Charming, sweet, and heartfelt, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a delightful and endearing family film that is destined to become a classic.
GRADE: A-
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual education, thematic material, and some suggestive material
Lionsgate’s unveiled the official trailer for The Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, seven months out from its theatrical release. The nearly three-minute trailer opens with Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul (Oscar winner Viola Davis) introducing the creator of the Hunger Games, Dean Cesca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage). Highbottom confirms the 10th annual Hunger Games are about to get underway and introduces the tributes chosen to fight to the death.
The trailer shows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and the tribute he’ll be mentoring, District 12’s Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). We’re also treated to our first look at a young Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman), the first-ever host of the Hunger Games and an ancestor of Caesar Flickerman.
“What happens in there, fueled with the terror of becoming prey, see how quickly we become predator. See how quickly civilation disappears,” says Gaul as the Hunger Games commence.
The ensemble also includes Jerome Lance as Marcus, tribute from District 2; Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, one of Coriolanus’s closest friends and mentor to a tribute from District 11; Knox Gibson plays Bobbin, tribute from District 8; Mackenzie Lansing is Coral, tribute from District 4; and Aamer Husain plays Felix Ravinstill, mentor to a tribute from District 11.
Fionnula Flanagan is Grandma’am, Coriolanus’s strict grandmother; Isobel Jesper Jones plays Mayfair Lipp, daughter of the mayor of District 12; Flora Li Thiemann plays Livia Cardew, mentor to a tribute from District 1; and Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, and Carl Spencer is Smiley, Peacekeepers sent by the Capitol to District 12.
Honor Gillies, Eike Onyambu, and Konstantin Taffet play members of the Covey, a group of nomads in District 12. Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert are Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus’s best friend, played by Josh Andrés Rivera.
Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, Mockingjay Part 2) directs from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. Lawrence, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson are producing, with author Collins, Tim Palen, Mika Saito, and Jim Miller executive producing.
In addition to releasing the trailer, Lionsgate debuted a new poster and photo from the post-apocalyptic action drama. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes opens in theaters on November 17, 2023.
Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ (Photo Credit: Murray Close)
The Plot:
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor.
Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.
The official trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: Rise of the Beasts warns that the fate of all living beings is at stake with the arrival of Unicron. The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is loaded with action scenes, with only a few short breaks from the CGI chaos to show off the human actors audiences will be rooting for in this seventh outing.
Anthony Ramos (In the Heights, Hamilton) and Dominique Fishback (Swarm) lead a cast that includes Tobe Nwigwe, Luna Lauren Velez, Dean Scott Vazquez, Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, and Michelle Yeoh. Liza Koshy, Colman Domingo, John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Tongayi Chirisa, Pete Davidson, and Cristo Fernández also star.
Fan favorite Peter Cullen returns to voice Optimus Prime.
Steven Caple Jr (Creed II) directs from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber. Michael Bay, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian, and Duncan Henderson produce, with Steven Spielberg, Brian Goldner, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An executive producing.
Paramount Pictures will release the new Transformers film in theaters on June 9, 2023.
The Plot:
Returning to the action and spectacle that have captured moviegoers around the world, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting adventure with the Autobots and introduce a whole new faction of Transformers – the Maximals – to join them as allies in the existing battle for earth.
The teaser trailer’s only features 15 seconds of footage, but at least Warrior fans are finally getting an update on the much-anticipated third season. The Max Original drama will premiere with the release of the first three episodes of season three on June 29, 2023, two and a half years after the season two finale.
The critically acclaimed martial arts action drama debuted on Cinemax in April 2019. Season two followed in October 2020, wrapping up on December 4, 2020. Luckily, for those of us who need a refresher, the first two seasons of the show are available for binge-watching on HBO Max, which will soon be known as just “Max.”
Andrew Koji returns to lead the cast as Ah Sahm. Season three also features Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, Olivia Cheng as Ah Toy, Jason Tobin as Young Jun, and Joe Taslim as Li Yong. Hoon Lee stars as Wang Chao, Kieran Bew is Bill O’Hara, Dean Jagger is Dylan Leary, Langley Kirkwood is Walter Buckley, Tom Weston-Jones is Richard Lee, and Perry Yung is Father Jun.
Mark Dacascos, Chelsea Muirhead, Chen Tang, and Miranda Raison also star.
Andrew Koji and Joe Taslim in ‘Warrior’ season 3 (Photograph by David Bloomer/Max)
Warrior is based on writings by martial arts icon Bruce Lee and was created by Jonathan Tropper (Banshee). Tropper executive produces under his Tropper Ink Productions, and executive producer Evan Endicott is season three’s showrunner. Bruce Lee Entertainment’s Shannon Lee also executive produces along with Josh Stoddard, Brad Kane, Richard Sharkey, and Perfect Storm Entertainment’s Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 9 director), Danielle Woodrow, and Andrew Schneider.
HBO Max released this very basic description of the season three plot:
“In the wake of the race riots that upended Chinatown in season two, Mai Ling uses her government connections to consolidate power, while Ah Sahm and the Hop Wei must find new ways to survive.”
Rihanna is going to be the new Smurfette, and that’s not something anyone had on their 2023 bingo card. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will lend her voice to the weird little blue creature in the upcoming Untitled Smurfs Animated Film (the project’s temporary title).
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced the casting during the 2023 CinemaCon. CinemaCon is an annual event hosted at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas by the National Association of Theatre Owners. The major film studios attend to promote their upcoming theatrical releases via footage and special appearances by big-name stars. During Paramount Pictures’ presentation, Rihanna graced the stage and confirmed her latest film project will find her slipping into the world of the popular creatures created by Peyo.
Rihanna will also write and perform original songs, and serve as a producer.
“On behalf of our studio and our creative partners at LAFIG, we couldn’t be more excited to have found our Smurfette in one of the most beloved stars in the world,” said Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and Ramsey Naito, President of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation. “With Rihanna’s singular creative appeal and musical talents, there is an enormous opportunity to elevate the cultural touchstone of The Smurfs universe in a way that’s never been done before.”
Chris Miller is attached to direct the Untitled Smurfs Animated Film with Matt Landon co-directing. Jay Brown, Tyran “Ty-Ty” Smith, and Ryan Harris are on board as producers.
The new Smurfs film is targeting a February 14, 2025 release.
