Smart move, Netflix. The streaming service has given a much-deserved second season order to Sweet Tooth, the fantasy drama based on the DC comic books by Jeff Lemire. According to Netflix, more than 60 million households watched the first season over its first four weeks in release.
The series focuses on a young human/animal hybrid named Gus who’s a mix of boy and deer. Christian Convery stars as Gus, Nonso Anozie is Jepperd, Adeel Akhtar is Dr. Singh, Will Forte is Richard, and Stefania LaVie Owen is Bear. The season one cast also included Dania Ramirez as Aimee Eden, Aliza Vellani as Rani Singh, and Neil Sandilands as General Abbot. James Brolin is the narrator.
Season one’s eight episodes launched on June, 4, 2021 and ended with Gus and his hybrid friends captured and on the verge of being used as research for a cure. Netflix confirmed season two will also consist of eight episodes, but didn’t offer any clues as to at what’s in store for the hybrids.
“It’s been equally thrilling and heartwarming to experience how people around the world have been falling in love with our deer-boy. We couldn’t be more excited to continue our collaboration with Netflix and keep following Gus and his friends on their extraordinary journey,” stated executive producer, writer, director, and showrunner Jim Mickle.
Susan Downey, Robert Downey Jr., Amanda Burrell, and Linda Moran will return as executive producers for season two. Evan Moore returns as a producer and Oanh Ly (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) joins the team as a co-executive producer. The series is produced by Team Downey in association with Warner Bros. Television.
The Season 1 Plot:
Ten years ago “The Great Crumble” wreaked havoc on the world and led to the mysterious emergence of hybrids — babies born part human, part animal. Unsure if hybrids are the cause or result of the virus, many humans fear and hunt them. After a decade of living safely in his secluded forest home, a sheltered hybrid deer-boy named Gus (Convery) unexpectedly befriends a wandering loner named Jepperd (Anozie).
Together they set out on an extraordinary adventure across what’s left of America in search of answers— about Gus’ origins, Jepperd’s past, and the true meaning of home. But their story is full of unexpected allies and enemies, and Gus quickly learns the lush, dangerous world outside the forest is more complex than he ever could have imagined.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights, Hamilton) has been eager to tell the story of a music-loving kinkajou since 2009. Miranda wrote many of the songs for Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming animated film, Vivo, over a decade ago and then recently reunited with his In the Heights co-writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, to pull together Vivo’s story.
Miranda provides the voice of Vivo, a brave kinkajou who embarks on a mission to honor a dear friend’s memory and deliver a special song to the woman who inspired it. Vivo’s story begins in Cuba and then travels from there to Florida’s Key West and through the Everglades before ultimately finishing up in Miami. The film’s vibrant visuals reflect the tropical locations, and the music mixes different styles including salsa, boleros, danzón, and reggaeton.
Netflix recently hosted a special virtual press event in support of the animated film set to premiere on the streaming service on August 6, 2021. Among those participating in the Vivo online press event were writer/director Kirk DeMicco (The Croods) and writer Quiara Alegría Hudes.
Writer/director DeMicco became involved in the project back in 2016. “One of the coolest things that I felt right from the get-go was that this truly was a musical about musicians,” explained DeMicco. “And it was about the music of Cuba, of Miami, of Florida, of the Caribbean, and it had a lot of different styles. And we thought that we could bring in the style of both the classic and the new and the styles of each local as we went through this road movie, if you will, as a journey, a mission, as Vivo travels from Havana to Key West.”
“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it needs to say,” added Hudes. “That’s where the love song comes in. Kirk said we were writing a musical about musicians, but of course, musicians are humans. And at the core of this journey, what initiates this journey is a regret and incomplete love story that Vivo just feels determined to honor and to complete.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda developed two of the main characters: Vivo the kinkajou and his human best friend/mentor Andrés who perform before crowds in La Placita in Old Havana. DeMicco and Quiara came up with a young aspirational female character named Gabi who helps Vivo on his mission.
“I imbued this character of Gabi with a lot of life and creativity, and spunk, and pizzaz, and wildness. I was really excited to write a wild girl. I feel like a lot of the girl characters that I iconically grew up with in fairytales and stuff were dealing with being good girls and dealing with being nice,” explained Hudes. “I wanted Gabi to not be dealing with that. Gabi was just wild and the world was gonna get on board with her or not. And what she was dealing with was some of the ramifications of isolation when you’re a person who really does march to the beat of your own drum. Of course, her friendship with Vivo becomes a counter to that isolation.”
Kirk DeMicco has nothing but praise for Lin-Manuel Miranda and his work bringing Vivo to life. “Lin not only has an encyclopedic memory of hip hop and rap and musical theater, but also animation. He could teach an animation class. The amount of animation knowledge he has is astounding,” said DeMicco. “While we’d be having fun recording scenes, he would also be sometimes recording a scene and then, later on, he would take that scene he had recorded as an actor and work many times on refining the words or refining the rhythms of the scene, and we would cut it and put it into the film. And then decide later on, ‘What if I musicalize this scene?’ And then he’d take that scene out. So, it’s not a lot of actors…I think it’s pretty unique that he was a songwriter, storyteller, and the lead actor in it.”
DeMicco continued: “A lot of times he had to kill his own darlings because he had worked really hard on the acting part, but when creating the song much of that acting would end up on the cutting room floor and he would just take the best of the best. It was like a highlight reel of some of the scenes. The one, in particular, is the middle song, ‘Keep the Beat,’ which happened over last summer during the lockdown. When he wrote it last summer, that scene had existed for two years, and it was a great scene between Gabi and Vivo playing the drums in the first, you know, flames of a friendship, the first sparks of a friendship had started. And he had taken what was a very funny scene and then turned it into this very emotional song, so that it had the ideas that he loved about the scene, but at the same time it gave him some architecture for the musical that he was still writing in his head.”
Summing up the story, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes Vivo as “about music being able to bridge distances. It’s about how music and love are really sort of the same thing.”
In addition to Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role, the voice cast includes Gloria Estefan as Marta Sandoval, Zoe Saldaña as Rosa, Juan de Marcos as Andrés, Brian Tyree Henry as Dancarino, Michael Rooker as Lutador, Nicole Byer as Valentina, and newcomer Ynairaly Simo as Gabi.
The Plot, Courtesy of Netflix:
Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou (aka a rainforest “honey bear”), who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés. Though they may not speak the same language, Vivo and Andrés are the perfect duo through their common love of music. But when tragedy strikes shortly after Andrés receives a letter from the famous Marta Sandoval, inviting her old partner to her farewell concert with the hope of reconnecting, it’s up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could: A love letter to Marta, written long ago, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi – an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum to fulfill his owner’s wishes.
Are you a fan of 1999’s The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and John Hannah? If so, then you’re probably going to enjoy Disney’s Jungle Cruise which basically replaces Fraser with Dwayne Johnson, Weisz with Emily Blunt, and Hannah with Jack Whitehall. Oh, and the action moves from Egypt to the Amazon, and instead of the Book of the Living, it’s a rare tree the intrepid adventurers are after. Also, the mummies are subbed out for undead Conquistadors.
At their core, they’re basically the same movie. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
Johnson stars as riverboat captain Frank Wolff, a guy who barely makes a living off of tourists eager for a guided tour down the Amazon River. Once onboard his beloved boat, La Quila, Frank’s guests are forced to suffer through an increasingly corny series of jokes while simultaneously being worried about the very real possibility their lives are in the hands of a madman. His captive audience is incapable of escaping from his pun-heavy narration as jumping off the boat in the middle of the Amazon and being eaten by piranhas is slightly less appealing than suffering through cheesy jokes.
Frank’s busy attempting to keep a step ahead of Nilo (Paul Giamatti), the owner of every other sightseeing boat working out of the same harbor in Brazil, when Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) arrives in need of passage down the Amazon. Lily managed to steal a mysterious arrowhead that’s the key to finding an ancient tree known as Tears of the Moon during a daring robbery at the headquarters of London’s Royal Geographical Society.
Lily’s got grit, determination, and a sidekick brother named MacGregor (Jack Whitehall). What she doesn’t have is the means to find the legendary ancient tree thought to have unparalleled healing powers without a guide who knows his way around the river.
Although they initially bump heads – of course they do because that’s a box that needs to be checked off in this sort of film – the pair manage to find common ground and piece together the clues as to the tree’s whereabouts. With a destination in mind, Frank and Lily set off on a wild and wacky cruise involving headhunters, undead Conquistadors, hundreds of snakes, and a pet jaguar named Proxima who Lily’s brother affectionately dubs “Murder Cat.”
If the story had kept it simple, Jungle Cruise would be a total blast. Instead, there’s a weird mishmash of supporting storylines that aren’t nearly as entertaining as watching Johnson and Blunt exchange insults. (He calls her Pants; she calls him Skippy. The banter’s not highbrow but it is entertaining.)
Jesse Plemons shows up as Prince Joachim, a bizarre German prince inflicted with a Hogan’s Heroes-esque accent. Somehow, Prince Joachim is able to communicate with map-reading bees and supernatural snakes, and he’s just as committed to obtaining the Tears of the Moon as Lily. He’s got money to burn and a submarine worthy of Captain Nemo at his disposal. All he needs is Lily’s arrowhead.
Prince Joachim’s more annoying than dastardly and hardly a worthy adversary for the combined forces of Lily and Frank.
Edgar Ramirez stars as one of those undead Conquistadors mentioned previously. The film’s version of the walking dead are legitimately creepy and we do ultimately find out why they are rotting away yet still walking the earth. The film takes a supernatural turn as secrets are revealed and a twist that feels rammed into the story raises its ugly head.
Look, you’ve got Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt cruising down the Amazon tossing out barbs. It’s not necessary to overload the plot with characters that shift focus from our heroes.
Disney launched a blockbuster box office franchise by adapting their popular theme park ride Pirates of the Caribbean for the screen. There was very little of the ride itself in the films, that is other than the whole “pirates” theme. In bringing Jungle Cruise alive on screen, writers Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, and John Requa drew inspiration from many of the actual scenes in the theme park ride, including the charging hippos. They also lifted some of the ride’s goofiest puns – including the one about the back side of water – and gave them to Johnson’s riverboat captain Frank to deliver. The fact it’s Johnson wrapping his tongue around the ridiculous puns actually makes them land more frequently than they deserve to.
Johnson’s so completely charming as Frank that much of what shouldn’t work about the film does because he forces it to. Same with his equally talented co-star Emily Blunt. Blunt’s able to squeeze laughs out of bits that wouldn’t have worked at all in lesser hands. She also has the opportunity to show off her action skills in multiple slapstick action sequences that liven up the first half of the film.
Jack Whitehall’s a scene-stealing delight as Lily’s fastidious brother, MacGregor. A reluctant third wheel forced into partaking in this crazy adventure, MacGregor’s pushed out of his comfort zone and arrives at Frank’s boat with nearly a dozen trunks loaded with formal attire, assorted daywear, tennis racquets, and golf clubs. MacGregor’s arc is one of the film’s best, and Whitehall does a terrific job of making him into a multi-layered character rather than just a dude brought along for the ride.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise is at its best when Johnson and Blunt square off. The chemistry’s there and both embrace the absurd while never winking at the audience. Go in with expectations of nothing more than a fun summer popcorn action-comedy and you’ll be just fine. Just don’t think too hard about the plot and enjoy the ride.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for adventure violence
Release Date: July 30, 2021
Running Time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Sean Penn (Into the Wild) directs and stars alongside his daughter, Dylan, in the dramatic film Flag Day based on true events. The official trailer’s just debuted and introduces Sean Penn playing a notorious counterfeiter in the screen adaptation of Jennifer Vogel’s memoir, Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.
“It’s what William Burroughs called, ‘surprised recognition.’ Flag Day should offer audiences the surprise that they themselves have lived, though differently, its parts,” stated Sean Penn.
In addition to Sean and Dylan Penn, the cast includes Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble, Hopper Jack Penn, and Katheryn Winnick. Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth adapted Jennifer Vogel’s memoir for the screen.
William Horberg, Jon Kilik, and Fernando Sulichin produced, with Maximilien Arvelaiz, Lawrence Kopeikin, Thorsten Schumacher, Vincent Maraval, Sidney Kimmel, Allen Liu, Peter Touche, Christelle Conan, Vaishali Mistry, and John Wildermuth executive producing. Cat Power, Glen Hansard, and Eddie Vedder composed original songs for the drama.
UA and MGM have set an August 20, 2021 theatrical release. Flag Day‘s rated R for language, some drug use and violent content.
The Plot:
Jennifer Vogel’s father John (Sean Penn) was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer (Dylan Penn) marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history.
Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day stars Penn and his real-life daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait about a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past while reconciling the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father.
The CW’s Riverdale will finally return with the second half of season five on August 11, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT. Season five episode 11, “Strange Bedfellows,” was directed by Tessa Blake from a script by Aaron Allen.
The cast of season five includes KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones. Madelaine Petsch is Cheryl Blossom, Marisol Nichols is Hermione Lodge, Mӓdchen Amick is Alice Cooper, Casey Cott is Kevin Keller, Mark Consuelos is Hiram Lodge, Skeet Ulrich is FP Jones, Charles Melton is Reggie Mantle, Drew Ray Tanner is Fangs Fogarty, and Vanessa Morgan plays Toni Topaz.
“Chapter Eighty-Seven: Strange Bedfellows” Plot: RETURN TO RIVERDALE — In the aftermath of the prison break at Hiram’s (Consuelos) jail, Archie (Apa) leads the charge to round up the remaining convicts on the loose. Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) reaches out for Betty’s (Reinhart) help when she realizes Jughead (Sprouse) is missing. When Penelope (guest star Nathalie Boltt) re-enters the fold, Cheryl (Petsch) becomes suspicious of her true intentions.
Season 5 Description, Courtesy of The CW:
The fourth season of Riverdale began with a funeral and tribute to Archie’s late father, the beloved Fred Andrews (Luke Perry). Throughout the season, Archie (KJ Apa) tried to live up to his father’s memory by mentoring youths at his Community Center with the help of his pals Reggie and Munroe Moore. But the shadow of that tragedy loomed over Archie—and only darkened when Fred’s brother Frank arrived, bringing unforeseen complications with him, much to the chagrin of Archie’s mother (Molly Ringwald).
Meanwhile, after Betty saved her mom and sister from the Farm cult, she joined her brother Charles’s Junior F.B.I. Training Program. Veronica found herself locked in a season-long battle with her father Hiram and half-sister Hermosa over her burgeoning maple rum business. And, at the urging on FP, Jughead enrolled in a new school, Stonewall Prep, only to be caught up in a mystery that involved his grandfather, the secret author of a series of teen detective novels called “The Baxter Brothers.” His classmates turned out to be killers—and it was up to Betty and Jughead (pretending to be dead) to solve the murder of…Jughead Jones!
At Thistlehouse, Cheryl was trapped in a gothic nightmare, fighting her demons, literal and metaphoric, with the loving support of her girlfriend Toni. She finally put her brother Jason to rest while maintaining her control over the Vixens as resident HBIC against Principal Honey (Kerr Smith). Kevin got dragged into an illicit tickle scheme, but still found time to put on a Variety Show with hit songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
And throughout the season, disturbing unmarked videotapes kept appearing on our characters’ doorsteps, ensuring that there would be one more mystery to solve.
Season five of Riverdale will begin with our characters’ final days as students at Riverdale High. From an epic Senior Prom to a bittersweet Graduation, there are a lot of emotional moments and goodbyes yet to come — with some couples breaking up, as everyone goes their separate ways to college — or elsewhere. Then, we will redock with our gang as young adults, all returning to Riverdale to escape their troubled pasts. And life — and romance — will only be more complicated now that they’re in their twenties…
Burden of Truth returns to The CW’s primetime with an episode that finds Joanna handling a controversial case. Directed by Doug Marshall from a script by Brad Simpson, season four episode one will air on July 30, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT.
The cast is led by Kristin Kreuk as Joanna Chang and includes Peter Mooney as Billy Crawford, Star Slade as Luna Spence, Meegwun Fairbrother as Officer Owen Beckbie, and Anwen O’Driscoll as Taylor Matheson. Brynn Godenir is Stevie Nichols, Paul Essiembre is Nevin Page, and Skye Pelletier is Kip Bellegarde.
“River City” Plot: SEASON PREMIERE – The Oro North mining project has divided opinion in Millwood, but Joanna Chang (Kreuk) has firmly chosen a side. She’s taken on the case of Helen Graham (guest star Pamela Matthews), a local farm owner whose land is standing firmly in the way of the mine’s opening. With the tide of opinion turning against them, Joanna arranges for an improved offer, but – after many sleepless nights with her new baby – Joanna makes a crucial error that changes the case, leading to shocking consequences.
Billy Crawford (Mooney) is torn between his support for Helen’s case and for Millwood’s future, but after a tumultuous start to their lives as parents, he is mostly concerned with Joanna.
The Season 4 Plot, Courtesy of The CW:
Burden of Truth is a serialized investigative drama about life-altering legal cases, the helpless plaintiffs searching for answers, and the boots-on-the-ground lawyers fighting incredible odds to deliver justice.
In season four, when a mining company reopens a dormant mine outside Millwood, Joanna Chang and Billy Crawford, lawyers and new parents, step in to protect a local woman’s home from certain destruction. When the mine swiftly retaliates, Joanna is forced to confront a long-buried secret from her past and scramble to protect the future of her career and her family. As both sides prepare for war with the fate of Millwood at stake, Joanna and Billy must juggle their life with a newborn with waging a legal battle against a corporate titan. When they come across evidence the mine isn’t what it claims to be, Joanna seizes an opportunity to launch an unexpected legal battle that will bring the company to its knees.
As Joanna and Billy fight the legal battle against the mine, Police Chief Owen Beckbie struggles to contain the increased criminal activity that always follows the resource industry. With the help of new Millwood police recruit, Officer Taylor Matheson, Beckbie uncovers a growing criminal underworld running through Millwood…and all roads lead right back to the mining camp.
Noomi Rapace prays in a small graveyard as the trailer for A24’s Lamb begins. The action moves to a farm where there’s something unusual about a newborn lamb, something so unique that a couple begin to raise the lamb in place of the child they lost.
Lamb had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival were it won the festival’s Prize of Originality. The Icelandic horror drama currently sits at 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it odd and disturbing. Variety’s Jessica Kiang labels it “creepy-funny-weird-sad.”
In addition to Noomi Rapace, Lamb‘s cast includes Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, and Ingvar E. Sigurðsson.
Valdimar Jóhannsson makes his feature film directorial debut with the twisted Nordic folktale. Jóhannsson also co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón.
A24 has set an October 8, 2021 theatrical release date.
The Plot:
A childless couple in rural Iceland make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn. They soon face the consequences of defying the will of nature, in this dark and atmospheric folktale.
Noomi Rapace stars in ‘Lamb’ (Photo Courtesy of A24)
The official trailer for Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building kicks off with a man named Tim joining his fellow “The Arconia” building residents in an elevator. He then turns to the camera to announce he’ll be murdered in 12 minutes. The game’s afoot when the threesome from the elevator decide it’s their duty to launch their own investigation after it’s determined someone in the building is the murderer.
The three amateur sleuths are played by Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. Aaron Dominguez, Vanessa Aspillaga, Ryan Broussard, Jeena Yi, and Michael Cyril Creighton also star. Martin and John Hoffman (Gracie & Frankie) created the series and serve as writers. Martin, Hoffman, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Jamie Babbit, Dan Fogelman (This Is Us creator), and Jess Rosenthal executive produce.
Hulu will release the first three episodes on August 31, 2021. New episodes will arrive on subsequent Tuesdays.
Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin) in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ (Photo by: Craig Blankenhorn / Hulu)
The Plot, Courtesy of Hulu:
From the minds of Steve Martin, Dan Fogelman and John Hoffman comes a comedic murder-mystery series for the ages. Only Murders In The Building follows three strangers (Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth.
As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living amongst them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.
The new official trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife makes us want to believe this latest entry in the franchise will recapture the spirit of the original. Mini versions of the STAY-PUFT Marshmallow Man put in an appearance, Ecto-1’s back on the road, and Annie Potts plays a key role as Egon’s widow. The cherry on top to the nostalgia-fest is the voice of Dan Aykroyd answering the Ghostbusters hotline and saying, “We’re closed.”
The action moves from New York to a small rural town and focuses on the family of Egon Spengler (played by the late Harold Ramis). Mom (Carrie Coon) has fallen on hard times and moves her kids (Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace) to Egon’s old place in the middle of nowhere. There, the kids clean up Ecto-1 and inadvertently unleash the dead and quite possibly bring about the apocalypse.
Paul Rudd joins the fun as Mr. Grooberson.
Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver reprise their roles for this long-awaited sequel. Originally set for a 2020 release but delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sony Pictures is now ready to unleash Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters on November 11, 2021.
Four-time Oscar nominee Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno), son of Ghostbusters‘ original director Ivan Reitman, directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Gil Kenan. Ivan Reitman produces, with Gil Kenan, Dan Aykroyd, Jason Blumenfeld, and Michael Beugg serving as executive producers.
The Plot:
From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
Focus Features’ new trailer for The Card Counter finds Oscar Isaac (soon to be seen in Dune) covering all of the furniture in his hotel room with sheets. Although why is left hanging, we do learn his character’s been in jail, has learned how to count cards, and may be connected in some way to the military. Writer/director Paul Schrader’s new drama will premiere as part of the Competition lineup at the 2021 Venice Film Festival before launching in theaters on September 10, 2021.
In addition to Oscar Isaac, the cast includes Tiffany Haddish (Bad Trip), four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate, The Florida Project, Shadow of the Vampire, Platoon), and Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One).
Braxton Pope, Lauren Mann, and David Wulf produce, with Martin Scorsese, William Olsson, Lee Broda, Ruben Islas, and Stanley Preschutti executive producing.
Writer/director Paul Schrader earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for his most recent film, First Reformed. Schrader’s riveting drama was also nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, an Alliance of Women Film Journalists award, and won for Best Original Screenplay at the Critics Choice Awards.
Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish in ‘The Card Counter’ (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features)
The Plot, Courtesy of Focus Features:
Redemption is the long game in Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter. Told with Schrader’s trademark cinematic intensity, the revenge thriller tells the story of an ex-military interrogator turned gambler haunted by the ghosts of his past decisions, and features riveting performances from stars Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe.
