Sundance 2020 Review: 'Promising Young Woman', Carey Mulligan Demands To Be Heard In Raging #MeToo Revenge Tale

If Emerald Fennell's raging #MeToo era revenge film Promising Young Woman was just Carey Mulligan out for blood against predatory men, that would be pretty cool. I would be down for that movie. There's so much going on here, though, that Fennell has in mind. She's pissed off, and this is a pissed off movie with a pissed off protagonist in Cassie (Mulligan), a 30-year-old coffee shop employee who spends her nights as a vigilante of justice, luring "nice guys" in by pretending to be too-drunk to know what's going on, and then seeing how far those gentlemanly men will go with her.

It's a fun premise, and Fennell goes for it with gusto, bordering on the surreal. But there's nothing outlandish about Cassie's mission, or the anger she feels at a world too eager to dismiss female victims of assault and give men a free pass to live their lives. The women they leave in their wake get no such accommodation; for some of them, their lives are over. Cassie knows this intimately. The vengeance she seeks isn't for her, it's for someone close to her who is now gone, but Cassie's life has been over just as much since the attack occurred.

Cassie was top of her class in med school before everything went south. Now she's lonely, depressed, and living at home with her concerned parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown) who aren't shy about wanting their daughter to move on. That's not going to happen, though. She's got a job to do, and woe to the men who pick her up, staggeringly drunk, from the club and offer her a ride home; or the guy who ignores her pleas to go home and instead offers her cocaine before shoving his hand inside her; or the men who raped her friend and video taped it, then got away scott-free.

Fennell's twisted mind has her casting these heinous men with non-threatening actors such as Adam Brodie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin? Say it ain't so!!), Max Greenfield, and more. But there's one man who may not be so bad and may even pull Cassie away from her life of retribution, and that's the pleasantly dorky Ryan (Bo Burnham), a former college classmate who has been carrying a torch ever since. As their relationship deepens, a question begin to emerge: Why should Cassie believe any of these men are as good as they claim? The world has already proven it doesn't want to believe women, or it holds them responsible for making themselves vulnerable to attack. The excuses are ready-made to let guys off the hook: She shouldn't have had so much to drink; She was asking for it; It was his word against hers and innocent until proven guilty.

The tone swings violently, but never gets out of Fennell's control. At times moody and sorrowful, it also borders on fantasy during Cassie's happy romantic interlude. Anytime people are jamming out to the vapid sounds of Paris Hilton, something outside the bounds of real-life must be going on. There's never a moment that feels inauthentic, however, as shameful as that might be. The things men say and do, Cassie's rage, all of it is uncomfortably real and demands to be addresed.

Carey Mulligan is too-perfect for the role of Cassie, with her disarming beauty and slight frame, she looks like an easy mark. But she's nobody's prey, and Mulligan is more than equipped to show the price that comes with Cassie's vengeful actions. With Margot Robbie as one of the movie's producers, one can easily see her taking on the role. Cassie even dons very Harley Quinn-esque dress when in damsel mode. Apparently, the guys can't resist a woman with rainbow hair.

Promising Young Woman is a movie that takes big risks; some of them payoff and some of them don't. However, you have to admire the sheer ballsiness of them, including a final act that goes so far beyond our expectations it's guaranteed to cause a shit storm of debate. This is a movie that is willing to go above and beyond to be heard. The time for conversation is over, the time for action is now.

4 out of 5

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'The Mandalorian' Ep. 6 Recap & Review: Lots Of Familiar Faces Get In On A Prison Break

The last thing I expected going into episode six of The Mandalorian, titled "The Prisoner", is another diversion from the main story. Ultimately, it's a fun diversion, and indicative of the kind of story I expect to see more of in future seasons. But those looking to see the tale of Baby Yoda moved substantially forward, you'll be disappointed.

On the other hand, this episodes takes its cues from heist movies, a particular favorite genre of mine, so I absolutely love it. And there are tons of familiar faces (or voices) that will bring a smile to a lot of fan's faces. The story finds Mando joining up with a group of bounty hunters for a rescue mission, an extraction of someone important. Mando lands the Razor Crest on a platform belonging to Ran (played by Sons of Anarchy's Mark Boone Junior), an old friend who he used to do jobs with back in the day. There's some tension between them, especially when Ran makes it clear he knows what Mando has been up to with The Guild, but says his old friend is welcome on the ship anytime. The team Ran is putting together includes a Twi'lek named Xi'an, played by Harry Potter and Game of Thrones actress Natalia Tena. She and Mando also share a past, and it's strongly implied, mostly by her sexual innuendo, they used to be lovers. Leading the squad is a human named Mayfeld (comedian Bill Burr), with a Devaronian named Burg (Clancy Brown, currently seen on ABC's Emergence), and a bug-eyed Tee-Oh droid named Zero (voiced by comedian Richard Ayoade). Yeah, pretty cool group of characters and cast.

There are some great jokes between this ragtag bunch, too. Ran lets Mando know the only reason he's there is because the Razor Crest is off the grid, and can slip in and out unaware from Imperial or New Republica surveillance. Mando isn't happy about that, but he's even less amused at learning the extraction is from a maximum security New Republic prison freighter. Mayfeld is none too pleased at having a Mandalorian on his team, but Ran vouches for him...

"Mayfeld, he's one of the best trigger men I've ever seen", Ran says. "Former Imperial sharpshooter."

"That's not saying much", Mando cracks.

"I wasn't a stormtrooper, wise ass!", Mayfeld shouts.

Mando doesn't want any part of this job because of the heat it could bring down on them if shit goes bad, which we know that it will. But when he hears it's only manned by droids, which he still hates, it changes his mind. He soon wishes he hasn't. Aboard the Razor Crest, Mando is teased by Xi'an who seems to know exactly how to piss him off. The others urge him to take off his helmet (Mando is accused of being a Gungan!), razz him about the other Mandalorians all being dead despite their reputation as great warriors, and a fight nearly breaks out between Mando and Burg.

It's at this moment you're probably wondering where the Hell is Baby Yoda? The scuffle answers that question when a button is accidentally pressed, revealing The Child to be stashed away in his own little safe room. Like everyone else who has encountered Baby Yoda, they have no idea who or what he is. They assume Mando has taken on a pet of some kind; Xi'an implies that Mando has gone soft.

While Baby Yoda barely has a role in this episode, there's a total freakout moment when the ship suddenly drops out of hyperspace. In the ensuring rumble, everyone loses their balance and Mayfeld drops Baby Yoda to the ship's hard metal floor! *gasp*  The kid is alright; Mando quickly helps the little womprat up and secures him back in the room, but he has the others' attention now and we know that's not a good thing. Even worse, Zero has begun to decrypt a Guild message from Greef Kara (Carl Weathers) directly referencing the Child.

Aboard the ship, we do manage to see a few of the prisoners. None of them seem to be all that important, but one appears to be Rio Durante, the Ardennian voiced by The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau in Solo. It's not spelled out or anything, but it seems like the kind of cameo Favreau would dangle out there for eagle-eyed fans.

A major complaint I've had throughout is that Mando hasn't been shown to be that great of a fighter. Sure, he can shoot, but hasn't been that impressive elsewhere. He's been overwhelmed in multiple episodes, and fought Gina Carano's Cara Dune to a draw. But here, he's the badass we expect him to be, slicing up the ship's attack droids and using his flamethrowers to maximum effect. Another thing that's clear is how indestructible the Beskar metal really is. Mando takes a number of blaster bolts that would've killed a normal person, but they mostly bounce right off. The other bounty hunters are impressed.

Eventually, they reach the control room and discover a terrified human New Republic officer (played by The Clone Wars' Matt Lanter) who was not supposed to be there. Somebody fucked up somewhere. After some arguing about what to do with him, the decision is taken out of their hands by Xi'an who kills the officer with a blade. Unfortunately, he manages to set off a distress signal before dying, giving them only 20 minutes to retrieve the prisoner and escape before New Republic ships show up.

It's at this moment when the mission truly goes sideways, and you realize there's a lot more going on than we knew. Upon getting to the prisoner's cell, they discover that it holds another Twi'lek, Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova), who happens to be Xi'an's brother. Oh yeah, and he's in prison because of Mando. Oops. The others turn the tables on Mando, knocking him into the cell and locking the doors. Maximum freakout time! If Mando can't escape, not only will the New Republic discover him, but the others will steal his ship and Baby Yoda, too! Fortunately, Mando doesn't take long to make his escape, cleverly using an incompetent droid's own arm as a lock pick.

Rick Famuyiwa really struts his stuff here, taking on horror elements to capture Mando's stalking of his fleeing betrayers. The first to be stalked down is the massive Burg, who seems to be impervious to just about everything...other than blast doors. Xi'an is a test, as well. The sly Twi'lek's blades find their mark around his Beskar armor, but not enough to save her from Mando's wrath. Mayfield gets the worst of it, or so we think. In an awesome display of strobing effects we see Mando sneaking up, frame by frame, on an unsuspecting Mayfeld.

All that's left is Qin, and when he's found the only thing he can do is plead forgiveness. He appeals to Mando's code of honor as a bounty hunter. Why not just finish the job and collect all the credits? It's at this point we realize how little we truly know about the Mandalorian. Would he really kill Qin just to get vengeance? Clearly, he's been a killer in the past, so why not now? Or would he stick to the personal set of principles he's been following since discovering the Child?

While this is going on, Zero has cracked Greef Kara's message and learns of Baby Yoda's importance. He goes off in search of the tyke, and after a brief game of hide-and-seek, finds him and prepares to shoot him. Yoda acts as if he's about to use the Force to protect himself, but at that moment Mando shoots Zero from behind. The look on Baby Yoda's face when he thinks it was his own powers that did it is, honestly, too precious for words.

The job done, Mando returns to Ran and it's then that we learn he didn't kill Qin. He finished the job, and dismisses Ran's questions about the other bounty hunters with a simple "No questions asked" reply. Mando collects his pay and prepares to fly off in the Razor Crest, but it's then that Ran orders someone else to "Kill him". As fighter ship begins to launch and destroy Mando, Qin discovers the New Republic tracking beacon...and it's still blinking.

As Mando flies off, a trio of X-Wing fighters arrives and begins shooting up Ran's freighter. The pilots are played by, get this: co-showrunner Dave Filoni (as Trapper Wolf) and directors Rick Famuyiwa (as Jib Dodger) and Deborah Chow (as Sash Ketter). Pretty awesome. They're now officially part of the Star Wars mythos. We also discover that Mando didn't kill Mayfield, Burg, or Xi'an. They're instead locked away on the prison ship, stuck in the same cell like the final episode of Seinfeld.

An amazing episode, one that expands on the Mandalorian's background without having to delve into more childhood flashbacks. This episode introduces us to the man he used to be before he found Baby Yoda, and it's strongly hinted that he wasn't such a good dude. Also, we get to see a number of cool characters that are, thankfully, still around to cause Mando a lot of headaches.

That said, this is awfully late in the season for an episode that doesn't push the Baby Yoda narrative forward. I can only imagine the final two chapters will, but at this point it's really hard to say. Rumors are this next episode, which drops on Wednesday, December 18th rather than Friday, will have some tie-in with The Rise of Skywalker. Part of me hopes so, but another part likes how The Mandalorian is off in its own world doing something new each week. I don't want to see that complicated by trying to fit into a separate narrative.

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Review: ‘Supercon’, A Convention Worth Attending During A Rainy Day

Supercon is the tale of a group of former stars of some cult classics braving the scene at a comic convention named, you guessed it, Supercon. Keith Mahar (Russell Peters) used to play Haji, the child sidekick of US Marshall Tex Johnson, played by the big hit of the convention – Adam King (Clancy Brown). I think it is fair to say that the relationship between Keith and Adam has soured over time. Adam has let his stardom go to his head, only caring about the money and not the fans. The person in charge of the convention, Gil (Mike Epps), and Adam have a very profitable well-oiled machine going at Supercon. Adam is obsessed with money and bleeding his fans dry – he charges for every little thing and mentions money constantly. Gil and Adam take cuts from the top so they are making quite the bankroll off of Supercon.

Keith can’t stand these conventions and dreads them. Unfortunately his personal life has been falling apart – his wife filed for divorce and kicked him out – and he really needs the income. Even though Keith finds the whole experience belittling, often only being known as the ball cancer boy from an infamous episode of his show, he stills finds himself sitting at his table time and time again. Keith does have some friends that make the conventions more bearable. All of them also have some sort of tie with current or past cult hits. There is Wheeler (Ryan Kwanten), Keith’s cool friend that has the lines and swagger, Brock (Brooks Braselman), and Allison (Maggie Grace). When an unfortunate incident goes down between the group and Adam, they end up getting fired from Supercon by Gil. Gil would do anything to keep his cash cow happy, and that includes canning the four of them. The group decides that they need to fight back, and the best way to do so would be to hit Gil and Adam where it hurts most – in their wallets. To pull off a robbery of Supercon, they may need help from a few more people, but with all the bridges that Adam has burned – help might not be too hard to find.

Supercon, which is supposedly based on a true story, has its moments. I found myself enjoying some of the hijinks and absurdity that our cast of heroes gets through. Supercon gives an interesting insight into the backend of these comic conventions. It makes you stop and look at what all of these cult classic stars think and feel when the lights and cameras are off. We get to see how their lives might be after their 15 minutes of fame are over. These characters live on and people still love them, but the person that portrays them must go on with their lives. You hear all the time about actors getting typecast and only recognized as the characters they portray – Supercon dives into what it’s like when actors are recognized and when they drift away into obscurity. Supercon looks at the world of conventions in a truly clever way – it shows how this world differs from the ‘typical’ stereotypes we’re used to, like the jocks being losers and the sci-fi nerds being the talk of the town. Throw in some clever cinematography and decent humor and writer/director Zak Knutson and writers Andy Spies and Dana Snyder have a pretty enjoyable flick on their hands. Not to mention we get some John Malkovich time, and who doesn’t love that? Supercon has some laughs and is not the worst option for a rainy afternoon, but keep expectations in check.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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Review: 'Chappaquiddick', Ted Kennedy's Legacy Gets Battered And Bruised

"I'm not going to be President", a somber Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) tells his overlooked friend/cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) minutes after he escaped drowning in a car that had tumbled off of a bridge in the New England island of Chappaquiddick. Little did he know how accurate he would be. If his escape had been a harrowing tale of survival then maybe that could be spun into political gold, but instead the incident, which saw Kennedy's loyal aide Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) die in those frigid waters, would become a scandal that dogged his career to the end.

John Curran's film Chappaquiddick isn't so much about the crash, those details are common knowledge and have been for decades. It's a gripping and timely tale about the concoction of the story around the scandal, and the efforts by Kennedy, using the currency of his family legacy and a distracted public, to keep his reputation intact. This is a film about power, and how being born with the right name can be enough to reshape reality.

In the summer of '69 Ted Kennedy is still in the earliest stages of his political career, but he's already feeling the weight of his fallen brothers, Joe, President John F. Kennedy, and Bobby who would die just a year earlier. Ted's the public face of the family now and is expected make a move for the White House , but at this point he's undecided on a future path, despite the pressure put on him by his father (Bruce Dern). That weekend he's hosting a "reunion" of loyal Kennedy staffers known as the "Boiler Room Girls", all lovely single women of 28-years-old or younger, at an event in which the only other attendees are grabby married men, most of them Kennedys or Kennedy acolytes. Mary Jo is one of those campaign staffers and she was very close to Ted, some say too close, which only complicated matters when their late night drive ended up in tragedy. Once it happens and Ted is slow to alert the police, perhaps at the cost of Mary Jo's life, the spin machine moves into place. But not before Ted, who is wholly unsuited to political maneuvering at this point, makes a number of bone-headed errors that must be cleaned up.

Curran gets a lot of material to work with here, and along with screenwriters Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan he makes the most of it. While the actual direction of the film is purely functional, the parallels drawn to today and Clarke's powerful performance are what make this such an engrossing story. I daresay Clarke is considerably more charismatic than Ted Kennedy was back then. It's tough to reconcile the shifty Ted Kennedy of 1969 with the stoic champion of the working class that he would be throughout his senatorial career, but you have to understand going in that this is not a film meant to bolster his reputation. It leaves him pretty scarred up, as Ted continually puts his own concerns ahead of any true justice for Mary Jo. Even his decision to reveal that it was him behind the wheel is a calculated one meant to gain sympathy, although he persists in claims that he will always follow his "true north" and do what's right. All women are given short shrift, not just Mary Jo. Olivia Thirlby plays Mary Jo's best friend Rachel Schiff, but she's barely given much to do other than be another of Kennedy's loyalists. Disappointing as the portrayal of women may be, it's a calculation that fits with the time and the all-male group of power players involved.

It's also interesting the depiction of the news cycle and how easily it could be manipulated. While today we both love and lament the speed which stories are broken, there was no Internet back then. There weren't dozens of news outlets picking apart every facet of the event. If Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick were to have happened within a year or two before his death in 2009, his career would have been over that day. But in 1969 there was room to maneuver and plot out a strategy. In this case, Ted and his spin doctors were helped by the Apollo moon landing and the country's fascination with space exploration. But mostly we see the effect that the name Kennedy has in swaying public perception and marshalling defenders. It's an early indicator of how the names Bush, Clinton, and Obama can steer opinion in these hyper-partisan times. Suffice it to say, if he were Ted Johnson and not Ted Kennedy he would have been toast. Instead he gets off with a slap on the writst, and goes on to have one of the longest senatorial careers in U.S. history, thus proving that his rewriting of history to paint himself as a victim worked.

So again, Chappaquiddick is not hero worship of the Kennedys like so many other movies made about the most famous family in political history. In the end, Ted selfishly gives up on his "true north", his belief in what's right, in order to do what's convenient. Sounds like your standard everyday politician, doesn't it? We hate those, don't we?  Chappaquiddick presents the Kennedys in a vastly different light than we're accustomed to seeing, and probably won't see again on the big screen for a long time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Review: 'When The Game Stands Tall' starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Chiklis, and Laura Dern

When the Game Stands Tall stars Jim Caviezel as Coach Bob Ladouceur who led the De La Salle High School varsity Football team to a 151 record-setting winning streak and what happens as the streak effects his life and those of his family and players. See here’s the thing; most people, me included, are pretty easy to please with a sports movie. Especially a HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL MOVIE! This is America and we love football. Here we have a movie with Caviezel portraying this almost perfect coach in terms of his moral standing and reasoning for coaching these kids. These kids are perfect at least the ones in the beginning of the movie. The seniors that are leaving are great, demigod-like athletes with wholesome attitudes like they all came from Smallville, Kansas. After the first 15 minutes or so just about every bad thing that can happen to the team happens, just as they are beginning to be led by a new group of flawed senior athletes. It’s all serious; old players die, some players lose all their family, and some experience major incapacitating injuries.

It begins to feel like a little too much as major sad events are piled on and a Christian-themed message is forced into the story. They all feel out of place and like the movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a sports movie or a spiritually uplifting movie? I don’t know if the film makers know themselves. The movie is also totally too long and poorly paced throughout. The movie would’ve been a lot better if they would’ve just focused on the team’s fall from grace and the need for the team to rally together in time for a major game against the country’s best team. What happens is that the story’s true climax happens in the middle of the film.

There are a lot of well-filmed football scenes throughout the movie along with some decent performances. What they are performing doesn’t always make a lot of sense, but what is worse is the team’s triumph doesn’t feel earned at all. It’s a movie where you watch a great high school football program that won 151 times lose a game and then goes right back to winning.  It’s not like watching the underdogs come up and reach the championship or something like We Are Marshall where something completely terrible happens and the whole community comes together to support the players on the field. It’s just like watching Johnny Manziel not get picked first in the draft. Like am I supposed to feel sad? Really?

In the end I’m just surprised that a sports movie could be this lackluster in every way imaginable. Somewhere it’s like a whole lot of people really liked this true story and tried really hard to make a movie out of it. The saddest part is that to me they totally failed at doing it and I think the real people in this story deserve way better.

 Rating: 1.5 out of 5

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First Trailer for 3D 'The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water'

It may not have made quite the noise of Warner Bros. or Marvel's Comic-Con presentations, but there was a pretty substantial crowd gathered for a first look at The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. The first trailer for the film has now been released, and it shows what happens when SpongeBob and his crew head ashore for a superheroic adventure...in 3D CG animation, no less. On dry land they encounter hot chicks, pirate villains, and all sorts of crazy characters.

Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Antonio Banderas, and Clancy Brown lend their voices to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on February 13th 2015. 

The SpongeBob Movie- Sponge Out of Water TRAILER 1 (2014) - Animated Movie HD by Shachizonzon

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Comic-Con: First Look at 'SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water'

Fifteen years after the silly but incredibly subversive SpongeBob Squarepants debuted on Nickeleodeon, the character is as popular as ever. A decade ago they released The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie and hauled in a cool $140M, which makes one wonder why they waited so long to do another. That will change when SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water surfaces next year, but for now Paramount and Nickelodeon have released the first image as part of their Comic-Con presentation.

Tom Kenny, Antonio Banderas, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, and more will lend their voices to the animated feature, which has the sea-dwelling sponge on shore for a superheroic adventure, if that wasn't obvious enough by the image.

SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water opens February 13th 2015.

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James Franco is 'The Fixer', Ricky Gervais Returns for 'Night at the Museum 3', Daniel Wu Joins 'Warcraft'

* Ian Olds scored an indie smash a few years with his documentary, Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, winning Best New Documentary Filmmaker in the process. He's been busy working with James Franco on a number of his smaller films and on the Faulkner adaptation As I Lay Dying, and now the two will collaborate on another feature, titled The Fixer. Franco will take one of the leads as an unstable hot-tub craftsman named Lindsay in the story of Osman, "an Afghan journalist exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime, he gets drawn into the backwoods of this small town." [TheWrap]

* After the first two films nearly brought in $1B it was only a matter of time before a third Night at the Museum was ordered up, and that's exactly what we're getting. Ben Stiller and Robin Williams are confirmed to return for the sequel, along with director Shawn Levy, with a script by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant that takes the living monuments to London. Now Deadline is reporting Ricky Gervais is also set to return as Stiller's former boss, Dr. McPhee. Night at the Museum 3 is set to open on Christmas Day 2014.

* Daniel Wu (Europe Report) and Clancy Brown (Sleepy Hollow) are the latest additions to Duncan Jones' Warcraft, joining Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Dominic Cooper, and Rob Kazinsky in the video game adaptation. No word on their roles as much of the story is still being kept under wraps. Warcraft powers on March 11th 2016.

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First Images from Sylvester Stallone's 'Homefront' Starring James Franco and Jason Statham

There's a pretty good chance you may have forgotten about Homefront, but once you hear the hodge podge of big stars and C-listers assembled for this action flick it's going to rocket to the top of your must-see list. First of all, it features a script by none other than Sylvester Stallone (!!!), based on a book by acclaimed crime novelist Chuck Hogan. And because Sly is never too far from any of this homies in The Expendables, Jason Statham is starring joined by the seemingly-random cast of James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Frank Grillo, Vincent D'Onofrio, Clancy Brown, and Mischa Barton. Friggin' Mischa Barton.

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Review: 'At Any Price' starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron

How much does the American Dream cost? What is one willing to give up in order to achieve it? The answer is pretty much right there in the title of acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani's At Any Price, a brilliant morality tale that further establishes him as one of today's finest filmmakers.  Bahrani's first three films, Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, and 2008's Goodbye Solo, told uniquely American stories through the lens of the immigrant experience. But here he turns his insightful eye on the small-town Midwest, where family legacy is of paramount importance, and success is measured by hard work and desire.

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New red band trailer for 'John Dies At the End' with Paul Giamatti

So here's what we've seen out of John Dies At the End, the ultra-weird flick from the Don Coscarelli, the offbeat dude behind the equally offbeat Bubba Ho-Tep. Giant meat monsters, a hallucinogenic drug called Soy Sauce, naked chicks in weird masks, and two slackers charged with saving humanity. How do you top some crazy crap like that? With a red band trailer, that's how.

The latest trailer amps up the craziness to an entirely different level, if that's even possible. This one looks like it's bound to be another B-movie classic, par for the course from a guy who also gave us Beastmaster and the Phantasm franchise. Starring Paul Giamatti, Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Daniel Roebuck, Jonny Weston and Fabianne Therese, John Dies at the End hits VOD on December 27th, then opens in theaters January 25th. Check out the trailer followed by the full synopsis....[IGN]

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New trailer for Don Coscarelli's 'John Dies at the End'

One of the best reviewed films from last year's Sundance is also one of the weirdest. John Dies at the End is the latest from writer/director Don Coscarelli, the cult horror-comedy icon who gave us Phantasm, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep. Those three movies should give you a pretty good idea of what you're in for.

Based on the outrageous novel by David Wong, John Dies at the End follows two slackers(Rob Mayes, Chase Williamson) who experience the baddest of bad trips after taking an illegal street drug known as Soy Sauce. Not just any bad trip, but they actually traverse time and space, returning as pawns in an intergalactic game where all mankind is depending on them as heroes Judging by the look of things in the newly released trailer, we're all screwed. Crazy monsters made out of meat products, strange flying insects, and alternate worlds populated by mutant females are all part of the psychedelic ride. Paul Giamatti, Daniel Roebuck, Jonny Weston, Doug Jones, Clancy Brown, and Glynn Turman co-star.

John Dies at the End hits VOD on December 28th before opening in theaters January 25th. Check out the trailer below...

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New Kickstarter campaign launched for Davd Fincher's 'The Goon'!

There needs to be a movie version of The Goon right now. Eric Powell has been trying to get an animated, big screen adaptation of his supernatural comic book series off the ground for a few years and has been stonewalled at every turn. This despite David Fincher being on board as a fan and producer, along with a fantastic trailer and early test footage that perfectly captures the blend of gruff violence and humor of the series. But Powell, Fincher, and Blur Studios haven't given up, and have launched their own Kickstarter campaign to raise money to get the film made.

Powell hinted at this year's San Diego Comic-Con that he'd be launching the campaign, and now we see that his target goal is $400,000 to directly fund a story reel that will be used to try and sell the concept to studios and get it made. Fincher will produce, with Tim Miller and Jeff Fowler co-directing. Clancy Brown will voice the brutish Goon, a mobster's enforcer who uses his strength to combat demons, zombies, and other supernatural forces. Paul Giamatti will voice the Goon's buddy, Franky.

I'll definitely be sending a few dollars there way, and hopefully before long we'll be talking about a date for production to finally begin. Simply go here if you're interested in donating and receiving some cool perks in the process. Or if you need a little more convincing, check out the original trailer below....

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