'Low Tide' Trailer: Hidden Treasure Makes For A Deadly Summer

Imagine Stand by Me mixed with Bling Ring and it might look something like Low Tide. A24's latest thriller stars It and Midnight Special actor Jaeden Martell, along with Keean Johnson (Alita: Battle Angel) and Alex Neustaedter (A.X.L.), as Jersey Shore kids who spend their summers breaking into homes and stealing valuables. When two of them find something of extraordinary value and hide it, one of the other boys finds out and goes a little bit crazy.

The film was written and directed by Kevin McMullin, and by the look of it I'm reminded of 2004's Mean Creek, which saw something terrible split up another group of friends. But this is clearly a much darker movie than that, and, if marketed well by A24, could be a decent bridge from the summer into the awards season. Shea Whigham, Daniel Zolghadri, and Kristine Froseth co-star.

Low Tide will get an exclusive DirecTV Cinema run beginning September 5th, followed by a theatrical release on October 4th.

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Shea Whigham Reveals 'Joker' Role, Talks Joaquin Phoenix's Performance

Remember when Todd Phillips' Joker movie sounded like an awful idea? Yeah, well that was before Joaquin Phoenix came aboard to play the Clown Prince of Crime, and he was surrounded by a tremendous cast of legends and character actors. Things are going so well Warner Bros. felt confident enough to move Wonder Woman 1984 to the following year, leaving Joker as one of only two DCEU movies in 2019.

Just one of the many reasons to look forward to this '80s-set Joker origin story is a member of the supporting cast, Shea Whigham, who until this new interview with Collider was in an unspecified role. He not only reveals what his part is now, but has a lot of praise for the work Phoenix is doing...

“I’ll say this, Bill Camp, from The Night Of, is one of our great actors. He’s finally getting his due. He and I play two cops from Gotham P.D., in 1981 when the city was tough. We’re investigating something that’s just happened, at the start of the piece. We’re trying to get to the bottom of it, and it leads to where it leads to. You know, it’s rare that I’ve been on a set where it feels like it crackles. It’s pretty amazing…I want to have an experience. I don’t call it a job. I don’t say that I have a job. I have a gig, or a piece, or a film, or a show, but it’s never a job… We’re having an experience on Joker.”

“We’re in the middle of it, right now. It’s intense. For me, it’s as good as it gets. I’m flowing back and forth between television and film, and it’s not lost on me, to work with Joaquin [Phoenix] and to see what he’s doing. And Todd Phillips has put this amazing script together It’s the origin story. People haven’t seen how the Joker becomes the Joker, and oh, my God, man, it’s incredible. It really is.”

Clearly he's being deliberately cloudy here, except when talking about the performances of Camp and Phoenix. Camp can be seen right now in Paul Dano's directorial debut, Wildlife, while Phoenix has been seen in four movies this year already: Mary Magdalene, Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot, You Were Never Really Here, and The Sisters Brothers.

Joker hits theaters on October 4th 2019, and everything we've seen makes me think Phoenix is going to give us a take on the character we've never experienced before.

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'City Of Lies' Trailer: Only Johnny Depp Can Solve Biggie And Tupac's Murders

Here's one thing I know; when I think of the one man who can finally solve the murders of Tupac and Biggie the first name that comes to mind is Johnny Depp. It almost sounds like a piece from The Onion, but Depp really is starring in a movie that delves into the hip-hop legends' deaths, titled City of Lies, and the trailer for it has arrived. Try to take it seriously because it might be pretty good despite how it looks.

First of all, the film is directed by Brad Furman who was behind The Lincoln Lawyer aka the film that kicked off the McConnaissance. Um, he also directed Runner Runner so don't get too excited he can jumpstart Depp's flagging career. Depp plays real-life former LAPD detective Russell Poole who teamed up with a journalist to investigate the long-unsolved murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. The case has been open for more than two decades and while there are many suspects nobody has been charged or convicted.

Somehow the trailer looks of a lesser quality than the USA Network series Unsolved which is exploring the same territory and even features Poole as a character played by Jimmi Simpson. In some respects the grittiness works, especially when backed by the sounds of the Norious B.I.G., but it's less effective when the dour Grindelwald-looking Depp is on screen alongside Forest Whitaker.  Here's the official synopsis:

Based on the true story of one of the most notorious and unsolved cases in recent time, CITY OF LIES is a provocative thriller revealing a never-before-seen look at the infamous murder of The Notorious B.I.G. shortly following the death of Tupac. L.A.P.D. detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) has spent years trying to solve his biggest case, but after two decades, the investigation remains open. “Jack” Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies. Relentless in their hunt, these two determined men threaten to uncover the conspiracy and crack the foundation of the L.A.P.D. and an entire city.

City of Lies opens September 7th and co-stars Neil Brown Jr., Rockmond Dunbar, and Shea Whigham.

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Sundance Review: Paul Rudd Strikes Out In 'The Catcher Was A Spy'

The Catcher Was A Spy has a great story to tell. Mo Berg was a  veteran Major League Baseball player who, after he finally retired, somehow became a spy fighting for our side during WWII. It's certainly intriguing to see how Berg could go from catching fastballs to hunting a German scientist, but despite a promising cast led by Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, Mark Strong, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, and Sienna Miller, the film misses the strike zone by a wide margin.

Berg was more than just a baseball player for the Red Sox; he was brilliant man with multiple degrees and spoke many different languages, which made him something of an ambassador for the sport. He also had his share of secrets and was pretty good at keeping them, like his relationship with Estella (Sienna Miller), a woman he clearly has feelings for but keeps at arm's length. Rumors persist that Berg is secretly a gay man, and one teammate actually seeks to expose him, but it's a plotline that is quietly dropped and never seen again.

Berg's baseball career is basically just a footnote, and director Ben Lewin (He was here a few years ago with The Sessions) and screenwriter Robert Rodat  focus on his being assigned by the U.S. military to assassinate Werner Heisenberg (Strong), a physicist they believe is developing an atomic bomb for the Germans. Sadly, the retelling of that story is pretty bland and lacks any urgency whatsoever for what amounts to a race to win the war.  Lewin seems out of his depth as a director of espionage and action, even while Howard Shore's able score plumbs the shadowy depths of intrigue the film so readily wants to be.

But not only is Lewin unsuitable as a director, so is Paul Rudd badly miscast as Berg. He's simply not the right actor for the kind of rugged film noir hero the role demands. Now if this were a parody or a WWII satire then Rudd would be your guy. And since he's in every scene the entire movie topples and there really is no way to recover. Not even the supporting cast can do much to save it. All are fine, but that's all...they're just fine. The only ones I would say are badly misused are Guy Pearce and poor Sienna Miller, relegated to yet another thankless role as the forgotten woman beside an interesting man.

The Catcher Was A Spy does no favors to Mo Berg's story, which is ready made for the big Hollywood treatment if put in the right hands.

Rating: 2 out of 5

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'Beirut' Trailer: Jon Hamm Is Recruited For A Dangerous Mission

I never let a moment go by to praise Brad Anderson as one of today's most underrated filmmakers. If you haven't experienced his snowy mystery Transsiberian you are seriously missing out, but he's done other great work such as The Machinist and Session 9.  Next week he'll be in Park City for the Sundance debut of Beirut, which sees him  teaming up with Michael Clayton and 'Bourne' writer Tony Gilroy for  a political thriller with a hell of a cast.

Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Shea Whigham, Dean Norris, and Larry Pine star in the '80s set film about a  U.S. diplomat who is sent in to Beirut on a dangerous mission by the CIA where it's tough to tell the allies from his enemies.  Here's the synopsis:

A U.S. diplomat (Jon Hamm) flees Lebanon in 1972 after a tragic incident at his home. Ten years later, he is called back to war-torn Beirut by CIA operatives (Rosamund Pike) to negotiate for the life of a friend he left behind.

Not the typical movie you expect to see at Sundance, which is all the more reason to track it down. Hopefully I'll have a review for you soon, but if not Beirut will be in theaters on April 13th.

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New Trailer For 'Kong: Skull Island' Hails The King Of Apes

Over the last week Legendary and Warner Bros. have been teasing a new trailer for Kong: Skull Island. The film is just the next step in a growing movie universe that will lead to an eventual crossover with Godzilla, which is pretty amazing when you sit down and think about it. None of us would have considered such a thing was possible just a couple of years ago, but Hollywood's "franchise EVERYTHING!" mentality has opened that door, so it isn't all bad.

The best thing about the new trailer, and the approach taken by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is that he isn't afraid to put the Eighth Wonder of the World out there in the open. There's no hiding the giant ape the way Gareth Edwards kept a veil of mystery around Godzilla. Within moments Kong is out there wrecking shop, and leaving the humans stranded on his home island scrambling for a response. Here's the synopsis:

When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature, a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man.

I also dig how little the plot reveals. We know Tom Hiddleston leads the pack as a Special Forces officer, with Oscar winner Brie Larson as a war photographer. Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Kebbell, John Goodman, Shea Whigham, Jing Tian, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, and John Ortiz co-star as other unwanted guests Kong will try to dispose of.

Kong: Skull Island opens March 10th 2017.

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Nina Dobrev Joins 'Arrivals', Shea Whigham Goes to 'Kong: Skull Island', Jean Reno Makes 'The Promise'

The Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev, who will also be seen in The Final Girls soon, has joined the cast of indie drama, Arrivals. The film stars Asa Butterfield and Maisie Williams, telling the story of a hypochondriac airport worker in Cape Town who learns to overcome his fears while helping a terminally ill teen with her bucket list.  Dobrev will play a flight attendant and love interest for Butterfield's character. Peter Hutchings is directing from Fergal Rock’s script. [Deadline]

Agent Carter's Shea Whigham is headed to Kong: Skull Island. He and John Ortiz (Silver Linings Playbook) are joining the blockbuster flick directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starring Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, and more. While there aren't any details on their characters, they're likely to be part of the expedition to the mysterious island home of King Kong. Kong: Skull Island opens March 10th 2017.

Leon is back!! The Professional's Jean Reno, James Cromwell (Six Feet Under), and Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) have boarded Terry George's period romance, The Promise. Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, and Charlotte Le Bon play three sides of a love triangle during the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Reno will play a French admiral deeply conflicted in the face of life-threatening danger. [Variety]

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Sundance Review: 'Lila & Eve' starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez

It's late, it's the final big premiere of Sundance...let's have some fun, shall we? Well, that should have been the plan for Charles Stone III's gritty and utterly ridiculous revenge thriller, Lila & Eve, which stars Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez (who previously co-starred in Out of Sight together) as a pair of grieving mothers whose children have been killed. Or are they? There's a pretty big twist coming that would have worked in a movie that didn't take itself so darn seriously, but as it stands there's a reason why this film was unceremoniously dumped in such an unattractive slot.

Davis plays Lila, a working class single mom in Atlanta whose life is ripped apart when eldest son Stephon is gunned down in a drive-by.  Unable to keep it together well enough to care for her one remaining son, Justin, she enlists in a support group for mothers of murdered children. While most of the other mothers spout lame platitudes, Lila finds a willing partner in rage when she meets Eve (Lopez), a sassy interior decorator also looking for justice of the vengeful variety.  Maybe if the cops (Shea Whigham and Andre Royo) took an interest in the case Lila wouldn't have reason to do what happens next, but then that would require the film actually be about a mother's coping with grief, and who wants to watch that when it's more fun to watch gangsters get gunned down?

The problem is that Stone is trying to have it both ways....well, he's trying to have it multiple ways. Part Dirty Harry, part Thelma & Louise (the similar title can't be a coincidence), and part psychological mystery, the film gets ridiculous as the women begin hunting down the alleged killers. Finding any number of random thugs proves incredibly simple for a couple of inexperienced junior sleuths (the cops are always a step behind, of course), and when the first encounter ends with Eve shooting the guy it's only the first in a growing pile of bodies.  Screenwriter Patrick Gilfillan slathers on one sleazy episode after another, which is no small feat given how much time is spent giving away the unnecessary plot swerve. For awhile this seems like it could be enjoyable as a campy guilty pleasure, but alas the whole thing is too strict and serious. Perhaps because that's what we've come to expect from Davis who does her typically strong work as the grieving, desperate Lila, who is nearly swallowed up by her need for vengeance. She gives every role her determined best even when the material doesn't call for it. Lopez has the better role as the brazen, bloodthirsty Eve. She's the only one who seems to notice just how off-the-rails this whole thing is and plays the role with the necessary amount of scene-chewing.

Prior to the screening, Stone excitedly stepped on stage and talked about all of the big emotions in the film. He wasn't lying. Everything is dialed up to 10 and it tramples what could have been a welcome message about grieving women sticking together in tough times. Case in point: a scene in which Lila is confronted by the police and nearly arrested, only to have the women in her support group step in to vouch for her. Nice moment...until they begin lying to protect her, then justifying those lies to themselves. How does this make them better than the criminals they hate? The crowd cheered anyway. Then again, it WAS late. Maybe they were just happy to finally be going home.

Rating: 2 out of 5

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Riley Keough to Lead 'The Girlfriend Experience' Series; Shea Whigham joins 'Agent Carter'

Steven Soderbergh may have retired from directing feature films, but fortunately for us he's turned his attention to the small screen. His new Cinemax series The Knick is one of the best things on TV right now, and earlier this year we learned Soderbergh would be turning his film The Girlfriend Experience into a series for the Starz network. Now we know who will be taking on the lead role, and it's Riley Keough, who worked with Soderbergh on Magic Mike. Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan will spearhead the show about the life of a high-priced call girl who provides the complete "girlfriend experience" as part of her job. [ThePlaylist]

The final season of Boardwalk Empire is now underway, but one of its stars has already found his next project and it's a pretty big one. Shea Whigham has landed the male lead in Marvel's Agent Carter series, joining Hayley Atwell, Chad Michael Murray, and Envar Gjokaj. He'll play SSR Chief Roger Dooley, who in the comics was a sex-obsessed SHIELD agent who usurped control of the organization and illegally imprisoned She-Hulk. That probably won't happen on Agent Carter given that it's set around WWII, but you never know. [Deadline]

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Emily Ratajkowski joins 'Entourage'; Ashley Greene Enters 'Shangra-La Suite'; Shea Whigham Gets 'Term Life'

* From video vixen to movie star, Emily Ratajkowski has made the most of being the hot chick in Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'. She's already wrapped up her role in David Fincher's Gone Girl opposite Ben Affleck, and now she's joined the starry cast of Entourage. Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven are back in the big screen version of the HBO series, with new faces including Billy Bob Thornton, Haley Joel Osment, Kid Cudi, and Liam Neeson. Directed by Doug Ellin, Entourage opens June 12th 2015.

* Strange casting as Ashley Greene will play Priscilla Pressley in Shangra-La Suite, opposite Ron Livingston as Elvis. Directed and co-written by Eddie O'Keefe, the film doesn't seem to have all that much to do with their relationship at all. Instead it's "set in 1974 and focuses on two troubled 20-year-olds who set out to kill The King." Interesting premise. [Deadline]

* Shea Whigham, who tends to be awesome in pretty much everything, has joined the Vince Vaughn action flick, Term Life. Directed by Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story), the film has Vaughn as a low life that the entire criminal underworld wants dead. In a rare act of selflessness he takes out a $1M insurance policy to benefit his estranged daughter, only to discover that it doesn't take affect for 21 days, meaning he'll have to stay alive until then. Pretty cool concept, and with a cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld, Bill Paxton, Mike Epps, Jordi Molla, Jonathan Banks, and William Levy, this could be the first Vaughn in awhile worth getting excited over. Whigham will play a vice cop estranged from his own family. [THR]

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Morgan Freeman, Vincent Cassel, and Olga Kurylenko Gain 'Momentum'

 Clint Eastwood doesn't seem to be winding down his career in the least, with Jersey Boys on the way and his continued efforts to mount a remake of A Star is Born. But we've also seen that some who have been working with him behind the scenes are looking to follow in his footsteps. His long time producer Robert Larenz made his directorial debut last year with the baseball drama Trouble with the Curve, and now Stephen Campanelli, Eastwood's camera operator since 1995's The Bridges of Madison County, is helming his first film.

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Sure Shots: Katt Williams; 'The Hobbit'; Shea Whigham

* Although filming is already underway on Scary Movie 5, when you have a chance to add someone as funny as Katt Williams you do it. Williams is the latest to join the horror spoof, to be directed by Malcolm Lee and largely riff on 2010's Black Swan. He joins Ashley Tisdale, Erica Ash, Molly Shannon, Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Terry Crews, Heather Locklear, Mike Tyson, and a slew of reality TV stars who hopefully will be slaughtered in the first act. Scary Movie 5 opens on April 12th 2013. [THR]

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Sure shots: The Last Stand; The Silver Linings Playbook; The East

Three small updates to some movies I've been keeping a close eye on the past few months, so let's get right to it...

* Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand is currently shooting, but that hasn't stopped director Kim Ji-Woon(I Saw the Devil) from amping up the hotness quotient of the cast to an incredible degree. Fast rising star Genesis Rodriguez has joined the cast, with Variety reporting she'll play an FBI agent, presumably on the side of Schwarzenegger's small town sheriff. The report has her on the side of Eduardo Noriega, who is playing the villain, so it's unclear if that's a mistake or a spoiled plot twist. D'oh. Jaime Alexander, Forest Whittaker, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford, Rodrigo Santoro, and Harry Dean Stanton co-star. Rodriguez has a busy few months ahead, promising she'll be more of a household name this time next year. She'll appear in the Sam Worthington-led thriller, Man On a Ledge, and also has roles in What To Expect When You're Expecting and Will Ferrell's Spanish language comedy, Case de mi Padre.

* Shea Whigham is probably best recognized right now for his role as Steve Buscemi's younger bro in HBO's Boardwalk Empire(still never watched it. Crazy, I know.), but the fact is he's been a very good supporting actor for a long time. This year has seen him make a splash in two small but memorable roles in The Lincoln Lawyer, and as Michael Shannon's concerned buddy in Take Shelter. Now he's set to join The Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell. Based on the book by Matthew Quick, the story centers on a former high school teacher recently released from a psychiatric facility, who seeks to reclaim his life by finding the proverbial "silver linings". Bradley Cooper, Jacki Weaver, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker, Julia Stiles, and John Ortiz also star. [Deadline]

* I may not have been a big fan of Brit Marling's overrated festival hit, Another Earth, but I love what she's putting together in the eco-terrorist thriller, The East. Teaming back up with director Zal Batmanglij(Sound of My Voice), she stars as an undercover security agent infiltrating an anarchist organization known as The East. Alexander Skarsgard and Ellen Page are members of the group; with roles secured for Patricia Clarkson and Toby Kebbell in the film as well. Variety and THR report that Shiloh Fernandez(Red Riding Hood) and Aldis Hodge(Red Sands) have been added. Fernandez will play a free spirited member of the terrorist group, while Hodge is an ex-military man affiliated with them.

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