Negromancer News Bits and Bites from September 18th to 24th, 2022 - Update #20

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

MOVIES - From THR:  Young actress, Storm Reid ("A Wrinkle in Time," HBO's "Euphoria"), has landed the lead role in the horror movie, "The Nun 2." The film is due in theaters Sept. 8th, 2023.

MOVIES - From THR:  The duo of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein ("Freaks") will direct "Final Destination 6," which will be a relaunch of the franchise.

SCANDAL - From Variety:  In Canada, "Riverdale" and "Supernatural" actor Ryan Grantham has been sentenced to life in prison for March 2020 killing of his mother, Barbara Waite.

MOVIE - From Variety:  Lead actor, Jon Hamm, gave back 60 percent of his salary and director Greg Mottola gave back some of his salary, so that they could get extra days of filming in for their new film, "Confess, Fletch."  The film is a reboot of the 1980s Chevy Chase "Fletch" film series.

STREAMING - From Variety:  Multiple Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan will lead director Steve McQueen's World War II film, "Epic."  The film, which is being produced for Apple+, will focus on a group of Londoners during the Nazi aerial bombing campaign of WWII.

STREAMING - From Deadline:  FX's "Reservation Dogs" gets a third season that will stream exclusively on "Hulu."

NETFLIX - From Deadline:  Four cast members of the original "Beverly Hills Cop": Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot, are returning for the Netflix sequel, "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley."  The film is currently shooting in California.

DISNEY - From TheWrap:  An oral history of how 1993's "Hocus Pocus" went from box office dud to holiday hit.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  Multiple Oscar and Emmy winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will make her feature film debut with Paramount's "Brilliance."  Will Smith is producing and may star in the film.  Sharmeen directed several episodes of Disney+/Marvel Studios' "Ms. Marvel."

SCANDAL - From Deadline:  The plaintiffs have dismissed their sex abuse civil suit against actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  The site has a list of television premiere dates for new and returning series on broadcast, cable and streaming for the 2022-23 television season.

BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 9/16 to 9/18/2022 weekend box office is Sony Pictures' "The Woman King" with an estimated take of 19 million dollars.

From Here:  Leroy's review of "The Woman King."

From Deadline:  In an interview with the site, "The Woman King" star Shelia Atim talks about triumph of the film's "dark-skinned" Black women stars.

MOVIES - From Variety:  Woody Allen has officially announced his retirement from filmmaking. He will start shooting his final film in a "couple of weeks."  The film will be shot in Paris and will be entirely in French.

FILM FESTIVAL - From Deadline:  Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film, "The Fablemans," wins "The People's Choice Award" at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has decided not to renew his deal with Starz.  His G-Unit Film & Television is reportedly entertaining offers from several streamers and studios.

MOVIES - From Variety:  Sony Pictures is developing a new "Karate Kid" film with a June 7, 2024 release date.  It would be the first since the 2010 reboot starring Jaden Smith.

OBITS:

From Variety:  Film and television actress, Louise Fletcher, has died at the age of 89, Friday, September 23, 2022.  Fletcher is best known for the role of "Nurse Ratched" in the 1975 film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for which she won the Academy Award for "Best Actress."  She also had a recurring role on the TV series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-99) and was a two-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee.

From Deadline:  Former Major League Baseball player and manager, Maury Wills, has died at the age off 89, Monday, September 19, 2022.  Wills was a member of the 1959, 1963, and 1969 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series teams, and he was the 1962 National League MVP.  Wills had the MLB's first 100-stolen base season and is considered to have revived base-stealing as a part of baseball strategy in the 1960s.

BRITTNEY GRINER:

From Reuters:  Russia says that it is ready to talk prisoner swamp for Brittney Griner and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, but also scolds the U.S. Embassy.

From TheDailyBeast:   Legendary NBA bad boy and champion (Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls), Dennis Rodman claims that he has been given permission to go to Russia and help free imprisoned hostage, WNBA star, Brittney Griner.

From Vox:  Vox's Jonathan Guyer talks the Brittney Griner case with Danielle Gilbert, a Dartmouth professor who is writing a book about states and rogue actors that take hostages.

From ESPN:   A Russian court sentenced WNBA star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison Thursday, Aug. 4th.  Griner was arrested Feb. 17 for bringing cannabis into the country and pleaded guilty July 7, though the case continued under Russian law.

From ESPN:  The Biden administration has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

From RSN:  "Will Support From LeBron James, Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian, and Other Celebrities Help Free Brittney Griner From a Russian Prison?" by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar via Substack

From ESPN:  Detained WNBA star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty on Thursday to bringing hashish oil into Russia, telling a judge that she had done so "inadvertently" while asking the court for mercy.

From CBSSports:  The Brittney Griner situation explained.

From RSN:  According to The Washington Post Editorial Board: "Brittney Griner is a hostage, plain and simple."

Final Destination 5: More of the Same, But with a Twist

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Final Destination 5 (2009)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, and some language
DIRECTOR: Steven Quale
WRITERS: Eric Heisserer (based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick)
PRODUCERS: Craig Perry and Warren Zide
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Brian Pearson
EDITOR: Eric Sears
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Ellen Wroe, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner, Courtney B. Vance, Brent Stait, and Tony Todd

Final Destination 5 is a 2011 supernatural horror film and the fifth movie in the Final Destination film series. This time Death stalks eight co-workers who avoided a grisly demise in a massive suspension-bridge collapse.

Final Destination 5 focuses on Sam Lawton (Nicholas D’Agosto), an office worker and short order cook/budding chef. Sam joins his coworkers as they travel by bus to a company retreat, but early in the trip, Sam discovers that there is a large road construction project underway, which gives him a bad feeling. When the bus comes to a stop on the North Bay Bridge, Sam has a terrifying premonition of a horrible disaster that costs many people their lives.

Sam and, his girlfriend Molly Harper (Emma Bell), and six other colleagues exit the bus and survive the bridge collapse. Later, at a memorial service, William Bludworth (Tony Todd), a local coroner, warns them that by surviving they have messed with Death’s design. Not long afterwards, the survivors start dying one by one in bizarre accidents, and those who remain alive must accept the fact that Death is stalking them. However, Sam and his friends believe that they have found a way to cheat Death, but can they cheat the one who makes all the rules?

Final Destination 5 returns to the darker tone and more character driven story of the original film. As in the first movie, the characters in Final Destination 5 have ambitions, dreams, and goals, as well as personal setbacks, internal conflicts, and relationship problems that will make the audience care about and root for them. In some cases, you may even feel a tinge of regret when some of these characters die gruesome deaths.

In the lead up to some of the deaths, the movie’s pace is painfully slow, as if the director decided to meditate on the last moments of each life about to end in a bloody, ghastly death. I think that just screws up the story’s rhythm and blanches the film’s nicely dark mood. Luckily, the massive suspension bridge disaster that practically opens the film (which is probably the best staged disaster of the entire Final Destination franchise) gives the story enough momentum to carry it through the dry spots. There is also a twist at the end that fans of the series will love.

When I recently reviewed the fourth film in the franchise, The Final Destination (2009), I wrote that it had the best ending since the original film. Now, I must admit that Final Destination 5 has the best ending since the original.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, August 13, 2011

"The Final Destination" is Free Death Porn

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Final Destination (2009)
Running time: 82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality
DIRECTOR: David R. Ellis
WRITERS: Eric Bress (based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick)
PRODUCERS: Craig Perry and Warren Zide
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Glen MacPherson (director of photography)
EDITOR: Mark Stevens
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

HORROR/THRILLER/ACTION/MYSTERY

Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Krista Allen, and Andrew Fiscella

The Final Destination is a 2009 supernatural horror film and is also the fourth film in the Final Destination film series. The Final Destination takes place three years after the events of Final Destination 3 (2006), which began with the “Devil’s Flight roller coaster accident.” Once again, a group of teens survive an accident in which none of them were meant to survive, so Death stalks them one by one, killing them in elaborately-staged and bizarre accidents.

The Final Destination begins with four young friends enjoying car racing at McKinley Speedway. One of them, Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo), has a premonition of a terrible car crash that leads to the deaths of several people, including him and his friends. Nick persuades his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), and their friends, Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb) and Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano), to leave. There is indeed a horrendous multi-car crash that leads to death and devastation, but Nick, his friends, and several other people who were supposed to die survive.

Sometime, after the crash, Nick hears that a few of the survivors have been killed in bizarre accidents. He also discovers that there were other disasters in which one of the survivors had a premonition which saved lives. When he learns that those survivors died one by one in strange accidents, Nick starts to believe that Death is also stalking the survivors of the McKinley Speedway crash. Nick and Lori join another survivor, security guard George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), and set out to break the chain of deaths and hopefully save as many lives as possible. But does Nick really understand how this game of Death works?

The Final Destination is like other Final Destination films – full of mayhem, desperation, death, blood, and mutilated bodies, but this movie isn’t just another gory horror flick. Every time I thought The Final Destination was turning to crap, something inventive, creepy, surprising, and/or shocking pulled me right back into the movie.

The characters are weak and are barely interesting and few of them are even likeable. It is not so much that you care about them; it’s just that you only anticipate the next horrible depiction of violent and bizarre death every time they are on screen. So, the movie works even without having at least one outstanding character, although Mykelti Williamson as George and Andrew Fiscella as the mechanic Andy Kewzer stand out by making something of the nothing the screenplay gives them.

The Final Destination is fun and has the best ending since the original film. It makes me look forward to the next installment.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Third "Final Destination" Film Not a Charm

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Final Destination 3 (2006)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong horror violence/gore, language, and some nudity
DIRECTOR: James Wong
WRITERS: Glen Morgan and James Wong
PRODUCERS: Craig Perry, Warren Zide, Glen Morgan, and James Wong
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert McLachlan
EDITOR: Chris G. Willingham

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Texas Battle, Jamie Isaac Conde, Amanda Crew, Sam Easton, and Patrick Gallagher

Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a high school senior, fails to stop an ill-fated roller coaster ride after she has a vision of dying a gruesome death with her friends when the ride goes awry. Some people remain on the coaster, and a mechanical disaster does indeed cause the death of several of Wendy’s friends, including her boyfriend. However, it’s soon clear to her and Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman), another survivor, that they were supposed to be killed in the coaster accident. Now, Death is revisiting the survivors and picking them off one by one in a series of grisly accidents.

When I saw the teaser poster for Final Destination 3 in a movie theatre lobby late last year, I was ecstatic. I’d hoped that they’d make a third film in this franchise; in fact, after seeing Final Destination 2, I was sure that New Line Cinema would make another one. Still, as time passed, I forgot about it. Now, that I’ve finally seen the third film, I wish that it were a little better, and I wish they’d put more effort into making it more than just a stiff installment in a popular horror franchise.

Final Destination 3 certainly has its moments. The opening roller coaster sequence and the lead into it are an absolute blast, the kind of the thrill ride the first film offered. Throughout this picture film, the atmosphere is perfectly chilly and filled with a sense of impending doom and creeping dread. Still, it all feels clunky, and not having much of a plot doesn’t help. The gruesome deaths feel contrived; of course, they are, as this is a work of fiction. Still, it shouldn’t seem so obviously overdone, gruesome just for the sake of being a hard R-rated horror flick.

The first film was a cool, teen horror movie with a good-looking young cast. The second film was a grisly delight stuffed to the gills with novel ways for the characters to die painful accidental deaths, and it was darkly comic with a sense of gallows humor surpassing its pedigree. This one is more mechanical than macabre, and only a few of the ghastly deaths really hit home. Some will make you cringe in genuine horror; others will make you cringe in embarrassment for the filmmakers.

As horror movies go, Final Destination 3 is not so much cinematic as it is DVD. Even horror fans who consider horror movies a must-see will find that in the case of this scary movie, they can wait.

5 of 10
C+

Sunday, February 12, 2006

"Final Destination 2" Travels to Grand Guignol

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Final Destination 2 (2003)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language, drug content and some nudity
DIRECTOR: David R. Ellis
WRITERS: J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress; from a story by Jeffrey Reddick, J. Mackye Gruber, and Eric Bress (based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick)
PRODUCERS: Craig Perry and Warren Zide
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gary Capo (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eric Sears
COMPOSER: Shirley Walker

HORROR/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Kimberly Corman, Ali Larter, Michael Landes, David Paetkau, James Kirk, Lynda Boyd, Keegan Connor Tracy, Terrence T.C. Carson, Justina Machado, and Tony Todd

When we left the movie Final Destination a few years ago, seven people had miraculously been thrown off a plane that would explode within minutes of takeoff – the Explosion of Flight 180. Unfortunately, those passengers were meant to die on that plane, so Death stalked them and knocked them off one by one in a series of bizarre accidents. By the end of the film, only two of the miracle seven survived.

Final Destination 2 and enter another set of fresh face teens leaving for fun in the sun when one of them has a premonition of a fantastic and horrific traffic accident that takes many lives – the Pile-up on Route 23. Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) manages to save some of those lives, but she, like her male predecessor from the first film, has fooled with Death’s intricate design, and he comes stumping for her and the rest of the supposed-to-be-dead crew.

Final Destination 2 is simply a fabulously entertaining film. At once trashy and cheesy, it is also very well composed and a sheer joy to watch. During the first ten minutes or so, I had mixed feeling. The film didn’t seem like it would amount to much; then, it just exploded with unbridled mayhem and becomes this delirious display of gruesome accidents. In fact, the sequel is far bloodier and gorier than the original, but it has a peculiar sense of humor like that of a leering ax-wielding murderer. The filmmakers don’t seem to take the film seriously, but they were certainly quite serious in the making of it.

Director David R. Ellis was a long time stunt coordinator and second unit director, so that meant he handled many action sequences, and it shows here. The movie’s opening car wreck easily rivals the execution and has the thrill of the famous train wreck in The Fugitive. I don’t know if Ellis is a diamond in the rough that no one in Hollywood noticed before the last few years, but he has the touch of top director. He builds a level of suspense and a sense of dread that’s nonstop, and he can surprise you when you didn’t think there was anything left in the film to discover.

For those who like or liked Scream, Final Destination 2 is in that vein, but more tongue in cheek, more gruesome, and more darkly comic. Its inspired wackiness makes for a film that is as good or better than the original. Horror movie sequels almost never surpass or even match their originals, in box office or quality; I don’t know about the former, but 2 soars in quality. In fact, it stands alone quite well; the sign of well thought out filmmaking. Think of the gore of 80’s slasher films, the non-stop mayhem of most action movies, and the cynicism of late 90’s horror and suspense thrillers and you have Final Destination 2.

7 of 10
B+

Fifth "Final Destination" Movie Begins Production in Canada

New Line Begins Production on “Final Destination 5 – 3D”

The Next Installment in the Horror Series Once Again Proves That No Matter Where You Run, No Matter Where You Hide…You Can’t Cheat Death.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Production is underway on New Line Cinema’s fifth installment of the gripping “Final Destination” franchise, which began back in 2000, with the original film quickly becoming a cult hit. The new victims of Death’s plan are part of a cast led by Emma Bell (“Frozen,” TV’s “The Walking Dead”) and Nick D’Agosto (“Fired Up!,” TV’s “Heroes”). The film is being shot on location in Vancouver, Canada.

The second of the Final Destination films to be shot in 3-D, “Final Destination 5” is being directed by Steve Quale, marking his major feature film directorial debut. Producer Craig Perry (“American Pie”) returns for the fifth time, working with executive producers Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Erik Holmberg, Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and David Neustadter. The screenplay was written by Eric Heisserer, with revisions by Gary Dauberman; Heisserer is no stranger to the horror genre, having penned New Line’s recent hit “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“Final Destination 5” brings together an ensemble cast that includes Bell and D’Agosto, along with Miles Fisher (TV’s “Mad Men” and “Gossip Girl”), Arlen Escarpeta (“Friday the 13th”), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (TV’s “The Bold and the Beautiful”), P.J. Byrne (“Dinner for Schmucks”) and Ellen Wroe (TV’s “Huge”). Rounding out the rest of the cast are Courtney B. Vance (TV’s “Flash Forward,” “ER”), David Koechner (“The Office,” “Anchorman”) and “Final Destination” franchise icon Tony Todd (“Hatchet II”).

In this fifth installment, Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one man’s premonition saves a group of coworkers from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse. But this group of unsuspecting souls was never supposed to survive, and, in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group frantically tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda.

Collaborating with Steve Quale behind the scenes are director of photography Brian Pearson (“Drive Angry 3D,” “My Bloody Valentine 3D”); production designer David Sandefur (“Repo Men,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth”); editor Eric Sears (“Shooter”) and costume designer Jori Woodman (“Eight Below”).

The film is a production of New Line Cinema and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.


ABOUT NEW LINE CINEMA:
New Line Cinema continues to be one of the most successful independent film companies. For more than 40 years, its mission has been to produce innovative, popular, profitable entertainment in the best creative environment. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line produced the Oscar®-winning “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which is a landmark in the history of film franchises. New Line Cinema is a division of Warner Bros.

Death Still Becomes Original "Final Destination"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Final Destination (2000)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and terror, and for language
DIRECTOR: James Wong
WRITERS: Jeffrey Reddick, Glen Morgan, and James Wong; based upon a story by Jeffrey Reddick
PRODUCERS: Glen Morgan, Craig Perry, and Warren Zide
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert McLachlan (director of photography)
EDITOR: James Coblentz
COMPOSER: Shirley Walker

HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY with elements of action

Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Tony Todd, Kristen Cloke, Seann William Scott, and Daniel Roebuck

A group of seven, six students and a teacher, disembark from an airplane that eventually explodes less than a minute after it leaves the runway. It all begins when student Alexander “Alex” Chance Browning (Devon Sawa) has a vision of his and his fellow passengers’ demise as the plane falls disintegrates around them. The survivors are left in shock, and Alex quickly becomes a pariah because of his vision of the plane’s destruction. Because of the strangeness of Alex’s vision, local FBI agents are suspicious of him. He begins to have more visions and premonitions of death returning for he and the other survivors, and the only one who shares his dread is a fellow outcast, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter). One by one, the survivors begin to die mysteriously, as Alex races against time to unravel the puzzle of death’s design.

Final Destination fits in neatly with the wave of late 90’s teen thrillers and horror films, but it really works as a supernatural suspense thriller. It has an interesting premise built around the idea of a person having a specific time to die: if you avoid some accident that could have or was meant to kill you, are you really cheating death? Can you cheat Death? If you deny Death your life, what do you have to do to keep cheating Death if he keeps coming back for his prize?

Producer/co-writer Glen Morgan and director/co-writer James Wong are not strangers to the weird, both having worked on the television programs “The X-Files” and “Millennium.” They’ve created a nice, little thriller with enough bumps, shimmering shadows, and chilly atmosphere to keep an audience stuck to the back of their seats. The idea of death lurking around the corner and setting up fatal accidents like a snickering, prank crazed teen raises the hackles. This is one you watch with the light on; it gives you a feeling of dread, that impending sense of doom from the opening scene to the last frame. In a world of sloppy horror films and scary movies that sometime limp to an end, a movie that can keep its premise erect from start to stop is too good to pass.

6 of 10
B