This week in news: A double dose of George Clooney in the Hail, Caesar! and Money Monster trailers, Patrick Stewart gets mean in Green Room and Ryan Coogler and Juan Antonio Bayona decide on their next projects.
"And the Frostiest Shoot Ever goes to…" The Revenant dominates the Oscar nominations
The Oscar nominations brought glitz to the week and a stack of good news for The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road. Between them, they accounted for 22 nominations as the Academy proved itself a sucker for survival tales set in remote outposts involving Tom Hardy. Hardy may have been among the lucky nominees, but Steve Carell, Carol (Best Picture, Best Director), Creed (aside from Stallone) and Quentin Tarantino (Best Director, Best Original Screenplay), missed out.
Patrick Stewart swaps the X-Mansion for Roadhouse in the first Green Room teaser
Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin was an ‘80s-tinged revenger of real quality, so his next film, Green Room, has our interest piqued. The first teaser trailer showcases a taut thriller in which a punk band chooses the wrong roadhouse to gig in (is there a right one?) and finds itself trapped within it with a pile of bodies and a bunch of redneck nasties outside. Look out for a Patrick Stewart bad-guy turn as the roadhouse manager with Straw Dogs specs. Don’t mess.
The Coens’ Hail, Caesar! gets a new trailer
The Coen siblings’ latest is a Golden Age crime caper that will no doubt defy easy classification. The film’s second trailer landed this week and showcased its comic beats with Ralph Fiennes to the fore as a frustrated studio director trying to coax something sensible from his leading man. Would that it ‘twere so simple...
Cloverfurther? J.J. Abrams surprises us with a new monster movie
It came seemingly from nowhere (the sea?) and crashed in, laying waste to all that lay before it. Yes, a new J.J. Abrams Cloverfield movie was not what we’d expected the week to bring us, let alone one with a trailer. And boasting John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. and an unseen threat lurking outside, 10 Cloverfield Lane looked about as mysterious as its notoriously enigmatic producer could wish for.
Director Juan Antonio Bayona leaves World War Z sequel
In the archives of tough film productions, World War Z is filled under ‘B’ for 'bastard hard’. Its sequel isn’t proving any easier, either. Juan Antonio Bayona, the man behind The Orphanage and seemingly a perfect fit for the surprise zombie hit, has departed the project, leaving Paramount looking for a new director and its producers reaching for the aspirin. The shoot is due to kick off this summer so the studio will be looking to fill his shoes swiftly. The zombies will be getting restless.
Creed's Ryan Coogler confirmed to direct Marvel's Black Panther
Long hinted at, Ryan Coogler’s elevation to the Marvelverse was officially confirmed this week. The Creed director is taking on Black Panther and will be working closely with Chadwick Boseman as the Marvel superhero flick comes together. Sadly for Creed fans he’ll be swapping the WBC for the MCU on a permanent basis. With his focus on T’Challa, the planned Creed sequel will need a new director behind the camera.
George Clooney is a hostage in the first Money Monster trailer
Dog Day Afternoon-like urban yarn? Inside Man-ish heist movie? Financial crisis drama? Judging by its new trailer, Jodie Foster’s fourth film as director looks like it might combine the beats of all three. Tense and taut, with George Clooney and Julia Roberts reproducing their old Ocean’s patter, it’s shaping up to be a nail-biter with heart and something to say.