The Bad Batch
Written & Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Jim Carrey, Jayda Fink
Annapurna Pictures | Neon Films
Rated R | 115 Minutes
Release Date: June 23rd, 2017

In 2014’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour showcased her unique style, blending genres while maintaining a minimalist approach. Her Iranian vampire/spaghetti western film earned international acclaim, but also garnered a lot of reviews uttering the phrase “style over substance.” In her latest film, The Bad Batch, she adheres to all of these traits, positive and negative, again. The Bad Batch is at times brutally violent, at times wonderfully poignant, and all together completely bizarre. It’s one of those films where it ends and you kind of just sit there pondering for a few seconds as the credits roll. What did I just watch? Did I love this movie or hate it? The one thing that sticks with me is what I wrote mid-film, “This is like if Mad max f*cked The Neon Demon.”

Spoilers below.

HBO has released a second trailer for the upcoming Game of Thrones season seven titled “Winter is Here.” You can find the first trailer right here if you missed it.

The new trailer is filled with peeks from the coming season that will surely leave you twitching with anticipation as you make your way through this last month before the new season arrives. There’s even an appearance by someone we have not seen in some time.

Click on over to the other side to check it out.

Preacher was one of my favorite new shows in 2016, and this Sunday, summer gets started with the second season premiere. Based on the graphic novels by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and created for television by Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Preacher tells the story of Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), a small town preacher from Annville, Texas. Jesse has a dark past he’s trying to leave behind, and that becomes harder when a trio of factors interfere in his life simultaneously. His ex-lover and partner Tulip (Ruth Negga) returns to get him back. A crazy drunken Irish vampire, Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), ends up in his town and becomes his best friend. Oh yeah, and he’s possessed by Genesis, a powerful force that is bred from an angel and demon getting it on. These things plus renegade angels, loads of cops, and the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish), a literal cowboy from Hell, are what stand in Jesse’s way as we enter season 2.

Watch the videos below.

Yesterday, cam the shocking report that Phil Lord and Chris Miller were departing as directors of the untitled Han Solo Star Wars spinoff. With only three weeks of production left on the schedule, the timing of their departure came into question. Although Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that it was due to creative differences, it seemed very odd that they would leave at such a critical juncture of the film.

Now there are new details. According to various reports, Lord and Miller were actually fired due to creative differences which stemmed from a conflict between Lawrence Kasdan, the film’s screenwriter. According to these reports, Lord and Miller’s comedic and improvisational style came into conflict with Kasdan’s by-the-script method – meaning what is on the page is what must be shot. More on the story below.

Transformers: The Last Knight
Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriters: Matt Holloway, Ken Nolan, Art Marcum
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, Jerrod Carmichael, Jim Carter, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Omar Sy, Peter Cullen
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rated PG| 149 Minutes
Release Date: June 21, 2017

Transformers: The Last Knight continues the franchise’s long line of large-scale visuals, epic explosions, poorly written scripts, and lack of care for its own continuity. Even after four of these films, the new Transformers installment fails to learn from any of the previous lessons, and instead, chooses to double down (or should I say quadruples down) on them. So let’s not stand on ceremony and just say what we already know: Transformers: The Last Knight is just another two and half hours’ worth of explosion porn fest with a nonsensical script that has plenty of sexual overtones and characters that play to their racial stereotypes. Oh, and let’s not forget all those explosions and shouting matches. Check out my full review below.