Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Director: David Leitch
Writer: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13| Minutes: 136
Release Date: Aug 2, 2019

I am probably not the right person to be reviewing a film from the Fast & Furious franchise. The 2001 original did so little for me that I ignored all the following sequels, even after Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joined the party in 2011’s Fast Five. The franchise was originally built on a criminal underworld of car racing then evolved into a globetrotting Bond-esque stunt show on steroids forgoing logic, gravity, and physics for utterly ridiculous action set pieces and larger than life actors and characters. Despite not being a fan of the series, I felt compelled to see the spinoff film Hobbs and Shaw due to the undeniable chemistry of the two leads and a vibe that reminded me of some of my favorite silly action films of the 1980s, namely Commando and Tango & Cash.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Director: David Leitch
Writer: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13| Minutes: 136
Release Date: Aug 2, 2019

There’s no denying that the Fast & Furious franchise has been through some crazy things. What first started out as a humble cinematic look at illegal underground street racing has since supped up into a global phenomenon where Dom and his family – a strong theme that courses throughout the franchise – do things like drive cars out of planes in mid-flight or sling torpedos across a large stretch of ice. Oh, there’s also the occasional cars stunts, bone crunching fights, and cheesy one-liners.

But now it’s time for the franchise to venture outside of its wheelhouse with Hobbs & Shaw, the first Fast & Furious spinoff. In it, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), two people who don’t even belong in the same room together much less be paired up on a mission, work together to save the world from a cyber terrorist organization bent on evolving humanity by augmenting them with their technology and purging out the weak. Are these two incompatible people up to the challenge? Or will they let their egos get in the way? Of course they are, and it’s how they reach that point that can be simultaneously fun and infuriating. My full review here below.

When it comes to casting news for the The Fast and The Furious franchise, don’t expect to hear any reports from the trades. Usually, this information comes right from the stars of the film themselves. Like Vin Diesel, who has been there for almost the entire franchise. The actor took to social media today to announce that Oscar-winning actresses Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren will be back to reprise their roles. More on the report here below.

Warner Brothers has released an official trailer for The Good Liar from Academy Award winner Bill Condon, who previously directed everything from Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, and Dreamgirls to Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, both parts of The Twilight Zone: Breaking Dawn, and Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.

The movie stars fellow Academy Award winner Helen Mirren and nominee Ian McKellen. It’s based on author Nicholas Searle‘s novel of the same name, with the screenplay written by Jeffrey Hatcher (The Duchess, Casanova). It once again re-unites McKellen and Condon, who previously worked together on Gods and Monsters, Beauty and the Beast, and Mr. Holmes, which was also written by Hatcher.

You can find a synopsis for The Good Liar and watch the trailer below.

The characters of the Fast and the Furious film franchise has prided themselves as being a part of a family. It doesn’t matter if the skin color is different. But when it comes to family by blood that is a bit of a different story. We will get to see a little bit of that play out in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, the first spinoff of the franchise.

In it, Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is forced to team up with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) in order to stop Brixton (Idris Elba), an enhanced human, from reclaiming a virus that Shaw’s younger sister (Vanessa Kirby) stole from him. Check out the trailer below.

Universal Pictures may have released the first trailer for Fast and Furious Present: Hobbs And Shaw this past weekend, but the studio is still revving up the spinoff’s marketing campaign with a Super Bowl spot. The studio has had a presentation showing off some of their upcoming films during the big game, so it should come as no surprise that we are seeing a spot for the spinoff. I’d just never expected that we’d see one so soon. Check it out here below.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham may be friends off and on the set, but when the cameras are rolling for a Fast and Furious film, their respective characters are anything but. Now, the franchise is going in a new direction by launching a brand new spinoff, with the first being called Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw. This can only make things more complicated for the two titular characters as they are now forced to “perform outside of the system” to capture a dangerous cybernetically enhanced anarchist named Brixton (Idris Elba). Check out the full trailer for the latest spinoff here below.

Though Dwayne Johnson wasn’t a part of the Fast and Furious franchise from the beginning, his star power has helped it become what it is today. In fact, he has made it so popular that more and more franchises are coming out, with multiple spinoffs on the way.

Now, Johnson has released a very small trailer teaser for the franchise’s first spinoff Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw. In it, Johnson will reunite with Jason Statham, both of whom are reprising their respective titular roles. Additionally, the actor spoke about how he may not appear in Fast and Furious 9, but recognizes that his character has a score to settle with Dom (Vin Diesel). More on the story and the teaser video below.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Director: Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston
Writers: Ashleigh Powell, Tom McCarthy
Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Keira Knightley, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman
Studio: Walt Disney Studios
Rated PG | 99 Minutes
Release Date: November 2, 2018

The story of the Nutcracker may be a celebrated piece of a holiday tradition, but it is one that remains unknown to me. I only know it from the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers,” the ballerina dancing, nutcracker soldiers, and a mouse king. However, plot-wise and its storied history is something that I am very unfamiliar with. So rather than have a very conventional adaptation of the short story and dance production, Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston took a very different approach to The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Disney’s take on the classic Christmas story.

They managed to modernize the classic Christmas story by embedding female empowerment and diversity into the story. While changing things to be more of a reflection of the current times isn’t anything new nowadays, we have to consider the storied history behind something like The Nutcracker, where there weren’t ballerina sequences or roles for ballerina dancers like Misty Copeland. Now we can see a film with a more diverse cast that will hopefully pave the way for more stories to be told like this. Check out my full review below.

Walt Disney Studios has released the final trailer for directors Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston‘s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. The film is a CGI re-imagining of the classic E.T.A. Hoffmann fairy tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and the Tchaikovsky ballet based on it.

In it, Clara (Mackenzie Foy) journeys into a parallel world of snowflakes, flowers, sweets, and the Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren). Clara is the key to bringing forth peace within these four realms. Also starring is Keira Knightley, Jayden Fowora-Knight, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, and Morgan Freeman. Check out the final trailer for the film below.