The Snowman Director: Tomas Alfredson Screenwriter: Hossein Amini, Peter Straughan Cast: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, David Dencik, James D’Arcy, J.K. Simmons Distributor: Universal Pictures Rated R | 119 Minutes Release Date: October 20, 2017
A good mystery thriller has us on the edge of our seats and has us convinced we know who the criminal is at some point in the movie only to realize it wasn’t who we thought it was. It builds upon itself with great characters giving more than terrific performances. And it has a story that keeps us engaged for the entire duration.
But Tomas Alfredson‘s adaptation of Jo Nesbø‘s The Snowman is anything but the aforementioned qualities. It is sporadic, horribly paced, and lacks any sort of structure. Instead, we are given a fairly predictable film that feels like it was just piled on top of each other trying to pass itself off as a decent movie. My full review below.
Universal has released the first trailer for Tomas Alfredson‘s (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) The Snowman. The film is based on the popular novel written by author Jo Nesbø, which sees Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) investigating the disappearance of a woman, who appears to be in connected to a series of murders where the killer leaves behind a bloody snowman as a calling card.
Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for their long-awaited epic period fantasy 47 Ronin. You can check it out here below.
Keanu Reeves plays a half-breed outcast selected to join a group of ronin (guess how many there are) in the battle against the evil Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano, Thor), the man responsible for killing their master. On their journey of vengeance, they engage in well-choreographed skirmishes and encounter all manner of CGI monstrosities. The predominantly Asian cast includes Japanese actors Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) and Pacific Rim‘s Rinko Kikuchi as well as recognizable Japanese-American character player Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat). Chris Morgan (the Fast and the Furious movies), and Hossein Amini (Drive) collaborated on the screenplay.
I never thought a crime drama with Ryan Gosling as a convincing badass and Albert Brooks as a cold-blooded mobster – and both men capable of doing some serious damage to another person without a millisecond’s hesitation – would ever exist anywhere outside the imagination of a deranged lunatic who is clearly unfamiliar with the time-honored Hollywood axiom “cast to type.”
But last year’s Drive, which was originally intended to be a big-budget formula action flick with Hugh Jackman in the lead, came out of nowhere to shatter expectations in a way that was as quick and brutal as how Gosling dispatched that one guy in the elevator scene that has now become a classic movie moment. It wasn’t a massive hit, but most of the people who saw it agreed that it was of 2011’s best films, and it even inspired the single goofiest lawsuit taken out against a movie in some time.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press