The Beguiled
Director: Sofia Coppola
Screenwriter: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Colin Farrell
Distributor: Focus Features
Rated R | 94 Minutes
Release Date: June 23, 2017

Sofia Coppola‘s first short film, 1998’s Lick the Star, follows a clique of teenage girls led by Chloe, who is obsessed with V.C. Andrews’ novel, Flowers in the Attic. Chloe orchestrates a plan with her girl gang to “weaken” the boys they don’t like at their school by poisoning their lunches with arsenic. The 14-minute black and white 16mm short film shows early signs of Coppola’s fascination with the themes of isolation and identity, sexual awakening, and the trauma of adolescence.

Since then, Coppola has explored these ideas in the 18th, 20th, and 21st centuries with Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Somewhere, and The Bling Ring. Now, the writer-director journeys to the 19th century with The Beguiled, a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel, A Painted Devil, by Thomas P. Cullinan.

Midnight Special
** out of ****
Directed by Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Adam Driver, Jaeden Lieberher, Kirsten Dunst, and Sam Shepherd
Release Date- March 18, 2016

Midway through Midnight Special there’s a line that’s uttered from a father to his son that sticks with us, despite how generic it initially seems, and encapsulates its director’s entire film oeuvre. “I like worrying about you,” Roy (Michael Shannon) says to his son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), after a near death experience. Such a simple line depicts the compulsion men invariably encounter in each of the four films made by Arkansas director Jeff Nichols. His men are troubled, burdened, and eventually consumed by an unhealthy urge to either protect their family, friends, or legacy.

Unlike the best films of Nichols (this ranks last on his list), Midnight Special does not fully go with the reverberations that such a faithful adherence to a compulsion would lead to. Rather, we are dragged along an erratic journey that fuses a variety of genres (inevitable comparisons to E.T. Will ensue), eventually losing sight of Mr. Nichols’ sweet spot: examining man’s unerring religious devotion to protection and human emotion.

A new trailer has been released for Midnight Special, the sci-fi thriller from Mud and Take Shelter writer and director Jeff Nichols. The new trailer is titled “Jeff Nichols – A Benevolent Feeling,” and it’s short but unique, as instead of just showing footage and critical praise as many trailers do, it also includes quotes from Nichols sharing personal thoughts from his own life that inspired the film’s story.

The movie tells the story of a father going on the run with his son to protect the boy, who has special powers. It stars Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Lieberher, Sam Shepard, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, and Paul Sparks.

Check out the trailer below.

Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Jeff Nichols‘ Midnight Special starring Michael Shannon, as a father who protects his son from religious extremists and the U.S. government by constantly staying on the run. In fact, the film reunites Shannon with Nichols, after the two had already worked together on Take Shelter four years ago.

Check out Nichols’ take on the sci-fi genre in the Midnight Special trailer here below.

Season 2 of Fargo will take an interesting turn. Instead of moving forward, the series will turn back time and be set in a post-Vietnam War era. Lou Solverson, who was played by Keith Carradine in season 1, will be played by Patrick Wilson in season 2. Having just returned from Vietnam, Solverson has been assigned to investigate a crime between a small-town gang and a major Mob syndicate.

As you can see in the trailer below, it looks like season 2 will be just as dark and twisted as season 1. Not to mention just as funny.