INTERVIEW : MARK WILSON director, WADE IN THE WATER

With High school buddy Chris Retts, up-and-coming filmmaker Mark Wilson has put together a commanding piece of cinema-  which you’ll able to see for yourself June 19 at Dances with Films.


Where does your love of movie-making come from, Mark?

I think just from growing up in Phoenix, AZ during a hot summer day we would always be living in the movie theatre. I was growing up during the time of Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, etc and those movie theatre experiences made me want to create my own movie experience for people. 


I imagine spending all those years on shorts prepared you for feature-filmmaking. But just how different is it directing a short to a full film?

Honestly, I feel no pressure when filming a short film because for the most part it was always just for practice or for our enjoyment. When making a feature film there’s far more expectations for the film and that cause anxiety/pressure on me for sure. I still find the same enjoyment in feature films don’t get me wrong but there definitely is a few more layers of pressure and stress.


When did you and Chris Retts meet? Was it a natural fit?

Chris Retts and I went to the same high school in Phoenix, Arizona. He was a senior and I was a freshman, I never really knew him just knew of him. I was always friends with his sister who was about my age and she would usually score all my films because she was/is a talented musician. So always working with her on my films the last decade I’d come across Chris at random gatherings and talk films with him. That’s when I’d see his character and taste in films meshed with mine. Since then we’ve worked on many projects the past 6 years and it has been an amazing partnership.


Is it fair to say Wade in the Water is a unique mix of genres? How did you pitch it to your cast and investors to get them interested? 

WADE IN THE WATER is definitely a mix of genres. We were having a hard time really pinning down what genre the film fell into. I think we still bounce back and forth on what genre it falls into. We basically just had the cast and crew read the script without any information about the story and see how they reacted to it. From the immediate positive feedback we knew we were making something special and something important worth telling.


Where did you find Tom Nicholson?

We held a casting session in Hollywood and Tom was our first audition of the day. I remember going into the waiting room and seeing Tom knowing he was everything we envisioned for the film. Then when he read for us I could see the depth he could bring to the character.


Why bill him only as ‘Our Man’? What does it add to the story, In your opinion?

We had an ongoing gimmick in the script where we never revealed his name till the end of the film. It didn’t play well in the edit and it felt wrong so we cut out that whole bit. So we decided just to bill him as ‘Our Man,’ because it felt more mysterious and keep it open to more interpretation for our audience. Is his name Wade? Is ‘Our Man’ a symbol of all those that have been abused? We just wanted to keep it open for however the audience interpreted it.

Rambo: Last Blood: Teaser Poster & Trailer

STARRING:
Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adrianna Barraza, Yvette Monreal, Genie Kim aka Yenah Han, Joaquin Cosio, and Oscar Jaenada
Directed by: Adrian Grunberg

SYNOPSIS:
Almost four decades after he drew first blood, Sylvester Stallone is back as one of the greatest action heroes of all time, John Rambo. Now, Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission. A deadly journey of vengeance, RAMBO: LAST BLOOD marks the last chapter of the legendary series.

Lionsgate in association with Millennium Media presents, a Millennium Media Balboa Productions and Templeton Media production, in association with Campbell Grobman Films, and in association with Dadi Film (HK) Limited.

RAMBO: LAST BLOOD is in cinemas September 20

Interview with Nassau-born filmmaker Kareem Mortimer

From Nassau-born filmmaker Kareem Mortimer, Cargo adds more fuel to the conversation about immigration reform currently happening in the United States.  We spoke to Mortimer from his native Bahamas ahead of the May 30 release.

Where did you hail from, sir? Always been based there? 

Hi, I was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas but I have lived in Miami, Florida and spent time in New York and Western Massachusetts. I currently live between Nassau, Bahamas and Eleuthera, Bahamas.


How’s the industry there?

 The population is quite small in the Bahamas so the industry is nascent, there are a great deal of commercials and short films that are shot here but not a great deal of local features on a regular basis.


What was your first project? Did it shoot there? 

This is not my first project; it is my third feature and second feature as Writer/Director. My first feature was Children of God. We shot this film entirely in The Bahamas.


How better a project is this latest one to the first? In your opinion, of course?   

That’s a difficult question, I love both for many different reasons so it is hard to say which one is better but I can describe how they are different.  With Cargo, we had a larger budget so it allowed me to take more time to complete a take than I had with my first feature.


How do you think you’ve grown as a filmmaker? 

I am more confident about the stories I want to tell and feel incredibly at home with that.

What’s the film about?

 The film is about a down on his luck fisherman who becomes a human smuggler and the lives his choices affect. It’s personal on many levels, the first time I had seen a dead body was at 9 years old when I saw a group of Haitian refugees on the news that had washed on the shore.
And I can relate to Warren Brown’s character, not in the way that I have made the choices that he makes but I relate in the way of feeling trapped by financial pressures and as a father wanting to do whatever it takes for the well being of my child.


What is the strength of the film? 

The strength of the film in my opinion is the point of view and it’s authenticity.  I think the film takes a nuanced and unique view of human smuggling and also a rare look of life for some people trying to get to the United States.

It’s a tense ride – is tension hard to write in a script, or does it come together via visuals and sound?
Thank you! I try to capture it as much as I can in the writing but it definitely all comes together in post with my editor and sound designer.


How do you think the film will resonate in the US? 

I think with all the conversations about migration that is currently happening in the United States about immigration reform, our film provides a human face to this issue that will hopefully lead people to be far more compassionate.


Where can we find the movie?  

The movie hits theatres in the U.S this summer and will be released on major platforms shortly after through Artists Rights Distribution in the US.

The Bastards' Fig Tree - Poster and Trailer

Dark Star Pictures has announced a June 4, 2019 digital release for the Spanish Civil War whimsical comedy The Bastards' Fig Tree.

Ana Murugarren’s genre-meshing masterpiece provides a fresh, magical exploration of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, showing both the brutality of war and its ability to inspire hope and change in a broken society. Karra Elejalde stars.

Near the end of the Spanish War, a "trigger happy" fascist soldier turns into a hermit and gets caught up in the care of a fig tree after the look in a ten year old child's eyes, son of one of his victims, awakes in him the certainty that the kid will kill him as soon as he reaches sixteen years of age.

The Bastards' Fig Tree available on digital June 4.

Brightburn (2019) Final Trailer

Elizabeth Banks stars in BrightBurn, a super-villain origin story that takes the core concept of Superman and flips it. In the film, a young boy (Jackson A. Dunn) not of this world is taken in by human parents who believe him to be special. But not all who wear capes are heroes.

In theaters this Friday, Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive look at the final trailer that goes full-on horror. Utilizing a score similar to Ridley Scott’s Alien, the footage opens with Banks wishfully pleading, “Whatever you’ve done, I know there is good in you.” She’s speaking to Dunn’s character, who has decided to use his otherworldly powers for evil. Here, he rips through houses and annihilates a policewoman. He appears to be possessed or completely out of control as the trailer digresses even further. I cannot wait until Friday!

BrightBurn arrives in theaters on May 24, 2019.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT - New UK trailer and poster

Set in 1987, during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, BLINDED BY THE LIGHT is a joyous, coming-of-age story about a teenager who learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the words and music of Bruce Springsteen. BLINDED BY THE LIGHT is inspired by British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir “Greetings From Bury Park.”

Directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham, Viceroy’s House)
Written by Sarfraz Manzoor, Gurinder Chadha, and Paul Mayeda Berges
Starring Viveik Kalra (Next of Kin, Beecham House), Kulvinder Ghir (Bend it Like Beckham), Meera Ganatra (PREMature), Nell Williams (Game of Thrones), Aaron Phagura (Doctor Who), Dean Charles-Chapman (Game of Thrones, Breathe), Hayley Atwell (Avengers: Endgame) and Rob Brydon (Swimming with Men).

Amazon Studios Announces Special One-Week IMAX® Exclusive Release for The Aeronauts

NEW YORK, NEW YORK and CULVER CITY, CA
Amazon Studios and IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX) announced today that The Aeronauts, directed by Tom Harper and starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, will be released exclusively in IMAXÒ theatres nationwide for a special one-week engagement beginning October 25, 2019, then expanding nationally for a full theatrical run in additional theaters on November 1. Written by Jack Thorne, The Aeronauts is produced by Mandeville Films’ Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman and Harper, and executive produced by Richard Hewitt and Thorne. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international distribution. The Aeronauts marks the first Amazon Studios film to be released in IMAX.

Set in 1862, The Aeronauts follows wealthy young widow Amelia Wren (Jones) and headstrong scientist James Glaisher (Redmayne), as they mount a balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone in history. This is a journey to the very edge of existence, where the air is thin and the chances of survival are slim. As their perilous ascent reveals their true selves, this unlikely pair discover things about each other - and themselves - that helps each of them find their place in the world they have left behind.

“The Aeronauts is a spectacular movie featuring emotionally engaging performances and edge-of-your-seat action,” said Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke. “We’re thrilled to join IMAX in showcasing this one-of-a-kind film in such a grand format. We look forward to giving our customers an unforgettable theatrical experience high above the clouds.”

Key action sequences in The Aeronauts were designed for IMAX and will feature IMAX expanded aspect ratio, which means audiences will get to see up to 26% more picture than standard theaters, only in IMAX.

“Today’s announcement with Amazon, which marks our first significant venture of this kind connected with a full theatrical release, is an important step in our continued effort to provide a global platform to launch diverse, premium event content every single week of the year,” said President, IMAX Entertainment, Megan Colligan. “Tom designed this movie for the IMAX screen and the result is going to blow audiences away. This film, inspired by incredible true events, offers heart-pounding intense sequences that are woven so wonderfully with the beauty, scale and emotion of these two characters as they go on their epic journey.”

Additional cast include Oscar nominee Tom Courtenay (45 Years), BAFTA nominee Anne Reid (The Last Tango in Halifax), BAFTA winner Rebecca Front (The Thick of It), Vincent Perez (Riviera), Tim McInnerny (Peterloo, Notting Hill), Phoebe Fox (Eye in the Sky, One Day) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday).

Director of Photography is BAFTA winner George Steel (War & Peace, Peaky Blinders), with costumes by Academy Award-winner Alexandra Bryne (Mary Queen of Scots, Doctor) and hair and make-up by Academy Award-winner Jenny Shircore (Beauty and the Beast, Macbeth).  Production designers are David Hindle (The Death of Stalin, The Theory of Everything) and Christian Huband (Edge of Tomorrow, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). Louis Morin (Arrival, The House with a Clock on its Walls) is the VFX Supervisor.

As previously announced, Amazon Studios will release Late Night, written, produced and starring Mindy Kaling, nationwide in theaters on June 7, Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s One Child Nation on August 9, and Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Brittany Runs a Marathon, starring Jillian Bell, on August 23 in select theaters.

The IMAX release of The Aeronauts will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theater geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that helps audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019) Official Teaser Trailer - Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista

Screen legend Sylvester Stallone kicks this explosive action tale into high gear. After security expert Ray Breslin (Stallone) is hired to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Hong Kong tech mogul from a formidable Latvian prison, Breslin’s girlfriend (Jaime King) is also captured. Now he and his team, which includes Dave Bautista and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, must pull off a deadly rescue mission to confront their sadistic foe and save the hostages before time runs out.

REVIEW: Loqueesha - Directed by Jeremy Saville

Review by Jon Donnis
Loqueesha is a film by Jeremy Saville, it tells the story of Joe, a bartender. Joe has a very smart son, and decides to send his son to a Private School whereby he can get the absolute best education possible. Since Joe is a bartender and regularly gets told his advice is "amazing" and that he should charge for it, after being given an advert, he decides to apply for a talk show job at a radio station, whereby he could have his own talk show, giving advice to people with problems.

As a white middle aged man, he is told that he is not right for the show, and gets rejected, remembering the advert he creates a character called Loqueesha, a larger than life, black woman. As expected the radio station employs "her" straight away. And this is when the fun really starts.

The film's comedy comes from Joe's attempts, or should that be Loqueesha's attempts at keeping her/his identity a secret, as well as keeping the "scam" going at all costs. Some of the advice given during the radio show is truly laugh out loud at times, a rare feat to accomplish in the "we've seen everything before" generation.

Despite being a comedy, there is an underlining issue here that is addressed very well, that being of identity, race and gender, and although we have seen similar comedies in the past that flip the script on gender and race, "Loqueesha" does it in a very original and unique way. And with something as serious as race and gender issues, the film keeps it lighthearted and the laughs never stop coming.

The cast as a whole were all new to me, which is something I like, and hopefully this film will be a good launching platform for many of the younger actors who really come across well.

Maleficent 2 Mistress of Evil TRAILER: Angelina Jolie returns as Disney villain

“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” is a fantasy adventure that picks up several years after “Maleficent,” in which audiences learned of the events that hardened the heart of Disney’s most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora.

The film continues to explore the complex relationship between the horned fairy and the soon to be Queen as they form new alliances and face new adversaries in their struggle to protect the moors and the magical creatures that reside within.

The film is directed by Joachim Rønning from a story by Linda Woolverton and a screenplay by Linda Woolverton and Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster, the film is produced by Joe Roth, Angelina Jolie and Duncan Henderson with Matt Smith, Jeff Kirschenbaum and Michael Vieira serving as executive producers.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is scheduled to be released on October 18, 2019.

Stars
Angelina Jolie as Maleficent
Elle Fanning as Aurora
Michelle Pfeiffer as Queen Ingrith

Also starring
Ed Skrein
Sam Riley
Harris Dickinson
Imelda Staunton
Juno Temple
Lesley Manville
Chiwetel Ejiofor

Clownado! - New Trailer - Cursed demonic circus clowns set out on a vengeful massacre using tornadoes.

Wild Eye Releasing has unleashed a brand-new trailer for Todd Sheets’ Clownado, coming this summer!

Cursed demonic circus clowns set out on a vengeful massacre using tornadoes. A stripper, Elvis impersonator, truck driver, teen runaway, and a dude get caught in the supernatural battle between femme fatal and the boss clown from hell.

Scream queen Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead) stars along with Eileen Dietz, Rachel Lagen, John O'Hara, and Joel D. Wynkoop. Sheets wrote and directed the film.

Spider-Man: Far From Home | Official Trailer

Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man™: Far From Home, the next chapter of the Spider-Man™: Homecoming series! Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter’s plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!

Directed by Jon Watts. Written by McKenna & Erik Sommers. Based on the MARVEL Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Thomas M. Hammel, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Rachel O’Connor, Stan Lee, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach serve as executive producers. The film stars Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, JB Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, with Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) Official TV Spot “Watching” - Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum – In theaters May 17, 2019. Starring Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Jason Mantzoukas, Tobias Segal, Boban Marjanovic, with Anjelica Huston, and Ian McShane.

Legendary hit man John Wick must fight his way out of New York when a $14 million contract on his life makes him the target of the world's top assassins.

Cargo - Poster and Trailer

Kareem Mortimer’s award-winning drama Cargo, starring Warren Brown (''Strike Back'') and Jimmy Jean Louis (''Heroes''), in theaters this May from Artist Rights Distribution.

A sensitive fisherman transforms into a prolific human smuggler to pay his debts in “a must see film” inspired by true events.

When his income as a fisherman proves woefully insufficient to cover his son’s school fees, Kevin turns to human smuggling in order to raise desperately needed funds. Kevin finds that he’s good at this dangerous yet profitable vocation—good enough to trust himself with smuggling his own girlfriend and her son to the US. But when faced with having to abandon refugees at sea far from Miami shores, Kevin is suddenly forced to reassess his responsibilities. Inspired by true events, Cargo examines the world’s refugee crisis from a very local perspective. The largest Bahamian film project to date, this latest feature from Kareem J. Mortimer is a thrilling, vital call for empathy in troubled times.

Written and directed by Kareem Mortimer, and also starring Gessica Geneus, Persia White (“The Vampire Diaries”), Omar J. Dorsey (Halloween), and Jamie Donnelly (Black Mass), Cargo dives into theaters May 30.

The Captor - UK Trailer | 2019 | Naomi Rapace | Mark Strong | Ethan Hawke

1973, Stockholm, Sweden: Self-styled outlaw Lars Nystrom, high on pills, wearing a wig, shades and a cowboy hat, walks into a bank, pulls out a machine gun and fires into the ceiling, cranks up his portable radio, then declares ‘the party has begun’. He takes two bank workers hostage and demands his friend Gunnar is released from prison, $1million, and a getaway car.

As negotiations with the police reach a deadlock, one of the hostages, married mother Bianca, initially terrified by being held captive by the erratic Lars, becomes sympathetic, then strangely attracted to him. As the net tightens, and Lars is forced to take desperate measures, Bianca finds herself siding with criminal over cops.

Starring Ethan Hawke, Noomi Rapace & Mark Strong

MIDSOMMAR Teaser Trailer l In Cinemas 5th July 2019

This Summer, Entertainment Film Distributors will release MIDSOMMAR, directed & written by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family, The Little Drummer Girl), Will Poulter (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Detroit), Jack Reynor (Sing Street, Free Fire) and William Jackson Harper (The Good Place). Director Ari Aster’s follow up to last year’s breakout success, Hereditary, will open in cinemas nationwide on 5 July 2019.

Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends (Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper) on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing. From the visionary mind of Ari Aster comes a dread-soaked cinematic fairytale where a world of darkness unfolds in broad daylight.

Hallowed Ground - Trailer

This summer, trespassers will be prosecuted with terror.

From writer-director Miles Doleac (Demons), comes a spine-chilling new motion picture experience in the tradition of The Green Inferno and Deliverance : Hallowed Ground.

A married couple, trying to rebuild their relationship after an affair, travels to a secluded cabin and stumbles into a blood feud between the Native American owners of the property and the neighboring clan, who obsessively guard their land and punish those who trespass on it in terrifying ways.

Doleac (‘’Banshee’’), Sherri Eakin (Hayride), Ritchie Montgomery (The Magnificent Seven), and Lindsay Anne Williams (The Hollow) star in an Uncork’d Entertainment release.

Doleac and Williams produce alongside Wesley O’Mary and Michael Williams

Hallowed Ground in select theaters June 7, and releasing on VOD/DVD June 11.

Angry Birds 2 - International Trailer - At Cinemas October 4

ENEMIES BECOME FRENEMIES. See the Birds and Pigs team up in the #AngryBirdsMovie2 international trailer. At Cinemas October 4.

The flightless angry birds and the scheming green piggies take their beef to the next level in The Angry Birds Movie 2!  When a new threat emerges that puts both Bird and Pig Island in danger, Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride), and Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) recruit Chuck’s sister Silver (Rachel Bloom) and team up with pigs Leonard (Bill Hader), his assistant Courtney (Awkwafina), and techpig Garry (Sterling K. Brown) to forge an unsteady truce and form an unlikely superteam to save their homes.