STRANGER THINGS! AD ASTRA! FORD V FERRARI! TOY STORY 4! BOND 25! TORIES! YESTERDAY!
Friday! Which Means we can boil down the latest gossip / fun content. You might know it already and that’s fine. You may have preferred stories that did not make the cut: also cool. But here is a selection to enjoy this weekend.
STRANGER THINGS
This speaks for itself
AD ASTRA
A fascinating and unexpected trailer for a high concept movie with Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, in space! The annual astronaut movie. With a twist.
FORD V FERRARI
This one WILL hit, big. Car / racing movies are usually problematic in execution and box office. But THIS? It has BATMAN V BOURNE! A great sense of engineering / competition against the odds at the movie’s centre. Beautifully filmed and lit, too with a wondrous sense of location and atmosphere.
TOY STORY 4
It’s had a mixed response: ok. As in not QUITE as unanimously praised/loved as previous instalments. But this is still a beloved and cherished franchise, as shown in its promotional materials.
BOND 25
James Bond STILL lacks a title for his new adventure. That said? Filming is NOT cursed and it’s very much business as usual, with new car deals unveiled, royal visits and an Om-azing charity tie-in, c/o Mr Daniel Craig. All looks great so far!
YESTERDAY
This is set to be the sleeper hit of the summer! From Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis and Emma Freud, with some musical help from The Beatles and Ed Sheeran.
DOCTOR SLEEP
Sort of sequel to THE SHINING. Starring Ewan McGregor. It’s not Kubrick and Jack Nicholson does not even cameo. But hey, it might be good. It might..
MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL /SHAFT / DARK PHOENIX
There continues to be speculation / post mortem / evaluation over the fates of this summer’s ‘blockbusters’. My diagnosis is they were simply outgunned by ENDGAME and even though not in direct competition with said film, suffered through release in its wake. Matters compounded soon by imminent re-release OF Endgame!
TORIES!
And it would not be a properly viral week without some politics, right? Well the UK Prime Ministerial race is now narrowed down to 2 (Johnson vs Hunt..nb that’s Jeremy Hunt, not Ethan!). Watching that process of elimination, day by day, to a final two candidates, made for some fascinating viral marketing within the political arena.
Shame the week finished with another viral video altogether: an MP grabs a Greenpeace protestor at a dinner. Was it excessive force: of course it was and prima facie, assault! But the fact, equally, is that one’s first sight in a viral video is NOT necessarily the entire story.
In any event? He apologised, profusely and is now suspended; the lady is not pressing charges and we DO live, sadly, in a charged climate whereby today’s milkshake throw could indeed be tomorrow’s terror attack. It’s why everyone was so livid last week when Jo Brand joked about ‘battery acid’.
An MP, like it or not, is a civilian of sorts; they may well over-react/show off/mismanage/lash out in that very zeitgeist. It does not excuse the behaviour, but it does go some way to explain it and it seems rather frightening to read the invective and sanctimony in every second tweet that mentions the incident, relative to the quite contrite response by the MP and the clear desire by the protestor to neutralise rather than escalate the legal fallout? Anyway: see / judge for yourself.
One question that remains for me: WHY DID THE BBC PUT THE TORY LEADERSHIP HOPEFULS ON BAR STOOLS???
COLLIDER / DARTH HARLOFF ON THE DARK SIDE
Sorry, Kristian. But this is NEVER going to go away. Harloff made a fairly understandable jibe about Disney not giving a complimentary ticket to Galaxy’s Edge (now live and available to visit as launched, officially). Sadly, he went on a BIT. Used some choice language. Will be forever followed by the associated clips / quotes. As Red Letter Media have proven already: there is some comedy to be mined here. It’ll blow over, no doubt. Give it ten years 😉
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU: HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!
