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For months, we’ve heard two seemingly conflicting rumors about one Star Wars spinoff: one, that it’ll be about Boba Fett, and two, that it’ll be about Han Solo. The common assumption was that one or the other had to be false — but if this latest rumor is true, it could mean both of the other ones are, too.

Word is the Star Wars spinoff won’t be a Han Solo story or a Boba Fett story, but a single film that includes both fan-favorite characters. More on the Star Wars spinoff rumor after the jump. 

Latino Review is the source of the latest rumor. As usual, we warn you that Disney hasn’t yet confirmed any of this dirt, and that this claim should be taken with a big fat grain of salt for the time being.

The new theory fits several other unconfirmed reports circulating about the spinoff. Last November, we were the first to report a rumor that the spinoff would follow a group of bounty hunters hired to steal the plans for the first Death Star. (“Think the Seven Samurai or Suicide Squad meets Ocean’s Eleven in the world of Star Wars,” Germain wrote at the time.) The same source indicated Millennium Falcon would somehow be involved.

This week, Making Star Wars learned from sources in and around Pinewood Studios that bounty hunters would be “important to the film,” which is going by the working title Los Alamos. They further speculate that the temporary name points to the Manhattan Project and therefore Geonosis. Or maybe it’s just referring to the spinoff shooting in Mexico, which the site has also heard.

The recent Latino Review rumor does go against one other thing we heard about the Star Wars spinoff. Our source had said Han Solo would not appear in the movie, even though his ship would. They were unable to confirm whether Boba Fett would appear. But as I said, Disney isn’t spilling any details for now. It’s not so surprising that a couple of early rumors would contradict each other.

What we do know is that the spinoff will be directed by Gareth Edwards. Gary Whitta wrote the first draft of the script but Simon Kinberg may have taken over. Shooting begins this spring in London’s Pinewood Studios (which doesn’t mean it’s not also shooting in Mexico).

Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, and Felicity Jones are said to be testing for a role in the film, but character details have not been revealed. The Star Wars spinoff opens December 16, 2016.

The post Rumor: ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff Will Feature Both Han Solo and Boba Fett appeared first on /Film.

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The Bronze gets a gold medal for ambition. Directed by Bryan Buckley, it stars the Big Bang Theory‘s Melissa Rausch (who also co-wrote the film) as former Olympic hero Hope Ann Greggory. Think Kerri Strug turned Tonya Harding. A decade removed from a life-changing Bronze medal, she’s now a foul-mouthed, delusional has-been living in her father’s basement and doing unspeakable things while watching her former self.

Hope eats like crap, curses like a sailor, treats her dad (Office Space‘s Gary Cole) awful and is just generally a terrible person. Yet when her former coach dies, she’s given an opportunity to redeem herself by coaching another rising gymnast. Along the way she’ll date Silicon Valley‘s Thomas Middleditch, make fun of the gymnast’s mom played by Cecily Strong, and have the most flat out hilarious, disturbing and crazy sex in recent memory with The Winter Soldier himself, Sebastian Stan.

So does that all work? Continue reading our Sundance 2015 The Bronze review below.

The Bronze gets that ambition medal because it tries so hard to do something almost impossible. That’s create a cohesive tone with elements of a raunch R-rated comedy, feel good sports movie, teen flick and life changing drama. For the most part, the film is unsuccessful at this, but it tries so hard to be something so different, it’s admirable and often incredibly entertaining.

The biggest problem with The Bronze is Hope is so hatable. She perpetrates some sick evil stuff in the movie. Mean stuff, gross stuff, and it’s really not in service of anything except a laugh, many of which miss the mark entirely. From the very first scene of the movie, the audience is either with this film or not.

It doesn’t help that in addition to mean, Hope doesn’t feel particularly realistic. She’s almost a cartoon character in an otherwise realistic world. The female gymnast version of Roger Rabbit. Her actions are abysmal, off-the-wall and lacking motivation. The fact any of it works at all is because Rausch is incredible in the role. Sure her accent doesn’t make much sense and you don’t know why she changed from sweet talking girl to this evil human being, but we live with it because her outside venom is coming from behind sweet eyes. Hope is an intriguing character. We want to know more about her. And over the course of the film, the actress somehow makes Hope’s growth believable. 

Her nemesis in the film is Lance Tucker, an Olympic Gold medalist played by Sebastian Stan. As mean as he looked in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that’s how much fun Stan has with this role. He’s kind of the typical jock douchebag, but there’s a truth to the performance. He’s got good intentions for Hope’s protege and he sees what we see: Hope’s hopelessness.

Later in the film – it’s a bit of a spoiler but we have to mention it – those two have crazy gymnastic sex. This scene is basically The Bronze in a nutshell. It’s absolutely insane. The rings, the uneven bars, the balance beam, name a gymnastics event and Lance and Hope end up having sex like that. Think the Team America puppet sex scene or MacGruber, but with gymnastics. That happens in The Bronze and it’s hilarious as well as memorable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really fit in with what’s happening around it. Just like Hope herself.

For the film’s final trick, Rausch’s script – which she co-wrote with her husband Winston – attempts to transition from a Kenny Powers, Eastbound and Down vibe, to a Rudy vibe, by way of a few pretty big narrative surprises. It’s a big leap that the film has earned because it has been so brash to this point. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ground to cover and the extra time gives the movie pacing issues.

The Bronze may get a gold medal for ambition, but the title is more accurate overall. There are a lot of good things in the movie, but they all feels at odds with each other. Either you take this wild ride and enjoy it for its absolute insanity, or you hate it for those same reasons. I, for one, fell into the first camp.

/Film rating 6 out of 10

The post Gymnastics Comedy ‘The Bronze’ Has The Funniest Sex Scene in Years [Sundance 2015] appeared first on /Film.

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As happy as we were to see Andy Serkis in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer — because more Andy Serkis is always a good thing — we couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing there. The actor revealed his involvement in the film last year, but declined to say which character he’d be playing.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped rumors from swirling. The latest one to gain traction suggests Avengers: Age of Ultron may be just the beginning for Serkis — if it’s true, he’ll have a much bigger role to play in Phase Three. Hit the jump for the Andy Serkis Avengers rumor. 

Schmoes Know writes that a “very trusted” source has told them Serkis will play Ulysses Klaw. It’s not a very surprising reveal. Fans have been theorizing that Serkis would play Klaw for months. Still, it’s satisfying to hear we may be on the right track, even if the role is unconfirmed at the moment. Marvel is keeping its lips sealed, and Serkis’ reps have responded with a “no comment.”

According to Schmoes Know, Serkis’ Klaw will be actually be a combination of two comic book characters: Ulysses Klaw, and his father Fritz Klaue. That doesn’t mean Fritz won’t exist in the MCU, but Serkis’ Ulysses will have most of Fritz’s attributes from the books, including a connection to Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and The Howling Commandos.

If Serkis is indeed playing Klaw, he’ll likely have a huge part to play in the Black Panther franchise. In the books, Klaw is a Dutch physicist who murders Wakandan leader T’Chaka in front of his teenage son T’Challa. T’Challa (the future Black Panther) fights back by turning Klaw’s own weapon against him, permanently destroying Klaw’s right hand.

Chadwick Boseman is already set to lead Black Panther, due out in 2017, though he’ll make his first MCU appearance in 2016′s Captain America: Civil War. Serkis’ MCU debut, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is scheduled for May 1.

The post Rumor: Who Is Andy Serkis Playing in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’? appeared first on /Film.

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Sometimes, the scariest thing isn’t what’s around the corner. It’s what’s right in front of you. In It Follows, writer director David Robert Mitchell has created a simple, perfect, and bone-chillingly terrifying horror conceit that doesn’t need blood or jump scares. It doesn’t even, necessarily, need special effects. In It Follows a normal person, walking, is enough to scare the living crap out of you.

Below, read our It Follows review which will tell you why it’s one of the scariest horror films in years.

The Curse

It Follows follows in the mold of the scariest movies of all time because it doesn’t make you jump out of your seat. It paralyzes you there with a type of terror you might feel in real life. That fear comes from Mitchell’s conceit there’s some kind of curse people pass through sex. Once you’ve passed it along (aka, have sex with someone new) they have it. What is it? A being that can take human shape and follows you. That’s it. It slowly, steadly, just walks toward you. Where ever you go. Think about that. The horror of always looking over your shoulder, never being able to close your eyes, always worried what’s coming. And then, when it’s there, seeing it slowly, steady, walking towards you. This being isn’t in any rush. It’s the tortoise, you’re the hare.

Mitchell uses this idea in a plethora of unique ways. Most of which involve a simple scene and a figure in the deep background simply walking. The walk itself becomes the villain because the curse can take any shape or form. Every person becomes a potential killer and as the camera moves around, we see the film’s characters either reacting to it – or worse – not reacting to it as the dread builds and builds and builds.

The Star and the Score

Maika Monroe, last seen in The Guest, is the main victim in the film and she plays the dread incredibly realistically. Tears, screaming running, fatigue, it’s all there as she and her friends try and figure out how to stop the curse. All the while, the film keeps adding teeny tiny bits to expand the possibilities a bit. But it never gets too wild. We never get any big explanation. It’s just a force, creeping up on the audience.

A big help to that is the score by Disasterpiece. It’s heavily influenced by John Carpenter’s score for Halloween – I think I even heard a few riffs in there –  but this score is more electronic and bassy, giving the film a scary, yet modern feel.

The Context

As good as It Follows is on a surface level, it’s also got social commentary good horror does so well. It’s about the consequences of sex and how a wrong decision can follow you forever. There are moments in the movie where men are perfectly fine to knowingly take on this curse, just to have sex. Guys – it’s your life or sex, one time! The fact so many choose the former, and the consequences are dire, definitely adds a nice thematic layer below the terrifying premise.

When I judge a horror movie, the #1 criteria is how scary is the film. After that, we can look at everything else. It Follows scared me. A lot. Like, more than probably 90% of the other horror movies I’ve ever seen. So that seems like a fair raiting. If you like to be scared, there hasn’t been a better film in years.

/Film review: 9 out of 10

It Follows played this week at the Sundance Film Festival, but we saw it as part of the AFI Fest presented by Audi in 2014. It opens in the US March 27.

The post ‘It Follows’ Is One of the Scariest Horror Films In Years [Sundance 2015] appeared first on /Film.

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The Sundance Film Festival is proving to be a source of endless delight even for those of us who are just reading reviews from home. Because while we might not be able to watch the movies from our couches, we can still enjoy the trailers as thoroughly as anyone in Park City.

The latest Sundance entry to unleash a trailer is Partisan, directed by Ariel Kleiman. At the center of the story is Alexander (Jeremy Chabriel), an 11-year-old trained as an assassin. When this dangerous but sheltered boy begins thinking for himself, he poses a problem for father figure Gregori (Vincent Cassel). Watch the first Partisan trailer after the jump.

Madman Films unveiled the first Partisan trailer on YouTube.

Partisan was another title on our list of the most anticipated Sundance titles, and the new trailer doesn’t disappoint. It keeps the plot mysterious, but the moody beauty and sense of unease come through loud and clear. Look for reviews to trickle out of Sundance starting Sunday, when Partisan makes its world premiere.

Partisan doesn’t have a U.S. release date yet, but let’s hope that changes soon. Here’s the synopsis from Sundance:

The charismatic Gregori (Vincent Cassel) saunters into a hospital maternity ward and charms new mother Susanna. Eleven years later, she and her son Alexander live in Gregori’s closed community, sheltering vulnerable women and their brood in a haven isolated from the outside world. Alexander is Gregori’s prize pupil, eldest son, and star employee in the cottage industry—in which the kids are trained to run dangerous errands to provide for the group—but Gregori feels threatened by the boy’s inquisitive nature, struck by the fear that his child might not love him anymore. Meanwhile, Alexander begins to think for himself.

In his feature debut, Ariel Kleiman (a 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner for his short film Deeper Than Yesterday) crisply constructs a fascinating hidden world, then casts innocuous moments, such as a karaoke party or a child playing with a paintball gun, in increasingly sinister light. This juxtaposition cleverly deepens and undermines our understanding of this seemingly idyllic makeshift family.

The post ‘Partisan’ Trailer: Vincent Cassel Leads Sundance Thriller appeared first on /Film.

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