Written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, The Ice Road is intense as you watch the film clips. The Netflix trailer is available on the streaming channel. Still, these two clips are nerve-wracking as they attempt their rescue mission.
When a remote diamond mine collapses in the far northern regions of Canada, an ice driver, played by Liam Neeson, orchestrates a rescue mission. The catch is they have to drive their 18-wheelers over a frozen ocean to save the miner’s lives. The waters were thawing, and they confronted threats they didn’t see coming.
Also starring are Marcus Thomas, Laurence Fishburne, Benjamin Walker, and Amber Midthunder.
Directed by Michael Showalter, The Eyes of Tammy Faye takes an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, played by Jessica Chastain.
In the 1970s and 80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, played by Andrew Garfield, rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park. The public revered their message of love, acceptance and prosperity.
Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, her idiosyncratic singing, and her eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire.
With these two powerhouse actors, we are going to see some fine acting, but we already know the storyline.
Jessica Chastain does meticulous preparation and research when developing characters, and becoming Tammy Faye was no different. She studied Tammy Faye Bakker for seven years, memorizing all of her mannerisms and vocal inflections from the hours of tape she watched.
Impressed, Michael Showalter says, “Her bar is very high, her level of dedication, perfectionism and preparedness. The level of the performance, the depths that she’s willing to go to. It’s amazing to work with an actor like that because they give so much.”
Building a character based on a well-known public figure is always a challenge, but Chastain’s biggest hurdle was overcoming how other people perceived Tammy Faye. “I spent years looking at footage of her and never once saw mascara running down her face,” said Chastain. “Tammy Faye was nothing like the caricature the media fed off of. She was the ordained minister Jim wasn’t. She preached acceptance and compassion and meant it, and that’s what we wanted people to see in this film. When everyone turned their backs on people with HIV and AIDS, she invited a high-profile gay pastor who had AIDS to be on her show. She also hosted Praise The Lord network shows all day long, wrote four books and released twenty-four albums. She never got paid for any of it. She gave her money back to the church.”
Chastain had been in close touch with Tammy Faye’s children before and during production. Tammy Faye’s daughter, Tammy Sue, and her two children traveled to set for the pivotal interview scene with HIV/AIDS activist Steve Pieters, played by actor Randy Havens, a gay minister who candidly spoke with Tammy about his illness, coming out and losing his partner. By the end of the shoot, family members were in tears, stunned and moved by the emotion the scene evoked. Bailey and Barbato also recognized the significance of her contribution to the LGBTQIA community, saying, “Homosexuality has often been demonized by the Christian community. At a time when people shrank from HIV and AIDS, Tammy was having none of it. She didn’t believe in labeling people. She understood the power of the camera to look into the eyes of people far and wide and share the truth.”
Playing a singer was another test for Chastain, whose previous musical experience only included college experience. Drawing inspiration from Tammy Faye, she dove right into an area outside of her comfort zone. “She was never embarrassed,” the actress added. “People were drawn to her because she was unique. She used her platform to advocate for a celebration of our differences and knowing that made it easier for me to perform.” It inspired Andrew Garfield in his role as Jim as well. “Tammy is so rooted into Jessica’s heart, and that’s an amazing place to come from. You follow her into the fray because of that; because she’s so passionate and devoted.”
“I won’t go forward looking in the rearview mirror of my life.” – Tammy Faye Bakker
Chastain and Garfield connected before shooting and began sending each other articles and videos about the Bakkers, but their commitment to building the characters’ relationship didn’t stop there. “Once we got to Charlotte, North Carolina, we would go to church every Sunday at Heritage USA,” Chastain recalled. “It became a weekly thing. We saw people that we recognized from watching the documentaries who had worked with Jim and Tammy. They were generous in giving us their insight. It was an incredible and inspiring way to start the work week.”
Being from the UK, Garfield wasn’t initially familiar with Bakker’s story, so he had a fresh perspective on the couple. “I knew that Tammy Faye was an icon in the LGBTQ community, but I didn’t know anything else,” said Garfield. “It’s a very American story, even the evangelical movement is a very American movement.”
Spirituality had always captivated Garfield and how ego and money can bastardize nearly every spiritual movement. Jim initially met Tammy Faye at North Central Bible College after leaving behind a “sinful” life as a rock’n’roll-loving DJ and devoted himself to serving Christ. Later on, when he and Tammy Faye founded Praise The Lord (PTL), the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, their success and wealth twisted Jim’s perception of his own faith. While researching Jim’s decline, it struck Garfield how many preachers equated God’s love with material wealth instead of redemption in the afterlife.
“Jim’s actually a very complicated person,” says Garfield. “I found it easy to fall in love with him. What he and Tammy did was really radical. They created a wild alternative to other Christian broadcasting of the time. They had a longing to heal people. Instead of waiting for joy in heaven, they advocated for happiness in the here and now. His downfall was that he lost sight of all of that, and I found his fallibility fascinating.”
Showalter also recognized the importance of portraying Jim Bakker in a more nuanced way. “Andrew really found humanity to Jim Bakker and… really forced us all to see Jim, not just as a two-dimensional character… we could have gone down that path, and I’m so glad we didn’t. Andrew has created this incredibly complicated, deeply flawed but also compelling character in Jim.”
Co-directed by Sarah Smith Jean-Philippe Vine and Octavio E. Rodriguez, Ron’s Gone Wrong follows Barney, voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer, socially awkward middle-schooler, and Ron, voiced by Zach Galifianakis, his new walking, talking, digitally connected device.
Ron is supposedly his “Best Friend out of the Box.” Ron’s hilarious malfunctions set against the backdrop of the social media age. Launch them into an action-packed journey in which boy and robot come to terms with the wonderful messiness of genuine friendship.
Other voice actors include Olivia Coleman, Ed Helms, Justice Smith and Kylie Cantrall.
Co-written and directed by Cal Brunker based on Billy Frolick story with Frolick and Bob Barlen co-writing the screenplay, PAW Patrol: The Movie begins with their biggest rival, Humdinger, becomes Mayor of nearby Adventure City and starts wreaking havoc, Ryder and everyone’s favorite heroic pups kick into high gear to face the challenge head-on.
Gus (voiced by Tyler Perry) and Chase (voiced by Iain Armitage) in PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Spin Master.
While one pup must face his past in Adventure City, the team finds help from a new ally, the savvy dachshund Liberty. Together, armed with exciting new gadgets and gear, the PAW Patrol fights to save the citizens of Adventure City.
If you’ve watched the television series, then you are in for a treat with a full-length movie.
The cast includes Iain Armitage, Marsai Martin, Yara Shahidi, Kim Kardashian West, Randall Park, Dax Shepard, Tyler Perry, Jimmy Kimmel and Will Brisbin.
Written and directed by Morgan Neville, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is a documentary about Chef, writer, adventurer and provocateur.
Anthony Bourdain stars in Morgan Neville’s documentary, ROADRUNNER, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Dmitri Kasterine / Focus Features
He lived his life unabashedly in an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. Neville gives us an unflinching look at Bourdain’s resounding presence, in his own voice, and in the way he indelibly affected the world around him.
Drawing on previously unseen footage from Bourdain’s television shows, all-new interviews with his friends and family, and Bourdain’s own wry and instantly recognizable voiceovers, Neville creates a record of an extraordinary man’s unexpected rise to stardom as a celebrity chef, book author, journalist and travel documentarian.
Anthony Bourdain (left) and Ottavia Busia-Bourdain (right) star in Morgan Neville’s documentary, ROADRUNNER, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Discovery Access / Focus Features
The story, the filmmaker realized early in the filmmaking process, is one of constant transformation. “In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what the film was going to be about,” he says. “I only knew I wanted to celebrate the joy and excitement and humor of the man. But I soon found the story I wanted to tell was how a hard-living, irreverent chef at a mediocre New York restaurant suddenly shot to fame at the age of 44 and what happened after that. Not many people in their mid-40s suddenly go from utter obscurity to absolute fame.”
Written and directed by Lisa Joy, Reminiscence follows Nick Bannister, played by Hugh Jackman, as a scientist who develops a technology to go back into time. He searches for his long, lost love, played by Rebecca Ferguson.
Also starring in this science fiction movie are Thandiwe Newton, Natalie Martinez and Brett Cullen.
Co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Edgar Wright, Last Night in Soho is Wright’s story, and he also directs. The film follows Thomasin McKenzie, who plays a young girl named Eloise, and she’s passionate about fashion design. But London is overwhelming for her.
McKenzie had a similar experience of London, which she barely knew before taking the role as her character. “It makes an incredible setting for this film because, like Eloise, I think the whole world looks at London as being very shiny, a big city full of opportunities. Like Eloise, when I first got off the plane and started driving around, I was kind of star-struck trying to take everything in. It’s been amazing working in London because although there is a bad side, it is a magical city, and there are really incredible people.”
She can go into the past and enter the 1960s. There, she encounters her idol, Sandie, a dazzling up-and-coming singer played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
Taylor-Joy was initially “a tiny bit anxious” because she didn’t want to be pigeonholed as a horror actress because she had just finished The Witch. But she quickly realized that this was no stereotypical effort. “As he kept telling me more and more about the story, I realized that I was going to have a lot of fun with it.”
At first, both the star and director thought she might play Eloise. But by the time the script materialized, Wright had another idea, and he sent the script with a note asking the star to consider the Sandie role. “Seeing her in other roles over the years and watching her grow up in public, I thought, maybe she’s the other part,” says Wright. “I sent her an email and said, ‘I have two surprises. One, the Soho script exists. Two, I want you to look at Sandie’. She was 100% onboard.”
Anne Taylor-Joy as Sandie
That’s no exaggeration to hear Taylor-Joy describe her immediate reaction to Sandie. “I enjoyed the fact that she scared me. I’ve played a lot of outsider-y type roles, and Sandie is so confident and so sure of herself as this kind of sexy kitten. When I first read it, I was like, ‘How on earth am I going to pull this off?'” Sandie is outgoing, vivacious and confident: she comes to London determined to become a star. “I think she wants to do it all!” says Taylor-Joy. “She’s an aspiring singer and actress, and dancer. She just wants to see her name up in lights. I call her ‘Brass Balls Sandie’ because she really just throws herself into every situation. I wish I had a bit more of her in me, in that respect.”
Wright is best known for directing Baby Driver, and the large cast includes Matt Smith, Jessie Mei Li, Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg.
“I would love the audience to go on that journey too when the film opens on October 29th. We purposely pushed the film back to this autumn date, not just so that it can hopefully be enjoyed on the biggest screen possible, but also so the nights would be longer and the audience could go in cold… literally.”
In the Final Production Notes, Wright also asked that anyone who sees the film doesn’t spoil it for others by telling them what happens.
Co-written by Ilana Glazer and John Lee, who also directs, False Positive follows Lucy, played by Ilana Glazer. She senses something not right about her fertility doctor, played by Pierce Brosnan, while she tries to get pregnant. She sets out to discover an unsettling truth.
The movie also stars Justin Theroux as Adrian, her husband, and Sophia Bush.
Based on a Marvel comic book by Jack Kirby, co-written for the screen by Kaz and Ryan Firpo, and directed and co-written by Chloe Zhao, Eternals follow a race of immortal beings living on Earth to shape its history and civilizations.
According to IMDB, the Eternals quietly living on Earth reunite against the world’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants. Somehow, the story follows the events of Avengers: Endgame.
A powerful cast includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington and Gemma Chan.
According to Netflix, where the movie streams and posted by IMDB, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, an animated movie, follows an ordinary family who finds themselves in the middle of their biggest family challenge yet — saving the world from the robot apocalypse.
When a film school of her dreams accepts creative outsider Katie Mitchell, she’s eager to leave home and find “her people,” when her nature-loving dad insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally-not-awkward-or-forced road trip.
But when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising. Everything from smartphones to Roombas to evil Furbys tries to capture every human on the planet.
Now it’s up to the Mitchells, including upbeat mom Linda, quirky little brother Aaron, their squishy pug, Monchi, and two friendly but simple-minded robots to save humanity.
Co-written and co-directed by Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, the voice cast includes Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph and Olivia Coleman.
