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Ma trailer shows us a new side of Octavia Spencer – Every town has one: you know, that adult who spends way too much time partying with the local high school kids, even though they’re closer to social security than they are prom. Those people are creepy, as this new trailer for Ma demonstrates.
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer headlines, playing an unhinged woman who befriends a group of high school kids. Things get real weird real fast in the clip for the new Blumhouse feature. Check out the synopsis and trailer and see it for yourself.
“Oscar® winner Octavia Spencer stars as Sue Ann, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town (Diana Silvers, Glass), to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own. She offers the kids the chance to avoid drinking and driving by hanging out in the basement of her home. But there are some house rules: One of the kids has to stay sober. Don’t curse. Never go upstairs. And call her ‘Ma.’ But as Ma’s hospitality starts to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on earth.”
Ma hits theaters this May.
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The Curse of La Llorona trailer is creepy – We’ve got a new trailer for upcoming Warner Bros. release The Curse of La Llorona, which is set to hit theaters on April 9. Read on for the plot details.
“La Llorona. The Weeping Woman. A horrifying apparition, caught between Heaven and Hell, trapped in a terrible fate sealed by her own hand. The mere mention of her name has struck terror around the world for generations. In life, she drowned her children in a jealous rage, throwing herself in the churning river after them as she wept in pain. Now her tears are eternal. They are lethal, and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. La Llorona creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. As the centuries have passed, her desire has grown more voracious … and her methods more terrifying. In 1970s Los Angeles, La Llorona is stalking the night—and the children.”
Linda Cardellini and Raymond Cruz headline. Check out the trailer below and let me know what you think.
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It’s a sequel to The Nun – in LEGO form! – I’ve long been a fan of people making LEGO versions of popular films. There have been some classics over the years, and today we’re bringing you the latest, a sequel to The Nun made entirely out of the popular blocks and animated using stop-motion camera work.
Youtuber Kreimkouk is the mastermind behind the new two-and-a-half-minute short, which finds the titular character back to wreak more havoc. The artist explains that he used 1680 shots, filmed at 12 frames per second with a Sony DSC-HX50 camera to create the film. That’s some real dedication.
Check it out for yourself below.
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Is Eli Roth finally making Thanksgiving? – Word is circulating that Eli Roth is set to begin shooting a new film next month, that it’s based on a script with pal Jeff Rendell, and that filming will take place in Massachusetts, all of which has horror nerds hoping it’s Roth’s long-awaited, feature-length version of Thanksgiving.
Roth and Rendell crafted the faux trailer for the turkey day slasher as one of the clips for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse. The teaser was a hit with fans, who’ve been dying to see a full-length version for years. Could this finally be it?
It’s too soon to say, but if it’s not Thanksgiving, Roth has done a great job trolling us all without actually saying anything. Personally, my guess is it’s a different project, but it’s still fun to imagine what a Thanksgiving would look like.
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Horror on the Horizon
Only one horror film is getting a wide release over the next two weeks, but it’s a big one.
Happy Death Day 2U, the sequel to 2017’s surprise hit, has opened in theaters nationwide, and if you’re still celebrating Valentine’s Day, this one’s for you and your beloved!
The film, which is billed as a sort of Back to the Future-esque follow-up, will pick up right where the first film left off, only with star Jessica Rothe now tasked with not only saving herself, but other people around her as well.
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Horror on Home Video
Hope your wallet has recovered from the holidays, because there are a lot of good discs coming over the next two weeks.
February 19 is packed with cool stuff, and Arrow’s release of H.G. Lewis’ gore classic Color Me Blood Red leads the way. Lewis’ gore films are campy and quaint by today’s standards, but there’s no denying their importance in terms of horror film history. Arrow gets that, and thus this disc is loaded with extras.
Also on the docket this week: a Blu-ray version of Firestarter, As Above, So Below, John Badham’s 1979 version of Dracula (with Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier…), WWII horror flick Overlord, and Skinner, a cult oddity with Traci Lords, Ricki Lake and Ted Raimi.
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February 26 doesn’t bring us quite so many titles, but it does bring us Vinegar Syndrome’s version of Mausoleum, an 80s cult classic that’s finally coming to Blu-ray.
“The Nomed Family has been the victim of an ancient curse in which the first born daughter of each generation has gone violently mad and then suspiciously dies. No one can explain the Nomed madness, but some say it’s because of the possession of a terrible demonic force. By way of an unnatural urge during her mother’s funeral, Susan entered her family’s mausoleum, and ever since an evil presence has been lurking inside of her, waiting for a chance to come out. Now an adult, something is hiding inside Susan’s body, coming out to grotesquely murder anyone who comes too close to uncovering her terrifying secret.”
This one’s got some great extras, so don’t miss out.
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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:
Dream Casting of the Day:
There have been rumors about Robert Pattinson taking over as Batman, so here’s some fan art showing what he could like in the role:
FANART: If Reeves needs a younger actor to portray Bruce Wayne, I can totally see him even if others can’t seem to. from r/DC_Cinematic
Reworked Trailer of the Day:
Rosemary Harris is seamlessly back as Aunt May in Aldo Jones’ surreal parody of the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer:
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Movie Merchandising of the Day:
How did Hasbro start making movie tie-in action figures look exactly like the actors? Inside goes behind the scenes of the toy company’s process:
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Filmmaker Parody of the Day:
Speaking of Star Wars toys, here’s a neat little parody of Wes Anderson using figures to show what his Star Wars would look like (via /Film):
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Vintage Image of the Day:
Stockard Channing, who turns 75 today, poses for a promotional shot on the set of Grease in 1977:
Filmmaker in Focus:
For Little White Lies, Luis Azevedo highlights the colors of the movies of If Beale Street Could Talk director Barry Jenkins:
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Screenwriting Lesson of the Day:
This new video from The Closer Look uses scenes from The Lord of the Rings, The Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction and more movies to instruct how to write great dialogue:
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Cosplay of the Day:
In honor of the release of the Frozen II teaser today, this fan shared her excellent Elsa cosplay:
I was skeptical, but that Frozen 2 trailer looks pretty hype. Also Happy Birthday to me ???? Anyone else excited?
Also that new outfit is cute! #Disney #Frozen2 #Frozen #FrozenII #Elsa #Elsacosplay #disneycosplay #frozentrailer #cosplay #poccosplay #plussizecosplay pic.twitter.com/R7bCuB6Hhb
— MidnitePur @ CNY (@MidnightPursona) February 13, 2019
Classic Movie Trailer of the Day:
Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of 50 First Dates. Watch the original trailer for the classic rom-com below.
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GREAT NEWS
Wicked this way comes in 2021: After many years of Universal planning for a movie version of Wicked, the musical adaptation has set a release date for December 2021 with Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry at the helm. Find out everything we know about the movie here.
EXCLUSIVE BUZZ
Mike Mitchell on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part: We talked to Mike Mitchell, the director of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part about how he came to the Lego-verse, the future of this franchise and the Jason Momoa and Bruce Willis cameos. Read the whole interview here.
COOL CULTURE
A Star is Born sound design breakdown: Insider puts the spotlight on the Oscar-nominated engineers behind the sound design for A Star is Born, focusing on the layered soundscape of the first concert performance of “Shallow.” Watch it here:
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MUST-WATCH TRAILERS
Avengers: Endgame teases some hope: The Super Bowl teaser for Avengers: Endgame may not be a full new trailer, but it offers enough new and more hopeful footage from the anticipated sequel that nobody is complaining. Watch it below and read everything we know about the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe installment here.
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Captain Marvel shows us how it’s done: Marvel didn’t stop with Avengers: Endgame, as a new teaser for Captain Marvel also dropped during the big football game. This one shows us how it’s really done by going higher, further, faster. Watch the spot below and read everything we know about the next MCU installment here.
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Us promises to terrify you: The Super Bowl teaser for Jordan Peele’s Us also shared some new footage from the upcoming horror movie, as if we needed any further reason to want to see it and any further nightmare fuel for the time being. Watch the new spot below and read everything we know about Us here.
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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark looks horrifying: We got our first look at Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark during the Super Bowl, broken up into four separate teasers, and it looks to be a frighteningly faithful adaptation of the classic children’s books. Watch one of the teasers below and check out the others plus read everything we know about the horror movie here.
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Toy Story 4 heads to infinity and my foot: For a palette cleanser after all the superheroes and horror movies, Disney and Pixar shared another funny new look at Toy Story 4 during the Super Bowl with Buzz Lightyear trapped at a carnival, and it just feels great to have these old friends back on screen. Watch the new spot and find out everything we know about the sequel here.
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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:
Mashup of the Day:
Nerdist perfectly crossed the Netflix documentary Fyre Fraud with Jurassic Park (and its sequels):
Easter Eggs of the Day:
To celebrate the upcoming home video release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, Disney shares some of the Disney and Pixar Easter eggs located in the animated feature:
Video Essay of the Day:
With The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part out this weekend, Matt Draper looks at the first movie’s exploration of the healing power of nostalgia:
Fan Theory of the Day:
In the latest Film Theory, MatPat attempts to figure out what the monster is in the hit Netflix movie Bird Box:
Genre Celebration of the…
Read More
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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:
Easter Eggs of the Day:
How many Easter eggs did Marvel pack into the 30-second Avengers: Endgame Super Bowl teaser? Mr. Sunday Movies finds out:
Movie Craft of the Day:
Insider spotlights the four engineers behind the Oscar-nominated sound mix of A Star is Born:
Oscar Montage of the Day:
Burger Fiction highlights every movie nominated for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects starting with 1927’s Wings:
Video Essay of the Day:
This video from Cinema Cartography celebrates the existential excellence of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona:
Vintage Image of the Day:
Red Buttons, who was born 100 years ago today, with director Billy Wilder and…
Read More
Clockwise from upper left: Better Oblivion Community Center, Heather Woods Broderick, Mdou Moctar, Bellows
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Courtesy of the artists
On this edition of All Songs Considered I’m joined by Marissa Lorusso, our Tiny Desk Contest leader and also a critical contributor to NPR Music’s Turning the Tables project.
Marissa plays music from the ’90s San Jose trio, Duster. They’re getting back together, but not before a boxed set of their storied past comes out. Marissa is also a fan of Bellows, the music of Oliver Kalb, who we also know from the band Gabby’s World (formerly Eskimeaux and O). And we hear music from Heather Woods Broderick, a songwriter and singer we’ve featured not only for her own music but for being a stage and studio partner with Sharon Van Etten. I play music from Tiny Desk Contest entrant Jackie Mendoza who performs a stripped-down, more focused remake of the song she submitted to our contest called “De Lejos” about loving from afar. We also hear great trance guitar from a Tuareg musician from the Saharan region. It’s a recording he made in Detroit after a chance meeting with a producer who shared his love of ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres record.
But first, I open the show with my current favorite album of 2019, one that came out as huge surprise just last week, by Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers. They call their project Better Oblivion Community Center. — Bob Boilen
Better Oblivion Community Center is last week’s surprise collaboration from the songwriting team of Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers. It’s a harmonious fusion of alt-country and modern folk. Among the album’s standouts is “Dylan Thomas,” an homage to the Welsh poet and writer known for his idiosyncratic introspection and boisterous drinking — the latter ultimately leading to his untimely death in 1953.
Better Oblivion Community Center is available now from Dead Oceans.
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“The Rose Gardener,” the new single from Bellows — the recording project of Brooklyn based songwriter and producer Oliver Kaib — examines the challenges of making art in the current climate of political divisiveness, comparing the creative process to the tending of a rose bud in the dead of winter. The record features support from a bevy of friends and fellow bedroom artists, including members of Gabby’s World and Florist.
The Rose Gardener is out Feb. 22 via Topshelf Records.
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In the late ’90s, San Jose trio Duster quietly perfected a blend of slowcore-meets-space rock style of music. Stratosphere, the band’s 1998 debut, is regarded as an emblem of the decade’s lo-fi, indie movement. After nearly 20 years of inactivity, Duster is back with Capsule Losing Contact, a box set containing two full-length LPs, their 1975 EP, demos, and previously unreleased singles, including “What You’re Doing to Me.”
Capsule Losing Contact is available March 22 via Numero Group.
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Although known for her contributions to influential projects, including Horse Feathers, Sharon Van Etten, and Laura Gibson, the songwriter Heather Woods Broderick has found her own voice in the world of folk, releasing two delicate and gorgeous records in the past decade: 2009’s From the Ground and 2015’s Glider. This April, Broderick returns with Invitation, a memento of the singer’s time spent recording in the mist of the Oregon coast last year. In a press release, Broderick shared that “Where I Lay,” the album’s lead single, is “a poem about the impermanence of all things.”
Invitation is out April 19 via Western Vinyl.
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With a playful combination of electro-pop and Latin-driven beats, Jackie Mendoza first caught our attention at last year’s SXSW music festival. Fans of the Tiny Desk series might remember “De Lejos” as Mendoza’s submission to last year’s Tiny Desk Contest, the NPR Music series that provides a platform for emerging artists from around the world. Recently signed to Luminelle Recordings, Mendoza is slated to announce her debut album’s release date in the coming weeks.
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Growing up in a small village outside of Niger, secular music was strictly off limits for the Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar. Flash forward to 2018 where, while recording his first studio album, the artist bonded with Detroit producer Chris Koltay over their mutual love of ZZ Top. It’s easy to imagine the breadth of Mocatar’s musical influences. “Kamane Tarhanin,” the debut single from Ilana (The Creator), is a droning, hypnotic, and psychedelic meditation.
Ilana (The Creator) is available March 29 via Sahel Sounds.
Electronic musician Nicola Cruz’s new album, Siku, releases on Jan. 25.
Hanna Quevedo/Courtesy of the artist
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Nicola Cruz is not afraid to experiment. Well-known in South America and based in Ecuador, the electronic musician released his latest album, Siku, on Jan. 25.
Not only does he mix in the folklore and roots from around South America, Cruz also creates vivid soundscapes using various instruments including wood flutes, percussion and small guitars.
“Living in a place like Ecuador, it just feels natural,” Cruz says. “All around, folklore and roots are quite present. You turn on the radio and you listen to folkloric music.”
When Cruz started to make techno music, he decided to slow down the BPM (beats per minute) and investigate music from there. Never thinking about whether or not it would sell, it led him to create a song called “Sanación,” which he released four years ago on his debut album, Prender el Alma.
“That really made me take a step back and realize what what I was doing,” Cruz says. “It really felt magical. It felt powerful.”
Now, he’s out with his second album Siku, which Cruz says is a reference to a wind instrument from the Andes. “But at the same time Siku means an Andean tradition which means playing in pairs,” Cruz says, “Not necessarily playing like in the physical form, but really being connected with one another while playing.”
Cruz tries to be as “experimental as possible,” which he believes is an advantage of electronic music. In many of his songs, he likes to record outside of a conventional studio where things can be “a bit more chaotic.”
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“So ‘Arka’ was recorded in this cave in this volcano near me,” Cruz says. “It’s not an active volcano, but pretty much all the mountains around here were once a volcano.”
“Arka” was done in collaboration with Esteban Valdivia, a specialist on the world’s ethnic flutes and the study of pre-Columbian aerophones.
“We always wanted to do a song together, and so we thought these caves which are near our homes was the perfect place to to experiment,” Cruz says.
By mixing electronic music with elements from his homeland, Cruz hopes to change the perception of pop music in Latin America. “I, at least, know I’m doing my music with quality and intention,” Cruz says. “I really hope it gets heard and it replaces our concept of popular music.”
Producer Monika Evstatieva assisted with the audio editing of this story.
Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:
BIG NEWS
91st Oscar nominations announced: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for this year’s Oscars, with Roma and The Favourite tying for most categories with 10 each. Also, a little movie called Black Panther became the first superhero movie nominated for Best Picture. Read more trivia and see the full list of nominees here.
FESTIVAL BUZZ
What to see at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival: We are at Sundance this weekend, and ahead of heading out to Park City, we shared a list of 10 movies we’re most looking forward to at the festival, including Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw, the Mindy Kaling-scripted Late Night and the semi-autobiographical Shia LaBeouf movie Honey Boy. Read about all our picks here.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES REPORT
How Shazam! stands apart and fits in: We visited the set of Shazam! and learned all about how the movie stands alone within the DC Extended Universe and also how it continues a certain superhero movie trend of late. Read everything we learned from the filmmakers and cast, including star Zachary Levi, here and here.
EXCLUSIVE BUZZ
Phil Lord and Chris Miller on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part: We talked to Phil Lord and Chris Miller again, this time about The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which they co-wrote and produced. And in addition to all the awesome things they said about how awesome their movie is, we also shared an awesome new clip from the animated sequel. Watch that and read our full interview here.
COOL CULTURE
Spider-Man: Far From Home as an animated feature: Now that we know how great an animated Spider-Man movie can be, thanks to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, maybe Spider-Man: Far From Home should also be an animated feature. Or, maybe not, but at least Darth Blender recreated the new trailer for the Homecoming sequel using old cartoons so we could see what it’d look like. Watch it here:
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MUST-WATCH TRAILERS
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile looks anything but: The first trailer arrived for the Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which stars Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer, and it looks extremely well-made, expectedly well-acted and just plain great. Watch the spot for the movie, which premieres at Sundance this weekend, below.
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“It feels like everyone’s in a pressure cooker in this country,” says Leyla McCalla in her biography, about the themes she addresses on her new album, The Capitalist Blues. The upcoming album, out on Jan. 25, was produced by Jimmy Horn of the New Orleans band King James & The Special Man, and is the third release by the former cellist with the Grammy Award- winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.
McCalla has been living in New Orleans since 2010. For The Capitalist Blues, she fully incorporated recording with a band, a move she’s been inching towards since her 2013 debut. The album incorporates the sounds of the Big Easy with her interest in social justice. The title of “The Capitalist Blues,” says McCalla in this album introduction video, “is me thinking about a lot of the psychological and emotional effects of living in a capitalist society.”
Today, World Cafe premieres the music video for McCalla’s cover of the calypso song “Money Is King.” The song was originally recorded and popularized by Neville Marcano, under his stage name as The Growling Tiger, recorded in the early 1930s.
On the topical song, that fits perfectly in with the album’s theme McCalla sings, “If a man has money today / People don’t care if he has cocobey / If a man has money today / People don’t’ care if he has cocobey / He can commit murder
And get off free / Live in the governors company / But if you are poor / People will tell you “Shoo! A dog is better than you.”
“Money Is King” sways with delicious musicality. On it, McCalla’s voice sounds as strong as the message and social commentary of the song. McCalla plays tenor banjo, accompanied by a lilting arrangement of viola, bass, trumpet, guitar and a whiskey bottle, giving the song a measurable bounce.
“The first thought that I had upon hearing the song ‘Money Is King’ was, ‘I want to sing this song,'” McCalla wrote in a statement. “I had been exploring secular Haitian folk music that used metaphor and powerful poetic imagery to address social and political issues; I immediately felt a connection to this similarity in the Calypso songs of Neville Marcano A.K.A. The Growling Tiger. As I started to put together the songs for Capitalist Blues, ‘Money Is King‘ felt like such a natural fit. I hope you can see the fun that was had in making this video!”
Directed by Nisa East, the video opens with a shot of McCalla singing the opening verse, and cuts away to four men huddled around a table playing several board games including Monopoly and Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Throughout the visual, there are interspersed shots of McCalla and her band, her dancing with an older gentleman on the street, and a dog grabbing a raw steak. Towards the end of the video, the plastic Monopoly houses burn as the four players appear to get contentious with each other and the table is flipped over in anger.
The Capitalist Blues is out on Jan. 25 via Discograph / Jazz Village.
