Tag: Josh Brolin

“Weapons” Horror Movie Hits The Mark

On August 12, 2025

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

One of the best films of the summer is “Weapons,” written, directed and partially scored by Zach Cregger. While there are credits for music (“Beware of Darkness,” “Gotta’ Get Up” et. al) Cregger collaborated with Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay on sounds used. Cregger’s previous film, “Barbarian” (2022) marked him as a talent to watch. This feature is one of the most anticipated for horror film lovers and is quickly outpacing “Freakier Friday” and doing well at the box office. The script for this film went through a bidding war between Universal and Netflix. For a while, Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” “Us,” “Nope”) was also in the running to make this horror film.

CAST

The actors in this one are Top Notch. Julia Garner (“Ozark”) portrays Justine Gandy, a teacher at Maybrook Elementary School (grades 1 through 5). Justine’s entire class of 18 students—with the one exception of Alex Lilly—disappears in the night at 2:17 a.m. and, say the ads, “they never came back.” I was concerned that, like the television series “The Leftovers” (2014, Justin Theroux) we would never get a coherent explanation of how or why these kids seemingly disappeared. Rest assured, we do get that explanation. The number 217 could conceivably reference Matthew 2:17 (“The Slaughter of the Innocents”). It was also the room number in the Overlook Hotel. (“The Shining).

AMY MADIGAN

The cast member getting most of the accolades for her performance is Julia Garner as teacher Justine Gandy, and she deserves the praise. However, I’d like to put in a vote for the always-excellent Amy Madigan as Gladys. (Amy has been married to fellow actor Ed Harris 42 years.) Madigan’s appearance in “Field of Dreams” is one of her best-known. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1986 as Best Supporting Actress for “Twice in a Lifetime.”[One of Madigan’s castmates in this film, Alden Ehrenreich (as Paul Morgan) was named for the writer/director of “Field of Dreams,” a close friend of Ehrenreich’s parents.]

Alden Ehrenreich (with mustache).

ALDEN EHRENREICH

Ehrenreich rose to fame as Hobie Doyle, the lasso afficionado in the Coen Brothers film “Hail, Caesar” (2016). The 36-year-old has been working since he was discovered by Steven Spielberg at the Bar Mitzvah of a friend of Spielberg’s daughter. He made his feature film debut in Francis Ford Coppola‘s film Tetro (2009), and appeared in Coppola’s subsequent film Twixt (2011). Apparently there was a big discussion of whether or not Ehrenreich should have a mustache in the film. The ‘stash prevented me from instantly recognizing him. Ehrenreich shared that his ride-alongs with real cops while preparing for the film clinched the yes vote with Director Cregger.

JOSH BROLIN

Do we need to do more than mention Josh Brolin’s name? Brolin and Pedro Pascal seem to be in everything these days. Brolin even joked about Pedro not being in this one. Pascal left for “The Fantastic Four,” and bailed on “Weapons,” necessitating much recasting for Cregger. There was also the strike and other out-of-control features that caused his exit. Brolin and Garner team up effectively to search for Matthew, Archer Graff’s son, although it does seem that a house with newspapers all over the windows might have attracted more attention from the authorities earlier, but Brolin and Garner are on the case and will not give up in their quest to solve the mystery of the missing children.

CARY CHRISTOPHER

Cary Christopher plays the young sole survivor of the disappearance, Alex Lilly. The young actor is terrific in the part. He is soon appearing in “High Potential” (a TVseries set to premiere on September 17^th) and “Spider-Noir” in 2026. Young Christopher was as good in his part as Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense.”

JULIA GARNER

It is Julia Garner’s class, portraying elementary school teacher Justine Gandy, that disappears. She carries the entire film on her slim shoulders. “Ozark” fans will be happy to see this talented actress, who portrayed Ruth Langmore on “Ozark” (2017), back in “Weapons.” Co-star Josh Brolin has been singing Garner’s well-deserved praises on late-night television. Definitely seems more her style than her appearance in “The Fantastic Four,” but she is versatile.

BENEDICT WONG

As the gay Marcus, Benedict Wong (“Dr. Strange”) does an expert job taking his story arc from reasonable school administrator to deranged over-the-top temporary nut job. His final appearance in “Weapons” is horrifying. Marcus’s attacks on Justine (and Josh Brolin as Archer Graff) will keep you on the edge of your seat(s).

SCRIPT

For a movie like this to work, the story must involve a premise that is original, and executed effectively with creativity but without confusion (only half of that goal was achieved by the recent “Eddington”). Those elements succeed and are interwoven in “Weapons,” just as each character’s story is picked up, developed, and then left to move on building suspense for another character. Just watching a hand reach for a doorknob is chilling. This dramatic tension is well-done and the expert handling of time, moving back and forth smoothly in the story, is remarkable.

Writer/Director Cregger even gets a credit for composing some of the sound/music, although, in each of his features, the sound effects are more natural (thunderstorms, creaking floorboards) or simply the lack of music in many scenes. Instead, we have thumping sounds, screams, pulsing heartbeats (as in “Barbarian”)—all very effective.

THEMES

Moral ambiguity existed in “Brutarian” with Justin Long’s character (Long makes a small appearance in this one, as Gary, a neighbor who shares ring camera footage with Josh Brolin). In “Weapons” Cregger delivers a message about the urge to “blame.” The teacher whose entire class disappeared is judged and found guilty by the community. Her car is vandalized with the word WITCH in unwashable spray paint. Both Miss Gandy and the cop (Alden Ehrenreich as Paul Morgan) have past and present substance abuse issues. Josh Brolin’s character of Archer Graff may also have regrets about his parenting. Infidelity is briefly addressed. Comparisons to Jack Nicholson’s door-breaking scenes in “The Shining” may flash through your mind during the climactic scenes involving Alex’s parents. Those scenes are extremely frightening. (No elementary school-age children in the room, please.)

Writer/Director Zach Cregger.

CONCLUSION

This is a good one. It will be fun to watch the direction that Zach Cregger’s work takes next. If you like this one, check out “Barbarian”(2022) on Neflix before it leaves on August 31^st.

Avengers Infinity War Anticipation: Will It Live Up to the Hype ?

By Connie Wilson

On March 25, 2018

In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews, Uncategorized

Guest Review by Zayin Allen

Coming off the hype of “Black Panther,” the top-grossing super hero movie of all time, Marvel Studios has a hard act to follow. “Black Panther” offered both a step forward for the culture and a much needed change within the superhero genre. “Black Panther” changed the momentum of the Marvel Universe. A different villain who was right, is, in a sense, a different hero, going in a different direction.

“Avengers Infinity Wars” will have to change its dynamic altogether. As much as I hate to say it, Marvel has the superhero movie genre locked down right now. DC needs to be better coming off its recent flop.

The problem with Marvel was the villain, but “Black Panther” succeeded where the last 12 MCU films failed. This means the highly anticipated arrival of a villain who can tie together all MCU films has to be great.

*cue Thanos*

Josh Brolin will be reprising the role, having previously voiced the Mad Titan. Although his stature and demeanor are menacing, his true power has yet to be unveiled. His goal is to collect the Infinity Stone and take over the universe. We last saw him in the post credit scene of Guardians 2 proclaiming after many failed attempts he would get them himself.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has offered fans at least three of the five Infinity Stones. The Space Stone ( Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers), The Reality Stone (Thor: The Dark World) The Power Orb (from Guardians of the Galaxy) and The Time Stone( Doctor Strange).

The last remaining stone The Soul Stone has yet to be revealed in the MCU. More than likely in ” The Avengers: Infinity Wars”, at which point Thanos will either collect or know the whereabouts of the stones and use them for the Infinity Gauntlet, which will grant him unforeseeable power. Each individual stone has great power on their own, but with all of them together, that represents the call of action for all seen and hopefully unseen heroes in the MCU.

The proper formula for a superhero movie calls for a good villain, a sacrifice, and a triumphant return. (Hence, “Dark Knight,” “Black Panther,” “Alien”, and what should have been “Justice League”).

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige himself said that Thanos, within the first five minutes of “Infinity Wars” will prove why he’s a sinister and destructive force. Both Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) hinted that the fourth “Avengers film” would be their last. [*To which this old person says, ‘We can only hope and pray.'”]

Someone is going to go out in a devastating way in “Avengers: Infinity Wars” but who and how is why seats will be filled April 26th.

(The review opinions above are from Zayin Allen, a college student in Delaware, who is enthusiastic about these movies. May I simply say: JUST SHOOT ME NOW if I have to watch any of these movies,— with the possible exception of “Black Panther.”)

“Hail, Caesar!” Is a Joy from Start to Finish

By Connie Wilson

On February 11, 2016

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

I had been looking forward to the new Joel & Ethan Coen movie, “Hail, Caesar!” which is based on the novel plot point that the lead actor in a huge studio spectacle is kidnapped and held for ransom just as the film is in the midst of shooting. The time frame for the film is the early 1950s, which means that musicals and religious spectacles (think “The Robe,” “Spartacus,” etc.) were big. Anyone old enough to know who Esther Williams was will like this movie.

I was lucky to see the film at a theater that showed clips from some of these old movies prior to the feature film. There were clips from an old Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly film, complete with dancing and singing. There were several choreographed swimming movies with Esther Williams (and others) looking every bit as good in her spangly swimsuit as any of today’s starlets. All of these snippets of films of yesteryear helped establish the tone and mood for the feature film.

And the feature film was a doozy! Outstanding amongst a terrific cast, for me, were the new face playing cowboy actor Hobie Doyle, Alden Ehrenheich. Alden is shown as a terrific horseman who can ride and rope with the best of them and can also sing. Because westerns were big in that era, Hobie has a career in westerns, but is suddenly traded by his studio to play the lead in a romantic drawing room comedy drama entitled “Merrily We Dance,” being directed by the oh-so-cultivated (and probably gay) director Laurence Laurentz, played by Ralph Fiennes. Since Hobie can barely speak, the scene where Fiennes tries to coach Hobie on how to deliver his lines is a comic delight. It goes without saying that Hobie cannot understand half of the terms Director Laurentz uses (words like “importune”). As we know from the clip that portrays Hobie’s dilemma, if asked to rope a cow, he would be in his element. If asked to dress up in a tuxedo and talk in a refined manner: not so much. The best Hobie can say, in trying to please his director, is, “I’ll give it a shot.” (His task: speak the line, “Would that it were so simple.”)

Josh Brolin plays the hard-working head of the studio who must put out fires on and off the lot. Ed Mannix must deal with the kidnapping of the lead in his Biblical epic, an actor called Baird Whitlock (George Clooney). The group that has kidnapped Baird (Clooney) calls itself “the Future.” It is a group of egghead Communists, and the leader of the group is a reveal when it comes.

The cast is uniformly great and the send-ups of what the old studio culture was all about is genius. Tilda Swinton plays two gossip columnists, an homage to the dueling gossip columnists Dear Abby and Anne Landers, probably. There is a veiled reference to the old story of Loretta Young’s love child (supposedly by Clark Gable) being adopted by its own biological mother. The rumors of gay stars and directors having to conceal their homosexuality are legendary.

On the evening talk shows, co-star Channing Tatum shares the difficulties he faced in his part, since he had to learn to tap dance. The tap dance sequence is great. The swimming sequences that mimic the Esther Wiliams movies of old are wonderful, especially when Scarlett Johanssen speaks.

Noah Hill doesn’t have enough to do (nor does Frances McDormand) but lines like this kept me wanting more: “God doesn’t have children. He is a bachelor—and very angry.” The send-up of the old westerns with singing cowboys (“Lazy Ol’ Moon”) was equally good.

I really needed a light-hearted comedy that realizes there are a few adults left in the world who go to the movies. I’ve been seeing what looks like a re-boot of “Animal House” updated to the seventies. No offense to its Austin-based director Richard Linklater, based here in Austin, who helmed the classic “Dazed and Confused,” but I’d rather stroll down memory lane with the Coen Brothers. This movie was thoroughly entertaining, from start to finish.