Author: Alex Billington

"Kids are getting killed every day out here in these streets over nothing." Quiver has unveiled the trailer for a film titled The Waterboyz, the newest film by filmmaker Coke Daniels. This first premiered at the 2024 American Black Film Festival and will be out in limited theaters starting next month. In the streets of ATL, two young men cross paths. One is trying to make a legit living, the other trying to create mayhem and rule the streets. The Waterboyz takes place in the heat of Atlanta's streets, where Drew's college dreams clash with the gritty reality of street vending, alongside his best friend Dolo, who's got simpler dreams of cars and girls. When their corner hustle draws dangerous attention from both gangs and cops, Drew is faced with a choice: the quick money of the streets or the long game towards a better life. This stars Akili McDowell as Drew and Antwar Walker as Dolo, as well as Quavo, La La Anthony, Omar Dorsey, and Rockmund Dunbar. Looks like a pretty good film with a riveting story about ...

"Why do fireflies have to die so soon?" One of the saddest films ever is getting a proper streaming release on Netflix this fall. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the masterpieces directed by the late Japanese animation master Isao Takahata. It never got a US theatrical release in 1988 when it initially opened, but it has since become a cult classic, known by all who love & appreciation animation. Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's Naoki Prize-winning short story, Grave of the Fireflies is set in Kobe near the end of World War II and depicts the tragic fate of war orphan siblings and the horrors of this period. It was made by Studio Ghibli and released by Toho, though it was also the same year as My Neighbor Totoro, which is why it never achieved the same amount of fame. Written and directed by Takahata, the film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, and Akemi Yamaguchi. It's an amazingly beautiful film, but yes, it is also regarded as one of the saddest films ever made because it is ...

"I had no idea what I was doing... But I knew it was gonna be about money and death." HBO has revealed a trailer for 2-part documentary film called Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, a fascinating look back at the making of the iconic HBO show. This is set to premiere streaming on Max and on HBO in September this fall. "The man behind the cultural phenomenon." In Wise Guy, The Sopranos creator David Chase offers a unique look into his work on the hit series. From his own upbringing in an Italian American family in north New Jersey, with a complicated mother and a fascination with cinema, Chase details his entrée into Hollywood, where he wrote for a multitude of television shows, and his relationship with HBO as he pitched and developed his anti-hero mobster Tony Soprano. With candor and self-reflection, Chase digs into the challenges of running a successful show, the inevitable "deaths" of some of the fave characters, and his creative working relationship with the late James Gandolfini. This new HBO doc event takes us ...

"You had no idea... what you got yourself into down here." Lionsgate has revealed an official trailer for the action movie Long Gone Heroes, another of these generic action thrillers being dumped on VOD. A dime a dozen, am I right?! This one was filmed in Colombia and Puerto Rico (doubling as Venezuela). A special forces soldier who has given up country, religion, and even hope, must return to the field of battle to track down his niece – a reporter, caught in the middle of an illegal private contracting operation that went dead wrong. Another extraction story? Acclaimed actors Andy Garcia, Melissa Leo, Josh Hutcherson, and Frank Grillo star in a non-stop action thriller that will leave you breathless. Also featuring Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, George Carroll, and Wendy Moniz. This looks exceptionally violent and intense, might even be slightly better than most of these generic VOD action movies. You never know? Check it out below. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for John Swab's film Long Gone Heroes, direct from YouTube: Gunner, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the ...

"Every day they save lives. Every day they fight for theirs." Apple TV has revealed the official trailer for their upcoming streaming series called Midnight Family, a fictionalized adaptation of an award-winning documentary (from 2019) about a real family in Mexico City. The series debuts in late September. Marigaby is a medical student by day—and by night, she saves lives with her family in Mexico City's high-stakes biz of private ambulances. As pressure from both worlds threatens to drag her down, Marigaby will do whatever it takes to stay afloat. Inspired by the award-winning documentary film of the same name, Midnight Family follows Marigaby Tamayo, an ambitious and gifted medical student by day, who spends her nights saving lives throughout a sprawling, contrasted and fascinating Mexico City aboard her family’s privately owned ambulance. Along with her father Ramón and her siblings Marcus and Julito, Marigaby serves a population of millions by tackling extreme medical emergencies to make a living. Starring Joaquín Cosío, Renata Vaca, Sergio Bautista, & Diego Calva. As a fan of the original doc, I hope this series ...

Meet Ingrid & Martha. Sony Classics has revealed a first look teaser trailer for The Room Next Door, the first ever English language feature from beloved Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. A few of his recent short films have been in English (including The Human Voice and Strange Way of Life) but this is the first feature that's entirely in English; adapted from "What Are You Going Through" by Sigrid Nunez. The plot deals with the rift between two old friends Martha, a very imperfect mother and war correspondent, and the author Ingrid. They were close friends in their youth, working at the same magazine, but now they're writing entirely different things and have drifted apart it seems. The drama stars Julianne Moore as Ingrid, and Tilda Swinton as Martha, with Alessandro Nivola, John Turturro, Alex Høgh Andersen, Melina Matthews, Juan Diego Botto, Victoria Luengo, and Esther McGregor. Almodóvar's The Room Next Door is premiering soon at the 2024 Venice Film Festival in competition, and it will also screen at the New York & Toronto Film Festivals this fall. Of course ...

"All the crossroads converge as Galadriel faces Sauron." Prime Video has revealed a series of featurettes for Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power focusing on the score by composer Bear McCreary (known for The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, Godzilla: King of the Monsters). In Season 2, after the finale of Season 1: Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. The latest trailer looks incredible, even bigger & better this time. Bear McCreary returns after composing the score for Season 1 and continues to follow in the footsteps of maestro Howard Shore to create a new score for Middle Earth. He doesn't talk about that much in these videos below, but he does say how he's excited every single day to work on this. He talks about Galadriel fighting Sauron, the darker ...

"Are you a wolf in sheep's clothes?" Signature Entertainment in the UK has revealed their own official UK trailer for the crime thriller called Damaged, made by filmmaker Terry McDonough. We already posted the original US trailer and the film opened in the US in the spring earlier this year. The film follows Dan Lawson, a Chicago detective, who travels to Scotland to link up with Scottish Det. Glen Boyd, following the resurgence of a serial killer who's crimes match an unsolved case that he also looked into five years previous in Chicago. Will they figure out the connection or not? Samuel L. Jackson stars as Lawson, and Scottish actor Gianni Capaldi co-stars as Boyd, also credited on co-writing the screenplay. The tagline asks: "How do you catch a brilliant monster?" So many crime thrillers these days about "smart" criminals. The cast also includes Vincent Cassel, Laura Haddock, John Hannah, Katie Dickie, and Brian McCardie. This "shocking thriller" is already out in the US if you want to watch - and it will be streaming in the UK this fall. Here's ...

"If this is the live you've chosen, don't make the same mistakes he did." Netflix has revealed one more real teaser for the upcoming animated series called Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, based on the video games (not the movies). Only a few months to go until this is out! Picking up after the events of the highly successful Tomb Raider video game Survivor trilogy as told in 2013's Tomb Raider, 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider, and 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the animated series follows Lara Croft as she takes on the role of the iconic tomb raider that she is destined to become. The series will star Hayley Atwell as the new voice of Croft, taking over from Camilla Luddington, who was the voice in the games. With Powerhouse Animation behind the animation in the series. Along with Atwell, the voice cast includes Allen Maldonado as Zip, and Earl Baylon reprising his role as Jonah from Tomb Raider video games, and other voices not yet revealed. This is the third teaser, though it's the ...

"I think it is the most critical situation we've faced so far in the manned space flight program." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Apollo 13: Survival, a gripping look at the true story of what really happened on Apollo 13 in the spring of 1970. This premiered at CPH:DOX and it will be streaming on Netflix in early September to watch. Just nine months after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, NASA faced its greatest crisis — three astronauts stranded halfway to the moon on a spacecraft that had suffered a catastrophic explosion. Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and the struggle to bring its astronauts safely home. Everyone knows the famous Apollo 13 movie starring Tom Hanks & Bill Paxton (from 1995 - which is one of my favorites), but this doc features real footage and tells the real story. It's similar to the cinematic Apollo 11 doc, but telling this more frightening story of how they brought these three astronauts home after a disaster ...