Okay, let’s continue on with the Halloween-themed films this weekend (yeah, it’s still nearly six weeks away). Now, this one’s not specifically set during the holiday, and it’s definitely not for families (as the old joke goes, unless it’s Addams or Manson), like those punkin’ luvin’ sheepies. However, this is also an “IP”. The new Shaun film comes from a nearly twenty-year-old TV show. This one’s a bit more convoluted. It was a computer game first introduced thirty years ago, then a movie series six years later, followed by several more. Off the theatre screens since 2019, the studio behind it thinks that it’s overdue for a “reboot” or “re-imaging”. And what better director for the project than the man behind one of the surprise horror hits of last year (it even scored an acting Oscar). So, is there still life (or afterlife) in the world of RESIDENT EVIL?
In the opening moments, we’re introduced to a bedraggled, frazzled medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams). He’s making an organ delivery at a Colorado hospital during a cold, snowy night. He’s eager to clock out and head home to his girlfriend (she just told him over the phone that she’s “preggers”), but a doctor pleads with him to make one more delivery to a hospital in Raccoon City. And since it’s “double overtime”, Bryan agrees, despite his lack of snow chains on his clunker of a car. The combination of icy conditions and his ongoing “convo’ with his “bae” leads to him striking a woman who dashes out of the forest. He skids to a halt and gets out. Walking back, Bryan sees her body’s snow imprint, but…no body. He follows her footprints and finds her lying in the snow, wearing a cocktail dress and barefoot. After an encounter with a local policeman, Bryan heads away to a distant farmhouse. He’s chased by the watchdog, whose head explodes into a tangled mass of razor-sharp fangs and writhing tentacles. Just what has happened? Somehow, Bryan must find a way to reach a research hospital in downtown Raccoon City. But could this desperate delivery take Bryan into a horrific hellscape teaming with mutated monsters bent on making him one of their own? What a way to earn a couple of overtime bonus bucks!
Unlike many action game movie adaptations, this centers on one character, who’s in nearly every scene. Luckily, the talented Mr. Abrams is more than up to this formidable task. His Bryan is the ultimate “everyman”, thrust into a situation well past his abilities and “skill set,” as his ongoing mantra may be, “I’m not good with (fill in the blank)”. This “wage slave” would be having the most stressful night of his life, even without the slimy horrors lurking in every shadow. Abrams shows us how his heart is with his ladylove, as their relationship jumps to the new, higher level of parenthood. His voice cracks as he struggles to say the right words. And then the world goes “wonky”. With his frantic body language and darting eyes, Abrams conveys Bryant’s panic as he must concoct a defensive strategy very, very quickly. And with his humanity, we also get his “keep going” courage and his snarky sense of humor that prevails (his “f-bombs” hit on target, more than his bullets). It’s wild to think that Abrams will be in more deadly danger as the lead in WHALEFALL next month. Here, he does get a few other terrific actors to share his panic. Of note is the hilarious Paul Walter Hauser as a shadowy “secret spook” named Paul (yes, but his unsaid last name could be Ex Machina, as he “spills the beans” on the cause of this “s#*storm”) in a couple of brief scenes, who has us wanting more (he and Bryan are a superb team). And in the final moments, we get some chaotic chuckles from Zach Cherry as an exasperated head genetics geek. But still, this is Abrams’ “showcase”.
So, who’s this horror movie “wonderkind” who has been given the keys to this decades-old IP? Why, it’s director Zach Cregger (“Mr. WEAPONS”), who co-wrote this script with Shay Hatten. Sure, he gives us lots of excellent “jump scares” and “edge-of-your-seat” suspense sequences, while maintaining an overriding vibe of impending doom. That’s not what surprised me. I was not expecting the humor, as I may have laughed more than I gasped (frequently on both counts). Now, I’ll admit that I’ve never played the game, nor have I seen any of the previous flicks (it seemed like one screen in the multiplex always had one), as I went in “fresh”, so I’m not one of the critical “gamers” who are kvetching online about the jokes. And I enjoyed Cregger’s “spin” that plays on how one of us would try to survive in a “mutant monster-verse”, figuring out weapons and security (padlocks are tougher than we’ve been led to believe). Speaking of the creatures, they’ve found a great balance between the CGI and practical effects, which reminded me a bit of the work of Rob Bottin (1982’s THE THING) and Chris Walas (1986’s THE FLY). They’re truly the stuff of “body horror” nightmares. My only quibble may be the ending, as it feels like a bit of a downbeat detour to Bryan’s jolt-fueled journey. Ah, but this is a full banquet of terror and thrills with a tasty side dish of gags (in every sense), giving a new saucy, spicy spin to the plague-filled play(or slay)ground of RESIDENT EVIL. At least it’ll remind you to tip those delivery workers.
3 out of 4
RESIDENT EVIL is now playing in theatres everywhere.
You wouldn’t think so by the broiling temps, but the Fall season officially begins in a few days. And helping to push us into the Fall movie season is this family flick that centers on the big holiday. No, Thanksgiving is a couple of months away. This is a big Halloween movie that’s for “all ages”, despite that arbitrary “PG” rating. Unlike the big CG-produced features this year, like TOY STORY 5, HOPPERS, and those MINIONS, this is “old school” stop-motion animation puppetry, before Laika’s WILDWOOD opens next month. And this is a sequel, the latest in a trilogy by that “crazy crew from across the pond”, Aardman Animations. The main stars aren’t Wallace & Gromit, nor the birds of CHICKEN RUN, though the principal setting is a farm. A few months ago, these fluffy lil’ critters were darling detectives, so why can’t they figure in a monster movie satire? So, let’s get our “tricks n’ treats” with SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM. Boo! Baaa!
In a bucolic farm just outside of the quaint little village of Mossingham, that sheep, Shaun (voiced by Justin Fletcher), and his flock are secretly growing prize pumpkins for the big upcoming Halloween festivities. The crop is looking fantastic until the Farmer (John Sparkes) crashes through the patch while trying to ask the pretty local veterinarian (Nina Sosanya) to the town’s big Country and Western-themed dance, the “Halloween Hoedown”. It’s a gloopy gourd massacre, but the tiniest sheep, Timmy (Fletcher, again), saves the seeds. Ah, but Shaun has an idea. He discovers an old, dusty science book for kids, which inspires him to create a salve cream to supercharge and stimulate the seeds. Scrambling to find a container for his formula, Shaun grabs an empty bottle of hair growth gel from the Farmer. The pumpkins are swelling up, but the Farmer, wanting to restore his lush locks for the vet, uses the “quick-grow-goo” on his shiny pate. And it works on him, too. Ah, too well! Soon, he’s covered in hair, resembling a sasquatch. When the townfolk spot him, they immediately go into angry and scared “mob mode”, complete with torches and pitchforks. Shaun and his sheep pals have to rescue him and provide a cure before he’s shipped off to “Bigfoot Island”, while also dealing with those now gargantuan orange behemoths that threaten to destroy the farm and the village.
Though I’ve listed some voice actors, this funny flick is basically told in pantomime, harkening back to those olden, golden days of silent screen comedies. Their lines are basically gibberish and accented “mumbles”. And that’s what is showcased here: the superb visual design, from the main characters to the lush backgrounds (a great early gag involves a false painted bit of scenery which had me fooled). The always-blinking eyes are so expressive, paired with the superb physical acting of everyone (terrific “poses” abound). Happily, the “tactile” qualities of this variant of “claymation” isn’t completely “smoothed over” with too many pixels (as with the greats like Ray Harryhausen, there’s the feeling of the figures being gently guided by human hands). It all blends, thanks to the witty, satirical script by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow and the directing team of Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, based on the TV series begun in 2007 by Nick Park and Bob Baker. All the classic monster movie tropes are given their due. Shaun goes into full “mad scientist” mode, as a mix of Baron Frankenstein and Doctor Jekyll, with appropriate lighting effects. And the people of the village seem more Transylvanian than British (love the obnoxious “influencer”). There’s even a brief segment done in classic 2D animation with a touch of finely inked children’s book illustration. This is truly excellent “all-ages” entertainment, with sumptuous sight gags along with the parody bits for the elders, and a brisk 80-minute runtime for the “wee ones” (since it’s not too scary, this might make a great “first movie in a theatre experience”). After the triumph of the last Wallace & Gromit romp a couple of years ago, this zany comic adventure reminds us of the joyous cinematic gems from Aardman’s awesome artisans. So, yes, SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM is far, far from “baaad”. It’s an animation sensation.
4 out of 4
SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM is now playing in select theatres
ANTZ. SHREK. CHICKEN RUN. Since the 1990’s, film goers have been listening to the music of the incredibly talented composer, Harry Gregson-Williams, who helped shape the sound of modern animated films.
Gregson-Williams’s recent projects include the feature film THE DOG STARS, directed by Ridley Scott, starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, and Josh Brolin which is in cinemas now and marks their eighth collaboration together and the upcoming ANIMALS starring Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington, directed by Affleck coming out in theaters on October 9 which marks their fourth collaboration together.
His previous films with Ben Affleck include Live by Night, THE TOWN, and GONE BABY GONE. Gregson-Williams is also known for his continued collaborations with Ridley Scott having written original scores for GLADIATOR II, THE MARTIAN, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE LAST DUEL and HOUSE OF GUCI and themes for PROMETHEUS and EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS.
A riveting, cinematic thriller set in a world where survival is instinct, but humanity is a choice, THE DOG STARS is in theaters now. The film tells the story of Hig (Jacob Elordi), a young pilot who, together with a military survivalist, Bangley (Josh Brolin), has carved out an efficient but isolated homestead in a brutal post-apocalyptic world. But when Hig receives a mysterious radio transmission, he ventures into the unknown in search of the hope and humanity he still believes exist. Based on Peter Heller’s captivating bestseller, THE DOG STARS features a critically acclaimed ensemble, including Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong, and Guy Pearce.
In a recent interview with the composer, Gregson-Williams and I discussed the wide range of films he’s worked on, his love of conducting his scores and collaborating on some of the grandest films with the most prolific directors.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I’m Michelle from We Are Movie Geeks.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Good title. Did you see Dog Stars?
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I did. Totally gutted by it. I really liked it. Been a huge fan of Ridley Scott’s since ALIEN.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Yeah, thanks.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I mean, I’ve been with this guy forever. I saw ALIEN that opening weekend when I was all of age 13, and it was, like, my first R-rated movie, so I have been with him since the beginning.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Wow. My relationship with him started with, in a roundabout way, started when I met his brother, and I scored ENEMY OF THE STATE, MAN ON FIRE, SPY GAME, THE TAKING OF THE PELHAM 1, 2, 3, all Tony’s films from from 1996 to the day he died, sadly. My intro to Ridley really started on the film KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, which I loved. I think it’s quite an underrated movie. It’s so gorgeous to look at.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: Isn’t it?
Harry Gregson-Williams: It’s amazing and here we are 20 years later.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: Fans love the director’s cut of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Yes, they do, and Ridley does as well. I remember when we were scoring it, and the film was pretty much what we see as the director’s cut now, but he was aware that he was going to have to cut it down for theaters for its theatrical release. And I remember asking him, how are you going to do that really? Because it doesn’t to me. I can’t see how you can do that. It seemed like a perfectly formed movie as it was, and he said, No, I’ve got a cunning plan. There’s something that I’m going to have to take out reluctantly for the cinematic release, but I’m going to pop it right back in if ever I can get a director’s cut, and sure enough, he did.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: How did the conversation go with bringing you on his latest film?
Harry Gregson-Williams: Shortly after we finished GLADIATOR II, actually. He’s very prolific, isn’t he? He seems to be working on the next one when we’re doing the present one, you know, thinking about it, planning it. He never stops. He’s industrious, but you know he’s a real artist at heart, literally he is. He paints for fun, and I think that’s how his brother started at art school in London, and they started in commercials and then came here to Los Angeles. He told me THE DOG STARS would be a very different ride, and I must say I was quite relieved. He said those words after we’d finished GLADIATOR II, because that was so intense. He said this is going to be a thoughtful movie about human connection and loss and the sharing of those emotions.
And then he scuttled off and shot it. He sent me the first cut and asked me to consider the score, and what to share with him, what I might be thinking of the 1st cut that I saw. I realized that I unlike, say, in our previous film, Gladiator II, where I leaned very heavily on an orchestral component to the score, but it didn’t seem that I would need that in this movie, although I did record orchestra, but it is one of the components that makes up the kind of sonic tapestry of what I went for. It seemed to me, as it’s not an urban movie, that it is set very much in the countryside. I started experimenting with all manner of shapes and sizes of guitars, electric and acoustic, ukuleles, Dobros. Anything that felt akin to what I saw on screen. And that’s kind of why I landed the palette for this movie. The musical palette for this movie was very much based on those instruments supported by the foundation that an orchestra can give you. This isn’t a big sweeping orchestral score. It didn’t seem like this. This story really needs to burst out in moments of anger and aggression, which are very fun to do. But the score is trying to carve out these emotions that the characters are feeling. It’s quite a personal movie, it’s a small cast of characters, and they share a lot of things in common, like loss.
There’s the hope of something better somewhere else. But it’s interesting to work on a movie like this when all of us went through a COVID pandemic, which didn’t wipe out most of humanity, which I guess is a movie.
That’s where we find ourselves, but the possibility of something like that happening is a bit more real to us now, isn’t it? We saw huge swathes of the population threatened by something, and I guess that sort of leads us to believe that something like this, which is obviously more extreme, could result in the sort of scenario we find ourselves in THE DOG STARS. I loved the script and the geography of it all, even down to the plane. I remember saying to Ridley, God, I love the look of that plane, Rid. I love the color of it. It’s kind of mustard yellow.
These things are very intentional with him. I think the first cue that I wrote was Hig’s first flight, right at the beginning of the film. And that, just for me, Hig seems to be at his happiest and freest when he’s up in the air with his best buddy, which, of course, is his dog, Jasper, and that’s where he feels like he’s safest and happiest. There’s no dialogue up there, so music can help really inform the audience, the sort of emotional space that Hig is in, and of course that deteriorates during the film. It’s not always a happy place for him.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: There’s some heavy material in this. I mean, the whole end of the world.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Yeah, he spends a lot of time in his head, Hig? I mean, that’s what’s fascinating about his character and sometimes the music is able to inform us and help us and suggest things that he might be thinking of. I mean, in one scene, he’s up there, and he literally turns the engine off and we’ve got to wonder to ourselves, is he going to kill himself? Surely not. He’s got a dog beside him and musically, in that moment the music cue that I’d written had started maybe a minute or 2 before that, probably when Hig took off, I decided that the most effective way I could score that moment as he turns the engine off would be to come out into nothing at all and just have the sound effects of the wind breezing by, so there, you know, a lot of choices that one has to make along the way. Hopefully, that was a decent one.
There’s a sense of loneliness. There is a lot in most of these situations he finds himself in. And I think that’s why, you know, it is a movie about connection and the need for connection and again, just going back to our own experiences with Covid, which must be perhaps the closest we’ve kind of come to that. Not exactly a decimation of humanity. But the fact that we were isolated, weren’t we? And that sense of isolation, I think it comes through pretty well in this film. And the fact that each of these characters are craving some sort of human connection.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I just need to ask you about the music cue for Jasper and his death, I mean, it just breaks the heart. I was listening to it again, I’ve listened to it a few times, and it’s such an emotional part of the movie, and the music is just perfect for that scene.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Ridley has dogs himself. I have a dog. And yeah, that was kind of a tough, tough moment. You know, my first effort at that moment in the score, Ridley’s reaction to it was, how much do we need the music here? How much do you think most audience members need help in feeling sorry for this moment? And the answer is not much. I mean, most people really would understand how hit he is by that moment. So, I was careful not to make the music overly sentimental, and that was very important, but as a sort of default in moments like that, rather than step into sentiment and too much emotion where the audience might be pushed away a little bit by that.
I’ve learned often in movies that I’ve done, not necessarily just movies I’ve done with Ridley, but a default sort of setting I would go for is more tension and leave the audience in a tense state with an underlying feeling of loss and the emotions that go with that. So, my 1st approach to it isn’t sadness, but like a sort of tension and suspended moment, so that the audience have a chance to feel what they want to feel, and the music’s not necessarily telling them they must feel this.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I thought there was just enough in it without it just bowling you over and taking over the scene. I did love the various cues and other parts of the movie, where there were a lot of guitars, folk sounds, as well as these classic rock sounds, like the Mennonite folk song, that was so unique. I was not expecting that.
Harry Gregson-Williams: That was written by Tony Lewis, who’s my music editor on this film. And he often will write music on the films that we do, from GLADIATOR II, all the way back to KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, music that we reference as source music. So that’s music that’s not actually the score. It’s music that has a source so that you can see that on screen. So, for instance, in another movie, in a romantic comedy or something, a piece of source music might be a couple walking into a room, and someone puts on the radio. That’s coming from a source, and that’s music that has to be provided, but not necessarily by the composer. I have enough music to create from nowhere that’s not got a source on screen. So the source music in this instance that you’re referring to is written by Tony Lewis. Yes. And I included that on the album because I liked it.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: At the end of the movie the very quietness of it. I loved that very emotional cue where Hig goes home. It was just a very nice way to take a breath.
Harry Gregson-Williams: There’s plenty of melancholy at that moment, isn’t it? And music is essentially an emotion, but without language. Right? So there’s in that scene he’s as he takes off by himself this time. No dog to go with him, and returns home, where we have a flashback of his wife for the last time patting him on the shoulder, as if to say, go, be free, you’ve got to move on. And yeah, the music is very sparse there, and the intention is that it has a sense of loneliness, and you know, deep emotion. But again, without hitting the audience over the head with that, allowing the actor Jacob Elordi to do his thing, and the audience to catch up to that moment. This is him saying goodbye to his wife.
But in this part, the world suddenly erupts into gunfire and explosions and violence. And that’s the two scenes with Bangley trying to defend the homestead and then Hig and Cima and Pops getting chased down by the people on horseback.
That’s kind of classic Ridley who knows how to stage an action sequence. But I love the dynamic in this film, and that gave me an opportunity musically to have a range in the score. Sometimes you’re scoring a film, and one’s kind of channeling one emotion, one feeling, one kind of tempo, if you like. But in this film the dynamic range had to be quite big, as we’ve already established. There are some very lonely, melancholy moments in the film, but they’re also exciting, tense action scenes. So that’s always fun as a composer to have such a dynamic in what one’s got to provide. It keeps life interesting, I can tell you.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: How has the relationship with Ridley Scott developed over the years? You went from KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, PROMETHEUS, HOUSE OF GUCCI, GLADIATOR II and now this film. You two have done a lot of films together.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Well, how’s it developed over the years? Good question. I think it’s 8 or 9 movies that I’ve done with him.
He’s very steady and dependable and very interested in music. He understands the power of music in his films. Yeah, very much, very much so. And he’s sympathetic towards the process, which, the more time we get together, the better things are going to be. Obviously, in post-production, he’s pulled in many directions. You know, he’s got to review the edit, he’s got to review any visual effects that are going on as well as music. So yeah, I’ve learned over the years to make sure I schedule time with him, get him to come to my studio here and listen to ideas early. And he, in turn, has increasingly involved me earlier and earlier, so that there’s plenty of time for me to maybe go up one path, and there’s time for me to come back down that path a bit, and then go off in another direction, if need be, you know, sometimes as a composer once employed with so little time that probably your 1st idea has got to be, if not your 1st, your second idea has got to be the one. Once he sets sail and gets going, it’s a Ridley Scott movie. With GLADIATOR II, there was perhaps 100 min of music to write. I started as soon as he had finished shooting, and the post-production was a year and a half. So, I’ve learned that the more time I get, the better results we’re going to have. He’s all up for that. He loves the process.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: You can tell. And there was a great video that was released, with him talking about the music of GLADIATOR II, and how you work together. It was fascinating. Music is a huge part of his films, he gives a lot of consideration to how the music is going to sound, because it is an important part of his films.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Yes, he does. And, you know, with Ridley, it’s a very collaborative process, and it needs to be, and one needs to be very open as a composer. But I’m also very aware that he has a lot of choices. Over the years he’s had people like Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith. I don’t expect the phone to go. But if the phone does ring and it’s ringing, I’m more than happy to jump on board. I love it.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: Let’s switch to your upcoming project ANIMALS, Ben Affleck’s movie. What can you tell us about that?
Harry Gregson-Williams: I can tell you it’s a really good film and Ben’s in it and directing it. The last one that we did together where he was in it and directed it. Oh, I’ve done two with him that he’s been in and directed. One was LIVE BY NIGHT, and the other one, which I think a lot of people like, is THE TOWN and he was really good in that. The first film that he directed that I scored was GONE BABY, GONE. He stuck his brother in that.
When their son is kidnapped, an LA mayoral candidate and his wife scramble to raise the ransom while making choices that could tear their world apart. Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, with Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez, Animals is in select theaters and on Netflix October 9.
With ANIMALS, he asked me to do that around last Christmas. I got a call from him saying that he was a bit stuck with the music, and I said, I’ll do it. You don’t have to ask me twice, of course. So, I jumped into it, and I love it. I think it’s maybe the best part I’ve ever seen Ben in as an actor. I love it. Yeah, he’s good, really good. And it weirdly sort of perversely, he’s quite suited to the main role, because a lot of the movie takes place almost entirely within a very small radius of where I’m sitting right now, which is very close to where Ben has always lived since I’ve known him. So it’s Brentwood, the Palisades, Santa Monica – the west side of Los Angeles. And if you know this part of town, you recognize where he shot it. I mean, literally recognize streets, and places, and he plays a character so believable. I love it. And very similar to what we were just talking about with THE DOG STARS. There’s a huge dynamic range in this film. It was a tense thriller and I really liked it. I really liked the film, and I really liked his performance in it.
He’s really a thoughtful director and when it comes to music, he loves to be really involved, and we live close to each other and always have, actually on this side of LA and he will pop up in my studio of an evening pretty much unannounced. He likes to, he loves to, to, to kind of learn every beat of every bar of music that I’m creating and be there to influence its direction. You know, he’s a bit of a dream to work for as a composer, because he’s got a very clear direction, a very clear sense of the emotions that he’s trying to evoke. And this film is no different. No, it’s great fun. I can’t wait for it to come out.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I’m looking forward to it. We’ve been listening to you since the 90s. I can’t tell you, I’m such a huge fan of CHICKEN RUN. I totally love it!
Harry Gregson-Williams: How did you like CHICKEN RUN 2?
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I love CHICKEN RUN and the second one, FLUSHED AWAY, SHREK, NARNIA, THE MEG, and with these films and your scores, they’re campy, fun “make-believe” musical characters.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Well, I’ve considered myself very, very lucky to have done the Shrek series in the beginning. But mostly during that time, the chap who directed the first couple of Shreks and executive produced all of them, Andrew Adamson, called me one day after we did Shrek 2 and said, “Look. I think I’m going to be directing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. You wanna do it? I said, well, my God. So I don’t take these things for granted. That’s the great fortune I had there that Andrew went from Shrek to Narnia. I mean, had he gone from Shrek to, I don’t know, something else that might be okay. But that was a dream for me to be able to go into the Narnia series.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: I’m such a huge fan of FLUSHED AWAY and CHICKEN RUN. I think that your CHICKEN RUN score is so funny.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Oh, I’ve got one for you. I wonder whether you’ve seen it. So it’s by the same people, the CHICKEN RUN people, but it’s the only one at that time they had only ever made their Claymation, you know, the stop motion thing, CHICKEN RUN.
But then they made a film called ARTHUR CHRISTMAS with Sony. That was an animation, as it were, computer generated animation, not little clay figures. And I love that film.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: These other films, they’re so much fun, and they’re fun to listen to, and the score just goes so well with those films, because they’re very different from the serious dramas.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Of course. I have 6 children, so I have to keep making movies, at least the younger ones, the older ones, they’re fine. They can watch movies. You know, there’s a few movies that I’ve done that I’ve had to keep hidden from the younger children, like Team America or whatever. That’s a no-go. Movies like Arthur Christmas, Flushed Away, Chicken Run, Chicken Run 2, Shrek, those things my kids, the younger ones, can watch. Obviously the ones who were around when I did SHREK, they’re much older, so they’ll enjoy THE DOG STARS where ANIMALS is kind of a tense thriller.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: Have you conducted any of your scores?
Harry Gregson-Williams: Yeah, all of them.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: How do you like that? I’ve talked to some composers where they’re like, not on your life. I would never conduct any of my music. But you seem to like it.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Oh, I do. It’s part of my process, so there are two trains of thought, I think, as composers and both are completely valid. You know, my old buddy Hans Zimmer doesn’t conduct his scores, but he knows how to do a score. There’s no prizes for conducting your own score. It’s a preference.
If you think about it, sort of geographically, if you’re conducting the score, you’re in with the orchestra, you can hear a certain amount of what’s going on, but you’ve got headphones on. If you don’t, somebody else will conduct the orchestra and you’ll be in the control room where you can hear precisely what’s going on. So that’s why a lot of composers would probably prefer to be in the control room because they’re control freaks. It’s not called the control room for no reason. No, what they’re trying to achieve is, you know, it doesn’t really matter who’s conducting the score.
They’re trying to achieve the best results, the best performance, and the best place to hear that, from their point of view, is in the control room. So for me, the best place for me to do that is out in the room with the orchestra, but it’s just a preference and doesn’t mean much either way.
Michelle McCue We Are Movie Geeks: Thank you so much. This has been a real treat.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Oh, it’s an absolute pleasure, Michelle, and I hope you like ANIMALS when it comes out. I think Ben’s really good in this film. He’s never been better.
Among the dozens of mysteries and procedural series from European TV that I’ve reviewed, almost all the assessments were based mainly on entertainment value, rather than historical or cultural insights to be derived. The French six-hour miniseries “Sambre” is quite an exception. It’s based on the 30-year run of France’s most prolific serial rapist before he was finally caught and convicted. Though the script is fictional, it does closely follow the appalling realities that transpired. The title refers to the river near which the earlier rapes were perpetrated.
Structurally, each of the half-dozen episodes covers one of the creep’s active periods between the first known case in 1988, and his ultimate conviction three decades later. We’re pretty sure early on who the perp is, so the suspense lies in how many women he’ll victimize and how he’ll eventually be caught. Each episode also focuses primarily on one of the key figures in that time frame, whether victim, profiler, prosecutor or cop, with considerable attention to the emotional damage and the effects on friends and loved ones; as well as the frustrations of many law enforcement people who tried and failed along the way. The main asset of the scripts from this trio of credited writers, which included the investigative journalist who wrote the underlying non-fiction book about these events, Alice Geraud, is the depth with which it explores so much of the aftermath and collateral damage.
Though he committed about 50 rapes during this stretch, the series shows very little of the violence wreaked upon the victims. They mention that 74% of serial killers and rapists are socially repressed loners, who drift from job to job with little stability in any facet of their lives, passing unnoticed in any crowd. This guy was quite the exception, which was part of why it took so long to ID him. The fellow was a solid family man with a lifelong factory job and active in the community, well-liked and respected by all who knew him.
One other reason for the delay – the lack of DNA tracing in the early years – is no longer an issue. Another is that he committed his brutal crimes in several towns on both sides of the French-Belgian border, keeping any of their local authorities from seeing the whole pattern. But the skeptical treatment given to the young women who dare to report such crimes remains an inhibiting factor. Perhaps the harshest scene in the series isn’t any of the stalking or rapes, but the brutish interrogation of a young victim by a cop who wouldn’t even consider that she might possibly be telling the truth.
The cast is solid throughout, with a number of suspenseful or otherwise powerful scenes. The pace is slow in the early episodes, but less so in the later ones. Credit also goes to the makeup department for masterfully aging several of the main players who appear in multiple episodes. MHz Choice subscribers or other genre fans may also appreciate – as did I – the fourth episode featuring Clemence Poesy and Patrick Descamps as statistical profilers brought in before such expertise became widely available to law enforcement. Among series I’ve covered before, Poesy notedly starred as a lead detective in “The Tunnel”. Descamps brought warmth and gravitas to “In Tandem”, playing the lead actress’ father.
Approach this like a documentary, though it isn’t one, to set your mood properly for awareness rather than escapism.
French crime drama SAMBRE premieres September 15, 2026 in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice.
THIS FALL, THE DIRECTORS OF PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISHBRING YOU A DAZZLING AND EMOTIONAL STORY ABOUT TWO LIFELONG FRIENDS WHO MUST COME TOGETHER… BEFORE THEY DRIFT APART. DREAMWORKS ANIMATION PRESENTS H.E.R. (pronounced “her”), LIZA SOBERANO, DAVE FRANCO AND JENNY SLATE IN FORGOTTEN ISLAND.
IN THEATERS SEPTEMBER 25TH.
The special screening is at 7om on Tuesday, September 22 at Marcus Ronnie’s Cine (Doors at 6PM).
Each winner will each receive 4 passes to the screening.
From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) comes a thrilling – and terrifying – reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.
From Columbia Pictures and Constantin Film, in association with TriStar Pictures, Resident Evil hits theatres September 18, 2026.
TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. From the mind of Zach Cregger, director of Weapons and Barbarian. Filmed for IMAX – Resident Evil is in theatres September 18. #ResidentEvilㅤpic.twitter.com/WDLHtzf2Xr
Mr. Irrelevant is the inspiring true story of John Tuggle (David Corenswet), the last player selected in the last round of the 1983 NFL draft by the New York Giants. A true underdog, Tuggle defied expectations on the field and off for his then first-year head coach, Bill Parcells (Michael Shannon), his newfound love (Isabel May), and his team, proving that remarkable hope and perseverance can transcend even the greatest challenges.
Helmed by Jonathan Levine (THE WACKNESS, 50/50, WARM BODIES), catch the new trailer now.
Tuggle played college football at the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), where he was a standout running back and lettered four years (1979–1982), leading the team in rushing during his senior year. elected dead last in the 1983 draft, a position traditionally christened as “Mr. Irrelevant” via Los Angeles Times coverage of the annual event.
During the 1984 preseason, Tuggle began experiencing severe chest pains and fatigue. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of angiosarcoma (a rare cancer of the blood vessels). He tragically passed away on August 30, 1986, at just 25 years old.
Discover the world through the eyes of John Tuggle. Based on the incredible true story, see Mr. Irrelevant only in theatres December 25. pic.twitter.com/DiyzsbTkwB
Here’s a first look at the brand new teaser for the highly anticipated REMAIN.
From Warner Bros. Pictures, REMAIN, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is an unprecedented collaboration between two of the world’s most creative minds: best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, and visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
When reclusive architect Tate Gordon moves to small coastal town to complete his latest project, he encounters an alluring young woman who pulls him out of his shell, and into the center of a deadly mystery that hangs over the town.
Gyllenhaal stars alongside Phoebe Dynevor, Ashley Walters, Julie Hagerty and Jay O. Sanders.
Shyamalan directs from his own screenplay, story by Shyamalan and Sparks. The film is produced by Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and Theresa Park, with Sparks executive producing.
Joining Shyamalan behind the camera are director of photography Adolpho Veloso, production designer Sam Lisenco, editor Noëmi Preiswerk, costume designer Caroline Duncan, casting director Douglas Aibel, music supervisor Gabe Hilfer and composer James Newton Howard.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Blinding Edge Pictures Production, an M. Night Shyamalan Film, Remain, in theaters across North America February 5, 2027, and internationally beginning 3 February 2027, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
A scene from horror movie EVER AFTER. Courtesy of Level 33
– By Mark Glass –
Though the title of EVER AFTER reads like the ending of a fairy tale, this one’s a horror flick with all the gore that fans of the genre could hope for. But the fairy tale connection still exists. Seven young lovelies go to the prototypical isolated house in the woods for a weekend bachelorette party. We know they’re bound to be besieged by crazed locals but instead of the usual range of DELIVERANCE-style rubes, their assailants are dressed as characters from old children’s tales – Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, etc.
Despite those allusions, there’s nothing amusing about the costumes and masks. Or what their occupants do. I had expected some measure of campy humor in the mix but the script from director and co-author Laszlo Illes never heads in that direction. This is straight slasher fare from the get-go. If you like the zaniness of Rob Zombie’s repertory company of Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) and his colorful costumed killer cohorts, this will not scratch that itch.
Very little time is spent in fleshing out the young women’s’ characters before their flesh starts getting flailed. A mixed bag of personalities unfolds to some degree during their ordeal but no one grabs the reins as the standard protagonist most likely to survive. EVER AFTER is a low-budget affair, with most of the funds likely spent on crafting and showcasing the yucky stuff, rather than salaries.
The two biggest names – Malcolm McDowell and Kane Hodder (Jason in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series) – only lend their voices to the proceedings. The next most familiar actor, Mark Sheppard, gets a role late in the proceedings that calls for him to ham it up, and he does so with villainous gusto.
No nudity, very little sexual activity. This would be R-rateable solely on the gruesomeness factor. The only novelty lies in the personae of the pursuers. But if you’re in the mood for one of these flicks, you could easily do worse. I certainly have on many occasions.
EVER AFTER opens Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 in theaters and on demand on Oct. 27, 2026.
ONSLAUGHT is an action/horror film about a ex-Army sniper defending herself and her daughter against an attack by a team of super soldiers gone rogue in a 1970s style grind-house action film, a few touches intended as gallows humor. But director Adam Wingard’s action/horror flick delivers little, with an uninspired, predictable plot, stock or unconvincingly weird characters, and more style than substance, making even its brief 90 minutes feel too long. After watching this disappointing actioner, one question springs to mind: why is this actioner in theaters instead of going straight to streaming. Far better films than this one have had that fate. Or been shelved for a tax write-off.
The press materials describe the story, which largely takes place in the New Mexico desert at a rundown trailer park, as being about a “badass” ex-Army sniper (Adria Arjona) who “unleashed hell” trying to protect her daughter from “an army of genetically engineered” opponents. There are several points in which this grind-house actioner does not match that description. While, frankly, this writer is less enamored of grind-house action than some, if a film is going to promise this stuff, it should deliver it.
Actually there are only three of these deadly fellows, not an army. They are not “generically engineered” but psychologically-altered and biologically-enhanced veterans like herself who were selected for their ability to survive rather than something lab-created. These super soldiers escape a secret private paramilitary installation that was once a military facility but is now run by an ancient German ex-Nazi played by Dan Stevens, dressed in all white and sporting some weird make-up, with an obvious bald cap with white haired fringe, an unwrinkled face with bushy eye brows but age-spotted wrinkled hands. We first meet this German mad scientist character at home with his younger, dominate wife (Rebecca Hall), indulging in a little foot-fetish fun. The three super soldiers had been activated to demonstrate their skills for a potential client, but when they get loose, Dan Stevens’ German decides a little field testing might be a good idea.
Meanwhile, we first meet Adria Arjona’s ex-sniper, Celeste, as she is engaged in a little target practice with a line of jack-o-lanterns. That they are jack-o-lanterns, not just pumpkins is a tip-off that this woman who has time on her hands. Target practice with a rifle, which she does, makes sense but finishing off the pumpkins with a semi-automatic assault weapon, which she also does, does not make sense, as it is just has to be pointed in the general direction, making that just a show for the camera.
While Arjona’s character has plenty of time to carve pumpkins to shoot up, cleaning the trailer where she lives in a run-down trailer park, is another matter. When she spots her wealthy ex-husband’s car driving up the the worn rural trailer park, she flies into a frenzy of straightening up, bed-making and, responsibly, locking up her weapons. The ex is there to drop off their young daughter, even though it is not Celeste’s week to have her. The ex has some urge business that has come up and just assumed he could drop her off. He also informs her that he is planning to move across the country, and reminds her that she does not need to live in this decrepit trailer park. Celeste tells him she wants to live there, because she feels comfortable among the residents, these fellow wounded people. Their seven-year-old daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), is a sweet, polite little girl who seems not to know her mother well.
The cast is filled out with an assortment of sad residents in the old trailer park, including a cop and a few older military veterans. When the U.S. government gets wind that things have gone wrong at their former military site, they dispatch a young, stylish “fixer” named Cyrus (Drew Starkey), who they call up from his night off at a S&M club.
As far as “unleashing hell,” in fact our sniper mostly is unable to reach her large store of weapons and spends a lot of time knocked on her back and screaming until pure chance saves her from certain death at the hands of whichever super soldier is attacking. The super soldiers are nearly indestructible but they are not too bright and nearly as predictable as the plot of this sorry film.
There isn’t much to say about the acting since the characters are so predictable or stock, and there isn’t much for any of them to work with. However, Dan Stevens deserves mention for his weird-looking old-young German character, only to say that he might reconsider his recent choices of roles. The talented Rebecca Hall is wasted in her small part.
ONSLAUGHT has the gore, violence, body count and bits of sexual raciness that the genre calls for, but it falls short on the specifics the promotional materials seem to promise. Again, it is all style but little substance.
The one perhaps admirable aspect is the film’s sympathy for veterans, mistreated and discarded by the military and their government, and the long history of that treatment that is alluded to in the opening credits montage, which references WWII and U.S. wars since then. Still, that is just background to the carnage, familiar plot and stock characters, and the heroine’s many escapes by mere chance.
As said earlier, at 90 minutes, it still feels too long. Some scenes seem almost laughable with little indication that they were supposed to be comedy, and moments of intended gallows humor are more grim than actually funny. There isn’t much to recommend this action/horror offering, whose much interesting parts are the rather clever opening and closing credits.
ONSLAUGHT opens in theaters on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026.
