WEEKLY RECAP #65: NEON Acquires "Shelby Oaks", Russo Brothers Return to Marvel & MORE!
7/14/24 -- 7/20/24
NEON Gets Stuckmannized
Last year, audiences were treated to Talk to Me, an indie-horror directorial debut by Danny & Michael Philippou, the Australians behind YouTube channel RackaRacka. Talk to Me was a fun, critically-well-received film, and it seems we might just have the second-ever good YouTuber movie coming up soon. Chris Stuckmann, an old-school movie reviewer whom some of you may be familiar with, has just gotten his record-breaking crowdfunded horror film Shelby Oaks a distributor: none other than fucking NEON, the company behind the past five Palme D’Or winners and Longlegs, the biggest horror movie currently in theaters. This is crazy — not only because NEON is great at distributing indie horror, but also because they generally tend to have good taste when it comes to acquiring film… which means the movie might actually be a banger. Chris seems especially stoked, and I can’t blame him: given how long he’s been talking about and creating movies, this really is both a dream come true for him and a source of inspiration for a lot of movie nerds who watch him. Shelby Oaks has its premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival this weekend, and will most likely be distributed late this year or early next year, so keep your eyes peeled, and get ready to buy your ticket… and get Stuckmannized.
You, Me and Feige
The expected career trajectory for big name directors used to be simple: you start out with a few solid indie gems, eventually work up the trust with executives to helm a large-budget blockbuster or two, and then spend your earning on artistically risky passion projects for the rest of your movie-making days. From the 2010s on, that “large-budget blockbuster” became mainly just superhero movies, and the span from one’s first indie feature to their first entry in the MCU got shorter and shorter. This model more or less stayed the same, but there have been and always will be some rare exceptions. Some directors somehow avoid the blockbuster process and manage to stay afloat making weird arthouse shit by directing commercials and producing miscellaneous projects on the side. On the other end of the spectrum, some directors have the harrowing realization that capeshit really do be the only thing they know how to cook. Sure enough, Anthony and Joe Russo — the directing pair behind several of the highest grossing Marvel movies (including Avengers: Endgame, the second-highest grossing movie EVER) have agreed to direct the next two Avengers movies, reuniting with Supreme Leader Feige after only a few years of exploring their own artistic endeavors.
And, by “exploring artistic endeavors,” I mean directing two critical and financial flops that barely anyone can even recall. Do you guys remember Cherry? What about The Gray Man? (That last one came out only two years ago, if you didn’t know.) It’s been many years since the relatively humble days of the Russo Brothers’ romantic comedy You, Me and Dupree, and as many on Film Twitter have ruthlessly (Russolessly? Russlessly? Ruthrussly? Nevermind, I got nothing) pointed out, the brothers’ venture into serious cinema didn’t last nearly as long as their incredibly lucrative stint at Marvel. Their attempt to transition into big-boy cinema was Cherry — a gritty Tom Holland-led (lol) adaption of an autobiographical novel about a veteran-turned-bank-robber — was panned for derivative filmmaking choices and an overall lack of substance despite the potential the source material has. Their next movie, The Gray Man, isn’t a real movie that exists, and you can’t prove me wrong because you don’t know anything about it either. It seems that, for the duo behind the paintball episode of Community, it was only a matter of time before they made the slutty little Walk of Shame back to Disney.
On one hand, I think people are definitely being harsh towards the guys, and perhaps not all of it is deserved. Sure, they’ve made some worrying comments about AI that I covered at the very start of this page’s inception, and sure, they’ve gotten very publicly upset about Martin Scorsese's disinterest in their work, but hey — it’s not as though they’re completely talentless! Directing movies (yes, even the big dumb strong-CGI-man-hits-evil-strong-CGI-man movies you may not love) is hard work, and making something as massive in scope and anticipation as the previous two Avengers movies was no small feat. As long as they’re doing what they love and earning disgusting amounts of money while doing it, none of us can really say shit. On the other hand… it is a bit telling of the current state of the MCU (and of the Russos’ current lack of leverage, given their more recent filmography) that this return is taking place. Marvel seems to be replacing and rearranging the creators set up to direct their next few projects so often nowadays that the idea of a carefully-planned-out cinematic universe is falling apart faster than you can say “Secret Wars”. One thing is for certain, though: the Russo Brothers are at least a better choice than Shawn Levy, who is the director of upcoming migraine Deadpool & Wolverine. If I have to sit through this ad before a movie one more time, I will use Captain America’s shield to slice my own nutsack off.
The New Glen-eration
Is the age of movie stars dead? Many have made such a case, arguing that the age of superhero movies and major franchise tentpoles have caused audiences to yearn for recognizable characters more than recognizable actors. We may not have as many actors with Michael Jackson-levels of influence (or, God willing, child-touching allegations) today as we did in the 90s, but hey… at least the gods of old are ushering in the new. For those of you who haven’t noticed, there’s a rising crop of younger actors who have slowly become Gen Z’s new A-list, starring in some of the biggest movies and shows of the past several years and — according to many experts — actually being able to sell movie tickets off of name alone. Many of these stars have been made household names thanks to the new Dune franchise and HBO’s currently ongoing(?) series Euphoria — and just by listing those two properties, I probably don’t even have to specify who I’m talking about — but there’s one star that’s recently been having a huge come-up in his own lane, a guy I find very interesting: Glen Powell.
Within the past few years, handsome-man and capybara lookalike Glen Powell has starred in Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, Hit Man, and most recently Twisters, which literally came out yesterday. Whether you love him, hate him or are indifferent to him, it’s undeniable that he has a level of charisma that has gotten him one high-profile project after another. People have started to speculate whether Glen will join the ranks of the new generation of movie stars, and it’s seeming more likely by the minute, as none other than Tom “You Don’t Even Know What Ritalin Is” Cruise is taking Glen under his wing. Whether it be coaching him in personal career moves or literally teaching him how to do the classic “eating popcorn and showing the peasants at home how fucking much you love movies” routine at press junkets, Cruise has visibly been helping Powell get used to the aspects of movie stardom that he himself has mastered in previous decades. I’m rooting for Glen — I’ve liked him a decent amount in everything I’ve seen him in so far — and if there’s anyone he should be getting mentored by, it’s the man who’s always trying to find another way to cheat death on-screen for our entertainment. (Mission Impossible 8 coming soon!)
I loved reading this substack! Fascinating stuff!