Hello, everyone! Its One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we have news about an elderly Sherlock Holmes, a fan-film about England’s most famous spy and John McClane’s Broadway debut! Take a gander below and see what else you might have missed this week.
Mr. Holmes Trailer
While certainly not as action packed as this week’s Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, the first teaser for Director Bill Condon’s (Dreamgirls) Mr. Holmes delivers everything readers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s master detective could possibly want. Adapted from the 2005 novel A Simple Trick of the Mind, Ian McKellen stars as a 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes dealing with the early stages of memory loss.
Taking place in 1947, Holmes has just returned from Japan, hoping to find a rare plant with supposed miraculous qualities that restores one’s mind. After witnessing the horrors of nuclear devastation on a war-ravaged Japan, Holmes retires to a remote seaside village to live out his final days in peace. However, an unsolved case plagues his diminishing mind, and with the help of a local boy, he comes out of his self-imposed retirement to finally solve his last mystery.
It’s immediately apparent that Condon’s interpretation of Holmes is reminiscent of the original Jeremy Brett BBC series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, from the 80s and 90s. This isn’t a Holmes that’s a borderline sociopath like in the Steven Moffat produced Sherlock or an action-hero in the more recent cinematic adventures that star Robert Downey Jr. McKellan’s Holmes seems to be a relatively good-natured but lonely individual, a man that has many regrets that is unable to act upon them due to elements out of his control. If Condon and McKellen are able to capture the original tone of the Brett BBC series, than Mr. Holmes could potentially be viewed to some as a grand finale to that original show that was sadly cut short with Brett’s passing in 1995. Plus, if early reviews from the Berlin Film Festival are to be believed, Mr. Homes is already looking to be one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2015.
In addition to McKellan, the film co-stars Laura Linney as Mrs. Munro, Holmes’ housekeeper, and Milo Parker as Roger Munro, Mrs. Munro’s son and Holmes’ assistant. While no release date has been set for the film, Mr. Holmes will most likely be released later this year.
Diablo Cody Gives a Polish to Barbie
In the latest bit of “is that really a thing” news, Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult) has signed on to rewrite Sony Pictures’ upcoming Barbie, a live action film based around the popular doll brand of the same name. Cody is rewriting a draft from screenwriter Jenny Bicks (What A Girl Wants, Rio 2). The film will feature Barbie traveling the world performing various jobs in order to help people out, mirroring her tendency for having job based variants on her character such as Doctor Barbie, News Anchor Barbie or, my personal favorite, Street Rapper Barbie.
In theory, this does sound like a solid enough idea; Cody is known for writing dimensional female characters and would most likely deliver something with a positive message for the girls in the audience. At the same time, I personally haven’t been that impressed with most of her work, whether it be the disappointing Jennifer’s Body or Paradise, her disastrous directorial debut. Plus, I’m not sure if Barbie can sustain a 90 minute plot, unless it was a clever Lego Movie-like satire of the Barbie brand. Maybe with the usual sarcastic and lightly cynical writing of Cody, Sony could get that.
Bruce Willis Will Make His Broadway Debut In Misery
Confirmed via Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Bruce Willis will make his Broadway debut in the stage-adaptation of Stephen King’s beloved novel, Misery. Playing the role of romance-novelist Paul Sheldon, Willis will co-star alongside veteran stage actress Eizabeth Marvel (House of Cards), who will play the role of Sheldon’s “Number One Fan,” Annie Wilkes. Misery also received a film adaptation starring James Cann and Kathy Bates in 1990, which earned Bates an Academy-Award for Best Actress.
As surprising as it is hearing that Willis will be making his way to Broadway, this isn’t the first time the actor has ventured away from action-heavy films like Die Hard and Armageddon. Some of his best works include his dramatic and comedic roles in films like Death Becomes Her, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, Unbreakable and Moonrise Kingdom. Probably his most recognizable dramatic turn was playing Dr. Malcolm Crowe in M. Night Shyamalan’s award-winning film, The Sixth Sense. The supernatural thriller had Willis’ character working with a young boy plagued by angry spirits.
It’s also reasonable to guess that after critical and commercial flops like Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Red 2, Expendables 2 and Die Hard: A Good Day to Die Hard that Willis might be interested in a project that is more reliant on an actor’s performance than a CGI explosion. In any case, I think Willis is a fantastic choice for the role of Sheldon. Playing a physically-damaged character at the mercy of a psychotic is something we haven’t seen from Willis, and it’s sure to build-upon an already impressive career in television and film.
Currently, no premiere date has been released for Misery.
James Bond Fan Film Tells Bond’s Last Mission
James Bond has been interpreted multiple ways over the last half a century. This adaptation of Bond however, isn’t your average spy thriller. This week, producer Adi Shankar (Dredd, Power/Rangers) released James Bond: In Service of Nothing, an animation test depicted a modern day Sean Connery era Bond after being forcibly retired, feeling purposeless until he picks up an assassination job in France that’ll most likely be his last adventure. We would link you the film, but it has been taken off the internet by MGM as of this writing.
Before it was taken down, I did get a chance to watch the short film and was quite impressed by the idea. It feels much like an Unforgiven for Connery’s Bond era, showing a delusional and depressed former hero go for one final hurrah. The animation wasn’t too bad either, feeling like a profession test animatic one would see for a major studio production. Plus, the guy doing the Bond voice delivers quite a tragic performance and solid Connery impression, making me wish Connery would actually pop up in the part one last time. Much like Laundry Day, Power/Rangers, Truth in Journalism or any other films in Shankar’s “Bootleg Universe”, this was a very clever and fresh take an existing property and really should be able to stay online for others to enjoy.
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