/Film’s Ethan Anderton gave “The Naked Gun” a glowing review as the funniest movie of the year, and I couldn’t agree more.
Lonely Island alum Schaffer, along with producer Seth MacFarlane and co-writers Dan Gregor & Doug Mand, honor the spirit of ZAZ’s zany sense of humor, while making their “Naked Gun” feel like a breath of fresh air. If I wasn’t already sold by the teaser trailer’s brilliant O.J. Simpson joke (one of many genius decisions on behalf of this film’s marketing department), then Kevin Durand’s villainous henchman stealing a literal P.L.O.T. Device in a “Dark Knight”-inspired heist opening had me locked in. Liam Neeson was the best possible casting choice to play Frank Drebin Jr., as the character shares his father’s lack of self-awareness, albeit through the prism of his gruff action movie persona. But while Neeson ensures a lot of good laughs on his own terms, some of the film’s strongest moments are when he shares the screen with Pamela Anderson.
Neeson and Anderson are supposedly dating after having worked together on “The Naked Gun,” and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s seen the film. They make an adorable screen pair that are having so much fun being silly in one another’s presence, especially in a hilarious sequence that takes the shadowy innuendos of “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” to a whole new extreme. Anderson’s Beth Davenport, a more lighthearted spoof on Sharon Stone’s femme fatale from “Basic Instinct,” mines some huge laughs in her attempt to get closer to Drebin Jr.’s heart — and turkey.
For as much as the “Naked Gun” movies are about laughing at a walking disaster like Drebin, the romantic pulse at the center of them has always been one of their most critical components. In the ’88 film, there’s a hilarious montage of Nielsen’s Drebin going on a bunch of romantic escapades with Priscilla Presley’s Jane Spencer in which they knock couples over at the beach, squirt one another with hot dog condiments, and guffaw as they walk out of Oliver Stone’s harrowing war drama “Platoon.” Schaffer’s “Naked Gun” gives Neeson and Anderson their own courtship montage, but takes it to an even more absurd degree.
Incantations, threesomes, and a killer snowman
Paramount Pictures
About halfway through “The Naked Gun,” Drebin Jr. and Beth take a little excursion to a wintery getaway called Snowman’s Cottage. Set to the tune of Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the couple does everything expected of lovebirds in the early stages of their relationship. If you’ve never been gifted a katana during the first vacation, you’re missing out. They even build a snowman together, but things take a hilariously unexpected turn when Beth pulls out a book of spells and incantations. The pair sit around a summoning circle to manifest their “Frosty the Snowman” fantasy, and sure enough, he walks right on in.
Drebin Jr. and Beth’s childlike amusement for his chilly resurrection almost immediately reveals itself as something much kinkier, with the couple engaging in a PG-13 ménage à trois with the snowman. Neeson even drizzles the snowman’s arm with snow cone syrup and licks it off as if it’s a hot summer day. But alas, there are only so many ways you can screw a snowman, so he starts becoming visibly disappointed for being left out of their amorous activities. Little did I know I’d only have to wait just a few more moments until the horror movie shoe dropped. Folks, I can’t tell you how hard I laughed when the song slowly drones out as it pans up to the angry snowman watching them in the hot tub, where Lorne Balfe’s score takes on a much more sinister cadence.
For a brief moment, “The Naked Gun” becomes a hilarious horror movie spoof as the snowman chases Drebin Jr. and Beth around the cottage with a Glock. Just when it appears that the bumbling detective is done for, Anderson pulls a sneak attack and decapitates their magical third wheel with the katana she was gifted earlier. The Starship song kicks back in, and the happy couple gets right back to their amorous activities. This is what happens when you invite a lusty snowman to join in and leave him behind. They probably would have been fine if they had read “If You Give a Snowman a Soul” beforehand.
This entire cabin sequence is a great example of why “The Naked Gun” succeeds. Rather than retreading the same beats as the ’88 film, Schaffer ports over the kind of joke you’d expect to see in a Lonely Island digital short that still somehow fits in line with the ZAZ school of playing something so ridiculously dumb completely straight. You get a lot of great sight gags, with the sequence being relatively wordless, which also proves they possess a strong bond and will look out for one another in dangerous situations. In some ways, the snowman twist also plays like a pseudo-reimagining of a cult holiday horror movie.
The Naked Gun evokes Jack Frost
A-Pix Entertainment Inc.
One of the biggest reasons why I love horror movies is that the genre has its ardent defenders, even when it comes to low-budget shlock. Direct-to-video movies may not have a lot of money to work with, but they’ve got the spirit to get it made, as is the case with 1997’s “Jack Frost.” No, we’re not talking about the inadvertently creepy Michael Keaton family flick of the same name from a year later. We’re talking about the Michael Cooney-directed cult horror comedy that features a mutant snowman going on a rampage.
The similarities between the two deadly snowmen don’t lie so much in their origins or motives. In Cooney’s film, the titular slasher is a convicted serial killer named Jack Frost (Scott MacDonald) who ends up colliding with a truck loaded with hazardous chemicals during the wintertime and emerges on the other side as a mutant snowman. It’s pretty much a pale imitation of the killer’s soul being transferred inside an unexpected vessel plot that Brad Dourif perfected with the “Child’s Play” series. There’s also the matter of “Jack Frost” being a real slog that feels pretty icky at times, notably with a distasteful assault scene involving Shannon Elizabeth in a shower. Where the similarities lie between the two films, however, is in how the snowmen are presented.
Jack Frost is a creation of special effects artist (and director of “The Guyver”) Screaming Mad George that doesn’t really resemble moving snow. It’s portrayed as either stilted foam or someone in a flexible puppeteering costume. “The Naked Gun” opted to go with a slightly similar approach, with Schaffer and producer Erica Huggins wanting to avoid CG by going practical. Considering they had significantly more money to work with, “The Naked Gun” opted to reach out to none other than The Jim Henson Creature Shop to get their threesome-ousted snowman made. According to the film’s press notes, Schaffer’s 4 a.m. fever dream manifested in the form of Henson puppeteers Lindsey Briggs and Chris Hayes constructing/operating a giant felt costume with animatronic eyebrows. Credit also needs to be given to the folks at Innovative Workshop who made the foam visage of the snowman that Neeson and Anderson built at the top of the montage.
By comedy logic, you’d expect the snowman to use his carrot as a weapon, but it’s so much funnier to watch an Academy Award-nominated actor fearing for his life from a puppet charging at him with a loaded gun.
“The Naked Gun” is now playing in theaters nationwide.
The comic book genre continues to be wildly popular, with a number of shared universes competing at the box office. DC co-CEO James Gunn has been crafting the DCU, with the first slate of projects titled Gods and Monsters. And after the filmmaker seemingly confirmed a sequel to Superman was coming, fans have thoughts.
Superman was the first big-screen installment of the DCU (which also has projects streaming with an HBO Max subscription). The blockbuster has performed quite well, leading fans to wonder about upcoming DC movies. Gunn was recently asked on Threads about what he’s doing now that the movie is out, and he responded with:
Peacemaker press!! And sequel writing!!!
Superman makes money at the box office, it sounds like he’s already noodling up ideas for where to continue the story. This should probably not be a huge surprise, given the wild pace of Gunn’s work since starting his position at DC. Of course, there is still some confusion about exactly what he’s teasing.
Peacemaker Season 2.
Fans are sounding off about this mini tease online, including a thread on Reddit. Folks are offering their two cents on Gunn’s social presence, as well as what they’d like to see in a follow-up to Superman.
I love he casually just said announced he’s working on a sequel.
Very glad to see an actual sequel being made after all the past cancellations from the other Superman’s
is the funniest exchange I’ll see all day. James Gunn is living his best life out there as a CEO.
I think it’s obvious it was getting a sequel and Superman is almost guaranteed to show up in other DCU movies
Crossing my fingers for Brainiac to be the next villain, it’s about time a Superman (live action) movie includes other villains besides Lex Luthor and General Zod.
Since the DCU is still in its early stages, this level of discourse might be a positive sign regarding how the public is feeling about the burgeoning franchise. The previous DC universe had a number of missteps, with Aquaman 2 being the final installment. But it looks like James Gunn and the Superman cast managed to largely win over the hearts of moviegoers.
Of course, the biggest question online is whether or not it’ll be a direct sequel to Superman, or another way to expand the universe and use the same characters. Namely because Gunn also shared:
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Yes, yes, sorry. This is the same movie. Superman has a major role. It’s not ‘Superman 2.’
As such, the online discourse is likely going to continue until we know more about what James Gunn is planning in the wake of Superman. But per this clarification, it seems like we’re going to see more of an ensemble film with Superman being part of it. Could the Justice League be coming together? The group was still forming in the last DC flick.
There is a ton of world-building being done by DC right now, on both the small and silver screens. Superman featured other heroes as well as characters who will become major presences down the line, such as Maxwell Lord and Supergirl. James Gunn is the architect of this franchise and is also involved as a writer/director. Now the question is: what’s going to happen in a Superman sequel?
Superman is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, and the DCU will expand again when Peacemaker Season 2 arrives on HBO Max August 21st.
We know Zendaya and Margot Robbie are queens of method dressing for the movies they’re promoting; however, I think we need to add Lindsay Lohan and her Freakier Friday looks to that list. That’s because she hasn’t just been dressing to fit the theme of her project on the 2025 movie schedule; she’s also bringing all the nostalgia by paying homage to the original Freaky Friday with a lavender dress and guitar purse.
In the lead-up to Freakier Friday’s release, Lindsay Lohan’s fashion game has been top-notch. She embraced Barbiecore for a few of the Freaky Fridaysequel’s events, and she paid homage to one of her other classics, The Parent Trap,at others. However, this lavender look she rocked that even included a little guitar purse, pun intended, for the UK premiere is by far my favorite, take a look:
(Image credit: Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
I truly cannot decide if I’m more obsessed with the dress or the purse. However, I think that’s perfectly fine, because ultimately they work together to create a cohesive and nostalgic outfit.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin. It’s a custom metallic mesh dress with “golden shadow Swarovski crystal embellishments.” Talk about opulent and utterly stunning!
However, the reference and nostalgia make it a million times better (which is saying a lot because it was already perfection). I had a hunch that this gown directly referenced the final scene in Freaky Friday. However, Lohan’s stylist Andrew Mukamal – who is notably also Margot Robbie’s stylist – confirmed it when he posted her look on Instagram alongside a still image from the OG movie.
As you can see in my screenshot from Freaky Friday below, the details in Lohan’s premiere look lineup almost perfectly with Anna’s wedding look from the final scene of the 2003 film:
(Image credit: Disney)
I mean, it goes all the way down to the guitar purse, which I’m also obsessed with, and you can see below in detail, by the way! Seriously, all these little details make me even more enthralled with this ensemble Lindsay Lohan and her team pulled together for this event.
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(Image credit: Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
As someone who recently re-watched Freaky Fridaywith my Disney+ subscription and is so excited to see this long-awaited sequel, the star’s premiere outfit was like the cherry on top. It truly highlighted my biggest hope for this movie, which is that it will be a project that leans into everything we love about the original while also providing a fresh perspective and take.
It seems like that will happen too, based on Freakier Friday’s trailer, as we see that Lohan’s Anna and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Tess switch bodies with Anna’s daughter and soon-to-be step-daughter instead of each other.
So, get excited, folks, because I think this movie, which hits theaters on August 8, will rock, just like Lohan did in that purple dress at the end of Freaky Friday and on the red carpet of Freakier Friday’s premiere.
Eyes of Wakanda is the latest superhero show to hit the 2025 TV schedule, and it’s a sweet piece of work. Produced by Ryan Coogler, the four-episode miniseries highlights different periods in history and follows members of the Hatut Zaraze, who must retrieve Wakandan artifacts made of Vibranium. I was definitely expecting the show to be steeped in the Black Panther franchise’s mythology. However, I was surprised that the finale had an explicit link to the first movie in the Panther series, and it’s definitely worth discussing.
(Image credit: Marvel)
How Does Eyes Of Wakanda’s Finale Directly Tie Into Black Panther?
Disney+ subscription) is titled “The Last Panther.” In it, the two War Dogs, the young and brash Tafari and the seasoned and strong Kuda, recover a vibranium axe amid the First Italo-Ethiopian War in 1896. On their way back to Wakanda, the duo encounter a powerful warrior dressed in Panther-like garb. Not only is this character indeed a Black Panther but one who hails from 500 years into the future.
Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel and Loki being prime examples. However, in many cases, some of the interconnected franchise’s properties don’t feature fully fleshed out worlds. That’s not a problem with the Black Panther series, thanks to the efforts of Ryan Coogler and co. Despite being a fictional place, Wakanda feels like a rich location with a storied history and culture. That richness only expands in 2022’s Wakanda Forever, which also introduces Talokan.
It’s no wonder that Panther remains one of Marvel’s biggest IPs, and that makes it unfortunate that the property has experienced setbacks over the past several years. The biggest, of course, was the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa. A planned TV spinoff centered on Okoye of the Dora Milaje is reportedly not in the cards now, either.
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Thank goodness for Eyes of Wakanda, though, which adds cool concepts and characters to the canon. It even introduces a new version of Iron Fist to the MCU. On top of that, a third Black Panther movie (featuring Denzel Washington) is in the works, too. At present, however, I’m just impressed with how this new animated prequel series ties the lore together with a time travel-centric story involving a simple macguffin.
Stream Eyes of Wakanda on Disney+ now alongside the Black Panther movies. Also, read up on upcoming Marvel shows.
Cooper Hoffman and Ike Barinholtz are aboard ‘Artificial’.
It’s ‘Challengers’ and ‘After the Hunt’ director Luca Guadagnino’s next movie.
Andrew Garfield, Cooper Koch and Yura Borisov are also in the cast.
Luca Guadagnino is one of those directors who can always attract solid talent, and often seems to work with rising stars.
For his latest, ‘Artificial’, the filmmaker already has quite the crop either locked down or circling –– Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, Jason SchwartzmanCooper Koch and ‘Anora’ breakout Yura Borisov among them.
Not Yet Rated
Described as a comedy-drama about the period at the artificial intelligence company OpenAI in 2023 that saw CEO Sam Altman fired and rehired in a matter of days…. Read the Plot
The latest to enter talks? ‘Licorice Pizza’s Cooper Hoffman, and ‘The Studio’s Ike Barinholtz.
Related Article: Andrew Garfield & Monica Barbaro Circling Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’
What’s the story of ‘Artificial’?
Andrew Garfield in ‘We Live in Time’. Photo: StudioCanal.
Nothing has been official released yet, but Guadagnino reportedly considered several scripts before landing on Simon Rich’s (‘An American Pickle’) about the wild true story surrounding OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
He co-founded OpenAI, but in the fall of 2023, after mounting safety concerns regarding AI, and reports of abusive behavior, was ousted as the head of the company by his board.
Five days later, after a revolt, he was reinstated in a story reminiscent of the return of Steve Jobs to Apple.
If all goes as planned, Garfield will play Altman, Barbaro will be chief technology officer Mira Murati, and Borisov has the role of Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder who led the movement to get rid of Altman.
We don’t yet know who Hoffman or Koch will be, but Barinholtz is in talks to be Elon Musk, who… well, does he really need an introduction these days after the last few months. At least it’s a good casting choice: Barinholtz is good at playing smug weirdos.
Along with Garfield, the new project marks a reunion for Guadagnino and Amazon, having made ‘After the Hunt’ and last year’s sizzling tennis drama ‘Challengers’ for the company.
What else is Luca Guadagnino working on?
Director Luca Guadagnino attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
As talked about above, the director had been busy developing ‘Sgt. Rock,’ which adapts the DC Comics character for the big screen. Daniel Craig reportedly considered the lead, but Guadagnino was locking in on Colin Farrell to star.
Yet weather conditions have reportedly stymied the production, and the aim is to have it rolling cameras next year –– though not with Guadagnino aboard.
Beyond that, he has a variety of other potential movies waiting in the wings, including a new adaptation of ‘American Psycho’ and romantic drama ‘Separate Rooms.’
When will ‘Artificial’ be in theaters?
Though ‘Artificial’ is clearly coming together fairly quickly, Amazon MGM Studios has yet to hand out a release date for the movie.
Guadagnino’s latest, the aforementioned ‘After The Hunt,’ which stars Garfield alongside Julia Roberts and Chloë Sevigny, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 17th, signaling a potential awards contender.
