It really is a pleasure to burn at the start of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, mostly because protagonist Guy Montag hasn’t yet understood the evils of destroying history and culture at the behest of a despotic totalitarian government. Ahead of Comic Con, HBO has released our very first look at Michael B. Jordan as Montag and Michael Shannon as his mentor Beatty, and let’s just say, for firemen, these two look very cool.
Dystopian cinema is all the rage right now. Not only is the release of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale only a few days away, we were also recently treated to a series of synchronized screenings of 1984, the film adaptation of George Orwell’s seminal novel. While some may view this as a collective piece of cinematic snark, plenty of others are using these projects as an opportunity to open the door for increased education and awareness about media literacy, politics, and art. And while HBO may only really be interested in art and politics, it is putting one foot firmly in the dystopian game, announcing an upcoming production of Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451.
Boy, Andrew Garfield lost that Spider-Man gig and times got tough fast. Okay, maybe not. But in the trailer for 99 Homes, the new thriller from director Ramin Bahrani, Garfield plays a man evicted from his home by a remorseless real-estate broker played by Michael Shannon. Desperate to provide for his family, Garfield’s character goes to work for Shannon’s; soon he’s the one kicking poor people out of their beloved homes. It’s sink-or-swim in modern America, Shannon’s character says. But is it okay to keeping swimming if you have to drown other people and use their lifeless bodies to stay afloat? That’s the question.