If there’s one thing we’ve learned from movies, it’s not to experiment with death. But that won’t stop one group of young folks from engaging in their fun new pastime of competitive dying. Flatliners, a remake of Joel Schumacher’s 1990 cult film, posits that dying for a couple of minutes gives these kids a new appreciation for the lives they have, until their deaths start to catch up with them. Never play with forces you can’t fully control.
I know that this very web site has declared a personal fatwa against slowed-down pop songs in movie trailers, but I can’t help but feel like the spots advertising the upcoming remake of Joel Schumacher’s 1990 cult object Flatliners won’t be complete until they’ve tapped a creepy children’s choir to cover the Doors’ “Break On Through (To The Other Side).” It’s perfect! The song is about permeating the boundaries between life and death, the film deals with the same topic (only with what appear to be unsettling CGI zombies in the mix), it’s bananas that some enterprising ad executive hasn’t made the connection.
You know those movies that you could swear were more suited to twenty years ago, and yet studios insist on putting them out in the year 2017? That’s the feeling you might get while watching the newly released trailer for The Only Living Boy in New York, a movie that involves, among other things, a young lad encouraged by Jeff Bridges to manipulate the girl he likes into liking him back by getting cozy with his father’s mistress.
Just yesterday, Kiersey Clemons popped up in the trailer for the upcoming Flatliners remake. And while that movie looked a bit questionable (as our Editor-in-Chief so wisely stated on Twitter, it appears to be for exactly no one), she’s got a generally strong track record. She was a clutch bit player in Dope, spun that into another scene-stealing role in Neighbors 2, and followed her Dope director Rick Famuyiwa to DC’s The Flash solo film. Though Famuyiwa ultimately walked away from the production, Clemons has remained onboard, and now it looks like that role has brought her all the way to London.
Remember Flatliners, Joel Schumacher’s 1990 sci-fi/thriller about a group of medical students trying to cross over into the afterlife? They stop one another’s hearts just long enough to enter the great beyond, and then jolt them back into the land of the living before too long. Perhaps you noticed a fleeting reference to the film in last summer’s Popstar, wherein Bill Hader is relieved to learn that he has not pooped himself after a soft-goth Joanna Newsom artificially halts his heartbeat in a hobby he refers to as ‘flatlining.’ Ready or not, here comes a remake!
Superhero movies are having a tough time lately. First it was Tim Miller’s shocking exit from Deadpool 2 over creative differences, and then composer Junkie XL’s subsequent departure from the movie in solidarity. Then, it was Rick Famuyiwa who dropped out of The Flash movie, and while there’s no confirmed reason as to why, he made it clear that this was probably another creative differences situation as well. We were all pretty bummed, as he seemed so excited when he talked about drafting the script. The actors who have signed on to the film are no less disappointed, including Kiersey Clemons, who said that she found his departure “very upsetting.”
We’ve gone at least several hours without a high-profile Netflix original series release, and have our next fix lined up as early as September 22. In the meantime, sneak a dirty little peak at Joe Swanberg’s new star-studded comedy on love and sex, as Netflix makes things Easy next week.
Just when you thought you had a handle on Netflix’s upcoming series, in swoops Joe Swanberg with a star-studded anthology series about modern sex and love. See Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Orlando Bloom, Malin Akerman and so, so many more in the first teaser and photos from Netflix’s Easy September premiere!
Earlier this month, Warner Bros. was reportedly eyeing a few actresses for the female lead in The Flash solo movie from director Rick Famuyiwa. The shortlist included pop star Rita Ora, Sing Street breakout Lucy Boynton and, perhaps most interesting of all, Kiersey Clemons — who previously appeared in Famuyiwa’s indie hit Dope. It looks like Clemons and Famuyiwa will work together again, as the actress has officially taken the lead opposite Ezra Miller in the Scarlet Speedster’s new film.