Fury
Writer-director David Ayer can’t seem to catch a break. His last flick the mostly-awesome Sabotage didn’t even play in Canada despite the star power (or waning lack thereof? That’ll change when the next Terminator hits the screen) of Arnold Schwarzenegger and End of Watch was an excellent police drama that nobody saw either.
Hopefully that’ll change with Fury a big n’ bloody war drama starring Brad Pitt as the hilariously named Wardaddy a battle-weary soldier fighting during the last days of the Second World War. (Looking at the IMDB credits everyone has a funny name: Shia LaBeouf is Bible Michael Pena is Gordo and Jon Bernthal got the short end of the stick with Coon-Ass.) The film looks appropriately brutal and brooding and looks like it totally proves Francois Truffaut’s dictum that it’s impossible to make an anti-war movie. It just looks too damn fun!
Fury
At the Globe schlubby comedian Dan Harmon (Community) gets lionized with his very own documentary Harmontown detailing the triumphs and travails of his comedy career. All of his buddies including Sarah Silverman and Jack Black show up to heap on the praise.
I don’t doubt fans will want to check it out and yes his podcast is (often) pretty funny. But these docs are typically just adaptations of my most hated hated genre: books by comedians. They’re a mid-career obligatory gesture that always follows one of three narratives: “I’m a chubby white guy with observations about life and they’re crazy!” “I’m a single woman living in a big city and it’s crazy!” “I was raised by a seemingly normal family in suburbia and it was crazy!” Ugh.
Harmontown trailer
For the kiddies just in time for Halloween we’ve got The Book of Life the usual heartwarming tale of friendship and adversity featuring as IMDB says “a fresh take on pop music favorites.” That sounds even more deliciously torturous for parents than usual. Guillermo del Toro serves as producer so hopefully some of his macabre humour sneaks in there – the film is set during Mexico’s Day of the Dead. There’s also talking skeletons and 30 Seconds to Mars. Scary!
