Coming Soon
Out this week
* Albums
- Walk the Sky by Alter Bridge: Sixth album by the American rock band; comes after 2016’s The Last Hero; preceded by the singles ‘Wouldn’t You Rather’, ‘Pay No Mind’, ‘Take the Crown’, ‘In the Deep’, and ‘Dying Light’.
* Movies
- Zombieland: Double Tap (starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin) – horror comedy; Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin) face off against evolved zombies and come across other survivors.
- Jojo Rabbit (starring Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell) – comedy drama; a patriotic German boy (Davis), whose imaginary friend is a zany version of Adolf Hitler (Waititi), finds out that his mother (Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (McKenzie) in their attic.
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chiwetel Ejiofor) – fantasy; Maleficent (Jolie) and her goddaughter Aurora (Fanning) find themselves on opposite sides of an impending war.
- The Lighthouse (starring Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson) – horror; two lighthouse keepers (Dafoe and Pattinson) battle isolation and loneliness.
- Wounds (starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz) – horror; after a bartender (Hammer) picks up a phone left behind at his bar, a series of inexplicable events begin to unravel his life.
Star
Zachary David Alexander Efron
- Born on 18th October 1987 in California, U.S.
- Has a brother, Dylan.
- Started acting as a child.
- Had guest roles on several television series and had a recurring role on the series Summerland (2004 - 2005) before rocketing to fame for starring in Disney’s High School Musical franchise (2006 - 2008).
- Has since appeared in movies including Hairspray (2007), 17 Again (2009), Neighbors (2014), Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Baywatch (2017), The Greatest Showman (2017), and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019).
- Upcoming projects include the new animated Scooby Doo film Scoob! (2020).
- Also has a YouTube channel that hosts weekly series about fitness and outdoor activities.
- Was in a relationship with his HSM co-star Vanessa Hudgens from 2005 to 2010 and model Sami Miró from 2014 to 2016.
- Struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse before seeking treatment in 2013.
Also born today: Tyler Posey, Freida Pinto, Ne-Yo, Rhod Gilbert, Chuck Lorre, Pam Dawber
Spotlight
Joker
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Director: Todd Phillips
Tagline: Put on a happy face.
- Thriller; a mistreated, mentally-troubled comedian (Phoenix) goes on a downward spiral.
- Is based on the DC Comics character, telling his origin story.
- Intends to launch DC Black, a line of DC Comics-based films, unrelated to the DCEU, with a darker tone.
- Had a budget of around $55–70 million; has made over $544 million in less than two weeks.
- Has generated a mixed reception; critics have praised Phoenix’s performance but some have decried the films violence and portrayal of mental illness.
- Joaquin Phoenix lost over 50 pounds for the role.
- Score composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir.