Director Aaron Stoller, formerly of Backyard, has joined Biscuit Filmworks. Via Biscuit he directed the MTV Movie Awards spots featuring Tom Cruise….Method Studios has brought Jay Lichtman on board as executive producer for its New York facility. The company, which also maintains operations in Los Angeles and London, is currently outfitting a brand new space in New York as part of its ongoing expansion. Lichtman has relocated to New York from London where he was previously deputy head of production for MPC….New York-based creative design studio Charlex has hired Meredith Machial as its new executive producer. She brings more than 10 years of experience in VFX, postproduction and broadcast production to her new roost, having produced work for a variety of brands, from Lexus and Hyundai to Burger King and the NFL. Machial began her career at Reel FX and moved to Radium in Los Angeles following the merger of the two companies. Prior to joining Charlex, Machial held executive producer positions at Resident Creative Studio, NYC, and SWAY, LA where she worked with agencies such as Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Team One, Butler Shine & Stern, GSD&M, Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Team Detroit, Crispin Porter+Bogusky and Doner. While at SWAY, Machial also executive produced for feature and television projects, including 2012 and Nip/Tuck….Los Angeles-based Moo Studios has added live-action/animation director and fine artist Molly Schiot to its roster. She is currently in production on an animated piece for Levi’s, and a branded short film for Doc Martin and the Raveonettes that she’s co-directing with photographer Cass Bird….Brooklyn-based creative agency Big Spaceship has promoted Rob Watts from senior producer to director of production, and Stephen Koch and Charlie Whitney from developers to senior developers. Prior to Big Spaceship, which he joined four years ago, Watts honed his skills at Sudden Industries and in the music business at Rykodisc Records. Koch is a three-year Big Spaceship vet. And Whitney came aboard the agency in 2008 after working as a Flash designer at Hello Monday in Denmark….
Review: Director Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson
So you think YOUR job is bad?
Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it'll never be as bad as Robert Pattinson's in Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" — nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.
Mickey, you see, is an "Expendable," and by this we don't mean he's a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone's tired band of mercenaries ("Expend17ables"?). No, even worse! He's literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be "reprinted" once again as the next Mickey.
And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Parasite." There's creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.
The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn't know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he's adapting here is called "Mickey7" — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.
The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he's part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He's surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: "Haven't you died yet?"
How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan... Read More