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Stars: Frank Grillo, Eden Brolin, Melissa Leo, Andy Garcia, Mekhi Phifer, Beau Knapp, George Carroll, Josh Hutcherson, Juan Pablo Raba | Written by John Swab, Santiago Manes Moreno | Directed by John Swab

Long Gone Heroes is an action thriller directed by John Swab, this being his fifth collaboration with the always-awesome Frank Grillo. As well as boasting some more notable cast including, Josh Hutcherson, Eden Brolin, Melissa Leo, Andy Garcia, and Mekhi Phifer. Set against the politically volatile backdrop of Venezuela, it follows a former special forces soldier, Gunner (Grillo), who is drawn back into action to rescue his kidnapped niece, Julia (Brolin), a journalist entangled in a web of corruption involving oil smuggling, private military contractors, and high-level political figures. You know, that old chestnut. Clocking in at 1hr 40 this seems to be longer than many similar direct-to-video action flicks, though never really feels too long as it attempts to...

Ben Foster, who was nominated for an Emmy for The Survivor a few years back, is headed back to the big screen with an upcoming action thriller that has finally secured a release date. After getting rave reviews last year during a brief festival run, King Ivory has set its sights on a 2025 release date window.

Variety reports that King Ivory, led by Hell or High Water star Ben Foster as well as Melissa Leo, has finally found theatrical distribution in the United States after premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. King Ivory was directed by John Swab (Candy Land), based on his own screenplay. The movie tackles the fentanyl crisis "based on extensive research with law enforcement, gangs, inmates, migrants, and addicts." Check out the synopsis below:

"Based on extensive research involving law enforcement and gang members, a never-before-seen, authentic look inside the underworld of fentanyl trafficking from gangs...

Action-thriller “King Ivory, which had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, is set to get a theatrical release in the U.S.

Saban Films has acquired North American rights to the film — written and directed by John Swab and starring Ben Foster and Melissa Leo — and teamed with Roadside Attractions for a national theatrical release later in 2025. Universal Pictures will handle all other territories.

Also starring James Badge Dale (“The Departed”), Michael Mando (“Better Call Saul”), Rory Cochrane (“Black Mass”), Ritchie Coster (“The Dark Knight”), George Carroll (“The Town”), Sam Quartin “(Candy Land”), newcomer Jasper Jones and Oscar nominee Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), “King Ivory” is described as a “fentanyl expose” based on extensive research with law enforcement, gangs, inmates, migrants and addicts.

The film was produced by Jeremy Rosen for his Oklahoma-based Roxwell Films.

Set against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic as fentanyl floods the market,...

One of Frank Grillo’s more recent projects that perhaps didn’t get the theatrical release it deserved has found success on a new streamer. Grillo stars opposite Andy Garcia and Josh Hutcherson in Long Gone Heroes, the crime thriller following a special forces soldier who has given up everything but now must return to the field to track down his niece. The film recently began streaming on Paramount+ and has wasted no time becoming a major streaming hit, sitting at #2 at the time of writing, behind only Gladiator 2. Long Gone Heroes did not report any box office earnings, nor has it earned enough scores on Rotten Tomatoes to be rendered a review, but it's still wowing audiences on Paramount+ as one of the streamer’s most popular movies.

John Swab wrote and directed Long Gone Heroes with a story from Santiago Manes Moreno. Swab first made his feature...

Frank Grillo has carved out a reputation for gritty, hard-hitting roles that have seen him jumping up the rankings of go-to action heroes. As well as appearances in big franchises such as The Purge, as Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and now being part of the new Dcu, Grillo has delivered a long line of masculine action movies that fans just cannot get enough of. Now one of his 2024 offerings, Long Gone Heroes, is heading to the top of the Tubi free streaming chart.

However, with all that in mind, Long Gone Heroes is probably not one that will sit on the top of anyone’s personal list of Grillo greats – does anyone have that list? – but it is certainly proving a valuable asset to Tubi. The synopsis for the movie reads:

“Gunner, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat, is forced...

Horror fans know that one of the “rules” to surviving a horror film is to never have sex, especially if you are a woman. So, when a group of small-town sex workers are faced with a series of mysterious murders, one can only imagine the outcomes for such a group of individuals. Set against the desolate backdrop of a Mid-West truck stop, John Swab’s 2022 slasher thriller Candy Landdelivers a gritty and thought-provoking exploration of the controversial subject of sex work.

John Swab’s new crime thriller King Ivory seeks to shine a light on the very real human toll of America’s ongoing opioid crisis. Based on extensive research, including interviews with those on the frontlines and those suffering personal battles, Swab crafts a brutally honest portrait of how this public health calamity has ravaged communities across the country.

We meet Tulsa police officer James Badge Dale, who is determined to take down the dealers flooding his city with deadly fentanyl. But in a twist known all too well these days, his own teenage son becomes hooked, showing how easily even the most cautious families can fall victim.

Beyond the police procedure and gritty action scenes, King Ivory aims to put faces to the statistics. We witness the human consequences of an epidemic that claims over 100,000 lives each year. Swab ensures we experience the story from all perspectives—from the...

Reuniting with director John Swab for his fifth collaboration, the grizzled muscular badass (both on and off screen) returns for a well-made video-on-demand action fare, “Long Gone Heroes,” which works as a throwback to 80s action movies. In some instances, the film also works as a self-reflective measure for some characters, especially Grillo’s Gunner.

Long Gone Heroes (2024) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis: Who is Julia Peterson?

As the movie opens, we see political journalist Julia Peterson questioning a man named Fede Torres, who has extensive knowledge regarding the collapse of Venezuela, leading to the Venezuelan Crisis under the leadership of Hugo Chavez and then his successor Nicolas Maduro. Hyperinflation leading to the erosion of the country’s currency would lead to its collapse, and according to Torres, one of the primary reasons would be the discovery of crude oil. In 2017, after the US sanctions theoretically would stop the overexploitation...

“Long Gone Heroes” is a new live-action thriller, directed by John Swab, starring Frank Grillo (“Captain America: Civil War”), Josh Hutcherson, Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, Melissa Leo and Andy Garcia, now playing in theaters:

“…’Gunner’, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat….

“…is forced back into the field of battle to save his niece, who is being held in South America.

“As the fight intensifies, Gunner and his team discover that her disappearance is part of a corrupt private operation that hits too close to home…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

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Frank Grillo is a soldier with a troubled past who must fight to rebuild his family in Long Gone Heroes. Following his breakout roles in Warrior, The Grey and Kingdom, Grillo has become one of the most recognizable faces in the action genre over the past decade, having starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, the time-looping action-comedy Boss Level and indie thriller Copshop. Grillo's talents have also extended to a variety of other genres, including the more horror-driven Purge franchise and the crime drama Body Brokers.

Grillo stars in Long Gone Heroes as Gunner, the leader of a special operations team who has been grappling with the death of his brother over the past 10 years, especially as his sister-in-law has kept him from seeing his niece. When she comes to him to ask for help with saving his niece,...

Stars: Frank Grillo, Eden Brolin, Melissa Leo, Andy Garcia, Mekhi Phifer, Beau Knapp, George Carroll, Josh Hutcherson, Juan Pablo Raba | Written by John Swab, Santiago Manes Moreno | Directed by John Swab

Long Gone Heroes marks the fifth collaboration between director John Swab and actor Frank Grillo beginning with Body Brokers and most recently One Day as a Lion. They might not be great cinema, but they’ve been well enough received, and more importantly, they’ve proven popular enough that they keep getting money to make more of them.

This time out, Grillo plays Gunner, ex-special forces, ex-husband, and all the other usual exes. His niece Julia is a journalist working on a story about a group violating US sanctions and bringing Venezuelan oil into the country. This gets her grabbed by some very dangerous people.

Complicating matters further is that her mother Olivia is not only a US senator,...

Plot: A special forces soldier who has given up country, religion, and even hope, must return to the field of battle to track down his niece, a reporter, caught in the middle of an illegal private contracting operation that went dead wrong.

Review: The political turmoil of Venezuela makes it the perfect setting for a political action thriller. The country has had such issues that the US government warns citizens not to travel there. So it allows a backdrop of corruption and violence while still keeping a grounded reality. Long Gone Heroes takes advantage of this and is able to provide a relevant story while not stepping on anyone’s toes, politically. This is a simple story about a group of “good guys” entering a war-torn country and saving a hostage. And it’s surprisingly good.

When it comes to these lower-budget action films, I never really know what I’m in for.

The team behind opioid crime thriller “King Ivory” had a somewhat unorthodox journey to the Venice Film Festival this year.

When a delayed flight from New York meant they missed their connection by a matter of minutes, the group of six — including stars Ben Foster and Melissa Leo, plus producer Jeremy Rosen and writer/director John Swab — found themselves in Munich on a long waitlist for the only other plane going to Venice that day.

Thinking that the chances of them all getting seats were fairly slim, Rosen made what he describes as an “executive decision,” hiring a Mercedes Sprinter van for a seven-hour drive that took them from Germany into Italy through the Austrian Alps.

“It was truly like a camp trip… a camp trip for privileged children,” he notes. There was also a hint of danger — Swab claims that about halfway into the ride, he spotted Rosen “falling asleep at the wheel.

“Long Gone Heroes” is a new live-action thriller, directed by John Swab, starring Frank Grillo (“Captain America: Civil War”), Josh Hutcherson, Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, Melissa Leo and Andy Garcia, releasing September 20, 2024 in theaters:

“…’Gunner’, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat….

“…is forced back into the field of battle to save his niece, who is being held in South America.

“As the fight intensifies, Gunner and his team discover that her disappearance is part of a corrupt private operation that hits too close to home…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Amiable Josh seems on the surface to have the perfect life: accomplished wife (Cobie Smulders), son (William Kosovic) and a new house. Problem is, fatal car accidents happen with some frequency — and quite graphically — in Josh’s front yard, breaking apart his thin veneer of a life. Jason Buxton’s “Sharp Corner” stars Ben Foster as the almost anonymous Josh, the human equivalent of khakis and a white button-down shirt. Buxton imbues the film with tension, and as the likable Foster takes John into increasingly obsessive behavior, the film finds more horror movie elements in the banality of the normal. Foster is busy — he was in Venice to support John Swab’s “King Ivory,” which unspooled in the Horizons Extra section — and calls “King Ivory” “an exploration of import export of fentanyl and the cost of that.”

“Sharp Corner” world premieres Sept. 6 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Neon Intl.

It was Adolf Hitler’s name that became synonymous with evil, but his Italian counterpart — Benito Mussolini, named for a Mexican revolutionary leader by his staunchly Socialist father — was arguably the more enduring brand. Any populist politician today owes a good deal to the Mussolini playbook, brought to explosive life in an extraordinary Italian-language series by British director Joe Wright.

M. Son of the Century sticks to the facts of the great dictator’s life, which are extraordinary enough, but stretches those facts into surreal shapes until we feel we’re in some parallel historical universe. Wright’s brassy style — unlike anything he has done before — owes something to Fellini, but a whole lot more to its subject. Because Benito Mussolini, apart from anything else, definitely knew how to put on a show.

Related: Director Of ‘Russians At War’ Doc Bats Back Suggestions Of Whitewashing: “We Have To Humanize Everyone.

It’s Joker: Folie à Deux day here on the Lido, with director Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in town for the world premiere of Warner Bros/DC’s crime drama with musical flourishes. Before that, Philipps, Joker Best Actor Oscar winner Phoenix, and Gaga fielded questions from the press who had attended a packed show this morning.

The trio were in a playful mood, particularly Phoenix, who repeatedly turned down the invitation to answer questions. Joker: Folie À Deux is Phillips’ return to the Lido after clinching the festival Golden Lion with the first film in 2019.

Related: Daniel Craig On Intimacy, Fulfillment & Accessibility Of Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’ – Venice Film Festival

Phillips said this morning that it feels “right and correct” to be in Venice with the sequel.

“It felt like the logical launching point for this second film. We have a very strong feeling...

James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli was one of the guests at a gala dinner hosted by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) and the Media City Qatar (McQ) on the fringes of the Venice Film Festival on Monday evening.

The veteran producer’s presence added fuel to recent reports that she is attempting to secure Qatari finance for ex-James Bond actor Daniel Craig’s big screen passion project Othello, with well-placed sources hinting on Monday night that talks were ongoing.

Related: ‘Russians At War’ Teaser: Anastasia Trofimova’s Doc Gives Rare Insight Into Life Of Russian Soldiers On The Frontline In Ukraine – Venice

Broccoli — who is co-head of James Bond producer Eon Productions with Michael G. Wilson — has reportedly been working with Craig for some time on the project, billed as a modern adaptation of the Shakespearean classic set in American army barracks in Iraq.

Related: ‘King Ivory’: Melissa Leo,...

Indie filmmaker John Swab’s action thriller King Ivory, a multi-faceted dive into the U.S. fentanyl crisis that weaves together storylines from various angles of the war on drugs, had its world premiere in the Horizons Extra strand at the Venice Film Festival this week. Much of the main cast was on hand to reunite on the Lido after having shot the movie under an interim agreement last year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The story follows Tulsa drug cop, Layne West (James Badge Dale), who is battling the local criminal element, which hits too close to home when his son gets hooked on fentanyl. West makes it his mission to take down those responsible, including the Mexican cartel’s local shot-caller, Ramón Garza (Michael Mando), Indian Brotherhood War Chief, Holt Lightfeather (Graham Greene), who controls state-wide trafficking while serving life inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester and the local Irish Mob family outfit,...

The shadow of Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 drug war epic, Traffic, hangs heavily over all the narcs, cartel members, native gangsters and fentanyl addicts populating director John Swab’s hard-nosed thriller, King Ivory. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Taking cues from a modern classic that depicted the battle to stop crack-cocaine from destroying America, Swab repeats the same structure over two decades later to tackle the opioid epidemic, and generally achieves strong results. Less dramatic and poetic than the Soderbergh film, King Ivory nonetheless boasts some harrowingly real action sequences, tough-as-nails characters and an overall level of grittiness that demands attention. Its uncompromisingly bleak view of fentanyl’s damaging hold on the U.S. is not necessarily a crowd-pleaser, but it well deserves a look.

Swab cut his chops directing genre flicks like Ida Red and Candy Land, putting out a whopping seven features since 2019. (He’s already releasing another movie,...

Tense, taut, and deeply gripping writer/director John Swab’s dramatic drug cartel/fentanyl trade crime thriller “King Ivory” is a terrific surprise from the Venice Film Festival’s Orrizonti Extras section. Reminiscent of Steven Soderbergh’s Academy Award-winning drug trafficking thriller, “Traffic,” though rougher and slightly more condensed in scope, “King Ivory”— one of the many street slang monikers for fentanyl— centers on the ongoing war on drugs, the way it affects many different communities and lives, and the hard reality struggle to make even a tiny dent in this conflict.

Continue reading ‘King Ivory’ Review: James Badge Dale Leads A Searing, ‘Traffic’-Esque Drug Cartel Crime Thriller [Venice] at The Playlist.

“Long Gone Heroes” is a new live-action thriller , directed by John Swab, starring Frank Grillo (“Captain America: Civil War”), Josh Hutcherson, Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, Melissa Leo and Andy Garcia, releasing September 20, 2024 in theaters:

“…’Gunner’, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat….

“…is forced back into the field of battle to save his niece, who is being held in South America.

“As the fight intensifies, Gunner and his team discover that her disappearance is part of a corrupt private operation that hits too close to home…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Lionsgate has launched a new trailer for the upcoming action-thriller ‘Long Gone Heroes.’

Gunner, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat, is forced back into the field of battle to save his niece, who is being held in South America. As the fight intensifies, Gunner and his team discover that her disappearance is part of a corrupt private operation that hits way too close to home. Acclaimed actors Andy Garcia, Melissa Leo, Josh Hutcherson and Frank Grillo star in a non-stop action thriller that will leave you breathless.

Directed by John Swab, the movie stars Frank Grillo, Josh Hutcherson, Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, Melissa Leo, and Andy Garcia.

Also in trailers – “We have to think big…”Full trailer lands for season 2 of ‘Tulsa King’

The movie hits U.S. cinemas, digital and on-demand September 20th.

The post Frank Grillo stars in trailer for...

The trailer for Frank Grillo and Josh Hutcherson’s new action movie, Long Gone Heroes, just dropped.

Frank Grillo is known for his roles in films such as The Purge: Anarchy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In Long Gone Heroes, Frank plays Gunner.

Gunner is a special forces soldier who’s seen more than enough horrors to last a lifetime. However, when Gunner’s niece is abducted in South America, he’s forced back into the war. By putting together a team of old and new friends, Gunner will stop at nothing to bring her home safe.

Starring alongside Frank is The Hunger Games and Five Nights At Freddy’s star, Josh Hutcherson. Josh plays computer wiz-kid, David, and by the looks of the trailer seems to be the member of Gunner’s team who is constantly underestimated.

Also starring in the movie are Eden Brolin, Mekhi Phifer, Melissa Leo,...

Collider is thrilled to debut the first trailer and key art for Long Gone Heroes, an intense action thriller starring Frank Grillo, Josh Hutcherson, Andy Garcia, and Melissa Leo. Directed by John Swab, the film will hit theaters, On Demand, and Digital on September 20, 2024. Grillo, known for his rugged roles in The Purge series and Captain America, leads the film as Gunner, a former special forces operative. Grillos collaboration with director Swab is no coincidencethis marks their fifth project together. Grillo shared his admiration for Swab in a recent interview:...

Just a day after New York Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival made major announcements, Venice Film Festival is here with their full lineup ahead of the festival taking place August 28 through September 7.

Highlights include Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud, Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements, Harmony Korine’s Baby Invasion, Pablo Larraín’s Maria, Takeshi Kitano’s Broken Rage, Errol Morris’ Separated, Lav Diaz’s Phantosmia, Thomas Vinterberg’s Families Like Ours, Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April, and more.

Check out the lineup below with a hat tip to Cineuropa.

Competition

The Room Next Door – Pedro Almodóvar

Campo di battaglia – Gianni Amelio

Leurs enfants après eux – Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma

The Brutalist – Brady Corbet

Jouer avec le feu – Delphine & Muriel Coulin

Vermiglio – Maura Delpero

Iddu (Sicilian Letters) – Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza

Queer – Luca Guadagnino

Love – Dag Johan Haugerud...

Exclusive: Gus Halper (Rustin), Aliyah Camacho (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and Michael Mando (Better Call Saul) have joined the cast of Prime Video‘s graphic novel series, Criminal, in recurring roles. They join the previously announced cast of Charlie Hunnam, Adria Arjona, Richard Jenkins, Kadeem Hardison, Logan Browning, Pat Healy, Taylor Selé and John Hawkes.

Criminal is an interlocking universe of crime stories based on the multi-Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series created by Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

Halper will portray Ricky, an unstable guy who likes booze, coke, and speed (and not within moderation), Ricky Lawless has known Leo since they were teenagers. Like Leo, he’s the son of a criminal — only his dad was the most-feared man in the city, Teeg Lawless. Camacho will play Angie, Greta’s (Arjona) daughter. Angie is sharp, alert and maybe a little too adult for her age. Having lost...

Like Hideo Kojima and his collection of scanned celebrities, Taylor Sheridan is adding another star to his Paramount+ collection as Boss Level and The Purge franchise badass Frank Grillo joins the cast of Tulsa King: Season 2. The MCU alum boards the Sylvester Stallone-led crime drama as a series regular, playing Bill Bevilaqua, a Kansas City mobster interested in Tulsa. Is Grillo’s character trying to muscle in on The General’s territory? Who will tell him how much of a bad idea that would be?

Sylvester Stallone stars in Tulsa King as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mafia capo. After he’s released from prison, his boss unceremoniously exiles him to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a...

Exclusive: James Badge Dale is set for a major recurring role in Apple TV+limited series The Savant, starring and executive produced by Jessica Chastain. Nnamdi Asomugha also stars in the eight-episode series from writer/executive producer/showrunner Melissa James Gibson, Fifth Season and Anonymous Content.

The Savant is inspired by a true story published by Cosmopolitan, which was written by Andrea Stanley. The storyline and character details are being kept under wraps.

Chastain plays a top-secret investigator known as the Savant, who infiltrates online hate groups to take down the most violent men in the country. Asomugha plays her husband.

Chastain and Kelly Carmichael exec produce through her Freckle Films banner. James Gibson exec produces, with Matthew Heineman directing and exec producing. Jessica Giles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, executive produces, and Brian Madden, SVP Development for Hearst Magazines, produces. Stanley serves as consultant.

Dale recently wrapped back-to-back lead roles in two indie features,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Candy Land Blu-ray from Mvd

One of last year’s indie horror standouts, Candy Land is getting a Blu-ray release on February 5 from Mvd and Roxwell Films. Special features include a commentary by director John Swab and a digital zine.

Swab writes and directs. Olivia Luccardi, Sam Quartin, Eden Brolin, Owen Campbell, Virginia Rand, Guinevere Turner, and William Baldwin star.

In her review, Meagan Navarro said “Candy Land gives a refreshing perspective through its condemnation of religion and its positioning of sex workers as protagonists. It’s a more nuanced and lived-in approach to the sleazy slasher format, and its affecting characters elevate the familiar.”

Art the Clown Doll from Living Dead Doll

Terrifier’s...

As Hollywood waits to see what may come out of Friday’s meeting between the WGA and the AMPTP, filmmakers and producers at all levels have been engaged in a complex dialogue on the lightning-rod topic that has emerged during the concurrent actors strike: the SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

As of Tuesday, a total of 123 interim agreements have been handed out in both film and TV since the guild’s strike began, to projects from “truly independent producers” that have agreed to abide by the terms of the new contract SAG-AFTRA is pushing for with the studios and streamers.

The topic of the interim agreements, which are being studied and handed out by a group within the actors union, are being discussed, dissected and debated on the picket lines and social media, with actors such as Sarah Silverman voicing their concern that such a policy could prolong the strike.

Exclusive: After being forced to halt production with the launch of the SAG-AFTRA strike, the crime drama King Ivory from writer-director John Swab (Ida Red) is back up and running once again, in and around Tulsa, Ok, having been named just recently as one of 39 productions that will benefit from a SAG Interim Agreement.

Previously unannounced actors who have been able to return to set, pursuant to the agreement, include James Badge Dale (The Departed), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Rory Cochrane (Black Mass), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight), George Carroll (The Town), Sam Quartin (Candy Land), Academy Award nominee Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves) and Academy Award winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter).

While production on the majority of studio projects has been shuttered, amidst a dual strike by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, the actors guild is offering interim agreements to the projects of “truly independent producers,...

Where does the time go? We’re now halfway through 2023, so you know the drill. It’s time to reflect on the year so far with a look at the best horror movies released in 2023… so far.

This summer’s only getting warmed up for horror releases, and the Halloween season ensures a packed Fall to come. So far, though, 2023 offers no shortage of horror gems that run the gamut from highly anticipated sequels to genre-benders and viral sensations.

As a refresher and to ensure great movies don’t fall through the cracks, here are the ten best horror movies released in the first half of 2023…

Huesera: The Bone Woman

When so many pregnancy horror movies isolate the mother-to-be, breeding mistrust from everyone around her, Huesera internalizes it. Refreshingly, it’s less about motherhood and more about the loss of self. Director Michelle Garza Cervera, who co-wrote with Abia Castillo,...

Before she made her debut on Ozark, Sofia Hublitz had already been a recognizable star after she made an appearance on a reality show early in her career. Ozark leads Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner have received plenty of acclaim for their roles, so it’s easy to forget about other major players like Charlotte Byrde actress Sofia Hublitz. What set Ozark apart from other crime dramas about an illegal family business, like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, is that the kids are directly involved in their parents’ crimes. Playing a teenager who becomes an accessory to everything from money laundering to murder presented Hublitz with a unique acting challenge.

Sofia Hublitz has little in common with her Ozark character. Whereas Charlotte is cold and brooding, Hublitz is warm and affable. In an interview with Forbes Entertainment’s Scott King, Hublitz reacts to Ruth’s impression of Charlotte on Ozark with good humor.

John Swab directs One Day as a Lion, starring Scott Caan and Marianne Rendon. With Frank Grillo and J.K. Simmons.

An American thriller, but with a mild, almost family-friendly aspect to it.

Movie Review

From other films by this director, we expected something much rougher after Little Dixie. Nothing like that, because One Day as a Lion gives us almost the same, but with a much softer tone, as if precisely the title was a kind of parody of what actually happens, which matters little.

A plot that is consciously lost in the setting. Swab wants, as in many of his other films, more to portray the atmosphere of Central America than to tell us a story that lasts. It entertains, it doesn’t overwhelm, it knows how to keep a leisurely pace and say what it wants: let’s not look for the story behind these almost puppet characters,...

Once in a while, there comes a film that is a breath of fresh air, not because it’s persistently original, but because it knows what it wants to be and it doesn’t weigh itself down with unnecessary paraphernalia. John Swab’s refreshing action comedy “One Day As A Lion” is one such film that is distinctly content with itself, and it’s the film’s self-awareness that gets to you when you’re done with it. As sweet with its surprisingly raw and rather subtle sentimentality as it is funny with the situational humor that never risks overplaying its hand, “One Day As A Lion,” in its entire duration, doesn’t falter with its disposition.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘One Day As A Lion’?

Jackie is just about the worst thug Dom could hire to make a guy pay for the money he owes. And...

Director John Swab has gathered a talented ensemble for his new action comedy One Day as a Lion, which was penned by its leading actor Scott Caan. Following in the footsteps of Tarantino classics and Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, the crime-filled film follows a hitman named Jackie Powers (played by Caan himself) who messes up a job and gets in even more trouble with his would-be target (played by Jk Simmons). One Day as a Lion kicks into high gear when he takes a bored waitress named Lola (Marianne Rendón) as his hostage, only to discover she may be just who he needs to free his kid from jail and get his own life together.

But first, they need to seek help from her hateful but glamorous mother Valerie (played by Virginia Madsen), who has plenty of money but doesn't wish to share it with her daughter. Madsen may...

Lionsgate's newest action comedy, One Day as a Lion, even has a bit of romance going for it. But the multifaceted film's real strength is the group of creatives who came together to make it happen. Directed by John Swab from a screenplay by Scott Caan, who stars in the project as well, One Day as a Lion follows Jackie Powers as he messes up a hit job in pursuit of a higher calling. Namely, he is ready to do what it takes to get his son out of jail, even if he holds a waitress hostage and makes mobsters mad in the process.

One Day as a Lion counts the Coen brothers films and Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66 among its many inspirations, and it's clear the tight-knight cast had fun paying homage to classics. In addition to Caan, One Day as a Lion stars Swab's frequent partner Frank Grillo as Pauly Russo,...

One Day as a Lion is a film that harkens back to a bygone era, recalling classics of the '70s and onwards. The crime drama follows a boxer-turned-hitman named Jackie Powers (Scott Caan) who is clearly in the wrong profession. When his latest job goes wildly awry, he embarks on an accidental adventure with a crafty waitress named Lola (Marianne Rendón) who just might have what it takes to turn his life around.

John Swab directed One Day as a Lion from a screenplay penned by Caan himself, which pays homage to the films of Quentin Tarantino as well as to Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66. It also stars Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen, Taryn Manning, and longtime collaborator Frank Grillo as the dangerous yet hilarious Pauly Russo.

Related: 10 Best Lesser-Known Mob Films, According To Reddit

Screen Rant spoke to Swab about how he collaborated with...

"I'll find Jackie... This time you gotta whack him." Lionsgate has revealed an official trailer for an indie crime thriller titled One Day as a Lion, arriving to watch in early April (in theaters and on VOD). It's the latest collaboration between filmmaker John Swab and actor Frank Grillo, following Body Brokers, Ida Red, and Little Dixie before. Jackie Powers, played by Scott Caan, will stop at nothing to prevent his son from following him into a life of crime. With his mob employer in pursuit, a chance encounter at a roadside diner with a young woman charts a new path. The script is written by Scott Caan, who also stars in it. This crime comedy is a witty homage to Tarantino and the Coen Bros. Also featuring J.K. Simmons, Frank Grillo, Virginia Madsen, Marianne Rendón, George Carroll, and Billy Blair. The fun cast makes this look better than it should,...

Little Dixie is now available to purchase and rent on-demand from Paramount Pictures. The new crime thriller comes from John Swab and aims to be a throwback to gritty 70s films where the lines between good and evil is blurred. Recently, the stars of Little Dixie, Frank Grillo and Annabeth Gish sat down with us and speak on the inspirations for this movie and how differently tropes are handled in this film.

This is such an unrelenting movie, like gritty 70s films. What influences did you take to prepare yourself for this?

Fg: Whenever I do movie like this, specifically with John Swab, you know, [Sam] Peckinpah and Charlie Bronson movies are not only big influences with us, but with John Swab too. Which I love cause he’s only in his early 30s. He’s got a great repertoire of old films that he loves and old directors that he loves that he borrows from.

Several days ago, we were pleased to talk to Frank Grillo, star of Little Dixie. He told us about the movie, his career, his upcoming projects and… Charles Bronson!

A charming person we talked with, thank you, Mr Grillo!

My name is C. Sheriff, and you we’re going to talk about Little Dixie. And the first thing is we saw Little Dixie, and it’s a dark movie. It’s very special. And we would like to know, what do you think that Little Dixie has that makes it different from other thrillers you have participated in?

Frank Grillo: I’ve participated in a lot of thrillers. I don’t know that it’s entirely different, but we have a main character who really lacks a great deal of emotion. Not to say he’s emotionless, but he’s very pragmatic, and he’s very non-sentimental in the way...

Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive clip from Little Dixie, a new action film distributed by Paramount Pictures. Arriving in select theaters and on digital platforms this week, the revenge thriller follows what happens when a deal between a corrupt government official and a dangerous drug lord goes wrong. Doc Alexander (played by go-to action hero Frank Grillo) is an ex-special forces operative who finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place as forces feud around him, but everyone else better duck for cover when he moves to protect what's his.

Little Dixie is written and directed by John Swab, who recently worked on Candy Land and Body Brokers. Aside from Grillo, it stars a powerful cast that includes Eric Dane (who has been making waves in Euphoria) as Governor Richard Jeffs, who gets Doc into the mess, and Annabeth Gish (Mayfair Witches) as Doc's associate Billie Riggs.

Today it is our pleasure to ask John Swab, director of Little Dixie, some questions before the movie premieres in a few days. Firstly, thank you for your time to be interviewed and, first things first: What sensations do you have on the premiere of Little Dixie?

A: We are very excited to premiere this in Rotterdam, then share with the rest of the world. All of these are labors of love. Little Dixie we are especially proud of.

Q: You team up again with Frank Grillo after Ida Red (2021) and Body Brokers (2021). What is your relationship with the star? Was Frank Grillo the inspiration for Little? What does John Swab bring to it and what does Grillo bring to the movie?

A: Frank has become a dear friend and collaborator to myself and producer, Jeremy. We think of him as our modern-day Charles Bronson. With a film like this,...

Little Dixie is a thriller movie directed by John Swab starring Frank Grillo. With Eric Dane and Annabeth Gish.

Frank Grillo impersonates a man that navigates between two seas and between borders, a classic anti-hero who due to the circumstances has to become a hero to save his daughter, Little Dixie, whom the movie is named after.

This is a movie of black and white contrasts with grey areas in which everything happens in dark tones with even darker characters. This film which has its source in the construction of classic cinema to, in a authentic and brutal style, destroy and separate itself from its genre.

In this film, the director, John Swab knows how to impose his own style.

Review of Little Dixie Beau Knapp in Little Dixie (2023)

This is a story for an adult audience that does not want to or know how to be able to please...

John Swab, the writer/director of grim and gritty crime dramas like Ida Red, Candy Land, and Body Brokers, is back with a new film, Little Dixie. Fans of Swab’s work will likely recognize more than a few familiar actors, including frequent collaborator Frank Grillo, who is once again playing a leading role. Like Swab’s previous works, Little Dixie deals with desperate people doing desperate things in a grim and often morally gray world full of violence, gangs, and drugs.

Stars: Olivia Luccardi, William Baldwin, Sam Quartin, Owen Campbell, Virginia Rand, Guinevere Turner, Eden Brolin | Written and Directed by John Swab

Whilst it’s set in 1996, Candy Land reminds me very much of the 70s exploitation era of filmmaking, where the lines between genres blurred and a wide variety of subject matter was explored by filmmakers willing to take chances on stories that the mainstream wouldn’t tell… The latter of which is certainly the case here as writer/director John Swab tells the story of Remy (Olivia Luccardi; It Follows), a seemingly naive and devout young woman, who finds herself cast out from her religious cult. With no place to turn, she immerses herself into the underground world of truck stop sex workers a.k.a. “lot lizards,” courtesy of her hosts, Sadie (Sam Quartin; Body Brokers), Riley (Eden Brolin; Yellowstone), Liv (Virginia Rand) and Levi (Owen Campbell; X...

Alcarràs, winner of the Golden Bear in Berlin, opens on five screens in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, presented by Mubi; Quiver Distribution releases Candy Land in nine theaters; and Sony’s Tom Hanks-starring A Man Called Otto, Uar’s Women Talking and IFC Films’ Corsage move into moderate expansions as the broader specialty market barrels into Oscar nominations and a new year of reckoning with adult audiences.

The conversation about what ails the arthouse market is still treading water. Some major arthouses are Mia in a key market. With rare exceptions, audiences are failing to embrace indie titles with the gusto they’ve shown in the past. Everything Everywhere All At Once cleaned up but that’s feelgood, versus downbeat, which an emotionally exhausted moviegoing public may be avoiding. It’s not clear awards kudos will change that.

“The marketplace needs to listen to...

It’s the first week of a new year, and 2023 is going to be absolutely loaded with new horror. As always, we’ll be providing you with week-by-week previews of what’s being released.

Let’s get right into things, shall we?

Here are the first four horror releases of 2023, which are all out Now!

The 2023 horror season kicks off with the critically acclaimed M3GAN (read Meagan’s review), which is now playing in theaters. The premise? It’s essentially Annabelle meets Terminator!

M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to.

When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece,...

Grimy truck stops serve as prime real estate in horror. The setting invokes a sense of desolate lawlessness as strangers pass through a revolving door of anonymity. Don’t even bother entering the filthy, unkept bathrooms; bad things always happen there. It’s precisely this setting where Candy Land unfurls its sleazy slasher filled with broken dreams, religious repression, and a sensitive depiction of sex workers right before a grim turn.

Candy Land introduces Sadie (Sam Quartin) and Liv (Virginia Rand), Riley (Eden Brolin), and Levi (Owen Campbell), a group of tight-knit sex workers dubbed “lot lizards.” They live out of the motel and spend their days chatting near the gas station, snowballs and soda in hand, in between sexual encounters in bathroom stalls or truck cabs. The lot lizards are presided over by Madame Nora (Guinevere Turner) and morally ambiguous Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin). Then the lot lizards find...