Chris O’Dowd and Gabrielle Dennis star in the new Apple TV+ series The Big Door Prize created by David West Reed.
After a film screening of the new Apple TV+ film, ‘Sharper’, the cast and director join a conversation with The Knockturnal to discuss the movie and what it took to make this film noir come to life.
Whenever a series comes to an end, emotions and energies are always aflutter. There’s bound to be the mix of nostalgia as the show’s stars poetically reminisce on how they’ve changed and grown over the course of the production as well as the reveal of long held feelings and anecdotes about the experience.
Yes, Will Smith is still under some scrutiny for his assault against Chris Rock at the Oscars, but that doesn’t mean that his latest movie should face the same amount of criticism and, in all honesty, Smith does a bang-up job with this particular film that Apple TV+ has released.
Smith portrays Peter, a slave who is separated from his family, and is forced to work building a railroad and attempts to escape, when the slave masters have their guard down, to Baton Rouge where he gets work as a Union soldier and receives his freedom, eventually, reuniting with his family, in the process.
Looking closely, it seems that director Antoine Fuqua decided to mute the colors to add to the bleakness of slavery in the 1860s. His stylish and admirable cinematography makes it seem that the camera can go anywhere at any given time like a Robert Zemeckis film.
Moreover, Will Smith probably gives one of the best performances of his career that outmatches even the likes of King Richard. Smith transforms into the role of Peter and he wages a crusade against his evil, malevolent masters and the South. His plight almost reminds me of Leonardo Dicaprio’s work as Hugh Glass in 2015’s The Revenant.
Smith embraces the first and gruffness of the character and his raw emotion shines through with visceral intent and audacious fervor. The beauty doesn’t lie in just the film’s gorgeous cinematography, but more so in Smith, who commands the screen with every waking minute that he’s on.
Even as he speaks, you can hear the pain and suffering that this man has endured. Every crack in his voice, every breath that he takes and every tear that descends from his eyelids are a beautiful facsimile of what Smith was trying to capture for the character that the film was inspired by. It’s very clear that this man knew what the assignment was and he knew it well.
With that being said, Will Smith definitely deserves a second chance in Hollywood and we need to give it to him.
How far into the Land of Luck would you go to find your friend a forever home? This is the question asked by Luck’s protagonist, Sam Greenfield (voiced by Eva Noblezada), as soon as she came upon Bob, a Scottish black cat (voiced by Simon Pegg) with whom she shared a panini in her local neighborhood.
Directed by Peggy Holmes, Luck is a film that follows Sam, an eighteen year old girl who has just aged out of her foster home. As she leaves to embark on her journey into adulthood, Sam makes it her mission to find her friend, Hazel (voiced by Adelynn Spoon), the forever home she was never able to find for herself. Having come upon a lucky penny after her chance encounter with Bob, Sam happens upon the Land of Luck where she must face leprechauns, dragons, and talking pigs to scrounge as much luck as she can for Hazel.
LOS ANGELES, CA – July 30: Eva Noblezada, Adelynn Spoon, John Ratzenberger and Colin O’Donoghue attend the world premiere of Apple Original Films’ “Luck” at The Regency Village Westwood Theater.
Throughout Sam’s journey to turn her bad luck around, screenwriter Kiel Murray doesn’t just communicate a heartfelt message that life is full of random ups and downs that we must embrace, but also uses five-star talent to convey that message. The film features star-studded cast members such as Jane Fonda (voicing Babe the Dragon), Whoopi Goldberg (voicing The Captain) and John Ratzenberger (voicing Rootie).
When Murray was asked what the motivation was to write Luck, she said, “for me the idea that bad luck and [Sam] enduring a lot of bad luck could become a superpower she could turn around” is a powerful theme that resonates in our every day lives. During Sam’s various misadventures to find luck, she finds a lot of bad luck along the way. It is these random ups and downs that allow Sam to help Hazel and herself find the pieces of luck that were sitting right in front of them all along. In short, watching Luck teaches us that with every lucky streak need just as much bad luck to appreciate the good. After all, sometimes a kink in that lucky streak can lead to other fortunes down the line.
Luck is available for streaming on Apple TV+.
Apple is inviting us to step into the magical “Land Of Luck” to learn a thing or two about life in their newest original film Luck. Featuring a star studded cast of Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Simon Pegg, Eva Noblezada and so many more, the story follows Noblezada‘s Sam Greenfield as she is at an incredibly defining moment in her life; aging out of foster care. Through her beautiful relationship work young foster sister Hazel (Adelynn Spoon) we begun to learn a tragic flaw of Sam, her bad luck. From the little disasters she experiences day to day (her toaster not working, leaves blowing into her bedroom) to the bigger things in life that have left her heartbroken, Sam can’t seem to catch a break. That is until she comes across Simon Pegg’s Bob, the Irish talking cat who has a gift for Sam; a lucky coin that might just turn her luck around. When even that goes south, Sam is forced to enter into the magical land of luck in order to turn her luck around, and it’s in that very place that she learns a thing or two that might just change her perspective as well. This brilliant film opens up viewers eyes to so many big themes as well as the sweet little ones that will warm hearts. We sat down with Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg to talk all about Luck! Check it out!
Lies, sex, with a dash of memory loss sounds like a recipe for a thrill, tune in to “Surface” on Apple TV+ to see how this drama unravels.
Would you be someone new if you had a second chance? Get ready to take a dive and submerge yourself into the newest psychological thriller from Apple TV+!
Last week, The Knockturnal attended the red carpet event hosted by Apple+ for their upcoming documentary, They Call Me Magic.
“Roar” debuted on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 15.