Trailer Blitz! Play Dirty, Hamnet, The Woman in Cabin 10, and 100 Nights of Hero
Here's a list of films coming to screens soon!
★ “Play Dirty” Trailer: Mark Wahlberg Tries to Steal Ancient Treasure in Shane Black’s Hardboiled Heist Comedy with LaKeith Stanfield and Rosa Salazar — Premiering October 1st on Prime Video
Around these parts, the crime films of Shane Black—namely Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys—have been in constant rotation thanks to their undeniable rewatch factor. There’s just something about a shaggy-dog detective yarn featuring underdogs stumbling their way through danger, wisecracks, and chaos that keeps us coming back.
Black has dabbled in directing two big studio franchise outings before. One, Iron Man 3, worked fairly well as he reunited with his old buddy Robert Downey Jr. The other, The Predator, completely flopped, despite Black’s personal connection to the franchise, having appeared in a small role as soldier Hawkins in the original 1987 film. Neither film is regarded as his best, never quite hitting his sweet spot, which may be why he’s returned to the genre he’s most comfortable with: crime action comedies where the protagonists always find themselves way in over their heads.
This time, Black is adapting the classic hardboiled Parker crime novel series by famed writer Donald E. Westlake (under his pen name Richard Stark). And it’s Mark Wahlberg stepping into the role of Parker, a professional thief known for being as ruthlessly efficient as he is methodically disciplined. Wahlberg follows a long line of actors who’ve taken on the character before him—most notably Lee Marvin in Point Blank (1967), Robert Duvall in The Outfit (1973), Mel Gibson in Payback (1999), and Jason Statham in Parker (2013). Each brought their own edge to the cold, calculating antihero, and now it’s Wahlberg’s turn to leave his mark.
In Play Dirty, Wahlberg’s professional thief Parker sets his sights on the biggest score of his life: a sunken treasure of ancient Spanish gold worth billions. Teaming up with his frequent partner-in-crime Grofield (played by Get Out’s LaKeith Stanfield), fellow thief Zen (Alita: Battle Angel’s Rosa Salazar), and a crackjack crew of burglars and bandits, the heist puts them squarely in the crosshairs of three powerful adversaries: the New York mafia, a ruthless billionaire, and a foreign army.
And if there’s one thing Shane Black relishes, it’s watching mismatched partners improvise their way out of disaster, all with just enough gallows humor to keep the bullets flying... and our attention locked in.
In addition to Wahlberg, Stanfield, and Salazar, the cast also includes Tony Shalhoub, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Claire Lovering, Nat Wolff, Thomas Jane, Gretchen Mol, and Hemky Madera.
Black directs from a script he co-wrote with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, based on the Parker book series. Play Dirty premieres October 1st on Prime Video.
★ “Hamnet” Teaser Trailer: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Endure Love and Loss in Chloé Zhao’s William Shakespearean Biopic Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s Novel — In Theaters November 27th
William Shakespeare is often regarded as one of history’s most celebrated and greatest writers. His body of work is undeniable. Yet little is truly known about the man himself. Beyond a handful of professional and financial records, along with his birth, marriage, and death certificates, Shakespeare remains something of an enigma when it comes to the how and why behind his writing. But that mystery has also allowed some to find creative ways to connect the dots.
For instance, Hamlet is often considered Shakespeare’s greatest play—a work that delves deeply into grief, loss, and death. It wrestles with life’s fragility and the haunting questions of mortality, while also exploring the powerful thematic connections between fathers and sons, and between ghosts and the living.
So, some scholars have connected the dots to Shakespeare’s own life, noting that his only son died at the tender age of 11 in 1596. Just a few years later, Shakespeare would go on to write Hamlet, a play about a grieving son haunted by the ghost of his dead father. One major clue as to why some scholars believe this connection holds weight is that Shakespeare’s son’s name, Hamnet, was often used interchangeably with Hamlet in Elizabethan England—suggesting the play may have been his way of processing that profound personal loss.
Nevertheless, the theory became the basis for Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed 2020 novel Hamnet, which has in turn been adapted into an upcoming feature film. It’s a sweeping new period drama from Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals), who also adapted the novel alongside O’Farrell.
Set in late 16th-century England, the film imagines the untold love story of William Shakespeare (played by Gladiator II star Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter, Women Talking, Men), whose world is shattered by the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). That devastating loss would go on to inspire the playwright’s greatest tragedy. The film isn’t just about Shakespeare the legend, but Shakespeare the husband, the son, and the grieving father.
The cast also includes Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare, William’s mother, with Joe Alwyn, Jack Shalloo, and David Wilmot rounding out the ensemble.
Hamnet will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September before opening in theaters on November 27th, followed by a nationwide rollout on December 12th.
★ “The Woman in Cabin 10” Trailer: No One Believes Keira Knightley in This Deadly Yacht Mystery Thriller Based on Ruth Ware’s Best-Seller — Premiering October 10th on Netflix
You’ve heard the term gaslight or being gaslit, right? It’s when someone manipulates another person into questioning their own perception of reality—making them doubt what they saw, heard, or even felt, often to gain control or avoid accountability.
The classic George Cukor film Gaslight (1944) might be one of the major reasons the term took hold, cementing itself in popular culture as a shorthand for psychological manipulation and control. In that film, Ingrid Bergman starred as a woman whose husband (Charles Boyer) slowly manipulates her into believing she’s losing her sanity by dimming the gas lights in their home but denying that anything has changed. The film also cleverly plays into the harmful stereotype that women are hysterical and overly emotional, making Bergman’s character more vulnerable to her husband’s manipulation.
Well, that was over 80 years ago, and yet women being gaslit is still a recurring theme in movies today. The latest example stars Keira Knightley as a woman who believes a crime has been committed, yet everyone around her insists she’s making it up.
In The Woman in Cabin 10, a new psychological thriller for Netflix based on Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel, Knightley takes the lead as Laura “Lo” Blacklock, a travel journalist whose luxurious yacht assignment spirals into terror after she witnesses a passenger being thrown overboard at night.
There’s just one problem: the crew insists every guest is accounted for, and no one believes her. Refusing to let it go, Lo digs deeper into the mystery, even as her own safety slips further away with each passing wave. And aboard a ship packed with powerful people and secretive figures, she soon realizes she may be the next victim in this paranoia-soaked mind game.
Directed by Australian filmmaker Simon Stone (The Daughter, The Dig), the film features a stacked ensemble that includes Guy Pearce, David Ajala, Art Malik, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kaya Scodelario, David Morrissey, Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Ings, and Paul Kaye.
The Woman in Cabin 10 is set to premiere October 10th on Netflix—and it just might leave audiences second-guessing what they see, hear, and believe.
★ “100 Nights of Hero” Teaser Trailer: Maika Monroe, Emma Corrin and Nicholas Galitzine Entangle in Forbidden Love in Julia Jackman’s Gothic Fantasy Based on Isabel Greenberg’s Graphic Novel — In Theaters December 5th
What happens when love, duty, and betrayal collide under the glow of a hundred moons? That’s the thorny question at the center of 100 Nights of Hero, a highly stylized, offbeat historical fantasy making its world premiere this September at the Venice International Film Festival.
Based on Isabel Greenberg’s acclaimed graphic novel—an illustrated riff on the Middle Eastern folktales One Thousand and One Nights (aka The Arabian Nights)—the film follows Cherry (Maika Monroe, Longlegs), a new bride trapped in a cruel arrangement: she must produce a child for her wicked husband (Amir El-Masry, A Haunting in Venice) within a hundred nights. But her heart belongs elsewhere... to her loyal maid, Hero (Emma Corrin, Deadpool and Wolverine), whose devotion soon blossoms into a forbidden romance hidden behind castle walls.
Complications arise when a charming guest, Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine, soon to star as He-Man in the upcoming Masters of the Universe), arrives at the estate, sparking a dangerous power struggle between love, loyalty, and betrayal.
Pop star Charli XCX makes her first major screen appearance as the bold Rosa, while Richard E. Grant co-stars as the enigmatic Birdman, and Felicity Jones takes on double duty as the mysterious Moon and the film’s ethereal narrator.
Written and directed by Julia Jackman (Bonus Track), the film appears steeped in gothic flourishes and a fable-like aesthetic, weaving dark humor with folklore-inspired fantasy. The visuals promise to be striking, thanks to cinematographer Xenia Patricia, production designer Sofia Sacomani, art director Naomi Bailey, and costume designer Susie Coulthard. Notably, much of the creative team behind the camera is composed of women, shaping the film’s distinctive world.
100 Nights of Hero will premiere at Venice before heading into theaters on December 5th.
