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No one could ever say conjuring up modern-day Christmas movie magic is an easy feat; it's hard to create something that will become a classic addition to the holiday canon. Still, it thankfully doesn't stop people from trying. Apple TV+ made their attempt at a festive classic with the 2022 holiday musical, Spirited. With Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell leading the way, it's another take on the timeless, endlessly adapted Dickens' tale, A Christmas Carol.

Hopes were high, as high as the budget and a top-tier team assembled of comedy writer and director Sean Anders, songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and the chance for Reynolds to star alongside his comedy hero for the first time. But while Ferrell's Elf remains a favorite Christmas movie for many, only two years down the line, has Spirited already been forgotten?

The Ebenezer Scrooges That Inspired 'Spirited'

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Disney's Bridge To Terabithia came out in 2007 and was based on the children's book of the same name by Katherine Paterson. The story is about two children named Jess and Leslie, who become friends and create an imaginary world called Terabithia to escape life's problems. It's also a story about a child dealing with grief and the loss of their best friend, as the major event of Bridge To Terabithia is when Leslie drowns after going into the woods to Terabithia by herself. Bridge to Terabithia is one of the beloved, classic children's books often taught in schools.

Fantasy is a beautiful genre to escape when dealing with stressful or tragic life situations, especially for children. Often, fantasy narratives can help children explain or process something tough through the fantastical metaphor of a creature or place they associate the real-life event with. They can cope with life, express their feelings,...

Both Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland and Slumberland have a strong narrative centered around dreams and adventure. Slumberland, Netflix's modern retelling of a classic comic, differs significantly from the anime Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. Despite the differences, both versions are recommended for fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's work.

Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki are both well-recognized names for fans of anime and film buffs in general. They are responsible for a large amount of beloved original movies and adaptations of popular fables, including Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke. Before Miyazaki was part of Studio Ghibli, he worked for an animation company that made a film called Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. The film could have been a Studio Ghibli release, had the studio not passed on the opportunity.

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland is now considered a cult classic and was originally...

Emerald Fennell’s dark comedy Saltburn takes a massive jump from to over 1,500 screens today as Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest The Boy and the Heron, animated They Shot The Piano Player and other festival favorites launch awards season runs this Thanksgiving specialty weekend.

Apple, opening Napoleon wide with Sony, is also planting a flag for evergreen status for last year’s holiday romp Spirited, a musical retelling of A Christmas Carol with singing, dancing Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.

Maestro, presented by Netflix, raises the baton in ten locations including New York and LA today and plans to add more theaters weekly. The anticipated Venice-premiering film – see Deadline review — was directed by and stars Bradley Cooper as the iconic conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, with Carey Mulligan as his wife of 25 years, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Cooper is also a co-writer and producer alongside Martin Scorsese,...

“Tiny Beautiful Things” showrunner Liz Tigelaar and author Cheryl Strayed designed the show’s central character Clare (Kathryn Hahn) based on the question: what would it have looked like if Strayed hadn’t hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.

Clare’s life mirrors Strayed’s before she became a well-known writer, taking on the mantle of an anonymous advice column called “Dear Sugar” from an old colleague in “Tiny Beautiful Things,” just as Strayed did in real life for the online literary magazine “The Rumpus” in 2010. The Hulu adaptation comes from Hello Sunshine, the production company of Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed the version of Strayed that did make the 1,100-mile solo hike in “Wild” based on Strayed’s 2012 memoir.

“We have this narrative of this adult character who isn’t me, but then that young character very much acts out many of the most painful, powerful, beautiful, true scenes from my own life.

“The idea of doing a Christmas movie musical with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds was like an instant ‘hell yeah!’ for us,” declares Oscar, Grammy and Tony-winning songwriter Benj Pasek about working on Apple Original Films’ Christmas movie musical “Spirited.” Pasek is one half of the acclaimed hit-making duo alongside fellow awards magnet Justin Paul, who both wrote and produced the film’s soundtrack, with collaborators Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones and Mark Sonnenblick co-writing three of the songs in the film.

For our recent webchat with all five songwriters, Jones adds that there “was a lot of unheard of things that went into this process. First of all, possibly the most successful musical theater team working today decides that they want to share the wealth literally and figuratively, by creating something? That process doesn’t happen. That’s something that’s being pioneered, deciding to write characters that lots of...

Spirited Review — Spirited (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Sean Anders, written by John Morris and Sean Anders and starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren G. Woods, Tracy Morgan, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Andrea Anders, Jen Tullock, Adam Grupper, Rose Byrne and Naheem Garcia. Will [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Spirited (2022): Funnymen Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are Pure Gold in the Zaniest Musical of the Year...

Many of us have something like it: a stuffed animal or blanket from childhood that, for some reason, just stuck. The stuffed animal went with you through so much that losing it would hurt or feel like you're losing something valuable. For some, it's a vintage Simba puppet from the release of 1994's The Lion King, and for others, it's a blanket their Grandmother made them. For Nemo, in Slumberland, it's her stuffed pig, Pig. Pig initially starts as a stuffed "lovey" she brings to bed, but as the adventures of Slumberland unfold, Pig becomes reminiscent of a beloved pet. It's unclear where Nemo (Marlow Barkley) got Pig, but one can only assume that it was a gift given or made by her father, Peter. Pig has buttons for eyes and a little heart stitched into his back. Throughout the movie, he hangs out in Nemo's backpack or alongside Nemo's heels.

Ryan Reynolds shares a behind-the-scenes dance video from Spirited. Released November 18 on Apple TV+, Spirited is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens' ubiquitous 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol. Reynolds and Elf's Will Ferrell lead the all-star Spirited cast alongside Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Marlow Barkley, and Tracy Morgan. Dame Judi Dench and Jimmy Fallon make cameos as themselves. As opposed to a straightforward adaptation of Dickens' 19th-century novella, Spirited updates A Christmas Carol for modern audiences with several song-and-dance numbers, fully living up to its name as a Christmas-themed musical comedy.

A few days after the Christmas movie debuted on Apple TV+, Ryan Reynolds shared a behind-the-scenes dance video from Spirited. The one-minute-and 20-second BTS video shows Reynolds and Ferrell rehearsing the choreography for one of the musical's dance numbers. While Ferrell is well-known for his Christmas classic Elf and recently ventured into musicals with Netflix's Eurovision Song Contest,...

Jason Momoa’s new movie is already tugging at Twitter’s heartstrings.

The actor stars in Netflix’s new family adventure “Slumberland” alongside Marlow Barkley as her loveable wise-cracking companion as she adventures through the titular dreamworld.

The film is a fantasy adventure for all ages, but along with the laughs are heartbreaking moments that are bringing fans to tears on social media.

Read More: Jason Momoa Adopted A ‘Wild And Feral’ Pig After Filming ‘Slumberland’

Okay I’m watching Slumberland and it’s so good

— A-aron (@A_aron2223) November 22, 2022

One fan praised the film for the emotional connection as well as the hearkening to everyone’s inner child, writing, “It tugs at the child in you. It tugs at forever dreamer in you .It tugs the parts of you that you let die out of sadness and abandonment. It tugs at the parts of you needing to be found...

“Slumberland” is here.

But instead of putting you to sleep, “Slumberland” will thrill you with its tale of a young girl named Nemo (Marlow Barkley), who, after suffering the tragic loss of her father (Kyle Chandler), starts slipping into a fantasy realm when she dreams. That’s where she teams up with the impish Flip (Jason Momoa) and together they go on a series of daring adventures across various dream realms (including one where everyone is made up of flowers). Based, in part, on the “Little Nemo” comic by Winsor McCay, “Slumberland” is an imaginative and fun-filled romp.

Bringing all of this whimsy to life is director Francis Lawrence, who fully admits that his filmography is mostly full of dystopian stories like “I Am Legend,” three “Hunger Games” movies and Jennifer Lawrence’s very R-rated spy thriller “Red Sparrow.”

TheWrap talked to the filmmaker about bringing these imagined worlds to life,...

In Francis Lawrence's new Netflix fantasy adventure "Slumberland," young Nemo (Marlow Barkley) is enjoying a whimsical childhood as the daughter of lighthouse keeper Peter (Kyle Chandler) when circumstance forces her out of their little world and into a new life in the big city. Her new guardian is an uncle she's never met before (Chris O'Dowd) who rarely leaves his apartment building, fawns over his doorknob collection, and doesn't have the first clue how to go about raising a child.

That's just fine by Nemo, who doesn't have much interest in the waking world anyway. After she discovers her father's old outlaw partner, Flip (Jason Momoa), in one of her dreams, she learns that it's possible to navigate Slumberland and go exploring through other people's dreams. There's even a hidden treasure that will enable Nemo to wish for whatever she wants in her dreams -- and Flip knows how to find it.

In director Francis Lawrence's newest feature for Netflix, Slumberland, a young girl named Nemo (Marlow Barkley) is introduced to a magical world that exists only in dreams. Having recently lost her father, Nemo's life is turned upside down when she's sent to live with her uncle (Chris O'Dowd), and she finds herself retreating into the mysterious Slumberland. When an old friend of her father's, Flip (played by Jason Momoa), offers to be Nemo's guide, he reveals to her a treasure that will grant the finder any wish, prompting Nemo to stop at nothing to see her father one more time.

Jason Momoa gallivanting through one's dreams sounds like a – wait for it – dream come true. Fortunately for kids everywhere, the actor's latest film, Slumberland, is a family-friendly fantasy adventure featuring Momoa as a sharp-toothed wily, horned creature. His character is the perfect sidekick for any kid who dares to venture into the dream world. While director Francis Lawrence’s Slumberland takes inspiration from the comic, it fails to capture the whimsy and delight of its origins.

Adapted from the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland from Winsor McCay, Slumberland follows Nemo (Marlow Barkely), a young girl who travels through the dreamworld with a satyr-like outlaw (Momoa). After her father’s death, she is sent to live with her boring uncle, and soon after, she is awakened to a world beyond slumber. In the comic strip, a boy dreams himself into extraordinary situations; often, the dreams start simple, then become stranger as the comic continues.

For all the many modern advances in neurology, science still doesn't have a clear answer for why people dream -- or why those dreams so often involve having to take an exam that you haven't studied for. But for Nemo (Marlow Barkley), the young protagonist of Netflix's fantasy adventure "Slumberland," her dreams do have a purpose: they're a way of escaping the realities of her waking life, and getting back to the whimsical life she's lost.

Directed by Francis Lawrence ("The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"), "Slumberland" is based on Winsor McCay's early 20th-century comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and features its own take on Flip, the comic's green-faced, cigar-chewing, trouble-making clown. Jason Momoa ("Aquaman") portrays Flip as a rambunctious dream outlaw with sharp teeth and horns, who used to go on wild dream heists with Nemo's father, Peter (Kyle Chandler). When Nemo encounters this odd character in one of her dreams,...

Netflix's latest original movie just dropped, and it's a family-friendly fantasy romp featuring Jason Momoa in horns and fangs, a bearded lighthouse keeper played by Kyle Chandler, and a whole host of fantastical elements that could only exist in a dream world. That is, after all, what "Slumberland" is about. The story follows Nemo (Marlow Barkley), a girl who disappears into the titular dream world in hopes of finding her dad (Chandler), who passed away.

Francis Lawrence's film is a riff on the famous "Little Nemo in Slumberland" comic strip by Winsor McCay, which appeared in newspapers in the early 1900s. One of the film's cast members, though, takes inspiration not just from the source material, but from a legendary on-screen icon of decades past. "I May Destroy You" star Weruche Opia plays Agent Green, a member of the Bureau of Subconscious Activity who attempts to stop Nemo...

Warning! This post contains Spoilers for SpiritedThe Christmas movie Spirited is a fun musical with a soundtrack full of original songs. A new take on Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the Scrooge-inspired story follows Clint (Ryan Reynolds) as he is visited by Jacob Marley (Patrick Page) and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Present (Will Ferrell), and Yet To Come (Tracy Morgan). Like most adaptations of A Christmas Carol, Spirited's central theme is changing someone from bad to good, but this musical version is told from the unique perspective of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ following a brief theatrical release, Spirited continues Will Ferrell's venture into musicals following Netflix's Eurovision Song Contest and marks his first Christmas movie since Elf. For Ryan Reynolds, Spirited is new territory, as he has never been in a musical or a Christmas movie before. The...

Plot: A young girl goes on a magical, dreamscape adventure, along with a roguish fellow by the name of Flip.

Review: Jason Momoa has a lot of charm, doesn’t he? The actor has fought long and hard for his career. And it sure has paid off for him. That’s why it’s nice to see him do something different. His latest, the Netflix fantasy adventure, Slumberland, is a dream-fueled, family fable. Alongside Momoa, the film offers a delightful turn from young Marlow Barkley, with Chris O’Dowd and Kyle Chandler. Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film finds a balance between dreamscape and reality, with a decent amount of action and humor thrown into the mix.

Slumberland is a sad story. Like many a childhood fable, the loss of a parent plays a considerable part after young Nemo’s (Barkley) father’s untimely passing. The lighthouse keeper’s daughter must...

In director Francis Lawrence’s (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) upcoming Netflix original movie Slumberland, a young girl named Nemo (Marlow Barkley) finds herself traversing a magical realm of dreams that was once only a figment of her late father’s (Kyle Chandler) bedtime stories. After his passing, Nemo’s life is turned upside down when she’s sent to live with her uncle Phillip (played by Chris O’Dowd) and enrolled in a new school. While dealing with the very real grief of her loss, Nemo is visited by an old friend of her father’s Flip (Jason Momoa), who reveals to her that there’s a treasure in Slumberland that will grant her any wish. In spite of the dangers cautioned by Weruche Opia’s Agent Green, Nemo is determined to see her father one last time.

Christmas films can be divisive things. For every person who needs to choke back a sob over Zuzu’s petals in order to feel truly festive, there is another for whom only an 8 week binge of Channel 5’s kindly cupcake cafe owners and selfish businesswomen meeting the interchangeable men of their dreams will suffice.

Yet once in a while a filmmaker crafts a beautiful sparkly bridge that unites the factions and has the chutzpah and baubles to fill even the hardest heart with holiday cheer. One to break out after boardgame controversies and tearful post-sherry fallouts. This Christmas season that audacious movie is Spirited.

Ebenezer (Will Ferrell) has it good. Once the scourge of the poor and vulnerable, Scrooge lived his final days with kindness and generosity and he knew how to keep Christmas well… Which is handy because in his afterlife Scrooge has reunited with Marley and become the Ghost of Christmas Present!

Slumberland is a fantasy adventure movie starring Jason Momoa and Kyle Chandler. It is directed by Francis Lawrence. The story is based on the comic strip written and illustrated by Winsor McCay entitled ‘Little Nemo in Slumberland‘.

A beautifully produced movie for the entire family to enjoy.

Premise

Nemo and her father live in a lighthouse. One stormy night her father is called to see to an incident in the rough seas. Sadly, his boat capsizes and he drowns with it. Now an orphan, Nemo is sent to live in the city with her uncle. Amidst the terrible loss and trauma, she seeks comfort in her dreams where she discovers a secret map to the magical world of Slumberland. In that other world, and with the help of the eccentric outlaw, Flip, she navigates through dreams and escapes nightmares with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.

If you look at it from a certain angle, dreams are the fixations of all artists in any medium. Probably since the first time a restless soul etched markings in a cave somewhere, we’ve had dreamers attempting to convey how they see the world when their eyes are closed.

This idea has only grown more pronounced after the advent of cinema, with directors often likening their films to “dreams”—visions that need to be told whether by way of surrealist set designs or spinning hotel corridors. And director Francis Lawrence of Constantine and Hunger Games fame can be added to that list with this weekend’s Slumberland, a new family film that co-opts the dreams conjured by another medium a hundred years ago… and then adds Jason Momoa with fangs.

Indeed, Slumberland is a loose adaptation of a now relatively obscure comic strip from the turn of the 20th century.

Netflix's new adventure fantasy movie, Slumberland, follows Nemo (Marlow Barkley) after she unexpectedly loses her father and is sent to live with her socially awkward uncle. While Nemo struggles to fit in during the day, at night she explores the world of dreams with an unexpected companion, the outlaw Flip (Jason Momoa). Together they travel through dreams and outrun nightmares using a secret map of Slumberland as Nemo desperately searches for a way to reunite with her father in the land of dreams.

Slumberland reunites Momoa with director Francis Lawrence, with whom he worked on See. Lawrence is well known for bringing fantasy worlds to life, although his past work has skewed more toward the post-apocalyptic. Slumberland balances a fantastical dream world with a more grounded story of grief and how loss can completely change a person's life. This is Momoa's first foray into comedy, although he has shown...

From the director of blockbusters like I Am Legend and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Francis Lawrence, comes a fantastical tale that travels beyond audiences’ wildest dreams. In the upcoming Netflix original Slumberland, based on the 1905 comic strip by Winsor Mckay, a young girl named Nemo (played by Marlow Barkley) is grappling with the recent loss of her father when she’s enrolled in a new school and sent to live with her uncle. Having her entire reality upended, Nemo finds herself withdrawing into a whimsical dream world with her mischievous guide Flip (Jason Momoa), an old friend of her father’s. Together, the two embark on a treasure hunt that promises to reunite Nemo with her father one last time.

The actor: Actors have types, and Chris O’Dowd is no exception. And given his Irish sense of humor and the self-awareness required of regular A.V. Club interviewees, he has no issue poking fun at his own roles, from “big, slow guy” to “sitcom dad.” But like the most exciting actors working today,...

(from left)) Jason Momoa as Flip and Marlow Barkley as Nemo in Slumberland. Photo: Netflix Director Francis Lawrence embraces his inner Barry Sonnenfeld with the highly stylized spectacle of Slumberland. Yet there’s a surprising reluctance to latch onto the expanse of emotion lying beneath his picture’s sense of wonder.

"Never forget… You can do anything." Apparently everything except render good-looking CGI! Netflix has revealed a second official trailer for the dreamy adventure movie Slumberland, the new Francis Lawrence-directed creation streaming on Netflix this week. I guess no one is planning to watch this one, hence another trailer so last minute? They seem worried. We've posted two other trailers before this one and none of them are that exciting, unfortunately. A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again. Lawrence is a visual filmmaker who knows how to make magical worlds feel grounded, though most of this looks like CGI and it's hard to shake that feeling. Jason Momoa stars as Flip, with Marlow Barkley as Nemo, and a cast including Chris O’Dowd,...

In director Francis Lawrence’s (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) upcoming Netflix original feature Slumberland, a young girl by the name of Nemo (played by Marlow Barkley) discovers a magical world of dreams. Having recently lost her father (Kyle Chandler), whose bedtime tales first introduced Nemo to Slumberland, she becomes increasingly preoccupied with this new dreamland when an old friend of her father’s, Flip (Jason Momoa), reveals a secret treasure. The mischievous Flip tells Nemo that this treasure will grant its finder any wish, and with the hopes of reuniting with her late father one last time, Nemo will stop at nothing.

Jason Momoa shows off his comedy chops in the new Netflix movie, Slumberland which reunites Momoa with director Francis Lawrence. Lawrence is known for bringing fantasy worlds to life, but his work has been much darker in nature, even post-apocalyptic with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, I Am Legend and Constantine. Slumberland explores the fantastical world of dreams, full of color and adventure, while also grappling with grief and how loss can completely upend someone's world.

Slumberland stars Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Marlow Barkley (Single Parents) Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), and Weruche Opia (I May Destroy You). The movie follows Nemo (Barkley) who is sent to live with her socially awkward uncle Phillip (O'Dowd) after her father (Chandler) unexpectedly dies. By day, Nemo struggles to find her place in the waking world. At night, she traverses through the dream world of Slumberland with Flip, an eccentric outlaw (Momoa...

Christmas came early to London’s Southbank this evening with the premiere of Spirited, AppleTV+’s holiday musical comedy feature starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer.

‘La La Land’ duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have conjured up a few treats for the musical numbers. Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren Woods, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley and Jen Tullock also star.

Sean Anders and John Morris wrote the film with Anders directing. The film will release on November 18th release on the Apple TV+ service.

Ethan Hart and Scott Davis were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Spirited Premiere

The post Spirited Premiere: Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer & more on AppleTV’s festive fancy appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Director Francis Lawrence and Jason Momoa team up once again to explore a fantastical new world in the upcoming Netflix movie Slumberland. Based on the comic series Little Nemo Slumberland follows the wild adventures of Nemo, a young girl whose world completely changed after the loss of her father, and her companion in the dream world, an outlaw named Flip. Slumberland brings the world of dreams to life through excitement and color, as well as the darkness and terror of nightmares.

Lawrence is no stranger to bringing a unique world to life with See, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 & Part 2, and I Am Legend. Slumberland is a step away from the post-apocalyptic and into the bright and whimsical. In Slumberland, Lawrence balances the fantastical dream world with the very real struggles of grief and loss.

Related: Why Netflix & Disney Both Made Pinocchio Movies In 2022

Screen Rant spoke with Francis...

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Lola Iolani Momoa might just have a career as a choreographer in her future. On Friday, her proud dad, Jason Momoa, shared a selection of behind-the-scenes photos and videos from the set of his Netflix movie "Slumberland" on Instagram, including two videos of Lola and his young costar, Marlow Barkley, teaching him a dance routine set to the tune of Dua Lipa's "Don't Start Now."

In the first video, Momoa struggles to follow the steps, but thanks to Lola and Barkley's perseverance he ends up nailing the moves in the second video of his post. "I love this movie. Slumberland. nov18 @netflix," Momoa captioned his post. "My baby girl and @marlowbarkley teaching us a @dualipa dance love u @ryantarran @francishlawrence @mztsummerville the cast and crew. my beautiful team always. and love to toronto aloha j. ps...

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Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Spirited, Fleishman Is in Trouble, The English and The Handmaid’s Tale finale.

Spirited premiere

Apple celebrated the global premiere of Spirited in New York on Monday, with stars Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Tracy Morgan, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Loren Woods, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Andrea Anders and Jen Tullock. Filmmakers in attendance included director, writer and producer Sean Anders; producers George Dewey, John Morris, Jessica Elbaum and David Koplan executive producer Diana Pokorny; and composers and EPs Justin Paul and Benj Pasek.

Aimee Carrero, Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page and Sean Anders Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell

Fleishman Is in Trouble premiere

Stars Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Brody, Meara Mahoney Gross and...

I’m going to let you in on a little secret of the trade: Film critics actually want to love everything they watch. The odds may not always be in our favor, and certain assignments inspire lower expectations than others, but nobody shows up for work hoping to be miserable that day — least of all when they’re lucky enough to work a job that offers an occasional measure of outright transcendence.

Which is all to say that, one of these days, I would be absolutely overjoyed to rave about one of the glossy, star-studded, and/or special effects-driven original movies that Netflix releases onto its platform without any marketing or festival play whatsoever as part of the streamer’s pact with the dark lord Satan to flood the zone with cinema-flavored content (last summer’s “Hustle” is almost strong enough to feel like the exception that proves the rule...

The state of live-action family movies right now is dire. Outside of Paul King's masterful "Paddington" duology, you can hardly find great films aimed at children and families that are not animated. I posed the question to some of the other /Film writers about what they thought the best live-action family films were from the last decade, and I got answers like "Dora and the Lost City of Gold" and "Finding 'Ohana." After that, the answers kind of dried up, and the ones they gave weren't exactly full-throated endorsements. I like "Dora" quite a bit, but I wouldn't call it a great film. The best response given was probably "Shazam!," although the superhero nature of that story somewhat sets it apart.

Live-action family films used to be a cornerstone of cinema, particularly involving adventure stories and fantasy worlds. Go all the way back to "The Wizard of Oz" to see that,...

Somewhere between “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Little Prince” in style and sensibility, Winsor McCay’s weekly funny-pages serial “Little Nemo in Slumberland” more than deserves a proper big-screen adaptation. Not that people haven’t attempted it over the years. And not that “Constantine” director Francis Lawrence’s ugly and all-around off-putting kiddie movie counts — or even has much of anything to do with McCay’s ultra-imaginative turn-of-the-20th-century comic strip.

Yes, the main character is named Nemo, and yes, most of the film takes place in the fantastical subconscious realm of Slumberland, where gravity and time play by altogether unpredictable rules. But that’s about as far as the similarities go — which might explain why Netflix hasn’t bothered to underline the connection in its marketing campaign. “Slumberland” feels less like an adaptation of “Little Nemo” than another big, unwieldy modern visual effects movie loosely “inspired by” an earlier piece of name-brand IP.

Click here to read the full article.

In the early years of the 20th century, a long-running newspaper comic strip followed the adventures of Little Nemo in Slumberland: Each strip recounted a dream that begins with grandeur but quickly grows strange, until our boy hero awakens abruptly, realizing he shouldn’t have eaten so much right before bedtime. Each installment was a full page, playfully composed and dazzlingly colored, that cartoonist Winsor McCay filled with imagination and charm. It was a masterpiece. (And excellent reprints, though expensive, aren’t hard to find.)

Francis Lawrence’s Slumberland borrows its title and hero’s name from this strip (though this Nemo’s a girl, and older than her namesake), as well as the idea of traveling through dreams that get dangerous. For one of the film’s posters, Netflix goes further, taking visual themes and typography from the comic, bolstering early...

(From left) Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell in Spirited Photo: Apple+ Song has the ability to take the simplest thought—or even a trite expression—and turn it into a moment of joyful uplift. It offers a direct line to more readily accepted vulnerability, and rumination about self-betterment.This fact...

Plot: In the musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Present attempts to bring a bit of holiday cheer to a ruthless fellow named Clint Briggs.

Review: The world is a crazy place right now. Why not just tune into a magical Christmas musical with stars of stage and screen delighting in song after song? Mainly when those stars include Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spenser. Wait, what? Yes, that was my reaction to a holiday musical featuring those three singing and dancing. While Mr. Reynolds occasionally lends his singing voice in other parts of the world to television shows and such, and Mr. Ferrell loves to sing in general, it wasn’t something I expected to see. And here we are, with the comedic movie musical Sainted where they sing and dance. A whole lot.

Sainted is a modern telling of A Christmas Carol, but with a huge twist.

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Will Ferrell’s signature comedy style is halfway between obnoxious and endearing, a naïve man-child whose excitable energy is matched by his fearless disregard for dignity. Anyone who’s been missing that persona should find something to enjoy in Spirited, Ferrell’s bid to headline another holiday perennial to sit alongside Elf. His delivery remains inspired and his chemistry with Ryan Reynolds, playing the smarmy Scrooge figure in this busy 21st-century riff on A Christmas Carol, has lots of fizz, even if a supposed romance with Octavia Spencer’s character doesn’t. But is the movie any good?

That will depend on how closely you identify with the delicious disdain of Patrick Page as the chain-rattling Jacob Marley, upholder of the Dickensian tradition, who rolls his eyes and begs for a reprieve almost every time someone bursts into song. Because, yes, it’s a musical.

Nothing makes me feel Scroogier than a slapped-together Christmas movie, which, thanks to the algorithms of tech-companies-turned-content-creators, start to drop in late October (even before Halloween) at a rate of nearly a dozen a week. This year, Netflix has entries planned with Lindsay Lohan and Freddie Prinze Jr., Disney+ is doing “The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” Lifetime gives us “Merry Textmas” and more, while Hallmark Channel has “#Xmas” and “Three Wise Men and a Baby,” in addition to its annual Luke Macfarlane canoodle.

You’ll be lucky to find a single keeper among the 150-plus new holiday movies heading to streaming platforms and cable networks this season (that number is not an exaggeration). Which is why the only one I’ll be reviewing is “Spirited,” an Apple Original Films offering with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds — a musical featuring fresh tunes from “La La Land” songwriters Pasek and Paul — that’s...

Jason Momoa has an adorable new best friend.

On Sunday, the actor took to Instagram to share videos of the pig he adopted after filming his new Netflix fantasy movie “Slumberland”.

Read More: Jason Momoa Debuts Huge Head Tattoo

In the film, the main character Nemo, played by Marlow Barkley, has a stuffed pig that comes to life each night.

Momoa wrote in the caption, asking fans for their input on whether to name the pig Lau Lau or Manapua, adding, “this is why i can’t work with animals i want to bring them home.”

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Snuggling the pig in a second video, Momoa asks it, “You want to come to the ‘Slumberland’ premiere? We can paint your nails pink and put a little top hat on you.”

“I think that’d be a little over the top since you just got him,...

Spirited Trailer 2 — Apple TV+ has released the second movie trailer for Spirited (2022). View here the previous Spirited film trailer. Crew Sean Anders‘ Spirited stars Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Aimee Carrero, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Jen Tullock, and P.J. Byrne. Sean Anders and John Morris [...]

Continue reading: Spirited (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Ryan Reynolds stars in A Christmas Carol told from the Perspective of the Ghosts...

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"A Christmas Carol" is one of the truly classic Christmas stories from any medium. Originally written by Charles Dickens, the story has been adapted many times before on both the big and small screen. There is the 1938 film, the 2009 adaptation starring Jim Carrey and, of course, Bill Murray's comedy favorite "Scrooged."

Well, the folks at Apple TV+ have decided it's time to take another crack at this one, in musical form, with two of the biggest stars around in the form of Ryan Reynolds ("Deadpool") and Will Ferrell ("Step Brothers"). For those who are eager to see what a big-budget holiday musical starring those two looks like, we're here to help. Here is everything you need to know about "Spirited.

Apple Original Films today unveiled the official trailer for its new holiday musical comedy Spirited, starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer.

The synopsis: Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future. For the first time, A Christmas Carol is told from the perspective of the ghosts in this hilarious musical twist on the classic Dickens tale.

From director Sean Anders, written by Anders and John Morris, with original songs by Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and production numbers choreographed by Chloe Arnold (The Late Late Show with James Corden), this modern retelling of the...

Apple Original Films has debuted the full trailer for the holiday musical comedy feature ‘Spirited.’

Delving into the wonderful world of Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ this musical is given a comedy rebirth with the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer leading the cast.

‘La La Land’ duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have imparted their musical stylings for the musical numbers. Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren Woods, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley and Jen Tullock also star.

Sean Anders and John Morris wrote the film with Anders directing. Anders, Morris, Reynolds, George Dewey, Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and David Koplan produce.

Also in trailers – “They stopped believing…” Trailer drops for series ‘The Santa Clauses’

The film will release on November 18th release on the Apple TV+ service.

The post “I’m the guy you’re gonna haunt?” New trailer drops for ‘Spirited’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Spirited, a holiday-themed musical comedy starring Will Ferrell (Elf) and Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) is set to receive a theatrical release on November 11th, with an Apple TV+ release to follow just one week later on November 18th. With those dates swiftly approaching, a new trailer for the film has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Directed by Sean Anders (Daddy’s Home), who also wrote the screenplay with John Morris, Spirited features original songs from Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and production numbers choreographed by Chloe Arnold (The Late Late Show with James Corden). The film has the following synopsis:

Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) turns the tables on his ghostly host...

"There is where real change begins!" Oh does it? Ha ha ha. Apple has debuted their full official trailer for Spirited, arriving later in November just before the holiday season kicks off. Spirited is a musical version of Charles Dickens' story of the miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey - from the director of Horrible Bosses 2, Daddy's Home 1 & 2, and Instant Family. This one has a twist – Clint Briggs turns the tables on his ghostly host until "Present" finds himself reexamining his own past, present, future. For the first time, A Christmas Carol is told from the perspective of the ghosts in this hilarious musical twist on the classic Dickens tale. Ryan Reynolds stars as Scrooge, with Will Ferrell as "Present", plus Joe Tippett, Octavia Spencer, Aimee Carrero, Marlow Barkley, Jen Tullock, Sunita Mani, and P.J. Byrne. With songs written by the La La Land writers, and choreography by Chloe Arnold.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is putting a modern twist on a beloved tale of holidays past.

Apple Original film “Spirited” stars Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present who selects grumpy corporate executive Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) as his newest project. However, Clint soon flips the script on the Christmas spirit and instead visits the spirit’s past, present, and future.

Inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” the musical film also stars Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, and Jen Tullock. “Daddy’s Home” helmer Sean Anders directs from a script he co-wrote the script John Morris.

“Spirited” features original songs penned by “Dear Evan Hansen” and “La La Land” Oscar and Tony Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

“The rumors stop here. Will and I did Not lip sync our dancing in ‘Spirited,'” Reynolds joked in a teaser video he recently tweeted,...

Oh hey, Merry Christmas! I feel comfortable saying that since every store has had decorations up since the beginning of October. Today we have a new trailer for the upcoming Apple Original Film "Spirited" starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer. The latest look at the remake (sort of) of the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol" was teased on Twitter yesterday by Reynolds, Ferrell and a very special guest, and it's pretty great.

The rumors stop here. Will and I did Not lip sync our dancing in Spirited. Tomorrow’s trailer will settle it. pic.twitter.com/j9O1SCEH7f

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) November 1, 2022

Though it's certainly not the same story, the first trailer for the musical movie did give a nod to one of the best takes on "A Christmas Carol," which is Bill Murray's "Scrooged" with the dancing Christmas show scene. This time around, however,...