Saturday, June 6, 2026

Top 10 Joey King Films

 

Sherman J. Pearson here for another Top 10. Joey King was one of the studio's hottest young stars though the studio's first 10 seasons, but has only appeared in a few projects since then. Well, she's back in theaters this round starring in Double Date opposite Olivia Rodrigo. This led me into taking a look at King's films....

Top 10 Joey King Films
10. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
9. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
8. Tenth Circle
7. Mimsley and Me
6. Nobody
5. Titans: Evil Incarnate
4. Splinter Cell
3. Five Boroughs
2. Revolution
1. Letter to Myself

Friday, June 5, 2026

From the Desk of Alfie Ellison, VP of International Development: Remington Steele

 

Laura Holt (Rachel Brosnahan) takes over her father’s private investigation business after his sudden disappearance, but when she finds herself unable to secure clients due to industry bias, she creates a fictional male superior - “Remington Steele” - only to have a mysterious and charming con man step into the role, turning her carefully controlled operation into something far more unpredictable.

Last Resort Films Studio is thrilled to announce the development of Remington Steele, a high-profile reimagining of the beloved 1980s television series. Positioned as a sleek blend of romantic comedy and mystery, the project aims to deliver a sharp, modern take on the iconic premise while maintaining the charm, wit, and intrigue that made the original a standout.

Leading the project is Rachel Brosnahan, who is set to star as Laura Holt. Brosnahan brings a unique balance of intelligence, charisma, and comedic precision to the role. In early conversations with the studio, she has expressed a strong passion for reintroducing Laura as a bold, capable lead navigating both the professional and personal complications of a system designed to overlook her.

The studio is currently engaged in high-level discussions with several major actors for the role of Remington Steele, with the part attracting significant interest across the industry. The character - an enigmatic, effortlessly charming con man who assumes the identity of a fictional detective - is expected to be a key piece of the film’s appeal, with casting seen as critical to establishing the central chemistry that will define the project.

Early development outlines position Remington Steele as a fast-paced, dialogue-driven film built around sharp banter, evolving power dynamics, and a central partnership rooted in deception and attraction. The tone is expected to balance sophistication with accessibility, leaning into both the mystery elements and the romantic tension at its core.

Last Resort Films views Remington Steele as a major commercial opportunity with strong franchise potential, anchored by its compelling central duo and the flexibility of its investigative structure. With Brosnahan attached and momentum building around the project, the studio anticipates significant developments in the coming months.

Last Resort Films looks forward to bringing this stylish and character-driven reimagining to audiences worldwide.

For any inquiries please contact LRF Vice President of International Development Alfie Ellison

Remington Steele
Project Details
Romantic Comedy/Mystery
Based on the 1980s TV show
Attached Talent
Star Rachel Brosnahan

Release: Stretch Armstrong

 

Stretch Armstrong
Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi
Director: Phil Lord & Chris Miller
Writer: Giovanni Garcia
Based on the action figure
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Adria Arjona, Michael Pitt, Angela Bassett, Ruth Wilson, Channing Tatum (cameo)

Budget: $115,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $90,079,662
Foreign Box Office: $54,109,949
Total Profit: -$71,990,745

Reaction: Not even Ryan Gosling's massive star-power was able to convince audiences to show up for a movie based on a toy that stretches. 



"Stretch Armstrong is a wildly inventive, high-energy blend of action and comedy that plays perfectly to Phil Lord & Chris Miller’s strengths. Ryan Gosling’s self-aware charm carries the film, balancing absurd humor with just enough emotional weight to ground the story’s identity crisis. The action is creative and kinetic, constantly finding new ways to use Stretch’s abilities, while Adria Arjona provides a strong counterbalance as the more grounded June. It’s chaotic in the best way—funny, stylish, and surprisingly heartfelt." - Evan Rist, The Neon Screen Review


"Slickly written and visually elastic, Stretch Armstrong clearly knows how to move, the problem is it doesn’t know how to laugh. The action is inventive and Gosling’s casting makes sense, but the film treats an inherently goofy toy premise with a straight-faced seriousness that feels oddly dated. What should lean into absurdity keeps reaching for weighty identity themes we’ve seen before. If it committed to the joke the way Barbie did, this could work. Instead, it politely stretches and snaps back to familiar ground." - Dexter Quinn, Cinematic Observer Newsletter


"While Stretch Armstrong is undeniably energetic and packed with visual creativity, it often feels like it’s trying to juggle too many tones at once. The humor lands inconsistently, and the film’s more serious themes never fully develop. Ryan Gosling is clearly having fun, but the supporting cast is uneven, with Michael Pitt’s Virox veering between intriguing and overly theatrical. It’s entertaining in bursts, but the film’s scattershot approach keeps it from fully coming together." - Colin Dreyfuss, Metro Film 







Rated PG-13 for sequences of action violence, suggestive humor, and some language.






Thursday, June 4, 2026

A Second Look: Dragon Ball: The Wrath of the Demon King

 

Welcome back for another edition of A Second Look with Jeff Stockton! In this segment I will take a "second look" at a past LRF release with a fresh set of eyes. 

When Dragon Ball: The Wrath of the Demon King first arrived back in Season 13, I came away fairly lukewarm. The story picks up years after Goku (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) defeated Demon King Piccolo, as the now-grown martial artist reunites with old friends at the World Martial Arts Tournament, only to become embroiled in a revenge plot by Piccolo Jr. (Winston Duke), who emerges from the shadows to challenge Earth’s hero in front of a worldwide audience. Along the way, the film folds in Chi-Chi’s romance with Goku, Kami’s desperate attempt to seal Piccolo away, and a climactic stadium battle that escalates into giant-monster chaos before teasing the arrival of Raditz in a post-credits stinger. At the time, I thought the movie was perfectly watchable—certainly not disastrous—but it never clicked for me the way it clearly did for some anime fans. The action worked well enough, but the casting felt largely uninspired, and the story seemed more interested in racing from one iconic moment to the next than building real emotional stakes. 

Revisiting it now in A Second Look, I feel much the same, if not a little harsher on certain aspects. The biggest issue is still how thin the storytelling feels. Characters move through the plot because the franchise seemingly demands it rather than because the film earns those beats through development, and the world-building remains oddly undercooked for what is supposed to be a sprawling fantasy universe. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is decent enough as Goku—committed, likable, and physically convincing—but the character’s motivations, the rules of the world, and even the emotional stakes never become fully clear. More than anything, the film plays less like a blockbuster adaptation and more like a condensed anime arc, complete with rushed pacing and assumed audience familiarity. Hardcore Dragon Ball fans may appreciate the references and lore callbacks, but as more of an outsider, I found myself more lost this time than I even remembered being the first go-around. The casting, meanwhile, still often feels closer to fan-casting than thoughtful role fitting.

Original Grade: C-

New Grade: C-


Now Showing: Stretch Armstrong

 

Stretch Armstrong
Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi
Director: Phil Lord & Chris Miller
Writer: Giovanni Garcia
Based on the action figure
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Adria Arjona, Michael Pitt, Angela Bassett, Ruth Wilson, Channing Tatum (cameo)

Plot: The Mediterranean gleams like molten glass under a Monte Carlo moon, waves catching starlight and tossing it into the gilded windows of a casino. Inside, tuxedos gleam, champagne bursts, and a brassy remix of “Let’s Get Physical” blares. At the bar, Jake “Stretch” Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) leans as though the room were sculpted just for him—martini in hand, half-smile, tuxedo snug like second skin.

Across the room, a briefcase of micro-data changes hands, unnoticed in the glitter. Stretch sees it reflected in his martini glass. “Here we go again,” he murmurs, flicking his cufflink.

The villain bolts for the stairwell. Stretch’s arm snaps forward, silver whip-like, latching onto a chandelier. The crowd gasps as he slingshots through the air, flips in slow motion, and lands perfectly in a red convertible outside. Over his earpiece, Director Vera Harding (Angela Bassett) sighs.

“You were supposed to grab the briefcase, not redecorate the casino.”
Stretch smirks. “One of them really tied the room together.”

The briefcase flies mid-run as he lashes back through a window, reels it in, adjusts his tie, and strolls into the night. Horns blast. **STRETCH ARMSTRONG: FLEX AGENT.**

F.L.E.X. headquarters is chaos in motion—agents bouncing on spring-loaded boots, gadgets sparking, recruits ricocheting off padded walls. Stretch strolls through like a rock star on tour, arms doubling as jump ropes for rookies, letting them punch him and rebound, laughter spilling like confetti. Every mirror he passes flickers, warping slightly, as though remembering someone else’s face. Harding watches from her control room—stern, elegant, a chess master with secrets stacked like pawns.

“Armstrong’s performance is beyond human,” an analyst whispers.
“Exactly,” Harding murmurs, eyes narrowing.

Nightfall in Morocco. Desert winds whip sand into the sky, searchlights cutting the darkness. Stretch drops from a plane mid-firefight, body fanning like a human parachute. Inside a burning lab, Dr. Mara Finch (Ruth Wilson) is bound amid flames. Stretch bursts through the inferno, shielding her with his expanding form, smashing through glass and tumbling into the sand. She trembles.

“Jason?” she whispers. “They told me you didn’t survive.”
Stretch freezes. “…Jason?” The name doesn’t fit; it drags across memory like a glitchy film reel.

Back at Harding’s office, shadows hug steel walls. “She’s delusional,” Harding says, dismissive.
“Focus on the mission,” an analyst adds.
“You’re not paid to ask who you are, Armstrong. You’re paid to be who we need,” Harding says. Stretch nods, leaving, but his reflection lingers a heartbeat too long, flickering like a stutter in memory.

Then, the world flickers.
Every screen on Earth hijacks, static screaming before resolving into Marcus Virox (Michael Pitt) — pale, sharp, a grin that feels like a dare.
“F.L.E.X. made him,” he whispers. His voice is low, deliberate, oddly playful. “They made you. You’re all stretched into something you’re not.”
He leans closer to the lens, smiling too softly. “I’ll show them what it means to be free.”

Harding orders pursuit. Stretch doesn’t wait. He’s already gone rogue—engine roaring, suit creaking, body stretching like taffy across the open road.
F.L.E.X. sends rookie June Park (Adria Arjona) after him. She’s sharp, no-nonsense, and secretly driven by a desire to prove herself—the same shadow of doubt she’d faced when her parents vanished in a F.L.E.X. experiment years ago. Their first encounter: a taser to Stretch mid-gloat.
“Protocol.”
“You have impeccable timing,” he grins, flexing through the jolt.

Training montage: its utter chaos. Stretch’s suit overextends, boots launch him into the ceiling, he winks mid-contortion, and smacks his own face. June’s eyes roll; her sighs are punctuation marks against his anarchic ballet.

The Grand Bazaar explodes with color, awnings snapping in the wind. Stretch ricochets through rooftops like a human slingshot, arms grappling every ledge, torso springing like rubber. June follows, furious but determined. He bounces off a spire, tears through laundry lines, crashes through a fruit stand. Melons explode like grenades.

“You do this every day?” she pants.
“Only weekdays. Weekends I stretch for fun.”

They duck into a rug stall mid-chase.
“Why risk your life for a briefcase?” she asks.
He shrugs. “Because sometimes I forget what else I’m risking.”
Their eyes meet — and for a second, the noise fades.

They find Finch in an abandoned lab, bathed in static light.
Finch speaks to Jake as softly she can but her tone betrays her, voice trembling.
“Jake… you weren’t recruited. You were built. Project Elastica. You’re not supposed to exist.”

Finch looks at Jake with immense guilt and regret.

Stretch stares at his hands. They ripple, bend, fracture against the glass. “…I was made to bend… and now I’m breaking.”

Reflections glitch. Memories of Jason flicker inside his eyes—a past he’s never lived. June reaches for him; he waves her off.
“I can bend for anyone,” he whispers. “But who bends for me?”

Virox watches from a high-rise loft, surrounded by broken tech sculptures and flickering neon.
He speaks to a drone as if it’s an audience:
“They think flexibility means obedience. But chaos, darling—” he grins, slicing his hand through the air, “chaos bends back.”
He paints on a cracked mirror with black oil. His reflection grins wider than he does.

Above Istanbul, on a spire, the city glowing below. June sits beside Stretch, dangling legs.
“What do normal guys do when confused?”
“Therapy?”
“Pizza.” She hands him a slice; the cheese stretches impossibly long, snapping, both laughing. Stretch feels human again.

Over the Pacific, Virox’s floating fortress rises — part aircraft carrier, part cathedral of chrome. A biomechanical virus churns inside, pulsing like a heart.
“Freedom,” he murmurs. “Everyone deserves to be elastic. To lose their shape. To let go.”

Stretch and June infiltrate. He contorts through vents, muttering, “This is how you fold laundry, not people.”
She rolls her eyes. “Do you ever stop talking?”
“Only when I’m stretching,” he grins.

They crash into Virox’s sanctum — walls breathing, screens flickering.
Virox stands before the virus core, arms open, like welcoming an audience.
“You were made to serve,” he says, smiling like a ghost. “You’ll always snap back to who they built you to be.”
Stretch steadies his breath. “Maybe. But I choose who I am.”

Virox tilts his head, delighted. “Oh, good line. Keep that for the obituary"

They clash — a ballet of distortion and velocity. Stretch twists through laser fire; Virox moves like liquid metal, impossible angles. He laughs mid-fight, hair wild, eyes gleaming: “See, Jake? You are art.”
Stretch wraps himself around the core—a Möbius-strip move, trapping Virox in a tangle of glowing, elastic body. He absorbs the energy, radiating white-hot light.
“Jake!” June cries.
He smiles weakly. “It’s Stretch.” And lets go.

The fortress collapses in slow motion. June catches him mid-air, parachute blooming from his own suit.
He grins faintly. “Told you I was flexible.”

Weeks later. F.L.E.X. is dismantled. Harding vanishes. Finch and June rebuild something new — a home for the strange and the stretched.

In a sunlit yoga studio, Stretch tries to meditate.
“Remember,” says the instructor, “don’t overextend.”
He exhales.
Across the room, someone wobbles in a pose. His arm snakes out, fixes their posture, retracts before anyone notices.
“Mr. Armstrong,” sighs the instructor.
He smirks. “It’s Stretch.”

Post-Credits Scene
Grainy footage flickers — F.L.E.X. archives, stamped CLASSIFIED.
Agent Brick (Channing Tatum) and Stretch sprint through chaos.
Brick yells, “You miss, I’m paste!”
Stretch grins. “Trust me, Brick — I’m solid!”
He fires an arm-slingshot — Brick flies screaming into a helicopter rotor’s path.
Cut to black.
Brick’s voice echoes: “I hate field work!”




Wednesday, June 3, 2026

IN DEVELOPMENT

 

Double Date: Director Nicholas Stoller's LRF debut, the R-rated 20-something rom-com Double Date, has rounded out its supporting cast with the additions of Xolo Mariduena (Bunny, "Cobra Kai"), Niles Fitch (Power Rangers, Klondike), and Madison Wolfe (The Man in the White Van, "We Were Liars"). Jacob Jones penned the film.

1995: 1995, the coming-of-age adventure from director Stephen Chbosky and writer Joshua Collins has scoured Hollywood for young actors to join the more established Grant Felly and Nell Fisher as the core group of friends on the search for a haunted house. Those young actors will be Eli D. Goss ("Daredevil: Born Again"), Ja'Siah Young ("Raising Dion, "FBI: Most Wanted"), and Asher Morrissette ("The Baxters").

Lobo: Ruth Negga (Haute Couture, Scion) was announced as part of the cast of Lobo at the most recent LRF Comic-Con where Vin Diesel revealed she'll be playing Lobo's mechanic/confidant Darlene. Also officially joining the film will be Zach Cherry ("Severance", "Fallout") as the shady bail bondsman Bunsen, and Alyssa Sutherland (Evil Dead Rise, "Vikings") as princess/intergalactic mercenary Shaola von Darragon. Doug Liman is directing the DC Comics adaptation from a script by Jack Brown. 

Gray: A radical updated take on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is on the way from director Luca Guadagnino (Hideaway, Tears of an Angel). Timothee Chalamet (Punch Buggy, Hideaway) will star as a model who, after becoming the subject of a mysterious portrait that ages and decays in his place descends into violence, hedonism, and madness. Jared Leto (Murder Mysteries, Natural Selection) will play the artist who makes Gray his subject, while Suki Waterhouse (Home Before Dark, Golden Girl) play a singer who finds herself in a tragic romance with Gray. The adaptation was written by Roy Horne (Tara's Wrath, The Hammer of Thor: The Frost War).

The Quiet Between Us: Denzel Washington (Before Love Came to Kill Us, The Invincible Iron Man) has signed on to the lead role in The Quiet Between Us. He will play a man struggling to care for his terminally ill wife. Angela Bassett (The Stand, Dishonest) will play Denzel's wife while Tessa Thompson (Assata, The Night Swim) will play their adult daughter. Derek Cianfrance (Cedar Ridge, Tomato Can) has been tasked with directing the drama from a script by Dawson Edwards (Unkempt Garden, Ghost Recon).

1016 West Monroe: Quintessa Swindell (Black Adam, Master Gardener), Lewis Pullman (Bastion, Eye of the Scarecrow), and Diana Silvers (Lonely Planet, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse) are set to star in the 1950s jazz drama, 1016 West Monroe. The film will tell the story of a talented singer from Louisiana (Swindell), a club owner (Pullman), and cafe owner threatened by the attention the club owner gives the singer. Barry Jenkins (Ghost Town, Before Love Came to Kill Us) is at the helm of the film, directing from a script by Meirad Tako (Thus Dreamed Zarathustra, Police Story: Retribution).

PREMIERE MAGAZINE #352