Connect with us

FantasticFest 2019 Movies: WYRM

Published

on

 

Christopher Winterbauer (Writer/Director)
Helen Estabrook (Producer)


Wyrm is a film that brings up words like ‘sweet’, ‘awkward’, ‘touching’, and ‘brutal’, all with an air of 80s nostalgia and an adept sci-fi flourish.

If it sounds like I’m describing some kind of quirky art wine, it’s because I am. This movie is gorgeously shot, incredibly styled, and adorable in all the best ways. But as writer/director Christopher Winterbauer put it, you’d be “hard-pressed to say it’s not an honest story.” I’d agree.

Wyrm is the tale of a boy entering high school in a world where puberty is measured and tracked via clunky collars. To ‘get your collar popped’, you must achieve Level One sexual activity – osculation. (That’s kissing, in case you wondered.) Wyrm (yep, it’s his name) and his sister are living in the shadow of their brother, Dylan, recently deceased. Dylan was sailing through puberty, where Wyrm is… not. With the top son gone, the family is fractured. Dad works, or stays in the bathroom. Mom is on a trek to clear her head.
Wyrm and his sister, Myrcella were best friends, but that’s changing. Meanwhile, Wyrm
documents his brother’s life through interviews he collects on cassette tapes. It’s tragic, and a pointed look at the need he has for the family that’s gone.

The film that follows is a touching look at how lives come together after tragedy, about how
information doesn’t guarantee understanding, and how sometimes things break and never quite repair the same. By the end of the story, it’s about how that’s okay.  I was moved by the care Winterbauer gave to his characters, and the incredible commitment the
entire cast and crew showed to this very precisely-toned movie. Sensitive subject matter and a singular and odd style could have tipped this project any number of ways. Instead it all feels of a piece, and real.  The movie has some great laughs – particularly, any interaction the kids have with their counselors or teachers at school. Wyrm’s uncle Chet, played by ‘Casual’ star Tommy Dewey, gives some great, if also awful, advice throughout the movie. All the people in the story feel true to what they’re going through.

This was described to me as somewhat like Napoleon Dynamite, but I’d disagree. It’s something more in line with what Noah Baumbach or Wes Anderson might do with sci-fi. I can’t wait to see it get wider release, and to see what Winterbauer and company make next.

Continue Reading

Events

Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Published

on

During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

Continue Reading

Events

Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

Published

on

Continue Reading

Events

DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

Published

on

 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2012 - 2024 That's My Entertainment