By Nicholas Porteous

After Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, Mike Flanagan teams-up with Stephen King once again, but The Life of Chuck is not a spooky spool to make you crawl under the sheets and cover your eyes. On the contrary. It’s a movie about embracing the entirety of your existence. Even if you aren’t Tom Hiddleston. And it’s as much an end-of-the-world story as it is a toe-tapping dance picture. Our story begins with “Act Three”, as the world appears to be coming to an end. Don’t worry–acts two and one are next! Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan are forced to reckon with an existential dread reminiscent of the pandemic, but infinitely worse. On top of this, a mysterious, unknown entity–“Chuck” (Tom Hiddleston) has been popping up all over town. Does he have anything to do with the apocalypse? I won’t say another word, but the answer may surprise you in the best possible way. In this particular narrative climate, we’ve been conditioned to expect some kind of Damon Lindelof-esque, clever unraveling of all the threads that a mystery box story might present up front. The Life of Chuck is a warm, welcome counterpoint to this kind of storytelling.

Acts one and two are all about Chuck, and his connection to the ‘ending’. Were you aware Tom Hiddleston can dance? The spoiler I can’t resist blowing: he’s as good at dancing as he is at being Loki. If I can levy any criticism toward Chuck, I’d say it is occasionally guilty of sentimentality, and using obvious music cues. The movie knows how moving it is from the jump, and it’s not wrong, but I would have appreciated less tipping of those delicate emotional scales. 

Chuck will almost certainly reward multiple viewings, if only for its Where’s Waldo-like smattering of hidden cues and messages that all wrap around and breathe meaning into its profound message. The more I think about it, the better it gets.

The Life of Chuck screens at TIFF ’24:

Friday, September 13th at 12:35 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

Saturday, September 14th at 6:15 PM at TIFF Lightbox

Sunday, September 15th at 6:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre

An exciting second day of TIFF ’24 with many star-studded adventures!

•Orlando Bloom and Catriona Balfe for THE CUT
•Tom Hiddleston, Mike Flanagan, Karen Gillan, Kate Siegel and Chiwetel Ejiofor for THE LIFE OF CHUCK
•Eddie Huang for VICE IS BROKE
•Shamier Anderson and Samir Oliveros for THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA
•Sandra Oh, Honourary Chair of TIFF TRIBUTE Awards Gala
•Teresa Palmer for ADDITION
•Elton John, David Furnish and R.J. Cutler for ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE
•Demi Moore for THE SUBSTANCE
•Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh for WE LIVE IN TIME

Our chat with Cutler and Furnish:

A Q&A of WE LIVE IN TIME with Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield and John Crowley:

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Today, Disney+ released a brand-new trailer and poster to celebrate the upcoming second season of Marvel Studios’ “Loki.” The first season of “Loki” is the most watched Marvel Studios series on Disney+, and the second season promises new excitement as it thrusts the infamous God of Mischief into a new set of adventures with the TVA.

The series stars Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Rafael Casal, Tara Strong, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, Neil Ellice, with Jonathan Majors, Ke Huy Quan and Owen Wilson. Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Dan Deleeuw and Kasra Farahani direct episodes. The head writer is Eric Martin. Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kevin R. Wright, Tom Hiddleston, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Eric Martin and Michael Waldron are the executive producers, with Trevor Waterson serving as co-executive producer.

Marvel Studios’ “Loki” Season 2 begins streaming on October 6, 2023 exclusively on Disney+.

Apple today announced the new 10-part documentary series “Big Beasts,” narrated by Emmy Award nominee Tom Hiddleston, set to premiere globally on Friday, April 21 on Apple TV+. From the acclaimed creative team of the Apple TV+ Award-winning docuseries “Tiny World,” comes “Big Beasts,” filmed over four and a half years, the series takes audiences on an epic journey around the globe, from freezing poles to tropical rainforests, to meet nature’s most captivating giants. The series will debut on April 21, just in time for Earth Day, with two new episodes premiering each week until Friday, May 19.

“Big Beasts” features some of the world’s most massive species filmed across 17 countries, including the gray whale, the elephant seal, the giant otter, the gorilla, the hippopotamus, the brown bear, the ostrich, the orangutan, the tiger and the polar bear. Viewers will see that it’s not easy being big—the larger the animal, the greater the challenges they face—as the series captures rare and first-ever footage using specialized equipment and next-generation filming techniques.

“Big Beasts” is produced by Plimsoll Productions with Emmy Award winner Tom Hugh-Jones (“Planet Earth II,” “Hostile Planet”) and Emmy Award nominees Grant Mansfield (“Hostile Planet”) and Martha Holmes (“Hostile Planet,” “Life”) executive producing. Tom Hugh-Jones also served as executive producer for Apple TV+ BAFTA Award-nominated and Jackson Wild Media Award-winning nature docuseries “Tiny World,” narrated by SAG Award nominee Paul Rudd.

Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all your favourite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have earned 348 wins and 1,436 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy “Ted Lasso” and historic Oscar Best Picture winner “CODA.”

By David Baldwin

Cora Seaborne (Emmy-winner Claire Danes) is a widower in London circa 1893 who has never been able to make her own decisions, never mind pursue any of her own interests. When she hears of a possible mythical serpent terrorizing a small town in Essex, she moves into a cottage nearby and begins investigating. The more she learns however, the more things become stranger.

THE ESSEX SERPENT, based on the novel by Sarah Perry, is the type of series that opens rather mysteriously, before instantly becoming a grim slowburn that fills every frame it can with intense fog and pale, washed out colour schemes. Cora’s bright red hair and elegant fashion pieces – at least in comparison to the impoverished locals she tries to befriend – are some of the only real colours that pop throughout the first two episodes I viewed of the six-episode mini-series. That is of course, if you do not count the blood from the gruesomely evasive surgery scenes. Those scenes are excruciating in their attention to detail, as is the sumptuous period production design, lighting and costuming. The level of authenticity and tangibility is staggering, blowing away any form of competition in one fell swoop.

Where I worry with this series is with its multiple storylines. The aforementioned graphic surgery scenes have not been very relevant to the larger story just yet, nor has a storyline built around the Socialist beliefs of Cora’s servant Martha (Haley Squires). Both elements just kind of get in the way of Cora’s investigation and her grappling with the abuse she endured at the hands of her late husband. Her burgeoning friendship with the local Vicar Will Ransome (Tom Hiddleston, decidedly less comical than he was in last summer’s Loki series) is another one of the mysterious elements I wish the Series focused and explored more. My curiosity is genuinely peaked by what is quite likely going to come to fruition. That said, with only four episodes to go, I am not extremely confident all of these storylines and the three others I did not mention will come together as cohesively as they should. I will continue watching, but will try my best not to raise my expectations too high.

What I will keep my expectations raised for is the acting, which has been quite enjoyable so far. Danes is just as terrific as always (though she is substantially more reserved here than she was on Homeland), as is Hiddleston, who slips into the skin of that vicar a bit too smoothly. Squires puts in solid work, with Frank Dillane and Jamael Westman stealing scenes as the mysterious surgeons just waiting to factor into the larger story. The Ensemble is great, and help keep THE ESSEX SERPENT moving – even at its most glacial moments. Here is hoping our patience will be rewarded.

The first two episodes of THE ESSEX SERPENT begin streaming on AppleTV+
on Friday, May 13, 2022, with fresh new episodes arriving every Friday.

Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston star in THE ESSEX SERPENT, coming soon to Apple TV+. Just released is a new Trailer for the Series!

Synopsis:

Based on Sarah Perry’s bestselling novel of the same name will debut globally with its first two of six episodes on Friday, May 13, 2022.  

Starring a stellar cast led by Emmy and SAG Award winner Claire Danes, Emmy Award nominee Tom Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Clémence Poésy and Hayley Squires, “The Essex Serpent” follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Danes) who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms an unlikely bond with the village vicar (Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature. 

See the brand-new Trailer:

(Photo credit: Apple TV+)

Tom Hiddleston is set to star-in and produce Apple TV+‘s Limited Series THE WHITE DARKNESS retelling the adventures of Henry Worsley.

Synopsis:

“The White Darkness” is inspired by the true life account of Henry Worsley (played by Hiddleston), a devoted husband and father, a former soldier, a man of deep honour and sacrifice, but also a man deeply obsessed with adventure, manifesting in an epic journey crossing Antarctica on foot. Starring Tom Hiddleston as Worsley, this is a spellbinding story of courage, love, family and the extremes of human capacity.

“The White Darkness” will be produced for Apple TV+ by Apple Studios and UCP. In addition to Hiddleston, Hugh, Heyman, and Kang-Lowe, the series is also executive produced by Caroline Garity of Blue Marble Pictures. This marks the second partnership for Hugh, Blue Marble Pictures and Apple TV+ following the recently premiered, broadly and critically hailed series “Pachinko,” which Hugh wrote, produced, and showran, and Kang executive produced, and is currently in-season on Apple TV+. It also marks the second partnership for Apple TV+ and Hiddleston who will next star in upcoming Apple Original series, “The Essex Serpent.”

More to come.

LOKI arrives on Netflix this June and here’s Tom Hiddleston with a message to fans!

Synopsis:

Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer. 

LOKI arrives on Disney+ Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

Check-out this first look at Marvel’s LOKI, coming this Summer to Disney+.

Synopsis:

Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer. 

Marvel’s LOKI arrives on Disney+ June 11, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Marvel)

eOne Films x Mr. Will want to give our young Readers a chance to see EARLY MAN! Advance Screenings take place Saturday, February 10, 2018 in the followig cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax. Passes will be rewarded in packs of four only.

Synopsis:
This animated comedy is set during prehistoric times, when creatures such as woolly mammoths roamed the earth. Neanderthal Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his sidekick Hognob unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) and his Bronze Age City in an attempt to save their home.

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Richard Ayoade, Mark Williams, Timothy Spall

See the Trailer:

Artwork:

To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK! Kindly indicate your City in the comments there.

eOne Films release EARLY MAN Friday, February 16, 2018.

(Photo/video credit: eOne Films)