‘The Continental’ TV Review: ‘John Wick’ Prequel Drenched In Disco, Heroic Bloodshed & Mel Gibson

The Last Of Us actor Ashley Johnson has sued her ex-boyfriend and Critical Role star Brian W. Foster alleging sexual battery, stalking and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other charges. Six other women joined the graphic civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ireland’s Deadpan Pictures (“Northern Lights”) and France’s Thalie Images (“Killer Coaster”) are teaming up on “The Continental Method,” an ambitious spy comedy thriller set against the backdrop of the Paris riots of May 1968. The European half-hour series is inspired by the true story of Conor O’Flaherty, a fresh-faced Irish salesman who became an unlikely spy in Paris. The twelve-part show is penned by John Morton (“Dead Still”) and Victor Lockwood (“Mental”) who are leading a writing team.

Todd Gilchrist editor In “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even using absolutely all of the footage shot for the notorious production back in 1976 does not necessarily result in a better film. The most expensive independent film ever produced until that time, “Caligula” was conceived by late Penthouse founder Bob Guccione as a sexually explicit film that also featured real actors and high production values; hiring bestselling author Gore Vidal to write a script for Italian avant-garde director Tinto Brass (“Salon Kitty”), Guccione subsequently attracted such respected thespians as Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren to star.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Fred Kogel, CEO of leading German film and TV group Leonine Studios, which distributes the “Expendables” and “John Wick” movies in Germany, made the case for a new generation of action stars during the Zurich Summit over the weekend, where he was presented with Zurich Film Festival’s Game Changer Award. He noted that many of today’s action stars are the same ones he watched on the big screen back in the 1980s, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise.

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Bob is back in town — not that he ever left — as the genre-focused streaming service Shudder has opted not to slash, but to extend his virally popular horror variety series, The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs, bringing it back for a “supersized” sixth season.

The Rolling Stones have previewed their new collaborative single with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder – listen to the clip below.The legendary band announced their 24th studio album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ on September 6 and shared its lead single ‘Angry’. Following on from 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’, the record will mark the Stones’ first collection of original music in 18 years.Earlier this month it was revealed that Gaga and Wonder both contributed to a song called ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’.

Alexandra Grant made some rare but glowing comments about her boyfriend Keanu Reeves during a recent red carpet appearance.

Alexandra Grant spoke highly of her relationship with Keanu Reeves as she opened up about the pair’s union in a rare interview.

We will never be able to escape the capitalistic empires who demand that we not only see one movie, but its dozens of spin-offs as well. Yet out of all the big-budget franchises we’ve seen over the past two decades, John Wick managed to set itself apart.The action gun-fu film series started small in scope, with its 2014 eponymous film starring Keanu Reeves simply wanting revenge for his murdered dog growing into a blockbuster series, each bigger than the last, making it one of the rare original success stories not based on a comic book.Thus, we find ourselves at Peacock, for The Continental: From the World of John Wick (★☆☆☆☆), the prequel from Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons about Winston Scott’s rise to power in the 1970s.

Jordan Moreau The “John Wick” movies are known for their high-octane, guns-blazing action on the big screen, but now the franchise is heading to Peacock — and about 50 years in the past — to explore its origins in “The Continental.” Across three episodes, the ’70s-set series dives into how a young Winston Scott (played by Colin Woodell) became the proprietor of the titular hotel, which is famous for throwing lavish parties and being a safe haven for assassins. But, as “John Wick” fans know, not everybody abides by the no-killing rule on Continental grounds. The show, which premieres on Peacock Friday, starts with a bang — actually, a lot of them — thanks to stunt coordinator Larnell Stovall.

Sequels, and sequels of sequels, have trouble differentiating themselves from their brethren from time to time. But Expendables 4 (or Expend4bles, as this fourth and final entry in the mercenary-based action series has been marketed), indisputably takes the cake for recycling previously used material in a not exactly fresh context. At least the final third — and maybe more — of this jokey, fight-filled and increasingly effects-driven last hurrah is nearly a twin brother to the climactic stretch of last year’s waterlogged Jason Statham extravaganza Meg 2: The Trench, wherein the rugged Brit takes on — and once again prevails over — a sea monster that makes Moby Dick look like a backyard swimming pool pet. It really is a shameless “borrowing” that’s impossible to ignore if you’ve seen Meg 2, as the tireless former male model with perfectly maintained facial stubble once again earns his status as master of the seven seas.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In “Expend4bles,” the action is more digitally propulsive than it was in “The Expendables” (2010), “The Expendables 2” (2012), or “The Expendables 3” (2014). Yet the preferred mode of killing is reassuringly primitive.

The Continental marks the first spin-off in the John Wick franchise.Led by showrunners Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward, the three-part series is a prequel spin-off revolved around a young Winston Scott (Colin Woodell), who was played by Ian McShane in the mainline John Wick films.Alongside Woodell, the show’s cast includes Mel Gibson, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jessica Allain, Mishel Prada, Ben Robson, Peter Greene and Nhung Kate.The Continental follows the story of Winston Scott and his journey to becoming the proprietor of the New York branch of the Continental hotel chain, which acts as a safe haven for assassins.The show is a prequel to John Wick set in an alternate history depiction of the 1970s, offering different spins on real-world events including the rise of the American Mafia.A synopsis reads: “The series will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins from the John Wick universe through the eyes of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hellscape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.“Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his throne.”Along with a younger version of Scott, the show features a younger version of Charon (Ayomide Adegun), who was portrayed by the late Lance Reddick in the films.The first spin-off film, titled Ballerina, is scheduled to be released on June 7, 2024.Ana de Armas will play the lead character Rooney, a ballerina who seeks revenge on those who murdered her family.

If you haven’t seen “John Wick: Chapter 4,” then you should probably skip this article. Long story short, there’s still no decision about whether or not a fifth film is being made.

“The Continental,” subtitled somewhere in the marketing as, “From the World of John Wick,” is indeed what it advertises: a series that spins off from the kinetic assassins action-thriller franchise starring Keanu Reeves and now on its fourth installment, possibly going on a fifth. “John Wick” has its own intricate mythology filled with codes and currencies— the High Table, The Bowery King and The Bowery Boys, The Operators, Adjudicators, and of course, The Continental, the opulently noir-ish underworld assassin-friendly hotel where “No business can be conducted on the neutral premises.” Aka, you may be a contract killer, but you cannot kill within The Continental grounds, such is the strangely gallant “honor among thieves” conduct ideologies and rules the hotel and its murderous guests abide by.

Alison Herman TV Critic I’ll give “The Continental” this: of all the reasons the “John Wick” prequel frustrates, underwhelms and disappoints, the involvement of Mel Gibson barely manages to rank. That, at least, is a major accomplishment.

Reeves wanted to be ‘definitively killed off’ in the fourth movie, which debuted at the box office in March and ranked in a whopping $187.1 million domestically and $426.5 million worldwide.“John Wick: Chapter 4” marked the biggest success for the franchise — even with a reported $100 million budget. And — gasp — the film also included the biggest shocker of all when the title character seemingly died in the end.Despite Winston (Ian McShane) and The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburn) visiting John’s grave in the film, Iwanyk is still holding out hope that Reeves will reprise the role again.There’s a “10 percent little opening” that he would, he told Collider.“After the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movie, making these films is so exhausting and it destroys Keanu, physically and emotionally,” he continued.

Peacock in the U.S. and Prime Video internationally), tells the story of Winston Scott, who was played by Ian McShane in the movies and by Colin Woodell as a young man “The Continental.”“I was always a fan of the ‘John Wick’ movies, and what [the movie’s director, Chad [Stahelski] and [star Keanu Reeves] did,” director and executive producer Albert Hughes told The Post.

Warning: Spoilers aheadKeanu Reeves reportedly asked for the titular character of the John Wick franchise to be “definitively” killed off at the end of Chapter 4, released earlier this year.Speaking to Collider for a new interview, John Wick: Chapter 4 producer Basil Iwanyk revealed that Reeves had requested for John Wick to be undeniably dead by the fourth film’s conclusion as he was experiencing fatigue from filming.“After the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movie, making these films is so exhausting and it destroys Keanu, physically and emotionally,” said Iwanyk. “By the end, he’s always like, ‘I can’t do this again,’ and we agree with him”.Iwanyk went on to explain: “The guy is just a shell of himself because he just goes off and goes for it.

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details about the ending of John Wick: Chapter 4.