Suddenly, there's something else other than sharks to make you think twice about going in the water.
In the survival thriller "Whalefall," Austin Abrams plays a scuba diver who gets in between a sperm whale and his squid lunch and is swallowed by the humongous creature. (Spoiler alert: He has – ahem – a whale of a time trying to escape.) That's definitely worth checking out at theaters this weekend, as well as a couple of new streaming shows. Marvel's Disney+ series "VisionQuest" reunites "Avengers: Age of Ultron" costars Paul Bettany and James Spader, while Linda Cardellini plays an iconic horror-movie mom in Peacock's "Friday the 13th" prequel series "Crystal Lake."
Now on to the good stuff:
See Austin Abrams swallowed by a whale in survival thriller 'Whalefall'
Folks, you've not lived until you see a movie about
a guy trying to get out of a sperm whale's digestive system. The seafaring thriller stars Austin Abrams ("Resident Evil") as a young dude who gets swallowed inadvertently by this ginormous creature and only has an hour of air left in his scuba tank to escape this dicey situation. It's quite the ride, and one made more thoughtful by the main character also coming to grips with the death of his estranged dad (Josh Brolin).
I had a deep-dive discussion with director Brian Duffield about how he worked with scientists to craft the whale's insides, which the filmmaker lovingly calls "the yuckiest escape room ever." And I also talked with Abrams about the movie's most terrifying scene, where his character comes face to beak with an antagonistic giant squid.
Marvel at Paul Bettany and James Spader's reunion on 'VisionQuest'
"Age of Ultron" didn't do much good but Marvel's worst "Avengers" movie did give us snarky killer robot Ultron (James Spader) and his creation of sorts, the android superhero Vision (Paul Bettany). A lot has happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2015 (Thanos, anyone?) but the two AI guys' relationship is still pretty darn complicated in the Disney+ series "VisionQuest" (streaming now). Vision discovers he has a son while trying to figure out how to be more virtuous and human, while Ultron ponders a way out of being trapped in Vision's mind and weighs trying to wipe out humanity again.
I chatted with Bettany and newcomer Ruaridh Mollica (who plays the Vision's kid) about the machines' identity crises and how the show is very much about fathers and sons. "Marvel at its best is when it takes big swings and manages to be able to talk about big things, but with robots and lasers," Bettany says. And Spader told me about why he returned to Ultron after a decade and the ways in which the Marvel villain is “more of himself” now: “He's not as sophomoric as he was.”
Stream Linda Cardellini's 'Friday the 13th' prequel 'Crystal Lake'
Jason Voorhees is the signature big bad of the "Friday the 13th" horror franchise, although casual movie fans might not know (or at least remember) that his mom Pamela was the killer in the original 1980 slasher flick. Played by Linda Cardellini, she's the main character of the prequel series "Crystal Lake" (streaming now on Peacock), which traces Pam's path to becoming a cold-blooded murderer. "There is a rage in her that has not been in any other character that I have found," says Cardellini, who stopped by our New York studio for a chat with my pal Brendan Morrow.
If you're in the spooky-season mood, the horror movies "Hallowarrior," "Hokum" and "Dracula" hit streaming services this week. I rounded up a list of new stuff to watch, including the dark thriller "The Death of Robin Hood" and biopic "Tenzing."
Even more goodness to check out!
- WWE star Cody Rhodes stars in the action movie "Street Fighter," a role that realizes a dream his legendary father once had.
- If you missed it, director Greta Gerwig released a rockin' first trailer for her much-anticipated fantasy movie, "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew."
- There's been a backlash to potential Oscar contender "Fjord," and Sebastian Stan finds it "unfortunately predictable."
- The CBS show "Cupertino" is a good take on AI for a change.
- And Shane Gillis degraded women on this past week's "Saturday Night Live." Here's the case for why we're not collectively ticked off enough about it.
Got thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, compliments or maybe even some recs for me? Email btruitt@usatoday.com and follow me on the socials: I'm @briantruitt on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Austin Abrams' 'Whale' of a tale 🐳
