A much more powerful trailer for this late breaking film that probably gives a better impression of the actual movie. This has been building buzz recently after a very successful early press screening where it drew comparisons to Black Hawk Down, so we may have another Oscar contender on our hands. It's a true story and the first film made about the war in Afghanistan, coming out Dec 27th.
FEATURETTE: "Saving Mr. Banks"
This behind the scenes featurette takes a look at the story of the film and how hard it was to get made, with interviews from the cast and crew.
TRAILER #2: "RoboCop"
Already there's a second trailer for the new RoboCop, coming out February 12th. Surprisingly, the movie doesn't look that bad to me, although trailers can often be very different from the eventual movies. Still, I like that they're keeping the kind of black humor the original had.
Oscar Roundup: Best Supporting Actor
This week we look at the contenders for Supporting Actor, which is a very wide open race, probably the most open of the top six categories. So open in fact, that there may not even be a single lock yet among all the candidates, so we'll just go through them one by one.
First up it's Michael Fassbender, who's gotten the most buzz for his role as the alcoholic and power mad slaveowner Master Epps in 12 Years a Slave. Comparisons to Ralph Fiennes' Nazi in Schindler's List have been made, and he would seem the closest thing to a lock right now, if it weren't for his recent public statement that he will not be campaigning for the Oscar. Not everyone has to campaign, sometimes the performances are good enough to win without it (Monique in Precious is the most famous example), but it always helps, especially if there is any hesitance over the performance. But whether there is or not with this one is an unknown right now.
Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club is another heavy favorite, having gotten pretty ecstatic reviews for the film, along with its lead, Matthew McConaughey. He plays a drag queen, Rayon, in a scene stealing, highly flamboyant role that seems designed for Oscar attention, and he could even be favored to win, if nominated. There have been some naysayers over the performance who say it's a little too campy, but the Oscars usually love flashy, so I doubt that'll be a problem for them.
And after those two it's a pretty open field. There's Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks, who's gotten some good notices ahead of the film's opening, he may be able to get double nodded this year for Banks and Captain Phillips. There's Daniel Bruhl, who got fantastic reviews for Rush a couple of months ago, but the movie was pretty much a bomb here in the States, we'll have to see if anyone remembers him at the critics awards, or at least the Baftas. There's newcomer Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips, who may be able to sneak in for a great turn as the Somali pirate ringleader.
Then there's George Clooney, who could manage a nod for Gravity if the movie's beloved enough by the voters, and Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street, which hasn't opened yet, but it looks as if he could be a scene stealer in it. American Hustle, also not out yet, will have last year's Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper in a supporting role that might grab attention. And the last couple relative longshots (although everyone mentioned here stands more or less an equal chance) are Will Forte for Nebraska and Steve Coogan for Philomena.
It's tough to predict a field of five here at the moment. The critics awards may or may not clear things up, as last year's supporting actor category was a similar situation, with a slightly different mix of five people appearing at just about every precursor ceremony from the Globes through the Oscars. It looks like this year could be the same, with at least ten likely nominees to draw from. Here's my best guess for right now:
1. Michael Fassbender
2. Jared Leto
3. Tom Hanks
4. Daniel Bruhl
5. Barkhad Abdi
I do have a feeling about Jonah Hill for some reason, I just can't actually predict someone for a movie that hasn't been seen by anyone yet. But if he pans out, he'd probably replace Bruhl or Abdi. Next week, we'll take a look at the Best Director race as it stands right now.
November Movies Are Here
Happy November everyone! This month usually means one thing- Thanksgiving, at least for us Americans. But for movie choices, that holiday only gives us a handful of great films that celebrate the day- seriously, it's hard to find more than five without getting into perennials like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. So we'll cover that in the last week of the month and our Movie of the Day series, and our picks for November will instead be for Veteran's Day, which is next Monday and provides us with a gluttony of war movies to choose from. The criteria is wars that we still have living veterans from, so from WWII to the present day, we have ten classic war movies that you should definitely check out this month. Check out the Movies for Every Month page for the November description and click here for the list of ten. Happy movie watching!
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
This week's blu-ray pick is William Wyler's drama about WWII vets struggling to readjust after coming home. It was the first movie to tackle this subject, and still probably the best. It was also a smash hit at the time it came out, and swept the Oscars that year as well. Filled with great acting from Fredric March (who won Best Actor), Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, and real life vet and Supporting Actor winner Harold Russell, this is a timely release with Veteran's Day just next Monday. It's a very emotional and heartbreaking film, you owe it to yourself to see it.
Original 1946 Trailer:
People's Choice Award Nominees- Movies
The People's Choice Award nominations were just announced. You can vote for your favorite by going to the people's choice website. I don't know who votes for these things (teenagers?), but yikes at some of those nominees. I assume Iron Man will be the winner in a bunch of these categories. The other thing to take away from this? Channing Tatum (3 nods) and Sandra Bullock (5 nods) are both very popular with "the people," whoever they are. Here are the movie choices:
Favorite Movie:
- Despicable Me 2
- Fast and Furious 6
- Iron Man 3
- Monsters University
- Star Trek Into Darkness
Favorite Movie Actor:
- Channing Tatum
- Hugh Jackman
- Johnny Depp
- Leonardo Dicaprio
- Robert Downey, Jr.
Favorite Movie Actress:
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Jennifer Aniston
- Melissa McCarthy
- Sandra Bullock
- Scarlett Johansson
Favorite Movie Duo:
- Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness)
- Jennifer Aniston & Jason Sudeikis (We're the Millers)
- Robert Downey Jr. & Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man 3)
- Sandra Bullock & George Clooney (Gravity)
- Sandra Bullock & Melissa McCarthy (The Heat)
Favorite Action Movie:
- Fast & Furious 6
- Iron Man 3
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- The Wolverine
- World War Z
Favorite Action Movie Star:
- Brad Pitt (World War Z)
- Channing Tatum (White House Down)
- Hugh Jackman (The Wolverine)
- Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man 3)
- Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious 6)
Favorite Comedic Movie:
- Grown Ups 2
- The Hangover Part III
- The Heat
- Instructions Not Included
- We're the Millers
Favorite Comedic Movie Actor:
- Adam Sandler (Grown Ups 2)
- Bradley Cooper (The Hangover Part III)
- Chris Rock (Grown Ups 2)
- James Franco (This is the End)
- Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover Part III)
Favorite Comedic Movie Actress:
- Emma Watson (This is the End)
- Jennifer Aniston (We're the Millers)
- Melissa McCarthy (The Heat)
- Sandra Bullock (The Heat)
- Scarlett Johansson (Don Jon)
Favorite Dramatic Movie:
- Captain Phillips
- Gravity
- The Great Gatsby
- Lee Daniels' The Butler
- Prisoners
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actor:
- Channing Tatum (Side Effects)
- Chris Hemsworth (Rush)
- Hugh Jackman (Prisoners)
- Leonardo Dicaprio (The Great Gatsby)
- Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad)
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress:
- Amy Adams (Man of Steel)
- Emma Stone (Gangster Squad)
- Halle Berry (The Call)
- Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels' The Butler)
- Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Favorite Family Movie:
- Despicable Me 2
- Monsters University
- Oz the Great and Powerful
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
- The Smurfs 2
Favorite Horror Movie:
- Carrie
- The Conjuring
- Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
- Insidious: Chapter 2
- Mama
Favorite Thriller Movie:
- A Good Day to Die Hard
- The Call
- Now You See Me
- Red 2
- White House Down
TRAILER #3: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
More Hobbit news today, as this new trailer/sneak peek comes on the heels of the poster this afternoon. Yay, Legolas is back!
TRAILER: "Bettie Page Reveals All"
Mark Mori's upcoming documentary about the life of Bettie Page, the notorious pin-up model, has the notable distinction of being narrated by the woman herself. The film comes out in limited release Nov 22nd.
POSTER: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
Brand new poster for The Hobbit, coming out December 13th!
BOX OFFICE 11/01-11/03: 'Ender's Game' Tops With OK Numbers
Orson Scott Card's famous novel finally made it to the big screen this weekend, as Ender's Game debuted with $28 million, a so-so opening for a movie that cost about $110 million to make. The film played to a make audience mostly over the age of 25 and received a "B+" Cinemascore, so it's final gross may be a bit underwhelming. In second place was Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, which fell a pretty soft 36%, pulling in another $20 million and ensuring that a Jackass movie may actually make over $100 million, as its gross stands today at a healthy $62 million.
In third was Last Vegas, otherwise known as The Hangover for seniors, as the comedy starring four Oscar winners earned $16.5 million and an "A-" from its mostly over 45 audience. That particular crowd has few movies targeting them, so this could play well over the next month and potentially earn $60 million total, which is pretty good for a small comedy with a fairly low budget. And the other new release, the animated film Free Birds, came in fourth with $16 million, which is pretty low for a family movie, but another one that could hold up the way Planes did for so long, due to a lack of competition until Disney's Frozen opens at Thanksgiving.
Top 5:
- Ender's Game- $28 million
- Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa- $20.5 million
- Last Vegas- $16.5 million
- Free Birds- $16.2 million
- Gravity- $13.1 million
In the holdovers, Gravity fell its first pretty steep week to week drop, as it lost a lot of IMAX screens to Ender's Game, and now looks to finish with at least $250 million. In limited release news, 12 Years a Slave continues its successful expansion by Fox Searchlight, as it opened in more theaters and came in with $4.6 million, so the word of mouth on that one is clearly pretty strong. Next up it's Marvel's Thor: The Dark World, which has already made a killing overseas and is expected to open well here too.
SPECIAL ANIME REVIEW: "Iron Man: Rise of Technovore" (2013) Dir. Hiroshi Hamasaki
Iron Man: Rise of Technovore is an anime movie made as a follow up of sorts to the 2010 Iron Man anime series. It’s the second time that Marvel and the animation studio Madhouse have teamed up to tackle the golden avenger, but this time with a different writer, director, and team. Having seen and enjoyed the 12-episode anime, I was looking forward to watching this movie. Aside from the music and cast however, no other connection to the series can be found. In fact, they make more connections to the live action franchise than anything else.
The story opens with Iron Man (Keiji Fujiwara) and War Machine (Hiroki Yasumoto) goofing around in their armors prior to Tony’s press release concerning his new “Howard” satellite. It’s meant to watch over the entire planet in an effort to protect people from danger, and the media is in an uproar over its potential for invading privacy. Rightfully so. There’s never a clear response for this from Tony unfortunately (I would have liked to hear his defense of it), as the site is attacked by a group of armored goons. They’re in the service of Ezekiel Stane (Miyu Irino), the deranged son of Obadiah Stane, and he’s out to destroy the planet. Why? It’s not really clear. Something about technology…I don’t know.
It’s easy to discuss what’s good about this movie because there’s not much. First of all, the animation is quite nice. The characters and their armors all have interesting designs, particularly the shape shifting Technovore armor that Zeke wears. We also get a large variety of Marvel heroes, like War Machine, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and even the Punisher. That’s right, the Punisher’s in this, too. The action is fast paced and frantic, making the Iron Man armor seem incredibly powerful and advanced. To match this, the original Japanese cast (those from the series reprised their roles) is quite good and sound fitting for the characters.
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie can’t back up how nice it looks. The plot is paper thin, and the characters are about half that deep. After seeing quite a few of them now, it’s safe to say that Iron Man stories tend to work the best when they’re about Tony Stark. He’s an incredibly complex and fascinating character to dissect and learn more about. It’s a shame nobody told Brandon Auman, the guy who wrote this story, because Iron Man is just an action stand in here. He’s a cartoon version of the human character most have come to know, stripped down to his bare basics, being bad one liners and plot convenient intelligence.
If the plot were at all intriguing, maybe they could get away with this. Perhaps by having an interesting and dangerous villain to make up the difference. No luck here, either. Ezekiel Stane is modified from the comics to be a generic young anime villain, seeking to destroy all mankind for the sake of his vague and lofty ideals. He spews pretentious dialogue devoid of greater meaning, often to a woman that’s never explained. Who was she? Why did she hang around with this creep? I guess we’ll never know.
The rest of the cast is just as bland, with Hawkeye (Shuuhei Sakaguchi) and Black Widow (Miyuki Shawashiro) serving as meaningless foils to Iron Man who’s on the run. Why S.H.E.I.L.D. spends so much time and money trying to bring in Iron Man is beyond me. It’s a flimsy excuse for more mind numbing action scenes that don’t need to be there. If they would have just helped Iron Man find the bad guys instead of impeding his progress at every turn, the movie would have been over twice as fast. The time wasted on these would have been better served developing the characters; getting them invested in what’s going on. Maybe they could have found something substantial for War Machine to do, instead of removing him from the majority of the movie. Or giving a better excuse for Iron Man and the Punisher, two characters on pretty opposite sides of the superhero spectrum, to team up. This is probably wishful thinking on my part, because the awkward script prevents the dialogue from making any of these characters matter.
Iron Man: Rise of Technovore is a mediocre and generic foray into anime that had me wanting to just go back and watch the far superior show. Despite the nice animation, its visual success is dwarfed by the simplistic and uninteresting plot, wooden dialogue, bland villain, and excessive action.
