Movie of the Day: "The Prince of Egypt" (1998)

Continuing on with our Moses movies, this animated musical from 1998 happens to be my favorite one. Dreamworks was just entering the animation game in the late '90s, and though this particular film doesn't feel anything like what would later become their staple in animation, to this day I think it's one of their best movies. The story of Exodus is taken pretty seriously here, and re-imagined in a way that sees Moses and Rameses as brothers who actually loved each other before their big falling out. A star studded cast provides the voiceover work (Val Kilmer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Ralph Fiennes), the animation style is different and interesting to look at, and the songs were actually memorable and catchy. Even though The Ten Commandments remains the quintessential Moses story, The Prince of Egypt really works as a kind of joyful companion piece, imbued with a genuinely spiritual vibe.

Trailer:

TRAILER: "Maps to the Stars"

Speaking of Robert Pattinson, here he is again in David Cronenberg's latest, just confirmed to be headed to the Cannes Film Festival and slated for a prime in competition slot. Mia Wasikowska and Julianne Moore look to be more the stars in this one though. Cronenberg is incapable of making an uninteresting movie, and this one seems filled with his usual twisted, dark sensibilities. Although it's little ambiguous, it looks like it's some kind of Hollywood satire at its core. I can't wait (despite the R-Patz factor), and hey if they thought it was good enough for Cannes then that's got to be a good sign.

TRAILER: "The Rover"

Australian director David Michod's Mad Max-ish new film The Rover is coming out June 13th. Michod directed 2010's Animal Kingdom, which was a great movie, and Guy Pearce is in this one as well, which is always a good thing. Can't so much say the same about Robert Pattinson, who I have yet to see give a decent performance. Kinda baffles me that he's managed to get all these parts in would-be prestigious projects lately- I'm sorry but the guy can't act to save his life. Even in this he looks like he's struggling with the accent, and if anything he should have a leg up on that because he's a Brit! Oh, well- we'll see if the movie can overcome what looks like a fairly significant role for him here.

Movie of the Day: "The Ten Commandments" (1956)

In light of the religious holidays this week, our Movie of the Day series is back to celebrate Easter and Passover accordingly. We'll start with Passover, as the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille film remains the quintessential "life of Moses" story to this day. Charlton Heston is the chosen one of course, and the great Yul Brynner is his brother/enemy Rameses, with Anne Baxter slinking around in about a million sparkly wardrobe changes as Nfretiri. This is one long movie (nearly 4 hours), but it's such a great example of the kind of biblical "event" epic they just don't make anymore. It has the works- a cast of thousands (they had to do the real thing with no CGI available), crazy costumes, heavy-handed acting, the booming score...even an introduction from DeMille himself. It's a classic for a reason and always worth watching again this Passover week. We'll see if Ridley Scott's upcoming Exodus (coming out at Christmas) with Christian Bale as Moses, can top it but somehow I doubt it, don't you?

Trailer:

FINAL TRAILER: "X-Men: Days of Future Past"

The third and final trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 23rd) is here, and it's a doozy all right. Third trailers are usually rehashes of other clips they've already shown, but this one's different- it might even show too much of what's happening. But I have a question- why is the young Charles Xavier walking around in this movie? We did see him get shot and paralyzed in First Class, right? I'd also like to know why young Beast looks like Nicholas Hoult again- he's not supposed to be able to change his shape back and forth like Mystique is he?

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Breaking the Waves" (1996)

This is rough movie for a lot of people, but it's an incredibly powerful cinematic experience with an astonishing performance from Emily Watson (who was rightfully nominated for this). Lars Von Trier's movies are always intense and heavygoing, and this one is no exception, but the overall effect is devastating. Watson is a woman with a childlike mental capacity who will do anything to please her husband (Stellan Skarsgard), even if he may not be in his right mind in what he's asking her to do. Set in the bleak hills of Scotland and to a 1970's soundtrack, this may not be for everyone but you should at least try it out and see if works on you the way it did on me.

Trailer:

TRAILER + POSTER: "Gone Girl"

The trailer and poster for David Fincher's Gone Girl dropped today. One of the most anticipated movies of the year and placed in a prime release date for awards attention (Oct 3rd), we could be looking at our first Oscar contender, people. Starring Ben Affleck (who seemed to use his Oscar win for Argo to get himself back to being cast as a leading man in other people's movies- so much for that directing talent) and Rosamund Pike in her first lead role after many years in supporting performances (Pride and Prejudice, Die Another Day, An Education). That is if it's a lead- according to the trailer she may have a smaller part, but we'll see. It's hard to tell from this- it's going to look good at least, but all of Fincher's movies have that aspect down. This is based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, so I'm looking forward to it.

Here's the poster:

Conan Hosts MTV Movie Awards; Hunger Games wins Best Movie

Well, there you have it- Hunger Games takes the big stuff, no surprise of course, while We're the Millers is apparently the most popular comedy with the MTV crowd, whoever that is these days. Conan was kind of a dud as MC though, which is too bad, since he used to be such a great Emmy host, but whatever. These awards are basically an irrelevant stage for promoting summer movie trailers now anyway. Half the stars don't even show up- case in point Jennifer Lawrence, who won Best Female Performance for the third year in a row and has so far failed to attend even once.

2014 MTV Movie Awards winners:

Best Scared-as-Shit Performance: Brad Pitt, World War Z
Best On-Screen Transformation: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Comedic Performance: Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Villain: Mila Kunis, Oz the Great and Powerful
Best Shirtless Performance: Zac Efron, That Awkward Moment
Best Kiss: Emma Roberts, Jennifer Aniston & Will Poulter, We're the Millers
Best Male Performance: Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Best Female Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Best Fight: Orlando Bloom & Evangeline Lilly, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Best Cameo: Rihanna, This is the End
Best Musical Moment: Backstreet Boys, This is the End
Best Movie: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Breakthrough Performance: Will Poulter, We're the Millers
Best On-Screen Duo: Vin Diesel & Paul Walker, Fast and Furious 6
Best WTF Moment: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Hero: Henry Cavill, Man of Steel
Favorite Character: "Tris" (Shailene Woodley), Divergent
MTV Trailblazer Award: Channing Tatum
MTV Generation Award: Mark Wahlberg

BOX OFFICE 4/11-4/13: 'Captain America' Tops 'Rio' in a Close Weekend

Captain America 2 led the charge again this weekend, dropping about 56% to retain the title with $41 million in receipts. It's now totaled $159 million (the first movie only made $172 million overall) while its overseas grosses amount to a huge $476 million. Rio 2 was the kid's choice this week, as it opened to $39 million, exactly the same as Rio back in 2011. It got a great "A" Cinemascore from audiences despite mixed-negative reviews from critics (51% Rotten Tomatoes), so expect it to stick around as the family movie of choice for the next few weeks.

Oculus, the low budget horror movie from the studio Relativity, opened with $12 million and an awful "C" Cinemascore, so expect that to drop like a rock, while Kevin Costner's Draft Day also flopped, earning just under $10 million despite being aggressively targeted at sports fans who follow the ins and outs of the NFL (this movie was essentially trying to be a kind of Moneyball-lite). Divergent rounded out the top 5, beating Noah (which now looks like it may not top $100 million after all) and bringing its global total to $175 million.

Top 5:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier- $41.4 million
Rio 2- $39 million
Oculus- $12 million
Draft Day- $9.5 million
Divergent- $7.5 million

In limited release, Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive did fairly well, opening with $97,000 from just 4 screens, and The Grand Budapest Hotel continues to be an indie sensation, still in the top ten after six weeks and now the first Wes Anderson movie ever to cross $100 million worldwide. Next week it's Johnny Depp in the sci-fi thriller Transcendence, the next Disney wildlife documentary Bears, and Marlon Wayans in Haunted House 2. See you then!

REVIEW: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson. Dir. Joe and Anthony Russo

Having been thoroughly underwhelmed by the most recent Thor movie, I was a bit trepidatious to say the least, about seeing the newest Captain America squel. However, I'm happy to say that my fears were quelled pretty quickly, as aside from a weak climax in the third act (they've got to figure out to fix that continuing problem at some point), The Winter Soldier is a highly enjoyable, highly relevant sequel that features some strong new characters and makes the most of a well written, dare I say clever, screenplay that leaves one foot firmly rooted in reality. That's a big difference, and it makes the movie stand out from any other Marvel movie since the first Iron Man, even more so than The Avengers.

Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, once again played by Chris Evans, is still working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but mostly because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't, as he admits in the movie to his new pal Sam (soon to be knows as Cap's sidekick The Falcon and played by the charismatic Anthony Mackie). Since we didn't get around to his lingering mental state in the last Avengers movie, this is the one that deals with Steve's adjustment to life in the 21st century, as he must catch up on all the history and social changes (along with pop culture) that he missed, and pay a visit to his one time love Peggy Carter, now 95 years old and suffering from senility. It's mildly depressing for him, but most disturbing of all is the way S.H.I.E.L.D. fights its battles, which as Cap soon learns is hardly the straightforward, honest way the Greatest Generation fought the Nazis once upon a time.

In a nod to the new age of intelligence we live in, the agency partly founded by Peggy after World War II has a new goal to prevent crime before it occurs, and uses drones and advanced spying mechanisms to invade privacy in order to do so. Cap's not so into this new style weaponry and insists this is not the kind of freedom he fought for during the war years. Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ambiguities are part of a larger plot by Senator Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford, having fun in a villainous role) to infiltrate the government, and the more complicated the complexities weave, the more The Winter Soldier feels like something of a throwback to the kind of anti-government conspiracy thrillers Redford himself starred in in the 1970's (perhaps that's why he signed on?)

The low key conspiracy feel lasts a good two thirds of the movie and helps with the action scenes, which consist of some exciting chase sequences and up close fights, but mostly with guns and not giant Iron Men and Hulks. Yes, Captain America is a supersoldier but Superman he is not, and this allows others to get in on the action too, as Cap can't handle everything by himself. Mackie's Falcon gets to play a role, Cobie Smulders returns as Director Nick Fury's right hand woman, and Fury himself gets his best part ever in these movies, finally making use of Samuel L. Jackson's considerable screen presence as he gets some meaty scenes to play.

And that's leaving out the best piece of the ensemble, which is Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, also finally getting a part worthy of her being called an Avenger. Former KGB agent Natasha Romanoff is teamed up with Captain America as his only ally when S.H.I.E.L.D's corruption is exposed, and the two share a flirty chemistry throughout the film that's a fun change from the male dominated world of the Marvel movies in general. Black Widow's significant role in the action is a welcome sight to behold, as Natalie Portman's Jane is pretty pathetic in the Thor movies, and Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper doesn't do much either besides banter with Tony. I'm not quite sure if Johansson's character could carry her own movie yet, but after her part in this one I could at least start to imagine it.

As for The Winter Soldier himself, getting into that storyline (there are lots of overlapping subplots in this movie) would require some major spoilage, but suffice it to say he's a big part of the weak action climax near the end of the film, and after a refreshing 2/3 of an action movie that didn't feel factory assembled, the ending fight scenes, unfortunately, were highly familiar to the point of cliche. Happily, that's not enough to diminish my appreciation for the rest of the film, and it surprises me to say that the Captain America franchise so far has been the only one to hit the nail on the head twice in a row. This is a film that simultaneously stands more on its own than any of the other Marvel entries, and whose aftereffects will be felt in the Marvel Universe for all future movies to come. Wrapping all those layers together, along with some good characters, a dash of romance and just a hint of commentary related to real world military industrial complexes, and you've got yourself a very solid pre-summer action movie that's well worth your time.

* * *

TRAILER #2: "How to Train Your Dragon 2"

Loved the first HTTYD, and hope the second one's just as good. Looks like it, as this new trailer sells the family drama of Hiccup's reunion with his long lost mother (Cate Blanchett, fresh off her Oscar win) over the action of all the flying dragons (we already know that stuff's going to be great). The first one was one of Dreamworks' best animated movies- with any luck the sequel could be one of this year's best as well. It's coming out Jun 13th and is the second in a planned trilogy, which is actually attempting to do something quite different for animated films, and that's age the characters as the movies progress. You can already see in this one that the teenagers from the first film are now young adults- and that's something they rarely (if ever?) do in animation, so it'll be interesting to see how that works out.

TEASER: "Wish I Was Here"

Right off the bat, the very fact of this movie's existence is kind of icky. For his first feature film as a director since Garden State, Zach Braff used Kickstarter funds to get it made and raised nearly $3 million, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and for good reason. It's one thing when a cult property like Veronica Mars, which would never have been made otherwise, uses crowdsourcing, but you're telling me Zach Braff, actor, producer and occasional director of the very long-running sitcom Scrubs, could somehow not manage to get this extremely low-budget, personal film produced without the money of ordinary people? But he did it anyway, and it was received at Sundance to some pretty lousy reviews (although the pre-existing ill will towards it couldn't have helped), and is now coming out in July. It does look kind of self-indulgent and annoying (although you could make the case that Garden State walked that line as well):