Movie of the Day: "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" (1964)

So, with today being Good Friday and Easter coming up on Sunday, we move on from the life of Moses to Jesus in our film selections. Jesus has always been, to say the least, a difficult role for any actor to take on, but Pier Paolo Pasolini's take on the story is one of the most celebrated interpretations of the gospels ever filmed. It is a very effective movie, filmed in a stark neo-realism style with amateur actors, minimal score, and only uses dialogue lifted straight from the gospel. This quasi-documentary approach is powerful image making, and I think it's really everything you would want to see if what you're looking for is the Bible story directly placed on film. Incredibly, famed Italian director Pasolini was an avowed atheist (and marxist of all things), but his reverence and faithfulness to the story as it's relayed in the gospel is pretty remarkable. The simplistic nature of the film leaves a deep impact.

Original 1964 Trailer:

TRAILER: "The Immigrant"

I'll admit that these period piece dramas are really up my alley, so I'm more inclined to like this kind of movie than your average person, I suppose. But it still looks good to me anyway. The Immigrant's been kicking around the festival circuit since last year where it debuted at Cannes, and now it's finally being released on May 16th. From James Gray, who directed We Own the Night and Two Lovers, it has a good cast (Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner) and has gotten positive reviews from those who've see it, which have been quite a lot over the last year.

TRAILER: "Jersey Boys"

Clint Eastwood's long awaited film version of the beloved Broadway musical is coming June 20th. There's nothing too remarkable about the trailer- it seems like a pretty straightforward adaptation, and like the James Brown biopic, this story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is guaranteed at least one thing in some great music. But we all know Eastwood's a competent director, so I'm sure he did a fine job with this. And having Christopher Walken in your movie is always an asset too.

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!