After co-starring together in last year's barely seen The Railway Man, Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth team up again for this thriller about a woman who can only remember one day's events before losing her memory all over again (kind of like Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates). It's based on a best-selling novel and it actually looks like it might be good, as far as thrillers go. Not familiar with this director at all though, so we'll see. It's coming out Sept 12th.
TRAILER: "Jimi: All is By My Side"
This Jimi Hendrix biopic, written and directed by John Ridley (who just won the Oscar for writing 12 Years a Slave), focuses on his early days in London in 1966 and '67, before he made it big in America. It also has a pretty big problem in that it wasn't able to actually use any of Jimi Hendrix's music, but it looks like they tried to get by as best they could with a similar sound. It's hard to imagine how that would work in the movie though. Andre Benjamin plays Hendrix (Andre 3000 from Outkast) and he actually looks pretty good here. The film's coming out September 26th.
TEASER: "Horrible Bosses 2"
Three years after the first movie got surprisingly decent reviews and turned into a sleeper hit (as hard as it is to do a comedy, it's really hard to do a black comedy), the sequel's now coming out November 29th. Everybody seems to be returning for it, so maybe lightning can strike twice, although that's harder with comedies too (just look at the Hangover movies).
TRAILER: "St. Vincent"
Bill Murray stars in a flat out comedy here, which is something he hasn't done in a long time (maybe since Rushmore?), while Melissa McCarthy plays down her usual persona (probably a good idea, seeing as Tammy just got slaughtered by critics). But, I don't know, I 'm not sold. How many times have we seen the curmudgeonly old guy brought out of his shell by a sweet kid? The most sentiment I can handle in this area goes back to About a Boy. This one looks pretty sappy. It's coming out October 24th.
TEASER #2: "Foxcatcher"
Another teaser trailer for Foxcatcher focuses on Channing Tatum again, just like the new poster. Looks like they think that's the way to sell a dark, depressing character study that by all reports isn't going to make anyone happy leaving the theater. But I can't wait to see it, as this teaser also plays up the intensity, turning it into disturbing suspense.
Paul Mazursky 1930-2014
Oscar-nominated writer-director Paul Mazursky died today at age 84. He was responsible for an acclaimed filmography of 1970's and 80's films that garnered him the label of a "West Coast Woody Allen." His most notable movies were Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Harry and Tonto (1974), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), An Unmarried Woman (1978, nominated for Best Picture), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and Enemies, A Love Story (1989, my favorite). His four Oscar nominations for writing were for Bob & Carol, Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman and Enemies. From 2011 until his death he served as a film critic for Vanity Fair.
Jill Clayburgh was nominated for Best Actress for An Unmarried Woman in 1978, one of the movies that heralded the women's movement of the 70's and 80s. Here's the original trailer:
And here's the one for Harry and Tonto, a sweet road movie that won The Honeymooners' Art Carney a Best Actor Oscar in 1974:
Adam Levine Sings "Lost Stars"
The video for the big song from Begin Again came out yesterday and I'm already kind of in love with it. Written by former New Radicals (remember them?) frontman Gregg Alexander and performed by Keira Knightley in the movie, but this is the studio produced, official release version, and I have to say I think it's definitely the best one. In fact, I'd be willing to bet money right now that this is our Best Song winner at next year's Oscars.
TRAILER: "Dracula Untold"
A very silly looking new Dracula is set to come out October 17th. Supposedly this is the story about the guy who would become the Dracula myth, but it looks kind of like a bland ancient warfare kind of movie to me. That Luke Evans guy doesn't look very good either. They've got to get somebody charismatic and charming for Dracula, not someone who looks like he was rejected from Game of Thrones.
Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie among Forbes' Most Powerful Actresses
Forbes has released its list of the ten most powerful actresses in Hollywood, according to earnings and fame over the last year:
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Sandra Bullock
- Angelina Jolie
- Scarlett Johansson
- Jennifer Aniston
- Amy Adams
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Meryl Streep
- Cameron Diaz
- Natalie Portman
Pretty unsurprising bunch, except for Natalie Portman. Really, why is she on this list? Because of the last Thor movie? Everyone else makes sense though. Jennifer Lawrence also ranked 12th overall on Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list, making her the highest ranked actress. Not bad for a 23 year old, huh?
POSTER: "Foxcatcher"
The poster for Foxcatcher, the Cannes hit and early Oscar favorite from Capote and Moneyball director Bennett Miller, puts Channing Tatum front and center (even though Steve Carell is by most accounts the star of this movie). I have to say, it's not really a great picture of him,either. Couldn't they have had one with him making less of a squiggly face?
TRAILER: "The Skeleton Twins"
The Bill Hader/Kristen Wiig sibling dramedy from Sundance is coming out September 19th and it looks really good. Bill Hader especially got raves out of the festival but he and Kristen Wiig have had great chemistry together ever since their days on Saturday Night Live (as part of a cast I would now do anything to get back, believe it or not). Can't wait to see this.
BOX OFFICE 6/27-6/29: 'Transformers' Dominates with $100 Million Opening
Unsurprisingly, the fourth entry in the series that just won't quit, leapt to the front of the pack this week and pulled off the biggest opening of the year, with just over $100 million from Friday to Sunday. The abysmally reviewed Transformers movie (17% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) got an "A-" Cinemascore from the audience and played to a crowd that was 64% male and also 72% over 18 amusingly, so you can lay the blame for the appeal of this franchise not on kids but on young men who can't get enough incomprehensible, meaningless CG action in their lives (is it a video game kind thing, maybe? I don't know). The movie also brought in a massive haul from overseas, earning $201 million from 37 countries, $90 million in China alone, which happens to be an opening weekend record there. So, don't count on an ending to this series any time soon.
Meanwhile 22 Jump Street came in second for a total of $138 million so far, while How to Train Your Dragon 2 continues to underperform, having earned just $121 million after three weeks in release. Look like the family audience just didn't want to bite on this one, despite the popularity of the first along with stellar reviews. Think Like a Man Too fell to fourth with $10 million over the weekend (a lot of Kevin Hart's movies seem to have big openings with little to no staying power after that), while Maleficent made another $8 million, bringing its total over $200 million domestically, and its global take to an enormous $585 million.
Top 5:
- Transformers: Age of Extinction- $100 million
- 22 Jump Street- $15.4 million
- How to Train Your Dragon 2- $13.1 million
- Think Like a Man Too- $10.4 million
- Maleficent- $8.23 million
In limited release world, the two openers from The Weinstein Company both got off to a strong start this weekend, with Snowpiercer and Begin Again earning a $20k and $29k per screen average, respectively, on just 8 and 5 screens. Begin Again's expanding over the next couple weeks and has a decent shot at becoming a breakout hit with people looking for counter-programming this summer, while hopefully Snowpiercer can earn enough to justify expanding wider, but we'll see. Next week it's the horror movie Deliver Us From Evil and Melissa McCarthy's comedy Tammy, along with the alien flick Earth to Echo and the Roger Ebert documentary Life, Itself in limited release.
