Here's the official photo of Henry Cavill's Supes from the new, ridiculously titled Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but for all the buzz this picture has created on the internet, I can't for the life of me see how he looks any different than he did in Man of Steel. In fact, when I first saw this photo I thought it was from the last movie. What do you think?
FIRST LOOK: "Exodus"
EW.com has the first set pictures from Ridley Scott's biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, coming out this December. It looks like they're doing the full scale Moses epic all right, check out all the crazy costumes. The cool thing about movies like The Ten Commandments though, was the way the directors actually had to film massive sets with thousands of extras mulling around. Here I'm sure it's all going to be CGI, just like it was in Gladiator. It just seems less impressive than what used to have to be done for movies like this.
TRAILER: "Gone Girl"
We finally have the full trailer for David Fincher's Gone Girl, and boy does this look good. One of the most anticipated movies of the year, based on Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel, Ben Affleck stars as a man accused of murdering his wife, played by Rosamund Pike (a British actress who's been around in small supporting parts in movies for years, now finally getting a chance to shine in a big role). Nobody does these creepy, procedural type thrillers like Fincher, and it doesn't even bother me about Affleck starring in it. Can't wait. Comes out October 3rd.
BOX OFFICE 7/04-7/06: 'Transformers' Takes the Weekend; 'Tammy' Falls Short
The 4th of July normally provides for a strong box office week, but not so this year, as it ended up the weakest holiday for movies in at least 15 years. Transformers came in at No. 1 again, with $36 million over the weekend, but fell a steep 63% from last week, and will undoubtedly turn out to be the lowest grossing film in the series (at least domestically- worldwide it's already made $400 million). It'll pass $200 million in the U.S., but not much more than that, so maybe there's hope for humanity after all. In second place was the Melissa McCarthy vehicle Tammy, which got extremely poor reviews (23% Rotten Tomatoes score) and a terrible "C+" Cinemascore, which likely means it'll be on its way out in just a few weeks, although it didn't do that badly, bringing in $21 million over the weekend and $32 million over the five day frame, almost enough to beat Transformers. You can thank Melissa McCarthy's star power for that, even though it did fail to live up to the studio's higher expectations.
The horror film Deliver Us From Evil landed at No. 3, earning just $9.5 million, while 22 Jump Street and How to Train Your Dragon 2 filled out the rest of the top five, bringing their respective totals to $158 million and $140 million each. Meanwhile, Maleficent's legs remain strong, having now made $213 million total, and will probably pass X-Men: Days of Future Past soon, and Edge of Tomorrow crossed $90 million, perhaps slowly making its way over that $100 million threshold.
Top 5:
- Transformers: Age of Extinction- $36.4 million
- Tammy- $21.2 million
- Deliver Us From Evil- $9.5 million
- 22 Jump Street- $9.4 million
- How to Train Your Dragon 2- $8.75 million
In limited release things looked a bit rosier, especially for Weinstein Company films, as Begin Again expanded to 175 screens and earned $1.3 million, bringing its total to $1.8 million and showing real strength as it received an "A-" Cinemascore and will expand even further to 800 screens next week. Snowpiercer didn't do as well in 242 theaters, making just under $1 million, but it's still decent for an unusual film that was barely promoted by its distributor. And Jon Favreau's Chef continues to coast, now having made over $22 million and on its way to $30, despite losing screens in its third month of release. Next week should be bigger, as the spectacularly reviewed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes comes out, along with Richard Linklater's long-awaited Boyhood in limited release, the start of a slate of several buzzed about indie films that will be trickling out for the rest of the summer.
10 Movies to Celebrate the Fourth of July
In honor of the new month, here are ten great movies to celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend, and all are great American films that pay tribute to the spirit of the U.S.A. From wartime 1940's classics like Yankee Doodle Dandy and Casablanca to 70's hits Rocky and All the President's Men, there's a wide range of options to choose from, including the epic 7-part HBO miniseries John Adams, that documents the Revolutionary War and founding of the country. You can binge this weekend or celebrate all month long- just head over to the July Movie page to check out our picks, now complete with full original trailers (or if not available, scenes from the film). Happy Independence Day, everybody!
TRAILER: "Before I Go to Sleep"
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.
