So, EW.com has dropped the first look at a bald Jesse Eisenberg as Superman nemesis Lex Luthor- what do you think? I'm having a hard time picturing him as threatening, to be honest. I keep imagining a borderline Aspergers-ish Mark Zuckerberg-style Lex, menacingly plugging away at his plan to hack into the world banks or something. That might be kinda funny- a new approach for Lex. To me, the best Lex Luthor to date was Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville- cool, calm, smoothly intelligent yet devious and subtly manipulative. They should have gotten him to do it for the movies.
TRAILER #2: "Entourage"
This new longer trailer for the Entourage movie kind of shows why it was easy to get sick of this show real fast. Aside from Jeremy Piven, who won three Emmys for it, the rest of it's not much of a comedy, but a chance to hang out with three douchebags who marvel in a Hollywood lifestyle you're supposed to wish you could be part of. It kinda gets icky when you realize you're rooting for no one on this show to succeed, ever.
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972)
Werner Herzog's trippy mindbender of a movie was released on blu-ray recently, and it's definitely worth seeing if you've never taken the ride. Herzog has always been known for his punishing shoots, but here he was working with an actor in Klaus Kinski, who many say was even crazier. Supposedly his manic behavior terrorized the cast and crew on set, but it led to a mesmerizing performance as the man who leads a group trek through the Andes in the 1500's on a pointless search for El Dorado. Over the course of the journey he's slowly driven mad and drives the others to ruin as well. This movie clearly had a major influence on Apocalypse Now and it's a cinematic experience you'll never forget, trust me.
Trailer:
REVIEW: "Wild Tales" (2014) Dir. Damian Szifron
Wild Tales is a raucous collection of outrageous shorts whose only common theme seems to be to strip down the oppression of society's expectations. Society in this case, refers to modern Argentinian society, which can inform some of the specifics of an occasional short, like the one about a guy enraged with the city's public parking policies, but many others are universal in nature, and always place the moviegoer in the shoes of the victim.
Damian Szifron wrote and directed this anthology movie, and the short stories he has come up with are always extreme, exaggerated, violent and utterly hilarious- this is essentially a black comedy, as all but one of the shorts wind up in various iterations of murder and gore, after a person who just "can't take it anymore," gives up on what they're expected to do and just goes with his/her gut, does what feels right, consequences be damned. In a funny way, that's the kind of thing that makes this film (which is the highest grossing in Argentina's history) the ultimate crowdpleaser- every action ultimately taken by one of the parties in a corresponding short ends up in a cathartic burst of wish fulfillment. Don't we all fantasize about lashing out in the most extreme way possible against the people who've wronged us, be they friends, acquaintances, lovers, or the government itself?
It may be unnecessary to describe the shorts individually- they are all less than twenty minutes and endlessly re-watchable in nature (you could even think of them as comedic Twilight Zone episodes). They each set up a scenario that leads to an overtly extreme reaction by a wronged party, a reaction so over the top and yet understandable, that by the time the segment reaches its conclusion you're laughing and cheering along in both horror and sympathy for what led to the decision made. There are elements of the surreal or sci-fi, thriller and coincidence in each perfectly crafted sequence, and yet the biggest favorite will likely prove to be "The Wedding," the climactic final segment in which a bride from hell gives Rosamund Pike's "gone girl" a run for her money in the psychopath department.
As outrageous as each short is, the movie as a whole is a finely tuned, well acted piece of uproarious entertainment that you can sit anyone down in front of and they'll enjoy it immensely. It's not hard to see why the film proved so popular in Argentina, and further, why it's done so well in limited release here in the U.S. despite losing the Foreign Language Film Oscar to Poland's Ida. Word of mouth will work its magic with this one for years to come, and so here's me doing my part to get the word out in what little way I can. See this movie and take some friends with you. It's the kind of film the phrase, "a great time at the movies" was made for.
* * * 1/2
TRAILER + POSTER: "Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation"
So I guess I jumped the gun yesterday with that teaser, because here comes the full trailer now, complete with the poster and everything. Looks kinda cool though, especially that last plane stunt, which you know is going to be awesome. Kinda funny how everyone from the last film is back except for Paula Patton. I guess the women in this series are as disposable as Bond Girls.
Poster:
TEASER: "Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation"
So, the new Mission: Impossible movie comes out with a teaser and a title today- looks just as nuts as ever, but will it be as big a hit as Ghost Protocol was a few years ago? The M:I movies seem to be the only ones audiences still accept Tom Cruise in these days, which is why he keeps making them. So he can't be thrilled that the new, critically raved Sundance documentary Going Clear, set to air on HBO at the end of the month, portrays him as a raving loon in its expose of Scientology. That's bound to see the whole "crazy/brainwashed Tom Cruise" story bubble up to the surface again. Rogue Nation comes out July 31st.
BOX OFFICE 3/20-3/22: 'Insurgent' Comes Out on Top; 'The Gunman' Fizzles
This week, the dreadfully reviewed teen YA novel sequel Insurgent opened with $54 million, a notch below the opening of the previous film, but tellingly, this one with 3D prices that the first movie didn't have. That means the audience was actually fewer people than the Divergent crowd, so this particular franchise doesn't seem to be all that exciting- it really is a low rent Hunger Games. It did pull in $110 million globally, so it's hardly a failure, but don't expect anyone to remember this movie existed in two weeks. In second place was Cinderella, which saw its majority female audience cut into a bit by Insurgent, as it fell 49% to earn $34 million from Friday to Sunday. Its worldwide total stands at $250 million, while it looks set to make over $200 million here in the States.
The rest of the top five fell far below the top two films, as new opener The Gunman, Sean Penn's would be Liam Neeson-esque action thriller really fell on its face, barely pulling in $5 million for fourth place. In fact, Neeson's film Run All Night came in third, just a hair ahead of it, although that movie's not really a hit either. Kingsman rounded out the top five, with another $4 million as its total nears $120 million.
Top 5:
- Insurgent- $54 million
- Cinderella- $34.6 million
- Run All Night- $5.12 million
- The Gunman- $5.01 million
- Kingsman: The Secret Service- $4.6 million
A couple of limited releases opened this weekend, first the Al Pacino film Danny Collins, which made $73k from five locations, and the horror film It Follows, which expanded to 32 screens for an estimated $352,000. Next up it's the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, against DreamWorks' animated flick Home, both of which are reported to be terrible, so it continues to be a long, ugly slog here at the box office this spring, with not a whole lot on the way before the next Avengers movie will likely break the bank on May 1st.
TRAILER: "Paper Towns"
Ok, so like clockwork, after last year's hit The Fault in Our Stars, here comes the next book adaptation from that same author John Green (looks like he's the new Nicholas Sparks at the moment). And this movie looks just as cheesy and schmaltzy as the last one, minus all the death stuff. It's amazing how one hit immediately sparks the frenzy of copycats.
TRAILER #2: "Ex Machina"
This second trailer for Ex Machina makes the movie look just as awesome as the first one did, and I'm excited to say that it just got great reviews out of the South by Southwest film festival in Austin this week. Everybody keep an eye out for this, which is coming out April 10th.
TEASER POSTER: "Spectre"
Huh. Well, if you're going to release a "teaser" poster for the new James Bond movie, you ought to tease something other than Daniel Craig facing the camera, don't you think? Still, I guess we all know that it's definitely "coming out" this year. After Skyfall, I can't wait, but the track record for two decent Bond movies in a row is very weak. I wouldn't say unprecedented, but for me it goes all the way back to the original trilogy, with From Russia With Love followed by Goldfinger. But with Skyfall director Sam Mended at the helm again, I suppose the odds are a bit higher this time. Spectre's coming out in November.
TRAILER: "Pixels"
The best thing I can say about a movie starring Adam Sandler is that it doesn't quite look like an "Adam Sandler movie." Other than that, it mostly looks...weird. Obviously it's meant to be a comedy, but a movie where humans are supposed to act out the Pac-Man video game in order to defeat giant Pac-Mans can't help but scream of product placement in the worst way. Still, because I love Peter Dinklage so much, I hope it turns out okay somehow.
Movie of the Day: "In America" (2002)
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm recommending this lovely, emotional film from 2002, which is from Jim Sheridan and is the semi-autobiographical story of an Irish family who emigrates to America in the early 1980's, and details their struggles to make it in New York City. This is a beautiful, heartfelt, very sentimental movie, but it works because of the truth of the story and the strength of the performances, especially from Samantha Morton as the fragile wife and mother, and Djimon Hounsou as the dying neighbor the family befriends (both were nominated for Oscars in 2003). Told through the eyes of the older daughter, this a genuinely moving film that will wring tears out of just about anyone.
Trailer:
