Ian McKellen takes an aging Sherlock Holmes back into the field one more time in this new, somewhat more interesting look at Mr. Holmes, coming out in July. This might be something of a surprise this summer- it doesn't look too bad actually, and McKellen can be a great actor when given the right role, as we all know.
Chris Pratt Tracks Dinos in New Look at 'Jurassic World'
There's a couple of callbacks to the original in this new trailer for Jurassic World, but mostly it looks kinda silly. I still think the novelty factor is completely gone for this series- once you've seen three Jurassic Park movies, what more can you do with it, really? Unless you go for something totally wacky, like humans teaming up with intelligent dinosaurs to go after wild ones or something, but that'd just up the silliness even more.
'Fantastic Four' Reveal Themselves in New Trailer
Could this movie look any more generic if it tried? Talk about boring- there's nothing special about this trailer, in tone, story, look, anything. I'm also sensing a really low energy level with this cast- none of the jokes look delivered with any spark. Not looking forward to this one. I bet it's going to be the bomb of the superhero movies this summer.
BOX OFFICE 4/17-4/19: 'Furious' Tops Once More; 'Paul Blart' Comes in 2nd
Furious 7 held off Paul Blart 2 to come in first for the third weekend in a row, with a $29 million haul, falling 51% from last week. It's on its way to pass $300 million soon, while internationally it zoomed past the $1 billion mark in 17 days, the fastest movie to do so. While its domestic gross was relatively frontloaded, similar to the performance of the previous films, the overseas total is just astonishing. Seriously, what's the appeal? The fact that this franchise can break the record for fastest to $1 billion on its seventh time out, with no major movie stars in the cast, is mindblowing. People like watching cars explode and crash that much? This will forever remain a mystery to me.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 came in second this weekend, despite the hilariously awful reviews (it's sitting at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the few to hold that honor), and earned $24 million, just $7 million less than the first one's opening. Yeah, that's another one whose appeal is inexplicable. But it will disappear soon enough (that's not a movie that's going to earn a billion dollars worldwide). The other new release Unfriended, did relatively well with $16 million for third place, while Home and The Longest Ride rounded out the top five.
Top 5:
- Furious 7- $29.1 million
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2- $24 million
- Unfriended- $16 million
- Home- $10. 3 million
- The Longest Ride- $6.9 million
In limited release, the story continues to be Ex Machina, which brought in another impressive screen average of $20k (it opens wider next week), while the Disney nature documentary Monkey Kingdom, opened with $4.7 million. Just a couple more weeks to go until The Avengers explodes now, with Blake Lively's The Age of Adaline opening next week, alongside Russell Crowe's The Water Diviner (which already had a successful run in his home country of Australia). Until then!
New Trailer for Sundance hit 'Dope'
The teaser didn't show much of anything, but this new trailer does, and I have to say- it looks cute! Well, not sure what I was expecting it to be, but a comedy about geeks in the 90's isn't exactly how I heard it described. I'll be on the lookout for this one in June. And isn't that the kid from The Grand Budapest Hotel?
Batman and Superman Square Off in New Trailer for 'Dawn of Justice'
Well, that looks...dark. And I mean that in the literal sense, like someone forgot to turn on the lights. Okay, I hated Man of Steel a lot, so I admit I am not primed to like this movie, especially with the untalented hack that is Zack Snyder once again at the helm, but frankly this looks just as awful as I thought it would look, and kind of like a chore to sit through. I'm hoping it's a glorious mess, but I get the feeling that it's more likely to be simply a grim, unpleasant one. Ugh. And Ben Affleck as Batman? Not feeling it.
First Look at Tarantino's 'Hateful Eight'
Okay, so this isn't really a first look. No, instead it's an all animated teaser that gives us the premise of the movie and the character names in nifty typeface. It's a very Tarantino "cool' thing to do, but it's also a bit of a cheat. Then again, the movie just wrapped filming, so I guess it'd be unfair to expect footage so early. I always look forward to his movies, even though they all tend to be in kinda the same vein, no matter which genre he's playing with. This time it's a western (although Django Unchained was more or less of a western too, wasn't it?) It's coming out in November.
Luke Skywalker and Han Solo Return in New 'Star Wars' Trailer
Well, here it is guys! At long last, the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has arrived, and it's mostly pretty cool, right? We hear Mark Hamill narrating, some of the new characters appearing, and the best is saved for last, with the pop up of Harrison Ford as the one and only Han (with Chewie by his side), and John Williams' music to boot. The only thing that bugs me is how fan service-y this whole thing seems. This is obviously a slavishly devoted fan's tribute to what he loved about the old ones rather than something new entirely- I could almost see this whole trailer as a fan-made Youtube video. But for what it is, I'm sure it's going to satisfy the fans, because what more could they ask for, right? I mean seriously, is that Darth Vader's burned helmet? What Star Wars fanboy hasn't dreamed of being able to buy that for his personal memorabilia collection?
George Clooney and Brad Bird on Disney's 'Tomorrowland'
For some reason I hadn't quite noticed that Tomorrowland was actually based on the Disneyland attraction, but I guess what else would it be, right? Does that make it seem like just another commercial for Disney product? At least it has an original screenplay, but can Disney be inspired to produce anything completely original at this point? This featurette goes into the history of Tomorrowland with appearances from Walt Disney himself, as well as the people involved in the film.
'The Avengers' Play Family Feud on Jimmy Kimmel
In light of the imminent Avengers: Age of Ultron release, check out the cast on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, where they played a Family Feud game. I'm a little annoyed though, that Kimmel has basically co-opted Fallon's playground celebrity game routine (didn't he used to be cooler than this? It feels like he's gone completely mainstream now).
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Sullivan's Travels" (1942)
A confession, since this is my third Preston Sturges pick and I'll probably end up recommending every movie he ever made at some point, since his run in the 1940's as a director was relatively short, and he only has about five or six films in his filmography- but what a run it was! Just about every one of those films is a full on classic, with this one topping them all for most movie buffs (I prefer The Lady Eve, but just by a hair). Sullivan's Travels is a Hollywood satire, a screwball comedy, a road movie and a meaningful treatise on the power of comedy to affect people's lives- it's perfect in nearly every way. Joel McCrea stars as a big time director of comedies out to make an epic drama and be taken "seriously," but of course he's got to learn his lesson and team up with a beautiful blonde (1940's bombshell Veronica Lake, one of cinema's biggest sex symbols) along the way. Every line is clever, witty and fast- no one put together words and dialogue quite like Sturges, and it's a joy just to listen to it and hear the words roll off the actor's tongues in a way you never could now. See this movie as soon as you can- as TCM would say, it's an essential.
Original 1942 Trailer:
Old Arnold Battles Young Arnold in 'Terminator Genisys' Trailer
That's the most notable part of this new trailer, although something about it looks a little bit off. I'm thinking not so great CG. I also haven't seen all the Terminator movies (just the first two), so I have no idea what's going on with the new timeline, or why young Sarah Connor now knows everything about her future son, and has fixed up the new Arnold model, etc. I have a feeling I'll be totally lost while watching this movie. It opens July 1st.
