'The Secret Life of Pets' Shows Off a 'Toy Story' for Animals

Universal's taking what looks to me like a Toy Story approach in this teaser for next summer's The Secret Life of Pets. Tons of celebrity voices, as usual, in a movie that looks familiar, yet probably appealing anyway (no one can ever really get enough of talking dogs). One thing does bother me though- why they can't they figure out how to animate cats that look like cats? They don't normally resemble big round furballs.

Richard Gere is a Drifter in 'Time Out of Mind'

Well this doesn't exactly look like a barrel of laughs, does it? Richard Gere in his later career has come around to being something of a character actor, and he looks like he might be good here too. But the movie looks awfully depressing, and in that aimless, wallow in misery type of way. Oren Moverman is the guy who wrote I'm Not There and directed The Messenger, so he's not untalented, but I'm not sure this one's for me.

Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the Gang Return in the New Trailer for 'The Peanuts Movie'

So, I'm not exactly sure what to think about this movie (other than being annoyed that the Peanuts have to be transformed into CG in order to reach a new audience that apparently won't accept traditional hand drawn animation). But in watching this trailer, I have to say that it doesn't exactly feel like it's a non-Peanuts movie. Apparently the Schulz family was involved here, and they may have a gotten the tone right, from what I see. Hmmm. Could it be decent? I love the Peanuts, so I hope so and I guess it would be a good thing if more kids grew to love the Schulz creations. But assuming they did do it justice, I wonder how many people it will actually appeal to- those comic strips are nothing like the kinds of humor that goes into virtually every animated movie these days, and people are awfully used to the same kind of thing now.

New Character Posters for Guillermo Del Toro's 'Crimson Peak'

Guillermo del Toro's ghost story horror movie is coming out in October, perfect timing for Halloween and I can't wait! It looks much different than the average horror movie that comes out now (how could it not be, it's del Toro, right?). The costumes and sets themselves look gothically beautiful enough to be worth admission. The central trio is put on display here, even though Tom Hiddleston kind of looks like he escaped from the Thor set in full Loki regalia.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Spirited Away" (2001)

This week's blu-ray pick is Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, the Oscar winner for Animated Film in 2003 (after it was finally released in the U.S.) and one of the most popular classics in his long list of iconic films. This one is a wild, crazy, twisted tale of a little girl who walks into an abandoned amusement park and essentially goes through a kind of rabbit hole, as she ends up in a magical world filled with spirits, dragons, witches and other assorted villains as she must race to become the hero of her own adventure. The closest comparison to make to this film is Alice in Wonderland, but it's honestly a better movie than the Disney version of that, which was really just a series of vignettes through Alice's crazytown. This film has a structured narrative and fully developed characters that you root for the entire time. It's great for kids (maybe a little scary throughout) and I'd even ease up on my no dubbing rule in order for them to watch it. It's that good.

Original Japanese Trailer (with English subs):

Ezra Miller and Billy Crudup Star in Trailer for 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'

This film showed at Sundance to mostly positive reviews, and is now coming out on July 17th, but in limited release and VOD only. I'm surprised they haven't made a movie about this already, considering the notoriety of the incident in question. And hey, there's Juno's Olivia Thirlby in there for about three seconds- she was in a few indies after Juno, but haven't seen her for a while. On rewatch of that movie, I often find her to be less annoying and more like an actual teenager than Ellen Page- always wondered if her career would end up going anywhere.

Ben Foster is Lance Armstrong in 'The Program'

Crazy to think how in just a few years, Lance Armstrong went from being one of sports' greatest heroes to one of its biggest villains. That reverential cameo in 2004's Dodgeball looks completely dated now, doesn't it? Ben Foster looks like a good choice to play him though, with The Queen's Stephen Frears directing. It is funny to think how different a Lance Armstrong biopic would have looked not so long ago, though.

Bill Murray in 'Rock the Kasbah' Trailer

In a role that looks to be tailor made for him, Bill Murray stars as an over the hill rock manager who gets stranded in Afghanistan, where hijinks ensue. Is he having something of a comeback in terms of starring roles lately? After last year's St. Vincent, it looks like it may be the case. This one's directed by Barry Levinson, of Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam, Diner, etc. I don't know- it could be good I guess. St. Vincent was way too cheesy in the end, but this one looks a little less sentimental.

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are Spies in 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

Guy Ritchie is very hit and miss, and even his hits (the Sherlock Holmes franchise for example) aren't really that great, but the two leads look appealing enough in this. It could have a kind of period James Bond flair to it, but I suspect it's going to get bogged down in explosions and chaotic action, like the Holmes movies did. Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki are the femme fatales- it's quite a year for spy movies though, isn't it? First Spy, then MI5, this one and of course Spectre in November. Looks like old school espionage action will never go out of style.

Christopher Lee 1922-2015

One of the movies' great villains, Sir Christopher Lee, died today at the age or 93. A career that spanned 70 years, he was most known for some of his iconic villainous roles, like Count Dracula in a series of Hammer Horror films from 1957-1976, Lord Summerisle in the 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man (my favorite), Comte de Rochefort in The Three Musketeers (1973/74), Francisco Scaramanga in the 007 film The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels (1999-2005) and of course, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003). Few actors have ever been associated with so many iconic bad guy roles, not to mention years of theater, television (he said hosting Saturday Night Live in 1978 was the hardest thing he ever did) and other film work. He was knighted by Prince Charles in 2009.