Boy, this looks good. So good that I'm feeling pretty confident about Fassbender's Oscar chances here- it's the perfect role for that, isn't it? American icon serviced with a supposedly outstanding Aaron Sorkin screenplay? All he had to do was nail the accent, which it looks like he has. I can't to wait to see it. Steve Jobs is coming out October 9th.
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Five Easy Pieces" (1970)
Jack Nicholson stars in this classic character study that functions as an examination of the rootless existence of a blue collar kid who was once a piano prodigy, but like so many others of his generation, can't seem to figure out what the right path is for his adult life. This is a great Nicholson performance because it came from the "pre-Nicholson" era, which I like to think of as being before 1975, when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest kind of solidified his star persona for the rest of his career. This early film reminds you of the kinds of character performances he was always capable of giving- and it's got the famous "chicken salad sandwich" speech in it, which is a little more classic Jack, but the rest of the movie isn't, as he's much more quiet and understated. He and Karen Black were both Oscar-nominated for their roles here.
Original 1970 Trailer:
New Teaser for Oliver Stone's 'Snowden'
This teaser gives us no footage but some highlights of the now (overly) familiar Edward Snowden story- although after last year's Citizenfour I wonder how much this is really necessary. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is playing him here, but Oliver Stone hasn't made a decent movie in many years (not since what, Nixon?) and with his trademark preachiness I'm not sure this particular issue will play to his strengths. But who knows, I guess he might be due for a comeback. It's coming out at Christmas.
Michael B. Jordan is the New 'Creed'
Wow, this looks much better than I thought it would. The director of Fruitvale Station (which I loved), is taking on this semi-continuation of the Rocky saga, but this time it's about Apollo Creed's son (who cleverly wants nothing to do with his dad's legacy). Stallone's Rocky is here again, but honestly it doesn't look like the old Rocky movies at all. Okay guys, you've piqued my interest. Creed's coming out November 25th.
BOX OFFICE 6/26-6/28: 'Jurassic World' On Top Again; 'Ted 2' Disappoints
Jurassic World held off everything else once again for a $54 million dollar take, and has now crossed $500 million domestically, becoming only the fifth film ever to reach that marker. Unbelievably, it's behind only Avatar, Titanic, The Avengers, and The Dark Knight, and it got there faster than any movie in history. It's been holding fantastically well week to week and will probably end up passing The Dark Knight in total, not sure if it can get to $600 million like the other three. Either way, that success is astounding and inexplicable, considering the cultural impact of the other films on that list. I don't care how much people enjoyed this movie, there's no real way to explain how it's done this phenomenally well.
Inside Out fell a small 42% for second place, coming in with $52 million, and it now has $184 million total- that's a great drop, in line with Pixar's usual tendency for its films to have strong legs, while new release Ted 2 opened with just $32 million, much less than the $54 million of the first movie, and less than was expected, as it was projected to at least take in $45-50 million this weekend. I suppose the novelty has worn off on the talking bear. The family film Max (a movie I had never heard of until a few days ago) came in fourth with $12 million- not too bad considering the marketing was non-existent, and Spy was fifth with $8 million, bringing its total to $88 million.
Top 5:
- Jurassic World- $54 million
- Inside Out- $52 million
- Ted 2- $33 million
- Max- $12 million
- Spy- $7.8 million
The limited release films continue to struggle, with Love & Mercy nearing $10 million. The adult audience has been sucked in by the success of Jurassic World as well, with no counter-programming seemingly needed this summer. With the 4th of July coming up next weekend, the new release films come out on Wednesday the 1st, and those include the new Terminator film and Magic Mike XXL. I presume Magic Mike will have a hefty female audience, although reviews could be a question mark. See you guys on the next holiday weekend!
Tom Hardy Plays Gangster Twins in 'Legend'
Tom Hardy is quietly putting together a remarkable resume of transformative character performances, from Dark Knight Rises to Locke, Warrior, Mad Max, and now Legend, where he plays the notorious Kray twins- the 60's British gangsters who rose to prominence on the London party scene before getting caught in 1969. Brian Helgeland (writer of L.A. Confidential) wrote and directed this film, which is coming out October 2nd in the U.S. Could this be Hardy's invitation to the Oscars for the first time? He hasn't been around that long, but he's already starting to feel overdue for recognition.
'Guardians of the Galaxy' Cleans Up at the Saturn Awards
The awards for sci-fi/fantasy/horror films were handed out last night, and the Marvel hit seemed to be the favorite film of the last year, along with Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films also awards prizes to the other movies like independent and international productions, but this is the main group to acknowledge the genre that mostly gets overlooked by prestigious awards bodies.
Comic Book Film: Guardians of the Galaxy
Sci-Fi Film: Interstellar
Fantasy Film: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Horror Film: Dracula Untold
Thriller: Gone Girl
Action/Adventure: Unbroken
Best Actor: Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actor: Richard Armitage, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Best Supporting Actress: Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Mackenzie Foy, Interstellar
Best Director: James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy
Film Editing: Edge of Tomorrow
Production Design: Interstellar
Music: Interstellar
Costumes: Dracula Untold
Make-Up: Guardians of the Galaxy
Special Effects: Interstellar
Independent Film: Whiplash
International Film: The Theory of Everything
Animated Film: The Lego Movie
Kristen Wiig, Zach Galifianakis are Criminal 'Masterminds' in New Trailer
This could be really stupid, but as is usually the case with comedy trailers, it could also go the other way and manage some laughs. I'm not that big a fan of Zach G (so I don't have to spell out his whole name) though. I thought he was kinda intermittently funny in The Hangover, but he's definitely an acquired taste. I liked a couple of his SNL hosting stints, but the idea of seeing a movie he's the star of kinda puts me off of it. For me he's a "best in small doses" kind of guy.
Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie Star in 'Sleeping With Other People'
They don't make romantic comedies anymore, and when they do they get shoved into limited release, as this one is, being distributed by IFC Films in September. But by all accounts it got good reviews from Sundance, and even though it look extremely close to When Harry Met Sally (like, criminally close), I think it's a shame that not even good romantic comedies can manage a wide release these days. Did Katherine Heigl's awful and brief stint as a rom-com star kill it for everyone?
Meet the New Spider-Man
So here he is, everybody. 19-year-old Tom Holland has been cast as the new Spidey, and he's the second Brit in a row to land the part (I don't know why that bugs me, but it kinda does- how come no American actors are good enough?). Marvel's approach to this is to make it new is to cast someone who looks 12, apparently, which...yeah, I guess that'll give it a different feel without having to do anything else. He'll be making his first appearance in Captain America 3, which is currently filming, and he was screen tested with both Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. Of course, he'll get his own movie soon enough, for which Jon Watts was hired to direct. Who, you say? Yeah, he did some movie called Cop Car with Kevin Bacon, but that screams studio puppet to me. I'm not familiar with this Holland kid at all- his breakthrough role was in The Impossible a few years ago, so I have no real idea what we're in for with him. I guess we'll find out soon enough, since Captain America: Civil War comes out next May.
Spooks Return in 'Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension'
I guess there's no end to this particular handheld camera franchise, as the fifth Paranormal Activity is set to come out in October. But why not, right, I mean these are really cheap to make and they're a huge return on the investment after just one weekend. I'm sure this one will be a hit too, especially with that horror hungry Halloween audience.
REVIEW: "Inside Out" (2015) Amy Poehler, Bill Hader. Dir. Pete Docter
The conventional wisdom is that it's been quite a while since Pixar knocked it out of the park. From about 1999-2010 they had a remarkable streak that consisted of some of the best animated films of the last decade, including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and the Toy Story trilogy, but since then it appears that creative output has stalled a bit. Brave was just an okay attempt at a female centered film for once, while Monsters University and Cars 2 were disappointing sequels instead of original story ideas, which had been the company's model outside of the Toy Story movies.
In that sense, Inside Out is something of a return to form, as Pete Docter (director of Up and Monsters Inc.) tackles an original, highly ambitious concept that challenges typical subject matter of a movie aimed at children. Here we're transported inside the head of an 11-year-old girl named Riley, where her emotions take the form of bright, multicolored creatures centered around her brain's headquarters as they navigate her reactions to the world around her. The emotions are led by Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (The Office's Phyllis Schlafly), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader). If each of those voice actors aside from maybe Hader sounds like they were tailor made for their particular emotion I'm sure that's not an accident. Riley is a mostly happy, optimistic young girl (since Joy's in charge of her brain after all), but falls into a depression when she has to move to San Francisco with her parents and becomes overwhelmed by the changes.
The idea of coping with change and the feelings that overcome you is disguised with a kind of mini-buddy movie that takes place in her mind when Joy and Sadness accidentally lose some of the core memories that make her happy and get trapped in the whirlpools of Riley's head as they try to make their way back to headquarters, leaving only the negative emotions in charge in Joy's place. It's a clever, highly imaginative idea that leaves room for all kinds of creativity as Joy and Sadness walk through the different rooms in Riley's brain (the Dream Productions factory is pretty cool for example, along with the literal "train of thought" and the room of abstract imagination). Think of it as kind of an Inception for kids, as a story like this necessarily comes with a lot of expository dialogue that has to explain what each new memory or room or thought whisp does to keep order in the human brain.
While I admired the effort and enjoyed the film, I don't think it falls into the category of Pixar's best. It's a movie that's based entirely on its ideas rather than attachments to its characters, as the emotions are all simply archetypes with no arcs of their own, and Riley herself is mostly controlled by them, so the idea of her or her parents being their own people is also an idea held at a distance. The ultimate destination of the story is also fairly predictable from the moment Sadness is ostracized by the other emotions as serving no real purpose (right, where can that possibly end up?) and Riley nearly becomes swallowed by her negative feelings. Frankly, the idea of a child being depressed by a move to a new city is alright, but if they wanted to go to deeper places involving emotions in children, my immediate thought was that this was an awfully safe choice, despite the challenging concept. For example, how about divorce as a topic for what might cause real sadness in a kid, and certainly has for so many? For all its attempts to be more serious in exploring these kinds of feelings, there's still a barrier in American animated films that refuses to allow them to dig too deep, and the only reason for that is the studio's ability to sell it. This is ultimately the safest possible way they could have gone when deciding to tackle this subject, which isn't to say it's not done well. But frankly, the first fifteen minutes of Docter's own Up hit the mark in even truer emotional fashion.
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