Movie of the Day: "Dazed and Confused" (1993)

It's time for summer movies, everybody! I'm starting off with one of my very favorites, and one that I can't quite believe I haven't recommended yet, but apparently I've been saving it. Dazed and Confused is director Richard Linklater's best film, in my opinion, even if it is an attempt at American Graffiti set in another era. You know what? If you can capture your own era just as well as Graffiti did it's worth doing, because this is just as much a perfect representation of the mid-70's as that other film was for the early 60's. It's authentic, natural, funny and it feels like you've been dropped right in the middle of the action, on the last day of school in 1976, at the start of the bicentennial summer. The cast is a who's who of people who became stars later, most famously Matthew McConaughey as the iconic Wooderson (yep- this is the movie where he coined his "all right, all right, all right" catchphrase), but also Ben Affleck, Renee Zellweger, Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich and Jason London. It's a trip through time right back to the 1970's and catches the time and place in a way only someone who lived through it could. For me it's Linklater's signature work.

Original 1993 Trailer:

More Craziness Seizes Jesse Eisenberg in New 'American Ultra' Trailer

Another look at American Ultra, coming out August 21st, as Jesse Eisenberg is secretly activated as some kind of super assassin. It still looks like it could be funny, in a Pineapple Express kind of way (there's an awful lot of blowing stuff up in this trailer):

BOX OFFICE 7/17-7/19: 'Ant-Man' Comes in First; 'Trainwreck' Debuts at No. 3

Marvel's Ant-Man came in at the top of the charts this week, with a $58 million dollar debut, which is good, but not as big as any of Marvel's other films. It's not surprising considering the lesser known property, but it's somewhat close to the debuts of Captain America and Thor, both of which came in in the mid-60's range. Either way, the studio is 12 for 12 in terms of their films opening in first place at the box office, which is quite remarkable. The weekend's other new release, Trainwreck, came in third place after Minions, but with a very impressive $30 million, which serves as a nice big welcome to Hollywood for Amy Schumer, who I guess I underestimated the appeal of. It was well-reviewed and is director Judd Apatow's biggest opening since 2007's Knocked Up, and is in fact in line with the opening of Melissa McCarthy's Spy, which has earned over $100 million. This could well duplicate that film's success, which would be incredibly strong for a romantic comedy, a genre that's been just starved for a the box office in recent years.

Last week's champ Minions took in another $50 million, which is a fairly steep 57% fall from last weekend, while Inside Out stayed just a nudge ahead of Jurassic World for fourth place, crossing $300 million total for Pixar. Meanwhile, Jurassic World has now crossed the $600 million milestone, making it only the fourth film in history to earn that much money domestically. I still don't know how it happened, but it's going to be interesting to see if Star Wars can duplicate those numbers come Christmastime.

Top 5:

1. Ant-Man- $58 million
   
2. Minions- $50 million
   
3. Trainwreck- $30 million
4. Inside Out- $11.6 million
5. Jurassic World- $11.4 million

In limited release, we finally have a story worth commenting on, as Ian McKellan's Mr. Holmes debuted with a fantastic $2.4 million, managing to crack the top ten from just 363 theaters. I suppose it's not surprising that Sir Ian could attract older audiences playing a 99-year-old version of Sherlock Holmes- perhaps he can turn that success into potential Best Actor Oscar buzz at year's end as well. Next week it's Pixels versus Paper Towns for the new releases, both of which are expected to do very well, so we'll see what happens then. See you later everyone!

New X-Men Pics Reveal Psylocke, Apocalypse

EW once again has the exclusive first set photos from next summer's X-Men movie, and Apocalypse looks a little...cartoony? Like a Power Rangers villain? Yeah, it's kind of weird. But actually Psylocke's cut up bathing suit look is also a little nutty. Aside from the questionable costumes here, I'm most annoyed by the news that Jennifer Lawrence has essentially ditched the blue makeup entirely and will be walking around as herself for the whole film. I'm sorry, but what's the point of that? If she's not going to bother to be Mystique (who's lame in these movies anyway), why the pretense? Why not just have her show up and literally play herself as a famous walk-on- hey look, it's Jennifer Lawrence time traveling into the 1980's and deciding to be a part of Professor X's mutant team. It may as well be the case at this point. New characters from the bottom up are young Nightcrawler, Jubilee (finally making her long awaited debut in the movies), and young Storm with a snazzy mohawk look.

Leo Dicaprio Battles a Bear in Trailer for 'The Revenant'

Now this is quite a trailer. The new film from Alejandro Inarritu, who just won the Oscar for Birdman, looks to boast some more incredible cinematography (which I can tell is going to be the real star of this movie) from Emmanuel Lubezci (also a newly-minted 2-time winner). Might already be three times the charm for Chivo, here from the looks of it. The Revenant is based on a novel and coming out in December- expect it to be a major Oscar player.

REVIEW: "Spy" (2015) Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham. Dir. Paul Feig

Melissa McCarthy has proven herself a force in comedy, both on television and at the box office in the last few years. But her rise seems to have corresponded to her collaborations with director Paul Feig, who knows how to use her to the best of her abilities, and by now has a shorthand with the actress on how to make the most of her unique comedic talents.

Spy is their third film together, after Bridesmaids (for which McCarthy was Oscar-nominated) and The Heat, where she essentially stole the movie from straight man Sandra Bullock, no stranger to comedy herself. Here McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a dowdy, meek CIA techie who spends her days literally in the ear of Jude Law's special agent Bradley Fine, a James Bond-esque, dashing American spy as he takes out bad guys in exotic foreign locations while she plays Chloe to his Jack Bauer. She has a crush on him of course, but he sees her only as his loyal pal, something more along the lines of a useful pet even. When something goes deadly wrong on one of Law's missions, Susan gets into the action on a quest for payback, and wild antics ensue as she bumbles her way through the mission in various countries, tracking down the baddie the CIA's after (an icy Rose Byrne, fellow Bridesmaids alum), and coming in contact with one kooky agent after another who either gets in her way, endeavors to help her out but fails spectacularly, or is pulling off their own secret double or triple cross.

Of course, Susan's really the best agent in the bunch, proving her worth as she slowly turns herself from the unwilling undercover cat lady to the raucous, foul-mouthed force of nature that is the Melissa McCarthy we all know and love (the one who had me in stitches in just about every scene from The Heat, still my favorite). The movie's a slick, efficient, nicely structured spoof on current spy movies, which are more the Daniel Craig Bond series than the Connery ones, and a perfect star vehicle for McCarthy's considerable talents. I appreciate the way she does try to be funny in a more mild-mannered style than in The Heat for a good while, gamely giving up some of the most hilarious lines to scene-stealer Jason Statham, simultaneously the world's most confident and incompetent fellow spy as they stalk Byrne and her nefarious colleagues all over Europe. Another admirable quality of the Feig/McCarthy projects is the full on embrace of female characters from the most consequential roles all the way down to the minor ones, with CIA boss Allison Janney to Byrne's villain and Susan's own techie sidekick, the delightful Brit Nancy (Miranda Hart), who's happy to be along for the ride.

There are plenty of big laughs in the movie, my favorites being Susan's first bungled but effective kill, and her switch from pretending to be Byrne's acquaintance to pretending to be her disgusted and volatile bodyguard who throws phones at the heads of random dudes whose faces she just "doesn't like." Spy is an enjoyable, female heavy summer diversion where if one joke doesn't land, the next one will come up fast and furious so as not to leave any awkward pauses. And it also works as an action movie, with McCarthy saving the day and going out for drinks with her best gal pal afterwards. There's a subtle feminism to her movies, a strain that doesn't force itself on you but confidently shows just how easy it is for women to be funny and dominant in any genre. I can't wait for the new Ghostbusters next year, also from Feig and starring McCarthy- I think these two make a certain kind of magic that simply works.

* * *

New Trailer for 'Pan' Hypes the Adventure

So, this third trailer for the Peter Pan origin story is still trying to make it look as action-packed as possible, but I haven't given up hope that Joe Wright managed to do something interesting with it in spite of it being from "the studio that brought you Harry Potter." Garret Hedlund is what looks strangest to me in all these trailers- since when does Captain Hook look and sound like an American cowboy? I hope there's an actual reason for that, I mean, there must be, right? Pan's coming out October 9th.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are Deranged 'Sisters' in New Comedy

Wow. I like Tina and Amy as much as anyone, but man, does this look awful. The premise itself seems a bit out of whack- okay, so two sisters reunite but are they like...mentally disturbed or something? The trailer makes it seem like we're supposed to think they're just two gals out for a good time, but clearly there's something wrong with them. With Baby Mama and this, for some reason the duo can't seem to translate their best buddy schtick from awards hosting duties to the big screen. It's coming out at Christmas and will be crushed by Star Wars, obviously.

Jennifer Lawrence Stars in First Trailer for David O. Russell's 'Joy'

We've got another potential Oscar movie here, although that kind of anticipation is mostly just based on Russell's recent hot streak with the Academy. Lawrence stars as Joy Mangano, or the woman who invented the "miracle mop," in this biopic, but you can't really tell a lot from this trailer, which is mostly a minute and a half of montage stuff. Obviously they're advertizing it as another Jlaw/Bradley Cooper vehicle, although I hear his part is actually much smaller in this, so that's misleading. Frankly, I'm starting to think my suspicion that she had two notes of acting range (loud or stoic) is proving true, because she sure looks pretty stoic again in this teaser. Interestingly, this is actually the first time Russell has put her in the lead role of one of his films. Joy's coming out at Christmas.

Dr. Doom Shows Up in New 'Fantastic Four' Trailer

The one panel that had the least interested audience at this year's Comic Con was the Fantastic Four presentation, which debuted this new trailer to limited fanfare. People just aren't jazzed about this one, guys. If you can't pump up a Comic Con crowd you know you're doomed. On side note, why the hell would they have The Thing in this movie without his underwear? Boy, that looks weird. I know it's not logical that he would necessarily be wearing undies in the first place, but logic hardly plays into any aspect of a superhero story, does it? How something looks in this case is more important, and The Thing sans the shorts is downright bizarre.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Baby It's You" (1983)

For this week's blu-ray choice, I'm recommending a movie you've probably never heard of, as is the case with so many of director John Sayles' movies. His long, varied filmography is filled with gems that are far too underknown and underrated, and this coming of age film about a teenager's first romance is one of them. Starring Rosanna Arquette (the greater of all the Arquettes, in my opinion) as college freshman in the 1960's who falls for a guy she knows is bad news, but can't help herself from wanting to be with him and "fix" him, as many young girls tend to do. It's a sensitive, realistic, touching look at a time in this girl's life that she had to learn from in order to move on and grow stronger, and it really should be seen by more people.

Original 1983 Trailer:

New Poster for Tarantino's 'Hateful Eight'

The Hateful Eight crew showed up at Comic Con the other day to reveal this new poster and announce that the legendary Ennio Morricone would be composing the score for the film- his first Western score in over 40 years. That's exciting news to me, and I'm sure the movie will be in line with most of Tarantino's filmography. All his movies give his fans what they want, and this one will be no different. It's coming out at Christmas.