The official trailer for The 33 is finally here, and though the story looks good, it still bugs me that they made this whole movie set in Chile but with the actors speaking English. How about commit to the project, people. Talking with Spanish accents is the barest stab at authenticity they could have done- what about going a step further and have everyone speak Spanish instead?
Cary Fukanaga's 'Beasts of No Nation' Gets a Teaser
Netflix is attempting to change the game again, this time for feature film, as Jane Eyre and True Detective director Cary Fukanaga has written and directed this war drama starring Idris Elba for the streaming service, which will premiere it on October 16th but also place it in limited theatrical release that same day. The movie is being treated as a typical theatrical film, premiering at the Venice Film Festival in a prime in-competition slot, so the only difference will be the debut for streaming at the same time. If this works out, if the film manages to land awards attention and buzz for which it's eligible, this could radically shift the landscape of film once again, as more original films with big name directors and casts funded by the company will no doubt start being produced in rapid fashion.
Johnny Depp Transforms into Whitey Bulger in 'Black Mass' Trailer
Black Mass finally gets the full trailer, and while it does look cool, part of me can't help but wonder if this is one of those movies that exists solely as a reason to show off Depp's performance and land him an Oscar nod. I'm sort of getting shades of The Iron Lady here, but I could be wrong. The rest of the cast is pretty great, and the movie is slated to screen at Venice and probably Telluride and Toronto to get a jump on awards season. It's coming out September 18th though, so you won't have to wait long to see it (my own feeling is that if they were truly confident in the film as a whole it would probably be coming out in October or November).
Brie Larsen is Trapped in 'Room'
Room, the new thriller drama from Frank director Lenny Abrahamson, looks to boast another heartbreaking performance from Brie Larsen, who last starred in Short Term 12 and appeared in Trainwreck as Amy Schumer's sister. I hope she can get some attention for this one, because I really think of all newer actresses out there, she really is one with some true talent and emotional range who hasn't quite been paid attention to yet. Room comes out October 16th.
Michael Bay Tackles Benghazi in '13 Hours'
In what you can tell is a Michael Bay movie from the first few seconds of this trailer, he directed a film about the Libyan attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi in 2012- a subject you might immediately think is inappropriate to be explored by Michael Bay of all people, and you'd be completely right. Expect lots of explosions and "kick-ass" soldiers taking people down in this movie, scheduled to come out in January 2016, taking up that American Sniper, Lone Survivor slot which is now a thing, I guess.
Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo Take On Catholic Church in 'Spotlight'
A good ensemble cast highlights this story of the Boston Globe's efforts to expose the Catholic Church child molestation scandal in 2003. Spotlight has just been slated for an out of competition screening at the Venice Film Festival in early September. The director Thomas McCarthy also wrote and directed The Station Agent and The Visitor, and this one looks pretty solid too. It's opening on November 6th in limited release.
REVIEW: "Trainwreck" (2015) Amy Schumer, Bill Hader. Dir. Judd Apatow
The romantic comedy is something of an endangered species these days. It's hard to find good examples of it after say, the early 2000's when Bridget Jones's Diary and Love Actually came out, and then Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl seemed to take it upon themselves to murder the genre singlehandedly. Okay, so maybe that's unfair to those actresses, seeing as they didn't write the dreadful movies they starred in, but the actors themselves often become the face of this genre. People like Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts starred in some of the best remembered rom-coms of the 90's which came to symbolize that era, while the former two, unfortunately made many that were considered the reason it died (anyone remember Fool's Gold? No? Me neither).
A better example of a successful one from the mid-00's was Judd Apatow's Knocked Up (even if was a movie, much like all of his films, that more successfully showcased male bonding in the form of the bromance between Seth Rogen and his buddies) and the director is back to helm this new crack at it, which takes the screenplay of one Amy Schumer and stars the comedian turned actress herself as the heroine of what turns out to be an appealing, honest, heartfelt stab at personal confession and vulnerability that manages to tie itself up in the traditional romantic comedy bow with a happy, sweet ending. It may boast many of the conventions of the formula in a tried and true fashion (the better to introduce Schumer to the mainstream, which her niche sketch show on Comedy Central has never really been part of), but there's enough of an original character here that makes us feel and sympathize with Amy in a manner more befitting of female scripted comedies like Bridesmaids than the very guy centric movies Apatow has directed in the past.
Schumer gives us Amy, named after herself, as a thirtysomething woman who sleeps around, drinks a lot, and absolutely refuses to give anything like monogamy a chance, preferring to get it over and done with, hopping from bed to bed and out the door the second it's over, much like the old-fashioned stereotype of the "commitment-phobic guy" comedies like this are used to selling. The portrayal of Amy's open and casual attitude towards sex is refreshing, as it's from a woman's point of view in an extremely candid manner not often shown in mainstream movies, especially as it's deemed simply her everyday attitude and not demonized for being frisky. But the movie's a little more honest and probing under the surface, and even though Amy is seen as something of a functioning alcoholic who maintains a great job as a writer for a popular magazine, we eventually find out that both her drinking and her fear of long term relationships stem from lasting wounds imprinted on her psyche by her boozing and womanizing father (an aged up Colin Quinn), now in an assisted living facility and still taking his toll on his daughter's emotional maturity.
Amy eventually meets Aaron, the doctor for the New York Knicks whom she's assigned to write an article on, and sparks fly between them as they start dating and Amy learns how to slowly confront her fears of intimacy and of becoming her father. Aaron's played by Bill Hader in nice, understated, Jack Lemmon-everyguy kind of way, and the chemistry between the two is believable, as poor Aaron is far more reserved and conservative than Amy, but nonetheless really likes her and is willing to take on her issues as their relationship evolves. If I'm making this movie sound like a serious character study of a woman's psychology rather than the romantic comedy I described at first, have no fear- this film is peppered with jokes and comic relief supporting characters, as everyone from LeBron James, Ezra Miller, Tilda Swinton and Vanessa Bayer (MVP of the supporting cast) make appearances, but I'll be honest, I felt the authenticity of Amy laying her soul bare was what connected the most onscreen, and for me much of the humor fell flat (an intervention of Aaron with celebrity sports figures in the last third seems like a rejected SNL skit that jars with the movie's tone, while Swinton and James's characters simply weren't as funny as I think they were meant to be).
But humor is always subjective, and if I connected more with Amy's honesty it's because to me it was refreshing to see that kind of exploration of a person's stunted emotional growth, and Amy's relationships with her father, her married sister (Brie Larsen) and their effects on her state of mind regarding her romance with Aaron made sense and explained, rather than judged, the kind of person that she had turned out to be. The movie ends with one of those spectacular romantic gestures that so many romantic comedies love to embrace (on par with the applause in a public place, last minute greeting at the airport, etc.) and the sweetness of Aaron and Amy's try at happiness was so heartfelt and earned that I felt genuinely moved, in spite of not having actually laughed at that many of the jokes in the film (even John Cena's brief role as Amy's sometime boyfriend in the beginning seemed to have more impact as yet another symptom of the heartbreak in Amy's life instead of the laughs a WWE wrestler's cameo is supposed to bring- although he does get a couple of chuckles out of one of the many stark sex scenes).
* * *
Tom Cruise Versus Jimmy Fallon on 'Tonight Show' Lip Synch Battle
I normally don't post Tonight Show clips on principle, since I can't stand Jimmy Fallon and all, but I heard this lip sync battle last night was pretty epic. On a side note, Mission: Impossible 5 is getting some outstanding reviews so far, with many critics saying it's the best action movie of the summer (next to critics' darling Mad Max of course).
Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt in New Trailer for 'Sicario'
Denis Villenueve's drug war thriller Sicario was just announced as an entry in this year's Toronto Film Festival, and it's coming out September 25th. Reaction was mixed-positive at Cannes, so we'll see how this one does here- I'm not convinced it'll play, but once again, I pretty much hated Prisoners, the director's last film, so I'm a little biased.
Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Have a Wild Christmas Eve in 'The Night Before'
Another year, another raunchy Seth Rogen comedy, although at least this one has a different cast than his usual Apatow co-horts. This time Anthony Mackie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt join him on a crazy Christmas Eve party tradition, but it doesn't quite looks as funny as This is the End (still the high water mark, at least for me). You can never really tell from a trailer though- I guess we'll see about this one in November.
Empire Mag's New 'Batman v Superman' Cover
Is it just me or does Batman look a little, well...fat on this cover? Seriously, that is one heavyset dude in the rubber/tights. I guess the idea is that if Batman looks physically bigger than Superman, maybe it wouldn't be such an absolutely ridiculous notion that he could actually take him in a fight. But you know what, it still is, because Superman is a man of STEEL, as we know, and Batman is a guy with gadgets and a cowl. The whole premise falls flat on its face at conception.
New Poster for Spielberg/Hanks Thriller 'Bridge of Spies'
The two trailers released for this film don't make it look all that thrilling (especially for a so-called thriller), but this poster is kinda cool, in a retro way. I guess retro would be the right word to describe everything about this movie so far, which looks extremely old-fashioned.
