Who knows if this will be any good or not, but the NFL is already panicking about the subject matter, so if this manages to draw attention to the issue and shed some much needed light on the head trauma afflicting football players than it's a good thing. Supposedly it's been screening for SAG members in the last couple weeks and Will Smith at least is getting a good reception for his performance here- that's a refreshing change for him of late. He could maybe land his third Oscar nod if the movie manages decent enough reviews when it comes out at Christmas. It's hard to know if audiences will be interested in seeing a movie so damaging to America's favorite sport, though- this is kinda like the anti-Blind Side, even if it's the truth.
Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska are Back in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' Trailer
After that pointless little teaser the other day, the full trailer has promptly arrived, and I don't really know what to say other than it looks about the same as the first one. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on if you liked that film or not, which I really did not. But it was such an inexplicably massive hit that I assume this one is going to do just as well. It's so not for me though. That first one was painful and boring enough.
New Trailer Debuts for Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight'
So yeah, this looks pretty awesome to me, but the story right now surrounding Tarantino and the movie is about how he's currently involved in the the stupidest "scandal" since last year's The Interview debacle, in my opinion. I guess it's not as big as that yet, but come on, the country's police unions banding together to officially boycott his movies because he spoke out against police brutality? Somebody's making fools of themselves here, and it's not Quentin Tarantino. Police should really have better things to do with their time and resources, don't you think? I don't think it'll hurt the movie in the slightest, since Tarantino's fans follow him anywhere.
New 'Star Wars' Character Posters
Some new posters for the Star Wars gang have arrived- I like that Leia gets one, but once again, no Luke Skywalker. I have to assume he's a ghost at this point- I mean, it's obvious that just his appearance is a major spoiler, which can only mean one thing. He has ascended to a higher plane...or whatever they call those ghost jedis, right?
'The Lobster,' '45 Years' and 'Amy' Lead the British Independent Film Award Nominees
Well, you couldn't find a more pronounced difference between the People's Choice and BIFA nominees, could you? The British awards for independent film, which is basically their Independent Spirits equivalent, takes place on December 6th, and they nodded quite a few movies that haven't come out here yet- although all the love for Amy makes me think that probably has a great shot in the Best Documentary Oscar category. Their international independent category sees a nod for Room, boding well for that film's awards chances here too.
Best Actor
- Colin Farrell for The Lobster
- Michael Fassbender for Macbeth
- Tom Courtenay for 45 Years
- Tom Hardy for Legend
- Tom Hiddleston for High-Rise
Best Supporting Actor
- Ben Whishaw for The Lobster
- Brendan Gleeson for Suffragette
- Domhnall Gleeson for Brooklyn
- Luke Evans for High-Rise
- Sean Harris for Macbeth
Best Actress
- Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
- Carey Mulligan for Suffragette
- Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years
- Marion Cotillard for Macbeth
- Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn
Best Supporting Actress
- Anne Marie Duff for Suffragette
- Helena Bonham Carter for Suffragette
- Julie Walters for Brooklyn
- Olivia Colman for The Lobster
- Sienna Miller for High-Rise
Best Director
- 45 Years Andrew Haigh
- Amy Asif Kapadia
- Ex Machina Alex Garland
- The Lobster Yorgos Lanthimos
- Macbeth Justin Kurzel
Best Documentary
- Amy
- Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance
- How to Change the World
- Palio
- A Syrian Love Story
The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director
- The Hallow Corin Hardy
- Kajaki: The True Story Paul Katis
- Nina Forever Chris Blaine, Ben Blaine
- Slow West John Maclean
- The Survivalist Stephen Fingleton
Best Screenplay
- 45 Years.Andrew Haigh
- Brooklyn Nick Hornby
- Ex Machina Alex Garland
- High-Rise Amy Jump
- The Lobster Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Best British Independent Film
- 45 Years
- Amy
- Ex Machina
- The Lobster
- Macbeth
Most Promising Newcomer
- Mr Holmes
- Nina Forever
- A Royal Night Out
- Sunset Song
- The Survivalist
Producer of the Year
- 45 Years
- Amy
- Kajaki: The True Story
- The Lobster
- The Violators
Outstanding Achievement in Craft
- Editing – Amy
- Casting – Brooklyn
- Production Design – Ex Machina
- VFX – Ex Machina
- Cinematography – Macbeth
The Discovery Award
- Aaaaaaaah!
- Burn Burn Burn
- Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
- The Return
- Winter
Best British Short
- Balcony
- Crack
- Edmond
- Love Is Blind
- MANoMAN
Best International Independent Film
- Carol
- Force Majeure
- Girlhood
- Room
- Son of Saul
People's Choice Nominations Like the Blockbusters
As usual, it was a bunch of popcorn only movies that got nominated for this year's People's Choice Awards- but I guess these are the only kind of movies people like anymore. To be fair, people do eat what they're given. I can't proclaim any of these my favorite of this or any year- but go Charlize Theron for Action Movie Actress in Mad Max I guess. I have to assume that as the biggest movie of the year, Jurassic World is going to sweep, right?
2015 PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS NOMINEES
Favorite Movie
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Furious 7
Inside Out
Jurassic World
Pitch Perfect 2
Favorite Movie Actor
Channing Tatum
Chris Pratt
Johnny Depp
Robert Downey, Jr.
Will Smith
Favorite Movie Actress
Anne Hathaway
Melissa McCarthy
Meryl Streep
Sandra Bullock
Scarlett Johansson
Favorite Action Movie
Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Furious 7
Jurassic World
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Favorite Action Movie Actor
Chris Hemsworth
Chris Pratt
Dwayne Johnson
Robert Downey, Jr.
Vin Diesel
Favorite Action Movie Actress
Charlize Theron
Emily Blunt
Michelle Rodriguez
Scarlett Johansson
Shailene Woodley
Favorite Animated Movie Voice
Adam Sandler
Amy Poehler
Rihanna
Sandra Bullock
Selena Gomez
Favorite Comedic Movie
The DUFF
Pitch Perfect 2
Spy
Ted 2
Trainwreck
Favorite Comedic Movie Actor
Jack Black
Kevin Hart
Mark Wahlberg
Robert De Niro
Will Ferrell
Favorite Comedic Movie Actress
Amy Schumer
Anna Kendrick
Melissa McCarthy
Rebel Wilson
Sofia Vergara
Favorite Dramatic Movie
The Age of Adaline
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Longest Ride
The Martian
Straight Outta Compton
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actor
Channing Tatum
George Clooney
Johnny Depp
Matt Damon
Will Smith
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress
Blake Lively
Dakota Johnson
Jennifer Lopez
Kate Winslet
Rachel McAdams
Favorite Family Movie
Cinderella
Home
Hotel Transylvania 2
Inside Out
Minions
Favorite Thriller Movie
The Boy Next Door
Insidious: Chapter 3
Poltergeist
Taken 3
Unfriended
First Teaser for 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' Drops
I personally hated the 2010 Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland movie, so I'm the last person this is intended for, but if you're interested, here's the first ten second teaser for the somewhat delayed sequel. Mia Wasikowska returns as Alice for this one, which is being directed by James Bobbin instead of Burton- I wonder if that will improve it.
Trailer for Charlie Kaufman's 'Anomalisa' Lands
This looks pretty wild- the new Charlie Kaufman film is a stop-motion puppet movie, and it got amazing reviews from the critics when it bowed at a couple of film festivals. It's now coming out in limited release on Dec 30th, and I can't wait. It's animated, but I've heard it's by no means intended for children, so keep that in mind.
10 War Movies For November
Happy November, everybody. It's officially the holiday season now, but as usual, there are not enough great Thanksgiving movies to fill out a top ten, so we celebrate Veteran's Day this month with war movies commemorating the wars from the 20th century from which we still have veterans who fought. We have movies about WWII (The Thin Red Line, Schindler's List, Mrs. Miniver and Army of Shadows), Korea (Mash), Vietnam (Apocalypse Now, Platoon) and Iraq (The Hurt Locker), among others. I try to throw in a variety of styles, so even though these are all war movies, a lot of them vary drastically in tone, humor (Inglorious Basterds is outright historical revisionism, as we know), so that it doesn't feel at all like any of them are the same movie. Celebrate veterans in November and go to our Monthly Movie Page to read more about the theme, and click here for our full list of ten great wartime films, complete with original trailers. Happy Movie Watching, everyone.
BOX OFFICE 10/30-11/01: 'Martian' Again Leads a Slow Halloween Weekend
Halloween always leads to a soggy box office weekend when it falls on a Friday or Saturday, but this time it was once again a complete flop for the new openers, as both Sandra Bullock's Our Brand is Crisis and Bradley Cooper's Burnt failed to make double digits, and The Martian took its fourth weekend on top. Both were saddled with bad reviews, but Our Brand is Crisis earned a terrible "C+" Cinemascore and clocked in as the worst wide opening of Sandra Bullock's career. Burnt also marked the worst of Cooper's relatively short-lived one in comparison, coming in with 5.5 million and just a "B-" from audiences, although it did crack the top five.
The non-performances of the new movies left mostly holdovers in the rest of the top five though, as The Martian came in first with another 11 million and a new total of 182 million so far, soon to top Gladiator to become the most successful movie of director Ridley Scott's career, and that appears to be the narrative that's now driving its awards chances, as people are expecting the film to be embraced come Oscar time (I don't think it's nearly good enough for that, but whatever- awards are always political anyway, so I guess it makes sense). Goosebumps was second place, while Bridge of Spies was third, and Hotel Transylvania 2 rounded out the chart.
Top 5:
- The Martian- 11.8 million
- Goosebumps- 10.2 million
- Bridge of Spies- 8.1 million
- Hotel Transylvania 2- 5.8 million
- Burnt- 5 million
No major new releases in limited this weekend- in fact it's more news in the flop department as Truth and Suffragette both expanded to damaging PTA's, and Room didn't fare much better and will have to depend on some strong awards boosts to stick around in specialty theaters. It's also worth mentioning that Steve Jobs fell a steep 65 percent this weekend from its soft opening and will go down as one of the bigger puzzlers of the year, as people ponder how it could not have done better with great reviews, awards buzz and a terrific limited opening just a couple weeks ago. Next week should finally be a big one, as Spectre hits theaters and is expected to make around 80 million over the weekend, while The Peanuts Movie also comes out and a couple more would be Oscar contenders try to break through in limited release- it's Spotlight and Brooklyn's turn to try and find an audience in this dismal year for indies. See you then.
Movie of the Day: "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944)
On Halloween night we celebrate the day with the 1944 black comedy classic starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. One of the best screwball comedies Capra ever made, and a perfect showcase for what a great actor Cary Grant really was. There's no one else who can do drama, comedy, and most especially, comedy in different ways than Grant could. For proof of his talent and range compare how different his three comedic performances were in Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday and this film. This one takes place on Halloween, with Grant getting married and coming home to visit his eccentric aunts, only to find out they've hidden a corpse in their house and have a very candid history of murder and mayhem. The dark comedy and farce escalates from there- this is a classic that lives up to the word in every way.
Trailer:
Movie of the Day: "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982)
Steven Spielberg's masterpiece holds up every bit as strongly today as it did more than thirty years ago- I only hope kids are still seeing it. Everyone knows this of course- Elliott, played by Henry Thomas, is the ten year old child of divorce who finds the cuddliest and most loveable little alien ever in his backyard, and must help him find his way home. It's funny that ET is so loveable, since his iconic design is actually more than a little ugly, but that speaks to the personality of the animatronic effects. Robert McNaughton and a six-year-old Drew Barrymore play Elliott's brother and sister, who help him try to get ET home. There's an extended Halloween sequence in the movie as Elliott and ET attempt to contact his home planet, which is why the movie qualifies for the entry today, but it's really just a magical, powerful film that everybody should still see. I hope they do.
Trailer:
