If anyone cares, the official trailer for Allegiant is out today, but I think this has to be the least hyped, least exciting franchise in the recent slew of YA adaptations. I think even the Maze Runner series might have more fans. I'm actually surprised they're still putting these out, to be honest.
Movie of the Day: "Coming Home" (1978)
It's a one off Movie of the Day today, in honor of Veteran's Day, even though we have a whole month of wartime movies that commemorate them in the November movie page. Here's another one that's specifically about veterans- those from the Vietnam War in particular. Jane Fonda is a woman whose husband, Bruce Dern, is off fighting while she's left at home alone, and she drifts into an affair with wounded vet Jon Voight, who's returned crippled from his injuries and is now battling his own reservations about the war. It's a touching romance and a feat of great acting, as Fonda and Voight both won Oscars for this film. But I'd be lying if I didn't say one of the very best things about it is the soundtrack, packed with great and little used late 1960's rock. Happy Veteran's Day, everyone.
Original Trailer:
Seth Rogen in the Red-Band Trailer for 'The Night Before'
Boy does this look awful. The new red band trailer does it zero favors- in fact, I'm starting to wonder if the whole Apatow/Rogen schtick is starting to wear on anybody else's nerves or just mine. It feels outdated and it's not even that old.
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' Gets a Trailer
The most unnecessary sequel of 2016 gets a trailer, although I guess with Bridget Jones's Diary also getting another sequel, and Zoolander 2 on the way next year, the time for rebooting movies that are 15 years old is now. I kind of always hated the original movie anyway, and this one looks just as funny as that one was. Which is to say, not at all. Can't wait.
The Nemo Gang Returns in Trailer for 'Finding Dory'
I know a lot of people have a really strong attachment to Finding Nemo, but I have to admit that for me it's not one of my personal favorite Pixar films. I think the Toy Story movies hit me in that nostalgic sweet spot, and as for their best, my votes go to the Brad Bird ones, Ratatouille and The Incredibles. And Dory herself wasn't even my favorite character in the original movie- Albert Brooks' Marlon was by far the best, and hearing him again excited me more than Ellen Degeneres's Dory does. Still, I'm sure there are millions who are pretty psyched about this long awaited sequel next year, so here's your first look at it. Funny, I guess not a whole lot of time has gone by, since Nemo hasn't grown like, at all in the intervening 13 years.
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Trainwreck" (2015)
Amy Schumer's Trainwreck was a big hit this summer, and I was one of those who liked it for essentially being the kind of old-fashioned romantic comedy that they don't bother to make much anymore. I also thought it was a refreshingly honest and candid look at a woman who sees herself as possibly being more screwed up than she really is. The only quibble that I had with it was that, as sweet and frank as it was, I actually didn't think it was much of a laugh riot- it was amusing enough, but I don't think I had any real laugh out loud moments with it, which I was probably meant to. Even so, I liked it a lot anyway and it's definitely worth seeing, so check it out, especially if you're a fan of the genre.
Trailer:
'Star Wars' TV Spot Focuses on Rey
Again, this new tv spot for the movie puts the focus squarely on Daisy Ridley and this time all but tells us with the "same eyes" voiceover tease that she's a Skywalker- which kinda pisses me off. I know I'm probably the only person who's upset by this, but I'm sorry, if she's Luke OR Leia's kid, why the hell does she have a british accent? Neither one of them were English and neither was Han. I don't accept it. They should have cast an American or told her to drop the accent.
First Trailer for the 'Warcraft' Movie is Released
The general rule is that movies based on videogames are pretty fucking awful, and I don't think the new Warcraft movie is going to break the mold, at least not based on this trailer. It's not really a rule, it's just a historical trend- for some reason they have not been able to make a successfully cinematic film based on a game in all the years they've been trying, and they've been trying for a LONG time. Paula Patton, Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper lend their human faces to this highly animated world, but I wouldn't get your hopes up for this one, Warcraft fans.
BOX OFFICE 11/06-11/08: 'Spectre' and 'The Peanuts Movie' Deliver Big for the Weekend
Finally, a couple of big movies stopped the recent spate of flops by the new releases, as Spectre hit 73 million for the weekend, and The Peanuts Movie opened strong with 45 million. The big debut of the Bond film isn't surprising, since Skyfall was such a massive hit in 2012. Whenever a Bond movie is successful, the following entry opens huge, no matter what the reviews are. As such, Spectre delivered the second biggest 007 opening of all time, following Skyfall's 88 million bow last time around. It also got an "A-" Cinemascore, so expect it to do well in the coming weeks. It's already broken scores of worldwide records in its debut overseas, beating Skyfall's opening in the UK.
Meanwhile, the success of The Peanuts Movie was a little more surprising, since I'd questioned the loyalty to 60 year old comic strip characters in today's kids, but I guess those holiday specials still hold sway, which is nice to see. It earned 45 million and an "A" Cinemascore, so I may have to check it out myself. The top five were rounded out by The Martian, which fell even less than expected to make another 9 million, Goosebumps, bringing its total to 66 million, and Bridge of Spies, hanging on to cross 55 million total.
Top 5:
- Spectre- 73 million
- The Peanuts Movie- 45 million
- The Martian- 9.3 million
- Goosebumps- 7 million
- Bridge of Spies- 6.1 million
This weekend also saw the debuts of some major awards contenders in limited, as Spotlight opened the best on five screens, for a PTA of about 60k and a total of 303k over the weekend. Brooklyn was the other opener, also debuting on five screens for a pretty good PTA of 36k and 181k overall, while the Bryan Cranston biopic Trumbo was softer, bringing in 77k and a 15k per theater average. Of course, with Spotlight and Brooklyn it's important to keep in mind what happened to Steve Jobs after it's highest per screen average of the year last month, so these two will continue to platform out over the next few weeks and not go wide around the country. There's not a big release next week, with just the openings of Angelina Jolie's By the Sea, which was recently slaughtered by critics at the AFI Fest, and the Chilean mining drama The 33, so expect Spectre to hold the top spot at least until The Hunger Games comes out on the 20th. See you then.
Trailer for Spike Lee's 'Chi-Raq' Comes Out
Spike Lee, recipient of this year's Honorary Oscar next Saturday night, keeps making movies, despite the fact that his films continue to have a hard time securing distribution. This one will be the first film distributed by Amazon, and will have a limited release on Dec. 4th followed by an Amazon Instant Video premiere soon after. Looks a little nutty, but hopefully in a good way. At least the subject matter is timely and hot button, in line with Lee's ouvre.
International 'Star Wars' Trailer Debuts New Footage
So, there's a LOT more footage in this Japanese trailer for The Force Awakens, and I guess I'm going to have to take back my assumption that the Daisy Ridley character is Han and Leia's daughter, because she wouldn't have a British accent if she was, right? You get to see her front and center for this one and more of the story than the other two trailers have given us combined. Looks pretty good so far.
Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler Return for 'London Has Fallen'
The trailer for the sequel to the hit Olympus Has Fallen is here, with the president once again under siege, this time after an attack has hit a meeting with all the world leaders in attendance. There's really no shortage of catastrophe in the premise for "US President under siege" movies, is there?
