Batman and Superman Square Off in New Trailer for 'Dawn of Justice'

The latest trailer for this CG mess combines several of the most recent TV spots, and this is all you want to see of those, trust me. Every new piece of footage revealed from this thing makes it look worse. Superman is a scowling bully, Batman is wildly overacted with an even more ridiculous growl than he had in his last iteration (I thought no one's Batman voice could be worse than Christian Bale's), and Jesse Eisenberg? Again, the less said about him the better. The reviews on this one are going to be very interesting, if nothing else. Something tells me people who sat through Man of Steel aren't going to go in looking to give Zack Snyder a pass this time.

John Carney's 'Sing Street' Premieres at Sundance

John Carney, director of Once and Begin Again, premiered this coming of age film at Sundance just the other day, and the crowd went wild for it. Apparently another heartwarming, crowd-pleasing, original musical filled with new music, this time inspired by 1980's rock. I'm so there. Carney reminds me of Cameron Crowe when he was at his peak- the kind of guy who can make sentimental, feel good films with warm characters you want to spend time with, and never leave their universes. The kind of sentiment that hits the sweet spot by falling just shy of cheesiness- in other words, my kind of movie.

BOX OFFICE 1/22-1/24: 'The Revenant' Takes the Top Spot Over a Snowy Weekend

As winter storm Jonas pummeled the east coast this weekend and shut down theaters, The Revenant creeped up to No. 1 for the first time since its release, pulling in 16 million and 119 million total. This is, needless to say, the highest grossing Inarritu movie ever and his first to hit the top spot at the box office, no doubt fueled by the 12 Oscar nominations it hauled in a couple weeks ago. 

Meanwhile, Ride Along 2 suffered a steep drop and fell to third, earning 12 million for a 59 million domestic total and paving the way for Star Wars to retake second place. TFA earned another 14 million, adding to its now 879 million total as it is now the fourth biggest international grossing movie of all time, surpassing Jurassic World earlier this week. Worldwide, it's still behind Titanic and Avatar- we'll have to see if it can topple Titanic or not, with Avatar's total seemingly out of reach. The rest of the top five was filled by new releases that did not impress, with Dirty Grandpa and the horror movie The Boy sneaking in with fairly lame debuts for both. Chloe Moretz's YA adaptation The 5th Wave did not make the top five, ensuring this one will not become a franchise.

Top 5:

1. The Revenant- 16 million
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 14.3 million
3. Ride Along 2- 12.3 million
4. Dirty Grandpa- 11.5 million
5. The Boy- 11.3 million

We're pretty much in the dog days of January, with nothing coming out in limited release lately and the film festival crowds gathering in Sundance this week with a slate of potential Oscar contenders for next year's awards season being screened. In light of that, there's not much to talk about, with nothing of note coming out until the Coen Brothers Hail, Caesar on February 5th, followed by Deadpool and Zoolander 2 on the 12th. Until then, we slog through. Stay warm everybody.

'The Big Short' Takes the PGA, Becomes Oscar Frontrunner

Well, we had another shocker here, guys. The year after Birdman stunned everyone by upsetting at the PGA and going on to win the Oscar, now The Big Short takes out the competition and solidifies itself as the Best Picture contender to beat. In fact, I'll go ahead and tell you right now that I trust the PGA winner over every other predictor when it comes to Best Picture, simply because it's matched up the last 7 years in a row. And the Producers Guild uses the same exact ballot that the Academy does and have roughly about the same number of members in its organization- that's why it's been so reliable in recent years. And the truth is it shouldn't be that surprising, considering how well this movie has performed with all the guilds, hitting everywhere it needed to, including in the Oscar nominations. It's clearly the industry's favorite. We've got some more guilds to weigh in, including SAG next weekend, and DGA in a few weeks, but right now I'm saying it's Big Short for Picture and Adam McKay for director. Your best bet is always to stick with the guilds overall, and if it comes down to it, the PGA in particular, and it has now spoken.

2015 PGA WINNERS:

• Feature: The Big Short
• Animated Feature: Inside Out
• Documentary Feature: Amy

Key and Peele Search for 'Keanu' in Their First Movie

Okay, this looks hilarious. The brilliant Comedy Central duo make their movie debut with Keanu, and I'm so there. These guys are awesome.

Kevin Smith Introduces New 'Wonder Woman' Footage

This early look at the 2017 Wonder Woman movie showcases what looks to me like Zack Snyder's typical washed out, slo-mo action, videogame crap in the vein of 300 and everything he's done since. He's not even directing this one, but his signature "style" is all over it. How did a guy like that manage to get his hands on creative control of the DC universe? This is why all the movies with my favorite heroes (I prefer DC guys to Marvel in general), are going to suck so hard. What a shame. If I sound like I'm not giving it a chance, it's because I sat through Man of Steel twice and lived to regret it.

Harley Quinn Showcased in 'Suicide Squad' Trailer

Boy, someone wants to rip off Guardians of the Galaxy, don't they? In the trailer at least. This one takes a totally different tone than the first, super serious teaser did, and it doesn't look half as bad as Batman v Superman- although what could? Not sure though. I think more than half the effect is "Bohemian Rhapsody" playing throughout it. And they're not teasing Batman, who is supposed to show up in this movie, as played by Ben Affleck.

Seth Rogen Takes On a Sorority in 'Neighbors 2'

I wasn't a big fan of the first Neighbors movie, and frankly, this one looks even dumber. But it was a big hit, so maybe this one will continue the series- I'm starting to wonder if Chloe Moretz really has it in her to be a successful actress as an adult though. The best thing she's ever done is still Kick Ass.

Surprise Trailer for 'Cloverfield 2' Comes Out

I'm not sure how many fans there were of this movie, but apparently it's now become a cinematic universe of its own. Yay? I gotta admit, I never saw the first one.

BOX OFFICE 1/15-1/17: 'Ride Along 2' Beats Out 'Star Wars' Over MLK Weekend

The four day weekend proved profitable for the sequel to Kevin Hart's Ride Along, which opened with 41 million over the weekend, off by about 7 million from the first movie's debut. It was pretty dreadfully reviewed, but it managed to dethrone Star Wars' 4-week run at the box office, which fell to third, bringing in 32 million, as its total crept to 858 million through Monday.

Meanwhile, The Revenant benefited from leading the Oscar nominations last week to come in with 39 million, basically a zero percent drop from last week. At this rate, and with Dicaprio's all but certain Oscar win to come, the movie could end up getting close to 175 million or so. The new Michael Bay Benghazi movie 13 Hours opened in fourth with 19 million, and earned over 40 percent of its total from the South. Will Ferrell's Daddy's Home rounded out the top five, having made 132 million to date.

Top 5:

1. Ride Along 2- 41.6 million
2. The Revenant- 39 million
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 32.6 million
4. 13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi- 19.7 million
5. Daddy's Home- 12 million

In limited release, the movies that benefited most from the Oscar nominations were Spotlight, Brooklyn and Room, which all got boosts and will be expanded further in the weeks to come before Oscar night. The only things opening next week are Dirty Grandpa and The Third Wave, both dumped in this sorry month of releases, likely because they suck. We'll see you next week.

'Mad Max' and '45 Years' Dominate London Critics Circle Winners

The London film critics went all in for Mad Max in Picture and Director, with 45 Years taking top honors for Actor and Actress, along with British/Irish film of the year. Yay for Charlotte Rampling, who got nominated at the Oscars too. 

LONDON CRITICS WINNERS

Film of the year - Mad Max: Fury Road

British/Irish film of the year - 45 Years

Actor of the year - Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

Actress of the year - Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Supporting actor of the year - Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies)

Supporting actress of the year - Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Director of the year: George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Screenwriter of the year - Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

British/Irish actor of the year - Tom Hardy (Legend, London Road, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant)

British/Irish actress of the year - Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, Lost River)

Young British/Irish performer of the year - Maisie Williams (The Falling)

Documentary of the year - Amy

Dilys Powell award for excellence in film - Sir Kenneth Branagh

Foreign language film of the year - The Look Of Silence

Philip French award for breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker - John Maclean (Slow West)

British/Irish short film of the year: Stutterer

'Mad Max' Leads Critics Choice Wins but 'Spotlight' Takes Best Picture

The BFCA gave out their insanely high number of statuettes last night. Is there a world in which any awards show needs to give out 51 trophies? More than half of them didn't air on the show. But they slobbered all over Mad Max, handing it every tech award and Best Director, but not Best Picture, which they gave to Spotlight, which won just one other award for Screenplay. Those cowardly, cowardly "critics." These are not real critics by the way, they're movie bloggers and video interviewers mostly. And their number one goal is trying to predict what wins the Oscar, so they don't even have the guts to stick with what was clearly their favorite movie. These awards mean nothing to the Oscar race- it's still totally up in the air until the PGA next weekend. Still between Spotlight, Big Short, Revenant and Mad Max. No one has any idea what the industry prefers yet. The best moment of the night was Jacob Tremblay's adorable acceptance speech for Best Young Actor- the rest of the show was an embarrassing mess as usual.

2015 BFCA WINNERS

BEST PICTURE
Spotlight

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

BEST ACTRESS
Brie Larson, Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Jacob Tremblay, Room

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Spotlight

BEST DIRECTOR
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Colin Gibson, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST EDITING
Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside Out

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COMEDY
The Big Short

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Christian Bale, The Big Short

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
Ex Machina

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Son of Saul

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Amy

BEST SONG
“See You Again”, Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa, Furious 7

BEST SCORE
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight

'Room's Jacob Tremblay steals the show