Seth Rogen's 'Sausage Party' Gets a Red-Band Trailer

There aren't a lot of animated movies that get made for an adult audience, so I guess this is kinda cool, in theory. Who knows if it's actually enough material for a feature length film though- looks more to me like this might have been better content for a short. What do you think?

New Trailer for 'The Conjuring 2' Recalls 'The Exorcist'

Okay, so my guess is that horror movie fans, who seem to want the same thing over and over again, are going to respond to this one a lot more positively than they did to The Witch. I thought the original Conjuring was collection of rip-off scenes from past horror movies- everything from The Birds to The Amityville Horror, so I guess it's now The Exorcist's turn to be paid "tribute" to. But from the jump scare moments in this trailer, I'm sure it's going to give people their money's worth.

BOX OFFICE 3/25-3/27: 'Batman v Superman' Clobbers the Competition

As expected, dismal reviews couldn't counteract three years of hype and anticipation, as audiences flocked to see BvS this Easter weekend, giving it a record-breaking 166 million debut. That's the biggest opening for a March release ever, passing the record set by the first Hunger Games, and WB's second biggest opening ever, falling short of the debut of the last Harry Potter film. There are a couple of interesting tidbits in there though. First of all, the movie got a "B" Cinemascore, which is not good, and quite rare for a comic book or action movie, and second, it had the biggest ever drop from Friday to Sunday for an opening weekend. So that means word of mouth kinda sucks, and this could be in for a very steep drop next week, similar to Man of Steel's three years ago. Not that it matter too much, since the movie did gangbusters overseas and opened with a global gross of 424 million, already halfway to the 800 million it needs just to break even. If the movie does suffer a massive dropoff next weekend, it looks like overseas audiences will come to the rescue. Unfortunately for the rest of us, who'd prefer hack director Zack Snyder jettisoned from this universe as soon as possible.

The holdovers were filled out by Zootopia, which earned another 23 million and has now grossed 240 million domestically and is very close to 700 million globally, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which actually did better than expected with 18 million, and Allegiant and Miracles From Heaven, which tied with about 9.5 million each. That's pretty bad for Allegiant, which totally collapsed in week two, but good for Miracles, which held strong over the holiday.

Top 5:

1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice- 166.1 million
2. Zootopia- 23.1 million
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2- 18.1 million
4. The Divergent Series: Allegiant- 9.5 million
5. Miracles From Heaven- 9.5 million

A possible bright spot for the run of BvS is the fact that it has little to no competition for a while. The next big movie on the horizon is Disney's The Jungle Book, which isn't until April 15th, so that gives it some breathing room. Next week it's Melissa McCarthy's The Boss and the action movie Hardcore Henry, which probably won't cut into its potential audience too much. Still, I'm curious to see how it fares when toxic word of mouth kicks in. See you then.

First Teaser for 'The LEGO Batman Movie'

For anyone who wanted to see a better Batman movie than the one in theaters this weekend, this could be it. Given the insane popularity of The Lego Movie, I'm sure people will be pumped to go see this one when it comes out in February of next year. Will Arnett is returning as the perfect growling voice for the caped crusader.

Kate Beckinsale Stars Austen Adaptation 'Love and Friendship'

I'm always here for anything based on Jane Austen's works, and surprisingly, this one was adapted by Whit Stillman of all people. Set to come out in May, this movie did get great reviews at Sundance, so I may have to look out for it.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling Turn on the Charm in New Trailer for 'The Nice Guys'

I thought the first trailer for this made it look like a rip-off of director Shane Black's own Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but I have to admit the buddy chemistry between Crowe and Gosling is top-notch. It does look funny and will probably be pretty good, even if it is the same movie set in the 1970's.

Mark Wahlberg's 'Deepwater Horizon' Gets a Heavy-Handed Teaser

I actually liked Peter Berg once upon a time, back when he did Friday Night Lights in 2004, but you almost have to laugh at how on the nose this teaser trailer is. The coke can exploding at the end, really? This is based on the BP oil spill of course, and Berg and Wahlberg had a hit with Lone Survivor a couple years back, so this is probably in a similar, celebrate-the-heroes-on-the-rig kind of thing, but eh. I don't know. I'd prefer a docudrama of what actually went down that day.

Renee Zellweger Returns in 'Bridget Jones's Baby'

Okay, so this apparently is the year for sequels to 15 year old movies that nobody asked for, and after the flop of Zoolander 2 and I'm guessing My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 this weekend, this third film in the Bridget Jones series will probably be next in line. That first film is one of my favorites to this day, but the second one was god awful and this one doesn't look much better. Ugh. Hugh Grant seemed to have the good sense to stay away from it. I don't really get why they would break up her and Colin Firth anyway, but I guess I should just be glad they didn't kill him off like one of the books did.

'Star Wars' Wins Big at the Empire Awards

Star Wars snagged best male and female newcomers, best sci-fi and best director at the Jameson Empire awards, which at least handed out prizes to some different kind of winners, which is nice to see. I love that Paul Greengrass presented Matt Damon with Best Actor for the The Martian, and kudos to them for giving Alan Rickman a deserved legend award.

BEST MALE NEWCOMER
John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER
Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST COMEDY
Spy

BEST HORROR
The Hallow

BEST THRILLER
Spectre

BEST BRITISH FILM
Spectre

BEST ACTOR
Matt Damon, The Martian

BEST ACTRESS
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BEST DIRECTOR
J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST FILM
The Revenant

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Big Short — Adam McKay, Charles Randolph

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Inside Out

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Amy

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST SHORT FILM
World Of Tomorrow

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Mad Max: Fury Road

EMPIRE INSPIRATION
Paddy Considine

EMPIRE LEGEND
Alan Rickman

EMPIRE HERO
Stanley Tucci

Blake Lively vs. a Shark in Teaser for 'The Shallows'

Lol. I don't know whether to take this seriously or burst out laughing, but it is Blake Lively in danger here, so I'm leaning towards the latter. It's also from the guy who directed Non-Stop, so this may have the potential to be a camp classic.

REVIEW: "Deadpool" (2016) Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin. Dir. Tim Miller

At this point, whenever I go into another superhero movie, I'm mostly judging by whether it turns out to be an endeavor that feels like its own thing. Its own vision, its own story, anything from a singular mind and not some product rolled off the assembly line of formula action filmmaking that feels like it's become a perfected science in the last few years. Much to my surprise, Deadpool really did feel that way. This is a unique, vulgar, self-aware, filthy and somewhat depraved ride that manages to be entertaining and memorable, particularly in how much it stands apart from all the other superhero flicks of the moment. And that really is more than enough to recommend it.

Based on an underground Marvel comic book that's peppered with pop culture references, fourth wall breaking and in joke humor that amounts to a violent genre spoof, the film has been kicking around for the last decade as star Ryan Reynolds' pet project. Only now in the wake of the mass franchise wave was it given the green light by 20th Century Fox, whose only other superhero properties are the Fantastic Four and X-Men series. This is not a studio entirely beholden to formula yet, since its profits from the tentpoles aren't as out of this world as Marvel Studios or even WB, which owns the DC properties. No, Fox isn't exactly on the same page as those, which makes it prone to try a risk every now and then, and going with an R-rated comic that boasts some very adult and decidedly not for kids material isn't something those other studios would have jumped on, at least not before Deadpool's success (I'm guessing we may get a lot of them going forward, however).

But I think this decision was a wise one, because like I said, the best part about it is that it feels like its own movie, completely separate from the X-Men universe despite the detail that Deadpool is sort of an honorary, murderous member of the X-Men (I doubt we're going to see him in any of those films), which he himself jokes about. And the material benefits from a perfect match between actor and role, finally giving the years long quest of Ryan Reynolds to break out in something a definitive payoff. His dry, sarcastic, specific sense of humor has made him an odd fit and a total bore of a leading man for the last ten years, with only occasional glimpses (for instance in a movie like Van Wilder) of comedic talents that were perhaps being underused. Turns out he was born to play this part, and gives Deadpool such a manic, rip smart, non-stop verbal energy that he conjures occasional flashbacks to comics like Jim Carrey in his prime. He may have the ability to regenerate limbs after a sadistic science experiment gone wrong, but his real superpower is cutthroat, profane and pop-culture laden verbal gymnastics. You thought Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark was a wiseass? Yeah, this is him times a thousand.

Reynolds is the movie, dominating every frame of it, but the command of tone makes it feel more akin to a film like 1994's The Mask (coincidentally another Jim Carrey vehicle), with a wacky, cartoonish, dazzling air of unpredictability that you simply don't see in other examples of the genre. He talks to the camera, he quips about other movies and other heroes and makes all kinds of asides letting us know this is all a joke, and yet despite all this the movie manages to have a heart, which is actually the biggest surprise of all. It may not be worth describing too much of the plot, but lowlife criminal Wade Wilson finds his soulmate in Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a feisty woman worthy of his love, who matches his personality in every way, and after tragedy strikes his life and leads to ultimate physical deformity, every move he makes is guided by the goal of getting back to her. Adult relationships have been all but jettisoned in superhero movies these days, but this film has more sex and love in it than any from the last decade, and somehow within the realm of Deadpool's crazy universe there exists a soul in a movie that by all accounts, should be utterly soulless. The fact that it's not is something of a triumph.

I had a crazy good time during Deadpool, and even though it may be bound to inspire copycats that will ultimately work to cheapen any effect this one has, I give it all the credit in the world for daring to stay true to the anarchic nature of the source material, and producing something that's not just another generic, character free, hodgepodge romp of what may as well be anonymous actors in different colored tights fighting each other for no reasons that carry any weight or feelings of satisfaction. This one has real flavor to it.

* * * 1/2

BOX OFFICE 3/18-3/20: 'Zootopia' Stays on Top While 'Allegiant' Disappoints

The third entry in the Divergent franchise opened soft this weekend with just 29 million, a 50 percent drop from the last entry, which had already debuted with less than the first. This movie got a horrid 10 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and clearly is an example of either fatigue with the genre itself or just a sign that fans of this particular series are few. Not good news for the fourth film next year, which was as always, an unnecessary splitting of the final book. Meanwhile, that cleared the way for Zootopia to stay in first, as it fell a tiny 25 percent from last week and pulled in another 38 million as it cruises past 200 million and looks well on its way to finish with over 300. That would be a first for an animated film to come out in the first quarter of the year, and its global gross is approaching 600 million in record time, with still some big markets left to open in, like Japan. It may end up overtaking Frozen as the biggest Disney film of all time at this rate.

Jennifer Garner's faith-based Miracles From Heaven opened in third with 18 million, a good debut for Sony's Affirm label, which has been having success in recent years with faith-based films that clearly have an audience out there waiting for them. Holdovers 10 Cloverfield Lane and Deadpool filled up the top five, with Deadpool set to overtake American Sniper soon as the second biggest R-rated movie ever, although it won't catch Passion of the Christ, which remains in first with 370 million.

Top 5:

1. Zootopia- 38 million
2. Allegiant- 29.1 million
3. Miracles From Heaven- 15 million
4. 10 Cloverfield Lane- 12.5 million
5. Deadpool- 8 million

In limited release this week, Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special did pretty well, securing a PTA of  37k on just five screens. Next week Zootopia's reign ends, as Batman v Superman finally comes out, after what seem like an eternity of hearing about it. It's tracking to open at 140 million, but the budget is about twice that, so this movie needs to make a LOT of money. We'll see if it can live up to expectations, or if it falls of a cliff the way Man of Steel did.