The recent trend in sequels to movies from the last decade has been a pretty unsuccessful one, so I suppose there's no reason to think this will break the mold. But I gotta admit, I laughed at this trailer. Of course, the original Bad Santa, while not everyone's cup of tea, cracked me up to no end and still does, so I like seeing nasty ol' Willie return for more depravities here. But this is also a completely different director and team of writers, so who knows if it'll amount to anything. That first one might have been black comedy lightning in a bottle.
First Look at Amy Adams in Alien Invasion Movie 'Arrival'
This could be interesting. Seems like every fall there's a new space movie in tow, and this time it's Amy Adams as a translator for a group of invaders from another planet. Jeremy Renner co-stars and the director is Denis Villenueve, who made Prisoners and Sicario. The full trailer arrives in a few days, but this early look is promising.
10 Movies For August
For the month of August, our theme is Going Global, and our films for recommendation this month include foreign-language films from different countries around the globe. This is one of my favorite categories of the year, because it feels like traveling to a different culture with each pick. Some of my favorite movies in our list this month include La Dolce Vita, Amelie, The Barbarian Invasions, Run Lola Run and Ju Dou, among others. Go ahead and go to the Movies for Every Month page to read more about the theme, and head to the August movie page to see the full list of films, complete with their original trailers. Enjoy the last cinematic summer vacation of the season and happy movie watching!
BOX OFFICE 8/05-8/07: 'Suicide Squad' Makes a Killing at the Box Office
Despite getting completely and utterly trashed by critics, WB's Suicide Squad wiped out the record for an August opening, pulling in 135 million over three days. However, there was a pretty steep drop-off from Friday to Saturday alone, and after receiving a mere "B+" Cinemascore, this one looks to be in for a fate similar to March's Batman v Superman, as audiences come out of this film more inclined to agree with the critics' disdain. Still, it made bank overseas this weekend as well, and already has 267 million in the can globally. It's enough to depress you, as the DC universe can't manage to produce a semi-decent film, yet continues to rake in the cash due to audiences' excitement over the idea of these superheroes. The female audience in particular turned out for this one, probably due to the idea of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn being front and center. That bodes well for Wonder Woman, but given this track record, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up if I was a fan of any of these characters. Believe it when you see it.
Last week's winner Jason Bourne took a big fall, but continues to do well overseas, having earned 195 million so far. STX's Bad Moms is also holding well, serving a female audience that is mostly underserved all year round, which explains how the Mila Kunis comedy could end up with close to 100 million by the end of its run. The Secret Life of Pets and Star Trek Beyond rounded out the top five, with 11 and 10 million, respectively.
Top 5:
- Suicide Squad- 135 million
- Jason Bourne- 22.7 million
- Bad Moms- 14.2 million
- The Secret Life of Pets- 11.6 million
- Star Trek Beyond- 10.2 million
Kevin Spacey's Nine Lives, also critically panned, took in around 6 million over its debut weekend, while Ghostbusters has 116 million total, but not much overseas at all, and looks set to lose money, putting the future of the franchise in doubt. Next week it's Disney's Pete's Dragon against Meryl Streep's Florence Foster Jenkins, so who knows how Suicide Squad will hold up against those films targeting different audiences.
Early Teaser for Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk'
This movie isn't coming out until next summer, but this early tease is quite intriguing. You wouldn't think a guy like Christopher Nolan would make a straightforward war movie, so I wonder what the hook is for this one. Or who knows, maybe he did want to go straight with it this time (chasing the Oscar that still eludes him and all). We just have to wait and see.
Brand New Look at 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'
I missed this Comic-Con trailer a while back, so here it is now. I have to say, this has been a mostly terrible year for movies in general, with so little overall worth seeing, and as far as studio movies go, I don't think this one looks too bad. It's the same team that made the Harry Potter movies of course, this time with JK Rowling having actually written the script, but I'm kinda curious. I should probably read the actual book, right? I read all the Harry Potters but missed out on this one.
Matt Damon Stars in Fantasy Action Epic 'The Great Wall'
So, there's already been some reactions to this movie from those who are questioning, to say the least, the decision to cast Matt Damon as the star of an action movie that takes place in 15th century China, and it does look a little out of place. However, this is Zhang Yimou, master director of Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, House of Flying Daggers, and the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies. As strange as this story may look [I don't know what's going on with the monsters over the wall], we're at least going to be getting some amazing visuals, I think it's safe to say. But yeah, it definitely looks...different.
Full Trailer for 'The Lego Batman Movie'
I wasn't the biggest fan of The Lego Movie, but I actually thought Batman was one of the funniest parts of it. So I have to admit, I laughed a couple times while watching this trailer. I think Will Arnett might be a better Batman than the current live action version. And now we get Robin too? Oh yeah, this movie's going to be huge.
Comic-Con Launches 'Doctor Strange' Trailer
The initial teaser was intriguing, but I have to say, this new trailer makes the movie seem a hell of a lot more generic than that first glimpse revealed. Huh. Then again, it is another Marvel movie. What can I even say now that hasn't been said about their films? The most distracting thing to me here though is Benedict Cumberbatch's jarring American accent. I don't even know if it's good yet, all I know is he opens his mouth and I expect to hear that slick, silky British baritone. Why couldn't they just let him keep it? Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor got to keep theirs. I don't like hearing him talk like that. It's weird.
Oscar Winner Brie Larson Stars in 'Kong: Skull Island'
So, the studio seemed to know that the whole King Kong character is old news, which is why they've apparently decided to turn him into Godzilla. Because that's what this ludicrous looking film is, King Kong by way of Godzilla. Not the Beauty and the Beast story we know, but a generic action movie with Samuel L. Jackson yelling at people and various other human cardboard cutouts looking scared before Kong appears, now the size of a mountain. Yeah. This does not look good. Thoughts?
New Comic-Con Trailer for 'Suicide Squad'
At this point, I don't really know why we need any more trailers for Suicide Squad. I'm pretty sure we've seen 95 percent of the movie. But if you want it, here's another look at it, this one reminding you that Will Smith is in it too, which has kinda been getting lost in the marketing, with so much of it focusing on the Joker and Harley Quinn. It looks the best of the DC menu, I'll say that much. But once again, I'm asking myself if it's the soundtrack doing the talking for this film in every single promo that's released. The first teaser for this by the way, was released at last year's Comic-Con, and the movie STILL hasn't come out yet.
Batman Assembles the 'Justice League' in New Sizzle Reel
As many issues as I had with the way they seem to have approached Wonder Woman in that trailer, this footage taken from the ongoing filming of Justice League just made me laugh. And no, not in the way they wanted me to. This IS Zack Snyder directing again, probably for the last time, and boy, do you think the studio notes mandated some HUMOR this time around or what? I think it said jokes, jokes, jokes- MAKE IT FUNNY. Because this really looks nothing like Batman v Superman, and I suppose that's a good thing, but then again, Zack Snyder, ultimate self-important dude bro being forced to deliver a "fun" superhero movie against his natural instincts as a filmmaker...this sounds like a recipe for disaster, frankly. Oh, and the studio also ordered some rock music thrown in, because people love that in their trailers these days. Don't see this working either. And can I just say, the fact that they're ripping off the TV version of The Flash character is lame, but how much more lame is The Flash's costume in this? UGH. Nice robot shoulders, dude. Give me the TV one any day.
