Archive for the ‘film’ Category
Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
This summer’s Hot Hollywood hype is starting early.
First of the action flicks is the new Rian Johnson sci-fi action thriller Looper. This films stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hitman in a futuristic society where time travel sends him back to take out his employer’s enemies before they have a chance to cause them any trouble.
The thriller part comes in when JGL finds his next assignment is his older self, played by Bruce Willis, who he is determined to hunt down despite the obvious consequences. Check out the trailer below.
Rian Johnson’s previous efforts were the indie films Brick and The Brothers Bloom (we recommend both), and he really doesn’t have much name recognition to the average audience but the studio is doing their best to get the word out.
They released three brief featurette interviews: a sneak peek, a little commentary about the futuristic world, and a background look at the makeup transformation to make JGL resemble Willis. You can also watch the trailer with the director’s commentary.
With action blockbusters dominating summer such as The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises smaller films like Looper do their best to create a buzz to raise their profile with audiences.
Do these tactics get you interested in a little-known film? Based on what you see here do you plan to see Looper?
This must be a week for laughter with four comedies opening this week (with only 21 Jump Street is getting a full wide release).
Last week wasn’t strong for new releases, with The Lorax remaining in the top spot. Meanwhile the Sci-Fi spectacle John Carter opened to only a lacklustre $30 million. Considering the movie’s $250 million budget, that is not good news. Silent House and A Thousand Words both opened around $6 million.
21 Jump Street – This movie is definitely the most anticipated comedy of 2012 and has opened to high praise thus far. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as two cops who get involved in a revamp of the 80’s TV show plot. This is the sort of R-rated humor that people mostly seem to enjoy, while some find crass. Undoubtedly it will make a killing at the box office.
Jeff, Who Lives At Home – The Duplass brothers, champions of “mumblecore” films (for better or worse), direct this comedy starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms as brothers who have their issues. The titular character Jeff has a feeling that signs are all around him pointing him to his unforeseen destiny, while his brother Pat is dealing with a rocky marriage to Linda (Judy Greer), and their mother (played by a charming Susan Sarandon) is dealing with the bittersweet emotions of another birthday. We had a chance to catch this film and we completely fell for the clever script, endearing characters, and carefully injected humor. It’s really a fun film that has an emotional depth that catches you off guard. If you like quirky comedies we think you’d really enjoy this one.
Friends with Kids – Another film that we had a chance to see, this one a take on the romantic comedy which is seeing a theater expansion this week. It boasts a strong cast lead by Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt (who also wrote and directed) with supporting roles by Bridesmaids alums, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, and Chris O’Dowd. Scott and Westfeldt are two 30-something best friends who decide to have a child together since they don’t seem to be having much luck with finding prospective partners. They also see that their friends’ relationships struggle under the stress of parenting, and think they can do better as friends. This is a romantic comedy so the familiar tropes can be found, but the script is rather smart and original for the genre. Elements of drama make the film well-rounded, and the cast brings it to life in a way that doesn’t make you mind any reminiscent territory. It also manages to not completely trivialize the female characters as romantic comedies seem prone to do.
Casa de mi Padre – Will Ferrell starring in a Spanish language film? Like seriously, this is the sort of brilliant idea that Adam Sandler only thinks he has. Whether you want to see this completely depends on how much you love Ferrell and his antics. If you think this sounds stupid then you will definitely feel the same after seeing it.
What do you plan to see in theaters? What do you think about any films you have seen lately?
USDemoCrazy is back with our weekly segment detailing the movies released this weekend. We give our two cents and encourage you to give us some back.
John Carter – Hopefully for Taylor Kitsch and Disney (the budget is said to be around $250 million) some people are really excited about it. It’s based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (you might not know his name, but you do know his other creation, Tarzan) and his celebrated sci-fi story. We found the trailer to be fairly melodramatic and bland but we also might not be the target audience.
Silent House – This horror movie’s claim to fame is essentially a gimmick. Its 88 minute running time was shot in one take, thus depicting the events of the film in real time. It is an interesting premise (even thought this is a remake, obviously–most horror movies seem to be at this point) but it could either play out well or annoying and heavy-handed.
Friends with Kids – The thing about this movie is that its cast is pretty stacked: Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph, Jon Hamm, Megan Fox, Chris O’Dowd… chances are you probably like a few of them. It tells the story of two friends who decide to have a child together platonically, but not completely contrived like 2010’s Life As We Know It. If it has a smart script and avoids cliches it should be a pretty solid film.
A Thousand Words – Eddie Murphy. Directed by the guy who did Norbit. Shelved for three years. This is going to be awful. Studios must not be interested in shelling out the money for marketing this film either because besides a few TV spots, we haven’t seen any advertising for this movie.
Plan to see any of these movies? Catch anything good in theaters or elsewhere lately?
Last year an interesting documentary by Lee Hirsch called Bully hit the film festival circuit.
The movie is now looking to for general release in major cinemas.
The film took a hard stand against the current epidemic of bullying facing youth today. It featured real adolescents and its purpose is to reach out to that age group.
But there’s a big problem… most of these adolescents won’t be able to see the movie.
The MPAA has assessed the documentary with an R rating keeping it out of reach of its intended audience.
The reason for the R? Cussing–mostly used by the kids featured in the film.
The MPAA has a long history of maintaining their status quo as the dominant assessors of a movie’s content, rating films at their own discretion.
The Weinstein Company (backers of the movie) also has a history of fighting against MPAA ratings and has even threatened to leave the system as a whole after this latest defeat.
But should the Weinsteins withdraw from the rating system, it would leave the “unrated” Bully with a challenge.
Theaters aren’t too keen on showing unrated movies because it gives an impression the film’s content is worse than your standard “R” movie.
Do you think dropping a few too many F-bombs in a film is really essential? Or do you think it’s a lame reason to give films such a harsh rating? What do you think of the MPAA’s monopoly on movie ratings?
It’s here. Finally Oscar-mania moves center stage as the Academy awards are announced in Hollywood.
Here’s your chance to pick your slate of winners and compare/compete against USDemocrazy’s own Movie Maven’s choices. Check out our choice for winners (not necessarily our favorites) from some of the key categories listed below. Then submit your own list… let’s see who gets the highest score by the end of the night!
You can also follow our Movie Maven tonight as she will be tweeting the Oscars live on twitter @usdemocrazy.
USDemocrazy Oscar Choices:
Best Picture : The Artist
Director : Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Leading Actor : George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Leading Actress : Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor : Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress : Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay : Midnight in Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Best Animated feature: Rango
Best Score : The Artist
Best Song: Man or Muppet, The Muppets
from thelw.com
Okay Movie buffs, the glamour and glitz of the Oscars are fast approaching.
But who of the big movie stars sauntering down the red carpet will win the Grand Prize?
This year saw plenty of strong performances by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, as well as some of the newest. Let’s take a look.
Actor in a Leading Role
- Demián Bichir in A Better Life
- George Clooney in The Descendants
- Jean Dujardin in The Artist
- Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Brad Pitt in Moneyball
This is actually an interesting category for two reasons: Bichir and Oldman. I doubt anyone was guessing Demián Bichir would get nominated for his impressive work in the movie that stuck to the indie circuit without a huge amount of buzz.
It isn’t as much of a surprise, (but still fantastic) that Gary Oldman was finally recognized with his first nomination after decades of impressive acting work. His ability to meld into a role, sometimes beyond recognition, has deserved this sort of honor. His performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy merits it.
However, there were definitely a few actors that were deserving as well. Most notably was Michael Fassbender’s heart wrenching and nuanced performance as a sex addict in Shame and was predicted to get a nod. Also Ryan Gosling was acclaimed as the Driver in the indie favorite Drive and Michael Shannon as the psychologically tormented Curtis in Take Shelter. The last two might have lacked as much momentum behind them.
This category as a whole does not necessarily have very weak points. George Clooney seems to be the favorite with his work in The Descendants, although some argue it wasn’t really that challenging or stand out–just Clooney being Clooney. We appreciated his performance but could see Dujardin stealing away the award if The Artist sweeps. Brad Pitt just seems to be at the middle of this group of nominees.
Actress in a Leading Role
- Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
- Viola Davis in The Help
- Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
- Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn
This category is filled with mostly strong performances in otherwise mediocre movies, save for Rooney Mara. None of the other four movies were very well received.
The Help was a huge box office sensation but received mixed to favorable reviews and we think that Viola Davis will take home the award based on this fact despite the heavy competition, especially from 17-times nominated Streep.
If we had our way Rooney Mara would be taking home this Oscar. Her performance required the most commitment and commanded the screen completely elevating The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We think she made this Hollywood take on the source material well worth it despite initial negative reactions from some fans of the Swedish version.
Mara’s Lisbeth Salander was our favorite performance from any actor or actress this year but her chances to win seem slim, considering it was a surprise that she was even nominated.
Some snubs include Tilda Swinton as the mother of a sociopath in We Need to Talk About Kevin, who seemed a sure-fire nominee. Charlize Theron’s work as the somewhat-crazy Mavis in Young Adult was just on the brink of a nod. One of our favorites was seemingly completely overlooked. Elizabeth Olsen (yes the other Olsen sister) was magnetic and compelling as a former cult member in Martha Marcy May Marlene but didn’t really seem on the Oscar radar at all.
What were your favorite performances of the year? Who do you think deserves the win?
The superhero movie genre has exploded over the past few years. Now it seems everyone in the movie industry is trying their darnedest to create the most successful one of them all.
Last summer brought us Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America: The First Avenger which all vied to dominate the genre.
This summer will bring us three more superhero movies and we’ve got their trailers here for you to check out. Summer might seem far away but these trailers are already trying to get you juiced up for the season.
The Avengers has been built up over the past years with several films introducing the superheros of this movie before they join forces. Somehow this movie will feature Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury.
The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters Fourth of July weekend. This Spider-Man reboot (yes, 10 years after the last movie adaptation began) stars Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey, Parker’s pre-Mary Jane love interest. It remains to be seen whether this was worth rehashing so soon since the Sam Raimi Spider-Man franchise.
The Dark Knight Rises is definitely many people’s most anticipated movie of the year. After the insane success of 2008’s The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan has no easy task to recreate what many people saw as a masterpiece of the superhero genre. But is is possible for Tom Hardy’s Bane to even come close to Heath Ledger’s Joker? We’ll have to wait and see.
Which superhero movie are you looking forward to the most?
