Movies

Just when you thought those little blue devils were done smurfing around, SONY Pictures Animation dropped a teaser trailer on us!

Featuring the voices of Demi Lovato (Smurfette), Rainn Wilson (Gargamel), Joe Manganiello (Hefty), Jack McBrayer (Clumsy) and Danny Pudi (Brainy). 

Due to the unfortunate passing of the wonderfully talented Jonathan Winters, Mandy Patinkin will be taking over as Papa Smurf.

A year after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took down their nemesis, Shredder (Brian Tee), and sent him to prison, they are still living under the radar in the sewers, sneaking into basketball games and enjoying pizza. It's not a perfect existence, but more or less they are happy. However, their friend April (Megan Fox) learns that scientist Baxter Stockton (Tyler Perry) is somehow planning to help Shredder break out during a prisoner transfer. Despite Donatello (Jeremy Howard), Leonardo (Pete Ploszek), Michaelangelo (Noel Fisher), and Raphael (Alan Ritchson) racing to stop this, Shredder manages to escape with the help of Stockton's teleportation device. When the Turtles realize Shredder's plans to open a portal and ensure his rising power, they race to stop him.

When I volunteered to review THE CONJURING 2 on Blu-ray, I went into it without having seen the film to which this is titularly a sequel. As it turns out, that's quite okay, because in a broader sense it's not only a stand-apart film, but it's also the latest in a long sequence of stories, from different directors and production companies, stringing back to THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. That's because the protagonists of this film are Ed and Lorraine Warren (portrayed as they were in THE CONJURING by PATRICK WILSON and VERA FARMIGA), the same investigators who were called in to investigate the house in Amityville, New York in the 1970s.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR was, as we put in our review, Marvel’s biggest blockbuster yet. But even with the bulk of the MCU’s character arsenal all on one screen again, Tom Holland stole the show as the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Holland had a great deal of fun with limited screen time, and the result is that rather than feeling fatigued with a third iteration of this character, fans are excited to see more.

Shane Black's THE NICE GUYS is a retro-cool foray into the seedy seventies. And nowhere were the seventies more seedy than in smog-choked, porn-brimming Los Angeles, where our two not-exactly-heroes, Jackson Healy (RUSSELL CROWE) and Holland March (RYAN GOSLING) meet up.

For my money, there may not be a finer American actor working today than Jeff Bridges. The man is always interesting to watch on the big screen. From earnest heroes in the first remake of KING KONG, TRON, and the wonderful animated film THE LAST UNICORN, to playing as or opposite the zany in films like THE FISHER KING and TH EBIG LEBOWSKI to managing to out-Duke the Duke in the excellent remake of TRUE GRIT, Bridges has consistently reinvented himself over a career spanning nearly every decade of his life. His latest film, HELL OR HIGH WATER, is a modern western noir hybrid, expertly written by Taylor Sheridan (2015’s acclaimed SICARIO) and directed by an Englishman or Scottish heritage named David Mackenzie, who won 16 awards for his 2013 film STARRED UP but has no credits that will be instantly familiar to American audiences. Until now, that is.

With the first GOD'S NOT DEAD movie, the setting was the college campus, a forum of relatively free discourse even when pitting student against teacher. In GOD'S NOT DEAD 2, the stage shifts to the high school, where an A.P. history teacher known for her optimism is asked a question comparing the non-violent teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi to Jesus. When the teacher, Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart, MELISSA & JOEY), answers the question, quoting the teaching that would align with the philosophy, it gets recorded and sent to the world.

I'll admit it. I thought the remake of GHOSTBUSTERS, going out of it's way to gender-swap the characters, was a film with an idea shoehorned into it (quod vide: gimmick). I wasn't vehement about it, I didn't feel the need to pan it heavily before it even hit the screens. I was just overwhelmingly nonplussed by the concept. Then the reviews came out, and it turned out to be a good movie after all.

From the initial trailers, I was hyped over SUICIDE SQUAD.  Unfortunately, I was over-hyped due to the star-studded cast of supervillains and because I grew up appreciating the DC universe.    I am from the era of Michael Keaton Batman, so I liked DC before Marvel ever came across my radar.  Because I was a teenager, I did not mind BATMAN FOREVER nor BATMAN AND ROBIN.  The "campy" aspect was at an all-time high, and big box office actors joined the cast which was great for a teen girl who was in love with Chris O'Donnell as Robin.  

Which brings me to SUICIDE SQUAD: it was okay.  It was entertaining for the first 75% of the movie before it becomes even too outlandish for me (and the great soundtrack also tapers off).  Robbie Margot steals the shows as Harley Quinn, but not many others are stand-out characters aside from her, Jay Hernandez as Diablo, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.  

What a drag it must be for DC Comics and their parent company, Warner Brothers, to constantly be chasing Marvel. Oh sure, DC is currently showing up in the top 10 of comic book title sales, but only because at their core, most collectors are obsessive compulsive individuals. Every five years, when DC relaunches their comic universe and throws continuity out the window, many ardent fans take to the internet chatroom and social media outlets, throw a fit about DC doesn’t respect their audience (and they don’t, but that’s another story) and still go out and buy all of the first issues of the new comics line every five years. So while their sales are up, their brand loyalty and consumer confidence are not close to what it should be. Marvel makes mistakes too, yes, but they’re often stories that just missed their mark for whatever reason, and they haven’t built their business model around a cycle of planned irrelevancy.

You know how you absolutely love a show, or a comic book, or a film franchise, but they eventually start to wear out their welcome? The plots become rote, the twists become predictable, and you drift apart. Call it Prequel/Sequel Fatigue, call it milking it for all its worth, call it what you will, but Hollywood has settled into a routine of turning everything that makes a respectable profit into a franchise and then squeezing every last drop out of it. Such has been the case with the Jason Bourne character. Created in the novels of the late great thriller author Robert Ludlum, Bourne had a successful film run in the big screen adaptions of THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002), THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004), and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007).

Probably not since LORD OF THE RINGS have expectations for an extended edition of a film been so high as it has been with BATMAN V SUPERMAN:DAWN OF JUSTICE Ultimate Edition. With fans in a schism over their reviews on the theatrical release of the film, running the gamut from Batman's body count to Wonder Woman's too-short screen time, people are waiting to see if an extra 30 minutes of footage alters their perception of what they've already seen.

The answer? Probably not. If you liked it, there's more to like. If you hated it, there's more to hate. People are rather intractable about things once they've already made their minds up. (GHOSTBUSTERS, anybody?)

            Buckle up – this review comes with a vent.
            By now, you’ve probably heard about Paul Feig’s summer Ghostbusters reboot, featuring the classic theme song, lots of pestering ghosts, and a quartet of newbie ghost hunters – oh yeah, did I mention that this time, the Ghostbusters are all ladies?
            Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon star as the Ghostbusters in this 2016 reboot of the 1984 classic. Three scientists and a street-smart subway worker team up to take down a man hell bent on releasing an army of ghosts all over NYC, all while proving their credibility amidst a sea of nonbelievers. Sounds awesome, right?

            Enter Ghostbros.

            What is a “Ghostbro?”

            When I spoke with my dad on the phone and told him I was going to see Ghostbusters, he responded with: “Well, I loved the original – but isn’t the new one getting really bad reviews?”

In an announcement today from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the sequel to 2012's WRECK-IT RALPH is coming to theaters on March 9th, 2018!

Moving on from the arcade, Ralph and Venellope von Schweetz will be racing along the information highway via the internet. John C. Reilly and Sara Silverman are slated to return to voice their lovable, yet flawed, characters.

The movie will be directed by Rich Moore (ZOOTOPIA) and Phil Johnston (writer: ZOOTOPIA, WRECK-IT RALPH), and produced by Clark Spencer (ZOOTOPIA, BOLT) has yet to be given an official name.

Here are a few statements from their announcement on Facebook Live today:

I have a love-hate relationship with Disney sequels. On the one hand, I love getting to spend more time with my favorite characters. On the other hand, I find most Disney sequels to be terrible. The big exceptions for me are the TOY STORY sequels, and the MONSTERS INC sequel, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, which is amazing and if you haven’t seen it, you totally need to. But if you go down the line of Disney sequels, most are direct to VHS/DVD – and for good reason. Nostalgia Chick sums it up better than me in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5QshzkOzvM

So I was conflicted when I learned they were making a sequel to one of my favorite Pixar movies, FINDING NEMO. My confidence was shattered after they botched another favorite franchise with CARS 2, but I love Dory and friends, so I decided to give FINDING DORY a shot.

There is so much to like about 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE that I almost hate to pick on it. Dan Trachtenberg's handling of a film that, for almost its entirety, has only three players, certainly adds that feeling of isolation that is key to the plot. And John Goodman is never better than when he's playing a serious role where he's always simmering on the edge of a blowup.

For those unfamiliar with the film, here's the lowdown: Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has left her fiance and driven away. In a remote area of Louisiana, she has an accident and wakes up in an underground bunker owned by Howard (John Goodman) and also occupied by Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.). Howard tells her he saved her life and that the outside world has suffered an attack. It could be nuclear, it could be chemical -- but when he adds in that it could have been the Martians, you immediately get the sense that all is not right in Howard's head.

If you've ever wanted to attend an LA Premiere of a movie with a celebrity, EuropaCorp has partnered with Omaze to offer you a chance to do just that!

For a $10 entry fee, you will have the opportunity to win a photo shoot with the cats of NINE LIVES and meet Robbie Amell at the LA Premiere! All proceeds from the entry fee will go to the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society.

Animal lovers, like yourself, will pounce at the chance to spend time with Robbie Amell (The Flash, The Duff, Max) and donate to a good cause. It's also a purrr-fect opportunity to be one of the first to see the meow-vie, NINE LIVES!

For more information visit Omaze.com

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Dustin Clendenen

When the Golden Raspberry Awards (affectionately called the Razzies for short) were started in 1981 to honor the worst movies of the year, creator John J.B. Wilson probably didn’t expect them to catch on the way they did. But more than three decades later, the organization handing out annual awards for worst actor, worst screenplay, worst director, and of course, worst picture, has become a veritable institution.

Some films simply don't need sequels. When NOW YOU SEE ME hit theaters in 2013, it was something of a surprise hit. The premise was interesting enough: four magicians rob greedy, unscrupulous businessmen blind--live on stage! It featured a nice mix of up and coming actors (Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher) and familiar television stars (Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson) in important roles, surrounded by veteran talents such as Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. I thought it was one of the best films of the year and I would have been perfectly happy if it all ended there. Of course, they left room to turn it into a franchise, and Hollywood never passes on that kind of opportunity.

Before I review ME BEFORE YOU, I want to post a massive *SPOILER WARNING*!!!! There is no way for me to discuss my feelings about this movie without giving away the ending. So if you don’t want to know how it ends, here is my one-sentence, spoiler-free review: ME BEFORE YOU starts out as a cute romance, but its massive shortcoming arrives in the form of a seriously problematic message in the ending.

Okay, now here comes the long version. If you don’t want to be spoiled, ex out now!

Now that I’ve got that over with, here are my thoughts on ME BEFORE YOU.