Teaser Trailer for Martin Scorsese’s THE IRISHMAN

In what felt both like an uncertainty and an inevitability legendary director Martin Scorsese and one of his most notable collaborators, Robert De Niro, have once again re-teamed with one another to produce what is not only a mob/gangster drama, but to tell a decades-spanning story that follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a hitman whose actions changed the course of American history. Based on Charles Brandt's 2003 novel, I Heard You Paint Houses, the film chronicles the meeting of Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa (played in the film by Al Pacino) and is based on interviews Brandt had with Sheeran over the course of five years detailing how he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Though I haven't read the book, I'll certainly be looking into it prior to seeing the film as Sheeran undoubtedly shared genuinely important and fascinating insights about both many a famous murders as well as this infamous chapter in US history and how intertwined it was with the mafia. And while it is nice to see Scorsese and De Niro reuniting with one another as well as including Pacino to boot the real draw here and who Netflix and Scorsese let drive this first, teaser trailer is that of the one and only Joe Pesci. Pesci hasn't had a substantial role in a film for nearly a decade with his last screen appearance being the little seen 2010 Taylor Hackford film, Love Ranch. Seeing and more impactful even, hearing, Pesci once again as he sets up the first lines of communication between Sheeran and Hoffa triggers immediate chills being experienced. Much has also been made of the rather hefty price tag on the film (a cool $160 million) much of which was attributed to the de-aging process applied to the three screen legends mentioned thus far given this is a story that, as was stated earlier, spans decades. It's difficult to even see where this technology comes in as far as the footage in the trailer save for the final, revealing shot that puts an emphasis on De Niro's face, but there is also this weird disconnect with De Niro's roles and his real life as it's difficult to sometimes remember that De Niro doesn't exactly look the way he did in Goodfellas anymore even if that's how he's been frozen in our memory as appearing. With the film premiering as the opening night film at this year's New York Film Festival on September 27th it's hard to imagine this won't be a major awards contender this year. Here's to oping! The Irishman also stars Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jack Huston, Kathrine Narducci, Jesse Plemons, Domenick Lombardozzi, Paul Herman, Gary Basaraba, Marin Ireland and will open in theaters and be available on Netflix sometime this fall.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR Review

Like all Disney and Pixar films, The Good Dinosaur pulls at the heartstrings by chronicling the change of innocence into experience, of a child into an adult, and of those premature ideals into broader perceptions. Like most Disney and Pixar collaborations The Good Dinosaur also features a duo on a journey to both save/rescue someone or something while discovering things about themselves and the world they exist in along the way. Sure, there is more to each of these stories that have given the studio partnership a reputation of not just crafting animated movies for children, but for their parents and adults alike. These core ideas and themes are what Pixar tends to stick with, though. With their latest, the studio twists things around by essentially re-writing history and then pulling a role reversal meant to engage the mature minds while utilizing the popularity of dinosaurs to get the attention of young kids. This works for the most part as the premise is just as engaging as Pixar's previous release this year, Inside Out. While such a statement might make some wince given the personified emotions of that film allow it to go to some pretty heavy places for a "children's movie" the idea of mingling in what the world might be like today if a massive extinction hadn't taken place millions of years ago is just as tantalizing as being able to create some kind of organizational system within our own minds. Unfortunately, The Good Dinosaur doesn't do as much with it's promising premise as Inside Out did (though that one didn't do as much as I would have liked, either) it is does mix some interesting genre aspects and narratively creative ideas into it's proceedings often enough that it manages to be nothing short of an entertaining family film. While the film does indeed share many similarities to Pixar's previous offerings in terms of what makes them so effective what is more striking is the kinship it seems to share with the earlier, hand-drawn animated films of the Walt Disney company. Through this affinity for those that have come before it, The Good Dinosaur, while not being innovative or weighty on it's own terms, is a nice reminder of the power of a simple story told through beautiful imagery.

Full Trailer for THE GOOD DINOSAUR

With Inside Out making a big impression this summer and filling the emptiness left by two years without a Pixar production it feels somewhat selfish to so willingly accept another feature so quickly. That said, The Good Dinosaur has been such a struggle to produce I'm sure both Disney and Pixar are as happy to have it completed as we are to see it. With pre-production possibly beginning as early as 2009 with an original 2013 release date on the books, The Good Dinosaur has seen its fair share of ups and downs including a complete voice cast overhaul as recently as last month. Bob Peterson (a co-director on Up), who came up with the idea for the story, was originally slated to direct the film until August 2013, when he was removed from the project and replaced by Peter Sohn (who had previously served as co-director) in October of 2014. All of this is to say that for all the moving parts and disjointed working conditions the creators behind the final product seem to have crafted something especially stunning, at least in terms of visuals. Little can be gleaned from this first full trailer as far as the story goes, but the aesthetic of the naturalistic environments juxtaposed by the more cartoony character designs is certainly interesting. The music, from what I assume is a sample of Thomas Newman's score, is also hauntingly beautiful before segueing into Of Monsters and Men's "Crystals." Needless to say, despite not knowing much about what is going on here my interest is piqued and I can't wait to see if, for the first time, Pixar can deliver two gems in a single year. The Good Dinosaur features the voices of Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn, A.J. Buckley, Anna Paquin, Sam Elliott, Frances McDormand, Marcus Scribner, Jack Bright and opens in 3D on November 25th.

First Trailer for X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Bryan Singer kicked off the super hero film wave way back in 2000 and even as the super hero genre has become its own and still thrives, arguably better than it ever has, Singer's X-Men crew have been through several ups and downs together, but have not re-grouped entirely since 2006's The Last Stand where director Brett Ratner took over and things only went downhill from there. In 2011 though director Matthew Vaughn re-invigorated the mutant franchise with his take on the origin story of the two distinct leaders of the mutant revolution: Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lensherr aka Magneto (Ian McKellan). The film was both critically and financially successful which of course means a sequel, but this isn't like any other sequel. Singer has now returned to the world he began and has combined both his cast and the First Class recruits to tell a time altering story that has Hugh Jackman's Wolverine sending his consciousness back to 1973 so that he might help a younger Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender). The suspected villain in all of this is Boliver Trask (Peter Dinklage) who may or may not be constructing large robots that look eerily similar to sentinels. The trailer delivers more than I expected, but with a quieter, darker tone than I've seen in any of the previous X-Men films. I absolutely loved the first X-Men and X2 is still arguably one of the best super hero films ever made which only garners more excitement to see what Singer has done with a cast and scale as large as this one. X-Men: Days of Future Past also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Halle Berry and opens in 3D May 23, 2014.