Official Trailer for David Lowery's THE GREEN KNIGHT

David Lowery is a director who, from a generational perspective, I feel is all my own. Though he made his feature debut in 2009 with St. Nick it was 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints that put him on the map and the one I remember seeking out at my small, local arthouse theater to see if this was yet another imitator of Malick or if this was someone who would be building on his aesthetic with a fresh set of sensibilities. While Ain't Them Bodies Saints didn't knock me out with the emotional gut punch I recall hoping it would, Lowery would show everyone what he was made of a few years later with 2017's A Ghost Story which he'd been afforded the opportunity to make by hitching his wagon to the Disney train and re-imaging Pete's Dragon for them the year before. Pete's Dragon was a pleasant surprise - both in that Lowery had made it and that he'd been able to turn the campy 1977 film into something of a love letter to the innocence of childhood - which is all to say that A Ghost Story absolutely felt like Lowey making the kind of movie he'd always wanted to make and that he could finally afford to take a chance on. For me, that risk paid off as I absolutely adored A Ghost Story with Lowery's follow-up, The Old Man and the Gun, surprising me even more in 2018. While Lowery is now hard at work on another Disney adaptation which is yet another take on the J.M. Barrie novel, though this time it is titled Peter Pan & Wendy, Lowery first will deliver us The Green Knight or what is his take on the Arthurian story titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Dev Patel portrays Sir Gawain while Ralph Ineson's titular charater is certain to steal the show as his presence in this trailer alone is undeniable. I love how perfectly Lowery seems to have balanced his more introspective and challenging ideals he likes to base movies around with that of large scale, almost blockbuster-like visuals that he's employed the scope of here. The tone of the trailer is downright chilling and those aforementioned visuals are not only striking, but rather provocative in many ways; certain shots bringing with them immense amounts of weight regardless of dialogue or context. With the film originally set to premiere last May this feels as if it has been a long time coming. Needless to say, July can't come soon enough. The Green Knight also stars Joel Edgerton, Alicia Vikander, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Erin Kellyman, Barry Keoghan, and opens on July 21st, 2021.  

BOY ERASED Review

As someone who constantly wrestles with their faith if not necessarily the belief in a higher power, one of the lessons I've personally come to learn in life thus far is that, despite many a country songs telling you to "stand for something or you'll fall for anything," the truth of the matter is that to so deeply steep yourself in one set of beliefs is to ultimately guarantee that you'll eventually (in all likelihood) become a hypocrite. Human beings naturally evolve, we continuously experience new things, and gain greater perspectives on any number of situations all of which inform an ever-developing outlook on the world and the people that populate it. To be so stubborn as to try and categorize these present experiences and interpretations of life through the prism of a single piece of literature written over two thousand years ago only seems counter-intuitive to the abilities and intelligence God has blessed us with, not to mention a rather stressful way to frame ones existence; having to make sure what is inherently felt as right or wrong is supported by doctrine whose composers couldn't have imagined the world or society as it presently stands. There is so much clout given to these rules that outline what our behavior should be that people seem to often lose sight of that inherent voice-your conscious, God himself, whatever you want to label it-that really lets you know when something is right and when something is wrong regardless of what anyone or anything else's stance on the subject might be. That is not to say the Bible isn't helpful, of course it can be and is to millions upon billions of people across the globe, and this is not to imply there aren't certain absolutes of decency that can or should be swayed, but what is being suggested is that to commit so strongly to a single set of ideals is to also make one fear change. To fear change is to stop growing. And to stop growing is to willfully succumb to a limited or narrow view of the world. It is this conflict that Russell Crowe's Marshall Eamons, a Southern Baptist preacher living in Arkansas, faces in director Joel Edgerton's second feature, Boy Erased, when his teenage son is forcibly outed as gay.

RED SPARROW Review

Red Sparrow is at once a movie that feels so calculated and well put-together that it should be obvious it knows what it is and yet this thing can't help but to feel all over the place. It knows what it wants to be, but doesn't accomplish as much. It has style for days and the feel of an epic spy saga, but the events that actually occur within these constructs couldn't feel more mediocre or forced. This is terribly disappointing considering the talent and money behind such a large, original production, but something about director Francis Lawrence's (I Am Legend, The Hunger Games franchise) latest never clicks in the way it should. Red Sparrow is one of those films that asks you to settle into it; where the viewer becomes so entrenched in the proceedings it should feel as if the viewer is still in the world of the film when walking out of the theater, but Red Sparrow never hits a stride in such a way that the audience is able to make this transition from spectator to participant. Instead, Red Sparrow quickly shows all of its cards by letting us know this thing is going to be as bleak and brutal as one can possibly imagine and then some. Red Sparrow is a film that takes advantage of its star's status and places Jennifer Lawrence in this role where she is trained to use her sexuality in ways that are to the advantage of the men controlling her (timely, eh?). Lawrence's Dominika as well as the movie itself consistently relay that she's doing what she's doing to regain this feeling of being special that she's recently lost, but this quest holds no weight due to the fact she's the star of the film and we more or less can guess this aspiration is going to be fulfilled even when the odds are stacked against her. All of this is to say that Red Sparrow may as well be known as the movie where J-Law learns to expertly cover up domestic abuse with top-of-the-line make-up rather than the one where she kicks ass and takes names because, as was noted earlier, there is very little that occurs here that lives up to the style and scope on which it is operating. Likely the biggest mark against Red Sparrow though, is the fact this opinion is coming from someone who generally basks in the dark and gritty tone of movies that like to take themselves seriously. Red Sparrow takes itself seriously, no doubt, and it has spurts of tension that compel as well as several locations and shot compositions that are downright breathtaking, but in the end the final product tries so hard to twist social expectations that it ends up feeling like cheap shock rather than frightening truth.

Official Trailer for RED SPARROW Starring Jennifer Lawrence

Like last March when we saw a series of major studio tentpoles open every week as if it were the summer movie season this March will be no different and kicking off major movie March this year is director Francis Lawrence's Red Sparrow. The director, who ushered Jennifer Lawrence through the majority of her Hunger Games stint has taken Justin Haythe's adaptation of the 2013 Jason Matthews novel and granted the actor what could be the beginning of a new franchise, albeit a more grown up one. I generally tend to like Lawrence as a director as I remember the guy fondly from MTV's Making the Video days when he orchestrated some of the more popular music videos of my formative years. Since breaking into feature filmmaking though, the guy has been able to craft generally original albeit big-budget films that range in genre from something like I Am Legend to that of the sorely underrated Water for Elephants. With Red Sparrow, Lawrence seems to have a very specific type of style and visual language as the film looks to be exactly that: one of pure style with the grace of the equation being brought via Jen Lawrence's performance. It should be noted also that this seems to be a very different type of performance than we've seen from Lawrence in the past. Not only is she doing an accent, but she is seemingly playing the victim turned hell fire in a way that is more bleak and more furious than anything she has been allowed to execute in the past. I love the color palette of this thing and the overall feel as well as the rather stellar, but understated supporting cast they have put together for this thing. I haven't red Matthews novel on which the story is based and focuses on Lawrence's Ballerina Dominika Egorova being recruited to a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon, but even if this stylistic excursion ends up being little more than a solid little spy thriller I don't think I'll be too upset as Lawrence tends to do more reliable than he does exceptional and sometimes, reliable is just what you need. Also, it doesn't hurt that we'll get A Wrinkle in Time the week after, or Tomb Raider the week after that, or Pacific Rim: Uprising the week after that, and then Ready Player One the week after that. So yeah, here's to March. Red Sparrow also stars Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker Jeremy Irons, and opens on March 2, 2018.

IT COMES AT NIGHT Review

In my 2015 review of Krisha, Trey Edwards Shults feature writing and directing debut, I opened by saying the film, “has a lot of interesting ideas going for it, but one begins to doubt its ability to bring them all together as it races towards its final minutes and seriously begs the question of what exactly everything is building to.” In many ways (and maybe unsurprisingly), one could say the same thing about his follow-up, It Comes at Night. Strangely enough, the dynamics and questions pondered in that initial feature prove to be more interesting and compelling than what feels like an extension of many of those same themes in this new film. In short, It Comes at Night serves up the leftovers from Krisha in that the ideas here still have to deal with family, the potential toxicity of family, and dealing with the inherent connections we’re all born into while questioning how loyal we must remain when things get worse for wear. Of course, all of this is conveyed in what is meant to be taken as a post-apocalyptic setting where tensions are already high and relationships already strained. Things are heightened; this isn’t simply a familial drama about an argument that arises between two opposing members, but more It Comes at Night writes a metaphor for how to handle the small, awkward moments we all encounter when we’re a part of something bigger. It’s a film about figuring out which fights are worth picking and which are worth leaving alone with the outlier of such risks being the fact one of these calls could come back to bite you. This is all really fertile ground to dig into especially when taken through the aforementioned guise of the horror genre, but unfortunately Shults still doesn’t seem to have as strong a grasp on communicating his themes as he does in crafting them. The kid is already a master of atmosphere as some of his film’s strongest qualities come from Brian McOmber’s intense score and Drew Daniels haunting cinematography as they capture the otherwise quaint scenario Shults has set-up, but where It Comes at Night succeeds in building atmosphere and placing conversation-starters on the tip of its audiences' tongues it fails to actually engage that audience in the moment. To this effect, It Comes at Night is one of those films that is fascinating to contemplate and discuss moments after experiencing it, but in the midst of that experience it couldn’t feel more tedious.

New Trailer for IT COMES AT NIGHT

A new trailer for director Trey Edward Shults follow-up to his homemade breakout hit, Krisha, has arrived online and is definitely one of my most anticipated films of the summer. The film, which just debuted at the Overlook Film Festival, a Shining-inspired horror film festival, has critics already singing its praises. I saw Krisha back in 2015 when it began making the rounds on the festival circuit and was impressed by what Shults was able to pull off with a micro budget and his family for actors. After showing the film at Cannes and it winning the 2015 SXSW’s grand jury and audience awards for narrative feature, the young writer/director inked a two picture deal with A24. It Comes at Night is the first film to be produced from that deal. The film is said to be a psychological horror film about a father who will stop at nothing to protect his wife and son from a malevolent, mysterious presence terrorizing them right outside their doorstep. To this effect, this first full-length trailer for the film still doesn't spill much in terms of such plot. We receive the bear minimum as far as story is concerned with the focus primarily on atmosphere and tone which is in line with the type of horror A24 has released thus far. If you're a fan of The Witch this trailer will likely be all the more enticing, but while that film certainly had atmosphere for days I didn't think the story was as strong as it might have been and found the film not nearly as satisfying as some. So, in hopes of striking the balance between the engaging narrative and the other, key elements of tone and atmosphere when discussing horror films-I hope Shults can pull it off in his first, major studio feature. A24 is one of the most interesting studios out there and anything they choose to either produce or acquire is worth taking note of. Here's to hoping their bet on Shults pays out. It Comes at Night stars Joel Edgerton, Riley Keough, Christopher Abbott, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Carmen Ejogo, and opens on June 9th, 2017.

Teaser Trailer for BRIGHT Starring Will Smith

During the Oscar telecast on Sunday night Netflix decided to debut a first look trailer for their latest original feature film, Bright, which is written by Max Landis (Chronicle, American Ultra), directed by David Ayer (Fury, Suicide Squad), and stars Will Smith. Yes, Will Smith is in a feature length film that will not be making its premiere theatrically, but rather through the streaming service that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home, on your own TV, on what would typically be a night out at the movies. The pros are obvious: your $10 a month subscription saves you a fair amount in ticket costs, the boxes of candy from Walgreen's are less than one box at the theater, you have a twelve pack of sodas in the fridge that cost less than the smallest drink at your local franchised cinema, and depending on your entertainment set-up your viewing experience might even be comparable to that of what a theater can offer, so what might the cons be? The theatrical-going experience is one of the last standing traditions in the world that can bring people together without much risk of tearing them apart at the same time. The theatrical experience is something you can't re-create in your home no matter how big of a television, projector, or how many people you watch with; there is something singular about sitting in the dark with strangers and experiencing an artists singular vision no matter the genre classification. Whether the purpose is to move us, make us laugh, or frighten us such an experience can only be felt or conveyed when it becomes apparent how a film might not have affected just you, but those from different walks of life who just witnessed the same thing. The last edge the theater chains held over the heads of its competitors was exclusivity in material, but with Netflix now holding the keys to movies with stars such as Will Smith in them the tide suddenly seems to be changing at a much faster rate. All of that said, Landis has called Bright his Star Wars as it is set in a modern take on a fantasy world where Smith's human cop is forced to work with an orc partner (Joel Edgerton) in order to find a powerful wand sought after by many. Bright also stars Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Margaret Cho, Ike Barinholtz, and debuts globally this December.

LOVING Review

Much goes unspoken in Loving, but that shouldn't be a surprise given it comes from director Jeff Nichols who has given us such restrained and meditative pieces as Take Shelter and Mud, not to mention his slight venture into genre territory earlier this year with Midnight Special. Still, Loving is something of a different beast. As with most of Nichols films the multi-hyphenate again deals in its main male character working through a particularly life-altering time in his life. Whether it be a man working through understanding an illness, heartbreak, or a parents love for their child Nichols is clearly attracted to these leading male characters that carry burdens of one type or another-none of which can actually be drawn as distinctly as I've just done. In Loving, this Nichols quality is born in the form of Richard Loving as played by Joel Edgerton who is a simple man who loves a woman just as simply, but is told he can't due to the race laws that plagued the time in which he was born. What separates Loving from Nichols filmography thus far is the fact Nichols has yet to adapt a true story or any other source material for that matter for one of his films. They have all been original concepts and ideas that have allowed the writer/director his own ways/styles of telling his own stories, but with Loving he has crafted a film very much in the vein of his previous works while still seemingly allowing the genuine spirit of those who actually lived this story to come through. Nichols accomplishes this by not making up much of his own dialogue for the real-life people to say. Rather, Nichols allows much of what needs to be said to be said through the performances of Edgerton and his co-lead Ruth Negga as Mildred Loving. In doing so, Loving ends up not as an overly schmaltzy or sentimental love story or even a melodramatic courtroom drama, but instead a subtle study of how simple true love can be despite how complicated our world can make it.

Movies I Wanna See Most: Fall 2016

So far, 2016 has felt like something of a lackluster year for film when compared to what felt like a rather stellar 2015. Maybe it is the hurt of summer '16 and the many disappointments it carried that is still making me feel worse about the year than it actually has been, but if the summer of '16 was a let down the latter half of the year certainly seems like it has a shot of righting the ship and offering plenty of interesting films that could fill the majority of my year end list that I'm beginning to get concerned about. In fact, the rest of the year is so jam-packed with highly anticipated stuff I think I could make a top twenty and be legitimately excited for each and every one of the movies on that list. As I did last year, I'm basically including a top fifteen with more of a focus on why my top ten are indeed my top ten, but hard choices had to be made.

I'm interested to see what Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks have to offer with Sully and the fact it was shot 100% on IMAX cameras. I'm equally as intrigued by what Oliver Stone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have up their sleeves in Snowden, but while interested I can't say I'm necessarily excited for the possibilities these features hold. I kind of feel I know what to expect and if they fulfill those expectations, great-if they surpass them-even better. This could very much describe the way I feel about the likes of The Girl on the Train and The Accountant as well. I'm very much interested to see if either of these can rise above their genre trappings to be more than what their trailers promise or if they'll simply be solid exercises in those genres-which isn't a bad thing either. I expect Birth of a Nation may be a great film, but am I excited to watch another harsh account concerning slavery? Not really. If I knew or had seen a little more about Denzel Washington's Fences adaptation or Miss Sloane starring Jessica Chastain I might be more inclined to include them on my list. Speaking of Washington, I'm certainly eager to see such mainstream films as Magnificent Seven, When a Monster Calls, Deepwater Horizon, Moana, and Assassins Creed, but not more than what is currently on my list. Monster and Moana would definitely make that top twenty though.

I've excluded Martin Scorsese's Silence from this list as I've put it on the last four or five lists I've made of this nature and it seems and it still doesn't have a firm release date. If we were to get some kind of confirmation it would certainly be near the top, but as of right now I'm treating this thing as if it won't come out until 2017. Same for the Will Smith/Kate Winslet/Keira Knightley/Helen Mirren/ Edward Norton/Naomie Harris/Michael Peña starrer Collateral Beauty. We could get a trailer any day now given the December 16th release date, but as we haven't seen so much as a still yet there is nothing to go on. The one landing just outside this top fifteen is Ewan McGregor's directorial debut in American Pastoral which I unfortunately feel will take a while to get to my neck of the woods. And so, without further adieu, let's dig in...

First Trailer for Director Jeff Nichols' LOVING

A few weeks back I saw the trailer for Loving, the latest from auteur Jeff Nichols, in front of the screening I attended of The Neon Demon, but if you've seen that film you'll understand why I forgot to comment on the Loving trailer. While I was certainly happy to see the unexpected preview given I'd heard very little about the film since its Cannes debut earlier this year I wondered when it might be making its way to masses via the internet and it seems that day is today-almost two weeks after I saw it playing in theaters. While I won't go into how nice it was to be surprised by a trailer I hadn't seen before playing in front of a movie I was watching in theaters I will say that rush is certainly one of the things I miss about the pre-YouTube days. We're here to discuss the latest from director Jeff Nichols though and the trailer in question marks the directors second feature film this year. Early word out of Cannes declared the film as a strong Academy Award contender and after Focus Features picked up the film and set an early November release date it seems that is certainly the plan. The film tells the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the Virginia couple who were arrested in 1959 for violating that state's anti-miscegenation law. They pleaded guilty to the charge, but later challenged it in court with the case eventually reaching the Supreme Court as Loving v. Virginia. It is interesting to see Nichols take on a pure love story as most of his films have dealt more with love of the less romantic kind-namely that of the love between parents and children, of the love that creates legacy, and in his other film this year, the fantastic Midnight Special, that of a love between a father and his gifted child. While most of Nichols' films have premiered in the spring only to be forgotten by the Academy by the time awards season rolls around if Loving is indeed as good as the early reviews suggest it will be nice to see Nichols finally get some recognition on a bigger scale. Loving stars Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Marton Csokas, Michael Shannon, Nick Kroll, Bill Camp, Terri Abney, Alano Miller, David Jenson, Jon Bass, Christopher Mann, and opens on November 4th, 2016.

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Review

There is comfort in the familiar. There is comfort in understanding a certain feeling, but there is also peace in being able to give up control. Giving up control might not always be comforting though. It is the amalgamation of the familiar, the unsettling, the insecure, and the eventual calming notions that ultimately make the tone of Midnight Special one we find both comforting and grandly mysterious. Both soothing and simultaneously unnerving. In essence, director Jeff Nichols latest is all about tone. Were it not for the tone of a late seventies/early eighties mesh of John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg it would be difficult to contemplate what exactly Nichols was attempting to say with this film. Instead, every aesthetic choice helps to inform the interpreted meaning behind the narrative. Without the score from David Wingo or the cinematography by Adam Stone (both who have worked numerous times before with Nichols) the emphasis on the juxtaposition between the mundane world of the southern region of the U.S. and the magic of Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher of St. Vincent) would be lost. The somewhat arrested progression of architecture and the numerous cracks in the freeways combined with the tired areas of suburbia and run-down motels our protagonists venture to throughout all possess that strangely comforting feeling of being lived in and yet the reasons these characters venture so quickly through these places is of uncertain consequence. Why they feel the need to put cardboard on all of the windows in whatever domain they enter or who exactly this young boy is and why he's so strikingly different from the rest of us is anyone's guess. Nichols, who also penned the screenplay, layers on the mysteries one after another for much of the film delivering one unexpected turn after another with just the right amount of answers to the countless questions that pop up. These elements of tone and style, story and emotion come together and go hand in hand to create a damn near perfect film that is too nuanced to be about one thing in particular, but rather has the rare ability to convey different yet subtle shades of meaning to each individual in the audience.

JANE GOT A GUN Review

Life is complicated. Even more so in the old west. Natalie Portman's passion project, Jane Got A Gun, wants to remind us of this and ultimately that what we perceive as good and bad aren't as easy to differentiate between as most would like to believe. What was even more complicated though, was the long and tumultuous road it took to get this project to the big screen. After several pre-production delays that included original director Lynne Ramsey exiting the project on the same day shooting was scheduled to begin it was difficult to see how the film might come out unscathed. Pair this with the exit of star Jude Law and a roster of other actors including Bradley Cooper coming in and out for the role that was finally filled by Ewan McGregor and you have what is sure to be nothing short of a downright catastrophe. Eventually though, director Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) took over the reins and enlisted the help of his Warrior star Joel Edgerton to what now, having seen the film, is a wholly serviceable and often times even compelling western that hardly shows any of the scars it garnered along the way. From a story and script originally crafted by Brian Duffield (Insurgent) it seems that once O'Connor was brought on board that he utilized both Edgerton (a writer and director himself) and Warrior screenwriter Anthony Tambakis to punch up the script and it is here where we find the first of many things to admire about the film. From the opening moments, set in dusty 1871 New Mexico, as Portman's titular Jane tells her daughter a bedtime story it is made clear the position of the three main characters in the story and where they fall into the plot while not making it clear where they might fall into one another's lives. This structuring of mystery around each of our main characters and their past and how they might intertwine with one another is what hooks the audience and while the first twenty or so minutes may seem to drag and ostensibly be vague for no other purpose than being vague the film hits its stride within the first half hour and from there briskly unravels a heartbreaking narrative of love, loss, and the will to do what it takes to keep on keepin' on.

LIFE Review

By the time he was twenty-four years old James Dean had starred in three major films, would become a cultural icon symbolizing the tone of teenage America, but he would also be dead. While this public persona of the "rebel without a cause" pushed Dean to the forefront of pop culture we come to learn in director Anton Corbijn's (The American, A Most Wanted Man) new film that the real Dean was not as his persona suggested, but more the quiet kid in an acting class simply searching for something tangible, something that wasn't as arbitrary as the fame he was suddenly coming into. In Life, we pick up with Dean in 1955 shortly after wrapping East of Eden and just prior to landing the role in Rebel Without a Cause-only seven months or so before his untimely death. Surprisingly, Dean is not the main character of this story though, no, that would be photographer Dennis Stock (played here by Robert Pattinson). Stock was largely a set photographer employed by Magnum, a photo agency, who met Dean at a party thrown by director Nicholas Ray (writer/director of Rebel). At this point in time, prior to East of Eden coming out, Dean wasn't even a household name, but after the actor and Stock hit it off at the party and Dean invited his new friend to a screening of his new film it became clear to Stock that there was something unique about the young man who couldn't have seemed more estranged or disillusioned with the ideas Hollywood was throwing at him. It is in this attitude, this kind of presented exterior by Dean with which Corbijn is intent on exploiting and exploring through he and Stock's relationship. More than anything though, this is a film about the relationship that develops between two different types of artists: the one who creates and the one who pulls back the layers of that creation.

Full Trailer for JANE GOT A GUN Starring Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman's passion project, Jane Got A Gun, had a long and tumultuous road to the big screen after several pre-production delays that included director Lynne Ramsey exiting the project on the same day shooting was scheduled to begin. This was followed by the exit of star Jude Law and a roster of rotating actors coming in and out of the project including the likes of Bradley Cooper for a role that was finally filled by Ewan Mcgregor. Joel Edgerton also stars as his Warrior director, Gavin O'Connor, took over the reigns from Ramsey and has seemingly guided this project to something that looks to be more than serviceable given the many hiccups along the way. In this first full trailer for the film we are given an extensive look at both the story the film is telling and Portman's titular outlaw. Naturally, this film will stand out for being a western in and of itself given the genre isn't exactly thriving at the moment (unless you're Quentin Tarantino), but more is the fact it features a female in the lead role competing with every other skilled male gunslinger that populates the wild west. There is no doubt Jane Got A Gun will pass the Bechdel Test when it opens on January 29, 2016. Noah Emmerich, Rodrigo Santoro, and Boyd Holbrook also star.

First Trailer for Jeff Nichols MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

Jeff Nichols latest, Midnight Special, was easily one of my most anticipated of the year and then, unfortunately, this past summer it was delayed from it's original release of next week until March 2016. Typically, delaying a movie is a bad sign as far as the quality of the final product is concerned, but with Nichols there isn't the slightest hint of doubt in his skill. The move, while mainly fueled by rumors of reasons that additional work was needed after test screenings, was probably for the best financially as well given the film would have been facing off against Mockingjay-Part 2 and Creed (both franchise films) as well as a new Pixar film that would have certainly buried what could potentially be a great family film. In discussing the film before even beginning production Nichols was quoted as saying, "I want to make a 1960's biker film. I want to make a big, PG summer blockbuster family film, kind of like I want to revamp Tremors. I've got an idea for that. That kind of movie." Given that Midnight Special tells the story of a father and son who go on the run after learning the child possesses special powers it seems Nichols might have captured a story that could convey such a tone and with the release date change it takes Nichols idea of being a "big, PG summer blockbuster" one step closer to becoming a reality. Midnight Special stars Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, Paul Sparks, Sam Shepard, Jaeden Lieberher and opens on March 18, 2015.

TIFF 2015: BLACK MASS Review

Director Scott Cooper has always had a knack for creating atmosphere. With only two feature films under his belt he has established quite a distinctive voice, but unfortunately his films have begun to deteriorate in quality as he goes along as well. I really kind of loved Cooper's 2009 debut that won Jeff Bridges a Best Actor statue and even found the consistently depressing Out of the Furnace to be a strong if not exceptional entry, but Black Mass is by far his least satisfying film yet. It's not for a lack of trying as there is clearly a large amount of effort that has been put into this production. The period setting is especially well rendered and Johnny Depp's lead performance as James "Whitey" Bulger almost single-handedly saves the production from being a complete loss, but even he can only do so much. It is impossible to talk about Black Mass without talking about the state of Depp's career and how badly he needed this to be both a critical and commercial success so as to reestablish himself as the "movie star" he was pinned as after Pirates of the Caribbean and while I'm sure the film will make a fine amount of money (not a huge amount, but fine) this will in no way place the actor in the "return to form" category many were already deciding to call ithis. What it is is a fine showcase for a talented actor to do what he does best and with as showy a role as this is Depp certainly delivers. It is all the factors surrounding this performance that don't live up to their potential with the main problem being screenwriters Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth not finding an interesting way to adapt Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's book.

THE GIFT Review

In 2008 I was really beginning to dig into all kinds of films, exploring more of the independent material that was coming to light than ever before. I remember 2008 mainly for the remarkable summer at the theater that it was, but I also find it easy to recall a small film from a pair of brothers that was making waves. It was a little film called The Square that was co-written by a guy named Joel Edgerton and directed by his brother Nash. As far as I'd heard, it was a solid contemporary example of film noir and concerned itself with betrayal, revenge and cheating couples. It was a film that I felt somewhat more interesting for checking out simply because I was willing to go out on a limb and see what this buzzed about Australian production had to offer and indeed it was a well-executed thriller. I came to recognize Joel for his work over the next few years in Animal Kingdom and what could be considered his break-out American film in Warrior that led the way to him starring in more major Hollywood productions. It seems after building some solid ground beneath him in the industry though, Edgerton has returned to the thriller genre to write and direct for the first time. With The Gift, Edgerton has delivered a tense and slow-boiling psychological drama that stems from a thesis of how an idea can take hold of a person and tear them down. From the moment we meet Edgerton's Gordon Mosley we can sense that there is something slightly off about the guy, but having Edgerton play his own creation lends the perfect tone to what could have otherwise been an over-the-top showing that would lessen the effect of the final act in the film. That is all to say this product feels like the result of a singular vision, a focused and finely tuned story with specific characters and even more labored over depictions that come to show the audience how both credibly and expertly such genre pieces can be pulled off with the right amount of skill and vision. Edgerton feels at the top of his game here and with this technically being his feature directorial debut, I can't wait to see what he does next.

New Trailer & Posters for BLACK MASS Starring Johnny Depp

Black Mass, the third feature from director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace), is one of my most anticipated films of the fall. It was recently announced the film would have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival as well as make an appearance at the Toronto International Film festival shortly before it's wide release date. While the first trailer teased the seeming sinister performance of Johnny Depp, this latest trailer highlights the thick plot of the film. Depp plays gangster Whitey Bulger who is the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston and just so happens to be the brother of a state senator (Benedict Cumberbatch). Bulger became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf while still conducting himself in all kinds of horrible ways. Simply put: I love movies like this-the ones that are now slight period pieces, crime sagas with a tone you can smell just from reading the synopsis or seeing stills along with a cast of great talent playing the story to its highest potential. I was a big fan of Crazy Heart and was on the loving side of Furnace when it came and went quietly at the end of 2013 and so, if nothing else, I look forward to what Cooper has to offer next and it looks as if he has plenty to work with. Cooper knows how to elicit an atmosphere and in attempting his first period piece, that will be key to the critical success of the film as well as hopefully its commercial prospects. Black Mass also stars Sienna Miller, Joel Edgerton, Juno Temple, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott, Peter Sarsgaard, Julianne Nicholson, Jesse Plemons and opens on September 18th.

First Trailer for BLACK MASS Starring Johnny Depp

Black Mass, the third feature from director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace), landed just outside my top ten most anticipated films of the year, but if this first look is any indication it may well be one of the best of the year. While this is clearly just a teaser of what is to come it clearly knows where its strengths lie and that looks to be the sinister performance of Johnny Depp. Depp plays gangster Whitey Bulger who is the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston and just so happens to be the brother of a state senator. Bulger became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf while still conducting himself in all kinds of horrible ways. Simply put: I love movies like this-the ones that are now slight period pieces, crime sagas with a tone you can smell just from reading the synopsis or seeing the still above and a cast of great talent playing the story to its highest potential. I was a big fan of Crazy Heart and was on the loving side of Furnace when it came and went quietly at the end of 2013 and so, if nothing else, I look forward to what Cooper has to offer next and it looks like he has plenty to work with. Cooper knows how to elicit an atmosphere and in attempting his first period piece, that will be key to the critical success of the film as well as hopefully its commercial prospects. Besides Depp the film will also feature Benedict Cumberbatch, Sienna Miller, Joel Edgerton, Juno Temple, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott, Peter Sarsgaard, Julianne Nicholson and Jesse Plemons. Black Mass opens September 18th.

Movies I Wanna See Most: 2015

I can't help but feel I don't know enough to be making such a list as this anymore. Every year I go through the upcoming years slate of planned movie releases and come up, pretty easily, with ten or so films I'm genuinely excited to see and again, this year, that has been no problem. My issue with a list such as this is there is no way to go through each possible release or even know about every release in the way that a movie might come to light during the course of the year and becomes something you wish you might have highlighted way back when, that you knew about and held expectations for simply because it's nice to be "in the know". That sounds a little crazy and a little ridiculous, I realize, but it is easy to go through and say what blockbusters you are most excited to see in any given year, but you only wish you knew that there might be a Birdman or a Whiplash sneak up on you and blow you away. Then again, I'll just convince myself I actually enjoy the element of surprise and wait to see what gems 2015 currently has tucked away. To both points, I've attempted to go through and double check with some of my favorite directors and actors to see what, if anything, they might have on their slate for this year so as to hopefully surprise a few people with this list and not just satisfy/underwhelm folks who see another list where The Avengers and Star Wars take the cake. From my most anticipated list of 2014 three films made my year-end top ten. From my most anticipated list of 2013 one film made it, so I guess that could be taken as a good sign if there is any correlation to be found at all. Furthermore, 2014 seemed like a really solid year when looking back despite it feeling easier than ever to craft a top ten. There were a few exceptional films, but there seemed an abundance of more than solid features that are just as worthy for someone else's favorite films of the year. If 2015 is anything like it, we'll be in for a great crop of flicks (the best of which I likely don't even know about yet).