CAPTIVE STATE Review

Rupert Wyatt passed on making a sequel, never mind a complete trilogy of Planet of the Apes movies which then gave writer/director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) an in to complete the trilogy and go on to now be penning and planning a solo Batman film for WB's DCEU. Would Wyatt have preferred this career path? Who's to say? And who's to say if Wyatt had rounded out the Apes films that he would have been offered the Batman film at all, but it does stand to question if Wyatt regrets his decision to pass on such high profile opportunities. Since deciding not to return to the world of stories about simians though, Wyatt has only made one feature (2014's re-make of The Gambler for Paramount which held a $25 million production budget and only turned over a $39 million worldwide gross) with Captive State being his second outing into feature-length material and a seemingly personal one at that. Wyatt co-wrote the screenplay for Captive State with Erica Beeney (The Battle of Shaker Heights) and serves as a producer, but this low-budget drama/thriller has more in common with Wyatt's 2008 breakout, The Escapist, than it does his 2011 introduction to the mainstream despite posing as a tale that typically functions on the same scale or budget as a Planet of the Apes sequel.

Teaser Trailer for CAPTIVE STATE Starring John Goodman

Say what you will about Matt Reeves and his two sequels in the latest Planet of the Apes trilogy, but my favorite of the bunch is still Rupert Wyatt's initial film. So much better than it had any right to be, Rise of the Planet of the Apes came on the heels of Wyatt's little seen, but insanely entertaining 2008 film, The Escapist. Hell, I even thought The Gambler was a solid genre exercise even if there wasn't necessarily a need for it to exist and Wyatt came up with nothing in the way of that purpose, but instead simply executed the beats in fine fashion. Next year though, the director is back with his first original effort since that 2008 prison break actioner in Captive State. Written with Project Greenlight alum Erica Beeney the film is set nearly a decade after the occupation of earth by an extraterrestrial force as the narrative will explore the lives of those on both sides of the conflict: the collaborators and dissidents. While this first teaser trailer doesn't give viewers much by way of story details it more offers brief glimpses the tone of the movie will take on in order to acclimate them with this grounded sci-fi setting that is said to attempt to shine light on the modern surveillance state, the threats to civil liberties, and the role of dissent within an authoritarian society. While Captive State is most definitely a sci-fi thriller it seems to have bigger ideas on the brain, but while it remains to be seen how well it will convey such ideas this first splattering of images certainly indicates the "how" in how Wyatt plans to convey such themes while keeping the facade of a pure genre picture. The teaser also only briefly highlights some of the names in the cast as well given we only have single shots of some and only split seconds of others despite the fact Wyatt has recruited the likes of John Goodman and Vera Farmiga to play alongside up-and-comer's such as Moonlight's Ashton Sanders, White Boy Rick's Jonathan Majors, If Beale Street Could Talk's KiKi Layne, and rapper Machine Gun Kelly AKA Colson Baker. Captive State also stars Alan Ruck, James Ransone, Madeline Brewer, D.B. Sweeney, Kevin Dunn, and opens on March 29, 2019.

ATOMIC BLONDE Review

From director David Leitch, one half of the team that brought us the refreshing and uniquely packaged John Wick as well as the guy who is spearheading next year's Deadpool 2, comes Atomic Blonde-a female version of John Wick set in the eighties, with tons of eighties music, action, action, and starring Charlize Theron as the titular blonde who doesn't mind messing up her make-up as long as a cool soundtrack is laid over her walking away from her fights. Yeah, I'd love to see that movie. Who wouldn't, right? It would seem anyone who loves having a good time while sitting in an air conditioned auditorium eating food that's not going to help you look like the people you're watching on screen (at all) and staring up at an expansive screen would be thrilled by the combo of Theron, eighties, and action. I was certainly psyched. And then...please! No "and then"! And then it happened. Yes, it happened. After an equally ecstatic and moody introduction to this world in which we'd be existing for the next two hours the movie rapidly descended into a rather slow-moving, narrative heavy slog that would only intermittently bring us a sequence where Theron's Lorraine Broughton was allowed to let loose. But boy, when Leitch and screenwriter Kurt Johnstad (300) allow their leading lady to show off she certainly doesn't disappoint. This is also what is ultimately so frustrating about Atomic Blonde as it rather frequently gives us glimpses of what it could have been, what it was advertised to be, and what it seemingly wants to be as the action scenes are inspired, the backing tracks to Theron kicking ass are killer, and the film generally looks great-capturing the tone of late eighties Berlin by coating everything around our main character and her exploits in drab shades of gray to emphasize the burst of energy Broughton brings with her when she walks in a room. And yet, for one reason or another, Leitch decided to allow long stretches of his movie to become overly involved in Johnstad's plotting when what made both the original John Wick and its sequel so much fun was the simplicity of the plot and the building of an interesting world. Atomic Blonde doesn't build a world as much as it recreates one; Atomic Blonde doesn't keep the emphasis on the action, but wants audiences to take its twisting plot as seriously as Leitch no doubt takes his stunt work, but while Atomic Blonde feels carefully constructed and as precise in all aspects a director could hope it also never feels as fun or entertaining as it was meant to be.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS Review

It's all about context, people. As an individual who thoroughly enjoys and kind of revels in the imagining of what's beyond our own solar system and, by default, creating something unique and fascinating out of that imagination I am always intrigued by something that looks like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Intrigued being the key word here as there is always the potential for such an experiment or endeavor of such imagination to go off the rails in ways that it can't maintain or doesn't think through. With Valerian, director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Lucy) has adapted a French science fiction comic series that is no doubt close to his French heart, but while Valérian and Laureline (which would have seemingly been a better, simpler title) was first published in Pilote magazine in 1967 and went on to become one of the top five biggest selling Franco-Belgian comics titles for its publisher, Dargaud, one has to wonder if Besson's vision is what original creators Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières imagined their imaginations becoming some fifty years later. I've never read the source material and this may very well be in line with exactly the kind of style and tone Christin and Mézières utilized in their original stories, but one has to wonder about the purpose of style and tone then and the purpose of as much now. Is the more irreverent and frankly, rather goofy tone in response to other science-fiction adventures being more serious or was that how it was originally intended to be read? With something of a farcical quality to it? I'm sure someone on the internet will be more than happy to oblige my curiosity with a detailed answer, but the fact of the matter is it doesn't really matter what the original intent was or how well or not well Besson has adapted the material because we're here now-in a post-Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets world that just so happens to exist in the same world that is post-Star Wars, and post-Guardians of the Galaxy, and hell, even post-John Carter so what is it about Valerian that differentiates itself and does it differentiate for better or worse? For me, Valerian is a step in the wrong and a rather bizarre direction. Sure, it has some interesting visual ideas and some fun sequences, but with dialogue this bad, a rather hackneyed story that attempts to disguise itself by accentuating its bizarre elements, and a completely miscast Dane DeHaan I can't help but to feel Valerian might have been better off left on the page than having come alive only to find itself dead in the water so soon after.

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT Review

Twenty minutes into the fifth Michael Bay directed Transformers film, this one subtitled The Last Knight, Optimus Prime comes face to face with a robot God named Quintessa (as voiced by Gemma Chan) if that gives one any indication as to how insane these movies have truly become. No? Not good enough? How about the fact Anthony Hopkins' character (or the fact Anthony Hopkins is in a Transformers movie) has a Transformer butler that the film acknowledges is more or less a rip-off of C-3PO? Not far enough? Let's go ahead and make the robot butler a sociopath of sorts, shall we? Point being, there is no seeming cohesion between any parts of the many layers that make up The Last Knight as well as most of its predecessors. Personally, I walk into a new Transformers film with the expectation of being bombarded by sound, image, and story and am more or less pleased if I can walk away saying I understood the main point of the plot and was, at the very least, entertained. Of course, without such expectations one could view these things as complete messes, as mind-numbing fun, or fall somewhere in between where it's easy to recognize the idiocy of the picture, but acknowledge the merit in big, colorful, summer blockbuster filmmaking. Many will make jokes, but Bay is one of the more unique directors working today by virtue of the fact he consistently operates on such a scale that it's almost inconceivable he could craft something that wasn't inherently bloated; every aspect of his process and his product has to be big and this latest endeavor is no different. While Age of Extinction felt like something of a breaking point in terms of the director going so far into his wheelhouse that he couldn't possibly possess any more tricks we are still here three years later and Bay, along with returning cast members Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, and Stanley Tucci, have somehow managed to at least match if not best their previous Bayhem effort. The Last Knight is scattered, plot-heavy, overly complicated, and generally non-sensical to the point of genuine hilarity, but there is still a craft to it all and the fact Bay can somehow orchestrate these massive characters, set-pieces, and story into something resembling a movie while at the same time maintaining a visual aesthetic that is bar none one of the best you'll see on the big screen today is truly impressive and deserves at least a little bit of credit.

Final Trailer for TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Nearly a decade on from the first time Michael Bay graced us with his vision of the eighties cartoon series about two opposing factions of transforming alien robots who engage in a battle and we're on the fifth entry in this massive (and massively lucrative) franchise. In the interim between Transformers flicks Bay has shown some interesting tendencies as a director with the genuinely thrilling, funny, and entertaining Pain & Gain as well as the admirable if not overlong and somewhat indulgent 13 Hours. I've always appreciated Bay's visual style and the mastery he has over it as well as the simple energy he seems to possess in pushing himself and his crew to the limits so as to deliver the biggest kinds of blockbusters he can, but I don't think anyone would debate, including Bay himself, that what he's crafting is little more than junk food. Movies that will appease the masses and afford escapism to those willing to pay for two and a half ours of such, but not much else. There is no substance to the spectacle and unfortunately the same looks as if it can be said for the board room concoction that is The Last Knight. That said, this latest trailer for the film makes it look incredibly bad ass and I'm still very much excited to see Bay's latest foray into maximizing the IMAX experience on an IMAX screen. The question that will follow this unique anticipation is, "will I enjoy The Last Knight?" Only time will tell. Age of Extinction, the previous Transformers film that traded Shia LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg, was a close tie for the worst in the series with Revenge of the Fallen still retaining that title. Extinction was a re-boot that didn't know how to re-boot itself. I can only hope that this time around writers Matt Holloway, Art Marcum, and Ken Nolan give the director a more straightforward, lean story that gives audiences what they came for with little to no more ambition, but I won't hold out too much hope. Transformers: The Last Knight sees the return of Wahlberg as well as starring Laura Haddock, Anthony Hopkins, Isabela Moner, Jerrod Carmichael, Gemma Chan, Stanley Tucci, John Goodman, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and opens on June 23rd, 2017.

Red-Band Trailer for ATOMIC BLONDE Starring Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron, who never had that solitary break-out role it seems she was always destined to have (an Oscar winning role is a different kind of thing), seems to have found her John Wick after coming the closest she's ever been two years ago in Mad Max: Fury Road. While Imperator Furiosa may yet lead to a series of films in which the actress becomes a definitive symbol of a single character the lady leading the war against Immortan Joe may now have some competition in the form of Lorraine Broughton. Speaking of John Wick, Atomic Blonde comes from stuntman and co-director of that Keanu Reeves rejuvinator as well as the upcoming Deadpool 2, David Leitch. Leitch, who along with Chad Stahelski both directed and choreographed the fight scenes in John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 has seemingly taken a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad (300, 300: Rise of an Empire) who adapted the graphic novel and done very much what he and Stahelski did with the first John Wick. Granted, I have no idea the popularity, tone, or story of the source material and thus can't interpret how close any of this hues to that, but nonetheless this looks pretty freakin' awesome. Though I'd hoped for a little more of a hook in the opening action set piece the trailer itself goes on to provide plenty of these. Whether it be in James McAvoy seemingly turning in another unique performance, Sofia Boutella turning up the heat between her and Theron's lead protagonist or Theron herself jumping out of a multi-story building with only a man's neck serving as the anchor-Atomic Blonde has a prime end of summer release date and all the markings of a breakout original action hit that, if well-received and profitable, could end up serving as the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Theron from now on. Time will tell. Atomic Blonde also stars John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and will actually debut at the SXSW Festival in Austin this Sunday, March 12, before arriving in theaters on July 28, 2017.  

KONG: SKULL ISLAND Review

In the vein of Marc Webb going from (500) Days of Summer to The Amazing Spider-Man and Colin Trevorrow from the quaint Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have plucked indie director Jordan Vogt-Roberts from the safety of his summer getaway that he so lovingly crafted in his 2013 break-out, The Kings of Summer, and thrust him into the world of blockbusters with literally one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history: King Kong. In an effort to re-boot the property that hasn't been touched since Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's epic attempt in 2005 and build a cinematic universe a la Marvel with Gareth Edwards 2014 iteration of Godzilla, WB and Legendary have given Vogt-Roberts the keys to Skull Island AKA the home of the titular Kong and several other species of creatures, most of which are prehistoric in nature, but in other cases-are species that come straight from the pages of an old school horror/fantasy novel. A place where those who own the earth really reside, the place that God forgot to finish. The place where not only a human tribe somehow still resides, but so is there proof of dinosaurs, of more than one Kong, and of devils from the deep that the best character in the film affectionately refers to as "skullcrawlers". And so, the question is-what has the director done with such an environment to elevate the mythology it inherently carries? What has he done to give this mythical island a real sense of place and of substance and of tangibility? Well, the answer to that question is more positive than what the response might be to, "How good is the movie overall?" as the movie itself is pleasant and fun enough, but the real value in the piece comes from seeing that of Kong do what audiences want to see him do on a large scale and creating a full-on world in which these unbelievably thin characters and rote plot exist. It is because this world in which these things exist does indeed feel so lived in and palpable that much is forgiven. Even the special effect that is Kong himself holds more weight and authenticity than one might expect with the film eliciting a real soul from the beast which is more than it can say for the majority of its human cast. This is all to say that Kong: Skull Island certainly has its issues and could benefit from having at least one protagonist other than the movie's eponymous monster that we could sympathize with, but in a strange turn of events the spectacle holds more significance than the non-existent emotions and ideas it seems to have never had any ambition of carrying. In that regard, this is very much decent enough popcorn entertainment-fine if not completely forgettable.

PATRIOTS DAY Review

One goes into Patriots Day with a certain expectation of what they believe will be delivered to them. We're all familiar with the story. Heck, if you're of legal age to see an R-rated film in theaters (meaning this one) then you were at least fourteen when the Boston Marathon bombing happened on April 13th, 2013. There is this expectation that the film will take us through these events we're already familiar with adding the caveat of getting to better know some of the individuals involved. When it becomes apparent what director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon) is doing though, it's not difficult to realize this is going to leave a greater mark than expected. With Patriots Day, much like with his previous two efforts with Mark Wahlberg, Berg has crafted a narrative around recent history that could very easily have been a kind of simple procedural; taking us through the day's events step by step and doing little more than adding a personal aspect to a story the whole world has already heard, but rather than allow this lack of time or perspective to hinder his film Berg allows this immediacy to relate to who he knows will make up his audience in stirring, emotional ways. There is a tinge of jingoism that builds throughout the film and becomes what is probably too obvious by the time Berg tags his film with interviews with the real life people we've just seen portrayed on screen, but that doesn't mean it isn't effective. It's a bit much, extreme even, but it works in the films favor more than it doesn't. It is in how much Patriots Day ultimately moves its audience not by simply taking us through the moments, but rather by expertly crafting a narrative around key individuals and bringing each together until they are tied in unison; some in expected and others in genuinely surprising ways. It is not so much what is being conveyed, but how the context of such moments is set-up and carried through that make the emotional heft of this thing as great as it ends up being-and it can be a tough one. The film does have its shortcomings-mostly in that it fails to better characterize its antagonists instead painting them as monsters, and deservedly so, but with no insight into their mentality or personal justification we are led to believe we should lump them into the Muslim stereotype that has become associated purely with terrorism. This stereotype can certainly prove true, but if you're making a whole movie around the reactions to these guys actions then we need a slightly more perceptive take on them. The movie also runs just a tad too long. At two hours and thirteen minutes Patriots Day begins to show its running time in the third act when the momentum slightly stalls and we feel the otherwise expertly structured film unravel just a bit.

Teaser Trailer for TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Well, here we are. Nearly a decade on from the first time Michael Bay graced us with his vision of the eighties cartoon series about two opposing factions of transforming alien robots who engage in a battle that starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Ten years later and both LaBeouf and Fox have long since left the franchise, but Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (and apparently Bay) have little where else to go. In the interim between Transformers flicks Bay has shown some interesting tendencies as a director with the genuinely thrilling, funny, and entertaining Pain & Gain as well as the admirable if not overlong and somewhat indulgent 13 Hours. I've always appreciated Bay's visual style and the mastery he has over it as well as the simple energy he seems to possess in pushing himself and his crew to the limits so as to deliver the biggest kinds of blockbusters he can, but I don't think anyone would debate, including Bay himself, that what he's crafting is little more than junk food. Movies that will appease the masses and afford escapism to those willing to pay for two and a half ours of such, but not much else. There is no substance to the spectacle and unfortunately the same looks as if it can be said for the board room concoction that is Bay's fifth Transformer film, The Last Knight. I'll see Bay's latest foray into maximizing the IMAX experience and I'll no doubt be wowed by the scale of the action set pieces as it is clear from this first look that Bay isn't skimping on the explosions despite the energy level for the franchise seeming to wane. Will I enjoy The Last Knight-only time will tell. Age of Extinction, the previous Transformers film that traded LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg, was a close tie for the worst in the series with Revenge of the Fallen as it felt like a total slog, a re-boot that didn't know how to re-boot itself. I can only hope that this time around writers Matt Holloway, Art Marcum, and Ken Nolan give the director a more straightforward, lean story, but I won't hold out too much hope just yet. Transformers: The Last Knight sees the return of Wahlberg as well as starring Laura Haddock, Anthony Hopkins, Isabela Moner, Stanley Tucci, John Goodman, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and opens on June 23rd, 2017.   

Official Trailer for KONG: SKULL ISLAND

The first glimpse of the latest re-boot/re-make/re-imagining of the King Kong mythos we received this past summer looked visually engaging, but was always going to have deliver that something extra to differentiate itself from being just another in a long line of blockbusters that will now be populating theaters from March until August and now, this new official trailer gives us how exactly it stands to do that: John C. Reilly. In something of an interesting twist I couldn't have seen coming from a mile away (though I admittedly haven't been following this movie or its production too closely) it seems Reilly will serve as both the audience and a large amount of the ensemble casts way "in" to the world that Kong now dominates. He looks to be an explorer of some kind who became stranded on the island Kong inhabits and more or less took up with the indigenous people. That is, until the likes of a new batch of explorers show up (headed by John Goodman and Straight Outta Compton's Corey Hawkins) to mess things up. Again, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) has delivered a visually pleasing trailer that contains not only a solid amount of action and spectacle, but through Reilly he has also mixed in a fair amount of humor and so I'm even more interested to see what the director has done as I've probably watched his debut feature a handful of times and think his temprement could play will in the blockbuster arena. That said, Vogt-Roberts has already entered the franchise world as Skull Island is seemingly Warner Bros. and Legendary's attempt to bring King King and Godzilla head to head after establishing the latter in director Gareth Edward's 2014 Godzilla film. No matter the future plans though, I'm excited to see what Vogt-Roberts has in store for us in just a few short months. Kong: Skull Island also stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tian Jing, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, Eugene Cordero, and opens on March 10, 2017.

Teaser Trailer for VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS

EuropaCorp has released the first trailer for director Luc Besson's (The Fifth Element, Lucy) sci-fi epic that looks to be one of the few original offerings next summer. Based on a long-running French comic Valérian and Laureline that was first published in 1967 Besson and his film have apparently "advanced" the material into a contemporary, unique and epic science fiction saga where the titular Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives for the government of the human territories who are charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Given the amount of nonsense that may sound like to some this teaser looks especially intriguing on a visual scale as we don't get too many story elements given it is, in fact, a teaser trailer. That said, I'm in for this weird mix of Besson's own Fifth Element (one can sense the similar production design in the cityscapes) and Guardians of the Galaxy. That more recent comparison will likely come to the mind of most movie-goers under the age of twenty-five as the trailer is accompanied by a classic pop song in the form of the Beatles, "Because," with the amount of strange creatures and space battles being more than reminiscent of that Marvel film. Of course, GotG fans will get their cake the first weekend of the summer movie season and with Valerian going head to head with Chis Nolan's Dunkirk opening weekend I'm curious to see how this $180-million epic is able to do. That said, the comparisons to James Gunn's film are likely only valid in terms of marketing as Besson has such a particular set of tendencies it's hard to imagine the final product resembling something as board room mandated as a Marvel movie. No matter the outcome and despite the fact I'll still be more anxious to see Dunkirk opening weekend I look forward to the potential this holds and hold out hope for something more along the lines of what Besson has crafted before rather than a Jupiter Ascending déjà vu. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets also stars Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, John Goodman, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu, and opens on July 21st, 2017.

Teaser Trailer for PATRIOTS DAY Starring Mark Wahlberg

While Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon just hit theaters this past weekend (I'll be catching up with that one tomorrow) the actor/director duo (who also worked on Lone Survivor together) have already completed their next project together and are once again working within the realm of a tragic true story that turned average human beings going about their everyday lives and jobs into heroes. Patriots Day recounts Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis's actions in the events leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists behind it. Three years removed from the marathon bombing and I can still remember exactly where I was when the news started pouring in about the events taking place at an even that was intended to bring unity and spirit to the city that was taken advantage of as an opportunity to diminish both such goals. In this rather somber first trailer we are mainly treated to a run through of Wahlberg's Sgt. Tommy Saunders as he goes about his routine before leaving for duty on April 15th, 2013. This first look is clearly meant to elicit the American spirit of the piece with more American flags popping up here than a Michael Bay flick while the trailer is scored with a piano version of "America the Beautiful" that resonates in an effective way when paired with the vague images suggesting the real terror that took place that day. While Lone Survivor was on of the best films of 2013 in my opinion and despite the fact I can't yet speak on the quality of Deepwater Horizon I'm inclined to be excited for what Berg and Wahlberg will deliver here as they seem to have tapped into a specific niche of their own that they find both interesting and artistically fulfilling. We'll find out if they can keep their streak alive when the film begins its awards-qualifying run on December 21st. Patriots Day also stars Michelle Monaghan, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Wolff, Michael Beach and expands wide on January 13, 2017. 

First Trailer for KONG: SKULL ISLAND Starring Tom Hiddleston

Well, Warner Bros. is certainly knocking it out of the park today in terms of quantity as not only have we seen trailers for their upcoming DC slate, but now they have released the first look at their re-imagining of the King Kong myth that they intend to make a part of another extended universe by pairing the King of the Apes up with the Godzilla from the 2014 film. While it has been just over a decade since Peter Jackson's three-hour epic that brought Kong back to the big screen WB has now pulled in Kings of Summer director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (in the tradition of Marc Webb, Colin Trevorrow, and Gareth Edwards) to once again launch a franchise of sorts by hopefully bringing some of his independent mentality to large scale blockbuster filmmaking. While it feels odd that something as big as this trailer makes the film look will be opening in March rather than the middle of summer that is also something of a compliment in that the film looks like a full throttle action/popcorn flick that will be easy to enjoy and difficult to dislike. With this first trailer for the film largely being a sizzle reel of sorts (it's absolutely stunning by the way) we get very little indication of what the story will be other than the standard "team of explorers ventures deep into uncharted territory," and that we get little to no dialogue from any of the principal cast gives very little sense of what types of characters we'll be dealing with as well, though Samuel L. Jackson certainly seems to once again be enjoying himself by hamming it up in another (see Tarzan) action tentpole that ironically feels like something from a bygone era. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, and Eugene Cordero join Jackson for the ride as Kong: Skull Island opens on March 10th, 2017.

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE Review

I feel deeply conflicted after walking out of 10 Cloverfield Lane largely due to the fact it doesn't seem to need the word "Cloverfield" in the title. The fact this "distant relative" of a sequel to the 2008 monster movie came out of circumstances that didn't necessarily create it for the purposes of being what it has become becomes a bigger deal the further one gets into the experience of watching the film and the further it gets away from being anything having to do with Cloverfield. If anything, this film is more of a pseudo sequel if you're a fan of the original and go in hoping for more of the same. Rather, gone is the handheld technique that defined the first film and gone are the monsters (for the most part) that made the film and that handheld technique so noteworthy. Instead, what we are given here is a different type of monster movie; one that excels and propels itself forward based solely on the character interactions and lack of awareness from the circumstances in which these characters come. It is the peeling back of these layers that not only reveal to the audience who each of the three main characters might be, but also the revealing of each's true agenda to one another that makes the proceedings completely enrapturing. 10 Cloverfield Lane sustains such momentum for much of its 100-minute running time due to the fact it is a generally great piece of tension-filled filmmaking that elicits grand gestures of horror and the types of thoughts that come with finding one's self in such situations as typically presented in the thriller/horror genre. It is in the last act, the last fifteen minutes or so that the film stumbles in attempting to connect the dots and make this little film about three separate individuals more than it needed to be. Maybe I'm simply not satisfied by the answers the film chooses to provide for all of the mysteries that were laid out from the get-go and yet the answers provided in the more contained spaces of the film felt satisfactory whereas when the film attempted to expand its horizons things didn't feel as natural as they should. There was certainly a better way to create reason for having the word "Cloverfield" in the title, but it is this inorganic last act that knocks 10 Cloverfield Lane down from something great to a cog in the franchise machine, if not a shiny cog at the very least.

First Trailer for 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE Takes Audiences by Surprise

Apparently some folks were treated to a trailer for a Cloverfield sequel that no one knew was happening in front of their 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi screenings last night, but I wasn't one of them. While I did see the first trailer for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising in front of Ride Along 2 that doesn't seem to have made its way online yet (though I expect it at any minute) I would have loved to have been surprised by the fact this earnest-seeming trailer would actually turn out to be a "blood relative" of the mystery box movie that used this same tactic eight years ago. While I am more a passive fan of the original rather than one of those who place it among the great monster movies of all time I am still excited at the prospect of what this new movie brings. Taking over for original helmer Matt Reeves is Dan Trachtenberg, who gained attention for his short film Portal: No Escape. Originally going under the title Valencia, what we now know as 10 Cloverfield Lane was written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Whiplash writer/director Damien Chazelle. In the trailer things start out cheerily enough as we are introduced to what are supposedly the only three actors in the film: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and John Goodman before it creepily peels back the layers to reveal a more hostile environment than initially expected and an unknown truth about the outside world. What secrets this movie holds I'm sure it will keep close to its chest as I doubt we'll even get another trailer given the film opens in less than two months. Going the opposite route of overexposure consider me hooked by the mystery of it all. 10 Cloverfield Lane opens March 11th, 2016. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

TRUMBO Review

Dalton Trumbo is no doubt an interesting figure and a perfect case of someone whom it would be worthwhile to make a Hollywood biopic about. Maybe it's simply that director Jay Roach, who has mostly worked in broad comedy while mixing in politics lately with the likes of Game Change and The Campaign, doesn't know what else to do as a director, but his latest effort that profiles the rogue screenwriter feels all too complacent to accurately depict the radical and rebel ways of Mr. Trumbo. In short, this is a by the numbers biopic that tells us what happened, why it happened, and how the titular character lived out the rest of his days with the obligatory pre-credit note cards. That isn't to say the history isn't interesting or that there aren't good or intriguing moments throughout, but more that Roach does nothing with these moments to make them feel as vital or illuminating as they likely were for these people in the context of their actual lives. More than that, the biggest downfall of the film for me personally is that of the same mistake many biopics about musicians make in that they never explore what makes the artist want or need to create. To this effect, Trumbo never delves into its protagonist's writing process. Now, I understand that this film is not exclusively about the life of Dalton Trumbo, but more specifically the decade long fight he put up that saw him blacklisted and sent to prison due to his political beliefs. Still, this man was largely known as the biggest and best screenwriter working at the time his political entanglements began and is a large factor in how he fought back-managing to win two Academy awards in a time when everyone in the industry shunned him. Writing was not just a part of who this man was, it was who he was and to essentially skim over this opportunity to explain not just that he was a good and prolific writer, but how he came to be this way and how he remained inspired is one that is missed in exchange for little more than hitting the cliff notes of who this man was and how he dealt with the biggest trial of his life. Trumbo is by no means a bad movie; it has a number of good to great performances and due simply to the nature of the story it is endlessly fascinating, but this particular representation is little more than average given all it had to work with.

First Trailer for LOVE THE COOPERS

Christmas movies are almost as old as the medium itself. In my own, limited time on this earth I've come to love only a few that I can watch over and over again when that time of year comes around. While I enjoyed The Family Stone (which this trailer trades off of given it was produced by the same person) it isn't one I've returned to over the years. Maybe Love the Coopers will be a little different as this first trailer indicates a pretty solid family dramedy with a solid cast. Of course, you could describe The Family Stone that way as well...and I did like it...maybe I need to re-visit that this year instead of watching The Santa Clause for the billionth time (who am I kidding? I'll watch both). Anyway, in this new Christmas comedy that is once again led by Diane Keaton playing the matriarch of a somewhat large family (the Cooper's, duh) four generations come together for an annual Christmas Eve party. Naturally, things don't go as planned when a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday. Sounds about right, right? And yet, as I watched the trailer I chuckled enough times and was happy enough to see certain actors show up to make me think this might actually have some potential. I like that Jake Lacy (The Office) is getting more work and strangely enough it's good to see Olivia Wilde back in comedic territory after seeming absent from it for a couple of years. Love the Coopers also stars John Goodman, Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, Anthony Mackie with Steve Martin as the narrator and opens on November 13th.

THE GAMBLER Review

The Gambler is one of those movies that is effortlessly cool. It doesn't ever feel like it's trying, but instead that it naturally comes by the virtues that make it appealing. Despite this fact, it is without a doubt the precise intention of director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) that his film, a remake of the 1974 James Toback film starring James Caan, resemble something of a nuanced edge of humanity describing a state of mind more than something of this physical world. It is easy to see why The Gambler is one of those movies you expect to be of little significance as it is a remake of a film that seems well respected and not necessarily in any need of retelling (I haven't seen the original, but the DVD is sitting on my shelf and I'll definitely be giving it a look soon) as well as starring Mark Wahlberg who, as of late, has become a certifiable movie star and so we expect a certain amount of mainstream mentality to seep into each of his projects. Since the dawn of the second decade of the new millennium though, Wahlberg has found and continues to improve upon the path he is taking. With The Gambler he has accepted a challenge in seemingly taking on a more complex role, a lead role where it is not just the actions of his character that drive the plot, but the whole psychology of the character that has to be divulged in order for the narrative to feel even slightly cohesive. The overall goal of our main character, the events that drive this narrative are simple enough (pay off those you owe money to in a weeks time or pay the price), but it is the psychology of getting to that resolution that is the real issue because if it were as simple as getting the money to pay back his debts this movie would be about twenty minutes long. No, this isn't a race against time where Wahlberg's Jim Bennett has to scrounge up enough cash to free himself of his loan sharks thumb, but rather this is about Bennett being able to get to a state of being that lets him be okay with continuing to live, with continuing to win rather than constantly riding the thrill of the loss and hoping for the seeming peace of death.

Full-Length Trailer for THE GAMBLER

I've yet to see Karel Reisz's The Gambler from 1974 starring James Caan though I imagine I will get around to it before Rupert Wyatt's remake expands nationwide in early January. Mark Wahlberg takes over leading man duties as Jim Bennett, an English professor with a serious gambling addiction. Besides the fact this seems more low-key than it should be given the onslaught of "awards" films this season, it is also somewhat mind-blowing to see the different turns Wahlberg keeps making in his career to not only stay relevant, but broad in the biggest sense of the word. Going from original B-movie fare like 2 Guns to the stirringly solid Lone Survivor back to blockbuster bombast with Transformers and now onto this clear best actor bid before delivering his first sequel in Ted 2 next summer, the guy is on a streak that doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. As for the trailer itself, it is effortlessly cool with a look and style that oozes confidence and hints of performances that could be nothing short of revelatory given the way everyone, John Goodman especially, seems to be bringing something different to the table. Wyatt, who before this directed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, seems to have a very clear and precise vision here that has been executed to the Nth degree as even some of the single shots in this trailer conjure up a reaction without the aid of any dialogue or context. Having not seen the original I am probably more excited about the prospects of this film than if I held Caan's version close to the heart. Instead, I am genuinely looking forward to why Wyatt, Wahlberg and the rest of their team decided this was a story worth re-telling. The Gambler also stars Jessica Lange, Brie Larson, Michael K. Williams and opens in limited release on December 19th and expanding on January 2, 2015.