New Trailer for Steven Spielberg's THE BFG

With Jon Favreau's live action adaptation of The Jungle Book rolling out in just over a week Disney (in association with Amblin entertainment) has released the full trailer for director Steven Spielberg's summer fantasy epic that is itself an adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic of the same name. The BFG will mark Spielberg's first trip into children's entertainment since 2011's Adventures of Tintin, but is his first dealing in live action kid-centric material since 1991's Hook. While the set of credentials and talent involved in this project certainly has the film at the top of my most anticipated list I have to admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by this new trailer. The film still has three months before its release date, but it seems to be leaning heavily on CGI and that CGI doesn't come across as the most convincing in this trailer. Spielberg has always been a director of practicality and creating interesting ways to make spectacular things come to life in convincing ways and I feel assured that he has done the same here, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being afraid his older age might be crippling that drive he once possessed. What saves this clip is our extended look at the titular Big Friendly Giant played by Bridge of Spies stand-out and Oscar winner Mark Rylance. Given his subtle, highly nuanced performance in Spies I've been anxious to see what the actor might do with this type of material and he looks to have created a very sympathetic, loving creature who just happens to look like what children imagine monsters to be. Ruby Barnhill also continues to look perfect as the leading young lady with her great sense of innocence and wonder playing perfectly into the fantastical elements of the story. The BFG also stars Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Penelope Wilton, Adam Godley and opens on July 1st, 2016.

On DVD & Blu-Ray: April 5, 2016

FCCB Festival: THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK Review

The Alchemist Cookbook is one of those intensely indie movies that looks to derive the amount of its intrigue from character moments and their psychology in order to avoid other elements that may cost more money than an individual willing to act for cheap because it is their passion. The Alchemist Cookbook actually comes from something of an established director in Joel Potrykus who has two prior features under his belt, but has remained at a certain level for what seems to be the desire to make films his own way. There is likely much I don't know, but it at least feels apparent by Potrykus' third feature length film that he doesn't necessarily care to transcend any major playing field with his particular brand of filmmaking. For this particular viewer this is something of a shame given Potrykus, who also writes each of his films, clearly has a penchant for the writing and developing of a certain mental state as represented in the visual form and with more at his disposal he might be able to create a better film from the material he's crafted than what we've been delivered here. It's easy to see what The Alchemist Cookbook is going for and in certain moments it succeeds, but only ever to certain extents. The sole presence in the film is occupied by Ty Hickson who seems capable of what Potrykus is after, but doesn't exactly strike the difference between acting and experiencing. We can see the performance happening in the actions. In short, The Alchemist Cookbook is a movie of possibilities. A blueprint for a better, higher-functioning film that might better entertain as well as enrapture its audience with its slow descent into madness were it to have more to play with. It feels as if The Alchemist Cookbook is unable to match its own ambitions, but like its protagonist is too scared to venture far enough to know what those truly are.

Initial Reaction: Video Review - MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

It was a slow weekend at the movies this first week of April, but if you were lucky enough to be near one of the fifty-eight theaters that received Jeff Nichols Midnight Special than you should definitely check out this week's show. There were a handful of small releases that began their run this weekend or continued to expand, such as Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!!, the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light, Don Cheadle's Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, and Alan Rickman's final live action performance in Eye in the Sky, but given we are based out of Little Rock, Arkansas and Nichols is a Little Rock native it only felt right to bring the movie as much attention as possible even if our little show is still finding its footing. It doesn't hurt that we were also invited to a press screening for the film and were able to see the movie a bit earlier than most so it would have felt irresponsible to not post a review. All of that taken into consideration, my usual counterpart was out of town on vacation last week and so our long-time mutual friend and fellow movie lover, Danner, stepped in to help me discuss why we both enjoyed Midnight Special so much. If you think we're bias simply because we're filled with pride about a guy from Arkansas making his big studio debut with such a solid film, just listen to the films score and tell me you're not intrigued (you should listen to the score anyway because it's awesome, but I digress). As far as box office goes the film did fairly well in its continued expansion netting $581,000 for a per theater average of $10,017. It looks as if the film will go even wider this coming weekend and if it comes to a theater near you I highly suggest checking it out on the big screen. As always, you can hit the jump to see our full video review and be sure to subscribe to our channel for a new review every week!

First Trailer for SWISS ARMY MAN Starring Daniel Radcliffe

If there was one film that made the most noise out of Sundance earlier this year for the strangest reason it would definitely have been Swiss Army Man which became a popular topic for featuring Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse. That's right, Harry Potter himself is dead and yet consistently flatulent. Still, there had to be more to the film than this, right? It seemed some thought so while others didn't as Swiss Army Man proved to be one of the more divisive films of the 2016 festival, but that didn't stop A24 from picking up the distribution rights for the film and today the studio has delivered the first look at the film to the rest of the public and I have to say-I'm extremely intrigued. The way in which writer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert have utilized the role of Radcliffe's corpse seems to be a wholly unique take on what I expected after simply hearing bits of the synopsis earlier this year. This utilization looks to make much of the adventure Paul Dano's character is on a largely metaphorical one, but nonetheless the cinematography looks gorgeous as the island aesthetic with the rich blues and greens seems to have been beautifully exploited. Manchester Orchestra also composed the score for the film and we hear bits and pieces of that in this first trailer that also adds a layer of a different and distinctive tone to this comedy/drama. Radcliffe's character even interacts with the soundtrack at one point in the trailer and so I can't wait to see how far the Daniels push things with this peculiar, but completely individual movie. Swiss Army Man also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and opens in what I presume to be limited release on June 17th, 2016.