Initial Reaction: Video Review - WONDER WOMAN

The internet was abuzz yesterday as it was reported Wonder Woman had made a record-setting $100.5 million over its three day opening weekend, but as the final numbers come in today it seems Wonder Woman has actually made more than was estimated and has in fact delivered a $103.1 million opening weekend. This exceeded expectations as Warner Bros. was said to be anticipating an opening in the $65-75 million range, but that always seemed rather conservative as the film was opening in 4,150 theaters and forecasting was largely predicting a number closer to $90 million for the three-day. Of course, the film opening higher than both Warner Bros. and the Sunday estimates indicated is good news for everyone as Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins now holds the record for the largest opening for a female-directed feature. While this is all well and good and could certainly do things for industry expectations as far as diversity in the workplace is concerned what is the even better news for Warner Bros. is that, after a series of critically maligned efforts in their DC connected universe, they finally have a genuine winner on their hands. In other words, critics and audiences alike are enjoying their movie! To see how this effects box office numbers is to break down the three day weekend Wonder Woman just had which equals out to a $38.185 million Friday (this includes the $11m it earned in Thursday preview screenings), a $35 million Saturday, and $29 million on Sunday. With drops this small from Friday to Saturday and especially from Saturday to Sunday it's clear to see that good word of mouth and the mountains of positive press the film is receiving is translating into more and more interest from the general public. Elsewhere in the news, DreamWorks Animation's Captain Underpants delivered slightly less than expected with an estimated $23.5 million opening, but given the film is budgeted right (a reported $38 million) this should do well over the this week and next before Cars 3 hits on the sixteenth. As always, be sure to follow the official Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!

First Trailer for AMERICAN MADE Starring Tom Cruise

I'm still a fan of Tom Cruise, the movie star, and I think many people are they just tend to be weary of the guy for reasons having to do with things we don't really know much about and/or have probably been warped in the public eye, but be he as weird as Scientology has made him out to be or not...the guy is still a movie star; one of our last genuine movie stars and he's damn good at what he does. While I always enjoy seeing Cruise perform insane stunts and place himself at the helm of Mission: Impossible movies while also lending his name and commitment level to would-be franchises such as this weekend's The Mummy, I miss Tom Cruise: dramatic actor. It has been five years since we've seen Cruise in something other than a balls to the wall actioner (Rock of Ages) and almost a decade since we've seen him in something inherently dramatic (Valkyrie). And so, it is with much happiness and a renewed sense of optimism that I look forward to the next Tom Cruise drama that, while it does seem to include a fair amount of action, is more a grounded crime thriller than anything else. Re-teaming with Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) American Made comes from screenwriter Gary Spinelli and is based on the true story of a pilot who landed a job for the CIA and as a drug runner in the south during the 1980's. The first clip from the film makes this look like a really fascinating time at the movies and I can't tell if that's just because I'm excited to see Cruise play something of a more traditional everyman or if it's genuinely because the movie looks good. The final product will hopefully prove to be solid thanks to a little bit of both, but we'll see. Fans of Top Gun will surely get a little kick of nostalgia before the so-called sequel actually goes into production given this clip features Cruise flying around and getting into trouble, but more than this the film looks to be in very much the same vein as The Wolf of Wall Street (the song in the beginning of the trailer is very reminiscent of "Black Skinhead"), Lord of War, or even last years War Dogs and given I thoroughly enjoyed each of those I'm excited to see what Liman and Cruise bring to the table. Also, Domhnall Gleeson looks fantastic in this. American Made also stars Sarah Wright, E. Roger Mitchell, Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke, Alejandro Edda, Benito Martinez, Caleb Landry Jones, Jayma Mays, and opens on September 29th, 2017.

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE Review

It was nice, for once, to walk into a movie having not watched a single trailer, having not read the source material, and literally having zero to no expectation for what was about to be delivered. This type of movie-going experience doesn't happen often in the age of the twenty-four hour news cycle, especially when large portions of that cycle are dedicated to updating fans on every inch of a new movie's production status. The truth of the matter though, was that I personally had zero interest in Captain Underpants, his books, or his potential movies and chalked this initial feature up to being nothing more than a relatively cheap and easy cash grab to capitalize on the popular book series by Dav Pilkey. Still, even this kind of "brand recognition" mentality seemed like it wouldn't serve DreamWorks Animation in the way they might hope as the last I'd heard of the Captain Underpants books was when my younger brother discovered them in elementary school as they gained popularity...in the late nineties. There have been some rather large gaps in the publishing of Captain Underpants novels, but apparently Pilkey is still going strong today and given it's been almost two years since the last Captain Underpants adventure I'm assuming fans might have even been excited for the prospect of a new Underpants adventure not to mention the first one they might experience on the big screen. And so, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is here and while, again, I couldn't have been more unaware of what a movie that had "underpants" in the title could possibly deliver it actually is a rather inspired and genuinely funny piece of entertainment. Granted, this is all very silly and rather outlandish while capitalizing on the fact it knows it's capitalizing on potty humor, but nonetheless the titular character and his creators, elementary school students George (Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch), burst through scene after scene with tireless enthusiasm and a joy for life and all its possibilities that's downright contagious. Though I have no idea how faithful this film is to a certain novel or the series in general I have to imagine that what is captured on screen is very close to the spirit of Pilkey's series as the most vital ingredient in Captain Underpants is that of getting the audience to view these adventures through the minds of George and Harold and it is in this regard that I came to not only appreciate what Captain Underpants was mining, but kind of adore it for doing so.

WONDER WOMAN Review

Wonder Woman is quality popcorn entertainment with ambition. It is not the exception to the rule and it certainly has its issues, namely with pacing and its generic and derivative climactic battle, but much of this is easy to forgive due to that ambition; due to the fact it is earnestly trying to be more than it has to be. It has been a rather long time coming, but the day is finally here that we have a big screen, feature-length version of Diana Prince’s origin story. Director Patty Jenkins (Monster) has crafted a magnificently mounted piece of filmmaking that feels as grand and majestic as a Wonder Woman movie should. It also doesn’t hurt that the casting of our titular heroine couldn’t feel more right and kudos to Zack Snyder for trusting his instincts on such a decision despite the initial backlash the casting and costume of Gal Gadot received. As Prince, Gadot is endearing from the moment we see her desire to uphold the legacy of her people. This initial gracing comes as she trains for an ever-impending battle that threatens to destroy her hidden island of Themyscira and the fellow Amazons that live there with her. Though unfamiliar with the comic books or even the seventies TV show starring Lynda Carter I’ve always assigned Wonder Woman to be this kind of beacon of purity in the super hero universe. Besides this though, I wasn’t sure what, as a hero, she stood for or what her motivations were or what her history entailed that might have made her so driven to defend the world from the bad guys. Turns out, Wonder Woman is more or less a God the same way Hercules was. Maybe even more so; is Hippolyta (played here by Connie Nielsen) more God-like than Alcmene? I have to imagine so. While Jenkins’ Wonder Woman provides enough of the backstory and origin details to answer many questions that might pop up throughout what is most impressive about this latest DC Extended Universe film is that it keeps to the virtues of that character throughout in the way people fondly remember. Jenkins and scribe Allan Heinberg have actively kept Wonder Woman’s optimism and slight naivety intact while placing her in a world and time that is tangible and rather terrible, not to mention under-represented on film. Such is a testament to how well Wonder Woman finds the right avenues to take in order to balance the many ambitions it hopes to accomplish. Even if some of these aspirations don’t quite reach the heights as successfully as was hoped for it is that balance that is key as there is so much to admire and enjoy about Wonder Woman that it not only remains memorable, but affecting.

First Trailer for MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

I must admit, I’ve never seen Sidney Lumet’s 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel starring Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, and Jacqueline Bisset, but I am rather interested in correcting that-especially now that we have seen a glimpse of what Kenneth Branagh’s re-make or re-imagining is going to look like. The cast is certainly just as impressive and make no mistake, this first trailer for the film is very much a teaser despite its two minute runtime. Much of the teaser’s time is dedicated to showing the cadre of big names that do indeed star in the film while the remainder is black screens and neon blue text that looks awfully similar to Bates Motel. Maybe Branagh, or rather 20th Century Fox’s marketing department, thought it wise to hue closely to a similar murder/mystery tone of a rather popular and more recent TV show, but all the mystery and implied deviousness is quickly undone as soon as Branagh introduces himself in the role of Hercule Poirot with what I can only assume is an Imagine Dragons song blasting the background. It is shockingly jarring in how much is shifts what it seemed the intended tone was to something of a comic nature. While it’s always nice to have a balanced sense of humor I don’t think Branagh and the gang were going for the kind of mood this trailer leaves us with. It’s an odd choice, but hopefully (and likely) has no bearing on the actual final product we’ll see this winter. Strange music choice aside, this is still a hell of a cast and though we only get a line of dialogue or so from each of them here I can’t wait to see how they play off of one another and if Branagh can pull of something that is both new and inventive while respecting previous incarnations that are obviously well-regarded. Branagh stars in and directs while Murder on the Orient Express also features Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Tom Bateman, Leslie Odom Jr., Lucy Boynton, Olivia Colman, Derek Jacobi, and opens November 10th, 2017.