Anticipation (Before Trailer): 50/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 52/100
Admittedly, I’m on the fence when it comes to X-Men movies. I’m never sold on them but I go anyway. Some have delivered huge, some have delivered a little bit less but at some point, I expect one to completely disappoint. Maybe X-Men: Apocalypse might be the one. We’ll see May 27, 2016… but damn, that end shot of Professor X was badass, wasn’t it?
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 75/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 90/100
There’s something about seeing Eric Northman (Look, I don’t care what his real name is but that guy will always be Eric Northman) back on the screen that makes me want to see Tarzan. Plus, they apparently made this film about 20 years ago because they found a very young Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz to be in it, too.
I’m ready to be disappointed by The Legend of Tarzan on July 1, 2016.
Hot Take: The origin story of a story. Really. Really? Really. Turns out the origin of Moby-Dick was Jaws: The Revenge, if it were saturated with machismo and testosterone.
I never read Moby-Dick. Let’s be real, if you weren’t required to in school growing up, you probably didn’t, either. I also didn’t read In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, the book based on the origin of the book Moby-Dick which was the inspiration of In the Heart of the Sea. Watching In the Heart of the Sea, though, one gets the feeling the real inspiration was Jaws: The Revenge and a longing for when “men were men” as Chris Hemsworth (as First Mate Owen Chase), puffed chest and all, mans his way around the screen for about 2 hours while a vengeful whale hunts down the Whaleship Essex.
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Hot Take: A bland, somewhat informative, occasionally boring, sporadically moving, secular take on the life of Mother Teresa sound like something you’d dig? It’s not as bad as it sounds but it’s about as safe as a Saturday afternoon Hallmark Channel flick.
It’s hard to articulate the viewing experience of The Letters. The story of Mother Teresa is inspiring. Her life of selflessness is one to be admired and revered. She’d prefer we didn’t as she saw herself as an instrument of God, something some dismiss the existence of. Such a topic is reserved for another time as The Letters rarely, if ever, spends time caught up in the discussion. Instead, the film takes a more secular look at the life and hardships of Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa.Read More →
Hot Take: Chi-Raq might be the most ballsy, important and necessary non-documentary of 2015. Spike Lee consistently challenges you to think and does it once again with a modern telling of the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes. Agree or disagree, Chi-Raq will be discussed which means it’s topic will be discussed and it’s a topic too often ignored.
There are two different topics to cover when discussing the viewing experience of Chi-Raq. First, there’s the film side of it. Taking a Greek play from 411 B.C. and adapting it to modern times to the point where it feels as fresh as anything produced in Hollywood this year outside of a handful of films is an impressive feat. Despite it’s origins being from a play written 25 centuries ago, Spike Lee’s latest is the most modern and topical film of the year. It’s similar in tone to other Spike Lee films but not in execution (hell, you could classify it as a musical, if so inclined). As a film, while occasionally uneven, it’s fearless and unique.Read More →
Hot Take: Whomever decided to serve Krampus this holiday will not be invited to my next holiday party. It’s a Christmas horror comedy that doesn’t have much Christmas spirit, isn’t very scary and rarely makes you laugh.
Krampus might be a box office success thanks to the perfect storm of a serious lack of holiday offerings and a release date far enough away from the end of The Hunger Games in which no other major release found it’s way to the box office. Don’t be fooled if Krampus strikes box office gold because it’s really a lump of coal in your holiday viewing stocking.Read More →
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 85/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 90/100
While it’s easy to criticize the latest trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it’s hard to not be intrigued. The very revealing preview shows Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Batman unmasked, the arrival of Doomsday and the first appearance of Wonder Woman. With so much revealed, one has to wonder what hasn’t been revealed… the amount given away suggests a lot.
The $200 million budgeted film hits theaters March 25, 2016.
Hot Take: At some point early on, I was hooked on Victor Frankenstein. Then, about half way through, I realized how bad of an idea this really was. Then, no matter what I did, it wouldn’t stop. It’s funny how life can imitate art sometimes.
The opening act of Victor Frankenstein — the origin story of how Victor and Igor met as imagined by screenwriter Max Landis — gives the film unexpected promise. “Maybe,” you think, “this is a story worth the twist.” As the film progresses, the plot unravels, hopes diminish and the movie, much like the monster’s head, flattens. Read More →
Hot Take: Trumbo has a spectacular cast. The film is smart, witty and funny but also dull, pedestrian and pretentious. This isn’t much more compelling than a 5th grade history lesson even though it pretends to be.
There’s a scene in Trumbo where Arlen Herd (Louis C.K.) challenges Dalton Trumbo’s (Bryan Cranston) Communist beliefs as they look around Trumbo’s lavish ranch. Herd voices a lack of trust in Trumbo because while his beliefs are those of a Communist, his lifestyle fails to match his beliefs. Trumbo responds emphatically, “It’s the perfect combination! The radical may fight with the purity of Jesus, but the rich guy wins with the cunning of Satan.”Read More →
Hot Take: When you’ve set the bar as high as Pixar has, it’s easy to be unfairly critical of an average effort such as The Good Dinosaur. It’s total kid’s fare (except for the whole uncomfortable death that seems to happen in every third Disney movie) and the animation may be the best the studio has ever produced but it’s lacking something. Kids will love it, though.
Two things I expect from every Pixar movie I see: (1) to be amazed by how well they manage to satisfy both the kids audience and adults along for the ride and (2) to be emotionally distraught at some point during the film. Unfortunately, The Good Dinosaur missed the boat on the first expectation and managed to only scrape the surface with the second one. That’s not to say it’s not something the kids will love (they will) but it’s a kids movie, through and through.Read More →