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In: 2015, Hot Take, Trailers

Anticipation (Before Trailer): 40/100

Anticipation (After Trailer): 55/100

There are two ways The Lobster could go. The trailer looks to be full of dry, smart humor and some solid character actor performances (John C. Reilly isn’t really in the preview but his presence bodes well for the humorous route). On the other hand, The Lobster might be a dull social commentary with a few witty scenes.

I admit I’m already rooting for Colin Farrell’s character to fail and become a lobster. How’s a lobster going to survive in The Woods? Guess we’ll find out at the end of September.

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In: 2014, Hot Take

Hot Take: You know that moment you end up watching a movie every time it’s on even though you’d never ever admit you think it’s a good movie. I call that moment the guilty pleasure.

This buddy romantic comedy with romantic undertones has more holes than Swiss cheese. The trouble is Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan look like they are having such a good time together as three friends who make a pact (which at some point becomes a bet) to stay single, it’s hard to hate the film.Read More →

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In: 2015, Hot Take

Hot Take: Apparently, The Transporter franchise wasn’t out of gas. It had a dead battery. Refueled went nowhere.

The Transporter Refueled wasn’t even the best Audi commercial of the summer movie season (That award goes to Hitman: Agent 47). This isn’t an indictment of the chase scenes dominant throughout the film but it isn’t a ringing endorsement either. For the most part, the car scenes are fairly generic with a glimmer of above average only to be dragged down by terrible dialogue, a lame storyline and some poorly thought out decisions by the characters who tow the plot to it’s destination.Read More →

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In: 2015, Hot Take

Hot Take: The unabashed sex life of a licentious 15-year-old girl. It’s dark, complex and controversial. There’s more to learn from how the viewer (or reviewer) reacts than the film itself. Being a teenager can surely be a mess and applying that to the story told here would be understated. (Warning: This review is not spoiler free.)

“I had sex today… Holy shit!”

From the first line spoken by Minnie Goetze (played by newcomer Bel Pawley), there was the sense the viewer was supposed to be uncomfortable. It was immediately evident this was more than your standard coming of age film. Within minutes, it is revealed Goetze’s first time was with her mother’s 34-year-old boyfriend. This is all told by the young teen gleefully while the audience has barely settled in.Read More →

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In: 2015, Hot Take

Hot Take: If you’re looking for the depth and insight of last year’s Wild, A Walk In The Woods will disappoint. If you want a better Grumpy Old Men, grab your pack and join Robert Redford and Nick Nolte on the Appalachian Trail.

Robert Redford and Nick Nolte bring travel writer Bill Bryson’s novel to life to close out the ’15 summer movie season. Redford as Bryson and Nolte as long lost former friend Stephen Katz decide (for their own barely discussed reasons) decide to tackle the roughly 2,200 mile trek from Georgia to Maine.

If anything, A Walk In The Woods benefits from timing (and not just Redford and Nolte’s comedic timing). With summer winding down and August filled with high paced, mindless action flicks not good enough for the key summer weeks, A Walk In The Woods comes across as refreshing and a welcome change of pace.Read More →

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In: Hot Take, TV Shows

Hot Take: If you haven’t seen Mr. Robot, you have one thing going for you. You can binge-watch this right now. (Seriously, stop reading this and go watch it now! Why are you still here? Go watch it! Here’s the damn link… WATCH IT!)

Here at Movie Hot Take, on occasion, we might dip into other forms of media. It’ll be more discerning than movie information but sometimes there will be television so good (or sooooo bad!), commenting will be unavoidable. Enter Mr. Robot!

USA’s Mr. Robot is easily the best show to debut in years. The 10 episode first season is near perfection. I’ll be the first to admit I thought the season was going to pick after episode 6 and then again after episode 9. However, the season finale just delivered on so many levels.

Since the goal in the “hot take” section is to avoid spoilers, there’s a lot that can’t be said. But here’s a few call outs:Read More →

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In: 2015, Hot Take, Trailers

Anticipation (Before Trailer): 65/100

Anticipation (After Trailer): 90/100

Maybe I’m just too easy but if you attach “From the Guys Who Brought You This Is The End” to any trailer, I’m probably in. The Night Before did so and even if the movie trailer wasn’t hilarious, I’d still want to see it.

It looks like the release date was moved up to November 25th (from December 11th) which is smart to release during the front end of the Holiday movie season rather than during the full frontal assault Star Wars is going to put on the box office. You could say it’s going to come in like a wrecking ball. I’ll see myself out.

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In: 2016, Hot Take, Trailers

Anticipation (Before Trailer): 30/100

Anticipation (After Trailer): 45/100

The anticipation for The 5th Wave would be much higher if it wasn’t being released in Hollywood’s dump month. January films are typically bad. Very bad. To be fair, the most excited I’ll ever get about a movie coming out in January is maybe 50. Maybe.

Chloe Grace Moretz looks to be one of the last hopes for humanity in this post-apocalyptic alien invasion flick. Moretz may save humanity but nothing will save January. Nothing.

(Writer’s Note: Don’t take it personal but we’ll all be seeing Star Wars for the 5th or 6th time anyway.)

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In: 2015, Hot Take, Trailers

Anticipation (Before Trailer): 60/100

Anticipation (After Trailer): 90/100

Pencil in The Danish Girl for some Oscar nominations. It’s the type of movie the Academy loves. Having just watched Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything and recently wishing Alicia Vikander had a more worthy follow up to her stunning performance in Ex Machina than The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Danish Girl fits the bill.

Fun fact: Before Vikander landed the role of Gerda Wegener (Einar/Lili’s wife), the role belonged to Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rachel Weisz and was rumored to be attached to Uma Thurman and Marion Cotillard.