The first live action blockbuster since “Iron Man 2″ (which feels like ages ago) finally hit theaters today and made $30 million just at midnight showings. Another potential young adult hit also finds its way into theaters tomorrow in “The Last Airbender” directed by the ever-controversial M. Night Shyamalan. Read the rest of this entry »
Not really sure what all this “The Last Airbender” business is about? Neither am I — and neither is anyone born before 1990. Join me as a fumble my way through flash websites, Wikipedia and more in attempt to learn something about one of this summer’s biggest fantasy films. I’ve scrummaged through the elemental nations, character, trailers, clips and more, so at least respect how much time I’ve put in and read.
To label “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” as Harry Potter with Greek mythology is to fault the zebra for having stripes because the tiger had them first. The hero’s journey story of a young protagonist realizing he or she has a destiny and entering a world previously unknown to him or her is as ancient as, well, Greek mythology. Was 20th Century Fox hoping that Percy would become the next Harry at the box office? Without question, but it should be judged on its own merits, no matter how similar the two are. Read the rest of this entry »
Warner Bros. plan to blend live-action and CGI for a movie based on the world’s greatest toy, LEGO, has found a director: two in fact. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, receivers of much praise for last year’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” have been hired for the job, according to Heat Vision. Read the rest of this entry »
According to Warner Bros in this brand new trailer, if we don’t go see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (parts one and two) this November and next July, we’re missing out and the single biggest movie event of our generation. Fair enough. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s still a Toy’s world, no matter what Grown Ups have to say about it. The Pixar film had an equally impressive second week dropping just below $60 million and making it the fourth highest grossing film of 2010 in just its second week. In fact, “Toy Story 3” had made just $3 million less than “Shrek Forever After” domestically and in one-third the amount of time. Goes to show what a difference good reviews can make. “Toy Story 3” should give “Alice in Wonderland” a run for highest-grossing film of 2010 so far. Read the rest of this entry »
Rock ‘n roll embodies what we want out of our movies from time to time: letting loose and having fun: throwing aside order and morality for a time, however brief. In the ’60s, rock music was the essence of such “rebellion” and “Love, Actually” filmmaker Richard Curtis and his latest film, “Pirate Radio,” capture the rock ‘n roll spirit without dishing it out in the form of some “educational” period film. Read the rest of this entry »
No man is an island — but no film is either. The proverbial happy bachelor who is set in his ways is bound to succumb to the temptations of togetherness and love as he does in every film. “About a Boy” does not defy this classic character profile, but neither does it slosh around in clichéd fashion. Hugh Grant’s charms and his surrounding cast of unusuals played by fine actors add just enough color to Nick Hornby’s touching family story to appear fresh and even revelatory. Read the rest of this entry »
Let bursts of joy echo throughout Middle Earth, for Peter Jackson is negotiating with Warner Bros/New Line/MGM to direct both installments of “The Hobbit.” The original Lord of the Rings trilogy director was producing and advising the oft-delayed project, but when those delays caused Guillermo Del Toro to abandon his post as director, the search desperately began to fill the void to keep the target release dates in 2012 and 2013 intact. Read the rest of this entry »
Adam Sandler’s movies have almost always had a family element if they weren’t a major part of the story (parental responsibility in 1999′s “Big Daddy,” father-son relationship in “Billy Madison” and “Little Nicky”). But lately, especially since the birth of his first daughter in 2006, it’s begun to drastically shape his film choices. It started with “Click” in 2006, a story about appreciating family moments, and continued especially in 2008 when he teamed with Disney for “Bedtime Stories.” The emotional sweetness of family life has been a major force in Sandler’s work, but his patented insult and immature humor has not budged over that time. The latest result of that combination of family love and dirty adult humor is “Grown Ups.” Read the rest of this entry »
One thing is for certain when it comes to Adam Sandler: love him or hate him, he makes movies that make money. You either jive with the immature goofy humor that changed the comedy landscape in the mid-’90s, or you find his movies pretty detestable. So for this week’s edition of “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly,” nothing could be more fitting on the eve of his new film Grown Ups than sorting through the highlights and lowlights of a pretty impressive comedy career.
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If you follow the superhero movie rumor mill often enough, then you’ve already heard the rumors about “Firefly” star Nathan Fillion and Eva Longoria starring as Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (aka Ant-Man and The Wasp) in Marvel’s 2012 be-all of superhero movies, “The Avengers.” Read the rest of this entry »
One is a big commercial action property led by funny-man Seth Rogen and the other one of those early fall borderline awards season dramas. They have nothing to do with one another, but not every Trailer Wednesday can have a theme. It’s the movie version of the comic-turned-TV series “The Green Hornet” and the Sam Rockwell and Hilary Swank criminal justice drama, “Conviction.”
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We have an awkward early edition of Weekend Preview this week as “Knight and Day” jumps into theaters today. We’ll have the same thing next week with “Eclipse,” so I suppose I’ll have to suck it up.
After family films have dominated the box office for the last six weeks , we finally get some movies for, well, grown ups, which is the title of the other movie coming out this week. The shortage of June comedies is officially over. Read the rest of this entry »
As sports fans, we always consider the degree to which we support or dedicate ourselves to the team. “Big Fan” is a character study of a man who has formed his identity and life around the New York Giants. The film preys on our expectation that every fan has a clear line when it’s time to stop being a fan and start being your own person. That’s not true of Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt).
