What would you do if you found yourself alone in space? The first trailer for Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt’s sci-fi romance film, Passengers has finally been released.
Sony Pictures released the first trailer, giving fans a first look at the upcoming space film. Other than various images, this is the first look at the Morten Tyldum directed movie, which is surprising since Passengers has a December release date.
This is the first movie starring Chris Pratt and Jenifer Lawrence as a pair, but they’re already getting a lot of attention for their on-screen chemistry. Talking to Entertainment Weekly Tyldum said, “I honestly couldn’t ask for a better cast. They’re so great together, and both of them are so hard-working.”
“A spacecraft is transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet that has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger.”
Passengers stars Chris Pratt, Jenifer Lawrence, and Michael Sheen. The film is set for release on December 21, with a later release scheduled internationally.
Be Sure To Let Us Know What You Think Of The Trailer In The Comments Section Below!
Black Panther, one of Marvel Comics’ most anticipated, newest character to share the silver screen spotlight in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, is about see double or triple, according to Comicbook. Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman plays the T’Challa iteration, and most well-known iteration, of the titular character.
However, Boseman stated recently that their might be other Black Panther version that will be heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the big screen.
“You’re going to learn about Wakanda, its culture, its traditions, the past.You can go through all the comic books and know that there’s more Panthers that have existed in the past – that’s origin.”
He stressed that Black Panther’s appearance in Civil War wasn’t “necessarily an origin story,” and there was a reason for that.
“It’s not necessarily an origin story because he remains a mystery through most of the movie. When I take the mask off and it’s revealed that it’s the Prince of Wakanda, that’s the guy who’s father was just killed – it’s a surprise. So then, you’re learning – as you watch the movie – what his powers are, because you’re not sure. He remains a mystery through most of the movie.”
Chadwick Boseman explained that the intent with Black Panther’s Civil War appearance was to keep everything “airtight,” so as to not give anything away about where the character is going for his solo outing that is still yet to be released. Unfortunately, though his vague discussion seemed to imply the possibility of brining in others who have worn the Black Panther suit moniker, he couldn’t give anything away.
“I think that’s why they made his arc so complete, so that it is contained. You have to, in doing that, make sure you leave room for a lot of things that you want to happen. I can’t say what they are but that was thought out by me, thought out by the producers, the directors, I’m sure Stan Lee had something to say about it, Ryan Coogler had something to say about it.”
Black Panther has been a highly anticipated Marvel character, so it makes sense that they want to carefully craft his big screen solo debut, and make sure they get it right. After all, other character from Marvel and DC Comics have had pretty poor adaptations (Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four), whether all fans think so or not.
It’s been thirty years since David Lynch pulled back the curtain on idyllic suburbia, exposing a toxic sort of madness and mayhem in his early masterpiece, Blue Velvet. And he doesn’t take long getting right to the point.
The opening scene is a Norman Rockwell portrait come to life, a neighborhood bathed in soft focus sunshine with emerald-green lawns outlined by white picket fences. It’s Lumberton, the sort of small town you’d see in 50’s magazine adverts; but as we push in on a man watering his lawn, everything begins to fall apart. The man falls down, having some sort of nondescript attack, and Lynch’s camera pushes past this man writhing in pain, beyond the blades of pristine grass, showing us a world of screeching insects and grub worms crunching and digging in the soil.
And it’s all you need to know. From here on out, now that Lynch has dropped such a clear-cut metaphor on us, all bets are off. He will show us the dark side of suburbia here, but the on-the-nose nature of this opening sequence allows him the freedom to unleash hell on the audience. That way when Jeffrey, our hero played by Kyle MacLachlan, finds a severed human ear in the middle of a field, that robust metaphor in the opening triggers our consciousness; this is the darkness seeping through the underbelly.
We learn that the man on death’s door in the opening scene is Jeffrey’s dad, and Jeffrey is back home to tend to his father’s hardware store while Pops is on the mend. But then he finds this ear, and he takes it to the cops, and they tell him there’s nothing to see here. Move on. Jeffrey knows better, and with the help of the Detective’s daughter, Sandy (Lynch regular Laura Dern), the kids begin their own investigation, and it leads them into a hellish photo negative of the halcyon world in which they were raised.
This disturbing other world involves lounge singer Dorothy Vallens, played by Isabella Rossellini, whom Jeffrey has a bizarre encounter with after she discovers him hiding in her closet. But more frightening, and more of an issue here, is one Frank Booth, played with an expected brutal madness by the late, great Dennis Hopper. You see, Frank is Dorothy’s “keeper” of sorts, an unhinged madman with a rogue’s gallery of buddies and a serious addiction to both nitrous and sexual deviancy; and when Frank gets wind of Jeffrey’s presence, he takes Jeffrey down a wormhole of insanity in a way only David Lynch can perfect.
My relationship with David Lynch has been an odd one. At least it has on my end, I seriously doubt he has any clue of my thoughts on his work. I find Lynch to be incredibly brilliant and incredibly frustrating in just about the same breath. There is a love hate with his work I cannot escape, no matter how hard I try. His work in the 90’s, from Twin Peaks to Wild at Heart to Lost Highway, somehow manages to be rewarding on a number of cinematic levels while simultaneously proving to be maddening on some profound levels. It took me time, maturity, and multiple viewings to appreciate Blue Velvet as the work of brilliance it most certainly is.
Here is a film that hammers its point home in the opening scene, then works upward and outward from there. It pushes the madness up from the ground, and into the forefront, and the way it casually corrupts Jeffrey manages to be a subtle shift in our hero’s arc in the midst of such in-your-face thematic elements. Lynch lets us know his plan at the beginning, but he doesn’t tell us the means to which he will reach these ends. He unleashes bizarro hell on us in a number of characters and scenes, none more memorable than Dean Stockwell’s rendition of “Candy Colored Clown”:
This is the very epitome of what makes David Lynch a master of emotional manipulation. It drops in the midst of a world unraveling, and the nightmarish sheen of the moment – namely the under lighting of Stockwell – is “Lynchian” to its core. These are the moments in Blue Velvet that separate it from so many Suburbia-is-dark tales that came in its wake, all the way up to Sam Mendes’s American Beauty and beyond.
Blue Velvet was hailed upon its release, almost exclusively. Except for the Godfather of film criticism. Yes, Roger Ebert had some issues with Blue Velvet upon the film’s release, namely with the degradation of women on display in the ritualistic rape scene in the middle. In his one-star review (!), Ebert had this to say:
Rossellini is asked to do things in this film that require real nerve. In one scene, she’s publicly embarrassed by being dumped naked on the lawn of the police detective. In others, she is asked to portray emotions that I imagine most actresses would rather not touch. She is degraded, slapped around, humiliated and undressed in front of the camera. And when you ask an actress to endure those experiences, you should keep your side of the bargain by putting her in an important film.
He has some points here, but perhaps he didn’t know the mood on set, the way Lynch and Rossellini could barely keep their laughing in check during the rape sequence. Because they knew the dark, dark satire at the core of what they were saying. It may have been ahead of its time, but the years have caught up with Blue Velvet, and it is no more dated now than it was in 1986.
What makes this film forever relevant is the performance of Dennis Hopper, channeling all his own manic and problematic (at some times throughout his career) energy to create an iconic villain without a single redeeming factor. It’s pure evil, an its the catalyst for the entire film once Jeffrey is forced out of Dorothy’s closet and pushed into Frank’s unstable world.
The creators of Walker Stalker Con and Heroes & Villians put together Fan Fest Orlando, a charity event to benefit the victims and families of the Pulse Night Club mass shooting. Twenty-five celebrities and hundreds of volunteers came together on Saturday to become the real heroes.
According to event staff, the goal was to raise one million dollars. 100% of the profits from autographs and photo ops would be donated to the OneOrlando Fund. The stars of ‘The Walking Dead,’ WWE Superstars, superheroes of the CW, and the villains of Gotham came out in force. ‘Arrow’ star Stephen Amell rallied the troops, but each celebrity had their own personal reason for volunteering his or her time.
“It’s important for me to be here because I think in this day and age giving back is one of the best things we can do as human beings,” said Shantel VanSanten of ‘The Flash.’
Several actors had personal ties to the Orlando area, Jordan Woods-Robinson is a Blue Man and Jeremy Palko worked at Universal Studios.
“I’m hoping this is going to raise a huge amount of awareness. That it’s great for not just generating income for support, but also just the show of support for the community, the LGBTQ community and everyone affected by the shootings,” said Woods-Robinson of ‘The Walking Dead.’
“A lot of people who were affected by this tragedy were in the entertainment community. I personally worked at Universal Studios and that entire family there was just really taken back by this. So to be a small part of giving back to this community has been really great,” said Palko of ‘The Walking Dead.’
Others hoped for changed and some demanded it.
“It’s hard to define it. I think it’s going to be inexpressible, the impact, at least I hope. I hope that people feel a sense of comfort and a sense of hope from the unity that is here, that is represented here. And I pray that people feel loved and supported. That’s what is most important about this. I think that’s all the impact we can hope for, and I think even beyond that, change would be ideal as well. If this could insight even the smallest amount of change, I think that is a success,” said Sonequa Martin-Green of ‘The Walking Dead.’
“People give so much relevance to what we do, so if we’re able to bring attention to a tragic situation, and I’m always trying to turn tragedy into triumph. So I think it is important as a community to rise up and say no. That’s not what we stand for. So hopefully this will bring healing to some of the families and let people know that we stand together for peace,” said Chad Coleman of ‘The Expanse’ and ‘Arrow.’
The emotions ran high on Saturday, but everyone knew the goal and dropped what they were doing to come together for a good cause. If you would like more information on the OneOrlando Fund or to donate, click the link provide.
Snowden is a mediocre portrait of the most notorious whistleblower in the world. What’s shocking is that director Oliver Stone shied away from themes that are synonymous with his films (government power, war, secrecy) and sought to humanize a man who risked it all to do what he felt was right. While it was refreshing to see Stone taking a different approach with this highly topical film, humanizing Snowden creates an incredibly bland narrative that transforms a highly engaging topic into a tepid one.
Stone uses Laura Poitras’s Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour (about former NSA contractor Edward Snowden) as a launching pad into a relatively complex narrative. While it would have been easy to make a political statement (which, given Stone’s past projects, would have been no surprise), he crafts an entirely logical sequence of events that doesn’t side with those who would make Snowden a hero or those who would execute him on sight… the epitome of milquetoast story-telling. In spite of this, Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers his best performance to date. It’s apparent that he’s studied up on Edward Snowden and embodies the controversial former NSA contractor while on screen. His performance is the buoy that keeps this film afloat.
Levitt portrays Edward Snowden as a man who is disenchanted with the United States monitoring our every move and begins to question the powers that be. Indeed one could make an argument that Snowden is similar to some other famous characters in previous Stone films. For Example, Jim Garrison in JFK became disenchanted with authority as he attempted to unravel a vast conspiracy surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. However, in JFK we saw a gritty filmmaker who sought out a truth and didn’t shy away from controversy. Snowden brought out a complacency in Stone that I was unaware he possessed. Where was that urgency to point the finger at the government for conducting illegal surveillance of its citizens? Why even tackle this subject matter if you weren’t going to do anything with it?
Instead of taking a more deliberate approach to telling the story of what transpired at the NSA, Stone shines a big spotlight on Edward’s relationship with Lindsay Mills (Shaline Woodley). Mills doesn’t move the story along but does certainly interject a heavy dose of melodrama. Will he tell her the truth? Why won’t he tell her truth? Will she stay with him? Why is she staying with him? The moment we were forced to endure a scene involving Snowden gazing into a glass kitchen door and observing his girlfriend talking to another man, this film became less of a movie directed by Oliver Stone and more like one directed by the late Gary Marshall. Woodley’s performance is a very stilted and typical portrayal of a girlfriend in “turmoil. It’s perplexing what the director saw in her. Why would you give such a typical portrayal more screen time than you gave Joan Allen’s tremendous performance as the first lady in Nixon?
One of the few highlights of Snowden was the music composed by Craig Armstrong and Adam Peters. Armstrong and Peters have written notes that are both haunting and evoke and anxious undertones found throughout the film. So if anyone reading this is moved by great music, then, by all means, please purchase a ticket to see this movie ASAP. However, if you are irritated by bland retellings of a story that has been all over the news, then avoid Snowden at all cost.
Many moons ago, about 100 years worth of lunar orbits, short films were nearly as common as features. In the early days, a short film almost always ran before a feature as a little appetizer. Modern viewers are used to this sort of thing from Pixar. But as feature films became longer, short films vanished from this pre-show slot. But they didn’t disappear from cinema altogether. As a matter of fact, while superheroes dominate the box office and screens at major theater chains, more and more “indie” movie houses and film festivals are showcasing the works of talented artists telling shorter stories. It’s the golden age of short films! And, yes, less does indeed sometimes equal more.
Across the globe festivals like The 48 Hour Film Project, legendary mainstays like Cannes or Sundance, and Mumbai International Film Festival features a broad range of short films. Thousands of such festivals, in fact, more than at any other time in history. Why the explosion in short motion pictures? Producer of the Miami/Ft.Lauderdale 48 Hour Film Project, Cathleen Dean provides the answer “… we have a better-educated pool of filmmakers with access to great equipment, and that has resulted in an increase of more of skillfully produced films.”
Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon) by Georges Méliès in 1902 is perhaps one of the best-known short films in cinema history:
The Oscars have long awarded short films in fiction, animated, and documentary categories. In 2015, Body 12 won the golden statue for documenting the story of Ebola workers in West Africa. Ms. Dean calls out 2009 Oscar-winner, the uplifting Music by Prudence as a personal favorite.
One of the more famous short films in recent pop culture is Kung Fury. A borderline psychedelic action short made by a team from Sweden. Kung Fury is like living in an 80s video game, martial arts flick, and buddy cop movie all at the same time. The ridiculous fun of the 31-minute short film features a song from David Hasselhoff. YouTube and Vimeo play home to thousands of movies and even series of films that focus on shorter running times.
Lights Out by David F. Sandburg is only two minutes and fifty-one seconds long but is no less terrifying than any contemporary horror. The film’s success opened the door for the self-taught Sandburg to receive a five million dollar investment in a feature-sized version. Released in July, the 81-minute version of Lights Out has a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes for those who find that sort of thing useful.
Sandburg’s success using a short film to garner attention for more film work is becoming more and more common. The original Saw was a 10-minute proof of concept, and we all know what happened there. Love or hate the 2013 Evil Dead remake, but director Fede Alvarez made a short film in his home country of Uruguay called Panic Attack! which caught the eye of Hollywood.
Short films are easier to produce and, as Ms. Dean says “gives the filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work …” And with tens of thousands of short film festivals a year, and the Internet itself, the opportunity for exposure is immense.
Even established directors like Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Snowpiercer) create short works in innovative ways. In 2011, Chan-wook directed a 33-minute film called Night Fishing which was entirely shot using an iPhone 4.
What movies, whatever the length, are yet to come as technology continues to make it easier for filmmakers to bring their visions to life?
I recently interviewed Cathleen Dean who hosted the Miami/Ft.Lauderdale Awards Ceremony for The 48 Hour Film Project in July. Check out the winners here, including Group B Audience Winner Put Your Lips Together And Blow written by yours truly. And that’s a truly shameless plug.
The 90s was one of the memorable decades in cinema history. It was the birth of the indie film movement, and a time of experimentation. Some years, such as 1994 or 1999, were so packed full of amazing films that it’s almost impossible to pick out your favorite five. Others, like my own birth year 1992, were a bit more…mediocre. However, that only made it easier for me to pick my Five Favorite Films From The Year I Was Born. Here they are, the diamonds in the rough (you’ll get that reference when you see number two):
5. Wayne’s World
I still can’t listen to “Bohemian Rhapsody” without thinking about this movie. Wayne’s World is the most successful feature film to ever come out of Saturday Night Live, and for good reason. It’s pure and simple entertainment, it features standout performances from 90s icons, and it captures the essence of rock-and-roll culture.
In the end, comedies are meant to make you laugh, and Wayne’s World is able to do that repeatedly without devolving into mindless drivel. Party on.
4. Batman Returns
Batman Returns was the one and only American superhero film of 1992. To put that in perspective, six have been released so far this year and it’s only September.
After the groundbreaking success of 1989’s Batman, the studio gave Tim Burton more creative control on the sequel. As a result, Returns is more stylized, more gothic, and more Burtonesque in every sense of the word. It’s also somewhat campy and it doesn’t hold a candle to the superhero movies of today, but as far as early films of the genre go, this is one of the best.
3. My Cousin Vinny
I enjoy this movie even more these days, ever since I became a born-and-raised New Yorker transplanted to rural Florida.
The best comedies are ones where the humor comes from true to life situations, and it doesn’t get more true to life than My Cousin Vinny. On top of being a laugh-out-loud comedy, it’s also a compelling courtroom drama that gets better with each watch. There isn’t a poor performance to speak of, featuring stars Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, and Ralph Macchio at the height of their powers. Plus it’s just so damn quotable (I make sure to slip the phrase “two yutes” into casual conversation whenever possible).
2. Aladdin
90s kids had the good fortune of growing up during the Disney Renaissance. Some people may say that’s what gives us our annoying optimism, but I say that those people are just jealous.
Yes, Aladdin has one of the strongest soundtracks of any Disney film. Sure, Jafar is one of the greatest and most sinister Disney villains. But what really makes this movie stand out as one of the best is Robin Williams’ turn as Genie. Aladdin’s big blue buddy absolutely steals the show, and is the reason kids and adults alike remember the animated feature as fondly as they do.
1. Reservoir Dogs
Two words: Quentin. Tarantino.
One of history’s greatest filmmakers made his debut in 1992 with a small crime thriller about a heist gone wrong. Even though it got overshadowed two years later by Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs is a masterpiece featuring everything audiences have come to love and expect from Quentin, from vulgar yet captivating dialogue to over the top violence. I could watch this movie on repeat without getting bored, and the opening diner conversation is still one of my favorite scenes from any Tarantino flick.
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There you have it, my five favorite films from 1992. Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Do you Deadites hate me for not including Army of Darkness? Sound off in the comments below!
During last night’s award ceremony, a 12 year old record was broken. Following their 12 wins, Game of Thrones increased their total number of Emmys to 38, passing Frasier to become the scripted show with the highest win tally. Through 11 seasons, the popular sitcom earned 37 competitive wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series five years in a row.
While the landmark fantasy epic claimed the throne for most wins for a scripted show, the sketch juggernaut Saturday Night Live remains the highest winning show of all time with a whopping 45 wins. Considering the HBO drama has pulled in 12 wins two years in a row it is possible they’ll overtake that tally as well before going off the air after its eight season.
With only six seasons to its name, Game of Thrones has reached the top of the award circuit faster than any other show in history. SNL has spent over four decades to accumulate their tally of 45, Frasier spent 11 years to get to 37, The Mary Tyler Moore Show spent seven years to earn 29 awards, Cheers earned 28 wins in 11 years, and The West Wing got to 27 wins in their seven years on the air.
It will be interesting to see if Game of Thrones can beat SNL to become the first show to win 50 Emmys, or if the legendary staple of late night comedy will inch over the finish line first.
2015’s Jurassic World was a much bigger hit than anyone ever anticipated. It grossed 1.6 billion dollars worldwide, and broke nearly every box office record imaginable (most of which were broken again by Star Wars: The Force Awakens six months later). Its success was made all the more sweeter for Universal Studios due to the film’s relatively low 150 million dollar production budget. Comparatively, the aforementioned Force Awakens had a reported production budget of 245 million dollars.
Shortly after the film’s massive 209 million dollar opening weekend in the U.S., it was confirmed that a sequel would enter production, with a slated release for June 22nd 2018. It has since been revealed that the sequel will be part of a trilogy, and will likely begin filming in February 2017. In a recent print interview with El Pais Semanal, director J.A. Bayona confirmed the sequel will have an estimated production budget of 260 million dollars.
The increased budget signifies a massive confidence boost from the studio, however there is no denying the risks associated with such a large investment. Colin Trevorrow’s reboot of the Jurassic franchise likely benefited from a nostalgic curiosity, which won’t necessarily follow the sequel. The lack of serious competition during its opening weekend also helped it reach such a high benchmark during its debut bow. Finally, if you compare the performance of the original Jurassic Park with its 1997 sequel, you’ll find that even with Steven Spielberg returning as director with an increased budget, that film only made 2/3 of the original total.
Therefore, it is possible that Universal is playing a dangerous game with its bolstered budget. With a larger budget, the bar of success is much higher. It is rare that a sequel outperforms its predecessor, and with the franchise’s history with sequels, the task is made even harder. While it is likely the film will find an audience, it is doubtful it will get anywhere near the tally of the 2015 smash-hit. The question then becomes, how high is Universal expecting the film to reach before deeming it a success?
With a reported production budget of 260 million, the studio will likely spend upwards of 200 million dollars to market the film worldwide. This means the film will need to make a minimum of 900 million dollars at the worldwide box office to break even. This isn’t an impossible task, but it might just be that the studio is expecting too much from its blockbuster sequel.
Patty Spivot played by Shantel VanSanten, put Central City in her review mirror in season two of ‘The Flash’ as she moved to Midway City to continue her education as a crime scene investigator.
VanSanten was in Orlando Saturday at a fundraiser to benefit the victims and families of the Pulse Night Club mass shooting. A 100% of her profits from autographs and photo ops were donated to One Orlando.
When the actress was asked if she’s coming back in season three of ‘The Flash,’ VanSanten hinted to a possible return.
“There is a very strong possibility if everything works out,” said VanSanten with a big smile on her face.
With season three starting off in the Flashpoint universe the possibilities are limitless, but since VanSanten said ‘if everything works out’ she probably hasn’t started filming her episodes yet. Also, Patty’s Earth-2 counterpart is mentioned in season two “Escape from Earth-2.” She works as a full-fledged C.S.I. agent. With the multiverse, it becomes harder to predict which Patty Spivot the audience will see in season three.
Are you a fan of Patty Spivot, and do you want to see her return in season three of ‘The Flash?’ The Scarlet Speedster returns to the CW on October 4.
In the video below VanSanten talks about why it was important to come to Fan Fest Orlando for the fundraiser.
One of the few highlights of Snowden was the music composed by Craig Armstrong and Adam Peters. Armstrong and Peters have written notes that are both haunting and evoke and anxious undertones found throughout the film. So if anyone reading this is moved by great music, then, by all means, please purchase a ticket to see this movie ASAP. However, if you are irritated by bland retellings of a story that has been all over the news, then avoid Snowden at all cost.
