Quentin Tarantino has teamed up with Ennio Morricone to score The Hateful Eight, the first time the director has opted not to compile his own eclectic soundtrack. Now, the score overlaying the opening go the film, the overture, is available to hear online. And sample again and again, and maybe just keep on a continuous loop leading up to when you can see the film.
Here is the overture:
The score has everything. It has doom and dread, grand sweeping gestures, and that wonderful Ennio Morricone touch to match Tarantino’s spectacular vision.
The Hateful Eight will be released in its special Roadshow 70mm edition Christmas Day, with an expanded release December 31. You can purchase tickets to the Roadshow here if you’re within range of one of these theaters/cities.
Summary:With Naruto as the Seventh Hokage, Hidden Leaf Village is planning to host the Chunin Exams to train new shinobi from the village and from their allied villages. Among the entrants are Sasuke’s daughter, Sarada, Mitsuki, an exceptionally talented yet mysterious shinobi…And Boruto, Naruto’s talented but impetuous son.
The film starts off with a Q & A segment which was filmed at this year’s New York Comic Con where Naruto series creator, Masashi Kishimoto and the voice actress behind Naruto, Junko Takeuchi took questions from the audience. They ranged from “What do you think of your characters going on this new chapter in their lives?” to Takeuchi being asked “What was it like playing a father figure to Boruto?” to which the voice actress replied, “I’m a girl so I don’t know what’s like to be a father.” After this segment, which people could have easily seen on Youtube (here is the link if you’re interested), the movie got started and made up for the padding from this opening segment.
If it’s not already clear, this review will has a SPOILER WARNING for the entire Naruto series. This should be obvious as the series is about Naruto’s son and is taking place after the end of the manga and anime (which as of this review has yet to be animated to completion). Just giving you a heads up as it’s really impossible to talk about the movie without making comparisons to the original story.
In this new future wherein the original cast has now grown up, gotten married, and had kids, a great deal of world building takes place. The hidden leaf village is much more advance than it once was, complete with computers, video games, and wrist devices which shoots out ninja moves stored on tiny scrolls.
In this more advanced future, series protagonist Naruto has become a workaholic who doesn’t have time for his kids. His son, Boruto is less than understanding of his father’s situation and takes training under his dad’s former rival, Sasuke to train him for the sole purpose of taking his dad down. Sounds a bit harsh, but it’s amusing to watch Boruto undertake his own path to become a warrior, even if it’s just to get his dad to notice him.
Fans have been quick to harshly judge Naruto from the early rumors which circulate around this film. Yes, he may have become a workaholic who has to send his Shadow Clones to important events and have them disappear on him at the worst possible moment but don’t be so quick to dismiss him without taking the time to watch this film.
Through the course of the film it becomes apparent to Naruto he hasn’t given his son the time he deserves and Boruto himself hasn’t taken the time to understand where his dad is coming from. There is a particular moment which truly reflects the disconnect the two are experiencing where Naruto is in his son’s room trying to find the words to give him encouragement but doesn’t know what to say because he never had parents growing up. It’s a quiet scene but one fans secretly hope for which help to show characters bonding between the countless battle which can occur in fighting anime like Dragonball Z or Bleach.
If you’re more focused on the action, you should know there is plenty to spare. Once the villains from the opening scene finally return (they really are absent for most of the film), Naruto is able to cut loose and showcase just how strong he truly is, impressing his son and the audience. Also, there is a father and son Rasengan attack the fans are really going to enjoy. Also, there is after credit sequence which is particularly entertaining.
It should be again noted this film is an epilogue to the original series and runs the risk of spoilers for original series. Also, the villains are tied to the previous film, The Last: Naruto The Movie so see it is also helpful to understand who the villains are. Basically, if you didn’t finish the manga, are only watching the anime, and didn’t see the last film, you may have to wait a bit before watching this one. Unless, you don’t care for spoilers.
Though fans are quick to judge the new spin on the characters and are still probably annoyed some of their personal favorite pairings didn’t end up together, the movie does offer a lot of heart, action, and nods to the series fans have been enjoying for over a decade. For all the Naruto fans out there, this is a movie you owe it to yourself to check out.
Captain America Civil War is just one of many superhero films expected to dominate the box office in 2016. The film based on the Mark Millar comic event series had a smash trailer released a few weeks ago, and now Marvel has released the first international trailer for Captain America’s latest adventure.
The trailer is one minute thirty seconds long, has barely any new footage, and doesn’t really explain the plot any further. Hopefully the next trailer will reveal more about the story, and why all the Marvel superheroes are fighting each other But, the trailer still revs up the excitement for the newest Marvel production. Captain America Civil War will be released May 6, 2016.
Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.
Nerds around the world just squealed at the possibility of Kurt Russell entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Wrap is reporting Kurt Russell has emerged as James Gunn‘s choice to play Chris Pratt‘s father in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, according to multiple individuals familiar with the film’s casting process.
The report also states that a meeting between Marvel and Russell is expected to happen soon, but Russell yet to read for the part.
Gunn has yet to comment on the rumor.
All right everybody who is blowing up my feed. I appreciate the interest but as I said a few weeks ago I’m gonna quit commenting on rumors.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 begins production in early 2016 with an expected released date of May 5, 2017.
The film is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, and Pom Klementieff.
Because What’s More American than the Over Consumption of Mediocrity?
Just to be extra clear, I don’t believe ‘Lagunitas’ sucks, it’s just the name of their holiday beer, which is a “Brown Sugga’ Substitute Ale.” It has an O.G. of 1.085, an I.B.U. of 63.21, and and alcoholic content of 8%. I only understand what the alcohol content means, but hey, I’m ready to drink.
Unnecessary Rules:
I must keep the alcohol in the bottle I purchased it in!
I must finish the bottle, unless I puke.
There are no time limits. I will enjoy this one.
I deserve a real beer, at least that’s what I tell myself.
I can change or add rules, as I please.
BONUS: I also bought a six pack of Shock Top: Twisted Pretzel Wheat for my father, and I indulged in one. It was okay. The pretzel-caramel flavor comes and goes with various sips. After all, it is Shock Top, which is generally considered mediocre, so there was no surprise. In fact, my quart (32 fl. oz.) of ‘Lagunitas Sucks’ cost the same as the six pack.
The hype on this beer is almost as high as the new STAR WARS and I decided to treat myself to counteract my self-loathing. You know, like any normal rational human does! Seriously though, check out these reviews from Beer Advocate and Rate Beer! They make this beer out like it’s a nectar from the gods.
The first sip is delightfully bitter, hoppy, and fruity. It’s I.P.A.-esque, which is not my favorite type of beer; however, I do enjoy some of the Lagunitas brand. The label says to “…share this one with an amigo!,” but the jokes on them cause I’m alone. There is another slogan on the label in bold, which reads: “LIFE IS UNCERTAIN. DON’T SIP.” Holy crap, this beer gets me. It’s got self-deprecating humour AND it continues to taste pleasant after every drink, which was not the case for my past reviews. If this beer was a person, I’d date it, but then dump it because I’d want to see other beers. That’s not a metaphor for dating, it’s a metaphor for alcohol.
Alright…despite me going off the rails, this beer is actually top notch. It’s really smooth and enjoyable. Even as I gulp down the entire bottle, it’s not making me feel nauseous, or lightheaded. It just feels and tastes good. I’m quite happy with this choice.
One of the more bizarre things to come down the pike – in regards to prestigious awards season films going relatively unnoticed throughout history – has to be the disregard society in general had towards Michael Mann’s crime-drama masterpiece, Heat, when it hit theaters in December 1995. It’s Mann’s finest, most complete crime drama, celebrated for its collaboration between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro who would share the screen for the first time. And yet, it barely recouped its $60 million budget stateside ($67 million, $107 million worldwide), and was an afterthought during awards season. It racked up no awards, was nominated for nine scattered hither and yon (including a “Most Desirable Male” nom for Val Kilmer at the MTV Movie Awards), and it dissipated into the winter fog of 1996.
Who cares? Heat is, and has since been recognized as, one of the greatest crime dramas in recent history. Perhaps going back even further, this intricate tale of obsessive cops and robbers might be the best of its kind. Ever. Much like the film itself, consensual love for Heat was a slow burn (pun alert!). Those early days of indifference are more baffling considering the high regard for this film in 2015, but the decades-long appreciation has since vaulted Mann’s masterpiece into canonical irreverence.
Pacino is Vincent Hanna, a man so dedicated to his police work as a robbery-homicide detective, he has run through two marriages and is amid the collapse of a third with Justine (Diane Venora). De Niro is Neil McCauley, a career criminal, the leader of a crew who execute high-level robberies with surgical precision. Neil knows his life is not conducive to relationships, unlike Vincent, so he avoids attachments aside from his familial crew. He is alone, and he soon realizes he is also lonely. The paths of Vincent and Neil may never have crossed had Neil not brought in Waingro (Kevin Gage), a psychotic outlier who kills a guard in the armored truck robbery which sets the entire film in motion. It is one of a handful of perfect set pieces.
Both Vincent and Neil have their crew, and they are given ample screen time to develop personalities, build rapport with the audience, and add substance and texture to the action. Neil’s surrogate son is Chris (Val Kilmer), a hopeless gambler who burns through cash and is poisoning his marriage to Charlene (Ashley Judd); Michael, played by Tom Sizemore, is closer than a brother. Vincent’s closest compatriots include Mykelti Williamson and Ted Levine (who can never escape his “Buffalo Bill” voice). The cast, like the film, spreads far and wide, and is rich in detail and personality.
The heart of the film involves extravagant cat-and-mouse movement, as Neil plans one final score while Vincent and his team work to stop them. But where Heat differentiates itself from standard crime drama fare is in the details surrounding this core plot. Not every scene works to push plot forward, as characters and their plight take center stage more often than not. Vincent’s marriage is crumbling, his step-daughter (Natalie Portman in an early performance) is showing more and more signs of mental decay, and his investigation into Neil and his crew takes a few tangential storylines. Neil, on the other hand, is breaking his own real rule: he is falling in love with Eady (Amy Brenneman). The way Mann allows the story to glide rather than thrust forward with singularity is what makes the film perpetually watchable.
One of the selling points of the film was the aforementioned showdown between Pacino and De Niro, two veterans of the genre who had never shared the same screen (they both appeared in The Godfather, Part II, but in different historical timelines). Their moment in the diner is, of course, brilliant. It’s simultaneously tense and comfortable, these two storied actors playing off one another with terse dialogue, wry smiles, and lived in performances.
Heat has several great set pieces, some of the best in the action genre, but the denouement is the shootout in the L.A. streets between Vincent, Neil, and their subsequent crews:
What has always caught my attention here is the sound. The bullets echoing among the skyscrapers surrounding these cops and crooks is piercing and intense and almost hypnotizing in its realism. It’s the best scene in a film full of best scenes. It s a ballet of chaos, tightly choreographed to not look tightly choreographed, speaking to Mann’s keen eye for detail amid sprawling action.
But once the shootout has been quelled, there is still a third act where loose ends are tied up and closure is brought about between Vincent and Neil. Mann’s patience with the storytelling, working from his own screenplay, allows Heat a chance to breathe. Dante Spinotti’s cinematography is sharp, and he fills the frame with the richness of Los Angeles. Some films are universally lauded as masterworks on release, but many more take time to percolate, to build esteem. Heat has taken its time being recognized as a masterpiece, but here, twenty years down the road, it’s clearly found its place among the canon of crime sagas.
Yesterday Star Trek Beyond, the third installment in JJ Abrams’ Trek movie franchise, released their first trailer. The movie looks like another action-fest in Abrams’ frivolous, watered-down, knock-off version of the beloved science fiction phenomenon.
Since I’m subscribed to the Star Trek official Facebook page the trailer instantly came to my attention. For a minute and a half, the trailer gives us quite the speedy montage. That’s the one good merit, probably the only one, this trailer has. Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk, which is the most un-complex character in the franchise, loses his ship in the first five seconds. The crew are scattered and stranded on a strange planet.
Here there’s an opportunity to write a classic Trek storyline: the away mission. Away missions with a crew in this scenario present several great plot points options like first contact, exploration, survival in unfamiliar surroundings, and attempting to contact Starfleet with limited tech. What do we get instead? A series of action sequences with Kirk on a motorcycle, a hyper-sexualized alien warrior woman doing backflips, and a ton of explosions. This hot alien ninja is the only other female character featured in the trailer besides Uhura. The cast is incredibly diverse, as Star Trek should be, but there are only two female characters? Bad form.
The trailer also gives an incredibly vague hint to an alien race threatening Starfleet officers for no apparent reason. Like the previous film, Into Darkness, there’s no official word on the plot. Abrams’ tactic with handling such a high profile movie with ruthless fans is to give no information.
The hilarious part of marketing a movie with the caption, “starring Idris Elba and Chris Pine,” is when Idris Elba is nowhere to be seen in the trailer. Clearly this is Abrams’ tactic of, “shut up, I have a super cool twist in the movie, but I can’t reveal what character my token British actor is playing.” Hint: it’s probably the villain.
This is not Star Trek, but an action movie with a Star Trek label. Director Justin Lin is further proof of this, because he’s known for directing the Fast and Furious franchise. These new Star Trek movies are an attempt to market science fiction to non science fiction audiences by filling it up with explosions, fight scenes, and lens flares.
Ben Wheatley is a totally singular vision. His movies (A Field in England, Kill List) play as shaggy, violent fever dreams. There is very little middle ground when it comes to Wheatley’s work. You’re either going to love it or you’re going to want to burn it to the ground. I love the man.
The trailer for Wheatley’s latest, an adaptation of JG Ballard’s novel, High-Rise, was just released. Telling the story of class warfare in a dystopian tower were the poor reside on the bottom floors, with the rich living in decadence at the top, High-Rise, enters our consciousness with a perfect trailer. It totally sells the tone of the movie without giving a single bit of plot away. Tom Hiddleston leads us through a glimpse of what promises to be another divisive tale from Mr. Wheatley.
High-Rise played at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was nearly universally reviled and also at Fantastic Fest to a more uproarious reception. I lean more toward the Fantastic Fest crowd when it comes to festival movie barometers, but we shall see when High-Rise is released in the US in 2016.
High-Rise stars Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elizabeth Moss. It is directed by Ben Wheatley from his script written with his partner, Amy Jump.
The wait is finally over with the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in LA Monday night. Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill talked about the legacy of the Star Wars franchise and looked to the future generation of heroes and villains.
The wait is finally over with the premiere of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' in LA Monday night. Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill talked about the legacy of the Star Wars franchise and looked to the future generation of heroes and villains.
Episode VII in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in theaters December 17, 2015.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & Abrams, features a cast including actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. They will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker.
The upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens brings fanfare, marketing, spoilers, interviews, nostalgia, and anticipation. It also brings a fair amount of ridiculous stories, fan theories, accusations about the Hollywood agenda, and merchandising tie-ins.
The Hollywood Agenda
Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) Photo: Disney / Lucasfilm
Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) are the stars of the newest entry in the Star Wars saga. They have also become targets in different corners of the internet. There have been various blog posts about how John Boyega is the vehicle to insert ‘political correctness’ into Star Wars or that Daisy Ridley is representative of how Hollywood ‘hates’ men now. I’m sure J.J. Abrams, while writing and directing one of the most anticipated films of this decade, is looking to shame white men everywhere by *gasp* casting characters that fit his story best. There has also been some weird division among fans about which of the two characters are more important to the story of this new film, as if there is some sort of prize to be won. The recent reveal that Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) was originally a male character has also raised ire from some internet loudmouths.
Sins Of Omission
Ever since the first trailer for The Force Awakens premiered, one of the main questions has been ‘Where is Luke Skywalker?’ We hear his voice, but he is not seen in any of the trailers or TV spots leading up to the release. This has given rise to a number of theories about the status of Luke. Some say he has gone to the Dark Side and that he is the films’ REAL villain. Some say Luke is already dead, having been killed or died prior to the start of the new film and may appear as a force ghost, like Obi-Wan. One of the more popular theories is that Luke is the father of one of the new characters introduced, which would make sense, considering the films have been about the Skywalker family.
Fate Of The Falcon
The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy is easily one of the hallmarks of the Star Wars series. It has made appearances in the trailer but what has happened since the end of Return Of The Jedi? The initial feeling is that Han Solo is no longer in possession of the ship that made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, or at least hasn’t flown her in quite some time. Who is in the pilot’s seat? Will she be turned over to one of the new characters? Did the hyperdrive ever get fixed?
Who needs a lightsaber when you have licensing rights?
For those who like their coffee on the light side of the Force
If you are waking up in the morning, getting your coffee, checking the internet, or just living in general, you know that a Star Wars movie is coming. Coffee creamer, jewelry, make up, car commercials, insurance, ESPN highlights, and cookware. You name it, there is a Star Wars logo or tie-in associated with it. Some of the more visible ones are a tie-in with Dodge, CoverGirl, and Coffee-Mate. If one has a choice between an X-Wing Fighter and a mid life crisis Dodge Charger, is it really all that hard of a decision?
When a Star Wars movie comes out, the movie is but a part of the experience. Whatever happens, it’s bound to be better than Jar Jar Binks.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens releases nationwide on December 18th.
